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Full text of "The Indian empire: history, topography, geology, climate, population, chief cities and provinces; tributary and protected states; military power and resources; religion, education, crime; land tenures; staple products; government, finance, and commerce. With a full account of the mutiny of the Bengal army; of the insurrection in western India; and an exposition of the alleged causes"

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COLLECTION  G.M.   A, 


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DEDICATED  BY 


HER  MOST  GEACIOUS 


AUTHORITY  TO 


MAJESTY  THE  QUEEN. 


THE 


INDIAN   EMPIRE: 


HISTOEY,  TOPOGRAPHY,  GEOLOGY,  CLIMATE,  POPULATION,  CHIEF  CITIES  AND  PROVINCES  ;   TRIBUTARY  AND  PROTECTED 

STATES  ;   MILITARY  POWER  AND  RESOURCES  ;   RELIGION,  EDUCATION,  CRIME  ;   LAND  TENURES  ; 

STAPLE  PRODUCTS  ;   GOVERNMENT,  ITNANCE,  AND  COMMERCE. 


WITH   A   FULL   ACCOUNT   OP  THE 

MUTINY    or  THE   BENGAL  ARMY;   OF   THE   INSUEEECTION    IN  WESTEBN   INDIA;   AND  Alf  EXPOSITION 

OF    THE    AILEGED    CAUSES. 


BY    R.    MONTGOMERY    MARTIN, 

AUTHOR  OF  THK  "  HISTOEY  OF  THE  BRITISH  COLONIES,"  ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  MAPS,  PORTRAITS,  AND  VIEWS. 


VOL.   II. 


THE   MUTINY   OF  THE   BENGAL   ARMY  ;    INSURRECTION   IN    WESTERN   INDIA ;   AND   AN   EXPOSITION   OF   THE 

ALLEGED    CAUSES. 


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THE    LONDON    PRINTING    AND    PUBLISHING    COMPANY,    LIMITED; 

97,  98,  99,  &  100,  ST.  JOHN  STREET,  LONDON;   AND  55,  DEY  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


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INDEX 


VOL.   II.   OF  THE   "INDIAN   EMPIRE.' 


Aibott  (James),  deputy- commissioner  of 
the  Huzara  district,  96. 

Ahkarry,  spirit  and  opium  tax,  24. 

Adjyghur,  Hindoo  principality,  313. 

Adoption  (right  and  rite),  39  ;  right  re- 
pudiated by  Lord  Dalhousie,  42;  pre- 
viously admitted  by  E.  I.  Company,  57 ; 
question  of  its  public  recognition  by  the 
Crown,  503. 

Adye  {Lieittenant-colonef),  account  of 
second  siege  of  Cawnpoor,  472. 

Agra,  134,  185  —  188;  mutiny,  360; 
battle,  361  ;  reinforced  by  British,  462  ; 
attacked  by  Gwalior  contingent,  462  ; 
Motee  Musjid,  463. 

Aithen  {Captain  John),  defence  of  Baillie 
Guard,  Lucknow,  420. 

Alexander  (Major-general),  on  the  opium 
trade,  26. 

Alexander  {Captain  William),  319. 

Alt  Morad,  Ameer  of  Sinde,  49. 

All  Nukkee  Khan,  minister  of  King  of 
Oude,  73,  275. 

AUghur,  189;  mutiny,  353,  461. 

Alison  {Lieutenant-colonel),  account  of 
relief  of  Lucknow,  467  ;  wounded,  468. 

Alison  (Major),  wounded,  468. 

Allahabad,  general  disaffection  of  Zemin- 
dars, 5  ;  account  of  city,  292  ;  fort,  293  ; 
]iroceedings  of  Col.  Neil,  297,  374. 

Almora,  capital  of  Kumaon,  212. 

Alumbagh,  description  of,  419;  engage- 
ment there,  465 ;  Outram  takes  up 
position,  472;  attacked  by  rebels,  477. 

Amanee,  revenue  system,  71. 

Ameer  Alt  (Moonahee),  appointment  at 
Patna,  408. 

Amethie  {Fort  of),  British  fugitives  pro- 
tected there,  233  ;  surrendered  to  Lord 
Clive,  by  Lall  Madhoo  Sing,  497. 

Amherst  {Lord),  dealings  with  Oude,  63. 

Amjherra,  native  state,  350  ;  execution  of 
rajah,  484. 

Anderson  (Lieut.  R.  P.),  defence  of  Luck- 
now outpost,  495. 

Annexation  and  infraction  of  Indian  laws 
of  inheritance,  37,  503. 

Anson  (General),  112;  his  innovations, 
128;  conduct,  131,  133,  135, 138,  154, 
177;  death,  178;  career,  181. 

Alison  (Hon.  Mrs.),  181. 

Aong,  engagement  at,  376. 

Arms  Act,  passed  by  Lord  Canning,  267. 

Arrah,  398  ;  Europeans  besieged,  402  ; 
attempted  relief  by  Captain  Dunbar, 
403  ;  successful  attempt  of  Major  Eyre, 
405  ;  second  British  disaster,  492. 

Aseerghur  (Fort  of),  336. 

Assam,  arrest  of  rajah,  490. 

Asylums  (Lawrence),  243. 

Atheism  (spread  of),  in  India,  13. 

Atrowlee,  seized  by  Kooer  Sing,  491. 

Attoci  (Fort  of),  held  by  British,  201. 

Augur,  mutiny,  351. 

Aurungabad,  353,  355. 

Ayodha,  226,  230,  232. 

Azim  Oollah  visits  London,  249;  insti- 
gates the  massacres  at  Cawnpoor,  380, 
381,  464  J  reported  death,  499. 

vol,.  H. 


Azimghur,  279,  491 ;  mutiny,  280;  occu- 
pation by  Kooer  Sing,  and  recapture 
by  British,  491. 

Bahar,  or  Behar,  disjiffection  caused  by 
resumptions  of  land,  490 ;  long-con- 
tinued insurrection,  492. 

Bahraetch,  mutiny,  225. 

Bainie  Madhoo,  Rana  of  Shunkerpoor 
[see  Note  to  p.  497] ;  evacuation  of 
fort,  497;  defeat  and  death  in  the  Terai, 
498. 

Balghur  (Ranee  of),  170. 

Balmain  (Captain  J.  H.),  369. 

Banda  (Nawab),  protects  European  fugi- 
tives, 312;  kindness  of  Begum,  314; 
massacre  of  Europeans  by  mutineers, 
315  ;  city  captured  by  Whitlock,  486 ; 
fate  of  the  Nawab,  500. 

Banks  (Major),  death  at  Lucknow,  386. 

Banpore  (Rajah  of),  336,  484. 

Banyans,  native  dealers,  271. 

Bareilly,  mutiny,  2 1 2 — 2 1 4 ;  rebel  govern- 
ment established  by  Khan  Bahadoor 
Khan,  476;  capture  and  reoccupation 
by  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  495. 

Barnard  (Sir  Henry),  178,  203  ;  dies  of 
cholera,  before  Delhi,  430. 

Barodia,  capture  of,  484. 

Barrackpoor,  127 ;  partial  mutiny  and 
first  bloodshed  by  Mungul  Pandy,  131, 

■   142;  disarming  of  brigade,  271. 

Battles — Ghazi-u-Deen  Nuggur,  203, 
Badulee-ke-Serai,  206  ;  Chinhut,  239  ; 
near  Agra,  361;  Ravee,  372;  Futteh- 
poor,  374  ;  Aong  and  Pandoo  Nuddee, 
376;  near  Cawnpoor,  377;  Oonao,  389; 
Busserut  Gunj,  389  ;  near  Arrah,  403  ■ 
Lucknow  (garrison  reinforced),  418; 
Nujufghur,  438  ;  Delhi,  442  ;  Bolund- 
shuhur,  461  ;  Agra,  462  ;   Alumbagh, 

'■  465  ;  Lucknow  (garrison  relieved),  467 ; 
Cawnpoor,  473,  475;  Lucknow  (city 
regained  by  Sir  Colin  Campbell),  480 ; 
Betwa,  485;  Jhansi,  485;  Koonch, 
486  ;  Banda,  486  ;  Atrowlee,  491  ;  Jug. 
despoor,  492;  Royea,493;  Bareilly,  494. 

Battye  (Lieut.  Quinlin),  of  tlxfNGuides, 
killed  at  the  siege  of  Delhi,(^0§P 

Beadon,  Secretary  to  Government,  23. 

Beatson  (Captain  Stuart)  offer  to  raise 
cavalry  corps,  278  ;  death,  394. 

Bedars,  aboriginal  tribe,  50. 

Beecher  (John),  conduct  in  Huzara,  94. 

Be-duk-ilee,  dispossession  grievance,  225. 

Benares,  15,  281;  mutiny,  284;  titular 
rajah,  287. 

Bengal  army,  108 — 110;  condition  in 
1857,  126;  in  1858,  .503. 

Bentinck  (Lord  William),  56,  104. 

Betwa  river,  battle  near,  485. 

Bhaugulpoor,  defection  of  5th  I'.C,  415. 

Bhopal,  native  state,  344  ;  Ranee  of,  484. 

Bhopal  contingent,  344,  484. 

Bhopawur,  in  Malwa,  350. 

Bhurtpoor  (Rajah  of),  186,  268. 

Bignell  (Captain,  lOM  N.I.),  death,  327. 

Bird  (Robert  Martin),  conduct  to  na- 
Uves,  84. 

3t 


Bird  (Major  R.  W.),  72,  89. 

Bithoor,  residence  of  Nana  Sahib,  249, 
evacuated  by  him,  384,  392. 

Blair  family,  sufferings  at  Cawnpoor,  383. 

Blake  (Major),  337  ;  killed  at  Gwalior, 
338  ;  escape  of  Mrs.  Blake,  338. 

Blowing  from  gunt,  in  1764,  99  ;  in  1857, 
491. 

Blue  books — garbled  despatches,  55 ;  care- 
less compilation,  321. 

Bolundshuhur,  engagement,  461. 

Bombay  army,  27th  N.I.,  412,  413  ;  co- 
lumns under  Rose  and  Roberts,  483; 
24th  and  25th  N.I. ,485;  10th  and  12th 
N.I.,  486. 

Boulderson  (H.  S.),  on  revenue  settle- 
ment in  N.W.  Provinces,  84,  93. 

Bourdillon  on  land-tenures  in  Madras,  5. 

Boyle  (Mr.),  besieged  in  dwelling-house 
at  Arrah,  404 ;  government  reward,  405. 

Brahmins  (Modern),  9. 

Brasyer  (Lieutenant),  294 ;  influence 
over  the  Seiks  at  Allahabad,  298. 

Brind  (Brigadier),  368  ;  killed  at  Seal- 
kote,  370. 

British  residents  at  Nagpoor,  48 ;  at 
Lucknow,  71. 

Bruere  (Major),  220  ;  saved  by  gepoy  at 
Chinhut,  239  ;  killed  at  Lucknow,  423. 

Budaon,  mutiny  and  bloodshed,  214. 

Buist  (Dr.),  editor  of  Bombay  Times,  20. 

Buldeo  Sing  (Thakoor),  339. 

Bulrampoor  (Rajah  of),  225,  227. 

Burhampoor,  or  Berhampoor,  1 29,  270 ; 
cavalry  disarmed,  416. 

Burton  (Major),  195  ;  killed  with  his  sons 
at  Kotah,  486. 

Busserut  Gunj,  389  ;  Havelock's  first  en- 
gagement with  rebels,  390 ;  second  en- 
gagement, 391;  third  engagement,  392. 

Byron's  (Lord)  warning,  123. 

Calcutta,  enrolment  of  volunteers,  267  ; 
panic,  272—274,  279. 

Calcutta  Chamber  of  Commerce,  269. 

Calpee,  mutiny,  329,  464  ;  arrival  of  Gwa- 
lior continjjent,  465,475,486;  expul- 
sion, and  British  reoccupation,  487. 

Campbell  (Lord  Clyde),  104,  107,  394; 
sent  from  England  as  commander-in- 
chief,  395  ;  person  and  character,  396  ; 
exertions  at  Calcutta,  397,  497  ;  nar- 
row escape  from  mutineers,  464  ;  ad- 
vance on  Lucknow,  466 ;  wounded, 
467  ;  relief  of  Lucknow  garrison,  469  ; 
evacuation  of  the  Residency,  470 ; 
General  Order  signed  at  the  Dilkoosha, 
471 ;  timely  arrival  at  Cawnpoor,  474 ; 
second  march  on  Lucknow,  477;  tele- 
gram reporting  capture  of  the  city, 
478  ;  Rohilcund  campaign,  492 ;  narrow 
escape  at  Bareilly,  495 ;  Oude  cam- 
paign, 496  ;  just  and  kind  treatment  of 
native  chiefs,  502. 

Campbell  (Lord),  on  judicial  incompe- 
tency in  India,  7. 

Campbell  (George),  opinions  expressed  in 
Modem  India,  41  ;  financial  commis- 
sioner for  Cade,  482. 


11 


IXDEX  TO  VOL.  II.  OF  THE  "  INDIAN  EMPIRE. 


Campbell  ( Colonel),  at  the  head  of  H.M. 
90th,  disarms  sepoys  at  Burhampoor, 
416  ;  death  at  Lucknow,  425. 

Canning  ( Viicount),  commencement  of 
administration,  1,  23  j  differences  with 
General  Anson,  135 ;  fatal  delay  in 
relieving  Cawnpoor,  207 ;  restriction 
of  the  press,  208 ;  calmness  during 
Calcutta  panic,  273;  Earl  Granville's 
vindication,  273  ;  checks  indiscriminate 
vengeance  of  civilians,  412  ;  differences 
with  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  477;  dif- 
ferenccs  with  Sir  James  Outram,  482. 

Canning  (Vitcountess),  gentle  courage, 
273  ;  alleged  letter  on  sepoy  atrocities, 
409. 

Canoujee  Lai,  Lucknow  messenger,  466. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope — troops  sent  thence 
to  India,  397. 

Camatic,  extinction  of  titular  nawabship, 
by  Lord  Dalhousie,  58. 

Cart/tew  (Brigadier),  at  Cawnpoor,  473. 

Cartridges  (greased),  126,  128,  139  ;  re- 
fused at  Meerut,  144  j  opinion  of 
Major  Harriott  refuted  by  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  501. 

Case  (Colonel),  killed  at  Chinhut,  239. 

Cashmere,  Maharajah  Goolab  Sing,  368  , 
succeeded  by  Rungbeer  Sing,  438. 

Cashmere  contingent,  438,  442. 

Caste,  16;  high-caste,  low-caste,  and  out- 
caste,  1 7  ;  sepoys  mutiny  on  account 
of,  100,  112,  501. 

Causes  of  the  mutiny  (alleged),  1 — 124; 
precarious,  inconsistent,  and  heavily- 
burdened  tenure  of  land,  2 — 6 ;  ad- 
ministration of  justice  tedious,  costly, 
and  uncertain,  6  ;  exclusion  of  natives 
from  honours  and  emoluments,  9 ; 
ignorance  of  Indian  languages  by 
British  functionaries,  and  aversion 
evinced  to  natives,  10 ;  missionary 
operations,  12;  caste,  16;  free  press, 
18  ;  opium  monopoly,  25  ;  neglect  of 
public  works,  26  ;  repression  of  British 

enterprise,    31  ;    annexation,   37 90  ; 

resumption  of  rent-free  lands,  90 — 93  ; 
rights  of  widows  set  aside,  92 ;  dis- 
organisation and  grievances  of  Benijal 
sepoys,  96 ;  Mohammedan  conspiracy, 
115;  Persian  war,  116;  Russian  in- 
trigues, 119. 

Cawnpoor,  126,  211;  account  of,  245; 
intrenchment,  247  ;  garrison,  247  ; 
mutiny,  252;  siege,  252;  appeals 
for  aid,  254,  257  ;  capitulation,  259  ; 
embarkation  and  first  massacre,  260  ; 
intelligence  disbelieved  at  Calcutta, 
373;  victorious  advance  of  Havelock, 
377  ;  flight  of  the  Nana,  and  second 
massacre,  378;  heroism  of  the  sufferers, 
379  ;  cliUdren  born  during  siege,  379  ; 
Nana's  proclamations,  380 ;  Sevada 
Kothee.  or  Salvador  House,  381  ;  the 
well,  383  ;  British  reoccupation  of  the 
city,  382;  measures  of  Neil/3H3)(  con- 
struction of  defences,  472  ;  Windham 
attacked  by  Gwalior  contingent,  473. 

Central  Indian  field  force,  483—490. 

Ceylon,  troops  thence  sent  to  India,  397. 

Chamberlain  (Neville),  211,  431,  444. 

Chandereefort,  capture  by  British,    484. 

Cheek  (Jinsign),  sufferings  and  death  at 
Allahabad,  291. 

Chester  (Adjutant-general),  killed,  206. 

Chinese  eipedition,  troops  diverted  to 
assistance  of  Indian  government,  397. 

Chinhut,  disastrous  expedition,  238. 

Chirkaree  (Rajah  of),  310. 

Cholera,  at  Allahabad,  301. 

Chuckladar,  revenue  farmer,  83.      , 

Chupatlies,  circulation  of,  137. 


Chupra,  station  in  Bahar,  398,  406. 

Chuprassies,  messengers,  242. 

Chutterpoor  (Ranee  of),  protects  Euro- 
peans, 309. 

Clerk  (Sir  G.),  Governor  of  Bombay,  42. 

Clive  (Lord),  organises  sepoy  force.  97. 

Colaba,  or  Kolaba,  annexation  of,  42,  44. 

Colvin  (John),  185,  359  ;  death,  365. 

Combermere  (Viscount),  at  Lucknow,  65. 

Cooper's  (Frederick)  Crisis  in  the  Pun- 
jab, 427  ;  his  own  account  of  the  ex- 
termination of  the  26th  N.I. ,  427— 429. 

Coopland's  (Mrs.)  escape  from  Gwalior, 
335  ;  visit  to  Queen  of  Delhi,  454. 

Curbett  (Brigadier),  at  Lahore,  199. 

Cortlandt  (  General  Van),  203. 

Cotton,  production  of,  in  India,  36. 

Cotton  (Lieut. -col.  H.),  69th  N.I.,  pro- 
ceedings at  Agra,  364,  463. 

Cotton  (Lieut. -col.  F.  C.),  chief  engineer 
at  Madras,  on  the  neglect  of  public 
works,  27. 

Courts -martial,  108 ;  Meerut,  144,  264  j 
Dinapore,  414. 

Craigie  (Captain),  3rd  N.C.,  143—150; 
account  of  Meerut  outbreak  by  his 
wife,  149. 

Cumberlege  (Colonel),  pursuit  of  Kooer 
Sing,  492. 

Cun'eticy,  insufficient,  24. 

Carrie  (Sir  Frederick),  opinions,  124. 

Dacca  muslin,  32. 

Dalhousie  (Marquis  of),  furtherance  of 
public  works,  28 ;  opinions  and  policy, 
41;  dealings  with  Oude,  75;  unqua- 
lified approval  of  E.  I.  Company,  89  ; 
financial  measures,  269. 

Davidson  (Mr.),  Hyderabad  resident,  354. 

Debt  (Indian),  269,  503. 

Deeg  Beejah  Sing,  Rajah  of  Byswarrah, 
protects  Cawnpoor  fugitives,  261. 

Delafosse  (Lieutenant),  gallantry  at  Cawn- 
poor, 256;  escapes  massacre,  261. 

Delhi,  106,  117  ;  mutiny  and  massacre, 
156—175;  siege,  206—211,  216,  357, 
430  ;  proceedings  witliin  the  city,  436  ; 
state  of  British  camp,  437  ;  storm,  442  ; 
blowing  in  of  the  Cashmere  gate,  442  ; 
failure  in  carrying  the  Lahore  gate, 
443;  drunkenness  and  looting,  444; 
loss  of  life,  444  ;  complete  occupation 
of  the  city,  445,  450  ;  church  of  Eng- 
land service  in  tlie  Dewani  Khas,  453  ; 
suicide  of  natives,  460 ;  number  of 
native  women  who  perished,  450,  460. 

Delhi  campaign  (works  written  on),  441. 

Delhi  (King  of),  acquaints  Mr.  Colvin 
with  proceedings  of  mutineers,  159; 
negotiations  during  siege,  431,  439; 
takes  refuge  in  Humayun's  tomb,  445  ; 
surrender,  447 ;  miserable  captivity, 
452 — 457  ;  trial,  500  ;  sentence  and 
deportation,  501. 

Delhi  (Qiceen  of),  Zeenat  Mahal,  434, 
439,  445 ;  character  and  appearance, 
453;  transportation,  501. 

Delhi  royal  family,  disaffection  caused  by 
proposed  suppression  of  titular  sove- 
reignty, 115;  surrender  and  fate  of 
princes,  448  ;  Jumma  Bukht,  455. 

Deprat,  (M.),  at  Lucknow,  237,  423. 

Derby  (Earl  of),  Indian  debate,  407. 

Dhar,  Rajpoot  principality,  350  ;  annexa- 
tion by  Lord  Canning,  503  ;  order  for 
its  restoration  by  E.  I.  Company  ig- 
nored by  Indian  government,  but 
reiterated  by  Lord  Stanley,  503. 

Dholpoor  (Rana  of),  342,  462. 

Dhoreyrah  (Rajah  of),  223,  226. 

Dhunna  Sing,  old  Rajpoot  chief,  assists 
in  saving  Budaon  fugitives,  331. 


Dhurnia  Sobha,  Brahminical  association, 

at  Calcutta,  127. 
Dinapoor,  398,  401  ;  mutiny,  402 ;  conrt- 

martial  on  soldiers  of  H.M.  10th,  414. 
Dinkur  Rao,  Gwalior  minister,  339,  487. 
Disraeli,  on  the  vengeance-cry,  410. 
Dogras,  under  Van  Cortlandt,  203. 
Dorin,  (J.),  76  ;  minute  on  mutiny,  140. 
Dorin  (Vaptain  and  Mrs.),  223. 
Dost  Mohammed,  of  Cabool,  118,  429. 
Douglas  (Brigadier),  in  Behar,  492. 
D'Oyly  (Captain),  358  ;  death,  361. 
Dudman,  and  party,  protected  by  natives 

of  Oude,  223. 
Duff  (Dr.),  statements  of,  115,  275. 
Dugshai  sanatarium,  204. 
Dum  Dum  arsenal,  126. 
Dunbar  (Captain),  killed  in  attempting 

to  relieve  Arrah,  403. 
Durand  (Col.),  flight  from  Indore,  345. 
Duriabad,  mutiny,  235. 

East  India  Company,  summary  of  deal. 
ings  with  Great  Moguls,  457 — 459 ; 
extinction  of  sovereignty,  502. 

Eastwick  (Captain),  E.  I.  director,  125. 

Echaumr,  French  community,  352,  353. 

Editors  of  Indian  newspapers,  20, 

Edmonstone  (Mr.),  opinions,  38. 

Edwardes  (Colonel  Herbert),  94. 

Edwards  (William),  212;  adventures  with 
the  Probyn  family  in  Oude,  323. 

Eed  (Mohammedan  festival),  218. 

Eitel  Punt,  Mahratta  statesman,  9. 

Elgin  (Earl  of),  visit  to  Calcutta,  397. 

Ellenborough  (Earl  of),  anti-educational 
views,  14  ;  conduct  regarding  the  press, 
20,  39,  154  ;  opinions  on  British  post, 
tion  in  India,  267  ;  blames  sanguinary 
policy  pursued  at  Delhi,  451  ;  repu- 
diates Lord  Canning's  confiscating  pro- 
clamation, 483. 

Elphinstone  (Lord),  governor  of  Bombay. 
20,  188,  268,  397. 

Enam,  90  ;  commissions,  91 — 93,  490, 

Etawah,  or  Elah  (Rajah  of),  192. 

European  offcers  of  Native  regiments, 
272  ;  compelled  to  sleep  in  the  lines 
of  suspected  regiments,  345. 

Ewart  (Colonel  and  Mrs.),  250 ;  letter! 
from  Cawnpoor,  251,  259;  fate,  260. 

Eyre  (Major  Vincent),  relief  of  Arrah  ; 
rebuked  by  Sir  Colin  Campbell  for  de- 
stroying  Hindoo  temple,  405. 

Famines,  caused  by  governmental  neglect, 
27  ;  pecuniary  loss  in  Guntoor,  28. 

Farquharson  (R.  N.),  sessions  judge,  400; 
honourable  conduct  at  Patna,  407. 

Feroze  Shah,  Prince  of  Delhi,  449,  497 ; 
ability  and  courage,  499,  500,  501. 

Ferozpoor,  183;  mutiny,  429,  494. 

Finance,  Lord  Dalhousie's  measures,  269  ; 
difficulties  of  Lord  Canning,  270; 
arrangements  at  Agra,  363 ;  loans 
raised  by  Sir  J.  Lawrence  for  Delhi 
campaign,  450. 

Finnis  (Col.),  killed  at  Meerut,  152. 

Fisher  (Colonel),  15th  I.C,  221 ;  cha- 
racter,  233  ;  shot  at  Sultanpoor,  234. 

Fitchett,  a  half-caste,  his  adventures,  and 
account  of  massacre  of  women  and 
children  at  Cawnpoor,  263,  382. 

Flour,  production  in  India,  36. 

Forsyth  (Douglas),  Umballah  cemmis. 
sioner,  208. 

Fouj  ki  Beera,  will  of  the  army,  221. 

Franks  (Brigadier),  column  under,  478. 

Eraser  (Commissioner),  killed,  159. 

French  Nuns  rescued  at  Sirdhana,  182  ; 
Sisters  of  Charity  saved  at  Sealkote,  370. 

French  volunteer  services  during  Arrah 
expedition,  403 ;  reward,  405. 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  11.  OF  THE  "  INDIAN  EMPIRE.' 


in 


Frere  (Sinde  Commissioner),    118. 

Friend  of  India,  threatened  withdrawal 
of  licence,  22,  454  ;  cause  of  reTolt  in 
North-West  Provinces  and  Behar,  490. 

Pulton  {Captain  George),  of  the  engineers, 
242,387  ;  killed  at  Lucknow,  423. 

Purruckabad,  320  j  Nawab  of,  328,  500  ; 
massacre,  329  ;  occupation  by  British, 
476  ;  two  nawabs  hung,  476. 

Puttehghur,  320  ;  mutiny,  324  ;  massacre, 
47.5;  reoccupied  by  British,  476. 

Fuitehpoor,  315;  insurrection,  316;  vic- 
tory of  Havelock  near,  373  ;  camp  of 
Sir  Colin  Campbell,  477. 

Fyzahad,  226  ;  mutiny,  229  ;  flight  and 
massacre  of  Kuropeans,  231. 

Garracotta.  hill-fort,  484. 

Gkazin,  at  battle  of  Bareilly,  494. 

Gladntone,  on  the  Indian  debt,  269. 

Goldney  {Colonel),  226;  death,  231. 

Gomm  {Sir  William),  UO,  135. 

Gondah,  mutiny,  225 ;  fate  of  Rajah  and 
Ranee,  498. 

Goorgaon,  station  abandoned,  185. 

Goorkat,  107,  204,  206;  auxiliaries  from 
Nepaul,  under  Jung  Bahadur,  477; 
their  return,  laden  with  loot,  482. 

Goorserai  Chief,  proceedings  of,  319. 

Gopecfjunge,  village-burning  near,  302. 

Gora  logue,  white  people,  213. 

Goruckpoor,  village-burning  near,  491. 

Graham  (Dr.  James),  and  Dr.  John  Colin 
Graham,  killed  at  Seaikote,  370. 

Gram,  a  coarse  grain,  258. 

Grant  {Brigadier  Hope),  210,  463. 

Grant  {J.  P.),  76,  141  ;  made  Lieutenant- 
governor  of  Central  Provinces,  412. 

Grant  {Sir  Patrick),  115,  275,  373. 

Graves  {Brigadier),  at  Delhi,  161. 

Greathed  (H.  H.),  145  ;  account  of  occu- 
pation of  Delhi,  450  ;  death,  451. 

Great  Moguls,  456  ;  literary  accomplish- 
ments of  the  dynasty,  456  ;  verses  by 
the  blind  Shah  Alum,  and  by  the  ex- 
king  Mohammed  Bahadur  Shah,  456  ; 
treatment  by  E.  I.  Company,  458. 

Grey  (Sir  George),  governor  of  S.  Africa, 
zealous  aid  to  Indian  government,  397. 

Grove  {Colonel  Somerset),  late  of  the 
Gwalior  contingent,  333  ;  information 
communicated  by  him,  337,  343. 

Gubbins  (P.),  Benares  judge,  287. 

Gubbins  {Martin),  82 ;  opinion  on  revenue 
system,  84  ;  conduct  at  Lucknow,  218, 
123  ;  "  Gubbins'  House,"  424  ;  alleged 
reproof  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  470. 

Guide  corps,  201 ;  march  to  Delhi,  207. 

Guise  (Capt.),  killed  at  Benares,  284. 

Gwalior,  40,  332  ;  mutiny  of  contingent, 
337,  escape  or  massacre  of  Europeans, 
338 ;  Sindia  and  his  minister  detain 
contingent,  339  ;  the  Baiza  Bye,  487  ; 
her  courage  and  steadfastness,  488 ; 
advance  of  Maharajah,  to  meet  rebels, 
487;  flight  of  Sindia  and  his  family, 
488;  occupation  by  rebel  leaders,  488  ; 
capture  of  city  by  Rose,  and  restoration 
cf  Sindia,  489. 
Gwalior  contingent,  333;  mutiny,  337, 
351,  462;  besiege  Cawnpoor,  473; 
defeated  by  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  475  ; 
reassemble  at  Calpee,  475;  driven 
thence  by  Sir  Hugh  Rose,  487. 
Gya,  civil  station  in  Behar,  398,  407. 

Hailiday  {Lieutenant-governor  of  Bengal), 
advocates  police  reform,  6  ;  repudiates 
proceedings  of  Major  Holmes,  398 ; 
removes  Mr.  Taylor  from  Patna,  407  ; 
censures  impolitic  lone  of  Anglo-Indian 
press  regarding  natives,  408. 


Hamilton  {Sir  Robert),  345,  351 ;  return 
to  Indore,  4«4. 

Handtcomb  {Brigadier),  killed,  219. 

**  Hanging  Commissioners,"  296,  499. 

Hansi,  Hurriana  battalion  mutiny,  208. 

Hardinge  {Lord),  71,  105. 

Harriott  {Major),  deputy  judge-advo- 
cate-general— presides  at  Meerut  court- 
martial,  144,  264  ;  presides  at  trial  of 
the  King  of  Delhi,  500;  death  and 
great  wealth,  501. 

Harris  {Lord),  governor  of  Madras,  22; 
on  censorship  of  the  press,  268. 

Harris  {Major),  killed  at  Mhow,  348. 

Hattrass,  mutiny,  192. 

Havelock  {Sir  Henry),  275  ;  appearance 
and  character,  279 ;  advance  upon 
Cawnpoor,  374  ;  Futtehpoor,  375 ; 
General  Order  after  the  battle,  376;  san- 
guine anticipations  of  relieving  Luck- 
now, 384  ;  disastrous  campaign  in  Oude, 
390,  392;  retreat  to  Cawnpoor,  392; 
reverses.  393,  417  ;  reinforcement  of 
Lucknow,  419;  made  a  K.C.B.,  471; 
death  at  the  Dilkoosha,  471 ;  grave  at 
the  Alumbagh,  471. 

Hawkins  (Captain),  337;  killed  with  his 
children  at  Gwalior,  343. 

Hay  (Lord  William),  218. 

Hay,  American  missionary,  415. 

Hayes  {Capt.  Fletcher),  60;  death,  192; 
wife  and  family  at  Lucknow,  246. 

Hazareebaugh,  mutiny,  406. 

Hearsey  (Maj.-gen.),  127;  timely  warn- 
ing regarding  greased  cartridges,  127, 
128  ;  promptitude  at  Barrackpoor,  132  ; 
reproved  by  Lord  Canning,  141  ;  dis- 
arms Barrackpoor  brigade,  271. 

Hearsey  (Captain  John),  adventures,  226. 

Heber  {Bishop),  63,  123. 

Hedayut  AH,  on  causes  of  mutiny,  112. 

Herat,  independence  guaranteed,  117. 

Hewitt  (Maj.-gen.),  at  Meerut,  151. 

Higginson  (Sir  James),  Mauritius,  397. 

Htllersdon  (Mr.  and  Mrs.),  250,  260. 

Himam  Bhartee  of  Dhunoura,  169. 

Hingun  Lall  protects  fugitives,  292. 

Hissar,  mutiny  and  massacre,  208. 

Hobart  (Lord),  letter  to  Times,  119. 

Hodson  (Captain),  202;  character,  446; 
obtains  surrender  of  King  and  Queen 
of  Delhi,  447  ;  kills  the  princes,  448  ; 
Mrs.  Hodson's  visit  to  the  Queen,  453  ; 
Captain  Hodson  shot  by  a  sepoy,  480. 

Hodson's  Horse,  202 ;  nicknamed  the 
Flamingoes,  437. 

Hogge  (Colonel),  humanity  to  Prince 
Jumma  Bukht,  455. 

Holcar,  Maharajah  of  Indore,  40,  186, 
345;  fearless  integrity,  348. 

Holmes  (Major),  proclaims  martial  law 
at  Segowlie,  398  ;  excessive  severities, 
401  ;  killed  by  mutineers,  400. 

Home  (Dr.  A.  C),  defence  of  the  wounded 
in  the  city  of  Lucknow,  421. 

H^ondees,  bills  of  exchange,  52. 

Hope  (Brigadier  Adrian),  468,  469; 
killed  at  Royea,  493. 

Humeerpoor,  316  ;  mutiny,  317. 

Huaiwuut  Sing  {Lull),  talookdar  of  Dha- 
roopoor,  his  noble  conduct,  235. 

Hurdeo  Buksh,  of  Dhurumpoor,  323 ; 
character  and  a|ipearance,  326. 

Hutchinson  (Lieut.).  Bheel  agent,  350. 

Huzara  district,  2U2. 

Hyderabad,  49;  transfer  of  territory, 
55  ;  Times  advocates  annexation,  268  ; 
steadfastness  of  Salar  Jung  and  Shunis- 
ool-Omrah,  268,  353;  death  of  Nizam, 
353;  his  successor,  353;  mutiny,  355; 
disturbances  in  the  city,  356. 

Hyderabad  contingent,  354,  488. 


Tjara,  contract  revenue  system,  71. 

Ikbal,  or  Ekbal,  luck,  199. 

Incendiary  free  precede  mutiny,  139,218. 

India,  condition  of,  in  1856,  1. 

Indian  army,  organisation,  96,  100;  first 
native  court-martial,  96;  pay  of  sepoys, 
100;  abolition  of  flogging,  104  ;  Bengid 
army,  108 — 110;  sepoy  grievances,  111 
— 115;  native  army,  125;  statistics  in 
1857,  126  ;  extermination  or  dispersion 
in  1857;  rapid  reconstruction,  and  pre- 
carious condition,  502. 

Indian  princes,  study  European  politics 
and  journals,  368. 

Indore,  344  ;  mutiny,  345. 

Inglis  (Brigadier  John),  238  ;  Mrs.  Inglis 
at  Lucknow,  424,  461,  470. 

Innes  (Brigadier),  at  Ferozpoor,  183. 

Interest  on  money,  rate  of,  34. 

Intoxication  among  British  troops,  384, 

Invaliding  regulations  for  sepoys,  137. 

Jabooah,  350 ;  rajah  of,  351 ;  princess- 
regent  protects  Europeans,  351. 

Jackson  (Sir  Mountttuart,  and  his  cisters), 
223  ;  their  fate,  480. 

Jacob  (Major  J.),  on  native  army,  110. 

Jalonn,  annexation,  317  ;  mutiny,  318. 

Jaunpoor,  mutiny,  290 — 292. 

Jhanjji,  annexation,  56  ;  Ranee  Lakshmi 
Bye,  57  ;  peculiar  hardship  of  her  case, 
58 ;  mutiny,  304 ;  massacre,  305 ;  Ranee 
besieged  by  Rose,  483 ;  palace  carried  by 
storm,  484  ;  flight  of  Ranee,  and  execu- 
tion of  her  father,  485  ;  Ranee  slain  at 
Gwalior,  489. 

Jheend,  Cis-Sutlej  state,  services  of  the 
Rajah,  188,  437,  438. 

Jhelvm,  mutiny,  367. 

Jhvjjur  (Nawab  of),  executed,  500. 

Johnstone  (Capt.  Hope),  at  Lucknow,  479. 

Jones  (Col.  J.),  60th  Rifles,  432,  445,494. 

Jones  (Colonel  R.  H.),  494. 

Jones  (Mr.),  account  of  Futtehghur  mu- 
tiny and  massacre,  321. 

Jowalla  Persaud,  259,  500. 

Jubbulpoor,  execution  of  Gond  rajah  and 
his  son,  490  ;  mutiny,  491. 

Jugdespoor,  palace  and  temple  destroyed 
by  Major  Eyre,  406 ;  British  detach- 
ment defeated  there,  492. 

Jullundur,  mutiny,  366. 

Jung  Bahadur,  Nepaulese  minister,  277; 

•  march  in  command  of  Goorka  auxi- 
liaries, 477;  arrival  at  Lucknow,  479; 
return  to  Nepaul,  482;  made  a  K.C.B., 
482 ;  defeats  rebels  in  the  Terai,  498. 

Jutog,  hill-station,  panic,  204. 

Kaiserbagh  palace,  Lucknow,  237,  479. 

Kantzow  (Lieutenant  de),  9th  N.I.,  190. 

Kaporthella  (Rajah  of),  200. 

Kavanagh,  adventure  from  Lucknow,  466  ; 
reward  from  government,  466. 

Kerr  (Lieut.),  saves  Kolapoor,  412. 

Kerr  (Lord  Mark),  at  Azimghur,  491. 

Khalsa,  elect  or  chosen,  199. 

Khan  Bahadoor  Khan,  of  Bareilly,  213; 
revolt,  476  ;  able  instructions  to  rebel 
troops,  492  ;  evacuates  Bareilly,  495 ; 
surrender,  500, 

Khyr,  193  ;  defeat  and  execution  of  Rao 
Bhossa  Sing,  193. 

Kinnaird  (Hon.  A.),  on  Indian  police,  C. 

Kirke(Major),  12th  N.I.,  307;  deatli,  311. 

Knyvelt  (Col.),  escape  from  Delhi,  166. 

Kolapoor,  mutiny,  412. 

Kooer  Sing,  of  Jugdespoor,  liigh  character 
and  great  age,  400  ;  revolt,  404  ;  palace 
destroyed  by  Major  Eyre,  406  ;  influ- 
euce  as  a  leader,  ^'jO ;  death,  492. 

Koonch,  victoi-y  of  Sir  Hugh  Hose,  48G. 


IV 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  11.  OF  THE        INDIAN  EMPIRE. 


Kotah  {Rajah  of),  486. 

Kotah  contingent,  360;  mutiny,  360,  430  j 

mutineers  expelled  from  Kotah,  486. 
Kri»hnngur  (native  Christians  of),  265. 
Kubrai,  town  in  Jaloun,  311. 
Kudjvra  engagement,  464. 
Kumaon  district,  212. 
Kumaul  (jVoirai  o/"),  his  services,  169. 
Kusaowlie  sanatarium,  204. 

Lahore,  Rajah  Jowahir  Sing,  203 ;  mutiny 

and  extermination  of  26th  N.I.,  426. 
Lake  {Lord),  treatment  of  sepoys,  103. 
Lata  Jolee    Persaud,    Agra    contractor, 

358  J  great  services,  363. 
Lull  Madhoo  Sing  (Rajah  of  Amethie), 
233.    (See  Note  to  page  497)  ;  surren- 
der of  fort  to  Lord  Clyde,  497, 
Land-revenue,  4 — 6,  32. 
Land-tenure,  2 — 6. 
Latcrence  Asylums,  243,  244. 
Laurence  {G.  H.),  at  Lucknow,  242. 
Lawrence  {Sir  Henry),  warning  regarding 
Oude,  88  ;  conduct  in  the  Punjab,  94  ; 
in  Oude,  139,  141,  217;  person,  219; 
221,   228  ;    Chinhut  expedition,  238  ; 
narrow  escape,  242  ;  death,  243  ;  Lady 
Lawrence,   243  ;  character,  244  ;  sug- 
gestions to  Lord  Canning  for  relief  of 
Cawnpoor,  disregarded,  266  ;  373  ;  love 
and   reverence  shown  to  his  memory, 
throughout  India,  432. 
iMwrence  {Sir  John),  197,  201 ;  advice 
to  General  Anson,  201  ;  a  dictator  in 
Northern  India,  430,  434  ;  conduct  at 
Delhi,    451  ;     opinion    regarding    the 
cause  of  the  mutiny,  501. 
Layard  {'>A.P.  for  Aylesbury),  55;  visit 

to  captive  King  of  Delhi,  455. 
Ijcnnox  {Col.),  escape  with   his  family, 

from  I''yzabad,  231. 
Leslie  {Sir  N.),  assassination  of,  415. 
Lloyd  {Major-general),  282  ;  conduct  at 
Dinapoor,    398,    402,    401  ;     removal 
from  divisional  command,  414. 
Logassee,  310  ;  rajah  of,  310. 
Loot,  at  Delhi,  45 1 ,  452 ;  at  Lucknow,  479. 
Low  {Colonel),  mission  to  Hyderabad,  53; 

opinions  on  the  mutiny,  140. 
Lucknow,  population,  217  ;  mutiny,  219, 
235  ;  natives  engaged  in  defence  of  the 
Residency,  236  ;  preparations  for  siege, 
237  ;  Cawnpoor  battery,  237  ;  public 
securities,  237 ;  Chinhut  expedition^ 
238;  commencement  of  siege,  241; 
mutiny  of  sepoys  and  native  police  at 
Dowlutkhana and  Imaumbara,241;  Re- 
sidency, 242;  Sir  H.  Lawrence  killed, 
243;  reported  advance  of  Havelock,  3B6; 
mines  and  counter-mines,  387;  bread- 
want,  388  ;  Outram's  plans  of  advance 
overruled  by  Havelock,  417,419;  rush  to 
the  Baillie  Guard,  420  ;  massacre  in  the 
dhoolies,  421;  resources  of  garrison,  423 
424,  465  ;  Sir  Colin  Campbell  reaches 
the  Alumbagh,  465  ;  captures  Dilkoosha 
and  Martiniere,  466,  Secunderabagh 
and  Shah  Nujeef,  467;  relief  of  garrison, 
409  ;  bombardment  of  Kaiserbagh,  170; 
evacuation  of  the  Residency,  471;  Jessie 
Brown  story,  470  ;  Sir  Colin  Campbell 
and  the  Lucknow  ladies,  470;  his 
second  advance  on  Lucknow,  478  ;  cap- 
ture of  the  Chuckerwalluh,  or  Yellow 
Bungalow,  478  ;  Begum  Kothee  taken, 
478;  Kaiserbagh  evacuated,  479;  re- 
occupation  of  city,  480  ;  proclamation 
issued  by  order  of  Lord  Canning,  modi- 
fied by  Outram,  482. 
Lvgard  {Sir  Edward),  401,  492. 
Lulluipoor.  iiiuiiny,  33o. 
Luthington  {Henry),  appointments,  6. 


Lytton  {SirE.  Bulwer),  on  the  mutiny,  2. 

Mncaulay  {Lord),  "on  nabobs,"  123. 

Macdonald  {Major),  Rohnee  outbreak, 
415,  and  Bhaugulpoor  mutiny,  416. 

Macgregor  {Lieutenant),  carried  off  and 
killed  by  52nd  N.I.,  491. 

M'Killop  {John),  death  at  Cawnpoor,  379. 

Mamaghten,  {Mr.),  at  Uniritsir,  199. 

Macpherson  {Major),  Gwalior  resident, 
332  ;  escape  to  Agra,  339  ;  co-opera- 
tion witli  Sindia  and  Dinkur  Rao, 
362  ;  return  to  Gwalior,  488. 

Madras,  misery  of  ryots,  15 ;  column 
under  General  Whitlock,  483  ;  capture 
of  Banda,  486. 

Magna  Charta  of  Bengal,  35. 

Mahidpoor,  or  Mehidpore,  346. 

Majendie  (Lieutenant),  account  of  bar- 
barities committed  at  the  taking  of 
the  Yellow  Bungalow,  Lucknow,  478, 

Malaghur  fort,  defences  destroyed,  461. 

Malcolm  {Sir  John),  40,  105. 

Malwa  Bheel  corps,  350. 

Malwa  contingent,  344 ;  mutiny,  360. 

Mansel,  Nagpoor  commissioner,  45. 

Mamfeld  { General),  470, 47H,  493. 

Manufactures  {Native),  32  ;  calico,  32. 

Mara  {Lieutenant  and  Mrs.),  death,  291. 

Marshmayi  {Dr.),  proprietor  of  Friend  of 
India,  276. 

Massacre  of  Europeans — Meerut,  148 
151  ;  Delhi,  172—174;  Bareilly,  213  ; 
Shahjehanpoor,  214;  Budaon,  215; 
Seetapoor,  223;  near  Aurungabad,  224; 
Bahraetch,  225  ;  Cawnpoor,  260—263  ; 
Allahabad,  294,  295;  Jhansi,  305,  306; 
Futtehghur  and  Singhee  Rampore, 
325;  Furruckabad,  329;  Gwalior,  338 
—344;  Indore,  346;  Agra,  362;  Seal, 
kote,  370;  Cawnpoor  (male  portion  of 
the  Futtehghur  fugitives),  326;  Sevada 
Kothee,  Cawnpoor,  381  ;  (of  surviving 
women  and  children  from  Futtehghur 
and  the  Cawnpoor  intrenchment),  382 ; 
Lucknow,  481. 

Maun  Sing  {Rajah),  226  ;  family  history, 
227;  character  and  position,  229;  con- 
duct during  siege  of  Lucknow,  425,  481  ; 
capture  of  Tantia  Topee,  498. 

Mead,  {H.),  5,  21  ;  superseded  as  editor  of 
Friend  of  India,  22,  269. 

Meean-MeeVy  sepoys  disarmed,  196. 

Meer  Furzund  Ali  and  his  artillerymen, 
their  fidelity  at  Lucknow,  236. 

Meer  Mehndie  Hussein,  or  Hossein,  pro- 
tects the  Lennox  family,  232,  426  ;  a 
rebel  leader,  478  ;  surrenders  to  Lord 
Clyde  on  terms  offered  by  royal  procla-  I 
mation,  498. 

Meer  Mohammed  Hussein  Khan  {Nazim), 
protects  Europeans  in  hia  fort  near 
Goruckpoor,  232. 

Meerut,  126,  143;  native  cavalry  refuse 
cartridges,  144;  court-martial,  U5 ; 
mutiny,  147;  155,  183,  431. 

Melville  (Viscotint),  on  sepoy  mutiny, 
106  ;  Indian  command,  110,  114, 

i  Metcalfe  {Sir  Charles,  aftertoards  Lord), 

removes    restrictions    on    press,      18 ; 

opinions  on    British    settlers,    33 ;    on 

intercourse  with  Native  princes,  38. 

Metcalfe    {Sir    Theophilus),    117,    159; 

rtight  from  Delhi,  169  ;  return,  451. 
M/iftw,  5ii;  mutiny,  347. 
Mill  (the  historian),  12. 
Mill  {Mqjor  and  Mrs.),  Fyzabad,  233. 
Mirza  Mohammed  Shah,   one  of  Delhi 

princes,  115. 
Mindonary    operations,    155;     American 
Board  of  Missions — Futtehghm-  station, 

yti. 

Mithowlee  {Rqjnh  Loiiee  Sing,  of),  223, 


224,  480;  surrender,  trial,  and  sea- 
fence,  500. 

Mnfussil  (country),  community,  6. 

Mohumdee,  mutiny,  massacre.  224,  494. 

Monckion  {Lieut,  and  Mrs.),  321 ;  letters 
from  Futtehghur,  322 ;  perish  in  the' 
Singhee  Rampore  massacre,  325. 

Money  (Alonzo),  fiehar  magistrate,  400, 
407  ;  reproved  by  Sir  C.  Campbell,  494. 

Montgomery  {Sir  Robert),  197 ;  con- 
gratulatory letter  to  Cooper,  on  ex- 
termination of  26th  N.I.,  429;  to  Hod- 
son,  on  "  catching  the  king  aiid  slay- 
ing his  sons,"  449;  supersedes  Sir  J. 
Outram  at  Lucknow,  482. 

Afoo/Zan,  revolt  of  neighbouring  tribes,465. 

Moolvee  of  Allahabad,  293,  299. 

Moolvee  of  Aurungabad,  356. 

Moolvee  {Ahmed  Oollah),  of  Fyzabad  or 
Lucknow,  229,  263,  386,  480,  494  ; 
death,  497. 

Moore  (magistrate  of  Mirzapoor),  302  ; 
village-burning,302 ;  assassination.  411. 

Moore  {Capt.),  bravery  at  Cawnpoor,  255, 
259  ;  shot  at  time  of  embarkation,  260. 

Moradabad,  mutiny,  21G. 

Mozufferpoor,  station  bravely  held,  407. 

Muchee  Bhawn,  217;  evacuation,  242. 

Mullaon,  station  abandoned,  225. 

Mullapoor,  station  abandoned,  225. 

Mummoo  Khan,  the  Begum  of  Oude's 
minister,  480  ;  dismissed  by  her,  sur- 
renders to  British  government,  480. 

Mundesore  {Pass  of),  forced  by  Rose.  484. 

Mungul  and  Mytaub  Sing,  Rajpoot 
chiefs  and  twin-brothers  killed,  461. 

Mungulwar  encampnumt,  389,  418. 

Munro  {Major  Hector),  99. 

Munro  {Sir  T.),  8  ;  Ryotwar  system,  84. 

Murray  {Mrs.),  wife  of  sergeant,  asser- 
tions regarding  siege  of  Cawnpoor,  252. 

Mutilations  {alleged),  of  Europeans,  409. 

Mutiny  of  Europeans  (1757),  97;  sepoys 
(1757),  97  ;  Europeans  and  sepoys 
(1764),  98;  sepoys,  (1764),  99;  Eu- 
ropeans (1766),  100;  sepoys  (1782  and 
1795),  101;  (1849),  107;  mutinies  of 
1857-'58.  (See  Meerut,  Delhi,  Luck- 
now, Cawnpoor,  &c.) 

Muttra  {City  of),  mutiny,  193. 

Mynpoorie,  mutiny,  190  ;  gallant  defence 
of  the  station  by  Lieut,  de  Kantzow 
and  Rao  Bhowanee  Sing,  first  cousin  to 
the  Rajah,  191 ;  taken  possession  of  by 
British,  475. 

Mynpoorie — Tej  Sing  {Rajah  of),  191, 
defeated  by  Col.  Seaton,  475. 

Nagode,  314;  mutiny,  491. 

Nagpoor,  or  Berar,  annexation,  44 ;  treat- 
ment of  the  Ranees,  46. 

Najir  Khan,  revolt  and  barbarous  execu- 
tion, at  Futtehghur,  476. 

Nana  Sahib,  Ud;  history,  248;  appew- 
ance,250;  besieges  English  in  Cawnpoor 
intrenchment,  263 ;  three  massacres 
of  Europeans,  260,  3sl,  382;  evacu- 
ates Cawnpoor,  378;  proclamations 
issued  by  him,  380  ;  famous  ruby,  384  ; 
alleged  death  in  the  Terai,  499. 

Nanpara,  native  state,  225. 

Napier  [Sir  Charles),  opinions,  11  ;  de- 
finition of  economy  in  India,  26,  40, 
104 ;  appointed  commander-in-chief, 
105;  resignation,  107,  124,  276. 

Native  Christians  at  Krishnagur,  265  ;  at 
Agra,  362  ;  at  Lucknow,  481. 

Natives,  fidelity  of,  150,  213,  340,  362,  &c 

Native  officials  underpaid,  95. 

Natives,  ill-treatment  of,  122 — 124. 

N'wn!  Jlrigaiie,  464,  465,  4  75. 

Nazim,  revenue  farmer,  83. 


INDEX  TO  VOT,.  IT.  OF  THE    "  INDIAN  EMPIRE. 


Neemuch  mutiny,  194. 

Neemuch  brigade,  430, 

Nfil.  282  ;  at  Benares,  283  ;  at  AUaliabad, 
297 — .WS  ;  at  Cawnpoor,  .S85  j  makes 
Brahmins  dean  up  blood,  385  ;  sliot  at 
Lueknow,  420. 

Nfpftffl,  Goorka  auxiliaries  from,  277. 

Neville  (Glastonbury),  Captain  of  en- 
gineers, killed  at  Barodia,  484. 

Nicholson  (Brigadier-general  John),  202  ; 
character  and  appearance,  372,  437  ; 
directs  storming  of  Delhi,  441;  wounded, 
443;  death,  459. 

Nirput  Sing,  expelled  from  Fort  Royea, 
493  ;  slain  in  the  Terai,  498. 

Nizam  of  Hyderabad  (late),  49;  con. 
tingent  and  subsidiary  force,  50;  his 
opinion  of  the  E.  I.  Company,  54  ;  death, 
268  ;  accession  of  Afzool-ood-Dowlah, 
26S. 

North-  Western  Provinces,  landowners  in, 

3  ;  revenue  settlement,  93  ;  disaffection 
caused  by  resumption  of  land,  490. 

Norton's  Rebellion  in  India,  58. 
Nowgong,  mutiny,  307. 
Nujufghur,  victory  of  Nicholson,  438. 
Nurgoond  (Rajah  of),  refused  permission 

to  adopt  a  successor;   revolt,   capture, 

and  execution,  503. 
Nmseerabad,  mutiny,   194;  Nusseerabad 

brigade  reach  Delhi,  210. 
Ntisseeree  battalion,  Goorkas,  204. 
Nyagong  (Ranee  of ),  Bundelcund,  310, 
Nynee  Tal,  sanitary  station,  212, 

O'Brien  (Dr.),  account  of  the  mutiny  at 
Lullutpoor,  336. 

Odeipore,  annexation  of  state,  49. 

Onilah,  or  native  writers,  242. 

Ommaney  (Mr.),  killed  at  Lueknow,  38fi. 

Oodipoor  (Rana  of),  kindness  to  fugitive 
English,  196. 

Oonao,  fortified  village,  engagement,  389, 

Oorai,  317  ;  mutiny,  319. 

Opium,  24  ;  government  monopoly,  and 
opium  shops,  25;  store  at  Vatua  and 
Ghazipoor,  401. 

Oram  (Colonel  James),  102. 

Order  of  British  India,  137. 

Order  of  the  Fish  (Mogul),  217. 

Osborne  (Lieut.),  Rewah  agent,  491, 

Oude,  or  Ayodha,  59  ;  sketch  of  successive 
rulers,  59 — 73  ;  cession  of  half  Oude  in 
1801,  62;  contested  succession,  65; 
suppressed  treaty  of  1837,  08  ;  conduct 
of  queen-mother,  79 ;  annexation  of 
kingdom,  and  confiscation  of  property, 
79;  mutinies  and  massacre,  217;  pro- 
gress of  revolt,  330 ;  operations  of  Sir 
Colin  Campbell,  496;  restoration  of 
tranquillity,     (See  Lueknow). 

Oude  (Wajid  Alt,  King  of),  deposition, 
81 ;  arrest  at  Calcutta,  274  ;  submission 
under  protest,  275. 

Oude  (Begum  of),  and  Prince  Birjis 
Kudder,  386,  425,  477  ;  flight  from 
Lueknow,  480,  481,  494;  character, 
499. 

Outram  (General  Sir  James),  Resident  at 
Lueknow,  74  ;  return  from  Persian  ex- 
pedition, 397  ;  ap])ointed  commissioner 
of  Oude,  397  ;  general  order  at  Dina- 
poor,  414;  anxiety  for  relief  of  Lurk- 
now,  417;  generosity  to  Havelock, 
417;  person  and  character,  418  :  urges 
adoption  of  more  humane  policy  towards 
sepoys,  418;  wounded  in  reinforcing 
Lueknow,  419  ;  proceedings  there,  425, 

4  65  ;  resigns  commissionership  of  Oude, 
rather  than  carry  out  Lord  Canning's 
confiscating  measures,  482. 

Outram  (/yB(/y),  flight  from  Alighur,  190. 


Pakington  (Sir  John),  on  Indian  mis- 
government,  and  use  of  torture  as  a 
means  of  collecting  revenue,  409. 

Pandoo  Nuddee  river,  bridge  carried  by 
Havelock,  376. 

Pandy  (Mun^'w/),  wounds  Adjutant  Baugb, 
131;  attempted  suicide,  132;  execu- 
tion, 133. 

Passees  of  Oude,  257, 

Patna,  398  ;  disturbances,  399. 

Peacock,  legal  member  of  council,  76. 

Peel  (Sir  William),  arrival  at  Calcutta, 
397  ;  success  at  Kudjwa,  464  ;  gallantry 
at  Lueknow,  467;  at  Cawnpoor,  475; 
wounded  at  recapture  of  Lueknow,  480  ; 
death  and  character,  480. 

Peishwa  (Bajee  Rao),  his  family,  249. 

Penny,  (Col.),  died  in  the  flight  from 
Nusseerabad,  194. 

Penny  (General),  shot  at  Kukrowlee,  494. 

Pershadipoor,  mutiny,  235, 

Persian  war,  116. 

Peshavmr,  200,  429. 

Peshawur  light  horse,  202. 

Phillour,  199  ;  mutiny,  366. 

Pierson  (Lieutenant  and  Mrs.),  saved  by 
sepoys  at  Gwalior,  338, 

Pirthee  Pal  Sing,  330. 

Platl  (Col.  2\st  N.I.),  at  Mhow,  345. 

Pondicherry,  French  trade,  36, 

Poorbealis,  199,  503, 

Population,  adult  male  European,  21. 

Portuguese  governor-general,  Viscount 
de  Torres  Novas,  zealous  co-operation 
with  Bombay  government,  413. 

Power  (John),  magistrate  of  Mynpoorie, 
190;  suspension,  476. 

Press,  18  ;  opinions  of  Lord  W.  Bentinck 
on  free  press,  18;  Munro,  Metcalfe, 
and  Lord  Elphinstone,  19  ;  Auckland, 
EUenborough,  and  Napier,  20  ;  censor- 
ship re-instituted  by  governor-general 
in  council,  with  approval  of  Lords 
Harris  und  Elphinstone,  22,  268  ;  edi- 
tor of  Friend  of  India  superseded,  269  ; 
statements  of  Friend  of  India  and 
Lahore  Chronicle,  455. 

Prize-money,  and  '*  loot," — Sinde,  41; 
Cawnpoor  and  Bithoor,  384 ;  Nujuf- 
ghur, 438;  Delhi,  441,  449;  Lueknow, 
480  ;  .Ihansi,  486.  [A  very  large  amount 
was  likewise  obtained  at  Banda,  and 
other  places]. 

Proclamations — of  Colvin  at  Agra,  187, 
218;  H.  Lawrence,  in  Oude,  218; 
mutineers  at  Delhi,  329  ;  Nana  Sahib 
at  Cawnpoor,  380,;  Lord  Canning,  re- 
garding Oude,  482 ;  Khan  Bahadoor 
Khan,  at  Bareilly,  492  ;  Queen  Vic- 
toria, 502  ;  Begum  of  Oude,  502. 

Punjab,  military  strength  in  Europeans, 
at  the  time  of  the  outbreak,  433 ; 
policy  pursued  to  landowners,  487. 

Punkah  (Rajah  of),  courage  and  fidelity, 
392,  484. 

Pvmeah  (Dewan  ofMysoor),  103. 

Putteala  (Rajah  of),  188,  important  ser- 
vices,   208. 

Raikes,  (G.  D.).  killed  at  Bareilly,  214, 
I  liaikcs,  (Charles),  Judge  at  Agra,  360, 
I  Rajpnotana,  or  Rajast' han,  194. 
I  RavMay  (Brigadier),  at  Gwalior,  334, 
j  Rumnay    (Major),     British    resident     at 

Nagpoor  and  Nepaul,  47,  48, 
Ramzan  AH  (Cazi),   maintains  order  at 

Chupra  station,  407. 
!  Rao  Sahib,  or  Bala  Rao,  380,  486,  498. 
Ratghur  fort,  taken  by  Sir  H.  Rose,  484, 
j  Ravee  river,  .Sealkote  mutineers,  overtaken 
and  almost  exterminated  by  Nicholson, 
'      371. 


Raurul  Pindee,  106 ;  sepoys  disarmed,  368. 

Reade  (F.A.),  arrangements  at  Agra,  363. 

Regiments  [European,  Royal) — 6tb  Dra. 
goon  Guards  (Carabineers),  143,  183, 
206  ;  9th  Dragoons  (Lancers),  176,  206, 
463,  465  ;  3rd  Foot,  184  ;  4th  Foot, 
397  ;  5th  Fusiliers,  397,  401  ;  8th  Foot, 
366,  462,  465;  10th  Foot,  281,  398, 
401,  402,  404,  414  ;  23rd  Foot,  466; 
24th  Foot,  201  ;  27th  Foot,  201 ;  32nd 
Foot,  140,  217,  237,  246,  387;  33rd 
Foot,  397  ;  34th  Foot,  473 ;  35th  Foot, 
265  ;  37th  Foot,  265,  397,  402  ;  42nd 
Highlanders,  493,  494;  52nd  Light 
infantry,  368  ;  53rd  Foot,  265,464,  465; 
60th  Rifles,  143,  459;  61st  Foot,  183, 
438,  450;  64th  Foot,  393,  418,  473; 
72nd  Highlanders,  486  ;  75th  Foot,  206, 
465  ;  78th  Highlanders,  265,  288,  420; 
79th  Highlanders,  494  ;  81st  Foot,  197, 
199  ;  82nd  Foot,  466,  473  ;  84th  Foot, 
246,  368,  407  ;  86th  Foot,  485  ;  90th 
Foot,  415,  421  ;  93rd  Foot,  464,  465, 
468,  493  ;  95th  Foot,  486,  488. 

Regiments  (European),  E.I.C. — 1st  Ben- 
gal Fusiliers,  204,  206;  2nd  Bengal  Fu- 
siliers, 206;  1st  Madras  Fusiliers,  247, 
265,  282;  3rd  Bombay  regiment,  485. 

Regiments  (Native), Si4 ;  dress  andappear- 
ance  of  Seiks,  Afghans,  and  Goorkas, 
452;  1st  Bengal  Light  Cavalry,  344,360; 
2nd  Light  Cavalry,  246,  252  ;  3rd  Light 
Cavalry,  143,  147,  167,  175  ;  3rd  Irre- 
gular Cavalry,  365  ;  4  th  Irregular  Ca- 
valry, 208 ;  5th  Light  Cavalry,  202,  4 1 5; 
5th  Irregular  Cavalry,  415;  6th  Light 
Cavalry,  211,  366;  7th  Light  Cavalry, 
220;  8th  Irregular  Cavalry,  212;  9th 
Irregular  Cavalry,  368;  10th  Light 
Cavalry,  183,  184,  429;  10th  Irregulat 
Cavalry,  201,  202  ;  11th  Irregular  Ca- 
valry, 416;  12th  Irregular  Cavalry, 
280,  398,  406,  418;  13th  Irregular 
Cavalry,  280,  283,  302,  374,  375  ;  14th 
Irregular  Cavalry,  304,  461  ;  15th  Ir- 
regular Cavalry,  233  ;  16th  Irregular 
Cavalry,  201 ;  18th  Irregular  Cavalry, 
202, 

1st  N.I.,  246,  252.  314;  2nd  N.I.  mu- 
tinied  at  Ahmedabad,  Sept.  15th,  1857; 
3rd  N.I.,  366;  4th  N.I.  [disarmed]; 
5th  N.I.,  176,  203  ;  6th  N.I.,  282,  293, 
316,  381  ;  7th  N.I.,  139,  398,  401  ; 
8th  N.I.,  398,  401,  406;  9th  N.I., 
189,  190,  435;  10th  N.I.,  321;  11th 
N.I.,  143,  147  ;  12th  N.I.,  304,  307, 
309,  461  ;  13th  N.I.,  220,  420,  423  ; 
14th  N.I.,  367  ;  15th  N.L,  194  ;  lOth 
N. I.,  Grenadiers,  198;  17th  N.L,  225, 
229,  232,  279;  18th  N.L,  212;  19th, 
N.L,  129,  132,  157;  20th  N.L,  143, 
147,  153;  21st  N.I.  [intact],  202,  413; 
22nd  N.L,  226,  231  ;  23rd  N.L,  344  j 
24th  N.I.  [disarmed  at  Peshawur]  ; 
25th  N.I.  [mutinied];  26th  N.L,  197. 
426;  28th  N.L,  213,  214,  355;  29th 
N.L,  212,  216;  30th  N.L,  194;  31st 
N.L,  365;  32nd  N.L,  404;  33rd  N.L, 
369;  34th  N.L,  132,  142;  35tli  N.L, 
368;  36th  N.L,  177,  211,  366;  37th 
N.L,  235,281—286;  38th  N.l,,  157; 
39th  N.I.  [disarmed  at  Jhelum];  40th 
N.I.,398,40l,414;4l8t  N.L,  223,324, 
365,  476;  42nd  Light  Infantry,  365; 
43rd  N.L,  183;  44th  N.L,  185,  193, 
358;  45th  N.L,  183,  213,  235;  46th 
N.I.,  368;  47th  N.L,  411  [did  not 
mutiny];  48th  N.L,  220;  49th  N.L, 
107,  197;  50th  N.L,  314,  491;  51st 
N.L,  202,  429;  52nd  N.L,  490,  491; 
53rd  N.L,  246,  252,  300,  318;  5ith 
N.L,  157,  160;  55th  N.L,  201,  202; 


■VI 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  II.  OF  THE  "  INDIAN  EMPIRE." 


56th  N.I  ,  246.  252,  300,  316;  57th 
N.I,  183,  235;  58th  N.I.,  308;  59th 
N.I.,  186,  199,  372;  60th  N.I.,  176, 
203,  210;  61st  N.I.,  211,  306;  62ncl 
N.I.  [disarmed  at  Mooltan] ;  63rd  N.I., 
270,  416:  64th  N.I.  [disarmed  at 
Peshawur],  May,  1857 ;  Calh  N.I. ,404 ; 
6Cth  N.I.  (old),  107;  (Goorka),  212; 
67th  N.I.,  185,  193,858;  68th  N.I., 
213,  215;  69th  N.I.  [mutinied  at 
Mooltan,  August,  31st  1858] ;  70th 
N.I.,  270;  71st  N.I.,  218,  219,  481; 
72nd  N.I.,  194,  360;  73rd  N.I.,  [two 
companies  mutinied  at  Dacca] ;  74th 
N.I.,  157, 194. 

Guide  Corps,  201,  277,  459.. 

1st  Punjab  Infantry.  201 ;  2nd  Punjab 
Infantry,  405;  4th  Punjab  Infantry. 
465;  5th  Punjab  Infantry,  201. 

1st  Oude  Infantry,  234,  241.  3rd  Oude 
Irregular  Cavali-y,  292;  4th  Oude  Irre- 
gular Infantry,  225,  241  ;  5th  Oude 
Irregular  Infantry,  235  ;  6th  Oude  Irre- 
gular Infantry,  226;  7th  Oude  Irre- 
gular Infantry,  241  ;  Sth  Oude  Irre- 
gular Infantry,  233;  9th  Oude  Irre- 
gular Infantry,  223,  224;  10th  Oude 
Irregular  Infantry,  223. 

10th  Bombay  N.I.,  486;  12th  Bombay 
N.I.,  486;  21st  Bombay  N.I.,  413; 
27th  Bombay  N.I. ,  412. 

Sees'  (L.  E.  R.),  Narrative  of  Lucknow 
siege,  238,  423. 

Reid  {Major-general),  at  Delhi,  207,  430. 

lleid  (Major),  Sirmoor  battalion,  207,  444. 

Religion,  155;  "Day  of  humiliation"  in 
England  and  India,  452. 

Renaud  (Major),  303 ;  march  of  "  aveng- 
ing columns"  from  Allaliabad  to  Cawn- 
poor,- 374  ;  death,  376. 

Residents  (British),  at  Nagpoor,  described 
by  Mr.  Mansel,  48;  at  Lucknow,  de- 
scribed by  Colonel  Sleeman,  71. 

Resumption  of  rent-free  lands,  90. 

Rewah  {Rajah  of),  491. 

Rewah  contingent,  268,  491. 

Revenue  system,  215. 

Rhodamow,  engagement  near,  493. 

Riplei/  (Colonel),  160;  death,  170. 

Roads,  government  neglect  of,  29. 

Robertson,  Judge,  killed  at  Bareilly,  214. 

Roclceis,  for  clearing  villages,  412;  effect 
at  the  Shah  Nujeif,  at  Lucknow,  409. 

Rohilcund,  212  ;  Sir  C.  Campbell's  cam- 
paign, 492. 

Rohnee,  disturbances  there,  415. 

Rose  (General  Sir  Hugh),  deopatches  re- 
garding campaign  in  Central  India, 
483;  captureof  Jhansi,  484;  sun-stroke 
at  Koonch,  486  ;  occupation  of  Calpee, 
487;  caj.ture  of  Gwalior,  488;  resig- 
nation, 490. 

Rosser  (Captain),   refused  leave  to   pur- 
Kue  Meerut  mutineers,    183;    mortally 
wounded  at  Delhi,  444. 
Rolton  (Rev.  J.  E  IV.),  sermon  at  Meerut, 
154  ;  account  of  siege  of  Dellii,  183,  453. 
Rnyea,  Fort  of  Nirput  Sing,  493. 
Russell  (]jOrd  John),  on  native  army,  122. 
Russell   (W.  J.),    IHmes'    special  corre- 
»l)ondent,124.  151,  229;  visit  to  captive 
King  of  Delhi,  450  ;  at  Bareilly,  495. 
Russian  intrigues,  121. 

Sadhs  of  Furruckabad,  328. 

Salaries  of  Europeans  and  natives,  31. 

Salkeld  (Lieut.),  killed  at  Delhi,  442. 

Salone,  mutiny,  234 

Salt  monopoly,  31. 

Samuells  (Mr.),  I'atna  commissioner,  408. 

Sansee,  mutiny,  359. 

Satlara   (annexation   of),    42 ;    disturb- 


ances, 413;  arrest  of  titular  rajah  and 
family,  413. 
Saugor,  partial  mutiny,  365  ;  fort  relieved 

by  Sir  Hugh  Rose,  484. 
Scott   (Captain),    304;    adventures   with 

"little  Lottie,"  312,  314. 
Sealkote,  134,  308  ;  mutiny,  369. 
Sealon  (Colonel),  appointed  prize   agent 
at  Delhi,  448  ;  march  from  Delhi,  475. 
Secrora,  mutiny,  225. 
Seepree,  mutiny,  351. 
Seetapoor,  mutiny  and  massacre,  223. 
Segowlie,  mutiny,  406. 
Sehore,  in  Bhopal,  345. 
Seiks,  or  Siihs,  201  ;    mutiny  of,  285, 
290;    at   Allahabad,    296;    at    Delhi, 
443. 
Sepogs  (Bengal),  affected  by  annexation 
of  Oude,  85—87  ;  character,  1 1 1,  122  ; 
fidelity  of  company  of  3rd    cavalry  at 
Meerut,  149, 153  ;  mode  of  dealing  with 
disarmed  regiments,  413;  outrage  upon 
faithful  40th  N.I.,  414  ;  gallant  death 
of  13th  N.I.  sepoys  at  Lucknow,  420. 
[The   instances   of  individual    fidelity 
are  too  numerous  for  reference]. 
Serai,  lodging  for  travellers,  200. 
Seymour  (Lord),  gallantry  as  a  volunteer 

at  the  relief  of  Lucknow,  466,  469. 
Shaftesbury  (Earl  of ),  mistake  regarding 
sepoy   atrocities,   and   Lady  Canning, 
409.   • 
Shahghur  (Rajah  of),  336,  484,  500. 
Shahgunje,  residence  at  Maun  Sing,  226. 
Shahjehanpoor,  mutiny  and  massacre,214; 

reoccupation  by  British,  494. 
Sheiahs,  Mohammedan  sect,  87,  115, 118. 
Shepherd,  government  clerk.  252  ;  account 

of  siege  of  Cawnpoor,  252,  253,  258. 
Shorapoor,   50 ;    capture  and  suicide  of 

the  young  rajah,  480. 
Shore's  (Hon.  Frederick)  Notes  on  Indian 

Affairs,  19. 
Shunkur  Shah,  Gond  rajah  and  his  son 

blown  from  guns,  490. 
Shumsabad  (Nawab  of),  215,  477. 
Sibbald  (Brigadier),  shot  at  Bareilly,  213. 
Sieges —  OtWu,     200—211,     430—452; 
Lucknow  Residency,  by  rebels,  241 — - 
545  ;  reinforcement,  4  20  ;  Lucknow  city, 
by  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  405  ;  Cawnpoor, 
251 — 259,    379;    second    siege,    473; 
Arrah,  404  ;  Jhansi,  414-480  ;  Kotah  ; 
Gwalior,  488;    Royea,  493;    Bareilly. 
495. 
Simla,  204  ;  panic,  205. 
Sinde   annexation    of,    40 ;     landowners 

conciliated  by  Napier,  483. 
Sindia,    40,   IhO  ;    character,    332,  339 ; 
detention  of  the  mutinous  contingent, 
402  ;    mai'ch  from  Gwalior  to    oppose 
advancing   rebels,    487 ;    abandonment 
by  his  household  troops,  and  flight  to 
Agra,  488  ;  restoration  to  Gwalior,  489. 
Sirdhana,  escape  of  French  nuns,  182. 
Sirmoor  battalion,  200,  459. 
Skene    (Captain    and    Mrs.),    killed    at 

Jhansi,  306. 
Sleeman  (Sir  William),  on  land-tenure 
in  Oude  and  N.  W.  Provinces,  4  ;  tour 
through  Oude,  71  ;  character  and 
career,  71  ;  anti-annexation  views,  74. 
Smith    (Colonel   Baird),    description   of 

Delhi  fortifications,  439. 
Smith  (Vernon,  Mr.),  on  the  mutiny,  211. 
Smyth  (Colonel),  3rd  N.C.,  144,  146. 
Society  ( Christian  VemacularEducation) , 

establishment  of,  14. 
Sonnites,  or  Sunnis,  115,  118. 
Sonthals,  insun'ection,  15. 
Soorut  Sing  (Rajah),  at  Benares,  287. 
Soucars,  native  bankers,  52. 


Spottiswoode  (Lieut.-Col.  H.),  55th  N.I., 
201  ;  suicide,  202. 

Spottiswoode,  (Lt.-Col.A.C),  37th  N.I., 
account  of  Benares  mutiny,  285. 

Stalker  (General),  suicide,  273. 

Stanley's  (Lord)  description  of  Sir  H. 
Lawrence.  244. 

Stirling  (Major),  oi  M.M..  64th  regiment, 
394  ;  shot  at  Cawnpoor,  473. 

Stores  obtained  by  rebels  at  Nowgong 
and  Jhansi,  309. 

Suhzet  Mundee,  Delhi  suburb,  207,  211. 

Subsidiary  system  of  Lord  Wellesley,  38. 

Sudder  Ameen,  native  judge,  213. 

Suicide,  273;  contemplated  by  besieged 
Europeans  at  Lucknow,  386 ;  com- 
mitted by  natives  at  Delhi,  459. 

Sultanpoor,  233;  mutiny,  234. 

Sumpter,  318  ;  rajah  of,  320. 

Supreme  government — delay  in  relieving 
Cawnpoor,  204  ;  inattention  to  recom- 
mendations of  Sir  H.  Lawrence,  and 
appeals  of  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  266  ; 
orders  regarding  negotiations  with 
Delhi,  434  ;  orders  against  harsh  treat- 
ment of  captive  king,  disobeyed  by 
Delhi  functionaries,  454. 

Sykes  (Colonel),  E.  I.  director,  opinions, 
40,  124,  153. 

Tal  Behutfort,  484. 

Talookdars  of  Oude,  description  of  class, 

83,  226 ;    generosity  and  ill-treatment 

of  Hunwunt  ,Sing  and   Roostum   Sah, 

234  ;  Sirmoor  battalion,  235,  389,  425. 

Tanjore,  abolition  of  titular  principality, 

59  ;  appeal  of  Kamachi  Bye,  59. 
Tantia  Tnpee,  appearance  and  character, 
464,  472,  475,  485  ;  successful  plot  for 
the  seizure  of  Gwalior  487,   488  ;  ex- 
ploits in  Central  India,  capture,  trial, 
and  execution,  498. 
Tatties,  thatch  screens,  301. 
Tayler  ( William),   398  ;   proceedings,  as 
commissioner,  at  Patna,  398,  400  ;  order 
for  abandonment  of  out-stations,  400  • 
removal  from  office,  407. 
Telegraph  (electric),  88. 
Thackeray,  ( W.M. ),  wanted  in  India,  1 23. 
Thomason,  Lieutenant-governor  of  North- 
West  Provinces,  72 ;  conduct  desciibed 
by  Sleeman,  84. 
Thomson's  (Lieutenant  Mowbray),  escape 
from  the  first  of  Nana   Sahib's   mas- 
sacres, 260 ;  Story  of  Cawnpoar,  300, 
378,  472. 
Thunessir,    or    Thwanesstir — annexation 

of  principality,  104. 
Times,  advocacy  of  vengeance,  410. 
Tomb  of  HumayxQi  at  Delhi,  445. 
Tombs  (Major),  at  Delhi,  438. 
Tooheepoor  (Rajah  of),  237. 
Torture,   used  as  a  means  of  collecting 

British  revenue,  409. 
Travers  (Major),  at  Indore,  345. 
Treasuries,  arsenals,  and  magazines,  plun- 
dered,270 ;  at  Delhi,  174;  Goorgaon,  186; 
Aligliur,  190;  Mynpoorie,  191  j  Etawa, 
192;  Muttra,  193;  Nusseerabad,  194; 
Ncemuch,  195;  Hansi,  208;  Hissar, 
208;  Bareilly,  214;  Shahjehanpoor, 
214;  Budaon,  215;  Moradabad,  210; 
Seetapoor,  223;  Mohumdee,  224  ;  Mul- 
laon,  Secrora,  Gondah,  Bahraetch,  and 
Mullapoor,  225  ;  Fyzabad,  230  ;  Salone, 
235 ;  Duriabad,  235  ;  Cawnpoor,  252, 
253;  Azimghur,  280;  Jaunpoor,  291; 
Allaliabad,  292,  294;  Jhansi,  306; 
Nowgong,  308,  309  ;  Banda,  314  ;  Fut- 
tehpoor,  314;  Humeerpoor,  317;  Fut- 
teligliur,  324  ;  Mhow  (partial  plunder 
and   recovery  by  Holcar),  348 ;  Agra, 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  II.  OF  THE  "  INDIAN  EMPIRE. 


VU 


362;  Jullimdur,  366;  Sealkote,  371; 
Arrah,  404  ;  Hazareebagh,  406  ;  Ko- 
lapoor,  412 ;  Nagode,  491. 

Trevelyan  (Sir  Charles) — Letters  of  In- 
dopliilus  to  the  Times,  2,  21 ;  on  Lieu- 
tenant-governor  Colvin,  365,  407. 

Tucker  {Major-general),  opinions  on  mu- 
tiny, 126,  137,  180. 

Tucker,  {Lieut.  C),  at  Sultanpoor,  316. 

Tucker  tH.  St.  G.),  E.I.  director,  opinion 
regarding  tenure  of  land,  3  ;  Memorials 
of  Indian  Government,  4. 

Tucker  (H.  C),  15;  Benares  commis- 
sioner,  281,  291  ;  Miss  Tucker's  exer- 
tions for  sick  European  soldiers,  463. 

Tucker  {Robert),  Judge,  killed  at  Futteh- 
poor,  316. 

Tucker  {St.  George),  Mirzapoor  magis- 
trate, 297. 

Tucker  {Col.  T.  T.),  killed  at  Futtehghur, 
325. 

Tupper  {M.  F.),  on  Indian  policy,  410. 

Tuieeddale  (Marquis  of),  minute  on 
education  when  governor  of  Madras, 
13. 

Twiss  {Dr.  Travers),  on  illegal  suppres- 
sion of  Oude  Treaty  of  1837,  75. 

7)/ekhana.  underground  rooms,  242. 

litter  {Colonel  Praser),  375,  385. 

IJjnalla  (Bastion  and  Well  of),  narrative 

by  Mr.  Cooper,  428. 
Umballah,  134,  176,  367. 


Ummer  or  Oomar  Sing  (brother  to  Kooer 
Sing),  406,  492  ;  surrender,  500. 

Umritsir,  holy  city  of  the  Seiks,  199. 

Ungud,  exploits  as  messenger  from  the 
Lucknow  Residency,  236,  386. 

Venables,  280 ;  killed  at  Azimghur, 
491. 

Vengeance,  taken  by  Europeans,  295 ; 
parliamentary  paper  thereon,  296  ;  san- 
guinary proceedings  near  Allahabad, 
302 ;  near  Agra,  359 ;  measures  ad- 
vocated by  Times  and  Friend  of  India, 
409 — 4 1 1 ;  excesses  of  civilians  checked 
by  Lord  Canning,  412;  excesses  of 
British  soldiery,  435 ;  of  officers,  499  ; 
boast  of  Umballah  civilian,  499. 

Victoria  Cross,  394,  495. 

Village-burning,  described  by  a  High- 
lander, 289;  suicidal  policy  296,  301, 
302,  389 ;  destruction  of  Holcar's  vil- 
lages, 348  ;  of  villages  near  Agra,  364. 
411. 

Wahabees,  at  Patna,  399. 

Wajid  AH  Shah,  ex-king  of  Oude,  73; 
arrested  at  Calcutta,  274  ;  quite  uncon- 
nected with  the  rebellion,  275. 

Wake,  magistrate  at  Arrah,  403. 

Walpole  (Brigadier),  475 ;  disastrous 
repulse  before  Royea  Fort,  493. 

Ward  {Sir  Henry),  governor  of  Ceylon, 
prompt  co-operation,  397.  I 


Wellesley  (Marquis),  Indian  policy,  38, 
39  ;  dealings  with  Oude,  61. 

Wellesley  (Henry),  afterwards  Lord 
Cowley,  conduct  in  India,  62. 

Wellington  (Duke  of),  views,  when 
Colonel  Wellesley,  regarding  Oude, 
61,  123;  opinions  expressed  in  1850, 
on  suppression  of  mutiny,  135. 

Wheeler  (Colonel),  127,  132;  efforts  for 
conversion  of  sepoys,  136. 

Wheeler  (Sir  Hugh  Massey),  246,  251 ; 
besieged  in  Cawnpoor  intrenchment, 
253  ;  letter  to  Sir  H.  Lawrence,  254 ; 
one  of  his  daughters  carried  off  by  a 
trooper,  263 ;  fate  of  the  family,  383 ; 
story  of  Highlanders  finding  Miss 
Wheeler's  hair,  383. 

Whitlock  { General),  commander  of  Madras 
brigade,  483  ;  capture  of  Banda,  48u. 

Willoughby  (Lieut.),  fires  Delhi  maga- 
zine, 158;  death,  169. 

Wilson  (Bishop  of  Calcutta),  character 
and  death,  452. 

Wilson  (General  Sir  Archdale),  person 
and  character,  430,  437 ;  order  for 
assault  of  Delhi,  440,  441,  461. 

Wilson  (Col.),  of  H.M.  64th,  kiUed  at 
Cawnpoor,  473. 

Windham  (General),  at  Cawnpoor,  472. 

Wood  (Sir  Charles),  Indian  policy,  13. 

Wyatt,  author  of  Revelations  of  an  Or^ 
derly,  96;  killed  at  Bareilly,  214. 

Zubberdustee,  petty  tyranny,  282. 


ERRATA.— VOL.    II. 


Page  4,  Col.  1,  inverted  commas  placed  in  line  8, 
instead  of  line  1,  where  quota- 
tion  begins. 

„    17,    „     2,  line  25' {or  made,  Tesii  rendered. 

„  18,  „  1,  lines  9  and  10,  for  at  once,  read 
both, 

„    65,    „     2,  line  23,  for  secluded,  read  private. 

„  69,  „  2,  line  53,  for  exordium,  read  exhorta- 
tion. 

„    72,    „     2,  note,  line  5,  for  wrote,  read  written. 

„  112,  „  1,  transfer  reference  f  from  line  42,  to 
line  37. 

,,118,  „  \,  Vme2o,iot  Captain,TeB.di  Lieutenant 
Battye. 

„  118,  „  2,  line  10,  and  note,|  for  Freere,  read 
Frere.  Same  error  twice  in  fol- 
lowing column,  p.  119. 

„  169,  „  2,  line  15,  instead  of  on  the  morning 
of  the  \9th,  read  at  a  much  later 
period. 

„  208,    „     2,  line  26,  for  Hissar,  read  Hansi. 

„  210,    „     2,  note  §,  for  Ratton,  read  Rotton. 

„  234,  heading :  for  Bainie  Madhoo,  read  Mad- 
hoo  Sing. 


Page  249,  Col.  2,  line  47,    instead  of  an   English 
officer,  read  an  English  traveller. 

„  301,  „  1,  note  *,  line  1,  for  thatched,  read 
thatch. 

„  326,  „  1,  line  34  :  the  friendly  thakoor  na- 
tive, omit  the  word  native. 

„  330,  „  2,  for  Rajah  of  Baupore,  read  Rajah 
of  Banpore :  same  error  recurs 
in  the  column. 

„  360,  „  -1,  line  13,  for  Ilaringford,  read 
Harington. 

„  426,  „  2,  line  30—31,  for  at  length  as- 
sumed a  prominent  place,  read 
was  believed  to  have  assumed  a 
place. 

„   435,     „     1,   note,  for  suspected,  re&i  accused. 

„  450,  „  1,  line  12,  for  61  St  regiment  found  in 
holes,  read  61st  regiment  found 
dead  in  holes,  &c. 

„  456,  „  1,  line  37,  for  takes  it  character,  read 
takes  its  character. 

„   484,  note  §,  for  366,  read  336. 

„  495,  col.  1,  line  26,  for  severely  wounded,  read 
nearly  surrounded. 


;  '^ra-red.  "by  D.  J.  Pcrani  £rca2i  a.  Hiotc^a^  cyif^ '. 

■ov:eknob.-geueeal  of  india  . 


THE 


INDIAN    EMPIRE. 


HISTOET    OF 

THE   MUTINY    OF   THE    SEPOY   TROOPS. 


INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER. 

ALLEGED  CAUSES  OF  DISCOXTENT— OPPRESSIVE  AND  PAUPERISING  TENURE  OF 
LAND— INEFFICIENT  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE— EXCLUSION  OF  NATIVES 
FROM  ALL  SHARE  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT— IGNORANCE  OF  THE  LANGUAGES,  AND 
AVERSION  EVINCED  TOWARDS  THE  NATIVES— EDUCATION,  RELIGION,  AND  MIS- 
SIONARY OPERATIONS— CASTE— FREE  PRESS— DEFECTIVE  CURRENCY— OPIUM 
MONOPOLY— NEGLECT  OF  PUBLIC  WORKS— REPRESSION  OF  BRITISH  ENTERPRISE 
—RECENT  ANNEXATIONS— INFRACTION  OF  THE  HINDOO  LAW  OF  INHERITANCE 
—EXTINCTION  OF  NATIVE  STATES— SATTARA,  NAGPOOR,  CARNATIC,  TANJORE, 
JHANSI,  OUDE,  Etc.— STATE  OF  THE  BENGAL  ARMY;  RELAXED  DISCIPLINE; 
REMOVAL  OF  REGIMENTAL  OFFICERS  TO  STAFF  AND  CIVIL  EMPLOYMENTS; 
PAUCITY  OF  EUROPEAN  TROOPS ;  SEPOY  GRIEVANCES ;  GREASED  CARTRIDGES 
—MOHAMMEDAN  CONSPIRACY— FOREIGN  INTRIGUES;  PERSIAN  AND  RUSSIAN. 


Never,  perhaps,  was  the  condition  of  Bri- 
tish India  deemed  more  fair  and  promis- 
ing than  at  the  conclusion  of  1856.  The 
new  governor-general,  Lord  Canning,  who 
arrived  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  had  seen 
no  reason  to  question  the  parting  declara- 
tion of  his  predecessor.  Lord  Dalhousie — 
that  India  was  "  in  peace  without  and 
within,"  and  that  there  appeared  to  be  "  no 
quarter  from  which  formidable  war  could 
reasonably  be  expected  at  present."* 

TheBritish  and  Anglo-Indian  press,adopt- 
ing  the  same  tone,  declared  "  the  whole  of 
India"  to  be  "  profoundly  tranquil."t  The 
conviction  seems  to  have  been  general  amid 
all  ranks  and  classes,  from  the  viceregal 
palace  at  Calcutta,  to  the  smallest  and  most 
distant  English  post ;  and  thus  it  happened 
that  the  vessel  of  the  state  pursued  her 
course  with  all  sail  set,  in  the  full  tide  of 
prosperity,  till  a  series  of  shocks,  slight  at 
first,  but  rapidly  increasing  in  strength 
and  frequency,  taught  a  terrible  lesson  of 
the  necessity  for  careful  steering  amid  the 
sunken  rocks,  the  shoals,  and  quicksands, 

•  Minute  by  the  Marquis  of  Dalhousie,  28th 
February,  1856.— Parliamentary  Papers  (Commons), 
16th  June,  1856;  pp.  6—8. 

+  The  Times,  9th  December,  1856. 

VOL.  II.  B 


heretofore  so  feebly  and  faintly  traced  in 
those  famous  charts  and  log-books — the 
voluminous  minutes  and  correspondence  of 
the  East  India  Company. 

The  sky  had  been  carefully  watched  for 
any  indication  of  the  storms  of  foreign  in- 
vasion ;  but  the  calm  waters  of  our  "  strong 
internal  administration,"  and  the  full  cur- 
rent of  our  "  unparalleled  native  army,"  had 
so  long  borne  the  stately  ship  in  triumph 
on  their  bosom,  that  few  attempts  were 
made  to  sound  their  depths.  Those  few 
excited  little  attention,  and  were,  for  the 
most  part,  decidedly  discouraged  by  the 
authorities  both  in  England  and  in  India. 
The  consequence  has  been,  that  at  every 
step  of  the  revolt,  we  have  encountered 
fresh  proofs  of  our  ignorance  of  the  first 
conditions  on  which  rested  the  general 
security  of  the  empire,  and  the  individual 
safety  of  every  European  in  India. 

Our  heaviest  calamities,  and  our  greatest 
advantages,  have  come  on  us  by  surprise : 
we  have  been  met  by  foulest  treachery  in 
the  very  class  we  deemed  bound  to  us  by 
every  tie  of  gratitude  and  self-interest,  and 
we  have  found  help  and  fidelity  among 
those  whom  we  most  distrusted.  We  have 
failed    where    we    confidently    looked    for 


ALLEGED  CAUSES  OF  DISCONTENT. 


triumph ;  we  have  succeeded  where  we  anti- 
cipated failure.  Dangers  we  never  dreamed 
of,  have  risen  suddenly  to  paralyse  our 
arms;  and  obstacles  which  seemed  well- 
nigh  insurmountable,  have  vanished  into 
thiu  air  before  us.  Our  trusted  weapons 
have  proved  worthless;  or  worse — been 
turned  against  us;  and,  at  the  outset  of  the 
struggle,  we  were  like  men  whose  pistols  had 
been  stolen  from  their  holsters,  and  swords 
from  their  scabbards,  while  they  lay  sleep- 
ing ;  and  who,  starting  up  amazed  and  be- 
wildered, seized  the  first  missiles  that  came 
to  hand  to  defend  themselves  against  a  foe 
whose  numbers  and  power,  whose  objects 
and  character,  were  alike  involved  in  mid- 
night darkness. 

"Very  marvellous  was  the  presence  of 
mind,  the  self-reliance,  the  enduring  cou- 
rage displayed  by  English  men  and  women, 
and  many  native  adherents,  in  their  terrible 
and  unlooked-for  trial;  and  very  comfort- 
ing the  instances  of  Christian  heroism 
which  adorn  this  sad  and  thrilling  page  of 
Anglo-Indian  history  :  yet  none  will  ven- 
ture to  deny,  that  it  was  the  absence  of 
efficient  leaders  on  the  part  of  the  muti- 
neers, and  not  our  energy  and  foresight, 
which,  under  Providence,  was  the  means  of 
enabling  us  to  surmount  the  first  over- 
whelming tide  of  disaster.  Nothing  can 
be  more  contradictory  than  the  opinions 
held  by  public  men  regarding  the  imme- 
diate object  of  the  mutineers.  Some  deny 
that  the  sepoys  acted  on  any  "  prearranged 
plan;"  and  declare,  that  "their  primary 
and  prevailing  motive  was  a  panic-terror 
for  their  religion."*  Others  regard  the  re- 
volt as  the  issue  of  a  systematic  plot,  which 
must  have  taken  months,  if  not  years,  to 
organise ;  and  compare  the  outbreak  to  the 
springing  of  a  mine,  for  which  the  ground 
must  have  been  hollowed,  the  barrels  filled, 
the  train  laid,  and  tlie  match  fired,  before 
the  explosion.f  A  third  party  assert,  that 
our  own  impolicy  had  gathered  together 
masses  of  combustibles,  and  that  our  heed- 
lessness (in  the  matter  of  the  greased  car- 
tridges) set  them  on  fire. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  the  people  of  India 
labour  under  many  political  and  social 
evils,  resulting  from  inefficient  administra- 
tion.    Human  governments  are,   at   best, 

•  See  Indophilus'  (Sir  Charles  Trevelyan's)  Let- 
ters to  the  Times,  liepublished  by  Longman  as  a 
pamphlet :  p.  37. 

t  See  Sir  E.  Bulwcr  Lytton's  speech  at  the  Herts 
Agricultural  Society,  October,  1857. 


fallible  and  weak  instruments.  In  Chris- 
tian England,  after  so  many  centuries  of 
freedom,  kept  and  strengthened  by  un- 
ceasing effort,  we  all  acknowledge  how  far 
the  condition  of  the  masses  falls  short,  in 
reality,  of  what  in  theory  we  might  have 
hoped  for.  How,  then,  can  we  doubt,  that 
there  must  be  in  India  much  greater  scope 
for  oppression,  much  greater  need  for 
watchfulness.  We  have  seen,  in  Ireland,  a 
notable  example  of  the  effects  of  absentee 
proprietorship ;  but  here  is  a  case  of  ab- 
sentee sove."H;igntyship,  in  which  the  whole 
agency  is  aystematically  vested  in  the 
foreign  delegates  of  a  foreign  power,  few  of 
whom  have  ever  acquired  any  satisfactory  in- 
sight into  the  habits,  customs,  or  languages 
of  the  people  they  were  .sent  to  govern. 

It  is  easier  to  account  for  the  errors 
committed  by  the  Company  than  for  the 
culpable  neglect  of  Parliament.  We  know 
that  an  Indian  question  continued  to  be  the 
"dinner-bell"  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
notwithstanding  the  revelations  of  the  Tor- 
ture Committee  at  Madras,  until  the  mas- 
sacres of  Meerut  and  Cawnpoor  showed 
that  the  government  of  India  was  a  subject 
which  affected  not  only  the  welfare  of  the 
dark-coloured  millions  from  whom  we  ex- 
acted tribute,  but  also  the  lives  of  English- 
men, and  the  honour  of  Englishwomen — 
the  friends  or  relatives,  it  might  be,  of  the 
heretofore  ignorant  and  listless  legislators. 

A  right  understanding  of  the  causes  of 
the  revolt  would  materially  assist  all  en- 
gaged in  framing  measures  for  the  resto- 
ration of  tranquillity,  and  for  a  sounder 
system  of  administration.  The  following 
enumeration  of  the  various  causes,  distant 
and  proximate,  which  are  asserted  by  differ- 
ent authorities  to  have  been  concerned  in 
bringing  about  the  present  state  of  affairs, 
is  therefore  offered,  with  a  view  of  enabling 
the  reader  to  judge,  in  the  course  of  the 
narrative,  how  far  events  have  tended  to 
confirm  or  nullify  these  allegations. 


Land-tenure. — The  irregular,  oppressive, 
and  generally  pauperising  tenure  of  land, 
has  been  set  forth  in  a  preceding  section : 
and  since  every  sepoy  looks  forward  to  the 
time  when  he  shall  retire  on  his  pension  to 
live  in  his  own  cottage,  under  his  own  fig- 
tree,  the  question  is  one  in  which  he  has  a 
clear  and  personal  interest.  Irrespective  of 
this,  the  manner  in  which  the  proprietary 
rights  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Ceded  and 
Conquered  provinces  have  been  dealt  with, 


BREACH  OF  FAITH  WITH  THE  NORTH-WEST  PROVINCES. 


is  a  matter  of  history  with  which  the  land- 
owners in  native  independent  states  are 
sure  to  make  themselves  acquainted;  and 
the  talookdars  and  hereditary  chiefs  of 
Oude,  could  not  but  have  remembered  with 
alarm,  the  grievous  breach  of  faith  com- 
mitted against  the  proprietors  of  the  soil  in 
the  North-Western  Provinces. 

A  general  allusion  to  this  disgraceful 
procedure  has  been  already  made;*  but 
the  following  detail  is  given  on  the  autho- 
rity of  various  papers  drawn  up  by  Mr. 
Henry  St.  George  Tucker.  The  views  of 
Mr.  Tucker  were,  it  should  be  premised, 
utterly  opposed  to  any  system  "founded  on 
the  assumption  of  the  government  being 
the  universal  landlord;"  which  sweeping 
assumption  he  regarded  "  as  a  ^drtual  anni- 
hilation of  all  private  rights." 

The  Ryotwar  Settlement  made  by  Munro, 
in  Madras,  he  thought  tended  to  the  im- 
poverishment of  the  country,  the  people, 
and  the  government  itself;  and  was,  in 
fact,  a  continuation  of  the  policy  of  Tippoo 
Sultan,  who  drove  away  and  exterminated 
the  proprietors  ;  his  object  being  to  engross 
the  rents  as  well  as  revenues  of  the  country. 

The  landowners  of  the  North-Western 
Provinces — including  Delhi,  Agra,  Bareilly, 
and  the  cessions  from  Oude  in  1801 — have, 
however,  peculiar  and  positive  grievances  to 
complain  of.  In  1803,  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Marquis  Wellesley,  a  regula- 
tion was  passed,  by  which  the  government 
pledged  themselves,  "that  a  permanent 
settlement  of  the  Ceded  provinces  would  be 
concluded  at  the  end  of  ten  years;"  and 
proclaimed  "  the  proprietary  rights  of  all 
zemindars,  talookdars,  and  other  descriptions 
of  landholders  possessing  a  right  of  property 
in  the  lands  comprising  their  zemindaries, 
talooks,  or  other  tenures,  to  be  confirmed 
and  established  under  the  authority  of  tlie 
British  government,  in  conformity  to  the 
laws  and  usages  of  the  countrj'."  In  1805, 
a  regulation  was  passed  by  the  same  gov- 
ernment, in  nearly  corresponding  terms, 
declaring  that  a  permanent  settlement 
would  be  concluded  with  the  zemindars  and 
other  landholders  in  the  Conquered  pro- 
vinces, at  the  expiration  of  the  decennial 
leases.  But,  in  1807,  the  supreme  govern- 
ment being  anxious  to  extend  to  the  land- 

•  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  579. 
+  Calcutta  Records — Regulation  X.  of  1807;  sec.  5. 
\  See   Letter  of  Court  of  Directors   to   Bengal, 
16th  March,  1813. 

§  The  Ilyotwar  :  see  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  575. 


owners  of  our  newly-acquired  territory 
those  advantages  which  had  been  conferred 
on  the  zemindars  of  the  Lower  Provinces, 
by  fixing  the  land-tax  in  perpetuity,  a  new 
regulation  was  enacted,  appointing  commis- 
sioners for  superintending  the  settlement  of 
the  Ceded  and  Conquered  provinces;  and 
notifying  "  to  the  zemindars,  and  other 
actual  proprietors  of  land  in  those  provinces, 
that  the  jumma  which  may  be  assessed  on 
their  estates  in  the  last  year  of  the  settle- 
ment immediately  ensuing  the  present  set- 
tlement, shall  remain  fixed  for  ever,  in  case 
the  zemindars  shall  now  be  willing  to 
engage  for  the  payment  of  the  public  re- 
venue on  those  terms  in  perpetuity,  and  the 
arrangement  shall  receive  the  sanction  of 
the  Hon.  Court  of  Directors."t  Far  from 
objecting  to  the  pledge  given  to  the  laud- 
holders  in  those  regulations ;  far  from  con- 
tending against  the  principle  of  a  fixed 
assessment,  either  on  the  ground  of  policy 
or  of  justice,  the  Court  expressed  their 
approbation  of  the  measure  contemplated,' 
and  gave  it  their  unreserved  sanction.  To , 
as  late  a  period  as  1813,  not  even  a  do»ibt 
was  expressed  in  the  way  of  discourage- 
ment; and  the  government  of  India  had 
every  reason  to  presume  that  they  were 
proceeding  in  this  great  work  with  the  full 
concurrence  and  approbation  of  the  con- 
trolling authorities  in  this  country.  Mr. 
Edmonstone,  in  his  able  and  instructive 
letters  to  the  Court  (of  31st  July,  1821), 
has  shown  most  conclusively,  that  the  plans 
and  proceedings  of  the  government  abroad 
received  an  ample  confirmation.  "  Unhap- 
pily," says  Mr.  Tucker,  "  different  views 
were  adopted  at  a  subsequent  period;  and 
since  1813,  J  the  whole  tenor  of  the  Court's 
correspondence  with  the  supreme  govern- 
ment, has  not  only  discountenanced  the 
idea  of  a  permanent  settlement  of  the 
lands  in  the  Ceded  and  Conquered  pro- 
vinces, but  peremptory  injunctions  have 
been  issued  to  that  government,  prohibiting 
the  formation  of  such  settlement  at  any 
future  period."  The  pledge  so  formally 
given  to  the  landholders  in  1803,  and 
1805,  and  1807,  has  accordingly  remained 
unredeemed  to  the  present  day;  tem- 
porary settlements  have  been  concluded,  in 
various  ways,  with  different  classes  of  per- 
sons ;  some  of  the  principal  talookdars  have 
been  set  aside,  and  deprived  of  the  manage- 
ment of  their  estates ;  and  the  great  object 
seems  to  have  been,  to  introduce  the  system 
of  revenue  administratiou§  wliich  obtains  in 


4        RUIN  OF  NATIVE  ARISTOCRACY  IN  THE  N.  W.  PROVINCES. 


the  territory  of  Fort  St.  George.  I  (in 
1827)  was  a  party  to  the  introduction  of 
leases  for  thirty  years  in  the  Western 
Provinces,  by  way  of  compromise  for  vio- 
lating the  pledge  whicli  had  been  given  to 
the  landholders  in  1803  and  1805,  to  con- 
firm the  settlement  then  made  with  them 
in  perpetuity.  "  I  trust  that  this  long  term 
will  operate  as  some  compensation  for  their 
disappointment,  and  that  it  will,  in  a  great 
degree,  answer  the  ends  proposed  by  a  per- 
manent settlement;  but,  as  a  principle,  I 
still  maintain,  that  permanency  of  tenure, 
and  a  limitation  of  the  public  demand  upon 
the  land,  were  boons  bestowed  under  the 
dictates  of  a  just  and  enlightened  policy, 
and  that  Lord  Cornwallis  is  to  be  regarded 
as  the  greatest  benefactor  of  India."* 

The  measure  referred  to  by  Mr.  Tucker, 
which  I  had  myself  the  satisfaction  of 
assisting  to  procure,  was,  however,  partial 
in  its  extent,  as  well  as  temporary  in  its 
operation.  It  can  hardly  be  called  a  com- 
promise ;  it  was  simply  a  sop  thrown  by  the 
stronger  party  who  broke  the  bargain,  to 
certain  members  of  the  weaker  party,  who 
had  no  resource  but  to  accept  it.  The 
public  pledge  of  a  permanent  settlement 
with  the  whole  Conquered  and  Ceded,  or, 
as  they  are  now  styled,  North-Western 
Provinces,  remains  unredeemed.  Moreover, 
even  supposing  the  landholders  could  forget 
the  manner  in  which  that  great  boon  was 
freely  promised  and  arbitrarily  withheld, 
they  would  still  have  reason  to  complain  of 
the  irregular  and  often  oppressive  assess- 
ments to  which, they  were  and  are  sub- 
jected. There  is  abundant  evidence  on 
this  head ;  but  none  of  greater  authority 
than  that  of  Colonel  Sleeman,  the  resident 
at  Luckuow ;  who,  being  commissioned  by 
Governor-general  Dalhousie  to  inquire  into 
the  state  of  Oude,  became  incidentally  ac- 
quainted with  the  results  of  our  fifty  years' 
government  of  the  half  of  Oude,  ceded  to 
us  by  the  treaty  of  1801. 

"  The  country  was  then  divided  into 
equal  shares,  according  to  the  rent-roll  at 
the  time.  The  half  made  over  to  the  Bri- 
tish government  has  been  ever  since  yield- 
ing more  revenue  to  us ;  while  that  retained 
by  the  sovereign  of  Oude  has  been  yielding 
less  and  less  to  him ;  and  ours  now  yields,  in 
liiiul  revenue,  stamp-duty,  and  the  tax  on 
spirits,  two  crore  and  twelve  lacs  [of  rupees] 

•  See  Memorials  of  Indian  Government ;  a  selec- 
tio"  (Vnm  the  papers  of  H.  St.  G.  Tucker,  edited  by 
J.  W.  Kaye;  pp.  106—137. 


a-year ;  while  the  reserved  half  now  yields 
to  Oude  only  about  one  crore  and  thirty- 
three  lacs.  Under  good  management,  the 
Oude  share  might,  in  a  few  years,  be  made 
equal  to  ours,  and  perhaps  better ;  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  lands  in  our  share  ha've 
been  a  good  deal  impoverished  by  over- 
cropping; while  those  of  the  Oude  share 
have  been  improved  by  long  fallows." 
Colonel  Sleeman  would  seem  to  attribute 
the  greater  revenue  raised  from  our  terri- 
tories, to  that  obtained  by  the  native  govern- 
ment, simply  to  our  "good  management;" 
for  he  adds,  that  "  lands  of  the  same  natural 
quality  in  Oude,  under  good  tillage,  now 
pay  a  much  higher  rent  than  they  do  in 
our  half  of  the  estate. "t  Yet,  in  another 
portion  of  his  Diary,  when  describing  the 
decided  aversion  to  British  rule  entertained 
by  the  landed  aristocracy  of  Oude,  he 
dwells  on  our  excessive  assessments,  as  co- 
operating with  the  cost  and  uncertainty  of 
the  law  in  civil  cases,  in  causing  the 
gradual  decay  of  all  the  ancient  families. 
"  A  less  and  less  proportion  of  the  annual 
produce  of  their  lands  is  left  to  them  in  our 
periodical  settlements  of  the  land  revenue ; 
while  family  pride  makes  them  expend  the 
same  sums  in  the  marriage  of  their  chil- 
dren, in  religious  and  other  festivals,  per- 
sonal servants,  and  hereditary  retainers. 
They  fall  into  balance,  incur  heavy  debts, 
and  estate  after  estate  is  put  up  to  auction, 
and  the  proprietors  are  reduced  to  poverty. 
They  say,  that  four  times  more  of  these 
families  have  gone  to  decay  in  the  half  of 
the  territory  made  over  to  us  in  1801,  than 
in  the  half  reserved  by  the  Oude  sovereign; 
and  this  is,  I  fear,  true.  They  named  the 
families — I  cannot  remember  them."J 

To  Mr.  Colvin,  Lieutenant-governor  of 
the  N.W.  Provinces,  the  Colonel  writes,  that 
on  the  division  of  Oude  in  1801,  the  landed 
aristocracy  were  equal  in  both  portions. 
"  Now  (28th  Dec,  1853)  hardly  a  fiimily  of 
this  class  remains  in  our  half;  while  in 
Oude  it  remains  unimpaired.  Everybody 
in  Oude  believes  those  families  to  have  been 
systematically  crushed."^ 

The  correspondence  in  the  public  jour- 
nals, regarding  the  progress  of  the  mutiny, 
affords  frequent  evidence  of  the  heavy  rate 
of  assessment  in  the  North- West  Provinces. 
For  instance,  the  special  correspondent  of 
the  Times  (Mr.  Russell),  writing  from  the 

f  Journey  through  Oude,  in  1849-'50,  by  Colonel 
Sir  W.  Sleeman  ;  vol.  i.,  p.  169. 

1  Jbid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  169.  §  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  415. 


i 


WRETCHEDNESS  OP  MADRAS  RYOTS. 


camp  at  Bareilly,  speaks  of  the  "  indigent 
population"  of  Rohilcund ;  and  asserts,  on 
the  authority  of  Mr.  Donalds,  a  settler  and 
planter  there,  that  the  Company's  land-tax 
on  certain  districts  vras  not  less  than  sixty- 
six  per  cent.* 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  searching  and 
unprejudiced  inquiry  will  be  instituted 
wherever  decided  and  general  disaffection 
has  been  manifested — wherever  such  state- 
ments are  made  as  that  from  Allahabad ;  in 
■which  it  is  asserted,  that  "one,  and  only 
one,  of  the  zemindars  has  behaved  well  to  us 
during  the  disturbances  here."t 

An  exposition  of  the  working  of  the 
"  model  system"  in  Southern  India,  is  given 
by  Mr.  Bourdillon,  secretary  to  the  govern- 
ment at  Madras,  in  the  revenue  department, 
in  a  pamphlet  published  in  1852,  in  which 
he  showed  that,  in  the  year  1848-'9,  out  of  a 
total  of  1,071,588  leases  (excluding  joint 
holdings  in  the  fourteen  principal  ryotwarree 
districts),  no  fewer  than  589,932  were  each 
under  twenty  shillings  per  annum ;  ave- 
raging, in  fact,  only  a  small  fraction  above 
eight  shillings  each:  201,065  were  for 
amounts  ranging  from  twenty  to  forty 
shillings ;  averaging  less  than  28s.  6d.  each  : 
aud  97,891  ranged  between  forty  and  sixty 
shillings;  averaging  49«.  6d.  each.  Thus, 
out  of  1,100,000  leases,  900,000  were  for 
amounts  under  sixty  shillings  each,  the 
average  being  less  than  19*.  6c?.  each 
per  annum.  Mr.  Bourdillon  thus  describes 
the  condition  of  several  millionj  of  people 
subject  to  the  Crown  of  England,  and 
under  its  complete  jurisdiction  in  some 
parts  for  more  than  half  a  century: — "  Now 
it  may  certainly  be  said  of  almost  the  whole 
of  the  ryots  paying  even  the  highest  of 
these  sums,  and  even  of  many  holding  to  a 
much  larger  amount,  that  they  are  always  in 
poverty,  aud  generally  in  debt.  Perhaps  one 
of  this  class  obtains  a  small  amouut  out  of 
the  government  advances  for  cultivation; 
but  even  if  he  does,  the  trouble  he  has  to  take, 
and  the  time  he  loses  in  getting  it,  as  well  as 
the  deduction  to  which  he  is  liable,  render 
this  a  questionable  gain.  For  the  rest  of  his 
wants  he  is  dependent  on  the  bazaar-man. 
To  him  his  crops  are  generally  hypothecated 
before  they  are  reaped ;  and  it  is  he  who 
redeems  them  from  the   possession   of  the 

•  The  Timet,  July  6th,  1858. 

t  Pari.  Papers,  4th  February,  1858. 

t  According  to  Mr.  Mead,  "  18,000,000  souls,  in 
Madras,  have  only  a  pennv  a-week  each  to  subsist 
on."-(p.  3.) 


village  watcher,  by  pledging  himself  for  the 
payment  of  the  kist  (rent  claimed  by  gov- 
ernment.) These  transactions  pass  without 
any  written  engagements  or  memoranda 
between  the  parties ;  aud  the  only  evidence 
is  the  chetty's  (bazaar-man)  own  accounts. 
In  general,  there  is  an  adjustment  of  the 
accounts  once  a  year;  but  sometimes  not 
for  several  years.  In  all  these  accounts 
interest  is  charged  on  the  advances  made 
to  the  ryot,  on  the  balance  against  him. 
The  rate  of  interest  varies  with  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  and  the  necessities  of 
the  borrower :  it  is  probably  seldom,  or 
never,  less  than  twelve  per  cent,  per  annum, 
and  not  often  above  twenty-four  per  cent. 
Of  course  the  poorest  and  most  necessitous 
ryots  have  to  pay  the  highest.  A  ryot  of 
this  class  of  course  lives  from  hand  to 
mouth;  he  rarely  sees  money,  except  that 
obtained  from  the  chetty  to  pay  his  kist : 
the  exchanges  in  the  out-villages  are  very 
few,  and  they  are  usually  conducted  by 
barter.  His  ploughing  cattle  are  wretched 
animals,  not  worth  more  than  seven  to 
twelve  shillings  each;  and  all  the  rest  of 
his  few  agricultural  implements  are  equally 
primitive  and  inefBcient.  His  dwelling  is  a 
hut  of  mud  walls  and  thatched  roof,  far 
ruder,  smaller,  and  more  dilapidated  than 
those  of  the  better  classes  of  ryots  above 
spoken  of,  and  still  more  destitute,  if  pos- 
sible, of  anything  that  can  be  called  furni- 
ture. His  food,  and  that  of  his  family, 
is  partly  thin  porridge,  made  of  the  meal  of 
grain  boiled  in  water,  and  partly  boiled  rice 
with  a  little  condiment ;  and  generally,  the 
only  vessels  for  cooking  and  eating  from,  are 
of  the  coarsest  earthenware,  much  inferior 
in  grain  to  a  good  tile  or  brick  in  England, 
and  unglazed.  Brass  vessels,  though  not 
wholly  unknown  among  this  class,  are  rare. 
As  to  anything  like  education  or  mental 
culture,  they  are  wholly  destitute  of  it." 

Mr.  Mead,  who  resided  several  years  at 
Madras,  and  who  visited  other  parts  of 
India,  declares,  that  by  the  system  which 
the  British  government  have  pursued,  "  the 
native  aristocracy  have  been  extinguished, 
and  their  revenues  lost  equally  to  the  rulers 
and  the  multitude.  The  native  manufac- 
turers are  ruined ;  and  no  corresponding  in- 
crease has  taken  place  in  the  consumption 
of  foreign  goods.  Not  a  fourth  of  the  land 
is  taken  up  for  tillage;  and  yet  200,000 
men  annually  leave  these  shores,  to  seek 
employment  on  a  foreign  soil.  The  tax- 
ation of  all  kinds,  and  the  landlord's  rent. 


6   INEFFICIENT  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE  THROUGHOUT  INDIA. 


amount  to  but  5s,  per  head ;  and  yet  the  sur- 
plus production  of  23,000,000  is  but  2s.  7d., 
and  the  imports  but  Is.  6d.,  each  person."* 
The  people  of  the  North-West  Provinces 
are  being  rapidly  reduced  to  the  condition 
of  those  of  Southern  India;  and  it  is  asserted, 
that  they  would  rejoice  at  any  change  which 
promises  relief  from  a  "  system"  calculated 
to  weigh  down,  with  unceasing  pressure,  the 
energies  of  every  man  who  derives  his  sub- 
sistence from  the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 


The  Inefficient  Administration  of  Justice 
is  an  admitted  evil ;  the  costliness,  the 
procrastination,  above  all,  the  perjury  and 
corruption  for  which  our  civil  and  criminal, 
our  Sudder  and  Adawlut  courts,  are  noto- 
rious. Shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
mutiny,  Mr.  Halliday,  the  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor of  Bengal,  urged,  in  the  strongest 
language,  the  necessity  for  measures  of 
police  reform,  which  should  extend  to  "  our 
criminal  judicatories  as  well  as  to  the  ma- 
gistracy and  constabulary  organisation." 
He  adds,  after  referring  to  the  evidence 
brought  forward  in  Mr.  Dampier's  elaborate 
reports — "  I  have  myself  made  much  per- 
sonal inquiry  into  this  matter  during  my 
tours.  Whether  right  or  wrong,  the  general 
native  opinion  is  certainly  that  the  admin- 
istration of  criminal  justice  is  little  better 
than  a  lottery,  in  which,  however,  the  best 
chances  are  with  the  criminals ;  and  I  think 
this,  also,  is  very  much  the  opinion  of  the 
European  mofussil  [country]  community. 
*  *  *  Often  have  I  heard  natives  ex- 
press, on  this  point,  their  inability  to  un- 
derstand the  principles  on  which  the  courts 
are  so  constituted,  or  so  conducted,  as  to 
make  it  appear  in  their  eyes  as  if  the  object 
were  rather  to  favour  the  acquittal,  than  to 
insure  the  conviction  and  punishment  of 
offenders;  and  often  have  I  been  assured 
by  them,  that  their  anxious  desire  to  avoid 
appearing  as  prosecutors,  arose  in  a  great 
measure  from  their  belief  that  prosecutiou 
was  very  likely  to  end  in  acquittal,  even,  as 
they  imagined,  in  the  teeth  of  the  best  evi- 
dence ;  while  the  acquittal  of  a  revengeful 
and  unscrupulous  ruffian,  was  known  by  ex- 
perience to  have  repeatedly  ended  in  the 
most  unhappy  consequences  to  his  ill-ad- 
vised and  imprudent  prosecutor.  That  this 
very  general  opinion  is  not  ill-founded,  may, 
I  think,  be  proved  from  our  own  records."! 
The  youth  and  inexperience  of  the  ma- 
•  Mead's -Seji^oyiieiWi!;  p.  313.  {Routledge,  1858.) 
t  Minute  to  Council  of  India,  30th  April,  1856. 


gistrates,  which  contributes  so  largely  to 
the  inefficiency  of  the  courts  over  which 
they  preside,  arises  out  of  the  numerical  in- 
adequacy of  the  covenanted  service  to  sup- 
ply the  number  of  officers  required  by  the 
existing  system.  The  Hon.  A.  Kinnaird 
stated,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  June 
11th,  1857,  that  in  Bengal,  there  were  but 
seventy  covenanted  and  uncovenanted  ma- 
gistrates, or  one  to  460,000  persons ;  and 
that  there  were  three  or  four  cases  of  a 
single  magistrate  to  more  than  a  million 
souls.  It  is  terrible  to  think  of  the  power 
such  a  state  of  things  must  throw  into  the 
hands  of  the  native  police,  and  this  in  a 
country  where  experience  has  taught  us, 
that  power,  thus  delegated,  has  invariably 
been  employed  as  a  means  of  extorting 
money.  No  wonder,  then,  that  "  from  one 
end  of  Bengal  to  the  other,"  the  earnest 
desire  and  aim  of  those  who  have  suffered 
from  thieves  or  dacoits,  should  be,  "  to  keep 
the  matter  secret  from  the  police,  whose 
corruption  and  extortion  is  so  great,  as  to 
cause  it  to  be  popularly  said,  that  dacoity 
is  bad  enough,  but  the  subsequent  police 
inquiry  very  much  worse." 

The  frequent  change,  from  place  to  place, 
and  office  to  office,  is  urged  as  another 
reason  for  the  inefficiency  of  our  system. 
In  the  district  of  Dacca,  for  instance,  the 
average  time  of  continuance  in  the  magis- 
trate's office,  has  been,  for  the  last  twenty 
years,  not  ten  months.  The  extent  of  the 
evil  may  be  understood  by  looking  over  the 
register  of  civil  servants,  and  their  ap- 
pointments. The  Friend  of  India  quotes 
the  case  of  a  well-known  name  among 
Indian  officials — Henry  Lushington — who 
arrived  in  India  on  the  14th  of  October, 
1821,  and,  by  the  9th  of  May,  1842,  had 
filled  no  less  than  twenty-one  offices — a 
change  every  year.  But  during  this  time 
he  returned  to  Europe  twice,  and  was  ab- 
sent from  India  four  years  and  a  quarter  : 
his  occupancy  of  each  office,  therefore, 
averages  scarcely  nine  months.  The  jour- 
nalist adds — "  Thousands  of  miles  of  coun- 
try, inhabited  by  millions  of  people,  would 
have  neither  justice  nor  protection,  were  it 
not  for  the  illegally  assumed  power  of  the 
planter  and  zemindar.  There  are  districts 
in  which  the  magistrate's  court  is  sixty 
miles  away;  and  in  one  case,  I  know  of 
a  judge  having  to  go  140  miles  to  try  a 
case  of  murder — so  wide  does  his  juris- 
diction extend.  This  very  district  contains 
upwards  of  two  millions  of  people ;  yet  to 


"  INGENUOUS  YOUTHS"  SENT  OUT  AS  INDIAN  JUDGES. 


govern  it  there  are  just  two  Europeans ; 
and  one  of  these  spends  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  his  time  in  sporting,  shooting  wild 
animals,  and  hunting  deer."* 

The  diminished  numbers  and  impaired 
efiScieiicy  of  the  rural  police,  or  village 
chowkeedars,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  is 
another  reason  why  "  our  magistracy  is  losing 
credit  and  character,  and  our  administration 
growing  perceptibly  weaker."  They  are, 
says  lieutenant-governor  Halliday,  so  in- 
adequately and  uncertainly  paid,  as  to  be 
kept  in  a  permanent  state  of  starvation;  and 
though,  in  former  days,  magistrates  battled 
for  them  with  unwilling  zemindars  and 
villagers,  and  were  encouraged  by  govern- 
ment to  do  so,  they  are  now  declared  to 
have  no  legal  right  to  remnneratioa  for 
service,  and  have  themselves  become  too 
often  the  colleagues  of  thieves  and  robbers. 
The  measures  suggested  by  Mr.  Halliday 
as  indispensable  to  the  eflPectual  improve- 
ment of  the  Bengal  police,  were — the  im- 
provement of  the  character  and  position 
of  the  village  chowkeedars,  or  watchmen ; 
the  payment  of  adequate  salaries,  and  the 
holding  forth  of  fair  prospects  of  advance- 
ment to  the  stipendiary  police ;  the  appoint- 
ment of  more  experienced  officers  as  cove- 
nanted zillah  magistrates ;  a  considerable 
increase  in  the  number  of  the  uncove- 
nanted  or  deputy  magistrates ;  an  improve- 
ment in  our  criminal  courts  of  justice; 
and,  lastly,  the  establishment  of  suflBcient 
means  of  communication  with  the  interior 
of  districts  :  because  no  system  could  work 
well  while  the  police-stations  and  the  large 
towns  and  marts  in  the  interior  continued 
to  be  cut  ofif  from  the  chief  zillah  stations, 
and  from  one  another,  by  the  almost  entire 
absence  of  roads,  or  even  (during  a  large 
part  of  the  year)  of  the  smallest  bridle- 
roads  or  footpaths. 

The  proposer  of  the  above  reforms  added, 
that  they  would  involve  an  increased  ex- 
penditure of  j6100,000  a-year  on  the  magis- 
tracy and  police  of  Bengal ;  and  this  state- 
ment, perhaps,  furnishes  an  explanation  of 
the  little  attention  excited  by  a  document 
full  of  important  but  most  unpalatable 
assertions.  The  onus  cannot,  however,  be 
allowed  to  rest  solely  on  the  local  authori- 
ties.    The  consideration  of  the   House  of 

•  Quoted  by  Mr.  Kinnaird,  in  Bengal,  its  Landed 
Tenure  and  Police  Syttem.  (Ridgway,  1857;  p.  14.) 
The  series  of  measures  provided  by  Lord  Cornwallis, 
to  protect  the  cultivator  under  the  Permanent  Set- 
tlement from  oppression  on  the  part  of  the  proprie- 


Commons  has  been  urgently  solicited,  by 
one  of  its  own  merabers,t  to  the  report  of 
the  lieutenant-governor;  and  the  fact  of 
such  flagrant  evils  being  alleged,  by  a  lead- 
ing functionary,  to  exist  in  the  districts 
under  the  immediate  eye  of  the  supreme 
government,  is  surely  a  sufficient  warning, 
not  merely  of  the  necessity  of  promptly  re- 
dressing the  wrongs  under  which  the  Ben- 
galees laboured,  but  also  of  investigating 
the  internal  administration  of  the  distant 
provinces.  It  is  unaccountable  that  the 
judicial  part  of  the  subject  should  have  been 
so  long  neglected,  after  the  unreserved  con- 
demnation of  the  system,  pronounced  by 
Lord  Campbell  in  the  House  of  Lords  in 
1853.  In  reply  to  the  complaint  of  the  Duke 
of  Argyll  regarding  the  strong  expressions 
used  in  a  petition  for  relief,  presented  on 
behalf  of  the  people  of  Madras,  his  lordship 
adverted  to  the  mode  in  which  "  ingenuous 
youths"  were  dispatched  from  the  college 
at  Haileybury,  with,  at  best,  a  very  imper- 
fect acquaintance  with  the  languages  of  In- 
dia, and  were  made  at  once  judges.  Even 
the  advantage  of  only  acting  in  that  capa- 
city was  withheld,  the  same  youth  being  one 
day  a  judge  of  civil  cases,  the  next  a  col- 
lector of  revenue,  and  the  next  a  police  ma- 
gistrate. Speaking  from  experience  derived 
from  the  appeals  which  had  come  before  him 
as  a  member  of  the  judicial  committee  of 
the  Privy  Council,  he  thought,  "as  far  as 
regarded  the  administration  of  justice  in  the 
inferior  courts,  no  language  could  be  too 
extravagant  in  describing  its  enormities."  J 
The  testimony  borne  by  Mr.  Halliday,  in 
Bengal,  entirely  accords  with  that  given  by 
other  witnesses  regarding  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  in  the  North-Western  Pro- 
vinces. Colonel  Sleeman,  writing  in  1853, 
declared — "  There  is  really  nothing  in  our 
system  which  calls  so  much  for  remedy." 
He  says,  that  during  his  recent  tour 
through  Oude,  he  had  had  much  conversa- 
tion with  the  people  generally,  and  with 
many  who  had  sojourned  in  our  territory 
in  seasons  of  disturbance.  They  were  all 
glad  to  return,  rather  than  remain  in  our 
districts  and  endure  the  evils  occasioned  by 
"  the  uncertainties  of  our  law,  the  multipli- 
city and  formality  of  our  courts,  the  pride 
and   negligence  of  those  who  preside  over 

tors,  have  been  disregarded ;  and  the  consequence  of 
this  neglect  has  been  to  leave  too  great  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  zemindars. — {Ibid.,  p.  6.) 

+  By  the  Hon.  A.  Kinnaird,  June  11th,  1856. 

X  Hansard's  Debates,  vol.  cxxiv.,  p.  647. 


8 


NATIVE  MODE  OF  PROCURING  TESTIMONY. 


them,  and  the  corruption  and  insolence  of 
those  who  must  be  employed  to  prosecute 
or  defend  a  cause  in  them,  and  enforce  the 
fulfilment  of  a  decree  when  passed."  Colonel 
Sleeraan  cites  the  statements  made  to  him 
by  the  Brahmin  communities  of  two  villages, 
invited  back  by  the  native  authorities  from 
the  Shahjehanpoor  district,  and  resettled  on 
their  lands;  "a  mild,  sensible,  and  most 
respectable  body,  whom  a  sensible  ruler 
would  do  all  in  his  power  to  protect  and 
encourage ;  but  these  are  the  class  of  land- 
holders and  cultivators  whom  the  reckless 
governors  of  districts  under  the  Oude  gov- 
ernment most  grievously  oppress.  They 
told  me : — 

"  '  Your  courts  of  justice  are  the  things  we  most 
dread,  sir ;  and  we  are  glad  to  escape  from  them  as 
goon  as  we  can,  in  spite  of  all  the  evils  we  are  ex- 
posed to  on  our  return  to  the  place  of  our  birth. 
•  •  •  The  truth,  sir,  is  seldom  told  in  these 
courts.  There  they  think  of  nothing  but  the  num- 
ber of  witnesses,  as  if  all  were  alike;  here,  sir,  we 
look  to  the  quality.  When  a  man  suffers  wrong, 
the  wrongdoer  is  summoned  before  the  elders,  or 
most  respectable  men  of  his  village  or  clan  ;  and  if 
he  denies  the  charge  and  refuses  redress,  he  is  told  to 
bathe,  put  his  hand  upon  the  peepul-tree,  and  declare 
aloud  his  innocence.  If  he  refuses,  he  is  commanded 
to  restore  what  he  has  taken,  or  make  suitable  re- 
paration for  the  injury  he  has  done ;  and  if  he  re- 
fuses to  do  this,  he  is  punished  by  the  odium  of  all, 
and  his  life  becomes  miserable.  A  man  dare  not 
put  his  hand  upon  that  sacred  tree  and  deny  the 
truth — the  gods  sit  in  it,  and  know  all  things  ;  and 
the  offender  dreads  their  vengeance.  In  your  Adaw- 
luts,  sir,  men  do  not  tell  the  truth  so  often  as  they  do 
among  their  own  tribes  or  village  communities :  they 
perjure  themselves  in  all  manner  of  ways,  without 
shame  or  dread  ;  and  there  are  so  many  men  about 
these  courts,  who  understand  the  '  rules  and  regula- 
tions' (aen  and  kanoon),  and  are  so  much  interested 
in  making  truth  appear  to  be  falsehood,  and  false- 
hood truth,  that  no  man  feels  sure  that  right  will 
prevail  in  them  in  any  case.  The  guilty  think  they 
have  just  as  good  a  chance  of  escape  as  the  inno- 
cent. Our  relations  and  friends  told  us,  that  all 
this  confusion  of  right  and  wrong,  which  bewildered 
them,  arose  from  the  multiplicity  of  the  '  rules  and 
regulations,'  which  threw  all  the  power  into  the 
hands  of  bad  men,  and  left  the  European  gentlemen 
helpless !'  "* 

The  comment  made  on  the  above  asser- 
tions, tends  to  establish  their  accuracy. 
Colonel  Sleeman  says — "The  quality  of  tes- 
timony, no  doubt,  like  that  of  every  other 
comraodity,  deteriorates  under  a  system 
which  renders  the  good  of  no  more  value, 
la  exchange,  than  the  bad.     The  formality 

•  Sleeman's  Journey  through  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  68. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  168;  vol.  ii.,  p.  415. 

\  The  clause  runs  as  follows  : — "  That  no  natives 
of  said  territories,  nor  any  natural  born  subject  of 
her  majesty  resident  therein,  shall  by  reason  only  of 


of  our  courts  here,  as  everywhere  else,  tends 
to  impair,  more  or  less,  the  quality  of  what 
they  receive.  The  simplicity  of  courts  com- 
posed of  little  village  communities  and 
elders,  tends,  on  the  contrary,  to  improve 
the  quality  of  the  testimony  they  get ;  and, 
in  India,  it  is  found  to  be  best  in  the  isolated 
hamlets  and  forests,  where  men  may  be 
made  to  do  almost  anything  rather  than  tell 
a  lie.  A  Mahratta  pundit,  in  the  valley  of 
the  Nerbudda,  once  told  me,  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  teach  a  wild  Gond  of 
the  hills  and  jungles  the  occasional  value  of 
a  lie.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Tharoos  and 
Booksas,  who  are  almost  exclusively  the 
cultivators  of  the  Oude  Turaee  forest,  and 
with  the  peasantry  of  the  Himalaya  chain 
of  mountains,  before  they  have  come  much 
in  contact  with  people  of  the  plains,  and 
become  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  our 
courts.  These  courts  are,  everywhere,  our 
weak  points  in  the  estimation  of  our  sub- 
jects; and  they  should  be  everywhere  sim- 
plified, to  meet  the  wants  and  wishes  of  so 
simple  a  people."  f 


The  Exclusion  of  the  Natives  from  all  Share 
in  the  Government,  has  been  acted  on  as 
necessary  to  our  retention  of  India.  Yet 
many  leading  authorities  agree  in  viewing 
the  degraded  state  in  which  they  have  been 
held  as  a  great  defect  in  our  system. 
"  We  exclude  them,"  said  Sir  Thomas 
Munro,  "  from  every  situation  of  trust  and 
emolument.  We  confine  them  to  the 
lowest  offices,  with  scarcely  a  bare  sub- 
sistence. *  *  *  We  treat  them  as  an  in- 
ferior race  of  beings.  Men  who,  under  a 
native  government,  might  have  held  the 
first  dignities  of  the  state  ;  who,  but  for  us, 
might  have  been  governors  of  provinces, 
are  regarded  as  little  better  than  menial 
servants,  and  are  often  not  better  paid,  and 
scarcely  permitted  to  sit  in  our  presence." 

Lord  Metcalfe,  Lord  William  Bentinck, 
and  others,  have  taken  the  same  tone ; 
and  the  opinions  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  Lord  Glenelg, 
are  sufficiently  evidenced  in  the  87th 
clause  of  the  Charter  Act  of  1833,  which 
declares  the  natives  eligible  to  all  situations 
under  government,  with  certain  exceptions. 
This  clause,J  so  generously  intended,  has 

his  religion,  place  of  birth,  descent,  colour,  or  any 
of  them,  be  disabled  from  holding  any  place,  office, 
or  employment  under  the  said  Company."  Mr.  Came- 
ron, a  gentleman  long  and  intimately  acquainted 
with   India,   writing   in    1853,  says — "  During   the 


NATIVES  EXCLUDED  B'ROM  HONOURS  AND  EMOLUMENTS. 


proved  a  cruel  raockerj',  by  exciting  expec- 
tations VFhich  have  been  frustrated  by  the 
conditions  attached  to  it,  and  the  deter- 
mined opposition  of  the  Court  of  Directors, 
even  when  those  conditions,  including  the 
voyage  to  England,  have  been  fulfilled. 

The  monopoly  of  commerce  was  the  worst 
feature  of  the  E.  I.  Company,  as  regarded 
the  British  nation ;  the  monopoly  of  patron- 
age is  its  worst  feature  as  regards  the 
Indian  population,  and  not  its  best  as 
regards  that  of  England.  Lord  William 
Bentinck  stated  the  case  very  ably  in  his 
evidence  before  the  select  committee  on 
steam  communication  with  India  in  1837. 
"The  bane  of  our  system  is  not  solely  that 
the  civil  administration  is  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  foreigners,  but  that  the  holders  of 
this  monopoly,  the  patrons  of  these  foreign 
agents,  are  those  who  exercise  the  directing 
power  at  home ;  that  this  directing  power  is 
exclusively  paid  by  the  patronage ;  that  the 
value  of  this  patronage  depends  exactly 
upon  the  degree  in  which  all  the  honours 
and  emoluments  of  the  state  are  engrossed 
by  their  clients,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
natives.  There  exists,  in  consequence,  on 
the  part  of  the  home  authorities,  an  interest 
in  respect  to  the  administration  precisely 
similar  to  what  formerly  prevailed  as  to 
commerce,  directly  opposed  to  the  welfare 
of  India;  and,  consequently,  it  will  be  re- 
marked without  surprise,  that  in  the  two 
renewals  of  the  charter  that  have  taken 
place  within  the  last  twenty-five  years,  in 
the  first,  nothing  was  done  to  break  down 
this  administrative  monopoly;  and  in  the 
second,  though  a  very  important  principle 
was  declared,  that  no  disability  from  holding 
office  in  respect  to  any  subjects  of  the  Crown, 
by  reason  of  birth,  religion,  descent,  or 
colour,  should  any  longer  continue,  still  no 
provision  was  made  for  working  it  out ;  and, 
as  far  as  is  known,  the  enactment  has  re- 
mained till  this  day  a  dead  letter."* 

The  number  of  natives  employed  in  the 
administration,  notwithstanding  the  large 
accessions  of  territory  between  the  years 
1851  and  1857  (inclusive),  has  actually  de- 
creased from  2,910  to  2,846.  Of  the  latter 
number,  856  receive  less  than   £120  per 

twenty  years  that  have  [since]  elapsed,  not  one  of 
the  natives  has  been  appointed  to  any  office  except 
such  as  they  were  eligible  to  before  the  statute." 
Mr.  Henry  Kichard,  commenting  on  this  policy,  re- 
marks— "  In  adopting  this  course,  and  treating  the 
natives  as  a  conquered  and  inferior  race,  on  no  ac- 
count to  be  admitted  to  political  and  social  equality 
with  ourselves,  we  are  not  only  violating  the  dic- 
VOL.   II,  C 


annum;  1,377  from  £120  to  £340  per  an- 
num ;  and  only  eleven  receive  above  £840. t 
These  figures,  when  compared  with  the  in- 
creased numbers  and. high  salaries  of  the 
European  covenanted  and  uncovenanted 
servants,  can  hardly  fail  to  suggest  a  reason 
why  the  Hindoos — who  frequently  filled 
the  chief  positions  in  Indo-Mohammedan 
states,  and  almost  invariably  that  of  Dewan 
(or  chancellor  of  the  exchequer) — may 
think  the  rule  of  power-loving,  money-get- 
ting Englishmen,  worse  for  them  than  that 
of  the  indolent  Moslem,  who,  though  he 
sometimes  forcibly  destroyed  the  caste  of 
thousands,  yet  never  withheld  from  their  race 
the  honours  and  emoluments  of  high  office. 
Rajpoots  led  the  forces  of  Delhi;  Rajpoot- 
nies  (though  that  they  afl'ected  to  consider 
a  degradation)  sat  within  its  palaces  in 
imperial  state — the  wives  and  mothers  of 
emperors :  Brahmins  filled  every  revenue 
office,  from  that  of  the  treasurer-in-chief  to 
the  lowest  clerk ;  all  the  financial  business 
being  transacted  by  them.  The  Great  Mo- 
guls, the  minor  Mohammedan  sovereigns, 
and  their  chief  retainers,  were  spendthrifts 
rather  than  hoarders :  they  won  kingdoms 
with  their  swords ;  and,  like  all  conquerors, 
looked  to  reap  where  they  had  not  sown;  but 
avarice,  or  the  love  of  money  for  its  own 
sake,  was  very  rare  among  them.  They  sat 
on  their  silver  howdahs,  on  the  backs  of 
their  elephants,  and  threw  rupees,  by  bags- 
ful,  among  the  people,  who  always  benefited, 
at  least  indirectly,  by  the  lavish  expenditure 
for  which  they  furnished  the  means. 

The  modern  Brahmins  (whatever  their 
ancestors  may  have  done)  certainly  evince 
more  acquaintance  with,  and  predilection 
for,  the  practice  of  the  rules  of  Cocker,  than 
for  the  abstract  study  of  the  Vedas,  and  the 
geographical  and  astronomical  absurdities  of 
the  Shastras.  They  are  born  diplomatists, 
as  well  as  financialists.  Our  greatest  states- 
men have  acknowledged  their  remarkable 
ability.  The  despatches,  especially  the  sup- 
plementary ones,  of  the  late  Duke  of  Wel- 
linston,  abound  with  evidence  of  this  :  and 
when  describing  the  character  of  Talleyrand, 
the  duke  could  find  no  better  comparison 
than  that  he   was    "like  Eitel  Punt  (the 

tates  of  justice  and  of  Christian  morality,  but  we  are 
disregarding  all  that  the  experience  of  the  past  has 
taught  us  to  be  wi.se  policy  with  a  view  to  perma- 
nent success." — {Present  and  Future  of  India  under 
British  Rule,  p.  37.) 

•  Pari.  Papers,  26th  April,  1858 ;  p.  201. 

t  Pari.  Paper  (House  of  Commons),  16th  April, 
1858. 


1 0     AVERSION  EVINCED  BY  THE  ENGLISH  TOWARDS  THE  NATIVES. 


Brahmin  rninister  of  Sindia) ;  only  not  so 
clever."*  Such  men  as  these  can  hardly 
be  expected  to  endure,  without  resentment, 
treatment  which  keeps  the  promise  to  the 
ear,  yet  breaks  it  to  the  sense. 

In  England  we  have  grown  used  to  the 
assertion,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  pub- 
lic opinion  or  discussion  among  the  natives  : 
but  this  is  a  mistake,  and  only  proves  that 
we  have  overlooked  its  rise  and  progress. 
The  public  meetings  held  in  every  presi- 
dency, the  numerous  journals,  and,  still 
more,  the  political  pamphlets  published  by 
natives,  attest  the  contrary.  Of  the  latter 
class  one  now  lies  before  me,  written  in 
English — fluent,  grammatical  English — with 
just  a  sufiicient  tinge  of  Orientalism  to  give 
internal  evidence  of  the  veritable  author- 
ship. The  writer,  after  admitting  the  pro- 
tection afforded  by  British  rule  from  ex- 
ternal violence  and  internal  commotion,  adds 
— "  But  it  has  failed  to  foster  the  growth 
of  an  upper  class,  which  would  have  served 
as  a  connecting  link  between  the  govern- 
ment and  the  mass  of  the  people.  The 
higher  order  of  the  natives  have,  ever  since 
its  commencement,  been  shut  out  of  all 
avenues  to  official  distinction.  They  may 
acquire  colossal  fortunes  in  commercial  and 
other  pursuits,  or  obtain  diplomas  and 
honours  in  colleges  and  universities,  but 
they  cannot  be  admitted  into  the  civil  ser- 
vice, or  the  higher  grades  in  the  military 
service,  without  undertaking  a  voyage  to 
England,  and  complying  with  other  equally 
impracticable  conditions.  The  highest  situa- 
tions to  which  they  can  aspire,  are  deputy- 
magistrateships  and  Sudder  ameenships."t 

Ignorance  of  the  Languages,  and  the  Aver- 
sion evinced  towards  the  Natives,  are  the 
causes  alleged  by  Baboo  Shew  Purshad  (in- 
spector of  schools  in  the  Benares  division), 
for  the  "  unpopularity  of  the  government, 
and,  consequently,  of  all  the  miseries  under 
which  the  country  labours."  The  reluc- 
tance of  the  English  functionaries  to  mix 
with  the  natives,  has  jjreveuted  their  ac- 
quiring that  thorough  knowledge  of  their 
sentiments  and  capabilities,  social  and 
moral  condition,  internal  economy,  wants, 
and  prejudices,  which  are  essential  to  suc- 
cessful government.     "  In  England,"  says 

*  Kaye's  Life  of  Malcolm,  vol.  i.,  p.  241. 

t  The  Mutinies,  the  Government,  and  the  People ; 
by  A  Hindoo ;  p.  36.     (Printed  at  Calcutta,  1858.) 

t  Thotu/hts  of  a  Native  of  Northern  India  on  the 
Rebellion,  its  Causes  and  Jlemedies  (Dalton,  Cock- 


the  writer  just  quoted,  "  you  have  only  to 
pass  good  acts,  and  draw  good  rules,  and 
people  will  take  upon  themselves  to  see 
that  they  are  worked  in  the  right  way,  and 
for  their  benefit,  by  the  local  authorities ; 
but  here  the  case  is  otherwise :  the  best 
regulations  can  be  turned  into  a  source  of 
the  worst  oppression  by  an  unscrupulous 
and  exacting  magistrate ;  and  if  you  give 
us  a  good  magistrate,  he  can  keep  us  happy 
without  any  regulation  at  all.  The  Pun- 
jab owes  its  happiness  more  to  Sir  John 
Lawrence  and  Messrs.  Montgomery  and 
Macleod,  than  to  any  system  or  regulation. 
*  *  *  It  is  owing  to  these  few  officers,  who 
come  now  and  then  to  the  lot  of  some  dis- 
tricts, that  people  have  not  yet  despaired 
and  risen  in  a  body.  *  *  *  The  govern- 
ment will  feel,  no  doubt,  stronger  after  the 
suppression  of  the  mutiny  than  they  ever 
were.  If  the  hatred  of  their  countrymen 
towards  the  natives  increases  in  ratio  to  the 
increase  of  power,  as  hitherto,  the  disaffec- 
tion of  the  people,  and  the  unpopularity  of 
the  government,  will  increase  also  propor- 
tionally. The  consequences  are  obvious : 
and,  be  assured,  the  country  will  be  deso- 
lated and  ruined. "J 

Englishmen,  generally,  have  no  gift  for 
languages;  and  this  has  been  always  one  of 
their  weak  points  as  rulers  of  India,  where 
it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  all  func- 
tionaries, whether  civil  or  military,  should 
be — not  first-rate  Grecians,  or  versed  in 
black-letter  lore — but  able  to  converse,  in 
the  vernacular  dialect,  with  the  men  over 
whom  they  bear  rule.  Had  such  knowledge 
been  at  all  general,  warnings  would,  in  all 
human  probability,  have  been  received  of 
the  combinations  (such  as  they  were)  which 
preceded  the  massacres  of  Meerut,  Cawn- 
poor,  and  Jhansi.  It  is  a  serious  defect  in 
the  system  (springing,  no  doubt,  from  the 
monopoly  of  patronage),  that  so  little  trouble 
has  been  taken  to  promote  the  efficiency  of 
the  servants  of  the  Company,  as  adminis- 
trators of  a  delegated  despotism.  Lord 
Wellesley  strove  earnestly  for  this  end ;  but 
his  efforts  were  coldly  received,  and  are 
even  now  insufficiently  appreciated. 

So  far  as  the  natives  are  concerned, 
sending  out  "  incapables"  to  bear  rule  over 
them,  manifests  a  shameful  indifference  to 

spur-street,  1858) :  with  a  Preface,  written  at  Cal- 
cutta, and  signed  "  M.  W." — initials  which  suggest 
the  name  of  a  well-known  member  of  the  Bengal 
(uncovenanted)  service.  The  Dedication  to  H.  C.  T., 
Esq.,  is  similarly  suggestive. 


EUROPEAN  FUNCTIONARIES  IGNORANT  OF  NATIVE  LANGUAGES.  11 


their  interests,  and  is  inflicting  a  wrong,  of 
which  we  cannot  hope  to  escape  the  penalty. 
"  It  is  suicidal  to  allow  India  to  be  a  refuge, 
as  it  is  at  present  to  a  great  extent,  for 
those  of  our  youth  who  are  least  qualified 
to  make  their  way  in  their  own  country; 
and  it  is  such  an  insult  to  the  natives,  who 
are  full  of  intelligence,  and  are  making  great 
progress  in  European  knowledge  of  all 
kinds,  that  if  anything  could  excuse  them 
for  rebelling,  it  would  be  this." 

This  is  plain  speaking  from  an  authority 
like  Indophilus ;  and  what  he  adds  with  re- 
gard to  young  officers  is  equally  applicable 
to  civilians  : — "  It  should  not  be  left,  as  it  is 
at  present,  to  the  decision  of  a  young  man 
whethor  he  will  pass  in  the  native  languages 
or  not.  The  power  of  understanding  his 
men,  and  of  rendering  himself  intelligible 
to  them,  should  be  considered  an  indispen- 
sable qualification ;  and  those  who  cannot, 
or  will  not,  acquire  this  necessary  accom- 
plishment, should  be  removed  from  the  ser- 
vice. Every  officer  should  be  presumed  to 
understand  the  language  of  his  soldiers."* 

The  change  which  has  taken  place  in 
Anglo-Indian  society,  has,  without  doubt, 
been  a  painful  one  for  the  natives.  The 
very  large  increase  in  the  proportion  of 
Englishwomen  who  now  accompany  their 
husbands,  fathers,  and  brothers  to  India, 
has  tended  to  decrease  the  association  with 
the  native  gentry;  and  these  are  becoming 
yearly  less  able  to  vie  with  the  Europeans. 
One  branch  of  the  intercourse  of  former 
days  has  greatly  diminished;  the  conven- 
tionalities have  become  more  stringent ;  the 
temptations  have  decreased;  the  shameless 
profligacy  described  by  Clivef  no  longer 
exists;  and  a  dark-coloured  "  beebee"  (lady), 
the  mother  of  a  large  family  of  Eura- 
sians, would  not  now  be  considered  a  fit 
head  for  the  household  of  a  distinguished 
military  or  civil  servant.  How  far  any 
radical  reform  has  taken  place,  or  whether 
the  great  "  social  evil"  has  only  changed 
its  hue,  it  is  hard  to  say ;  but  several  trust- 
worthy witnesses  assert  as  an  evident  fact, 
that  the  Europeans  and  natives  of  all  classes 
associate  far  less  than  they  used  to  do, 
and  that  many  of  the  former  have  adopted  a 
supercilious  tone  towards  the  latter,  which 
is  equally  impolitic,  unjust,  and  inconsistent 

*  Letter  to  the  Times,  September  25th,  1857. 

+  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  307. 

\  A  writer  in  the  Times,  "  who  has  passed  his  life 
in  India,"  assert?,  that  "  the  white  and  the  dark  man 
are  no  more  equal,  and  no  more  to  be  governed  by 
the  same  rules,  than  the  man  and  the  ape." — ("  H." 


with  the  usual  refining  and  softening  eSect 
of  legitimate  domestic  intercourse. 

The  repeated  use  of  the  word  "  niggers" 
in  recent  books  of  Indian  memoirs,  and  in 
the  correspondence  pubhshed  in  the  public 
journals,^  is  itself  a  painful  and  significant 
symptom.  An  American  traveller  asks,  how 
we  can  reconcile  our  denunciation  of  the 
social  inequality  of  the  negro  and  white  races 
in  America  with  our  own  conduct  to  the 
East  Indians ?  "I  allude,"  he  says,  "  to  the 
contemptuous  manner  in  which  the  natives, 
even  those  of  the  best  and  most  intelligent 
classes,  are  almost  invariably  spoken  of  and 
treated.  The  tone  adopted  towards  the 
lower  classes  is  one  of  lordly  arrogance ; 
towards  the  rich  and  enlightened,  one  of 
condescension  and  patronage.  I  have  heard 
the  term  '  niggers'  applied  to  the  whole 
race  by  those  high  in  office ;  with  the  lower 
order  of  the  English  it  is  the  designation  in 
general  use."§ 

Sir  CharlesNapier  considered,  thatnothing 
could  be  worse  than  the  manners  of  Eng- 
lishmen in  India  towards  natives  of  all  ranks. 
Therefore,  when  endeavouring  to  bring 
into  operation  the  resources  of  Sinde,  he 
refused  British  officers  a  passage  on  board 
his  merchant  steamers,  knowing  that  "if 
granted,  they  would  go  on  board,  occupy 
all  the  room,  treat  my  rich  merchants  and 
supercargoes  with  insolence,  and  very  pro- 
bably drink  and  thrash  the  people."  || 


Reliffion  and  Education. — Missionary  ope- 
rations are  alleged  to  have  had  their  share 
in  jeopardising  the  permanence  of  our 
power;  while,  on  the  contrary,  the  advocates 
of  religious  enterprise  assert,  that  had  the 
messengers  of  the  glad  tidings  of  universal 
peace  and  good-will  been  sufl^ered  to  have 
free  way  in  India,  as  in  every  other  depen- 
dency or  colony  of  the  British  empire,  such 
an  exposition  of  the  tenets  of  Protestant 
Christianity  would  long  since  have  been 
afibrded  to  the  intelligent  and  argumenta- 
tive Hindoos,  as  would  have  rendered  it 
impossible  for  the  most  artfully-concocted 
rumours,  founded  on  the  most  unfortunate 
combination  of  circumstances,  to  persuade 
them  (in  the  teeth  of  a  hundred  years'  ex- 
perience to  the  contrary),  that  force  and 
fraud  would  ever  be  used  to  compel  the 
Nov.  23rd,  1857.)  It  is  much  to  be  regretted,  that 
such  mischievous  and  exceptional  opinions  as  these 
should  find  unqualified  expression  in  a  journal 
which  circulates  largely  throughout  India. 

§  Taylor's  Visit  to  India,  S(C.,  in  1853 ;  p.  273. 

II  Life,  by  Sir  William  Napier ;  vol.  iii.,  p.  473. 


12 


RELIGION  AND  EDUCATION  IN  INDIA— 1813  to  1834. 


adoption  of  a  creed  which  appeals  to  the 
reason,  and  requires  the  habitual  exercise 
of  the  free-will  of  every  disciple. 

"With  some  few  and  partial  exceptions,  the 
policy  of  the  home  and  local  government 
has  been  steadily  and  even  sternly  repres- 
sive of  all  attempts  for  the  extension  of 
Christianity;  and  every  concession  made 
has  been  wrung  from  them  by  the  zeal  of 
influential  individuals,  supported  by  public 
opinion.  It  needs  not  to  establish  this  fact 
on  evidence,  or  to  remind  the  reader  that 
English  missionaries  were  not  even  tolerated 
in  India  until  the  year  1813;  that  Marsh- 
man  and  Carey  were  compelled  to  take  up 
their  residence  without  the  British  frontier, 
in  the  Danish  settlement  of  Serarapoor; 
that  Judson  and  his  companions  were  actu- 
ally deported ;  and  that  Robert  Haldane's 
munificent  and  self-sacrificing  intention  of 
expending  £40,000  on  the  formation  of  an 
eS^ective  mission  for  Benares,  was  frustrated 
by  the  positive  prohibition  of  government, 
despite  the  efforts  of  Wilberforce  and  others. 

An  Indian  director  is  said  to  have  de- 
clared, that  "he  would  rather  a  band  of  devils 
landed  in  India  than  a  band  of  mission- 
aries;"* and  his  colleagues  acted  very  much 
as  if  they  shared  his  conviction. 

Secular  education  was  long  viewed  by 
the  East  India  Company  as  a  question  in 
which  they  had  no  concern ;  and  the  efforts 
made  by  the  Marquis  Wellesley  and  others, 
were  treated  with  an  indifference  amounting 
to  aversion.  At  length  public  opinion  be- 
came decided  on  the  subject;  and,  in  1813, 
the  sum  of  £10,000  was,  by  the  determina- 
tion of  parliament,  decreed  to  be  annually 
appropriated,  out  of  the  revenues  of  India, 
for  the  cultivation  of  exclusively  Hindoo 
and  Mohammedan  lore. 

In  1824,  Mr.  Mill  (the  historian,  who 
entered  the  service  of  the  Company  after 
writing  his  famous  exposition  of  the  worst 
features  of  their  rule)  was  ordered  to  pre- 
pare a  despatch  on  the  subject  of  education. 
He  did  so,  and  in  it  boldly  laid  down  the 
principle  of  inculcating  sound  truth,  in  op- 
position to  the  absurd  fictions  of  the  Shas- 
tras.  The  directors  accepted  his  dictum, 
and  founded  English  schools  and  colleges 
for  exclusively  secular  instruction.  Lord 
W.  Bentinck,  in  1834,  pursued  a  similar 
course;  and  a  few  thousand  youths  (including 
Nana  Sahib)  learned  to  talk  English  fluently, 

•  Quoted  by  the  Hon.  A.  Kinnaird — Exeter  Hall, 
Jan.  5th,  1858. 

t  Arthur's  Mi/soor,  p.  91. 


to  quote  Shakespeare,  Pope,  Addison,  and 
Byron,  instead  of  the  Ramayana  and  the 
Mahabharata,  Hafiz  or  Sadi;  and  to  jeer  with 
the  flippancy  of  superficial  scepticism  at  the 
ignorance  of  their  parents  and  countrymen, 
in  asserting  that  the  earth  rests  on  eight 
elephants,  a  serpent,  a  turtle,  and  such  like;t 
and  at  the  Mussulmans,  for  believing  in 
Mohammed's  journey  to  the  moon.  After 
all,  such  instruction  was  a  direct  and  tan- 
gible interference  with  the  religious  views 
of  the  people.  No  greater  would  have  been 
committed,  had  we  placed  before  them  a 
frank  and  full  exposition  of  our  own  creed, 
choosing  Moses  rather  than  Milton  to  nar- 
rate the  origin  and  fall  of  the  whole  human 
race,  and  triisting  to  the  equally  inspired 
record  of  the  evangelists,  to  impart,  with  re- 
sistless power,  the  divinely  revealed  mystery 
of  man's  redemption. 

We  have  taught  the  whole  truth  as  re- 
gards material  things — that  the  earth  is 
round,  for  instance,  and  that  the  ocean  is 
everywhere  the  same ;  in  opposition  to  the 
Brahminical  doctrine,  that  the  earth  con- 
sists of  seven  continents,  divided  by  seas 
composed  respectively  of  salt-water,  wine, 
sugar-cane  juice,  clarified  butter,  curds, 
milk,  and  fresh-water.  Spiritual  truth  we 
have  not  ventured  to  set  forth ;  and  the  con- 
querors who  represent  a  nation  which  ap- 
plauds itself  for  the  maintenance  in  strict 
union  of  church  and  state,  have  become  the 
voluntary  exponents  of  a  neutral  system 
which  closely  resembles  practical  infidelity. 
And  practical  infidelity  is  the  cause  to  which 
alone  our  conduct  is  attributed  by  the  more 
intelligent  class  of  the  natives.  They  know 
that  the  government  is  firm  even  to  obsti- 
nacy in  the  maintenance  of  its  convictions, 
and  they  utterly  discredit  the  reality  of  a 
belief  which  can  co-exist  with  the  tempo- 
rising and  cowardly  half  measures  em- 
ployed by  those  who  are  in  all  other  things 
habitually  positive  and  outspoken. 

The  Anglo-Indian  authorities  were  not, 
however,  all  blind  or  indifferent  to  the 
workings  of  the  "  Godless  colleges."  In 
Madras,  a  strong  feeling  grew  up  in  favour 
of  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  in  government 
schools.  The  Marquis  of  Tweeddale,  then 
governor,  shared  and  ably  expressed  this 
opinion,  declaring,  that  "it  required  a 
more  solid  foundation  than  is  to  be  found 
in  the  Hindoo  or  Mohammedan  faith,  to 
bear  the  change  which  learning  operates  on 
the  mind  of  those  who  emerge  out  of  a 
state  of  ignorance,  and  attain  those  mental 


THE  BIBLE  EXCLUDED  FROM  GOVERNiMENT  SCHOOLS. 


13 


acquirements  which  enlarged  education 
gives.  *  *  *  Nor  do  I  see  how  native 
society  itself  can  safely  and  permanently 
advance  except  upon  this  basis.  I  would 
therefore  adopt  the  rule  proposed  by  the 
council,  which  recognises  the  Bible  as  a 
class-book  in  the  government  schools,  but 
at  the  same  time  leaves  it  free  to  the  native 
student  to  read  it  or  not,  as  his  conscience 
may  dictate,  or  his  parent  may  desire."* 

The  Court  of  Directors  refused  to  comply 
with  Lord  Tweeddale's  recommendation, 
and  persevered  in  their  previous  resolve, 
despite  the  remonstrances  of  the  Madras 
council,  and  their  clear  exposition  of  the 
mistaken  view  on  which  that  determination 
was  founded.  An  able  pen  wrote  a  denun- 
ciation of  the  system,  which  now  reads  like  a 
prophecy  : — "  The  government  does  not 
know  what  it  is  doing.  No  doubt  it  is 
breaking  down  those  superstitions,  and  dis- 
persing those  mists,  which,  by  creating 
weakness  and  disunion,  facilitated  the  con- 
quest of  the  country  ;  but,  instead  of  sub- 
stituting any  useful  truth,  or  salutary  prin- 
ciples, for  the  ignorance  and  false  principles 
which  they  remove,  they  are  only  facilitating 
the  dissemination  of  the  most  pernicious 
errors,  and  the  most  demoralising  and  revo- 
lutionary principles.  I  have  been  appalled 
by  discovering  the  extent  to  which  athe- 
istical and  deistical  writings,  together  with 
disaffection  to  the  British  government  and 
hatred  to  the  British  name,  have  spread, 
and  are  spreading,  among  those  who  have 
been  educated  in  government  schools,  or 
are  now  in  the  service  of  government.  The 
direction  of  the  government  system  of  edu- 
cation is  rapidly  falling  into  the  hands  of 
astute  Brahmins,  who  know  how  to  take 
advantage  of  such  a  state  of  things,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  strengthem  them- 
selves by  an  alliance  with  Parsee  and  Mus- 
sulman prejudices ;  while  the  European 
gentlemen  who  still  remain  nominally  at 
the  head  of  the  system,  know  nothing  of  the 
under-currents  which  pervade  the  whole, 
or  consider  themselves  as  bound,  either  by 
principle  or  policy,  not  to  make  any  exer- 
tions in  favour  of  Christian  truth ;  while  the 
professed  object  of  the  government  is  to 
give  secular  instruction  oiily."t 

•  See  Lord  Tweeddale's  Minute,  August  24th, 
1846,  and  reply  thereto. — Sixth  Report  of  House  of 
Lords,  1853;  pp.  189;  152. 

t  Testimony  of  Professor  Henderson,  of  the  Bom- 
bay Government  Schools,  dated  31st  October,  1803; 
published  in  a  Discourse  upon  his  death,  by  Dr.  Wil- 
son president  of  the  Bombay  Literary  Society. 


In  April,  1847,  an  order  was  issued  by 
the  Court  of  Directors  to  the  governor-gen- 
eral, requiring,  that  the  principle  which  had 
been  "  uniformly  maintained,  of  abstaining 
from  all  interference  with  the  religion  of 
the  natives  of  India,"  should  be  rigidly  en- 
forced. A  paragraph  in  a  previous  despatch 
(to  Madras,  21st  May,  1845),  declared  it  to 
be  "  the  duty  of  government,  and  not  less 
of  its  officers,  to  stand  aloof  from  all  mis- 
sionary labours,  either  as  promoting  or  as 
opposing  them."  At  this  time,  it  was  well- 
known  that  many  of  the  most  esteemed 
officials,  civil  and  military,  were,  and  had 
been  for  years  past,  members  of  committees 
of  Bible  and  Missionary  societies.  A  public 
demand  for  "specific  instructions"  regarding 
the  meaning  of  the  directors,  was  made  by 
their  servants;  and  this,  together  with  the 
privately  expressed  opinions  which  reached 
the  governor-general  (Lord  Hardinge),  in- 
duced him  to  withhold  the  despatch  and 
recommend  its  suppression ;  in  which  the 
directors  concurred,  because  its  publication 
"  might  give  rise  to  discussion  on  a  subject 
on  which  it  is  particularly  desired  that  the 
public  mind  should  not  be  excited."J 

In  the  j'ear  1849,  a  native  of  high- 
caste,  occupying  a  responsible  position  in 
the  Calcutta  college,  publicly  embraced 
Christianity,  and  was  immediately  dismissed 
by  the  English  authorities. § 

The  government  pursued  the  system  of 
excluding  the  Bible  from  its  schools,  while 
the  missionaries  persisted  in  making  it  the 
foundation  of  theirs ;  and  the  opinion 
of  the  natives  was  evidenced  in  the  large 
voluntary  contributions  made  by  them  to 
the  latter.  The  statistics  of  1853  gave 
the  following  result : — Government  schools, 
404;  scholars,  25,362:  Christian  Mission 
schools,  1,668;  scholars,  96,177.  The  re- 
turns showed  some  singular  facts  :  among 
others,  that  the  only  school  at  Bangalore  in 
which  Brahmin  youths  were  found,  was  a 
missionary  one. 

In  1854,  the  duty  of  adopting  measures  for 
the  extension  of  education,  was  avowed  in  a 
despatch  by  Sir  Charles  Wood  ;  and  the  doc- 
trine of  grants  in  aid  for  the  support  of  all 
schools,  without  reference  to  the  religious 
doctrine  taught  therein,  was  plainly  set  forth, 

X  Pari.  Papers  (House  of  Commons),  12th  Feb- 
ruary, 1858;  pp.  3,  5,  11. — Letter  from  a  Layman 
in  India ;  pamphlet,  published  by  Dalton,  Cock- 
spur-street,  1858;  pp.  H,  12.— Speech  of  Rev.  W. 
Chalmers,  Exeter  Hall,  January  5th,  1858. 

§  Christian  Education  for  India  in  the  Mother- 
Tongue,  p.  15. 


14 


CRY  FOR  "  CHRISTIAN  EMANCIPATION"  IN  INDIA. 


A  minister  of  public  instruction  for  India 
■was  appointed,  with  a  salary  of  £3,000 
a-j'ear;  four  inspectors,  with  salaries  varying 
from  £1,500  down  to  £750;  and  a  large 
number  of  sub-inspectors :  but  no  single 
vernacular  school*  was  established,  neither 
was  any  attempt  made  to  frame  and  cir- 
culate tracts  on  agriculture  and  mechanics, 
or  to  convey,  in  the  native  languages,  the 
more  elementary  and  practical  portions  of 
the  knowledge  generally  availed  of  in  Europe 
for  the  furtherance  of  various  branches  of 
trade  and  manufacture.f 

The  extensive  scale  on  which  prepara- 
tions were  made  surprised  the  natives,  and 
the  unauthorised  and  improper  statement 
of  some  of  the  officials,  that  "it  was  the 
order  of  government  that  people  should 
now  educate  their  children, "J  created  much 
anxiety.  Yet  proselytising  was  neither 
contemplated  nor  desired.  The  Calcutta 
Bible  Society  requested  permission  of  the 
Council  of  Education  to  place  a  copy  of  the 
Bible,  in  English  and  the  vernacular,  in  the 
library  of  each  government  school  and  col- 
lege. It  was  notorious  that  the  Koran  and 
the  Shastras  were  there;  yet  the  council 
declined  to  give  the  Bible  a  place  beside 
them,  because  it  would  be  a  breach  of 
"  neutrality  ."§ 

In  England,  and  even  in  India,  the  autho- 
rities generally  seem  to  have  had  no  mis- 
givings as  to  the  result  of  purely  secular 
teaching.  Some  few,  however,  deprecated 
education  of  any  kind  to  any  extent ;  and 
this  party  included  a  late  governor-general. 
Lord  Ellenborough,  who  declared  his  belief 
of  its  incompatibility  with  the  maintenance 
of  British  dominion  in  India — a  conviction, 
the  ground  of  which  is  explained  by  a  sub- 
sequent statement  made  by  his  lordship  in 
his  place  in  parliament  (in  1 852),  that  "  no 
intelligent  people  would  submit  to  our  gov- 
ernment." || 

With  such  views,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
Lord  Ellenborough,  when  addressing  the 
House  of  Lords  on  the  9th  of  June,  1857, 
on  the  recent  tidings  of  the  mutiny  of  the 
Bengal  army,  should  have  adverted  with 
extreme  astonishment  to  a  statement  which 
he  could  "  scarcely  believe  to  be  true," 
though  he  had  seen  it  "  distinctly  stated  in 
the  papers,  that  the  governor-general  himself, 

•  A  Vernacular  Society  is  now  being  orfj;ani9cd 
in  London.  It  is  much  needed ;  for,  as  its  chief  pro- 
moter, Mr.  Tucker,  truly  says,  no  people  have  ever 
been  Christianised  through  a  foreign  language. 

t  Report  of  Public  Meeting  for  the  Formation  of 


Lord  Canning,  subscribed  largely  to  a  mis- 
sionary society,  which  has  for  its  object  the 
conversion  of  the  natives."  The  reply  of 
Lord  Lansdowne  was,  that  if  "  Lord  Can- 
ning had  so  acted  as  to  give  countenance  to 
such  belief  as  the  noble  earl  inferred,  he 
would  no  longer  deserve  to  be  continued  in 
his  office."  These,  and  similar  expressions 
of  opinion,  have  done  good  by  affording 
unmistakable  evidence  of  the  feelings  enter- 
tained by  men  of  high  talent  and  position. 
A  cry  arose  for  "  Christian  emancipation," 
and  several  public  meetings  took  place. 
On  one  of  these,  held  at  Exeter  Hall  on  the 
5th  of  January,  1858,  the  Times  commented 
in  the  following  terms: — "We  have  made 
a  great  mistake  in  India.  The  religious 
policy  pursued  by  the  government  of  that 
country,  has  made  us,  as  one  of  its  own 
servants  declared,  'cowards  in  the  eyes  of 
men,  and  traitors  in  the  eyes  of  God.' 
*  *  *  A  stranger  to  the  question,  after 
reading  the  noble  chairman's  speech  on 
that  occasion,  might  well  imagine  that  the 
Hindoos  were  the  conquerors,  and  we  the 
subjects;  that  we  had  been  tyrannically 
debarred,  for  more  than  a  century,  from  the 
free  exercise  of  our  religion;  and  that  we 
were  at  length  seizing  a  favourable  moment 
to  demand  relief  from  these  unjust  disabili- 
ties. All  that  his  lordship,  and  those  who 
followed  him,  asked  for,  was  Christian 
emancipation;  *  *  *  and  that,  under  a 
government  acknowledging  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus,  the  profession  of  the  Gospel  should 
no  longer  be  visited  with  penalties  of  civil 
disqualification.  These  are  literally  tlie 
conditions  to  which  our  policy  has  driven 
us.  *  *  *  We  were  never  really  neutral ; 
we  made  ourselves  partisans;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, in  our  anxiety  to  escape  the 
charge  of  favouring  Christianity,  we  ac- 
tually favoured  heathenism.  *  *  *  A.11 
this  must  now  end,  if  not  for  truth's  sake, 
for  the  sake  of  government  itself.  Our 
policy  has  broken  down  utterly,  and  proved 
destructive  to  its  own  objects.  There  is  no 
mistaking  the  results  of  the  experiment. 
Where,  asked  Lord  Shaftesbury,  did  the 
insurrection  break  out  ?  Was  it  in  Madras, 
where  Christians  are  most  numerous,  and 
where  Christianity  has  been  best  treated  ? 
Was  it  in  Bombay,  where  caste  was  scouted, 

a  Christian  Vernacular  Education  Society,  20th  May, 
1858;  p.  8. 

X  Pari.  Papers,  13th  April,  1858;  p.  2. 

§  Letter  from  a  Layman,  p.  13. 

II  Dickinson's  India  under  a  Bureaucracy,  p.  117. 


DANGER  OF  CHANGING  IDOLATERS  TO  ATHEISTS. 


15 


and  Hindoos  taught  that  government  could 
pay  no  heed  to  such  pretensions  ?  No ;  it 
was  in  Bengal,  where  idolatry  and  caste 
received  the  greatest  reverence ;  and  in  the 
Bengal  army,  which  represented  the  most 
pampered  class  of  the  whole  population." 

One  last  incident,  illustrative  of  the  anti- 
Christian  policy  of  the  Indian  government, 
remains  to  be  quoted.  The  Sonthals — a 
wild  tribe,  resembling  our  gipsies — were 
driven  into  rebelUou  in  1856,  by  the  mis- 
conduct of  some  railway  contractors,  the 
exactions  of  native  bankers,  and  the  out- 
rages committed  by  the  native  police.  The 
missionaries  materially  aided  in  restoring 
tranquillity,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
confidence  of  these  poor  savages,  who  were 
without  the  pale  of  Hindoo  caste;  and  the 
Calcutta  authorities  entered  into  arrange- 
ments with  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
for  the  establishment  of  schools  of  religious 
and  industrial  instruction  among  them,  and 
specially  among  the  females.*  When  the 
measure  became  known  in  England,  the 
home  government  refused  its  sanction,  and 
ordered  the  establishment  of  schools  on  its 
own  plan,  the  teachers  of  which  were  to  be 
"  most  strictly  enjoined  to  abstain  from  any 
attempt  to  introduce  religious  subjects  in 
any  form."f 

It  is  interesting  to  learn,  from  (me  of  the 
Hindoos  themselves,  the  view  taken  by  them 
of  our  so-called  neutrality.  Shew  Purshad 
says — "  It  is  absurd  to  think  that  the  Eng- 
lish are  hated  by  the  Hindoos  on  account  of 
their  religion.  *  *  *  It  is  not  religion, 
but  the  want  of  religion,  which  has  brought 
so  much  evil  to  this  country.  The  people 
know  that  the  government  is  a  Christian 
one.  Let  it  act  openly  as  a  true  Christian  : 
the  people  will  never  feel  themselves  disap- 
pointed; they  will  only  admire  it.  *  *  * 
Education    must    be    carried    on    upon   a 

*  See  Mr.  J.  M.  Strachan's  Letter  to  Captain 
Eastwick.     (Seeley,  1858.) 

t  Pari.  Papers  (Common.s),  24th  Aug.,  1857;  p.  2. 

X  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  46. 

§  "  Active  resistance  to  the  recently  introduced 
mcssinj^  system  in  the  gaols  of  Bengal  and  the  N.W. 
Provinces,  has  produced  bloodshed." — Col.  Sykes' 
Letter  to  the  Times,  October  8th,  1857. 

II  Tliouyhls  of  a  Native,  ^-c,  \>\>.  18 — 34. 

%  Mr.  Tucker  was  connected  with  the  Benares 
district  for  twenty-five  )ears  :  during  this  period  he 
avowed  and  acted  up  to  his  own  high  standard  of 
Christian  duty,  at  the  risk  of  being  deemed  a  dan- 
gerous fanatic  j  the  more  so  because  the  "  Holy 
City"  of  Benares  is  the  stronghold  of  the  Brahmins, 
and  holds  a  somewhat  similar  position,  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  Hindoos,  to  what  Mecca  does  in  that 
of  the  Moslems.    Yet,  on  his  departore  for  Europe 


sounder   principle,   and    religion   must    be 
fostered.     Don't  turn  India  from   idolatry 
to    atheism.     *     *     *     Who    can    detest 
'religion?'     It  is  the  order  of  their  own 
ShastrasJ  that  every  man  is  to  revere  his 
own  religion.     You  may  have  a  thousand 
missionaries  to  preach,  and  another  thou- 
sand as  masters  of  the  schools,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  government,   or  distribute  a 
thousand  Bibles  at  the  hands  of  the  gov- 
ernor-general.    The  people  will  not  murmur 
out   a   single    syllable,   though    they   may 
laugh  and  jeer;  but  take  care  that  you  do 
not  interfere  with  their  caste — you  do  not 
force  them  to  eat  the  food  cooked  by  another 
in  the  gaols, §  or  thrust  grease  down  their 
throats  with  the   cartridges   made  by  Eu- 
ropeans.    *     *     *       Difference    of    caste 
must  vanish,  with  many  other  offsprings  of 
folly  and  ignorance,  when  its  proper  time 
comes.     To  try  to  exterminate  it  now  must 
end  in  bloodshed. "|| 

Mr.  Henry  Carre  Tucker,  the  son  of  the 
late  chairman  of  the  East  India  Company 
(aiid  himself  no  mean  authority^),  confirms 
the  statement,  from  long  personal  experience 
— that  so  long  as  we  scrupulously  abstain 
from  any  direct  interference  with  the  cere- 
monial observances  of  caste,  we  may  teach 
Christianity  as  much  as  we  please,  adding — 
"This  view  is  strengthened  by  the  fact,  that 
during  the  late  mutiny,  those  large  military 
stations  have  escaped  the  best  where  the 
governors  were  most  zealous  for  Chris- 
tianity.'" He  proceeds  to  instance  Pesha- 
wur,  under  Herhert  Edwardes ;  and  Lahore, 
under  "those  brave  Christian  men,  John 
Ijawrence  and  Robert  Montgomery :"  but 
here  we  cannot  follow  him  without  anti- 
cipating the  subsequent  narrative.  His 
conclusions,  however,  are  too  important  to 
be  omitted  :  they  are — "  That  we  ought  to 
assume  a  bolder  position  as  a  Christian  gov- 

in  March,  1858,  a  valedictory  address  was  presented 
to  him,  signed  by  all  the  principal  inhabitants — ex- 
pressing sorrow  at  the  termination  of  their  official 
connection,  a  "  deep  sense  of  admiration  of  his  en- 
larged spirit  of  philanthropy  and  almost  boundless 
benevolence,"  and  "  gratitude  for  his  zealous  exer- 
tions in  extending  tlie  benefits  of  education."  In 
token  of  their  sense  of  the  manner  in  which  he  had 
employed  his  ft'w  leisure  hours  in  furthering  "  the 
welfare,  here  and  hereafter,  of  those  committed  to  his 
charge,"  the  subscribers  to  the  address  collected 
among  themselves  (),000  rupees,  for  the  obtainment 
of  a  full-length  portrait  of  their  friend,  to  be  placed 
in  the  Benares  college;  and  with  the  balance,  after 
defraying  the  cost  of  the  picture,  they  propose  to 
found  a  scholarship  to  commemorate  his  name. 
Certainly  the  Hindoos  know  how  to  appreciate 
Christian  disinterestedness  when  they  meet  with  it. 


16 


CASTE,  A  SOCIAL  CONVENTION. 


ernment ;  that  it  is  quite  feasible  to  Chris- 
tiauise  our  education ;  and  that,  instead  of 
causing  alarm  and  disaffection,  those  dan- 
gerous points  have,  through  God's  blessing, 
been  the  most  quiet  where  Christian  exer- 
tion has  been  the  greatest.  Oude,  destitute 
of  all  missionary  effort,  and  the  sepoys,  to 
whom  Christian  instruction  was  closed,  were 
the  worst  of  all."* 

The  ignorance  displayed  by  the  sepoys, 
and  that  large  part  of  the  Indian  population 
connected  with  the  army,  regarding  Chris- 
tianity, is  remarkable,  even  after  making 
every  possible  allowance  for  the  rigid  exclu- 
sion of  missionary  teaching,  and  the  abso- 
lute prohibition  of  proselytism  among  their 
ranks.t  The  cause  is  obvious — not  simply 
to  the  minds  of  earnest  Christians,  but  to 
the  class  who  have  least  sympathy  with  any- 
thing approaching  religious  enthusiasm. 

The  Times,X  in  one  of  its  leading  articles, 
is  constrained  to  admit,  that  it  is  because 
the  superior  beneficence  and  purity  of  our 
religion  have  not  been  vividly  and  trans- 
parently exhibited  in  practice,  that  we  "  have 
not  converted  the  people  who  have  witnessed 
the  every-day  life  of  British  gentlemen  and 
ladies — we  will  not  say  to  an  acceptance  of 
our  religion,  but  even  to  any  high  regard  for 
it.  *  *  *  We  ought  to  have  stood  high 
in  that  land  of  many  religions,  as  a  con- 
sistent, believing,  just,  kind,  and  holy  people. 
That  we  have  not  even  done  this,  and  that 
we  are  regarded  simply  as  unbelievers,  with 
little  religion  except  a  few  negative  tenets, 
which  we  find  convenient  for  political  pur- 
poses, must  be  deemed  a  shortcoming  in 
our  practice.  It  must  be  our  fault  that  we 
Christians  stand  so  much  lower  in  the  reli- 
gious scale  of  India  than  we  did  in  the  scale 
of  ancient  paganism." 
j  While  (according  to  the  above  impartial 
testimony)  we  have  not  taught  Christianity 
j  either  by  precept  or  example,  and  while 
!    among  the  sepoys  the  Bible  has  remained  a 

;  •  It  would  8eem  as  if  the  government  had  feared 
I  the  influence  of  Christianity  among  the  English 
j  yoldiery  ;  for  it  is  only  very  recently  that  chaplains 
j  have  been  appointed  to  accompany  expeditions. 
:  No  provision  of  the  kind  was  made  in  the  Cabool 
!  war  J  and  Sir  Charles  Napier  loudly  complained  of 
I  a  similar  deficiency  among  his  force  in  Sinde. 
I  t  VVitness  the  case  of  Purrub-deen  Pandeh,  ahigh- 
[  •  caste  Brahmin  (a  naik  in  the  25th  regiment),  who, 
i  though  '•previously  much  esteemed  in  the  corps," 
I  was  summarily  removed  for  having  received  Chris- 
I  tian  baptism.  This  occurred  at  Meerut  in  1819. — 
(Pari.  Papers,  8th  February,  1858.) 

X  October  6th,  1857. 

J  See  London  Quarterly  lierieu),  October,  1857  : 


sealed  book,  no  such  embargo  has  ever  been 
laid  on  the  Koran.  The  Mdhammedans, 
themselves  essentially  propagandists,  have 
remained  masters  of  the  situation.  Wrapped 
in  a  complacent  belief  of  their  own  supe- 
riority, as  believers  in  a  revelation  more 
recent  and  complete  than  that  of  their  con- 
querors, the  followers  of  the  False  Prophet 
adopt  their  own  classification  of  "  Jews, 
English,  infidels,  and  heretics ;"  and  really 
viewing  us  (in  a  certain  sense)  as  we  do  the 
Jews,  have  taken  pains  to  communicate 
this  impression  to  the  Hindoos. 

Indeed,  who  will  venture  to  defend  from 
the  charge  of  practical  atheism,  a  govern- 
ment that  causes  such  sentences  as  "  God 
is  a  Spirit,"  to  be  expunged  from  its  school- 
books  ;§  being  apparently  ignorant  that  this 
fundamental  truth  is  the  very  essence  of  all 
that  is  sound  in  Mohammedanism,  and  is 
acknowledged,  at  least  in  theory,  by  every 
Brahmin  and  Buddhist  in  India. 


Caste,  and  the  panic-terror  which  the 
idea  of  its  violation  may  have  occasioned, 
constitute  a  social  and  political,  even  more 
than  a  religious  question.  ||  Sir  Charles 
Napier  well  defined  the  difference  when 
he  said,  that  what  the  natives  dreaded, 
was  "  not  conversion,  but  contamination." 
Caste  is  no  universal,  immutable  law :  it 
is  a  pure  convention ;  but  one  which,  by 
the  nature  of  our  position,  we  are  bound  to 
respect  to  a  certain  reasonable  extent. 

The  traditional  four  castes^  have  merged 
into  innumerable  others.  Human  passions 
have  proved  too  strong  for  the  strongest 
fetters  ever  forged  by  a  wily  priesthood. 
Intermarriages  have  taken  place  between 
every  variety  of  caste ;  and  the  result  is,  the 
general  division  of  the  Hindoo  population 
into  high-caste  (consisting  of  Brahmins  who 
compose  the  priest  and  s-cholar  class,  and 
the  Rajpoots,  who  are  hereditary  soldiers), 
low-caste  (in  which  all  the  Mahrattas,  and 

article  on  the  "Sepoy  Rebellion;"  by  the  Rev.  W. 
Arthur;  p.  259. 

II  No  European  can  form,  though  they  ought  to 
form,  a  correct  idea  of  the  difference  between  the 
prejudices  of  caste  and  those  of  religion.  Give  a 
couple  of  gold  mohurs  to  a  pundit,  and  he  will  cheer- 
fully compose  a  book  in  refutation  of  his  own  reli- 
gion ;  but  give  him  a  glass  of  water  openly  touched 
by  you,  even  through  the  medium  of  a  stick  a  hun- 
dred feet  long,  and  he  will  not  drink  it,  though  you 
ofler  him  a  thousand  gold  mohurs.  Secretly,  per- 
haps, he  may  not  have  objection  to  do  anything 
either  to  please  you  or  satiate  his  own  passions. 
— (Thoughts  of  a  Native,  ^-c;  p.  18) 

^  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  14. 


HIGH-CASTE,  LOW-CASTE,  AND  OUT-CASTE. 


17 


I  most  of  the  remaining  native  princes,   are 
[  included),  and,  thirdly,  ont-caste — a  section 
diffused  all  over  India,  and  forming  a  large 
j  proportion  of  the  entire  population.     The 
!  Abbe  Dubois  maintained,  thiit  they  were,  in 
;  his  time,  one  in  five ;  but  an  able  writer  of 
'  our  own  day  suggests  one  in  ten  as  nearer 
the   truth :    adding — "  Even    in    this   pro- 
portion   the    Indian    out-castes    would    be 
j  twenty  millions  of  human  beings,  or  more 
than  the  population  of  all  England."* 

This  class  includes  the  aborigines,  or  at 
least  the  predecessors  of  the  Hindoos,  the 
Gonds,  Blieels,  Sonthals,  &c.,  who  have 
never  accepted  caste;  and,  indeed,  could 
not  by  Brahminical  law  find  place  in  it. 
The  barrier  is  equally  impassable  for  the 
Mussulmans,  whose  observance  of  certain 
caste  rules  is  worthless  in  the  sight  of  the 
Hindoos.  No  man  can  venture  to  foretel 
how  much  longer  the  system  may  endure, 
or  how  soon  it  may  be  thrown  to  the  winds. 
The  Jains  have  caste ;  the  Buddhists  (who 
still  linger  in  India)  have  none.  Then  there 
are  the  Seiks,  originally  a  peaceable,  reli- 
gions sect,  founded  by  a  Hindoo,  whose 
creed  was  derived  from  the  Vedas  and  the 
Koran.  Caste  was  suddenly  abolished  among 
them  by  Govind,  their  tenth  "  Guru,"  or 
spiritual  chief;  converts  were  gladly  wel- 
comed from  all  quarters,  and  admitted  to  a 
perfect  equality. f 

A  similar  change  may  come  over  the  mass 
of  the  Hindoos ;  and  as  the  teaching  of  St. 
Paul  produced  the  simultaneous  conversion 
of  two  thousand  persons,  so  here,  whole 
communities  may  be  led  at  once  to  renounce 
the  error  which  lias  so  long  enthralled  them. 
Or,  the  work  may  be  more  gradual — indivi- 
dual enlightenment  may  be  the  thin  edge 
of  the  wedge:  but  in  either  case.  Christian 
civilisation  is  the  instrument  which  alone 
can  prosper  in  our  hands — the  only  one  that 
affords  any  rational  prospect  of  leading  to 
the  voluntary  renunciation  of  caste.  This 
renunciation  does  not  necessarily  accom- 
pany conversion  to  Christianity ;  though  it 
would  seem  to  be  an  inevitable  consequence. 
Some  of  the  Hindoo  pamphleteers,  how- 
ever, declare  that  caste  can  hardly  be 
deemed  incompatiblewith  Christianity, when 
it  exists  so  evidently,  although  under  pecu- 
liar forms,  among  the  English.  They  ask, 
whether  we  do  not  treat  all  men  whose 
skins  are  darker  than  our  own,  as  if  of  quite 

•  Sepoy   Itehellion    in    India  ;    by    the    Rev.    W. 
Arthur. —  London  Quarter/;/  Review,  October,  1857. 
t  See  Indian  Bmpire,  vol.  i.,  p.  1.54. 
VOL.   II.  D 


another  caste  or  breed  ?  Whether  half-caste 
is  not  our  contemptuous  term  for  an  Eura- 
sian ?  They  point  to  the  whole  framework  of 
Anglo-Indian  society,  to  its  "covenanted*' 
service,  to  the  rigid  exclusiveness  produced 
by  patronage  alike  in  the  military  and  civil 
service,  in  confirmatiou  of  their  assertion. 
High-caste,  low-caste,  and  out-caste,  with 
their  various  subdivisions,  are,  they  say, 
pretty  clearly  defined  in  our  practice,  how- 
ever forcibly  we  may  repudiate  such  dis- 
tinctions in  theory. 

To  return  :  the  Indo-Mohammedans  have, 
to  a  certain  extent,  imitated  Brahminical 
practices  as  conventional  distinctions,  and 
are  interested  in  inciting  the  Hindoo  se- 
poys to  maintain  a  system  which  enables 
them  to  dictate  to  their  officers  the  what, 
when,  how,  and  where,  in  a  service  in 
which  unhesitating  and  unquestioning  obe- 
dience is  otherwise  exacted.  The  natives 
are  perfectly  aware  that  caste  is  a  great 
inconvenience  to  the  Europeans,  and  that  it 
materially  impedes  their  efficiency  as  sol- 
diers and  servants.  It  is  this  which  made 
them  so  watchful  of  every  measure  of  gov- 
ernment that  might  infringe  on  the  caste 
monopoly  of  privileges  and  immunities, 
which  we  had  unwisely  made  their  "  Magna 
Charta,"  and  which  we,  strangely  enough, 
took  no  pains  to  investigate  or  define.  The 
consequence  of  our  ignorance  of  its  theory 
and  regulations  has  been,  that  we  have  been 
perpetually  falling  into  opposite  errors — 
vacillating  between  absurd  deference  to  pre- 
tended scruples,  and  real  infraction  of  the 
first  and  most  invariable  observances.  Per- 
secution on  the  one  hand,  undue  concessions 
on  the  other,  have  been  our  Scylla  and  Cha- 
rybdis ;  but  it  is  our  ignorance  that  has 
made  tliem  so. 

In  considering  the  operation  of  caste  in 
India,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  a 
thing  hard  to  preserve  intact,  and  easily  de- 
stroyed, either  by  force  or  fraud.  Many 
comparatively  recent  instances  of  both  are 
on  record  ;  and  Tippoo  Sultan  especially  de- 
lighted in  compelling  Brahmins  to  forfeit 
their  privileges  by  destroying  kine.  The 
natives  know  us  too  well  to  fear  any  such 
ebullitions  of  insane  barbarity  or  fierce  zeal; 
but  it  is  quite  possible  they  may  anticipate 
our  desiring  the  annihilation  of  caste  on  the 
score  of  policy,  and  dread  our  attempting  it 
by  a  coup  d'itat.  It  is  alleged  that  articles 
in  the  public  journals,  regarding  the  need 
of  soldiers  experienced  by  England  in 
carrying  out  the  Russian,  Persian,  and  Chi- 


18 


THE  GREASED  CARTRIDGES. 


nese  wars,  gave  rise  to  rumours  wliicli  were 
circulated  among  tlie  septn's,  of  tlie  anxiety 
of  government  to  get  rid,  at  once  and  for 
ever,  of  tlie  sliackles  which  prevented  the 
Indian  troops  from  being  sent  across  the 
Cala-pani,  or  Black  water,  to  fight  our  bat- 
tles in  foreign  climes.*  A  Hindoo  would 
naturally  cling  to  the  system  which  was  at 
once  his  reason  and  excuse  for  avoiding 
expatriation,  which  he  fears  worse  than 
death ;  and  his  suspicions  would  easily  be 
roused  on  the  subject. 

The  readiest  way  of  destroying  caste,  is 
by  forcing  or  tempting  the  party  concerned 
to  taste  anything  prepiired  by  unclean  hands 
— that  is,  by  persons  of  an  inferior,  or  of  no 
caste;  or  which  contains  the  smallest  par- 
ticle of  the  flesh  of  kine.     The  Mohamme- 
dans   abstain    as    rigidly  from    tasting   the 
flesh  of  the  impure  hog,  as  the  Hindoos  from 
that  of  the  sacred  co\y.     The  motive  differs, 
but  the  result  is  the  same.     In  both  cases, 
the  abstinence  respectively  practised  is  one 
of  the  first  and  most  generally  recognised 
of  their   rules.      The    Indian    government 
could    scarcely   have    been   ignorant,  when 
issuing  a  new   description   of  fire-arms    to 
the  sepoys,  that  to  bite  a  cartridge  greased 
with  cows'  or  pigs'  fat,  was  more  to  Hin- 
doos and  Indo-Mohammedans,  than  "eat- 
ing pork  to    a  Jew,  spitting   on  the  Host 
to  a  Roman  Catholic,  or  trampling  on  the 
Cross  to  a  Protestant."t     To  the  Hindoos 
it  was  indeed  much   more,  so  far  as  tem- 
poral welfare  was  concerned  ;  for  it  involved 
practical  outlawry,  with  some  of  the  pains 
Rud  penalties  specially  attached  to  conver- 
sion to  Christianity.     It  is  clear,  that  if  it 
had    been   necessary   to   distribute   greased 
cartridges,  to  be  bitten  by  the  troops,  not 
only  the  greatest  care  onglit  to  have  been 
taken  that  no  contaminating  material  should 
be  used   in   the  manufacture,  but  also  that 
an  explicit  assurance  should  have  been  given 
to  this  eff'ect.     Yet,  the  inspector-general  of 
ordnance  has  stated,  that  "no  extraordinary 
care  appears  to  have  been  taken  to  ensure 
the  absence  of  any  objectionable  fat. "J      So 
that,  so  far  from  endeavouring  to  remove  all 
suspicion  from  the  minds  of  the  sepoys,  of 
any  intention  to  inflict  on  them  the  calamity 
they  most  dreaded,  we  did  not  even  guard 
against  its  perpetration. 

The  issue  of  the  greased  cartridges,  under 

•  Mead's  Sepny  JlevoU,  p.   37.     (Routledge  and 
Co.:  London,  1858.) 

t  LMers  of  Indophilus,  p.  33. 

i  Pari.  Papers  (by  command),  1857 ;  p.  7. 


such  circumstances,  was  unquestionably  a 
gross  blunder,  and  is  viewed  by  many  as 
the  exciting  cause  of  the  mutiny. 


The  Free  Press,  and  the  so-called  Gagging 
Act  of  Lord  Canning,  have  given  rise  to 
discussions  which  bring  to  mind  Dr.  John- 
son's remark,  that  opinions  formed  on  the 
efficacy  of  a  certain  branch  of  scholastic 
discipline,  are  apt  to  be  materially  in- 
fluenced by  the  fact,  "of  which  end  of  the 
rod  falls  to  one's  share."  The  evils  alleged 
to  have  l)een  produced  by  unrestricted  pub- 
lication, are  too  circumstantially  stated  by 
official  authorities  to  be  omitted  in  the  pre- 
sent category;  and  it  becomes  necessary  to 
show,  if  possible,  the  two  sides  of  the  ques- 
tion— that  is,  the  case  of  those  who  wield, 
and  those  who  wince  under,  the  rod  of  cen- 
sorship. It  is  now  little  more  than  twenty 
years  since  complete  freedom  of  the  pre^s 
was  bestowed  by  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe. § 
The  measure  was  sudden  and  startling:  it 
\yas  scarcely  in  accordance  with  his  own 
previous  views ;  and  it  was  in  decided  oppo- 
sition to  the  opinions  which  the  Court  of 
Directors  had  from  time  to  time  enunciated. 
A  recapitulation  of  the  restrictive  mea- 
sures adopted  in  the  three  presidencies, 
from  1799  to  1819,  is  given  in  an  important 
communication  made  by  "the  Chairs" || 
to  the  president  of  the  India  Board,  on 
the  17th  of  January,  1823.  Among  other 
evidence  in  support  of  the  necessity  for  a 
rigid  censorship,  they  quoted  the  following 
Minute,  written  in  1807,  by  Lord  William 
Bentinck  (then  governor  of  Madras),  re- 
garding a  charge  delivered  by  one  of  tiie 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  (Sir  Henry' 
Gwillim)  to  the  grand  jury: — 

"It  is  necessary,  in  my  opinion,  for  the  public 
safety,  that  tlie  press  in  India  should  be  kept  under 
the  most  rigid  control.  It  matters  not  from  what 
pen  the  dangerous  matter  may  issue ;  the  higher  the 
authority  the  greater  the  mischief.  We  cannot  pre- 
vent the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  uttering, 
in  open  court,  opinions,  however  mischievous;  but 
it  is  in  our  power,  and  it  is  our  duty,  to  prohibit 
them  from  being  circulated  through  the  country  by 
means  of  the  press.  Entertaining  strongly  this 
sentiment,  I  would  recommend  that  the  order  of 
government  may  be  given  to  all  proprietors  of 
printing-])resses,  forbidding  them,  upon  pain  of  the 
utmost  displeasure  of  the  governor  in  council,  to 
print  any  ])aper  whatever  without  the  previous 
sanction  of  the  governor  in  council,  communicated 
by  the  chief  secretary."^ 

§  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  431. 
II  The     chairman    alul    deputy-chairman     of    the 
E.  I.  Company  (J.  Patlison  and  W.  Wigram.) 
^  Pari.  Papers  (Commons),  4th  Jlay,  1858. 


BENTINCK,  METCALFE,  AND  ELPHINSTONE  ON  FREE  PRESS.      19 


The  opinion  pronounced  by  Sir  Thomas 
Muuro,  regarding  the  levolu'tion  which  a 
free  press  woukl  produce  throughout  the 
native  army,  is  next  quoted;  and  tiie  writers 
proceed  to  express  similar  and  very  decided 
views  on  the  subject : — 

"A  free   press   is  a  fit   associate    and    necessary 
appendage  of  a  representative  constitution ;  but  in 
no  sense  of  the  terms  can  the  government  of  India 
be  called  a  free,  a  representative,  or  a  popular  govern- 
ment; the  people  had  no  voice  in  its  establishment, 
nor  have  they  any  control  over  its  acts.     •     •     • 
Can  it  be  doubted  that  the  respect  of  the  natives  for 
our  authority  would  be  greatly  diminished,  and  the 
energy  of  the  government  impaired,  by  a  free  press  ? 
*     *     *     It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  a  foreign 
government,  however  strong  and  beneficent  its  clia- 
racter,  should  not  be  obnoxious  in  some  degree  to 
those  who  live  under  it.     It  is  humbling  to  the  pride 
of  the  people;  and  where  they  difler,  as  in  India,  in 
religion,  io  language,  in  manners,  in  colour,  and  in 
customs  from  those  who  administer  the  government, 
I  there   cannot   be    much    sympathy   or    attachment 
I  between  them.     Though  the  situation  of  the  large 
j  body  of  the  people  may  now  be  greatly  better,  on  the 
j  whole,  than  it  was  under  their  native  governments, 
j  there  are  not  a  few,  particularly  among  the  Moham- 
medans, who  have  suffered  from  the  change.     These, 
we  may  be  sure,  will  always  be  ready  to  avail  them- 
selves of  any  opportunity  of  retrieving  their  fortunes, 
and  we  know  not  that  they  could  desire  a  more  efficient 
auxiliary  than  a  licentious  press,  labouring  daily  to 
extinguish  all  respect  for  our  character  and  govern- 
ment in  the  minds  of  their  countrjmen.     The  ten- 
dency and   effect  of  our  system,   too,   has   been  to 
beget  in  the  minds  of  the  people  at  large  a  respect 
for  themselves,  and  notions  of  their  own  importance, 
which  makes  the  task  of  governing  them   a  more 
difficult  one  than  it  was  when  they  first  came  under 
our  rule.     But  the  delicacy  of  our  situation  in  India 
cannot  be  well  understood  without  special  advertence 
to  the  circumstance  of  the  government  being  de- 
pendent in  a  great  degree  for  its  security  on  a  native 
army,  which,  though  better  paid,  with  reference  to 
the  wages  of  labour,   than  any  other  army  in  the 
world,  contains  in  its  organisation  some  elements  of 
discontent.     The  exclusion  of  the  natives  from  its 
higher  ranks  must  necessarily  be  a  source  of  heart- 
burning to  men  of  family  and  ambition  ;  and  when  a 
sense  of  mortification  is  united  with  a  spirit  of  enter- 
prise, their  joint  workings  are  not  easily  daunted  or 
repressed.     It  may  be  difficult  to  retain   the  fidelity 
of  men  of  this  description,  with  all  the  care  and  cau- 
tion that  can  be  exercised ;  but  it  would  appear  to 
be  either  a  lamentable  infatuation,  or  unpardonable 
rashness,  to  allow  them  to  be  goaded  on  to  revolt, 
by  means  over  which  we  possess  or  may  obtain  con- 
trol.    M'hatever  English  newspapers  are  published 
at  the  presidencies  will   naturally  find  their  way  to 
the  principal  military  stations.     Many  of  the  native 
officers  can  read  and  understand   English  ;  and  by 
means  of  the  native  servants  of  the  European  officers, 
it  will  not  be  difficult  for  them  to  obtain  the  perusal 
of  those  papers,  containing  a  perhaps  exaggerated  re- 
presentation of  their  grievances  or  an  inflammatory  in- 
centive to  rebellion,  which,  from  their  assemblage  in 
garrisons  and  cantonments,  they  have  better  means  of 
concerting  than  any  other  portion  of  the  population."* 
•  Pari.  Papers,  4th  May,  1858;  pp.  20—23. 


The    dc 


cgree  of  severity  with  whiclt  the 
restrictions  enacted  to  control  the  press 
were  enforced,  depended  of  course  materially 
on  the  character  of  those  by  whom  the 
supreme  authority  was  wielded.  Lord 
Amherst  used  his  power  as  governor- 
general  in  such  wise  as  entirely  to  stifle 
all  public  discussion;  and  Lord  Wilbam 
Bentinck,  his  successor  (in  1828),  was  so 
impressed  by  the  misciiievous  effect  of  this 
policy,  that  though,  as  has  been  shown,  very 
ready  to  repress,  in  the  most  summary 
fashion,  any  real  or  imagined  excess  on  the 
part  of  journalists,  he,  nevertheless,  deemed 
it  necessary  to  issue  a  notice  inviting  sug- 
gestions from  any  quarter  for  the  improve- 
ment of  public  measures,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  resources  of  the  country ;  and 
the  result  was  the  publication  of  "letters 
from  various  quarters,  written  with  mnch 
ability  and  freedom ;  among  which,  the  first 
and  most  important  were  those  afterwards 
embodied  by  the  Hon.  Frederick  Shore,  in 
his  Notes  on  Indian  Affairs. 

Lord  William  Bentinck  quitted  India  in 
1835 ;  Lord  Auckland  came  out  as  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  same  year;  and  it  was  during 
the  brief  provisional  sway  of  Sir  Charles 
(afterwards  Lord)  Metcalfe,  tliat  the  im- 
portant measure  was  adopted  of  giving 
complete  freedom  to  the  press.  In  ex- 
plaining the  difference  between  his  own 
opinions  and  those  of  his  predecessor.  Sir 
Charles  says — 

"  His  lordship,  however,  sees  further  danger  in 
the  spread  of  knowledge  and  the  operations  of  the 
press.  I  do  not,  for  my  own  part,  anticipate  danger 
as  a  certain  consequence  from  these  causes.  I  see 
so  much  danger  in  the  ignorance,  fanaticism,  and 
biirbarism  of  our  subjects,  that  I  rest  on  the  spread 
of  knowledge  some  hope  of  greater  strength  and 
security.  •  •  •  'J['he  time  is  past  when  the  ope- 
rations of  the  press  could  be  effectually  restrained. 
Even  if  that  course  would  be  any  source  of  safety 
(which  must  be  very  doubtful),  nothing  so  precarious 
could  in  prudence  be  trusted  to.  If,  therefore,  in- 
crease of  danger  is  really  to  be  apprehended  from 
increase  of  knowledge,  it  is  what  we  must  cheerfully 
submit  to.  We  must  not  try  to  avert  it ;  and,  if  we 
did,  we  should  fail."t 

Lord  Elpliinstone  (the  present  governor 
of  Bombay),  in  commenting  on  this  passage, 
truly  says,  that  Lord  Metcalfe  "  considers 
the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  the  diffusion 
of  knowledge,  as  convertible  terms ;"  and 
expresses  his  surprise  that  a  statesman  who 
entertained  such  alarming  notions  of  the 
insecurity  and  unpopularity  of  our  rule, 
should  have  been  the  man  to  abolish  the 

t  Seleetiom  from  the  Metcalfe  Papers,  p.  197. 


20     AUCKLA.ND,  ELLENBOROUGH,  AND  NAPIER  ON  FREE  PRESS. 


few  remaining   restrictions    deemed   indis- 
pensable by  his  predecessor.* 

In  1841,  Lord  Auckland  revoked  an 
order  passed  in  182G,  prohibiting  public 
servants  from  being  connected  with  news- 
papers as  editors  or  proprietors.  Next 
came  Lord  Ellenborough ;  who  found  his 
tranquillity  so  disturbed  by  the  "  abuse"  of 
the  press,  that  after  three  months'  residence 
in  India,  he  ceased  "  to  read  a  word  that 
appeared  in  the  newspapers. "f  The  com- 
mander-in-chief, Lord  Gough,  is  alleged  to 
liave  avowed  with  yet  more  stoical  philo- 
sophy, that  "for  his  part,  he  never  read 
any  paper  but  the  Tipperary  Journal." 
The  governor-general  deemed  it  the  most 
judicious  course  to  treat  all  attacks  on  his 
administration  with  silent  contempt;  and, 
in  1843,  he  issued  an  order  of  opposite 
tenor  to  that  of  Lord  Auckland ;  which, 
by  enforcing  strict  secrecy  regarding  all  in- 
formation officially  obtained,  neutralised  the 
power  which  had  been  freely  exercised  un- 
der the  express  sanction  of  the  three  pre- 
vious rulers. 

"  Lord  Ellenborough's  general  order," 
says  Indophilus,  "  and  the  disposition  which 
.  was  shown  to  place  a  strict  interpretation 
upon  it,  effectually  restrained  the  pens  of 
the  Company's  servants;  and  no  govern- 
ment could  stand  such  pounding  and  kick- 
ing, and  bedaubing  and  besmearing,  as 
ensued."  Statements,  however  false,  put 
forth  in  ignorance  or  from  malice  prepense, 
were  left  to  be  copied  into  the  native  papers ; 
and  no  denial,  no  antidote  in  any  shape, 
was  offered.  For  instance,  a  paragraph 
went  the  round  of  the  newspapers,  that  it 
was  intended  to  annex  tlie  Rajpoot  states; 
and  although  gieat  disquiet  was  thereby 
occasioned  throughout  Rajpootana,  no  con- 
tradiction was  ever  published. J 

The  Afghan  war,  and  the  annexation  of 
Sinde,  were  subjects  on  which  the  authori- 
ties  were   perhaps   wise    in   preferring   to 

•  Minute  of  24th  June,  1858.  Pari.  Papers 
(House  of  Commons),  4th  May,  1858  ;  pp.  52,  53. 

t  Debate,  27th  IJec,  1857. — Times  report. 

J  Letters  of  Indophilus,  p.  48. 

§  Life,  vol.  iii.,  p.  194.  |1  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  218. 

%  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.  p.  305.  Dr.  Buist  (editor  of  the 
Bombay  Times,  and  sheriff  of  Bombay),  in  a  pamphlet 
entitled,  "  Corrections  of  a  Few  of  the  Errors  con- 
tained in  Sir  William  Napier's  Life  of  his  Brother, 
in  so  far  as  they  affect  the  Press  of  India,"  gives 
gome  valuable  statements  regarding  the  Indian 
newspapers ;  of  which  he  says  there  were,  in  1843, 
about  thirty ;  costing  close  on  £100,000  a-year  for 
their  maintenance — deriving  their  chief  support,  and 
nearly  all  their  intelligence    from   officers   of  the 


submit  to  comments  which  they  might  treat 
as  calumnious,  rather  than  engage  in  con- 
troversy; but  sometimes  leading  officials, 
more  sensitive  or  less  discreet  than  their 
superiors,  broke  all  bounds,  and  declaimed 
against  the  press  in  terms  of  unmeasured 
invective.  The  brave,  testy,  inconsistent 
general.  Sir  Charles  Napier,  who  came  to 
India  at  sixty  years  of  age  with  five  pounds 
in  his  pocket,  for  the  sake  of  providing  for 
his  family,§  and  who  did  provide  for  them 
magnificently,  by  what  he  termed  that 
"very  advantageous,  useful,  humane  piece 
of  rascality,"  the  seizure  of  Sinde  ;|| — this 
man  (who  was  as  ready  with  his  pen  as 
with  his  sword,  and,  in  either  case,  fought 
ever  without  a  shield)  fairly  flung  himself 
into  a  hornet's-nest  by  his  reckless  and 
indiscriminate  abuse  of  those  "ruffians,"^ 
whom  he  boasted  of  taking  every  public 
opportunity  of  calling  "the  infamous  press 
of  India."**  One  of  them  excited  his  special 
displeasure  by  taking  part  against  him  in 
the  Outram  controversy — Dr.  Buist,  of  the 
Bombay  Times,  whom  Sir  Charles  alternately 
threatened  with  a  law-suit  and  a  horse- 
whipping, and  of  whom  he  spoke  at  a  public 
dinner  as  that  "blatant  beast ;"tt  a  mot 
which  he  duly  records,  and  which  Sir  Wil- 
liam has  not  thought  it  derogatory  to  his 
brother's  fame  to  publish. 

With  such  personal  feelings  as  these,  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  that  Sir  Charles 
should  regard  the  public  statements  of  the 
journalists  with  jealous  aversion,  and  should 
accuse  them  of  desiring  to  excite  mutiny 
among  the  troops;  of  inciting  the  hos- 
tile tribes  to  rise  against  them ;  of  glory- 
ing in  the  sufferings  of  their  countrymen ; 
and  many  similar  accusations  in  which  the 
fiery  old  warrior  gave  vent  to  his  irrepres- 
sible belligerence.  His  is  not  fair  testi- 
mony concerning  the  operation  of  a  free 
press ;  and  it  is  necessary  to  turn  to  more 
impartial  witnesses.     Sir  Charles  Trevelyau 

British  army.  The  Englishman  (Calcutta)  was  con- 
ducted by  Captain  McNaughton  (Bengal  Army.) 
and  Mr.  (now  Sir  Ronald  McDonald)  Stevenson, 
projector  and  engineer  of  the  great  Bengal  railway : 
Ilurkaru — Mr.  John  Kaye,  Bengal  artillery,  now  of 
the  India  House  (author  of  the  History  of  the 
Afyhan  War) :  Calcutta  Star  and  Morning  Star — 
Mr.  James  Hume,  barrister,  now  police  magistrate 
of  Calcutta:  Friend  of  India — the  well-known  Mr. 
John  Marshman :  Bombay  Courier,  by  Mr.  W. 
Crawford,  barrister,  now  senior  magistrate  of  police  : 
and  Bombay  Gentleman's  Gazette,  by  Mr.  P.  J. 
MelCenna.— (p.  15.) 

*•  Life,  by  Sir  William  Napier,  vol.  iii.,  p.  124. 

tt  If>i<i;  vol.  iii.,  p.  294. 


OPERATION  OP  A  FREE  PRESS  IN  INDIA— 1857. 


21 


asserts,  that  it  has  been,  "  on  the  whole, 
highly  beneficial :"  and  that — 

"  There  cannot  be  a  greater  evil  than  that  public 
officers  should  be  exempted  from  the  control  of  public 
opinion.  In  Lord  William  Bentinck's,  Lord  Met- 
calfe's, and  Lord  Auckland's  time,  the  press  was 
held  in  wholesome  respect  by  the  public  function- 
aries at  the  most  remote  stations,  and  it  acted  as  a 
sort  of  moral  preventive  police.  •  •  *  We  used 
to  call  it  the  Parliament  of  the  Press.  It  may 
safely  be  said,  that  there  was  not  a  single  good 
public  measure  which  was  not  powerfully  aided  by 
It.  As  regards  the  native  press,  some  newspapers 
were  conducted  in  a  creditable  manner  in  the  Eng- 
lish language,  by  and  for  the  natives,  who  had  re- 
ceived an  English  education  ;  others  were  published 
in  the  native  language  by  the  missionaries :  and  it 
must  not  be  supposed  that  the  remainder,  which 
were  written  by  natives  in  the  native  languages,  did 
nothing  but  preach  sedition.  Their  standard,  both 
of  intelligence  and  morality,  was,  no  doubt,  below 
that  of  the  English  newspapers ;  but  they  opened 
the  minds  of  the  natives  to  an  interest  in  general 
topics,  and  taught  them  to  think,  from  which  every 
thing  else  mir/ht  be  expected."' 

Sanscrit  literature  proves  that  the  Hin- 
doos were  a  thoughtful  people  before  the 
English  set  foot  in  India;  but  the  spread  of 
European  and  "  non-religious"  theories,  has 
been  certainly  likely  to  teach  them  to  reason 
in  an  entirely  different  fashion.  We  know 
tliat  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Diderot,  and  Con- 
dorcet  gave  currency  to  ideas  which  took  a 
very  practical  form  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. These  writers,  with  the  English  in- 
fidel, Tom  Paine,  have  found  imitators  and 
admirers  in  India,  and  their  doctrines  are 
flung  abroad  like  firebrands  by  the  native 
press.  A  blind,  unreasoning  distrust  of  all 
governments — a  fierce  disaft'ection  towards 
all  constituted  authorities — thirst  for  license 
under  the  name  of  freedom ;  such  are  the 
fruits  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  apart  and 
contra-distinguished  from  the  tree  of  life. 
A  saying,  attributed  to  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington, is  often  cited  against  the  danger  at- 
tendant on  promoting  education  without  reli- 
gion— that  of  making  men  "clever  devils." 
No  better  illustration  of  this  need  be  ad- 
duced than  the  terrible  scenes  enacted  by 
the  Bengal  sepoys, among  whom  native  news- 
papers of  tiie  worst  class  have  freely  circu- 
lated. The  utter  indifference  so  long  evinced 
by  government,  regarding  the  number,  tone, 

*  Letters  of  Indophilus,  p.  45. 

t  On  application  to  the  East  India  House  for 
some  additional  details  to  those  given  in  the  Indian 
Empire  (vol.  i.,  p.  523),  the  writer  was  informed 
that  the  directors  had  no  information  on  the  subject 

\  Dr.  Buist's  Corrections  of  Sir  W.  Napier,  p.  40. 

§  The  Edinburgh  Review  speaks  of  the  Anglo- 
Indian  press  as  exclusively  representing  "  the  opin- 


and  character  of  the  native  journals,  is 
almost  incredible  ;t  indeed,  that  complete 
freedom  should  have  been  accorded  even  to 
the  European  press,  is  strangely  at  variance 
with  the  general  policy  of  the  Company. 

In  1857,  the  adult  male  European  popu- 
lation scattered  throughout  India,  not  in 
the  service,  was  estimated  at  only  4,000.1 
The  journals  must,  therefore,  to  a  great 
extent,  have  been  maintained  by  officials. 
Some  of  them,  especially  the  Madras  Athe- 
naeum, uniformly  deprecated  annexation ; 
and  thus  its  supporters  contributed  with 
their  purses,  and  sometimes  with  their  pens, 
to  oppose  the  very  acts  which,  in  their 
official  capacity,  they  were  bound  to  en- 
force.§  It  was  impossible  that  the  natives 
should  not  take  a  lively  interest  in  discus- 
sions which  immediately  affected  them. 
Even  a  child,  hearing  its  own  name  often 
repeated,  would  listen ;  and  the  natives  have 
done  so  to  some  purpose. 

Five  years  ago,  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  disinterested  advocates  for  the  neces- 
sity of  Indian  reform,  as  the  sole  means  of 
averting  the  blow  which  has  since  fallen, 
wrote  : — 

"  The  free  press  is  doing  its  work  in  India :  the 
Parsee  merchants,  the  zemindars,  the  native  heads 
of  castes,  are  beginning  to  feel  their  power,  to  com- 
bine, and  to  ask  for  redress  of  grievances  j  some  of 
them  are  violent,  and  these  do  not  alarm  me  j  but 
some  are  remarkably  temperate ;  and  I  confess,  that 
knowing  the  strength  of  their  case,  I  fear  the  men 
who  begin  so  temperately,  and  have  reason  on  their 
side."|| 

Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  in  establishing,  and 
Lord  Auckland  in  confirming,  the  freedom 
of  the  press,  especially  insisted  that  the 
boon  thus  granted  might  be  withdrawn,  in 
the  event  of  its  proving  injurious  in  opera- 
tion. "  Should  the  safety  of  the  state  ever 
demand  such  a  course,  in  a  single  hour  a  law 
may  be  passed  to  stop  or  to  control  every 
press  in  India :  nothing  has  been  lost  of 
useful  power."^ 

In  the  middle  of  June,  1857,  when  the 
mutiny  vvas  at  its  height,  the  supreme 
government  deemed  it  necessary  to  pass 
an  act,  which,  for  the  space  of  the  suc- 
ceeding twelvemonth,  was  intended  to  re- 
place the  press  in  the  position  it  occupied 

ions  of  European  settlers  in  the  country,  or  half-castes 
not  in  the  Company's  service,"  whom  it  describes  as  a 
class  bitterly  hostile  to  government.  (October,  1847.) 
Mr.  Mead,  on  the  contrary,  affirms,  that  "  six  out  of 
seven  of  the  whole  body  of  subscribers  are  in  the 
Company's  service." — Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  183. 

II  Dickinson's  India  under  a  Bureuiicraey,  p.  20. 

"K  Minute,  by  Lord  Auckland,  8th  August,  1836, 


RESTRICTIONS  ON  THE  PRESS  RE-ESTABLISHED— 1857. 


in  1835,  before  the  removal  of  all  restrictions 
by  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe.  The  authorities 
were  unanimous  regarding  the  necessity  of 
the  measure,  which  involved  the  re-in- 
stitution of  the  licensing  system,  together 
with  a  rigid  censorship.  The  act  was  passed 
by  the  governor-general  in  council  in  a 
sitting ;  and  Lords  Harris  and  Elphinstone, 
the  governors  of  Madras  and  Bombay,  ex- 
pressed their  entire  acquiescence.  No  dis- 
tinction was  made  between  the  English 
and  the  native  press,  the  government  being 
desirous  to  avoid  drawing  invidious  distinc- 
tions between  European  and  native  sub- 
jects.    They  add,  moreover — 

"  We  do  not  clearly  see  how  any  distinction  of  the 
sort  could  be  really  carried  into  effect,  for  there  are 
now  more  than  one  newspaper  in  the  English  lan- 
guage written,  owned  and  published  by  natives, 
almost  exclusively  for  circulation  amongst  native 
readers ;  and  although  we  have  no  reason  to  fear 
that  treasonable  matter  would  be  designedly  pub- 
lished in  any  English  newspaper,  we  have  to  guard 
in  these  times  against  errors,  indiscretion,  and  tem- 
per, as  well  as  against  international  sedition.  •  •  * 
I'o  show  that  the  necessity  of  controlling  the  Eng- 
lish as  well  as  the  native  press,  is  not  merely  imagi- 
nary, it  will  be  enough  to  state,  that  the  treasonable 
proclamation  of  the  king  and  mutineei's  of  Delhi — 
.cunningly  framed  so  as  to  influence  the  Moham- 
medan population  as  much  as  possible  against  the 
British  government,  and  ending  with  the  assurance, 
that  the  multiplication  and  circulation  of  that  docu- 
ment would  be  an  act  equal  in  religious  merit  to 
drawing  the  sword  against  us,  was  published  by  a 
respectable  English  newspaper  of  this  town  without 
comment.  For  doing  the  very  same  thing,  with 
comments  having  the  outward  form  of  loyally,  the 
publishers  of  three  native  Mohammedan  papers  in 
Calcutta,  have  been  committed  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
to  take  their  trial  for  a  seditious  libel."* 

Lord  Harris  went  further  than  this,  and 
declared  "  the  larger  portion  of  the  British 
press  throughout  the  country,"  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  Madras  presidency,  to  be 
"  disloyal  in  tone,  un-English  iu  spirit, 
wanting  in  principle,  and  iitterly  regardless 
of  correctness  in  statement. "t  He  com- 
plained especially  of  the  seditious  matter 
circulated  amoiig  the  sepoys  by  a  newspaper 
entitled  the  Examiner,  "  tlie  mouth-piece 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  priests."^  Lord 
Elphinstone  considered  the  unrestricted 
liberty  of  the  press  incompatible  with  the 
continuance  of  British  rule.  "  Systematic 
abuse  of  the  government,"  he  writes,  "  mis- 

*  Despatch  to  the  Court  of  Directors,  dated  4th 
July,  1857.  Signed — Canning,  Dorin,  Low.  Grant, 
and  Peacock.  Pari.  Papers  (Commons),  28th  Au- 
gust, 1857;  pp.  4,  5. 

t  Minute,  bv  Lord  Harris,  dated  "Fort  St.  G< 
2nd  May,  1857"— 7Airf.,  p.  11. 

t  -Minute,  22nd  June,  18o'l—Ibid.,  p.  13. 


orge. 


representation  of  its  acts,  and  all  attempts 
to  create  ill-feeling  between  the  difl'erent 
classes  of  the  community,  especially  be- 
tween the  European  officers  and  the  native 
soldiery,  must  be  prevented. "§  The  home 
authorities  confirmed  the  act,  declaring 
that  they  felt  no  doubt  of  its  necessity. || 

The  first  English  paper  threatened  with 
the  revoke  of  its  licence,  was  the  well-knowu 
Friend  of  India,  which,  in  an  article  en- 
titled "  The  Centenary  of  Plassy,"  censured 
the  mammon-worship  of  the  East  India 
Companj^  and  declared  that  "only  the 
intense  greediness  of  traders  could  have 
won  for  us  the  sovereignty  of  the  country." 
Mohammedan  princes  and  Hindoo  rajahs 
were  spoken  of  as  a  class  that  would  speedily 
die  out;  and  in  conclusion,  the  writer  held 
forth  a  hope  that  the  second  centenary  of 
Plassy  might  be  "celebrated  in  Bengal  by 
a  respected  government  and  a  Christian 
people." 

The  secretary  to  government  (Mr.  Bea- 
don)  officially  informed  the  publisher,  that 
the  circulation  of  such  remarks,  iu  the 
existing  state  of  afiTuirs,  was  dangerous 
"  not  only  to  the  government,  but  to  the 
lives  of  all  Europeans  in  the  provinces  not 
living  under  the  close  protection  of  British 
bayonets."  This  communication  was  pub- 
lislied  in  the  Friend  of  India,  with  satiri- 
cal comments,  which  the  authorities  consi- 
dered so  offensive,  that  the  licence  would 
have  been  withdrawn  but  for  the  resigna- 
tion of  Mr.  Mead,  who  was  acting  as 
provisional  editor  during  the  absence  of 
the  proprietor,  Mr.  Marshman.^ 

The  Bengal  Hurkaric  (Messenger)  was 
warned  for  its  exaggerated  echo  of  the 
veugeance-cry  of  the  London  Times;  a 
writer,  styling  himself  "Militaire,"  de- 
nouncing the  just  and  wise  recommen- 
dation of  government  not  needlessly  to 
"embitter  the  feelings  of  the  natives,"  and 
urging  tliat,  "for  every  Christian  church 
destroyed,  fifty  mosques  should  be  de- 
stroyed, beginning  with  the  Jumma  Miisjid 
at  Delhi;  and  for  every  Christian  man, 
woman,  and  child  murdered,  a  thousand 
rebels  should  bleed."** 

Ten  days  later,  another  article  appeared, 
which   contained  the  following  passage  : — 

§  Minute,  24th  June,  1857.  Pari.  Papers  (Com- 
mons), 4th  May,  1858  ;  p.  53. 

II  Letter  of  Court  of  Directors,  26th  August,  1857 
—Ibid.,  p.  30. 

%  Pari.  Papers— 7i/rf.,  pp.  42—46.  Mead's  Se- 
poy Recult,  pp.  359 — 376. 

**  lienyal  JIuikaru,  5lh  September,  1857. 


!             PRESS-CENSORSHIP  ENFORCED,  AND  LICENCES  REVOKED. 

i . _ — ___ 

23 

"  There  are  many  good,  honest,  simple  people  in 
Calcutta,  who  are  both  surprised  and  disappointed 
that  popular  indignation  has  not  boiled  up  to  a 
higher  pitch.  They  are  astounded  at  finding  that 
Lord  Canning  has  not  been  already  ordered  home  in 
irons,  and  that  Mr.  Beadon  has  not  been  sentenced 
to  be  tarred  and  feathered,  and  ridden  upon  a  rail, 
previously  to  being  placed  in  some  extremely  un- 
covenanted  situation  under  a  native  superior.  We 
are  very  far  from  saying  that  these  proceedings 
would  not  be  appropriate  in  the  cases  in  question  ; 
but  we  would  say  to  our  enthusiastic  friends,  '  My 
dear  sirs,  you  are  too  impatient.  All  in  good 
time.""* 

The  licence  of  the  Hurkaru  was  revoked  ; 
but  the  editor  (Mr.  Blandiard)  having  re- 
signed, a  new  licence  was  issued  to  the 
proprietor.  Other  English  papers  have 
been  warned  for  transgressing  the  condi- 
tions of  their  licences ;  but  the  native  edi- 
tors generally  do  not  appear  to  have  in- 
curred censure. 

The  existing  difficulty  seems  to  be,  the 
course  to  be  adopted  with  regard  to  the 
republication  of  articles  from  English 
papers.  The  following,  for  instance,  is 
styled  by  Mr.  Frere  (commissioner  of 
Sinde),  "  a  very  mischievous  perversion  of 
an  Indian  debate,  which,  in  quieter  times, 
might  be  amusing."  A  summary  of  griev- 
ances could  iiardly  be  deemed  amusing  at 
any  moment.  At  the  present  crisis,  it  is 
not  only  humiliating,  but  alarming,  to  find 
such  statements  circulating  in  Hindoostan 
on  the  authority  of  British  parliamentary 
debates ;  for  the  so-called  perversion  is 
really  a  summary  of  the  leading  arguments 
advanced  by  members  of  both  houses 
against  the  East  India  Company,  more 
especially  by  the  Marquis  of  Clanricarde, 
whose  speech,  it- was  predicted  at  the  time, 
would  occasion  great  excitement  among  the 
natives  of  India. 

"  The  Jam-l'Jamsibid  of  Meeriit  relates,  that  in 
durbar  of  ,  the  Marquis  of  Clanricarde  com- 
plained much  of  the  Indian  government;  that  a 
vast  amount  of  rupees  was  expended  among  the 
home  authorities  in  the  way  of  pay,  they  knowing 
little  of  the  circumstances  of  the  country ;  that  the 
nobles  and  great  men  of  Hindoostan  were  becoming 
extinct;  and  the  middle  classes  gradually  suffering 
damage,  and  poor  people  being  ruined.  It  would 
be  proper  that  the  country  should  be  so  governed, 
that  the  people  do  not  suffer.  Some  zillahs  require 
a  decrease  of  taxation,  and  the  salt-tax  is  very  wrong. 
In  whatever  countries  there  was  fitting  manage- 
ment, the  latter  impost  had  been  abolished.     Beside 

•  lievflal  TfurJk-arii,  14th  September,  18.37. 
t  Pari.  Tapers  (Commons),  4th  May,  1858.  p.  48. 
J  All   the    italiched   words   are   exactly   rendered 
from  the  Persian  by  their  English  synonymes. 
§  Kirman,  the  name  of  a  town  and  province  in 


this,  in  Hindoostan,  the  system  of  justice  was  de- 
fective. Moreover,  on  this  account,  the  English 
name  suffered  ;  and,  in  Hindoostan,  amid  ten  judges, 
nine  are  Hindoostanees,  but  their  pay  and  position 
was  unimportant  and  inconsistent  with  their  duties. 
And  the  heads  of  the  E.  I.  Company  say,  that  amid 
fourteen  crore  (million)  of  Hindoostanees,  not  one 
is  worthy  of  rank  or  trust ;  a  very  sad  and  distress- 
ing statement,  enough  to  break  the  hearts  of  the 
peo])le  of  Hindoostan,  and  cow  their  spirits.  Besides 
which,  he  said  many  more  things ;  in  answer  to 
which,  the  Duke  of  Argyle  was  unable  to  advance 
any  clear  argument."f 

It  would  be  difficult  to  know  on  what 
ground  an  editor  could  be  warned  for  the 
republication  of  the  above  statements,  unless 
it  were  on  the  strength  of  the  now  repu- 
diated axiom,  "The  greater  the  truth,  the 
greater  the  libel !" 

In  another  case — that  of  a  Persian  news- 
paper, edited  in  Calcutta  by  one  Hafiz 
Abdul  Kadir — the  insurrectionary  views  of 
the  writer  were  undisguised.  The  licence 
was,  of  course,  revoked  ;  and  the  press  and 
printing  materials  seized  It  would  have 
been  madness  to  suffer  such  effusions  as 
the  following  to  go  forth  ; — • 

"  Now,  when  the  drum  of  the  power  of  the  Eng- 
lish is  sounding  so  loudly,  it  is  in  every  one's  mouth 
that  the  state  of  Travancore  also  is  to  be  annexed 
to  the  British  dominions  upon  the  ground  of  mal- 
administration. It  is  also  said  that  the  principality 
of  Ulwar  will  be  confiscated  I  by  government.  Rut 
at  present  the  progress  of  confiscation  is  arrested  by 
the  government  of  the  Almighty  lluler. 

"  The  government  should  first  arrest  the  progress 
of  the  disturbances  and  disorders  which  are  raging 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  then  address  itself  to 
these  confiscations  again.  I  formed  a  design  of 
going  to  Worms.  But  the  "  worms"§  unexpectedly 
eat  off  my  head.  He  (God)  is  Almighty.  He  does 
what  he  will.     He  makes  a  world  desert  in  a  breath. 

"  Everybody  knows,  and  now  perhaps  it  has  be- 
come quite  clear  to  the  lords  nf  annexation,  what 
kind  of  mischief  the  confiscation  of  Lucknow  hag 
done,  causing  ruin  to  thousands  of  their  own  friends. 
*  *  •  Come  what  may,  in  these  degenerate 
days,  the  men  of  Delhi  must  be  celebrated  as  sons 
ofKustum,  and  very  Alexanders  in  strength.  Oh! 
God  destroy  our  enemies  utterly,  and  assist  and  aid 
our  sovereign  (Sultan)." 

With  the  above  characteristic  extract 
this  section  may  fitly  conclude,  without 
any  attempt  to  hazard  conclusions  on  so 
difficult  a  subject  as  the  degree  of  con- 
trol necessary  to  be  exercised  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  despotic  government,  in  a 
crisis  so  arduous  and  unprecedented  as  the 
present. 

Persia,  also  signifies  "  worms."  The  conceit  can 
thus  be  rendered  into  English.  The  whole  tone  of 
the  article,  in  the  original,  is  highly  sarcastic. — 
Goolsliiin  Xtiwhahnr,  27th  June,  1857.  Pari.  Paper* 
(Commons),  4th  May,  1858  ;  pp.  46,  47. 


24 


METALLIC  CURRENCY  AN  INCITEMENT  TO  MUTINY. 


Currency* — An  ill-regulated  and  insuffi- 
cient currency  has  long  pressed  heavily  on 
the  people,  and  has  exercised  a  singular 
influence  in  the  present  crisis.  Until  re- 
cently there  was  only  one  public  bank  (that 
of  Bengal)  in  all  India  :  with  much  difficulty 
two  others,  also  under  the  control  of  gov- 
ernment, were  established  at  Bombay  and 
Madras;  but  the  amount  of  notes  issued  by 
them  is  insufficient  for  the  requirements 
of  even  these  cities.  Three  or  four  joint- 
stock  banks  have  been  lately  formed  ;  but 
the  government  has  continued,  up  to  the 
present  time,  to  rely  on  a  bulky  and  in- 
divisible coin,  the  silver  rupee  (worth  about 
two  shillings),  for  its  standard  circulating 
medium.  The  exclusive  use,  by  the  state,  of 
metallic  money,  has  occasioned  the  accumu- 
lation of  treasure,  amounting,  sometimes, 
to  fourteen  millions  sterling,  in  thirty  or 
forty  treasuries,  scattered  all  over  the 
country.  Forty  to  fifty  thousand  sepoys 
have  been  annually  employed  in  escorting 
money  from  one  district  to  another,  an  em- 
ployment properly  belonging  to  a  police 
force;  which  has  occasioned  much  discontent, 
and  tended  to  the  relaxation  of  discipline, 
and  general  demoralisation  of  the  soldiery. 
A  paper  currency  would  have  answered 
every  purpose  of  local  taxation  and  pay- 
ments to  the  troops  :  it  would  have  been  far 
more  easily  transmissible,  and  it  would  not 
have  offered  so  tempting  a  bribe  to  native 
cupidity.  In  several  instances,  it  is  evident 
that  the  sepoys  were  stimulated  to  the 
commission  of  crime  by  the  hope  of  plun- 
dering the  local  treasuries  of  much  larger 
sums  than  were  ever  allowed  to  remain 
in  them. 

The  Times\  has  recently  published  the 
following  forcible  remarks  on  the  subject : — 

"Kegiments  that  held  Company's  paper  were 
faithful  until  they  had  exchanged  it  for  gold;  regi- 
ments that  had  pay  in  arrear  were  faithful  until  the 
arrears  were  paid  up.  The  Company's  gold  has 
never  received  credit  for  the  part  it  played  in  the 
mutiny.  Yet  it  had  often  been  presssd  upon  the 
authorities  at  Calcutta,  that  a  paper  currency  would 
be  a  boon  to  India.  Those  who  wished  for  this, 
probably  thought  little  of  the  danger  of  carrying 
bullion  in  bullock-trunks  or  palkies  through  the 
jungle,  or  storing  it  in  exposed  places  ;  their  object 
was,  in  all  probability,  the  extension  of  commerce 
and  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  country. 
The  policy  of  the  Company  was,  is,  and  ever  must 

•  The  cash  balances  in  the  different  Indian  trea- 
suries, varied  from  twelve  to  fourteen  millions  ster- 
ling. In  1856,  the  amount  was  £12,04.3,334:  of 
this  sum,  there  was  in  Bengal,  £.5,117,553;  in  the 
N.  W.  Provinces,  £2,251,904  =  £7,369,457.  The 
Madras  presidency  had  £2,311,365;  and  the  Bom- 


be,  to  discourage  all  independent  enterprise  within 
their  territories,  and  they  were  consistent  in  refusing 
to  listen  to  any  such  suggestions.  Now,  however, 
when  we  are  commencing  a  new  era — if,  indeed,  we 
are  commencing,  or  are  about  to  commence  a  new 
era — this  subject  must  be  reconsidered.  There  c.an 
be  no  good  reason  why  India  should  not  in  mone- 
tary facilities  be  placed  upon  a  level  with  England. 
There  is  excellent  reason  why  the  troops  should  be 
paid  in  paper  money.  The  absence  of  the  gold  is 
the  absence  of  a  powerful  temptation,  and  the  bank- 
note is  a  guardian  of  the  fidelity  of  the  man  in 
whose  pocket  it  lies." 


Tlie  Opium  Monopoly,  with  its  concomi- 
tant grievances — the  forced  cultivation  of 
the  poppy,  and  the  domiciliary  rigiit  of  search 
— ranks  among  the  causes  of  popular  disaf- 
fection. The  Company  obtain  opium  from 
the  ryots  at  a  very  low  price,  by  a  system 
of  advances,  and  sell  it  for  the  contraband 
China  trade,  at  a  very  high  one. J  An 
official  anthority  declares,  that  the  peasants 
in  the  opium  districts  of  Patna  and  Benares, 
are  compelled  to  give  up  fixed  portions  of 
their  lands  for  the  production  of  the  poppy. 
The  forced  cultivation  of  this  poisonous 
drug  brings  on  the  wretched  cultivators  the 
persecuting  surveillance  of  the  police ;  the 
probability  that  they  may  be  retaining  some 
portion  for  private  sale,  exposing  them  to 
every  sort  of  ingenuity  which  spies,  autho- 
rised and  unauthorised,  can  imagine,  as  the 
means  of  inflicting  fines  and  extorting 
bribes. §  The  deteriorating  influence  on  the 
consumer  cannot  be  doubted.  In  China 
we  have  notoriously  returned  evil  for  good  ; 
exporting  ship-loads  of  their  refreshing 
herb  to  combat  our  own  spirit-craving  pro- 
pensities ;  and  importing,  in  defiance  of  the 
laws  of  God  and  man,  millions  of  pounds' 
worth  of  a  stimulant  which  we  know  to  be, 
when  once  resorted  to,  almost  invariably 
persevered  in,  to  the  destruction  of  the 
body,  and,  it  would  seem,  of  the  soul  even, 
of  its  miserable  victim.  In  India  we  found 
the  debasing  indulgence  general  among  cer- 
tain classes.  Baber  and  his  successors,  with 
the  exception  of  Aurungzebe,  were  all  its 
habitual  consumers ;  and  the  able  historian 
of  Ilajast'han,  Colonel  Tod,  attributes  the 
loss  of  independence  by  the  Rajpoots,  their 
general  deterioration,  and  the  diminished 
productiveness  of  the  country,  chiefly  to  the 
same  suicidal  practice. 

bav,£2,362,510.— (Parliamentary Papers,  April  20tb. 
1858.)  t  June,  1858. 

X  J.  Passmore  Edwards'  Evils  of  the  Opium 
Trade,  p.  18. 

§  See  Iniquities  of  the  Opium  Trade ;  by  Rev. 
A.  A.  Thelwell. 


THE  WORKING  OP  THE  OPIUM  MONOPOLY. 


36 


J 


But  though  the  East  India  Company 
did  not  originate  the  use  or  cultivation 
of  opium  in  all  their  vast  dominions,  they 
have  done  so  in  some.  It  is  argued,  that 
the  very  taxation  is  itself  a  discourage- 
ment to  the  cultivation ;  and  this  would  be 
the  case  in  a  free  country;  but  is  not  true  in 
India,  where  there  are  so  many  means  of 
compelling  the  peasant  to  toil  like  a  serf  at 
any  labour  for  a  bare  subsistence.  That 
the  Company  have  been  voluntarily  instru- 
mental in  increasing  the  production,  stands 
on  the  face  of  their  own  records. 

On  the  cession  of  Malwa  by  the  Mahrattas, 
measures  were  taken  to  raise  from  that 
province  a  revenue  similar  to  that  obtained 
in  the  Bengal  presidency.  A  powerful 
impulse  was  given  to  the  growth  of  the 
poppy  ;  but  the  cost  of  cultivation  was  found 
so  far  to  exceed  that  of  Bahar  or  Benares, 
and  the  transport  was  likewise  so  much 
more  difficult,  that  the  excessive  production 
obtained  in  Central  India,  scarcely  afforded 
sufficient  nett  profit  to  atone  for  the  injury 
done  to  the  Bengal  monopoly.  The  utmost 
efforts  were  made  to  remedy  this,  and  to  pre- 
vent diminished  cultivation  in  the  old  pro- 
vinces. "  Premiums  and  rewards,"  says  a 
late  chairman  of  the  East  India  Company, 
"  have  been  held  out ;  new  offices  and  es- 
tablishments have  been  created  ;  the  revenue 
officers  have  been  enlisted  in  the  service ; 
and  the  influence  of  that  department  has 
been  brought  into  action  to  promote  the 
production.  *  *  *  The  supreme  gov- 
ernment of  India,  too,  have  condescended 
to  supply  the  retail  shops  with  opium,  and 
have  thus  added  a  new  feature  to  our  fiscal 
policy.  I  believe  that  no  one  act  of  our  gov- 
ernment has  appeared,  in  the  eyes  of  re- 
spectable natives,  both  Mohammedan  and 
Hindoo,  more  questionable  than  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Abkarry,  or  tax  on  the  sale 
of  spirituous  liquors  and  drugs.  Nothing, 
I  suspect,  has  tended  so  much  to  lower  us 
in  their  regard.  They  see  us  derive  a 
revenue  from  what  they  deem  an  impure 
source ;  and  when  they  find  the  pollution 
of  public-houses  spreading  around  them, 
they  cannot  understand  that  our  real  object 
is  to  check  the  use  of  the  noxious  article 
which  is  sold,  or  to  regulate  those  haunts 
of  the  vicious  with  a  view  to  objects  of 
police.     And   have   we   succeeded   in   pro- 

•  Memorial)  of  Indian  Government ;  b  selection 
from  the  papers  of  H.  St.  George  Tucker  j  edited  by 
Mr.  Kaye:   pp.  152—134. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  15G. 

vol..  II.  E 


moting  these  objects?  Will  any  man  be 
so  hardy  as  to  maintain,  that  the  use  of 
spirituous  liquors  and  drugs  has  been  di- 
minished by  the  operation  of  the  tax,  or 
that  it  has  not  been  everywhere  extended  ? 
*  *  *  But  even  if  we  admit  that  these 
objects  have  been  kept  in  view,  or  that  it  is 
becoming,  in  the  present  state  of  the  coun- 
try, to  regulate  the  vend  of  spirits  and 
drugs,  was  it  becoming  in  a  great  govern- 
ment to  exhibit  itself  as  the  purveyor  of 
opium  to  publicans,  or — in  the  words  of  the 
Regulation — '  to  establish  shops,  on  the  part 
of  government,  for  the  retail  sale  of  the 
drug?'  Is  it  desirable  that  we  should 
bring  it  to  the  very  door  of  the  lower 
orders,  who  might  never  otherwise  have 
found  the  article  within  their  reach,  and 
who  are  now  tempted  to  adopt  a  habit  alike 
injurious  to  health  and  to  good  morals?"* 

Not  content  with  stimulating  to  the 
utmost  the  production  of  opium  in  our  own 
territories,  we  voluntarily  extended  the  curse 
in  the  Mahratta  districts  of  Central  India, 
in  the  Afghan  state  of  Bhopal,  in  Oodipoor, 
Kotah,  Boondi,  and  other  Rajpoot  princi- 
palities, by  negotiations  and  treaties,  "  such 
as  are  not,  I  believe  (says  Mr.  Tucker),  to 
be  paralleled  in  the  whole  history  of  diplo- 
macy ;"  whereby  we  have  bound  ourselves  to 
the  payment  of  large  annual  suras  on  ac- 
count of  opium.  "We  make  it  the  interest 
of  the  chiefs  to  increase  the  growth  of  the 
poppy,  to  the  exclusion,  in  some  instances, 
of  sugar-cane,  cotton,  and  other  products 
which  constitute  the  riches  of  a  country, 
and  which  ought  to  minister  to  the  comforts 
of  the  people." 

These  statements  are  very  important, 
coming  from  one  whose  official  position, 
Indian  experience,  and  personal  character, 
give  his  opinions  threefold  weight.  He 
adds  a  brief  warning,  which,  read  by  the 
blaze  of  the  incendiary  fires  of  1857,  is 
pregnant  with  meaning.  "The  Rajpoot, 
with  all  his  heroic  bravery  and  other  good 
qualities,  requires  very  skilful  management. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Afghan  of 
Rohilcund,  who  is  still  more  restless  and 
impatient  of  control ;  and  if  there  were  not 
other  and  better  reasons,  I  should  say  that 
it  is  not  safe,  with  either  race — Rajpoot  or 
Afghan — to  supply  the  means  of  habitual 
excitement,  which  must  render  them  more 
turbulent  and  ungovernable."t 

Sir   Stamford    Raffles,   another   acknow- 
ledged authority,  indignantly  denounced  the 
I  conduct   of  the  European    government   ia 


26     SEPOY  ARMY  INJURED  BY  INCREASED  USE  OF  OPIUM. 


overlooking   every  consideration    of  policy 
and  humanity,  and  allowing  a  paltry  addi- 
tion to  their  finances  to  outweigh  all  regard 
to  the  ultimate  prosperity  of  the  country. 
Unfortunately,    the    financial    addition*    is 
paltry    only    when    viewed    in    connection 
with   tlie    amount  of  evil  which   it  repre- 
sents, and  which  has  increased  in  propor- 
tion to  the  extended  cultivation.     An  ex- 
perienced  authorityt  states,  that  wherever 
opium  is  grown  it  is  eaten  ;  and  considers 
that  "  one-half  of  the  crimes  in  the  opium 
districts,  murders,  rapes,  and  affrays,  have 
their  origin  in  opium-eating."     Major-gen- 
eral Alexander  uses  the  most  forcible  lan- 
guage regarding   the   progressive    and   de- 
structive course  of  intoxication   l)y  opium 
and    ardent   spirits   throughout  India,   ap- 
pealing to  the  returns  of  courts-martial  and 
defaulters'  books  for  testimony  of  the  con- 
sequent deterioration  of  the  sepoys  ;  and  to 
the   returns    of  the    courts    and   offices    of 
judges,  magistrates,  and  collectors,  for  that 
of  the  mass    of  the   natives.     Under  this 
view  of  the  case,  and  remembering  also  the 
example  set  by  the  notorious  tendency  to 
■  drunkenness    which    disgraces   the    British 
troops,  there  is  something  terribly  significant 
in  the  fact,  that  the  fiercest  onslaughts  and 
worst  brutalities  which  our  countrymen  and 
countrywomen   have   endured,    were    com- 
mitted under  the  influence  of  the  hateful 
drugs  by  which  we  have  gained   so  much 
gold,  and  inflicted  so  much  misery. 

The  Neglect  of  Public  Works  must  take 
its  place  among  the  indirect  causes  of 
revolt ;  for  it  has  materially  impeded  the 
development  of  the  resources  of  the  coun- 
try, and  furnished  the  people  with  only  too 
palpable  reason  for  discontent.  It  was  a 
subject  which  ought  Jilways  to  have  had  the 
special  attention  of  the  Anglo-Indian  au- 
tiiorities.  They  should  have  remembered, 
that  the  people  over  whom  they  ruled  were 
literally  as  children  in  their  hands;  and 
should  have  taken  care  to  exercise  a  far- 
seeing,  providential,  and  paternal  despotism. 
Under  Mohammedan  and  Hindoo  govern- 
ments, the  princes  and  nobles  have  ever 
delighted  in  associating  their  names  with 
some  stately  edifice,  some  great  road  or 
canal,   some  public  work  of  more  or  less 

•  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  582. 

t  Mr.  Andrew  S)  m,  who  had  charge  of  the  Com- 
pany's opium  a);ency  at  Goruckpoor.  See  pam- 
phlets on  the  Opium  Trade ;  by  Major-general 
Alexander  and  Mr.  W.  S.  Fry. 

I  Life,  vol.  ii.,  p.  428. 


utility.  It  was  a  fashion  wliich  those  who 
made  for  themselves  a  fortune  and  a  name, 
especially  delighted  in  following;  and  the 
fact  is  so  well  known  that  it  needs  no 
illustration.  Every  book  of  travel  affords 
fresh  instances.  Foreign  adventurers  have 
adopted  the  same  beneficent  custom  :  wit- 
ness the  Martiniere  college  at  Lucknow. 
Very  few  Englishmen,  however,have  thought 
of  spending  on,  or  in  India,  any  considerable 
portion  of  the  wealth  they  made  there ;  the 
noble  Sir  Heniy  Lawrence  and  others, 
whose  names  are  easily  reckoned,  forming 
the  exceptions. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  offer 
anything  like  an  enumeration  of  our  short- 
comings in  this  respect :  able  pens  have 
already  performed  the  ungracious  task;  and 
it  needs  but  a  few  hours'  attentive  study  of 
the  admirably  condensed  exposition  given 
by  Lieutenant-colonel  Cotton  (chief  engi- 
neer of  Madras),  and  of  the  pamphlets  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Dickinson  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Indian  Reform  Society,  to  be 
convinced  how  unjust  and  impolitic  have 
been  our  omissions  in  this  important  branch 
of  government. 

Sir  Charles  Napier  says,  that  "in  India, 
economy  means,  laying  out  as  little  for  the 
countiy  and  for  noble  and  useful  purposes 
as  you  can ;  and  giving  as  large  salaries  as 
you  can  possibly  squeeze  out  of  the  pub- 
lic to  individuals,  adding  large  'establish- 
ments.'''^J  The  force  of  this  remark  is 
painfully  apparent,  when  the  immense  num- 
ber of  "collectors,"  and  the  extent  and  enor- 
mous expense  of  the  revenue  establishment, 
are  compared  with  the  number  of  engineers, 
and  the  cost  of  the  department  for  public 
works.  The  contrast  between  what  is  taken 
from,  and  what  is  spent  upon  India,  be- 
comes still  more  glaring  when  the  items 
of  expenditure  are  examined,  and  a  division 
made  between  the  works  undertaken  on 
behalf  of  the  government — such  as  court- 
houses, gaols,  &c. — and  those,  immediately 
intended  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  such 
as  roads,  canals,  and  tanks. 

The  injustice  of  this  procedure  is  sur- 
passed by  its  impolicy.  Colonel  Cotton 
says— 

"  Certainly,  without  any  exaggeration,  the  most 
astonishing  thing  in  the  history  of  our  rule  in  India 
is,  that  such  innumerable  volumes  should  have  been 
written  by  thousands  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  ser- 
vice on  the  mode  of  collecting  the  land  revenue, 
while  the  question,  of  a  thousand  times  more  im- 
portance, how  to  enable  the  people  to  pay  it,  was 
literally  never  touched   upon ;    and   yet,  even    the 


THE  NEGLECT  OF  PUBLIC  WORKS  IN  INDIA.  27 


question  of  the  amount  of  taxation  was  utterly  in- 
significant in  comparison  with  that.  While  we  have 
been  labouring  for  a  hundred  years  to  discover  how 
to  get  twenty  lacs  out  of  a  district  which  is  not  able 
to  pay  it,  not  the  least  thought  has  been  bestowed  on 
the  hundreds  of  lacs  it  was  losing  from  the  enormous 
cost  of  transit,  which  swallowed  up  all  the  value 
of  the  ryot  produce,  if  they  raised  it.*  •  •  • 
If  we  take  the  whole  loss  to  India,  from  want  of 
communication,  at  only  twenty-five  million  sterling, 
it  is  twelve  times  as  great  a  burthen  as  the  in- 
terest of  the  [Indian]  debt.  •  •  •  Public  works 
have  been  almost  entirely  neglected  in  India.  The 
motto  hitherto  has  been — '  do  nothing,  have  nothing 
done,  let  nobody  do  anything.'  Bear  any  loss,  let 
the  people  die  of  famine,  let  hundreds  of  lacs  be  lost 
in  revenue  for  want  of  water,  rather  than  do  any- 
thing. •  •  •  Who  would  believe,  that  without 
half-a-dozen  miles  of  real  turnpike-road,  with  com- 
munications generally  in  the  state  that  they  were 
in  England  two  centuries  ago— with  periodical 
famines  and  a  stagnant  revenue — the  stereotyped 
answer  to  any  one  who  urges  improvement  is, 
'  He  is  too  much  in  a  hurry — he  is  too  sanguine — 
we  must  go  on  by  degrees;'  and  this,  too,  in  the 
face  of  the  fact  that,  almost  without  exception, 
money  laid  out  upon  public  works  in  India,  has 
yielded  money  returns  of  one  hundred,  two  hun- 
dred, and  three  hundred  per  cent.,  besides  innu- 
merable other  advantages  to  the  community.  *  •  • 
We  have  already  all  but  lost  one  century,  to  the 
great  damage  of  our  finances  and  the  greater  injury 
of  the  people."t 

It  is  terrible  to  think  of  the  amount  of 
suffering  occasioned  by  the  ignorant  apathy 
of  the  nation  to  whom  it  has  pleased  Provi- 
dence to  entrust  the  government  of  India. 
"The  neglect  of  public  works"  is  a  vague, 
unmeaning  sound  in  British  ears  :  no  nation 
blessed  with  free  institutions  can  appreciate 
its  full  intent;  and  no  people  under  the 
despotism  of  a  single  tyrant,  but  would 
rise,  and  cut  off  the  Pharaoh  who  demanded 
the  tale  of  bricks,  yet  withheld  the  straw. 
Nothing  but  the  complicated  system  of  our 
absentee  sovereigntyship,  can  account  for 
such  strange  persistence  in  errors  which 
have  repeatedly  brought  the  Company  to 
the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  aud  inflicted  on 
the  mass  of  the  people  chronic  poverty  and 
periodical  famine. 

In  England,  we  are  occasionally  horror- 
struck  by  some  case  of  death  from  actual 
destitution  ;  and  we  know,  alas  !  that  large 
portions  of  our  working  population,  with 
difficulty  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life ;  but 
we  are  also  aware  that  public  and  indi- 
vidual benevolence  is  incessantly  at  work 
to  diminish  tlie  sufferings  inseparable,  at 
least  to  some  extent,  from  an  over-populated 

•  Public  Wurlts  in  India ;  by  Lieutenant-colonel 
Cotton,  1854;  p.  8.  t  Ibid.,  pp.  294,  295. 

I  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  273. 


and  money-worshipping  country.  "When 
Ireland  was  scourged  with  famine,  the 
whole  British  ennpire,  even  to  its  farthest 
colony,  poured  forth,  unsolicited,  its  contri- 
butions in  money  or  in  food  with  eager 
haste.  Is,  then,  human  sympathy  depen- 
dent on  race  or  colour  ?  No ;  or  the  West 
Indies  would  still  be  peopled  with  slaves 
and  slave-drivers.  The  same  springs  of 
action  which,  once  set  in  motion,  worked 
incessantly  for  the  accomplishment  of  negro 
emancipation,  would,  if  now  touched  on 
behalf  of  the  Hindoos,  act  as  a  lever  to 
raise  them  from  the  deep  wretchedness  in 
which  they  are  sunk.  The  manufacturers 
of  Manchester  and  of  Glasgow  are  surely 
blind  to  their  own  interests,  or  long  ere 
this  they  would  have  taken  up  the  subject 
of  roads,  canals,  and  tanks  for  India,  if  only 
to  encourage  the  growth  of  cotton  in  the 
country  in  which  it  is  an  indigenous  pro- 
duct, and  to  diminish  their  dangerous  de- 
pendence on  America.  Had  they  done  so, 
they  would  have  had  their  reward.  But  the 
active  and  enterprising  philanthropical  class, 
which  includes  many  "successful  merchants" 
in  its  ranks,  perhaps  requires  to  be  told, 
that  the  subject  of  public  works  for  India  is 
at  once  a  great  call  for  national  justice  and 
individual  charity;  that  there  is  no  con- 
ceivable means  of  fulfilling  on  so  large  a 
scale  the  unquestionable  duty  of  giving 
bread  to  the  hungry,  as  by  initiating 
measures  to  rescue  hundreds  of  thousHuds 
of  British  subjects  from  probable  starvation. 
Tlie  frightful  massacres  of  Meerut  and 
Cawnpoor  have  not  banished  from  our  minds 
the  recollection  of  that  terrible  "Black 
Hole,"  where  123  persons  perished,  some 
from  suffocation,  and  others  in  the  mad- 
dening agonies  of  thirst ;  and  this  not  from 
any  purpose  of  fiend-like  cruelty,  but  simply 
because  the  young  Nawab,  Surajah  Dowlah, 
did  not  know  the  size  of  the  prison-chamber 
of  the  English  garrison  in  which  he  had 
directed  his  prisoners  to  be  secured ;  and 
none  of  his  officers  cared  to  disturb  his 
sleep,  to  procure  a  change  of  orders.  When 
he  awoke  the  door  was  opened,  and  the 
few  weak,  worn  survivors,  on  whose  frames 
some  hours  of  agony  had  done  the  work  6f 
years,  tottered  forth,  or  were  dragged  out 
from  amid  the  already  putrefying  corpses 
of  their  companions.  J 

Surajah   Dowlah   paid,   with   his  throne 
and  life,  the  forfeit  of  his  apathetic  igno- 
rance ;  aud  his  peojjle  were  happily  delivered 
1  from  that  crowuing  curse — despotic  inca- 


28 


FAMINES  CONSEQUENT  ON  MISGOVERNMENT. 


pacity.  His  fate  ouglit  to  have  served  as  a 
warning  of  the  eflfects  of  mere  neglect. 
Has  it  done  so ;  or  has  the  evil  been  mul- 
tiplied a  thousand-fold  under  a  Christian 
government  ?  Can  it,  or  can  it  not,  be  proved 
by  public  records,  that,  for  every  single 
Englishman  who  perished  while  the  Indian 
nawab  lay  sleeping,  many  thousand  natives 
have  fallen  victims  to  an  apathy  no  less 
criminal,  manifested  by  the  representa- 
tives of  the  E.  I.  Company?  This  is  the 
meaning,  or  at  least  a  part  of  the  meaning, 
of  the  "  neglect  of  public  works  in  India ;" 
and  the  only  excuse  offered  for  it  is  the 
poverty  of  the  government.  It  is  asserted, 
that  the  drain  consequent  on  perpetual 
wars,  which  directly  enriched  and  often  in- 
directly ennobled  the  individuals  concerned, 
occasioned  so  wide  a  destruction  of  native 
property,  created  such  an  unceasing  drain 
on  the  state  revenues,  and  so  increased  and 
complicated  the  labours  of  the  collectors, 
that  the  one-engrossing  anxiety  of  the  autho- 
rities, how  to  meet  current  expenses,  unavoid- 
ably superseded  every  other  consideration. 

The  peculiar  system  of  the  Comp.iny  has 
likewise  contributed  to  induce  a  selfish  and 
short-sighted  policy.  The  brief  period  of 
administration  allotted  to  each  governor- 
general,  whatever  its  advantages,  has  had 
the  great  drawback  of  rarely  sufficing  for 
the  initiation,  organisation,  and  carrying 
through  of  any  large  measure  of  general 
benefit ;  aud  it  is,  of  course,  seldom  that  a 
new-comer,  fresh  from  England,  has  the 
ability  or  the  generosity  to  appreciate  and 
cordially  work  out  the  plan  of  his  prede- 
cessor. The  consequence  has  been  a  la- 
mentable want  of  any  consistent  policy  for 
the  development  of  the  resources  of  India. 
Lord  Dalhousie,  it  is  true,  exerted  himself 
zealously  and  successfully  in  the  furtherance 
of  certain  great  undertakings,  in  connection 
with  which  his  name  may  well  be  grate- 
fully remembered.  The  Ganges  canal,  the 
Bengal  railway,  the  electric  telegraph,  are 
works  of  undoubted  utility ;  aud  the  good 
service  they  have  rendered  to  the  supreme 
government  in  its  hour  of  need,  must  be 
•alculated  in  lives  rather  than  in  money. 
But  a  few  great  and  costly  achievements 
cannot  excuse  the  general  neglect  mani- 
fested by  the  non-appropriation  of  a  certain 
portion  of  the  revenue  of  every  district  to 
meet  its  own  peculiar  and  urgent  require- 
ments. From  the  absence  of  any  adequate 
provision,  the  vast  reservoirs,  someti  mes  many 
miles  square,  constructed  by  native  princes 


centuries  ago,  have  been  allowed,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  to  go  to  decay,  and  are 
now  sources  of  disease  instead  of  fertility, 
being  covered  with  rank  weeds.* 

The  East  India  Company  have  added  the 
tax  levied  by  their  Mohammedan  or  Hindoo 
predecessors  for  annual  repairs,  to  their 
general  assessments,  but  have  suffered  many 
of  the  tanks  to  go  to  ruin ;  while,  according  to 
a  recent  writer  (1858),  "in  many  cases  they 
still  exact  the  same  money-revenue  from 
the  cultivators,  amounting,  at  the  present 
day,  to  fifty,  sixty,  aud  seventy  per  cent,  of 
the  gross  produce  of  the  soil,  as  if  the  tanks 
were  kept  in  perfect  repair,  aud  the  cul- 
tivators received  the  quantity  of  water  re- 
quired to  grow  a  full  crop  of  produce."t 

Water,  water  !  is  the  primary  want  of  the 
Indian  farmer;  yet,  according  to  Colonel 
Cotton,  it  is  undoubted  that,  in  the  worst 
year  that  ever  occurred,  enough  has  been 
allowed  to  flow  into  the  sea  to  have  irrigated 
ten  times  as  mtzch  grain  as  would  have  sup- 
plied the  whole  population. J  The  case  is 
put  in  the  clearest  light  in  an  extract  from 
a  private  letter,  hastily  written,  and  not 
meant  for  publication,  addressed  by  "one 
of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  India,"  to 
Mr.  Dickinson,  and  published  by  him,  under 
the  idea  that  it  was  better  calculated  than 
any  laboured  statement,  to  carry  conviction 
to  an  unprejudiced  mind.  The  writer,  after 
declaring  that  the  perpetual  iuvolvements 
of  the  Company  had  originated  in  their 
having  omitted  not  only  to  initiate  improve- 
ments, but  even  to  keep  in  repair  the  old 
works  upon  which  the  revenue  depended ; 
adds — "  But  this  is  not  the  strongest  point 
of  the  case.  They  did  not  take  the  least 
pains  to  prevent  famine.  To  say  nothing 
of  the  death  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
people  in  Guntoor,  the  public  works'  com- 
mittee, in  their  report,  calculate  that  the 
loss  in  money  by  the  Guntoor  famine,  was 
more  than  two  millions  sterling.  If  they 
could  find  money  to  supply  these  losses, 
they  could  have  found  a  hundredth  part  of 
the  sum  to  prevent  them. 

"  Lord thinks  it  would  be  better  not 

to  blame  the  government ;  how  can  we  pos- 
sibly point  out  how  improvement  can  be 
made  without  proving  that  there  has  been 
neglect  before  ?     *     *     *     Lord won- 

•  Macleod  Wylie's  Bengal  a  Field  of  Missions, 
p.  241. 

t  Lectures  on  British  India;  by  John  Malcolm 
Ludlow  j  vol.  ii.,  p.  317. 

%  Quoted  in  the  Madras  Petition  of  1852. 


I 


WANT  OF  ROADS  A  CAUSE  OF  FAMINE. 


29 


ders  at  my  vehemence  about  public  works : 
is  he  really  so  humble  a  mau  as  to  think  no 
better  of  himself,  than  to  suppose  he  could 
stand  unmoved  in  a  district  where  250,000 
people  had  perished  miserably  of  famine 
through  the  neglect  of  our  government, 
and  see  it  exposed  every  year  to  a  similar 
occurrence  ?  If  his  lordship  had  been  living 
in  the  midst  of  the  district  at  the  time,  like 
one  of  our  civilians,  and  had  had  every 
morning  to  clear  the  neighbourhood  of  his 
house  of  hundreds  of  dead  bodies  of  poor 
creatures  who  had  struggled  to  get  near  the 
European,  in  hopes  that  there  perhaps  they 
might  find  food,  he  would  have  realised 
things  beyond  what  he  has  seen  in  his 
shire  park."* 

What  excuse,  even  of  ignorance,  can  be 
offered  for  a  government  that  turns  a  deaf 
ear  to  statements  so  appalling  as  these, 
made  by  their  own  servants?  Such  im- 
penetrable apathy  affords  a  confirmation 
of  the  often-repeated  assertion,  that  no- 
thing but  the  continual  pressure  of  public 
opinion  in  England,  will  ensure  anything 
being  effected  in  India.  Would  that  this 
power  might  be  at  once  exerted  !  Even  now, 
in  the  midst  of  battles,  we  ought  to  be  doing 
something  to  avert  the  consequences  of  past 
neglect,  or  the  scourge  of  war  will  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  yet  more  fatal  visitations  of 
famine,  and  its  twin-sister,  pestilence. 

We  may  not  be  able  to  do  much,  or  any- 
thing, in  some  of  the  most  disturbed  dis- 
tricts; but  in  the  great  majority,  where 
comparative  quiet  prevails,  a  vigorous  effort 
ought  at  once  to  be  made  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  better  system ;  that  is,  one  de- 
signed to  benefit  the  mass  of  the  people, 
instead  of  being  exclusively  framed  to  suit 
the  convenience  of  the  European  officials. 
Had  this  been  earlier  attempted,  we  might 
have  had  fewer  great  works  to  talk  about  in 
parliament  or  at  the  India  House  (though 
that  is  hardly  possible,  considering  that  we 
are  Anglo-Saxons  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury) :  but  certainly  India  would  not  now 
be  so  generally  destitute  of  the  means 
of  cheap  carriage ;  neither  would  it  be  ne- 
cessary to  urge  "the  clearing-out  of  this 
poisonous  old  tank ;  the  repairing  of  that 
embankment ;  the  metalling  of  this  mud- 
track  through  the  jungle;  the  piercing,  by 
a  cheap  canal  of  irrigation,  of  that  tongue 
of  land,  of  a  few  miles,  between  two  rivers  ;"t 

*  Dickinson's  India  under  a  Bureaucracy,  pp. 
87—90. 

■f  Ludlow's  Lectures,  vol.  ii.,  p.  320. 


the  preservation  of  bridge.s ;  and  such-like 
cheap,  homely,  obscure  labours,  as  are  now 
urgently  needed  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  peninsula. 

Cheap  transit  by  land  and  water  is  a 
point  only  secondary  in  importance  to  irri- 
gation, as  a  means  of  preventing  famine,  by 
enabling  one  part  of  the  country  to  help 
another  in  the  event  of  the  failure  of  local 
rains.  Major-general  Tremenheere,  in  his 
recent  evidence  before  parliament  (May, 
1858),  when  adverting  to  the  brief  intervals 
which  have  elapsed  between  the  years  of 
scarcity  in  the  present  century,  forcibly 
states  the  necessity  for  affording  the 
greatest  facilities  for  the  transport  of  pro- 
duce, as  the  true  remedy  for  these  oft-recur- 
ring famines. f  The  evidence  of  subse- 
quent witnesses  before  the  same  committee, 
shows  that,  in  a  country  where  easy  transit 
is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  life  during 
periodical  visitations  of  dearth,  there  exists 
the  most  remarkable  deficiency  of  means  of 
intercommunication  ever  heard  of  under  a 
civilised  government. 

"  There  are  no  roads  to  connect  even  Calcutta 
with  any  of  the  great  cities  of  the  interior.  No  road 
to  Moorshedabad;  no  road  to  Dacca;  nonetoPatna; 
no  such  roads  as  parish  roads  in  England,  to  connect 
villages  and  market-towns  in  the  interior.  Conse- 
quently, in  the  rainy  season,  every  town  is  isolated 
from  its  neighbours,  and  from  all  the  rest  of  the 
country.  Besides  roads,  bridges  are  wanted :  there 
are  hardly  any  bridges  at  all  in  the  country ;  their 
place  is  partially  supplied  by  ferries.  The  grand 
trunk-road,  within  the  Lower  Provinces,  is  only  par- 
tially bridged  j  and  half  the  bridges,  I  believe,  have 
been  washed  away  from  defects  of  con8truction."§ 

In  Bengal,  Bahar,  and  Orissa,  the  main- 
tenance of  good  roads  is  a  duty  to  which 
the  government  are  alleged  to  be  specially 
pledged ;  for,  in  making  the  decennial  set- 
tlement (on  which  the  permanent  one  was 
subsequently  grounded),  a  separate  tax  for 
the  purpose  was  inserted  in  the  rent-roll, 
but  was  afterwards  merged  in  the  general 
assessment,  and  not  applied  to  the  roads. 
The  native  land-owners  have  remembered 
this  breach  of  faith ;  and  when  urged,  some 
years  ago,  to  make  fresh  provision  for  the 
maintenance  of  highways,  they  objected,  on 
the  ground  of  the  misappropriation  of 
their  actual  yearly  payments.  Happily  for 
them,  their  interests  are  closely  allied  with 
those  of  the  British  settlers.  Both  classes 
are  equally  without  the  pale  of  privilege 
and  patronage,   dignities    and  immunities, 

\  First  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  on  the 
Colonization  and  Settlement  of  India,  p.  6. 

§  Ibid.     Evidence  of  W.  Theobald,  Esq.,  p.  74. 


30 


MILITARY  MOVEMENTS  IMPEDED  BY  WANT  OP  ROADS. 


with  which  the  East  India  Company  has 
fenced  round  its  covenanted  service;  but 
the  storm  which  has  disturbed  the  immi- 
grant planters  in  their  peaceable  avoca- 
tions, has  contributed  to  procure  for  them 
the  opportunity  of  laying  before  a  parlia- 
mentary committee,  and  consequently  be- 
fore the  nation  at  large,  the  obstructions 
which  impede  all  attempts  to  earn  an  hon- 
ourable livelihood  by  developing  the  re- 
sources of  India. 

Several  witnesses  declare  the  want  of 
internal  communication  to  be  peculiar  to  the 
administration  of  the  East  India  Company, 
who  have  attempted  nothing  except  for 
military  or  governmental  purposes,  and  even 
then  very  imperfectly;  while,  under  Hindoo 
and  Mohammedan  dynasties,  the  peninsula 
was  intersected  with  roads,  the  remains  of 
which  are  still  traceable.*  The  planters, 
to  some  extent,  make  roads  in  their  imme- 
diate vicinity,  suitable  to  their  own  neces- 
sities ;  but  these  do  not  answer  for  pur- 
poses of  general  traffic,  which  requires 
continuous  lines.  The  native  land-owners 
understand  road-making,  but  want  the 
means,  not  the  will,  to  carry  it  on  exten- 
sively. Mr.  Dalrymple,  an  indigo  and  sugar 
planter,  and  silk  manufacturer,  resident  in 
India  upwards  of  thirty  years,  adduces,  as 
an  instance  of  the  feeling  of  the  natives  on 
this  subject,  that  he  has  known  one  of 
them  make  a  road  for  a  hundred  miles 
from  a  religious  motive.f 

For  the  neglect  of  many  duties,  and  espe- 
cially of  this  one,  we  are  paying  a  severe 
penalty;  and  the  hardships  so  long  suffered 
by  the  natives,  in  having  to  carry  their  arti- 
cles of  produce  or  merchandise  on  their 
heads,  along  paths  impassable  for  beasts  of 
burden,  now  fall  with  tenfold  weight  on 
our  heavily-laden  soldiery.  Individual  suf- 
fering, great  as  that  has  been  (including 
the  long  list  of  victims  to  "solar  apo- 
plexy," on  marches  which,  by  even  good 
common  roads  or  by  canals,  would  have 
been  short  and  comparatively  innocuous), 
forms  but  the  inevitable  counterpart  of  the 
public  distress,  occasioned  by  the  present 
insurmountable  impediments  to  the  rapid 
concentration  of  military  force  on  a  given 
point.  Facilities  for  the  movement  of 
troops  are  important  in  every  seat  of  war ; 
but    particularly   so   in    India,    where   the 

•  Second   Report — Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Mac- 
kenzie, p.  88. 

t  Second  Report,  p.  67. 

J  Telegram  of  the  governor-general  to  Sir  Henry 


extent  of  country  to  be  maintained  exceeds 
beyond  all  proportion  the  number  of  Euro- 
pean troops  which  can  at  any  sacrifice  be 
spared  to  garrison  it. 

The  upholders  of  "  a  purely  military  des- 
potism" have  not  been  wise  even  in  their 
generation,  or  they  would  have  promoted, 
instead  of  opposing,  the  construction  of  rail- 
ways between  the  chief  cities,  as  a  measure 
of  absolute  necessity.  If  only  the  few  al- 
ready projected  had  been  completed,  Delhi 
could  hardly  have  fallen  as  it  did — a  rich, 
defenceless  prize — into  the  hands  of  the  mu- 
tineers, nor  afforded  them  the  means  of 
establishing  a  rallying-point  for  the  dis- 
affected, and  doing  incalculable  damage  to 
European  jores/j^e,  by  setting  an  example  of 
temporarily  successful  defiance.  As  it  was, 
the  contrast  was  most  painful  between  the 
lightning- flash  that  brought  the  cry  for 
help  from  stations  surrounded  by  a  seething 
mass  of  revolt,  and  the  slow,  tedious  process 
by  which  alone  the  means  of  rescue  could 
be  afforded.  Thus,  the  appeal  of  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence  for  reinforcements  for  Cawn- 
poor,  received  the  gloomy  response,  that  it 
was  "impossible  to  place  a  wing  of  Euro- 
peans there  in  less  time  than  twenty-five 
days."  The  bullock-train  could  take  a  hun- 
dred men  a-day,  at  the  rate  of  thirty  miles 
a-day  :J:  this  was  all  that  could  be  done  ;  and, 
with  every  effort,  at  an  enormous  cost  of  life 
and  treasure,  the  troops  arrived  only  to  be 
maddened  by  the  horrible  evidences  of  the 
massacre  they  were  too  late  to  avert. 

"  Indophilus"  views  the  railroad  system  as 
the  basis  of  our  military  power  in  India;  and 
considers  it  "so  certain  that  railways  are 
better  than  regiments,  that  it  would  be  for 
the  interest  of  England,  even  in  a  strictly 
economical  point  of  view,  to  diminish  the 
drain  upon  her  working  population,  by 
lending  her  credit  to  raise  money  for  the 
completion  of  Indian  railways.''^  The 
urgency  of  the  requirement  has  become  so 
evident  as  a  measure  of  expediency,  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  sovereignty,  that  it 
scarcely  needs  advocating :  on  the  contrary, 
it  seems  necessary  to  deprecate  the  too  exclu- 
sive appropriation  of  Indian  revenue  to  r.iil- 
roads  (especially  costly  ones,  in  which  speed 
is  apt  to  be  made  a  primary  requisite),  1| 
to  the  neglect  of  the  far  cheaper  means  of 
transit  which  might  be  opened  by  single 

Lawrence,  May   24th,  1857. — Pari.   Papers  on   the 
Mutiny;  Appendix,  p.  315. 

§  Letters  of  Indophilus,  P-  12. 

I|  See  Colonel  Cotton's  Public  Works,  p.  184. 


REPRESSION  OF  BRITISH  ENTERPRISE. 


31 


rail,  by  tram-roads,  by  the  formation  of 
canals  for  steam  navigation,  and  by  the 
opening  and  improving  of  rivers.  Measures 
of  this  kind  must  be  taken,  if  we  wotild 
enable  the  people  to  bear  the  expenses 
attendant  on  our  system  of  government.* 
Labour  thus  wisely  employed  and  directed, 
would  produce  capital ;  the  now  insuperable 
difficulty  of  raising  a  sufficient  revenue 
without  oppressing  the  masses,  would  be 
removed ;  and  their  rulers,  relieved  from 
pecuniary  pressure,  might  dare  to  be  just 
by  renouncing  opium  smuggling,  and  to  be 
humane  by  abandoning  the  less  criminal 
but  still  obnoxious  saltf  monopoly,  which, 
as  at  present  conducted,  acts  as  an  irre- 
gular poll-tax — falling  heaviest  on  those 
who  have  farthest  to  fetch  it  from  the 
government  depots. 


The  Repression  of  British  Enterprise  is 
closely  connected  with  the  neglect  of  public 
works;  for  had  European  planters  been 
allowed  to  settle  in  any  considerable  num- 
bers, and  to  give  free  expression  to  their 
opinions,  they  would  certainly  have  agi- 
tated the  subject  in  a  manner  which  no 
government  could  have  wholly  withstood. 

The  Company,  from  their  earliest  days, 
strove  with  unremitting  care  to  guard  their 
chartered  privileges  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  their  countrymen,  and  adopted  a 
tone  of  lofty  superiority  which  was  scarcely 
consistent  with  their  own  position  as 
"  merchant  adventurers."  Had  there  not 
been  in  America,  the  West  Indies,  and 
other  colonies  and  dependencies  of  the 
British  crown,  abundant  outlet  for  capital 
and  enterprise,  the  Indian  monopoly  would 
probably  have  been  soon  broken  through  : 
as  it  was,  the  "interlopers"  were  compara- 
tively few,  and  easily  put  down,  if  they 
proved  in  the  least  refractory,  by  the  strong 

*  The  salaries  of  Englishmen  in  India  are  all  on 
a  very  high  scale.  The  average  annual  salary  re- 
ceived by  civilians  is  estimated  at  £1,750. — (See 
article  on  "British  India" — Quarterly  JReview,  Au- 
gust, 1858 ;  p.  237.)  A  Queen's  officer,  directly  he 
embarks  for  India,  has  double  pay.  The  fees  of  the 
lawyers  and  solicitors  at  Calcutta,  are  more  than 
double  what  they  are  in  English  courts.  No  trades- 
man in  Calcutta  would  be  satisfied  with  the  Eng- 
lish rate  of  profit  j  and,  in  fact,  all  European  labour 
is  much  more  highly  remunerated  in  India  than 
elsewhere. — (First  Report  of  Colonization  Committee. 
Evidence  of  Major-general  Tremenheerej  p.  36) 
It  was  found  necessary  to  raise  the  scale  of  salaries 
of  English  functionaries,  as  a  means  of  preserving 
them  from  corruption ;  and,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
measure  has  succeeded.      Even-handed  justice  re- 


measure  of  deportation.  Gradually  the  ex- 
clusive system  was  greatly  modified  by  the 
effects  of  the  parliamentary  discussions 
which  accompanied  each  renewal  of  the 
Company's  charter,  together  with  the  dis- 
closures of  mismanagement  involved  in  the 
perpetually  recurring  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments, from  which  they  sought  relief  in  the 
creation  and  augmentation  of  an  Indian 
national  debt.  In  1813  their  trade  with 
India  ceased  entirely :  it  had  long  been 
carried  on  at  an  actual  loss ;  the  traffic  with 
China,  and  the  Indian  territorial  revenues, 
supplying  the  deficit.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
the  opening  up  of  the  Indian  trade  to  all 
British  subjects  (followed  by  a  similar  pro- 
cedure with  that  of  China  in  1833),  the 
Company  were  slow  in  abating  their  jealous 
hostility  towards  "adventurers,"  and  did 
their  utmost  to  prevent  European  enter- 
prise from  gaining  a  footing  in  India.  Tiiey 
do  not  seem  to  have  recognised  the  change 
of  policy  incumbent  on  them  when,  ceasing 
to  be  traders,  they  became  sovereigns  of  a 
vast  empire,  and  were  thereby  bound  to 
renounce  class  interests  and  prejudices,  and 
merge  all  meaner  considerations  in  the  para- 
mount obligation  of  promoting  the  general 
good. 

Of  course,  colonization,  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  term,  is  neither  practicable  nor 
desirable  in  a  country  already  well  and  gene- 
rally densely  peopled,  and  where  land  is  the 
most  dearly  prized  of  all  possessions.  Even 
in  certain  favoured  localities,  where  out- 
door employment  can  be  best  undertaken  by 
Europeans,  there  is  no  product  which  they 
could  cultivate  on  the  spot,  in  which  they 
would  not  be  undersold  by  the  natives. 
Indeed,  it  would  be  manifestly  absurd  to  at- 
tempt to  compete,  as  labourers,  with  men  who 
can  support  themselves  on  wages  ranging 
from  l^d.  to  4r^d.  a-day.J     It  is  as  the  pio- 

quires,  that  the  same  experiment  should  be  tried  with 
the  natives  of  the  country  from  which  the  funds  are 
levied,  and  it  will  then  be  seen  whether  improved 
efficiency  and  integrity  may  not  equally  be  the  re- 
sult. "  A  native  judge,  who  has  any  prospect  of  pro- 
motion, hardly  ever  is  known  to  be  corrupt." — Kaikes. 

f  The  difference  in  the  price  of  salt,  between  Cal- 
cutta and  Benares,  amounts  to  100  per  cent.  Rice, 
which  sells  at  a  seaport  at  2s.  a  bushel,  is  quoted  at 
an  average  of  5s.  Id.  per  bushel  in  the  Punjab,  the 
Trans-Indus,  and  the  Cis-Sutlej  territories  ;  the  dis- 
tance of  these  states  from  a  seaport  being  from  800 
to  1,200  miles. — Third  Report  of  Colonization  Com- 
mittee, dated  July  12lh,  1858.  Evidence  of  W. 
Balston,  Esq. ;  p.  63. 

X  Evidence  of  K.  Baikie,  Esq. — First  Report  of 
Colonization  Committee,  6th  May,  1858 ;  p.  52. 


32 


DETERIORATION  OF  NATIVE  MANUFACTURES. 


neers  of  skill  and  capital  thatEuropeans  must 
look  to  find  remuneration  and  useful  em- 
ployment in  India.  In  that  sense  the  field 
is  wide  enough,  and  the  need  great  indeed ; 
for  the  native  products  and  manufactures 
have,  in  many  instances,  actually  diminished 
in  extent  and  in  value  under  the  sway  of 
the  East  India  Company.  Every  child 
knows  that  calico  takes  its  name  from 
Calicut,  whence  it  was  first  brought  to  Eng- 
land ;  yet  domestic  manufacture  has  been 
overwhelmed  by  the  cheap,  coarse  fabrics  of 
the  Manchester  steam-power  looms;  nor 
has  the  encouragement  been  given  which 
might  have  opened  for  them  a  lucrative 
market  in  luxurious  England  for  their  own 
more  delicate  and  durable  productions.  The 
Dacca  muslin — the  famous  "  woven  wind," 
which,  when  wet,  lay  on  the  grass  like  the 
night-dew — this,  also,  has  become  almost  a 
thing  of  the  past.  Yet,  if  only  a  market 
were  assured,  the  cotton  could  be  grown  as 
before,  and  the  same  exquisite  manipulation 
would  be  as  cheaply  obtainable. 

Much  important  information  regarding 
the  present  state  of  affairs,  has  been  laid 
before  the  select  committee  lately  appointed 
to  inquire  into  questions  affecting  the  settle- 
ment of  India.  Well-informed  persons  de- 
clare, that  labour  is  cheap  and  abundant 
almost  everywhere  throughout  India  ;*  that 
the  natives  are  very  tractable ;  and  yet,  de- 
spite their  readiness  to  learn,  and  long  in- 
tercourse with  Europeans,  the  knowledge  of 
agriculture  is  in  about  the  same  position  as 
at  the  time  of  Alexander's  invasion. f  This 
is  in  itself  a  discreditable  fact,  considering 
the  effects  produced  by  the  application  of 
science  to  agriculture  in  Europe :  and  the 
apathy  manifested  in  India  is  especially 
blamable  and  impolitic,  on  the  part  of 
a  government  which  has  virtually  usurped 
the  position  of  landlord  over  a  large  portion 
of  the  country,  more  than  one-half  of  the  re- 
venues of  which,  that  is  to  say,  £15,500,000 
out  of  £28,000,000,  is  derived  by  rents 
from  the  land;  while  four-fifths  of  the  an- 
nual exports,  namely,  £17,500,000  out  of 
£21,500,000,  are  the  direct  produce  of  the 
soil.j 

*  Second  Report  of  Select  Committee  on  Coloni- 
Mtion  and  Settlement  of  India,  10th  June,  1858. — 
Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Wise;  p.  40. 

t  First  Report,  6th  May,  1858.— Evidence  of 
Major-general  Tremenheere  ;  p.  29. 

X  Second  Report. — Evidence  of  Major-general 
Tremenheere  ;  pp.  28,  29. 

§  /iia.— Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Mackenzie  ;  p.  83. 

II  Evidence  of  Captain  J.  Ouchterlony. — Third  Re- 


While  the  system  pursued  has  not  im- 
proved under  the  rule  of  the  Company,  the 
cultivators  themselves  have  absolutely  dete- 
riorated ;  the  better  class  of  farmers  are 
alleged  to  have  become  generally  impove- 
rished, and  to  live  in  less  comfort  than  they 
used  to  do  under  the  Hindoo  and  Moham- 
medan dynasties ;  while  very  many  of  the 
ryots  are  hopelessly  in  debt.§  Impaired 
fertility  is  the  natural  consequence  of  over- 
cropping, and  the  native  tenant  has  no 
means  of  counteracting  this;  his  poverty 
being  so  great,  that  he  cannot  afford  to 
keep  up  a  farming  establishment  of  suffi- 
cient strength,  especially  as  regards  cattle, 
to  admit  of  the  due  production  of  ma- 
nure, or  of  those  requirements  which  are 
considered  indispensable,  in  England,  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  commonest  arable 
land. II  The  native  agriculturist,  if  he  bor- 
row from  a  native  banker  and  capitalist, 
pays,  it  is  alleged,  from  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  per  cent,  interest.^  Usury  thrives 
by  sucking  the  life-blood,  already  scanty, 
of  tillage  and  manufacture,  and  rivets  the 
fetters  of  that  system  of  advances  which 
is  truly  described  as  the  curse  of  India.** 

The  existence  of  the  prevailing  wretched- 
ness above  indicated,  goes  far  to  prove  that 
the  Company,  in  opposing  the  settlement 
of  their  fellow-countrymen,  have  not  been 
actuated  by  a  disinterested  solicitude  for 
the  welfare  of  the  natives.  In  fact,  the  fear 
of  an  influx  of  Europeans  was  almost  a 
monomania  with  the  Court  of  Directors ;  and 
every  measure  which  could  in  any  manner, 
however  indirectly,  facilitate  the  antici- 
pated irruption,  met  with  opposition  avow- 
edly on  that  account.  Thus,  the  chairman 
and  deputy-chairman  of  the  Company,  when 
advocating  the  enforcement  of  rigid  restric- 
tions on  the  press  in  1823,  adverted  espe- 
cially to  the  possibility  of  its  "  affording 
amusement  or  occupation  to  a  class  of  ad- 
venturers proceeding  clandestinely  to  India, 
to  encourage  whom  would  be  a  departure 
from  the  policy  hitherto  observed. "ft 

Lord  William  Bentinck  granted  to  Eng- 
lishmen the  privilege  of  holding  lands  in 
the  interior  of  India,  contrary  to  the  in- 
port,  12th  July,  1858;  p.  4.  Another  witness  says, 
the  charge  for  money  advances  is  from  fifty  to  a  hun- 
dred percent.;  "but  when  the  lenders  advance  in 
grain,  they  generally  charge  from  one  to  two  hun- 
dred per  cent.,  because  they  have  to  be  repaid  in 
kind." — Mr.  Mackenzie.     Second  Report,  p.  83. 

il  Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Wise.— ZAiW.,  p.  41. 

**  Evidence  of  Mr.  Fowler. — Third  Report,  p.  54. 

tt  Pari.  Papers,  4th  May,  1858  ;  p.  19. 


GOVERNMENT  BY  THE  CROWN  OR  THE  COMPANY. 


33 


structions  of  the  Company ;  and  his  reasons 
for  so  doing  are  recorded  in  the  minutes  in 
council,  of  the  years  1829  and  1830.  At 
this  period  the  question  of  settlement  in 
India  excited  a  good  deal  of  interest  in 
England ;  and  a  clause  was  inserted  in  the 
East  India  Charter  Act  of  1833,  giving 
permission  to  all  British  subjects  by  birth, 
to  purchase  land  and  reside  in  India ;  and 
an  enactment,  in  conformity  with  this  clause, 
was  passed  by  the  local  legislature  in  1837. 
Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  was  one  of  the  lead- 
ing advocates  for  a  change  of  policy,  as  indis- 
pensable to  the  continuance  of  the  Anglo- 
Indian  empire ;  but  he  held  that  this  change 
could  never  be  effected  until  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Crown  should  be  formally  sub- 
stituted for  that  of  the  Company.  The 
opinion  is  remarkable  as  coming  from  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  servants  of  the 
latter  body — one  who,  trained  in  the  close 
preserve  of  the  covenanted  civil  service,  rose, 
under  the  fostering  care  of  Lord  Wellesley, 
from  occupying  a  clerk's  desk,  through  in- 
termediate grades  of  office,  to  the  highest 
place  in  the  council-chamber,  and  exercised, 
in  a  most  independent  fashion,  the  supreme 
authority  provisionally  entrusted  to  his  care 
in  1835.  His  views  would  lose  much  of 
their  force  if  conveyed  in  terras  less  full 
and  unequivocal  than  his  own ;  but,  in  read- 
ing the  following  extracts,  it  is  necessary  to 
remember  that  the  word  colonization  has 
here  a  very  limited  application,  and  that  the 
immigration  required  is  not  general ;  but 
must,  to  be  beneficial  to  either  of  the  parties 
concerned — the  natives  or  the  immigrants — 
consist  of  the  capitalist  class ;  in  fact,  of  pre- 
cisely those  who  find  in  overstocked  Europe 
no  field  for  the  development  of  their  re- 
sources, and  who  are  deterred  from  the 
colonies  by  the  high  rate  of  wages,  which 
constitute  their  chief  attraction  to  the  la- 
bouring masses. 

"  It    18    impracticable,    perhaps    [he    writes    as 

early  as  1814],  to  suggest  a  remedy  for  the  general 

disaffection    of  our  Indian  subjects.      Colonization 

seems  to  be  the  only  system  which  could  give  us  a 

I   chance  of  having  any  part  of  the  population  attached 

■;   to  our   government  from  a  sense  of  common  in- 

n  terests.     Colonization  may  have  its  attendant  evils ; 

B  but  with  reference  to  the  consideration  above-stated, 

it  would  promise  to  give  us  a  hold  in  the  country 

which  we  do  not  at  present  possess.    "We  might  now 

*  Metcalfe  Paper;  pp.  144;  150;  164;  171. 
It  is,  however,  only  fair  to  remind  the  reader,  that 
Lord  Metcalfe  is  declared  by  his  biographer,  Mr. 
Kaye,  to  have  subsequently  greatly  modified  his 
opinions.  Seeing  that  government  by  the  Crown 
VOL.  II.  r 


be  swept  away  in  a  single  whirlwind.  We  are 
without  root.  The  best-affected  natives  could 
think  of  a  change  of  government  with  indifference ; 
and  in  the  N.W.  Provinces  there  is  hardly  a  man 
who  would  not  hope  for  benefit  from  a  change. 
This  disaffection,  however,  will  most  probably  not 
break  out  in  any  general  manner  as  long  as  we  pos- 
sess a  predominant  power."  In  1820,  he  declares — 
"  As  to  a  general  reform  of  our  rule,  that  question 
has  always  appeared  to  me  as  hopeless.  Our  rulers 
at  home,  and  councillors  abroad,  are  so  bigoted  as 
to  precedent,  that  I  never  dream  of  any  change 
unless  it  be  a  gradual  declension  from  worse  to 
worse.  Colonization,  without  being  forced  or  inju- 
diciously encouraged,  should  be  admitted  without 
restraint.  *  *  *  I  would  never  agree  to  the 
present  laws  of  exclusion  with  respect  to  Euro- 
peans, which  are  unnatural  and  horrible."  In 
1836,  he  says — "  The  Europeans  settled  in  India, 
and  not  in  the  Company's  service,  and  to  these  might 
be  added,  generally,  the  East  Indians  of  mixed 
breed,  will  never  be  satisfied  with  the  Company's 
government :  well  or  ill-founded,  they  will  always 
attach  to  it  the  notion  of  monopoly  and  exclusion  ; 
they  will  consider  themselves  comparatively  dis- 
countenanced and  unfavoured,  and  will  always  look 
with  a  desire  to  the  substitution  of  a  King's  govern- 
ment. For  the  contentment  of  this  class,  which  for 
the  benefit  of  India  and  the  security  of  our  Indian 
empire  ought  greatly  to  increase  in  numbers  and 
importance,  the  introduction  of  a  King's  govern- 
ment is  undoubtedly  desirable.*  *  *  It  must  be 
doubted  whether  even  the  civil  service  will  be  able 
to  retain  its  exclusive  privileges  after  the  extensive 
establishment  of  European  settlers.  *  *  *  The 
necessity  of  employing  unfit  men  in  highly  important 
oflSces,  is  peculiar  to  this  service,  and  demands  cor- 
rection."* 

The  evidence  laid  before  parliament,  after 
an  interval  of  twenty-five  years,  forms  a 
singular  counterpart  to  the  above  state- 
ments. The  persons  examined  speak  from 
long  and  intimate  experience;  and  their 
testimony,  though  varying  in  detail,  coin- 
cides for  the  most  part  in  its  general 
bearing.  They  denounce  the  obstructive 
policy  pursued*  towards  them;  and  the  ma- 
jority distinctly  declare,  that  permission  to 
settle  has  not  been  availed  of,  because  the 
protection  of  life  and  property,  common  to 
every  other  part  of  the  British  empire,  is 
not  afforded  in  India  to  any  but  the  actual 
servants  of  government ;  the  interests  of  all 
other  subjects,  European  and  native,  being 
habitually  disregarded.  One  witness  alleges, 
that,  "at  this  present  time"  (May,  1858), 
there  are  fewer  Englishmen  settled  in  the 
interior  of  India  than  there  were  twenty 
years  ago,  government  servants  excepted.f 

would  be,  in  fact,  government  by  a  parliamentary 
majority ;  he  said,  if  that  were  applied  to  India,  our 
tenure  would  not  be  worth  ten  years'  purchase. — 
Papers,  p.  165. 
t  Mr.  G.  Macnair. — Second  Report,  p.  2. 


84 


OBSTRUCTIONS  TO  BRITISH  SETTLEMENT. 


Another  gentleman  gives  a  clear  exposition 
of  similar  convictions ;  stating,  that — 

"  The  real  serious  impediment  to  the  settlement 
of  Englishmen  in  India,  is  to  be  found  in  the  policy 
of  the  system  under  which  our  Indian  possessions 
have  been  hitherto,  and,  unfortunately,  up  to  the 
present  day,  are  still  governed; — that  policy  which, 
giving  certain  extensive  and  exclusive  privileges  to 
a  corporation  established  for  trading  purposes,  and 
gradually  formed  into  a  governing  power,  originally 
shut  out  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  by  excluding  from 
the  country  Englishmen  not  servants  of  the  Com- 
pany.     Although    the     extreme    severity    of    this 
original   policy  has   been   somewhat   modified   and 
gradually    relaxed,    its    spirit    has    remained    but 
little  changed ;  and  its  effects  have  been  to  keep 
the  people  of  this   country   very   ignorant   of  the 
resources   and   great  value   of  India,   and   of    the 
character,    condition,    and   wants    of    the    natives. 
Moreover,  it  is  a  matter  of  notoriety,  that  there  has 
been,  and  is  at  the  present  time,  a  constant  anta- 
gonism between  the  official  and  non-official  Anglo- 
Indian  communities ;  and  that  exactly  as  the  adven- 
turesome Englishman,  who  is  called  an  interloper, 
with  difficulty  obtained  his  admission  in  the  country, 
so  even  now  he  maintains  his  position  in  a  con- 
tinuous but  unequal  struggle  with  the  local  gov- 
ernment, which  he,  in  turn,  regards  as  an  obstacle 
between  himself  and  the  Crown  and  constitution  to 
which  he  owns  allegiance,  and  looks  for  protection  in 
his  own  country.     Then  again,  the  departments  of 
■  administration,  police,  the  judicial  system,  both  civil 
and  criminal,  are  notoriously  so  wretchedly  ineffi- 
cient, oppressive,  and  corrupt,  that  they  deter  the 
peaceful  and   industrious   from  living  within  their 
influence,  or  risking  their  lives  and  property  under 
their  operations.     I  believe  that  even  the  compara- 
tively few  gentlemen  settled  in  the  interior  of  the 
country,  would  willingly  withdraw,  if  they  could  do 
80  without  a  ruinous  sacrifice  of  property ;  for  little 
or  no  heed  has  been  given  to  their  complaints,  nor 
indeed  of  the  natives ;  while  the  evils  which  have 
been  pointed  out  for  many  years  past  are  greatly  on 
the  increase.     The  present  constitution  of  the  legis- 
lative council  has  made  matters  worse  than  they 
were  before;  and  that  body  has  certainly  not  the 
confidence  either  of  Europeans  or  natives.      With 
the  exception  of  two  judges  takenjrom  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Calcutta,  it  is  composed  of  salaried  and 
government  officials,  who  have  been  such  from  the 
age  of  twenty,  who  have  really  nothing  at  stake  in 
the  country,  and  who  are  not  liMy  to  live  under  the 
operation  and  influence  of  the  laws  which  they  pass  ; 
while  those  who  are  directly  interested  in  the  well- 
being  of  the  country,  both  Europeans  and  natives, 
are_  entirely  excluded  from  any  voice  in  the  laws  by 
which  they  are  to  be  ruled  and  governed.     *     *     * 
At  present,   you   have   in   India  a  series   of  anta- 
gonisms which  works  most  injuriously  for  all  classes, 
and   completely  prevents   that  union  amongst  the 
governing  people  which  appears  to  me  to  be  essen- 
tial to  the  well-being,  not  only  of  ourselves,  but  of 
the  millions  of  people  our  subjects,  taken  under  our 
care  and  protection  avowedly  for  their  own  good, 
and  enlightenment,  and  advancement  in  civilisation. 
At  present  there  is  an  antagonism  in  the  army,  by 

*  Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  G.  Waller.— Second  Report, 
pp.  169, 170.  ^     ' 

t  Evidence  of  Mr.  John  Freeman.— First  Report, 
pp.  112;  119)  139.  ^     ' 


ihe  distinction  of  two  services;  and  a  worse  anta- 
gonism between  the  Queen's  courts  and  the  Com- 
pany's courts ;  between  the  laws  administered  in  the 
presidency  towns  and  in  the  interior ;  between  the 
covenanted  service,  who  have  a  monopoly  of  the 
well-paid  appointments,  and  the  upper,  or  educated 
portion  of  the  uncovenanted  service,  who  think 
themselves  most  unjustly  excluded  from  advance- 
ment :  and,  finally,  between  almost  every  English- 
man (I  speak  of  these  as  facts,  not  as  matters  of 
opinion)  not  in  the  service  of  the  Company,  and 
the  local  government  and  covenanted  service,  who 
not  only  represent  but  carry  out  the  policy  of  the 
East  India  Company,  so  as  to  shut  out  the  direct 
authority  of  the  Crown,  the  intervention  of  parlia- 
ment, and  the  salutary  and  most  necessary  influence 
of  public  opinion  in  England.  You  cannot  discon- 
nect the  European  and  the  native.  If  you  legislate 
simply  with  the  idea  of  what  is  suitable  to  the  Eng- 
lish, without  referring  to  the  native  and  redressing 
the  grievances  of  the  native,  there  will  be  that  un- 
happy antagonism  between  them  that  will  effectually 
bar  Europeans  from  going  out  to  India."* 

The  exorbitant  rate  of  interest  (from 
fifteen  to  eighteen  per  cent.)  charged  on 
advances  of  money  made  to  an  indigo- 
planter,  silk  producer,  or  any  settler  occu- 
pied in  developing  the  resources  of  the 
country  (though  not  to  be  compared  with 
that  exacted  from  the  native  borrower),  is 
urged  by  "  an  English  zemindar"t  I'esi- 
dent  some  twenty-five  years  in  Bengal,  as 
another  proof  of  the  insecurity  of  property 
in  the  mofussil,  or  country  districts,  com- 
pared with  that  situated  within  the  Cal- 
cutta jurisdiction,  where  large  sums  can  be 
readily  raised  at  from  six  to  seven  per  cent, 
interest.f  He  enumerates  the  grievances 
already  set  forth  in  preceding  sections,  and 
points  to  the  successful  cultivation  exten- 
sively carried  on  by  European  settlers  in 
Ceylon,  as  a  consequence  of  the  perfect 
security  and  encouragment  to  capitalists, 
afforded  by  the  administration  and  regu- 
lations of  that  island. § 

Another  witness  declares  that,  in  some 
parts  of  India,  the  land-revenue  system 
actually  excludes  European  capitalists.  He 
instances  the  Madras  presidency,  and  some 
portions  of  that  of  Bombay,  where  the 
Ryotwarree  settlement  is  in  force,  where 
the  government  is  the  immediate  landlord, 
and  is  represented  in  its  transactions  with 
its  wretched  tenants  by  the  revenue  police, 
an  ill-paid  and  rapacious  army  of  some 
60,000  men,  whose  character  was  pretty 
well  exposed  in  the  Madras  Torture  Report. 
The  settlement  makes  no  provision  for  the 

X  The  fixed  legal  maximum  of  interest  in  Bengal 
is  twelve  per  cent. ;  other  commissions  bring  it  up  to 
eighteen  per  cent. — Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Wise. 
Second  Report,  p.  54.  §  Jbid.,  p.  113. 


SERVICE  RENDERED  BY  BRITISH  SETTLERS. 


introduction  of  an  intermediate  class  of 
landlords;  and  the  pauperised  labourers 
emigrate  in  tens  of  thousands,  to  the  Mau- 
ritius and  elsewhere,  leaving  their  own 
waste  lands,  to  obtain  subsistence  in  better 
governed  countries. 

In  Bengal,  both  European  and  native 
capital  and  skill  find  employment  under 
the  permanent  settlement,  the  value  of 
which  the  natives  generally  perfectly  un- 
derstand, and  call  the  "Great  Charter  of 
Bengal."  The  same  witness  adds — "  It  is 
invaluable  to  them  and  to  us  too;  for  it 
has  saved  Bengal  from  insurrection."* 

This  one  great  advantage  possessed  by 
Bengal,  cannot,  however,  compensate  for 
its  other  drawbacks;  among  which,  the 
British  settlers  especially  dwell  on  the 
lamentable  deficiency  of  commercial  roads, 
and  the  contrast  thereby  offered  to  the 
beautiful  pleasure-drives  for  civilians  and 
their  ladies,  which  surround  the  chief  sta- 
tions. A  settler  engaged  in  growing  rice, 
sugar,  tobacco,  and  vegetables,  for  the  Cal- 
cutta market,  on  an  estate  situated  only 
forty  miles  from  the  great  English  metro- 
polis, describes  the  difficulty  of  transit  as 
so  great,  that  the  men  who  come  to  take 
the  sugar  away  are  obliged  to  do  so  upon 
bullocks'  backs,  each  animal  carrying  about 
two  maunds  (about  1^  cwt.  English),  and 
treading  warily  along  the  lines  separating 
one  rice-field  from  another,  which  are  gene- 
rally about  a  foot  in  breadth,  somewhat  ele- 
vated above  the  field,  acting  also  as  ledges 
to  keep  the  water  in  the  fields  :  but,  adds 
this  witness,  "  some  distance  from  there, 
where  there  is  a  little  bit  of  road,  they 
will  take  twenty  or  twenty-five  maunds  of 
produce  with  a  cart  and  a  couple  of 
bullocks."t 

Despite  all  discouragements,  the  British 
settlers  claim  to  have  done  good  service  to 
their  country  and  to  India;  and  they 
affirm,  "  that  wherever  Europeans  have 
been  settled  during  the  late  convulsion, 
those  parts  have  been  less  disturbed."^ 
Their  enterprise  has  been  imitated  by  the 

•  Evidence  of  Mr.  Theobald. — First  Eeport,  pp. 
61,62;  85. 

t  Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  Freeman.^First  Report, 
p.  119.  (See  further  testimony  to  the  same  effect — 
First  Report,  pp.  1 14  ;  157.  Second  Report,  pp.  31 ; 
40 ;  62 ;  108.     Third  Report,  pp.  64,  65.) 

X  Evidence  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Wise. — Second  Report, 
p.  36. 

§  Evidence  of  Mr.  Freeman. — First  Report,  p.  114. 

II  The  "  Nuddea  Rivers"  is  the  name  given  to  the 
network  of  channels  which  traverse  the  country  be- 


native  merchants ;  and  many  in  Calcutta 
have,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  be- 
come large  shippers  of  produce,  and  send 
orders  for  manufactured  goods  direct  to 
England.§ 

Articles  of  great  importance  have  been 
principally  discovered  and  worked  by  the 
"interlopers."  The  coal-beds  found  by 
them  after  years  of  research,  now  give 
beneficial  employment  to  several  associa- 
tions, including  the  Bengal  Company,  which 
alone  pays  about  £2,000  per  month  to  the 
railway,  for  the  transit  of  coal  from  Ranee- 
gunge  to  Calcutta.  The  supply  furnished 
by  them  has  proved  invaluable  to  the  gov- 
ernment during  the  mutiny ;  and  the  fleets 
of  inland  steamers  belonging  to  the  General 
Steam  Navigation  and  Ganges  Companies, 
have  rendered  vital  service  in  the  convey- 
ance of  the  British  troops,  the  naval  bri- 
gade, and  military  ammunition  and  stores. 
Their  efficiency  would  have  been  much 
greater  had  the  authorities  heeded  the 
arguments  previously  addressed  to  them 
regarding  the  want  of  a  canal  to  Rajmahal, 
or  kept  open  one  of  the  Nuddea  rivers 
from  Nuddea  to  the  Ganges.  || 

The  British  settlers  were  the  first  to  es- 
tablish direct  steam  communication  between 
Cal:;utta  and  Suez  :  through  their  instru- 
meiitality  the  transit  through  Egypt  was 
carried  out,  and  the  first  steamer  placed 
on  the  Nile :  they  introduced  the  river 
steam-tugs,  used  to  facilitate  the  intricate 
and  dangerous  navigation  between  Cal- 
cutta and  the  pilot  station ;  and  they  estab- 
lished the  horse-carriages,  by  which  Sir 
Colin  Campbell  and  hundreds  of  officers 
and  soldiers  hastened  to  the  seat  of  war. 
Silk,  and  other  valuable  and  easily-trans- 
portable products,  such  as  indigo,  the  hate- 
ful drug  opium,  together  with  jute,  hemp, 
tobacco  and  linseed,  have  considerably 
increased  in  quantity,  and  improved  in 
quality,  under  the  influence  of  British 
capital  and  energy.  The  settlers  succeeded 
in  growing  good  tea  before  it  was  dis- 
covered to  be  indigenous  in  so  many  places 

tween  the  Ganges  and  the  Hooghly.  These  chan- 
nels are  supplied  partly  from  the  Ganges  and  partly 
from  the  drainage  of  the  country,  and  are  sometimes 
all  but  dry.  The  general  opinion  is,  that  one  of 
them  might  be  kept  open  for  the  country-boats  and 
for  steamers  all  the  year  round,  instead  of  five 
months,  if  proper  engineering  skill  were  applied  to 
the  task ;  by  which  means  a  circuitous  and  even 
dangerous  route  of  five  hundred  miles  would  be 
avoided. — First  Report.  Evidence  cf  Mr.  W.  Theo- 
bald, p.  75. 


36 


PRODUCE  AND  MANUFACTURES  OF  INDIA. 


iu  the  Himalayas ;  and  were  beginning  the 
cultivation  so'  successfully  in  Assam  and 
Kumaou,  that,  in  1856,  700,0001bs.  were 
exported  to  England.  The  Neilgherry  coffee 
is  alleged  to  have  obtained  an  excellent 
name  in  the  Loudon  market,  as  that  of 
Tellicherry  has  done  long  ago.  Beer  has 
been  brewed  on  the  Neilgherries,  and  sold 
at  9rf.  per  gallon,  which  the  soldiers  pre- 
ferred to  the  ordinary  description,  retailed 
there  at  1*.  and  1*.  2d.  per  quart  bottle.* 

During  the  Russian  war,  there  was  an 
export  of  grains  and  oil  seeds  (forming, 
in  1856,  a  large  item)  from  the  interior 
of  India  to  England;  but  it  ended  on  the 
conclusion  of  peace,  because  war  prices,  or 
canal  irrigation  and  carriage,  were  essential 
conditions  of  remuneration.  The  same 
thing  occurred  with  wheat.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war  there  was  a  first  ex- 
port of  twenty  quarters,  which  rose  to 
90,963  quarters  in  1856,  and  fell  with  de- 
clining prices  to  30,429  quarters  in  1857. 
Rice  is  exported  largely  under  any  circum- 
stances, because  it  is  produced  in  great 
abundance  on  the  coast,  and  is  not  subject 
to  the  cost  of  inland  carriage. f  This,  and 
much  similar  testimony,  tends  to  corrobo- 
rate the  unqualified  declaration  previously 
made  by  Colonel  Cotton,  that  "  India  can 
supply  England  fully,  abundantly,  cheaply 
with  its  two  essentials,  flour  and  cotton ; 
and  nothing  whatever  prevents  its  doing  so 
but  the  want  of  public  works."J 

The  evidence  of  British  settlers  is  very 
satisfactory  regarding  the  possibility  of  cul- 
tivating cotton  of  good  quality  to  an  almost 
unlimited  extent.  One  witness  predicts, 
that  the  first  three  or  four  large  canals  (for 
irrigation  as  well  as  transit)  made  in  India, 
would  drive  the  American  cotton  entirely 
out  of  the  market,  from  the  much  lower 
cost  of  production  in  India.  American 
cotton  costs  6d.  per  pound  at  the  English 
ports :  Indian,  of  equal  quality,  might,  it 
is  alleged,  be  delivered  there  from  any  part 
of  India  at  a  cost  of  IJrf.  per  pound. § 

Even  supposing  this  representation  to  be 
somewhat  sanguine  and  highly-coloured,  it 
is  most  desirable  that  a  vigorous  effort  should 
be  made  to  restore  the  ancient  staple  pro- 
duct of  India,  by  making  one  grand  experi- 
ment— whether  slave  labour  may  not  be 
beaten  out  of  the  market  by  the  cheapest 

•  Evidence  of  Captain  Ouchterlony. — Third  Re- 
port, p.  4. 

+  Tiiird  Report. — Evidence  of  Mr.  W.  Balaton, 
pp.  64  ;  98.  X  Public  Works,  p.  29. 


and  most  abundant  supply  of  free  labour 
which  could  possibly  be  desired.  In  the 
cultivation  and  manufacture  of  cotton,  all 
the  requirements  of  England  and  of  India 
(national  and  individual)  are  combined : 
capital,  skill,  and  careful  superintendence, 
would  find  remunerative  exercise  on  the 
one  side;  and,  on  the  other,  large  masses  of 
people,  now  half-starved,  would  be  em- 
ployed; and  men,  women,  and  even  chil- 
dren could  work  together  in  families — an 
arrangement  always  much  desired  in  India. 

Neither  is  there  any  reason  why  the 
manufacture  of  the  finer  fabrics — of  gold- 
wrought  and  embroidered  muslins — should 
not  be  resumed  as  an  article  of  export. 
They  are  quite  peculiar  to  India,  and  must 
remain  so.  The  temperature  of  the  coun- 
try ;  the  delicate  touch  of  the  small  supple 
native  fingers ;  the  exquisite,  artistic  tact  in 
managing  the  gorgeous  colouring:  all  these 
points  combine  iu  producing  effects  which 
have  been  strangely  undervalued  in  Eng- 
land. The  barbaric  pearl  and  gold,  the 
diamonds  of  Golconda,  the  emeralds  and 
pearls,  have  led  us  to  overlook  the  incom- 
parable delicacy  of  Indian  manufactures. 

Shawls  are  almost  the  only  exceptional 
article  amid  general  neglect.  The  French, 
always  discriminating  in  such  matters, 
have  shown  more  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  native  manipulation.  Several  factories, 
called  "  filatures,"  have  been  for  many  years 
established  in  their  settlement  at  Pondi- 
cherry,  and  where,  properly  organised  and 
superintended  by  practical  men,  the  profit 
yielded  is  stated  at  no  less  than  thirty  per 
cent,  per  annum  on  the  capital  invested. 
A  parliamentary  witness  says,  if  three 
times  the  amount  could  have  been  spun,  it 
would  have  found  ready  purchasers.  1|  It  is, 
however,  asserted,  that  the  assessments  are 
not  half  as  high  in  Pondicherry  as  iu  the 
neighbouring  British  territory. 

The  point  long  doubtful,  whether  the 
English  constitution  could  ever  bear  per- 
manent residence  and  active  occupation  in 
India,  appears  to  be  solved  by  the  concurrent 
testimony  of  the  planters,  whose  evidence  be- 
fore a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
has  been  so  largely  quoted.  Their  stal- 
wart frames  and  healthy  appearance,  after 
twenty,  and  even  thirty  years'  experience, 
went  far  to  confirm  their  statements,  that 

§  Evidence  of  Mr.  W.  Balston.— Third  Report, 
p.  98. 

H  Evidence  of  Captain  Ouchterlony.— Third  Re- 
port, pp.  13 ;  37. 


GOOD  HEALTH  OF  BRITISH  SETTLERS  IN  INDIA. 


37 


out-door  employment  in  the  more  temperate 
localities,  was,  even  in  India,  favourable 
rather  than  detrimental  to  health.  It  is 
still  an  open  question,  how  far  their  chil- 
dren or  grandchildren  may  thrive  there ; 
and  to  what  extent  early  transplantation  to 
schools  in  the  sanitaria  afforded  by  the 
Neilgherries  and  other  hilly  tracts,  may 
operate  in  preventing  physical  deterioration. 

The  chief  attractions  to  "merchant  ad- 
venturers" in  India,  are  as  prominent  now 
as  in  the  days  when  good  Queen  Bess 
granted  the  first  charter  to  her  subjects ; 
the  field  for  capital  and  enterprise  is  quite 
as  wide,  and  even  more  promising.  Mer- 
chants, money-lenders,  and  government  sti- 
pendiaries, are  the  only  wealthy  natives  at 
present  in  India ;  and  many  of  these — 
some  by  fair  and  highly  creditable  means, 
others  by  intrigue  and  usury — have  be- 
come possessed  of  fortunes  which  would 
enable  them  to  take  rank  with  a  London 
millionaire. 

India  is,  in  truth,  a  mine  of  wealth ;  and 
if  we  are  permitted  to  see  the  sword  of  war 
permanently  sheathed,  it  may  be  hoped 
that  we  ^hall  take  a  new  view  of  things; 
especially,  that  the  leaders  of  our  large 
manufacturing  towns  —  Birmingham  and 
Manchester,  Glasgow  and  Belfast — will 
take  up  the  question  of  good  government 
for  India,  and  convince  themselves,  by  dili- 
gently comparing  and  sifting  the  evidence 
poured  forth  from  many  different  sources, 
of  the  necessity  for  developing  the  re- 
sources and  elevating  the  condition  of  their 
fellow-subjects  in  Hindoostan.  Poverty, 
sheer  poverty,  is  the  reason  why  the  con- 
sumption of  our  manufactures  is  so  small; 
and  its  concomitants — the  fear  of  extortion; 
and  personal  insecurity,  induce  that  ten- 
dency to  hoarding,  which  is  alleged  to 
operate  in  causing  the  annual  disappear- 
ance of  a  considerable  portion  of  the  already 
insuflBcient  silver  currency. 

This,  and  other  minor  evils,  are  effects, 
not  causes ;  they  are  like  the  ailments  which 
inherent  weakness  produces :  strengthen 
the  general  frame,  and  they  will  disappear. 
The  temptation  of  profitable  and  secure  in- 
vestments, such  as  urgently-required  public 
works  may  be  always  made  to  offer  by  a 
wise  government,  would  speedily  bring 
forth  the  hoarded  wealth  (if  there  be 
such)  of  India,  and  would  assuredly  attract 
both  European  and  native  capital,  which, 
thus  employed,  might  be  as  seed  sown. 
The    British    settlers,    and    some    public- 


spirited  native  merchants  (such  as  the  well- 
known  Sir  Jamsetjee  Jeejeeboy,  of  Bom- 
bay, with  others  in  each  presidency),  have 
shown  what  individual  effort  can  accomplish. 
It  is  now  for  the  government  to  follow  their 
example,  and  prepare  for  a  rich  harvest  of 
material  and  moral  progress. 


Annexation,  and  Infraction  of  the  Indian 
Laws  of  Inheritance. — The  system  of  sub- 
sidiary alliances,  established  by  Lord  Welles- 
ley,  in  the  teeth  of  many  and  varied  difficul- 
ties, has,  without  doubt,  been  the  means  of 
quietly  and  effectively  establishing  the  su- 
premacy of  England  over  the  chief  part  of 
the  Indian  peninsula.  It  has  likewise 
greatly  conduced  to  the  general  tran- 
quillity, by  compelling  the  native  govern- 
ments to  keep  peace  with  one  another. 
It  might  have  done  much  more  than  this, 
had  subsequent  governors-general  entered 
into  the  large  and  generous  policy  of  its 
promoter,  and  viewed  it  as  a  protective 
measure  calculated  to  prolong  the  existence 
of  native  states,  and  regulate  the  balance 
of  power.  Lord  Wellesley  had  no  passion 
for  annexation ;  he  did  not  even  say  with 
Olive,  "  to  stop  is  dangerous,  to  recede  is 
ruin  :"*  on  the  contrary,  he  believed  that 
the  time  had  arrived  for  building  up  a  bar- 
rier against  further  extension  ;  and  for  this 
very  purpose  he  bent  every  energy  of  his 
mind  to  frame  the  system  which  has  been 
perverted  by  his  successors,  and  warped  by 
circumstances,  into  a  preliminary  to  absorp- 
tion and  extinction. 

He  desired  to  preserve  the  independence 
of  the  Rajpoot  principalities ;  and  thus, 
rather  than  by  exterminating  wars,  to  keep 
in  check  the  then  alarmingly  turbulent  and 
aggressive  Mahratta  powers.  His  plans  were 
perfected,  and  fairly  in  operation  when  he 
quitted  India.  Unhappily,  his  whole  policy 
was,  for  a  little  while,  misrepresented  and 
misunderstood.  Its  reversal  was  decreed, 
and  unswerving  "  non-intervention"  was  to 
be  substituted  for  protective  and  defensive 
alliances.  In  theory,  this  principle  seemed 
just  and  practicable  ;  in  action,  it  involved 
positive  breach  of  contract  with  the  weaker 
states,  with  whom,  in  our  hour  of  peril,  we 
had  formed  treaties,  and  whom  we  were 
pledged  to  protect  against  their  hereditary 
foes. 

Mistaken  notions  of  economy   actuated 
the  authorities  in  England ;  and,  unfortu- 
nately, Sir  George  Barlow,  on  whom  the 
*  Metcalfe  Papers,  p.  5. 


38      SUBVERSION  OF  LORD  WELLESLEY'S  SUBSIDIARY  SYSTEM. 


charge  of  the  supreme  government  de- 
volved by  the  sudden  death  of  Lord  Corn- 
walUs,  was  incapable  of  realising,  much  less 
of  forcibly  deprecating,  the  evil  of  the 
measures  he  was  called  upon  to  take. 
Lord  Lake,  the  commander-in-chief,  felt 
his  honour  so  compromised  by  the  public 
breach  of  faith  involved  in  the  repudiation 
of  treaties  which  he  had  been  maiuly  in- 
strumental in  obtaining,  that  he  resigned, 
in  disgust,  the  diplomatic  powers  entrusted 
to  him.* 

No  less  indignation  was  evinced  by  the 
band  of  rising  statesmen,  whose  minds  had 
been  enlarged  and  strengthened  by  par- 
ticipation in  the  views  of  the  "  great  little 
man,"  who,  "from  the  fire  of  patriotism 
which  blazed  in  his  own  breast,  emitted 
sparks  which  animated  the  breasts  of  all 
who  came  within  the  reach  of  his  notice."t 
One  of  these  (Charles  Metcalfe)  drew  up  a 
paper  on  the  policy  of  Sir  George  Barlow, 
of  remarkable  interest  and  ability.  He 
says — 

"  The  native  powers  of  India  understand  the  law 
of  nations  on  a  broad  scale,  though  they  may  not 
adhere  to  it ;  but  they  are  not  acquainted  with  the 
nice  quirks  upon  which  our  finished  casuists  would 
draw  up  a  paper  to  establish  political  rights.  Our 
name  is  high,  but  these  acts  must  lower  it ;  and  a 
natural  consequence  is,  that  we  shall  not  again  be 
trusted  with  confidence. 

"  Sir  George  Barlow,  in  some  of  his  despatches, 
distinctly  states,  that  he  contemplates,  in  the  dis- 
cord of  the  native  powers,  an  additional  source  of 
strength;  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  some  of  his 
plans  go  directly,  and  are  designed,  to  foment  dis- 
cord among  those  states.  •  *  *  Lord  Welles- 
ley's  desire  was  to  unite  the  tranquillity  of  all  the 
powers  of  India  with  our  own.  How  fair,  how 
beautiful,  how  virtuous  does  this  system  seem ; 
how  tenfold  fair,  beautiful,  and  virtuous,  when  com- 
pared with  the  other  ugly,  nasty,  abominable  one."| 

All  the  members  of  the  Wellesley  school 
imbibed  the  same  tone;  and  though  they 
differed  widely  on  many  points,  and  sub- 
sequently became  themselves  distinctive 
leaders,  yet  Elphinstone  and  Malcolm, 
Adams  and  Jenkins,  Tucker  and  Edraon- 
stone,  consistently  maintained  the  rights  of 
native  states,  and  regarded  any  disposition  to 
take  advantage  of  their  weakness  or  promote 
strife,  as  "  ugly,  nasty,  and  abominable." 

When  the  non-intervention  system  proved 
absolutely  impracticable,  the  authorities  fell 
back  on  that  of  subsidiary  alliances ;  but 
instead  of  proceeding  on  the  broad  basis 
laid  down  by  Lord  Wellesley,  and  organ- 

•  See  Indian  Unvpire,  vol.  i.,  p.  406. 

t  Metcalfe  Papers,  p.  10, 

X  Ibid.,  pp.  6,  7.  §  Ibid.,  p.  178. 


ising  such  relations  of  mutual  protection 
and  subordination  between  the  greater  and 
the  minor  sfates,  as  might  be  necessary  for 
the  preservation  of  general  tranquillity,  a 
system  of  minute  and  harassing  inter- 
ference was  introduced  into  the  affairs  .of 
every  petty  state.  "We  established,"  writes 
Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  in  1830,  when  a 
member  of  the  supreme  council.  "  a  mili- 
tary police  throughout  Central  India,  with  a 
view  to  maintain  order  in  countries  belong- 
ing to  foreign  potentates."  §  The  arrange- 
ments made  were  costly,  clumsy,  and  in- 
efficient ;  and,  in  the  end,  have  worked 
badly  for  all  parties. 

The  British  contingents,  which  have 
now  joined  the  rebel  Bengal  army,  were, 
for  the  most  part,  forced  on  the  native 
princes,  and  their  general  tendency  has 
been  to  foster  the  inherent  weakness, 
corruption,  and  extortion  of  the  states 
iu  which  they  have  been  established. 
The  benefit  of  exemption  from  external 
strife,  has  been  dearly  purchased  by  in- 
Creased  internal  oppression ;  the  arm  of 
the  despot  being  strengthened  against  his 
subjects  by  the  same  cause  which  paralysed 
it  for  foreign  aggression.  Then  has  arisen 
the  difficult  question — how  far  we,  as  the 
undoubted  supreme  power,  were  justified 
in  upholding  notoriously  incapable  and 
profligate  dynasties,  even  while  the  cruel 
wrongs  of  the  people  were  unceasingly  re- 
ported by  the  British  residents  at  the  native 
courts  ?  As  is  too  frequently  the  case,  the 
same  question  has  been  viewed  from  dif- 
ferent points  of  view  at  different  times,  and, 
at  each  period,  the  decision  arrived  at  has 
run  the  risk  of  being  partial  and  prejudiced. 

In  the  time  of  Warren  Hastings,  Sir 
John  Shore,  and  Lord  Wellesley,  the  in- 
crease of  territory  was  deprecated  by  the 
East  India  Company  and  the  British  nation 
in  general,  as  equally  unjust  in  principle 
and  mistaken  in  policy.  The  fact  that 
many  of  the  Hindoo,  and  nearly  all  the  Mo- 
hammedan, rulers  were  usurpers  of  recent 
date,  ruling  over  newly-founded  states,  was 
utterly  ignored ;  and  their  treacherous  and 
hostile  proceedings  against  us,  and  each 
other,  were  treated  as  fictitious,  or  at  least 
exaggerated.  At  length  a  powerful  reac- 
tion took  place ;  people  grew  accustomed  to 
the  rapid  augmentation  of  our  Anglo-Indian 
empire,  and  ceased  to  scrutinise  the  means 
by  which  it  was  accomplished.  The  rights 
of  native  princes,  from  being  over-esti- 
mated, became  as  unduly  disregarded. 


ADVISABILITY  OP  MAINTAINING  NATIVE  STATES. 


39 


The  system  of  annexation  recently  pur- 
sued, which  has  set  at  nought  the  an- 
cient Hindoo  law  regarding  the  succession 
of  adopted  sons  and  female  representatives, 
is  alleged  to  have  been  a  special  cause  of 
the  revolt.*  From  time  immemorial,  the 
adoption  of  heirs  in  default  of  natural  and 
legitimate  issue,  has  been  the  common  cus- 
tom of  the  Hindoos.  If  a  man  have  no  son, 
it  is  an  imperative  article  in  his  religious 
belief  that  he  should  adopt  one ;  because  it 
is  only  through  the  ceremonies  and  oiFer- 
ings  of  a  son,  that  the  soul  of  the  father 
can  be  released  from  Put — which  seems  to  be 
the  Brahminical  term  for  purgatory.  The 
adopted  child  succeeds  to  every  hereditary 
right,  and  is  treated  in  every  respect  as  if 
lawfully  begotten.  Lord  Metcalfe  has  ex- 
pressed a  very  decided  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject. After  pointing  out  the  difference 
between  sovereign  princes  and  jagheerdars 
— between  those  in  possession  of  hereditary 
sovereignties  in  their  own  light,  and  those 
who  hold  grants  of  land,  or  public  revenue, 
by  gift  from  a  sovereign  or  paramount 
power — he  adds,  that  Hindoo  sovereign 
princes  have  a  right  to  adopt  a  successor,  to 
the  exclusion  of  collateral  heirs ;  and  that 
the  British  government  is  bound  to  acknow- 
ledge the  adoption,  provided  that  it  be 
regular,  and  not  in  violation  of  Hindoo 
law.  "  The  supposed  reversionary  right  of 
the  paramount  power,"  Lord  Metcalfe  de- 
scribes "  as  having  no  real  existence,  except 
in  the  case  of  the  absolute  want  of  heirs ; 
and  even  then  the  right  is  only  assumed  in 
virtue  of  power ;  for  it  would  probably  be 
more  consistent  with  right,  that  the  people 
of  the  state  so  situated  should  elect  a  sove- 
reign for  themselves."t 

Many  of  our  leading  statesmen  have  con- 
curred not  only  in  deprecating  the  use  of 
any  measures  of  annexation  which  could 
possibly  be  construed  as  harsh  or  unjust, 
but  also  in  viewing  the  end  itself,  namely, 
the  absorption  of  native  states,  as  a  positive 
evil.  Mountstuart  Elphinstone,  who  has 
probably  had  more  political  intercourse 
with  the  highest  class  of  natives  than  any 
other  individual  now  living,  has  always  con- 
tinued to  entertain  the  same  views  which  he 
set  forth  as  interpreter  to  Major-general 
Wellesley,in  the  memorable  conferences  held 
to  negotiate  the  treaties  of  Suijee  Anjen- 

*  Vide  Rebellion  in  India  ;  by  John  Bruce  Norton. 
t  Metcalfe  Papers  (written  in  1837) ;  p.  318. 
X  Supplementary   Despatches  of  F.  M.  the  Duke 
of  Wellington ;  edited  by  the  present  Duke:  vol.  iii. 


gaum  and  Deogaum,  in  1803,  with  Sindia 
and  the  rajah  of  Berarjf  when  he  described 
the  British  government  as  uniformly  anxious 
to  promote  the  prosperity  of  its  adherents, 
the  interests  of  such  persons  being  i-egarded 
as  identified  with  its  own. 

Many  years  later,  Mr.  Elphinstone  wrote — 
"  It  appears  to  me  to  be  our  interest  as 
well  as  our  duty,  to  use  every  means  to 
preserve  the  allied  governments  :  it  is  also 
our  interest  to  keep  up  the  number  of  in- 
dependent powers  :  their  territories  afford  a 
refuge  to  all  whose  habits  of  war,  intrigue, 
or  depredation,  make  them  incapable  of 
remaining  quiet  in  ours ;  and  the  contrast 
of  our  government  has  a  favourable  effect 
on  our  subjects,  who,  while  they  feel  the 
evils  they  are  actually  exposed  to,  are  apt 
to  forget  the  greater  ones  from  which  they 
have  been  delivered." 

Colonel  Wellesley,  in  1800,  declared, 
that  the  extension  of  our  territory  and  in- 
fluence had  been  greater  than  our  means. 
"Whereverwespread  ourselves,"  he  said,  "we 
increase  this  evil.  We  throw  out  of  employ- 
ment and  means  of  subsistence,  all  who  have 
hitherto  managed  the  revenue,  commanded, 
or  served  in  the  armies,  or  have  plundered 
the  country.  These  people  become  addi- 
tional enemies,  at  the  same  time  that,  by 
the  extension  of  our  territory,  our  means 
of  supporting  our  government  and  of  de- 
fending ourselves  are  proportionately  de- 
creased ."§ 

Marquis  Wellesley,  in  1842,  wrote — "  No 
further  extension  of  our  territory  is  ever 
desirable  in  India,  even  in  the  event  of  war 
for  conquest,  if  that  could  be  justified  or 
were  legal,  as  the  law  now  wisely  stands."|| 

Lord  EUenborough  (despite  the  annexa- 
tion of  Sinde)  advised,  that  even  "what 
are  called  rightful  occasions  of  appro- 
priating the  territories  of  native  states," 
should  be  avoided ;  because  he  considered, 
that  the  maintenance  of  those  states,  and 
"  the  conviction  that  they  were  considered 
permanent  parts  of  the  general  government 
of  India,  would  materially  strengthen  our 
authority.  I  feel  satisfied,  that  I  never 
stood  so  strong  with  my  own  army  as  when 
I  was  surrounded  by  native  princes;  they 
like  to  see  respect  shown  to  their  native 
princes.  These  princes  are  sovereigns  of 
one-third  of  the  population  of  Hiudoostan ; 

§  Wellington  Despatches.  Letter  to  Major  Munro, 
dated  20th  August,  1800. 

II  Letter  from  the  Marquis  Wellesley  to  Lord 
EUenborough,  4th  July,  1842. 


40 


DIFFERENT  OPINIONS  ON  ANNEXATION  QUESTION. 


and  -with  reference  to  the  future  condition 
of  the  country,  it  becomes  more  important 
to  give  them  confidence  that  no  systematic 
attempt  will  be  made  to  take  advantage  of 
the  failures  of  heirs  to  confiscate  their  pro- 
perty, or  to  injure,  in  any  respect,  those 
sovereigns  in  the  position  they  at  present 
occupy." 

Sir  John  Malcolm  went  further  still,  and 
declared,  that  "  the  tranquillity,  not  to  say 
the  security,  of  our  vast  Oriental  dominions, 
was  involved  in  the  preservation  of  the 
native  principalities,  which  are  dependent 
upon  us  for  protection.  These  are  also  so 
obviously  at  our  mercy,  so  entirely  within 
our  grasp,  that  besides  the  other  and  great 
benefits  which  we  derive  from  these  alliances, 
their  co-existence  with  our  rule  is,  of  itself, 
a  source  of  political  strength,  the  value  of 
which  will  never  be  known  till  it  is  lost. 
*  *  *  I  am  further  convinced,  that  though 
our  revenue  may  increase,  the  permanence 
of  our  power  will  be  hazarded  in  proportion 
as  the  territories  of  native  princes  and  chiefs 
fall  under  our  direct  rule." 

Henry  St.  George  Tucker  likewise  lifted 
Up  his  voice  in  warning,  declaring,  that  the 
annexation  of  a  principality  to  our  gigantic 
empire,  might  become  the  source  of  weak- 
ness, by  impairing  our  moral  iniiuence  over 
our  native  subjects.* 

These  opinions  so  far  prevailed,  that  down 
to  the  viceroyalty  of  Lord  Dalhousie,  the 
Hindoo  custom  of  adoption  was  not  only 
sanctioned,  but  urged  by  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment on  native  princes  in  the  absence 
of  natural  heirs.  The  majority  of  Indian 
dynasties  have  been  maintained  in  this 
manner.  The  famous  Mahratta  leaders, 
Dowlut  Rao  Sindia  of  Gwalior,  and  Mul- 
har  Rao  Holcar  of  Indore,  both  died  child- 
less :  the  latter  adopted  a  son;  the  former 
left  the  choice  of  a  successor  to  his  favourite 
wife,  who  exercised  the  right,  and  herself 
filled  the  position  of  regent. f 

On  the  death  of  the  adopted  prince,  in 
1843,  his  nearest  relative,  a  boy  of  eight 
years  of  age,  was  proclaimed  maharajah. 
The  war  which  took  place  in  the  same  year, 
and  which  terminated  in  the  capture  of  the 
fortress  of  GwaUor  by  the  British  troops, 
on  the  4th  of  January,  1^4'1.,  did  not  lead 

_  •Several  of  the  above  opinions,  with  others  of 
similar  tendency,  wilj  be  found  collected  in  a  pam- 
phlet entitled  The  Native  States  of  India;  pub- 
lished by  Saunders  and  Stanford,  6,  Charing-cross : 
1853. 

t  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  427. 


to  the  extinction  of  the  principality,  as  it 
would  unquestionably  have  done  under  the 
course  of  policy  which  subsequently  pre- 
vailed. The  young  maharajah  was  con- 
firmed in  the  position,  for  which,  as  he 
advanced  in  age,  he  showed  himself  well 
qualified  ;  and  his  name,  like  that  of  his  co- 
temporary  the  rajah  of  Indore,  now  takes 
high  rank  amid  the  faithful  allies  of  Eng- 
land. 

Lord  Ellenborough's  opinions  regarding 
the  maintenance  of  native  states,  were  not, 
however,  shared  by  his  zealous  champion, 
Sir  Charles  Napier,  who  expressed  himself 
on  this  point,  as  on  most  others,  in  very 
strong  terms.  "  Were  I  emperor  of  In- 
dia," he  said,  when  his  views  were  most 
matured,  "no  Indian  prince  should  exist." 
He  would  dethrone  the  Nizam,  he  would 
seize  Nepaul :  in  fact,  be  considered,  that 
without  the  abolition  of  the  native  sove- 
reignties no  great  good  could  be  efi^ected, 
and  the  Company's  revenues  must  be  always 
in  difficulty.J 

Sir  Charles  was  probably  singular  in  his 
desire  to  extend  the  British  frontier  inde- 
finitely, and  "  make  Moscowa  and  Pekin 
shake;"  but  many  persons,  including  Mr. 
Thoby  Prinsep  and  other  leading  India 
House  authorities,  looked  forward  to  the 
extinction  of  the  subsidiary  and  protected 
states  within  our  boundary  as  desirable, 
both  in  a  political  and  financial  point  of 
view,  especially  in  the  latter.  § 

In  India,  the  majority  of  the  governing 
"caste,"  as  Colonel  Sykes  called  the  civi- 
lians, ||  were  naturally  disposed  to  favour  ex- 
tensions of  territory  which  directly  conduced 
to  the  benefit  of  their  body,  and  for  the  in- 
direct consequences  of  which  they  were  in 
no  manner  held  responsible.  To  them,  the 
lapse  of  a  native  state  was  the  opening  of  a 
new  source  of  promotion,  as  it  was  to  the  di- 
rectors in  England  of  "  patronage" — an  ad- 
vantage vague  in  sound,  but  very  palpable 
and  lucrative  in  operation.  No  wonder  that 
the  death  of  the  "  sick  man"  should  have 
been  often  anticipated  by  his  impatient  heirs 
as  a  happy  release,  which  it  was  excusable 
and  decidedly  expedient  to  hasten.  It  was 
but  to  place  the  sufiferer  or  victim  within 
reach  of  the  devouring  waves  of  the  Ganges, 

X  See  review  in  the  Times,  May  25th,  1857,  of 
Sir  W.  Napier's  Life  of  Sir  C.  Napier. 

§  See  Mr.  Prinsep's  pamphlet  on  the  Indian  Quit- 
ticni  in  1853. 

II  Third  Report  of  Colonization  Committee,  1858; 
p.  88. 


alJirS    (C®LDW    CAKillPIiBEILL, 


.'DE  OP  CLTEESDALE  IN  SCOTLAItD.AnosTS'PassS  . 


0 


A 


ANNEXATION  POLICY  OF  LORD  DALHOUSIE. 


41 


and  the  result,  according  to  Hindoo  notions, 
is  paradise  to  one  party,  and  pecuniary  ad- 
vantage, or  at  least  relief,  to  the  other. 
The  whirlpool  of  annexation  has  been  hit 
upon  as  offering  advantages  of  a  similar 
kind  ;  namely,  complete  regeneration  to  the 
native  state  subjected  to  its  engulphing 
influence,  and  increased  revenue  to  the  para- 
mount power,  Bengal  civilians  began  to 
study  "  annexation  made  easy,"  with  the  zeal 
of  our  American  cousins,  and  it  was  soon 
deemed  indispensable  to  hasten  the  process 
by  refusing  to  sanction  further  adoptions. 
The  opinions  quoted  in  preceding  pages 
were  treated  as  out  of  date,  and  the  policy 
founded  on  them  was  reversed.  The  ex- 
perience of  the  past  showed,  that  from  the 
days  of  Clive,  all  calculations  founded  on 
increase  of  territorial  revenue,  had  been 
vitiated  by  more  than  proportionate  in- 
crease of  expenditure.  It  might  have  also 
taught,  that  the  decay  of  native  states 
needed  no  stimulating,  and  that  even  if 
their  eventual  extinction  should  be  deemed 
desirable,  it  would  at  least  be  well  to  take 
care  that  the  inclined  plane  by  which  we 
were  hastening  their  descent,  should  not  be 
placed  at  so  sharp  an  angle  as  to  bring 
them  down,  like  an  avalanche,  on  our  own 
heads.  These  considerations  were  lost  sight 
of  in  the  general  desire  felt  "  to  extinguish 
the  native  states  which  consume  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  revenue  of  the  country  ;"*  and 
few  paused  to  consider  the  peculiar  rights 
of  native  administrators,  as  such,  or  re- 
membered that,  in  many  cases,  the  profit 
derived  from  the  subsidy  paid  for  military 
contingents,  was  greater  than  any  we  were 
likely  to  obtain  from  the  entire  revenue. 
In  fact,  the  entire  revenue  had  repeatedly 
proved  insufficient  to  cover  the  cost  of  our 
enormous  governmental  establishments,  civil 
and  military. 

The  expenditure  consequent  on  the  war 
with,  and  annexation  of,  Sinde,t  was  the  sub- 
ject of  much  parliamentary  discussion,  the 
immense  booty  obtained  by  the  army  being 
contrasted  with  the  burden  imposed  upon 
the  public  treasury  and  highly-taxed  people 
of  India.  Still  the  lesson  prominently  set 
forth  therein  was  unheeded,  or  treated  as 
applicable  only  to  projects  of  foreign  ag- 

•  Modern  India ;  by  Mr.  Campbell,  a  civilian  of 
the  Bengal  service. 

t  Mr.  St.  George  Tucker  asserted,  that  the  pro- 
ceedings connected  with  the  annexation  of  Sinde 
were  reprobated  by  every  member  of  the  Court  of 
Director*  of  the  East  India  Company,  "  as  character- 

VOL.  II.  G 


grandisement,  and  having  no  relation  to 
questions  of  domestic  policy. 

The  Marquis  of  Dalhousie  expressed  the 
general  sentiments  of  the  Court  of  Directors, 
as  well  as  his  own,  in  the  following  full 
and  clear  exposition  of  the  principles  which 
prompted  the  series  of  annexations  made 
under  his  administration  : — "  There  may  be 
a  conflict  of  opinion  as  to  the  advantage,  or 
to  the  propriety,  of  extending  our  already 
vast  possessions  beyond  their  present  limits. 
No  man  can  more  sincerely  deprecate  than 
I  do  any  extension  of  the  frontiers  of  our 
territories,  which  can  be  avoided,  or  which 
may  not  become  indispensably  necessary 
from  considerations  of  our  own  safety,  and 
of  the  maintenance  of  the  tranquillity  of 
our  provinces.  But  I  cannot  conceive  it 
possible  for  any  one  to  dispute  the  policy  of 
taking  advantage  of  every  just  opportunity 
which  presents  itself  for  consolidating  the 
territories  that  already  belong  to  us,  by 
taking  possession  of  states  which  may  lapse 
in  the  midst  of  them ;  for  thus  getting  rid 
of  these  petty  intervening  principalities, 
which  may  be  made  a  means  of  annoyance, 
but  which  can  never,  I  venture  to  think, 
be  a  source  of  strength;  for  adding  to  the 
resources  of  the  public  treasury,  and  for 
extending  the  uniform  application  of  our 
system  of  government  to  those  whose  best 
interests,  we  believe,  will  be  promoted 
thereby." 

Lord  Dalhousie  differed  from  Lord  Met- 
calfe and  others  above  quoted,  not  less 
with  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  end  in 
view,  than  as  to  the  means  by  which  that  end 
might  be  lawfully  obtained  ;  and  he  has  re- 
corded his  "  strong  and  deliberate  opinion," 
that  "the  British  government  is  bound 
not  to  put  aside  or  to  neglect  such  rightful 
opportunities  of  acquiring  territory  or  re- 
venue, as  may  from  time  to  time  present 
themselves,  whether  they  arise  from  the 
lapse  of  subordinate  states  by  the  failure  of 
all  heirs  of  every  description  whatsoever,  or 
from  the  failure  of  heirs  natural,  when  the 
succession  can  be  sustained  only  by  the 
sanction  of  government  being  given  to 
the  ceremony  of  adoption,  according  to 
Hindoo  law." 

It    is   not    surprising    that    the    process 

ised  by  acts  of  the  grossest  injustice,  highly  inju- 
rious to  the  national  reputation :"  and  that  the 
acquisition  of  that  country  was  "  more  iniquitous 
than  any  which  has  ever  stained  the  annals  of  our 
Indian  administration." — Memorials  of  Indian  Gov- 
ernment,  pp.  351,  352. 


42 


REPUDIATION  OP  SUCCESSION  BY  ADOPTION— 1848. 


of  absorption  should  have  been  rapid,  ■when 
the  viceroy,  who  held  the  above  opinions, 
was  essentially  a  practical  man,  gifted 
with  an  "aptitude  for  business,  unflagging 
powers  of  labour,  and  clearness  of  intellect ;" 
which  even  the  most  decided  opponents  of 
his  policy  have  applauded.  In  reviewing 
the  result  of  his  eight  years'  administration, 
Lord  Dalhousie  dwells,  apparently  without 
the  slightest  misgiving,  on  the  large  in- 
crease of  the  British  territories  in  the  East 
during  that  period;  four  kingdoms,  and 
various  chiefships  and  separate  tracts,  having 
been  brought  under  the  sway  of  the  Queen 
of  England.  Of  these,  the  Puvjab  was  the 
fruit  of  conquest.*  Pegu  and  Martaban 
were  likewise  won  by  the  sword  in  1853 ; 
and  a  population  of  570,180  souls,  spread 
over  au  area  of  33,250  square  miles,  was 
thereby  brought  under  the  dominion  of  the 
British  Crown.f 

The  Raj  or  Principality  of  Sattara,  was 
the  first  state  annexed  by  Lord  Dalhousie, 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  claims  of  an  adopted 
son.     There  was  only  one  precedent — and 
that  a  partial  one — for  this   measure:   it 
occurred  under  the  administration  of  Lord 
Auckland,  in  1840,  in  the  case  of  the  little 
state  of  Colaba,  founded  by  the  pirate  Angria, 
whose    chief  fort,    Gheria,    was    taken  by 
Watson  and  Clive  in  1756. J     Colaba  was 
dependent  on  the  government  of  the  Peishwa 
at  Poona;    and,    on  the  extinction  of  his 
power,  the   British   entered   into  a  treaty 
with    Ragojee   Angria,  the    existing  chief, 
guaranteeing  the  transmission  of  his  terri- 
tories in  their  integrity  to  his  "  successors." 
With  the  sanction  of  the  Bombay  govern- 
ment, Ragojee  adopted  a  boy,  who  died  soon 
after  him.     Permission  was  asked  for  a  fresh 
adoption,   but  refused;   and  the  territory 
was  treated  as  having  escheated  for  want  of 
heirs  male,  although,  it  is  alleged,  there  were 
many  members  of  the  Angria  family  still  in 
existence,  legally  capable  of  succeeding  to 
the  government. 

Sattara  was  altogether  a  more  important 
case,  both  on  account  of  the  extent  and 
excellent  government  of  the  kingdom,  and 
because  its  extinction  involved  a  distinct 
repudiation  of  the  practice  of  adoption 
previously  sanctioned  by  the  British  au- 
thorities, and  held  by  the  Hindoos  as  in- 
variably conferring   on  the   adopted  child 

*  Norton's  Rehellion  in  India,  p.  65. 

t  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  456. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  458.     Pari.  Papers,  16th  April,  1858.| 

§  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  271. 


every  privilege  of  natural  and  legitimate 
issue. §  The  fact  was  so  generally  recognised, 
that  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
native  princes,  in  signing  subsidiary  or 
other  treaties,  considered  that  children  by 
adoption  were  included,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  under  the  head  of  legitimate  heirs 
and  successors.  The  exception,  if  intended, 
was  sufficiently  important  to  demand  men- 
tion. But  the  conduct  of  the  government, 
in  repeated  instances  (such  as  those  of  the 
Gwalior  and  Indore  principalities,  of  Kotah 
in  1828,  Dutteah  in  1840,  Oorcha,  Bans- 
warra,  and  Oodipoor,  in  1842,  and,  several 
years  later,  in  Kerowlee),||  was  calculated  to 
remove  all  doubt  by  evidencing  its  liberal 
construction  of  the  Hindoo  law  of  succes- 
sion. 

Lord  Auckland  declared,  in  the  case 
of  Oorcha,  that  he  could  not  for  a  moment 
admit  the  doctrine,  that  because  the  view  of 
policy  upon  which  we  might  have  formed 
engagements  with  the  native  princes  might 
have  been  by  circumstances  materially  al- 
tered, we  were  therefore  not  to  act  scru- 
pulously up  to  the  terms  and  spirit  of  those 
engagements;  and  again,  when  discussing 
the  question  of  the  right  of  the  widow  of  the 
rajah  of  Kishenghur  to  adopt  a  son  without 
authority  from  her  deceased  husband,  his 
lordship  rejected  any  reference  to  the  "  sup- 
posed rights"  which  were  suggested  as  de- 
volving on  the  British  government  as  the 
paramount  power,  declaring  that  such  ques- 
tions must  be  decided  exclusively  with  refer- 
ence to  the  terms  and  spirit  of  the  treaties 
or  engagements  formed  with  the  different 
states ;  and  that  no  demand  ought  to  be 
brought  forward  than  such  as,  in  regard  to 
those  engagements,  should  be  scrupulously 
consistent  with  good  faith. 

By  this  declaration  Lord  Auckland  pub- 
licly evinced  his  resolve  to  adhere  to  the 
principle  laid  down  by  high  authority  forty 
years  before,  under  very  critical  circum- 
stances. It  was  not  an  obedient  depen- 
dency, but  the  fortified  border-land  of  a 
warlike  principality,  that  was  at  stake, 
when  Arthur  Wellesley  urged  the  governor- 
general  to  abide  by  the  strict  rules  of  jus- 
tice, however  inconvenient  and  seemingly 
inexpedient.  On  other  points  of  the  ques- 
tion the  brothers  might  take  difiTerent  views ; 
on  this  they  were  sure  to  agree ;  for  they 

II  The  social  grounds  on  wl-.ich  the  practice  of 
adoption  is  based,  arc  well  set  fortli  by  General 
Briggs.  See  Ludlow's  Lectures,  vol.  ii.,  p.  226  j  and 
Native  States,  pp.  21 ;  23. 


I 


ANNEXATION  OF  SATTARA— 1849. 


43 


were  equally  ready  to  "  sacrifice  Gwalior  or 
every  other  frontier  in  India  tea  times  over, 
in  order  to  preserve  our  credit  for  scrupu- 
lous good  faith."* 

The  recent  mode  of  dealing  with  Sattara 
has  not   contributed  to  raise   the  British 
name  either  for  generosity  or  unflinching  in- 
tegrity.    The  deposition  of  that  most  able 
ruler,  Pertab    Sing,  on  a  charge  of  con- 
spiracy against  the  supreme  government,t 
was  earnestly  deprecated   in   England   by 
many  eminent  men,  and  excited  great  in- 
dignation among  his  subjects.     The  secret 
and  hurried  manner  in  which  his  seizure 
and  trial  were  conducted,  increased  the  appa- 
rent hardship  of  his  sentence ;  and  an  able 
writer   asserts  his  conviction  that,  at  the 
present  time,  not  a  native  in  India,  nor  five 
persons  in  the  world,  believe  in  his  guilt.  { 
He  died  in  1847,  leaving  an  adopted  son, 
around  whom  the  affections  of  the  people 
still  cling.§    The  remembrance  of  his  misfor- 
tunes has  not  passed  away ;  and  one  of  the 
mutineers,  hung  at   Sattara  in  1857,  ad- 
dressed the   surrounding   natives  while  he 
was  being  pinioned,  to  the  effect  that,  as 
the  English  had  hurled  the  rajah  from  his 
throne,  so  they  ought  to  be  driven  out  of  the 
country. II     The  deposition  of  Pertab  Sing 
was  not,  however,  accompanied  by  any  at- 
tempt at  annexation  of  territory ;  the  gov- 
ernment, on  the  contrary,  "  having  no  views 
of  advantage  and  aggrandisement,"  resolved, 
in  the  words  of  the  new  treaty  (5th  Sep- 
tember, 1839),  to  invest  the  brother  and  next 
in  succession  to  the  rajah  with  the  sove- 
reignty.    This   brother    (Appa  Sahib)   died 
in  1848.      He,  also,  in  default  of  natural 
issue,  had  adopted  a  son,  whose  recognition 
as  rajah  was  strongly  urged  by  Sir  George 
Clerk,  the    governor   of   Bombay,    on   the 
]  ground  that  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  "  seemed 
1  to  mean  a  sovereignty  which   should  not 
lapse  for  want  of  heirs,  so  long  as  there  was 
any  one  who  could  succeed,  according  to 
the  usages  of  the  people."     "  In  a  matter 
such  as  this  question  of  resumption  of  ter- 
ritory, recovered  by  us,  and  restored  to  an 
ancient  dynasty,"^   he  observes,  "we  are 
morally  bound  to  give  some  consideration 
to  the  sense  in  which  we  induced  or  per- 
mitted the  other  party  to  understand  the 
terms  of  a  mutual  agreement.     Whatever 
we  intend  in  favour  of  an  ally  in  perpetuity, 

•  Wellington  Despatches,  17th  March,  1804. 
t  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  432. 
i  Ludlow's  Lecture),  vol.  ii.,  p.  171. 
§  Ibid.,  p.  171. 


when  executing  a  treaty  with  him  on  that 
basis,  by  that  we  ought  to  abide  in  our  rela- 
tions with  his  successors,  until  he  proves 
himself  unworthy." 

Sir  G.  Clerk  further  advocated  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  independence  of  Sattara, 
on   account  of  its   happy  and  prosperous 
state.     Mr.  Frere,  the  British  resident,  said 
that  no  claimant  would  venture  to  put  for- 
ward his  own  claim  against  the  adopted  sons 
of  either  of  the  late  rajahs ;  but  that  there 
were  many  who  might  have  asserted  their 
claim  but  for  the  adoption,  and  who  would 
"be  able  to  establish  a  very  good  prima 
facie  claim  in  any  court  of  justice  in  India." 
These  arguments  did  not  deter  Lord  Dal- 
housie  from  making   Sattara  the  first  ex- 
ample of  his    consolidation   policy.     "The 
territories,"  he  said,  "  lie  in  the  very  heart 
of  our  own  possessions.     They  are  inter- 
posed between  the  two  military  stations  in 
the  presidency  of  Bonibay,  and  are  at  least 
calculated,  in  the  hands  of  an  independent 
sovereign,  to  form  an  obstacle  to  safe  com- 
munication and  combined   military  move- 
ment.    The  district  is  fertile,  and  the  re- 
venues productive.     The  population,  accus- 
tomed for  some  time  to  regular  and  peaceful 
government,    are  tranquil  themselves,  and 
are   prepared  for  the   regular   government 
our  possession  of  the  territory  would  give." 
With  regard  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  he 
held  that  the  words  "heirs  and  successors" 
must  be  read  in  their  ordinary  sense,  and 
could   not  be  construed  to  secure  to  the 
rajahs  of  Sattara  any  other  than  the  succes- 
sion of  heirs  natural :  and  the  prosperity  of 
the  state,  he  did  not  consider  a  reason  for  its 
continued  independence,  unless  this  pros- 
perity could  be  shown  to  arise  from  fixed 
institutions,  by  which  the  disposition  of  the 
sovereign  would  always  be  guarded,  or  com- 
pelled  into  an  observance  of  the  rules  of 
good  government.     (This,  of  course,  could 
not  be  shown,  such  security  being  peculiar 
to  countries  blessed  with  free  institutions, 
and  utterly  incompatible  with  any  form  of 
despotism.)     In  conclusion,  the  governor- 
general  argued,  that  "  we  ought  to  regard 
the  territory  of  Sattara  as  lapse,  and  should 
incorporate  it  at  once  with  the  British  do- 
minions in  India."** 

The  Court  of  Directors  were  divided  in 
opinion  on  the  subject :  nine  of  them  agreed 

II  Bombay  Telegraph,  19th  June,  1857. 
^  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  419. 
**  Minute    by   Lord   Dalhousie,    30th    August, 
1848. 


44 


ANNEXATION  OF  SATTARA— 1849. 


with,  and  five  differed  from,  Lord  Dalhousie.* 
The  dissentients  were  Messrs.  Tucker,  Shep- 
herd, Melville,  Major  Oliphant,  and  General 
Caulfield.  Regarding  the  precedent  estab- 
lished in  the  case  of  Colaba,  Mr.  Tucker 
said — 

"  I  remonstrated  against  the  annexation  (I  am 
disposed  to  call  it  the  confiscation)  of  Colaba,  the 
ancient  seat  of  the  Angria  family,  to  which  the  allu- 
sion has  been  made  in  the  Bombay  minutes ;  and 
far  from  having  seen  reason  to  modify  or  recall  the 
opinion  recorded  by  me  on  that  proceeding,  I  have 
availed  myself  of  every  suitable  occasion  to  enforce 
my  conviction,  that  a  more  mischievous  policy  could 
not  be  pursued  than  that  which  would  engross  the 
whole  territory  of  India,  and  annihilate  the  small 
remnant  of  the  native  aristocracy.  There  are  per- 
sons who  fancy  that  landed  possessions  in  India 
cannot  be  successfully  administered  by  native  agency. 
In  disproof  of  this  notion  I  would  point  to  the  Ram- 
poor  jaghire  in  Rohilcund,  which  was  a  perfect 
garden  when  I  saw  it  long  ago,  and  which  still  re- 
mains, I  believe,  in  a  state  of  the  highest  agricul- 
tural prosperity.  Nay,  I  would  point  to  the  princi- 
pality of  Sattara,  which  appears  to  have  been  most 
successfully  administered  both  by  the  ex-rajah,  Per- 
tab  Sing,  and  his  brother  and  successor,  Appa  Sahib, 
who  have  done  more  for  the  improvement  of  the 
country  than  our  government  can  pretend  to  have 
done  in  any  part  of  its  territory ."f 

This,  and  other  energetic  protests,  are 
said  to  have  produced  so  strong  an  im- 
pression, that  a  vote  seemed  likely  to  pass 
in  the  Court  of  Proprietors,  repudiating  the 
annexation  of  Sattara.  The  majority  of  the 
directors  perceiving  this,  called  for  a  ballot, 
and  so  procured  the  confirmation  of  the 
measure  by  the  votes  of  some  hundreds  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  the  most  part 
utterly  ignorant  of  the  merits  of  the  case.  J 

The  provision  made  by  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment for  the  widows  and  adopted  son,§ 
was  censured  by  the  directors;  and  Lord 
Dalhousie  writes,  that  although  the  Hon. 
Court  had  declared  "  their  desire  to  provide 
liberally  for  the  family,  and  their  wish 
that  the  ladies  should  retain  jewels,   fur- 

•  The  question  of  the  right  of  adoption,  says  Mr. 
Sullivan,  was  treated  by  all  the  authorities  at  home 
and  abroad  as  if  it  had  been  an  entirely  new  one, 
and  was  decided  in  the  negative ;  whereas,  it  ap- 
peared, by  records  which  were  dragged  forth  after 
judgment  was  passed  in  the  Sattara  case,  that  the 
question  had  been  formally  raised,  and  as  formally 
decided  in  favour  of  the  right,  twenty  years  before  ; 
and  that  this  decision  had  been  acted  upon  in  no 
less  than  fifteen  instances  in  the  interval. — Pamphlet 
on  the  Double  Government,  published  by  India 
Keform  Society  ;  p.  24. 

t  Lieutenant-general  Briggs,  in  his  evidence  be- 
fore the  Cotton  Committee  appointed  in  1848,  men- 
tioned having  superintended  the  construction  of  a 
road  made  entirely  by  natives  for  the  rajah  of  Sat- 
tara, thirty-six  miles  long,  and  eighteen  feet  wide, 


niture,  and  other  personal  property  suit- 
able to  their  rank,  they  still  objected  that 
the  grant  of  so  much  property,  which  was 
fairly  at  the  disposal  of  the  government, 
was  greatly  in  excess  of  what  was  re- 
quired." || 

The  Kingdom  of  Nagpoor  "became  British 
territory  hy  simple  lapse,  in  the  absence 
of  all  legal  heirs;"  for  the  government, 
says  Lord  Dalhousie,  "  refused  to  bestow 
the  territory,  in  free  gift,  upon  a  stranger,1[ 
and  wisely  incorporated  it  with  its  own 
dominions."** 

Absorption  was  becoming  a  very  familiar 
process  to  the  British  functionaries,  and  the 
addition  of  a  population  of  about  4,650,000, 
and  an  area  of  76,432  square  miles, ft  ap- 
peared to  excite  little  attention  or  interest. 
Parliamentary  returns  prove,  however,  that 
the  kingdom  was  not  extinguished  without 
palpable  signs  of  dissatisfaction,  and  even 
some  attempt  at  resistance  on  the  part  of 
the  native  government.  The  ranees,  or 
queens,  on  the  death  of  the  rajah  in  Decem- 
ber, 1853,  requested  leave  to  take  advantage 
of  the  Hindoo  law,  which  vested  in  them,  or 
at  least  in  the  chief  of  them — the  right  of 
adopting  a  son,  and  of  exercising  the  powers 
of  the  regency.  They  offered  to  adopt,  ac- 
cording to  the  pleasure  of  the  supreme 
government,  any  one  of  the  rightful  heirs, 
who,  they  alleged,  existed,  and  were  en- 
titled to  succeed  to  the  sovereignty;  "  both 
according  to  the  customs  of  the  family  and 
the  Hindoo  law,  and  also  agreeably  to  the 
practice  in  such  cases  pursued  under  the 
treaties."  The  reply  was  a  formal  intima- 
tion, that  the  orders  issued  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  India  having  been  confirmed 
by  the  Hon.  Court  of  Directors,  the  prayer 
of  the  ranees  for  the  restitution  of  the 
raj  to  the  family  could  not  be  granted. 
The  maharauee,  called  the  Banka  Bye  (a 

with  drains  and  small  bridges  for  the  whole  dis- 
tance. 

I  Sullivan's  Double  Government,  p.  26. 

§  They  were  allowed  to  retain  jewels,  &c.,  to  the 
value  of  sixteen  lacs,  and  landed  property  worth 
20,000  rupees  a-year.  Pensions  were  also  granted 
(from  the  revenue)  to  the  three  ranees,  of  £45,000, 
£30,000,  and  £25,000  respectively.— Pari.  Papers 
(Commons),  5th  March,  1856;  p.  10. 

II  Pari.  Papers,  &c.,  p.  10. 

il  Lord  Dalhousie,  in  a  minute  dated  10th  June, 
1854,  admits  that  lineal  members  of  the  Bhons- 
lay  family  existed  ;  but  adds,  "  they  are  all  the  pro- 
geny of  daughters."— Pari.  Papers  (Commons),  16th 
June,  1856. 

**  Minute,  dated  28th  February,  1856;  p.  8. 

tt  Pari.  Papers  (Commons),  16th  April,  1858. 


ANNEXATION  OF  NAGPOOR— 1853. 


45 


very  aged  woman,  of  remarkable  ability, 
who  had  exercised  the  authority  of  regent 
during  the  minority  of  her  grandson,  the 
late  rajah),  and  the  younger  ranees,  were  not 
entirely  unsupported  in  their  endeavours  for 
the  continuance  of  the  state,  or  at  least 
for  the  obtainment  of  some  concessions  from 
the  paramount  power.  The  commissioner, 
and  former  resident,  Mr.  Mansel,  repre- 
sented the  disastrous  effect  which  the  an- 
nexation of  Nagpoor  was  calculated  to 
produce  upon  certain  influential  classes. 
The  dependent  chiefs,  the  agriculturists, 
and  the  small  shopkeepers  would,  he  con- 
sidered, "if  not  harshly  agitated  by  new 
measures,"  be  easily  reconciled  to  British 
rule;  but — 

"The  officers  of  the  army,  the  courtiers,  the 
priesthood,  the  chief  merchants  and  bankers  who 
had  dealings  with  the  rajah's  treasury  and  house- 
hold— all  the  aristocracy,  in  fact,  of  the  country,  see 
in  the  operation  of  the  system  that  British  rule 
involves,  the  gradual  diminution  of  their  exclusive 
consequence,  and  the  final  extinction  of  their  order."* 

The  extinction  of  the  aristocracy  was  cal- 
culated to  affect  the  mass  of  the  population 
more  directly  than  would  at  first  seem 
probable.     Mr.  Mansel  truly  says — 

"The  Indian  native  looks  up  to  a  monarchical 
and  aristocratic  form  of  life  ;  all  his  ideas  and  feel- 
ings are  pervaded  with  respect  for  it.  Its  ceremonies 
and  state  are  an  object  of  amusement  and  interest 
to  all,  old  and  young ;  and  all  that  part  of  the  hap- 
piness of  the  world  which  is  produced  by  the  grati- 
fication of  the  senses,  is  largely  maintained  by  the 
existence  of  a  court,  its  pageantry,  its  expenditure, 
and  communication  with  the  people.  Without  such 
a  source  of  patronage  of  merit,  literary  and  personal, 
the  action  of  life  in  native  society  as  it  is  and  must 
long  be,  would  be  tame  and  depressing.  »  *  • 
It  is  the  bitter  cry  on  all  sides,  that  our  rule  exhi- 
bits no  sympathy,  especially  for  the  native  of  rank, 
and  not  even  for  other  classes  of  natives.  It  is  a 
just,  but  an  ungenerous,  unloveable  system  that  we 
administer,  and  this  tone  is  peculiarly  felt  in  a 
newly-acquired  country.  It  may  be  that  we  can- 
not re-create,  but  we  may  pause  ere  we  destroy  a 
form  of  society  already  existing,  and  not  necessarily 
barren  of  many  advantages.  •  •  •  The  main 
energies  of  the  public  service  in  India  are  directed 
to,  or  absorbed  in,  the  collection  of  revenue  and  the 
repressing  of  rural  crime;  and  the  measures  applied 
to  the  education  of  the  native  people  are  of  little 
influence ;  while  many  of  our  own  measures — as  in 
the  absorption  of  a  native  state  (if  we  sweep  clean 
the  family  of  the  native  prince  and  the  nobility 
gradually  from  the  land) — are  deeply  depressing  on 
the  national  character  and  social  system,  t 

•  Pari.  Papers    (Commons) — Annexation  of  Be- 
rar:  No.  82;  March  5th,  1856;  p.  4. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  6. 
X  Ibid.,  i)p.  12,  1.3. 
§  The  mode  of  appropriating  the  personal  and  here- 


He  therefore  recommended,  with  a  view 
of  reconciling  the  past  with  the  future,  in  a 
change  of  government  from  Oriental  to 
European  hands,  that  the  Nagpoor  royal 
family  should  be  permitted  to  exercise  the 
right  of  adoption ;  to  enjoy  the  privileges 
of  titular  chieftainship;  and  to  retain  pos- 
session of  the  palace  in  the  city  of  Nagpoor, 
with  a  fixed  income  and  a  landed  estate. 

The  reph'  to  these  recommendations  was, 
that  the  governor-general  in  council  could 
not  conceal  his  surprise  and  dissatisfaction 
at  the  advocacy  of  a  policy  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  declared  views  of  the 
supreme  authority.  The  grounds  on  which 
the  British  commissioner  advocated  the 
creation  of  a  titular  principality,  were 
pronounced  to  be  weak  and  untenable ; 
while  all  experience  was  alleged  to  be 
opposed  to  the  measure  which  he  had 
"  most  inopportunely  forced"  on  the  con- 
sideration of  government.  The  king  of 
Delhi,  the  nawab  of  Bengal,  and  the  nawab- 
nizam  of  the  Carnatic,  were  cited  as  so 
many  examples  of  its  impolicy:  but  "  in  all 
these  cases,  however,  some  purpose  of  great 
temporary  expediency  was  served,  or  be- 
lieved to  be  served,  when  the  arrangement 
was  originally  made  ;  some  actual  difficulty 
was  got  over  by  the  arrangement;  and, 
above  all,  the  chiefs  in  question  were  exist- 
ing things  [?]  before  the  arrangement." 
In  the  present  instance,  however,  the  offi- 
cial despatch  declares  there  was  no  object 
of  even  temporary  expediency  to  serve ;  no 
actual  difiBculty  of  any  sort  to  be  got  over; 
no  one  purpose,  political  or  other,  to  be 
promoted  by  the  proposed  measure.  J 

The  provision  suggested  by  Mr.  Mansel 
as  suitable  for  the  ranees  in  the  event  of  his 
proposition  being  rejected,  was  condemned 
as  extravagantly  high ;  the  hereditary  trea- 
sure of  the  rajah,  the  governor-general  con- 
sidered, in  accordance  with  the  decision  of 
the  Hon.  Court  in  an  analogous  case  (Sat- 
tara),  was  "  fairly  at  the  disposal  of  the 
government,  and  ought  not  to  be  given  up 
to  be  appropriated  and  squandered  by  the 
ranees. "§ 

The  money  hoarded,  having  been  accu- 
mulated, it  was  alleged,  out  of  the  public 
funds,  was  available  to  defray  the  arrears  of 
the    palace    establishments — a    reasonable 

ditary  treasure  of  the  late  rajah,  suggested  by  the 
commissioner  as  likely  to  be  approved  by  the  ranees, 
was  the  building  a  bridge  over  the  Kumaon  river ; 
and  thus,  in  accordance  with  Hindoo  custom,  link- 
ing the  family  name  to  a  great  and  useful  work. 


46 


ANNEXATION  OF  NAGPOOR— 1853. 


plea,  which  could  not  he  urged  in  defence 
of  the  same  seizure  of  personal  savings  in 
the  case  of  Sattara. 

This  unqualified  censure  of  the  commis- 
sioner was  followed  hy  his  removal,  a  pro- 
ceeding directly  calculated  to  inculcate  the 
suppression  not  only  of  opinions,  but  even  of 
facts,  of  an  unpalatable  kind.  The  half- 
measure  which  he  had  suggested  might 
possibly  have  worked  badly,  as  most  half- 
measures  do ;  but  it  was  avowedly  pro- 
posed as  a  compromise,  and  as  a  means  of 
meeting  difficulties,  which  the  Calcutta 
authorities  saw  fit  to  ignore.  No  notice 
whatever  was  taken  of  Mr.  Hansel's  state- 
ment, that  in  arguing  with  the  people  at 
Nagpoor  on  the  practice  of  putting  the 
members  of  the  family  of  a  deceased  chief 
on  individual  life  pensions,  upon  the  absorp- 
tion of  a  state,  they  immediately  (though 
not  before  unsubservient  to  the  execution 
of  orders  from  Calcutta  for  the  extinction  of 
sovereign  powers)  fell  back  upon  the  law 
and  rights  of  the  case,  and  contended  that 
the  treaty  gave  what  was  now  being  arbi- 
trarily taken  away.* 

Nothing,  indeed,  could  be  more  arbi- 
trary than  the  whole  proceeding.  A  mili- 
tary officer,  Captain  Elliot,  was  made  offi- 
ciating commissioner,  and  a  large  body  of 
troops  was  placed  at  his  disposal  to  overawe 
opposition,  in  the  event  of  the  royal  family 
or  their  late  subjects  evincing  any  disposi- 
tion to  resist  the  fulfilment  of  the  orders  of 
the  governor-general  for  the  seizure  of  the 
treasure,  hereditary  jewels,  and  even  the 
personal  property  and  household  effects  of 
the  deceased  rajah,  which  were  advertised 
to  be  sold  by  public  auction,  to  provide  a 
fund  for  the  support  of  his  family. 

The  ranees  sent  a  vakeel,  or  ambassador, 
to  Calcutta,  to  intreat  that  a  stop  should  be 
put  to  the  sale  of  effects  held  as  private 
property  for  a  century  and  a-halfj  "and, 
further,  for  the  cessation  of  the  unjust, 
oppressive,  and  humiliating  treatment  shown 
by  the  commissioner,  under  the  alleged 
orders  of  government,  towards  the  maha- 
ranees  and  the  other  heirs  and  members  of 
the  family  of  the  late  rajah,  whose  lives  are 
embittered  and  rendered  burdensome  by 
the  cruel  conduct  and  indignities  to  which 
they  have  been  obliged  to  submit." 

Kepeated   memorials  were    sent    in  by 

the  ranees,  concerning  "the  disrespect  and 

contumely"  with  which  they  were  treated 

by    the    acting    commissioner,    and    also 

•  Pari.  Papers  on  Berar,  p.  7. 


regarding  the  manner  in  which  the  sales  by 
auction  were  conducted,  and  property  sacri- 
ficed ;  particularly  cattle  and  horses  :  a  pair 
of  bullocks,  for  instance,  estimated  to  be 
worth  200  rupees,  being  sold  for  twenty.  ' 
The  official  return  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
rajah's  live  stock,  tends  to  corroborate 
the  statement  of  the  ranees.  A  hundred 
camels  only  realised  3,138  rupees,  and  183 
bullocks  only  2,018 ;  elephants,  horses,  and 
ponies  in  large  numbers,  sold  at  equally  low 
prices.  The  remonstrances  of  the  ranees 
were  treated  with  contemptuous  indiffer- 
ence. The  government  refused  to  recog- 
nise their  envoys,  and  would  receive  no 
communications  except  through  the  official 
whose  refusal  to  forward  their  appeals  was 
the  express  reason  of  their  having  endea- 
voured to  reach  the  ear  of  the  governor- 
general  by  some  other  channel. 

The  removal  of  the  property  from  the 
palace  was  attended  by  considerable  excite- 
ment.     The    native   officer    employed   by 
the  English  government,  was  "  hustled  and 
beaten"   in   the    outer    courtyard    of   the 
palace.      The   sepoys   on  duty  inside  the 
square,  are  described  by  Captain  Elliot  in 
his  rather  singular  account  of  the  matter, 
"as  not  affording  that  protection  and  assis- 
tance they  were  bound  to  do;  for,  setting 
aside  Jumal-oo-deen's  [the  native  officer's] 
rank,   position,    and   employment,    he   was 
married,  and  somewhat  lame."     There  was 
great  excitement  in  the  city,  as  well  as  in 
and  about  the  palace,  and  great  crowds  had 
assembled  and  were   assembling.     It  was 
doubtful  to  what  extent  opposition  might 
have  been  organised,  for  the  aged  maha- 
ranee   was    asserted  to   have  sent   a   mes- 
sage  to   the   British   officer   in   command, 
that    if    the    removal    of    property    were 
attempted,   she  would   set  the    palace   on 
fire.     This  threat,  if  made,  was  never  exe- 
cuted :   reinforcements  of  troops  were  in- 
troduced into  the  city,  and  the  orders  oi 
the     government     were     quietly     carried 
through.     The  governor-general  considered 
that    the    "  scandalous    conduct"    of    the 
sepoys  and  rifle  guards  on  duty,  ought  to 
have  been  punished  by  dismissal  from  the 
service;    but  it   had   been   already  passed 
over  in  silence,  and  so  no  martyrs  were 
made  to  the  cause,  and  the  affair  passed 
over  as  an  ebullition  of  that  "  floating  feel- 
ing of  national  regret,"  which  Mr.  Mausel 
had  previously  described  as  ready  to  dis- 
charge itself  in  dangerous  force  upon  any 
objects  within  its  range. 


ANNEXATION  OP  NAGPOOU,  OR  BEEAK— 1854. 


47 


The  maharanee  denied  having  incited 
or  approved  the  resistance  offered  by  her 
people ;  but  the  Calcutta  authorities  per- 
sisted in  considering  that  a  plan  of  resis- 
tance had  been  organised  by  her  during  the 
night  preceding  the  disturbances  which 
took  place  in  the  morning  of  the  11th  of 
October,  1854,  and  threatened  to  hold  the 
ranees  generally  responsible,  in  the  event  of 
any  repetition  of  such  scenes  as  those  which 
had  already  brought  down  upon  them  the 
displeasure  of  government. 

The  ladies  were,  no  doubt,  extremely 
alarmed  by  this  intimation,  which  the  offici- 
ating commissioner  conveyed  to  them,  he 
writes,  in  "  most  unmistakable  language." 
The  sale  of  the  chief  part  of  the  jewels  and 
heirlooms  (estimated  at  from  £500,000  to 
£750,000  in  value)*  was  carried  on  unop- 
posed in  the  public  bazaars ;  a  proceeding 
which  the  then  free  press  did  not  fail  to 
communicate  to  the  general  public,  and  to 
comment  on  severely.f  Of  the  money 
hidden  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  the 
zenana,  136  bags  of  silver  rupees  had  been 
surrendered ;  but  there  was  a  further  store 
of  gold  mohurs,  with  the  existence  of 
which  the  Banka  Bye  had  herself  ac- 
quainted the  British  functionaries  imme- 
diately after  the  death  of  her  grandson, 
as  a  proof  of  her  desire  to  conceal 
nothing  from  them.  When  urged,  she 
expressed  her  readiness  to  surrender  the 
treasure ;  but  pleaded  as  a  reason  for 
delaj',  the  extreme,  and  as  it  speedily 
proved,  mortal  sickness  of  XJnpoora  Bye, 
the  chief  widow,  in  whose  apartments  the 
treasure  was  hidden,  and  her  great  unwil- 
lingness to  permit  its  removal.  The  com- 
missioner appears  to  have  treated  this  plea  as 
a  continuation  of  "  the  old  system  of  delay 
and  passive  resistance  to  all  one's  instruc- 
tions and  wishes."  Nevertheless,  he  deemed 
it  objectionable  "  to  use  force  ;"  and  "  was 
unwilling  that  Captain  Crichton  [the  officer 
in  command]  should  go  upstairs  on  this 
occasion,  or  take  any  active  part  in  this 
matter,"  it  being  "  better  to  avoid  a  scene  :" 
and,  as  an  alternative,  he  advised  "  writing 
off  the  amount  known  to  be  buried,  to  the 
debit  of  the  ranees,  deducting  the  same 
from  their  annual  allowance,  and  telling 
them  the  same  was  at  their  disposal  and  in 
their  own  possession  ."J 

*  Pari.  Papers  (Annexation  of  Berar),  p.  9. 
t  hidian  News,  2nd  April,  1855. 
X  Letter  from  officiating  commissioner,  Capt.  Elliot, 
to  government,  13th  Dec,  1854. — Pari.  Papers,  p.  44. 


The  princesses  would  have  been  badly 
off  had  this  arrangement  been  carried  out, 
for  the  amount  of  hoarded  treasure  had 
been  exaggerated,  as  it  almost  invariably  is 
in  such  cases;  and  although  no  doubt  is 
expressed  that  the  formal  surrender  of 
10,000  gold  mohurs  (made  immediately 
after  the  delivery  of  the  governor-general's 
threatening  message)  included  the  entire 
hoard,  yet  double  that  sum  was  expected; 
the  other  half  having,  it  is  alleged,  been 
previously  expended. 

The  maharanee  excited  the  angry  sus- 
picions of  the  Calcutta  government  by 
a  despairing  effort  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  state,  with  which  she  felt  the  honour  of 
her  house  indissolubly  allied.  It  appeared, 
that  Major  Ramsaj%  then  resident  at  Ne- 
paul,  had,  when  occupying  the  same  posi- 
tion at  the  court  of  Nagpoor,  been  on  very 
bad  terms  with  the  deceased  rajah.  The 
Banka  Bye  attributed  the  extinction  of  the 
raj  to  his  representations,  and  sent  a 
vakeel  to  him,  in  the  hope  of  deprecating 
his  opposition,  and  obtaining  his  favourable 
intervention.  The  errand  of  the  vakeel 
was  misunderstood,  and  attributed  to  a 
desire  to  communicate  with  the  Nepaulese 
sovereign  on  the  subject  of  the  annexation 
of  Nagpoor.  Under  this  impression,  the 
governor-general  in  council  declared,  that 
the  ranees  had  no  right  whatever  to  com- 
municate with  native  courts;  that  it  was 
impossible  to  put  any  other  than  an  un- 
favourable construction  on  their  attempt  to 
do  so:  and  the  acting  commissioner  was 
officially  desired  to  acquaint  them,  that  the 
repetition  of  such  an  act  would  "  certainly 
lead  to  substantial  proof  of  the  displeasure 
of  government  being  manifested  to  them." 

On  the  mistake  being  discovered,  the 
following  minute  was  recorded  by  the  gov- 
ernor-general, and  concurred  in  by  the  four 
members  of  council  whose  names  have 
become  lately  familiar  to  the  British  pub- 
lic. Its  curt  tone  contrasts  forcibly  with 
that  adopted  by  the  Marquis  Wellesley, 
and  his  great  brother,  in  their  arrange- 
ments for  the  royal  family  of  Mysoor :  yet 
the  dynasty  of  Hyder  Ali  had  been  founded 
on  recent  usurpation,  and  overthrown  in 
open  fight ;  while  that  of  Berar  represented 
a  native  power  of  150  years'  duration,  and 
long  in  peaceful  alliance  with  the  Company 
as  a  protected  state.  The  age  and  reputa- 
tion of  the  Banka  Bye,  her  former  position 
as  regent,  the  remarkable  influence  exer- 
cised by  her  during  the  late  reign,  and  her 


48 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  BRITISH  RESIDENTS  AT  NAGPOOR. 


uniform  adhesion  to  the  British  govern- 
ment,— these,  together  with  the  dying  state 
of  Unpoora  Bye,  the  eldest  of  tlie  rajah's 
widows,  and  the  bereaved  condition  of  them 
all,  might  well  have  dictated  a  more  respect- 
ful consideration  of  their  comphiints  and 
misapprehensions,  than  is  apparent  in  the 
brief  but  comprehensive  account  given  by 
the  supreme  government,  of  the  groundless 
charge  which  had  been  brought  against 
the  princesses  : — 

"  It  now  appears  that  the  vakeel  sent  by 
the  ranees  of  Nagpoor  to  Nepaul,  was  in- 
tended, not  for  the  durbar,  but  for  Major 
Ramsay,  the  resident  there.  Major  Ramsay, 
when  officiating  resident  at  Nagpoor,  was 
compelled  to  bring  the  late  rajah  to  order. 
The  rajah  complained  of  him  to  me,  in 
1848.  The  officiating  resident  was  in  the 
right,  and,  of  course,  was  supported.  It 
seems  that  these  ladies  now  imagine  that 
Major  Ramsay's  supposed  hostility  has  in- 
fluenced me,  and  that  his  intercession,  if 
obtained,  might  personally  move  me.  The 
folly  of  these  notions  need  not  to  be  no- 
ticed. The  vakeel  not  having  been  sent  to 
the  durbar,  nothing  more  need  be  said 
about  the  matter."* 

The  means  used  by  Major  Ramsay  "  to 
bring  the  rajah  to  order,"  had  been  pre- 
viously called  in  question,  owing  to  certain 
passages  in  the  despatch  which  had  occa- 
sioned the  supersession  of  Mr.  Mansel. 
These  passages  are  given  at  length,  in  evi- 
dence of  the  entirely  opposite  manner  in 
which  successive  British  residents  at  Nag- 
poor exercised  the  extraordinary  powers  en- 
trusted to  them ;  interfering  in  everything, 
or  being  absolutely  nonentities  (except  as  a 
drain  upon  the  finances  of  the  state  they 
were,  barnacle-like,  attached  to),  accord- 
ing to  their  temper  of  miud  and  habit  of 
body. 

"  In  my  arguments,"  says  Mr.  Mansel,  "  with 
natives  upon  the  subject  of  the  expediency  and  pro- 
priety of  the  British  government  dealing  with  the 
Nagpoor  case  as  a  question  of  pure  policy,  I  have 
put  to  them  the  position,  that  we  had  all  of  us  at 
Nagpoor,  for  the  last  two  years,  found  it  impracti- 

•  Minute,  dated  November,  1854.  Pari.  Papers 
(Annexation  of  Uerar),  p.  41.  Signed — Dalhousie, 
J.  Uorin,  J.  Low,  J.  P.  Grant,  B.  Peacock. 

t  Major  Ramsay  denies  this;  and,  while  bearing 
testimony  to  the  "  high  character"  of  Mr.  Mansel, 
says,  that  the  policy  adopted  by  the  latter  was 
radically  opposed  to  his  own,  for  that  he  had  pur- 
sued the  most  rigid  system  of  non-interference  with 
any  of  the  details  of  the  local  government;  whereas 
Mr.  Mansel  appointed,  or  caused  the  appointment 
of,  several  individuals  to  responsible  offices  in  the 


cable  to  carry  on  the  government  decently.  1  re- 
marked that  Major  Wilkinson,  after  a  long  struggle, 
succeeded  in  getting  the  rajah  within  his  own  in- 
fluence, and,  by  his  fine  sagacity  and  perfect  ex- 
perience, had  controlled  him  whenever  he  chose. 
Colonel  Speirs,  from  decaying  health,  was  latterly 
unable  to  put  much  check  upon  the  rajah,  though 
his  perfect  knowledge  of  affairs  of  the  day  here,  and 
of  Oriental  courts  in  general,  would  otherwise  have 
been  most  valuable.  Major  Ramsayf  pursued  a 
course  of  uncompromising  interference,  and,  in  a 
state  of  almost  chronic  disease,  attempted  a  per- 
fect restoration  to  health.  Mr.  Davidson,  as  his 
health  grew  worse,  left  the  rajah  to  do  as  he  liked ; 
and  under  the  argument,  that  it  was  better  to  work 
by  personal  influence  than  by  fear,  he  left  the  rajah 
to  do  as  he  pleased,  with  something  like  the  pretence 
of  an  invalid  physician — that  his  patient  would  die 
with  too  much  care,  and  required  gentle  treatment. 
During  my  incumbency,  I  found  the  rajah  so  much 
spoiled  by  the  absolute  indulgence  of  my  prede- 
cessor, that  I  was  gradually  driven  to  adopt  the 
radical  reform  of  Major  Ramsay,  or  the  extreme 
conservatism  of  Mr.  Davidson  ;  and  in  the  struggle 
which  latterly  ensued  between  myself  and  the  rajah, 
his  end  was  undoubtedly  hastened  by  vexation  at 
my  insisting  on  his  carrying  out  the  reform  in  spirit 
as  well  as  to  the  letter.  •  •  •  The  argument  of 
the  natives,  with  whom  I  have  frequently  conferred 
on  this  subject,  is,  that  the  British  residents  at  Nag- 
poor should  participate  in  the  blame  charged  to  the 
rajah  by  myself;  for  if  the  same  system  of  advice 
and  check  which  was  contemplated  by  the  last 
treaty,  had  been  carried  out  from  first  to  last,  the 
rajah  would  never  have  been  tempted  into  the 
habits  of  indolence  and  avarice  that  latterly  made 
him  make  his  own  court  and  the  halls  of  justice  a 
broker's  shop,  for  the  disposal  of  official  favours  and 
the  sale  of  justice.  The  answer  to  this  is,  that  the 
British  government  does  its  best ;  that  it  sends  its 
highest  servants  to  a  residency;  and  if  the  principles 
or  abilities  of  the  different  incumbents  vary,  it  is 
only  natural  and  incidental  to  any  colonial  system 
in  the  world.  The  result,  however,  is,  that  the 
management  of  the  country  gets  into  all  kinds  of 
embarrassment,  of  death,  judicial  corruption,  and 
irresponsibility  of  ministers,  when  the  readiest  course 
is  to  resume  those  sovereign  powers  that  were  dele- 
gated on  trust."! 

Surely  the  foregoing  statements  of  the 
last  "incumbent"  of  the  Nagpoor  resi- 
dency, afford  a  clear  exposition  of  the 
mischievous  effects  of  establishing,  at  the 
courts  of  native  princes,  a  powerful  func- 
tionary, whose  office  combines  the  duties  of 
a  foreign  amliassador  with  those  of  a  domes- 
tic counsellor,  or  rather  dictator.     If  the 

Nagpoor  government,  and  set  apart  particular  days 
in  the  week  on  which  the  heads  of  departments 
waited  upon  him  at  the  residency,  and  submitted 
their  reports  and  proceedings. — Letter  of  Major 
Ramsay  to  government,  oth  February,  1855 — Pari. 
Papers,  pp.  46 ;  53. 

f  Letter  of  Commissioner  Mansel,  29th  April, 
1854 — Pari.  Papers,  p.  7.  See  Indian  Empire,  vol. 
i.,  p.  420,  for  an  account  of  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  so-called  delegation  of  sovereign  powers 
was  made  in  the  case  alluded  to. 


ANNEXATION  OF  ODEIPORE— 1853. 


49 


resident  be  an  upright  man,  he  can  scarcely 
fail  to  he  distracted  by  the  conflicting  in- 
terests of  the  paramount  and  dependent 
states — the  two  masters  whom  he  is  bound 
to  serve;  and  if  of  a  sensitive  disposition, 
he  cannot  but  feel  the  anomalous  character 
of  his  situation  at  the  elbow  of  a  dependent 
sovereign,  who  must  naturally  regard  him 
as  something  between  a  schoolmaster  and  a 
spy.  No  doubt  there  have  been  British 
residents  whose  influence  has  been  markedly 
beneficial  to  native  states ;  not  only  for- 
merly, when  their  position  was  better  de- 
fined, and,  from  circumstances,  involved  less 
temptation  to,  or  necessity  for,  interference 
in  the  internal  aS'airs  of  the  state,  but  even 
;  of  late  years.  The  general  effect,  however, 
j  has  been  the  deterioration  and  depression 
I  painted  with  half  unconscious  satire  by 
Mr.  Mansel,  in  the  case  of  Nagpoor. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  annexa- 
tion of  this  state,  have  been  dwelt  on  more 
on  account  of  the  incidental  revelations 
which  they  involve  of  the  practical  working 
of  a  pernicious  system,  than  from  any 
special  interest  which  attaches  to  the  par- 
ticular question  so  summarily  decided  by 
Lord  Dalhousie.  No  connected  statement 
of  the  case  has  been  made  public  on  be- 
half of  the  princesses,  notwithstanding  the 
spirited  attempts  made  by  the  Banka  Bye 
to  obtain  a  fair  hearing.  When  the  gov- 
ernor-general refused  to  receive  any  com- 
munication through  her  envoys,  she  sent 
them  to  England,  in  the  hope  of  obtain- 
ing a  reversal  of  the  decision  pronounced 
at  Calcutta.  The  vakeels  complained  of 
the  treatment  which  the  ranees  had  met 
with,  especially  of  the  strict  surveillance 
under  which  they  were  placed  :  their  state- 
ments were  published  in  the  newspapers, 
'  and  the  new  commissioner  for  Nagpoor 
I  (Mr.  Plowden)  took  up  the  matter  in  re- 
'  sentment.  Meantime,  Unpoora  Bye  died 
(14th  Nov.,  1855),  her  end  being  embittered, 
and  pj-obably  accelerated,  by  the  same 
mental  distress  which  is  acknowledged  to 
have  hastened  that  of  her  husband.  The 
aged  maharanee  abandoned  further  opposi- 
tion, and  wrote  to  London  to  dismiss  her 
vakeels  (2nd  Dec,  1855),  on  the  ground 
that,  instead  of  obeying  her  orders,  and 
laying  her  case  before  the  authorities  in 
a  supplicating  way,  so  that  her  "honour 
and  humble  dignity  might  be  upheld,"  they 
had  displayed  a  great  deal  of  imprudence, 
and  used  calumnious  expressions  against 
the  British   officers.     She  informed  them, 

VOL.  II.  H 


with  significant  brevity,  of  the  death  of  Un- 
poora Bye ;  adding — "  Well,  what  has  hap- 
pened, has  happened."  This  letter,  which 
is  alike  indicative  of  the  character  of  the 
writer  and  of  the  dictation  (direct  or  indi>- 
rect)  under  which  it  was  written,  closes  the 
series  of  papers,  published  by  order  of  par- 
liament, regarding  the  annexation  of  Berar, 

The  territory  resumed  from  AH  Morad,  one 
of  the  Ameers  of  Sinde,  in  1852,  comprised 
an  area  of  5,412  square  miles.  The  reason 
of  the  resumption  has  been  already  stated.* 

Odeipore  is  mentioned,  in  a  Return 
(called  for  by  the  House  of  Commons  in 
April,  1858)  "  of  the  Territories  and  Tribu- 
taries in  India  acquired  since  the  1st  of 
May,  1851,"  as  having  been  annexed  in 
1853.  The  area  comprises  2,306  square 
miles,  with  a  population  of  133,748  per- 
sons. This  place  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  two  Oodipoors  (great  and  small) 
in  Rajast'han,  the  absorption  of  which  even 
Lord  Dalhousie  would  scarcely  have  ven- 
tured on  attempting. 

The  ten-itory  resumed  from  Toola  Ram 
Senaputtee,  in  Cachar,  in  1853,  comprises 
2,160  acres  of  land ;  but,  unlike  Odeipore, 
has  only  the  disproportionate  population  of 
5,015. t 

Hyderabad. — In  1853,  the  Nizam  con- 
cluded a  new  treaty  with  the  Company,  by 
which  he  transferred  to  thtm  one-third  of 
his  country,  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  con- 
tingent maintained  by  him,  but  disciplined 
and  commanded  by  British  officers.  The 
resident.  Major-general  Eraser,  when  the 
proposition  for  the  cession  of  territory  first 
came  under  consideration  in  1851,  recom- 
mended nothing  less  than  the  deposition  of 
the  Nizam,  and  the  assumption  of  sovereign 
power  by  the  Company  for  a  definite  num- 
ber of  years — a  measure  which  he  considered 
justified  by  the  weak  character  of  the  Ni- 
zam, and  the  disorganised  state  of  his  ad- 
ministration. This  proposition  was  at  once 
rejected  by  Lord  Dalhousie,  who  ably 
argued,  that  the  transfer  of  the  administra- 
tion to  the  British  government  would  never 
be  consented  to  by  the  Nizam  ;  that  to  im- 
pose it  upon  him  without  his  consent, 
would  be  a  violation  of  treaties ;  that  the 
Nizam  was  neither  cruel,  nor  ambitious, 
nor  tyrannical ;  that  his  maladministration 
of  his  ow*i.kingdom  did  not  materially  aSect 
the  security  of  'British  territory,  or  the  in- 
terests of  British  subjects;    and  that  the 

*  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  452. 

t  Pari.  Paper  (Commons),  16th  April,  1858. 


50 


THE  NIZAM'S  CONTINGENT  AND  SUBSIDIARY  FORCES 


I  British  authorities  were  neither  called  on, 
nor  at  liberty,  to  set  aside  an  independent 
native  government  because,  in  their  opinion, 
that  government  exercised  its  authority  in 
a  manner  injurious  to  its  subjects.*  "  The 
debt,"  Lord  Dalhousie  says,  "which  bur- 
dens the  Nizam  has  been  produced  by  the 
contingent.  The  monthly  subsidy  for  which 
the  resident  at.  Hyderabad  maintains  a  per- 
petual wrestle  with  the  dewan  [native  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer],  and  which  trans- 
forms the  representative  of  the  British 
government,  by  turns,  into  an  importunate 
creditor  and  a  bailifiF  in  execution,  is  the 
pay  of  the  contingent."  The  governor- 
general  proceeds  to  expose  the  misinterpre- 
tation of  the  article  of  the  treaty  of  1800 ; 
which  provided  that  the  British  army 
should,  in  time  of  war,  be  reinforced  by  a 
body  of  15,000  of  the  Nizam's  troops ;  but 
which  had  "  been  made  to  justify  our  requir- 
ing the  Nizam  to  uphold  a  force  of  about 
5,000  infantry,  2,000  horse,  and  four  field 
batteries,  officered  by  British  officers,  con- 
trolled by  the  British  resident,  trained  on 
the  British  system,  not  ia  war  only,  but 
permanently,  at  a  very  costly  rate,  and  so 
as  to  be  available  for  the  use  of  the  Nizam 
only  when  the  representative  of  the  Bri- 
tish government  has  given  his  consent."t 

The  scale  of  expenditure  on  which  the 
contingent  was  maintained,  was  inordinate. 
Lord  Dalhousie,  in  a  minute  of  the  25th  of 
September,  1848,  declared — "I  agree  with 
Colonel  Low  in  thinking  that  we  cause  the 
contingent  to  become  a  much  heavier  burden 
on  the  Nizam's  finances  than  it  ought  to 
be.  The  staff,  in  my  humble  judgment,  is 
preposterously  large.  The  pay  and  allow- 
ances, and  charges  of  various  kinds,  are  far 
higher  than  they  ought  to  be."  Still, 
nothing  was  done  to  reduce  this  ruinous 
waste  of  public  funds;  for  in  March,  1853, 
another  minute,  by  the  same  ready  pen, 
described  the  contingent  as  having  no  less 
than  five  brigadiers,  with  brigade-majors, 
attached  to  It,  and  a  military  secretary, 
who  drew  the  same  salary  as  the  adjutant- 

•  Pari.  Papers,  26th  July,  1854  ;  p.  3. 

t  Minute  by  the  governor-general,  June,  1851. — 
Pari.  Papers— /6id.,  p.  100. 

t  Pari.  Papers — Ibid.,  pp.  4  ;  103. 

§  Minute  by  governor-general,  27th  May,  1851.— 
Pari.  Papers— /ii'rf.,  p.  32.  |i  Ibid.,  p.  34. 

%  The  resident,  Major-general  Praser,  adds  a  re- 
mark on  Shorapoor,  which  illustrates  the  systematic 
encroachment,  manifested  in  so  many  ways,  and  ex- 
cused by  such  various  pretexts.  The  rajah  of  Sho- 
rapoor, he  says,  "is  near  his  majority ;  but,  I  pre- 


general  of  the  Bengal  array.  By  the  rules 
of  the  force,  the  officers  were  promoted  to 
superior  grades,  and  to  higher  pay,  earlier 
than  they  would  have  been  in  their  own 
service;  and,  altogether,  the  expenses  were 
"unusually  and  unnecessarily  heavy." J 

The  plan  devised  for  compelling  the  pay- 
ment, by  the  Nizam,  of  expenditure  thus 
recklessly  incurred  in  the  maintenance  of  a 
contingent  which  no  treaty  bound  him  to 
support,  and  which  had  existed  on  suffer- 
ance from  the  time  of  the  Mahratta  war, 
without  any  formal  sanction  on  the  part  of 
either  government,  is  vaunted  as  extremely 
liberal,  apparently  because  it  fell  short  of 
total  annexation. 

The  sum  claimed  was  about  seventy-five 
lacs,§  or  £750,000  (including  interest  at  six 
per  cent.) ;  to  provide  for  the  payment  of 
which,  the  supreme  government  demanded 
the  transfer  of  "  districts  to  the  value  of  not 
less  than  thirty-five  lacs  per  annum,  so  as 
to  provide  for  the  payment  of  the  principal 
of  the  debt  within  three  years,  and  further 
to  afford  a  margin,  which  should  in  each 
year  be  applicable  to  meet  any  partial  defi- 
ciencies which  might  still  occur  in  the 
supply  of  monthly  pay  for  the  troops  of  the 
contingent."  II  The  resident  pointed  out, 
as  the  districts  of  which  the  British  gov- 
ernment might  most  fitly  and  advanta- 
geously demand  possession,  the  Berar 
Payeen  Ghaut,  the  border  districts  from 
thence  down  to  Shorapoor,^  and  the  terri- 
tory of  the  dooab,  between  the  Kistnah 
and  the  Toombuddra ;  which,  together,  com- 
prised the  whole  frontier  of  the  Nizam's 
kingdom  along  its  northern  and  western 
boundaries,  and  along  its  southern  boun- 
dary, as  far  as  the  junction  of  the  above- 
named  rivers. 

"  The  Berar  Payeen  Ghaut  (he  adds)  is,  without 
exception,  the  richest  and  most  fertile  part  of  the 
Nizam's  country,  and  the  Raichore  dooab  is  the  next 
to  it  in  this  respect.  These  two  districts  hold  out 
great  prospect  of  improvement  in  regard  to  revenue 
and  commerce,  from  an  extended  culture  of  the  two 
articles  of  cotton  and  opium.  •  •  •  1'he  quan- 
tity of  opium  now  cultivated  in  Berar  Payeen  Ghaut, 

sumc,  that  when  that  district  is  given  over  to  his 
charge,  measures  will  be  taken  by  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment for  keeping  it,  for  some  years  at  least,  sub- 
ject to  the  control  of  a  British  officer.  It  is  at  pre- 
sent in  a  favourable  and  improving  state  i  but  if 
given  up  to  the  young  rajah's  exclusive  and  un- 
controlled authority,  it  will  quickly  revert  to  the 
same  state  of  barbarism  in  which  it  was  before." — 
Pari.  Papers — Ibid.,  p.  14.  Shorapoor  is  inhabited 
by  the  Bedars,  a  warlike  aboriginal  tribe,  whose 
chief  claims  a  descent  of  more  than  thirty  centuries,  . 


CESSION  OP  TERRITORY  DEMANDED  FROM  THE  NIZAM— 1851.    51 


as  well  as  of  cotton,  might  be  greatly  increased,  and 
the  duty  upon  them  would  form,  in  itself,  a  very 
productive  source  of  revenue." 

Captain  Meadows  Taylor  likewise  gave 
an  extremely  tempting  account  of  the 
same  districts;  lie  referred  to  the  reported 
existence  of  very  valuable  anicuts,  and 
described  the  Raichore  district  as  well  sup- 
plied with  tanks. 

Temporary  occupation,  for  the  liquidation 
of  the  outstanding  debt,  was  all  that  was 
to  be  immediately  demanded;  but  Lord 
Dalhousie  avowedly  anticipated  the  proba- 
bility of  being  compelled  to  retain  these  dis- 
tricts permanently,  for  the  regular  payment 
of  the  contingent.  Major-general  Eraser 
entered  more  fully  into  the  subject ;  and  his 
statements  show,  in  the  clearest  manner,  the 
irremediable  disorder  into  which  the  pro- 
posed step  was  calculated  to  plunge  the 
finances  of  Hyderabad.  He  writes  (4th 
February,  1851):— 

"  We  are  about  to  assume,  in  pursuance  of  a  just 
right  to  do  so,  which  cannot  be  denied,  the  tempo- 
rary management  of  a  tract  of  country  yielding  from 
thirty  to  forty  lacs  of  rupees  j  and  the  Nizam,  there- 
fore, will  have  so  much  income  less  to  meet  those 
demands,  to  which  his  whole  and  undivided  revenue 
has  long  been  proved  to  be  quite  unequal.  He  has 
been  unable,  for  the  last  five  years,  to  pay  the  con- 
tingent, except  by  partial  instalments  only,  although 
he  considers  this  the  first  and  most  important  pay- 
ment incumbent  on  his  government  to  make;  and 
it  cannot,  therefore,  be  expected  that  he  should  be 
able  to  meet  this  essential  claim  upon  him  with  his 
financial  means  diminished  to  the  extent  above 
mentioned.  It  is  all  but  certain  that  he  will  not  be 
able  to  pay  the  contingent  {brigadiers,  brigade- 
majors,  military  secretaries,  and  aW]  for  any  further 
period  than  perhaps  the  next  two  months,  and  this, 
probably,  but  in  small  proportion  only.  The  ulti- 
mate consequence,  then,  must  be  (and  I  see  no  rea- 
son why  this  argument  should  not  be  set  before  him 
in  a  plain  and  distinct  light),  that  we  should  be  un- 
der the  necessity  of  retaining,  permanently,  in  our 
possession  the  territory  of  which  we  are  now  about 
to  assume  the  temporary  charge." 

The  Nizam  felt  the  iron  pale  which  sur- 
rounded his  kingdom  closing  in,  and  made 
an  attempt  at  resistance  which  astonished 
the  supreme  authorities,  and  disconcerted, 
or  at  least  delayed,  the  execution  of  their 
arrangements.  Open  resistance  the  gov- 
ernor-general was  prepared  to  overwhelm 
by  taking  military  possession  of  the  speci- 
fied districts.  The  Nizam  was  too  prudent, 
or  too  powerless,  to  offer  any.  Suraj-ool- 
Moolk,  the  chief  minister,  appointed  in 
compliance  with  Lord  Dalhousie's  sugges- 
tion, and  pronounced  by  him  to  be  the  only 
man  who  seemed  to  possess  the  capacity  to 


grapple  with  the  difiiculties  of  the  state, 
pointed  out  the  certain  ruin  which  the 
proposed  cession  would  involve.  The  dis- 
tricts demanded,  he  said,  afforded  one-third 
of  the  entire  revenue ;  another  third  would 
be  required  for  the  regular  monthly  pay- 
ment of  the  contingent,  &c. :  and  only  one- 
third  being  left  to  carry  on  the  entire 
administration,  both  the  Nizam  and  his 
subjects  would  be  reduced  to  distress  for 
the  means  of  existence. 

Arguments  of  this  nature  had  been  an- 
ticipated, and  would  probably  have  made 
little  impression,  had  they  not  been  fol- 
lowed up  by  a  distinct  offer  for  the  imme- 
diate liquidation  of  arrears.  The  resident 
had  received  no  instructions  how  to  act  in 
so  unexpected  a  case,  and  he  therefore 
wrote  word  to  Calcutta,  that  pending  fur- 
ther orders,  he  had  judged  it  his  duty  to 
consent  to  leave  the  question  of  the  transfer 
of  the  districts  in  temporary  abeyance,  the 
Nizam  having  found  means  to  take  upon 
himself  the  entire  and  immediate  payment 
of  his  debt,  and  to  give  "  the  best  security 
that  could  be  offered  for  the  future  regular 
payment  of  the  contingent,  short  of  the 
actual  transfer,  to  us,  of  part  of  his  country 
for  this  purpose."* 

The  first  half  of  the  debt  was  paid  at 
once;  the  second  proved  more  difficult  to 
be  raised  in  the  precise  manner  required, 
although  the  Nizam  contributed  thirty  lacs 
of  rupees  (j630,000)  from  his  private  funds. 
Suraj-ool-Moolk  requested  that  a  favour- 
able rate  of  exchange  might  be  allowed 
for  the  Nizam's  bills,  in  consideration  of 
the  interest  paid  by  him  direct  to  the 
British  government,  of  that  exacted  by 
usurers  on  sums  borrowed  on  the  same 
account,  and  especially  because  of  the  no- 
torious embarrassments  of  the  state.  He 
asked  that  the  existing  average  rate  of 
exchange  on  the  Company's  bills  should  be 
applied  to  the  Nizam's,  and  that  these 
latter  should  be  credited  according  to  their 
dates.  In  support  of  his  first  request,  he 
urged  that  it  was  the  universal  practice  to 
pay  a  debt  at  the  current  rate  of  exchange, 
and  not  at  the  rate  which  prevailed  when 
the  loan  was  made;  adding,  that  it  ought 
to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  present  debt 
had  accumulated,  in  the  course  of  seven 
years,  by  comparatively  small  suras ;  and  the 
whole  of  it  was  now  required  to  be  paid 
within  four  months.     With  regard  to  the 

•  Letter  of  Resident  Fraser,  16th  July,  1851. — 
Pari.  Papers  (Nizam's  Territory),  p.  62. 


52 


NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  THE  NIZAM— 1852. 


second  point,  he  said — "  If  instead  of  hoon- 
dees  [bills],  the  Circar  [state]  paid  the 
amount  of  the  debt  to  you  in  cash,  and  you 
found  it  expedient  to  remit  the  money  to 
the  residencies,  you  would  have  to  pay 
ready  money  to  the  soucars  [bankers]  for 
the  hoondees  you  procured  for  this  purpose ; 
and  as  I  send  you  hoondees  so  purchased, 
instead  of  the  coin,  I  do  not  think  I  am 
unreasonable  in  requesting  that  credit  may 
be  given  to  this  Circar  [state]  on  the  dates 
the  hoondees  are  delivered  to  you."* 

But  the  resident  would  hear  of  no  allow- 
ance; no  deductions  in  any  way.  The 
financial  difficulties  of  the  Nizam  were  a 
subject  of  regret ;  but  it  was  not  "  equit- 
able, that  the  loss  of  which  Suraj-ool-Moolk 
complained,  should  be  lessened  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  British  government." 

The  31st  of  October — the  time  specified 
for  the  payment  of  the  second  and  final 
instalment — arrived.  The  Nizam,  though 
unable  to  raise  the  entire  suni  required,  yet 
managed  to  furnish  a  considerable  portion 
of  it,  and  acted  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
convince  the  resident  that  he  was  really 
"exerting  himself,  in  good  faith,  to  liqui- 
date the  whole."  The  governor-general 
records  this,  in  a  minute  dated  3rd 
January,  1852;  yet,  at  the  same  time,  he 
was  occupied  in  framing  a  treaty  which 
was  to  deprive  the  Nizam  of  the  territory 
he  had  made  so  strenuous  an  effort  to  re- 
tain. Colonel  Low  was  dispatched  to 
Hyderabad  to  conduct  the  negotiations; 
"his  judgment,  firmness,  and  conciliatory 
demeanour"  being  relied  on  to  bring  about 
the  issue  desired  by  the  supreme  govern- 
ment. The  task  was  neither  an  easy  nor 
a  pleasant  one. 

The  proposals  now  made  were,  that  the 
Nizam  should  cede  the  frontier  districts 
in  perpetuity,  and  receive,  in  return,  a  re- 
ceipt in  full  for  the  portion  of  the  instal- 
ment he  had  failed  to  pay  in  October,  and 
likewise  for  the  future  subsistence  of  the 
contingent,  which  the  Company  proposed 
to  reorganise  in  their  own  name,  on  a 
reduced  scale,  transforming  it  from  the 
Nizam's  force  into  one  to  be  maintained  for 
him  by  the  government.  There  was,  more- 
over, a  subsidiary  force,  which  the  Company 
were  bound  to  maintain  in  perpetuity  by 
the   treaty   of    1800,    within   the   state   of 

•  Letter  from  Sooraj-ool-MooIk,  14th  August, 
185J.— Pari.  Papers  (Nizam's  Territory),  p.  70. 

t  For  the  origin  and  establishment  of  the  subsi- 
diary force,  see  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  pp.  373  ;  378. 


Hyderabad;  the  funds  being  provided  b7 
the  cession  of  the  Nizam's  share  of  the  ter- 
ritory acquired  from  Mysoor.f  The  gov- 
ernment liad  need  of  these  troops,  and  de- 
sired to  obtain,  by  a  new  treaty,  the  right  of 
employing  the  chief  part  of  them  elsewhere, 
on  the  plea  of  there  being  no  necessity  for 
them  in  Hyderabad;  the  danger  of  external 
foes  which  existed  when  the  arrangement 
was  first  made,  and  when  the  Mahrattas 
were  in  the  height  of  their  power  and  turbu- 
lence, having  long  since  passed  away. 

It  was  true  that,  by  this  particular  part 
of  the  proposed  arrangement,  the  Nizam 
would  be  no  loser;  because  the  contingent, 
and  the  large  number  of  troops  in  his  im- 
mediate service,  alone  exceeded  the  ordi- 
nary requirements  of  the  state.  Only,  as 
Lord  Dalhousie  wanted  the  services  of  the 
subsidiary  force  elsewhere,  and  as  the  con- 
tingent force,  to  a  great  extent,  performed 
its  duties  and  supplied  its  place,  it  is  evident 
that  there  could  be  no  excuse  for  appro- 
priating the  services  of  the  former  body 
without  contributing  to  the  expenses  of 
the  latter,  which  amounted  to  jg30,000  a 
month. J 

This  was  never  even  contemplated ;  and 
the  state  of  Hyderabad  haying  been  made  to 
furnish  funds  in  perpetuity  for  a  subsidiary 
force,  was  now  to  be  compelled  to  cede 
territory  for  the  support  of  another  distinct 
but  very  similar  body  of  troops,  and  to 
place  the  former  at  the  service  of  the 
British  government  without  receiving  any 
compensation  whatever. 

It  is  true  the  Nizam  was  to  be  given  the 
option  of  disbanding  the  contingent ;  but 
then  the  immediate  ruin  of  the  country  was 
anticipated  by  the  resident  as  so  palpable 
and  certain  a  consequence  of  such  a  mea- 
sure, that  the  idea  was  viewed  as  one  of  the 
last  the  Nizam  would  entertain.  Even 
in  the  event  of  his  choosing  this  hazardous 
alternative,  in  a  desperate  endeavour  to 
relieve  his  finances  from  the  incubus  with 
which  they  had  been  so  long  burdened,  the 
transfer  of  territory  was  still  to  be  insisted 
on,  at  least  temporarily,  for  the  payment  of 
arrears,  "and  for  covering  the  future  ex- 
penses of  the  force  during  the  time  neces- 
sary for  its  absorption,  in  the  gradual 
manner  required  by  good  faith  to  existing 
personal  interests. "§ 

X  Pari.  Papers  (Nizam's  Territory),  26th  July, 
1854;  p.  94. 

§  Despatch  from  directors,  2nd  November,  1833. 
—Pari.  Papers— iiirf.,  p.  8. 


DISCUSSION  BETWEEN  THE  NIZAM  AND  COL.  LOW— 1853.       53 


"  Beneficial  as  these  proposals  are,  espe- 
cially to  the  Nizam,"  writes  Lord  Dal- 
botisie,  "  it  is  anticipated  that  his  highness 
will  be  reluctant  to  assent  to  them :"  and, 
in  the  event  of  his  reluctance  amounting  to 
a  positive  refusal  to  sign  the  new  treaty, 
military  possession  was  ordered  to  be  taken 
of  the  coveted  districts. 

The  Nizam  was,  as  had  been  anticipated, 
incapable  of  appreciating  the  advantages 
offered  him  :  he  saw  no  occasion  for  any  new 
treaty  at  all ;  earnestly  craved  for  time  to 
pay  off  the  debt ;  and  promised  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  the  contingent  with  regularity 
for  the  future — a  promise  which,  however, 
there  is  reason  to  fear  he  lacked  the  means 
of  performing.  At  first,  he  seems  to  have 
been  inclined  to  stand  at  bay;  and  in  the 
opening  conference  with  Colonel  Low,  he 
took  up  the  strong  point  of  his  case,  and 
put  it  very  clearly. 

"  In  the  time  of  my  father,"  said  the 
Nizam,  "  the  Peishwa  of  Poona  became 
hostile  both  to  the  Company's  government 
and  to  this  government,  and  Sir  Henry 
Russell  (the  resident)  organised  this  con- 
tingent, and  sent  it  in  different  directions, 
along  with  the  Company's  troops,  to  fight 
the  Mahratta  people ;  and  this  was  all  very 
proper,  and  according  to  the  treaty;  for 
those  Mahrattas  were  enemies  of  both 
states;  and  the  Company's  army  and  my 
father's  army  conquered  the  ruler  of 
Poona,  and  you  sent  him  off  a  prisoner 
to  Hiudoostan,  and  took  the  country  of 
Poona.*  After  that,  there  was  no  longer 
any  war ;  so  why  was  the  contingent  kept 
up  any  longer  than  the  war?" 

Colonel  Low  was  not  prepared  to  meet 
an  argument  which  went  at  once  to  the 
gist  of  the  question;  and  he  made,  as  an 
honest  man  could  not  help  doing,  a  very 
lame  reply,  excusing  himself  on  the  plea, 
that  thirty-six  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
occurrence  of  the  events  alluded  to  by  the 
Nizam ;  that  he  (the  colonel)  was  not  in 
Hyderabad  at  the  time;  but  that  he  sup- 
posed the  reigning  prince  had  considered 
the  maintenance  of  the  contingent  a  good 
arrangement,  and  therefore  consented  to 
it.  He  proceeded  to  represent  the  neces- 
sity of  retaining  this  force  to  overawe  the 
Arabs,  Rohillas,  Seiks,  and  other  plunderers, 
and  to  enable  the  Nizam  to  collect  his  reve- 
nues :  adding,  that  the  governor-general  was 
80  much  disposed  to  act  liberally  in  the 
matter,  that  he  would  probably  aid  in  re- 
•  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  419. 


ducing  the  expenses  of  the  contingent,  if 
that  were  desired.  The  Nizam  here 
abruptly  terminated  the  conference, 

A  draft  treaty  was  sent  in,  providing  for 
the  required  cession ;  and  the  Nizam  was 
reminded,  that  he  would  thereby  gain  relief, 
in  future,  from  the  heavy  interest  he  had 
been  compelled  to  pay  on  money  borrowed 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  contingent. 
His  reiterated  reply  was — "  A  change  in  a 
treaty,  be  it  what  it  may,  can  never  be  an 
advantage  to  a  sovereign  who  prefers,  as  I 
do,  that  there  should  not  be  any  change  at 
all."  He  reluctantly  consented  to  discuss 
the  subject  again  with  the  resident,  and  re- 
ceived him  at  the  second  interview  with  a 
flushed  face  and  excited  manner,  which,  at 
first  sight,  resembled  the  effects  of  wine 
or  opium.  This  was  not  the  case;  for 
the  Nizam  had  never  shown  himself  more 
acute  in  argument,  nor  more  fluent  in  con- 
versation ;  but  he  was  very  angry,  and  had 
been  sitting  up  nearly  all  night  examining 
the  treaty  with  his  chief  nobles.  "  Two 
acts,"  he  said,  "  on  the  part  of  a  sovereign 
prince  are  always  reckoned  disgraceful:  one 
is,  to  give  away,  unnecessarily,  any  portion  of 
his  hereditary  territories ;  and  the  other  is, 
to  disband  troops  who  have  been  brave  and 
faithful  in  his  service.  *  *  *  Did  I  ever 
make  war  against  the  English  governmentj 
or  intrigue  against  it  ?  or  do  anything  but 
co-operate  with  it,  and  be  obedient  to  ita 
wishes,  that  I  should  be  so  disgraced  ?"f 
Again  and  again  he  asked  to  be  allowed  to, 
pay  the  forty-six  lacs  of  rupees  then  owing, 
and  provide  security  for  future  regularity; 
but  the  resident  reminded  him  that  similar 
pledges  had  been  repeatedly  violated,  and 
urged  him  to  accept  the  governor-general's, 
proposition,  and  apply  the  sum  he  spoke  of 
in  lessening  the  heavy  arreai-s  of  his  own 
troops  and  servants.  The  Nizam,  in  reply, 
made  what  impartial  readers  vanj  consider 
a  natural  and  sensible  speech;  but  which, 
the  resident  reported  as  illustrative  of  "  his 
highness's  peculiar  and  strange  character." 

"  Gentlemen  like  you,"  he  said,  "  who 
are  sometimes  in  Europe,  and  at  other  times, 
in  India ;  sometimes  employed  in  govern- 
ment business,  at  other  times  soldiers ;: 
sometimes  sailors,  and  at  other  times  even 
engaged  in  commerce  (at  least  I  have  heard, 
that  some  great  men  of  your  tribe  have 
been  merchants),  you  cannot  understand 
the  nature  of  my  feelings  in  this  matter. 
I  am  a  sovereign  prince,  born  to  live  and 
t  Pari.  Papers  (Nizam's  Territor)),  p.  119; 


54     ANOMALOUS  POSITION  OP  THE  NIZAM'S  CONTINGENT  FORCE. 


die  in  this  kingdom,  which  has  belonged  to 
my  family  for  seven  generations.  You  think 
that  I  could  be  happy  if  I  were  to  give  up  a 
portion  of  my  kingdom  to  your  government 
in  perpetuity :  it  is  totally  impossible  that  I 
coxild  be  happy;  I  should  feel  that  I  was 
disgraced.  I  have  heard  that  one  gentle- 
man of  your  tribe  considered  that  I  ought 
to  be  quite  contented  and  happy  if  I  were 
put  upon  the  same  footing  as  Mohammed 
Ghouse  Khan  [the  Nawab  of  Arcot]  ;  to 
have  a  pension  paid  to  ine  like  an  old  ser- 
vant, and  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  eat  and 
sleep  and  say  my  prayers.     Wah  !"* 

Other  remarks  followed ;  the  Nizam  went 
over  all  the  most  disputed  portions  of 
former  negotiations,  and  said  that  the  Com- 
pany ought  to  give  him  territory  instead  of 
taking  any  away.  He  complained  bitterly 
of  the  discreditable  transactions  connected 
with  the  firm  of  Palmer  &  Co.,  by  which 
his  father  had  sustained  both  territorial  and 
pecuniary  lossjf  and  adverted  sarcastically  to 
the  high  value  the  British  power  placed  on 
money.  The  second  interview  terminated 
as  unsatisfactorily  as  the  first.  A  third 
followed,  at  which  the  Nizam  received  the 
resident  with  "something  of  sadness  in  his 
expression  of  countenance,"  yet  "  with  due 
courtesy  and  politeness."  But  he  soon  grew 
excited,  and  said  angrily,  "  Suppose  I  were 
to  declare  that  I  don't  want  tlie  contingent 
at  all  ?"  In  that  case,  he  was  told,  some 
years  might  elapse  before  the  men  could  be 
otherwise  provided  for,  and  the  specified 
districts  would  still  be  required  to  provide 
for  them  in  the  interim. 

The  conversation  came  to  a  standstill, 
and  the  resident  broke  silence  by  asking  a 
decided  answer  to  the  question — whether 
the  Nizam  would  consent  to  form  a  new 
treaty ?  "I  could  answer  in  a  moment," 
was  the  retort ;  "  but  what  is  the  use  of 
answering  ?  If  you  are  determined  to  take 
districts,  you  can  take  them  without  my 
either  making  a  new  treaty,  or  giving  any 
answer  at  all." 

Once  more  the  discussion  was  adjourned. 
The  government  had  resolved,  in  case  of 
necessity,  "to  take  possession  of  the  dis- 
tricts by  physical  force  ;"J  but  a  difficulty 
arose  as  to  the  troops  to  be  employed. 
There  were,  indeed,  more  than  sufficient  for 
the   piu-pose   abeady  stationed  within  the 

*  An  Arabic  exclamation,  indicative  of  anger  and 
surprise,  and  uttered  witli  uncontrollable  passion. — 
Pari.  Papers  (Nizam's  Territory),  p.  120. 

t  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  421. 


limits  of  Hyderabad ;  but  the  employment 
of  troops  ostensibly  organised  for  the 
Nizam's  service,  in  direct  opposition  to  his 
will,  would,  one  of  the  members  of  gov- 
ernment observed,  be  a  measure  of  doubt- 
ful propriety  in  the  case  of  the  subsidiary 
force,  but,  beyond  all  doubt,  wrong  in  the 
case  of  the  contingent.  The  same  minute 
shows  how  completely  native  contingents 
were  viewed  as  identified  with  British 
interests,  and  how  little  anticipation  was 
then  entertained  that  a  time  was  coming 
when  the  majority  would  mutiny,  murder 
their  officers,  and  fight  to  the  death  against 
the  united  power  of  their  own  princes 
and  the  British  government :  it  also  illus- 
trates the  anomalous  condition  of  con- 
tingent troops  in  general,  on  whom  such 
divided  allegiance  as  is  here  described,  must 
necessarily  have  sat  lightly ;  and  who  were 
counted  upon  by  the  supreme  government, 
as  being  ready,  at  any  moment,  to  march 
against  the  person  and  the  capital  of  their 
ostensible  master,  to  whom  they  had  sworn 
allegiance,  and  whose  salt  they  ate. 

"  I  am  quite  satisfied,"  writes  Sir  Frederick  Currie, 
"  that  the  troops  of  the  contingent  would,  at  the 
command  of  the  resident  and  their  officers,  march 
against  the  other  troops  of  the  state,  against  Hydera- 
bad, and  against  the  person  of  the  Nizam  himself,  if  so 
ordered,  as  readily  as  against  any  other  parties,  so 
entirely  have  they  been  taught  to  consider  them- 
selves our  soldiers ;  but  we  must  not,  on  that  ac- 
count, lose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  they  are  hondjide 
the  Nizam's  troops,  enlisted  (by  British  officers,  it  is 
true,  but  by  British  officers  in  the  pay  and  service 
of  the  Nizam)  in  his  name,  sworn  to  allegiance  to 
him,  and  obedience  to  his  orders.  It  would  be,  to 
my  mind,  the  very  height  of  anarchy  to  order  these 
troops  to  coerce  their  master-in  any  way;  but  more 
especially  so,  to  use  them  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
violent  possession  of  a  part  of  that  master's  terri- 
tories in  order  to  provide  for  their  own  pay."§ 

The  government  had  therefore  a  special 
reason  for  desiring  to  procure  the  consent 
of  the  Nizam  to  their  occupation  of  the 
frontier  districts ;  beside  which,  the  use  of 
the  subsidiary  troops  for  their  own  pur- 
poses, could  only  be  obtained  by  an  article 
framed  to  supersede  the  rule  by  which  they 
were  "hampered"||  in  the  treaty  of  1800; 
and  further,  it  was  desirable  to  secure  a  legal 
sanction  for  the  continued  maintenance  of 
the  contingent. 

At  length  a  modification  of  the  draft 
treaty  was   agreed  upon,   chiefly   through 

\  Resident's  Letter. — Pari.  Papers — Ihid.,  p.  129. 
§  Minute  by  Sir  F.  Currie,  2nd  April,  1853. 
II  Minute  by  Mr.  Dorin,  1st  June,  1853.— Pari. 
Papers,  p.  154. 


TRANSFER  OF  HALF  THE  NIZAM'S  TERRITORY— 1853. 


55 


the  mediation  of  Shums-ool-Omrah,  the 
uncle-in-law  of  the  Nizam ;  who  was  de- 
scribed by  the  resident  as  having  been 
famed,  throughout  a  long  Hfe,  for  truth- 
fulness and  general  respectability  of  charac- 
ter, and  who  evinced,  at  a  very  advanced 
age,  remarkable  manliness  and  good  sense. 
The  Nizam  positively  refused  to  sign  away 
any  of  his  territory  in  perpetuity;  but  he 
reluctantly  consented  to  the  temporary 
transfer  of  the  districts  to  British  manage- 
ment, on  condition  of  regular  accounts 
being  rendered  to  him,  and  the  surplus 
revenue  being  paid  into  his  treasury,  after 
the  liquidation  of  the  old  debt,  and  the 
regular  payment  of  the  contingent,  with 
some  other  items,  should  have  been  pro- 
vided for. 

The  governor-general  had  previously  de- 
clared, that  "  much  consideration"  was  due 
to  the  Nizam  on  account  of  the  unnecessary 
expense  at  which  the  contingent  had  been 
maintained ;  and  had  dwelt  forcibly  on  the 
heavy  pecuniary  sacrifice  the  government 
was  willing  to  make  by  cancelling  the  old 
debt.  Why  this  benevolent  intention  was 
not  carried  out,  does  not  clearly  appear. 
The  Nizam  would  have  joyfully  accepted 
the  boon,  if  assured  that  it  involved  no 
latent  responsibility ;  but  it  never  seems  to 
have  been  placed  within  his  reach.  Lord 
Dalhousie,  in  his  long  minute  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  advantages  procured  by  the 
treaty,  says,  "that  in  providing,  beyond 
risk,  the  means  of  regularly  paying  the  con- 
tingent, and  of  terminating  all  pecuniary 
transactions  and  consequent  causes  of  dis- 
pute with  the  Nizam,  the  government  of 
India  secured  an  all-important  object;  to 
obtain  which,  it  was  prepared  not  merely  to 
accept  an  assignment  of  districts  only,  but 
further  to  cancel  the  fifty  lacs  of  rupees  due 
to  it."  His  lordship  adds — "  The  govern- 
ment may  well  be  content  with  a  treaty 
which  gives  it  what  it  sought  without  re- 
quiring the  sacrifice  it  was  ready  and  willing 
to  make  in  return." 

No  doubt  the  new  arrangement  was  an 

*  Pari.  Papers,  p.  40. 

t  Minute  and  despatch  by  gov.-general,  pp.  8,  9. 

I  See  Quarterly  Review,  August,  1858 ;  article 
on  "  British  India,"  pp.  265,  266.  The  writer  (be- 
lieved to  be  Mr.  Layard)  refers  to  the  "  garbled" 
Blue  Book  from  which  the  statement  in  the  fore- 
going pages  has  been  framed,  as  affording  some 
insight  into  the  manner  in  which  Lord  Dalhousie 
bullied  the  Nizam  into  a  surrender  of  his  three 
richest  districts ;  and  speaks  of  a  letter  full  of  un- 
worthy invective  and  sarcasm,  in  which  the  latter 
is  likened,  by  the  former,  "to  the  dust  under  his 


extremely  favourable  one  for  the  British 
government,  when  viewed  in  the  light  of 
temporary  financial  expediency.  The  benefit 
to  be  derived  by  the  prince,  whom  Lord 
Dalhousie  truly  called  our  "  old  and  staunch 
ally,"  is  by  no  means  equally  apparent.* 
Yet  it  would  seem  to  have  been  so  to  the 
Calcutta  council;  for,  in  sending  home  to 
the  Court  of  Directors  the  documents  from 
which  the  preceding  account  has  been  ex- 
clusively framed,  and  the  precise  words  of 
which  have  been,  as  far  as  possible,  adhered 
to,  entire  confidence  is  expressed  in  the 
irrefragable  proofs  contained  therein,  "  that 
the  conduct  of  the  government  of  India 
towards  the  Nizam,  in  respect  of  the  con- 
tingent and  of  all  his  other  affairs,  has 
been  characterised  by  unvarying  good  faith, 
liberality,  and  forbearance;  and  by  a  sin- 
cere desire  to  maintain  the  stability  of  the 
state  of  Hyderabad,  and  to  uphold  the  per- 
sonal independence  of  his  highness  the 
Nizam." 

The  directors  evidently  sympathised  with 
Lord  Dalhousie's  views  of  the  course 
prompted  by  such  laudable  motives,  in- 
cluding "a  due  regard  for  our  own  inter- 
ests."t  They  rejoiced  to  find  the  Indian 
government  relieved  "  from  the  unbecoming 
position  of  an  importunate  creditor;"  and 
presented  their  "  cordial  thanks  to  the  goy- 
ernor-geueral,  and  the  officers  employed  by 
him,  in  negotiating  so  satisfactory  a  treaty." 

The  transfer  was  effected  in  1853.  Since 
then,  the  annexation  of  Hyderabad  has  been 
openly  canvassed,  and,  probably,  would 
have  been  ere  now  completed,  only  the 
turn  of  Oude  came  first,  and  then — the 
mutiny.  Fortunately  for  us,  the  Nizam 
died  in  the  interim;  otherwise,  "the  mingled 
exasperation  and  humiliation,"  which  Lord 
Dalhousie  himself  declares  the  proceedings 
of  the  governor-general  must  have  produced 
in  his  mind,  would  perhaps  have  taken  a 
tangible  form ;  and,  to  our  other  difficulties, 
might  have  been  added  that  of  struggling 
with  "one  of  the  most  dangerous  and 
fanatical  Mussulman  districts  in  India."f 

feet."  This  sentence  is  not  printed  in  the  only  letter 
from  the  governor-general  to  the  Nizam  in  the  Pari. 
Papers ;  which  contains;  however,  the  strange  as- 
sertion, that  the  efficient  maintenance  of  the  contin- 
gent force  was  a  duty  imposed  upon  the  government 
of  Hyderabad,  by  the  stipulations  of  existing  treaties 
— a  statement  refuted  by  his  lordship  in  repeated 
minutes.  The  Nizam  is  also  threatened  with  the 
resentment  of  that  great  government  "  whose  power 
can  crush  you  at  its  will ;"  and  an  anticipation  is 
expressed,  of  the  pain  and  anxiety  which  must  be 
caused  to  his  highness  by  "  the  plain  and  peremptory 


56 


ANNEXATION  OP  JHANSI— 1854. 


The. present  Nizam  was  suffered  to  ascend 
his  hereditarj'  throne  in  peace,  and  will,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  reap  the  reward  of  his  alle- 
giance in  the  restoration  of  the  assigned 
districts,  which  a  recent  authority  has  de- 
clared, "were  filched  from  his  father  by  a 
series  of  manoeuvres  as  unjust  and  dis- 
creditable as  any  that  may  be  found  in  the 
history  of  our  administration  of  British 
India."* 

The  Principality  of  Jhansi  (a  name  with 
which  we  have  been  of  late  painfully 
familiar),  annexed  in  1854,  added  to  our 
dominions  3,532  square  miles  of  territory, 
peopled  by  200,000  souls.  The  attendant 
circumstances  were  peculiar.  In  1804,  a 
treaty  was  concluded  with  Sheo  Rao  Bhao, 
subahdar  or  viceroy  of  Jhansi,  by  Lord 
Lake,  under  what  the  government  truly 
described  as  the  "  nominal"  sanction  of  the 
Peishwa.  The  adhesion  of  this  chief  was 
then  deemed  of  much  importance,  and  his 
influence  had  effect  in  inducing  many 
others  to  follow  his  example,  and  thus 
facilitated  our  operations  in  Bundelcund. 
In  1817,  the  Peishwa  having  ceded  to  us 
all  liis  rights,  feudal,  territorial,  and  pecu- 
niary, in  that  province,  a  new  treaty  was 
entered  into,  by  which  the  governor-gen- 
eral, "  in  consideration  of  the  very  respect- 
able character"  borne  by  the  lately  de- 
ceased ruler,  Sheo  Rao  Bhao,  "  and  his 
uniform  and  faithful  attachment  to  the  Bri- 
tish government,  and  in  deference  to  his 
wish  expressed  before  his  death,"  consented 
to  confirm  the  principality  of  Jhansi,  in 
perpetuity,  to  his  grandson  Ram  Chandra 
Rao,  his  heirs  and  successors. f 

The  administration  of  Ram  Chandra  was 
carried  on  so  satisfactorily,  that,  in  1832, 
the  title  of  maharajah  was  publicly  con- 
ferred on  him,  in  lieu  of  that  of  subahdar, 
by  Lord  William  Bentinck,  who  was  re- 
turning by  Jhansi  to  Calcutta,  from  a  tour 
of  inspection  in  the  Upper  Provinces.  The 
little  state  was  then  well  ordered.  Its  ruler 
was  a  sensible,  high-spirited  young  man ; 
his  aristocracy  and  army  were  composed  of 
two  or  three  thousand  persons,  chiefly  of 
his  own  family  and  tribe ;  and  his  villages 
and  people  had  as  good  an  appearance  as 
language"  addressed  to  him.  Mr.  Bright  quoted 
the  sentence  already  given  from  the  Quarterly  Re- 
view, in  his  place  in  parliament  (June  24th,  1858) ; 
adding—"  Passages  lilie  these  are  left  out  of  des- 
patches when  laid  on  the  table  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  It  would  not  do  for  the  parliament,  or 
the  Crown,  or  the  people  of  England,  to  know  that 
their  officer  addressed  language  like  this  to  a  native 
prince."    It  is  further  alleged,  that  when  forced  to 


any  in  India.  After  the  ceremony  had 
been  performed  in  the  presence  of  all  orders 
of  his  subjects,  the  maharajah  approached 
the  governor-general  in  the  attitude  of  sup- 
plication, and  craved  yet  another  boon. 
His  subjects  watched  with  deep  interest  the 
bearing  of  their  ruler,  which,  in  their  view, 
implied  unqualified  devotion  and  allegiance ; 
but  they  noticed  (according  to  a  native 
writer)  the  smile  of  surprise  and  derision 
with  which  the  ladies  and  officials  in  the 
viceregal  suite  regarded  the  scene.  Lord 
William  himself  had  a  juster  appreciation 
of  native  character,  but  he  naturally  feared 
some  embarrassing  request,  and  heard  with 
relief,  that  the  boon  desired  was  simply 
permission  to  adopt  the  English  ensign  as 
the  flag  of  Jhansi.  A  union-jack  was  at 
once  placed  in  his  hands,  and  forthwith 
hoisted,  by  his  order,  from  the  highest  tower 
of  his  castle  under  a  salute  of  one  hundred 
guns.  The  significance  of  the  act  thus  grace- 
fully carried  through,  was  beyond  misappre- 
hension ;  for  the  adoption  of  the  flag  of  the 
supreme  power  by  a  dependent  chieftain, 
was  the  expressive  and  well-known  symbol 
of  loyalty  and  identity  of  interest.  J 

Upon  the  death  of  Ram  Chandra  in  1835, 
without  male  heirs,  the  succession  was  con- 
tinued in  the  line  of  Sheo  Rao.  Gunga- 
dhur  Rao,  the  son  of  Sheo,  while  yet  a 
young  man,  was  suddenly  carried  off  by 
dysentery,  on  the  21st  of  November,  1853. 
The  day  before  his  death,  the  maharajah 
sent  for  the  poHtical  agent  of  Bundelcund 
(Mr.  Ellis),  and  the  officer  in  command 
(Captain  Martin),  and  delivered  to  them  the 
following  khareeta,  or  testament,  which  he 
caused  to  be  read  to  them  in  his  presence, 
before  all  his  court. 

"  [After  compliments.]  The  manner  in 
which  my  ancestors  were  faithful  to  the 
British  government,  previous  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  its  authority  [in  Bundelcund], 
has  become  known  even  in  Europe  ;  and  it 
is  well  known  to  the  several  agents  here, 
that  I  also  have  always  acted  in  obedience 
to  the  same  authority. 

"  I  am  now  very  ill ;  and  it  is  a  source  of 
great  grief  to  me,  that  notwithstanding  all 
my  fidelity,  and  the  favour  conferred  by 
make  the  transfer  in  question,  the  Nizam  had  a 
counter  pecuniary  claim,  exceeding  in  demand  that 
urged  against  him;  which  claim,  though  of  oia 
standing  and  repeatedly  advanced,  Lord  Dalhousie 
refused  to  discuss,  until  the  coveted  districts  should 
have  been  surrendered. 

*  Quarterly  Review,  p.  266. 

t  Pari.  Papers  (Jhansi),  27th  July,  1853;  pp.  1  i  1". 

X  Indophilus'  Letters  to  the  Times,  p.  11. 


LAKSHMI  BYE,  THE  RANEE  OF  JHANSI. 


57 


such  a  powerful  {government,  the  name  of 
my  fathers  will  end  with  me  ;  and  I  have 
therefore,  with  reference  to  the  second 
article  of  the  treaty  concluded  with  the 
British  government,  adopted  Damoodhur 
Gungadhur  Rao,  commonly  called  Anund 
Rao,  a  boy  of  five  years  old,  my  grandson 
through  my  grandfather.*  I  still  hope 
that,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  and  the  favour  of 
your  government,  I  may  recover  my  health  ; 
and,  as  my  age  is  not  great,  I  may  still  have 
children ;  and  should  this  be  the  case,  I  will 
adopt  such  steps  as  may  appear  necessary. 
Should  I  not  survive,  I  trust  that,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  fidelity  I  have  evinced  to- 
wards government,  favour  may  be  shown  to 
this  child,  and  that  my  widow,  during  her 
lifetime,  may  be  considered  the  regent  of  the 
state  (Malika)  and  mother  of  this  child,  and 
that  she  may  not  be  molested  in  any  way." 

Lakshmi  Bye  addressed  the  governor- 
general  in  favour  of  the  adoption.  She 
argued,  that  the  second  article  of  the  treaty 
was  so  peculiarly  worded,  as  expressly  to 
state  the  right  of  succession  in  perpetuity, 
either  through  warrisan  (heirs  of  the  body, 
or  collateral  heirs)  or /oA  nasheenan  (suc- 
cessors in  general);  which  the  widow  inter- 
preted as  meaning,  "  that  any  party  whom 
the  rajah  adopted  as  his  son,  to  perform 
the  funeral  rites  over  his  body  necessary 
to  ensure  beatitude  in  a  future  world,  would 
be  acknowledged  by  the  British  government 
as  Jiis  lawful  heir,  through  whom  the  name 
and  interests  of  the  family  might  be  pre- 
served." Siie  likewise  pleaded,  tiiat  the  fide- 
lity evinced  by  the  Jhansi  chiefs  in  past 
years,  ought  to  be  taken  into  consideration 
in  coming  to  a  final  decision  on  the  fate  of 
the  principality .f 

Major  Malcolm,  the  political  agent  for 
Gwalior,  Bundelcund,  and  Rewah,  in  for- 
warding the  above  appeal,  speaks  of  the 
first  point  as  an  open  question  for  the  deci- 
sion of  government ;  but  with  regard  to  the 
latter  plea,  he  says — "  The  Bye  (princess  or 
lady)  dues  not,  I  believe,  in  the  slightest 
degree  overrate  the  fidelity  and  loyalty  all 
along  evinced  by  the  state  of  Jhansi, 
under  circumstances  of  considerable  temp- 
tation, before  our  power  had  arrived  at  the 
commanding  position  which  it  has  since 
attained. "J     In  a  previous  communication, 

•  This  term  is  used  to  denominate  cousins  in  the 
third  and  fourth  def,'rees,  tracing  their  descent  in  the 
male  line  to  a  common  ancestor. — Jhansi  Papers, 
p.  8. 

t  Letters  from  the  Ranee. — Pari.  Papers,  pp.  14 ; 
24, 

vol,.  II.  I 


the  British  agent  wrote — "  The  widow  of  the 
late  Gungadhur  Rao,  in  whose  hands  he 
has  expressed  a  wish  that  the  government 
should  be  placed  during  her  lifetime,  is  a 
woman  highly  respected  and  esteemed,  and, 
I  believe,  fully  capable  of  doing  justice  to 
such  a  charge."  Major  Ellis,  the  political 
assistant  for  Bundelcund,  considered  the 
particular  question  of  the  right  of  adoption 
in  Jhansi  as  settled  by  the  precedent  es- 
tablished in  the  case  of  Oorcha ;  treaties  of 
alliance  and  friendship  existing  with  both 
states,  and  no  difference  being  discernible 
in  the  terms,  which  could  justify  the  with- 
holding the  privilege  of  adoption  from  the 
one  after  having  allowed  it  to  the  other. 
Moreover,  he  considered  that  the  general 
right  of  native  states  to  make  adoptions, 
had  been  clearly  acknowledged  and  re- 
corded by  the  directors. § 

The  governor-general,  after  having  "  care- 
fully considered"  the  above  statements,  de- 
cided that  Jhansi,  having  "  lapsed  to  the 
British  government,  should  be  retained  by 
it,  in  accordance  equally  with  right  and  with 
sound  policy."  Measures  were  immediately 
taken  for  the  transfer  of  the  principality  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  lieutenant-governor 
of  the  North-Western  Provinces.  The  na- 
tive institutions  were  demolished  at  a  blow, 
all  the  establishments  of  the  rajah's  gov- 
ernment were  superseded,  and  the  regular 
troops  in  the  service  of  the  state  were  im- 
mediately paid  up  and  discharged.  || 

The  Gwalior  contingent,  and  the  12th 
Bengal  native  infantry,  were  the  troops 
chit^fly  employed  by  the  British  govern- 
ment in  carrying  through  these  unpopular 
measures;  but  reinforcements  were  held  in 
readiness  to  overawe  opposition.  Eniploy- 
ment  such  as  this,  on  repeated  occasions, 
was  not  calculated  to  increase  the  attach- 
ment of  the  sepoys  to  the  foreign  masters 
whom  they  served  as  mercenaries,  in  what 
many  of  them  considered  the  confisca- 
tion of  the  rights  and  property  of  native 
royalty.  If  they  had  any  latent  patriotism, 
or  any  capacity  for  feeling  it,  nothing  could 
have  been  more  calculated  to  arouse  or  im- 
plant it  than  this  ruthless  system  of  absorp- 
tion. Their  sympathies  would  naturally  be 
enlisted  in  favour  of  Lakshmi  Bye.who  fierce, 
relentless  tigress  as  she  has  since  appeared, 

%  Jhansi  Papers,  pp.  14 ;  24,  25. 

§  Major  Ellis  referred  especially  to  a  despatch 
from  the  Court  of  Directors,  dated  27th  March,  1839 
(No.  9),  for  an  explicit  statement  of  their  views  on 
the  subjf^ct  of  adoption. — Jhansi  Papers,   p.  16. 

II  Ihtd.,  p.  31. 


58        EXTINCTION  OP  TITULAR  NAWABSHIP  OP  THE  CARNATIC. 


was  then  venerated  as  a  marvel  of  youth, 
ability,  and  discretion.  "  This  lady,"  said 
Major  Malcolm,  "bears  a  very  high  cha- 
racter, and  is  much  respected  by  every  one 
in  Jhansi ;"  and  he  urged  especially  (in  the 
event  of  the  annexation  of  the  state),  "  that 
in  compliance  with  her  husband's  last  re- 
quest, all  the  state  jewels  and  private  funds, 
and  any  balance  remaining  in  the  public 
treasury,  after  closing  the  accounts  of  the 
state,  should  also  be  considered  as  her  pri- 
vate property."* 

The  governor-general  replied,  in  general 
terms,  that  the  property  of  the  rajah  would 
belong  by  law  to  his  adopted  son ;  because, 
the  adoption,  if  legally  made,  was  good  for 
the  conveyance  of  private  rights,  though 
not  for  the  transfer  of  the  principality. 
Thus  the  ranee  was  not  only  deprived  of 
the  regency,  but  was  held  to  be  cut  off  from 
other  claims  by  the  very  means  her  dying 
husband  had  taken  to  ensure  her  future 
position.  The  first  part  of  her  history 
ends  here.  We  have  no  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  she  bore  her  disappoint- 
ment; but  we  know  that  she  rose  at  the 
first  signal  of  the  mutiny,  and  that  her 
name  is  now  inseparably  connected  with 
thoughts  of  massacre  and  war.  Her  sub- 
sequent career  does  not,  however,  belong 
to  this  introductory  chapter.  The  supreme 
council  were  by  no  means  unanimous 
regarding  the  seizure  of  Jhansi.  Messrs. 
Low  and  Halliday,  while  professing  them- 
selves convinced  by  Lord  Dalhousie's  rea- 
soning on  the  legality  of  the  annexation, 
stated,  that  they  would  have  preferred  the 
pursuance  of  a  similar  course  towards 
Jhansi  to  that  lately  taken  with  regard  to 
Kerowlee. 

Now  Kerowlee  was  a  Rajpoot  princi- 
pality, the  annexation  of  which  was  only 
prevented  by  the  interference  of  the  home 
government,  on  a  threatened  motion  of  the 
House  of  Commons.f 

Indophilus  (whose  opinion  on  the  subject 
is  especially  interesting,  on  account  of  his 
tendency  towards  the  annexation  policy  in 
particular,  and  generally  in  favour  of  the 
Company)  says,  that  Kerowlee  had  neither 
been  so  well  governed,  nor  had  entered  into 
such  an  interesting  relation  with  us,  as 
Jhansi :  but  its  rajah  was  descended  from 
the  Moon  (Chandrabunsee) ;  and  some  thou- 

*  Letter  of  political  agent  (Malcolm),  16th  March, 
1854.— Pari.  Papors  on  Jhansi,  p.  28. 

t  Qaurterly  licview,  July,  1858  ;  article  on  "  Bri- 
tish India,"  p.  2(59. 


sands  of  half-civihsed  relations  and  retainers 
were  dependent  for  their  social  position 
and  subsistence  upon  the  continuance  of 
the  little  state.  He  also  died  without  chil- 
dren; but  the  native  institutions  of  the 
state  were  suifered  to  continue,  and  the 
ruling  chief  has  remained  faithful  to  us 
during  the  insurrection.  The  largei*  Raj- 
poot states  of  Jeypoor,  Joudpoor,  Bikaneer, 
and  others,  have  been  also  on  our  side. 
"The  case  of  their  Brother  of  the  Moon 
was  justly  regarded  by  them  as  a  test  of 
our  intentions  towards  them,  and  they  were 
in  some  degree  reassured  by  the  result. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  (adds  Indophilus) 
that  these  small  national  states,  which  must 
be  dependent  upon  the.  central  government, 
and  cannot,  if  treated  with  common  fair- 
ness, combine  against  it,  are  an  important 
element  of  the  Indian  system." 

The  Nawab  of  the  Carnalic  died  in  1855, 
leaving  no  son.  The  claims  of  his  paternal 
uncle,  Azim  Jah  (who  had  been  regent), 
were  urged  as  entitling  him,  by  Mohamme- 
dan law,  to  succeed  to  the  musnud;  but  the 
decision  was  given  against  him,  and  the 
title  of  nawab  placed  "  in  abeyance,"  on  the 
ground  that  the  treaty  by  which  the  musnud 
of  the  Carnatic  had  been  conferred  on  the 
uawab's  predecessor,  had  been  purely  a 
personal  one,  and  that  both  he  and  his 
family  had  disreputably  abused  the  dignity 
of  their  position,  and  the  large  share  of  the 
public  revenue  which  had  been  allotted  to 
them. J 

Mr.  Norton,  an  English  barrister  of  the 
Madras  bar,  who  had  been  present  at  the 
installation  of  the  deceased  nawab,  and  had 
resided  at  Madras  throughout  the  whole  of 
his  occupation  of  the  musnud,  says,  he  was 
neither  of  bad  parts  nor  of  bad  disposition; 
and  had  he  been  only  moderately  educated, 
his  presence  at  Madras  might  have  entailed 
great  benefits  upon  the  people,  especially 
the  Mussulman  population.  The  nawab 
had  been  under  the  tutelage  of  the  Com- 
pany from  his  earliest  infancy  ;  and  instead 
of  superintending  his  moral  .and  intellectual 
training,  they  gave  him  over  "  to  the  offices 
of  panders  and  parasites,  and  left  him  to 
sink,  from  sheer  neglect,  into  the  life  of 
sensuality  and  extravagance  common  to 
Eastern  princes."  He  died  suddenly,  while 
still  young;  and  Mr.  Norton  argues,  that 

j  Letters  of  Indophilus,  p.  1 1.  Minute  of  Gov- 
ernor-general Dalhousie,  28lh  February,  1856.  Re- 
turn to  order  of  House  of  Lords ;  printed  10th  June, 
1856 ;  pp.  12,  13. 


ABOLITION  OP  TITULAR  PRINCIPALITY  OF  TANJORE— 1855. 


59 


foolish  and  improvident  as  his  conduct  had 
been,  lie  had  committed  no  oiFences  suffi- 
ciently heinous  to  iustify  the  penalty  in- 
flicted on  the  family;  adding,  "we  mij^ht 
just  as  reasonably  have  refused  to  allow  the 
heirs  of  George  IV.  to  succeed  him,  ou 
account  of  his  irregular  habits  and  extrava- 
gance." 

The  same  writer  states,  that  Azim  Jah, 
the  rejected  claimant  of  the  musnud,  had 
been  on  several  occasions  officially  recog- 
nised, in  writing,  as  the  lawful  heir.* 

The  titular  Raj  of  Tanjore  was  abolished 
by  aliesed  right  of  lapse  ou  the  death  of  its 
last  rajah,  Sevajee,  in  1855.  The  resident, 
Mr.  Forbes,  pleaded  strongly  in  behalf  of  the 
daughter  of  the  deceased.  He  urged  that 
Tanjore  was  not  a  conquered  country ;  that 
its  acquisition  had  not  cost  the  life  of  a 
single  soldier,  nor  the  value  of  a  single 
rupee;  and  that  during  fifty  years'  posses- 
sion, a  revenue  of  no  less  than  twenty  crores, 
or  as  many  millions  sterling,  had  been  de- 
rived from  it  by  the  British  government. 
After  entreating  favourable  consideration  for 
the  daughter  of  a  line  of  princes  who,  when 
their  aid  was  needed,  had  always  proved  our 
firm  allies — he  sets  forth  anotlier  and  very 
pertinent  view  of  the  case,  declaring,  that  "it 
is  impossible  to  doubt  that  the  now  pros- 
perous condition  of  the  country  would  be 
very  greatly  affected  by  the  sudden  with- 
drawal of  a  circulation  amounting  to  about 
eleven  lacs  a-year.  So  great  a  diminution 
of  the  expenditure  within  the  province,  must 
certainly  lead  to  a  difficulty  in  realising  the 
revenue :  it  is  a  small  tract  of  land  from 
which  to  raise  fifty  lacs  a-year ;  and  it  cannot 
be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  producers, 
whether  more  than  a  fifth  of  the  revenue  be 
spent  among  them  or  not." 

Mr.  Norton  gives  his  personal  testimony 
with  regard  to  the  unnecessary  and  impolitic 
harshness  with  which  the  extinction  of  the 
titular  principality  was  accomplished.  A 
company  of  sepoys  was  marched  suddenly 
into  the  palace;  the  whole  of  the  property, 
real  and  personal,  was  seized,  and  the  Com- 
pany's seals  put  upon  all  the  jewels  and 
other  valuables.  The  soldiery  were  disarmed, 
and  in  the  most  offensive  way.  The  private 
estate  of  the  rajah's  mother,  of  the  estimated 
value  of  three  lacs  a-year,  was  sequestered, 

^and  has  remained  so.    The  occupier  of  every 
piece  of  land  in  the  district,  which  had  at 
any  time  belonged  to  a  former  rajah,  was 
•  Norton's  Rehellion  in  India,  pp.  98 — 107. 
t  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  392. 


turned  out  of  his  possession,  and  ordered  to 
come  before  the  commissioner  to  establish 
a  title  to  his  satisfaction.  The  whole  of  the 
people  dependent  upon  the  expenditure  of 
the  raj  revenue  among  them,  were  panic- 
struck  at  the  prospect  of  being  thrown  out 
of  employ ;  and,  in  a  week,  Tanjore,  from 
the  most  contented  place  in  our  dominions, 
was  converted  into  a  hotbed  of  sullen  dis 
affection.  The  people  venerated  the  raj, 
and  were  indignant  at  its  suppression  :  the 
very  sepoys  refused  to  receive  their  pensions. 

According  to  Mr.  Norton,  the  terms  of 
the  treaty  promised  the  succession  to  "heirs" 
in  general,  and  not  exclusively  to  heirs 
male;  but  he  considers  the  prior  claim  to 
be  that  of  the  senior  widow,  in  preference  to 
the  daughter;  and  quotes  a  precedent  in  the 
history  of  the  Tanjore  dynasty,  and  many 
others  in  Hindoo  history,  including  that  of 
Malcolm's  favourite  heroine,  Ahalya  Bye, 
the  exemplary  queen  of  Indore.f 

Kamachi  Bye,  the  senior  widow,  intends 
contesting  her  claims  to  the  raj,  in  England. 
She  has  filed  a  bill  in  the  Supreme  Court, 
for  the  recovery  of  the  personal  private 
estate  of  her  late  husband,  and  has  ob- 
tained an  injunction  against  the  Company, 
to  restrain  them  from  parting  with  the 
property.  J 

Passing  over  some  minor  absorptions,  we 
arrive  at  the  last  and  greatest  of  Lord 
Dalhousie's  annexations — one  which,  both 
from  its  importance  and  special  character, 
requires  to  be  entered  into  at  some  length. 

Oude,  or  Ayodha,  was  famous  in  ancient 
Hindoo  lore  as  the  kingdom  of  Dasa- 
ratha,  the  father  of  Rama,  the  hero  of  the 
famous  epic  the  Ramayana.  With  the  de- 
tails of  its  fall  as  a  Hindoo  kingdom,  and  its 
history  as  a  province  of  the  Mogul  empire, 
we  are  almost  entirely  unacquainted;  but 
we  know  that  it  has  retained  its  insti- 
tutions to  the  present  day,  and  that,  in  all 
respects,  the  Hindoo  element  largely  pre- 
dominates throughout  Oude.  The  ques- 
tion of  immediate  interest  is  its  connection 
by  treaties  with  the  East  India  Company, 
and  the  proceedings  of  its  Mussulman  rulers. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  their  in- 
dependence was  founded  on  simple  usurpa- 
tion, having  been  obtained  by  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  weakness  of  their  rightful 
sovereigns,  the  Moguls  of  Delhi. § 

Sadut  Khan,  nick-named  the  "  Persian 
pedlar,"  the  founder  of  the  dynasty,  was  a 

\  Norton's  Rebellion  in  India,  pp.  107 — 118. 
§  Indian  Empire,  vol,  i.,  p.  159. 


60 


CONNEXION  OF  OUDE  WITH  E.  I.  COMPANY— 1738— 1782. 


merchant  of  Khorasan,  who,  by  dint  of 
ability  and  intrigue,  eventually  procured 
for  liimself  the  petition  of  governor  (or 
soubah,  or  nawab)  of  the  province  of  Oude, 
together  with  tliat  of  vizier,  which  he  held 
when  Nadir  Shah  invaded  India  in  1738-'9. 

The  reigning  emperor,  jNIohammcd  Shah, 
was  powerless  in  the  hands  of  his  ambitious 
servants;  their  plots  and  peculations  facili- 
tated the  progress  of  the  invader ;  and  their 
private  quarrels  incited  the  pillage  and 
massacre  which  desolated  Delhi.  Sadut 
Khan  was  perpetually  intriguing  against 
his  wily  rival,  the  Nizam- ool-Moolk  (or 
regulator  of  the  state),  "  the  old  Deccani 
baboon,"  as  the  young  courtiers  called  him ; 
from  whom  the  Nizams  of  the  Deccan 
(Hyderabad)  descended. 

The  death  of  Sadut  Khan  is  said  to 
have  been  indirectly  caused  by  the  Nizam.* 
It  occurred  before  Nadir  Shah  quitted 
Delhi.t  His  ison  and  successor,  Sufdur 
Jung,  was  likewise  able  and  unprincipled. 
The  third  of  the  dynasty  was  Shuja  Dow- 
lah.J  who  succeeded,  in  1756,  to  the  na- 
wahship,  which  the  weakness,  not  the  will, 
of  the  Moguls  of  Delhi  had  suffered  to 
become  hereditary.  The  unfortunate  em- 
peror, Shah  Alum,  had  indeed  no  worse 
enemy  than  his  nominal  servant,  but  really 
pitiless  and  grasping  gaoler,  the  nawab- 
vizier  of  Oude.§  It  was  Shuja  Dowlah  who 
was  conquered  by  the  British  troops  in  the 
battle  of  Buxar,  in  1764;  and  with  whom, 
in  1773,  Warren  Hastings  concluded  the 
infamous  treaty  of  Benares,  whereby  the 
districts  of  Allahabad  and  Corah  were,  in 
defiance  of  the  rights  of  Shah  Alum,  sold 
to  the  nawab-vizier ;  and  British  forces  were 
hired  out  to  the  same  rebellious  subject,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  enabling  him  to 
"annex"  Rohilcund,  and  "  exterminate" || 
the  Rohilla  chiefs,  with  whom  we  had  no 
shadow  of  quarrel. 

Immediately  after  the  defeat  and  mas- 
sacre of  the  Rohillas  on  the  bloody  field  of 
Bareilly  in  1774,  Shuja  Dowlah  was  seized 
with  mortal  sickness,  and  died  after  many 

•  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  166.      f  Ibid.,  p.  173. 

X  A  memorandum  on  the  Oude  dynasty,  drawn  up 
by  Fletcher  Hayes,  assistant-resident  at  Lucknow, 
is  inserted  in  the  Oude  Blue  Book  of  1856.  Shuja 
Dowlah  is  there  described  "  as  the  infamous  son  of 
a  still  more  infamous  Persian  pedlar,"  and  as  en- 
joying "  the  extensive  province  of  Oude  as  a  reward 
for  a  service  of  uncommon  villanies."  This  and 
other  statements  are  ouoted  on  the  authority  of 
Ferishta,  the  famous  Mohammedan  annalist;  but 
Mr.  Hayes  overlooks  the  fact,  that  Ferishta  (or 
Mahomed  Kasim)  was   born   about  the  year  1570 


months  of  agony.  The  cause  was  said  to 
have  been  a  wound  inflicted  by  tlie  daughter 
of  Hafiz  Rehmet,  the  principal  Rohilla  chief, 
who  perished,  sword  in  hand,  at  Bareilly. 
The  unhappy  girl  had  been  captured ;  and 
when  the  iiawab  strove  to  add  to  the  mur- 
der of  the  father  the  dishonour  of  his  child, 
she  stabbed  him,  and  was  immediately 
seized,  and  put  to  death.  The  wound  in- 
flicted by  the  unhappy  girl  was  slight ;  but 
the  dagger's  point  had  been  dipped  in  poi- 
son, which  slowly  and  surely  did  its  work.^ 

The  next  nawab,  Asuf-ad-Dowlah,  was  a 
weak  and  sensual  youth,  who  had  no 
strength  of  character  to  enable  him  to  re- 
sist the  evil  counsels  of  unworthy  favour- 
ites. The  subsidiary  troops  at  first  ob- 
tained from  the  English  for  purposes  of  the 
most  direct  aggression,  became  a  heavy 
drain  on  the  resources  of  the  misgoverned 
country.  Warren  Hastings  saw,  in  his 
indolent  neighbour,  an  instrument  for  in- 
creasing the  dominions  of  the  Company, 
and  refilling  their  treasury ;  and  then  fol- 
lowed new  treaties,  new  loans,  new  cement- 
ing of  eternal  friendships,  and,  lastly,  the 
shameless  plunder  of  the  begums  of  Oude, 
which  inflicted  indelible  disgrace  alike  on 
the  nawab  and  the  governor-general.** 

The  Marquis  Cornwallis,  in  this  as  in 
other  cases,  took  a  very  different  vie\v  to 
that  acted  on  by  his  predecessor.  He  saw 
the  increasing  disorganisation  of  Oude,  and 
remonstrated  forcibly  with  its  ruler ;  who 
urged,  in  extenuation,  the  exactions  of  the 
Company,  amounting,  within  a  period  of 
little  more  than  nine  years,  to  £2,300,000 
sterling.tt  The  annual  subsidy  settled  by 
treaty,  had  been  raised,  on  one  pretext  or 
another, until  it  averaged  eighty-four  lacs  per 
annum ;  and  Warren  Hastings  himself  ac- 
knowledged the  "  intolerable  burden"  which 
was  inflicted  upon  the  revenue  and  authority 
of  the  nawab-vizier,  by  the  number,  influ- 
ence, and  enormous  amount  of  the  salaries, 
pensions,  and  emoluments  of  the  Company's 
service,  civil  and  military;  which  called 
forth  the  envy  and  resentment  of  the  whole 

during  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Akber,  and  was  the 
coiemporary  of  the  French  traveller  Bernier.  It  is 
therefore  not  the  Annals  of  Ferishta  which  Mr. 
Hayes  quotes  from,  but  the  continuation  of  them, 
known  as  Dow's  History  of  Hindoostan,  a  work 
which,  though  honestly  and  ably  written,  occasion- 
ally records  rumours  of  the  day  as  historical  facts. 

§  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  299. 

II  The  word  used  in  the  treaty  of  Benares. —  Vide 
Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  ]).  329. 

%  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  330.     •*  Ihid.,  p.  363. 

tt  liespatch  of  directors,  8th  April,  1789. 


CONNEXION  OP  THE  E.  I.  COMPANY  WITH  OUDE— 1797. 


61 


country,  by  excluding  the  native  servants 
and  adherents  of  the  vizier  from  the  rewards 
of  their  services  and  attachment.* 

Lord  Cornwallis  reduced  tlie  amount  of 
tribute  to  fifty  iacs;  checked  the  interfer- 
ence, and  curtailed  the  salaries  and  per- 
quisites, of  officials ;  and  insisted  ou  the 
disbandment  of  the  temporary  brigade, 
which  had  been  subsidized  by  the  vizier  for 
so  long  a  time  only  as  he  should  require  its 
services,  but  from  the  costly  maintenance  of 
which  he  had  afterwards  in  vain  sought  relief. 
The  measures  of  the  governor-general 
in  favour  of  the  Oude  government  were, 
unhappily,  not  attended  by  any  correspond- 
ing internal  reforms.  Profligacy,  inca- 
pacity, and  corruption  at  court ;  tyranny, 
extortion,  and  strife  among  the  semi-inde- 
pendent Hindoo  chiefs ;  neglect  and  abject 
wretchedness  among  the  mass,  continued  to 
prevail  up  to  the  death  of  Asuf-ad-Dowlah 
in  1797. 

The  succession  was  disputed  between  his 
brother  Sadut  Ali,  and  his  son  Vizier  Ali, 
a  youth  of  seventeen,  of  a  disposition  vio- 
lent even  to  madness.  The  Calcutta  gov- 
ernment (of  which  Sir  John  Shore  was  then 
at  the  head)  at  first  decided  in  favour  of 
Vizier  Ali ;  but  cle^r  proof  of  his  illegitimacy, 
and  consequent  unfitness  to  succeed  accord- 
ing to  Mussulman  law,  being  adduced,  the 
decision  was  reversed  in  favour  of  Sadut  Ali, 
who  entered  into  a  new  treaty  with  the 
Company ;  by  which  he  consented  to  sur- 
render the  fortress  of  Allahabad,  to  increase 
the  annual  subsidy,  and  to  receive  into  his 
service  the  additional  troops  deemed  neces- 
sary for  the  protection  of  Oude. 

The  Marquis  Wellesley  (then  Lord  Morn- 
ington)  became  governor-general  in  1798; 
and  his  attention  was  at  once  drawn  to  the 
notorious  misgoverntnent  of  Oude.  The 
three  brothers — the  Marquis,  Colonel  Wel- 
lesley (the  future  duke),  and  Henry  Wel- 
lesley (afterwards  Lord  Cowley) — discussed 
the  subject  publicly  and  privately ;  and  the 
colonel  drew  up  a  memorandum  on  the 
subject,  which,  in  fact,  anticipates  all  that 
has  since  been  said  on  the  evils  of  subsidiary 
troops. 

"  By  the  first  treaty  with  the  nabobs  of  Oude,  the 
Company  were  bound  to  assist  the  nabob  with  their 
troops,  on  the  condition  of  receiving  payment  for 
their  expenses.     The   adoption   of  this   system   of 

•  Quoted  in  Dacoitee  in  Excelsis ;  or,  the  Spolia- 
tion of  Oxide,  p.  28.     London  :  Taylor. 

t  Memorandum  on  Oude. —  Wellinfftott  Supple- 
mentary Despatches:  edited  by  the  present  Duke. 
London  :   Murray,  1858. 


alliance  is  always  to  be  attributed  to  the  weakness 
of  the  state  which  receives  the  assistance,  and  the 
remedy  generally  aggravates  the  evil.  It  was  usu- 
ally attended  by  a  stipulation  that  the  subsidy 
should  be  paid  in  equal  monthly  instalments;  and 
as  this  subsidy  was  generally  the  whole,  or  nearly 
the  whole,  disposable  resource  of  the  state,  it  was 
not  easy  to  produce  it  at  the  moments  at  which  it 
was  stipulated.  The  tributary  government  was  then 
reduced  to  borrow  at  usurious  interest,  to  grant  tun- 
caws  upon  the  land  for  repayment,  to  take  advances 
from  aumildars,  to  sell  the  office  of  aumildar,  and  to 
adopt  all  the  measures  which  it  might  be  supposed 
distress  on  the  one  hand,  and  avarice  and  extortion 
on  the  other,  could  invent  to  procure  the  money  ne- 
cessary to  provide  for  the  payment  of  the  stipulated 
subsidies. 

"  As  soon  as  this  alliance  has  been  formed,  it  has 
invariably  been  discovered  that  the  whole  strength 
of  the  tributary  government  consisted  in  the  aid 
afforded  by  its  more  powerful  ally,  or  rather  protec- 
tor ;  and  from  that  moment  the  respect,  duty,  and 
loyalty  of  its  subjects  have  been  weakened,  and  it 
has  become  more  difficult  to  realise  the  resources  of 
the  state.  To  this  evil  must  be  added  those  of  the 
same  kind  arising  from  oppression  by  aumildars, 
who  have  paid  largely  for  tlieir  situations,  and  must 
remunerate  themselves  in  the  course  of  one  year  for 
what  they  have  advanced  from  those  holding  tun- 
caws,  and  other  claimants  upon  the  soil  on  account 
of  loans  to  government;  and  the  result  is,  an  in- 
creasing deficiency  in  the  regular  resources  of  the 
state. 

"  But  these  financial  difficulties,  created  by  weak- 
ness and  increased  by  oppression,  and  which  are 
attended  by  a  long  train  of  disorders  throughout  the 
country,  must  attract  the  attention  of  the  protecting 
government,  and  then  these  last  are  obliged  to  in- 
terfere in  the  internal  administration,  in  order  to 
save  the  resources  of  the  state,  and  to  preclude  the 
necessity  of  employing  the  troops  in  quelling  inter- 
nal rebellion  and  disorder,  which  were  intended  to 
resist  the  foreign  enemy."t 

Lord  Wellesley  was  ambitious,  and  cer- 
tainly desirous  of  augmenting,  by  all  hon- 
ourable means,  the  resources  and  extent  of 
the  dominion  committed  to  his  charge.  He 
had,  however,  no  shade  of  avarice  in  his 
composition,  for  himself  or  for  the  Com- 
pany he  served :  all  his  plans  were  on  a 
large  scale — all  his  tendencies  were  magnifi- 
cent and  munificent.  He  saw  that  the 
Company,  by  their  ostensible  system  of  non- 
interference in  the  internal  affairs  of  the 
nawab's  government,  and  by  the  actual 
and  almost  inevitable  exercise  of  authority 
therein  for  the  restraint  of  intolerable  acts 
of  oppression  and  disorder,  had  created  a 
double  government,  which  was  giving  rise 
to  the  greatest  extortion  and  confusion. 

Successive  governors-general  had  borne 
testimony  to  the  absence  of  law,  order,  and 
justice  throughout  Oude,  and  had  endea- 
voured to  introduce  remedial  measures ; 
which,  however,  had  all  produced  a  directly 
contrary  efl'ect  to  that  for  which  they  were 


62 


LORD  WELLESLEY'S  TREATY  WITH  OUDE— 1801. 


designed,  by  complicating  the  involvements 
of  the  state,  and  increasing  the  extortions 
practised  on  the  people  by  the  aumildars 
and  licentious  native  soldiery.  These  latter 
had  become  so  perfectly  mutinous  and  un- 
governable, that  Sadut  Ali  required  the 
presence  of  British  troops  to  secure  him 
against  the  anticipated  treachery  of  his 
own ;  and  declared  that,  in  the  day  of  battle, 
he  could  not  tell  whether  they  would  fight 
for  or  against  him. 

The  consideration  of  these  circumstances 
induced  Lord  Wellesley  to  frame  a  treaty, 
concluded  in  1801,  by  which  the  nawab 
ceded  one-half  of  his  territories  to  the  Com- 
pany (including  the  districts  now  forming 
part  of  the  North- Western  Provinces,  under 
the  names  of  Rohilcund,  Allahiibad,  Fur- 
ruckabad,  Mynpoorie,  Etawa,  Goruckpoor, 
Azimghur,  Cawnpoor,  and  Futtehpoor),  in 
return  for  a  release  from  all  arrears  of  sub- 
sidy, and  for  all  expenses  to  be  hereafter 
incurred  in  the  protection  of  his  country, 
which  the  Company  bound  themselves  to 
defend  in  future,  alike  against  foreign  and 
domestic  foes.  They  distinctly  promised 
that  no  demand  whatever  should  be  made 
upon  his  territory,  whether  on  account  of 
mihtary  establishments;  in  the  assembling 
of  forces  to  repel  the  attack  of  a  foreign 
enemy ;  on  account  of  the  detachment  at- 
tached to  the  nawab's  person;  on  account 
of  troops  which  might  be  occasionally 
furnished  for  suppressing  rebellions  or  dis- 
orders in  his  territories ;  nor  on  account  of 
failures  in  the  resources  of  the  Ceded  Dis- 
tricts, arising  from  imfavourable  seasons, 
the  calamities  of  war,  or  any  other  cause 
whatever. 

The  Company  guaranteed  to  Sadut  Ali, 
his  heirs  and  successors,  the  possession  of 
the  reserved  territories,  together  with  the 
exercise  of  authority  therein;  and  the  nawab 
engaged  to  establish  therein  such  a  system 
of  administration  (to  be  carried  into  effect 
by  his  own  officers)  as  should  be  conducive 
to  the  prosperity  of  his  subjects,  and  cal- 
culated to  secure  theiir  lives  and  property. 
He  likewise  bound  himself  to  disband  the 
chief  part  of  the  native  troops;  which  he 
immediately  did  by  reducing  them  from 
80,000  to  30,000.  The  treaty  of  1801 
gave  the  nawab  a  certainty  lor  an  uncer- 
tainty ;  and  restored  to  the  remaining  por- 
tion of  Oude  something  of  the  vigour  of  an 
independent  state.  It  would  probably  have 
done  much  more  than  this,  had  the  Com- 
pany confirmed  the  appointment  of  Henry 


Wellesley,  by  the  governor-general,  to  super- 
intend the  working  of  the  new  arrange- 
ments, and  assist  in  initiating  and  carrying 
out  useful  reforms.  The  ability,  tact,  and 
courtesy  which  he  had  manifested  in  the 
previous  negotiations,  had  won  the  confi- 
dence of  Sadut  Ali ;  and,  as  the  brother 
of  the  governor-general,  Henry  Wellesley 
might  have  exercised  an  influence  bene- 
ficial to  both  parties,  similar  to  that  which 
contributed  so  largely  to  the  tranquil  settle- 
ment of  Mj'soor,  under  the  auspices  of 
Colonel  Wellesley.  But  the  directors  would 
not  sanction  such  a  breach  of  the  privileges 
of  the  covenanted  service,  and  the  appoint- 
ment was  cancelled.  The  papers  of  the 
late  Lord  Cowley,  and  the  Wellesley  MSS. 
in  the  British  Museum,  abound  with  evi- 
dence of  judicious  reformatory  measures 
projected  for  Oude,  but  neutralised  or  set 
aside  by  the  home  government.  While  Sadut 
Ali  lived  the  treaty  worked  well,  although 
the  manner  in  which  he  availed  himself  of 
the  stipulated  services  of  British  troops, 
repeatedly  made  the  Calcutta  government 
sensible  of  the  responsibility  they  had  as- 
sumed, and  the  difficulty  of  reconciling  the 
fulfilment  of  their  engagements  to  the  ruler, 
with  a  due  regard  to  the  rights  and  in- 
terests of  his  subjects. 

The  nawab  conducted  his  affairs  with 
much  discretion  and  economy;  and,  on  his 
death  in  1814,  he  left  fourteen  millions 
sterling  in  a  treasury  which  was  empty 
when  he  entered  on  the  government. 

The  partition  of  Oude  was  not,  however, 
accomplished  without  bloodshed.  The  Hin- 
doo landowners  in  the  ceded  country — who 
were,  for  the  most  part,  feudal  chieftains 
of  far  older  standing  than  any  Mussulman 
in  India — resisted  the  proposed  change,  and 
were  with  difficulty  subdued.*  The  fact 
was  significant ;  and  it  would  have  been 
well  had  the  subsequent  annexators  of  Oude 
remembered,  that  the  danger  to  be  appre- 
hended lay  with  the  feudal  and  semi-inde- 
pendent chiefs,  rather  than  with  their  sen- 
sual and  effete  suzerain. 

Sadut  Ali  was  succeeded  byGhazi-oo-deen, 
who  is  described  by  one  authority  as  "  indo- 
lent and  debauched  ;"t  and,  by  another,  as 
bearing  some  resemblance  to  our  James  l.^^ 
He  lent  the  Company  two  millions  of  the 
treasure  accumulated  by  his  predecessor,  to 
assist  them  in  carrying  on  their  wars  with 

*  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  386. 

t  Sleemaii's  Journey  through  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  192. 

X  llebet's  Journal. 


LOED  AMHERSTS  LETTERS  TO  THE  KING  OF  OUDE— 1825-'6. 


63 


Burinah  and  Nepaul ;  aud  they  gave  him, 
ia  return,  a  sliare  of  their  conquests ; 
namely,  the  Turaee* — a  fertile,  richly- 
wooded,  but  unhealthy  tract,  which  extends 
along  the  foot  of  the  Himalayas  ;  and  sanc- 
tioned his  assumption  of  regal  dignity. 

The  acceptance  of  a  loan,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, was  uuworthy  of  a  great  govern- 
ment ;  and  the  confirmation  of  Ghazi-oo- 
deen's  sovereignty  was  of  doubtful  policy. 
Complaints  of  misgovernment  were  rife,  and 
appear  to  have  been  supported  by  forcible 
evidence.  Bishop  Heber,  who  travelled 
through  Oude  iu  1824-'5,  gave  a  more 
favourable  account  than  other  witnesses  of 
the  condition  of  the  country ;  but  his  ob- 
servations were  necessarily  cursory.  He 
reasoned  with  Ghazi-oo-deen  on  the  duty 
of  attending  to  the  condition  of  the  people; 
and  "  the  reply  was,  that  he  was  power- 
less, having  lent  to  the  British  government 
all  the  money  wliich  would  have  enabled 
him  to  ease  his  subjects  of  their  burdens." 
Had  the  money  remained  in  the  Oude  trea- 
sury, it  is  highly  improbable  that  it  would 
have  benefited  the  people,  except,  indeed, 
indirectly,  through  the  reckless  expenditure 
of  an  unscrupulous  minister,  and  a  most  un- 
worthy set  of  favourites.  Still,  it  is  painful 
to  learn  that  English  governors  should  have 
exposed  themselves  to  such  a  reproach, 
or  should  have  acknowledged  a  loan  from  a 
dependent  prince,  in  such  a  strain  of  ful- 
some and  profane  flattery  as  that  in  which 
Lord  Amherst  invokes  the  blessing  of  the 
Almighty  on  "  the  Mine  of  Munificence ;" 
and  declares,  that  "  the  benefits  aud  fruits 
of  our  amity,  which  have  existed  from  days 
of  yore,  are  impressed  upon  the  heart  of 
every  Englishman,  both  here  and  in  Europe, 
as  indelibly  as  if  they  had  been  engraven 
on  adamant ;  nor  will  lapse  of  time,  or 
change  of  circumstance,  efface  from  the 
British  nation  so  irrefragable  a  proof,  so 
irresistible  an  argument,  of  the  fraternal 
sentiments  of  your  majesty ."f 

Nevertheless,  the  internal  management 
of  the  "  Mine  of  Munificence"  was  far  from 
satisfactory,  and  the  resident  was  officially 
reminded  (July  22nd,  1825),  that  "by  the 
treaty  of  1801,  the  British  government  is 
clearly  entitled,  as  well  as  morally  obliged, 
to  satisfy  itself  by  whatever  means  it  may 

•  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  413. 

t  Letters  of  Lord  Amherst  to  the  King  of  Oude, 
October  14th,  1825  j  and  June  23rd,  1826.  Quoted 
in  Ducuitee  in  JSxcelsis ;  or,  the  Spoliation  of  Oude  : 
pp.  C8— 70. 


deem  necessary ;  that  the  aid  of  its  troops 
is  required  iu  support  of  right  and  justice, 
and  not  to  effectuate  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion." In  conformity  with  these  instruc- 
tions, the  resident,  and  the  officers  com- 
manding troops  employed  in  the  king's 
service,  exercised  a  scrutiny  which  became 
extremel)''  distasteful;  and  the  treaty  was 
violated  by  the  increase  of  the  native  force 
(which  was  available,  unchallenged,  for  any 
purpose,  and  afforded  emolument  and  pa- 
tronage to  the  native  ministers  and  fa- 
vourites), until,  within  the  last  few  years 
of  the  reigu  of  Ghazi-oo-deen,  it  comprised 
about  sixty  thousand  men. 

Nuseer-oo-deen,  the  son  of  Ghazi,  suc- 
ceeded him  on  the  musnud  in  1827.  This 
is  the  "Eastern  king"  whose  private  life  has 
been  gibbeted  to  deserved  infamy,  in  a  sort 
of  biographical  romance^  written  by  a 
European  adventurer,  for  some  time  mem- 
ber of  the  royal  household  (as  librarian  or 
portrait-painter.)  Recollecting  the  scan- 
dalous scenes  revealed  by  contemporary 
diaries  and  memoirs  regarding  our  nomi- 
nally Christian  kings — the  Merry  Monarch, 
and  Nuseer's  contemporary,  the  Fourth 
George — we  need  not  be  too  much  sur- 
prised by  the  mad  vagaries  and  drunken 
cruelties  of  the  Moslem  despot,  who  prided 
himself  on  his  adoption  of  certain  English 
habits  andcustoms§ — such  as  wearing  broad- 
cloth and  a  beaver  hat  under  the  burning 
sun  of  Oude;  and  usually  terminated  his 
daily  drinking  bouts  with  his  boon  com- 
panions, under  the  table,  after  the  most  ap- 
proved English  fashion.  The  favourite, 
shortly  before  the  death  of  Nuseer,  was  a 
barber  from  Calcutta,  who  had  come  out  to 
India  in  the  capacity  of  a  cabin-boy,  and 
from  that  became  a  river  trader.  Hair- 
dressing,  however,  continued  to  be  a  lucra- 
tive resource  to  him  :  the  natural  curls 
of  the  governor-general  were  widely  imi- 
tated ;  and  when  the  barber  went  on  his 
other  affairs  to  Lucknow,  he  was  employed 
in  his  old  vocation  by  the  resident.  The 
king,  delighted  with  the  change  produced 
in  the  appearance  of  this  powerful  English 
functionary,  tried  a  similar  experiment  on 
his  own  lank  locks,  and  was  so  gratified  by 
the  result,  that  he  appointed  the  lucky 
coiffeur  to  a  permanent  post  in  his  house- 

X  Private  Life  of  an  Eastern  King;  by  a  member 

of  the  household  of  his  late  majesty,  Nuseer-oo-deen, 
K-inj?  of  Oude.     London,  1835. 

§  Nuseer  substituted  a  chnir  of  gold  and  ivory  for 
the  musnud,  or  cushion,  of  his  ancestors. 


64 


DEATH  OF  NUSEER-00-DEEN,  KING  OF  OUDE— 1837. 


hold,  with  the  style  of  Sofraz  Khan  (the 
illustrious  chief),  and  gave  him  a  seat  at 
his  table.  The  barber  had  a  fund  of  low 
humour :  he  amused  the  king  by  pander- 
ing to  his  vitiated  taste ;  and  soon  made 
himself  indispensable.  The  existence  of 
Nuseer-oo-deen  was  embittered  by  a  well- 
grounded  suspicion  of  treachery  among  his 
own  family  and  household :  the  fear  of 
poison  was  continually  present  with  him; 
and  he  would  touch  no  wine  but  that 
placed  before  him  by  his  new  favourite, 
who  consequently  added  the  office  of  wine- 
merchant  to  his  other  lucrative  monopolies. 
The  European  papers  learned  something 
of  what  was  passing  at  the  palace  of  Luck- 
now,  despite  the  care  which  tlie  European 
adventurers  installed  there,  naturally  took 
to  keep  things  quiet.  The  Calcutta  Review, 
and  Agra  Ukbar,  published  squibs  and 
pasquinades  upon  the  "low  menial"  who 
had  ingratiatea  himself  with  the  King  of 
Oude ;  but  the  object  of  their  jeers  set 
them  at  nought,  and  continued  to  ac- 
cumulate wealth,  and  to  retain  his  influ- 
ence at  court  by  ever-new  inventions  of 
buffoonery  and  indecency,  until  the  Euro- 
pean members  of  the  household  threw  up 
their  appointments  in  uncontrollable  dis- 
gust ;  and  such  scenes  of  open  debauchery 
disgraced  the  streets  of  Lucknow  at  mid- 
day, that  the  resident.  Colonel  Low,  was 
compelled  to  interfere,  and  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  procuring  the  dismissal  of  the 
barber.* 

These  and  other  statements  of  the  anony- 
mous memoir-writer,  are  quite  compatible, 
and,  indeed,  frequently  correspond  with  the 
entries  in  the  journal  of  Sir  William 
Sleeman,  of  accounts  furnished  by  natives 
of  the  character  and  habits  of  Nuseer-oo- 
deen. 

Both  writers  dwell  much  on  the  repeated 
declaration  of  the  king  that  he  should  be 
poisoned ;  and  Sir  William  states,  that  for 
some  time  before  his  death,  Nuseer  wore  con- 
stantly round  his  neck  a  chain,  to  which  was 
attached  the  key  of  a  small  covered  well  in 
the  palace,  whence  he  drew  water.  His  death 
was  very  sudden.  It  occurred  shortly  after 
a  glass  of  sherbet  had  been  administered 
to  him  by  one  of  the  women  of  his  harem, 
in  the  night  of  the  7tli  of  July,  1837. 

The  question  of  succession  was  stormily 
contested.     The  king  had  had  several  wives, 

•  The  barber  carried  off  £240,000.— Pneaie  Life 
of  an  Eastern  King,  p.  3i0. 

t  Mr«.  Park's  Wanderings,  vol.  i.,  p.  87. 


whose  history  forms  a  not  very  edifying 
episode  in  Sir  William  Sleeman's  journal. 
Tiie  most  reputable  one  was  a  grand-daugh- 
ter of  the  King  of  Delhi— a  very  beautiful 
young  woman,  of  exemplary  character;  who, 
unable  to  endure  the  profligacy  of  the  court, 
quitted  it  soon  after  her  marriage,  and  re- 
tired into  private  life,  on  a  small  stipend 
granted  by  her  profligate  husband.  Then 
there  was  Mokuddera  Ouleea,  originally  a 
Miss  Walters,  the  illegitimate  daughter  of  a 
half-pay  officer  of  one  of  the  regiments  of  Bri- 
tish dragoons,  by  a  Mrs.  Wheartj',  a  woman 
of  notoriously  bad  character,  although  the 
daughter  of  one  English  merchant,  and  the 
widow  of  another.  She  was  married  to 
the  king  in  18!i7,  and  was  seen  by  Mrs. 
Park,  in  her  visit  to  the  zenana  in  1828, 
sitting  silently  on  the  same  couch  with 
her  successful  rival,  the  beautiful  Taj 
Mahal.t 

Mulika  Zamanee  (Queen  of  the  Age) 
entered  the  palace  of  Lucknow  while  Nu- 
seer-oo-deen was  only  heir-apparent,  in  the 
capacity  of  wet-nurse  to  his  infant  son, 
Moonna  Jan  (by  another  wife  called  Afzul- 
Mahal) ;  and  so  fascinated  the  father,  that, 
to  the  astonishment  of  the  whole  court  (in 
whose  eyes  the  new-comer  appeared  very 
plain  and  very  vulgar),  he  never  rested  until 
she  became  his  acknowledged  wife.  Her 
former  husband  (a  groom  in  the  service  of 
one  of  the  king's  troopers,  to  whom  she  had 
previously  been  faithless)  presumed  to  ap- 
proach the  palace,  and  was  immediately 
thrown  into  prison  ;  but  was  eventually  re- 
leased, and  died  soon  after  the  accession  of 
Nuseer.  Her  two  children,  a  boy  and  girl, 
were  adopted  by  Nuseer;  who,  when  he  be- 
came king,  declared  the  boy,  Kywan  Jah,  to 
be  his  own  son,  and  publicly  treated  him 
as  such. 

When  Viscount  Combermere  visited  Luck- 
now in  1827,  in  the  course  of  his  tour  of 
inspection  as  commander-in-chief,  Kywan 
Jah  was  sent,  as  heir-apparent,  with  a  large 
retinue  and  a  military  escort,  to  meet  his 
lordship  and  attend  him  from  Cawnpoor. 
The  king  was,  no  doubt,  desirous  to  pro- 
pitiate his  guest.  He  came  outside  the  city 
to  welcome  him,  invited  him  to  share  the 
royal  howdah  on  the  state  elephant,  and 
escorted  him  to  the  palace  in  full  proces- 
sion, flinging,  meantime,  liandfuls  of  coin 
among  the  multitude  who  accompanied  the 
cavalcade. 

The  Orientals  dearly  love  pageantry ;  it 
would  seem  as  if  it  recouciled  them  to  des- 


CONTESTED  SUCCESSION  TO  THRONE  OF  OUDE— 1837. 


65 


potism  :  and  tlie  present  occasion  must  have 
been  an  interesting  one ;  fur  the  externals 
of  royalty  sat  gracefully  on  the  liandsome 
person  of  the  sensual  and  extravagant 
Nuseer-oo-deen ;  and  the  British  general, 
besides  being  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame  as 
the  conqueror  of  Bhurtpoor  (which  had 
successfully  resisted  the  British  troops  under 
Lord  Lake),  had  a  manly  bearing,  and  a 
rare  gift  of  skilful  horsemanship — befitting 
the  soldier  pronounced  by  the  great  Duke 
the  best  cavalry  officer  in  the  service — 
united  to  an  easy,  genial  courtesy  of  man- 
ner, calculated  to  gain  popularity  every- 
where, but  especially  in  India. 

Lord  Coniberraere  occupied  the  residency 
for  a  week,  during  which  time,  a  succession 
of  hunts,  sports,  and  fetes  took  place,  which 
formed  an  era  iu  the  annals  of  Lucknow. 
Nuseer-oo-deen  was,  in  turn,  sumptuously 
entertained  by  the  commander-in-chief;  to 
whom,  on  parting,  he  gave  his  own  portrait, 
set  in  magnificent  diamonds.  The  Com- 
pany appropriated  the  diamonds ;  but  the 
picture  remains  in  the  possession  of  Lord 
Combermere,  and  is  an  interesting  relic  of 
the  fallen  dynasty  of  Oude. 

Nuseer-oo-deen  subsequently  demanded 
from  the  resident  the  formal  recognition  of 
Kywan  Jah,  as  his  heir-apparent,  by  the  Bri- 
tish government.  The  resident  demurred,  on 
the  plea  that  the  universal  belief  at  Lucknow 
was,  that  Kywan  Jah  was  three  years  of  age 
when  his  mother  was  first  introduced  to  his 
majesty.  But  this  had  no  effect :  Nuseer- 
oo-deen  persisted  iu  his  demand ;  and,  to 
remove  the  anticipated  obstacle,  he  repudi- 
ated Moonna  Jan  publicly  and  repeatedly.* 
The  consequence  of  his  duplicity  was,  that 
he  was  held  to  have  left  no  legitimate  son. 
According  to  Sir  William  Sleeman  (who, 
during  his  situation  as  resident,  had  abun- 
dant means  of  authentic  information),  the 
general  impression  at  Lucknow  and  all  over 
Oude  was,  that  the  British  government 
would  take  upon  itself  the  management  of 
the  country  on  the  death  of  the  king,  who 
himself  "  seemed  rather  pleased  than  other- 
wise" at  the  thought  of  being  the  last  of 
his  dynasty.  He  had  repudiated  his  own 
son,  and  was  unwilling  that  any  other 
member  of  the  family  should  fill  his  place. 
The  ministers,  and  the  otiier  public  officers 
and  court  favourites,  who  had  made  large 
fortunes,  were  favourable  to  the  anticipated 
measure ;  as  it  was  understood  by  some, 
that  thereby  they  would  be  secured  from 

*  Sleemaii's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  40. 
VOL.  II.  K 


all  scrutiny  into  their  accounts,  and  en- 
abled to  retain  all  their  accumulations.f 

The  reader — recollecting  the  custom  in 
Mussulman  kingdoms,  of  a  complete  change 
of  officials  at  every  accession,  generally 
accompanied  by  the  spoliation  of  the 
old  ones — will  understand  this  was  likely  to 
prove  no  inconsiderable  advantage.  Lord 
Auckland,  the  governor-general,  had,  how- 
ever, no  desire  for  the  absorption  of  Oude, 
but  only  that  measures  should  be  taken 
for  its  better  government.  He  decided  that 
the  eldest  uncle  of  the  late  king  should 
ascend  the  musnud,  and  that  a  new  treaty 
should  be  formed  with  him. 

On  the  death  of  Nuseer-oo-deen,  a  Bri- 
tish detachment  was  sent  to  escort  the 
chosen  successor  from  his  private  dwelling 
to  the  palace.  He  was  an  old  man,  had  led 
a  secluded  life,  and  was  weakened  by  recent 
illness.  On  arriving  at  his  destination,  he 
was  left  to  repose  for  a  few  hours  in  a 
small  secluded  room,  previous  to  the  tedious 
formalities  of  enthronement.  But  the  suc- 
cession was  not  destined  to  be  carried  with- 
out opposition.  The  Padshah  Begum  (the 
chief  queen  of  Ghazi-oo-deen,  and  the 
adoptive  mother  of  Nuseer,  with  whom  she 
had  been  long  at  variance)  asserted  the 
claims  of  her  grandson,  the  disowned  child 
but  rightful  heir  of  the  late  ruler.  She 
made  her  way  to  the  palace  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  on  the  plea  of  desiring  to  see 
the  dead  body  of  the  king — forced  the  gates 
with  her  elephants,  and  carried  in  with  her 
the  youth  Moonna  Jan,  whom  she  suc- 
ceeded in  literally  seating  on  the  musnud; 
while  she  herself  took  up  her  position  in  a 
covered  palanquin  at  the  foot  of  the  throne. 
Amid  the  confusion,  the  sovereign  selected 
by  the  Company  remained  unnoticed,  and  ap- 
parently unknown.  His  sons,  grandsons,  and 
attendants  were,  however,  discovered,  and 
very  roughly  treated ;  nor  did  the  resident 
(Colonel  Low)  escape  severe  handling.  On 
learning  what  had  occurred,  he  proceeded 
to  the  palace  with  his  assistants,  and  re- 
monstrated witli  the  begum  on  the  folly  of  her 
procedure ;  but  his  arguments  were  stopped 
by  the  turbulence  of  her  adherents,  who 
seized  him  by  the  neckcloth,  dragged  him 
to  the  throne  on  which  the  boy  sat,  and 
commanded  him  to  present  a  complimentary 
off'ering  on  pain  of  death.  This  he  posi- 
tively refused;  and  the  begum's  vakeel, 
Mirza  Ali,  seeing  the  dangerous  excitement 
of  her  rabble  followers,  and  dreading  the 
t  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  152. 


PALACE  OF  LUCKNOW  ENTERED  BY  FORCE— 1837. 


sure  vengeance  of  the  Company  if  the  lives 
of  their  servants  were  thus  sacrificed, 
laid  hold  of  the  resident  and  his  compa- 
nions, and  shouted  out,  that  by  the  com- 
mand of  the  begum  they  were  to  be  con- 
ducted from  her  presence.  The  resident 
and  his  party,  with  difficulty  and  danger, 
made  their  way  to  the  south  garden,  where 
Colonel  Monteath  had  just  brought  in,  and 
drawn  up,  five  companies  in  line.  The 
temper  of  the  troops,  generally,  seemed 
doubtful.  At  this  crisis  Colonel  Roberts, 
who  commanded  a  brigade  in  the  Onde  ser- 
vice, went  in,  and  presented  to  Moonna 
Jan  his  offering  of  gold  mohurs ;  and  then 
absconded,  being  seen  no  more  until  the 
contest  was  decided.  Captain  Magness 
drew  up  his  men  and  guns  on  the  left  of 
Colonel  Monteath's,  and  was  ordered  to  pre- 
pare for  action.  He  told  the  resident  that 
he  did  not  feel  quite  sure  of  his  men  ;  and  a 
line  of  British  sepoys  was  made  to  cover  his 
rear.* 

Meanwhile  the  begum  began  to  think  the 
game  in  her  own  hands.  The  palace  and 
baraduree,  or  summer-house,  were  filled  with 
a  motley  crowd ;  nautch-girls  danced  and 
sang  at  one  end  of  the  long  hall,  in  front  of 
the  throne  j  and  the  populace  within  and 
without  enjoyed  the  tumult,  and  shouted 
acclamatiou :  every  man  who  had  a  sword 
or  spear,  a  musket  or  matchlock,  flourished 
it  in  the  air,  amid  a  thousand  torches. 
Everything  portended  a  popular  insurrec- 
tion. The  begum  saw  this,  and  desired  to 
gain  time,  in  the  hope  that  the  British 
troops  in  the  garden  would  be  surrounded 
and  overwhelmed  by  the  armed  masses 
which  had  begun  to  pour  forth  from  the 
city.  Had  this  catastrophe  occurred,  the 
British  authorities  would  have  borne  the 
blame  for  the  deficiency  of  the  subsidized 
British  troops,  and  for  having  indiscreetly 
omitted  to  watch  the  proceedings  of  the 
Padshah  Begum,  whose  character  was  well 
known.  The  fault,  in  the  latter  case,  is 
attributed  to  the  negligence  of  the  native 
minister. 

The  resident  was  anxious  to  avoid  a 
collision ;  yet  convinced  of  the  necessity  for 
prompt  action :  therefore,  on  receiving  a 
message  from  the  begum,  desiring  him  to 
return  to  her  presence,  he  refused,  and  bade 
her  and  the  boy  surrender  themselves  im- 
mediately; promising,  in  the  event  of  com- 
pliance, and  of  the  evacuation  of  the  palace 
and  city  by  her  followers,  that  the  past 
•  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  162. 


should  be  forgiven,  and  that  the  pension  of 
15,000  rupees  a-month,  accorded  by  the 
late  king,  should  be  secured  to  her  for  life. 
But  in  vain  :  the  begum  had  no  thought  .of 
surrendering  herself;  the  tumult  rapidly  in- 
creased; the  rabble  began  to  plunder  the 
palace;  several  houses  in  the  city  had 
already  been  pillaged ;  and  the  British  officer 
in  commaud  urged  the  resident  to  action, 
lest  his  men  should  no  longer  have  room 
to  use  their  arms. 

The  native  commanders  of  the  state 
troops  manifestly  leant  towards  the  begum. 
One  of  them  declared  that  "  he  was  the 
servant  of  the  throne ;  that  the  young  king 
was  actually  seated  on  it ;  and  that  he  would 
support  him  there :"  whereupon  he  also 
presented  his  offering  of  gold  mohurs.  The 
armed  crowds  grew  momentarily  more 
menacing :  a  ringleader  attempted  to  seize 
a  British  sepoy  by  the  whiskers;  and  an 
affray  was  with  difficulty  prevented.  The 
resident,  taking  out  his  watch,  declared, 
that  unless  the  begum  consented  to  his  offer 
within  one  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  guns 
should  open  on  the  throne-room.  She  per- 
sisted in  her  purpose,  encouraged  by  the 
increasing  numbers  of  her  followers.  The 
stated  time  elapsed ;  the  threat  of  the  resi- 
dent was  fulfilled ;  and,  after  a  few  rounds 
of  grape,  a  party  of  the  35th  regiment, 
under  Major  Marshall,  stormed  the  halls. 

As  soon  as  the  guns  opened,  the  begum 
was  carried  by  her  attendants  into  an  ad- 
joining room ;  and  Moonna  Jan  concealed 
himself  in  a  recess  under  the  throne.  They 
were,  however,  both  captured,  and  carried 
off  to  the  residency.  None  of  the  British 
troops  were  killed ;  but  one  officer  and  two 
or  three  sepoys  were  wounded.  Many  of 
the  insurgents  perished ;  from  forty  to  fifty 
men  being  left  killed  and  wounded,  when 
their  companions  fled  from  the  palace. 
The  loss  would  probably  have  beeu  much 
greater,  had  not  the  soldiers  of  the  35tli, 
on  rushing  through  the  narrow  covered 
passage,  and  up  the  steep  flight  of  steps  by 
which  they  entered  the  throne-room,  seeu, 
on  emerging  from  the  dim  light,  a  body  of 
sepoys  with  fixed  bayonets  and  muskets, 
drawn  up  (as  they  imagined)  behind  the 
throne.  At  these  they  fired;  a  smash  of 
glass  followed,  and  proved  their  first  volley 
to  have  beeu  spent,  on  their  own  reflection, 
in  an  immense  mirror.  This  happy  mistake 
saved  a  needless  waste  of  blood.  No  further 
resistance  was  attempted;  order  was  gra- 
dually restored ;  and  the  sovereign  selected 


ACCESSION  OP  MOHAMMED  ALI  SHAH. 


67 


by  the  Company  was  publicly  crowned  in 
the  course  of  the  morning. 

Strangely  enough,  the  innocent  and  ill- 
used  Delhi  princess,  after  years  of  seclusion, 
was  involved  in  the  tumult,  but  escaped 
injury  by  the  zeal  and  presence  of  mind 
of  her  female  attendants.  The  begum,  on 
her  way  from  her  own  residence  to  the 
palace,  had  passed  that  of  the  princess,  whom 
she  summoned  to  accompany  her.  Perhaps 
awed  by  her  imperious  mother-in-law — per- 
haps desirous  of  looking  once  again  on  the 
face  of  the  man  whose  conduct  had  doomed 
her  to  long  years  of  widowhood,  the 
princess  obeyed,  and  appears  to  have  been 
a  silent  witness  of  the  whole  affair.  When 
the  firing  began,  her  two  female  bearers 
carried  her  in  her  litter  to  a  small  side- 
room.  One  attendant  had  her  arm  shattered 
by  grapeshot;  but  the  other  tied  some 
clothes  together,  and  let  her  mistress  and 
her  wounded  companion  safely  down,  from  a 
height  of  about  twenty-four  feet,  into  a 
courtyard,  where  some  of  the  retinue  of 
tlie  princess  found  and  conveyed  them 
all  three  safely  home. 

The  claim  of  Moonna  Jan  appears  to 
have  been  a  rightful  one,  despite  the  formal 
declaration  of  the  late  king,  that  he  had 
ceased  to  cohabit  with  the  boy's  mother  for 
two  years  before  his  birth.  The  decision 
arrived  at  by  the  British  government  cannot, 
however,  be  regretted ;  for  Moonna  Jan  was 
said,  even  by  the  members  of  his  own 
family  who  asserted  his  legitimacy,  to  be  of 
ungovernable  temper,  and  the  worst  possible 
dispositions.*  Both  he  and  the  begumf 
were  sent  to  the  fort  of  Chunar,  where 
they  ended  their  days  as  state  prisoners. 

The  new  king,  Mohammed  Ali  Shah, 
succeeded  to  an  empty  treasury  and  a  dis- 
organised government :  he  had  the  infir- 
mities of  age  to  contend  with ;  neverthe- 
less, he  displayed  an  amount  of  energy  and 
shrewdness  very  rare  in  his  family. 

A  new  treaty  with  Oude  was  alleged  to 
be  necessary,  because  no  penalty  had  been 
attached,  in  that  of  1801,  to  the  infraction 
of  the  stipulation  for  reforms  to  be  made 
in  the   government.      Another  article  had 

•  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  170. 

t  The  previous  history  of  the  begum  appears  to 
have  been  very  remarkable.  Ghazi-oo-deen  had 
conceived  a  strong  dislike  to  his  son  Nuseer,  and 
considered  him  utterly  unfit  to  mount  the  throne. 
The  begum  stanchly  and  successfully  asserted  his 
rights,  as  her  husband's  lawful  heir.  When  he,  in 
turn,  conceived  a  violent  aversion  to  his  own  child 
Moonna  Jan,  slie  took  her  grandson  under  her  pro. 


been  violated  by  the  increase  of  the  native 
army  greatly  beyond  the  stated  limit.  Of 
this  latter  infraction  the  British  govern- 
ment were  well  disposed  to  take  advantage, 
having,  in  fact,  themselves  violated  the  spirit, 
if  not  the  letter,  of  the  treaty,  by  keeping 
Oude  very  ill  supplied  with  troops.  Thus, 
at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Nuseer-oo-deen 
(previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  five  com- 
panies under  Colonel  Monteath),  the  whole 
of  the  British  force  in  charge  of  Lucknow 
and  its  million  inhabitants,  consisted  of 
two  companies  and  a-half  of  sepoys  under 
native  officers.  One  of  the  companies  was 
stationed  at  the  treasury  of  the  resident; 
another  constituted  his  honorary  guard  j 
and  the  remaining  half  company  were  in 
charge  of  the  gaol.  All  the  sepoys  stood 
nobly  to  their  posts  during  the  long  and 
trying  scene ;  but  no  attempt  was  made  to 
concentrate  them  for  the  purpose  of  arrest- 
ing the  tumultuous  advance  of  the  begum's 
forces :  collectively,  they  would  have  been 
too  few  for  the  purpose ;  and  it  was,  more- 
over, deemed  unsafe  to  remove  them  from 
their  respective  posts  at  such  a  time.  J 

Something  more  than  tacit  consent  had 
probably  been  given  to  the  increase  of  the 
native  force  of  Oude ;  which,  in  1837,  num- 
bered about  68,000  men.  By  the  new 
treaty,  Mohammed  Ali  was  autliorised  to 
increase  his  military  establishment  indefi- 
nitely ;  but  bound  to  organise,  as  a  part  of 
it,  an  auxiliary  British  force,  and  to  provide 
a  yearly  sum  of  sixteen  lacs  (£160,000), 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  same.  The ' 
concluding  articles  stipulated,  that  the  king, 
in  concert  with  the  resident,  should  take 
into  immediate  and  earnest  consideration 
the  best  means  of  remedying  the  existing 
defects  in  the  police,  and  in  the  judicial  and 
revenue  administration  of  his  dominions; 
and  set  forth,  that  "  if  gross  and  systematic 
oppression,  anarchy,  and  misrule  should 
hereafter  at  any  time  prevail  within  the 
Oude  dominions,  such  as.  seriously  to  en- 
danger the  public  tranquillity,  the  British 
government  reserves  to  itself  the  right  of 
appointing  its  own  officers  to  the  manage- 
ment of  whatsoever  portions  of  the  Oude 

tection,  armed  her  retainers,  and,  after  a  contest 
in  which  many  lives  were  lost,  succeeded  in  main, 
taining  her  ground  until  the  resident  interfered, 
and  satisfied  her  by  guaranteeing  the  personal 
safety  of  the  boy,  for  whose  sake  she  eventually 
sacrificed  the  independence  of  her  latter  years,  and 
died  a  prisoner  of  state. — Private  Life  of  an  Eastern 
Kiiif/,  p.  205. 

t  tsleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  1G8. 


68 


LORD  AUCKLAND'S  TREATY  WITH  OUDE— 1837. 


territory — either  to  a  small  or  to  a  great 
extent — in  which  such  misrule  as  that  above 
alluded  to  may  have  occurred,  for  so  lonj; 
a  period  as  it  may  deem  necessary ;  the  sur- 
plus receipts  in  such  case,  after  defraying 
all  charges,  to  be  paid  into  the  king's  trea- 
sury, and  a  true  and  faithful  account  ren- 
dered to  his  majesty  of  the  receipts  and 
expenditure  of  the  territory  so  assumed." 
In  the  event  of  the  above  measure  becoming 
necessary,  a  pledge  was  given  for  the  main- 
tenance, as  far  as  possible,  of  the  native 
institutions  and  forms  of  administration 
within  the  assumed  territories,  so  as  to  faci- 
litate the  restoration  of  those  territories  to 
the  sovereign  of  Oude  when  the  proper 
period  for  such  restoration  should  arrive.* 

The  above  treaty  was  executed  at  Luck- 
now  on  the  11th  of  September,  1837,  and 
was  ratified  on  the  18th  of  the  same  month 
by  the  governor-general.  It  is  necessary 
that  the  manner  in  which  the  compliance 
of  Mohammed  Shah  was  ensured,  should 
be  clearly  understood.  The  death  of 
Nuseer  occurred  at  midnight,  and  the  resi- 
dent, as  has  been  stated,  instantly  sent  off 
one  of  his  assistants  to  the  house  of  Mo- 
hammed Shah,  with  orders  to  conduct  him 
to  the  palace,  after  having  secured  his  sig- 
nature to  a  paper  promising  consent  "  to 
any  new  treaty  that  the  governor-general 
might  dictate."     This  was  obtained. 

Lord  Auckland  was  rather  shocked  by 
such  undisguised  dictation;  and  declared, 
"  he  should  have  been  better  pleased  if  the 
resident  had  not,  in  this  moment  of  exi- 
gency, accepted  the  unconditional  engage- 
ment of  submissiveuess  which  the  new  king 
had  signed.  This  document  may  be  liable 
to  misconstruction ;  and  it  was  not  war- 
ranted by  anything  contained  in  the  in- 
structions issued  to  Colonel  Low."t 

If  Lord  Auckland  was  startled  by  the 
means  taken  to  ensure  the  consent  of  the 
king  to  any  terms  which  might  be  required 
from  him,  the  resident  was  not  less  painfully 
surprised  by  the  draft  treaty  framed  by  the 
governor-general  in  council.  Colonel  Low 
wrote,  that  the  concessions  so  unexpectedly 
demanded,  were  "  of  a  nature  that  would  be 
very  grating  to  any  native  sovereign  of  re 
spectable  character ;"  especially  to  the  pre 


with  moderation  and  justice."    The  resident 
especially  deprecated  the  requisition  for  the 
payment  of  a  very  large  annual  sum  for  the 
maintenance  of  an   army,  which  was  not  to 
be  under  the  command  of  the  king,  or  even 
at  his  own  disposal — "a  heavy  payment,  in 
fact,  which  he  must  clearly  perceive  is  more 
for  our  own  purposes  and  interests  than  for 
his,  or  for  the  direct  advantage  of  his  sub- 
jects."     Colonel  Low  requested    a   recon- 
sideration of  the  unfavourable  opinion  which 
had  been  expressed  regarding  the  prelimi- 
nary pledge  he  had  exacted  from  Moham- 
med Ali,  declaring,  that  so  far  from  its  being 
superfluous,  it  was  indispensable;  otherwise, 
the"desired  ol)jectsofthe  Indian  government 
could  never  have  been  gained  without  some 
forcible   and   most   unpleasant  exercise   of 
our  power."     In  a  significant  postscript,  he 
asked  whether,  in  the  event  of  the  present 
king's  death  before  the  ratification   of  the 
treaty,  he  ought  to  take  any,  and,  if  so, 
what,  agreement  from  the  next  heir?  adding, 
that  the  residency  surgeon  lately  in  atten- 
dance on  Mohammed  Shah,  was  decidedly  of 
opinion,  that  "any  unusual  excitement,  or 
vexation    of    mind,     would    be     likely    to 
bring   on  apoplexy."^     All  this   the    resi- 
dent   stated    in    a   public    letter;    but    he 
wrote  another  in  the  secret  department,  in 
which   he   earnestly    advised  a  revision  of 
the   treaty;  urging,   that  the   formation  of 
the  proposed    auxiliary  force  would  create 
great  discontent  in  Oude,  and  inflict  a  bur- 
den which  would   necessarily  be  felt  by  all 
classes ;    and   that  it  would   be  considered 
"as   distinctly  breaking  our  national  faith 
and    recorded    stipulations    in    the   former 
treaty."  § 

Lord  Auckland  persisted  in  his  policy : 
the  resident  was  told  that  he  had  "  misap- 
prehended" the  spirit  of  the  treaty,  which 
the  king  was  compelled  to  sign,  literally  at 
the  hazard  of  his  hfe ;  for,  on  being  made 
acquainted  with  its  terms,  "  the  idea  of  stich 
new  rights  being  ordered  in  his  time,  so  hurt 
the  old  man's  feelings,  that  it  had  an  imme- 
diate eff'ect  on  his  disease;"  producing  an 
attack  of  spasms,  from  which  he  did  not 
entirely  recover  for  twenty-four  hours. || 

The  authorities  in  England,  to  their  honour 
be  it  spoken,   refused    to  sanction    such  a 


sent  king,  "  who,  to  the  best  of  my  belief  at ;  shameless  breach  of  faith  as  this  repudiation 
least,  knows  by  experience  how  to  manage  a '  of  the  terms  on  which  half  Oude  had  been 
country  properly,  and  really  wishes  to  govern    annexed  in  1801.     They  unanimously  de- 


•  Treaty  between  E.  I.  Company  and  King  of; 
Oude :  printed  in  Pari.  Papers  relating  to  Oude  | 
(Commons),  20ih  July,  1857  j  pp.  31—33. 


t  Pwl.  Papers,  p.  13.  |  /i/J.,— pp.  14,  15. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  17. 

II  Letter  of  Kesident,  July  30,  1837.— Pari.  Papers. 


HOME  AUTHORITIES  DISALLOW  THE  TREATY. 


69 


creed  the  abrogation  of  the  recent  treaty, 
and  desired  that  the  king  should  be  exone- 
rated from  the  obligations  to  which  his  as- 
sent had  been  so  reluctantly  given.  No- 
thing could  be  more  thoroughly  straightfor- 
ward than  the  view  taken  by  the  directors. 
They  declared,  that  it  would  have  been  better 
to  have  given  the  king  a  fair  trial,  without 
any  new  treaty ;  and  condemned  the  pre- 
liminary engagement  as  having  been  "  ex- 
torted from  a  prince  from  whom  we  had  no 
right  to  demand  any  condition  on  coming  to 
his  lawful  throne."  The  proposed  auxiliary 
force  was  pronounced  inadmissible,  on  the 
ground  that  the  payment  "would  constitute 
a  demand  upon  the  resources  of  Oude  that 
we  are  not  entitled  to  make ;  for  we  are 
already  bound,  by  the  treaty  of  1801,  to 
defend  at  our  own  expense,  that  country 
against  internal  and  external  enemies;  and 
a  large  cession  of  territory  was  made  to  us 
for  that  express  purpose." 

The  sentiments  expressed  on  this  occa- 
sion are  directly  opposed  to  those  which 
animated  the  annexation  policy,  subse- 
quently adopted.  The  directors  conclude 
their  despatch  with  the  following  explicit 
opinion  : — "  The  preservation  of  the  existing 
states  in  India  is  a  duty  imposed  upon  us  by 
the  obligations  of  public  faith,  as  well  as  the 
dictates  of  interest ;  for  we  agree  in  the 
opinion  expressed  by  Lieutenant-colonel  Low, 
in  his  letter  of  the  26th  of  September,  1836, 
that  the  continued  existence  of  such  states 
will  afford  the  means  of  employment  to  re- 
spectable natives,  which  they  cannot  at  pre- 
sent obtain  in  our  service ;  and,  until  such 
means  could  be  provided  in  our  own  pro- 
vinces, the  downfall  of  any  of  the  native 
states  under  our  protection  might,  by  depriv- 
ing numerous  influential  natives  of  their  ac- 
customed employment,  be  attended  with 
consequences  most  injurious  to  our  interests. 
Our  policy  should  be  to  preserve,  as  long  as 
may  be  practicable,  the  existing  native 
dynasties ;  and  should  the  fall  of  them,  or 
of  any  one  of  them,  from  circumstances  be- 
yond our  control,  become  inevitable,  then 
to  introduce  such  a  system  of  government 
as  may  interfere  in  the  least  possible  way 
with  the  institutions  of  the  people,  and  with 
the  employment  of  natives  of  rank  under 
proper  superintendence,  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  country."* 

•  Despatch,  10th  April,  1838,  from  Secret  Com- 
mittee J  p.  38.  Signed  by  J.  K.  Carnac  and  J.  L. 
Lushington. 

t  Minute   by  Governor-general  Auckland,  dated 


The  directors  left  the  governor-general 
in  council  to  choose  the  manner  in  which 
to  convey  to  the  King  of  Oude  the  welcome 
tidings  of  the  annulment  of  a  compact 
which,  they  truly  observed,  he  regarded  as 
inflicting  not  only  a  pecuniary  penalty  upon 
his  subjects,  but  a  disgrace  upon  his  crown 
and  personal  dignity.  They  advised,  how- 
ever, that  it  should  rather  proceed  as  an  act 
of  grace  from  his  lordship  in  council,  "than 
as  the  consequence  of  the  receipt  of  a  public 
and  unconditional  instruction  from  Eng- 
land." 

Lord  Auckland  thereupon  declared,  that 
the  directors,  like  the  resident,  had  much 
misunderstood  his  measure  ;t  and  his  council 
agreed  with  him  in  the  hope  that,  by  a  re- 
laxation of  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  the  au- 
thorities in  England  might  be  reconciled  to  a 
measure  which  could  not  be  cancelled  with- 
out the  most  serious  inconvenience,  and  even 
danger :{  and  when  they  found  that  the 
Company  were  pledged  to  the  British  par- 
liament for  the  annulment  of  the  treaty, 
they  persisted  in  urging  the  inexpediency  of 
making  any  communication  to  the  King  of 
Oude  on  the  subject.  On  the  15th  of  April, 
1839,  the  directors  reiterated  their  previ- 
ous orders,  and  desired  that  nq,  delay 
should  take  place  in  announcing,  in  such 
manner  as  the  governor-general  might  think 
fit,  to  the  King  of  Oude,  the  disallowance 
of  the  treaty  of  11th  of  September,  1837, 
and  the  restoration  of  our  relations  with  the 
state  of  Oude  to  the  footing  on  which  they 
previously  stood. 

On  the  11th  of  July,  1839,  they  simply 
reverted  to  their  previous  instructions,  and 
required  their  complete  fulfilment. §  Yet, 
on  the  8th  of  the  same  month,  the  governor- 
general  acquainted  the  King  of  Oude  that, 
after  some  months'  correspondence  with  the 
Court  of  Directors  upon  the  subject  of  the 
treaty,  he  was  empowered  to  relieve  his 
majesty  from  the  payment  of  the  annual 
sixteen  lacs.  His  lordship  expressed  his 
cordial  sympathy  with  the  liberal  feelings 
which  dictated  this  renunciation  of  a  sum, 
the  raising  of  which  he  had  "  sometimes 
feared"  might  lead  to  "  lieavier  exactions  on 
the  people  of  Oude  than  they  were  well  able, 
in  the  pi-e"ent  state  of  the  country,  to  bear." 

Then  followed  an  exordium  on  the  light- 
ening  of  taxation,    and   the   extension    of 

"Umritsir,   13lh  December,  1838."— Pari.  Papers, 
pp.  43—52. 

J  Minutes  by  Messrs.  Morlson  and  Bird,  28th  Jan- 
uary,  1 839  j  pp.  52 ;  57.      §  Pari.  Papers,  pp.  67—60. 


70 


ACCESSION  OF  WAJID  ALI,  KING  OP  OUDE— 1847. 


useful  public  works,  which  might  be 
effected  with  the  aforesaid  sixteen  lacs ;  and 
a  complacent  reference  to  the  fresh  proof 
thus  afforded,  "of  the  friendship  with  which 
your  majesty  is  regarded  by  me  and  by  the 
British  nation."  Not  one  word,  not  the 
most  distant  hint  of  the  abrogation  of  the 
treaty ;  nay,  more- — the  newly-appointed  re- 
sident. Colonel  Caulfield,  was  specially  de- 
sired "to  abstain  from  encouraging  discus- 
sion as  to  the  treaty  of  1837,"  except  as 
regarded  the  reasons  above  quoted  from  the 
letter  of  the  governor-general,  for  releasing 
the  king  from  the  pecuniary  obligation  of 
maintaining  an  auxiliary  force.* 

The  above  statements  are  taken  from  the 
returns  laid  before  parliament  on  the  mo- 
tion of  Sir  Fitzroy  Kelly;  but  it  is  confi- 
dently alleged  that  the  papers  therein 
published  are,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Nizam, 
fragmentary  and  garbled ;  especially  that  the 
important  letter  written  by  Lord  Auckland 
to  the  King  of  Oude  is  not  a  correct  trans- 
lation of  the  original,  but  a  version  adapted 
to  meet  the  ideas  of  the  British  public. f 

No  such  aggravation  is  needed  to  en- 
hance the  effect  of  the  duplicity  exhibited 
by  the  Indian  government,  in  their  sifted 
and  carefully  prepared  records  laid  before 
parliament,  of  the  mode  in  which  the 
king  was  led  to  believe  that  the  treaty 
which  the  Court  of  Directors  had  disavowed, 
because  it  was  essentially  unjust  and  had 
been  obtained  by  unfair  means,  was  really 
in  force,  the  pressure  being  temporarily 
mitigated  by  the  generous  intervention  and 
paternal  solicitude  of  the  governor-general. 

This  is  a  painful  specimen  of  Anglo- 
Indian  diplomacy.  Still  more  painful  is 
it  to  find  such  a  man  as  Lord  Dalhousie 
characterising  the  deliberate  concealment 
practised  by  his  predecessor,  as  "  an  inad- 
vertence." The  treaty  was  never  disallowed 
in  India — never  even  suppressed.  The  dis- 
cussion  regarding   its   public   disallowance 

*  Deputy  Secretary  of  Government  to  the  Resi- 
dent, 8th  July,  1839.— Pari.  Papers,  p.  Gl. 

t  The  letter  published  in  the  Pari.  Papers,  and  the 
Persian  and  English  versions  sent  to  the  king :  all 
three  differed  on  important  points.  In  Dacoitee  in 
Excelsis  (written,  according  to  the  editor  of  Slee- 
man's  Oude,  by  Major  Bird),  a  literal  translation 
of  the  Persian  letter  actually  sent  to  the  King  of 
Oude  is  given,  which  differs  widely  and  essentially 
from  tliat  above  quoted  from  the  Pari.  Papers.  In 
the  latter  there  is  no  sentence  which  could  fairly 
be  rendered  thus :— "  Prom  the  period  you  as- 
cended the  throne,  your  majesty  has,  in  compari- 
son with  times  past,  greatly  improved  the  kingdom; 
and  I  have,  in  consequence,  been  authorised  by  the 


seems  to  have  fallen  to  the  ground;   the 

directors,  engrossed  by  the  cares  and  excite- 
ments of  that  monstrous  compound  of  in- 
justice, folly,  and  disaster — the  Afghan 
war — probably  taking  it  for  granted  that 
their  reiterated  injunctions  regarding  Oude 
had  been  obeyed  by  Lord  Auckland  and  his 
council. 

Mohammed  Ah  Shah  died  in  1842,  in  the 
full  belief  that  the  treaty  which  so  galled 
and  grieved  him  was  in  operative  existence. 
His  son  and  successor,  Amjud  Ali,  had  no 
reason  for  doubt  on  the  subject :  the  British 
functionaries  around  him  spoke  and  wrote 
of  it  as  an  accepted  fact;  and,  in  1845,  it 
was  included  in  a  volume  of  treaties,  pub- 
lished in  India  by  the  authority  of  govern- 
ment. No  important  change,  for  good  or 
for  evil,  appears  to  have  taken  place  during 
the  five  years'  sway  of  Amjnd  Ali,  who  died 
in  February,  1847,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Wajid  Ali,  the  last  of  his  dynasty.  The 
new  king  was  not  deficient  in  natural  ability. 
He  had  considerable  poetical  and  musical 
gifts;  but  these,  precociously  developed  under 
the  enervating  influences  of  the  zenana,  had 
been  fostered  to  the  exclusion  of  the  sterner 
qualities  indispensable  to  the  wielder  of  a 
despotic  sceptre. 

Notwithstanding  the  acknowledged  and 
often  sharply-exercised  supremacy  of  the 
British  government,  the  dynasty  of  Oude 
still  preserved,  by  virtue  of  Lord  Welles- 
ley's  treaty  of  1801  (that  is  to  say,  by  the 
portions  of  it  not  cancelled  by  that  of  1837), 
a  degree  of  independence,  and  of  exemption  ■ 
from  internal  interference;  which,  rightly 
used  by  an  upright,  humane,  and  judicious  j 
sovereign,  might  yet  have  raised  fertile,  beau-  ■ 
tiful  Oude  to  a  state  of  prosperity  which, 
by  affording  incontestable  proofs  of  its  effi- 
cient government,  should  leave  no  plea  for  its 
annexation.  Public  works,  efficient  courts 
of  justice,  reduced  rates  of  assessment — these 
things  can  never  be  wholly  misrepresented 

Court  of  Directors  to  inform  you,  that,  if  I  think 
it  advisable,  for  the  present,  I  maj/  relieve  your  ma- 
jesty from  part  of  the  clause  of  the  treaty  alluded 
to,  by  which  clause  expense  is  laid  upon  your 
majesty."  The  writer  of  Dacoitee  in  Excelsis,  says 
that  the  italicised  words  bear  a  different  sense  in  the 
autograph  English  letter,  in  which  tliey  run  thus : — 
/  am  directed  to  relieve  you.  The  king  pointed  out 
the  non-agreement  of  the  two  documents,  and  the 
governor-general  forthwith  issued  an  order,  direct- 
ing that  the  old  custom  of  sending  the  original  Eng- 
lish letter  as  well  as  the  Persian  version,  should  ba 
discontinued. — (p.  92.)  See  also  Oude,  its  princes 
and  its  Government  Vindicated :  by  Moulvee  JIus- 
seehood-deen  Khan  bahadoor ;  p.  75. 


COLONEL  SLEEMAN'S  TOUR  THROUGH  OUDE— 1850, 


71 


or  overlooked  ;  hut  such  reforms  were  little  ' 
likely  to  he  effected  while  Wajid  All  sat  at 
the  helm. 

In  Novemher,  1847,  the  governor- general, 
Lord  Hardinge,  visited  Lucknow,  held  a 
conference  with  the  king,  and  caused  a 
memorandum,  previously  drawn  up,  to  he 
specially  read  and  explained  to  him.  In 
this  memorandum,  Wajid  Ali  was  enjoined 
"to  take  timely  measures  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  abuses,"  and  for  "the  rescue  of  his 
people  from  their  present  miserable  condi- 
tion." Failing  this,  the  governor-general 
stated,  he  would  have  no  option  but  to  act  iu 
the  manner  specified  by  the  treaty  of  1837  ; 
which  not  only  gave  the  British  government 
a  right  to  interfere,  but  rendered  it  obli- 
gatory on  them  to  do  so  whenever  such 
interference  should  be  needful  to  secure  the 
lives  and  property  of  the  people  of  Oude 
from  oppression  and  flagrant  neglect.  If 
the  king,  within  the  following  two  years, 
should  fail  in  "checking  and  eradicating 
the  worst  abuses,"  then  the  governor-general 
would  avail  himself  of  the  powers  vested  in 
him  by  the  aforesaid  treaty.* 

Two  years  and  more  passed,  but  the 
king  evinced  undiminished  aversion  for  the 
duties  of  his  position.  His  time  and  atten- 
tion were  devoted  entirely  to  the  pursuit  of 
personal  gratifications,  and  he  associated 
with  none  but  such  as  contributed  to  his 
pleasures — women,  singers,  fiddlers,  and 
eunuchs ;  and  could,  in  fact,  submit  to  the 
restraints  of  no  other  society.  He  ceased 
to  receive  the  members  of  the  royal  family, 
or  the  aristocracy;  would  read  no  reports 
from  his  local  officers,  civil  or  military — from 
presidents  of  his  fiscal  and  judicial  courts, 
or  functionaries  of  any  kind ;  and  appeared 
to  take  no  interest  whatever  in  public  affairs. 

A  change  was  made  about  this  time  in 
the  mode  of  collecting  the  land  revenue  (from 
the  ijara,  or  contract  system,  to  the  amanee, 
or  trust- management  system)  in  many  dis- 
tricts; but  no  favourable  result  was  pro- 
duced— the  same  rack-rent  being  exacted 
under  one  as  under  the  other;  the  same 

•  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  201 — 215. 

t  Letter  from  Lord  Balhousie  to  Colonel  Slee- 
man. — Journey  through  the  Kingdom  of  Oude  (Intro- 
duction), vol.  i.,  p.  xviii. 

\  Dacoitee  in  Sxcehis,  p.  109. 

§  Writing  to  Mr.  Elliot,  secretary  to  government 
in  1848,  regarding  the  difficulty  of  getting  dacoit 
prisoners  tried,  Colonel  Sleeman  said  that  politi- 
cal officers  had  little  encouragement  to  undertake 
such  duties  ;  adding — "It  is  only  a  few  choice  spirits 
that  have  entered  upon  the  duty  con  amore.  Gen- 
eral Nott  prided  himself  upon  doing  nothing  while 


uncertainty  continuing  to  exist  in  the 
rate  of  the  government  demand;  and  the 
same  exactions  and  peculations  on  the  part 
of  the  native  officials. 

Colonel  (afterwards  Sir  William)  Sleeman 
received  the  appointment  of  resident  in 
1849,  and  was  authorised  by  Lord  Dalhousie 
to  make  a  tour  throughout  Oude,  and  report 
upon  the  general  condition  of  the  people. 
The  letter  which  communicates  the  informa- 
tion of  the  appointment,  shows  that  the  gov- 
ernor-general was  bent  on  the  assumption  of 
sovereign  power  over  Oude,  and  the  recon- 
struction of  the  internal  administration  of 
that  "  great,  rich,  and  oppressed  country. "f 
The  mission  of  Colonel  Sleeman  was  evidently 
designed  to  collect  amass  of  evidence  which 
should  convince  the  home  authorities  of  the 
necessity  for  the  "great  changes"  which 
their  representative  had  resolved  upon  ini- 
tiating; and  in  this  sense  the  new  resident 
has  been  truly  called  "the  emissary  of  a 
foregone  conclusion."^  Still,  though  not 
unprejudiced.  Colonel  Sleeman  was  an 
honest  and  earnest  man,  well  calculated  by 
character  and  long  training  to  extract  truth, 
and  experienced  in  framing  a  plain,  un- 
varnished statement  of  facts.  Forty  years 
of  active  Indian  service  had  afforded  him 
opportunities  of  intercourse  with  the  natives, 
of  which  he  had  taken  abundant  advantage. 
Active,  methodical,  and  rigidly  abstemious, 
he  had  been  invaluable  iu  the  very  depart- 
ments where  his  countrymen  have  usually 
proved  least  able  to  grapple  with  the  ener- 
vating influences  of  climate,  routine,  and 
red  tape.§  His  successful  efforts  in  bringing 
to  justice,  and  almost  eradicating  the  mur- 
derous fraternity  of  the  Thugs,  ||  by  dis- 
persing the  horrible  obscurity  in  which 
their  midnight  deeds  of  assassination  and 
theft  had  been  so  long  shrouded,  breaking 
up  their  gangs,  and  tracking  them  out  in 
detail,  was  altogether  most  masterly,  and 
conferred  an  incalculable  amount  of  benefit 
on  the  peaceable  and  industrious,  but  help- 
less portion  of  the  population.  Colonel 
Sleeman's  character  and  career,  however, 

he  was  at  Lucknow;  General  Pollock  did  all  he 
could,  but  it  was  not  much ;  and  Colonel  Richmond 
does  nothing.  There  the  Buduk  dacoits,  Thugs  and 
poisoners,  remain  without  sentences,  and  will  do  so 
till  Richmond  goes,  unless  you  give  him  a  fillip. 
*  *  *  Davidson  was  prevented  from  doing  any 
thing  by  technical  difficulties ;  so  that  out  of  four 
residents  we  have  not  got  four  days'  work. — Jour- 
ney through  the  Kingdom  of  Oude  (Introduction), 
vol.  i.,  p.  xxviii. 

II  See  Indian  Kmpire,  vol.  i.,  p.  429 ;  for  an  ac- 
count of  the  Thugs,  or  Phansi-gars. 


72        PROPOSALS  FOR  CHANGE  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  OUDE. 


naturally  tended  to  render  him  a  severe 
censor  of  incapacity,  sensuality,  and  indo- 
lence— the  besetting  sins  of  the  King  of 
Oude.  Consequently,  his  correspondence 
manifests  a  contemptuous  aversion  for  the 
habits  and  associates  of  Wajid  Ali,  scarcely 
compatible  with  the  diplomatic  courtesy  ex- 
pected in  the  intercourse  of  a  British  func- 
tionary with  a-  national  ally.  Personal  ac- 
quaintance might  have  mitigated  this  feel- 
ing ;  but  Colonel  Sleeman  does  not  seem  to 
have  attempted  to  employ  the  influence 
which  his  age,  position,  and  knowledge  of 
the  world  might  have  given  him  with  the 
king,  who  was  then  a  young  man  of  about 
five-and-twenty.  "  I  have  not,"  he  says, 
"urged  his  majesty  to  see  and  converse  with 
me,  because  I  am  persuaded  that  nothing 
that  I  could  say  would  induce  him  to  alter 
his  mode  of  life,  or  to  associate  and  com- 
mune with  any  others  than  those  who  now 
exclusively  form  his  society."* 

The  tour  of  inspection  was  made  during 
three  months  of  the  cold  season  of  1850,  in 
defiance  of  the  tacit  opposition  of  the  native 
government,  on  whom  the  expenses,  amount- 
ing to  £30,000,  were  charged. f     The  mode 
of  proceeding  adopted  to  procure  evidence 
against  the  King  of  Oude,  and  the  complete 
setting  aside  of  the  authority  of  the  native 
government  therein  involved,  may  be  ex- 
cused by  circumstances,  but  cannot  be  jus- 
tified.    A  similar  proceeding  in  any  Anglo- 
Indian  province  would  unquestionably  have 
revealed  a  mass  of  crime  and  sufl^eiing,  of 
neglect  and  unredressed  wrongs,  of  which 
no  conception  could   have  been  previously 
formed.     Under  our  system,  however,  the 
evils  from  which  the  people  labour,  lie  deep, 
and    resemble   the  ,  complicated    sufferings 
which  affect  the  physical  frame  in  a  high 
state  of  civilisation.    Under  uative  despotism, 
the  diseases  of  the   body  politic  are  com- 
paratively few  in  number,    and  easily  dis- 
cernible, analogous  to  those  common  to  man 
in  a  more  natural  state.     The  employment 
of   torture,    for    instance,  as    a    means    of 
extorting    revenue,  is   a    barbarism   which 
seems  general  among  Asiatic  governments ; 

*  Pari.  Papers  relative  to  Oude.  —  Blue  Book, 
1856;  p.  158. 

fin  the  Ueply  to  the  Chary  es  against  the  King 
of  Oude,  published  in  the  name  of  Wajid  Ali 
Shah  himself,  the  following  passage  occurs; — "When 
Colonel  Sleeman  had,  under  pretence  of  change  of 
air  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  expressed  a  wish  to 
make  a  tour  through  the  Oude  dominion,  although 
such  a  tour  was  quite  unusual,  I  provided  him  with 
tents  and  bullock-trains,  and  ordered  my  officers  to 
furnish  him  with  men  for  clearing  the  road,  provi- 


and  it  has  been,  if  indeed  it  be  not  still, 
practised  by  our  own  native  underlings,  in 
consequence  of  imperfect  supervision  and 
excessive  taxation.  lu  Oude,  this  favourite 
engine  of  despotism  and  oppression  was,  as 
might  have  been  expected,  in  full  operation. 
It  ought,  long  years  before,  to  have  been 
not  simply  inveighed  against  by  residents  in 
communications  to  their  own  government, 
but  enacted  against  in  treaties ;  for,  clearly, 
when  the  British  government  guaranteed  to 
a  despotic  ruler  the  means  of  crushing  do- 
mestic rebellion,  they  became  responsible 
that  their  troops  should  not  be  instrumental 
in  perpetuating  the  infliction,  on  the  inno- 
cent, of  cruelties  which  the  laws  of  England 
would  not  suffer  to  be  perpetrated  on  the 
person  of  the  vilest  criminal. 

The    supreme   government    are    accused 
of   having   contented    themselves   with   in- 
culcating  rules    of  justice   and   mercy   by 
vague  generalities,  without  any  attempt  to 
take  advantage  of  opportunities  for  initiating 
reforms.     Major   Bird,   formerly   assistant- 
resident   at   Lucknow,'  afiirms  that  he  has 
now  in  his  custody  proposals  framed  by  the 
native  government,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  resident.   Colonel  Richmond,  in  1848, 
for  the  introduction  of  the  British  system 
of  administration  in  the  king's  dominions, 
to  be  tried  in   the  first  instance   in   such 
portions  of  them    as   adjoined   the    British 
territories.     The  scheme  was  submitted  to 
Mr.  Thomason,  the  lieutenant-governor  of 
the  North-Western  Provinces,  for  correc- 
tion,  and  was  then  forwarded  to  the  gov- 
ernor-general, by  whom  it  was  rejected  ;  the 
secretary  to   government  stating,  that  "if 
his  majesty  the  King  of  Oude  would  give 
up   the  whole  of  his    dominions,  the  East 
India  government  would  think  of  it ;    but 
that   it  was   not  worth    while   to   take   so 
much  trouble  about  a  portion."} 

Such  a  rebuff'  as  this  is  quite  indefensible. 
Althoiigh  the  worthless  ministers  and  fa- 
vourites by  whom  the  king  was  surrounded, 
might  have  eventually  neutrahsed  any  good 
results  from  the  proposed  experiment,  yet, 
had  the  Calcutta  authorities  really  felt  the 

sions  and  all  other  necessaries ;  and  although  this 
cost  me  lacs  of  rupees,  still  I  never  murmured  nor 
raised  any  objections."  In  Colonel  Sleeman's  very 
first  halt,  he  is  described  as  having  received  peti- 
tions, and  wrote  letters  thereon  to  the  native  gov- 
ernment, in  defiance  alike  of  treaties,  of  the  ex- 
press orders  of  the  Court  of  Directors,  and  of  the 
rule  of  neutrality  previously  observed  by  successive 
residents.— (Pp.  8  ;  13.) 

I  Dacoitee  in  ExceUia  ;  or,  the  Spoliation  of  Oude, 
p.  102.     Taylor  :  London. 


REASONS  FOR  GOVERNING  BUT  NOT  ANNEXING  OUDE. 


earnest  solicitude  expressed  by  them  for  the 
people  of  Oude,  they  would  have  encouraged 
any  scheme  calculated  to  lessen  the  disorgan- 
isation of  which  they  so  loudly  complained, 
instead  of  waiting,  as  they  appear  to  have 
done,  to  take  advautage  of  their  own  neglect. 

It  is  not  easy  to  decide  how  far  the  British 
government  deserves  to  share  the  disgrace 
which  rests  on  the  profligate  and  indolent 
dynasty,  of  which  Wajid  All  was  the  last 
representative,  for  the  wretched  condition 
of  Oude.  Of  the  fact  of  its  misgovernment 
there  seems  no  doubt ;  for  Colonel  Sleeman 
was  a  truthful  and  able  man  ;  and  the  entries 
in  his  Diary  depict  a  state  of  the  most  bar- 
barous anarchy.  The  people  are  described 
as  equally  oppressed  by  the  exactions  of  the 
king's  troops  and  collectors,  and  by  the 
gangs  of  robbers  and  lawless  chieftains 
who  infested  the  whole  territory,  rendering 
tenure  so  doubtful  that  no  good  dwellings 
could  be  erected,  and  preventing  more  than 
a  very  partial  cultivation  of  the  land,  besides 
perpetrating  individual  cruelties,  torturings, 
and  murders  almost  beyond  belief. 

No  immediate  result  followed  the  report 
of  the  resident;  for  the  Burmese  war  of 
1851-'2  occupied  the  attention  of  gov- 
ernment, and  gave  Wajid  All  Shah  a  re- 
spite, of  which  he  was  too  reckless  or  too 
ill-advised  to  take  advantage.  Colonel 
Sleeman,  writing  to  Lord  Dalhousie  in 
September,  1852,  declared — 

"  The  longer  the  king  reigns  the  more  unfit  he 
becomes  to  reign,  and  the  more  the  administration 
and  the  country  deteriorates.  The  state  must  have 
become  bankrupt  long  ere  this  ;  but  the  king,  and 
the  knaves  by  whom  he  is  governed,  have  discon- 
tinued paying  the  stipends  of  all  the  members  of  the 
royal  family,  save  those  of  his  own  father's  family, 
for  the  last  three  years;  and  many  of  them  are  re- 
duced to  extreme  distress,  without  the  hope  of  ever 
getting  their  stipends  again,  unless  our  government 
interferes.  The  females  of  the  palaces  of  former 
sovereigns  ventured  to  clamour  for  their  subsistence, 
and  they  were,  without  shame  or  mercy,  driven  into 

I  the  streets  to  starve,  beg,  or  earn  their  bread  by 
their  labour.  •  •  •  Xhe  king  is  surrounded  by 
eunuchs,  fiddlers,  and  poetasters  worse  than  either  ; 
and  the  minister  and  his  creatures,  who  are  worse 
than  all.     They  appropriate  at  least  one-half  the  re- 

j  venues  of  the  country  to  themselves,  and  employ 
nothing  [sic]  but  knaves  of  the  very  worst  kind  in 
all  the  branches  of  the  administration.  •  •  • 
The  fiddlers  have  control  over  the  administration 
of  civil  justice  i  the  eunuchs  over  that  of  criminal 

I  justice,  public  buildings,  &c ;   the  minister  has  the 
land  revenue :  and  all  are  making  large  fortunes."* 
In  the  beginning  of  1853,   the  resident 
•  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  369. 
t  Ibid.  (Introduction),  vol.  i.,  p.  xxii. 
X  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  388. 
VOL.  II.  L 


writes  to  Sir  James  Weir  Hogg,  that  the 
King  of  Oude  was  becoming  more  and  more 
iml)ecile  and  crazy;  and  had,  on  several 
occasions  during  some  recent  religious 
ceremonies,  gone  along  the  streets  beating 
a  drum  tied  round  his  neck,  to  the  great 
scandal  of  his  family,  and  the  amusement 
of  his  people.  The  minister,  Ali  Nukkee 
Khan,  is  described  as  one  of  the  cleverest, 
most  intriguing,  and  most  unscrupulous 
villains  in  India  ;t  who  had  obtained  influ- 
ence over  his  master  by  entire  subservience 
to  his  vices  and  follies,  and  by  praising  all 
he  did,  however  degrading  to  him  as  a  man 
and  a  sovereign. 

Notwithstanding  the  king's  utter  inat- 
tention to  public  affairs,  and  devotion  to 
drumming,  dancing,  and  versifying,  he 
believed  himself  quite  fit  to  reign;  and 
Colonel  Sleeman  considered  that  nothing 
would  ever  induce  Wajid  Ali  to  abdicate, 
even  in  favour  of  his  own  son,  much  less 
consent  to  make  over  the  conduct  of  the 
administration,  in  perpetuity,  to  our  gov- 
ernment. The  conclusion  at  which  the 
resident  arrives  is  important : — 

"  If,  therefore,  our  government  does  interfere,  it 
must  be  in  the  exercise  of  a  right  arising  out  of  the 
existing  relations  between  the  two  states,  or  out  of 
our  position  as  the  paramount  power  in  India. 
These  relations,  under  the  treaty  of  1837,  give  our 
government  the  right  to  take  upon  itself  the  admin- 
istration under  present  circumstances  ;  and,  indeed, 
imposes  upon  our  government  the  duty  of  taking 
it :  hut,  as  I  have  already  stated,  neither  these  re- 
lations, nor  our  position  as  the  paramount  power, 
give  us  any  right  to  annex  or  to  confiscate  the 
territory  of  Oude.  We  may  have  a  right  to  take 
territory  from  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad,  in  payment 
for  the  money  he  owes  us ;  but  Oude  owes  us  no 
money,  and  we  have  no  right  to  take  territory  from 
her.  We  have  only  the  right  to  secure  for  the 
suffering  people  that  better  government  which  their 
sovereign  pledged  himself  to  secure  for  them,  but 
has  failed  to  secure.J" 

The  entire  reliance  manifested  in  the 
above  extracts,  on  the  validity  of  the  treaty 
of  1837,  is  equally  conspicuous  in  other 
letters.  It  is  repeatedly  mentioned  as  giving 
the  government  ample  authority  to  assume 
the  whole  administration ;  but  it  is  added — 
"  If  we  do  this,  we  must,  in  order  to  stand 
well  with  the  rest  of  India,  honestly  and 
distinctly  disclaim  all  interested  motives, 
and  appropriate  the  whole  of  the  revenues 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people  and  royal 
family  of  Oude ;"  for,  "  were  we  to  take 
advantage  of  the  occasion  to  annex  or  con- 
fiscate Oude,  or  any  part  of  it,  our  good 
name  in  India  would  inevitably  suffer;  and 


74 


SIR  WILLIAM  SLEEMAN'S  ANTI-ANNEXATION  VIEWS— 1855. 


that  good  name  is  more  valuable  to  us  than 
a  dozen  Oudes." 

On  the  annexation  policy  in  general,  the 
resident  commented  in  terms  of  severe 
censure.  "  There  is  a  school  in  India,"  he 
says,  "characterised  by  impatience  at  the 
existence  of  any  native  states,  and  by  strong 
and  often  insane  advocacy  of  their  absorp- 
tion— by  honest  means  if  possible;  but  still 
their  absorption.  There  is  no  pretext, 
however  weak,  that  is  not  sufficient,  in  their 
estimation,  for  the  purpose ;  and  no  war, 
however  cruel,  that  is  not  justifiable,  if  it 
has  only  this  object  in  view."  Such  views 
he  denounced  as  dangerous  to  our  rule; 
for  the  people  of  India,  seeing  that  annexa- 
tions and  confiscations  went  on,  and  that 
rewards  and  honorary  distinctions  were 
given  for  them,  and  for  the  victories  which 
led  to  them,  and  for  little  else,  were  too  apt 
to  infer  that  they  were  systematic,  and 
encouraged  and  prescribed  from  home. 
The  native  states  he  compared  to  break- 
waters, which,  when  swept  away,  would 
leave  us  to  the  mercy  of  our  native  army, 
which  might  not  always  be  under  our 
control.* 

With  such  opinions,  he  watched  with 
deep  anxiety  the  progress  of  the  aggressive 
and  absorbing  policy  favoured  by  Lord 
Dalhousie  and  his  council,  which,  he  con- 
sidered, was  tending  to  crush  all  the  higher 
and  middle  classes  connected  with  the  land, 
and  to  excite  general  alarm  in  the  native 
mind.  He  began  to  fear  the  adoption  of 
some  course  towards  Oude  which  would 
involve  a  breach  of  faith ;  but  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  suspected  the  possibility  of 
any  right  of  annexation  being  grounded  on 
the  repudiation  by  the  Calcutta  govern- 
ment, at  the  eleventh  hour,  of  the  treaty  of 
1837. 

In  a  private  letter  (the  latest  of  his  corres- 
pondence), he  writes — "  Lord  Dalhousie  and 
I,  have  different  views,  I  fear.  If  he  wishes 
anything  done  that  I  do  not  think  right 
and  honest,  I  resign,  and  leave  it  to  be  done 
by  others.  I  desire  a  strict  adherence  to 
solemn  engagements  with  white  faces  or 
black.  We  have  no  right  to  annex  or  con- 
fiscate Oude;  but  we  have  a  right,  under 
the  treaty  of  1837,  to  take  the  management 
of  it,  but  not  to  appropriate  its  revenues  to 
ourselves.      To   confiscate   would    be    dis- 

•  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  392. 
t  Written  in  1854-5.    Published  in  the  Times, 
November,  1857. 

X  See  Oude  Blue  Book  for  1856;  pp.  12—46. 


honest  and  dishonourable.  To  annex  would 
be  to  give  the  people  a  government  almost 
as  bad  as  their  own,  if  we  put  our  sci  ew 
upon  them."t 

The  last  admission  is  a  strange  one  from 
the  narrator  of  the  Tour  through  Oude. 
He  was  not  spared  to  remonstrate,  as  he 
certainly  would  have  done,  against  the 
adoption  of  measures  he  had  denounced  by 
anticipation ;  but  he  was  spared  the  too 
probable  pain  of  remonstrating  in  vain. 
In  the  summer  of  1854  his  health  began  to 
fail.  He  went  to  the  hills  in  the  hope  of 
recruiting  his  strength  and  resuming  his 
labours.  At  last,  warned  by  indications  of 
approaching  paralysis,  he  resigned  his  office, 
and  embarked  for  England,  but  died  on  his 
passage,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1856,  at 
the  age  of  sixty -seven.  Four  days  before, 
his  services  had  been  recognised  by  his 
nomination  as  a  K.C.B.,  at  the  express  re- 
quest of  Lord  Dalhousie,  who,  despite  their 
difiference  in  opinion,  fully  appreciated  the 
qualities  of  his  able  subordinate.  The 
mark  of  royal  favour  came  in  all  respects 
too  late :  it  would  have  been  better  be- 
stowed at  the  time  when  it  had  been  richly 
earned  by  the  measures  for  the  suppression 
of  Thuggee  and  Dacoitee,  instead  of  being 
connected  with  the  ill-omened  Tour  which 
preceded  the  annexation  of  Oude. 

General  Outram  (Napier's  old  opponent) 
was  sent  as  officiating  resident  to  Lucknow, 
in  December,  1854,  and  desired  to  furnish 
a  report  with  a  view  to  determine  whether 
public  affairs  continued  in  the  state  de- 
scribed from  time  to  time  by  his  predeces- 
sor. This  he  did,  at  considerable  length, 
in  February,  1855  ;t  and  his  conclusion  was, 
that  matters  were  as  bad,  if  not  worse,  than 
Colonel  Sleeman  had  described  them;  and 
that  "  the  very  culpable  apathy  and  gross 
misrule  of  the  sovereign  and  his  durbar," 
rendered  it  incumbent  on  the  supreme  gov- 
ernment to  have  recourse  to  the  "  extreme 
measures"  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the 
five  millions  of  people  who  were  now  op- 
pressed by  an  effete  and  incapable  dynasty. 
Major-general  Outram  added,  that  in 
the  absence  of  any  personal  experience  in 
the  country,  he  was  dependent  for  informa- 
tion on  the  residency  records,  and  on  the 
channels  which  supplied  his  predecessor. 
It  would  seem  that  he  (like  Colonel  Caul- 
field)  had  been  instructed  to  refrain  from 
any  mention  of  the  treaty  of  1837;  for  his 
report  refers  exclusively  to  that  concluded  in 
1801 :  but  in  a  paper  drawn  up  by  Captain 


DISCUSSIONS  REGARDING  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  OUDE. 


75 


Fletcher  Hayes  (assistant-resident),  on  the 
"  history  of  our  connection  with  the  Oude 
government,"  the  Calcutta  authorities  are 
reminded,  that  in  the  absence  of  any  inti- 
mation of  the  annulment  of  the  treaty 
of  1837,  all  its  articles  (except  that  of 
maintaining  an  auxiliary  force,  from  which 
the  king  had  been  relieved  as  an  act  of 
grace)  were  considered  by  the  court  of 
Lucknow  as  binding  on  the  contracting 
powers.* 

The  supreme  authorities  had  placed 
themselves  in  a  difficult  position:  they 
had  pertinaciously  stood  between  the 
Court  of  Directors  and  the  government  of 
Oude,  and  had  taken  upon  themselves 
the  responsibility  of  maintaining  the  treaty 
repudiated  by  the  directors  as  unjust  and 
extortionate.  But  in  1855,  the  rapid  march 
of  the  annexation  policy  had  left  the  land- 
marks of  1837  so  far  behind,  that  it  had 
become  desirable  to  set  the  contract  of  that 
date  aside,  because  its  exactions  and  its 
penalties,  once  denounced  as  unfair  to  the 
king,  would  now,  if  enforced,  limit  and 
cripple  the  plans  of  the  governor-general. 
The  very  instrument,  obtained  and  retained 
for  aggressive  purposes,  in  defiance  of  the 
orders  of  the  home  authorities,  was  likely 
to  prove  a  weapon  of  defence  in  the  hands 
of  the  King  of  Oude,  and  to  be  rested  upon 
as  the  charter  of  the  rights  of  the  dynasty 
and  state.  But  the  Red  treaty  palmed  off 
on  Omichund,  with  the  forged  signature  of 
Admiral  Watson,  was  not  more  easily  set 
aside  by  Clivef  than  the  treaty  with  Oude 
by  the  governor-general  in  council.  "  In 
each  case,  the  right  of  the  stronger  prevailed 
without  a  struggle,  and  left  the  weaker 
party  no  power  of  appeal.  Still  the  autho- 
rities, in  discussing  the  affairs  of  Oude,  ab- 
stained, as  far  as  possible,  from  any  mention 
of  the  treaty  of  1837,  and  evidently  thought 
the  less  said  on  the  subject  the  better. 
Thus,  the  governor-general,  in  his  minute  on 
the  measure.'*  to  be  adopted  for  the  future 
administration  of  Oude  (extending  over 
forty-three  folio  pages),  adverts  to  the  treaty 
of  1837,  only  in  one  short  paragraph,  in 
which  he  states  that  the  instrument  by 
which  the  mutual  relations  of  the  British 
and  Oude  governments  were  defined,  was 
the  treaty  of  1801.     "A  very  general  im- 

•  Owle  Blue  Suok,  p.  81. 
t  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  pp.  276—278. 
X  Minute  by  Lord  Dalhousie,  June  18th,  1855. — 
Oude  Blue  Book,  p.  149. 
5  Any  reader  who  doubts  the  illegality  of  Lord 


pression  prevails  that  a  subsequent  re-ad- 
justment of  those  relations  was  made  by  the 
treaty  concluded  by  Lord  Auckland  in 
1837.  But  that  treaty  is  null  and  void.  It 
was  wholly  disallowed  by  the  Hon.  Court 
of  Directors  as  soon  as  they  received  it." 

In  other  paragraphs,  repeated  reference 
is  made  to  the  warnings  given  by  Lord 
Hardinge  to  Wajid  Ali,  in  1847,  of  the  de- 
termination of  the  supreme  government,  in 
the  event  of  continued  neglect,  to  interfere 
for  the  protection  of  the  people  of  Oude; 
but  the  important  fact  is  suppressed,  that 
the  right  of  interference  was  explicitly  stated 
to  rest,  whollv  and  solely,  "  on  the  treaty 
ratified  in  the'year  1837."! 

"It  is  to  the  treaty  of  1801,"  said  Lord 
Dalhousie,  "that  we  must  exclusively  look:"§ 
and,  accordingly,  it  was  looked  to,  for  the 
express  purpose  of  proving  that  it  had  been 
violated  by  the  King  of  Oude,  and  might, 
therefore,  be  likewise  declared  null  and 
void.  Yet  Lord  Dalhousie  hesitated  at 
"resorting  to  so  extreme  a  measure  as  the 
annexation  of  the  territory,  and  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  throne."  The  rulers  of  Oude, 
he  admitted,  had  been  unwavering  in  their 
adherence  to  the  British  power,  and  had 
"  aided  us  as  best  they  could  in  our  hour  of 
utmost  need  :"  he  therefore  recommended 
that  the  king  should  be  suffered  to  retain 
his  title  and  rank,  but  should  be  required 
to  transfer  the  whole  civil  and  military  ad- 
ministration into  the  hands  of  the  E.  1. 
Company,in  perpetuity, by  whom  the  surplus 
revenues  were  to  be  appropriated,  a  liberal 
stipend  being  allowed  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  royal  family.  "The  king's  consent," 
he  added,  "  is  indispensable  to  the  transfer 
of  the  whole,  or  of  any  part,  of  his  sovereign 
power  to  the  government  of  the  East  India 
Company.  It  would  not  be  expedient  or 
right  to  extract  this  consent  by  means  of 
menace  or  compulsion."  Lord  Dalhousie, 
therefore,  advised  that  the  king  should  be 
requested  to  sign  a  treaty  based  on  the  fore- 
going terms,  and  warned  that,  in  the  event 
of  refusal,  the  treaty  of  1801  would  be  de- 
clared at  an  end,  and  the  British  subsidiary 
force  entirely  withdrawn.  The  proposal  ap- 
pears to  have  been  made  under  the  idea 
that  the  very  existence  of  the  throne  of 
Oude  depended  so  entirely  on  the  presence 

Dalhousie's  conclusion,  would  do  well  to  peruse  the 
able  opinion  of  Dr.  Travers  Twiss,  dated  24th 
February,  1857,  on  the  infraction  of  the  law  of 
nations,  committed  by  setting  aside  the  treaty  of 
1837  ;  quoted  in  Dacoilee  in  Excehis,  pp.  192 — 199. 


76 


MINUTES  OF  MEMBERS  OP  SUPREME  COUNCIL— 1855. 


of  a  British  force,  that  the  king  would  ac- 
cede to  any  conditions  required  from  him. 
But  the  other  members  of  council  unani- 
mously deprecated  the  offering  of  the  pro- 
posed alternative,  on  the  gfound  of  the  ter- 
rible crisis  of  anarchy  which  would  be  the 
probable  consequence ;  and  it  was  suggested 
that,  "  if  there  should  be  in  the  king's  council 
but  one  person  of  courage  and  genius, 
though  it  should  be  but  a  danciug-girl 
(such  as  Indian  annals  show  many),  the  king 
might  be  led  to  elect  discounectiou  rather 
than  abdication."* 

Mr.  Doriu  minuted  in  favour  of  the  entire 
incorporation  of  Oude,  and  objected  to  con- 
tinuing "  to  the  most  unkiugly  monarch  of 
Oude  any  portion  of  the  royal  position  and 
dignity  which,  by  nature  and  inclination, 
he  is  incapable  of  sustaining;"  yet  he  foresaw 
that  the  king  would  never  surrender  his 
kingdom  except  on  compulsion.  All  Mr. 
Dorin's  sympathies  were,  he  declared,  with 
the  people  of  Oude,  the  "  fine,  manly  race," 
from  whom  we  drew  "  almost  the  flower  of 
the  Bengal  army." 

Mr.    Grant   agreed   generally  with    Mr. 
Dorin,  but   thought  that  the   king  might 
be  suffered  to  retain  his  title  for  his  life- 
time.    Mr.  Grant  took  strong  views  of  the 
rights   and   responsibilities  of  the   British 
government,  both  in  its  own  right,  and  as 
having    "succeeded  to  the   empire  of  the 
Mogul ;"  and  he  denied  that  the  Oude  rulers 
had  ever  stood  in  the  position  of  sovereign 
princes.     Major-general  Low  (who  had  held 
the    position   of  resident    at    Lucknow  for 
eleven  years)  minuted  in  favour  of  annexa- 
tion, but  desired  to  see  more  liberal  provi- 
sion made  for  the  present  king  and  his  suc- 
cessors  than  the  other  members  of  council 
deemed  necessary.     He  urged  that  the  well- 
known    habits   of  Mohammedans   of  rank 
afforded  a  guarantee  for  their  income  being 
expended  among  the  people  from  whom  it 
was  levied,  and  not  hoarded  up,  and  sent  oft' 
to  a  distant  country,  according  to  the  prac- 
tice of  most  European  gentlemen  on  reaching 
the   highest  offices    in  the  Indian  service. 
The   character  of  the  last  five   princes  of 
Oude,  all  of  whom  he  had  known  personally, 
had,   he  said,    been   much  misrepresented : 
they  had  sadly  mismanaged  their  own  afl'airs, 
but  they  had  constantly  proved  active  and 

•  Minute  by  Mr.  Oiant.— Oude  Blue  Book,  p.  218. 

t  This  last  portion  of  Major-general  Low's  minute 
certainly  does  not  accord  with  the  account  given 
by  Colonel  Sleeman  of  his  intercourse  with  Wajid 
Ali;  but  the  colonel,  though  just  and  honourable 


useful  allies,  having  again  and  again  for- 
warded large  supplies  of  grain  and  cattle  to 
our  armies  with  an  alacrity  that  could  not 
be  exceeded  by  our  own  British  chiefs  of 
provinces,  and  having  lent  us  large  sums  of 
money  when  we  were  extremely  in  want  of 
it,  and  could  not  procure  it  elsewhere.  As 
individual  princes,  their  intercourse  with 
our  public  functionaries  had  been  regular, 
attentive,  courteous,  and  friendly.f 

Mr.  Peacock  minuted  in  favour  of  the 
assumption  of  sovereign  power  over  Oude, 
but  desired  that  the  surplus  revenue  might 
be  disposed  of  entirely  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people,  and  no  pecuniary  benefit  be  derived 
by  the  East  India  Company.  The  sugges- 
tion deserved  more  notice  than  it  appears 
to  have  received,  seeing  that  "the  benefit 
of  the  people"  is  declared  by  the  directors 
to  have  been  "  the  sole  motive,  as  well  as 
the  sole  justification,"  of  the  annexation. J 

Not  one  of  the  four  members  of  coun- 
cil (not  even  Mr.  Peacock,  though  an  emi- 
nent lawyer)  took  the  slightest  notice  of 
the  treaty  of  1837,  or  alluded  to  the  fre- 
quent references  concerning  it  made  by 
their  delegates  at  the  court  of  Lucknow. 
They  spoke  freely  enough  of  treaties  in 
general,  discussed  the  law  of  nations,  and 
quoted  Vattel ;  but  the  latest  contract  was 
tabooed  as  dangerous  ground.  The  governor- 
general,  in  forwarding  to  the  Court  of 
Directors  the  minutes  and  other  papers 
above  quoted,  alluded  to  his  own  approach- 
ing departure,  but  offered  to  remain  and 
carry  out  the  proposed  measures  regarding 
Oude,  if  the  directors  considered  that  the 
experience  of  eight  years  would  enable  him 
to  do  so  with  greater  authority  than  a 
newly-appointed  governor  might  probably 
command.  The  task,  he  added,  would 
impose  upon  him  very  heavy  additional 
labour  and  anxiety  ;  the  ripened  fruit  would 
be  gathered  only  by  those  who  might  come 
after  liim.§  The  simile  is  an  unfortuuate 
one,  if  the  fruit  we  are  now  gathering  in 
Oude  is  to  be  viewed  as  evidencing  the  cha- 
racter of  the  tree  which  produced  it. 

The  Court  of  Directors,  in  announcing 
their  decision  on  the  subject,  imitated 
the  reserve  of  their  representatives;  and 
having  the  fear  of  Blue  Book  revelations, 
and  India  Reform  Society  philippics  before 

in  deed,  was  not  conciliatory  in  manner;  and  his 
official  communication  with  the  king  would  be 
naturally  affected  by  this  circumstance. 

t  Oude  Jitue  Book,  p.  231. 

§  Despatch  dated  July  3id,  18j5. — Ibid.,  p.  i. 


BRITISH  TROOPS  MARCH  ON  LUCKNOW— 1856. 


n 


their  eyes  (but  not  of  mutiny  and  insurrec- 
tion), they  ignored  the  chief  difficulty,  and 
accepted  Lord  Dalhousie's  offer  in  the 
most  complimentary  terms,  leaving  him 
unfettered  by  any  special  instructions. 
They  suggested,  however,  that  the  offi- 
ciating resident  (Outram)  should  be  in- 
structed to  ascertain  whether  the  prospect 
of  declaring  our  connection  with  the  Oude 
government  at  au  end,  would  be  so  alarm- 
ing to  the  king  as  to  render  his  acceptance 
of  the  proposed  treaty  a  matter  of  virtual 
necessity.  If  this  could  be  rehed  on,  the 
alternative  was  to  be  offered;  if  not,  the 
directors  authorised  and  enjoined  the  at- 
tainment of  the  "  indispensable  result,"  in 
such  manner  as  the  governor-general  in 
council  should  see  fit.  Concerning  the 
appropriation  of  the  surplus  revenue,  they 
made  no  remark  whatever.* 

The  idea  of  offering  the  king  the  with- 
drawal of  the  subsidiary  force  as  the  alter- 
native of  abdication,  was  abandoned,  and 
measures  were  taken  for  the  assumption  of 
the  government  of  Oude,  by  issuing  orders 
for  the  assembling  of  such  a  military  force 
at  Cawnpoor  as,  added  to  the  troops  can- 
toned at  that  station,  and  to  those  already 
in  Oude,  was  considered  sufficient  to  meet 
every  immediate  contingency.  The  addi- 
tional troops  numbered  about  13,000  men, 
aud  were  placed  under  the  divisional  com- 
mand of  (the  late)  Major-general  Penny ; 
but  constituted  a  distinct  field  force  under 
(the  late)  Colonel  Wheelei',  as  brigadier. 
In  the  meantime,  the  disorganisation  of 
Oude  was  clearly  on  the  increase,  and  one 
of  its  marked  features  was  a  rising  spirit  of 
Moslem  fanaticism.  It  happened  that  a 
Mohammedan  fast  fell  on  the  same  day  as 
a  Hindoo  feast ;  and  Ameer  Ali,  a  moolvee, 
or  priest,  of  high  repute,  took  advantage  of 
the  circumstance  to  incite  his  co-relij;ionists 
to  a  fierce  onslaught  on  the  Hindoos. 
Troops  were  ordered  out  to  quell  the  dis- 
turbances; but  Ameer  Ali  seized  and  con- 
fined two  of  the  officers,  assembled  3,000 
men,  and  declared  his  intention  of  destroy- 
ing a  certain  Hindoo  temple,  and  erectiug  a 
mosque  in  its  stead.  At  length  the  British 
subsidiary  force  was  employed  by  the  king 
against  the  moolvee.     An  affray  ensued,  in 

*  Despatch  from  the  Court  of  Directors,  dated 
November  21st,  1855.  Signed — E.  Macnaghten,  W. 
H.  Sykes,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. —  Oude  Blue  Jiook,  pp. 
233—236. 

+  Dacuitee  in  Excehia,  p.  140. 

X  Oude  Blue  Book,  p.  280. 


which  a  body  of  Pataus  fought  with  the 
recklessness  of  fanaticism,  and  were  cut 
down,  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  round 
their  guns,  by  a  party  of  Hindoo  zemindars 
and  their  retainers.  In  all,  200  Hindoos 
and  300  Patans  perished.  This  occurred 
in  November,  1855.  About  the  same  time 
the  Oude  government  became  aware  that 
some  great  change  was  in  agitation.  They 
asked  the  reason  for  the  assembling  of  so 
large  a  force  at  Cawnpoor ;  and  were,  it  is 
alleged,  solemnly  assured  that  it  was  in- 
tended to  keep  in  check  the  Nepaulese, 
who  were  supposed  to  be  meditating  a 
descent  towards  the  district  of  Nanparah.t 

The  veil,  however,  was  soon  withdrawn. 
On  the  30th  of  January,  1856,  General 
Outram  requested  the  attendance  of  Ali 
Nukki  Khan  at  the  residency,  and  after  in- 
forming him  of  the  contemplated  changes, 
"mentioned  that,  in  order  to  prevent  the 
chance  of  a  disturbance  on  the  part  of  evil- 
disposed  persons,  a  strong  brigade  of  troops 
was  directed  to  cross  the  Ganges,  and  march 
on  the  capital. "J 

Having  impressed  the  minister  with  the 
futility  of  resistance,  the  resident  pro- 
ceeded to  seek,  or  rather  to  insist  upon,  au 
interview  with  the  king.  Remembering 
the  discussions  which  had  taken  place  be- 
tween the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad  aud  Colonel 
Low,  the  governor-general  was  anxious 
that  General  Outram  should  not  be  sur- 
prised into  indiscreet  admissions;  and 
warned  him,  that  it  was  "  very  probable" 
that  the  king  would  refer  to  the  treaty 
negotiated  with  his  predecessor  in  the  year 
1837,  of  the  entire  abrogation  of  which  the 
court  of  Luckiiow  had  never  been  informed. 
"  The  effect  of  this  reserve,  and  want  of  full 
communication,  is  felt  to  be  embarrassing 
to-day.  It  is  the  more  embarrassing  that 
the  cancelled  instrument  was  still  included 
iu  a  volume  of  treaties  which  was  published 
in  1845,  by  the  authority  of  government. 
There  is' no  better  way  of  encountering  this 
difficulty  than  by  meeting  it  full  in  the 
face."  This  was  to  be  done  by  informing 
the  king  that  the  communication  had  been 
inadvertently  neglected ;  and  the  resident 
was  authorised  to  state  the  regret  felt  by  the 
governor-general  in  council,  that  "  any  such 
neglect  should  have  taken  place  even  inad- 
vertently." Should  the  king  observe,  that 
although  the  treaty  of  1837  was  annulled, 
a  similar  measure,  less  stringent  than  that 
now  proposed,  might  be  adopted,  he  was  to 
be  told,  that  all  subsequent  experience  had 


78        INTERVIEW  BETWEEN  THE  KING  AND  GENERAL  OUTRAM. 


shown  that  the  remedy  then  provided  would 
be  wholly  inadequate  to  remove  the  evils 
and  abuses  which  had  long  marked  the  con- 
dition of  Oude.* 

Such  were  the  arguments  put  by  the 
supreme  government  of  India,  into  the 
mouth  of  General  Outram.  They  must 
have  been  extremely  unpalatable  to  a  man 
whose  frieudly  feeling  towards  Indian 
princes  had  been  strengthened  by  personal 
and  friendly  intercourse,  and  not  frozen  by 
viceregal  state,  or  neutralised  by  exclusive 
attention  to  the  immediate  interests  and 
absorbing  pecuniary  anxieties  of  the  East 
India  Company.  But  the  resident  had 
swallowed  a  more  bitter  pill  than  this  when 
negotiating  with  the  unfortunate  Ameers  of 
Siude,  whom,  in  his  own  words,  he  had  had 
to  warn  against  resistance  to  our  requisi- 
tions, as  a  measure  that  would  bring  down 
upon  them  utter  and  merited  destruction; 
while  he  firmly  believed,  that  every  life  lost 
in  consequence  of  our  aggressions,  would  be 
chargeable  upon  us  as  a  murder. f 

In  the  present  instance  he  was  spared 
the  task  of  adding  insult  to  injury.  Neither 
the  king  nor  his  minister  attempted  to 
stand  upon  any  abstract  theory  of  justice, 
or  fought  the  ground,  inch  by  inch,  as 
Mahratta  diplomatists  would  have  done — 
throwing  away  no  chance,  but,  amid  defeat 
and  humiliation,  making  the  best  possible 
terms  for  themselves.  Wajid  Ali  Shah,  on 
the  contrary,  "  unkingly"  as  he  had  been 
described  to  be,  and  unfit  to  reign  as  he 
certainly  was,  did  not  stoop  to  discussions 
which  he  knew  would  avail  him  nothing, 
but  acted  on  the  imperial  axiom,  "  aut  Coesar 
aut  nullus." 

When  the  resident  proceeded,  as  pre- 
arranged, to  present  to  the  king  the  draft 
treaty  now  proposed,  accompanied  by  a 
letter  from  the  governor-general  urging  its 
acceptance,  he  found  the  palace  courts 
nearly  deserted,  and  the  guns  which  pro- 
tected the  inner  gates  dismounted  from  their 
carriages.  The  guard  of  honour  were  drawn 
up  unarmed,and  saluted  him  with  theirhands 
only.  The  mere  official  report  of  the  inter- 
view is  very  interesting.  The  king  received 
the  treaty  with  the  deepest  emotion,  and 
gave  it  to  a  confidential  servant,  Sahib- 
oo-Dowlah,  to  read  aloud;  but  the  latter, 
overcome   by  his   feelings,    was  unable   to 

•  Letter  from  secretary  of  government  to  Major- 
peneral  Outram,  January  23rd,  1856.— Ourfe  Blue 
hook,  p.  243. 

t  Outram'*  Commentary  on  Napier's  Conquett  of 


proceed  beyond  the  first  few  lines;  on 
which  the  king  took  the  treaty  into  his  own 
hands,  and  silently  read  the  document,  in 
which  he  was  cajled  upon  to  admit  that  he 
and  his  predecessors  had,  by  continual  mal- 
administration, violated  the  treaty  of  1801 ; 
and  to  make  over  the  entire  government  of 
Oude  to  the  East  India  Company  in  per- 
petuity, together  with  the  free  and  exclusive 
right  to  "  the  revenues  thereof."  In  re- 
turn for  signing  this  humiliating  abdication, 
Wajid  Ali  was  to  retain  and  bequeath  "  to 
the  heirs  male  of  his  body  born  in  lawful 
wedlock"  (not  his  heirs  generally,  accord- 
ing to  Mohammedan  law),  the  style  of  a 
sovereign  prince,  and  a  stipend  of  twelve 
lacs  per  annum. 

After  carefully  perusing  every  article, 
the  king  exclaimed,  in  a  passionate  burst 
of  grief — "Treaties  are  necessary  between 
equals  only ;  who  am  I  now,  that  the  British 
government  should  enter  into  treaties  with 
me?"  Uncovering  himself  (the  deepest  token 
of  humiliation  which  a  Mohammedan  can 
give), J  he  placed  his  turban  in  the  hands  of 
the  resident,  declaring  that,  now  his  titles, 
rank,  and  position  were  all  gone,  he  would 
not  trouble  government  for  any  mainte- 
nance, but  would  seek,  in  Europe,  for  that 
redress  which  it  was  vain  to  look  for  in 
India. 

General  Outram  begged  the  king  to  re- 
flect, that  if  he  persisted  in  withholding  his 
signature,  "  he  would  have  no  security  what- 
ever for  his  future  maintenance,  or  for  that 
of  his  family;  that  the  very  liberal  provi- 
sion devised  by  the  British  government 
would  inevitably  be  reconsidered  and  re- 
duced; that  his  majesty  would  have  no 
guarantee  for  his  future  provision,  and 
would  have  no  claim  whatever  on  the  gene- 
rosity of  the  government."  The  prime 
minister  warmly  supported  the  resident ; 
but  the  king's  brother  exclaimed,  that 
there  was  no  occasion  for  a  treaty,  as  his 
majesty  was  no  longer  in  a  position  to  be 
one  of  the  contracting  powers.  The  king 
reiterated  his  unalterable  resolve  not  to 
sign  the  treaty  :  the  resident  intimated  that 
no  further  delay  than  three  days  could  be 
permitted;  and  then,  with  the  usual  cere- 
monies and  honours,  took  his  leave. 

The  government,  in  their  anxiety  to  ob- 
tain the  king's  signature,  had  empowered 

Sinde,   p.  439.     See  also  Indian  Empire,   vol.   i., 
p.  451. 

X  May  vour  father's  head  be  uncovered  !  is  one  of 
the  most  oitter  curses  of  the  Mohammedans. 


ANNEXATION  OF  0UDE-7th  FEBRUARY,  1855, 


79 


the  resident  to  increase  the  proffered  stipend 
of  twelve  lacs  (£120,000)  to  fifteen,  if  their 
object  could  be  thus  attained.  But  the 
demeanour  of  Wajid  Ali  convinced  General 
Outram  that  the  promise  of  double  that 
sum,  or  of  any  amount  of  money,  would 
have  no  effect ;  and  he  therefore  considered 
it  unworthy  of  the  government  he  repre- 
sented, to  make  any  offer  to  raise  the  pro- 
posed allowance  by  a  lac  or  two  per  annum. 

An  attempt  was  made  to  gain  the  king's 
consent  through  his  mother,  a  lady  re- 
markable for  good  sense  and  intelligence,* 
who  exercised  great  influence  over  her  son ; 
and  a  yearly  stipend  of  a  lac  of  rupees 
was  offered  her  as  the  reward  of  success. 
The  reply  of  the  queen-mother  is  not  stated 
in  General  Outram's  account  of  the  con- 
ference, and  the  circumstance  itself  is  only 
incidentally  mentioned ;  but  it  is  evident 
that  she  rejected  it,  and  ceased  not  to  pro- 
test against  the  proposed  treaty,  and  to  beg 
that  a  further  period  might  be  allowed, 
during  which  the  king  might  be  enabled  to 
show  to  the  world,  by  the  adoption  of 
vigorous  reforms,  how  anxious  and  eager  he 
was  to  follow  out  the  plans  of  the  British 
government. 

The  three  days  allowed  for  consideration 
elapsed  :  the  king  persisted  in  his  resolve ; 
and  the  resident  carried  out  his  instruc- 
tions by  issuing  a  proclamation,  previously 
prepared  at  Calcutta,  notifying  the  assump- 
tion of  the  exclusive  and  permanent  ad- 
ministration of  the  territories  of  Oude  by 
the  Hon.  East  India  Company. 

The  king  offered  no  opposition  whatever 
to  the  measures  adopted  by  the  British 
government;  but,  in  what  the  resident 
called  "  a  fit  of  petulance,"  he  ordered  all 
his  troops  at  the  capital  to  be  immediately 
paid-up  and  dismissed.  General  Outram 
thereupon  informed  the  king,  that  it  was 
incumbent  on  him  to  retain  the  soldiery 
until  the  arrangements  of  the  new  adminis- 
tration should  be  completed ;  adding,  that 
should  any  disturbance  take  place,  his 
majesty  would  be  held  responsible,  and 
made  answerable  for  the  same.  Upon  the 
receipt  of  this  threat,  Wajid  Ali  Shah, 
having  resolved  to  give  no  pretext  for  a 
quarrel,  issued  proclamations,  desiring  all 
his  people,  civil  and  military,  to  obey  the 
orders  issued  by  the  British  government ;  to 
become  its  faithful  subjects ;  and  on  no 
account  to  resort  to  resistance  or  rebellion, 

*  "  Note  of  a  Conference  with  the  queen-mother, 
by  General  Outram." — Oude  Blue  Book,  p.  286. 


He  expressed  his  determination  of  proceed- 
ing at  once  to  Calcutta,  to  bring  his  case  to 
the  notice  of  the  governor-general,  and  thence 
to  England,  to  intercede  with  the  Queen ; 
but  he  specially  commanded  that  his  sub- 
jects should  not  attempt  to  follow  him. 
General  Outram  desired  that  this  last  para- 
graph should  be  omitted.  It  originated, 
he  said,  in  the  absurd  idea  impressed  upon 
the  king  by  his  flatterers,  that  a  general 
exodus  of  his  people  would  follow  his  depar- 
ture ;  or  else  was  introduced  with  the  inten- 
tion of  exciting  sympathy  in  Europe.  "An- 
other manoeuvre,"  he  added,  "  has  been  had 
recourse  to,  with  the  same  object  doubtless. 
For  two  days  past,  a  written  declaration  of 
satisfaction  with  his  majesty's  rule  has 
been  circulated  for  signature  in  the  city, 
where  it  may  probably  meet  with  con- 
siderable success.  Of  course,  most  classes 
at  Lucknow  will  suffer,  more  or  less,  from 
the  deprivation  of  the  national  plunder 
which  is  squandered  at  the  capital."t 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  very  gen- 
eral dismay  was  caused  at  Lucknow  by  the 
annexation  of  the  kingdom.  The  breaking 
up  of  a  native  government  is  always  a 
terrible  crisis  to  the  metropolis.  In  the 
present  instance,  the  amount  of  immediate 
and  individual  suffering  was  unusually 
large.  The  suddenness  of  the  king's  depo- 
sition, and  his  refusal  to  sign  the  treaty, 
aggravated  the  distress  which  the  change 
from  native  to  European  hands  must  have 
occasioned,  even  had  it  happened  as  a  so- 
called  lapse  to  the  paramount  power,  in  the 
event  of  the  sovereign's  death  without 
heirs.  As  it  was,  the  personal  rights  of  the 
deposed  monarch  were  dealt  with  as  sum- 
marily as  the  inherited  ones  of  the  royal 
family  of  Nagpoor  had  been.  No  official 
account  has  been  published  of  these  pro- 
ceedings ;  but  in  the  statement  of  the  ease 
of  the  King  of  Oude,  attributed  to  Major 
Bird,  the  following  assertions  are  made: — 

"  Since  the  confiscation  of  the  Oude  territory,  the 
royal  palaces,  parks,  gardens,  menageries,  plate, 
jewellery,  household  furniture,  stores,  wardrobes, 
carriages,  rarities,  and  articles  of  vertu,  together 
with  the  royal  museum  and  library,  containing 
200,000  volumes  of  rare  books,  and  manuscripts  of 
immense  value,  have  been  sequestered.  The  king's 
most  valuable  stud  of  Arabian,  Persian,  and  Eng- 
lish horses,  his  fighting,  riding,  and  baggage  ele- 
phants, his  camels,  dogs  and  cattle,  have  all  been 
sold  by  public  auction  at  nominal  prices.  His 
majesty's  armoury,  including  the  most  rare  and 
beautifully  worked  arms  of  every  description,  has  also 

t  Major-general  Outram  to  secretary  of  govern- 
ment, February  7th,  1856.— 0«(/e  Blue  Book,  p.  292. 


80 


DIFFERENT  SETTLEMENT  OF  MYSOOR  AND  OUDE. 


been  seized,  and  its  contents  disposed  of  by  sale  or 
otherwise.  •  *  •  The  ladies  of  the  royal  house- 
hold were,  on  the  23rd  of  Aup;ust,  1856,  forcibly 
ejected  from  the  royal  palace  of  the  Chuttar  Mun- 
zul,  by  officers  who  neither  respected  their  persons 
nor  their  property,  and  who  threw  their  effects  into 
the  street."* 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  above  state- 
ment is  exaggerated ;  and  if  so,  it  is  espe- 
cially to  be  regretted  that  the  British  public, 
or  their  representatives,  are  not  furnished 
with  authentic  information  on  so  interest- 
ing and  important  a  point  as  the  manner 
in  which  the  deposition  of  Wajid  Ali  Shah 
was  accomplished,  and  in  what  respects  it 
was  calculated  to  raise  or  allay  the  ferment 
of  the  mass  of  the  aristocratic  and  manu- 
facturing classes,  the  interests  of  the  latter 
being  closely  associated  with  the  former. 
In  the  Reply  to  the  Charges  against  the 
King  of  Oude  (already  quoted),  Wajid  Ali 
Shah  asserts,  that  the  usurpation  of  his 
dominion  would  tend  to  destroy  the  trade 
in  embroidered  silk  and  cotton  cloths.  "  It 
is  notorious,  that  three-fourths  of  the  rich 
embroidered  cloths  of  Benares  are  imported 
to  Oude;  the  remainder,  one-fourth,  being 
sent  to  other  countries.  In  Bengal  and 
other  provinces,  people  very  seldom  use 
these  costly  dresses."  The  reason  implied, 
rather  than  declared,  by  the  king  is  pro- 
bably the  true  one ;  namely,  that  his  sub- 
jects could  afford  to  clothe  themselves  in 
luxurious  apparel,  whereas  those  of  the 
East  India  Company  could  not ;  and  he 
adds — "  My  territories  have  not  been  strictly 
measured  with  chains  so  as  to  render  it  im- 
possible for  the  agriculturist  to  derive  a 
profit,  nor  have  I  resumed  the  allowances 
of  any  class  of  people. "f 

The  testimony  of  the  king  regarding  the 
probable  results  of  his  deposition,  is,  in 
part,  corroborated  by  that  of  an  eye-wit- 
ness, who  will  hardly  be  accused  of  exagge- 
rating the  case;  and  who,  in  speaking  of  the 
many  innocent  sufferers  from  the  change  of 
government,  includes  in  his  list,  "thousands 
of  citizens  who  had  previously  found  em- 
ploy in  providing  for  the  ordinary  wants  of 
the  court  and  nobility.  There  were  several 
hundreds  of  manufacturers  of  hookah  snakes. 
The  embroiderers  in  gold  and  silver  thread 
were  also  reckoned  by  hundreds.  The 
makers  of  rich  dresses,  fine  turbans,  highly 
ornamental  shoes,  and  many  other  subordi- 
nate trades,  suffered  severely  from  the  cessa- 


tion of  the  demand  for  the  articles  which 
they  manufactured."! 

Oude  was  taken  possession  of,  very  much 
more  as  if  it  had  been  obtained  by  force  of 
arms  than  by  diplomacy.     Annexation  on 
a  large  scale,  is  in  either  case  a  hazardous' 
operation,   requiring   the   greatest   circum- 
spection.    Let  any  one  turn  to  the  Wel- 
lesley   and   Wellington    despatches,    or   to 
the  Indian  annals  of  that  eventful  period, 
and  see  the  extreme  care  which  was  taken  in 
the  settlement  of  Mysoor — the  forethought 
in    preparing    conciliatory    measures,    and 
meeting    national   prejudices;    the    liberal 
consideration  for  individual  interests — and 
then  peruse,  in  the  parliamentary  papers,  the 
summary  manner  in  which  the  native  in- 
stitutions in  Oude,  without  the  least  con- 
sideration or  examination,  were  to  be  rooted 
up  and  superseded  bya  cut-and-dried  system, 
to   be  administered  in  the   higher  depart- 
ments   exclusively   by    Europeans.      After 
snch  a  comparison  of  preliminary  measures, 
the  different  results,  in  the  case  of  Oude  and 
Mysoor,  will  be  deemed  amply  accounted  for. 
It  has  been  truly  said  of  Lord  Wellesley,  in 
a  leading  Indian  journal,  that  "  whatever 
he  was  suffered  to  carry  out  to  his  preme- 
ditated conclusion,  fell  into  its  place  with 
as  few  disadvantages  to  the  political  and 
social  state  of  Indian  society,  as  a  radical 
operation  could  well  be  attended  with."     In 
the   settlement  of  Mysoor,  it  is    asserted, 
"every   difficulty  was   foreseen,   and   every 
exigency  met;   and  the  dynasty  of  Tippoo 
was  plucked  up,  flung  aside,  and  replaced 
by  a  new  arrangemetit,  which  fitted  into  its 
place  as  if  it  had  been  there,  untouched,  from 
the  days  of  Vishnu."     Regarding  the  occu- 
pation of  Oude,  a  very  different  picture  is 
drawn   by  the  writer,  who  asserts,  that  its 
annexation   was    carried    out   in   the   most 
reckless  manner,  and  that  most  important 
circumstances  connected  with  it  were  en- 
tirely overlooked.     "  In  Lord    Dalhousie's 
opinion,  all  that  was  necessary  was  simply 
to  march  a  small  body  of  troops  to  Lucknow, 
and  issue  the  fiat  of  annexation.     This  done, 
everything,  it  was  supposed,  would  go  on  in 
an  easy,  plain-sailing  manner.     The  inhabi- 
tants might  not  be  satisfied  ;  the  zemindars 
might  grumble  a  little  in  their  forts ;  the 
budraashes  might  frown  and  swagger  in  the 
bazaar;  but  what  of  that?     The  power  of 
the  British  was  invincible. "§ 

•  Dacoitee  in  Excelsis,  p.  145.  bins,  of  the  Bengal  civil  service,  financial  comniis- 

t  Reply  to  Charges,  S(C.,  p.  43.  I  sioner  for  Oudh.     London  :  Bentley,  1858  ;  p.  "0. 

t  Mutinies  in   Oudh ;   by  Martin   Richard   Gub-  I      §  Bombay  Athentsum. 


ANNEXATION  OF  OUDE— 1856. 


81 


The  minutes  of  the  supreme  council 
certainly  tend  to  corroborate  the  foregoing 
opinion,  by  showing  that  the  difficulties 
and  dangers  attendant  on  the  annexation  of 
Oude  were  very  imperfectly  appreciated. 
The  refusal  of  the  king  to  sign  the  proffered 
treaty  (though  previously  deprecated  by  the 
governor-general  as  an  insurmountable  ob- 
stacle to  direct  absorption),  seems  to  have 
been  welcomed  when  it  actually  occurred, 
as  an  escape  from  an  onerous  engagement ; 
and  the  submission  of  all  classes — heredi- 
;  tary  chiefs,  discarded  officials,  unemployed 
:  tradespeople,  and  disbanded  soldiery — was 
j  looked  for  as  a  matter  of  course ;  any  con- 
cessions made  by  the  annexators  being 
vouchsafed  as  a  matter  of  free  grace,  to  be 
received  with  gratitude,  whether  it  regarded 
the  confirmation  of  an  hereditary  chiefdora, 
or  a  year's  salary  on  dismissal  from  office. 

The  king,  Lord  Dalhousie  considered,  by 
refusing  to  enter  into  any  new  engagement 
with  the  British  government,  had  placed 
himself  in  entire  dependence  upon  its  plea- 
sure; and  although  it  was  desirable  that 
"  all  deference  and  respect,  and  every  royal 
honour,  should  be  paid  to  his  majesty  Wajid 
Ali  Shah,"  during  his  lifetime,  together 
with  a  stipend  of  twelve  lacs  per  annum, 
yet  no  promise  ought  now  to  be  given  of 
the  continuance  of  the  title,  or  of  the  pay- 
ment of  the  same  amount  of  money  to  his 
heirs.  Messrs.  Dorin,  Grant,  and  Peacock 
concurred  in  this  opinion;  but  IMajor- 
general  Low  minuted  against  "  the  salary 
of  the  heirs"  of  Wajid  Ali  being  left  to  the 
decision  of  a  future  government,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  would  very  probably  not  suffi- 
ciently bear  in  mind  the  claims  of  the  Oude 
family  on  the  British  government  for  com- 
fortable income  at  least.  The  minute  pro- 
ceeded to  state,  that  though,  for  many  rea- 
sons, it  was  to  be  regretted  that  the  king  had 
not  signed  the  treaty,  yet,  in  a  pecuniary 
point  of  view,  his  refusal  was  advantageous. 
To  himself  the  loss  had  been  great;  and,  as 
he  had  issued  all  the  orders  and  proclama- 
tions that  could  be  desired,  and  had  done 
his  utmost  to  prevent  all  risk  of  strife  at  the 
capital,  by  dismounting  his  artillery,  guns, 
&c.,  it  would  be  harsh,  and  not  creditable 
to  a  great  paramount  state,  which  would 
"  gain  immense  profit  from  the  possession 
of  the  Oude  territories,"  if,  in  addition  to 
the  punishment  inflicted  on  the  king,  the 
income  intended  for  his  direct  male  heirs 
should  also  be  curtailed. 

Major-general  Low  was  in  a  minority  of 

vol..  II.  M 


one,  as  Mr.  Peacock  had  been  regarding 
the  appropriation  of  the  surplus  revenue; 
and  their  opinions,  in  neither  case,  appear 
to  have  met  with  any  consideration.  The 
claims  of  the  various  classes  of  the  popu- 
lation were  treated  in  as  stimmary  and 
arbitrary  a  manner  as  those  of  their  sove- 
reign ;  and,  owing  to  the  peculiar  constitu- 
tion of  Oude,  the  experiment  was  a  much 
more  dangerous  one  in  their  case  than  in 
his.  The  administration  was  to  be  con- 
ducted, as  nearly  as  possilile,  in  accordance 
with  the  system  which  the  experience  of 
nearly  seven  yetirs  had  proved  to  be  emi- 
nently successful  in  the  provinces  beyond 
the  Sutlej ;  that  is  to  say,  the  measures 
which  had  been  matured,  and  gradually 
carried  through,  in  the  conquered  Punjab, 
by  the  co-operation  of  some  of  the  most 
earnest  and  philanthropic  men  whom  India 
has  ever  seen,  was  now  to  be  thrust  upon 
Oude,  without  any  preliminary  inquiry 
into  its  adaptation.  In  the  Punjab,  the 
Lawrences  and  their  staff  acted  as  a  band 
of  pacificators  on  an  errand  of  love  and 
mercy,  rather  than  in  the  usual  form  of 
a  locust-cloud  of  collectors.  Such  men, 
invested  with  considerable  discretionary 
power,  could  scarcely  fail  of  success;  yet  one 
at  least  of  them  shrunk  from  enforcing  the 
orders  of  government,  and  left  the  Punjab, 
because  he  could  not  bear  to  see  the  fallen 
state  of  the  old  officials  and  nobility.* 

In  Oude,  the  newly-created  offices,  rather 
than  the  men  who  were  to  fill  them,  occupy 
the  foreground  of  the  picture.  General 
Outran!  was  appointed  chief  commissioner, 
with  two  special  military  assistants,  a  judi- 
cial and  financial  commissioner,  four  com- 
missioners of  divisions,  twelve  deputy-com- 
missioners of  districts,  eighteen  assistant- 
commissioners,  and  eighteen  extra  assis- 
tants, to  begin  with.  An  inspector  of  gaols 
was  to  be  appointed  as  soon  as  the  new  ad- 
ministration should  be  fairly  established ; 
and  a  promise  was  held  out  for  the  organisa- 
tion of  a  department  of  public  works,  to  aid 
in  developing  the  resources  of  the  countr3^ 

The  pay  of  the  new  functionaries  was  to 
range  from  3,500  rupees  to  250  rupees  a 
month  (say  from  £4,200  to  £300  a-year.) 
The  number  of  native  officials  to  be  retained 
was,  as  usual,  miserably  small,  and  their  re- 
muneration proportionately  low.  As  a  body, 
they  were  of  course  great  losers  by  the 
revolution. 

*  Arthur  Cocks,  chief  assistant  to  the  resident. — 
Raikes'  Revolt  in  the  North-  West  Provinces,  p.  25. 


82 


NATIVE  FUNCTIONARIES  SUPERSEDED  BY  EUROPEANS. 


The  king  urged,  as  a  special  ground  of 
complaint,  the  manner  in  which  "  writers, 
clerks,  and  other  attaches"  of  departments 
had  been  supplanted  by  strangers.  "  Is 
it,"  he  asks,  "  consistent  with  justice  to  de- 
prive people  of  the  soil  of  situations  of  this 
nature,  and  bestow  them  on  foreigners? 
Foreigners  have  no  claim  to  support  from 
the  government  of  Oude,  while  natives  of 
the  soil  are  left  without  means  of  procuring 
their  livelihood."* 

Mr.  Gubbins,  the  financial  commissioner 
for  Oude,  who  was  sent  there  at  the  period 
of  the  annexation,  speaks  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  nobility  as  having  been  aggravated 
by  the  neglect  of  the  British  functionaries. 
"  The  nobles  had  received  large  pensions 
from  the  native  government,  the  payment  of 
which,  never  regular,  ceased  with  the  intro- 
duction of  our  rule.  Government  had  made 
liberal  provision  for  their  support ;  but  be- 
fore this  could  be  obtained,  it  was  necessary 
to  prepare  careful  lists  of  the  grantees,  and  to 
investigate  their  claims.  It  must  be  admit- 
ted, that  in  effecting  this  there  was  undue 
delay ;  and  that,  for  want  of  common  means 
of  support,  the  gentry  and  nobility  of  the  city 
were  brought  to  great  straits  and  suffering. 
We  were  informed  that  families  which  had 
never  before  been  outside  the  zunana,  used 
to  go  out  at  night  and  beg  their  bi'ead."t 

When  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  came  to 
Lucknow,  towards  the  close  of  March,  1857, 
we  are  told  that  he  applied  himself  to  cause 
the  dispatch  of  the  necessary  documents,  and 
gave  the  sufferers  assurance  of  early  pay- 
ment and  kind  consideration.  But  nearly 
fourteen  months  had  dragged  slowly  away 
before  his  arrival ;  and  a  smouldering  mass 
of  disaffection  had  meanwhile  accumulated, 
which  no  single  functionary,  however  good 
and  gifted,  could  keep  from  bursting  into  a 
flame. 

The  discharged  soldiery  of  the  native 
government,  amounting  to  about  60,000 
men,  naturally  regarded  the  new  adminis- 
tration with  aversion  and  hostility.  Service 
was  given  to  about  15,000  of  them  in  newly- 
formed  local  regiments,  and  some  found 
employment  in  the  civil  departments.  The 
large  proportion,  for  whom  no  permanent 
provision  could  be  made,  received  small 
jiensions  or  gratuities :  for  instance,  those 
who  had  served  frum  twenty-five  to  thirty 
years,  received  one-fourth  of  their  emolu- 
ments as  pension ;  and  those  who  had  served 

•  Hephj  to  Charges,  p.  43. 

f  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  70. 


from  seven  to  fifteen  years,  received  three 
months'  pay  as  a  gratuity.  Under  seven 
years'  service,  no  gratuity  whatever  appears 
to  have  been  given  to  the  unfortunates  sud- 
denly turned  adrift  for  no  fault  of  their 
own.  It  was  further  decreed,  that  no  person 
whatever  should  be  recommended  for  pension 
or  gratuity,  who  should  decline  employment 
offered  to  him  under  the  British  govern- 
ment. J  Of  the  late  king's  servants,  civil  and 
military,  many  remained  without  any  per- 
manent provision;  and  not  a  few  refused 
employ — some  because  they  hoped  that  the 
native  kingdom  would  be  restored ;  but 
the  majority  of  the  soldiery,  on  account  of 
the  severity  of  the  British  discipline. § 

By  far  the  greatest  difficulties  in  which 
the  new  government  became  involved,  re- 
garded the  settlement  of  titles  to  land.  Con- 
sidering the  long  series  of  years  during 
which  at  least  the  temporary  assumption  of 
the  powers  of  administration  had  been  con- 
templated by  the  British  government,  it  is 
not  a  little  surprising  to  find  the  governor- 
general  in  council  avowedly  unprovided  with 
"  any  information  as  to  the  extent  and  value 
of  rent-free  holdings  in  Oude,  or  as  to  the 
practice  which  may  have  prevailed  under 
the  native  government  in  respect  of  these 
grants."  Without  waiting  for  any  en- 
lightenment on  the  subject,  rules  are  laid 
down  "  for  the  adjudication  of  claims  of  the 
class  under  consideration ;"  and,  as  might 
have  been  reasonably  expected,  these  rules 
worked  badly  for  all  parties. 

The  despatch  above  quoted  is  very  able, 
but  decidedly  bureaucratic  throughout :  its 
arbitrary  provisions  and  minute  details  re- 
mind one  of  the  constitutions  which  the 
Abbe  Sieves  kept  in  the  pigeon-holes  of 
his  writing-table,  ready  for  any  emergency. 
No  consideration  was  evinced  therein  for 
the  peculiar  state  of  society  in  Oude,  or 
even  for  tlie  prominent  features  portrayed 
by  Colonel  Sleeman  in  his  honest  but  cur- 
sory investigation.  The  fact  was,  that 
Oude,  instead  of  the  exclusively  Mohamme- 
dan kingdom,  or  the  British  dependency, 
which  it  was  represented  to  be,  was  really 
a  Hindoo  confederacy,  presided  over  by  a 
foreign  dynasty.  The  most  powerful  class 
were  Rajpoot  chiefs,  claiming  descent  from 
the  sun  and  the  moon ;  who  laughed  to 
!  scorn  the  mushroom  dynasty  of  Wajid  Ali, 
and  regarded,  with  especial  contempt,  his 
assumption  of  the  kingly  title.     These  men, 

I  Oude  Blue  Booh  for  1856,  p.  278. 
§  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  69. 


THE  TALOOKDARS  OF  OUDE. 


83 


united,  might  at  any  moment  have  compelled 
the  Mohammedan  ruler  to  abdicate  or  govern 
on  just  principles,  had  not  co-operation  for 
such  an  object  been  rendered  impracticable 
by  their  own  intestine  strife.  The  state 
of  things  among  them  resembled  that  which 
brought  and  kept  the  Rajpoot  princes 
under  partial  subjection  :  the  faggots  bound 
up  together  could  not  have  been  broken; 
but  it  was  easy  to  deal  with  them  one  by 
one.  Thus  the  suzerainty  of  the  Mogul 
emperor  was  established  over  Rajast'han; 
and  thus,  though  somewhat  more  firmly, 
because  on  a  smaller  scale,  the  power  of  the 
usurping  governors  was  fixed  in  Oude.  But 
the  great  jungle  barons  were  overawed 
rather  than  subjugated ;  and,  in  the  time  of 
Colonel  Sleeman,  the  officers  of  the  native 
gjovernment  could  not  examine  into  their 
rent-rolls,  or  measure  their  lands,  or  make 
any  inquiry  into  the  value  of  the  estates, 
except  at  the  risk  of  open  rebellion.  They 
had  always  a  number  of  armed  and  brave 
retainers,  ready  to  support  them  in  any 
enterprise ;  and  the  amount  was  easily  in- 
creased; for  in  India  there  is  seldom  any 
lack  of  loose  characters,  ready  to  fight  for 
the  sake  of  plunder  alone.* 

The  talookdars  were  mostly  the  hereditary 
representatives  of  Rajpoot  clans ;  but  some 
were  the  heads  of  new  families  (Hindoo 
or  Mohammedan),  sprung  from  govern- 
ment officials,  whose  local  authoritj'  had 
enabled  them  to  acquire  a  holding  of  this 
description.  The  term  "  talookdar"  means 
holder  of  a  talook,  or  collection  of  villages, 
and,  like  that  of  zemindar  (as  used  in  Ben- 
gal), implied  no  right  of  property  in  the 
villages  on  behalf  of  which  the  talookdar 
engaged  to  pay  the  state  a  certain  sum,  and 
from  which  he  realised  a  somewhat  larger 
one,  which  constituted  his  remuneration. 
In  fact,  the  property  in  the  soil  was  actually 
vested  in  the  village  communities;  who 
"  are,"  says  Mr.  Gubbins,  "  the  only  pro- 
prietors of  the  soil ;  and  they  value  this 
right  of  property  in  the  land  above  all 
earthly  treasure."t 

Over  these  talookdars  there  were  govern- 
ment ofiBcers  (with  whom  they  have  often 
been  confounded),  and  who,  under  the  title 
of  Nazims  or  Chukladars,  annually  farmed 
from  government  the  revenues  of  large 
tracts  of  country  for  a  certain  fixed  pay- 
ment;  all  that  they  could  squeeze  out  in 

•  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  1,  2. 

t  Gubbins'  3futi?nes  in  Oudh,  p.  61. 

X  Letter  on  Oudh  and  its  2'aluukdars,  p.  2. 


e.xcess  being  their  own  profit.  "These 
men,  from  the  necessities  of  their  position, 
were,"  says  Carre  Tucker,  "  the  greatest 
tyrants  and  oppressors  imaginable.  Backed 
by  artillery,  and  the  armed  force  of  gov- 
ernment, it  was  their  business  to  rack-rent 
the  country,  extracting,  within  the  year  of 
their  lease,  all  that  they  possibly  could ; 
whilst  landholders  resisted  their  exactions 
by  force  of  arms.  A  constant  war  was 
thus  carried  on,  and  the  revenue  payments 
varied  according  to  the  relative  strength  of 
the  nazim  and  the  landowners.  To  avoid 
such  contests,  and  obtain  the  privilege  of 
paying  a  fixed  sum  direct  into  the  govern- 
ment treasury,  many  of  the  talookdars 
would  bid  for  the  farm  of  their  own  part  of 
the  country.  Such  men,  while  acting  as 
lord- lieutenants,  would  of  course  use  their 
delegated  uuthority  to  consolidate  their 
influence  over  their  own  clan  and  tenantry, 
and  also  to  usurp  rights  over  independent 
village  communities."  This  system  led  to 
the  most  cruel  oppression ;  but  it  was  sup- 
ported by  the  ministers  and  courtiers  of 
the  king  at  Lucknow,  as  leading  to  an 
annual  repetition  of  presents  and  bribes, 
without  which  no  candidate  could  hope  to 
obtain  investiture  as  nazim  or  chukladar.J 

The  government,  not  content  with  abo- 
lishing this  manifest  evil,  attempted  to  re- 
volutionise, at  a  stroke,  the  whole  sta,te  of 
society,  by  sweeping  aside  the  entire  class 
of  chiefs  and  barons,  with  the  incidents  of 
their  feudal  tenure,  and  making  the  revenue 
settlement  with  the  village  communities, 
and  smaller  holders.  Hereditary  rights, 
unquestioned  during  successive  genera* 
lions,  were  confounded  with  those  exer- 
cised by  the  revenue  farmers  ex  officio,  and. 
the  settlement  officers  were  desired  to  deal 
with  the  proprietary  coparcenaries  which 
were  believed  to  exist  in  Oude,  and  not  to 
suffer  the  interposition  of  middlemen,  such 
as  talookdars,  farmers  of  the  revenue,  and 
such  like.  The  claims  of  these,  if  they  had 
any  tenable  ones,  might  be,  it  was  added, 
more  conveniently  considered  at  a  future, 
period. 

Nothing  could  be  more  disheartening  to 
the  great  landowners  than  this  indefinite 
adjournment  of  any  consideration  of  their 
claims ;  which,  in  effect,  acted  like  a  decree 
of  confiscation,  with  a  distant  and  very 
slight  chance  of  ultimate  restitution.  It 
was  quite  evident  that  the  motive  of  tiie 
measure  was  expediency,  and  that  the 
government  had,  as  stated  by  the  Times, 


84 


TALOOKDARS  OF  THE  NORTH-WEST  PROVINCES. 


"  a  natural  leaning  in  favour  of  the  peasant 
cultivators,  to  the  detriment  of  the  war- 
like and  turbulent  chiefs,"  whom  it  was 
thought  politic  to  put  down ;  and  the  plan 
of  ignoring  their  ancient  possessions  had 
the  additional  advantage  of  bringing  their 
manorial  dues,  averaging  from  ten  to  twenty 
per  cent,  on  the  village  assessment,  into 
the  public  exchequer. 

The  summary  settlement  in  Oude  too 
far  resembled  that  which  had  been  pre- 
viously carried  through,  with  a  high  hand, 
in  the  North- West  Provinces,  conceruing 
which  much  evidence  has  recently  been 
made  public.  Mr.  H.  S.  Boulderson,  a 
Bengal  civilian,  engaged  in  establishing  the 
revenue  settlement  of  1844,  declares,  that 
whether  the  talookdars  in  Oude  experienced, 
or  only  anticipated,  the  same  dealings  from 
our  government  which  the  talookdars  in  the 
North-West  Provinces  received,  they  must 
have  had  a  strong  motive  to  dread  our  rule. 
"The  'confiscation^  which  has  been  pro- 
claimed against  them — whether  it  really 
means  confiscation,  or  something  else — could 
not  be  more  effectually  destructive  to  what- 
ever rights  they  possessed,  than  the  dis- 
graceful injustice  by  which  the  talookdars 
of  the  North-West  Provinces  were  extin- 
guished." He  asserts,  that  the  settlement 
involved  an  utter  inversion  of  the  rights 
of  property;  and  that  the  commissioners, 
in  dealing  with  what  they  termed  "the 
patent  right  of  talookdaree,"  and  which 
even  they  acknowledged  to  be  an  here- 
ditary right  which  had  descended  for  cen- 
turies, treated  it  as  a  privilege  dependent 
on  the  pleasure  of  government,  and  assumed 
the  authority  of  distributing  at  pleasure  the 
profits  arising  out  of  the  limitation  of  their 
own  demand.* 

The  opinion  of  Sir  William  Sleeraan  has 
been  already  quoted  concerning  the  treat- 
ment which  the  landed  proprietors  had  re- 
ceived in  the  half  of  Oude  annexed  by  the 
British  government  in  1801,  and  now  in- 
cluded in  the  North-West  Provinces.  By 
his  testimony,  the  measures,  and  the  men 
who  enforced  them,  were  equally  obnoxious 
to  the  native  chiefs  and  talookdars;  being 
resolved  on  favouring  the  village  communi- 
ties, to  the  exclusion  of  every  kind  of  vested 
interest  between  them  and  the  state  trea- 
sury.    Sir  William  states — 

"  In   the    matter    of   discourtesy   to    the   native 

•  Minute  on  the  Talookdaree  cases,  recorded  on 
2nd  of  April,  1814.  Printed  for  private  circulation 
in  June,  1858  j  p.  19. 


gentry,  I  can  only  say  that  Robert  Martin  Bird  in- 
sulted them  whenever  he  had  the  opportunity  of 
doing  so ;  and  that  Mr.  Thomason  was  too  apt  to 
imitate  him  in  this,  as  in  other  things.  Of  course 
their  example  was  followed  by  too  many  of  their 
followers  and  admirers.  *  •  *  It  has  always 
struck  me  that  Mr.  Thomason,  in  his  system,  did  all  ' 
he  could  to  discourage  the  growth  of  a  middle  and 
upper  class  on  the  land — the  only  kind  of  property 
on  which  a  good  upper  and  middle  class  could  be 
sustained  in  the  present  state  of  society  in  India. 
His  village  republics,  and  the  ryotwar  system  of  Sir 
Thomas  Munro  at  Madras,  had  precisely  the  same 
tendency  to  subdivide  minutely  property  in  land, 
and  reduce  all  landholders  to  the  common  level  of 
impoverishment.  *  •  •  Mr.  Thomason  would 
have  forced  his  village  republics  upon  any  new 
country  or  jungle  that  came  under  his  charge,  and 
thereby  rendered  improvement  impossible.  •  •  • 
He  would  have  put  the  whole  under  our  judicial 
courts,  and  have  thereby  created  a  class  of  pettifog- 
ging attornies,  to  swallow  up  all  the  surplus  produce 
of  the  land.  •  •  *  >Ir.  Thomason,  I  am  told, 
systematically  set  aside  all  the  landed  aristocracy  of 
the  country  as  a  set  of  middlemen,  superfluous  and 
mischievous.  The  only  part  of  India  in  which  I 
have  seen  a  middle  and  higher  class  maintained 
upon  the  land,  is  the  moderately  settled  districts  of 
the  Saugor  and  Nerbudda  territories ;  and  there 
is  no  part  of  India  where  our  government  and 
character  ai'e  so  much  beloved  and  respected."t 

Mr.  Gubbins  makes  some  very  impor- 
tant admissions  regarding  the  revenue  sys- 
tem pursued  in  the  North-West  Provinces, 
and  that  subsequently  attempted  in  Oude. 
"  The  pressure  of  the  government  demand 
is,  in  many  districts,  greatly  too  high.  It 
is  too  high  in  Alighur,  in  Mynpoorie,  in 
Boolundshuhur,  and  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  Rohileund.  The  principle  on  which 
tiiat  settlement  was  made,  was  to  claim,  as 
the  share  of  government,  two-thirds  of  the 
nett  rental.  But  the  fraud  and  chicanery 
opposed  to  our  revenue  officers,  caused  them 
unwittingly  to  fix  the  demand  at  more 
than  this  share.  In  Oude,  after  repeated 
and  most  careful  examination,  I  came  un- 
hesitatingly to  the  conclusion,  that  the  gov- 
ernment collector  appropriated,  if  possible, 
the  entire  rent,  and  never  professed  to 
relinquish  any  part  of  it."J  Of  course, 
under  a  system  which  grasped  at  the  entire 
rent  of  the  soil,  there  could  be  no  landlord 
class  :  a  very  short  period  of  time  would 
suffice  for  their  extinction;  and  any  so- 
called  proprietary  rights  must,  in  due 
course,  have  also  been  annihilated. 

No  arguments  in  favour  of  the  village 
system  (excellent  as  this  was  in  its  place 
and  degree),  could  justify  the  suppression  of 

t  Sleeman's    Oude,  vol.   ii.,   p.  413.      Letter  to 
Mr.  Colvin,  dated  "  Lucknow,  28th  December,  1853." 
I  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oadh.  p.  73. 


SEPOYS  AFFECTED  BY  ANNEXATION  OP  OUDE. 


85 


every  other  co-existiug  institution.  But 
the  projected  change,  even  had  it  been  un- 
exceptionable in  its  tendency,  was  altogether 
too  sudden:  the  village  communities  were 
j  not  strong  enough  to  feel  safe  in  occupying 
l  the  vantage-ground  on  which  they  were  so 
!  unexpectedly  placed;  and  many  of  them 
;  considered  the  rough-and-ready  patriarchal 
j  sway  of  their  chiefs  but  ill-exchanged  for 
I  our  harsh  and  unbending  revenue  system, 
1  and  tedious  and  expensive  law  processes. 
j  Government  erred  grievously  "in  following 
supposed  political  and  financial  expediency, 
instead  of  ascertaining  and  maintaining 
existing  rights  in  possession ;  and  in  sup- 
posing, that  in  the  course  of  a  very  hurried 
assessment  of  revenue  by  officers,  many  of 
whom  were  iuexpeiienced,  it  was  possible 
to  adjudicate  properly  difficult  claims  to 
former  rights.*  Lord  Dalhousie's  succes- 
sor admits  it  to  be  too  true,  "that  unjust 
decisions  were  come  to  by  some  of  our  local 
officers,  in  investigating  and  judging  the 
titles  of  the  landholders."t  The  natural 
consequence  was,  as  stated  by  General 
Outrara,  that  the  landholders,  having  been 
"most  unjustly  treated  under  our  settle- 
ment operations,"  and  "smarting,  as  they 
were,  under  the  loss  of  their  lauds,"  with 
hardly  a  dozen  exceptions,  sided  against  us, 
wheu  they  saw  that  "  our  rule  was  virtually 
at  an  end,  the  whole  country  overrun, 
and  the  capital  in  the  hands  of  the  rebel 
soldiery  ."J  The  yeomanry,  whom  we  had 
prematurely  attempted  to  raise  to  inde- 
pendence, followed  the  lead  of  their  natural 
chiefs.  All  this  might,  it  is  alleged,  have 
been  prevented,  had  a  fair  and  moderate 
assessment  been  made  with  the  talookdar, 
wherever  he  had  had  clear  possession  for 
the  legal  limit  of  twelve  years,  together 
with  a  sub-settlement  for  the  protection 
of  the  village  communities  and  cultiva- 
tors.§ 

Very  contradictory  opinions  are  enter- 
tained regarding  the  manner  in  which  the 
British  sepoys  were  affected  by  the  annexa- 
tion of  Oude. 

Mr.  Gubbins  admits,  that  when  the  muti- 
nies commenced  in  the  Bengal  army,  the 
talookdars  in  Oude  were  discontented  and  ag- 
grieved; numbers  of  discharged  soldiers  were 
brooding  over  the  recollection  of  their  former 
license;  and   the  inhabitants  of  the  cities 

*  Letter  on  Oudh  and  Us  Talookdars ;  Ijy  H. 
Carre  Tucker :  p.  5. 

t  Despatch  dated  31st  March,  18.58.— Pari.  Papers 
on  Oude  (Commons),  20th  May,  185S  ;  p.  4. 


generally  were  impoverished  and  distressed ; 
but  the  sepoys,  he  says,  had  benefited  by  the 
change  of  government,  and  were  rejoicing 
in  the  encouragement  given  to  the  village 
communities  at  the  expense  of  the  talook- 
dars. Thousands  of  sepoy  families  laid 
complaints  of  usurpation  before  the  revenue 
officers,  and  "  many  hundreds  of  villages  at 
once  passed  into  their  hands  from  those  of 
the  talooqdai-s !  Whatever  the  talooqdar 
lost,  the  sepoy  gained.  No  one  had  so 
great  cause  for  gratulation  as  he." 

The  sepoys,  although  an  exceptional  class, 
had  their  own  grievance,  besides  sharing  in 
the  general  distrust  and  aversion  enter- 
tained by  the  whole  people  at  the  idea  of 
being  brought  under  the  jurisdiction  of  our 
civil  courts ;  as  well  as  at  the  introduction 
of  the  Company's  opium  monopoly,  and  the 
abkaree,  or  excise,  on  the  retail  sale  of  all 
spirituous  liquors  and  intoxicating  drugs, 
the  consumption  of  which  was  very  large 
throughout  Oude,  and  especially  among  the 
soldiery. 

Under  the  native  government,  the  Bri- 
tish sepoys  enjoyed  special  and  preferential 
advantages,  their  complaints  being  brought 
to  its  notice  by  the  intervention  of  the 
resident.  Each  family  made  a  point  of 
having  some  connection  in  the  British 
army,  and,  through  him,  laid  their  case 
before  his  commanding  officer.  The  sepoy's 
petition  wfis  countersigned  by  the  English 
colonel,  and  forwarded  to  the  resident,  by 
whom  it  was  submitted  to  the  king.||  This 
privilege  was  not  recognised  or  named  in 
any  treaty  or  other  engagement  with  the 
sovereign  of  Oude,  nor  could  its  origin  be 
traced  in  any  document  recorded  in  the 
resident's  office  ;•[[  but  it  was  in  full  opera- 
tion at  the  time  of  our  occupation  of 
Oude ;  and  had  been,  for  a  long  term  of 
years,  the  subject  of  continued  discussion 
between  successive  residents  and  the  native 
durbar. 

Mr.  Gubbins  considers  that  the  termina- 
tion of  this  custom  could  not  have  produced 
disaffection  among  the  sepoys,  because  but 
little  redress  was  thereby  procured  by  them. 
"  Some  trifling  alleviation  of  the  injury 
complained  of,  might  be  obtained;  but  that 
was  all.  That  a  sepoy  plaintiff  ever  suc- 
ceeded in  wresting  his  village  from  the 
grasp  of  the  oppressor,  by  aid  of  the  British 

t  Despatch   dated   8th  March,   1858.— Pari.  Pa- 
pers, p.  1.  §  Carre  Tucker's  Letter,  p.  7. 
II  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  64. 
^  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  i.,  p.  289. 


86 


SEPOY  RIGHT  OF  APPEAL  MUCH  ABUSED. 


resident,  I  never  heard ;  if  it  ever  occurred, 
the  cases  must  have  been  isolated  and  ex- 
traordinary."* 

The  evidence  of  Sir  W.  Sleemau  (whose 
authority  is  very  high  on  this  subject,  in 
his  double  character  of  officer  and  resident) 
is    directly   opposed    to   that    above   cited. 
He  thougiit  the  privilege  very  important; 
but    desired   its    abolition    because   it   had 
been  greatly  abused,  and  caused  intolerable 
annoyance  to  the  native  government.     The 
military  authorities,  he  said,  desired  its  con- 
tinuance ;  for  though  the  honest  and  hard- 
working sepoys  usually  cared  nothing  about 
it,  a  large  class  of  the  idle  and  unscrupu- 
lous considered   it  as  a  lottery,   in   which 
they  might  sometimes  draw  a  prize,  or  ob- 
tain leave  of  absence,  as  the  same  sepoy  has 
been  known  to  do  repeatedly  for  ten  months 
at  a  time,  on  the  pretext  of  having  a  case 
pending  in  Oude.     Consequently,  they  en- 
deavoured to  impress  their  superiors  with 
the   idea,  "that   ihe  fidelity  of  the  whole 
native  army"   depended  upon  the  mainte- 
nance and  extension  of  this  right  of  appeal. 
And  the  privilege  was  gradually  extended, 
uutil  it  included  all  the  regular,  irregular, 
and  local  corps  paid  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment, with  the  native   officers  and  se- 
poys of  contingents  employed  in,  and  paid 
by,  native  states,  who  were  drafted  into  them 
from  the  regular  corps  of  our  army  up  to  a 
certain  time — the  total  number  amounting 
to   between   50,000   and   60,000.     At  one 
period,    the    special    right    of   tlie    sepoys 
to  the  resident's  intervention   extended  to 
their  most  distant  relatives ;  but  at  the  ear- 
nest entreaty  of  the  native  administration, 
it   was   restricted   to   their   wives,    fathers, 
mothers,   brothers,  and  sisters.     "  In  con- 
sequence, it  became  a  common  custom  with 
them  to  lend  or  sell  their  names  to  more 
remote  relations,  or  to  persons  not  related 
to  them  at  all.     A  great  many  bad  charac- 
ters have,  in  this  way,  deprived  men  of  lands 
which  their  ancestors   had   held    in  undis- 
puted right  of  property  for  many  genera- 
tions or  centuries;  for  the  court,   to  save 
themselves   from    the    importunity  of   the 
residency,  has  often  given  orders  for  the 
claimant    being   put   in   possession  of   the 
lands  without  due  inquiry,  or  any  inquiry 
at  all."t 

The   use  or  abuse  of  the  privilege  de- 
pended chiefly  on  the  character  of  the  resi- 

*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  65. 
t  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  i.,  pp.  288—292. 
X  Ibid.,  p.  289. 


dent;  and  that  it  was  occasionally  shame- 
fully abused,  is  a  fact  established,  we  are 
told,  by  the  residency  records, 

"  If  the  resident  happens  to  be  an  impatient,  over- 
bearing man,  he  will  often  frighten  the  durbar  and    i 
its  courts,  or  local  officers,  into  a  hasty  decision,  by- 
which  the  rights  of  others  are  sacrificed  for  the  native 
officers  and  sepoys ;  and  if  he  be  at  the  same  time  an 
unscrupulous  man,  he  will  sometimes  direct  that  the 
sepoy  shall  be  put  in  possession  of  what  he  claims,    i 
in  order  to  relieve  himself  from  his  importunity,  or    ! 
from  that  of  his  commanding  officer,  without  taking 
the  trouble  to  inform   himself  of  the  grounds  on    i 
which  the  claim  is  founded.     Of  all  such  errors  there 
are,  unhappily,  too  many  instances  recorded  in  the 
resident's  office."| 

Sir  W.  Sleeman  adduces  repeated  in- 
stances of  sepoys  being  put  in  possession  of 
landed  estates,  to  which  they  had  no  right- 
ful claim,  by  the  British  government,  at  the 
cost  of  many  lives;  and  quotes,  as  an  illus- 
tration of  the  notorious  partiality  with 
which  sepoy  claims  were  treated,  the  case 
of  a  shopkeeper  at  Lucknow,  who  pur- 
chased a  cavalry  uniform,  and  by  pretending 
to  be  an  invalid  British  trooper,  procured 
the  signature  of  the  brigadier  commanding 
the  troops  in  Oude,  to  numerous  petitions, 
which  were  sent  for  adjustment  to  the 
durbar  through  the  resident.  This  pro- 
cedure he  continued  for  fifteen  years ;  and, 
to  crown  all,  succeeded  in  obtaining,  by  the 
aid  of  government,  forcible  possession  of  a 
landed  estate,  to  which  he  had  no  manner 
of  right.  Soon  after,  he  sent  in  a  petition 
stating  that  he  had  been  iu  turn  ejected, 
and  four  of  his  relations  killed  by  the  dis- 
possessed proprietor.  Thereupon  an  in- 
quiry took  place,  and  the  whole  truth  came 
out.  The  King  of  Oude  truly  observed, 
with  regard  to  this  affair : — "  If  a  person 
known  to  thousands  in  the  city  of  Lucknow 
is  able,  for  fifteen  years,  to  carry  on  such  a 
trade  successfully,  how  much  more  easy 
must  it  be  for  people  in  the  country,  not 
known  to  any  in  the  city,  to  carry  it  on  !"§ 

On  one  occasion,  no  less  than  thirty  lives 
were  lost  in  attempting  to  enforce  an  award 
iu  favour  of  a  British  sepoy.  On  another, 
a  sepoy  came  to  the  assistant-resident 
(Captain  Shakespear),  clamouring  for  jus- 
tice, and  complaining  that  no  notice  of  his 
petition  had  been  taken  by  the  native  gov- 
ernment. On  being  questioned,  he  ad- 
mitted that  no  less  than  forty  persons  had 
been  seized,  and  were  in  prison,  on  his  re- 
quisition. 

§  Letter  of  the  King  of  Oude  to  the  resident ; 
IGth  June,  1836. — Sleeman's  Journey  through  Oude, 
vol.  i.,  p.  286. 


BRITISH  SEPOYS  RECRUITED  FROM  BYSWARA  AND  BANODA.      87 


As  to  punishing  the  sepoys  for  preferring 
fraudulent  claims,  that  was  next  to  impos- 
sible, both  on  account  of  the  endless  trouble 
which  it  involved,  and  the  difficulty,  if  not 
impossibility,  of  procuring  a  conviction  from 
a  court-martial  composed  of  native  officers ; 
the  only  alternative  being,  to  lay  the  case 
before  the  governor-general.  The  natural 
consequence  was,  that  the  sepoys  became 
most  importunate,  untruthful,  and  unscru- 
pulous in  stating  the  circumstances  of 
their  claims,  or  the  grounds  of  their  com- 
plaints.* 

It  is  impossible  to  read  the  revelations  of 
Colonel  Sleemau  on  tliis  subject,  without 
feeling  that  the  British  authorities  them- 
selves aggravated  the  disorganisation  in  the 
native  administration,  which  was  the  sole 
plea  for  annexation.  At  the  same  time, 
it  is  no  less  clear,  that  the  injustice  perpe- 
trated on  behalf  of  the  sepoys,  was  calcu- 
lated to  exercise  a  most  injurious  effect  on 
their  morals  and  discipline.  The  unmerited 
success  often  obtained  by  fraud  and  col- 
lusion, was  both  a  bad  example  and  a  cause 
of  disgust  to  the  honest  and  scrupulous,  on 
whom  the  burthen  of  duties  fell,  while 
their  comrades  were  enjoying  themselves  in 
their  homes,  on  leave  of  absence,  obtained 
for  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  unreasonable 
or  false  claims.  Of  the  honest  petitioners, 
few  obtained  what  they  believed  to  be 
full  justice  ;  and  where  one  was  satisfied, 
four  became  discontented.  Another  cause 
of  disaffection  arose  when  it  was  found 
necessary  to  check  the  growing  evil,  by  de- 
creeing that  the  privilege  of  urging  claims 
through  the  resident  should  cease  when 
native  officers  and  sepoys  were  transferred 
from  active  service  to  the  invalid  establish- 
ment. 

Altogether,  the  result  of  making  the  se- 
poys a  privileged  class  (in  this,  as  in  so  many 
other  ways),  was  equally  disastrous  to  their 
native  and  European  superiors.  Colonel 
Sleeraan  says,  that  the  British  recruits 
were  procured  chiefly  from  the  Byswara 
and  Banoda  divisions  of  Oude,  whose  in- 
liabitants  vaunt  the  quality  of  the  water 
for  tempering  soldiers,  as  we  talk  of  the 
water  of  Damascus  for  tempering  sword- 
blades.  "  The  air  and  water  of  Malwa,"  it 
is  popularly  said,  "  may  produce  as  good 
trees  and  crops  as  those  of  Oude,  but  cannot 
produce  as  good  soldiers."     They  are  de- 

•  Sleeman's  Journey  through  Oude,  vol.  i.,  p.  292. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  289. 

X  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  62. 


scribed  as  never  appearing  so  happy  as 
when  fighting  in  earnest  with  swords, 
spears,  and  matchlocks,  and  consequently 
are  not  much  calculated  for  peaceful  citizens; 
but  the  British  sepoys  who  came  home  on 
furlough  to  their  families  (as  they  were  freely 
permitted  to  do  in  time  of  peace,  not  only 
to  petition  the  native  government,  but  also 
ostensibly  to  visit  their  families,  on  reduced 
pay  and  allowances),  were  the  terror,  even 
in  the  midst  of  this  warlike  population,  of 
their  non-privileged  neighbours  and  co- 
sharers  in  the  land. 

The  partiality  shown  them  did  not  pre- 
vent "the  diminished  attachment  felt  by 
the  sepoys  for  their  European  officers"  from 
becoming  an  established  fact;  and  officers, 
when  passing  through  Oude  in  their  travels 
or  sporting  excursions,  have  of  late  years 
generally  complained,  that  they  received  less 
civility  from  villages  in  which  British  in- 
valids or  furlough  sepoys  were  located,  than 
from  any  others;  and  that  if  anywhere 
treated  with  actual  disrespect,  such  sepoys 
were  generally  found  to  be  either  the  per- 
petrators or  instigators. t 

The  evidence  collected  in  preceding  pages, 
seems  to  place  beyond  dispute,  that  the  an- 
nexation of  Oude,  if  it  did  not  help  to  light 
the  flames  of  mutiny,hasfanued  and  fed  them 
by  furnishing  the  mutineers  with  refuge 
and  co-operation  in  the  territories  which 
were  ever  in  close  alliance  with  us  when 
they  formed  an  independent  kingdom ;  but 
which  we,  by  assuming  dominion  over  them 
on  the  sole  plea  of  rescuing  the  inhabitants 
from  gross  misgovernment,  have  changed 
into  a  turbulent  and  insurrectionary  pro- 
vince. 

The  metamorphosis  was  not  accomplished 
by  the  deposition  of  the  dynasty  of  Wajid 
Ali  Shah.  Indian  princes  generally,  might, 
and  naturally  would,  view  with  alarm  so 
flagrant  a  violation  of  treaties,  and  of  the 
first  principles  of  the  law  of  nations;  but 
the  Hindoos  of  Oude  could  have  felt  little 
regret  for  the  downfall  of  a  government 
essentially  sectarian  and  unjust.  The  kings 
of  Oude,  unlike  the  majority  of  Moham- 
medans in  India,  were  Sheiahs;J  and  so 
bigoted  and  exclusive,  that  no  Sheiah  could 
be  sentenced  to  death  at  Lucknow  for  the 
murder  even  of  a  Sonnite,  much  less  for 
that  of  a  Hindoo.  According  to  Colonel 
Sleeman,  it  was  not  only  the  law,  but  the 
everyday  practice,  that  if  a  Hindoo  mur- 
dered a  Hindoo,  and  consented  to  become  a 
IMussulman,  he  could  not  be  executed  for 


88    TELEGRAPH  ESTABLISHED  BETWEEN  CAWNPOOR  AND  LUCKNOW. 


the    Clime,    even    though    convicted     and 
sentenced.* 

Under  such  a  condition  of  thinfjs,  it  is  at 
least  highly  probahle,  that  a  rigidly  impar- 
tial and  tolerant  administration  would  have 
been  a  welcome  change  to  the  Hindoo  popu- 
lation. That  it  has  proved  the  very  reverse, 
is  accounted  for  by  the  aggressive  measures 
initiated  by  the  new  government,  and  the 
inefficient  means  by  which  their  enforce- 
ment was  attempted. 

The  latter  evil  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  un- 
avoidable. The  Russian  war  deprived  In- 
dia of  the  European  troops,  which  Lord  Dal- 
housie  deemed  needful  for  the  annexation 
of  Oude :  but  this  does  not  account  for  the 
grave  mistake  made  in  raising  a  contingent 
of  13,000  men,  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
newly-annexed  country,  almost  entirely  from 
the  disbanded  native  army.  These  levies, 
with  half-a-dozen  regular  corps,  formed  the 
whole  army  of  occupation. 

Sir  Henry  Lawrence  foresaw  the  danger ; 
and  in  September,  1856,  seven  months  be- 
fore the  commencement  of  the  mutiny, 
he  urged,  that  some  portion  of  the  Oude 
levies  should  change  places  with  certain  of 
the  Punjab  regiments  then  stationed  on  the 
Indus.  Oude,  he  said,  had  long  been  the 
Alsatia  of  India — the  resort  of  the  dissi- 
pated and  disaffected  of  every  other  state, 
and  especially  of  deserters  from  the  British 
ranks.  It  had  been  pronounced  hazardous 
to  employ  the  Seiks  in  the  Punjab  in  1849; 
and  the  reason  assigned  for  the  different 
policy  now  pursued  in  Oude  was,  that  the 
former  kingdom  had  been  conquered,  and 
the  latter  "  fell  in  peace."  Sir  Henry 
pointed  out  the  fallacy  of  this  argument, 
and  the  materials  for  mischief  which  still 
remained  in  Oude,  which  he  described  as 
containing  "  246  forts,  besides  innumerable 
smaller  strongholds,  many  of  them  sheltered 
within  thick  jungles.  In  these  forts  are 
476  guns.  Forts  and  guns  should  all  be  in 
the  hands  of  government,  or  the  forts 
should  be  razed.  Many  a  foolish  fellow 
has  been  urged  on  to  his  own  ruin  by 
the  possession  of  a  paltry  fort,  and  many 
a  paltry  mud  fort  has  repulsed  British 
troops."t 

The  warning  was  unheeded.  The  gov- 
ernment,  though  right  in  their  desire  to 

*  Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  i.,  p.  135. 

t  Article  on  "  Army  Reform ;"  by  Sir  H.  Law- 
rence.—  Calcutta  lleticw  for  September,  1856. 

X  See  Letter  signed  "  Index,"  dated  "  Calcutta,  De- 
cimber  9th,  1857."— JiVnes,  January  15th,  1858. 


protect  and  elevate  the  village  communities, 
were  unjust  in  the  sweeping  and  indiscrimi- 
nating  measures  which  they  adopted  in 
favour  of  the  villagers,  and  for  the  increase 
in  the  public  revenue,  anticipated  from  the 
setting  aside  of  the  feudal  claims  of  the 
so-called  middlemen.  Before  attempting 
to  revolutionise  the  face  of  society,  it  would 
have  been  only  politic  to  provide  unques- 
tionable means  of  overawing  the  opposition 
which  might  naturally  be  expected  from  so 
warlike,  not  to  say  turbulent,  a  class  as  the 
Rajpoot  chiefs. 

Had  men  of  the  Lawrence  school  been 
sent  to  superintend  the  "  absorption"  of 
Oude,  it  is  probable  they  might  have  seen 
the  danger,  and  suggested  measures  of  con- 
ciliation ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  asserted, 
that  the  European  officials  employed  were 
almost  all  young  and  inexperienced  men, 
and  that  their  extreme  opinions,  and  the 
corruption  of  their  native  subordinates, 
aggravated  the  unpopularity  of  the  system 
they  came  to  administer.  Personal  quarrels 
arose  between  the  leading  officers ;  and  the 
result  was  a  want  of  vigour  and  co-opera- 
tion in  their  public  proceedings. J 

Meantime,  the  obtainment  of  Oude  was 
a  matter  of  high-flown  congratulation  be- 
tween the  home  and  Indian  authorities. 
The  Company  have  changed  their  opinion 
since ;  §  but,  at  the  time,  they  accepted 
the  measure  as  lawful,  expedient,  and 
very  cleverly  carried  out.  Far  from  being 
disappointed  at  the  want  of  enthusiasm 
evinced  by  the  people  in  not  welcoming 
their  new  rulers  as  deliverers,  their  passive 
submission  (in  accordance  with  the  procla- 
mations of  Wajid  Ali  Shah)  called  forth, 
from  the  Court  of  Directors,  an  expres- 
sion of  "  lively  emotions  of  thankfulness 
and  pleasure,"  at  the  peaceable  manner  in 
which  "  an  expanse  of  territory  embracing 
an  area  of  nearly  25,000  square  miles,  and 
containing  5,000,000  inhabitants,  has  passed 
from  its  native  prince  to  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, without  the  expenditure  of  a  drop  of 
blood,  and  almost  without  a  murmur." || 

Upon  the  assumption  of  the  government 
of  Oude,  a  branch  electric  telegraph  was 
commenced  to  connect  Cawnpoor  and  Luck- 
now.  In  eighteen  working  days  it  was 
completed,  including  the  laying  of  a  cable, 

§  See  Despatch  of  the  Secret  Committee  of  the 
Court  of  Directors,  19th  April,  1858. — Pari.  Papers, 
7th  May,  1858;  p.  4. 

II  Despatch  dated  December,  1856. —  Oude  Blua 
Book  hi  1856;  p.  288. 


FIRST  TELEGRAPHIC  MESSAGE  FROM  OUDE,  1st  MARCH,  1856.    89 


6,000  feet  in  length,  across  the  Ganges. 
Ou  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  March,  Lord 
Dalhousie  (who  on  that  day  resigned  his 
office)  put  to  General  Outram  the  signifi- 
cant question — "  Is  all  quiet  in  Oude  ?" 
The  reply,  "  All  is  quiet  in  Oude,"  greeted 
Lord  Canning  on  his  arrival  in  Calcutta. 

On  the  previous  day,  a  farewell  letter  had 
been  written  to  the  King  of  Oude  by  the 
retiring  governor-general,  expressing  his 
satisfaction  that  the  friendship  which  had  so 
long  existed  between  the  Hon.  East  India 
Company  and  the  dynasty  of  Wajid  Ali 
Shah,  should  have  daily  become  more  firmly 
established.  "  There  is  no  doubt,"  he  adds, 
"  that  Lord  Canning  will,  in  the  same 
manner  as  I  have  done,  strengthening  and 
confirming  this  friendship,  bear  in  mind 
and  give  due  consideration  to  the  treaties 
and  engagements  which  are  to  exist  for 
ever."* 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  what  diplo- 
matic purpose  was  to  be  served  by  this 
reference  to  the  eternal  duration  of  treaties 
which  had  been  declared  null  and  void,  and 
engagements  proffered  by  one  party,  which 
the  other  had  at  all  hazards  persisted  in 
rejecting ;  or  why  Lord  Dalhousie,  so  clear, 
practical,  and  upright  in  his  general  cha- 
racter, should  seem  to  have  acted  so  unlike 
himself  in  all  matters  connected  with  what 
may  be  termed  his  foreign  policy. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  forgotten,  that 
that  policy,  in  all  its  circumstances,  was 
sanctioned  and  approved,  accepted  and 
rewarded,  by  the  East  India  Company. 
Lord  Dalhousie's  measures  were  consistent 
throughout  j  and  he  enjoyed  the  confidence 
and  support  of  the  directors  during  the 
whole  eight  years  of  his  administration,  in 
a  degree  to  which  few,  if  any,  of  his  prede- 
cessors ever  attained.  It  was  the  unquali- 
fied approval  of  the  home  authorities  that 
rendered  the  annexation  policy  the  promi- 
nent feature  of  a  system  which  the  people 
of  India,  of  every  creed,  clime,  and  tongue, 
looked  upon  as  framed  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  extinguishing  all  native  sovereignty 
and  rank.  And,  in  fact,  the  measures 
lately  pursued  are  scarcely  explicable  on 
any  other  ground.  The  democratic  element 
is,  no  doubt,  greatly  on  the  increase  in 
England ;  yet  our  institutions  and  our  pre- 
judices  are   monarchical  and   aristocratic : 

*  Letter,   vouched   for   as   a   true  translation  by 
Robert   Wilberforce   Bird,   and  printed  in  a  pam- 
phlet entitled  Cage  of  the  King  of  Oude ;   by  Mr. 
John  Davenport:  August  27th,  1836. 
vol..  II.  N 


and  nothing  surprises  our  Eastern  feUow- 
subjects  more,  than  the  deference  and 
courtesy  paid  by  all  ranks  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  to  rajahs  and  nawabs,  who,  in 
their  hereditary  principalities,  had  met — as 
many  of  them  aver — with  little  civility,  and 
less  justice,  at  the  hands  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  East  India  Company. 

Yet,  it  was  not  so  much  a  system  as  a 
want  of  system,  which  mainly  conduced 
to  bring  about  the  existing  state  of  things. 
The  constant  preponderance  of  expenditure 
above  income,  and  an  ever-present  sense  of 
precariousness,  have  been  probably  the  chief 
reasons  why  the  energies  of  the  Anglo- 
Indian  government  have  been,  of  late  years, 
most  mischievously  directed  to  degrading 
kings,  chiefs,  nobles,  gentry,  priests,  and 
landowners  of  various  degrees,  to  one  dead 
level  of  poverty — little  above  pauperism. 
We  have  rolled,  by  sheer  brute  force,  an 
iron  grinder  over  the  face  of  Hindoo 
society — crushed  every  lineament  into  a 
disfigured  mass — squeezed  from  it  every 
rupee  that  even  torture  could  extract ;  and 
lavished  the  money,  thus  obtained,  on  a 
small  white  oligarchy  and  an  immense  army 
of  mercenary  troops,  who  were  believed  to 
be  ready,  at  any  moment,  to  spread  fire  and 
the  sword  wherever  any  opposition  should 
be  offered  to  the  will  of  the  paramount 
power,  whose  salt  they  ate. 

We  thought  the  sepoys  would  always 
keep  down  the  native  chiefs,  and,  when 
they  were  destroyed,  the  people ;  and  we  did 
not  anticipate  the  swift  approach  of  a  time 
when  we  should  cry  to  the  chiefs  and  peo- 
ple to  help  us  to  extinguish  the  incendiary 
flames  of  our  own  camp,  and  to  wrench  the 
sword  from  the  hands  in  which  we  had  so 
vauntingly  placed  it. 

In  our  moment  of  peril,  the  defection 
of  the  upper  classes  of  Hindoostan  was 
"almost  universal."  But  surely  it  is  no 
wonder  that  they  should  have  shown  so 
little  attachment  to  our  rule,  when  it  is 
admitted,  even  by  the  covenanted  civil 
service,  that  they  "  have  not  much  to  thank 
us  for." 

Throughout  British  India,  several  native 
departments  are  declared  to  have  been 
"  grossly  underpaid,"  particularly  the  police 
service,  into  which  it  has  been  found  diffi- 
cult to  get  natives  of  good  family  to  enter 
at  all.  In  revenue  offices,  they  were  for- 
merly better  paid  than  at  present.  The 
general  result  of  our  proceedings  has  been, 
that  at  the  time  of  the  mutiny,  "  the  native 


90 


HEAVY  EXPENDITURE  CONSEQUENT  ON  POLYGAMY. 


gentry  were  daily  becoming  more  reduced, 
were  pinched  by  want  of  means,  and  were 
therefore  discontented."* 

It  is  difScult  to  realise  the  full  hardship 
of  their  position.  Here  were  men  who  would 
have  occupied,  or  at  least  have  had  the 
chance  of  occupying,  the  highest  positions 
of  the  state  under  a  native  government, 
and  who  were  accustomed  to  look  to  the 
service  of  the  sovereign  as  the  chief  source 
of  honourable  and  lucrative  employment, 
left,  frequently  with  no  alternative  but 
starvation  or  the  acceptance  of  a  position 
and  a  salary  under  foreign  masters,  that 
their  fathers  would  have  thought  suitable 
only  for  their  poorest  retainers.  Not  one 
of  them,  however  ancient  his  lineage,  how- 
ever high  his  attainments,  could  hope  to  be 
admitted  within  the  charmed  circle  of  the 
covenanted  civil  service,  as  the  equal  of  the 
youngest  writer,  or  even  in  the  army,  to 
take  rank  with  a  new-fledged  ensign. 

The  expenses  of  an  Asiatic  noble  are 
enormous.  Polygamy  is  costly  in  its  inci- 
dentals ;  and  the  head  of  a  great  family  is 
looked  to,  not  only  for  the  maintenance  of 
his  own  wives  and  children,  in  a  style  pro- 
portionate to  their  birth,  but  also  of  those 
of  his  predecessors.  The  misery  which  the 
levelling  policy  produced,  was  severely  felt  by 
the  pensioners  and  dependents  of  the  fallen 
aristocracy,  by  the  aged  and  the  sick,  by 
women  and  children.  And  this  latter  fact 
explains  a  marked  feature  in  the  present 
rebellion;  namely,  the  number  of  women 
who  have  played  a  leading  part  in  the  in- 
surrection. The  Ranee  of  Jhansi,  and  her 
sister,  with  other  Hindoo  princesses  of  less 
note,  have  evinced  an  amount  of  ability  and 
resolve  far  beyond  that  of  their  country- 
men; and  the  cause  of  disaffection  with 
almost  all  of  these,  has  been  the  setting 
aside  of  their  hereditary  rights  of  succes- 
sion and  of  adoption.  They  have  viewed 
the  sudden  refusal  of  the  British  govern- 
ment to  sanction  what  they  had  previously 
encouraged,  as  a  most  faithless  and  arbitrary 
procedure;  and  many  chiefs,  whose  hosti- 
lity is  otherwise  unaccountable,  will  pro- 
bably, like  the  chief  of  Nargoond,  prove  to 
have  been  incited  to  join  the  mutineers 
chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  by  this  particular 
grievance. 

•  Gubbins'  Mutinies  m  Oudh,  pp.  56,  57. 

t  llegulation  xxxi.,  of  1803. 

\  l''or  instance,  in  the  alienation  of  a  part  of  the 
revenues  of  tlie  post-uffice,  and  oilier  public  depart- 
jnenU  j  enacted  in  the  case  of  certain  noble  families. 


A  branch  of  the  annexation  question, 
in  which  the  violation  of  rights  of  succes- 
sion is  also  a  prominent  feature,  yet  re- 
mains to  be  noticed — namely,  the 

Resumption  of  Rent-free  Lands;  whereby 
serious  disaffection  has  been  produced  in 
the  minds  of  a  large  class  of  dispossessed 
proprietors.  All  rightful  tenure  of  this  kind 
is  described,  in  the  regulations  of  the  East 
India  Company,  as  based  upon  a  well- 
known  provision  "  of  the  ancient  law  of 
India,  by  which  the  ruling  power  is  entitled 
to  a  certain  proportion  of  the  annual  pro- 
duce of  every  beegah  (acre)  of  land,  except- 
ing in  cases  in  which  that  power  shall  have 
made  a  temporary  or  permanent  alienation 
of  its  right  to  such  proportion  of  the  pro- 
duce, or  shall  have  agreed  to  receive,  instead 
of  that  proportion,  a  specific  sum  annually, 
or  for  a  term  of  years,  or  in  perpetuity."t 

Both  Hindoo  and  Mohammedan  sove- 
reigns frequently  made  over  part,  or  the 
whole,  of  the  public  revenue  of  a  village,  or 
even  of  a  district,  to  one  of  their  officers ; 
they  often  assigned  it  in  jaghire  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  certain  number  of  troops, 
or  gratuitously  for  life,  as  a  reward  for 
service  done ;  and  sometimes  in  perpetuity. 
In  the  latter  case,  the  alienation  was  more 
complete  than  that  practised  in  the  United 
Kingdom; J  for  here  titles  and  estate 
escheat  to  the  state  on  the  death  of  the  last 
legal  representative  of  a  family;  but,  among 
the  Hindoos,  such  lapse  never,  or  most  rarely 
occurs,  since  all  the  males  marry,  in  child- 
hood generally,  several  wives  ;  and  their  law 
vests  rights  of  succession  and  adoption  in 
the  widows  of  the  deceased.  These  rights 
were  acknowledged  equally  by  Hindoo  and 
Moslem  rulers — by  the  Peishwa  of  Poona, 
and  the  Nawab-vizier  of  Oude;  the  only 
difference  being,  that  in  the  event  of  adop- 
tion, a  larger  nuzzurana,  or  tributary  offer- 
ing, was  expected  on  accession,  than  if  the 
heir  had  been  a  son  by  birth  :  in  other 
words,  the  legacy  duty  was  higher  in  the 
one  case  than  the  other. 

"  Enam,"  or  "  gift,"  is  the  term  commonly 
given  to  all  gratuitous  grants,  whether 
temporary  or  in  perpetuity — whether  to 
individuals,  or  for  religious,  charitable,  or 
educational  purposes  :  but  it  is  more  strictly 
applicable  to  endowments  of  the  latter  de- 
scription; in  which  case,  the  amount  of 
state-tribute  transferred  was  frequently  very 
considerable,  and  always  in  perpetuity. 
"  A  large  ])roportion  of  the  grants  to  indi- 
viduals," Mountstuart  Elphinstone  writes. 


RESUMPTION  COMMISSION  APPOINTED  IN  BENGAL -1836. 


91 


"  are  also  in  perpetuity,  and  are  regarded  as 
among  the  most  secure  forms  of  private 
property ;  but  the  gradual  increase  of  such 
instances  of  liberality,  combined  with  the 
frequency  of  forged  deeds  of  gift,  some- 
times induces  the  ruler  to  resume  the  grauts 
of  his  predecessors,  and  to  burden  them 
with  heavy  taxes.  When  these  are  laid  on 
transfers  by  sales,  or  even  by  succession, 
they  are  not  thought  unjust ;  but  total  re- 
sumption, or  the  permanent  levy  of  a  fixed 
rate,  is  regarded  as  oppressive."* 

During  the  early  years  of  the  Company's 
rule,  the  perpetual  enam  tenures  were  sedu- 
lously respected;  but  as  the  supreme  govern- 
ment grew  richer  in  sovereignty,  and  poorer 
in  purse  (for  the  increase  of  expenditure 
always  distanced  that  of  revenue),  the  col- 
lectors began  to  look  with  a  covetous  eye 
on  the  freeholders.  They  argued,  truly 
enough,  that  a  great  many  of  the  titles  to 
land  were  fraudulent,  or  had  been  fraudu- 
lently obtained ;  and  in  such  cases,  where 
grounds  of  suspicion  existed,  any  govern- 
ment would  have  been  in  duty  bound  to 
make  inquiry  into  the  circumstances  of  the 
original  acquisition. 

But  instead  of  investigating  certain  cases, 
a  genernl  inquiry  was  instituted  into  the 
whole  of  them;  the  principle  of  which 
was,  to  cast  on  every  enamdar  the  burthen 
of  proving  his  right — a  demand  which,  of 
course,  many  of  the  ancient  holders  must 
have  found  it  impossible  to  fulfil.  The  lapse 
of  centuries,  war,  fire,  or  negligence  might, 
doubtless,  have  occasioned  the  destruction 
of  the  deeds.  Some  of  the  oldest  were,  we 
know,  engraven  on  stone  and  copper,  in  long- 
forgotten  characters ;  and  few  of  the  com- 
missioners could  question  the  witnesses  in 
the  modern  Bengalee  or  Hindoostani,  much 
less  decipher  Pali  or  Sanscrit. 

A  commission  of  inquiry  was  instituted 
in  Bengal  in  1836,  "  to  ascertain  the  grounds 
on  which  claims  to  exemption  from  the 
payment  of  revenue  were  founded,  to  confirm 
those  for  which  valid  titles  were  produced, 
and  to  bring  under  assessment  those  which 
were  held  without  authority ."f  In  theory, 
this  sounds  moderate,  if  not  just;  in  prac- 
tice, it  is  said  to  have  proved  the  very 
reverse,  and  to  have  cast  a  blight  over  the 
whole  of  Lower  Bengal.     The  expense  of 

*  Quoted  in  evidence  before  Colonization  Com- 
mittee of  House  of  Commons,  of  1858. — Fourth  Re- 
port, published  28th  July,  1858;  p.  30. 

t  Statement  of  the  East  India  Company. 

X  Fourth  lleportof  Colonization  Committee,  p.  47. 


the  commission  was,  of  course,  enormous ; 
and  even  in  a  pecuniary  sense,  the  profit 
reaped  by  government  could  not  compensate 
for  the  ruin  and  distress  caused  by  proceed- 
ings which  are  asserted  to  have  been  so 
notoriously  unjust,  that  "  some  distinguished 
civil  servants"  refused  to  take  any  part  in 
them. J 

Mr.  Edmonstone,  Mr.  Tucker,  and  a  few 
of  the  ablest  directors  at  the  East  India 
House,  protested,  but  in  vain,  against  the 
resumption  laws,  which  were  acted  upon  for 
many  years.  The  venerable  Marquess 
Wellesley,  a  few  weeks  before  his  decease 
(July  30th,  1842),  wrote  earnestly  to  the 
Earl  of  EUenborough  (then  governor-gen- 
eral), as  follows : — 

"  I  am  concerned  to  hear  that  some 
inquiry  has  been  commenced  respecting 
the  validity  of  some  of  the  tenures  under 
the  permanent  settlement  of  the  land 
revenue.  This  is  a  most  vexatious,  and, 
surely,  not  a  prudent  measure.  Here  the 
maxim  of  sound  ancient  wisdom  applies 
most  forcibly^'  Quieta  non  movere.'  We 
ancient  English  settlers  in  Ireland  have  felt 
too  severely  the  hand  of  Strafford,  in  a 
similar  act  of  oppression,  not  to  dread  any 
similar  proceeding." 

Strafford,  however,  never  attempted  any- 
thing in  Ireland  that  could  be  compared 
with  the  sweeping  confiscation  which  is  de- 
scribed as  having  been  carried  on  in  Ben- 
gal, where  "  little  respect  was  paid  to  the 
principles  of  law,  either  as  recognised  in 
England  or  in  India;"  and  where,  "  it  is  said, 
one  commissioner  dispossessed,  in  a  single 
morning,  no  less  than  two  hundred  pro- 
prietors."§ 

In  the  Chittagong  district,  an  insurrection 
was  nearly  caused  by  "  the  wholesale  sweep- 
ing away  of  the  rights  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation;" and  in  the  Dacca  district,  the  com- 
mission likewise  operated  very  injuriously. || 

The  general  alarm  and  disaffection  ex- 
cited by  these  proceedings,  so  materially 
affected  the  public  tranquillity,  that  the 
Court  of  Directors  was  at  length  compelled 
to  interfere,  and  the  labours  of  the  Bengal 
commission  were  fortunately  brought  to  a 
close  some  years  before  the  mutiny.^ 

The  enam  commission  appointed  for  the 
Deccan,  was  no  less  harsh  and  summary  in 

§  Quarterly  Review,  1858. — Article  on  "British 
India:"  attributed  to  Mr.  Layard  :  p.  257. 

II  See  Second  Report  of  Colonization  Committee 
of  1858;  p.  60. 

5[  Quarterly  Review,  1838;  p.  257. 


92 


ENAM  COMMISSION  APPOINTED  IN  THE  DECCAN— 1851. 


its  proceedings,  the  results  of  which  are  now 
stated  to  afford  the  people  their  "first  and 
gravest  cause  of  complaint  against  the  gov- 
ernment."* 

Due  investigation  ought  to  have  been 
made  in  1818,  when  the  dominions  of  the 
Peishwa  first  became  British  territory,  into 
the  nature  of  the  grants,  whether  hereditary 
or  for  life;  and  aiso  to  discover  whether, 
as  was  highly  probable,  many  fraudulent 
claims  might  not  have  been  established 
under  tlie  weak  and  corrupt  administration 
of  the  fast  native  ruler,  Bajee  Rao.  Alt 
this  might  have  been  done  in  perfect  con- 
formity with  the  assurance  given  by  the 
tranquilliser  of  the  Deccan  (Mountstnart 
Elphinstone),  that  "ail  wuttuns  and  enams 
(birthrights  and  rent-free  lands),  annual 
stipends,  religious  and  charitable  establish- 
ments, would  be  protected.  The  proprietors 
were,  however,  warned  that  they  would  be 
called  upon  to  show  their  sunnuds  (deeds  of 
grant),  or  otherwise  prove  their  title."t 

Instead  of  doing  this,  the  government 
suffered  thirty  years  to  elapse — thus  giving 
the  proprietors  something  of  a  prescriptive 
right  to  their  holdings,  however  acquired ; 
and  the  Court  of  Directors,  as  late  as  Sep- 
tember, 1846,  expressly  declared,  that  the 
principle  on  which  they  acted,  was  to  allow 
enams  (or  perpetual  alienations  of  public 
revenue,  as  contradistiuguished  from  surin- 
jams,  or  temporary  ones)  to  pass  to  heirs, 
as  of  right,  without  need  of  the  assent  of 
the  paramount  power,  provided  the  adop- 
tion were  regular  according  to  Hindoo  law.  J 

The  rights  of  widows  were  likewise  dis- 
tinctly recognised,  until  the  "  absorption" 
policy  came  into  operation  ;  and  then  inves- 
tigations into  certain  tenures  were  insti- 
tuted, which  paved  the  way  for  a  general 
enam  commission  for  the  whole  Bombay 
presidency;  by  which  all  enamdars  were 
compelled  to  prove  possession  for  a  hundred 
years,  as  an  indispensable  preliminary  to 
being  confirmed  in  the  right  to  transmit 
their  estates  to  lineal  descendants — the 
future  claims  of  widows  and  adopted  sons 
being  quietly  ignored. 

The  commission  was  composed,  not  of 
judicial  officers,  but  of  youths  of  the  civil 
service,  and  of  captains  and  subalterns  taken 
from  their  regiments,  and  selected  princi- 

•  Quarterly  Review,  p.  259. 
t  Proclamation  of  Mr.  Elphinstone ;  and  instruc- 
tions issued  to  collectors  in  1818. 

X  Fourth  Report  of  Colonization  Committee,  p.  35. 
§  Ibii. 


pally  on  account  of  their  knowledge  of  tlie 
Mahratta  languages;  while,  at  the  head  of 
the  commission,  was  placed  a  captain  of 
native  infantry,  thirty-five  years  of  age.§ 

These  inexperienced  youths  were,  besides, 
naturally  prejudiced  in  deciding  upon  cases 
in  which  they  represented  at  once  the 
plaintiff  and  the  judge.  The  greater  the  in- 
genuity they  displayed  in  upsetting  claims, 
the  greater  their  chance  of  future  advance- 
ment. Every  title  disallowed,  was  so  much 
revenue  gained.  Powers  of  search,  such  as 
were  exercised  by  the  French  revolutionary 
committees,  and  by  few  others,  were  en- 
trusted to  them ;  and  their  agents,  accom- 
panied by  the  police,  might  at  any  time  of 
the  night  or  day,  enter  the  houses  of  persons 
in  the  receipt  of  alienated  revenue,  or  ex- 
amine and  seize  documents,  without  giving 
either  a  receipt  or  list  of  those  taken. 
The  decisions  of  previous  authorities  were 
freely  reversed ;  and  titles  admitted  by 
Mr.  Brown  in  1847,  were  re-inquired  into, 
and  disallowed  bv  Captain  Cowper  in 
1855.11 

An  appeal  against  a  resumptive  decree 
might  be  laid  before  the  privy  council  in 
London ;  and  the  rajah  of  Burdwan  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  the  restoration  of  his 
lands  by  this  means.^  But  to  the  poorer 
class  of  ousted  proprietors,  a  revised  ver- 
dict was  unattainable.  Few  could  afford 
to  risk  from  five  to  ten  thousand  pounds 
in  litigation  against  the  East  India  Com- 
pany. But,  whatever  their  resources,  it  was 
making  the  evils  of  absentee  sovereignty- 
ship  most  severely  and  unwisely  felt,  to  re- 
quire persons,  whose  families  had  occupied 
Indian  estates  fifty  to  a  liundred  years  and 
upwards,  to  produce  their  title-deeds  in 
England ;  and  to  make  little  or  no  allow- 
ance for  the  various  kinds  of  proof,  which, 
duly  weighed,  were  really  more  trustworthy, 
because  less  easily  counterfeited,  than  any 
written  documents. 

The  commissioners  on  wliom  so  onerous 
a  duty  as  the  inquiry  into  rent-free  tenures 
was  imposed,  ought  at  least  to  have  been 
tried  and  approved  men  of  high  public 
character,  who  would  neither  hurry  over 
cases  by  the  score,  nor  suffer  them  to  linger 
on  in  needless  and  most  harassing  delays; 
as  the  actual  functionaries  are  accused  of 

II  Quarterly  Review,  p.  258.  Stated  on  the  autho- 
rity of  "  Correspondence  relating  to  the  Scrutiny  of 
the  revised  Surinjam  and  Pension  Lists."  Printed 
for  government.     Bombay,  1856. 

%  Second  Report  of  Colonization  Committee,  p.  9. 


REVENUE  SETTLEMENT  OP  N.  W.  PROVINCES  A  FAILURE. 


93 


having  done,  according  to  their  peculiar 
propensities.  Perhaps  it  would  have  been 
better  to  have  acted  on  altogether  a  different 
system,  and  acknowledged  the  claim  estab- 
lished by  many  years  of  that  nndisturbed 
possession  which  is  everywhere  popularly 
looked  upon  as  nine-tenths  of  the  law;  and, 
while  recognising  all  in  the  positions  in 
which  we  found  them  on  the  assumption  of 
sovereignty,  to  have  claimed  from  all,  either 
a  yearly  subsidy  or  (in  pursuance  of  the 
practice  of  native  sovereigns)  a  succession 
duty.  At  least,  we  should  thereby  have 
avoided  the  expense  and  odium  incurred  l)y 
the  institution  of  a  trii)unal,  to  which  Lieu- 
tenant-governor Halliday's  description  of 
our  criminal  jurisdiction  would  seem  to 
apply — viz.,  that  it  was  "  a  lottery,  in  which, 
however,  the  best  chances  were  witii  the 
criminal."  On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion, 
the  resumption  commission  was  brought 
suddenly  to  a  close;  its  introduction  into 
Guzerat  (which  had  been  previously  con- 
templated) was  entirely  abandoned,  and 
some  of  the  confiscated  estates  were  restored. 
But  the  distrust  inspired  by  past  proceed- 
ings will  not  easily  be  removed,  especially 
ns  the  feeling  of  ill-usage  is  aggravated  by 
the  fact,  that  in  border  villages  belonging 
jointly  to  the  Company  and  to  Indian 
princes,  the  rent-free  lands,  on  the  side  be- 
longing to  the  former,  have  been  resumed, 
while  those  on  the  latter  remain  intact.* 

In  the  North-West  Provinces,  the  gov- 
ernment avoided  incurring  the  stigma  of 
allowing  a  prescriptive  right  of  possession 
and  transmission  to  take  root  through  their 
neglect,  by  immediately  making  a  very 
summary  settlement.  The  writings  of 
Sleeman,  Raikes,  Gubbins  and  others,  to- 
gether with  the  evidence  brought  before 
the  colonization  committee,  tend  to  prove 
the  now  scarcely  disputed  fact,  that  the  at- 
tempted revenue  settlement  of  the  North- 
West  Provinces,  and  the  sweeping  away  of 
the  proprietary  class  as  middlemen,  has 
proved  a  failure.  With  few  exceptions, 
the  ancient  proprietors,  dispossessed  of 
their  estates  by  the  revenue  collectors,  or 
by  sales  under  decrees  of  civil  courts,  have 
taken  advantage  of  the  recent  troubles  to 
return,  and  have  been  suffered,  and  even 
encouraged,  to  do  so  by  the  ryots  and  small 
tenants,  to  whom  their  dispossession  would 
have  appeared  most  advantageous.f 

•  Quarterly  Heview,  p.  259.  t  Ihid.,  p.  251. 

X  Minute  on  Talookdaree  cases;  by  Mr.  Boulderson. 
«  Quarterly  Review  (July,  1858),  p.  260. 


A  number  of  cases  of  alleged  indivi- 
dual injustice  towards  the  rajahs  and  talook- 
dars,  were  collected,  and  stated,  in  circum- 
stantial detail,  in  a  minute  laid  before 
Mr.  Thomason  (the  lieutenant-governor  of 
Agra  in  1844),  by  Mr.  Boulderson,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Revenue ;  who  eventu- 
ally resigned  his  position,  sooner  than  be 
associated  in  proceedings  which  he  believed 
to  be  essentially  unjust.  His  chief  ground 
of  complaint  was,  that  the  board,  instead  of 
instituting  a  preliminary  inquiry  into  what 
the  rights  of  talookdars  and  other  proprie- 
tors really  were,  acted  upon  a  prion  argu- 
ments of  what  they  must  be  ;  and  never,  in 
any  one  of  the  many  hundred  resumptions 
made  at  their  recommendation,  deemed  the 
proofs  on  which  the  proceedings  rested, 
worthy  of  a  moment's  inquiry. 

After  reciting  numerous  instances  of  dis- 
possession of  proprietors  who  had  held  es- 
tates for  many  years,  and  laid  out  a  large 
amount  of  capital  in  their  improvement, 
the  writer  adds  : — 

"  I  have  in  vain  endeavoured,  hitherto,  to  rouse 
the  attention  of  my  colleague  and  government  to 
this  virtual  abolition  of  all  law.  •  •  »  The 
respect  of  the  native  public  I  know  to  have  been 
shaken  to  an  inexpressible  degree :  they  can  see 
facts  ;  and  are  not  blinded  by  the  fallacious  reason- 
ings and  misrepresentations  with  which  the  board 
have  clothed  these  subjects ;  and  they  wonder  with 
amazement  at  the  motives  which  can  prompt  the 
British  government  to  allow  their  own  laws — all 
laws  which  give  security  to  property — to  be  thus 
belied  and  set  aside.  All  confidence  in  property  or 
its  rights  is  shaken  j  and  the  villany  which  has  been 
taught  the  people  they  will  execute,  and  reward  the 
government  tenfold  into  their  own  bosom."J 

In  a  Preface,  dated  "  London,  8th  June, 
1858,"  Mr.  Boulderson  states,that  his  minute 
"  produced  no  effect  in  modifying  or  stay- 
ing the  proceedings"  of  the  revenue  board  ; 
and  if  "forwarded  to  England,  as  in  due 
official  course  it  should  have  been,  it  must 
have  had  as  little  effect  upon  the  Hon. 
Court  of  Directors." 

Even  in  the  Punjab,  the  system  pursued 
was  a  levelling  one.  Notwithstanding  all 
that  the  Lawrences  and  their  disciples  did 
to  mitigate  its  severity,  and  especially  to 
conciliate  the  more  powerful  and  aggrieved 
chiefs,  the  result  is  asserted  to  have  been, 
to  a  great  extent,  the  same  there  as  in 
the  Deccan  :  "the  aristocracy  and  landed 
gentry  who  have  escaped  destruction  by  the 
settlement,  have  been  ruined  by  the  re- 
sumption of  ahenated  )and."§ 

Thus  annexation  and  resumption,  confis- 
cation and  absorption,  have  gone  hand-in- 


94 


KAKA  ABBOTT  AND  JOHN  BECHER  IN  IIUZARA. 


hand,  with  a  rapidity  which  would  have  been 
dangerous  even  had  the  end  in  view  and 
the  means  of  attainment  been  both  unex- 
ceptionable. However  justly  acquired,  the 
entire  reorganisation  of  extensive,  widely 
scattered,  and,  above  all,  densely  populated 
territories,  must  always  present  difficulties 
which  abstract  rules  arbitrarily  enforced  can 
never  satisfactorily  overcome. 

The  fifteen  million  inhabitants  brought 
by  Lord  Dalhousie  under  the  immediate 
government  of  the  British  Crown,  were  to 
be,  from  the  moment  of  annexation,  ruled  on 
a  totally  different  system  :  native  institutions 
and  native  administrators  were  expected  to 
give  place,  without  a  murmur,  to  the  British 
commissioner  and  his  subordinates ;  and  the 
newly  absorbed  territory,  whatever  its  his- 
tory, the  character  of  its  population,  its 
languages  and  customs,  was  to  be  "  settled," 
without  any  references  to  these  important 
antecedents,  on  the  theory  which  found 
favour  with  the  Calcutta  council  for  the  time 
being. 

Many  able  officials,  with  much  ready 
money,  and  a  thoroughly  efficient  army  to 
support  them,  were  indispensable  to  carry 
through  such  a  system.  In  the  Punjab, 
these  requisites  were  obtained  at  the  ex- 
pense of  other  provinces;  and  the  picked 
men  sent  there,  were  even  then  so  few  in 
number  and  so  overworked,  that  they 
scarcely  had  time  for  sleep  or  food.  Their 
private  purse  often  supplied  a  public  want. 
Thus,  James  Abbott  was  sent  by  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  to  settle  the  Huzara  dis- 
trict, which  he  did  most  effectually ;  going 
from  valley  to  valley,  gaining  the  confidence 
of  all  the  tribes,  and  administering  justice 
in  the  open  air  under  the  trees — looking, 
with  his  long  grey  beard  on  his  breast,  and 
his  grey  locks  far  down  his  shoulders,  much 
more  like  an  ancient  patriarch  than  a  deputy- 
commissioner.  "  Kaka,"  or  "  Uncle"  Ab- 
i)ott,  as  the  children  called  him  (in  return 
for  the  sweetmeats  which  he  carried  in 
readiness  for  them),  took  leave  of  the  people 
in  a  very  characteristic  fashion,  by  inviting 
the  entire  population  to  a  feast  on  the 
Nara  hill,  which  lasted  three  nights  and 
days;  and  he  left  Huzara  with  only  a 
month's  pay  in  his  pocket,  "  having  literally 
spent  all  his  substance  on  the  people."  His 
successor,  John  Becher,  ably  fills  his  place, 
"  living  in  a  house  with  twelve  doors,  and 

•  See  the  graphic  description  given  by  Colonel 
Herbert  Edwardes,  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence's  old 
staff   in    the   Punjab,    previous    to    annexation. — 


all  open  to  the  people.  *  *  *  The  re- 
sult is,  that  the  Huzara  district,  once  famous 
for  turbulence,  is  now  about  the  quietest, 
happiest,  and  most  loyal  in  the  Punjab."* 
Of  course,  Kaka  Abbott  and  his  successor, 
much  less  their  lamented  head  (Sir  Henry 
Lawrence),  cannot  be  taken  as  average 
specimens  of  their  class.  Such  self-devo- 
tion is  the  exception,  not  the  rule :  it  would 
be  asking  too  much  of  human  nature,  to 
expect  the  entire  civil  service  to  adopt  what 
Colonel  Herbert  Edwardes  calls  the  Baha- 
duree  (summer-house)  system  of  administra- 
tion, and  keep  their  cutcherries  open,  not 
"  from  ten  till  four"  by  the  regulation 
clock,  but  all  day,  and  at  any  hour  of  the 
night  that  anybody  chooses.f  Neither 
can  chief  commissioners  be  expected,  or 
even  wished,  to  sacrifice  their  health  as  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  did  in  the  Punjab,  where, 
amid  all  his  anxieties  for  the  welfare  of  the 
mass,  he  preserved  his  peculiar  character  of 
being  pre-eminently  the  friend  of  the  man 
that  was  dowu;  battling  with  government  for 
better  terms  for  the  deposed  officials  and 
depressed  aristocracy,  and  caring  even  for 
thieves  and  convicts.  He  originated  gaol 
reform;  abolished  the  "night-chain,"  and 
other  abominations ;  introduced  in-door 
labour;  and  himself  superintended  the  new 
measures — going  from  gaol  to  gaol,  and 
rising  even  at  midnight  to  visit  the  pri- 
soners' barracks,  f 

The  manner  in  which  the  Punjab  was 
settled  is  altogether  exceptional :  the  men 
employed  certainly  were ;  so  also  was  the 
large  discretionary  power  entrusted  to  them. 
Elsewhere  matters  went  on  very  differently. 
The  civil  service  could  not  furnish  an  effi- 
cient magistracy  for  the  old  provinces,  much 
less  for  the  new ;  the  public  treasury  could 
not  satisfy  the  urgent  and  long  reite- 
rated demand  for  public  works,  canals  to 
irrigate  the  land,  roads  to  convey  produce, 
and  avert  the  scourge  of  famine,  even  from 
Bengal :  how,  then,  could  it  spare  ready 
money  to  build  court-houses  and  gaols  in 
its  new  possessions? 

Like  Auruiigzebe,  in  the  Deccan,  we 
swept  away  existing  institutions  without 
being  prepared  to  replace  them,  and  thereby 
became  the  occasion  of  sufferings  which 
we  had  assumed  the  responsibility  of  pre- 
venting. Thus,  in  territories  under  British 
government,  the  want  of  proper  places  o( 

Quoted  in  Raikes'  Revolt  in  the  North-West  Pro- 
vinces, p.  25. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  29.  X  Ibid.,  p.  34. 


NATIVE  OFFICIALS  CORRUPT  BECAUSE  UNDERPAID. 


93 


coufinement  is  alleged  to  be  so  great,  that 
"  prisoners  of  all  classes  are  crammed  toge- 
ther into  a  dungeon  so  small,  that,  when 
the  sun  goes  down,  they  figlit  for  the  little 
space  upon  which  only  a  few  can  lie  during 
the  weary  night.  Within  one  month,  forty 
die  of  disease,  produced  by  neglect,  want  of 
air,  and  filth.  Tlie  rest,  driven  to  despair, 
attempt  an  escape ;  twenty  are  shot  down 
dead.  Such  is  a  picture — and  not  an  ima- 
ginary picture — of  the  results  of  one  of 
the  most  recent  cases  of  annexation  !"* 

Even  supposing  the  above  to  be  an  ex- 
treme, and,  in  its  degree,  an  isolated  case, 
yet  one  such  narrative,  circulated  among 
the  rebel  ranks,  would  serve  as  a  reason  for 
a  general  breaking  open  of  gaols,  and  as  an 
incitement  and  excuse  for  any  excesses  on 
the  part  of  the  convicts,  to  whom,  it  will  be 
remembered,  some  of  the  worst  atrocities 
committed  during  the  rebellion  are  now 
generally  attributed. 

In  fact,  the  increase  of  territory,  of  late 
years,  has  been  (as  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
predicted  it  would  be)  greatly  in  excess  of 
our  resources.  Annex  we  might,  govern 
we  could  not;  for,  in  the  words  of  Prince 
Metternich,  we  had  not  "  the  material."t 
That  is,  we  had  not  the  material  on  which 
alone  we  choose  to  rely.  Native  agency  we 
cannot  indeed  dispense  with  :  we  could  not 
hold  India,  or  even  Calcutta,  a  week  with- 
out it ;  but  we  keep  it  down  on  the  lowest 
steps  of  the  ladder  so  effectually,  that  men 
of  birth,  talent,  or  susceptibility,  will  serve 
us  only  when  constrained  by  absolute 
poverty.  They  shun  the  hopeless  dead- 
level  which  the  service  of  their  country  is 
now  made  to  offer  them. 

Our  predecessors  in  power  acted  upon  a 
totally  different  principle.  Their  title  was 
avowedly  that  of  the  sword ;  yet  they  dele- 
gated authority  to  the  conquered  race,  with 
a  generosity  which  puts  to  shame  our  ex- 
clusiveness  and  distrust ;  the  more  so  be- 
cause it  does  not  appear  that  their  confi- 
dence was  ever  betrayed. 

Many  of  the  ablest  and  most  faithful 
servants  of  the  Great  Moguls  were  Hin- 
doos. Tlie  Moslem  knew  the  prestige  of 
ancient  lineage,  and  the  value  of  native 
ability  and  acquaintance  with  the  resources 
of  the  country  too  well,  to  let  even  bigotry 
stand  in  the  way  of  their  employment. 

*  Quarterly  Review  (July,  1858),  j).  273. 

t  Quoted  by  Mr.  Layard,  in  a  Lecture  delivered 
at  Si.  James's  Ilall,  Piccadilly,  on  his  return  from 
India,  May  Uth,  1808. 


The  command  of  the  imperial  armies  was 
repeatedly  intrusted  to  Rajpoot  generals; 
and  the  dewans  (chancellors  of  the  exche- 
quer) were  usually  Brahmins  :  the  famous 
territorial  arrangements  of  Akber  are  insepa- 
rablj'  associated  with  the  name  of  Rajah 
Todar  Mul ;  and  probably,  if  we  had  availed 
ourselves  of  the  aid  of  native  financiers,  and 
made  it  worth  their  while  to  serve  us  well, 
our  revenue  settlements  might  have  been 
ere  now  satisfactorily  arranged.  If  Hindoos 
were  found  faithful  to  a  Moslem  govern- 
ment, why  should  they  not  be  so  to  a 
Christian  one,  which  has  the  peculiar  ad- 
vantage of  being  able  to  balance  the  two 
great  antagonistic  races,  by  employing  each, 
so  as  to  keep  the  other  in  check  ?  Of  late, 
we  seem  to  have  been  trying  to  unite 
them,  by  giving  them  a  common  cause 
of  complaint,  and  by  marking  the  subor- 
dinate position  of  native  officials  more 
oft'ensively  than  ever.  They  are  accused 
of  corruption — so  were  the  Europeans : 
let  the  remedy  employed  in  the  latter 
case  be  tried  in  the  former,  and  the  re- 
sult will  be  probably  the  same.  The 
need  of  increased  salary  is  much  greater 
in  the  case  of  the  native  ofiScial.  Let 
the  government  give  him  the  means  of 
supporting  himself  and  his  family,  and 
add  a  prospect  of  promotion ;  it  will  then 
be  well  served. 

By  the  present  system  we  proscribe  the 
higher  class,  and  miserably  underpay  the 
lower.  The  result  is  unsatisfactory  to  all 
parties,  even  to  the  government;  which, 
though  it  has  become  aware  of  the  neces- 
sity of  paying  Europeans  with  liberality, 
still  withholds  from  the  native  "the  fair 
day's  wage  for  the  fair  day's  work."  Lat-. 
terly,  the  Europeans  may  have  been  in  some 
cases  overpaid ;  but  the  general  error  seems 
to  have  lain,  in  expecting  too  much  from 
them  ;  the  amount  of  writing  required  by  the 
Company's  system,  being  a  heavy  addition 
to  their  labours,  especially  in  the  newly  an- 
nexed territories.  The  natural  consequence 
has  been,  that  while  a  certain  portion  of  the 
civilians,  with  the  late  governor-general  at 
their  head,  lived  most  laboriously,  and  de- 
voted themselves  wholly  to  the  duties  be- 
fore them ;  others,  less  zealous,  or  less 
capable,  shrunk  back  in  alarm  at  the  pros- 
pect before  them,  and,  yielding  to  the  in- 
fluences of  climate  and  of  luxury,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  interested  subordinates — signed 
the  papers  presented  by  their  clerks,  and,  in 
the  words  of  their  severest  censor,  "  amused 


96 


FIRST  SEPOY  BATTALION  ORGANISED  BY  CLIVE— 1757. 


themselves,  and  kept  a  servant  to  wash 
each  separate  toe."* 

Under  cover  of  their  names,  corruption 
and  extortion  has  been  practised  to  an 
almost  incredible  extent.  Witness  the  ex- 
posure of  the  proceedings  of  provincial 
courts,  published  in  1849,  by  a  Bengal 
civilian,  of  twenty-one  years'  standing, 
under  the  title  of  Revelations  of  an  Orderly. 

An  attempt  lias  been  made  to  remedy  the 
insufficient  number  of  civilians,  by  taking 
military  men  from  their  regiments,  and 
employing  them  in  diplomatic  and  adminis- 
trative positions  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Indian 
authorities  have  tried  the  Irishman's  plan  of 
lengthening  the  blanket,  by  cutting  ofl"  one 
end  and  adding  it  to  the  other. 

The  injurious  effect  which  this  practice 
is  said  to  have  exercised  on  the  army,  is 
noticed  in  the  succeeding  section. 


The  State  of  the  Indian  Army,  and  the 
alleged  Causes  of  the  Disorganisation  and 
Disaffection  of  the  Bengal  Sepoys,  remain 
to  be  considered.  The  origin  of  the  native 
army,  and  the  various  phases  of  its  progress, 
have  been  described  in  the  earlier  chapters 
■  of  this  work.  We  have  seen  how  the  rest- 
less Frenchman,  Dupleix,  raised  native 
levies,  and  disciplined  them  in  the  Euro- 
pean fashion  at  Poudicherry  jf  and  how 
these  were  called  sepoys  (from  sipahi,  Por- 
tuguese for  soldier),  in  contradistinction  to 
the  topasses  (or  hat-wearers) ;  that  is  to  say, 
to  the  natives  of  Portuguese  descent,  and  the 
Eurasians,  or  half-castes,  of  whom  small 
numbers,  disciplined  and  dressed  in  the  Eu- 
ropean style,  were  entertained  by  the  East 
India  Company,  to  guard  their  factories.  Up 
to  this  period,  the  policy  of  the  Merchant 
Adventurers  had  been  essentially  commercial 
and  defensive ;  but  the  French  early  mani- 
fested a  political  and  aggressive  spirit. 
Dupleix  read  with  remarkable  accuracy  the 
signs  of  the  times,  and  understood  the  op- 
portunity for  the  aggrandisement  of  his 
nation,  offered  by  the  rapidly  increasing 
disorganisation  of  the  Mogul  empire,  and 
the  intestine  strife  which  attended  the  as- 
sertion of  independence  by  usurping  gov- 
ernors and  tributary  princes.  He  began  to 
take  part  in  the  quarrels  of  neighbouring 
potentates ;  and  the  English  levied  a  native 
soldiery,  and  followed  his  example. 

The  first  engagement  of  note  in  which  the 

•  Sir  Charles  Napier. — Life  and  Opinions. 
t  See    Indian   Mmpire,    vol.   i.,   pp.   114:    258; 
304;  533.  '   ri  .  . 


British  sepoys  took  part,  was  at  the  capture 
of  Devicotta,  in  1748,  when  they  made 
an  orderly  advance  with  a  platoon  of 
Europeans,  as  a  storming  party,  under 
Robert  Clive.  Three  years  later,  under  the 
same  leader,  a  force  of  200  Europeans  and 
300  sepoys,  marched  on,  regardless  of  the 
superstitions  of  their  countrymen,  amid 
thunder  and  lightning,  to  besiege  Arcot; 
and  having  succeeded  in  taking  the  place, 
they  gallantly  and  successfully  defended  it 
against  an  almost  overwhelming  native 
force,  supported  by  French  auxiliaries. 

The  augmentation  in  the  number  of  the 
sepoys  became  very  rapid  in  proportion  to 
that  of  the  European  troops.  The  expedi- 
tion with  which  Clive  and  Watson  sailed 
from  Madras  in  1756,  to  recapture  Calcutta 
from  Surajah  Dowlah,  consisted  of  900 
Europeans  and  1,500  natives. 

The  total  military  force  maintained  by 
the  English  and  French  on  the  Madras 
coast  was  at  this  time  nearly  equal,  each  com- 
prising about  2,000  Europeans  and  10,000 
natives.  The  British  European  force  was 
composed  of  H.  M.'s  39th  foot,  with  a  small 
detail  of  Royal  Artillery  attached  to  serve  the 
regimental  field-pieces ;  the  Madras  Euro- 
pean regiment,  and  a  strong  company  of 
artillery.  The  sepoys  were  supplied  with 
arms  and  ammunition  from  the  public 
stores,  but  were  clothed  in  the  native 
fashion,  commanded  by  native  officers,  and 
very  rudely  disciplined. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1757, 
Clive  organised  a  battalion  of  sepoys,  con- 
sisting of  some  three  or  four  hundred  men, 
carefully  selected ;  and  he  not  only  fur- 
nished them  with  arms  and  ammunition, 
but  clothed,  drilled,  and  disciplined  them 
like  the  Europeans,  appointing  a  European 
officer  to  command,  and  non-commissioned 
officers  to  instruct  them.  Such  was  the 
origin  of  the  first  regiment  of  Bengal  native 
infantry,  called,  from  its  equipment,  the 
"  Lall  Pultun,"  or  "  Red  regiment"  (pultun 
being  a  corruption  of  the  English  term 
"  platoon,"  which  latter  is  derived  from  the 
French  word  "  peloton.")  It  was  placed 
under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant  Knox, 
who  proved  a  most  admirable  sepoy  leader. 
There  was  no  difficulty  in  raising  men  for 
this  aud  other  corps;  for  during  the  per- 
petually-recurring warfare  whicli  marked 
the  Mussulman  occupation  of  Bengal,  ad- 
venturers had  been  accustomed  to  Hock 
thither  from  Bahar,  Oude,  the  Dooab,  Ro- 
hilcund,  and  even  from  beyond  the  Indus; 


EARLY  HISTORY  OP  THE  NATIVE  ARMY— 1757  to  1760. 


97 


engaging  themselves  for  particular  services, 
and  being  dismissed  when  these  were  per- 
formed. It  was  from  such  men  and  their  im- 
mediate descendants  that  the  British  ranks 
were  filled.  The  majority  were  Mussulmans ; 
but  Patans,  Rohillas,  a  few  Jats,  some  Raj- 
poots, and  even  Brahmins  were  to  be  found  in 
the  early  corps  raised  in  and  about  Calcutta.* 

The  Madras  sepoys,  and  the  newly-raised 
Bengal  battalion,  amounting  together  to 
2,100,  formed  two-thirds  of  the  force  with 
which  Clive  took  the  field  against  Surajah 
Dowlah  at  Plassy,  in  June,  1757.  Of  these, 
six  Europeans  and  sixteen  Natives  perished 
in  the  so-called  battle,  against  an  army 
estimated  by  the  lowest  calculation  at 
58,000  men.t  Of  course,  not  even  Clive, 
♦'  the  daring  in  war,"  would  have  been  so 
mad  as  to  risk  an  engagement  which  he 
might  have  safely  avoided,  with  such  an 
overwhelming  force;  but  he  acted  in  reli- 
ance on  the  contract  previously  made  with 
the  nawab's  ambitious  relative  and  com- 
mander-in-chief, Meer  Jaffier,  who  had 
promised  to  desert  to  the  British  with  all 
the  troops  under  his  orders  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  action,  on  condition  of 
being  recognised  as  Nawab  of  Bengal.  The 
compact  was  fulfilled ;  and  Meer  Jaffier's 
treachery  was  rewarded  by  his  elevation  to 
the  musnud,  which  the  East  India  Com- 
pany allowed  him  to  occupy  for  some  years. 
Meanwhile,  the  cessions  obtained  through 
him  having  greatly  increased  their  terri- 
torial and  pecuniary  resources,  they  began  to 
form  a  standing  army  for  each  of  the  three 
presidencies,  organising  the  natives  into  a 
regular  force,  on  the  plan  introduced  by  Clive. 

The  first  instance  on  record  of  a  Native 
court-martial  occurred  in  July,  1757.  A 
sepoy  was  accused  of  having  connived  at  the 
attempted  escape  of  a  Swiss  who  had  de- 
serted the  British  ranks,  and  acted  as  a  spy 
in  the  service  of  the  French.  The  Swiss 
was  hanged.  The  sepoy  was  tried  by  a 
court  composed  of  the  subahdars  and  jema- 
dars (Native  captains  and  lieutenants)  of  his 
detachment,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to 
receive  500  lashes,  and  be  dismissed  from 
the  service — which  was  accordingly  done. 

The  hostilities  carried  on  against  the 
French,  subjected  the  East  India  Company's 
troops  to  great  hardships.  The  Europeans  had 

•  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Bengal  Army ;  by 
Captain  Arthur  Broome,  Bengal  Artillery ;  1850  : 
vol.  i.,  p.  93. 

t  See  Indian  Empire,  "  Table  of  Battles,"  vol.  :., 
pp.  400,461. 

VOL.  II.  O 


been  much  injured  in  health  and  discipline 
by  repeated  accessions  of  prize-money,  and 
by  the  habits  of  drinking  and  del)auchery  into 
which  they  had  fallen.  Numbers  died;  and 
the  remainder  had  neither  ability  nor  incli- 
nation to  endure  long  marches  and  exposure 
to  the  climate.  During  an  expedition  in 
pursuit  of  a  detachment  under  M.  Law, 
they  positively  refused  to  proceed  beyond 
Patna :  Major  Eyre  Coote  declared  that  he 
would  advance  with  the  sepoys  alone;  which, 
they  rejoined,  was  "  the  most  desirable 
event  that  could  happen  to  them."  Major 
Coote  marched  on  with  the  sepoys  only; 
but  the  French  succeeded  in  eflPecting  their 
escape.  The  recreants  got  drunk,  and  be- 
haved in  a  very  disorderly  manner ;  where- 
upon thirty  of  the  worst  of  them  were 
brought  before  a  court-martial,  and,  by  its 
decree,  publicly  flogged  for  mutiny  and  in- 
subordination. 

The  sentence  was  pronounced  and  exe- 
cuted ou  the  28th  of  July,  1757.  On  the 
following  day,  the  sepoys,  undeterred 
by  the  penalty  exacted  from  their  Euro- 
pean comrades,  laid  down  their  arms  in 
a  body,  and  refused  to  proceed  farther. 
The  Madrassees  especially  complained,  that 
although  they  had  embarked  only  for  service 
in  Calcutta,  they  had  been  taken  on  to 
Chandernagore,  Moorshedabad,  and  Patna ; 
and  that  now  they  were  again  required  to 
advance,  to  remove  still  farther  from  their 
families,  and  endure  additional  fatigues 
and  privations.  They  alleged  that  their 
pay  was  in  arrears,  and  that  they  had  not 
received  the  amount  to  which  they  were 
entitled.  Major  Coote  warned  them  of  the 
danger  which  would  accrue  from  the  want  of 
unanimity  and  discipline  among  a  small  force 
surrounded  with  enemies,  and  the  hazard  to 
which,  by  laying  down  their  arms,  they  ex- 
posed the  savings  they  had  already  accumu- 
lated, and  the  large  amount  of  prize-money 
then  due  to  them.  These  considerations 
prevailed ;  the  men  resumed  their  arms, 
and  marched  at  once  with  the  artillery  to 
Baukipoor,  the  European  infantry  proceed- 
ing thither  by  water. 

When  Clive  first  left  India,  in  1760,  the 
Bengal  force  consisted  of  one  European 
battalion  of  infantry  and  two  companies  of 
artillery  (1,000  men  in  all),  and  five  Native 
battalions  (1,000  men  in  each.)  The  number 
of  European  officers  was  at  the  same  time 
increased  :  one  captain  as  commandant,  one 
lieutenant  and  one  ensign  as  staff,  with 
four  sergeants,  being  allowed  to  each  Native 


EUROPEAN  AND  NATIVE  TROOPS  MUTINY  IN  1764. 


battalion.  There  was  likewise  a  Native 
commandant,  who  took  post  in  front  with 
the  captain,  and  a  Native  adjutant,  who  re- 
mained in  the  rear  with  the  subalterns. 

In  1764,  very  general  disaffection  was 
manifested  throughout  the  army,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  non-payment  of  a  gratuity 
promised  by  tlie  nawab,  Meer  Jaffier.  The 
European  battalion,  which  was,  unfortu- 
nately, chiefly  composed  of  foreigners 
(Dutch,  Germans,  Hessians,  and  French), 
when  assembled  under  arms  for  a  parade 
on  the  30th  of  January,  refused  to  obey  the 
word  of  command,  declaring,  that  until  the 
promised  donation  should  be  given,  they 
would  not  perform  any  further  service. 
The  battalion  marched  off  under  the  leader- 
ship of  an  Englishman  named  Straw,  de- 
claring their  intention  of  joining  their  com- 
rades then  stationed  on  the  Caramnassa, 
and  with  them  proceeding  to  Calcutta,  and 
compelling  the  governor  and  council  to  do 
them  justice.  This  appears  to  have  been 
really  the  design  of  the  English  mutineers ; 
but  the  foreigners,  who  were  double  their 
number,  secretly  intended  to  join  Shuja 
Dowlah,  the  nawab-vizier  of  Oude;  and  went 
off  with  that  intention. 

The  sepoys  were  at  first  inclined  to  follow 
the  example  of  the  Europeans,  whose  cause 
of  complaint  they  shared  ;  but  the  officers 
succeeded  in  keeping  them  quiet  in  their 
lines,  until  the  Mogul  horse  (two  troops  of 
which  had  been  recently  raised)  spread 
themselves  among  the  Native  battalions,  and 
induced  about  600  sepoys  to  accompany  the 
treacherous  foreigners. 

The  European  officers  rode  after  the  mu- 
tineers, and  induced  their  leader  Straw,  and 
the  greater  part  of  them,  to  return.  Pro- 
baby  they  would  have  done  so  in  a  body 
but  for  the  influence  exercised  over  them 
by  a  sergeant  named  Delamarr,  who  had 
been  distinguished  by  intelligence  and  good 
conduct  in  the  previous  campaign,  but  who 
had  a  private  grievance  to  avenge,  having, 
as  he  alleged,  been  promised  a  commission 
on  leaving  the  King's  and  entering  the  Com- 
pany's service ;  which  promise  had  been 
broken  to  him,  though  kept  to  others  simi- 
larly circumstanced.  This  man  was  born  in 
England  of  French  parents,  and  spoke  both 
languages  with  equal  facility ;  on  which  ac- 
count he  was  employed  by  the  officers  as  a 
medium  of  communication  with  the  foreign 
troops.  As  long  as  any  of  the  officers  re- 
i  mained  with  the  mutineers,  he  affected 
I  fidelity;  but  when  the  last  officer.  Lieutenant 


Eyre,  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the  hope 
of^  reclaiming  his  men,  by  their  threatening 
to  carry  him  off  by  force,  Delamarr  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  party,  and  gave 
out  an  order  that  any  one  who  should 
attempt  to  turn  back,  should  be  hanged  on 
the  first  tree.  The  order  appears  to  have 
had  a  contrary  effect  to  that  which  it  was 
intended  to  produce;  for  the  Germans 
thought  the  French  were  carrying  the  mat- 
ier  too  far ;  and  they,  with  all  but  three  of 
the  few  remaining  English,  returned  on  the 
following  day,  to  the  number  of  seventy,  ac- 
companied by  several  sepoys. 

Thus  the  original  deserters  were  dimin- 
ished to  little  more  than  250,  of  whom  157 
were  of  the  European  battalion  (almost  all 
Frenchmen),  sixteen  were  of  the  European 
cavalry,  and  about  100  were  Natives,  includ- 
ing some  of  the  Mogul  horse.  They  pro- 
ceeded to  join  the  army  of  Shuja  Dowlah  of 
Oude ;  and  some  of  them  entered  his  service, 
and  that  of  other  Indian  potentates ;  but  the 
majority  enlisted  in  Sumroo's  brigade.* 

On  the  12th  of  February  (the  day  follow- 
ing the  mutiny),  a  dividend  of  the  nawab's 
donation  was  declared  as  about  to  be  paid 
to  the  army,  in  the  proportion  of  forty 
rupees  to  each  European  soldier,  and  six  to 
each  sepoy.  The  sepoys  were  extremely  in- 
dignant at  the  rate  of  allotment  :  they 
unanimously  refused  to  receive  the  proffered 
sum,  and  assembled  under  arms  on  the 
13th  of  February,  at  nine  in  the  forenoon. 
The  Europeans  were  very  much  excited;  and 
it  became  difficult  "  to  restrain  their  vio- 
lence, and  prevent  their  falling  upon  the 
sepoys,  for  presuming  to  follow  the  example 
they  themselves  had  afforded." f 

Suddenly  the  sepoys  set  up  a  shout,  and 
rushed  down,  in  an  irregular  body,  towards 
the  Europeans,  who  had  been  drawn  up  in 
separate  companies  across  the  parade,  with 
the  park  of  artillery  on  their  left,  and  two 
6-poundera  on  their  right. 

Captain  Jennings,  the  officer  in  com- 
mand, perceiving  that  the  sepoys  were 
moving  with  shouldered  arms,  directed  that 
they  should  be  suffered  to  pass  through  the 
intervals  of  the  battalion,  if  they  would  do 
so  quietly.  Several  officers  urged  resis- 
tance; but  Captain  Jennings  felt  that  the 
discharge  of  a  single  musket  would  be  the 
signal  for  a  fearful  struggle,  which  must 
end  either  in  the  extermination  of  the 
Europeans,  or  in  the  total  dissolution  of  the 

•  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  297. 

t  Broome's  Bengal  Army,  vol.  i.,  p.  420. 


MUTINOUS  SEPOYS  BLOWN  AWAY  FROM  GUNS— 1764. 


99 


Native  force,  on  which  the  government  were 
deeply  dependent.  He  rode  along  the 
ranks,  urging  the  men  to  be  quiet;  and 
arrived  at  the  right  of  the  line  just  in  time 
to  snatch  the  match  out  of  the  hand  of  a 
subaltern  of  artillery,  as  he  was  putting  it 
to  a  6-pounder,  loaded  with  grape. 

The  result  justified  his  decision.  Two 
corps  (the  late  2nd  grenadiers  and  8th 
Native  infantry)  went  off  towards  the  Ca- 
ramnassa  river.  The  other  two  Native  bat- 
talions present  (the  late  1st  and  3rd  Native 
infantry),  remained  behind — the  one  perfectly 
steady,  the  other  clamorous  and  excited. 
The  remaining  three  detached  battalions  all 
exhibited  signs  of  disaffection.  Captain  Jen- 
nings, with  the  officers  of  the  mutinous  corps, 
followed  them,  and  induced  every  man  of 
them  to  return,  by  consenting  to  their  own 
stipulation,  that  their  share  of  the  donation 
should  be  raised  to  half  that  of  the  correspond- 
ing ranks  of  the  European  battalion.  This 
concession  being  made  generally  known, 
trail  quiUity  was  at  once  re-established. 

The  question  of  the  better  adaptation  of 
the  natives  of  India  to  serve  as  regular  or 
irregular  cavalry,  was  discussed.  The  coun- 
cil considered  that  a  body  of  regular  Native 
cavalry  might  be  raised  on  the  European 
system,  under  English  officers.  Major  Car- 
nac  objected  on  the  following  grounds : — 
"  The  Moguls,"  he  said,  "  who  are  the  only 
good  horsemen  in  the  country,  can  never 
be  brought  to  submit  to  the  ill-treatment 
they  receive  from  gentlemen  wholly  unac- 
quainted with  their  language  and  customs. 
We  clearly  see  the  ill  effects  of  this  among 
our  sepoys,  and  it  will  be  much  more  so 
among  horsemen,  who  deem  themselves  of 
a  far  superior  class;  nor  have  we  a  suffi- 
ciency of  officers  for  the  purpose :  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  not  a  single  one  qualified  to 
afford  a  prospect  of  success  to  such  a  pro- 
ject." These  arguments  prevailed.  The 
Mogul  horse  was  increased,  during  the  year 
(1764),  to  1,200  men  each  risallah  (or  troop) 
under  Native  officers,  with  a  few  Europeans 
to  the  whole. 

The  number  of  the  Native  infantry  was 
also  rapidly  on  the  increase;  but  their  posi- 
tion and  rights  remained  on  a  very  indefinite 
footing,  when  Major  Hector  Munro  suc- 
ceeded to  the  command  of  the  Bengal  army 
in  August,  1764.  In  the  following  month 
a  serious  outbreak  occurred.  The  oldest 
corps  in  the  service,  then  known  as  the  9th, 
or  Captain  Galliez'  battalion,  but  afterwards 
the  1st  Native  infantry,  while  stationed  at 


Manjee  (near  Chupra),  instigated  by  some 
of  their  Native  officers,  assembled  on  parade, 
and  declared  themselves  resolved  to  serve 
no  longer,  as  certain  promises  made  to 
them  (apparently  regarding  the  remainder 
of  the  donation  money)  had  been  broken. 
They  retained  their  arms,  and  imprisoned 
their  European  officers  for  a  night;  but 
released  them  on  the  following  morning. 

There  did  not  then  exist,  nor  has  there 
since  been  framed,  any  law  decreeing  gra- 
dations of  punishment  in  a  case  which 
clearly  admits  of  many  gradations  of  crime. 
It  has  been  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
military  authorities  for  the  time  being,  to 
punish  what  Sir  Charles  Napier  calls 
"  passive,  respectful  mutinies,"  with  sweep- 
ing severity,  or  to  let  attempted  desertion 
to  the  enemy,  and  sanguinary  treachery, 
escape  almost  unpunished. 

The  present  proceeding  resembled  the  out- 
break of  spoilt  children,  rather  than  of  con- 
certed mutiny.*  No  intention  to  desert  was 
shown,  much  less  to  join  the  enemy.  Such 
conduct  had  been  before  met  with  perhaps 
undue  concessions.  Major  Munro  now  re- 
solved to  attempt  stopping  it  by  measures 
of  extreme  severity.  Accordingly  he  held 
a  general  court-martial;  and  on  receiving 
its  verdict  for  the  execution  of  twenty-four 
of  the  sepoys,  he  ordered  it  to  be  carried 
out  immediately.  The  sentence  was,  "to 
be  blown  away  from  the  guns" — the  horri- 
ble mode  of  inflicting  capital  punishment 
so  extensively  practised  of  late. 

Four  grenadiers  claimed  the  privilege  of 
being  fastened  to  the  right-hand  guns. 
They  had  always  occupied  the  post  of 
honour  in  the  field,  they  said;  and  Major 
Munro  admitted  the  force  of  the  argument 
by  granting  their  request.  The  whole 
army  were  much  affected  by  the  bearing  of 
the  doomed  men.  "  I  am  sure,"  says  Cap- 
tain Williams,  who  then  belonged  to  the 
Royal  Marines  employed  in  Bengal,  and  who 
was  an  eye-witness  of  this  touching  episode, 
"  there  was  not  a  dry  eye  among  the  Marines, 
although  they  had  been  long  accustomed 
to  hard  service,  and  two  of  them  had  ac- 
tually been  on  the  execution  party  which 
shot  Admiral  Byng,  in  the  year  1757."t 
Yet  Major  Munro  gave  the  signal,  and  the 
explosion  followed.  When  the  loathsome 
results  became  apparent — the  mangled  limbs 
scattered  far  and  wide,  the  strange  burning 

*  Broome's  Bent/al  Army,  vol.  i.,  p.  459. 
t  Captain    Williams'   Benyal    Native    Infantry, 
p.  170. 


100 


BENGAL  ARMY  REORGANISED  BY  CLIVE  IN  1765. 


smell,  the  fragments  of  human  flesh,  the 
trickling  streams  of  blood,  constituted  a 
scene  almost  intolerable  to  those  who  wit- 
nessed it  for  the  first  time.  The  officers 
commanding  the  sepoy  battalions  came  for- 
ward, and  represented  that  their  men  would 
not  suffer  any  further  executions;  but 
Major  Munro  persevered.  The  other  con- 
victed mutineers  attempted  no  appeal  to 
their  comrades,  but  met  their  deaths  with 
the  utmost  composure. 

This  was  the  first  example,  on  a  large 
scale,  of  the  infliction  of  the  penalty  of 
death  for  mutiny.  Heretofore  there  had 
been  no  plan,  and  no  bloodshed  in  the 
numerous  outbreaks.  Subsequently  they 
assumed  an  increasingly  systematic  and 
sanguinary  character. 

On  the  return  of  Olive  to  India  in  1765 
(as  Lord  Olive,  Baron  of  Plassy),  the  Ben- 
gal army  was  reorganised,  and  divided  into 
three  brigades — respectively  stationed  at 
Monghyr,  Allahabad,  and  Bankipoor.  Each 
brigade  consisted  of  one  company  of  artil- 
lery, one  regiment  of  European  infantry, 
one  risallah,  or  troop,  of  Native  cavalry, 
and  seven  battalions  of  sepoys. 

Each  regiment  of  European  infantry  was 
constituted  of  the  following  strength  : — 

1  Colonel  commanding  the  whole  Brigade. 

1  Lieulenanl-colonel  commanding  the  Regiment. 
1  Major.  36  Sergeants. 

6  Captains.  36  Corporals. 

1  Captain  Lieutenant.  27  Drummers. 

9  Lieutenants.  630  Privates. 

18  Ensigns. 

The  artillery  comprised  four  companies, 
each  of  which  contained — 
1  Captain.  4  Corporals. 

1  Captain  Lieutenant.  2  Drummers. 

I  First  Lieutenant.  2  Fifers. 

1  Second  Lieutenant.  10  Bombardiers. 

3  Lieut.  Fireworkers.  20  Gunners. 

4  Sergeants.  60  Matrosses. 

Each  risallah  of  Native  cavalry  con- 
sisted of — 

1  European  Subaltern  in  command. 


1  Sergeant-major, 
4  Sergeants. 
1  Kisaldar. 


3  Jemadars. 
2  Naggers. 
6  Duffadars. 
100  Privates. 


A  Native  battalion  consisted  of- 

1  Captain. 

2  Lieutenants. 

2  Ensigns. 

3  Sergeants. 
3  Drummers. 
1  Native  Commandant. 

10  Native  Subahdars. 


30  Jemadars. 

1  Native  Adjutant. 
10  Trumpeters. 
30  Tom-toms.* 
80  Havildars. 
50  Naiks. 
690  Sepoys. 


*  That  is,  Tom-tom  (native  drum)  players. 
t  Broome's  Berujal  Army,  vol.  i.,  p.  640. 


Oaptain  Broome,  from  whom  the  above 
details  are  derived,  remarks,  "  that  the  pro- 
portion of  officers,  except  to  the  sepoy  bat- 
talions, was  very  much  more  liberal  than  in 
the  present  day ;  and  it  is  most  important  . 
to  remember,  that  every  officer  on  the  list 
was  effective — all  officers  on  other  than  regi- 
mental employ,  being  immediately  strtick 
off  the  roll  of  the  corps ;  although,  as  there 
was  but  one  roster  for  promotion  in  the 
whole  infantry,  no  loss  iu  that  respect  was 
sustained  thereby.  The  artillery  and  engi- 
neers rose  in  a  separate  body,  and  were  fre- 
quently transferred  from  one  to  the  other."t 
The  pay  of  the  sepoy  was  early  fixed  at 
seven  rupees  per  month  in  all  stationary 
situations,  and  eight  rupees  and  a-half  when 
marching,  or  in  the  field  ;  exclusive  of  half 
a  rupee  per  month,  allotted  to  the  off- 
reckoning fund,  for  which  they  received  one 
coat,  and  nothing  more,  annually.  From 
that  allowance  they  not  only  fed  and 
clothed  themselves,  but  also  erected  canton- 
ments in  all  stationary  situations,  at  their 
own  expense,  and  remitted  to  their  wives 
and  families,  often  to  aged  parents  and  more 
distant  relatives,  a  considerable  proportion 
of  their  pay;  in  fact,  so  considerable,  that 
the  authorities  have  been  obliged  to  inter- 
fere to  check  their  extreme  self-denial.J 

In  1766,  the  mass  of  the  British  officers 
of  the  Bengal  army  entered  into  a  very 
formidable  confederacy  against  the  govern- 
ment, on  account  of  the  withdrawal  of 
certain  extra  allowances,  known  as  "  double 
batta."  The  manner  in  which  Lord  Olive 
then  used  the  sepoys  to  coerce  the  Euro- 
peans, has  been  already  narrated. § 

The  first  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Ben- 
gal army  may  be  said  to  end  with  the  final 
departure  of  Olive  (its  founder)  from  India, 
iu  1767.  Up  to  this  time,  no  question 
of  caste  appears  to  have  been  mooted,  as 
interfering  with  the  requirements  of  military 
duty,  whether  ordinary  or  incidental;  but 
as  the  numbers  of  the  sepoys  increased,  and 
the  proportion  of  Hindoos  began  to  exceed 
that  of  Mussulmans,  a  gradual  change  took 
place.  A  sea  voyage  is  a  forbidden  thing 
to  a  Brahmiuist ;  it  is  a  violation  of  his  reli- 
gious code,  under  any  circumstances :  he 
must  neglect  the  frequent  ablutions  which 
his  creed  enjoins,  and  to  which  he  has  been 
accustomed  from  childhood ;  aud  if  he  do  not 
irrecoverably  forfeit  his  caste,  it  must  be  by 
enduring  severe  privations  in  regard  to  food 

X  Williams'  Bengal  Native  Infantry,  p.  263. 
§  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  305. 


MUTINIES  IN  1782  and  1795. 


101 


while  on  board  ship.  The  influence  of  the 
officers,  however,  generally  sufficed  to  over- 
come the  scruples  of  the  men ;  and,  in 
1769,  three  Bengal  battalions  prepared  to 
return  by  sea  from  the  Madras  presidency 
to  Bengal.  Two  grenadier  companies  em- 
barked for  the  purpose,  and  are  supposed  to 
have  perished ;  for  the  ship  which  they  en- 
tered was  never  heard  of  afterwards.  This 
event  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  minds 
of  the  Hindoos,  confirmed  their  supersti- 
tious dread  of  the  sea,  and  aggravated  the 
mingled  fear  and  loathing,  which  few  Eng- 
lishmen, except  when  actually  rounding 
the  "Cape  of  Storms,"  or  becalmed  in  a 
crowded  vessel  in  the  Red  Sea,  can  under- 
stand sufficiently  to  make  allowance  for. 

In  1782,  a  mutiny  occurred  at  Barrack- 
poor,  in  consequence  of  the  troops  stationed 
there  being  ordered  to  prepare  for  foreign 
service,  which  it  was  rumoured  would  entail 
a  sea  voyage.  No  violence  was  attempted  ; 
no  turbulence  was  evinced  ;  the  men  quietly 
combined,  under  their  Native  officers,  in  re- 
fusing to  obey  the  orders,  which  the  govern- 
ment had  no  means  of  enforcing.  After 
the  lapse  of  several  weeks,  a  general  court- 
martial  was  held.  Two  Native  officers,  and 
one  or  two  sepoys,  were  blown  from  the 
guns.  The  whole  of  the  four  corps  con- 
cerned (then  known  as  the  4th,  15th,  17th, 
and  31st)  were  broken  up,  and  the  men 
drafted  into  other  battalions. 

In  1787,  Lord  Cornwallis  arrived  in 
India,  as  governor-general  and  commander- 
in-chief  He  earnestly  desired  to  dissipate, 
by  gentle  means,  the  prejudices  which 
marred  the  efficiency  of  the  Native  army ; 
and  he  offered  a  bounty  of  ten  rupees  per 
man,  with  other  advantages,  to  such  as 
would  volunteer  for  service  on  an  expedition 
to  Sumatra.  The  required  four  companies 
were  obtained ;  the  promised  bounty  was 
paid  previous  to  embarkation ;  every  care 
was  taken  to  ensure  abundant  supplies  of 
food  and  water  for  sustenance  and  ablution ; 
the  detachment  was  conveyed  on  board  a 
regular  Indiaman  at  the  end  of  February ; 
and  was  recalled  in  the  following  October. 
Unfortunately^  the  return  voyage  was  tedi- 
ous and  boisterous :  the  resolute  abstinence 
of  the  Hindoos  from  all  nutriment  save  dry 
peas  and  rice,  and  the  exposure  consequent 
on  the  refusal  of  the  majority  to  quit  the 
deck  night  or  day,  on  account  of  the  num- 
ber of  sick  below,  occasioned  many  to  be 
afflicted  with  nyctalopia,  or  night-blindness; 
and  deaths  were  numerous.     Notwithstand- 


ing this,  the  care  and  tact  of  the  officers, 
and  the  praise  and  gratuities  which  awaited 
the  volunteers  on  relanding,  appear  to  have 
done  much  to  reconcile  them  to  the  past 
trial,  and  even  to  its  repetition  if  need 
were. 

The  government  thought  the  difficulty 
overcome,  and  were  confirmed  in  their 
opinion  by  the  oflFers  of  proceeding  by  sea 
made  during  the  Mysoor  war.  In  1795,  it 
became  desirable  to  send  an  expedition  to 
Malacca,  whereupon  a  proposition  was  made 
to  the  15th  battalion  (a  corps  of  very  high 
character),  through  its  commanding  officer. 
Captain  Ludovick  Grant,  to  volunteer  for 
the  purpose.  The  influence  of  the  officers 
apparently  prevailed ;  the  men  were  re- 
ported as  willing  to  embark;  but,  at  the 
last  moment,  a  determined  mutiny  broke 
out,  and  the  29th  battalion  was  called  out, 
with  its  field-pieces,  to  disperse  the  muti- 
neers. The  colours  of  the  15th  were  burnt ; 
and  the  number  ordered  to  be  left  a  blank 
in  the  list  of  Native  corps.*  Warned  by  this 
occurrence,  the  government  proceeded  to 
raise  a  "  Marine  battalion,"t  consisting  of 
twelve  companies  of  a  hundred  privates 
each ;  and  it  became  generally  understood, 
if  not  indeed  officially  stated,  that  the 
ordinary  Bengal  troops  were  not  to  be  sent 
on  sea  voyages. 

A  corps  of  Native  militia  was  raised  for 
Calcutta  and  the  adjacent  districts,  and 
placed,  in  the  first  instance,  under  the  town 
major.  It  consisted  of  eighty  companies  of 
ninety  privates ;  but  was  subsequently  aug- 
mented to  sixteen  or  more  companies  of  one 
hundred  privates  each.  Captain  Williams, 
writing  in  1816.  says — "It  is  now  com- 
manded by  an  officer  of  any  rank,  who  may 
be  favoured  with  the  patronage  of  the  gov- 
ernor-general, with  one  other  European 
officer,  who  performs  the  duty  of  adjutant 
to  the  corps."J  Several  local  corps  were 
formed  about  the  same  time. 

Some  important  changes  were  made  in 
the  constitution  of  the  Bengal  army  in 
1796;  one  efiect  of  which  was  to  diminish 
the  authority  and  influence  of  the  Native 
officers.  The  stafl'  appointment  of  Native 
adjutants  was  abolished,  and  a  European 
adjutant  was  appointed  to  each  battalion. 
The  principle  of  regimental  rank  and  pro- 
motion (to  the  rank  of  major,  inclusive),  was 

*  A  regiment  was  raised  in  Bahar,  in  1798,  and 
numbered  the  15th. 

t  Formed  into  the  20th,  or  Marine  regiment,  in 
1801.  \  Bengal  Native  Infantry,  p.  243. 


102      PROMOTION  BY  SENIORITY  ESTABLISHED  BY  E.  I.  CY.— 1796. 


adopted  throughout  the  E.  I.  Company's 
forces;  and,  contrary  to  the  former  ar- 
rangement, the  whole  of  the  staff  of  the 
government  and  of  the  army,  inclusive  of  a 
heavy  commissariat,  with  the  numerous 
officers  on  furlough  in  Europe,  and  those 
employed  with  local  corps,  and  even  in 
diplomatic  situations,  were  thenceforth  borne 
on  the  strength  as  component  parts  of  com- 
panies and  corps.  Thus,  even  at  this  early 
period,  the  complaint  (so  frequently  reite- 
rated since)  is  made  by  Captain  Williams, 
that  the  charge  of  companies  often  devolved 
on  subalterns  utterly  unqualified,  by  pro- 
fessional or  local  acquirements,  for  a  situa- 
tion of  such  authority  over  men  to  whose 
character,  language,  and  habits  they  are 
strangers.* 

The  rise,  and  gradual  increase,  of  the 
armies  of  the  Madias  and  Bombay  presi- 
dencies, did  not  essentially  differ  from  that 
of  the  Bengal  troops,  excepting  that  the 
total  number  of  the  former  was  much 
smaller,  and  the  proportion  of  Mohamme- 
dans and  high-caste  Brahmins  considerably 
lower  than  in  the  latter.  The  three  armies 
were  kept  separate,  each  under  its  own 
commander-in-chief.  Many  inconveniences 
attend  this  division  of  the  forces  of  one 
ruling  power.  It  has  been  a  barrier  to  the 
centralisation  which  the  bureaucratic  spirit 
of  the  Supreme  government  of  Calcutta  has 
habitually  fostered ;  and  attempts  have  been 
made,  more  or  less  directly,  for  an  amalga- 
mation of  the  three  armies.  The  Duke  of 
Wellington  thoroughly  understood  the  bear- 
ing of  the  question,  and  his  decided  opinion 
probably  contributed  largely  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  chief  of  the  barriers  which 
have  prevented  the  contagion  of  Bengal 
mutiny  from  extending  to  Bombay  and 
Madras,  and  hindered  the  fraternisation 
which  we  may  reasonably  suspect  would 
otherwise  have  been  general,  at  least  among 
the  Hindoos.  The  more  united  the  British 
are,  the  better,  no  doubt;  but  the  more 
distinct  nationalities  are  kept  up  in  India, 
the  safer  for  us :  every  ancient  landmark 
we  remove,  renders  the  danger  of  com- 
bination against  us  more  imminent. 

The  Madras  and  Bombay  sepoys,  through- 
out their  career,  have  had,  like  those  of  Ben- 
gal, occasional  outbreaks  of  mutiny,  the  usual 
cause  being  an  attempt  to  send  them  on  ex- 
peditions which  necessitated  a  sea  voyage. 

•  Williams'  Bengal  Native  Infantry,  p.  253. 
+  Parliamentary  evidence  of  Sir  J.  Malcolm  in 
1832.  X  Ibid. 


Thus,  in  1779,  or  1780,  a  mutiny  occurred 
in  the  9th  Madras  battalion  when  ordered 
to  embark  for  Bombay;  which,  however, 
was  quelled  by  the  presence  of  mind  and 
decision  of  the  commandant.  Captain  Kelly. 
A  fatal  result  followed  the  issue  of  a  similar 
order  for  the  embarkation  of  some  com- 
panies of  a  corps  in  the  Northern  Circars. 
The  men,  on  arriving  at  Vizagapatam  (the 
port  where  they  were  to  take  shipping),  rose 
upon  their  European  officers,  and  shot  all 
save  one  or  two,  who  escaped  to  the  ship.f 

One  motive  was  strong  enough  to  over- 
come this  rooted  dislike  to  the  sea ;  and  that 
was,  affection  for  the  person,  and  confidence 
in  the  skill  and  fortune,  of  their  command- 
ing officer.  Throughout  the  Native  forces, 
the  fact  was  ever  manifest,  that  their  dis- 
cipline or  insubordination,  their  fidelity  or 
faithlessness,  depended  materially  on  the 
influence  exercised  by  their  European 
leaders.  Sir  John  Malcolm,  in  his  various 
writings,  affords  much  evidence  to  this 
effect.  Among  many  other  instances,  he 
cites  that  of  a  battalion  of  the  22nd  Madras 
regiment,  then  distinguished  for  the  high 
state  of  discipline  to  which  they  had  been 
brought  by  their  commanding  officer,  Lieu- 
tenant-colonel James  Oram.  In  1797,  he 
proposed  to  his  corps,  on  parade,  to  volun- 
teer for  an  expedition  then  preparing 
against  Manilla.  "  Will  he  go  with  us  ?" 
was  the  question  which  went  through  the 
ranks.  "  Yes  !"  "Will  he  stay  with  us?" 
Again,  "yes!"  and  the  whole  corps  ex- 
claimed, "  To  Europe,  to  Europe  \"  They 
were  ready  to  follow  Colonel  Oram  any- 
where— to  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  as 
cheerfully  as  to  an  island  of  the  Eastern 
Ocean.  Such  was  the  contagion  of  their 
enthusiasm,  that  several  sepoys,  who  were 
missing  from  one  of  the  battalions  in  garri- 
son at  Madras,  were  found  to  have  deserted 
to  join  the  expedition.  J 

The  personal  character  of  Lord  Lake 
contributed  greatly  to  the  good  service 
rendered  by  the  Bengal  sepoys  (both  Hin- 
doo and  Mohammedan)  in  the  arduous 
Mahratta  war  of  1803-'4.  He  humoured 
their  prejudices,  flattered  their  pride,  and 
praised  their  valour;  and  they  repaid  him 
by  unbounded  attachment  to  his  person, 
and  the  zealous  fulfilment  of  their  public 
duty.  Victorious  or  defeated,  the  sepoys 
knew  their  efforts  M'cre  equally  sure  of 
appreciation  by  the  commander-in-chief. 
His  conduct  to  the  shattered  corps  of 
Colonel  Monson's  detachment,  after  their 


MUTINIES  OF  1806  (VELLORE),  1809,  and  1825, 


103 


gallant  but  disastrous  retreat  before  Holcar,* 
was  very  remarkable.  He  formed  them 
into  a  reserve,  and  promised  them  every 
opportunity  of  signalising  themselves.  No 
confidence  was  ever  more  merited.  Through- 
out the  service  that  ensued,  these  corps 
were  uniformly  distinguished. 

The  pay  of  the  forces  in  the  last  century 
was  frequently  heavily  in  arrears,  and  both 
Europeans  and  Natives  were  driven,  by 
actual  want,  to  the  verge  of  mutiny.  The 
Bombay  troops,  in  the  early  wars  with 
Mysoor,  suffered  greatly  from  this  cause; 
and  yet  none  ever  showed  warmer  de- 
votion to  the  English.  When,  on  the 
capture  of  Bednore,  General  Matthews 
and  his  whole  force  surrendered  to  Tip- 
poo,  every  inducement  was  offered  to 
tempt  the  sepoys  to  enter  the  sultan's  ser- 
vice ;  but  in  vain.  During  the  march,  they 
were  carefully  separated  from  the  European 
prisoners  at  each  place  of  encampment, 
by  a  tank  or  other  obstacle,  supposed  to  be 
insurmountable.  It  did  not  prove  so,  how- 
ever ;  for  one  of  the  captive  officers  subse- 
quently declared,  that  not  a  night  elapsed 
but  some  of  the  sepoys  contrived  to  elude 
the  vigilance  of  the  guards  by  swimming 
the  tanks  (frequently  some  miles  in  circum- 
ference), or  eluding  the  sentries ;  bringing 
with  them  such  small  sums  as  they  could 
save  from  the  pittance  allowed  by  the  sul- 
tan, for  their  own  support,  in  return  for 
hard  daily  labour,  to  eke  out  the  scanty 
food  of  the  Europeans.  "  We  can  live  upon 
anything,"  they  said ;  "  but  you  require 
mutton  and  beef."  At  the  peace  of  1783, 
1,500  of  the  released  captives  marched  500 
miles  to  Madras,  and  there  embarked  on  a 
voyage  of  si.x  or  eight  weeks,  to  rejoin  the 
army  to  which  they  belonged  at  Bombay. f 

Similar  manifestations  of  attachment  were 
given  by  the  various  Native  troops  of  the 
three  presidencies ;  their  number,  and  pro- 
portion to  the  Europeans,  increasing  with  the 
extension  of  the  Anglo-Indian  empire.  In 
1800,  the  total  force  comprised  22,832  Euro- 
peans, and  115,300  Natives  of  all  denomina- 
tions; the  Europeans  being  chiefly  Royal 
troops  belonging  to  the  regular  cavalry  and 
infantry  regiments,  which  were  sent  to  India 
for  periods  varying  from  twelve  to  twenty 
years.  As  the  requirements  of  government- 
augmented  with  every  addition  of  territory, 
the  restrictions  of  caste  became  daily  more 

*  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  ]).  400. 
+  Sir    John    Malcolm's     Government    of    India. 
London  :  John  Murray,  1833;  p.  210. 


obnoxious ;  and  attempts,  for  the  most  part 
very  ill-judged,  were  made  to  break  through 
them.  Certain  regulations,  trivial  in  them- 
selves, excited  the  angry  suspicions  of  the 
sepoys,  as  to  the  latent  intentions  of  govern- 
ment ;  and  the  sous  of  Tippoo  Sultan  (then 
state-prisoners  at  Vellore),  through  their 
partisans,  fomented  the  disaffection,  which 
issued  in  the  mutiny  of  1806,  in  which  thir- 
teen European  officers  and  eighty-two  pri- 
vates were  killed,  and  ninety-two  wounded. { 

In  1809,  another  serious  outbreak  oc- 
curred in  the  Madras  presidency,  in  which 
the  Native  troops  played  only  a  secondary 
part,  standing  by  their  officers  against  the 
government.  The  injudicious  manner  in 
which  Sir  George  Barlow  had  suppressed 
an  allowance  known  as  "tent-contract," 
previously  made  to  Europeans  in  command 
of  Native  regiments,  spread  disaffection 
throughout  the  Madras  force.  Auber,  the 
annalist  of  the  East  India  Company,  gives 
very  few  particulars  of  this  unsatisfactory 
and  discreditable  affair;  but  he  mentions 
the  remarkable  fidelity  displayed  by  Pur- 
neah,  the  Dewan  of  Mysoor  (chosen,  and 
earnestly  supported,  by  Colonel  Wellesley, 
after  the  conquest  of  that  country.)  The 
field-officer  in  charge  of  the  fortress  of 
Seringapatam,  tried  to  corrupt  Purneah, 
and  even  held  out  a  threat  regarding  his 
property,  and  that  belonging  to  the  boy- 
rajah  in  the  fort.  The  dignified  rejoinder 
was,  that  the  British  government  was  the 
protector  of  the  rajah  and  his  minister;  and 
that,  let  what  would  happen,  he  (Purneah) 
would  always  remain  faithful  to  his  engage- 
ments.§ 

A  skirmish  actually  took  place  betweeu 
the  mutineers  and  the  king's  troops.  Lord 
Minto  (the  governor-general)  hastened  to 
Madras,  and,  by  a  mixture  of  firmness  and 
conciliation,  restored  order,  having  first 
obtained  the  unconditional  submission  of  all 
concerned  in  the  late  proceedings;  that  is 
to  say,  the  great  majority  of  the  Madras 
officers  in  the  Company's  service. 

The  refusal  of  the  47th  Bengal  regiment 
to  march  from  Barrackpoor  in  1825,  on  the 
expedition  to  Burmah,  is  fully  accounted 
for  by  the  repugnance  of  the  sepoys  to 
embarkation  having  been  aggravated  by  the 
insufficient  arrangements  made  for  them  by 
the  commissariat  department.  The  autho- 
rities punished,  iu  a  most  sanguinary  mau- 

X  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  407. 
§  Auber's  Britith  Power  in  India,  vol.  ii.,  pp. 
476,  477. 


104 


REGIMENTAL  OFFICERS  EMPLOYED  AS  CIVILIANS. 


ner,  conduct  which  their  own  negligence 
had  provoked.* 

An  important  change  'was  introduced 
into  the  Native  army,  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Lord  William  Bentinck  (who 
was  appointed  commander-in-chief  as  well 
as  governor-general  in  1833),  by  the  abo- 
lition of  flogging,  which  had  previously 
been  inflicted  with  extreme  frequency  and 
severity.  Sir  Charles  Napier  subsequently 
complained  of  this  measure,  on  the  ground 
of  its  leaving  no  punishment  available  when 
the  army  was  before  the  enemy.  The 
limited  authority  vested  in  the  officers,  in- 
creased the  difficulty  of  maintaining  disci- 
pline, by  making  expulsion  from  the  service 
the  sole  punishmentof  off'enderswhodeserved 
perhaps  a  day's  hard  labour.  Sir  Charles 
adds — "  But  I  have  been  in  situations 
where  t  could  not  turn  them  out,  for  they 
would  either  starve  or  have  their  throats 
cut ;  so  I  did  all  my  work  by  the  provost- 
martial."  His  favourite  pupil,  "the  war- 
bred  Sir  Colin  Campbell,"  appears  to  have 
been  driven  to  the  same  alternative  to 
check  looting. 

The  change  which  has  come  over  the 
habits  of  both  military  men  and  civi- 
lians during  the  present  century,  has  been 
already  shown.  Europeans  have  gradually 
ceased  to  take  either  wives  or  concubines 
from  among  the  natives :  they  have  become, 
in  all  points,  more  exclusive;  and  as  their 
own  number  has  increased,  so  also  has  their 
regard  for  conventionalities,  which,  while 
yet  strangers  in  the  land — few  and  feeble — 
they  had  been  content  to  leave  in  abeyance. 
The  efl"ect  on  Indian  society,  and  especially 
on  the  army,  is  evident.  The  intercourse 
between  the  European  and  Native  offi- 
cers has  become  yearly  less  frequent  and 
less  cordial.  The  acquisition  of  Native  lan- 
guages is  neglected;  or  striven  for,  not 
as  a  means  of  obtaining  the  confidence  of 
the  sepoys,  but  simply  as  a  stepping-stone 
to  distinction  in  the  numerous  civil  posi- 
tions which  the  rapid  extension  of  territory, 
the  paucity  of  the  civil  service,  and  the  re- 
jection of  Native  agency,  has  thrown  open  to 
their  ambition.  There  is,  inevitably,  a  great 
deal  of  sheer  drudgery  in  the  ordinary 
routine  of  regimental  duty;  but  it  surely  was 
not  wise  to  aggravate  the  distaste  which  its 

•  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  424.  Thornton's  India, 
yol.  iv.,  p.  113. 

t  Time$,  15th  July,  1857.  Letter  from  Bombay 
correspondent. 

X  Indophilus'  Letters  to  the  Timet,  p.  15. 


performance  is  calculated  to  produce,  by 
adopting  a  system  which  makes  long  con- 
tinuance in  a  regiment  a  mark  of  incapacity. 

The  military  and  civil  line  of  promotion 
is,  to  a  great  extent,  the  same.  An  In-, 
dian  military  man  is  always  supposed  to 
be  fit  for  anything  that  offers.  He  can 
be  "  an  inspector  of  schools,  an  examiner  in 
political  economy,  an  engineer,  a  surveyor, 
an  architect,  an  auditor,  a  commissary,  a 
resident,  or  a  governor. "f  Political,  judi- 
cial, and  scientific  appointments  are  all  open 
to  him;  and  the  result,  no  doubt,  is,  that 
Indian  officers,  in  many  instances,  show  a 
versatihty  of  talent  unknown  elsewhere. 

But  through  teaching  officers  to  look  to 
staff  appointments  and  civil  employ  for  ad- 
vancement, the  military  profession  is  de- 
scribed as  having  fallen  into  a  state  of  dis- 
paragement. Officers  who  have  not  ac- 
quitted themselves  well  in  the  civil  service 
are  "remanded  to  their  regiments,"  as  if 
they  were  penal  corps  ;  and  those  who  re- 
main with  their  regiments,  suffer  under  a 
sense  of  disappointment  and  wounded  self- 
esteem,  which  makes  it  impossible  for  them 
to  have  their  heart  in  the  work.  J 

The  employment  of  the  army  to  do  the 
civil  work,  was  declared  by  Napier  to  be 
"the  great  military  evil  of  India;"  the  offi- 
cers occupying  various  diplomatic  situations, 
the  sepoys  acting  as  policemen,  gaolers,  and 
being  incessantly  employed  in  detachments 
for  the  escort  of  treasure  from  the  local 
treasuries,  to  the  manifest  injury  of  their 
discipline.  "  Sir  Thomas  Munro,"  he  adds, 
"thought  three  officers  were  sufficient  for 
regiments.  This  is  high  authority ;  yet  I 
confess  to  thinking  him  wrong ;  or  else, 
which  is  very  possible,  the  state  of  the 
army  and  the  style  of  the  officer  have 
changed,  not  altogether  better  nor  alto- 
gether worse,  but  become  different." 

There  is,  probably,  much  truth  in  this 
suggestion.  The  character  of  the  Native 
officers  and  sepoys,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Europeans,  had  changed  since  the  days  of 
Munro.  The  Bengal  army  had  grown,  with 
the  Bengal  presidency,  into  an  exclusively 
high-caste  institution.  The  men  were 
chiefly  Brahmins  and  Rajpoots,  or  Mussul- 
mans— handsome,  stately  men,  higher  by  the 
head  and  shoulders  than  the  Madrassees  or 
Mahrattas;  immeasurably  higher  in  caste. 
Great  care  was  taken  to  avoid  low-caste 
recruits ;  still  more,  outcasts  and  Christians. 
In  this  respect,  most  exaggerated  deference 
was  paid  to  religious  prejudices  which,  in 


SIR  CHARLES  NAPIER  MADE  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF— 1849.      105 


other  points,  were  recklessly  infringed.  In 
Bombay  and  Madras,  no  such  distinctions 
were  made.  Recruits  were  enlisted  without 
regard  to  caste;  and  the  result  was,  a  mix- 
ture much  less  adapted  to  combine  for  the 
removal  of  common  grievances.  A  Native 
army,  under  foreign  rule,  can  hardly  have 
been  without  these :  but  so  flattering  a 
description  was  given  of  the  Indian  troops, 
that,  until  their  rejection  of  our  service,  and 
subsequent  deadly  hostility,  raised  suspicions 
of  "  a  long-continued  course  of  mismanage- 
ment,"* little  attention  was  paid  to  those  who 
suggested  the  necessity  of  radical  reforms. 

Yet  Sir  John  Malcolm  pointed  out,  as 
early  as  1799,  the  injustice  of  a  system  which 
allowed  no  Native  soldier  the  most  distant 
prospect  of  rising  to  rank,  distinction,  or 
affluence ;  and  this  "  extraordinary  fact"  he 
believed  to  be  "  a  subject  of  daily  comment 
among  the  Native  troops."t 

The  evil  felt  while  the  Indian  army  was 
comparatively  small,  could  not  but  increase 
in  severity  in  proportion  to  the  augmenta- 
tion of  the  sepoys,  who,  in  1851,  amounted 
to  240,121,  out  of  289,529  men;  the  re- 
mainder being  Europeans.  Meanwhile,  the 
extinction  of  Indian  states  and  of  national 
armies  had  been  rapidly  progressing.  The 
disbanded  privates  (at  least  such  of  them  as 
entered  the  British  ranks)  may  have  bene- 
fited by  the  change ;  regular  pay  and  a  retir- 
ing pension  compensating  them  for  the  pos- 
sibility of  promotion  and  the  certainty  of 
laxer  discipline,  with  license  in  the  way  of 
loot  (plunder.)  But  the  officers  were  heavy 
losers  by  the  change.  In  treating  of  the 
causes  of  the  mutiny,  Mr.  Martin  Gubbins 
says,  that  in  the  Punjab,  "  the  father  may 
have  received  1,000  rupees  per  mensem,  as 
commandant  of  cavalry,  under  Runjeet 
Sing ;  the  son  draws  a  pay  of  eighty  rupees 
as  sub-commander,  in  the  service  of  the 
British  government.  The  difference  is  pro- 
bably thought  by  themselves  to  be  too 
great."  In  support  of  this  guarded  admis- 
sion, he  proceeds  to  adduce  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  the  feeling  suggested  by  him  as 
probable,  by  citing  the  reproachful  exclama- 
tion of  a  Seik  risaldar,  conspicuous  for  good 
conduct  during  the  insurrection — "  My 
father  used  to  receive  500  rupees  a-month 
in  command  of  a  party  of  Runjeet  Sing's 
horse ;  I  receive  but  fifty  ."J 

•  Speech  of  Lord  Ellenborough :  Indian  debate, 
Julv  13th,  1857.     The  Duke  of  Argjll,  and  others, 
said,  that  "  there  could  be  no  doubt  there  had  been 
some  mismanagement." — Ibid.,  July  27th,  1858. 
VOL.  n.  p 


Sir  Charles  Napier  returned  to  India,  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Anglo-Indian 
armies,  on  the  6th  of  May,  1849.  He  was 
sent  out  for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying 
on  the  war  in  the  Punjab  ;  but  it  had  been 
successfully  terminated  before  his  arrival. 
He  made  a  tour  of  inspection,  and  furnished 
reports  to  government  on  the  condition  of 
the  troops ;  which  contained  statements  cal- 
culated to  excite  grave  anxiety,  and  prophe- 
cies of  evil  which  have  been  since  fulfilled. 

He  pointed  out  excessive  luxury  among 
the  officers,  and  alienation  from  the  Native 
soldiery,  as  fostering  the  disaffection  occa- 
sioned among  the  latter  by  sudden  reduc- 
tions of  pay,  accompanied  by  the  increased 
burthen  of  civil  duties,  consequent  on  the 
rapid  extension  of  territory. 

It  was,  however,  not  until  after  positive 
mutiny  had  been  developed,  that  he  recog- 
nised the  full  extent  of  the  evils,  which  he 
then  searched  out,  and  fouud  to  be  sapping 
the  very  foundation  of  the  Indian  army. 

Writing  to  General  Caulfield  (one  of  his 
few  friends  in  the  East  India  direction)  in 
November,  1849,  he  calls  the  sepoy  "a 
glorious  soldier,  not  to  be  corrupted  by 
gold,  or  appalled  by  danger ;"  and  he  adds — 
"I  would  not  be  afraid  to  go  into  action 
with  Native  troops,  and  without  Europeans, 
provided  I  had  the  training  of  them  first."§ 

In  a  report  addressed  to  the  governor- 
general  in  the  same  monthj  the  following 
passage  occurs : — 

"  I  have  heard  that  Lord  Hardinge  objected  to 
the  assembling  of  the  Indian  troops,  for  fear  they 
should  conspire.  I  confess  I  cannot  see  the  weight 
of  such  an  opinion.  I  have  never  met  with  an  In- 
dian officer  who  held  it,  and  I  certainly  do  not  hold 
it  myself;  and  few  men  have  had  more  opportuni- 
ties of  judging  of  the  armies  of  all  three  presidencies 
than  1  have.  Lord  Hardinge  saw  but  the  Bengal 
army,  and  that  only  as  governor-general,  and  for  a 
short  time;  I  have  studied  them  for  nearly  eight 
years,  constantly  at  the  head  of  Bengal  and  Bombay 
sepoys,  and  I  can  see  nothing  to  fear  from  them, 
except  when  ill-used ;  and  even  then  they  are  less 
dangerous  than  British  troops  would  be  in  similar 
circumstances.  I  see  no  danger  in  their  being 
massed,  and  very  great  danger  in  their  being  spread 
over  a  country  as  they  now  are :  on  the  contrary,  I 
believe  that,  by  concentrating  the  Indian  army  as  I 
propose,  its  spirit,  its  devotion,  and  its  powers  will 
all  be  increased."|| 

The  above  extract  tends  to  confirm  the 
general  belief,  that  the  private  opinion  of 
Lord  Hardinge,  regarding  the  condition  of 

t  K  aye's  Life  of  Malcolm,  vol  i.,  p.  96. 

I  Gubbins'  3Iutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  98. 

§  Sir  Charles  Napier's  Life,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  212,  213. 

II  Pari.  Paper  (Commons),  30th  July,  1857. 


106       MUTINY  TO  BE  TREATED  IN  DEf AIL,  WHEN  PRACTICABLE. 


the  army,  was  less  satisfactory  than  he 
chose  to  avow  in  public.  Lord  Melville  has 
given  conclusive  evidence  on  the  subject  by 
stating,  from  his  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  ex-coramander-in-chief,  that — "  Enter- 
taining the  worst  opinion  privately.  Lord 
Hardinge  never  would  express  it  publicly, 
trying  thereby  to  bolster  up  a  bad  system, 
on  the  ground  of  the  impolicy  of  making 
public  the  slight  thread  by  which  we  held 
our  tenure  of  that  empire."*  Napier,  who 
never  kept  back  or  qualified  his  views,  soon 
saw  reason  to  declare,  that  "  we  were  sitting 
on  a  mine,  and  nobody  could  tell  when  it 
might  explode."t  The  circumstances  which 
led  him  to  this  unsatisfactory  conclusion 
were  these.  After  the  annexation  of  the 
Punjab,  the  extra  allowance  formerly  given 
to  the  troops  on  service  there,  was  sum- 
marily withdrawn,  on  the  ground  that  the 
country  was  no  longer  a  foreign  one.  The 
22nd  Native  infantry  stationed  at  Rawul 
Pindee  refused  the  reduced  pay.  The  13th 
regiment  followed  the  example ;  and  an 
active  correspondence  took  place  between 
these  corps,  and  doubtless  extended  through 
the  Bengal  army;  for  there  are  news-writers 
in  every  regiment,  who  communicate  all 
intelligence  to  their  comrades  at  head- 
quarters.f 

Colonel  Benson,  of  the  military  board, 
proposed  to  Lord  Dalhousie  to  disband  the 
two  regiments ;  but  the  commander-in- 
chief  opposed  the  measure,  as  harsh  and 
impolitic.  Many  other  regiments  were,  he 
said,  certainly  involved :  the  government 
could  not  disband  an  army ;  it  was,  there- 
fore, best  to  treat  the  cases  as  isolated  ones, 
while  that  was  possible ;  for,  he  added,  "  if 
we  attempt  to  bully  large  bodies,  they  will 
do  the  same  by  us,  and  a  fight  must  ensue."§ 
The  governor-general  concurred  in  this 
opinion.  The  insubordination  at  Rawul 
Pindee  was  repressed  without  bloodshed, 
by  the  officer  in  command.  Sir  Colin 
Campbell;  and  the  matter  was  treated  as 
one  of  accidental  restricted  criminality,  not 
affecting  the  mass. 

Sir  Charles  Napier  visited  Delhi,  which 
he  considered  the  proper  place  for  our  great 
magazines,  aud  well  fitted,  from  its  central 
position,   to  be  the   head-quarters   of  the 

•  Letter  to  General  Sir  William  Gomm,  July  15th, 
1857.— 2'jmes,  July  21st,  1857.  t  ^d. 

X  Evidence  of  Colonel  Greenhill. — Pari.  Committee, 
1832-'3. 

§  Sir  Charles  Napier's  Life,  vol.  iv.,  p.  227. 

||/Wd.,  pp.  216;  269;  427. 


artillery — the  best  point  from  whence  to 
send  .forth  troops  and  reinforcements. 
Here,  too,  the  spirit  of  mutiny  manifested 
itself;  the  41st  Native  infantry  refusing  to 
enter  the  Punjab  without  additional  allow- 
ances as  heretofore ;  and  twenty-four  other 
regiments,  then  under  orders  for  the  same 
province,  were  rumoured  to  be  in  league 
with  the  41st.  The  latter  regiment  was, 
however,  tranquillised,  and  induced  to 
march,  by  what  Sir  William  Napier  terms 
"  dexterous  management,  and  the  obtaining 
of  furloughs,  which  had  beeu  unfairly  and 
recklessly  withheld." 

At    Vizierabad    the    sepoys    were    very 
sullen,   and  were  heard  to  say  they  only 
waited  the  arrival  of  the  relieving  regiments, 
and  would  then  act  together.     Soon  after 
this,  the  66th,    a  relief  regiment    on   the 
march    from    Lucknow    (800    miles    from 
Vizierabad),  broke  into  open   mutiny  near 
Amritsir,    insulted   their   officers,    and    at-  I 
tempted    to    seize    the    strong    fortress   of  1 
Govindghur,  which  then  contained    about 
£100,000  in  specie.     The  1st  Native  cavalry 
were  fortunately  on  the  spot;   and  being 
on  their  return  to  India,  were  not  interested 
in  the  extra-allowance  question.     They  took 
part  with  the  Europeans ;  and,  dismounting, 
seized  the  gates,  which  the    strength   and 
daring  of  a  single  officer  (Captain  M'Donald) 
had  alone  preveuted  from  being  closed,  and 
which  the  mutineers,  with  fixed  bayonets, 
vainly  sought  to  hold.     This    occurred   in 
February,  1850.     Lord  Dalhousie  was  not 
taken  by  surprise.     Writing  to  Sir  Charles 
Napier,   he   had    declared    liimself    "  pre- 
pared   for    discontent    among    the   Native 
troops,  on  coming  into  the  Punjab  under 
diminished    allowances ;    and    well    satis- 
fied to  have   got   so   far   through  without 
violence."     "The  sepoy,"  he  added,  "has 
been  over-petted  and  overpaid  of  late,  and 
has  been  led  on,  by  the  government  itself, 
into  the  entertainment  of  an  expectation, 
and  the  manifestation  of  a  feeling,  which  he 
never  held  in  former  times."  H 

This  was  written  before  the  affair  at 
Govindghur;  and  in  the  meantime.  Sir 
Charles  had  seen  "  strong  ground  to  suppose 
the  mutinous  spirit  general  in  the  Bengal 
army."5[     He  believed  that  the  Brahmins 

^  Two  great  explosions  of  ammunition  have  been 
mentioned  in  connexion  with  the  mutinous  feeling 
of  the  period ;  one  at  Benares,  of  3,000  barrels  of 
powder,  in  no  less  than  thirty  boats,  which  killed 
upwards  of  1,200  people:  by  the  other,  of  1,800 
barrels,  no  life  was  lost. 


MUTINY  AND  DISBANDMENT  OF  66th  REGIMENT— 1849. 


107 


were  exerting  their  influence  over  the  Hin- 
doos most  injuriously;  and  learned,  -VTith 
alarm,  a  significant  circumstance  whicli  had 
occurred  during  the  Seik  war.  Major 
!  Neville  Chamberlaine,  hearing  some  sepoys 
grumbling  about  a  temporary  hardship, 
exclaimed,  "  Were  I  the  general,  I  would 
disband  you  all."  A  Brahmin  havildar 
replied,  "  If  you  did,  we  would  all  go  to  our 
villages,  and  you  should  not  get  any  more 
to  replace  us."  Napier  viewed  this  remark 
as  the  distinct  promulgation  of  a  principle 
upon  which  the  sepoys  were  even  then  pre- 
pared to  act.  The  Brahmins  he  believed  to 
be  secretly  nourishing  the  spirit  of  insubor- 
dination; and  unless  a  counterpoise  could 
be  found  to  their  influence,  it  would  be 
hazardous  in  the  extreme  to  disband  the 
66tii  regiment,  at  the  risk  of  inciting  other 
corps  to  declare,  "  They  are  martyrs  for  us ; 
we,  too,  will  refuse;"  and  of  producing  a 
bayonet  struggle  with  caste  for  mastery. 
"Nor  was  the  stake  for  which  the  sepoy 
contended  a  small  one — exclusive  of  the 
principle  of  an  army  dictating  to  the  gov- 
ernment: they  struck  for  twelve  rupees 
instead  of  seven — nearly  double  I  When 
those  in  the  Punjab  got  twelve  by  meeting, 
those  in  India  Proper  would  not  long  have 
served  on  seven."* 

The  remedy  adopted  by  Napier,  was  to 
replace  the  mutinous  66th  with  one  of  the 
irregular  Goorka  battalions  ;t  and  he  ex- 
pressed his  intention  of  extensively  following 
up  this  plan,  in  the  event  of  the  disband- 
ment  of  further  regiments  becoming  neces- 
sary. "  I  would  if  I  could,"  he  says,  "  have 
25,000  of  them ;  which,  added  to  our  own 
Europeans,  would  form  an  army  of  50,000 
men,  and,  well  handled,  would  neutralise 
any  combination  amongst  the  sepoys." 

The  Goorkas  themselves  he  describes  as 
of  small  stature,  with  huge  limbs,  resem- 
bling Attila's  Huns ;  "  brave  as  men  can  be, 
but  horrid  little  savages,  accustomed  to  use 
a  weapon  called  a  kookery,  like  a  straightened 
reaping-  hook,  with  whicli  they  made  three  cuts 
— one  across  the  shoulders,  the  next  across 
the  forehead,  the  third  a  ripping-up  one." 

The  Nusseeree  battalion,  chosen  to  re- 
place the  66th,  welcomed,  with  frantic 
shouts  of  joy,  the  proposal  of  entering  the 
regular  army,  and  receiving  seven  rupees  a 

•  Sir  C.  Napier's  Life  and  Correspondence,  vol. 
iv.,  pp.  261,  262. 

t  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  445. 

X  After  Sir  Charles  left  India,  a  minute  was 
drawn  up  by  the  Supreme  Council,  which  stated, 


month,  instead  of  four  rupees  eight  annas;  I 
which  sum,  according  to  their  commanding 
officer,  had  been  actually  insufficient  for 
their  support.  What  the  European  oflicers 
of  the  66th  thought  of  the  substitution  does 
not  appear;  but  Lord  Dalhousie,  while  ap- 
proving the  disbandment  of  the  mutineers, 
disapproved  of  the  introduction  of  the  Goor- 
kas. The  commander-in-chief  was  at  the 
same  time  reprimanded  for  having,  in 
Jauuarj%  1850  (pending  a  reference  to  the 
Supreme  government),  suspended  the  opera- 
tion of  a  regulation  regarding  compensation 
for  rations;  which  he  considered,  in  the 
critical  state  of  affairs,  likely  to  produce  mu- 
tiny. This  regulation,  says  Sir  W.  Napier, 
"  aflfected  the  usual  allowance  to  the  sepoys 
for  purchasing  their  food,  according  to  the 
market  prices  of  the  countries  in  which  they 
served :  it  was  recent ;  was  but  partially 
known;  was  in  itself  unjust;  and  became 
suddenly  applicable  at  Vizierabad,  where  it 
was  entirely  unknown."  General  Hearsey, 
commander  at  Vizierabad,  and  Generals  Gil- 
bert and  Colin  Campbell,  deprecated  its  en- 
forcementas  most  impolitic,and  calculated,ia 
the  sullen  temper  of  the  sepoys,  to  produce  a 
mutiny;  and,  in  fact,  only  twelve  days  elapsed 
before  the  Govindghur  outbreak  occurred. 
The  amount  of  money  involved  in  the  tem- 
poriiry  suspension  was  only  £10;  but  even 
had  it  been  much  greater,  if  a  commander- 
in-chief  could  not,  in  what  he  believed  to 
be  a  crisis,  and  what  there  is  little  doubt 
really  was  one,  be  allowed  to  use  his  dis- 
cretion on  a  subject  so  immediately  within 
his  cognizance,  he  had,  indeed,  a  heavy 
weight  of  responsibility  to  bear,  without  any 
commensurate  authority.  A  less  impetu- 
ous spirit  than  that  of  the  "  fiery  Napier," 
would  have  felt  no  better  than  a  "  huge 
adjutant-general,"  when  informed  that  he 
"  would  not  again  be  permitted,  under  any 
circumstances,  to  issue  orders  which  should 
change  the  pay  and  allowances  of  the  troops 
in  India,  and  tlius  practically  to  exercise 
an  authority  which  had  been  reserved,  and 
most  properly  reserved,  for  the  Supreme 
government  alone."t 

The  general  at  once  sent  in  his  resigna- 
tion (May  22nd,  1850)  through  Lord  Fitz- 
roy  Somerset;  stating  the  rebuke  he  had 
received,    and    probably    hoping    that    the 

"  that  the  ration  and  mutiny  question,  which  led 
to  Sir  Charles  Napier's  resignation,  was  not  the  real 
cause  for  the  reprimand;  but  the  style  of  the 
commander-in-chief's  correspondence  had  become 
offensive." — Life,  vol,  iv.,  p.  411. 


108 


CONDITION  OF  THE  BENGAL  NATIVE  ARMY— 1850. 


British  commander-in-chief,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington,  would  urge  its  withdrawal. 
The  Duke,  on  the  contrary,  decided,  after 
examining  the  statements  sent  home  by  the 
Calcutta  authorities  (which,  judging  by 
subsequent  events,  were  founded  on  a  mis- 
taken view  of  the  temper  of  the  troops), 
that  no  sufiScient  reason  had  existed  for  the 
suspension  of  the  regulation,  and  that  the 
governor-general'  in  council  was  right  in 
expressing  his  disapprobation  of  the  act. 
The  resignation  was  consequently  accepted ; 
and  Sir  Charles's  statements  regarding  the 
condition  of  the  army,  were  treated  as  the 
prejudiced  views  of  a  disappointed  man. 

Yet  the  report  addressed  by  him  to  the 
Duke  in  June,  while  ignorant,  and  probably 
not  expectant,  of  the  acceptance  of  his 
resignation,  contains  assertions  which  ought 
then  to  have  been  investigated,  and  which 
are  now  of  primary  importance  as  regards 
the  causes  of  our  sudden  calamity,  and  the 
system  to  be  adopted  for  the  prevention  of 
its  recurrence. 

"  The  Bengal  Natiye  army,"  Sir  Charles  writes, 
"  is  said  to  have  much  fallen  off  from  what  it  was 
in  former  days.  Of  this  I  am  not  a  judge ;  but 
I  must  say  that  it  is  a  very  noble  army,  and  with 
very  few  defects.  The  greatest,  as  far  as  I  am 
capable  of  judging,  is  a  deficiency  of  discipline 
among  the  European  officers,  especially  those  of  the 
higher  ranks.     I  will  give  your  grace  an  instance. 

"  The  important  order  issued  by  the  governor-gen- 
eral and  the  commander-in-chief,  to  prepare  the 
sepoys  for  a  reduction  in  their  pay,  I  ordered  to  be 
read,  and  explained  with  care  to  every  regiment. 
With  the  exception  of  three  or  four  commanders  of 
regiments,  none  obeyed  the  order  ;  some  gave  it  to 
pay-sergeants  to  read,  and  others  altogether  ne- 
glected to  do  so — such  is  the  slackness  of  discipline 
among  officers  of  high  rank,  and  on  an  occasion  of 
such  vast  importance.  This  want  of  discipline  arises 
from  more  than  one  cause  :  a  little  sharpness  with 
officers  who  disobey  orders  will  soon  correct  much 
of  this;  but  much  of  it  originates  in  the  great  de- 
mand made  upon  the  troops  for  civil  duties,  which 
so  breaks  up  whole  regiments,  that  their  command- 
ing officers  lose  that  zeal  for  the  service  which  they 
ought  to  feel,  and  so  do  the  younger  officers.  The 
demand  also  made  for  guards  is  immense.  •  •  • 
I  cannot  believe  that  the  discipline  of  the  Bengal 
army  will  be  restored  till  it  is  relieved  from  civil 
duties,  and  those  duties  performed  by  police  bat- 
talions, as  was  intended  by  Lord  EUenborough. 

"  The  next  evil  which  I  see  in  the  Native  army  is, 
that  so  many  of  the  senior  officers  of  regiments  are 
placed  on  the  staff  or  in  civil  situations ;  and  very 
"old,  worn-out  officers  command  regiments:  these 
carry  on  their  duties  with  the  adjutant  and  some 
favoured  Native  officer.  Not  above  one  or  two 
captains  are  with  the  regiment ;  and  the  subalterns 
being  all  young,  form  a  society  among  them- 
selves, and  neglect  the  Native  officers  altogether. 
Nothing  is  therefore  known  as  to  what  is  passing  in 
»  Native  regiment.     •     •     •     The  last,  and  most 


important  thing  which  I  reckon  injurious  to  the 
Indian  army,  is  the  immense  influence  given  to 
"  caste ;"  instead  of  being  discouraged,  it  has  been 
encouraged  in  the  Bengal  army.  In  the  Bombay 
army  it  is  discouraged,  and  that  army  is  in  better 
order  than  the  Bengal  army.  In  this  latter  the 
Brahmins  have  been  leaders  in  every  mutiny."  * 

The  manner  in  which  courts- martial  were 
conducted,  excited  his  indignation  through- 
out his  Indian  career.     Drunkenness  and 
gambling  were,  in  his  eyes,  unsoldierly  and 
ungentlemanly  vices,  and  he  drew  no  dis- 
tinction between  the  officer  and  the  private. 
"  Indian  courts-martial   are  my  plagues," 
he  writes ;  "  they  are  farces.     If  a  private 
is  to  be  tried,  the  courts  are  sharp  enough; 
but  an  officer  is  quite  another  thing."     He 
mentions  a  case  of  notorious  drunkenness, 
in  which  the  accused  was"  honourably  ac- 
quitted ;"  and  he  adds — "  Discipline  is  so 
rapidly  decaying,  that  in  a  few  years  my 
belief  is,  no  commander-in-chief  will  dare 
to  bring  an  officer  to  trial :    the  press  will 
put   an   end   to   all   trials,   except   in   law 
courts.     In  courts-martial  now,  all  is  quib- 
bling and  disputes  about  what  is  legal ;    the 
members  being  all  profoundly  ignorant  on 
the  subject :    those  who  judge  fairly,  in  a 
military  spirit,  are  afraid  of  being  brought 
up  afterwards,  and  the   trials    end    by  an 
acquittal   in   the    face   of    all    evidence  \" 
This  state  of  things  was  not  one  in  which 
he    was    likely   to    acquiesce ;    and   in    six 
months  he  had  to  decide  forty-six  cases  of 
courts-martial  on  officers   (some   for   gam- 
bling, some  for  drunkenness),  in  which  only 
two   were    honourably   acquitted,    and   not 
less  than  fourteen  cashiered.     In  the  cele- 
brated address  in  which  he  took  leave  of 
the  officers  of  the  Indian  army  {9th  Decem- 
ber, 1850),  he  blamed  them   severely   for 
getting  into  debt,  and  having  to  be  brought 
before  the  Court  of  Requests.     "  A  vulgar 
man,"  he  wrote,  "  who  enjoys  a  champagne 
tiffin  [luncheon],  and  swindles  his  servants, 
may  be  a  pleasant  companion  to  those  who 
do  not  hold  him  in  contempt  as  a  vulgar 
knave;  but  he  is  not  a  gentleman  :  his  com- 
mission makes  him  an  officer,  but  he  is  not 
a  gentleman." 

The  luxury  of  the  Indian  system  was,  as 
might  be  expected,  severely  criticised  by  a 
warrior  who  is  popularly  said  to  have  en- 
tered on  a  campaign  with  a  piece  of  soap 
and  a  couple  of  towels,  and  dined  off  a 
hunch  of  bread  and  a  cup  of  water.  Pre- 
vious commanders-in-chief,  when  moving  on 

*  Sir  C.  Napier  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  15th 
June,  1850.— Pari.  Paper,  August  6th,  1857. 


"OLD  INDIANS,"  "MARTINETS,"  AND  "FAST  REGIMENTS"— 1850.  109 


a  military  inspection,  used,  at  the  public 
expense,  eighty  or  ninety  elephants,  three 
or  four  hundred  camels,  and  nearly  as  many 
bullocks,  with  all  their  attendants :  they 
had  also  332  tent-pitchers,  including  fifty 
men  solely  employed  to  carry  glass  doors 
for  a  pavilion.  This  enormous  establish- 
ment was  reduced  by  Napier  to  thirty  ele- 
phants, 334  camels,  222  tent-pitchers ;  by 
which  a  saving  was  effected  for  the  treasury 

I  of  £750  a-month.  "  Canvas  palaces,"  he 
said,  "  were  not  necessary  for  a  general  on 

;  military  inspection,  even  admitting  the 
favourite  idea  of  some  '  old  Indians' — that 

J  pomp  and  show  produce  respect  with  Indian 
people.  But  there  is  no  truth  in  that  no- 
tion :  the  respect  is  paid  to  military  strength; 
and  the  astute  natives  secretly  deride  the 
ostentation  of  temporary  authority."* 

"  Among  the  modern  military  changes,"  he  says, 

'  "  there  is  one  which  has  been  gradually  introduced 
in  a  number  of  regiments  by  gentlemen  who  are 
usually  called  '  martinets' — not  soldiers,  only  mar- 
tinets. No  soldier  can  now  go  up  to  his  officer  with- 
out a  non-commissioned  officer  gives  him  leave,  and 
accompanies  him !  •  •  •  This  is  a  very  dan- 
gerous innovation  ;  it  is  digging  a  ditch  between  the 
officers  and  their  men  !  How  are  Company's  officers 
to  study  men's  characters,  when  no  man  dare  address 
them  but  in  full  dress,  and  in  presence  of  a  non- 
.commissioned  officer?"! 

Sir  Charles  deplored  "the  caste  and 
luxury  which  pervaded  the  army,"  as  calcu- 
lated to  diminish  their  influence  equally 
over  European  soldiers  and  Indian  sepoys. 

"  His  [the  soldier's]  captain  is  no  longer  his  friend 
and  chief;  he  receives  him  with  upstart  condescen. 
sion ;  is  very  dignified,  and  very  insolent,  nine 
[times  ?]  out  of  ten ;  and  as  often  the  private  goes 
away  with  disgust  or  contempt,  instead  of  good, 
respectful,  comrade  feelings.  Then  the  soldier  goes 
daily  to  school,  or  to  his  library,  now  always  at 
hand ;  while  his  dignified  officer  goes  to  the  billiard- 
room  or  the  smoking-room ;  or,  strutting  about  with 

•  Life,  vol.  iv.,  p.  206.  The  ostentatious  parade  with 
which  the  progresses  of  Indian  functionaries,  both 
civil  and  military,  was  usually  attended,  not  only 
aggravated,  by  contrast,  the  hardships  endured  by 
their  inferiors,  but  inflicted  most  cruel  sufferings  on 
the  natives  of  the  countries  through  which  they 
passed,  thousands  being  pressed  for  palanquin  or 
dooly  (litter)  bearers,  and  for  porters  of  luggage, 
and  paid  very  poorly,  and  often  very  irregularly. 
"  The  coolies, '  says  Sir  C.  Napier,  "  who  are  sum- 
moned to  carry  the  governor-general's  baggage 
when  he  moves,  are  assembled  at,  or  rather  driven 
by  force  to,  Simla  from  immense  distances,  and  are 
paid  about  twopence  a-day,  under  circumstances  of 
great  cruelty.  Now,  I  happen  to  know,  that  from 
the  delays  of  offices,  and  without,  perhaps,  any  tan- 
gible act  of  knavery  in  any  especial  officer  or  indi- 
vidual, some  8,000  or  10,000  coolies  employed  to 

take  Lord down  into  the  plains  when  he  left 

India,  were  not  paid  this  miserable  pittance  for  three 


a  forage-cap  on  the  side  of  an  empty  pate,  and 
clothed  in  a  shooting-jacket,  or  other  deformity  of 
dress,  fancies  himself  a  great  character,  because  he 
is  fast,  and  belongs  to  a  fast  regiment — i.e.,  a  regi- 
ment unfit  for  service,  commanded  by  the  adjutant, 
and  having  a  mess  in  debt  !"J 

It  is,  of  course,  exclusively  to  the  sepoys 
that  Sir  Charles  refers  in  the  following  pas- 
sages, in  which  he  upholds  the  necessity 
for  discipline  and  kindly  intercourse  being 
maintained  by  the  European  oflBcers : — 

"  They  are  admirable  soldiers,  and  only  give  way 
when  badly  led  by  brave  but  idle  officers,  who  let 
discipline  and  drill  grow  slack,  and  do  not  mix  with 
them:  being  ignorant  themselves,  they  cannot  teach 
the  sepoy.  *  *  *  I  could  do  anything  I  like 
with  these  natives.  Our  officers  generally  do  not 
know  how  to  deal  with  them.  They  have  not,  with 
some  exceptions,  the  natural  turn  and  soldierlike 
feelings  necessary  to  deal  with  them.  Well,  it 
matters  little  to  me ;  India  and  I  will  soon  be  sepa- 
rate :  I  see  the  system  will  not  last  fifty  years.  The 
moment  these  brave  and  able  natives  learn  how  to 
combine,  they  will  rush  on  us  simultaneously,  and 
the  game  will  be  up.  A  bad  commander-in-chief 
and  a  bad  governor-general  will  clench  the  business. § 
*  *  *  I  am  disposed  to  believe,  that  we  might, 
with  advantage,  appoint  natives  to  cadetships,  dis- 
charge all  our  Native  officers  on  the  pensions  of  their 
present  rank,  and  so  give  the  natives  common  chance 
of  command  with  ourselves — before  they  take  it ! 

"  Every  European  boy,  aye,  even  sergeants,  now 
command  all  Native  officers  !  When  the  native  saw 
the  English  ensign  live  with  him  and  cherish  him, 
and  by  daily  communication  was  made  aware  of  his 
superior  energy,  strength,  daring,  and  mental  ac- 
quirements, all  went  smooth.  Now  things  have 
changed.  The  young  cadet  learns  nothing :  he 
drinks,  he  lives  exclusively  with  his  own  country- 
men ;  the  older  officers  are  on  the  staff,  or  on  civil 
employ,  which  they  ought  not  to  be  ;  and  high-caste 
— that  is  to  say,  mutiny — is  encouraged.  I  have 
just  gotten  this  army  through  a  very  dangerous  one; 
and  the  Company  had  better  take  care  what  they 
are  at,  or  some  great  mischief  will  yet  happen  1 

"  I  think  that  Native  ensigns,  lieutenants,  and 
captains,  aye,  and  commanders  of  corps  too,  will 
assimilate  with  our  officers,  and,  in  course  of  time, 

years !"  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  believe  that  Eng- 
lishmen could  be  either  so  ungenerous  or  so  short- 
sighted as  wantonly  to  outrage  the  feelings  of  the 
natives ;  but,  on  this  point,  the  testimony  of  various 
authorities  is  corroborated  by  the  special  correspondent 
of  the  Times,  whose  sympathies  naturally  lay  with 
his  countrymen,  and  who  would  not,  without  strong 
evidence,  venture  to  bring  such  a  heavy  charge 
against  them.  Seeing  a  native  badly  wounded  on  a' 
charpoy  (movable  bed),  with  a  woman  sitting  beside 
him  in  deep  affliction,  he  asked  for  an  explanation, 
and  was  told  that  an  officer  "  had  been  licking  two 
of  his  bearers,  and  had  nearly  murdered  them." 
Mr.  Russell  probably  did  not  disguise  his  disgust  on 
this  or  other  occasions ;  for  he  was  often  told,  "  Oh, 
wait  till  you  are  another  month  in  India,  and  you'll 
think  nothing  of  licking  a  nigger." — The  Times, 
June  17th,  1858. 

t  Life  and  Correspondence,  vol.  iv.,  p.  325. 
"l  Ihid.,yo\.  iv.,  pp.  306 ;  326.    §  Ibid.,  pp.  185;  212. 


110  OPINIONS  OP  LORD  MELVILLE,  SIR  C.  CAMPBELL,  &  MAJOR  JACOB. 


gradually  throw  caste  to  the  dogs,  and  be  like  our- 
selves in  all  but  colour.  I  have  no  belief  in  the 
power  of  caste  resisting  the  Christian  faith  for  any 
great  length  of  time,  because  reason  is  too  strong 
for  nonsense  in  the  long  run ;  and  I  believe  if  the 
Indians  were  made  officers,  on  the  same  footing  as 
ourselves,  they  would  be  perfectly  faithful,  and  in 
time  become  Christians  ;  not  that  I  want  to  convert 
them ;  but  so  it  will  be."* 

So  far  from  any  idea  being  entertained 
of  elevating  the  Native  officers  according  to 
the  plan  propounded  by  the  commander-in- 
chief,  their  absolute  extinction  was  discussed 
in  public  journals  and  periodicals ;  a  fact 
wliicli  supplies  a  very  clear  reason  for  gene- 
ral disaffection. 

Sir  Charles  Napier,  in  the  year  in  which 
he  died  (1853),  writes  to  his  brother,  Sir 
William : — 

"The  Edinburgh  article  you  mentioned 
says,  that  if  the  Native  officers  were  gradu- 
ally gotten  rid  of,  the  operation  would  be 
safe,  though  noi;  economical  or  generous. 
But  however  gradually  it  might  be  done, 
300,000  armed  men  would  at  once  see 
that  all  their  hopes  of  rising  to  be  lieu- 
tenants, captains,  and  majors,  and  when  no 
longer  able  to  serve,  the  getting  pensions, 
would,  for  those  ranks,  be  blasted  for  ever. 
The  writer  would  soon  find  his  plan  unsafe  ; 
it  would  end  all  Indian  questions  at  once. 
There  is  no  sepoy  in  that  great  army  but 
expects  to  retire,  in  age,  with  a  major's 
pension,  as  certainly  as  every  ensign  expects 
to  become  a  major  or  a  colonel  in  our  army. 
There  is  but  one  thing  to  be  done  :  give  the 
Native  officers  rank  with  our  own,  reducing 
the  number  of  ours.  This  may  endanger; 
but  it  will  not  do  so  more  than  the  present 
system  does ;  and  my  own  opinion  is  pretty 
well  made  up,  that  our  power  there  is  crum- 
bling very  fast."t 

The  above  statements  have  been  given  at 
length,  not  simply  because  they  were 
formed  by  the  commander-in-chief  of  tiie 
Indian  army,  but  because  they  are  the 
grounds  on  which  he  based  his  assertion, 
that  the  mutiny  of  the  sepoys  was  "  the 
most  formidable  dangermenacing  our  Indian 
empire."  Certainly  Sir  William  Napier  has 
done  good  service  in  his  unreserved  exposi- 
tion of  his  brother's  opinions ;  and  though 
many  individuals  of  high  position  and  cha- 
racter, may,  with  justice,  complain  of  the 
language  applied  to  them,  yet  the  sarcasms 

•Letter  written  May  31st,  1850;  published  by 
Lieutenant-general  Sir  William  Napier,  in  the 
Times  of  August  17lh,  1857. 

t  Life  and  Opinions,  vol.  iv.,  p.  383. 


of  the  testy  old  general  lose  half  their  bit- 
terness when  viewed  as  the  ebullitions  of  an 
irascible  temper,  aggravated  by  extreme 
and  almost  constant  bodily  pain.  When 
he  descends  to  personalities,  his  own  com- 
parison describes  him  best — "a  hedgehog 
fighting  about  nothing  :"  but  his  criticisms 
on  the  discipline  of  the  Indian  army,  its 
commissariat,  ordnance,  and  transport  de- 
partments, bear  witness  of  an  extraordinary, 
amount  of  judgment  and  shrewdness.  If, 
as  "Indophilus"  asserts,  "Sir  Charles  Napier 
had  not  the  gift  of  foresight  beyond  other 
men,"  it  is  the  more  to  be  regretted  that 
other  men,  and  especially  Indian  states- 
men, should  have  allowed  his  assertions  to 
remain  on  record,  neither  confirmed  nor  re- 
futed, until  the  mutinies  of  1857  brought 
them  into  general  notice. 

Sir  Charles  Napier  was  not  quite  alone  in 
his  condemnation  of  the  lax  discipline  of 
the  Bengal  array.  Viscount  Melville,  who 
commanded  the  Punjab  division  of  the 
Bombay  forces  at  the  time  of  the  mutiny 
of  the  two  Bengal  regiments  under  Sir 
Colin  Campbell,  in  1849,  was  astonished  at 
the  irregularity  which  he  witnessed  in  the 
Bengal  army.  When  questioned  concern- 
ing its  condition,  on  his  return  to  England 
in  1850,  he  did  not  disguise  his  strong  dis- 
approbation ;  upon  which  he  was  told  that, 
however  true  his  opinion  might  be,  it  would 
be  imprudent  to  express  it.f 

Sir  Colin  Campbell  kept  silence  on  the 
same  principle;  but  now  says,  that  if  he 
had  uttered  his  feelings  regarding  the 
sepoys  ten  years  ago,  he  would  have  been 
shot.§ 

Major  John  Jacob  wrote  a  pamphlet||  in 
1854,  in  which  he  pointed  out  various  de- 
fects in  the  system ;  but  the  home  authori- 
ties were  evidently  unwilling  to  listen  to  any 
unpleasant  information.  The  i-eports  of 
the  commander-in-chief  who  succeeded  Sir 
Charles  Napier,  and  of  the  governor-general, 
were  both  exceedingly  favourable ;  but  then 
the  efforts  of  both  Sir  William  G-omm<|[  and 
of  Lord  Dalhousie,  seem  to  have  been  di- 
rected exclusively  to  the  furtherance  of  very 
necessary  measures  for  the  welfare  of  the 
European  troops.  Indeed,  iu  his  lordship's 
own  summary  of  his  administration,  the 
condition  of  the  immense  mass  of  the  Indian 
army,  amounting  to  nearly  300,000  men,  is 

X  Speech  in  the  House  of  Loi-ds,  July  loth,  1867. 

§  Times,  loth  January,  1858. 

jl  Native  Troops  of  the  Indian  Army. 

•J  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  637. 


ALLEGED  SEPOY  GRIEVANCES— FRANKING  ABOLISHED.        Ill 


dismissed   in   the   following   brief,   and,   if 
accurate,  very  satisfactory  sentence  : — 

"The  position  of  the  Native  soldier  in 
India  has  long  been  such  as  to  leave  hardly 
any  circumstance  of  his  position  in  need  of 
improvement."* 

This  statement  is  hardly  consistent  with 
that  made  by  the  chairman  of  the  East 
India  Company  (Mr.  R.  D.  Mangles)  to  the 
cadets  at  Addiscombe,  in  June,  1857.  He 
adverted  to  the  "  marked  alteration  in  the 
tone  and  bearing  of  the  younger  officers  of 
the  Indian  army,  towards  the  natives  of  all 
ranks,"  as  a  fact  which  "all  joined  in  la- 
menting ;"  and  he  added,  that  if  the  "  es- 
trangement of  officers  from  men,  and  espe- 
cially of  English  from  Native  officers,  was 
allowed  to  continue  and  grow,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  calculate  the  fatal  consequences  that 
might  ensue."t 

Here,  at  least,  was  one  point  in  which  the 
treatment  of  the  Native  soldiery  was  sus- 
ceptible of  improvement.  But  there  were 
others* in  which  the  peculiar  advantages 
they  had  once  enjoyed  liad  sensibly  dimin- 
ished :  their  work  had  increased ;  their  pay, 
at  least  in  the  matter  of  extra  allowances, 
had  decreased.  Sinde,  for  instance,  was 
just  as  unhealthy — ^just  as  far  from  the 
homes  of  the  sepoys;  under  British  as 
under  Native  government;  yet  the  premium 
previously  given  for  foreign  service  was 
withdrawn  on  annexation.  So  also  in  the 
Punjab,  and  elsewhere. 

The  orders  for  distant  service  came 
round  more  rapidly  as  territory  increased. 
The  sepoys  became  involved  in  debt  by 
change  of  station,  and  the  Madras  troops 
could  ill  afford  the  travelling  expenses  of 
tlieir  families,  from  whom  they  uever  wil- 
lingly separate,  and  whose  presence  has 
probably  been  a  chief  cause  of  their  fidelity 
during  the  crisis.  One  regiment,  for  in- 
stance, has  had,  within  the  last  few  years, 
to  build  houses  and  huts  at  three  different 
stations ;  and  on  their  late  return  from 
Burmah,  the  men  had  to  pay  sixty  rupees 
per  cart,  to  bring  their  wives  and  children 
from  Burhampoor  to  Vellore,  a  distance  of 
700  miles.  This  is  said  to  be  a  fair  ave- 
rage specimen  of  what  is  going  on  every- 
where. "  The  result  is,  that  the  men  are 
deeply    embarrassed.     A   sepoy   on    seven 

*  Minute,  dated  28th  February,  1856 ;  p.  41. 
t  See  Daily  News,  July  13th,  1857,  p.p.  26,  27. 
X  Norton's  Rebellion  in  India. 
§  Letter  signed  "  Caubulee." — Daily  News,  July 
17th,  1857. 


rupees  a-month,  who  has  to  pay  fifty  or 
sixty  rupees  for  his  wife's  cart  once  in  every 
two  or  three  years,  is  unavoidably  plunged 
in  debt.  He  must  borrow  at  exorbitant  in- 
terest from  the  money-lender ;  and  before  he 
can  reclaim  the  past,  the  'route'  comes  for  a 
fresh  march  to  far-distant  cantonments,  and 
hurries  him  into  fresh  difficulties.''^ 

The  Bengal  sepoys  do  not  carry  their 
families  with  them  on  a  campaign,  but 
leave  them  in  their  native  villages,  visiting 
them  every  year.  The  furloughs  granted 
for  this  purpose,  have  been  diminished  in 
consequence  of  the  growing  necessities  of 
the  service ;  and  another  infringement  of 
a  prerogative,  which  their  separation  from 
their  wives  and  children  rendered  very 
valuable,  was  committed  by  the  withdrawal 
of  their  privilege  of  franking  letters  to  their 
homes.  Several  late  regulations  regarding 
the  payment  of  pensions,  and  increasing 
strictness  on  the  part  of  the  general  in- 
validing committee,  are  asserted  to  have 
been  viewed  by  the  sepoys  as  involving 
breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment. They  are  said  to  have  felt  with  the 
old  Scotchwoman,  "I  ken  ye're  cheating 
me,  but  I  dinna  ken  exactly  hoo."§  Any 
alteration  in  the  rules  of  the  retiring  pen- 
sion-list, was  watched  by  the  sepoy  with 
jealous  care.  The  terms  which  secured  to 
him  a  fixed  monthly  stipend  in  the  event  of 
becoming  incapacitated  for  further  duty  after 
a  service  of  fifteen  years,  and  which,  if  he 
died  in  battle,  or  from  sickness  while  on 
foreign  service,  made  some  provision  for  his 
family,  could  not  of  course  be  altered,  even 
slightly,  without  exciting  alarm  as  to  what 
further  changes  might  follow.  The  Bengal 
sepoys  were  largely  drawn  from  Oude ; 
and  not  from  Oude  generally,  but  from 
certain  limited  districts.  Naturally  there 
existed  among  them  the  feeling  observable 
in  British  soldiers  born  in  the  same  county, 
when  associated  in  a  regiment  on  foreign 
service ;  and  possibly  it  was  clanship,  quite 
as  much  as  caste,  which  bound  them  together: 
but  whatever  it  was,  a  strong  tie  of  union,  and 
consequent  power  of  combination,  existed 
among  them,  which  rendered  them  efficient 
for  good  or  evil.  Sir  John  Malcolm  had 
given  a  memorable  warning  regarding  them. 
Neither  the  Hindoo  nor  the  Mohammedan 
soldier  were,  he  said,  revengeful,  but  both 
were  prone  to  acts  of  extreme  violence  in 
points  where  they  deemed  tlieir  honour 
slighted.  The  absence  of  anj'  fear  of  death 
was  common  to  them  all.     Such  an  instru- 


112 


OPPOSITE  VIEWS— MALCOLM  AND  GENERAL  ANSON. 


ment  as  an  army  constituted  of  men  like 
these  afforded,  had  need  be  managed  with 
care  and  wisdom,  or  our  strength  would 
become  our  danger.  The  minds  of  the 
sepoys  were  alive  to  every  impulse,  and 
would  all  vibrate  to  the  same  touch.  Kind- 
ness, liberality,  and  justice  would  preserve 
their  attachment:  besides  this,  Malcolm 
adds,  "  we  must  attend  to  the  most  trifling 
of  their  prejudices,  and  avoid  rash  inno- 
vations ;  but,  above  all,  those  that  are 
calculated  to  convey  to  their  minds  the 
most  distant  alarm  in  points  connected 
with  their  usages  or  religion."*  This 
policy  found  little  favour  among  the  Euro- 
peans in  1856. 

The  exclusive  payment  of  the  troops  in 
such  an  inconveniently  heavy  coin  as  the  sil- 
ver rupee  (two-shilling)  piece,  obliges  them 
to  resort  frequently  to  money-changers; 
and  thus  to  lose  a  per-centage  on  their 
small  stipend.  Unfortunately,  the  gover- 
nor-general, whose  practical  ability  might 
have  been  so  beneficially  exercised  in  this 
and  other  matters,  appears  to  have  listened 
to  only  one  set  of  statements  regarding  the 
Native  army,  and  to  have  acted  upon  the 
principle  that  the  sepoy  had  been  "over- 
petted,"  and  required  sterner  discipline. 

General  Anson,  who  succeeded  Sir  Wil- 
liam Gomm  in  command  of  the  army,  took 
the  same  view  of  the  case,  only  a  more  exag- 
gerated one.     When  the  cartridge  agitation 
first    commenced,    he    set   at    nought   the 
feelings   of  the  sepoys,   by  declaring  that 
"he  would  never  give  in  to  their  beastly 
prejudices."    This  speech  sufficiently  reveals 
the  character  of  the  commander-in-chief  to 
whom  it  could  be  even  attributed  with  any 
show  of  probability;  and  it  certainly  de- 
serves a  place  among  the  immediate  causes 
of   the   mutiny. t      The   European   officers 
appear  to  have  too  generally   adopted  the 
same  tone,  especially  as  regarded  the  Ben- 
galees ;    and   it  was   commonly   said,    that 
whereas  the  leading  feehng  with  the  Bom- 
bay and  Madras  sepoys  was  the  honour  of 
their  regiment,  that  of  the  Bengal  sepoy 
was  the  pride  of  caste.     But,  in  fact,  all  the 
Hindoos,   except    the    outcastes,    maintain 
more    or    less    strongly,    certain    religious 
prejudices  which  interfere  with    their  effi- 
ciency as  soldiers ;  especially  their  invariable 
dislike  to  sea  voyages,  and  to  passing  cer- 
tain recognised  boundaries. 

•  Malcolm  on  the  Government  of  India,  p.  219. 

f  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  37. 

j  Sleenian's  Journey  throuyh  Oude,  vol.  ii.,  p.  95. 


The  Afghan  war  was  very  unpopular  for 
this  reason ;  and  the  calamities  and  sore  dis- 
comfiture endured  there,  deepened  the  un- 
favourable impression  which  it  made  upon 
the  whole  Native  army,  and  generally  upon 
the  people  of  India.     An  insurrection  in  the 
Saugor  and  Nerbudda  districts  broke  out  in 
1842.     The  wild   barons  of  the  hills  and 
jungles  swept  down  over  the  valleys  and 
cultivated  plains;  yet  the  pillaged  inhabi- 
tants yielded  little  support  to  the  officers  of 
the   government,    and    would    furnish    no 
information  with  regard  to  the  movements 
of  the  insurrectionists.     Colonel    Sleeman 
was  sent  by  Lord  Ellenborough  to  inquire 
into  the  cause  of  this  inconsistency.     He 
assembled  a  party  of  about  fifty  of  the  low- 
landers  in  his  tent;  and- there,  seated  on 
the  carpet,  each  man  freely  spoke  his  mind. 
XJrarao  Sing,  a  sturdy,  honest  farmer,  spoke 
of  the  conduct  of  the  chiefs  as  quite  natural. 
The  sudden  withdrawal  of  the  troops  for 
objects  of  distant  conquest,  and  the  tidings 
of  disaster  and  defeat,  awakened  their  hopes 
of  regaining  their  former  position,  for  they 
thought  the  British  raj  at  an  end.     Colonel 
Sleeman  said,  that  the  frtrmers  and  cultiva- 
tors of  the  disturbed  districts,  having  been 
more  favoured,  in  regard  to  life  and  property, 
than  in  any  other  part  of  India,  ought  to 
have    been    stanch     to    their    protectors : 
"  but,"  he  added,  "  there  are  some  men  who 
never  can  be  satisfied ;  give  them  what  you 
will,   they    will    always    be    craving    after 
more."     "True,  sir,"  replied  Umrao  Sing, 
with  the  utmost  gravity,  "  there  are  some 
people  who  can  never  be  satisfied,  give  them 
what  you   will;    give   thenj  the  whole   of 
Hindoostan,  and  they  will  go  oflF  to  Cabool 
to  take  more."J 

Hedayut  Ali,  a  subahdar  of  the  Bengal 
Seik  battalion,  a  man  of  excellent  character, 
whose  father  and  grandfather  had  occupied 
the  highest  positions  attainable  to  natives  in 
the  British  service,  has  furnished  some 
important  evidence  on  the  causes  of  disaffec- 
tion among  the  sepoys.  He  lays  much 
stress  on  the  sufferings  endured  by  the 
sepoys  in  Afghanistan  in  1838-'9,  and  the 
violations  of  caste  which  they  were  com- 
pelled to  commit  by  the  extreme  cold,  espe- 
cially in  the  matter  of  eating  without  first 
bathing,  and  of  wearing  sheepskin  jackets ; 
whereas  no  Hindoo,  except  of  the  lowest 
caste,  likes  to  touch  the  skin  of  a  dead 
animal. 

The  annexation  of  Oude  is  cited  by  this 
witness  as  having,  in  addition  to  other  real 


AEBITRARY  REGULATIONS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON— 1856. 


113 


or  imaginary  grievances,  caused  universal 
disaffection  throughout  the  army,  which 
from  that  time  determined  upon  mutinying. 
The  grounds  upon  which  this  opinion  is 
based,  are  very  clearly  stated.  On  the  14th 
of  March,  1856,  the  King  of  Oude  reached 
Cawnpoor,  on  his  way  to  Calcutta.  Hedayut 
Ali  reached  that  city  on  the  same  day.  He 
remained  there  six  days,  and  had  frequent 
interviews  with  the  king's  vakeels,  courtiers, 
and  servants;  as  did  also  the  principal 
people  of  Cawnpoor,  and  many  of  the  Native 
officers  and  sepoys  of  the  regiments  stationed 
there;  all  of  whom  were  indignant  at  the 
king's  dispossession.  The  vakeel  of  Nana 
Sahib  was  among  the  visitors,  and  took  pains 
to  increase  the  excitement,  by  saying  how 
displeased  and  grieved  his  master  was  by  the 
conduct  of  the  English.  Shortly  after, 
Hedayut  Ali  proceeded  to  join  his  corps  at 
Lahore,  and  marclied  thence  to  Bengal. 
On  the  way,  he  learnt  that  the  Native  in- 
fantry at  Barrackpoor  were  showing  symp- 
toms of  mutiny ;  and  this,  with  other  intelli- 
gence, he,  from  time  to  time,  communicated 
to  his  commanding  officer. 

The  King  of  Oude  again  visited  Cawnpoor 
in  December,  1856,  and  stayed  about  a 
fortnight ;  during  which  time  much  mischief 
is  said  to  have  been  concocted.  Meanwhile 
the  commander-in-chief  and  the  governor- 
general  were  initiating  measures  very  dis- 
pleasing to  various  classes  of  natives.  The 
Madras  sepoys  had  shown,  at  Vellore,  how 
dangerous  it  was  to  interfere  with  the 
marks  on  their  foreheads,  or  the  fashion  of 
their  turbans.  The  Seiks  and  Mohamme- 
dans are  scarcely  less  susceptible  on  the 
subject  of  their  beards  and  moustachios. 
Consequently,  in  the  extensive  enlistments 
of  these  Taces,  carried  on  after  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  Punjab,  a  pledge  was  given  that 
no  interference  should  be  attempted  in  the 
matter  of  hair-dressing.  General  Anson, 
however,  issued  an  order,  directing  the 
Mohammedans  to  cut  their  beards  after  a 
prescribed  fashion.  They  refused,  pleading 
the  condition  of  their  enlistment.  Tlie 
general  insisted  on  their  obeying  the  order, 
or  quitting  the  service ;  and  many  of  them, 
sooner  than  suffer  what,  in  their  view,  was 
a  disgrace,  took  their  discharge,  and  went 
to  their  homes.  Sir  Charles  Napier  under- 
stood the  native  character  far  too  well  to 
have  so  needlessly  played  the  martinet,  in- 
dependently of  the  sympathy  which  he 
would  naturally  have  felt  for  the  recusants, 
by  reason  of  having  himself  "  a  beard  like  a 

vol..   II.  Q 


Cashmere  goat."  The  discharged  sepoys 
"bitterly  complained  of  the  commanding 
officers  having  broken  faith  with  them  ;  and 
several  of  them,  who  afterwards  re-enlisted 
in  the  same  regiment  as  Hedayut  Ali, 
frequently  spoke  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  had  been  deprived  of  the  benefit  of 
several  years'  service.  But  the  crowning 
act  of  innovation  enacted  by  Lord  Canning 
and  General  Anson,  was  the  general  service 
order  of  1856,  by  which  all  recruits  were  to 
be  compelled  to  swear  that  they  would  go, 
by  sea  or  land,  wherever  their  services  were 
required.  The  refusal  of  the  38th  Bengal 
infantry  to  march  to  Burmah,  was  severely 
punished  by  Lord  Dalhousie's  sending  the 
regiment  by  land  to  Dacca,  where  the  can- 
tonments were  very  bad,  and  the  loss  of 
life  among  the  troops  extremely  heavy."* 
He  did  not,  however,  attempt  to  strike 
such  a  blow  as  that  now  aimed  at  caste; 
for  the  unqualified  aversion  to  the  sea 
entertained  by  the  Bengal  sepoys,  would,  it 
was  well  known,  prevent  many  from  bring- 
ing up  their  children  to  a  profession  which 
they  had  learned  to  look  upon  as  an  here- 
ditary means  of  obtaining  an  honourable 
maintenance.  They  feared  also  for  them- 
selves. Hedayut  Ali  says — "  When  the 
old  sepoys  heard  of  this  order,  they  were 
much  frightened  and  displeased.  '  Up  to 
this  day,  those  men  who  went  to  Afghanis- 
tan have  not  been  readmitted  to  their 
caste;  how  are  we  to  know  where  the  Eng- 
lish may  force  us  to  go  ?  They  will  be 
ordering  us  next  to  go  to  London.'  Any 
new  order  is  looked  upon  with  much  sus- 
picion by  the  Native  army,  and  is  much 
canvassed  in  every  regiment." 

This  latter  remark  is  unquestionably  a  just 
one ;  the  intercourse  maintained  throughout 
the  Bengal  army,  and  the  rapid  and  correct 
transmission  of  intelligence,  having  been 
one  of  the  most  marked  features  of  the 
mutinies.  The  following  observations  are 
also  painfully  correct : — 

"  Of  late  years  the  sepoys  have  not  confided  in  their 
officers.  *  *  •  A  native  of  Hindoostan  seldom 
opens  his  mind  to  his  officer ;  he  only  says  what  he 
thinks  would  please  his  officer.  The  sepoys  reserve 
their  real  opinion  until  they  return  to  their  lines 
and  to  their  comrades.  •  •  »  The  government 
must  be  aware,  that  when  a  soldier  has  once  or  twice 
shown  a  disposition  to  mutiny,  he  is  useless  as  a 
soldier :  one  mutinous  sepoy  infects  a  whole  com- 
pany ;  and  gradually,  one  man  after  another,  from 
fear  or  sympathy,  joins  the  mutineers. 

"  Many  commanding  officers,  to  my  knowledge, 
reported  that  regiments  were  all  right,  when  they 

*  Norton's  Rebellion  in  India,  p.  2^. 


114 


EVILS  OP  THE  SENIORITY  SYSTEM— ISrifi. 


knew  that  there  were  discontent  and  bad  feeling  in 
the  ranks;  and,  to  my  belief,  for  the  sake  of  the 
name  of  their  respective  regiments,  concealed  the 
real  state  of  their  regiments,  until  at  length  the 
sepovs  took  to  murdering  their  officers.  *  *  * 
Another  reason  (and,  in  my  opinion,  a  very  serious 
one)  why  the  army  became  mutinous  and  disaffected 
is  this.  Promotion  all  went  by  seniority,  and  not, 
as  it  ought,  according  to  merit  and  proficiency.  AH 
the  old  men,  from  length  of  service  worth  nothing 
as  commissioned  or.  non-commissioned _  officers,  re- 
ceived promotion ;  while  younger  men,  in  every  way 
fit,  languished  in  their  lines :  saying,  '  What  use  is 
there  in  us  exerting  ourselves ;  we  cannot  get  pro- 
motion until  our  turn  comes,  and  that  time  can't 
come  until  our  heads  are  gray  and  our  mouths 
toothless.'  For  this  reason,  the  sepoys  for  the  most 
part  drew  their  pay,  and  were  careless  with  regard 
to  their  duty.  The  higher  ranks  of  the  Native  army, 
from  old  age  alone,  were  quite  incapacitated  from 
doing  their  duty,  even  had  they  the  will  to  do  it. 
I  state  confidently,  that  the  generality  of  Native 
officers  were  an  encumbrance  to  the  state :  instead 
of  commanding  sepoys,  the  sepoys  commanded 
them;  and  instead  of  the  commissioned  and  non- 
commissioned ranks  preventing  the  men  from  muti- 
nying, they  rather  persuaded  them  to  do  so."* 

The  above  opinion  of  a  Native  officer 
on  the  effect  of  the  Bengal  military  system 
upon  his  countrymen,  reads  like  the  echo 
-of  that  of  IndopliiUis,  regarding  its  opera- 
tion on  the  Europeans.  The  arguments 
urged  in  the  two  cases  are  so  nearly  iden- 
tical, that  it  may  well  be  asked  whether 
justice  and  common  sense  do  not  prompt  to 
the  same  course  of  general  legislation. 

"  Under  a  pure  seniority  system,  an  officer's  pro- 
motion goes  on  precisely  in  the  same  manner 
whether  he  exerts  himself  or  takes  his  ease;  and  as 
few  love  exertion  for  its  own  sake,  the  majority  take 
their  ease.  Under  a  system  of  selection  according 
to  qualification  and  service,  promotion  is  dependent 
upon  exertion,  and  the  majority  consequently  exert 
themselves.  Those  only  who  know  the  Bengal 
army  can  form  some  estimate  of  the  amount  of  idle- 
ness and  bad  habit  engendered  by  the_  seniority 
system  co-operating  with  the  enervating  influences 
of  the  climate,  which  would  be  converted  into  active 
interest  in  professional  duty,  by  the  substitution  of  a 
well-considered  system  of  promotion  according  to 
qualification  and  good  service."t 

Lord  MelvilleJ  had  also  urged,  so  far  as  he 
was  allowed  to  do,  the  evils  of  the  seniority 
system.  Other  authorities,  more  or  less  di- 
rectly, assert,  that  it  was  the  defective  charac- 
ter, rather  than  the  insufficient  number,  of 
the  officers  left  to  do  regimental  duty  as  "the 
refuse  of  the  army,"  which  weakened  their 

•  Translated  by  Captain  T.  Rattra)-,  from  the 
original  Oordoo ;  and  published  in  the  Times,  April 
1st,  1858. 

t  Lettert  of  Indophilus,  p.  1 8. 

X  The  directors  are  said  to  defend  themselves  for 
neglecting  Lord  Melville's  representations,  on  the 
ground   that   his  "evidence  was  contradicted  most 


hold  on  their  men.  Brigadier-general  Jacob 
remarks,  that  "  qualifications,  not  numbers, 
are  necessary  for  the  leaders  of  the  native 
Indian  soldiers ;"  and  his  opinion  is  cor- 
roborated by  the  fact,  that  the  irregular, 
and  local  force,  which  was  officered  entirely 
by  a  few  but  picked  men,  was — allowing  for 
discrepancies  of  pay  and  dates  of  enlist- 
ment— generally  held  to  be  in  an  equally, 
if  not  more,  efficient  condition  than  the 
regular  regiments. 

A  well-informed,  but  not  unprejudiced 
witness  says,  that  the  conduct  of  irregular 
regiments,  which  possess  only  three  Euro- 
pean officers,  has  always  contrasted  so 
favourably  with  that  of  line  regiments, 
with  their  fourteen  or  fifteen,  that  the 
natural  conclusion  one  would  arrive  at  is, 
that  the  latter  are  over-officered.  He  also 
deprecates  the  seniority  system,  by  which 
a  sepoy  who  may  enter  the  service  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  cannot  count  on  finding 
himself  a  naik  (corporal)  before  he  attains 
the  age  of  thirty-six ;  a  havildar  (sergeant) 
before  forty-five;  a  jemadar  (lieutenant) 
before  fifty-four;  or  a  subahdar  (captain) 
before  sixty;  while,  "  after  fifty,  most  natives 
are  utterly  useless."§ 

The  full  complement  of  European  officers 
to  each  regular  regiment  is  twenty-six ;  but 
of  these  half  are  generally  absent,  either  on 
service  or  on  furlough.  The  commander 
is  usually  a  lieutenant-colonel ;  then  there 
is  an  adjutant,  to  superintend  the  drill ;  a 
quartermaster,  whose  duty  it  is  to  look 
after  the  clothing  of  the  men ;  and,  lastly, 
an  interpreter.  The  necessity  for  this  last 
functionary  lies  at  the  root  of  our  late  sudden 
calamity ;  for  the  officers,  if  they  had  been 
able  and  willing  to  hold  close  intercourse 
with  their  men,  and  explain  to  them  the 
reasons  for  the  various  unpopular  orders 
recently  issued,  would,  if  they  could  not 
remove  disaffection,  at  least  have  become 
acquainted  with  its  existence.  An  infantry 
regiment  on  the  Bengal  establishment  com- 
prises ten  companies,  each  containing  a 
hundred  privates,  two  native  commissioned, 
and  twelve  non-commissioned  officers. 

The  great  increase  of  the  irregular  regi- 
ments has  been  in  itself  a  source  of  jealousy 
and  heartburning  to  the  regular  troops,  who 

strongly,  in  every  particular,  by  that  of  Sir  Patrick 
Grant,  who  assured  us,  that  the  Bengal  army  (of 
which  he  had  been  long  adjutant-general)  was  all 
that  it  should  be."— Letter,  signed  "  H.  C"— Daily 
News,  July  25th,  1857. 

§  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army  by  one  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  pp.  1 ;  7. 


ARBITRARY  REGULATIONS  OF  1856. 


115 


expected  that  their  numbers  would  be 
largely  augmented  on  the  recent  annexa- 
tions, and  that  extensive  promotions  would 
take  place.  This  expectation  was  wholly 
disappointed.  The  enormous  expenses  of 
the  army  rendered  the  comparative  cheap- 
ness of  irregular  troops  an  irresistible  advan- 
tage. According  to  the  Army  List  for  1857, 
the  irregular  and  local  force  of  Bengal  num- 
bered forty-two  infantry,  and  twenty-seven 
cavalry  regiments;  and  the  so-called  contin- 
gents of  Native  States,  comprised  sixteen  of 
cavalry  and  nineteen  of  infantry :  in  all, 
ninety-four  regiments  ;  the  whole  officered 
by  picked  men  from  the  twenty-four  regi- 
ments of  the  regular  army.  The  relative 
numbers  of  the  three  armies  need  not  be 
given  here,  as  their  proportions  and  distribu- 
tion are  immediately  connected  with  the 
liistory  about  to  be  entered  on.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  greased  cartridges  has  been 
already  noticed  under  the  liead  of  "  Caste;" 
and  will  frequently  recur  in  the  ensuing 
narrative. 


A  Mohammedan  Conspiracy,  widely  rami- 
fied and  deeply  rooted,  is  urged  by  some 
authorities  as  in  itself  the  great  motive 
power  of  the  late  political  convulsion; 
others,  on  the  contrary,  deny  its  existence, 
on  the  ground  of  no  sufficient  evidence 
having  been  adduced  thereof 

Dr.  Alexander  Duff,  the  eloquent  Pres- 
byterian preacher  of  Calcutta,  writing  in 
August,  1857,  says — "  It  is  a  long-con- 
cocted Mohammedan  conspiracy  now  come 
to  a  head.  The  main  object  is  the  destruc- 
tion of  British  power,  and  the  reascendancy 
of  Mohammedan.  Even  the  cartridge 
affair  was  only  a  casual  incident,  of  which 
the  conspirators  adroitly  took  advantage."* 

In  his  published  Letters  on  the  Indian 
Rebellion,  the  Doctor  throughout  insists  on 
Mussulman  intrigues  as  being  continually 
developed  and  exposed;  but  he  wrote  in 
a  season  of  excitement,  when  rumours 
abounded  of  dangers  and  atrocities,  many 
of  which  have  happily  proved  unfounded, 
but  which  naturally  served  to  confirm  his 
preconceived  opinion.  The  truth  is  terrible 
enough ;  and  for  the  sake  of  our  national 
honour,  for  the  sake  of  human  nature,  and, 
above  all,  for  the  sake  of  truth  itself,  we 

*  Speech  of  the  Hon.  A.  Kinnaird,  11th  June, 
1857  :  second  edition  ;  p.  35. 

t  Proclamation  issued  by  Prince  Mirza  Moham- 
med Feroze  Shah,  17th  February,  1858. 

t  See  Times,  September  1st,  1857. 


should  strive  to  strip  this  fearful  episode  of 
the  obscurity  in  which  conflicting  exagge- 
rations have  wrapped  its  origin  and  pro- 
gress. Beyond  question,  the  Mohammedan 
princes  of  India  have  strong  reason  for 
combining  to  restore  the  green  flag  of  Islam 
to  its  former  supremacy  in  Hindoostan.  If 
an  opportunity  offered,  it  is  at  least  highly 
probable  that  the  orthodox  Sonnites  of 
Delhi,  and  the  heterodox  Sheiahs  of  Oude, 
would  be  content  to  forget  for  a  time  the 
rival  claims  of  Caliphs  and  Imaums  to 
apostolic  succession,  and  make  common 
cause  against  the  power  which  treats  both 
with  indifference. 

The  whole  Mussulman  body  would  of 
necessity  be  drawn  closer  together  by  the 
danger  which  threatened  all  alike.  They 
had  still  something  to  lose;  that  is,  some- 
thing to  fight  for.  Submission  had  not 
succeeded  in  preserving  the  independence 
of  Oude  ;  and  even  Hyderabad,  much  more 
the  titular  principality  of  Delhi,  seemed 
tottering  to  a  close.  Still  the  Mohamme- 
dans were  as  a  handful  amid  a  heap ;  and 
the  chief  point  to  solve  was,  whether  the 
recent  innovations  had  sufficiently  disgusted 
the  leading  Hindoos  to  render  them  willing 
to  forget  past  usurpations,  and  join  with 
their  former  subjugators  in  attempting  the 
overthrow  of  the  British  raj. 

Tippoo  Sultan  had  made  an  effort  of  the 
kind,  but  without  success ;  and  it  now  ap- 
pears, by  his  own  proclamation,  that  Prince 
!Mirza  Feroze  Shah,  on  his  return  from  a 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  "  persuaded  many  at 
Delhi  to  raise  a  religious  war;"  being  in- 
cited thereto  by  observing  that  "the  Eng- 
lish were  in  a  bad  and  precarious  state."t 

Great  anxiety  had  been  felt  at  Delhi, 
throughout  the  period  of  Lord  Dalhousie's 
administration,  regarding  the  manner  in 
which  his  annexation  policy  would  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  family  who,  fallen 
as  they  were,  still  represented,  in  the  minds 
of  the  Indian  people,  the  mighty  Mogul 
emperors  of  old,  and  whose  restoration  to 
power  had  been  prayed  for  daily  in  the 
mosques  throughout  India  for  nearly  a 
hundred  years.  J 

In  1849,  the  heir-apparent  died,  and  the 
Indian  government  recommended  the  Court 
of  Directors  to  "terminate  the  dynasty  of 
Timour  whenever  the  reigning  king  should 
die."  The  court  consented ;  but  so  reluc- 
tantlj',  that  the  governor-general  did  not 
care  to  avail  himself  of  their  permission, 
and  therefore  recognised  the  grandson  of 


116     PERSIAN  WAR  DEPRIVED  INDIA  OF  EUROPEAN  TROOPS— 1856. 


the  king  as  heir-apparent;  "but  ouly  on 
condition  tliat  he  should  quit  the  palace  in 
Delhi,  in  order  to  reside  iu  the  palace  at 
the  Kootub ;  and  that  he  should,  as  king, 
receive  the  governor-general  of  India,  at  all 
times,  ou  terms  of  perfect  equality." 

These  conditions  show  that  something 
of  external  pomp  and  circumstance  still 
lingered  around  Delhi,  of  which  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  East  India  Company  were 
anxious  to  be  rid,  and  the  royal  family  as 
anxious  to  retain.  True,  the  power  had 
long  vanished ;  but  even  the  tarnished 
pageantry  was  clung  to,  naturally  enough, 
by  those  who  had  no  other  birthright,  and 
no  prospect  of  being  able  to  win  their  way  to 
■wealth  and  honour  as  warriors ;  the  profes- 
sion of  arms  being  the  only  one  in  which  a 
Mohammedan  prince  of  the  blood  could  en- 
gage without  forfeiting  caste.  The  sullateen 
(plural  for  sultan) — as  the  various  branches 
of  the  family  are  termed — are  probably  a  very 
idle  and  dissolute  race.  It  is  in  the  nature 
of  things  that  they  should  have  become  so. 
Certainly  we  never  did  anything  to  hinder 
their  debasement;  and  have,  while  acting  as 
their  political  and  pecuniary  trustees,  been 
lamentably  indifierent  to  their  moral  and 
physical  welfare.  We  never  evinced  the 
slightest  interest  in  them;  and  have  no 
right  to  wonder  at  their  degradation. 

With  the  downfall  of  the  dynasty  we  had 
no  concern.  In  dealing  generously  with 
Shah  Alum,  we  acted  with  sound  policy. 
All  India  respected  us  for  it.  Even  in 
Leadenhall-street,  suflBcient  memory  of  the 
bygone  feelings  and  events  lingered  in  1849, 
to  make  the  application  of  the  new  absorp- 
tion laws  seem  peculiarly  harsh  in  the  case 
of  Delhi.  The  scruples  of  the  Court  of  Direc- 
tors induced  Lord  Didhousie  to  draw  back 
his  hand,  at  least  as  far  as  the  titular  sove- 
reignty was  concerned ;  but  his  proposal  for 
its  extinction  having  been  once  mooted,  and 
eveu  sanctioned,  itmay  be  considered  that  the 
sentence  was  rather  deferred  than  reversed. 
This,  at  least,  was  the  public  opinion. 
It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  the  same  accounts 
from  India,  which  have  been  already  quoted 
as  describing  the  unbroken  tranquillity  of 
the  entire  peninsula  at  the  close  of  1856, 
state  that  the  palace  of  Delhi  was  "in  a 
ferment,"  owing  to  the  recent  death  of  the 
heir-apparent  from  cholera,  and  the  renewed 
discussion  regarding  the  succession.  "  We 
have  (it  is  added)   no  treaty,  agreement,  or 

•  Calcutta  correspondent,  November  8lh,  1856. — 
Timss,  December  9lh,  1856. 


stipulation  with  Delhi.     The  king's  privi- 
leges and  pension   were  all  granted  as  of 
free  grace;  and  the  former  will  probably  be 
withdrawn.    The  palace  is  a  .sink  of  iniquity ; 
and  the  family,  on  the  death  of  its  present 
head,  will  probably  be  compelled  to  move."* 
The  same  paper  contains  the  announce- 
ment that  the  anticipated  declaration  of  war 
against  Persia  had  appeared  in  a  proclama- 
tion  published  at  Calcutta  on  the   1st  of 
November,  1856.     The  casus  belli  was  the 
breach  of  the  treaty  of  1853,  by  which  the 
Persian    government    promised   to   abstain 
from  all  interference  with  Herat ;  the  inde- 
pendence of  that  city,  under  its  brave  chief, 
Esa  Khan,  being  deemed    essential  to  the 
security  of  the    British  frontier.     On   the 
pretence  that  Dost  Mohammed  had  been 
instigated  to  seize  Candahar  and  advance 
upon  Herat,  a  Persian  army  crossed  into 
the  Herat  territory  (which  was  declared  to  be 
Persian  soil),    and   laid  siege  to   the  city. 
Under  instructions  from  the  home  govern- 
ment, a  force  was  assembled  at  Bombay  for 
service  in  the  Persian  Gulf.     The   Times' 
correspondent    describes    the   departure   of 
the  force,  in  three  divisions,  as  taking  place 
iu  the  middle  of  November.     The  first,  con- 
sisting of    H.M.'s   64th  regiment  and  the 
20th  Native  infantry,  embarked  from  Vin- 
gorla  in  two  steamers,  each  with  its  trans- 
port  iu   tow.     The    second,    comprising   a 
European  regiment,  the  2nd  Belooch  cavalry, 
and  two  squadrons  of  the  3rd  cavalry,  sailed 
from  Poorbunder  and  Kurrachee.    The  third 
embarked  from  Kurrachee  a  few  days  later, 
and  consisted  of  the  4th  Rifles  (a  very  strong 
and  well-appointed  regiment),  two  troops  of 
the  Poona  horse,  a  field  battery,  a  troop  of 
horse  artillery,  a  third-class  siege-train,  and 
two  companies  of  sappers  and  miners.     The 
rendezvous  was  fixed  at  Bunder  Abbas,  a 
place  near  the  entrance  of  the  gulf,  iu  the 
occupation  of  our  Arab  ally,  the  Imaum  of 
Muscat.f 

At  the  time  the  above  facts  were  recorded, 
no  idea  appears  to  have  been  entertained  of 
any  connection  existing  between  the  Persian 
war  and  the  ferment  iu  the  palace  of 
Delhi.  The  declaration  of  war  had  been 
long  expected ;  and,  according  to  the  Times' 
correspondent,  created  little  excitement  at 
Bombay.  The  Persians,  who  are  nume- 
rous there,  as  also  in  other  large  Indian 
cities,  relied  ou  the  promise  of  protection 
given  them,  and  remained  quiescent.    "  Even 

t  Bombay  correspondent,  November  17th,  1856. — 
Times,  Uecember  9lh,  1856. 


s 


^ 


« 


REPORTS  OF  MOHAMMEDAN  PLOTS— 1856. 


117 


the  Mussulman  population,  who  sympathise 
with  Persia,"  he  adds,  "  sympathise  still 
more  with  Afghanistan  ;*  and  the  fact  that 
we  are  fighting  with,  and  not  against,  Dost 
Mohammed,  is  thoroughly  understood.  The 
European  public  accepts  the  war  with  a 
feeling  of  quiet  resignation.  The  idea  that 
it  is  our  destiny  to  advance — that  we  cannot 
help  ourselves,  has  obtained  a  control  over 
the  public  mind ;  and  every  war  breaks  the 
monotony  of  Indian  life,  which  is  the  curse 
of  India,  as  of  all  aristocratic  life." 

It  seems  probable  that  the  Persian  war 
materially,  though  indirectly,  contributed 
to  break  up  the  aristocratic  monotony  of 
high-caste  European  life,  by  denuding  India 
of  her  most  reliable  troops.  The  number 
sent,  of  men  of  all  arras,  to  the  Persian 
Gulf,  in  November,  1856,  amounted  to 
5,820,  of  whom  2,270  were  Europeans.  In 
the  following  February  a  still  larger  force 
was  dispatched,  under  Brigadier-general 
Havelock,  consisting  of  5,340  men,  of 
whom  about  1,770  were  Europeans;  and 
800  cavalry  were  subsequently  dispatched 
at  an  enormous  cost.  Thus  the  "  army  of 
Persia"  deprived  India  of  about  12,000 
men,  of  whom  one-third  were  Europeans. 
Lord  Canning  considered  this  force  quite 
sulficient  for  any  operations  which  Major- 
general  Outram  could  undertake  before  the 
hot  season ;  but,  he  adds,  "  it  is  certain 
that  very  large  reinforcements  will  be 
needed  before  a  second  campaign,  com- 
mencing with  the  autumn  of  1857,  can  be 
entered  upon." 

Man  proposes — God  disposes.  Long 
before  the  autumn  set  in,  an  Indian  cam- 
paign had  commenced,  which,  whether  the 
Persians  had  or  had  not  withdrawn  their 
claims  on  Herat,  must  have  equally  relieved 
the  governor-general  from  the  task  of  pro- 
viding a  third  armament  for  the  Persian 
Gulf,  "to  include  not  less  than  six  Euro- 
pean regiments  of  infantry  and  one  of 
cavalry."  The  Persians  were  overcome, 
and  the  independence  of  Herat  was  secured, 
at  a  cost  to  Britain  of  about  j6500,000  in 
money.f  Meanwhile,  intimations  of  Persian 
intrigues  were  given  to  the  authorities  by 
various  persons,  but  set  at  nought  as  idle 

•  This  assertion  may  be  reasonably  questioned, 
since  the  Sheiahs  of  Oude  looked  up  to  the  Shah  of 
Persia  as  the  head  of  their  sect.  Mr.  Ludlow  says 
tliat  the  Persian  war  caused  great  excitement  in 
Northern  India,  where  many  of  the  Moslems  were  of 
the  Sheiah  sect ;  and  he  adds,  that  one  of  his  rela- 
tives had  himself,  within  the  last  two  or  three  years, 
read  placards  on  the  wails  of  Delhi,  calling  true 


rumours.  The  trial  of  the  King  of  Delhi  fur- 
nishes evidence  that  inducements  to  revolt 
were  held  forth  by  the  Shah  of  Persia,  who 
promised  money  and  troops.  His  procla- 
mation to  that  effect  was  posted  over  the 
mosque  gate,  and  was  taken  down  by  order 
of  Sir  Theophilus  Metcalfe,  who,  moreover, 
was  informed  by  John  Everett,  a  Christian 
risaldar  very  popular  with  the  natives,  that 
he  had  been  warned  to  fly,  as  the  Persians 
were  coming,  and  the  Mussulmans  were 
greatly  excited.  Sir  T.  Metcalfe  thought 
the  information  of  no  importance.  J  A  state- 
ment of  a  Mohammedan  plot  was  laid 
before  Mr.  Colvin ;  but  he  also  suffered  the 
warning  to  pass  unheeded,  and  did  not  even 
report  it  to  government. 

At  this  very  time  Delhi  was  absolutely 
devoid  of  European  troops,  yet  strongly 
fortified,  and  stored  with  the  munitions  of 
war.  Its  palace-fort  was  still  tenanted  by 
the  representative  of  the  rois  faineants  of 
the  East,  whose  persons  had  formerly  been 
fought  for  by  opposing  factions  as  a  tower 
of  strength;  their  compulsory  signature 
being  used  notoriously  to  legitimatise  usur- 
pation, and  influence  the  populace. 

Extreme  insalubrity  is  given  by  Lord 
Ellenborough  as  the  reason  why  no  Euro- 
pean regiment  had  ever  yet  been  stationed 
there,  sickness  prevailing  to  such  an  extent, 
that,  after  the  rains,  two-thirds  of  the 
strength  even  of  the  Native  troops  were  in 
hospital. §  Sanitary  measures  would  pro- 
bably have  prevented,  or  greatly  mitigated 
this  evil  (as  at  Seringapatam);  nor  does  it 
appear  that  any  cause  but  neglect  existed 
to  render  Delhi  less  habitable  than  of  old. 

Sir  Charles  Napier's  prediction  was  one 
which  any  chance  traveller  might  have  rea- 
sonably made ;  and  there  is,  therefore,  the 
less  excuse  for  the  absence  of  obviously  ne- 
cessary precautions.  "Men,"  he  said,  "of 
all  parts  of  Asia  meet  in  Delhi ;  and,  some 
day  or  other,  much  mischief  will  be  hatched 
within  those  city  walls,  and  no  European 
troops  at  hand." II  He  knew  also,  and  offi- 
cially urged  upon  the  governor-general, 
"  that  the  powder-magazine  was  defended 
only  by  a  guard  of  fifty  natives,  and  the 
gates  so  weak  that  a  mob  could  push  them 

believers  to  the  holy  war  in  the  name  of  the  Shah  of 
Persia. — Lectures  on  British  India,  vol.  ii.,  p.  219. 

t  Speech  of  Lord  Claude  Hamilton :  Indian  de- 
bate, July  20th,  1857. 

X  Calcutta  correspondent. — 2>W«,  March  29, 1858. 

§  Indian  debate,  July  13th,  1857. 

II  Letter  to  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Bengal 
artillery:  published  in  the  Times,  20th  August,  1857. 


118 


BRITISH  RULE  TO  LAST  A  HUNDRED  YEARS. 


iu;  whereas  the  place  ought  to  be  garri- 
soned by  12,000  picked  men."* 

The  absence  of  a  European  garrison  in 
Delhi  is  the  most  unpardonable  of  our  blun- 
ders; and — what  does  not  always  follow — 
it  is  the  one  for  which  we  have  most  dearly 
paid,  not  iu  money  only,  but  in  the  life- 
blood  of  our  best  and  bravest  soldiers.    One 
cannot  think  of  Nicholson  and  his  gallant 
companions    without    bitterly    denouncing 
the    neglect    which  suffered    Delhi   to    fall 
defenceless  at  the  feet  of  a  few  rebels,  put 
at  once  a  sword  and  shield  into  their  hands, 
and    gave    them   the   ancient   Mussulman 
metropolis  of  India  as  a  nucleus  for  every 
aggrieved   chief,   every    disaffected    soldier, 
every  reckless  adventurer,  escaped  convict, 
pindarree,  thug,  dacoit,  to  rally  round,  for 
the  destruction  of  the  British  raj — at  least 
for  a  long  carnival  of  war  and  loot.     The 
very  heroism   of  the  troops  who  regained 
Delhi   embitters    the   recollection    of    the 
neglect    by   which   it   was  lost.     Dulce   et 
decorum  est  pro  patria   mori !   as    one   of 
them  (Captain  Battye)  said  when  mortally 
wounded;  but,  to  their  country,  their  very 
•devotion  only  renders  it  more  painful  that 
the    necessity    for    such    sacrifices    should 
have  been  so  culpably  occasioned.     This  is, 
however,  anticipating  events,  the  progress 
of  which  will  best  evidence  how  far  Persian 
intrigues  may  have  been  connected  with  the 
mutiny.     At  present,  many  assertions  are 
made,  the  truth  of  which  yet  remains   iu 
dispute.     It  would  seem,  however,  that  the 
efforts  of  the  King  of  Persia  had  been  chiefly 
directed  to  Delhi;  and  that  if  communica- 
tions were  entered  into  with  leading  Mo- 
hammedans in  other  parts  of  India,  these 
had  not  had  time   to  ripen;    and,    conse- 
quently, when   the   mutinies   broke   forth, 
heralded  by  incendiary  fires  in  every  British 
camp,    the   conspirators   must    have    been 


taken  by  surprise  almost  as  much  as  the 
Europeans  themselves. f 

Shett  Nowmull,  "a  native  merchant  of 
Kurrachee,  for  many  years  favourably  known 
to  government  on  account  of  his  great  in- 
telligence, his  extensive  influence  and  con- 
nexions   throughout  the  countries  on  our 
western  frontier,  and  his  true  attachment 
to  the  British  government,"  communicated, 
to  Mr.  Freere,  commissioner  of  Sinde,  in 
June,  1857,  his  reasons  for  believing  that 
"  Persian  influence  was  at  the  bottom  of  the 
mutiny."     He  declared  that  cossids  (mes- 
sengers),under  different  disguises,  withletters 
secreted  in  the  soles  of  their  shoes  or  other- 
wise, had,  for  the  last  two  years,  been  regu- 
larly passing  between  Delhi  and  the  Persian 
court,  via  Candahar ;  that  a  great  spread  of 
the    Sheiah   tenets  of  Islamism  had   been 
observable    during  the    same   period;    and 
also  that  a  very  perceptible  decrease  had 
taken  place  in  the  rancour  usually  existing 
between  the   Sheiahs  and   Sonnites.     The 
new  cartridges  had  been  used  "  through  the 
same  influence,"   to  excite  the  feelings  of 
the  Hindoo  portion  of  the  army,  and  lead 
them   to   mutiny.      Dost   Mohammed,    he 
said,    thought    more    of    Persia    than    of 
England,    for    a   very    pertinent    reason — 
"  Persia  is  on  the  Dost's  head ;  Peshawur  is 
under   his  feet  :"J  in  other  words,  a  man 
placed  between  two  fires,  would  especially 
dread  the  more  immediate  one. 

Prophecies  of  various  kinds  were  current 
— always  are  current,  in  India;  but  when 
the  mutiny  broke  out,  more  heed  was  given 
to  them  by  the  natives;  and  the  Europeans 
also  lent  an  ear,  knowing  that  a  pretended 
prophecy  might  disguise  an  actual  plot,  and, 
in  more  ways  than  one,  work  out  its  own 
fulfilment.  The  alleged  prediction  which 
limited  the  duration  of  the  British  raj  to 
a  hundred  years,  was  repeated  far  aud  wide  ;§ 


•  Memoir  on  the  Defence  of  India  ;  addressed  by 
Sir  C.  Napier  to  Lord  Dalhousie.  See  Indian  debate 
of  23rd  July,  1857. 

t  In  the  captured  tent  of  the  Shahzada  com- 
mander, after  the  rout  of  the  Persians  at  Mohum- 
rah,  there  was  found  a  royal  proclamation  addressed 
"  to  all  the  people  of  Heran  ;"  but  which  also  called 
on  "  the  Afghan  tribes,  and  the  inhabitants  of  that 
country  who  are  co-religionists  of  the  Persians,  and 
who  possess  the  same  Koran  and  Kebla,  and  laws  of 
the  prophet,  to  take  part  in  the  Jahdd."  It  expressly 
invited  the  followers  of  Islam  in  India  and  Sinde  to 
unite  and  wreak  vengeance  on  the  British  for  all  the 
injuries  which  the  holy  faith  had  suffered  from  them, 
and  not  to  withhold  any  sacrifice  in  the  holy  cause. 
"  The  old  and  the  young,  the  small  and  the  great, 
the  wise  and  the  ignorant,  ttie  ryot  and  the  sepoy, 


all  without  exception,"  are  summoned  by  the  Shah- 
in-Shab  to  arise  in  defence  of  the  orthodox  faith  of 
the  prophet ;  and  having  girt  up  the  waist  of  valour, 
adorn  their  persons  with  arms  and  weapons ;  and  let 
the  UUema  and  preachers  call  on  the  people  in  the 
mosques  and  public  assemblies,  and  in  the  pulpits,  to 
join  in  a  Jahad,  in  the  cause  of  God  ;  and  thus  shall 
the  Ghazis  in  the  cause  of  faith  have  a  just  title  to 
the  promises  contained  in  the  words  of  the  prophet, 
"Verily  we  are  of  those  who  fought  in  the  cause  of 
God." — Blackwood's  Edinburyh  Magazine  for  1857  : 
article  entitled  "  The  Poorbeah  Mutiny." 

I  Letter  from  H.  B.  B.  Freere,  commissioner  of 
Sinde,  to  Lord  Elphinstone,  governor  of  Bombay. 
Hth  June,  1857.— Pari.  Papers  (253),  4th  May, 
1858;  p.  48. 

§  Dr.  A.  Duff's  Letters :  London,  1858 ;  p.  26. 


RUSSIAN  INTRIGUES  AN  ALLEGED  CAUSE  OF  DISS  AFFECTION.      119 


and  the  Europeans  in  Calcutta  and  many 
of  the  leading  cities,  watched  the  approach 
of  the  centenary  of  Plassy  with  a  feverish 
anxiety  bordering  on  panic. 

But  prophecies  such  as  these,  are  usually 
the  consequence  or  the  sign,  rather  than  the 
cause,  of  popular  tumults.  In  health  we 
can  smile  at  language  which,  in  sickness, 
excites  a  fevered  imagination  to  frenzy. 
For  years  the  natives  had  been  allowed  to 
speculate  on  the  future  destiny,  and  com- 
ment on  the  present  policy,  of  their  rulers, 
without  any  restraint  whatever;  now,  every 
third  word  seemed  treason.  Such  of  the 
English  functionaries  as  understood  Indian 
languages,  began  to  examine  the  literature 
of  the  day ;  and  were  exceedingly  puzzled  to 
decide  what  was,  and  what  was  not,  written 
with  a  sinister  intent. 

A  Persian  paper,  for  instance,  was  brought 
to  Mr.  Freere  about  the  commencement  of 
hostilities,  which  described  the  signs  preced- 
ing the  day  of  judgment,  in  language  strik- 
ingly applicable  to  existing  circumstances, 
and  calculated  to  unsettle  and  excite  men's 
minds,  and  prepare  them  for  some  sudden 
disturbance;  but  it  read  so  like  a  free  trans- 
lation of  a  sermon  by  a  popular  English 
preacher  on  the  same  subject,  as  to  render 
it  difficult  to  decide  how  to  act  with  regard 
to  it.* 

The  struggle  which  has  taken  place  be- 
tween the  Christians  and  the  Mussulmans, 
in  various  distinct  parts  of  Europe  as  well 
as  Asia,  and  which  has  been  cotetnpora- 
neous  with  the  Indian  mutiny,  is  viewed  as 
indicating  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  pre- 
sent representatives  of  Islam  to  regain  some- 
thing of  their  former  dominaucy.  The  Indo- 
Mohammedans  are,  however,  very  unlike 
their  co-religionists  in  other  countries,  and 
the  anti-idolatrous  doctrines  of  their  founder 
have  been  so  corrupted  by  intermixture  of 
the  superstitious  practices  of  modern  Brah- 
minism,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  judge 
I  heir  feelings  by  any  test  applicable  to 
Mohammedans  in  general. 

The  English  naturally  viewed,  with  great 
alarm,  the  fanatical  outbreaks  at  Jaffa, 
Marash,  and  Belgrade,  and  still  more  so  the 
alarming  one  at  Jeddah;  but  the  govern- 
ment have  wisely  striven  to  repress  the  sus- 
picious distrust  and  aversion  manifested  by 
the  Europeans  to  the  Mohammedans  as  a 
class,  fearing  to  see  them  driven  to  revolt 
by  conduct  equally  unjust  and  impoliticf 

*  Letter  from  H.  B.  B.  Freere. — Pari.  Papers 
(2o3),  4th  May,  1858;  p.  48. 


This  possible  source  of  mutiny  has  been  as 
yet  but  very  partially  explored,  and  the 
present  heat  of  prejudice  and  excitement 
must  be  allowed  to  subside  before  any  satis- 
factory conclusion  can  be  formed  on  the 
subject. 

Foreign  intrigues  are  alleged  to  have  been 
practised  against  us,  and  attempts  made  to 
undermine  our  position  in  India,  in  various 
ways,  by  a  Christian  as  well  as  by  a  Mo- 
hammedan power;  by  Russia  as  well  as 
Persia.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  far  the 
vague  expectation  of  Russian  invasion  (which 
certainly  exists  in  India)  has  been  occasioned 
by  exaggerated  rumours,  and  perverted  re- 
ports gleaned  from  European  journals,  and 
circulated  by  the  native  press  during  the 
period  of  the  Crimean  war,  or  how  much 
of  it  may  be  attributed  to  the  deliberate 
machinations  of  Russia. 

In  England,  both  sources  of  danger  were 
equally  disregarded;  and,  amid  the  misera- 
ble inconsistencies  which  marked  the  war 
from  beginning  to  end,  not  the  least  was 
the  fact,  that  one  of  the  arguments  used  to 
reconcile  the  people  to  heavy  additional  taxr 
ation,  was  the  necessity  of  maintaining  and 
restoring  effete  and  incapable  Mohamme- 
dan Turkey,  as  a  means  of  checking  the  in- 
ordinate increase  of  the  power  of  Russia,  and 
making  the  battle-field  in  the  Crimea,  rather 
than  on  the  frontier  of  our  Indian  empire. 
The  Russian  government  intimated,  that  to 
roll  back  their  European  boundary  would 
but  lead  them  to  advance  their  Asiatic  one; 
and  some  years  before  the  campaign  of  1853, 
their  organ  at  St.  Petersburg  declared  that, 
in  the  event  of  war,  the  czar  would  dictate 
the  terms  of  peace  at  Calcutta.  In  the 
teeth  of  this  defiant  warning,  the  British 
ministry,  accustomed  to  treat  India  as  a  sort 
of  peculiarly  circumstanced  colony,  and  to 
neglect  colonies  as  a  matter  of  course,  paid 
no  heed  whatever  to  the  strange  excitement 
manifested  throughout  India  at  the  first 
tidings  of  the  Crimean  conflict.  No  pains 
were  taken  to  ascertain  the  tone  adopted  by 
the  natives,  or  to  guard  against  rumours  cir- 
culated and  schemes  set  afoot  by  foreign  emis- 
saries, in  a  country  where  a  passport  system 
would  have  been  a  common  measure  of  pru- 
dence. Ministers  concentrated  all  their 
energies  on  the  conduct  of  the  European 
struggle  (though  not  with  any  very  satisfac- 
tory result),  and  acted  as  if  on  the  under- 
standing that,  "during  the  Russian  war,  the 

t  See  letter  of  Lord  Hobart. — Times,  Beeemlber 
3rd,  1857. 


120 


BUSSIAN  ROUBLES  IN  BAZAARS— 1857. 


government  had  too  mucli  to  do,  to  be  ex- 
pected to  attend  to  India/'* 

The  ill  effects  which  the  tidings  of  the 
Russian  and  Persian  wars  were  calculated 
to  produce  in  India,  were  aggravated  by 
the  drain  of  European  troops  thereby  occa- 
sioned. The  government  demand  for  two 
regiments  of  infantry  for  the  Crimean  war, 
was  earnestly  deprecated  by  Lord  Dalhousie. 

"Ahhough  the  war  with  Russia,"  observes  his 
lordship,  "  does  not  directly  affect  our  Indian  do- 
minions, yet  it  is  unquestionably  exercising  at  this 
moment  a  most  material  influence  upon  the  minds  of 
the  people  over  whom  we  rule,  and  upon  the  feelings 
of  the  nations  by  which  we  are  surrounded  ;  and  thus 
it  is  tending  indirectly  to  affect  the  strength  and  the 
stability  of  our  power. 

"  The  authorities  in  England  cannot,  I  think,  be 
aware  of  the  exaggerated  estimate  of  the  power  of 
Russia  which  has  been  formed  by  the  people  of 
India.  I  was  myself  unaware  of  it  until  the  erents 
of  the  past  year  have  forced  it  upon  my  convictions. 
Letters  from  various  parts  of  India  have  shown  me, 
that  the  present  contest  is  regarded  by  them  with 
the  deepest  interest,  and  that  its  issue  is  by  no 
means  considered  so  certain  as  we  might  desire. 
However  mortifying  to  our  pride  it  may  be  to  know 
it,  and  however  unaccountable  such  a  belief  may 
appear  in  people  living  amidst  the  visible  evidences 
of  our  might,  it  is  an  unquestionable  fact,  that  it  is 
widely  believed  in  India,  that  Russia  is  pressing  us 
hard,  and  that  she  will  be  more  than  a  match  for  us 
at  last. 

"  We  know  by  our  correspondence  in  the  East, 
that  the  King  of  Ava  has  declaredly  been  acting  on 
this  feeling;  and  that,  influenced  by  it,  he  has  been 
delaying   the  dispatch  of  the  mission  which  many 
months  ago  he  spoke  of  sending  to  Calcutta.     •  •  • 
"  India  is  now  in  perfect  tranquillity  from  end  to 
end.     I  entertain  no  apprehension  whatever  of  dan- 
ger or  disturbance.     We  are  perfectly  secure  so  long 
as  we  are  strong,  and  are  believed  to  be  so  :  but  if 
European  troops  shall  be  now  withdrawn  from  India 
to  Europe ;    if  countenance  shall  thus  be  given  to 
the  belief  already  prevalent,  that  we  have  grappled 
with  an  antagonist  whose  strength  will  prove  equal 
to  overpower  us ;  if,  by  consenting  to  withdrawal, 
we   shall   weaken    that    essential    element   of   our 
military  strength,  which  has  already  been  declared 
to  be  no  more  than  adequate  for   ordinary  times  i 
and  if,  further,  we  should  be  called  lapon  to  dispatch 
an    army   to    the   Persian    Gulf — an    event  which, 
unlooked-for  now,  may  any  day  be  brought  about 
by  the  thraldom  in  which   Persia  is  held,  and  by 
the  feeble  and  fickle  character  of  the  Shah  ;  then, 
indeed,  I  shall  no  longer  feel,  and  can  no  longer 
express   the   same   confidence   as   before,   that   the 
security  and  stability  of  our  position  In  the  East  will 
remain  unassailed.      •    •    •     In   a  country  where 
the  entire  English  community  is  but  a  handful  of 
scattered  strangers,  I  feel  it  to  be  a  public  duty  to 
record,  that  in  my  deliberate  judgment,  the  Euro- 
pean infantry  force  in  India,  ought  in  no  case  to 
be  weakened  by  a  single  man,   so  long  as   Eng- 

•  Speeches  of  Mr.  Disraeli  and  Mr.  Vernon  Smith, 
president  of  the  India  Board. — Indian  debate,  July 
26th,  1857. 

t  Minute  by  the  governor-general :  13th  Septem- 


land  shall  be  engaged  in  her  present  struggle  with 
Russia."! 

The  regiments  were  nevertheless  with- 
drawn, and  were  not  even  returned  at  the 
close  of  the  Russian  war.  Then  came  the. 
Persian  war,  and  the  requisition  upon  Lord 
Canning,  who  complied  less  reluctantly 
than  Lord  Dalhousie  had  done;  but  still 
under  protest.  Lord  Canning  reminded 
the  home  authorities,  that,  for  all  Indian 
purposes,  the  strength  of  the  army  would 
be  equally  reduced,  whether  the  regiments 
were  sent  to  Persia  or  to  the  Crimea.  He 
spoke  of  the  excitement  which  even  a  dis- 
tant war  raised  in  the  minds  of  the  natives, 
and  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  an  increase 
of  European  troops,  as  necessary  to  the 
safety  of  India  during  the  continuance  of 
hostile  operations  against  Persia. J 

It  is  at  least  possible  that  the  Russian 
government   should  have  retaliated  on  us 
our  invasion    of   its   territory,   by  striving 
to  sow  discord  in  India.     Tiie  course  of  the 
rebellion  has  afforded  many  incidents  cal- 
culated to  produce    a   conviction   of  their 
having  done  so :  for  instance,  the  assertion 
of  one  of  the  Delhi  princes,  that  when  the 
mutineers  marched  on  that  city,  the  royal 
family  believed  them   to   be  the   advanced 
guard  of  the  Russian  army.     Another  far 
more  significant  fact,  which  was  communi- 
cated to  me  on  the  authority  of  a  naval 
officer  in  a  high  position  on  the  Indus,  was 
the  extraordinary  amount  of  silver  roubles 
seen    in   the    bazaars   in    the   Jforth-West 
Provinces,  immediately  before  the  mutiny, 
and  supposed  to  have  passed  to  the  tables  of 
the  money-changers  from   the  notoriously 
well-filled  pockets  of  Russian  spies.    The  ex- 
tent and  mode  in  which  this  agency  may 
have  been  employed,  will  probably  never  be 
revealed ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
it  is  an  active  and  recognised  mode  of  ob- 
taining  the    accurate    and    comprehensive 
information  possessed  by  the  government 
of  St.  Petersburg,  regarding  the  condition  of 
the   domestic  and  foreign  affairs  of  every 
other  nation.     Spies,  in  time  of  peace,  may 
easily  become  political  incendiaries  in  time 
of  war,  in  countries  hostile  to  the  authority 
which  they  serve.     As  to  detecting  them, 
that  is  next  to  impossible  :  a  charge  of  this 
nature   is    always   difficult  to  prove;    but, 
to  an  Englishman,  the  difficulty  is  insur- 

her,  1854.— Pari  Papers,  12th  February,  1858,-  pp, 
7;  9. 

I  Minutes  dated  7th  and  8th  February,  1857. — 
Pari.  Papers,  20th  July,  1857  ;  pp.  8,  9. 


RUSSIAN  SPIES  AND  POLITICAL  DETECTIVES. 


121 


mountable.  Clever  thieves,  clever  forgers, 
England  has  produced  in  abundance:  un- 
scrupulous politicians  are  not  quite  un- 
known among  us ;  but  our  secret  service 
department  has,  on  the  whole,  been  singu- 
larly free  from  subterranean  and  syste- 
matised  "dirty  work."  The  secret  opening 
of  a  letter  is  scouted  at,  in  a  political  func- 
tionary, as  listening  at  a  keyhole  would  be 
in  a  private  individual ;  and,  even  while 
quite  uncertain  as  to  the  extent  of  the 
mutiny  in  1849,  Sir  Charles  Napier  would 
not  entertain  the  idea  of  examining  the 
correspondence  of  the  sepoys,  then  passing 
to  an  unusual  extent  through  the  govern- 
ment post-offices.  The  Russian  language 
has  probably  many  words  which,  like  the 
French,  one  Jin,  finesse,  and  others,  have  no 
equivalent  in  English ;  nor  has  America — 
sharp,  shrewd,  and  slick  as  some  of  her 
children  are — annexed  to  the  mother-tongue 
any  words  which  serve  as  fit  exponents  for 
that  peculiar  branch  of  continental  diplo- 
macy which  renders  trained  spies  a  regular 
governmental  department.  We  have  no 
political  detectives  among  us.  Our  aristo- 
cracy, whether  of  rank  or  letters,  may 
indeed  be  occasionally  annoyed  by  the 
indiscretion  of  caterers  for  the  public  press, 
in  the  shape  of  newspaper  reporters  and 
gossiping  memoir  writers ;  but,  at  our  tables, 
the  host  speaks  his  mind  in  the  plainest 
terms  regarding  the  most  powerful  per- 
sonages of  the  moment,  without  fearing 
that  one  of  his  servants  may  be  taking 
notes  behind  his  chair,  which  may  procure 
his  exile  or  imprisonment;  and  the  hostess 
is  equally  certain  that  none  of  her  guests 
will  drive  from  her  roof  to  lodge  informa- 
tion of  some  enthusiastic  ebullition  which 
has  escaped  her  lips,  and  for  which  neither 
I  youth  nor  beauty,  character  nor  station, 
'  would  save  her  from  personal  chastisement 
I  under  the  orders  of  a  Russian  Usher  of  the 
!  Black  Rod.  What  we  call  grumbling  in 
,  Great  Britain,  folks  abroad  call  treason;  and 
that  is  an  offence  for  which  Britons  have  so 
little  temptation,  that  they  are  slow  to  note 
its  existence,  or  provide  against  it  even 
when  themselves  exercising  those  despotic 
powers  which,  if  men  dare  not  openly  oppose, 
they  secretly  strive  against.  To  what  extent 
Russian  emissaries  have  fomented  Indian 
disaffection,  will  probably  never  be  proved  : 
the  natives  can,  perhaps,  give  information  on 
the  subject,  if  they  will;  and  if  that  evidence 
be  obtained,  and  thoroughly  sifted,  by  men 
possessing  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
vol,.  II.  R 


Indian  languages  and  character,  united  to 
sound  judgment,  some  light  may  yet  be 
thrown  on  a  subject  every  branch  of  which 
is  most  interesting  as  regards  the  past,  most 
important  as  regards  the  future. 

No  Englishman,  except  under  very  pecu- 
liar circumstances,  would  ever  detect  spies 
amid  a  multitude  of  foreigners.  I  speak 
strongly  on  this  point,  because,  in  China, 
several  Russians  were  pointed  out  to  me  by 
the  experienced  Dr.  GutzlafF;  dressed  in  the 
costume  of  the  country,  speaking  the  lan- 
guage, adopting  the  habits  of  the  people, 
and  appearing,  to  the  casual  observer,  to  all 
intents  native  born. 

It  is  notorious  that  a  Captain  Vikovitch 
played  a  conspicuous  part  in  inciting  the 
unjust  and  disastrous  expedition  to  Af- 
ghanistan against  Dost  Mohammed.  This 
and  many  other  instances,  leave  little  doubt 
that  Russia  maintains,  in  Central  Asia, 
agents  to  watch  and,  if  possible,  influence 
the  proceedings  of  England,  and  probably 
receives  from  some  of  the  Greek  or  Arme- 
nian merchants  settled  at  Calcutta  or 
Bombay,  accounts  about  the  state  finances, 
the  army,  and  affairs  in  general ;  but,  be- 
sides this,  disclosures  are  said  to  have  been 
made  which  prove  that  Russian  emissaries, 
under  various  guises,  have  been  successfully 
at  work  in  inflaming  the  bigotry  of  the 
Mussulman,  and  the  prejudices  of  the 
high-caste  Hindoo.*  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  information  on  this  subject  ob- 
tained by  the  government,  may,  for  obvious 
reasons,  be  withheld  from  the  public. 


This  introductory  chapter  has  extended  to 
a  greater  length  than  the  writer  anticipated 
at  its  commencement.  His  design  was 
simply  to  state  the  alleged  causes  of  the 
mutiny,  as  far  as  practicable,  in  the  words  of 
those  who  were  their  chief  exponents,  and 
to  refrain  from  mingling  therewith  his  own 
views.  But  the  future  welfare  of  India  and 
of  England  is  so  manifestly  connected  with 
the  policy  now  evolving  from  the  crucible  of 
heated  and  conflicting  public  and  party  feel- 
ing, that  it  is  barely  possible  for  any  one 
really  interested  in  the  result,  to  look  on,  and 
describe  the  struggle,  without  revealing  his 
own  convictions  on  points  where  right  and 
wrong,  truth  and  fallacy,  justice  and  oppres- 
sion,  are  clearly  at  issue. 

In  the  foregoing  summary,  some  alleged 
causes  are  noted  which  appear  to  be  scarcely 
compatible  with  one  another.  The  incom- 
*  Dr.  Duff's  Indian  JRebeMion,  p.  93. 


122 


NATIVE  INDIAN  ARMY  AS  LARGE  AS  EVER— 1858. 


patibility  is  perhaps  less  real  than  apparent. 
What  we  call  British  India,  is,  in  fact,  a 
congeries  of  nations,  difFeritig  in  language, 
creed,  and  customs,  as  do  European  states, 
and  with  even  less  points  of  union,  except- 
ing only  their  involuntary  association  under 
a  foreign  government. 

It  follows,  that  in  striving  to  trace  the 
origin  of  wide-spread  disaffection,  and  the 
connection  between  seemiugly  distinct  in- 
surrectionary movements,  we  must  be  pre- 
pared to  find  great  variety  of  motive — 
general,  local,  and  temporary — affecting 
scattered  masses,  and  manifesting  itself 
sometimes  in  active  hostility,  sometimes  in 
sullen  discontent. 

Under  a  despotic  government,  with  an 
enormous  army  of  native  mercenaries,  the 
outbreak  of  rebellion  would  naturally  occur 
among  the  soldiery.  While  they  were  con- 
tented, the  people  would  almost  necessarily 
remain  in  complete  subjection ;  but  if  the 
soldiery  had  grievances,  however  slight 
compared  with  those  of  the  people,  the  two 
classes  would  coalesce;  the  separate  dis- 
content of  each  party  reacting  upon  the 
other,  the  array  would  initiate  rebellion, 
the  people  would  maintain  it.  According 
to  Mr.  Disraeli,  this  has  actually  been  the 
case ;  the  conduct  of  the  Bengal  troops,  in 
revolting,  having  been  that  of  men  "  who 
were  not  so  much  the  avengers  of  profes- 
sional grievances,  as  the  exponents  of  gene- 
ral discontent."* 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  what  the 
reason  can  have  been  for  keeping  up  such 
an  enormous  Native  army  as  a  peace  es- 
tablishment. Soldiers  were  used  to  perform 
police  duties  in  the  older  provinces,  where 
war  had  been  unknown  for  years,  simply  be- 
cause there  were  not  policemen  to  do  them  ; 
and  this  confounding  of  civil  and  military 
duties  lies  at  the  bottom  of  much  misgov- 
erument,  extortion,  and  unnecessary  ex- 
pense; The  troops  so  variously  engaged 
were  trained  only  for  arms,  yet  employed 
mainly  in  duties  which  officers  and  men 
looked  upon  as  derogatory  to  them  as  soldiers, 
and  which,  in  fact,  they  had  no  business 
with  at  all.     It  was  at  once  deteriorating 

'  Debate  (Commons),  July  28th,  1857.  t  Hid. 

X  The  new  recruits  are,  however,  very  different 
men  from  the  tall,  well-formed  Brahmin  or  Kajpoot 
sepoys  of  the  old  Bengal  army.  These  were  six  feet 
in  height,  and  forty  inches  round  the  chest  j  docile, 
polite,  doing  credit  to  their  officers  on  parade,  smart 
Sit  drill,  neat  and  clean  on  duty.  Already  the  re- 
action has  commenced ;  and  Indian  officers  in  gen- 
eral appear  disposed  to  recollect  (what  the  best  and 


their  efficiency,  and  putting  power  unneces- 
sarily in  their  hands,  to  employ  them  in 
functions  which  should  have  been,  as  a  mere 
matter  of  policy,  kept  perfectly  distinct. 

There  is  much  justice  in  Lord  John 
Russell's  remark,  that  we  have  had  alto- 
gether too  large  an  array,  and  that  50,000 
Europeans,  with  100,000  Natives,  would 
be  a  much  better  security,  as  far  as 
force  is  concerned,  than  a  Native  army  of 
300,000.t 

At  this  moment,  the  total  amount  of 
troops  in  our  service  is  scarcely  less  than 
before  the  mutiny,  so  rapidly  have  new 
corps  replaced  the  old  ones,  and  new  sources 
of  supply  become  available  to  meet  an 
urgent  demand. J 

There  is  need  of  care,  lest  our  new  aux- 
iliaries prove  equally,  if  not  more  dangerous 
than  the  old  ones.  There  is  more  need 
than  ever  of  moderation,  or  rather  of  justice 
and  charity,  being  urged  by  the  IBritish 
public  on  their  countrymen  in  India,  lest 
we  lose  for  ever  our  hold  on  the  confidence 
of  its  vast  population. 

It  is  most  true  that  "  the  time  is  really 
come  for  the  people  of  England  and  for  the 
government  of  the  country  to  meet  the 
manifestations  of  a  spirit  which  would 
render  our  rule  in  India  not  only  a  crime 
but  an  impossibility,  by  an  active  and  reso- 
lute policy.  Outrages  on  natives  must  be 
punished,  unless  we  would  willingly  and 
knowingly  accept  the  hostility  of  India, 
and,  with  our  eyes  open,  justify  the  asser- 
tions of  the  intriguers,  who  tell  the  people 
that  nothing  will  content  us  but  their  utter 
extermination." 

The  growing  alienation  of  the  Europeans 
from  the  natives  has  been  already  noticed 
as  a  cause  of  disaffection;  but  since  that 
section  was  written,  the  free,  fearless,  gra- 
phic representations  of  Mr.  Russell  have 
thrown  new  light  on  the  subject,  and  shown 
but  too  plainly  a  sufiicient  reason  for  "  the 
rift,  bottomless  and  apparently  causeless, 
which,  even  before  the  mutiny,  was  ob- 
served as  separating  the  European  from  the  i 
native,  and  increasing  in  breadth  every  day  ."§  I 

Unhappily,  it  is  no  new  thing  to  be  told 

wisest  of  them  have  never  forgotten),  that  "  Pandy, 
until  he  went  mad  in  1857,  was  a  good  orderly 
soldier."  "  For  myself,"  an  officer  writes  in  a  recent 
Indian  journal,  "  I  would  rather  serve  with  them 
than  with  the  dirty,  unworthy,  ungentlemanly 
(Pandy  was  a  gentleman)  set  of  strange  bedfellows 
with  whom  misfortune  has  made  us  acquainted."— 
Mr.  Kussell— 2Ywes,  Nov.  8th,  1858. 
§  Ibid.,  October  20th,  1858. 


ILL-TREATMENT  OF  NATIVES— 1858. 


123 


I 


that  Englishmen  in  India  are  arrogant  and 
exclusive.  In  the  last  century,  West  Indian 
proprietors  and  East  Indian  nabobs  were 
chosen  by  essayists,  novelists,  and  play- 
writers,  as  representing  a  peculiar  class  of 
domestic  tyrants,  wealthy  and  assumptious  ; 
whose  presence,  Lord  Macaulay  said,  raised 
the  price  of  everything  in  their  neighbour- 
hood, from  a  rotten  borough  to  a  rotten  egg. 
The  habits  they  had  acquired  indicated  the 
life  they  had  led;  and  all  who  knew  India,  and 
had  the  inteUigence  to  form,  and  the  moral 
courage  to  express,  an  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject, sorrowfully  agreed  with  Bishop  Heber 
in  deprecating  the  "  foolish,  surly,  national 
pride,"  of  which  he  daily  saw  but  too  many 
instances,  and  which  he  was  convinced  did  us 
much  harm  in  India.  "  We  are  not  guilty," 
he  said,  "  of  wilful  injustice  or  oppression ; 
but  we  shut  out  the  natives  from  our  society, 
and  a  bullying,  insolent  manner  is  contin- 
ually assumed  in  speaking  to  them." 

Some  went  still  further  than  this,  and 
echoed  Lord  Byron's  emphatic  warning,*  of 
the  sure  retribution  that  would  attend  us,  if, 
instead  of  striving  to  elevate  India,  by  safe 
and  sure  degrees,  to  our  own  height  of  free- 
dom, we  tried,  with  selfish  blindness,  to  get 
and  keep  her  down  beneath  the  iron  heel  of 
despotism,  using  the  energy  our  own  dear- 
bought  freedom  sustains  in  us,  not  to  loosen, 
but  to  rivet  the  chains  of  a  feebler  race,  for 
whose  welfare  we  have  made  ourselves  re- 
sponsible before  God  and  man. 

Nothing  can  be  more  incompatible  with 
the  dignity  of  our  position,  than  the  "  vulgar 
bahaudering"  which  disgusted  Sir  Charles 
Napier  in  1850.  It  appeared  then  as  if 
Mr.  Thackeray's  lash  were  needed  to  keep 
within  bounds  the  vagaries  of  the  Anglo-In- 
dian variety  of  the  genus  "  Snob."  Now  the 
evil  seems  to  have  passed  dealing  with  by 
such  means ;  it  is  the  provost-marshal  or 
the  police-magistrate,  not  the  accomplished 
satirist,  who  can  alone  cope  with  men  whose 
insolent  cruelty  needs  corporeal  rather  than 
mental  discipline. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  always  listened 
with  impatience  to  commendations  of  the 
mere  courage  of  officers.  "  Brave  !"  he 
would  say,  "of  course  they  are;  all  English- 
men are  brave;  but  it  is  the  spirit  of  the 

*  "  Look  to  the  East,  where  Ganges'  swarthy  race 
Shall  shake  your  tyrant  empire  to  the  base; 
Lo!  there  rebellion  rears  her  ghastly  head. 
And  glares  the  Nemesis  of  native  dead  j 
Till  Indus  rolls  a  deep  purpureal  flood, 
And  claims  his  long  arrear  of  Northern  blood ; 


gentleman  that  makes  a  British  officer." 
Yet,  at  this  very  time,  when  Englishmen  and 
Englishwomen  have  passed  all  former  tradi- 
tions of  valour  and  steadfastness  in  extremest 
peril,  when  once  again  India  has  proved, 
in  Canning's  words,  "  fertile  in  heroes" — a 
class,  it  would  appear  not  inconsiderable  in 
number,  are  acting  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  disgrace  the  British  army,  and  even  the 
British  nation,  in  the  eyes  of  Europe,  and  to 
render  the  restoration  of  peace  in  India  as 
difficult  as  they  possibly  can. 

The  excessive  timidity  of  the  Hindoos  (of 
which  their  reckless  daring,  or  passive  sub- 
mission when  hopeless,  is  the  natural  coun- 
terpart) encourages,  in  coarse  natures,  the 
very  arrogance  it  disarms  in  higher  ones. 
The  wretched  manner  in  which  our  law- 
courts  are  conducted,  and  the  shilling  ne- 
cessary to  procure  the  stamped  paper  on 
which  to  draw  up  a  petition  to  the  court,t 
operate,  in  the  extreme  poverty  and  depres- 
sion of  the  sufferers,  in  deterring  them  from 
bringing  any  formal  complaint,  even  to 
obtain  justice  for  a  ferocious  assault ;  and 
so  the  "  sahibs"  (European  gentlemen)  ride 
through  the  bazaars  (markets),  and  lay 
open  the  heads  of  natives  with  the  butt  of 
their  whips,  just  to  clear  the  way;  or,  when 
summoned  to  court  for  debt,  lay  the  lash 
across  the  shoulders  of  the  presumptuous 
summonser  in  the  open  street,  as  an  expres- 
sion of  opinion.  A  young  gentleman  in  his 
cups  shoots  one  of  his  servants  with  his 
revolver;  an  officer  kicks  a  servant  down- 
stairs because  he  has  entered  without  leaving 
his  shoes  outside  the  door ;  and  now,  daily 
at  the  mess-tables,  "  every  man  of  the  mute 
white-turbaned  file,  who  with  crossed  hands, 
glistening  eyes,  and  quick  ears,  stand  mo- 
tionless in  attendance,"  hears  the  word 
"  nigger"  used  every  time  a  native  is  named, 
and  knows  well  that  it  is  an  expression  of 
contempt.  In  India,  the  ears  of  Europeans 
become  familiarised  with  the  term,  which 
soon  ceases  to  excite  surprise  or  disgust. 
In  England,  it  is  felt  to  be  painfully  sig- 
nificant of  the  state  of  opinion  among  those 
who  use  it,  and  cannot  be  disassociated  with 
the  idea  of  slaves  and  slave-drivers.  It 
seems  the  very  last  word  whereby  British 
officers  (even  in  the  "  griffin"  stage)  would 

So  may  ye  perish  !     Pallas,  when  she  gave 
Your  free-born  rights,  forbade  ye  to  enslave." 

The  Curie  of  Minerva. 

t  The  number  of  petitions  rejected  because  not 

written  on  stamped  paper,  is  said  to  be  enormous. 

1  The  fact  has  been  repeatedly  alluded  to  in  parliament. 


124 


IMPORTANCE  OF  MR.  RUSSELL'S  COMMUNICATIONS. 


choose  to  denote  the  men  they  commanded, 
or  even  the  people  among  whom  they  lived, 
and  who,  whatever  their  colour,  are  not 
the  less  British  subjects.  But  what  is  to  be 
said  for  the  example  given  to  the  European 
soldiery*  by  British  officers,  of  Christian 
parentage  and  education,  one  of  whom 
"  takes  his  syce  (native  groom),  because  he 
has  put  a  wrong,  saddle  on  his  horse,  and 
fastens  him  ou  a  pole  placed  out  in  the  full 
sun  of  May?" — or  by  another,  who  "  fastens 
down  his  syce  in  the  sun  by  heel-ropes  and 
foot-ropes,  as  if  he  were  a  horse,  and  spreads 
'  grain  before  him  in  mockery  ?"  These  in- 
stances Mr.  Russell  gives  publicly.  Pri- 
vately, he  offers  to  send  the  editor  of  the 
Times  evidence  of  still  greater  significance. 

It  is  a  mockery  to  talk  of  equal  laws,  and 
yet  suffer  such  outrages  as  these  to  pass  un- 
punished. It  is  difficult  to  understand  why 
the  senior  regimental  officers  do  not  bring 
the  oflfenders  to  justice,  unless,  indeed,  the 
courts-martial  are  becoming,  as  Sir  Charles 
Napier  prophesied,  mere  forms,  and  the 
most  undoubted  offenders  certain  of  "  hon- 
ourable acquittal."  Some  of  the  old  offi- 
cers are  said  to  watch  the  state  of  affairs 
with  great  dissatisfaction  ;  and  Sir  Frederick 
Currie  (the  late  chairman  of  the  Court  of 
Directors),  with  Colonel  Sykes  and  some 
other  leading  men,  have  expressed  their 
opinions  with  a  plainness  which  has  exposed 
them  to  the  invectives  of  a  certain  portion  of 
the  Anglo-Indian  press.f 

The  plain  speaking  of  Mr.  Russell  him- 
self, is  of  the  first  importance  to  the  best 
interests  of  England  and  of  India.  No- 
thing but  the  strongest  and  most  genuine 
love  of  justice  and  hatred  of  oppression, 
could  give  him  courage  to  write  as  he  does, 
circumstanced  as  he  is.  Among  the  deeds 
of  heroism  he  so  eloquently  chronicles,  none 
can  surpass  that  which  he  is  himself  enact- 
ing, in  pleading  even  now  for  the  rights  of 
the  wretched  and  despised  native  popula- 
tion, while  living  in  the  midst  of  the  class 
to  whom  that  very  wretchedness  furnishes 
food  for  cruel  tyranny,  or  idle,  heartless, 
senseless  jests.  On  this  point,  as  indeed 
some  other  leading  features  of  the  rebel- 
lion, the  public  journals,   with  the   Times 

•  The  European  soldiery  are  unhappily  not  slow 
to  follow  the  example.  It  is  alleged,  that  very  re- 
cently a  convoy,  under  a  party  of  the  97th  and  20th 
regiments,  were  on  their  way  to  Lucknow.  Dark- 
ness fell  upon  them  ;  there  were  confusion  and  delay 
on  the  road ;  probably  there  were  apathy,  neglect, 
and  laziness  on  the  part  of  the  garrewans,  or  native 
drivers,  who  are  usually  a  most  harmless,  inoffen- 


at  their  head,  and  the  fragmentary  but 
deeply  interesting  accounts  of  individual 
sufferers,  are  almost  the  exclusive  sources 
of  information.  The  government  have, 
it  is  true,  furnished  the  House  of  Com-  . 
mons  with  reams  of  Blue  Books  and 
other  parliamentary  papers ;  but  not  one  of 
these  contains  anything  approaching  a  con- 
nected statement  of  the  view  taken  by  the 
home  or  Indian  authorities  of  the  cause, 
origin,  or  progress  of  the  mutiny,  which  has 
now  lasted  fully  eighteen  months.  Each 
department  appears  to  have  sent  in  its  own 
papers,  duly  sifted,  weeded,  and  garbled ; 
but  no  person  appears  to  have  revised  them 
as  a  whole.  The  omissions  of  one  set  are 
partially  supplied  by  the  admissions  of 
another;  decided  assertions  made  in  igno- 
rance by  one  functionary,  are  qualified  in  the 
next  page  by  the  statement  of  a  colleague. 
This  is  the  case  throughout  the  whole  series 
yet  published,  beginning  with  the  various 
and  contradictory  allegations  made  regarding 
the  greased  cartridges.  To  enter  into  dis- 
cussion on  each  point  would  be  endless ;  and 
therefore,  in  subsequent  pages,  facts,  so  far 
as  they  cau  be  ascertained,  will  be  simply 
stated,  with  the  authority  on  which  they 
rest ;  the  counter-statements  being  left  un- 
noticed, unless  they  happen  to  be  of  peculiar 
importance  or  interest. 

"  That  most  vindictive,  unchristian,  and 
cruel  spirit  which  the  dreadful  contest  and 
the  crimes  of  the  mutineers  have  evoked,"  is 
not,  however,  confined  to  the  army  and  the 
press  ;  it  extends  to  the  counting-house,  and 
even  to  the  pulpit.  "  One  reverend  divine 
has  written  a  book,  in  which,  forgetting 
that  the  heart  of  man  is  deceitful  and  des- 
perately wicked,  he  takes  the  cheerful  view 
that  the  Oriental  nature  is  utterly  diaboli- 
cal and  hopelessly  depraved,  as  contradis- 
tinguisiied  from  his  own  nature  and  that  of 
his  fellows.  *  *  *  An  excellent  clergy- 
man at  Simla,  recently  took  occasion,  in  his 
sermon,  to  rebuke  the  disposition  on  the 
part  of  certain  of  his  hearers  to  ill-use  the 
natives;  but  generally,  the  voice  from  the 
pulpit  has  been  mute  on  this  matter,  or  it 
has  called  aloud,  '  Go  forth  and  spare 
not.' "J 

sive,  and  honest  race.  Some  ruffians  among  the 
soldiery  took  advantage  of  the  obscurity  to  wreak 
their  brutal  ferocity  on  the  drivers,  and  pricked 
them  with  their  bayonets  so  severely  that  one  man 
died  of  his  wound  almost  immediately,  and  the 
otherswere  removed  to  the  hospital  in  litters-^Tmies, 
Nov.  8th,  1858.  t  Ibid.,  Oct.  20th,  1858. 

I  Ibid.,  November  8th,  1858. 


■;f^ 


•!■■     ^.    >i. 


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"•^CQfG  THE  PRI 


SEAL    OF    THE    EAST  DTDIA  COMPAMY 


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OF     JUGGERUA- 


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Ifooboi 


Chunqjawut-, 


fivij  J^  ^Re^toB     ottj] 


JFui^^Mor" 


-'-JlK 


'        T^W/^ 


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u.Ji        '  ■ 


^ 


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NfleiiAy  x^     1,1  icloli 


f^..4mi»«*s^ 


't 


dhoo 


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^  ^|i<^.?/>iy 


.      ,  ,_,    ,      lhu'&   '■  'ill. 


Hups 


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TIGER      HUNT 


BEFEREKCE 
Britisli  Po3S€>3skiii&.  ■■■ 

States  Tmfkr  British  Pnxecticiid—Z 
Independent  States  ^^H 


';:flE  LounoM  I'Biiraira 


-UGAl-' 


Tho  Map  Drawn  &  Engra^red  tr  J.  Rapkin. 


CHAPTER     II. 


JANUARY  TO  MAY,  1867. 


At  the  commencement  of  1857,  the  Indian 
army,  exclusive  of  the  contingents  of  Native 
states,  stood  thus  : — 


Presidency. 

Europeans. 

Natives. 

Total. 

Bengal .... 
Madras .... 
Bombay 

24,.366 
10,726 
10,430 

135,767 
51,244 
45,213 

160,133 
61,970 
55,069 

Grand  Total    .    .    . 

45,522 

232,224 

277,172 

The  royal  European  troops  included  four 
cavalry  and  twenty-two  infantry  regiments, 
containing,  in  all,  24,263  men.  The  Euro- 
peans in  the  service  of  the  Company,  con- 
sisted of  five  horse  brigades  of  artillery, 
twelve  battalions  of  foot,  and  nine  cavalry 
regiments.  The  Native  cavalry  was  com- 
posed of  twenty-one  regular,  and  thirty- 
three  irregular  regiments;  the  Native  in- 
fantry, of  155  regular,  and  forty-five  irregu- 
lar regiments.* 

The  whole  expense  of  the  Indian  army, 
which,  including  the  Native  contingents 
officered  by  us,  mustered  315,520  men,  was 
returned  at  £9,802,235,  of  which  £5,668,100 
was  calculated  to  be  the  cost  of  the  51,316 
European  soldiers,  leaving  £4,134,135  as 
the  sum  total  required  for  263,204  natives. 

The  number  of  European  troops  was 
actually  less  in  1857  than  in  1835,  whereas 
the  Native  army  had  increased  by  100,000 
men.  The  disproportion  was  greatest  in 
the  Bengal  presidency.  .In  Bombay,  the 
relative  strength  of  European  to  Native  in- 
fantry was  as  1  to  9^ ;  in  Madras,  as  1  to 
16f ;  and  in  Bengal,  as  1  to  24!-. t 

The  preponderance  of  Brahmins  in  the 
Bengal  army  was  very  great,  and  the  gov- 
ernment had  directed  the  enlistment  of 
200  Seiks  in  each  regiment.  But  this  order 
had  been  only  very  partially  obeyed.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  Madras  -troops  are 
low-caste  Hindoos.  In  the  Bombay  regi- 
ments a  third  are  Brahmins,  from  one  to  two 
nundred  men  are  Mussulmans,  and  the  re- 
mainder low-caste  Hindoos,  with  a  few  Jews. 

The  number  and  strength  of  the  Bengal 

•  Pari.  Papers,  April  16tTi,  1858 ;  pp.  4,  5. 
t  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutinies,   1857  (No.  1), 
p.  9. 


army  (European   and  Native)  in  January, 
1857,  are  thus  shown: — 


Description 

of 

Troops. 


Queen's  Troops : — 
2  Regis,  of  Dragoons  . 
16  ditto  of  Infantry     . 


Company's  Troops ; — 

Engineers  and  Sappers 

Artillery —  Horse    ,    . 

„  Foot(Euro.) 

„     (Nat.) 

Cavalry — Regular  .     . 

„  Irregular     . 

Infantry — Europeans . 

„  Native  Regr. 

,.  ..      Irreg. 

Veterans 

Medical  Establish-  "1 
nient  and  Warrant  > 
Officers     .        .       J 


Total 


European 
Officers. 


56 
473 


529 

120 

63 
102 

76 
106 

91 

114 

1,276 

126 

85 

370 


3,058 


European 
Non-Com., 
and  Rank 
and  File. 


Native 
Commissd., 
Non-Com., 
and  Rank 
and  File. 


1,310 
13,956 


16,266 


999 

1,899 

27 

28 

2,460 

136 

66 

186 

163 


1,289 
798 
1,-531 
2,302 
6,002 
14,061 

83,103 
27,356 


326 


21,308        136,767 


Grand  Total 160,133 


The  distribution  of  the  above  force  was 
as  follows : — 


Distribution  of  Bengal  Army. 


Presidency  Division,  includ-  "j 
ing  the  garrison  of  Fort  > 
William       ...        J 

Sonthal  District 

Dinapore  Division  . 

Cawnpoor  ditto 

Oude  Field  Force    . 

Saugor  District 

Meerut  Division 

Station  of  Sirdarpoor 
"       of  Rewah     . 
"       ofKherwarrah   . 

Sirhind  Division, 

Lahore  ditto     . 

Peshawur  ditto,    including 
Sind  Sagur  District 

Punjab  Irregular  Force  . 

Troops  in  Pegu 


Euro- 

Natives. 

1,221 

14,039 

41 

3,366 

1,174 

12,251 

314 

16,048 

1,034 

3,661 

257 

6,864 

3,098 

17,248 

1 

656 

6 

762 

6 

1,034; 

4,930 

12,849 

4,198 

15,964 

4,794 

20,129 

68 

9,049 

1,817 

2,121 

Total. 


15,860 

3,407 
13,425 
16,362 

4,695 

6,121 

20,346 

657 

768 

1,040 
17,779 
20,162 

24,923 

9,107 
3,938+ 


The  Native  regiments  in  India  are  never 
quartered  in  barracks,  but  in  thatched  huts ; 
each  of  the  ten  companies  which  form  a 
regiment  having  its  own  line,  in  front  of 
which  is  a  small   circular   building   called 

X  The  ahove  statements  were  kindly  furnished  by 
Captain  Eastwick,  deputy-chairman  of  the  East 
India  Company. 


12G      GOVERNMENT  WARNED  ABOUT  GREASED  CARTRIDGES— 1853. 


"  tlie  Bells,"  in  which  the  arms  and  ac-  j 
coutrements  are  placed  after  having  been 
cleaned — the  key  being  usually  held  by  the 
havildar  (sergeant)  on  duty.  The  oiScers 
reside  in  bungalows  (also  thatched,  and  very 
inflammable),  each  situated  in  its  own  com- 
pound; and  the  powder-magazines  and 
depots  of  stores  are,  or  rather  were,  exposed 
without  protection  in  the  open  plain.  Each 
cantonment  resembled  an  extensive  camp ; 
and  the  principal  stations  (such  as  Meerut 
and  Cawnpoor)  covered  so  large  an  area, 
that  they  required  almost  as  strong  a  force 
to  defend  them  as  to  occupy  them ;  and'  a 
long  time  might  elapse  before  what  was 
done  in  one  part  of  them  was  known  in 
other  parts.*  The  idea  of  combination  to 
mutiny,  on  any  ground  whatever,  was  evi- 
dently the  last  thing  the  European  officers 
suspected ;  and  the  construction  of  the  can- 
tonments was  on  a  par  with  the  blind 
security  which  marked  the  general  arrange- 
ments of  the  period. 

In  1856,  Vhe  authorities  desired  to  place 
an  improved  description  of  musket  in  the 
hands  of  the  sepoys ;  that  is  to  say,  to  sub- 
stitute the  Minie  rifle  for  the  old  "  Brown 
Bess."  Considering  the  nature  of  our  posi- 
tion in  India,  and  the  peaceful  character  of 
the  duties  which  the  Native  army  was  then 
fulfilling,  and  which  alone  it  seemed  likely 
to  be  required  for,  the  policy  of  this  mea- 
sure may  be  doubted ;  but  of  the  suicidal 
folly  with  which  it  was  carried  out,  there 
can  scarcely  be  a  second  opinion. 

In  1853,  some  rifle  ammunition  was  sent 
from  England  to  India,  and  experiments 
were  directed  to  be  tried,  which  induced 
Major-general  Tucker  (then  adjutant-gen- 
eral) to  recommend  earnestly  to  govern- 
ment, that  "  in  the  greasing  composition 
nothing  should  be  used  which  could  pos- 
sibly offend  the  caste  or  religious  prejudices 
of  the  natives."t 

This  warning  did  not  prevent  the  autho- 
rities, three  years  later,  from  committing 
the  double  error  of  greasing  cartridges  in 
the  Dum  Dum  arsenal,  eight  miles  from  Cal- 
cutta, after  the  Enghsh  receipt,  with  a  com- 
pound chiefly  made  from  tallow;  and  of 
issuing  to  the  Native  troops  similarly  pre- 
pared cartridges,  sent  out  direct  from  Eng- 
land, but  which  ought,  of  course,  only  to 
have  been  given  to  the  European  troops. 
Not   a   single   person   connected   with  the 

•  Indophilus'  Letters  to  the  Times,  p.  12. 
t  Letter  of  Major-general  Tucker  to  the  Times, 
1857. 


store  department  cared  to  remember,  that  to 
order  the  sepoys  to  tear  with  their  teeth 
paper  smeared  with  tallow  made  of  mixed 
animal  fat  (a  filthy  composition,  whether 
the  animal  were  clean  or  unclean,  and 
especially  to  men  who  never  touch  animal 
food),  would  naturally  excite  the  distrustful 
suspicions  of  the  Native  soldiery — Moham- 
medan, Hindoo,  and  even  Seik  :  for  the 
Seik  also  considers  the  cow  a  sacred  animal. 

Such  suspicions  were  unquestionably  ex- 
cited ;  and  though  much  latent  disaffection 
might  have  existed,  it  is  clear  that  the  car- 
tridge affair  was  a  grievance  which  gave  the 
more  daring  a  pretext  for  rebellion,  and  a 
rallying-cry,  to  which  they  well  knew  the 
multitude  would  respond.^ 

The  first  persons  who  noticed  the  ob- 
noxious means  used  in  preparing  the  ball 
cartridges,  were  the  Native  workmen  em- 
ployed in  the  arsenal.  A  Clashie,  or 
Classic,  attached  to  the  rifle  depot,  asked  a 
sepoy  of  the  2iid  grenadiers  for  water  from 
his  lotah  (or  brass  drinking-vessel.)  The 
sepoy  refused,  observing,  he  was  not  aware 
of  what  caste  the  man  was;  whereupon 
the  Clashie  rejoined,  "You  will  soon  lose 
your  caste,  as,  ere  long,  you  will  have  to 
bite  cartridges  covered  with  the  fat  of  pigs 
and  cows."  Lieutenant  Wright,  the  officer 
to  whom  this  circumstance  was  reported, 
understood  the  feelings  of  the  Hindoos  too 
well  to  neglect  the  warning.  He  entered 
into  conversation  with  the  men ;  and  they 
told  him  that  the  rumour  of  their  intended 
degradation  had  spread  throughout  India, 
and  that  when  they  went  home  on  furlough, 
their  friends  would  not  eat  with  them. 
Lieutenant  Wright,  "  beheving  it  to  be  the 
case,"  assured  them  that  the  grease  used 
was  composed  of  mutton  fat  and  wax :  to 
which  they  replied,  "  It  may  be  so,  but  our 
friends  will  not  believe  it ;  let  us  obtain  the 
ingredients  from  the  bazaar,  and  make  it  up 
ourselves  ;  we  shall  then  know  what  is  used, 
and  be  able  to  assure  our  fellow-soldiers  and 
others  that  there  is  nothing  in  it  prohibited 
by  our  caste."  Lieutenant  Wright  urged 
the  adoption  of  the  measure  suggested  by 
the  men. 

Major  Bontein,  the  officer  in  command  at 
Dum  Dum,  on  receiving  the  above  state- 
ment, assembled  all  the  Native  portion  of 
the  depot,  and  asked  if  they  had  any  com- 
plaint to  make.     At  least  two-thirds  of  the 

%  A  good  summary  of  the  official  proceeding 
regarding  the  cartridges,  is  given  in  a  pamphlet 
by  George  Crawshay,  Esq.,  mayor  of  Gateshead. 


INCENDIARY  FIRES  AND  OPEN  DISCONTENT— JANUARY,  1857.     127 


detachment,  including  all  the  Native  com- 
missioned officers,  immediately  stepped  to 
the  front,  and  very  respectfully,  but  dis- 
tinctly, repeated  their  previous  complaint 
and  request.  Major  Bontein  thought  the 
matter  so  serious,  that  he  took  immediate 
steps  to  bring  it  before  the  commander-in- 
chief. 

Major-general  Hearsey,  the  head  of  the 
presidency  division,  in  a  letter  dated  "  Bar- 
rackpoor,*  January  23rd,  1857,"  represented 
to  government  the  extreme  difficulty  of 
eradicating  the  notion  which  had  taken  hold 
on  the  mind  of  the  Native  soldiery ;  and 
urged,  as  the  only  remedy,  that,  despite  the 
trouble  and  inconvenience  with  which  the 
arrangement  would  be  attended,  the  sepoys 
should  be  allowed  to  obtain  from  the  bazaars 
the  ingredients  necessary  to  prepare  the 
bullet-patches. 

On  the  29th,  Colonel  Abbott,  the  inspec- 
tor-general of  ordnance,  being  desired  to  in- 
quire into  the  nature  of  the  composition  used 
at  the  arsenal,  found  that  it  was  supplied 
by  a  contractor,  and  tiiat  "no  extraordinary 
precautions  had  been  taken  to  insure  the 
absence  of  any  objectionable  fat."  He  adds — 
"  It  is  certainly  to  be  regretted  that  ammu- 
nition was  not  prepared  expressly  for  the 
practice  depot  without  any  grease  at  all ; 
but  the  subject  did  not  occur  to  me,  and  I 
merely  gave  orders  for  the  requisite  number 
of  rounds. "t 

Of  course,  after  this  admission,  no  officer, 
with  any  regard  for  truth,  could  state  to 
his  men,  that  contaminating  substances  had 
not  been  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  car- 
tridges. Instead  of  withdrawing  the  cause 
of  contention  at  once  and  entirely,  the  gov- 
ernment resolved  that  the  sepuys  at  the 
depots  should  be  allowed  to  use  any  mixture 
they  might  think  fit;  but  that  the  question 
of  the  state  in  which  cartridges  should  be 
issued  under  other  circumstances,  and 
especially  for  service  in  the  field,  must 
remain  open  for  further  consideration. 
The  concession  was  both  tardy  and  insuffi- 
cient. It  was  not  communicated  to  the 
sepoys  at  Dum  Dum  and  Barrackpoor  until 
the  28th.  In  the  meantime,  several  fires 
occurred  simultaneously  at  Barrackpoor  and 
Raneegunge,  where  a  detachment  from  Bar- 
rackpoor were  stationed.     The  electric  tele- 

*  Barrackpoor  (or  barrack-town)  is  situated  on 
the  Hooghly,  sixteen  miles  from  Calcutta.  The 
governor-general  has  a  residence  here,  commenced 
on  a  magnificent  scale  by  Lord  AVcllesley,  and  only 
partially  finished,  but  standing  in  a  park  of  about 
250  acres  in  extent,  laid  out  with  great  taste  and 


graphbungalowat  the  latterplace  was  burned; 
and  Ensign  Chamier,  of  the  34th  regiment, 
snatched  an  arrow,  with  a  lighted  match  at- 
tached thereto,  from  the  thatch  of  his  own 
bungalow,  and  thus  saved,  or  at  least  post- 
poned, its  destruction.  The  arrow  was  one 
such  as  the  Sonthals  use,  and  suspicion  fell 
on  the  men  of  the  2nd  grenadiers,  who  had 
recently  been  serving  in  the  Sonthal  dis- 
tricts. A  thousand  rupees  were  offered  for 
the  conviction  of  the  offenders,  but  without 
result.  On  the  27th,  the  men  had  been 
assembled  on  parade,  and  asked  if  they  had 
any  grievance  to  complain  of;  upon  which 
a  Native  officer  of  the  34th  stepped  for- 
ward, and  asked  Colonel  Wheeler  whether 
any  orders  had  yet  been  received  regarding 
the  new  cartridges.  The  answer  was,  of 
course,  in  the  negative.  To  add  to  the 
difficulties  of  the  military  authorities  at  the 
depots,  the  officer  in  command  of  a  wing  of 
her  majesty's  53rd,  stationed  at  Dum  Dum, 
received  directions  from  Fort  William  (Cal- 
cutta), to  be  ready  to  turn  out  at  any  mo- 
ment, and  to  distribute  to  his  men  ten 
rounds  of  balled  ammunition,  as  a  mutiny 
had  broken  out  at  Barrackpoor  among  the 
sepoys.  General  Hearsey  represented  the 
ill-feeling  which  such  rash  precipitancy  was 
calculated  to  produce.  He  also  pointed  out 
the  influence  which  was  probably  exercised 
by  a  Brahminical  association,  called  the 
Dhurma  Sobha,  formed  at  Calcutta  for  the 
advocacy  of  ancient  Hindoo  customs,  against 
European  innovations  (especially  the  recent 
abolition  of  the  laws  enforcing  perpetual 
widowhood.)  This  association  he  thought 
had  been  instrumental  in  tampering  with  the 
sepoys ;  and  had  circulated,  if  not  initiated, 
the  idea,  that  the  new  ammunition  was  in 
some  way  or  other  connected  with  a  general 
design  of  government  for  the  destruction  of 
the  caste  of  the  whole  Bengal  army.  Every- 
thingconnected  with  thecartridges  was  viewed 
with  suspicion;  and  it  was  soon  noticed  that, 
although  served  out  ungreased,  they  had  a 
greasy  look ;  consequently,  by  obeying  the 
military  regulation,  "to  bring  the  cartridge 
to  the  mouth,  holding  it  between  the  fore- 
finger and  thumb,  with  the  ball  in  the  hand, 
and  bite  off  the  top  elbow  close  to  the 
body,"  J  they  might  still  incur  the  forfeiture 
of  caste,  in  consequence  of  some  polluting 
care.  Job  Charnock  is  said  to  have  built  a  bunga- 
low here  in  1G89,  before  the  site  of  Calcutta  was 
decided  upon.  Barrackpoor  has  been  called  the 
Montpelier  of  Bengal. 

t  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  185'7i  p.  7. 

i  Ibid.,  p.  37. 


128        FATAL  INACTION  OF  GOVERNMENT  IN  JAN.  &  FEB.,  1857. 


ingredient  in  the  paper  itself.  The  new 
cartridges  were,  in  fact,  made  from  paper 
sent  from  England — much  more  highly 
glazed  than  that  previously  used,  and  alto- 
gether thinner  and  tougher ;  for  the  bore  of 
the  new  rifle  being  far  smaller  than  that  of 
the  former  musket,  the  old  thick  paper 
would  not  contain  the  amount  of  powder 
necessary  to  throw  the  bullet  to  its  utmost 
range,  without  being  iuconveuiently  long. 

The  officers  vainly  reasoned  with  the 
men :  the  paper,  they  said,  tore  like  waxed 
cloth;  and,  when  thrown  in  the  fire,  fizzed,  so 
that  there  must  be  grease  in  it ;  in  short. 
General  Hearsey  declared  (February  8th), 
that  "  their  suspicions  having  been  fairly 
roused  on  the  subject  of  cow  and  pig  fat,  it 
would  be  quite  impossible  to  allay  them."* 

The  excitement  continued  to  increase, 
and  information  was  privately  given  to  the 
officers,  of  meetings  held  at  night  in  the 
sepoy  lines,  where  plans  of  resistance  to  the 
new  cartridges,  amounting  to  open  and  vio- 
lent mutiny,  were  discussed.  The  four 
regiments  then  at  Barrackpoor  were  the  2nd 
grenadiers,  the  34th  Native  infantry,  the 
43rd  light  infantry,  and  the  70th  Native  in- 
fantry. By  information  which  has  subse- 
quently transpired,  the  incipient  mutiny 
appears  to  have  been  at  this  time  confined  to 
the  two  former  regiments.  They  thought 
to  induce  their  comrades  to  make  com- 
mon cause  with  them,  and  then  to  rise 
against  the  officers,  burn  or  plunder  the 
bungalows,  and  proceed  to  Calcutta  and  seize 
Fort  William ;  or,  failing  that,  take  pos- 
session of  the  treasury.  The  man  who 
communicated  this  intelligence  could  not 
be  induced  to  divulge  the  names  of  the 
ringleaders,  nor  could  any  proof  of  the 
truth  of  his  assertions  be  obtained. 

General  Hearsey  understood  the  native 
character  well,  and  spoke  the  language  with 
rare  facility.  He  caused  the  entire  brigade 
to  be  paraded  on  the  9th  of  February,  and 
reasoned  with  them  on  the  folly  of  supposing 
the  British  government  inclined  to  attempt 
their  forcible  conversion.  "  Christians  of 
the  Book  (Protestants),"  he  said,  "admitted 
no  proselytes,  and  baptized  none,  who  did 
not  fully  understand  and  believe  in  the 
tenets  therein  inculcated."  His  arguments 
proved  successful  in  tranquillising  the  troops 
for  the  moment;   but  the  brigadier  knew 

•  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  1 857;  p.  20. 

X  The  franking  by  the  European  officers,  was  in 
itself  calculated  to  impose  some  check  on  the  trans- 
mission of  treasonable  correspondence. 


well  that  the  lull  was  likely  to  be  of  brief 
duration,  and  he  wrote  to  government  on 
the  11th,  urging  that  his  previous  proposal 
of  changing  the  cartridge  paper,  might  at 
once  either  be  confirmed  or  rejected ;  that 
no  further  time  should  be  lost  in  coming  to 
some  decision ;  for,  he  adds,  "  we  are  dwell- 
ing on  a  mine  ready  for  explosion." 

On  the  2 1st  of  February,  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Hogge  wrote  from  Meerut,  to  pro- 
pose that  the  biting  of  the  cartridge  should 
be  altogether  abolished,  and  that  the  men 
should  be  instructed  to  twist  ofl^  the  end 
with  the  right  hand — a  plan  which  would 
"remove  all  objections  from  that  class  of 
Hindoos  who  never  touch  animal  food." 
On  the  2nd  of  March,  Major  Bontein  wrote 
from  Dum  Dum  to  the  same  effect;  but  he 
adds,  that  by  his  suggestion  he  did  not  "  in 
the  least  intend  to  consult  the  caprice  of  the 
Native  soldiers,"  and  had  no  other  motive 
than  increased  efficiency. 

Apparently  this  was  the  right  way  of 
putting  the  case  in  the  sight  of  the  authori- 
ties; for  the  governor-general  in  council,  with 
all  due  form,  and  without  any  undignified 
haste,  informed  the  commander-in-chief,  at 
Simla, of  the  proposed  alteration;  suggesting, 
that  if  his  excellency  approved,  new  instruc- 
tions should  be  given  for  the  rifle  practice, 
in  which  no  allusion  should  be  made  to 
the  biting  of  the  cartridge,  laid  down  in  pre- 
vious regulations.  Pending  the  answer  of 
General  Anson,  private  instructions  were 
sent  to  Dum  Dum,  to  let  the  musketry  prac- 
tice there  stop  short  of  actually  loading  the 
rifle. 

While  the  European  authorities  discussed 
matters  among  themselves, the  sepoys  did  the 
same,  but  arrived  more  rapidly  at  more  im- 
portant conclusions.  It  is  not  probable  that 
they  viewed  the  cartridge  as  a  solitary  indi- 
cation  of  the  feeling  of  government  towards 
them :  the  general  service  order  of  1856 ; 
the  affront  put  on  the  Mohammedans  in 
the  Punjab  by  General  Anson  in  the  same 
year,  by  expelling  them  the  service  for  re- 
fusing to  allow  their  beards  to  be  cut;  the 
total  withdrawal,  when  the  penny  postage 
came  into  operation,  of  the  privilege  of 
having  their  letters  franked  J  by  their  com- 
manding officers;  the  alterations  in  the 
invaliding  regulations  ; — these  and  other 
recent  innovations  were  probably  rankling 
in  their  minds.  The  regiments  understood 
one  another;  a  certain  power  of  combi- 
nation existed,  ready  to  be  called  into 
action;  and  by  reason  of  constant  correspon- 


MUTINY  OF  19th  N.  I.  AT  BARRACKPOOR— 26th  FEB.,  1857.        129 


dence,  the  whole  of  the  Bengal  troops  were 
engaged  in  an  incipient  conspiracy  before 
they  well  knew  what  they  were  conspiring 
about.  We  left  the  poison  full  time  to 
work.  The  filthy  cartridges  prepared  for 
them  did,  we  cannot  now  doubt,  actually 
contain  the  forbidden  substance,  which  pri- 
soners starving  in  a  dungeon,  and  sepoys 
on  board  ship,  will  perish  sooner  than  touch  ; 
and  yet,  instead  of  manfully  owning  the 
error,  and  atoning  for  it  by  changing  the 
paper,  and,  once  for  all,  removing  every 
shadow  of  suspicion,  we  persisted  in  holding 
it  over  their  heads  like  a  drawn  sword,  to  be 
let  fall  at  any  moment.  So  late  as  the  5th 
of  March  (the  government  respite  not 
having  then  arrived),  the  sepoys  at  Dum 
Dum  were,  notwithstanding  their  remon- 
strances, employed  in  making  cartridges  of 
the  new,  and  as  they  believed  greased, 
paper;  and  Major  Bontein  was  preparing 
to  enforce  the  regulations,  and  considering 
how  to  deal  with  the  prisoners  he  expected 
to  be  obliged  to  make  for  disobedience  of 
orders.* 

The  first  mutiny  was  not,  however,  des- 
tined to  occur  at  Dum  Dum  :  it  broke  out 
at  Burhampoor  on  the  Ganges,  about  120 
miles  from  Calcutta.  The  only  troops  then 
at  the  station  were  the  19th  Native  in- 
fantry, a  detachment  of  Native  cavalry,  and 
a  battery  of  Native  artillery.  The  19  th 
and  34th  had  been  stationed  together  at 
Lucknow  for  two  years ;  and  the  men  were 
of  course  personally  acquainted.  During 
the  latter  part  of  the  month  of  February, 
two  sepoy  parties  of  the  34tli  regiment  were 
sent  from  Calcutta  to  Burhampoor.  The 
second  came  as  the  escort  of  some  sick 
Europeans  on  the  25th,  and  their  communi- 
cations regarding  the  proceedings  at  Bar- 
rackpoor,  so  alarmed  the  19th,  that  the 
whole  corps,  Hindoos,  Seiks,  and  Moham- 
medans, resolved  upon  a  general  fast ;  and 
for  three  days,  beginning  with  the  26th, 
took  only  bhang,  and  other  exciting  drugs. 
Of  this  excitement,  their  commanding  officer, 
Colonel  Mitchell,  was  entirely  ignorant. 
The  new  muskets  had  arrived  shortly  be- 
fore, and  he  had  explained  to  the  sepoys  that 
the  necessary  grease  would  be  prepared 
before  them  by  the  pay  bavildars.  On  the 
26th  of  February,  orders  were  given  for  the 

•  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  38. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  273. 

%  Minute  of  March  27th,  1857.— Appendix,  p.  60. 
§  This   threat   was   denied   by   Colonel  Mitchell, 
but  established  on  European  as  well  as  Native  testi- 
voi,.  II.  s 


firing  of  fifteen  rounds  of  blank  cartridge  per 
man.  The  cartridges  were  then  sent  to  the 
bellsof  arms,  and  examined  by  the  men.  They 
had  previously  been  in  the  habit  of  making 
all  they  used.  Those  now  served  out  were  of 
two  kinds ;  one  like  the  paper  they  had 
been  accustomed  to,  the  other  whiter  and 
thinner.  The  sepoys  compared  them  in  all 
ways ;  they  burnt  the  paper,  and  laid 
other  portions  in  water.  Still  they  saw,  or 
fancied  they  saw,  a  marked  difference. 
They  felt  convinced  that  they  were  greased, 
and  refused  to  take  the  percussion-caps 
served  out  for  the  intended  practice ;  saying, 
"  Why  should  we  take  the  caps,  as  we  won't 
take  the  cartridges  until  the  doubt  about 
them  is  cleared  up?"t  This  occurred  at 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The 
incidents  which  followed  are  best  told  in 
the  words  of  the  petition  subsequently 
laid  before  government  by  the  19th  regi- 
ment, and  which  the  governor-general  in 
council  has  pronounced  to  be,  "  upon  the 
whole,  a  fair  account  of  what  took  place  on 
the  occasion  of  the  outbreak ;  the  main 
points  being  borne  out  by  the  evidence  at 
the  court  of  inquiry."  { 

"  At  half-past  seven  o'clock,"  the  peti- 
tioners state,  "  the  colonel,  accompanied  by 
the  adjutant,  came  on  parade,  and  very 
angrily  gave  orders  to  us,  saying,  '  If  you 
will  not  take  the  cartridges  I  will  take  you  to 
Burmah,  or  to  China,§  where,  through  hard- 
ship, you  will  all  die.  These  cartridges  were 
left  behind  by  the  7th  Native  infantry,  and 
I  will  serve  them  out  to-morrow  morning  by 
the  hands  of  the  officers  commanding  com- 
panies.' He  gave  this  order  so  angrily, 
that  we  were  convinced  that  the  cartridges 
were  greased,  otherwise  he  would  not  have 
spoken  so."]] 

Colonel  Mitchell  sent  an  order  to  the 
cavalry  and  artillery  (whose  lines  were  about 
three  miles  from  those  of  the  infantry),  to 
assemble  on  parade,  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
pelling the  sepoys  to  use  the  cartridges. 
It  would  appear  that  the  sepoys  were  right 
in  believing  that  the  cartridges  were  to  be 
bitten,  not  torn.  The  news  soon  got  wind; 
and  the  same  night,  about  a  quarter  to 
eleven,  shouts  were  heard  in  the  lines ;  some 
persons  cried  fire,  others  that  they  were 
surrounded  by  Europeans — that  the    guns 

mony.  It  might  easily  have  been  uttered  in  the 
excitement  of  so  critical  a  moment,  and  forgotten 
by  the  utterer,  but  not  by  those  whose  interests  were 
immediately  affected  by  it. — Appendix,  &o.,  p.  290. 
II  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers,  pp.  278,  279. 


130 


PETITION  OF  THE  19th  AGAINST  DISBANDMENT— 1857. 


and  cavalry  had  arrived.  In  the  midst  of 
the  din  the  aliirm  was  sounded ;  and  the 
sepoys,  mad  with  fear,  rushed  to  the  bells 
and  seized  tlieir  arms. 

It  is  manifest  they  had  no  plan,  and  no 
intention  of  attempting  violence,  or  they 
would  not  have  refused  to  receive  the  per- 
cussion-caps offered  them  that  afternoon,  nor 
have  remained  passive  while  th«  11th  irre- 
gular cavalry  and  guns  were  fetched  to  the 
parade,  which  they  reached  by  torchlight 
between  twelve  and  one.  The  armed  sepoys 
then  ran  out  of  their  lines  to  the  parade  in 
the  greatest  alarm.  The  colonel  was  much 
excited,  and  said,  that  he  and  the  officers 
were  prepared  to  do  their  duty,  should  the 
men  not  yield  obedience ;  they  (the  officers) 
were  ready  to  die,  and  would -die  there.  The 
Native  officers  represented  that  the  sepoys 
really  believed  that  the  matter  affected 
their  religion,  and  begged  the  colonel  to 
send  away  the  cavalry  and  guns ;  which  was 
accordingly  done.*  The  sepoys  lodged  their 
arms  quietly,  and  returned  to  their  lines. 
The  whole  regiment  appeared  on  parade  the 
next  morning;  and,  on  the  28th,  there  was 
another  parade.  The  cartridges  which  the 
men  had  refused  to  fire,  were  publicly  in- 
spected ;  and  the  two  kinds  were  put  up  by 
Colonel  Mitchell,  and  forwarded  for  the 
inspection  of  government,  with  an  account 
of  what  had  taken  place.  Daily  parades 
took  place,  and  the  19th  again  became  as 
steady  and  orderly  as  any  men  could  be.f 

Tranquillity  was  restored,  and  might  have 
been  maintained,  had  the  government  been 
sufficiently  generous  or  discreet  to  deal 
gently  with  an  offence  which  their  own  in- 
discretion had  provoked.  The  disbandment 
of  the  regiment  was  summarily  decided  on, 
without  any  correspondence  with  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, whose  concurrence  it  ap- 
peared was  necessary  to  the  simple  alteration 
of  a  clumsy  mode  of  loading,  which  was  goad- 
ing the  troops  to  mutiny,  but  was  not  neces- 
sary to  the  enactment  of  a  decree  which  sud- 
denly reduced  a  thousand  men,  whose  fault 
must  have  varied  very  considerably  in  its  cir- 
cumstances, to  the  same  utter  poverty.  Their 
appeal  made  to  government,  through  Colonel 
Mitchell,  was  very  touching.  They  said  it 
was  hard,  after  so  many  years'  service,  to 
lose   their   bread.     Since   the    unfortunate 

•  It  is  highly  improbable  that,  in  the  absence  of 
European  soldiers,  the  Native  corps  would  have 
fired  on  their  countrymen  in  such  a  case  as  this; 
yet  the  mode  in  which  "  the  coercing  force  was 
withdrawn,"  was   pronounced   by  the   governor   in 


night  of  the  26th  of  February,  all  their  duties 
had  been  carefully  carried  on,  and  (they 
add)  "  so  shall  be ;  as  long  as  we  live  we  will 
faithfully  obey  all  orders;  wherever,  in  the 
field  of  battle,  we  are  ordered  to  go,  tliere- 
shall  we  be  found ;  therefore,  with  every 
respect,  we  now  petition,  that  since  this  is  a 
religious  question  from  which  arose  our 
dread,  and  as  religion  is,  by  the  order  of 
God,  the  first  thing,  we  petition  that,  as  we 
have  done  formerly,  we  may  be  also  allowed 
to  make  up  our  own  cartridges,  and  we  will 
obey  whatever  orders  may  be  given  to  us, 
and  we  will  ever  pray  for  you." 

There  is  no  mistaking  the  earnestness 
with  which  the  19th,  even  in  the  moment 
of  reaction  and  reflection,  dwell  on  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  their  outbreak.  The  gov- 
ernment, in  acquainting  the  Court  of  Direc- 
tors with  the  whole  transaction,  give  the 
same  version,  by  saying  that  the  regiment 
had  refused  to  take  the  cartridges,  "  in  con- 
sequence of  the  reports  in  circulation,  that 
the  paper  of  which  they  were  made  was 
greased  with  the  fat  of  cows  and  pigs." 

This  despatch  is  dated  8th  April,  1857. 
On  the  same  day,  the  directors  were  inditing 
one  expressive  of  their  gratification  at  learn- 
ing that  the  matter  had  been  fully  explained 
to  the  men  at  Barrackpoor  and  Dum  Dum, 
and  that  they  appeared  perfectly  satisfied 
that  no  intention  existed  of  interfering  with 
their  caste.  Of  course  by  this  time  it  was 
pretty  evident  that  the  sepoys  generally 
were  convinced  of  the  direct  opposite,  and 
viewed  the  19th  as  a  body  of  victims  and 
martyrs. 

The  penalty  of  disbandment  found  little 
favour  with  any  party.  The  ultra-discipli- 
narians pronounced  the  punishment  insuffi- 
cient, for  what  the  governor-general  thought 
fit  to  term  "  open  and  defiant  mutiny ;" 
and  moderate  men  considered  it  would  have 
been  wiser  to  have  accepted  the  offer  of  the 
corps,  and  make  it  a  general  service  regi- 
ment, rather  than  send  a  thousand  men  to 
their  homes,  to  beg  or  plunder  food  for  the 
support  of  themselves  and  their  families, 
and  to  sow  the  seed  of  distrust  and  disaffec- 
tion wherever  they  went.  Besides,  evidence 
was  adduced  which  proved  beyond  a  doubt 
that  the  19th  had  been  instigated  to  mutiny 
by  the  representations  of  the  34th,  who  had 

cotmcil  as  a  special  reason  for  declaring  Colonel 
Mitchell  unfit  for  the  command  of  a  regiment. — 
Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers,  p.  297. 

t  Letter  of  Lieutenant-colonel  Mitchell,  March 
3rd,  1857.— Appendix,  p.  267. 


FIRST  BLOOD  SHED— BARRACKPOOR— 29th  MARCH,  1857.        131 


;  been  long  on  the  verge  of  an  outbreak,  and 
'  were  only  kept  biick  by  the  influence  of 
their  oificers.  The  government,  knowing 
'  this,  resolved  on  making  the  19th  the  scape- 
goat for  the  34th  and  other  regiments,  whose 
disaffection  had  been  proved  by  incendiarism 
and  sullen  murmurings,  and  ordered  the 
disbandment  to  take  place  at  Barrackpoor. 

The  Calcutta  authorities  were  not  quite 
insensible  to   the    danger   pointed   out   by 
Napier,  of  "attempting  to  bully  large  masses. 
of  men."     The  sentence  resolved  on  against 
the  19th  was  not  made  public  until  H.M.'s 
84th    regiment    had    been    brought    from 
Rangoon.     The  84th  arrived  at  Calcutta  on 
the  20th  of  March,  and  were  immediately 
I  conveyed   to    Chinsurah — a   station    about 
!  eight  miles  from  Barrackpoor,  whither  the 
19th  were  ordered  to  proceed.     The  arrival 
of  the  Europeans  increased  the  excitement 
;  among  the  Native  troops  at  Barrackpoor, 
1  which  was  evidently  the  centre  of  disaffec- 
;  tion.     Two  of  the    2nd  Native   grenadiers 
were  taken  up  on  a  charge  of  endeavouring 
to  excite  mutiny   on  the   11th  of  March, 
found   guilty,    and    sentenced   to   fourteen 
years'  hard  labour.     The  sentence  is  memo- 
rable, since  General  Anson  thought  fit  to 
,  write  a  minute  on  it  from   his  far-distant 
residence  in  the  Himalayas — a  mark  of  in- 
I  terest  which  the  disbanding  of  entire  regi- 
ments had  not  elicited.     Death  would,  he 
considered,  have  been  the  proper  penalty ; 
but   fourteen    years   of    disgraceful   labour 
I  might  be  to  some  worse  than  death ;  there- 
;  fore  he  would  not  call  for  a  revision  of  the 
j  sentence.     "The  miserable  fate  which  the 
prisoners   had    brought    upon    themselves, 
would,"  he  added,  "  excite  no  pity  in  the 
breast  of  any  true  soldier."  * 
i       Avowedly,  in  consequence  of  communica- 
tions sent  them  by  the  34th  regiment,  three 
I  companies  of  the  63rd  regiment  at  Sooree 
I  refused  to  accept   their  furloughs,   saying, 
"If  our  brethren  at  Barrackpoor  go,  we  will 
go ;  but  we  bear  they  are  not  going."    After- 
I  wards   they  expressed   contrition    for   their 
j  conduct,  and  were  allowed  to  enjoy  tlieir 
I  furloughs.    The  refusal  occurred  on  the  28th 
of  March.     On  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  tlie 
29tli,  the  Native  officers  of  the  34tli  regiment 
at  Barrackpoor  reported  that  the  men  wer6 
in    a   very    excited    state.     Sergeant-major 
Hewson  proceeded  to  the  lines,  and  found  a 
sepoy  walking  up  and  down  in  front  of  the 
quarter-guard,  and  calling  out  to  the  men 
^^     of  the  brigade  to  join  him  in  defending  and 
^H         •  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers,  p.  86.     f  Ibid.,  p.  147. 


dying  for   their   religion    and   their   caste. 
Tliis  was  Mungul  Pandy,  a  man  of  previously 
excellent   character,  who  had   been    above 
seven  years  in  the  service,  but  had  lately 
taken  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  preparations 
of  opium    and   bhang.     Whether   he   had 
resorted  to  these  stimulants,  as  the  Indian 
soldiery  are  in  the  habit  of  doing,  to  nerve 
himself  for  this  special  purpose,  or  whether 
the  habit  itself  had  rendered  him  reckless  of 
consequences,  does  not  appear ;  but  General 
Hearsey   speaks   of  the    actuating    motive 
as  "religious  frenzy."     "The  Europeans," 
Mungul  Pandy  said,  alluding  to  a  wing  of 
her   majesty's    53rd,  detached   from   Dum 
Dum,  "  had  come  to  slaughter  the  sepoys,  or 
else  force  them  to  bite  the  cartridges,  and 
become  apostates ;"  and  when  the  English 
sergeant  attempted  to  seize  him,  he  called 
out  to  the  men  who  were   thronging   the 
lines,  in   their   undress    and    unarmed,    to 
come  and  support  him.     "  You  incited  me 
to  this,"  he  cried ;   "  and  now,  poltroons, 
you  will   not  join   me."      Taking   aim    at 
Sergeant  Hewson,  he  fired,  but  missed;  upon 
which  the  sergeant  retreated,  and  called  to 
the  guard  to  fall-in  and  load.      Adjutant 
Baugh,  of  the  34th,  next  rode  up,  calling  out, 
"  Where   is   he  ?  where  is   he  7"     Mungul 
Pandy  fired  at  the  adjutant,  and  his  horse 
fell  wounded.     The  adjutant  drew  a  pistol 
from  his  holster  and  took  aim,  but  failed ; 
upon  which  he  and  the  sergeant  rushed  on 
Mungul    Pandy,   who  wounded  both  with 
his    tulwar,    or   native    sword.     The    other 
sepoys  began  to  hustle  and  surround  the 
two  Europeans,  but  their  lives  were  saved 
by   the    courage   and    devotion   of  a    Mo- 
hammedan   sepoy,   named    Sheik   Phultoo, 
who   rushed  forward  unarmed,   and   inter- 
cepted a  blow  directed  at  the  adjutfint;  and, 
flinging  his  right  arm  round  Mungul  Pandy 
(the  left  being  severely  wounded),  enabled 
the  Europeans  to  escape.     A  shot  from  the 
direction  of  the  quarter-guard  was  fired  at 
them,  but  without  effect.     There  were  about 
400  men  in  the  lines,  looking  on ;  and  Ad- 
jutant Baugh,  as  he  passed  them  maimed 
and  bleeding,  said,  "You  cowardly  set  of 
rascals !     You  see  an  officer  cut  down  be- 
fore your  eyes,  and  not  a  man  of  you  ad- 
vances to  assist  him."     They  made  no  re- 
ply J    but    all   turned   their    backs   on   the 
speaker,    and   moved    slowly   and    sullenly 
away.     The  unpopularity  of  the  adjutantf 
is  alleged  to  have  influenced   the  sepoys ; 
and,    after   he    had    left,    they    compelled 
Sheik  Phultoo  to  let   Mungul  Pandy  go. 


132 


DISBANDMENT  OF  19th  N.  I.— 31st  MARCH,  1857. 


Lieutenant-colonel  Wheeler,  the  officer  in 
command  of  the  regiment,  came  on  parade 
soon  after,  and  ordered  the  quarter-guard  to 
secure  the  mutineer.  The  jemadar  who 
ought  to  have  led  them,  sided  with  Mungul 
Pandj' ;  and,  coming  up  to  the  colonel,  told 
him  that  the  men  refused  to  obey  the  order. 
A  native  standing  by  said,  that  the  offender 
being  a  Brahmin,  nobody  would  hurt  him. 
Colonel  Wheeler  "considered  it  quite  useless, 
and  a  useless  sacrifice  of  life,  to  order  a 
European  officer  with  the  guard  to  seize 
him,  as  he  would  no  doubt  have  picked  off 
the  European  officer,  without  receiving  any 
assistance  from  the  guard  itself."  The 
colonel  therefore  left  the  spot,  and  re- 
ported the  matter  to  the  brigadier.  On 
learning  what  had  occurred.  General  Hear- 
sey,  with  his  two  sons  and  Major  Ross, 
rode  to  the  quarter-guard  house,  where 
about  ten  or  twelve  men  had  turned  out. 
Mungul  Pandy  watched  their  approach, 
and  Captain  Hearsey  called  out  to  his 
father  to  be  on.  his  guard,  for  the  mutineer 
was  taking  aim  at  him.  The  general  re- 
plied, "  If  I  fall,  John,  rush  upon  him,  and 
put  him  to  death."  la  a  moment  Mungul 
Pandy  dropped  on  his  knee,  turned  the 
muzzle  of  his  musket  to  his  own  breast, 
and  pulled  the  trigger  with  his  foot.  The 
bullet  made  a  deep  graze,  ripping  up  the 
muscles  of  the  chest,  shoulder,  and  neck. 
He  fell  prostrate,  with  his  clothes  on  fire, 
was  picked  up  shivering,  convulsed,  and 
apparently  dying,  and  was  handcuffed  and 
conveyed  to  the  hospital ;  none  of  the  sepoys 
attempting  further  interference. 

General  Hearsey  rode  amongst  the  43rd 
and  34th  Native  regiments,  and,  while 
blaming  the  latter  for  their  conduct  (which 
appears  to  have  been  most  outrageous),  he 
assured  them  that  no  person  should  be  per- 
mitted to  interfere  with  their  religious  and 
caste  prejudices  while  he  commanded  them. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  arrest  the  jemadar 
or  the  sepoys  of  the  quarter-guard,  probably 
because  General  Hearsey  feared  to  precipi- 
tate a  struggle  for  which  he  was  not  yet 
prepared.  The  culprits  must  have  known 
the  rules  of  British  discipline  too  well  to 
expect  to  escape  with  impunity  the  conse- 
quences of  their  mutinous  and  dastardly 
conduct.  That  night,  in  the  lines,  a  plan  of 
action  was  concocted ;  and  the  19th  regi- 
ment, on  their  arrival  at  Baraset  (eight 
miles  from  Barrackpoor)  on  the  following 
morning,  found  messengers  waiting  for  them 
from  the  34th,  who  proposed  to  them  to 


rise  that  evening,  kill  their  officers,  and 
march  to  Barrackpoor,  where  they  would 
find  the  2nd  and  34th  in  readiness  to  co- 
operate with  them  in  overpowering  the 
European  force,  and  proceeding  to  surprise 
and  sack  Calcutta. 

The  unfortunate  19th  had  already  suffered 
deeply  for  listening  to  suggestions  from 
Barrackpoor.  They  rejected  the  proposals 
decidedly  and  at  once ;  but  they  did  not  be- 
tray their  tempters,  who  returned  safely, 
their  errand  unsuspected. 

The  disbandment  took  place  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  at  Barrackpoor,  in  presence 
of  the  available  troops  of  all  arms  withia 
two  days'  march  of  that  station.  The  gov- 
ernment order  having  been  read,  the  arras 
were  piled,  and  the  colours  deposited  by  the 
sepoys,  who  evinced  much  sadness,  but  nO' 
suUenness.  The  number  of  the  regiment 
was  not  to  be  effaced  from  the  army  list ; 
and  there  were  other  slight  concessions, 
of  which  General  Hearsey  made  the  most  in 
addressing  the  men.  They  knew  he  pitied 
them  J  and  as  they  left  the  ground,  disgraced 
and  impoverished,  they  cheered  him  cor- 
dially, and  wished  him  long  life — a  wish 
which  he  as  cordially  returne^.  Perhaps  no 
regiment  in  the  Bengal  army  was  more 
sound  at  the  core  than  the  19th.  Lieute- 
nant-colonel Macgregor,  who  had  been  sta- 
tioned with  them  at  Burhampoor  for  some 
months,  declared  that  he  had  never  met 
with  a  quieter  or  better-behaved  regiment, 
and  described  them  as  appearing  very  sorry 
for  the  outbreak  of  the  26th  of  February. 
They  felt  that  they  had  been  misled  by  the 
34th ;  and  when  their  request  to  be  suffered 
to  re-enlist  was  refused,  they  are  said  to  have 
begged,  before  leaving  the  ground,  to  be 
allowed  to  resume  their  arms  for  one  half- 
hour,  and  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
34th,  on  whom  they  promised  to  avenge  the 
quarrel  of  the  government  and  their  own. 

Some  alarm,  says  Mr.  Mead,  was  enter- 
tained lest  they  should  plunder  the  villages 
on  their  way  up  country,  but  they  seem  to 
have  conducted  themselves  peaceably.  Many 
got  employment  asdurwans  (or  gate-keepers), 
and  a  few  were  entertained  by  magistrates, 
for  whom  they  have  since  done  efficient  ser- 
vice in  the  capture  of  fugitive  mutineers. 
Hundreds  died  of  cholera  by  the  way-side, 
and  a  large  proportion  went  into  the  service 
of  the  Nawab  of  Moorshedabad.  It  has  not 
been  proved  that  any  of  them  entered  the 
ranks  of  the  rebel  army.* 

•  Mead's  Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  62. 


EXECUTION  OF  MUNGUL  PANDY— APRIL  7th,  1858. 


133 


The  order  for  the  disbandment  of  the 
19th  was  read  on  parade  to  every  regiment 
throughout  India.  If  the  change  from 
biting  to  tearing  the  cartridges  had  been 
simultaneously  announced,  the  army  might 
have  been  tranquillised,  and  accepted  the 
fate  of  the  19th  as  a  vicarious  sacrifice  for 
the  general  benefit.  Instead  of  this  the 
order  of  disbandment  was  read  alone ;  and 
no  mention  whatever  being  made  of  the 
cartridges,  the  natural  conclusion  was,  that 
the  sepoys  would  be  compelled  to  bite  them 
or  be  turned  on  the  world  after  long  years 
of  faithful  service.  The  General  Orders  cer- 
tainly contained  an  assertion,  that  "  it  had 
been  the  unvarying  rule  of  the  government 
of  India  to  treat  the  religious  feelings  of 
all  its  servants,  of  every  creed,  with  careful 
respect;"  but,  as  it  was  notorious  that  a 
flagrant  breach  of  this  rule  had  been 
recently  committed,  and  was,  so  far  as  the 
sepoys  could  tell,  to  be  determinedly  per- 
severed in,  it  followed  that  the  assurance, 
intended  to  tranquillise  them,  utterly  failed 
in  its  effect ;  and  the  only  part  of  the  address 
which  really  impressed  them,  was  the  de- 
clared intention  of  government  never  to 
cease  exacting  the  unhesitating  obedience 
the  men  had  sworn  to  give. 

The  19th  being  disposed  of,  the  next 
question  was,  how  to  deal  with  the  34th. 
Never  was  prompt  action  more  evidently 
needed ;  yet  five  weeks  were  allowed  to 
elapse,  during  which  tokens  of  mutiny  were 
multiplying  throughout  India,  without  any 
decision  being  arrived  at  regarding  the 
dastardly  quarter-guard.  Mungul  Pandy 
was  tried,  condemned,  and  hung,  on  the  7th 
of  April,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  troops 
then  at  Barrackpoor.  He  was  much  debili- 
tated by  his  wound  (which  would  probably 
have  proved  mortal) ;  but  he  met  his  death 
with  perfect  composure,  and  refused  to  make 
any  statementwhich  could  implicate  his  com- 
rades. The  jemadar,  who  commanded  the 
guard  of  the  34th,  was  also  tried  and  con- 
demned to  death,  but  the  execution  of  the 
sentence  was  delayed  until  the  21st  of  April, 
owing  to  the  time  lost  in  corresponding 
with  the  commander-in-chief  at  Simla;  who 

*  A  telegram  was  transmitted  to  Simla,  on  the 
14th  of  April,  strongly  urging  General  Anson  to 
issue  a  special  warrant  to  General  Hearsey,  for  the 
purpose  of  at  once  carrying  out  the  sentence  in 
which  the  trial  then  pending  was  expected  to  issue. 
On  the  17th,  the  following  telegram  was  sent  to 
General  Hearsey,  from  Calcutta  :— "  The  commander- 
in-chief  refuses  to  empower  you  to  confirm  sentences 
of  courts-martial  on  commissioned  officers."     On  the 


first  declined,  and  then  consented,  to  em- 
power General  Hearsey  to  confirm  the  sen- 
tences of  court-martials  on  Native  commis- 
sioned officers.* 

It  seemed  as  if  government  had  resolved 
to  drop  proceedings  here.  The  remarks 
appended  to  General  Anson's  confirmation 
of  the  jemadar's  sentence,  were  very  like  an 
act  of  amnesty  to  the  Barrackpoor  troops  in 
general,  and  the  34th  in  particular.  He 
stated  his  trust  that  the  crime  of  which 
Mungul  Pandy  and  the  jemadar  had  been 
guilty,  would  be  viewed  with  horror  by 
every  man  in  the  army ;  and  he  added,  in 
evident  allusion  to  the  guard,  that  if  there 
were  any  "  who  had  looked  on  with  apathy 
or  passive  encouragement,"  he  hoped  the 
fate  of  their  guilty  comrades  would  "  have  a 
beneficial  effect  upon  their  future  conduct. "f 

The  Mohammedan  orderly  who  had  saved 
the  life  of  the  adjutant  and  sergeant,  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  havildar  by  Gen- 
eral Hearsey,  and  given  an  Order  of  Merit 
for  his  conduct.  The  divisional  order  to  this 
effect  was  issued  on  the  5  th  of  April.  The 
general  was  reproved  by  the  governor-general 
in  council,  for  having  exceeded  his  authority 
by  this  act,  and  also  for  having  described 
Mungul  Pandy  as  stimulated  by  "  religious 
frenzy."  J  Lord  Canning,  in  his  own  minute, 
speaks  of  Mungul  Pandy  as  "  that  fanatic  j" 
but  considered,  that  "however  probable  it 
may  be  that  religious  feelings  influenced 
him,"  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  left 
this  feature  of  the  case  unnoticed.  § 

Early  in  April,  a  Native  court-martial  sen- 
tenced a  jemadar,  of  the  70th  Native  infantry, 
to  dismissal  from  the  army  (in  which  he  had 
served  thirty-three  years),  in  consequence  of 
his  having  incited  other  Native  oflicers  to 
mutiny,  as  the  only  means  of  avoiding  the 
pollution  of  biting  the  new  cartridges.  The 
commander-in-chief  desired  that  the  sen- 
tence should  be  revised,  as  too  lenient ;  but 
the  Native  officers  persisted  in  their  decision, 
which  was  eventually  confirmed. 

An  event  took  place  at  the  same  time, 
which  showed  that  the  temper  of  the  distant 
troops  was  mutinous  and  disaffected.  The 
48th  infantry,  a  corps  reputed  to  be  one  of  the 

20th,  General  Anson  changed  his  mind,  and  sent 
the  desired  warrant. — (See  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers 
on  the  Mutinies,  1857  ;  pp.  104—107.) 

t  Ibid.,  p.  124.  A  sepoy  was  identified  as  having 
struck  the  sergeant-major  (when  cut  down  by  Mun- 
gul Pandy)  with  the  butt  of  his  musket;  but  he 
escaped  punishment  by  desertion. — (p.  158. ) 

X  Divisional  order,  April  5th,  1857 ;  p.  63. 

§  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  63. 


134 


INCIPIENT  MUTINY  IN  OUDE— APEIL,  1857. 


finest  in  the  service,  long  commanded  by 
Sir  H.  M.  Wheeler,  the  general  in  charge  of 
Cawnpoor,  was  at  this  time  stationed  at 
Lucknow,  under  the  command  of  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  Palmer.  Dr.  Wells,  the 
surgeon  of  the  regiment,  having  occasion  to 
visit  the  medicine  store  at  the  hospital,  and 
being  at  the  time  indisposed,  drank  a  por- 
tion of  a  carminative  from  a  bottle  contain- 
ing a  quantity,  after  which  no  high-caste  Hin- 
doo could  partake  of  the  remainder  without 
pollution.  The  Native  apothecary  in  atten- 
dance, saw  and  reported  the  act  to  the  sick 
sepoys,  upon  which  they  all  refused  to  touch 
any  of  the  medicines  prescribed  for  them. 
Colonel  Palmer  assembled  the  Native  officers, 
and,  in  their  presence,  rebuked  the  surgeon 
for  his  heedlessness,  and  destroyed  the  bot- 
tle which  he  had  put  to  his  mouth.  The 
men  took  their  medicines  as  before ;  but  a 
few  nights  after,  the  bungalow  (thatched 
house)  in  which  Dr.  Wells  resided  was 
fired,  and  most  of  his  property  destroyed. 
It  was  notorious  that  the  incendiaries  be- 
longed to  the  48th  Native  infantry;  but 
their  comrades  shielded  them,  and  no  proof 
could  be  obtained  against  the  individuals. 

Not  long  after,  the  Native  officers  of  the 
regiment  were  reported  to  be  intriguing 
with  Rookan-oo-Dowlah  and  Mustapha  Ali, 
relatives  of  the  King  of  Oude,  residing 
in  Lucknow.  The  most  absurd  rumours 
■were  circulated  and  believed  in  the  city. 
While  the  cartridges  were  to  be  used  as  the 
means  of  compelling  the  sepoys  to  lose 
caste,  other  measures  were,  it  was  reported, 
being  taken  to  rob  the  non-military  class  of 
theirs.  Government  was  said  to  have  sent 
up  cart-loads  and  boat-loads  of  bone-dust, 
to  mix  with  the  otta  (prepared  flour)  and 
sweetmeats  sold  in  the  bazaars;  and  the 
authorities  vainly  strove  to  disabuse  the  pub- 
lic mind,  which  was  kept  in  a  perpetually-re- 
curring panic.  Money  was  repeatedly  given, 
with  directions  to  purchase  some  of  the 
adulterated  otta;  but  though  the  parties 
always  returned  with  the  money  in  their 
hands,  stating  their  inability  to  find  the 
shops  where  it  was  sold,  it  was  evident  that 

*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  pp.  86 ;  88.  A  sin- 
gular instance  of  the  extent  of  the  gulf  which  sepa- 
rates us  from  the  aboriginal  tribes,  and  the  small 
respect  they  feel  for  European  civilisation,  was 
witnessed  by  Mr.  Gubbins  several  years  ago.  A 
report  got  abroad  among  the  hill-men  of  the  sani- 
tarium at  Simla,  that  orders  had  arrived  from  the 
governor -general  for  the  preparation  of  a  certain 
quantity  of  human  fat,  to  be  sent  down  to  Calcutta ; 
and  that,  for  this  purpose,  the  local  authorities  were 


they  were  silenced,  but  not  convinced  of  its  ; 
non-existence.      Sir    Henry  Lawrence   lis-  j 
tened   with   patient   attention  to  all  these 
rumours,  and  did  what  probably  few  other  ; 
men  could  have  done  to  extract  their  veiionj. 
But  the  yet  unwithdrawn  order  for  biting 
the   cartridges,    afforded   to  the   earnest   a 
reason,  and  to  the  intriguing  a  pretext,  for 
distrusting  the  government;    and  the  four 
first  months  of  1857  had  given  time  for  the 
growth  of  seed,  which  could  not  afterwards 
be  prevented  from  producing  baneful  fruit. 
There  was  a  Hindoo  subahdar  of  one  of  the 
Oude  local  artillery  batteries,  named  Dabee 
Sing,  an  old  and  tried  soldier.     Mr.  Gubbins 
speaks  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  as  having  been 
closeted  for  hours  at  a  time  with  this  man, 
who  told  him  all  the  wild  projects  attributed 
to  the  British  government  for  the  purpose 
of  procuring   the  annihilation  of  the   reli- 
gious and  territorial  rights  of  the  people  of 
India.     Among  other  things  which  Dabee 
Sing  gravely  related,  without  expressing  his 
own  opinion  one  way  or  the  other,  was  a 
plan  for  transporting  to  India  the  numerous 
widows  of  the  Europeans  who  had  perished 
in  the  Crimean   campaign.     The  principal 
zemindars  of  the  country  were  to  be  com- 
pelled to  marry  them ;   and  their  children, 
who  would  of  course  not  be  Hindoos,  were 
to  be  declared  the  heirs  to  the  estates.     Thus 
the  Hindoo  proprietors  of  land  were  to  be 
supplanted  !* 

How  far  such  reports  as  these  might 
really  gain  credence,  or  how  far  they  might 
be  adopted  as  a  means  of  expressing  the 
discontent  excited  by  the  recent  annexation 
and  resumption  measures,  does  not  appear; 
but  throughout  the  Bengal  army,  the  car- 
tridges continued  to  be  the  rallying-cry  for 
discontent  up  to  and  beyond  the  end  of 
April.  At  Agra  incendiary  fires  had  been 
frequent,  and  the  sepoys  had  refused  their 
aid  to  subdue  the  flames  :  at  Sealkote,  letters 
had  been  discovered  from  the  Barrackpoor 
sepoys,  inciting  their  brethren  at  that  dis- 
tant station  to  revolt :  at  Umballah,  the 
discontent  and  distrust  excited  by  the  new 
fire-arms,  had  been  most  marked  .f     The 

engaged  in  entrapping  the  hill-men,  killing  and 
boiling  them  down.  Numbers  of  these  men  were 
at  this  time  employed  in  carrying  the  ladies'  litters, 
and  in  a  variety  of  domestic  duties  which  brought 
them  in  daily  contact  with  the  Europeans.  Yet  the 
panic  spread,  until  numbers  fled  from  the  station ; 
nor  were  they,  Mr.  Gubbins  believes,  ever  thoroughly 
convinced  of  the  falsehood  of  the  report. — (p.  87.) 

f  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army :  by  one  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  28. 


DISUNION  BETWEEN  LORD  CANNING  AND  GEN.  ANSON. 


135 


Calcutta  authorities  were,  nevertheless,  so 
blind  to  the  irnminenoe  of  the  peril,  that  the 
Oriental,  which  was  supposed  to  be  lying  at 
Madras,  was  twice  telegraphed  for  to  convey 
the  84th  back  to  Burmah ;  and  but  for  the 
accident  that  sent  her  across  to  Rangoon, 
the  month  of  May  would  have  found  Cal- 
cutta left  as  before,  with  only  the  wing  of  a 
European  regiment.  Nothing  was  decided 
upon  with  regard  to  the  34th,  or  the  Bar- 
rackpoor  division  in  general,  despite  Briga- 
dier Hearsey's  warning  (given  two  months 
before,  and  confirmed  .by  the  very  unsatis- 
factory evidence  adduced  before  the  court- 
martial)  regarding  the  condition  of  the  troops 
stationed  there.  It  has  since  transpired, 
tliat  an  order,  and  a  most  needful  one,  for 
the  disbandment  of  the  34th,  was  actually 
drafted  immediately  after  the  attack  on 
Lieutenant  Baugh ;  but  it  was  withheld 
until  new  outbreaks  in  various  directions 
heralded  the  shock  for  which  the  govern- 
ment were  forewarned,  but  not  forearmed. 

The  home  authorities  shield  themselves 
from  the  charge  of  negligence,  on  the 
ground  that  up  to  May,  1857,  not  "  the 
slightest  indication  of  any  disaffection  among 
the  troops  had  been  sent  home."*  "  Indo- 
philus,"  who  has  means  of  information  pecu- 
liar to  a  man  whose  position  enables  him  to 
search  the  government  records,  and  examine 
the  original  papers  unpublished  and  un- 
garbled,  says,  that  it  cannot  be  ascertained, 
by  the  most  careful  inquiry,  that  General 
Anson  ever  made  a  single  representation  to 
the  directorSjt  or  to  any  member  of  her 
majesty's  government,  on  the  subject  j  but 
that,  on  the  contrary,  assurances  were  given 
of  the  satisfactory  state  of  the  Bengal  army, 
and  especially  of  its  continued  fidelity, 
which  might  well  lull  suspicion  to  sleep. 
"  It  is  hard,"  he  adds,  "  to  expect  a  govern- 
ment to  see  better  than  with  its  own  eyes. "J 
The  government  might,  perhaps,  save  the 
nation  many  disasters,  and  themselves  much 
discredit,  by  condescending  to  look  through 
the  eyes  of  those  bystanders  who  pro- 
verbially see  more  of  the  game  than  the 
players.  But  in  this  instance  they  did  not 
heed  the  warnings  of  even  their  own  servants. 

•  Speech  of  Mr.  Vernon  Smith. — India  debate, 
July  27th,  1857. 

t  The  chairman  of  the  East  India  Company  like- 
wise declared  in  parliament,  that  not  a  single  word 
of  notice  had  been  received  from  General  Anson  on 
the  subject. — (India  debate,  July  15th,  1857.) 

X  Letters  of  Indophilua,  p.  25. 

§  See  ante,  p.  120. 

11  Napier's  Life,  vol.  iv.,  p.  414. 


Sir  Charles  Napier,  Lord  Melville,  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  and  Colonel  Jacob,  all  lifted  up 
their  voices  in  vain;  nay.  Lord  Dalhousie 
himself  remonstrated  against  the  removal 
of  Europeans,  in  a  manner  which  proved 
his  mistrust  of  the  tone  and  temper  of  the 
Native  array.§  The  Duke  of  Wellington 
always  watched  Indian  proceedings  with  an 
anxious  eye.  His  decision  against  Napier 
was  possibly  prompted  even  less  by  the  par- 
tial statements  laid  before  him,  than  by  the 
feeling  that  if  the  spirit  of  mutiny  had  beeu 
roused  in  the  Bengal  army,  it  would  need 
all  the  influence  of  united  authority  for  its 
extinction.  No  commander-in-chief  could 
effect  it  except  with  the  full  support  and 
cordial  co-operation  of  the  governor-general. 
Such  a  state  of  things  was  impossible  be- 
tween Lord  Dalhousie  and  General  Napier. 
"The  suppression  of  mutiny,"  the  Duke 
wrote,  iu  his  memorandum  on  the  proffered 
resignation  of  Sir  Charles  Napier,  "par- 
ticularly if  at  all  general  or  extended 
to  numbers,  and  the  restoration  of  order 
and  subordination  to  authority  and  dis- 
cipline among  troops  who  have  mutinied,  is 
the  most  arduous  and  delicate  duty  upon 
which  an  officer  can  be  employed,  and  which 
requires,  in  the  person  who  undertakes  it, 
all  the  highest  qualifications  of  an  officer, 
and  moral  qualities;  and  he  who  should 
undertake  to  perform  the  duty,  should  enjoy, 
in  a  high  degree,  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  troops  and  of  the  government." ||  Sir 
William  Gomm,  the  successor  to  Napier  ap- 
pointed by  the  Duke  (an  active,  kind- 
hearted,  and  thoroughly  gentlemanly  man), 
appears  to  have  been  popular  both  with  the 
government  and  the  army,  European  and 
Native,  and  mutiny  certainly  made  no  head 
under  him.  It  does  not  appear  that  Gen- 
eral Anson  enjoyed  this  advantage,  either 
with  regard  to  the  government'f  or  the 
Native  troops ;  but,  with  the  latter,  decidedly 
the  reverse.  His  appointment  was  a  no- 
torious instance  of  the  principle  of  "  taking 
care  of  Dowb,"  at  the  expense  of  the  best 
interests  of  the  country.  It  is  true,  that  in 
the  civil  position  of  "  Clerk  of  the  Ordnance," 
he  had  been  both  active  and  efficient ;  and  to 

^  Great  difference  of  opinion  is  alleged  to  have 
existed  between  Lord  Canning  and  General  Anson  ; 
and  the  conduct  of  the  latter,  together  with  the  tone 
of  the  very  few  and  brief  communications  published, 
as  having  passed  between  Simla  and  Calcutta  even 
in  the  height  of  the  crisis,  tends  to  confirm  this  allega- 
tion. Mr.  Smith  blamed  Mr,  Disraeli  for  alluding  to 
it ;  but  acknowledged  the  prevalence  of  the  assertion 
"  in  private  circles." — Times,  June  30th,  1867. 


136 


CHARACTER  OF  GENERAL  ANSON— 1857. 


a  reputation  for  practical  business  habits,  he 
united  that  of  a  popular  "  man  about  town ;" 
■was  a  high  authority  on  racing  matters,  and 
a  first-rate  card-player;    but  he  had  never 
commanded  a  regiment,  and  would  certainly 
not  have  been  selected,  at  sixty  years  of 
age,  to  take  charge  of  the  Indian  army,  had 
he   not   been   a   member,    not  only  of  an 
honoured  and  really  honourable,  but  also  of 
a  very  influential  family.     In  fact,  he  was  a 
person  to  be  handsomely  provided  for.     By 
acts  of  commission  and  omission,  he  largely 
contributed  to  bring  the  mutiny  to  a  head ; 
yet,  strangely  enough,  those  who  have  been 
most  lavish  of  censure  regarding  Lord  Can- 
ning and  his  colleagues,  have  for  the  most 
part  passed  over,  in  complete  silence,  the 
notorious  fact  that  General  Anson  remained 
quietly  in  the  Himalayas,  in  the  healthiest 
season   of  the   year   for   Calcutta,  without 
taking  the   slightest   share  in   the  anxious 
deliberations  of  the  Supreme  Council;  yet, 
nevertheless,  drew  £6,000  a-year  for  being 
a  member  thereof,  in  addition  to  his  salary 
of    £10,000   as    commander-in-chief.     For 
instance,  "  One  who  has  served  under  Sir 
Charles  Napier,"  says — "  The  men  who  ruled 
India  in  1857,  knew  little  of  Asiatic  cha- 
racter.  The  two  civilians  [Messrs.  Dorin  and 
Grant]  had  seen  only  that  specimen  of  it 
of  which  the  educated  Bengalee  is  a  type : 
the  legal  member  [Mr.  Peacock]  and  Lord 
Canning  had  seen  no  more;   and   General 
Low  was  a  Madras  officer:"  but  the  very 
name   of    General   Anson   is    significantly 
omitted.     The  manner  in  which  the  council 
treated  the  crisis  through  which  they  were 
passing,  proved,  he  adds,  that  they  did  not 
comprehend  it.*     This  was  conspicuous  in 
the    reproaches    directed    against    Colonel 
"Wheeler  for  conversing  with  the  sepoys,  as 
well    as    the    natives    generally,    on    the 
subject  of  Christianity,  and  disseminating 
tracts  among  them.     No  single  complaint 
was  ever  uttered  by  the  sepoys  on  this  head. 
They  were  quite  capable  of  distinguishing 
the  zeal  of  an  individual  from  the  supposed 
forcible    and    fraudulent    measure    of    the 
greased  cartridges,  by  which  they  believed 
the  government  desired  to  compel  them  to 
become    apostates    en  masse.      It   was  not 
change   of  creed,    but   loss   of    caste   they 
dreaded;    not  tracts  and    arguments,    but 
greased  cartridges,  backed  by  the  penalty  of 
disbandment  courts-martial,  and  a  park  of 

•  Mutiny  of  Bengal  Army,  p.  59. 

t  Ihid.,  p.  58. 

X  Appendix  to  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  212. 


artillery.     "  Already,  in  their  eyes,  we  were 
on  a  par  with  their  lowest  caste  :  a  Christian 
was  one  who  drank  brandy  and  ate  pork  and 
beef.     Was  not  the  idea  that  we  wished  to 
reduce  them,  by  trick,  to  the  same  degrading 
position,    sufficient    to   excite    every   deep- 
seated  prejudice  against  us?"t  The  military 
writer  of  the  above  sentence,  does  not  add 
that  Lord  Canning  and  his   council  really 
sought  to  conciliate   the  sepoys    by  every 
measure  short  of  the  compromise  of  diguitj', 
which  they  unhappily  considered  to  be  in- 
volved in  withdrawing  the  cartridges  (as  they 
ought  to  have  done  in  January),  and  publicly 
denouncing  and  punishing  what  the  Supreme 
Council  did  not  hesitate  to  call,  among  them- 
selves,  "the  very  culpable  conduct   of  the 
Ordnance  department,  which  had  caused  all 
this  excitement."J     It  is,  however,  highly 
improbable  that,  had  the  council  proposed 
such  a  measure.  General  Anson  would,  at 
any  time  during  the  first  four  months  of 
1857,    have   sanctioned   such   a  concession 
to   what   he   termed   the    "  beastly   preju- 
dices," which,  ever  since  he  came  to  India, 
he  had  been  labouring  to  destroy ;   forget- 
ting that  the  Bengal  army,  whether  wisely 
or  foolishly,  had  been  established  and  main- 
tained on  the  basis  of  toleration  of  caste 
observances,  and  that  that  basis  could  not 
be  touched  with  impunity.     He  had  been 
for  a  short  time  in  command  at  Madras,  pre- 
vious to  his  appointment  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  three  Indian  armies  ;  and  it  was 
probably  what  he  learned  there,  that  gave 
rise  to  his  strong  anti-caste  opinions.     The 
sepoys  had  enjoyed   perfect   toleration  for 
nearly  a  hundred  years;  but  General  Anson's 
policy,  from  the  first,  indicated  a  resolve, 
which    the    Anglo-Indian    press    earnestly 
supported,  to  abandon  the  old  policy.     The 
Bengal  force  had  been,  from  its  commence- 
ment, an  enormous  local  militia,  enlisted  for 
service  in  India,  and  in  India  only ;  special 
regiments    (of    which   there   were    six),    or 
volunteer  corps,  being  employed  on  foreign 
service,  and  rewarded  by  extra  allowances. 
In    1856,     government     declared    its    in- 
tention of  radically  altering  the  constitution 
of  the  armj',  and  issued  an  order  that  every 
recruit  should  be  enlisted  for  general  service 
wherever  the  state  might  require.     There 
can  be  no  doubt,  says  Mr.  Gubbins,  speaking 
of  the  General  Service  Order,  "  that  the  vast 
change  which  it  must  of  necessity  make  in 
the  position  of  the  Bengal  soldier,  was  not 
duly  weighed  ;  or,  if  weighed,  provision  was 
certainly  not  made  to  meet  the  consequences 


ADJ.-GENERAL  TUCKER  ON  GENERAL  ANSON'S  POLICY. 


137 


of  tlie  dissatisfaction  which  it  would  pro- 
duce."* 

Nearly  at  the  same  time  another  order 
was  publislied,  which  affected  not   merely 
,  the    prospects    of    recruits,    but    also   the 
dearest   privilege    of    the    existing   Native 
j  troops.      Under    the    old    regulations    the 
I  sepoy  might  become  invalided  after  fifteen 
!  years'   service,    and  retire  to  his  home  on 
!  a   monthly   pension   of  four  rupees.     The 
1  Bengallee,    it    must   be   remembered,    was 
i  never  accompanied  by  his  family  when  on 
service,  like  the  Madrassee;  and  so  earnestly 
was  the  power  of  returning  home  coveted, 
that  men  starved   themselves  for  months, 
and  became  weak  and  emaciated   for  the 
sake  of  retiring  on  this  scanty  pittance.     In 
1  former   times,  the   evil  had   been   met   by 
holding  out  inducements  to  longer  service ; 
an   extra   rupee   per  month  being  granted 
after  fifteen,  and  two  rupees  after  twenty, 
years'  service.     A  further  allowance,  called 
hutting-money,    was   granted   to   them   by 
Lord    Hardiiige;    and  an    honourable   dis- 
tinction, accompanied  by  a  valuable  increase 
of  pay,  was  opened  to  the  Native  officers,  by 
the  establishment  of  the  "  Order  of  British 
ludia."     Still  the  love  of  home  proved  too 
strong;  and  in  pursuance  of  the  new  policy, 
it  was  decided  that  a  sepoy  who  was  de- 
clared unfit  for  foreign  service,  should  no 
longer  be  permitted  to  retire  to  his  home  on 
an  invalid  pension,  but  should  be  retained 
'  with  the  colours,  and  employed  in  ordinary 
:  cantonment  duty.    This  order  was,  as  usual, 
'  read  out  to  each  regiment  on  parade,  and  it 
excited  a  murmur  of  general  dissatisfaction 
throughout  the  ranks.     By  these  two  mea- 
sures  the   retired    sepoy   was   transformed 
I  into   a   local   militiaman,    and   the    former 
militia    became    general   service    soldiers. f 
The  first  measure  was  a  direct  blow  at  caste ; 
the   second  was  a  manifest  breach  of  the 
terms  of  enlistment.     There  were  also  other 
circumstances,  indicative  of  a  policy  very 
different  to  the  genial  kindly  consideration 
of  old  times.     "  General  Anson,"  says  the 
late  adjutant-general  of  the  Bombay  army 


(Major-general  Tucker),  "  anxiously  desired 
to  innovate;  his  predecessor  had  been 
harshly  charged  with  supineness  and  apathy; 
his  own  he  designed  should  be  a  reign  of  a 
very  different  description,  and  he  attempted 
to  commence  it  with  a  curtailment  of  the 
leave  or  furlough  annually  granted  to  the 
sepoys — a  very  hasty  and  injudicious  be- 
ginning— and  apparently  so  considered  by 
more  than  myself;  for  it  was  then  nega- 
tived, though  I  have  since  heard,  that  at  a 
later  period,  it  was  successfully  advocated. "J 

The  above  circumstances  tend  to  ac- 
count for  the  disbelief  evidenced  by  the 
sepoys  in  the  protestations  of  govern- 
ment, and  the  excitement  created  by  the 
unprecedented  order  to  bite  cartridges 
made  in  the  arsenal,  instead  of  by  them- 
selves, as  heretofore.  Brigadier  Hearsey 
must  have  been  well  acquainted  with  the 
general  feeling,  when  he  urged  in  January, 
the  immediate  and  total  withdrawal  of  the 
new  cartridges;  the  idea  of  forcible  con- 
version in  connection  with  them,  being  so 
rooted  in  the  minds  of  the  sepoys,  that  it 
would  be  both  "idle  and  unwise  to  attempt 
its  removal." 

This  idle  and  unwise  attemjjt  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  continued  through  the  months  of 
February,  March,  and  April;  and  in  spite  of 
the  mutiny  of  the  34th,  and  the  disband- 
ment  of  the  19th,  the  experiment  of  ex- 
planatory words,  and  deeds  of  severe  and 
increasing  coercion,  was  continued,  until  the 
vigorous  measures  taken  in  May,  issued  not 
in  the  disbandment,  but  in  the  revolt  of  the 
entire  Bengal  array. 

One  feature  connected  with  the  prelimi- 
nary stage  of  the  mutinies  remains  to  be 
noiiced ;  namely,  the  circulation  in  Feb- 
ruary of  chupatties  (small  unleavened  cakes) 
through  certain  districts  of  the  North- West 
Provinces,  an^  especially  of  the  Saugor 
territory.  Major  Erskine,  the  commissioner 
for  Saugor,  made  some  enquiry  regarding 
the  purport  of  this  strange  proceeding ;  but 
could  discover  nothing,  "  beyond  the  fact  of 
the  spread  of  the  cakes,   and  the  general 

younger  men  were  passed  over  their  heads,  instead 
of  heing  pensioned  and  suffered  to  retire  and  enjoy 
their  latter  years  in  the  bosom  of  their  families. 
"  In  my  own  regiment,"  a  British  officer  writes  to 
the  Times,  "  we  have  havildars  (sergeants),  of  forty 
years'  service ;  and  the  last  muster  roll  I  signed,  the 
strength  of  my  company  bore  upon  it,  I  think,  five 
full  privates  of  twenty  years'  service." — Times,  July 
2nd,  1857.     Letter  signed  Sookhn  Sunj. 

j  Major-general  Tucker's  Letter  to  the  Times, 
dated  July  19th,  1857. 


138 


CIRCULATION  OP  THE  CHUPATTIES. 


belief  that  such  distribution,  passed  on  from 
village  to  village,  will  prevent  hail  falling, 
and  keep  away  sickness.  I  also  under- 
stand," the  major  adds,  "that  this  practice 
is  adopted  by  dyers,  when  their  dye  will  not 
clear  properly ;  and  the  impression  is,  that 
these  cakes  originally  came  from  Scindia's, 
or  the  Bhopal  states."* 

Certainly,  there  was  no  attempt  at 
secrecy;  the  Native  officials  themselves 
brought  the  chupatties  to  the  European 
magistrates  for  inspection;  but  either  could 
not,  or  would  not,  give  any  satisfactory  ac- 
count of  the  meaning  of  the  transaction. 
It  appears,  that  each  recipient  of  two  cakes 
was  to  make  ten  others,  and  transmit  them 
in  couples  to  the  chokeydars  (constables)  of 
the  nearest  villages.  It  is  asserted,  that  the 
cakes  were  circulated  among  the  heads  of 
villages  not  concerned  in  the  mutiny,  and 
did  not  pass  at  all  among  the  sepoys.f 

Still,  the  circumstance  was  a  suspicious 
one,  especially  if  there  be  any  truth  in  the 
allegation,  that  sugar  was  used  as  a  signal 
at  the  time  of  the  Vellore  mutiny.f  The 
notion  of  thus  conveying  a  warning  to  be 
in  readiness  for  a  preconcerted  rising,  is 
one  which  would  naturally  present  itself  to 
any  people ;  and  we  are  told  that,  in  China, 
the  "  Feast  of  the  Moon  Loaves"  is  still 
held,  in  commemoration  of  a  similar  device 
in  the  conspiracy  by  which  the  Mongol 
dynasty  was  overthrown  500  years  ago.§ 
At  all  events,  it  would  have  been  only  pru- 
dent in  the  government  to  endeavour  to 
trace  out  the  source  of  the  movement,  and 
the  intent  of  its  originators. 

It  is  difficult  to  frame  a  succinct  narrative 
of  the  events  which  occurred  during  the  first 
few  days  of  May.  The  various  accounts  laid 
before  parliament  are  not  only  fragmentary, 
but  consist  in  great  part  of  telegrams 
founded  on  current  rumours;  and  those 
narratives  of  individuals,  published  in  the 
public  journals,  are,  for  the  most  part, 
from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  trustworthy 
only  as  regards  transactions  which  occurred 
in  the  immediate  locality  of  the  writers.  The 
official  documents,  however,  disconnected 
and  unsatisfactory  as  they  are,  furnish  a  clue 
to  the  inconsistency,  indecision,  and  delay, 
which  characterised  the  proceedings  of  the 
authorities;  namely,  that  the  objects  and 
instructions  of  the  commander-in-chief,  were 

•  Letter,  March  5th,  1857.— Pari.  Papers, 
t  Edinburgh  Review,  October,  1857.  %  Ibid- 

§  Gabet  and  Hue's  Travels  in  Tartary  in  1844, 
chap.  iii. 


diametrically  opposed  to  those  of  the  gov- 
ernor-general in  council.     They  appear  to 
have  acted,  the  one  on  an  avowedly  inno- 
vating  and   coercive,    the  other  on  a  pro- 
fessedly  conservative    plan;    each    issuing 
orders  which  puzzled  the  Europeans,    and 
aggravated    the    distrust    of    the    natives. 
The  officers  were  placed  in  a  most  painful 
position ;    they    could    not   tell   which   was 
to    prevail,    the    Calcutta    or    the    Simla 
policy ;  and,  meanwhile,  they  did  not  know 
what   tone    to    adopt    towards   their   men. 
In  a  circular  issued  in  May,   by  the  gov- 
ernor-general  in  council,  their  incertitude 
is  specially  noticed  in   a  paragraph,  which 
states    that,    "  from  communications   lately 
received     by    the     government,    it    seems 
that   misapprehension    regarding   the    car- 
tridges   is    not    confined    to    the    Native 
troops,"  but  shared  iu  by  "  some  officers." 
The    communications    referred     to     would 
probably  throw  light  on  this  critical  period ; 
and  a  handful  of  papers,  uninteresting  or 
needlessly  given  in  duplicate,  might   have 
been  left  out  of  the  Blue  Books  to  make 
room   for  them.     But  they  might  involve 
unpleasant   revelations,   and   are    probably 
purposely  withheld.     As  it  is,  the  series  of 
papers  published  on  the  subject,  when  care- 
fully analysed,  produce  a  painful  conviction, 
not  only  that  the  attitude  assumed  by  both 
civil  and  military  authorities,  was  calculated 
to   alarm   the    natives    generally,    and   the 
Bengal  army  in  particular;   but  also  that 
the  authorities  themselves  being  aware  of 
this,  have   concurred  in  withholding  from 
the  directors  of  the  East  India  Company 
and  from  parliament,  the  evidences  of  their 
own  disunion,  vacillation,  and  inconsistency. 
Otherwise,  surely  they  would   have  felt  it 
necessary,  and  found  it  easy,  to  furnish  the 
British  nation  with  a  connected  statement 
of  their  measures  and  policy  attested  by  the 
needful  documents,  instead  of  sending  home 
a  heterogeneous  mass  of  papers,  which,  ex- 
cept in  the  case  of  those  specially  moved 
for  by  resolute  members  of  parliament,  re- 
semble a  heap  of  chaff  in  which  some  grains 
of  wheat  have  been  left  by  mistake. 

One  of  these  grains  is  an  official  com- 
munication, dated  Simla,  4th  of  May,  in 
which  Generd  Anson,  with  an  infatuation 
which  would  be  incredible  except  on  his 
own  showing,  takes  the  success  of  his  sys- 
tem for  granted,  and  informs  the  Supreme 
government,  as  a  matter  for  congratula- 
tion, that  the  practice  of  the  Enfield  rifle 
has  been  commenced  at  the  several  mus- 


INCENDIARY  FIRES  AT  UMBALLAH. 


139 


ketry  depots,  and  that  "the  men  of  all 
grades  have  unhesitatingly  and  cheerfully 
used  the  new  cartridges."*  In  the  com- 
mander-in-ciiief's  private  circle  "  teaching 
the  sepoys  to  fire  with  the  Enfield  rifle" 
was,  however,  spoken  of  as  an  "expensive 
amusement"f  to  government,  on  account 
of  the  incendiary  fires  by  which  the  sepoys 
gave  vent  to  their  feelings.  In  a  circu- 
lar issued  in  the  middle  of  May,  the  gov- 
ernor-general in  council  affirms,  that  "no 
cartridges  for  the  new  musket,  and  no  car- 
tridges made  of  a  new  kind  of  paper,  have 
at  any  time  been  issued  to  any  regiment  of 
the  army."J  The  substitution  of  tearing 
for  biting,  is  referred  to  in  the  same  paper 
as  having  been  generally  carried  out ;  but 
this  was  not  the  case;  for  unquestionably, 
the  first  mutiny  which  occurred  in  Oude  was 
directly  caused  by  an  attempt  to  compel 
a  body  of  men,  for  the  first  time  in  their 
lives,  to  bite  suspected  cartridges. 

Oude.  7th  N.  Infantry  disarmed.  — On  the 
1st  of  May,  there  were  about  2,200  Native 
troops  in  Oude,  and  some  900  Europeans. 
The  entire  force  consisted  of — H.  M.'s  32nd 
regiment;  a  troop  of  horse  artillery;  7th 
light  cavalry;  seven  regiments  of  Native 
infantry ;  three  field  batteries  of  the  Oude 
irregular  force;  three  regiments  of  Oude 
irregular  infantry :  and  three  regiments  of 
Oude  police. 

Sir  Henry  Lawrence  was,  as  has  been 
shown  (page  88),  fully  aware  of  the  dan- 
gerous character  of  the  force  provided  by 
government  for  the  maintenance  of  British 
power  in  Oude.  His  endeavours  to  con- 
ciliate the  talookdars  by  redressing  some  of 
the  most  notorious  cases  of  oppression,  had 
not  been  ineffectual;  and  the  reductions 
made  from  the  original  rates  of  assessment 
in  certain  districts,  had  aflbrded  some  mea- 
sure of  relief  from  our  revenue  screw.  In 
short,  things  seemed  settling  down  quietly, 
or  at  least  the  authorities  thought  so ;  and 
they  welcomed  the  rapidity  with  which  the 

*  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  370. 

t  An  officer  of  rank,  writing  a  semi-official  letter 
from  Simla  on  the  28th  of  April,  1857,  by  com- 
mand of  General  Anson,  says,  "  It  is  an  expensive 
amusement  teaching  the  sepoys  to  fire  with  the 
Enfield  rifle,  at  least  as  far  as  it  has  turned  out  at 
Umballa.  It  has  cost,  I  believe,  the  government  by 
two  fires  alone  some  32,700  rupees,  and  I  take  the 
liberty  of  doubting  whether  the  old  musket  in  the 
hands  of  the  sepoy  was  not  quite  as  efficient  an  arm 
as  the  new  one  is  ever  likely  to  prove."  From  March 
26lh  to  May  1st,  fires  occurred  on  fifteen  difi'erent 
evenings.  "The  'new  cartridges'  were  pointed  out  by 
Commissioner  Barnes  as  the  sole  cause  which  rendered 


district  treasuries  were  filled  on  the  com- 
mencement of  the  month,  as  a  very  favour- 
able indication  of  the  temper  of  the  people. 
The  troops  were  far  from  being  in  a  satis- 
factory condition  ;  but  the  care  with  which 
Sir  Henry  watched,  met,  and  explained 
away  rumours  calculated  to  incite  them  to 
mutiny,  preserved,  and  might  have  con- 
tinued to  preserve,  at  least  their  outward 
allegiance,  but  for  the  suicidal  folly  com- 
mitted in  issuing  an  order  to  the  7th  infantry, 
which  the  men  could  not  obey  without 
being,  in  the  words  of  General  Low,  "  guilty 
of  a  heinous  sin."  They  therefore  refused, 
"  not  from  any  feeling  of  disloyalty  or  dis- 
affection towards  the  government  or  their 
officers,  but  from  an  unfeigned  and  sincere 
dread,  owing  to  their  belief  in  the  late 
rumours  about  the  construction  of  these 
cartridges,  that  the  act  of  biting  them 
would  involve  a  serious  injury  to  their 
caste  and  to  their  future  respectability  of 
character."  § 

The  commanding  officer.  Captain  Gray- 
don,  was  absent  in  the  hills,  on  sick  leave ; 
and  Lieutenant  Watson  was  in  charge, 
when,  on  the  2nd  of  May,  according  to  the 
brief  official  account,  ||  the  7th  N.  infantry, 
stationed  seven  miles  from  the  Lucknow 
cantonments,  "  refused  to  bite  the  cartridge 
when  ordered  by  its  own  officers ;  and,  subse- 
quently, by  the  brigadier,"l[  on  the  ground 
of  a  current  rumour  that  the  cartridges  had 
been  tampered  with.**  In  the  afternoon  of 
the  following  day.  Brigadier  Gray  reported 
to  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  at  Lucknow,  that 
the  regiment  was  in  a  very  mutinous  and 
excited  state.  About  the  same  time  a  letter 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Sir  Henry,  in 
which  the  men  of  the  7th  infantry  sought  the 
advice  and  co-operation  of  their  "  superiors" 
or  "  elders"  of  the  48th,  in  the  matter  of 
the  cartridges,  and  pi-omised  to  follow  their 
instructions  for  either  active  or  passive  re- 
sistance. This  letter  was  originally  delivered 
to  a  Brahmin  sepoy  of  the  48th,  who  com- 

the  musketry  depot  obnoxious  to  the  incendiaries." 
—May  7th,  157.      Further  Papers  (P  arl.),  p.  24. 

X  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies  ;  p.  340. 

§  Minute  by  Major-general  Low. — Ibid.,  p.  211. 

II  The  dates  given  above  are  taken  from  the  offi- 
cial letter  written  by  the  secretary  of  the  chief  com- 
missioner (Sir  H.  Lawrence,)  to  the  secretary  to 
government  at  Calcutta,  on  the  4th  of  May,  1857. 
Mr.  Gubbins,  in  his  interesting  account  of  the  affair, 
places  it  a  week  later ;  that  is,  dates  the  femeute  on 
Sunday,  the  lOtli,  instead  of  the  3rd  of  May;  and 
other  consecutive  events  accordingly. 

*\  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  209. 

*•  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  10. 


p- 


140 


SIR  H.  LAWRENCE  DISARMS  7th  NATIVE  INFANTRY. 


mnnicated  its  contents  to  two  Native  officers, 
and  the  three  laid  it  before  the  chief  com- 
missioner.* 

Sir  Henry  Lawrence  ordered  the  brigadier 
to  parade  the  regiment,  make  every  possilile 
explanation,  and  induce  the  sepoys  to  bite 
the  cartridge.  One  Native  officer  was  nearly 
prevailed  on  to  obey  the  obnoxious  orders; 
but  several  of  the  men  called  out  to  him 
that,  even  if  he  did  so,  they  would  not.  A 
wing  of  H.M.'s  32nd  regiment,  and  a  strong 
body  of  Native  infantry  and  cavalry,  selected 
from  various  corps,  were  ordered  out  by 
Sir  Henry,  and  arrived  at  the  lines  of  the 
mutineers  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  3rd  of  May,  the  second  Sunday — 
memorable  for  panic  and  strife.  But  the 
climax  was  not  yet  reached.  The  eup  was 
not  yet  full  to  overflowing. 

Two  officers  (Captain  Boileau  and  Lieu- 
tenant Hardinge)  unconnected  with  the 
regiment,t  and  whose  extraordinary  and 
most  creditable  influence  is  not  accounted 
for,  succeeded,  before  the  arrival  of  the 
coercing  force,  in  restoring  order;  and, 
what  was  quite  unparalleled,  in  inducing 
"the  7th  to  deliver  up  the  writers  of  the 
treasonable  letter  before  named,  and  to  pro- 
mise the  surrender  of  forty  other  ringleaders. 
The  approach  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  and 
his  staff,  with  the  European  troops,  renewed 
the  excitement  which  had  nearly  subsided. 
The  terrified  sepoys  watched  the  position 
taken  up  by  the  European  artillery  and  in- 
fantry. It  was  bright  moonlight,  when  an 
artillery  sergeant,  by  some  mistake,  lighted  a 
port-fire.  The  7th  thought  an  order  for 
their  extermination  had  been  given.  About 
120  men  stood  firm,  but  the  great  mass  of 
the  regiment  flung  down  their  arms  and  fled. 
A  squadron  of  light  cavalry  (native)  was 
sent  off  to  intercept  the  fugitives,  and  many 
of  them  were  brought  back.  Sir  Henry 
rode  up  to  the  remaining  men,  spoke  calmly 
to  them,  and  bade  them  place  on  the  ground 
their  muskets  and  accoutrements.  The 
order  was  unhesitatingly  obeyed.  The  sepoys 
laid  down  their  pieces,  and  took  off  their 
cross-belts  with  subdued  exclamations  of 
good-will  to  the  service,  resting  satisfied 
with  Sir  Henry's  assurance,  that  though 
government  would  be  asked  to  disband  the 
corps,  those  found  guiltless  might  be  re- 
enlisted. J  The  disarmed  men  were  directed 
to  recall  the  runaways,  which  they  did ;  and 

•  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army  :  by  one  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier;  p.  30. 

t  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  211. 


by  about  noon  on  the  following  day  (the 
4th),  the  entire  regiment  had  returned  and 
reoccupied  its  lines. 

The  views  taken  of  the  matter  by  the 
members  of  the  Supreme  Council  differed, 
materially;  nevertheless,  they  all  agreed  with 
the  governor-general  in  censuring  the  re-en- 
listment proposed  by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence, 
and  in  seeing  "  no  reason,  in  the  tardy  con- 
trition of  the  regiment,  for  hesitating  to  con- 
firm the  punishment  of  all  who  were  guilty." 

Mr.  Dorin  wrote  a  minute  on  the  subject ; 
which  must  suffice  to  exempt  him,  as  senior 
member  of  council,  from  any  portion  of  the 
censure  heaped  on  Lord  Canning  for  undue 
"  moderation."  He  pronounced  disbaud- 
ment  an  insufficient  punishment ;  adding — 
"  The  sooner  this  epidemic  of  mutiny  is  put 
a  stop  to,  the  better."  (The  conclusion  i& 
indisputable ;  but  it  was  formed  some 
months  too  late  to  be  acted  on.)  "  Mild 
measures  wont  do  it.  A  severe  example  is 
wanted.  *  *  •  j  -vrould  try  the  whole 
of  the  men  concerned,  for  mutiny,  and 
punish  them  with  the  utmost  rigour  of 
military  law.  *  *  *  My  theory  is,  that 
no  corps  mutinies  that  is  well  commanded. 
If  it  should  turn  out  that  the  officers  of  the 
7th  have  been  negligent  in  their  duty,  I 
would  remand  every  one  of  them  to  their 
own  regiments."  This  is  a  pretty  compli- 
ment to  regimental  officers  in  general;  per- 
haps some  of  them  had  their  theory  also, 
and  held  that  no  people  rebel  who  are  well 
governed.  If  so,  they  might  reasonably 
inquire  whether  there  were  no  means  of 
"remanding"  a  civilian  of  sixty  years  of 
age,  described  as  being  "  in  all  his  habits  a 
very  Sybarite ;"  who  "  in  no  other  country 
but  India,  and  in  no  other  service  but  the 
civil  service,  would  have  attained  any  but 
the  most  subordinate  position  ;"§  but  who, 
nevertheless,  in  the  event  of  any  casualty 
occurring  to  Lord  Canning,  would  become, 
by  rule  of  seniority,  the  actual  and  despotic 
sovereign  of  the  Anglo-Indian  empire.  To 
return  to  the  case  in  point.  Mr.  Dorin  con- 
cluded his  miuute  by  declaring,  that  the 
biting  of  the  cartridge  could  only  have 
been  an  excuse  for  mutiny;  an  assertion 
which  corroborates  the  opinion  expressed 
by  the  writer  above  quoted — that  despite 
Mr.  Dorin's  thirty-three  years'  service  in 
Calcutta  (and  he  had  never  been  fifty  miles 
beyond  it),  he  was  "  practically  ignorant  of 

X  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  210. 
§  Mutiny  in  the  Bengal  Army :  by  one  who  hag 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier  ;  p.  13. 


( 


MINUTES  OF  CALCUTTA  COUNCIL— MAY,  1857. 


141 


the   manners,    and   customs,    and    peculiar 
requirements  of  the  people  of  India."*    Gen- 
eral Low,  whose  experience  of  native  cha- 
racter was    second  to  that   of  no   man   in 
i  India,  frankly  pointed  out  tlie  order  to  bite 
the  cartridge  as  the  cause,  not  the  pretext, 
of  mutiny.     Had  the  energy  of  the  general 
been  equal  to  his  judgment  and  integrity,  a 
much    wiser   course   would    probably    have 
long  before  been  adopted  by  the  council: 
but  fift3^-seven  years'  service  in  India  can 
hardly  be  expected  to  leave  a  man  the  phy- 
sical strength  needful  to  the  lucid  exposition 
of  his  views,  and  to  the  maintenance  and 
vindication  of  his  own  ripened  convictions 
in  antagonism  to  the  prejudices  of  younger 
colleagues. 
[       Mr.  Grant,    a   civilian,    of  thirty   years' 
[  standing,  and  a  man  of  unquestioned  talent, 
agreed  with  General  Low  in  attributing  the 
conduct  of  the  men  to  an  "  unfeigned  dread 
of  losing  caste,  engendered  by  the  stories 
regarding    cartridges,     which    have     been 
running  like  wildfire  through  the  country 
lately."     Sepoys  are,  he  added,  very  much 
j  like  children  ;  and  "acts  which,  on  the  part  of 
,  European  soldiers,  would  be  proof  of  the 
blackest  disloyalty,  may  have  a  very    dif- 
'  ferent    signification   when    done   by   these 
'  credulous  and  inconsiderate,  but  generally 
]  not   ill-disposed    beings."      He    concurred 
i  with   Mr.  Dorin  in  censuring  the   officers ; 
and  considered  that  the  mere  fact  of  making 
cartridge-biting  a  point,  after  it  had   been 
purposely    dropped     from    the     authorised 
system  of  drill,  merely  for  "  rifle  practice,  was 
a  presumption  for  any  imaginable  degree  of 
perverse    management."        Lord    Canning 
also  seems  to  have  been  puzzled  on  this 
;  point ;    for  he  remarks,    that    "  it  appears 
I  that  the  revised  instructions  for  the  platoon 
i  exercise,  by  which  the  biting  of  the  car- 
tridge is  dispensed  with,  had  not  come  into 
operation     at    Lucknow."       The     mischief 
would  have  been  prevented  had  the  govern- 
ment publicly  and  entirely  withdrawn,  in- 
stead  of  privately  and  partially  "  dropped," 
the    obnoxious  practice :    but  even  as  the 
case  stands,  it  is  unaccountable  that  a  sub- 
altern, left  in  cliarge  of  a  regiment,  should, 
on  his  own  responsibility,  have  issued  an 
order   manifestly   provocative    of    mutiny, 
without  any  apparent  object  whatever.     In 
the  absence  of  any  evidence  to  the  contrary 

*  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army  ;  by  one  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier;  p.  13. 

t  Mead's  Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  21. 
I  X  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  213. 


it  is  much  more  probable  that  he  acted  on 
orders  emanating  from  Simla. 

Whatever  the  cause  of  the  imeute,  Mr. 
Grant  (who  has  been  satirically  described 
as  belonging  "  to  a  family  distinguished 
for  obstructive  ability")t  advised  that  the 
same  "calm,  just,  considerate,  and  dignified 
course"  which  had  been  adopted  in  each  of 
the  cases  of  the  19th  and  34th  Native 
infantry,  should  be  followed  now ;  and  he 
suggested  "  the  dismissal  of  the  bad  men, 
with  the  trial,  by  court-martial,  of  a  few  of 
the  worst  men  a  month  hence."J 

Fortunately  for  the  lives  of  every  Euro- 
pean in  India  (not  excepting  that  of  Mr. 
Grant),  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  was  not  the 
man  to  stand  with  folded  arms,  watching 
the  progress  of  a  devouring  flame,  and  wait- 
ing orders  regarding  the  most  calm  and 
dignified  course  to  be  adopted  for  its  ex- 
tinction "a  month  hence."  He  poured 
water  on  at  once,  and  quenched  the  flames 
so  effectively,  that  Oude,  the  very  centre  of 
combustion,  did  not  again  catch  fire  until 
long  after  the  "  severe  example,"  desired  by 
Mr.  Dorin,  had  taken  place  in  Meerut,  and 
set  all  India  in  a  blaze. 

The  conduct  of  Sir  Henry  was  so  utterly 
opposed  to  that  of  a  model  official,  that 
there  can  be  little  doubt  he  would  have 
received  something  worse  than  the  "  severe 
wigging"§  given  to  General  Hearsey,  for  his 
prompt  reward  of  native  fidelity,  had  not 
one  of  those  crises  been  at  hand,  which, 
while  they  last,  secure  unchecked  authority 
to  the  men  who  have  nerve  and  skill  to 
weather  the  storm.  While  the  council  were 
deliberating.  Sir  Henry  was  acting.  He 
forthwith  appointed  a  court  of  inquiry,  to 
investigate  the  cause,  and  attendant  circum- 
stances, of  the  so-called  mutiny;  and  then, 
instead  of  disbanding  the  regiment,  accord- 
ing to  his  first  impulse,  he  dismissed  all  the 
Native  officers  (with  one  or  two  exceptions) 
and  about  fifteen  sepoys,  and  forgave  the 
rest;  re-arming  about  200  (probably  those 
who  stood  firm,  or  were  first  to  return  to 
their  duty),  and  awaiting  the  orders  of 
government  with  regard  to  the  others.  He 
promoted  several  wliose  good  conduct  had 
been  conspicuous.  The  Native  officers  and 
sepoy  who  brought  him  the  treasonable 
letter  from  the  7th,  were  made  the  objects 
of  special  favour ;  as  was  also  a  sepoy  of  the 

§  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army ;  by  one  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  25.  See  also 
ante,  p.  133;  and  Lord  Derby's  speeches  in  the  India 
debates  of  December  3rd  and  7th,  1857. 


142 


7th  N.  I.  DISARMED.    34rH  N.  I.  DISBANDED. 


13th  Native  infantry,  whose  loyalty  had  been 
evidenced  by  the  surrender  of  two  Lucknow 
citizens,  wlio  had  endeavoured  to  stir  up 
mutiny    in    the    cantonments.       A    grand 
durbar,  or  state  reception,  was  held  at  the 
chief  commissioner's  residence,  in  the  Mu- 
riaon    cantonments     (whither    Sir    Henry 
had  removed  from  the  Lucknow  residency, 
on   account   of  the   heat).     All   the   chief 
civilians  and  military  men  were  present,  and 
chairs  were  provided  for  the  Native  officers 
of  tiie  troops  in  the  cantonments,  as  also  for 
the  leading  people  of  Lucknow.     Sir  Henry 
spoke  ably  and  emphatically  on  the  religious 
toleration  of  the  British  government,  and 
appealed  to  the  history  of  an  entire  century, 
for   evidence  of  the  improbability   of  any 
interference  being  now  attempted.     He  re- 
minded his  hearers  that  Mussulman  rulers 
at    Delhi    had    persecuted    Hindoos ;    and 
Hindoo  rulers,  at  Lahore,  had  persecuted 
Mussulmans;  but  that  theBritish  had  equally 
protected  both  parties.     Some  evil-disposed 
persons  seeing  only  a  few  Europeans  here 
and   there,    imagined  that,   by   circulating 
false  reports,  the  government  might  be  easily 
overthrown ;  but  the  power  which  had  sent 
50,000  Europeans  to  fight  against  Russia, 
could,  in  the  space  of  three  months,  land 
twice  that  number  in  India.     Then  calling 
forth  the  natives  who  had  given  proof  of  fide- 
lity, he  bestowed  on  them  khelats  or  dresses 
of  honour,  swords,  and  purses  of  money;  and 
cordially  shaking  hands  with  the  recipients, 
wished  them  long  life  to  enjoy  the  honours 
they  had  richly  deserved.     The  tone  taken 
by   Sir  Henry   was  adopted   by  the  other 
Europeans.      They  mixed   freely  with   the 
Native  officers ;    and  such  as  could  under- 
stand  one   another   conversed  together  in 
groups,   on  the  momentous  affairs  of  the 
period.     Sir  Henry  Lawrence  gained  time 
by  this  judicious  policy,  and  used  it  wisely 
in  preparing  for  the  struggle  which  he  had 
delayed,  but  could  not  avert. 

Disbandment  of  34/A  at  Barrackpoor. — 
It  is  now  necessary  to  notice  the  course 
adopted  by  the  governor-general  in  council, 
with  regard  to  the  34th  regiment — a  course 
which  Mr.  Grant,  in  a  minute  dated  as  late 
as  the  7th  of  May,  applauded  in  the  highest 
terms,  as  having  been  "neither  too  hasty 

•  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p. 
213. 

t  Thi»  resolve,  tardy  as  it  was,  is  said  to  have 
been  hastened  by  telegraphic  tidings  of  the  emeule 
in  Oude  on  the  3rd.  The  government  order  was 
dated  the  4th  of  May ;  the  punishment  of  the  34th 
being  of  imperative  necessity  before  the  disaffection 


nor  too  dilatory ;"  adding,  "  it  appears  to 
me,  to  have  had  the  best  effects,  and  to 
have  been  generally  approved  by  sensible 
men."*  There  were,  however,  not  a  few 
leading  men  in  India  who  took  a  very 
different  view  of  the  case,  and  quoted  the 
long-deferred  decision  regarding  the  34th, 
in  illustration  of  the  assertion  of  an  In- 
dian journal  {Calcutta  Englishman),  that  of 
two  stamps  in  the  Calcutta  post-ofiBce,  re- 
spectively marked  "  insufficient,"  and  "  too 
late,"  one  or  both  ought  to  have  been  im- 
pressed upon  every  act  of  the  Supreme 
government. 

Some   five   weeks    after  the   memorable 
Sunday  afternoon    on  which  400   men  of 
the  34th  Native  infantry  witnessed,   with 
more  than  tacit  approval,  a  murderous  at- 
tack on  two  of  their  European  officers,  the 
government   resolvedf    on    disbanding   the 
seven  companies  of  that  regiment  present  at 
the  time.     The  remaining  three  companies, 
stationed  at  Chittagong,   were   in  no  way 
implicated ;  but  had,  on  the  contrary,  prof- 
fered assurances   of    continued  allegiance, 
and   of  regret  for  the  misconduct  of  their 
comrades. J     On  the  6th  of  May,  at  five  in 
the  morning,  in  presence  of  all  the  troops 
within  two  marches  of  the  station,  the  seven 
companies  were  paraded,   and  commanded 
to  pile  their  arms  and  strip  off  the  uniform 
they   had    disgraced.       They  obeyed ;    the 
payment  of  arrears  was  then  commenced; 
and  in  about  two  hours  the  men,  no  longer 
soldiers,  were  marched  off  to  Pulta  ghaut 
for    conveyance    to    Chinsurah.      General 
Hearsey,  who  gave   so  interesting   an  ac- 
count of  the  disbandment  of  the  19th,  ab- 
stained from  furnishing  any  particular's  in 
the  case  of  the  34th ;  but  his  very  silence  is 
significant,  and  lends  weight  to  a  circum- 
stance quoted  by  a  military  author,  in  evi- 
dence of  the  bitter  feelings  of  the  latter  corps. 
The  sepoys  wore  Kilmarnock  caps,  which, 
having    paid    for    themselves,    they    were 
allowed  to  keep.     Before  crossing  the  river, 
many  of  them  were  seen  to  take  off  their 
caps,  dash  them  on  the  ground,  and  trample 
thera  in  the  mud,§  as  if  in  angry  defiance 
of  their  late  masters.     The  order  for  their 
disbandment  was    directed    to  be  read  on 
parade,  at  the  head  of  every  regiment  in 

of  the  7th  irregular  infantry  could  become  publicly 
known  at  Barrackpoor.  Lord  Derby  commented  on 
the  want  of  foresiglit  and  vigour  evidenced  by  Lord 
Canning's  advisers  in  these  proceedings. — I'imes, 
Dec.  4th,  1857. 

X  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  147. 

§  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army,  p.  33. 


INCIPIENT  MUTINY  AT  MEERUT— APRIL  23rd,  1857. 


143 


India,  still  unaccompanied  by  any  assurance 
of  the  withdrawal  of  the  abhorred  cartridges. 
Either  for  this  or  some  other  reason,  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  would  not  allow  the  order 
to  be  read  to  the  troops  in  Oude,  fearing 
that  it  would  hasten  rather  than  repress  an 
outbreak.* 


We  have  now  reached  the  end  of  the 
"passive,  respectful  mutinies,"  which  our 
own  blind  inconsistencies  provoked  and 
fostered.  The  name  of  Meerut  stands  at 
the  head  of  a  new  series,  the  history  of 
which  might  be  fitly  written  in  characters 
of  blood. 


CHAPTER     III. 


MEERUT— 23rd  APRIL  TO  11th  MAY,  1858. 


The  cantonment  of  Meerut,  two  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  town,  was  divided  into  two 
parts  by  a  branch  of  the  Calee  Nuddee 
river,  and  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  its 
great  extent,  five  miles  long  by  two  broad, 
and  for  a  fine  parade-ground,  four  miles 
long  by  one  broad.  It  had  a  very  large 
bazaar,  abounding  in  "budmashes"  (lite- 
rally, men  of  bad  livelihood),  near  which 
stood  a  gaol  crowded  with  convicts.  The  road 
to  Delhi  (thirty-two  miles  distant)  lay  close 
to  the  Native  lines.  The  troops  stationed 
here  consisted  of  H.M.'s  6th  dragoon  guards 
(carabineers);  H.M.'s  60th  rifles  (one  bat- 
talion); a  light  field  battery;  a  party  of 
horse  artillery;  8rd  Native  light  cavalry; 
11th  and  20th  Native  infantry;  some  sap- 
pers and  miners.  The  European  troops 
(exclusive  of  the  sappers  and  miners), 
amounted  to  1,863  including  132  commis- 
sioned officers.  The  Natives  numbered  2,912, 
including  only  52  commissioned  officers.f 

The  chief  purpose  of  stationing  an  un- 
usually large  proportion  of  Europeans 
here,  was  to  keep  in  check  the  Native  gar- 
rison of  Delhi;  but  this  very  proportion 
seems  to  have  rendered  the  authorities 
more  than  commonly  indifferent  to  the  feel- 
ings of  the  sepoys,  and  to  the  dissatisfaction 
which  manifested  itself  in  the  form  of  deter- 
mined disobedience  to  orders  as  early  as 
the  24th  of  April.  The  cause  and  pretext 
(cause  with  the  credulous,  pretext  with  the 
designing)  was  of  course  the  cartridge, 
which  had  by  this  time  become  the  recog- 
nised btte  noir  of  the  whole  Bengal  army. 

•  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army :  by  one  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  34. 

t  Pari.  Paper. — (Commons),  9th  February,  1858  ; 
p.  3. 

X  According  to  the  Bast  India  Reguler  and 
Army  List  the  colonel  of  the  regiment.  Colonel  H. 
Thomson  was   absent  "on  furlough."     The   East 


The  3rd  Native  cavalry  was  a  leading 
regiment.  It  had  been  greatly  valued  by 
Lord  Lake,  for  service  rendered  at  Delhi, 
Laswaree,  Deig,  and  Bhurtpoor;  since  thea 
Afghanistan,  Ghuznee,  Aliwal,  and  Sobraon, 
had  been  added  to  its  list  of  battles.  It  con- 
tained a  large  proportion  of  men  of  good 
family  and  high-caste.  The  general  weapon 
was  the  sword ;  but  fifteen  in  each  troop 
were  taught  to  use  fire-arms,  and  distin- 
guished as  carabineers  or  skirmishers. 
There  were  a  few  bad  characters  among 
the  carabineers,  but  the  majority  were  the 
flower  of  a  remarkably  fine  corps.  To 
these  men  their  commanding  officerf  sud- 
denly resolved  to  teach  the  mode  of  tearing 
instead  of  biting  the  cartridges,  iu  antici- 
pation of  the  new  kind  coming  out ;  and  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  23rd,  he  issued  an 
order  for  a  parade  of  all  the  skirmishers  on 
the  following  morning.  The  order  created 
great  excitement ;  and  an  old  Hindoo 
havildar,  named  Heerah  Sing,  waited  on 
Captain  Craigie,  the  captain  of  his  troop, 
and,  in  the  name  of  his  comrades,  besought 
that  the  skirmishers  might  be  excused  from 
parade,  because  the  name  of  the  regiment 
would  suffer  in  the  estimation  of  other 
corps,  if  they  were  to  use  the  cartridges 
during  the  present  excitement  on  the  sub- 
ject. They  did  not  threaten  to  refuse  to 
fire  them,  but  only  sued  for  delay.  Captain 
Craigie  reasoned  with  Heerah  Sing  on  the 
absurdity  of  being  influenced  by  groundless 
rumours ;  but  he  knew  that  the  feeling  was 
real,  however  unreasonable  the  cause ;  and 

India  Register  dates  his  first  appointment  at  1798 ; 
and,  therefore,  after  sixty  yeai's'  service  the  veteran 
officer  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  warranted  in 
retiring  from  active  service  for  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  In  the  Army  List  the  name  of  the  officer  in 
command  is  given  as  Colonel  G.  M.  C.  Smyth,  and 
the  date  of  his  first  commission  as  1819. 


144 


MEERUT— NATIVE  CAVALEY  REFUSE  CARTRIDGES. 


it  being  then  nearly  ten  o'clock,  he  wrote 
a  private  note  to  the  adjutant  of  the 
regiment,  stating  the  request  which  liad 
been  made  to  him,  and  urging  compliance 
with  it,  as,  "  if  disregarded,  the  regiment 
might  immediately  be  in  a  state  of  mutiny." 
Other  officers  had  meanwhile  reported  on 
the  distress  of  the  regiment,  and  the  colonel 
seemed  inclined  to  put  off  the  parade,  when 
the  adjutant  unluckily  suggested,  that  if  he 
did  so  the  men  would  say  that  he  was  afraid 
of  them.  The  fear  of  being  accused  of  fear 
decided  the  colonel  on  leaving  his  order  un- 
cancelled. In  the  course  of  the  evening, 
the  house  of  the  orderly  (the  hated  favourite 
of  the  colonel)  was  set  on  fire;  also  an  empty 
horse  hospital ;  and  the  men  kept  aloof^  in 
evident  disaffection. 

Next  morning,  at  daybreak,  the  skir- 
mishers appeared  on  parade,  and  the  fated 
cartridges  were  brought  forward  in  bundles. 
The  colonel  harangued  the  men  in  bad 
Hindustani,  and  endeavoured  to  explain 
to  them  that  the  cartridges  were  to  be  used 
by  tearing,  not  biting;  and  assured  the 
troopers  that  if  they  obeyed,  he  would  report 
them  to  head-quarters,  and  make  them 
famous.  But  "there  was  no  confidence 
towards  him  in  their  hearts,  and  liis  words 
only  mystified  them."  Heerah  Sing,  and 
four  other  troopers,  took  the  cartridges; 
the  other  eighty-five  refused  them.  The 
colonel  then  dismissed  the  parade,  and  re- 
ported what  had  occurred  to  General  Hewitt. 
A  court  of  inquiry  was  held,  and  the  disobe- 
dient skirmishers  were  put  off  duty,  and  di- 
rected toremain  inthelinestillfurtherorders. 
The  European  officers  of  the  3rd  anxiously 
waited  instructions  from  the  commander- 
in-chief  on  the  subject,  anticipating,  as  an 
extreme  sentence,    that,   "the  skirmishers 

•  Despatch,   May    6th. — Appendix    to    the   first 

series  of  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutinies,  p.  373.     This 

is  the  only  parliamentary  document  yet  published 

which  contains  any  reference  to  the  events  preceding 

the  9th  of  May.     The  above  account  is  based  on  the 

gra])hic  and   succinct  narrative,  evidently  written, 

though  not  signed,  by  the  wife  of  Captain  Craigie, 

dated  April  30th,  and  published  in  the  Daily  News 

of  29lh  July,  1857.     Mrs.  Craigie  adds— "  General 

(Hewitt),  commanding  here,  was  extremely  angry 

on  learning  the  crisis  which  Colonel   (Smyth)  had 

brought  on,  bitterly  blaming  his  having  ordered  that 

i  parade.     *     •     •     Of  course,  ordering  the  parade  at 

I   all,  under  the  present  excitement,  was  a  lamentable 

piece  of  indiscretion  ;  but  even  when  that  had  been 

done,   the  colonel   might    have   extricated    himself 

i   without  humiliation.     Henry  feels  convinced  that  he 

!   could  have  got  the  men  to  fire,  or  the  parade  might 

have    been    turned    into    an    explanation    of    the 

new  cartridge,  without  any   firing  being  proposed. 


might  be  dismissed  without  defence;  in 
which  case,  it  was  whispered  that  the  wiiole 
corps  would  mutiny,  and  be  joined  by  the 
other  Native  troops  in  the  station."  The 
letter  from  which  the  above  circumstances 
are  quoted,  was  written  on  the  30th  of 
April.  The  writer  adds — "  We  are  strongly 
garrisoned  by  European  troops  here;  but 
what  a  horrible  idea  that  they  should  be 
required  to  defend  us  !" 

The  3rd  of  May  came,  and  brought  no 
word  from  head-quarters,  and  the  alarm  ; 
began  to  subside:  but  between  the  3rd  \ 
and  the  6tli,  orders  on  the  subject  must  i 
have  been  sent ;  for  a  despatch  was  written 
from  Simla  on  the  latter  day  (from  the 
adjutant-general  to  the  secretary  of  gov- 
ernment), informing  the  authorities  at  Cal- 
cutta that  General  Anson  had  directed  the 
trial,  by  a  general  court-martial,  of  eighty- 
five  men  of  the  3rd  cavalry,  who  had  refused 
to  receive  the  cartridges  tendered  to  them. 
It  further  stated,  that  a  squad  of  artillery 
recruits  (seventeen  in  number)  having  in 
like  manner  refused  "  the  carbine  cartridges 
ordered  to  be  served  out  to  them  for  use  at 
the  drill,"  had  been  at  once  summarily  dis- 
missed by  the  officer  commanding  the  artil- 
lery at  the  station — a  punishment  which  the 
commander-in-chief  censured  as  incommen- 
surate to  the  offence.*  No  report  of  the 
general  court-martial  has  been  made  public 
up  to  the  present  time  (December,  1858. )t 

In  previous  instances,  the  commander-in- 
chief  had  vainly  endeavoured  to  compel 
Native  courts-martial  to  adjudge  penalties 
commensurate  with  his  notions  of  the  hei- 
nousness  of  sepoy  offences :  it  is  therefore 
necessary  that  some  explanation  should  be 
given  for  the  unaccountable  severity  of  the 
present  sentence.     In   the  first  place,  did 

Henry,  as  a  troop  captain,  had  nothing  to  do  be- 
yond his  own  troop  j  but  thither  he  rode  at  day- 
break on  that  fatal  morning,  and  remained  for 
hours  among  his  men,  enjoining  them  to  keep  steady, 
and  withstand  any  impulse  to  join  others  in  excite- 
ment; bidding  them  do  nothing  without  consulting 
him,  and  assuring  them  that,  though  differing  from 
them  in  faith,  he  was  one  of  them — their  friend  and 
protector,  as  long  as  they  were  true  to  their  duty  j 
and  the  men  felt  that  he  spoke  the  truth.  They 
would  have  fired  for  him :  they  told  him  they 
would,  though  unwillingly." 

t  It  was  held  on  the  6th,  7th,  and  8th  of  May,  and 
the  court  was  composed  of  six  Mohammedan  and 
nine  Native  officers,  and  presided  over  by  the  deputy- 
judge-advocate-generi'.l.  For  the  latter  pit-ce  of  infor- 
mation, I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Sir  Arch- 
dale  Wilson,  and  for  the  former  portion  of  the  para 
graph  to  that  of  Mr.  Philip  Melville,  late  head  of  thi 
military  department  of  the  East  India  House. 


COURT-MARTIAL  AT  MEERUT— 6th,  7th,  and  8th  MAY,  1857.         145 


the  Native  officers  actually  decree  tlie  en- 
tire sentence  of  hard  labour  in  irons  ?*  and 
if  so,  under  what  amount  of  direct  or  indi- 
rect coercion  was  it  pronounced?  Had  the 
court  received  any  private  intimation  of  the 
decision  at  which  they  were  expected  to 
arrive  ?  In  wliat  terms  did  the  judge  sum 
up  the  proceedings,  and  dictate  or  suggest 
the  sentence ;  and  had  it  or  had  it  not  been 
previously  suggested  to  him?  Sufficient 
evidence  has  oozed  out  to  prove  tliat  the 
commander-in-chief  gave  very  decided  in- 
structions on  the  conduct  of  the  trial :  the 
British  public  have  a  clear  right  to  know 
precisely  what  they  were,  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain what  degree  of  general  mismanagement, 
of  individual  crotchets  in  the  governors, 
affecting  the  deepest  religious  convictions 
of  the  governed,  and  of  petty  tyranny,  may 
be  indulged  in  by  future  commanders-in- 
chief,  without  driving  an  Indian  army  too 
near  the  dizzy  verge  of  mutiny.  It  appears, 
that  some  days  before  the  assemblage  of  the 
court-martial,  the  European  authorities 
knew  the  decision  which  would  be  arrived  at, 
and  anticipated  its  most  natural  result;  for 
Mr.  Greathed,  the  commissioner  of  Meerut, 
being  called  away  to  Alighur  on  political 
business,  returned  to  his  post  on  the  9th  (a 
day  earlier  than  he  had  at  first  intended), 

•  Since  the  above  statement  was  written,  some 
additional  information  has  been  published  by  gov- 
ernment on  the  Meerut  proceedings,  under  the  title 
of  Further  Papers  relative  to  the  Insurrection  (not 
mutiny,  as  heretofore  styled  by  the  authorities)  in 
the  East  Indies.  The  papers  only  occupy  six  pages, 
and  contjfin  the  usual  amount  of  repetition  and 
extraneous  official  matter.  The  proceedings  of  the 
court  of  inquiry  and  of  the  three  days'  court-mar- 
tial are  still  withheld,  and  the  only  new  light  on  the 
subject  is  afforded  in  a  "  Memorandum  drawn  up  by 
the  judge-advocate-general  of  the  army,  of  the  cir- 
cumstances which  apparently  led  to  the  mutiny  of 
the  Native  army  being  precipitated."  It  is  therein 
stated,  that "  by  the  votes  of  fourteen  out  of  the  fifteen 
Native  officers  who  composed  the  court-martial,  the 
whole  of  the  accused  were  convicted  and  sentenced 
to  imprisonment  with  hard  labour  for  ten  years 
each.  But  the  court  solicited  favourable  considera- 
tion for  the  prisoners,  on  account  of  the  good 
character  which  they  had  hitherto  borne,  as  testified 
to  by  their  commanding  officer ;  and  on  account  of 
their  having  been  misled  by  vague  reports  regarding 
the  cartridges."  Major-general  Hewitt,  however, 
declared  he  could  find  nothing  in  the  conduct  of  the 
prisoners  to  warrant  him  in  attending  to  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  court.  "  Their  former  good  con- 
duct has  been  blasted  by  present  misbehaviour,  and 
their  having  allowed  themselves  to  be  influenced  by 
vague  reports,  instead  of  attending  to  the  advice, 
and  obeying  the  orders  of  their  European  superiors, 
is  the  gist  of  the  offence  for  which  they  have  been 
condemned.  •  •  •  Some  of  them  even  had  the 
insolence  to  desire  that  firing  parades  might  be 
VOL.  II.  U 


because  "  he  knew  that  imprisonment  would 
follow  the  trial,  and  that  an  attempt  to  force 
the  gaol  and  to  liberate  the  prisoners  might 
be  expected. "t 

A  private  letter  from  Meerut  says,  it  was 
iinderstood  that  General  Hewitt  had  been 
desired  to  treat  the  skirmishers  with  the 
"utmost  severity."  The  trial  was  con- 
ducted accordingly.  "  The  prisoners  were 
charged  with  disobedience,  which  was  un- 
deniable, and  which  certainly  demanded 
punishment.  A  few  tried  to  plead,  with 
little  skill  but  considerable  truth;  but  the 
principle  adopted  towards  them  seemed  in- 
difference to  whatever  they  might  have  to 
say,  and  the  men  felt  themselves  condemned 
already  in  the  minds  of  their  court."  They 
were  all  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  im- 
prisonment in  gaol  and  hard  labour — eighty 
for  ten  and  five  for  six  years,  the  very  note- 
worthy circumstance  in  the  latter  case  being, 
that  the  favoured  five  had  served  under  in- 
stead of  above  three  years.  Many  of  the 
former  must  have  been  able  to  plead  a  long 
term  of  faithful  service ;  but  that,  it  seems, 
was  regarded  as  an  aggravation,  not  an  ex- 
tenuation, of  their  fault. 

General  Hewitt  had  received  orders  to 
carry  out  the  sentence  of  the  court-martial, 
without   waiting   its   confirmation    by   the 

deferred  till  the  agitation  about  cartridges  among 
the  Native  troops  had  come  to  a  close.  •  •  * 
Even  now,  they  attempt  to  justify  so  gross  an 
outrage  upon  discipline,  by  alleging  that  they  had 
doubts  of  the  cartridges  ;  there  has  been  no  acknow- 
ledgment of  error,  no  expression  of  regret,  no 
pleading  for  mercy."  This  latter  hinted  aggrava- 
tion is  explained  away  by  the  testimony  already 
quoted  regarding  the  conviction  entertained  by  the 
men,  that  nothing  they  could  say  would  shake  the 
foregone  conclusion  of  the  court.  They  persevered  in 
asserting  their  belief  that,  by  using  the  "  new  greased 
cartridges"  urged  upon  them,  they  would  forfeit  caste. 
Major-general  Hewitt  declared,  that  to  the  majority 
of  the  prisoners  no  portion  of  the  sentence  would  be 
remitted  ;  but  that  some  of  them  being  very  young, 
those  who  had  not  been  above  five  years  in  the 
service,  would  be  set  free  at  the  expiration  of  five 
instead  of  ten  years.  Not  only  was  there  no  remis- 
sion of  the  sentence,  but  a  very  cruel  degradation 
was  superadded,  by  the  painful  and  ignominious 
fettering.  Even  General  Anson,  when  informed  of 
the  prisoners  having  been  "  put  in  irons  on  parade- 
ground  in  the  presence  of  their  regiment,  expressed 
his  regret  at  this  unusual  procedure."  Notwith- 
standing this  qualification,  it  is  evident  that  General 
Hewitt  acted  in  accordance  with  the  spirit,  if  not  the 
letter,  of  his  instructions.  In  the  newly  published 
papers,  there  is  much  in  confirmation,  and  nothing 
in  contradiction,  of  Mrs.  Craigie's  statement. 

t  Letters  written  during  the  Siege  of  Delhi ;  by 
II.  H.  Greathed,  Esq.,  late  of  the  Bengal  civil  service, 
and  political  agent  of  Delhi.  Edited  by  his  widow. 
Longman,  1858. — Introduction,  p,  xv. 


146      FETTERING  OP  THE  EIGHTY-FIVE  TROOPERS— 9th  MAY,  1857. 


commander-in-cliief,  and  arrangements  were 
made  for  its  execution  on  the  following 
morning,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  troops  at 
the  station.  A  guard  of  European  dragoons 
and  rifles  was  ordered  to  keep  watch  over 
the  prisoners  during  the  night,  and  some 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  calming  the 
excitement  which  the  presence  of  the  Euro- 
peans created  in  the  Native  lines.  At  day- 
break on  the  9th  of  May,  the  troops 
assembled  for  this  most  memorable  punish- 
ment parade.  The  "sunless  and  stormy" 
atmosphere,  described  by  an  eye-witness, 
bore  but  too  close  an  analogy  to  the  temper 
of  the  sepoys.  The  scene  must  have  dis- 
tressed the  British  officers  of  the  3rd ;  who, 
if  not  absolutely  blinded  by  prejudice,  must 
have  felt  for  and  with  their  men :  but  they 
were  compelled  to  refrain  from  offering  the 
slightest  or  most  private  and  respectful 
warning,  at  this  fearful  crisis,  by  the  "  severe 
reprimand"*  bestowed  by  the  commander- 
in-chief  on  Captain  Craigie,  for  his  timely 
but  neglected  suggestions,  given  on  the 
night  before  the  parade  of  the  24th  of 
April.  After  such  a  lesson,  the  subor- 
dinate officers  could  only  watch,  in  silent 
amazement,  the  incendiary  proceedings  of 
their  superiors.  The  uniform  of  the  muti- 
neers was  stripped  off,  and  the  armourers' 
and  smiths'  departments  of  the  horse  artil- 
lery being  in  readiness,  each  man  was 
heavily  ironed  and  shackled,  preparatory  to 
being  worked,  for  the  allotted  term  of  years, 
in  gangs  on  the  roads.  These  ill-omened 
proceedings  occupied  three  long  hours. 
The  victims  to  our  inconsistent  policy 
showed  the  deepest  sense  of  the  degra- 
dation inflicted  on  them.  But  resistance 
would  have  been  madness;  the  slightest 
attempt  would  have  produced  an  extermi- 
nating fire  from  the  guns  manned  by  the 
Europeans,  and  pointed  at  them.  Some 
clasped  their  hands  together,  and  appealed 
to  General  Hewitt  for  mercy;  their  com- 
rades stood  looking  on  in  gloomy  silence, 
an  order  having  been  given  that  their  offi- 

*  The  above  fact  is  taken  from  a  short  unpub- 
lished paper,  printed  for  private  circulation,  and 
entitled,  A  Brief  Account  of  the  Mutiny  of  the 
'ird  Light  Cavalry ;  by  Colonel  Smyth.  It  appears 
that  the  colonel  had,  in  the  early  part  of  April, 
received  intelligence  from  a  friend,  regarding  the 
feelings  of  a  party  of  sepoys  with  whom  he  "  had 
fallen  in."  They  spoke  strongly  in  favour  of  the 
disbanded  19th,  and  expressed  themselves  ready 
to  join  in  a  general  mutiny.  This  information 
Colonel  Smyth  forwarded  to  General  Anson  about 
the  middle  of  April ;  and,  on  the  ■23rd,  he  (Colonel 
Smyth)  ordered  a  parade,  intending  to  teach  the  men 


cers  only  should  attend  on  horseback. 
When  the  fettering  had  been  at  length  ac- 
complished, the  men  were  marched  off  the 
field.  As  they  passed  the  ranks  of  the  3rd 
they  shouted  blessings  on  Captain  Craigie, 
and  curses  on  their  colonel,t  and  hurled 
reproaches  at  the  dismounted  troopers, 
for  having  suffered  them  to  be  thus  de- 
graded.J  At  length,  when  the  military 
authorities  had  done  their  work,  they  coolly 
delivered  over  the  mutineers  to  the  civil 
magistrate,  to  be  lodged  in  the  common  gaol, 
in  company  with  some  1,200  convicts ;  the 
whole  to  be  left  under  the  sole  guard  of 
native  burkandauz,  or  matchlockmen. 

The  sepoys  returned  to  their  lines  appa- 
rently completely  cowed.  The  Europeans 
were  left  masters  of  the  situation ;  and  the 
affair  having  gone  off  so  quietly,  the  majority 
were  probably  disposed  to  view  more  favour- 
ably than  ever,  General  Anson's  resolve 
to  trample  under  foot  the  caste  scruples  of 
the  sepoys,  and  "  never  give  in  to  their 
beastly  prejudices."§  The  phrase,  not  a 
very  attractive  one,  has  been  quoted  before ; 
but  it  is  necessary  to  repeat  it,  as  the  best 
explanation  of  the  commander-in-chief's 
proceedings.  Those  about  his  person  could, 
it  is  said,  furnish  other  traits,  equally  strik- 
ing and  characteristic. 

The  mutineers  were,  as  we  have  seen, 
marched  off  to  prison ;  the  men  returned  to 
their  lines,  and  the  Europeans  to  their  bunga- 
lows,'to  take  a  siesta  or  a  drive,  to  smoke  or 
play  billiards,  till  dinner-time.  The  officers 
of  the  3rd  had,  however,  a  painful  task  as- 
signed them — that  of  visiting  the  mutineers 
in  prison  to  inquire  about  their  debts,  and 
arrange  their  affairs.  The  anxiety  of  the 
captives  about  their  destitute  families  was 
most  touching,  and  three  of  the  officers  re- 
solved to  set  on  foot  a  subscription  to  pro- 
vide for  the  support  of  these  innocent  suf- 
ferers. But  nothing  transpired  within  tht 
prison  to  give  the  visitors  any  idea  of  an 
intended  revolt,  or  to  lend  weight  to  the  ru- 
mours abroad.     This  same  evening.  Colonel 

to  load  without  biting  their  cartridges,  which  he 
thought  they  would  be  pleased  to  learn.  The  car- 
tridges were  to  be  distributed  over-night.  The  men 
refused  to  take  them ;  and  Colonel  Smyth  adds — 
"  One  of  my  officers  (Captain  Craigie)  wrote  to  the 
adjutant  in  the  strongest  terms,  urging  me  to  put 
off  the  parade, /or  WiiWi  he  received  a  severe  repri- 
mand from  the  commander-in-chief." 

t  Testimony  of  an  eye-witness. 

X  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army :  by  one  who  has 
served  under  Sir  C.Napier;  p.  35.  See,  also,  let- 
ter of  correspondent  to  Calcutta  Englishman. 

§  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab;  p.  37. 


MEERUT  GAOL  BROKEN  OPEN— SUNDAY,  MAY  10th,  1857.       147 


Fintiis,  of  the  11th  Native  infantry,  was 
seated  at  Colonel  Custine's  dinner  table, 
when  a  lady  remarked  that  placards  were 
said  to  have  been  seen  about  the  city,  call- 
ing upon  all  true  Mussulmans  to  rise  and 
slaughter  the  English.  "  The  threat,"  says 
Mrs.  Greathed,  "  was  treated  by  us  all  with 
indignant  disbelief."* 

If  any  of  the  party  could  have  heard 
what  was  then  passing  in  the  widely  scat- 
tered Native  lines,  it  might  have  spoiled 
their  sleep  that  night.  As  it  was,  no 
one — not  even  the  commissioner,  who  had 
foreseen  the  probability  of  an  attack  on  the 
gaol — seems  to  have  manifested  any  anxiety 
regarding  the  temper  of  the  Native  soldiery, 
or  inquired  the  workings  of  their  mind 
upon  an  act  calculated  to  fill  them  with 
shame  and  sorrow  for  their  comrades,  and 
with  terror  for  themselves.  The  penalty  of 
disbandment  for  refusing  to  use  the  ab- 
horred cartridges,  was  changed,  by  the  act 
of  that  morning,  into  the  degrading  punish- 
ment of  a  common  felon  :  the  recusants  were 
doomed  to  labour  for  years,  perhaps  for  life, 
in  irons,  for  the  profit  of  their  foreign  mas- 
ters, while  their  wives  and  children  were 
left  to  starve !  Was  there  no  alternative 
for  them  except  the  cruel  one  of  forfeiture 
of  caste,  of  virtual  excommunication,  with 
all  its  wretched  consequences,  its  civil  and 
religious  disabilities?  Both  Mohamme- 
dans and  Hindoos  had,  as  has  been  shown, 
recent  grievances  rankling  in  their  breasts  : 
the  present  measure  looked  like  part  of  a 
system  to  prostrate  them  in  the  dust,  if  not  to 
wholly  crush  them;  and  when  the  hum- 
bled 3rd  looked  at  the  empty  huts  of  their 
comrades,  and  thought  of  the  crowded 
gaol  (which  the  excessive  cleanliness  asso- 
ciated with  high-caste  renders  specially 
disgusting)  and  of  their  forlorn  families, 
no  wonder  their  hearts  sank  within  them. 
Beneath  the  general  depression,  there  were, 
doubtless,  under-currents ;  and  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  bolder  or  more  intriguing, 
would  naturally  gain  ready  hearing.  There 
must  have  been  decided  dissatisfaction ;  but 
there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  any  plot 
was  formed  on  the  night  of  the  9th ;  it 
rather  appears,  that  until  late  in  the  after- 
noon of  Sunday,  the  10th,  the  troops  re- 
mained, as  it  were,  paralysed,  but  ready  to 

*  Greathed's  Letters  ;  Introduction,  p.  xiv. 

t  Major-general  Hewitt  to  adjutant-general  of  the 
army,  May  Uth,  1857. — Further  Papers  on  Muti- 
nies (Commons),  No.  3  ;  p.  9. 

\  Letter  of  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Smyth,  one  of  the  chap- 
lains at  Meerut. — Timet,  June  30th,  1837. 


be  thrown  into  a  state  of  panic  by  the  most 
trifling  occurrence.  In  fact,  their  excessive 
fear  verged  on  despair:  no  report  regai'd- 
ing  the  hostile  intentions  of  the  government 
was  too  absurd  to  be  believed ;  and  fancy- 
ing themselves  driven  into  a  corner,  they 
drugged  themselves  with  bhang,  and,  to 
the  amazement  of  the  Europeans,  suddenly 
changed  their  attitude  of  humble  depreca- 
tion, for  one  of  reckless,  pitiless,  unreason- 
ing ferocity. 

The  best  authority  on  the  subject  (Gen- 
eral Hewitt)  considers,  that  "  the  outbreak 
was  not  premeditated ;  but  the  result  of  a 
rumour  that  a  party  was  parading  to  seize 
their  arras;  which  was  strengthened  by  the 
fact  of  the  60th  rifles  parading  for  evening 
service."t 

The  conclusion  is  evidently  a  just  one; 
for  had  there  been  any  combination,  how- 
ever  secret,  or  however  superficial,  the  sepoys 
would  have  waited  till  the  Europeans  were 
either  in  church,  or  in  their  beds.  They 
had  no  superiority  of  numbers  to  presume 
upon;  and  the  majority  acted,  beyond  all 
doubt,  on  an  ungovernable  influence  of 
rage  and  desperation.  Shortly  before  six 
o'clock  P.M.,  a  body  of  the  3rd  cavalry 
flung  themselves  on  their  horses,  and  gal- 
loped off  to  the  gaol,  where  they  released 
their  comrades,  and  the  other  prisoners, 
amounting  in  number  to  1,200.  Of  course, 
many  of  these  latter  played  a  leading  part 
in  the  outrages  of  that  terrible  night;  but 
some  were  so  terrified  by  the  madness  of 
their  new  associates,  that  they  came  and 
voluntarily  gave  themselves  up  to  the  ma- 
gistrates as  soon  as  the  first  tumult  had 
subsided.  The  rescued  "eighty-five"  were 
brought  back  in  triumph  to  the  Native 
lines.  They  had  had  enough  of  prison  dis- 
cipline to  rouse,  not  quench,  their  fiercest 
passions.  The  degradation  was  fresh ;  their 
limbs  were  yet  bruised  and  raw  with  the 
fetters.  They  proceeded  to  the  compound 
of  Captain  Galloway,  of  the  3rd  light  cav- 
alry, and  compelled  his  blacksmith  to  re- 
move their  chains. J  Then  they  went 
among  their  comrades,  calling  aloud  for 
vengeance.  The  whole  of  the  3rd,  except 
Captain  Craigie's  troop  of  fifty  men,  joined 
the  mutineers :  so  did  the  20th  N.  I. ;  but 
the  11th  N.I.  hung  back,  defended  their 
officers,  and  such  of  them  as  were  stationed 
on  guard,  remained  at  their  posts. 

Tlie  mass  of  the  troops  had  now  crossed 
the  Rubicon,  and  knew  that  to  recede  or 
hesitate  would  be  to  ensure  the  death  of 


148 


MUTINY  AND  MASSACRE  AT  MEERUT— MAY  10th,  1857. 


rebels,  or  the  life  of  galley-slaves.  The 
inflammable  bungalows,  mostly  thatched 
with  straw,  were  soon  set  on  fire,  including 
General  Hewitt's.  Dense  clouds  of  smoke 
filled  the  hot  night  air,  and  volumes  of 
flame  were  seen  shooting  up  in  columns  to 
heaven,  or  rolling  in  billows  along  the 
ground.  The  bugle  sounded  the  alarm ; 
irregular  discharges  of  musketry  were  heard 
on  every  side.  The  sepoys  seemed  to  have 
turned  in  a  moment  from  obedient  children 
to  infuriated  madmen.  The  madness,  too, 
was  fearfully  contagious;  the  impetus  was 
irresistible.  The  11th  held  out  long,  and 
stood  by  their  officers,  while  their  colonel 
reasoned  with  the  mutineers.  But,  alas! 
the  time  was  past  for  arguing  the  matter, 
save  with  swords  and  guns.  A  sepoy  of 
the  20th  Native  infantry  took  aim  at  Colonel 
Finnis  :  the  example  was  instantly  followed; 
and  the  good  and  gallant  officer  fell  dead 
from  his  horse,  amid  a  shower  of  bullets. 
On  this  the  20th  fired  into  the  11th;  and  the 
latter  corps  being  no  longer  able  to  remain 
neutral,*  reluctantly  joined  their  country- 
men, after  having  first  placed  their  officers 
ih  safety.  Then  incendiarism,  practised  in 
detail  at  the  musketry  depots  ever  since  the 
hated  cartridges  were  distributed,  reached 
its  height,  the  mutineers  being  "assisted 
by  the  population  of  the  bazaar,  the  city, 
and  the  neighbouring  villages."  It  was 
mutiny  coupled  with  insurrection.  The 
sepoys  had,  however,  no  leaders,  and  their 
movements  were,  to  the  last  degree,  irre- 
gular and  disconnected.  Kill,  kill !  was 
the  cry  of  a  few  desperate  fanatics  mad- 
dened with  bhang;  booty,  booty!  was 
the  all-comprehensive  object  of  the  bud- 
mashes  of  the  city,  and  of  the  scum  of  the 
vast  following  which  ever  attends  a  large 
Indian  cantonment,  and  which  was  now 
suddenly  let  loose  on  the  affrighted  Euro- 
pean families.  The  scene  was  terrible ;  but 
it  resembled  rather  the  raid  of  insurgent 
villagers  than  the  revolt  of  trained  troops : 
there  was,  in  fact,  no  fighting  at  all,  pro- 
perly so  called ;  for  the  incensed  3rd  cav- 
alry mutineers  (who,  it  must  be  remembered, 
were  Mohammedans  of  high  family)  were 
anxious  to  reach  Delhi,  where  they  felt  sure 
of  the  sympathy  of  their  co-religionists ; 
while  the  mass  of  the  sepoys  had  joined  the 
mutiny  because  they  could  not  remain  neu- 
tral; and  the  first  flush  of  excitement  passed, 
their  great  desire  was  to  get  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  European  guns.  Eight  women 
*  General  Hewitt's  letter. 


and  seven  or  eight  children  perished;  and 
there  were  instances  in  which  the  dead 
bodies  were  horribly  slashed  and  cut  by  the 
infuriated  mob;  but  the  highest  official 
account  of  European  lives  lost,  including, 
officers  and  soldiers,  does  not  reach  forty. 

The  only  considerable  body  of  sepoys 
who  remained  thoroughly  staunch  during 
the  night  was  Captain  Craigie's  troop  of 
cavalry;  but  it  required  not  merely  his  re- 
markable influence  over  his  men,  but  con- 
summate tact  in  using  it,  to  prevent  their 
being  carried  away  by  the  torrent.  Never 
was  there  a  more  conspicuous  instance  of 
the  value  of  that  "  faculty  for  managing 
natives,"  spoken  of  by  the  Calcutta  cor- 
respondent of  the  Times  as  a  "  sixth  sense, 
which  can  neither  be  communicated  nor 
learnt."t  Mrs.  Craigie's  account  of  the 
afl^air  bears  strong  internal  evidence  of 
truthfulness,  and  is  corroborated  by  cotem- 
porary  official  and  private  statements. 
She  was  driving  to  church  with  another  lady, 
when,  passing  the  mess  of  the  3rd  regiment, 
they  saw  the  servants  leaning  over  the 
walls  of  the  compound,  all  looking  towards 
the  road  from  the  Native  infantry  lines. 
Several  voices  called  out  to  the  ladies  to 
return,  for  there  was  a  mutiny  of  the  Native 
infantry,  and  a  fight  in  the  bazaar.  Crowds 
of  armed  men  were  now  seen  hurrying  to- 
wards the  carriage.  Its  occupants  drove 
back  in  great  alarm ;  but  soon  overtaking 
an  English  private  running  for  his  life  from 
several  men  (not  sepoys)  armed  with  lattees 
(long  sticks),  they  stopped  the  carriage,  and 
drew  in  the  fugitive,  his  assailants  continu- 
ing to  strike  at  him  ;  but  the  heroines  held 
out  their  arms  and  pleaded  for  him,  and 
were  suff^ered  to  drive  off'  in  safety  with  the 
rescued  soldier.  On  reaching  her  own 
bungalow,  Mrs.  Craigie  found  her  husband 
in  entire  ignorance  of  what  was  occurring. 
He  started  ofl"  to  the  lines  of  the  3rd,  and 
found  that  the  three  first  troops  had  disap- 
peared ;  but  his  own  (the  4th),  with  the  5th 
and  6th,  were  still  there.  Another  of  the 
troop  captains,  whose  name  does  not  appear, 
but  who  was  senior  in  rank  to  Captain 
Craigie,  now  joined  him,  and  the  two 
officers  asked  the  men  if  they  could  rely  on 
them.  The  answer  was  an  eager  declara- 
tion of  fidelity.  The  men  said  they  had 
heard  there  was  fighting  at  the  gaol  to  re- 
lease the  prisoners ;  and  clustering  round 
Captain  Craigie,  professed  themselves  ready 
to  do  whatever  he  might  order.  The  officers 
t  Times,  June  15th,  1857. 


MASSACRE  AND  CONFLAGKATION  AT  MEERUT. 


149 


directed  the  troops  to  mount  and  follow 
them.  Meanwliile,  a  gentleman,  whose 
name  is  not  stated,  came  up,  and  was 
asked  if  he  had  any  orders  from  the  colonel. 
The  reply  was,  that  "  the  colonel  was  flying 
for  his  life,  and  had  given  no  orders."* 
The  officers  rode  on  with  the  three  troops. 
Captain  Craigie,  anxiously  occupied  with 
his  own  men,  discovered,  after  riding  some 
distance,  that  he  was  alone  with  the  4th 
troop.  He  soon  afterwards  met  the  released 
cavalry  mutineers  with  their  irons  broken. 
They  were  on  their  way  to  Delhi,  and  were 
mounted  and  in  uniform,  their  comrades 
having  given  them  their  own  equipments. 
The  fugitives  recognised  Captain  Craigie, 
shouted  to  him  that  they  were  free,  and 
poured  forth  blessings  on  him.  "  He  was," 
says  his  wife,  "indeed  their  friend  ;  and  had 
he  been  listened  to,  these  horrors  might 
never  have  happened."  Captain  Craigie, 
seeing  that  it  was  too  late  to  preserve  the 
gaol,  turned  back,  to  try  and  save  the  stan- 
dards of  the  3rd  from  the  lines.  The  roads 
were  thronged  with  infantry  mutineers  and 
bazaar  men,  armed  and  firing.  A  ladyf 
was  driving  by  in  a  carriage,  when  a  trooper 
came  up  with  her  and  stabbed  her.  Captain 
Craigie  cut  the  assassin  down  with  his 
sword,  but  the  victim  was  already  dead. 
Soon  after  this,  a  ball  whizzed  by  his  own 
ear;  and  looking  round,  he  saw  a  trooper 
out  of  uniform,  with  his  head  muffled,  fire 
at  him  again.  "Was  that  meant  for  me?" 
he  shouted.  "Yes!"  said  the  trooper,  "I 
will  have  your  blood." 

Captain  Craigie's  presence  of  mind  did 
not  desert  him ;  he  believed  the  men  might 
mutiny  from  him  if  he  fired;  and  turning  to 
them,  he  asked  if  they  would  see  him  shot. 
They  vociferated  "  No !"  and  forced  the 
mutineer  back  again  and  again  ;  but  would 
neither  kill  nor  seize  him.  A  Christian 
trumpeter  urged  the  captain  to  save  him- 
self by  riding  faster,  and  he  dashed  on 
to  the  lines  ;  but  passing  his  own  house  by 
the  way,  he  asked  who  would  go  and  defend 

*  "This  statement  is  partially  incorrect,  for  the 
colonel  had  directed  Adjutant  Clarke  to  order  the 
men  to  stand  to  their  horses,  to  be  ready  to  mount  if 
required."  The  order  did  not  reach  the  men,  and 
would  evidently  have  exercised  very  little  effect  if  it 
had;  but  the  former  portion  of  the  quotation  in  ques- 
tion, is  corroborated  by  Colonel  Smyth's  own  words. 
"  Six  officers,"  he  states,  "came  into  my  compound 
chased  by  infantry  sepoys,  and  concealed  themselves 
in  my  house.  I  then  went  to  inform  the  general 
(Hewitt)  of  what  was  going  on.  I  took  my  own 
orderly  and  the  field  officers  with  me.  1  told  them  to 
draw  swords,  as  the  road  was  getting  crowded,  and 


his  wife.  The  whole  troop  (at  least  all  with 
him)  raised  their  hands.  He  said  he  only 
wanted  four  men.  "  I,  I,  I,"  cried  every 
one ;  so  he  sent  the  first  four,  and  rode  on 
with  the  others  to  the  lines,  where  he 
found  Major  Richardson  and  two  European 
officers,  with  a  few  remaining  men  of  the 
other  troops.  The  Native  infantry  were 
flying  across  the  parade-ground,  pursued  by 
the  European  artillery.  The  officers,  bid- 
ding their  men  follow,  galloped  into  the 
open  country,  with  three  of  the  four  regi- 
mental standards ;  and,  on  seeing  them  safe. 
Captain  Craigie,  by  the  permission  of  Major 
Richardson,  returned  to  provide  for  the 
safety  of  his  wife.  She,  poor  lady !  had 
endured  an  interval  of  terrible  anxiety ;  but, 
like  her  husband,  had  retained  perfect  self- 
possession.  The  rescued  European  was  one 
of  the  carabiniers — a  guard  of  whom  Jiad 
been  placed  over  the  mutineers,  and  had 
thereby  become  the  objects  of  especial 
hatred  with  the  mob.  She  dressed  him  in 
her  husband's  clothes,  and  then  she  and 
her  female  companion  watched  the  progress 
of  the  incendiary  crew,  and  seeing  bungalow 
after  bungalow  blazing  round  them,  expected 
that  the  lines  of  fire  would  close  them  in. 
At  length  the  mob  reached  the  next  com- 
pound, and  set  light  to  the  stables.  The 
groans  of  the  horses  were  fearful ;  but  soon 
the  more  terrible  utterance  of  human  agony 
was  heard  through  the  din ;  and  Mrs. 
Craigie,  looking  from  the  upper  part  of  her 
own  dwelling,  saw  a  lady  (Mrs.  Chambers) 
in  the  verandah  of  the  next  house.  At  her 
entreaty,  the  servants  ran  to  try  and  bring 
their  unfortunate  neighbour  over  the  low 
separating  wall.  But  it  was  too  late;  the  poor 
victim  (who  had  but  newly  arrived  in  India, 
and  was  on  the  eve  of  her  confinement)  had 
been  already  killed,  and  cut  horribly.  This 
was  fearful  news  for  Mrs.  Craigie  and  her 
companions;  they  soon  saw  men  bringing 
a  burning  log  from  the  next  compound,  and 
thought  their  own  ordeal  was  at  hand. 
Crowds  gathered  round;  but  the  name  of 

immediately  galloped  off  as  fast  as  I  could,  the 
bazaar  people  striking  at  me  with  swords  and  sticks, 
and  shouting  after  me,  which  Mr.  Rose,  of  the  barrack 
department,  witnessed.  I  went  first  to  Mr.  Great- 
hed's,  the  gate  of  whose  compound  was  open  j  but  a 
man  ran  to  it  to  shut  it,  I  suppose ;  but  I  got  in  and 
rode  up  to  the  house,  and  gave  the  information  to 
the  servants,  as  I  was  informed  Mr.  Greathed  was 
out.  I  then  went  on  to  the  general's,  and  heard  he 
had  just  left  the  house  in  his  carriage." — Colonel 
Smytli's  Narrative. 

t  Mrs.  Courtenay,  wife   of  the   hotel   keeper  at 
Meerut. 


150 


CAPTAIN  CRAIGIE'S  LOYAL  TROOP  OF  CAVALRY. 


Captain  Craigie  was  frequently  shouted  in 
deprecation  of  any  assault  on  his  dwelling ; 
and  a  few  of  the  Hindoo  servants  who  re- 
mained faithful,  especially  one  Buctour,  a 
tent  lascar,  ran  to  and  fro,  trying  to  clear 
the  compound,  and  declaring  that  his  mas- 
ter was  "  the  people's  friend,"  and  no  one 
should  burn  his  house. 

At  this  crisis  the  ladies  saw  the  four 
troopers  sent  to  guard  them  riding  in,  and, 
recognising  the  well-known  uniform,  though 
not  the  wearers,  hailed  them  at  once  as 
deliverers.  The  troopers  dismounted,  and 
rushed  eagerly  upstairs;  Mrs.  Craigie  strove 
to  take  their  hands  in  her's,  but  they  pros- 
trated themselves  before  her,  and  touching 
her  feet  with  their  foreheads,  swore  to  pro- 
tect her  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives ; 
which  they  actually  did.  They  implored 
her  to  keep  within  shelter,  and  not  expose 
herself  on  the  verandah.  But  anxiety  for 
her  husband  overpowered  every  other  con- 
sideration, and  she  could  not  be  restrained 
from  gazing  forth  on  the  blazing  canton- 
ment in  an  agony  of  suspense,  which  pre- 
vented her  from  heeding  the  blinding,  suffo- 
cating smoke,  the  parching  heat,  or  even 
the  shots  fired  at  herself,  until  at  length  the 
brother  of  her  young  friend  arrived  in  safety, 
and  was  soon  followed  by  Captain  Craigie, 
who  having  nobly  performed  his  public 
duty,  now  came  to  rescue  his  heroic  wife. 
Fearing  that  the  house  would  be  surrounded, 
the  officers  wrapped  dark  stable-blankets 
round  the  light  muslin  dresses  of  the  ladies, 
to  hide  them  from  the  glare  of  the  flaming 
station,  and  lessen  the  risk  of  fire,  and  con- 
cealed them  in  a  little  thick-walled,  single- 
doored  temple,  which  stood  on  the  grounds. 
There  they  remained  several  hours ;  during 
which  time,  a  band  of  armed  thieves  broke 
into  the  house ;  but  two  of  them  were  shot 
(one  by  Buctour),  and  the  others  fled. 
Cavalry  troopers  continued  to  join  the 
party,  including  one  of  the  condemned 
eighty-five,  who  offered  to  stay  and  defend 
the  Europeans;  but  Captain  Craigie  said 
he  must  surrender  him  if  he  did;  and,  "after 
a  time,  the  boy  disappeared."  The  other 
troopers,  to  the  number  of  about  thirty, 
entreated  Captain  Craigie  not  to  take  his 
wife  away,  as  they  would  protect  her  with 
their  lives ;  but  he  dared  not  run  the  risk  :* 
and  when  the  roads  became  quieter,  he  put- 
to  the  horses  (all  the  stable-servants  having 

•  Captain  Craigie's  house,  and  another,  were  the 
only  ones  left  standing  in  the  3rd  cavalry  lines, 
t  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  291. 


fled),  and  hurried  the  ladies  off  to  the  artil- 
lery lines,  first  allowing  them  to  collect 
together  a  few  clothes  and  their  trinkets. 
The  plate  they  could  not  get,  the  khitmut- 
gar  (Mohammedan  steward)  having  run  off 
with  the  keys.  He  had,  however,  buried 
the  property  in  the  first  moments  of  alarm, 
and  he  subsequently  brought  the  whole  intact 
to  his  master.  The  troopers,  gallantly  as 
they  had  behaved,  "  looked  very  blank''  at 
the  idea  of  proceeding  to  the  European 
lines.  Instead  of  confidently  expecting  re- 
ward, they  "  feared  being  made  prisoners ;" 
and  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that 
they  were  induced  to  venture  within  reach 
of  the  unreasoning  fury  of  the  British 
force.  It  is  needful  to  remember  this; 
for  probably  the  excessive  dread  inspired  by 
our  policy,  has  been,  with  the  vast  majority 
of  the  Bengal  army,  the  inciting  cause  of 
mutiny.  Our  very  inconsistencies  and 
vacillations  have  been  ascribed  by  them  to 
some  hidden  motive.  At  the  outset,  the 
only  body  of  sepoys  who  kept  together  and 
obeyed  orders  during  this  terrible  night, 
evidenced  the  most  entire  disbelief  in  the 
gratitude  or  justice  of  the  military  autho- 
rities, and  ventured  to  remain  in  allegiance, 
wholly  in  dependence  on  the  individual 
character  of  their  captain.  But  for  him, 
they  too  would  have  joined  the  mutineers. 

During  the  night,  many  Europeans  were 
saved  by  the  fidelity  and  daring  of  native 
servants,  at  the  risk  of  their  own  lives.  The 
commissioner  (Mr.  Greathed)  and  his  wife 
are  among  the  number.  On  seeing  the 
mob  approach  their  house,  they  took  shelter 
with  two  English  ladies  on  the  terrace  roof; 
but  the  wood-work  was  soon  set  on  fire,  and 
no  alternative  apparently  remained  but  to  de- 
scend and  surrender  themselves,  when  Gho- 
lab  Khan,  their  head  gardener,  succeeded 
in  inciting  the  crowd  to  pillage  a  large 
storehouse  at  some  distance,  he  affecting  to 
share  in  the  plunder.f  Ladders  were  then 
placed  against  the  opposite  wall  by  others 
of  the  establishment,  every  member  con- 
tinuing faithful,  and  the  whole  party  es- 
caped off  the  roof  (which,  some  few  minutes 
later,  fell  in  with  a  fearful  crash),  and  took 
refuge  in  the  garden.  When  day  broke, 
the  rioters  having  left  the  place,  Gholab 
Khan  brought  a  buggy,  wherein  the  com- 
missioner and  his  three  comp.anions  pro- 
ceeded in  safety  to  the  artillery  school  of 
instruction,  whither,  on  the  morning  of  the 
11th,  all  the  ladies  of  the  cantonment,  with 
their  children  and  servants,  were  taken  by 


EUROPEANS  MURDERED  AT  MEERUT— MAY  10th,  1857 


151 


their  husbands  without  any  military  escort. 
The  school  was  a  large,  easily  defensible  en- 
closure, with  lines  of  barracks ;  and  here  all 
the  civilians  and  such  of  the  staff  as  were 
not  required  outside  took  refuge,  there 
being  no  fort  at  Meerut.  Captain  and 
Mrs.  Macdonald  (20th  regiment)  were  both 
slain ;  but  their  ayah  (nurse)  seized  the 
children,  and  conveyed  them  to  a  place  of 
safety. 

The  following  is  the  official  list  of  the 
Europeans  killed  at  Meerut,  not  already 
named.  3rd  Light  Cavalry — Lieutenant 
McNabb  (a  youth  of  much  promise,  who 
had  only  just  joined  his  regiment,  and  was 
returning  home  unarmed  from  the  artillery 
mess)  ;  Veterinary  Surgeons  Phillips*  and 
Dawson,  Mrs.  Dawson  and  children.  60th 
Rifles — one  corporal.  20th  Native  In- 
fantry— Captain  Taylor,  Lieutenant  Hen- 
derson, Ensign  Pattle,  Mr.  Tregear  (in- 
spector in  the  educational  department). 
A  gunner,  two  Chelsea  pensioners,  a  fife- 
major  of  the  11th  Native  infantry,  four 
children,  five  men,  and  two  women  (whose 
names  were  unknown),  were  all  killed  by  the 
released  convicts  or  bazaar  people.t 

There  was,  as  has  been  before  stated, 
no  organised  resistance ;  and  the  general 
opinion,  pronounced  almost  without  a  dis- 
sentient voice  by  the  press  of  England  and  of 
India,  is,  that  the  deficiency  of  the  rebels  in 
leaders  was  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  incapacity  of  the  British  authorities. 
After  making  all  reasonable  allowance  for 
the  suddenness  of  the  shock,  and  the  un- 
preparedness  of  the  officers  in  command 
(although  that  is,  in  fact,  rather  an  aggrava- 
tion than  an  extenuation  of  their  conduct), 
it  is  not  possible  to  account  satisfactorily 
either  for  the  space  of  time  occupied  in 
getting  the  troops,  especially  the  dragoons, 
under  arms,  or  for  the  neglect  of  any  at- 
tempt to  forestal  the  mutineers  in  their 
undisguised  plan  of  proceeding  to  Delhi, 
which  everybody  knew  was  strongly  forti- 
fied, richly  stored,  and  weakly  garrisoned 
by  Native  troops ;  and  the  care  of  which  was, 

*  This  gentleman  had  calmly  looked  on  during  the 
punishment  parade  of  the  previous  day,  and  had  ad- 
vocated the  adoption  of  the  sternest  measures  to  com- 
pel the  entire  corps  to  use  the  new  cartridges.  He 
was  shot  while  driving  his  buggy,  and,  it  is  said,  mu- 
tilated by  five  troopers. — Letter  of  the  Rev.  J.  C. 
Smyth,  chaplain  at  Meerut. — Times.  The  governor 
of  the  gaol  is  said  to  have  owed  his  life  entirely  to 
the  gratitude  of  certain  of  the  mutineers,  to  whom  he 
had  spoken  kindly  while  under  his  charge. 

t  Supplement  to  Gazette,  May  6th,  1858 ;  p.  2262. 


in  fact,  the  one  great  reason  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  costly  and  extensive  Meerut 
cantonment.  To  begin  with  the  first  count, 
the  60th  rifles  were(*  parading  for  evening 
service  when  the  tumult  began.  They, 
therefore,  ought  to  have  been  ready  to 
act  at  once  against  the  gathering  crowds ; 
while  the  European  dragoons,  if  too  late 
in  mounting  to  save  the  gaol,  should  have 
been  sent  off  either  to  intercept  the  fugitives 
or  preoccupy  the  city.J  Captain  Craigie, 
who  had  acted  on  his  own  responsibility  in 
proceeding  with  his  troop  to  try  and  pre- 
serve the  gaol,  met  several  of  the  released 
prisoners,  already  on  the  road  to  Delhi, 
at  that  early  "hour  of  the  evening.  Even 
the  3rd  cavalry  do  not  appear  to  have  gone 
off  together  in  any  large  body,  but  rather 
in  straggling  parties ;  and  it  appears  that 
they  might  have  been  cut  off,  or  at  least 
dispersed  in  detail.  The  effort  ought  to 
have  been  made  at  all  hazards.  There  was 
no  fort  in  Meerut ;  but  the  women  and 
children  might  surely  have  been  gathered 
together  in  the  artillery  school,  under  the 
escort  of  European  soldiers,  at  the  first  out- 
break of  the  mutiny,  while  the  11th — who 
long  held  back,  and  to  the  last  protected  the 
families  of  their  officers — were  yet  obedient  j 
and  while  one  portion  of  the  force  remained 
to  protect  the.  cantonment,  the  cavalry  and 
guns  might  have  overtaken  the  fugitives, 
the  greater  number  of  whom  were  on  foot. 

Ma,jor-general  Hewitt's  own  account  of 
the  affair  is  the  best  proof  of  the  utter 
absence  of  any  solicitude  on  his  part,  or,  it 
would  appear,  of  any  suggestion  on  the  part 
of  those  around  him,  for  the  preservation  of 
Delhi.  In  acquainting  the  adjutant-gene- 
ral, in  a  letter  dated  May  the  11th,  with 
the  events  of  the  preceding  night,  he  never 
even  alludes  to  any  plan  of  proceeding  against 
the  mutineers,  or  anticipates  any  other 
employment  for  the  1,863  European  sol- 
diers stationed  at  Meerut,  than  to  take  care 
of  the  half-burned  cantonments,  and  mount 
guard  over  their  wives  and  families,  until 
reinforcements  should  arrive  to  help  them 

%  The  last  witness  on  the  subject  is  Mr.  Russell, 
who,  in  October,  1858,  examined  Meerut  in  company 
with  Colonel  Johnson  of  the  artillery,  an  officer  pre- 
sent at  the  mutiny.  Mr.  Russell  satisfied  himself 
that  there  was  indeed  just  ground,  admitting  the 
difficulty  of  the  situation,  and  many  embarrassing 
circumstances,  "  to  deplore  the  want  of  energy  of 
those  who  had  ample  means  in  their  hands  to  punish 
the  murderers  on  the  spot,  and  to,  in  all  probability, 
arrest  or  delay  considerably  the  massacre  and  revolt 
at  Delhi."— 2'u;ies,  29th  Nov.,  1858, 


152 


APATHY  AND  INCAPACITY  OP  MEERUT  AUTHORITIES. 


hold  their  own,  and  assist  in  carrying  out 
drum-head  courts-martial  for  the  punish- 
ment of  the  insurgent  villagers  aud  bazaar 
budmashes;  as  to  thS  civil  law  and  civil 
courts,  they  were  swept  aAvay  by  the  first 
breath  of  the  storm. 

Many  a  gallant  spirit  must  have  chafed 
and  raged  that  night,  asking,  in  bitterness 
of  spirit,  the  que;stiou  generally  uppermost 
in  the  minds  of  British  soldiers — "  What  will 
they  say  of  us  in  Englaiid?"  But  then — 
and  it  is  not  the  least  strange  point  of  the 
case — we  hear  of  no  single  soldier  or 
civilian  offering  to  lead  a  party,  or  go,  if 
need  were,  alone,  to  Delhi,  if  only  to  warn 
the  defenceless  families  assembled  there,  of 
the  danger  b)'^  which  they  were  menaced. 

The  ride  was  nothing;    some  thirty-six 
miles  on  a  mooulight  midsummer  night : 
the  bullet  of  a  mutineer  might  bring  it  to 
a  speedy  close;  but  was  that  enough  to  deter 
soldiers  from  endeavouring  to  perform  their 
duty  to  the  state  of  which  they  were  sworn 
defenders,  or  Englishmen  from  endeavour- 
ing to  save  a  multitude  of  their  country- 
women from  evils  more  terrible  than  death  ? 
As  individuals  even,  they  might  surely  have 
done  something,  though  perhaps  not  much, 
clogged  as  they  were  in  a  peculiar  manner  by 
the  working  of  a  system  which,  amid  other 
defects,  makes  a  general  of  fifty-five  a  pheno- 
menon in  India.*     The  commanding  officer 
at  Meerut  was  not  a  Napier  or  a  Campbell, 
gifted  beyond  his  fellows    with  immunity 
from  the  physical  and  mental  inertia  which 
threescore  years  and  ten  usually  bring  in 
their  train.      If  General  Hewitt  had  been 
ever  characterised  by  vigour  and  decision, 
at  least  these  qualities  were  not  evidenced 
at  Meerut.     It  is  painful  to  animadvert  on 
even    the    public    conduct  of  a  brave    old 
officer ;  the  more  so,  because  the  despatch 
which  evidences  what  he  failed  to  do,  is  par- 
ticularly  straightforward   and    manly.     He 
states,  without  preface  or  apology,  that  "  as 
soon  as  the  alarm  was  given,  the  artillery, 
carabiniers,  and  60th  rifles  were  got  under 
arms ;  but  by  the  time  we  reached  the  Native 
infantry  parade-ground,  it  was  too  dark  to 
act  with  efficiency  in  that  direction ;  conse- 
quently the  troops  retired  to  the  north  of 
the  nullah"  (small  stream  before  .illuded  to), 
"  so  as  to  cover  the  barracks  and  officers' 
lines  of  the  artillery,  carabiniers,  and  60th 
rifles,   which    were,   with    the   exception  of 

•  Times. — Calcutta     correspondent,    June    15th, 
1858. 
t  ParL  Papers  on  Mutinies  (No.  3),  1857;  p.  9. 


one  house,  preserved,  though  the  insurgents 
— for  I  believe  the  mutineers  had  at  that  time 
retired  by  the  Alighur  and  Delhi  roads — 
burnt  the  vacant  sapper  and  miner  lines. 
At  break  of  day  the  force  was  divided  :  one- 
half  on  guard,  and  the  other  taken  to  patrol 
the  Native  lines."  Then  follows  a  state- 
ment of  certain  small  parties  of  the  11th 
and  20th  Native  infantry  who  remained 
faithful,  and  of  the  fifty  men  of  the  3rd 
cavalry ;  and  the  general  adds — "  Efficient 
measures  are  being  taken  to  secure  the 
treasure,  ammunition,  and  barracks,  aud  to 
place  the  females  and  European  inhabitants 
in  the  greatest  security  obtainable.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  the  cantonment  and  Zillah 
police  have  deserted. "f 

The  delay  which  took  place  in  bringing 
the  6th  dragoons  into  action  is  quite  unac- 
counted for.  A  medical  officer,  writing 
from  Meerut  on  the  12th  of  May,  says,  that 
between  five  and  six  o'clock  on  the  evening 
of  the  previous  day,  while  preparing  for  a 
ride  with  Colonel  Finnis,  he  heard  a  buzzing, 
murmuring  noise,  such  as  was  common  in 
case  of  fire ;  and  shortly  after,  while  putting 
on  his  uniform,  the  havildar-major  of  the 
11th  rushed  into  the  room,  exclaiming, 
"  Fly !  sahib,  the  regiments  are  in  open 
mutiny;  Colonel  Finnis  has  just  been  shot 
in  my  arms.  Ride  to  the  European  cavalry 
lines  and  give  the  alarm."  The  doctor  did 
so ;  galloped  off  to  the  liouse  of  the  colonel 
of  the  dragoon  guards,  which  he  had  just 
left,  and  then  on  to  the  barrack  lines,  where 
Colonel  Jones  was  engaged  in  ordering  the 
men  to  saddle,  arm,  and  mount  forthwith. 
The  remaining  movements  of  the  dragoons 
are  best  told  in  the  words  of  this  eye- 
witness, whose  account  is  the  only  circum- 
stantial one  which  has  been  made  public, 
regarding  the  proceedings  of  a  corps  which, 
rightly  used,  might  have  saved  Delhi,  and 
thousands  of  lives. 

"  It  took  us  a  long  time,  in  my  opinion,  to  get 
ready,  and  it  was  dark  before  the  dragoons  were 
ready  to  start  in  a  body ;  while  by  this  time  flames 
began  to  ascend  in  all  directions  from  the  lines,  and 
the  officers'  bungalows  of  the  3rd  cavalry  and  the 
11th  and  20th  Native  infantry;  from  public  build- 
ings, mess-houses,  private  residences,  and,  in  fact, 
every  structure  or  thing  that  came  witliin  the  reach 
of  the  torch,  and  the  fury  of  the  mutineers  and  of 
the  bazaar  canaille.  •  •  •  When  the  carabi- 
niers were  mounted  we  rode  off  at  a  brisk  trot, 
through  clouds  of  suffocating  dust  and  darkness,  in 
an  easterly  direction,  and  along  a  narrow  road  ;  not 
advancing  in  the  direction  of  the  conflagration, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  leaving  it  behind  on  our  right 
rear.     In  this  way  we  proceeded  for  some  two  or 


t 


MUTINEERS  BIVOUAC  ON  THE  ROAD  TO  DELHI. 


153 


three  miles,  to  my  no  small  surprise,  when  sud- 
denly the  '  halt'  was  sounded,  and  we  faced  about, 
and,  retracing  our  steps  and  verging  off  to  our  left, 
debouched  on  the  left  rear  of  the  Native  infantry 
lines,  which  were  all  in  a  blaze.  Skirting  along 
behind  these  lines  we  turned  them  at  the  western 
end,  and  wheeling  to  the  left,  came  upon  the  11th 
parade-ground,  where,  at  a  little  distance,  we  found 
the  horse  artillery  and  H.  M.'s  60th  rifles.  It 
appears  that  the  three  regiments  of  mutineers  had 
by  this  time  commenced  dropping  off  to  the  east- 
ward and  to  the  Delhi-road  ;  for  here  some  firing 
took  place  between  them  and  the  rifles ;  and  pre- 
sently the  horse  artillery  coming  to  the  front 
and  unlimbering,  opened  upon  a  copse  or  wood 
in  which  they  had  apparently  found  cover,  with 
heavy  discharges  of  grape  and  canister,  which  tore 
and  rattled  among  the  trees,  and  all /was  silent 
again.  The  horse  artillery  now  limbered  up  and 
wheeled  round,  and  here  I  joined  them,  having  lost 
the  dragoons  in  the  darkness.  By  this  time,  how- 
ever, the  moon  arose ;  '  we  blessed  her  useful  light' 
[so  did  the  mutineers,  no  doubt]';  and  the  horse 
artillery  column,  with  rifles  at  its  head,  moving 
across  the  parade-ground,  we  entered  the  long  street, 
turning  from  the  southward  behind  the  light  cavalry 
lines.  It  was  by  this  time  past  ten  o'clock,  and 
having  made  the  entire  circuit  of  the  lines,  we  passed 
•jp  to  the  eastward  of  them,  and,  joined  by  the 
dragoons  and  rifles,  bivouacked  for  the  night."* 

At  daybreak  the  doctor  proceeded  to 
visit  the  almost  deserted  hospital,  where 
a  few  patients,  prostrate  with  small-pox, 
alone  remained.  On  his  way  he  met  a 
dhooly,  and,  stopping  the  bearers,  inquired 
what  they  carried.  Tliey  answered,  "The 
colonel  sahib."  It  was  the  body  of  poor 
Finnis  (with  whom  the  inquirer  had  been 
preparing  to  ride  scarce  twelve  hours  before) 
which  had  just  been  found  where  he  fell, 
and  was  being  carried  towards  the  church- 
yard. No  search  had  been  made  for  him  or 
for  any  other  of  the  fallen  Europeans,  who, 
if  not  wholly  killed  by  the  insurgents, 
must  have  perished  iu  needless  misery. 
Colonel  Smyth,  on  the  following  morning, 
saw  ten  or  twelve  European  dead  bodies  on 
the  Delhi-road,  near  tlie  old  gaol.f 

The  mutineers  had  abundant  leisure  to 
initiate,  with  a  success  they  could  never  have 
anticipated,  their  first  great  step  of  syste- 
matic hostility.  They  were  not,  however, 
unanimous  in  their  views.  Many  of  the 
20th  Native  infantry  were  still  loyal  at 
heart,  and  120  of  them  turned  back,  and 
presented  themselves  at  Meerut,  where  the 
influence  of  the  officers  and  families  whom 
they  had  protected,  procured  them  a  favour- 

*  Times,  June  29th,  1857. 
t  Brief  Account  of  the  Mutiny,  p.  6. 
t  Letter   from  an  eye-witness   of  the  seizure  of 
Delhi  by  the  mutineers. — Times,  July  14th,  1857. 
§  Letter  to  the  Times,  October,  1857. 
VOL.  II.  X 


able  reception.  Several  of  the  3rd  cavalry 
also  appear  to  have  returned  and  surrendered 
themselves,  and  many  of  them  were  met 
with,  wandering  about  the  country,  longing, 
but  not  daring,  to  return  to  their  homes. 
Meanwhile,  the  mass  of  the  mutineers, 
counselled  by  a  few  more  daring  spirits, 
took  care  to  cut  off  the  telegraph  communi- 
cation between  Meerut  and  Delhi,  and  to 
post  a  guard  of  a  hundred  troopers  at  a 
narrow  suspension-bridge  over  the  Hindun, 
one  of  the  two  rivers  between  them  and 
Delhi ;  but  which  then,  in  the  height  of  the 
hot  season,  was  easily  fordable.  They  knew 
that  there  was  no  other  obstacle,  the  country 
being  smooth  as  a  bowling-green ;  and  they 
took  full  advantage  of  the  apathy  of  the 
British,  by  bivouacking  for  a  brief  rest, 
within  six  miles  of  the  scene  of  their  out- 
rages; after  which,  they  rose  up  and  pur- 
sued their  way  without  the  slightest  inter- 
ruption. Their  arrival  at  Delhi  will  be 
narrated  in  the  following  chapter.  The 
Meerut  catastrophe  is  sufficiently  impor- 
tant to  deserve  what  Nelson  wished  for — a 
gazette  to  itself. 

The  general  opinion  of  the  Indian  press 
and  public,  declared  it  "certain  that  the 
severe  sentences  on  the  mutineers  of  the 
3rd  cavalry  was  the  immediate  cause  of 
the  Meerut  massacre."J  In  England,  the 
same  conclusion  was  naturally  and  almost 
unavoidably  arrived  at.  Colonel  Sykes,  ex- 
chairman  of  the  East  India  Company,  and 
also  a'  high  authority  on  the  score  of  indi- 
vidual character  and  experience,  declared  in 
the  most  emphatic  language,  his  "  thorough 
conviction,  that  but  for  the  fatal  punish- 
ment of  the  eighty-five  troopers  at  Meerut 
to  ten  years'  confinement  in  irons,  with  hard 
labour  as  felons,  for  resisting  the  compulsory 
use  of  the  suspected  cartridges,  the  first 
instance  in  a  hundred  years,  iu  Bengal,  of 
sepoys  in  combination  imbruing  their  hands 
in  the  blood  of  their  officers,  would  not  have 
occurred.  In  short,  had  the  policy  adopted 
by  Colonel  Montresor  in  the  contingent 
force  at  Hyderabad  in  1806,  in  abrogating 
a  dangerous  order  upon  his  own  responsi- 
bility, been  adopted  at  Meerut,  we  might 
still  have  had  a  loyal  Bengal  army,  as  we 
still  have  a  loyal  Madras  army,  although  the 
latter  had,  fifty-one  years  ago,  revolted  upon 
religious  grounds."§ 

Again,  in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, Colonel  Sykes  said,  that  at  the 
moment  of  ironing  the  troopers  on  parade, 
"an  electric  shock  of  sympathy  went  through 


I 


154  COL.  SYKES  AND  LORD  ELLENBOROUGH  ON  THE  OUTBREAK. 


the  whole  army,  and  amongst  their  co-reli- 
gionists in  the  contingents  with  native 
powers.  Up  to  that  time  there  had  been 
doubts  and  alarms,  but  no  common  sym- 
pathy or  understanding.  Then,  however, 
every  sepoy  iu  the  Bengal  army  made  the 
case  of  the  condemned  his  own."* 

Lord  EUenborough  contrasted  the  promp- 
titude manifested  by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  in 
Oude,  with  the  shiftless  incapacity  displayed 
at  Meerut.  At  the  latter  place,  the  muti- 
neers, he  said,  rose  at  6  p.m.,  and  it  was  not 
until  nightfall  that  H.M.'s  carabiniers  were 
able  to  move.  "  How  did  it  happen  that 
with  a  Queen's  regiment  of  infantry,  another 
of  cavalry,  and  an  overwhelming  force  of 
horse  and  foot  artillery,  the  mutineers  yet 
escaped  without  injury  to  Delhi,  and  made 
a  march  of  thirty  to  forty  miles?"  Lord 
EUenborough  spoke  forcibly  on  the  power 
of  individual  character  in  influencing  events 
in  India ;  and,  alluding  to  General  Hewitt, 
he  declared  that  no  government  was  justi- 
fied in  placing  in  a  most  important  position 
a  mail  of  whom  the  troops  knew  nothing, 
and  with  whose  qualifications  the  gov- 
ernment themselves  were  unacquainted. 
"Where,"  he  added,  "was  the  commander- 
in-chief  upon  this  occasion?  Why  was  not 
he  in  the  midst  of  his  troops  ?  He  must 
have  been  aware  of  all  the  difficulties  which 
■were  growing  up.  He  must  have  known 
the  dangers  by  which  he  was  beset.  *  *  * 
He,  however,  went  to  the  hills,  leaving  the 
dangers  to  which  I  refer  behind  him  in  the 
plain.  Such  is  not  the  conduct  which  a 
man  occupying  the  position  of  commander- 
in-chief  ought  to  have  pursued." f 

The  leading  reviews  and  magazines  took 
np  the  same  tone ;  and  the  writer  of  an  able 
and  temperate  article  in  one  of  them,  gave  a 
question  and  reply,  which  contain,  in  few 
words,  the  common-sense  view  of  the  mat- 
ter. "  Why  was  nothing  done  or  attempted, 
before  the  insurgents  reached  Delhi,  to  arrest 
their  murderous  progress,  and  protect  the 
unfortunate  residents  in  that  city  ?  Why, 
but  that  our  leaders  were  unequal  to  their 
duty,  and  that  General  Anson  had  rushed 
into  a  menacing  display  of  authority,  with- 
out troubling  himself  to  consider  the  means 
or  the  persons  by  whom  it  was  to  be 
sustained."  J 

In  India,  however,  the  Meerut  authorities 
were  not  wholly  without  apologists,  and 
even  vindicators.     Some  intercepted  sepoy 

•  Speech  on  proposed  India  Bill,  Feb.  18th,  1858. 
t  India  Debate.— ZV'otc*,  30th  June,  1837. 


letters  were  said  to  show,  that  the  en- 
tire Bengal  army  had  resolved  on  a  simid- 
taneous  rising  on  the  loth  of  May ;  conse- 
quently, the  blundering  cruelties  practised  at 
Meerut  were  supposed  to  have  precipitated 
the  insurrectionary  movement,  and  pi'e-. 
vented  the  intended  co-operation  of  the 
widely  dispersed  troops.  The  evidence  in 
favour  of  this  supposition  was  little  better 
than  rumour ;  if  there  had  been  any  of 
weight,  the  authorities  would  have  been 
only  too  glad  to  publish  it  for  the  diminu- 
tion of  their  own  blame.  But  had  such  a 
plot  existed,  its  development  at  Meerut 
wotdd  have  been  particularly  unfortu- 
nate ;  for  subsequent  events  showed,  that 
in  most  other  stations,  the  officers  in  com- 
mand (whether  soldiers. or  civilians)  were 
ready  to  make  public  duty  their  paramount 
consideration ;  and  proved,  in  many  remark- 
able instances,  no  less  conspicuous  for  the 
employment  of  their  often  slender  resources 
for  the  public  good,  than  the  Meerut 
leaders  had  been  for  the  misuse  of  their 
almost  unparalleled  advantages.  The  wan- 
tonly provoked  catastrophe  at  Meerut  was 
fitly  followed  by  an  access  of  stupefaction, 
which  can  alone  account  for  the  absence  of 
any  effort  to  save  Delhi. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  sermon 
preached  on  the  occasion  by  Mr.  Rotton, 
one  of  the  chaplains  of  the  Meerut  station  j 
who  was  subsequently  attached  to  the  be- 
sieging force  sent  against  Delhi,  where, 
according  to  Mr.  Greathed,  he  was  "well 
thought  of,"  and  "attentive  to  his  duties."§ 
The  tone  indicates  the  view  generally  taken 
of  the  recent  outbreak ;  for  preaching 
of  so  very  decided  a  character  would,  if 
not  approved,  scarcely  be  tolerated  by  any 
congregation. 

"  Think  awhile  of  our  past  position  and 
our  brightening  prospects.  The  mutiny 
came  upon  us  most  unexpectedly.  The 
scene  of  its  commencement  was  Meerut; 
and  the  circumstances  which  led  to  its  out- 
break here,  were  doubtless  arranged  by 
matchless  wisdom  and  unbounded  love.  It 
seems,  if  report  speaks  truly,  that  a  diabo- 
lical and  deep-laid  plot  had  been  conceived, 
and  was  hourly  maturing  in  detail,  for  the 
destruction  of  British  supremacy  in  India." 
On  this  mere  rumour,  Mr.  Rotton  pro- 
ceeded to  ground  a  description  of  the  "  un- 
paralleled skill"  with  which  "  the  Moham- 
medan" had  framed  his  alleged  plot,  and  the 

J  Blackwood's  ^rfjViJioyAJ/of/ast'ne  for  Sept.,  1857. 
§  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  188. 


STATE  OF  OPINION  AT  MEERUT— MAY,  1857. 


155 


means  adopted  by  Providence  for  its  dis- 
closure. "  Hence,  -I  say,  He  [the  Almighty] 
arranged  every  incident  connected  with  the 
mutiny  of  Native  troops  in  this  station 
[including,  of  course,  the  attempted  enforce- 
ment of  the  polluting  cartridges  and  the 
three  hours'  fettering] ;  and  but  for  the 
solemn  and  sad  warning  which  we  received 
here,  it  is  possible,  yea,  very  probable,  that 
the  enemy's  plans  would  have  arrived  at 
such  maturity,  that  our  destruction  might 
have  been  certain  and  complete.  Such  are 
the  convictions  of  men  of  experience  and 
judgment  in  India.  They  look  on  the  out- 
break at  Meerut  as  the  salvation  of  India." 

The  above  quotation  is  not  a  very  encou- 
raging one  to  lay  before  the  religious  portion 
of  the  British  public,  now  earnestly  striving, 
in  an  entii'cly  opposite  spirit,  and  with  entirely 
different  weapons,  for  the  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral salvation  of  the  people  of  India.  But 
it  is  well  that  the  zealous  and  self-denying 
supporters  of  missionary  enterprise  should 
fully  recognise  the  dangers  and  difficulties, 
from  within  and  without,  which  beset  the 
progress  of  Christianity  in  India.  Within 
the  pale,  an  insidious  spirit  of  formality, 
self-sufficiency,  and  belligerent  intolerance 
is  at  work,  which  is  diametrically  opposed  to 
the  first  principles  of  the  gospel.  The  doc- 
trine of  a  special  Providence,  for  instance,  as 
illustrated  above,  can  happily  do  little  harm 
to  hearers  accustomed  from  childhood  to 
test  human  teaching  by  the  standard  of 
Holy  Writ,  and  to  rely  on  the  assistance  of 
Divine  wisdom  to  enable  them  to  arrive  at 
,  a  right  judgment.  "  Christians  of  the 
Book,"  as  General  Hearsey  aptly  translated 
Protestants,  may  indeed  well  dispense 
with  any  other  light  than  that  reflected 
from  their  Bibles  by  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  but  if  we  send  missionaries  to 
India  for  the  express  purpose  of  expounding 
the  Scriptures,  we  ought  to  be  most  careful 
that  they  be  duly  qualified  for  the  work. 

Such  teachers  should  have,  at  least  in 
measure,  the  zeal  of  Peter  and  the  love  of 
John  united  with  the  controversial  power  of 
Paul.  It  is  no  simple  task  to  disentangle 
the  subtle  web  of  casuistry  which  modern 
Brahminism  has  woven  round  the  great 
verities  of  their  ancient  faith,  or  to  eradicate 
from  the  affections  of  the  people  the  rank 
growth  of  impure  idolatries,  of  superstitious 
and  sensual  customs  founded  on  allegories 
originally  more  graceful  and  far  more  meta- 

*  Her  jaghire  was  included  in  what  is  now  the 
Meerut  district.     See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  373. 


physical  than  those  of  Greece  or  Eome— ^and 

to  graft  in  place  of  them  simple  faith  in  the 
Father  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  and  in  the 
One  Mediator  between  God  and  man. 

With  the  Mohammedans  the  difficulties 
are  still  greater.  Their  deep  reverence  for 
the  great  Head  of  our  church  would  seem, 
at  first  sight,  to  facilitate  their  acceptance 
of  Christianity ;  but  it  is  not  really  so,  for 
they  view  themselves  as  the  objects  of  a 
further  and  fuller  revelation  than  ours,  which 
it  is  their  duty  to  guard  and  propagate. 
Impressed  with  this  conviction,  they  will 
not,  like  the  Brahmins,  engage  in  argu- 
ments, or  view  possible  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity in  any  light  than  as  a  crime,  which 
if  not  repented  of,  must  be  punished  with 
death.  Thus,  and  thus  only,  can  the 
plague  of  apostasy  be  stayed  among  them. 

There  is  no  surer  obstacle  to  Moham- 
medan conversion  than  an  irreverent  hand- 
ling of  the  deepest  mysteries  of  the  Christian 
faith.  Yet  the  more  rash  and  incompetent 
the  preacher,  the  more  likely  is  he  to  "  rush 
in  where  angels  fear  to  tread."  An  ex- 
ample of  this  is  quoted  by  Lord  Hastings 
in  the  diary  kept  by  him,  when  making  a 
tour  as  governor-general  in  1815.  He  went 
to  church  at  Meerut,  in  the  handsome  and 
extensive  structure,  towards  the  recent  erec- 
tion of  which  the  Begum  Sumroo*  (a  Roman 
Catholic  by  profession)  had  been  the  chief 
contributor.  "The  tenor  of  the  sermon 
was,"  he  says,  "  to  impress  upon  us  a  strict 
and  defined  repartition  of  functions  be- 
tween the  different  persons  of  the  Trinity 
— a  line  which  we  were  assured  would  be 
inviolably  preserved  from  the  indelicacy 
which  each  must  feel  would  .ittend  the  tres- 
passing of  the  prerogatives  of  another."t 

The  impediments  to  making  proselytes  iu 
India  will  not,  however,  deter  those  from 
making  the  attempt  who  act  in  obedience 
to  a  Divine  command,  and  in  reliance  on 
Divine  aid.  Still  in  this,  as  in  all  similar 
cases,  we  must  do  our  xitmost  before 
venturing  to  expect  a  blessing  on  our- 
labours.  An  inexperienced  and  slenderly- 
gifted  ma.i,  who  would  preach  to  empty 
pews  in  England,  is  not  likely  to  attract 
hearers  among  a  people  whom  he  addresses 
under  all  the  drawbacks  inseparable  from 
the  position  of  a  stranger  and  a  foreigner, 
who,  unpractised  in  their  language,  and  yet 
more  so  in  their  modes  of  thought,  comes 
to   tell   his  audience   that  they  and   their 

t  Private  Journal  of  the  Marquess  of  Hastings : 
edited  by  the  Marchioness  of  Bute  ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  329. 


156 


DELHI  BEFORE  THE  MUTINY— MAY,  1857. 


fathers,  and  their  venerated  priesthood,  have 
long  lain  in  ignorance  and  darkness.  To  a 
preacher  thus  situated,  it  must  be  no  small 
advantage  to  be  perfectly  versed  in  the 
antecedents  of  his  hearers  :  he  can  hardly 
know  too  much  of  their  customs  and  pre- 
judices, of  their  strength  and  their  weak- 
ness :  his  store  of  information  cannot  be  too 
great :  he  should,  like  Moses,  be  versed  not 
only  in  Israelitish  history,  but  in  all  the 
wisdom  of  the  Egyptians.  In  fact,  the 
preliminary  course  of  study  requisite  for  an 
Indian  missionary  is  altogether  an  excep- 
tional one.  Controversy  in  Europe  is  usu- 
ally exercised  regarding  minor  points  of 
form,  doctrine,  and  discipline.  In  India, 
the  first  articles  of  our  faith — the  creation 
of  the  world  according  to  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  the  incarnation  of  the  Saviour 
the  very  existence  of  the  "Christ  of  his- 


j  tory,"  are  controverted  points,  before  ad- 
I  mitting  the  truth  of  which  the  Hindoos  must 
I  unlearn  the  lessons  of  a  lifetime,  and  disown 
traditions  cherished  for  centuries  as  Divine 
1  revelations.  Alas !  will  it  please  God  to  raise 
up  the  meek,  holy  scholars  who,  to  human 
judgment,  seem  alone  capable  of  the  task. 
But  we  must  not  despair:  India  has  had 
already  a  Schwartz,  Carey,  and  Martyn,  a 
Middleton  and  Heber.  She  has  just  lost  an 
excellent  bishop  (in  Dr.  Wilson,  the  late 
venerable  diocesan  of  Calcutta) ;  and  there 
are  probably  many  now  living,  clergymen 
and  laymen,  whose  labours,  though  com- 
paratively unknown,  are  working  out  greater 
results  than  we  dream  of.  Only  when  we 
send  labourers  into  the  vineyard,  let  them 
be  our  very  best — clear-headed,  large- 
hearted,  gentle,  men :  no  bigots,  no  secta- 
rians, no  formalists,  no  shams. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


DELHI— MAY  Uth. 


It  would  be  very  easy  to  write  a  full  and 
glowing  account  of  the  seizure  of  Delhi  and 
its  terrible  consequences,  on  the  plan  of 
selecting  the  most  probable  and  interesting 
portions  of  the  statements  yet  published, 
and  discarding  the  improbable  and  conflict- 
ing ones ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  frame  even  a 
brief  narrative,  grounded  on  authentic  data, 
while  the  trial  of  the  King  of  Delhi,  with  all 
the  important  evidence  taken  thereon,  re- 
mains, like  the  Meerut  court-martial,  a 
sealed  book  to  the  general  public,  and  the 
most  important  points  have  to  be  searched 
for  bit  by  bit,  through  masses  of  Blue-Book 
verbiage,  or  received  on  the  testimony  of 
individuals,  more  or  less  discriminating  in 
testing  the  accuracy  of  the  intelligence  they 
communicated  to  their  friends  in  England. 

It  is  from  private  letters  only  that  we  de- 
rive our  information  of  the  state  of  feeling 
in  Delhi  immediately  before  the  outbreak, 
and  of  the  excitement  occasioned  by  the 
cartridge  question  among  its  immense  popu- 
lation, but  especially  among  the  three 
Native  regiments  by  which  it  was  garrisoned. 
The  census  of  1846  states  the  population  of 
the  city,  exclusive  of  its  suburbs,  at  137,977 ; 
of  these,  71,530  were  Hindoos,  66,120 
Mohammedans,  and  327  Christians  (chiefly 


Eurasians).  Nowhere  else  in  India  was  the 
proportion  of  Mohammedans  to  be  com- 
pared with  this :  and  although  the  British 
government  might  view  the  ancient  capital 
of  the  Moguls  as  the  shrine  of  buried  great- 
ness, interesting  only  to  the  poet,  the  anti- 
quarian, or  the  artist,  many  a  poverty- 
stricken  Moslem  noble,  many  a  half-starved 
llajpoot  chieftain  or  ousted  zemindar,  re- 
membered that  a  Great  Mogul  yet  lived 
within  the  marble  palaces  of  his  ancestors, 
surrounded  by  a  numerous  offspring.  Brah- 
mins and  llajpoots  had  fought  for  the 
Moguls,  and  had  filled  the  highest  offices 
of  the  state,  from  which  Hindoos  and  Mo- 
hammedans were  alike  excluded  by  the  un- 
generous policy  of  their  present  rulers. 
Men  suff"ering  under  existing  grievances, 
rarely  think  much  of  those  of  their  prede- 
cessors from  opposite  causes ;  and  it  is  only 
natural  to  suppose  that  there  were  many  mal- 
contents in  India,  who  beheld  the  raj  of  the 
Feriughee  with  intense  bitterness,  and  wore 
well  content  to  unite  on  common  ground  as 
natives,  for  the  expulsion  of  tlie  hated 
foreigners,  and  then  fight  out  their  own 
quarrels  by  themselves.  Of  course,  the 
great  mass  of  the  people,  who  earn  a  scanty 
subsistence  literally  in  the  sweat  of  their 


DELHI— THE  10th  OP  MAY,  1857. 


157 


brow — who  depend  on  daily  toil  for  daily 
food,  and  who  die  by  hundreds  when  any- 
thing occurs  to  interrupt  their  monotonous, 
resourceless  industry — neither  make,  nor 
willingly  take  part  in  revolutions ;  for  it  is 
certain  that,  whichever  side  prevails,  a  mul- 
titude of  the  lowest  classes  will  be  trodden 
under  foot  by  the  combatants.  Thus  it  was 
in  all  cases;  but  especially  at  Delhi,  where 
thousands  of  peaceful  citizens,  with  helpless 
families,  had  as  good  a  rightto  expect  from  the 
British  the  benefits  of  a  wise  and  strong  ad- 
ministration, and  protection  against  the  mu- 
tinous spirit  abroad  amid  the  Bengal  army, 
as  any  member  of  the  covenanted  service. 
The  Indian  population,  could  they  but 
find  hearing,  have  a  right  to  initiftte  rather 
than  echo  the  indignant  question  of  their 
fellow-subjects  in  England — why  did  govern- 
ment "make  Delhi  a  strong  fortress,  sur- 
round it  with  new  bastions,  excavate  a  deep 
ditch  out  of  the  granite  rock,  leave  within  it 
a  hundred  thousand  muskets,  two  parks  of 
the  heaviest  artillery  in  India,  and  powder 
enough  to  blaze  away  at  any  enemy  for  a 
year,  and  then  place  the  whole  in  the  sole 
charge  of  three  Native  regiments  ?"*  and 
leave  it  there,  while  incendiary  fires,  in 
different  stations,  were  telling,  week  by 
week  and  month  by  month,  the  spread  of 
disaffection.  The  circulation  of  the  chupat- 
ties  has  been  compared  to  the  Fiery  Cross 
transmitted  by  the  Scottish  Highlanders. 
The  burning  bungalows  at  the  musketry 
depots  ought  to  have  afforded  a  far  more 
significant  warning  of  what  was  going  on, 
written,  as  the  information  was,  in  charac- 
ters of  fire,  which  they  who  ran  might  read. 
Letters  dated  almost  simultaneously  with 
the  execution  of  that  fatal  sentence  on  the 
Meerut  troopers  (which  was,  in  truth,  the 
death-warrant  of  every  European  massacred 
in  the  following  week),  prove  that  some 
at  least  of  the  Delhi  officers  were  anxiously 
watching  the  signs  of  the  times.  The  three 
Native  regiments — the  38th,  54th,  and  74th 
Native  infantry — consisted  of  about  3,500 
men  J  there  was  also  a  company  of  Native 
artillery,  comprising  about  160  men.  The 
Europeans  numbered,  in  all,  only  fifty-two; 
of  whom  three  commissioned  officers  and 
two  sergeants  belonged  to  the  artillery.f 
They  occupied  the  hottest  cantonments  in 

•  Times  (leader),  July  24th,  1857. 

t  The  parliamentary  return,  from  which  these 
statements  are  taken,  gives  sixty-five  as  the  total 
numbur  of  "sick  of  all  ranks;"  but  whether  this 
heading  is  intended  to  include  Europeans,  or,  as  is 


India ;  the  low  rocky  ridge  on  which  modern 
Delhi  is  built,  reflecting  the  intense  glare  of 
the  fierce  Indian  sun,  under  which  many 
sank  down  in  fever;  while  their  comrades 
had  additional  work  to  perform  by  day,  with 
volunteer  duty  as  nurses  by  night.  Still, 
so  far  from  being  blinded  by  languor  or 
fatigue  to  the  temper  of  the  Native  troops, 
they  noted  it  well;  and  their  cgrrespondence 
tells  of  a  degree  of  excitement  unparalleled 
for  many  years;  of  the  disbanding  of  the 
19th  (the  poor  19th,  as  those  who  know  its 
history  still  sorrowfully  term  it) ;  and  of  the 
unremoved  persuasion  of  the  sepoys,  "  that 
ox  fat  and  hogs'  lard  had  been  imposed  upon 
them  in  their  cartridges."  Where  the  offi- 
cers conld  speak  the  language  well,  they 
reasoned  with  their  men  for  a  time  success- 
fully ;  but  where,  as  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
this  free  communication  did  not  exist,  and 
"where  the  best  speakers  of  native  lan- 
guages had  been  called  away  by  staff  ap- 
pointments or  for  civil  service,  leaving  only 
dumb  novices,  or  even  dumb  elders  behind 
them,"  there  mutiny  most  surely  flourished. 
So  said  these  letters,  written  some  forty- 
eight  hours  before  the  outbreak.  Want  of 
head  and  of  moral  union  among  the  disaf- 
fected, was,  it  was  added,  the  only  chance  of 
safety  left  to  the  Europeans :  and  so  it 
proved.  J 

These  vague  apprehensions  had,  however, 
no  connection  with  Meerut.  That  station 
was  the  last  in  all  India  to  which  the  idea 
of  danger  was  attached,  and  it  was  the 
special  point  d'appui  for  the  Europeans  at 
Delhi.  At  what  hour  the  telegraphic  com- 
munication was  cut  off  between  these  posts, 
does  not  appear ;  but  it  is  probable  that  the 
absence  of  any  intimation  of  the  disturb- 
ances, which  commenced  at  Meerut  as  early 
or  earlier  than  five  o'clock  on  Sunday,  was 
occasioned  by  the  same  miserable  incapacity 
which  marked  the  whole  conduct  of  the 
authorities.  The  communication  with  Agra 
was  not  cut  off  till  nine  o'clock;  for  at 
that  hour,  intimation  of  what  was  occurring 
was  dispatched  to  that  city,  in  the  form  of 
a  private  message,  by  the  postmaster's  sister, 
to  prevent  her  aunt  from  starting  for  Meerut, 
according  to  a  previous  engagement. §  Un- 
happily, no  private  emergency  induced  the 
sending  of  a  similar  communication  to  Delhi. 

most  probable,  only  the  native  patients  in  hospital, 
does  not  api)ear. — Pari.  Papers,  February  9th, 
1858 ;  p.  3. 

X  See  Dailt/  News,  July  28th,  1857. 

§  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  175. 


158 


DELHI— THE  11th  OP  MAY,  1857. 


The  mutineers,  on  their  part,  do  not  appear 
to  have  sent  on  messengers  ;  and  there  is  no 
ground  for  believing  that,  at  daybreak  on 
Monday,  the  11th  of  May,  any  individual  of 
the  vast  population  of  the  Mohammedan 
capital  and  its  suburbs  had  received  the 
slightest  warning  of  the  impending  calamity. 
{  The  troops  were  pai-aded,  in  the  cool  of 
1  the  early  morning,. to  hear  the  sentences 
I  of  the  BarracTcpoor  courts-martial,  which 
were  read  here  as  elsewhere,  without  any 
withdrawal  of,  or  explanation  regarding,  the 
cartridges.  ;  After  parade,  the  garrison 
guards  were  told-off,  and  the  officers  and 
men  separated  to  perform  their  ordinary 
course  of  duty. 

The  first  alarm  appears  to  have  been 
taken  by  Mr.  Todd,  of  the  telegraph  office; 
who,  finding  the  communication  with  Mee- 
rut  interrupted,  proceeded  to  the  bridge  of 
boats  across  the  Jumna,  near  one  of  the 
seven  gates  of  the  city,  and  there  met  a  party 
of  the  3rd  cavalry,  and  was  murdered  by 
them.  His  fate  was  not  known  until  late  in 
the  day.  The  European  authorities  do  not 
state  the  manner  in  which  they  first  learned 
the  arrival  of  the  Meerut  mutineers  in 
Delhi ;  but  it  would  seem  that  a  few  of  the 
released  troopers  rode  in  at  the  river  gate, 
as  the  forerunners  of  the  disorganised  bands 
then  on  the  road.  At  about  eight  o'clock 
the  resident.  Sir  Theophilus  Metcalfe,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Delhi  magazine,  for  tlie  pur- 
pose of  ordering  two  gims  to  be  placed  on 
the  bridge,  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the 
mutineers.  He  found  Lieutenant  Wil- 
loughby,  and  the  other  European  and  Native 
members  of  the  establishment,  at  their 
post ;  and  on  alighting  from  his  buggy.  Sir 
Theophilus,  with  Lieutenants  Willoughby 
and  Forrest,  proceeded  to  a  small  bastion  on 
the  river  face,  which  commanded  a  full  view 
of  the  bridge,  and  there  saw  but  too  dis- 
tinctly that  the  time  for  preoccupation  was 
over;  the  mutineers  had  already  posted  a 
body  of  cavalry  on  the  Delhi  side,  and  were 
marching  on  in  open  column. 

The  resident  and  the  lieutenant  immedi- 
ately proceeded  to  ascertain  whether  the 
river  gate  had  been  closed  against  the  muti- 
neers: this  had  been  done,  but  to  no  pur- 
pose, and  Lieutenant  Willoughby  hurried 
back  to  place  the  guns  and  howitzers  in  the 
best  possible  positions  for  the  defence  of  the 
magazine.     The  nine  Europeans*  then  re- 

*  Lieutenants  Willoughby,  Forrest,  and  Raynor ; 
Conductors  Buckley,~Shaw,  Scully,  and  Acting  Sub- 
Conductor  Crow ;  Sergeants  Edwards  and  Stewart. 


maiued  in  quiet  expectation  of  the  worst, 
which,  when  it  came,  they  met  with  such 
wise  valour, 

Meanwhile,  it  may  be  reasonably  asked, 
who  was  the  chief  officer  ?  and  what  orders 
did  he  give  ?     The  chief  officer  was  Briga- 
dier Graves ;  and  it  would  appear  that  after 
parade  he,  like  the  other  officers,  went  home 
to  breakfast.      When   he   learned  the  ap- 
proach of  the  mutineers  does  not  appear ; 
but  the  first  authentic  mention  of  his  pre- 
sence, describes  him  as   having  proceeded 
with  his  staff  to  a  circular  brick  building  of 
some  strength,  whence  the  daily  gun  was 
fired,   situated    on   an    eminence   near  the 
cantonment,  and  within  a  short  distance  of 
the  Moree  and  Cashmere  gates.     To  this 
building,    called   the   Flaji^staff  tower,   the 
European  women  and  civilians  flocked  for 
safety  on  the  first  alarm,  and  found  Brigadier 
Graves  watching  from  thence  the  movements 
of  the  rebel  force  On  the  north  and  western 
faces  of  the  city.  "  He  had,"  one  of  the  partyf 
writes,  "  no  one  to  advise  him,  apparently ; 
and  I  do  not  think  any  one  present  envied 
him  his  post."     In  truth,  it  was  no  easy 
task  to  know  what  to  do  for  the  defence  of 
a  city  seven  miles  in  circumference,  when 
mutiny  without  met  mutiny  within.     Pro- 
bably the  brigadier  was  anxiously  looking 
for  reinforcements :  indeed,  one  of  the  offi- 
cers   of   the   38th,    says — "  What    puzzled 
us  was  the  non-appearance  of  Europeans 
from    Meerut,    in    pursuit    of    the    insur- 
gents."    An  expectation  of  this  kind  alone 
explains  the  absence  of  any  plan  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  ladies  and  children  to  Kurnaul 
or  Meerut,  instead  of  suff'ering  them  to  re- 
main in  the  tower  from  morning  till  evening, 
although  the  obstacles  against  escape  were 
multiplying   every   hour.      The    length    of 
time  occupied  by  the  Delhi  tragedy  is  not 
its   least    painful   feature.       The   massacre 
was  not  a  general  one,  but  a  series  of  mur- 
ders, which  might  have  been  cut  short  at 
any  moment  by  the  arrival  of  a  regiment, 
or  even  a  troop   of  European  cavalry;  for 
the  rebels  made  no  attempt  to  seize  the 
guns  till  nearly  sunset;  nor  did  any  con- 
siderable body  of  the  Delhi  troops  join  the 
mutineers  until  after  the  disorderly  flight 
of  the  European  officers  and  their  families. 
The  total  disorganisation  was,  perhaps,  in- 
evitable ;  but  the  accounts  of  many  of  the 
sufferers  evidence  the  absence  of  any  clear 

f  Mrs.  Peile,  the  wife  of  a  lieutenant  in  the  38th; 
who  had  been  very  ill,  and  was  about  leaving  Delhi 
on  sick  leave. — Times,  September  25th,  1857. 


I 


Wli\[ffl®Rai[D)  S(UlgAJ-®®-lD)[EEM    ^^m  ©Mid, 
TITULAR   KING  OF    DELHI, 

BOKN  J773  _  PROCIAQUKD  RflBEI,  mSO-  OF  I)ELHI,MAril™1857. 
BiraROiKD  vilTO  CAPlttRKD,  SSSTEMBER  20™1857  . 


MR.  PHASER,  CAPTAIN  DOUGLAS,  AND  OTHERS  KILLED.       159 


understanding  between  Brigadier  Graves 
and  the  officers  commanding  Native  corps. 

To  form  a  just  idea  of  the  events  of 
this  miserable  day,  they  must  be  detailed, 
as  far  as  possible,  in  the  order  of  their 
occurrence.  The  next  victim  after  Mr. 
Todd,  was  the  commissioner,  Mr.  Fraser; 
and  the  only  circumstantial  siccount  of  his 
death  yet  published,  is  given  by  a  native 
eye-witness,  whose  narrative,  corroborated 
in  various  essential  points  by  the  official 
documents,  serves  to  relieve  what  the 
Journal  des  Debuts  terms  their  "  incom- 
parable aridity." 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  11th,  a  party 
of  Hindoos,  bound  for  a  well-known  place  of 
Brahminical  pilgrimage,  started  from  Delhi 
for  Mussoorie.  Shortly  after  crossing  the 
bridge  of  boats  they  met  eighteen  troopers, 
who  inquired  their  business.       "  Pilgrims 

Proceeding  to  Hurdwar,"  was  the  reply, 
'he  troopers  ordered  them  to  turn  back  on 
peril  of  their  lives:  they  obeyed,  and  wit- 
nessed the  mutineers  enter  the  city  by  the 
Delhi  gate,  after  killing  a  European  (pro- 
bably Mr.  Todd)  whom  they  met  on  the 
bridge.  The  cavalry  cantered  in,  uttering 
protestations  of  good-will  to  the  native 
inhabitants,  but  death  to  the  Europeans. 
They  appear  to  have  found  the  gate  open,  and 
to  have  ridden  through  without  opposition ; 
but  it  was  closed  after  them.  The  cutwal, 
or  native  magistrate,  sent  word  to  Mr. 
Eraser,  who  immediately  ordered  the  records 
of  his  office  to  be  removed  from  the  palace ; 
and  getting  into  a  buggy,  with  a  double- 
barrelled  gun  loaded,  with  two  mounted 
(native)  orderlies,  proceeded  towards  the 
mutineers.  They  saw  and  advanced  to 
meet  him,  calling  out  to  his  escort — "Are  you 
for  the  Feringhee  (the  foreigner),  or  for  the 
faith?"  "Deen,  deen  !"  (the  faith,  the  faith  !) 
was  the  reply.  Mr.  Fraser  heard  the  omi- 
nous Mohammedan  war-cry  once  more 
raised  in  Delhi ;  and  as  the  mutineers  ap- 
proached him,  he  fired  twice,  shooting  one 
man  through  the  head,  and  wounding  the 
horse  of  another;  then  springing  from  his 
buggy,  he  rushed  in  at  the  Lahore  gate  of 
the  palace,  calling  out  to  the  subahdar  on 
duty  to  close  it  as  he  passed,  which  was 
accordingly  done. 

A  trooper  now  rode  up,  told  the  Meeriit 
story,  gained  a  hearing  despite  the  efforts 
of  Mr.  Fraser  and  Captain  Douglas  (the 
commandant  of  the  palace  guards),  and  won 
over  the  subahdar  and  company  of  the  38th 
then  on   guard   at   the  palace  gate.     The 


subahdar,  being  reproached  by  the  Euro- 
peans  for   treachery  in   holding    a   parley 
with  the  mutineers,  turned  angrily  on  his 
reprovers,   and  bade  them  seek   safety   in 
flight,  at  the  same  time  opening  the  gate 
for  the  troopers.     Mr.  Fraser  and  Captain 
Douglas  ran  towards   the   interior   of  the 
palace,  followed  by  the  mutineers,  one  of 
whom  fired  a  pistol  after  the  fugitives,  which 
took  effect,  for  the  commissioner  staggered 
and  leant  against  a  wail;  whereupon  another 
trooper  went  up,  and,  with  a  sword,  severed 
his  head  from  his  body  at  a  stroke.     Cap- 
tain Douglas  was  slain  at  the  same  time; 
and  the  assassins  proceeding  to  the  king's 
hall  of  audience,  found  two  other  Europeans 
(one  of  whom  was   probably  Mr.  Nixon, 
Mr.  Eraser's  head-clerk),  and  killed  them 
there.     The  Rev.  M.  J.  Jennings  and  his 
daughter,   who   were    living   with   Captain 
Douglas  over  the  Lahore  gate  of  the  palace, 
are  said  to  have  perished  at  this  time,  as  also 
their  guest,  a  Miss  Clifford.     The  mutineers 
attempted  to  open  a  negotiation  with  the 
king,  who  was,  it  must  be  remembered,  with 
his  family,  wholly  at  their  mercy,  in  that 
very  palace  where  the  eyes  of  his  aged  ances- 
tor. Shah  Alum,  had  been  stabbed  out  by  a 
Mohammedan   freebooter.     What  could   a 
pageant  king,  of  above  eighty  years  of  age — 
surrounded  by  a  progeny  born  and  reared 
in    an   atmosphere  of  besotted   sensuality, 
which  we  had  never  made  one  single  effort 
to  purify — do  in  such  a  case  as  this  but 
temporise  ?     So  far  as  the  tale  has  yet  been 
told,  the  royal  family,  doubtless  more  from 
fear  and  interest  than  any  affection  for  the 
British  government,  were  extremely  loth  to 
countenance  the  insurgents,  and  cordially 
joined  the  Europeans  in  hoping  for  succour 
from  Meerut.     The  king  wrote  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Colvin,  the  lieutenant-governor  at  Agra, 
informing  him  that  the  town  and  fort  of 
Delhi,  and   his   own   person,  were  in  the 
hands    of  the   rebel   troops   of   the   place, 
who,  it  was  added,  had  opened  the  gates,  and 
joined  about  100  mutineers  from  Meerut. 
The  fate  of  Mr.  Fraser,  of  Captain  Douglas, 
and  of  Miss  Jennings,  was  also  mentioned 
in  this  letter ;  and  a  telegram  founded  on  it, 
was   sent  from   Agra   to   Calcutta   on  the 
14th.*     The  account  thus  given  was  one  of 
the  earliest  received  by  the  Supreme  gov- 
ernment. 

The   Delhi   cantonment   was   two   miles 
from  the  city.    At  about  ten  o'clock,  tidings 
reached  the  lines  of  what  had  taken  place  at 
•  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies,  p.  178. 


160 


MUTINY  OF  54th  REGIMENT— OFFICERS  SHOT. 


the  palace,  and  the  54th  regiment  were 
ordered  down  to  the  city.  One  of  the 
junior  officers  (a  youth  of  nineteen,  who 
wrote  his  touching  tale  home  to  his  sister) 
says — "Of  course,  at  this  time,  we  had  not 
the  slightest  doubt  as  to  its  loyalty." 
Happily  for  him,  his  company  and  one 
other  were  left  to  wait  for  two  guns,  with 
which  Major  Paterson  was  to  follow  as 
quickly  as  possible,  the  rest  of  the  regiment 
marching  on  at  once.  A  lady  already  men- 
tioned (Mrs.  Peile),  who  was  then  living 
close  to  the  hnes,  watched  the  54th  pass 
the  house;  and  she  writes,  that  seeing 
"  their  cheerfvil  appearance,  and  yet  deter- 
mined look,  we  congratulated  ourselves  on 
having  such  a  brave  set  of  fellows,  as  we 
thought,  to  go  forward  and  fight  for  us."* 

Colonel  Ripley,  the  commandant  of  the 
regiment,  led  his  men  into  the  city  without 
letting  them  load,  intending  to  charge  the 
mutineers  with  the  bayonet.  The  54th  met 
the  rebels  advancing  towards  the  canton- 
ment, in  numbers  nowhere  stated  on  autho- 
rity, and,  in  private  accounts,  very  variously 
from  twenty  to  150.  The  original  invaders 
had  been  probablj',  by  this  time,  reinforced 
by  straggling  parties  of  their  own  mutinous 
comrades,  as  also  by  the  rabble  of  Delhi, 
and  by  the  lawless  Goojurs  of  the  neigli- 
bouring  villages — a  predatory  and  semi- 
barbarous  tribe,  whose  marauding  propen- 
sities were,  even  in  peace,  very  imperfectly 
kept  in  check  by  our  defective  system  of 
police ;  and  who,  in  disturbed  times,  were  the 
indiscriminating  enemy  of  every  one  who 
had  anything  to  lose,  whether  European, 
Hindoo,  or  Mohammedan.  The  insurgents 
came  on,  and  met  Colonel  Ripley's  force  at 
the  English  church,f  near  the  Cashmere 
gate.  They  advanced  without  hesitation, 
calling  out  to  the  54tli,  that  their  quarrel 
was  not  with  them,  but  with  their  officers. 
The  54th  first  delayed  firing  on  the  plea  of 
not  being  loaded;  and,  when  they  had 
loaded,  tlieir  shots  whistled  harmlessly  over 
the  heads  of  the  troopers.  These  galloping 
up,  took  deliberate  aim  in  the  faces  of  the 
Europeans,  all  of  whom  were  unarmed  ex- 
cept Colonel  Ripley,  who  shot  two  of  his 
assailants  before  he  fell — hit  by  their  pistols, 

*  Letter. — Times,  September  25th,  1857. 

t  The  English  church  was  erected  at  the  cost  of 
£10,000,  by  Lieutenant-colonel  Skinner.  This  officer, 
one  of  the  ablest  commanders  of  irregular  troops 
who  ever  served  the  E.  I.  Company,  was  a  half- 
caste,  and  received  an  honorary  lieutenant-colon''l- 
ship  from  Lord  Hastings  in  1814,  the  motive  being 
partly  the  governor-general's  characteristic  sense  of 


and  bayoneted  by  a  sepoy  of  his  own 
corps.  The  countenances  of  the  troopers 
are  described  as  wearing  the  expression  of 
maniacs  ;  one  was  a  mere  youth,  rushing 
about  and  flourishing  his  sword,  and  dis- 
playing all  the  fury  of  a  man  under  the 
influence  of  bhang.J  Captains  Smith  and 
Burrowes,  Lieutenants  Edwards  and  Water- 
field,  were  killed,  and  Lieutenant  Butler 
wounded.  The  Quartermaster -sergeant 
also  fell.  Dr.  Stewart,  the  garrison  sur- 
geon, had  a  very  narrow  escape  :  "lie  tripped 
on  a  stone,  which  saved  him  from  a  shot ; 
dodged  behind  a  wall,  and  reached  canton- 
meuts."§ 

It  was  long  before  the  guns  to  support 
the  54th  were  ready ;  for  the  Native 
artillerymen,  though  neither  disrespectful 
nor  disobedient,  were  manifestly  unwilling 
to  take  part  against  their  countrymen. 
At  length  Major  Paterson,  with  the  re- 
maining two  companies  and  two  pieces  of 
artillery,  passed  through  the  Cashmere  gate 
into  the  city.  The  mutineers  fled  at  once, 
in  wild  disorder,  through  the  streets. 
Major  Paterson  then  returned  through  the 
Cashmere  gate,  and  took  up  his  position  at 
a  small  fortified  bastion,  called  the  Main- 
guard,  where  he  remained  all  day  in 
momentary  expectation  of  being  attacked. 
The  slaughtered  Europeans  were  lying  at  a 
little  distance,  and  the  sepoys  who  had  re- 
mained faithful  brought  in  the  bodies.  "  It 
was  a  most  heartrending  sight,"  says  the 
young  officer  before  quoted,  "  to  see  all  our 
poor  chaps,  whom  we  liad  ^eeu  and  been 
with  that  very  morning,  talking  and  laugh- 
ing together  at  our  cofl"ee-shop,  lying  dead, 
side  by  side,  and  some  of  them  dreadfully 
mutilated."  Colonel  Ripley  had  been  pre- 
viously carried  back  to  the  cantonments, 
and  was  found  by  two  ladies  (the  wife  of 
Major  Paterson  and  Mrs.  Peile),  lying  on  a 
rude  bed  at  the  bells  of  arms.  He  pointed 
to  a  frightful  wound  on  his  left  shoulder,  and 
said  that  the  men  of  his  own  regiment  had 
bayoneted  him.  The  colonel  implored  the 
native  doctor  to  give  him  a  dose  of  opium  to 
deaden  his  sufferings,  which,  after  some  per- 
suasion, was  done;  and  the  ladies,  anxious 
for  the  safety  of  their  children,  returned  to 

justice,  and  partly,  as  the  marquis  himself  says,  the 
fear  of  losing  a  most  valuable  public  servant,  by 
subjecting  him  to  be  placed  under  the  orders  of 
inexperienced  European  juniors. — Marquis  of  Has- 
tings' Private  Journal,  vol.  i.,  p.  285. 

j  Letter  from  an  eye-witness. — Delhi  Gazette, 
published  at  Agra  (after  the  seizure  of  Delhi). 

§  Private  letter  from  an  officer  of  the  38th. 


SUCCOUR  PROM  MEERUT  EXPECTED  AT  DELHI. 


161 


their  homes.  On  their  way,  they  met  men 
and  women- servants,  wandering  about  in 
the  greatest  confusion  and  distress.  The 
servants  begged  them  not  to  remain  in  the 
lines,  as  it  was  understood  that  the  bunga- 
lows would  be  burned  at  night.  The  two 
ladies,  therefore,  packed  up  such  property 
as  they  could  in  boxes,  directed  the  natives 
to  hide  it,  and  left  the  lines  about  two 
o'clock,  under  the  care  of  Lieutenant  Peile, 
who  first  sought  out  Colonel  Ripley,  placed 
him  in  a  dhooly,  and  rode  by  his  side  to  the 
Flagstaff  tower,  which  the  whole  party 
reached  without  encountering  any  moles- 
tation. 

The  assembled  Europeans  were  grievously 
disappointed  by  the  non-arrival  of  succour 
from  Meerut  ;*  and  Surgeon  Batson,  of  the 
7th  Native  infantry,  offered  to  attempt  the 
conveyance  thither  of  a  request  for  assis- 
tance. Brigadier  Graves  accordingly  wrote 
a  despatch  to  this  effect;  and  Mr.  Bat- 
son,  leaving  his  wife  and  three  daughters  in 
the  tower,  proceeded  to  his  own  house, 
where  he  dyed  his  face,  hands,  and  feet; 
and,  assuming  the  garb  of  a  fakir,  went 
through  the  city,  intending  to  cross  the 
bridge  of  boats;  but,  finding  the  bridge 
broken,  he  returned  towards  the  canton- 
ment, and  tried  to  pass  the  Jumna  at  a 
ferry  near  the  powder-magazine.  The 
sowars,  or  troopers  of  the  3rd  cavalry,  had, 
however,  preceded  him,  attended  by  crowds 
of  Goojurs,  who  were  plundering  and  firing 
the  houses.  Mr.  Batson  despaired  of  being 
able  to  reach  Meerut,  and  rushed  across 
the  parade-ground.  Either  the  act  be- 
trayed him,  or  his  disguise  was  seen  through, 
for  the  sepoys  fired  at  him;  but  he  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  as  far  as  the  garden  near 
the  canal,  where  he  was  seized  by  some 
villagers,  and  '^.deprived  of  every  particle  of 
clothing."  In  this  forlorn  condition  he 
proceeded  on  the  road  to  Kurnaul,  in  hopes 
of  overtaking  some  officers  and  ladies  who 
had  fled  in  that  direction.  Thus  the  only 
effort  to  communicate  with  Meerut  was 
frustrated;  for  no  other  appears  to  have 
been  attempted,  even  by  the  more  promising 
means  of  native  agency. 

Had  it  been  successful,  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  Meerut  authorities  would  have 
made  any  effort,  or  encountered  any  risk, 
to  remedy  the  evils  their  torpor  had  occa- 

*  "  It  was  80  inexplicable  to  us  why  troops  from 
Meerut  did  not  arrive." — Lieutenant  Gambler's  Let- 
ter.— Times,  August  6th,  1857. 

t  The  Chaplain's  Narrative  of  Siege  of  Delhi,  p.  6. 
VOL.  II.  Y 


sioned.  A  message  that  a  few  scattered  hand- 
fuls  of  men,  women,  and  children  were  in 
momentary  danger  of  being  murdered  some 
thirty-five  miles  off,  would  not  have  star- 
tled them  into  compassion ;  for  the  calamity 
had  been  foreseen  on  the  Sunday  night.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Rotton  describes  himself  and  his 
wife  as  watching  their  children  "reposing 
in  profound  security  beneath  the  paternal 
roof"  (a  bungalow  in  the  European  lines); 
gazing  upon  the  shining  moon,  "and  an- 
ticipating what  would  befall  our  Christian 
brethren  in  Delhi  on  the  coming  morn, 
who,  less  happy  than  ourselves,  had  no 
faithful  and  friendly  European  battalions 
to  shield  them  from  the  bloodthirsty  rage 
of  the  sepoys."t 

Up  till  a  late  hour  on  Monday,  the  mass 
of  the  Delhi  sepoys  remained  ostensibly 
true  to  their  salt.  On  the  departure  of  the 
54th  from  the  cantonment,  the  74th  moved 
on  to  the  artillery  parade,  where  Captain  de 
Teissier  was  posted  with  a  portion  of  his 
battery :  the  38th  were  marched  towards 
the  Flagstaff  tower,  and  formed  in  line  along 
the  high  road.  When  Major  Paterson  took 
up  his  position  at  the  Mainguard,  he  directed 
Captain  Wallace  to  proceed  to  cantonments 
to  bring  down  the  74th  Native  infantry, 
with  two  more  guns. 

Major  Abbott,  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  74th,  had  previously  heard  that  the 
men  of  the  54th  had  refused  to  act,  and 
that  their  officers  were  being  murdered. 
The  intelligence  reached  him  about  eleven 
o'clock.  He  says — "  I  instantly  rode  off  to 
the  lines  of  my  regiment,  and  got  as  many 
as  there  were  in  the  lines  together.  I  fully 
explained  to  them  that  it  was  a  time  to 
show  themselves  honest ;  and  that  as  I  in- 
tended to  go  down  to  the  Cashmere  gate  of 
the  city,  I  required  good,  honest  men  to 
follow  me,  and  called  for  volunteers.  Every 
man  present  stepped  to  the  front,  and  being 
ordered  to  load,  they  obeyed  promptly,  and 
marched  down  in  a  spirited  manner.  On 
arriving  at  the  Cashmere  gate,  we  took 
possession  of  the  post,  drawn  up  in  readi- 
ness to  receive  any  attack  that  might  be 
made.  Up  to  3  p.m.  no  enemy  appeared, 
nor  could  we,  during  that  period,  get  any 
information  of  the  insurgents."! 

The  Meerut  mutineers  actually  in  Delhi 
at  this  time,  were  evidently  but  few :  it  is 

X  Despatch  from  Major  Abbott  to  government; 
dated  "Meerut,  May  13th,  1857."— Further  Par- 
liamentary Papers  on  the  Mutiny,  No.  3  (Commons,) 
1858)  p.  10. 


162 


DELHI  ARSENAL  FIRED  BY  LIEUT.  WILLOUGHBY— 3  p.m. 


impossible  to  tell  in  what  numbers,  or  to 
what  extent,  the  38th  and  54th  had  as  yet 
co-operated  with  them ;  but  the  dregs  of  the 
population  of  the  city,  suburbs,  and  villages, 
were  thronging  the  streets,  and  especially 
around    the    magazine,    the    surrender    of 
which  was   demanded   by  a   party  of  the 
treacherous  palace  guards  (the  38th),  in  the 
name   of  the  king.     No  reply  was  given, 
whereupon  the  mutineers  brought  scaling- 
ladders  from  the  palace,  and  placed  them 
against   the   walls.      The    conduct   of   the 
native  establishment  had  before  this  been 
suspicious;  and  a  durwan,   or  doorkeeper, 
named   Kurreem    Buksh,   appeared  to   be 
keeping    up    a    communication   with    the 
enemy,  greatly  to  the  annoyance  of  Lieu- 
tenant Willoughby,  who  ordered  Lieutenant 
Forrest  to  shoot  him  should  he  again  ap- 
proach the  gate.     The  escalade  from  with- 
out was  the  signal  for  a  similar  movement 
from  within ;    for  the  natives,  having  first 
hidden  the  priming-pouches,  deserted    the 
Europeans  by  climbing  up  the  sloped  sheds 
on  the  inside  of  the  magazine,  and  descend- 
ing the  ladders  on  the  outside.'    The  insur- 
gents then  gathered  in  crowds  on  the  walls; 
but  the  besieged  kept  up  an  incessant  fire 
of  grape,  which  told  well  as  long  as  a  single 
round   remained.      At    length.    Conductor 
Buckley — who  had  been  loading  and  firing 
with  the  same  steadiness  as  if  on  parade, 
although  the  enemy  were  then  some  hun- 
dreds in  number,  and  kept  up  a  continual 
fire  of  musketry  on  the  Europeans  within 
forty  or  fifty  yards — received  a  ball  in  his 
arm;    and    Lieutenant   Forrest,    who    had 
been  assisting  him,  was  at  the  same  time 
struck  by  two  balls  in  the  left  hand.     Fur 
ther  defence  was   hopeless.     The  idea  of 
betraying  their  trust  by  capitulation  never 
seems  to  have  been  entertained  by  the  gal- 
lant  little    baud.      Conductor    Scully   had 
volunteered   to   fire   the   trains  which  had 
been  laid  hours  before,  in  readiness  to  blow 
up  the  magazine  as  soon  as  the  last  round 
from  the   howitzers   should   be   expended. 
The    moment    had    arrived.       Lieutenant 
Willoughby    gave   the    order;    Conductor 
Buckley,   according    to   previous   arrange- 
ment,  raised  his  hat  from  his  head,   and 
Conductor  Scully  instantly  fired  the  trains, 
and  perished  in  the  explosion,  as  did  also 
Sergeant  Edwards.     The  other  Europeans, 
though  all  hurt,  escaped  from  beneath  the 
smoking  ruins,  and  retreated  through  the 
sally-port  on  the  river  face.     It  is  probable 
that  many  of  the  leading  mutineers  perished 


here.  "Lieutenant  Willoughby  estimated 
the  number  killed  to  be  little  short  of  1,00C 
men."*  The  Hurdwar  pilgrims  before  re- 
ferred to,  fix  the  same  amount ;  but  a  native 
news-writer,  in  relating  the  same  event,, 
speaks  of  about  500  persons  being  killed  in 
the  difi'erent  streets  ;  adding — "  The  bullets 
fell  in  the  houses  of  people  to  such  a  degree, 
that  some  children  picked  up  two  pounds, 
and  some  four  pounds,  from  the  yards  of 
their  houses."t 

The  Europeans  at  the  tower,  and  those  on 
duty  at  the  Mainguard,  had  listened  to  the 
heavy  firing  at  the  magazine  with  great 
anxiety.  A  little  after  three  o'clock  the 
explosion  was  heard;  but  it  was  not  very  loud, 
and  they  did  not  know  whether  it  was  the 
result  of  accident  or  design.  The  38th 
Native  infantry,  on  guard  at  the  tower, 
seized  their  arms,  crying  out,  "  Deen, 
Deen  !"  The  Europeans  seeing  this  ominous 
movement,  desired  the  sepoys  to  surrender 
their  weapons,  which  they  actually  did,  and 
the  ladies  assisted  in  passing  the  arms  to 
the  top  of  the  tower.  At  four  o'clock,  the 
telegraphic  communication  to  the  north- 
ward being  still  uninterrupted,  the  brigadier 
dispatched  the  following  message  to  Um- 
ballah,  the  second  of  three  sent  here  from 
Delhi  in  the  course  of  the  day : — 

"  Telegram. — Cantonment  in  a  state  of  siege. 
Mutineers  from  Meerut,  3rd  light  cavalry,  numbers 
not  known,  said  to  be  150  men,  cut  off  communica- 
tion with  Meerut ;  taken  possession  of  the  bridge  of 
boats  i  54th  N.  I.  sent  against  them,  but  would  not 
act.  Several  officers  killed  and  wounded.  City  in  a 
state  of  considerable  excitement.  Troops  sent  down, 
but  nothing  certain  yet.  Information  will  be  for- 
warded."t 

The  brigadier,  so  far  from  having  yet  re- 
solved on  evacuating  Delhi,  desired  to  de- 
fend the  cantonments,  and  ordered  Major 
Abbott  to  send  back  two  guns.     The  major's 
reasons  for  not  doing  so,  and  the  narrative  j 
of  his  subsequent  conduct  and  escape  to  \ 
Meerut,   may    be    best    told    in  his   own  ; 
words.     Interesting  particulars,   on  ofiicial  i 
authority,  regarding  this  memorable  epoch,  , 
are  extremely  rare,  and  claim  quotation  in 
extenso,  especially  where,  as  in  the  present 
instance,  the  writer  has  occupied  a  respon- 
sible position  in  the  affairs  he  describes. 

"  This  order  [for  the  return  of  the  guns] 
I  was  on  the  point  of  carrying  out,  when 

*  Major  Abbott's  despatch.  —  Further  Pari. 
Papers  (No.  3),  p.  10. 

t  Lahore  Chronicle :  republished  in  Times,  Sep- 
tember 18th,  1858. 

\  Further  Papers,  No.  3  (Commons),  p.  5.  The 
first  telegram  from  Delhi  is  not  given. 


FLIGHT  OP  EUROPEANS  FROM  DELHI— MAY  11th,.  1857.         163 


I 


Major  Paterson  told  me,  if  I  did  he  would 
abandon  the  post,  and  entreated  me  not  to 
go.  He  was  supported  by  the  civil  officer, 
a  deputy-collector,  who  had  charge  of  the 
treasury,  who  said  he  had  no  confidence  in 
the  54th  men  who  were  on  guard  at  the 
treasury.  Although  I  strongly  objected  to 
this  act  of,  as  it  were,  disobeying  orders,  yet 
as  the  deputy-collector  begged  for  a  delay 
of  only  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  I  acceded  to 
his  request.  When  the  quarter  of  an  hour 
was  up,  I  made  preparations  for  leaving  the 
Mainguard,  and  was  about  to  march  out, 
when  the  two  guns  I  had  sent  back  to  can- 
tonments, under  Second-lieutenant  Aislabie, 
returned  to  the  Mainguard  with  some  men 
of  the  38th  light  infantry.  I  inquired  why 
they  had  come  back,  and  was  told,  in  reply, 
by  the  drivers,  that  the  gunners  had  de- 
serted the  guns,  therefore  they  could  not 
go  on.  I  inquired  if  any  firing  had  taken 
place  in  cantonments.  My  orderly  replied, 
he  had  heard  several  shots  ;  and  said,  '  Sir, 
let  us  go  up  to  cantonments  immediately  !' 
I  then  ordered  the  men  to  form  sections. 
A  jemadar  said,  '  Never  mind  sections,  pray 
go  on,  sir.'  My  orderly  havildar  then 
called  up,  and  said,  'Pray,  sir,  for  God's 
sake  leave  this  place — pray  be  quick !'  I 
thought  this  referred  to  going  up  to  the 
relief  of  cantonments,  and  accordingly  gave 
the  order  to  march.  I  had  scarcely  got  a 
hundred  paces  beyond  the  gate,  when  I 
heard  a  brisk  firing  in  the  Mainguard.  I 
said,  'What  is  that?'  Some  of  the  men 
replied,  '  The  38th  men  are  shooting  the 
European  ofiBcers.'  I  then  ordered  the  men 
with  me,  about  a  hundred,  to  return  to 
their  assistance.  The  men  said,  '  Sir,  it  is 
useless;  they  are  all  killed  by  this  time, 
and  we  shall  not  save  any  one.  We  have 
saved  you,  and  we  shall  not  allow  you  to  go 
back  and  be  murdered.'  The  men  formed 
round  me,  and  hurried  me  along  the  road 
on  foot  back  to  cantonments  to  our  quarter- 
guard.  I  waited  here  for  some  time,  and 
sent  up  to  the  saluting  [Flagstaff]  tower 
to  make  inquiries  as  to  what  was  going  on, 
and  where  the  brigadier  was ;  but  got  no 
reply." 

To  supply  the  hiatus  in  Major  Abbott's 
story,  as  to  what  was  going  on  at  the  tower, 
we  must  fall  back  on  the  statements  of 
private  persons. 

At  about  five  o'clock,  a  cart,  drawn  by 
bullocks,  was  seen  approaching  the  building. 
An  attempt  had  been  made  to  hide  its  con- 
tents   by   throwing   one    or   two   woman's 


gowns  over  them ;  but  an  arm  hanging  stiff 
and  cold  over  the  side  of  the  cart,  betrayed 
its  use  as  the  hearse  of  the  officers  who  had 
been  shot  in  the  city.  Happily,  the  ladies 
in  the  tower  had  little  time,  amid  the 
momentarily  increasing  confusion,  to  dwell 
on  this  painful  incident.  One  poor  girl 
was  anxiously  enquiring  of  the  officers  who 
were  now  flocking  in  from  various  parts,  if 
they  knew  anything  of  her  step-brother. 
Captain  Burrowes;  but  they  shrank  from 
her,  knowing  that  all  the  while  his  corpse 
lay  but  a  few  hundred  yards  distant,  at  the 
gate  under  the  window  of  the  tower,  covered 
over,  like  the  bodies  of  his  fallen  comrades, 
with  some  article  of  feminine  apparel.  The 
men  of  Captain  de  Teissier's  horse  field  bat- 
tery were  at  length  "  persuaded  to  take  part 
with  the  mutineers,  but  only  when  pressed 
round  by  them  in  overwhelming  numbers, 
and  unable  to  extricate  themselves  from  their 
power."*  The  commandant  had  his  horse 
shot  under  him ;  but  he  reached  the  tower 
in  safety,  and  there  found  his  wife,  with  her 
infant  in  her  arms,  watching  in  agony  for 
him.  The  insurgents  then  took  possession 
of  two  of  the  light  guns.  Major  Paterson, 
and  Ensign  Elton  of  the  74th,  came  in  about 
the  same  time  from  the  quarter-guard,  and 
said  that  the  Europeans  were  being  shot 
down.  On  receiving  this  intelligence,  the 
brigadierf  ordered  a  general  retreat  to  Kur- 
naul,  a  distance  of  about  seventy  miles. 
Several  ladies  protested  against  quitting 
Delhi  until  they  should  be  rejoined  by  their 
husbands,  whom  some  of  them  had  not 
seen  since  the  morning.  Alas !  there  was 
already  at  least  one  widow  among  their 
number.}  But  the  night  was  closing  in, 
and  Captain  Tytler,  of  the  38th,  urged  im- 
mediate departure,  and  went  with  Lieu- 
tenant Peile  to  get  the  men  of  that  regi- 
ment together  to  accompany  the  Europeans. 
Carriages  of  all  descriptions  were  in  waiting 
at  the  foot  of  the  tower;  but,  in  some 
cases,  the  native  servants  had  proved  fear- 
ful or  unfaithful;  and  the  vehicles  were 
insufficient  for  the  fugitives,  so  that  wounded 
men  found  themselves  burdened  with  the 
charge  of  women  and  children,  with- 
out any  means  of  conveyance.  Lieu- 
tenant Peile,  having  Dr.  Wood  of  the  38th 
(who  had  been  shot  in  the  face),  Mrs.  Wood, 

*  Despatch  from  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin,  to 
the  governor-general  in  council,  May  22nd,  1857. — 
Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  312. 

t  Account  by  Lieut.  Gambler,  of  the  38th  N.  I. 

I  Accountby  Mrs.  Peile.— TiOTes,  Sept.  25th,  1857. 


164 


EVACUATION  OF  FLAGSTAFF  TOWER— 6  p.m. 


and  his  own  wife  and  child  to  take  care  of, 
and  "  not  knowing  how  he  was  to  get  on," 
sought  counsel  of  the  brigade-major,  Cap- 
tain Nicoll :  the  answer  he  received  was, 
"The  best  way  you  can."* 

Another  ladyf  describes  the  general  de- 
parture from  the  tower  as  taking  place 
at  about  six  o'clock ;  and  states — "  We  got 
into  Captain  Nicoll's  carriage  [apparently 
meaning  herself,  her  husband  and  child], 
and  put  in  as  many  others  as  we  could,  and 
drove  one  pair  of  horses  for  fifty  miles." 
A  large  number  of  Europeans,  including 
Brigadier  Graves,  started  at  the  same 
time,  and  some  branched  off  to  Meerut; 
while  the  others  pursued  the  Kurnaul  road, 
and  arrived  safely  at  Kurnaul  on  the  follow- 
ing morning.  Here  a  fresh  separation  took 
place,  half  the  party,  or  about  ten  persons, 
going  on  to  Umballah  at  once,  the  remain- 
ing ten  following  more  slowly.  The  natives 
were  "  so  unwilling"  to  assist  them,  "  that," 
says  the  lady  above  quoted,  "  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  we  managed  to  get  on  at 

all;  L [her  husband]  being  obliged  to 

-threaten  to  shoot  any  one  who  refused  to 
give  us  assistance."  However,  they  did  get 
on,  and  started  from  Thunessir,  a  dawk 
station  on  the  Umballah  road,  at  six  o'clock 
P.M.  on  Wednesday,  "in  a  cart  drawn  by 
coolies^'  reaching  Umballah  about  eight 
o'clock  on  Thursday  morning,  f 

It  would  be  unreasonable  to  criticise  the 
measures  of  a  man  who  saw  the  lives  of  his 
wife  and  infant  in  imminent  peril.  Only 
had  the  villagers  been  either  cruel  or  vin- 
dictive, a  few  bullets  or  lattees  would  have 
quickly  changed  the  aspect  of  affairs.  The 
disinclination  of  the  villagers  to  aid  the 
Europeans,  may  possibly  have  some  connec- 
tion with  the  manner  in  which  the  English 
liad  recently  assumed  supremacy  over  the 
district  of  which  Thunessir,  or  Thwanessur, 
is  the  chief  town.  That  territory  contains 
about  a  hundred  villages,  producing  an  an- 
nual revenue  of  j87,600  sterling  A  moiety 
is  said  to  have  "  escheated  to  the  British 
government,  by  reason  of  the  failure  of 
heirs  in  1833  and  in  1851,"  and  the  remain- 
ing portions  were  soon  afterwards  confis- 
cated, "  in  consequence  of  the  failure  of  the 
chiefs  in  their  allegiance."§ 

Very  few  of  the  fugitives  had  the  chance 

•  Account  by  Mrs.  Peile. — Times,  September  25th, 
1857. 

t  Probably  the  wife  of  one  of  the  law  officers, 
Mr.  L.  Berkeley,  the  principal  Sudder  Ameen,  who 
escaped  to  Kurnaul  with  his  wife  and  infant.     The 


of  carrying  matters  with  such  a  high  hand 
as  "  L."  and  his  companions.  So  far  from 
harnessing  the  natives  to  carts.  Englishmen 
and  Englishwomen,  cold,  naked,  and  hungry, 
were  then  in  different  villages,  beseeching,- 
even  on  their  knees,  for  food,  clothing,  and 
shelter;  literally  begging — for  they  were 
penniless — a  morsel  of  unleavened  bread  and 
a  drop  of  water  for  their  children,  or  a 
refuge  from  the  night-dews,  and  the  far 
more  dreaded  mutineers.  The  varied  ad- 
ventures of  the  scattered  Europeans  are 
deeply  interesting  and  suggestive.  Many 
an  individual  gained  more  experience  of 
native  character  between  Delhi  and  their 
haven  of  refuge  in  Umballah  or  Meerut,  in 
that  third  week  of  May,  1857,  than  they 
would  have  obtained  in  a  lifetime  spent  in 
the  ordinary  routine  of  Indian  life,  than 
which  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive  any- 
thing more  superficial  and  conventional,  or 
better  calculated  to  foster  arrogance  and 
self-indulgence. 

The  next  in  order  of  flight  to  the  brigade- 
major's  party  was  Major  Abbott,  to  whose 
narrative  we  return,  as  affording  another 
link  in  the  chain  of  events.  After  vainly 
attempting  to  get  any  orders  from  Brigadier 
Graves,  his  attention  was  directed  to  some 
carriages  going  up  the  Kurnaul  road,  among 
which  he  recognised  his  own,  occupied  by 
his  wife  and  daughters.  The  men  of 
his  regiment,  at  the  quarter-guard,  assured 
him  that  the  officers  and  their  families 
were  leaving  the  cantonment,  and  entreated 
him  to  do  the  same.  The  major  states — 
"  I  yielded  to  their  wishes,  and  told  them, 
'  Very  well,  I  am  off  to  Meerut.  Bring  the 
colours,  and  let  me  see  as  many  of  you 
at  Meerut  as  are  not  inclined  to  become 
traitors.'  I  then  got  up  behind  Captain 
Hawkey,  on  his  horse,  and  rode  to  the 
guns,  which  were  also  proceeding  in  the 
direction  the  carriages  had  taken,  and  so 
rode  on  one  of  the  waggons  for  about  four 
miles,  when  the  drivers  refused  to  go  any 
further,  because,  they  said,  '  we  have  left  our 
families  behind,  and  there  are  no  artillery- 
meu  to  serve  the  guns.'  They  then  turned 
their  horses,  and  went  back  towards  canton- 
ments. I  was  picked  up  by  Captain  Wallace, 
who  also  took  Ensign  Elton  with  him  in  the 
buggy. 

identification  is  of  some  interest,  on  account  of  an 
incident  mentioned  in  the  text. 

X  Letter  published  in  the  Times,  July  17th,  1857. 

§  Thornton's  Gazetteer,  on  the  authority  of  Indian 
Pol.  Disp.,  2yth  July,  1835;  and  10th  Sept.,  1851. 


ESCAPE  OP  MAJOR  ABBOTT  FROM  DELHI  TO  MEERUT.        165 


"  Ensign  Elton  informed  me,  that  he  and 
the  rest  of  the  officers  of  the  74th  Na- 
tive infantry  were  on  the  point  of  going 
to  march  out  with  a  detachment,  when 
he  heard  a  shot,  and,  on  looking  round, 
saw  Captain  Gordon  down  dead ;  a  second 
shot,  almost  simultaneously,  laid  Lieutenant 
Revely  low;  he  (Elton)  then  resolved  to  do 
something  to  save  himself;  and,  making  for 
the  bastion  of  the  fort,  jumped  over  the 
parapet  down  into  the  ditch,  ran  up  to  the 
counterscarp,  and  made  across  the  country 
to  our  lines,  where  he  was  received  by  our 
men,  and  there  took  the  direction  the 
rest  had,  mounted  on  a  gun."  The 
party  with  Major  Abbott  went  up  the 
Kuruaul  road,  until  they  came  to  the  cross- 
road leading  to  Meerut,  via  the  Bhagput 
Ghaut,  which  they  took,  and  arrived  at 
Meerut  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening 
of  the  12th.* 

Regarding  the  origin  of  the  outbreak, 
Major  Abbott  says — 

"  From  all  I  could  glean,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
doubt  that  this  insurrection  has  been  originated  and 
matured  in  the  palace  of  the  King  of  Delhi,  and  that 
with  his  full  knowledge  and  sanction,  in  the  mad 
attempt  to  establish  himself  in  the  sovereignty  of 
this  country.  It  is  well  known  that  he  has  called 
on  the  neighbouring  states  to  co-operate  with  him 
in  thus  trying  to  subvert  the  existing  government. 
The  method  he  adopted  appears  to  be  to  gain  the 
sympathy  of  the  38th  light  infantry,  by  spreading 
the  lying  reports  now  going  through  the  country,  of 
the  government  having  it  in  contemplation  to  upset 
their  religion,  and  have  them  all  forcibly  inducted  to 
Christianity. 

"  The  38th  light  infantry,  by  insidious  and  false 
arguments,  quietly  gained  over  the  54th  and  74th 
Native  infantry,  each  being  unacquainted  with  the 
other's  real  sentiments.  I  am  perfectly  persuaded 
that  the  54th  and  74th  Native  infantry  were  forced 
to  join  the  combination  by  threats  that,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  38th  and  54th  would  annihilate  the  74th 
Native  infantry  if  they  refused,  and  vice  versa,  the 
38th  taking  the  lead.  I  am  almost  convinced  that 
had  the  38th  Native  infantry  men  not  been  on  guard 
at  the  Cashmere  gate,  the  results  would  have  been 
different.  The  men  of  the  74th  Native  infantry 
would  have  shot  every  man  who  had  the  temerity  to 
assail  the  post. 

"  The  post-office,  electric  telegraph,  Delhi  bank, 
the  Delhi  Gazette  press,  every  house  in  cantonments 
and  the  lines,  have  been  destroyed.  Those  who  es- 
caped the  massacre  fled  with  only  what  they  had  on 
their  backs,  unprovided  with  any  provisions  for  the 
road,  or  money  to  purchase  food.  Every  officer  has 
lost  all  he  possessed,  and  not  one  of  us  has  even 
a  change  of  clothes." 

*  Despatch  dated  May  13th,  1857.— Further 
Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutinv  (No,  3),  p.  10. 

t  In  the  letter  from  which  the  above  facts  are 
taken,  the  writer  says,  "  young  Metcalfe  had  fled  in 
the  morning."  This  is  a  mistake,  for  he  was  still 
in  Delhi,  as  will  be  shown  in  a  subsequent  page. 


Major  Abbott's  opinion  of  the  conduct  of 
the  King  of  Delhi,  does  not  appear  justified 
by  any  evidence  yet  published;  and  his 
censure  of  the  38th  hardly  accords  with  the 
fact,  that  not  one  of  the  officers  of  that 
corps  were  killed. 

Lieutenant  Gambler,  writing  from  Mee- 
rut on  the  29th  of  May,  says — 

"  Meer  Mundoor  All,  and  Sahye  Sing  [Native  offi- 
cers from  Delhi],  who  came  over  for  court-martial 
on  the  mutineers,  declare  that  nothing  of  this  out- 
break was  known  before  it  occurred,  and  that  if  we 
two  [himself  and  Colonel  Knyvett]  went  to  Delhi, 
the  men  would  flock  to  us.  I  also  believe  our  lives 
would  be  safe  among  the  38th,  but  the  rascals  would 
not  stand  by  us ;  and  I  make  no  doubt  that  the 
garrison  duty  men,  influenced  by  the  example  of 
the  54th,  would  have  committed  any  excess." 

The  fugitives  who  escaped  in  carriages  or 
carts,  whether  dragged  by  natives  or  quad- 
rupeds, had  probably  little  conception  of 
the  sufferings  endured  by  the  footsore  and 
weary  wanderers  who  had  no  such  help  on 
their  perilous  journey.  When  the  sepoys 
at  the  Mainguard  turned  against  their 
officers,  the  latter  strove  to  escape  as  Ensign 
Elton  describes  himself  to  have  done, 
but  were  interrupted  by  the  screams  of 
some  ladies  in  the  officers'  quarters.  The 
Europeans  ran  back,  and  making  a  rope 
with  their  handkerchiefs,  assisted  their  ter- 
rified countrywomen  to  jump  from  the  ram- 
part into  the  ditch,  and  then  with  great 
difficidty,  and  nearly  half-an-hour's  labour, 
succeeded  in  enabling  them  to  scramble  up 
the  opposite  side.  During  the  whole  time 
not  a  shot  was  fired  at  them  by  the  sepoys, 
and  the  party  succeeded  in  making  their 
way  to  a  house  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
belonging  to  Sir  T.  Metcalfe,  where  they  ob- 
tained some  food  from  the  servants,  who 
had  not  seen  their  master  since  the  morn- 
ing.f  Here  they  stayed  until  they  be- 
held the  whole  of  the  three  cantonments  on 
fire,  and  saw  "  a  regular  battle  raging  in 
that  direction  :"J  they  then,  under  cover  of 
nightfall,  ran  to  the  river,  and  made  their 
escape.  The  party  then  consisted  of  five 
officers  and  of  five  ladies — namely.  Lieute- 
nant Forrest,  his  wife,  and  three  daughters; 
Lieutenant  Procter,  of  the  38th ;  Lieutenant 
Vibart,  of  the  54th ;  Lieutenant  Wilson,  of 
the  artillery;  a  Lieutenant  Salkeld,  of  the 
engineers ;  and  Mrs.  Eraser,  the  wife  of  an 

X  This  fact  shows  how  far  the  sepoys  were  from 
acting  on  any  plan,  much  less  having  any  recog- 
nised leader ;  in  which  case,  burning  the  canton- 
ments and  flghting  among  themselves,  after  getting 
rid  of  their  European  masters,  would  have  been 
quite  out  of  the  question. 


166 


ESCAPE  OF  COLONEL  KNYVE'fT  AND  LIEUT.  GAMBIER. 


officer  of  the  engineers,  then  absent  on 
duty.*  This  poor  lady,  though  shot  through 
the  shoulder  at  the  time  the  Europeans 
were  fired  on  in  the  Mainguard,  bore  up 
cheerfully,  in  the  hope  of  finding  her  hus- 
band at  Meerut.  At  an  early  period  of 
their  journey  the  party  fell  in  with  Major 
Knyvett  and  Lieutenant  Gambler,  to  the 
latter  of  whom  a  peculiar  interest  attaches, 
because,  after  escaping  from  Delhi,  he  re- 
turned thither  with  the  besieging  force,  and 
received  his  death  wound  at  the  hands  of  the 
mutineers.  By  his  account,  corroborated  by 
other  testimony,  it  seems  that  at  the  time  of 
the  evacuation  of  the  Flagstaff  tower,  it  was 
generally  supposed  that  a  considerable  body, 
if  not  the  greater  portion,  of  the  Native 
!  troops  would  accompany  the  fugitives  to 
Meerut.  They  actually  started  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  but  Lieutenant  Gambler,  who  was  in 
the  rear,  says  the  sepoys  were  soon  seen 
streaming  off  by  hundreds,  till  at  length 
he  and  Colonel  Knyvett  found  themselves 
alone  with  the  colours  of  the  38th  and 
about  150  men,  who  refused  to  proceed 
further,  and,  laying  hold  of  the  non-commis- 
sioned officers  with  the  colours,  went  to 
their  lines.  The  two  Europeans  followed 
them,  sounded  the  "assembly,"  and  implored 
them  to  fall  in,  but  without  effect ;  and  the 
colonel,  too  grieved  by  the  defection  of  his 
regiment  to  be  heedful  of  personal  danger, 
went  in  amongst  them,  and  said,  "If  you 
wish  to  shoot  me,  here  I  am ;  you  had  better 
do  it."  The  men  vehemently  denied  any 
such  intention,  and  then  the  two  officers 
dismounted,  not  knowing  what  they  ought 
to  do.  Lieutenant  Gambler,  who  tells  their 
adventures  with  the  simplicity  which  cha- 
racterises the  highest  class  of  bravery,  adds 
— "  I  do  not  know  whether  we  fully  recog- 
nised the  extent  of  the  evil,  but  we  then 
did  not  think  of  getting  away.  I  had  my 
bed  sent  down  to  the  quarter-guard ;  and 
my  kit  [kitmutgar]  went  for  some  dinner." 
Wearied  with  fatigue  and  excitement  he 
fell  asleep,  and  it  was  night  before  he 
awoke.  On  looking  round,  he  saw  Lieute- 
nants Peile  and  Addington  {74th),  and 
Mr.  McWhirter,  collector  of  Paniput  (who 
was  in  ill-health,  and  had  come  on  a  visit 
to  Delhi),  with  Mr.  Marshall,  an  auctioneer 
and  merchant,  standing  near  him.  The 
sepoys  urgently  pressed  the  officers  to 
escape,  offering  shelter  and  concealment  in 
their  huts.     Firing  was  now  commencing  in 

•  Letter  of  officer  of  54th  (probably  Lieutenant 
Vibart).— TVnies,  July  23rd,  1857. 


the  lines,  and  Peile  and  Gambler,  each 
taking  a  colour,  reached  the  door  of  the 
quarter-guard;  but  the  sepoys  thronged 
round  and  jerked  the  colours  from  the 
hands  of  the  officers.  Lieutenant  Gam- 
bier,  meeting  Colonel  Knyvett  in  the 
doorway,  said,  "We  must  be  off."  The 
colonel  objected ;  but  the  lieutenant  took 
him  by  the  wrist,  pulled  him  outside,  and 
forced  him  away  from  the  doomed  regiment ; 
on  which  the  colonel  looked  back  with  some- 
thing of  the  bitter  yearning  with  which  a 
sea-captain  qtuts  the  sinking  ship  which  has 
been  for  years  his  home,  his  pride,  and  his 
delight,  the  parting  pang  overpowering  the 
sense  of  danger,  even  though  a  frail  boat 
or  a  bare  plank  may  offer  the  sole  chance 
of  escape  from  imminent  personal  peril. 
Neither  the  colonel  nor  his  young  com- 
panion had  any  ladies  to  protect,  other- 
wise the  feelings  of  husbands  and  fathers 
might  naturally  have  neutralised  the  in- 
tense mortification  and  reluctance  with 
which  they  turned  their  backs  on  Delhi. 
But  though  Mrs.  Knyvett  was  safe  at  a  dis- 
tance, and  the  lieutenant  was  unmarried, 
yet  the  latter  had  his  colonel  to  support 
and  save.  "We  hurried  on,"  he  writes, 
"  tripping  and  stumbling,  till  we  reached  a 
tree,  under  which  we  fell  down  exhausted. 
I  feared  I  should  get  the  colonel  no  further ; 
he  had  touched  nothing  all  day,  and  the 
sun  had  more  or  less  affected  him ;  but  to 
remain  was  death ;  and  after  a  few  minutes' 
rest,  we  again  started  forward.  So  we  passed 
all  that  dreadful  night.  The  moon  rose,  and 
the  blaze  of  cantonments  on  fire  made  it 
light  as  day,  bringing  out  the  colonel's  scales 
and  my  scabbard  and  white  clothing  in  most 
disadvantageous  relief :  as  we  lay,  the  colonel 
used  to  spread  his  blue  pocket-handkerchief 
over  my  jacket,  in  order  to  conceal  it  as 
much  as  possible."  The  elder  officer  was 
unarmed  and  bareheaded ;  he  was,  besides, 
subject  to  the  gout,  an  attack  of  which  the 
distress  of  mind  and  bodily  fatigue  he  was 
undergoing  were  well  calculated  to  bring 
on.  In  the  morning,  some  Brahmins 
coming  to  their  work  discovered  the  fugi- 
tives hiding  in  the  long  jungle  grass,  and 
after  giving  them  some  chupatties  and 
milk,  led  them  to  a  ford  over  a  branch  of 
the  Jumna.  They  met  on  the  road  Mr. 
Marshall,  with  whom  they  had  parted  in 
the  quarter-guard :  he  had  wandered  on 
alone ;  Mr.  McWhirter  having  been,  he 
believed,  drowned  in  attempting  to  cross 
the  canal  cut  at  the  back  of  the  canton- 


ESCAPE  OF  THE  DELHI  FUGITIVES. 


167 


rnents.*  Soon  afterwards  the  trio  learned 
from  a  villager  that  there  were  other  Euro- 
peans about  a  mile  further  on  in  the  jungle. 
On  proceeding  thither,  they  came  up  with 
and  joined  Lieutenant  Forrest's  party, 
which  raised  their  number  to  thirteen.  The 
fording  of  the  Jumna  on  the  second  night 
of  their  toilsome  march,  was  the  greatest 
obstacle  they  had  to  encounter.  "The 
water  was  so  deep,  that  whereas  a  tall  man 
might  just  wade  it,  a  short  man  must  be 
drowned."  The  ladies,  however,  got  over, 
supported  by  a  native  on  one  side,  and  a 
European  on  the  other.  Some  of  them  lost 
their  shoes  in  the  river,  and  had  to  proceed 
barefoot  over  "  a  country  composed  exclu- 
sively of  stubble-fields,  thistles,  and  a  low 
thorny  bush."  The  treatment  they  met  with 
was  very  varied :  at  one  village  they  were 
given  food,  and  suffered  to  rest  awhile;  then 
they  were  wilfully  misled  by  their  guides, 
because  they  had  no  means  of  paying  them ; 
and  had  nearly  recrossed  the  Jumna  in 
mistake  for  the  Hindun,  but  were  pre- 
vented by  the  presence  of  mind  of  Lieu- 
tenant Salkeld,  in  ascertaining  the  course 
of  the  stream  by  throwing  some  weeds  into 
it.  It  was  intensely  cold  on  the  river 
bank,  and  the  wind  seemed  to  pierce 
through  the  wet  clothes  of  the  fugitives 
into  their  very  bones.  They  laid  down 
side  by  side  for  a  short  time,  silent,  except 
for  the  noise  of  their  chattering  teeth ; 
and  then,  after  an  hour  or  two's  pause 
(for  rest  it  could  hardly  be  called),  they 
resumed  their  weary  journey.  Next  they 
encountered  a  party  of  Goojurs,  who  plun- 
dered and  well-nigh  stripped  them;  after 
which  they  fell  in  with  some  humane 
Brahmins,  who  brought  them  to  a  village 
called  Bhekia  or  Khekra,t  gave  them  char- 
poys  to  rest  on,  and  chupatties  and  dholl  (len- 
til pottage)  to  eat.  Crowds  gathered  round 
the  wanderers,  "  gaping  in  wonderment,  and 
cracking  coarse  jokes"  at  their  condition  and 
chance  of  life.  But  the  villagers,  though 
rough  and  boorish  in  manner,  were  kind  in 
act,  until  "a  horrid  hag"  suddenly  made  her 
way  to  the  Europeans,  and  flinging  up  her 
skinny  arras,  invoked  the  most  fearful  curses 
on  them,  tilted  up  their  charpoys  one  by  one, 

•  Second  Supplement  to  the  London  Gazette, 
May  6th,  1858;  p.  2241.' 

t  In  the  copies  of  this  letter  printed  for  private 
circulation,  from  one  of  which  the  above  statements 
are  taken,  the  name  of  the  village  is  given  as 
Khekra ;  in  the  abstract  .published  in  the  Times, 
August  eth,  1857,  it  is  Bhekia. 

$  The  faithful  remnant  of  the  3rd  did  not,  how- 


and  drove  them  away.  A  fakir  proved  more 
compassionate,  and  hid  them  in  his  dwell- 
ing; and  here  their  number,  though  not  their 
strength,  was  increased  by  two  sergeants' 
wives  and  their  babes.  One  of  the  latter 
was  a  cause  of  serious  inconvenience  and  even 
danger;  for  at  a  time  when  the  general  safety 
depended  on  concealment,  the  poor  child 
was  incessantly  on  the  point  of  compromis- 
ing them,  for  it  "  roared  all  day,  and  howled 
all  night."  On  the  Thursday  after  leaving 
Delhi,  a  native  volunteered  to  carry  a  letter 
to  Meerut,  and  one  (written  in  French)  was 
accordingly  entrusted  to  him.  All  Satur- 
day they  spent  "  grilling  under  some  apolo- 
gies for  trees ;"  but  towards  evening  a  mes- 
sage arrived  from  a  village  named  "Hur- 
chundpoor,"  that  one  Francis  Cohen,  a 
European  zemindar,  would  gladly  receive 
and  shelter  them.  With  some  difficulty 
they  procured  a  hackery  for  the  ladies,  who 
were  by  this  time  completely  crippled,  and, 
escorted  by  about  a  dozen  villagers,  reached 
Hurchundpoor  in  safety,  where  they  re- 
ceived the  welcome  greeting  of  "  How  d'ye 
do  ? — go  inside — sit  down."  The  speaker, 
Francis  Cohen,  though  very  like  a  native  in 
appearance  and  habits,  was  a  German,  about 
eighty-five  years  of  age,  who  had  formerly 
served  under  the  Begum  Sumroo.  He 
placed  the  upper  story  of  his  dwelling  at 
the  disposal  of  the  fugitives,  sent  skirts  and 
petticoats  for  the  ladies,  with  pieces  of  stuflF 
to  cut  into  more,  and  provided  the  officers 
with  various  kinds  of  native  attire ;  and  once 
again  they  "  ate  off  plates  and  sat  on  chairs." 
On  Sunday,  at  sunset,  while  they  were  en- 
joying rest,  after  such  a  week's  work  as  none 
of  them  had  ever  dreamed  of  enduring,  the 
news  came  that  a  party  of  sowars  (Native 
cavaky)  were  at  the  gate,  sent  by  the  King  of 
Delhi  to  conduct  the  Europeans  as  prisoners 
to  "the  presence."  The  officers  sprang 
up,  and  were  hastily  resuming  the  portions 
of  their  uniform  which  they  still  possessed, 
when  two  Europeans  rode  into  the  courtyard, 
announcing  themselves  as  the  leaders  of 
thirty  troopers  from  Meerut,  come  in  answer 
to  the  letter  sent  thither  by  a  native  mes- 
senger. 

Of  course,  troopers  of  the  3rd  cavalryj 

ever,  include  Captain  Craigie's  entire  troop.  On  his 
return  to  the  parade-ground  with  his  men,  he  found, 
as  has  been  stated.  Brevet-major  Richardson  with 
part  of  his  troop,  and  Captain  and  Lieutenant 
Fairlie  (brothers),  with  the  remains  of  the  5th  and 
6th.  Some  hurried  conversation  ensued  between 
the  officers,  which  was  interrupted  by  their  being 
fired  at.    The  mob  of  mutineers  from  the  infantry 


168 


KINDNESS  OF  RANEE  OF  BALGHUR. 


were  the  last  persons  looked  to  for  deliver- 
ance :  nevertheless,  Lieutenant  Gambler 
adds — "These  fine  fellows  had  ridden  all 
day,  first  to  Bhekia,  and  afterwards  to  Hur- 
chundpoor,  near  forty  miles,  to  our  assis- 
tance." Under  this  escort,  Colonel  Knyvett 
and  his  companions  succeeded  in  reaching 
Meerut  at  about  10  p.m. — the  eighth  night 
after  leaving  Delhi.  The  first  question  of 
Mrs.  Fraser  was  for  her  husband.  An 
oflScer,  not  knowing  her,  immediately  com- 
municated the  fact  of  his  death,  the  manner 
of  which  will  be  hereafter  shown.  The  rest 
of  the  party  were  more  fortunate,  many 
friends  coming  in  by  degrees,  who  had  been 
given  up  for  lost. 

All  the  ofiicers  of  the  38th  escaped; 
Lieutenant  Peile  and  his  wife  encountered 
extreme  peril,  aggravated  for  a  time  by 
separation  from  each  other,  as  well  as  from 
their  child.  The  carriages  had  nearly  all 
driven  off  froni  the  Flagstaff  tower,  when 
a  gentleman,  seeing  that  Mrs.  Peile  had 
no  conveyance,  offered  her  a  seat  in  his. 
She  accepted  his  offer  for  her  little  boy, 
who  reached  Meerut  some  days  before 
his  parents,  and  while  they  were  supposed 
to  have  perished.  Then  Mrs.  Peile  joined 
Dr.  Wood  and  his  wife.  The  doctor  had 
been  shot  in  the  face,  as  is  supposed  by  the 
men  of  his  own  regiment  (the  38th),  and 
his  lower  jaw  was  broken.  The  ladies  with 
him  were  the  last  to  leave  Delhi ;  and  they 
had  scarcely  started,  when  some  natives 
came  to  them,  and  advised  their  turning 
back,  declaring  that  the  oflScers  and  others 
who  had  preceded  them  on  the  Kurnaul 
road  had  all  been  murdered.  They  re- 
turned accordingly  to  Delhi,  and  took  re- 
fuge in  the  Company's  gardens,  where  they 
found  a  gunner,  who  went  to  the  hospital, 
at  their  request,  to  fetch  a  native  doctor. 
Other  natives  brought  a  charpoy  for  the 

lines  were  seen  advancing,  and  the  officers  agreed 
to  start  with  the  standards  for  the  European  lines. 
Captain  Craigie  states,  that  owing  to  the  deafening 
uproar,  the  intense  excitement,  and  the  bewildering 
confusion  which  prevailed,  the  advance  sounded  on 
the  trumpet  wag  scarcely  audible,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  still  faithful  troopers  did  not  hear  it,  and 
were  consequently  left  behind.  A  few  men  who 
were  nearest  the  officers  went  with  them  to  the 
European  lines;  and  these,  with  some  married 
troopers  who  had  gone  to  place  their  wives  in 
safety,  with  between  twenty  and  thirty  men  of 
different  troops  who  rallied  round  Captain  Craigie, 
and  assisted  in  defending  his  house  and  escortmg 
him  to  the  European  lines,  formed  the  remnant 
of  the  3rd  cavalry,  which,  with  few  exceptions,  re- 
mained staunch  during  the  mutiny,  doing  good  ser- 


wounded  European  to  lie  on  ;  and  in  about 
an  hour  a  coolie  arrived  with  some  lint 
and  bandages  from  the  hospital,  accom- 
panied by  a  message  from  the  native  doc- 
tors, that  they  would  gladly  have  come,  but 
that  they  were  then  starting  in  dhoolies  by 
command  of  the  King  of  Delhi,  to  attend 
on  his  wounded  troops.  A  band  of  ma- 
rauders discovered  the  trembling  women 
and  their  helpless  companion;  carried  off 
their  horses,  and  broke  up  their  carriages. 
Not  daring  to  remain  where  they  were,  they 
started  at  midnight  in  search  of  a  village 
near  the  artillery  lines,  where  they  were  fed 
and  concealed  by  the  head  man  of  the 
village — an  aged  Hindoo,  who  turned  the 
cattle  out  of  a  cow-shed  to  make  room  for 
the  distressed  wayfarers.  The  next  morn- 
ing, the  three  started  again  on  their  travels ; 
and  after  receiving  great  kindness  at  several 
villages,  and  narrowly  escaping  death  at 
the  hands  of  marauders,  they  at  length 
reached  a  village  inhabited  by  "the  ranee 
of  Balghur,"  probably  a  Rajpootni  chief- 
tainess,  who  received  them  in  her  house, 
bade  her  servants  cook  rice  and  milk  for 
their  dinner,  and  gave  them  leave  to  remain 
as  long  as  they  pleased.  In  the  morning, 
however,  she  told  them  she  could  not  pro- 
tect them  a  second  night,  for  her  people 
would  rise  against  her.  This  was  on  the 
18th,  and  the  fugitives  were  as  yet  only 
twenty-two  miles  from  Delhi.  Providen- 
tially, on  that  very  day  Major  Paterson  and 
Mr.  Peile  arrived  separately  at  Balghur, 
from  whence  they  all  started  together  that 
evening.  They  met  with  some  remarkable 
instances  of  kindness  on  the  road.  In  one 
case,  "  the  working  men,  seeing  what  diffi- 
culty we  had  in  getting  the  doctor  along, 
volunteered  to  carry  him  from  village  to 
village,  where  they  could  be  relieved  of 
their  burden.     This  was  a  most  kind  offer, 

vice  on  all  occasions.  They,  and  they  only,  of  the 
Meerut  sepoys  were  permitted  to  retain  their  arms ; 
even  the  150  faithful  men  of  the  11th  N.  I.  being 
disbanded,  but  taken  into  service  by  the  magis- 
trates. Major  Smythe  reported  the  state  of  the 
regiment,  3ist  of  May,  1857,  as  follows: — 

Remaining  in  camp  .        .         78 

On  furlough     ....        83 
On  command  ....  9 

Dismissed  the  service      .        .        85 
Invalided         ....  7 

Deserted  ....      236 

Total      .        .      497 
The  infant  child  of  Captain  and  Mrs.  Fraser  wa» 
separated  from  its  parents,  and  perished  from  ex- 
posure on  the  Kurnaul  road. — London  Gazette. 


FLIGHT  FROM  DELHI— MAY,  1857. 


169 


and  was  most  gladly  accepted  by  us."  At 
length,  Mrs.  Peile,  who  had  been  robbed  of 
her  bonnet  and  shawl  at  the  onset  of 
their  flight,  began  to  feel  her  head  afi'ected ; 
but  a  wet  cloth  bound  round  her  temples 
relieved  her,  and  enabled  her  to  prosecute 
the  remainder  of  the  journey,  which  termi- 
nated in  a  very  different  manner  to  its 
commencement;  for  our  staunch  ally,  the 
rajah  of  Putteeala,  on  learning  the  vicinity 
of  Europeans  in  distress,  sent  forty  horse- 
men, well-mounted  and  gaily  dressed,  to 
escort  them  into  Kurnaul,  where  they 
arrived  on  the  20th.  Mrs.  Paterson  and 
her  two  children  had  previously  reached 
Simla  in  safety. 

Surgeon  Batson  likewise,  after  wandering 
twenty-five  days  among  the  topes  (groves  of 
trees)  and  villages,  eventually  succeeded  in 
joining  the  force  before  Delhi.  He  was  an 
excellent  linguist;  but  he  vainly  strove  to 
pass  as  a  Cashmere  fakir.  "  No,  no,"  said 
the  Hindoos,  "  your  blue  eyes  betray  you ; 
you  are  surely  a  Feringhee."  They  were, 
however,  kind  to  him;  but  the  Moham- 
medans would  have  killed  him,  had  he  not 
uttered  "  the  most  profound  praises  in  be- 
half of  their  prophet  Mahomet,"  and  begged 
they  would  spare  his  life,  "  if  they  believed 
that  the  Imaum  Meudhee  would  come 
to  judge  the  world."  The  adjuration  was 
effective,  and  Surgeon  Batson's  term  of  life 
was  extended  a  little,  and  only  a  little, 
longer.  His  wife  and  daughters  were  among 
the  more  fortunate  fugitives.* 

The  adventures  of  Sir  T.  Metcalfe  have  not 
been  circumstantially  related  beyond  that 
after  leaving  Lieutenant  Willoughby,  he  was 
attacked  by  the  rabble;  but  escaped  from 
them,  when  he  concealed  himself  in  the  city ; 
and,  after  remaining  there  for  three  days, 
eventually  succeeded  in  making  his  way  to 
Hansi.  Lieutenant  Willoughby  was  less  for- 
tunate. He  is  supposed  to  have  perished  near 
the  Hiudun  river.  Lieutenant  Gambler 
states — "There  escaped  with  Willoughby, 
Osborne,  B ,  H ,  and  A .  Os- 
borne's wound  necessitated  his  being  left  in 
a  ditch :  he  ultimately  reached  this  place ; 
they  have  not."  From  the  account  given 
by  a  native,  it  is  believed  that  Lieutenant 

•  Surgeon  H.  S.  Batson's  Letter. — Times,  August 
18lh,  1857. 

t  Lieutenant  Gambler's  account.  The  mother  of 
Lieutenant  Willoughby  being  left  a  widow  with  four 
children,  appealed  to  Sir  Charles  Napier,  on  his 
return  to  England  after  the  conquest  of  Sinde,  to 
aid  in  providing  for  her  sons  j  and  he,  though  a  per- 
fect stranger,  interested  himself  in  the  case,  and  ob- 
VOI,.  II.  z 


Willoughby  shot  a  Brahmin,  on  which  the 
villagers  attacked  and  murdered  him.f 

Mr.  Wagentreiber,  of  the  Delhi  Gazette, 
fled  with  his  wife  and  daughter,  in  his 
buggy.  They  were  attacked  five  times. 
Mrs.  Wagentreiber  received  some  severe 
blows  from  iron-bound  lattees;  as  he  did  also, 
besides  a  sword-cut  on  the  arm.  But  the 
ladies  loaded,  and  he  fired  at  their  assail- 
ants with  so  much  efiect,  as  to  kill  four,  and 
wound  two  others;  after  which,  the  fugi- 
tives succeeded  in  making  good  their  way 
to  Kurnaul. J 

Mrs.  Leeson,  the  wife  of  the  deputy-col- 
lector, made  her  escape  from  Delhi  on  the 
morning  of  the  19th,  after  losing  three 
children  in  the  massacre.  §  Two  faithful 
natives  accompanied  and  protected  her ;  one 
of  them  perished  by  the  hands  of  the  muti- 
neers in  attempting  to  pass  the  Ajmere 
gate;  the  other  accompanied  her  in  her 
wanderings,  till  they  reached  the  European 
picket  at  Subzie  Mundie.  The  poor  lady, 
who  had  nothing  but  a  dirty  piece  of  cloth 
round  her  body,  and  another  piece,  folded 
turban-fashion,  on  her  head,  on  finding 
herself  again  in  safety,  knelt  down,  and 
thatiked  heaven  for  her  deliverance.  || 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  tales  of  strife 
and  misery,  it  is  well  that  an  English  offi- 
cial has  placed  on  record  the  following 
statement  of  the  humanity  evinced  by  the 
villagers  generally.  Mr.  Greathed,  the  com- 
missioner, writing  from  Meerut,  in  the 
very  height  of  the  excitement,  states — 
"  All  the  Delhi  fugitives  have  to  tell  of 
some  kind  acts  of  protection  and  rough 
hospitality;  aud  yesterday  a  fakir  came  iu 
with  a  European  child  he  had  picked  up 
on  the  Jumna.  He  had  been  a  good  deal 
mauled  on  the  way,  but  he  made  good 
his  point.  He  refused  any  present,  but 
expressed  a  hope  that  a  well  might  be 
made  in  his  name,  to  commemorate  the  act. 
I  promised  to  attend  to  his  wishes;  and 
Himam  Bhartee,  of  Dhunoura,  will,  I  hope, 
long  live  in  the  memory  of  man.  The 
parents  have  not  been  discovered,  but  there 
are  plenty  of  good  Samaritans." 

The  loyalty  of  the  nawab  of  Kurnaul 
largely    contributed   to   the    safety   of  the 

tained  Addiscombe  cadetships  for  two  of  the  young 
men.  Sir  Charles,  had  he  lived  to  see  the  career  of 
his  proteges,  would  have  been  richly  rewarded  for 
his  disinterested  kindness. —  United  Service  Gazette. 

X  Lieut.  Gambler's  account. — Times,  July  14,  1857. 

§  Second  Supplement  to  the  London  Gazette, 
May  6th,  1808. 

!|  Ball's  Indian  Mutiny,  pp.  100--107. 


170 


THE  SUFFERINGS  AND  DEATH  OF  COLONEL  RIPLEY. 


fugitive  Europeans,  who  chose  the  road  to 
Uniballah  instead  of  to  Meerut.  Mr.  le 
Bas,  the  Delhi  judge,  had  a  very  interesting 
interview  with  this  chief.  There  was  at  the 
time  no  European  force  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Kurnaul,  to  counteract  the  effect  of 
the  unmolested  retreat  of  the  mutineers 
from  the  head-quarters  of  the  British  artil- 
lery at  Meerut,  followed  by  their  unopposed 
occupation  of  Delhi.  Moreover,  European 
women  and  children  were  known  to  have 
been  left  to  perish  there;  and  cherished 
wives  and  mothers,  on  whom  crowds  of 
servants  had  waited  from  the  moment  they 
set  foot  in  India,  were  now  seen  ragged, 
hungry,  and  footsore,  begging  their  way  to 
the  nearest  stations.  The  chiefs,  country- 
people,  and  ryots  doubted  if  they  were  awake 
or  dreaming;  but  if  awake,  then  surely 
the  British  raj  had  come  to  an  end.  At  all 
events,  the  Great  Mogul  was  in  Delhi,  and 
from  Delhi  the  British  had  fled  in  the 
wildest  disoider;  whereupon  a  native  jour- 
nalist thought  fit  to  raise  the  following 
lo  Pean,  which,  like  all  similar  effusions, 
whether  indited  by  Europeans  or  Asiatics, 
is  characterised  by  the  most  irreverent 
bigotry : — 

"  Oh  !  Lord  the  English  have  now  seen 
a  specimen  of  Thy  power ! 

"  To-day  tliey  were  in  a  state  of  high 
power;  to-morrow  they  wrapped  them- 
selves in  blood,  and  began  to  fly.  Notwith- 
standing that  their  forces  were  about  three 
lacs  strong  in  India,  they  began  to  yield 
up  life  like  cowards.  Forgetting  their 
palanquins  and  carriages,  they  fled  to  the 
jungles  without  either  boots  or  hats. 
Leaving  their  houses,  they  asked  shelter 
from  the  meanest  of  men ;  and,  abandoning 
their  power,  they  fell  into  the  hands  of 
marauders."* 

The  British  cause  was,  in  May,  1857,  gen- 
erally considered  the  losing  one ;  and  even 
those  friendly  to  it,  were  for  the  most  part 
anxious,  in  native  phraseology,  "  to  keep 
their  feet  in  both  stirrups."  There  were, 
however,  many  brilliant  exceptions — but  for 
which,  the  sceptre  of  Queen  Victoria  would 
hardly  now  have  much  authority  in  Nor- 
thern India.  The  nawab  of  Kurnaul  was 
one  of  the  first  to  identify  himself  with 
the  British  in  the  hour  of  their  deepest 
humiliation. 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Mr.  le  Bas,  the 
nawab  came  to  him  and  said,  "  I  have  spent 

•  Partee  Meformer !  quoted  in  Bombay  Telegraph. 
—See  Times,  August  3rd,  1857. 


a  sleepless  night  in  meditating  on  the  state 
of  affairs.  I  have  decided  to  throw  in  my 
lot  with  your's.  My  sword,  my  purse,  and 
my  followers  are  at  your  disposal."  And 
he  redeemed  his  promise  in  many  ways; 
among  others,  by  raising  an  efficient  troop 
of  100  horse,  which  he  armed  and  equipped 
on  the  model  of  the  Punjab  mounted  police 
corps.  Mr.  le  Bas  subsequently  presented 
the  nawab  with  the  favourite  horse  whose 
speed  had  saved  his  master's  life.f  It  is  to 
be  hoped  the  British  government  will  be 
similarly  mindful  of  the  service  rendered 
by  their  faithful  ally. 

Many  providential  preservations  have 
been  related:  the  painful  task  remains  of 
describing,  as  far  as  possible,  the  fate  of 
the  Europeans  who  were  unable  to  effect 
their  escape  from  Delhi.  Among  the  victims 
was  Colonel  Ripley.  His  dhooly-bearers 
refused  to  carry  him  on  with  the  first  party 
of  Europeans;  and  Lieutenant  Peile,  his 
former  preserver,  having  left  even  his  own 
wife  and  child  to  try  and  save  the  regi- 
mental colours,  the  wounded  officer  re- 
mained at  the  mercy  of  the  native  bearers, 
whose  services  are  at  tlie  best  of  times  little 
to  be  depended  on ;  for,  being  frequently 
compulsory,  they  naturally  take  the  first 
opportunity  of  escaping  to  their  homes. 
They  did  not,  however,  give  up  the  colonel 
to  the  mutineers,  but  hid  him  near  the  ice- 
pits  at  the  cantonments.  Here  he  remained 
for  some  days,  until  he  was  found  and  killed 
by  a  sepoy.  This,  at  least,  was  the  account 
given  to  Surgeon  Batson,  during  his  wander- 
ings among  the  jungles.  J  Colonel  Ripley's 
sufferings  must  have  been  fearful.  His 
isolation,  and  the  state  of  utter  helplessness 
in  which  he  awaited  the  violent  death  which 
at  length  terminated  his  protracted  an- 
guish, renders  him  the  subject  of  a  quite 
peculiar  interest.  The  little  that  is  nar- 
rated of  him  conveys  the  idea  of  a  thoroughly 
brave  man.  He  had  need  of  all  his  natural 
courage,  and  of  the  far  higher  strength  im- 
parted from  Above,  to  enable  him  to  resist 
the  temptation  to  suicide ;  to  which,  later  in 
the  rebellion,  others  yielded,  under  (so  far  as 
human  judgment  can  decide)  much  less 
temptation. 

The  mutineers  found  it  very  diflBcult  to 
convince  the  king,  and  probably  still  more 
so  to  convince  themselves,  that  European 
troops  were  not  already  marching  on  Delhi. 
It    is    positively    asserted,    on    European 

t  Raikes'  Bmolt  in  N.W.  Provinces,  pp.  91,  92. 

i  IHrncf,  August  18th,  1857. 


EUROPEANS  MASSACRED  IN  DELHI— MAY,  1858. 


171 


authority,  that  "the  king  sent  a  sowaree 
camel*  down  to  the  Mcerut  road,  to  report 
how   near  the  British  troops  were  to   his 
city.     When  the  messenger  returned,  saying 
there  were  certainly  no  European  soldiers 
within   twenty   miles   of  Delhi,  the   spirit 
of  mutiny  could  restrain  itself  no  longer ."t 
A  native,  writing  to  the  vakeel  of  one  of 
the  Rajpootana  chiefs,  says  that  it  was  at 
ten  at  night  two  pultuns  (regiments)  arrived 
from  Meerut,  and  fired  a  royal  salute  of 
twenty-one   guns;    but   he  adds,  that    "it 
was  not  until  the  following  day,  about  three 
in  the  afternoon,  that  the  empire  was  pro- 
daimed  under  the  King  of  Delhi,  and  the 
imperial  flag  hoisted  at  the  Cutwallee,  or 
chief  police-station."     But   the    authority 
thus  proclaimed,  was  at  first  at  least  almost 
entirely  nominal ;  and  later  testimony  tends 
to  confirm  the  statement  of  the  native  eye- 
witness previously  quoted;  who,  writing  on 
the  13th  of  May,  says — "There  is  now  no 
ruler  in  the  city,  and  no  order.     Everyone 
has  to  defend  his  house.     An  attack  was 
made  on  the  great  banker,  Mungnee  Ram ; 
but  he  had  assembled  so  many  defenders, 
that  after  much  fighting,  the  attack  was  un- 
successful.    Other  bankers'  establishments 
were  pillaged ;   hundreds  of  wealthy  men 
have  become  beggars;    hundreds  of  vaga- 
bonds have  become  men  of  mark.    When  an 
heir  to  the  city  arises,  then  the  public  mar- 
ket will  be  reopened,  and  order  be  restored. 
For  these  two  days  thousands  have  remained 
fasting ;  such  of  the  shops  as  are  left  un- 
pillaged,  being  closed.    *   *    *    Hundreds  of 
corpses  are  lying  under  the  magazine.     The 
burners  of  the  dead  wander  about  to  recog- 
nise the  looked-for  faces,  and  give  them 
funeral     rites.     *    *     *     The    mutineers  I 
roam  about  the  city,  sacking  it  on  every 
side.     The   post   is  stopped.     The  electric 
wires  have  been  cut.     There  is  not  a  Eu- 
ropean face  to  be  seen.     Where  have  they 
gene,  and   how  many  have  been  killed?" 
This  last  question  has  been  but  imperfectly 
answered.     The  following  statement  is  com- 
piled  from    the    report   furnished    by   the 
magistrate  of  Delhi,  and  other  government 
returns : — 

List  of  the  European  victims  (not  before  named)  who 
perished  on  the  Wth  of  May,  or  at  some  unknown 
date,  in  Delhi. 

Mr.  Hutchinson,  officiating  magistrate  and  col- 
lector, after  going   to  cantonments  for  assistance. 

*  Meaning  a  trooper  on  a  camel, 
t  Statement     of    Delhi    deputy-collector. — Rot- 
ton's  Narrative  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi,  p.  12. 


rejoined  Mr.  Fraser,  and  is  believed  to  have  been 
killed  at  the  Calcutta  gate,  on  duty. 

Mr.  A.  Galloway,  joint  magistrate  and  deputy- 
collector,  perished  at  the  Cutchery,  on  duty. 

The  Rev.  A.  Hubhard,  missionary.  Mr.  L.  Sandys, 
the  head.master  of  the  Delhi  mission  school,  and 
Mr.  L.  Cock,  or  Koehe,  were  killed  at  the  school 
or  at  the  bank. 

Mr.  F.  Taylor,  principal  of  the  Delhi  college, 
and  Mr,  JR.  Stewart,  the  second  master,  are  thought 
to  have  been  in  the  magazine  until  the  explosion, 
and  then  to  have  taken  refuge  with  Moolvee  Bakir 
Ali,  who  gave  them  up  to  the  mutineers. 

Mr.  J.  McNally,  second  clerk  in  the  commis- 
sioner's office,  was  killed  on  his  way  thither.  Messrs. 
Montreaux  and  Fleming,  fifth  and  sixth  clerks, 
perished,  but  the  particulars  of  their  death  are  not 
known. 

Mr.  Beresford,  the  manager  of  the  Delhi  bank, 
would  not  quit  his  post,  though  warned  by  his  ser- 
vants ;  he  was  murdered  there  with  his  wife  and 
three  young  children,  and  the  money  seized  on  by 
the  mob.  Mr.  Churcher,  the  deputy-manager,  like- 
wise perished. 

Mr,  Dalton,  inspector  of  post-offices,  and  Mr.  C. 
Bayley,  the  deputy-postmaster,  were  cut  down  at 
their  post. 

Sergeant  Edwards,  of  the  ordnance  department, 
perished  at  the  magazine  on  dutys  and  Sergeant 
Hoyle  is  supposed  to  have  been  killed  on  his  way 
thither. 

Mr.  T.  Corbett,  of  the  medical  department,  was  on 
a  visit  to  Mr.  McNally :  and  he  also  perished  on  the 
11th  of  May. 

Mr.  T.  W.  CoHins  fled  to  the  Cutchery,  and  was 
killed  there;  his  wife  and  three  children  were  mur- 
dered in  the  college  compound,  but  on  what  day  is 
not  known. 

Mr.  Staines,  the  head-clerk  of  the  treasury  office, 
and  two  youths  of  the  same  name,  were  killed,  the 
former  at  the  Cutchery,  and  the  latter  at  Deria- 
gunge. 

Mr.  E.  Staines,  draftsman,  railway  department, 
also  fell  in  Delhi. 

Mrs.  Thompson,  the  widow  of  a  Baptist  mis- 
sionary, with  her  two  daughters,  and  a  Mrs.  Hunt, 
were  killed  in  the  city. 

Mr.  O.  White,  head-clerk  of  the  political  agency 
office,  was  murdered  in  Delhi,  but  on  what  day  is 
not  known. 

Sergeant  Dennis,  of  the  canal  department,  with 
his  wife,  his  son,  and  Mrs.  White,  were  killed  at  his 
house  on  the  canal  banks. 

Mr.  J.  Rennell,  pensioner,  his  wife,  two  daughters 
and  his  son-in-law,  and  Mr.  G.  Skinner,  were  mas- 
sacred in  the  city,  but  the  date  of  the  latter  crime 
has  not  been  ascertained. 

Sergeant  Foulan,  of  the  public  works'  department, 
and  Mr.  Thomas,  agent  of  the  Inland  Transit  Com- 
pany, and  an  Italian  showman  and  his  wife,  named 
Georsetti,  engaged  in  exhibiting  wax- work  figures, 
were  massacred  near  the  Hindun  river. 

Three  persons  surnamed  George — one  a  youth 
who  had  received  pay  from  the  King  of  Delhi  for 
some  service  not  known — were  massacred  in  Delhi ; 
as  was  also  a  Portuguese  music-master,  named 
Perez,  and  a  Mr.  O'Brien. 

Father  Zacharias,  a  Koman  Catholic  priest,  was 
murdered  in  the  city. 

Mrs.  {Major)  Foster,  and  her  sister,  Mrs.  Fuller, 
endeavoured  to  escape,  and  got  "  into  the  city  ditch" 


172 


EUROPEANS  MASSACRED  IN  DELHI— MAY,  1838. 


(probably  near  the  Mainguard).  Mrs.  Foster  was 
unable  to  proceed  any  further,  and  her  sister  would 
not  leave  her  j  they  are  supposed  to  have  been 
found  and  murdered  there.  Mrs.  Hickie  (described 
as  a  half-servant,  probably  a  half-caste),  in  atten- 
dance on  Mrs.  Foster,  was  killed  in  the  city. 

Chummum  Lull,  the  native  assistant-surgeon,  was 
one  of  the  earliest  victims  of  the  outbreak. 

Mr.  Phillips,  a  pensioner,  was  killed  in  Delhi, 
but  on  what  day  is  not  known.  A  Mr.  Clarke,  a 
pensioner,  occupied  a  two-story  house  in  the  Cash- 
mere bazaar,  with  his  wife  and  child,  in  conjunction 
with  a  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morley,  and  their  three  chil- 
dren, and  was  murdered  there  on  the  11th. 


In  a  letter  signed  "  James  Morley,"  and 
published  when  the  public  excitement  was 
at  its  height,  the  following  horrible  par- 
ticulars were  related  concerning  the  murder 
of  Mr.  Clarke  and  his  family.  The  Gazette 
makes  no  mention  of  the  circumstances; 
but  the  statement  is  important,  as  one  of  the 
exceptional  ones  made  by  a  European  eye- 
witness, of  massacre  aggravated  by  wanton 
cruelty. 

Mr.  Morley  states,  that  after  the  blowing 
up  of  the  magazine,  he  crept  from  his  hiding- 
place   in  the  city,   and  went   to   his    own 
house,  near  the  door  of  which  he  found 
n  faithful  old  Hindoo  [a  dhoby,  or  washer- 
man],  sitting   and  crying    bitterly.      The 
Hindoo  said  that  a  large  crowd,  armed  with 
sticks,  swords,  and  spears,  had  entered  the 
compound,   pushed  past  Mr.    Clarke,   and 
began  to  "  loot"  or  break  everything,.     At 
length  one  man  went  up  to  Mrs.  Clarke, 
"  and  touched  her  face,  and  spoke  bad  words 
to  her."     The  enraged  husband  called  the 
wretch   by   the   most   opprobrious    epithet 
which  can  be  applied  to  a  Mohammedan 
(you  pig  !),  and  shot  him  dead ;  then,  after 
discharging  the  contents  of  the  second  bar- 
rel into  the  body  of  another  of  the  insur- 
gents, he  began  fighting  with  the  butt-end 
of  his  gun.     The  old  Hindoo,  knowing  that 
the  doom  of  both    husband  and  wife  was 
now  sealed,  ran  off  in  search  of  his    own 
mistress  and  her  children ;  but  they  were 
already  in  the  hands  of  the  mob,  who  drove 
off  the  dhoby  with  blows,  and  threatened  to 
kill  him  if  he  did  not  keep  away.     Morley 
went  into  the  house  with  his  servant,  and 
found  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarke  (she  far  advanced 
in    pregnancy)  lying    side    by    side,    and 
their  little  boy  pinned  to  the  wall,  with  a 
pool  of  blood  at   his  feet.     Turning  away 
from  this  sickening  sight,  Morley  rushed  on 
towards  the  bath-room,  at  the  door  of  which 
the   old    man    stood   wringing    his  hands. 
The  fear  of  seeing  his  own  wife  as  he  had 
seen  Mrs.  Clarke,  deterred  him,  he  says, 


from  ascertaining  for  himself  the  fate  of  Mrs. 
Morley  and  his  children.     When  the  first 
shock  was  over,  he  put  on  a  petticoat  and 
veil  belonging  to  the  wife  of  the  Hindoo, 
and  succeeded,  accompanied  by  the  latter, 
in  reaching  Kuruaul  in  six  days.     In  the 
course  of  the  journey,  he  states  himself  to 
have  seen  "  the  body  of  a  European  wonaan 
lying  shockingly  mutilated  by  the  road-side ; 
and  it  made  me  sick  to  see  a  vulture  come 
flying    along   with    a    shrill    cry.      I    saw 
another  body  of  one  of  our  countrymen. 
It  was  that  of  a  lad  about   sixteen.     He 
had  been  evidently  killed  with  the  blow  of 
a  stick.     I  buried  him;  but  it   was  but  a 
shallow  grave  I  could  give  him.     I  heard, 
on  the  road,  of  a  party  of.  Europeans  being 
some  distance   ahead  of  me,  and  tried  to 
overtake  them,  but  could  not."     It  is  rather 
strange  that  the  parties  who  preceded  Mr. 
Morley,  should  neither  have  seen  nor  heard 
of  the  murdered  man  and  woman ;  and  it  is. 
still  more  strange,  that  this  one  European 
should  narrate  horrors  so  far  exceeding  any 
which  the  other  fugitives  encountered,  or 
heard  of.     Stories  of  mutilation,  together 
with  violation  of  the  most  abominable  de- 
scription, were  certainly  published  in  the 
Indian  and  English  papers  of  1857;   but 
they  were  almost   exclusively  founded   on 
bazaar  reports,  or,  what  is  much  the  same 
thing,  the  accounts  of  the  lowest  class  of 
natives,  who  knew  quite  well,  that  the  more 
highly   coloured   the    narrative,   the   more 
attention  it  was  likely  to  excite.     Perhaps 
reporters  of  a  higher  class  were  not  uninflu- 
enced by  a  similar  desire  to  gratify  the  mor- 
bid curiosity  of  the  moment ;  for  the  atro- 
cities alleged  to  have  been  committed,  were 
such  as  only  the  most  practised  imagination 
could  conceive,  or  the  most  incarnate  fiends 
have  perpetrated.    It  should  be  remembered, 
that  so  far  as  indignities  to  Englishwomen 
were  concerned,  the  least  aggravated  of  the 
alleged  offences  would  haije  cost  the  high- 
caste,    or    twice-born    Hindoos,    whether 
Brahmin  or  Rajpoot,  the  irremediable  for- 
feiture of  caste.     Besides,  the  class  of  crime 
is  one  utterly  opposed   to  their   character 
and  habits,  and  scarcely  less  so  to  that  of 
the  Goojurs,  who,  in  fact,  had  no  passion 
either  of  lust  or  revenge  to  indulge— nothing 
but  an  absorbing  love  of  loot,  which  might 
tempt  them  to  rob  a  lady  of  the  cherished 
wedding-ring,  but  not  to  defile  the  purity 
of  the  sacred  union  it  symbolised.     With 
the  Mohammedans  the  case  may  be  dif- 
ferent:   but  whatever    we   may  think  of 


MASSACRE  AT  DELHI— 12th,  13th,  AND  16th  OP  MAY,  1857.       173 


the  unwarrantable  license  given  by  the  Ko- 
ran, it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  scenes 
recorded  in  the  history  of  cities  sacked  in 
European  warfare  by  nominally  Christian 
conquerors,  have  not  afforded  sufficient  evi- 
dence of  lust  and  rapine  to  explain  why  we 
looked  to  hear  of  such  things,  almost  as 
necessary  incidents,  in  a  calamity  like  that 
of  Delhi.  But  happily  for  us,  our  foes  were 
not  a  united  body  of  soldiers ;  far  from  this, 
the  great  mass  of  the  sepoys,  and  even  of  the 
escaped  convicts,  were  a  disorderly,  panic- 
struck  crew;  and  it  was  only  the  long  interval 
of  rest  which  elapsed  while  the  authorities 
were  making  up  their  minds  how  to  prepare 
for  action,  that  taught  the  sepoys  the  value 
of  the  advantages  which  our  superlative 
folly  had  given  them,  and  the  importance 
of  their  position  in  the  eyes  of  their  coun- 
trymen throughout  India.  At  first  their 
leading  thought  was,  "  let  us  eat  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  we  die ;"  and  it  was  during 
this  phase  of  their  career  that  they  broke 
open  the  gaol,  and  released  some  500  con- 
victs. Gradually  a  few  of  the  more  capable 
of  the  mutineers  began  to  think  that  there 
was  a  chance  for  them,  and  that  that  chance 
lay  in  the  extirpation  of  "  the  seed  of  the 
accursed  Feringhee"  from  the  land.  Con- 
scious of  their  own  weakness,  they  natu- 
rally adopted  a  cowardly  and  merciless,  but 
not  vindictive  or  wantonly  cruel  policy. 
The  Europeans  slain  on  the  11th  of  May, 
or  subsequently  at  an  unknown  date,  have 
been  enumerated.     The  following  is  the — 

Xm<  of  the  Delhi  victims  killed  on  the  12th,  IZth, 
and  \Gih  of  May. 

Mr.  T.  Jones,  of  the  collector's  office,  and  Mr.  T. 
Leonard,  of  the  magistrate's  office,  with  his  wife,  and 
two  youths  of  the  same,  held  out  in  the  house  which 
they  occupied  together  near  the  Moree  gate,  until 
some  time  on  the  12th,  when  they  perished  by  the 
hands  of  the  insurgents. 

A  much  larger  party  defended  themselves  until 
the  13th,  at  Deriagunge,  in  a  house  belonging  to 
the  rajah  of  BuUubghur,  but  rented  by  a  Mr. 
Aldwell.  Here  Mr.  Nolan,  one  of  the  conductors  of 
the  ordnance  department,  was  killed  on  the  12th  by 
a  grapeshot.  On  the  13th,  a  man  named  Azeezullah 
enticed  the  whole  party  from  their  retreat  by  saying 
that  the  king  had  sent  him  to  fetch  them  safely  to 
the  palace.  The  Europeans,  who  were  probably 
holding  out  in  hopes  of  succour  from  Meerut,  were 
deceived  by  the  traitor,  and  were  thus  spared  a 
longer  period  of  sickening  suspense,  with  des- 
pair as  its  climax.  The  official  record  states,  that 
Mr.  A.  O.  Aldwell,  son  of  the  gentleman  who 
rented  the  house  ;  Mr.  F.  Davies,  third  clerk  of  the 
commissioner's  office  ;  Mr.  T.  Davies,  head-clerk  of 
the  agency  office,  and  Miss  J.  Davies;  Mr.  J.  B. 
Hanley,  another  agency  clerk,  with  his  wife  and 
four  of  his   family;  Mr.  Mackey,  a   Baptist   mis- 


sionary ;  Mrs.  Wilson,  and  her  son ;  Mrs.  Nolan, 
and  her  six  children ;  Mr.  Settle,  conductor  of 
ordnance ;  Mrs.  and  Miss  Settle ;  Mrs.  Crowe,  and 
her  two  daughters ;  Sergeants  Connor,  Hoyle,  and 
Stewart,  of  the  ordnance  department,  with  a  child 
belonging  to  the  last ;  Mrs.  Buckley,  and  her  three 
children  ;  Mrs.  Prince  ;  Mrs.  Riley,  and  her  son  ; 
Mrs.  Ives,  and  Mrs.  Foulan — were  all  slaughtered 
on  the  13th,  in  a  bullock-shed  near  the  house. 

After  this  horrible  butchery,  no  Eu- 
ropeans were  found  in  Delhi  until  the  16th; 
and  on  that  day,  a  party  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  palace  on  the  11th,  were 
now  delivered  up  to  the  insurgents,  and 
put  to  death.  The  native  authority  above 
quoted,  describes  the  victims  as  having 
been  tied  to  a  tree  and  shot,  after  which 
the  bodies  were  burned. 

Mr.  E.  Roberts,  head-master  of  the  Delhi  col- 
lege, and  his  son,  together  with  Mrs.  S.  S. 
Stewart,  two  Misses  Stewart  and  their  brother,  are 
said  to  have  been  massacred  "  at  the  instigation  of 
Zeenath  Mahal."  The  two  Misses  Beresfurd ;  Mrs. 
Shaw,  and  her  two  children ;  Mrs.  Qlynn ;  Mrs. 
Scully ;  Mrs.  Edwards,  and  her  three  children ; 
3trs.  Molloy,  the  wife  of  the  band-master  of 
the  54th  Native  infantry,  and  her  two  sons ; 
Mr.  J.  Smith,  head-clerk  of  the  Delhi  magazine ; 
Mrs.  Corhett,  and  her  child ;  Mrs.  E.  P.  Staines ; 
the  two  3fisses  Hunt,  and  their  young  brother ; 
3frs.  Cochrane  ;  Mrs.  and  Miss  Sheehan,  govern- 
ment pensioners ;  Miss  C.  Staines,  and  Miss  Louisa 
Ryley — are  recorded  as  having  been  murdered,  with- 
out any  particulars  being  given  of  the  attendant 
circumstances.* 

The  above  statements  are  taken  from  the  Gazette. 
A  native  gives  the  following  somewhat  different 
account  of  particulars  which  he  describes  himself 
as  having  actually  witnessed: — "On  the  third  day, 
the  mutineers  went  back  to  the  house  [Mr.  Aid  well's] 
near  the  mosque,  where  gome  Europeans  had  taken 
refuge.  As  they  were  without  water,  &c.,  for  several 
days,  they  called  for  a  subahdar  and  five  others, 
and  asked  them  to  take  their  oaths  that  they  would 
give  them  water  and  take  them  alive  to  the  king; 
he  might  kill  them  if  he  liked.  On  this  oath  the 
Europeans  came  out:  the  mutineers  placed  water 
before  them,  and  said,  'Lay  down  your  arms,  and 
then  you  get  water.'  They  gave  over  two  guns, 
all  they  had.  The  mutineers  gave  no  water.  'I'hey 
seized  eleven  children  (among  them  infants),  eight 
ladies,  and  eight  gentlemen.  They  took  them  to 
the  cattle-sheds.  One  lady,  who  seemed  more  self- 
possessed  than  the  rest,  observed  that  they  were 
not  taking  them  to  the  palace;  they  replied,  they 
were  taking  them  via  Derya  Gunje.  Deponent  says 
that  he  saw  all  this,  and  saw  them  placed  in  a  row 
and  shot.  One  woman  entreated  them  to  give  her 
child  water,  though  they  might  kill  her.  A  sepoy 
took  her  child  and  dashed  it  on  the  ground.  The 
people  looked  on  in  dismay,  and  feared  for  Delhi."t 

An    anonymous    writer,    who    describes 

•  Second  Supplement  to  the  London  Gazette, 
May  6th.  1858. 

t  Statement  made  to  deputy-commissioner  Far- 
rington,  of  Jullundur,  by  three  servants  of  Kapor- 
thella  rajah. — Times,  August  3rd,  1857. 


171. 


STATE  OF  DELHI  IN  MAY,  1857. 


himself  as  having  been  in  Delhi  at  the 
outbreak,  but  who  does  not  state  either 
the  time  or  the  manner  of  his  own  escape, 
writes — "  Several  Europeans,  said  to  number 
forty-eight,  were  taken  to  the  palace,  or 
perhaps  went  there  for  protection.  These 
were  taken  care  of  by  the  King  of  Delhi ; 
but  the  sowars  of  the  3rd  cavalry,  whose 
thirst  for  European  blood  had  not  been 
quenched,  rested  not  till  they  were  all  given 
up  to  them,  when  they  murdered  them 
one  by  one  in  cold  blood."  The  narrator 
adds,  that  the  troopers  were  said  "  to  have 
pointed  to  their  legs  before  they  murdered 
their  victims,  and  called  attention  to  the 
marks  of  tlieir  manacles,  asking  if  they 
were  not  justified  in  what  they  were  doing."* 
In  a  separate  and  evidently  incorrect  list, 
published  in  the  same  Gazette  as  that  from 
which  the  above  account  has  been  framed, 
several  names  are  given  in  addition  to,  or  in 
mistake  for,  those  already  stated. f  Among 
others,  a  "Mrs.  Morgan  and  her  grand- 
child" are  said  to  have  been  among  the  vic- 
tims of  this  most  horrible  butchery,  in 
which  maid  and  matron,  the  grandame  and 
the  babe,  were  alike  mercilessly  hewn 
down.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered, 
that  many  put  down  in  the  official  records 
as  massacred  at  Delhi,  were  probably  killed 
after  escaping  from  the  city. 

We  have  not,  and  probably  never  shall 
have,  any  authentic  statement  of  the  number 
of  Eurasians  who  perished  at  this  period, 
nor  of  the  amount  of  native  life  lost  in  the 
struggle  between  the  citizens  of  Delhi  and 
the  ruthless  insurgents.  The  mutineers, 
it  is  said,  "  asked  the  king  either  to  give 
them  two  months'  pay,  or  their  daily 
rations.  The  king  summoned  all  the 
shroffs  and  mahajuns  (bankers  and  money- 
changers), telling  them,  if  they  did  not 
meet  the  demand  of  the  mutineers  they 
would  be  murdered ;  on  which  the  shroffs 
agreed  to  give  them  dhoU  rotee  for  twenty 
days;  adding,  they  could  not  afford  more. 
The  mutineers  replied — '  We  have  deter- 
mined to  die ;  how  can  we  eat  dholl  rotee 
for  the  few  days  we  have  to  live  in 
this  world.' "J  The  cavalry,  consequently, 
received  one  rupee,  and  the  infantry  four 
annas  a  day.    With  every  offensive  weapon 

•  Times,  July  14th,  1857. 

t  The  same  persons  are  given  under  different 
names :  Koehe  in  one,  is  Cock  in  the  other ;  Aldwell 
in  one,  is  Aidwell  in  the  other;  with  other  mistakes 
of  a  similar  character.  Compare  page  2220  with 
pages  2238  to  2241  of  Gaxette,  May  6th,  1858. 


Delhi  was  abundantly  stocked.     After  the 
escape  of  Lieutenant  Willoughby  and  his 
companions,   the    mutineers    (according  to 
a   native    news-writer    previously    quoted), 
"  together  with  the  low  people  of  the  city, 
entered  the  magazine  compound  and  begaii 
to  plunder  weapons,   accoutrements,    gun- 
caps,   &c.     The  'loot'  continued  for  three 
days ;  each  sepoy  took  three  or  four  muskets, 
and  as   many  swords  and  bayonets  as  he 
could.     The  Glassies  filled  their  houses  with 
fine  blacksmiths'  tools,  weapons,  and  gun- 
caps,  which  they  sell  by  degrees  at  the  rate 
of  two  seers  per  rupee.     In  these  successful 
days,  the  highest  price  of  a  musket  was  eight 
annas,  or  one  shilling;  however,  the  people 
feared  to  buy  it :  a  fine  English  sword  was 
dear  for  four  annas,  and  one  anna  was  too 
much  for  a  good  bayonet.     Pouches   and 
belts  were    so    common,    that   the    owners 
could   not  get  anything  for  this  booty  of 
theirs."  §     Lieutenant  Willoughby  and  his 
companions   had   succeeded    in    destroying 
a   portion  of  the  stores  in  the  Delhi  ar- 
senal;   but    abundance   of  shot   and   shell 
remained    behind,    and    the    cantonments 
afforded  large  stores  of  gunpowder.     From 
native  testimony  we  further  learn,  that  "  the 
Derya  Gunje  Bazaar  was  turned  into  an  en- 
campment for  the  mutineers.     Shops  were 
plundered  in    the  Chandnee    Chouk||   and 
Diereeba  Bazaar.     The  shops  were  shut  for 
five   days.     The  king  refused  to  go  upon 
the  throne.     The   mutineers    assured   him 
that  a  similar  massacre  had  taken  place  up 
to  Peshawur  and  down  to   Calcutta.     He 
agreed,  and  commenced  to  give  orders  :  went 
through  the  city,  and  told  the  people  to  open 
their  shops.     On  the  fifth  day,  notice  was 
given  that  if  any  one  concealed  a  European 
he  would  be  destroyed.     People  disguised 
many,  and  sent  them  off;  but  many  were 
killed   that   day,   mostly  by  people  of  the 
city.     A  tailor  concealed  no  less  than  five 
Europeans.     *     *     *     The  mutineers  say, 
when  the  army  approaches  they  will  fight, 
and  that  the  Native  troops  with  the  army 
are  sure  to  join   them.     Many  mutineers 
who  tried  to  get  away  with  plunder  were 
robbed;    this   has   prevented   many  others 
from  leaving."1f 

This    latter    statement    accords   with   a 

X  Statement  of  Hurdwar  pilgrims,  before  quoted. 

§  See  Times,  September  18th,  1857. 

II  The  principal  street  in  Delhi. 

5f  Statement  made  to  deputy-commissioner  Far- 
ringtoii,  of  Jullundur,  by  three  servants  of  the  rajah 
of  Kaporthella. — Times,  August  3rd,  1857. 


FEROCITY  OF  ESCAPED  CONVICTS— DELHI,  MAY,  1857. 


175 


prominent  feature  in  the  character  of  the 
Hindoos — namely,  their  strong  attachment 
to  their  native  village.  All  experienced  ma- 
gistrates know,  that  however  great  a  crime 
a  Hindoo  may  have  committed,  he  will, 
sooner  or  later,  risk  even  death  for  the  sake 
of  revisiting  his  early  home.  Their  domestic 
affections  are  likewise  very  powerful ;  and, 
undoubtedly,  the  combination  against  us 
would  have  been  far  stronger,  but  for  the 
temporarily  successful  attempts  of  many, 
and  the  unsuccessful  attempts  of  many 
more,  to  escape  to  their  wives  and  children 
from  the  vortex  of  destruction  towards 
which  they  had  been  impelled.  Hundreds, 
and  probably  thousands,  remained  in  Delhi 
because  their  sole  chance  of  life  lay  in 
combined  resistance.  The  sepoys,  as  a  body, 
felt  that  they  would  be  held  answerable  for 

[  the  slaughter  at  the  "bullock-shed,"  and 
for  atrocities  which,  there  is  every  reason 

j  to  believe,  were  never  perpetrated  by  them ; 
but  which,  in  the  words  of  an  English  oflScer, 
"  were  committed  by  the  scum  of  the  earth, 
that  never  comes  forth  but  on  such  occa- 
sions of  murder  and  rapine,  whose  existence 
most  people  are  ignorant  of."* 

We  know,  however,  that  this  scum  exists 
even  in  England;  the  daily  police  reports 
give  us  occasional  glimpses  of  it :  those  whose 
professional  duties  compel  them  to  examine 
the  records  of  our  penal  settlements  (Nor- 
folk Island  for  instance),  sec  its  most  hideous 
aspect ;  while  others  who  have  witnessed  the 
class  which  appears  with  the  barricades  in 
Paris,  and  disappears  with  them,  can  easily 
imagine  the  bloody  vengeance  a  mass  of 
released  convicts  would  be  likely  to  inflict 
on  their  foreign  masters.  Many  of  the 
sepoys,  especially  of  the  3rd  cavalry,  would 
gladly  have  returned  to  their  allegiance. 
Captain  Craigie  received  earnest  solicitations 
to  this  effect  from  men  whom  he  knew  to 
have  been  completely  carried  away  by  the 
current ;  but  it  was  too  late :  they  were 
taught  to  consider  their  doom  sealed ;  there 
was  for  them  no  hope  of  escape,  no  mitiga- 
tion of  their  sentence,  the  execution  of 
which  might  tarry,  but  would  never  be 
Toluntarily  abandoned.  A  most  horrible 
epoch  of  crime  and  suffering,  pillage,  de- 
struction, bloodshed  and  starvation,  had 
commenced  for  Delhi.  The  escaped  Eu- 
ropeans shuddered  as  they  thought  of  the 
probable  fate  of  those  they  had  left  behind : 
but  far  more  torturing  were  the  apprehen- 

*  Diary  of  an  Officer  in  Calcutta. — Times,  August 
3r(l,  185f. 


sions  of  the  natives  who  had  accompanied 
the  flight  of  their  English  mistresses  and 
foster-children,  not  simply  at  the  risk  of 
their  lives,  but  at  the  cost  of  forsaking  their 
own  husbands  and  families.  So  soon  as 
they  had  seen  the  Europeans  in  safety,  their 
natural  yearnings  became  irresistible,  and 
they  persisted  in  returning  to  ascertain  the 
fate  of  their  relatives.  A  lady  who  arrived 
at  Meerut  on  the  evening  of  the  12th  of 
May,  with  her  husband  and  children,  having, 
she  writes,  "  come  the  whole  distance  with 
our  own  poor  horses,  only  stopping  day  or 
night  to  bait  for  an  hour  or  two  here  and 
there,"  and  had  since  learned  that  her 
house  had  been  burnt  to  the  ground ;  adds — 
"  Of  all  our  poor  servants  we  have  not  since 
been  able  to  hear  a  word ;  four  came  with 
us ;  but  of  the  rest  we  know  nothing ;  and  I 
have  many  fears  as  to  what  became  of  them, 
as,  if  all  had  been  right,  I  feel  sure  that 
they  would  have  foUowed  us  in  some  way, 
several  of  them  having  been  with  us  ever 
since  we  came  out.  Our  coachman  and 
children's  ayah  (nurse)  set  off  to  Delhi 
three  days  ago,  dressing  themselves  as  beg- 
gars, in  order  to  make  some  inquiries  about 
their  families.  We  begged  them  not  to 
enter  Delhi,  and  they  promised  not  to  do 
so.  Should  they  do  so  they  will  be  almost, 
sure  to  be  killed ;  they  will  return  to  us  iu 
a  few  days  we  hope."t 

This  melancholy  chapter  can  hardly  have 
a  more  soothing  conclusion.  The  writer 
depicts  herself  lodged  in  the  artillery  school 
at  Meerut,  in  a  "  centre  strip"  of  a  large 
arched  building  partitioned  off  with  mat-, 
ting.  It  is  night — her  husband  and  chil- 
dren are  in  their  beds,  and  the  rain  is  pour- 
ing down  "in  plenty  of  places;  but  that 
is  nothing."  Afraid  of  being  late  for  the 
post  the  next  day,  she  sits  writing  to  Eng- 
land ;  and  it  is  after  mentioning  very  briefly 
that  she  and  her  husband  have  "  lost  every- 
thing they  had,"  that  she  expresses,  at  much 
greater  length,  her  solicitude  for  the  lives  of 
her  faithful  household.  The  host  of  admi- 
rable letters  written  for  home  circles,  but 
generously  published  to  gratify  the  earnest 
longing  of  the  British  nation  for  Indian 
intelligence,  do  not  furnish  a  more  charm- 
ing picture  of  the  quiet  courage  and  cheer- 
fulness, under  circumstances  of  peril  and 
privation,  which  we  proudly  believe  to  cha- 
racterise our  countrywomen,  than  the  one 
thus  unconsciously  afforded. 

t  Letter  from  the  wife  of  a  Delhi  officer. — Times 
September  3rd,  1857. 


CHAPTER   V. 

UMBALLAH-KURNAUL-MEEUUT— FEROZPOOR.— MAY,  1867. 


UmbALLAH  is  a  military  station,  fifty-five 
miles  north  of  Kurnaul,  120  miles  N.N.W. 
of  Delhi,  and  1,020  N.W.  of  Calcutta.  The 
district  known  by  this  name  was  formerly 
in  the  possession  of  a  Seik  sirdar,  but  "  has 
escheated  to  the  East  India  Company  in 
default  of  rightful  heirs."*  The  large 
walled  town  of  Umballah  has  a  fort,  under 
the  walls  of  which  lies  the  encamping-ground 
of  the  British  troops.  The  actual  force  sta- 
tioned here  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak, 
■was  as  follows : — 

Two  troops  of  artillery.  Europeans — 12  commis- 
sioned officers,  19  sergeants,  207  rank  and  file. 
Native — 2  havildars,  54  rank  and  file,  and  15  sick 
of  all  ranks. 

One  regiment  of  H.M.'s  dragoons,  9th  lancers. 
Europeans—a  commissioned  officers,  48  sergeants, 
663  rank  and  file ;  27  sick  of  all  ranks. 

One  regiment  of  Native  light  cavalry.  Europeans 
— 14  commissioned  officers,  2  sergeants.  Native — 
11  commissioned  officers,  25  havildars,  421  rank  and 
file  ;  20  sick  of  all  ranks. 

The  6th  and  60th  regiments  of  Native  infantry. 
29  commissioned  officers,  4  sergeants.  Native — 
40  commissioned  officers,  117  havildars,  2,116  rank 
and  file ;  43  sick  of  all  ranks.  Detachment  of 
irregular  cavalry.  [No  European  officer.]  Native 
— 3  commissioned  officers,  1  havildar,  and  89  rank 
and  file.-j- 

Thus,  at  Umballah,  there  were,  exclusive 
of  the  sick,  about  2,290  Europeans  to  2,819 
Natives.  Here,  as  at  Meerut,  the  strength 
of  the  Europeans  appears  to  have  rendered 
them  indifi'erent  to  the  mutinous  feeling 
exhibited  in  the  conflagrations  already 
noticed  as  occurring  in  March,  April,  and 
the  opening  days  of  May,  1857.  The  cause 
of  the  disaffection  was  notorious,  and  was 
nowhere  more  clearly  evidenced  than  in  the 
immediate  circle  of  the  commander-in-chief. 
The  circumstances  have  not  been  made 
public;  and,  as  they  are  of  importance, 
they  are  given  here  in  the  words  in  which 
they  were  communicated  to  the  author. 

"  In  the  commencement  of  1857,  each  regi- 
ment of  Native  infantry  received  instruc- 
tions to  detach  one  smart  ofiBcer,  and  a 
party  of  sepoys,  to  the  school  of  instruction, 
for  practice  in  the  use  of  the  Enfield  rifle. 

"  The  36th  Native  infantry,  at  the  time  of 

•  Thornton's  Gazetteer;  and  Prinsep's  Life  o/Bun- 
jeet  Sing,  p.  215. 


the  issue  of  these  instructions,  composed 
part  of  the  escort  of  the  commander-in- 
chief.  The  quota  furnished  by  this  corps 
left  General  Anson's  camp  at  Agra  for  the 
school  of  musketry  at  Umballah,  commanded 
by  a  promising  young  ofiicer,  Lieutenant 
A.  W.  Craigie,  since  dead  of  wounds  re- 
ceived in  the  encounter  with  the  Joudpoor 
legion.  The  commander-in-chief  continued 
his  tour  of  inspection,  and,  after  passing 
through  Bareilly,  arrived  at  Umballah  in 
March.  The  detachment  of  the  36th  came 
out  to  meet  their  regiment  on  its  marching 
into  the  station ;  but  were  repulsed  by  their 
comrades,  and  by  the  Native  officers  of  their 
regiment,  and  declared  'Hookah  panee 
bund'  (excommunicated),  in  consequence  of 
their  having  lost  caste  by  the  use  of  the 
polluted  cartridges  at  the  school.  The  men 
explained  to  their  regiment  that  there  was 
nothing  polluting  in  the  cartridges,  and 
nothing  which  any  Hindoo  or  Mussulman 
could  object  to.  The  regiment  was  de.af  to 
their  explanations,  and  treated  them  as 
outcasts.  The  unhappy  men  then  repaired 
to  their  officer,  Lieutenant  Craigie,  and 
informed  him  of  the  fact.  Wringing  their 
hands,  and  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  they 
described  their  miserable  state.  They  said 
that  they  were  convinced  of  the  purity  of 
the  cartridges,  but  that  they  were  ruined 
for  ever,  as  their  families  would  refuse  to 
receive  them  after  what  had  happened  in 
the  regiment. 

"  The  circumstances  were  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  officers  commanding  the  depot, 
who  communicated  with  the  officer  com- 
manding the  36th  Native  infantry.  This 
officer,  assembling  the  Native  officers,  stated 
to  them  the  facts,  as  reported  to  him,  and 
censured  them  severely  for  permitting  such 
unwarrantable  treatment  to  the  men.  The 
Native  officers  replied,  that  there  was  no  sub- 
stance in  the  complaint,  and  that  the  re- 
fusal to  eat,  or  smoke  the  hookah,  with  the 
men  of  the  depot,  had  been  simply  a  jest  I 
Here,  unfortunately,  the  matter  was  per- 
mitted to  rest ;  and  such  was  the  prevailing 
conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  natives  on 

t  Pari.  Papers  (Commons),  9th  February,  1858; 
pp.  4,  5. 


OUTBREAK  OF  MUTINY  AT  UMBALLAH— MAY  10th,  1857.        177 


this  question,  that  the  unhappy  detachment 
of  the  36th  Native  infantry  attending  the 
school,  were  never  ackuowledged  again  by 
the  regiment." 

It  was  after  this  memorable  warning,  and 
in  defiance  of  increasing  incendiarism,  that 
General  Anson  persisted  in  enforcing  the 
use  of  the  obnoxious  cartridges.  In  fact, 
he  fairly  launched  the  sepoys  on  the  stream 
of  mutiny,  and  left  them  to  drift  on  towards 
the  engulphing  vortex  at  their  own  time 
and  discretion,  while  he  went  off  "on  a 
shooting  excursion  among  the  hills,"*  no 
one  knew  exactly  where;  nor  was  the 
point  of  much  importance  until  it  became 
necessary  to  acqviaint  him  of  the  massacres 
of  Meerut  and  Delhi,  and  of  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  Bengal  army  "  was  relieving 
itself  of  the  benefit  of  his  command  ."f 

It  appears  that  the  Umballah  regiments 
were  with  difficulty  restrained  from  follow- 
ing out  the  course  taken  at  Meerut.  No 
official  account  has  been  published  of  the 
Umballah  emeute ;  but  private  letters  show 
that  the  authorities  acted  with  consider- 
able energy  and  discretion.  An  officer  of 
the  Lancers,  writing  on  the  14th,  gives  the 
following  description  of  the  scenes  in  which 
he  took  part. 

"  Last  Sunday,  after  we  had  returned  from  church 
and  just  finished  our  breakfast,  at  about  10  a.m., 
the  alarm  sounded  for  the  regiment  to  turn  out. 
The  men  were  lying  in  the  barracks  undressed,  and 
most  of  them  asleep ;  but  in  an  almost  incredibly 
short  time  they  were  all  on  parade,  mounted,  and 
fully  equipped ;  the  artillery  were  ready  nearly  as 
soon.  When  on  the  parade-ground,  we  found  that 
the  60th  Native  infantry  had  mutinied,  and  turned 
out  with  their  arms ;  but  we  could  not  go  down, 
because  they  had  their  officers  prisoners,  and  threat- 
ened to  shoot  them  if  we  came  down ;  but  that  if 
we  did  not  they  would  return  quietly.  If  our  men 
had  had  the  chance  to  go  in  at  them,  they  would 
have  made  short  work  of  them,  they  are  so  enraged 
at  having  had  so  much  night-work  lately,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  fires,  which  are  all  attributed  to  the 
sepoys.  They  {i.e.,  our  men)  only  get  about  two 
nights  a-week  in  bed.  At  twelve  o'clock  (noon) 
we  were  turned  out  again  in  consequence  of  the 
5th  Native  infantry  having  turned  out;  but  we 
were  again  disappointed.  They  appeared  to  think 
us  too  attentive,  and  returned  to  their  barracks. 
For  the  last  two  nights  the  wives  of  married  officers 
are  sent  down  to  the  canteen  for  better  security. 
An  officer  remains  at  the  Mainguard  all  night,  and 
an  artillery  officer  with  the  guns,  which  are  loaded ; 
and  ammunition  is  served  out  every  hour.  Two 
patrols  go  out  every  hour;  and  all  is  alert.  Yester- 
day (May  13th),  three  companies  of  the  75th  (H.M.) 
marched  up  from  Kussowlee.     They  started  at  noon 

•  Mead's  Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  73. 
t  The  Bengal  Mutiny.    Blackwood's  Edinburgh 
Magazine,  1858  ;  p.  387. 

X  Times,  September  18th,  1857. 
VOL.  II.  2  A 


on  Tuesday,  and  arrived  at  about  2  P.M.  on 
Wednesday.  The  distance  is  forty-eight  miles — a 
wonderful  march  under  an  Indian  sun,  when  the 
thermometer  was  92°  to  94°  in  the  shade :  there  was 
not  a  single  straggler." 

A  young  civilian,  attached  to  the  Punjab 
district,  who  also  witnessed  the  incipient 
mutiny  at  Umballah,  and  claims  to  have 
been  the  first  to  convey  the  tidings  of  the 
general  revolt  to  the  commander-in-chief, 
thus  narrates  what  he  saw  and  did : — 

"  On  Monday  we  received  the  painful  news  of 
what  was  going  on  at  Delhi.  It  was  heartrending 
to  know  that  our  countrymen  and  countrywomen 
were  actually  being  murdered  at  the  very  moment 
we  received  the  intelligence.  The  news  came  in  by 
electric  telegraph.  •  •  •  Towards  afternoon  we 
received  another  message,  mentioning  the  names  of 
some  of  the  unfortunates. 

"  On  Tuesday  came  the  news  from  Meerut,  which 
took  longer  in  coming,  as  it  had  to  come  by  post 
instead  of  telegraph.  But  it  was  not  a  quiet  night 
that  we  passed  at  Umballah.  We  had  intelligence, 
which,  thank  God,  turned  out  to  be  false,  that  on 
this  night  all  the  natives  were  to  rise.  Though 
three  miles  from  cantonments,  we  were  best  off  at 
the  civil  lines,  as  we  had  only  our  treasury  guard  of 
about  fifty  men  of  the  5th  Native  infantry  to  dread, 
while  we  had  200  faithful  Sikhs  to  back  us  up.  We 
patrolled  the  city  all  night,  and  the  people  in  the 
cantonments  kept  a  sharp  look-out.  AH  was  quiet. 
But  it  seemed  to  us,  in  our  excitement,  a  quiet  of  ill 
omen. 

"  On  Monday,  the  commander-in-chief,  who  was 
up  at  Simla,  about  ninety  miles  from^  Umballah, 
was  written  to,  to  send  down  troops  at  once  from 
the  hills,  where  three  regiments  of  Europeans  are 
stationed. 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  first  of  the  Delhi  fugitives 
came  creeping  in  ;  and  on  Wednesday  evening  there 
came  a  letter  from  a  small  band  of  miserables,  who 
were  collected  at  Kurnaul  (eighty  miles  from  Delhi, 
whence  they  had  escaped),  asking  for  aid.  This 
letter,  and  another  calling  for  immediate  assistance 
in  Europeans,  I  volunteered  to  take  up  to  the  com- 
mander-in-chief at  Simla,  and,  after  a  hot  ride 
through  the  heat  of  the  day,  and  the  best  part  of 
the  night,  I  reached  the  commander-in-chief  at 
about  half-past  four  in  the  morning  of  Thursday. 
I  turned  him  out  of  bed ;  they  held  a  council  of  war, 
and  at  half-past  ten,  we  were  all  riding  back  again. 
On  reaching  the  foot  of  the  hills,  I  was  knocked 
up — the  sun,  and  want  of  sleep  for  two  nights,  added 
to  a  ride  of  130  miles,  havingbeen  too  much  for  me. 
By  this  time  the  last  European  had  left  the  hills, 
and  on  Sunday  morning  all  were  cantoned  in 
Umballah.  I  reached  Umballah  myself  on  Satur- 
day."! 

The  first  telegram  referred  to  in  the 
above  letter,  has  been  given  in  the  preceding 
chapter ;  the  second  is  undated,  and  appears 
to  have  been  sent  by  the  members  of  the 
telegraph  establishment  on  their  private 
responsibility,  just  before  taking  flight. 
/Second  (or  third)  Telegram  from  Delhi  (May  1  \th). 
"We  must  leave  office.    All  the  bungalows  are 


178 


GENERAL  ANSON'S  RECANTATION— MAY  14th,  1857. 


burning  down  by  the  sepoys  from  Meerut.    They 

came  in  this  morning — we  are  off — dont 

"To-dav  Mr.  C.  Todd  is  dead,  I  think.  He 
went  out  this  morning,  and  has  not  returned  yet. 
We  heard  that  nine  Europeans  were  killed.  Good- 
bye." 

This  intelligence  was  promptly  conveyed 
from  the  Umballah  ofBce  to  the  neighbour- 
ing station  at  Dehra,  and  was  sent  on  from 
thence  by  Major-general  Sir  Henry  Bar- 
nard, the  officer  in  command  of  the  Sirhind 
division,  to  the  adjutant-general  at  Simla, 
•with  the  following  comment  thereon  : — 

"  As  Delhi  has  a  large  magazine,  and  only 
Native  troops  in  cantonments  there,  the  in- 
telligence may  be  of  importance.  *  *  * 
Philloor,  also,  with  a  large  magazine,  has 
only  Native  troops,  who  have  been  in  a  state 
of  disorganisation.  As  it  is  possible  this 
may  be  a  combined  movement,  I  have  sent 
private  despatches  to  the  oflBcers  in  com- 
mand in  the  hills,  to  hold  their  men  ready 
(quietly)  to  move  at  the  shortest  notice.  I 
have  also  sent  on  to  Jullundur  and  Philloor; 
and  should  the  officer  in  command  at  Phil- 
loor be  under  any  apprehension,  I  have 
authorised  him  to  apply  to  Jullimdur  by 
telegraph  for  assistance.  *  *  *  It  may 
be  possible  that  the  message  is  greatly  ex- 
aggerated J  but  coming  at  the  present  crisis, 
and  from  the  authority  of  Europeans  at- 
tached to  the  telegraph,  I  have  deemed 
precaution  desirable,  and  that  his  excel- 
lency should  be  made  acquainted  with  the 
circumstances  without  delay.  I  send  by 
my  aide-de-camp,  Captain  Barnard."* 

Whether  Captain  Barnard  or  the  young 
civilian  had  the  honour  of  first  communi- 
cating the  above  intelligence  to  General 
Anson,  does  not  appear ;  but  the  adjutant- 
general  (Colonel  Chester),  on  the  14th  of 
May,  forwarded  it  to  the  secretary  to  the 
government  at  Calcutta,  with  a  very  brief 
notice  of  the  state  of  aflFairs  at  Umballah, 
and  the  measures  initiated  by  the  com- 
mander-in-chief. 

After  recapitulating  the  Meerut  and 
Delhi  intelligence,  Colonel  Chester  adds — 

"  Circumstances  have  also  taken  place  at  Umbal- 
lah which  render  it  impossible  to  rely  on  the  perfect 
fidelity  of  the  5th  and  60th  regiments  of  N.  I.  His 
excellency,  therefore,  has  made  the  following  ar- 
rangements to  meet  the  existing  state  of  affairs  : — 

"The  75th  foot  marched  yesterday  from  Kus- 
gowlee  for  Umballah,  which  place  they  will  reach 

•  Further  Papers  on  the  Mutiny  (No.  3),  p.  6. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  5. 

X  Mead's  Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  73.  This  assertion  is 
partially  corroborated  by  a  telegram  dated  "  Cal 
cutta,  May  26th,  1857,"  in  which  the  Supreme  gov 


to-morrow  morning.  The  1st  European  fusiliers 
from  Dugsbaie  have  been  ordered  to  follow  the 
75th  foot  with  all  practicable  expedition.  The  2nd 
European  fusiliers  are  held  in  readiness  to  move  at 
the  shortest  notice.  The  Sirmoor  battalion  has  been 
ordered  from  Dehra  to  Meerut.  Two  companies 
of  the  8th  foot  from  Jullundur  have  been  ordered  to 
proceed  from  Lahore  to  Govindghur.  The  officer' 
commanding  at  Ferozepoor  has  been  ordered  to 
place  a  detachment  of  European  troops  in  charge  of 
the  magazine. 

"  General  Anson,  I  am  to  add,  is  anxiously  look- 
ing for  further  intelligence,  which  will  enable  him 
to  decide  on  the  advisability  of  his  at  once  moving 
down  to  Umballah."t 

The  above  despatch  took  a  long  time  in 
reaching  its  destination;  for  it  is  asserted 
that,  for  three  weeks  after  the  Meerut 
mutiny,  no  direct  intelligence  of  the  move- 
ments of  the  commander-in-chief  was  re- 
ceived at  Calcutta.  J  Before  those  three 
weeks  had  elapsed,  General  Anson  was 
dead.  The  interval  preceding  his  demise 
must  have  been  one  of  intense  mental 
suffering.  His  fatal  misconception  of  the 
temper  of  the  Bengal  army,  ceased  just  at 
the  moment  when  the  policy  founded  on  it 
was  in  full  bearing.  Sir  John  Lawrence,  § 
and  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin,  addressed 
such  cogent  arguments  to  him  on  the  sub- 
ject, warning  him  that  the  irregulars  would 
follow  the  example  of  the  regular  corps, 
that  the  commander-in-chief  followed  up 
the  proclamation  issued  by  him  on  the 
14th  of  May  (withdrawing  the  cartridges), 
with  another  and  far  stronger  one;  in 
which,  after  expressing  his  hope  that  the 
former  order  would  have  calmed  the  pre- 
vailing excitement,  he  confesses  his  mis- 
take. The  general  order  of  the  19th  con- 
tains the  following  singular  admissions  : — 

"  He  [General  Anson]  still  perceives 
that  the  very  name  of  the  new  cartridges 
causes  agitation;  and  he  has  been  in- 
formed, that  some  of  those  sepoys  who 
entertain  the  strongest  attachment  and 
loyalty  to  government,  and  are  ready  at 
any  moment  to  obey  its  orders,  would  still 
be  apprehensive  that  their  families  would 
not  believe  that  they  were  not  in  some  way 
or  other  contaminated  by  its  use.  *  *  * 
His  excellency,  therefore,  has  determined 
that  the  new  cartridge  shall  be  discon- 
tinued. He  announces  this  to  the  Native 
army,  in  the  full  confidence  that  all  will 

ernment  asks,  whether,  "  notwithstanding  the  failure 
of  the  dawk  and  telegraph,  some  means  might  not  be 
devised  of  communicating  with  the  commander-in- 
chief." — Ap])endix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  320. 
§  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  373. 


GENERAL  ANSON  DIES  AT  KURNAUL— MAY  27th,  18S7.         179 


now  perform  their  duty  free  from  anxiety 
and  care,  and  be  prepared  to  stand  and 
shed  the  last  drop  of  their  blood,  as  they 
have  formerly  done,  by  the  side  of  the 
British  troops,  and  in  defence  of  their 
country." 

This  climax  is  simply  absurd :  the  eon- 
test  now  unhappily  commenced  had  none 
of  the  elements  of  defensive  warfare  in 
it,  but  involved  the  most  revolting  attri- 
butes of  civil  strife,  Mohammedans  and 
Hindoos,  if  true  to  their  salt,  were  called 
on  to  fight,  in  support  of  Christian  supre- 
macy, against  their  co-rehgionists — it  might 
be,  against  their  own  relatives.  The  gen- 
eral order,  however,  need  not  be  discussed  : 
before  it  could  be  promulgated,  the  process 
of  dissolution  of  the  Bengal  army  was  well- 
nigh  complete — the  vitality,  the  coherence, 
quite  extinct. 

General  Anson,  grievously  as  he  had 
erred,  was  both  brave  and  energetic.  His 
energy  and  his  ignorance,  together  with  his 
utter  inexperience  in  military  life,  had  com- 
bined in  producing  the  present  state  of 
affairs.  His  fatal  innovations  were  such 
as  Generals  Hewitt  and  Wilson  would 
not  have  attempted;  but  had  he  been  at 
Meerut  on  the  10th,  the  mutineers  would 
probably  never  have  reached  Delhi :  as  it 
was,  he  no  sooner  learned  the  fate  of  the 
city,  than  he  earnestly  desired  to  press  for- 
ward for  its  immediate  recapture.  He 
reached  Umballah  on  the  15th  of  May.  A 
council  of  war  was  held,  composed  of  five 
members,  none  of  whom  lived  to  see  the 
capture  of  Delhi.  Generals  Anson  and 
Barnard,  Brigadier  Halifax,  and  Colonel 
Mowatt,  died  of  cholera ;  Colonel  Chester, 
the  adjutant,  was  killed  in  action.  Anson 
proposed  to  march  on  to  Delhi  at  once, 
without  waiting  for  reinforcements.  "  The 
guns  might  follow,  he  thought ;  but  it  was 
pointed  out  to  him  that  there  was  no  com- 
missariat, no  camels,  not  a  day's  allowance 
of  provisions  for  troops  in  the  field ;"  and, 
to  crown  the  whole,  not  a  single  medicine- 
chest  available. 

"  We  cannot  move  at  present,"  General 
Anson  himself  says,  in  an  undated  tele- 
gram   addressed  to  the  governor-general, 

*  Neither  the  date  of  the  despatch  nor  of  the 
receipt  of  this  telegram  is  given  in  the  Appendix  to 
Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  372. 

t  Despatch  to  Major-general  Hewitt— Further 
Papers  (No.  3),  pp.  19,  20. 

i  Timet,  25th  September,  1857.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that  on  the  26th  ult.,  the  day  previous  to 
General  Anson's  death,  and  again  on  the  following 


"  for  want  of  tents  and  carriage ;  it  would 
destroy  Europeans  to  march  without  both, 
and  we  have  no  men  to  spare.  I  see  the 
risk  of  going  to  Delhi  with  such  small 
means  as  we  have — perhaps  3,500  Euro- 
peans ;  for  should  they  suffer  any  loss,  it 
would  be  serious,  having  nothing  more  to 
depend  upon  in  the  North- West  Provinces ; 
but  it  must  be  done."* 

On  the  23rd,  he  writes  from  Umballah, 
that  he  proposes  advancing  towards  Delhi 
from  Kurnaul  on  the  1st  of  June,  and  hopes 
to  be  joined  by  reinforcements  (including 
120  artillerymen,  to  work  the  small  siege- 
train  already  on  the  road  from  Loodiana) 
from  Meerut,  under  General  Hewitt,  at 
Bhagput  on  the  5th.  He  adds — "It  is 
reported  here  that  a  detachment  of  the 
mutineers,  with  two  guns,  are  posted  on 
the  Meerut  side  of  the  river.  They  should 
be  captured,  and  no  mercy  must  be  shown 
to  the  mutineers."t 

At  half-past  two  on  the  morning  of  the 
27th,  General  Anson  died  of  cholera  at 
Kurnanl,J  a  few  hours  after  his  first 
seizure,  and  was  buried  that  same  evening 
at  sunset.  One  of  the  Delhi  fugitives  who 
was  at  Kurnaul  at  the  time,  says,  "  I  do 
not  know  why  it  was,  but  he  was  laid 
in  his  grave  without  a  military  honour." 
Lieutenant-governor  Colvin,  in  the  telegram 
reporting  this  intelligence  to  the  Supreme 
government,  mentions  that  a  copy  of  the 
order  withdrawing  all  new  cartridges  came 
by  the  same  express.  Mr.  Colvin  adds — 
"  The  issue  of  an  immediate  nomination  to 
the  command-in-chief  of  the  army  proceed- 
ing fast  on  Delhi,  under  General  Anson's 
orders,  is  solicited.  Indian  ability  and  ex- 
perience vrill  be  very  valuable ;  but  time  is 
before  all ;  every  hour  is  precious."§ 

The  government  announcement  of  the 
death  of  the  commander-in-chief,  declares 
that,  "  in  General  Anson,  the  army  has  lost 
a  commander  than  whom  none  was  ever  more 
earnest  and  indefatigable  in  labouring  to 
improve  the  condition,  extend  the  comforts, 
and  increase  the  efficiency  of  every  branch 
of  the  service  committed  to  his  charge."  || 

An  official  notice  of  the  death  of  a  leading 
personage    generally  follows    the   rule    of 

day,  when  the  event  took  place,  there  was  a  report 
in  the  bazaars  here  that  the  general  had  died  either 
by  assassination  or  a  stroke  of  the  sun,  according  to 
different  accounts.  The  notion  had  taken  a  strong 
hold  of  the  natives,  and  was  generally  entertained  by 
them. — Bengal  Hurkaru,  June  5th. 

§  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  363. 

II  Gen.  Order,  6th  June,  1857. — London  Gazette. 


18u 


ANTECEDENTS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 


tombstone  inscriptions,  and  describes  "  not 
what  he  was,  but  what  he  should  have  been." 
Yet  the  praise,  so  far  as  the  European 
branch  of  the  service  is  concerned,  was  pro- 
bably not  undeserved ;  for,  in  reviewing  the 
various  regiments,  he  is  described  by  the 
officers  as  having  been  keenly  alive  to  their 
discipline;  and  even  as  giving  the  example 
of  diligent  application  to  the  study  of  native 
languages — a  mark  of  no  small  energy  in  a 
man  who  was  some  fifty-five  years  of  age 
when  he  first  set  foot  in  India.  Whatever 
progress  he  made  in  the  native  languages,  it 
is  certain  he  manifested  a  most  lamentable 
ignorance  of  the  native  character ;  and  there 
were  probably  few  men  in  India  in  May, 
1857,  who,  however  v?ell  they  individually 
liked  the  commander-in-chief,  did  not  agree 
witli  Major-general  Tucker,  that  "  both  the 
results  of  his  (General  Anson's)  command 
and  his  antecedents,  are  in  proof  that  a  vast 
weight  of  responsibility  rests  upon  those 
who  appointed  to  this  important  command 
a  general  so  utterly  inexperienced  in  practi- 
cal military  affairs.  *  *  *  I  venture 
to  say,"  Major-general  Tucker  adds,  "  it 
will  be  found,  on  inquiry,  that  he  was  quite 
unequal  to  the  occasion ;  and  painful  as  it 
is  to  point  to  the  weakness  of  one  who 
was  talented,  amiable,  and  gentlemanly,  it 
is  yet  due  to  the  country,  and  to  those 
whose  sons  and  daughters,  and  kith  and 
kin,  are  being  sacrificed  in  India,  to  expose 
the  favouritism  which  in  high  places  has  led 
to  many  such  appointments."* 

Major-general  Tucker  writes,  it  must  be 
recollected,  as  one  whose  past  position  under 
General  Anson,  as  adjutant-general,  entitles 
his  opinion  to  consideration.  The  Indian 
correspondence  of  the  period  confirms  his 
observations;  but  gives  further,  and  certainly 
exaggerated,  views  of  the  late  commander-in- 
chief's  notorious  unfitness.  One  writer, 
apparently  an  Indian  official  of  a  certain 
rank,  asserts  — "  General  Anson's  death 
saved  him  from  assassination.  He  was 
hated  by  the  troops,  and  they  burnt  his 
tents.  He  was  quite  unfitted  for  his  post. 
Horses  and  gaming  appear  to  have  been 
his  pursuits ;  and,  as  a  gentleman  said,  '  No 
court  pet  flunky  ought  to  come  to  India.' 
Every  one  gave  a  sigh  of  relief  when  they 
heard  he  was  gone.  Pat  Grant  is  come 
over  from  Madras,  to  head  the  army  till 
orders  come  from  England.  Henry  Law- 
rence  (also  a  brigadier-general)   has  been 

*  Letter  of  Major-general  Tucker  to  the  editor  of 
the  Times,  July  19th,  1867. 


named  for  the  appointment,  but  he  cannot 
be  spared  from  Oude."t 

The  term  "court  pet  flunky"  is  not 
fairly  applicable  to  the  officer  in  question; 
but  it  is  quoted  here  because  expressions 
such  as  these,  emanating  from  one  of  the 
masters  of  India,  exercise  an  influence  in  the 
native  mind,  the  effect  of  which  can  hardly 
be  over-estimated.  Enghshmen  at  the  din- 
ner-table are  not  famed  for  diplomatic  re- 
serve: it  follows  that,  through  the  servants  in 
attendance  (as  well  as  in  many  other  ways), 
the  quick-witted  natives  are  enabled  to  form 
a  pretty  clear  notion  of  the  views  of  the 
sahib  logue  (literally  master-people)  regard- 
ing their  chief  functionaries.  Thus  we 
know,  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  Raikes,  that 
in  February,  1857,  a  native  journal  had  the 
audacity  to  declare — "Now  is  the  time  for 
India  to  rise,  with  a  governor-general  who 
has  had  no  experience  of  public  affairs  in 
this  country,  and  a  commander-in-chief  who 
has  had  no  experience  of  war  in  any 
country."J 

This  is  nearly  correct.  General  Anson 
(son  of  the  first  Viscount  Anson,  and  brother 
of  the  first  Earl  of  Lichfield)  had  been  a 
commissioned  officer  in  the  3rd  or  Scots 
fusilier  guards,  with  which  regiment  he 
served  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  in  the 
baggage  guard,  being  then  eighteen  years  of 
age.  Ten  years  later  he  was  placed  on  half 
pay  as  a  lieutenant-colonel  by  brevet. 

The  Times  describes  his  election  to  parlia- 
ment, as  member  for  Great  Yarmouth,  in 
1818,  and  his  acceptance  of  the  Cliiltern 
Hundreds  in  1853,  on  his  departure  for 
Madras.  The  local  rank  of  general  was 
conferred  on  him  in  1855 ;  and  in  December, 
1856,  he  was  nominated  to  the  colonelcy  of 
the  55th  regiment  of  foot.  His  occupation 
as  Clerk  of  the  Ordnance  (from  1846  to 
1852)  has  been  already  adverted  to;  and  he 
had  previously  filled  the  office  of  principal 
Storekeeper  of  the  Ordnance,  under  the 
administration  of  Viscount  Melbourne. 
"  He  was  by  hereditary  descent,  and  by 
personal  conviction,  a  liberal  in  politics, 
and  invariably  sided  with  the  whig  leaders." 
This  sentence  probably  explains  why  her 
majesty's  ministers  considered  Colonel 
Anson  eligible  for  one  of  the  most  lucrative 
appointments  in  their  gift,  despite  the  mani- 
fest impropriety  of  confiding  the  charge  of 
a  large  army  to  an  officer  who  had  never 
commanded  a  regiment ;   and  the  conclud- 

■j-  Daily  News,  August  5th,  1857. 
X  Raikes,  p.  173. 


INCOMPETENCY  OP  THE  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


181 


ing  statement  of  the  obituary,  that  Colonel 
Anson  "  was  a  zealous  patron  of  tlie  turf,"* 
shows  why  the  far-away  appointment  was 
eligible  to  a  most  popular  man  about 
town.  Only,  had  Sir  Charles  Napier's 
words  been  deemed  worth  attention,  the 
government  would  have  felt  that  a  character 
of  an  altogether  different  type  was  needed 
to  influence,  by  precept  and  example,  Euro- 
pean officers  in  India,  where  gentlemanly 
vices  (and  especially  gaming,  and  the  plea- 
sures of  the  table)  are  peculiarly  seductive, 
as  enlivening  the  monotony  of  military 
routine,  in  a  most  enervating  climate,  during 
a  period  of  profound  peace.  As  to  the 
Native  army,  it  is  the  less  to  be  wondered 
at  that  utter  inexperience  was  not  deemed 
a  disqualification  for  its  command  ;  because 
the  authorities,  if  they  thought  of  it  at  all, 
viewed  it  as  a  huge,  clumsy,  old-fashioned, 
but  very  safe  machine,  not  quite  fitted 
for  the  requirements  of  the  times,  but  alto- 
gether too  great  an  affair  to  be  meddled 
with  by  persons  entrusted  with  political 
powers  of  certainly  very  precarious,  and 
possibly  ephemeral,  existence. 

So  the  army  was  supplemented  with 
"  irregular"  corps,  which  in  many  points  re- 
sembled what  the  old  regiments  had  been  in, 
and  long  after,  the  days  of  Clive.  These  addi- 
tions complicated  the  working  of  the  original 
machine,  the  constructors  of  which  had  long 
ago  died,  and,  it  would  seem,  their  plans 
with  them ;  for  when  the  whole  concern  was 
suddenly  found  to  be  dropping  in  pieces,  the 
chief  engineer  proved  utterly  incapable  of 
pointing  out,  much  less  of  counteracting, 
the  cause  of  the  mischief. 

The  Friend  of  India,  the  best  known 
of  Indian  journals,  in  a  leader  published  on 

•  Times,  July  14th,  1857. 

t  In  the  year  1857,  the  Times,  in  alluding  to  the 
manner  in  which  this  sum  had  been  diverted  from 
its  original  destination,  remarked — "  "We  should  be 
glad  if  the  widows  and  families  of  those  persons 
who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  war,  in  diplo- 
macy, or  in  administration,  could  be  provided  for 
from  some  other  fund ;  for  certainly  the  sum  of 
£1,200  a-year  is  no  great  amount  for  such  a  coun- 
try as  England  to  expend  upon  the  relief  of  science 
and  literature  in  distress."  To  the  widow  of  Mr. 
Gilbert  A'Beckett  a  pension  of  £100  per  annum 
was  allotted,  "  in  consideration  of  the  literary  merits 
of  her  husband,  also  of  the  eminent  public  services 
rendered  by  him  in  his  capacity  of  a  police  magis- 
trate in  the  metropolis,  and  of  the  destitute  circum- 
stances in  which  his  widow  and  their  children 
are  now  placed." — (Times,  July  9th,  1857).  In  this 
case,  it  would  appear  that  a  conjunction  of  reasons 
are  deemed  necessary  to  justify  the  pension  of  a 
single  hundred  a-year  to  the  widow  of  a  distin- 
guished litterateur.    A  pension  of  £70  to  the  widow 


the    14th   of   May,    1857    (while   General 
Anson  was  yet  alive),  says — 

"  An  army  has  often  been  likened  to  a  machine ;  and 
we  wish  the  comparison  were  thoroughly  accepted. 
When  your  engine  goes  wrong,  it  is  found  needful 
to  have  at  hand  a  man  who  understands  every  portion 
of  it.  Being  able  to  place  his  hand  on  the  defective 
spot,  he  knows  exactly  what  is  required  in  the  way  of 
reparation,  and  how  to  set  about  the  work.  But  we 
never,  except  by  chance,  have  a  capable  engineer 
in  the  person  of  the  exalted  official  who  has  to 
guide  the  vast  and  powerful  mechanism  that  holds 
the  soil  and  collects  the  revenues  of  India.  It  is 
hard  to  divine  in  most  cases  the  cause  of  his  appoint- 
ment— harder  still  to  justify  the  fact  of  it.  It  is  a 
miserable  thing  to  say  that  the  state  gains  by  the 
idleness  of  a  commander-in-chief;  and  yet,  in  most 
cases,  all  ranks  of  the  community  would  join  in 
wishing  that  he  would  fold  his  hands,  and  only  open 
them  to  clutch  what  ought  to  be  the  recompense  of 
zeal,  intellect,  and  energy." 

It  is  asserted,  that  immediately  before 
his  seizure.  General  Anson,  finding  that  his 
utter  inexperience  in  warfare  disqualified 
liim  for  conducting  the  attack  on  Delhi,  had 
formally  communicated  to  General  Barnard, 
through  the  adjutant-general,  the  intention 
to  resign  the  command  of  the  army. 

One  other  circumstance  remains  to  be 
noticed,  in  illustration  of  the  ill-advised 
"  favouritism"  which  Major-general  Tucker 
denounces  as  exercising  so  baneful  an  influ- 
ence in  India.  About  the  same  time,  when 
the  "  good-service  pension"  of  ^100  a-year 
was  meted  out  to  the  gallant  Havelock, 
an  intimation  appeared  that  the  widow  of 
General  Anson  had,  in  addition  to  the  pen- 
sion on  account  of  her  late  husband's  rank 
in  the  service,  been  granted  a  stipend  of 
£200  a-year  out  of  the  annu  al  sum  of  £1 ,200 
granted  by  parliament,  and  known  as  the 
"  Literary  Fund."t 

of  Hugh  Millar,  is  likewise  accorded  on  the  double 
ground  of  his  eminent  literary  services  and  her 
poverty.  In  1858,  a  pension  of  £100  per  annum  was 
allotted  from  the  same  fund  to  the  widow  of  Douglas 
Jerrold ;  £50  per  annum  to  each  of  the  two  Miss  Lan- 
ders, "in  consideration  of  the  eminent  services  of  their 
father,  the  late  Mr.  John  Lander,  who  died  from  the 
effects  of  the  climate  while  exploring  the  river  Niger, 
and  of  the  straitened  circumstances  in  which  they  are 
placed  at  his  decease;"  £40  per  annum  to  the 
daughter  of  James  Hogg,  the  Ettrick  Shepherd ;  and 
£50  to  the  aged  widow  of  the  late  Dr.  Dick,  the 
author  of  the  Christian  Philosopher  and  other  admi- 
rable works,  "  in  consideration  of  the  merits  of  her 
late  husband  as  a  moral  and  theological  writer,  and 
of  the  straitened  circumstances  in  which  she  is  now 
placed."  Then  follows — £200  per  annum  to  the 
Hon.  Isabella  Elizabeth  Annabella  Anson,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  services  of  her  husband,  the  late 
General  the  Hon.  George  Anson ;  and  £200 
per  annum  to  Dame  Isabella  Letitia  Barnard,  in 
consideration  of  the  services  of  her  husband,  the 


182 


MUTINOUS  OUTBREAK  AT  MEERUT. 


It  seems  to  be  an  inevitable  necessity 
that,  save  in  some  rare  cases,  the  rank  of 
those  who  serve,  rather  than  the  value  of 
the  service  rendered,  is  to  be  the  rule  of 
the  reward.  The  East  India  Company  have 
been  accused  of  carrying  this  principle  to  an 
extreme,  by  their  rigid  adherence  to  the 
seniority  system ;  but  it  would  be  hard  to 
bring  against  them  any  more  direct  in- 
stance (so  far  as  the  Europeans  are  con- 
cerned) of  robbing  poor  Peter  to  pay  rich 
Paul  than  that  above  noticed. 

The  Indian  crisis,  however,  for  the  mo- 
ment, laid  favouritism,  patronage,  and  seni- 
ority together  on  the  shelf,  and  the  ques- 
tion was  earnestly  and  eagerly  discussed, 
"Who  is  the  fittest  man  to  command  the 
forces?"  The  emergency  was  far  greater  than 
that  which  had  previously  issued  in  the 
sending  out  of  General  Napier ;  but  the 
result  was  partially  the  same ;  for  as  the  war 
was  ended  before  Sir  Charles  reached  the 
scene  of  actioi;,  so,  in  1857,  the  news  of  the 
recapture  of  Delhi  greeted  Sir  Colin  Camp- 
bell on  his  arrival  at  Calcutta.  The  predic- 
tion of  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin  had,  in 
fact,  been  fulfilled — "  John  Lawrence  and 
his  Sikhs  had  saved  India."* 

Pending  the  decision  of  the  Calcutta  gov- 
ernment regarding  the  vacant  position  of 
commander-in-chief,  the  command  devolved 
on  Major-general  Barnard,  who  was  himself 
summoned,  by  a  telegraph,  from  a  sick  bed 
to  receive  the  last  instructions  of  General 
Anson  regarding  the  intended  march  on 
Delhi.  New  delays  are  said  to  have  arisen, 
in  consequence  of  the  detention  of  Brigadier 
Archdale  Wilson,  and  the  reinforcements 
expected  from  Meerut,  by  the  orders  of  Mr. 
Greathed ;  so  that  General  Barnard,  disap- 
pointed of  the  artillery  and  gunners  which 
were  to  have  joined  the  Delhi  column  ac- 
cording to  General  Anson's  arrangements, 
was  compelled  to  send  elephants  to  Meerut 
to  bring  on  the  troops  from  thence.f  The 
authorities  at  that  unfortunate  cantonment 
had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  paralytic 
panic  which  had  seized  them  on  the  10th. 
In  fact,  they  had  had  a  new  shock;  for  a  fresh 
mutiny  had  broken  out  among  a  body  of  600 
Native  sappers  and  miners,  who  had  been  sent 

late  Major-general  Sir  H.  W.  Barnard,  K.C.B. 
(Times,  July  28th,  1858).  In  the  two  last-named 
cases,  the  allusion  to  "  straitened  circumstances"  is 
omitted.  Yet  it  is  the  only  conceivable  excuse 
for  placing  these  two  ladies  on  the  Literary  Fund. 
In  the  case  of  Mrs.  Dick  and  others,  it  would 
STirely  have  been  more  gracious  to  haTe  accorded 
their  slender  pittances  as  a  token  of  public  respect 


in  from  Roorkee  to  repair  and  strengthen 
the  Meerut  station.  They  arrived  on  the 
15th  of  May.  On  the  16th  about  400  of 
them  rose  in  a  body,  and  after  murdering 
their  commandant  (Captain  Eraser),  they 
made  off  towards  Delhi,  but  being  pursued  by 
two  squadrons  of  the  carabineers,  were  over- 
taken about  six  miles  off,  and  forty-seven  of 
them  slain.  The  remainder  continued  their 
flight.  One  of  the  carabineers  was  killed, 
and  two  or  three  wounded,  including  Colonel 
Hogge,  an  active  and  energetic  officer,  who 
led  the  pursuit,  and  received  a  ball  in  his 
thigh,  which  unfortunately  laid  him  up  at  a 
time  when  his  services  could  be  ill-spared. 
The  remaining  two  companies  were  disarmed, 
and  continued  perfectly  quiet. 

Two  days  later,  a  sapper  detachment, 
about  300  strong,  mutinied  at  Roorkee.  A 
company  had  been  detached  to  join  the 
commander-in-chiefs  column,  and  had  got 
half-way  to  Seharunpore,  when  tidings 
reached  it  of  the  collision  at  Meerut,  in 
which  Captain  Eraser  lost  his  life.  It  would 
advance  no  farther,  but  marched  back  to 
the  cantonment  at  Roorkee,  bringing  the 
European  officers,  and  treating  them  per- 
sonally with  respect.  When  the  men  re- 
turned. Lieutenants  Drummond,  Bingham, 
and  Eulford,  had  already  left  cantonments 
at  the  earnest  request  of  the  Native  officers, 
and  had  been  escorted  to  the  college  by 
them ;  and  a  body  of  old  sepoys  resolutely 
resisted  the  attempts  of  a  small  party  among 
the  men,  who  urged  the  massacre  of  the 
Europeans.  J 

On  the  13th,  intelligence  reached  Meerut 
that  Sirdhana,  formerly  the  chief  place  of 
the  Begum  Sumroo's  jaghire,  had  been  de- 
vastated by  the  villagers,  and  that  the  nuns 
and  children  of  the  convent  there  were 
actually  in  a  state  of  siege.  The  postmaster 
at  Meerut,  having  female  relations  at  Sird- 
hana, asked  for  a  small  escort  to  go  to  their 
relief.  The  authorities  replied,  that  not  a 
single  European  soldier  could  be  spared 
from  the  station,  but  that  four  Native 
troopers  would  be  allowed  to  accompany 
him.  Even  these  he  could  not  get;  but  he 
armed  three  or  four  of  his  office  people, 
started  oflf  at  half-past  four  on  the  Thursday 

to  the  merits  of  the  departed,  and  not  as  a  charitable 
dole,  their  claim  to  which  needed  to  be  eked  out  by 
poverty. 

*  Kaikes'  Ji«voU  in  the  N.  W.  Provinces. 

t  See  Memoir  of  General  Barnard's  Services ;  by 
a  near  connexion. — Times,  December  25th,  1867. 

J  Bombay  correspondent :  Baity  News,  .Tuly  15th, 
1857. 


OUTBREAK  OF  THE  MUTINY  AT  FEROZPOOR. 


183 


evening,  and  returned  a  little  after  seven, 
with  five  females  and  girls.  The  nuns 
would  not  abandon  the  children,  but  had 
entreated  him  to  try  and  send  them  some 
help.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Sraythe,  who  was  at 
Meerut  at  the  time,  says — "  The  postmaster 
tried  all  he  could  to  get  a  guard  to  escort 
them  to  this  station,  but  did  not  succeed; 
and  yesterday  morning  (the  15th),  having 
given  up  the  idea  of  procuring  a  guard  from 
the  military  authorities,  he  went  round,  and 
by  speaking  to  some  gentlemen,  got  about 
fifteen  persons  to  volunteer  their  services  to 
go  and  rescue  the  poor  nuns  and  children 
from  Sirdhana;  and,  I  am  happy  to  say,  they 
succeeded  in  their  charitable  errand  without 
any  one  having  been  injured."* 

The  authorities  subsequently  took  care  to 
publish  the  rescue  of  the  defenceless  women 
and  children,  but  were  discreetly  silent 
as  to  the  individual  gallantry  by  which  it 
had  been  accomplished.  Neither  did  they 
mention  an  ofl'er  made,  according  to  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Rotton,  on  the  evening  of  the 
mutiny,  by  an  officer  of  the  carabineers, 
to  pursue  the  fugitives,  but  "  declined  by  the 
general  commanding  the  Meerut  division."t 

Mr.  Raikes  also,  in  describing  the  course 
of  events  at  Agra,  records  "  the  indignation 
with  which,  on  Thursday  evening,  we  learned 
that  the  mutineers,  after  firing  the  station, 
murdering  our  countrymen,  women,  and 
children,  and  breaking  the  gaol,  had  been 
permitted  to  retire  quietly  on  Delhi,  taking 
their  barbers,  water-carriers,  bag  and  bag- 
gage, just  as  if  they  bad  been  on  an  ordinary 
march :"  and  adds,  "  I  now  know  that  Major 
Rosser,  of  H.M.'a  6th  carabineers,  asked 
permission  to  follow  them  with  cavalry  and 
guns.  If  he  had  been  allowed  to  do  so,  it 
is  quite  possible,  and  indeed  probable,  that 
the  mutiny,  for  the  present  at  least,  might 
have  been  crushed."  J  The  Calcutta  govern- 
ment were  not  insensible  of  the  supineness 
indulged  in  at  Meerut;  for  the  governor- 

•  Letters  of  Rev.  Mr.  Smythe,  dated  16th  and 
17th  May,  1857. 

t  The  Chaplain's  Narrative  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi, 
p.  7.  Mr.  Rotton  (whose  book  is  far  more  moderate 
in  tone  than  might  have  been  expected  from  the  ex- 
tract from  his  sermon  given  in  Colonel  Smythe's  Nar- 
rative, and  quoted  at  p.  154)  8a.ys,  that  "  in  truth, 
our  military  authorities  were  paralysed.  No  one 
knew  what  was  best  to  do,  and  nothing  accordingly 
was  done.  The  rebels  had  it  all  their  own  way." 
Mr  Rotton  also  adverts  to  the  "  one  thing  which 
impressed  every  one — the  delay  in  leading  the  troops 
from  the  grand  parade-ground  to  the  scene  of  mutiny 
and  bloodshed.  The  native  soldiery,  and  the  fellows 
of  baser  sort  in  the  bazaars,  had  ample  time  to  eom- 


general  in  council,  in  a  telegram  dated  June 
1st,  1857,  entreated  Mr.  Colvinto  endeavour 
"  to  keep  up  communication  with  the  south;" 
adding,  "  this,  like  everything  else,  has  been 
culpably  neglected  at  Meerut."  § 

Ferozpoor, — The  next  outbreak  after  that 
at  Delhi,  occurred  at  Ferozpoor,  an  im- 
portant city,  which  long  formed  our  fron- 
tier station  in  the  north-west,  and  which, 
in  May,  1857,  contained  au  intrenched 
magazine  of  the  largest  class,  filled  with 
military  stores  scarcely  inferior  in  amount 
to  those  in  the  arsenal  of  Fort  William. 
Ferozpoor  commands  one  high  road  from 
Lahore  to  Delhi,  as  Umritsir  does  the  other. 

The  troops  stationed  there  consisted  of 
H.M.'s  61st  foot,  about  1,000  strong;  two 
companies  of  artillery,  composed  of  a  nearly 
equal  number  of  European  Sj  about  300  in 
all ;  the  10th  Native  light  cavalry,  under 
500  men;  and  the  45th  and  57th  Native 
infantry.  Brigadier  Innes]|  assumed  the 
command  at  Ferozpoor  on  the  11th  of 
May;  on  the  12th,  he  learned  the  events 
which  had  occurred  at  Meerut ;  and,  on  the 
following  morning,  he  ordered  a  general 
parade,  with  the  view  of  ascertaining  the 
temper  of  the  troops ;  which,  on  reviewing 
them,  he  thought  "haughty."  At  noon, 
information  arrived  of  the  occupation  of 
Delhi  (seventy-three  miles  distant)  by  the 
rebels.  The  intrenchments  were  at  this 
time  held  by  a  company  of  the  67th  Native 
infantry;  but  a  detachment  of  H.M.'s  61st, 
under  Major  Redmond,  was  immediately 
dispatched  thither.  The  brigadier  likewise 
resolved  "  to  move  the  Native  troops  out  of 
cantonments ;"  and  the  European  artillery, 
with  twelve  guns,  was  ordered  down,  "to 
overawe  or  destroy  the  two  Native  corps" — 
that  is,  of  infantry  ;  the  cavalry  being  con- 
sidered perfectly  reliable,  and  entrusted  with 
the  care  of  the  .'new  arsenal,  its  magazine, 
and  contents.  The  preliminary  arrange- 
ments were  completed  by  five  o'clock ;  and 

mit  the  greatest  outrages  in  consequence  of  this 
simple  fact." — (p.  4.)  It  is,  however,  alleged  that 
General  Hewitt  cannot  justly  be  held  responsible 
for  this  tardiness,  because  although  he  was  general 
of  the  Meerut  division,  Brigadier  Wilson  was  in 
command  of  the  station  ;  and  it  is  urged,  that  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  latter  officer  during  the  memo- 
rable night  of  the  outbreak,  not  one  word,  good, 
bad,  or  indifferent,  is  on  record. 

I  Revolt  in  the  N.  W.  Province!,  p.  13. 

§  Appendix  to  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  355. 

II  Printed  "  James"  in  Further  Papers  on  Mutiny 
(No.  3,  p.  8),  by  one  of  the  unaccountable  blunders 
with  which  the  Indian  and  Colonial  Blue  Books 
abound. 


184 


BRIGADIER  INNES'  CONDUCT  AT  FEROZPOOR. 


the  Native  troops  being  assembled  on  the 
parade-ground  at  that  hour,  the  brigadier 
formed  them  up  in  quarter-distance  co- 
lumns, addressed  them,  and  ordered  the  two 
regiments  to  move  off  in  contrary  directions. 
Both  obeyed  without  hesitation ;  but  the 
road  the  45th  were  directed  to  take  to 
the  place  where  they  were  to  encamp,  lay 
close  to  the  intrenched  camp ;  on  reaching 
which,  the  men  broke  into  open  mutiny, 
loaded  their  muskets,  and,  heedless  of  the 
entreaties  of  their  officers,  ran  to  the  north- 
west bastion  of  the  magazine,  and  stood 
still,  apparently  hesitating  what  to  do 
next.  At  this  moment,  scaling-ladders 
were  thrown  out  to  them  by  the  company 
of  the  57th,  who  had  been  left  there  to 
avoid  raising  the  suspicions  of  their  com- 
rades before  the  parade.  The  45th  com- 
menced climbing  the  parapet ;  and  some 
300  of  them  having  succeeded  in  making 
their  way  over,  attacked  a  company  of  the 
61st,  which  was  hurriedly  drawn  up  to 
receive  them.  Major  Redmond  was  wounded 
in  repulsing  the  mutineers,  who  made  a 
second  attempt ;  but,  being  again  defeated, 
broke  up,  and  dispersed  themselves  through 
the  bazaars  and  cantonments.  A  body  of 
about  150  men  continued  to  obey  Colonel 
Liptrap  and  their  other  officers,  and  en- 
camped in  the  place  pointed  out  to  them  j 
the  rest  were  deaf  to  threats  and  entreaties. 
Instead  of  acting  on  the  offensive,  and  im- 
mediately following  the  mutineers,  Brigadier 
Innes,  according  to  his  report,  assumed  an 
exclusively  defensive  attitude.  He  desired 
the  Europeans  to  leave  the  cantonments, 
and  come  into  the  barracks;  and  suffered 
a  portion  of  H.M.'s  61st  to  remain  in  their 
lines,  while  the  mutineers,  having  carried 
their  dead  to  the  Mohammedan  burying- 
ground,  returned  in  small  bodies  to  the  can- 
tonments, and  burned  the  church,  Roman 
Catholic  chapel,  two  vacant  hospitals,  the 
mess-house  of  the  61st,  and  sixteen  bunga- 
lows. Two  merchants  (Messrs.  Coates  and 
Hughes)  positively  refused  to  abandon 
their  houses,  and,  collecting  their  servants, 
successfully  defended  themselves;  Mr. 
Hughes'  son,  a  mere  boy,  shooting  one  of  the 
assailants.  The  fact  of  there  being  "  20,000 
barrels  of  gunpowder  in  the  arsenal"*  to 
care  for,  is  alleged  in  excuse  for  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  buildings.     The  next  measure 

•  Cooper's  Cri»ie  in  the  Punjab,  p.  13. 
t  Brigadier  Innes'  despatch,  May  16th,  1857.— 
Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  3),  p.  7. 
X  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  13. 


was  still  more  extraordinary.  Brigadier 
Innes  states — 

"  On  hearing  from  Colonel  Liptrap  that  the  45th 
intended  to  seize  their  magazine  on  the  morning  of 
the  14th,  I  determined  to  blow  up  the  magazines 
both  of  the  45th  and  57th.  *  •  •  The  blowing 
up  of  the  magazines  so  enraged  the  45th,  that  they 
immediately  seized  their  colours,  and  marched  off 
towards  Furreed  Kote.  On  Colonel  Liptrap  re- 
porting this,  I  desired  him  to  march  in  with  those 
that  stood  faithful,  and  lay  down  their  arms  to  the 
61st;  133  of  all  ranks  did  so.  Three  troops  of 
the  10th  light  cavalry,  under  Majors  Beatson  and 
Harvey,  and  two  guns,  I  sent  in  pursuit  of  the 
mutineers. 

"  Major  Marsden,  deputy-commissioner,  having 
volunteered  his  services,  and  from  his  knowledge  of 
the  country,  I  entrusted  to  him  the  command  of  the 
whole.  He  followed  them  for  about  twelve  miles. 
They  dispersed  in  all  directions,  throwing  away 
their  arms  and  colours  into  wells  and  other  places. 
A  few  were  made  prisoners,  and  the  country-people 
have  since  brought  in  several. 

"  The  above  occurrences  took  place  on  the  14th. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  day,  I  acquainted  Colonel 
Darvall  that  I  would  receive  such  men  of  his  regi- 
ment as  would  come  in  and  lay  down  their  arms  : 
the  light  company,  under  Captain  Salmon,  and 
owing  to  his  exertions,  almost  to  a  man  did  so. 
On  laying  down  their  arms,  I  permitted  them  to 
return  to  their  lines.  It  was  immediately  reported 
that  stragglers  from  the  45th  had  entered  their 
lines  and  threatened  them,  on  which  a  company  of 
the  6l8t  cleared  their  lines.  Unfortunately,  the 
57th,  seeing  European  troops  in  their  lines,  believed 
that  their  light  company  were  being  made  prisoners, 
which  caused  a  panic  in  the  57th,  and  prevented 
their  coming  in  to  lay  down  their  arms,  which 
Colonel  Barvall  reported  they  intended  to  have 
done.  On  regaining  confidence,  several  parties  came 
in  under  their  officers ;  and  in  the  evening  Colonel 

Darvall  brought  in of  all  ranks,  with  his  colours, 

and  I  required  them  to  lay  down  tlieir  arms,  which 
they  did  without  hesitation,  but  with  a  haughty  air. 

"  I  am  unable  to  furnish  present  states,  but  I 
believe  that,  of  the  57th,  about  520  men  are  present, 
and  about  half  that  number  of  the  45th. 

"  It  is  gratifying  to  state  that  the  25th  Native  light 
cavalry  have  remained  staunch,  and  have  done  good 
service.  The  greatest  credit  is  due  to  Major  M'Don- 
nell  and  his  officers  for  keeping  his  regiment  together, 
for  this  corps  must  have  the  same  ideas  as  the  other 
portions  of  the  Native  army.  •  •  •  fhe  10th 
cavalry  are  constantly  in  the  saddle." -f 

Such  is  the  account  given,  by  the  leading 
authority,  of  an  affair  which  occasioned  his 
"  summary  removal  from  the  list  of  briga- 
diers," and  materially  strengthened  the 
rebel  cause. 

Mr.  Cooper  remarks  that,  "on  the  28th 
of  May,  the  remainder  of  the  45th  were 
turned  ingloriously  out  of  cantonments, 
and  escorted  to  the  boundaries  of  the  dis- 
trict. They  probably  combated  with  no 
diminished  acrimony  against  us  at  Delhi, 
from  having  been  allowed  to  reach  it  alive, 
without  money  aud  without  food."  J 


CHAPTER  VL 


AGRA,  ALIGHUR,  MYNPOORIE,  NEEMUCH,  AND  NUSSEERABAD.— MAY  AND 

JUNE,  1857. 


Agra. — Nowhere  could  the  tidings  of  the 
rebellion  be  more  calculated  to  excite  alarm 
than  in  the  stately  city  of  Agra — the  rival  of 
Delhi  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  Mogul 
empire,  and  now  the  chief  place  in  the 
division  of  the  British  dominions  known 
as  the  N.  W.  Provinces.  Agra  is  situated 
on  the  banks  of  the  Jumna,  139  miles 
south-east  of  Delhi. 

The  troops  in  the  station  consisted  of  one 
company  of  artillery  (chiefly  Europeans), 
H.M.'s  3rd  foot,  the  44th  and  67th  regi- 
ments of  Native  infantry,  and  a  detachment 
of  irregular  cavalry,  consisting  of  thirty-seven 
men,  commanded  by  two  Native  officers. 
Intelligence  of  the  outbreak  at  Meerut  was 
published  in  Agra  on  the  morning  of  the 
11th  of  May ;  but  the  newspaper  announce- 
ment was  accompanied  by  a  remark,  on  the 
part  of  the  editor,  that,  "in  a  station  like 
Meerut,  with  the  6th  dragoons,  60th  rifles, 
and  European  artillery,  it  might  be  pre- 
sumed that  the  mutineers  had  a  very  short 
race  of  it."*  It  was  not  until  three  days 
later  that  the  Europeans  at  Agra  became 
acquainted  with  the  extent  of  the  calamity. 

Lieutenant-governor  Colvin  was,  happily, 
a  man  of  experience  and  discretion.  While 
the  cloud  was  as  yet  no  bigger  than  a 
man's  hand,  he  recognised  the  tempest  it 
portended ;  and,  slowly  as  the  intelligence 
reached  Agra,  he  was  more  ready  for  the 
worst  than  some  who  had  had  longer  warn- 
ing. On  the  13th  he  dispatched  a  telegram 
to  Calcutta,  suggesting  that  "  the  force  re- 
turning from  the  Persian  gulf,  or  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  it,  should  be  summoned 
in  straight  to  Calcutta,  and  thence  sent  up 
the  country."  On  the  14th,  he  wrote 
urging  that  martial  law  should  be  pro- 
claimed in  the  Meerut  district ;  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  done,  and  necessarily  so, 
for  our  civil  and  criminal  courts,  always  de- 
tested by  the  natives,  were  swept  away  by 
the  first  blast  of  the  storm  ;  and,  a  few  days 
later.  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin  reported 
that,  "  around  Meerut,  the  state  of  license 

*  Mofuamlite  (extra);  May  11th,  1857. 
t  Despatch  from  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin,  May 
22nd,  1857.— Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers,  p.  311. 
VOL.  II.  2  B 


in  the  villages,  caused  by  the  absence  of  all 
government,  spread  for  about  twenty  or 
twenty-five  miles  south,  and  about  the  same 
limit,  or  somewhat  more,  north.  Within 
this  belt,  unchecked  license  reigned  from 
the  Jumna  to  the  Ganges.  The  absence  of 
any  light  cavalry,  or  efiective  means  of 
scouring  the  country  in  this  severely  hot 
weather,  paralysed  the  attempts  of  the 
Meerut  force  to  maintain  any  regularity  or 
order  beyond  the  immediate  line  of  its 
pickets."t 

The  question  of  holding  the  various  small 
stations  scattered  throughout  the  disturbed 
provinces,  became  early  one  of  anxious 
interest.  They  could  be  retained  only  at 
imminent  risk  to  the  handful  of  Europeans 
who  were  placed  there;  nevertheless,  the 
general  good  could  scarcely  be  more  efiec- 
tively  served,  than  by  each  man  standing 
to  his  post  at  all  hazards,  sooner  than  seem 
to  fly  before  the  rebels.  Every  one  who 
knew  the  Asiatic  character,  concurred  in 
this  opinion;  and  none  stated  it  more 
clearly  than  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin. 
His  view  of  the  conduct  of  the  collector 
of  Goorgaon — a  district,  the  chief  place  of 
which  (also  named  Goorgaon)  is  only  eigh- 
teen miles  from  Delhi — shows  how  stern  a 
sense  he  had  of  the  duty  of  even  civilians 
under  new  and  trying  circumstances.  In 
describing  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  North- 
western Provinces,  he  writes  : — 

"On  the  evening  of  the  13th  instant  [May],  Mr. 
Ford,  and  his  assistant,  Mr.  W.  Clifford,  having  no 
support  beyond  their  police  and  a  party  of  the  con- 
tingent of  the  Jhujjur  horse,  whose  tone  and  conduct 
became  rapidly  menacing,  thought  that  no  good 
object  would  be  attained  by  their  staying  at  Goor- 
gaon. The  lieutenant-governor  regrets  the  determi- 
nation to  quit  the  station  on  Mr.  Ford's  part,  because 
he  does  not  doubt  that  the  best  mode,  especially  in 
India,  of  staying  violent  outbursts  against  authority 
of  this  kind,  is  to  remain  at  the  post  to  the  last,  even 
at  the  direct  risk  of  life. 

"Withdrawal  from  a  post,  except  under  immediate 
attack  and  irresistible  compulsion,  at  once  destroys 
all  authority,  which,  in  our  civil  administration,  in 
its  strength  is  respected,  if  exercised  only  by  a 
Chupprassee  j  while  in  the  event  of  any  general 
resistance,  accompanied  by  defection  of  our  military 
force,  it  has  in  truth  no  solid  foundation  to  rest 
upon :  but  the  lieutenant-governor  has  not  thought 


186  AGRA  AND  THE  NORTH-WEST  PROVINCES— MAY,  1857. 


it  necessary  on  this  account,  after  such  alarmingly 
emergent  circumstances  as  had  occurred  at  Delhi,  to 
censure  Mr.  Ford  for  the  course  which  he  adopted. 

"The  introduction  of  general  disorder  into  the 
Tillages  of  the  Goorgaon  district,  soon  communicated 
itself  to  the  northern  portion  of  Muttra ;  and  the 
isolated  customs'  patrol  officers,  whose  duties  render 
them  necessarily  unpopular,  fell  back  from  their 
posts  with  their  men.  This  spread  further  the  im- 
pression of  a  cessation  of  all  government,  and  was 
having  a  very  injurious  effect  up  to  the  very  walls  of 
the  important  town  of  Muttra. 

"  This  state  of  things  has,  however,  greatly  altered 
for  the  better  by  the  advance  of  an  effective  portion 
of  the  Bhurtpoor  troops,  which  has  now  taken  up  a 
position  on  the  Muttra  and  Goorgaon  frontier." 


The  Jhujjur  and  Bhurtpoor  troops  men- 
tioned in  the  foregoing  paragraph,  consisted 
partly  of  a  coutingent  or  subsidiary  force, 
furnished  by  the  chiefs  of  those  territories 
to  the  British  government,  and  partly  of 
their  own  immediate  retainers,  who,  being 
a   kind   of    feudal    militia,   were   perfectly 
trustworthy ;  whereas  the  former,  whether 
contingent  or  sjbsidiary,  were  essentially  a 
portion  of  the  Bengal  array,  drawn  from 
the  same  sources,  disciplined  in   the  same 
manner,  and  officered  by  Europeans — hav- 
ing in  all  respects  a  fellow-feeling  with  the 
Delhi  mutineers.     At  first,  a  degree  of  con- 
fidence was  reposed  in  the  fidelity  of  the 
native  contingents,  which  was  neither  war- 
ranted by  their  antecedents,  nor  supported 
by  their  subsequent  conduct ;  for  they  were 
false  to  us,  in  defiance  of  the  strenuous  en- 
deavours of  the  native  princes,  on  whom 
we  had  forced  them  under  a  mistaken  view 
of  our  own  interests.     Sindia,  Holcar,  the 
rajah   of    Bhurtpoor,   and    other    princes, 
never  wavered  in  their  opinion  of  the  disaf- 
fection of  the  subsidiary  troops,  and  gave 
conspicuous  and   self-sacrificing   tokens  of 
their  personal  fidelity,  by  placing  their  own 
retainers  at  the  disposal  of  the  British.     As 
early  as  the  14th  of  May,  Colvin  received  a 
message  from  Sindia,  that  his  body-guard 
of  400  cavalry,  and  a  battery  of  horse  artil- 
lery, would  be  ready  to  start  from  Gwalior 
for  Agra  on  the  following  evening.     The 
offer  was  gladly  accepted. 

On  the  15th,  the  lieutenant-governor  re- 
viewed the  troops  stationed  at  Agra,  having 
previously  ascertained,  from  undoubted  au- 
thority, that  a  deep  and  genuine  conviction 
had  seized  the  mind  of  the  sepoy  army,  that 
the  government  was  steadily  bent  on  causing 
a  general  forfeiture  of  caste  by  the  compul- 
sory handling  of  impure  things.  Privately, 
and  on  parade,  the  men  assured  the  lieute- 
nant-governor, that  "  all  they  wanted  to  be 


certain  of,"  was  the  non-existence  of  the 
suspected  plot:  he  therefore  addressed  the 
Supreme  government  by  telegraph,  urging 
the  immediate  issue  of  a  proclamation  con- 
taining a  simple  and  direct  assurance  that 
no  attempt  whatever  would  be  made  against 
the  caste  of  the  Native  troops.  He  added — 
"An  inducement,  too,  is  wanted  for  not 
joining  the  mutineers,  and  for  leaving 
them.  I  am  in  the  thick  of  it,  and  know 
what  is  wanted.  I  earnestly  beg  this,  to 
strengthen  me."* 

On  the  16th,  the  governor-general  in 
council  sent  a  telegraphic  reply,  promising 
that  the  desired  proclamation  should  be 
issued,  and  encouraging  Colvin  in  the 
course  he  was  pursuing,  by  the  following 
cordial  expression  of  approval : — "  I  thank 
you  sincerely  for  all  you  have  so  admirably 
done,  and  for  your  stout  heart."t 

No  proclamation,  properly  so  called,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  issued ;  but,  according 
to  the  inaccurate  and  hasty  summary  of 
events  sent  to  the  Court  of  Directors  from 
Calcutta,  "a  circular  was  issued  on  the 
2yth,  explaining  that  none  of  the  new  car- 
tridges had  been  issued  to  Native  regiments." 
This  statement  was,  as  has  been  before 
stated,  in  complete  opposition  to  that  of 
General  Anson,  who  had,  some  days  before, 
formally  withdrawn  the  identical  cartridges 
which  Lord  Canning  declared  had  never 
been  issued.  To  complicate  the  matter 
still  further,  the  same  page  of  the  Calcutta 
intelligence  which  contains  the  notice  of 
the  circular  of  the  Supreme  government, 
states,  also,  as  the  latest  intelligence  from 
Umritsir,  that  "the  59th  N.I.  do  not 
object  to  the  new  cartridges."! 

The  position  of  Colvin  was  most  harass- 
ing. He  never  received  any  communica- 
tion whatever  from  General  Anson — the 
regular  posts  being  stopped,  and  the  general 
not  fertile  in  expedients  for  the  conveyance 
or  obtainment  of  intelhgence.  A  council  of 
was    held    at   the  Agra  government 


house  on  the  13th  of  May:  and  even  at 
this  early  period,  Mr.  Raikes  describes  the 
lieutenant-governor  as  "exposed  to  that 
rush  of  alarm,  advice,  suggestion,  exposttila- 
tion,  and  threat,  which  went  on  increasing 
for  nearly  two  months,  until  he  was  driven 
nearly  broken-hearted  into  the  fort."  The 
officers  naturally  urged  advice  with  especial 
earnestness  on  a  civil  governor,  and  "  every 

•Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,   1857; 
p.  181. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  193.  1  Ibid.,  p.  ?iO\. 


MR.  COLVIN'S  PROCLAMATION— AGRA— MAY  25th,  1857.        187 


man  was  anxious  to  do  his  best,  but  to  do  it 
his  own  way."* 

Long  experience  of  native  character,  how- 
ever, had  given  Mr.  Colvin  an  insight  into 
the  causes  of  the  mutiny,  which  convinced 
him  of  the  paramount  influence  that  panic, 
and  the  feehng  of  being  irremediablj' 
compromised  by  the  misconduct  of  others, 
had  exercised,  and  were  still  exercising,  in 
the  minds  of  the  sepoys.  In  the  excitement 
of  the  crisis  his  policy  was  the  subject  of 
sweeping  censure ;  but,  eventually,  measures 
of  a  similar  tendency  were  resorted  to, 
as  the  sole  means  of  healing  a  breach 
which  he  strove  to  narrow  and  close  at  its 
commencement.  With  regard  to  the  Euro- 
peans, the  attitude  he  advised  and  adopted 
was  most  unflinching.  The  same  feeling 
which  induced  him  to  blame  the  abandon- 
ment of  Goorgaon,  led  him  to  declare,  a 
week  later,  when  the  danger  was  fast  in- 
creasing— 

"  It  is  a  vitally  useful  lesson  to  be  learnt  from  the 
experience  of  present  events,  that  not  one  step  should 
be  yielded  in  retreat,  on  an  outbreak  in  India,  which 
can  be  avoided  with  any  safety.  Plunder  and  gene- 
ral license  immediately  commence,  and  all  useful 
tenure  of  the  country  is  annihilated.  It  is  not  by 
shutting  ourselves  in  forts  in  India  that  our  power 
can  be  upheld  ;  and  I  will  decidedly  oppose  myself  to 
any  proposal  for  throwing  the  European  force  into 
the  fort  except  in  the  very  last  extremity."t 

With  regard  to  the  Native  army,  he 
believed  one  measure,  and  only  one,  re- 
mained which  might  arrest  the  plague  of 
mutiny  by  aff'ording  opportunity  for  repen- 
tance before  war  a  I'ouirance  should  be  de- 
clared against  the  Europeans.  Addressing 
the  governor-general  by  telegraph  on  the 
24th  of  May,  he  writes : — 

"On  the  mode  of  dealing  with  the  mutineers,  I 
would  strenuously  oppose  general  severity  towards 
all.  Such  a  course  would,  as  we  are  unanimously 
convinced  by  a  knowledge  of  the  feeling  of  the 
people,  acquired  among  them  from  a  variety  of 
sources,  estrange  the  remainder  of  the  army.  Hope, 
I  am  firmly  convinced,  should  be  held  out  to  all 
those  who  were  not  ringleaders  or  actively  concerned 
in  murder  and  violence.  Many  are  in  the  rebels' 
ranks  because  they  could  not  get  away ;  many  cer- 
tainly thought  we  were  tricking  them  out  of  their 
caste;  and  this  opinion  is  held,  however  unwisely, 
by  the  mass  of  the  population,  and  even  by  some  of 
the  more  intelligent  classes.  Never  was  delusion 
more  wide  or  deep.  Many  of  the  best  soldiers  in 
the  army — among  others,  of  its  most  faithful  section, 

•  Rn ikes'  Revolt  in  the  N.W.  Provinces,  p.  10. 

t  Mr.  Colvin  to  the  governor-general.  May  22nd, 
1857. — The  first  two  sentences  of  the  quotation 
from  Mr.  Colvin's  despatch  to  the  governor-general, 
are  quoted  from  the  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on 


the  irregular  cavalry — show  a  marked  reluctance  to 
engage  in  a  war  against  men  whom  they  believe  to 
have  been  misled  on  the  point  of  religious  honour. 
A  tone  of  general  menace  would,  I  am  persuaded, 
be  wrong.  The  commander-in-chief  should,  in  mv 
view,  be  authorised  to  act  upon  the  above  line  of 
policy ;  and  when  means  of  escape  are  thus  open  to 
those  who  can  be  admitted  to  mercy,  the  remnant 
will  be  considered  obstinate  traitors  even  by  their 
own  countrymen,  who  will  have  no  hesitation  in 
siding  agtiinst  them." 

On  the  following  day,  Mr.  Colvin  reported 
to  the  governor-general  that  he  had  himself 
taken  the  decisive  step  : — 

"  Impressed  by  the  knowledge  of  the  feelings  of 
the  native  population,  as  communicated  in  my  mes- 
sage of  yesterday,  and  supported  by  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  all  officers  of  experience  here,  that  this 
mutiny  is  not  one  to  be  put  down  by  high-handed 
authority;  and  thinking  it  essential  at  present  to 
give  a  favourable  turn  to  the  feelings  of  the  sepoys 
who  have  not  yet  entered  against  us,  I  have  taken 
the  grave  responsibility  of  issuing,  on  my  own  autho- 
rity, the  following  proclamation.  A  weighty  reason 
with  me  has  been  the  total  dissolution  of  order,  and 
the  loss  of  every  means  of  control  in  many  districts. 
My  latest  letter  from  Meerut  is  now  seven  days  old, 
and  not  a  single  letter  has  reached  me  from  the 
commander-in-chief. 

"  Proclamation. 

"  Soldiers  engaged  in  the  late  disturbances,  who 
are  desirous  of  going  to  their  own  homes,  and  who 
give  up  their  arms  at  the  nearest  government  civil 
or  military  post,  and  retire  quietly,  shall  be  per- 
mitted to  do  so  unmolested. 

"  Many  faithful  soldiers  have  been  driven  into 
resistance  to  government  only  because  they  were  in 
the  ranks  and  could  not  escape  from  them,  and 
because  they  really  thought  their  feelings  of  religion 
and  honour  injured  by  the  measures  of  government. 
This  feeling  was  wholly  a  mistake;  but  it  acted  on 
men's  minds.  A  proclamation  of  the  governor- 
general  now  issued  is  perfectly  explicit,  and  will 
remove  all  doubts  on  these  points. 

"  Every  evil-minded  instigator  in  the  disturbance, 
and  those  guilty  of  heinous  crimes  against  private 
persons,  shall  be  punished.  All  those  who  appear 
in  arms  against  the  government  after  this  notifica- 
tion is  known  shall  be  treated  as  open  enemies."^ 

The  proclamation,  according  to  Sir  Charles 
Trevelyan,  "was  universally  approved  at 
Agra."  He  adds,  that  "its  object  was  to 
apply  a  solvent  to  reduce  the  compact  mass 
of  rebellion  to  its  elements,  and  to  give  to 
the  well-disposed  an  opportunity  of  return- 
ing to  their  allegiance,  leaving  the  guilty 
remainder  to  their  well-deserved  fate."§ 

The  governor-general  in  council  took  a 
diff'erent  view  of  the  subject;  and  a  tele- 
gram, dated  May  26th,  declared  that  the 

Mutiny,  p.  313;  the  third,  omitted  in  the  Blue  Book, 
is  given  by  "  Indophilus"  in  his  Letter  to  the  Times, 
Dec.  25th,  1857. 

X  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1857. 

§  Times,  December  25th,  1857. 


188 


THE  RAJAH  OF  PUTTEEALA. 


proclamation  was  disapproved,  and  that  the 
embarrassment  in  which  it  would  place  the 
government  and  the  commander-in-chief 
was  very  great.  Everything  was  therefore 
to  be  done  to  stop  its  operation.  Mr. 
Colvin  protested  against  the  repudiation  of 
the  proclamation,  and  denied  the  justice  of 
the  chief  ground  on  wliich  it  was  denounced 
by  the  governor-general  in  council — namely, 
that  it  offered  means  of  escape  to  the  men 
who  murdered  their  officers.  Lord  Canning 
persisted  in  ordering  its  withdrawal,  and 
directed  that  the  following  proclamation 
should  be  issued  in  its  stead  : — 

"  Every  soldier  of  a  regiment  which,  although  it 
has  deserted  its  post,  has  not  committed  outrages, 
will  receive  a  free  pardon  and  permission  to  proceed 
to  his  home,  if  he  immediately  deKvers  up  his  arms 
to  the  civil  or  military  authority,  and  if  no  heinous 
crime  is  shown  to  have  been  perpetrated  by  himself 
personally. 

"This  offer  of  free  and  unconditional  pardon 
cannot  be  extended  to  those  regiments  which  have 
killed  or  wounded  their  officers  or  other  persons,  or 
which  have  been  concerned  in  the  commission  of 
cruel  outrages. 

"  The  men  of  such  regiments  must  submit  them- 
selves unconditionally  to  the  authority  and  justice 
of  the  government  of  India. 

"Any  proclamations  offering  pardon  to  soldiers 
engaged  in  the  late  disturbances,  which  may  have 
been  issued  by  local  authorities  previously  to  the 
promulgation  of  the  present  proclamation,  will  there- 
upon cease  to  have  effect ;  but  all  persons  who  may 
have  availed  themselves  of  the  offer  made  in  such 
proclamations,  shall  enjoy  the  benefit  thereof."* 

It  was  clearly  impolitic  to  issue  orders 
and  counter-orders  which,  to  the  natives, 
would  bear  the  semblance  of  vacillation 
of  purpose,  if  not  of  double-dealing.  But 
in  the  excitement  of  the  period,  it  is 
probable  that  nothing  short  of  an  explicit 
offer  of  amnesty  to  all  who  could  not  be 
proved  to  have  actually  shed  blood,  or  been 
notorious  ringleaders,  would  have  sufficed 
to  arrest  the  course  of  mutiny.  The  gov- 
ernment of  India,  true  to  the  motto  of 
their  policy,  "  insufficient  or  too  late,"  could 
not  yet  understand  the  urgency  of  the  case, 
and  went  so  far  as  to  blame  the  lieutenant- 
governor  for  having  taken  upon  himself  the 
responsibility  of  an  important  measure, 
"  without  necessity  for  any  extreme  haste." 
And  this  to  a  man  who  heard  the  "crash  of 
regiments"  on  every  side. 

Lord  Elphinstone,  the  governor  of  Bom- 
bay, dispatched  a  telegram  to  Lord  Canning 
on  the  17th  of  May,  proposing  to  send  an 
officer  in  a  fast  steamer,  to  overtake  the 

•  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1857 ; 
pp.  334-5. 


mail,  which  had  left  Bombay  four  days  pre- 
viously. The  governor-general  rejected  the 
offer  as  unnecessary,  although  it  involved 
the  saving  of  twenty-eight  days  in  the 
appeal  for  reinforcements  from  England. 
About  the  same  time,  intelligence  reached' 
Agra  that  the  treaty  of  peace  was  ratified 
with  Persia,  and  that  three  European  regi- 
ments, and  a  portion  of  the  European  artil- 
lery, were  to  return  to  India  immediately. 
Mr.  Colvin  entreated  that  the  troops,  on 
arriving  at  Calcutta,  might  be  immediately 
dispatched  to  the  Upper  Provinces;  but 
the  answer  he  received  was,  that  many 
weeks  must  elapse  before  the  force  could 
reach  India ;  in  the  meantime,  a  European 
regiment  had  been  called  for  from  Madras, 
and  one  from  Pegu ;  but  these  were  not 
expected  at  Calcutta  under  a  fortnight,  and 
not  a  single  European  could  be  spared  until 
then.  In  the  event  of  being  severely 
pressed,  Mr.  Colvin  was  to  apply  to  the 
rajah  of  Putteeala,  or  to  the  rajah  of  Jheend, 
for  aid.  The  services  of  both  these  chiefs 
had  already  been  volunteered,  and  imme- 
diately accepted  and  employed. 

The  rajah  of  Putteeala  has  been  men- 
tioned as  sending  cavalry  to  the  rescue  of 
the  fugitives  from  Delhi.  His  name  will 
recur  frequently,  in  the  course  of  the  narra- 
tive, as  that  of  "  a  constant,  honourable,  and 
invaluable  ally."  His  principality  is  one  of 
the  most  important  of  those  known  as  the 
Seik  protected  states;  and  its  extent  has 
been  recently  increased  by  grants  from  the 
British  government,  bestowed  in  reward  of 
his  fidelity  during  the  war  with  Lahore,  on 


condition  of  his  making  and  maintaining 
in  repair  a  military  road,  and  abolishing 
Suttee,  infanticide,  and  slave-dealing  in  his 
dominions. 

The  latest  parliamentary  return  on  the 
subject  states  the  area  of  Putteeala  at  4,448 
miles,  and  the  population  at  662,752  per- 
sons. The  territory  is  very  fertile,  and 
exports  large  quantities  of  grain  across  the 
Sutlej  to  Lahore  and  Umritsir.  The  chief 
place,  also  named  Putteeala  (twenty  miles 
from  Umballah),  is  a  densely  peopled  and 
compact  town,  with  a  small  citadel,  in 
which  the  rajah,  or,  as  he  is  more  generally 
called,  the  maharajah,  resides.  He  is  de- 
scribed as  "  a  man  in  the  prime  of  life,  of 
some  thirty-three  or  thirty-four  years  of 
age,  of  commanding  stature  and  fine  pre- 
sence, inclining  to  obesity ;  a  handsome 
oval  face,  black  flowing  beard,  moustache, 
and  whiskers ;  Grecian  nose,  and  large  dark 


MUTINY  AT  ALIGHUR— MAY  20th,  1857. 


189 


eyes  of  the  almond  shape,  which  is  so  much 
admired  by  the  Asiatics.  His  court  is  the 
last  which  is  left  in  the  north-west  of  India, 
and  is  maintained  with  Oriental  magnifi- 
cence. As  a  governor  he  is  absolute  in  his 
own  dominions,  which  he  rules  vigorously 
and  energetically  with  his  own  hands."* 

The  position  of  Putteeala,  the  resources 
and  energy  of  its  ruler,  and  the  disaffection 
of  many  of  his  subjects  towards  British 
supremacy,  rendered  the  question  of  his 
allegiance  one  of  extreme  importance. 
His  decision  was  immediate  and  unquali- 
fied; and  he  assisted  the  British  govern- 
ment, not  only  with  troops  and  supplies  of 
provision,  but  actually  with  a  loan  of  money 
to  the  amount  of  £210,000.t  The  Ura- 
ballah  cantonment  was  in  so  disorganised  a 
condition  at  the  time  of  the  general  mutiny, 
that,  according  to  Mr.  Kaikes,  it  could 
hardly  have  been  preserved  without  the 
help  of  the  Putteeala  rajah.  When  sum- 
moned thither,  he  came  clad  in  a  suit  of 
mail,  driving  his  own  elephant,  and  spared 
no  exertion  to  prove  his  zeal.  J 

Jheend  is  another,  but  much  smaller, 
Cis-Sutlej  state,  part  of  which  was  annexed 
on  the  failure  of  direct  heirs;  but  the  re- 
mainder was  suffered  to  pass  into  the 
possession  of  a  collateral  heir  in  1837.  Its 
limits  were  increased  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  war  with  Lahore,  on  the  same 
terms  as  those  of  Putteeala,  and  for  the 
same  reason — namely,  the  good  service 
rendered  by  its  rajah.  Jheend  comprises 
an  area  of  376  square  miles,  and  a  popula- 
tion of  about  56,000  persons.  The  rajah 
had  an  early  opportunity  of  manifesting  his 
determined  allegiance  to  the  English.  It 
is  said,  that  a  deputation  from  Delhi  sought 
him  while  reviewing  his  troops  in  his  chief 
place,  and  that,  on  learning  their  errand,  he 
immediately  ordered  every  man  of  the 
messengers  to  be  cut  down.§ 

These  were  the  allies  to  whom  Lord  Can- 
ning bade  Mr.  Colvin  turn  for  the  help ;  and 
to  them,  among  other  benefits,  we  owe  the 
aid  of  our  first  Seik  levies.  || 

As  the  month  of  May  wore  on,  affairs  in 
Agra  began  to  assume  a  gloomier  aspect. 
The  detachments  of  the  Gwalior  contingent, 
sent  as  reinforcements,  speedily  betrayed 
their  sympathy  with  the  mutineers  against 

•  Timet  (Mr.  Russell),  29th  November,  1858. 
t  Ihid. 

Itaikes'  Revolt  in  the  N,  W.  Provinces,  pp.  88,  89. 
§  Daily  News,  June  29th,  1857 
II  Murray's  Quarterly  Mevieui,  1858  j  p.  226. 


whom  they  were  expected  to  act,  by  asking 
whether  the  flour  supplied  to  their  camp 
was  from  the  government  stores.  If  so, 
they  would  not  touch  it,  having  been  in- 
formed that  cows'  bones  had  been  pulver- 
ised and  mixed  with  the  otta  sold  in  the 
bazaars.^  These  indications  of  disaffection 
were  marked  by  the  Europeans  with  great 
uneasiness,  the  general  feeling  being,  that 
the  Hindoos  were  completely  under  the 
influence  of  the  Mussulmans,  who  "  were 
all,  or  nearly  all,  thirsting  for  English 
blood."  And,  indeed,  the  feeling  against 
them  became  so  general  and  indiscrimi- 
nating,  that  Mohammedan,  in  the  North- 
West  Provinces,  was  viewed  as  only  "another 
word  for  a  rebel."**  The  news  from  out- 
stations  gave  additional  cause  for  alarm  and 
distrust. 

Aligliur  lies  between  Delhi  and  Agra, 
about  fifty-one  miles  to  the  north  of  the 
latter  city.  The  position  was  very  impor- 
tant, as  it  commanded  the  communications 
up  and  down  the  country.  It  was  garri- 
soned by  three  or  four  companies  of  the 
9th  N.  I.,  "the  men  of  which  behaved  very 
steadily  and  well;  and,  in  this  manner, 
broke  the  shock  of  the  insurrection  for  a 
few  days."tt  On  the  19tli  of  May,  a  reli- 
gious mendicant  appeared  in  the  lines,  and 
endeavoured  to  incite  the  men  to  mutiny. 
Two  of  the  sepoys  whom  he  addressed, 
seized  and  carried  him  before  the  com- 
manding officer,  who  ordered  a  court-mar- 
tial to  be  instantly  assembled.  The  Native 
officers  found  the  prisoner  guilty,  and  sen- 
tenced him  to  death.  On  the  following 
morning  the  troops  were  assembled,  and 
the  offender  brought  out  and  hung,  no 
opposition  or  displeasure  being  evinced  at 
his  fate ;  but  before  the  men  were  marched 
off  the  ground,  the  rifle  company,  which 
had  just  been  relieved  from  the  outpost  of 
Bolundshuhur,  made  their  appearance;  and 
a  Brahmin  sepoy,  stepping  out  from  the 
ranks,  upbraided  his  comrades  for  having 
betrayed  a  holy  man,  who  came  to  save 
them  from  disgrace  in  this  world,  and 
eternal  perdition  in  the  next.Jf  The  men 
listened,  debated,  wavered,  and  finally  broke 
up  with  loud  shouts,  declaring  their  inten- 
tion of  joining  their  comrades  at  Delhi, 
which  they  actually  did;  for  it  is  stated, 

f  Raikes'  Revolt  in  N.  W.  Provinces,  p.  14. 
•*  Ibid.,  PI).  53;  173. 

ft  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin  to  governor-gen- 
eral; May  22nd,  18o7.--Appen(lix,  p.  313. 
XX  Mead's  Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  148. 


190 


MUTINY  AT  MYNPOORIE— MAY  22nd,  1857. 


*% 


that  tbe  regimental  number  of  the  9th  was 
found  on  the  bodies  of  some  of  the  most 
daring  opponents  of  the  British  army.*  The 
officers,  and  Europeans  generally,  were 
neither  injured  nor  insulted  ;  but,  on  their 
departure,  the  treasury  was  seized,  the  gaol 
broken  open,  and  the  bungalows  burned. 
The  officials,  both  civil  and  military,  re- 
treated to  Hattrass,  a  station  about  twenty 
miles  distant;  but  some  persons  fled  in 
different  directions;  and  Mr.  Raikes  de- 
scribes Lady  Outram  (the  wife  of  General 
Sir  James  Outram)  as  reaching  Agra  on 
the  23rd,  "  foot-sore,  from  Alighur,  having 
fled  part  of  the  way  without  her  shoes." 

The  fall  of  Alighur,  recounted  with  all 
imaginable  exaggerations,  became  the  imme- 
diate topic  of  conversation  in  Agra.  The 
budmashes  twisted  their  moustachios  signi- 
ficantly in  the  bazaars,  and  the  Englishmen 
handled  their  swords  or  revolvers.  Mr. 
Baikes  mentions  a  singular  exception  to  the 
prevailing  panic.  The  Church  Missionary 
College,  he  writes,  "was  about  the  last  to 
close,  and  the  first  to  reopen,  of  all  our 
public  institutions  at  Agra  during  the  period 
of  the  revolt.  There  Dr.  French,  the  prin- 
cipal, sat  calmly,  hundreds  of  young  natives 
at  his  feet,  hanging  on  the  lips  which  taught 
them  the  simple  lessons  of  the  Bible.  The 
students  at  the  government,  and  still  more 
the  missionary  schools,  kept  steadily  to 
their  classes;  and  when  others  doubted  or 
fled,  they  trusted  implicitly  to  their  teachers, 
and  openly  espoused  the  Christian  cause." 

Their  exemplary  conduct  did  not  excite 
any  special  rancour  against  them  on  the  part 
of  the  insurgents ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  as- 
serted as    "a   curious   fact,  that  at  Agra, 
Alighur,  Mynpoorie,  Euttehghur,  and  other 
places,  less  danger  was  done  to  the  churches 
than  to  the  private  dwellings  of  the  Eng- 
lish."t     This  was  also  the  case  at  Meerut. 
Three  companies  of  the  9th  Native  infantry, 
stationed  at  Mynpoorie,  mutinied  there  on 
the  23rd  of  May.     Mynpoorie  is  the  chief 
town  of  a  district  of  the  same  name,  ceded 
by  Dowlut  Rao  Sindia  to  the  East  India 
Company,  in   1803.      The   population   are 
chiefly  Hindoos  of  high  caste.     One  of  the 
Meerut  mutineers  (a  Rajpoot,  named  Raj- 
nath  Sing)   escaped  to  his   native  village. 
The  magistrate  sent  some  police  and  a  de- 
tachment of  the  9th  to  apprehend  their  coun- 
tryman and  co-religionist;  instead  of  which, 

•  Mead's  Hepot)  MevoU,  p.  148. 
t  Kaikes'  IteroU  in  the  JV.  W.  Provinces,  pi).  15, 
16;  94. 


tliey,  as  might  have  been  expected,  enabled 
him  to  escape.  The  news  of  the  mutiny  at 
Alighur  reached  Mynpoorie  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  22nd,  and  created  great  excite- 
ment, which,  being  reported  to  the  magis- 
trate, he  immediately  made  arrangements 
for  sending  the  European  females  (sixteen 
in  number),  with  their  children,  to  Agra, 
seventy  miles  distant,  which  city  they 
reached  in  safety. 

Being  thus  relieved  from  the  office  of 
protecting  a  helpless  crowd,  the  leading 
Europeans  prepared  to  lay  down  their  lives  in 
defence  of  their  public  charge.  Their  pre- 
sence of  mind  and  moderation  was  crowned 
with  extraordinary  success.  The  particu- 
lars of  the  afl'air  are  thus  narrated  by 
Mr.  J.  Power,  the  magistrate  of  Myn- 
poorie. After  the  departure  of  the  women, 
he  writes — 

"Mr.  Cocks  and  I  proceeded  to  the  house  of 
Lieutenant  Crawford,  commanding  the  station,  and 
this  officer  agreed  directly  to  take  the  detachment 
out  of  the  station  and  march  them  to  Bhowgaon. 
After  leaving  a  small  guard  at  the  treasury  and 
quarter-guard,  which  I  visited  with  him.  Lieutenant 
Crawford  then  left  the  station,  and  I  then  returned 
to  my  house,  where  I  found  Dr.  Watson  [surgeon], 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Kellnev,  and  Mr  Cocks  assembled. 

"  This  was  about  four  or  five  in  the  morning  j  and 
I  had  not  retired  to  rest  more  than  ten  minutes, 
before  Lieutenant  Crawford  galloped  back  to  my 
house,  and  informed  me  that  his  men  had  broken 
out  into  open  mutiny,  and,  after  refusing  to  obey 
him,  had  fired  at  him  with  their  muskets. 

"Lieutenant  Crawford  stated  he  had  then  found 
it  useless  to  attempt  commanding  his  men,  and  that 
he  had  thought  it  best  to  hurry  back  to  Mynpoorie 
to  warn  the  station,  and  that  he  believed  Lieutenant 
de  Kantzow  was  killed.  Mr.  Cocks  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Kellner  immediately  decided  on  leaving,  and 
the  former  tried  to  induce  me  to  leave  also :  as  I 
informed  him  that  I  did  not  desire  to  leave  my  post, 
he  honoured  me  by  terming  my  conduct  '  romantic,' 
and  immediately  departed  in  company  with  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Kellner.  I  then  left  my  house,  which  I  had  no 
means  of  defending,  and  which  I  was  informed  the 
sepoys  meant  to  attack,  and  proceeded  to  the  large 
bridge  over  the  Eesun,  on  the  grand  trunk  road. 
My  brother  determined  on  accompanying  me,  and  to 
share  my  fate ;  and  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  favour- 
itism, I  hope,  when  I  state  that  his  coolness  and 
determination  were  of  the  greatest  aid  and  comfort 
to  me  throughout  this  trying  occasion. 

"  On  proceeding  to  the  bridge,  1  was  joined  by 
Dr.  Watson,  and  shortly  afterwards  by  Rao  Bhowanee 
Sing,  the  first  cousin  of  the  rajah  of  Mynpoorie,  with 
a  small  force  of  horse  and  foot ;  Sergeants  Mitchell, 
Scott,  and  Montgomery,  of  the  road  and  canal 
departments ;  and  Mr.  McGlone,  clerk  in  the  Myn- 
poorie magistrate's  office,  also  joined  me  at  the  bridge. 
"  I  was,  at  this  time,  most  doubtful  of  the  fate  of 
Mr.  de  Kantzow,  for  I  had  not  coincided  in  Lieu- 
tenant Crawford's  opinion  that  he  had  been  killed. 
Lieutenant  Crawford  not  having  seen  him  fall ;  and 
on  this  account  I  was  unwilling  to  leave  the  position 


GALLANT  DEFENCE— MYNPOORIE— MAY  22nd,  1857. 


191 


1  had  taken,  though  strongly  urged  to  do  so.  The 
sppoys  returned  at  this  time  to  the  station,  having 
utterly  thrown  off  all  control,  dragging  (as  I  after- 
wards learnt)  Lieutenant  de  Kantzow  with  them. 
They  passed  the  dak  bungalow,  and  fired  a  ToUey 
into  the  house  of  Sergeant  Montgomery  (which  was 
close  by),  the  inmates  of  which  had  fortunately  left, 
and  they  then  searched  the  whole  house  over,  with 
the  view  of  finding  money;  they  also  fired  at  Dr. 
Watson's  house,  who  had,  as  I  have  mentioned, 
joined  me;  and  they  then  proceeded  to  the  rear- 
guard, the  magazine  of  which  they  broke  open, 
plundering  it  completely  of  its  contents. 

"  Lieutenant  de  Kantzow  informed  me  that  the 
rebels  took  the  whole  of  the  ammunition  away,  and 
being  unable  to  carry  it  themselves,  they  procured 
two  government  camels  for  that  purpose  from  the 
lines ;  each  man  must  have  supplied  himself  M-ith 
some  300  rounds  or  more ;  and  an  immense  quantity 
of  other  government  stores  was  taken  by  them 
besides.  Lieutenant  de  Kantzow  informs  me  that 
his  life  stood  in  the  greatest  danger  at  the  rear-guard 
at  this  time.  The  men  fired  at  random,  and  muskets 
were  levelled  at  him,  but  dashed  aside  by  some 
better-disposed  of  the  infuriated  brutes,  who  re- 
membered, perhaps,  even  in  that  moment  of  madness, 
the  kind  and  generous  disposition  of  their  brave 
young  officer.  Lieutenant  de  Kantzow  stood  up 
before  his  men  ;  he  showed  the  utmost  coolness  and 
presence  of  mind ;  he  urged  them  to  reflect  on  the 
lawlessness  of  their  acts,  and  evinced  the  utmost 
indifference  of  his  own  life  in  his  zeal  to  make  the 
sepoys  return  to  their  duty.  The  men  turned  from 
the  rear-guard  to  the  Cutchery,  dragging  the  lieu- 
tenant with  them.  They  were  met  at  the  treasury 
by  my  gaol  guard,  who  were  prepared  to  oppose 
them  and  fire  on  them;  but  Mr.  de  Kantzow  pre- 
vented them  from  firing,  and  his  order  has  certainly 
prevented  an  immense  loss  of  life. 

"  A  fearful  scene  here  occurred  ;  the  sepoys  tried  to 
force  open  the  iron  gates  of  the  treasury,  and  were 
opposed  by  the  gaol  guard  and  some  of  the  gaol 
officials ;  the  latter  rallied  round  Mr.  de  Kantzow, 
and  did  their  best  to  assist  him;  but  they,  though 
behaving  excellently,  were  only  a  handful  of  twenty 
or  thirty  (if  so  many),  and  poorly  armed,  against  the 
infuriated  sepoys,  who  were  well  and  completely 
armed  and  in  full  force. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  describe,  accurately,  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  scene  of  the  disturbance  at  the 
treasury;  left  by  his  superior  officer,  unaided  by  the 
presence  of  any  European,  jostled  with  cruel  and 
insulting  violence,  buffeted  by  the  hands  of  men 
who  had  received  innumerable  kindnesses  from  him, 
and  who  had  obeyed  him  but  a  few  hours  before 
with  crawling  servility.  Lieutenant  de  Kantzow  stood 
for  three  dreary  hours  against  the  rebels  at  the 
imminent  peril  of  life. 

"  It  was  not  till  long  after  he  had  thus  been  situ- 
ated at  the  treasury,  that  I  learnt  of  his  being  there. 
I  was  anxious  with  all  my  heart  to  help  him,  but 
was  deterred  from  going  by  the  urgent  advice  of 
Rao  Bhowanee  Sing,  who  informed  me  that  it  was 
impossible  to  face  the  sepoys  with  the  small  force  at 
my  disposal ;  and  I  received  at  this  time  a  brief  note 
from  Lieutenant  de  Kantzow  himself,  by  a  trust- 
worthy emissary  I  sent  to  him,  desiring  me  not  to 
come  to  the  treasury,  as  the  sepoys  were  getting 
quieted,  and  that  my  presence  would  only  make 
matters  worse,  as  the  beasts  were  yelling  for  my 
life.    At  this  time,  the  most  signal  service  was  done 


by  Rao  Bhowanee  Sing,  who  went  alone  to  the 
rebels,  volunteering  to  use  his  own  influence  and 
persuasion  to  make  them  retire.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  lengthen  the  account;  Rao  Bhowanee  Sing  suc- 
ceeded ably  in  his  efforts,  drew  off,  and  then  accom- 
panied the  rebels  to  the  lines ;  where,  after  a  space  of 
time,  they  broke  open  and  looted  the  bells  of  arms, 
the  quarter-guard  carrying  off,  it  is  supposed,  6,000 
rupees  in  money,  and  all  the  arms,  &o.,  they  found 
of  use  to  them. 

"  I  had  retired,  and  the  Europeans  with  mo,  to 
the  rajah  of  Mynpoorie's  fort,  on  the  departure  of 
Rao  Bhowanee  Sing,  according  to  his  advice ;  and 
shortly  after  the  sepoys  left  the  treasury.  Lieutenant 
de  Kantzow  joined  me,  and  I  again  took  possession 
of  the  Cutchery.  I  found,  on  my  return,  the  whole 
of  the  Malkhana  looted,  the  sepoys  having  helped 
themselves  to  swords,  iron-bound  sticks,  &c.,  which 
had  accumulated  during  ages  past.  The  staples  of 
the  stout  iron  doors  of  the  treasury  had  alone  given 
way,  but  thi  toors  themselves  stood  firm. 

"  My  motives  in  taking  up  a  position  at  the 
bridge  were,  first,  that  I  might  keep  the  high  road 
open ;  second,  to  keep  the  sepoys  from  proceeding 
to  the  city,  and  the  budmashes  of  the  city  from  join- 
ing the  sepoys.  The  effect  of  the  victory  (if  I  may 
use  such  a  term)  over  the  sepoys,  trifling  though  it 
may  appear,  has  been  of  incalculable  benefit.  It  has 
restored  confidence  in  the  city  and  district,  and 
among  the  panic-stricken  inhabitants;  and  I  hope 
the  safety  of  the  treasure,  amounting  to  three  lacs, 
will  prove  an  advantage  in  these  troubled  times  to 
government.  •  •  •  Rao  Bhowanee  Sing's  con- 
duct has  been  deserving  in  the  extreme ;  I  believe 
he  has  saved  the  station  and  our  lives  by  his  cool- 
ness and  tact,  and  has  supported  the  ancient  charac- 
ter of  his  race  for  loyalty  to  the  British  government. 

"During  the  insurrection  of  the  sepoys,  I  was 
joined  by  Dumber  Sing,  Risaldar,  of  the  2nd  irregu- 
lars— a  fine  old  Rajpoot,  who  did  me  right  good 
service;  and  by  Pylad  Sing,  Duffadar,  of  the  8th 
irregulars.  These  men  guarded  the  gaol,  which  the 
sepoys  threatened  to  break  into.  Their  conduct  I 
beg  to  bring  to  the  special  notice  of  his  honour 
the  lieutenant-governor.  These  oflicers  have  since 
raised  for  me  a  most  excellent  body  of  horse,  com- 
posed chiefly  of  irregulars,  which  I  have  placed 
under  the  care  of  the  Risaldar." 

The  magistrate  concluded  by  stating,  that 
he  and  his  companions  had  fortified  the 
ofBce,  and  could  "  easily  stand  a  siege 
in  it."* 

Mr.  Colvin  was  delighted  by  a  spirit  so 
congenial  to  his  own,  and  hastened  to  lay 
the  whole  account  before  the  governor- 
general;  who,  besides  sending  Lieutenant 
de  Kantzow  the  thanks  of  government,  wrote 
him  a  private  note,  declaring  that  he  (Lord 
Canning)  could  not  adequately  describe  the 
admiration  and  respect  with  which  he  had 
read  the  report  of  the  magistrate  of  Myn- 
poorie,  concerning  the  "noble  example  of 
courage,  patience,  good  judgment,  and 
temper,  exhibited  by  the  young  oflBcer."t 

*  Letter  of  magistrate  of  Mynpoorie,  May  25th, 
1857. — Appendix,  pp.  54,  65. 
t  Lord  Canning,  June  7th,  1857. 


193         DEATH  OF  CAPTAIN  FLETCHER  HAYES— JUNE  1st,  1857. 


Another  detachment  of  the  9th  Native 
infantry,  stationed  at  Etawah,  likewise 
mutinied  and  marched  off  to  Delhi,  after 
plundering  the  treasury  and  burning  the 
bungalows.  No  blood  was  shed.  Mr. 
Hume,  the  magistrate,  escaped  in  the  dress 
of  a  native  woman.  A  chief,  spoken  of 
as  the  Etawah  or  Elah  rajah,  took  part  with 
the  mutineers.  The  post  between  Agra 
and  Allahabad  was  by  this  means  inter- 
rupted; while  the  evacuation  of  Alighur 
broke  off  the  communication  between 
Meerut  and  Agra,  and  between  the  former 
place  and  Cawnpoor. 

Immediately  before  the  outbreak  at  Ali- 
ghur, 233  of  the  irregular  Gwalior  cavalry 
were  sent  from  Agra  thither,  under  the 
command  of  Lieutenant  Cockburn.  They 
arrived  just  in  time  to  assist  in  escorting 
the  Europeans  to  Hattrass.  After  ac- 
complishing this,'  eighty  of  the  Gwalior 
horse  broke  into  open  mutiny,  formed,  and 
rode  round  the  camp,  entreating  their  com- 
rades to  join  them  by  every  plea  of  temporal 
and  eternal  interest;  but  finding  their  argu- 
ment of  no  avail,  they  went  off  by  them- 
selves to  Delhi.  With  a  party  now  reduced 
to  123  men,  and  in  a  disturbed,  if  not  abso- 
lutely hostile,  country.  Lieutenant  Cockburn 
and  his  troopers  contrived  to  do  good  ser- 
vice. Hearing  that  a  party  of  500  men  had 
collected  near  Hattrass,  and  were  plunder- 
ing the  neighbouring  country,  the  lieute- 
nant procured  a  curtained  bullock-cart,  such 
as  coloured  women  travel  in  up  the  country; 
and  having  let  down  the  curtains,  and  per- 
suaded four  of  his  troopers  to  enter  it  with 
loaded  carbines,  and  go  forward,  he  himself, 
with  twenty  men,  followed  at  a  distance, 
screened  by  the  shade  of  some  trees.  The 
plot  succeeded.  The  marauders,  on  seeing 
the  cart,  rushed  forward  to  attack  and 
plunder  the  women  whom  they  believed  to 
be  concealed  inside.  The  foremost  of  them 
was  shot  dead ;  and  Lieutenant  Cockburn's 
party,  on  hearing  the  report,  advanced  in- 
stantly on  the  insurgents,  and  rapidly 
dispersed  them — killing  forty-eight,  wound- 
ing three,  and  taking  ten  prisoners;  while 
others,  in  the  extremity  of  their  fear,  flung 
themselves  into  wells,  to  avoid  falling 
into  the  hands  of  their  pursuers.* 

A  subsequent  expedition,  attempted  for 
the  purpose  of  attacking  the  Elah  rajah, 
and  reopening  the  Alighur  road,  had  a  very 
different  termination.     The  expedition  con- 

•  Friend  of  India ;  quoted  in  Times,  August  6th, 
1857.  >       6  . 


sisted  of  200  men  of  the  2nd  irregular 
cavalry,  under  Captain  Fletcher  Hayes 
(military  secretary  to  Sir  H.  Lawrence), 
who  was  accompanied  by  Captain  Carey,  of 
the  17th  N.I.,  and  two  other  Europeans, 
Adjutant  Barber  and  Mr.  Fayrer.  The 
detachment  reached  Bowgous  on  Saturday, 
May  30th ;  and  Captains  Hayes  and  Carey, 
leaving  their  men  in  charge  of  the  adjutant, 
proceeded,  on  the  same  evening,  to  Myn- 
poorie,  eight  miles  distant,  to  consult  with 
the  magistrate  (Power)  on  their  proposed 
movements,  and  remained  there  until  the 
following  Monday.  In  the  meantime,  the 
thanadar  of  Bowgous  sent  a  message  to 
Captain  Hayes  regarding  tlie  disaffection  of 
the  men ;  but  he  attributing  it  to  annoy- 
ance at  long  and  frequent  marches,  paid 
little  heed  to  the  warning,  and  started, 
according  to  his  previous  intention,  on 
Monday  morning,  to  join  the  men  at  the 
appointed  place.  The  two  officers — Hayes 
and  Carey — "  cantered  along  all  merrily," 
writes  the  survivor,  "and  after  riding  about 
eleven  miles,  came  in  sight  of  the  troopers 
going  quietly  along  a  parallel  road."  The 
officers  crossed  an  intervening  plain,  to  join 
the  men,  who  faced  round,  and  halted  at 
their  approach ;  but  one  or  two  of  the  Native 
officers  rode  forward,  and  said,  in  an  under 
tone,  "  Fly,  Sahibs,  fly  \"  "  Upon  this," 
Captain  Carey  states,  "  poor  Hayes  said  to 
me,  as  we  wheeled  round  our  horses,  'Well, 
we  must  now  fly  for  our  lives ;'  and  away  we 
went,  with  the  two  troops  after  us  like 
demons  yelling,  and  sending  the  bullets 
from  their  carbines  flying  all  round  us." 
Hayes  was  cut  down  from  his  saddle  by  one 
blow  from  a  Native  officer;  his  Arab  horse 
dashed  on  riderless.  Carey  escaped  unhurt. 
He  was  chased  for  about  two  miles  by  two 
horsemen ;  and  after  they  had  relinquished 
the  pursuit,  his  own  mare  was  unable  to 
proceed  further,  and  he  was  saved  by  meet- 
ing opportunely  one  of  the  troopers,  who 
appears  to  have  lagged  behind  his  comrades, 
and  who  took  the  European  up  on  his  own 
horse  till  they  overtook  Captain  Hayes' 
Arab,  which  Captain  Carey  mounted,  and 
reached  Mynpoorie  in  safety.  An  old  Seik 
sirdar,  with  two  followers,  who  had  accom- 
panied the  expedition,  and  remained  faithful 
to  the  British,  said  that  Barber  and  Fayrer 
had  been  murdered  ten  minutes  before  the 
arrival  of  the  other  two  Europeans.  A 
sowar  (trooper)  stole  behind  young  Fayrer 
as  he  was  drinking  at  a  well,  and  with  one 
blow  of  his  tulwar  half  severed  the  head 


MUTINY  AT  MUTTRA— MAY  30th,  1857. 


193 


from  the  body  of  his  victim.  Barber  fled 
up  the  road,  several  mutineers  giving  chase; 
he  shot  one  horse  and  two  of  the  troopers, 
when  he  was  hit  with  a  ball,  and  then  cut 
down.  The  three  bodies  were  brought  in  to 
the  cantonment  in  the  course  of  the  evening: 
the  head  of  poor  Hayes  was  frightfully 
hacked  about ;  his  right  hand  cut  oflF,  and 
his  left  fearfully  lacerated ;  his  watch,  ring, 
boots,  all  gone,  and  his  clothes  cut  and 
torn  to  pieces.  The  murderers  made  off  for 
Delhi. 

The  gallant  band  at  Mynpoorie,  un- 
daunted by  this  terrible  catastrophe,  con- 
tinued to  maintain  their  position.  The 
Cutchery,  or  court-house,  was  a  large 
brick  building,  from  the  top  of  which  they 
were  prepared  to  make  a  good  fight  if  no 
guns  were  brought  by  the  enemy.  Their 
force  consisted  of  100  of  the  Gwalior  horse, 
under  Major  Raikes  (the  brother  of  the 
judge  at  Agra),  who  raised  cavalry  and  in- 
fantry in  all  directions.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  June  the  recruits  numbered  about 
100 ;  and  the  total  defence  was  completed 
by  a  few  men  of  the  9th  Native  infantry, 
who  had  remained  true  to  their  salt.* 

Troops  could  not  be  spared  from  Agra  for 
the  reoccupation  of  Alighur;  but  a  party  of 
volunteers,  headed  by  Captain  Watson,  and 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Cocks,  of  the  civil 
8ervice,t  proceeded  thither,  and  succeeded  in 
making  themselves  literally  "  masters  of  the 
situation,''  and  in  reopening  the  road  be- 
tween them  and  Agra. 

The  extremely  "irregular"  character  of 
the  warfare  carried  on  in  the  highways  and 
byeways  of  the  North-West  Provinces,  may 
be  understood  from  the  following  extract 
from  a  private  letter  from  the  "Volunteers' 
Camp,  Alighur,"  dated  June  5th,  1857 : — 

"  Some  two  nights  ago  we  made  a  dour  (a  foray  or 
raid)  to  the  village  of  Khyr,  where  a  Raoj:  had  pos- 
sessed himself  of  the  place,  and  was  defying  British 
authority.  We  fell  upon  the  village,  after  travelling 
all  night,  at  about  8  a.m.  ;  surrounded  it,  and 
one  party  entered  and  asked  the  Rao  to  surrender. 
He  at  first  refused ;  but,  on  being  threatened  and 
told  that  his  stronghold  should  be  burst  open,  he 
opened  the  doors,  and  was  immediately  taken 
prisoner  with  thirteen  of  his  adherents.  The  little 
army  he  had' assembled  had  dispersed  early  in  the 
morning,  not  expecting  we  should  have  been  there 
so  soon.  We  walked  by  the  side  of  the  prisoner 
from  the  place  where  he  was  taken,  to  a  mango  tope 

*  Letter  of  Captain  Carej-,  17th  Native  infantry; 
dated,  "Mynpoorie,  June  2nd,  1857." 

t  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  298. 

X  The  Bombay  correspondent  of  the  Times  states 
that  this  chief  was  Rao  Bhossah  Sing,  of  _Burtowlee, 
VOL.  II.  2  c 


out  of  the  village,  where  he  was  tried.  We  reached 
it  in  half-an-hour,  when  he  was  tried  and  hung  for 
rebellion. 

"  Last  evening,  again,  we  received  information  that 
some  150  Goojurs  had  assembled  eight  or  ten  miles 
from  this  to  intercept  the  dawk.  We  were  ordered 
out  at  once  in  pursuit,  and  came  upon  them  about 
5  P.M.  They  got  sight  of  us  at  a  distance,  and 
took  to  their  heels,  and  we  after  them.  Several,  of 
them  were  shot  or  cut  down.  We  were  then  ordered 
to  fire  their  villages,  which  some  of  us  did  by 
dismounting  and  applying  our  cigars  to  what  was 
combustible.  We  then  returned  to  Alighur,  and 
have  not  the  slightest  idea  what  will  be  our  next 
move.  The  road  is  perfectly  safe  from  Agra  to 
this."§ 

While  the  volunteers  were  hanging  real 
or  suspected  rebels  by  drum-head  courts- 
martial,  and  setting  villages  on  fire  by  the 
aid  of  their  cigars,  Mr.  Colvin  was  striving 
to  check  the  insurrectionary  spirit  fast 
spreading  through  his  government,  by  endea- 
vouring to  enlist  the  landholders  on  his  side. 
The  Ap-a  Gazette  Extraordinary  contaitied 
a  distinct  pledge,  the  redemption  of  which 
is  now  anxiously  looked  for  by  those  who 
have  fulfilled  the  preliminary  conditions. 
There  is  no  mistaking  language  so  distinct 
as  this : — 

"Whereas  it  has  been  ascertained  that 
in  the  districts  of  Meerut,  and  in  and  imme- 
diately round  Delhi,  some  short-sighted 
rebels  have  dared  to  raise  resistance  to  the 
British  government :  it  is  hereby  declared, 
that  every  talookdar,  zemindar,  or  other 
owner  of  land,  who  may  join  in  such 
resistance,  will  forfeit  all  rights  in  lauded 
property,  which  will  be  confiscated,  and 
transferred  in  perpetuity  to  the  faithful 
talookdars  and  zemindars  of  the  same  quar- 
ter, who  may  show  by  their  acts  of  obedience 
to  the  government,  and  exertions  for  the 
maintenance  of  tranquillity,  that  they  de- 
serve reward  and  favour  from  the  state."J| 

The  close  of  May  arrived,  and  the  Native 
troops  at  Agra  (the  44th  and  67th),  although 
they  had  been  restrained  from  open  mu- 
tiny, had  yet,  by  nightly  fires  and  secret 
meetings,  given  indications  of  decided  dis- 
affection. A  company  of  one  of  these 
regiments  was  sent  from  Agra  to  Muttra,  a 
distance  of  thirty-five  miles,  to  relieve 
another  company  on  duty  at  that  ancient 
and  once  wealthy  Hindoo  city.  On  the 
30th,  both  companies,  relieving  and  relieved, 

and  that  the  volunteers  were  led  by  Mr.  Watson, 
magistrate  of  Alighur,  and  Lieutenant  Greathed. — > 
Timea,  July  15th,  1857. 

§  Times,  July  14th,  1857. 

II  Quoted  in  Times,  June  29th,  1857. 


194 


MUTINY  AT  NUSSEERABAD— MAY  28th,  1857. 


threw  off  their  allegiance,  plundered  the 
treasury,  and  marched  to  Delhi.  This  cir- 
cumstance decided  Mr.  Colvin  on  the  dis- 
armment  of  the  44th  and  67th,  which  was 
accomplished  on  the  morning  of  the  31st, 
and  the  men  were  dismissed  to  their  homes 
on  two  months'  leave  of  absence. 

Rajpootana,  or  Rajast'han. — While  the 
events  just  recorded  disturbed  the  peace  of 
Agra  and  the  N.W.  Provinces  from  within, 
dangers  were  arising  in  the  neighbouring 
territories  of  Rajpootana,  or  the  Saugor 
District  (as  the  revenue  officers  term  that 
country),  which  threatened  to  bring  an 
overwhelming  number  of  mutineers  to  bear 
upon  the  scattered  Europeans. 

The   stations  of  Nusseerabad  (near  Aj- 
meer)  and  Neemuch,  usually  garrisoned  from 
Bombay,  had  been,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  drained  of  the  infantiy  and  guns  of 
the  army  of  that  presidency  by  the  pressure 
of  the   Persian   war.      There   remained   a 
wing    of    the    1st    Bombay   light   cavalry 
(Lancers)    cantoned    at  Nusseerabad ;  but 
that  station  received  for  infantry  the  15th 
Bengal  Native  regiment  from  Meerut,  and 
the  30th  from  Agra  ;  and  for  artillery,  a 
company  of  the  7th  Bengal  battalion.     To 
Neemuch,  the  72nd  Native  infantry,  and  a 
troop  of  Native  horse  artillery,  were  sent 
from  Agra,  and  a  wing  of  the  1st  Bengal 
light  cavalry  from  Mhovv.    Great  excitement 
had  been  caused  at  both  stations  by  the 
tidings   from   Delhi  and  Meerut;    and  at  | 
half-past  three  in  the  afternoon  of  the  28th 
of  May,  the  15th  Native  infantry,  at  Nus- 
seerabad, broke  into  open  mutiny  by  seizing 
the   guns   of    Captain   Timbrell's    battery, 
while  the  horses  of  the  troop,  with  the  men, 
had  gone  to  water.     Captain  Hardy,  and 
the  other  officers  of  the  lancers,  hastened 
to  their  lines,  and,  in  a  few  minutes,  the 
troopers  were  mounted,  formed  into  open 
column,  and  led  against  the  mutineers,  who 
opened   the    guns    upon    their    assailants. 
Captain  Spottiswoode  was  killed  at  the  head 
of  his  troop,  after  getting  into  the  battery. 
Cornet   Newberry  was   also  shot  while  in 
the  act  of  charging;    and  Captain  Hardy 
was  wounded,  with  several  officers.     Other 
charges  were  made,  but   without   success, 
until   Colonel   Penny   ordered   the    troops 
to  desist,  and  form  in  readiness  to  act  upon 
the   mutineers,  in   case  they  should  leave 
their  lines  and  come  into  the  plain.     About 
five  o'clock  the  officers  of  the  15th  Native 
infantry  took  refuge  in   the   lines   of  the 
Lancers,  having  been  expelled  by  their  own 


men,  but  not  injured,  though  they  are 
reported  to  have  been  fired  at.  The  30th 
Native  infantry  [remained  neutral,  neither 
obeying  orders  nor  joining  the  mutineers. 
The  aspect  of  affairs  seemed  so  alarming, 
that  the  immediate  evacuation  of  the 
station  was  resolved  on,  and  the  ladies  and 
children  were  moved  out  while  light  re- 
mained. The  party  retreated  towards 
Beawur,  halting  half-way  at  midnight,  to 
rest  and  let  stragglers  assemble ;  and  here 
the  dead  body  of  Colonel  Penny  was 
brought  in.  The  colonel  had  been  too  ill 
on  the  previous  night  to  give  orders  for  the 
retreat,  and  had  apparently  fallen  off  his 
horse  and  died  on  the  road  from  exhaus- 
tion. The  other  fugitives  reached  Beawur 
in  safety.  Eleven  of  the  Lancers  joined  the 
rebels ;  the  conduct  of  the  remainder  was 
most  exemplary.  "Cantoned  with  two 
mutinous  regiments,  the  regiment  has," 
Captain  Hardy  reports,  "  been  nightly  on 
duty  for  a  fortnight  past,  and  entirely 
responsible  for  the  safety  of  the  canton- 
ment. They  have  been  constantly  assailed 
with  abuse,  with  no  other  result  than  telling 
their  officers.  They  turned  out  in  the 
promptest  way  to  attack  the  mutineers ;  and 
they  marched  out  of  camp,  when  ordered, 
as  they  stood,  leaving  their  families  and 
everything  they  had  in  the  world  behind 
them.  They  are  now  without  tents  in  a 
hot  plain,  and  without  any  possibility  of 
being  comfortable ;  but  up  to  this  time  all 
has  iaeen  most  cheerfully  borne,  and  all 
duty  correctly  performed."* 

The  governor-general  directed  that  the 
Native  officers  who  had  most  distinguished 
themselves  at  Nusseerabad  should  be  pro- 
moted, and  liberal  compensation  "  awarded 
for  the  loss  of  property  abandoned  in  the 
cantonment  and  subsequently  destroyed, 
when  the  lancers,  in  obedience  to  orders, 
marched  out  to  protect  the  families  of  the 
European  officers,  leaving  their  own  un- 
guarded in  cantonments."  At  night  the 
Nusseerabad  lines  were  set  on  fire,  and  on 
the  following  morning  the  rebels  started  for 
the  favourite  rendezvous  of  Delhi. 

The  tidings  of  the  revolt  at  Nusseerabad 
turned  the  scale  at  Neemuch,  where  the 
officers  had  been  exerting  themselves  to  the 
uttermost  to  check  the  evident  tendency  of 
the  men,  by  affecting  a  confidence  which 
they  were  far  from  feeling.  Colonel  Abbott 
slept  every  night  in  a  tent  in  the  lines  of 

•  Despatch  from  Captain  Hardy  to  the  Major  of 
Brigade,  Rajpootana  field  force,  May  30th,  18j7. 


MUTINY  AT  NEEMUCH— JUNE  3rd,  1857. 


19a 


his  regiment,  without  a  guard  or  sentry; 
and,  latterly,  all  officers  did  the  same  even 
with  their  families.  One  wing  of  the  7th 
regiment  Gwalior  contingent  held  the  for- 
tified square  and  treasury ;  the  other  wing 
was  encamped  close  to,  but  outside,  the 
walls.  Towards  the  close  of  May  the 
utmost  panic  had  prevailed  in  the  Sudder 
Bazaar;  and,  among  the  current  reports, 
was  that  of  an  intended  attack  on  Nee- 
much  by  a  British  force,  which  was  a  per- 
version of  a  plan  for  the  protection  of 
Jawud  (a  walled  town,  about  twelve  miles 
from  Neemuch),  by  the  movement  there  of 
the  Kotah  force,  under  Major  Burton. 

On  the  morning  of  the  2nd  of  June, 
Colonel  Abbott  received  information  of  the 
state  of  feeling  in  the  Native  lines,  and 
warned  Captain  Lloyd,  the  superintendent, 
that  the  outbreak  could  not  be  delayed 
beyond  a  few  hours.  Captain  Lloyd  made 
arrangements  for  securing  a  few  of  the 
most  valuable  records,  and  for  insuring  a 
line  of  retreat  for  fugitives  by  the  Oodipoor 
road,  by  means  of  a  detachment  of  mounted 
police.  Meanwhile,  Colonel  Abbott  assem- 
bled the  Native  officers,  and,  after  some 
discussion,  induced  them  to  swear  (the 
Mohammedans  on  the  Koran,  the  Brah- 
mins on  Ganges-water)  that  they  now 
trusted  each  other  (want  of  mutual  confi- 
dence having  been  previously  believed  to 
exist),  and  would  remain  true  to  their  salt. 
The  commanding  officer  was  requested  to 
take  an  oath  of  faith  in  their  good  inten- 
tions, which  he  did ;  and  the  meeting  was 
thus  concluded,  apparently  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all  parties.  That  day,  and  the  follow- 
ing one,  passed  quietly;  but,  on  the  second 
night,  symptoms  of  mutiny  were  shown  by 
the  Native  artillerymen;  and  at  eleven 
o'clock  several  of  them  rushed  to  the  guns, 
and,  loading  them,  fired  two  off,  evidently 
as  a  preconcerted  signal.  The  cavalrv 
rushed  from  their  lines,  and  the  72nd  fof- 
lowed  the  example.  The  wing  of  the  7th 
Gwalior  regiment  was  marched  inside  on 
the  report  of  the  guns,  and  rewards  of 
100,  300,  and  500  rupees  each  were  offered 
to  the  sepoys,  naiks,  and  havildars  re- 
spectively, on  condition  of  their  successfully 
defending  the  fort  and  treasury.  For 
nearly  three  hours  the  garrison  remained 
firm,  watching  the  mutineers  thrusting 
lighted  torches,  fastened  to  long  poles,  into 
the  thatch  of  the  bungalows.  At  the  expi- 
ration of  that  time  two  more  guns  were 
fired ;  when  an  old  Rajpoot,  of  fifty  years' 


standing  in  the  service,  ordered  hia  men  to 
open  the  gates,  desired  the  officers  to  save 
themselves,  and  eventually  caused  them  to 
be  escorted  to  a  place  of  comparative  safety. 
Captain  Macdonald  and  his  companions 
resisted,  but  were  told,  that  if  they  did  not 
hasten  to  escape,  they  would  assuredly  be 
massacred  by  the  sepoys  of  other  regiments, 
and  those  of  their  own  would  be  unable  to 
defend  them.  The  manner  of  the  flight 
which  ensued  was  not  unlike  that  from 
Delhi,  only  the  ntimber  of  the  fugitives  was 
far  smaller,  and  the  road  shorter  and  less 
perilous.  Mrs.  Burton  (the  wife  of  the 
commanding  officer  of  the  Kotah  force) 
states,  that  having  timely  notice  of  the 
mutiny,  she  quitted  Neemuch  immediately 
before  the  outbreak,  and  took  refuge  at  the 
small  fort  of  Jawud,  which  was  under  the 
charge  of  her  eldest  son.  The  next  morn- 
ing fifteen  officers,  three  ladies,  and  three 
young  children  came  to  the  gates,  having 
escaped  on  foot  from  Neemuch.  An  hour 
later.  Major  Burton  and  two  of  his  sons 
arrived,  having  preceded  the  force  under 
his  charge,  consisting,  according  to  Mrs, 
Burton's  account,  of  1,500  men,  who  had 
already  marched  "  ninety  miles  in  three 
days,"  and,  being  quite  exhausted,  were  left 
to  rest  by  their  leader,  while  he  proceeded 
to  Jawud,  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  his 
wife  and  other  children.  A  report  came 
that  the  rebels  were  advancing  to  attack 
Jawud,  attended  by  a  retinue  of  convicts  re- 
leased from  the  Neemuch  gaol ;  and  Major 
Burton,  considering  the  fort  utterly  inca- 
pable of  resisting  guns,  abandoned  it,  and 
marched  off  with  the  small  garrison  and 
the  Europeans  who  had  taken  refuge  there, 
to  his  own  camp,  sixteen  miles  distant.  The 
next  morning  the  major  advanced  against 
the  mutineers ;  but  they  had  learned  his 
intention,  and  were  gone  with  the  guns  in 
the  direction  of  Agra. 

The  treasury  had  been  sacked ;  every 
bungalow  but  one  had  been  burned  to  the 
ground  ;  and  the  native  inhabitants  had  so 
completely  shared  the  misfortunes  of  the 
Europeans,  that  Mrs.  Burton  writes — "  The 
shopkeepers  have  lost  everytliing,  so  that 
we  have  not  the  means  of  buying  common 
clothes."* 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  massacre 
took  place,  though  this  was  at  first  asserted. 
The  carriage  of  Mrs.  Walker,  the  wife  of 
an  artillery  officer,  was  fired  into  by 
mounted  troopers,  but  neither  she  nor  her 
•  Letter  published  in  the  Kmes,  August  7th,  1857. 


196 


GENEROSITY  OF  RANA  OF  OODIPOOR— JUNE,  1857. 


child  are  stated  to  have  been  injured.  The 
rana  of  Oodipoor  dispatched  a  force  of  his 
best  troops  against  the  mutineers,  under 
Captain  Showers,  tlie  political  agent  for 
Mewar;  and  behaved  with  princely  gene- 
rosity to  the  fugitives  who  took  refuge  in 
his  dominions.  He  sent  escorts  to  meet 
them ;  gave  up  a  palace  at  Oodipoor  for 
their  reception ;  supplied  them  with  food 
and  clothing  as  long  as  they  chose  to  stay ; 
furnished  them  with  escorts  to  the  different 
stations  they  desired  to  reach;  and  even 
visited  them  in  person — a  very  unusual 
complimeut  from  the  representative  of  a 
most  ancient  and  haughty  Hindoo  dynasty. 
The  chivalry  of  the  Rajpoots  was  manifested 
equally  in  the  villages  as  in  the  capital 
of  Mewar.  One  of  the  fugitives.  Dr.  Mur- 
ray, surgeon  of  the  72nd  Native  infantry, 
has  given  a  graphic  account  of  his  escape 
with  Dr.  Gane  to  Kussaunda.  It  was  a 
bright  moonlight  night,  and  the  distance 
from  Neemuch  only  five  miles ;  but  the 
ground  was  heavy ;  and  beside  being  wearied 
with  previous  excitement,  the  two  Euro- 
peans were  parched  with  thirst.  They  there- 
fore awakened  the  villagers,  and  asked 
to  be  taken  to  the  head  man,  which  was 
immediately  done ;  and  they  found  him  in 
a  small  fort,  with  some  half-dozen  com- 
panions. He  received  the  wanderers  with 
great  courtesy ;  had  a  place  cleared  for 
them  in  his  own  house ;  set  milk,  chupat- 
ties,  dhol,  rice,  and  mangoes  before  them ; 
after  partaking  of  which  they  lay  down  to 
rest.  About  nine  o'clock  next  morning,  a 
party  of  the  1st  light  cavalry,  who  were 
scouring  the  country,  arrived,  and  shouting 


"  Death  to  the  Feringhees !"  insisted  on 
their  surrender.  The  two  doctors  thought 
their  case  hopeless  ;  but  the  Rajpoots  put 
them  in  a  dilapidated  shed  on  one  of  the 
bastions,  saying — "  You  have  eaten  with 
us,  and  are  our  guests ;  and  now,  if  you 
were  our  greatest  enemy  we  would  defend 
you."  The  troopers  threatened  to  attack 
the  village ;  but  the  Rajpoots  replied — 
"  Kussaunda  belongs  to  the  rana ;  we  are 
his  subjects  ;  and  if  you  molest  us  he  will 
send  10,000  soldiers  after  you."  Ou  this, 
the  troopers  went  away  much  enraged, 
threatening  to  return  with  the  guns  in  the 
evening,  and  blow  the  little  fort  to  pieces. 
The  fugitives,  fearing  the  rebels  might  keep 
their  word,  did  not  await  their  threatened 
return,  but  started  afresh  on  their  journey, 
escorted  by  several  Rajpoots.  At  a  Bheel 
village  named  Bheeliya  Kegaon,  situated  in 
the  heart  of  the  jungle,  great  hospitality 
was  evinced.  On  reaching  Burra  Sadree, 
on  the  5th  of  June,  the  adventurers  found 
the  majority  of  the  officers  of  the  7th 
Gwalior  contingent  of  the  1st  cavalry  and 
artillery,  assembled  there  in  safety  with 
their  wives  and  children.  The  party  moved 
from  Burra  Sadree  to  Doongla  on  the  7th, 
and,  on  the  9th,  were  joined  by  the  Ood'- 
poor  force  under  Captain  Showers,  who 
was  proceeding  in  pursuit  of  the  mutineers. 
The  officers  (now  "  unattached"  by  the 
mutiny  of  their  men)  accompanied  the  ex- 
pedition, except  a  few  who  went  with  the 
womeu  and  children  to  Oodipoor,  where 
they  remained,  from  the  12th  to  the  22nd 
of  June,  in  perfect  safety,  until  they  were 
able  to  rejoin  their  countrymen.* 


CHAPTER    VII. 


THE  PUNJAB  AND  THE  PESHAWUR  VALLEY.— MAY,  1857. 


Lahore. — A  telegraphic  message  reached 
the  great  political  capital  of  the  Punjab  on 
the  morning  of  the  12th  of  May,  conveying 
an  exaggerated  account  of  the  massacres 
which   had    taken    place    at    Meerut   and 

*  The  government  return  published  on  May  6th, 
1858,  of  all  Europeans  killed  during  the  rebellion, 
gives  the  wife  and  three  children  of  Sergeant  Supple 
a<  having  been  "  burnt  to  death  in  boxes."    They 


Delhi;  and  declaring  that,  at  the  latter 
place,  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  having 
the  appearance  or  dress  of  a  Christian, 
had  been  massacred.  The  troops  stationed 
at  Lahore  and  at  Meean-Meer  (the  large 

appear  to  have  been  the  only  victims  of  the  out- 
break at  Neemuch  ;  and  it  is  therefore  probable  that 
they  had  hidden  themselves,  and  perished  in  the 
general  conflagration. 


LAHORE,  THE  CAPITAL  OF  THE  PUNJAB. 


197 


'  military  cantonment,  five  or  six  miles  from 
the  city),  are  thus  stated  in  the  govern- 
ment report : — 

"  H.M.'s  81st  foot,  881  strong ;  and  54  in  hospital. 
Two  troops  of  horse  artillery,  comprising — Europeans, 
215  j  Natives,  56 ;  and  1 1  in  hospital.  Four  comiianies 
offoot  artillery— Europeans,  282;  Natives,  143;  21  in 
hospital.  The  8th  light  cavalry — Europeans,  16; 
Natives,  498;  exclusive  of  five  in  hospital.  The  16th 
(grenadiers),  26th  (light),  and  49th  Native  infantry 
regiments — European  officers,  47  ;  Natives,  3,176  ; 
exclusive  of"  121'  in  hospital.  A  detachment  of  54 
rank  and  file  (Native  infantry),  with  three  Native 
officers,  posted  at  Googaira ;  and  of  93,  with  seven 
ofl[icers  (one  European  and  six  Native),  at  Jutog."* 

There  do  not  appear  to  have  been  any 
indications  of  disaffection  exhibited  at  La- 
hore, either  by  incendiary  fires  or  night 
meetings ;  still  the  Europeans  could  not  but 
anxiously  question  the  degree  to  which  the 
sepoys  might  be  disposed  to  sympathise 
with  the  cause  of  revolt.  The  city  itself  had 
a  population  of  100,000  persons,  of  whom 
a  large  proportion  were  hereditaiy  soldiers — 
Seiks  and  Mohammedans ;  from  the  former 
class  the  spirit  of  the  Sing  Guru,  and  "  the 
Baptism  of  the  Sword,"  had  not  wholly 
passed  away;  while  many  of  the  latter,  sub- 
jected first  by  the  Seiks,  and  subsequently 
by  the  British,  would,  it  was  believed,  be  only 
too  ready  to  follow  the  example  of  insur- 
rection. The  Persian  treaty  had  been 
scarcely  ratified  ;  and  the  inflammatory  pro- 
clamation of  the  Shah,  calling  on  all  the 
faithful  to  free  the  land  from  the  yoke  of 
"  the  treacherous  tribe  of  the  British,"  was 
yet  fresh  iu  the  public  mind.f 

Sir  John  Lawrence,  the  chief  commis- 
sioner, was  absent  at  Rawul  Pindee ;  but  it 
was  "  the  essence  of  the  Punjab  administra- 
tion to  have  good  subordinate  officers,"! 
energetic  in  action,  and  not  afraid  of  re- 
sponsibility. 

Immediately  on  receipt  of  the  telegraphic 
message  of  the  12th  of  May,  Mr.  Mont- 
gomery, the  judicial  commissioner,  assem- 
bled in  council  the  following  gentlemen  : — 

Mr.  D.  M'Leod,  the  Financial  Commissioner; 
Colonel  Macpherson,  Military  Secretary  to  the  Chief 
Commissioner  ;  Mr.  A.  Roberts,  Commissioner  of  the 
Lahore  J^ivision ;  Colonel  R.  Lawrence,  Comman- 
dant of  the  Punjab  Police  ;  Major  Ommaney,  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Punjab;  Captain  Hutchinson, 
Assistant  Engineer. 

All  concurred  in  the  necessity  for  promp- 

•  Pari.  Papers  (Commons),  February  9th,  1858; 

t  Crisis  in  the  Punjab;  by  Frederick  Cooper,  Esq., 
deputy-commissioner  of  Umrilsir ;  p.  xiii. 


titude ;  and  Mr.  Montgomery,  accompanied 
by  Colonel  Macpherson,  proceeded  at  once 
to  Meean-Meer,  to  inform  Brigadier  Corbett 
of  the  telegraphic  intelligence,  and  devise 
means  of  meeting  the  danger.  His  plan 
was,  to  deprive  the  Native  troops  of  their 
ammunition  and  gun-caps,  and  to  throw 
additional  Europeans  into  the  fort ;  but  this 
intention  was  supplanted  by  the  necessity 
for  more  decisive  measures,  consequent  on 
the  discovery  made,  during  the  day,  by  a 
Seik  non-commissioned  officer  in  the  police 
corps,  of  a  conspiracy  formed  by  the  Meean- 
Meer  Native  troops,  "  involving  the  safety  of 
the  Lahore  fort,  and  the  lives  of  all  the 
European  residents  in  the  cantonment  and 
the  civil  station  of  AnarkuUee." 

The  statement  of  an  actual  conspiracy  is 
distinctly  made  both  by  Mr.  Cooper  and  by 
a  gentleman  writing  from  Lahore,  whose 
narrative  forms  the  staple  of  the  following 
account. §  According  to  the  former  autho- 
rity, "intercepted  correspondence"  was  the 
channel  by  which  the  information  recorded 
by  him  was  obtained ;  but  neither  writer 
gives  any  exact  data  on  the  subject.  It  is 
possible,  therefore,  that  the  scheme  which 
they  speak  of  as  digested  and  approved, 
amounted  in  reality  to  nothing  beyond  the 
crude  suggestions  of  one  or  two  discon- 
tented sepoys.  In  the  absence,  however,  of 
officially  recorded  particulars,  the  anony- 
mous narrative  of  one  of  the  actors  in  the 
proceedings  at  Lahore,  is  very  interesting. 

The  fort  itself,  situated  within  the  city 
walls,  was  ordinarily  garrisoned  by  one 
company,  a  European  regiment,  one  of  foot 
artillery,  and  a  wing  of  one  of  the  Native 
regiments  from  Meean-Meer;  the  chief  ob- 
ject of  this  force  being  to  keep  a  check  on 
the  city,  and  to  guard  the  government 
treasury. 

During  the  former  half  of  May,  the  26th 
Native  infantry  had  furnished  the  wing  on 
guard,  which  was,  in  due  course,  to  be  re- 
lieved, on  the  15th  of  the  mouth,  by  a  wing 
of  the  49th  Native  infantry.  It  was  ar- 
ranged by  the  conspirators,  that  while  the 
wings  of  both  regiments  were  in  the  fort 
together,  in  the  act  of  relief,  the  united 
force,  amounting  to  about  1,100  men  (all 
detachments  sent  on  guard  being  made  up 
to  their  full  strength),  were  to  rush  on  their 
officers,  seize  the  gates,  and  take  possession 

X  Letter  of  Times'  correspondent,  dated  "  Lahore, 
May  28th." 

§  Blackwood's  Edinburgh  Magazine,  January, 
1858 :  article  entitled  "  Poorbeah  Mutiny." 


198       NATIVE  TROOPS  DISARMED  AT  LAHORE— MAY  13th,  1857. 


of  the  citadel,  the  magazine,  and  the  trea- 
sury. The  small  body  of  Europeans,  not 
above  150  in  all,  consisting  of  eighty  of 
H.M.'s  81st,  and  seventy  of  the  artillery, 
would,  it  was  expected,  be  easily  over- 
whelmed ;  and  then  an  empty  hospital  close 
by,  in  the  deserted  lines  at  AnarkuUee,  was 
to  be  set  on  fire,  as  a  signal  to  the  rebels  at 
Meean-Meer,  of  the  success  of  the  opening 
scene  of  the  plot.  The  rise  was  expected  to 
become  general  in  the  cantonments;,  the 
guns  were  to  be  seized,  the  central  gaol 
forced,  its  2,000  prisoners  liberated ;  and  the 
triumph  was  to  terminate  in  a  promiscuous 
massacre  of  Europeans. 

Information  subsequently  obtained,  is 
alleged  to  have  shown  that  the  plot  ex- 
tended much  beyond  Lahore,  and  included 
Terozpoor,  Phillour,  Jullundur,  and  Um- 
ritsir. 

The    officers    of   the  Native   regiments 
were,  in  this,  as  in  almost  every  instance, 
slow  to    believe    the    unwelcome    tidings. 
Each    one    was    disposed    to     repudiate, 
on  behalf  of  his  own  men,  the  charge  of 
complicity;  lyet  the  brigadier   resolved  on 
the  bold  and  unprecedented  step  of  disarm- 
ing the  whole  of  the  Native  troops  in  the 
station.     The  following  morning  was  fixed 
for  the  time  of  the  proposed  coup  d'itat, 
and  arrangements  were  made  with  anxious 
secrecy.     That  evening  (the  12th)  a  ball  was 
to  be  given  by  the  station  to  the  officers  of 
H.M.'s  81st  regiment.     The  fear  of  afford- 
ing any  cause  of  suspicion  to  the  sepoys, 
prevented  its  being  postponed.     The  Euro- 
peans assembled  according  to  previous  ar- 
rangements, and  the  dancing  was  carried 
on    with    more    spirit    than    gaiety.     The 
ladies  could  not  but  glance  at  the  "piled 
arms"  in  the  corners  of  the  rooms.     Their 
partners  could  not  but  watch  the  doors  and 
windows  in  readiness  to  seize  each  one  his 
ready   weapon.     But   all  continued  quiet ; 
and  at  two  in  the  morning  the  party  broke 
up ;  and  after  a  few  more  anxious  hours,  the 
gentlemen  assembled  on  the  parade-ground. 
Civilians    and    soldiers — all  were   there. 
The  real  point  at  issue  was  one  on  which 
the   lives   of  themselves,   their   wives   and 
children,  depended ;    but  even  the  avowed 
cause  of  the  parade  was  an  important  and 
an  anxious  one.     The  Europeans  had  long 
viewed  the  sepoy  army  as  the  bulwark  of 
British  power  in  India ;  and  its  continued 
allegiance  was  confidently  expected,  as  en- 
sured by  the  mutual  interest  of  the  employers 
and  the  employed.     Now  that  a  new  light 


was  thrown  on  the  subject,  the  officers 
looked  with  strangely  mingled  feelings  upon 
the  men  they  had  trained  and  disciplined, 
as  they  marched  up  and  stood  in  order, 
to  hear  the  general  order  for  the  disband- 
ment  of  a  portion  of  the  Native  infantry 
at  Barrackpoor. 

The  order  was  read  at  the  heads  of  the 
several   Native   regiments :    then,    as   if  to 
form  a  part  of  the  brigade  manoeuvres  of  the 
day,  the  whole  of  the  troops  were  counter- 
marched, so  as  to  face  inwards — on  one  side 
the  Native  regiments  at  quarter-column  dis- 
tance, and  in  front  of  them  the  81st  Queen's 
(only  five  companies)  in  line,  with  the  guns 
along  their  rear.     The  crisis  had  arrived; 
and   Lieutenant  Mocatta,  adjutant  of  the 
26th  Native  infantry,  stepped  forward,  and 
read  an  address  to  the  sepoys,  explaining 
how  the  mutinous  spirit,  which  had  been  so 
unexpectedly  found  to  pervade  other  regi- 
ments,   had   determined    the    brigadier   to 
take  prompt  measures  to  prevent  its  spread 
among  those  under  his  control — his  object 
being  not  so  much  the  peace  of  the  country, 
which  the  British  could  themselves  main- 
tain, but  rather  the  preservation  of  the  good 
nameof  regiments  whose  colours  told  of  many 
glorious  battle-fields.     It  was  therefore  de- 
sirable to  prevent  the  men  from  involving 
themselves  in  a  ruinous  mutiny.     The  exor- 
dium was  sufficiently  significant.     While  it 
was  being  read,  the  81st,  according  to  a  pre- 
arrangement,  formed  into  subdivisions,  and 
fell  back  between  the  guns ;  so  that  whert 
the  address  ended  with  two  short  words — 
"  Pile  arms" — the  16th  grenadiers  (to  whom 
the  order  was  first  given)  found  themselves 
confronted,  not  by  a  thin  line  of  European 
soldiers,   but  by  twelve   guns  loaded  with 
grape,  and  portfires  burning. 

The  16th  was  no  common  regiment ;  its  men 
had  been  numbered  among  General  Nott's 
"noble  sepoys"  at  Candahar  and  Ghuznee. 
They  had  served  with  distinction  in  Cabool, 
Maharajpoor,  Moodkee,  Ferozshuhur,  So- 
braon;  and,  in  evidence  of  their  earlier  ex- 
ploits, had  an  embroidered  star  on  their 
colours,  in  memory  of  their  presence  at 
Seringapatam ;  and  a  royal  tiger  under  a 
banian  tree,  for  Mysore.  A  slight  hesita- 
tion and  delay  were  perceptible  among  their 
ranks ;  but  the  clear  voice  of  Colonel  Renny 
ordering  his  men  to  load,  with  the  ringing 
response  of  each  ramrod  as  it  drove  home 
its  ball-cartridge,  denounced,  with  irresis- 
tible force,  the  madness  of  resistance.  The 
waverers  sullenly  piled  arms,  as  did  also  the 


LAHORE,  UMRITSIR,  AND  GOVINDGHUR— MAY,  1857. 


199 


49th  Native  infantry  and  a  portion  of  the 
26th  light  infantry.  The  8th  cavalry  un- 
buckled and  dropped  their  sabres.  Thus, 
to  the  unspeakable  relief  of  the  600  Eu- 
ropeans, the  2,500  soldiers  stood  disarmed, 
and  were  marched  off  to  their  lines  com- 
paratively harmless.  The  troops  no  longer 
to  be  trusted  with  arms,  had  been  actively 
employed  in  the  conquest  of  the  country. 
The  sepoys  in  the  fort  were  dealt  with  in  an 
equally  summary  manner.  Major  Spencer, 
who  commanded  the  wing  of  the  26th  light 
infantry  in  the  fort,  was  privately  informed 
that  his  men  tvould  be  relieved  on  the 
morning  of  the  14th,  instead  of  on  the  15th, 
as  before  ordered.  At  daybreak  on  the 
14th,  three  companies  of  the  81st,  under 
Colonel  Smith,  entered  the  fort,  to  the  utter 
dismay  of  the  sepoys,  who  obeyed  without 
demur  the  order  to  lay  down  their  arms, 
and  were  speedily  marched  off  to  their  own 
lines  at  Meean-Meer. 

The  immediate  danger  being  thus  averted, 
provision  was  made  for  the  future  in  the 
same  masterly  manner.  Very  happy  was 
Lahore,  alike  in  its  chief  military  and  civil 
authority ;  and  especially  so  in  the  cordial 
co-operation  of  the  soldier  and  the  "poli- 
tical." Brigadier  Corbett  is  described  as 
a  man  to  whom  seven-and-thirty  years  of 
Indian  service  had  given  ripe  experience,  yet 
robbed  of  none  of  the  mental  and  physical 
vigour  necessary  to  cope  with  unprecedented 
difficulties.  Responsibility,  the  bugbear  of 
so  many  Indian  officials,  had  no  terrors  for 
him ;  and  he  devoted  himself  to  the  detail 
of  the  great  military  movements  which  were 
about  to  be  madej  while  his  coadjutor,  Mont- 
gomery, acting  for  the  absent  chief  commis- 
sioner, procured  the  stoppage  of  all  sepoys' 
letters  passing  through  the  post-offices,  and 
the  removal  of  all  treasure  from  the  smaller 
civil  stations  to  places  of  greater  security ; 
having  it  immediately  taken  out  of  the  charge 
of  Hindoostanee  guards,  and  escorted  by 
Punjabee  police.  Montgomery  urged  on  the 
district  officers  (in  a  circular  very  like  those 
issued  by  General  Wellesley,  while  engaged 
in  the  pacification  of  Malabar  in  1803),  that 
"no  signs  of  alarm  or  excitement  should 
be  exhibited,  but  that  each  functionary 
should  be  prepared  to  act,  and  careful  to 
obtain  the  best  information  from  every  pos- 
sible source."  To  Frederick  Cooper,  the 
deputy-commissioner  at  Umritsir,  he  wrote 
privately  on  the  12th  of  May,  urging  him  to 
keep  the  strictest  watch  on  the  sepoys  sta- 
tioned there  (the  59th  Native  infantry,  and 


a  company  of  foot  artillery),  as  also  on  the 
state  of  feeling  among  the  population ;  and 
to  take  every  possible  precaution,  "so  as 
to  be  ready  in  case  of  a  row." 

Umritsir  was  the  holy  city  of  the  Seiks. 
The  adjacent  fort  of  Govindghur  was  named 
after  their  great  general,  judge,  and  priest, 
Govind  Sing.  The  Koh-i-Noor  had  been 
deposited  here  previous  to  its  seizure  by 
the  British ;  and  the  possession  of  the  fort, 
like  that  of  the  famous  gem,  was  looked  upon 
as  a  talismanic  pledge  of  power.  The  ques- 
tion arose,  whether  the  "  Khalsa,"*  shaken 
in  their  confidence  in  the  "  Ikbal"  (luck  or 
good  fortune)  of  the  English,  might  not  be 
induced  to  co-operate  even  with  the  hated 
Mohammedan  and  despised  Hindoo,  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  foreigners  who  had  equally 
humbled  every  native  power  ?  Mr.  Cooper 
possessed  much  personal  influence,  which 
he  used  in  controlling  the  Seik  and  Mo- 
hammedan leaders.  Besides  this,  the  harvest 
in  the  Punjab  had  been  singularly  abundant; 
and  the  Jat,  or  agricultural  population,  con- 
tented themselves,  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  grievances  of  the  "  Poorbeahs,"  or  East- 
erns, as  the  Bengal  sepoys  were  usually 
called  in  Western  India,  on  account  of  their 
being  raised  chiefly  from  territory  situated 
to  the  east  of  the  Ganges.  In  the  evening 
of  the  14th,  an  express  from  Lahore  brought 
warning  of  the  rumoured  intention  of  the 
disarmed  regiments  of  Meean-Meer  to  fly 
somewhere — possibly  in  the  direction  of 
Ferozpoor;  but  more  probably  to  attack 
Govindghur,  in  reliance  on  the  fraternal 
feeling  of  the  sepoy  garrison. 

Mr.  Macnaghten,  the  assistant-commis- 
sioner, volunteered  to  go  midway  on  the 
road  to  Lahore,  and  raise  a  band  of  villagers 
to  intercept  the  expected  rebels.  The 
country-people  responded  with  enthusiasm. 
About  midnight,  Mr.  Macnaghten,  hearing 
a  great  tramp,  mustered  his  volunteers,  and 
formed  a  barricade  across  the  road.  The  vil- 
lagers suggested  that  the  oxen  and  bullocks 
should  remain,  because  the  Hindoos  would 
not  cut  through  them ;  but  the  experiment 
was  not  tried ;  for,  happily,  the  new-comers 
proved  to  be  about  eighty  of  H.M.'s  81st, 
who  had  been  sent  off  from  Lahore,  thirty 
miles  distant,  on  the  previous  morning,  in 
ekkas,  or  light  native  carts,  drawn  by  ponies. 
The  safety  of  Phillour,  the  chief  place  in 
the  Jullundur  or  Trans-Sutlej  division,  was 

*  The  Khalsa  (literally,  the  elect  or  chosen),  was 
the  proud  title  assumed  by  the  Seiks  on  conquering 
tlie  Punjab. 


200 


LOYALTY  OF  KAPORTHELLA  EAJAH— MAY,  1857. 


obtained  by  stationing  a  strong  European 
detachment  within  the  fort,  which  had  pre- 
viously been  wholly  left  in  the  hands  of 
the  natives ;  not  a  single  European  sleep- 
ing within  its  walls.  The  care  of  the  civil 
lines,  and  the  peace  of  the  town,  was  the 
next  important  object ;  and  the  first  con- 
sideration of  the  officer  in  charge  (the 
deputy-commissioner,  Captain  Farrington) 
was,  what  course  would  be  taken  by  Rajah 
Rundheer  Sing,  whose  territory  lay  be- 
tween JuUundur  and  the  river  Beas.  The 
Kaporthella  chief  was  one  of  the  Seik 
sirdars  whose  estates  were  partly  confis- 
cated by  the  English  on  the  annexation 
of  the  JuUundur  Doab  in  1846.  The  pre- 
sent rajah  succeeded  his  father  in  1853, 
and  is  described  as  a  handsome  young  man 
of  about  six-and-twenty,  who,  "  with  the 
manly  bearing  and  address  of  a  Seik  noble, 
combines  a  general  intelligence  far  beyond 
his  class,  and  a  deep  sympathy  with  Eng- 
lish modes  of  life  and  thought."  Captain 
Farrington  immediately  sent  to  Kapor- 
thella for  assistance.  The  rajah  had  been 
absent  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Hurdwar,  but 
was  on  his  return  home,  and  reached  Phil- 
lour  on  the  11th  of  May,  where  his  minister 
met  him  with  tidings  of  the  telegraphic 
intelligence,  and  appeal  for  aid.  This  was 
heartily  given :  the  rajah  marched  straight 
into  JuUundur,  placed  his  escort  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  British,  and  furnished,  besides, 
about  500  men  aud  two  guns,  which  force 
Captain  Farrington  distributed  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  treasury,  gaol,  and  other  public 
buildings. 

In  the  course  of  the  first  eventful  week 
of  the  mutiny,  it  became  evident  that  the 
Seiks  and  Jats  of  the  Punjab,  generally, 
had  no  intention  of  making  common  cause 
with  the  Bengal  army.  On  the  contrary, 
they  had  old  scores  of  their  own,  which 
they  hoped  to  have  an  opportunity  of 
wiping  oS".  It  is  said  they  were  specially 
eager  to  aid  in  the  capture  of  Delhi,  in 
ponscquence  of  the  existence  of  a  prophecy, 
that  they,  in  conjunction  with  the  "topee 
wallahs"  (hat  wearers)  who  should  come  over 
the  sea,  would  lay  the  head  of  the  son  of 
the  Delhi  sovereign  on  the  very  same  spot 
where  that  of  their  Guru  (spiritual  chief) 
had  been  exposed  180  years  before,  by 
order  of  the  emperor  Aurungzebe;  and 
this,  as  the  course  of  the  narrative  wUl 
show,  they  actually  accomplished. 

The  Peshawur   Valley  was  a   point  the 
security  of  which  was  of  extreme  impor- 


tance. The  force  stationed  at  Peshawur, 
Nowshera,  Murdaun,  and  the  frontier 
forts  at  the  foot  of  the  surrounding  hills, 
comprised  nearly  14,000  men  of  all  arms, 
of  whom  less  than  a  third  were  Europeans. 
The  exact  proportions  of  the  Native  troops 
in  the  Peshawur  district  have  not  been 
stated ;  but  according  to  a  valuable  state 
paper  recently  published  by  the  Punjab 
government,  the  total  Native  force  then 
serving  in  the  Punjab  and  Delhi  territory, 
consisted  of  24,000  Punjabees  and  41,000 
Hindoostanees.* 

Of  the  artillery,  twenty-four  light  field 
guns  were  partially  manned  and  driven  by 
Hindoostanees,  and  the  eight  guns  of  the 
mountain-train  battery  entirely  so. 

Very  early  in  the  crisis,  Rajah  Sahib 
Dyal,  an  old  and  faithful  adherent  of  gov- 
ernment, asked  Cooper,  of  Umritsir,  "  how 
matters  looked  at  Peshawur  ?"     The  reply 

was  satisfactory.    "  Otherwise ,"  said  the 

questioner;  and  he  took  up  the  skirt  of  his 
muslin  robe,  and  rolled  it  significantly  up, 
as  if  preparing  for  flight.f  Nor  were  his 
fears  unreasonable. 

The  city  of  Peshawur  is  situated  forty 
miles  from  the  Indus,  and  ten  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Khyber  Pass,  which  is  itself 
formed  and  guarded  by  the  central  and 
highest  of  the  snow-capped  mountains  that 
surround  the  fertile  horse-shoe  valley  of 
Peshawur.  The  predominating  character- 
istics of  the  city  are  Indian ;  yet  many  in- 
dications exist  there  of  Afghan  life  and  man- 
ners— such  as  the  trees  planted  through- 
out the  streets ;  the  western  fruits  exposed 
for  sale ;  the  strict  seclusion  of  the  women ; 
above  all,  the  prevalence  of  the  stern 
aquiline  Jewish  physiognomy  among  the 
population.  The  cantonments  resembled 
all  other  Indian  ones,  being  only  re- 
markable for  extent.  The  parade-ground 
was  sufficient  for  6,000  soldiers.  There 
were  the  same  white  houses,  each  in  its 
own  enclosure ;  the  same  straight  lines  of 
road ;  the  same  red  brick  barracks  for  the 
Europeans ;  the  same  mud  huts  for  the 
Native  troops. J  Like  Agra,  Peshawur  had 
a  fanatical  Mohammedan  population ;  a 
crowded  bazaar,  with  its  reckless,  ruthless 
mob ;  and  aa  additional  danger  existed  in 
the  host  of  poor  and  plunder-loving  tribes 

*  Quoted  in  Overland  Indian  Mail ;  January 
8th,  1859. 

t  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  57. 

X  Article  on  "  Peshawur,"  in  Fraser's  Magazine  ; 
January,  1859. 


PRECAUTIONS  FOR  THE  SECURITY  OF  ATTOCK. 


201 


who  inhabited  tlie  surrounding  hills,  and, 
in  the  event  of  a  struggle,  would  assuredly 
take  part  with  the  stronger.  The  wilds 
and  hilly  fastnesses,  which  extend  north 
and  south  along  our  frontier  for  800  miles, 
were  in  the  hands  of  some  thirty  or  more 
different  tribes.  The  political  manage- 
ment of  these  rested  with  Colonel  Nichol- 
sen  and  Major  Edwardes,  under  the  super- 
vision of  Sir  John  Lawrence. 

On  the  13th  of  May,  a  court-martial  met 
at  Peshawur,  consisting  of  General  Reid, 
Brigadier  Cotton,  Brigadier  Neville  Cham- 
berlain, Colonel  Edwardes,  and  Colonel 
Nicholson,  and  resolved  that  the  troops 
in  the  hills  should  be  concentrated  in 
Jhelum,  the  central  point  of  the  Punjab. 
In  accordance  with  this  resolution,  H.M.'s 
27th  foot  from  the  hills  at  Nowshera, 
H.M.'s  24th  foot  from  Rawul  Pindee,  one 
European  troop  of  horse  artillery  from 
Peshawur,  the  Guide  corps  from  Murdaun, 
16th  irregular  cavalry  from  Rawul  Pindee, 
the  native  Kumaon  battalion  from  the  same  j 
place,  the  1st  Punjab  infantry  from  Bunnoo, ' 
a  wing  of  the  2nd  Punjab  cavalry  from  ' 
Kohat.  and  half  a  company  of  sappers  from 
Attock,  were  ordered  to  concentrate  at 
Jhelum,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
movable  column,  in  readiness  to  quell 
mutiny  wherever  it  might  appear. 

The  danger  which  menaced  the  Punjab 
was  fully  appreciated  by  Sir  John  Law- 
rence; but  without  waiting  to  test  the 
temper  of  the  Seiks,  and  even  while  con- 
sidering (as  he  afterwards  stated)  that  "  no 
man  could  hope,  much  less  foresee,  that 
they  would  withstand  the  temptation  of 
avenging  the  loss  of  their  national  inde- 
pendence,"* he  nevertheless  urged  on  the 
commander-in-chief,  in  the  earliest  days  of 
the  mutiny,  the  paramount  necessity  of 
wresting  Delhi  from  the  hands  of  the 
rebels,  at  any  liazard  and  any  sacrifice, 
before  the  example  of  successful  resistance 
should  become  known  in  India — +)efore  re- 
inforcements of  mutineers  should  flock  to 
the  imperial  city,  and  thus  teach  its  pre- 
sent craven  occupants  the  value  of  the 
prestige  they  had  so  undeservedly  obtained, 
and  of  the  advantages  they  at  first  evinced 
so  little  capacity  of  using. 

General  Anson,  on  relinquishing  his  idea 
of  marching  immediately  on  Delhi,  seriously 


*  Letter  from  Sir  J.  Lawrence  to  Mr.  Kaikes. 
— Revolt  in  the  N.  W.  Provinces,  p.  75. 

t  General  Anson  is  said  to  have  been  the  author  of 
a  well-known  Hand-book  on  Whist,  by  "  Major  A."    p.  111. 

VOL.  II.  2  D 


discussed*  the  advisability  of  fortifying  Um- 
ballah ;  and  asked  the  advice  of  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  whose  reply,  given  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  whist  table — with  which  the 
commander-in-chief  was  notoriously  more 
conversant  than  with  that  of  war,  offensive 
or  defensivef — was  simply  this  :  "  When  in 
doubt,  win  the  trick.  Clubs .  are  trumps  ; 
not  spades."J  To  render  his  advice  prac- 
ticable. Sir  John  Lawrence  strained  every 
nerve  in  raising  corps  for  reinforcements, 
and  even  parted  with  the  famous  Guide 
corps ;  sending  it,  the  Kumaon  battalion, 
and  other  portions  of  the  movable  column, 
to  join  the  army  moving  on  Delhi,  and 
recruiting  his  own  ranks  as  best  he  could. 

The  Peshawur  residency,  although  deemed 
unsafe  for  habitation,  was,  at  this  critical 
period,  richly  stored.  Twenty-five  lacs  of 
rupees,  or  £250,000,  intended  as  a  subsidy 
for  Dost  Mohammed,  had  been  most  oppor- 
tunely deposited  there ;  for,  in  the  finan- 
cial paralysis  consequent  on  the  crisis,  this 
money  proved  of  the  greatest  service  in 
enabling  the  authorities  to  meet  the  heavy 
commissariat  expenses. §  To  retain  it  in 
the  residency  was,  however,  only  to  offer  a 
strong  temptation  to  the  lowest  classes  of 
the  population ;  and  it  was  therefore  sent 
for  safety  to  the  strong  and  famous  old  fort  of 
Attock,  which  commands  the  passage  of  the 
Indus,  whose  waters  wash  its  walls.  The 
fort  was  garrisoned  by  a  wing  of  H.M.'s 
27th  foot ;  provisioned  for  a  siege,  and  its 
weak  points  strengthened.  The  communi- 
cation between  Attock  and  Peshawur  (a 
distance  of  forty  miles)  was  protected  by 
sending  the  55th  Native  infantry,  and  part 
of  the  10th  irregular  cavalry,  from  Nowshera, 
on  the  Attock  road,  across  the  Cabool  river 
to  Murdaun,  a  station  left  vacant  by  the 
departure  of  the  Guides.  The  men  sus- 
pected that  they  had  been  sent  there  because 
their  loyalty  was  distrusted;  and  taunted 
their  colonel,  Spottiswoode,  with  having 
brought  them  to  a  prison.  The  colonel, 
who  firmly  believed  in  the  integrity  of  his 
regiment,  assured  them  to  the  contrary, 
and  promised  to  forward  to  head-quarters 
any  petition  they  might  draw  up.  They 
accordingly  framed  one ;  and  the  most  pro- 
minent grievance  of  which  they  complained, 
was  the  breaking  up  in  practice,  though  not 
in  name,  of  the  invalid  establishment  11 


:j;  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  45. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  61. 

■  See  Introductory  Chapter  to  narrative  of  Mutiny, 


202      DISARMING  AT  PESHAWUR,  MAY  21st.— HODSON'S  HORSE. 


Meanwhile,  the  24ith  and  27th  Native 
infantry,  at  Peshawur,  had  held  a  midnight 
meeting;  and  the  51st  Native  infantry,  and 
5th  light  cavalry,  had  likewise  given  evidence 
of  disaffection.  The  27tli  had  Nicholson 
for  their  colonel — the  mighty  man  of  war, 
to  whom  the  native  chiefs  now  applied  the 
title  once  given  to  Runjeet  Sing — the  Lion 
of  the  Punjab.  Nicholson  earnestly  recom- 
mended the  disarming  of  the  suspected  regi- 
ments; hut  Brigadier  Cotton  hesitated,  until 
Colonel  Edwardes,  arriving  at  the  critical 
moment  at  Peshawur,  from  Calcutta,  stre- 
nuously urged  the  adoption  of  the  measure, 
which  was  successfully  carried  through  on 
the  morning  of  the  21st  of  May.  The 
fidelity  of  the  21st  Native  infantry  was 
deemed  perfectly  trustworthy;  and  sub- 
sequent events  proved  it  so.  Among  the 
intercepted  letters,  there  were  none  which 
in  any  way  compromised  this  regiment:  on 
the  contrary,  an  old  subahdar  was  found,  in 
reply  to  some  mutinous  proposition,  to  have 
urged  the  sepoys  to  stand  by  their  salt,  as, 
though  the  mutineers  might  have  their  way 
for  three  months,  after  that  the  British 
would  be  supreme  again.  The  tone  of  the 
other  letters  was  different,  though  the 
sentiments  of  the  writers  were  often  veiled 
in  allegorical  expressions.  "  Pearls,"  or 
white-faces,  were  quoted  as  low  in  the  mar- 
ket; "red  wheat,"  or  coloured  faces,  as 
looking  up. 

When  intelligence  reached  Peshawur  con- 
cerning the  state  of  the  55th  at  Murdaun, 
a  European  detachment  was  sent  off  thither 
under    Colonel    Chute,    who,    on    arriving 
there,  found   a   body  of  the  55th  Native 
infantry,    consisting    of    about    120    men, 
drawn  up  to  receive   him.     This   was   the 
faithful  remnant  of  the  55th ;  the  rest  of  the 
sepoys  having  broken  up  and  taken  to  flight, 
without  attempting  to  injure  their  officers. 
Colonel    Spottiswoode,  in  the  first  bitter- 
ness of  disappointment,  committed  suicide. 
Colonel  Nicholson,  with  atroop  of  horse  artil- 
lery, the  18th  irregular  cavalry,  one  hundred 
Punjab  infantry,  and  forty  of  his  personal 
escort,  started  off  in  ptirsuit  of  the  muti- 
neers, and  captured  150  of  them,  with  the 
colours,  and  upwards  of  200  stand  of  arms. 
"Micholson  was  in  the  saddle  twenty  hours, 
having  gone  over  some  seventy  miles.     The 
terror  of  his  name  spread  throughout  the 
valley,  and  gave  additional  emphasis  to  the 
moral  effect  of  the  disarming  policy."     The 
zemindars  of  Huzara,  through  which  district 
the  mutineers  strove  to  escape  to  Hindoostan, 


brought  most  of  them  in  to  the  government, 
with  their  money  all  safe.  The  conduct  of 
the  Punjab  infantry  (the  5th)  in  this  first  en- 
counter was  very  satisfactory ;  it  seemed 
like  a  pledge  of  the  fidelity  of  the  whole 
Punjab  force. 

The  10th  irregular  cavalry  had  refused  to 
act  against  the  55th.  They  were,  con- 
sequently, disarmed  and  disbanded.  The 
first  person  executed  for  mutiny  at  Peshawur 
was  a  subahdar-major  of  the  51st  Native 
infantry,  who  was  captured  and  hanged. 
He  boasted  that  he  had  been  a  rebel  for 
more  than  a  year,  and  that  the  English 
rule  was  at  an  end.  Twelve  men  of  the 
same  regiment  were  hanged  two  days  after- 
wards, in  a  row,  on  full  parade  of  all  the 
troops;  and,  subsequently,  the  fearful 
penalty  of  blowing  away  from  guns  was 
inflicted  upon  forty  of  the  55th  Native 
infantry. 

The  number  of  mutineers  caught,  and 
brought  in  by  the  hill  tribes,  must  have 
been  considerable ;  but  no  ofiicial  statement 
has  been  published  on  the  subject.  The 
peculiar  tenets  and  practice  of  the  Seiks, 
were  regarded  as  calculated  to  prevent 
coalition  between  them  and  the  frontier 
Mohammedans.  The  two  classes  were 
therefore  eliminated  from  the  disarmed 
masses,  and  formed  into  a  new  corps. 
A  Patau  regiment  was  also  raised.  Ten 
men  out  of  every  European  company  were 
at  once  instructed  in  gun  drill,  and  the 
Peshawur  light  horse  sprang  into  existence, 
mounted  on  horses  from  the  5th  light 
cavalry  and  the  disbanded  10th  irregulars. 

Some  of  the  officers  employed  in  the  labo- 
rious and  responsible  labour  of  assembling 
and  drilling  recruits,  have  become  deservedly 
famous,  and  their  names  are  now  household 
words  in  the  homes  of  England  and  her 
colonies.  Others' have  been  less  fortunate, 
especially  the  members  of  the  civil  service, 
many  of  whom,  with  John  Lawrence  and 
Robert  Montgomery  for  leaders,  acted  most 
zealously  as  recruiting  sergeants.  The  "  Let- 
ters" published  since  the  death  of  Major 
Hodson,  throw  considerable  light  on  the 
exploits  of  this  officer  and  his  gallant  com- 
rades. On  the  19th  of  May  he  received 
orders  to  raise  and  command  a  new  regi- 
ment, afterwards  well  known  as  Hodson's 
Horse ;  which  he  was  well  fitted  to  do,  from 
the  abihty  he  had  previously  shown  while 
connected  with  the  Guides.  "  On  the  20th 
of  May,  having  been  placed  in  charge  of 
the   Intelligence    Department,    he    started 


ADVANCE  ON  DELHI— GHAZI-U-DEEN  NUGGUR— MAY  27th.      203 


from  Kurnaul  at  nine  in  tlie  evening,  with 
one  led  horse  <ind  an  escort  of  Seik  cavalry ; 
arrived  at  Meerut  about  daybreak ;  delivered 
the  commander-in-chiefs  despatches  to 
General  Wilson  ;  had  a  bath,  breakfast,  and 
two  hours'  sleep,  and  then  rode  back  the 
seventy-six  miles,  thirty  miles  of  the  dis- 
tance lying  through  a  hostile  country."* 

General  van  Cortlandt  is  another  com- 
mander of  irregular  troops,  whose  name  will 


frequently  appear  in  the  course  of  the  nar- 
rative. He  was  serving  the  British  govern- 
ment in  a  civil  capacity  at  the  time  of  the 
outbreak,  but  w^as  then  called  ou  to  levy 
recruits.  The  nucleus  of  his  force  con- 
sisted of  300  Dogras  (short  built,  sturdy 
men),  belonging  to  Rajah  Jowahir  Sing, 
of  Lahore.  This  number  he  increased  to 
1,000 ;  and  the  Dogras  did  good  service 
under  their  veteran  leader. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MARCH    OF   BRITISH    FORCES,   AND    SIEGE    OF  DELHI— MAY   27th   TO 

JUNE  24th,  1857. 


Advance  on  Delhi. — The  terrible  turning- 
point  passed,  and  the  fact  proved  that,  in 
the  hands  of  Sir  John  Lawrence  and  his 
lieutenants,  the  Punjab  was  not  a  source 
of  danger,  but  a  mine  of  strength,  affairs 
at  head-quarters  assumed  a  new  aspect: 
and  the  arrival  of  the  Seik  reinforcements 
was  of  invaluable  assistance  to  the  small 
band  of  Europeans  on  whom  alone  reliance 
could  previously  be  placed,  it  having  been 
found  necessary  to  disarm  the  5th  Native 
infantry  at  Umballah  on  the  morning  of 
May  29th,  the  day  before  General  Barnard, 
with  the  staff  of  the  armv,  started  from 
Kurnaul  for  Delhi.  The  60th  Native  in- 
fantry were  detached  to  Rohtuck,  it  being 
considered  too  great  a  trial  of  fidelity  to 
employ  this  Hindoostanee  corps  in  besieg- 
ing tiieir  countrymen  and  co-religionists. 

Encounter  at  the  Hindun. — The  small 
detachment  of  troops  from  Meerut,  under 
Brigadier  Wilson,  marched  thence  on  the 
27th  of  May,  to  join  the  main  body,  and,  on 
the  morning  of  the  30th,  encamped  at 
Ghazi-u-deen  Nuggur,  a  small  but  strongly 
fortified  position  on  the  river  Hindun, 
about  ten  miles  from  Delhi.  The  troops 
were  weary  with  night  marches,  and  en- 
feebled by  the  intensity  of  the  hot  winds. 
No  one  entertained  any  suspicion  of  the 
vicinity  of  the  enemy.  At  about  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  when  officers  and  men 
were  for  the  most  part  asleep,  a  picket  of 

•  Twelve  Years  of  a  Soldier's  Life  in  India,  p.  7. 

t  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  6. 

X  The  Chaplain's  Narrative,  p.  26. 


irregulars,  stationed  beyond  the  suspension- 
bridge,  gave  the  alarm  of  an  approaching 
foe.  The  bugles  sounded,  and  the  Rifles 
had  scarcely  formed  before  an  18-pounder 
shot  burst  into  the  British  camp,  and  took 
one  leg  from  each  of  two  native  palkee- 
bearers,  who  were  sitting  at  the  tent  door 
of  the  Carabineers'  hospital.  The  attacking; 
force  consisted  of  a  strong  detachment  of 
mutineers  from  Delhi,  who  had  succeeded 
in  bringing  their  heavy  guns  to  bear  on  the 
British  camp  before  even  their  vicinity  was 
suspected.  Two  18-pounders  were  speedily 
opened  to  meet  the  hostile  fire;  the  Rifles 
crossed  the  bridge,  and  were  soon  actively 
engaged  in  front;  while  the  horse  artillery, 
under  Lieutenant-colonel  Mackenzie,  turned 
the  left  flank  of  the  enemy,  who  thereupon 
commenced  a  retreat,  leaving  behind  them 
five  guns  (two  of  large  calibre),!  and  carts 
full  of  intrenching  tools  and  sand-bags. 
The  long  delay  of  the  British  had  evidently 
given  time  to  the  rebels  to  plan,  but  not  to 
execute,  the  occupation  of  a  fortified  position 
on  the  Hindun.  The  numbers  engaged 
are  but  vaguely  stated.  The  chaplain  who 
accompanied  the  expedition,  speaks  of  700 
EngHshmen  attacking  a  force  seven  times 
their  number.J  The  loss  on  the  British 
side,  in  killed  and  wounded,  did  not  exceed 
forty-four  men ;  and  was  chiefly  occasioned 
by  the  explosion  of  a  cart-full  of  ammunition 
near  the  toll-bar,  which  a  havildar  of  the 
11th  (a  Meerut  mutineer)  fired  into  when 
the  rout  began.  He  was  instantly  bayoneted. 
Captain  Andrews,  of  the  Rifles,  was  killed 


204 


THE  GOORKAS— PANIC  AT  SIMLA— MAY,  1857. 


while  cheering  his  men  to  the  charge ;  and  | 
a  young  lieutenant  of  the  same  regiment, 
Napier  by  name,  and  of  the  true  lion  breed, 
was  shot  in  the  leg.  Amputation  was  per- 
formed, and  the  sufferer  sank  slowly  under 
its  effects ;  exclaiming  often,  with  bitter 
tears,  "  I  shall  never  lead  the  Rifles  again  1 
I  shall  never  lead  the  Rifles  again  \" 

Captain  Dickson  had  a  narrow  escape. 
His  horse  ran  away  during  the  pursuit,  and 
carried  him  far  ahead  of  his  troop,  into 
the  midst  of  the  fugitives ;  but  he  cut  down 
two  sepoys,  and  returned  unhurt.  The 
loss  of  life,  on  the  part  of  the  mutineers, 
must  have  been  very  heavy.  Some  took 
refuge  in  a  village,  which  was  burnt;  many 
were  destroyed  by  the  Carabineers;  and 
about  fifty  were  found  "concealed  in  a 
ditch,  not  one  of  whom  was  permitted  to 
escape."* 

The  following  day  (Wliit- Sunday)  opened 
with,  the  burial  of  the  slain.  At  noon  a 
second  attack  was  made  by  the  rebels,  who 
were  defeated,  driven  out  of  two  villages, 
and  forced  to  retire  from  ridge  to  ridge, 
until  they  disappeared  in  the  distance,  in  full 
retreat  to  Delhi.  They  succeeded,  however, 
in  carrying  off  their  cannon,  consisting  of 
two  heavy  pieces  and  five  light  guns,  the  re- 
mains of  Captain  de  Teissier's  battery ;  the 
excessive  heat  and  want  of  water  hindering 
the  pursuit  of  the  Rifles.  The  European 
loss,  in  killed  and  wounded,  amounted  to 
twenty-four:  of  these,  ten  were  sun-struck. f 

The  conduct  of  the  Goorkas  was  consi- 
dered extremely  satisfactory.  A  false  alarm 
being  given  on  the  3rd  of  June,  they  were 
so  delighted  at  the  chance  of  getting  a 
fight,  that  "they  threw  somersaults  and  cut 
capers."  Mr.  Greathed  adds — "We  feel 
quite  safe  about  the  Goorkas;  their  grog- 
drinking  propensities  are  a  great  bond  with 
the  British  soldier." 

Notwithstanding  the  resemblance  be- 
tween the  two  races  in  the  point  which  of 
all  other  most  mars  the  efficiency  of  the 
British  army,  very  strong  doubts  had  been 
entertained,  previous  to  the  march  of  the 
force,  regarding  the  fidelity  of  the  hardy 
little  mountaineers.  In  fact,  a  general 
panic  had  lieen  occasioned  at  Simla  by  are- 
port  that  the  Nusseeree  battalion  stationed 
at  Jutog,  seven  miles  off,  were  in  open 
mutiny,  and  had  refused  to  march  when 
ordered  down  by  the  commander-in-chief. 

•  The  Chaplain's  Narrative,  p.  27. 

t  Keturn,  by  Brigadier  Wilson.— Further  Pari. 
Papers,  1857  j  pp.  119  to  121. 


Simla,  very  shortly  after  its  original  oc- 
cupation, became,  to  the  leading  Calcutta 
functionaries,  what  the  lovely  valley  of 
Cashmere  had  been  to  the  Great  Moguls. 
The  civiUans  of  highest  rank  in  the  East 
India  Company's  service,  with  their  wives 
and  families,  resorted  thither;  several  gov- 
ernors-general almost  lived  there ;  and 
officers  on  leave  of  absence  helped  to  make 
up  a  population  of  a  quite  peculiar  charac- 
ter. The  feeling  of  security  had  been,  up 
to  May,  1857,  general  and  uninterrupted; 
ladies  had  travelled  from  Calcutta  to  Simla, 
and,  indeed,  through  all  parts  of  India, 
under  an  exclusively  native  escort,  with- 
out one  thought  of  danger;  but  the  news 
from  Meerut  and  Delhi  broke  with  start- 
ling force  on  the  mind  of  a  very  weak  and 
very  wealthy  community,  and  led  the  resi- 
dents to  regard  with  anxiety  every  indica- 
tion of  the  temper  of  the  troops.  Simla 
was  not  a  military  station;  and  the  neigh- 
bouring one  of  Jutog,  seven  miles  distant, 
was  held  by  the  Nusseeree  battalion,  con- 
taining nearly  800  Goorkas  and  six  Euro- 
pean officers.  The  1st  European  Bengal 
Fusiliers  were  cantoned  at  the  sanitary  sta- 
tion of  Dugshai  (in  Sirmoor;  a  Rajpoot  hill- 
state,  adjoining  Putteeala),  sixteen  miles 
south  of  Simla;  and  H.M.'s  75th  foot  at 
Kussowlie,  another  sanatarium,  forty  miles 
distant :  but  the  frightened  population  had 
no  reason  to  place  confidence  in  any  prompt 
measures  being  adopted  for  their  protection 
iu  the  event  of  an  imeute,  after  the  inca- 
pacity evinced  at  Meerut.  The  fidelity  of 
the  Goorkas  was  the  uppermost  question 
with  them ;  and  it  was  not  without  cause 
that  they  were  at  one  moment  convinced 
that  the  sword  was  suspended  over  their  de- 
fenceless heads  by  something  little  stronger 
than  a  hair. 

The  Nusseeree  battalion,  says  an  autho- 
rity who  may  be  supposed  to  know  the 
truth  of  what  he  affirms,  "  was  distinctly 
disaffected  on  the  cartridge  question."  The 
order  for  the  entire  battalion  to  march 
down  into  the  plains,  was  an  unprecedented 
one ;  a  company  having  been,  on  all  previ- 
ous occasions,  left  to  protect  their  families 
during  their  absence.  The  precautions 
adopted  by  the  residents  at  Simla,  were 
indignantly  denounced  by  the  Goorkas  as 
evincing  mistrust  in  them,  especially  the 
removal  of  the  Goorka  guard  from  the  gov- 
ernment treasury,  and  the  measures  adopted 
for  its  defence.  They  demanded,  as  an 
evidence  of  confidence,  that  they  should  be 


CONDONATION  OP  MUTINY  AMONG  THE  GOORKAS. 


205 


put  on  guard  over  and  in  the  bank,  in  which 
lav  some  80,000  Company's  rupees.  "The 
critical  state  of  affairs,"  Mr.  Cooper  states, 
"may  be  judged  not  only  from  the  audacity 
of  their  demands,  but  the  undisguised  au- 
dacity of  their  bearing.  They  demanded 
to  be  shown  the  actual  treasure;  and  their 
swarthy  features  lit  up  with  glee  unplea- 
sant to  the  eye  of  the  bystander,  when  they 
saw  the  shining  pieces.  One  sepoy  tossed 
back  the  flap  of  the  coat  of  a  gentleman 
present,  and  made  a  queer  remark  on  the 
revolver  he  saw  worn  underneath."*  At 
Kussowlie,  just  above  Umballah,  a  party  of 
Goorkas  actuallv  robbed  the  treasurv,  and 
the  rest  broke  into  open  bloodshed.  Cap- 
tain Blackall  was  about  to  order  a  party  of 
H.M.'s  75th  to  act  against  the  Goorkas; 
when  Mr.Taylor,the  assistant-commissioner, 
represented  to  him,  that  the  safety  of  the 
helpless  community  of  Simla  depended  on 
the  avoidance  of  an  outbreak.  Captain 
Blackall  acknowledged  the  force  of  the 
argumeut,  and  contented  himself  with  adopt- 
ing purely  defensive  measures,  although 
actually  surrounded  by  the  Goorkas,  and 
taunted  with  such  expressions  as  "  Shot  for 
shot !"  "  Life  for  life  !"  In  fact,  the  wise 
counsel  of  Mr.  Taylor,  and  the  address 
and  temper  evinced  by  Captain  Blackall, 
proved  the  means  of  preserving  Simla  from 
being  the  scene  of  "  horrors,  in  which,  in 
enormities,  perhaps  Cawnpoor  would  have 
been  outdone."t  The  wisdom  of  the  con- 
ciliation policy  practised  at  Kussowlie,  was 
not  at  first  appreciated  at  Simla ;  and  the 
replacement  of  the  government  treasury 
under  the  charge  of  the  Goorkas,  was 
viewed,  naturally  enough,  as  a  perilous  con- 
fession of  weakness.  "  The  panic  reached 
its  climax,  and  general  and  precipitate 
flight  commenced.  Officers,  in  high  em- 
ploy, rushed  into  ladies'  houses,  shouting, 
'  Fly  for  your  lives !  the  Goorkas  are  upon 
us !'  Simla  was  in  a  state  of  consterna- 
tion :  shoals  of  half-crazed  fugitives,  timid 
ladies,  hopeless  invalids,  sickly  children 
hardly  able  to  totter — whole  families  burst 
forth,  and  poured  helter-skelter  down  on 
Dugshai  and  Kussowlie.  Some  ran  down 
steep  khuds  [ravines]  and  places  marked 
only  by  the  footprints  of  the  mountain 
herds,  and  remained  all  night.  Never  had 
those  stately  pines  looked  down  upon,  or 
those    sullen    glens     and    mossy    retreats 

*  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  103. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  104.  t  Ibid.,  p.  99. 

J  See  page  107,  ante. 


!  echoed  with,  such  a  tumult  and  hubbub. 
Ladies,  who  are  now  placidly  pursuing  or- 
dinary domestic  duties,  wrote  off  perhaps 
for  the  last  time  to  their  distracted  hus- 
bands in  the  plains :  then,  snatching  up 
their  little  ones,  fled  away,  anywhere  out  of 
the  Simla  world.  Extraordinary  feats  were 
performed;  some  walked  thirty  miles! 
Some,  alas !  died  from  the  efiects  of  exhaus- 
1  tion  and  fear."  The  Mohammedan  servants 
'  exulted  in  the  belief  that  the  European  raj 
was  about  to  close;  and  among  the  many 
anecdotes  current  during  the  panic,  was 
one  of  a  little  boy  being  jeeringly  told  that 
his  mamma  would  soon  be  grinding  gram 
for  the  King  of  Delhi  !J 

The  news  reached  the  commander-in- 
chief  (Anson)  at  the  time  when  the  scales 
had  just  fallen  from  his  eyes,  and  when  the 
massacres  of  Meerut  and  Delhi,  and  the 
remonstrances  of  Sir  John  Lawrence  and 
Colvin,  had  convinced  him  of  the  miserable 
error  of  his  past  proceedings.  The  plan  of 
coercing  and  disbanding  regiments  had 
worse  than  failed  with  the  Poorbeahs :  it 
was  not  likely  to  succeed  with  the  Goorkas. 
The  Jutog  troops  were  on  the  point,  if  not 
in  the  act,  of  mutiny ;  and,  if  not  arrested, 
their  example  of  defection  or  rebellion  might 
be  followed  by  the  Kumaon  and  Sirmoor 
battalions,  and  the  66th  (Napier's  corps)  ;§ 
and  thus  the  resources  of  government  would 
be  lessened,  and  its  difficulties  greatly  in- 
creased. In  this  strait.  General  Anson 
selected  Captain  Briggs,  superintendent  of 
roads,  who  possessed  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  habits,  customs,  and  feelings  of  the 
Goorkas,  and  desired  him  to  hold  commu- 
nication with  them,  and  secure  their  adher- 
ence even  at  the  price  of  wholesale  condo- 
nation of  mutiny.  This  was  actually  done. 
A  free  pardon  was  given  to  the  regiment 
generally,  the  only  exception  being  a  subah- 
dar,  named  Chunderbun,  described  by 
Major  Bagot  as  one  of  the  best  soldiers  in 
the  corps,  and  who  had  been  absent  at  the 
time  of  the  mutiny,  but  who  had  irretriev- 
ably offended  his  comrades  by  stating  that 
they  had  no  objection  to  use  the  nevv  car- 
tridges. Two  men,  "  dismissed  by  order  of 
court-martial"  for  taunting  the  school  of 
musketry,  "  were  restored  to  the  service." 
These  extraordinary  concessions  proved  as 
successful  as  the  opposite  policy  (com- 
menced by  the  disbandment  of  the  unfortu- 
nate 19th  N,  I.)  had  been  disastrous.  The 
advance  on  Delhi  during  the  intense  heat 
was  as  trying  to  the  Goorkas  us  to  the 


206 


BATTLE  OF  BADULEE-KE-SERAI-JUNE  8th,  1857. 


Europeans.      Yet  they  never  showed  any 
symptoms    of    disaffection.       "  The    men/' 
says  Captain  Chester,  writing  on  tlie  17th 
of  June,  "  have  marched  double  marches ; 
from  their  small  numbers,  every   man,   in 
addition,    has    been  on  daily  duty.     They 
have    suffered    severely    from     fever    and 
cholera  without   a  murmur."     In  fact,  it 
was  deemed  politic  to  dwell  exclusively  on 
the  bright  side  of  the   Goorka  character. 
The  Simla  panic  was  talked  of  as  if  there 
had    been  no   reasonable   ground  for   any 
apprehension  whatever ;  and  the  case  being 
now  changed,  the  "savage  little  demons," 
who  had  been  conquered  in  a  recent  war  by 
our  "faithful  Hindoostanee  sepoys,"  became 
recognised    as   the   "  gallant  hardy  moun- 
taineers,"  whose  inveterate  hatred  to  the 
"treacherous  Poorbeahs"  was  alone  a  virtue 
calculated  to  counterbalance  every  less  de- 
sirable characteristic.     More  unscrupulous 
auxiliaries  in  offensive  warfare  could  scarcely 
have   been  found ;    no   Pindarree  of  olden 
times   ever    loved    pillage    better    than   a 
modern  Goorka,  and  probably  none  had  so 
keen  a  zest  for  the  work   of  destruction. 
No   pen  has  traced,    or  perhaps    ever  can 
trace,  even  a  sketch  of  the  misery  which 
must   have    been   inflicted   by  the  British 
army,  and  its  hasty  heterogeneous  assem- 
blage of  irregular  troops — with  its  terrible 
requirements  of  compulsory,  and  often  un- 
paid, always  ill-paid,  labour  from  man  and 
beast,   and  its  other  almost  inevitable  ac- 
companiments of  violence  and  pillage — on 
the  helpless  population  of  India.     It  is  only 
an  incidental  remark  here  and  there,  which 
affords  a  glimpse  of  the  working  of  what  are 
termed    military   operations    in    a    densely 
populated  country.     Mr.  Greathed,  for  in- 
stance,   mentions,    that    shortly   after   the 
second   encounter   at    Ghazi-u-deen,  while 
riding  about  the  scene  of  action,  he  noticed 
that "  a  party  of  our  people  were  destroying 
the  village  of  Urthulla,  to  prevent  the  enemy 
from  getting  under  cover  in  it  in  case  of 
another  attack.    The  elephants  were  engaged 
in  pushing  down  the  walls.    The  poor  inhabi- 
tants are  certainly  to  be  pitied  ;  but  the  de- 
struction is  a  necessity:  they  were  unluckily 
Jats,  who  are  for  the  most  part  our  friends."'* 
No    compensation    appears    to    have    been 
thought  necessary  in  this   case;  if  it  had 
been,    Mr.    Greathed,    as    political    agent 
specially  attached  to  the  field  force,  would 
hardly  have  left  so  important  a  point  un- 
noticed.    On  the  contrary,  he  speaks  of  the 
•  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  15.  \  Ibid.,  p.  24. 


"baggage  people"  being  employed  "in 
plundering  the  village  of  Urthulla"  quite 
as  a  matter  of  course,  not  at  all  requiring 
the  intervention  of  the  provost-marshal,  or 
the  sharp  correctives  the  mention  of  which 
are  familinr  to  the  readers  of  the  Indian 
despatches  of  General  Wellesley. 

On  the  night  of  the  5th  June,  Brigadier 
Wilson  and  the  Meerut  force  crossed  the 
Jumna  at  Bhagput  by  a  bridge  of  boats, 
"  and  slept  like  so  many  alligators  on  the 
sand  till  dawn."t  On  Sunday,  the  7th, 
they  joined  the  main  body  under  Sir  Henry 
Barnard  at  Alipoor,  ten  miles  from  Delhi. 
After  the  junction,  the  force  in  camp  com- 
prised about  600  cavalry,  and  2,400  in- 
fantry, with  twenty-two  guns,  besides  the 
siege-train.     The  details  were  as  follows : — 

Sixteen  horse  artillery  guns  (Europeans)  ;  six 
horse  battery  guns  (ditto)  ;  9th  Lancers  ;  two  squad- 
rons Carabineers ;  six  companies  60th  Rifles ;  7oth 
foot ;  1st  Fusiliers  ;  six  companies  2nd  Fusiliers  ; 
head-quarters  Sirmoor  battalion  ;  and  the  portion 
of  the  sappers  and  miners  which  had  not  yet 
mutinied — about  150  in  number.  The  siege-train 
consisted  of  eight  18-pounder  guns,  four  8-inch 
howitzers,  four  8-ineh  mortars,  and  twelve  5i-inch 
mortars  ;  and  had  attached  to  it  a  weak  company  of 
European  artillery  (4th  of  6th  battalion),  and  100 
European  artillery  recruits. 

At  2  A.M.  on  the  8th  of  June,  the  troops 
marched  from  Alipoor  to  attack  the  enemy's 
advanced  intrenched  position  at  Badulee-ke- 
Serai,  four  miles  from  Delhi.  ■  The  baggage 
was  left  behind  until  the  result  of  the  attack 
should  be  known,  under  the  charge  of  a 
squadron  of  the  Carabineers,  a  company  of 
the  Fusiliers,  and  the  chief  part  of  the  con- 
tingent of  the  rajah  of  Jheend.  The  Serai 
(or  open  building  for  the  reception  of 
travellers)  held  by  the  mutineers,  lay  on 
the  right  of  the  Trunk  road,  and  was 
I  defended  by  a  sand-bag  battery,  erected  on 
a  small  natural  elevation.  The  main  as- 
sault was  made  in  front  just  as  the  day 
broke,  and  the  lights  in  the  enemy's  camp 
became  visible.  The  flank  attack  was 
delayed  by  the  difficulty  experienced  by 
Brigadier  Grant  in  getting  his  guns  over 
some  watercourses,  and  the  fire  of  the 
enemy's  heavy  battery  began  to  tell  seriously 
on  the  main  body ;  the  men  fell  fast :  and 
the  staff  offering  a  tempting  mark,  two 
officers.  Colonel  Chester  (the  adjutant-gen- 
eral) and  Captain  Russell,  were  mortally 
wounded  by  the  same  shot,  and  several 
horses  were  hit  in  the  course  of  one  or  two 
minutes.  AVheu  Colonel  Chester  fell,  with 
his  horse  also  mortally  wounded  under  him, 
Captain  Barnard,  the  son  of  the  general. 


BRITISH  ARMY  ENCAMP  BEFORE  DELHI— JUNE  8th,  1857.        207 


raised  the  head  of  the  wounded  man,  and 
enabled  hira  to  see  the  nature  of  his  injun'; 
after  which,  knowing  his  case  hopeless,  he 
bade  young  Barnard  leave  him,  and  expired. 
The  sufferings  of  Captain  Russell  were  far 
j   more  protracted  :  his  leg  had  been  shot  off 
i   above  the  knee,  and  he  lived  for  some  hours 
in  great  bodily  agony.     But  his  mind  was 
;   clear ;  and  he  died  praying,  in  the  words  of 
j   the  publican,   "  God    be  merciful  to  me  a 
j   sinner."*     After  these  officers  were  shot, 
the  75th  were  ordered  to  charge  and  take 
the  heavy  battery.     The  corps,  led  by  Bri- 
gadier Showers  and  Colonel  Herbert,  accom- 
plished this  duty  with  the  assistance  of  the 
1st  Fusiliers,  and  the  insurgents  fell  back, 
abandoning  their  camp  and  several  guns. 
The  British  pushed  on  in  pursuit,  clearing 
many  gardens  until  they  reached  the  cross- 
roads, one  of  which  led  to  the  city  through 
the  Subzee  IMundee  (or  vegetable  market) 
suburb,  and  the  other  to  the  cantonments. 
Here  the  troops  divided  into  two  columns, 
each  of  which  marched  on  till  they  met  on 
either  side  of  a  ridge,  on  which  stood  the 
Flagstaff  tower,  Hindoo  Rao's  house,  and 
a  mosque  midway  between  these  two  after- 
vrards   famous   positions.      The   insurgents 
had  posted  three  guns  at  the  Flagstaff  tower, 
and  from  thence  a  cannonade  was  opened  on 
the  advancing  force ;  but  the  guns  were  soon 
silenced  by  Sir   Henr}'  Barnard's  column, 
which    proceeded    along    the    crest    of  the 
ridge,  carrying  all  before  it,  until,  on  reach- 
ing  Hindoo   Rao's   house,    a  junction  was 
effected   with    Brigadier  Wilson's    column, 
which  had   come  by   the  Subzee   Mundee 
suburb,  had  been  opposed  on  the  way,  and 
had  captured  an  18-pounder  gun.     The  ac- 
tion terminated  at  about  half-past  nine. 

The  British  camp  was  pitched  on  the 
parade-ground,  having  its  rear  protected  by 
the  canal,  with  the  advantage  of  bridges  on 
either  extreme,  which  the  enemy  had  pre- 
viously attempted  to  destroy  with  only  par- 
tial success.  Several  batteries  were  estab- 
lished on  the  ridge;  but  the  nearest  of  them 
was  1,200  yards,  or  upwards,  from  the  walls ; 
deficiency  in  the  number  of  troops,  and  cha- 
racter of  ordnance,  rendering  it  unsafe  to 
approach  nearer. t  The  main  picket  was 
at  Hindoo  Rao's  house,  a  building  which 
formerly   belonged  to  a  rich   old   Hindoo, 

*  The  Chaplain's  Narrative,  p.  43. 

t  Cmnpaiyn  of  the  Delhi  Army,  by  Major  H.  W. 
Norman,  dejnity  adjutant-gener.,1 ;  p.  12. 

X  Letter  from  Lieutenant  Hawes,  of  the  Guide 
corps.— iSVar,  Sept.  18th,  1857. 


and  had  verandahs,  outhouses,  and  every 
other  accommodation  on  a  most  extensive 
scale.  During  the  siege  it  is  said  to  have 
afforded  "a  sort  of  protection  to  800  troops, 
besides  200  or  300  coolies,  servants,  and 
camp-followers  of  all  kinds;"  and  being 
built  in  the  strong  native  fashion,  it  with- 
stood, in  the  most  surprising  manner,  the 
constant  cannonading  directed  against  it. J 
The  picket  was  commanded  from  the  very 
first  by  Major  Reid,  of  the  Sirmoor  batta- 
lion ;  who  never  left  his  post  even  to  come 
into  camp,  from  the  time  he  assumed  com- 
mand of  it  till  the  14th  of  September,  the 
day  of  the  storming  operations,  when  he 
was  severely  wounded. 

The  total  loss  on  the  side  of  the  British, 
in  the  action  of  the  8th  of  June,  was 
51  killed,  132  wounded,  and  two  missing. 
It  has  been  asserted,  that  a  thousand  of  the 
mutineers  who  came  out  never  returned  to 
Delhi.  Their  killed  and  wounded  are  sup- 
posed to  have  amounted  to  three  or  four 
hundred ;  and  many  took  the  opportunity 
of  decamping  to  their  homes  after  or  pluriug 
the  battle.     Thirteen  guns  were  captured. 

Major-general  Reid,  the  provincial  com- 
mander-in-chief, arrived  at  Alipoor,  from 
Rawul  Pindee,  on  the  8th  of  June,  just  as 
the  troops  were  marching.  Unwell  and 
greatly  fatigued  by  a  rapid  journey  durisig 
intense  heat,  he  took  no  part  in  the  action, 
and  never  assumed  command  until  after  the 
death  of  Sir  Henry  Barnard,  though  his 
advice  in  matters  of  moment  was  freely 
sought  and  given. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  June,  the 
Guide  corps — the  first  reinforcement  sent 
from  the  Punjab  by  Lawrence — reached 
Delhi,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Daly. 
It  consisted  of  three  troops  of  cavalry 
and  six  companies  of  infantry,  and  had 
marched  from  Murdaun,  on  the  Peshawur 
frontier,  to  Delhi,  580  miles  in  twenty-two 
of  the  hottest  days  in  the  year ;  and  though 
the  infantry  were  occasionally  assisted  with 
camels  or  ponies  on  the  line  of  road,  the 
march  was  a  surprising  one  even  for  cavalry. 
The  men  showed  extreme  delight  at  finding 
their  old  commandant.  Lieutenant  Hodson, 
in  camp;  and,  surrounding  him  with  ex- 
clamations of"  Burra  serai-wallah"  (great  in 
battle),  they  seized  his  bridle,  dress,  hands, 
and  feet,  and  flung  themselves  down  before 
his  horse,  frantic  with  joy.  It  seems  that 
some  unfortunate  misunderstanding  with 
the  authorities,  concerning  the  regimental 
accounts,  had  led  to  his  removal  from  the 


208 


MUTINIES  AT  HANSI,  HISSAR,  AND  SIRSA. 


corps  two  years  before;  and  they  rejoiced  in 
his  restoration  to  them,  as  much  as  he  did 
in  the  prospect  of  again  leading  "  the  dear 
old  Guides."  He  had  not  long  to  wait 
before  hearing  their  well-known  cheer  as 
they  followed  him  to  battle,  though  under 
the  immediate  command  of  Captain  Daly. 
That  same  afternoon  the  mutineers  marched 
out  of  Delhi,  and  attacked  the  Hindoo  Rao 
picket.  The  Guides  moved  up  to  support 
the  position,  and  the  insurgents  were  driven 
back  into  the  city  with  considerable,  slaugh- 
ter. Several  lives  were  lost  on  the  side 
of  the  British,  including  that  of  Quintin 
Batty e,  the  youthful  commandant  of  the 
Guides'  cavalry — a  popular  and  enthusiastic 
soldier,  to  whose  amiable  qualities  Hodson 
bears  full  testimony ;  adding,  "  The  brave 
boy  died  with  a  smile  on  his  lip,  and  a 
Latin  quotation  on  his  tongue."* 

No  correct  estimate  could  be  formed  of 
the  strength  of  the  force  in  Delhi.  Besides 
the  mutinous  garrison,  the  Meerut  rebels, 
and  those  who  had  flocked  from  Roorkee, 
Alighur,  Boolundshuhur,Muttra,  Ferozpoor, 
aud  Umballah,  a  strong  reinforcement  had 
immediately  preceded  the  besieging  army — 
namely,  the  Hurriana  light  infantry  bat- 
talion, and  the  4th  irregular  cavalry,  which 
had  mutinied  at  Hansi,  Hissar,  and  Sirsa. 

Hansi  is  a  strong  town,  which,  towards 
the  close  of  the  last  century,  was  the  chief 
place  in  the  jaghire  of  the  successful  ad- 
venturer, George  Thomas.  It  is  situated 
eighty-nine  miles  north-west  of  Delhi. 
Hissar  and  Sirsa  (two  military  stations  of 
minor  importance)  lie  fifteen  aud  forty-five 
miles,  respectively,  further  in  the  same 
direction.  The  circumstances  of  the  out- 
break have  not  been  officially  related ;  but, 
from  private  sources,  it  appears  to  have 
been  sudden  and  unexpected.  Mr.  Taylor, 
the  assistant  in  charge  of  the  government 
cattle-farm  at  Hissar,  was  sitting  playing 
chess  at  noon  on  the  30th  of  May,  with 
another  European  in  the  civil  service  of  the 
Company,  when  a  servant  rushed  into  the 
room,  and  announced  the  arrival  of  some 
sowars  from  Delhi.  The  Native  troops  and 
population  seem  to  have  risen  immediately. 
The  majority  of  the  Europeans  sought  and 
found  safety  in  flight.  Mr.  Taylor  received 
several  wounds,  but  succeeded  in  effecting 
liis  escape.  Seven  European  men  aud 
seven  women,  with  fifteen  children  and  two 
Eurasian  women,  are  stated  to  have  perished 
in  the  returiufurnished  by  the  officiating 
'v^^See  p.  118,  ante. 


commissioner  of  Hissar;  but  Mr.  Taylor's 
list,  likewise  published  by  authority,  and 
appai'cntly  grounded  on  more  accurate  data, 
gives  the  total  number  at  fourteen.  The 
magistrate,  Mr.  Wedderburn,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Barwell,  adjutant  of  the  Hurriana 
light  cavalry,  fell  by  the  hands  of  the  muti- 
neers ;  while  Mrs.  Wedderburn,  her  child, 
and  Mrs.  Barwell,  are  thought  to  have  been 
murdered  by  the  customs'  peons. f 

Tiie  rajah  of  Putteeala  acted  in  the  most 
noble  manner  towards  the  Hansi  and 
Hissar  fugitives.  He  sent  out  troops  to 
search  for  them  and  cover  their  retreat; 
furnished  them  with  every  necessary,  in  the 
way  of  money,  food,  and  clothing ;  aud 
desired  that  whatever  they  might  call  for 
should  be  supplied  gratis.  The  eflFect  of 
this  conduct  was  most  beneficial  to  the 
British,  and  warrants  the  strong  expression 
used  by  Mr.  Douglas  Forsyth,  deputy-com- 
missioner of  the  Umballah  and  adjacent 
districts — that  "  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
rajah  of  Putteeala,  none  of  us  in  these  Cis- 
Sutlej  States  would  now  be  alive." 

At  Hissar  several  lives  are  also  alleged  to 
have  been  lost ;  but  the  official  records  are 
silent  on  the  subject.     The  mutineers,  after 
plundering  the  Hissar  treasury,  which  con- 
tained   about    a   lac   of  rupees    (£10,000), 
marched   oft"  unopposed    to   Delhi.      They 
arrived  there,   as  has   been   stated,    before 
General  Barnard ;  but  had  it  been  other- 
wise, their  entrance  to  the  city  could  not 
have    been    prevented,    at    least    not    by 
means  compatible  with    tiie  rules  adopted 
for  the   conduct  of  the   campaign  by  the 
military   commanders.      Sir   Joliu,    or    Sir 
Henry    Lawrence,    or   Nicholson,    or    any 
soldier    or    civilian    acquainted    with    the 
native   character,    and    alive   to   the   para- 
mount importance  of  wresting  Delhi  from 
the  hands  of  the  rebels  in  their  first  mo- 
ment  of    weakness   and    utter   incapacity, 
would  probably,   had  they  been  entrusted 
with  the  direction  of  affairs,  have  marched 
on  the  city  at  all  hazards,  trusting  to  promp- 
titude and  energy,  free  pardons  and  liberal 
rewards,  as  the  best  mode  of  dealing  with 
a   frightened,    excited,  unreasoning   multi- 
tude— without     leaders,    without    a    plan, 
and   evidently   without   confidence   in   oue 
another. 

The  distressing  and  humiliating  position 
in  which  the  British  found  themselves  on 
sitting  down  before  Delhi,  was  indeed  cal- 
culated to  teach  "  a  terrible  lesson  on  the 
■j-  London  Gazette  (2n(i  supplement),  May  6th,  1858. 


PLAN  OF  STORMING  DELHI  FRUSTRATED— JUNE  13th,  1857.    209 


evils  of  delay."  Any  advantage  gained 
thereby  was,  as  ought  to  have  been  fore- 
seen, more  than  counterbalanced  by  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  enemy's  resources.* 

Before  a  siege-train  could  be  procured,  a 
marked  change  had  taken  place  in  the 
attitude  of  the  mutineers.  The  name  of 
Delhi  in  revolt  oflered  to  discontented  ad- 
venturers throughout  India,  and  especially 
to  Mohammedans,  an  almost  irresistible 
attraction ;  and  while  the  British  raised 
regiments  of  doubtful  or  dangerous  charac- 
ter with  toil,  by  dint  of  the  most  unremit- 
ting energy,  and  at  an  enormous  cost, 
thousands  flocked  in  at  the  open  gates  of 
the  city,  and  seized  the  weapons  and 
manned  the  guns  left  ready  to  their  hand. 

The  long  waited  for  siege-train,  when  it 
arrived,  proved  quite  insufficient  for  the 
work  required.  "  No  one,"  as  Mr.  Greathed 
naively  remarks,  "seems  to  have  thought 
that  the  guns  at  the  disposal  of  the  muti- 
neers are  24-pounders,  and  that  the  18- 
pounders  we  brought  with  us  were  not 
likely  to  silence  them;  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  our  approach  to  the  town  is  rendered 
so  difficult.  There  was  certainly  an  entire 
miscalculation  of  the  power  of  resistance 
afforded  to  the  rebels  by  their  command  of 
the  Delhi  arsenal."! 

In  fact,  the  British  troops,  instead  of  the 
besiegers,  became  literally  the  besieged,  and 
were  thankful  for  the  shelter  offered  by  the 
ridge  on  which  the  advanced  pickets  stood, 
and  which  enabled  them  to  say — "  Here  we 
are  in  camp,  as  secure  against  assaults  as  if 
we  were  in  Delhi,  and  the  mutineers  out- 
8ide."J  Even  this  was  not  always  the 
case ;  for  at  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the 
12th  of  June,  the  most  advanced  picket, 
that  at  the  Flagstaff  tower,  was  fiercely 
attacked,  and  nearly  carried  by  surprise,  by 
a  large  body  of  mutineers  who  had  con- 
trived to  approach  unobserved  under  cover 
of  night,  and  conceal  themselves  in  the 
ravines  in  the  compound  or  grounds  at- 
teched  to  Sir  T.  Metcalfe's  late  house, 
situated  between  the  Flagstaff  tower  and 
the  river.  The  picket  was  hard  pressed ; 
the  two  artillery  guns  were  nearly  taken ; 
Captain  Knox,  and  several  of  the  75th  foot, 
were  killed :  the  enemy  even  descended  the 
camp  side  of  the  ridge ;  and  three  of  the 
rebels  were  killed  in  the  sepoy  lines,  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  tents,  before  rein- 

*  Hodson's  Tvjehe  Years  in  India,  p.  198. 

t  Oreathed's  Letters,  p.  18. 

i  Ibid.,  p.  50. 

VOL.  II.  2  n 


forcements  could  be  brought  up  to  support 
the  disputed  position,  and  drive  off  the 
insurgents.  To  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
a  similar  danger,  a  large  picket  was  sent 
to  occupy  Metcalfe's  house — a  precaution 
which  would  have  been  taken  earlier  but  for 
the  difficulty  of  providing  relief,  and  which 
threw  up,  as  it  were,  a  left  flank  to  the  British 
defences,  and  rendered  it  almost  impossible 
for  the  enemy  to  pass  round  to  attack  the 
camp  on  that  side.  The  attempt  upon  the 
Flagstafi"  tower  had  hardly  been  repulsed, 
when  other  bodies  of  insurgents  advanced 
against  Hindoo  Rao's  house,  and  through 
the  Subzee  Mundee,  into  the  gardens  on  the 
r'ght  flank  of  the  camp.  The  first  of  these 
movements  was  inconsiderable;  but  sup- 
ports of  all  arms  had  to  be  moved  up  to 
oppose  the  second.  Major  Jacob  led  the  Ist 
Fusiliers  against  the  rebels,  and  drove  them 
out  of  the  gardens  with  much  slaughter.§ 

The  manifest  insufficiency  of  the  British 
force  to  besiege,  much  less  blockade, 
Delhi,  led  certain  of  the  officers  to  desire  to 
attempt  its  capture  by  a  coup-de-main; 
and  Sir  Henry  Barnard  directed  three 
engineer  officers  (Wilberforce  Greathed, 
Chesney,  and  Maunsell),  assisted  by  Hodson, 
to  form  a  project  of  attack,  of  which,  when 
laid  before  the  general,  he  highly  approved. || 
Two  gates  of  the  city  were  to  be  blown  in  by 
powder-bags,  by  which  means  two  columns 
of  the  attacking  force  (comprising  some  1,700 
or  1,800  infantry)  were  to  effect  an  entrance. 
Early  on  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  June, 
corps  were  formed  in  readiness;  and  the 
Rifles  had  actually  got  within  400  or  500 
yards  of  the  city  wall,  unperceived  by  the 
enemy,  when  they  were  recalled  in  conse- 
quence of  "  the  mistake  of  a  superior  officer 
in  delaying  the  withdrawal  of  the  pickets, 
without  which  the  infantry  regiments  were 
mere  skeletons."  The  abandonment  of  the 
plan  became  inevitable,  as  daylight  was  fast 
approaching,  and  it  was  felt  that  success 
could  not  be  anticipated  except  as  the  result 
of  surprise.  Major  Norman  pronounces  the 
accident  which  hindered  the  attempt,  an  in- 
terposition of  Providence  on  behalf  of  the 
British  ;  and  considers  that  defeat,  or  even 
partial  success,  would  have  been  ruin  ;  while 
complete  success  would  not  have  achieved 
the  results  subsequently  obtained.^  Con- 
siderable difference  of  opinion,  however,  pre- 
vailed on  the  subject. 

§  Norman's  Campaign  of  the  Delhi  Army,  p.  13. 
|{  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  203. 
i[  Ibid.,  p.  14. 


210  SIEGE  OF  DELHI— ENGAGEMENT  OP  JUNE  19th,  1857. 


Commissioner  Greathed  lamented  the 
failure  of  the  scheme,  believing  that  an  im- 
portant opportunity  had  been  lost  through 
"the  obtusity  of  one  individual."*  It  was, 
however,  a  plan  which  could  not  be  re- 
vived after  having  once  been  abandoned; 
for  the  enemy,  tho\igh  not  aware  of  the 
near  approach  of  the  European  troops  at 
the  time,  must,  it  was  considered,  have 
subsequently  heard  of  it  by  some  channel 
or  other,  and  would  be  more  on  their  guard 
for  the  future.  Moreover,  General  Barnard 
probably  repented  of  having  sanctioned  the 
attempt ;  for  he  is  accused  of  having  been 
induced,  by  his  Crimean  experience,  to  over- 
estimate the  amount  of  resistance  to  be 
expected  within  the  walls,  and  to  be  "  dis- 
posed to  treat  the  Pandies  as  Russians."t 
Prom  this  period  almost  daily  sallies  were 
made  from  Delhi ;  the  British  troops  were 
much  harassed,  and  their  losses  bore  "  a 
sadly  large  proportion  to  their  successes."! 
The  rainy  season  was  approaching ;  the  hos- 
pitals were  full ;  some  cases  of  cholera 
had  appeared  in  camp ;  and  while  crip- 
pled in  all  their  operations  by  the  defi- 
ciency in  the  calibre  and  number  of  their 
guns,  and  also  of  men  to  work  them,  the 
British  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  con- 
stant reinforcements  arriving,  like  tribu- 
tary streams,  to  feed  the  great  reservoir  of 
revolt.  The  60th  Native  infantry  regiment 
reached  Delhi  on  the  13th  of  June,  hav- 
ing mutinied  at  Rohtuck.  Colonel  Seaton 
and  the  officers,  though  fired  on  by  their 
men,  succeeded  in  gaining  the  British  camp 
in  safety  after  a  ride  of  fifty  miles.  Three 
or  four  days  later,  the  Nusseerabad  bri- 
gade joined  the  rebel  garrison,  bringing  in 
triumph  the  Jellalabad  field  battery,  under 
the  charge  of  the  furaous  company  of  artil- 
lery which,  by  Lord  Ellenborough's  decree, 
was  never  to  be  separated  from  the  guns  it 
had  once  served  so  gallantly.  On  the  19th 
of  June,  those  very  guns,  decorated  (also  by 
Lord  Ellenborough's  order)  with  a  mural 
crown,  were  turned  with  fatal  effect  against 

*  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  44.  The  obtuse  indi- 
vidual in  question  is  not  named  ;  but  it  was  pro- 
bably the  brigadier  on  duty,  who  refused  to  withdraw 
the  pickets  guarding  the  guns  on  the  height  on 
any  authority  less  than  a  written  command  from 
General  Barnard.  Hodson  speaks  of  him  as  "  the 
man  who  first  lost  Delhi,  and  has  now,  by  folly, 
prevented  its  being  recaptured." — Rotton's  Nar- 
rative, p.  72.  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India, 
p.  208. 

t  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  92. 

X  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  217. 


the  Europeans.  An  hour  before  sunset,  an 
attack  was  made  by  a  strong  body  of  the 
enemy,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  Nusseerabad 
mutineers,  on  the  rear  of  the  British.  The 
action  continued  some  time  after  dark.  The 
firing  on  both  sides  then  gradually  ceased, 
and  the  combatants  quitted  the  field.  Our 
loss  was  twenty  killed,  and  seventy-seven 
wounded.  Three  officers  fell,  including 
Major  Yule,  of  the  9th  Lancers.  His  body 
was  found  covered  with  gashes,  and  four  of 
his  men  lay  dead  beside  him.  Captain 
Daly,  the  gallant  commandant  of  the  Guide 
corps,  was  badly  wounded,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Hodson  was  appointed  to  supply 
his  place.  Brigadier  Hope  Grant,  who 
led  the  troops,  had  his  horse  shot  under 
him,  and  was  only  saved  by  the  devotion  of 
two  men  of  his  own  regiment,  and  two 
orderly  sowars  of  the  4th  irregular  cavalry. 
A  very  serious  accident  occurred  by  reason 
of  the  darkness,  our  own  guns  firing  into 
our  own  men.§ 

At  a  council  of  war  held  on  the  17th,  it 
had  been  formally  resolved  to  wait  for  re- 
inforcements, and,  in  the  interim,  to  "  do 
nothing  but  fire  away  long  shots  |1  at  the 
distance  of  a  mile,  and  repel  the  enemy's 
attacks" — a  mode  of  procedure  which  ex- 
cited the  intense  disgust  of  the  younger  and 
more  enterprising  officers,  who  exclaimed 
with  Hodson,  "If  only  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence were  in  camp  !"  Hodson  adds — "  The 
mismanagement  of  affairs  is  perfectly  sick- 
ening. Nothing  the  rebels  can  do  will 
equal  the  evils  arising  from  incapacity  and 
indecision."1f 

The  action  of  the  19th  exercised  a  de- 
pressing influence  on  the  British  camp ; 
and  it  was  currently  reported,  "that  the 
general  conceived  misgivings  as  to  the  wis- 
dom of  the  force  continuing  before  Delhi."** 
On  the  22nd,  reinforcements  from  the  Pun- 
jab, amounting  to  about  850  men  and  five 
guns,  reached  the  British  camp ;  but  the 
ranks  of  the  mutinous  garrison  were  also 
replenished  by  the  arrival  of  bands  of  rebels 

§  Katton's  Narrative,  p.  92. 

II  The  round  shot  from  the  enemy's  batteries  occa- 
sionally did  much  damage  to  the  advanced  pickets. 
One,  according  to  Mr.  Rotton,  was  fired,  on  the  17th 
of  June,  into  Hindoo  Rao's  house,  which  killed  En- 
sign Wheattey,  of  the  54th  N.  I.,  as  he  lay  asleep  in 
his  own  apartment,  and,  in  its  course,  struck  down 
eight  other  men,  of  whom  six  died  on  the  spot,  and 
the  other  two  were  mortally  wounded. — Narra- 
tive of  the  Siege  of  Delhi,  p.  86. 

^  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  216. 

•*  Rotton's  Narrative,  p.  92. 


CONTEST  BEFORE  DELHI-CENTENARY  OF  PLASSY— June  23, 1857.    211 


from  JuUundur  and  Phillour,  composed  of 
the  6th  light  cavalry,  the  3rd,  36th,  and 
61st  N.I.,  which  regiments  had  mutinied 
during  the  first  week  of  June. 

The  23rd  of  June  being  the  centenary 
of  Plassy,  was  anxiously  expected,  both 
within  and  without  the  walls  of  Delhi,  on 
account  of  an  alleged  prophecy  of  wide 
circulation,  that  the  British  raj  was  to  ex- 
pire after  a  hundred  years'  existence.  The 
enemy  issued  forth  in  considerable  force, 
occupied  the  Subzee  Mundee  suburb,  and 
attacked  the  Hindoo  Rao  ridge.  The 
contest  lasted  eleven  hours  (from  6  p.m.  to 
5  A.M.)  before  the  rebels  were  finally  com- 
pelled to  retreat,  Subzee  Mundee  being 
carried  by  the  Rifles,  Goorkas,  and  Guides. 
The  British  casualties  were — one  officer 
(Lieutenant  Jackson,  of  the  Fusiliers)  and 
thirty-eight  men  killed,  and  118  wounded. 
The  mutineers  were  said  to  have  lost  400 
killed  and  300  wounded.  Among  the  in- 
cidents of  the  battle  talked  over  that  night 
in  camp,  the  most  popular  was  a  grim 
practical  joke,  enacted  while  the  rebels 
were  being  gradually  driven  out  of  the 
Subzee  Mundee  suburb.  A  Poorbeah, 
thinking  all  was  over,  put  his  head  out  of 
the  window  of  one  of  the  houses,  in  the 
shade  of  which  a  few  Europeans  and  Goor- 
kas were  resting.  Quick  as  thought,  a 
Goorka  sprang  up,  seized  the  rebel  by  his 
hair,  and,  with  one  sweep  of  his  "  kookery" 
(crooked  sword),  took  ofi'his  head.*  From 
this  time  an  advanced  picket  was  stationed 
in  Subzee  Mundee,  and  maintained  during 
the  rest  of  the  siege ;  consisting  of  180 
Europeans,  posted  between  a  serai  on  one 
side,  and  a  Hindoo  temple  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Great  Trunk  road,  both  of 
which  were  strengthened  and  rendered 
defensible  by  the  engineers. 

The  new  adjutant-general.  Colonel  Ches- 
ter's successor,  reached  the  camp  on  the 
24th  of  June,  which  the  annalists  of  the 
siege  mark  as  a  red-letter  day  for  that 
reason.  Hodson  writes — "  Neville  Cham- 
berlain has  arrived,  and  he  ought  to  be 
worth  a  thousand  men  to  us;"  but  the 
entry  in  his  diary  for  that  same  day,  records 

*  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  216. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  216. 

t  Indian  debate,  June  29th,  1857. 

§  In  the  debate  of  June  23rd,  Mr.  Smith  had  in- 
formed the  house  that  the  19th  N.I.  had  been  dis- 
banded on  account  of  its  mutinous  behaviour,  but 
there  was  no  intention  of  disbanding  any  other  por- 
tion of  the  Native  army.  The  Calcutta  correspon- 
dent of  the  Times  (June  24th)  likewise  stated,  "The 


the  arrival  of  the  following  telegram  from 
Agra : — "  Heavy  firing  at  Cawnpoor ;  result 
not  knowu."t 

It  is  strange  now  to  look  back  on  the 
deep  gloom,  the  horrible  uncertainty,  which 
overshadowed  the  prospects  of  the  Euro- 
peans in  Northern  India ;  and  to  contrast 
it  with  the  easy  matter-of-course  manner 
in  which  the  authorities  in  London  re- 
ceived the  startling  intelligence  of  mutiny, 
massacre,  and  the  occupation  of  Delhi. 
While  Sir  John  Lawrence,  the  actual  vice- 
roy of  Northern  India,  was  using  all  means, 
and  running  all  hazards,  to  increase  the 
force  before  Delhi,  and  was  urging  the 
maintenance  of  the  siege,  not  simply  as 
the  means  of  preserving  the  power,  but  of 
saving  the  lives  of  his  widely-scattered 
countrymen — Mr.  Vernon  Smith,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  India  Board,  was  assuring  the 
House  of  Commons  that  it  was  "  notorious 
that  Delhi  might  be  easily  surrounded,  so 
that  the  place  could  be  reduced  by  famine, 
if  not  by  force."  For  his  own  part,  however, 
Mr.  Smith  entertained  no  doubt  that  it 
would  be  reduced  by  force  immediately 
that  a  man  of  the  well-known  vigour  of  his 
gallant  friend.  General  Anson,  should  ap- 
pear before  the  walls.  The  mail  had 
brought  advices,  that  an  "ample  force" 
of  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery  would 
shortly  be  before  the  town.  "  Unfortu- 
nately," Mr.  Smith  added,  "I  cannot 
therefore  apprise  the  house  that  the  fort 
of  Delhi  has  been  razed  to  the  ground; 
but  I  hope  that  ample  retribution  has 
been  by  this  time  inflicted  on  the  muti- 
neers."} 

The  next  Indian  mail  brought  tidings 
calculated  to  convince  even  the  most  igno- 
rant or  indifferent,  that  the  capture, 
whether  by  storm  or  blockade,  of  a  large, 
strong,  well-fortified,  and  abundantly  sup- 
plied city,  with  a  river  running  beneath  its 
walls,  was  not  an  easy  matter ;  other  news 
followed,  which  spread  grief  and  fear 
throughout  the  United  Kingdom;  telling 
the  rapid  spread  of  mutiny,  in  its  most  ter- 
rible form,  throughout  the  entire  Bengal 
army.§ 

sepoy  army  is  not  in  revolt ;  it  does  not  even  ap- 
pear that  it  is  discontented  :"  and  this  in  utter  con- 
tempt of  the  warning  of  General  Hearsey,  and  of 
the  vicinity  to  the  seat  of  government  of  Bar- 
rackpoor,  where  the  "  greased  cartridges"  had 
already  produced  rampant  mutiny,  manifested  in 
the  act  of  Mungul  Pandy — the  first  of  the  Pan- 
dies — and  the  more  than  tacit  approval  of  his 
comrades. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

ROHILCUND,  BAREILLY,  MORADABAD,  SEHARUNPOOR,  SHAHJEHANPOOR,  BUDAON, 
AND  ALMORA.— MAY  21st  TO  JUNE  3rd,  1857. 


RoHiLcuND  lies  between  Oude  and  the 
Ganges,  which  river  separates  it  from  the 
Dooab.  The  five  military  stations  of  this 
province  contained  the  following  troops  at 
the  time  of  the  outbreak : — 

Bareilly. — The  18th  and  68th  N.I. — Europeans, 
28  J  Natives,  2,317.  The  8th  irregular  cavalry — 
Europeans,  3  ;  Natives,  547.  The  6th  company  of 
Bengal  Native  artillery — i  Europeans,  and  110 
Natives,  There  were,  besides,  52  of  all  ranks  in 
hospital. 

MoRADABAD.— The  29th  N.I. — Europeans,  16; 
Natives,  1,078.  Sick  of  all  ranks  in  hospital,  43. 
Detail  of  foot  artillery — European,  1  j  Natives,  50. 

Seharunpoor. — Detachment  of  N.  I. — Euro- 
peans, none ;   Natives,  82. 

Shahjehanpoor. — 28th  N.  I. — Europeans,  16  ; 
Natives,  1,106.  Sick  of  all  ranks  in  hospital,  11. 
Detail  of  foot  artillery — Europeans,  none;  Na- 
tives, 29. 

Budaon. — Detachment  of  N.  I. — Europeans, none ; 
Natives,  50. 

The  military  arrangements  for  the  Ku- 
tnaon  district,  were  under  the  charge  of  the 
same  officer  (Brigadier  Sibbald)  as  those  of 
Rohilcund;  and  both  Kumaon  and  Rohil- 
cund  were  included  in  the  Meerut  division. 
Altnora,  the  chief  place  of  Kumaou,  was 
memorable  for  having  been  the  scene  of  the 
decisive  contest  with  the  Goorkas  in  1815. 

Almora. — 66th  N.  I.  (Goorkas)  —  Europeans, 
48;  Natives,  680.  Sick  of  all  ranks,  22.  De- 
tachment of  Sirmoor  battalion — Europeans,  none  ; 
Natives,  28.  Company  of  artillery — Europeans,  2 ; 
Natives,  105. 

The  whole  of  the  above  troops,  excepting 
the  Goorkas,  rebelled  in  the  course  of  a 
few  days. 

Bareilly,  the  head-quarters  of  the  Rohil- 
cund  division,  is  only  1 52  miles  from  Delhi ; 
and  the  tidings  of  the  assertion  of  Moham- 
medan supremacy  in  the  imperial  city, 
travelled  fast,  and  created  great  excitement 
among  the  Rohillas  generally.  "A  very 
bad  and  uneasy  feeling"  was  considered,  by 
Brigadier  Sibbald,  to  be  prevalent  among 
the  Bareilly  soldiery ;  but  he  attributed  its 
origin  to  distrust  of  the  intentions  of  the 
British  government;  and  on  the  21st  of  May, 
he  ordered  a  general  parade  of  the  troops  in 

*  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  ;  p.  64. 
t  Personal  Adventures  during  the  Indian  Rebellion 
in  Itohilcund,  Futtehghur,  and  Oude ;  by  William 


the  cantonments,  and  begged  them  to  dismiss 
from  their  minds  the  causeless  dread  that 
prevailed  among  them.    The  sepoys  appeared 
much  relieved  by  his  assurances,  and  said 
they  "  had   commenced   a  new   life."      In 
a  despatch  dated  May  23rd,  the  brigadier 
stated  that  the   reports   from  Moradabad, 
Shahjehanpoor,    and    Almora,    were    most 
satisfactory,   and  that  the  conduct   of  the 
8th  irregular  cavalry  was  "  beyond  praise."* 
This  last  point  was  remarkable,  inasmuch 
as  the  regiment  in  question  consisted  chiefly 
of  Patans  taken  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Delhi.     With  regard  to  Moradabad,  it  is 
evident  that  the  brigadier  thought  it  best 
to  take  a  very  lenient  view  of  the  outbreak 
which   had    occurred    there.      A   party   of 
the    29th  N.I.  had    actually  broken  open 
the   gaol,   and    released   a   great    number 
of  prisoners,  including  a  notorious  villain 
named  Nujjoo  Khan,  who  was  under  sen- 
tence of  transportation  for  life  (for  having  at- 
tempted to  murder  a  European  magistrate), 
and  who  subsequently  became  a  rebel  leader 
of  some  note.f     The   brigadier    does   not 
enter  into  particulars ;  but  he  urges,  that  "  a 
free  pardon  from  the  highest  authorities" 
should  be  extended  to  the  troops  in  general ; 
and  he  adds,  that  the  29th  were  "  proving 
their  repentance  for  the  outbreak  of  bad 
men   among   them."     The  temper   of  the 
population  was,  however,  far  less  promising : 
indeed,   throughout   Rohilcund,    disorgani- 
sation in   the  civil   government   seems   to 
have  preceded  mutiny  in  the  cantonments. 
Mr.  Edwards,  the  magistrate  and  collector 
of  the  Budaon  district,  says,  that  as  early  as 
the  19th  of  May,  the  infection  had  "  spread 
from  the  tracts  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Ganges,  which  were  by  that  time  in  open 
rebellion.     Bands  of  marauders  sprang  up, 
as  it  were,  by  magic,  and  commenced  plun- 
dering on,  the  roads,  and  sacking  and  plun- 
dering villages."^     The  officers  and  civilians 
became  alarmed,  and  sent  their  wives  and 
children  to  Nynee  Tal,  a  sanitary  station, 
seventy    miles    distant,    in    the    Kumaon 
district.     The  sepoys  remonstrated  against 

Edwards,  judge  of  Benares,  and  late  magistrate  and 
collector  of  Budaon,  in  Rohilcund ;  p.  3. 
X  Ibid.,  p.  2. 


MUTINY  AT  BAREILLY— MAY  31st,  1857. 


213 


this  evidence  of  distrust,  but  happily  in  vain. 
In  the  8tli  irregular  cavalry,  however,  such 
perfect  reliance  continued  to  be  placed,  that 
their  commandant,  Captain  Mackenzie,  was 
empowered  to  raise  additional  troops  for 
permanent  service;  and  the  cavalry  lines 
were  appointed  as  the  place  of  rendezvous 
in  the  event  of  an  outbreak. 

Nor  was  this  confidence  without  founda- 
tion. The  corps,  it  is  true,  succumbed ;  but 
it  is  evident  the  men  had  no  systematic 
treachery  in  view,  but  were  simply  car- 
ried away  by  what  to  them  must  have 
been  an  irresistible  impulse.  At  Bareilly 
there  yet  remained  a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  brave  but  ill-fated  Hafiz  Rehmet, 
the  Rohilla  chief  who  fell  when  Bri- 
tish bayonets  were  hired  out  by  Warren 
Hastings,  to  enable  Shujah  Dowlah,  of 
Oude,  to  "annex"  a  neighbouring  country. 
Khan  Bahadoor  Khan  was  a  venerable- 
looking  man,  of  dignified  manners,  and 
considerable  ability — much  respected  by 
both  Europeans  and  natives.  Being  a 
pensioner  of  government  in  his  double 
capacity  as  representative  of  the  former 
ruler  of  the  country,  and  also  as  a  retired 
Principal  Sudder  Ameen  (or  native  judge), 
the  old  man  was  considered,  by  the  com- 
missioner and  collector,  as  identified  with 
British  interests ;  and  he  was  daily  closeted 
with  them  as  a  counsellor  in  their  anxious 
discussions  regarding  the  state  of  affairs.* 
From  subsequent  events,  he  is  believed  to 
have  been  instrumental  in  fomenting  dis- 
affection, rather  than  to  have  been  carried 
away  by  the  torrent ;  but  no  very  conclu- 
sive evidence  has  yet  appeared  on  the 
subject.  On  the  29th  of  May,  some  of 
the  Native  officers  reported  to  Colonel 
Troup,  the  second  in  command,  that  whilst 
bathing  in  the  river,  the  men  of  the 
18th  and  68th  N.I.  had  sworn  to  rise  in 
the  middle  of  the  day  and  massacre  the 
Europeans.  Notice  was  immediately  given 
to  Captain  Mackenzie ;  under  whom  the 
irregular  cavalry  turned  out  with  the  ut- 
most promptitude,  and  appeared  quite  re- 
solved to  stand  by  the  Europeans. f 

No  outbreak  occurred  during  this  or  the 
following  day;  but  great  numbers  of  the 
45th  mutineers,  from  Ferozpoor,  passed 
through  Bareilly  on  both  these  days,  and 
spread  alarm  among  the  yet  obedient  troops, 

•  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Armi/,j>.  198. 
t  Col.  Troup's  report. — Further  Pari.  Papers,  p.  138. 
X  Mohammed  Nizam,  a  Native  officer,  was  told  by 
Captain  Mackenzie  to  go  back  and  look  after  his 


by  assuring  them  that  a  large  European 
force,  with  artillery,  had  been  concentrated 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  station,  and  that  the 
destruction  of  the  whole  of  the  Native  regi- 
ments had  been  resolved  on  by  the  "gora 
loffue"  (white  people).  The  Native  lines  were 
a  scene  of  confusion  throughout  the  night  of 
Saturday  the  30th ;  few  of  the  men  retired 
to  their  own  huts ;  and  the  Europeans  were 
in  a  state  of  extreme  anxiety,  having  re- 
ceived  warning   of    the    determination   at 
which  the  irregular  cavalry  had  arrived — of 
remaining  strictly  neutral  in  the  approach- 
ing struggle,  and  neither  raising  their  hands 
against   their   countrymen  nor   the   Euro- 
peans.    The  confidence  of  some  of  the  ofii- 
cers  in  their  men  was  unbroken  to  the  last. 
For  instance,  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  Sun- 
day morning,  Major  Pearson,  who  was  in 
command  of  the   18th,  called  on   Colonel 
Troup,  and  assured  him  that  his  men  were 
all  right.     Two  hours  later  a  gun  was  fired 
by   the   artillery,    and   immediately   after- 
wards the  sepoys  began  firing  on  the  officers' 
bungalows.      Brigadier    Sibbald    mounted 
his  horse,  and   rode   towards   the   cavalry 
lines,  but  was  met  by  a  party  of  infantry, 
who    shot   him    in    the    chest :    the    brave 
old  soldier  rode  on  till  he  reached  the  ap- 
pointed rendezvous,  and  then  dropped  dead 
from  his  horse.     Ensign  Tucker  perished 
while  endeavouring  to  save  the  life  of  the 
sergeant-major.      The    chief   part   of    the 
Europeans,  civil  and  military,  reached  the 
cavalry  lines  in  safety,  and  agreed  to  retire 
on  Nynee  Tal.     The  troopers  were  assem- 
bled in  readiness  to  join   in   the   retreat, 
when    Captain   Mackenzie    came    up,    and 
asked  Colonel  Troup's  permission  to  com- 
ply with  the  wishes  of  the  men,  who  desired 
"  to  have  a  crack  at  the  mutineers."     They 
returned   accordingly,   and   soon    came    in 
sight  of  the   rebels.     The  result  may  be 
readily  guessed.     The   sight  of  the  green 
flag — the  symbol  of  their  faith — sufficed  to 
turn    the    scale   with    the   troopers;    and 
when    directed  to   charge   upon   their   co- 
religionists, they  halted,  began  to  murmur, 
and  ended  by  turning  their  horses'  heads, 
and  ranging  themselves  around  the  same 
banner.     The  officers  (Captain  Mackenzie 
and   Lieutenant   Becher),   with   a   faithful 
remnant  of  their  late  regiment,!  were  com- 
pelled to   rejoin   the   party  proceeding  to 

three  motherless  boys,  who  were  left  in  the  lines  of 
the  mutineers.  The  old  man  grasped  the  hand  of 
his  commander,  and,  looking  up  to  heaven  with  tears 
in  his  eyes,  exclaimed,  "  No,  I  will  go  on  with  you, 


214 


MUTINY  AT  SHAHJEHANPOOR— MAY  31st,  1857. 


Nynee  Tal.  Mr.  Alexander,  the  commis- 
siouer,  had  a  very  narrow  escape.  He  was 
ill  and  in  bed,  when  the  gun,  the  signal 
for  mutiny,  was  fired.  His  native  servant 
rushed  in,  and  begged  him  to  fly.  The  com- 
missioner declared  himself  unable  to  ride, 
but  was  lifted  on  to  his  saddle  in  an  almost 
fainting  state,  by  his  attendant.  The 
horse  took  fright  at  the  firing,  and  ran 
away,  happily  taking  the  Nynee  Tal  road, 
and  thus  saving  the  life  of  its  rider.  The 
fate  of  those  who  did  not  succeed  in  effect- 
ing their  escape  has  not  been  fully  ascer- 
tained. Six  officers — namely.  Major  Pear- 
son, Captains  Richardson  and  Hathorn, 
Lieutenant  Stewart,  and  Ensign  Dyson, 
at  first  believed  to  be  concealed  in  a  vil- 
lage seven  miles  from  Delhi — are  stated, 
in  the  Gazette  of  May  6th,  1858,  as  still 
missing,  and  supposed  to  have  been  killed 
by  the  villagers.  Messrs.  Robertson  and 
Raikes,  judges  of  Bareilly;  Dr.  Hay,  son- 
in-law  to  the  late  Lieutenant-governor 
Thomason;  Mr.Wyatt,  the  deputy-collector ; 
and  Dr.  Carl  Buch,  principal  of  the  Bareilly 
college,  remained  behind.  They  are  alleged 
to  have  been  formally  tried  by  the  muti- 
neers, who  omitted  none  of  the  usual  forms, 
and  made  Khan  Bahadoor  Khan  act  as  the 
judge.  A  jury  was  sworn,  witnesses  were 
examined,  a  conviction  obtained,  and  sen- 
tence of  death  passed  with  aflected  solem- 
nity on  the  unfortunate  gentlemen,  who 
were  then  publicly  hanged  in  front  of  the 
gaol.  To  appreciate  the  force  of  this  horri- 
ble sarcasm,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
our  administration  of  justice,  both  civil  and 
criminal,  was  detested  by  the  natives ;  and 
that  a  Rohilcund  magistrate  had  been, 
for  more  than  a  year  before  the  outbreak, 
representing  "  the  great  abuse  of  the  power 
of  the  civil  courts,  and  the  reckless  manner 
in  which  they  decreed  the  sale  of  rights 
and  interests  connected  with  the  soil,  in 
satisfaction  of  petty  debts,  and  the  danger- 
ous dislocation  of  society  which  was  in  con- 
sequence being  produced."*  Moreover, 
one  of  the  victims,  Mr.  Wyatt,  had  himself 
published,  anonymously,  a  book  entitled 
Revelations  respecting  the  Police,  Magis- 
tracy, and  Criminal  Courts,^  which  suffi- 
ciently accounts  for  the  deep-rooted  ani- 
mosity excited  by  our  system,  and  which 
naturally  extended  to  its  administrators. 

and  do  my  duty."  The  children  did  not  perish,  but 
suffered  much  from  poverty  and  neglect.— Raikes' 
Revolt,  p.  155. 

*  Edwards'  Penonal  Adventures,  p.  14. 


Dr.  Hansbrow,  the  medical  officer  in 
charge  of  the  gaol,  ascended  to  the  roof  of 
that  building,  and  attempted  to  resist  the 
insurgents,  but  was  overpowered  and  put  to 
death.  The  prisoners,  to  the  number  of 
about  4,000,  were  released. J  Tha  treasury 
was  plundered,  the  cantonments  fired,  and 
many  lives  were  lost  in  the  contest  for 
booty,  which  ensued  between  the  sepoys 
and  the  population. 

At  Shahjehanpoor,  a  mutiny  occurred 
on  the  same  Sunday,  of  which  no  ofiBcial 
account  has  ever  been  furnished;  for  those 
whose  duty  it  would  have  been  to  report 
the  details  to  government,  were  themselves 
among  the  victims.  The  28th  N.I.  rose  en 
masse  during  the  time  of  morning  service, 
and  some  of  the  men  entered  the  church, 
murdered  the  collector  (Mr.  Ricketts)  and 
Dr.  Bowling,  and  wounded  Ensign  Spens. 
Captain  James,  the  officer  in  command  of  the 
regiment,  was  killed  while  endeavouring  to 
recall  his  men  to  a  sense  of  duty  ;  Captain 
Salmon  was  wounded  while  running  to  the 
parade-ground ;  but  he,  with  Ensign  Spens 
and  twenty-six  other  persons,  including  eight 
ladies  and  four  children,  made  their  escape 
to  Mohuradee,  a  station  in  Oude,  where 
their  arrival  caused  great  excitement  among 
the  Native  troops,  and  accelerated  the 
catastrophe  in  which  they  perished. 

The  account  here  given  is  derived  from 
a  letter  written  by  the  assistant-commis- 
sioner of  Mohumdee,  Captain  Patrick  Orr, 
to  his  brother  at  Lucknow.§  Circumstan- 
tial narratives  of  the  Shahjehanpoor  mutiny 
were  published  in  various  Indian  journals; 
but  they  contradict  one  another  in  impor- 
tant particulars,  and  are  probably  all  equally 
fictitious. 

Budaon  is  about  thirty  miles  from  Ba- 
reilly. In  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  the 
31st,  intelligence  was  received  that  crowds 
of  released  convicts  were  thronging  the 
Bareilly  road,  and  were  already  within  eight 
miles  of  Budaon ;  and  further,  that  a  detach- 
ment of  the  mutineers  were  in  full  march 
thither,  in  the  assurance  of  being  joined 
by  the  treasury  guard  in  plundering  and 
burning  the  station.  The  magistrate,  Mr. 
Edwards,  whose  narrative  has  been  already 
quoted,  felt  that  the  discontent  of  the 
population  rendered  it  hopeless  to  attempt 
to  oppose  the  insurgents.     Mr.  Phillips,  the 

t  Ostensibly  by  "  Orderly  Panchkooree  Khan." 
\  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  ;  p.  2. 
§  Gubbins'  Mutiny  in  Oudh,  p.  123 ;  Rees'  Siege 
of  Lucknoui,  p.  48. 


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MUTINY  AT  BUD  AON— May  31st,  1857. 


215 


magistrate  of  Etah,  was  at  this  time  at  Bu- 
daon,  having  come  thus  far  on  his  way  to 
Bareilly,  whither  he  was  proceeding  to  pro- 
cure military  aid  to  put  down  disturbances 
in  his  own  district.  On  learning  what  had 
occurred,  he  mounted  his  horse,  and  with  an 
escort  composed  of  a  dozen  horsemen  (some 
belonging  to  different  regiments  of  irregu- 
lar horse,  others  common  police  sowars), 
dashed  off  at  full  gallop,  in  order  to  reach 
the  Ghauts  across  the  Ganges  before  the 
convicts  or  rebels  could  close  the  road,  and 
prevent  his  return  to  Etah.  Edwards  was 
sorely  tempted  to  make  his  escape  also.  His 
wife  and  child  had  previously  found  refuge 
at  Nynee  Tal ;  but  he  considered  it  his  duty 
"  to  stick  to  the  ship  as  long  as  she  floated." 
He  remained  the  only  European  officer  in 
charge  of  a  district,  containing  a  lawless 
population  of  nearly  1,100  souls,  with  a  Mo- 
hammedan deputy-collector  for  his  sole  as- 
sistant. "  I  went,"  he  says,  "  into  my  room, 
and  prayed  earnestly  that  God  would  protect 
and  guide  me,  and  enable  me  to  do  my  duty. 
I  then  summoned  my  kotwal,  and  arranged 
with  him  as  best  we  could,  for  maintaining, 
as  long  as  possible,  the  peace  of  the  town." 
At  ten  at  night,  Mr.  Donald,  an  indigo 
planter,  and  bis  son;  Mr.  Gibson,  a  patrol 
iu  the  customs  department,  temporarily  on 
duty  in  the  district ;  and  Mr.  Stewart  and 
his  wife  and  family  (Eurasians),  sought 
protection  in  Mr.  Edwards'  house.  By 
congregating  together,  however,  they  rather 
increased  than  diminished  their  mutual  dan- 
ger, by  attracting  attention,  which  was  the 
more  to  be  deprecated,  "as  some  of  the 
party  were  at  feud  with  the  people  of  the 
district,  in  consequence  of  having  pur- 
chased estates,  sold  under  harsh  circum- 
stances by  decrees  of  our  civil  courts." 
This  statement  is  followed  by  others,  which 
deserve  quotation  in  full,  as  illustrating  the 
gulf  that  opened  at  the  feet  of  the  govern- 
ing race  the  moment  the  Bengal  merce- 
naries hoisted  the  standard  of  revolt. 

"To  the  large  number  of  these  sales  during  the 
past  twelve  or  fifteen  years,  and  the  operation  of 
our  revenue  system,  which  has  had  the  result  of 
destroying  the  gentry  of  the  country,  and  breaking 
up  the  village  communities,  I  attribute  solely  the 
disorganisation  of  this  and  the  neighbouring  dis- 
tricts in  these  provinces.  By  fraud  or  chicanery, 
a  vast  number  of  the  estates  of  families  of  rank  and 
influence  have  been  alienated,  either  wholly  or  in 
part,  and  have  been  purchased  by  new  men,  chiefly 
traders  or  government  otHcials,  without  character  or 
irtfuence  over  their  tenantry.  •  •  •  '|"he  very 
first  people  who  came  in  to  me,  imploring  aid,  were 
of  this   new  proprietary  body,  to  whom  I   had  a 


right  to  look  for  vigorous  and  efficient  efforts  in  the 
maintenance  of  order.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who 
really  could  control  the  vast  masses  of  the  rural 
population,  were  interested  in  bringing  about  a  state 
of  disturbance  and  general  anarchy." 

In  adverting  to  the  manufacture  and  distribution 
of  the  chupatties  in  the  North- Western  Provinces, 
Mr.  Edwards  says — "  1  truly  believe  that  the  rural 
population  of  all  classes  among  whom  these  cakes 
spread,  were  as  ignorant  as  I  was  myself  of  their 
real  object ;  but  it  was  clear  they  were  a  secret 
sign  to  be  on  the  alert ;  and  the  minds  of  the  people 
were,  through  them,  kept  watchful  and  excited.  As 
soon  as  the  disturbances  broke  out  at  Meerut  and 
Delhi,  the  cakes  explained  themselves,  and  the 
people  at  once  perceived  what  was  expected  from 
them.  In  Budaon,  the  mass  of  the  population  rose  in  a 
body,  and  the  entire  district  became  a  scene  of 
anarchy  and  confusion.  The  ancient  proprietary 
body  took  the  opportunity  of  murdering  or  expelling 
the  auction  purchasers,  and  resumed  possession  of 
their  hereditary  estates.  •  •  •  Xhe  rural  classes 
would  never  have  joined  in  rebelling  with  the 
sepoys,  whom  they  hated,  had  not  these  causes  of 
discontent  already  existed.  They  evinced  no  sym- 
pathy whatever  about  the  cartridges,  or  flour  said  to 
be  made  of  human  bones,  and  could  not  have  been 
acted  on  by  any  cry  of  their  religion  being  in  danger. 
It  is  questions  involving  their  rights  and  interests 
in  the  soil,  and  hereditary  holdings  invariably  termed 
by  them  'jan  se  azeez'  (dearer  than  life),  which 
excite  them  to  a  dangerous  degree."* 

At  six  o'clock  on  Monday  afternoon,  the 
company  of  the  68th  N.I.,  on  guard  at 
the  treasury,  broke  into  open  mutiny, 
released  300  prisoners  confined  in  the  gaol, 
and  seized  the  money  entrusted  to  their 
charge,  amounting  to  about  £15,000.  The 
sraallness  of  the  sum  was  a  great  disap- 
pointment :  they  had  expected  to  find 
£70,000  in  the  treasury ;  and  would  have 
done  so,  had  not  Mr.  Edwards,  anticipating 
the  outbreak,  refused  to  receive  the  custo- 
mary payments  of  the  zemindars.  Directly 
after  the  rise  of  the  guard,  a  party  of  the 
Bareilly  mutineers  entered  the  station,  and 
the  Native  police  threw  away  their  badges 
and  fraternised  with  the  rebels.  The  re- 
leased convicts  issued  from  the  gaol,  and 
proceeded,  hooting  and  yelling,  to  the  ma- 
gistrate's house.  The  Europeans  heard 
the  ominous  sounds;  and  mounting  the 
horses  which  had  been  standing  saddled 
all  the  day,  rode  for  their  lives.  Mr. 
Edwards  and  the  two  Donalds  succeeded  in 
forcing  their  v/ny,  revolver  in  hand,  through 
the  crowd ;  but  Mr.  Gibson  was  killed. 
The  others  were  subsequently  protected  by 
Mooltan  Khan — a  "  fine  powerful  Patau, 
between  forty  and  fifty  years  of  age,"  re- 
lated to,  and  in  the  service  of,  a  petty  chief, 
known  as  the  nawab  of  Shurasabad,  a  place 

•  Edwards'  Personal  Adventures,  pp.  13 — 17. 


216 


MUTINY  AT  MORADABAD— June  3rd,  1857. 


near  the  Ganges.  Mooltan  Khan  told  the 
fugitives  that  their  escape  was  impossible, 
on  account  of  the  state  of  the  country;  and 
he  seemed  inclined  either  to  leave  them  to 
their  fete,  or  to  allow  the  half-a-dozen 
troopers  appointed  by  the  navrab  to  escort 
the  Europeans  on  their  way,  to  dispose  of 
them  summarily.  Edwards  saw  that  a 
crisis  had  arrived ;  and  riding  up  to  Mool- 
tan Khan,  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  shoulder, 
saying,  "  Have  you  a  family,  and  little 
children?"  The  Patau  nodded.  "Are 
they  not  dependent  on  you  for  bread?" 
"  Yes,"  was  the  answer.  "  Well,"  rejoined 
Edwards,  "  so  have  I ;  and  I  am  confident 
you  are  not  the  man  to  take  my  life  and 
destroy  their  means  of  support."  Mooltan 
Khan  hesitated  a  moment,  and  then  said, 
"  I  will  save  your  life  if  I  can ;  follow  me." 
He  set  off  at  a  gallop,  the  three  Europeans 
after  him ;  and  despite  the  remonstrances 
of  the  troopers,  who  desired  the  death  of 
the  fugitives,  Mooltan  Khan  conveyed  them 
by  a  circuitous  cross-country  route,  avoid- 
ing the  hostile  villagers,  and  enabled  them 
to  reach  a  place  of  temporary  safety;  that  is 
to  say,  a  station  not  then  submerged  be- 
neath the  flood  of  mutiny.  During  Mr. 
Edwards'  wanderings,  he  was  attended  with 
unwavering  fidelity  by  an  Afghan  servant, 
and  by  a  Seik  named  Wuzeer  Sing,  who  had 
retired  from  the  29th  regiment  of  N.I.  in 
April,  1857,  to  join  a  small  band  of  native 
Christians  resident  at  Budaon,  and  had  sub- 
sequently been  employed  as  an  orderly. 

Moradabad. — News  of  the  outbreak  and 
massacre  at  Bareilly  reached  Moradabad  on 
the  2nd  of  June,  and  a  marked  alteration 
took  place  in  the  demeanour  of  the  29th 
N.I.,  and  in  that  of  the  population.  The 
treasury,  containing  75,000  rupees,  was 
under  the  charge  of  the  sepoys,  who  com- 
menced plundering  it  on  the  3rd  of  June. 
The  sepoys,  disappointed  by  the  smallness 
of  the  booty,  seized  the  treasurer,  carried 
him  up  to  the  guns,  and  threatened  to  blow 
him  away  unless  he  disclosed  where  the 
supposed  remainder  was  hidden.  Mr.  Saun- 
ders (the  magistrate)  and  Mr.  Wilson  (the 
judge)  succeeded  in  rescuing  their  country- 
man, but  not  without  danger  to  themselves ; 
for  a  few  of  the  mutineers  put  the  percus- 
sion-caps on  their  muskets,  and  took  deli- 
berate aim  at  the  retreating  Europeans. 
Some  of  the  Native  officers  rushed  forward, 
and  reminding  the  men  that  they  had  taken 
an  oath  to  refrain  from  bloodshedding,  per- 
suaded them  to  drop  their  weapons. 


Mr.  Wilson  had  great  influence  with  the 
29th  N.I. ;  his  knowledge  of  the  language 
having  enabled  him  both  to  harangue  them 
publicly,  and  converse  familiarly  with  them 
in  their  lines.  To  this  cause,  and  the  nerve 
and  moderation  evinced  by  both  officers 
and  civilians,  may  be  attributed  the  absence 
of  the  tragic  excesses  committed  in  other 
stations.  The  regiment,  and  artillery  de- 
tachment, proceeded  quietly  to  appropriate 
the  government  treasure,  the  opium,  and 
all  the  plate-chests,  and  other  valuable 
property  of  private  individuals,  which  had 
been  sent  for  security  to  the  government 
treasury.  The  Native  police  withdrew,  and 
hid  themselves;  and  the  Europeans,  with 
their  wives  and  children,  quitted  the  station; 
some  proceeding  to  Meerut,  others  to  Ny- 
nee  Tal.  There  were  at  Moradabad  several 
Native  officers  on  leave  from  their  regi- 
ments, whose  services  had  been  previously 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  local  autho- 
rities. They  volunteered  to  escort  the 
Europeans  to  Meerut;  the  offer  was  ac- 
cepted, and  the  promise  fulfilled.* 

The  various  mutinous  regiments  of  Rohil- 
cund  united,  and  marched  to  Delhi,  where 
their  co-operation  was  much  desired,  as  we 
learn  from  the  following  characteristic  epis- 
tle, intercepted  at  Haupper  (near  Meerut): — ■ 

"  From  the  Officers  of  the  Army  at  Delhi,  to  tha 
Officers  of  the  Bareilly  and  Moradabad  llegiments. — 
If  you  are  coming  to  help  us,  it  is  incumbent  on 
you  that  if  you  cat  your  food  there,  you  wash  your 
hands  here,  for  here  the  fight  is  going  on  with  the 
English  ;  and  by  the  goodness  of  God,  even  one  de- 
feat to  us  is  ten  to  them,  and  our  troops  are  assem- 
bled here  in  large  numbers.     It  is  now  necessary 
for  you  to  come  here  j  for  large  rewards  will  be  con- 
ferred by  the  king  of  kings,  the  centre  of  prosperity, 
the   King   of    Delhi.     We   are   looking   out   most 
anxiously  for  you,  like  fasters  watching  for  the  call 
of  the  mezzin  [the  signal  that  the  fast  is  ended]. 
"  Come,  come  for  there  is  no  rose 
Without  the  spring  of  your  presence. 
The  opening  bud  with  drought 
Is  as  an  infant  without  milk."t 

On  the  1st  of  July,  the  longing  eyes  of 
the  rebel  Delhi  garrison  were  gladdened, 
and  those  of  the  besiegers  mortified,  by  the 
sight  of  the  Rohilcund  mutineers,  who  were 
watched  by  friends  and  foes  crossing  the 
Jumna  in  boats  (the  bridge  being  broken), 
and  mai-ching  into  one  of  the  seven  gates  of 
the  city  in  military  array,  with  infantry,  cav- 
alry, artillery,  and  some  hundred  cart-loada 
of  treasure. 


*  Further  Pari.  Papers,  pp.  9 — 11. 
t  Daily    News,   August    17th,    1857. 
Special  Correspondent. 


Bombay 


CHAPTER   X. 

bUDE,    LUCKNOW,    SEETAPOOR,    MOHUMDEE,     MULLAON,     BAHRAETCH,     GONDAli, 
MULLAPOOR,  FYZABAD,  SALONE,  AND  DURIABAD.— MAY  16th  to  JULY  4th,  1857. 


OuDE. — The  eflForts  of  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence were  successful  in  preserving  the 
tranquillity  of  Oude  up  to  the  end  of  May. 
In  the  meantime,  he  had  taken  precautions 
in  anticipation  of  a  calamity  which  he 
considered  uothing  short  of  the  speedy  re- 
capture of  Delhi  could  avert.  On  the  16th 
of  May,  he  requested  the  Supreme  govern- 
ment, by  telegraph,  to  entrust  him  with 
plenary  military  power  in  Oude ;  which  was 
immediately  granted.*  He  was  appointed 
brigadier-general,  and  he  lost  not  a  moment 
in  entirely  changing  the  disposition  of 
the  troops.  Arrangements  for  Lucknow, 
he  considered,  might  be  satisfactorily  made ; 
but  the  unprotected  condition  of  Allahabad, 
Benares,  and  especially  of  Cawnpoor,  filled 
him  with  alarm ;  and  he  wrote  urgently  to 
the  governor-general,  entreating  that  no 
expense  might  be  spared  in  sending  Euro- 
peans to  reinforce  that  place.  At  midnight 
on  the  20th,  an  application  for  aid  was  dis- 
patched from  thence  to  Lucknow  (fifty  miles 
distant),  and  was  answered  by  the  imme- 
diate dispatch  of  fifty  men  of  H.M.'s  32nd, 
and  two  squadrons  of  Native  cavalry.  The 
cavalry  were  not  needed  at  Cawnpoor;  and 
Captain  Fletcher  Hayes  projected,  and  ob- 
tained leaye  to  attempt,  the  expedition 
against  the  Etah  rajah,  the  melancholy 
result  of  which  has  been  already  related. 

Lucknow  itself  needed  every  precaution 
which  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  had  the  means 
of  taking.  It  extended  along  the  right 
bank  of  the  Goomtee  for  four  miles,  and  its 
buildings  covered  an  area  of  seven  miles. 
It  contained,  according  to  Mr.  Raikes, 
200,000  fighting-men,  and  as  many  more 
armed  citizens.  Sleeman  estimated  the 
total  population  at  1,000,000  persons  ;t 
others  have  placed  it  at  1,200,000:  but 
no  census  had  been  attempted  either  by  the 
Native  or  European  government.  The  rising 
of  the  Lucknow  people  was  anticipated  by 
the  resident  Europeans  as  a  very  probable 
event,  for  the  plain  reason  that,  in  tlie  words 
of  one  of  the  annalists  of  the  siege,  "  we 

*  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  187. 
t  Raikes'  Revolt,  p.  104.     Sleeman's  Oude,  vol.  i., 
p.  136.  \  Rees'  Sieye  of  Lucknow,  p.  34. 

VOL.  II.  2  F 


had  done  very  little  to  merit  their  love,  and 
much  to  merit  their  detestation ;"  and  "  the 
people  in  general,  and  especially  the  poor, 
were  dissatisfied,  because  they  were  taxed 
directly  and  indirectly  in  every  way  ."J  The 
mutiny  of  the  Native  troops  was  still  more 
confidently  expected ;  and  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence was  urged  to  prevent  it  by  disarming 
them :  but  he  considered  that  this  measure, 
though  practicable  and  even  desirable  had 
the  capital  only  required  to  be  cared  for, 
might  precipitate  an  outbreak  at  Cawnpoor 
and  at  the  out-stations  of  Oude,  and  there- 
fore ought  not  to  be  adopted  except  in  the 
last  extremity.  In  the  distribution  of  the 
forces,  the  chief  object  had  been  to  station 
the  Europeans  where  they  would  suflPer  least 
from  exposure  to  the  climate ;  and  the  na- 
tives had  been  entrusted  with  the  sole  charge 
of  several  important  positions.  It  became 
necessary  to  make  a  new  arrangement,  and 
likewise  to  reduce  the  number  of  stations, 
that,  in  the  event  of  an  outbreak,  the  Euro- 
peans might  not  be  cut  off  in  detail.  "We 
had  eight  posts,"  writes  Sir  H.  Lawrence  to 
Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  on  the  20th  of  May  :  "as 
Sir  C.  Napier  would  say,  we  were  like  chips 
in  porridge.  We  have  given  up  four  postsj 
and  greatly  strengthened  three."§ 

Of  these  three,  the  Muchee  Bhawn  was 
the  one  which  was  at  the  onset  most  relied 
on.  This  fort,  which  derives  its  name  of 
Muchee  (fish)  ||  from  the  device  over  the  gate- 
way, and  Bhawn  (Sanscrit  for  house),  had 
the  appearance  of  a  formidable  and  secure 
stronghold,  and  was  held  by  the  natives  to 
be  almost  impregnable.  It  occupied  a 
commanding  position  with  regard  to  the 
town ;  and  advantage  was  taken  of  this  by 
planting  cannon  on  its  walls ;  or  where  that 
could  not  be  done,  supplying  the  deficiency 
with  "jingals,"  or  immense  blunderbusses 
moving  on  pivots.  All  the  magazine  stores, 
previously  under  the  charge  of  sepoys,  were 
removed  into  the  Muchee  Bhawn,  and  a 
company  of  Europeans  placed  on  guard 
there;  supplies  of  wheat,  and  all  sorts  of 

§  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  311. 
II  Tlie  order  of  the  Fish  was  the  highest  and  most 
coveted  distinction  in  the  Mogul  empire. 


218    PROCEEDINGS  OF  SIR  H.  LAWRENCE— LUCKNOW— MAY,  1857. 


provisions,  were  laid  iu,  and  also  very  largely 
into  the  Residency,  which  was  the  post 
next  in  strength.  At  the  treasury,  within 
the  Residency  compound,  were  stationed 
130  Europeans,  200  Natives,  and  six  guns  : 
the  sepoys  were  allowed  to  remain  on  guard 
at  the  treasury  tent ;  but  the  guns  were  so 
disposed  as  to  give  the  Europeans  complete 
command  over  the  tent,  in  the  event  of  an 
attempt  upon  it. 

A  copy  of  the  proclamation  issued  at 
Agra,  promising-  immunity  from  punish- 
ment to  all  sepoys  not  concerned  in  the 
murderous  attacks  upon  Europeans,  now 
reached  Lucknow.  Sir  Henry  Lawrence 
followed  the  example  of  Mr.  Colvin,  by 
directing  the  judicial  commissioner  to  pre- 
pare, and  issue  throughout  Oude,  a  notifi- 
cation holding  out  still  stronger  assurances 
of  clemency.  This  policy  was  generally 
approved  at  Lucknow,  as  it  had  been  at 
Agra,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  just  pos- 
sible the  dreaded  combination  of  the  Native 
troops  might  be  stopped  by  timely  con- 
ciliation.* 

While  a  semblance  of  order  was  main- 
tained  among   the  troops,  some   hope  re- 
mained of  averting  the  danger;  and  even 
after  the  outbreak,  the  necessity  of  stop- 
ping the  process  of  coalition  and  combina- 
tion,  among   the   rebels   was    so   manifest, 
that,  despite  the  fierce  cry  for  vengeance 
which  speedily  arose,  some  voices  were  still 
raised  in  favour  of  a  rule  of  action  more 
befitting  a  Christian  people,  than  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Draconian  principle,  that  death 
was  to  be  the  indiscriminating  punishment 
of  every  grade  of  mutiny  or  insurrection. 
Por  instance,  a  letter  written  from  Simla 
on  the  23rd  of  June,  descriptive  of  the  tone 
of    feeling    prevalent    there,    states    that 
"  Lord  William  Hay,  deputy-commissioner 
up   here,   and   Mr.    Campbell,    say   if   the 
mutineers  would  now  lay  down  their  arms, 
and   promise   to   go    to   their   homes,    we 
should  be  most  thankful  to  grasp  at  the 
proposal."!     If  this  opinion  could  be  formed 
by  a  person  of  such  sound  judgment  and 
intimate  acquaintance  with  native  character 
as  Lord  William  Hay,  at  the  latter  end  of 
June,  much  more  might  of  course  be  urged 
in  favour  of  the  view  taken  by  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence  before  the  explosion  which  took 
place  at  Lucknow  at  the  close  of  May. 

The  Mohammedan  festival  of  the  "  Eed," 
or  "New  Moon,"  fell  on  the  24th  of  May; 

*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  43. 
t  Baity  News,  August  23rd,  1867. 


and  considerable  apprehension  was  felt 
during  its  celebration.  On  the  preceding 
evening,  a  telegram  from  General  Wheeler 
had  stated  it  as  almost  certain  that  the 
troops  would  rise  that  night  at  Cawnpoor ; 
and  it  was  believed  that  the  example  would 
be  immediately  followed  at  Lucknow.  In- 
cendiarism had  everywhere  marked  the  first 
movements  of  the  mutineers  at  other  sta- 
tions; and,  from  the  beginning  of  the  month, 
had  shown  itself  at  Lucknow.  Placards, 
inviting  all  true  Hindoos  and  Mussulmans 
to  exterminate  the  Feringhees,  were  posted 
up  at  night  in  several  places.  Reports  that 
the  71st  regiment  was  in  actual  mutiny, 
had  more  than  once  got  about ;  and,  on  one 
occasion.  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  and  the 
military  staff  had  been  called  down  to  the 
lines  in  the  middle  of  the  day  by  an  alarm 
of  the  kind. 

The  Eed,  however,  passed  off  without 
any  disturbance.  Still  it  was  thought  ad- 
visable that  the  ladies  and  children  should 
leave  cantonments,  and  take  shelter  in  the 
Residency  and  adjacent  houses  compre- 
hended within  the  intrenchments,  after- 
wards so  gallantly  defended.  Mr.  Gub- 
bins, the  commissioner  for  Oude,  had  used 
all  possible  precautions  against  the  antici- 
pated siege.  His  house,  solidly  built  of 
masonry,  comprised  two  stories,  and  was 
exposed  on  three  sides  to  the  city.  Ma- 
sonry parapets,  pierced  with  loopholes,  were 
erected  all  around  the  roof;  the  veran- 
dahs and  doorways  were  similarly  protected 
with  walls  of  masonry;  and  strong  doors, 
cased  with  sheet-iron  on  the  outside,  were 
fixed  upon  the  entrances  on  the  ground 
floor.  Mr.  Gubbins  commenced  his  fortifi- 
cations at  a  time  when  few  other  Euro- 
peans in  Lucknow  seriously  contemplated 
an  attack  on  the  Residency;  and  his  prepara- 
tions were  not  carried  ou  without  exciting 
the  mirth  of  some  of  his  neighbours ;%  while 
others  imitated  his  example. 

Throughout  the  whole  month  of  May, 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence  is  described  as  having 
been  "  untiring  iu  his  exertions.  He  gene- 
rally visited  the  Muchee  Bhawn  every 
morning,  and  any  other  post  that  called  for 
his  attention.  From  breakfast  until  dark 
he  was  consulting  with  his  military  subor- 
dinates, closeted  with  Native  officers,  or  at 
work  with  his  pen."§  He  was  the  mainspring 
of  the  entire  community.  Military  men 
and  civilians,  covenanted  aud  uncovenanted  ; 

\  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  27. 
§  Ihid.,  p.  45. 


LUCKNOW— MUTINY  OF  71st  N.I.— MAY  30th. 


219 


merchants,  tradespeople,  servants,  the  Eura- 
sians, and  all  the  loyal  natives,  vied  with  each 
other  in  loving  and  trusting  Henry  Law- 
rence. The  uucovenanted  assistants,  com- 
prising clerks,  copyists,  &c.,were  embodied  as 
special  constables,  and  cheerfully  took  night 
duty ;  each  man  feeling  that  his  services,  if 
well  performed,  however  subordinate  in 
character,  would  not  pass  unnoticed  or  Tin- 
rewarded.  Rees  says,  "the  uncovenanted, 
particularly,  had  a  kind  friend  in  Sir 
Henry  J  and  with  the  common  soldier  he 
was  equally,  if  not  even  more  popular."* 
The  enthusiasm  displayed  when  he  removed 
the  head-quarters  of  his  oflSce  from  canton- 
ments into  the  Residency  (31st  May),  was 
very  striking.  The  sight  of  his  attenuated 
but  soldier-like  form — the  eyes  already 
sunken  with  sleeplessness,  the  forehead 
furrowed  with  anxious  thought,  the  soft 
hair  cut  short  on  the  head,  the  long  wavy 
beard  descending  to  his  breast — all  the  well- 
known  features  of  probably  the  most  gene- 
rally beloved  man  in  India — called  forth  a 
perfect  storm  of  acclamation.  Loud  "hur- 
rahs !"  and  shouts  of  "  Long  life  to  Sir 
Henry !"  continued  until  he  had  passed 
out  of  sight  into  the  Residency,  where 
he  was  soon  to  receive  his  death-wound. 

Oa  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  the  30th, 
he  wrote  a  private  letter  to  Mr.  Raikes  at 
Agra,  by  the  last  regular  post  that  left 
Lucknow  for  nearly  a  year;  in  which  he 
observes — "  If  the  commander-in-chief  delay 
much  longer,  he  may  have  to  recover  Cawn- 
poor,  Lucknow,  and  Allahabad ;  indeed,  all 
down  to  Calcutta.  *  *  *  While  we 
are  intrenching  two  posts  in  the  city,  we 
are  virtually  besieging  four  regiments  (in  a 
quiet  way)  with  300  Europeans.  Not  very 
pleasant  diversion  from  my  civil  duties.  I 
am  daily  in  the  town,  four  miles  off,  for 
some  hours ;  but  reside  in  the  cantonments, 
guarded  by  the  gentlemen  we  are  besieg- 
ing. *  *  *  What  I  most  fear  are 
risings  in  the  districts,  and  the  irregulars 
getting  tainted. "t 

Both  these  evils  were  manifesting  them- 
selves at  the  time  when  the  above  para- 
graph was  written.  The  disorganised  con- 
dition of  the  Doab  districts  was  reacting 
on  the  Oude  border.  Up  to  the  25th  of 
May,  no  overt  act  of  insurrection  occurred ; 
but  then  several  of  the  dispossessed  talook- 
dars   began   to   resume   possession   of  the 

•  Rees'  Siei/e  of  Lucknow,  p.  39. 

t  Raikes'  Revolt  in  the  N.  IF.  Provinces,  p.  22; 

X  Ibid.,  p.  22. 


villages  from  whence  they  had  been  ejected; 
and  the  zemindars  of  Mulheeabad  and  its 
neighbourhood,  distant  about  eighteen  miles 
from  Lucknow,  evinced  undisguised  disaf- 
fection. These  people  were  the  descendants 
of  Afreedees,  who  came  from  the  Khyber 
mountains,  and  are  described  as  "greedy, 
pool',  and  idle."  They  began  assembling 
in  their  villages,  and  threatened  the  local 
treasury  at  Mulheeabad.  To  repress  them, 
a  party  of  police,  under  Captain  Weston, 
was  detached  from  Lucknow,  Avith  tem- 
porary good  effect. 

Another  interesting  letter  reached  Mr. 
Raikes  by  the  same  post,  from  his  son-ia- 
law,  Mr.  Christian,  an  able  and  experienced 
revenue  officer,  who  expressed  a  hope  that 
the  eyes  of  government  would  now  be 
opened  to  the  effect  of  the  levelling  policy, 
by  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  disturbed  pro- 
vinces,  where  they  had  hardly  a  single  man 
of  influence  to  look  to  for  help,  all  being 
equal  in  their  poverty.  He  added,  however, 
as  far  as  Lucknow  was  concerned — "  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  has  arranged  admirably; 
and,  come  what  will,  we  are  prepared."! 

That  is  to  say,  about  930  Europeans  held 
themselves  in  readiness  for  the  very  possi- 
ble contingency  of  a  hand-to-hand  struggle 
with  above  4,000  of  their  own  trained 
troops. 

That  same  evening  (30th  May),  the  nine 
o'clock  gun  gave  the  signal  for  mutiny  to  a 
portion  of  the  Native  troops.  A  party  of 
the  71st  N.I.  had  been  removed  from  the 
Muchee  Bhawn  a  few  days  before,  on 
account  of  their  suspected  disaffection,  and 
were  stationed  in  the  city.  It  was  not, 
however,  these  men,  but  those  of  another 
company  of  the  same  regiment  in  canton- 
ments, who  turned  out  and  commenced 
firing,  while  a  body  of  about  forty  made 
straight  for  the  mess-house,  ransacked,  and 
set  it  on  fire.  The  officers  everywhere  were 
on  the  alert,  and  left  their  messes  upon  the 
first  shot  being  fired.  Sir  Henry  rode 
at  once  to  the  European  camp.  Brigadier 
Handscomb,  a  fine  old  soldier,  advanced  on 
the  lines  of  the  71st  with  a  company  of 
H.M.'s  32nd.  The  word  to  "  fix  bayonets" 
was  given,  and  the  Europeans  could  scarcely 
be  restrained  from  charging  without  orders. 
The  brigadier  withheld  them,  saying,  "  You 
might  kill  friends."  Then  bidding  them 
halt,  he  advanced  alone,  intending,  despite 
the  darkness  and  confusion,  to  address  the 
mutineers;  but  was  fired  on,  and  fell  from 
his  horse  dead.    The  sepoys  of  the  71st, 


220        FLIGHT  AND  PURSUIT  OP  MUTINEERS— MAY  30th,  1857. 


becoming  more  bold,  marched  upon  a  body 
of  H.M.'s  32nd  foot  and  four  guns,  posted 
to  the  right  of  them  in  the  European  camp ; 
but  a  volley  of  grape  soon  drove  them  back 
into  their  lines.  Lieutenant  Grant,  of  the 
71st  N.I.,  was  killed  while  on  picket  duty  at 
another  part  of  the  cantonments.  The 
subahdar  on  guard  had  concealed  him  under 
a  charpoy,  or  four-legged  native  bed,  when 
some  of  the  mutineers  rushed  in.  The 
subahdar  told  them  that  the  lieutenant  had 
escaped ;  but  a  havildar  of  the  same  guard, 
merciless  in  his  intense  bigotry,  pointed  to 
the  place  of  concealment,*  and  the  un- 
fortunate officer  was  immediately  dragged 
forth,  and  pierced  through  by  bayonets  and 
musket-balls. 

The  71st  mutineers  possessed  themselves 
both  of  the  colours  and  treasure  of  their 
regiment.  The  13th  N.I.  were  assembled 
on  their  own  parade,  and  detained  there  for 
a  considerable  time  by  the  exertions  of 
Major  Bruere.  Many  of  the  men,  however, 
broke  away  and  forced  open  the  magazine. 
The  adjutant,  Lieutenant  Chambers,  tried 
to  prevent  the  plunder  of  the  ammunition, 
but  was  fired  upon,  and  severely  wounded 
in  the  leg.  Finding  his  men  deserting  him, 
Major  Bruere  at  length  marched  ofiF  a 
remnant  of  the  13th  with  the  colours,  and 
took  post  with  about  200  men  by  the  side 
of  H.M.'s  32nd.  The  treasure  was  very 
gallantly  saved  by  Lieutenant  Loughnan, 
assisted  by  the  Seiks  of  the  regiment. 

While  Major  Bruere  was  thus  performing 
his  public  duty,  his  wife  and  children  were 
exposed  to  extreme  danger.  Mrs.  Bruere 
had  returned  to  cantonments  against  orders, 
and  was  in  her  bungalow  when  the  mutiny 
took  place.  Some  faithful  sepoys  of  her 
husband's  regiment,  saved  her  by  putting 
her  through  a  hole  in  the  wall,  which  they 
made  while  the  mutineers  were  calling  for 
her.  She  and  her  little  ones  fled  into  the 
open  country,  and  after  passing  the  night 
in  an  open  ditch,  succeeded  next  morning 
in  safely  reaching  the  Residency. 

The  48th  N.I.  likewise  assembled  on 
their  parade,  under  Colonel  Palmer,  who 
!  proposed  to  march  to  the  European  camp  ; 
j  but  this  the  men  would  not  do ;  and  when 
i  several  of  the  officers  proposed  going  thither 
j  themselves  to  ascertain  the  state  of  affairs, 
i 

I         *  MtUiny  of  Bengal  Army ;   by  one  who  served 
I     under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  77. 
I         t  Gubbjns  says  forty  (p.  105) ;  Sir  Henry  Lawrence 
,     twenty-five,  in  his  first  telegraphic  despatch  of  May 
,30th,  1857.— Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers,  p.  348. 


the  sepoys  withheld  them,  saying  that  they 
were  sure  to  be  killed.  It  is  stated  by 
Mr.  Gubbitis,  but  without  any  explanation 
of  so  strange  a  fact,  that  after  it  had 
become  evident  that  the  48th  would  not 
act  against  the  mutineers,  the  magazine 
was  opened,  and  ammunition  served  out  to  . 
them.  He  adds,  that  while  engaged  in  this 
duty.  Lieutenant  Ousely  was  struck  down 
by  one  of  his  men  with  a  bludgeon,  and 
they  then  helped  themselves.  Finding  that 
numbers  were  deserting,  and  that  the  corps 
would  not  face  the  mutineers,  Colonel  Pal- 
mer proposed  to  march  to  the  Residency  in 
the  city ;  but  by  the  time  he  reached  the 
iron  bridge,  only  fifty-seven  men  remained 
around  the  colours. 

The  lines  of  the  7th  light  cavalry  were  at 
Moodkeepoor,  about  three  miles  from  the 
cantonments.  Not  above  150  troopers 
were  there  when  the  mutiny  broke  out. 
These  were  immediately  called  out  by  their 
officers ;  when  some  twenty-fivef  of  them, 
before  line  could  be  formed,  dashed  ofi"  at 
full  speed  towards  the  cantonments;  the 
rest  patrolled  during  the  night,  and  drew 
up,  after  daybreak,  on  the  right  of  the  32nd 
regiment. 

While  these  movements  were  going  on, 
the  bungalows  in  cantonments  presented  a 
scene  of  general  uproar  and  devastation. 
Lieutenant  Hardinge,  with  his  irregular 
cavalry,  patrolled  along  the  main  street  of 
the  cantonments,  and  was  wounded  in  his 
unavailing  efforts  to  stop  the  general  plun- 
der, which  extended  to  the  native  bazaars. 
The  Residency  bungalow,  and  a  few  others, 
were  the  only  ones  in  cantonments  not 
fired. 

After  daybreak,  the  7th  cavalry  were 
directed  to  move  towards  Moodkeepoor, 
where  the  officers'  houses  and  the  troopers' 
lines  had  been  seized  and  fired  by  the  muti- 
neers. They  found  the  post  occupied  by  the 
enemy  in  force.  A  horseman  rode  from  the 
rebel  ranks  and  waved  his  sword  before  the 
yet  loyal  cavalry,  on  which  forty  of  them,  as 
if  moved  by  an  irresistible  impulse,  spurring 
their  horses,  galloped  across,  and  ranged 
themselves  on  the  side  of  the  enemy.  The 
rest  appear  to  have  remained  firm  until 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence  arrived  at  Mood- 
keepoor, about  4  A.M.,  with  four  guns  and 
two  companies  of  H.M.'s  32nd.  The  muti- 
neers amounted  to  about  1,000  men,  chiefly 
infantry,  assembled  in  disorderly  masses. 
The  guns  opened  upon  them  at  the  distance 
of  a  mile  with  round  shot,  and,  after  a  few 


INSURRECTION  IN  CITY  OF  LUCKNOW— MAY  31st,  1857. 


221 


discharges,  they  broke  up  and  fled  pre- 
cipitately. The  guns  followed  slowly  with 
the  infantry  ;  the  troopers  might  have  over- 
taken the  fugitive  crowds;  but  they  had 
evidently  no  desire  to  do  so,  notwithstanding 
the  promise  of  100  rupees  for  every  mutineer 
captured  or  slain;  aud,  after  proceeding  a 
few  miles  further,the  pursuit  was  abandoned. 
Thirty  prisoners  were  taken.  The  Euro- 
peans were  at  first  surprised  by  seeing 
numbers  of  men  and  women  running  in  all 
directions,  with  bundles  on  their  heads ;  but 
they  soun  discovered  that  these  were  vil- 
lagers and  camp-followers  making  oflf  with 
booty  obtained  in  the  cantonments  during 
the  preceding  night.  Some  of  the  plun- 
derers were  seized  by  Commissioner  Gub- 
bins,  who,  with  his  own  orderly  and  three 
of  Fisher's  horse,  got  detached  from  the  rest 
of  the  cavalry ;  but  what  to  do  with  his 
prisoners  the  commissioner  knew  not;  for, 
he  adds,  "  we  had  not  yet  learnt  to  kill 
in  cold  blood."  Neither  had  the  sepoys 
learned  to  expect  it :  they  would  have  been 
more  daring  had  they  been  more  desperate. 
Gubbins  and  his  four  native  followers  came 
suddenly  on  six  of  the  fugitives,  and  cap- 
tured them  in  the  following  singular  man- 
ner. "  Coming  up  with  them,  they  threw 
down  their  loaded  muskets  and  drew  their 
swords,  of  which  several  had  two.  Threat- 
ening them  with  our  fire-arms,  we  called 
upon  them  to  throw  down  their  arms,  which 
presently  they  did.  One  of  them  declared 
himself  to  be  a  havildar ;  and  I  made  him 
pinion  tightly  his  five  comrades,  using  their 
turbans  and  waistbfinds  for  the  purpose. 
One  of  the  troopers  then  dismounted  and 
tied  the  havildar's  arms.  Three  of  the  men 
belonged  to  the  48th  N.I.,  three  to  the 
13th  N.I.,  and  one  man  was  a  Seik.  One 
of  the  prisoners  wore  three  English  shirts 
over  his  native  dress.  The  arms  were 
collected  and  laden  on  a  couple  of  peasants 
summoned  from  the  village,  and  the  six 
prisoners  were  sent  back  in  charge  of  a 
single  horseman."  Mr.  Gubbins  rode  on, 
and,  in  his  own  words,  "gave  chase"  to  two 
or  three  more  fugitives,  and  had  nearly 
overtaken  them,  when  his  orderly  perceived 
a  number  of  sepoy  heads  behind  a  low  wall, 
at  the  entrance  of  a  village  they  were 
about  to  enter.  This  changed  the  aspect 
of  affairs ;  and,  amid  a  shower  of  bullets,  the 
commissioner  turned  his  horse's  head,  and, 
with  his  three  followers,  rode  back  with 
I  all  speed  to  the  Residency  bungalow  in 
ciintonments,  where  he  arrived  about  eleven 


o'clock.  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  and  the  ar- 
tillery having  returned  an  hour  before. 

The  trooper  entrusted  with  the  prisoners 
brought  them  duly  in,  and  he  and  his  three 
companions  received  the  promised  reward 
of  600  rupees.  While  waiting  for  their 
money  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Gubbins,  they 
talked  with  the  servants  on  the  state  of 
affairs.  The  three  who  belonged  to  Fisher's 
horse,  said,  "  We  like  our  colonel  [Fisher] , 
and  will  not  allow  him  to  be  harmed ;  but 
if  the  whole  army  turns,  we  must  turn 
too !"  The  events  of  a  few  days  showed 
the  significance  of  these  words  :  the  autho- 
rity of  the  "Fouj  ki  Bheera,"  or  general 
will  of  the  army,  was  to  individuals,  and 
even  to  regiments,  almost  irresistible.* 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  31st,  an  insurrec- 
tion took  place  in  a  quarter  of  the  city  called 
Hoseynabad,  near  the  Dowlutkhana.  An 
Indian  "  budmash"  is  little  less  turbulent 
than  an  Italian  "  bravo ;"  and  the  class  may 
well  be  supposed  to  have  abounded  in  a 
city  where  every  man  engaged  in  the 
ordinary  business  of  life,  wore  his  tulwar,  or 
short  bent  sword,  and  the  poorest  idler 
in  the  streets  swaggered  along  with  his 
shield  of  buflfalo-hide  and  his  matchlock 
or  pistols.  It  appeared  that  the  city  bud- 
mashes,  to  the  number  of  6,000  men,  had 
crossed  the  river  in  the  morning  with  the 
intention  of  joining  the  mutineers  in  the 
cantonments ;  but  their  plans  had  been  dis- 
concerted by  the  promptitude  with  which 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence  had  pursued  and  dis- 
persed their  intended  allies.  Finding  the 
mutineers  gone,  the  budmashes  returned  to 
the  city,  and  commenced  a  disturbance,  but 
were  put  down  by  the  efforts  of  the  police, 
assisted  by  a  few  faithful  companies  of 
irregular  infantry.  Many  of  the  insurgents 
were  killed,  and  several  prisoners  taken, 
and,  together  with  those  previously  cap- 
tured, were  lodged  in  the  Muchee  Bhawn, 
to  the  number  of  forty.  A  court-martial 
was  assembled  for  their  trial,  and  the 
majority  were  executed  by  hanging,  in- 
cluding the  six  sepoys  seized  by  Commis- 
sioner Gubbins,  the  traitor  who  betrayed 
Lieutenant  Grant's  hiding-place,  and  the 
subahdar,  who  had  a  month  before  been 
raised  to  that  rank,  and  presented  with  a 
dress  of  honour  and  a  thousand  rupees,  as 
a  reward  for  his  fidelity.  The  sentences 
passed  by  the  court  were  not,  however, 
all  confirmed  by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  for 
"  he  inclined  much  to  clemency. "f  The 
•  Gubbins' Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  1 1 1 .    \  Ibid.,-p.\\6. 


223 


ALL  OUDE  IN  REVOLT— JUNE  10th,  1857. 


executions  took  place  near  the  upper  gate 
of  the  Muchee  Bhawu,  at  the  crossing  of 
the  four  roads,  one  of  which  led  directly 
to  the  stone  bridge.  The  gallows  once 
erected,  became  in  Lucknow,  as  in  so  many 
other  British  stations,  a  standing  institu- 
tion: the  surrounding  space  was  commanded 
by  the  guns  of  the  fort;  and  more  effec- 
tually to  awe  the  people,  an  18-pounder 
gun  was  removed  to  the  road  outside,  kept 
constantly  loaded  with  grape,  and  pointed 
down  the  principal  thoroughfare. 

The   advisability   of    disarming   the   re- 
mainder of  the  Native  troops,  was  warmly 
discussed  at  Lucknow.     On  the   night  of 
the  30th  of  May,  less  than  500  men  had 
proved  actively  faithful;  but  in  the  course  of 
a   short   time,    about   1,200   had   gathered 
round   their   colours,   some   of  whom   had 
crept  quietly  back  to  their  lines;  but  the 
greater  number  consisted  of  the  detached 
guards  stationed  at  the  Residency,  and  at 
different    parts   of    the   city:     and    these, 
although  they  had  not  taken  part  with  the 
mutineers,    were    believed    to    have    been 
withheld  from  doing  so,  rather  by  the  fear 
of  the  European  infantry  and  guns,  than 
by  any  feeling  of  duty  or  attachment.     But 
Sir    Henry    Lawrence    persisted    in    con- 
sidering  the    question   as  he   had   already 
done  that  of  the  holding  of  Lucknow  itself, 
primarily  as  regarded  the  maintenance  of 
British     supremacy    in     Northern    India. 
Every  disbanded  regiment  helped  to  swell 
the  tide  of  mutiny,  to  fill  the  ranks  of  the 
Delhi  garrison,  or,  as  might  reasonably  have 
been  expected,  to  form  an  army,  such  as 
that  which  Sevajee  and  his  successors  had 
formed,  and   led   against  the   Mogul   em- 
perors.    The  want  of  leaders — a  deficiency 
which   might   at   any  moment   have   been 
supplied — saved    us    from   this    imminent 
danger  until  we  had  become  strong  enough 
to  grapple  with    it.     There  was   another 
reason    against    disarmament.     It    was    a 
measure  which    could   be    taken  only  in 
stations   which    possessed    a    certain    pro- 
portion of  British  troops  and  artillery.     No 
such  resource  was  available  at  the  numerous 
outposts,  where  a  few  British  officers  were 
at  the  mercy  of  exclusively  Native  corps: 
and  such  a  manifestation  of  distrust  could 
scarcely  fail  to  aggravate  their  disaffection, 
and  tempt  them  to  commit  the  very  crime 
to  which  they  were  believed  to  be  inclined. 
The  position  of  the  officers  was  everywhere 
exceedingly  trying ;   for,  according  to  a  re- 
gulation which  appears  to  have  been  gen- 


eral, they  were  directed  to  sleep  in  the 
Native  lines.  The  object  was,  of  course,  to 
prevent  or  check  conspiracy,  and  show  con- 
fidence in  the  sepoys ;  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  this  end  was  answered  in  a  degree 
at  all  commensurate  with  the  anxiety  occa- 
sioned, and  actual  hazard  incurred  by  the 
measure.  An  officer  (Lieutenant  Farquhar) 
of  the  7tli  light  cavalry,  writing  to  his 
mother,  gives  a  description  of  the  state  of 
feeling  at  the  Lucknow  camp,  which  is  pro- 
bably applicable  to  the  majority  of  Euro- 
pean officers  under  similar  circumstances. 
"  The  officers  of  each  regiment  had  to  sleep 
together,  armed  to  the  teeth ;  and  two  of 
each  regiment  had  to  remain  awake,  taking 
two  hours  at  a  time  to  watch  their  own 
men.  We  kept  these  watches  strictly ;  and, 
I  believe,  by  these  means  saved  our  throats. 
Every  officer  here  has  slept  in  his  clothes 
since  the  mutiny  began."*  At  the  gaol, 
also.  Captain  Adolphe  Orr,  and  three  other 
Europeans,  slept  nightly  among  the  Native 
police.f 

On  the  9th  of  June,  Sir  Henry  Lawrence 
became  alarmingly  ill,  from  sheer  exhaus- 
tion, aggravated  by  the  depressing  effect  of 
the  rapid  progress  of  mutiny  throughout 
the  province.  Dr.  Fayrer,  the  Residency 
surgeon,  declared  that  at  least  forty-eight 
hours  of  complete  rest  were  required  to 
preserve  his  life ;  and  a  provisional  council 
was  formed,  composed  of  Messrs.  Gubbins 
and  Ommaney,  Major  Banks,  Colonel  In- 
glis,  and  Major  Anderson,  the  chief  engineer. 
By  their  decree  the  Native  troops  were 
paraded,  disarmed,  and  dispatched  to  their 
homes,  on  leave  of  absence,  until  November. 
The  men  demurred,  and  their  commanders 
likewise  opposed  the  measure ;  but  the  coun- 
cil persevered,  and  all  the  sepoys  were  sent 
away  except  350,  who  had  given  recent 
evidence  of  fidelity,  and  many  of  whom  were 
Seiks.  All  the  7th  light  cavalry  were  sent 
away,  except  the  Native  officers.  The  horses 
were  brought  up,  and  picketed  near  the 
Residency ;  and  the  arms  were  brought  iu 
by  hundreds,  and  stored  in  some  of  the 
Residency  buildings. 

The  first  ten  days  of  June  had  sufficed  to 
disorganise  the  whole  of  Oude.  After  that 
time,  the  British  authority  was  confined  to 
Lucknow  and  its  immediate  neighbourhood. 
The  people  had  everywhere  continued  or- 
derly until  the  troops  rose;  and  when 
the  successive  mutinies  had  occurred,  the 

•  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  442. 
t  Kees'  Siege  of  Lucknow,  p.  54. 


MUTINY  AT  SEETAPOOR— JUNE  3rd,  1857. 


223 


"refugees  had,  with  few  exceptions,  ex- 
perienced at  their  hands  kindness  and  good 
treatment."* 

At  Seetapoor,  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Khyrabad  division,  of  which  Mr.  G.  J. 
Christian  was  commissioner,  the  troops  rose 
on  the  3rd  of  June.  They  consisted  of  the 
41st  N.I.  (1,067  men,  with  sixteen  European 
officers),  and  a  wing  of  irregular  cavalry 
(250  Natives,  with  a  single  European 
officer).  There  were  also  the  9th  and  10th 
regiments  of  Oude  irregular  infantry,  and 
the  2nd  regiment  of  military  police.  The 
commissioner  distrusted  the  troops ;  and, 
anticipating  an  outbreak,  collected  the 
civilians  and  their  families  at  his  house, 
which  he  proposed  to  defend  by  the  aid  of  a 
strong  guard  of  the  regiment  of  military 
police,  then  believed  to  be  stanch.  He 
advised  his  military  friends  to  send  their 
wives  to  him  for  safety.  Only  one  of  these 
came.  This  lady,  Mrs.  Stewart,  with  rare 
prudence,  looked  around  her,  and  perceived 
that  the  small  river  Sureyan  flowed  on 
two  sides  of  Mr.  Christian's  compound, 
and  that  there  was  no  means  of  reaching 
the  high  road  but  through  the  military 
cantonment ;  whereupon  she  pronounced  the 
position  unsafe,  returned  to  her  home,  and 
was  one  of  the  first  party  of  refugees. 

The  officers  generally  did  not  distrust 
their  men.  Colonel  Birch  had  such  entire 
confidence  in  the  41  st  N.I.,  that  when  a 
cry  arose  in  their  lines  that  the  10th  irre- 
gulars were  plundering  the  treasury,  he 
called  out  the  two  most  suspected  compa- 
nies, and  led  them  to  the  scene  of  the 
alleged  disturbance.  All  there  was  found 
to  be  quiet,  and  the  order  was  given  to 
return,  when  a  sepoy  of  the  guard  stepped 
out  of  the  ranks,  and  took  deliberate  aim  at 
the  colonel,  who  fell  from  his  horse  dead. 
Lieutenant  Smalley  and  the  sergeant-major 
were  then  killed.  The  adjutant,  Lieute- 
nant Graves,  escaped  wounded.  The  irre- 
gulars were  not  long  in  following  the 
example  of  mutiny;  and  in  the  massacre 
which  ensued,  Captain  Gowan  and  his  wife. 
Captain  Dorin,  Lieutenants  Greene  and 
Bax,t  Surgeon  Hill,  and  Lieutenant  Snell, 
with  his  wife  and  child,  perished.  Mrs. 
Greene  escaped,  as  did  also  Mrs.  Dorin. 
The   latter,   after  witnessing   the   murder 

*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  143. 
t  Kees'  Sieye  of  Lucknow,  p.  46. 
X  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  122. 
§  Mr.  Gubbins  mentions  receiving  Mrs.  Abthorp 
and  three  ckildren,  and  Mm.  and  Sliss  Uirch,  into 


of  her  husband,  fled  in  the  dress  of  a  native, 
in  the  company  of  Mr.  Dudman  (a  clerk) 
and  his  family,  with  several  other  East 
Indians.  The  party  were  protected  by  a 
neighbouring  zemindar  for  more  than  a 
fortnight,  and  then  sent  on  iu  a  native  cart 
to  Lucknow,  escorted  by  a  few  villagers. 
Mrs.  Dorin  was  received  into  the  house 
of  Commissioner  Gubbins ;  where,  on  the 
20th  of  July,  she  was  shot  through  the  head 
by  a  matchlock  ball,  which,  entering  by 
a  window,  traversed  two  sets  of  apartmente 
before  it  reached  that  in  which  she  was 
standing.  The  fate  of  the  Seetapoor  civi- 
lians is  thus  described  by  Mr.  Gubbins, 
whose  information  was  derived  from  the  lips 
of  the  survivors. 

"At  the  commencement  of    the  outbreak,  Mr. 
Christian  proceeded  outside  his  bungalow,  to  put  in  ] 
readiness  the  guard  of  military  police,  in  whom  he 
confided.   The  wretches  immediately  turned  and  fired 
upon  him.  Flyingbackinto  the  house,  he  alarmed  the 
assembled  inmates,  and  the  men,  ladies,  and  children, 
fled  out  of  the  bungalow  on  the  side  which  faced  the 
river,  pursued  and  fired  upon  by  the  miscreants  of  the 
military  police,  and  of  other  regiments  which  now  , 
joined   them.     Some  were  shot  down  before  they  i 
reached  the  stream :    others  were  killed   in  it.     A 
few  perished  on  the  opposite  bank.     Two  or  three  | 
only  escaped — viz..   Sir  Mountstuart  Jackson   and  | 
his  two  sisters,  and  little  Sophy  Christian  [a  child  j 
three  years  of  age],  who  was  saved  by  Sergeant- 
major  Morton.     There  fell  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Christian 
and  child,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  Thornhill  and  their 
children,  and  several  others.     Those  who  escaped 
broke    into    two   parties.     Lieutenant    Burns,   Sir 
Mountstuart  and  Miss  Madeline  Jackson,  Sergeant- 
major   Morton,  and   little   Sophy  Christian,  found 
refuge,  though  an  unwilling  one,  with  Rajah  Lonee 
Sing,  at  his  fort  of  Mithowlee.     Mrs.  Greene,  Miss 
Jackson,  and  Captain  John  Hearsey  [of  the  military 
police,  who  had  been  saved  by  them],  fled  northward, 
and,  after  being  joined  by  other  refugees,  found 
shelter  at  Mutheearee,  with  the  rajah  of  Dhoreyrah."J 

Mr.  Gubbins  gives  no  enumeration  of 
those  who  perished,  nor  of  those  (happily 
far  more  numerous)  who  escaped  ;§  neither 
is  any  such  list  included  in  the  returns 
published  in  the  Gazette. 

The  main  body  of  the  Seetapoor  fugitives, 
consisting  of  twelve  officers,  six  ladies,  and  as 
many  children,  with  a  number  of  the  families 
of  civilians  (about  fifty  in  all),||  escorted  by 
thirty  faithful  sepoys  of  the  41st,  managed  to 
send  news  of  their  position  to  Lucknow  ou 
the  morning  of  the  4th;  and  a  party  of  volun- 
teer and  Seik  cavalry,  with  every  carriage, 

his  house,  where  tbey   remained   throughout  the 
siege — (p.  119). 

II  See  account  given  in  the  Times,  August  29th, 
1857,  on  the  authority  of  one  of  the  party,  an  oflacer 
of  the  41st  N.L 


224 


MUTINt  AT  MOHUMDEE— JUNE  4th,  1857. 


buggy,  and  available  conveyance,  was  im- 
mediately sent  out  to  bring  them  in.  The 
sepoys  were  cordially  received ;  yet  within 
one  fortnight,  even  these  men  could  no 
longer  be  trusted.  A  Christian  drummer 
overheard  some  mutinous  discourse,  and  it 
was  thought  best  to  tender  them  the  option 
of  retiring  to  their  homes.  When  this  ofifer 
was  made,  it  was  accepted  by  all  without 
exception ;  and  not  a  man  remained  with 
Major  Abthorp  and  the  officers  whose  lives 
they  had  before  saved. 

MohUmdee,  the  second  station  in  the 
Khyrabad  division,  was  guarded  by  a  com- 
pany of  the  9th  Oude  infantry.  The  arri- 
val of  the  Shahjehanpoor  refugees,  on 
Monday,  June  1st,  caused  great  excitement 
among  the  sepoys;  and  when  Captain 
Patrick  Orr  questioned  them  separately  re- 
garding their  intentions,  "each  one  said 
he  could  not  answer  for  what  some  of 
the  bad  characters  might  do."  The  reply 
appeared  so  unsatisfactory,  that  the  officer 
immediately  sent  off  his  wife  to  Rajah  Lonee 
Sing,  at  Mithowlee.  Still  no  outbreak 
took  place  until  the  Thursday  morning, 
when  a  detachment  of  fifty  men  came  in 
.from  Seetapoor,  sent  by  Mf.  Christian,  as 
an  escort  for  the  Shahjehanpoor  refugees. 
These  men  declared  that  a  company  of  their 
regiment  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Euro- 
peans at  Lucknow,  and  that  they  were  re- 
solved on  taking  vengeance.  Captain  Orr, 
seeing  the  state  of  things,  assembled  the 
Native  officers,  and  desired  to  know  what 
they  intended  doing.  After  some  discus- 
sion, they  decided  on  marching  to  Seeta- 
poor, and  proceeded  to  release  the  prisoners 
from  the  gaol  and  to  plunder  the  treasury, 
in  which  they  found  about  110,000  rupees; 
but  they  took  a  solemn  oath  to  spare  the 
lives  of  the  Europeans.  In  the  course  of 
the  afternoon,  Mr.  Thomason  and  Captain 
Orr,  with  the  Shahjehanpoor  party,  quitted 
Mohumdee  in  company  with  the  mutineers. 
The  names  of  the  unfortunate  Europeans 
were — 

Captains  Sneyd,  Lysaght,  and  Salmon ;  Lieu- 
tenants Key,  Robertson,  Scott,  Pitt,  and  Ruther- 
ford; Ensigns  Spens,  Johnston,  and  Scott;  Quar- 
termaster-sergeant Grant;  band-master  and  one 
drummer  ;  Lieutenant  Sheils,  veteran  establishment ; 
and  Mr.  Jenkins,  of  the  civil  service.  Ladies — Mrs. 
Snott,  Miss  Scott,  Mrs.  Lysaght,  Mrs.  Key,  Mrs. 
Bowling,  Mrs.  Sheils,  Mrs.  Grant,  Mrs.  Pereira,  and 
her  four  children. 

^  buggy  and  some  baggage  carts  were 
procured  :   the  ladies  were  placed  thereon ; 


and,  after  five  hours'  travelling,  they  reached 
Burwar,  and  there  spent  the  night.  Next 
morning  they  marched  towards  Aurunga- 
bad ;  but  after  proceeding  in  that  direc- 
tion for  about  four  miles,  a  halt  was 
sounded,  and  a  trooper  told  the  Europeans 
to  go  ahead  wherever  they  pleased.  They 
went  on  for  some  distance  with  all  possible 
expedition,  but  were  at  length  overtaken  by 
a  most  bloodthirsty  party  of  mutineers. 
Captain  Orr  writes — "When  within  a  mile 
of  Aurungabad,  a  sepoy  rushed  forward  and 
snatched  Key's  gun  from  him,  and  shoit 
down  poor  old  Sheils,  who  was  riding  my 
horse.  Then  the  most  infernal  carnage 
ever  witnessed  by  man  began.  We  all 
collected  under  a  tree  close  by,  and  took 
the  ladies  down  from  the  buggy.  Shots 
were  fired  from  various  directions,  amid  the 
most  hideous  yells.  The  poor  ladies  all 
joined  in  prayer,  coolly  and  undauntedly 
awaiting  their  fate.  [The  fourteen  gentle- 
men were  murdered  one  by  one;  the 
gentlewomen — they  were  truly  such — as- 
sembled together  in  one  body,  and  were 
shot  down  while  kneeling  and  singing 
a  hymn].*  I  stopped  for  about  three 
minutes  among  them;  but,  thinking  of  my 
wife  and  child  here,  I  endeavoured  to 
save  my  life  for  their  sakes.  I  rushed  out 
towards  the  insurgents ;  and  one  of  my 
men,  Goordhun,  of  the  6th  company,  called 
out  to  me  to  throw  down  my  pistol,  and  he 
would  save  me.  I  did  so;  when  he  put 
himself  between  me  and  the  men,  and 
several  others  followed  his  example.  In 
about  ten  minutes  more  they  completed 
their  hellish  work.  I  was  300  yards  off  at 
the  utmost.  Poor  Lysaght  was  kneeling 
out  in  the  open  ground,  with  his  arms 
folded  across  his  chest;  and  though  not 
using  his  fire-arms,  the  cowardly  wretches 
would  not  go  to  the  spot  until  they  shot 
him ;  and  then  rushing  up,  they  killed  the 
wounded  and  children,  butchering  them  in 
a  most  cruel  way.  With  the  exception  of 
the  drummer-boy,  every  one  was  killed  of 
the  above  list ;  and,  besides,  poor  good  Tho- 
mason and  one  or  two  clerks." 

Captain  Orr  was  sent,  under  a  guard,  to 
Mithowlee,  from  whence  he  dispatched  to 
Lucknow  the  letter  from  which  the  above 
particulars  are  extracted. f  In  a  postscript 
dated  the  9th  of  June,  he  mentions  having 

*  Mr.Rees  quotes  this  touching  particular  from  the 
letter  of  Capt.  Patrick  to  his  brother  Capt.  Adolphe 
Orr,  which  was  shown  him  by  the  latter  officer. 

f  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  123. 


MUTINIES  AT  MULLA.ON,  SECRORA,  GONDAH,  AND  BAHRAETCH.   225 


heard  of  the  vicinity  of  Sir  M.  Jackson  and 
his  companions ;  and  Captain  Orr  and  his 
wife  appear  to  have  joined  them,  and,  with 
them,  to  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
mutineers,  who  detained  them  in  protracted 
captivity,  the  issue  of  which  belongs  to  a 
later  period  of  the  narrative. 

At  Mullaon,  a  party  of  the  41st  N.I.,  and 
the  4th  Oude  irregular  infantry,  became  so 
turbulent,  that  the  deputy-commissioner 
(Mr.  Capper),  perceiving  mutiny  impending, 
rode  away,  and  reached  Lucknow  in  safety. 

At  Secrora — a  military  station  in  the 
Bahraetch  division  of  Oude,  of  which  Mr. 
Wingfield  was  commissioner — a  mutiny 
broke  out,  and  the  treasury  was  rifled ;  but 
all  the  Europeans  escaped  safely  to  Luck- 
now,  from  whence  a  strong  party  of  volun- 
teer and  Seik  cavalry,  with  elephants  and 
dhoolies,  were  sent  to  bring  in  the  ladies 
and  children,  which  was  safely  accom- 
plished on  the  9th  of  June. 

At  Gondah,  where  the  milder  course  of 
mutiny  and  plunder  without  massacre  was 
adopted,  the  commandant  (Captain  Miles), 
and  other  officers  of  the  3rd  Oude  irregulars 
stationed  there,  were  obliged  tq  fly,  and 
were,  with  Mr.  Wingfield,  protected  for 
several  days  by  the  rajah  of  Bulrampoor, 
and  then  escorted  by  his  troops  across  the 
Oude  frontier  into  the  Goruckpoor  district, 
where  they  were  kindly  received  by  the  rajah 
of  Bansie,  and  enabled  to  reach  Goruckpoor. 

At  BaArae/cA  itself,  two  civil  servants  were 
stationed — Mr.  Cunliffe,  deputy-commis- 
sioner, and  his  assistant,  Mr.  Jordan,  with 
two  companies  of  the  3rd  irregular  infantry, 
under  Lieutenant  Longueville  Clarke. 
When  mutiny  appeared,  the  three  Euro- 
peans rode  off  to  Nanpara,  intending  to 
rest  there,  and  proceed  thence  to  the  hills ; 
but,  on  reaching  that  place,  they  were  re- 
fused admittance.  The  reason  given  was 
connected  with  the  be-duk-ilee,  or  disposses- 
sion grievance,  which  had  produced  so  much 
disaffection  throughout  Oude.  According 
to  the  British  view  of  the  question  as  stated 
by  Mr.  Gubbins,  the  rajah  of  Nanpara, 
being  a  minor,  had  fallen  under  the  tutelage 
of  a  kinsman  who  had  mismanaged  the 
estate  and  dissipated  the  property.  He 
had  accordingly  been  removed  by  the  au- 
thorities, and  a  new  agent  appointed ;  but 
when  the  insurrection  commenced,  the  old 
administrator  killed  the  government  nomi- 
nee, and  resumed  his  former  position.  No 
injury  was  done  to  the  fugitives  at  Nanpara. 
They    reti<ic(?d    their   steps  to   Bahraetch, 

VOL.  II.  2  G 


and  disguising  themselves  as  natives,  strove 
to  reach  Lucknow,  where  Mr.  Cunliffe  ex- 
pected to  meet  his  affianced  bride.  Unfor- 
tunately they  rode  to  the  chief  ferry,  that 
of  Byram  Ghaut,  which  was  guarded  by  the 
Secrora  mutineers,  by  whom  the  disguised 
Europeans  were  discovered  and  put  to  death. 
Such,  at  least,  was  the  statement  made  by 
several  native  witnesses,  and  which,  Mr. 
Gubbins  affirms,  was  beUeved  at  Lucknow 
by  all  except  the  betrothed  girl,  who  hoped 
against  hope,  throughout  the  weary  siege, 
that  her  lover  yet  survived.  She  might 
well  do  so ;  for  during  that  terrible  time, 
many  persons  were  asserted  to  be  dead,  and 
details  of  the  most  revolting  description 
related  regarding  their  sufferings,  who  after- 
wards were  discovered  to  be  alive  and 
wholly  uninjured,  save  by  fear,  fatigue,  and 
exposure  to  the  weather. 

Mr.  Rees,  who  was  connected  by  mar- 
riage with  poor  Clarke,  mentions  three 
different  statements  of  the  fate  of  the 
Bahraetch  fugitives.  One  was,  that  they 
were  "  tried  by  the  rebels  for  the  murder 
of  Fuzil  Ali,  and  shot."  A  military  author, 
who  is  a  very  graphic  describer,  but  who 
gives  few  and  scanty  references  to  his 
sources  of  information,  narrates  the  catas- 
trophe with  much  precision.  Lieutenant 
Clarke  had  been  especially  active  in  the 
apprehension  of  Fuzil  Ali,  a  rebel  chief 
and  notorious  outlaw,  well-known  in  the 
annals  of  Oude.  The  irregular  infantry 
had  assisted  in  the  capture  of  the  ban- 
dit, who  was  tried  and  executed  for 
the  murder  of  a  Bengal  civilian :  but 
when  they  mutinied,  they  sent  word  to  the 
17th  N.I.  (which  regiment  was  in  their 
immediate  vicinity),  to  know  what  should  be 
done  with  the  murderer  of  the  chieftain? 
"Behead  hira,"  was  the  reply;  and  the 
unfortunate  officer,  and  another  European 
with  him,  were  immediately  executed.* 

Mr.  Rees  states,  that  the  sword  and 
pistols  of  Lieutenant  Clarke  were  taken  to 
his  father,  a  well-known  barrister  of  the 
same  name,  at  Calcutta,  by  an  old  native 
dependent,  who  transmitted  them  in  obe- 
dience to  the  order  of  his  late  master. 

At  Mullapoor,  the  last  station  of  the 
Bahraetch  division,  there  were  no  troops  to 
mutiny ;  but  the  complete  disorganisation 
of  the  district,  compelled  the  officers  there, 
Mr.  Gonne,  of  the  civil  service,  and  Captain 
Hastings,    to   leave   the    place,    and    take 

*  3Iutiny  of  Bengal  Army ;  by  one  who  served 
under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  82. 


226 


MUTINY  AT  FYZABAD— JUNE  8th,  1857. 


refuge  in  a  fort  called  Mutheearee,  belong- 
ing to  the  rajah  of  Dhoreyrab,  a  minor. 
Three  fugitives  from  Seetapoor  (Captain 
John  Hearsey,  Mrs.  Greene,  and  Miss 
Jackson),  with  two  gentlemen  (Messrs. 
Brand  and  Carew),  who  had  escaped  at  the 
time  of  the  destruction  of  the  large  sugar 
factory  at  Rosa,  near  Shabjehanpoor,  ac- 
companied the  MuUapoor  officers  ;  but  the 
disaffection  of  the  rajah's  people,  soon  com- 
pelled the  Europeans  to  quit  Mutheearee. 
Mrs.  Greene,  Miss  Jackson,  and  Mr.  Carew, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  no 
certain  information  was  obtained  of  their 
fate  ;*  the  others  escaped  to  Puddaha,  in 
the  Nepaul  hills,  where  Koolraj  Sing  re- 
ceived them  kindly,  but  could  not  shield 
them  from  the  deadly  climate  of  the  Terai, 
under  which  all  but  Captain  Hearsey  sank ; 
and  he  eventually  joined  Jung  Bahadur's 
camp  at  Goruckpoor. 

The  Pyzabad  division  comprised  the 
station  of  that  name,  and  two  others — Sul- 
tanpoor  and  Salone. 

At  Fyzabad,  so  much  auxiety  had  been 
felt,  that  the  commissioner.  Colonel  Gold- 
ney,  whose  head-quarters  and  family  were 
at  Sultanpoor,  removed  thence  to  the  former 
place  on  account  of  the  importance  of  that 
position,  and  the  danger  by  which  it  was 
menaced.  The  troops  consisted  of  the 
22nd  N.I.,  under  Colonel  Lennox  j  the  6th 
Dude  irregular  infantry,  under  Colonel 
O'Brien ;  and  a  Native  light  field  battery, 
under  Major  Mill. 

The  cantonments  were,  as  usual,  at  some 
distance  from  the  town,  which  had  been 
the  seat  of  government  for  the  nawabs  of 
Oude  previous  to  the  accession  of  Asuf  ad 
Dowlah,  in  1775 ;  who  removed  to  Luck- 
now,  then  but  a  small  villaj^e — the  reason 
assigned  by  Sleemau  being,  that  the  new 
sovereign  "disliked  living  near  his  mo- 
ther."t  About  three  miles  distant  are  the 
ruins  of  Ayodha,  or  Oude,  the  capital  of  the 
ancient  Hindoo  kingdom — a  spot  still  re- 
sorted to  as  a  place  of  pilgrimage  from  all 
parts  of  India. 

Shahgunje,  a  town  twelve  miles  from 
Fyzabad,  with  no  fallen  majesty  or  legen- 
dary fame  to  boast  of,  is,  however,  a  name 
far  more  familiar  to  English  ears.  It  is  the 
chief  place  in  the  territories  of  Rajah  Mauu 
Sing,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  mud  wall 
thirty  feet  high  and  forty  feet  thick,  and  a 

*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  132. 

+  Sleeman's  Journey  through  Oude,  p.  137. 

t  Ihid.y  p.  1 J5  to  162. 


ditch  three  miles  round,  containing  some 
six  or  seven  feet  of  water.  The  wall,  built 
of  the  mud  taken  from  the  ditch,  had 
twenty-four  bastions  for  guns.  Horrible 
tales  were  told  of  atrocities  committed 
within  the  fortress.  Sleeraan  records  the 
current  rumour  regarding  a  disgraced  court 
favourite,  named  Gholab  Sing,  in  the  time 
of  Nuseer-oo-Deen ;  who,  having  displeased 
the  wayward  drunken  monarch,  was  flogged, 
and  made  to  suffer  severe  torments  by 
hunger  and  thirst.  The  females  of  his 
family  were  likewise  cruelly  ill-treated ;  and 
the  British  resident  was  compelled,  in  com- 
mon humanity,  to  interfere;  whereupon  the 


king,  to  rid  himself  of  imwelcome  impor- 
tunities, and  yet  wreak  his  malice  on  his 
victim,  gave  the  latter  into  the  custody  of 
liis  foe  and  rival.  Rajah  Dursun  Sing,  the 
father  of  Maun  Sing,  who  took  him  in 
an  iron  cage  to  Shahgunje,  and  kept  him 
there,  with  snakes  and  scorpions  for  his 
companions. 

For  the  relief  of  the  reader,  it  may  be 
well  to  add,  that  the  wretched  captive  sur- 
vived his  confinement  despite  all  its  aggra- 
vations, and,  at  the  death  of  Nuseer-oo- 
Deen,  was  released  on  the  payment  of  four 
lacs  of  rupees,  and  a  promise  of  three  lacs 
more  if  restored  to  office ;  which  actually 
occurred.  Gholab  Sing  was,  in  1831,  again 
appointed  to  a  place  of  trust  at  court,  and 
died  peaceably  at  Lucknow  in  1851,  at 
eighty  years  of  age.  J 

This  episode  may  be  excused  as  an  illus- 
tration  of  life  in  Oude,  shortly  before  the 
British  government  took  upon  itself  the 
task  of  total  reformation.  The  parentage 
and  personal  antecedents  of  Maun  Sing, 
have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  present  state 
of  Oude.  In  the  introductory  chapter,  a 
description  has  been  given  of  the  two  op- 
posite classes  included  under  the  general 
name  of  talookdars  :  first,  the  ancient  Raj- 
poot chiefs,  the  representatives  of  claus 
which  had  existed  before  Mohammed  was 
born;  and  who  had  been  forced,  or  intrigued, 
or  persuaded  into  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
Oude  nawabs  as  their  suzerains :  secondly, 
the  new  men,  who,  as  government  officials, 
had  contrived,  generally  by  fraud  and  op- 
pression, to  become  farmers  of  the  revenue, 
and  large  landed  proprietors. 

The  family  of  Maun  Sing  had  risen  to 
consequence  by  the  latter  process.  Bukh- 
tawar  Sing,  the  founder  of  his  family,  was 
a  trooper  in  the  service  of  the  East  India 
Company  in  the  beginning  of  the  uresent 


RAJAH  MAUN  SING,  OF  SHAHGUNJE— OUDE. 


227 


century.  While  still  a  very  young  man, 
remarkably  tall  and  handsome,  he  came 
home  on  furlough,  and  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  nawab  of  Oude,  Sadut  Ali, 
whom  he  attended  on  a  sporting  excursion. 
He  became  one  of  the  nawab's  favourite 
orderlies ;  and  having  saved  his  sovereign's 
life  from  the  sword  of  an  assassin,  was 
promoted  to  the  command  of  a  squadron. 
He  sent  for  his  three  brothers  to  court,  and 
they  became  orderlies  one  after  the  other, 
and  rose  to  high  civil  and  military  rank. 
Being  childless,  he  adopted  Maun  Sing,  the 
son  of  his  brother  Dursun  Sing,  who,  next 
to  himself,  was  the  most  powerful  subject 
in  Oude,  and  by  far  the  wealthier,  having 
steadily  followed  the  opportunities  of  add- 
ing field  to  field  and  lac  to  lac,  at  the  com- 
mand of  a  very  clever  revenue  contractor ; 
with  powerful  friends  at  court,  and  quite  un- 
fettered by  any  notions  of  honour  or  huma- 
nity. Sleeman,  in  his  diary  (December, 
1849),  describes  Maun  Sing  as  a  small, 
slight  man;  but  shrewd,  active,  energetic, 
and  as  unscrupulous  as  a  man  could  be. 
"Indeed,"  he  adds,  "old  Bukhtawar  Sing 
himself  is  the  only  member  of  the  family 
that  was  ever  troubled  with  scruples  of  any 
kind  whatever.  All  his  brothers  and 
nephews  were  bred  up  in  the  camp  of  an 
Oude  revenue  collector — a  school  specially 
adapted  for  training  thoroughbred  ruffians." 
He  proceeds  to  adduce  the  most  startling 
instances  of  treacherous  rapacity,  of  murder 
committed,  and  torture  applied,  to  wrest 
money  or  estates  from  the  rightful  proprie- 
tors. The  worst  of  these  outrages  were 
committed  in  the  name  of  the  Oude  govern- 
ment; for  whenever  the  court  found  the 
barons  in  any  district  grow  refractory 
under  weak  governors,  they  gave  the  con- 
tract of  it  to  Dursun  Sing,  as  the  only 
officer  who  could  reduce  them  to  order ; 
and  thus  he  was  enabled  to  carry  out  his 
private  ends  in  the  king's  name.  In  1842, 
under  pretence  of  compelling  the  payment 
of  arrears  of  revenue  in  the  districts  of 
Gondah  and  Bahraetch,  he  proceeded  to  seize 
and  plunder  the  lands  of  the  great  proprie- 
tors one  after  the  other,  and  put  their 
estates  under  the  management  of  his  own 
officers. 

The  territory  of  the  young  rajah  of  Bul- 
rampoor  was  seized  in  this  manner  during 
his  absence,  the  garrison  of  his  little  strong- 
hold being  taken  by  surprise.  The  rajah 
fled  to  Nepaul,  where  the  minister,  his  per- 
sonal friend,  gave  him  a  small  garden  for  an 


asylum,  near  the  village  of  Maharaj  Gunje, 
in  the  Nepaulese  dominions.  Knowing 
the  unscrupulous  and  enterprising  character 
of  his  foe,  the  rajah  took  advantage  of  the 
rainy  season  to  surround  his  abode  with 
a  deep  ditch ;  and  thus,  when  Dursun  Sing 
marched  against  it,  the  rajah  was  enabled 
to  make  his  escape;  whereupon  Dursuu 
Sing's  party  took  all  the  property  they 
could  find,  and  plundered  Maharaj  Gunje. 
The  rajah  (one  of  our  few  stanch  friends 
in  Oude  in  the  late  disasters)  was  a  dashing 
sportsman,  and  in  this  capacity  had  won  the 
liking  of  one  of  his  new  neighbours,  a  sturdy 
landholder,  who,  rallying  his  armed  fol- 
lowers, sorely  harassed  the  retreat  of  the 
invaders.  The  court  of  Nepaul  took  up 
the  matter,  and  demanded  the  dismissal  of 
Dursun  Sing  from  office,  and  the  payment 
of  compensation  in  money.  The  governor- 
general  (Lord  Ellenborough)  seconded  the 
latter  requisition,  which  was  fulfilled ;  and 
the  numerous  enemies  of  the  powerful 
chief  had  nearly  succeeded  in  inducing  the 
king  to  comply  with  the  former  also,  the 
three  queens  especially  advocating  a  mea- 
sure which  would  involve  the  confiscation 
of  the  estates  of  the  offender,  and,  conse- 
quently, much  profit  and  patronage  to  them- 
selves. Bukhtawar  Sing  pleaded  for  his 
brother;  and  the  minister,  Monowur  ood 
Dowlah,*  advised  levying  a  heavy  fine  on 
Dursun  Sing,  and  reinstating  him  in  his 
former  position ;  as,  if  he  were  crushed  alto- 
gether, no  means  would  remain  for  con- 
trolling the  refractory  and  turbulent  barons ; 
the  rest  would  all  become  unmanageable,, 
and  pay  no  revenue  whatever  to  the  exche- 
quer. The  British  resident  admitted  the 
truth  of  the  king's  assertion,  that  Dursun 
Sing  "was  a  notorious  and  terrible  tyrant;" 
but  supported  the  cotuisel  of  the  minister. 
Dursun  Sing  was  banished,  and  took  refuge 
in  the  British  district  of  Goruckpoor;  but, 
before  two  months  had  expired,  his  recall 
was  rendered  necessary,  by  the  refusal  of 
the  tenants  and  cultivators  of  his  confis- 
cated estates,  to  pay  any  other  person  but 
him ;  and  the  Oude  government  were  too 
weak  to  coerce  them. 

Dursun  Sing  was  recalled,  presented  to 
the  king  (May  30th,  1844),  and  made 
inspector-general  of  all  Oude,  with  most 
comprehensive  orders  "  to  make  a  settlement 
of  the  land  revenue  at  an  increased  rate ;  to 

*  The  nobleman  of  whose  loyalty  and  bravery  Mr. 
Gubbins  speaks  so  highly  at  the  time  of  the  invest- 
ment of  Lucknow. — Otidh,  pp.  vi.,  and  40. 


i228 


HISTORY  OF  RAJAH  MAUN  SING. 


but  down  all  the  jungles,  and  bring  all  the 
■waste  lands  into  tillage ;  to  seize  all  refrac- 
tory barons,  destroy  all  their  forts,  and  seize 
and  send  into  store  all  the  cannon  mounted 
upon  them."  Such  duties,  and  others 
scarcely  less  onerous,  could  of  course  only  be 
performed  by  a  person'  entrusted  with  un- 
limited powers.  Armed  with  these,  Dursun 
Sing  went  heartily  to  work ;  but  he  soon  fell 
ill,  and  retired  to  Pyzabad,  where  he  died, 
August  20th,  leaving  the  barons  of  Oude  in 
possession  of  their  forts,  their  cannon,  and 
their  jungles,  and  bequeathing  to  his  three 
sons — Rama  Deen,  Rugbur  Sing,  and  Maun 
Sing — an  immense  accumulation  of  lands 
and  money  to  fight  for.  The  determination 
which  his  dependents  exhibited  of  standing 
by  him  during  his  exile,  cannot  be  exclu- 
sively attributed  to  the  fear  he  inspired. 
Sleeman  states,  that  "  Dursun  Sing  systema- 
tically  plundered  and  kept  down  the  great 
landholders  throughout  the  districts  under 
his  charge,  but  protected  the  cultivators, 
and  even  the  smaller  landed  proprietors, 
whose  estates  could  not  be  conveniently 
added  to  his  own."*  In  traversing  the  lands 
in  the  vicinity  of  Shahgunje,  in  1850,  the 
resident  was  particularly  struck  by  the 
"  richness  of  the  cultivation,  and  the  con- 
tented and  prosperous  appearance  of  the 
peasantry,  who  came  out  to  him  from  nu- 
merous villages,  in  crowds,  and  expressed 
their  satisfaction  at  the  security  and  comfort 
they  enjoyed  under  their  present  rulers." 
"  Of  the  fraud  and  violence,  abuse  of  power, 
and  collusion  with  local  authorities,  by 
which  Maun  Sing  and  his  father  seized  upon 
the  lands  of  so  many  hundreds  of  old  pro- 
prietors, there  can  be  no  doubt;  but  to  at- 
tempt to  make  the  family  restore  them  now, 
under  such  a  government  [Wajid  Ali  was 
then  king],  would  create  great  disorder, 
drive  off  all  the  better  classes  of  cultivators, 
and  desolate  the  face  of  the  country  which 
they  have  rendered  so  beautiful  by  an  eflB.- 
cient  system  of  administration."t 

Such  testimony  as  this  ought  to  have  had 
great  weight  with  the  gentlemen  entrusted 
with  the  settlement  of  Oude  after  its  forcible 
occupation  by  the  British  government.  It 
appears,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  noto- 
riously unfit  and  inexperienced  revenue  offi- 
cers, nominated  hap-hazard  in  the  multi- 
plication of  civil  appointments  consequent 
on  Lord  Dalhousie's  series  of  annexa- 
tions, treated  Maun  Sing  and  his  relatives 

•  Sleeman's  Journey  through  Oude,  vol.  i.,  p  58. 
t  Ihid.,  pp.  150  and  186. 


simply  as  usurping  adventurers,  without 
any  regard  to  their  position  under  the  late 
dynasty,  to  the  acknowledgment  of  that 
position  by  the  British  authorities,  or  to 
their  characters  as  efficient  administrators 
of  territories,  in  the  possession  of  which 
they  had  been  legally,  though  not  righ- 
teously confirmed.  It  waSj  indeed,  easy 
to  denounce  Maun  Sing  as  the  oppressor 
of  the  Lady  Sogura,  the  impoverished  and 
imprisoned  heiress  of  Munneapoor ;  and  as 
the  murderer  of  his  fellow-usurper,  Hurpaul 
Sing,  whom  he  caused  to  be  dispatched  at 
au  interview  to  which  he  had  enticed  him, 
by  swearing  by  the  holy  Ganges,  and  the 
head  of  Mahadeo,  that  he  should  suffer  no 
harm. J  These  and  other  such  histories 
(more  or  less  exaggerated,  but,  unfortunately, 
all  possible  and  probable)  might  have  been 
taken  in  proof  of  Maun  Sing's  unworthiness 
to  retain  the  possessions  he  and  .his  father 
had  seized.  Still,  had  these  allegations  been 
susceptible  of  proof,  even-handed  justice 
required  that  considerable  allowance  should 
be  made  by  the  new  rulers  for  deeds  of 
oppression  and  extortion  which  had  been 
condoned,  if  not  sanctioned,  by  the  govern- 
ment under  which  they  were  committed. 
In  the  disorganised  state  of  Oude,  where 
strife  and  bloodshed  seemed  essential  condi- 
tions of  the  life  of  the  chieftains,  there  were 
few  whose  tenure  of  property  was  not  com- 
plicated by  the  incidents  and  consequences 
of  internecine  hostility.  There  is  no  evidence 
to  show  that  the  newly-appointed  revenue 
officials  attempted  to  lay  down  any  satis- 
factory principle  on  which  to  ground  their 
decisions;  on  the  contrary,  they  appear  to 
have  set  about  their  work  piece-meal,  dis- 
cussing such  small  points  of  detail  as  the 
native  "  omlah"  chose  to  bewilder  them  with, 
and  being  far  too  ignorant  of  the  history 
and  customs  of  the  new  province,  or  of  its 
actual  condition,  to  be  able  to  form  a  clear 
opinion  on  the  cases  before  them.  The 
"utter  inversion  of  the  rights  of  property," 
which  is  alleged  to  have  been  involved  in 
the  settlement  of  the  North-West  Provinces, 
in  1844,§  could  scarcely  fail  to  recur  in 
Oude,  where  the  settlement  was  made 
under  the  most  unpropitious  circumstances. 
The  cry  for  revision  and  reconsideration  be- 
came so  urgent,  and  the  injustice  of  the 
proceedings  so  flagrant,  that,  as  we  have 
seen,  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  was  stopped  on 
his  way  to  England   on  sick  leave,   when 

J  Sleeman's  Journey  through  Oude,  vol.  i.,  p.  145, 
§  See  p.  84,  ante. 


LADIES  SENT  FROM  FYZABAD  TO  RAJAH  MAUN  SING. 


229 


suffering  under  "a  dozen  different  com- 
plaints," and  sent  to  Gude.  Unhappily, 
the  opportunity  for  pacification  there, 
had  been  worse  than  lost.  The  landed  pro- 
prietary had  been  driven,  by  our  revenue 
and  judicial  system,  into  union  on  the 
single  point  of  hostility  towards  the  British. 
Among  the  talookdars,  there  were  many 
chiefs  entirely  opposed  in  character  to  Maun 
Sing ;  but  few  had  suffered  such  spoliation 
as  he  had,  inasmuch  as  few  had  so  much 
to  lose.  The  dealings  of  government  with 
him  have  never  been  succinctly  stated. 
Mr.  Russell  (whose  authorities  in  India  are, 
from  the  quite  peculiar  position  in  which 
his  talents  and  honesty  have  placed  him,  of 
the  very  highest  class)  asserts  that,  in  1856, 
Maun  Sing  was  chased  out  of  his  estates  by 
a  regiment  of  cavalry,  for  non-payment  of 
head-rent,  or  assessment  to  government. 
When  he  fled,  many  original  proprietors 
came  forward  to  claim  portions  of  his  es- 
tates (comprising,  in  all,  761  villages),  and 
received  thera  from  the  British  administra- 
tors.* From  a  passage  in  a  despatch  written 
by  Commissioner  Wingfield,  it  appears  that 
Maun  Sing  was  absolutely  in  distress  for 
money,  and  unable  to  borrow  any,  having 
"lost  every  village  at  the  summary  settle- 
menf."t 

A  man  so  situated  was  not  unlikely  to 
turn  rebel.  The  Supreme  government  and 
the  Lucknow  authorities  received  intelli- 
gence which  they  deemed  conclusive ;  and 
in  accordance  with  a  telegram  from  Cal- 
cutta, Maun  Sing  was  arrested  at  Fyzabad 
in  May,  and  remained  in  confinement  till 
the  beginning  of  June,  when  he  sent  for 
Colonel  Goldney,  warned  him  that  the 
troops  would  rise,  and  offered,  if  released, 
to  give  the  Europeans  shelter  at  Shahgunje. 
Colonel  Goldney  appears  to  have  rightly 
appreciated  the  motives  of  his  interlocutor, 
which  were  simply  a  desire  to  be  on  the 
stronger  side — that  of  the  British;  to  obtain 
from  them  the  best  possible  terras;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  not  to  render  himself  unne- 
cessarily obnoxious  to  his  countrymen. 
Maun  Sing  was  neither  the  fiery  Rajpoot  of 
Rajast'han  (so  well  and  so  truly  portrayed  by 
Todd),  nor  the  mild  Hindoo  of  Bengal;  nor, 
happily  for  us,  was  he  a  vengeful  Mahratta 
like  Nana  Sahib :  he  was  a  shrewd,  wary 
man,  "wise  in  his  generation,"  and  made 

•  Times,  17lh  January,  1859. 

t  Despatch  to  secretary  to  government,  dated 
July  14tli,  1857. — Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies  (re- 
garding Maun  Sing),  March  18th,  1858;  p.  3. 


himself  "  master  of  the  situation,"  in  a  very 
wriggling,  serpent-like  fashion.  He  had 
no  particular  temptation  to  join  either 
party.  The  ancient  barons  of  Oude  de- 
tested him  and  his  family,  as  adventurers 
and  parvenus  of  the  most  unprincipled  de- 
scription, who  had  grown  wealthy  on  their 
spoils ;  and  Maun  Sing,  in  accordance  with 
the  proverb,  that  "the  injurer  never  for- 
gives," probably  entertained  a  deeper  aver- 
sion and  distrust  towards  them  than  towards 
the  English,  by  whom  he  had  himself  been 
despoiled.  The  event  justified  the  policy 
adopted  by  Colonel  Goldney  in  releasing  the 
chief,  with  permission  to  strengthen  his  fort 
(which  was  greatly  out  of  repair),  and  raise 
levies  :  but  these  measures  he  had  little  time 
to  adopt ;  for  before  many  days  had  elapsed, 
the  expected  mutiny  took  place,  and  was 
conducted  in  a  manner  which  proved  that, 
in  the  present  instance,  the  sepoys  were 
acting  on  a  settled  plan.  On  the  morning 
of  the  8th  of  June,  intelligence  was  received 
that  a  rebel  force  (the  17th  N.I.,  with  a 
body  of  irregular  cavalry  and  two  guns 
from  Azimghur)  were  encamped  at  Begum 
Gunje,  ten  miles  from  Fyzabad,  and  in- 
tended marching  into  the  station  on  the 
following  morning.  The  Europeans  now 
prepared  for  the  worst.  The  civilians  and 
the  non-commissioned  officers  sent  their 
families  to  Shahgunje ;  to  which  place, 
Captain  J.  Reid,  Captain  Alexander  Orr; 
and  Mr.  Bradford,  followed  them.  Colonel 
Goldney,  though  also  filling  a  civil  appoint- 
ment, remained  behind.  He  had  every 
confidence  in  the  22nd  N.I.,  which  he  had 
formerly  commanded  ;  and  he  maintained  a 
most  gallant  bearing  to  the  moment  of  his 
death.  Mrs.  Lennox  and  her  daughter 
(Mrs.  Morgan),  with  the  wife  and  children 
of  Major  Mill,  remained  in  cantonments; 
in  reliance  on  the  solemn  oath  of  the 
Native  officers  of  the  22nd,  that  no  in- 
jury should  be  done  them.  The  Euro- 
pean officers  went  to  their  respective  posts ; 
but  soon  found  themselves  prisoners,  not 
being  allowed  to  move  twelve  paces  with- 
out being  followed  by  a  guard  with  fixed 
bayonets. 

A  risaldar  of  cavalry  took  command  of 
the  mutineers,  and  proceeded  to  release  a 
moolvee,  who  had  been  confined  in  the 
quarter-guard,  and  in  whose  honour  they 
fired  a  salute.  This  man  was  a  Moham- 
medan of  good  family,  who  had  traversed  a 
considerable  part  of  Upper  India,  preaching 
sedition.     He  had  been  expelled  from  Agra 


230    EMBARKATION  OF  OFFICERS  FROM  PYZABAD— JUNE  9th,  1857. 


— a  measure  which  only  helped  to  give  him 
the  notoriety  he  sought.  lu  April,  he 
appeared  with  several  followers  at  Fyzabad, 
where  he  circulated  seditious  papers,  and 
openly  advocated  a  religious  war.  The 
police  were  ordered  to  arrest  him ;  but  he 
and  his  followers  resisted  with  arms :  the 
military  were  called  in,  and  several  lives 
were  lost  on  the  side  of  the  moolvee,  before 
his  capture  was  effected.  He  was  tried, 
and  sentence  of  death  would  have  been 
pronounced  and  -executed  upon  him,  but  for 
some  informality  which  delayed  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

Colonel  Lennox  remained  in  his  bunga- 
low all  night  with  his  wife  and  daughter, 
under  a  strong  sepoy  guard.  Two  officers 
strove  to  escape,  but  were  fired  at  by  the 
cavalry  patrols,  and  brought  back  into  the 
lines  unhurt,  where  they  were  desired  to 
remain  quietly  until  daybreak,  when  they 
would  be  sent  off,  under  an  escort,  to  the 
place  of  embarkation,  placed  in  boats,  and 
dispatched  down  the  Gogra  river.* 

The  account,  thus  far,  rests  on  official 
information.  Private  letters  state  that  the 
mutineers  held  a  council  of  war  during  the 
night,  and  that  the  irregular  cavalry,  who 
were  nearly  all  Mussulmans,  proposed  to 
kill  the  officers;  but  the  22nd  N.I.  ob- 
jected ;  and  it  was  ultimately  decided  that 
the  officers  should  be  allowed  to  leave  un- 
harmed, and  to  carry  away  all  their  private 
arms  and  property,  but  no  treasure,  as  that 
belonged  to  the  King  of  Oude. 

An  officer  who  escaped,  gives  a  different 
account  of  the  language  held  to  him  by  a 
subahdar  of  his  own  regiment :  but  both 
statements  may  possibly  be  true,  as  the 
sepoys  may  have  been  disposed  in  favour  of 
the  Delhi  or  of  the  Oude  family,  according 
to  their  birth  and  prejudices.  The  speech 
of  the  subahdar  was  very  remarkable. 
Seeing  his  late  superior  about  to  depart,  he 
said — "  As  you  are  going  away  for  ever,  I 
will  tell  you  all  about  our  plans.  We  halt 
at  Fyzabad  five  days,  and  march  through 
Duriabad  upon  Lucknow,  where  we  expect 
to  be  joined  by  the  people  of  the  city." 
Proclamations,  he  added,  had  been  re- 
ceived from  the  King  of  Delhi,  announcing 
that  he  was  again  seated  on  the  throne  of 
his  fathers,  and  desired  the  whole  army  to 

•  Despatch  of  Colonel  Lennox,  July  1st,  1857.— 
Further  Parliamentary  Papers  on  Mutinies  (No.  4), 
p.  46.  See  also  letter  dated  August  1st:  published 
in  Times,  September  29th,  1857. 

t  Letter  from  an  ofiicer  of  one  of  the  Fyzabad 


join  his  standard.  The  subahdar  declared 
that  Rajah  Maun  Sing  had  been  ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief  in  Oude :  and 
he  concluded  his  communications  by  re- 
marking— "  You  English  have  been  a  long 
time  in  India,  but  you  know  little  of  us. 
We  have  nothing  to  do  with  Wajid  AH,  or 
any  of  his  relations ;  the  kings  of  Lucknow 
were  made  by  you :  the  only  ruler  in  India 
empowered  to  give  sunnuds,  is  the  King  of 
Delhi ;  he  never  mjide  a  King  of  Oude : 
and  it  is  from  him  only  that  we  shall  re-  1 
ceive  our  orders."t 

The  officers  were  allowed  to  depart  at  ! 
daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  9th,  and 
were  escorted  to  the  river  side,  and  directed 
to  enter  four  boats  which  had  been  pro- 
vided by  the  insurgents,  and  proceed  down 
the  river.  Whilst  still  at  the  ghaut,  or  land- 
ing-place, intelligence  was  brought  to  the 
escort,  that  their  comrades  in  cantonments 
were  plundering  the  treasure;  whereupon 
the  whole  party  immediately  hurried  off 
thither.  The  Europeans  then  entered  the 
boats;  and,  there  being  no  boatmen,  pro- 
ceeded to  man  them  themselves.  Accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  a  survivor,  the 
four  boats  were  filled  in  the  following 
manner : — 

First  Boat. — Colonel  Goldney ;  Lieutenants  Cur- 
rie,  Cautley,  Ritchie,  Parsons ;  Sergeants  Matthews, 
Edwards,  fiusher. 

Second  Boat. — Major  Mill;  Sergeant-major  Hulme 
and  his  wife;  Quartermaster-sergeant  Russel;  and 
Bugler  Williamson. 

Third  Boat. — Colonel  O'Brien  ;  Captain  Gordon  ; 
Lieutenants  Anderson  and  Percivall ;  and  Surgeon 
CoUison. 

Fourth  Boat. — Lieutenants  Thomas,  Lindsay,  and 
English. 

While  dropping  down  the  river,  the 
Europeans  perceived  a  canoe  following 
them.  It  contained  a  sepoy  of  the  22nd 
N.I.,  named  Teg  Ali  Khan,  who  requested 
to  be  suffered  to  accompany  his  officers. 
He  was  taken  in  by  Colonel  Goldney ;  and, 
on  approaching  a  village,  he  procured 
rowers  for  two  of  the  boats,  and  proved 
himself,  in  the  words  of  the  credentials 
subsequently  given  him  by  Colonel  Lennox, 
a  "  loyal  and  true  man."J 

Boats  one  and  two  distanced  the  others, 
and  passed  Ayodha,  where  the  third  boat 
was    seen  to  put  in.      After    proceeding 

regiments.     Quoted  by  Bombay  Correspondent  of 
JDaily  News,  August  17th,  1857. 

X  Long  roll  and  certificate  of  character,  dated 
July  1st,  1857.— Further  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Muti- 
nies (No.  4),  p.  63. 


FATE  OF  COLONEL  GOLDNEY  AND  OFFICERS  OF  22nd  N.I.      231 


about   three  miles  further,   Colonel   Gold- 
ney   and  Major  Mill   waited,  in   hopes  of 
being    rejoined   by    their    comrades ;    but 
!    spending  two  hours  in  vain,  they  resumed 
i   their  voyage  down  stream,  and  at  length 
reached    a    spot    which    they    approached 
'    without    any   idea   of    danger,    apparently 
not    knowing   that   it  was  Begum  Gunje, 
I    the   place  where    the   17th  N.I.  Avere  en- 
I    camped,  and    beneath  which   the    current 
I    of  the  Gogra  swept  past.*     Here  the  fugi- 
I    tives  observed  natives    running  along  the 
bank,  and  evidently  giving  notice  of  their 
approach.     From  the  various   accounts   of 
the  whole  sad  business,  it  seems  that  some 
of  the    more  sanguinary  and  desperate  of 
the  Fyzabad  mutineers,  thwarted  in  their 
purpose  of  themselves  slaying  and  plunder- 
ing the  Europeans  by  the  determined  op- 
position of  the  22nd  N.I.,  gave  notice  to 
the  rebels  at  Begum  Gunje  to  intercept  the 
;    officers.     Accordingly,  just  at  the  narrowest 
I    part  of  the  stream,  a  body  of  infantry  and 
i    cavalry  were  drawn  up  in  readiness ;  and, 
'    as  the  boats  approached,  they  were  fired 
I    into,  and  Matthews,  who  was  rowing,  was 
killed.     Colonel  Goldney  desired  the  offi- 
cers  to  lay  aside  their   arms,  and  try  to 
come   to  terms  with   the    mutineers,  who 
entered  some    boats  which  lay   along  the 
shore,  and  pushing  off  into  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  recommenced  firing.     Seeing  this. 
Colonel  Goldney  urged  all  around  him  to 
jump  into  the  water,  and  try  to  gain  the 
opposite  bank ;  lie  was,  he  said,  "  too  old  to 
run,"  and  there  was  no  other  prospect  of 
escape.      His   advice   was    followed.      The 
gallant  veteran  and  the  dead  sergeant  re- 
mained alone ;  the  other  passengers,  toge- 
ther with    all   those   in   the   second   boat, 
strove   to    swim    to    shore.      Major   Mill, 
Lieutenants    Currie    and    Parsons,    were 
drowned  in  the  attempt. 

The  fortunes  of  the  party  in  the  first 
boat  are  described  in  a  report  by  Ser- 
geant Busher,  who  succeeded  in  effecting 
his  escape,  as  did  also  Teg  Ali  Khan.  In 
the  course  of  Busher's  wanderings,  he  met 
with  the  officers  who  had  embarked  in  the 
fourth  boat;  but  they  escaped  the  rebel 
force  only  to  perish  by  the  hands  of  in- 
surgent villagers. t      Lieutenants  Cautley, 

•  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  135. 

t  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  48. 

X  London  Gazette  (second  supplement),  May  6th, 
1858. 

§  Mr.  Gubbins,  from  whom  the  above  statement  re- 
garding the  fate  of  Col.  Goldney  is  derived  (p.  135), 
does  not  give  his  authority.   The  government  Gazette 


Ritchie,  and  Bright,  are  thought  to  have 
met  a  similar  fate. J  The  remainder  of  tlie 
Fyzabad  fugitives,  whose  fate  has  not  been 
mentioned,  escaped,  excepting  Colonel  Gold- 
ney, who  was,  it  is  alleged,  brought  to 
land,  and  led  to  the  mutineer  camp.  "  I 
am  an  old  man,"  he  said ;  "  will  you  dis- 
grace yourselves  by  my  murder?"  They 
shot  him  down.§ 

The  gentlemen  in  the  third  boat  put  in 
shore,  and  obtained  a  large  boat  and  some 
rowers.  The  natives  were,  however,  so 
terrified,  that  they  would  have  run  away, 
had  they  not  been  compelled  to  embark  "  at 
the  point  of  the  sword."  The  Europeans 
exhausted  with  fatigue,  fell  asleep,  and 
when  they  awoke  the  boatmen  had  dis- 
appeared. They  had,  however,  by  this 
time  reached  a  village  called  Gola,  near 
which  a  native  prince  and  French  indigo 
planter  resided.  The  planter,  "  seeing  the 
whole  country  up  around  him,"  started 
with  the  officers  on  the  following  morning  for 
Dinapoor,  whither  the  whole  party  arrived 
safely,  under  the  escort  of  thirty  armed 
men,  sent  with  them  by  the  rajah.  '  Mr. 
Collison,  on  whose  authority  the  above  de- 
tails are  given,  says,  that  the  ladies  from 
Fyzabad  arrived  at  Dinapoor  on  June 
29th,  in  a  pitiful  condition.  They  had 
been  robbed  of  everything  at  Goruckpoor, 
whither  they  had  been  safely  sent  by 
Maun  Sing,  and  only  escaped  with  their 
lives.  They  had  been  imprisoned  in  a  fort 
on  the  river  for  a  week,  and  almost 
starved  to  death.  ||  In  the  official  notice  of 
the  Fyzabad  mutiny,  it  is  expressly  stated, 
that  no  acts  of  violence  were  committed  by 
the  troops  on  the  occasion;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  majority,  it  is  said,  conducted 
themselves  respectfully  towards  their  offi- 
cers to  the  last ;  and  even  those  requiring 
money  for  travelling  expenses,  were  supplied 
with  it  by  the  mutinccrs.^[  • 

The  adventures  of  Colonel  Lennox  remain 
to  be  told.  After  the  officers  had  left,  the 
moulvee  sent  the  native  apothecary  of  the 
dispensary  to  say,  that  he  Avas  sorry  that 
the  colonel  should  be  obhged  to  fly,  as, 
through  his  kindness,  he  had  been  well 
cared-for  while  confined  for  three  months 
in  the  quarter-guard,  and  had  been  allowed 

mentions  the  colonel's  name  among  the  list  of  the 
missing,  whose  fate  had  not  been  ascertained. 

II  Letter  from  Assistant-.surgeon  Collison,  dated 
"]3inapoor,  June  IJOtli." — Times,  August  29th,  1857. 

5[  Despatch  from  Major-general  Lloyd,  dated 
"Dinapoor,  June  19,  1857."— Further  Pari.  Papers 
(not  numbered),  p.  33. 


832    ADVENTURES  OF  COL.  LENNOX  AND  HIS  FAMILY— JUNE,  1857. 


his  hookah ;  and  that  if  the  colonel 
and  his  family  would  remain  in  canton- 
ments for  a  few  days,  he  would  take  care  of 
them.  The  subahdar,  Dliuleep  Sing,  on 
the  contrary,  advised  their  immediate  flight 
before  the  arrival  of  the  17th  N.I.;  and  as 
the  sepoys  on  guard  at  the  bungalow  were 
becoming  insolent  and  riotous,  Colonel 
Lennox  judged  it  best  to  quit  Fyzabad  im- 
mediately, which  he  did  with  his  wife  and 
daughter,  starting  during  the  intense  heat 
of  the  afternoon.  Two  faithful  sepoys  ac- 
companied them,  and  were  happily  on  their 
guard  against  the  danger  to  be  expected  at 
Begum  Gunje.  At  Ayodha,  however,  they 
encountered  an  unexpected  diflBculty,  the 
place  being  held  by  a  rebel  picket.  They 
were  twice  compelled  to  stop,  under  threats 
of  being  fired  upon ;  but  after  being  ques- 
^tioned,  were  suffered  to  proceed.  At  half- 
past  ten  they  passed  the  enemy's  camp  un- 
seen ;  but  on  rounding  a  sand-bank,  they 
came  upon  another  picket.  By  the  advice  of 
the  sepoys  and  boatmen,  they  went  on  shore, 
and  crept  along  the  side  of  the  bank  for  two 
hours :  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  they 
.re-entered  the  boat,  which  the  native  boat- 
men had  risked  their  lives  to  bring  round. 
Colonel  Lennox  and  the  ladies  crossed  the 
river  at  midnight,  and  landed  in  the  Go- 
ruckpoor  district.  At  sunrise  on  the  follow- 
ing morning,  they  started  on  foot  for  Go- 
ruckpoor,  with  their  khitmutgar  (steward 
or  table  attendant)  and  ayah  (lady's  maid), 
and  had  walked  about  six  miles,  when 
■  they  reached  a  village,  where,  having  pro- 
cured a  draught  of  milk,  they  prepared  to 
rest  during  the  mid-day  heat ;  but  were 
soon  disturbed  by  a  horseman,  armed  to 
the  teeth,  with  a  huge  horse-pistol  in  his 
liand,  which  he  cocked  and  held  to  the 
head  of  Colonel  Lennox,  desiring  him  to 
proceed  with  liis  wife  and  daughter  to  the 
camp  of  the  17th  N.I.,  as  he  expected  to 
.  get  a  reward  of  500  rupees  for  each  of  their 
heads.  The  fugitives  wearily  retraced  their 
steps;  but  had  not  gone  above  a  mile 
,  when  a  lad  met  them,  whom  the  horse- 
man  recognised,  and  whose  appearance 
,  made  hini  strive  to  compel  the  ladies 
,  to  quicken  their  pace.  The  lad,  how- 
ever, prevailed  on  him  to  let  them  drink 
some  water  and  rest  awhile,  near  a  village ; 
and   during   the   interval  he    contrived   to 

•The   adventures   of    Colonel    Lennox   and   his 

family,  are  given,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  the  words 

,  of  the  interesting  official  statement,  drawn  up  by 

the  colonel  himself,   and   dated   July  1st,   1857. — 


send  a  boy  to  call  friends  to  their  assis- 
tance. It  appeared  that  a  nazim,  named 
Meer  Mohammed  Hussein  Khan,  and  his 
nephew,  Meer  Mehndee,  had  a  small  fort 
less  than  a  mile  distant  (in  the  Amorah 
district),  from  whence,  on  receiving  intelli- 
gence of  the  danger  of  the  Europeans, 
eight  or  ten  men  were  dispatched  to  the 
rescue.  The  horseman  was  disarmed,  and 
obliged  to  accompany  his  late  captives  to 
the  residence  of  the  nazim ;  but  one  of 
the  party  sent  to  save  them,  seemed  by  no 
means  pleased  with  the  task.  He  a,bused 
Colonel  Lennox;  and,  "looking  to  his 
pistol  and  priming,  swore  he  would  shoot 
those  Englishmen  who  had  come  to  take 
away  the  caste  of  the  natives  and  make 
them  Christians."*  Meer  Mohammed  was  , 
holding  a  council  when  the  fugitives  ar- 
rived. They  were  ushered  into  his  pre- 
sence, and  he  bade  them  rest  and  take 
some  sherbet.  One  of  his  retainers  hinted, 
that  a  stable  close  by  would  be  a  suitable 
abode  for  the  dogs,  who  would  be  killed  ere 
long.  The  nazim  rebuked  him,  and  told 
the  Europeans  not  to  fear,  as  they  should 
be  protected  in  the  fort  until  the  road  to 
Goruckpoor  was  again  open,  so  that  the 
station  could  be  reached  in  safety. 

On  the  day  after  their  arrival,  their  host, 
fearing  that  scouts  of  the  17th  N.I.  would 
obtain  news  of  the  locality  of  the  refugees, 
desired  them  to  assume  native  clothing ; 
and  dressing  three  of  his  own  people  in  the  '. 
discarded  European  garments,  he  sent  them  ; 
out  at  nine  o'clock  in  tlie  evening,  under 
an  escort,  to  deceive  his  outposts  and  the 
villagers.  The  disguised  persons  returned 
at  midnight,  in  their  own  dresses ;  and  all, 
except  those  in  the  secret,  believed  that  the 
Europeans  had  been  sent  away,  instead  of 
being  allowed  to  remain  in  a  reed  hut  in 
rear  of  the  zenana,  treated  very  kindly  and 
considerately,  having  plenty  of  food,  and  a 
daily  visit  from  the  nazim.  Clothing  for 
the  ladies  was  supplied  by  the  begum.  On 
the  18th  of  June,  an  alarm  was  given  that  an 
enemy  was  approaching  to  attack  the  fort. 
The  ladies  were  immediately  concealed  iu 
the  zenana,  and  Colonel  Lennox  hidden  in 
a  dark-wood  "  godown,"  or  caravan  for  the 
transport  of  goods.  The  troopers  proved 
to  be  a  party  sent  by  the  collector  of  Go- 
ruckpoor  for  the  refugees,  who   gratefully 

Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  pp.  46 — 48.  See  also 
the  somewhat  fuller  account,  also  written  by  him, 
and  published  in  the  London  Tiynes,  of  September 
29lh,  1857. 


MUTINY  AT  SULTANPOOR— JUNE  9th,  1857. 


233 


took  leave  of  "  tlie  considerate  and  noble 
nazim."  They  reached  Goruckpoor  in  safety; 
and,  on  their  way,  met  Sergeant  Busher,  who 
had  been  also  saved  by  Meer  Melmdee's 
adherents. 

The  nazim  afterwards  visited  the  muti- 
neers at  Fyzabad,  to  learn  their  plan,  which 
was  to  march  to  the  attack  of  Luckuow, 
and  then  proceed  to  Delhi.  They  enquired 
very  minutely  concemiug  certain  Euro- 
peans he  had  harboured.  The  nazim  de- 
clared he  had  only  fed  and  rested  three 
Europeans,  aud  then  sent  them  on.  To 
this  the  mutineers  replied — "  It  is  well ;  we 
are  glad  you  took  care  of  the  colonel  and 
his  family." 

Colonel  Lennox  concludes  his  narrative 
by  earnestly  recommending  the  nazim  and 
his  nephew  to  the  favour  of  the  British 
government.  He  had  refrained  from  any 
description  of  his  own  sufferings,  or  those 
of  his  companions ;  but  he  evidently  could 
not  acknowledge  the  gratitude  due  to  a 
fellow-creature,  without  making  reverent 
mention  of  the  merciful  Providence  which 
had  supported,  aud  eventually  carried 
him  through,  perils  under  which  the  majo- 
rity of  his  fellow-officers  had  suuk,  though 
they  were  mostly  young,  strong,  and  unen- 
cumbered by  the  care  of  weak  and  defence- 
less women.  His  party  escaped  without  a 
hair  of  their  heads  being  injured.  There  is 
something  very  impressive  in  the  quiet  dig- 
nity with  which  Colonel  Lennox  declares — 
"Throughout  this  severe  trial,  I  have  found 
the  promise  fulfilled  to  me  and  to  my 
family,  'And  as  thy  day,  so  shall  thy 
strength  be.'  "* 

The  last  Europeans  left  at'  Fyzabad, 
were  the  wife  and  children  of  Major 
Mill.  For  some  unexplained  cause,  Mrs. 
Mill  had  neither  accompanied  the  civilians 
to  Shahgunje,  nor  her  husband  to  the 
boats.  She  is  alleged  to  have  lost  the  oppor- 
tunity of  leaving  the  station  with  Colonel 
Lennox,  from  unwillingness  to  expose  her 
three  young  children  to  the  sun ;  but  she 
subsequently  made  her  way  alone  with  them, 
wandering  about  for  a  fortnight,  from  vil- 
lage to  village,  till  she  reached  Goruckpoor, 
where  one  of  her  little  ones  died  of  fatigue ; 
and  where,  after  passing  through  an  agony 
of  doubt,  she  learned  at  length  the  cer- 
tainty of  her  widowhood.f 

SuUanpoor. — This  station  was  under  the 

•  Further  Par!.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  47. 
t  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  13(5. 
X  Ibid.,  p.  138. 
VOL.  II.  2    u 


command  of  Colonel  Fisher,  an  officer 
whose  genial  nature  and  keen  enjoyment 
of  field  sports,  had  rendered  him  popular 
alike  with  Europeans  and  Natives.  His  own 
regiment  (the  15th  irregular  horse)  was 
posted  at  Sultanpoor,  together  with  the  8th 
Oude  infantry,  under  Captain  W.  Smith, 
and  the  1st  regiment  of  military  police, 
under  Captain  Buubury.  Individual  popu- 
larity could  not,  however,  counteract  gen- 
eral disaffection ;  and,  even  to  its  pos- 
sessor, it  brought  dangers  as  well  as  advan- 
tages ;  for  while  the  sepoys  of  each  regi- 
ment were  solicitous  for,  and  did  actually 
preserve,  the  lives  of  many  favourite  officers 
at  the  risk  of  their  own,  the  worst  disposed 
of  other  corps  were  specially  anxious  to 
remove  such  commanders  as  might  in- 
fluence the  more  moderate  to  repentance, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  compromise  the 
entire  Bengal  army  by  implication  in  the 
commission  of  crimes  which  the  majority 
had  in  all  probability  never  contemplated. 
Colonel  Fisher  was  not  taken  by  surprise. 
He  anticipated  the  coming  outbreak,  and 
sent  off  the  ladies  and  children,  on  the 
night  of  the  7th  of  June,  towards  Alla- 
habad, under  care  of  Dr.  Corbyn  and  Lieu- 
tenant Jenkyns.  Three  of  the  ladies  (Mrs. 
Goldney,  Mrs.  Block,  and  Mrs.  Stroyan) 
became  separated  from  the  rest,  and  were 
takeu  to  the  neighbouring  fort  of  Amethie, 
where  they  were  protected  by  Rajah  Bainie 
Madhoo  Sing ;  by  whom,  the  Oude  commis- 
sioner states,  "  they  were  very  kindly  treated. 
Madhoo,"  he  adds,  "  sent  us  in  their  letters 
to  Lucknow;  furnished  them  with  such  com- 
forts as  he  could  procure  himself;  took 
charge  of  the  articles  which  we  wished  to 
send;  and,  after  sheltering  the  ladies  for  some 
days,  forwarded  them  in  safety  to  Allahabad. 
The  rest  of  the  party,  joined  by  Lieutenant 
Grant,  assistant-commissioner,  found  refuge 
for  some  days  with  a  neighbouring  zemin- 
dar, and  were  by  him  escorted  in  safety 
to  Allahabad."!  This  testimony  is  very 
strongly  in  favour  of  a  rajah,  whose  fort, 
after  being  the  sanctuary  of  Englishwomen 
in  their  deepest  need,  was  soon  to  be  be- 
sieged by  the  British  commander-in-chief 
in  person,  and  its  master  driven  into  exile 
and  outlawry.  The  cause  of  this  change  is 
alleged  to  have  been  one  which  those  who 
have  watched  the  working  of  the  centralisa- 
tion system  in  India,  will  find  little  diffi- 
culty in  understanding.  It  is  not  only 
that  the  left  hand  does  not  know  what  the 
right  hand   is   doing,  but  that  the   head. 


k 


23i 


BAINIE  MADHOO,  OF  AMETHIE,  PROTECTS  FUGITIVES. 


called  by  courtesy  the  Supreme  govern- 
ment, is  generally  ignorant  of  the  move- 
ments of  either,  until  its  own  initiative  and 
veto,  exercised  in  an  equally  despotic  and 
vacillating  manner  by  successive  orders  and 
counter-orders,  have  issued  in  the  hope- 
less bewilderment  of  its  own  functionaries, 
and  the  rebellion  of  its  unfortunate  sub- 
jects. The  history  of  Bainie  Madhoo's 
hostility  is  thus  given  by  Mr.  Russell. 
"  The  rajah,"  he  writes  (in  November,  1858, 
from  the  British  camp  then  advancing 
against  Amethie),  "  is  a  Rajpoot  of  ancient 
family  and  large  possessions.  At  the  an- 
nexation, or  rather  after  it,  when  that  most 
fatal  and  pernicious  resettlement  of  Oudc 
took  place,  in  which  our  officers  played 
with  estates  and  titles  as  if  they  were 
footballs,  we  took  from  the  rajah  a  very 
large  portion  of  territory,  and  gave  it  to 
rival  claimants.  The  rajah,  no  doubt,  was 
incensed  against  us ;  but  still,  when  the 
mutiny  and  revolt  broke  out,  he  received 
the  English  refugees  from  Salone,  and  shel- 
tered and  forwarded  them,  men,  women, 
and  children,  in  safety  to  Allahabad. 
While  he  was  doing  this,  the  government 
was  busy  confiscating  his  property.*  If  I 
am  rightly  informed,  the  authorities,  with- 
out any  proof,  took  it  for  granted  that  the 
rajah  was  a  rebel,  and  seized  upon  several 
lacs  of  rupees  which  he  had  at  Benares ; 
and,  to  his  applications  for  redress,  he  re- 
ceived, in  reply,  a  summons  to  come  in  and 
surrender  himself."t 

Other  causes  were  not  wanting  to  aggra- 
vate the  natural  aversion  of  the  chief 
towards  the  government  by  which  he  had 
been  so  ill-treated  ;  and  these  will  be  men- 
tioned in  their  due  order.  Meanwhile, 
many  intermediate  events  require  to  be 
narrated.  The  troops  at  Sultanpoor  rose 
on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  June,  when 
Colonel  Fisher,  in  returning  from  the  lines 
of  the  military  police,  whom  he  had 
harangued  and  endeavoured  to  reduce  to 
order,  was  shot  in  the  back  by  one  of 
that  regiment,  and  died  in  the  arras  of 
Lieutenant  C.  Tucker.  Captain  Gibbings, 
the  second  in  command,  was  attacked 
and  killed  by  the  troopers  while  on  horse- 
back beside  the  dhooly  in  which  Fisher  had 
been  placed.     The   men  then   shouted   to 

•  Out  of  223  villages,  119  were  taken  from  him 
on  the  second  revision  after  annexation.  (Russell). 
—Times,  Jan.  17th,  1858. 

!■  Tivies,  December  21st,  1858. 

X  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  1-39. 


Lieutenant  Tucker  to  go ;  and  he  rode  off, 
crossed  the  river,  and  found  shelter  in  the 
fort  of  Roostum  Sah,  at  Deyrah,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Goomtee,  Here  he  was 
joined  by  the  remainder  of  tlie  Sultanpoor 
officers,  and  was,  with  them,  safely  escorted 
to  Benares,  by  a  party  of  natives  sent  from 
that  city  by  the  commissioner,  Henry  Carre  ' 
Tucker. 

Mr.  Gubbins  observes — "  Roostum  Sah 
is  a  fine  specimen  of  tlie  best  kind  of 
talooqdars  in  Oudh.  Of  old  family,  and 
long  settled  at  Deyrah,  he  resides  there  in 
a  fort  very  strongly  situated  in  the  ravines 
of  the  Goomtee,  and  surrounded  by  a  thick 
jungle  of  large  extent.  It  had  never  been 
taken  by  tlie  troops  of  the  native  govern- 
ment, which  had  more  than  once  been  re- 
pulsed from  before  it.  Roostum  Sah  de- 
serves the  more  credit  for  his  kind  treat- 
ment of  the  refugees,  as  he  had  suffered 
unduly  at  the  settlement,  and  had  lost 
many  villages  which  he  should  have  been 
permitted  to  retain.  I  had  seen  him  at 
Fyzabad  in  January,  1857;  and,  after  dis- 
cussing his  case  with  the  deputy-commis- 
sioner, Mr.  W.  A.  Forbes,  it  had  been  set- 
tled that  fresh  inquiries  should  be  made 
into  the  title  of  the  villages  which  he 
had  lost;  and  orders  had  been  issued  ac- 
cordingly."J 

Whatever  were  the  orders  issued  in 
January,  they  appear  to  have  afforded  no 
immediate  relief  to  the  ill-used  talookdar; 
for,  in  the  following  June,  when  he  received 
and  sheltered  the  European  fugitives,  he 
was  found  to  be  supporting  his  family  by 
the  sale  of  the  jewels  of  his  female  rela- 
tives. 

Two  young  civilians§  were  killed  in 
endeavouring  to  escape.  They  took  refuge 
with  Yaseen  Khan,  zemindar  of  the  town 
of  Sultanpoor.  He  is  alleged  to  have  re- 
ceived them  into  his  house,  and  then  turned 
them  out  and  caused  thetn  to  be  shot  down, 
thereby  perpetrating  the  only  instance  of 
treachery  attributed  to  a  pettv  zemindar  of 
Oude.ll 

Salone. — The  mutiny  here  was  conducted 
without  tumult  or  bloodshed.  There  were 
no  Europeans  at  this  station,  but  only  six 
companies  of  the  1st  Oude  infantry,  under 
Captain  Thompson.     The  cantonments  were 

§  Mr.  A.  Block,  C.S.,  and  Mr.  S.  Stroyan,  who 
had  been  recently  married  to  a  girl  of  seventeen. 

II  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  140.  [Mr.  Gubbins  does 
not  give  his  authority  for  this  statement  regarding 
the  conduct  of  Yaseen  Khan. 


SALONE,  PERSHADIPOOR,  AND  DURIABAD— JUNE  9  &  10,  1857.      235 


at  Pershadipoor.  The  conduct  of  the  regi- 
ment is  described  by  its  commanding  ofificer 
as  continuing  "  most  exemplary"  up  to  June 
9th,  notwithstanding  the  trials  to  which 
the  men  had  been  subjected,  by  the  false 
accounts  of  their  friends  and  relatives  in 
different  disbanded  and  mutinous  regi- 
ments. On  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  a 
sowar  (trooper),  who  pretended  to  have 
escaped  from  a  body  of  mutineers,  galloped 
into  the  cantonments.  In  the  night,  he  re- 
presented to  the  sepoys,  that  in  the  event 
of  their  remaining  faithful,  they  would  be 
overpowered  by  the  revolted  regiments ; 
and  his  arguments,  added  to  the  impression 
already  produced  by  the  assertions  of  the 
37th,  45th,  and  57th  N.I.,  that  they  had 
been  first  disarmed  and  then  fired  on  by 
the  Europeans,  so  wrought  upon  the  minds 
of  the  Pershadipoor  troops,  that  they  re- 
solved on  throwing  off  their  allegiance.* 

The  large  sum  known  to  be  in  the  trea- 
sury, had  probably  its  share  in  inciting 
them  to  mutiny,  which  they  did  on  the 
morning  of  the  10th,  by  refusing  to  obey 
their  officers,  and  warning  them  to  depart. 
The  Europeans  knew  that  resistance  was 
hopeless,  and  rode  oflF,  a  few  sepoys  accom- 
panying Captain  Thompson,  and  remaining 
steadily  with  him ;  while  some  native  subor- 
dinates attended  the  commissioner,  Captain 
Barrow.  As  the  party  passed  through  the 
lines,  several  of  the  sepoys  saluted  them,  but 
none  uttered  any  threat.  Outside  the  sta- 
tion, Lall  Hunwunt  Sing,  talookdar  of 
Dharoopoor,  was  found  drawn  up  with  his 
troopers,  in  accordance  with  a  promise  which 
he  had  given  to  be  ready  with  aid  in  case  of 
emergency.  The  whole  of  the  refugees  were 
received  into  his  fort,  and  remained  there 
neai'ly  a  fortnight,  treated  all  the  while 
with  the  greatest  kindness.  They  were 
then  conducted  by  their  host  and  500  of 
his  followers  to  the  ferry  over  the  Ganges, 
opposite  to  Allahabad,  and  they  reached 
the  fort  in  safety.  The  refugees  desired  to 
give  Hunwunt  Sing  some  token  of  their 
gratitude ;  "  but  he  would  receive  no  pre- 
sent for  his  hospitality."  The  financial 
commissioner  remarks — "The  conduct  of 
this  man  is  the  more  deserving,  as  he  had  lost 
an  undue  number  of  villages ;  and  his  case, 
as  well  as  that  of  Roostum  Sah  of  Deyrali, 
was  one  that  called  for  reconsideration. "f 

•  Despatch  of  Captain  Thompson  to  secretary 
of  government,  June  25th,  1857.— Further  Pari. 
Papers,  p.  70. 

t  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  111. 


At  Duriabad,  a  station  and  district  of 
the  Lucknow  division,  the  5th  Oude  in- 
fantry were  quartered,  under  Captain 
Hawes.  There  was  a  considerable  amount 
of  treasure  here  (about  three  lacs),  the  re- 
moval of  which  had  been  attempted  iu 
May,  but  resisted  by  some  of  the  sepoys. 
On  the  9th  of  June,  Captain  Hawes  re- 
newed the  attempt.  The  treasure  was 
placed  in  carts,  and  the  men  marched  off 
cheering ;  but  before  they  had  proceeded 
half  a  mile,  a  disturbance  took  place.  The 
disaffected  men  refused  to  convey  the 
treasure  any  further,  fired  on  those  who 
opposed  them,  and  succeeded  in  taking 
back  the  loaded  carts  in  triumph  to  the 
station.  The  European  residents  fled  im- 
mediately. Captain  Hawes,  though  re- 
peatedly fired  on,  escaped  unhurt,  galloped 
off  across  the  country,  was  kindly  received 
by  Ram  Sing,  zemindar  of  Suhee,  and  from 
thence  escaped  to  Lucknow.  Lieutenants 
Grant  and  Fullerton  placed  their  wives  and 
children  in  a  covered  cart,  and  were  walking 
by  the  side  of  it,  when  they  were  overtaken 
by  a  party  of  mutineers,  and  obliged  to  turn 
back.  On  their  way  towards  Duriabad, 
messengers  from  cantonments  met  them, 
with  leave  to  go  where  they  pleased,  as  the 
regiment  had  no  wish  to  do  them  harm. 
A  double  rifle,  which  had  been  taken  from 
Lieutenant  Grant,  was  restored  to  him  j 
and  the  party  reached  the  hospitable  abode 
of  Ram  Sing,  and  proceeded  thence  to 
Lucknow  without  further  molestation.  Mr. 
Benson  (the  deputy-commissioner)  and  his 
wife  took  refuge  with  the  talookdar  of  Hu- 
raha ;  were  hospitably  treated,  and  enabled 
to  reach  Lucknow. 

The  mutiny  of  all  the  Oude  stations  has 
now  l)een.  told,  except  those  of  Cawnpoor 
and  Futtehghur :  they  have  a  distinctive 
character;  the  massacre  which  followed 
them  by  far  surpassing  any  outbreak  of 
sepoy  panic,  ferocity,  or  fanaticism;  and 
being,  in  fact,  an  episode  formed  by  the 
ruthless,  reckless  vengeance  of  the  wretch 
whose  name  is  hateful  to  everybody  pos- 
sessed of  common  humanity,  whether  Chris- 
tian, Mohammedan,  or  Hindoo. 

Lucknow.— On  the  11th  of  June,  1857, 
the  capital  of  Oude,  and  Cawnpoor,  were 
the  only  stations  in  the  province  still  held 
by  the  British. 

On  the  following  day,  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence resumed  his  functions,  and  became  as 
indefatigable  as  ever.  He  "seemed  almost 
never  to  sleep.     Often  would  he  sally  out  in 


236 


MEASURES  FOR  DEFENCE  OF  LUCKNOW— JUNE,  1857. 


disguise,  and  visit  the  most  frequented  parts 
of  the  native  town,  and  make  personal  obser- 
vations, and  see  how  his  orders  were  carried 
out.  He  several  times  had  a  thin  bedding 
spread  out  near  the  guns  at  the  Baillie 
Guard  gate,  and  retired  there  among  the 
artillerists ;  not  to  sleep,  but  to  plan  and 
meditate  undisturbed.  He  appeared  to  be 
ubiquitous,  and  to  be  seen  everywhere."* 

The  12th  of  June  was  further  marked  by 
tlie  mutiny  of  the  3rd  regiment  of  military 
police,  which  furnished  the  mail  guard,  and 
took  most  of  the  civil  duties.     The  sepoys 
abandoned  their  several  posts,  and  marched 
off  on  the  ruad  to  Sultanpoor,  plundering 
several  houses  belonging  to  Europeans  in 
their  way.     They  were  pursued  by  a  force 
under  Colonel  Inglis.      The  police   super- 
intendent   (Captain    Weston)    outstripped 
the  other  Europeans,  and   endeavoured   to 
bring  the  natives  back  to  obedience.     They 
treated  him  civilly,  but  refused  to  listen  to 
his  arguments,  unless  permitted  to  do  so  by 
the  chief  they  had  elected.     The  permis- 
sion was  I'efused,  and  one  of  the  mutineers 
levelled  his  musket  at  Captain  Weston.     A 
dozen  arms  were  thrust  forward  to  strike 
down    the    weapon.     "Who,"    said   they, 
"would  kill  such   a  brave  man  as  this?" 
The  English  officer  rode  back  unharmed. t 
When  the  Europeans   came  up    with   the 
mutineers,  they  turned  and  fought,  killing 
two  of  the   Seik  troopers,   and    wounding 
several  other  persons.     Two  Europeans  died 
of  apoplexy.     The  loss,  on  the  side  of  the 
mutineers,    was    fifteen   killed   and    fifteen 
captured.     On  the  return  of  the  pursuers, 
the  deputy-commissioner,  Mr.  Martin,  who 
had  formed  one  of  the  volunteer  cavalry, 
urged  the  execution  of  the  prisoners;  but 
the    tacit    pledge    given    by   some    of    the 
captors,  who  had  held  out  their  open  hand 
in  token  of  quarter,  was  nobly  redeemed  by 
Sir    Henry   Lawrence,    and   the    prisoners 
were  released.     Levies  of  horse,  foot,  artil- 
lery, and  police,  were  now  raised.     About 
eighty  pensioned   sepoys  were  called  in  by 
Sir  Henry  from  the  surrounding  districts, 
and  no  suspicion  ever  attached  to  any  of 
them    during    the     siege.      One,     named 
Ungud,  a  native  of  Oude,  performed  some 
remarkable    feats    as    a    messenger.     Tlie 
mingled   justice    and    conciliation   of    Sir 
Henry    Lawrence's    poHcy   was    markedly 
instrumental  in  obtaining  the  native  auxili- 
aries, but  for  whom,  Lucknow  might  have 

*  Rees'  Siege  of  Lueknow,  p.  39. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  61. 


been  as  Cawnpoor.  A  striking  illustration 
of  this  fact,  is  afforded  by  the  circumstance 
of  some  hundreds  of  Native  artillerymen, 
formerly  in  the  service  of  the  King  of  Oude 
(who  had  refused  to  enter  the  service  of  the 
British  government  on  the  annexation  of 
the  country),  now  coming  forward  under 
their  chief,  Meer  Furzund  Ali,  as  volunteers. 
A  number  of  them  were  enlisted ;  and  Mr. 
Gubbins,  who  had  sixteen  of  them  in  his 
own  fortified  house,  says  they  worked  the 
guns,  under  European  supervision,  during 
the  whole  siege,  in  which  several  of  them 
were  killed.  He  adds,  that  "  the  mutineers 
no  sooner  learnt  that  Furzund  Ali  was  on 
our  side,  than  they  gutted  his  house,  plun- 
dering it  of  a  large  amount  of  valuable 
property.  Unless,  therefore,  some  special 
compensation  has  been  granted  to  him,  Fur- 
zund Ali  will  not  have  gained  much  by  his 
loyalty."J  It  seems  strange  that  the  "  finan- 
cial commissioner  for  Oude,"  writing  in  June, 
1858,  should  not  have  been  able  to  speak  with 
somewhat  greater  certainty  on  the  subject. 

Ramadeen,  an  old  Brahmin,  also  a  native 
of  Oude,  was  another  helpful  auxiliary. 
He  had  been  employed  as  an  overseer  oi 
roads;  and  when  the  disturbed  state  of  the 
districts  interrupted  his  labours,  he  came  in 
to  Lucknow  with  six  of  his  brethren  :  they 
worked  as  foot  soldiers ;  and  no  men  ever 
behaved  better.  By  night  they  assisted  in 
constructing  batteries ;  by  day  they  fought 
whenever  the  enemy  attacked.  Ramadeen 
and  two  of  his  men  were  killed ;  the  others 
survived,  and  were  pensioned  by  govern- 
ment. There  was  a  native  architect  named 
Pirana,  of  whom  Mr.  Gubbins  says — "  He 
was  an  excellent  workman  ;  and,  but  for  his 
aid  and  that  of  Ramadeen,  we  could  never 
have  completed  the  works  which  we  put  up. 
Pirana  used  to  work  steadily  under  fire;  and 
I  have  seen  a  brick,  which  he  was  about  to 
lay,  knocked  out  of  his  hand  by  a  bullet. "§ 
Before  the  siege  began,  there  was  an  excellent 
native  smith,  named  Golab,  working  in  the 
engineering  department.  Captain  Fulton 
gave  him  his  option  to  go  or  stay.  He 
chose  the  latter;  and  manifested  strong 
personal  attachment  to  his  chief,  following 
him  everywhere  in  the  face  of  great 
danger,  and  rendering  invaluable  service. 
On  the  very  day  on  which  the  relieving 
force  entered  the  Residency,  he  was  killed 
by  a  round  shot. 

Such    are    a    few    among    a    crowd    of 

\  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Otidh,  p.  166. 
§  Ibid.,  p.  167. 


DEFENSIVE  PREPARATIONS  IN  LUCKNOW— JUNE,  1857. 


237 


instances  of  fidelity  even  unto  death;  indi- 
vidual attachment  being  usnally  the  actu- 
ating motive. 

Strenuous  eiforts  were  now  made  to 
strengthen  the  Residency  position,  and  to 
throw  up  defences  capable  of  resisting  the 
assault  of  artillery.  The  Residency  itself 
occupied  the  highest  point  of  an  elevated 
and  irregular  plateau,  sloping  down  sharply 
towards  the  river.  On  the  north  side,  a 
strong  battery  for  heavy  guns,  afterwards 
called  the  Redan,  was  commenced  on  the 
1 8th  of  June,  by  Captain  Fulton.  The 
Cawnpoor  battery — so  called  from  its  posi- 
tion commanding  the  high  road  from  that 
station — had  been  begun  some  days  earlier 
by  Lieutenant  Anderson. 

Among  other  precautions  taken  at  this 
period,  was  the  arrest  of  certain  Moham- 
medans of  high  family,  who  it  was  supposed 
might  be  compelled  or  persuaded  to  join  the 
rebel  cause.  One  was  Mustapha  AH  Klian, 
the  elder  brother  of  the  ex-king,  who  had 
been  a  state  prisoner  at  the  time  of  our 
occupation  of  Oude,  and  whose  claims  to 
the  succession  had  been  set  aside  on  the 
plea  of  weak  intellect.  The  other  captives 
were  two  princes  connected  with  the  Delhi 
family — Nawab  Rookun-ood-Dowlah,  one  of 
the  surviving  sons  of  the  good  old  sovereign, 
Sadut  Ali  Khan;  and  the  young  rajah  of 
Toolseepoor  (in  the  Terai),  a  very  turbu- 
lent character,  who  had  previously  been 
under  surveillance,  and  was  suspected  of 
having  caused  the  murder  of  his  father. 

On  the  28th  of  June,  Ali  Reza  Khan, 
who  had  formerly  been  kotwal  of  Luckuow 
under  native  rule,  and  had  taken  service 
under  the  British  government,  reported  the 
existence  of  a  large  quantity  of  jewels  in 
the  late  king's  treasury,  in  the  palace  called 
the  Kaiser  Bagh ;  which,  if  not  removed, 
would  probably  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
mutineers,  or  be  plundered  by  some  party 
or  other.  Major  Banks  was  immediately 
dispatched  with  a  military  force  to  secure 
and  bring  in  the  treasure,  wliieh  consisted 
of  a  richly  ornamented  throne,  crowns 
thickly  studded  with  gems,  gold  pieces  from 
Venice  and  Spain,  and  a  variety  of  neck- 
laces, armlets,  rings,  and  native  ornaments, 
enclosed  in  cases  so  decayed  with  age,  that 
they  fell  to  pieces  when  touched ;  and  the 
j)lace  was  literally  strewed  with  pearls  and 
gold.  The  display  was  unfortunate;  and 
during  the  subsequent  siege,  the  receptacle 
in  which  these  gewgaws  were  placed  was 
more  than  once  broken  into,  and  "  looted." 


The  men  of  the  32nd  regiment  were  sup- 
posed to  be  the  offenders.  "  Certainly  they 
got  hold  of  a  large  quantity  of  the  jewels, 
and  sold  them  freely  to  the  natives  of  the 
garrison."*  Deprat,  a  French  merchant, 
who  possessed  some  stores  of  wine,  received 
offers  of  valuable  gems  in  exchange  for  a 
dozen  of  brandy  ;  and  Mr.  Gubbins  writes 
— "  I  have  myself  seen  diamonds  and  pearls 
which  had  been  so  bought."  There  were 
twenty-three  lacs  (£230,000)  in  the  govern- 
ment treasury ;  and  this  sum  was,  in  the 
middle  of  June,  buried  in  front  of  the  Resi- 
dency, as  the  safest  place  of  deposit. 

The  circulating  medium  had  always  been 
miserably  insufficient  for  the  wants  of  a 
teeming  population;  and  the  neglect  of 
proper  provision  in  that  respect  had  been 
one  of  the  leading  defects  of  the  Com- 
pany's government.  In  Oude,  early  in 
the  month  of  June,  public  securities  fell  to 
so  low  an  ebb,  that  government  promissory 
notes  for  a  hundred  rupees  were  offered  for 
sale  at  half  that  sura.  Confidence  was 
partially  restored  by  the  autliorities  volun- 
teering to  buy  as  much  as  two  lacs  of  paper 
at  any  rate  under  sixty  per  cent.  The 
owners  hesitated  and  wavered ;  and  the 
only  purchase  actually  made  was  effected 
by  the  financial  commissioner,  on  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence's  private  account,  at  seventy-five 
per  cent.  But  during  the  last  half  of  the 
month,  the  demand  for  gold  increased 
rapidly.  The  mutinous  sepoys  at  the  out- 
stations  had  possessed  themselves  of  large 
amounts  of  government  treasure  in  silver, 
which  was  very  bulky  to  carry  about,  and 
tliey  exchanged  it  for  gold  at  high  rates, 
wherever  the  latter  could  be  procured.  At 
Lucknow  all  credit  rapidly  vanished.  Not  a 
native  merchant  could  negotiatea"hoondie," 
or  bill ;  the  government  treasury  was  vainly 
appealed  to  for  aid;  and  as  there  was  no 
longer  any  prospect  of  receiving  money 
from  the  out-stations,  it  was  ordered  that 
the  salaries  of  the  government  officials 
should  cease  to  be  paid  in  full,  and  that 
they  should  receive  only  such  small  present 
allowance  as  might  suffice  for  necessary 
expenditure. 

By  this  time  the  heat  had  become  in- 
tense, and  tlie  rains  were  anxiously  looked 
for.  There  had  been  several  deaths  from 
cholera  in  the  Muchee  Bhawn,  and  both 
cholera  and  small-pox  had  appeared  in  the 
Residency,  where  Sir  Henry  himself  lived,  in 
the  midst  of  above  a  hundred  ladies  and 
*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  178. 


238 


CHINHUT  EXPEDITION— JUNE  30th,  1857. 


cliildi-en.  The  Residency  also  contained  the 
sick,  and  women  and  children,  of  H.M.'s 
32nd.  "  There  are,"  Mrs.  Harris  states,  "  as 
many  as  eight  and  nine  ladies,  with  a  dozen 
children,  in  one  room;  and  the  heat  is 
awful."**  A  heavy  fall  of  rain  on  the  28th 
of  June  was  hailed  as  a  great  relief;  but  the 
comfort  thus  afforded  was  counterbalanced 
by  tidings  from  Cawnpoor. 

At  the  time  of  the  capitulation  of 
General  Wheeler  to  the  Nana  Sahib,  a 
large  body  of  mutineers  were  known  to 
be  assembled  at  Nawabgunje,  twenty  miles 
from  Lucknow,  which  city  they  imme- 
diately marched  towards.  On  the  29th  of 
June,  an  advance  guard  of  500  infantry 
and  100  horse,  was  reported  to  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence  as  having  arrived  at  Chinhut 
(a  town  on  the  Fyzabad  road,  within  eight 
miles  of  the  Residency),  to  collect  supplies 
for  the  force  which  was  expected  there 
on  the  following  day.  A  body  of  cavalry 
was  sent  out  to  reconnoitre  the  position  and 
numbers  of  the  enemy,  but  returned  with- 
out having  accomplished  this  object,  hostile 
pickets  having  been  posted  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  town.  Our  intelligence 
was,,  perhaps  unavoidably,  as  defective  as 
that  of  the  enemy  was  accurate.  On  the 
night  of  the  29th  of  June  (and  not  on  the 
30th,  as  the  spies  employed  by  Mr.  Gub- 
bins,  who  had  charge  of  the  intelligence 
department,  had  declared  would  be  the 
case),  the  rebel  army  reached  Chinhut.  In 
utter  ignorance  of  this  fact.  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence  planned  the  expedition  which 
proved  so  disastrous. 

Such,  at  least,  is  the  statement  made  by 
Mr.  Rees,  whose  authority  carries  weight, 
because  he  had  access  to,  and  permission  to 
use,  the  journal  kept  by  the  wife  of  Briga- 
dier Inglis,  the  second  in  command ;  and 
probably  gained  his  information  from  the 
brigadier  himself,  as  well  as  from  other  offi- 
cers engaged  in  the  undertaking.  Mr. 
Gubbius'  account  is  less  circumstantial, 
and  is  naturally  not  unprejudiced,  because, 
owing  to  the  unfortunate  differences  which 
existed  between  him  and  the  other  leading 
authorities,  he  was  not  even  aware  of  the 
expedition  until  its  disastrous  issue  became 
apparent. 

•  Mrs.  Harris's  Siege  of  Lucknow,  pp.  23;  54. 
t  llaikes'  Sieye  of  Lucknow,  p.  67.     Mr.  Gubbins 
states,  that  upon  his  death-bed,  Sir  Henry  referred 
to  llie  disaster  atChinlmtj  and  said,  that  he  had 
j    acted  against  his  own  judgment  from  the  fear  of 
i    mnn,  but  did  not  mention  the  name  of  any  indi- 
vidual adviser. — Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  199, 


The  force  moved  out  at  6  a.m.  on  the 
morning  of  the  30th,  and  consisted  of  about 
350  Europeans,  including  a  troop  of  volun- 
teer cavalry,  and  about  the  same  number  of 
natives,  with  ten  guns  and  an  8-inch  how- 
itzer.    Brigadier   Inglis,    in   his    despatch, 
says  that  several  reports  had  reached  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence,  on  the  previous  evening, 
that  the  rebel  army,  in  no  very  considerable 
numbers,  intended  marching  on  Lucknow 
on  the  following  morning;  and  Sir  Henry 
therefore  determined  to  make  a  strong  ?t- 
connaissance  in  that  direction,  with  a  view, 
if  possible,  of  meeting  the  enemy  at  a  dis- 
advantage, either  at  tlieir  entrance  into  the 
suburbs  of  the  city,  or  at  the  bridge  across 
the  Kookrail — a  small  stream  intersecting 
the  Fyzabad  road,  about  half-way  between 
Lucknow  and  Chinhut.     Thus  far  the  road 
was  metalled ;    but  beyond  it  was  a  newly 
raised  embankment,  constructed  of  loose  and 
sandy  soil,  in  which,  every  now  and  then, 
gaps  occurred,  indicating  the  position  of  pro- 
jected bridges.     The  troops  halted   at  the 
bridge,  and  Sir  Henry,  it  is  said,  proposed 
to  draw  up  his  little  army  in  this  position, 
and  await  the  coming  of  the  enemy ;  but  he 
"  unfortunately  listened  to  the  advisers  who 
wished   him    to   advance."t     Raikes    adds, 
there  were  rum-and-water  and  biscuits  with 
the  baggage;  but  no  refreshment  was  served 
out  to  the  soldiers,  although  the  Europeans 
were  suffering  severely  from  the  sun,  which 
was  shining  right  in  their  faces ;  and  many 
of  them  had  been  drinking  freely  overnight. 
Brigadier    Inglis    does    not    enter    into 
particulars ;  but  only  states  that  the  troops, 
misled   by  the   reports   of  wayfarers    (who 
asserted  that  there  were   few  or   no  men 
between  Lucknow  and  Chinhut), J  proceeded 
somewhat  further  than  had  been  intended, 
and  suddenly  fell  in  with  the  enemy,  who 
had  up  to  that  time  eluded  the  vigilance  of 
the  advanced  guard  by  concealing   them- 
selves behind  a  long  line  of  mango  groves, 
in  overwhelming  numbers.     Chinhut  itself 
was  a  large  village,  situated  in  a  plain,  on 
the  banks  of  a  very  extensive  jheel,  or  lake, 
close    to  which   stands    a    castle,  formerly 
a  favourite  resort  of  the  kings  of  Oude  in 
their   sporting    excursions.     The    camp   of 
the  enemy  lay  to  the  left  of  Chinhut.     The 

I  Another  of  the  annalists  of  the  siege,  observes, 
that  "  iSir  Henry  was  on  the  point  of  returning  to 
the  city  ;  but,  unfortunately,  he  was  persuaded  to 
advance,  as  it  was  said  the  enemy  could  not  be  in 
great  number." — Day  hy  Day  at  Lucknow;  by  the 
widow  of  Colonel  Case,  of  H.M.'s  32nd;  p.  49. 
London ;  Bentley,  1858. 


DISASTROUS  RETREAT  FROM  CHINHUT— JUNE  30th,  1857. 


239 


village  of  Ishmaelpoor,  where  the  action  j 
was  really  fought,  lay  to  the  left  of  the  road 
by  which  the  British  were  advancing,  and 
was  occupied  by  the  enemy's  sharpshooters. 
The  howitzer  was  placed  in  the  middle  of 
the  road,  and  fired  with  much  effect;  but 
the  rebels,  instead  of  retreating,  only 
changed  their  tactics,  and  were  soon  seen 
advancing  in  two  distinct  masses  of  cavalry, 
infantry,  and  artillery,  evidently  intending 
to  outflank  the  British  on  both  sides.  "  The 
European  force  and  the  howitzer,  with  the 
Native  infantry,  held  the  foe  in  check  for 
some  time :  and  had  the  six  guns  of  the 
Oude  artillery  been  faithful,  and  the  Seik 
cavalry  shown  a  better  front,  the  day  would 
have  been  won  in  spite  of  an  immense  dis- 
parity  in  numbers.  But  the  Oude  artillery- 
men and  drivers  were  traitors."*  They 
overturned  the  guns  into  ditches,  cut  the 
traces  of  their  horses,  and  abandoned  them, : 
regardless  of  the  remonstrances  and  ex- 
ertions of  their  own  oificers,  and  of  those  of 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence's  staff,  headed  by  the 
brigadier-general  in  person,  who  himself 
drew  his  sword  upon  these  rebels.  The 
cavahy  were  now  ordered  to  charge.  The 
European  volunteers,  few  of  whom  had  ever 
seen  a  shot  fired,  instantly  obeyed  the  order; 
but  the  Seiks  (numbering  eighty  sabres) 
behaved  shamefully.  Only  two  of  them 
charged  with  the  Europeans;  the  rest  turned 
their  horses'  heads  and  galloped  back  to 
Lucknow.  From  behind  the  loopholed  walls 
of  Ishmaelpoor,  a  deadly  fire  was  poured  forth 
on  the  British.  The  300  men  of  H.M.'s 
32nd  were  ordered  to  clear  the  village. 
They  advanced  boldly  under  their  gallant 
leader.  Colonel  Case;  but  he  was  struck 
to  the  ground  by  a  bullet ;  whereupon  the 
men  suddenly  laid  themselves  down  under 
the  shelter  of  a  small  undulation  in  the 
field,  but  continued  firing  at  the  enemy 
as  fast  as  they  could  load  their  pieces. 

The  order  for  retreat  was  now  given. 
The  European  artillery  limbered  up  and 
went  to  the  rear,  and  Sir  Henry  Lawrence 
ordered  Lieutenant  Bonham  to  retire  with 
the  howitzer.  But  the  elephant  which  was 
to  have  carried  it  was  half  maddened  by 
the  fire;  and  while  the  gunners  were  striving 
to  attach  the  trail  of  the  howitzer  to  its 
carriage,  the  mutineers  were  pressing  on. 
A  bullet  struck  Lieutenant  Bonham,  who 

*  Despatch  of  Brigadier  Inglis.  The  Oude  artil- 
lerymen here  mentioned,  are  not  those  recently 
levied  (see  p.  236),  but  an  old  corps,  the  loyalty 
of  which,  according  to  Kees,  there  had  been  pre- 


was  carried  off  by  his  men,  and  put  upon 
a  limber.  The  howitzer  was  abandoned; 
the  rebels  seized  it,  and,  in  the  course  of 
some  forty-eight  hours,  fired  from  it  the 
shot  that  killed  Sir  Henry  Lawrence.  The 
retreat  had  become  general,  when  Captain 
Bassano,  of  the  32nd  foot,  who  had  been 
searching  for  Colonel  Case,  discovered  that 
officer  lying  wounded,  and  oflfered  to  bring 
some  of  the  men  back  to  carry  him  away. 
"  Leave  me  to  die  here,"  was  the  reply ;  "  I 
have  no  need  of  assistance.  Your  place 
is  at  the  head  of  your  company."f  The 
enemy  were  at  this  time  in  rapid  pursuit ; 
the  Europeans  and  the  sepoy  infantry  kept 
up  a  brisk  fire  as  they  retreated,  and  many 
fell  on  both  sides.  Colonel  Case  was  last 
seen  lying  on  the  roadside  with  his  eyes 
wide  open,  and  his  sword  firmly  grasped,  in 
the  midst  of  the  corpses  of  his  brave  com- 
panions in  arms.J  Lieutenant  Brackenbur}^ 
was  shot  next;  and  Thompson,  the  adjutant, 
was  mortally  wounded.  Captain  Bassano 
was  hit  in  the  foot,  but  succeeded  in  safely 
reaching  the  Residency,  by  the  aid  of  a 
sepoy  of  the  13tli  N.I.,  who  carried  the 
wounded  officer  for  a  considerable  distance 
on  his  back.  Major  Bruere,  also  hurt,  was 
saved  in  a  similar  manner.  There  were  no 
dhoolies  (litters)  for  the  wounded.  At  the  very 
beginning  of  the  action,  several  bearers  had 
been  killed ;  whereupon  all  the  others  fled 
in  dismay,  leaving  the  dhoolies  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.  The  water-carriers  also  had 
run  away ;  and  the  European  infantry  were 
so  exhausted  from  thirst  and  fatigue,  that 
they  could  scarcely  drag  themselves  along; 
and  only  did  so  by  the  aid  of  the  cavalry  volun- 
teers, each  one  of  whom  was  encumbered 
with  two,  three,  and  even  four  foot  soldiers, 
holding  on  by  the  hand  of  the  officer,  or  by 
his  stirrup,  or  by  the  crupper  or  tail  of  his 
horse.  The  infantry  laboured,  moreover, 
under  another  disadvantage.  Their  muskets 
had  been  kept  long  loaded,  and  had  become 
so  foul,  that  it  was  not  possible  to  discharge 
them.  During  the  retreat,  one  of  their 
officers  called  upon  a  private  by  name,  and 
desired  him  to  turn  round  and  fire  upon 
the  enemy.  "  I  will  do  so,  sir,  if  you  wish," 
said  the  man;  "but  its  no  use.  I  have 
already  snapped  six  caps,  and  the  piece 
won't  go  oft"."§  Happily,  the  Native  infantry 
were  better  able  to  endure  the  heat,  and 

vious  ground  for  suspecting.— (Si'e^e  of  Lucknow, 
p.  53. 

t  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  187. 

X  Rees'  Siege,  p.  72.    §  Gubbins'  Mutinies,  p.  180. 


240     NUMBERS  ENGAGED,  &  LIVES  LOST,  AT  CHINHUT— JUNE  30, 1857. 


their  weapons  were  in  good  order.  They 
are  described  as  having  "  behaved,  for  the 
most  part,  in  the  kindest  manner  to  the 
wounded  Europeans ;  taking  up  great  num- 
bers of  them,  and  leaving  their  own 
wounded  uncared-for  on  the  battle-field. 
They  had  been  suspected  of  being  also 
tainted  with  the  general  disaffection,  and 
were,  therefore,  anxious  to  regain  the  es- 
teem and  confidence  of  their  European 
officers.  They  gave,  indeed,  the  most 
striking  proofs  of  their  fidelity  and  loyalty 
on  that  day,  showering  volleys  of  mus- 
ketry and  (native  like)  of  abuse  on  their 
assailants."* 

On  nearing  the  Kookrail  bridge,  a  new 
danger  presented  itself.  The  road  in  front 
was  seen  to  be  occupied  by  a  body  of  the 
rebel  cavalry. f  The  guns  were  unlim- 
bered,  with  the  intention  of  pouring  in  a 
few  rounds  of  grape  on  the  enemy ;  but 
it  was  ascertained  that  not  a  single  round 
of  ammunition  remained.  The  preparatory 
movement,  however,  produced  the  desired 
effect ;  the  enemy  hesitated,  and,  when 
charged  by  Captain  Rattray  and  the  hand- 
ful of  volunteers  under  his  command, 
abandoned  their  position,  and,  ceasing  to 
obstruct  the  road,  contented  themselves 
with  harassing  the  rear  of  the  retreating 
troops,  whom  they  pursued  even  to  the  iron 
bridge  near  the  Residency.  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence  was  seen  in  the  most  exposed 
parts  of  the  field,  riding  about,  giving  direc- 
tions, or  speaking  words  of  encouragement 
amidst  a  terrific  fire  of  grape,  round  shot, 
and  musketry,  which  struck  down  men 
at  every  step.  While  riding  by  his  side. 
Captain  James  was  shot  through  the  thigh. 
Sir  Henry  remained  untouched ;  but  he 
must  have  suffered  as  only  so  good  a  man 
could,  in  witnessing  the  scene  around  him. 
Forgetful  of  himself,  conscious  only  of  the 
danger  and  distress  of  the  troops,  at  the 
moment  of  the  crisis  near  the  Kookrail 
bridge,  when  his  httle  force  appeared  about 
to  be  overwhelmed  by  the  dead  weight 
of  opposing  numbers,  he  wrung  his  hands 
in  agony,  and  exclaimed,  "  My  God,  my 
God  !  and  I  brought  them  to  this  !" 

Perhaps  that  bitter  cry  was  heard  and 

*  Rees'  Siege  of  Lucknow,  p.  78. 

t  According  to  Mr.  Rees,  the  masses  of  rebel 
cavalry  by  which  the  British  were  outflanked  near 
the  Kookrail  bridge,  were  "  apparently  commanded 
by  some  European,  who  was  seen  wavijig  his  sword, 
and  attempting  to  make  his  men  follow  him  and 
dash  at  ours.  He  was  a  handsome-looking  man, 
well-built,  fair,  about  twenty-five  years  of  age,  with 


answered,  uttered  as  it  was  by  the  lips  of 
one  whose  character  for  Christian  excel- 
lence stood  unequalled  among  public  men 
in  India.  At  least,  the  retreat  of  the 
exhausted  force  from  the  Kookrail  bridge 
to  Lucknow,  under  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  case,  is  one  of  the  most  marvellous 
incidents  in  the  insurrection.  On  ap- 
proaching the  suburbs,  the  natives,  men, 
women,  and  children,  rich  and  poor,  crowded 
round  the  weary  and  wounded  fugitives, 
bringing  water  in  cool  porous  vessels,  wliich 
was  thankfully  accepted,  and  greedily  swal- 
lowed. 

The  news  of  the  disaster  had  reached  the 
city  as  early  as  9  a.m.  ;  a  number  of  the 
recreant  Seik  cavalry,  and  artillery  drivers, 
having  crossed  the  iron  bridge  at  that  hour, 
their  horses  covered  with  foam,  and  they 
themselves  terrified,  but  not  one  of  them 
wounded.  The  commissioner  asked  them 
reproachfully  why  they  had  fled.  They 
replied  only,  that  the  enemy  had  surrounded 
them.  Half-an-liour  later,  a  messenger 
who  had  been  sent  to  gain  information, 
returned  to  Lucknow,  bearing  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence's  sword  scabljard,  and  a  mes- 
sage that  he  was  unhurt.  Shortly  after 
the  troops  arrived ;  and  then,  as  the 
wounded  men  lay  faint  and  bleeding  in 
the  porch  of  the  Residency,  the  horrors  of 
war  burst  at  once  on  the  view  of  the 
British  at  Lucknow.  The  banqueting-hall 
was  converted  into  an  hospital ;  and  instead 
of  music  and  merriment,  the  wail  of  the 
widow,  shrieks  wrung  from  brave  strong 
men  by  excruciating  physical  suffering,  and 
the  dull  death-rattle,  were  heard  on  every 
side.  The  total  loss,  on  the  side  of  the 
British,  consisted  of — Europeans,  112  killed, 
and  44  wounded  ;  Natives — nearly  200 
killed  and  missing:  only  eleven  wounded 
returned  to  the  city.  Besides  the  howitzer, 
we  lost  three  field-pieces,  with  almost  all 
the  ammunition  waggons  of  our  native  guns. 
No  estimate  could  be  formed  of  the  loss  of 
the  enemy ;  but  the  total  number  engaged 
was  calculated  at  5,550  infantry,  800  cavalry, 
and  IGO  artillery. J  These  were  the  regi- 
ments which  had  mutinied  at  Fyzabad, 
Seetapoor,    Sultanpoor,    Secrora,    Gondah, 

light  mustachios,  wearing  the  undress  uniform  of  a 
European  cavalry  officer,  with  a  blue  and  gold- 
laced  cap  on  his  head."  Mr.  Rees  suggests  the 
possibility  of  this  personage  being  "  a  Russian  :  one 
suspected  to  be  such  had  been  seized  by  the  autho- 
rities, confined,  and  then  released ;" — or  "  a  renegade 
Christian." — Siege  of  Lucknow,  p.  76. 
X  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  189. 


COMMENCEMENT  OP  SIEGE  OF  LUCKNOW— JUNE  30th,  1857.      241 


I 


Salone,  and  Duriabad.  The  odds  were 
fearful ;  and  the  cause  for  wonder  is,  not 
that  lialf  the  British  band  should  have 
perished,  but  that  any  portion  of  it  should 
have  escaped. 

It  is  probable  that  Sir  Henry  Lawrence 
felt  that  the  expedition  had  been  a  mistake, 
even  independently  of  the  fatal  miscalcula- 
tion of  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  which 
led  him  to  advance  to  Chinhut.  It  had 
been  undertaken  without  due  prepara- 
tion, without  any  settled  plan  of  action ; 
neither  had  any  reserve  been  provided  in 
the  event  of  disaster.  The  European  gar- 
rison, consisting  of  little  above  900  men, 
was  materially  weakened  by  the  result  of 
the  contest ;  and  the  easy  victory  gained 
by  the  rebels,  emboldened  them,  and  ac- 
celerated the  besiegemeut  of  Lucknow. 

The  first  effect  of  the  return  of  the  survi- 
vors was  to  produce  a  death-like  silence 
throughout  the  city;  but  the  stillness  was 
of  brief  duration.  The  foe  followed  close 
on  their  heels,  and  the  terrified  ladies  had 
scarcely  time  to  welcome  back  their  rela- 
tives, or,  like  poor  Mrs.  Case,  to  discover 
their  bereavement,  before  the  whistling  of 
round  shot  was  heard  in  the  air.  Mr. 
Gubbins  went  to  search  for  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence,  and  found  him  laying  a  howitzer 
at  the  Water  gate  (so  called  from  its 
vicinity  to  the  river  Goomtee),  to  com- 
mand the  entrance  to  the  Residency. 

The  siege  of  Lucknow  had,  in  fact,  com- 
menced. The  Europeans  went  on  the  ter- 
races of  their  houses,  and  could  see,  through 
their  telescopes,  masses  of  the  enemy  cross- 
ing the  Goomtee,  at  a  considerable  distance 
below  the  city  (the  guns  on  the  Redan 
commanding  the  iron  bridge);  while  troopers 
of  the  rebel  cavalry  were  already  galloping 
about  the  streets.  The  gaol,  nearly  opposite 
the  Baillie  Guard  gate  of  the  Residency,  was 
left  unwatched.  The  prisoners,  some  of  whom 
on  the  previous  day,  and  even  on  that  very 
morning,  had  been  working  at  the  batteries, 
carrying  beams  and  baskets  of  mud,  were 
soon  seen  making  their  escape,  holding-on 
by  ropes  (which  they  fastened  on  the  barred 
windows),  and  swinging  themselves  down  the 
high  walls.  In  the  course  of  the  afternoon, 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence  dispatched  a  mes- 
senger to  Allahabad,  with  a  brief  notice  of 
what  had  occurred.  "We  have  been  be- 
sieged," he  states,  "  for  four  hours.  Shall 
likely  be  surrounded  to-night.  Enemy 
very  bold,  and  our  Europeans  very  low. 
*    '*     *     We  shall  be  obliged  to  conceu- 

VOL.  II  2  I 


trate  if  we  are  able.  We  shall  have  to 
abandon  much  supplies,  and  blow  up  much 
powder;  unless  we  are  relieved  in  fifteen  or 
twenty  days,  we  shall  hardly  be  able  to 
maintain  our  ground."* 

At  the  opening  of  the  siege,  there  was, 
besides  the  two  main  posts  at  the  Resi- 
dency and  the  Muchee  Bhawn,  a  third  at 
the  Dowlutkhana,  a  spacious  mausoleum 
built  in  honour  of  a  former  King  of  Oude. 
The  4th  and  7th  regiments  of  irregular 
infantry,  and  four  companies  of  the  1st 
irregular  infantry,  had  not  accompanied  the 
force  to  Chinhut,  but  had  remained  at 
their  post,  under  Brigadier  Gray.  No 
reliance  had  been  placed  on  the  fidelity  of 
these  men,  and  the  guns  had  been  pre- 
viously removed  from  their  charge.  No 
surprise  was  therefore  expressed  when,  on 
witnessing  the  return  of  the  defeated  troops, 
the  sepoys  at  the  Dowlutkhana  broke 
out  into  mutiny  with  loud  shouts,  and 
commenced  plundering  the  property  of 
their  oiBcers,  whom,  however,  they  did  not 
attempt  to  injure,  but  suffered  to  retire 
quietly  to  the  Muchee  Bhawn. 

The  Imaumbara — a  building  appropriated 
by  Mohammedans  of  the  Sheiah  sect  to 
the  yearly  celebration  of  the  Mohurrum, 
a  series  of  services  commemorative  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  Imaum  Hussein — was  at 
this  time  filled  with  native  police,  who  soon 
followed  the  example  set  them  by  the 
irregulars  in  joining  the  mutiny.  The  kot- 
wal  fled,  and  hid  himself;  but  being  dis- 
covered by  the  enemy,  was  seized,  and 
eventually  put  to  death. 

The  investment  at  once  prevented  the 
continuance  of  communication  by  letter 
between  the  Residency  and  the  Muchee 
Bhawn ;  at  least  the  commissioner  could 
find  no  means  of  conveying  despatches 
from  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  to  Colonel 
Palmer,  the  commanding  officer  at  the  lat- 
ter position ;  but  Colonel  Palmer  managed 
to  send  intelligence  to  the  Residency, 
that  he  was  ill  supplied  with  food,  and 
even  gun  ammunition,  shot,  and  shell. 
The  total  force  available  for  defence  had, 
moreover,  been  so  reduced  by  the  Chinhut 
affair,  that  there  was  barely  sufficient  to 
garrison  the  extended  Residency  position, 
in  which  it  was  now  resolved  to  concen- 
trate the  troops.  Telegraphic  communi- 
cation   had    been    previously    established, 

•  Telegraphic  despatch  from  commanding  officer 
at  Allahabad,  to  governor-general,  July  10th,  1857. 
—Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857 ;  p.  1 10. 


242        EVACUATION  OP  THE  MUCHEE  BHAWN— JULY  1st,  1857. 


by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  between  the  two 
posts;  and,  on  the  evening  of  the  1st  of 
July,  he  took  this  means  of  ordering  the 
evacuation  of  the  Muchee  Bhawn.  Cap- 
tain Fulton  (of  the  engineers),  another  offi- 
cer, and  a  civilian,  Mr.  G.  H.  Lawrence 
(nephew  of  Sir  Henry),  ascended  to  the  roof 
to  perforin  this  hazardous  service.  The 
machine  was  out  of  order,  and  had  to  be 
taken  down  and  repaired— the  three  Euro- 
peans being  all  the  time  a  mark  for  the 
bullets  of  the  enemy ;  and  having  no  other 
shield  than  the  ornamental  balustrade,  in  the 
Italian  style,  which  sun-ounded  the  roof. 
But  they  accomplished  their  work  surely 
and  safely,  each  letter  of  the  telegram 
being  signalled  in  return  by  Colonel 
Palmer.  The  words  were  few,  but  weighty. 
"  Spike  the  guns  well,  blow  up  the  fort, 
and  retire  at  midnight." 

Much  anxiety  was  felt  about  the  success 
of  the  movement  by  those  who  knew  what 
was  intended;  and  those  who  did  not, 
were  for  the  most  part  panic-struck  by  the 
suddenness  of  the  calamity  which  had  be- 
fallen them.  The  "omlah,"  or  writers, 
who  resided  in  the  city;  the  chuprassies,*  or 
civil  orderlies,  and  the  workpeople  engaged 
in  the  yet  unfinished  batteries,  took  to 
flight ;  and  everything  outside  the  intrench- 
ments  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  On 
the  first  day  of  the  siege,  musketry  alone 
was  fired  by  the  rebel  army ;  but,  on  the 
second,  they  had  succeeded  in  placing  their 
cannon  in  position,  and  took  aim  with  pre- 
cision and  effect. 

The  Residency  was  the  chief  point  of 
attack,  both  from  its  high  position  and  as 
the  head-quarters  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence. 
Events  proved  that  the  rebels  were  per- 
fectly acquainted  with  all  the  different 
apartments,  their  occupants,  and  uses,  and 
directed  their  fire  accordingly.  The  build- 
ing was  very  extensive,  and  solidly  built, 
with  lofty  rooms,  fine  verandahs,  and  spa- 
cious porticoes.  The  tyekhana,  or  under- 
ground rooms,  designed  to  shelter  the 
families  of  British  residents  at  Lucknow 
from  the  heat  of  the  sun,  now  served  to 
shield  a  helpless  crowd  of  women  and 
children  from  a  more  deadly  fire.  Sky- 
lights and  cellar  windows,  contrived  with 
all  care,  made  these  chambers  the  most 
commodious  in  the  Residency,  as  well  as 

•  Chuprassies— io  called  from  the  chuprass  or 
badge  on  their  breasts,  generally  consisting  of  a 
broad  plate  of  brass  hanging  from  a  handsome 
shoulder-belt.     They  are  employed  in  carrying  mes- 


the  only  safe  ones.     Indeed,  in  every  other 
part,  no  building  could  have  been  less  cal- 
culated   for    purposes    of    defence.      The 
numberless  lofty  windows  in  its  two  upper 
stories  offered  unopposed  entrance  to  the 
missiles    of    the    foe.      Colonel    Palmer's 
daughter,  a  girl  of  about  seventeen,  engaged  . 
in  marriage  to  a  young  officer,  was  sitting  in 
one  of  the  higher  rooms  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  1st,  when  a  round  shot  struck  her, 
and  nearly  carried  off  her  leg.     Amputation 
was  immediately  had  recourse  to;  but,  on 
the  following  day,  the  poor  girl  died,  as  did 
every  other  patient  on  whom  a  similar  opera- 
tion was  performed  during  the  entire  siege. f 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence  had  a  narrow  escape  at 
nearly  the  same  time.     He  occupied  a  room 
on  the  first  story  of  the  most  exposed  angle 
of  the  Residency.     While  engaged  writing 
with  his  secretary,  Mr.  Couper,  an  8-inch 
shell   fell    and    burst   close   to    both    gen- 
tlemen, but  injured  neither.     The  whole  of 
the  staff  entreated  Sir  Henry  to  leave  the 
Residency,  or  at  least  to  choose  a  different 
chamber;   but  he  refused,   observing  that 
another    shell    would    certainly   never   be 
pitched   into   that  small   room.     He   then 
resumed  his  anxious  round  of  duty,  visiting 
every  post,   however  exposed   its   position, 
however  hot  the  fire  directed  against  it  :J 
and   taking   precautious    to    facilitate   the 
evacuation  of  the  Muchee  Bhawn,  on  which 
fortress  the  enemy  had  already  opened  a 
cannonade.     Towards  night,  however,  the 
firing  ceased ;  and  the  enemy,  believing  the 
ancient  stronghold  to  be  weil-nigh  impreg- 
nable,  had   no   idea    of    the   necessity    of 
blockading  its  garrison.     The  ruse  of  Sir 
Henry,  in  directing  the  batteries   of  the 
Residency  to  open  fire  shortly  after  mid- 
night, was  therefore  completely  successful. 
The  guns  of  the  Redan  cleared  the  iron 
bridge  of  all  intruders.     The  arrangements 
for  the  march  had  been  admirably  made  by 
Colonel  Palmer,  and  were  as  ably  carried 
through  by  the  subordinate  ofiBcers,   who 
were  furnished  with  written  orders.     The 
force,  comprising  (according  to  Mr.  Gub- 
bins)  225  Europeans,§  moved  out  noiselessly 
at   midnight,   carrying   their    treasure   and 
two  or  more  9-pouuder  guns  with  them, 
and,  in  fifteen  minutes,  traversed  the  three- 
quarters    of   a   mile   which    separated   the 
Muchee  Bhawn  from  the  Residency,  without 

sages,  and  in  general  out-door  work. — (Russell), 
t  Memoir  of  Rev.  H.  S.  Polehampton ;  p  337. 
X  Rees'  Siege  of  Lucknoiv,  p.  115. 
§  Further  Pari.  Papers,  p.  75. 


DEATH  OF  SIR  HENRY  LAWRENCE— JULY  4th,  1857. 


243 


I 


having  had  a  shot  fired  at  them.*  The 
train  for  the  destruction  of  the  fort  had 
been  laid  by  Lieutenant  Thomas,  of  the 
Madras  artillery :  by  his  calculations  the 
explosion  was  to  take  place  half-au-hour 
after  the  departure  of  the  garrison.  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  and  the  officers  stood 
waiting  the  event.  At  the  appointed  time  a 
blaze  of  fire  shot  up  to  the  sky,  followed  by 
a  loud  report,  which  announced  the  de- 
struction of  240  barrels  of  gunpowder,  and 
6,000,000  ball  cartridges,  together  with  the 
complete  dismantlement  of  the  fortress. f 
Many  lacs  of  percussion-caps,  and  250 
boxes  of  small-arm  ammunition,  were  sacri- 
ficed at  the  same  time,  together  with  a 
considerable  amount  of  public  stores,  and 
much  private  property. 

Still  the  measure  was,  beyond  all  question, 
a  wise  one ;  and  the  spirits  of  the  garrison 
rose  immediately  at  the  accession  of  strength 
gained  by  the  safe  arrival  of  their  country- 
men. Very  different  to  this  easy  entrance 
to  the  Residency,  was  the  "  Strait  of  Fire" 
through  which  the  next  British  reinforce- 
ment had  to  run  the  gauntlet.  Meanwhile 
a  heavy  trial  was  at  hand.  After  welcom- 
ing the  troops  from  the  Muchee  Bhawn, 
Sir  Henry  retired  to  rest  in  the  same  small 
chamber  he  had  been  vainly  entreated  to 
leave.  Tlie  next  morning,  at  half-past  eight, 
he  was  sitting  on  liis  bed,  listening  to  some 
papers  read  aloud  by  Captain  Wilson,  the 
deputy  assistant-coramissary-general,  when 
another  8-inch  shell  entered  by  the  window, 
and,  bursting  in  the  room,  a  large  piece 
slightly  injured  Captain  Wilson,  but  struck 
Sir  Henry  with  such  force  as  nearly  to 
separate  his  left  leg  from  the  thigh.  He 
was  immediately  brought  over  to  the  house 
of  Dr.  Fayrer,  the  Residency  surgeon  ;J 
which  was  less  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire  : 
but  the  removal  appeared  to  be  speedily 
discovered  by  the  lynx-eyed  rebels,  and 
Fayrer's  house  became  the  target  for  their 
marksmen.     The  nature  of  the  wound,  and 

•  One  man,  however,  was  left  behind,  dead  drunk. 
He  remained  during  the  explosion — was  thrown  into 
the  air — fell  asleep  again,  and,  on  awaking  next 
morning,  found  himself  amid  a  heap  of  deserted 
ruins ;  whereupon  he  proceeded  quietly  to  the  Resi- 
dency, taking  with  him  a  cart  of  ammunition,  drawn 
by  two  bullocks,  and  astonished  the  soldiers  by  call- 
ing out,  "  Arrah !  open  your  gates."  Rees,  who  nar- 
rates this  anecdote,  quotes  the  French  proverb, 
"  II  y'a  un  l)ieu  pour  les  ivrognea  ;"  and  suggests, 
that  the  serious  injury  to  the  adjacent  houses,  and 
probable  destruction  Qf  many  of  the  rebels  stationed 
near  the  Muchee  Bhawn,  may  account  for  so  extra- 
ordinary an  escape. — Siege  of  Lucknow,  p.  121. 


the  attenuated  condition  of  the  sufferer, 
forbade  any  attempt  at  amputation ;  but  it 
was  necessary  to  stay  the  bleeding  by  ap- 
plying the  tourniquet ;  and  the  agony  thus 
occasioned  was  fearful  to  behold.  The 
chief  persons  of  the  garrison,  civil  and 
military,  stood  round  their  gallant  chief. 
Heedless  of  the  sound  of  the  bullets  striking 
against  the  verandah,  and  of  their  own 
imminent  danger,  they  thought  only  of 
the  scene  before  them ;  and,  in  the  words 
of  one  of  them,  found  it  "impossible  to 
avoid  sobbing  like  a  child."  § 

Notwithstanding  his  extreme  pain.  Sir 
Henry  was  perfectly  sensible,  and  charac- 
teristically unselfish.  He  appointed  Briga- 
dier Inglis  to  succeed  him  in  command  of 
the  troops,  and  Major  Banks  in  the  office 
of  chief  commissioner.  He  specially  en- 
joined those  around  him  to  be  careful  of 
the  ammunition  ;  and  often  repeated,  "Save 
the  ladies."  He  earnestly  entreated  that 
the  aid  of  government  should  be  solicited 
for  the  Hill  Asylums,  established  by  him 
for  the  education  of  the  children  of  sol- 
diers, and  to  the  support  of  which,  he  had, 
by  the  most  systematic  self-denial,  contri- 
buted at  least  £1,000  a-year  from  his 
official  income :  he  had  no  other.  He 
bade  farewell  to  the  gentlemen  round  him, 
pointed  out  the  worthlessness  of  human 
distinctions,  and  recommended  all  to  fix 
their  thoughts  upon  a  better  world.  Then 
turning  to  his  nephew,  who,  he  said,  had 
been  as  a  son  to  him,|l  he  sent  mes- 
sages to  his  children,  and  to  each  of  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  tenderly  alluded 
to  the  beloved  wife,^  dead  some  four  years 
before,  who  had  so  cordially  seconded  all 
his  schemes  of  public  and  private  usefulness. 
He  lingered  till  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  the  4th,  and  then  his  paroxysms  of  anguish 
terminated  in  a  peaceful,  painless  death. 
His  last  request  was,  that  the  inscription 
upon  his  tomb  should  be  simply  this — 
"  Here  lies  Henry  Lawrence,  who  tried  to 

t  Brigadier  Inglis's  despatch,  Sept.  26th,  1857. 
It  is  asserted,  that  the  destruction  thus  occasioned 
was  much  overrated. 

X  Brother  to  the  volunteer  of  the  same  name, 
killed  with  Captain  Fletcher  Hayes.     See  p.  193; 

§  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  199. 

II  Mrs.  Harris's  Siege  of  Lucknow,  p.  77. 

^  "The  late  Lady  Lawrence  shared  all  his  be- 
nevolence and  all  his  genius.  His  article  in  the 
Calcutta  Review,  on  '  Woman ,  in  India,'  is  descrip- 
tive of  her  character;  and  the  large  subscription 
that  was  raised  for  the  Lawrence  Asylum  after 
her  death,  was  the  best  tribute  to  her  worth." — 
Friend  of  India,  July,  1857. 


244 


SIR  HENRY  LAWRENCE  A  CHRISTIAN  HERO. 


do  his  duty.     May  the  Lord  have  mercy 
on  his  soul  !"* 

The  words  are  very  touching,  when  con- 
sidered as  the  utterance  of  the  man  who 
will  go  down  to  posterity  as  the  pacificator 
of  the  Punjabjt  and  to  whose  prudence, 
energy,  and  foresight,  despite  the  disaster 
at  Chinhut,  the  gallant  survivors  of  the 
Lucknow  garrison  consider  their  success 
mainly  attributable.J  Indeed  (in  the  em- 
phatic words  of  Brigadier  Inglis),  but  for 
the  foresight  and  precautions  of  Henry 
Lawrence,  every  European  in  Lucknow 
might  have  slept  in  a  bloody  shroud. 

Half-an-hour  before  Sir  Henry's  death, his 
nephew  was  shot  through  the  shoulder,  in 
the  verandah.  Mrs.  Harris,  the  wife  of  the 
Residency  chjiplaiu,  writes  in  her  diary — "  I 
have  been  nursing  him  to-day,  poor  fellow  ! 
It  was  so  sad  to  see  him  lying  there  in  the 
room  with  his  uncle's  body;  looking  so  pale, 
and  suffering."  In  the  course  of  a  few  hours 
it  became  necessary  to  remove  the  corpse ; 
and  one  of  the  soldiers  called  in  for  the 
purpose,  lifting  the  sheet  from  the  face, , 
bent  over  and  kissed  it  reverently.  No 
military  honours  marked  the  funeral.  A  | 
hurried  prayer  was  read  amidst  the  booming 
of  cannon  and  the  fire  of  musketry ;  and  ^ 
the  remains  of  the  good  and  great  man 
were  lowered  into  a  pit,  with  several  other 
lowlier  companions  in  arras. 

The  death  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  was 
kept   secret  for  many  days:  he  was  even 

*  See  descriptive  letterpress,  by  Mr.  Couper  (Sir 
Henry  Lawrence's  secretary),  to  Lieutenant  Clifford 
H.  Mecham's  charming  Sketches  of  Lucknow. 

t  "  What  the  memory  of  Tod  is  in  Kajast'han — 
what  Macpherson  was  to  the  Khonds,  Outram  to  the 
Bheels,  Napier  to  the  Beloochees — that,  and  more, 
was  Henry  Lawrence  to  the  fierce  and  haughty 
Seiks." — Westminster  Review,  October,  1868. 
X  See  Gubbins,  Rees,  Polehampton,  Case,  &c. 
§  Brigadier  Inglis's  despatch,  Sept.  26lh,  1857. 
II  There  is  not,  I  am  sure,  an  Englishman  in 
India  who  does  not  regard  tlie  loss  of  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence,  in  the  present  circumstances  of  the 
■country,  as  one  of  the  heaviest  of  public  calamities. 
There  is  not,  I  believe,  a  native  of  the  provinces 
where  he  has  held  authority,  who  will  not  remem- 
ber his  name  as  that  of  a  friend  and  generous  bene- 
factor to  the  races  of  India." — [Lord  Canning  to  the 
Court  of  Directors,  Sept.  8th,  1857].  Lord  Stanley, 
too,  has  borne  high  testimony  to  the  rare  merits  of 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence.  At  a  meeting  held  to  pro- 
mote the  endowment  of  the  schools  founded  by  him 
for  the  education  of  soldiers'  children  at  Kussowlie 
and  Mount  Aboo— the  "  two  elder  daughters,"  whose 
permanent  establishment  had  been  one  main  reason 
for  his  prolonged  abode  in  India— Lord  Stanley 
«aid — "  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  rose  to  eminence  step 
by  step,  not  by  favour  of  any  man,  certainlv  no* 


reported  to  be  recovering ;  but,  at  last,  the 
truth  could  no  longer  be  concealed;  and 
the  tidings  were  "  received  throughout  the 
garrison  with  feelings  of  consternation  only 
second  to  the  grief  which  was  inspired  in 
the  hearts  of  all,  by  the  loss  of  a  public 
benefactor  and  a  warm  personal  friend."§ 

A  well-known  Indian  journal  (the  Friend 
of  India)  writes — "  The  commissioner  of 
Oude  died,  not  before  he  had  breathed  into 
his  little  garrison  somewhat  of  his  own 
heroic  spirit.  Great  actions  are  contagious, 
and  gladly  would  they  have  died  for  him ; 
but  it  was  not  so  to  be ;  henceforth  they 
will  live  only  for  vengeance."  The  English 
at  Lucknow  happily  understood  the  spirit  of 
their  beloved  cliief  much  better.  They  had 
recognised  in  him  a  Christian,  not  an  \ 
Homeric  hero;  and  the  pursuit  of  ven- 
geance, "the  real  divinity  of  the  Iliad," 
was,  they  well  knew,  utterly  incompatible 
with  the  forgiving  spirit  which  Sir  Henry 
uniformly  advocated  as  the  very  essence  of 
vital  Christianity.  In  fact,  his  true  voca- 
tion was  that  of  a  lawgiver  and  an  adminis- 
trator, not  a  subjugator ;  his  talent  lay  in 
preventing  revolt,  rather  than  in  crushing  it 
with  the  iron  heel  of  the  destroyer.  Lord 
Canningll  showed  considerable  appreciation 
of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  when  he  dwelt 
on  his  loss  as  one  which  equally  aff'ected 
the  Europeans  and  natives.  This  was  true 
when  it  was  written,  in  the  very  height  of 
the  struggle ;  but  it  is  more  striking  now, 

by  subserviency  either  to  ruling  authorities  or  to 
popular  ideas,  but  simply  by  the  operation  of  that 
natural  law  which  in  troubled  times  brings  the 
strongest  mind,  be  it  where  it  may,  to  the  post  of 
highest  command.  I  knew  Sir  H.  Lawrence  six 
years  ago.  Travelling  in  the  Punjab,  I  passed  a 
month  in  his  camp,  and  it  then  seemed  to  me,  as  it 
does  now,  that  his  personal  character  was  far  above 
his  career,  eminent  as  that  career  has  been.  If  he 
had  died  a  private  and  undistinguished  person,  the 
impress  of  his  mind  would  still  have  been  left  on  all 
those  who  came  personally  into  contact  with  him.  I 
thought  him,  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  sagacious  and 
far-seeing  in  matters  of  policy;  and  I  had  daily  op- 
portunity of  witnessing,  even  under  all  the  disad- 
vantages of  a  long  and  rapid  journey,  his  constant 
assiduity  in  the  dispatch  of  business.  But  it  was 
not  the  intellectual  qualities  of  the  man  which  made 
upon  me  the  deepest  impression.  There  was  in  him 
a  rare  union  of  determined  purpose,  of  moral  as  well 
as  physical  courage,  with  a  singular  frankness  and  a 
courtesy  of  demeanour  which  was  something  more 
than  we  call  courtesy;  for  it  belonged  not  to  man- 
ners, but  to  mind — a  courtesy  shown  equally  to 
Europeans  and  natives.  Once  know  him,  and  you 
"could  not  imagine  him  giving  utterance  to  any  senti- 
ment which  was  harsh,  or  petty,  or  self-seeking." — 
Times,  Feb.  8th,  1858. 


\\ 


THE  MILITARY  STATION  OF  CAWNPOOR. 


245 


when  every  one  capable  of  looking  below 
the  surface,  feels  that  the  worst  effect  of 
the  mutiny  is  the  breach  which  it  has  so 
fearfully   widened  between  the   two  races. 


Avengers  and  subjugators  have  done  their 
work :  we  want  peace-makers  now ;  but 
where  can  we  look  for  such  an  one  as 
Henry  Lawrence  ? 


CHAPTER    XL 

CAWNPOOR.— MAY  16th  TO  JUNE  27th,  1867. 


Cawnpoor  was  selected  by  the  East  India 
Company,  in  1775,  as  the  station  of  the 
subsidiary  troops,  to  be  maintained  for 
the  use  of  the  government  of  Gude.  In 
1801,  the  district  and  city  of  the  same  name, 
with  other  territory,  amounting  to  half  the 
kingdom,  was  ceded  to  the  Company,  under 
the  circumstances  already  narrated.* 

Cawnpoor  is  not  a  place  of  ancient  historic 
interest.  The  district  had  formerly  an  ill 
name,  as  the  abode  of  Thugs  and  Phansigars, 
especially  the  western  portion  of  it,  where 
great  numbers  of  murderous  bands  were 
said  to  have  resided,  ostensibly  engaged  in 
cultivating  small  spots  of  land,  though,  in 
fact,  supported  by  the  more  lucrative  pro- 
fession of  Thuggee.f  These  gangs  had, 
however,  been  completely  broken  up,  and 
the  district  freed  from  their  hateful  ope- 
rations. The  city  appears  to  be  of  modern 
origin :  there  is  no  mention  of  it  in  the 
Ayeen  Akbery  (drawn  up  by  Abul  Fazil, 
towards  the  close  of  the  16th  century) ;  and 
its  name — half  Mohammedan,  half  Hindoo 
[Caion,  or  Khan,  lord;  and  j90or,  town),| 
speaks  its  mixed  character.  The  native 
town  contained,  before  the  mutiny,  about 
59,000  inhabitants ;  and  the  population  of 
the  cantonments,  exclusive  of  the  militaiy, 
is  stated  by  Thornton  at  49,975,  giving  a 
total  of  108,975.  The  cantonments  extend, 
in  a  semicircle,  for  nearly  five  miles  along 
the  right  bank  of  the  Ganges;  the  bunga- 
lows of  the  officers  and  residents  being 
situated  in  richly-planted  compounds  or 
inclosures,  and  having  the  most  productive 
gardens  in  India;  grapes,  peaches,  man- 
goes, shaddocks,  plantains,  melons,  oranges, 
limes,  guavas,  and  custard  apples,  growing 
there   in    perfection,    together   with    most 

•  See  Introductory  Chapter,  page  60. 
■f  Sherwood  on  Phansigars. — Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  xiii.,  p.  290. 


European  vegetables.  Assembly-rooms,  a 
theatre,  and  a  race-course  were  early  erected 
by  the  Europeans;  and,  about  eighteen 
years  ago,  a  church  was  raised  by  the  joint 
means  of  a  private  subscription  and  a  gov- 
ernment grant  of  money  and  land. 

The  most  attractive  feature  in  Cawnpoor 
is  its  ghaut,  or  landing-place,  the  traffic 
being  very  great.  The  Ganges,  here  a  mile 
broad,  is  navigable  down  to  the  sea  a  dis- 
tance of  above  1,000  miles,  and  upwards  to 
Sukertal,  a  distance  of  300  miles.  Nume- 
rous and  strange  descriptions  of  vessels  are 
to  be  seen  collected  along  the  banks ;  and 
the  craft,  fastened  to  the  shore,  are  so  clo.sely 
packed  that  they  appear  like  one  mass, 
and,  from  their  thatched  roofs  and  low 
entrances,  might  easily  pass  for  a  floating 
village. 

Many  an  English  lady,  during  the  last 
half  century,  has  stood  at  the  ghaut,  with 
her  ayah  and  young  children  by  her  side, 
watching  the  ferry-boat  plying  across  the 
stream,  with  its  motley  collection  of  pas- 
sengers— travellers,  merchants,  and  fakirs, 
camels,  bullocks,  and  liorses  all  crowded 
together ;  and  may  have  turned  away  from 
the  stately  Ganges  with  a  sigh,  perhaps,  for 
far-distant  England,  but  still  without  so 
much  as  a  passing  doubt  of  personal  safety 
in  the  luxurious  abodes,  where  crowds  of 
natives  waited  in  readiness  to  minister  to 
the  comfort  of  the  privileged  "  governing 
race."  The  evidences  of  disaffection  at 
Barrack  poor  and  elsewhere,  appear  to  have 
had  little  or  no  effect  in  awakening  a  sense 
of  danger;  and  at  the  time  when  the  Meerut 
catastrophe  became  known  at  Cawnpoor, 
the  latter  station  was  unusually  thronged 
with  ladies,  who  had  come  thither  for  the 

X  Hamilton's  Gazeiieer.  Thornton,  however,  states, 
on  the  authority  of  Tod,  that  Cawn  is  a  corruption 
of  Kanh,  a  name  of  Crishoa. 


246 


CAWNPOOR— MAY  16th  to  21st,  1857. 


purpose  of  being  present  at  the  balls  given 
by  the  officers  during  the  preceding  month. 

Tidings  of  the  Meerut  massacre  were  cir- 
culated at  Cawnpoor  on  the  16th  of  May, 
and  created  a  great  sensation  in  the  canton- 
ments, where  the  greased  cartridge  question 
had  already  been  discussed.  The  officer  in 
command,  Sir  Hugh  Massey  Wheeler,  was 
one  of  the  most  experienced  and  popular 
generals  in  the  Company's  service.  He  had 
spent  nearly  fifty-four  years  in  India  as  a 
sepoy  commander,  and  he  had  married  an 
Indian  lady.  He  had  led  Bengal  troops, 
under  Lord  Lake,  against  their  own  coun- 
trymen; and  they  had  followed  him  to 
Afghanistan,  to  oppose  foreigners.  In  both 
the  Seik  campaigns,  Wheeler  and  his  sepoys 
had  been  conspicuous :  in  the  second,  he 
held  a  separate  command.  Lord  Gough 
had  esteemed  him  highly  as  an  active  and 
energetic  officer,  singularly  fertile  in  re- 
sources. His  despatches  prove  that  he  was 
fully  alive  to  the  probability  of  mutiny 
among  the  troops,  and  took  his  precautions 
accordingly ;  but  he  had  not  calculated  on 
insurrection  among  the  people,  or  on  the 
defalcation,  much  less  the  treachery,  of  a 
neighbouring  chief,  in  reliance  on  whose 
good  faith  he  prepared  to  meet,  and  hoped 
to  weather,  the  approaching  storm.  It 
has  been  affirmed,  and  not  without  cause, 
with  respect  to  the  proceedings  at  Cawnpoor, 
that  "  if  the  dispossessed  princes  and  people 
of  the  land,  farmers,  yillagers,  and  ryots,  had 
not  made  common  cause  with  the  sepoys, 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  but  a 
portion  of  the  force  would  have  revolted : 
the  certainty  exists,  that  not  a  single  officer 
would  have  been  injured."* 

The  troops  at  Cawnpoor,  at  the  time  of 
the  outbreak  at  Meerut,  consisted  of — 

The  1st,  53rd,  and  56th  Irf.l.—Huropeans,  46; 
Natives,  2,924.  The  second  light  cavahy  regiment 
— Europeans,  21 ;  Natives,  526.  Three  companies 
ot  artWlety—Huropeans,  88;  Natives,  152.  A  de- 
tachment of  H.M.  84th  foot  (100  men),  including 
those  in  hospital.f 

On  the  16th  of  May,  an  incendiary  fire 
occurred  in  the  lines  of  the  1st  N.I.,  and  the 
artillery  were  moved  up  to  the  European 
barracks.  On  the  18th,  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler 
telegraphed  to  Calcutta  that  considerable 
excitement  was  visible  at  Cawnpoor.J     The 

•  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army  ;  by  One  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier  ;  p.  126. 

t  Parliamentary  Kttuni,  February  9th,  1858  ;  p.  3. 

t  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny  (1857), 
P-  199-  §  Ibid.,  p.  202. 


next  day  he  was  desired,  by  the  Supreme 
government,  to  begin  immediately  to  make 
all  preparations  for  the  accommodation  of  a 
European  force,  and  to  let  it  be  known  that 
he  was  doing  so.§  This  message  led  General 
Wheeler  to  believe  that  considerable  detach- 
ments were  on  their  road  from  Calcutta ; 
and  finding  the  agitation  around  him 
rapidly  increasing,  he  dispatched  a  requisi- 
tion to  Lucknow,  for  a  company  of  H.M. 
32nd  to  be  stationed  at  Cawnpoor,  pending 
the  arrival  of  the  promised  reinforcement. 

On  the  night  of  the  20th,  the  cavalry  sent 
emissaries  to  the  infantry  lines,  asking  the 
three    regiments   to   stand   by   them,    and 
asserting  that  the  Europeans  were  about  to 
take  away  their  horses  and  accoutrements;  in 
fact,  to  disarm  and  disband  them — a  course 
which  the  Europeans  had  no  immediate  op- 
portunity of  adopting,  being  few  in  num- 
ber, and  heavily  encumbered  with  women 
and  children.    A  struggle  seemed  inevitable : 
uproar   and  confusion    prevailed    through- 
out the  21st  of  May;  and  General  Wheeler 
placed  the  guns  in  position,  and  prepared 
for   the  worst.     The   men  were  addressed 
and   reasoned  with,   through  the   medium 
of   the    Native    officers.      They    listened, 
seemed  convinced,    and   retired  quietly  to 
their   lines   at   about   half-past   seven.      A 
few  hours   later,  fifty-five   of  H-M.   32nd, 
and  240  Oude  troopers,  arrived  from  Luck- 
now.     General  Wheeler,  after  acquainting 
the  Supreme    government  with  the  above 
particulars,    adds — "This    morning    {22nd) 
two  guns,  and  about  300  men  of  all  arms, 
were    brought    in    by    the   Maharajah    of 
Bithoor.     Being  Mahrattas,   they  are  not 
likely  to  coalesce  with  the  others.     Once  the 
Europeans  from  Calcutta  arrived,  I  should 
hope  that  all  would  be  beyond  danger.     I 
have   the    most   coraial    co-operation  from 
Mr.  Hillersdon,  the  magistrate.     At  present 
things  appear  quiet;  but  it  is  impossible  to 
say  what  a  moment  may  bring  forth." || 

The  temper  of  the  reinforcement  of 
Oude  irregulars  was  not  deemed  satisfac- 
tory ;  and  after  they  had  been  some  days 
at  Cawnpoor,  they  were  dispatched  on  the 
expedition  which  issued  in  their  mutinying 
and  murdering  Captain  Hayes  and  two 
other  Europeans.^  Lieutenant  Ashe  was 
sent  by  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  a  day  or  two 

II  Telegram,  May  22nd.— Appendix,  p.  310. 

51  Captain  Hayes  had  a  wife  and  five  children  at 
Lucknow.  Mrs.  Barbor,  who  had  been  three  months 
married,  was  also  there. — Polehampton's  Letters, 
p.  274. 


DEFENCELESS  STATE  OF  CAWNPOOR— MAY,  1857. 


247 


after  the  departure  of  the  Oude  irregulars, 
to  join  them  with  a  half-battery  of  Oude 
horse  artillery.  A  few  marches  from  the 
station  he  met  some  Seiks  of  the  irregulars, 
who  had  abandoned  their  mutinous  com- 
rades ;  and  they  marched  to  Cawnpoor  with 
Lieutenant  Ashe  and  the  guns.* 

The  presence  of  the  Mahrattas  did  not 
exercise  any  beneficial  effect.  Rumours 
were  circulated  that  the  polluting  car- 
tridges were  to  be  served  out  on  the  23rd, 
and  that  the  artillery  were  to  act  against  all 
who  refused  them.  Much  excitement  was 
manifested ;  and,  on  the  24th  of  May  (the 
Queen's  birthday),  it  was  deemed  advisable 
to  omit  the  usual  salute. 

On  the  27th,  General  Wheeler  writes — 
"All  quiet;  but  I  feel  by  no  means  confi- 
dent it  will  continue  so.  The  civil  and  mili- 
tary depending  entirely  upon  me  for  advice 
and  assistance  just  now,  I  regret  I  cannot 
find  time  at  present  to  compile  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  late  occurrences  in  my  division."t 

On  the  1st  of  June,  he  mentions  that 
Enfield  rifle  ammunition  had  been  detained 
in  the  Cawnpoor  magazine,  and  would  just 
do  for  the  Madras  Fusiliers. J  This  cir- 
cumstance would  not  escape  the  distrustful 
and  observant  sepoys. 

On  the  following  day,  two  companies  of 
H.M.  84th  arrived  from  Allahabad;  but, 
on  the  morning  of  the  3rd,  General  Wheeler, 
having  heard  of  the  uneasiness  which  pre- 
vailed at  Lucknow,  gave  orders  for  one  com- 
pany of  the  84th,  made  up  to  its  full  strength, 
together  with  tiie  company  of  the  32nd,  to 
march  thither,  retaining,  for  the  defence  of 
Cawnpoor,  204  Europeans — consisting  of 
60  men  of  the  84th  regiment,  15  of  the  1st 
Madras  Fusiliers  (armed  with  the  Enfield 
rifle),  70  H.M.  32nd,  invalids  and  sick,  and 
59  artillerymen,  with  six  guns.§ 

The  position  now  taken  by  Sir  Hugh 
Wheeler  can  only  be  accounted  for  in  one 
way.  It  is  believed,  that  no  officer  of  his 
known  ability  would  have  made  the  selec- 
tion he  did,  except  under  the  conviction 
that  the  Native  troops,  though  they  might 
desert,  would  not  attack  him.|| 

In  this  view  of  the  case,  it  followed, 
that  in  looking  round  the  overgrown  can- 
tonments for  a  place  of  shelter  for  the  resi- 
dents, convenient  quarters  for  a  temporary 

*  These  Seiks  were  immediately  dismissed  by 
General  Wheeler. — Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  7), 
p.  130. 

t  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1857; 
p.  326.  X  I''i<i->  P-  351. 


refuge  were  desired,  rather  than  such  as 
would  best  stand  a  siege.  Had  the  latter 
necessity  been  contemplated,  the  magazine 
would,  in  the  absence  of  a  fort,  have  been 
best  qualified  for  defence,  being  a  very  large 
building,  surrounded  by  a  high  masonry 
wall,  aud  well  supplied  with  every  muniment 
of  war.  But  then  it  was  situated  seven 
miles  from  the  new  native  lines,  close  to  the 
gaol,  and  on  the  Delhi  road.  To  have  con- 
centrated the  Europeans  there,  would  have 
been  to  abandon  all  prospect  of  peaceable 
disarmament,  which  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler 
might  have  reasonably  expected  to  accom- 
plish by  the  aid  of  the  European  troops, 
whose  arrival  he  anxiously  expected,  part 
of  whom  were  stopped  on  the  way  by  the 
mutiny  at  Allahabad,  and  the  remainder 
are  alleged  to  have  been  needlessly  de- 
layed at  Calcutta  by  the  tardj',  shiftless 
proceedings  of  the  Supreme  government. 
He  therefore  fixed  on  two  long  barracks, 
standing  in  the  centre  of  an  extensive 
plain  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  station; 
and,  unhappily,  commanded  on  all  sides. 
The  depot  of  the  32ud,  consisting  of  the 
sick,  invalids,  women  and  children  of  the 
regiment,  was  already  located  in  these  two 
buildings,  which  were  single-storied,  and 
intended  each  for  the  accommodation  of  one 
hundred  men.  One  of  them  was  thatched, 
and  both  were  surrounded  by  a  flat-roofed 
arcade  or  verandah ;  the  walls  were  of 
brick,  an  inch  and  a-half  in  thickness;  a 
well  and  the  usual  out-oSices  were  attached 
to  the  barracks. 

The  only  defence  attempted,  or  even 
practicable,  in  the  time  and  under  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  stifi"ness  of  the  soil  from 
drought  and  the  scarcity  of  labour,  was  to 
dig  a  trench,  and  throw  up  the  earth  on 
the  outside  so  as  to  form  a  parapet,  which 
might  have  been  five  feet  high,  but  was  not 
even  bullet-proof  at  the  crest.  Open 
spaces  were  likewise  left  for  the  guns, 
which  were  thus  entirely  unprotected.  It 
will  be  easily  understood  what  slight  cover 
an  intrenchment  of  this  kind  would  furnish 
either  for  the  barracks  or  for  men  in  the 
trenches;  and  there  was  plenty  of  cover 
both  for  musketry  and  guns  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  barracks,  of  which  the  muti- 
neers soon  availed  themselves. 

§  Narratire  of  the  Mutiny  at  Cawnpoor ;  for- 
warded by  governor-general  to  Court  of  Directors, 
apparently  as  an  official  statement. — Further  Pari. 
Papers  (No.  7),  1857;  p.  129. 

II  Gubbins'  Mtitiniea  in  Oiidh,  p.  177. 


248 


CASE  OF  THE  NANA  SAHIB  OF  BITHOOE. 


It  is  evident  that  the  aid  by  which  Sir 
Hugh  and  the  English  hoped  to  be  enabled 
to  tide  over  the  expected  crisis,  was  looked 
for  from  the  chief,  styled,  in  a  foregoing 
despatch,  the  Maharajah  of  Bithoor.  It  is 
no  small  compliment  to  the  native  character, 
that,  however  little  it  may  have  been  praised 
in  words;  in  deeds,  great  reliance  has  been 
placed  on  allies,  whose  fidelity  has  been 
subjected  to  severe  trials.  In  the  present 
instance,  implicit  trust  was  evinced  in  the 
co-operation  of  one  who  notoriously  con- 
sidered himself  an  ill-used  and  aggrieved 
person,  and  who  had  lavished  large  sums  of 
money  in  endeavouring  to  obtain,  in  Eng- 
land, the  reversal  of  what  he,  and  probably 
a  large  body  of  his  countrymen,  considered 
to  be  the  unjust  decision  of  the  Indian 
government. 

Dhoondia  Rao  Punt,  commonly  called 
the  Nana  Sahib  (the  son  of  a  Brahmin),  was 
adopted  by  the  ex-Peishwa,  Bajee  Rao,  in 
1827,  being  then  between  two  and  three 
years  of  age.  Bajee  Rao  died  in  January, 
1851 ;  and  Nana  Rao  claimed  from  the 
British  government  the  continuance  of  the 
pension  of  j68O,0OO  a-year,  granted  as  the 
condition  of  his  adopted  father's  abdication 
of  the  sovereignty  of  Poona  in  1818.  The 
question  here  is  not  one  of  adoption;  for  had 
the  Peishwa  left  issue  of  his  own  body,  male 
and  legitimate,  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of 
1818  would  not  have  warranted  a  demand, 
as  of  right,  for  the  continuance  of  the  sti- 
pend, of  which  a  singular  combination  of 
circumstances  had  necessitated  the  conces- 
sion. The  treaty,  framed  by  Sir  John 
Malcolm,  stipulated  for  the  surrender  of  the 
person  of  Bajee  Rao  within  twenty-four 
hours,  and  for  the  formal  surrender  of  all 
political  power  to  the  British. 

"The  fourth  article  declares,  that  Bajee 
Rao  shall,  on  his  voluntarily  agreeing  to 
this  arrangement,  receive  a  liberal  pension 
from  the  Company's  government,  for  the 
support  of  himself  and  his  family.  The 
amount  of  this  pension  will  be  fixed  by  the 
governor- general;  but  Brigadier-general 
Malcolm  takes  upon  himself  to  engage  that 
it  shall  not  be  less  than  eight  lacs  of 
rupees  per  annum."* 

Malcolm  was  much  blamed  for  having 
named  so  large  a  sum  as  the  minimum,  and 
the  Company  most  reluctantly  redeemed 
the  pledge  he  had  given  on  their  behalf: 

•  Kaye's  Life  of  Malcolm,  vol.  ii.,  p.  254. 

t  Letter  to  Mr.  Adam — Ibid.,  p.  258. 

j  Letter  to  Sir  Thomas  Munro — Ibid.,  p.  267. 


but  he  maintained,  that  the  stipend, 
"  though  princely  for  the  support  of  Bajee 
Rao,  his  family,  and  numerous  adherents, 
was  nothing  for  purposes  of  ambition;" 
and  that  if  "he  lad  been  reduced  to  a 
condition  in  point  oi"  allowances,  respecta- 
bility, and  liberty,  that  degraded  him  in  his  • 
own  mind  and  that  of  others,  he  might 
have  asked  himself,  'Where  can  I  be 
worse  ?'  "t 

Again,  Malcolm  asserts,  that  the  Peishwa 
was  neither  destitute  of  the  means  of  pro- 
tracting the  contest,  nor  disposed  to  throw 
himself  unconditionally  on  the  British  gov- 
ernment; and,  after  detailing  his  position 
and  resources,  he  adds — "The  article  I  pur- 
chased was  worth  the  price  I  paid ;  I  could 
not  get  it  cheaper."!  On  various  grounds 
he  vindicates  the  policy  of  liberal  dealing 
with  the  dethroned  prince — namely,  on  ac- 
count of  "  our  own  dignity,  considerations 
for  the  feelings  of  Bajee  Rao's  adherents, 
and  for  the  prejudices  of  the  natives  of 
India.  We  exist  on  impression;  and,  on 
occasions  like  this,  where  all  are  anxious 
spectators,  we  must  play  our  part  well,  or 
we  should  be  hissed." 

In  all  the  discussions  regarding  the 
stipend,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  regarded 
simply  as  a  life  pension,  and  that  the  ques- 
tion of  its  continuance  to  the  family  was 
never  entertained.  But,  nevertheless,  the 
Indian  authorities  of  that  day — Lord  Has- 
tings, Adam,  Elphinstone,  and,  most  of  all, 
Malcolm — would  have  been  painfully  sur- 
prised, could  they  have  supposed  that,  on 
the  death  of  the  man  known  to  them  as 
the  "  first  Hindoo  prince  in  India,"  a  gov- 
ernor-general would  be  found  to  declare 
that  "  the  Peishwa's  family  have  no  claim 
upon  the  government,  and  that  he  would 
by  no  means  consent  to  any  portion  of  the 
public  money  being  conferred  on  it."  Yet 
this  decision  Lord  Dalhousie  pronounced 
without  reference  to  the  Court  of  Directors, 
who  had,  some  years  before,  in  answer  to 
an  application  from  the  Peishwa  on  the 
subject  of  his  family,  simply  deferred  the 
consideration  of  the  claim. 

It  is  true  that  Bajee  Rao  had  enjoyed 
his  princely  stipend  much  longer  than 
could  have  been  reasonably  anticipated, 
considering  that  he  was  a  man  of  feeble 
constitution  and  dissolute  habits,  far  ad- 
vanced in  years  at  the  time  of  his  sur- 
render. He  made  considerable  savings, 
and  actually  assisted  the  government  with 
the  loan  of  six  lacs,   at  the  time    of  the 


NANA  SAHIB  AND  THE  PEISHWA'S  FAMILY. 


249 


siege  of  Bhurtpoor,  when  the  Cawnpoor 
treasury  was  totally  devoid  of  assets,  and 
the  march  of  the  troops  was  delayed  in 
consequence.  During  his  life  he  supported 
a  multitude  of  adherents ;  and,  at  one  time, 
had  no  less  than  8,000  armed  followers  at 
Bithoor.  Yet  their  conduct  was  so  orderly, 
that  the  magistrate  of  Cawnpoor  reported, 
that  their  presence  had  occasioned  no  per- 
ceptible increase  of  crime  or  disorder  in  his 
district.  At  the  Peishwa's  death,  property 
said  to  amount  to  £160,000,*  went  to  his 
adopted  heir,  and  his-  wives  and  daughters 
were  left  in  extreme  distress ;  the  Peishwa 
having  confidently  expected  that  some  pro- 
vision, more  or  less  satisfactory,  would 
be  made  for  them,  if  only  in  deference  to 
popular  feeling.  It  was  not,  however, 
poverty  only  to  which  these  ladies  were 
reduced.  The  jaghire,  or  estate,  granted  to 
the  Peishwa,  was  specially  conceded  to  pre- 
serve the  ex-royal  family  from  coming  un- 
der British  jurisdiction  :  its  sequestration  at 
once  rendered  them  liable  to  be  dragged 
before  our  law  courts — an  indignity  which 
natives  of  high  rank  have  committed  suicide 
to  escape.  "  There  was," it  is  alleged,  "  proof 
positive  that  their  alarm  on  this  head  was 
no  idle  fear,  as  notices  had  already  been 
served  upon  some  of  them  to  appear  before 
the  Supreme  Court  at  Calcutta."t  These 
grievances  had  not  been  borne  in  silence. 
The  wealth  of  the  Nana  secured  him 
plenty  of  counsellors  and  advocates.  Among 
the  best  known  of  these  was  one  Azim 
Oollah,  who  came  to  London ;  made  him- 
self extremely  conspicuous  in  the  parks 
and  Belgravian  drawing-rooms,  and  ex- 
tremely troublesome  at  the  public  offices ; 
lavished  some  thousands  of  his  employer's 
money  in  presents,  with  a  view  to  gain  a 
favourable  hearing  in  high  quarters;  and 
eventually  returned  to  Bithoor,  to  pour  into 
the  Nana's  ear  his  own  exaggerated  and 
malicious  version  of  his  costly  failure  in 
England. 

Every  guest  who  visited  Bithoor  heard 
the  Nana's  grievances ;  and  if  of  any  rank, 
was  urged,  on  his  or  her  return  to  England, 
to  make  an  effort  for  their  redress.  Who 
could  refuse  so  munificent  a  host  as  the 
Nana  is  represented  to  have  been?  and 
how  many  may  have  been  tempted  to  over- 
rate the  very  small  influence  they  possessed, 

•  Homeward  Mail,  November  3Uth,  1857. 

t  Ibid.  The  Nana  had  been  involved  in  several 
unsuccessful  law-suits ;  for  the  younger  adopted  son 
of  the  Peishwa  (the  Nana's  nephew    being  a  minor, 

VOL.  II.  2   K 


and  the  efforts  they  were  disposed  to  make 
in  his  behalf?  The  visitors'  book  bore  the 
names  of  hundreds  who  had  been  sump- 
tuously entertained  at  Bithoor  for  days,  and 
even  weeks.  Since  the  tidings  of  the  fear- 
ful crime  with  which  his  name  has  become 
inseparably  associated,  many  descriptions 
of  his  person  and  abode  have  been  pub- 
Ushed  in  the  public  journals.  As  to  cha- 
racter, all  who  knew  him  at  Cawnpoor  agree 
in  describing  him  as  a  person  of  decidedly 
second-rate  ability,  only  remarkable  for  the 
consequence  which  his  position  as  the  re- 
presentative of  an  honoured  though  fallen 
dynasty  gave  him  with  the  natives,  and  his 
wealth  and  convivial  disposition  procured 
with  the  Europeans. 

A  writer  in  the  Illustrated  Times,  who 
manifests  considerable  acquaintance  with 
Indian  politics  and  society,  says — 

"I  knew  Nana  Sahib  intimate!)',  and  always 
regarded  him  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  hospitable 
natives  in  the  Upper  Provinces,  and  certainly  one  of 
the  hist  men  to  have  been  guilty  of  the  atrocities  laid 
to  his  charge.  As  in  tlie  case  with  many  natives  of 
India,  it  may  have  been  that  Nana  Sahib  cuhivated 
the  acquaintance  and  friendship  of  the  sahibs  solely 
in  the  hope,  that  through  their  influence,  direct  and 
indirect,  his  grievances  would  be  redressed.  But 
the  last  time  I  saw  Nana  Sahib — it  was  in  the  cold 
weather  of  1851;  and  he  called  upon  me  twice 
during  my  stay  in  Cawapoor — he  never  once  alluded 
to  his  grievances.  His  conversation  at  that  time 
was  directed  to  the  Oude  affair.  The  following 
questions,  amongst  others,  I  can  remember  he  put 
to  me  : — '  Why  will  not  Lord  Dalhousie  pay  a  visit 
to  the  King  of  Oude?  Lord  Hardinge  did  so.' 
'  Do  you  think  Colonel  Sleeman  will  persuade  Lord 
Dalhousie  to  seize  the  kingdom  (of  Oude)  ?  He 
(Colonel  Sleeman)  has  gone  to  the  camp  to  do  his 
best.' 

"  So  far  as  I  could  glean.  Nana  Sahib  wished  for 
the  annexation  of  Oude — albeit  he  expressed  a  very 
decided  opinion  that,  in  the  event  of  that  measure 
being  resorted  to,  there  would  be  a  disturbance,  and 
perhaps  a  war." 

Another  visitor,  an  English  officer,  gives 
an  anecdote  which  is  very  characteristic  of 
the  barrier  that  obstructs  the  social  inter- 
course of  Europeans  and  natives.  On  the 
way  to  Bithoor,  the  visitor  praised  the 
equipage  of  his  host,  who  rejoined — 

"  '  Not  long  ago,  I  had  a  carriage  and  horses  very 
superior  to  these.  They  cost  me  25,000  rupees; 
but  I  had  to  burn  the  carriage  and  kill  the  horses.' 
■ — '  Why  so  ?' — '  The  child  of  a  certain  sahib  in 
Cawnpoor  was  very  sick,  and  the  sahib  and  the 
mem-sahib  were  bringing  the  child  to  Bithoor  for  a 
change  of  air.     I  sent  my  big  carriage  for  them. 

the  English  law  courts  had  stepped  in  as  trustees  for 
his  interests.  A  full  and  authentic  statement  of  the 
case  of  the  Peishwa's  family,  ought,  ere  now,  to  have 
been  published  by  government. 


250 


CHARACTER  AND  APPEARANCE  OF  NANA  SAHIB. 


On  the  road  the  child  died ;  and,  of  course,  as  a 
dead  body  had  been  in  the  carriage,  and  as  the 
horses  had  drawn  that  dead  body  in  that  carriage,  I 
could  never  use  them  again.'  (The  reader  must 
understand  that  a  native  of  any  rank  considers  it  a 
disgrace  to  sell  property). — '  But  could  you  not  have 
given  the  horses  to  some  friend — a  Christian  or  a 
Mussulman  ?' — '  No  ;  had  I  done  so,  it  might  have 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  sahib,  and  his  feelings 
would  have  been  hurt  at  having  occasioned  me  such 
a  loss.'  Such  was  the  maharajah,  commonly  known 
as  Nana  Sahib.  He  appeared  to  be  not  a  man  of 
ability,  nor  a  fool." 

la  person,  the  Nana  was  well  described 
by  one  of  his  attendants  as  a  tring  admee 
(tight  man).  Corpulent,  and  of  the  middle 
height,  with  a  complexion  scarcely  darker 
than  the  olive-coloured  Spaniard ;  with 
bright  bead-like  eyes,  a  round  face,  a 
straight,  well-cut  nose,  and  sensual  mouth 
and  chin;  his  appearance  would  probably 
have  been  attractive  to  an  ordinary  observer, 
but  for  the  effect  of  the  caste-mark  on  his 
forehead.  He  spoke  little  English ;  neither 
is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  the  British 
government  had  ever  made  any  effort  to 
influence  Bajee  Rao  in  the  education  of  his 
adopted  son,  though  brought  up  under 
their  auspices.  The  Nana  knew  but  very 
little  English  :  but  Azim  Oollah  was  fluent 
in  that  language;  and  could  speak,  it  is 
said,  some  French  and  German. 

In  April,  1857,  the  Nana  visited  Luck- 
now,  "  on  pretence  of  seeing  the  sights 
there,"  accompanied  by  a  numerous  reti- 
nue, of  course  including  the  notorious  Azim 
Oollah.  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  received  him 
kindly,  and  ordered  the  authorities  of  the 
city  to  show  him  every  attention.  The 
Nana  departed  very  suddenly;  and  this 
circumstance,  together  with  his  arrogant 
and  presuming  demeanour,  excited  the  sus- 
picions of  Mr.  Gubbins,  who,  after  consult- 
ing with  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  wrote,  with 
his  sanction,  to  convey  to  Sir  Hugh 
Wheeler  their  joint  impressions  of  the 
Mahratta  chief.  But  the  warning  appears 
to  have  been  totally  unheeded.  It  was 
then  believed  that  the  Nana  had  a  large 
portion  of  his  inherited  wealth,  amounting 
to  £500,000,  vested  in  government  securi- 
ties ;  and  it  was  not  known  till  his  treachery 
was  consummated,  that  ever  since  the  an- 
nexation of  Oude,  he  had  been  secretly  and 
gradually  changing  the  disposition  of  his 
property,  till  only  £30,000  remained  to  be 

*  He  is  asserted  to  have  been  addressed,  in  corres- 
pondence, as  Maharajah  Sree  Nath  Bahadur,  and  to 
have  been  called  Nena  Sahib,  in  accordance  with  the 
pet  name  given  to  him  in  the  seraglio,  being  the  first 


sacrificed  when  he  should  think  fit  to  throw 
off  his  allegiance.  Being  wholly  unsus- 
pected, his  arrangements  were  never  no- 
ticed; and  despite  his  loudly  trumpeted 
wrongs,  he  had  so  much  to  lose,  that  no 
one  ever  dreamt  of  his  joining  in  revolt, 
even  at  the  instigation  of  the  Mephis- 
topheles  at  his  elbow.  He  continued  to 
live  at  his  castellated  palace  at  Bithoor, 
a  few  miles  N.W.  of  Cawnpoor ;  to  keep  six 
mounted  guns,  and  as  many  followers  as 
he  chose.  He  gave  sumptuous  entertain- 
ments ;  made  hunting  parties  for  strangers 
of  distinction;  and  was  always  ready  to 
lend  his  elephants,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  his 
equipages  also,  for  the  use  of  the  neigh- 
bouring "sahibs  and  mem-sahibs."  In 
return,  he  was  treated  with  much  distinc- 
tion, and  styled  the  Maharajah — a  title  to 
which  he  had  no  rightful  claim,  and  which  he 
ought  never  to  have  been  suff'ered  to  assume. 
Even  that  of  the  Nana  Sahib*  is  a  term 
too  closely  allied  to  Mahratta  sovereignty, 
to  have  been  a  judicious  designation  for  an 
avowed  pretender  to  the  inheritance  of  the 
last  of  tlie  Peishwas.  Nana  is  the  Mah- 
ratta term  for  "  maternal  grandfather;"  but 
recurs  constantly  in  the  annals  of  Maha- 
rashta,  in  a  similar  sense  to  that  in  which 
the  designations  of  "Uncles  of  York,"  and 
"  Cousins  of  Lancaster,"  are  applied  in  our 
history. t  To  names  and  traditions  the 
English  have  never  been  inclined  to  attach 
much  importance  ;  and  the  present  genera- 
tion have  far  surpassed  their  predecessors 
in  contemptuous  indiff^erence  to  the  influ- 
ence which  these  things  exercise  on  the 
minds  of  the  natives  of  India. 

Among  those  who  were  most  completely 
deceived  by  the  Nana's  professions,  was  Mr. 
Hillersdon,  the  magistrate  and  collector; 
who,  both  in  his  public  and  private  capacity, 
had  many  opportunities  of  knowing  him. 
In  one  of  the  painfully  interesting  letters 
which  describe  the  crisis  at  Cawnpoor 
(published,  in  deference  to  public  feehng, 
by  the  parties  to  whom  they  were  addressed), 
Mrs.  Hillersdon  writes : — 

"  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  immediate  danger 
here ;  but  should  they  mutiny,  we  should  either 
go  into  cantonments,  or  to  a  place  called  Bithoor, 
about  six  miles  from  Cawnpoor,  where  the  Peishwa's 
successor  resides.  He  is  a  great  friend  of  Charles's, 
and  is  a  man  of  enormous  wealth  and  influence ;  and 

sound  he  distinctly  articulated.     The  point  has  been 
already  more  discussed  than  it  deserves.     See  Daily 
News,  September  25th,  1857. 
t  See  Grant  Duff's  History  of  the  Mahrattat. 


INTRENCHMENTS  AT  CAWNPOOR— MAY  31st,  1857. 


251 


he  has  assured  Charles  that  we  shall  all  be  quite  I 
safe  there.     I  myself  would  much  prefer  going  to 
the  cantonments,  to  be  with  the  other  ladies,  but 
Charles  thinks  it  would  be  better  for  me  and  our 
precious  children  to  be  at  Bithoor."* 

A  proposition  was  also  entertained,  of 
sending  other  ladies  there  for  safety  jf 
but  some  reason,  not  specified,  prevented 
its  being  carried  into  execution.  On  the 
21st  of  May,  a  report  was  circulated  that 
the  Native  troops  would  rise  that  night; 
whereupon  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hillersdon,  with 
their  two  children,  abandoned  their  own 
compound,  which  was  four  miles  from  can- 
tonments, and  took  refuge  with  Colonel 
Ewart,  of  the  1st  N.I.  The  colonel  went 
at  night  (as  all  the  officers  were  subse- 
quently directed  to  do)  to  sleep  in  the 
midst  of  his  men,  with  the  view  of  reassur- 
ing them  by  trusting  his  life  with  them, 
and  also  of  aiding  the  well-disposed  to  hold 
the  turbulent  in  check.  At  the  same 
time,  he  declared  that  if  his  regiment  muti- 
nied, it  might  walk  over  his  body,  but 
he  would  never  leave  it.  J  Mr.  Hillersdon 
was  soon  afterwards  called  away;  and  his 
wife  and  Mrs.  Ewart,  with  their  children 
and  nurses,  drove  to  the  barracks,  which  had 
been  assigned  as  a  rendezvous  in  case  of 
alarm. 

For  several  days  no  change  took  place. 
In  the  morning  the  ladies  went  to  their  own 
bouses ;  in  the  evening  they  returned  to  the 
"melancholy  night  quarters,"  graphically 
described  by  Mrs.  Ewart,  in  the  letters 
from  whence  the  following  passages  are 
extracted : — 

"  Oh !  such  a  scene !  Men,  officers,  women  and 
children,  beds  and  chairs,  all  mingled  together, 
inside  and  outside  the  barracks.  Some  talking, 
or  even  laughing;  some  frightened,  some  defiant, 
others  despairing;  three  guns  in  front  of  our  position, 
and  three  behind,  and  a  trench  in  course  of  forma- 
tion all  round.  •  •  •  The  general  is  busy  now, 
and  he  has  spiked  the  guns  he  could  not  use  yester- 
day (26th  May),  and  laid  a  train  for  blowing  up  the 
magazine,  should  any  outbreak  occur." 

After  alluding  to  the  reported  advance  of 
the  rebel  force,  Mrs.  Ewart  adds : — 

"No  outbreak  is  at  present  apprehended  from 
any  of  the  troops  here ;  our  danger  lies  now  in 
what  may  come  from  outside.  The  appearance  of 
successful  insurgents  amongst  the  regiments,  would 
be  the  signal  to  rise ;  and  all  we  could  really  depend 
upon  for  defence,  is  our  position  behind  our  guns, 
and  the  help  of  about  150  European  soldiers,  forty 

*  Times,  October,  1857. 

t  Letter  to  the  Times,  written  by  Captain  Mow- 
bray Thomson  :   dated  September  8th,  1858. 
I  Letter  by  Mrs.  Ewart,  dated  May  27lh,  1857. 


railway  people  and  merchants,  and  a  few  stragglers. 
There  are  two  regiments  of  Oude  irregulars ;  but  I 
am  not  inclined  to  put  faith  in  them.  There  are  also 
some  Mahrattas,  with  the  rajah  of  Bithoor,  who 
have  come  to  our  assistance  ;  but  I  can  scarcely  feel 
a  comfort  at  their  presence  either. 

"  For  ourselves,  I  need  only  say,  that  even  should 
our  position  be  strong  enough  to  hold  out,  there  is 
the  dreadful  exposure  to  the  heat  of  May  and  June, 
together  with  the  privations  and  confinement  of 
besieged  sufferers,  to  rentier  it  very  unlikely  that  we 
can  survive  tlie  disasters  which  may  fall  upon  us  any 
day,  any  hour.  My  dear  little  child  is  looking  very 
delicate  j  my  prayer  is  that  she  may  be  spared  much 
sufiering.  The  bitterness  of  death  has  been  tasted 
by  us  many,  many  times,  during  the  last  fortnight ; 
and  should  the  reality  come,  I  hope  we  may  find 
strength  to  meet  it  with  a  truly  Christian  courage. 
It  is  not  hard  to  die  oneself ;  but  to  see  a  dear  child 
suffer  and  perish — that  is  the  hard,  the  bitter  trial, 
and  the  cup  which  I  must  dr-ink,  should  God  not 
deem  it  fit  that  it  should  pass  from  me.  My  com- 
panion, Mrs.  Hillersdon,  k  delightful :  poor  young 
thing,  she  has  such  a  gentle  spirit,  so  unmurmuring, 
so  desirous  to  meet  the  trial  rightly,  so  unselfish  and 
sweet  in  every  way.  Her  husband  is  an  excellent 
man,  and  of  course  very  much  exposed  to  danger, 
almost  as  much  as  mine.  She  has  two  children,  and 
we  feel  that  our  duty  to  our  little  ones  demands 
that  we  should  exert  ourselves  to  keep  up  health 
and  spirits  as  much  as  possible.  There  is  a  reverse 
to  this  sad  picture.  Delhi  may  be  retaken  in  a 
short  time.  Aid  may  come  to  us,  and  all  may 
subside  into  tranquillity  once  more.  *  •  •  But 
it  is  useless  to  speculate  upon  what  may  happen. 
We  can  only  take  the  present  as  it  comes,  and  do  its 
duties  and  meet  its  trials  in  the  best  spirit  we  can 
maintain.  We  are  more  cheerful,  in  spite  of  the 
great  anxiety  and  suspense;  our  family  party  is 
really  a  charming  one,  and  we  feel  better  able  to 
meet  difficulties  and  dangers  for  being  thus  as- 
sociated ;  at  the  worst  we  know  that  we  are  in  God's 
hands,  and  He  does  not  for  an  instant  forsake  us. 
He  will  be  with  us  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  also,  and  we  need  fear  no  evil.  God  bless 
you!" 

The  tone  of  Colonel  Ewart  is  very  similar 
to  that  of  his  admirable  wife.  He  believed, 
that  unless  Delhi  were  speedily  recaptured, 
little  short  of  a  miracle  could  keep  the 
Native  troops  at  Cawnpoor  quiet,  or  prevent 
mutiny  at  other  stations.  General  Wheeler 
he  describes  as  "  an  excellent  officer ;  very 
determined ;  self-possessed  in  the  midst  of 
danger;  fearless  of  responsibility."  He 
mentions  that  an  attempt  was  to  be  made 
to  bring  the  treasure,  amounting  to  ten  or 
twelve  lacsof  rupees  (£100,000  or£120,000), 
into  the  intrenched  camp  on  the  following 
day  (June  1st). 

In  concluding  his  last  letter,  Colonel 
Ewart  specially  recommends  his  wife  and 
infant  to  tlie  protection  of  his  sister,  who 
already  had  a  boy  of  his  under  her  care. 
"  If  the  troops,"  he  writes,  "  should  break 
out  here,  it  is  not  probable  that  I  shall 


252 


OUTBREAK  AT  CAWNPOOR— JUNE  6th,  1857. 


survive  it.  My  post,  and  that  of  my  officers, 
being  with  the  colours  of  the  regiment,  in  the 
last  extremity  some  or  all  of  us  must  needs 
be  killed.  If  that  should  be  my  fate,  you 
and  all  my  friends  will  know,  I  trust,  that  I 
die  in  the  execution  of  my  duty.  But  I  do 
not  think  they  will  venture  to  attack  the 
intrenched  position,  which  is  held  by  the 
European  troops.  So  I  hope  in  God  that 
my  wife  and  child  may  be  saved." 

It  appears  from  the  narrative  of  Lieute- 
nant Delafosse,  that  the  Nana  did  not 
proffer,  but  was  asked  for  assistance;  where- 
upon "he  sent  some  200  cavalry,  400  infan- 
try, and  two  guns,  which  force  had  the 
guarding  of  the  treasury."*  The  Nana 
either  accompanied  or  followed  his  troops  to 
Cawnpoor,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  a 
house  not  far  from  that  abandoned  by  the 
collector.  Lieutenant  Thomson  remarks — 
"  His  visit  was  made  at  the  request  of  the  re- 
sident magistrate ;  and  such  was  the  confi- 
dence placed  in  this  infernal  traitor,  that  the 
whole  of  the  treasure  (upwards  of  £100,000) 
was  placed  under  his  protection."t  It  ap- 
pears, however,  that  General  Wheeler  did 
make  the  attempt,  mentioned  by  Colonel 
Ewart  as  intended,  for  the  removal  of  the 
treasure,  and  that  he  failed  on  this  and  previ- 
ous occasions,  from  the  determined  resolve  of 
the  troops  not  to  submit  to  what  they  chose 
to  call  a  mark  of  distrust.J     A  lac  of  rupees 

*  Times,  October  15th,  1857. 

t  Letter  to  the  Times,  dated  September  8th,  1858. 

X  See  Account  of  Nerput,  opium  gomashta,  or 
broker. — Further  Pari.  Papers,  p.  51. 

§  Accounts  of  Nerput  and  of  Mr.  Shepherd. 

11  See  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  7),  p.  130.  The 
various  accounts  of  the  Cawnpoor  mutiny  and  mas- 
sacre differ  considerably,  sometimes  in  material 
points.  The  weightiest  authorities  are  of  course  the 
telegrams  and  despatches  written  by  Sir  Hugh 
Wheeler,  and  the  officers  serving  under  him,  to  the 
Calcutta  and  Lucknow  governments.  The  next  in 
value  are  the  testimonies  of  Lieutenants  (now  Cap- 
tains) Thomson  and  Delafosse,  published  in  letters  of 
various  dates  in  the  Times.  Mrs.  Murray,  another 
survivor  (the  widow  of  the  band-sergeant  of  the  56th 
N.I.,  who  perished  at  Cawnpoor,  as  did  also  her 
brother  and  two  sons),  has  given  a  very  circumstan- 
tial version  (see  Times,  September  3rd,  1858)  of 
what  she  saw  and  heard,  which  was  "  put  into  shape" 
for  her  by  a  literary  gentleman ;  and  is,  Mr.  Russell 
declares,  "fiction  founded  on  fact."  That  it  is  not 
Mrs.  Murray's  own  inditing,  is  evident  from  the 
stilted  and  highly  coloured  style.  A  sergeant's  wife 
would  hardly  talk  of"  Tartaric  barbarity,"  or  remark 
that,  on  "  the  arrival  of  General  Havelock,  the 
cowardly  miscreants  of  Cawnpoor  disappeared  like 
.stars  at  dawn  of  day,  and  the  Nana  Sour  [Nana  the 
pig]  disappeared  like  a  comet."  In  this  case,  as  in 
most  others  of  mingled  fact  and  fiction,  the  latter 
predominates  so  largely  as  to  neutralise  the  former : 


was,  however,  obtained  and  carried  away  to 
the  intrenchments,  under  the  plea  of  meeting 
the  salaries  of  the  troops  and  other  current 
expenses.  § 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  June,  Sir 
Hugh  Wheeler  received  information  regard- 
ing the  2nd  cavalry  and  1st  and  .56th  N.I., 
which  induced  him  to  order  the  European ' 
officers  thereof  to  discontinue  sleeping  in  the 
lines;  but  the  53rd  N.I.  being  considered 
loyal,  the  officers  were  to  remain  at  night 
with  that  corps.  By  this  time  the  trenches 
were  finished,  the  guns  in  position,  and  pro- 
visions for  1,000  persons,  for  twenty-five 
days,  were  declared  to  be  in  store. 

It  appears,  however,  owing  to  carelessness 
or  knavery,  that  the  quantity  actually  sup- 
plied fell  far  short  of  the  indents.  At 
2  A.M.  on  the  6th  of  June,||  the  2nd  cavalry 
rose  together  with  a  great  shout,  mounted 
their  horses,  and  set  fire  to  the  bungalow 
of  their  quartermaster.  The  main  body 
then  proceeded  towards  the  commissariat 
cattle-yard,  and  took  possession  of  the  gov- 
ernment elephants,  thirty-six  in  number ;  at 
the  same  time  setting  fire  to  the  cattle- 
sergeant's  dwelling.  A  few  of  the  ring- 
leaders went  to  the  lines  of  the  1st  N.I., 
and  persuaded  the  men — who,  it  is  said, 
"  were  mostly  young  recruits,  the  old  hands 
being  away  on  leave  or  on  command"^ — to 
join  in  the  mutiny.     Either  Colonel  Ewart 

and  even  independently  of  the  internal  evidence 
of  the  account,  the  contradiction  given  by  Lieu- 
tenant Thomson  to  several  of  Mrs.  Murray's  most 
positive  assertions  regarding  matters  which  she 
speaks  of  in  the  character  of  an  eye-witness,  quite 
invalidates  her  authority.  Then  there  is  the  clear 
and  connected  account  of  Mr.  Shepherd,  an 
uncovenanted  servant  of  the  Company,  and  pro- 
bably an  Eurasian.  His  testimony  is  of  considerable 
value  as  regards  what  he  actually  witnessed;  but 
the  value  of  his  statements  is  diminished  by  his 
failing  to  separate  information  which  he  has  ac- 
quired from  personal  observation,  from  that  which 
he  has  accepted  on  hearsay.  (Further  Pari. 
Papers,  No.  4;  pp.  174  to  185).  The  same  remark 
applies  to  the  story  of  Nerput,  an  opium  go- 
mashta, in  the  service  of  the  E.  I.  Company,  whose 
deposition  was  received  by  Colonel  Neill,  and  for- 
warded by  him  to  the  Supreme  government.  (See 
Further  Pari.  Papers  (not  numbered),  pp.  51  to  53). 
The  diary  of  the  "  Nunna"  nawab  (a  native  of  rank  re- 
siding in  Cawnpoor),  is  another  document  transmitted 
by  the  governor-general  for  the  perusal  of  the  home 
authorities  (Further  Pari.  Papers,  No.  7;  pp.  133  to 
138);  together  with  a  "  Narrative  of  the  Mutiny  at 
Ownpoor,"  drawn  up  apparently  as  an  official 
summary,  and  already  largely  quoted.  (Hid.,  pp. 
129  to  133).  An  Eurasian  girl,  supposed  at  first 
to  have  perished,  and  one  or  two  others,  have  like- 
wise furnished  some  additional  particulars. 
^  Mr.  Shepherd's  Account  of  the  Outbreak. 


INTRENCHMENT  SURROUNDED  BY  NANA  AND  THE  REBELS.     253 


and  the  other  ofBcers  had  persisted  in 
sleeping  in  their  lines,  or  else  they  had 
proceeded  thither  on  the  first  sound  of  dis- 
turbance ;  for  they  were  on  the  spot,  and 
were  earnest  in  their  endeavours  to  preserve 
the  allegiance  of  the  regiment ;  but  to  no 
purpose :  the  men  begged  them  to  with- 
draw, and  finally  forced  them  into  the  in- 
trenchment  as  the  sole  means  of  escape.* 

The  insurgents  marched  to  the  treasury 
and  magazine,  which  the  Nana's  guards 
never  even  made  a  pretence  of  defending. 
They  next  entered  the  gaol,  set  the  pri- 
soners at  liberty,  and  burnt  all  the  adjacent 
public  offices  and  records.  Then  they 
marched  out  to  Kulliaupoor,  the  first  halt- 
ing-place on  the  road  to  Delhi,  where  they 
were  joined  before  noon  by  the  men  of  the 
53rd  and  56th  N.I.;  but  their  own  officers 
remained  behind. 

I^r.  Shepherd  says — 

"  The  Native  commissioned  officers  were  then  told 
to  take  their  position  in  the  artillery  hospital  barrack, 
opposite  to  us,  on  the  east  side,  and  to  make  an 
intrenchment  for  themselves  there,  and  endeavour 
to  draw  back  those  of  the  sepoys  and  Native  non- 
commissioned officers,  who,  they  said,  were  not 
inclined  to  go,  but  were  reluctantly  compelled  to 
join.  These  officers  went  away,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  and  we  never  heard  any  more  about 
them ;  but  I  learnt  afterwards  that,  fearing  the 
resentment  of  the  sepoys,  they  took  the  straight  way 
to  tlieir  homes,  and  never  joined  in  the  rebellion. 

"  Carts  were  sent  at  noon  to  bring  in  from  the 
sepoy  lines  the  muskets,  &c.,  of  the  men  on  leave, 
and  the  baggage,  &c.,  of  the  Christian  drum- 
mers, who,  with  their  families,  had  all  come  to  seek 
protection  in  the  intrenchment.  The  sick  in  hos- 
pital were  also  brought  in,  and  the  two  barracks 
were  very  much  crowded  j  so  much  so,  that  the 
drummers  and  their  families,  and  native  servants, 
had  to  remain  in  the  open  air  at  night,  and  under 
cover  of  the  cook-house  and  other  buildings  during 
the  heat  of  the  day.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
all  the  uncovenanted  (myself  and  my  brother 
included)  were  mustered,  and  directed  to  arm  them- 
selves with  muskets,  of  which  there  was  a  great  heap. 
This  they  did;  and  after  receiving  a  sufficient  quan- 
tity of  ammunition,  were  told-off  in  different  sections, 
under  the  command  of  several  officers,  who  in- 
structed us  as  to  what  we  should  have  to  do  when 
occasion  required  it." 

The  Europeans  breathed  again;  it  seemed 
as  if  the  crisis  were  over.  Probably  they 
considered  that,  in  suff^ering  the  treasury  to 
be  robbed,  the  Mahratta  guards  had  sub- 
mitted to  an  overpowering  force.  Lieu- 
tenant Delafosse  states  only,  that  "next 
morning,  the  7th  of  June,  a  letter  was  re- 
ceived from  the  rajah  of  Bithoor,  who  was 

•  Mr.  Shepherd's  Account  of  the  Outbreak,  p.  175. 
t  Diary  of  Nerput,  opium  gomashta. 
I  Statement  of  Lieutenant  Thomson. 


supposed  to  be  on  our  side,  saying  he 
meant  to  attack  us." 

This  was  the  first  intimation  of  the  hos- 
tility of  the  arch-traitor,  who,  it  afterwards 
appeared,  had  taken  advantage  of  the  revolt 
to  secure  the  lion's  share  of  the  govern- 
ment treasure,  and  had  sent  emissaries 
(probably  the  practised  intriguer,  Azim 
Oollah)  to  the  camp  of  the  rebels,  urging 
them  to  return  to  Cawnpoor,  destroy  the 
garrison  there,  and  thus  perform  a  necessary 
act  for  their  own  security,  and  one  which 
would  procure  them  honour  and  reward 
from  the  King  of  Delhi.  These  arguments 
prevailed ;  the  mutineers  were  lured  back 
to  the  dastardly  and  murderous  work  of 
attacking  their  officers  and  families,  with 
their  veteran  commander  and  his  wife  and 
children  hemmed  in,  as  they  knew  them  to 
be,  within  that  miserable  earth-bank.  These 
men  were  fitting  followers  for  the  shameless 
traitor  who,  on  their  return  to  Cawnpoor, 
placed  himself  at  their  head,  saying—"  I 
came  in  appearance  to  help  the  English; 
but  am  at  heart  their  mortal  enemy ."f 

Directions  had  been  given  by  General 
Wheeler  for  the  destruction  of  the  maga- 
zine in  the  event  of  an  outbreak,  and  a 
train  had  actually  been  laid  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  but  Nana  Sahib's  Mahrattas  appear 
to  have  prevented  the  execution  of  this  plan 
at  the  time  of  the  mutiny;  and  after  the 
troops  had  left  the  station,  it  is  probable  that 
its  preservation  was  deemed  advantageous. 
The  Nana  appreciated  its  value,  and  told  the 
mutineers  that  the  magazine  was  "well  fur- 
nished with  guns  of  all  calibre,  and  ammu- 
nition enough  to  last  a  twelvemonth."J 

At  ten  o'clock  a.m.,  June  7th,  the  siege 
commenced;  the  Nana  having,  with  great 
speed,  brought  into  position  two  of  his  own 
guns,  and  two  heavy  guns  which  he  had 
procured  from  the  magazine.  Before  many 
hours  had  elapsed,  fourteen  guns  (three 
24 -pounders,  two  18 -pounders,  seven 
9 -pounders,  and  two  6 -pounders)  were 
opened  in  a  cannonade,  which  lasted 
twenty-two  days;  and  the  equal  to  which, 
Mowbray  Thomson  truly  remarks,  is  hardly 
known  in  history. 

At  first  the  besieged  replied  briskly  to 
the  fire  of  the  rebels,  but  without  any 
signal  success ;  for  there  were  only  eight 
9-pounders  in  the  intrenchments ;  and  the 
dastardly  foe  did  not  approach  within  a  thou- 
sand yards  of  the  barracks.  On  the  second 
day  of  the  siege,  the  green  flag  was  raised 
in  the  city  (a  proceeding  in  which  Azim 


254 


CAWNPOOR  INTRENCHMENT— JUNE  9th  to  14th,  1857. 


Oollah's  handiwork  is  sufficiently  evident), 
and  all  true  Mussulmans  were  directed  to 
rally   round   it;   and   those  who   hesitated 
were   threatened,  insulted,  or  fined.     The 
Nana's  force  augmented  daily.     With  am- 
munition  and   ordnance   in   abundance,  a 
full  treasury,  and  the  city  bazaar  in   his 
hands,   he   soon  rendered   the  position  of 
the  Europeans  next  to  hopeless.      An  in- 
cessant fire  of  musketry  was  poured   into 
the  intrenchment  from  the  nearest  cover; 
guns   of  large   calibre,  drawing   gradually 
nearer  and  nearer,  sent  their  shot  and  shell, 
without    intermission,   against    the    brick 
walls  of  the  buildings.     On  the  evening  of 
June  9th,  the  enemy  succeeded,  by  means 
of    heated    shells,   in    setting   fire   to   the 
thatched  building,  in  which  numbers  of  sick 
women  and  wounded  men  were  huddled 
together.      Many   of    these   were    burned 
alive;    and    the    remainder    sought    such 
shelter  as  could  be  afi'orded  in  the  other 
previously  crowded  barrack.     The  hospital 
stores  were  almost  totally  destroyed;   the 
sick  and  wounded  perished  in  cruel  agony ; 
and,  to  crown   tlie  whole,  the  ammunition 
was  found  to  be  running  low,  and  the  be- 
sieged were  compelled  to  slacken  their  fire 
before  the  attack  had  lasted  four  days.  There 
was  a  nullah  or  ditch  some  distance  in  front 
of  the  intrenchment,  from  which  the  enemy 
pushed  on  a  sap  towards  the  barracks,  and 
by  this  means  poured  in  a  near  and  deadly 
fire.      On   the   west   of   the   besieged,    an 
entirely  new  range  of  barracks  had  been  in 
the  course  of  construction ;  and  behind  the 
unfinished   walls   the    rebels    posted   their 
matchlockmen,    who,   however,   were    dis- 
lodged by  repeated  sallies;  and  at  length 
two  of  the  barracks  were  held  by  pickets 
from   the   garrison.     But  the   strength   of 
the  besieged  was  insufficient  to  prevent  the 
rebels  from  placing  their  sharpshooters  on 
other  sides.     Communication  between  the 
barracks   became   difficult;    no   one   could 
move  out  of  cover  for  an  instant  without 
becoming  a  mark  for  a  score  of  muskets. 
There  was  only  one  well  in  the  intrench- 
ments,  which  was  at  first  protected  by  a 
parapet ;  but  this  was  easily  knocked  down  ; 
and  the  enemy  kept  up  such  an  incessant 
fire  upon  the  spot,  both  day  and  night,  that 
"  soon,  not  a  drop  of  water  could  be  obtained 
save  at  the  risk  of  almost  certain  destruc- 
tion."*    This  terrible  difficulty  diminished 
after  the  third  day,  as  the  rebels  made  it  a 

•  Statement  sent  by  Supreme  government  to  Court 
of  Directors.— Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  7),  p.  131. 


practice  to  cease  firing  at  dusk  for  about  two 
hours ;  and  at  that  time  the  crowd  round 
the  well  was  very  great.     There  was  no  place 
to  shelter  the  live  cattle.     Horses  of  private 
gentlemen,  as  also  those  of  the  3rd  Oude 
battery,  were  obliged  to  be  let  loose.     A 
few  sheep  and  goats,  as  well  as  the  bullocks 
kept  for  commissariat  purposes,  were  shot  ' 
off,  and  in  the  course  of  five  or  six  days  no 
meat   was   procurable   for   the   Europeans. 
They,    however,    occasionally    managed    to 
get  hold  of  a  stray  bullock  or  cow  near  the 
intrenchment  at  night,  which  served  for  a 
change;  otherwise,  dhoU  and  chupatties  were 
the  common  food  of  all.     Several  hogsheads 
of  rum  and  malt  liquor  were  broken  open  by 
the  enemy's  cannon ;  but  of  these  there  was 
a'  large  quantity,  and  the  loss  was  not  felt.f 
The    half-destroyed   walls    of    the    bar- 
racks, or  a  barricade  formed  by  piling  up 
tents  and   casks,  was   the   precarious   but 
only  shelter  that  could  be  obtained;  food 
could  not   be  carried    from   post   to  post 
by  day;   and  the  dead  were  removed  at 
night,  and  thrown  into  a  dry  well  outside 
the  intrenchment,  near  the  new  unfinished 
barracks.     There  was  no  time  to  think  of 
coffins  or  winding-sheets,  let  the  age,  sex, 
or  rank  of  the  departed  have  been  what  it 
might.     The  present  agony  of  the  wounded 
and  the  dying,  the  imminent  danger  and 
utter  wretchedness  of  all,  absorbed  every  mi- 
nor consideration.  The  dead  bodies  of  young 
and  old — of  brave  men,  fair  women,  delicate 
children — were  laid  outside  the  verandah  in 
the  ruins,  there  to  remain  until  the  fatigue 
party  came  round  at  nightfall  to  collect  the 
corpses.     A  corner  comparatively  safe  from 
gunshot  was  too  precious  to  the  living  to  be 
spared  for  the  senseless  remains  of  those 
who,  we  humbly  hope,  had  passed  away  to  a 
better  life,  escaping  immediate  misery,  and 
the  yet  more  terrible  evil  to  come,  which 
was  to  crown  the  sufi"erings  of  that  fearful 
siege.     Relief,  under  Colonel  Neil),  was  ex- 
pected  on   the    14th   of  June,    but    none 
arrived ;  and,  on  the  evening  of  that  day, 
General  Wheeler  wrote  to  Lucknow,  de- 
scribing his  position.    "  The  whole  Christian 
population  is  with  us  in  a  temporary  in- 
trenchment, and  our  defence  has  been  noble 
and  wonderful ;  our  loss,  heavy  and  cruel. 
We  want  aid,  aid,  aid !      If  we  had   200 
men,  we  could  punish  the  scoundrels,  and 
aid  you."  J 

It  would  have  been  most  hazardous  at 

t  Mr.  Shepherd's  Account  of  the  Outbreak. 
X  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Qudh,  p.  443. 


THE  GALLANT  DEFENCE  OF  CAWNPOOR— JUNE,  1857. 


255 


that  time  to  have  spared  200  Europeans 
from  Lucknow;  but  Sir  Henry  Lawrence, 
writing  to  Mr.  Tucker  at  Benares  (June 
16th) J  says — "I  would  risk  the  absence 
of  so  large  a  portion  of  our  small  force, 
could  I  see  the  smallest  prospect  of  its 
being  able  to  succour  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler. 
But  no  individual  here  cognizant  of  facts, 
except  Mr.  Gubbins,  thinks  that  we  could 
carry  a  single  man  across  the  river,  as  the 
enemy  holds  all  the  boats,  and  completely 
commands  the  river.  May  God  Almighty 
defend  Cawnpoor,  for  no  help  can  we  aiford. 
*  *  *  I  have  sent  the  pith  of  this  to 
Colonel  Neill,  to  urge  him  to  relieve  Cawn- 
poor, if  in  any  way  possible."* 

On  first  learning  news  of  the  mutiny,  Sir 
Henry  had  directed  Captain  Evans,  the 
officer  stationed  at  Onao  (twelve  miles  from 
Cawnpoor),  to  secure  all  the  boats  he  could. 
But  the  mutineers  had  forestalled  us  by 
breaking  up  the  bridge  at  Cawnpoor,  and 
securing  the  boats  which  had  composed  it, 
as  well  as  those  at  other  ferries  on  the 
further  side  of  the  stream.  Captain  Evans, 
with  the  aid  of  a  Native  officer,  named 
Munsub  Ali,  and  a  party  of  mounted  police, 
maintained  his  position  till  near  the  end  of 
June,  and  patrolled  the  high  road  with 
unceasing  energy,  heedless  of  personal  risk, 
as  he  well  might  be;  for  his  wife  and 
two  children  were  within  that  shot-riddled 
earth-bank,  hemmed  in  by  thousands  of 
pitiless  foes. 

On  the  18th  of  June,  Captain  Moore,  of 
H.M.  32nd  foot,  the  officer  second  in 
command,  dispatched  to  Lucknow  the  fol- 
lowing official  acknowledgment  of  the  refusal 
of  the  entreaty  for  reinforcements : — 

"  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler  regrets  you  cannot  send  him 
the  200  men,  as  he  believes,  with  their  assistance,  we 
could  drive  the  insurgents  from  Cawnpoor,  and  cap- 
ture their  guns. 

"  Our  troops,  officers,  and  volunteers,  have  acted 
most  nobly;  and  on  several  occasions,a  handfulof  men 
have  driven  hundreds  before  them.  Our  loss  has  been 
chiefly  from  the  sun  and  their  heavy  guns.  Our 
rations  will  last  a  fortnight,  and  we  are  still  well 
supplied  with  ammunition.  Our  guns  are  service- 
able, lleport  says  that  troops  are  advancing  from 
Allahabad ;  and  any  assistance  might  save  the 
garrison.  We,  of  course,  are  prepared  to  hold  out 
to  the  last.  It  is  needless  to  mention  the  names  of 
those  who  have  been  killed  or  died.  We  trust  in 
God ;  and  if  our  exertions  here  assist  your  safety,  it 
will  be  a  consolation  to  know  that  our  friends 
appreciate  our  devotion.  Any  news  of  relief  will 
cheer  us." 

There  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  self- 
•  Further  Pari.  Papers,  p.  66. 


possession  of  an  officer  who  could  write  so 
calmly  under  the  circumstances  in  which  he 
was  placed.  Captain  Moore,  young  and 
energetic,  was  Sir  Hugh's  right  hand.  It 
was  greatly  owing  to  the  determined  atti- 
tude assumed  by  him,  that  the  mutineers 
never  ventured  to  attempt  carrying  by 
storm  the  frail  barrier  which  interposed  be- 
tween them  and  their  victims.  Though 
himself  severely  wounded,  he  opposed  the 
encroachment  of  the  enemy  with  unceasing 
vigilance.  Wherever  the  danger  was  the 
greatest,  there  was  he,  with  his  arm  in 
a  sling  and  a  revolver  in  his  belt,  directing 
and  heading  the  defence.  Scouts,  with  eye- 
glasses, were  stationed  to  watch  every  hostile 
movement,  and,  by  their  reports,  the  be- 
sieged directed  an  effective  fire.  The  rebels 
had  possession  of  the  first  of  the  three  un- 
finished barracks ;  and  from  thence  they 
often  attempted  to  advance  and  overpower 
the  British  picket  in  the  buildings  nearest 
the  intrenchment.  On  these  occasions. 
Captain  Moore,  who  was  ever  on  the  watch, 
would  collect  a  number  of  volunteers  from 
the  intrenchment,  and  send  them  out,  one 
at  a  time,  to  reinforce  their  comrades;  the 
space  which  each  man  had  to  traverse  being 
partly  protected  by  carriages,  bullock- 
trains,  and  such  like,  arranged  as  halting- 
places,  between  which  Moore  and  his  fol- 
lowers ran,  exposed  to  a  shower  of  bullets. 
Twice  this  gallant  officer,  under  cover  of 
night,  led  a  party  of  Europeans,  and  spiked 
the  guns  of  the  enemy.  These,  however, 
were  easily  repaired  or  replaced  by  others 
from  the  arsenal. 

On  the  21st  of  June,  a  very  great  mob, 
including  a  number  of  Oude  budmashes, 
was  seen  collecting  round  the  intrenchment. 
The  regular  infantry  corps  are  described  as 
never  coming  out  to  fight  in  full  uniform. 
This  day,  some  few  had  on  their  jackets  and 
caps;  but  the  majority  were  dressed  like 
recruits.  For  once,  a  systematic  attack 
was  made,  under  a  recognised  leader.  The 
enemy  brought  forward  huge  bales  of  cotton, 
and  attempted  to  push  these  on,  and  thus 
approach  in  two  parties,  under  cover  from 
the  church  compound  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  unfinished  barracks  on  the  other.  But 
the  indefatigable  Captain  Moore  had  wit- 
nessed the  preparations,  and  was  enabled  to 
counteract  them  by  a  very  able  distribution 
of  his  small  force.  The  rebel  leader,  "  a 
well-made,  powerful  man,"  fell  at  the  onset ; 
and  the  enemy  dispersed,  with  200  or  300 
killed  and  wounded. 


256        SCENES  IN  THE  CAWNPOOR  INTRENCHMENT— JUNE,  1857. 


The  loss  sustained  by  the  British  is  not 
recorded.  Several  men  had  fallen  from 
sun-stroke — a  calamity  of  daily  occurrence; 
and  all  were  nearly  prostrated  by  fatigue. 
At  mid-day,  when  the  action  was  over,  one 
of  the  ammunition  waggons  exploded ;  and 
the  rebels  perceiving  their  advantage,  di- 
rected a  heavy  fire  against  the  spot,  to 
hinder  the  Europeans  from  approaching  to 
prevent  the  flames  from  spreading  to  the 
other  waggons.  In  the  midst  of  the  can- 
nonading, Lieutenant  Delafosse  approaclied 
the  burning  mass,  laid  himself  down  be- 
neath it,  pulled  away  the  loose  splinters, 
and  flung  earth  on  the  flames.  Two  soldiers 
brought  him  buckets  of  water,  which  he 
threw  around  him;  and,  while  the  vessels 
were  being  refilled  from  the  drinking-water 
of  the  men  close  by,  he  continued  to  throw 
earth  on  the  burning  waggon,  with  six 
cannon  directed  on  the  spot.  The  brave 
officer  and  his  men  accomplished  their  ob- 
ject, and  escaped  unhurt.* 

The  prisoners  in  the  trenches  were  not 
the  only  sufferers.  Besides  several  Eu- 
ropeans captured  in  the  city,  and  the  majo- 
rity of  the  Christians  (whether  Eurasians  or 
natives),  many  Hindoos  and  Mohamme- 
dans suspected  of  aiding  or  serving  the 
British  force,  were  put  to  death.  A  list  was 
made  of  all  the  bankers,  who  were  mulct 
of  their  wealth,  and  property  of  every  de- 
scription was  plundered  or  wantonly  de- 
stroyed.f  Any  attempt  to  carry  intelli- 
gence or  supplies  to  the  besieged,  was  pun- 
ished with  death  or  mutilation ;  and,  indeed, 
since  the  reocciipation  of  Cawnpoor,  about 
twelve  natives  have  proved,  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  government,  their  claim  to  a  pen- 
sion, on  the  ground  of  haviug  suffered 
mutilation  of  the  hand  or  nose  (and,  in 
some  instances,  of  both),  by  order  of  the 
Nana  or  his  diabolical  lieutenant,  Azim 
Oollah,  for  bringing  supplies  to  the  British 
camp. J  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  in  a  letter 
previously  quoted,  speaks  of  all  the  Chris- 
tian population  taking  refuge  in  the  in- 
trenchment ;  but  this  could  not  have  been 

•  Mr.  Shepherd's  Account.  Lieutenant  Delafosse, 
in  his  narrative  [Times,  October  15th,  1857),  omits 
all  mention  of  this  heroic  and  effective  service. 

t  Statement  forwarded  by  Supreme  government 
of  India  to  Court  of  Directors. 

I  Kussell.— 2Vmes,  February  24th,  1859. 

§  Statement  forwarded  by  Supreme  government 
to  Court  of  Directors. 

II  Mr.  Shepherd,  writing  from  memory,  gives  the 
following  classification  of  the  besieged,  whose 
total   number    he  places  at  900.     The  European 


possible,  on  account  of  the  extremely  limited 
space.  The  official,  or  semi-official,  account§ 
states,  that  "there  was  a  large  number  of 
Europeans  resident  in  cantonments,  many  of 
whom  were  individuals  connected  with  the 
civil,  railway,  canal,  and  other  departments. 
There  were,  also,  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
soldiers'  families  of  H.M.  32nd,  which ' 
was  stationed  at  Lucknow.  The  whole 
number  of  the  European  population,  there- 
fore, in  Cawnpoor — men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren— could  not  have  amounted  to  less  than 
750  lives."  The  number  of  Eurasians,  of 
pensioners  and  natives  attached  to  the 
British,  within  the  camp,  is  nowhere  offi- 
cially stated ;  II  those  who  resided  in  the  city, 
or  were  excluded  from  the  intrenchment  for 
want  of  space,  were  among  the  earliest  of 
the  Nana's  victims. 

Lieutenant  Delafosse  has  recorded  some 
terrible  scenes,  to  wiiich  he  was  an  eye- 
witness during  the  siege;  his  only  consola- 
tion under  such  distressing  circumstances 
being,  that  he  had  no  relatives,  especially 
no  female  relatives,  to  grieve  or  tremble  for. 
He  describes  one  poor  woman,  named  White, 
as  walking  in  the  trenches  beside  her  hus- 
band, carrying  her  twin  infants.  The  party 
was  fired  on,  the  father  killed,  and  the  mo- 
ther's arms  were  both  broken.  The  children 
fell  to  the  ground,  one  of  them  wounded ;  'and 
the  mother  flung  herself  on  the  ground  beside 
them.  Again — an  ayah,  who  had  remained 
with  her  mistress,  was  sitting,  as  she  thought, 
safely  under  the  walls  of  the  barrack,  when 
suddenly  she  was  knocked  over  by  a  round 
shot,  and  both  her  legs  carried  away.  The 
child,  though  hurled  from  lier  arms,  was 
taken  up  uninjured. 

One  poor  lady  was  hit  by  a  ball,  which 
entered  the  face  near  the  nostril,  and 
passed  through  the  palate  and  jaw.  Her 
daughter,  also  severely  injured  in  the  shoul- 
der, forgetting  her  own  sufi'ering,  was  seen 
striving  to  alleviate  the  greater  agony  en- 
dured by  her  mother.  They  both  died  from 
their  wounds.^  Notwithstanding  all  this 
misery,  we  are  assured  "  there  was  not  one 

troojjs  (already  enumerated)  he  estimates  at  210; 
officers  of  the  three  Native  infantry,  cavalry,  and 
others,  with  the  staff,  100;  merchants,  writers,  and 
others,  about  100 ;  drummers,  about  40 ;  women  and 
children  of  soldiers,  about  160;  women  of  writers, 
merchants,  and  drummers,  120;  ladies  and  children 
of  officers,  50;  servants,  cooks,  and  others,  after  a 
great  number  had  absconded  on  hearing  the  enemy's 
guns  firing,  100;  sick  sepoys  and  Native  officers 
who  remained  with  us,  20. 
^  Statement  of  Lieutenant  Thomson. 


LAST  LETTERS  FROM  CAWNPOOR— JUNE,  1857. 


257 


instance   of  dejection    through   cowardice. 

i  The  very  children  seemed  inspired  with 
heroic  patience,  and  our  women  behaved 
with  a  fortitude  that  only  Englishwomen 
could  have  shown."*  The  pangs  of  hunger 
even  were  not  wanting  to  complete  the 
misery  of  the  besieged.  "  One  poor  woman, 
who  was  in  a  wretched  state,  bordering  on 
starvation,  was  seen  to  go  out  of  the  protec- 
tion of  the  trenches,  with  a  child  in  each 
hand,  and  stand  where  the  fire  was  heaviest, 
hoping  that  some  bullet  might  relieve  her 
and  her  little  ones  from  the  troubles  they 
were  enduring.  But  she  was  brought  back, 
poor  thing  !  to  die  a  more  tedious  death 
than  she  had  intended. "f 

The  sufferings  of  the  soldiers'  wives  and 
children  must  have  been  fearful.     After  the 

!  burning  of  the  thatched  barracks,  many  of 
them  had  to  remain  in  the  trenches  night 
and  day. 

Up  to  the  very  last  the  besieged  kept  up 
some  communication  with  Lucknow,  through 
the  fidelity  and  courage  of  native  messen- 
gers. Major  Vibart,  in  a  letter  dated  "  Sun- 
day night,  12  P.M.,  21st  June,"  writes — 

"This  evening,  in  three  hours,  upwards  of  thirty 
shells  were  thrown  into  the  intrenchment.  This 
has  occurred  daily  for  the  last  eight  days :  an  idea 
may  be  formed  of  our  casualties,  and  how  little  pro- 
tection the  barracks  afford  to  women.  Any  aid,  to 
be  effective,  must  be  immediate.  In  the  event  of 
rain  falling,  our  position  would  be  untenable.  Ac- 
cording to  telegraphic  despatches  received  previous 
to  the  outbreak,  1,000  Europeans  were  to  have  been 
here  on  the  14th.  This  force  may  be  on  its  way  up. 
Any  assistance  you  can  send  might  co-operate  with 
it.  Nine-pounder  ammunition,  chiefly  cartridges,  is 
required.  Should  the  above  force  arrive,  we  can,  in 
return,  insure  the  safety  of  Lucknow.  »  •  • 
We  have  lost  about  a  third  of  our  original  number. 
The  enemy  are  strongest  in  artillery.  They  appear 
not  to  have  more  than  400  or  600  infantry.  They 
move  their  guns  with  great  difficulty  on  account 
of  the  unbroken  bullocks.  The  infantry  are  great 
cowards,  and  easily  repulsed."| 

This  appears  to  have  been  the  last  offi- 
cial letter  received  from  Cawnpoor.  It 
was  conveyed  by  means  of  messengers  re- 
tained by  Mr.  Gubbins,  before  the  blockade 
of  Lucknow.  The  men,  thirty  in  number, 
were  all  "  Passees" — a  numerous  class  in 
Oude,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows.  They 
hire  themselves  out,  sometimes  singly,  some- 
times in  parties,  and  have  the  character  of 
being  very  faithful  servants  to  their  em- 
ployers, but  otherwise  arrant  thieves.  §  The 
Passees  contrived   to  cross  the  Gauges  at 

•  Statement  of  Lieutenant  Thomson, 
t  Statement  of  Lieutenant  Delafosse. 
i  Gubbins'  3Iutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  444. 
VOL.  II.  2    L 


Cawnpoor,  though  the  ferry  was  strictly 
guarded  by  the  enemy  j  and  conveyed  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence's  despatches  into  Sir 
Hugh  Wheeler's  camp,  and  returned  with 
his  replies.  II  Mr.  Gubbins  states,  that  it 
was  understood  that  a  private  messenger 
from  Sir  Hugh,  had  delivered  to  Sir  Henry, 
a  day  or  two  after  the  arrival  of  Major 
Vibart's  letter,  a  packet  containing  a  me- 
morandum of  Sir  Hugh's  last  wishes,  written 
when  escape  seemed  hopeless.^  Still  later, 
a  private  letter  from  Lieut.-colonel  Wiggins 
to  Colonel  Halford,  dated  "  Cawnpoor,  24th 
June,  1857,"  after  acknowledging  the 
receipt  of  the  colonel's  "  most  welcome  letter 
of  the  21st,"  and  the  cleverness  of  the 
bearer,  proceeds  to  describe  Nana  Sahib's 
attack  as  having  "  continued  now  for  eigh- 
teen days  and  nights."  The  condition  of 
misery  experienced  by  the  besieged,  is  de- 
clared to  be  "utterly  beyond  description. 
Death  and  mutilation,  in  all  their  forms  of 
horror,  have  been  daily  before  us.  The  nume- 
rical amount  of  casualties  has  been  frightful. 
Among  our  casualties  from  sickness,"  the 
writer  adds,  "  my  poor  dear  wife  and  infant 
have  been  numbered.  The  former  sank  on 
the  12th,  and  the  latter  on  the  19th.  I  am 
writing  this  on  the  floor,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  greatest  dirt,  noise,  and  confusion."  In 
conclusion,  he  urges  the  immediate  dispatch 
of  "  deux  cents  soldats  Britanniques."** 

It  is  probable  that  the  unvarying  confi- 
dence expressed  by  the  beleaguered  Eu- 
ropeans at  Cawnpoor,  that  200  British  sol- 
diers would  suffice  to  raise  the  siege,  and 
enable  them  to  disperse  thrice  as  many 
thousand  well-armed  and  well-supplied  foes 
by  whom  they  were  hemmed  in,  had  some 
effect  in  inducing  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  to 
proceed  on  the  disastrous  Chinhut  expedi- 
tion. Early  on  the  28th  of  June,  Colonel 
Master  (7th  light  cavalry)  received  a  sci-ap  of 
paper  from  his  son,  Lieutenant  Master,  53rd 
N.L,  conveyed  through  some  private  (native) 
channel.     The  few  lines  it  contained  were 

these : — 

"  Cawnpoor,  June  25th,  8|  P.M. 
"We  have  held  out  now  for  twenty-one  days, 
under  a  tremendous  fire.  The  rajah  of  Bithoor  has 
offered  to  forward  us  in  safety  to  Allahabad,  and  the 
general  has  accepted  his  terms.  I  am  all  right, 
though  twice  wounded.  Charlotte  Newnham  and 
Bella  Blair  are  dead.  I'll  write  from  Allahabad. 
God  bless  you ! 

"Your  affectionate  son, 

"  G.  A.  Master." 

§  Sleeman's  Journey  through  Oude,  vol.  i.,  p.  25. 

II  Gubbins'  3Iutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  150. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  174.  ••  Ibid.,  p.  445. 


258 


CAWNPOOR  INTRENCHMENT— JUNE  24th,  1857. 


It  was  too  true.  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  with 
his  brave  and  gentle  companions,  had  in- 
deed given  themselves  over  into  the  hand  of 
their  deadly  foe.  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  at 
once  anticipated  treachery;  and,  judging 
by  the  event,  it  would  have  been  better  to 
have  held  out  to  the  last  extremity,  and  to 
have  starved  within  the  trenches,  or  been 
shot  down  or  cut  in  pieces  there,  than  to  have 
capitulated  to  such  pitiless  wretches  as  the 
besiegers  subsequently  proved  themselves 
to  be.  At  that  time,  however,  no  one  had 
any  adequate  conception  of  the  ruthlessness 
of  the  monster  with  whom  they  had  to  do. 

Mr.  Shepherd  mentions  some  interesting 
particulars  regarding  the  crisis  of  the  siege, 
in  the  Account  already  quoted. 

"  Many  persons  [he  states]  were  exceedingly  anxious 
to  get  out  of  the  intrenchment  and  go  into  the  city, 
thinking,  from  want  of  better  information,  that  they 
would  be  very  secure  there  :  in  fact,  several  went  out 
quietly  in  the  night  under  this  impression,  and,  as  I 
afterwards  learnt,  were  murdered  by  the  rebels. 

"  Among  others,  my  own  family  (consisting  of 
wife  and  a  daughter,  my  infant  daughter  having 
died  from  a  musket-shot  in  the  head  on  the  18th), 
two  nieces,  Misses  Frost  and  Batavia,  both  of  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  a  sister,  and  her  infant  son, 
a  brother  twenty-two  years  old,  and  two  old  ladies, 
wished  very  much  to  leave,  but  could  not  do  so  on 
account  of  our  large  number.  It  was  therefore  con- 
sidered expedient  that  one  should  go  and  ascertain 
how  matters  stood  in  the  city. 

"  With  this  view  I  applied  to  the  general,  on  the 
24th  of  June,  for  permission  to  go,  at  the  same  time 
offering  to  bring  him  all  the  current  information 
that  I  might  collect  in  the  city,  asking,  as  a  con- 
dition, that  on  my  return,  if  I  should  wish  it,  my 
family  might  be  allowed  to  leave  the  intrenchment. 
This  my  request  was  granted,  as  the  general  wisiied 
very  much  to  get  such  information,  and  for  which 
purpose  he  had  previously  sent  out  two  or  three 
natives  at  different  times,  under  promises  of  high 
rewards,  but  who  never  returned.  He  at  the  same 
time  instructed  me  to  try  and  negotiate  with  certain 
influential  parties  in  the  city,  so  as  to  bring  about  a 
rupture  among  the  rebels,  and  cause  them  to  leave 
off  annoying  us,  authorising  me  to  offer  a  lac  of 
rupees  as  a  reward,  with  handsome  pensions  for  life, 
to  any  person  who  would  bring  about  such  a  thing. 
This,  I  have  every  reason  to  think,  could  have  been 
carried  out  successfully,  had  it  pleased  God  to  take 
me  out  unmolested  ;  but  it  was  not  so  ordained  (it 
was  merely  a  means,  under  God's  providence,  to  save 
me  from  sharing  the  fate  of  the  rest) ;  for  as  I  came 
out  of  the  intrenchment  disguised  as  a  native  cook, 
and,  passing  through  the  new  unfinished  barracks, 
had  not  gone  very  far  when  I  was  taken  a  prisoner, 
and  under  custody  of  four  sepoys  and  a  couple  of 
sowars,  all  well  armed,  was  escorted  to  the  camp  of 
the  Nana,  and  was  ordered  to  be  placed  under  a 

•  Shepherd's  Brief  Account  of  the  Outbreak  at 
Cawnpoor.—Fuxthei  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4,  1857), 
pp.  173  to  185.  r        V  .  / 

t  Gram  is  a  coarse  kind  of  grain,  commonly  used 
for  feeding  horses.    The  word  is  given  in  the  Blue 


guard :  here  several  questions  were  put  to  me  con- 
cerning our  intrenchment  (not  by  the  Nana  himself, 
but  by  some  of  his  people),  to  all  of  which  I  replied 
as  I  was  previously  instructed  by  our  general ;  for  I 
had  taken  the  precaution  of  asking  him  what  I 
should  say  in  case  I  was  taken.  My  answers  were 
not  considered  satisfactory,  and  I  was  confronted 
with  two  women-servants  who  three  days  previously 
had  been  caught  in  making  their  escape  from  the  . 
intrenchment,  and  who  gave  a  version  of  their  own, 
making  it  appear  that  the  English  were  starving  and 
not  able  to  hold  out  much  longer,  as  their  number 
was  greatly  reduced.  I,  however,  stood  firm  to  what 
I  had  first  mentioned,  and  they  did  not  know  which 
party  to  believe.  However,  they  let  us  alone.  I 
was  kept  under  custody  up  to  the  12th  of  July,  on 
which  date  my  trial  took  place,  and  1  was  sentenced 
to  three  years'  imprisonment  in  irons,  with  hard 
labour,  from  which  I  ^yas  released  by  the  European 
troops  on.  the  morning  of  the  17th  idem."* 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  unfortunate 
besieged  should  have  been  anxious  to  escape 
from  their  filthy  prison  at  almost  any  hazard. 
The  effect  of  the  intense  heat  was  aggravated 
by  the  stench  arising  from  the  dead  bodies 
of  horses  and  other  animals,  which  could 
not  be  removed ;  and  the  influx  of  flies 
added  to  the  loathsomeness  of  the  scene. 
Five  or  six  men  fell  daily  beneath  sun- 
stroke ;  but  women  and  children  sickened 
and  died  faster  still  in  an  atmosphere  satu- 
rated with  pestilential  vapours. 

Shepherd  says  that,  on  the  24th  of  July, 
"there  were  provisions  yet  left  to  keep  the 
people  alive,  on  half  rations,  for  the  next 
fifteen  or  twenty  daj's.  Of  gramf  we  had 
a  large  quantity,  and  it  formed  the  principal 
food  of  all  the  natives  with  us,  which  they 
preferred  to  otta  and  dholl,  as  it  gave  them 
no  trouble  as  regards  cooking;  for  a  little 
soaking  in  water  was  sufiicient  to  make  it 
fit  to  eat;  and  many  scrupulous  Hindoos 
lived  the  whole  period  entirely  upon  it." 

James  Stewart,  a  pensioner,  formerly  a 
Christian  drummer  in  the  56th  N.I.,  says, 
that  he  and  the  other  drummers  of  the 
three  regiments  were  charged  with  the 
removal  of  the  dead,  and  received  for  their 
subsistence  gram  and  a  glass  of  brandy 
daily.  "  The  only  article  of  food  was  gram, 
which  was  steeped  in  four  buckets,  and 
placed  in  such  a  position  that  all  could 
help  themselves."  He  also  bears  witness 
to  the  "  hourly  encouragement"  given  to 
the  besieged  by  General  Wheeler.  J 

Natives  might  exist  where  Europeans 
would  perish  of  inanition.      This  was  the 

Book  (Further  Papers,  No.  4,  p.  181),  as  "grain;" 
a  blunder  which  involves  a  material  mis-statement 
as  regards  the  position  of  the  besieged. 

X  Beposition  of  James  Stewart. — Friend  of  India, 
August  27th,  1857. 


CAPITULATION  OF  CAWNPOOR  INTRENCHMENT— JUNE  26,  1857.      259 


case  here.  Lieutenant  Thomson  asserts,  of 
liis  own  knowledge,  that  "  two  persons  died 
of  starvation  ;  a  horse  was  greedily  devoured, 
and  some  of  my  men  were  glad  to  feed  upon 
a  dog.  Our  daily  supply  of  provisions,  for 
twenty-two  days,  consisted  of  half  a  pint  of 
pea-soup  and  two  or  three  chupatties  (or 
cakes  made  of  flour) ;  these  last  being,  toge- 
ther, about  the  size  of  an  Abernethy  biscuit. 
Upon  this  diet,  which  was  served  to  all 
without  distinction — officers  and  privates, 
civilians  or  soldiers — the  garrison  was  re- 
duced to  a  company  of  spectres  long  before 
the  period  of  capitulation ;  and  when  this 
took  place  there  were  only  four  days'  rations, 
at  the  above  rate  of  supply,  in  stock." 

Lieutenant  Delafosse  asserts,  that  the 
besieged  had  been  on  half-rations  some 
days  before  the  close  of  the  siege.* 

Thus,  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  June 
found  the  besieged  hopeless  of  timely  relief, 
enduring  the  most  complicated  and  aggra- 
vated sufferings  in  a  building  the  walls  of 
which  were  honey-combed  with  shot  and 
shell,  the  doors  knocked  down  or  widely 
breached,  and  the  angles  of  the  walls  shat- 
tered by  incessant  cannonading ;  while  a  few 
splintered  rafters  alone  remained  to  show 
where  verandahs  had  once  been.  Such  was 
the  state  of  affairs  when  Nana  Sahib  sent 
a  letter  to  General  Wheeler,  some  accounts 
say  by  an  Eurasian  prisoner  named  Jacobi, 
the  wife  of  a  watchmaker;  others,  by  an 
aged  widow  named  Greenaway,  formerly 
the  proprietress  of  the  Cawnpoor  Press ;  who, 
with  her  sons  (merchants),  had  been  seized 
at  their  zemindaree  at  NujuflFghur,  sixteen 
miles  from  Cawnpoor. f  The  proposal  for 
surrender  was  thus  worded  : — 

"All  soldiers  and  others  unconnected 
with  the  acts  of  Lord  Dalhousie,  who  will 
lay  down  their  arms  and  give  themselves  up, 
shall  be  spared  and  sent  to  Allahabad."J 

General  Wheeler  consulted  with  his  officers 
how  to  act.  He  was  himself  decidedly  un- 
willing to  surrender,  and  the  younger  soldiers 
advocated  resistance  to  the  last ;  but  Captain 
Moore,§  whose  fortitude  (for  it  was  a  higher 
quality   than   courage)    was    unquestioned, 

•  Times,  October  15th,  1857. 

t  Shepherd's  Account ;  Diary  of  the  Nunna  Na- 
wab ;  and  summary  of  events  published  in  Times, 
October  15th,  1857. 

I  Statement  sent  by  Supreme  government  to  Court 
of  Directors. 

§  The  wife  of  Captain  Moore  was  with  him  in  the 
intrenchment. 

II  These  and  other  important  facts  are  enumerated 
in  Captain  (formerly  Lieutenant)  Mowbray  Thom- 


and  who  was  the  very  life-sinews  of  the  be- 
leaguered band,  represented  strongly  the 
state  of  the  ladies  and  others  maddened  by 
suffering;  reminded  the  general,  that  at 
least  half  their  small  force  had  fallen  in  the 
intrenchment;  and  that  out  of  fifty-nine 
artillerymen,  all  but  four  or  five  had  been 
killed  at  their  guns.||  These  arguments 
were  iri-esistible ;  Sir  Hugh  reluctantly  gave 
way,  and  empowered  Captain  Moore  to  con- 
sent to  the  proffered  arrangement.  The  next 
steps  are  not  clear.  According  to  one  ac- 
count, Mrs.  Greenaway  appears  to  have  re- 
turned to  the  Nana,  and  reported  the  suc- 
cess of  her  mission ;  whereupon  she  was  again 
sent  to  the  intrenchment,  accompanied  by 
Azim  Oollah  and  another  ringleader,  styled 
Jowlah  Persaud.  Colonel  Ewart  subse- 
quently came  to  the  camp  of  the  Nana,  ac- 
companied by  other  Europeans.^ 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  meeting 
was  not  held  within  the  intrenchment,  but 
in  the  unfinished  barracks  outside.  Azim 
Oollah,  it  is  alleged,  attempted  to  open  the 
conversation  in  English,  but  was  prevented 
from  doing  so  by  some  of  the  Mussulman 
troopers  of  the  2nd  light  cavalry,  who  ac- 
companied him.** 

The  treaty,  signed  on  the  evening  of  the 
26th,  stipulated,  "  That  the  garrison  should 
give  up  their  guns,  ammunition,  and  trea- 
sure ;  should  be  allowed  to  carry  their  mus- 
kets and  sixty  rounds  of  cartridges  with 
them ;  that  the  Nana  should  provide  carriage 
for  the  sick,  wounded,  women  and  children, 
to  the  river's  bank,  where  boats  should  be  in 
readiness  to  convey  all  to  Allahabad."  A 
committee  of  officers  and  gentlemen  went 
to  the  ghaut  to  see  whether  the  necessary 
preparations  were  being  made,  and  found 
everything  in  readiness. ft  The  besieged 
were  eager  to  breathe  purer  air  than  that 
of  a  prison  which  had  become  almost  a 
charnel-house.  It  appears  that,  after  the 
capitulation,  they  were  allowed  to  walk 
freely  out  of  the  intrenchment,  and  that 
they  strolled  about  the  neighbourhood  that 
evening.Jf  The  thought  of  their  approach- 
ing deliverance  must  have  been  embittered 

son's  letter  to  the  Times,  dated  Sept.  8th,  1838; 
written  in  contradiction  of  the  mis-statements  put 
forward  in  the  name  of  Sergeant  Murray's  widow. 

«[  Statement  of  the  Nunna  Nawab. 

•*  Shepherd's  Account. — Further  Pari.  Papers 
(No.  4),  p.  181. 

tt  Statement  of  Lieutenant  Thomson. 

II  Russell  mentions  this  circumstance  as  having 
been  told  him  "  by  Sir  John  Inglis,  on  the  authority 
of  the  excellent  chaplain,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Moore." 


260 


FIRST  CAWNPOOR  MASSACRE— JUNE  27th,  1857. 


by  grief  for  those  whom  tliey  expected  to 
leave  behind  in  that  terrible  burying-place 
the  dry  well.  They  little  thought  how  soon 
their  own  bleeding  bodies  would  find  a 
similar  destination. 

Of  those  whose  names  have  been  men- 
tioned in  the  course  of  the  narrative,  few,  if 
any,  but  must  have  lost  some  dear  friend  or 
relative.     The  son  of  the  general  (Lieute- 
nant Godfrey  Richard  Wheeler,  of  the  1st 
N.I.)  had  been  killed  by  a  round  shot,  while 
lying  wounded  by  his  mother's  side  ;*  Mrs. 
Ewart  had  seen  her  husband  badly  wounded, 
and    her    friend    (Mrs.    Hillersdon)     sink, 
with  her   child,  of  fever   and   exhaustion ; 
Brigadier  Jack  had  died  of  fever,  and  Sir 
George  Parker,  Bart,    (magistrate),  of  sun- 
stroke.    The  total  number  of  those  who  had 
perished  is  not  recorded ;    but  Lieutenant 
Thomson    states   positively,    "we  lost  250 
men   in  the   intrenchment,   principally   by 
shells;"    and  women   and  children  fell  by 
this  means,  as  well  as  by  disease.     Probably, 
therefore,  not  half  the  number  of  Europeans 
(750)  who  had  entered  the  intrenchment, 
left  it  on  the  fatal  morning  of  the  27th  of 
June ;  and  of  the  number  of  half-castes  and 
natives  who  perished  with  and  for  the  Eu- 
-  ropeans,  no  estimate  has  been  formed. f     It 
was  about  8  a.m.  when  the  British  reached 
the  landing-place,  situated  a  mile  and  a-half 
from  the  station.     Breakfast  was  laid  out  as 
had  been  arranged,  and  the  embarkation  was 
carried  on  without  hindrance  or  hesitation. 
The  Europeans  laid   down   their  muskets, 
and  took  off  their  coats.     Some  of  the  boats 
(thirty  in  all)  pushed  off  from  the  shore ;  and 
the  others  were  striving  to  get  free  from  the 
sand  in  which  they  had  been  purposely  im- 
bedded, when,  at  a  prearranged  signal,  the 
boatmen  sprang  into  the  water,  leaving  fire 
in  the  thatches  of  the  boats;  and  two  guns, 
before  hidden,  were  run  out  and  opened  on 
the  Europeans.     The  men,  says  Lieutenant 
Delafosse,  jumped  out  of  the  boats;   and, 
instead  of  trying  to*  free  them  from  their 
moorings,  swam  to  the  first  boat  they  saw 
loose.     A  remark  in  Lieutenant  Thomson's 
narrative  shows  that  the  attempt  was  un- 
successfully made.     He  states — "  When  the 
boat  I  first   took   shelter   in  was   fired,   I 
jumped  out,  with  the  rest,  into  the  water, 
and  tried  to  drag  her  off  the  sand-bank,  but 
to  no  purpose;  so  I  deserted  her,  and  made 
across  the  river  to  the  Oude  side,  where  I 

•  Memoir  of  Rev.  H.  S.  Polehampton,  p.  315. 
t  "It  is  reported  that  the  persons  who  came  out 
that  moming  from  the  intrenchment,  amounted  to 


saw  two  of  our  boats."  A  third  boat  got 
safe  over  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  river; 
but  all  three  were  met  there  by  two  field- 
pieces,  guarded  by  a  number  of  cavalry  and 
infantry.  One  of  these  boats  was  early 
swamped,  and  a  round  shot  went  through 
the  second  of  them  before  it  had  proceeded 
a  mile  down  the  stream.  The  passengers  were 
then  taken  on  board  the  third  boat,  which, 
with  a  freight  of  fifty  persons,  continued 
its  way  for  five  or  six  miles,  followed,  on 
the  Oude  side,  by  about  2,000  mutineers 
(infantry  and  cavalry),  with  two  guns. 
Captains  Moore  and  Ashe  (the  leaders  of 
the  defence),  Lieutenant-colonel  Wiggins, 
and  Lieutenants  Burney,  Glanville,  Satch- 
well,  and  Bassilico,  were  killed ;  Major 
Vibart,  Captain  Turner,  Lieutenants  Thom- 
son, Fagan,  Mainwaring,  and  a  youth 
named  Henderson,  were  wounded.  The 
boat  grounded  about  nightfall ;  but  the 
Europeans  managed  to  get  once  more  afloat, 
and  to  distance  their  pursuers,  who  followed 
along  shore  with  torches  and  lighted  arrows, 
trying  to  set  the  boat  on  fire ;  and  so  nearly 
succeeding,  that  the  Europeans  were  com- 
pelled to  throw  overboard  the  thatched 
covering  which  had  shielded  them  from  the 
sun  and  rain.  On  the  following  day  the 
boat  again  grounded  on  a  sand-bank  at  Nu- 
jufi'ghur;  and  here  Captain  Whiting,  Lieu- 
tenant Harrison,  and  several  privates  were 
killed.  Captain  Turner  was  hit  a  second 
time.  Captain  Seppings  was  wounded,  as 
was  also  his  wife  (the  only  female  mentioned 
as  having  accompanied  this  party),  and 
Lieutenants  Daniel  and  Quin.  A  storm 
came  on,  and  drove  the  boat  down  stream, 
until  it  again  stuck  at  Soorajpoor,  where, 
at  daylight  on  the  Monday  morning,  the 
fugitives  were  discovered  and  attacked  by 
the  retainers  of  a  hostile  zemindar.  Lieu- 
tenants Thomson  and  Delafosse,  with  twelve 
men,  went  on  shore  to  drive  back  their 
assailants,  and  thus  enable  their  companions 
to  get  off  the  boat.  This  they  did  most 
effectually ;  but,  proceeding  too  far  inland, 
they  were  surrounded,  and,  being  hotly 
pressed,  lost  sight  of  the  boat,  and  were 
forced  to  take  refuge  in  a  small  temple  on 
the  river-bank.  At  the  door  of  the  temple  one 
of  the  party  was  killed  :  the  remaining  thir- 
teen, after  vainly  attempting  a  parley,  had 
recourse  to  their  firelocks,  and  several  of 
the  enemy  were  soon  killed  or  put  hors  de 

450." — Shepherd's  Account.  How  many  Eurasians 
or  natives  may  have  been  included  in  the  capitulation, 
is  matter  of  conjecture. 


EUROPEANS  WHO  ESCAPED  FROM  CAWNPOOR— JUNE,  1857.    261 


combat.  The  rebels  then  brought  a  gun  to 
bear  on  the  little  stronghold;  but  finding  that 
it  made  no  impression,  they  had  recourse 
to  heaping  up  firewood  before  the  doorway. 
Unfortunately  the  temple  was  round,  so 
that  the  party  within  could  not  prevent 
their  pushing  the  wood  round  to  the  front. 
The  fire,  however,  did  not  have  the  desired 
effect ;  handfuls  of  powder  were  therefore 
thrown  upon  it ;  and  the  smoke  thereby 
produced  nearly  stifled  the  Europeans,  who 
determined  to  sally  forth  and  make  for  the 
river.  On  their  charging  out  of  the  temple, 
the  enemy  fled  in  all  directions.  Six  of  the 
party  (it  is  supposed  because  they  could 
not  swim)  ran  into  the  crowd,  and  sold  their 
lives  as  dearly  as  they  could ;  the  remaining 
seven  threw  themselves  into  the  Ganges. 
Two  of  these  were  shot  ere  long;  a  third, 
resting  himself  by  swimming  on  his  back, 
unwittingly  approached  too  close  to  the 
bank,  and  was  cut  up ;  and  the  other  four 
swam  six  miles  down  the  river,  three  of  them 
being  wounded,  till  at  last  the  weary  Euro- 
peans were  hailed  by  two  or  three  sepoys 
belonging  to  a  friendly  chief,  who  proved 
to  be  Maharajah  Deeg  Beejah  Sing,  of  Bys- 
warrah  in  Oude.  Exhausted  by  a  three  days' 
fast,  and  conceiving,  from  the  freedom  from 
pursuit  that  they  had  experienced  during 
the  last  half  mile  of  their  flight  that  they 
were  safe,  the  fugitives  at  once  went  to  the 
rajah,  who  protected  and  fed  them  from  the 
29th  of  June  to  the  28th  of  July,  and  ulti- 
mately provided  for  their  escort  to  the  camp 
of  a  detachment  of  Europeans  proceeding 
from  Allahabad  to  Cawnpoor,  to  join  the 
force  under  the  command  of  Brigadier-gen- 
eral Havelock.*  Lieutenant  Thomson  speaks 
of  the  avidity  with  which  he  and  his  compa- 
nions devoured  the  "  capital  meal  of  dholl 
and  chupatties,"  given  them  by  the  friendly 
rajah ;  and  he  remarks,  that  "  to  swim  six 
miles  is  a  great  feat  to  accomplish  at 
any  time ;  but,  after  a  three  days'  fast,  it 
really  must  sound  very  like  an  impossibility. 
Nevertheless  it  is  true  1" 

It  appears  that  all  the  boats  were  brought 
back  to  Cawnpoor :  and  of  the  passengers, 
"  many  were  killed  at  once ;  others,  the 
wives  and  children  of  the  European  officers 
and  soldiers,  were  placed  as  prisoners  in  a 
house  in  the  cantonments :  some  of  these 
were    released    from    their    sufferings    by 

•  Statement  sent  by  Supreme  government,    t  Ibid. 
X  A  Lieutenant  Brown  escaped  from  another  boat, 
but  perished  from  exhaustion. 

§  Galliez'  regiment.     Introductory  Chapter,  p.  99. 


death  ;  others  were  suffered  to  remain  alive 
until  the  arrival  of  the  force  under  General 
Havelock  sealed  their  death-warrant."t 
Among  the  persons  who  escaped  from  the 
boats  were  James  Stewart,  pensioner,  56th 
N.I.,  whose  deposition  has  been  already 
quoted,  and  who,  with  his  wife  and  a  Mrs. 
Lett,  scrambled  to  shore  from  a  foundering 
boat,  and  contrived  to  find  their  way  to 
Allahabad.  Mrs.  Murray,  a  sergeant's  wife, 
also  escaped.  J 

Concerning  the  actual  massacre,  much 
interesting  information  has  been  sup- 
plied by  Myoor  Tewarree,  a  sepoy  of  the 
1st  N.I.,  a  man  of  considerable  intelli- 
gence and  proved  fidelity.  When  the 
mutiny  broke  out  at  Cawnpoor,  Myoor 
Tewarree  was  with  three  companies  of  his 
regiment  at  Banda.  He  had  been  in- 
structed in  the  English  language  by  Mr. 
Duncan,  a  writer;  and,  on  the  outbreak 
there,  he  concealed  Mr.  Duncan  and  liis 
wife  in  his  hut,  and  thus  saved  their  lives. 
This  act  brought  on  him  the  suspicion  of 
his  comrades ;  and  when  he  marched  with 
them  into  Cawnpoor,  he  was  seized  by  the 
Nana,  robbed  of  all  he  possessed,  and  im^ 
prisoned,  with  four  other  suspected  sepoys, 
in  the  same  house  with  the  Europeans. 

He  declares,  that  when  the  Nana's 
treachery  became  apparent,  the  boat  with 
General  Wheeler  and  his  family  on  board, 
cut  its  cable,  and  dropped  down  the  river, 
followed  by  two  companies  of  infantry  and 
two  guns.  At  some  little  distance  from 
Cawnpoor  the  boat  grounded,  was  over- 
taken, and  fired  on.  The  traitors  "  could 
not  manage  the  large  gun,  not  knowing 
how  to  work  the  elevating  screw;"  but, 
with  the  small  gun,  they  fired  grape  tied 
I  up  in  bags,  and  the  infantry  discharged 
I  their  muskets.  The  Europeans  responded 
;  with  their  rifles  so  effectually  that  they 
drove  off  the  sepoys,  and  the  storna  which 
came  on  that  night  floated  them  off  the 
sand-bank.  They  had,  however,  proceeded 
only  a  few  miles  before  they  were  over- 
taken by  several  boatsful  of  Oude  infantry, 
surrounded,  and  taken  back  captives  to 
Cawnpoor.  Fifty  gentlemen,  twenty-five 
ladies,  a  boy  and  three  girls,  were  brought 
on  shore.  The  Nana  ordered  the  "  mem- 
sahibs"  to  be  separated  from  the  sahibs, 
and  shot  by  the  1st  N.I.  But  the  "Gillies 
Pultun,"§  the  oldest  regiment  in  the  ser- 
vice, hardened  as  it  had  l)ecome  in  mutiny, 
I  refused  to  take  part  in  the  savage  butchery. 
j  The  men  said,  "  We  will  not  shoot  Wheeler 


262 


FIRST  MASSACRE  AT  CAWNPOOR— 27th  JUNE,  1857. 


Sahib,  who  has  made  the  name  of  our 
Pultun  great,  and  whose  son  is  our  quarter- 
master; neither  will  we  shoot  the  other 
gentlemen  [sahib-logue]  :  put  them  in 
prison."  But  the  Oude  sepoys  said,  "  Put 
them  in  prison?  No;  we  will  kill  them 
all."  The  male  Europeans  were  then  made 
to  sit  on  the  ground,  and  two  companies  of 
sepoys  prepared  to  fire  on  them,  when  one 
of  the  ladies  (the  wife  of  either  the  super- 
intending surgeon  or  medical  storekeeper) 
rushed  to  her  husband,  and  sitting  down 
beside  him,  placed  her  arm  round  his  waist, 
declaring,  that  if  he  must  die,  she  would 
die  with  him.  The  other  ladies  followed  her 
example ;  and  all  sat  down  close  to  their  hus- 
bands, who  said,  "  Go,  go ;"  and  vainly  strove 
to  drive  their  wives  away.  The  Nana  then 
directed  the  sepoys  to  part  them  by  force, 
which  was  done ;  "  but  they  could  not  pull 
away  the  doctor's  wife,  who  there  remained. 
Then,  just  as  the  sepoys  were  going  to 
fire,  the  padre  [Moncrieff  was  dead]  called 
out  to  the  Nana,  and  requested  leave  to 
read  prayers  before  they  died.  The  Nana 
granted  it,  and  the  padre's  bonds  were 
loosed  so  far  as  to  allow  him  to  take  a  small 
book  from  his  pocket,  from  which  he  read ; 
.  but  at  this  time  one  of  the  sahibs,  who  was 
shot  in  the  arm  and  leg,  kept  crying  out  to 
the  sepoys,  '  If  you  mean  to  kill  us,  why 
don't  you  set  about  it ;  be  quick,  and  get 
the  work  done  at  once  ;  why  delay?'  After 
the  padre  read  a  few  prayers,  he  shut  the 
book,  and  the  sahibs  shook  hands  all  round. 
Then  the  sepoys  fired.  One  sahib  rolled 
one  way,  and  one  another ;  but  they  were 
not  dead,  only  wounded.  Then  they  went 
and  finished  them  with  their  swords." 
After  this,  the  whole  of  the  women  and 
children,  including  those  taken  out  of  the 
other  boats,  to  the  number  of  122,  were 
taken  away  to  the  house  formerly  used  by 
the  Europeans  as  an  hospital,  and  after- 
wards inhabited  by  the  Nana. 

Myoor  Tewarree  was  asked,  "  Were  any 
of  the  women  dishonoured?"  He  replied, 
"  No,  none  that  I  am  aware  of,  except  in 
the  case  of  General  Wheeler's  younger 
daughter;  and  about  her  I  am  not  certain. 
When  the  rebels  were  taking  the  mem- 
sahibs  out  of  the  boat,  a  sowar  (cavalry 
man)  took  her  away  with  him  to  his  house. 

•  Evidence  taken  at  the  Cawnpoor  camp,  August 
16th,  1651.— Friend  of  India,  September  3rd,  1857. 

+  Shepherd  states,  that  a  young  lady,  "  reported  to 
be  General  Wheeler's  daughter,"  had  been  seized  by 
a  gowar,  ^nd  killed  four  persons  and  herself:  but 


She  went  quietly;  but  at  night  she  rose 
and  got  hold  of  the  sowar's  sword.  He  was 
asleep;  his  wife,  his  son,  and  his  mother- 
in-law  were  sleeping  in  the  house  with  him. 
She  killed  them  all  with  the  sword,  and 
then  she  went  and  threw  herself  down  the 
well  behind  the  house.  In  the  morning, 
when  people  came  and  found  the  dead  in  ' 
the  house,  the  cry  was,  'Who  has  done  this  ?' 
Then  a  neighbour  said,  that  in  the  night  he 
had  seen  some  one  go  and  throw  himself 
into  the  well.  They  went  and  looked,  and 
there  was  Missee  Baba,  dead  and  swollen."* 
That  a  young  girl  should  kill  two  men 
and  two  women  with  a  sword,  is  so  glaringly 
improbable,  that  the  wide  circulation  of  this 
story,  and  its  repeated  assertion  as  a  fact,t 
only  proves  the  credulity  with  which  all  ru- 
mours, however  wild  and  improbable,  are  re- 
ceived when  they  fall  in  with  the  prevailing 
tone  of  the  public  mind.  But  the  evidence 
of  another  survivor  and  eye-witness  of  the 
Cawnpoor  massacre,  corroborates  the  first 
part  of  the  story,  as  regards  the  seizure 
of  Miss  Wheeler  by  a  trooper.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  year  1858,  a  half-caste  Christian, 
named  Fitchett,  or  Fitchrelt,  presented  him- 
self to  the  local  authorities  at  Meerut,  as  a 
candidate  for  admission  into  the  police  levy. 
The  usual  inquiries  into  his  antecedents,  led 
to  the  discovery  that,  when  the  mutiny 
broke  out  at  Cawnpoor,  he  had  been  a 
musician  in  the  band  of  one  of  the  native 
regiments,  and  his  life  had  been  spared 
in  consequence  of  his  proclaiming  his 
willingness  to  embrace  Mohammedanism, 
which  he  did  by  an  easy  process,  almost 
on  the  spot.  He  was  enrolled  in  the  rebel 
force,  and  witnessed  the  second  massacre — 
that  of  the  women  and  children — on  the 
16th  of  July ;  which  cannot  be  narrated 
until  the  events  which  precipitated,  if  they 
did  not  cause  it,  have  been  told,  and  like- 
wise the  arrival  of  the  Futtehghur  fugitives, 
to  swell  the  list  of  the  Nana's  victims. 
When  the  Nana  fled  to  Futtehghur,  Fitchett 
accompanied  him  thither;  and  he  declares 
that  he  frequently  saw  Miss  Wheeler ;  that 
she  travelled  with  a  trooper  who  had  taken 
her  from  Cawnpoor;  and  that  he  was  shown 
into  the  room  where  she  was,  and  ordered 
to  read  extracts  from  the  English  news- 
papers,  which    the    rebels    received    from 

his  giving  this  as  a  matter  of  fact,  detracts  from  the 
value  of  his  general  evidence,  except  regarding 
matters  which  he  actually  witnessed;  and  he  was 
a  prisoner  at  the  time  of  both  the  first  and  second 
Cawnpoor  massacres. 


FATE  OP  MISS  WHEELER. 


263 


Calcutta;  he  being  employed  by  them  for 
the  purpose  of  translating  the  news,  in 
which,  particularly  that  relating  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  war  in  China,  they  evinced 
much  interest.  She  had  a  horse  with  an 
English  side-saddle,  which  the  trooper  had 
procured  for  her,  and  she  rode  close  beside 
him,  with  her  face  veiled,  along  the  line 
of  march.  When  the  British  approached 
Futtehghur,  orders  were  sent  to  the  sowar 
to  give  Miss  Wheeler  up ;  but  he  escaped 
with  her  at  night,  and  it  is  supposed  she 
went  with  him  to  Calpee.  Mr.  Russell, 
writing  in  October,  1858,  remarks — "It  is 
not  at  all  improbable  that  the  unfortunate 
young  lady  may  be  still  alive,  moving  about 
with  Tantia  Topee,  and  may  yet  be  res- 
cued."* 

Two  other  girls,  British  or  Eurasian, 
survived  the  Cawnpoor  massacre.  Georgiana 
Anderson,  aged  thirteen,  received  a  sword- 
cut  on  the  shoulder,  but  was  rescued  by 
a  native  doctor.  All  her  relatives  at  the 
station  were  murdered.  She  lived  among 
the  natives,  kindly  nursed  and  cared  for, 
during  several  weeks ;  at  the  expiration  of 
which  time  she  was  sent  safely  into  Cawn- 
poor, then  reoccupied  by  the  British,  and  is 
now  living  with  her  grandmother  at  Mon- 
ghyr.  The  other  girl,  aged  sixteen,  was 
less  fortunate ;  and  her  name  is  withheld  by 
Mr.  Russell,  who  instituted  inquiries  into  i 
the  truth  of  her  story,  as  published  in  the 
Times ;  the  results  of  which  partly  corrobo- 
rated and  partly  confuted  her  statements. 
"She  is,"  he  writes,  "the  daughter  of  a 
clerk ;  and  is,  I  believe,  an  Eurasian,  or  has 
some  Eurasian  blood  in  her  veins.  It  would 
be  cruel  to  give. her  name,  though  the  shame 
is  not  her's.  She  was  obliged  to  travel 
about  with  a  sowar ;  and,  to  escape  persecu- 
tion, became  a  Mohammedan."t 

This  is  apparently  the  person  whose 
narrative  was  published  by  Dr.  Knighton, 
of  the  College,  Ewell,  Surrey.  Her  account 
of  her  escape  is,  that  after  seeing  Kirkpa- 
trick  (an  Eurasian  merchant  of  Cawnpoor) 
and  two  little  girls  murdered  in  the  boat, 
on  the  deck  of  which  she  was  standing,  and 
being  herself  rudely  searched  and  robbed  of 
the  money  and  jewels  she  had  brought  from 
the  barracks,  she  grew  dizzy  and  fell  down. 
The  mutineers  flung  her  into  the  river;  she 
scrambled  on  shore,  and  crept  along  on  her 
hands  and  knees  till  she  reached  a  tree 
about  half  a  mile  inland.  Soon,  stealthy 
steps  approached  the  spot.  They  were 
•  Times,  Dec.  8th,  1858.     f  Hid.,  Feb.  24th,  1859. 


those  of  Miss  Wheeler,  who  had  also  been 
thrown  into  the  river,  the  murderous  sepoys 
thinking  that,  being  insensible,  she  would 
sink  to  the  bottom.  In  about  an  hour  the 
fugitives  were  surprised  by  a  party  of  the 
mutineers,  and  dragged  off  in  different 
directions.  What  became  of  Miss  Wheeler 
does  not  appear  from  this  narrative,  but  the 
other  unfortunate  was  dragged  along  till 
her  clothes  were  almost  entirely  torn  off; 
and  her  appeal  for  mercy  to  the  troopers, 
was  answered  by  a  declaration  that  she  had 
not  long  to  live;  but  before  being  put  to 
death,  she  would  be  made  to  feel  some  por- 
tion of  the  degradation  their  brethren  felt 
at  Meerut,  when  ironed  and  disgraced  before 
the  troops.  After  four  hours'  walking,  she 
arrived  at  a  place  very  near  Bithoor,  where 
some  of  the  enemy  were  encamped.  Here 
she  sank  on  the  ground,  overcome  with 
shame  and  exhaustion,  while  the  heartless 
sepoys  gathered  round  with  mockery  and 
reviling.  An  African  eunuch,  who  had 
just  brought  some  despatches  from  Ahmed- 
Oollah,  the  Moolvee  of  Fyzabad,  to  Nana 
Sahib,  interfered  for  her  protection;  and, 
throwing  a  chuddur,  or  large  uative  veil 
over  her,  had  her  conducted  to  a  tent.  She 
saw  no  more  of  him  till  she  went  to  Luck- 
now,  and  was  compelled  to  accompany  the 
rebels  in  their  progress  through  the  North- 
West  Provinces.  She  was  at  length  re- 
leased, and  found  her  way  to  Calcutta, 
where  she  is  now  living  with  her  friends. 

And  here  we  may  close  the  record  of  the 
first  Cawnpoor  massacre,  and  turn  to  the 
scarcely  less  painful  examination  of  the 
causes  which  delayed  the  arrival  of  forces 
from  Calcutta,  to  a  period  when  the  brave 
defenders  of  Cawnpoor,  heart-sick  with  hope 
deferred,  had  surrendered  to  their  trea- 
cherous foe,  with  the  hitter  pang  added 
to  their  sufferings,  that  when  (as  they  con- 
curred in  declaring)  200  Europeans  might 
have  saved  them,  government  had  made 
no  effort  to  send  troops  with  the  speed  be- 
fitting an  errand  of  life  or  death,  but  had 
treated  the  agonising  appeal  for  "  aid,  aid, 
aid  ["  much  in  the  same  tone  as  that  in 
which  Mr.  Colvin  had  been  reproved  for 
enacting,  on  his  own  responsibility,  a  mea- 
sure which  he  thought  might  arrest,  in  its 
early  stage,  the  avalanche  of  mutiny  and 
massacre;  but  which  the  governor-general 
in  council,  taking  a  serenely  distant  view  of 
the  matter,  blamed  as  manifesting  "  un- 
necessary haste."J 

I  See  page  188,  ante. 


364 


DELAY  AT  CALCUTTA  LOST  CAWNPOOR. 


In  vain  the  leading  men  in  the  North- 
Westeru  Provinces  had  combined  in  re- 
iterating in  successive  telegrams — "  Time  is 
everything."  "  Spare  no  expense  in  sending 
reirforcements  to  Allahabad  and  Cawnpoor." 
The  Supreme  government  moved  with  the 
utmost  deliberation,  maintaining,  to  the 
last  possible  moment,  the  position  of  dig- 
nified incredulity  with  which  t^iey  had 
received  the  information  of  mutiny  at  Bar- 
rackpoor  in  the  early  spring  of  1857;  treat- 
ing the  most  reasonable  alarm  as  "  a  ground- 
less panic,"  and  being  beaten  inch  by  inch 
oft'  the  field  of  indolent  security;  even  the 
capture  and  retention  of  Delhi  by  the  rebels, 
being  insufficient  to  rouse  them  to  the  con- 
viction of  the  imminent  danger  of  the  Eu- 
ropeans at  other  stations,  especially  those 
most  richly  stored  and  weakly  defended. 
The  wretched  incapacity  manifested  at 
Meerut,  was  at  length  appreciated  at  Cal- 
cutta, and  General  Hewitt  was  superseded. 
Now,  it  is  pretty  generally  admitted,  that 
had  either  of  the  Lawrences,  Montgomery 
or  Colvin,  Herbert,  Edwardes,  or  Nicholson 
— anybody  acquainted  with  the  native  cha- 
racter, whether  pro-native  or  anti-native 
in  their  tone — been  in  authority  at  Meerut, 
that  cruel  court-martial  sentence  would 
never  have  been  ratified ;  and  the  presiding 
officer  would  not  have  written  to  a  friend 
that  night — "  The  court  is  over,  and  those 
fellows  have  got  ten  years  a-piece.  You 
will  hear  of  no  more  mutinies."*  These 
flippant  words  stand  out  in  terrible  contrast 
to  the  cries  for  mercy  uttered  by  English- 
men and  Englishwomen,  and  refused  on  the 


plea  of  the  tyrannical  sentence,  the  felon's 
irons ;  adjudged  as  the  penalty  of  what  they 
deemed  devotion  to  religious  duty  and  main- 
tenance of  social  rights,  for  both  are  united 
in  that  much  misapplied  word — caste. 

The  Calcutta  despatches  prove  that  the 
authorities  there  were  not  blind  to  the  infa- 
tuation which  produced  the  Meerut  out- 
break, or  the  incapacity  which  prevented 
its  suppression.  The  "thirty  troopers  who 
revolutionised  India,"  became  a  bye-word; 
and  the  Meerut  authorities  were  severely 
censured  for  not  instantly  sending  off  a 
portion  of  the  European  troops,  if  not 
to  maintain  Delhi,  at  least  to  rescue  their 
countrywomen  and  the  children.  Yet  the 
Indian  journals  assert,  that  the  blame  at- 
tached to  the  Meerut  authorities  for  having 
been  so  panic-struck  by  the  eff'ect  of  their 
own  act,  that  they  folded  their  hands  quietly, 
while,  as  they  had  every  reason  to  anticipate, 
a  most  unequal  struggle  was  taking  place 
within  a  three  hours'  ride  of  them — is  equally 
attributable  to  the  Supreme  government,  not 
only  for  leaving  Delhi  without  so  much  as  a 
European  company  to  close  its  gates,  but 
for  not  sending  speedy  reinforcements  to 
Cawnpoor,  when,  by  a  vigorous  effort,  2,000 
men  might  have  been  dispatched  there  in 
time  to  raise  the  siege  and  to  deliver  the 
whole  beleaguered  band,  instead  of  being  the 
immediate  cause  of  a  massacre  more  terrible 
than  that  already  related. 

From  the  facts  enumerated  in  the  follow- 
ing chapter,  the  reader  will  judge  how  far 
the  Supreme  government  can  be  justly  re- 
probated for  culpable  delay. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CALCUTTA  AND  BARRACKPOOR.— MAY  AND  JUNE,  1857. 


At  Calcutta,  the  government  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  European  population  and 
press  almost  unanimously  on  the  other, 
took  an  opposite  view  of  affairs.  The  gov- 
ernor and  council    disbelieved   in  the  ex- 

*  See  a  history  of  the  Bengal  Mutinies,  dated 
"Umballah,  August,  1867,"  and  introduced  in  the 
Timee,  as  the  production  of  "  a  gentleman  whose 
acquirements,  experience,  and  position,  admirably 
qualify  him   for  the   work   of  observation  and  re- 


istence  of  any  general  disaffection  either 
among  the  troops  or  the  people,  which  was 
a  natural  opinion  for  the  party  responsible 
for  having  caused,  or  at  least  not  striven  to 
remove,  the  alleged  discontent,  to  abide  by 

view."— JiVnes,  October  24th,  1857.  This  authority 
remarks,  that  the  Native  officers  who  composed  the 
court-martial  were  as  obedient  as  usual,  but  that 
every  one  of  them  was  said  to  have  been  murdered 
during  the  outbreak. 


EUROPEAN  TROOPS  ASSEMBLED  AT  CALCUTTA— JUNE  10th,  1857.    265 


as  long  as  possible :  the  European  citizens, 
on  the  contrary,  accepted  General  Hearsey's 
conclusions  to  their  fullest  extent,  and  went 
far  beyond  them,  believing  that  an  organised 
conspiracy  had  been  concocted  by  the  Mo- 
hammedans, and  assented  to  by  the  Hindoos, 
civil  and  military  (or  rather  military. and 
civil),  for  the  extermination  of  the  British. 
The  one  party  exposed  the  fallacies  of  the 
other;  while  both  misinterpreted  the  signs 
of  the  times,  being  far  too  prejudiced  re- 
garding the  cause  of  the  outbreak,  to  adopt 
vigorous  measures  for  its  suppression  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment,  and  with  the 
smallest  possible  waste  of  gold  and  silver 
and  of  human  life. 

The  public  journals  advocated  the  forma- 
tion of  volunteer  corps;  and  the  Trades' 
Association  offered  their  services  to  gov- 
ernment, either  as  special  constables,  or  in 
any  other  manner  that  might  seem  desirable 
for  "the  preservation  of  order,  and  the 
protection  of  the  Christian  community  of 
Calcutta."  The  Masonic  fraternity,  the 
Americans,  and  French  inhabitants  of  Cal- 
cutta, the  British  Indian  Association,  with 
all  the  leading  Mohammedans  and  Hindoos, 
followed  the  example;  but  the  proffered  co- 
operation was  refused  by  government  on  the 
ground  of  its  being  unnecessary,  no  general 
disaffection  having  been  evinced  by  the 
Bengal  sepoys.  Writing  on  the  25th  of 
May,  the  governor-general  in  council  avers, 
that  "  the  mischief  caused  by  a  passing  and 
groundless  panic  has  been  arrested ;  and 
there  is  every  reason  to  hope  that,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  days,  tranquillity  and  con- 
fidence will  be  restored."* 

Another  body,  the  native  Christians  of 
Krishnaghur,  proffered  their  services,  and 
begged  to  be  employed,  themselves,  their 
carts  and  bullocks,  in  carrying  stores  to  the 
seat  of  war.  Only  those  acquainted  with 
the  miserable  deficiencies  of  the  Indian 
commissariat,  can  understand  the  value  or 
full  meaning  of  the  offer;  yet  the  volun- 
teers were  refused  any  public  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  loyalty  by  the  governor-gen- 
eral, on  the  ground  that  they  had  volun- 
teered as  Christians,  not  as  subjects. f  With 
strange  perversity,  the  Supreme  government 
trampled  on  caste  with  one  foot,  and  ou 
Christianity  with  the  other.  For  the  needless, 
heedless  offence  given  to  caste,  concessions 

*  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutinies,  1857  (No.  2). 
t  Asserted  by  Lord  Shaftesbury  at  Exeter  Hall, 
January  5th,  1858. 

VOL.  II.  2  M 


were  made  by  the  governor-general  as  by  the 
commander-in-chief,  long  after  the  eleventh 
hour,  by  a  proclamation  which,  in  each  case, 
"  fell  to  the  ground  a  blunted  weapon." 
On  the  29th  of  May,  the  military  secretary, 
Colonel  Birch,  issued  his  first  and  only 
proclamation  to  the  army  on  the  subject 
of  the  greased  cartridges.  An  officer,  then 
at  Calcutta,  who  certainly  cannot  be  ac- 
cused of  advocating  uudue  regard  to  native 
feelings  or  prejudices,  says,  had  this  state- 
ment been  published  in  January,  it  would 
in  all  probability  have  beeu  effective ;  but 
Colonel  Birch  and  the  government  were 
dumb  at  that  time.  Yet  at  the  close  of  May, 
"when  every  word  falling  from  government 
was  liable  to  be  misconstrued,  a  full  and 
complete  explanation  was  offered  regarding 
the  substitution  of  the  Enfield  rifle  for 
Brown  Bess,  and  the  whole  question  of  the 
greased  cartridges  !J  Alas,  for  that  terrible 
'Too  late!'  which  attaches  itself  as  the 
motto  of  statesmen  without  prescience  or 
genius,  of  little  men  in  great  positions  !"§ 

Lord  Canning  certainly  deserves  credit 
for  the  promptitude  with  which  he  acted  on 
the  suggestions  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence, 
and  all  the  leading  functionaries  in  the 
North- West,  of  gathering  together  Euro- 
pean troops  with  all  speed  from  every  possi- 
ble quarter.  Bombay,  Madras,  and  Ceylon 
were  sent  to  for  troops,  and  a  steamer  was 
dispatched  to  the  Straits  of  Sunda,  to 
intercept  the  Chinese  expedition.  In  the 
latter  end  of  May,  and  the  beginning  of 
June,  reinforcements  entered  Calcutta  in 
rapid  succession.  The  well-known  1st 
Fusiliers  hastened  from  Madras,  the  64th 
and  78th  Highlanders  from  Persia,  the  35th 
from  Moulmein ;  a  wing  of  the  37th,  and  a 
company  of  royal  artillery,  from  Ceylon. 
By  the  10th  of  June,  3,400  men  were  at 
the  orders  of  the  governor-general,  inde- 
pendent of  H.M.  53rd  in  Fort  William, 
800  strong;  from  1,500  to  2,000  sailors,  and 
all  the  European  inhabitants  who  had  ten- 
dered their  services. 

The  conduct  of  the  authorities  was  alto- 
gether unaccountable.  Instead  of  being 
glad  to  notify  the  arrival  of  these  rein- 
forcements, and  to  strengthen  the  hands  of 
the  well-disposed,  confirm  the  allegiance  of 
the  waverers,  and  overawe  incipient  mutiny, 
the  European  troops  were,  it  is  alleged  by 


t  For  government  circular,  .see  Appendix,  p.  340. 
§  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army  :  by  One  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  73. 


266         DELAY  IN  SENDING  TROOPS  TO  CAWNPOOR— MAY,  1857. 


the  writer  recently  quoted,  smuggled  in 
like  contraband  goods.  "For  instance," 
he  adds,  "if  it  were  known  that  the  Auck- 
land, or  some  other  war  steamer,  was 
bringing  troops,  and  the  public  were  in 
consequence  naturally  on  the  tiptoe  of  ex- 
citement respecting  lier,  orders  would  be 
transmitted,  that  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Auckland,  the  telegraph  should  announce 
the  Sarah  Sands,  or  a  similar  noin-de- 
guerre.  The  ship  thus  came  up  unnoticed ; 
the  troops  generally  landed  in  the  dark, 
and  were  smuggled  into  the  fort."* 

On  the  24th  of  May,  the  governor-gen- 
eral informed  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  in  reply 
to  his  urgent  solicitations  on  behalf  of 
Cawnpoor,  that  it  was  impossible  to  place  a 
wing  of  Europeans  there  in  less  time  than 
twenty-five  days.t  Sir  Henry  was  far  from 
being  convinced  of  the  impossibility  of  the 
measure :  moreover,  he  was  not  silenced  by 
Lord  Canning's  explicit  statement  of  what 
could  and  could  not  be  done ;  and,  on  re- 
ceiving it,  he  instantly  sent  off  another 
telegram  in  the  following  words : — 

"  I  strongly  advise  that  as  many  ekka 
ddks  be  laid  as  possible  from  Raueegunje 
to  Cawnpoor,  to  bring  up  European  troops. 
Spare  no  expense. "{ 

The  director-general  of  post-offices  at 
Raueegunje,  having  probably  been  informed 
of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence's  opinion,  sent  a 
telegram  to  Calcutta  on  the  same  day 
(May  26th),  in  which  he  remarks — "  Ekkas 
are  not,  I  think,  adapted  for  Europeans, 
nor  do  I  think  that  time  would  be 
gained."§ 

On  the  27th  of  May,  the  secretary  to 
government  sent  off  two  telegrams,  each 
dated  8.30  p.m.  One  of  these  conveyed ■ 
the  thanks  of  the  governor-general  in 
council  to  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  for  "  his 
very  effective  exertions,"  and  assured  him 
"  that  no  measures  had  been  neglected  to 
give  him  aid;"  The  other  curtly  informed 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence — "Every  horse  and 
carriage,  bullock  and  cart,  which  could 
be  brought  upon  the  road,  has  been  col- 
lected, and  no  means  of  increasing  the 
number  will  be  neglected." || 

The  special  point  of  the  previous  tele- 

•  "  One  who  has  served  under  Sir  Charles 
Napier,"  gives  as  his  authority,  "  personal  observa- 
tion, the  telegraphic  reports,  and  the  notice  of  the 
circumstance  by  the  local  press." — (p.  99). 

t  Telegram,  .May  24th,  1857. — ^Appendix  to  Pari. 
Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  313. 

J  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  322. 


gram — namely,  the  ekkas — is  slurred  over; 
and  it  appears  as  if  the  Calcutta  authorities 
were  not  a  little  annoyed  by  the  perpetual 
jogs  on  the  elbow  of  their  subordinates  in 
the  North- West,  and  were  more  inclined  to 
accept  the  dictum  of  the  "  post-master- 
gene'ral,"  which  accorded  with  their  own 
ideas  of  "possibility,"  than  by  strenuous 
efforts  to  comply  with  the  earnest  appeals 
of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  and  Sir  Hugh 
Wheeler.  Yet  Lord  Canning,  in  his  in- 
structions to  the  army  then  only  advancing 
against  Delhi,  does  not  fail  to  enforce  the 
point  so  vainly  pressed  on  him.  "  Time  is 
everything,"  he  writes  to  the  commander- 
in-chief,  "  and  I  beg  you  to  make  short 
work  of  Delhi."  The  commander-in-chief 
naight,  with  good  reason,  have  retaliated 
by  entreating  the  governor-general  to 
strengthen  his  hands  by  making  "short 
work"  of  Cawnpoor. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  public  and 
press  of  Calcutta  were  extremely  dissatis- 
fied at  the  proceedings  of  the  government, 
and  severely  censured  the  supineness  to 
which  they  deemed  the  fate  of  Cawnpoor 
attributable,  notwithstanding  the  unexpected 
detention  of  the  Fusiliers  at  Allahabad. 

The  then  acting  editor  of  the  Friend  of 
India,  has  written  a  small  volume  on  the 
mutiny,  in  which  he  thus  states  what  was 
probably  the  popular  view  of  the  ques- 
tion : — 

"  A  thousand  English  volunteer  infantry,  400 
cavalrj',  and  1,500  sailors,  were  at  the  disposal  of 
government  a  week  after  the  revolt  became  known. 
*  *  *  The  waters  of  the  Ganges  do  not  rise 
until  the  latter  end  of  June;  and  it  would  have 
been  scarcely  advisable  to  push  troops  up  by  that 
route  so  long  as  there  was  a  prospect  that  the 
vessels  might  get  aground. 

"  The  railway  and  the  road  offered  the  greatest 
facilities  for  the  transit  of  men,  guns  and  stores; 
and  both  were  in  the  best  condition.  The  line  was 
opened  to  Itaneegunje,  120  miles  from  Calcutta ; 
and,  up  to  that  point,  there  was  no  difficulty  in  send- 
ing a  couple  of  regiments  by  a  single  train.  •  Whilst 
the  volunteers  were  learning  how  to  load  and  fire, 
and  the  merchant  seamen  were  being  instructed  in 
the  use  of  artillery,  government  miglit  have  placed 
on  the  road,  from  the  terminus  to  Cawnpoor,  a  line 
of  stations  for  horses  and  bullocks,  at  intervals  of 
five  miles,  guarded,  if  necessary,  by  posts  of  armed 
men;  the  streets' and  the  course  of  Calcutta  could 

This  telegram  is  twice  printed  in  the  course  of  three 
pages.  The  first  lime  (p.  322),  the  word  "  ekas"  (coun- 
try cart)  is  given  incorrectly;  the  second,  it  is  printed 
as  "extra" — of  course  entirely  altering  the  meaning. 
The  value  of  the  Papers  printed  for  Parliament  is  seri- 
ously diminished  by  the  frequency  of  these  blunders. 
§  Ibid.,  p.  329.  II  Ibid.,  p.  324. 


VOLUNTEER  GUARD  ENROLLED— CALCUTTA,  JUNE  14th  1857. 


!  have  supplied  any  number  of  horses.  There  were 
1,600  siege  bullocks  at  Allahabad,  and  600  at  Cawn- 
poor;  carriages  and  commissariat  stores  of  all  kinds 
might  have  been  collected,  for  the  use  of  a  division, 
with  seven  days'  hard  work ;  and  had  government 
only  consented  to  do,  just  a  fortnight  beforehand, 
what  they  were  coerced  to  do  on  the  14th  of  June, 
they  might  have  had,  on  the  first  day  of  that  month, 
a  force  of  2,000  Europeans  at  Raneegunje,  fully 
equipped  with  guns  and  stores,  the  infantry  capable 
of  being  pushed  on  at  the  rate  of  120  miles  a-day, 
and  the  artillery,  drawn  by  horses,  elephants,  and 
bullocks,  in  turns,  following  at  a  speed  of  two  miles 
an  hour,  day  and  night."* 

The  Friend  of  India  avers,  that  a  column 
of  500  men  might  safely  have  left  Calcutta, 
and  reached  Cawnpoor,  by  the  8th  of  June 
at  latest ;  and  the  guns,  escorted  by  half  a 
wing  of  a  European  regiment,  might  have 
joined  them  seven  days  afterwards. 

The  news  from  the  North-West  Pro- 
vinces at  length  convinced  the  Calcutta 
government,  that  if  they  desired  to  have 
territory  left  to  rule  over,  it  was  necessary 
to  adopt  measures  for  its  defence.  The 
Calcutta  volunteers  were  given  to  under- 
stand that  their  services  would  now  be 
accepted;  but,  according  to  their  own  tes- 
timony, the  majority  suffered  a  feeling  of 
pique,  at  the  previous  refusal,  to  outweigh 
their  sense  of  public  duty ;  and,  "  in  conse- 
quence of  the  discouragement  offered  by 
the  government,  only  800  were  enrolled 
in  the  Volunteer  Guard,  horse  and  foot; 
whereas,  had  their  first  proposition  been 
accepted,  the  number  would  have  amounted 
to  between  three  and  four  tliousaiid."t 

On  the  following  day,  the  unpopularity  of 
Lord  Canning  was  brought  to  its  climax  by 
the  enactment  of  a  law  involving  the  re- 
institution  of  the  licensing  system,  and  a 
rigid  censorship  of  the  press  {English  and 
native),  for  the  ensuing  twelve  months.  The 
reasons  for  this  measure  have  been  alreadv 
stated, J  and  need  not  be  recapitulated  here. 
Great  excitement  was  occasioned ;  and  the 
infraction  of  the  liberty  of  the  press — that  is, 
the  European  portion  of  it — was  loudly  de- 
nounced. The  English  journalists  were,  of 
course,  quite  convinced  of  the  necessity  of 
arresting  the  torrent  of  sedition  poured 
forth  by  the  native  papers;  but  they  could 
not  see  the  slightest  necessity,  notwith- 
standing the  imminent  danger  with  which 
they  professed  to  believe  Calcutta  menaced, 
for  placing  any  check  upon  the  abuse  which 

*  Mead's  Sepoy  lieviitt,  p.  84. 
t  Calcutta  petition  to  the  Queen,  for  the  recall  of 
Lord  Canning. 

X  Introductory  Chapter,  p.  22. 


was  daily  poured  forth  on  the  government, 
collectively  and  individually,  nor  on  the 
fierce  invectives  against  the  natives  of  India 
generally,  which  the  government  foresaw 
might  goad  the  entire  population  into  re- 
bellion. The  angry  journalists  expected  to 
find  great  sympathy  in  England;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  the  necessity  of  the  measure 
was  generally  appreciated  by  both  parlia- 
ment and  the  press. 

The  Arms  Act,  passed  at  the  same 
time,  was  another  and  equally  unreasonable 
cause  of  dissatisfaction.  The  extreme  anti- 
native  party  in  Calcutta  had  pressed  for  the 
establishment  of  martial  law,  which  the 
government  had  wisely  refused.  It  was 
then  urged  that  there  had  been  an  unusual 
importation  of  arms  into  Calcutta,  and  that 
purchases  of  these  had  been  largely  made 
by  natives.  An  act  was  therefore  passed, 
empowering  the  government  to  demand 
from  the  inhabitants  of  any  district  a  list 
of  the  arms  each  man  possessed,  with  a 
view  to  the  granting  of  a  licence  for  the 
retention  of  any  reasonable  amount.  Lord 
Grey,  in  vindicating  the  "impartial  policy 
of  the  Arms  Act,"  intimated  that  "it  had 
been  resorted  to  from  sheer  necessity,  and 
to  prevent  a  trade  which  might,  and  there 
was  no  doubt  would,  have  been  carried  on  be- 
tween the  natives  and  some  bad  Europeans, 
had  the  latter  been  allowed  to  possess  arms 
to  any  extent."  Lord  Granville  stated,  that 
a  suggestion  had  been  made  to  Lord  Can- 
ning that  Christians  should  be  exempted 
from  the  Act ;  but  he  had  most  properly 
felt  that,  since  many  of  the  native  rajahs, 
zemindars,  and  their  retainers,  had  exposed 
their  lives  and  property  in  order  to  stand 
by  the  cause  of  the  government,  any  act 
subjecting  them  to  a  disarmament  from 
which  all  Europeans  and  Christians  were 
expressly  exempted,  would  have  been  a 
most  unwise  and  impolitic  measure.  In 
the  course  of  the  same  debate.  Lord  Ellen- 
borongh  likened  "our  position  in  India  to 
that  of  the  Normans  in  Saxon  England," 
and  declared  that  the  Anglo-Indians  must, 
for  a  time  at  least,  "  assume  the  appearance 
of  an  armed  militia."  The  comparison  and 
phraseology  were  altogether  unfortunate. 
The  cases  are  totally  dissimilar :  and  even 
passing  over  the  anomaly  of  a  so-called 
armed  militia  maintaining  a  military  des- 
potism over  180  millions  of  disaffectetl  sub- 
jects, the  prospect  thus  opened  is  hardly  a 
pleasant  one  for  the  British  merchants  and 
traders,  who  look  to  India  for  an  increased 


268 


RESTRICTION  OP  THE  PRESS— JUNE,  1857. 


outlet  for  their  commerce,  and  hope  to  find 
their  hands  strengthened  by  receiving  the 
valuable  products  which  she  could  so  cheaply 
and  so  plentifully  supply,  provided  only  her 
rulers  can  manage  to  govern  her  peacefully, 
and  employ  her  revenues  in  developing  her 
resources,  and  irrigating  her  fertile  plains 
with '  the  fair  water  of  her  noble  rivers, 
instead  of  deluging  the  land  with  blood  and 
tears.  An  important  admission  was,  how- 
ever, made  by  Lord  Ellenborough  in  speak- 
ing of  a  provision  of  the  Press  Act,  regarding 
the  suppression  of  any  passage  in  a  public 
journal  calculated  "to  weaken  the  friend- 
ship of  native  princes  towards  us."  After 
bearing  testimony  to  the  important  results 
which  had  attended  the  fidelity  of  the 
rajahs  of  Rewah  and  Gwalior,  the  ex- 
governor-general  added,  that  if  the  Indian 
newspapers,  "in  the  spirit  which  too  much 
animates  persons  in  that  country,  had  ex- 
pressed a  hope  that,  when  our  rule  was 
re-established,  there  would  be  further  and 
further  annexations,  I  assure  you  that 
every  part  of  Central  India,  chiefs  as  well 
as  subjects,  would  have  been  in  arms 
against  us."* 

The  tone  thus  denounced  had,  however, 
been  taken  by  many  journals,  audit  was  most 
necessary  that  Lord  Caiuiiug  should  possess 
some  counteracting  power.  The  Anglo- 
Indian  papers  did  not  always  originate  in- 
cendiary articles :  they  occasionally  copied 
articles  issued  by  the  London  press,  written 
hastily  on  a  very  partial  and  prejudiced 
view  of  the  subject,  and  without  regard  to 
the  effect  likely  to  result  from  their  repro- 
duction in  India.  It  is  a  fact  that  the 
Indian  princes  study  European  politics  with 
avidity,  and  watch  their  bearing  on  Eng- 
land. Much  more  do  they  examine,  through 
the  medium  of  their  interpreters,  the  lan- 
guage held  regarding  them  in  the  English 
papers,  and  the  comments  made  thereon  by 
the  local  press. 

The  first  despatches  which  conveyed  to 
England  tidings  of  the  Meerut  and  Delhi 
catastrophe,  narrated  also  the  admiraljle 
conduct  of  Sindia  and  Holoar,  of  the  rajahs 
of  Bhurtpoor,  Jheend,  and  Putteeala.  An 
Anglo-Indian  correspondent  of  the  Times, 
mentioned  the  death  of  the  ill-used  Nizam,t 
and  the  accession  to  the  rnusnud  of  his  son, 
Afzool-ood-Dowla,  a.  prince  of  thirty  years 
of  age;  "born  to  the  purple  of  Hyderabad^ 

•  Indian  debate,  as  reported  in  Times,  December 
8lh,  1837. 

t  See  Introductory  Chapter,  p.  55. 


and    proportionately    dull,    ignorant,    and 
sensual." 

The  limes,  commenting  on  this  informa- 
tion, in  evident  ignorance  of  the  vital  im- 
portance to  the  British  government  of  the 
policy  which  might  be  adopted  by  the 
Hyderabad  durbar,  remarked — "The  fact' 
seems  to  be,  that  we  have  arrived  at  that 
point  in  our  Indian  career,  when  the  total 
subjection  of  the  native  element,  and  the 
organisation  of  all  that  we  have  conquered, 
becomes  a  matter  of  necessity.  We  have 
gone  so  far  in  the  conquest  of  the  country, 
that  it  is  now  necessary  to  complete  the 
task.  *  *  *  We  would  even  hope  that 
the  death  of  the  Nizam  may  be  the  occasion 
of  the  Deccan  being  brought  more  com- 
pletely under  British  sovereignty.  We 
cannot  now  refuse  our  part  or  change 
our  destiny.  To  retain  power  in  India,  we 
must  sweep  away  every  political  establish- 
ment and  every  social  usage  which  may 
prevent  our  influence  from  being  universal 
and  complete."! 

In  the  course  of  another  mail  or  two, 
when  the  extent  of  the  danger  became 
better  understood,  a  different  tone  was 
adopted,  as  it  was  soon  seen  that  the  native 
durbar — that  is  to  say,  the  Nizam,  under  the 
guidance  of  his  able  minister,  Salar  Jung, 
iuid  his  venerable  uncle,  Shums-ool-Omrah,§ 
had  remained  faithful  to  the  British  govern- 
ment, in  opposition  to  the  desire  of  the 
great  mass  of  his  fanatical  Mussulman  sub- 
jects. 

From  this  and  many  similar  circum- 
stances, it  seems  evident  that  an  impera- 
tive sense  of  duty  was  Lord  Canning's 
motive  in  placing  a  temporary  restriction 
on  the  press.  The  censorship  was  enacted 
only  for  a  year,  and  expired  then  without 
the  slightest  effort  being  made  for  its 
renewal.  Lords  Elphinstone  and  Harris 
earnestly  seconded  its  imposition  ;  the  Cal- 
cutta council  were  unanimous  regarding  its 
necessity :  yet  the  great  weight  of  censure 
was  poured  out  on  the  governor-general, 
who,  from  being,  "personally,  extremely 
popular,"  and  praised  as  "  a  conscientious, 
hard-working  man,  and  no  jobl)er  (a  wonder- 
ful merit  in  that  country),"  ||  became  the 
object  of  the  most  sweeping  and  unqualified 
animadversion.  Lord  Canning  conducted 
himself  with  much  dignity,  exercising  the 
censorship    he    had    felt    it    necessary    to 

X  Times,  June  29th,  1857.  §  Ibid. 

II  Speech  of  the  Earl  of  Ellenborough. — Times, 
December  8th,  1857. 


FINANCIAL  POLICY  OF  LORD  DALHOUSIE. 


269 


assume,  without  anger  and  without  fear, 
altliough  aware  that  a  petition  was  being 
framed  in  Calcutta,  addressed  to  the  Queen, 
soliciting  his  recall,  which  petition  was 
eventually  sent  to  England  by  the  hand 
of  Mr.  Mead,  the  ex-editor  of  the  Friend 
of  India — removed  from  that  office  on  the 
ground  of  his  infractions  of  the  conditions 
of  the  Press  Act. 

Among  the  difficulties  which  beset  the 
Indian  government,  not  the  least  pressing 
was  that  of  finance.  This  was  ever  a  weak 
point.  In  the  palmiest  days  of  peace,  the 
revenue  could  never  be  made,  by  British 
rulers,  to  meet  the  expenditure :  in  war, 
no  better  expedient  had  presented  itself 
than  to  inflict  on  the  helpless  people  of 
India  a  debt  similar  to  that  with  which 
England  is  biirdened.  One  of  the  ablest 
and  most  eloquent  of  living  statesmen,  has 
repeatedly  drawn  attention  to  the  unjust 
expedient  to  which  successive  governors- 
general  have  resorted,  to  supply  an  ever-re- 
curring deficit  at  the  expense  of  those  who 
are  not  allowed  to  have  any  voice  in  the 
levying  or  expenditure  of  money  which 
they  and  their  children  are  heavily  taxed 
to  supply. 

Mr.  Gladstone  denounced  the  Indian 
debt  as  being  "charged  upon  a  country 
whose  revenues  we  are  drawing  in  this  coun- 
try by  virtue  of  the  power  of  the  sword." 
But  (he  added)  "apart  from  that,  I  say  it 
is  most  unjust  that  the  executive  govern- 
ment should  have,  for  any  purpose  of  its 
own,  or  for  any  purpose  of  the  people 
of  England,  the  power  of  entailing  these 
tremendous  charges  upon  the  people  of 
India."* 

•  Times,  April  27lh,  1858. 

t  Keport  of  Indian  debate. —  Times,  July  Tth,  1858. 

j  A  London  journal,  the  Press,  November  28lli, 
1857,  lias  the  foUowinf;  remarks: — "Lord  Dalhonsie'si 
measure  sent  down  the  whole  public  funds  of  India 
from  ninety-seven,  at  which  they  stood  at  the  time, 
to  eighty  at  a  stroke.  Every  existing  fundholder 
was  therefore  irretrievably  compromised ;  and  no 
one  was  thereafter  able  to  realise  except  at  a  sacrifice 
of  from  seventeen  to  twenty  per  cent.  It  was  not, 
be  it  observed,  the  conversion  of  the  five  per  cents, 
into  fours  that  the  fundholders  complained  of;  for 
that,  by  raising  the  value  of  the  four  per  cents, 
to  par,  was  a  benefit  to  the  old  holders,  while  those 
■who  accepted  the  conversion  had  no  reason  to  com- 
plain, as  they  might,  if  they  liked,  have  taken  cash. 
To  tlie  moneyed  class  in  particular,  the  conversion 
itself  was  a  thing  almost  immaterial;  for,  as  mere 
temporary  holders,  they  cared  comparatively  little 
about  the  rate  of  interest  except  in  so  far-  as  it 
affected  the  market  price  of  their  stock.  It  was  i 
because    the    conversion — followed    dmost    imme- 1 


On  a  subsequent  occasion,  he  adverted 
indignantly  to  the  twelve  or  fifteen  mil- 
lions sterling  imposed  as  a  permanent  bur- 
den on  the  people  of  India  by  the  Afghan 
war.f 

The  manner  of  effecting  loans  in  India 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  calculated 
to  lesson  the  dissatisfaction  which  the 
wealthier  natives  could  not  but  feel  at 
being  denied  any  voice  in  their  appropria- 
tion. An  important  step  taken  by  Lord 
Dalhousie,  is  thus  described  in  his  famous 
farewell  minute.  After  stating  several  facts 
which  seemed  "  to  promise  well  for  the 
financial  prosperity  of  the  country,"  his 
lordship  adds — 

"  A  measure  which  was  carried  into  effect  in 
1853-'54,  was  calculated  to  contribute  further  to  that 
end.  During  those  years  the  five  per  cent,  debt  of 
India  was  entirely  extinguished.  Excepting  the 
payment  of  a  comparatively  small  sum  in  cash,  the 
whole  of  the  five  per  cent,  debt  was  either  converted 
into  a  four  per  cent,  debt,  or  replaced  in  tlie  open 
four  per  cent.  loan.  The  saving  of  interest  which 
was  effected  by  this  operation,  amounted  to  upwards 
of  £300,000  per  annum. 

"At  a  later  period,  by  a  combination  of  many 
unfavourable  circumstances,  which  could  not  have 
been  anticipated,  and  which  were  not  foreseen  in 
England  any  more  than  by  us  in  India,  the  govern- 
ment has  again  been  obliged  to  borrow  at  the  high 
rate  of  five  per  cent.  But  the  operation  of  1853-'54 
was  not  the  less  politic  or  less  successful  in  itself; 
while  the  financial  relief  it  afforded  was  timely  and 
efJectual." 

The  Calcutta  Chamber  of  Commerce  took 
a  different  view  of  the  matter,J  and  main- 
tained that  the  lenders  were  ill-used.  The 
government,  instead  of  having  a  large  surr 
plus  available  for  the  operation,  were,  they 
asserted,  obliged,  not  from  any  unforeseen 
causes,  but  in  the  natural  course  of  things 

diately  by  the  opening  of  a  new  five  per  cent,  loan 
at  par — made  tiiis  stock  absolutely  unsaleable,  that 
they  with  cause  complained.  It  made  it  unsaleable, 
at  least,  except  at  a  rate  of  discount  that  was  ruin  to 
them ;  and  the  consequence  has  been  to  close  the 
pocket  of  the  Indian  capitalist  to  the  government 
ever  since.  The  remedy  which  the  Indian  govern- 
ment has  endeavoured  to  apply — namely,  tliat  of 
raising  the  amount  of  interest  without  providing  for 
the  redemption  of  the  stock  that  is  thus  depreciated 
— only  aggravates  the  evil  which  it  is  meant  to  cure. 
Because,  although  the  rate  now  offered  be  sufficient 
in  itself,  it  but  the  more  assures  the  lender  of  the 
fact,  that  his  capital,  if  so  invested,  will  be  invested 
beyond  recall ;  for  if  the  Company  can  see  no  way 
to  relief  but  by  constantly  raising  its  interest,  a  five 
per  cent,  loan  must  very  soon  be  followed  by  a  six 
per  cent.,  and  a  six  per  cent,  by  a  seven  per  cent., 
as  its  wants  increase.  And  with  each  rise  in  the  rate 
of  interest  the  stock  of  the  old  holders  will  fall  in 
market  value,  and  be  utterly  unsaleable  except  at  a 
price  far  below  the  sum  which  the  owner  lent." 


270  FINANCIAL  DIFFICULTIES  OF  INDIAN  GOVERNMENT— JUNE,  1857. 


(financial  difficulty  being  the  chronic  con- 
dition of  the  Anglo-Indian  government),  im- 
mediately to  open  a  new  loan  at  five 
per  cent.  Money  to  the  amount  of  four 
millions  was  borrowed  by  government,  be- 
tween the  conversion  of  the  five  per  cent, 
into  a  four  per  cent,  debt  in  1854,  and  the 
close  of  1856,  chiefly  at  five  per  cent.,  but 
partly  at  four-and-a-half  per  cent. 

Tlie  four-and-a-half  per  cent,  loan  was 
suppressed,  and  a.  five  per  cent,  loan  opened 
in  January,  1857 — a  measure  which  gave 
rise  to  much  distrust,  and  seriously  im- 
jjcded  the  operations  of  the  executive,  when 
the  sudden  emergency  occasioned  by  the 
revolt  had  to  be  met. 

An  officer,  describing  to  a  friend  in 
England  the  state  of  aff'airs  in  Calcutta, 
12th  of  June,  1857,  says— "The  Com- 
pany's paper  is  down  very  low ;  the  new 
five  per  cent,  loan  few  subscribe  to,  and  the 
four  per  cents,  were  yesterday  at  twenty 
discount;  and  I  see,  by  the  newspaper, 
that  at  Benares  it  was  at  forty-two  dis- 
count. We  must  have  a  new  loan,  and  you 
must  give  us  the  money,  I  expect.  Out  of 
the  treasuries  alone  that  have  been  robbed, 
I  should  think  nearly  two  millions  of 
money  have  been  taken ;  and  then  fancy 
the  expense  of  the  transport  of  all  these 
Europeans."* 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  the 
Arms  and  Press  Acts  had  been  passed, 
a  message  from  Major-general  Hearsey 
reached  Calcutta,  desiring  the  aid  of  Euro- 
pean troops  to  disarm  the  Native  troops  at 
Barrackpoor,  as  he  believed  their  fidelity 
could  not  be  relied  on.  The  request  was 
immediately  complied  with ;  and,  on  the 
afternoon  of  Sunday,  the  14th,  the  sepoys 
at  Barrackpoor,  and  also  all  except  the 
body-guard  of  the  governor-general  in 
Fort  William,  Calcutta,  and  the  neighbour- 
hood, were  quietly  disarmed.  Tiie  neces- 
sity for  this  measure  must  have  greatly 
increased  Lord  Canning's  perplexities. 
Although  "  Pandyism"  had  originated  at 
Barrackpoor,  it  was  thouglit  to  have  been 
troddi'U  out  there,  and  the  government 
actually  intended  to  dispatch  troops  from 
thence  to  join  the  force  against  Delhi, 
heedless  of  the  opinion  expressed  by  Lieu- 
tenant-governor Colvin  at  Agra,  and  his 
policy  of  "  preserving  the  peace  by  not  per- 
mitting Native  troops  to  meet  and  directly 
fight    their    brethren."t     It    would    have 

*  Diary  of  officer  in  Calcutta.-- jTiHics,  Aug.  3, 185". 
t  Appendix  to  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  188. 


been  objectionable  on  the  lowest  ground 
of  expediency,  as  a  most  dangerous  experi- 
ment, to  send  men  to  fight  against  their 
countrymen,  co-religionists,  and,  in  many 
cases,  their  own  relations.  Even  sup- 
posing them  to  have  started  for  Delhi  in  all 
good  faith,  it  was  not  in  human  nature  to 
resist  such  combined  temptations  as  those 
which  would  have  met  them  on  the  road, 
or  on  reaching  their  destination.  Sooner 
or  later  they  would,  rather  than  have  fired 
on,  have  fraternised  with  their  mutinous 
comrades.  There  were  excellent  British 
officers  at  Barrackpoor;  and  they  were, 
perhaps,  disposed  to  overrate  their  own 
influence,  with  the  men.  The  accounts 
sent  to  England  by  the  Indian  government, 
do  not  clearly  show  what  intimations  were 
made  to  the  troops  to  induce  them  to 
volunteer  to  march  against  Delhi,  and  to 
use  the  new  rifle;  but  it  would  appear 
that  they  were  given  to  understand  that, 
by  so  doing,  they  would  gain  great  credit, 
and  place  themselves  beyond  suspicion. 
For  the  offer  to  march  against  Delhi,  the 
70tli  N.I.  were  thanked  by  the  governor- 
general  in  person ;  and  it  was  subsequent 
to  this  that  they  professed  their  readiness 
to  use  the  new  cartridges.  In  an  address 
to  government,  dated  June  5th,  and  for- 
warded by  the  colonel  (Kennedy)  com- 
manding the  70th  N.I.,  the  petitioners 
aver — 

"We  have  thonght  over  the  suhject;  and  as  we 
are  now  going  u])  country,  we  beg  tliat  the  new 
rifles,  about  which  there  has  been  so  much  said  in 
tlie  army  and  all  over  the  country,  may  be  served 
out  to  us.  By  using  them  in  its  service,  we  hope  to 
prove  beyond  a  doubt  our  fidelity  to  government; 
and  we  will  explain  to  all  we  meet,  that  there  is 
nothing  objectionable  in  them."J; 

The  petition  of  the  70th  N.I.  to  join  the 
force  before  Delhi,  was  read  aloud,  by  Lord 
Canning's  order,  at  the  head  of  various 
Native  corps,  and  the  effect  it  produced 
was  apparently  beneficial.  For  instance, 
the  63rd  N.I.,  at  Berhampoor,  expressed 
themselves  (in  very  English  phraseology, 
but  with  very  un-English  feeling)  "  pre- 
pared and  ready,  with  heart  and  hand,  to 
go  wherever,  and  against  whomsoever  you 
may  please  to  send  us,  should  it  even  be 
against  our  own  kinsmen."§  The  governor- 
general  in  council  desired  Major-general 
Hearsey  to  thank  the  63rd  N.l.  publicly, 
"  for   this    soldier-like    expression  of  their 

X  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (not  numbered),  p.  46. 
§  Ibid.,  p.  70. 


DISARMING  OF  BARRACKPOOR- BRIGADE— JUNE  14th,  1857. 


271 


liij'alty   and    attacLment    to    tlie    govern- 
ment."* 

The  offer  may  have  been  lionestly  made ; 
for  the  natives  are  the  veriest  children  of 
impulse;  but  few  who  kneV  them  would 
doubt  that  the  reaction  would  be  sudden 
and  strong,  and  that  mercenary  troops  so 
peculiarly  situated,  would,  when  brought 
face  to  face — father  with  son,  brother  with 
brother — lose  all  notion  of  being  "  true  to  I 
their  salt"  in  the  natural  feelings  of 
humanity.  The  very  expression  of  being 
ready  to  oppose  their  own  kinsmen,  sug- 
gests that  the  possibility  of  being  placed  in 
such  a  cruel  position  had  already  occurred 
to  them. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  a  Mussulman  of  the 
70th  N.I.  came  to  Captain  Greene,  and  the 
following  very  remarkable  conversation 
ensued  regarding  the  intended  march  from 
Barrackpoor  to  Delhi : — 

"  'Whatever  you  do,'  said  the  sepoy,  'do  not  take 
your  lady  with  you.'  I  asked  him,  'Why?'  He 
said,  '  Because  the  mind  of  the  natives,  kala  adnii 
(bhick  men),  was  now  in  a  state  of  inquietude,  and  it 
would  be  better  to  let  the  lady  remain  here  till 
everything  was  settled  in  the  countrj-,  as  there  was 
no  knowing  what  might  happen.'  On  my  asking 
him  if  he  had  any  reason  to  doubt  the  loyalty  of  the 
regiment,  he  replied,  'Who  can  tell  the  hearts  of  a 
thousand  men  ?'  He  said  that  he  believed  the 
greater  portion  of  the  men  of  the  regiment  were 
sound,  and  in  favour  of  our  rule  ;  but  that  a  few  evil 
men  might  persuade  a  number  of  good  men  to  do  an 
evil  deed. 

"  I  then  asked  him  the  meaning  of  all  this  about 
the  cartridges.  He  said, '  That  when  first  the  report 
was  spread  about,  it  was  generally  believed  by  the 
men  j  but  that  subsequently  it  had  been  a  well 
understood  thing  that  the  cartridge  question  was 
merely  raised  for  the  sake  of  exciting  the  men,  with 
a  view  of  getting  the  wliole  army  to  mutiny,  and 
thereby  upset  the  English  government;  that  they 
argued,  that  as  we  were  turned  out  of  Cabool,  and 
had  never  returned  to  that  place,  so,  if  once  we  were 
entirely  turned  out  of  India,  our  rule  would  cease, 
and  we  should  never  return.'  Such  is  the  opinion 
of  a  great  bulk  of  the  people.  A  Native  officer  also 
warned  me  that  it  would  be  better  not  to  take  up 

Mr. .     He  said  that  if  I  w  ent  he  would  sleep  by 

my  bed,  and  protect  me  with  his  own  life." 

Captain  Greene  adds,  that  a  Hindoo  had 
told  him  that  the  Mussulmans  generally,  in 
all  regiments,  were  in  the  habit  of  talking 
to  the  effect  that  their  "'nij'  was  coming 
round  again. "f 

It  is  evident,  from  the  foregoing  state- 

*  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (not  numbered),  p.  71. 

+  Hid.,  J).  8. 

X  Letter  from  Major-general  Hearsey  to  his  sister; 
dated,  "  Barrackpoor,  June  16th,  1857." — Baily 
A\wi,  August  6th,  1857. 


ment,  that  a  dangerous  degree  of  excite- 
ment existed  among  the  Barrackpoor  troops. 
Matters  were  brought  to  an  issue  by  a  re- 
port being  made  to  Colonel  Kennedy,  that 
a  man  of  the  70th  N.l.  had  been  heard  to 
say,  "Let  us  go  beyond  Pultah,  and  then 
you  will  hear  what  we  will  do."  General 
Hearsey  made  inquiries,  and  convinced 
himself  that  "some  villains  in  the  corps 
were  trying  to  incite  the  good  men  and 
true  to  mutiny."  He  endeavoured  to  per- 
suade the  men  to  find  out  and  deliver  over 
the  offenders  :  they  would  not  do  this ;  and 
he  resolved  on  disarming  the  entire  brigade 
of  four  regiments. J  The  officers  of  tke 
70th  strenuously  opposed  the  measure, 
declaring  that  "  the  reported  speech  must 
have  been  made  by  some  budmash,  and 
that  Colonel  Kennedy,  being  new  to  the 
regiment,  did  not  and  could  not  know  the 
real  and  devoted  sentiments  of  the  Native 
officers  and  men  with  respect  to  their 
fealty."§ 

The  brigadier  wisely  persisted  in  a  step 
which  must  have  been  most  painful  to 
him ;  and  he  adds,  what  will  readily  be 
believed,  that  he  spoke  "  very,  very  kindly" 
to  the  men  at  the  time  of  the  disarming. 
The  officers  of  the  70th  were  deeply  affected 
by  the  grief  evinced  by  their  men.  They 
went  to  the  lines  on  the  following  day, 
and  tried  to  comfort  them,  and  induce 
them  to  take  food.  They  found  that  the 
banyans  (native  dealers)  had,  in  some  in- 
stances, refused  to  give  further  credit, 
under  the  impression  that  the  regiment 
would  soon  be  paid  up,  and  discharged 
altogether ;  while  a  large  number  were  pre- 
paring to  desert,  in  consequence  of  a  bazaar 
report  that  handcuffs  and  manacles  had 
been  sent  for.  Captain  Greene  pleaded 
earnestly  with  Major-general  Hearsey  iu 
favour  of  the  regiment,  which  "  had  been 
for  nigh  twenty-five  years  his  pride  and  his 
home;"  declaring,  "all  of  us,  black  and  white, 
would  be  so  thankful  to  you  if  you  could 
get  us  back  our  arms,  and  send  us  away 
from  this  at  onee."|| 

Of  course  the  petition  could  not  be 
granted.  The  safety  of  such  officers  as 
these  was  far  too  valuable  to  be  thus 
risked.  Probably  their  noble  confidence, 
and  that  evinced  by  many  others  similarly 

§  Major-general  Hearsey  to  secretary  to  govern- 
ment, June  loth,  1857.— Further  Pari.  Papers  (not 
numbered),  p.  6. 

II  Letters  of  Captain  Greene  to  Major-general 
Hearsey,  June  Mth  and  15th,  1857. — Ibut.,  pp.  6.,  7. 


272  SERVICE  RENDERED  BY  EUROPEAN  OFFICERS  OF  NATIVE  CORPS. 


circumstanced,  will  be  called  sheer  infatua- 
tion, and  no  allowance  made  for  circum- 
stances under  which  zeal  might  easily  outrun 
discretion.  But  let  it  be  remembered  it  was 
their  own  lives,  nothing  more,  nothing  less, 
that  they  were  so  willing  to  hazard  losing; 
and  the  cause,  which  rendered  them  heed- 
less of  personal  danger,  was  an  absorbing 
desire  for  the  honour  of  their  corps,  the 
welfare  of  their  men,  and  the  service  of 
their  country. 

And  most  effective  has  their  devotion 
been.  No  mere  human  wisdom,  under 
whatever  specious  name  it  may  be  disguised 
— discretion,  policy,  expediency — could  have 
done  what  the  fearless  faith  of  these  gallant 
sepoy  leaders  did  to  break  the  first  shock  of 
the  mutiny,  to  stop  a  simultaneous  rising, 
to  buy,  when  "  time  was  everything,"  a  few 
weeks',  days',  hours'  respite,  at  the  cost  of 
their  life-blood.  It  was  extreme  coercion 
that  lit  the  fires  at  Meerut  and  Delhi;  it 
was  extreme  conciliation  that  saved  Simla 
and  Lucknow.  If  some  officers  carried 
their  confidence  too  far,  and  did  not  see 
that  the  time  for  conciliatory  measures 
had  for  the  moment  passed,  it  must  be 
recollected  that  they  could  not  know  the 
full  extent  of  the  secret  influences  brought 
to  bear  on  the  minds  of  their  men ;  far  less 
could  they  counteract  the  effect  of  panic 
caused,  in  repeated  instances,  by  the  cruel 
blundering  of  the  highest  local  authorities, 
where  these  happened  to  be  incapacitated 
for  the  exercise  of  sound  judgment,  by 
infirmity  of  mind  and  body  (as  has  been 
shown  at  Meerut),  or  by  the  indiscrimi- 
nating  rashness  of  a  hasty  spirit  (as  is 
alleged  to  have  been  the  case  at  Benares). 

The  panic  in  the  lines  of  the  Barrackpoor 
sepoys,  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  the  14th, 
was  far  outdone  by  that  which  seized  on 
the  minds  of  the  Calcutta  population,  in 
anticipation  of  the  possible  consequences 
of  the  measure  which,  after  all,  was  so 
peaceably  accomplished.  The  fact  of  the 
sepoys  having  allowed  themselves  to  be 
disarmed  without  resistance,  could  not  be 
denied ;  but  the  newsmongers  and  alarmists 
made  amends  for  having  no  struggle  to 
narrate,  by  enlarging  on  the  imminent 
danger  which  had  been  averted.  An  order 
had  been  given  by  the  governor-general  to 

*  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (not  numbered), 
p.  52. 

t  Illd.,  p.  59. 

X  See  Dr.  Duffs  Letters  on  India,  p.  37. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  2.      Dr.  Duff  speaks  very   decidedly 


search  the  lines,  after  the  disarming  should 
have  been  accomplished,*  for  tulwars  (na- 
tive swords),  or  other  weapons.  Brigadier 
Hearsey  did  so,  and  acquainted  the  gover- 
nor-general with  the  fact  of  the  order  having 
been  obeyed.  He  makes  no  mention  of 
any  weapons  having  been  found;  but  only 
adds — "All  quiet."t  The  description  of 
the  condition  of  the  troops  on  the  following 
day,  has  been  shown ;  as  also  the  entreaty 
of  the  oflScers  of  the  70th  N.I.,  for  the 
re-arming  of  their  regiment.  Yet  Dr.  Duff, 
writing  to  England,  says,  that  "when, 
after  disarming,  the  sepoys'  huts  were 
searched,  they  were  found  to  be  filled  with 
instruments  of  the  most  murderous  descrip- 
tion— huge  knives  of  various  shapes,  two- 
handed  swords,  poniards,  and  battle-axes ; 
many  of  the  swords  being  serrated,  and 
evidently  intended  for  the  perpetration  of 
torturing  cruelties  on  their  European  vic- 
tims— cruelties  over  which,  in  their  anticipa- 
tion, these  ruthless  savages,  while  fed  and 
nurtured  by  the  government,  had  doubtless 
fondly  gloated  !"J  Of  course,  the  official 
statements  since  laid  before  parliament, 
prove  all  this  to  be  idle  rumour;  but  it  is 
quoted  here  as  showing  what  fables  were 
accepted  as  facts,  and  indorsed  as  such  by 
men  of  note  i:i  Calcutta.  The  Europeans, 
moreover,  believed  themselves  to  have  es- 
caped, by  a  peculiar  providence,  a  plot  laid 
for  their  destruction  by  some  undetected 
Mussulman  Guy  Fawkes.  The  maharajah  of 
Gwalior  had  been  visiting  Calcutta  shortly 
before  the  mutiny,  and  had  invited  the  whole 
European  community  to  an  exhibition  of 
fireworks,  across  the  river,  at  the  Botanic 
Gardens.  The  entertainment  was  post- 
poned on  account  of  a  violent  storm  ;  and 
it  was  afterwards  alleged  that  a  scheme  had 
been  thereby  thwarted,  of  seizing  that 
night  on  Fort  William,  and  massacring  the 
Christian  community. §  New  rumours  of  a 
similar  character  were  spread  abroad  in 
every  direction.  As  at  Simla,  so  at  Cal- 
cutta, nothing  was  too  palpably  al)surd  to 
be  related  and  received  as  possible  and 
probable.  True,  the  year  1857  will  go 
down  to  posterity  as  one  of  previously  un- 
paralleled crime  and  disaster.  But  it  will 
also  take  its  place  as  a  year  of  "  canards." 
The  native  tendency  to  exaggeration  and 

on  the  subject.  He  states  that  some  of  the  conspira- 
tors underwent  the  penalty  of  death.  It  is  strange 
that  other  writers  have  not  mentioned  so  remarkable 
and  important  event,  if  anything  of  the  kind  really 
occurred. 


PANIC  AT  CALCUTTA— LORD  AND  LADY  CANNING— JUNE  14th.     273 


high  colouring  was  well  known.  Every 
Englishman  in  India,  every  educated  Euro- 
pean, must  have  learned  in  childhood  to 
appreciate  the  story-telling  propensities  of 
the  Asiatics.  The  Arabian  Nights  are  a 
standing  memorial  of  their  powers  of  ima- 
gination. In  composition  or  in  conversa- 
tion, they  adopt  a  florid,  fervid  style,  natural 
to  them,  but  bewildering  to  Europeans  in 
general,  and  peculiarly  distasteful  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  mind.  In  the  limited  in- 
tercourse between  superior  and  inferior, 
master  and  servant,  the  "  sahibs"  would  cut 
short  the  Oriental  jargon  very  quickly ; 
but  when,  in  the  fever  of  excitement, 
domestic  servants,  khitmutgars  or  ayahs,  a 
favourite  syce  (groom)  or  some  personal 
attendant,  came  full  of  a  bazaar  report  of 
horrors  perpetrated  at  stations  hundreds  of 
miles  off,  they  were  listened  to  as  if  every 
syllable  had  been  Gospel  truth  ;  and,  through 
similar  channels,  the  newspaper  columns 
were  filled  with  the  most  circumstantial 
details  of  often  imaginary,  always  exagge- 
rated, atrocities. 

Strange  that  the  experience  of  a  hundred 
years  had  had  so  little  effect  in  giving  the 
rulers  of  India  an  insight  into  native 
character,  and  in  enabling  them  to  view  the 
real  dangers  and  difficulties  of  their  posi- 
tion, unclouded  by  imaginary  evils.  But 
no  !  the  tales  of  mutilation  and  violation 
publicly  told,  and  the  still  fouler  horrors 
privately  whispered,  though  now  for  the 
most  part  denounced  and  disowned,  then 
made  many  a  brave  man  pale  with  alarm, 
as  he  looked  on  his  wife  and  children. 
Fear  is  even  more  credulous  than  hope  ;  and 
the  majority,  while  under  the  bewildering 
influence  of  excitement,  probably  believed  in 
the  alleged  abominations.  It  seems  likely, 
however,  that  some  of  the  retailers  of  these 
i  things  must  have  had  sufficient  experience 
i  of  the  untrustworthiness  of  the  hearsay 
j  evidence  on  which  they  rested,  to  under- 
stand their  true  character.  If  so,  and 
if,  indeed,  they  promulgated  lies,  knowing 
or  suspecting  them  to  be  such,  they  com- 
mitted a  deadly  sin  ;  and  on  their  heads 
rests,  in  measure,  the  blood  of  every  man 
who,  wild  with  terror,  rushed  from  the  pre- 

•  Mrs.  Coopland,  in  the  narrative  of  her  Escape 
from  Gwalior,  remarks — "  We  heard  of  the  shocking 
suicides  of  the  commodore  of  the  Mary  and  of 
General  Stalker.  The  reason  we  heard  assigned 
for  this,  both  in  the  papers  and  by  people  who  ought 
to  know,  is  that  the  climate  so  upsets  people's 
nerves,  as  to  render  them  unfit  for  any  great  ex- 
citement or  responsibility." — (p.  76.)  The  climate  can 
VOL.   II.  2  N 


sence  of  his  fellow-creatures  to  the  tribunal 
of  his  God,  or  proved,  in  the  presence 
of  assembled  heathens,  his  disbelief  in  the 
existence  of  an  ever-present  Saviour,  by 
destroying  his  wife  or  child.  Several  in- 
stances of  suicide  occurred  during  the  mu- 
tiny.* Of  wife  or  child-murder  there  are 
few,  if  any,  attested  instances ;  but  it  is 
sufficiently  terrible  to  know,  that  the  thought 
of  escaping  the  endurance  of  sufl'ering  by 
the  commission  of  sin,  was  deliberately 
sanctioned,  as  will  be  shown  by  a  subse- 
quent chapter,  even  by  ministers,  or  at 
least  by  a  minister,  of  the  Christian  religion. 

It  was  well  for  England  and  for  India, 
that  the  goveriior-geueral  was  a  man  of 
rare  moral  and  physical  courage.  No 
amount  of  energy  could  have  compensated 
for  a  want  of  self-reliance,  which  might 
have  placed  him  at  the  mercy  of  rash  ad- 
visers, and  induced  the  adoption  of  coercive 
measures  likely  to  turn  possible  rebels 
into  real  ones,  instead  of  such  as  were  calcu- 
lated to  reassure  the  timid  and  decide  the 
wavering,  by  the  attitude  of  calm  dignity 
so  important  in  a  strong  foreign  govern- 
ment. General  Mansfield,  tlien  in  Calcutta, 
wrote  home,  that  "  the  one  calm  head  in 
Calcutta  was  that  upon  Lord  Canning's 
shoulders."t  The  assertion  seems,  how- 
ever, too  sweeping.  Certainly  there  was 
another  exception.  The  viceroy's  wife  was 
as  little  susceptible  of  panic  as  her  lord,  and 
continued  to  reside  in  a  palace  guarded 
by  natives,  and  to  drive  about,  attended  by 
a  sepoy  escort,  with  a  gentle,  fearless  bear- 
ing, which  well  befitted  her  position. 

Lord  Canning  was  much  blamed  for  not 
immediately  exchanging  his  sepoy  for  a 
European  guard :  but  Earl  Granville  de- 
fended him  very  happily,  on  grounds  on 
which  the  sepoy  officers  may  equally  base 
their  justification.  "I  think,"  said  Lord 
Granville,  "  that  at  a  moment  when  great 
panic  existed  in  Calcutta,  Lord  Canning 
was  rash  in  intrusting  himself  to  troops 
whose  fidelity  might  be  suspected ;  but  it 
was  at  a  time  when  he  felt,  that  as  our 
dominion  in  India  depended  upon  the  belief 
in  our  self-confidence  and  courage,  it  was 
of  the  greatest  importance  that  the  head  of 

hardly  deserve  the  sole  blame:  suicide  is  usually 
the  termination  of  the  lives  of  persons  who  have 
habitually  disregarded  the  revealed  will  of  God, 
by  sensual  indulgence,  or  what  is  commonly  termed 
the  laws  of  nature — by  long-continued  mental  effort, 
to  the  neglect  of  their  physical  requirements. 

t  Stated  by  Earl  Granville  in  India  debate. — 
Time»,  December  8th,  1857. 


274 


AREEST  OF  KING  OF  OUDE— JUNE  15th,  1857. 


the  Europeans  in  that  country  should  not 
be  thought  to  be  deficient  iu  those  quali- 
ties. And  I  am  quite  sure,  that  among 
Englishmen  even,  too  great  au  indifference 
to  personal  danger  is  not  likely  very  long 
to  tell  against  Lord  Canning."* 

It  is  probable  that  the  governor-general 
hoped,  by  retaining  his  sepoy  guard,  to 
counteract  in  some  degree  the  dangerous 
tendency  of  the  alarm  manifested  by  his 
countrymen.  An  officer  "who  witnessed 
the  hving  panorama  of  Calcutta  on  the 
14th  of  June,"t  lias  drawn  a  lively  sketch 
of  the  prevailing  disorder  and  dismay. 

He  declares — 

"  It  was  all  but  universally  credited  that  the  Bar- 
rackpoor  brigade  was  in  full  march  against  Calcutta; 
that  the  people  in  the  suburbs  had  already  risen ; 
that  the  King  of  Oude,  with  his  followers,  were 
plundering  Garden-reach.  Those  highest  in  office 
were  the  first  to  give  the  alarm.  There  were  secre- 
taries to  government  running  over  to  members  of 
council,  loading  their  pistols,  barricading  the  doors, 
sleeping  on  sofas  ;  members  of  council  abandoning 
their  houses  with  their  families,  and  taking  refuge 
on  board  ship  :  crowds  of  lesser  celebrities,  impelled 
by  these  examples,  having  hastily  collected  their 
valuables,  were  rushing  to  the  fort,  only  loo  happy 
to  be  permitted  to  sleep  under  the  fort  guns. 
Horses,  carriages,  palanquins,  vehicles  of  every  sort 
and  kind,  were  put  into  requisition  to  convey  panic- 
stricken  fugitives  out  of  the  reach  of  imaginary 
cut-throats.  In  the  suburbs,  almost  every  house 
belonging  to  the  Christian  po|)ulation  was  aban- 
doned. Half-a-dozen  determined  fanatics  could 
have  burned  down  three  parts  of  the  town.  A  score 
of  London  thieves  would  have  made  their  fortunes 
by  plundering  the  houses  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Chowringhee  (the  patrician  quarter  of  the  city), 
which  had  been  abandoned  by  their  inmates."| 

The  writer  adds — "  It  must  in  fairness  be 
admitted,  that  whilst  his  advisers — the  pa- 
tricians of  Leadenhall-street— -were  hiding 
under  sofas,  and  secreting  themselves  in 
the  holds  of  the  vessels  in  port,  Lord  Can- 
ning himself  maintained  a  dignified  atti- 
tude." The  admission  is  worth  noting. 
It  is  only  to  be  regretted  that  other  excep- 
tions were  not  made ;  for  it  is  scarcely  pos- 
sible but  that  there  were  such.     Only,  to 

•  Stated  by  Earl  Granville  in  India  debate. — • 
Times,  December  8th,  1857. 

t  See  also  similar  statements  published  in  Indian 
correspondence  of  Times,  Daily  News,  and  other 
papers  of  .\ugust,  1857.  Ur.  Duff  says — "  The  panic 
throughout  Sunday  night  rose  to  an  inconceivable 
height.  With  the  exception  of  another  coujjle, 
Mrs.  Duff  and  myself  were  the  only  British  subjects 
in  Cornwallissquare  on  that  night." — Letters,  p.  24. 

I  Mutiny  of  the  Iletiyal  Army  :  by  One  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  105. 

§  An  officer  employed  on  the  expedition,  remarks, 
that  the  37th  wore  "the  small  forage-cap,  fit  only 


have  singled  them  out  would  have  been  to 

stigmatise  the  unnamed. 

At  daybreak  on  the  15tli  of  June,  the  King 
of  Oude,  with  Ali  Nukki  Khan,  and  other 
leading  adherents,  were  arrested,  and  lodged 
as  prisoners  in  Fort  William.  The  official 
intimation  simply  relates  the  fact,  without 
stating  the  reason  of  the  arrest,  or  the " 
manner  in  which  it  was  performed.  Private 
authorities  state  that  it  was  accomplished 
as  a  surprise.  The  force  employed  con- 
sisted of  500  men  of  H.M.  37th  foot  (which 
had  arrived  a  few  days  before  from  Ceylon, 
and  had  been  present  at  the  disarming  at 
Barrack  poor),  §  and  a  company  of  the  royal 
artillery.  Mr.  Edmonstone,  the  foreign 
secretary,  then  went  forward  to  the  resi- 
dence of  the  CK-miuister.  He  seemed 
startled  by  the  sight  of  the  soldiers,  but 
surrendered  himself  to  their  custody  without 
a  word  of  remonstrance.  His  house  was 
searched,  and  his  papers  secured.  Tlie 
party  then  proceeded  to  arrest  the  king, 
telling  him  that  the  governor-general  IkkI 
reason  to  believe  him  connected  with  the 
mutiny.  Wajid  Ali  behaved  on  this  occa- 
sion, as  on  that  of  his  deposition,  witli 
much  dignity.  Taking  off  his  jewelled 
turban,  and  placing  it  before  the  foreign 
secretary,  he  said—-"  If  I  have,  by  word, 
by  deed,  or  in  any  way  whatever  encouraged 
the  mutineers,  1  am  worthy  of  any  punish- 
ment that  can  be  devised :  I  am  ready  to 
go  wherever  the  governor-general  thinks 
fit."  The  apartments  were  then  searched; 
and,  in  the  words  of  one  of  the  officers 
engaged,  "  the  king,  his  prime  minister, 
and  the  whole  batch,  papers  and  all,  were 
seized."  II 

The  Calcutta  population  viewed  this 
measure,  which  was  simply  a  precautionary 
one,  as  undoubted  evidence  of  a  discovered 
conspiracy.  Dr.  Duff,  writing  from  Cal- 
cutta, and  deeply  imbued  with  the  fever 
of  the  time  (as  from  the  nature  of  his  rare 
gift  of  popular  eloquence  he  would  be  likely 
to  be),  enters  very  fully  into  the  subject.^ 

for  the  barrack-square  in  England,  affording  n 
protection  whatever  from  the  sun.  They  had  whilS 
jackets  on,  I  was  glad  to  see  j  but  even  then,  the 
heat  was  so  great  that  the  cross-belt  was  wet 
through  from  perspiration.  Stocks  of  course." — 
'Tiiiw.i,  August  3rd,  1857. 

II  Times— Ibid. 

^  These  letters,  addressed  to  Dr.  Twcedie,  Convener 
of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland's  Foreign  Mission 
Committee,  were  published  in  1858,  under  the  title 
of  The  Indian  liehellion ;  its  Causes  and  Results : 
and  "  the  views  and  opinions  which  they  embody," 
are  described   in  the  preface  as  "  the  ripe  residt  of 


SIR  P.  GRANT  APPOINTED  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF— JUNE,  1857.      275 


"On  Monday  morning,"  he  writes,  "the 
ex-King  of  Oude  and  his  treasonable  crew 
were  arrested,  and  safely  quartered  in  Fort 
William.  Since  then  various  parties  con- 
nected with  the  Oude  family,  and  other 
influential  Mohammedans,  have  been  ar- 
rested ;  and  on  them  have  been  found 
several  impoi'tant  documents,  tending  to 
throw  light  on  the  desperate  plans  of  trea- 
son which  have  been  seriously  projected. 
Among  others  has  been  found  a  map  of 
Calcutta,  so  sketched  out  as  to  divide  the 
whole  of  the  town  into  sections.  A  general 
rise  was  planned  to  take  place  on  the  3rd 
instant,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of 
Plassey.  The  city  was  to  be  taken,  and 
the  Feringhi  Kaffirs  [foreign  infidels],  or 
British  and  other  Christian  inhabitants,  to 
be  all  massacred.  Hereafter,  parties  who 
swore  on  the  Koran,  and  proved  that  they 
had  taken  an  active  share  in  the  butchery 
•and  pillage  of  the  Europeans,  were  to  have 
certain  sections  of  the  town  allotted  to 
them  for  their  own  special  benefit !"  All 
this,  and  much  more  of  a  similar  sort, 
Dr.  Duff  declares  to  have  been  "  timeously 
and  providentially  revealed."  That  is  to 
say,  all  this  was  firmly  believed  during  the 
panic ;  but  very  little,  if  any,  has  been 
established  by  subsequent  examination,  or 
is  now  on  record. 

Time,  the  revealer  of  secrets,  has  brought 
nothing  to  light  to  the  disparagement  of 
the  King  of  Oude.  On  the  contrary,  many 
of  the  accusations  brought  against  him 
have  been  disproved.  Impartial  observers 
assert,  that  "  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  a 
shade  of  evidence  to  connect  him  with  the 
rebellion.''*  Whether  from  his  own  con- 
victions, or  by  the  advice  of  the  queen- 
mother  (a  woman  of  unquestioned  ability), 
he  appears  to  have  steadily  adhered  to  the 
policy  which  alone  admitted  a  prospect  of 
redress — that  of  submission  under  protest. 

Mr.  Russell,  writing  from  Lucknow  in 
February,  1859,  remarks — "  It  is  now  uni- 
versally admitted,  that  it  was  owing  to 
his  influence  no  outbreak  took  place  at  the 
time  of  the  annexation."t  Up  to  the 
period  of  the  mutiny,  and,  indeed,  to  the 
present  moment,  he  has  firmly  refused  to 

thirty  years'  observation."  It  is  added,  that  the  most 
fastidious  critic  will  liardly  require  any  apology  for 
the  want  of  the  author's  revision  ;  because  the  letters 
are  "  tense  with  the  emotions,  and  all  aflame  with 
the  tidings  of  that  terrible  season."  It  is  not, 
however,  a  question  of  style,  but  of  fact.  Misstate- 
ments like  the  one  regarding  the  Barrarkpoor  sepoys 
and    the   King   of  Oude,   with  many  other  stories 


accept  any  allowance  from  the  British  gov- 
ernment. He  may  be  our  prisoner;  he  will 
not  be  our  pensioner:  but  has  continued, 
by  the  sale  of  his  jewels,  to  support  himself 
and  the  royal  family.  The  anomalous  posi- 
tion of  the  deposed  king  certainly  did  not 
strengthen  the  British  government  during 
the  mutiny;  and  when  Wajid  Ali  heard  of 
the  fall  of  Cawnpoor,  and  the  precarious 
tenure  of  Lucknow,  the  magnificent  capital 
of  his  dynasty  (held  by  a  slender  garrison 
of  the  usurping  race,  against  their  own 
revolted  mercenaries),  he  might  well  feel 
that  the  seizure  of  his  misgoverned  king- 
dom had  been  followed  by  a  speedy  retri- 
bution. In  the  hands  of  a  native  gov- 
ernment, Oude  would  have  been,  as  in 
every  previous  war,  a  source  of  strength  to 
the  British  government ;  now  it  threatened 
to  be  like  the  "  Spanish  ulcer"  of  Napoleon 
Buonaparte.  If  Wajid  Ali  yearned  for 
vengeance,  he  had  it  in  no  stinted  measure, 
though  a  prisoner.  Vengeful,  however, 
none  of  his  house  appear  to  have  been  : 
their  vices  were  altogether  of  another 
order.  Perhaps  he  had  himself  benefited 
by  the  .sharp  lessons  of  adversity;  and  while 
becoming  sensible  of  the  folly  of  his  past 
career  of  sensuality  and  indolence,  might 
hope  that  the  English  would  profit  by  the 
same  stern  teaching,  and  learn  the  expe- 
diency of  being  just. 

On  the  17th  of  June,  Sir  Patrick  Grant, 
the  newly-appointed  commander-in-chief, 
arrived  at  Calcutta  from  Madras,  and  with 
him  Colonel  Havelock,  who  had  just  re- 
turned from  Persia.  Both  were  experienced 
Indian  officers.  Sir  Patrick  Grant  com- 
menced his  career  in  the  Bengal  army,  and 
had  early  distinguished  himself  by  raising 
the  Hurrianah  light  infantry — a  local  bat- 
talion, which  he  commanded  for  many 
years  :  he  subsequently  married  a  daughter 
of  Lord  Gough  ;  became  adjutant-general ; 
and  was  from  thence  raised  to  the  command 
of  the  Madras  army,  being  the  first  officer 
in  the  Company's  service  who  had  ever 
attained  that  position. 

Colonel  (afterwards  Sir  Henry)  Have- 
lock was  a  Queen's  officer,  who  had  seen 
service  in  Burniah  and  Afghanistan,  in  the 

calculated  to  set  the  British  mind  "  aflame"  against 
the  natives,  ought  in  justice  to  have  been  recanted. 
Dr.  Duff  is  a  well-known  and  respected  minister,  of 
unquestioned  ability ;  and  his  errors  cannot,  in  jus- 
tice to  the  cause  of  truth,  be  passed  unnoticed,  even 
though  under  the  pressure  of  an  important  avoca- 
tion :  thev  mav  have  escaped  his  memorv. 

*  Russell.— Ti'mes,  March  28th,  1859.'        t  Ibid. 


276      ANTECEDENTS  OF  COL.  (AFTERWARDS  SIR  HENRY)  HAVELOCK. 


Gwalior  campaign  of  1843,  and  the  Sutlej 
campaigns  of  1845-'6 ;  after  which  he  became 
quartermaster-general,  and,  subsequently, 
adjutant-general  of  her  Majesty's  forces  in 
India.  In  1829  he  married  the  third 
daughter  of  Dr.  Marshman,  the  companion 
of  the  apostolic  Carey  in  founding  the  Bap- 
tist Mission  at  Serampoor ;  and,  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  he  openly  joined  that  denomi- 
nation of  Christians,  receiving  public  bap- 
tism in  the  manner  deemed  by  them  most 
scriptural.  The  step  drew  on  him  much 
ridicule  from  those  who,  having  never  had 
any  deep  religious  convictions,  could  not 
understand  their  paramount  influence  on  a 
loftier  spirit.  It  was  not,  however,  a  mea- 
sure likely  to  hinder  his  advancement  ifa  his 
profession ;  although,  if  it  had  been,  Have- 
lock  was  a  brave  and  honest  man,  and  much 
too  strongly  convinced  of  the  paramount  im- 
portance of  things  eternal,  to  have  hazarded 
them  for  any  worldly  advantage.  At  the 
same  time,  it  is  certain  he  made  no  sacri- 
fice of  things  temporal  by  allying  himself 
with  the  once  despised  but  afterwards  power- 
ful party,  which  exercised  remarkable  influ- 
ence through  the  Friend  of  India,  of  which 
paper  Dr.  Marshman  was  the  proprietor. 
As  a  boy,  he  is  said  to  have  been  called 
"  old  Phlos"  by  his  playfellows  at  the 
Charter-house,  on  account  of  his  grave, 
philosophic  demeanour.  In  after  years,  he 
delighted  in  expounding  the  Scriptures 
to  his  men,  and  in  warning  them  against 
the  besetting  sins  of  a  soldier's  daily  life, 
drunkenness  and  its  attendant  vice.  His 
efforts  were  crowned  with  success.  At 
a  critical  moment  during  the  campaign 
in  Burmah,  Sir  Archibald  Campbell  gave 
an  order  to  a  particular  corps,  which  could 
not  be  carried  out,  owing  to  the  number  of 
men  unfitted  for  duty  by  intoxication. 
The  general  was  informed  of  the  fact. 
"Then,"  said  he,  "call  out  Havelock's 
saints;  they  are  never  drunk,  and  he 
is  always  ready."* 

Again — when,  in  1835,  Havelock  sought 
the  appointment  of  adjutant  to  the  13th 
light  infantry,  opposition  was  made  from 
various  quarters,  on  the  ground  that  he  was 

*  Rev.  William  Brock's  Biographical  Slietch  of 
Sir  Henry  Havelock,  p.  37. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  45.  X  Ibid.,  p.  121. 

§  Life  of  Sir  Charles  Napier;  by  Sir  William 
Napier. — Vol.  iii.,  p.  410. 

II  Rev.  W.  Brock's  Biographical  Sketch  of  Sir 
Henry  Havelock,  K.C.B. — p.  18. 

f  Letter  to  Mrs.  Havelock;  July  13th,  1857.— 
Ihid.,  p.  16.3. 


a  fanatic  and  an  enthusiast.  Lord  William 
Bentinck  examined  the  punishment  roll 
of  the  regiment;  and  finding  that  the  men 
of  Havelock's  company,  and  those  who 
joined  them  in  their  religious  exercises, 
were  the  most  sober  and  the  best-behaved 
in  the  regiment,  he  gave  Havelock  the 
solicited  appointment;  remarking,  that  he 
"oulv  wished  the  whole  regiment  was 
Baptist."t 

Colonel  Havelock's  personal  habits  were 
simple,  even  to  austerity ;  and  to  these,  but 
still  more  to  his  habitual  trust  in  an  over- 
ruling Providence,  may  be  attributed  the 
spring  of  energy  which  enabled  him  to  de- 
clare, on  the  morning  of  his  sixty-second 
birthday — "  Nearly  every  hair  on  my  head 
and  face  is  as  grey  as  my  first  charger; 
but  my  soul  and  mind-  are  young  and 
fresh."J  Military  honours  he  coveted  to 
a  degree  which  appears  to  have  rendered 
him  comparatively  insensible  to  the  hor- 
rors of  war;  and  it  is  strange  to  con- 
trast the  irrepressible  disgust  with  which 
Sir  Charles  Napier  chronicles  the  scenes  of 

I  slaughter   through   which    he   had   cut   his 
way  to  fame  and  fortune,  with  the  almost 

j  unalloyed  satisfaction  which  Havelock  seems 
to  have  found  in  a  similar  career. 

These  two  veterans  (each  of  whom  at- 
tained eminence  after  toiling  up-hill,  past 
the  mile-stones  of  threescore  years)  have 
left  on  record  widely  diff'erent  opinions. 
Napier  uniformly  denounced  war  as  "  hellish 
work."§  Havelock,  "having  no  scruples 
about  the  compatibility  of  war  with  Chris- 
tianity ,"||  prayed  constantly,  from  his 
school-days  to  advanced  age,  "to  live  to 
command  in  a  successful  action. "T[  This 
single  sentence,  which  conveys  the  cherished 
desire  of  a  lifetime,  is  one  of  those  utter- 
ances that  reveal,  beyond  all  possibility 
of  error,  the  character,  even  the  inner  being, 
of  the  writer.  Lord  Hardinge  is  said  to 
have  pronounced  Havelock,  "  every  inch  a 
soldier,  and  every  inch  a  Christian."**  And 
this  praise  was  true  in  its  degree ;  for  Lord 
Hardingeft  measured  Havelock  by  his  own 
standard  of  Christianity ;  and  Havelock 
himself  steadily  pursued  what  he  believed 

**  Brock's  Havelock. — Preface. 

tt  Napier  writes — "  Hardinge  is  very  religious ;  he 
had  jirayers  on  the  field  of  battle !  Thou  shalt  not 
kill,  is  the  order;  and  it  seems  strange,  in  the  heat  of 
disobedience,  to  pray  and  make  parade."- — Life,  vol. 
iii.,  p.  368.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered,  that 
to  pray  to  be  protected  in  battle,  and  to  be  led  into 
it,  are  totally  different  petitions. 


I 


L(£.m- 


CHARACTER  OF  MAJOR-GENERAL  HAVELOCK. 


277 


to  be  the  path  of  duty.  Still,  that  a  Chris- 
tian far  advanced  ia  years,  should,  after 
long  experience  of  offensive  warfare  (the 
Afghan  campaign  for  instance),  continue  to 
pray  to  be  at  the  liead  of  a  battle,  is  start- 
ling, and  would  be  incomprehensible,  had 
we  not  daily  evidence  how  apt  men  are  (in 
Archbishop  Whateley's  words)  to  let  their 
opinions  or  practices  bend  the  rule  by  which 
they  measure  them. 

These  comments  would  be  superfluous 
but  for  the  extreme  interest  excited  by  the 
closing  passages  of  Havelock's  life,  on 
which  we  are  now  entering,  and  which, 
from  their  peculiar  character,  have  thrown 
an  interest  round  the  chief  actor,  scarcely 
warranted  by  the  relative  importance  of  his 
proceedings  as  compared  with  those  of  other 
Indian  leaders,  several  of  whom  have  been 
strangely  underrated.*  It  is  frequently  as- 
serted that  Havelock  resembled  the  Puritans 
of  English  history :  his  spare  small  figure, 
and  worn  and  thoughtful  face,  helps  the  com- 
parison; and  it  is  asserted,  in  words  of 
more  discriminating  praise  than  those  pre- 
viously quoted,  that  "a  more  simple-minded, 
upright.  God-fearing  soldier,  was  not  among 
Cromwell's  Ironsides."t  But  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  Puritans  fought  for 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  for  themselves 
and  for  their  children  ;  and  Havelock,  em- 
ployed in  repeated  foreign  wars  of  conquest 
and  subjugation,  might  as  well  be  compared 
to  the  gallant  Baptist  missionaries,  Knibb 
and  his  coadjutors  (who  struggled  so  effi- 
ciently, amid  poverty,  calumny,  and  cruel 
persecution,  for  the  anti-slavery  cause  in 
the  West  Indies),  as  to  an  English  Round- 
head. 

The  arrival  of  Sir  Patrick  Grant  may  be 
supposed  to  have  removed  from  the  gov- 
ernor-general the  chief  responsibility  of  the 
military  measures  now  urgently  required. 
Tidings  from  Neil  at  Allahabad,  told  that 
the  course  of  mutiny,  instead  of  being 
arrested,  was  growing  daily  stronger;  and 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence  continued  to  urge  on 
the  governor-general  the  extreme  peril  of 
the  Cawnpoor  garrison.  When  Grant  and 
Havelock  reached  Calcutta  on  the  17th  of 
June,  there  was  yet  time,  by  efforts  such 
as  Warren  Hastings  or  Marquis  Wellesley 
would  have   made,   to    have   sent   a   force 


•  One  of  Havelock's  biographers  declares,  that  he 
set  forth  to  command  "  the  avenging  column,"  hav- 
ing "received  his   commission   from   the   Lord   of 


which  might  have  forestalled  the  capitu- 
lation. The  regular  rate  of  dawk  travelling 
is  eight  miles  an  hour,  night  and  day ;  and 
there  was  no  good  reason  why  the  508 
miles  between  the  railway  terminus  at 
Raneegunje  and  Cawnpoor,  should  have 
been  such  a  stumblingblock.  Had  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence's  suggestion  of  the  ekkas 
been  adopted  by  Sir  P.  Grant  immediately 
on  his  arrival  at  Calcutta,  Cawnpoor  might 
still  have  been  saved,  the  troops  might  have 
slept  under  cover  the  whole  day,  with  their 
arms  and  ammunition  by  their  side,  and 
arrived  fresh  and  strong  at  the  scene  of 
action.  It  was  no  fear  of  their  being  cut 
off  in  detail  that  prevented  the  attempt 
being  made ;  for  they  went  up  the  country 
all  through  June,  July,  and  August,  in 
parties  of  fourteen,  twelve,  and,  on  one 
occasion,  of  eight  men  ;J  yet  not  a  single 
detachment  was  ever  cut  off.  Far  different 
was  the  energy  displayed  in  Northern 
India,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Guides 
marched  750  miles,  at  the  rate  of  twenty- 
seven  miles  a-day,  and  went  into  actioii 
immediately  afterwards. 

The  supineness  of  the  Snpreme  govern- 
ment regarding  Cawnpoor,  is  by  far  the 
most  serious  charge  brought  against  them 
by  the  press.  The  refusal  of  the  co-operation 
of  the  Goorkas  is  a  branch  of  the  same 
subject ;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture 
the  motive  of  the  Supreme  government  for 
desiring  to  dispense  with  such  dangerous 
auxiliaries.  The  well-known  Jung  Baha- 
door,  the  first  minister  and  virtual  ruler 
of  Nepaul,  had,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
mutiny,  offered  to  send  a  force  to  the 
assistance  of  the  English.  The  proposal 
was  accepted ;  and  three  thousand  troops, 
with  Jung  himself  at  their  head,  came 
down  from  the  hills  in  forced  marches, 
in  the  highest  possible  spirits  at  the  thought 
of  paying  off  old  scores  on  the  sepoys,  and 
sharing  the  grog  and  loot  of  the  English 
soldiers.  Second  thouglits,  or  circum- 
stances which  have  not  been  made  public,§ 
induced  the  Supreme  government  to  alter 
their  determination  with  regard  to  the 
Goorkas ;  and  the  force,  after  passing 
through  the  Terai  (the  deadly  jungle  which 
lies  at  the  foot  of  their  hills),  were  arrested 
by  a  message  of  recall.     They  had  expected 


derous  hosts  of  India." — Owen's  Ilavehck,  p.  195. 

t  Westminster  Review,  October,  1858. 

X  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers,  1857 ;  p.  350. 
Hosts.     He   had  by  long  training  been   prepared        §  Tlie  original  offer  is  said  to  have  been  accepted 
for  the  'strange  work'  of  judgment  against  the  mur-    by  an  unauthorised  functionary. 


278    AUXILIARY  GOORKA  TROOPS  SENT  FROM  NEPAUL— JUNE,  1857. 


to  reach  Oiide  by  the  15th  of  June ;  but  on 
learning  that  their  services  could  be  dis- 
pensed with,  they  started  back  to  Khatman- 
doo,  the  capital  of  Nepaul ;  which  they 
reached,  after  suffering  greatly  from  sickness 
and  fatigue.  Scarcely  had  they  returned, 
before  another  summons  arrived  from  Cal- 
cutta, requesting  that  tiiey  should  be  again 
sent  to  Oude,  and  the  march  was  recom- 
menced on  the  29th  of  June.  When  they 
at  length  reaclied  British  territory,  much 
reduced  by  death  and  disease,  Lawrence 
and  Wheeler  had  been  dead  a  fortnight. 

Jung  Bahadoor  is  said  to  have  expressed 
his  indignation  very  decidedly  ;  and  in  writ- 
ing to  his  friend  Mr.  Hodgson,  late  of  the 
Bengal  civil  service,  he  concluded  his  narra- 
tive of  the  affair  by  exclaiming — "You  see 
how  I  am  treated.  How  do  you  expect  to 
keep  India  with  such  rulers  as  these  ?"* 

Still,  as  has  been  stated,  Lord  Canning 
may  have  had  good  reason  for  desiring  the 
recall  of  the  Goorkas ;  and  the  very  fact  of 
being  subsequently  compelled  to  avail  him- 
self of  their  services,  would  account  for  his 
silence  regarding  the  apparent  incertitude 
of  his  previous  policy.  The  fact,  pointed 
out  by  Lord  Dalhousie,  that  the  Nepaulese 
government  always  armed  and  made  hostile 
preparations  when  war  broke  out  in  Europe, 
and  the  strong  suspicions  entertained  of  an 
intimate  understanding  existing  between 
the  courts  of  Russia  and  Nepaul,  were  argu- 
ments calculated  to  increase  the  repugnance 
any  civilised  government  must  have  felt  in 
accepting  the  aid  of  a  horde  of  half-civilised 
mountaineers,  whose  fidelity  in  the  case  of 
a  reverse  would  be  extremely  doubtful,  and 
who,  in  the  event  of  success,  would  unques- 
tionably prove  a  scourge  to  the  unoffending 
agriculturists,  whom  the  British  government 
was  bound  to  protect.  The  consideration  of 
this  point,  therefore,  only  strengthens  the 
conclusion,  that  want  of  energy  in  relieving 
Cawnpoor,  is  by  far  the  most  important 
of  the  errors  attributed  to  the  Supreme 
government  during  the  crisis.  The  mea- 
sures recommended  by  the  Lawrencesf  for 
the  rapid  collection  of  troops  at  Calcutta, 
had  been  taken  ;  but  the  good  to  be  derived 
therefrom  was  neutralised  by  their  appa- 
rently unjustifiable  detention  in  Bengal.  It 
is  further  asserted  by  Mr.  Mead  (who,  at 
the  time  of  which   he   writes,    edited   the 

•  Mead's  Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  89. 

t  Sir  Henry  begged  Lord  Canning,  on  the  24th 
of  May,  to  get  "all  the  Goorkas  from  the  hills;" 
but  probably  he  referred  to  those  under  our  own 


Friend  of  India),  that  a  question  of  military 
etiquette  was  another  impediment  to  the 
dispatch  of  relief  for  the  protracted  agony 
then  being  endured  in  the  Cawnpoor 
trenches.  "The  fiery  Neil,"  it  is  asserted, 
"having  quelled  mutiny  at  Benares,  and 
punished  it  at  Allahabad,  chafed  impa-. 
tiently  till  a  force  of  men,  properly  equipped, 
could  be  got  together  for  the  relief  of  Cawn- 
poor; but  he  was  not  allowed,  in  this  in- 
stance, to  follow  the  impulse  of  his  daring 
nature.  Colonel  Havelock  had  arrived  in 
Calcutta  ;  and  the  rules  of  the  service  would 
not  allow  a  junior  officer  to  be  at  the  head 
of  an  enterprise,  however  fit  he  might  be  to 
carry  it  to  a  successful  conclusion.  Time 
was  lost  to  enable  Colonel  Havelock  to  join 
at.  Allahabad." J  There  is  nothing  in  Have- 
lock's  published  letters  to  show,  that  on 
arriving  at  Calcutta,  he  himself,  or  indeed 
any  one  i-ound  him,  felt  the  intense  anxiety 
wiiich  the  telegrams  of  Lawrence  and 
Wheeler  were  calculated  to  excite.  He 
writes  under  date,  "Calcutta,  Sunday,  June 
21st,"  to  Mrs.  Havelock  (then,  happily  for 
ail  parties,  far  from  the  scene  of  strife,  edu- 
cating her  younger  children  "  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Drachenfels"),  that  he  had 
been  reappointed  brigadier-general,  and 
had  been  recommended  by  Sir  P.  Grant  for 
an  "  important  command ;  the  object  for 
which  is  to  relieve  Cawnpoor,  where  Sir 
Hugh  Wheeler  is  threatened  ;  and  support 
Lucknow,  where  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  is 
somewhat  pressed."§ 

An  officer  of  great  promise,  Captain 
Stuart  Beatson,  came  to  Calcutta  about  the 
same  time  as  Sir  Patrick  Grant.  Beatson 
had  been  sent  to  Persia,  on  the  outbreak  of 
the  war,  to  raise  a  regiment  of  Arab  horse ; 
but  on  the  conclusion  of  peace  he  returned 
to  India,  and  found  that  his  own  regiment, 
the  1st  cavalry,  had  mutinied.  Being  thus 
at  liberty,  he  made  inquiry,  and  saw  reason 
to  believe  that  a  corps  of  Eurasian  horse 
might  be  raised  on  the  spot ;  and  he  accord- 
ingly framed  a  scheme,  by  which  each  man 
was  to  receive  forty  rupees  (£4)  per  men- 
sem, nett  pay ;  horse,  arms,  and  accoutre- 
ments being  furnished  by  government. 
The  scheme  was  rejected,  and  Captain 
Beatson  was  informed  that  "the  govern- 
ment had  no  need  of  his  services."  One 
month  later,  when  the  want  of  cavalry  was 

rule,   not    to    the   Nepaulese. — Appendix   to   Pari. 
Papers,  p.  315. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  141. 

§  Brock's  Havelock,  p.  141. 


HAVELOCK  LEAVES  CALCUTTA  FOR  CAWNPOOR— JUNE  23,  1857.     279 


an  acknowledged  grievance,  and  the  price 
of  horses  had  risen  enormously,  the  autho- 
rities were  compelled  to  raise  a  corps  on  the 
basis  of  one  hundred  rupees  per  mensem 
for  each  trooper,  who  was  not  the  less  sup- 
plied with  horse,  arms,  accoutrements,  and 
camp  equipage.* 

Tliat  Captain  Beatson  was  an  officer  of 
ability  and  character,  is  proved  by  his  being 
selected  by  Brigadier-general  Havelock  for 
the  highest  position  in  his  gift,  that  of  adju- 
tant-general. The  government  having  at 
length  issued  their  tardy  orders,  Havelock 


and  Beatson  quitted  Calcutta  on  the  23rd 
of  June,  leaving  the  entire  population  in 
a  relapse  of  panic — that  day  being  the  cen- 
tenary of  Plassy ;  and  there  being  a  pro- 
phecy which  the  Mohammedans  were  as- 
serted to  have  resolved  on  verifying — that 
the  raj  of  the  East  India  Company  would 
then  expire.  As  on  a  previous  occasion,  the 
day  passed  quietly ;  and  both  Europeans 
and  natives  liaviug  mutually  anticipated 
violence,  were,  the  Friend  of  India  states, 
equally  "rejoiced  at  finding  their  necks 
sound  on  the  following  morning." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


AZIMGHUR,  BENARES,  JAUNPOOR,  AND  ALLAHABAD.— MAY  AND  JUNE,  1857. 


It  is  necessary  to  return  to  the  northward, and 
follow  the  course  of  mutiny  in  what  General 
Havelock,  in  the  letter  lately  quoted,  terms 
the  "  disturbed  provinces" — a  very  gentle 
phrase,  inasmuch  as  the  whole  country  to 
which  he  refers  was  at  that  time  in  a  state 
of  total  disorganisation,  the  officers  of  gov- 
ernmeu'  noldmg  out  in  hourly  peril  of  their 
lives  cr  hiding,  with  their  wives  and  babes, 
amo; .;^  the  villagers  or  in  the  jungle;  the 
native  farmers  and  peasantry  themselves 
pillaged  and  harassed  by  mutineers  and 
d.ico.cs;  strife  and  oppression  characterising 
the  )  resont  state  of  things,  with  famine  and 
pebli'jnce  brooding  over  the  future. 

Azimyhur  is  the  chief  place  of  a  district 
in  the  province  of  Allahabad,  about  fifty- 
six  m^les  north-east  of  Benares.  The  head- 
quarters and  eight  companies  of  the  17tli 
N.L  ivere  stationed  here.  There  were  no 
Euroj.ean  soldiers.  The  commandant.  Ma- 
jor Birroughs,  was  an  experienced  officer, 
proud  of  his  regiment,  but  quite  aware  of 
the  trial  to  which  its  fidelity  would  be 
exposed,  and  sedulously  watchful  to  I'emove 
every  temptation.  Up  to  the  18th  of  May, 
the  most  favourable  opinion  was  entertained 
of  the  17th  N.I.;  and  the  judge  of  Azim- 
ghur,  Mr.  Astell,  writing  to  its  commaud- 

*  Mutinp  of  the  Bengal  Army  ;  by  One  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  109. 

t  Report  of  Major  Burrouglis'  Return  of  regi- 
ments which  have  mutinied. — Pari.  Papers  (Com- 
mons), loth  March,  1859;  p.  25. 


ing  officer,  congratulated  him  on  the  great 
love  and  respect  entertained  for  him  per- 
sonally.f  Many  sepoys,  of  various  regi- 
ments, were  in  the  Aziraghur  district.  The 
17tli  N.I.  had  been  quartered  with  the  19th 
and  34th  at  Lucknow,  in  1855  ;  and  when 
the  latter  regiments  were  disbanded  (at 
Berhanipoor  and  Barrackpoor),  Major  Bur- 
roughs, fearing  the  consequence  of  the  re- 
newal of  intercourse  between  them  and  his 
own  men,  is.sued  an  order  forbidding  stran- 
gers to  visit  the  lines  without  special  per- 
mission. But  as  communication  outside 
the  cantonment  could  not  be  prevented, 
the  major  addressed  his  regiment,  ou  the 
20th  of  May,  in  forcible  language.  He 
spoke  of  his  thirty  years'  connection  with 
that  corps;  reminded  the  men  that  many 
of  them  had  been  enlisted  by  him  during 
the  twelve  years  he  had  filled  the  position 
of  adjutant;  and  declared  that  they  knew 
he  had  never  misled  or  refused  to  listen 
to  them.  Unfortunately  (considering  the 
critical  position  of  affairs),  he  concluded  his 
address  bj'  requiring  them  to  be  ready  to  use 
the  new  cartridge — by  tearing  it,  however, 
with  their  hands,  not  biting  it  with  their 
teeth. 

Previous  to  this  parade,  and,  indeed,  im- 
mediately after  the  reception  of  the  Meerut 
intelligence,  such  measures  as  were  prac- 
ticable had  been  taken  for  the  defence  of 
the  treasury  (which  contained  £70,000), 
and  for  the  protection  of  the  ladies  and 


280 


MUTINY  AT  AZIMGHUR— JUNE  3rd,  1857. 


children.  The  Cutcherrv  and  public  offices 
had  been  partially  enclosed  by  a  breast- 
work, and  "the  post  guus,  under  a  select 
guard,  had  beeu  placed  at  the  treasury  for 
its  defence."  On  the  1st  of  June,  two 
warnings  were  secretly  and  separately 
given,  by  a  sepoy  and  a  pay  havildar,  that 
the  grenadiers  were  arming  with  the  intent 
of  attacking  the  treasury.  The  adjutant 
rode  down  to  the  lines,  found  all  quiet,  and 
the  report  was  disbelieved.  At  sunset  on 
the  3rd,  the  treasure  was  marched  off 
towards  Benares,  by  two  companies  of  the 
17th,  and  eighty  of  the  13th  irregular 
cavalry,  under  Lieutenant  Palliser,  sent  to 
Aziraghur  for  that  purpose.*  It  does  not 
seem  to  have  occurred  to  the  officers  that  the 
measure  was  likely  to  produce  excitement 
or  dissatisfaction.  According  to  the  state- 
ment of  one  of  these  (Lieutenant  Constable, 
17th  N.I.),  they  were  all  at  mess,  and  had 
the  ladies  with  them,  when  nine  o'clock 
struck,  and  two  muskets  were  fired  on  pa- 
rade, evidently  as  a  signal;  then,"  whirrwent 
the  drums — all  knew  that  the  regiment  was 
in  revolt."  The  Europeans  rushed  from  the 
mess-room  to  the  Cutcherry,  placed  the 
ladies  on  the  top  of  it,  and  directed  the 
gunners  to  prepare  for  service.  The  reply 
was  an  unqualified  refusal  to  fire  them- 
selves, or  let  any  one  fire  on  their  country- 
men. The  mutineers  approached  with 
deafening  shouts.  The  officers  went  to 
meet  them.  There  was  an  interval  of  in- 
tense anxiety ;  but  it  was  soon  over.  The 
men  "  behaved  with  romantic  courtesy. 
They  formed  a  square  round  their  officers, 
and  said  they  not  only  would  not  touch, 
but  would  protect  them,  only  that  there 
were  some  of  the  mutineers  who  had 
sworn  the  death  of  particular  officers ; 
therefore  they  begged  the  whole  party  to 
take  to  their  carriages,  and  be  off  at  once. 
'  But  how  are  we  to  get  to  our  carriages,' 
said  the  Europeans,  '  seeing  that  they  are 
scattered  all  through  the  station?'  'Ah! 
we  will  fetch  them,'  replied  the  sepoys. 
And  so  they  did;  and  gave  the  party  an 
escort  for  ten  miles  out  of  the  station,  on 
the  road  to  Ghazipoor,"t  which  place  (forty 
miles  from  Azimghur)  the  fugitives  reached 
quite  unmolested.     The  only  blood  shed  was 

•  Report  of  Hri(,'adier  J.  Christie. — Pari.  Papers 
(Commons),  15th  March,  1859 ;  p.  25. 

t  Statement  of  Lieutenant  Constable. — Times, 
August  6th,  1857. 

;f  Rev.  M.  A.  Sherring's  Indian  Church  duriny 
the  Oreai  Mebellion,  p.  283, 


that  of  Quartermaster  Hutchinson,  who  was 
deliberately  shot  down  by  a  sepoy. 

The  doors  of  the  gaol  were  opened,  and 
about  800  prisoners  let  loose  to  plunder 
the  deserted  European  dwellings,  and  then 
to  band  themselves  together  as  dacoits,  and 
infest  the  country  districts.  The  gaol  and 
treasury  guards,  and  the  Native  artillery- 
men with  the  two  guns,  went  off  with  the- 
17th  N.I.,  in  pursuit  of  the  treasure  escort, 
which  was  soon  overtaken.  The  two  com- 
panies of  the  17th  immediately  fraternised 
with  the  mutineers,  who  seized  the  treasure. 
The  Irregulars  would  not  act  against  their 
countrymen,  neither  would  they  join  them, 
despite  the  temptation  of  sharing  the  plun- 
der: on  the  contrary,  they  rallied  round  their 
officers,  and  brought  them  safely  to  Benares. 
There  were  in  Azimghur,  as  in  almost  every 
other  scene  of  mutiny,  Eurasians  and  native 
Christians  who  were  left  at  the  mercy  of  the 
mutineers  ;  while  the  Europeans,  especially 
of  the  higher  class,  having  carriages  and 
horses,  money  and  influence,  with  a  nume- 
rous retinue  of  servants,  were  able  to  effect 
their  escape.  No  English  missionary  was 
sta,tioned  here;  but  there  was  a  flourishing 
school  under  the  charge  of  Timothy  Luther, 
a  native  Christian  of  experience,  ability, 
and  piety.  Mr.  Tucker  took  great  interest 
both  in  the  school  and  schoolmaster;  and  it 
is  said  that,  after  the  mutiny,  he  and  his 
family  were  brought  away  from  Azimghur, 
where  they  had  lain  concealed,  "  by  an 
escort  kindly  dispatched  from  Beuares."f 
A  temporarily  successful  attempt  was  made, 
by  a  private  person,  for  the  reoccupation  and 
maintenance  of  the  station.  Mr.  Venable.'i, 
a  wealthy  indigo-planter  (one  of  the  Euro- 
pean "interlopers"  for  whom  the  East  India 
Company  had  small  respect),  possessed  a 
large  estate  at  Doorie  Ghaut,  twenty-two 
miles  on  the  Goruckpoor  side  of  Azimghur. 
He  had,  from  the  nature  of  his  occupation, 
great  influence  with  the  respectable  and  in- 
dustrious portion  of  the  agricultural  com- 
munity, who  had  all  to  lose,  and  nothing  to 
gain,  from  an  irruption  of  revolted  mer- 
cenaries and  escaped  convicts.  The  natives 
cheerfully  rallied  round  him  :  he  procured 
arms  for  their  use,  marched  at  their  head, 
and  reoccupied  Azimghur,  which  the  mu- 
tineers had  already  deserted.  A  detach- 
ment of  one  hundred  men  of  the  65th 
N.I.,  and  fifty  of  the  12th  irregular 
cavalry,  were  sent  to  support  him;  and 
with  these  he  held  his  position  for  some 
weeks,  as  a  flood-gate  against  the  waves  of 


BENARES  IN  MAY,  1857.— COMMISSIONER  H.  C.  TUCKER.       281 


mutiny  ;   collecting  the  revenue,  and  main- 
taining a  certain  degree  of  order. 

Benares — the  famous  seat  of  Brahminical 
lore,  the  holy  city  of  the  Hindoos,  dear 
to  them  as  Mecca  tcf  the  Moslem — occupies 
an  elevated  position  on  a  curve  of  the 
Ganges,  460  miles  from  Calcutta,  and 
eighty-three  from  Allahabad.  Its  ancient 
name  was  Casi,  or  "  the  splendid,"  vphich  it 
still  retains.  It  was  also  called  Varanashi, 
from  two  streams,  Vara  and  Nashi ;  so 
termed  in  Sanscrit :  the  Mohammedans  pro- 
nounced the  word  "  Benares,"  a  corruption 
foUovved  by  the  English.  Benares  is  full  of 
structures,  which  are  as  finger-posts,  mark- 
ing the  various  phases  of  Indian  history. 
They  stand  peculiarly  secure ;  for  the 
Hindoos  assert  that  no  earthquake  is  ever 
felt  within  the  limits  of  the  hallowed  city. 
The  temple  to  Siva  tells  of  the  palmy 
days  of  Brahminism ;  the  ruins  of  a  once 
world-famous  observatory,  attest  the  devo- 
tion to  science  of  Rajah  Jey  Sing,  of 
Jeypoor;  and  the  mosque  built  by  Anrung- 
aebe,  on  the  spot  where  a  Hindoo  temple 
had  been  razed  to  the  ground  by  his  orders, 
remains  in  evidence  of  the  only  persecutor 
of  his  dynasty,  and  the  ruler  whose  united 
ambition  and  bigotry  increased  the  super- 
structure of  his  empire,  but  irreparably 
injured  its  foundation. 

A  few  miles  distant  stands  a  more  inter- 
esting, and  probably  more  ancient,  monu- 
ment than  even  Siva's  temple.  It  is  the 
Sara  Nath — a  solid  mass  of  masonry,  from 
forty  to  fifty  feet  in  diameter,  originally 
shaped  like  a  bee-hive,  and  supposed  to 
be  a  Buddhistic  jtructure.  Then  there 
is  the  public  college  for  Hindoo  literature, 
instituted  during  the  residency  of  the  easy, 
kind-hearted  scholar,  Jonathan  Duncan 
(the  "  Brahrainised  Englishman,"  as  Mac- 
kintosh called  him),  afterwards  governor 
of  Bombay.  Teachers  of  Hindoo  and 
Mohammedan  lavv  and  literature  abound. 
The  former  trust  habitually  for  their 
support  to  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
pilgrims  of  rank,  and  to  stipends  allowed 
them  by  diiFerent  Hindoo  and  Mahratta 
princes.  They  do  not  impart  religious 
instruction  for  money,  owing  to  the  prevail- 
ing idea  that  the  Vedas,  their  sacred  books, 
would  be  profaned  by  being  used  for  the 
obtainment  of  pecuniary  advantage. 

The  population  of  Benares  was  estimated 
at  about  300,000,  of  whom  four-fifths  were 
Hindoos.  It  included  a  considerable  number 
of  ex-royal  families  and  disinherited  jaghire- 

VOL.  II.  2  o 


dars.  Altogether,  the  city  seemed  as  well 
calculated  to  be  a  hotbed  of  disaffection  for 
the  Hindoos,  as  Delhi  had  proved  for  the 
Mohammedans.  If  a  fear  of  conversion 
to  Christianity  had  been  a  deep-rooted, 
popular  feeling,  it  would  surely  have  found 
expression  here.  The  commissioner,  Henry 
Carre  Tucker,  was  a  man  who  desired  the 
promulgation  of  the  Gospel  above  every 
other  object  in  life.  The  Benares  citizens 
knew  this  well ;  but  they  also  knew  that  his 
views  were  incompatible  with  the  further- 
ance of  any  project  for  the  forcible  or  fraudu- 
lent violation  of  caste.  He  was  one  of  those 
whose  daily  life  bore  witness  to  a  pure 
and  self-denying  creed  ;  and  refuted,  better 
than  volumes  of  proclamations  could  have 
done,  the  assertions  of  Nana  Sahib  and  his 
followers,  that  the  so-called  Christians  were 
cow-killing,  pig-eating  infidels,  without  re- 
ligion themselves,  and  with  no  respect  for 
that  of  others.  In  his  public  capacity,  Mr. 
Tucker  h;id  been  singularly  just,  patient, 
and  painstaking;  and  his  private  character, 
in  its  peacefulness,  its  unimpeachable  mo- 
rality, and  its  abounding  charity,  peculiarly 
fitted  him  for  authority  in  a  city  the  sanc- 
tity of  which  was  jealously  watched  by  the 
Hindoos.  When  the  mutiny  broke  out,  he 
found  his  reward  in  the  power  of  usefulness, 
insured  to  him  by  his  hold  on  the  respect 
and  affections  of  the  people :  and  it  is 
worthy  of  remark,  that  while  so  many  civi- 
lians perished  revolver  in  hand,  the  very 
man  who  "  had  never  fired  a  shot  in  his  life, 
and  had  not  a  weapon  of  any  kind  in  the 
house,"*  escaped  with  his  female  relatives 
and  young  children  uninjured. 

In  May,  1857,  there  were  at  Benares  the 
37th  N.I.,  an  irregular  cavalry  regiment  of 
Seiks  from  Loodiana,  and  about  thirty 
European  artillerymen.  Some  excitement 
was  manifested  in  the  lines  of  the  37th,  on 
learning  what  had  occurred  at  Meerut  and 
Delhi;  but  this  apparently  subsided.  Mr. 
Tucker,  however,  urged  on  the  government 
the  necessity  of  having  "  a  nucleus  of  Eu- 
ropeans" at  Benares,  and  150  of  H.M.  10th 
foot  were  sent  thither  from  Dinapoor. 
On  the  23rd  of  May,  the  commissioner  re- 
ported to  the  Supreme  government — "  Every 
thing  perfectly  quiet,  both  in  the  lines  and 
city  of  Benares,  and  in  the  whole  Benares 
division;  and  likely,  with  God's  blessing,  to 
continue  so.  I  am  quite  easy  and  con- 
fi(lent."t     The  position  of  affairs  continued 

*  Times,  August  18th,  1857. 

t  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  314. 


282 


COLONEL  NEIL  REACHES  BENARES— JUNE  3rd,  1857. 


equally  satisfactory  until  the  3rd  of  June, 
when  Colonel  Neil  arrived  with  a  detach- 
ment of  the  1st  Madras  Fusiliers.  Sixty 
men  of  that  regiment,  with  three  officers, 
had  reached  Benares  on  the  previous  day, 
and  four  companies  were  on  the  road. 
Colonel  Neil  was  a  man  of  extraordinary 
energy  and  determination  ;  but  these  pre- 
dominant qualities  naturally  inclined  him 
to  act  on  general  conclusions,  with  little  re- 
gard for  the  peculiarities  of  the  case  in  point, 
or  for  any  opinion  that  differed  from  his 
own.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  impression  which 
a  review  of  the  public  documents  regarding 
his  brief  career  in  North-Western  India,  is 
calculated  to  produce  ;  and  if  the  evidence  of 
his  coadjutors  may  be  trusted,  "the  fiery 
Neil,"  despite  his  courage,  his  honesty,  and, 
above  all,  his  anxiety  for  the  besieged  at 
Cawnpoor,  was  instrumental  in  lighting 
flames  which  he  was  compelled  to  stay  and 
extinguish  at  the  cost  of  leaving  Sir  Hui;h 
Wheeler  and  his  companions  to  perish.  The 
charge  is  a  very  serious  one.  It  is  brought 
by  jVIajor-general  Lloyd,  not  as  a  personal 
attack,  but  indirectly  against  "  the  niilitaiy 
authorities  at  Benares ;''  for  proceedings 
which  "caused  the  instant  revolt  of  the  6th 
.  regiment  at  Allahabad,  on  tlie  6th  of  June, 
and  at  Fyzabad  on  the  8th  of  June."* 
The  responsibility  of  that  policy  is  declared 
by  Colonel  Neil  himself  to  have  been  his 
own,  he  having  taken  his  measures  not  only 
without  consulting  the  civil  authorities,  but 
by  overruling  the  judgment  of  the  officer 
commanding  at  the  station,  Brigadier  Pou- 
sonby.f  In  fact,  from  the  very  outset, 
Colonel  Neil  (a  Madras  officer)  manifested 
a  defiant  distrust  of  every  regiment  of  the 
Bengal  army,  and  evinced  very  little  desire 
to  protect  the  unoffending  agricultural  popu- 
lation of  the  districts  through  which  he 
passed,  from  the  aggressions  of  his  soldiers 
and  camp-follovfers.  In  former  wars,  it  had 
been  the  proudest  boast  of  our  generals,  thut 
the  villagers  never  fled  from  British  troops, 
but  were  eager  to  bring  them  supplies, 
being  assured  of  protection  and  liberal  pay- 
ment. Colonel  Wilks,  in  contrasting  the 
campaigns  conducted  by  Mohammedan 
conquerors,  with  those  of  Cornwallis,  Lake, 
and  Wellesley,  dwells  forcibly  on  the  miseiy 
inflicted  by  the  former,  and  revesded  by  the 
existence  of  the  well-known  phrase  Wuha, 
which  signified  the  departure  of  the  entire 

*  Letter  from  Major-general  Lloyd  to  his  brother, 
the  Rev.  A.  J.  Lloyd,  Sept.  3rd,  1857. — Daily  News, 
October  30th,  1857. 


population  of  a  village,  or  even  of  a  district ; 
children,  the  aged  and  the  sick,  being  borne 
off"  to  take  shelter  in  the  nearest  woods  or 
jungles,  braving  hunger  and  wild  beasts 
sooner  than  the  presence  of  an  armed  force. 
Great  loss  of  life  invariably  attended  these 
migrations,  which  were  especially  frequent 
in  Mysoor  in  the  days  of  Hyder  Ali.  The  ■ 
Indian  despatches  of  General  Wellesley 
testify,  in  almost  every  dozen  pages,  to  the 
unceasing  forethought  with  whicli  he  strove 
to  maintain  a  good  understanding  with  the 
population  :  and  any  one  who  will  compare 
the  manner  in  which  his  troops  were  fed 
and  sheltered,  with  the  suffering  endured  in 
the  campaign  of  1857,  before  the  arrival  of 
Sir  Colin  Campbell,  will  understand  that 
the  indiscriminate  burning  of  villages,  and 
the  pillaging  of  "niggers,"  was  the  most 
costly  amusement  Europeans  in  India  could 
indulge  in. 

Colonel  Neil  commenced  the  expedition 
with  what  the  newspapers  called  an  "  ex- 
ample of  zubberduslee — the  phrase  for  small 
tyrannies."  The  term,  however,  is  not 
fairly  applicable  to  an  act  which  was,  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word,  expedient,  though 
it  seems  to  have  been  accompanied  with 
needless  discourtesy.  While  he  was  pre- 
paring to  enter  the  railway  with  a  detach- 
ment of  Miidras  Fusiliers,  intending  to  pro- 
ceed from  Calcutta  to  Raneegunge,  one  of 
the  officials  said  that  the  train  was  .already 
behind  time,  and  if  the  men  could  not  be 
got  into  the  carriages  in  two  or  three 
minutes,  they  would  be  left  behind.  Colonel 
Neil,  without  making  any  reply,  ordered  a 
file  of  men  to  take  his  informant  into 
custody.  "  The  man  shouted  for  assistance; 
and  the  stokers,  guards,  and  station-master 
crowded  round  to  see  what  was  the  matter, 
and  were  each  in  turn  stuck  up  against  the 
wall,  with  a  couple  of  bearded  red-coats 
standing  sentry  over  them.  The  colonel 
next  took  possession  of  the  engine ;  and 
by  this  series  of  strong  measures,  delayed 
the  departure  of  the  train  until  the  whole 
of  his  men  were  safely  stowed  away  in  the 
carriages."  The  Friend  of  India  related 
this   instance    of   martial    law   with    warm 

'  approbation  ;  adding — "We  would  back  that 
servant  of  the  Company  as  being  equal  to 

'  an  emergency."!     Of  the  details  of  Neil's 
march    little    has    been    related.       He    has 

j  been  frequently  compared  to  "  an  avenging 

t  Colonel  Neil  to  Adjutant-general. — Pari.  Papers, 
p.  57. 
I      X  Mead's  Sepoy  Revolt,  p.  125. 


CONFLICTING  STATEMENTS  OF  NEIL  AND  PONSONBY. 


283 


angel ;"  and  his  track  was  marked  by 
desolation ;  for  Havelock's  force,  in  its  sub- 
sequent advance,  found  the  line  of  road 
almost  deserted  by  the  villagers,  wlio  had 
dismantled  their  dwellings,*  and  fled  with 
tlieir  little  property.  Colonel  Neil  reached 
Benares,  as  has  been  stated,  on  the  3rd  of 
June.  He  had  intended  starting  with  a 
detachment  for  Cawnpoor  on  the  following 
afternoon  ;  but  shortly  before  the  appointed 
time,  intelligence  was  received  from  Lieu- 
tenant Palliser,  of  the  outbreak  which  had 
taken  place  at  Azimghur;  and,  as  usual,  the 
affair  was  greatly  exaggerated,  four  ofiBcers 
being  described  as  killed. f  Brigadier  Pon- 
sonby  consulted  with  Colonel  Neil  regarding 
the  state  of  the  Native  troops  at  Benares. 
The  Seiks,  and  the  13th  Native  cavalry, 
were  believed  to  be  stanch,  but  doubts 
were  entertained  of  the  37tii  N.I. ;  and  the 
brigadier  proposed  that,  on  the  following 
morning,  their  muskets  should  be  taken 
away,  leaving  them  their  side-arms.  The 
colonel  urged  immediate  disarmament:  the 
brigadier  gave  way ;  and  the  two  officers 
parted  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements. 
At  5  P.M.,  Neil  was  on  the  ground  with 
150  of  H.^I.  10th,  and  three  officers;  sixty 
of  the  Madras  Fusiliers,  and  three  officers ; 
three  guns  and  thirty  men.  At  this  time 
no  intimation  had  been  received  by  any 
officer,  of  the  corps  being  disposed  to  mu- 
tiny :  on  the  contrary.  Lieutenant-colonel 
Spottiswoode,  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  13tli,  declares  that  his  European  non- 
commissioned staff,  "  ob.served  nothing 
doubtful  i!i  the  conduct  of  the  men ;"  but 
that,  "up  to  the  very  last  moment,  every  man 
was  most  obedient  and  civil  to  all  au- 
thorities."! The  brigadier  came  on  parade 
at  the  appointed  hour;  hut  Neil  observed, 
that  "  he  appeared  far  from  well,  and 
perfectly  unable  to  act  with  energy,  or 
the  vigour  required  on  the  emergency."^ 
The  account  given  by  the  colonel  of  the 
ensuing  proceedings  is  too  long  for  quota- 
tion, and  too  general  and  confused  to 
afford  materials  for  a  summary  of  facts. 
With  regard  to  his  assuming  the  lead,  he 
says  he  did  so  after  the  firing  commenced, 
by  desire  of  the  brigadier,  who  "  was  on  his 
back  on  the  ground,  seemingly  struck  by  a 
stroke   of  the    sun,  and   declared   himself 

•  Journal  of  an  English  Officer  m  India  ;  by 
Major  Nortli,  60th  Rifles;  p.  13. 

t  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers,  1857 ;  p.  372. 

1  Parliamentary  Keturn  of  regiments  which  have 
mutinied  (15th  March,  1859) ;  p.  28. 


quite  unfit  for  anything."||  Between  the 
incapacity  of  one  commander,  and  the 
vigour  of  the  other,  the  sepoys  were  driven 
Avild  with  panic,  and  the  European  officers 
nearly  killed  by  the  hands  of  their  own 
countrymen.  Brigadier  Ponsonby's  pri- 
vate letter  recounting  the  affair,  was  pub- 
lished by  his  friends  in  the  Times,  in  vin- 
dication of  that  officer's  "  foresight  and 
judgment."  He  does  not  mention  having 
consulted  with  Neil  at  all ;  but  speaks  of 
"  Colonel  Gordon,  my  second  in  command," 
as  having  advised  the  immediate  disarma- 
ment of  the  37th  foot ;  to  wliich  the  bri- 
gadier adds — "After  some  discussion,  I 
agreed.  We  had  no  time  (it  being  be- 
tween 4  and  5  p.m.)  to  lose,  and  but  little 
arrangement  could  be  made  (fortunately)." 
There  is  no  explanation  given  why  the 
haste  and  disorder  which  characterised  the 
proceedings  should  be  termed  fortunate. 
The  personal  feelings  of  the  military  autho- 
rities towards  one  another  could  not  be  so 
Called.  Ponsonby  expressly  asserts  that  he 
conducted  theentire  disarmament;  and  takes 
credit  for  the  panic  inspired  "  by  the  sud- 
denness of  our  attack."  "  Something  very 
like  a  coup  de  soleil"  obliged  him,  he  says, 
"  to  make  over  the  command  to  the  next 
senior  officer,  but  not  until  everything  was 
quiet."lf  This  statement  is,  of  course,  in 
direct  opposition  to  Neil's  assertion,  that, 
during  the  crisis,  the  brigadier  was  "  on  his 
back,"  utterly  prostrate  in  mind  and  body. 
A  perusal  of  the  official  reports  of  the 
various  subordinate  officers,  and  of  the  pri- 
vate Indian  correspondence  of  the  time, 
concerning  this  single  case,  would  well  re- 
pay any  reader  desirous  of  obtaining  an 
insight  into  the  actual  working  of  our 
military  sj'stem  in  India  in  1857.  Inci- 
dental revelations  are  unwittingly  made, 
which,  though  of  no  interest  to  the  general 
reader,  are  invaluable  to  those  whose  duty 
it  is  to  provide,  as  far  as  may  be,  against 
the  recurrence  of  so  awful  a  calamity  as 
the  mutiny  of  the  Bengal  army.  There  are 
other  accounts  of  the  affair — a  private  and 
circumstantial,  but  clear  one,  by  Ensign 
Tweedie,  who  was  dangerously  wounded  on 
the  occasion ;  and  an  official  one  by  Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Spottiswoode.  Young  Twee- 
die  has  no  leaning  to  the  sepoys;  bi\t  as  the 

§  Lieutenant-colonel  Neil  to  Adjutant-general, 
June  6th,  1857. — Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  57. 

II  Ibid.,  p.  57. 

•[[  Letter  from  Brigadier  Ponsonby  j  Benares, 
June  l-Sth,  1857  —Times,  August  18th,  1857. 


284 


MUTINY  AT  BENARES— JUNE  4th,  1857. 


Meerut  authorities  considered  that  their 
blunder  had  been  the  salvation  of  India,  so 
he  thought  that,  "  although  the  sepoys  might 
have  been  quietly  disbanded,  the  mistake 
that  provoked  the  row  was  a  most  fortunate 
one."  The  disarming,  he  believes,  "  might 
have  been  effected  in  perfect  peace  and 
quietness,  had  it  been  gone  about  in  a  less 
abrupt  and  threatening  manner."  The 
37th  were  drawn  up  in  front  of  their  lines, 
with  the  cannon  pointed  at  them.  The 
Europeans  were  posted  within  musket 
range,  and  the  Seiks  and  irregular  cavalry 
within  sight.  The  37th,  seeing  themselves 
hemmed  in  with  musketry  and  artillery, 
naturally  suspected  that  they  were  to  be 
blown  to  pieces ;  and  all  the  assurances  of 
their  officers  proved  insufficient  to  keep 
tliem  composed.  They  were  ordered  to  put 
their  muskets  into  the  little  stone  buildings 
called  kotes,  or  bells.  The  majority  of 
their  number  obeyed  at  once,  and  European 
soldiers  were  then  marched  towards  the 
bells  of  arms,  with  the  view  of  securing 
them  from  any  attempt  which  the  sepoys 
might  make  to  recover  them.  This  move- 
ment accelerated  the  crisis.  Ensign  Twee- 
die  states — 

'•  The  sepoys  were  beforehand  with  the  Europeans, 
and,  making  a  sudden  rush  at  the  bells  of  arms,  re- 
covered their  muskets,  and  fired  at  once  upon  their 
own  officers  and  upon  the  advancing  Europeans,  re- 
tiring at  the  same  time  within  their  lines,  and  thence 
keeping  up  a  brisk  fire  upon  the  Europeans.     Up  to 
this  time,  however,  no  officer  had  been  hit.     The 
sepoys  of  the  37th  ensconced  themselves   for  the 
most  part  behind  their  huts,  some  of  them  behind 
the  bells   of  arms.     The  majority  of  their  officers 
had  fallen  back  at  once  upon  the  European  column. 
Major  Barrett,  however,  indignant  at  the  way  in 
which  what  he  believed  to  be  good  sepoys  had  been 
dealt  with,  resolved,  as  he  told  them,  to  share  their 
fate,  and,  along  with  the  European  sergeant-major, 
remained  exposed  to  the  fire  opened  from  the  half- 
battery,  as  also  from  the  European  musketry  upon 
the  huts.     But  the  sepoys'  worst  blood  was  up,  and 
several   of    their   number   fired   upon   him,   others 
attacking  him  with  their  fixed  bayonets.     He  was 
compelled  to  flee  for  his  life,  and  a  guard  of  faithful 
sepoys  (principally  of  the  grenadier  company)  having 
formed  round  his  person,  conducted  him  in  safety  to 
his  bungalow  in  the  cantonments.     The  sergeant- 
major   also   was  saved  by  the  same  faithful   escort. 
In  the  meantime.  Captain  Guise,  of  the  13th  Irregu- 
lars,  was   only   leaving  his  bungalow,  and   rashly 
attempted  to  reach  the  parade-ground,  where   his 
troop  was  drawn  up,  by  riding  through  the  lines  of 
the  37th  N.I.     His  chest  was  positively  riddled  with 
bullete  in  the  attempt.     Of  course,  his  death  was 
instantaneous. 

"  The  sepoys  still  kept  up  a  smart  fire  upon  the 
scanty  Europeans,  who  were  labouring  under  the 
great  disadvantage  of  having  to  deal  with  an  enemy 
effectually  secured  behind  their  huts  from  obser- 


vation.    The  officers  of  the  37th  were  posted  with 
the  European  musketry,  and  were  exposed,  of  course, 
to   a   smart  fire.     Several   privates  were   knocked 
over  within  five  yards  of  me,  and  yet  not  a  single 
officer  got  touched.     For  about  twenty  minutes  we 
remained  under  this  fire.     But  our  brave  fellows 
began  to  drop  off  rather  fast,  and  accordingly  it  was 
resolved  to  charge  the  huts.     As  a  preliminary  to 
this,  a  party  was  dispatclied  to  set  them  on  fire ;   ' 
and  in  the  meantime,  we  officers  of  the  37th  retired, 
and   took   our    place    beside   the   Seiks,   wlio,   we 
understood,  were  to  take  part  in  the  charge.     They 
form  an  irregular  corjjs,  and  have  only  two  officers 
attached    to    them — viz.,    a    commandant   (Colonel 
Gordon)  and  an  adjutant.     As  both  of  these  were 
mounted,  there  was  need  of  our  services  in  the  ranks. 
"  Here  I  remained  for  about  ten  minutes,  in  the 
momentary  expectation  of  the  charge  being  ordered. 
The  brigade-major.  Captain  Dodgson,  then  galloped 
across  the  parade-gronnd,  and,  placing  himself  at 
the  head  of  the   irregular  cavalry,  informed   them 
that  their  commandant.  Captain  Guise,  had  been 
killed,  and   that   he   had   been   sent  by  Brigadier 
Ponsonby  to  supply  his  place.     They  flashed  their 
swords  in  reply,  giving  vent,  at  the  same  time,  to  a 
low  murmur,  which  struck  me  as  somewhat  equivocal. 
Captain  Dodgson  had  scarce  ceased  addressing  them 
when  one  of  their   number   fired   upon   him  with 
a  pistol.     The  bullet  only  grazed  the  elbow  of  his 
sword  arm,  just  at  that  point  where  the  ulnar  nerve 
passing  over  a  process  of  bone  is  so  easily  irritated 
as  to  have  gained  for  that  piece  of  bone  the  common 
name  of  'funny-bone.'     The  consequence  was  com- 
plete  paralysis   of  the  hand  and  arm;    his  sword 
dropped  powerless  across  his  saddle,  and  the  rascal 
who  had  fired  the  shot  rushed  upon  him  to  cut  him 
down,  but  another  of  the  troop  interfered  to  rescue 
him,   and,  being   well   mounted,   he   succeeded  in 
escaping  &om  the  melie."* 

These  particulars  are  very  striking,  nar- 
rated as  they  are  by  a  youth  evidently 
possessed  of  unusual  powers  of  observa- 
tion, and  on  whose  mind  a  scene  so  novel 
and  exciting  would  naturally  make  a 
lively  impression.  Oue  point,  however,  he 
has  possibly  mistaken ;  for  au  officer  of 
the  13th,  writing  to  inform  the  widow 
of  Captain  Guise  of  her  bereavement, 
says — "  Your  dear  husband  was  at  his 
post,  as  he  ever  was;  and,  at  the  head 
of  his  regiment,  he  entered  vigorously  on 
the  work  of  cutting  up  the  rebels.  His 
horse  being  fleeter  than  those  of  his  men, 
he  got  in  advance,  and  was  only  followed 
by  Mix  Bund  Khan,  an  Afghan.  Your 
hu.sband  followed  a  37th  rebel  closely, 
and  came  up  with  him  in  the  Sudder 
Bazaar,  where  the  miscreant  turned  round, 
and  fired  his  musket."  The  writer  pro- 
ceeds to  say  that  the  horse  was  wounded, 
and  fell;  that  Captain  Guise  vainly  strove 
to  reach  the  sepoy  with  his  sword,  being 


•  Ensign  Tweedie's  Letter.- 
1857. 


•Times,  August  25th, 


COL,  SPOTTISWOODE'S  ACCOUNT  OP  BENARES  MUTINY. 


285 


entangled  with  the  trappings  of  the  fallen 
horse ;  that  his  follower  "  did  his  best  to 
get  at  the  man,  but,  owing  to  the  nar- 
row position  thej'  were  in,  he  could  not 
manage  it ;"  and  the  mutineer  found  time  to 
reload  liis  musket,  and  shoot  the  officer 
through  the  heart.  The  Afghan  trooper 
attempted  to  follow  the  perpetrators  of 
the  foul  deed ;  but,  owing  to  the  intri- 
cacies of  the  place,  they  quickly  escaped. 
"  More  than  one  sepoy  came  up  before  the 
deed  of  death  was  completed,  and  they  are 
also  implicated,  perhaps,  in  the  murder."* 
The  statement  of  the  unfortunate  officer's 
having  got  in  advance  of  his  men  in  attack- 
ing the  37th,  rests  on  the  authority  of 
a  brother  officer,  and  would  be  received 
without  hesitation,  but  for  strong  contra- 
dictory evidence.  The  remaining  portion 
of  the  narrative  is  highly  improbable. 
Captain  Guise  would  hardly  have  been  so 
rash  as  to  follow  a  single  rebel  into 
the  Sudder  Bazaar,  leaving  the  regiment 
which  he  commanded  to  mutiny  in  his  ab- 
sence. Besides,  Ensign  Tweedie's  assertion 
of  the  captain's  chest  being  riddled  with 
bullets,  is  confirmed  by  the  official  record 
of  casualties,  which  describes  the  body  as 
bearing  the  marks  of  "gunshot  wound.s 
in  head,  chest,  abdomen,  and  both  arms ; 
and  two  very  deep  sabre-cuts  on  left  side 
of  the  head."' 

Colonel  Neil's  statement  is  most  positive. 
He  asserts  that  Captain  Guise  "  was  killed 
before  reaching  parade,  by  the  men  of  the 
37th  N.I."t  The  circumstance  is  of  some 
importance,  because  the  death  or  absence 
of  their  leader  had  evident  influence  with 
the  irregular  cavalry :  moreover,  the  rela- 
tives of  Captain  Guise  have  publicly  repu- 
diated a  statement  which  they  consider 
calculated  to  injure  his  reputation. 

When  Guise  fell.  Brigadier  Ponsouby 
directed  Captain  Dodgson  to  assume  com- 
mand of  the  13th. J  He  was,  as  has  been 
shown,  immediately  fired  on  by  a  trooper, 
and  the  others  then  broke  into  revolt.  At 
the  same  moment,  the  Seiks,  who  had 
been  watching  the  Europeans  as  they 
kueit  and  fired  into  the  37th,  suddenly 
dashed  forward,  and  rushed  madly  on  the 
guns.  A  corporal  of  H.M.  10th  writes 
home — "  The  Seik  regiment  turned  on  the 
artillery  ;  but  you  never  saw  such  a  sight  in 

•  Extract  of  letter  published  in  the  Times,  Sep- 
tember 3rd,  1857  ;  by  Mr.  W.  V.  Guise,  brother  to 
the  deceased  officer. 

t  Colonel  Neil's  despatch,  June  6th,  1857.     |  Ibid. 


your  life :  they  were  mowed  down,  and  got 
several  rounds  of  grapeshot  into  them 
when  out  of  our  range."§  In  a  very  short 
space  of  time,  the  whole  body  of  the  muti- 
neers, 37th  foot,  13th  cavalry,  and  Loo- 
diana  Seiks,  were  dispersed  with  great 
slaughter. 

A  civihan  (Mr.  Spencer)  who  was  ])re- 
sent,  says — "  The  sum  total  was,  that  the 
37th  were  utterly  smashed,  and  the  Seiks 
and  cavalry  frightened  out  of  their  wits." 
He  adds — "Many  of  the  officers  are  furious, 
and  say  we  have  been  shedding  inno- 
cent blood ;  and  the  whole  thing  was  a 
blunder."|| 

Major-general  Lloyd  asserts,  in  the  most 
unqualified  terms,  "  that  though  the  men 
of  the  37th  had  lodged  their  arms  in  their 
bells  of  arms,  they  were  fired  on  with  grape 
and  musketry ;  the  Seiks  present,  and  most 
of  the  13th  irregular  cavalry,  joined  them 
in  resisting  the  attack,  and  it  was  every, 
where  stigmatised  as  '  Feringhee  ka  Dag- 
hah."'f 

Colonel  Spottiswoode  offers  evidence  to 
the  same  efifect,  in  his  narrative  of  his  own 
proceedings  during  the  emeute.  Writing 
on  the  11th  of  March,  1858,  he  states — 


"  Up  to  this  moment  I  am  still  not  convinced  that 
the  414  sepoys  that  stood  on  parade,  and  near  400 
on  detached  duty  on  the  afternoon  of  the  4th  June, 
1857,  were  all  mutinous,  or  were  not  well-disposed 
towards  government  j  and  from  what  I  have  since 
heard  from  the  men  that  are  with  the  regiment  now, 
that  the  evil-disposed  did  not  amount  to  150;  for 
when  I  called  on  the  men  to  lodge  their  arms  in 
their  bells  of  arms,  I  commenced  with  the  grenadiers ; 
and  so  readily  were  my  orders  attended  to,  that  in  a 
very  short  lime  I  had  got  down  as  far  as  No.  6 
company,  and  was  talking  to  one  man  who  appeared 
to  be  in  a  very  mutinous  mood ;  so  much  so,  that  I 
was  just  debating  in  my  own  mind  whether  I  should 
shoot  him,  as  I  was  quite  close,  and  had  my  pistol 
in  my  pocket :  I  was  disturbed  by  some  of  the  men, 
for  there  were  two  or  three  voices  calling  out,  '  Our 
officers  are  deceiving  us;  they  want  us  to  give  up 
our  arms,  that  the  Europeans  who  are  coming  up 
may  shoot  us  down.'  I  called  out,  '  It  is  false ;'  and 
I  appealed  to  the  Native  officers,  who  have  known 
me  for  upwards  of  thirty-three  years,  whether  1  ever 
deceived  any  man  in  the  regiment;  when  many 
a  voice  replied,  '  Never ;  you  have  always  been 
a  good  father  to  us.'  However,  I  saw  the  men  were 
getting  very  excited  at  the  ap[)roach  of  the  Eu- 
ropeans, when  I  told  them  to  keep  quiet,  and  I 
would  stop  their  advance ;  I  galloped  forward,  and 
made  signs  to  the  party  not  to  advance,  calling  out, 
'  Uon't  come  on.'    Fancying  they  had  halted,  1  went 

§  Letter  published  in  the  Timet,  Sept.  11th,  1857. 
II  Ibid.,  August  10th,  1857. 

%  Extract  of  a  letter  from  Major-general  Lloyd. — 
Daily  News,  Oct.  30lh,  1857. 


286 


THE  MINT  AT  BENARES— JUNE  4th,  1857. 


back  to  the  lines,  and  had  only  just  got  among 
my  men,  when  I  heard  one  solitary  shot,  followed 
immediately  by  two  others  in  succession ;  those  three 
were  fired  from  the  37th  lines,  and  from  No.  2 
company,  and,  as  I  afterwards  heard,  were  fired 
by  the  pay  havildar  of  2nd  company :  immediately 
a  rush  was  made  at  the  bells  of  arms,  which  were 
opened  by  this  man ;  a  general  fire  commenced ; 
while  I  and  all  my  ofticers  were  in  the  lines  among 
our  men,  without  receiving  any  insult  or  moles- 
tation ;  indeed,  many  of  the  officers  were  sur- 
rounded and  protected  by  the  men  of  their  respec- 
tive companies,  among  whom  the  grenadiers  were 
conspicuous." 

Colonel   Spottiswoode  proceeds  to  state 
tliat,  after  the  firing  commenced,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  joining  the  guns  and  European 
detachment ;    and    seeing    there    was    no 
chance  of  clearing  the  lines  by  the  present 
proceedings,  he  offered  to  fire  them,  which 
duty  he  performed  by  order  of  Brigadier 
Ponsonby,  who,  on  his  return,  he  found  in- 
capacitated by  a  sun-stroke.     Spottiswoode 
then  proceeded,  with  a  party  of  Europeans, 
to  scour  the  cantonments,  and  to  bring  in 
all   the  women    and  children    to   the    Old 
Mint,   a  large  building   previously   chosen 
for    the    purpose.      No    sign    of    mutiny 
was   made    by  the  Seiks  on  guard  at  tlie 
treasury.     While  Colonel  Spottiswoode  was 
gathering  in   the   civilians   and  ladies,  he 
had  occasion  to  pass  the  regimental  pay- 
master's office,  where  fourteen  of  his  own 
men    were    on    duly.      They   immediately 
rushed  to  him,  and  begged  that  lie  would 
enable  them  to  protect  the  treasure  com- 
mitted to  their  charge.     The  colonel  spoke 
a  few  words  of  encouragement,  and  pro- 
ceeded   on    his    immediate    duty,    which, 
having   satisfactorily  accomplished,  he   re- 
turned to  the  paymaster's  compound,  and 
there  found  the  men  in  a  state  of  extreme 
alaim   and  confusion ;    for  they  had  been 
joined    in     the    interim    by    a    party    of 
"fugitives  belonging  to  the  37th  N.I.,  who 
had  been  burnt  out  of  their  lines,  "and 
who  seemed  to  think  that  our  object  was  to 
destroy    indiscriminately    every    sepoy    we 
could  come  across."     The  result  of  a  long 
conversation  with  these  men,  convinced  the 
colonel  that  the  majority  of  the  men  were 
entirely  ignorant  of  the  intentions  of  tlie 
turbulent  characters,  who  were  only  a  very 
small  minority ;  and  he  declares,  that  even 
those  who  contrived   to  join  Colonel  Neil 
and  the  guns,  expressed  the  same  opinion 
as  his  own  fugitive  men,  of  surprise  at  the 
fire  being   opened    on   men  who  had   sur- 
rendered their  arms;  saying — "You  drove 
away  all  the  good  men  who  were  an^tious 


to  join  their  oflScers,  but  could  not  in  con- 
sequence of  the  very  heavy  fire  that  was 
opened,  and  they  only  ran  away  for  shelter." 
A  further  circumstance  adduced  by  Colonel 
Spottiswoode  is,  that  a  company  of  the 
37th,  then  on  duty  at  the  fort  of  Chunar, 
fifteen  miles  distant,  remained  there  per- 
fectly stanch  for  six  months,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  which  time  they  returned  to  head- 
quarters.* After  the  Benares  aff'air,  a 
party  of  the  men  who  remained  with  their 
officers  were  sent,  under  their  tried  friend 
Major  Barrett,  to  join  their  comrades  at 
Chunar. 

Tlie  Europeans  resident  at  Benares,  of 
course,  spent  the  night  in  great  alarm,  as 
there  seemed  every  probability  that  the 
sepoys  might  return  and  blockade  them. 
One  of  the  party  at  the  Mint  says — 

"We  slept  on  the  roof — ladies,  children,  ayas, 
and  punkch  coolies ;  officers  lying  down  dressed, 
and  their  wives  sitting  up  by  them  fanning  them  ; 
gentlemen  in  the  most  fearless  dishabilU,  sleeping 
surrounded  by  ladies.  In  the  compound  or  enclosure 
below  there  is  a  little  handful  of  Europeans — 
perhaps  150  altogether;  others  are  at  the  barracks 
half  a  mile  off.  There  is  a  large  collection  of  car- 
riages and  horses ;  little  bedsteads  all  over  tne  place ; 
and  two  circular  quick -hedges,  with  flower-gardens 
inside,  are  falling  victims  to  the  sheep  and  goats 
which  have  been  brought  in  to  provision  the  place; 
add  to  this  a  heap  of  more  beer-boxes  than  your 
English  imagination  can  take  in,  and  throw  over  all 
the  strong  black  and  white  of  a  full  moonlight,  and 
you  have  the  Mint  as  it  looked  when  the  English  of 
JBenares  had  sought  refuge  in  it."t 

This  writer  adds,  that  there  was  "  a  pic- 
nicky,  gipsified  look  about  the  whole  affair," 
which  rendered  it  difficult  to  realise  the  fact, 
that  "the  lives  of  the  small  congregation 
were  upon  the  toss-up  of  the  next  events.'"' 
Another  witness  says — "  The  choice  of 
a  sleeping-place  lay  between  an  awfully 
heated  room  and  the  roof.  The  commis- 
sioner slept  with  his  family  in  a  room,  on 
shakedowns,  with  other  families  sleeping 
round  them;  and  there,  from  night  to  night, 
they  continued  to  sleep."J  The  terrible 
characteristics  of  war  were,  however,  not 
long  wanting,  for  the  wounded  and  dying 
were  soon  brought  in;  and,  from  the  win- 
dow, the  sight  that  greeted  the  eye  was 
"a  row  of  gallowses,  on  which  the  ener- 
getic  colonel  was  hanging  mutineer  after 

•  Parliamentary  Return  regarding  regimenUwhiqh 
have  mutinied:  March  15th,  1859;  p.  30. 

f  Times,  August  10th,  1857. 

I  Letter  of  the  Rev.  James  Kennedy. — Jlwies, 
August  8th,  1857. 


SERVICES  OF  NATIVES  OF  RANK  AT  BENARES-JUNE,  1857.     287 


mutineer,  as  they  were  brought  in."*  Be- 
sides the  casualties  already  noted,  the  assist- 
ant-surgeon and  two  men  of  H.M.  10th  had 
been  killed,  and  two  ensigns  and  nine  pri- 
vates wounded.  Young  Tweedie  was  fetched 
from  his  bungalow  in  cantonments  at  two 
iu  the  morning.  He  had  dragged  himself 
thither  after  being  severely  wounded,  a 
bullet  having  gone  clear  through  his 
shoulder  and  back;  two  others  passing 
harmlessly  through  his  forage-cap,  and  three 
through  his  trowsers,  of  which  one  only 
inflicted  any  injury,  and  that  but  slightly 
grazing  the  thigh. f 

Towards  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the 
5th,  when  the  wearied  crowd  huddled 
together  at  the  Mint  were  falling  asleep 
from  sheer  exhaustion,  they  were  aroused 
by  the  news,  "The  magistrate  has  just 
been  sent  for — the  city  is  rising."  The 
kotwal  had  sent  to  ask  aid :  but  the  answer 
was,  "Do  your  best;  we  cannot  spare  a 
man  :"J  and  he  appears  to  have  succeeded 
marvellously  well  in  subduing  the  riots. 
The  nominal  rajah  of  Benares  was  the 
representative  of  the  family  reduced  by 
Warren  Hastings  to  the  condition  of  sti- 
pendiaries, when,  after  taking  possession  of 
the  city,  the  governor-general  found  himself 
in  such  imminent  danger,  that  he  was  glad 
to  fly  by  night  to  the  fortress  of  Chunar.§ 
The  present  rajah,  on  leaving  Benares, 
took  refuge  in  Ramnagur — the  fort  and 
palace  where  Clieyte  Sing,  the  lasl  prince 
de  facto,  had  been  assaulted  and  slain  in 
1781.  The  Europeans  at  the  Missionary 
College, II  being  afraid  to  attempt  reaching 
the  Mint,  fled  to  Ramnagur,  where  they 
were  kindly  received  and  sent  on,  under 
the  escort  of  the  rajah's  sepoy  guard,  to 
Chunar.^  Ail  the  natives  of  rank  then  in 
Benares  appear  to  have  been  true  to  us; 
hut  one  of  them  is  mentioned  by  the  judge 
(Mr.  Frederick  Gubbins)  as  having  rendered 
essential    service.      Rajah    Soorut    Sing,   a 

*  Letter  from  a  clergyman,  dated  "  Bangalore, 
July  4tli."— TjHies,  August  25th,  1857  The  rev- 
erend gentleman,  in  another  part  of  his  communica- 
tion, reverts  to  the  "scores  and  scores  of  prisoners" 
whom  the  "  indefatigable  Colonel  Neil"  was  hang- 
ing J  and  is  anxious  about  the  state  of  feeling  in 
England,  "lest  there  should  he  any  squeamishness 
about  the  punishment  in  store  for  the  brutal  and 
diabolical  mutineers." 

+  Ensign  Tweedie's  Letter  {Times,  August  2oth, 
1857) ;  and  Rev.  James  Kennedy's  Letter. — Times, 
August  8th,  1857. 

X  Kennedy's  Letter. — Ihid. 

§  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  .361. 

11  There  were  eleven  European  missionary  families 


Seik  chieftain,  under  "a  slight  surveil- 
lance" at  the  time  of  the  outbreak,  went 
to  the  Seik  guard  stationed  at  the  Mint, 
and,  by  his  example  and  influence,  pre- 
vented the  men  from  rising  against  the 
civilians  and  ladies  collected  there,  and 
seizing  the  treasure — amounting  to  about 
j660,000.  a  writer  who  enters  very  fully 
into  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Gubbins  at  this 
crisis,  and  appears  to  possess  private  and 
direct  information  thereon,  says,  that  the 
rajah's  interference  was  most  opportune ; 
for  "already  the  Seiks  began  to  feel  that 
they  at  least  were  capable  of  avenging 
their  comrades;  when  Soorut  Sing,  going 
amongst  them,  pointed  out  to  them  that 
the  attack  must  at  all  events  have  been 
unpremeditated,  or  the  civilians  would  not 
have  placed  themselves  and  their  families 
in  their  power."**  The  same  authority  pays 
a  high  and  deserved  tribute  to  the  fidelity 
of  the  rajah  of  Benares;  and  likewise  to 
that  of  another  Hindoo,  Rao  Deo  Narrain 
Sing,  who,  in  addition  to  "great  wealth 
and  immense  influence,'^  possessed  "  strong 
sense  and  ability  of  no  common  order." 
"  After  the  mutiny,  the  Rao  and  the  Seik 
sirdar,  Soorut  Sing,  actually  lived  in  the 
same  house  with  Mr.  Gubbins.  The  former 
procured  for  us  excellent  spies,  first-rate 
information,  and  placed  all  his  resources 
(and  they  were  great)  at  the  service  of  our 
government."  The  rajah,  "although  not 
so  personally  active  as  the  Rao,  was  equally 
liberal  with  his  resources,  which  were  even 
greater;  and  never,  in  our  darkest  hour,  did 
he  hang  back  from  assisting  us."  The 
name  of  Mr.  Gubbins  was,  it  is  said,  a 
proverb  for  "swift  stern  justice :"tt  and  if 
that  phrase  is  intended  to  bear  the  signifi- 
cation commonly  attached  to  it  by  Euro- 
peans in  India  in  the  year  of  grace  1857, 
it  seems  certainly  foitunate  that  there  were 
some  natives  of  influence  to  reason  with 
their  countrymen  against  the  panic  which  a 

in  Benares — six  attached  to  the  Church  of  England 
Mission,  two  to  the  London  Mission,  and  three  to 
the  Baptist  Mission.  The  aggregate  property  of  these 
establishments  amounted  to  upwards  of  £20,000. — 
Sherring's  Indian  Church,  p.  251. 

^  Letter  fr^m  the  chief  missionary  in  charge  of 
the  Benares  College. —  Times,  August  6th,  1857. 

*•  Mutiny  of  the  Bcnijal  Army  ;  by  One  who  has 
served  under  Sir  C  Napier;  p.  90.  The  Europeans 
afterwards  subscribed  £100  to  present  Soorut  Sing 
with  a  set  of  fire-arms. — Statements  of  Mr.  John 
Gubbins,  on  the  authority  of  his  brother  at  Benares. 
—  Times,  September  2nd,  1857. 

tt  Rev.  James  Kennedy. — Times,  August  21st, 
1857. 


288 


VILLAGE-BURNING  IN  INDIA— JUNE,  1857. 


newly  erected  row  of  gibbets  (three  sepa- 
rate gibbets,  with  three  ropes  to  each)*  >vas 
calculated  to  produce.  The  people  of  Be- 
nares are  described,  in  the  correspondence 
of  the  period,  as  "petrified  with  fear  of  our 
soldiers  being  let  loose  on  them."  Martial 
law  was  speedily  proclaimed ;  and  on  the 
29th  of  June,  the  Rev.  James  Kennedy 
writes — "Scarcely  a  day  passed  without  some 
poor  wretches  being  hurled  into  eternity. 
Such  is  the  state  of  things  here,  that  even 
fine  delicate  ladies  may  be  heard  expressing 
their  joy  at  the  vigour  with  which  the  mis- 
creants are  dealt  with."t  The  number  of 
sepoys  killed  on  the  night  of  the  4th  has 
not  been  estimated, J  neither  is  there  any 
record  of  the  number  of  natives  executed 
on  the  scaflfold,  or  destroyed  by  the  far 
more  barbarous  process  of  burning  down 
villages,  in  which  the  sick  and  aged  must 
often  have  fallen  victims,  or  escaped  to 
perish,  in  utter  destitution,  by  more  lin- 
gering pangs.  The  dread  of.  the  European 
soldiers,  which  seized  on  the  people  in 
consequence  of  the  occurrences  of  the  4th 
of  June,  was  viewed  as  most  salutary  ;  and 
the  writer  last  quoted  (a  clergyman),  re- 
marks, that  the  natives  "  think  them,  tlie 
-  European  soldiers,  demons  in  human  form ; 
and  to  this  opinion  our  safety  is  in  a 
degree  traceable." 

The  Europeans  at  Benares  were  reinforced 
by  detachments  of  the  78th  Highlanders,  a 
regiment  which,  from  the  strangeness  of  its 
costume,  created  great  excitement  among 
the  natives. 

On  the  22nd  of  June,  a  report  was  re- 
ceived that  a  body  of  mutineers  were  en- 
camped about  thirty  miles  from  the  city. 
On  the  evening  of  the  26th,  a  force  con- 
sisting of  200  of  the  78th  Highlanders,  the 
Loodiana  regiment,  and  thirty  troopers  of  the 
13th,  were  sent  from  Benares  in  search  of 
them.  One  of  the  party,  in  narrating  the 
expedition,  writes — "  The  rascals,  of  course, 
fled  for  life  on  the  approach  of  the  gallant 
Highlanders.  You  will,  however,  be  grati- 
fied to  learn,  that  twenty-four  of  the  rebels 
were  cut  up  by  the  cavalry  and  infantry, 
twenty-three  caught  and  hung  on  the  spot, 
twenty  villages  razed  to  the  ground,  and 
from  forty  to  fifty  villagers  flogged,  in  order 
to  cool  their  thieving  propensities.  A  few 
days  before  the  detachment  left,  the  magis- 

•  Timet,  August  21st,  1857.  t  Hid. 

X  The  clergyman,  whose  letter,  dated  "  Bangalore, 
July  4th,"  has  been  recently  quoted,  states,  on  the 
authority  of  an  officer  engaged  in  the  Benares  affair, 


trate  offered  a  reward  of  1,000  rupees  for 
the  head  or  person  of  the  leader  of  the 
rebels,  who  is  well  known  to  the  natives." 

The  villagers  did  not  betray  the  rebel 
leader.  Indeed,  it  is  remarkable  how  rarely, 
in  the  case  of  either  Europeans  or  na- 
tives, they  ever  earned  "  blood- money,"  even 
though  habitually  wretchedly  poor,  and 
now  almost  starving,  in  consequence  of  the 
desolation  wrought  by  the  government  and 
insurgent  forces.  The  leader  was,  neverthe- 
less, captured  by  the  troops,  and  "  hung  np 
on  a  tree,  to  keep  nine  others  company  that 
had  been  hung  there  the  same  morning." 
The  Europeaiis  returned  to  camp  "in  high 
spirits. "§  The  newly  arrived  soldiers,  how- 
ever, who  had  not  been  accustomed  to  such 
warfare,  had  not  had  their  houses  burned, 
and  were  accustomed  to  view  their  lives  as 
held  on  a  precarious  tenure,  did  not  set  about 
the  task  of  destruction  with  quite  such  un- 
alloyed satisfaction  as  is  displayed  in  the 
correspondence  of  the  civil  amateurs.  There 
is  a  lengthy,  but  most  graphic,  account  of 
the  early  experience  of  a  Highlander,  which 
will  not  bear  condensing  or  abstracting. 
Perhaps  with  the  exception  of  Mowbray 
Thomson's  Story  of  Cawnpoor,  nothing  more 
touching  in  its  simplicity  has  been  written 
regarding  any  scene  of  the  mutiny. 

Few  can  read  the  Highlander's  narrative 
without  remembering  tluit  he  and  his  de- 
tachment ought  (if  all  concerned  had  done 
their  duty)  to  have  been  already  at  Cawn- 
poor, instead  of  starting,  on  the  very  even- 
ing of  that  fatal  27th  of  June,  on  such  an 
expedition  as  he  describes. 

The  hanging  and  the  flogging,  the  blood- 
money  and  the  burning  villages  ;  the  old 
man  "trying  to  trail  out  a  bed"  from  his 
cottage,  at  the  risk  of  perishing  in  the 
flames ;  the  group  of  young  children  stand- 
ing in  the  midst  of  a  little  courtyard,  the 
decrepit  man  and  aged  woman,  the  young 
mother  iu  a  hot  fever,  with  a  babe  "  five  or 
six  hours  old,"  wrapped  in  her  bosom  ;  all 
waiting  together  till  the  fire  should  consume 
them,  and  end  their  hopeless,  helpless 
misery — these  and  other  cases  (of  which 
there  must  have  been  hundreds  unrecorded), 
are  surely  enough  to  quench  the  thirst  for 
vengeance  in  any  human  breast,  or  at  least 
to  prove  the  necessity  of  striving  to  mitigate, 
not  increase,  the  miseries  of  intestine  strife  j 

that  100  of  the  Madras  Fusiliers,  under  Colonel  Neil, 
killed  050  of  the  mutineers. — Times,  August  2oth, 
1857. 
§  Letter  dated  "  Benares,  June  29th,  1857." 


A  HIGHLANDER'S  DESCRIPTION  OF  VILLAGE-BURNING. 


289 


remembering  ever,  that  even  without  the 
cruel  aggravation  of  village-burning,  every 
outcast  sepoy  was  punished  many  times 
over  in  his  starving  family. 

"  "We  arrived  at  Benares  on  the  25th  of  June,  a 
distance  of  421  miles,  in  eight  days  and  nine  nights. 
On  the  evening  of  the  27th  of  June,  there  were  240 
of  the  78th  (I  was  one  of  them),  100  of  the 
Seiks,  and  30  of  the  sowars — that  is,  Native  cavalry 
— went  cut  of  Benares  in  earls,  except  the  horse- 
men. At  3  o'clock  P.M.,  next  day,  we  were  divided 
in  three  lots  to  scour  the  country.  The  division  I 
was  in  went  to  a  village,  which  was  deserted.  We 
set  fire  to  it  and  burned  it  to  the  ground.  We  were 
coming  back,  when  a  gentleman  came  to  us,  and 
•aid,  that  a  village  over  about  two  miles  was  full  of 
them,  and  they  were  drawn  up  to  give  us  battle. 
We  marched,  or  rather  ran  to  them ;  we  got  within 
300  yards  of  them,  when  they  ran.  We  fired  after 
them,  and  shot  eight  of  them.  We  were  going  to 
the  village,  when  a  man  came  running  out  to  us,  and 
up  with  his  hand  and  saluted  our  officer.  We 
shouted,  that  he  was  a  sepoy,  and  to  seize  him.  He 
was  taken,  and  about  twelve  more.  We  came  back 
to  the  carts  on  the  road,  and  an  old  man  came  to  us, 
and  wanted  to  be  paid  for  the  village  we  had  burned. 
We  had  a  magistrate  with  us,  who  found  he  had 
been  harbouring  the  villains  and  giving  them  arms 
and  food.  Five  minutes  settled  it ;  the  sepoy  and 
the  man  that  wanted  money  were  taken  to  the  road- 
side, and  hanged  to  a  branch  of  a  tree.  We  lay  on 
the  road  all  night  beside  the  two  men  hanging. 
Next  morning,  we  got  up  and  marched  some  miles 
through  the  fields,  the  rain  pouring  down  in  tor- 
rents. We  came  to  another  village,  set  fire  to  it, 
and  came  back  to  the  road.  During  this  time  the 
other  divisions  were  not  idle.  They  had  done  as 
much  as  us.  When  we  came  back,  the  water  was 
running  in  at  our  necks,  and  coming  out  at  our 
heels.  There  were  about  eighty  prisoners  ;  six  were 
hung  that  day,  and  about  sixty  of  them  flogged. 
After  that,  the  magistrate  said  that  there  was  a 
Holdar  that  he  woujd  give  2,000  rupees  to  get,  dead 
or  alive.  We  slept  on  the  road  that  night,  and  the 
six  men  hanging  beside  us.  At  5  o'clock  P.M.  the 
bugle  sounded  'fall-in.'  The  rain  came  down  in 
torrents.  We  fell-in,  and  off  we  marched,  up  to  the 
knees  in  clay  and  water.  We  came  to  a  village  and 
set  it  on  fire.  The  sun  came  out,  and  we  got  dry ; 
I  but  we  soon  got  wet  again  with  sweat.  We  came  to 
a  large  village,  and  it  was  full  of  people.  We  took 
about  200  of  them  out,  and  set  fire  to  it.  I  went 
in,  and  it  was  all  in  flames.  I  saw  an  old  man 
trying  to  trail  out  a  bed.  He  was  not  able  to  walk, 
far  less  to  carry  out  the  cot.  I  ordered  him  out  of 
the  village,  and  pointed  to  the  flames,  and  told  him, 
as  well  as  I  could,  that  if  he  did  not  he  would  be 
burned.  I  took  the  cot,  and  dragged  him  out.  I 
came  round  a  corner  of  a  street  or  lane,  and  could 
see  nothing  but  smoke  and  flames.  1  stood  for  a 
moment  to  think  which  way  I  should  go.  Just  as  I 
was  looking  round,  1  saw  the  flames  bursting  out  of 
the  walls  of  a  house,  and,  to  my  surprise,  observed  a 
little  boy,  about  four  years  old,  looking  out  at  the 
door.  I  pointed  the  way  out  to  the  old  man,  and 
told  him  if  he  did  not  go  I  would  shoot  him.  I  then 
rushed  to  the  house  I  saw  the  little  boy  at.  The 
door  was  by  that  time  in  flames.  I  thought  not  of 
myself,  but  of  the  poor  helpless  child.  I  rushed  in ; 
VOL.  II.  2  P 


and  after  I  got  in,  there  was  a  sort  of  square,  and  all 
round  this  were  houses,  and  they  were  all  in  flames; 
and  instead  of  seeing  the  helpless  child,  I  beheld  six 
children  from  eight  to  two  years  old,  an  old  dotal 
woman,  an  old  man,  not  able  to  walk  without  help, 
and  a  young  woman,  about  twenty  years  old,  with  a 
child  wrapped  up  in  her  bosom.  I  am  sure  the  child 
was  not  above  five  or  six  hours  old.  The  mother 
was  in  a  hot  fever.  I  stood  and  looked  ;  but  looking 
at  that  time  would  not  do.  I  tried  to  get  the  little 
boys  to  go  away,  but  they  would  not.  I  took  the 
infant ;  the  mother  would  have  it ;  so  I  gave  it  back. 
I  then  took  the  woman  and  her  infant  in  my  arms  to 
carry  her  and  her  babe  out.  The  children  led  the 
old  woman  and  old  man.  I  took  the  lead,  knowing 
they  would  follow.  I  came  to  a  place  that  it  was 
impossible  to  see  whereabouts  I  was,  for  the  flames. 
I  dashed  through,  and  called  on  the  others  to  follow. 
After  a  hard  struggle,  I  got  them  all  safe  out,  but 
that  was  all.  Even  coming  through  the  fire,  part  of 
their  clothes,  that  did  not  cover  half  of  their  body, 
was  burned.  I  set  them  down  in  the  field,  and 
went  in  at  another  place.  I  saw  nothing  but  flames 
all  round.  A  little  further  I  saw  a  poor  old  woman 
trying  to  come  out.  She  could  not  walk ;  she  only 
could  creep  on  her  hands  and  feet.  I  went  up  to 
her,  and  told  her  I  would  carry  her  out ;  but  no, 
she  would  not  allow  me  to  do  it;  but,  when  I  saw 
it  was  no  use  to  trifle  with  her,  I  took  her  up  in  ray 
arms  and  carried  her  out.  I  went  in  at  the  other 
end,  and  came  across  a  woman  about  twenty-two 
years  old.  She  was  sitting  over  a  man  that,  to  all 
appearance,  woald  not  see  the  day  out.  She  was 
wetting  his  lips  with  some  siste.  The  fire  was  com- 
ing fast,  and  the  others  all  round  were  in  flames. 
Not  far  from  this  I  saw  four  women.  I  ran  up  to 
them,  and  asked  them  to  come  and  help  the  sick 
man  and  woman  out;  but  they  thought  they  had 
enough  to  do ;  and  so  they  had,  poor  things  ;  but,  to 
save  the  woman  and  the  dying  man,  1  drew  my 
bayonet,  and  told  them  if  they  did  not  I  would  kill 
them.  They  came,  carried  them  out,  and  laid  them 
under  a  tree.  I  left  them.  To  look  on,  any  one 
would  have  said  that  the  flames  were  in  the  clouds. 
When  I  went  to  the  other  side  of  the  village,  there 
were  about  140  women  and  about  sixty  children, 
all  crying  and  lamenting  what  had  been  done.  The 
old  woman  of  that  small  family  I  took  out,  came  to 
me,  and  I  thought  she  would  have  kissed  the  ground 
I  stood  on.  I  offered  them  some  biscuit  I  had  for 
my  day's  rations;  but  they  would  not  take  it;  it 
would  break  their  caste,  they  said.  The  assembly 
sounded,  and  back  I  went  with  as  many  blessings  as 
they  could  pour  out  on  anything  nearest  their  heart. 
Out  of  the  prisoners  that  were  taken,  the  man  for 
whom  the  2,000  rupees  were  offered  was  taken  by  us 
for  nothing.  We  hanged  ten  of  them  on  the  spot, 
and  flogged  a  great  many — about  sixty.  We  burned 
another  village  that  night.  Oh,  if  you  had  seen  the 
ten  march  round  the  grove,  and  seen  them  looking 
the  same  as  if  nothing  was  going  to  hapjjen  to 
them !  There  was  one  of  them  fell ;  the  rope  broke, 
and  down  he  came.  He  rose  up,  and  looked  all 
around;  he  was  hung  up  again.  After  they  were 
hanged,  all  the  others  were  taken  round  to  see  them. 
Then  we  came  marching  back  to  the  carts.  Left 
Benares  on  the  6th  of  July,  or  rather  the  night  of 
the  5th.  We  had  to  turn  out  and  lie  with  our  belts 
on.  On  the  Gth  we,  numbering  180,  went  out 
against  2,000.  We  came  up  close  to  them ;  they 
were  drawn  up  in  three  lines  ;   it  looked  too  many 


290 


MUTINY  OF  SEIKS  AT  JAUNPOOR— JUNE  5th,  1857. 


for  us ;  but  on  we  dashed,  and  in  a  short  time  they 
began  to  run.  We  set  fire  to  a  large  village  that 
■was  full  of  them ;  we  surrounded  it,  and  as  they 
came  rushing  out  of  the  flames,  shot  them.  We  took 
eighteen  of  them  prisoners ;  they  were  all  tied  to- 
gether, and  we  fired  a  volley  at  them  and  shot  them 
on  the  spot.  We  came  home  that  night,  after 
marching  twenty  miles,  and  fighting  nearly  thirty  to 
one.  In  this  country,  we  are  told  that  we  had 
killed  500  of  them :  our  loss  was  one  man  and  one 
horse  killed,  and  one  man  and  one  horse  wounded." 

The  news  of  the  disarmed  37th  having 
been  fired  into  by  the  European  artillery, 
told  as  it  probably  was  with  exaggeration, 
and  without  mention  of  the  mutinous  con- 
duct of  a  portion  of  the  regiment,  spread 
rapidly  among  the  Native  troops  at  the 
neighbouring  stations,  and  placed  a  new 
weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  plotting  and 
discontented,  by  rendering  it  more  easy  for 
them  to  persuade  their  well-disposed  but 
credulous  comrades,  that  the  breach  be- 
tween them  and  the  English  could  never 
be  healed,  and  that  their  disbandment  and 
probable  destruction  was  only  a  question  of 
time  and  opportunity.  At  Allahabad  the 
effect  was  sudden  and  terrible,  and  likewise 
at  the  intermediate  post  of  Jaunpoor. 

Jaunpoor  is  the  chief  place  of  a  district  of 
the  same  name,  acquired  by  the  East  India 
Company  in  1775.  It  stands  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Goomtee,  35  miles  north-west 
from  Benares,  and  55  miles  north-east  from 
Allahabad.  There  is  a  large  stone  fort  here, 
which  has  been  used  for  a  prison.  The  can- 
tonment, situated  at  the  east  of  the  town, 
was  on  the  5th  of  June,  1857,  held  by  a 
detachment  of  the  Loodiana  Seiks  from 
Allahabad,  169  in  number,  with  a  single 
European  cflBcer,  Lieutenant  Mara. 

As  Brigadier  Gordon  declared  of  the  re- 
giment at  Benares,  so  with  the  detachment 
at  Jaunpoor;  the  loyalty  of  the  men  had 
"never  been  suspected  by  any  one,  civil  or 
military."*  The  officer  in  command  at  Be- 
nares (Glasse),  declares  that  the  European 
guns  were  turned  on  the  Loodiana  corps, 
without  its  having  given  one  token  of  mu- 
tiny; that  the  lives  of  several  officers  were  in 
the  power  of  the  men,  and  nothing  would 
have  been  easier  than  to  shoot  them,  had 
the  regiment  been  actuated  by  a  mutinous 
spirit ;  but  that  with  the  exception  of  one 

•  Return  of  regiments  which  have  mutinied,  p.  33. 

t  I^};V-  32. 

X  The  Church  Missionary  Society  had  a  station  at 
Jaunpoor,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Rev. 
C.  Reuther.      They  supported    a   church  and  five 


man,  who  fired  at  Colonel  Gordon,  and 
whose  shot  was  received  in  the  arm  by  a 
faithful  havildar  (Chur  Sing,  who  risked  his 
life  in  the  defence  of  his  officer),  no  such  "* 
attempt  was  made.  It  will  be  evident,  he 
adds,  that  after  grape  had  once  been  poured 
into  the  regiment,  it  would  be  almost  excus-. 
able  if  some  men,  though  conscious  of  the 
innocence  and  rectitude  of  their  own  inten- 
tions, should  be  hurried  into  the  belief 
that  the  government,  conceiving  the  whole 
native  race  actuated  by  the  same  spirit  of 
treachery,  had  resolved  to  deal  the  same 
punishment  to  all.-f 

There  is  reason  to  believe,  that  the  sole 
and  simple  motive  of  the  emeute  at  Jaun- 
poor, was  a  conviction  that  the  British  had 
betrayed,  at  Benares,  their  resolve  to  exter- 
minate the  entire  Bengal  army  at  the  first 
convenient  opportunity,  without  distinction 
of  race  or  creed — regular  or  irregular,  Hin- 
doo or  Mohammedan,  Seik  or  Poorbeah. 
A  similar  report  had  nearly  occasioned  a 
Goorka  mutiny  at  Simla,  and  was  coun- 
teracted with  extreme  difficulty.  It  is  pos- 
sible, that  had  a  true  and  timely  account  of 
what  had  taken  place  at  Benares  been  re- 
ceived at  Jaunpoor,  Lieutenant  Mara  would 
have  been  enabled  to  explain  away,  at  least 
to  some  extent,  the  exaggerated  accounts 
which  were  sure  to  find  circulation  in  the 
native  lines.  No  such  warning  was  given.  A 
bazaar  report  reached  the  residents,  on  the 
4th  of  June,  that  the  troops  at  Azimghur 
had  mutinied  on  the  previous  evening.  On 
the  following  morning  there  was  no  post  from 
Benares;  and  about  eight  o'clock,  three  Euro- 
peans rode  in  from  the  Bubcha  factory,  two 
miles  and  a-half  from  Jaunpoor,  stating 
that  the  factory  had  been  attacked  by  a 
party  of  the  37th  mutineers,  and  that  they 
had  made  their  escape  through  a  shower  of 
bullets.  Mr.  Caesar,  the  head-master  of  the 
Mission  school, J  said  to  Lieutenant  Mara, 
"  The  37th  are  upon  us."  The  officer  re- 
plied, "  What  have  we  to  fear  from  the  37th ; 
our  own  men  will  keep  them  off."§  The 
Europeans  and  Eurasians  assembled  toge- 
ther in  the  Cutcherry,  and  the  Seiks  were 
placed  under  arms,  awaiting  the  arrival  of 
the  mutineers ;  until,  about  noon,  news  ar- 
rived,  that  after  plundering  and  burning 

majority  of  the  people  of  Jaunpoor  were  Moham- 
medans; and  the  conversions  are  always  more  rare 
among  thenr.  than  among  the  Hindoos,  notwith- 
standing  the  barrier  of  caste. 

§  Letter  from  a  gentleman  in  charge  of  the  Mis- 


Bchools,    with   about   600    scholars   in    all.      The    sionary  College  at  Benares.— r»mes,  Aug.  6th,  1867. 


JAUNPOOR  FUGITIVES  PROTECTED  BY  HINGUN  LALL. 


291 


the  Bubcha  factory,  they  had  gone  along 
the  Lucknow  road.  The  Europeans  did  not 
quit  the  Cutclierry ;  but  being  reheved  from 
immediate  apprehension,  they  ordered  din- 
ner, and  made  other  arrangements.  "  About 
half-past  two,"  Mr.  Csesar  writes,  "  Lieu- 
tenant Mara,  myself,  and  some  others,  were 
ill  the  verandah,  when,  as  I  was  giving 
orders  to  a  servant,  a  shot  was  fired,  and  on 
looking  round,  I  saw  that  poor  Mara  had 
been  shot  through  the  chest."  There  is  no 
European  testimony  on  the  subject,  but  the 
deed  is  assumed  to  have  been  done  by  one 
of  Mara's  own  men.  Mr.  Caesar  continues 
— "We  ran  inside  the  building;  and  just 
■witliin  the  doorway,  Mara  fell  on  the  ground. 
Other  shots  being  fired  into  the  rooms,  we 
retired  into  the  joint  magistrate's  Cutcherry, 
and  barricaded  the  doors  :  we  did  this  with 
little  hopes  of  escaping  from  the  mutineers. 
They  were  about  140  in  number;  while  the 
gentlemen  in  the  room  (for  some  were 
absent)  were  only  nine  or  ten.  "VVe  fully 
expected  a  rush  to  be  made  into  the  apart- 
ment, and  all  of  us  to  be  killed.  The  hour 
of  death  seemed  to  have  arrived.  The 
greater  part  of  us  were  kneeling  or  crouch- 
ing down,  and  some  few  were  engaged  in 
prayer." 

The  mutiueers  were  not,  however,  blood- 
thirsty. They  soon  ceased  firing,  and  began 
plundering  the  treasury,  which  contained 
j626,000  ;  and  when  the  Europeans  ventured 
to  fetch  the  lieutenant  from  the  outer 
room,  and  to  look  forth,  they  saw  the  plun- 
derers walking  off  with  bags  of  money  on 
their  .shoulders.  Two  of  the  planters  sad- 
dled their  own  horses  and  fled.  The  rest  of 
the  party  prepared  to  depart  together. 
Lieutenant  Mara  was  still  living,  and  was 
carried  some  distance  on  a  charpoy.  Mr. 
Caesar,  who  gives  a  circumstantial  account 
of  their  flight,  does  not  mention  when  the 
unfortunate  officer  was  abandoned  to  his 
fate ;  but  it  appears  that,  being  considered 
mortally  wounded,  they  left  him  on  the 
road ;  for  Mr.  Spencer,  a  civilian,  writing 
from  Benares  a  few  days  later,  says — "  They 
left  poor  O'Mara*  dying,  and  got  into  their 
carriages  and  drove  away."t  This  is  not, 
however,  quite  correct ;  for  the  party  (or  at 
least  most  of  them)  left  the  Cutcherry  on 
foot;  Mrs.  Mara,  the  wife  of  the  fallen  ofBcer, 
having  difficulty  in  moving  on  with  any 
rapidity  on  account  of  her  stoutness.     The 

•  The  name  is  variously  spelt,  but  is  given  in  the 
Eaat  India  Register  as  "  Patrick.  Mara." 
t  Letter  published  in  Times,  August  10th,  1857. 


corpse  of  Mr.  Cuppage,  the  joint  magistrate, 
lay  at  the  gate.  The  fugitives  hurried  on, 
and  were  passing  the  doctor's  house,  when 
his  carriage  was  brought  out,  apparently 
without  orders,  by  faithful  native  servants. 
Five  ladies,  eight  children,  an  ayah,  the 
coachman,  with  Messrs.  Reuther  and  Caesar 
(the  latter,  revolver  in  hand),  found  room 
therein,  and  proceeded  towards  Ghazipoor, 
There  were  also  three  gentlemen  on  horse- 
back, and  two  on  foot ;  but  while  stopping 
to  drink  water  by  the  road-side,  Mrs.  Mara's 
carriage  overtook  the  party,  the  native 
coachman  having  brought  it  unbidden ;  and 
all  the  fugitives  were  thus  enabled  to  pro- 
ceed with  ease.  They  crossed  the  Gooratee 
at  the  ferry,  with  their  horses  and  carriages, 
observed,  but  not  molested,  by  a  crowd  of 
natives,  one  of  whom  asked  a  European  for 
his  watch,  saying  that  he  might  as  well  give 
it  him,  as  he  would  soon  lose  it.  But  this 
seems  to  have  been  a  vulgar  jest,  such  as  all 
mobs  delight  in,  and  no  insult  was  offered 
to  the  women  or  children.  It  would  be 
superfluous  to  narrate  in  detail  the  adven- 
tures of  the  fugitives.  Mrs.  Mara  died  of 
apoplexy;  the  others  safely  reached  Karrakut, 
a  large  town  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Goomtee. 
Here  Hingun  Lall,  a  Hindoo  of  some  rank 
and  influence,  and  of  most  noble  nature, 
invited  them  to  his  house.  "  He  stated," 
says  Mr.  Caesar,  "  that  he  had  a  few  armed 
men,  and  that  the  enemy  should  cut  his 
throat  first,  before  they  reached  us."  His 
hospitality  was  gratefully  accepted,  and  a 
"  sumptuous  repast"  was  in  preparation  for 
the  weary  guests,  when  the  clashing  of  wea- 
pons was  heard,  and  "  the  Lalla,"  as  he  is 
termed,  placed  the  ladies  and  children  in  an 
inner  room,  and  bade  the  men  prepare  for 
defence.  But  although  the  town  was  three 
times  plundered  by  distinct  bodies  of  the 
enemy,  the  Lalla's  house  was  not  attacked. 
The  mutineers  knew  that  to  attempt  to 
drag  the  refugees  from  so  time-honoured  a 
sanctuary  as  the  dwelling  of  a  Rajpoot, 
would  have  been  to  draw  on  themselves  the 
vengeance  of  the  majority  of  the  Oude 
chiefs,  who  were  as  yet  neutral.  The  Eu- 
ropeans, therefore,  remained  unharmed. 
On  the  evening  of  the  8th,  a  letter  was 
brought  them,  addressed  to  "  AnyEuropeans 
hiding  at  Karrakut."  It  came  from  Mr, 
Tucker,  the  Benares  commissioner,  who 
was  as  remarkable  for  his  efforts  to  preserve 
the  lives  of  his  countrymen,  as  some  of  his 
coadjutors  were  to  avenge  their  deaths. 
He  offered  rewards  for  the  heads  of  living 


292    ALLAHABAD— IMPORTANT  FORTRESS,  ARSENAL  AND  TREASURY. 


friends  rather  than  for  those  of  dead  foes  j 
and  his  policy  was  decidedly  the  more  suc- 
cessful of  the  two ;  for  the  villagers  gene- 
rally proved  willing  to  hazard  the  vengeance 
of  the  hostile  forces  by  saving  life,  but 
could  rarely,  if  ever,  be  induced  by  threats 
or  promises  to  earn  blood-money. 

An  escort  of  twelve  volunteers,  and  as 
many  of  the  13th  irregular  cavalry,  arrived 
ou  the  following  day  ;  and,  before  night,  the 
rescued  party  joined  the  Benares  commu- 
nity in  the  Hint.  Four  persons  (either 
Europeans  or  East  Indians),  left  behind  at 
Jaunpoor,  are  said  to  have  perished.  These 
were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thriepland,  the  deputy- 
magistrate  and  his  wife,  who,  after  hiding 
themselves  during  the  night  of  the  outbreak 
in  the  house  of  one  of  the  native  police, 
were  discovered  and  slaughtered  by  the 
irregular  cavalry ;  a  pensioned  sergeant 
named  Bignold ;  and  a  Mr.  Davis,  formerly 
an  indigo-planter's  assistant,  supposed  to 
have  been  put  to  death  by  the  villagers.* 

"  A  life  pension  of  100  rupees  (£10)  per 
mensem,"  was  granted  by  government  to 
Hingun  Lall,  with  the  honorary  title  of 
deputy-magistrate  ;  with  permission,  as  the 
Lalla  was  an  old  man,  to  commute  the 
pension  to  a  life  jaghire,  to  be  extended  to  a 
second  life  on  easy  terms. t 

Allahabad  is  built  on  a  spot  which  pos- 
sesses rare  natural  advantages  for  the  pur- 
poses of  commerce  and  defence,  and  has 
been,  from  a  very  early  period,  the  site  of 
a  strongly  fortified  city.  The  ancient  Pali- 
bothra  is  said  to  have  formerly  stood  here ; 
and  the  Brahmins  still  attach  importance 
to  the  place,  on  account  of  the  Prayaga, 
or  sacred  confluence  of  three  most  holy 
streams,  which  unite  at  Allahabad — namely, 
the  Ganges,  Jumna,  and  Sreeswati.  By 
bathing  at  one  favoured  spot,  the  pilgrim 
is  supposed  to  receive  the  same  benefit 
that  he  would  have  derived  from  separate 
immersion  in  each  stream ;  and  this  is  no 
mere  saving  of  trouble,  inasmuch  as  the 
Sreeswati  is  elsewhere  inaccessible  to  mortal 
touch,  and  everywhere  invisible  to  mortal 
sight :  but  the  Hindoos  assert  that  it  joins 
the  other  rivers  by  a  subterranean  channel. 
Devotees  come  here  and  wait,  in  boats,  the 
precise  period  of  the  moon  when,  according 
to  their  creed,  ablutions,  duly  performed, 
will  wash  from  their  souls  the  defilement  of 

•  Mr.  CtESar's  Narrative.     Vide  Sherring's  Indian 
Church,  pp.  267  to  276. 
t  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1857  (No.  7),  p.  118. 
X  Lieutenant-colonel    Simpson's    account   of  the 


sin ;  and  the  hopelessly  sick,  or  extremely 
aged,  come  hither  also,  and,  fastening  three 
vessels  of  water  round  their  bodies,  calmly 
step  into  the  water  and  quit  this  life,  passing 
by  what  they  believe  to  be  a  divinely  ap- 
pointed road,  into  the  world  beyond  the 
grave.  The  emperor  Akber,  who  patro- 
nised all  religions,  and  practised  none,  was 
popular  with  both  Mohammedans  and  Hin- 
doos. He  built  the  modern  Allahabad  (the 
city  of  God),  intending  it  as  a  stronghold  to 
overawe  the  surrounding  countries.  The 
lofty  and  extensive  fort  stands  on  a  tongue 
of  land  washed  on  one  side  by  the  Ganges, 
on  the  other  by  the  Jumna,  and  completely 
commands  the  navigation  of  both  rivers. 
As  a  Biitish  station,  it  occupies  a  position 
of  peculiar  importance.  It  is  the  first  in 
the  Upper  Provinces,  all  to  the  eastward 
being  called  down-country.  It  is  situated 
on  the  Grand  Trunk  road,  498  miles  from 
Calcutta,  1,151  from  Madras,  831  from  Bom- 
bay, and  74  from  Benares.  Add  to  these 
advantages  a  richly  stored  arsenal,  and  a 
treasury  containing  £190,000  ;  %  and  it  may 
be  easily  understood  that  its  security  ought 
to  have  been  a  primary  consideration :  yet, 
at  the  time  of  the  Meerut  outbreak,  there  was 
not  a  European  soldier  in  Allahabad.  The 
fort,  and  extensive  cantonments  some  four 
miles  distant,  were  occupied  by  the  6th 
N.I.,  a  battery  of  Native  artillery,  and 
five  companies  of  the  Seik  regiment  of 
Ferozpoor,  under  Lieutenant  Brasyer,  an 
officer  of  remarkable  nerve  and  tact. 

Sir  Henry  Lawrence  early  pressed 
on  the  government  the  importance  of 
strengthening  Allahabad  with  Europeans  ;§ 
and  seventy-four  invalid  artillerymen  were 
consequently  detached  from  Chunar,  and 
arrived  at  Allahabad  in  the  latter  part  of 
May.  Two  troops  of  the  3rd  Oude  irregular 
cavalry  were  sent  by  Sir  H.  Lawrence  for  the 
further  protection  of  the  fort.||  Several  de- 
tachments of  H.M.  84th  marched  through 
Allahabad  between  the  time  of  the  arrival  of 
the  Chunar  artillerymen  and  the  outbreak 
of  the  mutiny  ;  and  the  officer  in  command 
of  the  station  had  discretionary  orders  to 
detain  them  if  he  deemed  their  presence 
needful;  but  there  was  nothing  in  the 
manner  of  the  Native  troops  to  occasion 
any  doubt  of  their  fidelity,  or  justify  the 
detention    of    the    Europeans.      Ou    the 

Mutiny   at   Allahabad.— See    Times,  August  26th, 
1857. 

§  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  p.  187. 

II  Ibid. 


MUTINY  AT  ALLAHABAD— JUNE  6th,  1857. 


293 


contrary,  remarkable  tranquillity  prevailed  ; 
and  there  is  no  record  of  incendiary  fires 
or  midnight  meetings,  such  as  usually  pre- 
ceded mutiny.  Two  men,  who  attempted  to 
tamper  with  the  6th  N.I.,  were  delivered 
up  to  the  authorities,  and  the  entire  regi- 
ment volunteered  to  march  against  Delhi. 
The  governor-general  in  council  issued  a 
general  order,  thanking  the  6th  for  their 
loyalty,  and  directed  that  "  the  tender  of 
their  services  should  be  placed  on  the 
records  of  government,  and  read  at  the 
head  of  every  regiment  and  company  of  the 
Bengal  army,  at  a  parade  ordered  for  the 
purpose."*  The  order  reached  Allahabad, 
by  telegraph,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  4th 
of  June.  It  was  received  with  enthusiasm 
both  by  officers  and  men,  and  a  pnrade  was 
ordered,  and  carried  through  apparently  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  parties.  But  this 
state  of  things  was  of  brief  duration.  On 
the  5th  of  June,  ominous  messages  came  to 
Colonel  Simpson  (the  commandant  at  the 
fort),  of  external  dangers.  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence desired  that  the  civilians  should  retire 
within  the  fort  for  the  present ;  and  Sir 
Hugh  Wheeler  likewise  sent  word  from 
Cawupoor,  "  to  man  the  fort  with  every 
available  European,  and  make  a  good  stand." 
Then  came  the  tidings  of  what  had  occurred 
at  Benares ;  the  Europeans  learning  that 
the  sepoys,  instead  of  quietly  surrendering 
their  arms,  had  resisted  and  fled,  and  were 
reported  to  be  marching  against  Allahabad  ; 
while  the  native  version  of  the  story  was 
— that  the  37th,  after  being  disarmed,  had 
been  faithlessly  massacred  by  the  Euro- 
peans. There  was  a  certain  foundation  of 
fact  for  both  these  statements.  The  well- 
disposed  sepoys,  who  were  the  majority, 
had  (as  is  stated  by  the  best  authority) 
quietly  obeyed  the  order  for  disarmament : 
the  turbulent  minority  had  resisted;  and 
their  revolt,  precipitated,  if  not  caused,  by 
what  the  European  officers  call  the  mistake 
of  one  commander,  and  the  incapacity  of 
another  (disabled  by  a  sun -stroke),  involved 
many  loyai  sepoys  in  the  mutiny.  It  does 
not  appear  that  the  officers  and  men  at  Al- 
lahabad had  any  explanation,  or  arrived  at 
any  mutual  understanding,  with  regard  to 
the  proceedings  at  Benares;  only  it  was 
taken  for  granted  by  the  former,  that  the 
latter  would  be  ready  to  fight,  as  foes,  the 
countrymeu  whom  they  had,  until  then,  re- 
garded as  comrades  in  arms,  identified  with 
them  in  feeling  and  in  interest. 
*  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutiny,  p.  361. 


On  the  night  of  the  5th  (Friday),  nearly 
all  the  Europeans  slept  in  the  fort;  and 
the  civilians,  covenanted  and  uncovenanted, 
formed  themselves  into  a  volunteer  com- 
pany about  a  hundred  strong.  Two  guns, 
and  two  companies  of  the  6th  N.I.,  were 
ordered  down  to  the  bridge  of  boats,  which 
crosses  the  Jumna  beneath  the  fort,  in 
order  to  be  ready  to  play  upon  the  Benares 
insurgents ;  the  guns  of  the  fort  were  at 
the  same  time  pointed  on  to  the  Benares 
road.  Captain  Alexander,  with  two  squad- 
rons of  Oude  cavalry,  was  posted  in  the 
Alopee  Bagli — a  large  encamping-ground, 
under  the  walls  of  the  fort,  which  com- 
manded all  the  roads  to  the  station.  The 
main  body  of  the  6th  remained  in  their 
lines,  in  readiness  to  move  anywhere  at  the 
shortest  notice. 

Saturday  evening  came,  and  the  Euro- 
peans were  relieved  by  the  non-arrival  of 
the  mutineers.  Colonel  Simpson  and  the 
chief  part  of  the  officers  sat  together  at 
mess  at  nine  o'clock;  and  the  volunteers 
who  were  to  keep  watch  during  the  night 
were  lying  down  to  rest,  and  wait  their  sum- 
mons. Tne  volunteers  were  all  safe  in  the 
fort;  but  there  were  two  officers,  less  prudent 
or  less  fortunate,  outside  the  gates.  Cap- 
tain Birch,  the  fort-adjutant  (a  married  man 
with  a  family),  had  preferred  remaining  in 
his  own  bungalow ;  and  Lieutenant  Innes, 
the  executive  engineer,  lay  sick  in  his,  having 
resigned  his  appointment  on  the  previous 
day  from  ill-health.  There  were,  besides, 
some  Europeans  and  many  Eurasians,  mer- 
chants' clerks,  and  such  like,  in  their  own 
dwellings.  None  of  them  seem  to  have 
entertained  any  suspicion  of  what  was  going 
on  in  the  lines  of  the  6th  N.I.,  to  which 
several  Benares  mutineers  had  found  their 
way,  and  succeeded  in  inducing  the  6th  to 
join  the  mutiny.  A  Mohammedan,  who 
acted,  or  aff'ected  to  act,  as  an  agent  of  the 
king  of  Delhi,  was  very  active  in  heightening 
the  panic  and  excitement.  He  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  a  Moolvee,  or  Moslem 
teacher;  but  some  said  he  was  a  Native 
officer;  others,  that  he  was  a  weaver  by 
trade.  As  the  "Moolvee  of  Allahabad"  he 
subsequently  contrived  to  obtain  notoriety. 

The  discussions  in  the  lines  of  the  6th 
N.I.  were  brought  to  an  issue  by  a  bugler 
rushing  on  parade,  and  sounding  an  alarm. 
Colonel  Simpson  had  just  quitted  the  mess, 
and  was  walking  to  the  fort,  when  he  heard 
the  signal.  Ordering  his  horse,  he  mounted, 
and    galloped    to    the    parade,   where    he 


294 


OFFICERS  MASSACRED  AT  ALLAHABAD— JUNE  6th,  1857. 


"  found  the  oificers  trying  to  fall-in  their 
men."  The  colonel  had  previously  ordered 
the  two  guns  to  be  brought  from  the  bridge 
of  boats  to  the  fort,  under  the  charge  of  an 
artillery  officer  (Lieutenant  Harward)  and  a 
Native  guard.  Instead  of  obeying  the  order, 
the  men  had  insisted  on  taking  them  to 
cantonments.  Harward  sought  the  assis- 
tance of  Lieutenant  Alexander,  who  sprang 
on  his  horse,  and,  hastily  ordering  his  men 
to  follow  him,  rode  up  to  the  mutineers, 
"  and,  rushing  on  the  guns,  was  killed  on 
the  spot."*  Harward  was  likewise  fired 
on ;  and,  seeing  that  resistance  was  hope- 
less, he  galloped  into  the  fort,  where  he 
found  the  civilians  assembled  on  the  ram- 
parts, listening  to  what  they  believed  to  be 
the  attack  of  the  Benares  mutineers.  One 
of  the  civilians  writes — "  The  firing  grew 
heavier,  and  we  all  thought  that  the  insur- 
gents had  entered  the  station,  and  were 
being  beaten  ofi^  by  the  regiment,  so  steady 
was  the  musketry — regular  file  firing.  On, 
on  it  continued,  volley  after  volley.  'Oh  !' 
we  all  said,  '  those  gallant  sepoys  are  beat- 
ing ofi'  the  rebels ;'  for  the  firing  grew 
fainter  in  the  distance,  as  if  they  were 
driving  a  force  out  of  the  station.  But 
before  long  the  sad  truth  was  known."t 

First,  Lieutenant  Harward  rode  in,  and 
told  what  he  witnessed.  Colonel  Simpson 
arrived  shortly  after,  and  narrated  the  open 
mutiny  of  the  regiment  and  the  firing 
on  the  officers,  of  whom  Captain  Plunkett, 
Lieutenants  Stewart  and  Haines,  Ensigns 
Pringle  and  Munro,  aud  two  sergeants, 
were  slaughtered  on  parade.  The  colonel 
himself  had  had  a  narrow  escape.  A  havil- 
dar  and  some  sepoys  surrounded  and  hur- 
ried him  off  the  field.  He  rode  to  the 
treasury,  with  the  view  of  saving  its  con- 
tents, but  was  at  once  fired  on  by  the 
sentry,  and  afterwards  "  received  a  regular 
volley  from  the  guard  of  thirty  men  on  one 
side,  with  another  volley  from  a  night  picket 
of  thirty  men  on  the  other.  A  guard  of 
poor  Alexander's  Irregulars  stood  passive." 
The  colonel  adds — "I  galloped  past  the 
mess-house,  where  the  guard  was  drawn 
out  at  the  gate  and  fired  at  me.  Here  my 
horse  got  seriously  wounded,  and  nearly  fell ; 

•  Lieutenant-colonel  Simjjson's  account. — Times, 
August  26th,  1857. 

t  Letter  of  Allahabad  civilian. — Times,  August 
25th,  1857. 

X  Lieutenant-colonel  Simpson's  account. 

§  The  "Allahabad  civilian"  speaks  of  nine;  but  the 
official  returns  name  eiglit— Ensigns  Cheek,  Codd, 
Way,  Beaumont,  BailiflF,  Scott,  and  two  Smiths.— 


but  I  managed  to  spur  him  to  the  fort  (two 
miles)  without  further  impediment.  There 
the  horse  died  shortly  after  of  three  musket- 
shot  wounds.  On  reaching  the  fort  I  im- 
mediately disarmed  the  guards  of  the  6th 
regiment  on  duty  and  turned  them  out, 
leaving  the  Seik  regiment  to  hold  it,  the 
only  European  troops  being  seventy-four ' 
invalid  artillery,  got  from  Chuuar.  The 
Madras  European  regiment  began  to  pour 
in  a  few  days  after,  and  the  command  de- 
volved on  the  lieutenant-colonel  [Neil]  of 
that  corps."J 

No  mention  is  made  by  Colonel  Simpson 
of  the  horrible  scene  which  is  alleged  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  mess-room,  after  he  and 
the  senior  officers  had  left  it.  Eight  un- 
posted ensigns,  §  mere  boj's  fresh  from 
England,  and  doing  duty  with  the  6th  N.I., 
were  bayoneted  there ;  and  three  of  the 
officers  who  escaped  heard  their  cries  as 
they  passed.  II 

When  the  poor  youths  were  left  for  dead, 
one  of  them,  said  to  be  Ensign  Cheek  (a 
son  of  the  town-clerk  of  Evesham  in 
Worcestershire),  although  sererely  injured, 
contrived  to  escape  in  the  darkness  to 
a  neighbouring  ravine,  where  he  concealed 
himself  for  several  days  and  nights,  taking 
refuge  from  the  heat  of  the  sun  by  day,  aud 
wild  beasts  by  night,  amid  the  branches  of 
a  tree,  and  supporting  life  solely  by  the 
water  of  a  neighbouring  stream.  On  the 
night  of  the  mutiny,  no  Europeans  dared 
stir  out  of  the  fort  to  rescue  those  outside, 
or  bring  in  the  wounded.  Their  own  posi- 
tion was  extremely  critical;  the  personal 
influence  of  Lieutenant  Brasyer  with  the 
Seiks,  being  chiefly  instrumental  in  preserv- 
ing their  fidelity.^  The  temptation  of 
plunder  was  very  great,  and  the  work  of 
destruction  was  carried  on  with  temporary 
impunity.  The  treasury  was  looted,  the 
gaol  thrown  open,  and  reckless  bands  of 
convicts  were  poured  forth  on  the  canton- 
ments and  city.  Captain  Birch  and  Lieu- 
tenant Innes,  who  had  intended  passing 
the  night  in  the  same  bungalow,  fled 
together  towards  the  Ganges,  and  are 
supposed  to  have  been  murdered  by  the 
mutineers  or  insurgents.     Lieutenant  Hicks 

Supplement  to  the  Z»ndon  Gazette,  May  6th, 
1858. 

II  Letter  of  Allahabad  civilian. — Times,  August 
2oth,  1857. 

^  Mr.  Hay,  an  American  missionary,  in  Allahabad 
at  the  time  of  the  mutiny,  and  who  was  personally 
acquainted  with  Lieutenant  Brasyer,  says  that  he 
"  rose  from  the  ranks." — Times,  September,  1857. 


ENSIGN  CHEEK  AND  GOPINATH  NUNDY. 


295 


and  two  young  ensigns,  left  with  the  guns 
when  Lieutenant  Harward  went  to  seek  the 
aid  of  Captain  Alexander,  were  not  injured 
by  the  sepoys.  They  did  not  venture  to 
take  the  direct  road  to  the  fort ;  but  plunged 
into  the  Ganges,  and,  after  some  time,  pre- 
sented themselves  at  the  gate  in  safety, 
having  first  blackened  their  bodies  with  mud, 
in  default  of  any  other  covering.  Eleven 
European  men  (uncovenanted  servants,  rail- 
way inspectors,  and  others),  three  women, 
and  four  children,  are  mentioned  in  the 
Gazette  as  having  perished.  No  list  of  the 
Eurasians  or  natives  murdered  is  given ;  but 
six  drummers  (Christians)  of  the  6th  N.I. 
are  stated  as  having  been  killed,  it  was 
supposed  on  the  night  of  the  mutiny, 
"whilst  attempting  to  bury  the  murdered 
officers."*  The  6th  N.I.  quitted  the  city 
on  the  morning  after  the  imeutt ;  but  the 
Moolvee  had  still  a  considerable  host  around 
his  standard;  and  the  European  garrison, 
though  reinforced  by  successive  detach- 
ments of  the  Madras  Fusiliers,  had,  during 
the  first  days  after  the  mutiny,  quite  enough 
to  do  to  hold  their  own  within  the  fort, 
against  the  internal  dangers  of  drunkenness 
and  insubordination.  Consequently,  no 
efforts  seem  to  have  been  made,  and  no 
rewards  offered,  for  the  missing  Europeans ; 
and  the  brave  young  ensign  remained  in  his 
tree,  with  his  undressed  wounds,  sinking 
with  hunger  and  exhaustion,  and  listening 
anxiously,  through  four  live-long  days  and 
nights,  for  the  sound  of  friendly  voices. 
On  the  fifth  day  he  was  discovered  by  the 
rebels,  and  taken  to  a  serai,  or  sleeping-place 
for  travellers,  where  he  found  Conductor 
Coleman  and  his  family  in  confinement, 
and  also  a  well-known  native  preacher 
named  Gopinath,  who  had  escaped  with  his 
wife  and  family  from  Futtehpore.  When 
the  poor  youth  was  brought  in,  he  nearly 
fainted.  Gopinath  gave  him  some  gruel, 
and  afterwards  water,  to  allay  his  burning 
thirst.  The  agony  of  his  wounds  being 
increased  by  lying  on  the  hard  boards, 
Gopinath  prevailed  on  the  daroga  who  had 
charge  of  the  prisoners,  to  give  Ensign 
Cheek  a  charpoy  to  lie  on.  This  was  done, 
and  the  sufferer  related  to  his  native  friend 
all  he  had  undergone,  and  bade  him,  if  he 
escaped,  write  to  his  mother  in  England, 

*  Supplement  to  London  Gazette,  May  6th,  1858. 

t  The  authority  relied  on  regarding  Ensign 
Cheek,  is  the  Narrative  of  Gopinath  Nundy,  and  of 
the  Bev.  J.  Owen,  of  the  American  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, a  society  which  has  expended  a  considerable 


and  to  his  aunt  at  Bancoorah.  At  length 
the  daroga,  jealous  of  the  intercourse  be- 
tween the  captives,  placed  Gopinath  in  the 
stocks,  separating  him  from  the  others,  and 
even  from  his  own  family.  A  body  of 
armed  Mohammedans  came  in  and  tried  to 
tempt  or  terrify  him  into  a  recantation. 
His  wife  clung  to  him,  and  was  dragged 
away  by  the  hair  of  her  head,  receiving  a 
severe  blow  on  the  forehead  during  the 
struggle.  The  ensign,  who  lay  watching 
the  scene,  heard  the  offer  of  immediate 
release  made  to  the  native,  on  condition  of 
apostasy,  and,  mastering  his  anguish  and 
his  weakness,  called  out,  in  a  loud  voice, 
"  Padre,  padre,  be  firm ;  do  not  give  way." 
The  prisoners  remained  some  days  longer 
in  hourly  expectation  of  death.  At  length 
the  Moolvee  himself  visited  them.  But 
they  all  held  their  faith ;  and  at  length,  the 
approach  of  Lieutenant  Brasyer,  with  a 
detachment  of  Seiks,  put  the  fanatics  to 
flight.  The  conductor  and  the  catechist, 
with  their  families,  were  brought  safely 
into  the  fort.  The  ensign  survived  just 
long  enough  to  be  restored  to  his  country- 
men. Before  sunset  on  the  same  day 
(17th  June),  the  spirit  that  had  not  yet 
spent  seventeen  summers  on  earth,  entered 
into  rest  with  something  of  the  halo  of 
martyrdom  upon  it.f 

It  was  well  that  Colonel  Neil  had  arrived 
at  Allahabad;  for  martial  law  had  been 
proclaimed  there  immediately  after  the 
mutiny ;  and  the  system  adopted  by  indi- 
vidual Europeans,  of  treating  disturbed  dis- 
tricts with  the  license  of  a  conquering  army 
in  an  enemy's  country,  had  fostered  evils 
which  were  totally  subversive  of  all  disci- 
pline. 

Among  the  documents  sent  to  England 
by  the  governor-general  in  council,  in 
proof  of  the  spirit  of  turbulent  and  indiscri- 
minate vengeance  which  it  had  been  found 
necessary  to  check,  is  an  extract  from  a 
letter,  communicating  the  strange  and  humi- 
liating fact,  that  it  was  needful  to  restrain 
British  functionaries  from  the  indiscrimi- 
nate destruction,  not  only  of  innocent  men, 
but  even  of  "  aged  women  and  children ;" 
and  this  before  the  occurrence  of  the 
second,  or  the  publication  of  the  first,  mas- 
sacre   at   Cawnpoor,      The    name   of   the 

sum  of  money  in  Allahabad.  Another  account, 
more  graphic,  but  less  authentic,  was  published — as 
an  extract  of  a  letter  from  an  officer  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Company — in  the  Times,  of  September 
7th,  1857. 


296 


ALLAHABAD— MISCONDUCT  OP  EUROPEANS  AND  SEIKS. 


writer  of  the  letter,  and  of  the  persons 
therein  mentioned,  are  all  withheld  by 
government;  and  the  quotation  begins 
abruptly. 

" has  adopted  a  policy  of  burning  villages, 

which  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  most  suicidal  and 
mischievous  that  can  be  devised ;  it  prevents  the 
possibility  of  order  being  restored ;  the  aged,  women 
and  children,  are  sacrificed,  as  well  as  those  guilty 
of  rebellion.  Cultivation  is  impossible  j  a  famine  is 
cousequeiuly  almost  certain.  The  sternest  measures 
are  doubtless  necessary,  and  every  possible  endeavour 
should  be  made  to  apprehend  and  punish  those 
actually  engaged  in  plunder  or  rebellion ;  but  here 
there  seems  to  be  no  discrimination.  A  railway 
officer,  whose  report  you  will  probably  see,  did  ex- 
cellent service,  and  seems  to  have  behaved  very 
gallantly  when  sent  with  a  small  guard  to  restore 
the  railway  where  it  might  have  been  injured ;  but, 
in  accordance  with  the  custom,  as  he  met  with 
opposition  from  some  plunderers  and  mutineers,  he 
burnt  ten  villages,  which  he  found  deserted.  The 
Trunk  road  now  passes  through  a  desert ;  the  inhabi- 
tants have  fled  to  a  distance  of  four  or  five  miles; 
and  it  seems  to  me  to  be  obviously  the  proper  policy 
to  encourage  all  peaceable  persons  to  return,  not  to 
destroy  the  villages  and  render  the  return  of  the 
people  impossibie.  Some  five  persons  have  been 
invested  with  the  powers  of  life  and  death  in  the 
station  of  Allahabad ;  each  sits  separately,  and  there 
are  also  courts-martial  in  the  fort. 

"  You  will  do  the  state  service  if  you  can  check 
the  indiscriminate  burning  of  villages,  and  secure 
the  hanging  of  the  influential  offenders,  instead  of 
those  who  cannot  pay  the  police  for  their  safety."* 

In  a  subsequent  letter,  written  probably 
by  the  same  person,  but  evidently  by  a 
civilian  of  rank,  the  following  passage 
occurs: — "You  have  no  conception  of  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  created  by  lawless 
and  reckless  Europeans  here.  One  of  them 
cocked  his  pistol  at  Lieutenant  Brasyer  in 
the  fort.  The  ruffian  was  as  likely  as  not  to 
have  pulled  the  trigger ;  and,  in  that  case, 
as  Lieutenant  Brasyer  himself  observed  to 
me,  his  Seiks  would  have  slain  every  Euro- 
pean in  the  fort.  This  was  before  Colonel 
Neil  took  the  command :  if  it  had  happened 
in  his  time,  the  probability  is  thiit  the 
offender     would     have     been     tried     and 

hanged."t 

An  Allahabad  "civil  servant" — one  of 
the  five  persons  already  mentioned  as  in- 
vested with  powers  of  life  and  death,  and 
who  speaks  of  himself  as  having  been 
subsequently    appointed    by   the    commis- 

*  Letter,  dated  July  6th,  1857.—  Pari.  Papers 
(Commons),  February  4th,  1857.  Moved  for  by 
Henry  D.  Seymour.  Showing  the  proceedings  "  taken 
for  the  punishment  of  those  who  have  been  guilty 
of  mutiny,  desertion,  and  rebellion"  in  India ;  and 
the  reason  why  the  country  generally  was  not  put 
under  martial  law  "  after  the  mutinies"— a  measure. 


sioner,  Mr.  Chester,  as  "the  political  agent 
with  the  force,"  which,  from  the  date  of  his 
letter  (June  28th)  must  have  been  Neil's — 
gives  the  following  account  of  the  proceed- 
ings after  the  arrival  of  the  Fusiliers,  be- 
fore, and  after,  the  arrival  of  their  colonel. 
He  writes — 

"  We  dared  not  leave  the  fort ;  for  who  knows 
what  the  Seiks  would  have  done  if  it  had  been  left 
empty  ?  However,  let  us  not  breathe  one  word  of 
suspicion  against  them,  for  they  behaved  splendidly, 
though  they  are  regular  devils.  We  lived  on  in 
this  way  till  the  Madras  Fusiliers  came  up,  and  then 
our  fun  began.  We  '  volunteers'  were  parted  ofT 
into  divisions,  three  in  number;  and  your  humble 
servant  was  promoted  to  the  command  of  one,  the 
'  flagstaff  division,'  with  thirty  railroad  men  under 
his  command,  right  good  stout  fellows,  every  one  of 
whom  had  been  plundered,  and  were  consequently 
as  bloodthirsty  as  any  demons  need  be.  We  sallied 
forth  several  times  with  the  Seiks  into  the  city,  and 
had  several  skirmishes  in  the  streets,  when  we  spared 
no  one.  We  had  several  volleys  poured  into  us ; 
but  their  firing  was  so  wild  that  their  bullets  passed 
over  and  around  us  harmlessly.  The  '  flagstaff'  was 
always  to  the  front ;  and  they  were  so  daring  and 
reckless,  that  '  the  flagstaff  boys'  became  a  byword  in 
the  fort.  Every  rascality  that  was  performed  was  put 
down  to  them  ;  and,  in  the  end,  the  volunteers  got  a 
bad  name  for  plundering.  The  Seiks  were  great 
hands  at  it,  and,  in  spite  of  all  precaution,  brought 
a  great  amount  of  property  into  the  fort.  Such 
scenes  of  drunkenness  1  never  beheld.  Seiks  were 
to  be  seen  drunk  on  duty  on  the  ramparts,  unable 
to  hold  their  muskets.  No  one  could  blame  them, 
for  they  are  such  jolly,  jovial  fellows,  so  different 
from  other  sepoys. 

"  When  we  could  once  get  out  of  the  fort  we  were 
all  over  the  place,  cutting  down  all  natives  who 
showed  any  signs  of  opposition ;  we  enjoyed  these 
trips  very  much,  so  pleasant  it  was  to  get  out  of  that 
horrid  fort  for  a  few  hours.  One  trip  I  enjoyed 
amazingly  :  we  got  on  board  a  steamer  with  a  gun, 
while  the  Seiks  and  Fusiliers  marched  to  the  city ; 
we  steamed  up,  throwing  shot  right  and  left,  till 
we  got  up  to  the  bad  places,  when  we  went  on  shore 
and  peppered  away  with  our  guns,  my  old  double- 
barrel  that  I  brought  out  bringing  down  several 
niggers,  so  thirsty  for  vengeance  was  I.  We  fired 
the  places  right  and  left,  and  the  flames  shot  up  to 
the  heavens  as  they  spread,  fanned  by  the  breeze, 
showing  that  the  day  of  vengeance  had  fallen  on  the 
treacherous  villains. "J 

The  luckless  British  residents  (not  to 
speak  of  the  native  shopkeepers)  were 
most  shamefully  treated  by  their  defenders. 
What  the  city  thieves  and  sepoys  left,  was 
looted  by  the  Europeans  and  Seiks,  who 
apparently   could   recognise   no    difference 

the  non-adoption  of  which  is  stated  by  the  governor- 
general  in  coimcil,  to  have  "  been  made  a  matter 
of  coinplaint  against  the  Indian  government."^p.  2. 

t  Letter  dated  "  Allahabad,  July  22nd,  1857."— 
Ibid.,  p.  23. 

X  Letter  of  Allahabad  civilian,  dated,  June  28th, 
1857.— jTwnes,  August  25th,  1857. 


COLONEL  NEIL  AT  ALLAHABAD— JUNE  11th,  1857. 


297 


between  friend  and  foe  in  this  respect. 
The  work  of  destruction  was  carried  on 
with  impunity  under  the  very  walls  of  the 
fort.  Costly  furniture,  of  no  value  to  the 
plunderers,  was  smashed  to  pieces  for  the 
mere  love  of  mischief.  These  did  for 
private,  what  the  enemy  had  done  for  public, 
property.  Drunkenness  was  all  but  uni- 
versal, and  riot  reigned  supreme. 

The  Rev.  J.  Owen,  a  clergyman  who  had 
resided  many  years  in  Allahabad,  and  had 
been  the  founder  of  the  establishment  sup- 
ported in  that  city  by  the  American  Board 
of  Missions — writes  in  liis  journal  on  the 
10th  of  June — 

"  Our  affairs  in  the  fort  are  just  now  in  a  very 
bad  way.  A  day  or  two  since,  some  Europeans  went 
out  with  a  body  of  Seiks  to  the  godowns,  near  the 
steamer  ghaut,  where  large  quantities  of  stores  are 
lying.  The  Europeans  began  to  plunder.  The 
Seiks,  ever  ready  for  anything  of  the  kind,  seeing 
this,  instantly  followed  the  example.  The  thing  has 
gone  on  from  bad  to  worse,  until  it  is  now  quite  im- 
possible to  restrain  the  Seiks,  untamed  savages  as 
they  are. 

"The  day  before  yesterday,  a  poor  man  came  to 
me,  saying  that  he  had  had  nothing  to  eat  that  day, 
and  had  been  working  hard  as  a  volunteer  in  the 
militia.  The  colonel  (Simpson)  happened  to  be 
passing  at  the  time.  I  took  the  man  to  him,  telling 
him  that  the  poor  fellow  was  working  hard,  and 
willing  to  work,  in  defence  of  the  fort;  but  that  he 
and  his  wife  were  starving.  The  colonel  went  with 
me  at  once  to  the  commissariat;  and  there,  notwith- 
standing many  objections  on  the  ground  of  for- 
mality, assisted  me  in  getting  for  him  a  loaf  of 
bread.  •  •  •  One  of  the  commissariat  officers 
told  me  yesterday  morning,  that  he  did  not  know 
how  those  widows  and  children  who  came  in  on 
Monday  night,  could  be  supplied  with  rations,  for 
they  were  not  fighting-men !  Everything  is  as 
badly  managed  as  can  be;  indeed,  there  seems  to 
be  no  management  at  all."* 

The  arrival  of  Colonel  Neil  changed  the 
aspect  of  affairs.  He  had  rapidly,  though 
with  much  difficulty,  made  his  way  from 
Benares,  which  he  left  on  the  evening 
of  the  9th,  reaching  Allahabad  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  11th,  with  an  officer  and 
forty-three  of  the  Madras  Fusiliers.  The 
line  of  road  was  deserted ;  the  terrified 
villagers  had  departed  in  the  old  "  Wulsa" 
style;  scarcely  any  horses  could  be  pro- 
cured; and  coolies,  to  assist  in  dragging 
the  dawk  carriages,  were  with  difficulty  ob- 
tained. Colonel  Neil  (always  ready  ■  to 
give  praise  where  he  deemed  it  due)  says — 
"  Had  it  not  been  for  the  assistance  ren- 

*  Sherer's  Indian  Cliurch,  p.  214. 

t  Despatch    from    Colonel    Neil  to   government, 
June  14lh,  1857. — Further  Pari.  Papers  relative  to 
the  Mutinies,  1857  (not  numbered),  p.  00, 
VOL.  II.  2  Q 


dered  by  the  magistrate  at  Mirzapoor  (Mr. 
S.  G.  Tucker),  we  should  have  been  obliged 
to  have  marched  on  and  left  our  baggage. 
We  found  the  country  between  this  [Alla- 
habad] and  Mirzapoor  infested  with  bands 
of  plunderers,  the  villages  deserted,  and 
none  of  the  authorities  remaining.  Major 
Stephenson,  who  left  Benares  the  same 
evening  with  a  hundred  Fusiliers  by 
luillock-van,  experienced  the  same  difficul- 
ties. Many  of  the  soldiers  have  been  laid 
up  in  consequence  of  the  exposure  and 
fatigue;  four  have  died  suddenly."!  The 
officer  who  accompanied  Colonel  Neil,  says 
they  accomplished  "  upwards  of  seventy 
miles  in  two  nights,  by  the  aid  of  a  lot  of 
natives  pushing  our  men  along  in  light 
four-wheeled  carriages."! 

Colonel  Neil  had  probably  received  no 
adequate  information  of  the  state  of  Alla- 
habad. The  telegraphic  communication 
between  that  place  and  Benares  had  been 
completely  cut  off".  The  "lightning  dawk" 
had  been  speedily  destroyed  by  the  muti- 
neers ;  and  at  a  later  stage  they  had  an  addi- 
tional incentive  to  its  destruction,  some  of 
the  more  ingenious  among  them  having 
discovered  that  the  hollow  iron  posts  which 
supported  the  wires,  would  make  a  good 
substitute  for  guns,§  and  the  wire,  cut  up  in 
pieces,  could  be  fired  instead  of  lead.  In 
fact,  the  whole  of  the  proceedings  which 
followed  the  Allahabad  mutiny,  were  by 
far  the  most  systematic  of  any  until 
then  taken  by  the  rebels.  Colonel 
Neil  found  the  fort  itself  nearly  blockaded; 
and  the  bridge  of  boats  over  the  Ganges 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  mob  in  the 
village  of  Daragunje,  and  partly  broken. 
"  I  was  fortunate,"  he  states,  "  to  bribe 
some  natives  to  bring  a  boat  over  to 
the  left  bank  of  the  Ganges,  in  which  I 
embarked  part  of  my  men  :  the  people  of 
the  fort  having  by  this  time  seen  us,  sent 
over  boats  some  way  down.  By  these 
means  we  all  got  into  the  fort,  almost  com- 
pletely exhausted  from  over-long  nights' 
march  II  and  the  intense  heat."  The  men 
might  rest ;  hut  for  the  colonel,  it  would 
seem,  there  was  important  work  to  do,  which 
admitted  not  of  an  hour's  delay.  As- 
suming the  command  (superseding  Colonel 
Simpson),  he  assembled  his  staff  and  held  a 
council  of  war,  at  which  he  determined  to, 

X  Letter  dated  "  Allahabad,  June  23rd.''— Ttnies, 
August  26th,  1857. 

§  Colonel  Neil's  despatch,  June  17th,  1857. — Fur- 
ther Pari.  Papers,  p.  67.  ||  Sic  in  orig. 


298    EJECTMENT  OF  SEIKS  FROM  ALLAHABAD  FORT— JUNE.  1857. 


attack  Daragunje  next  morning.  He  then 
paraded  the  volunteers,  addressed  them  in 
very  plain  language  regarding  their  "  recent 
disgraceful  acts  of  robbery  and  drinking," 
and  threatened  to  turn  the  next  trans- 
gressor out  of  the  fort.  On  the  following 
morning,  sixty  Fusiliers,  three  hundred 
Seiks,  and  thirty  cavalry,  marched  out 
under  his  own  command.  "'I  opened  fire," 
Colonel  Neil  writes,  "  with  several  round 
shots,  on  those  parts  of  Daragunje  occu- 
pied by  the  worst  description  of  natives ; 
attacked  the  place  with  detachments  of 
Fusiliers  and  Seiks,  drove  the  enemy  out 
with  considerable  loss,  burnt  part  of  the 
village,  and  took  possession  of  a  repaired 
bridge,  placing  a  company  of  Seiks  at 
its  head  for  its  protection."*  Thus  he 
reopened  the  communication  across  the 
Ganges. 

On  the  12th,  Major  Stephenson's  de- 
tachment arrived.  On  the  13th,  Colonel 
Neil  attacked  the  insurgents  in  the  village 
of  Kydgunge,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Jumna,  and  drove  them  out  with  loss. 
A  few  days  later  he  sent  a  steamer  with  a 
howitzer  to  clear  the  river,  some  dis- 
tance up  the  country — an  expedition  which, 
he  says,  "  did  much  execution."  Before, 
however,  he  could  act  with  any  efBciency 
against  the  mutineers,  he  had  found  it 
necessary  to  reorganise  the  Allahabad  gar- 
rison. Ou  the  14th,  he  writes — "  I  have 
now  270  Fusiliers  in  high  health  and 
spirits,  but  suffering  from  the  intense  heat." 
Yet  on  that  day,  he  adds,  "  I  could  do  little 
or  nothing."  He  accomplished,  however, 
important  work  within  the  fort,  by  checking, 
with  an  energy  like  that  of  Clive,  the  pre- 
vailing debauchery  and  insubordination. 
From  his  first  arrival  he  had  "observed 
great  drinking  among  the  Seiks,  and  the 
Europeans  of  all  classes;"  and  he  soon 
learned  the  lawlessness  which  had  pro- 
ceeded even  to  the  extent  of  the  open 
plunder  of  the  godowns  belonging  to  the 
Steam  Navigation  Company,  and  of  the 
stores  of  private  merchants;  the  Seiks 
bringing  quantities  of  fermented  liquor, 
spirit,  and  wine  into  the  fort,  and  selling 
their  "  loot"  at  four  annas,  or  sixpence  the 
bottle  all  round,  beer  or  brandy,  sherry  or 
champagne.  Colonel  Neil  did  not  share 
the  previously  quoted  opinion  of  one  of  the 
civilians  of  the  hanging  committee,  regard- 

*  Despatch  from  Colonel  Neil  to  government, 
June  nth,  1857.— Further  Pari.  Papers,  p.  46. 

t  Despatches  of  Colonel  Neil,  Allahabad,  June  14th,  i 


ing  the  "jolly  Seiks ;"  on  the  contrary,  he 
thought  their  devilry  dangerous  to  friends 
as    well    as    to    foes ;    and    was    extremely 
anxious  at  the  idea  of  their  continuing  in 
the  same  range  of  barracks  with  the  Fusi- 
liers.    They  had  been,  he  said,  "  coaxed  into 
loyalty;  they  had  become  overbearing,  and 
knew  their  power;"  and  he  felt  obliged  to 
temporise  with  them,  by  directing  the  com- 
missariat to  purchase  all  the   liquor  they 
had  to   sell.     He   further   sent   down   the 
only  two  carts  he  had,  to  empty  what  re- 
mained in   the  godowns  into  the  commis- 
sariat stores,  and  to  destroy  all  that  could 
be    otherwise   obtained.      The   next   move 
was  a  more  difficult  one — namely,  to  get 
the  Seiks  out  of  the  fort.     They  were  very 
unwilling  to  go ;  and,  at  one  time,  it  seemed 
likely  to  be  a  question  of  forcible  ejection — - 
"it  was  a  very  near  thing  indeed."     The 
influence  of  Captain  Brasyer  (who,  Colonel 
Neil   says,  "  alone  has  kept  the  regiment 
together  and  all  right   here")    again    pre- 
vailed, and  the  Seiks  took  up  their  position 
outside    the    fort,    and    were    consoled    for 
being   forbidden    to    loot    European    pro- 
perty, by  constant  employment  on  forays 
against  suspected  villages,  the  prospect  of 
plunder    being    their    spring    of    action. f 
Even  after  their  ejection,  it  was   no  easy 
matter  to  keep  them  from  the  fort,  and  pre- 
vent the  re-establishment  of  the  boon  com- 
panionship, which   was  so  manifestly  dete- 
riorating  the    morality    and    discipline   of 
both    parties.      The  colonel    declared   that 
the  Seiks  had  been    running   in    and   out 
like   cats;    he   had    blocked   up    some    of 
their  ways,  but  there  were  still  too  many 
sallyports :  and,  in  writing  to  government, 
he  states — "  There  is   no   engineer  officer 
here;  there  ought  to  be;  and  one  should 
be  sent  sharp."J 

Colonel  Neil  now  resolved  on  forwarding 
the  majority  of  the  women  and  children  to 
Calcutta.  The  fort  was  still  crowded,  not- 
withstanding the  expulsion  of  the  Seiks; 
and  in  a  state  of  extreme  filth,  the  native 
low-caste  servants  having  fled.  On  the 
15th  and  17th  of  June,  he  sent  down,  by 
two  steamers,  fifty  women  and  forty-six 
children,  "  all  the  wives,  children,  widows, 
or  orphans  of  persons  (several  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen) who  have  been  plundered  of  all 
they  had,  and  barely  escaped  with  their 
lives."     Seventeen    men    accompanied    the 

17th,  and  19th,  1857.— Further  Papers  for  1857  (not 
numbered),  pp.  46,  48,  and  60. 

J  Colonel  Neil's  despatch,  June  17th,  1857;  p.  61, 


NO  PREPARATION"  AT  ALLAHABAD  TO  RELIEVE  CAWNPOOR.    299 


party,  the  crews  of  the  steamers  (Moham- 
medans) being  suspected.  The  voyage  was 
safely  accomplished,  and  was  attended  by 
an  interesting  circumstance.  One  of  the 
persons  selected  to  take  charge  of  the 
Englishwomen  and  their  children,  and  who 
performed  the  office  with  great  ability  and 
tenderness,  was  a  Hindoo  convert,  named 
Shamacharum  Mukerjea,  by  birth  a  Brah- 
min of  high-caste.  He  had  been  baptized 
in  early  youth  by  Scotch  missionaries,  and 
had  from  that  time  pursued,  with  rare  de- 
termination of  purpose,  a  most  difficult 
course.  He  worked  his  passage  to  Eng- 
land on  board  a  sailing  ship ;  landed  with  a 
single  letter  of  introduction  from  Dr.  Duff; 
got  into  an  engineering  establishment,  for 
the  sake  of  learning  that  business ;  bore 
up,  amid  all  the  discouragements  that  await 
an  alien  with  a  dark  skin  and  an  empty 
purse;  endured  the  chilling  winds  and 
dense  fogs  of  an  uncongenial  chmate,  rising 
at  six,  and  going  regularly  to  his  work, 
till,  his  object  being  accomplished,  he 
was  enabled  to  return  to  India,  where 
he  was  fortunate  iu  procuring  an  appoint- 
ment.* 

To  return  to  Allahabad.  On  the  17th  of 
June,  Neil  writes — "  The  Moolvee  has  fled, 
and  two  of  his  men  of  rank  were  slain  on 
the  15th."  One  of  the  insurgent  leaders  was 
captured,  and  brought  before  Captain  Bras- 
yer.  He  was  a  young  man,  magnificently 
dressed,  and  said  to  be  a  nephew  to  the 
Moolvee.  Some  questions  were  put  to  him, 
and  he  was  ordered  into  confinement.  The 
Seiks  were  about  to  take  him  away,  when, 
suddenly,  by  a  violent  eflFort,  he  freed  his 
hands,  which  had  been  fastened  at  his  back, 
seized  a  sword,  and  made  a  thrust  at  one  of 
his  captors.  Captain  Brasyer  sprang  for- 
ward, wrested  the  weapon  from  his  hand, 
and  flung  him  on  the  ground ;  and  "  the 
enraged  Seiks,  while  the  chief  was  pros- 
trate, placed  their  heels  on  his  head,  and 
literally  crushed  out  his  brains,  and  the 
body  was  thrown  outside  the  gates."t 
Colonel  Neil  mentions,  that  "some  Chris- 
tian^hildren"  had  been  "  sent  in"  at  this 
date ;  but  he  does  not  say  by  whom. 

On  the  19th  of  June,  he  states — "Two 
hundred  bullocks,  with  drivers,  were  brought 

*  Mitsionart/  Sketches  in  Northern  India ;  by 
Mrs.  Weitbrecht ;  p.  97. 

+  Rev.  Mr.  Hay's  account  of  Allahabad  Mutiny. 

Timet,  September,  1857. 

X  Telegram  from  Allahabad  to  Calcutta. — Ap- 
pendix to  Pari.  Papers,  p.  327. 


in  here  yesterday :  this  is  all  our  public  car- 
riage at  present.  Our  commissariat  officer 
is  away;  and  that  department  is,  in  conse- 
quence, inefficient."  There  was  an  utter 
absence  of  ordinary  stores  :  the  commonest 
articles  of  food  could  with  difficulty  be  ob- 
tained, and  great  scarcity  of  medicine  was 
felt  here  and  at  Benares.  No  information 
is  given  regarding  the  1,600  siege-train 
bullocks,  which,  on  the  28th  of  the  pre- 
vious month,  the  commissariat  officer  at 
Allahabad  was  ready,  "if  allowed,  to  give 
for  the  immediate  conveyance  of  Euro- 
peans from  the  river  Sone  to  Cawnpoor."{ 
In  fact,  the  state  of  things  at  Allahabad,  as 
incidentally  described  in  the  public  des- 
patches and  private  correspondence  of  the 
period,  is  most  discreditable  to  those  re- 
sponsible for  it.  From  the  middle  of  May 
to  the  6th  of  June,  the  local  authorities 
were  totally  unmolested.  At  least,  they 
might  have  laid  in  supplies  to  the  fort,  and 
prepared  in  every  possible  way  for  the  speedy 
and  easy  conveyance  of  a  few  hundred 
British  troops,  the  short  distance  of  120 
miles.  Cawnpodr  was  only  thus  far  off;  and 
this  fact  makes  it  more  terrible  to  think 
of  the  three  weeks'  maintenance  of  the 
intrenchments,  from  the  6th  to  the  27th  of 
June,  and  the  yet  more  exhausting  agony 
endured  by  the  bereaved  women  and  chil- 
dren, from  the  27th  of  June  to  the  16th  of 
July.  Their  condition  could  not  have  been 
known  to  their  countrymen  without  some 
immediate  effort  being  made  for  their  re- 
lief; and  it  could  scarcely  have  rem.ained  un- 
known had  our  system  of  intelligence  been 
less  generally  defective.  There  were  some 
marked  exceptions ;  but  at  Allahabad  they 
had  no  system  at  all.  Setting  apart  Colonel 
Neil,  Captain  Brasyer,  the  magistrate  (Mr. 
Court),  and  a  few  others,  whose  influence 
may  be  traced,  the  majority  of  the  Europeans 
seem  to  have  concentrated  their  energies  on 
indiscriminate  slaughter.  The  preservation 
of  their  countrymen  in  scattered  stations,and 
even  of  British  dominion  in  India;  the  con- 
ciliation and  protection  of  the  agricultural 
classes,  as  a  means  of  facilitating  the  ad- 
vance of  the  relieving  force ;  the  inducing 
the  villagers  and  itinerant  traders  of  all 
sorts,  especially  grain  merchants,  to  come 
forward  fearlessly  to  our  aid,  certain  of  pay- 
ment and  reward  for  the  various  services 
they  had  it  in  their  power  to  render,  and, 
above  all,  of  being  shielded  from  the  exac- 
tions of  Seiks  and  Goorkas,  or  even  lawless 
I  Europeans ; — these,  it  is  to  be  feared,  were 


300        THE  DIFFICULTIES  AND  CHARACTER  OF  COLONEL  NEIL. 


considerations  quite  beyond  the  ordinary 
class  of  volunteers.  An  al)le  military  leader 
anywhere,  but  specially  in  India,  must  needs 
be  also  a  statesman  and  financier.  Neil's 
occupation  of  a  separate  command  was  too 
brief  to  show  to  wliat  extent  he  might  have 
possessed  these  qualities;  and  his  eager 
panegyrists  have  praised  his  "  vigour,"  and 
boasted  of  the  panic  it  inspired  among  the 
natives,  in  a  manner  wliich  is  calculated  to 
detract  undeservedly  from  his  fame,  when, 
the  thirst  for  vengeance  being  assuaged, 
posterity  shall  learn  to  look  calmly  on  the 
Indian  mutiny  of  1857,  and  weigh  the  deeds 
of  the  chief  actors  with  a  steadier  hand  than 
contemporary  judges  are  likely  to  possess. 
Then  it  may,  perhaps,  be  deemed  that  Neil's 
best  services  were  not  those  wliich  earned 
him  temporary  popularity;  and  that  his  ad- 
mirers may  be  glad  to  palliate  the  "village- 
burning"  and  "unlimited  hanging"  system 
pursued  by  him  before  the  capitulation  of 
Cawnpoor,  as  having  been,  perhaps,  a  mis- 
taken policy,  adopted  in  the  hope  of  terrify- 
ing the  wavering  into  submission,  and  so 
bringing  the  war  to  a  speedy  close.  The 
very  reverse  was  the  case.  The  worst  mas- 
sacres occurred  after  the  firing  into  the 
'  disarmed  troops  at  Benares;  and,  strange 
to  say,  a  similar  cruel  blunder  is  de- 
clared by  Captain  Thomson,  in  his  Story 
of  Cawnpoor,  to  have  driven  the  53rd  N.I. 
into  rebellion.  He  declares,  mosst  positively, 
that  the  men  were  quietly  cooking  their 

*  Since  the  publication  of  the  chapter  containing 
the  account  of  the  siege  and  first  massacre  of  Cawn- 
poor, Captain  Thomson  has  issued  a  most  interest- 
ing work  on  the  subject,  reiterating  his  previous 
statements,  with  important  additional  particulars. 
The  2nd  cavalry  were,  he  says,  the  first  to  rise. 
The  old  Rubahdar-major  of  the  regiment  defended 
the  colours  and  treasure  in  the  quarter-guard  as 
long  as' he  could,  and  was  found,  in  the  morning, 
lying  beside  the  empty  regimental  chest,  weltering 
in  his  blood.  He  recovered,  however,  but  was 
killed  by  a  shell  while  defending  the  intrenchment. 
"  An  hour  or  two  after  the  flight  of  the  cavalry, 
the  Ist  N.I.  also  bolted,  leaving  their  oflicers  un- 
touched upon  the  parade-ground.  The  56lh  N.I. 
followed  the  next  morning.  The  53rd  remained, 
till,  by  some  error  of  the  general,  they  were  fired 
into.  I  am  at  an  utter  loss  to  account  for  this  pro- 
ceeding. The  men  were  peacefully  occupied  in 
their  lines,  cooking ;  no  signs  of  mutiny  had  ap- 
peared amongst  their  ranks;  they  had  refused  all 
the  solicitations  of  the  deserters  to  accompany  them, 
and  seemed  quite  steadfast,  when  Ashe's  battery 
opened  upon  them  by  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler's  com- 
mand, and  they  were  literally  driven  from  us  by 
9-pounders.  The  only  signal  that  had  preceded 
this  etc))  was  the  calling  into  the  intrenchments 
of  the  Native  officers  of  the  regiment.    The'  whole 


food  in  their  lines,  when  General  Wheeler 
(of  whom  he  speaks  as  a  once  admirable,  but 
worn-out,  commander),  under  theinfluence  of 
some  extraordinary  misconception,  gave  the 
fatal  order  to  Lieutetiaiit  Ashe,  of  the  artil- 
lery, which  caused  the  53rd  to  be  dispersed 
and  driven  from  the  station  with  9-pounders.* 
These  facts  must  be  borne  in  mind  ;  because 
the  "esprit  de  corps,"  evinced  by  the  muti- 
neers, is  to  some  extent  explained  by  the  fact, 
that  several  of  the  revolted  regiments  as- 
serted, at  different  periods,  each  one  its  own 
special  grievance,  and  urged  it,  too,  upon  the 
consideration  of  their  own  officers,  when, 
as  will  be  seen  in  subsequent  chapters,  the 
fortune  of  war  brought  them  into  com- 
munication. The  difficulties  with  which 
Colonel  Neil  had  to  contend  at  Allahabad, 
have  been  very  insufficiently  appreciated. 
Disease,  drunkenness,  and  insubordination 
among  the  Europeans  and  Seiks,  were  more 
dangerous  foes  than  the  Moolvee  and  his 
rabble  host,  though  stated  to  amount  to 
three  or  four  thousand.  Cholera  appeared 
among  the  Fusiliers  on  the  evening  of 
the  18th,  when  several  men  came  into 
hospital  with  the  disease  in  its  worst  torm. 
Before  midnight  eight  men  were  buried, 
and  twenty  more  died  during  the  following 
day.t  All  the  cholera  patients  were  carried 
to  the  Masonic  lodge,  a  short  distance 
fi'om  the  fort,  which  liad  been  converted  into 
an  hospital ;  but  the  want  of  comforts  for 
the  sick  was  paiufuUy  felt,    "  The  barracks," 

of  them  cast  in  their  lot  with  us,  besides  150 
privates,  most  of  them  belonging  to  the  grena- 
dier company.  The  detachment  of  the  53rd,  posted 
at  the  treasury,  held  their  ground  against  the 
rebels  about  four  hours.  We  could  hear  their 
musketry  in  the  distance,  but  were  not  allowed  to 
attempt  their  relief.  The  faithful  little  band  that 
had  joined  our  desperate  fortunes  was  ordered  to 
occupy  the  military  hospital,  about  600  yards  to  the 
east  of  our  position,  and  they  held  it  for  nine  days; 
when,  in  consequence  of  its  being  set  on  fire,  they 
were  compelled  to  evacuate.  They  applied  for  ad- 
mission to  the  intrenchments,  but  were  told  that  we 
had  not  food  suflicient  to  allow  of  an  increase  to  our 
number."  They  were,  consequently,  dismissed  to 
care  for  their  own  safety  as  they  best  could ;  Major 
Hillersden  giving  each  man  a  few  rupees,  »rid  a 
certificate  of  fidelity. — Stoty  of  Giwnpuvr;  by  Cap- 
tain Mowbray  Thomson  ;  pp.  39,  40. 

t  The  American  missionary,  Owen,  notes  in  his 
diary,  June  19th,  the  deaths  of  three  ladies  on  that 
day — named  Hodgson,  Purser,  and  Williams— of 
cholera;  adding,  "I  predicted  that  the  filth  aMowed 
to  accumulate  aliout  the  doors  and  in  the  drains, 
would  breed  disease  of  some  kind.  The  authori- 
ties have  now  commenced  the  work  of  cleansing 
and  sprinkling  them  with  lime," — Sherer's  Indian 
Church,  p.  226, 


THE  CPIOLEllA  AT  ALLAHABAD— JUNE,  1857. 


801 


the  colonel  writes,  "are  in  bad  order,  fol- 
lowers of  any  description  being  almost  un- 
procurable ;  there  are  but  few  punkahs,  and 
no  tatties  ;*  the  men  have,  therefore,  not  the 
proper  advantages  of  barrack  accommoda- 
tion for  this  hot  season.  I  regret  to  add, 
that  the  supply  of  medicines  here  has  failed ; 
there  appears  to  have  been  little  or  none 
kept  in  Allahabad  ;  and  our  detachments 
only  brought  up  sufficient  for  the  march."t 
Oa  the  19th,  he  writes — "  I  hope  no  time 
will  be  lost  in  sending  up  here  an  efficient 
commissariat  department ;  such  should  be 
here.  We  are  most  badly  off  in  that  respect ; 
and  the  want  of  bread,  &c.,  for  the  Euro- 
peans, may  no  doubt  increase  the  dis- 
ease."} On  the  22nd,  he  announces,  by 
telegram,  the  decrease  of  cholera,  and  the 
arrival  of  the  head-quarters  of  H.M.  84th, 
and  240  more  of  the  Fusiliers;  adding — 
"Davidson,  of  commissariat,  arrived;  now 
hope  to  get  something  done.  Endeavouring 
to  equip,  with  carriage  and  provisions,  400 
Europeans,  with  two  guns,  to  push  ou 
towards  Cawnpoor."§  Two  days  later,  it 
was  discovered  that  there  were  but  sixteen 
dhoolies,  or  litters,  available  (although  a  con- 
siderable number  of  these  was  a  primary 
requisite  for  the  projected  expedition),  and 
that  all  materials  fur  making  others  were 
wanting,  as  well  as  workmen :  a  supply 
was  therefore  telegraphed  for,  and  ordered 
by  government,  the  order  being  given  at 
Calcutta,  ou  the  day  of  the  capitulation  of 
Caw  n  poor. 

An  officer  of  the  Fusiliers  writes  to  Eng- 
land on  the  23rd — "  He  (the  colonel)  is 
now  hard  at  work  getting  his  force  together 
to  move  ou  to  the  assistance  of  Cawnpoor 
and  Lucknow,  both  places  being  in  the 
greatest  danger,  for  all  the  sepoys  that 
have  run  away  are  now  gathering  around 
Lucknow.  Our  reports  concerning  that 
city  and  Cawnpoor  are  most  gloomy;  but 
reports  in  this  country  and  at  this  time  are 
always  against  us.  You  can  have  no  idea 
of  the  awful  weather,  and  of  our  sufferings 
from  the  heat;  we  sit  with  wet  clothes  over 
our  heads,  but  the  deaths  from  sun-stroke 
continue  large:  that  dreadful  scourge  cho- 
lera has  also  broken  out,  and  we  have  lost 
already  seventy  fighting-men.  We  buried 
twenty,  three  nights  ago,  at  one  funeral ; 
and  the  shrieks  of  the  dying  were  some- 

•  Tatties,  thatched  screens  wetted  to  cool  the  air. 
t  Further  Pari.  Papers  relative  to  the  Mutinies, 
1857  (not  numbered),  p.  48. 
\  Ibid.,  p.  59.  §  Ibid.,  p.  32. 


thing  awful :  two  poor  ladies  who  were 
living  over  the  hospital  died,  I  believe,  from 
fright.  We  have  now  got  about  400  men 
outside  the  fort,  and  the  disease  is  certainly 
on  the  decline.  Up  to  to-day  we  have  had 
little  to  eat ;  indeed,  I  would  not  have  fed 
a  dog  with  my  yesterday's  breakfast ;  but 
our  mess  and  the  head-quarters  arrived 
yesterday,  and  our  fare  was  much  better 
to-day.  All  the  village  people  ran  away; 
and  any  one  who  had  worked  for  the  Euro- 
peans, these  murderers  killed ;  so  if  the 
population  was  to  a  man  against  us,  we 
should  stand  but  a  bad  chance.  A  poor 
baker  was  found  with  both  his  hands  cut 
off,  and  his  nose  slit,  because  he  had  sent 
in  bread  to  us."|| 

The  extreme  hatred  evinced  for  the  Eng- 
lish, must  have  been  aggravated  by  the 
policy  planned  by  Neil,  and  carried  through 
by  his  subordinates  without  the  slightest 
discrimination.  This  was  to  "completely 
destroy  all  the  villages  close  to,  and  forming 
the  suburbs  of,  the  city ;"  and  to  make  a 
severe  example  by  "laying  the  city  under 
the  heaviest  possible  contribution,  to  save  it 
from  destruction  also."  He  expected  great 
service  from  the  gentlemen  of  the  railway 
engineers,  who  formed  the  volunteer  corps 
already. alluded  to ;  as  these,  with  the  faithful 
Native  troopers,  would  enable  him  to  strike 
a  few  blows  against  the  zemindars  and 
parties  of  insurgents  he  could  not  otherwise 
reach. ^  The  leader  of  the  volunteers,  the 
"civilian"  already  quoted,  undertook  the 
mission  with  vengeful  zest.  He  writes — 
"Every  day  we  have  had  expeditious  to 
burn  and  destroy  disaffected  villages,  and 
we  have  taken  our  revenge.  I  have  been 
appointed  chief  of  a  commission  for  the  trial 
of  all  natives  charged  with  offences  against 
government  and  persons;  day  by  day  we 
have  strung  up  eight  and  ten  men.  We 
have  the  power  of  life  and  death  in  our 
hands,  and  I  assure  you  we  spare  not.  A 
very  summary  trial  is  all  that  takes  place ; 
the  condemned  culprit  is  placed  under  a 
tree  with  a  rope  round  his  neck,  on  the  top 
of  a  carriage ;  and,  when  it  is  pulled  away, 
off  he  swings."** 

One  of  the  "rank  and  file"  volunteers,  a 
railway  official,  has  also  furnished  an  ac- 
count of  the  proceedings  of  the  corps;  which 
entirely    agrees    with    that    of  its   leader. 

11  Letter  published  in  the  Times,  August  26lh, 
1857. 
H  Colonel  Neil's  despatch,  June  17th,  1857. 
**  Letter  of  Allahabad  civilian,  June  28th,  1857. 


302    PROCEEDINGS  OF  CAPT.  FRASER— MESSRS.  CHAPMAN  &  MOORE. 


After  relating  the  outbreak  of  cholera,  he 
proceeds  to  state — 

"  Colonel  Neil  immediately  ordered  all  us  civilians 
out  .of  the  fort.  Stern  and  harsh  as  the  order 
appeared,  I  verily  believe  that  it  was  our  salvation. 
The  night  we  were  turned  out  we  slept  on  the  ground 
on  the  glacis  of  the  fort,  under  the  shelter  of  the 
guns,  all  the  males  taking  their  turn  as  sentries  to 
guard  the  women  and  children.  Every  native  that 
appeared  in  sight  was  shot  down  without  question, 
and  in  the  morning  Colonel  Neil  sent  out  parties  of 
his  regiment,  although  the  poor  fellows  could  hardly 
walk  from  fatigue  and  exhaustion,  and  burned  all 
the  villages  near  where  the  ruins  of  our  bungalows 
stood,  and  hung  every  native  they  could  catch,  on  the 
trees  that  lined  the  road.  Another  party  of  soldiers 
penetrated  into  the  native  city  and  set  fire  to  it, 
whilst  volley  after  volley  of  grape  and  canister  was 
poured  into  the  fugitives  as  they  fled  from  their 
burning  houses.  In  a  few  hours,  such  was  the  terror 
inspired,  that  it  was  deemed  safe  for  us  to  go  up  to 
the  station.  Of  course  we  never  go  out  unarmed  ; 
and  all  men  (natives)  we  employ  are  provided  with 
a  pass.  Any  man  found  without  one,  is  strung  up 
by  the  neck  to  the  nearest  tree."* 

The    civilians   were,    perhaps,    naturally 
more  inveterate  and  indiscrimiuating  in  their 
vengeance  than  the  military;  having  suffered 
greater  destruction  of  property ;  but  both 
combined    to    scourge   the    wretched    pea- 
santry.    The  ofiBcial  and  private  letters  of 
the  time   have   been    largely   and    literally 
quoted   in  evidence  of  facts  which   would 
hardly  be  believed  on  other  authorify  than 
that  of  the  chief  actors.      The    reinforce- 
ments of  Fusiliers  marked  their  way,  from 
Benares  to  Allahabad,  in  blood  and  flame, 
not  following  the  regular  track,  for  that  was 
almost  deserted;  but  making  dours,ov  forays, 
in  the  direction  of  suspected  villages.     Cap- 
tain Eraser's  detachment  was  joined  by  two 
civilians — Mr.   Chapman   and  Mr.   Moore, 
the  magistrate  of  Mirzapoor.     The  troops 
were  out  some  four  or  five  days ;  leaving 
Benares  on  tlie  13th,  and  reaching  Allaha- 
bad on  the  19th  of  June.     Tiie  account  is 
too   long  for  insertion  ;    but  it   begins  and 
ends  with  "burning  villages" — a  process  to 
which  civilians  in  general  (being  almost  all  of 
them,  in  some  way  or  other,  connected  with 
the  collection  of  the  revenue)  would  probably 
not  have    been    so  partial,   had  they  been 
fundholders  instead  of  stipendiaries.     Two 
villages  near  Gopeegunje  were  first  visited 
with  destruction.     Their  iniiabitants   were 
accused  of  having  plundered  grain.    Captain 
Eraser  and  a  party  of  Fusiliers  proceeded 
thither,  called  on  the  principal  persons  to 
appear,  and,  findiug  they  had  escaped,  set 

•  Letter  of  railway  official,  Allahabad,  June  23rd. 
— Dailif  Netci,  August  2oth,  1867. 


fire  to  the  houses.  Next  came  the  turn 
of  three  zemindars,  accused  of  having  pro- 
claimed themselves  rajahs,  and  of  plunder- 
ing. Lieutenant  Palliser,  who,  with  eighty 
of  the  13th  irregular  cavalry,  had  joined 
Eraser  near  Gopeegunje,  went,  with  fifty  of 
his  men  and  Messrs.  Chapman  and  Moore, 
to  a  village  three  miles  off.  They  captured 
the  zemindars,  brought  them  into  camp, 
tried  them  by  court-martial,  and  hanged 
them  before  eight  o'clock  the  same  even- 
ing.  At  daybreak  on  the  16th,  Fraser, 
with  a  hundred  Fusiliers  and  the  eighty 
Irregulars,  marched  in  pursuit  of  "a  mau 
named  Belour  Sing,  who,  with  1,200  fol- 
lowers, was  reported  to  be  in  a  village  five 
miles  from  the  Grand  Trunk  road."  For 
the  leader  of  180  men  to  endeavour  to 
apprehend  the  leader  of  1,200  men,  would 
seem  somewhat  rash ;  but  Belour  Sing  did 
not  abide  the  struggle;  he  fled,  leaving 
his  house  and  village,  named  Dobaar,  to 
be  burned  by  the  Europeans.  Everything 
was  found  to  have  been  carried  off  except 
some  graiu  and  a  small  quantity  of  gun- 
powder. A  reward  of  200  rupees  was 
offered  by  Mr.  Chapman  for  the  capture 
of  the  chief. 

There  was  one  gratifying  incident  in  this 
expedition.  A  zemindar  came  to  the  camp 
one  evening  with  a  Native  officer.  The 
latter,  who  wa.s  in  command  of  twelve 
sepoys,  said  that  he  and  his  companions 
had  succeeded  in  preserving  some  govern- 
ment treasure,  amounting  to  12,000  rupees, 
although  they  had  been  attacked  by  dacoits, 
and  the  village  burned.  Captain  Fraser 
proceeded  to  the  spot,  about  a  mile  off  the 
road  between  Baroad  and  Sydabad,  and 
there  fouud  the  faithful  sepoys  at  their 
post. 

There  were  a  few  more  court-martial 
sentences,  a  village  burned  by  the  Fusiliers, 
and  two  by  the  irregular  cavalry,  before 
the  series  of  murderous  raids  were  brought 
to  a  conclusion  by  the  arrival  of  the  party, 
all  unharmed,  at  Allahabad. f  This  sort  of 
service  may  be  spirited  work  for  amateurs; 
but  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  does  not 
materially  injure  the  discipline,  which  is 
the  soul  of  efficiency  in  a  regular  army. 
Shortly  afterwards,  as  will  be  shown,  Pal- 
liser's  Irregulars,  to  his  rage  and  disgust, 
refused  to  follow  him  in  fair  fight. 

On  the  30th  of  June,  Neil  states  (in  a 
private  letter),  that,  for  waut  of  food  and 

t  Captain  Fraser's  despatch,  Allahabad,  June  19th, 
1867.— 'Further  Papers,  1857  (not  nambered),  p.  47. 


THE  RANEE  OF  JHANSI— JUNE,  1857. 


303 


carriflge,  he  had  been  unable  to  send  a 
single  man  to  relieve  Cawnpoor;  for  the 
awful  heat  rendered  it  certain  death  to 
have  moved  troops  without,  or  with  only 
a  few,  tents.  Besides,  he  adds — "  I  could 
not  leave  this,  the  most  important  for- 
tress in  India,  insecure.  To  cover  all, 
cholera  has  attacked  us  with  fearful  viru- 
lence. Within  three  days  there  were  121 
cases  in  the  Fusiliers  alone,  and  fifty-seven 
deaths.  I  was  so  exhausted  for  a  few  days, 
I  was  obliged  to  lie  down  constantly,  and 
only  able  to  get  up  when  the  attacks  were 
going  on,  and  then  I  was  obliged  to  sit 
down  on  the  batteries  to  give  my  orders 
and  directions." 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  a 
column  marched  for  Cawnpoor,  under  the 
direction  of  Major  Renaud,  "  a  gallant  and 


most  intelligent  officer,"*  "brave  even  to 
rashness."t  It  consisted  of  400  Euro- 
peans, 300  Seiks,  100  irregular  cavalry, 
under  P.illiser,  and  two  guns,  under  Lieu- 
tenant Harwood. 

The  first  day's  march  was  extremely 
trying,  for  the  troops  had  to  encounter  a 
hot  wind,  "like  the  breath  of  a  furnace." 
They  had,  besides,  hot  work  to  do,  for  "  some 
villages  were  fired;  and  any  native  found  in 
arms,  who  could  not  prove  his  asserted  in- 
nocence, was  summarily  hanged,  such  being 
the  instructions  under  which  we  acted."f 
On  the  4th  of  July,  the  march  was  arrested 
by  a  brief  message  from  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence— "  Halt  where  you  now  stand ;  or,  if 
necessary,  fall  back."§  The  reason  was, 
that  Cawnpoor  had  capitulated,  and  all  the 
besieged  were  supposed  to  have  perished. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


JHANSI,  NOWGONG,  CHUTTERPOOR,  LOGASSEE,  CHIRKAREE,  KUBRAI,  ADJYGHUR, 
BANDA,  FUTTEHPOOR,  HUMEERPOOR,  JALOUN,  OORAI,  AND  SUMPTER.— MAY  AND 
JUNE,  1857. 


Another  district  in  the  Cawnpoor  (mili- 
tary) division  was  destined  to  take  the 
second  rank,  amid  the  dreary  scenes  of 
mutiny,  in  connection  with  a  treacherous, 
pitiless  massacre,  perpetrated  at  the  insti- 
gation of  an  angry  and  ambitious  woman, 
upon  all  the  Europeans  placed  by  the  flood 
of  revolt  within  her  reach. 

The  annexation  of  Jliansi,  and  the  con- 
tempt with  which  the  lately  reigning  family 
were  treated,  have  been  shown  in  the  in- 
troductory chapter.  The  independence  of 
the  little  principality  was  gone  beyond  re- 
demption, if  English  supremacy  continued; 
and  when  the  Ranee  heard  that  the  vast 
mercenary  army  of  the  Feringliees  had  re- 
volted, she  resolved  to  cast  in  her  lot  with 
them  in  a  war  of  extermination.  In  the 
prime  of  life  (some  years  under  thirty), 
exceedingly  beautiful,  vigorous  in  mind  and 
body,  Lakshmi  Bye  had  all  the  pride  of  the 
famous  Rajpoot  prince, ||  wlio — 

"  rather  than  be  less, 
Cared  not  to  be  at  all." 

•  Mutiny  nf  the  Bengal  Army  :  by  One  who  hai 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier;  p.  122. 

t  Journal  of  Major  North,  60th  Rifles ;  p.  26. 


She  was  a  heathen :  the  forgiveness  of  in- 
juries was  no  article  in  her  creed;  and 
believing  herself  deeply  injured  by  the 
infraction  of  the  Hindoo  laws  of  adoption 
and  inheritance,  she  threw  aside  every  con- 
sideration of  tenderness  for  sex  or  age,  and 
committed  herself  to  a  deadly  struggle  with 
the  Supreme  government,  by  an  act,  for 
which,  as  she  must  have  well  known,  her 
own  life  would,  in  all  human  probability, 
pay  the  forfeit.  Her  relatives  (that  is,  her 
father  and  sister)  fought  for  and  with  her; 
but  there  is  no  proof  that  she  had  any  able 
counsellor,  but  rather  that  she  was  herself 
the  originator  of  the  entire  proceedings 
which  made  Jhansi  an  important  episode  in 
the  war,  from  the  time  when  the  Ranee 
flung  down  the  gauntlet  by  a  reckless, 
ruthless  massacre  of  men,  women,  and 
children  of  the  hated  usurping  race,  till  the 
moment  when  she  fell  lifeless  from  her 
white  war-horse,  by  the  side  of  her  dead 
sister. 

Nowhere  was  the  overweening  confidence 

t  Ibid.,  p.  28.  §  Ibid.,  p.  37. 

il  The  Rana  Umra,  the  opponent  of  the  Emperor 
Jehangeer. — Tod's  Rajast'han,  vol.  i.,  p.  307, 


804 


MUTINY  AT  JHANSI— JUNE  4th,  1857. 


of  the  English  more  remarl?able  than  at 
Jhansi,  which,  as  the  residence  of  a  Native 
court,  had  attained  some  importance  for 
its  trade  and  manufactures.  The  former 
rajah  had  paid  great  attention  to  the 
regulation  of  its  streets  and  bazaars, 
whicli  were  remarkably  clean  and  orderly.* 
Sleeman  estimated  its  population  at  GO.OOOf 
— a  very  large  number  in  proportion  to  the 
size  of  the  place,  and  the  state  of  which  it 
was  the  capital.  Jhansi  town  is  situated 
among  tanks  and  groves  of  fine  timber 
trees,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  good  wall. 
The  palace  was  itself  a  fortress,  built  on 
a  rock  overlooking  the  town ;  and  the  im- 
posing appearance  of  this  lofty  mass  of 
stone,  surmounted  by  a  huge  round  tower, 
was  justified  by  the  number  of  cannon  it 
possessed,  said  to  amount  to  some  thirty  or 
forty  pieces.  The  government  had  had 
repeated  warning  of  the  bitter  discontent 
which  the  annexation  of  any  state,  however 
small,  caused  in  the  capital,  by  drying  up 
the  main  source  of  income  of  the  citizens, 
who  depended  for  a  livelihood  on  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  court;  yet  Jliansi  was  left, 
fort  and  all,  without  a  single  European 
soldier. 

Jhansi  lies  on  the  route  from  Agra  to 
Saugor,  142  miles  south  of  the  former,  130 
north  of  the  latter,  and  245  west  of  Alla- 
habad. The  troops  in  the  station  con- 
sisted of — 

Detail  of  Foot  Artillery — Eiivopeans,  none  ;  Na- 
tives, 27.  Wing  of  the  12th  N.l. — JEuropeans,  6; 
Natives,  522.  Head-quarters  and  wing  of  14th 
Irregular  Cavalry — Europeans,  5  ;  Natives,  332. 

In  all — 11  Europeans  to  881  Natives. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  the  cartridge 
question  had  been  the  pretext,  or  the  cause, 
of  excitement  and  disaffection;  but  the  in- 
fantry at  Jhansi  and  at  Nowgong  (the 
nearest  military  station),  are  asserted 
"to  have  become  ashamed  at  the  mention 
of  it;"  and  the  burning  of  empty  bunga- 
lows had  ceased  some  time  before  the  out- 
break of  the  mutiny.  J  Captain  Dunlop,  the 
oflScer  in  command  of  the  station,  had  no 
distrust  of  the  troops ;  and  the  commis- 
sioner, Captain  Skene,  and  the  deputy- 
commissioner,  Captain  Gordon,  concurred, 
up  to  the  last,  in  ridiculing  the  precautions 
taken  at  Nowgong.     Such,  at  least,  is  the 

•  Thornton's  Gazetteer. 

t  Sleeman's  Rambles  and  Recollections,  vol.  i., 
p.  282. 

X  Captain  Scot,  12th  N.L,  to  deputy-adjutant- 
general.— Pari.  Papers  on  Mutinies  (No.  4),  p.  121. 


statement  of  the  case  by  Captain  Scot,  of 
the  12th  N.I.,  then  on  duty  at  the  latter 
station. §  Unfortunately,  he  writes  from 
memory  only ;  for  the  documents  which 
would  have  shown,  beyond  the  possibility 
of  doubt,  the  state  of  affairs  at  Jhansi  and 
Nowgong,  were  destroyed,  with  the  other, 
records,  in  the  conflagration  which  took  place 
at  both  places;  and  the  accounts  sent  to 
Cawnpoor  met  a  similar  fate. 

Captain  Scot,  however,  states  from  his 
own  knowledge,  that  some  days  before  the 
mutiny  occurred.  Captain  Dunlop  sent  over 
to  Major  Kirke,  the  officer  in  command  at 
Nowgong,  letters  from  Skene  and  Gordon, 
declaring  that  they  had  learned,  from  sepa- 
rate sources,  that  one  Luckmnn  Rao  (the 
servant  of  the  Ranee  of  Jhansi)  was  doing 
his  best  to  induce  the  12th  N.I.  to  mutiny; 
but  whether  with  or  without  the  authority 
of  the  Ranee,  had  not  been  ascertained. 
Subsequent  letters  spoke  of  spies,  or  agents 
of  sedition,  finding  their  way  to  the  Native 
lines,  and  being  strongly  opposed  by  some 
of  the  more  loyal  and  zealous  sepoys. 
Of  the  fidelity  of  the  Irregulars  no  sus- 
picion appears  to  have  been  entertained ; 
and,  indeed,  both  at  Jhansi  and  Nowgong, 
the  infantry  revolted  first,  thoiigii  "  the 
cavalry  were  the  most  bloodthirsty"  after- 
wards. 

The  only  European  testimony  on  record 
regarding  the  mutiny,  is  a  brief  and  scarcely 
legii)ie  note  from  Captain  Dunlop.  Con- 
cerning the  massacre  which  ensued,  there 
is  none ;  for  no  European  witness  survived 
to  tell  the  tale.  The  note  runs  thus : — 
"  To  the  Officer  commanding  at  Notegang. 

"  Jhansi,  June  4th,  1857  ;  4  P.M. 
"  Sir, — The   artillery  and   infantry  have   broken 
into  mutiny,  and  have  entered  the  Star  Fort.     No 
one  has  been  hurt  as  yet.     Look  out  for  stragglers. 
"Yours,  &c., 

"J.  Du.Ni.op." 

This  communication  reached  Major  Kirke, 
by  express,  at  eleven  o'clock  on  the  following 
day. 

On  the  10th,  a  letter  in  English  came 
from  Tewarry  Hossein,  the  tehsildar  of 
Mowraneepoor  (thirty  miles  from  Nowgong), 
stating  that  he  had  heard  of  the  murder 
of  every  European  at  Jhansi,  and  had 
received  a  perwanuah,  to  the  effect  that  the 
Ranee    was    seated   on    the   gadi    (Hindoo 

§  See  despatch  last  quoted ;  and  a  long  letter 
published  in  the  Times,  September  11th,  1857;  not 
signed,  but  evidently  written  by  Captain  Scot,  to  the 
wife  of  Lieutenant  Ryves,  acquainting  her  with  that 
officer's  escape  to  Gwalior  and  Agra. 


DEFENCE  OP  THE  PALACE-FORT— JHANSI,  1857. 


305 


throne),  and  that  he  was  to  carry  on  busi- 
ness as  hitherto.  He  added,  that  he  meant 
to  leave  the  place  at  once ;  and  he  did  so. 
The  same  afternoon,  the  mails  that  had 
been  sent  towards  Jhansi  on  the  5th  and 
subsequent  diiys,  were  brought  back  in  one 
bag,  the  runners  having  feared  to  enter  the 
station.* 

Many  weeks  elapsed  before  any  authentic 
statements  could  be  obtained  of  the  pro- 
ceedings at  Jhansi,  after  the  transmission 
of  Captain  Dunlop's  note.  At  length  Cap- 
tain Scot  ascertained  and  communicated  to 
government  the  following  account,  which  he 
obtained  from  three  natives,  one  of  whom 
was  with  the  Europeans  during  the  whole  of 
the  outbreak.  The  evidence  was  given  by 
the  three  witnesses  separately  at  Nowgong, 
jMahoba,  and  Banda ;  and  agreed  so  nearly 
as  to  be  received  as  trustworthy. 

Only  one  company  (7th)  of  the  12th 
N.I.  mutinied  on  the  4th  of  June.  Headed 
by  a  havildar,  named  Goor  Bus,  the  men 
marched  into  the  Star  fort.  This  was  a 
small  building,  where  the  guns  and  trea- 
sure were  kept,  close  to  the  infantry  guns. 

Captain  Dunlop  paraded  the  rest  of  the 
]  2th  N.I.,  with  the  cavalry;  and  they  all  said 
they  would  stand  by  him.  Disarming  them, 
of  course,  was  out  of  the  question.  Captain 
Dunlop  was  an  energetic  officer,  and  had 
been  reported,  by  General  Wheeler,  a  few 
days  before,  as  "a  man  for  the  present 
crisis."  Seeing  that  all  continued  quiet,  he 
employed  himself,  on  the  6th  of  June,  in 
preparing  shells  at  the  quarter-guard  of  the 
12tli  N.I.  He  then  posted  some  letters; 
and  in  returning  from  the  office,  with  En- 
sign Taylor,  crossed  or  approached  the 
parade.  Here  he  and  his  companion  were 
shot  dead  by  some  of  the  12th.  The  poor 
ensign  had  only  arrived  at  Jhansi  a  few 
days  before,  having  made  great  haste  to 
rejoin  his  regiment,  when  the  mutiny  be- 
gan. Lieutenant  Campbell,  15th  N.I., 
serving  with  the  14th  Irregulars,  escaped  to 
the  palace-fort,  where  Lieutenant  Burgess, 
of    the   revenue   survey    department,    with 

*  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1837  (No.  4),  p.  125. 

t  Statement  of  Commissioner  Erskine. — London 
Gazette,  May  6th,  1857  ;  p.  2248. 

X  In  the  East  India  Army  List  for  1858,  Lieute- 
.  nant  Ryves  is  mentioned  as  having  been  killed  on 
the  6lh  at  Jhansi;  but  this  must  be  an  error.  He 
quitted  Jhansi,  with  a  detachment,  two  or  three  days 
before  the  mutiny;  and  although  he  may  have  re- 
turned there,  he  certainly  reached  both  Gwalior  and 
Agra  some  time  later. — Officer's  Letters,  in  Times, 
September  3rd  and  11th,  1857. 
VOL.  II,  2  R 


several  English  and  Eurasian  subordinates, 
had  been  for  some  time  residing.  On 
the  evening  of  the  4th  of  June,  they  were 
joined  by  Captain  Skene,  his  wife  and  two 
children;  Lieutenant  Gordon,  Dr.  M'Egan, 
his  wife  and  sister;  Lieutenant  Powys,  his 
wife  and  child ;  Mrs.  G.  Browne,  her  sister 
and  child ;  and  the  English  and  Eurasian 
employes  in  the  Civil  and  Canal  depart- 
ments, and  Salt  excise.  Lieutenant  G. 
Browne,  the  deputy-commissioner,  fled  to 
Oorai,  with  Ensign  Browne  and  Lieutenant 
Lamb.f  Lieutenant  RyvesJ  and  another 
European,  named  McKellar,  escaped  to 
Gwalior.  Lieutenant  TurnbuU  took  refuge 
in  a  tree,  but  was  discovered  and  shot  down. 
Whether  the  Europeans  in  the  fort  held  any 
communication  with  the  Ranee  is  not  known; 
but  they  are  stated  to  have  remained  txnmo- 
lested  till  the  7th  of  June,  and  to  have  been 
employed,  during  the  interval,  in  endeavour- 
ing to  get  provisions  and  ammunition  into 
the  fort  (though  with  very  partial  success), 
and  in  piling  stones  against  the  gates  to 
prevent  their  being  opened.  Unhappily 
there  were  traitors  within,  as  well  as  rebels 
without.  Lieutenant  Povpys  was  found  by 
Captain  Burgess,  lying  bleeding  from  a 
wound  in  the  neck.  He  survived  just  long 
enough  to  point  out  the  four  assassins  who 
had  attacked  him.  These  were  Mussulmans 
employed  in  the  revenue  survey ;  they  were 
immediately  put  to  death. §  AVlien  attacked, 
the  Europeans  are  said  to  have  made  great 
havoc  among  the  besiegers  with  rifles  and 
guns ;  but  to  have  themselves  lost  only  one 
of  their  number,  Captain  Gordon,  who  was 
shot  through  the  head  while  leaning  over  tlie 
parapet,  pulling  up  a  bucket  which  a  sj^ce 
in  the  lower  enclosure  had  filled  with  wheat. 
The  little  garrison  appears  to  have  been 
totally  unprovisioned  for  a  siege.  The  let- 
ters written  by  Dunlop  to  Kirke,  before 
the  partial  mutiny  on  the  4th,  prove  this ; 
and  afterwards,  it  was  probably  as  much  as 
the  officers  could  do  to  obtain  supplies  for 
the  party  within  the  walls.  Attempts  were 
vainly  made  to  send  word  to  Nagode  and 

§  This  is  the  account  given  by  the  native  with  the 
Europeans  in  the  fort ;  but  according  to  the  state- 
ment of  another  native  in  the  city  at  the  time,  the 
immediate  incentive  to  the  murder  of  Lieutenant 
Powys  was,  that  that  officer  seeing  Captain  Burgess' 
khitmutgar  (table-attendant)  attempting  to  pull 
down  the  stones  that  secured  the  gates,  shot  him ; 
whereupon,  the  brother  of  the  fallen  man  cut  down 
the  officer  with  his  tulwar,  and  was  instantly  put 
to  death  by  Lieutenant  Burgess. — Further  Pari. 
Papers,  1857  (No.  4),  p.  132. 


306 


THE  MASSACRE  AT  JHANSI— JUNE,  1857. 


to  Gwalior  for  help :  some  of  the  clerks 
tried  to  escape  in  native  clothes,  letting 
themselves  down  by  ropes;  but  they  were 
caught  and  killed. 

Kala  Khan,  risaldar  of  the  14th  cavalry, 
was  active  in  the  assault.     Ahmed  Ilossein, 
the  tehsiklar  of  Jhansi,  likewise  took  a  lead- 
ing part,  in  connection  witli  the  adherents 
of  the  Ranee.     The  men  employed  in  the 
Salt  excise  joined  in  the  attack.     The  Euro- 
peans felt  that  the  struggle  was  hopeless, 
and  the   Hindoos  and  Mohammedans  are 
alleged  to  have  induced  them  to  surrender, 
by   swearing   that   their    lives    should    be 
spared.     Captain  Skene  opened  the  gates, 
and  marched  out.*     The  traitors  instantly 
threw  their  vows  to  tlie  wind ;  and,  sepa- 
rating the  men  from  the  women,  tied  the 
former  in  a  row  by  ropes,  took  the  whole 
party  into  a  garden  in  or  near  the  city,  and 
there    beheaded     them     all     except    John 
Newton,  the  quartermaster  of  the  12th  N.I. 
(a  very  dark  half-caste),  his  wife,  and  four 
little  children.     This  family  was  spared  by 
the  I'cbels,  and  carried  off  by  them  when 
they   were    driven   from  Jhansi.      Lieute- 
nant Powys  is  thought  to  have  died  in  the 
fort.     He  could  not  walk  out  with  the  rest 
of  the  party.     His  wife  was  torn  from  liim, 
and   fell   in  the  general  massacre.     "The 
men    died    first,"    writes    Captain     Scot ; 
"Burgess  taking  the  lead,  his  elbows  tied 
behind   his    back,    and   a    prayer-book    in 
liis  hands.     What  a  sad  end  for  so  kind- 
hearted  and  unselfish  a  man !     But  to  die 
confessing  the  faith  is  a  noble  death.     The 
rest   died   in    the    same   way.     They  tried 
liard  to  get  the  women  and  children  saved." 
But  it  was  in  vain.     The  Ranee  docs  not 
appear  to  have  been  appealed  to;    but  it 
is  too  probable  that  it  was  by  the  orders  of 
this  ambitious  and  childless  wjdow — disin- 
lierited  herself,  and  prohibited  from  exer- 
cising the  right  of  adoption — that  the  ruth- 
less deed  was  consummated.     The  women, 
we  are  told,  "'  stood  with  their  babes  in  their 
arms,  and  the  older  children  holding  their 
gowns.     They  had  to  see  the  men  killed;" 
but  there  was  evci-y  reason  to  believe  "  they 
were  spared  any  violence  save  death. "f 

The  care  bestowed  by  Captain  Scot, 
in  his  official  capacity,  in  sifting  and  collect- 
ing evidence  from  every  available  source, 
would,  under  any  circumstances,  be  very 
commendable;  but  is  specially  satisfactory, 

*  The  day  on  wliicli  the  surrender  wa»  made,  ap- 
peari  to  have  been  the  8th  of  June, 
t  Captain  Scot's  Letter,— iVmes,  Sept.  11th,  1857. 


as  refuting  the  painful  story  which  went  the 
round  of  tile  English  and  Indian  journals 
at  the  time,  with  regard  to  the  fate  of 
Captain  Skene  and  his  young  Avife.  Their 
friends  may  be  sure  they  joined  with  their 
fellow-Christians  in  "confessing  the  faith  ;" 
and  were  probably  better  prepared  to  meet 
death  by  the  sword,  than  many  of  their  coun- 
trymen might  be  to  struggle  with  the  great 
adversary  on  their  beds  in  England.  But  ' 
the  long  interval  which  elapsed  before  the  : 
particulars  above  related  were  ascertained, 
gave  room  for  the  wildest  rumours.  Cap- 
tain Scot's  account  was  not  published  until 
August.  In  the  meantinle,  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter,  said  to  have  been 
written  from  India  to  a  relative  of  the 
maligned  officer,  was  published  far  and  ; 
wide: — 

"Frank  Gordon,  Alio  Skene,  his  wife,  and  a  few 
peons,  managed  to  get  into  a  small  rovind  tower 
when  the  disturbance  began ;  the  children  and  all 
the  rest  were  in  other  parts  of  the  fort — altogether, 
sixty.  Gordon  had  a  regular  battery  of  guns,  also 
revolvers ;  and  he  and  Skene  picked  off  the  rebels 
as  fast  fls  they  could  fire,  Mrs.  §kene  loading  for 
them.  The  peons  say  they  never  missed  once ;  and 
before  it  was  all  over  they  killed  tiiirty-seven,  be- 
sides many  wounded.  The  rebels,  after  butchering 
all  in  the  fort,  brought  ladders  against  the  tower, 
and  commenced  swarming  up.  Frank  Gordon  was 
shot  through  the  forehead,  and  killed  at  once. 
Skene  then  saw  it  was  no  use  going  on  any  more, 
so  he  kissed  his  wife,  shot  her,  and  then  himself." 

Information  subsequently  obtained,  re- 
garding the  massacre,  tended  to  confirm  the 
evidence  adduced  against  the  Ranee.  Mr. 
Thornton,  the  deputy-collector,  writing  on 
the  18th  of  August,  states  it  as  the  general 
impression,  that  the  mutineers,  after  killing 
their  own  officers  and  plundering  the  tre.i- 
siiry  (which  contained  about  £45,000),  were 
going  off;  and  it  was  wholly  at  the  instigation 
of  the  Jhansi  princess,  with  a  view  to  her 
obtaining  possession  of  the  district,  that 
they,  together  with  other  armed  men  fur- 
nished by  the  Ranee,  attacked  the  fort. 
He  adds,  that  they  induced  the  Europeans 
to  surrender,  by  solemnly  swearing  to  allow 
them  to  depart  unmolested ;  notwithstand- 
ing which,  "they  allowed  them  to  be 
massacred  by  the  Ranee's  people  in  their 
presence,  in  a  most  cruel  and  brutal  manner, 
having  no  regard  to  sex  or  age.  For  this  act, 
the  mutineers  are  said  to  have  received  from 
her  35,000  rupees  in  cash,  two  elephants, 
and  five  horses.  The  Ranee  has  now  raised 
a  body  of  about  14,000  men,  and  has  twenty 
guns,  which  had  been  kept  concealed  by  the 
former  Jhansi  chief,  by  being  buried  within 


■1a 


STATE  OF  AFFAIRS  AT  NOWGONG— MAY  AND  JUNE,  1857.      307 


the  fort,  and  of  which  nothing  was  known 
to  our  officers.  I  am  not  certain  whether 
she  intends  to  make  any  resistance  in  case 
our  troops  come  to  this  quarter;  but  none 
of  the  other  native  chiefs  in  Bundelcund 
have  as  yet  turned  against  our  govern- 
ment."* 

Leaving  the  Ranee  to  possess,  for  a  brief 
space,  the  blood-stained  gadi  of  Jhansi,  we 
follow  the  stream  of  revolt  in  the  sister- 
station  of 

Novjgong. — The  troops  stationed  liere 
were  almost  the  counterpart  of  those  at 
Jhansi;  but  happily  there  was  no  vin- 
dictive princess  at  Nowgong  to  urge  them 
on  to  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood 
of  their  officers,  or  their  helpless  families. 
The  troops  consisted  of — 

A  company  of  Artillery — Europeans,  2;  Natives, 
105.  Head-quarters  and  right  wing  of  12th  N.  I. 
— Europeans,  6 ;  Natives,  604.  Left  wing  of  the 
14th  Irregular  Cavalry — Europeans,  1 ;  Natives, 
273.t 

In  all — nine  Europeans  to  982  Natives. 

The  first  symptoms  of  disaffection  were 
manifested  by  the  burning  of  empty  bun- 
galows, "which  commenced  on  the  23rd  of 
April,  and  was  evidently  the  work  of 
incendiaries,  though  the  guilty  persons 
could  not  be  discovered.  The  excitement 
subsided,  and  matters  went  ou  quietly 
xmtil  the  23rd  of  May,  up  to  wliich  time 
the  Europeans  were  very  imperfectly  in- 
formed of  the  fatal  events  which  had  oc- 
curred in  other  stations.  On  that  day,  the 
risaldar  in  command  of  the  cavalry,  in- 
formed Major  Kirke  that  his  corps  had 
learned,  by  letter  from  Delhi,  the  murder  of 
every  Christian  in  that  city.  He  appeared 
to  wonder  at  the  little  the  Europeans  knew 
of  the  proceedings  in  Delhi,  while  he  and 
his  companions  were  so  well-informed  on  the 
subject.  On  the  same  day.  Major  Kirke's 
orderly,  a  sepoy  of  the  12th  N.I.,  rushed 
into  the  major's  house,  and  told  him  that 
he  had  just  got  away  from  a  party  of  twenty 
or  so  Poorbeahs  and  Boondelas,  who  had 
asked  him  to  point  out  the  officers'  mess- 
house.  They  seemed  to  be  disappointed 
in  the  non-appearance  of  an  accomplice  to 
guide  them.  The  orderly  said  he  had  made 
an  excuse  and  got  away  from  them.  Major 
Kirke,  with  his  adjutaiit,  his  son,  and  one  or 
two  armed  sepoys,  went  to  the  spot  in- 
dicated, after  having  caused  it  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  sowars  (under  the  command  of 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  169. 
t  Pari.  Keturn,  9th  February,  1858;  p.  3. 


the  risaldar  before  mentioned),  that  no 
person  might  escape.  Only  three  men  were 
captured  :  one  ran  off;  and  rather  than  stop, 
or  make  a  reply,  beyond  saying  he  was  a 
sepoy,  let  himself  be  fired  at  three  times : 
the  two  others  found  a  hiding-place  in  a 
hollow  tree,  till  the  party  had  passed,  and 
then  darted  off  towards  the  artillery  lines, 
which  were  afterwards  vainl}''  searched  for 
the  fugitives.  The  risaldar  was  believed  to 
have  connived  at  their  escape ;  and  he  en- 
deavoured to  persuade  the  Europeans  that 
the  orderly's  story  was  altogether  a  fabri- 
cation; but  Major  Kirke  considered  that  the 
sepoy  had  made  up  a  story  to  put  the  officers 
on  their  guard,  not  choosing  to  reveal  the 
actual  circumstances.  From  that  night  the 
Irregulars,  both  officers  and  men,  behaved 
in  a  most  unsatisfactory  manner;  the  former 
with  the  "  freezing  politeness  which  Mo- 
hammedans well  know  how  to  assume ;"  the 
latter  doing  duty  in  a  gay,  careless  fashion, 
as  much  as  to  say,  "  It  will  soon  be  at  an 
end — we  are  merely  amusing  ourselves 
obeying  orders;"  while  even  the  sick  in 
the  hospital  were  insolent  to  the  doctors, 
until  a  few  days  before  the  mutiny,  when 
the  ill-feelin;^  either  subsided  or  was  dis- 
guised. The  12th  N.I.  were  most  sus- 
pected; but  the  officers  slept  nightly  in 
their  lines;  and  in  tiie  first  few  days  of 
June,  mutual  confidence  appeared  restored. 
The  Europeans,  relieved  by  the  altered  tone 
of  the  sowars,  considered  that  the  news  of 
the  massacre  of  the  Christians  at  Delhi,  had 
possibly  roused  a  fanatical  feeling,  which 
had  subsequently  given  place  to  a  con- 
viction "  that  their  pay  and  earthly  prospects 
were  not  to  be  despised. "J  This  was 
deemed  the  case  with  the  risaldar,  who  had 
been  specially  distrusted.  He  was  a  grey- 
headed man,  of  delicate  constitution,  and 
his  rank  and  pay  were  important  con- 
siderations ;  and  he  evinced  much  distress 
on  hearing  the  state  of  affairs  at  Jhansi, 
as  communicated  in  Captain  Dunlop's  letter, 
received  at  11  a.m.  on  the  5th  of  June. 
The  Europeans  reminded  him  that  no  word 
had  come  of  the  Irregulars  mutinying;  but 
he  said  he  much  feared  they  would  do  so, 
as  they  had  very  few  officers,  European  or 
Native,  and  most  of  the  men  were  very 
young.  Before  the  Jhansi  news  reached 
Nowgong,  four  out  of  five  companies  of  the 
wing  of  the  12th  N.I.  (following  the  ex- 
ample of  the  70th  N.I.)  had  volunteered 

X  Report  of  Captain  Scot. — Further  Papers,  1857 
(No.  4),  p.  122. 


308 


MUTINY  AT  NOWGONG— JUNE  5rH,  1857. 


to  serve  against  the  mutineers.  Major 
Kirke,  on  the  reception  of  Captain  Dunlop's 
letter,  ordered  a  parade;  and  after  addressing 
the  12th  on  the  subject  of  their  offer,  and 
promising  to  communicate  this  evidence  of 
their  loyalty  to  government,  he  proceeded 
to  annouuce  to  the  troops  the  news  of 
partial  mutiny  just  received.  "The  right 
wing,  12th  N.I.,  when  asked  if  they  would 
stand  by  the  colours,  rushed  forward  to 
them  as  one  man,  and  were  enthusiastic  in 
their  expressions  of  fidelity.  The  artillery 
company  embraced  their  guns  with  ex- 
pressions of  devotion.  The  men  of  the 
14th  said  at  once  they  would  be  true  to 
the  government.  They  expressed  no  enthu- 
siasm."* 

The  officers  were  much  gratified  by  the 
conduct  of  the  men,  especially  of  the  ar- 
tiller}'.  Some  few  days  previously,  four 
of  their  company  had  been  seized  on  an 
accusation  of  mutiny,  and  sent  off  as 
prisoners  to  Chutterpoor.  On  the  same 
evening  (June  1st),  Major  Kirke  had  the 
whole  of  the  guns  of  the  battery  brought  in 
front  of  the  quarter-guard  of  the  12th  N.I., 
and  the  same  precaution  was  continued 
every  night.  The  artillery  company  had 
"been  cheerful  and  well-disposed"  until 
then ;  but  they  are  described  as  feeling 
"afi'ronted  and  humiliated  by  this  mea- 
sure." 

Early  on  the  5th,  before  the  parade, 
forty  of  the  14th  Irregulars,  under  a  Native 
officer,  had  .been  dispatched  to  Lullutpoor, 
and  a  similar  party  to  Jhansi.  The  latter 
marched  to  within  ten  miles  of  that  place; 
and  then,  on  learning  the  mutiny  of  the 
infantry,  turned  back.  The  first  tidings 
regarding  the  fate  of  Captain  Dunlop  and 
Ensign  T.aylor,  were  brought  by  the  shep- 
herd of  the  left  wing  mess.  "The  12th 
men,  at  Nowgong,  seemed  horrified  at  the 
news :"  most  certainly  (Captain  Scot  adds) 
"they  were  sincerely  so;"  but  the  bazaar 
people  were  very  anxious  to  send  away 
their  women  and  children,  which  Major 
Kirke  would  not  allow  them  to  do.  Eor 
some  time  the  Europeans  had  been  looking 
round  them  for  the  means  of  escape ;  and 
the  government  camels,  only  eight  in  num- 
ber, had  been  called  for  and  examined. 
Murmurs  immediately  arose  that  the  camels 
had  been  sent  for  to  remove  the  treasure, 
aud    that    it    was    actually    being    drawn 

•  Report  of  Captain  Scot.—Further  Pari,  Papers, 
18o7  (No.  4),  p.  124. 
•f  Ibid.,  p.  125. 


out  in  small  sums,  with  the  intention  of 
placing  the  whole  under  the  charge  of 
"  the  Gurowlee  rajah."t  The  treasure  was 
felt  to  be  "the  danger  all  along."  The 
12th  continued  to  manifest  good-will, 
attachment,  aud  respect  to  their  officers; 
and  the  senior  survivor  of  these  (Captain 
Scot)  gives  the  greater  number  ciedit  for  ' 
sincerity,  considering  that  they  mutinied 
under  intimidation,  and  from  an  infatuated 
feeling  that  mutiny  was  a  matter  of  destiny, 
Benares  Brahmins  having  predicted  it. 

All  continued  quiet  till  sunset  on  the 
10th  of  June.  The  officers  had  for  some 
time  dined  at  4  o'clock,  with  the  view  of 
going  early  to  the  lines  to  prevent  mischief. 
On  the  evening  in  question,  some  had  left 
the  mess-room ;  but  others  remained  discuss- 
ing the  engrossing  topic  of  public  and 
private  interest.  Dr.  Mawe  (assistant-sur- 
geon) urged  on  Captain  Scot  the  advisability 
of  abandoning  the  station,  because  it  "  was 
impossible  that  the  men  at  Nowgong  would 
stand  fast  after  their  brothers  at  Jhansi 
had  rebelled,  and  were  still  so  near." 

As  if  in  confirmation  of  this  opinion, 
several  musket-shots  were  heard.  Lieu- 
tenant Townsend,  of  the  artillery,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Ewart,  mounted  their  horses,  and 
galloped  straight  to  the  lines,  arriving  just 
in  time  to  see  the  guns  in  the  hands  of  the 
mutineers.  Mrs.  Mawe,  Lieutenant  Franks, 
Mr.  Smalley,  and  other  Europeans,  had  wit- 
nessed the  outbreak.  It  occurred  at  the 
moment  when  the  six  artillery  guns  were  as 
usual  brought  to  the  12th  N.I.  brigade,  and 
preparations  were  being  made  for  relieving 
guard.  "A  tall,  dare-devil  Seik"  walked 
forward,  followed  by  two  others.  Loading 
his  piece,  he  took  deliberate  aim  at  the 
havildar-major,  a  brave  and  faithful  officer, 
and  shot  him  dead.  The  three  Seiks  then 
rushed  on  the  guns.  The  artillery  sergeant 
made  some  attempt  to  defend  them,  but 
none  of  the  gunners  stood  by  him ;  and 
when  the  European  officers  tried  to  rally 
their  men,  and  induce  them  to  follow  them 
in  making  a  dash  at  the  guns,  no  one 
would  move :  all  were  panic-stricken  or 
mutinous.  Major  Kirke,  finding  that  about 
100  men  had  assembled  at  the  mess-house, 
strove  to  induce  them  to  march  with  him 
against  the  mutineers;  and  when  compelled 
to  relinquish  this  idea,  he  insisted  on  holding 
the  mess-house.  The  arguments  of  the 
officers  on  the  utter  hopelessness  of  such  a 
proceeding,  were  efFectivcly  seconded  by 
the  appearance  of  a  9-pouiider,  brought  by 


RANEE  OF  CHUTTERPOOR  PROTECTS  NOWGONG  FUGITIVES.     309 


the  rebels  to  expedite  the  retreat   of  the 
FeringheeSj  not  one  of  whom  were  injured. 
The    sepoys    with    Major    Kirke    showed 
strong  attachment  to  his  person;  and  several 
Native  officers,  with  eighty-seven  non-com- 
missioned officers   and   men  of  the   12th, 
one  artilleryman,  and  about  twenty  band- 
men  and  their  families,   accompanied   the 
Europeans  in  their  flight.     Besides  these, 
there  were  others  who  would  gladly  have 
shared  the  perils  of  the  fugitives,  had  they 
been    able    to    escape   with    them.      One 
i   "  noble  old  man,"  an  invalided  subahdar  of 
i   fifty  years'  service,  had  willingly  remained 
1   with  his  company,  and  had  done  everything 
i   that  lay  in  liis  power  to  avert  a  mutiny. 
I   When  the  news  arrived  of  the  outbreak  at 
i    Jhaasi,  he  stood  beside  the  guns  with  spikes 
I   and  a  hammer,  ready  to  render  them  use- 
1   less   in   the    event    of    immediate   revolt. 
I    Sirdar  Khan,  a  pay  havildar,  and  a  private, 
i    Seeta  Ram  (steward  of  the  stores),  excited 
!    the  wrath  of  the  mutineers  by  their  deter- 
I    mined  loyalty,  and  would  have  been  killed 
I    but  that  the  guns  could    not   be   worked 
i    without   them.      Sirdar    Khan   was   taken 
from  Nowgong,  tied  on  a  charpoy,  by  the 
rebels ;    and   as   those    guns    were    subse- 
quently captured  at  Futtehpoor,  it  is  pro- 
bable that  he  perished  on  that  occasion — 
one  of  the  many  innocent  victims  during 
this  fatal  epoch. 

None  of  the  English  officers*  at  Now- 
gong had  any  female  relatives  to  protect 
— whether  from  being  unmarried,  or  from 
having  sent  their  wives  away,  does  not 
appear;  but  the  sergeants,  bandmaster, 
clerks,  and  others,  had  their  families  with 
them ;  so  that,  altogether,  there  were  forty 
women  and  children  to  be  cared  for.  The 
number  of  the  male  Europeans  is  not  stated 
by  Captain  Scot,  but  it  was  probably  con- 
siderably less  than  that  of  their  helpless 
companions.  At  daybreak  on  the  following 
morning,  by  means  of  a  scanty  supply  of 
horse  and  camel  conveyances,  the  party 
reached  Chutterpoor,  the  capital  of  a  small 
Hindoo  state  of  the  same  name,  happily 
not  included  in  our  recent  annexations. 
The  experience  of  the  Nowgong  officials, 
contrasts  forcibly  with  that  of  their  ill-fated 
neighbours  at  Jhansi,  Chutterpoor  was 
governed  by  the  mother  of  the  young  heir ; 


and  although  the  mutineers  sent  threatening 
messages    to   the    regent,    forbidding    her 
to  shelter  the  Europeans,  yet  the  "  llanee, 
ruling  for  her  son,   did  not  mind  them," 
but  showed  the  fugitives  much  kindness,  and 
allotted  for  their  use  the   handsome  serai 
built  by  the  late  rajah  for  the  accommodation 
of  travellers.     Before  the  mutiny,  she  had 
sent  word  to  Major  Kirke,  that  her  guns  and 
treasury  were  at  his  service  whenever  he 
might  require  them ;  and  he  now  borrowed 
a  thousand  rupees  from   her,  there  being 
very  little  money  among  the  party .f     Some 
of   her    chief    officers    being    Mohamme- 
dans, were  displeased  at  this,  and  said  that 
the  troops  had  risen  for  "deen"  (the  faith), 
and  that  the  Ranee   did  wrong  in  taking 
part   with   the    Feringhees;    but    she   was 
firm :   and  when,   during  the   night,   some 
sepoys  coming  to  join  their  officers,  caused 
an  alarm  that  the  rebels  were  approaching, 
a  large  force  turned  out  to  oppose  them. 
Captain  Scot  remarks — "  I  mention  this  to 
show   that   the  Ranee  was  determined   to 
defend  us."     On  the  12th  of  June,  Major 
Kirke  scut  two  officers  back  to  Nowgong, 
to  obtain  some  mess-stores.     The  mutineers 
were  gone,    the  government  treasury  had 
been   plundered   of    1,21,494   rupees,    the 
artillery  magazine  was    quite    empty,   and 
the  magazine  of  the  12th  N.I.  had  been 
blown  up. J     All  the   thatched  bungalows 
had   been    burned,    but   the   artillery    and 
cavalry  lines  were  uninjured ;  and  although 
an  attempt  had  been  made  to  fire  the  lines 
of  the  12th  N.I.,  little  harm  had  been  done, 
the  huts  being  tiled.     Hundreds  of  villagers 
were  busy  stripping  the  roofs  of  the  public 
buildings,  and  carrying  off  the  timber;  and 
although   a   guard  from   Chutterpoor   had 
been  sent  to  protect  the  station,  the  men 
contented  themselves  with  watching  over 
some  grain  in  the  Sadder  bazaar,  and  did  not 
seem  to  think  it  worth  while  to  prevent  the 
plunder  of  the  wood-work,  which  Captain 
Scot  says  they  might  easily  have  done ;  "  for 
Lieutenant  Townsend  and  myself  cleared 
the  station  by  firing  a  few  shots  so  as  not 
to  hurt  any  one."     He  adds,  however,  that 
"  the  official  in  charge  thought  our  rule  was 
over,  and  the  station  his  Ranee's  for  the 
future ;  and  my  orders  were  listened  to,  but 
not  carried  out."     Before  leaving  Nowgong, 


*  Major  Kirke  and  his  son,  Scot,  Townsend, 
Jackson,  Remington,  Ewart,  Franks,  and  Barber. 

t  Letter  written  by  Mrs.  Mawe. — Star,  Oct.  29, 1857. 

X  Tlie  12th  N.I.  obtained  in  the  magazines  at 
Nowgong  and  Jhnnsi,  1,225  lbs.  of  gunpowder  for 


musketry,  besides  some  barrels  of  coarse  powder 
for  cannon;  360,000  percussion-caps;  130,000 
balled-cartridges,  20,000  blank  cartridges,  and 
about  10,000  carbine  balled-cartridges;  left  by  the 
6th  light  cavalry. — Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  13i. 


310 


FAITHFUL  BtilJDELCUND  CHIEFS. 


the  two  officers  made  provision  for  the 
necessities  of  a  dying  sepoy,  whom  they 
found  in  one  of  the  hospitals ;  and  for  an 
old  bedridden  Avoman,  the  grandmother  of 
a  sepoy  musician,  who  had  gone  off  with 
the  rebels.  They  then  proceeded  to  "the 
Logassee  rajah's,  nine  miles  off;"  and  there 
found  Major  Kirke.  He  had  started  with 
the  other  Europeans  from  Chutterpoor;  bnt 
suddenly  losing  his  senses,*  had  imagined 
the  sepoys  wanted  to  murder  him  ;  quitted 
the  party  without  giving  any  warning,  and 
fled  alone  by  night  to  Logassee — the  chief 
place  of  another  small  Bundelcund  state, 
on  the  route  from  Calpee  to  Jubbnlpoor. 
In  1808,  the  then  rajah,  a  chief  of  ancient 
Boondela  lineage,  had  been  confirmed  in 
possession  of  his  little  fort  and  territory  of 
twenty-nine  square  miles  in  extent,  on  con- 
dition of  obedience  to  the  British  govern- 
ment. The  present  rajah  treated  the  fugi- 
tives "most  kindly,"  and  they  passed  the 
night  under  his  protection ;  yet  the  major 
could  not  be  soothed,  but  persisted  in  ima- 
gining all  sorts  of  horrible  deeds  were  being 
meditated  by  his  host.  The  three  officers 
left  Logassee  on  the  following  morning, 
under  a  guard  furnished  by  another  Bundel- 
cund chieftainess,  the  Ranee  of  Nyagong. 

Meantime,  the  Europeans  and  sepoys 
had  marched  on  to  Mahoba,  where  they 
arrived  on  the  15th,  expecting  to  overtake 
Major  Kirke.  The  sepoys  expressed  great 
dissatisfaction  at  his  prolonged  absence,  mur- 
muring that  all  their  officers  intended  leav- 
ing them  gradually,  and  declaring  that  they 
would  not  proceed  till  they  had  found  their 
major.  A  pressing  letter  was  addressed  to 
him  on  the  subject  ;t  and  it  appears  to  have 
reached  liim ;  for  he  and  his  two  com- 
panions joined  tlie  party  at  Mahoba  on  the 
16th,  bringing  with  them  a  cartload  of 
wine,  tea,  and  other  supplies  from  Nowgong. 
The  sepoys  welcomed  their  officers  most 
joyfully.  They  had  been  distressed  by  a 
report  of  their  having  been  murdered ;  and 
"  were  actually  weeping"  with  suspense  and 
sorrow  when  the  major  arrived.  The  origi- 
nal destination  of  the  party  had  been  Alla- 
habad ;  but  news  of  the  disturbances  at 
Banda  and  Humeerpoor  induced  a  change 
of  route;  and,  on  the  evening  of  the  17th, 

*  Captain  Scot  says,  Major  Kirke's  "  health  had 
been  failing ;  and  now,  from  want  of  tea,  and  wine, 
and  beer,  he  was  quite  gone." — Times,  September 
nth,  1857.  -^6  >      i 

t  Statement  of  Sergeant  Kirchoff.— Further  Pari. 
Papers  on  Mutiny,  1857  (not  numbered),  p.  77. 


they  proceeded  towards  Kallinger  and  Mir- 
7,apoor.  Mr.  Carne,  the  deputy-collector  of 
Mahoba,  accompanied  the  fugitives,  making 
arrangements  with  the  rajah  of  Chirkaree 
(another  Bundelcund  dependent  state,  under 
the  rule  of  a  Rajpoot  family)  for  the  charge 
of  the  Mahoba  district,  and  obtaining  from 
the  rajah  a  sum  of  money  for  the  expenses 
of  the  journey.  A  heavy  demand  was  soon 
made  on  this  fund.  At  mid-day  on  the 
18th,  during  a  halt  under  some  trees,  at 
a  little  distance  from  a  pass  between  two 
hills,  through  which  the  road  lay,  a  message 
was  received  from  a  man  called  Pran  Sing, 
the  leader  of  a  party  of  dacoits,  demanding 
1,000  rupees  as  the  price  of  escorting  the 
fugitives  in  safety  to  Kallinger.  At  first, 
a  refusal  was  resolved  on ;  but  the  Native 
officers  and  men  urged  the  payment  of  the 
money ;  and,  as  they  had  been  most  obe- 
dient and  anxious  to  please,  the  Europeans 
let  them  have  their  own  way  in  the  matter. 
"  The  men  accordingly  paid  down  300 
rupees  to  the  head  of  the  party,  and  applied 
to  the  officers  for  400  rupees,  to  make  up 
the  advance  agreed  on.  It  was  given  them, 
and  the  whole  paid  to  Pran  Sing,"  to  whom 
300  more  were  promised  on  reaching  Kal- 
linger. 

The  next  morning,  before  daybreak,  as 
the  Europeans  were  preparing  to  move  on 
without  Pran  Sing  (who  had  not  appeared), 
the  camp  was  fired  into  from  a  tree  between 
it  and  the  pass.  The  sepoys  began  to  fire 
wildly  in  return ;  and  the  treacherous  da- 
coits commenced  in  earnest.  "The  major 
now  came  to  his  senses,  and  was  himself, 
from  being  a  child  who  spoke  of  a  mango, 
or  something  to  eat  and  drink,  as  if  it  were 
his  life."  He  went  among  the  sepoys, 
striving  to  induce  them  to  force  the  pass; 
bnt  they  were  utterly  disheartened,  and 
complained  that  their  guns  could  not  carry 
so  far ;  while  the  matchlockmen  were  pick- 
ing them  off  from  the  hills.  Lieutenant 
Townsend  fell,  shot  through  the  heart ;  and 
the  party  retreated  towards  Mahoba,  leaving 
their  buggies  and  carts  in  the  hands  of  the 
robbers.  Some  of  the  Europeans  fled  on 
horseback  ;  others  on  foot.  Dr.  Mawe  and 
Mr.  Smalley,  the  band-sergeant,  walked 
from  daylight  till  past  noon,  keeping  up 
with  the  main  body.  The  sepoys  remained 
close  to  Major  Kirke,  who,  as  soon  as  the 
excitement  of  the  skirmish  had  subsided, 
relapsed  into  imbecility;  and,  on  reaching 
the  outskirts  of  a  village  three  miles  from 
Mahoba,  fell  from  his  horse,  and  expired 


FLIGHT  FROM  NO WGONG— FAITHFUL  SEPOYS  OP  12tu  N.I.       311 


shortly  after.  Several  others  perished,  but 
the  major  only  was  buried  ;  the  sepoys,  true 
to  tlie  last,  digging  liis  grave  with  their 
bayonets,  under  a  tree  near  the  spot  where 
lie  fell.  A  sergeant  (Raite),  overcome  with 
the  effects  of  previous  drunkenness,  would 
proceed  no  further,  but  went  into  a  deserted 
toll-house  on  the  road-side  to  sleep,  and 
was  left  behind.  Sergeant-major  Lucas,  a 
very  large,  heavy  man,  was  suddenly  struck 
by  the  sun.  He  fell;  then  rose;  staggered 
a  few  paces — fell  agaiu,  and  never  stirred 
more.  Mrs.  Langdale,  tiie  wife  of  a 
writer,  was  lost  on  the  road ;  she  had 
great  difficulty  in  walking,  being  ex- 
tremely stout :  at  last,  Captain  Scot  says, 
"her  husband  left  her,  and  she  died  or 
was  killed."  Captain  Scot  himself  was  at 
one  time  in  the  rear,  and  lost  sight  of  the 
main  body.  He  sent  on  Lieutenant  Ewart, 
who  was  with  him,  to  the  front ;  but  Ewart 
became  delirious  from  the  sun,  and  told  the 
corps  that  the  captain  was  close  to  them, 
wheu  he  was,  in  reality,  miles  behind.  The 
column,  thei-efore,  pushed  on,  leaving  Scot, 
hampered  with  women  and  children,  to 
follow  as  best  he  could.  He  had  brought 
away  Lieutenant  Townseud's  horse,  as  well 
as  his  own ;  and  by  this  means  he  was 
enabled  to  convey  his  helpless  companions. 
In  his  official  report,  he  scarcely  refers  to 
his  own  domgs;  but,  writing  privately  to 
England,  he  says — "  My  work  that  day  was 
terrible.  I  had  to  try  to  lug  along  two  fat 
old  women,  while  I  carried  three  children 
on  my  horse,  and  tried  to  keep  back  the 
sepoys  who  were  with  me.  The  senior 
havildar  got  more  and  more  savage,  and 
wanted  me  to  leave  the  children  and  the 
women  ;  but  I  would  not ;  and,  thank  God, 
tliey  did  not  leave  us.  I  came  at  last  to 
Mr.  Sm.alley,  sitting  beside  his  wife.  She 
seemed  dead,  but  it  was  doubtful;  so  I  took 
her  up  before  me,  and  gave  a  boy  (one 
of  the  three  children  before  mentioned)  to 
my  writer,  who  had  got  hold  of  my  horse. 
It  was  a  most  arduous  task  to  keep  the 
utterly  inert  body  on  the  horse,  as  I  placed 
her  as  women  ride ;  but  after  a  while  she 
seemed  desid.  I  held  a  consultation  about 
it,  and  we  left  the  body.  I  then  got  on  foot. 
I  was  lame  from  an  awful  kick  of  a  horse, 
and  had  only  a  strip  of  cloth  on  one  foot ; 

•  Letter  dated  June  24th. — 2'imes,  September 
llth,  1857. 

t  Let'.er  from  commissioner  of  Allahabad,  July 
4th.— Further  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  18i>7  (not 
numbered),  p.  130, 


but  poor  Smalley  was  worse  off,  and  he  got 
on  ray  horse,  and  Mrs.  Tierney  behind ;  her 
two  children  each  got  a  seat  on  the  two 
horses  ;  and  thus  I  reached  the  main  body."* 

The  sepoys  had  halted  at  a  well,  waiting 
for  the  arrival  of  Captain  Scot,  now  their 
senior  officer.  At  three  o'clock  the  party 
entered  Kubrai  (a  small  town  in  Jaloun), 
twenty-four  miles  from  Banda,  where  a 
"  Nana  Sahib"  had  usurped  authority  ;  this 
being  supposed  to  be  a  title  assumed  by  an 
agent  of  the  Nana  of  Bithoor.  The  tacit 
ill-will  shown  in  several  villages  through 
which  the  fugitives  had  passed,  led  the 
sepoys  to  request  their  officers  to  deliver 
up  their  arms,  and  to  suffer  themselves 
to  be  escorted  as  prisoners.  This  they 
did ;  and  the  sepoys  described  themselves 
as  rebels,  and  bade  the  townspeople 
bring  food  for  the  captives,  and  forage  for 
the  horses,  on  pain  of  incurring  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  King  of  Delhi,  by  whose 
order  the  Europeans  were  being  taken  to 
the  nawab  of  Banda.  The  townspeople 
assented,  and  brought  chupatties  and  sweet- 
meats for  the  Europeans,  who  sat  on  the 
ground  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  natives. 
"  Not  one  said  an  uncivil  word.  Some," 
Captain  Scot  writes,  "said  our  rule  had 
been  very  just;  some  expressed  sorrow; 
some,  it  struck  me,  did  their  utmost  to  get 
a  few  of  us  killed  for  the  amusement  of  the 
city."  "When  it  grew  dark  the  crowd  dis- 
persed ;  and  the  sepoys,  being  alone  with 
the  Europeans,  told  them  that  the  trick 
of  their  pretended  hostility  had  been  dis- 
covered ;  that  the  Christian  drummers  had 
been  seized  and  taken  into  the  town  by  a 
rebel  moonshee  and  a  Mohammedan  officer  ; 
and  that,  as  the  whole  country  was  against 
the  Europeans,  it  would  be  better  for  them 
to  separate  and  shift  for  themselves.  They 
spoke  "  sadly  and  respectfully."  Their  plan 
was  adopted ;  certificates  of  loyalty  were 
given  to  the  whole  of  the  eighty-seven 
sepoys,  and  they  all  made  their  way  to 
Allahabad,  thirty-five  of  them  meeting  Mr. 
Corregan  (superintendent  of  roads)  with  a 
party  escaping  from  Futtehpoor,  and  escort- 
ing them  to  AUahabad.f 

The  original  Nowgong  fugitives  had 
considerably  diminished  before  reaching 
Kubrai.  Mr.  Came  had  quitted  them, 
and  sought  and  found  refuge  with  the 
rajah  of  Chirkaree.  A  writer,  named 
Johnson,  preferred  remaining  to  tako  his 
chance  at  Kubrai;  and  the  Mrs.  Tierney, 
before  mentioned,  was  also  left  behind  with 


312        NAWAB  OF  BANDA  WELCOMES  NOWGONG  FUGITIVES. 


her  two  children.  "She  was,"  Captain 
Scot  remarks,  "  the  wife  of  some  sergeant 
tliat  she  had  deserted  for  our  sergeant- 
major:"  "she  had  no  chance  of  her  life 
with  us ;  and  I  had  good  hopes  she  would 
not  be  injured  at  Kubrai."  '  Mrs.  Tierney 
made  her  way  to  Mutoun,  a  large  place  be- 
tween Kubrai  and  Banda.  Sergeant  Raite 
did  the  same.  Mr.  Langdale  and  another 
M-riter,  named  Johnson,  .also  proceeded 
thither,  and  were  protected,  and  most 
kindly  treated,  by  an  influential  zemindar. 

The     other    Europeans    resumed    their 
flight,  in  accordance  with  the  advice  of  the 
sepoys.     There  were  eleven  adults  and  two 
children,    and   only  nine   horses.     A   Ser- 
geant  KirchofF,    who   had   been   employed 
in    the    Canal    department,   under    Lieu- 
tenant Powys,  had  joined  them  at  Mahoba, 
with  his  wife,  on  foot ;  and  their  arrival  in- 
creased the  difficulties  of  the  journey.     On 
the  following  morning,  while  moving  along 
the    Banda   I'oad,  the  villagers    came   out, 
armed  with  long  bamboos,  and  attacked  the 
fugitives.     Captain   Scot  was   bringing   up 
the  rear,  with  Lieutenant  Ewai-t ;  and  they 
turned,  and  fired  their  pistols  at  the  yelling 
mob,  but  without  effect.  At  last  two  troopers 
-  and  some  armed  foot  joined  the  rabble,  and 
Mrs.  Kirchoff  fell  from  the  horse  on  which 
she  had  been  placed.   Her  husband  "seemed 
quite  unable  to  put  her  on  again ;"  and  Cap- 
tain Scot,  feeling  that  they  could  not  desert 
her,  strove  to  dismount  and  fight  on  foot, 
being  unable  to  do  anything  on  horseback, 
hampered  as  he  was  with  Mr.  Smalley  be- 
hind him,  and  "  little  Lottie,"  a  girl  of  two 
years  old,  in  his  arms.     He  liad  just  taken 
the  poor  child  from  her  parents.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Mawe,  who  were  riding  together  on 
one    horse,    and    scarcely    able   to   support 
themselves.       His  intention    of  dismount- 
ing was  frustrated.     His  horse,  a  runaway 
by  habit,  being  pierced  by  a  spear  flung  by 
one  of  the  assailants,   galloped  off  at  full 
speed,  with  the  weapon  sticking  in  its  right 
hock,  and  stopped  only  on  reaching  a  water- 
course it  could  not  leap.     Lieutenaut  Franks 
soon  came  up :  a  loose  horse  had  attacked 
him  and  his  mare,  and,  after  chasing  him 
round  the  combatants,  had  compelled  him 
to  gallop  off.     Lieutenaut  Remington  had 
followed.     The  four  took  counsel,  and,  be- 
lieving   that    their    late    companions    had 
perished  or  escaped   in   another  direction, 
they    went    sadly    on    their    way.      Little 
Lottie  was  safe;  her  preserver  had  thrown 
away  his  pistol  in  order  to  hold  lier  fast. 


As  they  proceeded,  they  continued  to  | 
find  "  the  villagers  in  the  British  territory 
most  hostile,"  with  one  exception — that  of 
a  very  poor  man,  named  Ferukh  Khan, 
who  sheltered  and  fed  them.  At  noon  on 
Sunday,  the  21st,  while  lying  under  some 
trees,  they  became  aware  of  the  vicinity  of 
a  concourse  of  armed  men.  Captain  Scot 
snatched  up  the  child,  but,  knowing  that 
his  horse  was  worn  out,  made  no  attempt  at 
escape.  The  other  Europeans  had  mounted, 
and  got  off  a  few  yards  :  he  entreated  them 
to  ride  away,  but  they  returned  to  share 
his  fate.  They  were  all  taken  to  a  village, 
where.  Captain  Scot  says,  "  one  old  rascal 
looked  at  me  maliciously,  and  made  a  hack- 
ing movement  with  his  hand  against  his 
throat,  as  a  suggestion  of  what  we  deserved, 
and  what  we  should  get."  On  reaching 
Banda,  they  fully  expected  to  be  put  to 
death,  having  "  only  a  very  faint  hope  that 
God  might  spare  them."  They  went 
through  thousands  of  zealous  Mohamme- 
dans to  the  uawab's  palace;  and  then,  to 
their  inexpressible  relief,  Avere  "  pulled  in- 
side the  gate,"  and  assured  they  were  safe. 

The  rest  of  the  party  were  at  first  more 
fortunate  than  had  been  anticipated,  for  they 
succeeded  in  driving  off  the  villagers,  and 
escaping  uninjured.  Lieutenant  Jackson 
shot  the  man  who  speared  Captain  Scot's 
horse ;  and  Mrs.  Kirchoff's  horse  having 
run  off,  he  took  her  up  behind  him, 
and  rode  away,  followed  by  the  other  Eu- 
ropeans ;  she  sitting  astride,  and  being  tied 
to  him,  from  the  <JOth  to  the  24th,  when 
they  reached  Adjyghur.  The  fatigue  must 
have  been  excessive,  for  they  went  forty 
miles  one  day.*  By  the  21st  tiiey  had 
crossed  the  river  Cane,  five  miles  below 
Banda,  and  were  resting  near  a  nullah  in 
that  neighbourhood,  when,  being  threatened 
by  some  villagers,  they  remounted  and  re- 
sumed their  flight.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Mawe 
were  left  behind :  they  fell  together  from 
their  horse ;  and  Sergeant  Kirchoff,  who 
had  been  previously  holding  it  while .  they 
mounted,  let  the  bridle  go,  having  to  attend 
to  his  own  wife.  Lieutenant  Barber  soon 
afterwards  fell  from  his  horse  as  if  shot,  and 
was  left  by  the  way,  dead  or  dying.  Lieu- 
tenant Ewart  was  struck  by  the  sun  on  the 
22nd,  and  lay  senseless  on  the  ground.  He 
was  "  the  most  fearless  of  men  ;"t  find  even 
in  their  extreme  peril  and  exhaustion,  his 
companions  made   an  effort   to  save  him. 

*  Captain  Scot. — I'imes,  September  lllh,  1857. 
t  Ibid. 


ADJYGHUR,  A  NATIVE  STATE  OF  BUNDELCUND. 


313 


Harvey  Kirke  (the  son  of  the  late  major) 
went  to  a  village  for  some  water,  but  came 
back  with  a  hooting  rabble  at  his  heels,  and 
the  Europeans  were  compelled  to  leave  their 
brave  comrade  to  breathe  his  last  among 
foes.  Shortly  after  this  they  alighted  at  a 
village  to  rest;  but  Lieutenant  Jackson 
Laving  observed  something  suspicious  in  the 
manner  of  the  natives,  passed  the  word 
to  mount  and  ride  off.  Kirchoff,  after 
helping  his  wife  to  her  seat  behind  Lieu- 
tenant Jackson,  and  lifting  a  little  child  of 
Mr.  Smalley's  into  the  arms  of  Harvey 
Kirke  (who  had  taken  charge  of  it),  went  to 
loose  his  own  horse ;  but  before  he  was  well 
in  his  saddle,  several  blows  from  lattees,  or 
long  sticks,  caused  him  to  fall  to  the  ground. 
The  other  three  adults  escaped,  and  entered 
a  village  in  the  Adjyghur  territory;  but  the 
cliild  died  on  the  road. 

■Adjyghur, — is  a  dependent  native  state, 
with  an  area  of  340  square  miles;  bounded  on 
the  north  by  the  native  state  of  Chirkaree 
and  the  British  district  of  Banda;  on  the 
south  and  east  by  the  native  state  of  Pun- 
nah;  and  on  the  west  by  Chutterpoor.  The 
inauguration  of  British  supremacy,  about 
half  a  century  before,  had  been  attended  by 
one  of  the  terrible  tragedies  characteristic 
of  the  proud  Rajpoot  race.  The  fort  of 
Adjyghur  was  surrendered  in  February, 
1809,  by  Luchmun  Sing  Dowa,  to  the  Bri- 
tish, on  condition  of  receiving  an  equivalent 
in  lands  in  the  plain.  In  the  following 
June,  Luchmun  Sing  proceeded  to  Calcutta, 
without  giving  notice  of  his  intention  to 
the  British  authorities  at  Adjyghur :  they 
distrusted  him,  and  resolved  on  imprisoning 
in  the  fort  his  female  relatives,  whom  he  had 
left  at  Tirowni,  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 
The  father-in-law  of  the  chief,  being  directed 
to  make  arrangements  for  removing  the 
ladies,  entered  their  dwelling,  and  fastened 
the  door  after  him.  A  considerable  time 
elapsed,  yet  he  did  not  return.  At  length, 
no  sound  of  life  being  heard,  an  entrance 
was  effected  by  the  roof,  and  all  the  inmates 
of  the  house — women,  children,  and  the  old 
man  himself,  were  found  with  their  throats 
cut.  Not  a  cry  or  groan  had  been  heard 
by  the  listeners  outside,  who  were  keeping 
watch  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  escape. 
Tlie  members  of  the  heroic  household,  mis- 
led by  an  erroneous  creed,  had  sacrificed 
themselves  with  one  acccord  to  preserve 
inviolate  the  honour  of  their  house  and 
their  personal  purity.  After  this  catas- 
trophe, Luchmun  Sing  was  pronounced  a 

VOL.  II.  2  8 


usurper,  and  Adjyghur,  after  being  overrun 
by  British  troops,  was  made  over  to  a  cliief 
named  Bukht  Khan  (who  claimed  to  be 
its  legitimate  rajah),  on  condition  of  the 
paymeut  to  the  E.  I.  Company  of  an 
annual  tribute  of  7,750  rupees.* 

Probably  the  three  Nowgong  fugitives 
had  little  acquaintance  with  the  antecedents 
of  their  nation  in  Adjyghur.  At  all  events 
they  were  kindly  received  there ;  and  after 
resting  some  days,  were  sent  on  to  Nagode, 
which  they  reached  on  the  29th  of  June. 
At  this  place  they  found  Kirchoff,  who, 
after  being  plundered  by  the  villagers,  had 
been  suffered  to  depart,  and  had  reached 
another  village  in  Adjyghur,  where  he  had 
been  well  treated,  and  sent  on  immediately. 

It  remains  only  to  notice  the  fate  of  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Mawe.  Their  horse  having  gal- 
loped off,  they  sat  down  on  the  ground, 
expecting  to  be  killed.  Dr.  Mawe  was 
quite  prepared  for  death,  having  previously 
taken  leave  of  his  wife,  and  communi- 
cated to  her  his  last  wishes  respecting  their 
"four  little  girls  in  Ireland."  Some  na- 
tives came  up  and  plundered  them;  and 
shortly  after  this,  Dr.  Mawe  died.  He  had 
lost  his  hat,  and  had  suffered  fearfully  in 
the  head  in  consequence,  until  his  wife 
found  a  sepoy's  cap  on  the  ground,  and 
gave  it  him  (being  herself  bareheaded  all 
the  time):  but  lie  retained  his  senses;  and 
liis  last  words  were,  "  Poor  Lottie !  I  am 
glad  to  know  she  is  safe  with  Scot."  The 
new-made  widow,  scarcely  knowing  what 
she  did,  bound  his  head  and  face  in  her 
dress — "for  there  was  no  earth  to  bury 
him ;"  and  then  went  to  the  nullah,  and 
sat  down  in  the  water  on  a  stone,  to  cool 
her  burning  feet.  Some  more  natives 
came  up,  and  searched  her  for  money. 
She  got  away  from  them  (with  her  wed- 
ding-ring hidden  in  her  hair),  and  walked 
barefooted  three  miles  to  a  village,  where 
she  remained  that  night,  and  was  sent 
to  the  nawab  of  Banda  on  the  follow- 
ing morning,  there  to  be  greeted  by  the 
child  who  had  been  almost  miraculously 
preserved. t  Captain  Scot  remarks,  regard- 
ing the  baby-heroine  of  his  tale — "  How  that 
child,  two  years  old,  lived,  I  know  not; 
angels  must  have  had  their  wings  over  it. 
On  the  19th  and  20th,  its  head  was  for 
hours  bare  to  the  sun.  On  the  22nd,  I 
made  a  rag  into  a  sort  of  turban.     She, 

•  Thornton's  Oazetteer:  and  Asiatic  Annual  Re- 
gister, for  1809. 

t  Narrative  of  Mrs.  Mawe. 


»14 


HOSPITALITY  OF  NAWAB  AND  BEGUM  OP  BANDA. 


aged  three  years  in  mind,  during  her  ride, 
was  as  liealthy  as  any  child  in  England. 
She  felt  more  horrified  than  Leonora  after 
her  ride  with  William,  and  could  not  endure 
my  approach  after  her  mother  came/'* 

The  begum  of  Bauda  had  sent  for  the 
child  immediately  on  her  arrival,  and  pro- 
vided English  clothes  and  other  neces- 
saries for  her  use ;  making  her  a  present  of 
twenty  rupees.  She  extended  her  kindness 
to  Mrs.  Mawe,  who  remained  a  fortnight  at 
Banda,  and  to  whom  the  begum  gave,  at 
their  parting  interview,  a  pair  of  earrings, 
on  a  little  silver  plate.  Mrs.  Mawe  and 
her  child  went  to  Calcutta,  and  thence  to 
England. 

Thus  ends  the  history  of  the  escape  from 
Nowgong,  in  the  course  of  which  many 
Europeans  perished;  but  not  one  of  them 
by  the  bands  of  the  sepoys.  The  only  blood 
shed  bj'  the  Nowgong  mutineers,  was  that 
of  a  Christian  drummer  named  George 
Dick,  an  African. 

Banda, — is  a  British  district  in  Bundel- 
cund,  bounded  by  Futtehpoor  on  the  north, 
and  Humeerpoor  on  the  west.  The  nawab, 
who  protected  the  Nowgong  fugitives,  was 
.a  merely  nominal  prince,  residing  at  Banda 
(the  chief  place  of  the  district),  in  a  hand- 
some and  strong  palace,  with  an  income  of 
.£40,000  a-year,  guaranteed  to  the  family 
by  the  East  India  Company  in  1812;  and 
maintaining  a  force  of  between  four  and  five 
hundred  men,  comprising  infantry,  cavalry, 
and  artillery,  dressed  and  equipped  in  imi- 
tation of  the  British  ti'oops.  The  canton- 
ments of  the  latter  were  situated  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  river  Cane,  or  Keyn,  and 
were  occupied  iu  June,  1857,  by  about  250 
of  the  1st  N.I.  t 

The  information  published  regarding  the 
outbreak  here,  is  very  defective.  The  notices 
scattered  through  the  Blue  Books,  are  few 
and  conflicting;  and  the  Banda  olficials  do 
not  appear  to  have,  either  in  their  public  or 
private  capacity,  furnished  evidence  regard- 
ing the  reason  of  their  sudden  evacuation 

•  Letter  of  Captain  Scot. — Times,  September 
11th,  1857. 

t  Letter  of  Major  Ellis,  from  Nagode.  The  Nag- 
poor  commissioner,  in  separate  despatches  (June 
and  September),  asserts  that  it  was  two  companies  of 
the  60th,  at  Banda,  who  "  mutinied,  and  plundered 
the  treasure;"  but  this  seems  altogether  a  mistake. 
— Further  Pari.  Papers  (not  numbered),  p.  11 ;  and 
Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  272.  The  Parlia- 
mentary Keturn  (House  of  Commons,  February  9th, 
1858),  which  gives  the'  number  and  description  of 
troops  at  each  station  at  the  time  of  the  mutiny  at 


of  the  station.  The  summary  of  events 
dispatched  to  England  by  the  Supreme 
government,  states,  that  "  the  civilians  and 
officers  were  forced  to  quit  the  station  on 
the  14th,  the  two  companies  of  the  1st 
N.I.  having  taken  possession  of  the  treasury. 
All  had  arrived  at  Nagode.  By  the  latest  • 
accounts,  the  party  of  the  1st  N.I.  appear 
to  be  still  in  charge  of  the  treasure."! 

On  the  16th,  the  fugitives — civilians,  offi- 
cers, and  ladies — reached  Nagode  in  safety ; 
and  the  nawab  of  Banda  was  written  to  by 
Major  Ellis,  the  Nagode  commissioner,  and 
urged  to  exert  himself  to  the  utmost  in 
recovering  all  plundered  property  belonging 
to  either  government  or  private  persons. § 
On  the  22nd  of  Jiuie,  Major  Ellis  writes 
to  the  secretary  of  government  at  Calcutta, 
declaring  that  he  "cannot  get  any  intelli- 
gence from  Banda;"  but  that,  according  to 
bazaar  reports,  only  two  bungalows  liad 
been  burnt  there,  and  that  the  treasure 
was  still  all  safe;  "the  two  companies  of 
the  1st  regiment  of  N.I.  standing  sentry 
over  it  in  the  lines."  On  the  strength  of  this 
"bazaar  report,"  he  urges  that  the  nawab 
of  Banda  "should  be  warned  that  he  will 
be  held  responsible  for  it  [the  treasure],  as 
well  as  for  his  conduct  in  having  ordered 
the  Banda  officers  out  of  his  house,  though 
they  do  all  speak  well  of  him."|| 

It  appears,  however,  that  the  nawab 
needed  every  encouragement  that  could  be 
held  out  to  induce  him  to  continue  in  the 
loyal  course  he  had  hitherto  held,  consider- 
ing that  no  European  troops  could  be  sent 
to  his  assistance,  and  that  the  feelings  of 
the  Banda  population  and  of  the  Boondclas 
in  general,were  fiercely  hostile  to  the  British. 
The  story  of  the  sepoys  guarding  the  trea- 
sure, seems  doubtful :  so  also  is  the  fate  of 
the  joint  magistrate,  Mr.  Cockerell,  who  is 
declared,  iu  one  official  document,  to  have 
been  killed  at  a  place  called  Kirlace ;%  and 
in  another,  to  have  come  into  Banda  the 
morning  after  the  other  residents  had  left, 
and  to  have  been  murdered  by  the  troopers 

Meerut,  does  not  specify  the  regiments  to  which 
they  belonged.' 

X  Further  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutiny,  1857  (not 
numbered),  p.  2. 

§  Letter  of  Major  Ellis,  June  ICth,  1857.— /Jii., 
p.  10. 

II  Further  Pari.  Papers  relative  to  the  Mutinies, 
18d7  (not  numbered),  p.  54. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  106.  Kirlace  is  evi-dently  a  Blue-Book 
blunder :  possibly  the  same  town  is  intended  as  the 
"Kirweo"  of  the  London  Gazette,  May  Cth,  1858; 
where  Mr.  Cockerell  is  said  to  have  been  stationed. 


ALLEGED  MASSACRE  AT  BANDA— JUNE,  1857. 


815 


and  armed  followers  of  the  nawab,  Ali 
Bahadur,  at  the  gateway  of  the  palace, 
where  the  corpse,  stripped  of  its  clothing, 
was  exposed  in  the  most  ignominious  man- 
ner, and  then  dragged  away  by  the  sweepers, 
and  thrown  into  a  ditch  on  the  nawab's 
parade-ground.  Several  Europeans  in  the 
uawab's  service — namely,  Captain  St.  George 
Benjamin  and  his  wife;  a  Mr.  Bruce,  with 
his  mother ;  and  a  Mr.  Lloyd,  with  two  or 
three  of  his  children — are  alleged  to  have 
been  "  killed  onthe  nawab's  parade-ground, 
by  his  followers  and  other  rebels."* 

It  is  very  strange  that  Captain.  Scot  and  his 
companions,  who  were  taken  to  the  nawab's 
palace  on  the  21st  of  June,  and  remained 
there  several  weeks,  most  kindly  treated,t 
should  not   have  heard,  or  having  heard, 
should  not  have  communicated  to  govern- 
ment the  fate  of  Cockerell  and  the  other 
Europeans.     Thus  much^  however,  is  certain 
— that  the  nawab  preserved  the  lives  of  the 
Nowgong  fugitives,    in    opposition   to   the 
feelings  of  the  Banda  population,  and  to 
that  of  his  own  retainers,  who  had  probably 
viewed  with  jealousy  the  English  per.sous 
employed  by  him.     The  experiences  of  a 
member  of  an  Oriental  household,  as  given 
in  the  Life  of  an  Eastern  King,  illustrate 
the  jealous  feelings  with  which  the  natives 
regard  such  interlopers ;    and  in  times   of 
tumult,  these  foreign  favourites  would  na- 
turally be  the  first  victims  of  popular  ven- 
geance.       Yet    Captain    Scot,    writing   to 
government  from  Nagode  on  the  28th  of 
July,    and   from    Bewail   on   the    16th    of 
August,  mentions  the  request  he  had  made 
to  the  nawab  of  Banda,  to  send  parties  to 
Mutoun  in  search  of  Sergeant  Raite,  Mrs. 
Tieruey   and    her   two   children,    and   the 
writers  Langdale  and  Johnson,  with  some 
native  Christians,  who  had  been  protected 
by  a  friendly  zemindar,  and  to  bring  them 
theuce  to  Banda  and  advance  them  money. | 
This  arrangement   he   would   hardly  have 
made,  had    he  not  considered  the  nawab 
both  able  and  willing  to  protect  the  fugi- 
tives.      Be  this  as  it  may,  a  long  inter- 
val  elapsed   from   the   time    Captain  Scot 
and    the    other    Europeans    quitted     the 
nawab,  before  any  certain  intelligence  was 
heard   from  Bauda;    and   the  government 

•  Keport  furnished  by  P.  O.  Mayne,  deputy-col- 
lector of  Banda. — London  Gazette,  May  6th,  1857; 
p.  2231. 

t  "  Captain  Scot  and  party  were  all  well  at  Banda 
on  29th  ultimo ;  he  writes  in  terms  of  great  praise 
of  the  nawab's  kindness  to  them." — Political  as- 


reports   ceased    to    give    any  informatiou 
under  that  head. 

Futtehpoor, — a  British  district,  named 
from  its  chief  place,  is  divided  from  the 
Banda  district  by  the  Jumna,  and  is 
bounded  on  the  east  by  Allahabad,  and  on 
the  north-west  by  Cawnpoor.  It  was  taken 
by  the  East  India  Company  from  the 
nawab  of  Oude,  by  the  treaty  of  1801. 
At  the  time  of  the  outbreak,  Futtehpoor 
was  a  large  and  thriving  town,  with  a 
population  of  between  15,000  and  16,000 
persons.  A  considerable  proportion  of 
these  were  Mussulmans,  and  the  district 
furnished  many  cavalry  recruits.  The  resi- 
dents consisted  of  the  judge,  the  magis- 
trate, and  collector;  the  assistant-magistrate, 
the  opium  ageut,  salt  agent,  the  doctor,  and 
three  or  four  gentlemen  connected  with  the 
railway.  The  deputy-magistrate  was  a 
Mohammedan,  named HikmutOollah  Khan; 
and  there  were  the  usual  number  of  ill-paid 
native  underlings.  There  was  a  flourishing 
mission  here  ;  the  number  of  converts  was 
on  the  increase  in  the  villages  ;  but,  accord- 
ing to  Gopinath  Nundy  (the  fellow-cap- 
tive of  Ensign  Cheek),  "the  townspeople, 
especially  the  Mohammedans,  often  raised 
objections  as  at  other  places."  Hikmnt 
evinced  a  special  animosity  towards  the 
mission,  and  instigated  several  attempts  to 
retard  its  progress.  One  of  these  was  the 
circulation  of  a  report,  that  the  Christians 
had  resolved  upon  the  destruction  of  caste 
throughout  the  town,  by  polluting  the 
wells  with  cartloads  of  the  pulverised  bones 
of  pigs  and  cows.  Some  of  the  officials  told 
the  magistrate  of  the  report ;  but  he  laughed 
at  them,  and  told  them  that  the  Christian 
religion  did  not  allow  of  compulsory  con- 
version, and  that  its  teachers  could  not  be 
guilty  of  such  an  act.§ 

This  incident  tends  to  account  for  the 
excitement  manifested  by  the  Futtehpoor 
population,  and  the  excessive  alarm  evinced 
by  the  Eru'opeans,  on  hearing  of  the  Meerut 
catastrophe.  The  troops  at  the  station  were 
a  detachment  of  fifty  men  of  the  6th,  under 
Native  officers :  the  head-quarters  of  the 
regiment  was,  as  will  be  remembered,  at 
Allahabad ;  and  considerable  reliance  was 
placed   in    its   loyalty.     It  was  a  popular 

sistant  of  Nagode  to  government :  "  Nagode,  July 
8th,  1857."— Further  Pari.  Papers,  p.  111. 

X  Further  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutiny,  1857 
(No.  4),  pp.  131  ;  156. 

§  Narrative  of  Gopinath  Nundy. — Sherer's  Indian 
Church,  p.  187. 


316 


INSUllRECTION  AT  PUTTEHPOOR— JUNE  10th,  1857. 


outbreak  that  was  dreaded;  and  for  this 
reason,  the  European  ladies  and  children 
were  sent  to  Allahabad,  and  the  native 
Christians  were  advised,  as  early  as  the  24th 
of  May,  to  send  their  families  to  some  safer 
place.  Euttehpoor  lies  on  the  high  road 
between  Allahabad  and  Cawnpoor,  and  is 
only  forty  miles  from  the  latter.  The 
heavy  firing  heard  in  that  direction  on  the 
5th  of  June,  confirmed  the  fears  of  the 
residents ;  and  in  expectation  of  an  attack 
from  a  body  of  mutineers  (2nd  cavalry  and 
56th  N.I.),  said  to  be  on  their  way  to  Cawn- 
poor, the  Europeans  assembled  on  the  roof  of 
the  magistrate's  house, as  the  most  defensible 
position  at  their  command.  The  rebels 
arrived,  and  made  an  attempt  on  the  trea- 
sury ;  but  being  repulsed  by  the  6th  N.I. 
detachment,  went  on  to  Cawnpoor.  On 
Sunday,  the  7th,  news  arrived  of  the  mutiny 
at  Allahabad,  upon  which  the  Euttehpoor 
detachment  marched  off  to  Cawnpoor  in 
the  most  orderly  manner.  The  Europeans, 
who  were  ten  in  number,  hearing  a  rumour 
of  the  approach  of  a  body  of  rebels  and  re- 
leased convicts  from  Allahabad,  resolved  on 
quitting  the  station  ;  and  on  the  evening  of 
the  9th  of  June,  nine  of  them  mounted  their 
■  horses,  and  rode  off,  accompanied  by  four 
faithful  sowars.  The  tenth  remained  behind. 
This  was  the  judge,  Robert  Tucker,  the  bro- 
ther of  the  Benares  commissioner,  and  of 
"  Charlie  Tucker,"  of  the  irregular  cavalry 
— the  young  soldier  who,  when  bullets  were 
falling  round  him  at  Sultanpoor,  had  held 
the  wounded  Fisher  in  his  arms,  cut  out  the 
fatal  ball,  and  only  complied  with  the 
entreaties  of  his  men  to  ride  off,  when,  after 
the  lapse  of  half-an-hour,  he  saw  his  brave 
colonel  past  the  reach  of  human  sympathy 
or  cruelty.  Charlie  lived  to  return  to  his 
young  wife;*  the  Euttehpoor  judge  died  at 
his  post.  After  the  other  Europeans  Avcre 
gone,  he  rode  fearlessly  about  the  streets, 
endeavouring  to  stem  the  tide  of  insurrec- 
tion, by  promising  rewards  to  such  natives 
as  should  render  good  service  and  be  true 
to  the  government.  The  circumstances  of 
his  death  are  only  known  from  native  report. 
One  of  his  last  remarks  is  said  to  have  been, 
"  I  am  going  to  put  myself  at  the  head  of 
my  brave  legionaries ;"  meaning  the  police 
guard,  on  which  he  relied  to  keep  off  the 

*  Mrs.  Tucker's  Letter.— r/niM,  August  18tli,  1857. 
t  Sherer's  Indian  Church,  p.  183. 
X  Keport  of  officiating  magistrate  of  Futtehpoor 
(W.  J.  Viohyn).— London  Gazette,  May  6th,  183S. 
§  Times,  August  18th,  1857. 


enemy.  According  to  one  account,  he  sent 
for  Hikmut,  who,  accompanied  by  the  police 
guard,  and  bearing  the  green  flag  (the 
emblem  of  [Mohammedanism),  entered  the 
Cutcherry  compound,  and  called  upon  the 
judge  to  abjure  Christianity  and  become  a 
Mussulman.  This  Mr.  Tucker,  of  course, 
refused;  and  when  they  advanced  towards 
him,  he  fired  ou  them  with  such  deadly 
precision,  that  fourteen  or  sixteen  fell  before 
he  was  overpowered  and  slain. t 

Another  account  (an  official  one,  but  ' 
resting  equally  on  native  report)  says,  that 
the  gaol  was  broken  open,  and  the  treasury 
plundered,  at  about  9  a.m.  on  the  10th,  and 
an  attack  was  made  on  Mr.  Tucker  in  the 
afternoon,  by  a  number  of  fanatical  Moham- 
medans, headed  by  one  Seyed  Mohammed 
H  ossein.  Mr.  Tucker  took  refuge  on  the 
roof  of  his  Cutcherry,  and  was  able  for 
some  time  to  keep  off  his  assailants  :  they, 
however,  eventually  set  fire  to  the  building, 
and,  under  cover  of  the  smoke,  succeeded 
in  mounting  the  roof  and  dispatching  their 
victim.;]: 

The  Times,  in  commenting  on  "  the 
chivalrous  sense  of  duty"  which  actuated 
Mr.  Tucker,  spoke  of  him  as  one  of  the 
most  generous  and  high-minded  of  the 
Company's  servants ;  adding,  that  "  it  had 
been  his  custom,  for  years,  personally  to 
administer  to  the  wants  of  the  poor  natives 
— the  sick,  the  blind,  and  the  leper;  and 
many  of  those  who  were  fed  by  his  bounty, 
will  have  cause  to  mourn  him  who  has  died 
the  death  of  a  hero,  animated  by  the  firm 
courage  of  a  Christian."§ 

The  other  Europeans  reached  Banda  in 
safety;  whence,  after  much  fatigue  and 
many  hair-breadth  escapes,  they  proceeded 
to  Kalliuger,  thence  to  Nagode,  thence  to 
Mirzapoor,  and  thence  to  Allahabad,  which 
they  reached  in  twenty-two  days;  having 
traversed  a  distance  of  upwards  of  three 
hundred  miles. 

Humeerpoor, — is  the  chief  place  of  a 
British  district  of  the  same  name,  divided 
from  Etawa,  Cawnpoor,  and  Euttehpoor,  by 
the  river  Jumna,  and  bounded  on  the  cast 
by  Banda,  on  the  south  by  the  native  states 
of  Chirkaree  and  Chutterpoor,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  British  districts  of  Jhansi  and 
Jaloun.  The  town  of  Humeerpoor  lies  on 
the  route  from  Banda  to  Cawnpoor ;  thirty- 
six  miles  from  the  former,  and  thirty-nine 
from  the  latter.  The  only  troops  at  the 
station  were  a  detachment  of  the  56th 
N.I.,  under  Native  officers.     Mr.  Loyd,  the 


MUTINY  AT  HUMEERPOOR— JUNE  14th,  1857. 


317 


magistrate,  distrusted  the  fidelity  of  the 
sepoys  of  the  treasure-guard ;  and  "  enter- 
tained a  numerous  additional  police  ;  care- 
fully guarded  the  ghauts;  impounded  the 
boats  on  the  Jumna;  gave  strict  orders  for  the 
apprehension  of  fugitive  rebel  sepoys ;  and 
got  assistance  in  men  and  guns  from  the 
neighbouring  Bundelcund  chiefs."  After 
the  outbreak  at  Cawnpoor  and  Jhansi,  the 
position  of  affairs  at  Humeerpoor  became 
very  critical ;  but  the  magistrate  continued 
to  rely  on  the  330  Boondela  auxiharies,  as 
affording  the  means  of  "overcoming  the 
sepoys  and  all  disaffected  men."* 

On  the  14th  of  June,  Lieutenant  Raikes 
and  Ensign  Browne  sought  shelter  here. 
They  had  been  sent  from  Cawnpoor  by 
General  Wheeler,  with  two  companies  of 
the  56th  N.I.,  to  reinforce  Oorai,  a  place 
about  eighty  miles  distant.  On  the  fourth 
day  of  their  march,  the  troops  hearing  that 
their  regiment  had  mutinied,  did  the  same, 
and  the  officers  rode  off  towards  Calpee. 
Before  reaching  this  place  they  had  been 
robbed  by  villagers  of  their  weapons  and 
rings.  At  Humeerpoor  they  had  little 
time  to  rest;  for,  within  three  hours  of 
tlunr  arrival,  the  sepoys  and  the  Boondelas 
fraternised;  plundered  the  treasury,  broke 
open  the  gaol,  and  were  seen  approaching 
the  bungalow  where  the  two  officers,  with 
Mr.  Loyd  and  his  assistant,  Duncan  Grant, 
had  assembled.  The  four  Europeans 
entered  a  boat  moored  under  the  house, 
and  succeeded  in  crossing  the  Jumna  in 
safety,  though  under  a  heavy  fire  of  mus- 
ketry and  matchlocks.  On  reaching  the 
opposite  shore  they  fell  in  with  some 
natives,  who  plundered  them  of  300  rupees  : 
after  this,  they  feared  to  approach  the  vil- 
lages, and  remained  in  the  jungle,  support- 
ing life  on  a  few  chupatties  they  had  with 
them.  Ensign  Browne,  in  a  private  letter 
to  England,  states,  that  for  an  entire  day 
and  night  they  failed  in  procuring  a  drop  of 
water.  He  adds — "  Towards  evening,  poor 
Raikes  began  to  lose  his  senses;  and,  to 
cut  the  sad  talc  short,  vre  had,  when  all 
hope  was  gone,  to  leave  the  poor  fellow, 
and  he  must  have  died  a  pitiable  death. 
After  much  exertion,  we  succeeded  in  get- 
ting to  the  river,  and  I  cannot  describe  our 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  7),  p.  203. 

f  A  subahdar  of  the  2nd  N.I.  (Uombay)  was 
mainly  instrumental  in  saving  Ensign  Browne. 

t  Letter  dated  "  Cawnpoor,  July  24th." — Times, 
September  2l8t,  1857.  This  officer  is  evidently  the 
same  person  as  the  one  who  was  at  first  sujjposed  to 


joy  and  thankfulness  in  getting  water.  Next 
day,  I  left  Loyd  and  Grant,  and  swam 
down  the  river  three  or  four  miles;  and 
from  the  time  I  parted  with  them,  on  the 
15th  of  June,  until  I  joined  the  English 
army  at  Futtehpoor  on  the  13th  of  July,  I 
wandered  about  from  village  to  village  in 
native  clothes,  and  for  several  days  without 
shoes  and  stockings.f  I  am  thankful  to 
say  that  I  did  not  forget  my  God,  but 
prayed  fervently  for  you  all  and  myself."J 

Messrs.  Loyd  and  Grant  are  believed  to 
have'  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  sepoys, 
and  been  murdered  by  them.  Several 
other  Europeans  who  were  unable  to  escape 
from  Humeerpoor,  perished  there,  including 
Mr.  Murray,  a  landholder  or  zemindar; 
two  clerks,  Messrs.  Crawford  and  Banter, 
with  the  wife  of  the  latter ;  and  a  pensioner, 
named  Anderson,  with  his  wife  and  four 
children.  The  same  feature  which  had  dis- 
tinguished the  conduct  of  the  mutineers  at 
Delhi,  was  conspicuous  here.  They  did 
not  divide  the  government  treasure  among 
themselves,  and  depart  each  man  to  his  home, 
or  seek  safety  in  obscurity ;  but  they  kept 
guard  over  the  money,  until,  on  the  20tli  of 
June,  a  troop  of  rebel  cavalry  and  a  com- 
pany of  infantry  were  sent  by  the  Nana  to 
assist  in  its  removal.  They  considered 
themselves  bound  to  abide  by  the  general 
will  of  the  army,  as  expressed  by  just  any 
one  who  might  be  enabled  by  circum- 
stances, whether  of  position  or  ability,  to 
become  its  exponent.  The  cause  to  which 
they  had  devoted  themselves  was  vague 
and  intangible  in  the  extreme;  but  their 
very  devotion,  together  with  the  power  of 
combination,  which  was  a  marked  portion 
of  the  sepoy  character,  rendered  them 
dangerous,  even  though  generally  without 
artillery,  with  few  and  second-rate  gunners, 
separated  from  their  European  officers,  and 
with  no  native  leaders  possessing  the  prestige 
which  follows  success. 

Oorai, — is  a  small  town  in  Jaloun,  on  the 
route  from  Calpee  to  Jhansi.  Jaloun  itself 
is  one  of  our  comparatively  recent  annexa- 
tions. In  1806,  a  treaty  was  made  with  its 
Mahratta  ruler.  Nana  Govind  Rao,  inde- 
pendently of  the  authority  of  the  Peishwa, 
and  territory  was  received  by  the  British 

have  escaped  f-rom  the  Nana.  (See  Note  to  p.  261). 
Mowbray  Thomson  says,  that  Ensign  Browne  joined 
the  volunteers  on  the  arrival  of  Havelock ;  shared 
all  the  battles  of  the  first  advance  to  Lucknow,  came 
back  to  Cawnpoor,  and  there  died  of  cholera.— 
Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  227. 


818 


INSURRECTION  THROUGHOUT  THE  JALOUN  DISTRICT. 


government  from  Jaloun.     In  1817,  a  new 

treaty  was  made  with  the  Nana,  acknow- 
ledging liim  the  hereditary  ruler  of  the 
lands  then  in  his  actual  possession.*  In 
1832,  adoption  by  the  widow  of  the  chief 
was  sanctioned,  "  because  it  was  agreeable 
to  the  people."t  In  1838,  the  British  gov- 
ernment thought  fit  to  take  the  manage- 
ment of  affairs  into  their  own  hands.  The 
army  of  the  state  was  disbanded,  and  a 
"  legion"  formed,  with  two  European  officers 
as  commanding  officer  and  adjutant.  It 
appears  that  the  British  authorities  never 
seriously  contemplated  surrendering  the 
sceptre  to  the  heir  whom  they  had  acknow- 
ledged; but  any  difficulty  on  this  score 
was  removed  by  his  death.  "The  infant 
chief  did  not  live  to  the  period  when  the 
propriety  of  committing  the  administration 
of  the  country  to  his  charge  could  become 
a  subject  of  discussion."^  In  1840,  Jaloun 
was  declared  to  have  "lapsed,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  to  the  East  India  Company  as 
paramount  lord;"§  the  feeUngs  of  the 
population  at  the  extinction  of  their  small 
remains  of  nationality  being  quite  disre- 
garded. As  soon  as  the  news  of  the  revolt 
at  Jhansi  reached  Jaloun,  the  example  was 
followed  ;  and  the  towns  of  Jaloun,  Calpee, 
and  Oorai,  rose  against  the  Europeans — not, 
however,  imitating  the  ruthless  extermina- 
tion perpetrated  at  Jhansi,  but  quietly 
expelling  the  obnoxious  rulers. 

At  the  end  of  May,  1857,  there  were  in 
Oorai  two  companies  of  the  53rd  N.I.,  under 
Captain  Alexander:  these  were  to  be  reheved, 
in  due  course,  by  two  companies  of  the  56th 
N.I.,  which  left  Cawnpoor  for  the  purpose 
on  the  2nd  of  June.  The  deputy-commis- 
sioner of  Jaloun,  Lieutenant  G.  Browne,  had 
previously  received  a  private  letter  from 
Cawnpoor,  w.arning  him  that  the  loyalty  of 
tlie  56th  was  considered  doubtful,  and  that 
the  men  ought  not  to  be  trusted  with  the 
care  of  the  treasury  if  it  could  possibly  be 
avoided.  He  immediately  addressed  a  re- 
monstrance to  General  Wheeler  regarding 
the  dispatch  of  suspected  troops  to  guard 
a  large  treasury ;  but,  receiving  no  answer, 

•  Treaties  with  Native  Powers,  p.  405. 

t  Note  by  J.  P.  Grant. —  Vide  Pari.  Papers  on 
Jhansi,  July  27th,  1855. 

X  Thornton's  Gazetteer :  article  "  Jaloun." 

§  Ibid. 

II  Lieutenant  Browne,  writing  from  Jaloun,  Sep- 
tember 2] St,  1857,  says — "Lieutenant  Tomkinson's 
fate  is  unknown."— Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  7), 
p.  154.  Captain  Thomson,  writing  in  June,  1859, 
states,  on  the  authority  of  a  Gwalior  artilleryman 


he  sent  oflp  every  rupee  he  could  spare, 
amounting  to  £52,000,  to  Gwalior  ou  the 
4th  of  June,  under  the  escort  of  Lieutenant 
Tomkinson  and  a  company  of  the  53rd  N.I. 
The  mission  was  faithfully  performed,  and 
the  money  delivered  over  to  a  guard  sent 
from  Gwalior  to  receive  it.  Lieutenant 
Tomkinson,  hearing  of  the  mutiny  at  Cawn- 
poor, wished  to  proceed  to  Gwalior  with 
his  men ;  but  this  the  Gwalior  authorities 
would  not  permit.  He  commenced  re- 
tracing his  steps  ;  his  company  became  mu- 
tinous, and  demanded  to  be  led  to  Cawn- 
poor. This  he,  of  course,  would  not  con- 
sent to ;  and  the  sepoys  then  told  him  he 
must  not  stay  with  them,  as  they  could  not 
answer  for  his  life.  Lieutenant  Tomkinson 
rode  off  and  left  them.  His  fate  was  long 
uncertain;  but  his  name  does  not  appear 
in  the  list  of  casualties  lu  the  Army  List 
or  Gazette;  and  he  probably,  like  mariy 
other  fugitives  supposed  to  be  killed,  was 
found,  when  tranquillity  was  partially 
restored,  to  be  alive  in  concealment. || 

On  the  6th  of  June,  news  of  u  partial 
mutiny  among  the  Jhansi  troops  reached 
Oorai,  and  Lieutenant  Browne  sent  to  ask 
assistance  from  Captain  Cosserat,  who  was 
in  command  of  two  companies  of  the  grena- 
dier regiment  belonging  to  the  Gwalior 
contingent,  stationed  at  Orya,  in  the  Etawa 
district. 

Captain  Cosserat  arrived  next  morning  by 
means  of  forced  marches.  The  men  were 
suffering  from  heat  and  fatigue ;  it  was 
therefore  resolved  that  they  should  rest 
until  the  following  evening,  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  Jhansi,  where  the  Europeans  were 
supposed  to  be  still  holding  out  with  a  por- 
tion of  the  Native  troops.  On  the  8th  of 
June,  a  force  arrived  from  the  Sumpter 
rajah,  to  whom  Lieutenant  Browne  .states 
that  he  had  written  (in  his  own  words), 
"  to  send  me  in  all  his  guns,  some  infantry 
and  cavalry,  to  go  with  me  to  the  relief  of 
Jhansi."1[ 

Sumpter, — is  a  small  native  state  in  Bun- 
delcund,  placed  under  British  protection  by  a 
treaty  made  in  1817.     It  is  175  squ.are  miles 

who  had  been  taken  prisoner,  that  Lieutenant  Tom- 
kinson, when  his  men  mutinied,  "  put  spurs  to  his 
horse  and  rode  as  far  as  Jaloun,  where  he  was  kept 
in  safety  by  a  Thakoor,  from  June  to  November." 
In  the  latter  month  he  was  seized  and  put  to  death 
by  the  mutinous  Gwalior  contingent. — Story  of 
Cawnpoor,  p.  119. 

f  Despatch  from  deputy-commissioner  of  Jaloun, 
September  21st,  1867.— Pari.  Papers  relative  to 
the  Mutinies,  1858  (No.  7),  p.  151. 


MUTINY  AT  OORAI  AND  CALPEE— JUNE  10th  and  12th,  1857.        819 


iu  extent, "with  a  population  of  28,000.  The 
entire  revenue,  in  1837,  was  estimated  at 
j645,000;  and  its  ruler  cannot,  therefore, 
have  been  supposed  to  maintain  a  very  large 
force ;  nevertheless  he  obeyed  the  commis- 
sioner's bidding,  by  at  once  placing  a  field 
gun,  150  infantry,  and  sixty  or  seventy  horse, 
at  his  disposal.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
8th,  Captain  Cosserat  started  for  Jhansi, 
with  his  own  and  the  Sumpter  troops,  leav- 
ing Lieutenant  Browne  to  follow  at  night. 
It  was  not  deemed  safe  either  to  take  the 
53rd  men  to  Jhansi,  or  to  leave  them  at 
Oorai;  and  Captain  Alexander  oflfered  to 
lead  them  to  Calpee,  where  the  deputy-col- 
lector, Sheo  Pershaud,  was  striving,  with 
very  inefficient  means,  to  keep  down  insur- 
rection. Captain  Alexander  had  not  left 
the  Oorai  gate  before  the  53rd  threw  off 
their  allegiance,  but  did  not  offer  to  harm 
the  Europeans  or  plunder  the  treasury.  The 
oificial  account*  is  not  explicit;  but  it  appears 
that  the  men  escorted  Captain  Alexander 
and  his  wife  to  Calpee,  and  then  marched 
off  to  join  the  mutineers  at  Cawnpoor,  and 
assist  in  blockading  the  wretched  mud  wall, 
inside  which  the  mother  and  sisters  of  Mrs. 
Alexander  (Mrs.  Browne  and  her  daughters) 
were  cooped  up  with  their  fellow-sutferers. 
Captain  and  Mrs.  Alexander  remained  at 
Calpee  until  the  13th,  and  rejoined  Captain 
Cosserat's  party  on  the  15th.  They  had 
some  difficulty  iu  effecting  their  escape ;  for 
the  fort  guard,  and  the  whole  of  the  police 
at  Calpee,  mutinied  on  the  12th.  Sheo 
Pershaud  held  his  ground  some  days  longer. 
Writing  to  Lieutenant  Browne,  he  declares 
— "  Under  your  instructions,  I  had  kept 
my  post  till  the  danger  pressed  very  hard. 
On  the  night  of  the  18th  of  June,  when  I 
heard  that  the  jaghiredar  and  the  mutinous 
troops  would  arrive  early  in  the  morning,  I 
was  obliged  to  leave  Calpee,  leaving  all  my 
property,  which,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  has  all 
been  plundered ;  my  tables,  chairs,  almyrahs 
(?),  and  all  English  furniture,  were  broken 
to  pieces;  my  buggy  and  palkec  gharry 
taken  away ;  my  valuable  library,  which  you 
had  seen,  was  destroyed;  in  fact,  nothing 
was  left  beyond  a  suit  of  clothes,  with  which 

*  Mowbray  Thomson  sajs,  the  Native  officers 
declared  that  they  had  assumed  the  entire  com- 
mand; but  it  was  not  their  intention  to  injure  their 
old  friends.  "They  provided  Alexander  and  his 
wife  with  a  camel,  and  advised  them  to  make  their 
way  to  Agra,  which  they  did." — Story  of  Cawnpoor. 
Captain  Thomson,  as  an  officer  of  the  53rd,  would 
be  interested  in  acquiring  accurate  information  re- 


I  escaped.  The  chief,  the  sepoys,  the  towns- 
people, and  my  own  police,  plundered  me, 
and  did  all  the  mischief  they  could ;  the 
rebels  had  offered  a  reward  of  500  rupees 
for  my  apprehension,  but  the  Great  God 
saved  me."t 

The  jaghiredar  mentioned  by  Sheo  Per- 
shaud, is  styled  by  Lieutenant  Browne,  the 
chief  of  Goorserai — a  town  between  Uu- 
meerpoor  and  Jhansi.  The  news  of  the 
massacre  at  the  latter  place  did  not  reach 
Oorai  until  after  the  departure  of  Captain 
Cosserfit;  and  an  express  was  immediately 
sent  off  to  request  that  officer  to  return 
forthwith ;  but  this  he  could  not  do,  having 
in  the  interim  received  peremptory  orders 
to  proceed  to  Etawa.  Lieutenant  Browne 
resolved  on  quitting  Oorai.  He  therefore 
wrote  to  the  Goorserai  chief  (who  held  high 
testimonials  from  various  civil  and  military 
officers),  to  come  over  to  Oorai,  and  assist 
in  keeping  order  there,  and  also  in  Calpee, 
Koonch,  and  other  places  in  the  Jaloun 
district  and  neighbourhood,  till  British  re- 
inforcements should  arrive.  Authority  for 
this  purpose  was  delegated  in  a  paper  dic- 
tated by  Browne  to  a  native  official;  but 
the  clerk  is  said  to  have  wilfully  misrepre- 
sented the  extent  of  power  to  be  conveyed ; 
and  the  deputy-commissioner,  being  igno- 
rant of  the  language,  signed  a  letter  consti- 
tuting the  Goorserai  chief  ruler  of  the 
Jaloun  district.  On  discovering  the  trick 
or  error.  Lieutenant  Browne  at  once  re- 
pudiated the  sanction  he  had  unwittingly 
given,  but  had  no  means  of  coercing  the 
chief.J  All  the  police  and  custom-house 
chuprassees  had  risen  on  hearing  of  the 
Jhansi  massacre;  and  Lieutenants  Browne 
and  Lamb  quitted  Oorai  on  the  10th  of 
June,  intending  to  proceed  to  Gwalior.  On 
the  way  they  received  news  of  the  mutiny 
at  that  place,  and  turned  their  steps  towards 
Etawa ;  but,  before  arriving  there,  tidings 
met  them  of  the  mutiny  of  the  grenadiers, 
and  the  abandonment  of  the  station  by 
the  Europeans.  They  therefore  started  off 
towards  Agra,  where  they  arrived  in  safety 
on  the  20th,  overtaking  the  Etawa  fugi- 
tives, together  with  an  equestrian  company 

garding  the  mutiny  of  the  different  companies,  and 
the  fate  of  their  officers.  His  account  of  the  Oorai  out- 
break resembles  that  of  the  deputy-commissioner's  in 
its  general  features,  but  differs  widely  in  particulars. 

t  Letter  from  Moonshee  Sheo  Pershaud,  August 
26th,  1857.— Pari.  Papers  (No.  7),  p.  151. 

J  Letter  from  deputy-commissioner  Bi'owne. — 
Ibid.,  p.  155. 


320 


THE  NAWABS  OF  FURRUCKABAD. 


belonging  to    a  Monsieur  Jourdain,   and 
other  stragglers. 

On  the  14tli,  a  body  of  mutineers  from 
Jhansi  came  over  to  pillage  Oorai,  and  mur- 
dered two  Europeans  who  fell  into  their 
hands — Mr.  Hemming,  an  assistant-sur- 
geon ;  and  Mr.  Double,  Lieutenant  Browne's 
clerk.  The  former  is  said  to  have  been 
trying  to  escape  in  native  clothes,  and  was 
killed  by  a  sepoy  of  the  12th  N.I.,  while 
drinking  at  a  well  near  the  cutcherry. 
Messrs.  Passano  and  Griffiths,  deputy-col- 
lectors, fell  into  the  hands  of  the  rebels, 
but  saved  their  lives  by  becoming  Moham- 
medans ;  after  which,  they  were  allowed  to 


depart.  A  female  relative  of  "Passano's 
(either  his  mother  or  sister)  was  killed  ;  but 
whether  she  nobly  chose  martyrdom  rather 
than  apostasy,  or,  like  the  majority  of  the 
victims,  had  no  alternative  offered,  is  uot 
stated.* 

Mrs.  Hemming  and  her  family  appear, 
to  have  escaped  to  Calpee,  from  which 
place  they  were  sent  on  to  Cawnpoor,  after 
its  recapture  by  the  English,  escorted  by  500 
of  the  Sumpter  troops.  The  rajah  was 
himself  faithful  to  us ;  and  his  troops  being 
a  feudal  militia,  not  a  subsidiary  force, 
were  under  his  control,  and  proved  per- 
fectly trustworthy. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


FUTTEHGHUR  AND  FURRUCKABAD.— MAY  AND  JUNE,  1857. 


FuTTEHGHUR  is  a  military  station  on  the 
Ganges,  in  the  Furruckabad  district ;  three 
miles  from  the  city  from  which  the  district 
takes  its  name.  Mohammed  Khan  Ban- 
gash,  a  Patau  noble,  founded  this  city, 
which  he  named  in  honour  of  the  reigning 
emperor,  Feroksheer.  Ferok,  or  Faruck, 
signifies  happy;  and  abad,  town.  "The 
happy"  was  an  epithet  not  in  any  sense 
applicable  to  the  ill-fated  patron  of  Mr. 
Hamilton  and  the  E.  I.  Company  ;t  but  the 
town  merited  the  appellation,  being  hand- 
some, healthy,  and  cleanly;  well  supplied 
with  provisions  by  reason  of  its  position  in 
the  midst  of  a  fertile  and  well- cultivated 
country,  and  possessing  great  commercial 
advantages  from  its  situation  within  two  or 
three  miles  of  the  Ganges,  which  is  navigable 
thence  upwards  for  200  miles,  and  down- 
wards to  the  sea.  Its  nawabs  are  accused 
of  having  thought  more  of  war  than  trade ; 
yet  Furruckabad  became  the  emporium,  for 
this  part  of  India,  of  all  commodities  from 
Delhi,  Cashmere,  Bengal,  and  Surat;}  and 
as  late  as  1824,  it  had  a  mint,  and  the 
Furruckabad  rupees  circulated  extensively 
through  the  North-West  Provinces. 

•  Letters  from  commissioner  of  Saugor ;  deputy- 
commissioner  of  Jaloun  ;  and  Sheo  Pershaud. — Fur- 
ther Pari.  Papers  (No.  7),  pp.  150— loG. 

t  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  239. 

XTii:Sat\\.\aW&licschreihun(ivunlIinaiistan.-Ho\A., 


In  1802,  according  to  Mr.  Thornton, 
"  the  Company  assumed  actual  possession  of 
Furruckabad,  liquidating  the  claims  of  the 
tributary  Patan  nawab  by  a  fixed  monthly 
stipend  of  9,000  rupees;  in  addition  to 
which,  an  annual  sum  of  nearly  180,000 
rupees  was  bestowed,  in  pensions  and  chari- 
table allowances  to  his  dependents."  The 
fact  was,  that  under  the  Wellesley  adminis- 
tration, native  princes  were  so  liberally 
provided  for,  and  so  courteously  treated, 
that  neither  they  nor  their  dependents  felt 
the  sting  of  poverty,  much  less  the  deep 
humiliation  which  has  been  their  lot  since 
the  new  system  of  annexation  came  into 
fashion,  with  its  curt  official  notifications, 
its  confiscation  of  personal  property,  and 
its  exposure  to  sale  of  "  the  dresses  and 
wardrobes"  of  disinherited  princesses,  "like 
a  bankrupt's  stock  in  the  haberdashers* 
shops  of  Calcutta — a  thing  likely  to  incense 
and  horrify  the  people  of  India  who  wit- 
nessed it."§  Under  the  old  system,  the 
nawabs  of  Furruckabad  (although  Patau 
turbulence  was  proverbial)  seem  to  have 
submitted  quietly  to  their  foreign  rulers, 
and  to  have  found  consolation  for  the  loss  of 

p.  139.     Quoted  in  Thornton's   Gazetteer:  article, 
•'  Furruckabad." 

§  Speecli  of  Mr.  Bright — House  of  Commons' 
debate  on  second  reading  of  the  India  Bill,  June 
2Jth,  1858. 


BLUE  BOOKS  ON  INDIA. 


321 


power  in  the  enjoyment  of  titular  rank  and 
great  wealth.  Of  their  recent  proceedings 
little  is  on  record,  the  Supreme  government 
having  become  profoundly  indifferent  to 
the  character  and  condition  of  dependent 
priuces,  unless,  as  in  the  case  of  Oude,  their 
shortcomings  could  be  construed  as  afford- 
ing a  reason  for  the  appropriation  of  their 
kingdoms.  A  native  prince  might  be,  if  it 
pleased  Providence  to  work  a  miracle  in  his 
behalf,  a  paragon  of  sense  and  discretion  j 
or  he  might  be,  as  there  was  every  reason  to 
expect,  a  besotted  sensualist.  In  the  latter 
case,  it  was  usually  deemed  expedient  to 
reduce  him,  with  his  family  and  dependents, 
to  obscure  poverty :  in  the  former,  virtue  was 
left  to  be  its  own  reward ;  for  the  ancient 
policy,  of  "  India  for  the  E.  I.  Company," 
like  the  modern  graft  of  "  India  for  the 
English  oligarchy,"  was  one  which  rendered 
natives  of  rank  liable  to  many  degrees  of 
punishment,  but  debarred  them  from  all 
hope  of  honours  or  rewards,  civil  or  military. 
When  the  mutiny  broke  out,  the  position  of 
the  nawab  of  Furruckabad  was,  to  the  Euro- 
peans at  Futtehghur,  somewhat  like  that  of 
Nana  Sahib,  of  Bithoor,  to  the  imfortunate 
people  at  Cawnpoor.  It  does  not,  however, 
seem  that  the  nawab  was  viewed  as  a  person 
likely  to  become  of  importance,  either  as  a 
friend  or  an  enemy.  Of  his  proceedings 
prior  to,  and  during  the  meeting  at  Futteh- 
ghur, we  know  very  little  :  indeed,  the  only 
circumstantial  account  published  by  govern- 
ment regarding  the  events  at  that  station, 
is  giyen  in  the  form  of  an  anonymous  and 
rather  lengthy  paper  drawn  up  by  one  of 
the  surviving  Europeans.  The  writer,  from 
internal  evidence,  must  Have  been  Mr.  Jones, 
the  younger  of  two  brothers,  engaged  as 
planters  and  merchants.  His  interesting 
narrative,  after  being  widely  circulated 
by  the  London  and  Indian  journals,  was 
published  in  a  Blue  Book  for  1857;  and 
republished  in  another  Blue  Book  for  1858, 
with  a  little  variety  in  the  form  of  type, 
and  in  the  names  of  persons  and  places. 
The  latter  circumstance  will  not  surprise 
any  one  accustomed  to  examine  parliamen- 
tary papers  ;  for,  whereas  editors  and  com- 
pilers in  general,  endeavour  to  attain,  even 
on  Indian  subjects,  some  degree  of  unifor- 
mity and  correctness ;  our  public  docu- 
ments, instead  of  being  an  authority 
on  these  points,  abound  in  glaring  blunders. 
Were  the  Indian  Blue  Books  to  be  indexed, 
the  process,  besides  its  direct  advantages, 
would  probably  induce  some  improvement 

VOL.  II.  2  T 


in  the  arrangement  of  their  contents.  If 
important  papers  must  needs  be  withheld 
or  garbled,  at  least  unimportant  ones, 
and  duplicates,  might  be  weeded  out,  and 
the  public  spared  the  expense  of  needless 
repetition.  The  nation  is  greatly  indebted 
to  private  individuals,  for  the  frank  fearless- 
ness with  which  they  have  published  the 
letters  of  their  relatives  and  friends.  With- 
out this  aid,  the  chronicles  of  the  mutiny 
would  have  been  wearisome  and  painful  in 
the  extreme ;  with  it,  they  are  deeply  inter- 
esting and  full  of  variety.  Besides,  these 
privatelettersbearastamp  of  authority  which 
cannot  be  conceded  to  anonymous  composi- 
tions. They  are  not  such ;  for  though  un- 
signed, there  are  few  of  any  importance 
which  cannot,  with  a  little  care  and  the  aid 
of  the  East  India  Directory,  be  traced  to 
their  true  source.  Perhaps  some  apology 
is  due  for  the  manner  in  which  the  names, 
both  of  the  writers  and  the  persons  alluded 
to,  have  been  sought  for  and  applied,  instead 
of  being  left  in  blank,  as  in  the  newspapers. 
But  this  identification  seems  to  the  author 
indispensable  to  a  correct  appreciation  of 
the  evidence  thus  afforded.  It  is  not  enough 
that  he  should  understand  the  position  of 
the  witness :  it  appears  to  him  needful 
that  the  reader  should  possess  a  similar 
advantage,  and  be  able  to  make  due  allow- 
ance for  the  bias  of  the  commander  of 
European  or  of  Native  troops ;  the  cove- 
nanted or  uncovenanted  civilian;  the  planter 
or  the  railway  employe ;  and  for  that  of  the 
wives  and  daughters  of  these  various  per- 
sons ;  for,  in  many  instances,  a  lady's  pen,  as 
at  Meerut,  has  given  the  first  and  best 
account  of  an  eventful  epoch. 

To  return  to   Futtehghur.     The   troops 
stationed  there  consisted  of — 


The  10th  J^.l.— Europeans,  16;  Natives,  1,169. 
Detail  of  Native  Artillery — no  Europeans ;  Na- 
tives, 28. 

There  were,  therefore,  sixteen  European 
officers  to  1,197  Natives. 

The  news  of  the  Meerut  mutiny  arrived 
on  the  16th  of  May;  and  from  that  time 
alarm  and  excitement  prevailed.  .  The 
wife  of  Lieutenant  Monckton,  of  the 
Bengal  engineers,  wrote  to  England,  on 
that  day,  a  letter  intended  to  prepare 
her  friends  for  the  worst,  and  which  could 
hardly  fail  to  reconcile  them  to  the  myste- 
rious dispensation  of  Providence,  in  ordain- 
ing the  perfection,  through  suffering,  of 
one  already   so   exemplary.      Anticipating 


322 


PUTTEHGHUR  BEFORE  THE  MUTINY. 


calmly  (like  Mrs.  Ewart  of  Cawnpoor)  the !  Himself. 


*     I  am  so  thankful  I  came  out  to 


speedy  and  violent  death  which  awaited 
her,  her  husband  and  child,  Mrs.  Monckton 
writes — 

"  We  cannot  say,  '  Pray  for  us.'  Ere  you  get 
this,  we  shall  be  delivered  one  way  or  another. 
Should  we  be  cut  to  pieces,  you  have,  my  precious 
parents,  the  knowledge  that  we  go  to  Jesus,  and  can 
picture  us  happier  and  holier  than  in  this  distant 
land ;  therefore,  why  should  you  grieve  for  us  ? 
You  know  not  what  may  befall  us  here  ;  but  there 
you  know  all  is  joy  and  peace,  and  we  shall  not  be 
lost,  but  be  gone  before  you ;  and  should  our  lives 
be  spared,  I  trust  we  may  live  more  as  the  children 
of  the  Most  High,  and  think  less  about  hedging 
ourselves  in  with  the  comforts  which  may  vanish  iu 
a  moment.  •  •  •  Good-bye,  my  own  dear 
parents,  sisters,  and  friends.  The  Lord  reigns  !  He 
sitteth  above  the  water-flood.  We  are  in  the  hollow 
of  His  hand,  and  nothing  can  harm  us.  The  body 
may  become  a  prey,  but  the  souls  that  He  has  re- 
deemed never  can." 

A  few  days  later,  she  desciJbes  the  terror 
excited  by  the  report  of  the  breaking  open 
of  another  gaol  besides  tliat  of  Meerut,  and 
the  enlargement  of  many  murderers. 

"  We  went  to  church ;  very  few  people  were  there, 
and  fear  seemed  written  on  every  face — it  was  most 
noticeable ;  everybody  felt  that  death  was  staring 
them  in  the  face,  and  every  countenance  was  pale. 
Mr.  Fisher  [the  Company's  chajilain]  preached  on 
the  text,  '  AVhat  time  I  am  afraid,  I  will  trust  in 
thee.  *  *  *  We  are  quite  prepared  for  the 
worst ;  and  feel  that  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ, 
is  far  better.  The  flesh  a  little  revolts  from 
cold-blooded  assassination  ;  but  God  can  make  it 
bear  up." 

On  the  1st  of  June,  she  wrote  home 
some  last  words,  which  well  deserve  a  place 
in  the  history  of  a  great  national  epoch,  as 
illustrating  the  spirit  of  grateful,  loving 
trust  in  which  our  Christian  country- 
women awaited  death,  even  though  the  in- 
ventions and  gross  exaggerations  current 
at  the  time,  must  have  led  them  to  antici- 
pate that  their  passage  through  "  the  dark 
valley"  would  be  attended  by  every  pos- 
sible aggravation  which  could  render  it 
terrible  to  feminine  purity,  as  well  as  to 
the  tenderest  feelings  of  a  wife  and  a 
mother. 

"  I  often  wish  our  dear  Mary  was  now  in  Eng- 
land ;  but  God  can  take  care  of  her  too,  or  He  will 
save  her  from  troubles  to  come  by  removing  her  to 

*  Edwards'  Rebellion  in  Rohileund,  FuUehghur, 
and  Oude,  p.  67. 

t  Sherer's  Indian  Jlebellim,  p.  138. 

J  The  American  Board  of  Missions  had  a  very 
important  station  at  Futtehghur.  The  self-sup- 
porting Orphan  Asylum,  established  at  the  time  of 
tlie  famine  in  1837,  had  a  tent  and  carpet  factory, 
and  also  a  weaving  department,  in  which  cloth  was 


India,  to  be  a  comfort  to  my  beloved  John,  and  a 
companion  to  one  who  has  so  given  his  heart  to  the 
Lord." 

On  the  3rd   of  June,   information  was 
received  that  the  Native  troops  at  Shahje- 
hanpoor  and   Bareilly  had  mutinied,   and 
that  a  body  of  the  Oude  mutineers,  consist- 
ing of  an  infantry  and  cavalry  corps,  were 
marching  to  Futtehghur.     Mr.  Probyii,  the 
collector,  states,  that  Colonel  Smith  and  the 
officers  had  disregarded  his  advice  to  provi- 
sion the  fort,  and  garrison  it  with  pensioners, 
and  others  to  be  depended  on.*     Ishuree 
Dass,  a  native  preacher,  connected  with  the 
American  Mission,  likewise  remarks,  that 
it  was  believed,  that  "had  the  majority  of 
the  old  Native  officers,  who  retired  on  pen- 
sion only  a  few  weeks  before,  been  there, 
half  the  regiment  at  least  would  have  gone 
into   the    fort   with   the   Europeans.     The 
recruits  were  the  ones  who  were  constantly 
on  the  point  of  breaking  out,  and  were  only 
kept  down  by  the  elder  sepoys.     So  sure 
was  the  commanding  officer  of  the  fidelity 
of  these  men,  that  only  two  or  three  days 
before  the  regiment  mutinied,  he  told  us 
there  was  no  occasion  for  fear,  and  that  we 
might  make  our  minds  at  ease."t     This  is 
quite   contrary   to   the   testimony   of   Mr. 
Jones,  who  asserts,  that  "the  10th  were 
known  to  be  mutinously  disposed ;  for  they 
had  given  out,  that  as  soon  as  another  corps 
arrived,  they  would  rise  and  murder  all  the 
Europeans,  only  sparing  their  own  officers." 
Mrs.  Freeman,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  four 
missionaries  stationed  by  the  zealous  and 
munificent  American  Presbyterians  at  Fut- 
tehghur, J  writes  home,  that  "  no  one  placed 
the  least  confidence  in  the   10th ;  for  the 
men   had    told   Colonel    Smith   that   they 
would  not  fight  against  their  'bhailogue' 
(brethren)    if  they  came,  but  they  would 
not  turn  against  their  own  officers."     This 
lady  adds — "  Some  of  our  catechists  were 
once    Mussulmans;    and    whenever    they 
have  gone  to  the  city  for  the  last  two  or 
three  weeks,  thej'  have  been  treated  with 
taunting  and  insolence.     The  native  Chris- 
tians think,  that  should  they,  the  insurgents, 
come  here,  and  our  regiment  join  them, 

woven  in  European  looms.  A  church  had  been 
erected  in  1856,  at  the  cost  of  £1,000.  The  Mis- 
sion high-school  had  250  pupils ;  there  were  also 
two  orphan  schools  (for  boys  and  girls),  and  seven 
bazaar  schools,  in  connection  with  the  Mission.  Ten 
village  schools,  supported  by  Dhuleep  Sing,  were 
likewise  under  the  management  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. 


FLIGHT  OF  EUROPEANS  FROM  FUTTEHGHUR— JUNE  4th,  1857.    323 


i  I 


our  little  church  and  ourselves  will  be  the 
first  attacked ;  but  we  are  in  God's  hand, 
and  we  know  that  He  reigns.  *  *  *  He 
may  suffer  our  bodies  to  be  slain;  and  if  He 
does,  we  know  He  has  wise  reasons  for  it. 
I  sometimes  think  our  deaths  would  do 
more  good  than  we  would  do  in  all  our 
lives;  if  so,  His  will  be  done."* 

On  the  night  of  the  4th  of  June,  the 
whole  of  the  European  population,  except- 
ing the  officers  of  the  10th,  with  the  women 
and  children  (in  all,  166  persons),  resolved 
on  leaving  Futtehghur.  By  land  they  were 
surrounded  by  mutinous  stations ;  but  the 
Ganges  was  stiU  open,  and  they  hoped  to 
escape  to  Cawnpoor.  They  started  in  boats 
at  1  A.M.,  and  were  unmolested  during  that 
day  and  the  following  night.  The  next 
morning  they  were  joined  by  four  officers 
of  the  10th,  who  reported  that  the  regiment 
had  mutinied,  seized  the  treasure,  abused 
the  colonel,  and  fired  on  one  or  two  of  their 
officers ;  and  that  there  was  little  chance  of 
any  of  those  who  had  remained  behind 
having  escaped. t 

This  intelligence  was  untrue.  The  fact 
was,  that  an  attempt  had  been  made  by  the 
convicts  to  break  out  of  the  gaol :  some  of 
them  had  succeeded,  had  fired  a  portion  of 
the  station,  and  advanced  towards  the 
cantonment.  The  four  officers,  hearing 
the  tumult,  and  trusting  to  report  for  the 
cause,  fled  by  the  river.  Had  they  re- 
mained, they  would  have  seen  their  own 
men  turning  out  willinglj',  and  beating 
back  the  newly  escaped  criminals,  killing 
several,  and  securing  the  others.  J  Soon  after 
being  joined  by  the  officers,  the  fugitives 
were  fired  on  by  some  villagers,  and  one  of 
the  party  was  slightly  wounded.  The  next 
day  they  were  told  that  a  body  of  Oude 
mutineers  was  crossing  one  of  the  ghauts, 
a  few  miles  below.  The  man  at  the  ferry 
denied  this.     A  consultation  was  held  as  to 

*  Sherer's  Indian  Mebellion,  p.  126. 
t  Sttitement  of  Mr.  Jones. — Further  Pari.  Papers 
on  Mutiny,  1858  (No.  7),  p.  138. 

I  Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Army  ;  by  One  who  has 
served  under  •  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  155.  This 
writer  speaks  of  three  officers  having  fled  from  Fut- 
tehghur, deceived  by  a  false  report.  Jones  says 
there  were  four ;  but  the  names  of  the  officers  are 
not  given  by  either  authority. 

§  See  p.  216. 

II  There  would  appear  to  have  been  two  officers 
of  the  name  of  Viliart  in  the  2nd  Cavalry.  The 
Mast  India  Register,  and  the  London  Gazette 
(p.  2216),  state  that  Captain  and  Brevet-major 
Edward  Vibart  was  killed  at  Cawnpoor  on  the 
27th   of  June ;   but,  at  another   page  (2236),   the 


what  should  be  done;  and,  as  the  party  was 
very  large,  it  was  agreed  that  it  would  be 
safer  to  separate.  Hurdeo  Buksh,  an  old 
Rajpoot  zemindar  of  influence  and  remark- 
able intelligence,  had  previously  ofi'ered  to 
receive  and  protect  Mr.  Probyn  (the  col- 
lector), and  any  of  his  friends,  in  his  fort' of 
Dhurumpoor,  about  ten  miles  from  Futteh- 
ghur. Mr.  Probyn,  with  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren; two  out  of  the  four  officers;  Mr. 
Thornhill,  the  judge;  M;*.  Fisher,  Mr. 
Jones  and  his  brother,  and  other  Euro- 
peans, with  their  wives  and  families,  to  the 
number  of  forty,  resolved  on  seeking  shel- 
ter with  Hurdeo  Buksh;  the  remaining 
126  persons  went  on  downwards  towards 
Cawnpoor,  where  they  arrived  on  the  12th 
of  June.  Their  fate  will  be  told  on  resum- 
ing the  narrative  of  e^'tnts  at  that  station. 

Mr.  Probyn  and  his  companions  proceeded 
towards  Dhurumpoor ;  but  learning,  on  the 
way,  that  the  10th  N.I.,  far  from  having 
mutinied,  had  quelled  a  riot,  the  collector 
and  the  two  officers  rode  to  Futtehghur, 
leaving  the  rest  of  the  party  to  finish  the 
journey  to  Dhurumpoor. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  June, 
the  Budaon§  fugitives,  Mr.  Edw.ards,  and 
the  Messrs.  Donald,  reached  Purruckabad. 
There  they  were  told  all  was  as  yet  quiet, 
the  regiment  still  standing;  but  that  the 
station  had  been  deserted  by  the  civilians, 
with  the  exception  of  Probyn,  who  was  still 
at  his  post.  Thither  Edwards  and  his 
companions  proceeded,  and  found  the  col- 
lector, who  told  them  that  he  himself 
placed  no  dependence  on  the  10th;  but 
that  Colonel  Smith  was  very  sanguine 
regarding  the  fidelity  of  the  regiment; 
and  Major  Vibart  ||  (of  the  2nd  light 
cavalry),  who  had  commanded  the  party 
employed  in  quelling  the  gaol  outbreak, 
was  of  the  same  opinion.  Edwards  and 
his    companions    were    most    desirous    of 

Gazette  gives  Captain  Vibart,  2nd  Cavalry,  as  mur- 
dered at  Cawnpoor  on  the  15th  of  July.  Mowbray 
Thomson  asserts,  that  Major  Vibart  was  the  last 
officer  in  the  Cawnpoor  intrenchment ;  and  that 
some  of  the  2nd  Cavalry  mutineers  "  insisted  on 
carrying  out  the  property  which  belonged  to  him. 
They  loaded  a  bullock-cart  with  boxes,  and  escorted 
the  major's  wife  and  family  down  to  the  boats  with 
the  most  profuse  demonstrations  of  respect." — Story 
of  Cawnpoor,  p.  165.  Mr.  Edwards  speaks  of  Major 
Vibart,  of  the  2nd  Cavalry,  as  having  called  upon  him 
at  Futtehghur  on  the  9th  of  June ;  adding,  that  this 
officer,  "  when  on  his  way  to  join  his  own  regiment  at 
Cawnpoor,  had  volunteered  to  remain  with  Colonel 
Smith,  wlio  gladly  availed  himself  of  the  offer."  Jones 
names  Cnpt.  vibart  as  one  of  theFuttehghur  garrison. 


324 


MUTINY  AT  FUTTEHGHUR-JUNE  18th,  1857. 


proceeding  down  to  Cawnpoor  by  boat ;  bur, 
the  news  of  the  mutiny  at  that  station, 
reached  them  just  in  time  to  save  them 
from  flinging  themselves  into  the  power  of 
Nana  Sahib  and  Azim  Oollah.  On  tlie  10th 
of  June  they  crossed  the  Ganges  with  Mr. 
Probyn,  and  joined  the  refugees  at  Dhu- 
rumpoor.  All  these  persons,  including  the 
judge,  were  extremely  dissatisfied  with  their 
position.  The  crowded  fort  was  scarcely 
tolerable  during  the  intense  heat;  and  the 
defences  were  so  dilapidated,  as  to  render  it 
hopeless  to  expect  to  hold  them  against  any 
organised  attack  of  the  mutineers.  The 
conduct  of  the  10th  N.I.,  in  the  matter  of 
the  gaol  outbreak,  determined  the  Europeans 
on  returning  in  a  body  to  Futtehghur,  not- 
withstanding the  remonstrances  of  Mr. 
Probyn,  who,  with  iiis  wife  and  four  chil- 
dren, resolved  upon  remaining  under  the 
protection  of  Hurdeo  Buksh — a  decision 
which  the  party  leaving  considered  one  of 
extreme  foolhardiness.  Edwards  hesitated, 
but  eventually  resolved  on  remaining  at 
Dhurumpoor. 

Por  some  days  after  the  return  of 
the  Europeans  to  Puttehghur,  all  went 
well.  The  10th  N.I.  gave  a  fresh  instance 
of  fidelity  by  handing  to  Colonel  Smith  a 
letter  written  by  the  subahdar  of  the  41st 
N.I.,  announcing  the  march  of  that  muti- 
nous corps  from  Seetapoor,  to  a  position 
a  few  miles  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  and  requesting  the  10th  N.I.  to  rise, 
murder  their  officers,  and  seize  the  treasure. 
The  answer  asserted  to  have  been  given 
was,  that  the  10th  had  resolved  on  being 
true  to  their  salt,  and  would  certainly  op- 
pose the  mutineers  if  they  persisted  in 
advancing.  The  10th  cheerfully  obeyed 
their  officers  in  breaking  up  the  bridge  of 
boats,  and  sinking  all  other  boats  at  the 
different  ghauts,  to  prevent  the  mutineers 
from  crossing  to  Futtehghur.*  They  suc- 
ceeded, nevertheless,  in  efi^ecting  a  passage 
at  dawn  of  day  on  the  18th  of  June,  and 
entered  the  city  walls  unopposed.  A  com- 
pany of  the  10th,  and  the  artillerymen 
with  the  two  guns,  stationed  on  the  parade 
guarding  the  treasure,  are  said  to  have 
marched  to  the  nawab,  placed  him  on  the 
"gadi"  (cushion  of  sovereignty),  laid  the 
colours  at  his  feet,  and  fired  a  royal  salute 
of  twenty-one  guns.f  Their  next  pro- 
ceedings are  not  known.     It  is  uncertain 

•  Account  by  Mr.  Jones.— Pari.  Papers  (No.  7), 
p.  138. 

t  Ili'L,  p.  139.  1  Hid. 


what  reply  the  nawab  made  them ;  but  ap- 
parently not  a  satisfactory  one;  for  the 
sepoys  returned  to  the  parade-ground,  sa- 
luted their  colours,  shared  the  treasure 
among  themselves,  divided  into  two  parties, 
and  left  Futtehghur,  after  breaking  open  the 
gaol,  and  releasing  the  prisoners.  AH  this 
time  the  Europeans  remained  unmolested  in 
the  fort,  where  they  always  slept  from  the 
first  period  of  alarm.  The  few  sepoys  on 
guard  there,  remained  obedient  to  orders 
until  the  seizure  of  the  treasure,  and  then 
departed  quietly,  one  or  two  returning  at 
intervals  to  fetch  their  lotahs  and  other 
articles  left  behind  in  the  fort.  A  European 
officer  quitted  Puttehghur  with  the  muti- 
neers, trusting  to  them  for  safe-conduct  to 
some  distant  station  :  at  least  this  seems  the 
meaning  of  the  statement  made  by  Mr.  Jones, 
and  published  by  government  without  ex- 
planation or  comment.  After  mentioning 
the  breaking-up  of  the  regiment,  he  adds, 
that  "the  Poorbeahs  crossed  over  at  once 
to  Oude,  with  intention  to  make  for  their 
homes,  accompanied  by  Captain  Bignell. 
We  afterwards  learnt  that  this  body  had 
been  plundered  by  the  villagers,  and  Cap- 
tain Bignell  killed  :  others  went  oft'  by  twos 
and  threes  to  their  homes ;  and  those  who 
remained  were  killed  by  the  41st,  because 
they  were  not  allowed  a  share  in  the  public 
money.  Thus  this  regiment  was  com- 
pletely disorganised  and  destroyed."! 

The  Europeans  knew  not  how  to  act :  some 
suggested  entering  the  boats ;  but  the  river 
was  very  low;  and  it  was  decided  to  hold 
the  fort,  and  prepare  for  attack.  They 
numbered,  in  all,  upwards  of  a  hundred; 
but  of  these  only  thirty-three  were  able- 
bodied  men.  A  6-pounder,  loaded  with 
grape,  was  mounted  over  the  gateway ;  and, 
in  the  course  of  the  next  few  days,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  six  more  guns  into  posi- 
tion. The  godowus  were  searched  for  ammu- 
nition for  the  guns  and  muskets,  and  a  few 
(muster)  round  shot  and  shells  were  found, 
together  with  six  boxes  of  ball  cartridge, 
and  an  equal  quantity  of  blank.  The  latter 
was  broken  up  and  used  for  the  guns ;  while 
nuts,  screws,  hammer-heads,  and  such  like, 
were  collected,  to  serve  as  grape  and  round. 
The  ladies,  women  and  childi'en,  were  placed 
in  the  house  of  Major  Robertson  (the  head 
of  the  gun-carriage  agency),  inside  the 
walls,  where  they  were  comparatively  safe. 
On  the  28th  of  June,  the  41st  N.I.  opened 
two  guns  on  the  fort;  and,  taking  up  a 
position  behind  trees,  bushes,  and  any  cover 


MASSACRE  AT  SINGHEE  RAMPORE— JULY  4th,  1857. 


325 


available,  commenced  a  heavy  fire  of  mus- 
ketry. 

For   four   days   the   enemy's    guns    and 
t  m\iskets  played  on  in  this  manner,  doing 
'  little  direct  injury  to  the  defences  or  per- 
sons of  the  besieged,  but  exhausting  their 
sti'ength  and  ammunition.     Colonel  Smith, 
I  who   was   an    unerring    marksman,   killed 
numbers    of    the    mutineers,   with   a   pea 
rifle,  from  his  post  on  the  wall,  which  he 
never  left.      Major   Vibart   was   described 
as  being  the  real  commandant  of  the  fort, 
going  about,  amid  the  thickest  of  the  fire, 
j  directing   and  encouraging  all.*      On  the 
fifth  day  the  assailants  changed  their  mode 
i  of  attack :  a  company  of  riflemen  posted 
themselves  on   the   tops  of  the  houses  in 
an    adjacent    village ;    and    others    found 
'  shelter  in  a  small  outhouse,  about  seventy 
or  eighty  yards  from  the  fort.     They  loop- 
j  holed  the  walls,    and  kept  tip  a  harassing 
I  fire  from  them,  which  rendered  the  garrison 
1  guns   useless,    as  the  men   dared    not  lift 
'  their  heads  to  fire.     Mr.  Jones  (the  elder) 
;  was  shot  while  covering  Conductor  Ahem 
i    (the  best  gunner  in  the  garrison)  with  his 
;  rifle.     Colonel  Thomas  Tudor  Tucker  (8th 
I   light  cavalry,  then  employed  in  the  clothing 
agency)  was  killed  on  the  same  spot  a  day 
'   later;  and  Ahem  himself  was  shot  through 
the  head  while  laying  a  gun.f     Mr.  Thorn- 
:   hill    had   been    incapacitated   for   military 
action  from   the   beginning   of  the   siege, 
having  been  severely  wounded  in  the  hand 
j    and  arm  by  the  discharge  of  his  musket,  in 
the  act  of  loading  it.     While  the  garrison 
had    been    weakened    by    casualties    and 
fatigue,  the  rebel  ranks  had  been  strength- 
ened by  an  influx  of  Patans   from  Mliow 
and  elsewhere.     Among  these  was  Mooltan 
Khan,  the  preserver  of  Mr.  Edwards  in  his 
flight  from  Budaon.J     The  assailants  suc- 
ceeded in  springing  a  mine,  and  consider- 
ably injuring   one  of  the  bastions.     Two 
attempts  were  made  to  enter  by  the  breach. 
The    second    storming   party   was   led   by 
Mooltan  Khan.     He  was  shot  dead  on  the 
top  of  the  breach,  by  Mr.  Fisher;  and  his 
followers  fell  back.     The  enemy  commenced 
another  mine,  and  brought  a  gun  to  bear 
upon  the  bungalow  containing  the  women 
and  children. 

The  besieged  felt  further  defence  to  be 
hopeless.     The  river  had  risen  considerably 

*  Edwards'  Personal  Adventures,  p.  81. 
I        t  A  native  messenger,  dispatched  by  Mr.  Edwards 
I    to   Futtehghur,  who   succeeded   in   communicating 
with   Mr.   Thornhill,    said    that   Mrs.   Ahem    had 


by  the  rains,  and  they  had  three  boats  in 
readiness.  Therefore,  about  2  a.m.,  July 
4th,  they  evacuated  the  fort,  having  first 
spiked  the  guns  and  destroyed  their  re- 
maining ammunition.  No  sooner  had  they 
passed  the  walls  than  the  sepoys  caught 
sight  of  them,  and  shouting  that  the  Ferin- 
ghees  were  running  away,  followed  them 
for  about  a  mile  along  the  banks,  firing  at 
random  and  without  effect.  The  fugitives 
had  not  proceeded  far  before  they  found 
one  of  the  boats  too  large  and  heavy  for 
their  management.  It  was  therefore  aban- 
doned, and  the  passengers  distributed  be- 
tween the  other  two.  The  delay  thus  oc- 
casioned enabled  the  sepoys  to  come  up 
with  them;  but  they  escaped  again,  and 
proceeded  as  far  as  a  place  called  Sin  ghee 
Rampore.  Here  they  were  fired  on  by  the 
villagers :  one  boat,  with  Colonel  Smith  on 
board,  passed  on  safely;  but  the  other 
grounded  on  a  sand-bank,  and  could  not  be 
moved.  About  half-an-hour  was  spent  in 
fruitless  efforts :  at  the  expiration  of  that 
time,  two  boats,  apparently  empty,  were 
seen  coming  down  the  stream.  They 
proved  to  be  filled  with  sepoys,  who  opened 
a  heavy  fire  on  the  Europeans.  Mr. 
Churcher,  senior,  was  shot  through  the 
chest;  Major  Robertson,  Mr.  Fisher,  and 
Mr.  Jones  were  wounded.  The  sepoys 
came  alongside,  and  strove  to  board  the 
stranded  boat;  some  of  them  succeeded. 
"  Major  Robertson,  seeing  no  hope,  begged 
the  ladies  to  come  into  the  water,  rather 
than  to  fall  into  their  hands."  Mr.  Jones 
swam  on  after  the  other  boat,  giving  a 
parting  look  to  his  late  companions.  Lieu- 
tenant Fitzgerald  sat  still  in  the  boat — a 
loaded  musket,  with  the  bayonet  fixed,  in 
his  hand;  his  wife  and  child  by  his  side. 
Mr.  Churcher,  senior,  lay  near  them 
weltering  in  his  blood.  The  others  had  all 
got  into  the  water.  Major  and  Mrs. 
Robertson,  with  their  child  and  Miss 
Thompson,  were  standing  close  to  each 
other  beside  the  boat ;  Lieutenant  Simpson 
and  Mr.  Churcher,  junior,  at  a  little  dis- 
tance; Mr.  Fisher,  who  had  been  shot 
through  the  thigh,  held  his  son  (a  beautiful 
boy  of  eight  or  nine  years  old)  in  one  arm, 
and  with  the  other  was  striving  to  support 
his  wife,  who  could  not  stand  against  the 
current,  her  dress   acting  like  a  sail  and 

avenged  her  husband's  death,  by  killing  many  of 
the  mutineers  with  a  rifle  from  the  bastion  where  she 
stood,  until  she  was  herself  shot  down. — Edwards' 
Personal  Adventures,  p.  81.  J  See  p.  216. 


326      FUTTEHGHUR  FUGITIVES  SHELTERED  BY  HURDEO  BUKSH. 


throwing  her  down.     Major  Phillot,  Ensign 
Eckfordj  and  a  few  others,  Mr.  Jones  did 
not  see,  but  supposes  them  to  have  been 
killed.      After  about  an  hour's  swimming 
;  lie    reached    the    other    boat,    which    had 
j  also  been  fired  on,    and  Colonel  Goldie's 
j  youngest    daughter,    a   Mr.  Rohan,   and  a 
native  boatman,  had  been  killed,  and  sever.il 
others   wounded.      The   voyage   was    con- 
tinued that  night,  without  further  nioles- 
;  tation.     Early  the  next   morning  a  Euro- 
pean voice  was  heard  from  the  shore,  hailing 
the   boat.      It   was    Mr.  Fisher,   who   was 
I  lifted  on  board,  delirious  with  mental  and 
bodily    suffering;    raving    about    his   wife 
and   child,  who  had  been  drowned  in   his 
arras.      In  the  evening  the  party  reached 
a    village    in    the    territories    of    Hurdeo 
Buksh — opposite   Koosoomkhore,  in  Oude. 
The  inhabitants   came  out,  with    offers  of 
assistance    and    protection.       After    some 
hesitation,    from    fear    of    treachery,    the 
hungry    and    weary    passengers   came   on 
shore,  and  fed  tliankfully  on  the  chupatties 
and  buffaloes'  milk  brought  them  by  the 
herdsmen.      A  poor  Brahmiu  took  Jones 
with  him  to  his  home,  and  gave  him  food 
and  a  charpoy,  or  native  bed,  to  rest  on. 
In  the  course   of  two    or   three   hours,   a 
message  came  from  Colonel  Smith,  saying 
the  boat  was  about  to  start.     The  wounded 
man  was,  however,  unequal  to  any  further 
exertion,  and  he  persisted  in  staying  with 
the  friendly  thakoor  native.     The  Europeans 
were  unwilling  to  leave  their  countryman 
behind,  and  sent  again  and  again  to  beg 
him  to  join  them.     At  last  they  started,  and 
nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  boat  for 
several  days,  till  the  manjee,  or  head  man, 
who  took  her  down,  returned,  and  gave  out 
that  Nana  Sahib  had  fired  upon  them  at 
Cawnpoor,  and  all  on  board  had  perished. 

The  herdsmen,  in  their  dread  of  the  pro- 
bable consequence  of  harbouring  a  Euro- 
pean, hid  the  fugitive  so  closely,  that  Hurdeo 
Buksh  was  himself  many  days  in  ignorance 
of  the  fact  that  Jones  was  in  his  territory ; 
but  as  soon  as  he  became  acquainted  with 
it,  he  took  care  to  provide  him  with  food 
and  clothing.  In  the  meantime  the  poor 
young  man  had  suffered  terribly  from  his 
wound,  which  threatened  to  mortify.  In 
his  extremity,  he  thought  of  the  parable  of 
Lazarus.  A  little  puppy  came  frequently 
to  the  shed  when  he  was  at  his  meals,  to 
pick  up  any  crumbs  that  might  fall:  he 
induced  it  to  lick  the  wound  night  and 
morning ;  the  inflammation  diminished  im- 


mediately, and  the  hurt  was  nearly  healed 
before  the  fugitive  ventured  forth  to  join  his 
countrymen.*    He  thought  himself  the  sole 
survivor  from  the  boats;  but  this  was  not 
the   case;    Major   Robertson,   after  having 
had  his  wife  washed  out  of  his  arms,  swam 
away  with  his  boy  on  his  shoulder.     The . 
child   appears    to   have   perished,    but   the 
father  found  refuge  in  a  village,  about  four 
miles  from  that  in  which  Jones  lay  hidden. 
Mr.  Churcher,  junior,  had  likewise  escaped, 
and  was  concealed  in  an  "  aheer,"  or  herds- 
men's  village,    at  a   considerable    distance 
from  the  places  in  which  his  countrymen 
were.     Mrs.  Jones  (the  widow  of  the  gen- 
tleman killed   during   the   siege)    and    her 
daughter,  Mrs.    Fitzgerald,    and    a   single 
lady,  whose  name  is  not  given,  had  been 
taken  from  the  boat,  and  given  over  to  the 
nawab,  who  held  them  in  captivity.      None 
of    the    Europeans    sheltered    by   friendly 
natives,  were  permitted  to  see,  or  commu- 
nicate with,  each  other,  except  the  Probyn 
family  and   Mr.  Edwards,  who   refused  to 
separate,  even  though  urged  to  do  so,  as  a 
nieans  of  increasing  their  small  chance  of 
escape.      The   record   of  jtheir   adventures 
affords    much    insight   into   the   condition 
of  Oude   and   the   feeling   of   the   people. 
The  loyalty  of  Hurdeo  Buksh  was  greatly 
strengthened  by  his    personal    attachpient 
to   Probyn,    who,    he   said,  had  invariably 
treated    him    as    a    gentleman.      Of   Mr. 
Christian  (of  Seetapoor),  he  also  spoke  in 
terms  of  respect;  but  the  ill-paid,  needy, 
grasping  "  omlahs,"  who  were  introduced  in 
such  shoals  in  Oude  immediately  after  the 
annexation,  had  proved   the   curse  of  the 
country,  and,  in    his  plain-spoken  phrase, 
had  made  the  British  rule  "to  stink  in  the 
nostrils  of  the  people."     The  person  of  the 
chief  accorded  well  with  the  manly  inde- 
pendence of  his   character.      Mr.    Russell 
has  since  described  him  as  a  very  tall,  well- 
built  man,  about  thirty  years  of  age  ;  stand- 
ing upwards  of  six  feet  high,  with  square 
broad  shoulders  ;  regular  features,  very  re- 
solute in  their   expression;    and    dignified 
and  graceful  manners. 

A^body  of  the  10th  N.I.,  250  in  number, 
actually  crossed  the  Ganges  during  the 
time  their  comrades  were  besieging  the 
Futtehghur  fort;  and  it  was  said  that  a 
large  number  of  mutineers  would  follow,  to 
attack  Dhurumpoor,  put  the  Europeans  to 
death,  and  seize  some  lacs  of  government 
treasure,  which,  according  to  a  false,  but 
*  Edwards'  Personal  Adventures,  p.  138. 


HIDDEN  ORDNANCE  OF  OUDE  TALOOKDARS— JULY,  1857.        827 


very  generally  believed  report,  had  been 
placed  there  for  safety.  The  defensive 
preparation  made  by  Hurdeo  Buksh,  initi- 
ated his  guests  into  some  of  the  secrets  of 
Rajpoot  diplomacy.  While  sitting  in  an 
inner  room,  anxious  to  avoid  notice  (their 
unpopularity  being  at  its  height,  as  they  were 
viewed  as  the  cause  of  the  expected  attack), 
they  heard  a  knocking  and  digging  at  one 
of  the  outer  walls  in  their  immediate  vicinity, 
^yhicll  continued  for  many  hours.  The 
noise  suddenly  ceased;  and  when  suffered 
to  leave  their  chamber  in  the  evening,  they 
were  surprised  to  see  that  a  fine  18-pounder 
gun  had  been  dug  from  the  place  where 
it  had  lain  concealed  since  the  proclamation 
issued  in  the  preceding  year  by  the  Luck- 
now  authorities,  requiring  the  talookdars  of 
Oude  to  surrender  all  their  ordnance.  A 
24-pounder  was  simultaneously  produced 
from  a  field ;  and  the  wheels  and  other  por- 
tions of  the  carriages  were  fished  up  from 
wells.  Four  other  guns,  of  different  sizes, 
■were  brought  in  from  the  chief  villages 
in  the  neighbourhood;  and  all  six  were 
mounted  and  iu  position  in  the  courtyard, 
ready  for  service,  by  nightfall.  It  was  said 
that  more  could  be  produced  if  need  were. 
Messengers  were  dispatched  in  aU  haste, 
in  difl'erent  directions,  to  summon  the  chief's 
adherents ;  and  in  an  incredibly  short  space 
of  time,  nearly  1,000  people,  all  armed  with 
some  weapon  or  another,  had  assembled  at 
the  fort,  for  its  defence.  Hurdeo  Buksh 
now  told  the  Europeans  that  they  must 
leave  him  and  proceed  to  a  small  village 
across  the  Ramgunga,  three  miles  off,  where 
some  connections  of  his  own  would  receive 
and  conceal  them.  Then,  if  the  mutineers 
really  came,  they  might  be  shown  the  inte- 
rior of  the  fort,  in  proof  that  there  were  no 
Europeans  there.  Edwards,  iu  reply,  went 
up  to  him,  and  seizing  his  right  hand,  said 
they  would  go,  if  he  would  pledge  his 
honour  as  a  Rajpoot  for  their  safety.  He 
did  so  heartily ;  saying,  "  My  blood  shall  be 
shed  before  a  hair  of  your  heads  is  touched. 
After  I  am  gone,  of  course  ray  power  is  at 
an  end;  I  can  help  you  no  longer."  In 
well-founded  reliance  on  this  assurance, 
the  party  started.  A  few  weeks  before,  no 
European  official  went  on  a  journey  without 
a  numerous  body-guard  of  attendant  natives 
to  precede  and  follow  him.  Now,  fortunate 
indeed  were  those  whose  gentleness  in 
prosperity  had  attached  to  them  so  much 
as  one  tried  follower  in  adversity.  Towards 
midnight,  the  fugitives   quitted  Dhurum- 


poor,  Probyn  carrying  three  guns  and 
ammunition,  his  wife  one  child,  his  servant 
another,  Edwards  the  baby,  and  the  faithful 
Wuzeer  Sing  the  fourth  child,  and  a  gun. 
They  reached  the  village  of  Kussowrah,  and 
were  very  civilly  received  by  "  the  Thakoors," 
who  were  uncles  of  Hurdeo  Buksh,  but  of 
inferior  rank,  as  their  mother  had  never 
been  married  to  their  father. 

The  Thakoors  had  been  great  sufferers 
from  the  revenue  arrangements  consequent 
on  annexation.  One  of  them,  named  Kus- 
suree,  declared,  that  "  he  had  paid  a  thou- 
sand rupees  in  petitions  alone,  not  one 
of  which  ever  reached  Christian  [the  com- 
missioner]; notwithstanding  which,  he  had 
lost  the  villages  farmed  by  him  and  his 
ancestors  for  many  generations,  and  had 
been  assessed  so  highly  for  those  he  had 
left,  that  he  had  only  been  able  to  pay 
his  rent  the  preceding  year  by  the  sale  of 
some  of  his  family  jewels,  and  a  mare 
he  highly  valued ;  and  this  year,  he  said,  he 
would  no  doubt  have  been  a  defaulter,  and 
been  sold  up,  had  not  the  rebellion  fortu- 
nately occurred."* 

The  hiding-place  of  the  Europeans  was 
a  cattle-pen.  The  first  intelligence  they 
received  was  cheering.  The  sepoys  who 
had  threatened  Dhururapoor,  had  turned  off, 
when  within  a  short  distance  of  that  place, 
towards  Lucknow.  They  had  with  them 
three  lacs  of  treasure,  which  they  had  con- 
trived to  remove  from  Futtehghur  without 
the  knowledge  of  their  comrades,  who  were 
deceived  by  their  story  that  they  were  only 
going  to  Dhurumpoor,  and  would  return  the 
next  day.  Hurdeo's  adherents  desired  to 
attack  and  plunder  this  party;  but  he 
wisely  forbade  them,  because,  as  he  subse- 
quently told  the  Europeans,  he  "feared 
tliat  if  once  his  people  got  the  taste  of 
plunder,  he  would  never  after  be  able  to 
restrain  them."  The  sepoys  accordingly 
passed  through  his  estate  without  molesta- 
tion ;  but  as  soon  as  they  crossed  his  border, 
they  were  attacked  by  the  villagers  of  the 
next  talooka,  plundered,  and  destroyed. 
Edwards,  who  makes  this  statement,  throws 
further  light  on  the  fate  of  Captain  Bignell, 
by  remarking,  that  "they  were  accompa- 
nied by  an  officer  of  the  10th  N.I.,  whom 
they  had  promised  to  convey  safely  into 
Lucknow;  and,  on  being  attacked  by  the 
villagers,  they  desired  this  officer  to  le.ave 
them,  as  they  said  it  was  on  his  account 
they  were  attacked.  This  he  was  forced  to 
*  Edwards'  Personal  Adventures,  p.  167. 


328 


RUNJPOORA,  THE  PLACE  OF  AFFLICTION. 


do;  and,  after  wandering  about -for  some 
time,  as  we  afterwards  learned,  he  received 
a  sun-stroke  while  crossing  a  stream,  and 
was  carried  in  a  dying  state  into  a  village, 
where    he    shortly    after    expired."      The 
wretchedness  of  the  fugitives  at  Kussowrah 
was  increased  by  intense  anxiety  regarding 
Futtehghur.     While  sitting,  one  afternoon, 
listening  to  the  firing,  a  note  was  brought 
them  from  the  judge  (R.  Thornhill),  written 
in   haste    and    depression,    describing    the 
worn-out  state  of  the  garrison,  and  imploring 
Probyn  to  induce  Hurdeo  Buksh  to  go  to 
their  aid.     The  messenger  who  brought  the 
rote  had  eluded  the  besiegers  by  dropping 
from  the  wall  of  the  fort  into  the  Ganges, 
and    swimming  across.      The  retainers   of 
the  rajah,   although  willing  to  peril  their 
lives  in  defence  of  the  refugees  under  the 
protection  of  their  chief,  or  in  repelling  any 
attack   on  Dhurumpoor,  were   determined 
not   to   cross   the    Ganges,    or    provoke    a 
contest  with  the  mutineers ;  and  the  mes- 
senger returned  to  Futtehghur  with  this  sad 
reply.     At  the  same  time,  Probyn  advised 
Thornhill  to   endeavour  to  get   the  assis- 
tance of  a  body  of  men  in  Furruckabad, 
called   "  Sadhs" — a   fighting   class  of  reli- 
■  gionists,  who   were   supposed   to   be    very 
hostile  to  the  sepoys.     After  the  evacua- 
tion   of    Futtehghur,   the    two    subahdars 
in    command  of  the  41st,  appear  to  have 
made  a  mere  puppet  of  the  nawab  of  Fur- 
ruckabad,  and  to  have  compelled  him  to 
issue  what  orders  they  pleased.     A  message 
was  sent,  in  the  name  of  the  nawab,  to 
Hurdeo    Buksh,   informing   him   that   the 
English  rule  was  at  an  end,  and  demanding 
from  him  an  advance  of  a  lac  of  rupees,  as 
his  contribution  towards  the  expenses  of  the 
new  raj,  or,  in  lieu  of  it,  the  heads  of  the 
two  collectors,  Probyn  and  Edwards.    Seve- 
ral days  elapsed,  during  which  the  fugitives 
were  kept  iu  constant  alarm,  by  rumours  of 
detachments  being  on  the  march  to  Kus- 
sowrah, for  their  apprehension.     At  length 
Hurdeo    came    to    them   by   night;    and, 
though  quite  resolved  on  opposing  to  the 
death  any  attempt  which  might  be  made 
to  seize  them,  he  said  he  had  been  obliged 
to  treat  with   the  nawab,  in  the  hope  of 
gaining   time ;    as,    so    soon   as   the   rains 
should    fall,   the    Ramgunga   and    Ganges 
would  rise  in  flood,  and  the  whole  country 
be  inundated,  so  that  "  Dhurumpoor  and 
Kussowrah    would    become    islands    sur- 
rounded with  water  for  miles;  he  might 
then  defy  the  sepoys,  as  it  would  be  impos- 


sible for  them  to  bring  guns  against  him, 
and  they  would  not  dare  to  move  without 
artillery."  In  the  meantime  his  own  posi- 
tion was  extremely  critical,  and  fully  justi- 
fied his  anxiety  about  his  family;  for  the 
mutineers  threatened,  if  he  did  not  immedi- 
ately surrender  the  Europeans,  to  take  very, 
complete  revenge  both  on  himself  and  his 
people.  Speedy  succour  could  not  be  ex- 
pected ;  the  most  important  stations  looked 
for  it  in  vain.  The  hearts  of  the  fugitives 
sank  within  them,  as,  pent  up  in  the  cow- 
house, they  heard  from  Hurdeo  Buksh, 
"  that  Nana  Sahib  had  assumed  command 
of  the  mutineers  at  Cawnpoor,  where  the 
English  had  been  so  completely  destroyed, 
that  not  a  dog  remained  in  the  cantonment ; 
that  Agra  was  besieged ;  that  the  troops  at 
Delhi  had  been  beaten  back,  and  were  in  a 
state  of  siege  on  the  top  of  a  hill  near  there ; 
that  the  troops  in  Oude  had  also  mutinied, 
and  Lucknow  was  closely  invested." 

It  was  highly  probable  that  the  rebels, 
and  especially  some  of  the  escaped  convicts, 
to  whom  Probyn  and  Edwards  had  been 
obnoxious  in  their  capacity  of  magistrates, 
would  immediately  come  and  search  Kus- 
sowrah. Near  tlje  village  there  was  a  tract 
of  jungle,  many  miles  in  extent,  in  the 
midst  of  which  was  a  hamlet  of  some  four 
or  five  houses,  inhabited  by  a  few  herds- 
men,* and  called  by  the  fitting  name  of 
Runjpoora,  the  place  of  affliction.  This 
village,  during  the  rainy  season,  became  a 
complete  island  of  about  a  hundred  yards 
square.  The  only  pasturage,  on  suffi- 
ciently high  land  to  escape  being  sub- 
merged, was  about  three  miles  distant,  and 
both  cattle  and  alieers  proceeded  to-and- 
fro  by  swimming — a  mode  of  progi'ession 
which  habit  appeared  to  have  made  as 
natural  to  them  as  walking  on  dry  land  to 
ordinary  herds  and  herdsmen.  To  Runj- 
poora the  party  proceeded,  after  some 
discussion  regarding  the  advisability  of 
separating,  as  a  means  of  escaping  observa- 
tion. The  Thakoors  offered  to  take  charge 
of  the  children,  promising  to  do  their 
utmost  for  them ;  and  urged  that,  by  part- 
ing, the  lives  of  all  might  he  saved ;  but 
that  if,  unhappily,  "the  children  did 
perish,  their  loss  might  be  repaired — their 
parents  might  have  a  second  family;  but 
they  could  never  get  second  lives,  if  they 

*  Edwards  mentions  a  singular  fact  with  regard 
to  this  little  community.  On  Sundays,  tlie  aheers 
would  on  no  account  part  with  the  milk  of  their 
cattle,  but  always  used  it  themseWes.— (p.  116.) 


THE  MASSACRE  AT  FURRUCKABAD— JULY,  1857. 


329 


once  lost  those  they  had."  This  argument 
failed  to  induce  the  mother  to  leave 
her  children ;  and  Probyn  would  not  part 
from  her.  Edwards  endeavoured  to  per- 
suade his  follower,  Wuzeer  Sing,  to  pro- 
vide for  his  own  safety ;  but  he  persisted  in 
his  fidelity;  and  Edwards  himself  would 
not  desert  the  Probyns,  especially  his 
"poor  little  friend  tlie  baby,"  who  sank, 
day  by  day,  for  want  of  proper  nourish- 
ment, until  one  night  its  protector  missing 
the  accustomed  sound  of  the  heavy  breath- 
ing, started  up,  and  found  it  dead  by  the 
side  of  its  mother,  who  had  fallen  into  the 
deep  sleep  of  exhaustion ;  believing  that 
her  efforts  had  procured  the  infant  an  inter- 
val of  relief  Edwards  and  Wuzeer  Sing 
went  out,  and  with  difficulty  found  a  dry  spot 
under  some  trees,  in  which  to  dig  a  grave ; 
and  there  the  bereaved  parents  came  and 
laid  the  little  body,  feeling,  even  in  the  first 
freshness  of  their  grief,  "  grateful  that  their 
infant's  death  had  been  natural,  and  not 
by  the  hands  of  assassins."  Another  of 
their  children,  a  beautiful  and  healthy 
girl,  drooped  rapidly  under  the  privations 
endured  at  Runjpoora,  and  died  in  conse- 
quence, after  the  fugitives,  at  the  end  of  a 
fortnight,  quitted  that  place,  and  returned 
to  Kussowrah.  During  their  stay  at  Runj- 
poora, Edwards  induced  a  native,  named 
Rohna,  to  take  a  letter  from  him  to  his 
wife  at  Nynee  Tal.  By  means  of  a  little 
bit  of  loose  lead,  left  in  the  stump  of  a 
pencil,  he  contrived  to  write  a  few  words 
on  a  piece  of  paper  about  an  inch  square, 
which  he  steeped  in  milk,  and  left  to  dry 
in  the  sun.  A  crow  pounced  on  it,  and 
carried  it  off.  Edwards  was  in  despair, 
for  he  had  no  more  paper,  and  no  rroans  of 
getting  any;  but  the  watchful  Wuzeer 
Sing  had  followed  the  bird,  and  after  a 
chase  of  about  an  hour,  saw  the  note  drop, 
and  picked  it  up  uninjured.  The  mes- 
senger carried  it  safely,  reached  Nynee  Tal 
on  the  27th  of  July,  and  brought  back  an 
answer.  The  lady  and  the  child,  Rohna 
said,  were  both  well ;  but  when  he  reached 
the  house,  the  "  Mem  Sahib"  was  dressed  in 
black.  On  receiving  the  letter,  she  went 
away  and  put  on  a  white  dress.  During 
the  interval  of  Rohna's  absence,  the  fugitives 
passed  through  many  phases  of  hope  and 
fear.  One  day  they  distinctly  heard  a  mili- 
tary band  playing  English  airs  in  Futtch- 
ghur ;  the  wind  carrying  the  sound  across 
the  water,  and  reminding  them  of  the  near 
proximity  of  foes  who  were  thirsting  for 

VOL.  II.  2  u 


their  blood.  Another  morning  (Edwards 
thought  the  23rd  of  July,  but  had  by  that 
time  become  confused  in  his  reckoning), 
they  were  startled  by  the  firing  of  heavy 
guns  in  Furruckabad.  The  sound  con- 
tinued at  irregular  intervals  for  about  an 
hour,  when  it  entirely  ceased.  The  Euro- 
peans listened  with  joy,  for  they  had  heard 
from  a  poor  Brahmin  (who  had  shown  great 
compassion  for  their  sufferings,  depriving 
his  own  family  of  milk,  to  give  it  to  Probyn's 
children),  that  the  victorious  advance  of  the 
British  troops,  and  the  terrible  vengeance 
taken  by  them,  had  excited  the  greatest 
alarm  at  Furruckabad;  they  therefore 
believed  that  the  firing  was  that  of  their 
countrymen,  and  that  deliverance  was  at 
hand.  Seeta  Ram,  the  Brahmin,  went  for 
them  to  the  city,  and  returned  with  the  sad 
tidings  that  the  sounds  they  had  listened  to 
so  cheerfully,  "had  been  caused  by  the 
blowing  away  from  guns,  and  the  shooting 
down  with  grape,  under  the  orders  of  the 
nawab,  of  the  poor  ladies  already  mentioned 
as  having  been  saved  from  the  boat,  and 
brought  back  to  Futtehghur;  and  of  many 
native  Christians."  The  number  was  at 
first  stated  at  sixty-five  or  seventy  persons ; 
but  afterwards  at  twenty-two.  The  Nana's 
soldiers,  infuriated  by  their  defeat,  had 
been  the  chief  instigators  of  this  atrocity, 
Mrs.  Jones's  little  daughter,  of  about 
nine  years  old,  had,  Seeta  Ram  said,  re- 
mained untouched  after  several  discharges 
of  grape,  and  a  sepoy  rushed  up  and  cut 
her  in  pieces  with  his  sword. 

On  the  2nd  of  August,  the  Europeans, 
while  concealed  in  the  cattle-pen  at  Kus- 
sowrah— which  they  looked  upon  as  a  palace 
compared  with  Runjpoora — saw  a  tall, 
emaciated  looking  figure  approach  them, 
dripping  with  water,  and  naked,  except  a 
piece  of  cloth  wrapped  round  liis  waist.  This 
was  Mr.  Jones,  who,  in  consequence  of  the 
improved  prospects  of  the  British,  had  been 
at  length  permitted  by  his  protectors  to  join 
his  countrymen.  He  was  very  weak,  and 
burst  into  tears  at  hearing  the  sound  of 
his  own  language.  The  danger  was,  how- 
ever, far  from  being  past.  The  first  shock 
of  the  mutiny  was,  indeed,  over  by  this 
time;  but  the  insurrection  in  Oude  was 
only  commencing.  On  the  22nd  of  August, 
Hurdeo  Buksh,  who  usually  visited  the 
fugitives  in  the  de.id  of  night,  came  to  tell 
them  that  he  had  received  a  copy  of  a 
proclamation,  issued  by  the  subahdars  in 
command  of  the  mutineers  at  Delhi  and 


330 


PROGRESS  OF  REVOLT  IN  OUDE— AUGUST,  1857. 


Lucknow,  to  all  the  chief  landowners  in 
Oude.  In  this  document,  they  expressed 
their  surprise  and  sorrow  that,  although 
the  army  had  risen  in  defence  of  their 
religion  and  for  the  common  good,  the 
landowners  had  not  co-operated  with 
the  soldiers,  or  given  them  the  aid  they 
counted  on  when  they  rose.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  hackwardness,  the  army 
now  found  themselves  unable  to  conteud 
successfully  against  the  British.  The 
subahdars,  therefore,  thought  it  right  to 
warn  all  the  chief  men  of  influence  and 
rank  in  Oude,  that  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  British,  as  soon  as  they  had  destroyed 
the  army,  to  collect  all  the  high-caste  men 
and  sweepers  in  the  province  at  one  enor- 
mous feast,  and  make  them  all  eat  together. 
The  subahdars,  consequently,  deemed  it  their 
duty  to  give  the  chiefs  fair  warning  of 
the  intentions  of  the  British  government, 
and  to  entreat  them,  for  the  sake  of  their 
common  faith,  to  aid  the  army  with  their 
forces,  and  to  rise  and  exterminate  the 
infidels,  and  avoid  so  fearful  a  catastrophe 
as  the  loss  of  their  caste. 

Hurdeo  Buksh  remarked  to  Edwards — 
"You  and  I  know  that   this  is  all  non- 
sense and  folly,  but  the  proclamation  is  a 
highly  dangerous   and   inflammable   docu- 
ment;    for    its    contents     are    implicitly 
believed  by  the  common  people,  who  are, 
consequently,    much    exasperated    against 
the  English."     His   own   people  were,  he 
added,  particularly  excited  by  orders  issued 
by  the  nawab  and  subahdar  in  Futtehghur, 
to  prevent   their  crossing  the   Ganges,   or 
getting  any  supplies  from  Furruckabad,  of 
salt,    sugar,    or   other   necessaries    usually 
procured  from  thence.     Besides   this,  the 
inundation    was    daily    diminishing;     and 
when  the  waters  subsided,  the  power  of  the 
Rao  to  protect  the  fugitives  would  be  at  an 
end.     They  had  sent  repeated   letters    by 
Seeta    Ram    to    General    Havelock    (who 
was    an   old  friend  of  Edwards'),    without 
obtaining  any  reply :    at   length  they  re- 
ceived one,  advising   them   to   stay  where 
they  were,  and  watch  events,  as  the  rebels 
infested  all  the  roads,    and   rendered  tra- 
velling highly  dangerous — almost  impossible. 
The  fugitives  believed  the  hazard  of  remain- 
ing where  they  were,  greater  than  that  of 
attempting  to  join  the  British  camp,  since 
Hurdeo  Buksh  could  with  difficulty  restrain 
his  subjects.    He  had  already  offered  to  send 
the  Europeans  by  land,  "  Teehun  teehun ;" 
that    is,    from  friend's  house   to  friend's 


house — all    pledged    to    secrecy.     One   of 
the  chiefs  who  had  promised  safe-conduct 
through  his  territory,  was  Jussah  Sing,  one 
of  the  most  notorious  insurrectionary  leaders. 
Hurdeo  Buksh  admitted  that  Nana  Sahib 
had    taken    refuge    with    him;     but    said 
that  there  need  be  no  fear   of  treachery; 
for  a  Rajpoot  was  never  known  to  break 
his  word  to  a  fellow-chief.     The  refugees, 
however,  preferred  the  Ganges  route,  and 
started   on    Sunday,  August    30th,  under 
an   escort   of  eleven   matchlockmen,    with 
eight  rowers — the  party  being  commanded 
by  the  brother-in-law  of  Hurdeo   Buksh, 
Thakoor    Pirthee    Pal    Sing ;     the    chief 
known  in  the  subsequent  Oude  campaign, 
as  "Pretty  Poll   Sing."      Hurdeo   Buksh 
himself,  with  the  Thakoors  and  other  lead- 
ing men  of  the  village,  came  down  to  the 
boat,   which    was    ostensibly    intended    to 
convey  the  female  relatives  of  Pirthee  Pal, 
on  a  visit  to  a  diflerent  branch  of  the  family 
at  Tirrowah  PuUeah,  a  lonely  place  on  the 
Oude  side  of  the  Ganges,  belonging  to  a 
talookdar    named    Dhunna     Sing.      After 
remaining   two   hours   waiting    for   Major 
Robertson  and  Mr.  Churcher,  who  at  length 
resolved    on    remaining    in   their   hiding- 
places — Edwards,  Probyn,  his  wife,  and  the 
two   surviving   children,    started    on    their 
perilous   enterprise.      Hurdeo   Buksh   had 
taken   every  possible   precaution,    at   con- 
siderable risk  to  himself.     All  the  boats  at 
the  ferries,  both  on  the  Ganges  and  Ram- 
gunga,  within  the  limits  of  his  domain,  had 
been  seized  the  night  before,  for  the  sake 
of  cutting   off    communication   with   Fur- 
ruckabad ;  and,  to  secure  the  fidelity  of  the 
boatmen,  he  had  taken  their  families  into 
custody,   with   the   intention  of  retaining 
them    until    the    Europeans   should    have 
safely   reached    their    destination.      There 
were  150  miles  of  river-way  to  be  accom- 
plished.    For  the   first   twenty   down   the 
Ramgunga    the    risk   was    small,   the   in- 
fluence of  Hurdeo   Buksh   predominating 
thus   far.      For  the   last  thirty,  until   the 
river  joins  the   Ganges,   the    danger   was 
great.     Messengers,  however,  were  waiting 
at  stated  places   along  the  bank,  to   give 
information  to  the  voyagers.     At  one  point 
they  were   nearly  wrecked,   coming   on   a 
rapid,  with  an  abrupt  fall  of  almost  four 
feet.      The    stream,    notwithstanding    the 
swiftness  of  its   current,    was   so   shallow, 
that  the  boat  stuck  in  the  middle,  and,  for 
ten  minutes,  remained  as  it  were  on  an  in- 
clined plane,  the  water  roaring  and  surging 


PIRTHEE  PAL  AND  DHUNNA  SING. 


331 


round;  while  the  fugitives,  closely  packed 
in  the  small  covered  space  allotted  to 
them,  dared  not  make  any  effort  for  fear 
of  discovery. 

At  length  this  difficulty 'was  surmounted, 
and,  at  sunset,  they  floated  out  into  the 
Ganges,  there  about  a  mile  broad.  The 
majestic  river  was  still  in  flood,  and  carried 
the  boat  swiftly  along  to  a  ferry  near  a 
large  village,  where  the  stream  narrowed 
considerably. 

For  a   long   series   of  years   before   the  1 
mutiny,  fleets   had   been   passing   up   and  i 
down   the    Ganges    without    intermission ;  ■ 
but  not  a  single  boat  (except  those  at  the  i 
ferries)  had  been  seen  by  the  villagers  since 
the    arrival    of    the    ill-fated    crew    from 
Euttehghur.      Tlie    sight   of    the   present 
vessel,  with   the   armed   men  on  the  roof 
and    deck,  attracted  the  attention   of  the 
people    collected    with    the    intention    of 
crossing  the  river ;  and  the  guards,  as  they 
approached,  got  their  cartridge-boxes    and 
powder-horns  ready  for  action. 

In  reply  to  a  challenge  from  shore, 
Pirthee  Pal  stated  that  he  was  taking  his 
family  down  to  Tirrowah  Pulleah,  and  could 
not  stop.  A  voice  cried,  "You  have  Fe- 
ringhees  concealed  in  that  boat ;  come 
ashore  at  once."  "  Feringhees  on  board  !" 
said  the  Thakoor ;  "  I  wish  we  had,  and  we 
should  soon  dispose  of  them  and  get  their 
plunder."  "  Stop,  and  come  ashore,"  was 
repeated ;  but,  by  this,  the  boat  had  floated 
past,  and  at  nightfall  anchored  safely  at  a 
desolate  place,  from  which  the  stronghold 
of  Dhunna  Sing  lay  about  a  mile  and  a-half 
distant  inland.  After  an  anxious  interval 
of  two  or  three  hours,  Dhunna  Sing  (in  ac- 
cordance with  the  arrangement  made  with 
his  sworn  friend  Hurdeo  Buksh)  came  on 
board  with  a  few  followers.  The  hearts  of 
the  weary  fugitives  rose  at  his  appearance. 
They  knew  him  to  be  possessed  of  consi- 
derable influence  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
as  far  as  Cawnpoor;  and  when  they  saw 
the  white-headed  old  chief,  and  noticed  his 
wiry  and  athletic  frame,  his  frank  and  self- 
possessed  manner,  they  felt  him  to  be  "  the 
right  sort  of  man"  for  the  work  in  hand. 
His  men,  in  answer  to  repeated  challenges 
from  either  bank,  replied  that  the  boat 
belonged  to  Dhunna  Sing,  who  was  taking 
his  family  to  bathe  at  a  celebrated  ghaut 
near  Cawnpoor.  When  this  explanation 
failed  to  satisfy  the  inquirers,  and  a  peremp- 
tory summons  was  given  to  stop  and  pull 
ashore,  the  chief  himself  came  forward,  and 


the  very  sound  of  his  powerful  and  pecu- 
liarly harsh  voice  stopped  further  question- 
ing. The  Mehndee  ghaut,  the  principal 
ferry  between  Oude  and  the  Futtehghur 
side  of  the  river,  was  a  great  place  of  resort 
for  the  rebels.  As  the  fugitives  approached 
the  dreaded  spot,  the  moon  became  over- 
clouded, the  rowers  shipped  their  oars,  and 
the  boat  glided  rapidly  past  unnoticed  in 
the  timely  darkness.  Again  and  again 
they  grounded :  once  they  remained  an 
hour  on  a  sand-bank,  at  a  crisis  when 
moments  were  precious,  it  being  most  im- 
portant to  pass  certain  dangerous  localities 
before  morning.  This  they  failed  to  ac- 
complish ;  and  at  broad  daylight  they  found 
themselves  approaching  a  place  where  a  body 
of  the  enemy  were  said  to  be  posted,  and 
which  they  had  calculated  on  passing  during 
the  night.  To  their  great  relief,  they  found 
the  place  deserted.  After  proceeding  some 
miles  further,  the  current  carried  them  close 
on  shore,  and  brought  them  in  contact  with 
a  considerable  body  of  people,  some  bathing, 
some  sitting  on  the  bank.  Dhunna  Sing 
was  immediately  recognised ;  and  tlie  natives 
earnestly  warned  him  not  to  proceed  much 
further  down  the  river,  as  he  would  in  that 
case  inevitably  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
"  gora  logue,"  who  were  in  force  at  Bithoor, 
and  would  kill  all  in  the  boat.  The 
chief,  whose  tact  had  been  previously 
evinced  in  escaping  the  solicitations  of  his 
personal  friends  to  come  on  shore  or  re- 
ceive them  into  his  boat,  affected  great 
alarm  at  the  intelligence.  Probyn  and 
Edwards  caught  up  the  children,  placed 
their  hands  over  their  mouths,  to  prevent 
the  utterance  of  a  word  which  might  yet  be 
fatal,  and  listened  in  breathless  anxiety  while 
Dhunna  Sing,  coolly  giving  a  side-glance 
at  them  as  they  lay  crouched  inside  the 
covering,  inquired  of  the  natives  where  the 
British  were  posted ;  and,  on  being  told,  re- 
marked that  he  could  avoid  that  point  by 
crossing  to  the  Oude  side  of  the  stream ; 
and  called  to  the  rowers  to  give  way. 
The  order  was  instantly  obeyed ;  the  boat 
shot  rapidly  on  till  it  reached  Bithoor, 
which  the  fugitives  believed  to  be  occupied 
by  the  British  troops.  They  were  happil\' 
undeceived  in  time.  A  native  hailed  them 
from  the  bank,  and,  in  reply  to  the  ques- 
tions of  Dhunna  Sing,  stated  that  he  was  a 
sepoy  in  the  service  of  the  son  and  suc- 
cessor of  Jussah  Sing,  who  had  died  about  a 
fortnight  previously  of  wounds  received  in 
action.     When  Bithoor  was  occupied   by 


832 


SINDIA  AND  HOLCAR— GWALIOR  AND  INDORE. 


the  Feringhees,  the  Nana  had  fled  in  all 
haste.  That  place  being  now  evacuated  by 
its  captors,  he  had  sent  a  party  (including 
the  speaker)  to  search  for  the  property  he 
had  left  behind,  and  bring  it  to  him  at 
Futtehpoor  Chowrassee,  where  he  was  in 
hiding,  a  few  miles  off.  Several  hundred 
armed  men  were  seen  congregated  in  and 
around  the  buildings;  yet  the  sole  boat 
which  had  appeared  for  nearly  two  months 
on  the  river,  did  not  seem  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  rebels ;  at  least,  they  made 
no  effort  to  question  the  passengers.  The 
three  Europeans  were  accustomed  to  look 
to  a  special  providence  for  succour  during 
their  prolonged  trial ;  and  they  considered 
this    instance    of   preservation    as   "truly 


miraculous."  About  three  hours  later  (that 
is,  at  2  P.M.,  31st  August)  they  stepped  on 
shore  at  the  Cawnpoor  gliaut,  where  a 
picket  of  H.M.  84th  was  stationed.  With 
eager  joy  the  soldiers  welcomed  Probyu 
and  Edwards — insisted  on  carrying  the 
children,  and  tenderly  waited  on  their 
almost  exhausted  countrywoman,  leading 
her  to  the  tent  of  the  magistrate  (Sheier), 
past  the  slaughter-house  where  every  other 
Englishwoman  who  had  escaped  from 
Futtehghur  and  reached  Cawnpoor  alive, 
had  perished  horribly. 

In  following  this  remarkable  series  of 
adventures  during  three  months  spent  in 
the  jungles  of  Oude,  the  course  of  the  nar- 
rative has  been  anticipated. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

GWALIOR  AND  INDORE.— MAY,  JUNE,  AND  JULY,  1857. 


The  origin  and  progress  of  the  Mah- 
ratta  States  of  Gwalior  and  Indore  have 
been  already  related;  their  nistory  being 
closely  interwoven  with  that  of  British 
India.  In  past  times,  Sindia  and  Holcar 
were  honoured  as  brave  foes;  but  the 
present  representatives  of  these  warriors 
have  earned  for  themselves  the  nobler  dis- 
tinction of  stanch  friends,  bold  and  true  in 
the  darkest  hour  of  peril  and  temptation. 

Before  the  outbreak,  Sindia  had  given 
indications  of  inheriting  something  of  the 
warlike  spirit  of  his  ancestors  ;*  and  all  the 
Europeans  conversant  with  the  affairs  of 
the  principality,  spoke  of  the  prime  minister, 
Dinkur  Rao,  as  a  man  of  rare  ability  and 
integrity.  To  him  we  certainly,  in  great 
measure,  owe  the  prompt  and  unwavering 
fealty  displayed  by  the  Gwalior  durbar. 
On  the  first  evil  tidings  from  Meerut,  the 
maharajah  hastened  to  place  his  body-guard 
at  the  service  of  Lieutenant-governor  Col- 
vin.  The  Gwalior  contingent  was,  of  course, 
entirely  under  British  control ;  for  the  reader 
will  remember,  that  this  force  was  in  reality 
part  and  parcel  of  the  Bengal  army.  The 
young  rajah  had  not  the  slightest  control 

*  "  On  one  occasion,  when  Iiis  then  newly  raised 
artillery  hesitated  to  fire  upon  a  body  of  the  old 
levies  who  had  refused  to  disband,  Sindia  jumped 


over  the  troops  enlisted  in  his  name,  and 
paid  out  of  his  coffers.  The  men  had  not 
even  the  usual  ties  of  mercenary  troops ;  but, 
while  they  received  the  money  of  one  master, 
they  obeyed  the  orders  of  another.  They 
had  been  employed  by  Lord  EUenborough 
to  coerce  the  native  government  in  1843 — 
a  proceeding  not  calculated  to  increase  their 
respect  for  either  of  the  parties  at  variance, 
or  to  elevate  their  own  principles  of  action. 
Sindia  had  never  placed  the  slightest  re- 
liance on  their  loyalty  ;  but  had  plainly  told 
the  British  resident  at  his  court  (Major 
Macpherson),  that  these  troops  would  follow 
the  example  of  their  brethren  at  Meerut 
and  Delhi.  Aware  of  the  danger,  the 
maharajah  exerted  himself  strenuously  to 
avert  it.  The  name  he  bore  would  have 
been  a  rallying-cry  for  the  Hindoos,  far 
more  exciting  than  that  of  the  Nana  of 
Bithoor ;  and  the  mutineers  waited  anxiously 
for  some  turn  of  affairs  which  might  enlist 
Sindia  and  Holcar  on  the  side  of  revolt. 
It  was  the  bond  of  nationality,  of  creed  and 
caste,  which,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
mutiny,  gave  them  influence  with  the  Bengal 
array.     This  lasted  until  it  became  evident 

off  his  horse,  seized  a  lighted  portfire  from  the  hand 
of  a  gunner,  and  himself  discharged  the  first  gun." 
— Bombay  correspondent :  Times,  August  1st,  1867. 


.J 


DINKUR  RAO,  THE  MINISTER  OP  SINDIA. 


333 


that,  for  good  or  for  evil,  the  chiefs  had 
cast  in  their  lot  with  the  British  govern- 
ment :  then  the  troops  set  them  at  defiance, 
and  fraternised  with  the  great  mass  of  their 
fellows.  But  the  stanchness  of  the  young 
Mahratta  princes,  and  the  energy,  tact,  and 
vigilance  of  their  native  advisers,  kept  back 
many  thousand  men  from  joining  the  revolt 
during  the  first  epoch  of  panic  and  massacre, 
when  their  co-operation  might  have  involved 
the  loss  of  the  North-Western  Provinces, 
and  of  the  mass  of  Europeans  stationed 
there.  Sindia's  contingent  numbered  about 
10,000 — artillery,  cavalry,  and  infantry. 
The  men  were  of  great  stature,  and  ad- 
mirably disciplined ;  the  cavalry  wei"e  well 
mounted,  the  artillery  thoroughly  trained. 
In  fact,  the  Native  contingents  (and  espe- 
cially that  of  Gwalior)  were  the  most  in- 
flammatory of  the  numerous  combustibles 
which  the  Supreme  government  had  laid 
ready  for  ignition,  within  easy  communica- 
tion of  each  other,  throughout  India.  Gwa- 
lior and  Indore  had  not  yet  been  annexed  : 
their  reigning  princes  were  both  adopted 
i  heirs — the  ancient  law  having  been  suffered 
to  remain  in  force,  though  somewhat 
under  protest ;  and  these,  with  a  few  other 
surviving  states,  acted  as  boundaries  to 
revolt  and  insurrection.  But  the  current 
was  too  strong  to  be  turned  backwards  by 
such  obstacles  :  for  the  time,  at  least,  it  had 
strength  to  surmount  what  it  could  not 
destroy,  and  both  Sindia  and  Holcar  shared 
the  perils  which  they  had  vainly  striven  to 
avert. 

Detached  portions  of  the  contingent 
had  mutinied  at  Hattrass,  Neemuch,  and 
Nusseerabad,  at  the  end  of  May  and  begin- 
ning of  June  ;*  but  the  main  body,  at  Gwa- 
lior, continued  apparently  firm  up  to  a  later 
period.  Several  of  the  English  officers 
expressed  strong  confidence  in  their  men. 
The  native  government  understood  them 
better;  and  felt  that,  unless  Delhi  were 
speedily  recaptured,  the  spread  of  the  mutiny 
was  only  a  question  of  time.  Dinkur  Rao 
appreciated  aright  the  feeling  of  the  contin- 
gent, and  likewise  that  of  the  small  force 
maintained  by  the  state  on  its  own  account. 
Both,  he  knew,  sympathised  with  the 
sepoys,  and  differed  from  each  other  only 
in  the  superior  attachment  of  the  latter  to 
the  person  of  their  sovereign.  The  troops 
oa  whom  the  maharajah  could  alone  rely, 

*  See  pages  19.3  and  195. 

+  Overland  i'V»cnt?o/"/»irfia,  November  22nd,  1858. 

t  Letter  dated  November  ].5th,  1858;  written  by 


'  were  the  Mahrattas  and  the  Gwalior  Hin- 
doos.    The   complicated   circumstances   of 
his   position   were   well   set   forth   by   the 
Friend  of  India,  an   authority  which   has 
never    been   accused   of    favouring   native 
courts,    or    making   undue    allowance    for 
their  difficulties.     The  chief  danger  which 
menaced    Sindia,   arose,   according  to   this 
journal,  from  the  current  of  public  opinion, 
which    became    almost    irresistible    under 
the  excitement   of  the  period,   and  which 
"pointed  distinctly  to  the  downfall  of  the 
British  empire,  and  the  necessity  of  adopt- 
ing measures  in  time  for  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  Gwalior."     The  position  of  affairs 
was  understood  by  very  few  of  even  the 
European  residents j  and  "the  first  view  in 
India,  we  believe,  and  certainly  the  view  in 
England,  was,  that  Sindia  had  only  to  de- 
clare for  or  against  us,"  and  "  either  hunt 
down  or  aid  the  mutineers."t     As  it  was, 
he  took  so  decided  and  uncompromising  a 
position  on  the  British  side,  that  his  life 
was  in  jeopardy,  and  he  was  actually  driven 
from  his  capital  by  troops  in  his  own  pay ; 
but,  before  this  happened,  he  had  succeeded 
in  gaining  a  long  interval  of  quiet,  and  had 
saved  Agra  by  protracting  the  inevitable 
struggle   until    the    Supreme   government 
were  fully  forewarned  and  forearmed.     The 
Friend  of  India   admits,   that   the  native 
court    displayed    "striking    ability"    and 
"really  keen  sense,"  "acting  on  a  definite 
policy,  and  not  on  the  vague,  half  childish 
impulses  we  are  sometimes  apt  to  ascribe  to 
all  ruling  Asiatics ;"  adding,  that  the  pro- 
ceedings   of  the  Mahratta    durbar    augur 
well  for  "  the  success  of  that  policy  of  confi- 
dence which  must  be  the  key  to  any  suc- 
cessful   policy    of    the    future."       British 
functionaries,  competent  judges  both  from 
position  and  ability,  have  expressed  them- 
selves in  yet  stronger  language   regarding 
the  important  service  rendered  by  the  ma- 
harajah and  bis  minister.     Of  the  latter, 
Colonel  Grove  Somerset,  who  served  in  the 
Gwalior  contingent  for  several  years,  speaks 
most    highly;    declaring,    "I    look    upon 
Dinkur  Rao  as  a  gentleman,  an  honest  and 
faithful  man,  and  my  friend."J     It  is  re- 
markable  how   generally    the   most   expe- 
rienced servants,  both  of  the  Crown  and  of 
the  E.  I.  Company,  have  concurred  in  bear- 
ing   testimony  to  the    ability  and    integ- 
rity which   they   had  witnessed  in  native 

Colonel  Grove  Somerset,  to  whom  the  author 
gratefully  acknowledges  himself  indebted  for  much 
valuable  information  regarding  Gwalior. 


334 


MAJOR  MACPHERSON  AND  BRIGADIER  RAMSAY. 


courts.  General  Lowe,  the  "  anti-annexa- 
tion" member  of  tlie  Supreme  Council, 
holds  the  same  language  in  the  present 
epoch,  when,  in  Mr.  Disraeli's  words,  the  rule 
is  "to  destroy  nationality;"*  as,  of  old, 
General  Wellesley  held,  under  the  wiser 
i  and  more  honourable  system  of  respecting 
it.  Tlie  latter  authority  was  little  given  to 
enthusiasm  in  feeling,  or  warmth  of  expres- 
sion ;  yet  his  despatches  aiford  declarations 
of  esteem  and  friendship  for  Purneah,  the 
dewan  of  Mysoor,  such  as  few  European 
ministers  elicited  from  his  iron  pen;  and 
in  describing  to  Sir  John  Malcolm  the 
character  of  the  wiHest  of  the  continental 
diplomatists  with  whom  his  wonderful 
career  had  brought  him  in  connection,  he 
compared  the  famous  Frenchman  to  their 
old  Mahratta  acquaintance,  Sindia's  am- 
bassador at  the  famous  conferences  which 
preceded  the  treaty  of  Surjee  Anjengaum, 
in  1803;  remarking,  that  Talleyrand  was 
"like  Eitel  Punt— only  not  so  clever." 

The  present  maharajah,  the  representa- 
tive and  heir,  by  adoption,  of  the  Sindia  of 
half  a  century  ago,  is  more  fortunate  than 
his  predecessor ;  for  Diukur  Rao  appears  to 
unite  the  tact  of  Eitel  Punt  with  the 
judgment  and  integrity  of  Purneah. 

The  officer  in  command  at  Gwalior,  in 
May,  1857,  was  Brigadier  Ramsay.  On 
the  30th  of  that  mouth,  he  reported  to 
government  the  circumstances  which  had 
occurred  during  the  four  previous  days. 
On  the  26th  instant,  the  men  of  the  con- 
tiogent  had  insulted  Dinkur  Rao  on  his 
entry  into  cantonments,  and  had  given  him 
so  much  reason  to  apprehend  personal  vio- 
lence at  their  hands,  that  he  returned  to 
the  Lushkur  (the  part  of  the  town  in  which 
Sindia  resided)  on  horseback,  instead  of 
the  carriage  in  which  he  had  come,  and  by 
a  bye-road,  to  avoid  observation.  The 
reason  of  this  strong  feeling  against  the 
dewan  was,  the  searching  inquiries  insti- 
tuted by  him  to  discover  the  originators  or 
propagators  of  a  report  current  in  Gwalior, 
as  in  most  other  stations  at  that  period,  of 
the  arrival  at  the  bazaar  of  a  large  quan- 
tity of  otta,  whicli  was  being  sold  at  a  very 
low  price,  with  the  view  of  destroying  the 
caste  of  the  purchasers  by  means  of  the 

*  India  debate.— riVnes,  July  28th,  1857. 

t  Brigadier  llamsay's  despatch,  dated  "  Gwalior, 
May  30th,  1857."— Further  Pari.  Papers  on  the 
Mutinies,  1858  (No.  6),  p.  152. 

X  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwalior,  p,  107. 

§  Brigadier  Ramsay's  despatch. — P.  Papers,  p.  153. 


bone-dust  secretly  mixed  with  the  flour. 
The  exposure  of  the  false  and  malicious 
character  of  this  rumour,  had  rendered 
Dinkur  Rao  extremely  unpopular.  On  the 
morning  of  the  27th,  the  maharajah  urged 
that  all  the  ladies  in  the  station  should  be 
sent  to  the  Residency  for  protection,  as  he 
had  reason  to  believe  that  the  contingent 
was  altogether  wrong  and  mutinous,  and 
that  the  men  had  sworn  on  the  Ganges- 
water  and  the  Koran  to  stand  by  each 
other.  In  the  event  of  the  outbreak  which 
he  considered  imminent,  he  advised  the 
ofBcers  at  once  to  mount  their  horses  and 
ride  off.  The  political  agent.  Major  Mac- 
pherson,  entirely  concurred  with  Sindia, 
and  moved  that  evening  from  icantonments 
into  the  Residency,  taking  the  ladies  with 
him ;  from  thence  they  were  sent  on,  at 
the  earnest  request  of  Sindia,  into  the 
palace,  for  greater  security.  The  party 
consisted  of  thirteen  ladies,  four  sergeant^s' 
wives  (almost  all  with  one  or  two  chil- 
dren), the  political  agent,  and  the  chaplain, 
Mr.  Coopland.  A  telegraphic  message  was 
immediately  dispatched  by  Major  Mac- 
pherson,  informing  Lieutenant-governor 
Colvin  of  what  had  occurred,  and  request- 
ing the  immediate  return  of  the  maha- 
rajah's  body-guard,  to  assist  in  escorting 
the  ladies  to  Agra.  A  copy  of  this  mes- 
sage was  sent  by  the  political  agent  to  the 
brigadier,  whereupon  the  latter  neutralised 
its  effect  by  dispatching  another  ;  in  which 
he  states — "  I  took  on  myself  to  report  to 
Mr.  Colvin,  that  we  [the  European  ofBcers] 
had  slept  in  the  lines  the  previous  night, 
that  all  was  quiet,  and  confidence  in- 
creasing; and  that  I  considered  Sindia  was 
disposed  to  enhance  his  own  services  at  the 
expense  of  the  contingent."-]- 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  brigadier's 
!  message  was  a  telegram  from  Agra,  de- 
siring that  the  ladies  should  not  be  sent 
thither  till  the  mutiny  really  broke  out  at 
Gwalior.  The  result  was,  that  when  the 
crisis  came,  the  unmarried  ofiicers  rode  off 
and  escaped;  the  married  ones  stayed  to 
protect  their  wives,  and  were  massacred. J 
In  the  evening  of  the  28th,  Mrs.  ]\Ieade 
and  Mrs.  Murray,  "in  opposition  to  the 
most  urgent  solicitations  of  Major  Mac- 
pherson,  returned  to  cantonments  ;"§  and 
the  other  ladies  followed  their  example 
on  the  30th,  at  the  brigadier's  express 
desire.  There  were  about  £6,000  in 
the  treasury;  and  the  brigadier,  instead 
of  sending  this  sum  to  the  Residency  or 


STATE  OF  GWALldR— May,  1857. 


^1^ 


tlie  palace  for  security,  and  thus  removing 
one  incitement  to  revolt,  contented  him- 
self by  increasing  the  guard  of  the  4th 
regiment  over  it,  with  a  view,  he  says,  to 
lead  the  men  to  think  that  he  feared  dan- 
ger from  without,  and  not  from  within. 
Although  thus  thwarted,  the  native  govern- 
ment and  the  political  agent  continued  to 
exert  themselves  strenuously  to  keep  down 
mutiny,  bearing  quietly  the  odium  un- 
justly raised  against  them,  and  hoping  for 
nothing  more  than  that  their  anticipations 
of  evil  miglit  prove  unfounded.  The  news 
of  the  mutiny  of  the  detachments,  in  con- 
cert with  the  other  troops  at  various  sta- 
tions, increased  the  difficulty  of  retaining 
the  main  body  in  allegiance;  the  bearing 
of  the  native  population  expressed  ill-will ; 
and  even  the  servants  became  insolent  in 
their  demeanour.  This  last  circumstance, 
however,  rests  on  the  testimony  of  Mrs. 
Coopland,  the  wife  of  the  chaplain  of  the 
station;  a  witness  whose  strong  prejudice 
against  the  natives,  evinced  in  her  observa- 
tions on  them  before  the  mutiny,  tends  to 
invalidate  the  credit  due  to  her  otherwise 
keen  perceptions.  The  maharajah,  the  lady 
admits,  "  in  some  way  prevented  the  women 
from  being  killed  at  Gvvalior" — a  service 
which,  if  it  did  not  inspire  gratitude,  might 
have  prevented  the  publication  of  an  un- 
courteous  comment  upon  his  "  limp,  cold 
hand,  just  like  all  natives  ;"*  and  apos- 
trophes in  connection  with  the  name  of  the 
man  who  had   saved  the  writer's  life,  re- 

*  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwalior,  p.  83. 

t  Mrs.  Coopland  speaks  of  Calcutta  as  "  the 
capital  of  a  country  called  the  Queen's  penal  settle- 
ment for  paupers"  (p.  14)  ;  and  of  India  as  "  Scot- 
land's grave-yard."  Then  she  relates  the  efforts  of 
herself  and  her  husband  at  scolding  their  attendants 
in  Hindustani ;  and  how,  not  being  sufficiently  fluent 
in  that  language,  they  had  recourse  to  English, 
which,  they  "  had  been  told,  natives  disliked  more, 
as  they  did  not  know  whsl  it  meant."  Lest  any  of 
her  readers  should  find  themselves  at  a  similar  dis- 
advantage, Mrs.  Coopland  ridels,  that  "  the  most 
opprobrious  epithets  in  Hindustani,  are  '  khala  sour,' 
'  hurrumzadu,'  and  '  mourgeu'  (black  pig,  infidel, 
and  fowl"), — (p.  19).  To  Sindia  she  took  a  strong 
dislike,  on  first  arriving  at  his  capital,  for  the  fol- 
lowing reason  :—"  Unfortunately,  the  rajah  was  a 
Hindoo,  therefore  the  cow  being  sacred  in  his  eyes, 
We  were  not  allowed  any  beef  except  it  was  brought 
occasionally  from  Agra.  *  *  *  I  wish  the  rajah 
had  known  what  a  grudge  I  owed  him  for  this 
troublesome  prejudice."  (p.  48).  Mr.  Coopland's 
letters  to  England  suggest  sanguinary  and  ini. 
practicable  measures  for  the  suppression  of  the 
mutiny.  They  afford  evidence  of  the  conflicting 
opinions  of  the  Europeans  at  Gwalior,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which,  while  one  party  endeavoured  to  con- 
ciliate the  sepoys,  another,  including  the  Agra  press, 


garding  the  impossibility  of  finding  out  the 
motives  of  a  "  doubly-dyed  traitorous  Mah- 
ratta."  The  unreasoning  antipathy  to  all 
natives,  entertained  by  both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Coopland.t  rendered  their  position  infinitely 
worse  than  that  of  the  Europeans  in  gen- 
eral, either  at  Gwalior  or  elsewhere;  for 
while  these  latter  trusted  implicitly  (and 
were  justified  by  events  in  so  trusting), 
that  their  own  household  would,  if  they 
could  not  serve,  certainly  not  injure  them; 
the  Cooplands  believed  every  Indian  their 
sworn  foe,  and  anticipated  treachery  even 
from  their  ayah  and  punkah  coolies.  The 
chaplain,  Mrs.  Coopland  writes,  "seldom 
undressed  at  night;  and  I  had  a  dress 
always  ready  to  escape  in.  My  husband's 
rifle  was  kept  loaded  (I  learnt  to  load  and 
fire  it),  as  we  were  determined  not  to  die 
without  a  struggle."} 

According  to  this  authority,  rifle-ahooting 
was,  even  before  the  mutiny,  a  favourite 
accomplishment  among  a  portion  of  the 
European  ladies  in  India.  Scarce  as  tigers 
are  becoming  in  the  more  populous  parts 
of  the  country,  Mrs.  Coopland  "  knew  some 
ladies  who  had  shot  them ;"  and  she  makes 
disdainful  mention  of  women  who  "faint  at 
the  sight  of  blood,  and  are  terrified  at  a 
harmless  cow."  There  may  be  some  ex- 
aggeration in  this ;  but  if  the  ladies  at 
Gwalior  were  really  preparing  to  defend 
themselves,  as  early  as  the  middle  of  May, 
with  loaded  pistols,§  the  measure  was  sure 
to  be  reported,  by  the  native  servants,  to 

adopted  a  tone  calculated  to  alarm  and  infuriate 
them.  Writing  from  Gwalior,  May  16th,  Mr. 
Coopland  declares  the  Meerut  and  Delhi  outbreak 
to  be  a  divine  "  punishment  upon  all  the  weak 
tampering  with  idolatry,  and  flattering  vile  super- 
stition [not  killing  beef  in  a  Hindoo  state,  for  in- 
stance]. Of  course  we  are  alarmed  here.  There 
are  only  about  twenty  English  officers,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  in  the  station,  and  about  5,000 
Native  troops ;  so  that  we  are  entirely  at  their 
mercy.  •  ••  •  Instead  of  remaining  to  have  our 
throats  cut,  we  ought  to  have  gone  to  Agra  long 
ago,  or  towards  Bombay :  all  the  European  regi- 
ments should  have  been  drawn  together ;  and  every 
Native  regiment  that  shotoed  the  least  sign  of  dis- 
affection, at  once  destroyed,  or  at  least  driven  away  : 
for,  as  a  leading  article  in  the  Agra  paper  of  this 
morning  observes,  what  Native  regiment  can  now  be 
trusted?  I  would  leave  for  Bombay  at  once,  but  it 
would  be  death  to  be  exposed  even  for  an  hour  to 
the  sun."  Sooner,  therefore,  than  encounter  the  heat 
of  the  journey,  the  chaplain  remained  at  Gwalior  to 
meet  the  death  he  anticipated  at  the  hands  of  those 
whom  he  had  prejudged  as  "  the  brutal,  treacherous, 
Native  soldiers." — (p.  85.)  J  Ibid.,-p.  lU 

§  Captain  Campbell,  we  are  told,  ;before  starting 
with  the  reinforcement  to  Agra,  "  gave  his  wife  a 
brace  of  loaded  pistols." — Ibid.,  p.  88. 


S86 


MUTINY  AT  LULLUTPOOR— JUNE  12th,  1857. 


the  troops,  and  was  not  calculated  to  in- 
crease the  chance  of  escape  for  the  women 
in  the  event  of  a  mutiny. 
.  Lullutpoor. — The  mutiny  in  the  contin- 
gent, which  immediately  preceded  that  at 
Gwalior,  occurred  at  Lullutpoor,  a  military 
post,  where  the  head-quarters  and  right 
wing  of  the  6th  infantry  were  stationed, 
the  left  wing  being  at  the  fort  of  Aseer- 
ghur.  On  the  morning  of  the  12th  of 
June,  forty-five  troopers  arrived  from  Now- 
gong.  They  belonged  to  the  12th°irregular 
cavalry,  the  regiment  which  had  been  con- 
spicuous at  Jhansi  for  its  ferocity.  The 
detachment  had  been  sent  for,  for  the  re- 
inforcement of  Lullutpoor,  by  order  of 
Captain  Skene,  immediately  before  the 
outbreak  at  Jhansi ;  but  the  news  of  the 
massacre  at  that  place,  and  the  conduct  of 
the  12th,  had  reached  Lullutpoor,  where, 
however,  all  remained  quiet  until  the  very 
moment  of  revolt.  Dr.  O'Brien,  the  regi- 
nieutal  surgeon,  remarks,  regarding  the 
mutiny  of  the  6th,  ou  the  night  of  the 
12th  of  June — 

"It  was  rather  a  sudden  affair,  and  unexpected 
by  me.  Captain  Sale,  who  commanded,  and  I  and 
the  sepoys,  parted  good  friends.  They  told  us  they 
were  the  servants  of  the  king  [of  Delhi],  and  that 
we  might  go :  we  saluted  each  other,  and  parted. 
The  native  sergeant-major,  Ungud  Sookool,  was  a 
man  of  vast  influence  in  the  regiment — in  fact,  he 
commanded  it ;  and,  had  he  been  loyal,  the  regiment 
would  not  have  mutinied.  On  the  march  of  the 
right  wing  from  Lullutpoor,  the  Boondelas  thought 
they  would  catch  them  crossing  the  bridge,  pour  a 
volley  into  them,  and  get  hold  of  the  treasure  ;  but 
Ungud  Sookool  was  too  wide  awake ;  he  threw  out 
skirmishers  on  each  side  of  the  bridge,  and  swept 
the  nullah.  The  mutineers  had  to  fight  their  way 
from  Lullutpoor  to  the  Betwa  river,  which  they  did 
in  good  style,  inflicting  severe  loss  on  the  Boon- 
delas. The  wing  was  not  more  than  300  strong,  as 
a  portion  of  the  men  were  on  leave;  the  Boondelas 
were  in  thousands.  After  they  crossed  the  Betwa 
they  were  in  the  Jhansi  territory,  and  the  firing 
ceased.  On  their  march  from  Jhansi  towards  Oorai 
and  Calpee,  they  fell  in  with  .a  lot  of  Christian 
prisoners,  whom  they  liberated  and  caused  to  be 
escorted  to  some  place  of  safety.  So  that,  on  the 
whole,  they  behaved  well  to  the  Christians.  Had 
one  Native  officer  remained  firm,  three-fourths  of 
the  corps  would  have  remained  with  him.'" 

Dr.  O'Brien  states,  that  but  for  the  pre- 
sence of  the  cavalry  detachment,  he  should 
have  remained  at  Lullutpoor  until  the 
morning;  as  it  was,  he  prevailed  on  Cap- 
tain Sale  to  join  him  in  seeking  the  pro- 
tection of  the  rajah  of  Baupore,  a  neigh- 

•  Letter  from  Dr.  O'Brien,  28th  October,  1858. 
Communicated  by  Colonel  Grove  Somerset, 
t  Ibid. 


bouring  chief  whom  he  had  known  for 
years.  The  two  Europeans,  accompanied 
by  several  faithful  sepoys,  proceeded  to 
Mussoorah  (a  small  fort,  four  miles  from 
Lullutpoor),  and  there  found  the  rajah, 
who,  at  their  request,  sent  off  a  party  of 
horsemen  to  bring  away  from  the  station 
Deputy-commissioner  Gordon,  Lieutenant 
Gordon  (6th  infantry),  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren; the  quartermaster-sergeant  and  his 
wife,  and  a  Salt  patrol.  The  rescue  was 
quietly  effected,  and  the  fugitives  were 
kindly  received  at  Baupore.  Yet  it  was 
subsequently  discovered  that  the  rajah  had 
been  tampering  with  the  men  for  some 
time  before  they  mutinied.  He  was  de- 
ceived in  the  amount  of  money  in  the 
treasury,  believing  that  it  contained  three 
lacs,  instead  of  only  20,000  rupees.  Buksh 
Bullie,  the  rajah  of  Shahghur,  like  the 
rajah  of  Baupore  and  many  other  chiefs, 
protected  fugitives,  but  still  joined  in  the 
revolt.  Of  the  former,  Dr.  O'Brien,  who 
was  first  sheltered  and  afterwards  impri- 
soned by  him,  says,  "I  know  the  rajah  of 
Shahghur  was  a  long  time  wavering :"  he 
was  "  a  weak,  vacillating  man,  easily  led 
astray ;"  but,  "  had  he  or  the  rajah  of  Bau- 
pore had  such  a  man  as  Dinkur  Rao  to 
advise  them,  they  would  not  have  rebelled  ; 
neither  would  they  have  done  so,  had 
Slecman  been  at  Saugor."t 

At   Aseerghur,   great   fears   were  enter- 
tained that  the  left  wing  of  the  6th  would 
'  follow  the  example  set  at  Lullutpoor,  and, 
seizing  on  the  fortress  entrusted  to  their 
j  charge,   give    dangerous   assistance   to  the 
rebel  cause,  by  the  prestige  attached  to  the 
possession    of    the    famous    old    fortress. 
I  Happily,  the  inhabitants  of  Aseerghur,  and 
of  the    neighbouring    country,   were    well 
affected  towards  the  British  government; 
I  and  the  commandant.  Colonel  le  Mesurier, 
considered,   that   by   embodying   for   tem- 
porary service  100  to  150  active  men,  the 
safety   of  the   fortress   might    be   secured 
until    reinforcements    of    Bombay    troops 
should  arrive.     At  the  same  time,  he  ex-  i 
erted  every  effort  to  prevent  the  men  from  i 
hearing   of    the   various    mutinies    taking  ; 
place  among  the  scattered  portions  of  the  ! 
contingent.     The  sepoys  remained  obedient 
and  orderly  throughout  June;  but  early  in 
July,  the  determined  attitude  assumed  by 
the  mutinous  contingent,  seriously  alarmed  | 
the  colonel,  who  felt  that  his  men  could  not 
be  expected   to   fight   against,   and   would  j 
probably  fraternise  with,  their  own  kindred. 


MUTINY  AT  GWALIOR— SUNDAY,  JULY  14th,  1857. 


337 


He  therefore  induced  the  entire  left  wing 
to  evacuate  the  fort,  ou  the  plea  of  being 
encamped  in  readiness  to  join  the  field 
force  then  daily  expected  at  Aseerghur. 
The  men  murmured,  but  obeyed ;  and  at 
sunrise  on  the  6th  of  July,  the  regiment 
paraded  and  marched  out  in  a  quiet  and 
orderly  manner;  immediately  after  which,  a 
party  of  eighty-five  men,  who  had  been 
quietly  got  together  a  day  or  two  previ- 
ously, and  warned  to  be  in  readiness,  were 
marched  into  the  fortress ;  and  in  another 
hour,  the  regimental  guards  were  relieved, 
and  joined  their  comrades  at  the  encamping- 
ground. 

To  return  to  Gwalior,  where  the  British 
continued  to  manifest  an  implicit  confi- 
dence in  the  contingent,  which  Sindia  de- 
clared to  be  "  incompreheusible."  The 
time,  he  said,  for  reasoning  with,  or  profess- 
ing confidence  in,  the  sepoys  was  past,  and 
any  attempt  to  do  either  would  be  as- 
cribed to  false  motives.  Again  and  again 
he  reiterated  a  formal  warning,  that  the 
contingent  troops  had  ceased  entirely  to  be 
servants  to  the  Britisli  government.  The 
treasure  from  Oorai*  was  brought  in  by 
a  party  of  the  2nd  (contingent)  infantry  on 
the  12th  of  June,  and  Major  Macpher- 
sou  sent  it  at  once  to  the  treasury  of  the 
maharajah,  as  the  sole  chance  for  its  pre- 
servation. 

On  the  13th,  a  wing  of  the  2nd  infantry 
was  ordered  to  proceed  to  the  Persa  and 
Seekurwaree  districts,  near  the  Chumbul. 
The  commanding  oflBcer  (Major  Blake)  was 
compelled  to  report  that  the  men  had  re- 
fused to  march ;  but  he  hoped  they  would 
yet  obey.  The  14th  fell  on  a  Sunday ;  and 
several  of  the  Europeans,  who  were  never 
to  see  another  sunrise,  left  their  homes 
early,  to  witness  the  funeral  of  an  officer's 
child,  the  little  son  of  Captain  Murray. 
Major  Blake  and  his  lady.  Major  Sherriff, 
and  Captain  Hawkins,  were  among  those 
who,  after  the  funeral,  attended  church 
and  partook  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

It  must  have  been  a  solemn  and  deeply 
affecting  service  to  all  who  took  part  in  it; 
but  to  none  more  so  than  to  Captain 
Hawkins,  an  excellent  and  very  popular 
officer  of  twenty-five  years'  standing,  then 
in  command  of  the  artillery  of  the  Gwalior 

•  See  ante,  p.  318. 

t  Mrs.  Blake's  Escape  from    Gwalior.     Printed 
for  private  circulation. 
\  Ibid. 

5  "  Notes  of  events  at  Gwalior,  from  the  11th  of 
VOL.  H.  2  X 


contingent.  He  was  one  of  those  who  had 
upheld  the  trustworthiness  of  the  con- 
tingent, or  at  least  of  his  own  men,  in 
opposition  to  the  maharajah,  the  resident, 
and  Dinkur  Rao;  but  he  had  other  causes 
of  anxiety.  His  wife  had  joined  him  from 
Seepree  (the  nearest  station),  in  the  middle 
of  the  preceding  week,  with  her  four 
children  :  a  fifth  liad  been  born  an  hour  after 
her  arrival ;  and  from  the  effects  of  hurry 
and  excitement,  the  life  of  the  mother  was 
almost  despaired  of  on  that  Sunday  morn- 
ing. Mrs.  Blake,  in  a  painfully  interest- 
ing account  of  what  she  witnessed,t  remarks 
— "The  sepoys  were,  as  usual,  most  re- 
spectful as  we  passed,  both  in  going  and  re- 
turning to  the  burial-ground."  In  the 
afternoon,  an  unoccupied  bungalow,  in  the 
very  centre  of  the  cantonments  (the  pro- 
perty of  a  native),  was  discovered  to  be  on 
fire.  A  few  minutes  later  flames  burst  forth 
from  the  mess-house,  which  was  about 
eighty  or  ninety  yards  from  the  former  build- 
ing; and  both  were  soon  totally  destroyed. 
The  mess  bath-house  also  caught  fire,  and 
was  burned;  and  Captain  Stewart's  bungalow 
was  only  saved  by  the  exertions  of  the  sepoys. 
These  fires  caused  alarm  and  mistrust  among 
some  of  the  ladies  and  officers ;  but  others, 
again,  so  entirely  rejected  the  idea  of  danger 
or  treachery,  that  fears  were  allayed,  and 
no  plans  made  for  the  escape  of  either  women 
or  officers  in  case  of  an  outbreak. {  In  the 
evening,  shortly  before  nine  o'clock,  a  report 
was  brought  up  from  the  lines,  that  the 
Native  artillery  had  turned  out  and  loaded 
their  guns.  Captains  Hawkins  and  Stewart 
hastened  to  the  lines,  and  found  their  men 
preparing  for  action.  When  asked  the 
meaning  of  their  conduct,  they  replied 
they  had  been  told  they  were  about  to 
be  attacked,  and  had  heard  "  that  the  Euro- 
peans were  upon  them."  It  was  no  time  for 
discussion;  and  the  officers  were  glad  to  do 
what  they  could  to  quiet  the  men,  and  in- 
duce them  to  disperse ;  after  which.  Captains 
Hawkins  and  Stewart  proceeded  to  the 
brigadier's  to  report  the  circumstance.§ 
While  sitting  with  him,  some  sepoys 
rushed  in,  exclaiming  that  the  troops  were 
in  actual  revolt.  The  alarm  was  sounded  ; 
and  the  officers,  leaving  the  brigadier, 
returned    to  their    lines.      Most    of   the 

May ;"  published  in  the  Mqfussilite  newspaper, 
August  19th.  These  notes  are  evidently  extracted 
from  a  journal  kept  by  one  of  the  Gwalior  com- 
munity; but  the  name  and  position  of  the  writer 
are  carefully  withheld. 


338         DEATH  OF  MAJOR  BLAKE— GWALIOR,  JUNE  14th,  1857. 


Europeans  had  retired  to  rest,  and  were 
awakened  by  their  servants.  Bugles  were 
heard  sounding  an  alarm  ;  voices  cried,  "  To 
arms  !  to  arms  !  the  Feringhees  are  come." 
Major  Blake  rose  immediately,  dressed,  took 
a  hasty  leave  of  his  wife,  and  galloped  to 
the  lines.  On  arriving  at  the  quarter-guard 
of  his  regiment,  he  was  shot  through  the 
chest,  and  fell  with  his  charger.  Lieutenant 
Pierson,  the  adjutant  of  the  2nd  infantry, 
was  the  next  officer  on  the  ground.  He  had 
been  roused  by  the  intelligence  that  the 
whole  of  the  troops  had  mutinied,  and  were 
lining  the  main  roads  of  the  cantonments, 
with  the  intention  of  shooting  down  all  the 
Europeans  who  should  approach  them.  It 
must  have  been  a  hard  trial  to  leave  a  young 
wife  alone  to  meet  death  or  worse,  and  to 
go,  as  it  were,  in  search  of  danger  in  another 
quarter;  and  the  young  officer  rode  gloomily 
away,  to  join  the  mutinous  body  he  had 
till  now  proudly  called  his  regiment.  "  I 
knew  what  I  had  to  expect,"  he  writes; 
"  and  yet  it  was  my  duty  to  go  and  do  my 
best ;  so  I  went  away  from  my  home,  which 
I  never  saw  again."  He  had  not  proceeded 
far  on  the  road  before  he  met  Dr. 
Mackellar  and  Lieutenant  Ryves,  who  had 
just  escaped  from  Jhansi ;  and  the  three 
Europeans  "  were  regularly  hustled  down 
to  parade  by  crowds  of  sepoys."  Four 
volleys  of  musketry  were  fired  at  them;  and 
a  ball,  during  the  last  one,  shot  Pierson's 
horse  through  the  heart.  The  animal  fell; 
the  rider  extricated  himself  with  difficulty, 
expecting  a  bayonet  in  his  back  every 
moment.  Wrenching  his  leg  from  beneath 
the  dead  horse,  and  leaving  his  boot  be- 
hind, he  went  on  parade,  and  there  saw 
Major  Blake  lying  mortally  wounded.  He 
knelt  beside  the  dying  man,  unfastened  his 
coat,  placed  his  head  on  his  shoulder,  and 
tried  to  make  him  speak.  Mackellar  and 
Ryves  stood  by ;  and  though  the  Europeans 
were  surrounded  by  hundreds  of  mutineers 
during  their  attendance  on  the  major,  no 
attempt  was  made  to  injure  them  :  indeed, 
the  men  of  the  2nd  Foot  professed  great 
sorrow  for  what  had  occurred,  declared 
vehemently  that  the  4th  Foot  had  done  the 
deed,  and  seemed  anxious  to  save  their 
commander,  if  it  were  yet  possible.  But  it 
was  too  late:  the  brave,  kind  heart  that 
could  not  harbour  suspicion  or  distrust,  had 
nearly  ceased  to  beat ;  consciousness  was 
quite  over ;  and  his  poor  widow,  when  she 
learnt  the  manner  of  her  bereavement, 
comforted  herself  by  reflecting,  that  since 


her  husband  had  lived  "  to  fear  the  grave  as 
little  as  his  bed,"  "  she  might  look  upon  his 
end  as  more  of  a  translation  than  death,  so 
rapid  must  have  been  the  exchange  from 
earth  to  heaven." 

Some  of  the  sepoys  made  an  attempt  to 
carry  away  the  body  of  the  dead  or  dying 
officer  to  the  hospital ;  and,  by  their  advice, 
the  other  three  Europeans  endeavoured  to 
make  their  escape.  The  Jhansi  fugitives 
rode  off  towards  Agra  ;  but  Pierson,  being  on 
foot,  could  not  accompany  them.  Three 
sepoys  saw  his  position,  and,  catching  hold  of 
him,  said  they  would  try  and  save  him.  They 
threw  off  his  hat,  tore  off  his  trowsers  and 
remaining  boot,  rolled  him  in  a  horsecloth, 
and,  while  two  carried  the  mummy-like 
burden,  the  third  walked  in  front,  and  by 
dint  of  energy  and  resolution,  by  knocking 
up  one  rebel's  musket,  and  declaring  it  was 
one  of  their  wives  they  were  carrying,  they 
bore  their  burden  safely  past  all  the  sentries, 
and  crossed  the  river.  Then  they  wished 
him  to  start  for  Agra,  assuring  him  that 
the  chances  were  ten  to  one  that  his  wife 
had  been  killed  by  that  time ;  but  he  was 
firm  in  refusing  to  attempt  to  escape  with- 
out her;  and,  after  much  persuasion,  the 
sepoys  were  induced  to  take  him  down  the 
banks  of  the  river  (the  opposite  side  of 
which  was  lined  with  guards  to  arrest 
fugitives),  until  they  arrived  opposite  the 
house  Pierson  had  so  lately  left.  Then  one 
of  the  sepoys  said,  "  Now  1  will  go  and  bring 
your  wife,  if  she  is  alive."  He  did  go,  and, 
in  twenty  minutes,  husband  and  wife  met 
again.  The  house  had  been  robbed  by  the 
sepoy  guard :  the  money  left  with  a  faith- 
ful native  servant  for  her  use,  had  been 
taken  from  him,  and  the  watch  and  chain 
snatched  from  her  hand ;  but  she  was 
personally  uninjured,  though  terrified  and 
unable  to  walk.  The  three  sepoys  "  be- 
haved splendidly."  The  horsecloth,  in  which 
they  had  before  swathed  the  lieutenant,  was 
now  tied  "  bag-fashion  on  to  a  musket," 
with  the  lady  in  it;  and  placing  the  but 
and  muzzle  on  their  shoulders,  they  carried 
her  thus  seven  miles  to  the  Residency, 
her  husband  walking  barefoot  by  their  side 
all  the  way.  Three  other  European  fugi- 
tives had  reached  the  same  place  just  before 
Lieutenant  and  Mrs.  Pierson ;  and  having 
procured  an  elephant,  they  all  mounted 
on  it,  and  started  afresh,  with  the  intention 
of  seeking  protection  with  the  maharajah 
in  the  Lushkur,  which  was  about  five 
or   six   miles   from   the   Mora,    or   British 


FUTURE  POLICY  OP  THE  GWALIOR  DURBAR— JUNE,  1857.        339 


cantonments.  They  had  not  proceeded  above 
half  a  mile,  before  they  met  nearly  a  dozen 
carriages,  the  horses  at  full  gallop,  attended 
by  an  escort  of  Sindia's  body-guard.  The 
party  consisted  of  Major  Macpherson  and 
his  sister,  Mrs.  Innes  (whose  husband  was  at 
Lucknow),  Brigadier  Ramsay,  Captain  and 
Mrs.  Meade  aud  child.  Captain  and  Mrs. 
Murray  and  two  children,  the  Piersons, 
and  seventeen  other  persons,  of  whom  the 
majority  were  women  and  children.  Some 
of  them  had  escaped  with  great  difficulty 
from  the  cantonments.  Brigadier  Ramsay 
aud  Captains  Meade  and  Murray,  finding 
it  useless  to  attempt  going  to  the  lines, 
fled  directly  to  Sindia  with  their  families, 
under  the  escort  of  a  havildar  and  some 
faithful  sepoys. 

On  hearing  of  the  outbreak.  Major  Mac- 
pherson had  hastened  to  join  the  maharajah, 
and  found  him  at  his  palace,  the  Phoolbagh, 
surrounded  by  his  troops  under  arms.  The 
brigadier  and  officers,  with  several  ladies 
and  children,  had  already  arrived  ;  and  they 
believed  that  all  left  behind  in  cantonments 
must  have  perished.  Patrols  of  picked  men 
of  Sindia's  troops  were,  however,  sent  to 
search  for  fugitives.  The  maharajah  and 
the  dewan  considered  it  perfectly  clear,  from 
the  attitude  of  the  rebels  and  the  feeling  of 
the  durbar  troops,  that  the  Europeans  could 
not  be  protected  in  Gwalior.  Carriages, 
palanquins,  and  an  escort  of  the  body-guard, 
had  therefore  been  prepared  to  convey  them 
to  the  Chumbul,  or,  if  necessary,  to  Agra. 

Then  followed  an  anxious  discussion  on 
the  policy  to  be  adopted  by  Sindia.  The 
rebels  were  known  to  expect,  that  in  the 
event  of  his  refusing  to  enrol  and  lead  them 
against  the  rich  and  weakly  garrisoned  fort 
of  Agra,  he  would  gladly  purchase  their 
departure  with  a  large  sum  of  money. 
Failing  this,  they  threatened  to  bombard 
Gwalior,  in  which  case  it  was  probable  that 
the  maharajah's  troops  would  coalesce  with 
them;  and,  with  their  artillery  and  magazine, 
the  nominal  sovereign  would  be  entirely  at 
their  mercy.  It  was  evident  that,  under 
these  complicated  difliculties,  the  simplest 
course  for  the  Gwalior  court  was  to  get  rid 
of  the  mutinous  contingent  at  once,  and  at 
any  rate;  but  the  arguments  of  Major 
Macpherson  were  successfully  directed  to 
inducing  Sindia  to  act  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Supreme  government,  and  rely  on  its 
strength  and  generosity  to  uphold  and 
reward  him  for  any  temporary  sacrifice  or 
peril  to  his  more  immediate  interests.     The 


part  which  he  was  to  play  was  difficult  and 
dangerous,  as  double-dealing  always  is,  how- 
ever good  the  object  in  view.  It  was  to 
hold  the  contingent  in  check  until  Agra 
could  be  reinforced,  or  Delhi  should  fall. 
To  this  end  it  was  deemed  indispensable 
that  Sindia  should  give  no  decided  answer 
to  the  rebel  deputations,  by  which  (as  was 
foreseen)  he  was  subsequently  besieged,  but 
should  lead  them  to  believe  that  he  was  at 
heart  one  with  them,  and  only  waited  a 
good  opportunity  of  throwing  off  his  alle- 
giance to  the  British. 

Sindia  and  Dinkur  Rao  were  assured, 
that  whatever  the  outer  Anglo-Indian  world 
might  think  of  their  conduct,  the  governor- 
general,  understanding  its  true  bearing, 
would  approve  any  concessions  that  might 
be  necessary  for  the  all-important  object — 
the  detention  of  the  contingent.  This  ques- 
tion being  decided,  the  Europeans  quitted 
Gwalior.  On  reaching  Hingonah,  a  village 
twelve  miles  from  the  Chumbul,  they  found 
a  band  of  200  Ghazis,  drawn  up  under  a 
Mohammedan  named  Jehangeer  Khan,  who 
had  once  been  a  havildar  in  the  contin- 
gent. Leaving  the  British  service,  he  en- 
tered that  of  Sindia,  aud  became  one  of  his 
favourite  captains ;  but  the  mutiny  suddenly 
transformed  him  into  a  Ghazi  leader  of  the 
highest  pretensions  to  sanctity.  The  word 
must  have  sounded  ominous  of  evil  to 
such  of  the  Europeans  as  had  any  ac- 
quaintance with  the  history  of  the  Moham- 
medan conquest  of  India.  The  present 
"holy  warriors,"  chiefly  rebels  from  the 
British  and  Sindia's  ranks,  being  novices, 
seem  to  have  been  irresolute  as  to  their 
plan  of  action.  The  leader,  after  some 
preliminary  discussion,  approached  Major 
Macpherson,  arrayed  in  green;  aud,  while 
fingering  his  beads,  mingled  his  prayers 
with  protestations  of  the  absence  of  any 
intention  on  his  part  of  injuring  the  Eu- 
ropeans. But  the  listeners  were  incre- 
dulous ;  for  the  captain  of  the  body-guard 
pointed  out  to  them  a  body  of  plunderers 
in  evident  concert  with  the  Ghazis  assembled 
in  the  ravines  on  the  way  to  the  river.  Hap- 
pily, Dinkur  Rao,  knowing  the  road,  had 
foreseen  that  some  difficulty  might  occur  at 
this  point ;  and  in  obedience  to  his  sum- 
mons, Thakoor  Buldeo  Sing,  chief  of  the 
Dundowteeah  Brahmins — a  robust  and  war- 
like tribe — arrived  at  midnight,  with  a  strong 
body  of  followers,  just  as  the  resident  was 
preparing  to  abandon  the  carriages,  and 
start  the  ladies  aud  children  on  horseback, 


340 


GOOD  SERVICES  OP  RANA  OF  DHOLPOOR— JUNE,  1857. 


by  a  bridle-path,  towards  Rajghaut,  lower 
down  the  Chumbul.  Buldeo  Sing  reminded 
the  resident  of  a  visit  he  had  once  paid 
them,  and  of  his  intercession  with  the  de- 
wan,  regarding  some  tanks  and  wells  for  the 
people.  "We  have  not  forgotten  this,"  he 
said,  "  and  will  defend  you  with  our  lives." 
He  set  one-half  of  his  men  to  watch  Je- 
hangeer  Khau,  and,  with  the  other,  escorted 
the  Europeans  to  the  river,  avoiding  a  band 
of  mutineers  stationed  in  one  of  the  roads, 
by  turning  out  of  the  usual  path.  It  was 
well  for  the  fugitives  they  had  so  stanch  an 
escort ;  for  the  body-guard  and  the  Paegah 
(or  household)  horse,  alarmed  at  the  pros- 
pect of  being  brought  in  contact  with  their 
mutinous  brethren,  refused  to  enter  the 
ravines,  and,  deaf  to  all  remonstrance,  turned 
back  to  Gwalior  The  Europeans  crossed 
the  Chumbul  by  the  aid  of  Buldeo  Sing ; 
and,  on  the  opposite  shore,  the  elephants 
and  escort  of  the  rana  of  Dholpoor  were  in 
readiness,  in  compliance  with  a  requisition 
sent  by  Major  Macpherson  in  the  course  of 
the  previous  day's  march. 

Dholpoor, — is  the  capital  of  a  small  sub- 
sidiary state  of  the  same  name,  1,626  square 
miles  in  extent,  with  a  population  of  about 
.550,000  persons,  chiefly  Jats.  The  prince 
(also  a  Jat)  is  the  representative  of  that 
rana  of  Gohud,  the  breach  of  faith  with 
whom,  in  1805,  excited  the  indignation  of 
Lord  Lake.* 

The  reigning  prince  showed  the  fugitives 
every  kindness ;  and,  guarded  by  his  troops, 
the  remainder  of  the  journey,  although 
through  a  very  disturbed  country,  was  safely 
performed,  and  Agra  reached  on  the  1 7th. 
Major  Macpherson  had  received  a  slight 
sun-stroke  in  crossing  the  Chumbul ;  which, 
together  with  the  anxieties  of  the  time, 
occasioned  a  severe  illness  :  owing  to  this, 
his  early  reports  were  very  brief.  He  never- 
theless maintained  an  active  correspondence 
with  Gwalior,  through  various  channels,  in- 
cluding an  almost  daily  missive  to  and  from 
Dinkur  Rao,  written  in  Persian  cipher. 
The  Dholpoor  durbar  also  regularly  com- 
municated to  Major  Macpherson  the  news 
scut  by  their  vakeel  at  Gwalior ;  and  thus 
the  Agra  community,  during  their  pro- 
tracted season  of  anxiety,  had  the  consola- 
tion of  uninterrupted  and  reliable  informa- 
tion regarding  the  chief  danger  by  which 
they  were  menaced. 

On  Friday,  the  19th  of  June,  a  party  of 
women   and   children    (all    of  whom    were 
•  See  vol.  i.,  p.  404. 


supposed  to  have  been  massacred)  arrived 
from  Gwalior,  consisting  of  Mistresses  Blake, 
Campbell,  Raikes,  Proctor,  Kirk,  Coopland, 
some  sergeants'  wives,  and  other  European 
women,  with  their  little  ones. 

The  journey  had  been  disastrous  and 
wearisome  in  the  extreme  :  several  had  evea 
been  widowed  by  the  way.  At  the  outbreak, 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Kirk,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Coopland, 
and  Mrs.  Raikes,  had  taken  refuge  with 
Mrs.  Blake.  They  listened  in  terror  to  the 
firing,  which  lasted  about  three-quarters  of 
an  hour;  and,  when  it  ended,  were  told  by 
the  sepoys  on  duty  to  go  and  hide  themselves 
in  the  garden.  They  did  so,  and  spent 
many  hours  sitting  on  the  ground,  under 
some  citron  trees,  amid  the  glare  of  burning 
bungalows,  the  flames  and  smoke  sweeping 
over  them  in  clouds.  The  worst  of  the 
rebels,  joined  by  the  budmashes  of  the 
town,  and  maddened  by  bhang  and  ex- 
citement, smashed  the  windows  and  the 
china,  burst  through  doors,  forced  open 
boxes,  smashed  scores  of  bottles  of  beer, 
brandy,  and  wine;  and,  by  drinking  the 
contents,  stimulated  themselves  afresh  to 
the  deadly  work  of  pillage  and  destruction. 
Mirza,  the  kitmutgar  of  Mrs.  Blake,  took 
his  post  beside  bis  unhappy  mistress.  The 
sentry,  who  was  also  faithful,  came  to  tell 
her  that  "the  sahib  was  shot;"  and  she 
would  fain  have  remained  to  meet  her  fate 
where  she  was,  for  "  the  bitterness  of  death 
seemed  past ;"  but  the  two  natives  dragged 
her  away  to  Mirza's  hut,  which  was  with 
those  of  the  other  servants  at  the  end  of  the 
compound.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Kirk,  with  Mrs. 
Raikes,  her  nurse  and  baby,  had  taken 
refuge  elsewhere ;  but  Mr.  Coopland  and  his 
wife  accompanied  Mrs.  Blake.  They  re- 
mained in  a  little  inner  room,  while  the 
rabble  brought  carts  into  the  garden,  and 
filled  them  with  plunder.  The  greater  num- 
ber then  went  off;  but  a  few  came  down 
to  rob  the  servants  of  the  kitchen  utensils 
and  other  property,  and  to  search  for  Ferin- 
ghees.  Mirza  induced  them  to  leave  the 
place,  under  pretence  of  pointing  out  the 
hiding-place  of  some  Europeans ;  and,  upon 
returning  to  the  refugees,  he  hurried  them 
away,  before  the  insurgents  could  return, 
to  the  mud  hut  of  another  of  Mrs.  Blake's 
faithful  servants.  Here  they  were  joined 
by  Mrs.  Raikes,  who  had  been  previously 
concealed  in  the  stable,  with  her  ayah  and 
infant;  and  they  all  lay  crouched  on  the 
ground  till  about  six  in  the  morning,  when 
a  party  of  sepoys  came  back  to  search  for 


WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  ESCAPE  FROM  GWALIOR— JUNE,  1857.      341 


officers.  Hearing  the  wailing  of  the  baby, 
they  called  to  the  ayah,  who  was  near  the 
door  of  the  hut,  to  hand  them  any  property 
that  was  inside,  and  show  them  the  child. 
She  was  compelled  to  obey ;  and  a  general 
shout  arose — "Feringhee  ke  baba"  (it  is 
the  child  of  the  foreigner) ;  followed  by  a 
piercing  shriek  from  the  mother.  The  sepoys 
did  not  rush  in,  for  they  expected  to  find 
the  missing  officers  in  the  hut,  armed  with 
the  dreaded  "revolver,"  carried  by  most 
Europeans;  but  they  began  to  untile  the 
roof,  and  fire  on  the  wretched  group 
crouched  down  in  a  dark  corner.  Mrs.  Coop- 
land  had  snatched  up  a  log  of  wood  "as 
some  means  of  defence,"*  but  dropped  it 
at  the  first  shot;  and  her  husband  ex- 
claimed, "Let  us  rush  out,  and  not  die 
like  rats  in  a  hole."t  The  terrified  women 
threw  themselves  upon  the  mercy  of 
the  sepoys,  exclaiming  with  clasped  hands, 
"Mut  maro,  mut  maro"  (do  not  kill  us). 
"  No,"  was  the  reply ;  "  we  will  not  kill  the 
mem-sahibs,  only  the  sahib."  The  ladies 
surrounded  the  chaplain,  and  begged  for 
his  life ;  but  in  vain :  they  were  dragged 
away ;  and  he  fled,  pursued  by  the  sepoys, 
who  slaughtered  him  near  the  cantonments  ; 
but  not  before  he  had  killed  two  of  them 
with  his  rifle. J  A  young  sepoy  of  the 
4th  Foot  approached  the  terrified  ladies, 
and  told  them  to  give  up  any  jewels  they 
had.  The  lives  of  women,  he  said,  were 
not  wanted ;  but  they  must  obey  orders ;  for 
the  rule  of  the  Feringhee  was  over,  and  the 
rajah  would  soon  be  in  cantonments.  Then 
he  thrust  them  into  a  sweeper's  hut,  and  left 
them.  They  lay  down;  and  the  stillness 
of  their  grief  and  terror  was  such,  that  Mrs. 
Coopland  says,  a  little  mouse  crept  out  and 
looked  at  them  with  its  bright  eyes,  and 
was  not  afraid.  Presently  Mrs.  Campbell 
rushed  in  with  her  hair  dishevelled,  and  in 
a  native  dress.  She  had  been  alone  in  her 
compound  all  night,  and  was  half  distracted 
with  fear.  Next  came  Mrs.  Kirk,  the 
widow  of  the  superintending  surgeon  of 
the  Gwalior  contingent,  who  had  just  been 
killed  in  her  presence.  The  wretches  had 
torn  off  her  bracelets  so  roughly,  that  her 
wrists  were  bruised  and  swollen — even  her 
wedding-ring  was   gone;  but  her  child,  a 

*  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwalior,  p.  125. 

t  Mrs.  Blake's  Narrative,  p.  4. 

t  So,  at  least,  Mrs.  Coopland  was  afterwards 
assured  by  several  natives. — Escape,  SfC,  p.  120. 

§  Mrs.  Gilbert,  the  wife  of  an  absent  contingent 
officer,  had  been  staying  with  Lieutenant  Pioctor : 


boy  of  four  years  old,  was  safe  in  her  arms. 
He  had  been  spared  by  the  sepoys,  who, 
deceived  by  his  long  curls,  had  exclaimed 
one  to  another — "  Don't  kill  the  little  one ; 
it  is  a  'raissie  baba'"  (a  girl).  A  crowd  of 
natives  gradually  gathered  round  the  hut, 
and  made  their  comments  on  the  poor 
women.  The  beauty  of  Mrs.  Campbell, 
once  known  as  the  "  Rose  of  Gibraltar," 
was  conspicuous  even  at  this  moment;  and 
the  gazers  observed  how  well  her  feet 
looked  in  Indian  slippers.  Mrs.  Blake, 
they  remarked,  was  dying  already.  At 
length  some  of  the  2nd  infantry  came  in, 
and  carried  the  miserable  party  to  their  lines. 
On  arriving  there,  several  of  the  men  said 
to  Mrs.  Blake,  in  a  faltering  voice,  "  We  will 
take  you  to  the  sahib."  A  dead  charger  lay 
on  the  road  near  the  quarter-guard;  the 
poor  lady  sickened  at  the  sight.  The  sepoys 
placed  her  on  a  charpoy,  and  gave  her  some 
water.  When  she  recovered,  a  subahdar  of 
her  late  husband's  regiment  bent  on  one 
knee  before  her,  saying  the  colours  were 
gone.  All  sense  of  danger  was  lost  in  grief; 
and  she  exclaimed — "  It  is  your  own  faults  ; 
where  is  he?  and  why  did  you  kill  him?" 
The  subahdar  replied,  that  the  major  had 
fallen  by  the  hands  of  the  4th  Foot,  and 
that  his  own  men  had  buried  him :  the 
latter  statement  was  certainly  true.  At 
this  moment,  Mrs.  Gilbert  and  her  child  ar- 
rived, with  Mrs.  Proctor :  Lieutenant  Proc- 
tor had  been  killed  almost  in  their  sight. § 
They  were  followed  by  some  of  the  grena- 
diers, and  carried  off  to  their  lines.  The 
men  of  the  2nd  told  Mrs.  Blake  they  would 
order  her  carriage  to  take  her  where  she 
pleased.  It  was  a  landau,  calculated  to  hold 
only  two  persons;  and  the  horses  had  beeu 
harnessed  since  the  previous  night,  ready 
for  flight.  The  five  ladies,  a  nurse,  two  ser- 
geants' wives,  and  some  children  got  in,  with 
Mirza  as  driver.  The  sepoys  put  beer,  cam- 
phor-water, and  plain  water  into  the  car- 
riage ;  and  two  of  them  escorted  Mrs.  Blake 
half-way  to  the  Lushkur,  protesting  their  re- 
gret for  the  loss  of  the  sahib,  and  offering  her 
money,  which,  however,  she  did  not  need, 
having  her  purse  and  rings  of  value  with  her. 
On  reaching  the  palace  of  the  maharajah,  the 
party  were  desired  to  hurry  on  at  once  to 

her  state  of  health  rendered  flight  almost  impossible. 
Her  host  and  hostess  (although  they  had  planned  to 
escape  on  horseback)  would  not  abandon  her;  and 
the  party  lay  concealed  through  the  night;  but  being 
discovered  in  the  morning,  the  lieutenant  was  taken 
away  and  murdered. 


342 


THE  FLIGHT  FROM  GWALIOR— JUNE,  1857. 


Agra,  and  were  provided  with  bullock-carts 
for  the  purpose.     The  journey  lasted  three 
days,  and  the  disaffection  of  the  villagers 
rendered  it   perilous.     Mrs.    Gilbert,   Mrs. 
Proctor,  and  Mrs.  Quick,  a  sergeant's  wife, 
joined  them  on  the  road ;  and  their  number 
was  further  increased  by  a  European  belong- 
ing to  the  Telegraph  Company,  with  his  wife 
(an  Eurasian)   and   her  baby.     This  man, 
instead  of  a  support,  was  an  additional  bur- 
den, on  account  of  his  excessive  cowardice. 
But  for  the  vigilance  and  tact  of  the  native, 
who  even  Mrs.  Coopland  calls  "  the  ever- 
faithful  Mirza,"  the  journey  could  scarcely 
have  been  accomplished ;  but  he  proclaimed 
everywhere  that  the  ladies  were  under  the 
protection  of  Sindia,  who  would  punish  any 
injury  done  to  them.     They  halted  for  the 
night  at  a  large  village  near  the  Chumbul 
river :  the  natives  gathered  round  them,  and, 
looking  at  the  ladies  in  succession,  remarked 
that  they  were  not  worth  a  pice  (a  farthing) 
each,  except  Mrs.  Campbell,  who  was  de- 
clared   to    be    "hurra    kubsoorut"    (very 
handsome),  and  worth  an  anna  (about  three 
half-pence).     Mirza   had  procured  for  his 
helpless  charges,  chudders,   or  large  white 
veils,  such  as  the  natives  use  to  wrap  round 
their   heads    and  the  upper   part  of  their 
persons.     Mrs.  Campbell  strove  to  conceal 
her  face  in  the  one  she  wore ;  but  the  vil- 
lagers drew  it  aside,  saying,  "  We  will  look 
at  you."     At  another  time  the  party  were 
pursued  by  some  troopers,  and  Mirza  almost 
despaired  of  escape.     He  made  the  women 
quit  the  carts  and  sit  on  the  ground,  bidding 
them  pretend  to  sleep.     They  did  so,  and 
five  sowars   soon  overtook  them,    and,    on 
seeing  the  carts  drawn  'up,  stopped  and  dis- 
mouuted.     Mirza  met   the   troopers;    and 
Mrs.  Blake  and  Mrs.  Campbell,  who  were 
well  acquainted  with  Hindustani,  heard  him 
pleading  piteously  for  mercy.  "See  how  tired 
they  are,"  he  said ;  "  they  have  had  no  rest. 
Let  them  sleep  to-night;  you  can  kill  them 
to-morrow  :  only  let  them  sleep  now."     The 
men  went  away  a  little  distance;  but  as  it 
grew  darker  (for  it  was  evening),  they  crept 
nearer  again,  and  began  loading  their  match- 
locks, and  unsheathing  their  tulwars.    Mirza 
asked  the  ladies  for  any  ornaments  or  money 
they  had  about  them,  with  which  to  propi- 
tiate the  sowars.     Mrs.  Campbell  and  Mrs. 
Kirk  had  been  already  robbed.     Mrs.  Coop- 
land  had  left  her  purse  and  jewels  in  Gwa- 
lior;  but  she  drew  her  wedding-ring  from 
lier  finger,    and   tied    it  round   her  waist. 
Mrs.  Blake  took  ofif  all  her  rings  and  other 


ornaments,  and  gave  them,  with  her  money, 
to  Mirza,  who  handed  them  to  the  troopers. 
The  small  amount  of  booty  was  a  disap- 
pointment, and  they  pointed  a  loaded  pistol 
at  his  breast,  and  made  him  swear  that 
there  was  nothing  withheld.  Mrs.  Camp- 
bell came  forward,  and  offered  them  £40 
to  take  a  note  from  her  to  Captain  Camp- 
bell at  Agra.  They  hesitated ;  but  at  last 
refused,  saying  it  was  a  plot  to  be  rid  of 
them,  and  to  betray  them  into  the  hands  of 
the  authorities :  they  did  not,  however,  fur- 
ther molest  the  fugitives,  who  proceeded 
safely  to  Dholpoor,  the  chief  town  on  the 
route  between  Agra  and  Gwalior,  thirty- 
four  miles  south  of  the  former,  and  thirty- 
seven  miles  north  of  the  latter  town. 

Although  the  raiia  himself  proved  a  most 
valuable  ally,  the  feeling  of  his  subjects  was 
strongly  hostile  to  the  British ;  and  the  party 
of  European  women,  in  passing  through  the 
town  of  Dholpoor,  which  extends  on  either 
side  of  the  river  Chumbul,  could  not  but  ob- 
serve the  angry  manner  in  which  they  were 
regarded.  They  crossed  the  river  in  a  rude 
boat,  scarcely  better  than  a  raft,  and  were 
compelled  to  leave  the  carts  behind;  but 
soon  after  reaching  the  further  bank,  a 
trooper  on  a  camel  rode  up,  and  gave  Mrs. 
Campbell  a  note.  It  was  addressed  to  Sindia ; 
and  had  been  written  by  Captain  Campbell 
in  the  greatest  distress  of  mind,  under  the 
belief  that  all  in  Gwalior,  not  of  Major 
Macpherson's  party,  had  perished.  He 
begged  that  the  slain  in  Gwalior  might  be 
decently  interred,  especially  his  own  wife. 
This  she  herself  read.  The  trooper  oflfered 
to  take  her  to  Captain  Campbell,  who  had 
come  a  few  miles  out  of  Agra,  and  was  at 
the  dak  bungalow  at  Munnia,  resolved,  at 
any  hazard,  to  learn  his  wife's  fate.  Mrs. 
Campbell  would  not,  however,  leave  her 
companions,  who  depended  much  on  her, 
from  her  knowledge  of  the  native  language, 
and  her  helpful,  hopeful  spirit,  happily  not 
bowed  by  recent  bereavement  like  that  of 
Mrs.  Blake.  Taking  a  pin,  she  pricked  on 
the  back  of  her  husband's  note — "  We  are 
here,  more  than  a  dozen  women  and  children; 
send  us  help  :"  and  the  trooper  returned  to 
Captain  Campbell  with  the  welcome  missive. 
Encouraged  by  the  prospect  of  speedy  aid, 
the  poor  women  resumed  their  journey  on 
foot :  some  of  them  had  neither  shoes  nor 
stockings,  and  a  birth  and  a  death  were 
hourly  expected.  Mrs.  Quick,  the  sergeant's 
wife,  was  excessively  corpulent,  as  Euro- 
peans are  apt  to  become  iu  India.     One 


FATE  OF  ARTILLERY  OFFICERS  AND  THEIR  FAMILIES. 


343 


cart,   a  small  frail  one,  had  broken  down 
under  her  before  reaching  the  river,  and  she 
had  toiled  along  slowly  on  foot,  until  room 
had  been  made  for  her  in  another.     The 
\  intense    heat   of    the   walk   on    the   sands 
of  the   Chumbul  accelerated  her  end ;  she 
!  fell  down  in  a  fit  of  apoplexy,  amid  a  group 
of  natives,  who  crowded  round,  laughing  at 
her  immense  size,  and  mocking  her.     She 
died  in  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,   and  her 
companions  were   compelled   to   leave   the 
body,  entreating  the  natives  to  bury  her.* 
It  was  a  sad  death  for  one  of  "  the  most 
1  gentle  and  kind-hearted  creatures  that  ever 
existed."t     The  rest  of  the  party  reached 
Munnia  in   safety,  where  they  found  Cap- 
tain Campbell;  and  halted  for  a  few  hours, 
on  account  of  Mrs.  Gilbert,  who  gave  birth 
to  a  child.     She  and  the  infant  were  placed 
on  a  charpoy,  and  carried  to  Agra,  which 
city  the  weary  band  reached  at  six  o'clock  on 
the  Friday  morning,  when  they  separated  to 
take  up  their  abode  with  different  friends, 
or  in  the  house  appointed  for  the  reception 
of  the  Gwalior  refugees,  where  Major  Mac- 
pherson   and    Mrs.   Innes   resided.     Mirza 
continued  in  faithful  attendance  on  his  mis- 
tress until  her  departure  for  England.     For 
his   reward,   "government  gave  him    only 
£1a,  though  he  had  lost  more  than  that 
at  Gwalior.  J 

The  artillery  officers  and  their  families 
were  supposed  to  have  perished ;  but,  hap- 
pily, some  even  of  these  had  escaped. 
Captain  Stewart  had  been  wounded  on  the 
night  of  the  outbreak  by  the  infantry  muti- 
neers, but  had  been  carried  away,  con- 
cealed, and  attended  to  till  morning,  by  a 
faithful  servant,  his  bearer.  Captain  Haw- 
kins might  have  escaped  with  his  four  elder 
children ;  but  he  could  neither  leave  nor 
remove  his  wife  and  her  infant,  of  three  days 
old.  The  artillerymen  offered  to  conceal 
them  in  the  battery ;  and  Captain  Hawkins 
sent  a  message  desiring  his  wife  and  Mrs. 
Stewart  to  come  to  the  lines.  Mrs.  Hawkins 
was  carried  thither  on  a  bed  by  some  men 
of  the  artillery,  accompanied  by  her  nurse 
with  the  infant ;  and  a  large  party  of  ser- 
vants followed  with  the  four  other  children. 
Mrs.  Stewart  set  off  in  her  carriage  with  her 
children,  and  was  in  much  grief;  for  her 
husband's  horse  had  just  dashed  into  the 
compound  without  a  rider,  and  she  had 
learned  that  his  master  was  lying  concealed, 
and  badly  wounded.     The  party  remained 

•  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  frotn  Gwaliur,  p.  142. 
t  Testimony  of  Lieiit.-colonel  Somerset  Grove. 


in  safety  during  the  Sunday  night;  but,  on 
the  following  morning,  the  infantry  muti- 
neers discovered  that  some  Europeans  were 
hidden  in  the  battery ;  and  rushing  into 
the  sort  of  yard  where  they  were,  fired  a 
volley,  and  then  laid  about  them  with  their 
tulwars.  Captain  Hawkins  stood  beside  his 
wife,  holding  her  hand,  when  he  and  Mrs. 
Stewart  (who  was  clinging  to  his  arm)  were 
killed  by  the  same  bullet.  The  nurse  was 
shot,  and  the  infant  in  her  arms  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  killed  by  the  fall.  Two 
boys,  the  children  of  Mrs.  Stewart  and 
Mrs.  Hawkins,  were  slain  by  a  tulwar; 
but  Mrs.  Hawkins,  with  her  three  other 
children  and  little  Charlotte  Stewart,  a 
girl  of  six  years  old,  were  not  injured. 

The  sepoys,  from  their  furious  onslaught, 
evidently  expected  to  find  several  officers 
assembled;  otherwise,  they  would  have 
taken  care  to  spare  the  women  and 
children,  according  to  the  rule  ob- 
served throughout  the  Gwalior  mutiny;  for 
although  there  were  no  less  than  six  ladies 
and  eight  children  in  the  cantonments 
at  the  time,  without  any  male  relatives 
to  assist  their  flight  (their  husbands  and 
fathers  being  on  duty  elsewhere),  they  all 
escaped.  Mrs.  Ferris  was  one  of  these. 
She,  Mrs.  Hennessy,  and  Mrs.  Christison, 
heard  the  alarm  bugle  while  undressing  for 
the  night,  and  fled  to  Sindia's  palace  with- 
out shoes  or  bonnets.  Their  only  protector 
was  young  Hennessy,  a  brave  lad  of  seven- 
teen, who  had  several  children  (including 
his  own  sister)  to  care  for.  All  the  party 
joined  the  political  agent  safely ;  but  Major 
Ferris,  who  was  in  command  at  one  of  the 
out-stations,  in  trying  to  come  into  Gwa- 
lior with  another  young  officer,  was  stopped 
by  the  villagers,  dragged  from  his  gharry, 
and  so  severely  flogged  that  he  died  in  con- 
sequence. His  companion  was  similarly 
treated;  but  he  made  his  way  to  Agra, 
and,  after  a  long  illness,  eventually  re- 
covered.§ 

It  is  beyond  a  doubt,  that  generally, 
throughout  the  insurrection,  womanhood 
and  infancy  found  in  sex  and  weakness 
their  best  defence;  the  mass  of  widows  and 
orphans  who  have  escaped  tmtouched  by 
fire  or  the  sword,  or  fouler  wrong,  affords 
strong  proof  of  this :  and  the  fact  is  the 
more  remarkable,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  the  maddened  multitude  had  little 
prospect  for  the  future,  save  the  alternatives 

X  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwalior,  p.  247 
§  Ibid.,  p.  156. 


844 


INDORE  AND  MHOW— JULY  1st,  1857. 


of  starvation  or  a  halter,  and  that  a  lead-  ] 
ing   class   of  the    insurgents    at    most    of 
the  stations  were  released  convicts,  many 
of  whom  were  actually  under  sentence  of 
death. 

Captain  Stewart  is  said  to  have  been  shot 
by  the  mutineers  on  the  Monday  morning. 
After  learning  from  his  faithful  servant  the 
death   of  his   wife,  he   said   he  no  longer 
cared  to  live.     The  bearer  concentrated  his 
devotion  on  his  master's  orphan,  and  assisted 
her  in  escaping  to  Agra  with  Mrs.  Hawkins 
and   her   three   children.     That  this   poor 
lady  should  have  survived  the  frightful  ex- 
citement and  fatigue  she  underwent,  is  one 
of  the  marvels  of  the  time.     In  her  night 
attire,    prostrate    and    helpless,    she    had 
witnessed  the   massacre   of  her  kind   and 
brave    husband,    her    two    children,     her 
nurse,    and     friend,    with    the    additional 
anguish   of   feeling   herself    the    cause    of 
hindering    their    flight    on    the    previous 
evening.      The   danger    of    her    surviving 
children  compelled  her  to  wrestle  with  both 
grief  and  weakness.     She  was  acquainted 
with   Colonel   Filose,   who  lived    with   his 
brother  in  the  Lushkur,  and  held  the  com- 
mand of  the  rajah's  personal  troops ;  and 
to   him    she   wrote,  asking   for  assistance. 
T'hese  brothers  were    descended  from  the 
well-known    French    officer    of    the    same 
name — one   of   the   successful   continental 
adventurers    who    trained    the    Mahratta 
troops  of  former  times,  and  rendered  them 
so  dangerous  to  British   power,  until  the 
ground  was  cut  from  under  their  feet  by 
Marquis  Wellesley's  system  of  subsidiary 
alliances.     Colonel  Filose  sent  a  bullock- 
cart  for  Mrs.  Hawkins;  and  after  staying 
two  nights  in  the  cavalry  lines,  the  sepoys 
procured  some  clothes  for  her  and  her  chil- 
dren, and    they  started  for  Agra,  accom- 
parfled  by  little  Charlotte  Stewart  and  the 
faitliful  bearer.     On  the  22nd  of  June,  the 
fugitives  reached  their  destination,  after  en- 
countering some  perils  and  extreme  fatigue. 
Besides   the   females   already   named,   a 
Mrs.  Burrows  was  killed  at  Gwalior.     She 
was  the  widow  of  a  commissary  of  ord- 
nance, who  had  risen  from  the  ranks,  and 
saved  a  great  deal  of  money.     He  died  a 
short   time    before   the    mutiny,    and    his 
widow    buried    his   hoards.      The    sepoys, 

•  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwalior,  p.  155. 
■(■  Reportof  Dr.Chri3tison,Gwalior,4th  July,  1858. 
;(  See  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  391. 
§  The    returns   quoted   regarding   the    mutinous 
regiments,  give  only  those  of  the  Bengal  army,  not 


aware  of  this,  commanded  Mrs.  Burrows  to 
point  out  the  hidden  treasure,  and  shot  her 
because  she  refused  to  reveal  the  secret.* 

In  all,  twenty  Europeans  perished  at 
Gwalior,  including  five  sergeants,  a  cor- 
poral, and  a  drummer.  The  bodies  (except 
that  of  Major  Blake,  which  was  imme- 
diately interred  in  the  grave-yard  by  the 
men  of  his  own  corps)  were  buried  by  order 
of  the  maharajah.  None  of  them  had  been 
stripped  or  mutilated.f 


Indore  and  Mhow. — The  city  which  gives 
its  name  to  the  state  was  built  in  1767,  by 
the  good  and  gifted  princess,  Alialya  Bye, 
the  widow  of  Mulhar  Rao  Holcar.J  The 
palace  of  the  maharajah,  and  the  British 
Residency,  are  at  Indore;  but  the  principal 
British  force  for  this  part  of  India  is  can- 
toned thirteen  miles  to  the  south-west  of 
Indore,  and  a  mile  and  a-half  from  the 
town  of  Mhow.  The  troops  in  the  Mhow 
cantonments.  May,  1857,  consisted  of — 

One  company  of  Artillery — Exiropeans,i>\ ;  Natives, 
98.  Right  wing  of  the  1st  Light  Cavalry — Ettro- 
peans,  13;  Natives,  282.  The  23rd  N.I. — Euro- 
peans, 16  J  Natives,  1,179. 

Holcar's  troops,  the  number  and  pay- 
ment of  which  were'  regulated  by  treaty, 
consisted  of  about  642  artillerymen,  3,820 
cavalry,  and  3,145  infantry,  including  the 
contingent  of  horse,  which  he  was  bound  to 
furnish  to  the  Supreme  government.  He  like- 
wise contributed  annually  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  theMalwaBheel  corps;  and  a  further 
sum  to  the  Malwa  contingent,  supported  at 
the  expense  of  the  various  dependent  princes 
and  chiefs  of  Malwa,  but  nevertheless  a  part 
of  the  Bengal  army,  with  which  all  the  con- 
tingent and  subsidiary  troops  soon  proved 
their  identity  of  feeling.  Of  the  troops  on 
duty  at  Indore  there  is  no  official  record ;§ 
but,  from  private  accounts,  there  were, 
on  the  1st  of  July,  a  regiment  of  Bhopal 
contingent  cavalry,  three  companies  of 
Bhopal  contingent  infantry,  with  two  guns; 
two  companies  of  the  Malwa  Bheel  corps, 
and  a  body  of  Holcar's  troops,  infantry  and 
cavalry,  with  three  guns. 

Bhopal  itself  is  a  native  dependent  state 
of  Malwa,  bounded  on  the  south-west  by 
the  territories  of  Holcar  and  Sindia.  The 
reigning  family  are  Patans,  but  the  great 

the  contingent  and  subsidiary  troops.  Neither  is 
there  any  circumstantial  account  in  the  Blue  Books 
regarding  the  revolt  at  Indore ;  though  there  are 
three  separate  ones,  by  Major  Cooper,  Captains 
Hungerford  and  Brooks,  of  that  at  Mhow. 


HOLCAR,  THE  MAHARAJAH  OF  INDORE. 


345 


mass  of  the  population  are  Hindoos.  The 
contingent,  the  principal  station  of  which 
was  at  Sehore  (twenty  miles  from  the  capi- 
tal), consisted,  in  all,  of  about  800  men, 
including  forty-eight  artillerymen  and  four 
European  officers. 

Holcar,  like  Sindia,  early  recognised  the 
little  reliance  which  could  be  placed  on  the 
Bengal  or  contingent  regiments  either  at 
Mhow  or  Indore,  or  even  on  the  troops  in  his 
own  service.  Of  his  personal  fidelity  no  ap- 
prehension was  entertained  by  those  who 
knew  him  thoroughly;  but  his  youth  and 
inexperience,  his  energy  of  mind  and  body, 
his  popularity,  the  name  he  bore,  and  the 
traditions  of  his  race,  were  temptations 
which  sound  judgment  and  high  principle 
could  alone  resist.  He  had  been  from  boy- 
hood of  an  adventurous  turn,  and  loved  to 
spend  whole  days  in  the  saddle,  examining 
every  part  of  his  dominions ;  and  to  ramble 
about  his  capital  at  night,  incognito,  like 
Haroun  ul  Raschid;  gaining  information, 
without  any  intermediary,  of  the  condition 
and  temper  of  his  subjects.  The  resident. 
Sir  Robert  Hamilton,  had  filled  his  arduous 
and  delicate  positiou  with  rare  ability  ;  and 
the  strong  affection  which  subsisted  between 
him  and  the  young  prince, was  no  less  hon- 
ourable to  them  personally  than  conducive 
to  the  welfare  of  ludore.  Unhappily,  Sir 
Eobert  was  in  England  at  the  time  of  the 
Meerut  outbreak.  Holcar  wrote  imme- 
diately, urging  his  return ;  and  bestirred 
himself  in  every  possible  way  to  prevent  re- 
volt, taking  his  stand  in  the  most  unequivo- 
cal manner  on  the  side  of  the  British. 

In  the  middle  of  May,  incendiary  fires* 
gave  evidence  of  disaffection;  but  the  ex- 
citement subsided ;  and  the  Europeans,  both 
at  Indore  and  Mhow,  were  hopeful  that 
their  isolated  position,  and  the  zeal  and 
ability  of  the  native  government,  might 
preserve  the  troops  from  the  contagion  of 
mutiny.  Colonel  Piatt,  of  the  23rd  N.I., 
had  been  upwards  of  thirty  years  in 
that  regiment;  and,  in  the  previous  year, 
when  an  opportunity  occurred  for  his  join- 
ing a  European  corps,  the  men  had  united 
in  entreating  him  not  to  leave  them.  The 
news  of  the  mutiny  at  Neemuch  on  the 
8rd  of  June,  again  unsettled  the  troops  at 

•  Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1857 ; 
p.  321. 

t  Return  of  regiments  which  mutinied  (Com- 
mons), March  loth,  1859;  p.  6. 

J  Letter  of  Omeid  Sing,  a  leading  native  func- 
tionary, dated   "  Indore   Palace,   July   8th,    1857," 

VOL.  II.  2  Y 


Mhow;  but  the  colonel  exerted  himself 
strenuously  to  restore  tranquillity,  and 
with  some  success.  On  the  16th,  the  offi- 
cers were  ordered  to  sleep  in  turn  in  the 
lines,  "more  to  reassure  the  men  than 
from  apprehension  of  their  mutinying."f 
This  measure,  though  generally  adopted 
during  the  crisis,  seems  to  have  involved 
the  exposure  of  the  lives  of  the  officers  to  a 
degree  of  danger  not  warranted  by  the 
amount  of  benefit  likely  to  be  obtained. 
In  cases  where  they  volunteered  sleeping  in 
the  lines,  the  offer  showed  a  degree  of  confi- 
dence in  the  men,  which  was  in  itself  pre- 
sumptive evidence  of  the  influence  they 
were  capable  of  exercising :  but  where  they 
did  not  volunteer,  it  was  unreasonable  to 
exact  from  them  service  certainly  perilous, 
and  probably  unavailing. 

It  appears  that  about  200  of  Holcar's 
infantry,  and  three  guns,  which  had  been 
for  some  time  stationed  at  or  near  the 
Residency,  in  compliance  with  the  express 
request  of  Colonel  I)urand,J  suddenly  broke 
into  mutiny  at  eight  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  1st  of  July,  and,  attended  by  a 
rabble  from  the  city,  fired  on  the  Residency. 
A  messenger  was  immediately  dispatched 
from  thence  to  Mhow,  with  a  request  for 
aid.  The  majority  of  the  troops  were  evi- 
dently as  much  taken  by  surprise  as  the 
Europeans  themselves  :  an  outbreak  had  no 
doubt  been  regarded  by  both  parties  as 
probable;  but  a  few  determined  malcon- 
tents brought  matters  unexpectedly  to  an 
issue.  A  lady  (probably  Mrs.  Durand)  who 
was  at  the  Residency,  remarks,  that  on  the 
first  firing  of  the  rebel  guns,  the  various 
irregular  troops  seemed  panic-stricken ;  and 
that  "  neither  the  Native  officers  nor  the 
Europeans  had  any  influence  over  these 
men ;  and  (though  on  our  side)  they  were 
wholly  unmanageable  for  any  defensive 
operations."^  The  testimony  of  their 
officer  in  command  (Major  Travers)  is  to 
the  same  effect.  The  number  of  the  muti- 
neers was  so  insignificant,  that  he  pre- 
pared to  charge  them  with  a  few  troopers, 
in  the  hope  of  eapturing  the  guns  and 
cutting  up  the  infantry.  "  My  only 
cavalry  at  the  moment  available,  were," 
he    writes,    "  a   few   always   kept    saddled 

and  evidently  addressed  to  Sir  Rohert  Hamilton, 
although  his  name  is  withheld. — Times,  Aug.  25th, 
1857. 

§  Letter  dated  "  Mhow,  August  5th,  1857  ;"  pub- 
lished in  Times,  September  26th,  1857,  as  written 
"  by  the  worthy  daughter  and  wife  of  soldiers." 


346        FLIGHT  OF  EUROPEANS  FROM  INDORE— JULY  Ist,  1857. 


in  the  square  of  the  stable-yard :  the 
others  being  in  the  Mahidpoor*  cavalry 
lines,  were  in  a  measure  cut  off,  and  re- 
quired time  to  saddle  and  come  round. 
The  Mahidpoor  infantry  were  neutral,  and 
our  own  (Bhopal)  nearly  in  as  bad  a 
state."t  Placing  himself  at  the  head  of 
about  twenty  troopers,  the  major  led  the 
way,  but  found  that  only  six  or  seven  of  these 
were  following  him.  The  rebels  were  quite 
undecided  how  to  act ;  the  gunners  threw 
themselves  behind  the  guns ;  but  Ma,jor 
Travers  felt  that  to  persist  in  advancing 
would  be  madness :  he  therefore  withdrew, 
escaping  unhurt  himself,  though  his  horse 
was  wounded  in  three  places.  The  enemy 
then  moved  their  guns  to  a  more  conve- 
nient position  for  attacking  the  Residency ; 
but  a  subahdai-,  named  Seo  Lai,  and  the 
gunners  attached  to  two  of  the  British 
guns,  behaved  nobly,  and  repulsed  the  as- 
sailants, disabling  one  of  their  9-pounders. 

The  rest  of  Major  Travers'  cavalry  then 
came  up,  asking  to  be  led  to  the  charge; 
but  he  could  find  no  bugler,  neither  could 
he  get  the  men  in  proper  order.  "  They 
seemed,"  he  considered,  "uncertain  whom 
to  trust ;  and  to  lead  them  on  as  they  then 
were  would  have  been  destruction."  The 
whole  of  the  infantry,  except  the  Bheels, 
who  were  posted  inside  the  Residency  and 
in  the  verandah,  were  tacitly,  and,  at  last, 
openly  mutinous,  at  first  refusing  to  load, 
and  finally  threatening  to  shoot  their 
officers.  At  the  expiration  of  an  hour  and 
a-half  from  the  commencement  of  the 
mutiny,  the  evacuation  of  the  Residency 
was  resolved  upon.  It  might  probably  have 
been  held  for  some  hours;  but  the  large 
proportion  of  women  and  children  among 
the  Europeans,  was  a  strong  argument 
for  retreat,  before  the  frenzy  and  numbers 
of  the  mob  should  increase  and  render  flight 
impracticable.  Besides,  the  cavalry  were 
anxious  to  depart.  The  acting  resident, 
therefore,  gave  the  order ;  and  he,  with  Mrs. 
Durand,  Captain  and  Mrs.  Shakspear  and 
child,  Mrs.  Button,  and  nearly  all  the 
other  Europeans  (about  thirty-two  persons), 
quitted  Indore — the  ladies  and  children  on 
the  ammunition  waggons;  the  gentlemen 
on  an  elephant,  and  some  horses  brought 
by  their  servants.     The  escort  consisted  of 

•  Mahidpoor,  or  Mehidpore,  the  town  from  which 
the  head-quarters  of  the  Malwa  contingent  take 
their  name,  is  situated  in  one  of  the  outlying  pos- 
sessions of  Indore,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river 
Seepra,  fifty-three  miles  from  \ixe  capital. 


nearly  300  of  the  Bheel  corps,  a  few  of  the 
Bhopal  infantry,  and  about  200  of  the 
cavalry,  under  Major  Travers,  bringing 
up  the  rear.  The  Europeans  retreated 
slowly  over  the  plain,  looking  back  upon  the 
smoke  and  flame  of  burning  bungalows. 
They  reached  Bhopal  in  safety,  and  took 
refuge  with  the  begum  in  the  fort ;  but  they 
did  not  make  any  long  stay  there,  as  she 
plainly  told  them  that  their  presence  was  a 
source  of  weakness  to  her,  and  endangered 
the  tranquillity  of  the  state.  The  fugitives 
therefore  recommenced  their  travels;  but, 
before  the  close  of  the  month,  the  advance 
of  a  British  column,  and  the  firmness  and 
tact  of  the  native  government,  enabled 
them  to  return  to  Indore. 

A  few  Europeans,  and  the  mass  of 
Eurasians  and  native  Christians  connected 
with  the  post-office,  telegraph,  and  various 
departments,  fell  victims  to  the  first  fury  of 
the  mob. 

Mhow. — A  pencil  note  from  Colonel 
Durand  reached  Colonel  Piatt  at  half-past 
10  A.M.  (July  1st),  with  intelligence  of  the 
attack  on  the  Indore  Residency.  No  pre- 
cautionary measures  had  (Captain  Hunger- 
ford  states  in  his  official  report  J)  been  taken 
until  that  very  morning ;  when,  at  his  ear- 
nest request,  Colonel  Piatt  allowed  him  to 
occupy,  with  his  artillery,  the  fort  at  Mhow ; 
the  only  place  where  Europeans  could  find 
refuge  in  the  event  of  mutiny.  In  compli- 
ance with  Colonel  Durand's  desire,  the 
battery,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Hungerford,  was  at  once  sent  off  towards 
Indore;  but  after  proceeding  about  half- 
way on  the  road  thither,  its  advance  was 
arrested  by  a  sowar  bearing  a  note  from 
Major  Travers,  with  tidings  of  the  evacuation 
of  Indore.  Captain  Hungerford  marched 
back  to  Mhow.  In  the  meantime,  a  troop 
of  the  1st  cavalry,  under  Captain  Brooks 
and  another  officer,  was  directed  to  pro- 
ceed on  the  Bombay  road,  and  recover  the 
guns  belonging  to  Holcar,  which  hiid  passed 
unheeded  through  the  cantonment  about 
two  hours  before,  and  which  were  now  sup- 
posed to  have  been  sent  on  by  the  mutineers 
to  occupy  the  passes,  and  obstruct  the  ad- 
vance of  a  movable  column  of  troops,  daily 
expected  for  the  reinforcement  of  the  Bri- 
tish in  Malwa.     Some  few  of  the  troopers 

t  Letter  dated  "  Sehore,  July  4th,  1857;"  pub- 
lished in  Times,  October  5th,  1857.  Not  signed, 
though  evidently  written,  by  Major  Travers. 

X  Dated  "  Mhow,  Julv  4th."— Further  ParL  Papers 
on  Mutiny,  1857  (No.  4),  p.  120. 


> 
< 


i     _ 

Si 


.§ 


■=3 


C^ 


5    ^ 


I 


THE  MUTINY  AT  MHOW-JULY  1st,  1857. 


347 


demurred,  and  lagged  behind ;  but  after- 
wards followed  well.  On  nearing  the  guns, 
the  cavalry  charged  and  captured  them,  but 
did  not  attempt  to  disarm  the  artillerymen 
{about  twenty-five  in  number),  until  they 
were  reinforced  by  two  flank  companies  of 
the  23rd  N.I.,  under  Captain  Trower  and 
Lieutenant  Westraacott ;  after  which  the 
gunners  were  disarmed,  and  the  guns 
brought  back  to  cantonments.  There  was 
no  loss  in  either  killed  or  wounded  on  the 
side  of  the  British,  nor  does  Captain  Brooks 
state  what  he  did  with  the  disarmed  troop- 
ers; but,  from  private  accounts,  it  appears 
that  some,  at  least,  were  slain.  The  result 
of  the  expedition  was  calculated  to  increase 
the  confidence  reposed  in  the  Native  troops ; 
and  it  appears  to  have  done  so ;  for  the 
officer  who  accompanied  Captain  Brooks, 
states,  that  after  consultation  among  them- 
selves,* it  was  agreed  that  the  European 
officers  should  all  sleep  in  their  lines ;  and 
Brooks  himself  remarks,  that  the  ladies  had 
resorted  to  the  fort  wholly  from  an  appre- 
hension of  an  attack  from  the  Indore  muti- 
neers ;  in  expectation  of  which,  the  sepoys 
were  bidden  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  turn  out  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  were 
allowed  to  sleep  each  man  with  his  arms 
beside  him.t  An  officer  of  the  23rd  J  (proba- 
bly Captain  Trower)  bears  contrary  evidence 
with  regard  to  the  infantry;  declaring  that, 
on  the  return  of  the  men  with  the  guns,  he 
noticed  their  sulkiness.  When  proceeding 
to  the  lines,  to  see  the  ammunition  lodged, 
the  men  told  him  they  had  an  order  to  keep 
forty  rounds  in  their  pouch.  This  he  re- 
solutely overruled ;  and  although  he  was 
obeyed,  it  was  with  evident  dissatisfaction. 
While  the  officers  were  at  dinner,  a  light 
was  seen  on  the  roof  of  the  mess- 
house.  It  was  put  out  at  once  by  the  cook. 
Soon  afterwards,  another  roof  was  seen  to 
be  alight.  The  witness,  whose  account 
has  been  just  quoted,  went  up  and  extin- 
guished it  with  his  cap,  with  the  assistance 
of  a  sepoy  of  the  guard  attached  to  his 
own  house.  Then  he  returned  to  table ; 
and  the  officers  were  about  to  separate, 
when  one  of  them  remarked,  "  The  re- 
port is,  the  regiment  will  rise  at  ten."  It 
then  wanted  but  a  few  minutes  of  that 
hour;  and,  before  the  clock  struck,  shots 
were  heard  in  the  cavalry  lines,  and  a  voice 
exclaimed  that  the  cantonment  was  attacked 

*  Letter  published  in  the  Times,   August  20th, 
1857 ;  by  an  officer  of  the  1st  cavalry, 
t  Captain  Brooks  to  the  Deputy  Adjutant-general, 


in  the  rear  by  the  Bheels.  The  officers 
hurried  to  their  companies,  but  soon  dis- 
covered the  true  state  of  the  case;  and, 
being  fired  on,  vrere  glad  to  escape  to  the 
fort.  Private  letters  throw  light  on  the 
matter,  which,  in  the  public  reports,  seems 
purposely  withheld.  The  companion  of 
Captain  Brooks  in  the  morning's  expedition 
of  the  1st  cavalry,  says  that  he  and  Captain 
Brooks,  on  their  triumphant  return  to  can- 
tonments, after  seeing  their  horses  in  readi- 
ness for  an  emergency,  had  had  their  tent 
pitched  two  or  three  yards  in  front  of  the 
main-guard,  and  had  lain  down  side  by 
side  in  the  same  bed  at  half-past  nine. 
Before  they  had  time  to  fall  asleep,  they 
were  roused  by  a  small  bungalow  close  by 
having  caught  fire.  It  was  extinguished ; 
but  the  troopers  stood  together,  talking 
angrily  about  the  men  killed  that  morning. 
The  witness  last  quoted,  describes  with  much 
force  the  vengeful  feeling  by  which  the 
rebels  were  actuated,  and  the  manner  in 
which  his  appeal  for  help  was  responded  to 
by  some  noble-hearted  natives,  who  saved 
his  life  at  the  hazard  of  their  own,  and  then 
fled  from  the  Europeans,  filled  with  either 
fear  or  aversion. 

"The  adjutant,  Lieutenant  Martin,  was  in  the 
centre  of  all  the  men,  talking  to  them.  I  joined 
him,  and  observed  one  man  in  my  troop,  a  villain  ; 
he  had  his  carbine,  and  began  to  cavil  with  Martin 
about  some  men  Brooks  and  I  had  killed  in  the 
morning.  I,  feeling  sleepy,  said  to  Martin,  '  I'll 
turn  in ;'  but,  good  God !  I  had  hardly  turned  my 
back  and  got  to  Brooks'  side,  when  an  awful  shriek 
arose  from  the  men,  and  the  bullets  whizzed  around 
us  in  torrents.  The  man  I  had  observed  lifted  his 
carbine  first,  and  fired  either  at  myself  or  Martin. 
I  leaped  out  of  my  tent,  and  saw  Martin  rushing 
across  the  parade-ground,  the  wretches  shrieking 
after  him.  I  reached  him,  and  Brooks  followed. 
We  felt  our  last  moment  was  come,  but  we  ran  for 
it.  I  led,  and  only  screamed  'To  the  fort!'  a  mile 
off.  The  men  kept  following  us,  and  the  bullets 
fell  thick.  Having  got  across  the  parade-ground, 
about  500  or  600  yards,  we  came  to  the  hill  with 
the  church  at  the  top,  and,  when  at  the  top,  JIartin 
caught  hold  of  me,  exclaiming,  '  For  God's  sake, 
stop !'  I  caught  hold  of  his  arm,  and  said,  '  Only 
keep  up,  and  follow ;'  but  at  this  moment  I  felt  I 
was  done.  We  parted,  as  I  thought,  only  to  meet  in 
death.  But,  thank  God !  I  rushed  on  and  reached 
a  bungalow  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  fort. 
By  this  time  the  infantry  had  all  risen  ;  and,  as  I  ran, 
the  ground  was  torn  up  with  bullets,  and  they  fell 
thick  around  me.  Their  lines  were  in  a  direct  line 
between  the  fort  and  ours,  so  that  we,  poor  fellows, 
had  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  both  fires.  I  felt, 
when  I  got  to  the  bungalow,  quite  sick  and  done. 

July  5th,  1857.— Further  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mu- 
tiny, 1857  (not  numbered),  p.  133. 
X  Letter  published  in  the  Times,  Aug.  19th,  1857. 


348 


HOLCAR'S  FEARLESS  INTEGRITY— JULY,  1857. 


Wonderful  Providence!  I  sawtwo  natives, and  rushed 
up  to  them,  and  simply  took  their  hands,  hardly 
able  to  speak,  and  said,  '  Save  me !'  They  did.  To 
them  I  owe  my  life.  At  the  moment  the  infantry 
were  coming  screaming  around.  They  hid  me  in  a 
small  house.  Oh,  those  moments !  for  I  could  not 
trust  the  man,  and  felt  sure  he  would  give  me  up. 
Some  sepoys  came,  but  did  not  find  me.  At  last 
there  was  a  lull.  I  opened  the  door  and  ran  for  the 
fort,  my  nigger  friend  having  wrapped  me  in  his 
own  clothing  to  disguise  me.  Can  I  ever  make  you 
feel  the  deep  thankfulness  that  was  in  roy  heart  as 
I  ran  across  the  open  plain,  up  the  hill,  to  the  fort  ? 
The  artillerymen  were  manning  the  walls,  and  the 
sentry's  call  was  never  more  thankfully  received; 
and  1  cried  '  Friend,  friend  !'  and  found  myself  safe, 
safe  inside.  My  native  friend  had  escorted  me 
safely ;  but  when  I  turned,  as  soon  as  I  recovered, 
he  was  gone,  and  I  have  never  seen  him  since."* 

Major  Harris  was  the  only  officer  killed 
while  endeavouring  to  escape.  Colonel  Piatt 
was  in  the  fort  when  the  officers  arrived  one 
by  one,  breathless  and  exhausted.  The  men 
on  duty  at  the  fort  gate  were  immediately 
disarmed  and  turned  out  by  the  artillery ; 
and  four  guns  of  the  horse  battery  were 
made  ready  to  proceed  to  the  lines.  The 
colonel  would  not  wait  for  them;  but,  de- 
siring Captain  Fagan  to  attend  him,  rode  off 
to  the  lines.  All  night  the  return  of  the 
two  officers  was  anxiously  expected  in  the 
fort;  but  the  next  morning,  their  bodies, 
jand  those  of  their  horses,  were  found  on  the 
parade-ground,  riddled  with  bullets.  It  is 
supposed  they  were  shot  down'  by  a  volley 
while  Colonel  Piatt  was  addressing  the  men, 
before  the  guns  under  Captain  Hungerford 
could  come  up.  Their  death  was  speedily 
avenged.  Grape  and  canister  were  poured 
into  the  lines :  many  rebels  were  killed ;  the 
rest  fled  in  wild  confusion  to  Indore.  Dr. 
Thornton,  of  the  1st  light  cavalry,  had 
hidden  himself  in  a  drain,  from  whence  he 
emerged  on  the  appearance  of  the  artillery. 

Strong  proofs  were  given,  at  Mhow,  of  the 
fascination  with  which  the  cause  of  the 
mutineers  was  invested  in  sepoy  eyes.  For 
instance — two  men  of  the  23rd  N.I.,  who 
were  out  with  Lieutenant  Simpson  on 
picket  duty,  escorted  him  safely  to  the  fort 
on  the  morning  after  the  outbreak;  yet, 
although  Major  Cooper  promised  to  reward 
their  fidelity  by  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
havildar,  they  subsequently  deserted  and 
joined  their  comrades.  The  policy  adopted 
at  Mhow  was  not  calculated  to  diminish  the 

*  Times,  August  20th,  1857. 

t  Report  of  Captain  Hungerford  ;  Mhow,  July 
4th,  1867.— Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  121. 

J  Major  Cooper's  despatch:  Mhow,  July  9th, 
11857.— /itd,  p.  45.  '         J'  ' 


growing  unpopularity  of  the  British  cause 
in  Malwa. 

Captain  Hungerford,  the  commandant  of 
the  fort,  hastily  concluded  that,  because  the 
Indore  Residency  had  been  attacked  by 
Holcar's  troops,  the  maharajah  himself 
must  needs  be  our  enemy.  Therefore,- 
while  the  life  of  the  prince  and  of  his  minis- 
ters were  in  extreme  jeopardy,  on  account 
of  their  uncompromising  adherence  to  the 
British  cause.  Captain  Hungerford  com- 
menced the  system  so  recklessly  pursued  at 
Allahabad,  of  punishing  the  innocent  with 
the  guilty,  by  proclaiming  martial  law,  and 
sending  for  the  guns,  supported  by  flanking 
parties  of  officers,  to  destroy  the  villages 
surrounding  Mhow,t  without  the  slightest 
reference  to  the  native  government,  whose 
revenues  and  authority  were  thus  cruelly 
injured  at  the  very  moment  when  it  was 
most  important  to  strengthen  both.  But 
Holcar's  straightforward  and  fearless  policy 
placed  his  integrity  beyond  a  doubt.  After 
having  made  a  noble  stand  at  Indore,  he 
sent  a  vakeel  to  Mhow,  desiring  to  forward 
thither  British  treasure  to  the  amount  of 
j61  20,000,  which  he  had  partly  saved  from, 
and  partly  recovered  after,  the  outbreak, 
together  with  notes  of  his  own,  to  the  value 
of  about  £245,000.  Still,  it  was  not  until 
the  Europeans  learned  the  detention  of  the 
expected  Bombay  column  by  mutiny  on  the 
road,  that  they  duly  appreciated  the  value 
of  Holcar's  friendship,  inasmuch  as  on 
him  alone  depended  their  preservation  from 
being  blockaded  "in  a  weak  fort,  utterly 
untenable  against  an  enemy  with  guns 
for  any  length  of  time,  with  only  a  hand- 
ful of  Europeans  in  the  midst  of  a 
country  risen  all  around."J  Another 
officer  of  the  23rd,  writing  with  the  free- 
dom of  private  correspondence,  describes 
the  fort  as  a  mere  "  store-place  for  spare 
guns,"  dependent  for  water  on  a  well 
outside.  The  state  of  the  little  garrison 
he  speaks  of  as  deplorable.  The  twenty- 
one  officers  released  from  regular  duty  by 
the  mutiny  of  their  men,  formed  themselves 
into  a  volunteer  corps,  and  relieved  the 
artillerymen  of  their  night-watching,  snatch- 
ing sleep  and  food  at  intervals ;  the  ladies, 
"huddled  together"  in  the  fort,  found 
employment  in  sewing  bags  of  powder  for 
the  guns ;  and  showed  themselves  ready 
to  do  anything  in  their  power  to  help 
the  common  cause,  even  to  keeping  watch 
on  the  bastions.  The  writer  proceeds  to 
describe  the  gallows  erected  outside  the  fort 


INTERVIEW  OF  HOLCAR  WITH  THE  REBELS— JULY,  1857.       349 


gates ;  and  gives  expression  to  the  general 
feeling  of  the  Europeans,  by  declaring — 
"  Mercy  is  a  word  we  have  scratched  out  of 
our  memories ;  in  fact,  mercy  to  them  is 
death  to  us."  These  words  were  written 
on  the  6th  of  July,  iu  a  station  where  no 
woman  or  child,  and  only  three  males,  had 
been  injured  by  the  hands  of  the  muti- 
neers, and  where  some  remarkable  evi- 
dence had  been  afforded  of  generosity  and 
fidelity  on  the  part  of  the  sepoys.*  The 
first  Cawnpoor  massacre  was  then  not 
known ;  the  second  was  perpetrated  ten 
days  later — long  after  the  English  had 
taken  vengeance  for  their  motto,  and  re- 
solved on  ignoring  every  suggestion  of 
mercy  as  incompatible  with  their  own 
safety.  Women  and  children  would  have 
had  a  very  different  prospect  of  safety  and 
good  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  rebels, 
had  they  been  viewed  as  hostages,  or  any 
offer  of  amnesty  held  out  in  connexion  with 
them :  but  in  too  many  of  the  scattered 
stations,  the  first  phase  was  blind  security ; 
the  second,  unreasoning  panic;  the  third, 
martial  law,  or,  in  other  words,  indiscrimi- 
nate slaughter. 

The  tone  adopted  at  Mhow  complicated 
the  diflBculties  of  Holcar,  who  found  him- 
self between  two  fires.  Early  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  2nd  of  July,  the  mutineers  from 
Mhow  arrived  at  Indore,  and  fraternised 
with  their  brethren.  For  two  days  the 
utmost  riot  and  disorder  prevailed.  The 
rebels  strove  to  intimidate  the  maharajah, 
and  demanded  from  him  the  heads  of  some 
Europeans,  or  Eurasians  and  native  Chris- 
tians, who  had  taken  refuge  in  the  palace, 
together  with  those  of  his  advisers  who 
were  considered  most  in  the  interest  of  the 
Kafirs  (infidels) — namely,  Omeid  Sing,  Ram 
Chundra,  Khooman,  and  Gunish.  This  he 
indignantly  refused.  On  the  4th,  the  mu- 
tineers and  the  rabble  growing  bolder, 
commenced  a  general  plunder  of  Indore. 
The  maharajah  seems,  up  to  this  time,  to 
have  remained  quietly  watching  the  pro- 
gress of  events,  which  he  was  powerless  to 
control ;  but  now,  finding  that  no  British 
reinforcement  came  to  his  aid,  and  that  his 
peaceful  subjects  were  being  trampled  on 
by  armed  ruffians,  he  mounted  his  horse, 
and,  with  a  very  few  stanch  followers,  rode 
to  the  rebel  camp.  The  scene  which  en- 
sued reads  like  an  extract  from  the  graphic 

*  Letter   of   an    officer   of   1st   cavalry;   already 
quoted. — Times,  August  20th,  1857. 


pages  of  the  Mahratta  historian.  Grant 
Duff.  The  young  chief  addressed  his  eager 
listeners  with  force  and  dignity.  With  re- 
gard to  the  refugees  in  his  palace,  and  hia 
unpopular  retainers,  he  declared  that — 
alive,  he  would  protect  them ;  dead,  he 
would  not  even  surrender  their  bodies. 
The  troops  had  previously  set  his  orders  at 
nought  by  attacking  the  British,  on  the 
ground  that  religion  was  the  cause  of  the 
mutiny,  and  they  would  not  act  against 
their  brethren.  Holcar  now  bade  them, 
in  the  name  of  religion,  cease  from  plun- 
dering Indore,  or  he  would  take  arms 
against  them,  and  die  discharging  his 
duty  as  a  ruler.  The  rebels  changed 
their  ground — reminded  the  young  chief  of 
his  famous  ancestor,  Jeswunt  Rao  Holcar, 
and  urged  him  to  lay  the  spear  on  his 
shoulder,  and  lead  them  to  Delhi ;  for  the 
star  of  the  British  in  the  East  had  set, 
owing  to  their  pride  and  faithlessness.  As 
an  irresistible  motive,  the  spokesman  added, 
that  his  highness  must  not  prove  himself  a 
coward.  Holcar  was  superior  to  the  taunt, 
and  brave  enough  to  bear  the  imputatiou 
of  cowardice  from  hi?  own  troops.  He  re- 
plied, with  singular  tact  and  courage,  that 
he  had  not  inherited  the  strength  of  his 
forefathers ;  moreover,  he  did  not  think 
rapine  and  the  murder  of  women  and  chil- 
dren a  part  of  any  religion,  and  he  was  no 
fit  companion  for  those  who  did.  (In  fact, 
the  majority  of  his  hearers  knew  that  these 
crimes  were  utterly  opposed  to  the  spirit 
of  the  Brahrainical  creed;  and  Sevajee,  the 
founder  of  the  Mahratta  empire,  had  de- 
creed that,  even  in  war,  cows,  cultivators, 
and  women  were  never  to  be  molested). f 

Holcar  returned  to  his  palace ;  the  plun- 
dering of  the  city  ceased;  and  the  ring- 
leaders, and  the  mass  of  the  mutineers, 
with  some  guns  and  treasure,  marched  off  to 
Delhi.  The  maharajah  succeeded  in  res- 
cuing a  portion  of  the  treasure,  and,  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  previous  intimation,  sent 
it,  and  all  over  which  he  had  any  control, 
with  the  Christian  refugees,  over  to  the  fort 
at  Mhow,  under  a  strong  escort.  Omeid 
Sing,  from  whose  graphic  narrative,  dated 
"  Indore  palace,  July  8th,  1857,"  and  evi- 
dently addressed  to  Sir  R.  Hamilton, J  the 
particulars  of  Holcar's  conduct  are  chiefly 
obtained — states  that,  on  the  previous  even- 
ing, a  letter  had  been  received  at  the  palace  • 

t  Indian  Empire,  vol.  i.,  p.  148, 
i  Times,  August  25th,  1857. 


850 


NATIVE  STATES  OF  AMJHERRA  AND  JABOOAH. 


from  Captain  Elliot,*  alleging  that  Lieu- 
tenant Hutchinson  (the  Bheel  agent)  and 
his  wife  (the  daughter  of  Sir  Robert  Hamil- 
ton) had  fled  from  Bhopawur  in  disguise,  and 
were  in  captivity  at  Amjherra.  A  portion 
of  Holcar's  troops  had  remained  with  him ; 
and  although,  of  these,  many  were  dis- 
affected, and  all  more  or  less  compromised, 
he  immediately  sent  a  considerable  detach- 
ment of  picked  men,  comprising  300  foot, 
200  horse,  and  two  guns,  to  attack  Am- 
jherra, and  release  the  Europeans.  In 
conclusion,  Omeid  Sing  entreated  Sir  R. 
Hamilton  to  return  with  all  speed ;  de- 
claring that  his  presence  would  be  equal  to 
five  regiments.  "  Pray  do  come  out  soon, 
or  Malwa  is  gone.  Should  I  survive  this 
row,  I  will  write  again ;  but  there  re- 
mains very  little  hope :  his  highness's 
troops    are    completely    disorganised    and 

disaffected. "t 

Bhopawur, — is  a  town  in  Amjherra,  a 
petty  Rajpoot  state  in  Malwa;  the  rajah  of 
which  maintained  1,000  infantry  on  his  own 
behalf,  and  paid  a  subsidy  to  the  Supreme 
government,  in  the  form  of  an  annual  con- 
tribution, towards  the  maintenance  of  the 
Malwa  Bheel  corps,  which,  as  has  been 
I  said,  was  only  a  local  name  for  a  portion 
of  the  Bengal  army,  maintained  at  the 
expense  of  the  princes  and  chiefs  of  Malwa, 
but  wholly  independent  of  their  control. 
Ou  the  2nd  of  July,  tidings  reached  Bho- 
pawur of  the  attack  on  the  Indore  Resi- 
dency by  Holcar's  troops;  and  it  was 
asserted,  that  the  maharajah  had  himself 
joined  in  the  revolt.  The  effect  of  the  in- 
telligence ou  the  petty  chiefs  around  was 
immediate;  and  the  few  Europeans  located 
at  Bhopawur  and  its  vicinity,  learned,  with 
alarm,  that  the  station  was  menaced  by  an 
attack  from  the  Amjherra  troops.  The  de- 
tachment of  the  Bheel  corps  stationed  at 
Bhopawur,  consisting  of  about  200  men, 
seemed  firm  ;  and  Lieutenant  Hutchinson 
and   the    medical    officer    (Dr.  Chisholm), 

*  The  Captain  Elliot  referred  to,  is  probably  the 
person  mentioned  by  Mr.  Gumming,  the  brother  of 
the  Gordon  Gumming  of  lion-hunting  notoriety,  as 
having  been  staying  with  him  at  Maunpoor  (four- 
teen miles  from  Mhow,  and  twenty-eight  from  In- 
dore) at  the  time  of  the  mutiny.  "Elliot,  of  the 
Thuggee  department,  and  his  wife,  had,"  he  writes, 
been  staying  with  him  for  some  time;  "  but  they  went 
to  Indore  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  of  July,  in- 
tending to  return  in  the  evening  j"  and,  of  course, 
on  learning  what  had  occurred,  took  refuge  with  the 
other  Europeans  in  the  fort.  Mr.  Gumming,  how- 
ever, although  the  only  European  functionary  at 


after  consulting  together,  resolved  to  make 
a  stand  at  the  lines.  In  the  middle  of  the 
night,  an  express  arrived  from  Dhar  (a 
Rajpoot  principality  adjoining  Amjherra), 
with  the  news  that  some  Mohammedan 
troops  there  had  revolted,  and  were  march- 
ing iu  force  on  Bhopawur.  At  this  time 
only  about  thirty  Bheels  remained  in  the 
lines  ;  the  others  had  stolen  away  from  fear ; 
and  those  who  had  not  deserted,  were  evi- 
dently little  disposed  to  brave  a  struggle 
with  the  expected  enemy.  Had  they  been 
alone,  the  two  Europeans  might  have  been 
disposed  to  wait  the  event ;  but  there  were 
women  and  children  to  be  protected. 
Therefore,  after  disguising  themselves  in 
native  clothing,  and  directing  their  ser- 
vants to  speak  of  them  as  Parsee  mer- 
chants and  their  families  going  to  Baroda, 
they  commenced  their  flight :  Mrs.  Stock- 
ley  (the  wife  of  the  colonel  of  the  Bheel 
regiment),  her  ayah,  and  her  four  children, 
in  one  cart;  Lieutenant  and  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son, their  ayah  and  baby,  in  another ;  with 
Dr.  Chisholm  on  horseback,  started  for 
Jabooah,  attended  by  several  servants.  J 

Jabooah, — is  a  small  subsidiary  native 
state,  between  Indore  and  Amjherra.  The 
reigning  family  claim  descent  from  the 
Rahtore  princes  of  Joudpoor ;  but  the 
population  (returned  at  132,104  persons) 
consists  chiefly  of  a  civilised  class  of  Bheels. 
The  fugitives  dispatched  a  horseman  to  the 
young  rajah,  asking  for  an  escort  to  meet 
them ;  but  had  scarcely  arrived  within  his 
territory,  before  they  learned  that  a  party 
of  troops  from  Amjherra  were  at  their 
heels.  The  timely  arrival  of  a  hundred 
Bheels  from  Jabooah  changed  the  aspect  of 
affairs.  After  halting  for  awhile  at  a  vil- 
lage, where  the  head  man  gave  up  his  own 
dinner  to  them,  they  started  afresh,  and 
proceeded  some  distance  to  the  house  of  a 
liquor  vendor,  where  they  passed  the  night. 
Early  in  the  morning,  Lieutenant  Hutchin- 
son overheard  the   Bheels  talking   among 


Maunpoor,  resolved  on  making  an  effort  to  retain 
his  position,  and  assembled  round  him  a  motley 
force  of  "  road  police,  armed  with  carbines;  Bheels, 
with  bows;  and  Bundelcund  men,  with  long  match- 
locks (some  200  men  in  all),  and  a  few  sowars." 
With  these  auxiliaries  he  held  his  ground. — Times, 
September  2nd,  1857. 

t  Letter  of  Omeid  Sing. — Times,  August  25th, 
1857.  The  letter  is  evidently  not  a  translation,  but 
written  in  colloquial  English,  with  a  sufficient  ad- 
mixture of  Indian  turns  of  thought  and  expression 
to  attest  the  extraction  of  the  writer. 

X  Letter  of  Dr.  Chisholm.— ri»j«s,  Sept.  2nd,  1857. 


THE  MUTINY  AT  AUGUR— JULY  4th,  1857. 


351 


themselves  in  a  most  murderous  strain. 
He  sprang  up,  and  roused  his  companions, 
saying  it  was  time  to  start.  The  journey 
was  resumed,  and  terminated  safely  at 
Jabooah  early  on  the  5th  of  July.* 

The  rajah,  a  good-looking  youth  of 
sixteen,  received  the  Europeans  very  kindly. 
In  consequence  of  his  minority,  the  man- 
agement of  affairs  rested  in  the  hands  of 
his  grandmother;  and  she,  in  the  true 
spirit  of  a  Rajpootni,  exerted  herself  in 
every  possible  way  for  the  safety  and  com- 
fort of  her  way-worn  guests.  "  To  protect 
us,"  Dr.  Chisholm  writes,  "  was  as  much  as 
she  could  do ;  for  there  were  a  number  of 
Arabs  and  men  of  that  class  in  the  employ 
of  the  chief;  and  these  fanatics  loudly  de- 
manded our  surrender,  that  they  might  put 
US  to  death.  The  family  themselves  are 
Rajpoots,  and  had  fortunately  a  number  of 
Rajpoot  retainers  about  them.  To  these 
they  assigned  our  protection;  and  faith- 
fully did  they  execute  their  trust.  Not  a 
Mussulman  sepoy  was  allowed  to  approach 
our  quarters  in  the  palace."t 

On  the  8th  of  July,  a  messenger  arrived 
with  a  communication  from  Holcar,  who 
had  dispatched  an  expedition  against  Ja- 
booah, under  the  impression  that  the  Euro- 
peans were  forcibly  detained  there  ;  but  on 
discovering  the  true  state  of  the  case,  the 
expedition  was  recalled,  and  an  escort  sent, 
which  reached  its  destination  on  the  10th ; 
and,  on  the  12th,  the  fugitives  quitted 
their  kind  protectors.  Lieutenant  Hutchin- 
son had  received  a  letter  from  Holcar, 
entreating  him  to  repair  to  Indore  forth- 
with, that  the  kingdom  might  be  preserved 
during  the  absence  of  Sir  R.  Hamilton. 
Hutchinson  writes — "  I  had  such  implicit 
faith  in  Holcar's  friendship,  that  I  did  not 
hesitate  to  place  myself  and  family  under 
the  protection  of  his  troops,  for  the  purpose 
of  proceeding  to  Indore,  to  assume  charge 
of  the  agency  during  the  absence  of  Colonel 
Durand  ;  and,  by  my  presence  and  advice,  to 
assure  and  guide  Holcar  through  the  crisis." 
Repeated  warnings  from  the  Europeans  at 
Mhow,  induced  Lieutenant  Hutchinson  to 
relinquish  the  idea  of  residing  at  Indore ; 
and  he  wrote  to  the  maharajah,  explaining 
that  the  excited  state  of  the  Native  troops, 
who  had  not  yet  absolutely  revolted,  ren- 

•  Letter  of  Lieutenant  A.  B.  E.  Hutchinson, 
Bheel  agent,  and  political  assistant  at  Bhopawur. — 
Times,  September  10th,  1857. 

t  Letter  of  Dr.  Chisholm  ;  published  in  the  Times, 
September  2nd,  1857. 


dered  the  presence  of  a  European  inad- 
visable, as  it  was  the  best  policy  to  ward 
off,  as  far  as  possible,  a  second  outbreak, 
until  the  arrival  of  British  reinforcements. 
He,  however,  came  to  Mhow,  and  assumed 
charge  of  the  agency,  and  the  people  ap- 
peared reassured  by  his  presence. 

On  the  30th  of  July,  the  long-expected 
column  reached  Mhow;  and  Colonel  Du- 
rand, who  accompanied  it,  resumed  his 
duties  as  acting  resident  (without,  however, 
venturing  to  join  Holcar  at  Indore),  until 
Sir  Robert  Hamilton  returned  from  Eng- 
land— to  the  joy  of  the  maharajah,  and 
the  great  advantage  of  the  British  com- 
missariat. 

Augur, — is  a  large  town  in  the  dominions 
of  Sindia,  about  thirty-six  miles  from 
Oojein.  The  5th  infantry  regiment,  Gwalior 
contingent,  commanded  by  Captain  Carter, 
was  stationed  here,  together  with  a  field 
battery,  and  some  of  the  Gwalior  cavalry. 
Besides  the  officers  on  duty,  three  others, 
namely,  Major  Macpherson  (not  the  Gwalior 
resident).  Captain  Ryall,  and  Dr.  Sillifaut, 
had  taken  refuge  at  Augur,  when  expelled 
from  Seepree  by  the  mutiny  of  the  3rd 
regiment  of  the  Gwalior  contingent  on  the 
18th  of  June. 

The  outbreak  at  Augur  was  very  sudden. 
Shortly  before  it  took  place.  Captain  Carter 
had  obtained  1,353  rupees,  and  a  promise 
of  500  more,  to  enable  the  men  to  rebuild 
their  huts,  which  had  been  for  the  most 
part  washed  down  by  the  first  fall  of  rain 
(thirty-six  hours  in  duration).  He  had 
been  earnest  in  encouraging  them  to  work 
hard,  and  restore  their  habitations  before 
the  next  downpouring,  and  they  had 
laboured  with  industry  and  cheerfulness. 
Up  to  9  P.M.,  July  3rd,  the  men  were 
reported  "  loyal  and  obedient  as  ever ;"  but, 
after  that  time,  much  excitement  prevailed 
in  the  lines.  It  appears  that  Captain  Carter 
had  applied  to  the  Gwalior  authorities  for 
pay  for  the  men.  The  orderlies  sent  on 
this  errand,  on  reaching  Gwalior,  were 
taunted  by  the  mutineers  with  wearing  the 
British  uniform.  The  answer  returned  is 
not  on  record ;  but  a  mounted  orderly  from 
Gwalior  arrived,  with  directions  to  withhold 
the  pay  of  the  5th  infantry.  The  news 
created  great  dissatisfaction,  which  was 
reported  to  Captain  Carter  on  the  evening 
of  the  3rd ;  and,  soon  after  daybreak  on 
the  following  morning,  his  native  orderlies 
brought  word  that  the  men  were  running 
to  and  fro,   as   if  bewildered.      Springing 


352 


BOURBON  COMMUNITY  AT  ECHAWUB,  IN  BHOPAL. 


from  his  bed,  Captain  Carter  called  to  the 
adjutant,  Lieutenant  O'Dowda,  to  dress  and 
accompany  him  to  the  parade.  The  horse 
of  the  adjutant  stood  ready  saddled :  he 
mounted  it,  and  galloped  alone  to  the  lines, 
■which  he  had  scarcely  entered  before  he  was 
shot  down ;  at  the  same  time,  the  havildar- 
major  and  the  pay  havildar,  both  of  whom 
were  known  to  be  thoroughly  stanch  to  the 
British,  were  killed. 

While  the  horse  of  Captain  Carter  was 
being   saddled,  a  report  was  brought  him 
that  a  large  body  of  cavalry  and  infantry 
mutineers  was    advancing  on    the   parade- 
ground.     Believing    this    to    be    true,    he 
mounted   and   rode    over  to  the  house  of 
Captain  le  Marchand,  the  artillery  oflScer, 
to  request  him  to  take  charge  of  two  guns 
of  the  Mahidpoor  contingent,  in   position 
at  the  quarter-guard.     Then  he  proceeded 
towards  the  lines ;  and,  on  the  way,  met  a 
European  sergeant,  who  said  that  the  regi- 
ment was  in  open  mutiny,  and  had  warned 
him  away.     Still  the  captain  pressed  on  till 
stopped   by  four  sepoys,   who  with   raised 
hands  implored  him  to  return,  or  he  would 
be  shot.     Lieutenant  Macdougal  also  came 
up :  he  had  seen  the  men  of  the  different 
companies  loading  their  arms ;  they  had  not 
been  insolent,  but  had  quietly  warned  him 
away.     It  was  evidently  useless  to  persist 
furtlier,  and  the  ofiBeers  turned  back,  and 
prepared  for  flight.     Dr.  and  Mrs.  James 
had    already    quitted    the    station.     Their 
horses  stood  saddled  for  a  morning  ride,  and 
they  mounted  and  rode  off.     Their  fate  was 
long  uncertain ;  but  the  most  reliable  ac- 
count describes  them  as  having  been  mur- 
dered at  a  village  about  eight  miles  from 
Augur.     The  other  Europeans  were  more 
fortunate,  at  least  those  whose  position  gave 
them  means  of  escape ;  but  the  sergeants, 
half-caste  clerks,  and  others,  were  sacrificed, 
as  was  too  commonly  the  case,  to  the  fury 
of  the    rabble.     The    party   who    escaped 
comprised   twenty   persons,    of  whom    the 
majority  were  women   and  children.     The 
wives   and   infants   of  two    absent   officers 
— Captains   Burlton  and  Harrison,   of  the 
2nd  cavalry — were  among  those  who  most 
required  protection.     Dr.  Wilson,  the  me- 
dical officer  in  charge  of  the  station,  had  a 
double- seated  curricle  with  fast  horses :  in 
this   he    placed    the    two    ladies,   each   of 
whom  had  a  baby  in  her  arms ;   one  of  these 
was  just   twelve  days  old.      The  servants 
threw  in  some  blankets  and  bedding  while 
the  horses  were  being  harnessed ;  but  not  a 


single  native,  either  sepoy  or  servant,  would 
accompany  the  fugitives.  The  departure 
was  most  hurried;  for  the  sight  of  two 
burning  bungalows,  and  the  sounds  of  pil- 
lage and  destruction,  warned  the  Europeans 
of  the  necessity  for  instant  flight.  A  buU 
lock-cai't  was  procured  for  the  remainder 
of  the  ladies  and  children ;  the  gentlemen 
mounted  their  horses ;  and  the  fugitives 
set  forth  on  their  journey,  ignorant  of  the 
road,  with  nothing  but  the  clothes  they 
wore;  and  those  of  the  scantiest  description; 
for  some  persons  were  in  night-dresses, 
bare-footed  and  bare-legged,  as  they  had 
risen  from  their  beds.*  On  the  14th,  the 
whole  party  reached  the  British  station 
of  Hooshungabad  in  safety  ;t  and  Mrs.  Har- 
rison had  the  relief  of  meeting  there  her 
husband,  the  oflScer  second  in  command  of 
the  2ud  cavalry,  Gwalior  contingent,  who 
was  supposed  to  have  perished. 

The  journey  had  its  remarkable  incidents, 
not  the  least  interesting  of  wliich  was  the 
kind  reception  given   to  the  wayfarers  at 
Echawur — a  town  in  the  Bhopal  territory, 
twelve  miles  south  of  Sehore.    The  governor, 
John  de   Silva,   commonly  known  as  Jan 
Sahib,  wore  the  dress  of  a  Mussulman ;  but 
was  a  Portuguese  by  birth,  and  a  Christian 
by  creed.     His  grateful  guests  pronounced 
him  a  Christian  by  practice  also,   for   he 
manifested  every  care  for  their  wants,  and 
treated  them  with  a  respectful  sympathy, 
which   was   very    soothing   after   the   con- 
temptuous indifference  evinced  by  the  na- 
tives, who  had  shown  no  pity  for  their  dis- 
tressing position,   but  had  regarded  them 
as  "  despicable  Feringhees,  whose  reign  was 
over."     Dr.  Wilson  draws  a  pleasant  picture 
of  Jan  Sahib,  and  the  little  community  over 
which   he   presided,   in  b.   very  patriarchal 
fashion.    Several  old  Frenchmen  (Bourbons) 
resided  at  Echawur,  who  had  emigrated  in 
the  days  of  the  revolution.     Some  of  these 
had  served  under  the  British  government, 
and  were  among  its  pensionaries ;  but  all  had 
adopted  Mussulman  names.     There  was  an 
intelligent    young   man,    named    Nicholas 
Reilly,    who    called    himself  an    Irishman, 
having  been  born  of  Irish  parents  at  Cawn- 
poor.     He,  with  a  number  of  other  Chris- 
tians, had  taken  service  under  the  begum, 
Doolan   Sahib,  the  jaghiredar   or   ruler  of 
the   Echawur   district,   who  was   herself  a 
Christian,  but  was  absent  at  the  time,  having 
been  summoned  to  Bhopal  by  the  reigning 

*  Account  by  Dr.  Wilson,  dated  July  16th,  1857. 
t  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  1867 ;  p.  15. 


REVOLT  OF  1st  CAVALRY,  G.C.,  AT  ALIGHUR— JULY  3ed,  1857. 


353 


begum.  Notwithstanding  his  foreign  ex- 
traction, Jan  Sahib  was  a  popular  governor. 
"  Easy  and  affable  in  manner,  deeply  versed 
in  the  knowledge  of  drugs  and  disease,  he 
commanded  the  respect  of  all  around  him 
as  a  man  of  wonderful  attainments.  He 
exhibited  with  honest  pride  his  medicine 
chest,  which  contained  phials  of  calomel, 
jalap,  essence  of  cinnamon,  and  oil  of  lemon- 
grass,  with  which  he  successfully  ministered 
to  the  wants  of  thousands."*  Dr.  Wilson 
adds,  that  every  member  of  the  little  band 
would  "  long  cherish  in  grateful  recollection 
the  worthy  governor  of  Echawur."  Perhaps 
some  of  them  learned  a  lesson  in  the  art  of 
ruling,  which  they  might  hope  to  profit  by 
in  happier  times. 

Alighur. — The  1st  cavalry  of  the  Gwalior 
contingent  joined  the  mutiny,  as  if  impelled 
by  some  irresistible  fascination.  At  mid- 
day on  the  3rd  of  July,  the  Native  officers 
waited  on  their  commander.  Captain  Wil- 
liam Alexander,  and,  with  tears  and  lamen- 
tations, told  him  that  the  regiment  must  be 
broken  up ;  for  they  had  received  au  order 


from  the  King  of  Delhi,  and  letters  threat- 
ening the  most  terrible  vengeance  on  their 
families  in  the  event  of  their  not  abandon- 
ing the  service  of  the  British ;  therefore 
Captain  Alexander  and  his  countrymen 
must  start  at  once  for  Agra.  Resistance 
was  futile ;  Captain  Alexander,  Lieutenant 
Cockburn,  and  Dr.  Christison,  mounted 
their  horses  ;  while  the  wliole  of  the  men 
crowded  round  them,  and  insisted  on  shaking 
hands.  The  regimental  banker  had  disap- 
peared, and  the  servants  of  the  officers  were 
in  distress  for  money,  as  the  buuneahs 
(traders)  would  not  let  them  follow  their 
masters  without  first  paying  their  bazaar 
debts ;  whereupon  a  Native  officer  brought 
out  a  bag  of  rupees,  and  gave  some  to  all 
the  servants.  A  non-commissioned  officer, 
and  twenty  sowars,  assisted  in  lading  the 
baggage;  and  the  Europeans  started,  at- 
tended by  a  regular  escort,  and  "accom- 
panied for  some  distance  by  Native  officers 
and  men,  all.  clinging  to  them,  and  crying 
bitterly."  They  reached  Agra,  with  their 
baggage,  on  the  following  day.f 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


TERRITORIES  OF  THE  NIZAM,  AURUNGABAD,  AND  HYDERABAD.— MAY  TO  AUGUST. 
AGRA.-JUNE  TO  SEPTEMBER.  SAUGOR :  THE  PUNJAB,  JULLUNDUR,  JHELUM, 
PHILLOUR,  UMRITSIR,  AND  SEALKOTE.— JUNE  AND  JULY,  1857. 


The  recent  history  of  Hyderabad  formed 
an  important  feature  in  the  introductory 
chapter,  regarding  the  causes  of  the  mutiny. 
Had  the  proud  prince,  from  whom  the  three 
finest  districts  in  his  territory  were  wrested 
in  1853,  for  the  maintenance  of  a  British 
contingent,  lived  to  see  the  mutiny  of  1857, 
he  might  have  been  sorely  tempted  to  listen 
to  the  passionate  entreaties  of  his  fanatical 
and  disaffected  subjects,  to  hoist  the  green 
flag  of  Mohammed,  and  write  in  blood  and 
flame  a  refutation  of  one  of  the  most  inex- 
cusable insults  ever  offered  by  a  British 
governor-general  in  council  to  an  old  and 
faithful  ally — "Remember  you  are  but  as 

•  The  Bombay  Times  gives  this  narrative  at 
length.  The  Frietid  of  India,  in  commenting 
thereon,  remarks,  "  that  it  is  eminently  instruc- 
tive ;  and  will  go  far  to  disprove  the  assertion, 
that  the  revolt  in  Hindoostan  was  caused  solely 
by  a  discontented  soldiery."— August  27th,  1857; 
p.  817. 

y%L,  II.  2  z 


the  dust  under  my  feet."J  But  the  Nizam 
slept  with  his  fathers  when  the  sword  ou 
which  the  E.  I.  Company  relied  was  turned 

:  against  them,  as  it  were,  by  au  unseen  hand, 
and  the  despised  native  princes,  after  being 
trodden  under  foot,  were  appealed  to  with 
eager  respect  as  honourable  and  powerful 
allies.     Happily  for  all  parties,  two  excellent 

\  advisers  were  beside  the  young  Nizam  when 
the  crisis  came ;  and  he  had  the  good  sense 

I  to  listen  to  their  counsels,  and  turn  a  deaf 
ear  to  the  popular  clamour.  One  of  these 
was  the  venerable  Shums-ool-Omrah  ;§  the 
other  the  dewan,  Salar  Jung. 

The  troops  stationed  at  Aurungabad  were 

t  Manuscript  account  by  Captain  W.  Alexander. 
X  The  actual  words  of  the  despatch  sent  to  Hyder- 
abad ;  which  were  suppressed  in  the  Blue-Book  ver- 
sion   prepared   for   parliament.      See    Introductory 
j  Chapter,  p.  65 ;    and    Mr.   Bright's   speech  in   the 
House  of  Commons,  June  24th,  1858. 
'      §  See  Introductory  Chapter,  p.  55. 


354 


AURUNGABAD— STATE  OF  THE  NIZAM'S  CONTINGENT. 


the  1st  regiment  of  irregular  cavalry  of  tlie 
Nizam's  contingent,  and  the  2nd  infiintry, 
which  corps  had  only  recently  arrived  there. 
Tlie  officer  in  command  of  the  cavalry,  Cap- 
tain Abbott,  had  seen  no  symptom  of  dis- 
affection ;    but,   on   subsequent   inquiry,   it 
appeared  that  rumours  were  abroad  of  the 
intention  of  government  to  send  the  regi- 
ment to  join  a  column  which  was    to   be 
composed  almost  exclusively  of  Europeans. 
Captain  Abbott,  in  ignorance  of  these  re- 
ports, intimated,  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
12th  of  June,  his  intention  of  coming  to  the 
lines  in  the  afternoon  to  look  at  the  horses. 
The  men  concluded  the  intended  examina- 
tion to  be  preparatory  to  a  march ;  and,  at 
mid-day,  while  Captain  Abbott  was  presiding 
over  a  court  of  inquiry  at  the  mess-house,  a 
non-commissioned  officer   and    his  brother 
(Seiks)   came   and    informed  him  that  the 
men  were  in  a  state  of  mutiny;  that  they 
declared  they  had  been  enlisted  for  service 
in  the  Deccan,  and  would  not  march  beyond 
it;  and  that  many,  both  Mussulmans  and 
Hindoos,    had  taken  an   oath  not  to  fight 
against  their  padshah,  or  emperor,  meaning 
tlie  son  of  the  old  King  of  Delhi,  who  had 
been  set  up  by  the  mutineers.     It  was  fur- 
ther intimated,  that  if  Captain  Abbott,  Lieu- 
tenant Dowker,  and  the  senior  risaldar,  pro- 
.  ceeded  to  the  lines  that  afternoon  for  the 
purpose   of  giving   marchinj;    orders,    they 
would  be  shot.     The  three  officers  went  on 
parade,  and  assured  the  cavalry  that  they 
were  not  aware  of  any  intention  on  the  part 
of  government  such  as  they  suspected.* 

The  resident  at  Hyderabad  (Davidson), 
when  informed  of  these  proceedings,  ap- 
proved of  them,  as  at  present  no  succour 
could  be  sent  to  Aurungabad ;  and  desired 
Captain  Abbott  to  assemble  the  1st  cavalry, 
and  assure  the  men  from  him, — 

"Both  in  his  capacity  as  British  resident,  and 
as  their  old  friend  and  brother-officer,  that  he  is 
Batisfied  that  their  present  conduct  arises  from  the 
pernicious  counsels  of  bad  and  designing  men. 

"  That  the  government  have  no  intention  to  call 
for  iheir  services  to  act  against  the  King  of  Delhi, 
who  is  himself  a  supplicant  for  the  protection  of  the 

•  Captain  Abbott's  Report,  dated  "  Aurungabad, 
-Jdrte  13th,  1857."— Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (not 
numliered),  pp.  83 — 85. 

t  IJpspatch  of  Major  Briggs,  secretary  to  resident ; 
June  16th,  1851.— Ibid.,  pp.  85,  86. 

t  Despatch  of  secretary  to  government  (Colonel 
Blrcli),  June  29lh,  I851.~lbid.,  p.  86. 
■   '§ 'Captain  Abbott's  Keporl.—7A(VZ.,  p.  86. 

Jl  Some  of  them  had  already  started.  One  of 
these,  the  wife  of  ah  officer  of  the  2nd  infantry. 


British  government;  but,  wherever  their  services 
are  required,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  regiment 
to  obey. 

"  The  resident  trusts  that  by  the  early  return  of 
the  corps  to  fidelity,  he  will  be  able  to  induce  gov- 
ernment to  overlook  their  present  proceedings;  but, 
at  the  same  time,  to  point  out  the  ruin  and  disgrace 
that  a  persistence  in  their  present  conduct  must 
inevitably  have. 

"  You  will  be  pleased  to  mention  that  the  resi- 
dent had  hoped  to  be  able  proudly  to  point  out  to 
government,  that  every  corps  in  the  contingent  was 
stanch  and  loyal.  The  3rd  cavalry  are  now  in  the 
field  against  the  mutineers ;  the  2nd  are  in  charge 
of  the  Residency ;  and  the  whole  corps  have  volun- 
teered to  march  to  suppress  the  revolt  of  Delhi."t 

Of  this  strangely-worded  and  compromis- 
ing message  to  the  mutineers,  the  governor- 
general  in  council  approved,  excepting  the 
intimation  that,  in  the  event  of  future  good 
conduct,  their  past  proceedings  would  be 
overlooked  :J  but  this  was,  in  fact,  the  only 
portion  which  was  likely  to  make  any  im- 
pression on  the  sepoys ;  for  although  the 
King  of  Delhi  might  be,  and  actually  was, 
a  supplicant,  yet  he  was  publicly  spoken 
of  as  a  rebel  and  a  leader  of  rebels ;  not  as 
an  old  man  in  his  dotage,  who  had  fallen 
on  evil  times,  and  become  the  puppet  of  a 
revolutionary  army. 

The  resident's  assertion  regarding  the 
loyalty  of  the  rest  of  the  Hyderabad  con- 
tingent, was  likely  to  provoke  discussion ; 
for  one  of  the  reports,  mentioned  by  Cap- 
tain Abbott  as  circulated  and  credited  by 
his  men,  was,  that  the  3rd  cavalry  had 
been  entrapped  into  the  service  on  which 
they  had  been  sent,  and  intended  to  desert : 
moreover,  that  one  of  their  most  influential 
Native  officers  had  already  done  so.§  The 
men  of  the  2nd  infantry  showed  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  cavalry,  but  remained  per- 
fectly quiet. 

On  the  13th  of  June,  a  report  was  spread 
by  a  syce  that  the  infantry  and  guns  had 
been  ordered  out  against  the  cavalry;  and 
so  much  excitement  was  thereby  caused, 
that,  on  the  Sunday  afternoon,  the  ladies 
and  children  were  sent  off  to  Ahmednug- 
gur,||  sixty-eight  miles  to  the  north-east, 
under  the  charge  of  Captain  Mayne ;  and  a 

gave  a  very  interesting  account  of  her  flight,  which 
was  published  in  the  leading  London  journals.  On 
the  night  of  the  12th  June,  it  was  reported  that  the 
cavalry  were  arming,  and  intended  to  murder  the 
officers  of  the  2nd  infantry.  The  lady  in  question, 
with  her  children,  was  entrusted  by  her  husband  to 
the  care  of  Booran  Bucksh  (a  trooper  of  the  3rd 
Hyderabad  cavalry),  in  whose  zeal  and  integ- 
rity of  character  they  had  perfect  confidence. 
He  pitied  tlie  distress  of  the  European  officer,  and 


AURUNGABAD— 1st  CONTINGENT  CAVALRY  DISARMED.        355 


request  was  made  to  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Bomhay  array,  to  march  the 
movable  column  assembling  at  Malligaum 
for  the  reinforcement  of  Iiidore,  upon  Au- 
rungabad.  In  the  course  of  the  same 
evening  another  explanation  took  place 
between  the  European  officers  and  the 
troopers,  which  induced  Captain  Abbott  to 
believe  that  the  regiment  would  now,  as  a 
body,  become  quiet  and  orderly :  he  there- 
fore wrote  to  countermand  the  assistance 
he  had  requested  from  Ahmednuggur,  as  the 
1st  cavalry  did  not  need  coercion.  But  the 
resident  had,  with  equal  rapidity,  changed 
his  view  of  the  case ;  and  declared  himself, 
on  the  19th  of  June,  ".determined  to  admit 
of  no  compromise  with  these  men,"*  who 
were,  however,  to  be  temporised  with  till  the 
arrival  of  the  British  force.  The  question  of 
how  the  European  officers  were  to  main- 
tain tranquillity  in  the  interim,  and  keep 
their  own  heads  on  their  shoulders,  with- 
out making  concessions  which  should  tie 
their  hands  afterwards,  was  passed  over 
in  silence. 

After  the  usual  amount  of  ordering  and 
counter-ordering,  the  column,  under  General 
Woddburn,  marched  for  Aurungabad.  A 
civilian  who  accompanied  the  force,  "  be- 
cause none  of  the  officers  knew  the  road," 
describes  the  line  of  march  : — 14th  dra- 
goons first,  then  the  general  and  his  staff; 
then  the  28tli  N.I.,  and  a  battery  under  Cap- 
tain Woolcombe ;  the  rear  brought  up  by 
a  pontoon  train,  and  some  twenty  elephants 
and  the  ba<;gRge — the  whole  extending 
about  two  miles  in  length. 

The  cavalcade  entered  Aurungabad  on 
the  morning  of  the  24th  of  June.  Captain 
Abbott  and  the  officers  came  out  to  meet 
the  troops,  said  that  aff.iirs  were  in  a  very 
unsatisfactory  state,  and  urged  that  the 
general  should  march  at  once  on  the  cavalry 
intrenchments,  and  surprise  them.  The 
civilian  before  quoted,  who  was  an  eye-wit- 
ness to  these  proceedings,  says — "The gene- 
ral consented  to  do  so  at  last."     On  reaching 

bade  him  be  under  no  apprehension  for  the  safety 
of  his  family,  or  for  that  of  his  guest  (the  wife  of 
an  absent  European,  to  whom  Booran  Bucksh  was 
greatly  attached),  for  every  provision  was  made  for 
tlieir  retreat.  And  so  it  proved.  "When  the  alarm, 
happily  a  false  one,  was  (»iven  on  the  night  of  the 
12th  of  June,  and  tne  oi'ricer  proceeded  to  his  dan- 
gerous post  between  the  infantry  and  cavalry  lines, 
the  faitliful  trooper  placed  the  ladies  and  children 
in  a  country  cart,  and  covering  the  open  front  and 
back  with  sheets,  in  the  manner  practised  by  the 
natives,  armed  himself  and  rode  by  their  side  for 
oeveral  days,  till  theyreached  Ahmednuggur,8triving, 


the  cavalry  lines  the  bugles  were  sounded, 
and  the  men  ordered  to  fall-in  on  foot. 
The  guns  were  loaded  with  canister,  and 
drawn  up  within  thirty  yards  of  the  troopers. 
General  Woodburn,  with  his  aide-de-camp, 
Macdonald ;  the  deputy-adjutant-general, 
Coley ;  Captain  Mayne,  of  the  Hyderabad 
contingent;  Captain  Abbott  and  the  civilian, 
rode  up  to  the  ranks ;  and  Abbott  began  to 
harangue  the  men  on  their  conduct,  and  its 
coming  punishment,  when  a  jemadar  ex- 
claimed— "It  is  not  good;  it  is  all  false  1" 
Abbott  drew  his  pistol,  and  would  have  shot 
the  speaker;  but  the  general  turning  round, 
quietly  desired  him  not  to  fire  upon  his 
own  men,  whereupon  the  officer  put  up  his 
pistol  and  continued  his  address.  The  je- 
madar again  interrupted  him — "  It  is  not 
tri.e ;  it  is  all  false.  Brothers,  prime  and 
fire !"  Pistols  were  drawn  forth  by  several 
of  the  men  in  front  of  the  ranks,  and, 
had  they  been  fired,  the  six  Europeans, 
standing  not  five  yards  from  the  troopers, 
must  have  fallen.  But  the  event  showed 
the  propriety  of  General  Woodburn's  pro- 
hibition to  Abbott.  The  foremost  troopers, 
without  firing  a  shot,  rushed  to  their  horses, 
and  proceeded  to  saddle  them;  while  the 
Europeans  rode  back  behind  the  guns. 
Captain  Woolcombe  had  dismounted,  and 
was  pointii'g  a  gun  at  the  panic-stricken 
multitude ;  the  portfire  was  lighted ;  and 
"one  word  only,"  it  is  said,  "was  wanted 
to  blow  every  soul  of  t'uem  to  the  four 
winds."  Woolcombe  p.sked  impatiently, 
"May  I  fire,  sir?"  and  the  civilian,  who 
reports  the  scene,  blames  the  general  for 
not  giving  the  instant  assent,t  which  would 
have  been  a  sentence  of  extermination 
against  the  very  men  -vho  had  spared  the 
Europeans  not  two  minutes  before.  An  offi- 
cer present,  in  describing  the  same  circum- 
stance, remarks,  that  "  the  general  could 
not  give  the  order  to  fire,  as  he  feared  to 
knock  over  the  good  men  with  the  bad;" 
and  Captain  AI)bott,  in  his  report,  states, 
that   "  every  endeavour  was  made  to  stop 

"by  the  most  vigilant  attention  and  kindness,  to 
lessen  the  discomforts  of  the  road."  The  ladies 
entreated  him  to  take  some  money,  if  only  in  re- 
payment of  the  expenses  of  the  journey;  but  he 
persisted  in  refusing,  on  the  ground  that  it  would 
disgrace  him  to  accept  money  under  the  circum- 
stances ;  and  that  he  only  desired  that  his  name 
might  be  good  among  the  English.  After  his  re- 
turn his  dwelling  was  burned  to  the  ground  by 
some  of  his  countrymen,  in  revenge  for  his  devo- 
tion to  the  Feringhee. 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857;  p.  82. 

t  Letter  in  the  Times,  August  22nd,  1857. 


856 


HYDERABAD— S ALAR  JUNG  AND  THE  ARAB  GUARDS. 


the  men,  and  induce  them  to  remain  and 
hear  what  was  to  be  said  to  tliem.  With 
great  difficulty  a  large  portion  of  the  men 
were  separated,  and  ordered  to  fall  back  in 
the  rear  of  the  force.  The  rest  dispersed 
among  the  lines^  refusing  to  return,  though 
frequently  called  upon  to  do  so.  They 
mounted  their  horses,  upon  which  General 
Woodbum  ordered  the  guns  to  open  on  them. 
They  all  then  immediately  fled,  and  were 
pursued  by  the  dragoons.  The  whole  of 
the  bad  men  were  among  them."*  The 
officer  whose  testimony  (published  anony- 
mously in  the  Times)  has  been  given  as 
showing  the  reason  why  the  general  pre- 
vented the  wholesale  butchery  of  a  mass  of 
men,  who,  mutinous  or  not  mutinous,  had 
been  diplomatised  with,  in  a  manner  not 
much  in  accordance  with  British  straight- 
forwardness, up  to  the  very  mument  when 
the  guns  of  the  column  could  be  brought 
to  bear  on  them — thus  descril)es  the  pro- 
ceedings which  followed  the  flight  and  pur- 
suit of  the  mutineers  : — 

"Two  of  our  companies  afterwards  went  all 
through  the  lines,  and  we  fuily  expected  a  slight 
-strugsle  there  j  but  they  were  not  game ;  and  such 
B8  did  not  run  away  gave  themselves  up  quickly. 
We  took  their  «tandards.  These  mutineers  are, 
without  exception,  the  finest  body  of  men  I  have 
seen  in  India— immense  fellows,  of  sixteen  or  seven- 
teen stone  each,  and  scarcely  one  of  them  under 
five  feet  ten  inches.  We  have  already  disposed  of  a 
goodly  number  of  the  ninety-four  prisoners  we  took 
in  the  first  haul  of  the  net.  One  has  been  hung, 
four  shot,  one  blown  from  a  gun — a  frightful  sight 
indeed !  his  head  ascended  about  twenty  yards  into 
the  air,  and  his  arms  were  thrown  about  eighty 
yards  in  either  direction.  I  was  astonished  to  see 
how  coolly  they  received  intelligence  that  they  were 
to  suffer  death.  The  man  who  was  blown  away 
only  said,  'that  witnesses  against  him  would  have 
to  answer  for  this  in  the  next  world ;'  and  begged 
of  them  not  to  tie  him  to  the  guns,  as  he  would  not 
flinch  at  all.  The  fellow  who  was  hung  said,  that 
'  having  washed  his  hands  of  life,  he  had  washed 
away  all  his  sins,  and  the  sooner  he  went  to  para- 
dise the  belter.'  We  have  yet  plenty  of  this  work 
before  us." 

Of  the  prisoners  taken  in  this  affair,  two 
were  blown  from  guns;  seven  shot  by  the 
dragoons;  four  cut  down  in  the  charge; 
several  hung;  between  thirty  and  forty 
transported ;  one  hundred  disbanded  and 
turned  out  of  the  station  ;  and  some  fifty  or 
sixty  others  flogged  and  otherwise  punished. 

Hyderabad. — While  the  events  just  re- 
corded were  taking  place  at  Aurungabad, 
affairs  at  Hyderabad  were  in  a  most  critical 

•Captain  Abbott's  Report,  June  24th,  1857.— 
Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (not  numbered),  p.  87. 


state.      The    Moolvees,   or   Mohammedan 
priests,  scarcely  disguised  their  exultation 
at    hearing    the    news    from    Meerut    and 
Delhi  (which  happily  did  not  reach  the  city 
for  nearly  a  month  after  the  perpetration  of 
the  massacres) ;  and  the  fakirs,  or  religious 
mendicants,  went  among  the  lower  orders  of- 
the  people,  using   the  most   inflammatory 
language.     The    fidelity   of  the    resident's 
escort,  consisting  of  two  companies  of  Native 
infantry,  200  troopers,  and  five  guns,   was 
strongly  suspected,  as  also  that  of  the  troops 
in  the  Secunderabad  cantonments  ;  but  hap- 
pily the  Arab  guards  stood  firm  on  the  side 
of  order.     A  member  of  the  European  com- 
munity at  Hyderabad,  who  has  given  a  well- 
digested  accountof  the  able  and  fearless  man- 
ner in  which  the  native  government  breasted 
the  storm — remarks,  that  the  fidelity  of  the 
Arabs  might   lie   partly  accounted    for  by 
the   regular   payment   they   received    from 
Salar  Jung;  and  further,  by  their  being,  as  a 
class,  wealthy  and  avaricious,  acting  as  the 
soucars  or  bankers  of  the  city,  and  there- 
fore naturally  disinclined  to  take  part  in  a 
struggle  in  which,  win  who  might,  they  were 
sure  to  lose.     At  an  early  period,  the  Arab 
jemadars    assured    the    resident   of    their 
resolve  to  stand  by  the  government ;   and 
they  had  repeated  opportunities  of  proving 
their  sincerity.     There  were,  however,  dis- 
orderly bands  of  Deccanees,  Rohillas,  and 
Afghans  in  the  city,  whose  voice  was  ever 
for  war;  and  it  was  impossible  to  foresee 
how  long  even  the  watchful  and   resolute 
sway  of  Salar  Jung  would  suffice  to  keep 
down    disaffection.      On    Friday,   the  12th 
of  June,  an  attempt  was  made  in  one  of  the 
chief  mosques  to  raise  the  cry  for  a  Jehad,  or 
holy  war.     The  Moolvee  (Akbar  Ali)  was 
interrupted  by  a  voice  demanding  the  ex- 
termination of  the  infidels  :  a  second  speaker 
took  the  same  tone;  and  but  for  the  timely 
arrival  of  the  Arabs  sent  by  the  minister, 
an    immediate    outbreak   would    probably 
hiive  occurred.     The  preachers  of  sedition 
escaped,    for   it   was   impossible   to   detect 
them  amid  an  assemblage  of  5,000  persons. 
Placards  were  thenceforth  daily  stuck  up 
in  the   mosques,  and    Salar  Jung   became 
the  object  of  popular  hatred  and  virulent 
abuse.    Unmoved,  he  tore  down  ttie  placards; 
placed  Arab   guards   at  all  the   gates   and 
mosques;  warned  unruly  characters;  watched 
suspected  men  ;  summoned  Seiks  and  others, 
whom    he    could    trust,    to    the    city ;    and 
broke  up  all  tumultuous  assemblies.     The 
British  functionaries  zealously  co-operated 


HYDERABAD— THE  NIZAM  AND  SALAR  JUNG— JULY,  1857. 


357 


with  the  native  minister.  General  Cotton, 
and  the  indefatigable  police  magistrate. 
Captain  Webb,  were  incessantly  on  the 
alert ;  the  post-office  was  watched,  fakirs 
were  deported,  suspicious  characters  im- 
prisoned, newsmakers  flogged,  and  every 
means  taken  to  prevent  mischief  entering 
the  cantonments  from  without.  But  there 
were  counteracting  influences  at  work — the 
Wahabeea  were  l)usily  inciting  the  sepoys 
to  revolt;  and  rumours  gained  ground  in 
the  city,  that  they  would  not  stand  the 
strain  much  longer.  On  the  20th  of 
June,  the  intelligence  of  the  disturl)ances 
at  Aurungabad  arrived,  and  caused  great 
excitement  in  the  city  and  cantonments. 
Five  days  later,  the  false  but  generally  be- 
lieved report  that  Delhi  had  fallen,  gave 
rise  to  a  different  feeling.  The  writer 
already  quoted,  whose  statements  supply 
the  deficiency  of  official  records,  observes — 

"  The  effect  upon  the  masses  of  the  people  was 
very  marked.  We  then  saw  that  Delhi  was  every- 
thing ;  it  was  a  name,  a  cause,  a  locality,  a  something 
tangible  to  fight  for.  Many,  even  of  the  better 
classes,  scarcely  knew  Cawnpoor,  Lahore,  Allaha- 
bad, &c.,  byname;  but  all  knew  Delhi.  Our  de- 
feats and  successes  elsewhere  were  moonshine  ;  at 
Delhi  they  were  of  overwhelming  importance:  with 
Delhi  we  held  India;  without  it  we  were  conquered. 
In  a  few  days  the  real  truth  was  known — Delhi  had 
not  fallen,  and  every  native  raised  his  head  again 
higher  than  ever.  Rumours  of  further  mutinies  and 
massacres,  of  further  misfortunes,  created  intense 
satisfaction  here,  and  evidently  the  heaving  was  be- 
ginning to  look  uncomfortable  once  more."* 

On  the  12th  of  July,  thirteen  of  the  Au- 
rungabad  mutineers  were  apprehended  and 
handed  over  to  the  resident.  On  the  17th 
(Friday),  a  band  of  Rohillas,  headed  by  a 
jemadar,  nanned  Toora  Baz  Khan,  and  a 
Moolvee,  burst  into  the  Begum  bazaar,  and 
proceeded  to  attack  the  Residency,  calling 
out  for  the  release  of  the  Aurungabad 
prisoners,  and  the  looting  of  the  treasury. 
The  Residency  and  bazaar  are  divided 
from  the  city  by  the  Moossi  river.  The 
former,  planned  and  executed  by  Major 
Oliphant  in  1831,  is  a  superb  pile  of  build- 
ing, built  of  squared  granite  stone,  and  far 
better  calcidated  to  stand  a  siege  than  that 
at  Lucknow.  Its  occupants  were  not  taken 
by  surprise:  guns  were  posted  in  readiness; 
and  when  the  turbulent  mob  commenced 
breaking  down  the  garden  gates,  the  horse 
artillery  opened  at  300  yards'  distance  with 
double   charges   of    canister.      When   the 

•  Letter  dated  "Hvderabad,  Deccan,  October  12th, 
1857."— r™e»,  Dece'mber  3rd,  1857. 


smoke  dispersed,  the  assailants  were,  found 
to  have  disappeared  likewise.  The  greater 
part  had  fled  out  of  reach;  the  rest  had 
broken  into  a  neighbouring  house  for 
shelter.  The  night  came  on,  and  "  watch 
was  set  to  hinder  their  escape,  but  in  vain : 
they  dug  through  a  wall,  and  fled."  Toora 
Baz  Khan  was  eventually  captured  through 
theexertionsof  Salar  Jung;  but  the  Moolvee 
remained  at  large,  and  was  supposed  to  be 
concealed  by  some  influential  city  noble. 
The  failure  of  the  attempted  emeute  was 
very  serviceable  to  the  British  cause.  The 
Aurungabad  mutineers  were  tried,  trans- 
ported, and  sent  off  with  all  speed  to  Ma- 
sulipatam.  There  were  still  difficulties  to 
be  met  by  the  Hyderabad  government, 
caused  by  the  progress  of  the  rebellion  in 
Central  India;  the  long  interval  which 
elapsed  before  the  capture  of  Delhi ;  and 
especially  the  celebration  of  the  Mohur- 
rum  (ending  on  the  31st  of  August),  at 
which  time  Mohammedan  bigotry  attains 
its  highest  pitch.  But  the  preparations 
made  to  meet  the  danger,  sufficed  to  avert 
it :  no  disturbance  took  place ;  the  native 
authorities  were  stanch  in  this  trying, 
tempting  hour,  as  they  ever  had  been  ;  and 
in  opposition  to  the  clamorous  popular 
voice,  the  court  of  Hyderabad  continued, 
throughout  the  mutiny,  the  most  valuable 
ally  of  the  Calcutta  government.  The  peril 
is  past  now  (at  least  people  think  so) ;  and 
many  Indian,  and  some  few  English,  voices 
are  asking — What  is  to  be  done  for  the 
Nizam?  Are  the  "temporarily  assumed" 
districts  to  be  restored  to  him  ?  And 
i)y  what  honours  and  rewards  is  the 
Crown  of  England  to  show  its  gratitude 
to  the  venerable  Shums-ool-Omrah,  and 
the  able  and  unflinching  Salar  Jung? 
English  infirmity  and  incapacity  are  shelved 
with  a  retiring  pension  from  Indian 
revenues:  Indian  annuities  and  British 
honours  are  showered  abutulantly  on  men 
who  have  not  seldom  made  the  mischief 
they  have  the  credit  of  mending :  but  is 
there  no  provision  in  our  system,  our  new 
system  of  national  government  and  national 
responsibility,  for  fitly  rewarding  native 
statesmen,  who  have  served  us  ably,  heartily, 
successfully,  in  the  severest  trial  we  have 
ever  had  in  India?  If  not,  our  present, 
and  ostensibly  reformed,  plan  must  needs 
have  for  its  main-spring  the  same  short- 
sighted selfishness  which  was  tlie  radical 
defect  in  the  policy  of  the  old  E.  I.  Com- 
pany ;  a  policy  that  has  borne  the  fruit  of 


358 


AGRA— SERVICES  OP  LALA  JOTEE  PERSAUD. 


bankruptcy  and  disgrace,  an  empty  treasury, 
and  a  "heavy  national  debt  tied  round  the 
necks  of  a  people  whose  consent  was  never 
asked  for  its  imposition;  incurred,  too,  not 
in  improving  the  country,  but  in  making 
war,  and  supporting  enormous  bands  of  mer- 
cenaries, whose  revolt  has  brought  the  sway 
of  "their  honourable  masters"  to  a  speedy 
conclusion,  and  deluged  India  with  Englisii 
and  native  blood.  These  are  the  i-esults  of 
governing  on  tjie  principle  of  India  for  the 
E.I.  Company.  It  remains  to  be  proved 
whether  the  British  parliament  is  aware  of 
the  necessity  of  a  change  in  practice  as  well 
as  in  theory — in  performance  as  well  as  in 
promise — in  things  as  well  as  in  names. 


Agra. — The  mutinies  detailed  in  preced- 
ing pages,  rendered  our  tenure  of  the 
capital  of  the  North- West  Provinces  very 
precarious.  The  men  of  the  two  regiments 
(44th  and  67th  N.I.)  disarmed  at  the  close 
of  May,  had,  happily  for  all  parties,  quietly 
availed  themselves  of  permission  to  return 
to  their  homes ;  but  the  Neemuch  muti- 
neers took  up  a  position  on  the  high-road 
to  Agra,  and  threatened  to  attack  the  city. 

At  first  sight,  few  places  would  have 
•  appeared  better  capable  of  resisting  a  siege 
than  the  stately  fort,  rebuilt  by  Akber  in 
1570,  and  long  considered  impregnable.  It 
stands  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river 
Jumna;  and  the  high,  red  sandstone  walls, 
deep  ditch,  and  drawbridge,  form,  in  tiieir 
massive  strength,  a  cauniei'part  of  the  niag- 
nificence  within  the  fort,  which  contains 
the  palace,  witii  its  gilded  cupolas,  and  rich 
tracery  of  gold  and  blue  enamel — on  which 
Akber  lavished  millions ;  the  Motee  Musjid, 
or  Pearl  Mosque,  of  pure  white  marble ;  the 
arsenal,  and  other  public  buildings.  The 
iicting  commander-in-chief,  Sir  Patrick 
Grant,  as  late  as  the  25th  of  July,  took  the 
popular  view  of  the  strength  of  the  fort  of 
Agra,  and  appears  to  have  imperfectly 
appreciated  the  danger  to  be  apprehended 
in  the  event  of  a  siege  by  the  Gwalior  con- 
tingent. "We  may  lose,"  he  writes  from 
Calcutta,  "perhaps  have  lost,  the  country 
round  Agra;  but  it  would  be  hard  to  con- 
vince me,  that  Any  number  of  mutineers  and 
insurgents  that  can  possibly  be  congregated 
before  the  place,  can  ever  succeed  in  captur- 
ing the  fort  of  Agra — a  strong  and  regular 

•  Memorandum  by  Sir  Patrick  Grant,  the  acting 
commander-in-chief. — Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857 
<No.  4),  p.  18. 

f  Quarterly  Review,  October,  1858. 


fortification,  thoroughly  armed  with  heavy 
guns  of  siege-calibre;  manned  by  a  Euro- 
pean garrison  of  at  least  1,000  men,  inchid- 
ing  the  volunteers;  and  with  a  principal 
arsenal,  thoroughly  supplied  with  every 
munition  of  war,  within  the  walls.  If  the 
authorities  have  neglected  to  collect  and 
store  provisions,  the  garrison  may  be  starved 
into  sul)mission,  of  course;  but  otherwise, 
the  fort  of  Agra  is  perfectly  safe."* 

The  lieutenant-governor  did  not  take  so 
sanguine    a  view   of  affairs.     The  fort  he 
described  as  an  old  native  one,  with  some 
weiik  points  about  it.     The  European  bat- 
tery was  not  well  manned  ;  it  was  deficient 
both  in    officers   and    men,    but    possessed 
an  excellent  commander  in  Captain  d'Oyly. 
Provisions  for  six  months  had  been  secured, 
through  the  intervention  of  a  famous  com- 
missariat contractor,   Lala  Jotee    Persaud. 
The  British  commissariat  officer — being,  it  is 
said,  very  inefficiently  supported,  if  not  ab- 
solutely contravened,  by   the  Agra  magis- 
trate, in   his   efforts  to    purchase  stores  of 
grain  from  the  disaffected  dealers — was  in 
despair;  when  recourse  was  had  to  the  Lala, 
whose  previous  most  important  services  in 
the  Sutlej  campaign  had  been  requited  by 
an  action   for  embezzlement.     Happily  for 
us,  he  had  been  acquitted,  and  the  money 
due    to    him  rejjaid    at   last.     Perhaps,   as 
a  writer  in  the  Quarterly  Review  suggests, 
"  he  forgot  our  ingratitude  in  our  justice. "t 
The  fact  of  his  being  an  extensive  proprietor 
of  government  paper,  doubtless  tended  to 
make  him  desirous  of  the  maintenance,  or 
rather  restoration,  of  British  rule :  but  it  is 
certain  that  he   stood   almost  alone,  loyal 
and  friendly,  in  the  midst  of  a  disaffected 
population ;  never  wavered  even  when   our 
fortunes  and  exchequer  were  at  the  lowest, 
and  continued  to  inform  the  authorities  of 
the  intelligence  he  received  by  means  of  the 
regular  communication  kept  up  by  him,  on 
his  private  account,  with  Delhi  and  Gwalior, J 
at  a  time  when  Agra  was  the  one  remain- 
ing  stronghold    of    the   North-West   Pro- 
vinces, and  stood   "surrounded,  as  it  were, 
by  a  perfect  sea  of  mutiny .^'§ 

The  lieutenant-governor  resisted  its  en- 
croachments to  the  uttermost,  while  him- 
self dying  by  slow  degrees,  from  the  effects 
of  unremitting  anxiety  and  fatigue.  His 
position  was  as  cruel  a  one  as  that  which 

f  Letter  of  one  of  the  Agra  garrison. — Times, 
April  4lh,  1857. 

§  See  communication  already  quoted,  made  by  Um- 
ballah  correspondent  to  the  Timet,  Oct.  26th,  1857. 


AFFAIRS  AT  AGRA--JUNE,  1857. 


359 


Sir  Henry  Lawrence  then  lield  at  Luclc- 
now.  The  cry  of  help  arose  on  all  sides 
from  subordinate  stations,  and  he  had 
none  to  give.  Very  different  was  the  situa- 
tion of  Sir  John  Lawrence  in  tlie  Punjab. 
When  the  cartridge  mutiny  commenced,  he 
found  himself  with  twelve  European  re!i;i- 
meiits,  and  an  untainted  local  army,  in  the 
midst  of  a  population  of  13,000,000,  quite 
indifferent  to  nice  questions  of  caste;  while 
Mr.  Colvin  had  three  European  regiments 
wherewith  to  meet  the  revolt  of  a  trained  and 
numerous  army,  and  the  passive,  and  often 
active,  hostility  of  40,000,000  of  people,  who 
had,  for  years,  been  complaining  of  the 
oppressive  nature  of  our  taxation,  and  "  dis- 
liked, for  very  sufficient  reason,  our  system 
of  civil  procedure."*  The  faults  of  which 
Mr.  Colvin  was  accused,  were  those  of"  over- 
governing"  and  undue  clemency.  The  for- 
mer might  have  been  forgiven ;  but  the 
latter  was  the  most  unpardonable  sin  a 
European  could  commit  in  the  sight  of  his 
countrymen  during  their  first  paroxysms  of 
rage  and  terror. 

Raikes  writes — "The  fine  frame  of  Mr. 
Colvin  was  sinking  under  the  ravages  of 
disease,  yet  he  persisted  in  attending  to 
every  detail  of  business.  While  he  acknow- 
ledged to  me,  that  the  load  of  responsibility, 
the  agony  caused  by  the  suffering  and  dan- 
gers of  his  officers  at  every  station  in  Upper 
India,  was  too  much  for  human  endurance, 
he  resolutely  watched  every  detail  of  public 
business.  Even  now,  if  I  wanted  a  sword 
or  a  pistol  from  the  magazine,  Mr.  Colvin's 
counter-signature  was  necessary. "f  It  is 
possible,  that  the  reason  of  this  may  have 
been  the  lieutenant-governor's  desire  to 
exercise  some  check  on  the  village-burning 
expeditions;  the  impolicy,  as  well  as  cruelty 
of  which  he  must  have  appreciated ;  and 
likewise  of  the  means  adopted  at  this  period 
for  the  obtainment  of  revenue.  Mr.  Colvin 
never  confounded  ferocity  with  vigour. 
He  saw  clearly  that  we  were  "  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  refuse  to  receive  submission  from, 
and  accord  pardon  to,  the  large  section  of 
sepoys  who  had  but  followed  their  leaders;" 
and  he  knew  that  "  the  confident  European 
cry,  that  Delhi  should  be  taken  forthwith, 
and  not  one  of  them  should  escape,  was,  in 
fact,  but  ignorance  and  folly.  A  division 
among  the  mutineers,  and  the  partial  sub- 
mission of  the  least  guilty,  was,  of  all  things, 


most  to  be  desired."}  But  he  was  in  a  very 
small  minority ;  and  he  covild  do  tittle  to 
counteract  the  system  of  indiscriminate 
vengeance  pursued  by  the  Europeans, 
wherever  they  were  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
attempt  it,  notwithstanding  its  evident 
tendency  to  diminish  the  chances  of  escape 
for  the  European  fugitives.  Yet  he  never 
ceased  to  feel,  and  to  avow  his  sense  of,  the 
responsibility  incurred  by  the  government 
towards  the  people,  over  whom  it  had  as- 
sumed the  rights  of  sovereignty.  "  He 
could  not  bear  to  give  up  station  after 
station  to  anarchy,  neither  could  he  quietly 
see  his  trusted  friends  and  officers  butchered 
like  sheep.  The  struggle  consumed  him. 
'  The  wrath  of  God  is  upon  us,'  he  ex- 
claimed, '  if  we  retire  into  the  fort.' " 
During  the  night  of  the  23rd  of  June,  the 
gaol  guard,  which  formed  the  protecting 
force  of  the  large  central  prison,  deserted 
with  their  arms.  A  guard  from  the  3rd 
European  regiment  supplied  their  place. 
On  the  25th,  a  fire  occurred  within  the 
gaol,  by  which  some  workshops  were  de- 
stroyed, and  the  large  ranges  of  separate 
cells  endangered.  The  prisoners  confined 
in  them  were  removed,  during  the  confla- 
gration, to  a  distant  part  of  the  precincts,  and 
the  flames  were  subdued.  After  this,  arrange- 
ments were  made  for  the  release  of  minor 
offenders ;  but  there  still  remained  3,500 
convicts  to  be  guarded ;  and,  to  increase 
the  danger,  the  gaol  was  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  civil  lines,  where  the  higher 
functionaries,  with  their  wives  and  children, 
held  their  ground  up  to  the  end  of  June, 
being  unwilling  to  exchange  their  spacious 
and  sumptuously  furnished  houses  for  the 
close  quarters  within  the  fort.  Day  after 
day  fugitives  came  pouring  in,  reporting 
the  mutiny  of  regiments  or  detachments 
previously  considered  sound.  The  gradual 
defection  of  the  Gwalior  contingent  was  es- 
pecially alarming.  Ou  the  morning  of  the 
3rd  of  July,  the  officers  of  the  2nd  cavalry, 
Gwalior  contingent — Captain  Burlton,  Adju- 
tant Salmond,  and  the  regimental  surgeon, 
rode  in  from  Sansee,  a  station  some  forty 
miles  distant,  where  the  sepoys  had  quietly 
told  the  Europeans  they  must  go,  but  that 
no  insult  or  injury  would  be  offered  them.§ 
The  Neemuch  mutineers  had  been  for  some 
time  approaching  Agra;  and  as  they  drew 
nearer,   the   Europeans,  in    expectation   of 


•  Raikes'  jRevnlt  in  the  N.  W.  Provinces.     \  Ibid.  \      §  Letter  of  Lieutenant  Salmond. — Times,  Septem- 
X  Letter  from  Umballah.— Kme»,  Oct.  26th,  1867.  '  ber  1st,  1857. 


860 


MUTINY  OF  KOTAH  CONTINGENT— JULY  4th,  1857. 


an  attack,  for  tlie  most  part  retired  within 
tlie  walls.  Colonel  Fraser,  the  second  in 
command  (Brigadier  Polwhele  beingj  the 
first),  declared  the  Candaharee  Bagh — a 
palace  in  the  civil  lines,  where  the  volunteers 
kept  watch — no  longer  tenable;  and  took  np 
his  position  in  a  small  house,  under  the  walls 
of  the  fort.  Mr.  llaikes,  and  several  other 
civilians,  persevered  in  sleeping  at  the  Can- 
daharee BagJi  as  late  as  the  nigiit  of  the  3rd 
of  July.  llaikes,  being  himself  restless 
from  fever,  watched  the  sleepers  arouud. 

"  There  lay  the  member  for  Agra  (Haringford), 
of  the  legislative  council  of  India — half  dressed,  a 
sword  by  his  bedside,  a  gun  in  the  corner,  and  a 
revolver  under  his  pillow.  Those  gaunt,  unshaven, 
weary-looking  men  by  his  side,  are  the  judges  of  the 
Sudder  Court.  For  six  weeks  they  have  been 
watching  the  rising  flood  of  revolt,  which  had  now 
risen  more  than  breast-high.  Will  they  ever  sleep 
under  a  roof  of  their  own  again  ?" 

The  Kotah  contingent — 700  men  in  all ; 
cavalry,  infantry,  and  a  battery  of  six  guns — 
showed  no  sigub  of  mutiny  up  to  the  4th  of 
July.  The  men  had,  for  the  previous 
month,  been  employed  "in  collecting  re- 
venue for  us,  burning  disaffected  villages, 
and  hanging  mutineers  and  rebels;"*  and 
•  their  co-operation  was  relied  on  against  the 
rebel  force,  posted  twenty-two  miles  off,  and 
believed  to  consist  of  the  72nd  N.I.,  7th 
infantry,  Gwalior  contingent,  three  troops 
of  1st  Bengal  light  cavalry,  the  cavalry  of 
the  united  Malvva  contingent  (who  had 
mutinied  at  Mahidpoor),  and  a  battery  of 
Native  horse  artillery.  It  was  expected 
that  the  enemy,  being  so  strong  in  cavalry, 
would  send  their  troopers  to  plunder  and 
burn  the  cantonments;  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  result  of  a  similar  attempt  at  Luck- 
now,  the  military  authorities  resolved  on 
marching  forth  that  evening  to  attack  the 
mutineers.  The  main  body  of  the  Kotah 
contingent  was  ordered  to  take  its  station 
half-way  between  government  house  in 
the  city,  and  the  European  barracks.  The 
cavalry  no  sooner  reached  their  encamp- 
ment, than  they  fired  on  their  officers,  and 
killed  their  sergeant-major;  the  infantry  and 
artillery  fled  in  confusion,  to  joiu  the  Nee- 

*  Letter  of  an  officer  of  the  3rd  Europeans. — 
2'imet,  September  2iid,  1857. 

t  The  liengal  civilian,  who  describes  himself  as 
having  "joined  the  Kotah  contingent,  as  political 
agent,  in  the  districts  of  Miittra,  Agra  and  Alighur," 
states,  that  at  the  beginning  of  June,  a  Moham- 
medan, named  SefidaKhan,  "  brought  into  the  Agra 
district  a  lot  of  wild-looking  men  from  Kerowlee,  as 
he  said,  to  help  D [Daniells,  assistant  under- 


much  mutineers ;  all  but  two  faithful  Native 
gunners,  who  spiked  the  guns  they  could  not 
defend.  A  detachment  of  forty  men,  under 
a  subahdar,  on  guard  at  the  government 
house,  remained  at  their  post,  and  rescued 
the  political  agent  attached  to  the  Kotaii 
contingent,  who  describes  himself  as  having- 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  some  Kerowlee 
natives,  previously  employed  by  one  of  the 
subordinate  European  officials  in  raising 
revenue  and  "  plundering  villages;"  but  who 
were  now  as  ready  to  kill  a  Feringhee  as  a 
Hindoo,  and  to  pillage  British  bungalows 
as  native  habitations. f 

The  3rd  Europeans  were  ordered  to  bring 
back  the  guns  of  the  Kotah  contingent. 
They  went  out  for  the  purpose;  aud  re- 
turned safely,  with  six  guns,  having  been 
absent  about  two  hours,  exposed  to  drench- 
ing rain.  It  was  then  nine  o'clock,  aud 
the  intended  night  march  was  abandoned; 
but  on  the  following  morning  (Sunday, 
July  5th),  a  force,  consisting  of  650  of  the 
3rd  Europeans,  a  battery  commanded  bv 
Captain  d'Oyly,  and  200  militia  volun- 
teers (composed  of  officers  of  mutinied  regi- 
ments, civilians,  merchants,  and  writers), 
set  forth,  under  the  command  of  Brigadier 
Polwhele  and  Colonel  Riddell.  There 
seems  to  be  no  second  opinion  regarding 
this  expedition.  It  ought  never  to  have 
been  attempted,  inasmuch  as  the  hazard  of 
losing  the  fort  of  Agra,  was  a  much  greater 
evil  than  the  chance  of  dispersing  the  Nee- 
much  mutineers  could  counterbalance:  yet 
the  peril  was  incurred,  and  grievous  loss 
sustained ;  and,  after  all,  the  dearly  bought 
victory  was  turned  into  an  ignominious 
retreat,  because  the  military  authorities 
neglected  the  ordinary  precaution  of  pro- 
viding the  force  with  spare  ammunition. 

The  troops  marched  from  cantonments  to 
meet  an  enemy  estimated  as  being  ten 
times  their  number,  leaving  three  compa- 
nies of  the  3rd  Europeans  in  the  fort  for  its 
only  garrison.  After  passing  through  the 
village  of  Sliahgunge,  just  outside  the  civil 
lines,  they  advanced  on  the  road  to  Futteh- 
poor  Sikree,  until,  between  two  and  three 
o'clock   in  the   afternoon,  they  reached  a 

commissioner  of  revenue  for  the  Agra  division  ?] 
to  get  in  his  revenue — about  500  men  in  all,  regular 
cowards,  but  good  fellows  to  jilunder  villages,  &c." — 
Times,  October  9th,  1857.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  &c.  is  not  explained.  After  the  revelations 
of  the  torture  commission,  it  is  important  to  know 
what  means  of  obtaining  revenue,  besides  plunder- 
ing villages,  are  sanctioned  by  European  magistrates 
in  cases  of  diiiiculty. 


THE  BATTLE  OP  AGRA— JULY  5th,  1857. 


361 


village  named  Sussia,  immediately  ia  the 
rear  of  which,  the  mutineers  were  strongly 
posted.  The  British  force  formed  into  line, 
with  three  guns  on  each  flank — the  3rd 
Europeans  in  the  middle,  the  mounted 
militia  in  the  rear.  The  infantry  were 
ordered  to  lie  down  while  the  artillery 
opened  on  the  village,  at  about  600  yards' 
distance.  The  mutineers  fought  irregu- 
larly, but  with  unusual  determination  ;  and 
a  rifle  company  of  the  72nd  N.I.  inflicted 
severe  loss  on  the  British,  who  had  two 
tumbrils  blown  up,  and  a  gun  dismounted. 
An  attempt  was  made  by  the  rebel  cavalry 
to  surround  the  British,  and  seize  the  bag- 
gage and  ammunition ;  but  the  volunteer 
horse  beat  them  ofi".  The  village  was  then 
stormed  in  two  columns,  and  carried  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet.  SoLae  resistance  was 
made ;  and  the  women  of  the  village  were 
seen  loading  the  muskets,  and  handing 
them  to  the  men  to  fire.* 

Lieutenant  Salmond,  who  was  acting  as 
aide-de-camp  to  Colonel  Riddell,  seeing  the 
enemy  retreating  in  confusion,  galloped 
back  from  the  village  to  the  brigadier,  to 
carry  him  the  welcome  intelligence,  and 
was  ordered  instantly  to  bring  up  the  guns. 
i  The  lieutenant  obeyed ;  "  but,  alas !  not  a 
round  of  ammunition  remained."  The  in- 
formation sounded  Hke  the  death-warrant 
of  the  Europeans.  "  I  certainly  thought," 
writes  Lieutenant  Salmond,  "  that  not  a 
man  would  reach  Agra  alive."t  Another 
oflScer  writes — "One  thing  is  certain;  if  their 
cavalry  had  had  one  grain  of  pluck,  they 
might  have  cut  us  up  almost  to  a  man."| 
But  it  happened  that  the  rebels  themselves 
laboured  under  a  disadvantage  in  regard  to 
shot,  and  actually  fired  pice  (farthings)  at 
the  close  of  the  action,  which  lasted  less 
than  two  hours.  The  Europeans  burned 
the  village,  formed  in  line,  and  retreated, 
with  some  of  their  best  officers  severely 
or  mortally  wounded,  and  their  ammu- 
nition exhausted.  One  vigorous  charge 
from  the  rebel  cavalry  would  have  carried 
the  day ;  the  Europeans  would  have  been 
crushed  by  the  sheer  force  of  overwhelming 
numbers;  and  then,  even  supposing  the 
rebels  not  to  have  at  once  besieged  Agra, 
how  long,  after  such  a  disaster,  would 
Sindia  and  Dinkur  Rao  have  been  able  to 
restrain  the  Gwalior  contingent  from  bring- 

*  The  testimony  of  an  eye-witness,  a  young  ofBcer 
of  the  3rd  Europeans. — Times,  Sept.  2nd,  1857. 
+  Letter.^ — Times,  September  1st,  1857. 
t  Times,  September  2nd,  1857., 
VOL.  II.  3  A 


ing  against  the  fort  the  siegs-train  which, 
humanly  speaking,  seemed  alone  needful 
to  secure  its  downfall  ?  Happily  no  charge 
was  made :  the  enemy  had  no  leaders,  and 
fought  in  the  old  desultory  Mahratta 
fashion,  hanging  on  the  flanks  and  rear  of 
the  retreating  force,  but  neglecting  every 
opportunity  of  striking  a  decisive  blow. 
The  Europeans  were  chased  into  Agra  by 
the  rebels,  with  a  6-pounder  gun  (probably 
the  only  one  left  that  the  mutineers  could 
move  about,  or  had  ammunition  for),  and 
harassed  by  cavalry.  The  British  loss  was 
terrible.  The  casualties  amounted  to  141; 
more  than  one  man  in  six :  and  of  these, 
forty-nine  were  killed  or  mortally  wounded. 
Captain  d'Oyly  was  among  the  latter,  and 
his  death  was  a  calamity  to  the  garrison. 
His  horse  was  shot  under  him  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  action ;  but  he  was  him- 
self unhurt  till  some  time  later,  when,  while 
stooping  down  to  assist  in  extricating  the 
wheel  of  a  gun,  he  was  struck  by  a  grape- 
shot  in  the  side.  Supporting  himself  on  a 
tumbril,  he  continued  to  give  orders  till  he 
sank,  exhausted  by  pain  and  weakness,  ex- 
claiming as  he  fell,  "  Ah !  they  have  done 
for  me  now :  put  a  stone  over  my  grave, 
and  say  I  died  fighting  my  guns."  He 
was,  however,  carried  back  to  the  fort,  and 
lingered  until  the  following  evening.  Lieu- 
tenant Lambe,  another  artillery  officer,  lan- 
guished a  whole  month,  and  then  died  of 
his  wounds. 

The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  estimated  as 
exceeding  500;  but  had  it  been  many 
times  greater,  the  effect  of  this  ill-judged 
expedition  could  not  have  been  otherwise 
than  injurious  to  the  British  cause.  On 
the  4th  of  July,  an  attack  of  illness  had 
deprived  the  Europeans  of  the  lieutenant- 
governor's  supervision ;§  and,  after  the  bat- 
tle, panic  prevailed  in  Agra,  both  within  and 
without  the  fort.  A  party  of  the  residents 
had  watched,  from  the  Flagstaff — an  elevated 
position  at  one  of  the  gates  of  the  fort — the 
retreat  of  their  countrymen,  pursued  by 
the  rebels.  The  alarm  was  given ;  and  the 
Europeans  not  already  within  the  walls, 
rushed  in.  The  retreating  troops  hurried 
through  the  city ;  the  men  on  guard  at  the 
gaol,  fled  with  them  into  the  fort ;  the  gates 
were  closed  in  all  haste ;  and,  on  every  side, 
the  cry  was  heard  in  Agra — "  The  rule  of  the 

§  "  Mr.  Colvin  has  been,  for  the  last  two  days, 
totally  unfit  [ted]  for  any  public  duty,  by  an  attack  of 
his  head." — Official  report  of  Civil  Commissioner 
Muir,  Agra,  July  6th. 


382     AGRA— EUROPEANS  SHUT  UP  IN  THE  FORT— JULY  5th,  1857 


Feringhee  is  over  \"     The  budmashes  rose 
to  fraternise  with  the  rebels ;  the  prisoners 
were  set  free  ;  and  the  frantic  mob  began  to 
pillage   and    burn   the   cantonments,    aud 
hunt  all  Christians  to  the  death.     It  does 
not   appear   that   the   persecution   was   on 
account  of  religion,  as  such,  but  because  the 
interests  of  the  native  Christians  were  viewed 
as  identified  with   their   instructors.     The 
Agra  authorities,  acting  for  Mr.  Colvin,  had 
refused  them  admission  into  the  fort ;  and 
at  "the  last  hour,  when  the  wounded  and 
the  troops  were  returning  from  the  field 
of  battle,  and  entering  the  fort,   the  poor 
Christian  families  were  standing  before  the 
gates,  imploring  the  guards  to  let  them  in  ; 
but  in  vain."     However,  Mr.  French  and 
Mr.  Schneider  took  advantage  of  the  en- 
trance of  the  troops  to  bring  iu  the  women 
and  children,  to  the  number  of  about  240. 
The  men  were  afterwards  also  suffered  to 
come  in,  on  the  understanding  that  they 
should  make  themselves  useful  as  servants, 
gunners,  and  in  any  way  which  might  be 
required.     They  were   so   harshly  treated, 
that  one  of  the  missionaries  "  thought,  that 
should  they  turn  rebels,   it  would   be  no 
very   great  wonder."*      Another  declares, 
that  "  the  policy  of  the  Europeans  was,  for 
a  time,  such  as  to  force  them  to  become 
rebels,  if  they  could  have  been  forced.    But 
they  could    not.     They  were   stanch   men 
and  true.     They  were  more — they  showed 
their  fellow-Christians,  bearing  the  name  of 
Englishmen  or  Scotchmen,  that  they  were 
men  of  principle.     They  showed  them  how 
they  could  endure  persecution. "f 

The  native  Christians  proved  o.  great 
assistance  to  the  Europeans :  the  men  did 
a  good  work  on  their  entrance,  by  saving 
medical  stores  from  a  house  nearly  a  mile 
from  the  fort;  by  carrying  sick  and  wounded, 
aud  taking  service  wherever  they  found 
it;  for,  in  the  hasty  closing  of  the  gates, 
the  mass  of  the  native  servants  had  been 
left  outside ;  and  though  many  of  them 
would  willingly  have  cast  iu.  their  lot  with 
their  masters,J  tliey  dared  not  approach, 
because  "  the  soldiers  shot  at  every  black  face 
that  came  iu  sight."§  No  escort  was  sent 
out  to  scour  the  city  and  rescue  Europeans', 

•  ReT.  J.  L.  Scott,  of  the  American  Board  of  Mis- 
sions.— Sherring's  Indian  Church,  p.  95. 

t  Rev.  J.  Parsons,  Baptist  missionary. — Ibid,, 
p.  88. 

t  Mr.  Raikea  says  the  servant*  generally, were 
well-conducted.  "  One  of  my  own  old  favourites 
behaved  ill  amongst  about  fifty  :"  the  rest  were  de- 


Eurasians,  or  natives  actually  in  the  service 
of  government.  The  list  of  persons  killed 
is  suggestive  of  either  selfishness  or  in- 
capacity on  the  part  of  the  authorities;  for 
the  victims  did  not  perish  iu  a  general  mas- 
sacre by  mutineers,  but  were  killed  ia  one's, 
two's,  or  three's  iu  the  city,  on  the  5th  and 
6th  of  July,  by  the  revolted  city  guard,  the 
budmashes,  and  released  convicts ;  and 
although  the  murders  were  committed 
within  sight  and  hearing  of  a  stronghold 
garrisoned  by  an  entire  European  regiment, 
not  a  shot  was  fired — not  a  blow  struck  in 
defence  of  these  thirty  British  subjects. 

The  names  are  thus  given  in  the  London 
Gazette ; — 

Christie  Leveret. 

Alexander  Derridon,  from  Alighur,  with  his  wife 
and  three  children. 

B.  A.  Piaggio,  clerk  in  the  civil  auditor's  office. 
J.  Hawkins. 

Louis  Maxwell,  a  government  pensioner. 
Zacharias   Parsick,  clerk  in  the  se';retariat,  and 

his  mother. 

John  Anthony,  clerk  in  the  secretariat. 

J.  Lamborne,  and  his  daughter. 

H.  Hare,  and  his  sou,  government  clerks 

J.  Uanselrae,  junior. 

Mrs.  Nowlan. 

Mrs.  Mathias,  burnt  to  death. 

C.  R.  Thorton,  assistant  patrol. 
Major  John  Jacob,  late  of  Sindia's  service. 

F.  C.   Hubbard,  professor   at  the  Agra  college, 
and  brother  to  the  clergyman  killed  at  Delhi. 

T.  Delisle,  drummer,  9th  N.I. 

G.  Turvy,  bandmaster. 
J.  Allen,  pensioner. 
Mr.  Gray  s  mother-in-law. 
R.  Dennis,  compositor,  Mo/ussilite  press. 
Mrs.  Dennis. 
Peter,  a  catechist,  and  two  other  native  Christians, 

living  at  the  Kuttra  church. 

The  day  following  the  battle  was  one  of 
great  excitement,  it  being  generally  expected 
that  the  mutineers  would  take  up  their 
position  in  Agra;  instead  of  which,  they 
marched  off,  on  the  very  night  of  the  battle, 
to  Muttra,  from  whence  they  sent  a  depu- 
tation to  Gwalior,  conjuring  the  contin- 
gent to  join  them  in  attacking  the  fort. 
But  the  policy  of  Dinkur  Rao  prevented 
the  proposed  co-operation ;  and,  on  the 
18th  of  July,  the  Neemuch  rebels  started 
for  Delhi.  It  was  known  that  they  had 
little  or  no  ammunition,  and  scarcely  any 


-Revolt  in  the  N.  W.  Province!, 


voted  and  faithful, 
p.  64. 

§  Letter  of  civilian  attached  to  Kotah  contin- 
gent.— Times,  October  9th,  1857.  Mrs.  Coopland 
says,  the  soldiers  fired  at  every  black  face  that 
shewed  itself  within  range,  and  even  threw  two 
shells  into  the  city. — Escape  from  Gwalior,  p.  183. 


STATE  0¥  AGRA— JULY,  1857. 


363 


money.  Their  departure  was  a  great  relief 
to  the  motley  crowd  assembled  within  the 
fort.  A  body  of  troops  was  sent  out  to  make 
a  demonstration  in  the  city ;  rows  of  gibbets 
were  erected,  and  many  natives  hanged. 

The  reljitives  or  friends  of  the  sufferers 
were  at  first  allowed  to  take  away  the 
l)odies :  the  permission  was  rescinded  be- 
cause they  were  carried  round  the  walls, 
decked  with  garlands  of  flowers,  and  reve- 
renced as  the  relics  of  martyrs. 

Apprehensions  were  expressed  by  many 
persons  regarding  the  consequences  of  the 
compression  of  so  large  and  heterogeneous 
a  multitude  within  the  fort,  at  the  worst 
season  of  the  year;  but  the  excellent  ar- 
rangements made  by  Mr.  Colvin,*prevented 
much  of  the  suffering  which  must  otherwise 
have  arisen.  The  want  of  bread  was 
severely  felt  at  Lucknow :  women  and  chil- 
dren, the  sick  and  the  wounded,  grew  to 
loathe  the  sight  of  chupatties.  But  at  Agra, 
after  the  battle,  the  first  objects  seen  "en- 
tering the  gates,  when  the  panic-stricken 
authorities  ventured  to  open  them  wide 
enough  to  admit  a  mouse,  were  carts  of 
bread,  that  the  Lala  [Jotee  Pereaud]  had 
baked  at  his  own  house  in  the  city,  for  the 
troops  and  people  who  were  shut  up."t 

The  death,  by  cholera,  of  Captain  Burlton, 
of  the  Gwalior  contingent,  on  the  12th  of 
July,  excited  considerable  alarm ;  but  there 
were  not  many  fatal  cases  or  much  disease ; 
and  for  the  next  four  months,  the  life  of 
the  Europeans  in  Agra,  though  strange  and 
startling  at  first,  became  wearisome  from 
its  monotony.     Mr.  Raikes  writes — 

"  Whatever  remained  unscathed,  from  Meerut  to 
Allahabad,  either  of  Englishmen  or  of  their  works, 
was  conglomerattd  here.  Here  were  the  remnants 
of  the  record  of  survey  and  revenue  settlement — that 
great  work  on  which  heaps  of  money,  and  the  best 
energies  of  our  best  men,  had  been  lavished  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.     Here  were  the  only  muni- 

•  Mr.  E.  A.  Reade,  the  senior  member  of  the 
Sudder  Board  of  Revenue,  assisted  Mr.  Colvin  in 
many  ways,  especially  in  framing  measures  for  the 
relief  of  the  local  government  from  its  financial 
embarrassments.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Colvin,  Mr. 
Reade  commenced  negotiations  for  a  loan  of  five 
lacs  of  rupees  with  the  principal  merchants  and 
bankers  of  Agra,  purposely  excepting  from  the 
number  Jotee  I'ersaud,  who  was  pouring  provisions 
into  the  fnrt,  and  had  agreed  to  take  a  large  amount 
of  the  cost  in  supply-bills.  Unhappily,  Mr.  Colvin 
was  induced  to  alter  his  plans,  and  orders  were 
given  to  levy  a  compulsory  loan  of  twenty  lacs. 
Mr.  Reade's  protest  was  disregarded ;  the  merchants 
were  summoned,  and  made  to  sign  an  engagement 
to  the  desired  effect.  Several  of  them  left  the  city 
in  disgust,  and  not  a  rupee  was  realised  by  the  pro- 


tions  of  war,  the  only  instruments  of  art  or  materials 
of  science,  which  remained  to  us.  In  huts  hastily 
prepared,  among  the  galleries  and  gateways  of  the 
old  palace  of  the  emperors,  a  motley  crowd  as- 
sembled. Matted  screens  were  set  up  along  the 
marble  corridors  which,  in  Akber's  time,  were  hung 
with  the  silks  of  Persia  and  the  brocades  of  Be- 
nares.J  Under  this  shade,  not  only  was  every  part 
of  our  British  isles  represented,  but  we  had  also 
unwilling  delegates  from  many  part*  of  Europe  and 
America.  Nuns  from  the  banks  of  the  Garonne 
and  the  Loire,  priests  from  Sicily  and  Rome,  mi.s- 
sionaries  from  Ohio  and  Basle,  mixed  with  rope- 
dancers  from  Paris  and  pedlars  from  Armenia. 
Besides  these,  we  had  Calcutta  Baboos  and  Parsee 
merchants.  Although  all  the  Christians  alike  were 
driven  by  the  mutinous  legions  into  the  fort,  the 
circumstances  of  the  multitude  were  as  various  as 
their  races.  There  were  men  who  had  endured  more 
than  all  the  afflictions  of  Job,  who  had  lost  like  him 
not  only  their  sons,  daughters,  and  everything  they 
possessed,  but  who  also  mourned  over  the  fate  of 
wife,  mother,  and  sister !  Reserved,  silent,  solitary 
among  the  crowd,  they  longed  either  to  live  alone 
with  their  grief,  cr  to  quench  the  fire  within  by 
some  hurried  act  of  vengeance  or  despair.  Some 
few  there  were,  on  the  other  hand,  who  secretly  re- 
joiced in  the  troubles  of  the  Christian  race,  who 
fattened  on  their  spoil,  and  waited  only  to  betray 
them  if  opportunity  should  offer.  The  mass  had 
lost  their  property :  the  householder  his  houses,  the 
merchant  his  money,  the  shopkeeper  his  stores. 
Part,  however,  was  saved :  you  could  buy  millinery 
or  perfumery,  but  not  cheese,  beer,  wine,  nor 
tobacco.  In  short,  we  had  to  rough  it  at  Agra,  to 
bear  discomfort  and  privation ;  but  as  the  bazaars 
soon  opened,  and  generally  remained  open,  we  had 
no  real  hardships  to  undergo.  If  our  army  retired 
from  before  the  walls  of  Uelhi,  or  if  the  Owalior 
contingent,  with  their  artillery  and  siege-train, 
made  up  their  minds  to  attack  us,  as  was  constantly 
threatened,  then  we  might  be  subjected  to  a  siege. 

The  advance  of  the  Gwalior  contingent 
was,  of  course,  the  one  great  danger  that 
menaced  Agra.  Major  Macpherson  main- 
tained, as  has  been  stated,  an  incessant 
correspondence  with  the  Gwalior  durbar; 
his  sister,  Mrs.  Innes,  acting  as  his  secre- 
tary, and  striving  to  keep  down,  by  minis- 
tering to  the  comfort  of  those  around 
her  (especially  the  Gwalior  fugitives),  lier 

ceeding.  The  opposition  offered  to  it  by  Mr.  Reade, 
subsequently  induced  the  citizens  of  Agra  to  listen 
to  him,  and  enter  into  transactions  which  enabled 
the  authorities  to  meet  the  expenditure  of  the  8i<*-- 
sequent  months. 

t  Letter  from  "  one  of  the  late  garrispn  at  Agra." 
—Times,  April  4th,  1858. 

X  As  if  to  heighten  the  contrast  between  Oriental 
l)arbarism  and  European  civilisation,  the  unwilling 
tenants  of  Akber's  marble  halls,  decorated  the 
narrow  limits  allotted  them  according  to  their  pequ- 
liar  ideas.  Dr.  Christison,  for  instance  (a  surgeon 
attached  to  the  1st  cavalry),  "having  a  taste  for 
pictures,"  adorned  the  apartment  of  his  sick  wife 
with  a  portrait  of  Madeleine  Smith,  cut  out  of  the 
Illustrated  News  (Mrs.  Coopland ;  p.  210),  as  a  re- 
freshing and  edifying  subject  of  contemplation. 


364 


VILLAGES  BURNED  NEAR  AGRA— JULY,  1857. 


cruel  anxiety  regarding  the  position  of  her 
husband,  Lieutenant  Innes,  at  Lucknow. 
Mrs.  Blake,  and  other  widowed  ladies,  for- 
getting their  private  griefs,  devoted  them- 
selves to  nursing  the  sick  and  wounded. 

The  report  of  the  battle  of  July  5th, 
furnished  to  the  Supreme  government,  was 
probably  much  less  detailed  and  explicit 
than  that  given  here  by  the  aid  of  private 
letters ;  but  its  immediate  consequence  was 
the  supersession  of  Brigadier  Polwhele  by 
Lieutenant-colonel  Cotton  of  the  69th  N.I., 
passing  over  the  head  of  a  senior  officer 
(Lieutenant-colonel  Eraser,  of  the  engi- 
neers) .*  Mr.  Drummond  was  removed  from 
the  magistracy  to  a  judgeship,  and  Mr.  Phil- 
lips made  magistrate  in  his  stead.  The  new 
brigadier,  as  his  sobriquet  of  "  Gun-cotton" 
denoted,  was  a  man  of  considerable  energy, 
and  a  sense  of  duty  sufficiently  strong  to 
lead  him  to  incur  responsibility  and  un- 
popularity, in  controlling,  by  stringent 
measures  (including  flogging),  the  excesses 
of  the  militiamen  and  volunteers.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  these  auxiliaries  should 
have  been  disorderly:  the  only  marvel  is, 
that  the  regular  troops  did  not  become 
utterly  disorganised  by  the  species  of  war- 
fare in  which  they  were  employed.  The  offi- 
cial records  throw  little  light  on  this  sub- 
ject; and  again  it  becomes  necessary  to 
seek  elsewhere  the  missing  links  in  the 
narrative.  Mrs.  Coopland  relates  the  man- 
ner in  which  she  and  other  ladies  sat  on 
the  towers  of  Agra,  "watching  the  sun 
set,  and  the  flames  rising  from  the  villages 
round  Agra,  which  our  troops  burnt.  Oue 
village  which  they  destroyed  in  this  way 
was  not  gained  without  a  sharp  fight  with 
the  villagers,  who  offered  resistance :  sixty 
villagers  were  slain,  amongst  whom  were  two 
women,  accidentally  killed,  who  were  loading 
guns,  and  otherwise  assisting  their  party." 

In  the  extensive  destruction  of  villages 
which  took  place  at  this  time,  it  cannot  of 
course  be  expected  that  the  women  could 
escape  uninjured.  There  is  no  reason  to 
believe  they  did  so,  even  before  the  fate  of 
the  Cawnpoor  and  Futtehghur  fugitives  was 
known :  after  that,  the  vengeance  of  the 
soldiers  spared  neither  sex  nor  age.  One 
of  the  garrison,  writing  from  Agra  on  the 
22nd  of  August,  says — 

*  Despatch  of  Lieutenant-governor  Colvin,  August 
6th,  1857.— Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (No.  4), 
p.  142.  ^  V  ;> 

t  Morning  Star,  October  29th,  1857. 

t  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwatior,  p.  215. 


"A  force  was  dispatched,  some  days  ago,  against 
an  insurgent  Jhat  village  across  the  Jumna,  and 
about  twenty  miles  from  this.  It  consisted  of  eighty 
men  of  the  3rd  Europeans,  two  guns,  and  thirty 
mounted  militia  (Europeans  and  East  Indians), 
under  Captain  Pond.  They  gtormed  the  village,  and 
killed  at  least  400  men  :  313  dead  bodies  were 
counted  in  the  streets,  besides  those  killed  by  the 
guns  in  front  of  the  village,  and  sabred  by  the 
cavalry  in  the  field  when  trying  to  escape.  It  is 
significant  that  none  of  the  enemy  were  merely 
wounded,  and  not  a  prisoner  was  taken.  Our  men 
fought  like  savages,  and  spared  none ;  but  crying 
out,  "Remember  our  women  at  Cawnpoor!"  they 
shot  and  bayoneted  without  mercy.  After  they  had 
slain  every  man  they  could  find,  I  lament  to  say  they 
did  what  infuriated  soldiers  too  frequently  do  when 
they  take  cities  by  assault— they  ravished  the  women. 
The  officers  were  unable  to  control  their  men ;  and 
till  the  village  was  set  on  fire,  these  scenes  were 
repeated.t 

Perhaps  if  Mrs.  Coopland  and  her  friends 
could  have  seen  all  this  somewhat  closer, 
instead  of  having  only  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
the  flames,  they  would  have  preferred  re- 
maining in  their  dull  quarters,  where  they 
"  forgot  the  days,  except  when  the  Baptists 
held  their  meetings  every  Wednesdays  and 
Fridays  in  a  place  in  our  square."  The 
gaieties  which  are  described  as  taking  place 
in  other  parts  of  the  fort — the  balls  and 
musical  parties,  the  gay  weddings,  brides  in 
veils  and  lace  dresses,  officers  in  full  regi- 
mentals, and  the  ladies  in  gay  attire, 
scarcely,  however,  afforded  a  stronger  con- 
trast to  the  sufferings  of  the  villagers, 
than  to  the  precarious  position  of  the 
merry-makers  themselves,  who  must  have 
felt  very  much  as  if  they  were  dancing 
beside  a  yawning  grave ;  the  officers  having 
arranged,  that  in  the  event  of  a  siege 
and  an  unsuccessful  defence,  they  would 
all  blow  themselves  up  in  the  powder- 
magazine.J  This  witness,  however,  gives 
only  one  side  of  the  picture,  or  rather  a 
highly  coloured  view  of  one  of  its  many 
sides.  Her  knowledge  could  be  but  very 
superficial  regarding  the  proceedings  of 
the  4,289  persons§  who,  on  the  25th  of 
August,  1857,  occupied  the  fort.  There 
were  men  there — Major  Macpherson,  Mr. 
Raikes,  and  Mr.  Reade,  among  others — 
capable  of  'looking  beyond  the  provoca- 
tions of  the  moment,  and  incapable  of 
viewing,  without  anxiety  and  grief,  the 
increasing    alienation    fast    ripening    into 

§  Of  these,  including  the  European  regiment 
and  the  artillery,  1,065  were  male  adult  Europeans, 
443  Eurasians,  267  native  Christians,  and  the  re- 
maining 2,514,  women  and  non-adults  of  the  afore- 
said classes. 


SAUGOR— THE  FAITHFUL  31st  N.I.— JULY,  1857. 


365 


hatred  between  the  two  races.  None  felt 
this  more  painfully  than  the  lieutenant- 
governor.  The  last  letter  sent  by  him  to 
England  affords  a  melancholy  insight  into 
his  position  and  feelings.  "  My  authority," 
he  writes,  "  is  now  confined  to  a  few  miles 
near  this  fort.  The  city  is  quiet,  and  gives 
supplies.  Collection  of  revenue  quite  sus- 
pended. The  bankers  will  give  small  sums 
at  very  high  rates  in  loan.  I  send  my 
affectionate  regards  to  all  my  old  friends. 
I  cannot  shut  my  eyes  to  what  is  probably 
before  me.  If  I  have  erred  in  any  step, 
hard  has  been  my  position ;  and  you  will  all 
bear  lightly  on  my  memory,  and  help  my 
family*  as  far  as  you  can.  Let  Trevelyan 
see  this." 

These  are  the  words  of  a  broken-hearted, 
disappointed  man.  And  such  John  Colvin 
was.  Worn  and  weary,  he  sank  into  the 
grave  on  the  9th  of  September,  at  the 
age  of  fifty.  The  Supreme  government 
lamented  the  loss  it  sustained  in  his 
"  ripe  experience,  high  ability,  and  untiring 
energy  ;"t  and  the  personal  friend  he  valued 
most.  Sir  Charles  Trevelyan,  the  present 
governor  of  Madras,  responded  to  his  last 
touching  message,  by  laying  before  the 
European  public  a  sketch  of  his  life  and 
labours,  drawn  up  in  the  very  spirit  of  ten- 
derness and  discrimination.  J  But,  after  all, 
the  system  of  government  established  in 
the  North-West  Provinces,  was  far  too 
radically  wrong  to  work  well,  even  under  so 
upright  and  industrious  a  man  as  John 
Colvin  :  and  evidence  is  wanting  to  show 
how  far  he  struggled  against  the  evils  he 
must  have  daily  witnessed ;  or  that  he  was 
willing,  like  Henry  Lawrence  in  the  Punjab, 
to  be  set  aside,  sooner  than  be  instrumental 
in  perpetrating  injustice  or  oppression. 


Saugor, — the  chief  place  of  an  extensive 
tract,  known  as  the  Saugor  and  Nerbudda 
territories,  was  held  in  May,  1857,  by  the 
Slst  and  42nd  N.I.,the  3rd  irregular  cavalry, 
and  a  company  of  artillery.  The  officer  in 
command.  Brigadier  Sage,  considering  all 
the  Native  troops  disaffected,  removed  from 
cantonments  on  the  29th  of  June,  with  the 
European  officers,  into  the  fort — a  ruinous 

*  Mrs.  Colvin  was  at  Geneva,  with  her  younger 
children.  An  elder  son,  Elliott,  attended  his  father's 
death-bed. 

t  Government  notification;  Fort  William,  Sep- 
tember 19th,  1857. 

X  See  TimM, December  25th,  1857.  Thewell-known 
signature  of  "  Indophilus"  is  affixed  to  the  article. 


old  building,  the  walls  of  which  would,  it 
was  expected,  "fall  from  concussion  of 
guns,"§  in  the  event  of  attack.  The  garri- 
son, after  this  decisive  move,  is  thus  stated  by 
the  brigadier : — "  Sixty-eight  artillerymen, 
fifteen  conductors  and  sergeants,  the  officers 
of  the  31st  and  42nd,  and  civilians,  drum- 
mers, sergeants,  &c. ;  seventy-six  in  all : 
including  sick,  131."  Besides  these,  there 
were  159  women  and  children  :  giving  a 
total  of  290  persons.  II  When  the  Native 
troops  were  left  to  themselves,  the  41st, 
and  all  but  sixty  of  the  3rd  cavalry,  hoisted 
the  green  flag,  and  began  to  loot  the  canton- 
ments, and  burn  the  bungalows  and  bazaar. 
The  31st  opposed  them,  and  sent  to  the 
brigadier  for  assistance,  which  he  refused. 
The  conduct  of  the  brigadier  was  considered 
to  require  explanation,  and  the  commander- 
in-chief  called  for  a  "  full  detail  of  all  the 
circumstances  connected  with  his  quitting 
cantonments,  and  of  the  subsequent  pro- 
ceedings at  Saugor."^  The  order  was 
obeyed  in  a  report,  which  is  naturally  a  vin- 
dication against  censure,  rather  than  an 
unbiassed  narrative  of  events.  The  gist 
of  the  matter  is  given  in  the  following 
quotation  from  the  account  written  on 
the  spur  of  the  moment  by  the  brigadier, 
for  the  information  of  his  friends  in  Eng- 
land. 

"  The  31st  sent  to  me  for  guns,  but  it  suited  not 
my  policy  to  give  them.  I  sent  them  sixty  troopers 
to  assist  them,  and  then  they  were  rather  over- 
matched, as  the  42nd  had  drilled  the  spike  out  of 
an  old  12-pounder  the  artillery  officer  left  behind,  and 
this  they  fired  ten  or  eleven  times  with  balls  made  by 
blacksmiths.  Night  [July  7th]  closed  the  combat, 
with  a  message  I  sent  them  that  victory  would  come 
with  the  morning!  With  the  morning  the  battle 
recommenced,  and  the  42nd  and  mutinous  cavalry 
were  beaten  out  of  the  cantonments  by  one-half 
their  numbers,  expecting  the  Europeans  would  be 
upon  them.  They  left  their  colours,  magazine,  and 
baggage,  and  are  now  flying  over  the  country.  All 
the  public  cattle  they  had  stolen  has  been  re- 
captured ;  they  are  without  tents  or  shelter,  and  the 
ram  has  been  pouring  down  a  deluge  all  day." 

The  official  report  ends  with  the  brigadier's 
declaration  of  "  having  saved  all  his  officers, 
and  made  the  good  men  drive  out  the  mu- 
tineers." He  does  not,  however,  mention 
that  the  appeal  of  the  31st  for  help  was  not 

§  Telegram  from  Colonel  Neil,  Allahabad,  11th 
July,  1857. 

II  Quoted  from  a  diary  extending  from  June  28th 
to  July  16th,  1857,  dated  "  Saugor,"  and  evidently 
written  by  Brigadier  Sage. — IHmes,  Sept.  2nd,  1857. 

1[  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (not  numbered), 
p.  114. 


366        THE  PUNJAB— JULLUNDUR  AND  PHILLOUR— JUNE,  1857. 


wholly  in  vain;  for  the  deputy  commissioner 
(Captain  Pinckney),  Lieutenant  Hamilton, 
Mr.  Bell,  collector  of  customs,  three 
patrols,  and  a  large  body  of  police,  went  to 
their  assistance.  The  telegram  from  the 
Benares  commissioner,  which  conveyed  this 
additional  intelligence  to  Calcutta,  added 
— "  The  mutineers  were  completely  routed  ; 
many  killed  and  wounded,  and  several 
taken  prisoners.  The  31st  N.I.  retook  the 
large  signal  gun,  and  six  commissariat  ele- 
phants, and  gave  them  up  to  the  authori- 
ties. Next  day  the  mutineers  were  chased, 
and  there  is  not  a  man  of  them  left  in 
Saugor.  Well  done  31st !  This  is  worth 
all  the  volunteering  in  the  world."* 

The  31st  was,  after  all,  a  fortunate  regi- 
ment in  not  being  dispersed  at  the  cannon's 
mouth,  through  the  misconduct  of  a  muti- 
nous minority,  or  driven  into  revolt  by  the 
cry,  "  The  Europeans  are  on  us  !"  Forty- 
six  men  joined  the  rebels;  while  above  800 
continued  "to  behave  in  an  exemplary 
manner."  The  mutineers  marched  into  the 
Dooab,  en  route  for  Delhi :  and  thus  ended 
the  Saugor  outbreak. 


77ie  Punjab. — While  the  events  just  nar- 
rated were  occurring  in  Northern  and  Cen- 
tral India,  several  portions  of  the  Bengal 
army,  stationed  in  the  Punjab,  broke  into 
mutiny. 

JuUundur,  and  the  neighbouring  station 
of  Phillour,f  were  held,  in  the  beginning  of 
June,  by  H.M.  8th  regiment,  with  some 
artillery  and  a  strong  native  brigade,  com- 
posed of  the  6th  light  cavalry,  and  the 
36th  N.I.  and  61st  N.I.  Incendiary  fires 
had  given  warning  of  disaffection,  and  the 
Brigadier  (General  Johnstone)  was  urged 
by  the  civilians  to  take  advantage  of  the 
presence  of  a  European  regiment,  and  dis- 
arm the  natives.  His  own  officers,  on  the 
contrary,  interceded  on  behalf  of  the  men  : 
and  the  brigadier,  who  is  described  as  a 
most  amiable,  zealous,  and  brave,  but  vacil- 
lating man,  hesitated ;  took  the  treasure 
from  the  native  guard;  restored  it  again; 
declined  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of  gov- 
ernment that  it  should  be  placed  under  the 
Europeans ;  settled  to  disarm  the  sepoys  on 
the  7th,  and  then  postponed  the  execution 
of  the  painful  measure  until  the  following 
morning.  During  the  intervening  night 
the  cavalry  galloped  into  the  lines  of  the 
infantry,   crying  that  the   Europeans   and 

•  H.  C.  Tucker,  Esq.,  to  the  governor-peneral. — 
Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (not  numbered),  p.  116. 


artillery  were  upon  them.  The  two  infantry 
regiments  rose,  burnt  several  bungalows, 
wounded  some  officers,  made  a  feeble  at- 
tempt on  the  guns,  and  went  off  to  Phillour. 
The  only  European  killed  was  Lieutenant 
Bagshaw,  the  adjutant  of  the  36th,  who, 
while  apparently  (as  he  said  before  he  died) 
almost  successful  in  restoring  order,  was 
mortally  wounded  by  a  6th  cavalry  trooper.J 
The  mutineers  made  for  the  Sutlej  river,  a 
distance  of  thirty  miles;  and  reached  Phil- 
lour  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  June. 
The  3rd  N.I.  were  stationed  there.  A 
company  had  gone  on  duty  to  Delhi,  and 
150  were  absent  on  furlough.  The  fort 
was  garrisoned  by  100  men  of  H.M.  8th 
Foot.  The  officer  in  command,  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Butler,  had  entered  the  service  of 
the  E.I.  Company  in  1820,  and  had  never 
been  out  of  India  from  that  time.  The 
telegraph  wires  were  cut,  and  no  informa- 
tion was  received  of  the  approach  of  the 
mutineers  until  they  were  close  at  hand. 
The  ladies  and  children  were  hurried  from 
the  cantonments  into  the  fort,  and  the 
colonel,  and  other  officers  of  the  3rd,  en- 
deavoured to  induce  the  sepoys  to  rally 
round  them  :  but  in  vain.  So  soon  as  a  few 
men  were  got  together  here  and  there,  the 
rest  went  back  to  the  lines  ;  and  the  Euro- 
peans, seeing  the  case  to  be  hopeless,  joined 
their  families  in  the  fort,  retiring  slowly 
and  on  foot.  Colonel  Butler  writes — "  Our 
men  had  always  said,  '  Happen  what  would, 
not  one  of  us  should  be  hurt  while  they 
lived.'  This  is  all  I  can  say  for  my  men : 
they  kept  their  word ;  for  had  they  liked, 
they  could  have  murdered  every  man, 
woman,  and  child,  before  I  got  them  out  of 
the  cantonments."  About  eighty  Hindoos- 
tanees  of  the  3rd  remained  in  their  lines, 
as  did  also  seventy-five  Seiks:  the  remainder 
of  the  regiment  joined  the  mutineers,  and 
marched  off  to  endeavour  to  cross  the  river 
higher  up.  Their  passage  was  opposed  by 
Mr.  G.  H.  Ricketts,  the  civil  officer  of 
Loodiana ;  who,  on  receiving  intelligence  of 
what  had  occurred  (not  direct  from  JuUun- 
dur, but  by  telegraph  from  Umballah), 
cut  down  the  bridge  over  the  Sutlej,  and 
went  to  intercept  the  rebels  with  three 
companies  of  the  4tli  Seik  regiment,  and 
a  small  force  (two  guns,  a  hundred  foot, 
and  fifty  troopers)  furnished  by  the  Nabha 
rajah,  a  neighbouring  chief.  Mr.  Ricketts 
acted  in  direct  opposition  to  the  proverb, 

t  See  ante,  p.  200. 

f  Cooper's  Cnaia  in  the  Punjab,  p.  84. 


SANGUINAEY  STRUGGLE  AT  JHELUM— JULY  7th,  1857. 


367 


which  recommends  a  bridge  of  gold  to  be 
made  for  a  flying  enemy  :  but  he  considered 
it  certain  that  the  mutineers  would  be  hotly 
pursued  by  a  force  from  Julluudur,  and 
thought  to  catch  the  rebels  between  two 
fires,  and  ensure  their  complete  destruc- 
tion. The  pursuit,  however,  was  not  com- 
menced until  about  seven  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  8tli :  and  when  the  brigadier 
reached  the  Sutlej,  he  found  that  the  mu- 
tineers had  beaten  the  force  opposed  to 
them,  spent  thirty  hours  in  crossing  the 
river  in  three  boats,  raised  some  tumults  in 
the  outskirts  of  Loodiana,  released  the  in- 
mates of  the  gaol,  and  marched  on.  The 
pursuit  was  recommenced,  but  without 
eflfect,  for  natives  can  always  outstrip  Eu- 
ropeans. A  well-informed  writer  remarks 
— "  It  is  singular  that,  instead  of  doing  all 
the  damage  they  might  have  done,  or  ap- 
proaching the  great  cantonment  of  Umbal- 
lah  (then  held  by  a  small  party  in  the 
church),  they  did  not  even  plunder  or  offer 
violence  to  any  man ;  but,  making  tre- 
mendous marches,  they  quietly  travelled 
by  the  most  unfrequented  cross-country 
route  to  Delhi,  where  they  have  since  espe- 
cially distinguished  themselves.  In  defence 
they  were  much  too  strong  for  any  force 
that  could  have  intercepted  them ;  and, 
indeed,  they  went  so  swiftly  and  quietly  that 
tlieir  route  was  hardly  noticed.  Thus  were 
four  regiments  added  to  the  Delhi  force."* 
Brigadier  Johnstone  was  fiercely  censured, 
by  the  Anglo-Indian  press,  for  tardiness  in 
pursuing  the  mutineers.  He  asked  for  an 
inquiry  into  his  conduct;  and  the  result,  as 
stated  by  Lord  Hardiuge,  in  answer  to  the 
question  of  Lord  Paumure  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  was,  tliat  the  brigadier  was  "fully 
and  honourably  acquitted  of  all  the  accusa- 
tions brought  against  him."t 

Jhelum. — The  14th  N.I.  were  quartered 
alone  at  Jhelum,  at  the  commencement  of 
July.  No  overt  act  of  mutiny  had  been 
committed ;  and  Colonel  Gerrard,  and  the 
other  European  officers,  had  confidence  in 
their  men :  but  the  chief  commissioner, 
Major  Browne,  was  convinced  of  the  ad- 
visability of  disarming  the  regiment;  and, 
iu  accordance  with  his  requisition,  a  detach- 

•  Letter  from  Umballah,  August,  1857. — I'imes, 
26lh  October,  1857. 

t  Mr.  Cooper,  in  his  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  gives  a 
letter  written  bv  Brigadier  Johnstone  to  the  editor 
of  the  Lahore  Chronicle,  explaining  why  the  pursuit 
of  the  mutineers  could  not  have  been  undertaken 
earlier,  or  carried  oQ  with  greater  speed. — pp.  94 
to  97. 


raent  of  250  of  H.M.  24th,  under  Colonel 
Ellice,  three  horse  artillery  guns,  and  some 
irregular  Mooltan  horse,  marched  from 
Rawul  Pindee.  It  is  alleged  that  the  true 
object  of  the  expedition  had  been  withheld 
from  Colonel  Ellice,  his  only  orders  being 
— "  When  you  get  to  Jhelum,  half-way  to 
Lahore,  telegraph  your  arrival."} 

The  Jhelum  authorities  hoped  that  Eu- 
ropeans would  arrive  before  daybreak  on  the 
7th  of  July,  and  take  the  14th  N.I.  by  sur- 
prise; instead  of  which,  the  sun  was  up, 
and  the  regiment,  fully  armed,  on  parade, 
when  the  British  column  was  seen  ap- 
proaching. A  shout  of  rage  and  terror  rose 
from  the  ranks ;  the  men  fired  wildly  on 
their  ofBcers,  but  without  effect,  and  then 
fled  to  their  barracks  ;  a  strong  party  taking 
possession  of  the  quarter-guard,  round  the 
roof  of  which  was  a  loopholed  parapet,  which 
commanded  the  entire  line.  According  to 
Mr.  Cooper,  the  sepoys  had  been  informed 
of  the  arrangements  of  the  authorities,  and 
had  resolved  on  resistance.  Hence  it  was 
that  "every  inch  of  way  had  to  be  fought 
by  the  Europeans ;  and  the  mutineers,  fully 
armed,  had  to  be  bayoneted  (like  rabbits 
from  their  burrows)  out  of  their  huts,  from 
which  they  were  firing  with  telling  effect  on 
the  men  in  the  open  space,  through  loop- 
holes obviously  of  long  preparation."^ 

Another  authority,  an  officer  of  the  24th, 
who,  though  not  actually  present,  had  from 
his  position  equal,  if  not  superior,  opportu- 
nities of  obtaining  authentic  information, 
makes  no  mention  of  any  evidence  of  ho.stile 
preparation  on  the  part  of  the  sepoys. 
Whatever  their  previous  intentions  may 
have  been,  they  evidently  broke  up  in  panic, 
and  rushed  pell-mell  to  any  cover  from  the 
European  guns.  The  work  of  clearing  the 
lines  iuvolved  a  desperate  and  protracted 
struggle.  The  Mooltan  cavalry  showed 
much  determination ;  the  Seiksjl  in  the  14th 
likewise  fought  on  the  side  of  the  Euro- 
peans, in  conjunction  with  the  police,  under 
Lieutenants  Batty e  andMacdonald.  Colonel 
Ellice  himself  led  a  charge  on  the  quarter- 
guard,  and  carried  the  place,  though  with 
considerable  loss  :1f  he  was  twice  severely 
wounded,  and  had  his  horse  shot  under  him. 

J  Letter  dated  "  Murree,  July  13th." — I'imes, 
September  3rd,  1857. 

§  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  126. 

II  Mr.  Cooper  says,  that  during  the  early  part  of 
the  engagement,  the  Seiks  were  "  eliminated"  from 
the  14th  N.L 

^  Captain  Spring,  of  the  14th  N.L,  was  amonjf 
those  who  were  mortally  wounded  at  Jhelum. 


368 


RAWUL  PINDEE  ANQ  SEALKOTE— JULY,  1857. 


Driven  from  the  cantonments,  the  mutineers 
took  refuge  in  an  adjacent  ■walled  village. 
The  outworks  were  soon  taken ;  but  the 
sepoys  defended  themselves  with  despera- 
tion. Three  guns  were  brought  against 
them;  yet  they  are  described  as  fighting  "like 
fiends,  disputing  every  inch  of  ground" — 
"  with  halters  round  their  necks"* — "  like 
stags  at  bay."t 

At  length  the  Europeans  desisted  from 
attempting  to  clear  the  village.  The  sepoys, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  action,  were 
702  in  number :  the  three  companies  of  the 
84th  comprised  only  247  men ;  of  the  latter, 
seventy-six  were  killed  or  wounded :  the 
others  were  exhausted  with  twelve  hours' 
fighting,  twelve  hours'  marching,  twenty 
hours  under  arras,  and  thirteen  of  these 
without  food.  Captain  Macpherson  (the 
senior  officer,  not  wounded)  determined  on 
bivouacking  on  the  bare  ground  for  the 
night,  under  the  impression  that  the  mu- 
tineers would  disperse  quietly  in  the  dark- 
ness ;  which  they  did.  The  next  morning 
150  dead  bodies  were  counted  on  the  field, 
and  thirty  were  brought  in  the  day  after. 
The  police  dispatched  numbers  on  islands; 
and  116  were  executed  by  shooting,  hanging, 
and  blowing  from  guns,  j  The  officer  of  the 
24th  Europeans  (before  quoted),  speaks  of 
"the  satisfaction"  afforded  by  shooting  forty- 
eight  sepoys  one  evening,  and  blowing 
twenty-five  away  from  the  cannon's  mouth 
next  morning.  The  government  offered  a 
reward  cf  thirty  rupees  (about  £3)  for 
every  fugitive  sepoy. § 

Rawul  Pindee. — The  remaining  com- 
panies of  the  24th  Europeans,  stationed  at 
Rawul  Pindee,  were  ordered  to  disarm 
the  58th  N.I.  on  the  7th  of  July.  The 
Europeans  took  up  their  position  on  either 
side  of  the  horse  artillery,  and  the  sepoys 
were  directed  to  surrender  their  arms. 
They  heard  the  order — paused  for  a  mo- 
ment, looked  at  the  guns,  and  turned 
to  fly.  An  officer  of  the  24th  says — "  Our 
men  were  with  the  greatest  difficulty  pre- 
vented by  the  officers  from  firing,  as  also 
the  artillery.  Had  we  fired,  we  should  have 
done  so  right  into  a  body  of  staff  oflScers, 
who  were  between  us."  Happilj'  their  vio- 
lence was  restrained,  and  the  sepoys  were 
induced  to  give  up  their  weapons  quietly.  || 
Sealkote, — a   town   bordering   on    Cash- 

•  Letter  by  an  officer  of  the  24th  Europeans. — 
TVmes,  Sept.  19th,  1857. 
t  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Pvnjab,  p.  127. 
Xlhid.,^.  127. 


mere,  and  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Chenab  river,  sixty-three  miles  from  La- 
hore— was  one  of  the  places  where  detach- 
ments from  different  native  regiments  were 
sent  to  practise  firing  with  the  Enfield  rifle 
aud  the  greased  cartridge. 

At  the  time  of  the  Meerut  outbreak,  Seal- 
kote was  one  of  the  largest  military  stations 
in   the   Punjab;    but  on  the  formation   of 
the  moveable  column,  H.M.  52nd  light  in- 
fantry, the  European  artillery,  the  3oth  N.I., 
and  a  wing  of  the  9th  irregular  cavalry,  were 
detached  ;  leaving  only  the  46th  N.I.  and  a 
portion  of  the  9th  irregular  cavalry.     The 
brigadier  (Brind)  in  command  of  the  sta- 
tion was  an  experienced  officer,   and  had 
seen  much  service  as  a  sepoy  leader.     He 
remonstrated    strongly   against    the    total 
removal  of  the  European  troops,  and  urged 
that  at  least   250  should   be  left   behind. 
In  reply,  he  was  requested  to  disarm  the 
Native   troops.      This   he   refused    to    do, 
alleging  that  they  would  not  mutiny  unless 
driven   to   it;    and,    in    concert    with   his 
officers,  the  brigadier  maintained  an  attitude 
of    confidence    towards   the    sepoys.      The 
authorities  evinced  similar  reliance  by  the 
withdrawal  of  the  European  force,  notwith- 
standing the  vicinity  of  Maharajah  Goolab 
Sing  of  Cashmere,  and  the  fact  that  that 
powerful  chief  had  been  recently  severely 
censured  by  the  Lahore  government  for  his 
conduct  towards  his  nephew.  Rajah  Jawahir 
Sing :  and  the  result  justified  the  trust  re- 
posed in  these  native  allies ;  for  both  uncle 
and    nephew   proved    active    and    faithful 
auxiliaries.      With   regard   to   the   sepoys, 
a  decided  advantage  was  gained  in  point  of 
time ;  but  it  wa.s  purchased  with  valuable 
lives. 

The  Sealkote  residents  were  far  from 
sharing  the  feeling  of  the  officers  towards 
the  sepoys.  Many  Europeans  sought  re- 
fuge at  Lahore:  the  remainder  wore  "a 
hopefully  hypocritical  aspect,"^  which  but 
thinly  veiled  aversion  aud  distrust.  Al- 
though "  the  band  played  as  usual,  and 
society  partook  of  its  evening  recreation," 
undisturbed  by  insolence  or  incendiarism ; 
the  tacit  truce  was  but  the  result  of  a  tem- 
porising policy,  while  each  party  watched 
the  movements  of  the  other.  As  early  as 
May,  a  vague  fear  was  known  to  have  pos- 
sessed the  minds  of  the  sepoys  regarding 

§  Times,  September  19th,  1857. 
II  Letter   dated   "  Camp,   Gujerat,   July   15th." — 
Times,  September  19th,  1857. 
^  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Funjah,  p.  136. 


MUTINY  AT  SEALKOTE— JULY  9th,  1857. 


369 


certain  orders,  alleged  to  have  been  issued 
from  London,  to  ruin  their  caste.  A  pro- 
position had  been  actually  entertained  to 
massacre  a  large  party  assembled  at  the 
house  of  the  brigadier;  but  the  discussion 
was  postponed,  until  it  should  be  shown 
whether  goverument  really  intended  to 
enforce  the  biting  of  the  filthy  cartridges.* 
Up  to  the  date  of  the  Jhelum  mutiny,  no 
overt  act  of  disafifection  had  been  com- 
mitted ;  and  on  the  evening  of  the  8th  of 
July,  Dr.  James  Graham,  the  superintend- 
ing surgeon,  begged  a  friend  with  whom  he 
was  dining,  who  had  expressed  himself 
doubtfully  regarding  the  sepoys,  "not  to 
let  his  fears  get  the  better  of  his  senses." 
The  desperate  resistance  offered  at  Jhelum,' 
on  the  7th  of  July,  by  the  14th  N.I.,  was 
not  then  generally  known  at  Sealkote ; 
for  although  the  distance  between  the 
stations  was  only  seventy  miles,  the  com- 
munication was  interrupted,  in  consequence 
of  the  authorities  having  broken  down  the 
bridges  across  two  intervening  rivers,  the 
Jhelum  and  the  Chenab,  and  seized  all  the 
ferry-boats. t  Still  some  of  the  leading 
Europeans  knew  what  had  occurred.  Mr. 
Moncktou  and  family,  and  the  joint  assis- 
tant-commissioners, Mr.  Jones  and  Lieu- 
tenant M'Mahon,  who  were  living  toge- 
ther in  Mr.  Monckton's  house,  in  the  civil 
lines,  situated  between  the  fort  and  the 
cantonments — "fearing  what  was  coming, 
sent  for  the  chaplain  of  the  station  (Mr. 
Boyle),  and  made  him  stay  the  night." 
Mr.  Jones,  in  his  account  of  the  outbreak, 
adverts  to  the  expected  effect  of  the  Jhelum 
news,  as  his  chief  cause  for  immediate 
alarm;  but  does  not  state  the  channel 
through  which  the  intelligence  reached  him. 
Mr.  Boyle  describes  himself  as  having 
accepted  an  ordinary  invitation  to  break- 
fast and  dinner,  and  says  that  he  was  not 
informed  of  the  special  reason  until  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  he  rose  to  de- 
part, and  was  told  that  he  must  not  return 
to  cantonments.  He  asked,  "Why  ?"  The 
reply  was,  "  The  brigadier  has  bound  us  to 
secrecy."  He  was,  however,  told  of  the 
news  from  Jhelum,  upon  which  he  broke 
into  fierce  invectives  against  "  those  brutal 
devils !"  (the  sepoys),  and  against  the 
brigadier,  for  having  "miraculously  main- 

*  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  134. 

t  Letter  of  Mr.  Jones,  Sealkote,  July  13th. — 
Times,  Sept.  2nd,  1857. 

\  Letter  not  signed,  bat  evidently  written  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Boyle,  dated  from  the  fort,  Sealkote,  July 

VOL.  II.  3  B 


tained  confidence"  in  them;  adding,  "I 
now  assert,  and  if  he  and  I  live,  shall 
repeat  it,  that  he  alone  will  be  responsible 
for  all  the  blood  that,  in  my  opinion,  will 
be  shed  to-morrow."  The  brigadier  had 
no  opportunity  of  vindicating  himself  from 
this  charge;  for  he  was  in  his  grave  (and 
Mr.  Boyle  probably  read  the  service  over 
him)  before  these  words  were  penned.  Mr. 
Boyle  states,  that  after  "thinking  and 
cooling  down  as  became  his  clerical  charac- 
ter," he  asked  (with  an  adjuration  which  it  is 
more  reverent  to  omit),  "Are  the  women  and 
children  to  be  butchered  ?  Are  the  valuable 
lives  of  God's  creatures  to  be  lost — lost 
without  one  word  of  caution?  Must  no 
hint  be  given  ?  Cannot  they  be  brought 
away  in  the  night  to  the  fort  ?"  Notwith- 
standing this  vehement  expression  of  sym- 
pathy, Mr.  Boyle  neither  gave  the  "one 
word  of  caution'^  he  thought  so  important, 
nor  returned  to  share  the  peril  of  "the 
women  and  children ;"  but  spent  the  night 
a  mile  and  a-half  from  cantonments,  in 
a  house  guarded  by  thirty-five  men  of 
the  new  Seik  levies,  and  thirty  of  the 
mounted  police. J  In  the  meantime,  meet- 
ings were  being  held  in  the  lines,  probably 
to  discuss  the  Jhelum  affair,  and  certainly 
to  canvass  the  grievances  of  the  33rd  and 
35th  N.I.,  which  regiments  had  been 
disarmed  by  General  Nicholson.  One  or 
two  of  the  9th  cavalry  troopers,  who  had 
obtained  leave  of  absence  from  the  move- 
able column  at  Umritsir,  brought  reports 
from  thence,  which  are  said  to  have  been 
the  proximate  cause  of  the  Sealkote  mu- 
tiny.§ 

Captain  John  H.  Balmain,  of  the  9th 
cavalry,  a  thoroughly  brave  and  self-pos- 
sessed officer,  learned,  before  daybreak,  the 
prevailing  excitement.  He  rode  down  in- 
stantly to  his  troop,  and  was  warned  by  the 
Hindoos  to  return  to  his  house,  and  re- 
main there,  or  he  would  certainly  be 
killed.  The  Mussulmans  were  then  sad- 
dling their  horses;  and  a  party  of  them 
mounted  and  galloped  off  to  the  infan- 
try lines,  where  they  shouted  "  Deen  1" 
cursed  the  "  Feringhee  Kaffirs  1"  flashed  off 
their  pistols,  and  "intentionally  commit- 
ting themselves,  committed  the  best-inten- 
tioned  others."  ||     Balmain  galloped  to  the 

14th ;  and  letter  from  Mr.  Joneg. — Times,  Septem- 
ber 2nd,  1857. 

§iCooper'8  Crisis  in  the  Ptmjab,  p.  137. 

II  "Their  powers  of  locomotion  alone  achieved  more 
than  the  most  elaborate  persuasion." — Ibid.,  p.  138. 


370        BRIGADIER  BRIND  AND  OTHERS  KILLED  AT  SEALKOTE. 


compound  of  the  brigadier,  and  found  him 
with  Mr.  Chambers  (the  magistrate)  and  Ad- 
jutant Montgomery,  who  were  endeavouring 
to  induce  him  to  fly  with  them  to  the  fort.  At 
length  he  reluctantly  assented,  and  the  Euro- 
peans rode  off,  pursued  by  a  party  of  cavalry. 
The    gallant   old    brigadier   could    not   be 
induced  to  retreat  with  undignified  haste; 
and  had  nearly  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
mutineers,  when  Balmain,  who,  with  Mont- 
gomery, was  far  in  front,  called  out  to  his 
companion,  "  Stop,  and  make  a  stand,   or 
the  brigadier  is  lost  1"     They  both  turned, 
and  waited  for  him ;  but  it  was  too  late ;  he 
was  already  mortally  wounded.     They  suc- 
ceeded, however,  in  bringing  him  safely  to 
the  fort,  where  he  died  on  the  10th ;  and 
they   themselves   escaped    without    injury. 
The  cavalry  were,  throughout  the  affair,  far 
more   murderous   than_  the   infantry :    the 
latter   must   have   fired  intentionally  over 
the  heads  of  most  of  the  officers  who  rode 
into  their  lines,  or  none  of  them  could  have 
escaped.     Besides  the  brigadier,  six  Euro- 
peans were  killed  by  the  sowars,  and  several 
r^tives.     Captain  Bishop,  of  the  46th  N.I., 
left  cantonments  in  his  curricle,   with  his 
wife  and  children,  and  had  actually  reached 
the  walls  of  the  fort,  when  the  carriage  was 
surrounded   by    a   party   of  troopers,  who 
fired  into  it.     Seeing  himself  the  object  of 
attack,  he  jumped  out,  and  was  shot.     The 
horses  started  off  at  full  speed,  and  upset 
the  carriage;    but   the  mutineers    did  not 
attempt   to   injure    the   poor   lady   or   her 
children,  and  they  were  taken  into  the  fort. 
Dr.    John    Colin    Graham,    medical   store- 
keeper, perished  in  a  similar  manner :   he 
was  deliberately  shot  in  his  own  carriage, 
in  the  presence  of  his  wife    and   another 
lady  (Mrs.  Gray)  and  her  children.     The 
ladies  begged  for  mercy ;  and  the  troopers 
told  them  they  had  no  intention  of  hurting 
them,  but  only  the  sahib  logue  (gentlemen). 
Mrs.   Graham  drove  back  to  cantonments 
in  the  hope  of  obtaining  surgical  aid ;  but 
her  devotion  was  in  vain :    the  doctor  ex- 
pired  at  the   medical  depot   in  about   an 
hour. 

The  case  of  the  Hunter  family  was  a 
peculiar  one.  On  the  night  of  the  7th, 
Mrs.  Hunter  had  a  dream  of  murder,  which, 
though  easily  accounted  for  at  an  isolated 

*  The  French  sisters  of  charity,  established  at 
Sealkote,  are  said  to  have  been  warned  by  the 
natives  to  fly  on  the  evening  before  the  mutiny. 
They  did  not,  however,  quit  their  position  until  the 
outbreak,  and  then  escaped  to  the  fort  with  their 


station  in  the  Punjab  in  the  autumn  of 
1857,  so  impressed  her,  that  she  persuaded 
her  husband,  a  missionary  of  the  church  of 
Scotland,  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  A  warn- 
ing received  in  the  course  of  the  following 
day,*  confirmed  their  resolve,  and  they 
left  their  own  house,  with  their  child,  and 
passed  the  night  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hill,  at 
his  bungalow  in  the  Vizierabad  road.  When 
the  mutiny  broke  out,  instead  of  starting 
along  that  road,  they  adhered  to  their 
original  plan  of  proceeding  to  Lahore, 
and  for  this  purpose  had  to  pass  through 
Sealkote.  On  arriving  in  front  of  the  gaol, 
they  found  a  party  of  forty  troopers  engaged 
in  releasing  the  prisoners.  The  carriage 
was  immediately  surrounded ;  a  trooper 
shot  at  Mr.  Hunter,  and  he  and  his  wife 
were  hit  by  the  same  ball ;  and  they  were 
both,  with  their  child,  dragged  out  and 
massacred  by  the  cutcherry  and  gaol  chu- 
prassies.f 

Mrs.  Hunter  was  the  only  female  killed 
at  Sealkote.  A  Patau,  named  Hoonunt 
Khan,  attached  to  the  magistrate's  office, 
was  the  principal  instigator  of  her  murder; 
and  a  reward  of  1,000  rupees  was  vainly 
offered  for  his  apprehension.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  the  poor  lady  "  had  offended  the 
fanatical  Mohammedans  bj'  establishing  a 
small  female  school — a  crime,  in  their  eyes, 
deserving  death."J 

Dr.  James  Graham  had  scarcely  quitted 
cantonments,  with  his  daughter,  in  his 
buggy,  before  he  was  shot  in  the  head  by 
a  sowar,  and  fell  dead  in  the  arms  of  the 
poor  girl.  She  was  taken  to  the  cavalry 
guard,  and  there  found  Colonel  and  Mrs. 
Lome  Campbell,  surrounded  by  a  few 
faithful  troopers,  by  whom  the  three  Eu- 
ropeans were  safely  escorted  to  the  fort. 
There  were  some  remarkable  escapes.  Lieu- 
tenant Prinsep,  9th  cavalry,  a  brave  lad  of 
seventeen,  galloped  down  to  the  lines,  and 
supported  his  superior  officer  (probably 
Balmain)  in  trying  to  keep  their  troop 
faithful.  But  it  was  in  vain  :  their  own  men 
entreated  them  to  quit,  as  they  could  not 
protect  them.  Both  officers  escaped;  but 
the  younger  was  hotly  pursued  by  six 
troopers,  whom  he  found  drawn  up  on  either 
side  of  the  road,  half-way  between  the  fort 
and  cantonments.     He  was  fired  at,  hit  on 

pupils  unharmed,  after  having  protected  them  at 
every  hazard. —  Courrier  de  Lyons.  Quoted  in 
Tillies,  September  23rd,  1857. 

t  London  Oazette,  May  6th,  1858 ;  p.  2245. 

%  Sherring's  Indian  Church,  p.  326. 


MUTINY  AT  SEALKOTE— JULY  9th,  1857. 


37] 


the  sword-arm,  and  nearly  overpowered ; ' 
but  he  contrived  to  escape,  and  eluded  fur-  [ 
ther  ambush  by  striking  across  country  and 
making  his  way  to  Vizierabad,  which  he 
reached  at  11  a.m.,  having  started  from 
Sealkote  at  half-past  four,  and  ridden  thirty 
miles.* 

Captain  Saunders,  Dr.  Butler  of  the  9th 
cavalry,  and  Mr.  Garrad,  the  veterinary 
surgeon  of  the  regiment,  with  the  wives 
and  children  of  the  two  former  gentlemen, 
and  two  native  nurses,  spent  thirteen  hours 
crouched  in  an  out-building.  The  whole 
house  was  pillaged  in  their  hearing,  fired  at, 
and  riddled  with  shot.  A  faithful  chokedar, 
or  watchman,  brought  them  food,  and  con- 
trived to  mislead  the  party  of  46th  sepoys, 
who,  at  the  instigation  of  a  cavalry  trooper, 
had  come  to  search  for  concealed  officers. 
One  plunderer  looked  in  at  the  grating  of 
their  hiding-place.  Dr.  Butler  shot  him 
through  the  head.  He  fell  with  a  single 
groan,  but  never  spoke,  or  the  male  Eu- 
ropeans would  have  been  massacred.  The 
danger  was  so  imminent,  that  Mrs.  Butler's 
infant  in  arms  was  sent  away  with  its  nurse, 
in  hopes  that,  if  the  rest  perished,  the  little 
one  might  be  carried  to  the  fort.  Mrs. 
Saunders  took  her  baby  in  her  lap,  and 
disposed  her  other  three  children  behind  her 
in  a  row,  so  that  haply  one  bullet  might  kill 
all  at  once.  At  length,  at  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  the  faithful  chokedar  told  them 
they  might  proceed  to  the  fort,  which  they 
reached  in  safety. 

Three  officers  of  the  46th  N.I.  came  in 
about  the  same  time,  whose  fate  had  also 
occasioned  much  anxiety.  Captain  Caul- 
field  had  been  out  on  picket  duty  the  night 
preceding  the  rise ;  and,  on  returning  in  the 
morning,  he  observed  a  body  of  troopers 
riding  down  to  the  infantry  lines.  His  own 
men  became  uncontrollable,  and,  instead  of 
following  him  on  parade,  rushed  after  the 
sowars.  Captain  Caulfield  galloped  to  his 
bungalow,  roused  his  wife,  placed  her  in 
a  buggy,  in  charge  of  a  sepoy  (Maharaj 
Missur),  and  bade  him  take  her  to  the  fort. 
Then,  despite  her  arguments  and  solicita- 
tions, the  officer  rode  to  the  lines,  where  the 
grenadier  company  seized  and  forced  him 
into  a  hut,  declaring  that  he  would  be  killed 
by  some  of  the  sepoys  if  seen  during  the  first 
excitement.  Soou  after  this.  Colonel  Farqu- 
harsou  (in  commajid  of  the  regiment)  and 
the 'sergeant-major  were  brought  in.     The 

*  Letter  of  Lieutenant  Prinsep,  dated  "Goorjan- 
walla,  July  14th,  1857."— rime«,  Sept.  1st,  1857. 


men  were  respectful  and  attentive.  Nearly 
the  whole  corps  gathered  round  the  officers, 
said  that  the  raj  of  the  Feringhee  was  over, 
and  profi'ered  the  colonel  and  captain,  re- 
spectively, 2,000  and  1,000  rupees  a-month 
if  they  would  retain  their  positions,  pro- 
mising that  their  health  should  be  cared  for, 
and  they  should  go  to  the  hills  in  the 
hot  weather.f  Although  these  propositions 
were  rejected,  the  officers  were  not  the  less 
carefully  protected. 

The  party  at  Mr.  Monckton's,  guarded 
by  a  Seik  escort,  reached  the  fort  un- 
molested. The  danger,  however,  did  not 
end  here ;  for  the  crowded,  miserable  build- 
ing was  ill-fitted  to  resist  the  force  which  the 
mutineers  could  bring  to  bear  against  it ;  for 
a  signal-gun,  left  in  the  station,  had  fallen 
into  their  hands.  They  mounted  it  on  a 
carriage  drawn  by  sixteen  bullocks,  and 
fired  it  at  noon  as  if  nothing  had  oc- 
curred. 

The  Europeans  meanwhile  were  not  idle. 
There  was  a  terrible  preponderance  of 
women  and  children ;  but  some  of  the  foot 
police  corps,  and  300  new  Seik  levies,  were 
stanch.  Without  staying  to  break  their 
fast,  the  garrison  laboured,  under  a  burning 
sun,  to  throw  up  au  earthwork  on  the  ap- 
proach to  the  gate,  to  prevent  its  being 
blown  open ;  served  out  muskets  and  ammu- 
nition, and  manned  the  bastions.  Then, 
mounting  the  ramparts,  they  watched  the 
movements  of  the  enemy.  Detachments  of 
infantry  and  cavalry  were  seen  round  the 
gaol,  engaged  in  releasing  350  ruffians,  who 
immediately  set  to  work  plundering  and 
murdering;  commencing  their  work  by 
destroying  the  Cutcherry,  with  all  the  docu- 
ments stored  therein.  The  sepoys  plundered 
the  treasury  of  14,000  rupees,  and  divided 
among  themselves  35,000  more,  which  had 
been  left  in  their  charge.  The  market- 
place and  town  were  then  burned  down; 
two  large  magazines  blown  up  (far  more 
completely  than  the  gallant  Lieutenant 
Willoughby  had  done  at  Delhi);  after  which 
the  plunder  of  the  houses  commenced. 
About  four  in  the  afternoon,  the  mutineers, 
to  the  inexpressible  relief  of  the  Europeans, 
got  together  all  the  horses,  buggies,  and 
carriages  they  could  find — laded  them  with 
plunder,  and,  with  bugles  sounding  and 
banners  flying,  moved  leisurely  off  for 
Delhi,  marching  about  nine  miles  that  night, 
towards  the  Ravee  river. 

t  Letter  of  Mrs.  Caulfield.— Ttmes,  October  24th, 
1867.     Letter  of  civilian.— Tiwies,  Sept.  22nd,  1867. 


372       NICHOLSON  DEFEATS  SEALKOTE  MUTINEERS— JULY  12th. 


Their  triumph  was  brief.  The  command 
of  the  moveable  column  at  Umritsir  was  in 
the  hands  of  an  officer  young  in  years,  but 
old  in  experience.  John  Nicholson*  was 
one  of  three  Irish  brothers  sent  to  India  by 
their  uncle,  Sir  James  Weir  Hogg.  He 
served  as  an  ensign  in  the  Afghan  war, 
and  was  with  Colonel  Palmer  at  Ghuznee, 
at  the  time  of  the  discreditable  capitulation 
of  the  fortress ;  on  which  occasion  he  sur- 
rendered his  sword  with  bitter  tears. 

In  the  Sutlej  and  Punjab  campaigns  he 
served  with  distinction ;  and  afterwards  ex- 
erted himself  so  successfully  in  the  settle- 
ment, or  rather  administrative  subjugation, 
of  the  country,  that  Lord  Dalhousie  called 
him  "a  tower  of  strength."  The  Seiks 
applied  to  him  the  name  formerly  given  to 
Runjeet  Sing — "  the  lion  of  the  Punjab  :" 
but  except  in  their  mutual  ability  for  war, 
no  similarity  existed  between  the  little 
shrivelled  old  Seik  (pitted  by  small-pox,  and 
blind  in  one  eye,  the  other  gleaming  like  a 
basilisk)  and  the  young  Irishman,  whose 
stature  and  bearing  have  been  described  as 
"  fit  for  an  army  or  a  people  to  behold ;" 
but  who  in  private  life  was  gentle  and  most 
kind,  "  unselfish,  earnest,  plain,  and  true."t 
The  high  praise  has  been  claimed  for  him  of 
being  a  favourite  pupil  of  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence, and  worthy  of  his  master :  yet  in 
tracing  his  later  career,  there  is  evidence  of 
the  prompt  and  pitiless  policy  of  Sir  John  ; 
but  little,  if  any,  of  the  horror  of  indis- 
criminate slaughter  which  characterised  Sir 
Henry. 

lu  the  crisis  of  1857,  such  a  leader  as 
Nicholson  was  invaluable;  and  none  ques- 
tioned the  benefit  to  be  derived  by  the 
government  from  his  rapid  promotion,  when 
he  became  a  brigadier-general  and  a  C.B. 
at  five-and-thirty.  His  influence  with  the 
Seiks  was  almost  unbounded.  In  the  Bengal 
army  he  had  no  confidence,  and  carried  the 
disarming  policy  to  the  uttermost.  On  the 
8th  of  July,  the  exemplary  59th  N.I. 
were  disarmed  by  him,  as  a  precautionary 
measure,  but  with  deep  regret.  Oa  hear- 
ing of  the  Sealkote  mutiny,  he  disarmed 
the  wing  of  the  9th  light  cavalry;  and 
mounting  such  riders  as  he  could  on  the 

•  One  of  the  three  brothers  perished  at  the 
Khyber  Pass;  the  third  is  still  in  the  Indian  army. 

t  Epitaph  on  his  grave  in  India. 

j  Nicholson's  despatch  j  Goordaspoor,  July  19th, 
1857.— Further  Pari.  Papers,  1858  (No.  6),  p.  53. 

§  Letter  from  a  civilian  of  rank,  who  accompanied 
the  expedition. — Star,  September,  17th  1857.  Pro- 
bably Mr.  Roberts,  the  commissioner  at  Lahore ; 


vacant  horses,  he  marched  off^  with  H.M. 
52nd  light  infantry,  a   troop  of  horse  ar- 
tillery, three  guns,  some  Punjab  infantry,  a 
company  of  a  police  battalion,  and  two  newly 
raised  risallahs,  to  intercept  the  Sealkote 
mutineers.     The  station  of  Goordaspoor  is 
forty-one  miles  from  Umritsir :  the  distance  • 
was    accomplished    in    a   forced   march   of 
twenty  hours,J    though   not  without  con- 
siderable  loss   from  exhaustion,  apoplexy, 
and  sun-stroke.     On  reaching  Goordaspoor 
the  column  halted,  and  obtained,  by  means 
of  reconnoitring  parties,  intelligence  of  the 
movement  of  the  rebels,  who  were  suffered 
to    approach    the    Ravee,    and    commence 
crossing  at  the  Trimmoo  ferry.     The  river, 
never  before  known  to  have  been  fordable 
at  this  time  of  the  year,  was  rapidly  swelling, 
and   proved    a   powerful    auxiliary   to   the 
British,  who  came  upon  the  mutineers  at 
mid-day  on  the  12th.     After  a  very  brief 
attempt  at  resistance,  they  broke  and  fled 
in  confusion,  throwing  away  arms,  uniform, 
accoutrements,    booty — everything     which 
could  impede    their    escape.     The   enemy 
left    120  corpses    on  the  ground;    and  as 
many  more  were  swept  away  by  the  river. 
The  want  of  cavalry,  the  depth  of  the  water 
in  the  ford,  and  the  fatigue  of  the  Euro- 
peans, checked  the  pursuit ;  and  about  300 
of  the  rebels  took  post  on  an  island  in  the 
middle  of  the  river,  where  they  remained 
hemmed   in  by  the  rising   flood    (in  what 
manner   subsisting  does  not  appear)   until 
the    16th,    when    Nicholson,    having    pro- 
cured boats,  advanced  against  them.     The 
mutineers  had  retained  the  12-pounder  gun 
taken  by  them  from  Sealkote,  and  it  was 
now  turned  against  the  English  by  the  khau- 
samah  (house-steward)  of  the  late  Brigadier 
Brind ;  who  appears  to  have  been  the  only 
man  among  them  capable  of  managing  it. 
A  few  resolute  mutineers  "  died  manfully  at 
the  gun ;"  the  rest  gave  up  all  thoughts  of 
resistance,  and   flung  themselves  into  the 
water,  where  they  were  drowned,  or  shot 
"  like  mud-larks,  on  sand-banks  and  small 
islands."§    The  few  immediately  taken  were 
put  to  death.     Scarcely  any  would  have  es- 
caped but  for  the  want  of  cavalry  on  the  part 
of  the  British :  as  it  was,  the  neighbouring 

for  in  a  letter  from  that  place,  dated  July  17th, 
written  by  a  lady  residing  with  Mr.  Montgomery, 
the  judical  commissioner,  mention  is  made  of  a  de- 
scription given  of  the  expedition  by  Mr.  Roberts, 
who  "  liked  the  excitement  of  his  first  and  brief 
campaign,  better  than  listening  to  appeals." — 3forn- 
ing  Advertiser,  Sept.  2nd,  1857.  Mr.  Roberts'  pre- 
sence and  assistance  is  noted  by  N.'cholson. 


FALL  OF  CAWNPOOR  DISBELIEVED— JULY  2nd,  1857. 


373 


villages  were  burned,  and  numbers  hunted 
to  death.  A  large  proportion  of  the  plun- 
dered property  was  recovered ;  and  fines 
were  levied  on  the  natives  on  account  of 
the  remainder. 

About  600  sepoys  were  seized  in  Cash- 
mere; and  detachments  of  the  new  levies 
were  sent  there  to  take  them  from  the 
native  government.  In  one  day  seventy- 
eight  of  these  were  received  and  shot,*  the 
Native  officers  being  reserved  for  execution 
at  Sealkote,  whither  two  commissioners 
were  sent  from  Lahore,  to  investigate  the 
circumstances  of  the  mutiny.  The  com- 
manders of  the  foot  and  horse  police  were 
convicted  of  having  betrayed  their  trust. 
They  were  Seiks ;  and  grave  apprehensions 
were  entertained  regarding  the  effect  of 
their  trial,  conviction,  and  execution,  on 
the  minds  of  their  countrymen.  The  Eu- 
ropean officers  looked  on  the  faces  of  the 
Seik  levies  assembled  round  the  gallows, 
with  an  anxiety  which  increased  when  the 
ropes  broke,  and  an  order  had  to  be  given 
to  the  guard  to  shoot  the  half  lifeless  bodies. 


It  was,  however,  obeyed ;  and  the  brief  ex- 
citement having  passed  over,  the  Europeans 
and  Seiks  returned  to  the  ordinary  work  of 
hanging,  shooting,  and  flogging  Hindoos- 
tanees  with  entire  unanimity. 

A  civilian,  writing  from  Sealkote,  July 
23rd,  states — "  Lots  of  servants  who  went 
away  with  the  mutineers,  have  been  pun- 
ished. In  one  day  we  had  to  flog  125  men  ; 
forty  lashes  each.  We  have  some  to  hang 
every  day,  from  one  to  six  in  number.  I 
shall  be  very  glad  when  all  this  shooting 
and  hanging  is  over ;  it  sets  people's  minds 
more  or  less  against  us,  and  keeps  us  all  in 
a  state  of  excitement."  In  fact,  there 
were  various  evidences  of  disaffection, 
each  of  which  was  watched  with  fear  and 
trembling,  as  the  possible  precursor  of  a 
general  rising  among  the  Seiks.  At  Seal- 
kote, as  throughout  the  Punjab,  affairs  were 
in  a  most  critical  state;  and  the  event 
desired  by  every  European  in  India,  as  in- 
dispensable to  the  establishment  of  tranquil- 
lity— namely,  the  capture  of  Delhi— seemed 
further  off  in  July  than  it  had  done  in  May. 


CHAPTER  XVIIL 

I  ALLAHABAD;  SUCCESSFUL  ADVANCE  OF  HAVELOCK'S  COLUMN;  MASSACRE  OF 
WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  AT  CAWNPOOR;  FLIGHT  OF  THE  NANA,  AND  REOCCU- 
PATION  OF  CAWNPOOR. 


On  the  2nd  of  July,  a  message  from  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  to  Brigadier  Havelock 
reached  Allahabad,  to  the  effect,  that  there 
was  every  reason  to  believe,  that  on  the 
28th  of  June,  at  10  p.m.,  the  Cawnpoor 
force  had  been  entirely  destroyed  by  trea- 
chery. Sir  Henry  added — "  You  must  not 
now  move  with  less  than  1,000  Europeans. 
The  Nana  will  probably  join  the  rebels  at 
Lucknow;  but  we  can  stand  them  all  for 
months.  Civil  or  other  officers,  of  tact  and 
temper,  ought  to  join  each  regiment. "f 

Havelock  and  Neil  expressed  their  de- 
cided disbelief  of  the  fall  of  Cawnpoor; 
and  the  latter  declared  himself  confident 
that  "Wheeler  still  held  out,"  and  that 
Renaud's  force  J  was  "  strong  enough  for 
anything   that   could  be    brought   against 

•  Times,  Septemher  22Dd,  1857. 

t  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1837  ;  p.  97. 

X  See  previous  page,  303. 


it ;"  and  even  if  Cawnpoor  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  rebels,  ought  to  move  on 
steadily  to  Futtehpoor,  to  be  there  overtaken 
by  the  general. 

Sir  Patrick  Grant,  the  acting  comman- 
der-in-chief, sent  a  telegram  from  Calcutta, 
roundly  asserting,  that  "the  report  about 
the  fall  of  Cawnpoor  is  a  fabrication,  and 
therefore  to  push  on  thither."§  Thus  the  in- 
formation and  counsels  of  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence, when  Cawnpoor  had  fallen,  were  as 
little  regarded  as  his  solicitations  for  speedy 
help  had  been  before  the  capitulation.  The 
fact  of  its  fall  was  confirmed  by  Cossids, 
employed  in  carrying  letters  from  Lucknow 
to  Allahabad ;  who  witnessed  the  evacua- 
tion. From  the  tone  of  Brigadier-general 
Havelock's    telegram    to   Calcutta, ||    it    is 

§  Journal  of  Major  North,  60th  Rifles ;  p.  38. 
II  Dated    July  3rd,  1857.— Further  Pari.  Papers 
(not  numbered),  1857  ;  p.  98. 


374  HAVELOCK  STARTS  FOR  CAWNPOOR— JULY  7th,  1857. 


evident  that  he  gave  to  the  Cossids  the 
credence  which  he  had  refused  to  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence ;  but  it  is  surprising  that  the  in- 
completeness of  the  massacre  was  not  ascer- 
tained from  the  alleged  eye-witnesses,  and 
that  overtures  were  not  made  for  the  rescue 
of  the  women. 

Colonel  Neil,  previous  to  his  abrupt 
supersession  in  tlie  command  by  Brigadier 
Havelock,  had  made  arrangements  for  the 
departure  of  the  column  on  the  4th  of  July, 
and  for  the  immediate  dispatch  of  a  small 
vessel  up  the  Ganges,  with  provisions  and 
stores.  The  steamer  Berhampootra  left  on 
the  3rd,  with  Lieutenant  Spurgin  and  a 
hundred  of  the  1st  Fusiliers  on  board,  two 
guns,  and  twelve  artillerymen.  The  first 
proceedings  of  the  party  were  not  satisfac- 
tory. They  had  no  coals,  and  were  com- 
pelled to  forage  for  fuel  every  day.  It 
appears  the  lieutenant  viewed  Oude  as 
altogether  an  enemy's  country;  and,  on 
this  presumption,  opened  fire  on  the  village 
of  a  loyal  zemindar,  who  had  protected  and 
entertained  fugitive  Europeans.*  The  ze- 
mindar's people  armed  and  followed  the 
steamer,  firing  upon  it  from  the  banks,  but 
witliout  effect,  except  that  of  bringing  on 
.  themselves  a  more  telling  volley.  Apolo- 
gies were  afterwards  made  to  the  zemindar 
from  Allahabad. 

Some  differences  regarding  the  guns  and 
artillerymen  to  be  left  behind  for  the  secu- 
rity of  Allahabad,  arose  between  Neil  and 
Havelockjf  and  appear  to  have  delayed  the 
departure  of  the  main  force,  which  took 
place  at  4  p.m.  on  Tuesday,  the  7th  of  July. 
It  consisted  of  about  1,100  men,  of  whom 
800  were  English,  150  Seiks,  and  80  of 
the  13th  irregular  horse,  with  six  guns. 
The  rains  had  set  in  some  time  before,  and 
had  been  incessant  during  the  two  days 
preceding  the  march,  so  that  the  tents  and 
baggage  were  completely  soaked,  and  the 
draught  bullocks  were  greatly  overladen. 
On  the  morning  of  the  4th  the  weather 
had  cleared  a  little,  but  darkened  as  the  day 
advanced,  and  the  rain  fell  heavily  as  the 
force  moved  off;  few  in  its  number  of  fight- 
ing-men, but  long  and  straggling,  even  on 
the  present  occasion,  from  the  followers  and 
baggage  inseparable  from  an  Indian  army. 
The  first  two  miles  of  the  march  lay  through 
the  densely  populated  city  of  Allahabad. 
The  inhabitants  lined  the  streets,  and  looked 
down    from    the    house-tops    in    gloomy, 

*  Journal  of  Major  North,  p.  30. 

t  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857 ;  p.  108. 


silent  crowds ;  and  it  was  remarked  by  a 
European  who  has  written  a  graphic  narra- 
tive of  the  expedition,  that  the  Hindoos 
appeared  to  be  either  indifferent  or  appre- 
hensive ;  but  wherever  a  Mohammedan  was 
seen,  there  was  a  scowl  on  his  brow.  J 

That  night  the  troops  camped  in  a  snipe 
swamp,  with  the  rain  still  pouring  down  on 
them.  For  the  three  following  days,  they 
proceeded  by  regular  marches  through  a 
desolated  country ;  the  charred  remains  of 
villages,  and  dead  bodies  hanging  by  fours 
and  fives  on  the  trees  by  the  road-side, 
giving  evidence  of  the  zeal  of  the  precursors 
of  the  avenging  column.  General  Havelock, 
not  foreseeing  how  long  and  costly  an  opera- 
tion the  subjugation  of  the  revolted  pro- 
vinces would  prove,  declared  that  Major 
Renaud  had  "  everywhere,  pacificated  the 
country  by  punishing  the  ringleaders  in  mu- 
tiny and  rebellion,  wherever  they  had  fallen 
into  his  hands."  Unfortunately,  the  insur- 
rection in  Oude  was  but  commencing.  The 
ringleaders  of  the  mutiny  were  little  likely 
to  be  caught  at  this  stage  of  proceedings 
by  an  English  force  in  defenceless  villages ; 
and  the  peasants  executed  by  Major  Renaud 
were  chiefly  accused  of  having  helped,  or 
not  hindered,  the  destruction  of  the  tele- 
graphic communication  in  their  vicinity, 
or  been  found  guilty  of  possessing  (through 
the  exertions  of  the  booty-hunting  Seiks) 
some  article  of  English  apparel,  or  a  coin  or 
two,  of  more  value  than  it  was  supposed 
they  could  have  honestly  obtained. 

On  the  10th  of  July,  General  Havelock 
learned  that  the  rebels  had  dispatched  a 
formidable  force,  said  to  consist  of  1,500 
infantry  and  artillery,  500  cavalry,  1,500 
armed  insurgents  (in  all,  3,500  men),  and 
twelve  iron  and  brass  guns,  to  the  vicinity 
of  Futtehpoor,  within  five  miles  of  which 
place  Major  Renaud  expected  to  arrive  on 
the  morning  of  the  12th.  The  Grand 
Trunk  road  offered  facilities  for  rapid  pro- 
gress. The  wet  weather  had  given  place  to 
intense  heat.  The  general  advanced  by 
forced  marches,  until,  by  moonlight  on  the 
night  of  the  11th,  he  overtook  Major 
Renaud,  and  the  united  forces  marched 
on  together  to  a  fine  open  plain,  about  four 
miles  from  Futtehpoor.  The  main  body 
had  marched  twenty-four  miles ;  Renaud's 
men  nineteen ;  and  the  hope  was  for 
breakfast  rather  than  a  fight.  "  Men  and 
officers,"    writes    a   member   of  the   force, 

\  Letter  dated  "  Oude  side  of  the  Ganges,  July 
2&t)i."— Saturday  Review,  Sept.,  1857. 


EASY  TRIUMPH  AT  FUTTEHPOOR— JULY  12th,  1857. 


875 


"  had  lighted  their  pipes ;  and  a  cluster 
of  us  were  assisting  at  the  manufacture 
of  a  brew  of  tea;  when  one,  who  had 
been  employing  himself  with  his  field-glass, 
drew  the  attention  of  his  neighbours  to  our 
small  party  of  volunteer  horse  [sent  ou 
under  Quartermaster-general  Tytler,  to  re- 
connoitre in  advance],  who  were  returning 
before  their  time."  A  moment  afterwards, 
a  large  body  of  cavalry,  in  white,  emerged 
from  the  distant  trees  on  the  edge  of  the 
plain,  in  pursuit  of  the  Europeans,  followed 
by  infantry  and  artillery.  The  British  ranks 
fell  in  ;  and  the  enemy  perceived,  with  dis- 
may, that  the  junction  of  the  forces  had  been 
accomplished,  and  that,  instead  of  sur- 
prising a  detachment,  they  had  burst  upon 
a  prepared  army,  comprising  1,400  British 
bayonets  and  eight  guns,  besides  600 
native  auxiliaries.* 

"  In  ten  minutes  the  affair  was  decided  ;t 
for  in  that  short  time  our  Enfield  rifles  and 
cannon  had  taken  all  conceit  of  fight 
out  of  the  mutineers."  The  Enfield  rifles 
were  thoroughly  effective  at  more  than  300 
yards'  distance;  while  the  smooth-bored 
musket,  with  which  alone  the  rebels  were 
armed,  was  comparatively  useless. J  Re- 
sistance was  futile;  they  broke  and  fled, 
and  the  British  artillery  and  skirmishers 
pushed  on  ia  pursuit,  leaving  the  re- 
serve columns  far  in  the  rear,  owing  to 
the  impediments  of  the  ground.  On 
reaching  Futtehpoor,  the  entrance  of  the 
main  street  was  blocked  up  by  a  barri- 
cade of  carts  and  baggage,  which  was  so 
firmly  and  advantageously  placed,  that  it 
was  at  first  supposed  to  be  a  defence  pur- 
posely raised  by  the  foe,  and  artillery  was 
brought  to  bear  on  it ;  but  it  was  soon  dis- 
covered to  be  a  mass  of  baggage,  which  had 
been  jammed  up  between  the  houses  in  a 
hasty  attempt  to  carry  it  away.  The  only 
casualty, among  the  Europeans  occurred  at 
this  juncture.  A  wounded  bullock  broke 
loose,  and,  rushing  wildly  forwards,  flung 
Major  North  into  the  air,  and  afterwards 
tossed  a  Highlander,  who    rushed  to   the 

•  1st  Madras  Fusiliers,  376 ;  H.M.  64th,  436  j 
78th  Highlanders,  284;  H.M.  84th,  190;  Royal 
Artillery,  from  Ceylon,  76;  Bengal  Artillery,  22; 
Volunteer  Cavalry,  20. — Despatch  of  Havelock,  July 
12th. — London  Gazette,  October  9th,  1857. 

t  General  Havelock  to  his  wife,  July  loth,  1857. 
It  was  in  writing  to  his  wife,  on  the  12th  of  July, 
that  Havelock  used  the  expression  already  referred 
to  (see  previous  page,  276).  "  One  of  the  prayers 
oft  repeated  throughout  my  life,  since  my  school- 
days, has  been  answered,  and  I  have  lived  to  com- 


assistance  of  the  officer.     In  the  midst  of 
the  heap  were  found  two  new  6-pounders, 
with    limbers    and   ammunition   complete, 
besides   large    stores  of  gun    and   musket 
ammunition;  and  a  little  beyond,  two  tum- 
brils of  treasure,   "one  of  which  fell  into 
the  hands  of  those  astute    plunderers  the 
Seiks,  and  was  no  more  seen."§    The  "  loot" 
realised   by  both   Europeans   and   natives, 
was  various  and  considerable.     Of  the  hos- 
tile  force   the   cavalry  alone  fought   well. 
They   were  regular  troopers,  mounted   on 
regular   horses,    but   armed  and  equipped 
after   the   native   fashion;    and,   in  conse- 
quence of  this  alteration,  they  moved  about 
the  field  with  a  rapidity  of  which  they  would 
have  been  incapable  had  they  been  weighed 
down  by  the  weapons  and  accoutrements 
required  by  the  Bengal  system.     It  appears 
that  they  hoped  to  induce  the  Native  cavalry 
to  join  them,  and  kept  hanging  about  the 
flanks  of  the  British  force.     At  one  time,  a 
party  of  them  having  approached  closely. 
General    Havelock    exclaimed,    "I   should 
like  to  see  the  irregulars  draw  blood ;"  upon 
which   Lieutenant  Palliser,  calling  to  the 
13th  to  follow  him,  dashed  forveard  to  the 
charge,  accompanied  by  three  of  the  volun- 
teer cavalry.    About  a  dozen  sowars  (chiefly 
officers)  galloped  after  their  leader ;  the  rest 
followed  him  slowly.     One  of  the  volunteers 
(a  civilian)  says  that,  for  the  moment,  he 
fully   expected    that   the  irregulars   would 
join   the   rebel   party,   consisting  of  about 
thirty  of  the  2nd  cavalry,  and  abandon  him 
and   his   three   companions  to   their  fate. 
Just   then    Palliser   was    unseated   by   his 
horse  swerving  suddenly.     The  mutineers 
tried  to  get  at  him ;  but  "  his  Native  officers 
closed  round  to  save  him,"  and  "fought 
like  good  men  and  true."     The  main  body 
of  rebel  cavalry  advanced  to  support  the 
detachment,  and  the  Europeans  and  irregu- 
lars retreated  at  full  speed.     Nujeeb  Khan, 
a  risaldar,    who   had   been   chiefly  instru- 
mental in  saving  Palliser,  was  left  dead  on 
the    field,    with    six   other   sowars. ||     The 
irregular  cavalry  were  disbanded  some  days 

mand  in  a  successful  action."  In  the  same  letter 
he  states,  that  he  addressed  the  troops  thus : — 
"There's  some  of  you  have  beheld  me  fighting; 
now  try  upon  yourselves  what  you  have  seen  m 
me." — Brock's  Havelock,  pp.  162,  163. 

X  Vide  Nicholson's  despatch.  —  Pari.  Papers 
(No.  6),  p.  54.  His  style  of  narrating  an  easy 
triumph  contrasts  forcibly  with  that  of  Havelock. 

§  Article  in  Saturday  Review,  Sept.,  1857. 

II  Letter  of  civilian,  dated  "  Camp,  KuUianpoor, 
July  \5th."— Times,  Sept.  29th,  1857. 


376         AONG  AND  PANDOO  NUDDEE— JULY  14th  and  15th,  1857. 


later.  Two  other  natives  were  killed  in  the 
course  of  the  action,  and  three  or  four 
wounded.  Twelve  British  soldiers  died  from 
sun-stroke.  No  prisoners  were  taken. 
The  loss  of  the  rebels  was  estimated  at 
about  150  in  killed  and  wounded.*  It  was 
probably  greater ;  for,  in  the  words  of  Gen- 
eral Havelock,  "the  enemy's  fire  scarcely 
reached  us ;  ours,  for  four  hours,  allowed 
him  no  repose."t 

The  rebels,  on  evacuating  Futtehpoor,  left 
behind  them  twelve  guns,  which  the  victors 
gladly  appropriated,  and  then  gave  way  to 
exhaustion.  Men  and  officers  threw  them- 
selves down  wherever  a  morsel  of  shade  was 
to  be  found  from  the  fierce  rays  of  the  mid- 
day sun,  and  went  off  into  a  deep  sleep. 
After  a  short  rest,  grog  and  biscuit  were 
served  out.  Then  "  the  town  was  sacked 
by  the  Europeans,  Sykoses  (as  the  soldiers 
call  the  Seiks),  and  camp-followers;  some 
of  the  principal  houses  were  blown  up,  and 
thatched  houses  burnt."f 

The  following  order  was  issued : — 

"  G.  O.— July  13th.— General  Havelock  thanks  his 
soldiers  for  their  arduous  exertions  of  yesterday, 
which  produced,  in  four  hours,  the  strange  result 
of  a  real  army  being  driven  from  a  strong  position, 
eleven  guns  captured,  and  their  whole  force  scattered 
to  the  winds,  without  the  loss  of  a  British  soldier. 
To  what  is  this  astonishing  effect  to  be  attributed  ? 
To  the  fire  of  British  artillery,  exceeding  in  rapidity 
and  pi-ecision  all  that  the  brigadier-general  has  ever 
witnessed  in  his  not  short  career,  or  to  the  power  of 
the  Enfield  rifle  in  British  hands,  and  to  British 
pluck — that  good  quality  which  has  survived  the 
revolution  of  the  hour,  and  gained  in  intensity  from 
the  crisis  ;  and  to  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  and' 
to  the  most  righteous  cause  of  humanity,  truth,  and 
good  government  in  India."§ 

On  the  14th,  the  force  marched  fourteen 
miles  to  KuUianpoor.  On  the  15th  they 
started  afresh ;  and  after  proceeding  about 
five  miles,  found  the  rebek  in  position 
at  a  village  named  Aong,  with  two 
guns.  Here,  also,  an  easy  victory  was 
obtained  by  the  British  artillery  and  rifle- 
men, aided  by  the  handful  of  volunteer 
horse.  The  want  of  cavalry  was  again  se- 
verely felt.  The  rebel  troopers  made  an 
attack  on  the  baggage,  and  would  have  cut 
it  up,  but  for  the  gallantry  of  the  hospital 
sergeant  of  the  78th,  who,  collecting  all  the 
invalids  and  stragglers  in  the  rear,  formed  a 
small  rallying  square  of  about  a  hundred 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  24. 
t  Despatch    of   General    Havelock,    Futtehpoor, 
July  12th.— Further  Pari.  Papers,  p.  137. 

I  Letter  of  volunteer.- I'l'mes,  Sept.  29th,  1857. 
§  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857;  p.  132. 


men,  and  received  the  mutineers  with  such 
a  fire  of  musketry,  that  they  rode  off  dis- 
comfited, leaving  many  dead  behind  them. 
After  capturing  the  guns  and  driving  off 
the  foe,  the  force  halted  to  breathe  and 
drink  water,  and  then  marched  on  three 
miles  further,  to  the  Pandoo  Nuddee,  a 
river  spanned  by  a  masonry  bridge  of  three 
arches,  which  was  said  to  be  mined.  The 
enemy  had  formed  a  second  intrenchment 
on  the  further  side  of  the  river;  and  as 
soon  as  the  foremost  of  the  British  column 
emerged  from  among  the  mango  groves, 
through  which  their  road  had  lain,  a  couple 
of  24-pounder  shot,  accurately  thrown,  fell 
in  their  midst,  wounding  men  and  gun- 
bullocks.  The  British  artillery  advanced  with 
all  speed ;  the  guns  rapidly  uulimbered  and 
opened  fire.  The  effect  was  instantaneous. 
The  first  discharge  of  shrapnel  bullets 
smashed  the  sponge-staffs  of  the  enemy,  so 
that  they  could  no  longer  fire  their  guns ; 
and  they  turned  and  fled,  leaving  the  bridge 
and  the  guns  in  the  hands  of  the  British. 
It  was  generally  remarked  that  the  muti- 
neers fought  more  closely  and  fiercely  than 
at  Futtehpoor,  and  that  a  competent  leader 
would  have  rendered  them  formidable. 
Two  Europeans  (a  Highlander  and  a  boraba- 
dier)  were  killed,  and  twenty-five  wounded, 
Major  Renaud  mortally.  (He  sank  rapidly 
after  the  amputation  of  the  left  leg  above 
the  knee,  but  was  brave  and  cheerful  to  the 
last).  It  was  fortunate  that  the  British  had 
passed  on  so  rapidly ;  for  the  enemy  had 
attempted  to  destroy  the  bridge,  and  had 
failed  for  want  of  time.  The  explosion  of 
their  mine  had  thrown  down  the  parapet 
walls,  but  left  the  arches  uninjured. 

Five  guns  had  been  taken  during  the  day. 
The  tired  troops  bivouacked  on  the  spot 
from  which  they  had  last  fired.  That  night 
a  rumour  spread  through  the  camp,  that 
the  Nana  himself,  with  the  whole  of  the 
Cawnpoor  mutineers,  estimated  at  4,000  in- 
fantry and  500  horse,  had  formed  an  in- 
trenchment at  the  village  of  Aherwa,  at  the 
fork  of  the  Grand  Trunk  road,  about  four 
miles  from  Cawnpoor,  where  one  branch 
runs  on  to  cantonments,  and  the  main  line 
continues  to  Delhi.  The  intelligence  was 
true ;  and  the  general,  finding  that  the  mu- 
tineers were  stationed,  with  heavy  guns,  so 
as  to  command  the  road  and  sweep  it 
with  a  flanking  fire,  resolved  to  make  a 
diiour,  and  attack  them  from  an  unguarded 
point.  For  this  purpose  a  most  trying 
march  was  undertaken.     The  distance  to  be 


ENGAGEMENT  NEAR  CAWNPOOR— JULY  16th,  1857. 


377 


[ 


accomplished  was  about  twenty-two  miles. 
Fourteea  were  traversed  in  the  morning  cf 
the  16th  of  July;  then  the  troops  halted, 
took  food  and  rest.  At  2  p.m.  the  march 
was  recommenced.  The  men  were  fully 
armed  and  accoutred,  each  one  carrying  sixty 
rounds  of  ball  ammunition.  Just  before 
starting  a  supply  of  porter  was  issued,  "and 
the  pernicious  effects  of  this  heavy  drink 
were  too  speedily  manifested."*  The 
scorching  glare  of  the  mid-day  sun  was 
intolerable  :  at  every  step  a  man  reeled  out 
of  the  ranks,  and  threw  himself  fainting  by 
the  side  of  the  road;  the  calls  for  water 
were  incessant  along  the  line.  At  length 
the  point  for  the  flanlc  movement  was 
reached;  the  column  turned  off  into  the 
fields;  and  the  overworked,  ill-fed  cattle 
toiled  heavily  over  the  freshly  ploughed 
ground  for  about  half  a  mile,  when  the 
British  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy,  and 
were  greeted  by  a  fierce  fire  from  their 
guns,  the  range  of  which  was  happily  too 
high,  or  heavy  loss  must  have  been  suffered 
by  the  infantry,  as  yet  unsupported  by  their 
own  batteries.  The  1,400  British  bayonets, 
on  which  Havelock  had  relied  at  Futtehpoor, 
were  greatly  diminished;  besides  many 
deaths,  there  were  "cartloads"  disabled  by 
sore  feet  and  sun-strokes. f 

The  Seik  regiment  had  not  yet  come  up, 
so  that  it  was  estimated  that  there  could  not 
be  more  than  900  men  of  all  sorts  brought 
to  bear  against  above  five  times  that  num- 
ber.J  There  was  no  opportunity  for  the 
guns  and  artillery  to  carry  everything  be- 
fore them  as  on  previous  occasions;  and 
after  a  few  rounds,  at  different  ranges,  fired 
by  our  cannon,  it  was  found  that  those  of 
the  enemy  were  so  well  sheltered  by  the 
walls  and  houses  of  the  series  of  small  vil- 
lages in  which  they  were  posted,  that  there 
was  little  chance  of  stopping,  by  this  means, 
their  continuous  discharge.  The  British 
infantry  lay  prostrate  to  avoid  the  unceasing 
volleys  poured  upon  them  by  the  rebels, 
whose  bands  were  playing,  i»s  if  in  derision, 
the  favourite  British  airs ;  and  the  soldiers 
ground  their  teeth  with  rage,  as  "  Cheer 
boys,  cheer  I"  was  heard  in  the  intervals  of 
the  firing. 

The  clear,  peculiar-toned  voice  of  Have- 
lock gave  the  order  to  the  78th  to  take  the 
foremost  village.  "The  Highlanders,  led 
by  Colonel  Hamilton  [an  eye-witness  writes], 

•  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  60. 
t  Letter  from   one   of  the  volunteer  cavalry. — 
Times,  Sept.  29th   1857. 
VOL.  II.  3  C 


rose,  fired  one  rolling  volley  as  they  ad- 
vanced, and  then  moved  forward  with  sloped 
arms  and  measured  tread,  like  a  wall ;  the 
rear  rank  locked  up  as  if  on  parade,  until 
within  a  hundred  yards  or  so  of  the  village, 
when  the  word  was  given  to  charge."  The 
pipes  sounded  the  pibroch,  and  the  men 
burst  forward  "  like  an  eager  pack  of  hounds 
racing  in  to  the  kill,  and  in  an  instant  they 
were  over  the  mound  and  into  the  village. 
There  was  not  a  shot  fired  or  a  shout 
uttered,  for  the  men  were  very  fierce,  and 
the  slaughter  was  proportionate.  'I've  just 
got  three  of  'em  out  of  one  house,  sir,'  said 
a  78th  man,  with  a  grin,  to  me,  as  I  met 
him  at  a  turn  of  the  village."^ 

The  enemy's  skirmishers,  driven  from  the 
village,  were  hunted  out  of  the  plantation 
by  the  Madras  Fusiliers;  but  notwith- 
standing these  advantages,  the  event  of  the 
battle  was  still  far  from  being  decided. 
The  want  of  cavalry  disabled  the  British 
from  protecting  their  rear ;  and  the  enemy, 
strong  in  this  arm,  and  skilful  in  its  use, 
enveloped  our  flanks  in  the  form  of  a  cres- 
cent, showing  such  unusual  resolve,  that 
the  best  narrator  of  the  contest  declares, 
"if  there  had  only  been  a  head  to  guide 
them,  we  must  have  fought  hard  for  our 
bare  lives." ||  Wanting  this,  they  were 
driven  from  one  position  after  another: 
still  their  fire,  though  diminished,  was  not 
silenced  ;  and,  in  the  lengthening  shadows 
of  evening,  their  line  seemed  to  grow  more 
dense,  while  their  drums  and  trumpets 
sounded  the  advance  in  quick  repetition. 
A  feeling  of  depression  and  uncertainty 
gained  ground  among  the  British;  they 
were  again  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the 
enemy,  and  those  in  front  lay  down  to  avoid 
it.  Deceived  by  the  watiing  light,  Major 
Stephenson  was  leading  on  the  Madras 
Fusiliers,  in  close  column,  to  a  point  where 
a  round  shot,  or  discharge  of  grape,  would 
have  involved  the  noble  regiment  iu  destruc- 
tion, when  Major  North,  who  was  prostrate 
on  a  narrow  ridge  of  earth  with  the  High- 
landers, sprang  to  his  feet,  and,  rushing 
across  the  plain,  gave  a  hurried  warning  to 
Major  Stephenson,  who  deployed  his  regi- 
ment into  line,  and  lay  down  beside  the 
78th. 

At  this  moment  Havelock  appeared  ridmg 
a  hack,  his  own  horse  having  just  been  shot 
under  him,  and  gave  the  order  for  the  line 

X  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  67. 

§  Article  in  Saturday  Review,  Sept.,  1857. 


378 


BEOCCUPATION  OP  CAWNPOOR— JULY  17th,  1857. 


to  advance.  When  the  word  "forward" 
was  given,  the  space  between  the  hostile 
lines  was  so  inconsiderable  that  a  general 
melee  seemed  inevitable.  The  exploit  which 
turned  the  scale  in  favour  of  the  British, 
was  performed  by  the  64th.  The  enemy 
had  only  one  battery  left,  but  they  were 
using  it  with  eflfect. 

A  civilian,  one  of  the  gallant  score  of 
volunteer  cavalry,  was  with  the  infantry 
when    Havelock   addressed    them   thus: — 

"  Get  up,  my  lads,  and  take  those 

guns."     "  Up  we  got  with  a  cheer ;  it  was 
more  like  a  howl ;  and  charged  up,  giving 
them  a  volley  at  eighty  yards,  and  ran  in."* 
The  enemy  fled  across  the  plain,  carrying 
oflf  two  horse  artillery  guns.     The  British 
collected  their  wounded,  and,  as  night  set 
in,  formed  up  and  bivouacked  on  the  plain, 
just  beyond   the   grand   parade-ground  of 
Cawnpoor.     The  total  casualties,  including 
natives,  were  1 08.     Those  of  the  enemy  were 
estimated  at  250.     Among  the  Europeans, 
the  64th  were  the  chief  sufferers,  having 
three  officers,  one  sergeant,   one  corporal, 
and  thirty  privates  wounded.     One  officer 
(Captain  Currie,  of  the  84th),  five  soldiers, 
and  a  sepoy,  were  killed  or  mortally  wounded. 
"  Hungry,  thirsty,  and  cold,  the  troops  had 
nothing  but  dirty  ditch-water  to  drink;  but 
it  was   like  nectar ."f     Their  fast   was    of 
twenty-one    hours'    duration :    from   noon 
on  the   16th  of  July,  till   9  a.m.   on   the 
following  morning,  not  a  man  of  the  force 
had   any  refreshment. J     No  wonder   that 
disease  overtook   them    speedily.     Cholera 
and  dysentery  attacked  the  column.     One 
of  the  ablest  officers.  Captain  Beatson,  bore 
up,  by  sheer  "  pluck,"  through  the  Cawn- 
poor engagements,  and  bivouacked  with  the 
troops    at   night,   sinking   only   when   the 
place  was  reoccupied.     But  surely  a  sadder 
reoccupation  was  never  effected.  Frightful  as 
had  been  the  fatigues  borne  by  the  troops  on 
the  march  from  Allahabad,  their  efforts  had 
been  too  late  to  redeem  the  expedition  from 
the  censure  of  "  insufficient,  and  too  late." 
On  the  road,  the  column  had  learned  that 
the  majority  of  the  women  and  children  of 
the   Cawnpoor   and    Futtehghur   garrisons 
were  yet  alive ;  and  "  the  thought  of  releasing 
them  from  their  cruel  bondage,  had  been  a 
matter  of  happy  speculation  throughout  the 
camp."     But  they  never  strove  to  ransom, 
and  were  too  late  to  rescue,  these  innocent 
victims,  or  even  to  avenge  their  deaths  on 

•  Times,  Sept.  29th,  1857.  -f  Ibid. 

X  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  88. 


the  Nana  Sahib  and  his  fiend-like  coun- 
sellor, Azim   Oollah.     These  great   crimi- 
nals fled,  proclaiming  their  departure  by  an 
act  of  policy  and  defiance.     At  daybreak, 
while  the  troops  were  craving  food  of  any 
description,  and  waiting  for   the   baggage 
to   come    up,   preparatory   to   encamping;- 
as    they  "lay    idly   looking    towards    the 
belt  of  trees  and  houses  across  the  parade- 
ground,"    a    huge    pillar   of    smoke    rose 
slowly    in    the    air,   followed    by   a    loud 
report.      The   Nana    had    blown    up    the 
grand    magazine    and    arsenal    at    Cawn- 
poor, before  retreating  to  his  own  palace- 
fort    of    Bithoor,    only    nine    miles     dis- 
tant.     Next    came    the    tidings    of    the 
final    massacre.      In   the    course    of    the 
morning  the  troops  marched  into  canton- 
ments, and  looked  with  amazement  ou  the 
mud    wall   so   wonderfully  defended,   and, 
with  grief  and  horror  unspeakable,  on  the 
evidences  of  the  closing  scene  of  the  most 
terrible   tragedy   of    modern   times.     One 
account,  and  only  one,  out  of  the  multitude 
written  on  the  subject,  affords  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  depth  and  variety  of  wretched- 
ness endured  by  the  Englishwomen ;  and 
that    is    Mowbray    Thomson's    Story    of 
Cawnpoor.^     It  was  sad  enough  to   think 
of  the  innocent  victims,  as  they  were  de- 
picted  in    the   graceful   "  In   Memoriam," 
which    attracted  so   many    gazers,   iu   the 
Royal   Academy  Exhibition  of  1858:   but 
had  the  picture  truly  represented  the  per- 
sons and  surrounding  circumstances  of  the 
200  women  and  children  at  the  moment  of 
the  slaughter,  it  would  have  been  turned  from 
with  horror  and  loathing.     Except,  perhaps, 
under  the  hatches  of  a  slave-stealing  clipper, 
during  the  "  middle  passage,"  human  nature 
has  rarely  borne  up  against  such  intense, 
accumulated,  and   protracted   suffering   as 
was  endured  by  the  English  at  Cawnpoor. 
Let  it  be  remembered,  that  when  the  gar- 
rison  and   resident   population,    including 
750    Europeans,   were    blockaded    in    the 
intrenchraent,  very  few  had  secured  a  single 
change  of  raiment;  some  were  only  par- 
tially dressed ;    and,  in  the   beginning  of 
the  defence,  "  all  were  like  a  band  of  sea- 
farers who  had  taken  to  a  raft  to  escape 
from  a  burning  ship." 

The  thermometer  ranged  from  120"  to 
130°  Fahrenheit;  and  once  or  twice  mus- 
kets went  off  untouched,  either  from  the 
sun  exploding  the  caps,  or  from  the  fiery 

§  Published  since  the  issue  of  the  account  of  the 
siege,  given  at  pages  247 — 263. 


THE  HEROIC  GARRISON  01?  CAWNPOOR. 


879 


heat  of  the  metal.  "  Across  the  plain,  the 
mirage,  which  only  makes  its  appearance 
in  extremely  hot  seasons,  painted  its  fantas- 
tic scenes  :''  sometimes  forest  trees,  some- 
times a  wide  expanse  of  water,  mocked  the 
sufferers  huddled  together  in  that  place 
of  torment.  "  Not  even  a  pint  of  water 
for  washing  was  to  be  had  from  the  com- 
mencement to  the  close  of  the  siege."  It 
was  at  the  cost  of  many  lives  that  a  little 
was  obtained  to  appease  the  maddening 
cravings  of  thirst,  or  to  prepare  the  half- 
pint  of  split  peas  and  flour* — the  daily 
rationsf  that  afforded  the  porridge  on  which 
strong  men  and  delicate  women  supported 
existence ;  varied,  indeed,  at  rare  intervals, 
by  horse  or  dog  broth,  the  animals  being 
obtained  in  some  of  the  sallies  of  the  gar- 
rison, or  having  strayed  within  reach. J 

The  destruction  of  the  thatched  bun- 
galow, besides  the  other  suffering  it  occa- 
sioned, drove  200  women  and  children  into 
the  trenches  for  shelter,  where  they  passed 
twelve  days  and  nights  on  the  bare  ground. 
Idiotcy  and  madness  were  not  wanting  to 
increase  the  horrors  of  the  scene — "  the 
old  babbling  with  confirmed  imbecility;  the 
young  raving,  in  not  a  few  cases,  with  wild 
mania  :"§  the  heart-sickness  of  hope  deferred 
producing  the  first  form  of  insanity,  as 
surely  as  physical  suffering  the  latter.  "At 
all  times  of  the  day  and  night,"  eager  ears 
■were  listening  for  the  sound  of  the  hourly 
expected  relieving  force  from  Calcutta ;  and 

•  The  drawing  of  water  from  the  single  well  within 
the  intrenchment  (the  other  just  beyond  it,  but 
under  cover  of  the  guns,  being  dry,  and  used  as  a 
burying-place),  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  a  service 
of  imminent  danger  ;  for  the  creaking  of  the  tackle 
immediately  drew  down  a  shower  of  grape  on  the 
spot,  even  in  the  dead  of  night.  The  gallant  John 
M'Killop,  of  the  civil  service,  styled  himself  the 
Captain  of  the  Well;  and  the  piteous  cries  of  the 
children  for  water  never  met  his  ear  in  vain.  After 
many  hair-breadth  escapes,  he  was  killed  by  a  grape- 
shot  wound  in  the  groin.  His  last  words  were  an 
earnest  entreaty  that  somebody  would  go  and  draw 
water  for  a  lady  to  whom  he  had  promised  it. — 
Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  87. 

t  As  long  as  provisions  lasted,  "  the  youngest  re- 
cruit had  the  same  rations  as  the  old  general ;  no 
distinctions  were  made  between  civilians  and  mili- 
tary men  ;  and  there  was  not  a  solitary  instance  in 
which  an  individual  had  lost  sight  of  the  common 
necessity,  and  sacrificed  it  to  self-interest,  by  hoard- 
ing supplies." — Ibid.,  p.  32. 

t  "  Captain   Halliday,   who  had  come  from   the 

Sucka  barrack  to  the  main-guard,  to  visit  Captain 
enkins,  was  shot  dead  while  returning,  carrying 
back  soup  made  of  horse-flesh,  for  his  wife." — Ibid., 
p.  85. 

§  The  Rev.  Mr.  Haycock  (sent  out  by  the  Pro- 
pagation   of   the   Gospel    Society)   used  to  bring 


even  to  the  last,  each  one  would  remind  hi» 
neighbour,  that  "  the  governor-general  had 
promised  to  send  reinforcements  promptly." 
When  the  intrenchment  was  evacuated, 
some  of  the  women  had  gowns,  some  had 
not ;  few  had  shoes,  and  fewer  stockings : 
for  the  guns  had  been  injured  by  the 
enemy's  shot,  and  the  canister  could  not  be 
driven  home:  "consequently,"  Mowbray 
Thomson  writes,  "  the  women  gave  us  their 
stockings,  and  we  charged  these  with  the 
contents  of  the  shot-cases."  Scarcely  any 
of  the  men  had  shirts ;  these  had  all  gone 
to  bandage  the  wounded,  or,  it  may  be, 
to  afford  swaddling-clothes  for  the  three 
or  four  children  born  during  the  siege.  || 
Yet  if,  in  its  details,  Cawnpoor  forms  the 
darkest  page  in  the  mutiny  of  1857,  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  it  is  the  brightest  of 
our  triumphs.  The  survivor  who  has  so 
touchingly  depicted  the  scenes  he  wit- 
nessed, declares  that,  "in  looking  back 
upon  the  horrible  straits  to  which  the 
women  were  driven,  the  maintenance  of 
modesty  and  delicate  feeling  by  them  to 
the  last,  is  one  of  the  greatest  marvels 
of  the  heartrending  memories  of  those 
twenty-one  days."  Never  was  the  spirit  of 
Englishmen,  womeu,^  and  children,  more 
terribly  tested ;  never  did  it  shine  forth  in 
purer  brightness.  With  a  few  inconsider- 
able exceptions,  the  garrison**  evinced  a 
patient  fortitude,  which  could  hardly  have 
been  derived  from  any  meaner  source  of 

his  aged  mother,  every  evening,  into  the  verandah, 
for  a  short  relief  from  the  fetid  atmosphere  within 
the  barrack  walls.  She  was  shot ;  and  the  sight  of 
her  agony  so  affected  her  son,  that  he  died  a  raving 
maniac. — Ibid.,  p.  105. 

II  Mrs.  Darby,  the  wife  of  a  surgeon  who  died  at 
Lucknow,  was  one  of  those  wretched  mothers.  She 
perished  at  the  time  of  the  embarkation. 

%  Among  many  heroines,  Thomson  distinguishes 
Mrs.  Fraser,  the  wife  of  an  officer  of  the  27th  N.I., 
who  escaped  from  Delhi  to  Cawnpoor  by  travelling 
dak.  The  native  driver,  who  had  taken  her  up 
in  the  precincts  of  the  city,  brought  her  faithfully  to 
the  end  of  her  hazardous  journey  of  266  milw« 
"  During  the  horrors  of  the  siege,  she  won  the  admi- 
ration of  all  by  her  indefatigable  attentions  to  the 
wounded.  Neither  danger  nor  fatigue  seemed  to 
have  suspended  her  ministry  of  mercy.  Even  on 
the  fatal  morning  of  embarkation,  although  she  had 
escaped  to  the  boats  with  scarcely  any  clothing 
upon  her,  in  the  thickest  of  the  deadly  volleys 
poured  on  us  from  the  banks,  she  appeared  alike 
mdifferent  to  danger  and  her  own  scanty  covering, 
while  with  perfect  equanimity  and  unperturbed  for- 
titude, she  was  entirely  occupied  in  the  at|teippt  to 
soothe  and  relieve  the  agonised  sufferers  around 
her.  She  was  recaptured  in  the  boats,  and  is  said 
to  have  died  of  fever." — Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  28. 

**  Eurasians  and  natives  all  behaved  gallantly. 


380         THE  NANA'S  PROCLAMATIONS— JUNE  AND  JULY,  1857. 


strength  and  comfort,  than  the  assured 
hope  of  another  and  a  better  life.  There  is 
no  record  of  fierce  invective  against  natives, 
or  even  sepoys ;  no  project  of  suicide,  to 
detract  from  the  uncompromising,  un- 
doubting  tone  of  Christian  confidence. 
Nothing  in  the  world  could  have  given  peace 
under  such  circumstances,  and  nothing  in 
the  world  could  take  it  away :  not  the  cer- 
tain misery  of  the  present,  not  the  loom- 
ing horrors  of  the  future,  not  the  cruelty 
of  fieiid-like  foes,  not  the  broken  promises 
of  dilatory  friends,  who,  after  General 
Wheeler's  agonising  cry  for  "  help  !  help  1 
help  \"  left  the  garrison  to  sicken  with 
hope  deferred.  They  did  not  die  in  des- 
pair, as  they  must  have  done  had  their 
trust  been  on  an  arm  of  flesh.  Prolonged 
life  on  earth,  amid  scenes  of  blood  and  ven- 
geance, with  mutilated  frames  or  shattered 
nerves,  and  the  memory  of  the  fearful  past 
— its  bereavements  and  its  complicated 
miseries — would  have  been  a  doubtful  boon 
to  the  majority  of  the  scantily  clad,  half- 
starved  crowd,  who,  at  the  time  of  the 
capitulation,  begrimed  with  powder,  and 
covered  with  dirt,  dragged  their  emaciated 
limbs,  or  waded  with  their  yet  feebler  com- 
panions through  the  water  to  boats,  where 
already  charcoal  was  hidden  in  the  hatches 
for  their  destruction. 

Thus  far  (to  the  commencement  of  the 
first  massacre)  the  account  of  Mowbray 
Thomson  supplies  authentic  details  regard- 
ing his  fellow-sufferers.  After  his  escape, 
he  joined  the  force  under  General  Have- 
lock,  and  made  inquiries  regarding  the 
fate  of  the  women  and  children.  Official 
investigation  was  also  instituted  into  the 
circumstances  connected  with  the  mutiny, 
and  into  the  proceedings  of  the  Nana.  The 
witnesses  were  about  fifty  in  number,  in- 
cluding natives  of  various  positions,  con- 
nected with  Cawnpoor;  and  from  their 
testimony,  carefully  compared  and  sifted, 
important  evidence  was  obtained. 

No  trace  of  any  conspiracy  was  detected 
before  the  22nd  of  May,  1857;  and  then 
Bala  Sahib,  the  brother  of  the  Nana,  and 
Azim  OoUah,  used  the  sensual,  indolent, 
apathetic  Nana  as  their  instrument.  Various 
proclamations  were  issued,  some  of  which 
show  that  Azim  Oollah  had  learned,  during 
his  residence  in  London,  to  distinguish 
between  the  Crown  and  people  of  England, 
and  the  East  India  Company.  During  the 
siege,  a  document  was  read  in  the  bazaars, 
and  distributed  among  the  people,  inform- 


ing them  that  a  traveller,  just  arrived  in 
Cawnpoor  from  Calcutta,  had  stated,  that  a 
council  had  been  held  there  for  the  pur- 
pose of  considering  the  best  means  of 
abolishing  the  Mussulman  and  Hindoo 
systems  of  religion.  That  the  enforcement 
of  polluted  cartridges  upon  the  army  wasr 
resolved  on;  it  being  considered  that  it 
would  be  easy  to  Christianise  the  people 
afterwards.  A  petition  was  sent  to  Queen 
Victoria,  requesting  that  many  thousands 
of  English  soldiers  might  be  dispatched  to 
India,  to  put  down  the  resistance  which  it 
was  foreseen  would  be  made  to  the  car- 
tridges ;  and  it  was  estimated  that  50,000 
natives  would  have  to  be  destroyed  before 
India  could  be  Christianised.  The  peti- 
tion was  granted;  and  the  authorities  at 
Calcutta,  pending  the  arrival  of  reinforce- 
ments, began  to  issue  the  cartridges.  The 
secret  of  the  materials  used  in  their  pre- 
paration was  divulged  through  the  natives 
employed  in  the  manufacture  ;  and  of  these 
men,  one  was  killed,  and  the  rest  impri- 
soned. Then  followed  an  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  vakeel  of  the  Sultan 
of  Roum  (Constantinople)  had  sent  news 
from  the  court  of  England  to  his  master, 
and  of  a  firman  issued  by  the  sultan  to  the 
King  of  Egypt;  the  result  of  which  was, 
that  when  the  army  of  London  arrived  at 
Alexandria,  the  ships  were  fired  on,  sunk, 
and  destroyed,  and  not  a  soldier  escaped.* 
All  this,  which  to  English  ears  sounds  like 
the  veriest  rigmarole,  was  cleverly  con- 
cocted for  its  lying  purpose.  After  the  fall 
of  Cawnpoor,  the  Nana  informed  the  people, 
that  as  by  the  Divine  blessing  and  the  good 
fortune  of  the  emperor,  the  "yellow-faced 
and  narrow-minded  English  had  been  sent 
to  the  infernal  regions,"  it  was  incumbent 
on  both  ryots  and  landed  proprietors  to 
render  cheerful  obedience  to  the  new  gov- 
ernment. A  few  days  later  (July  1st), 
another  proclamation  was  issued,  and  read 
in  every  street  and  lane  of  the  city,  to 
the  effect,  that  regiments  of  cavalry,  in- 
fantry, and  batteries,  had  been  dispatched 
to  Futtehpoor,  to  resist  the  advance  of  a 
European  force. 

The  tidings  of  the  second  defeat  of  the 
rebels,  struck  terror  into  the  camp  at 
Cawnpoor;  the  more  so,  as  Bala  Sahib 
had  been  severely  wounded  in  tite  right 
shoulder.  Azim  Oollah  persuaded  the 
Nana  that  the  British  forces  were  advancing 
for  the  sake  of  rescuing  the  women  and 
•  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (No.  4),  p.  60. 


FINAL  MASSACRE  AT  CAWNPOOK— JULY  15th  and  16th,  1837.      381 


children ;  and  that  if  these  were  killed,  the 
expedition  would  be  abandoned*  (as  had 
been  the  ease  at  Jhansi).  A  hurried  coun- 
cil was  held  by  a  numerous  assemblage, 
including  a  large  number  of  persons  who, 
by  loans  of  money  and  otherwise,  had  com- 
mitted themselves  to  the  rebel  cause,  which 
they  intended  to  desert.  These  persons 
considered  that  all  hope  of  escaping  punish- 
ment would  be  lost  if  any  victims  were 
allowed  to  escape  and  give  evidence  regard- 
ing the  blood  already  shed.  Mrs.  Green- 
way,  and  other  old  residents,  were  espe- 
cially obnoxious  on  this  account ;  and  the 
fears  of  the  compromised  persons  were 
quickened  by  the  discovery  of  an  attempt 
made  by  one  of  the  unfortunate  ladies  to 
communicate  with  the  approaching  force. 
Their  complete  destruction  was  at  length 
decreed. 

The  number  of  the  wretched  company  of 
women  and  children  about  to  be  sacrificed, 
has  not  been  exactly  ascertained.  Mowbray 
Thomson  estimates  it  at  210,  of  whom  163 
were  survivors  from  the  Cawnpoor  garrison, 
and  forty-seven  from  that  of  Futtehghur; 
but  according  to  one  of  the  most  trust- 
worthy witnesses  (Myoor  Tewarree),t  only 
122  were  saved  on  the  27th  of  June;  and 
other  authorities  place  the  number  much 
lower. 

A  native  of  influence  in  Cawnpoor,  who 
is  also  a  government  official,  has  related  a 
strange  circumstance  regarding  the  first 
massacre.  He  states,  that  during  its  per- 
petration at  the  ghaut,  a  sowar  of  the  2nd 
cavalry  reported  to  the  Nana,  then  at  the 
Sevada  Kothee,  that  his  enemies,  their  wives 
and  children,  were  exterminated.  Some  one 
present  remarked,  that  the  statement  was 
true ;  for  an  infant  of  a  year  old  had  been 
seen  floating  down  the  stream.  On  hear- 
ing this,  the  Nana  replied  that  there  was 
no  necessity  for  the  destruction  of  women 
and  children ;  and  directed  the  sowar  to 
return  and  stay  their  slaughter.  He  was 
obeyed ;  and  the  poor  creatures  were  parted 
from  their  husbands  and  made  prisoners. 
The  fact  of  the  indiscriminate  massacre 
having  been  stayed  by  an  order  from  the 
Nana,  is  confirmed  by  several  witnesses. 

"When  the  Futtehghur  fugitives  arrived, 

•  Thomson's  Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  213. 

t  See  p.  262,  ante. 

X  "  All  accounts  agree  in  the  statement,  that  the 
fdted,  honoured  guest  of  the  London  season  of 
1854,  was  the  prime  instigator  in  the  most  foul 
and  bloody  massacre  of  1857." — Thomson's  Story 
of  Cawnpoor,  p.  213. 


the  men  were  at  once  separated  and  shot,  ex- 
cept four,  who  were  reserved  for  some  inex- 
plicable reason ;  these  were  Mr.  Thornhill, 
magistrate    and  collector    of   Futtehghur; 
Colonel  Smith,  10th  N.I. ;    and  Brigadier 
Goldie.     The  fourth  person  was  not  identi- 
fied.    They  were  sent,  with  the  women  and 
children,  to  the  Sevada  Kothee  (sometimes 
called  Salvador  House),  which  was  an  en- 
closed residence,  with  a  courtyard  in  the 
centre.     It  had  been  originally  built  for, 
and  used  as,  a  zenana,  though  afterwards 
occupied  by  a  native  clerk,  and  comprised 
two  principal  rooms,  each  twenty  feet  long. 
The  captives  were  cruelly  neglected  as  re- 
garded food  and  clothing;  and  a  list  of  them, 
found  in  the  house  of  a  native  doctor  after 
the  reoGCupation  of  the  place,  shows  that  a 
number  died  from  their  wounds,  and  from 
cholera,  which  broke  out  in  their  midst. 
At  half-past  four  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
15th  of  July,  a  message  was  brought  to  the 
four  Englishmen,  that  a  Native  officer  of 
the  mutineers  desired  to  see  them  at  a  cer- 
tain place.     They  proceeded  quietly  along 
the  road  towards  the  spot  indicated,  were 
followed,  attacked,  and  cut  down  near  the 
Assembly-rooms.     Azim  Oollahf  found  it 
more  difficult  to  procure  the  murder  of  the 
women  and  children.     The  cavalry  refused 
to  incur  the  defilement;  the  infantry  shrank 
from    the    task:    and  at    length,   the    6th 
N.I.,    sepoys    on    guard    at    the    Sevada 
Kothee,  were  compelled,  by  the  threat  of 
being  exterminated  by  artillery,  to  enter 
the  house  and  fire  on  the  helpless  crowd 
within.     Immediately  before  the  entrance 
of  the  sepoys,  at  about  6  p.m.,§  the  Chris- 
tian drummers  of  the  6th  N.L,  who  had 
been   confined  with  the  Europeans,  were 
removed  to  a  shed  or  stable,  fifteen  paces 
ofi";  and  from  whence  they  could  see  some- 
thing,   and    hear    much,    of    the    tragedy 
enacted    in    the     Sevada    Kothee.      The 
sepoys    fired II  once  wildly  at    the   ceiling, 
and    then    rushed   out,    refusing    to   have 
anything  more   to    do  with   such  devihsh 
work.      The    order   to  the    guard  for  the 
massacre  of  the  prisoners,  is  said  to  have 
been   conveyed    to    them   by  a   slave-girl, 
called    the   Begum,   who    had   been    sent 
to  attend  on  the  prisoners.     Her  mistress, 

§  The  wives  of  drummers,  and  native  children 
from  three  to  ten  years  of  age,  were  spared  by  the 
mutineers  throughout  the  siege  and  massacre. 

II  One  of  the  sepoys,  named  Diddie,  being  re- 
proached by  the  drummers  for  firing  on  the  Eng- 
lishwomen, said,  "  his  own  family  had  been  killed; 
he  did  not  care." 


382    DEAD  AND  LIVING  THROWN  INTO  THE  WELL— JULY  16th  &  17th. 


Adia,  a  professed  courtesan,  had  lived  with 
the  Nana  from  1850,  and  is  reported  to 
have  obtained  from  him  the  jewels  belong- 
ing to  the  Peishwa's  widows,  valued  at 
£50,000.  Whether  the  slave-girl  had  any 
cause  of  enmity  against  the  poor  ladies, 
does  not  appear;  but,  in  the  native  evi- 
dence, her  name  frequently  recurs  as  in- 
strumental in  their  destruction.  When 
the  sepoys  of  the  6th  N.I.  refused  to  obey 
the  order,  she  fetched  five  men  armed  with 
swords.  The  witnesses  did  not  agree  re- 
garding these  murderers.  Some  said  that 
they  belonged  to  the  Nana's  guard,  and 
that  the  Begum's  lover,  one  Sirdar  Khan, 
was  among  the  number;  but  Fitchett,* 
whose  account  is  the  most  consistent  of 
any,  declared  that,  of  the  five  men,  two 
were  butchers,  and  two  villagers.  One  of 
the  butchers  he  described  as  a  tall,  stout, 
dark  man,  much  pockmarked,  with  a  small 
beard ;  and  he  noticed  the  short,  stout  figure, 
and  hairy  hands  of  the  fifth  man  (a  belai- 
tee).  From  his  position  he  could  see  the 
murderers  enter  the  Sevada  Kothee  at  sun- 
set, and  the  lady  nearest  the  doorway  cut 
down.  He  saw  nothing  more  of  what 
was  passing  within;  but  heard  "fearful 
shrieks ;"  and  soon  the  belaitee  came  out 
with  his  bloody  sword  broken;  went  into 
the  compound  of  the  hotel  in  which  the 
Nana  was  then  residing,  for  another  sword ; 
came  back  with  it;  broke  that  also,  and 
fetched  a  third.  In  about  half-an-hour, 
the  executioners  quitted  a  scene  the  re- 
membrance of  which  might  well  make  life 
and  death  terrible  to  them.  The  work  was 
not  completed.  Incessant  groans  were 
heard  by  the  drummers  during  the  night, 
and  the  butchery  had  to  be  consummated 
on  the  following  morning;  the  avenging 
(alas !  not  the  rescuing)  force  being  then 
within  twenty  miles  of  Cawnpoor.  The 
end  of  this  great  crime  is  thus  told  by 
Fitchett  :— 


"At  about  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning,  the 
sweepers  living  in  the  compound  (I  think  there 
were  three  or  four),  were  ordered  to  throw  the 
bodies  into  a  dry  well  near  the  house.  The  bodies 
were  dragged  out,  most  of  them  by  the  hair  of 
their  head ;  those  whose  clothes  were  worth  taking 
were  stripped.  Some  of  the  women  were  alive ;  I 
cannot  say  how  many  ;  but  three  could  speak.  They 
prayed  that,  for  the  sake  of  God,  an  end  might  be 
put  to  their  sufferings.  I  remarked  one  very  stout 
woman,  a  half-caste,  who  was  seyerely  wounded  in 
both  arms,  who  entreated  to  be  killed.     She  and 

•  Seep.  262, a«te.     t  Evidence, taken  Oct.  10,1858. 
X  Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  213. 


two  or  three  others  were  placed  against  the  bank 
of  the  cut  by  which  bullocks  go  down  in  drawing 
water  from  the  well ;  the  dead  bodies  were  first 
thrown  down.  Application  was  made  to  the  Nana 
about  those  who  were  alive ;  three  children  were 
alive.  I  do  not  know  what  orders  came,  but  I  saw 
one  of  the  children  thrown  in  alive.  I  believe  the 
other  children  and  women  who  were  alive,  were 
then  thrown  in.  I  know  that  I  am  on  my  oath  ; 
but  I  swear  that  1  saw  all  this.  I  was  about  110 
paces  from  the  well ;  there  was  a  great  crowd  look- 
ing on  ;  they  were  standing  along  the  walls  of  the 
compound — principally  city  people  and  villagers, 
but  there  were  also  sepoys  there.  The  children 
that  were  still  alive  were  fair,  apparently  Europeans ; 
the  eldest  I  think  must  have  been  six  or  seven.  It 
was  the  youngest  thrown  in  by  one  of  the  sweepers. 
The  children  were  running  round  the  well:  where 
else  could  they  go  to  ?  and  there  was  none  to  save 
them."t 

The  only  ray  of  comfort  which,  humanly 
speaking,  breaks  the  glootn  of  this  black 
deed,  is,  that  searching  investigation  has 
proved  that  the  women  suflFered  no  violation, 
the  children  no  torture,  at  the  hands  of 
their  unrelenting  foes.  On  these  points, 
the  testimony  of  many  witnesses,  subjected 
to  sharp  cross-examination,  is  conclusive. 

Mowbray  Thomson  accounts  for  the  im- 
munity of  the  women  from  the  most  inde- 
fensible of  the  outrages  perpetrated  by  vic- 
torious troops  even  in  nominally  Christian 
countries,  by  a  suggestion  which  happily  is 
not  applicable  to  the  other  Indian  sta- 
tions, in  which  no  attempt  was  made  by 
either  sepoys  or  villagers  on  the  honour  of 
defenceless  Englishwomen.  "  Fidelity,"  he 
writes,  "  requires  that  I  should  allege  what 
appears  to  me  the  only  reason  of  their  being 
thus  spared.  When  the  siege  had  ter- 
minated, such  was  the  loathsome  condition 
into  which,  from  long  destitution  and  ex- 
posure, the  fairest  and  youngest  of  our 
women  had  sunk,  that  not  a  sepoy  would 
have  polluted  himself  with  their  touch."t 
Some  of  the  officers,  and  many  of  the  sol- 
diers, visited  the  Sevada  Kothee  on  the 
morning  of  the  17th  of  July.  Major  North 
was  one  of  the  number.  The  floor  of  the 
inner  room  was  ankle-deep  in  blood,§  and 
the  plaster  on  the  walls  was  scored  with 
sword-cuts — "  not  high  up,  as  if  men  had 
fought ;  but  low  down,  and  about  the  corners, 
where  the  poor  crouching  creatures  had 
been  cut  to  pieces."||  Long  tresses  of  hair, 
fragments  of  women's  apparel,  children's 
little  shoes  and  toys,  were  lying  about  in 
terrible  confusion.  Two  scraps  of  paper, 
written  on  with  a  pencil,  were  found.    One,. 

§  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  76. 

II  Saturday  Beview,  September,  1857. 


THE  MORAL  OF  CAWNPOOR. 


883 


by  Miss  Caroline  Lindsay,  contained  a  record 
of  the  date  of  the  deaths  of  the  writer's 
mother  (Mrs.  G.  Lindsay),  brother,  sister, 
uncle  and  aunt  (Major  and  Mrs.  Lindsay). 
The  other  bore  no  signature,  and  named  no 
individual,  but  briefly  noted  the  progress  of 
the  siege  and  surrender. 

A  Bible,  which  bore  on  the  fly-leaf  the  in- 
scription, "  For  darling  mamma — from  her 
affectionate  daughter,  Isabella  Blair;"*  and 
a  Prayer-book,  sprinkled  with  blood  at  the 
Litany,  terminate  the  list  of  the  few  books  and 
papers  with  writing  found  in  the  slaughter- 
house ;  and  in  none  of  these  was  there  one 
cry  for  vengeance,  or  reproach  for  neglect. 
There  was  no  inscription  of  any  kind  on  the 
walls  at  the  first  entrance  of  the  Europeans; 
but  soon,  "  Avenge  us  !"  and  other  sentences 
were  scribbled  about  on  the  Sevada  Kothee 
and  the  barrack  within  the  iutrenchments, 
most  of  which  were  vulgar,  slandering  for- 
geries, wrong  in  their  dates,t  and  utterly 
at  variance  with  the  feelings  of  the  sufferers, 
as  described  by  one  of  the  two  surviving 
officers  of  the  garrison. 

The  moral  of  Cawnpoor,  as  deduced  by 
him,  was  this — "If  nearly  two  hundred 
millions  are  to  be  held  in  subjection  by  a 
few  thousand  Englishmen,  the  day  is  past 
when  it  could  be  done  by  mere  physical 
force. "J 

Major  North,  too,  coming  fresh  from  the 
gory  chamber  and  the  choked-up  well, 
where  the  mangled  limbs  of  his  country- 
women protruded  in  ghastly  disorder,  de- 
clared— "  The  blood  of  those  innocents  cries 


•  Mrs.  Blair,  daughter  of  the  late  General  Ken- 
nedy, resided  at  Cawnpoor.  Her  husband,  a  cavalry 
ofKcer,  was  believed  to  have  perished  at  the  Khyber 
Pass;  but  as  no  precise  account  of  his  death  had 
ever  been  received,  she  persisted  in  hoping  he  might 
yet  be  alive  in  captivity  among  the  Afghans.  Her 
sister  (Dr.  Newnham's  wife)  died  in  the  trenches; 
her  elder  daughter,  Isabella,  by  fever;  and  the 
younger  and  herself  are  supposed  to  have  been 
brought  back  to  endure  the  second  captivity  and  its 
sad  close. — Thomson's  Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  120. 

t  For  instance,  on  the  wall  of  one  of  the  barracks, 
was  written — "  Countrymen  and  women,  remember 
the  15th  of  July,  1857!  Your  wives  and  families 
are  here,  misary!  and  at  the  disposal  of  savages, 
who  have  ravished  both  young  and  old.  Oh !  my 
child !  my  child !  Countrymen,  revenge !" — Times 
(Russell),  March  29th,  1858. 

X  Thomson's  Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  124. 

§  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  92. 

II  The  Bombay  Telegraph  and  Courier  published 
this  tale  among  many  similar  ones.  Had  it  been 
founded  on  fact.  Major  North,  who  was  serving  with 
the  Highlanders,  would  hardly  hare  omitted  to 
mention  so  striking  an  incident.  The  well  was 
covered  over,  undisturbed.    It  would  have  been  a 


out  from  the  earth,  in  reprobation  of  a 
system  which,  from  its  slothfulness,  led  to 
this  catastrophe." §  An  apocryphal  anec- 
dote went  the  round  of  the  English  and 
Anglo-Indian  papers — of  the  Highlanders 
finding  the  head  of  one  of  General 
Wheeler's  daughters ;  dividing  the  hair 
among  them,  and  swearing  that,  for  every 
hair  they  held  between  their  fingers,  a  mu- 
tineer should  die.  II 

A  much  nobler  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
the  dead,  was  really  paid  by  twenty  men  of 
H.M.  32ud,  who,  marching  through  Cawn- 
poor in  the  subsequent  November,  raised  a 
stone  tablet  to  the  slaughtered  women  of 
the  regiment,  in  the  form  of  a  Maltese 
cross  within  a  circle  of  stone.  In  the 
quadrants  of  the  circle  are  inscribed,  in  red 
letters,  and  in  the  old  English  character — 
"  I  believe  in  the  Resurrection  of  the 
Dead." 

The  Nana,  it  was  thought,  intended  to 
defend  hinaself  in  his  palace-fortress  at 
Bithoor  (nine  miles  from  Cawnpoor).  He 
was  alleged  to  have  forty-five  guns  and 
5,000  armed  followers  at  his  command. 
Havelock  did  not  march  against  Bithoor 
till  the  19th,  and  then  found  (as  might 
have  been  expected)  the  place  evacuated. 
The  Nana  and  his  counsellors  were  hardly 
likely  to  brave  a  siege  when  they  could  escape 
unmolested.  The  soldiery,  unable  to  wreak 
their  vengeance  on  the  great  criminals, 
gave  vent  to  their  passions  in  the  sack  of 
Cawnpoor.  With  fiend-like  cunning,  Azim 
Oollah  had  left  spirits,  wine,  and  beer  in 

fresh  desecration  to  have  dragged  forth  to  light 
the  stripped  and  mangled  bodies.  A  Miss  Wheeler 
was  probably  fixed  on  as  the  heroine  of  the  tale, 
because  of  the  popular  name  she  bore.  Mowbray 
Thomson  has  touchingly  described  the  sudden 
misery  which  overwhelmed  this  family.  Just  before 
the  mutiny,  he  saw  the  old  general  on  the  parade- 
ground.  He  was  small,  spare,  and  very  grey,  with 
a  quick  intelligent  eye,  and  a  military  bearing ;  and, 
at  seventy-four  years  of  age,  still  a  first-rate  eques- 
trian :  his  son  and  daughter  rode  beside  him,  and 
were  surrounded  by  Scotch  deerhounds,  for  the 
party  were  going  jackal  hunting.  A  few  weeks 
later,  and  the  scene  had  changed  to  the  close  pesti- 
lential barrack.  Young  Wheeler  was  sitting  upon 
a  sofa,  fainting  from  a  wound  he  had  received  in  the 
trenches ;  his  sister  was  fanning  him,  when  a  round 
shot  entered  the  doorway,  and  left  him  a  headless 
trunk  ;  while  one  sister  at  his  feet,  the  father,  mother, 
and  another  sister  in  different  parts  of  the  same 
room,  were  witnesses  of  the  appalling  spectacle. 
Thomson  saw  the  general,  his  lady  and  daughters, 
walk  down  to  the  boats :  but  of  their  fate  th»re  is 
no  authentic  information,  except  that  already  men- 
tioned regarding  the  daughter,  alleged  to  have  been 
rescued  by  a  trooper.     (See  p.  263,  ante). 


884 


LOOTING  AT  BITHOOR— JULY  19th,  1857. 


abundance  in  all  directions:  the  soldiers, 
half-starved,  but  too  excited  to  care  for 
food,  drank  eagerly ;  and  then — the  scenes 
which  followed  may  well  be  passed  over  in 
silence.  The  provocation  was  terrible.  The 
English  and  Anglo-Indian  journals,  for  the 
most  part,  refrained  from  giving  any  esti- 
mate of  the  numbers  slain  at  Cawnpoor 
by  the  avenging  force ;  but  some  of  them 
talked  loosely  of  10,000  of  the  inhabitants* 
having  been  massacred;  and  the  conti- 
nental journalst  took  up  the  statement  of 
that  number  of  men,  women,  and  children 
having  perished,  as  if  it  had  been  authen- 
ticated, overlooking  the  fact  that  the  popu- 
lation were  panic-struck  by  the  approach  of 
the  British  J  on  being  assured  of  which, 
"  every  man  that  had  a  hand  in  the  rebellion 
took  to  his  heels."  From  noon  till  mid- 
night, nothing  but  immense  mobs  were  seen 
rushing  away  as  fast  as  possible  towards  the 
west.  Some  went  to  Lucknow ;  others  to 
Delhi;  while  many  hid  themselves  in  the 
neighbouring  villages.  J  The  booty  captured 
was  very  considerable,  especially  at  Bithoor. 
A  large  portion  of  the  Naua's  plate  was 
found  in  the  wells  around  the  palace :  gold 
dishes,  some  of  them  as  much  as  two  feet 
in  diameter;  silver  jugs,  spittoons  of  both 
gold  and  silver,  were  fished  up,  and  proved 
glorious  prizes  for  somebody.  The  Seiks  had 
the  credit  of  carrying  off  Bajee  Rao's  state 
sword,  which,  in  consequence  of  its  mag- 
nificent setting  with  jewels,  was  valued  at 
£30,000.  "One  ruby,  of  great  size  and  bril- 
liancy, cut  with  sharp  edges,  is  said  to  have 
been  carried  by  the  Nana  about  his  person, 
intending  to  use  it  for  suicide,  as  its  acute 
points  would,  if  swallowed,  cut  through 
the  vitals.  After  his  flight  he  sold  it  for 
10,000  rupees."§ 

To  stop  the  intoxication  among  the 
troops,  Havelock  followed  the  example 
of  Neil  at  Allahabad,  and  ordered  "all 
the  beer,  wine,  spirits,  and  every  drink- 
able thing,  to  be  purchased  by  the  com- 
missariat :  it  will  then,"  he  remarks,  "  be 
guarded  by  a  few  men.  If  it  remained  at 
Cawnpoor,  it  would  require  half  my  force 
to  keep  it  from  being  drunk  up  by  the  other 
half.  I  should  not  have  a  soldier  in  camp. 
While  I  was  winning  a  victory  on  the  16th, 
some  of  my  men  were  pillaging  the  commis- 
sariat on  the  line  of  march."  || 

*  For  instance,  Scinde  Kosseid,  Aug.  18th,  1857. 
t  For  instance,  3Iilan  Gazette,  November,  1857. 
I  Shepherd's  Narrative :  Parl.Papers(No.4),p.  184. 
§  Thomson's  Story  of  Cawnpoor,  pp.  49,  50. 


The  easy  and  repeated  triumphs  ob- 
tained over  the  Nana's  forces,  induced 
Havelock  to  form  an  inadequate  idea  of 
the  difficulties  yet  to  be  encountered. 
In  a  general  order,  dated  July  20th,  he 
informed  the  troops,  that  Lucknow  was  in 
peril,  Agra  besieged  (which  was  happily 
not  the  case),  and  Delhi  still  the  focus  of 
mutiny  and  rebeUion :  then  he  added — 
"Three  cities  have  to  be  saved,  two  strong 
places  to  be  disblockaded.  Your  general 
is  confident  that  he  can  effect  all  these 
things,  and  restore  this  part  of  India  to 
tranquillity,  if  you  only  second  him  with 
your  efforts,  and  if  your  discipline  is  equal 
to  your  valour." 

Havelock  appears  to  have  anticipated 
being  permanently  entrusted  with  the  ma- 
nagement of  the  Oude  campaign,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  death  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence. 
Before  that  calamity  became  known  in 
Calcutta,  an  order  had  been  dispatched, 
constituting  Sir  Henry  a  major-general,^ 
and  desiring  that  the  command  should  be 
placed  in  his  hands  so  soon  as  the  relief  of 
Lucknow  should  set  him  at  liberty.  His 
death  left  the  command  indefinitely  with 
Havelock,  who  wrote  a  most  pressing 
requisition  to  General  Neil  to  send  300 
Europeans  to  occupy  Cawnpoor,  and  thereby 
place  the  column  at  liberty  to  advance  on 
Lucknow.  Neil  (just  made  a  brigadier- 
general)  received  the  request  on  the  15th 
of  July,  and  forthwith  dispatched  above 
200  of'  H.M.  84th,  with  orders  to  march 
twenty-five  miles  a-night,  and  reach  Cawn- 
poor in  five  days.  On  the  following  day  he 
started  himself,  overtook  the  men,  and, 
with  them,  joined  Havelock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  20th. 

A  man  of  strong  feelings,  yet  a  stern 
disciplinarian,  Neil  was  scarcely  more  in- 
furiated by  the  sight  of  the  loathsome  evi- 
dences of  the  tragedy  of  the  16th,  than  by 
the  excesses  of  the  troops,  which  could  not 
but  have  a  moral  and  physical  reaction. 
General  Havelock  crossed  the  Ganges  on 
the  24th  of  July.  On  the  following  day, 
Neil  writes  to  Calcutta  regarding  the  mea- 
sures he  had  taken  to  stop  plundering  and 
restore  tranquillity ;  and  suggests,  among 
other  means  of  supplying  the  want  of  cavalry, 
that  all  horses,  private  property  of  deceased 
oflScers,    be    taken    by  government    at  a 

II  Despatch,  Cawnpoor,  July  18th. — Further  Pari. 
Papers  (not  numbered),  1857  j  p.  143. 

1]  Telegram  from  governor-general,  July  12th, 
1857.— /fcjrf.,  p.  115. 


i 


NEIL  MAKES  BRAHMINS  CLEAN  UP  BLOOD— JULY,  1857. 


385 


fair  valuation,  for  mounting  dragoons  and 
horsing  batteries.  "  A  stringent  government 
order  should  be  issued  on  this  head  to  all 
forces,  particularly  to  General  Havelock, 
where  there  is  that  disposition  to  plunder; 
also  a  government  order,  stringent  against 
plundering  also."*  In  a  private  letter  of 
the  same  period,  he  writes — 

"  Sinoe  I  arrived  here  I  have  been  hard  at  work 
to  get  order  re-established.  I  have  now  put  a  stop 
to  the  plundering  I  found  going  on,  by  reorganising 
a  police.  I  am  also  collecting  all  the  property  of 
the  deceased,  and  trying  to  trace  if  any  have  sur- 
vived; but  as  yet  have  not  succeeded  in  finding 
one.  I  find  the  officers'  servants  behaved  shame- 
fully, and  were  in  the  plot — all  but  the  lowest  caste 
ones.  They  deserted  their  masters,  and  plundered 
them.  Whenever  a  rebel  is  caught  he  is  imme- 
diately tried,  and  unless  he  can  prove  a  defence,  he 
is  sentenced  to  be  hanged  at  once ;  but  the  chief 
rebels  or  ringleaders  I  make  first  clean  up  a  certain 
portion  of  the  pool  of  blood,  still  two  inches  deep, 
in  the  shed  where  the  fearful  murder  and  mutilation 
of  women  and  children  took  place.  To  touch  blood 
is  most  abhorrent  to  the  high-caste  natives ;  they 
.think,  by  doing  so,  they  doom  their  souls  to  perdi- 
Ition.  Let  them  think  so.  My  object  is  to  inflict  a 
fearful  punishment  for  a  revolting,  cowardly,  bar- 
barous deed,  and  to  strike  terror  into  these  rebels. 
The  first  1  caught  was  a  subahdar,  or  Native  officer, 
a  high-caste  Brahmin,  who  tried  to  resist  my  order 
to  clean  up  the  very  blood  he  had  helped  to  shed  ; 
but  I  made  the  provost-martial  do  his  duty,  and  a 
few  lashes  soon  made  the  miscreant  accomplish  Lis 
task.  When  done,  he  was  taken  out  and  imme- 
diately hanged,  and,  after  death,  buried  in  a  ditch 
at  the  road-side.  No  one  who  has  witnessed  the 
scenes  of  murder,  mutilation,  and  massacre,  can 
ever  listen  to  the  word  '  mercy,'  as  applied  to  these 
fiends.  The  well  of  mutilated  bodies — alas !  con- 
taining upwards  of  200  women  and  children — 1 
have  had  decently  covered  in,  and  built  up  as  one 
large  grave."t 

It  does  not  appear  on  what  authority 
the  assertion  regarding  the  native  servants 
is   based.     Neil   was   not    then   sure   that 


any  European  had  escaped,  and  could 
not  have  received  any  direct  informa- 
tion. Afterwards,  one  of  the  survivors  de- 
clared, that  "  a  large  number  of  the  na- 
tives shared  with  us  our  sharp  and  bitter 
troubles."  Some  were  killed  in  the  in- 
trenchment ;  several  outlived  the  siege,  and 
died  at  the  time  of  embarkation ;  two  or 
three  escaped  at  the  time  of  the  capitula- 
tion ;  and  a  few  faithful  ayalisj  remained 
with  the  ladies  and  children,  and  are  be- 
lieved to  have  been  flung  with  them  into 
the  well,  which,  however,  from  its  size, 
could  not  have  held  nearly  200  bodies. 

The  brigadier's  proceeding  with  regard 
to  the  "pool  of  blood,"  occasioned  some 
discussion.  Could  he  have  compelled  the 
Nana,  Azim  Ooliah,  or  any  well-known 
and  proved  instigator  or  perpetrator  of  the 
crime,  to  perform  this  loathsome  act,  it 
might  have  altered  the  case.  As  it  was,  the 
perdition  of  the  soul,  supposed  to  have  been 
occasioned  thereby  according  to  the  creed 
of  the  Hindoos,  did  not  touch  the  equally, 
if  not  more,  guilty  Mohammedans.  But  it 
is  well  known  that  modern  Brahminism 
attaches  importance  to  the  violation  of 
caste,  rather  as  involving  excommunication 
in  this  world,  than  perdition  in  the  next; 
and  the  manner  in  which  many  even  of  the 
mutineers  declared  that  the  Nana  Sahib 
had  brought  a  curse  on  the  cause  by  the 
Cawnpoor  atrocity,  proves  that  they  could 
appreciate,  as  well  as  a  European,  between 
the  punishment  due  to  those  who  shed  inno- 
cent blood,  and  the  entirely  external  and 
compulsory  act  of  cleansing  the  polluted 
earth.  Again — since  the  rallying-cry  for 
rebellion  liad  been  the  preservation  of  caste, 
was  it  wise  to  do  anything  which  should 
lend  weight  to  that  plea? 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


OPERATIONS,    IN    OUDE,    OF    MOVEABLE    COLUMN    UNDER    GENERAL   HAVELOCK  j 
LUCKNOW  AND   CAWNPOOR.— JULY  AND  AUGUST,  1837.  ' 


The  Ganges  was  crossed  by  the  moveable 
column,  unopposed  by  any  foe.  The  opera- 
tion is  described  as  difficult  and  tedious; 
and  it  would  have  been  still  more  so,  but 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  18. 

t  Ayr  Observer,  September,  1857. 

X  The  ayahs  are  mentioned  in  a  list  of  the  Cawn- 

VOL.  H.  3  D 


for  the  ability  of  Colonel  Eraser  Tytler 
(assistant  quartermaster-general),  and  the 
foresight  of  Neil,  in  providing  a  small 
steamer  to  keep  open  the  river  communica- 

poor  and  Futtehghur  captives,  found,  after  the  re- 
occupation  of  Cawnpoor,  in  the  house  of  a  native 
doctor,  who  had  attended  them  in  the  Sevada  Kothee. 


386 


MAJOR  BANKS  AND  MR.  OMMANEY  KILLED-JULY,  1857. 


tion.  Still  Havelock  was  sanguine  of  suc- 
cess— brilliant,  rapid,  aud  uninterrupted 
success,  in  Oude,  Agra,  and  Delhi.  Sir 
Patrick  Grant,  on  the  25th  of  July,  ac- 
quainted the  governor-general  with  the 
contents  of  a  telegraphic  message  he  had 
just  received,  in  which  General  Havelock 
expressed  a  confident  hope  that  Lucknow 
would  soon  be  in  his  hands ;  and  requested 
early  orders  whether  he  should  remain  in 
Oude,  aud  thoroughly  reconquer  and  paci- 
ficate  the  province,  or  recross  the  Ganges, 
march  on  Agra,  join  the  force  there,  and 
"  assist  in  the  reduction  of  Delhi." 

On  the  same  day  the  Lucknow  garrison 
received  a  letter  from  Colonel  Tytler,  to  the 
effect  that  the  general's  force  was  sufficient 
to  defeat  the  enemy ;  that  the  troops  were 
then  crossing  the  river,  and  hoped  to  be  in 
Lucknow  in  five  or  six  days,  the  distance 
between    Cawnpoor    aud    Lucknow   being 
somewhat   above   fifty   miles.      The   letter 
was  conveyed  by  Ungud,  a  pensioned  sepoy, 
who  stole  in  through  the  besieging  force  at 
midnight,  and  poured  forth  tidings  of  the 
outer  world  to  the  eager  ears  of  the  Eu- 
ropeans.    Mr.  Gubbins   describes  the   en- 
trance of  Ungud  into  the  low  room  on  the 
ground-floor,  with   a  single  light  carefully 
screened  on  the  further  side,  lest  it  should 
attract  the  bullets  of  the  enemy ;  the  anxious 
faces  of  the  men ;  the  indistinct  forms  of 
women  in  their  night  attire,  listening  in 
breathless  silence  to  the  promise  of  speedy, 
rescue  for  themselves,  followed  by  tidings 
of  the  final  Cawnpoor  massacre.     Ungud 
also     told     them     that     the    risaldar     of 
Fisher's  Horse,  the  first  rebel  commander 
of  the  force  besieging  Lucknow,  had  been 
killed  by   a   rifle- ball   while   reconnoitring 
from  a  loophole;  that   an  infantry  subah- 
dar,   named    Ghumunda    Sing,    was   their 
present   leader;   that   a  boy  of  eleven   or 
twelve   years   of    age,    a    member   of  the 
Oude   royal  family,  had   been   proclaimed 
king;  his  mother,  the  Begum,  being  regent; 
while  some  authority  was  still  exercised  by 
the    Moulvee,    who    had   accompanied   the 
mutineers  from  Fyzabad.    After  a  day's  rest, 
Ungud  again  set  forth  on  his  perilous  enter- 
prise, bearing  despatches  and  plans  of  Luck- 
now, and  of  the  roads  leading  to  it,  from  Bri- 
gadier Inglis,  for  General  Havelock,  towliom 
the  garrison  now  looked  for  speedy  rescue. 
The  tidings  of  the  Cawnpoor  massacre, 
terrible  as  they  were,  relieved  the  minds  of 
the  garrison  from  that  worst  fear,  which  the 
false  or  grossly  exaggerated  accounts  of  the 


Meerut  and   Delhi  mutinies  had  inspired. 
The  men  ceased  to  discuss  the  propriety  of 
killing  the  women  and  children,  to  prevent 
their  falling  into  the  hands  of  tlie  enemy — 
a  practice  which,  in  the  case  of  Hindoos 
and  Mohammedans,  had  been  denounced 
by  the  British  as  barbarous  and  heathenish' 
in  the  extreme.     Nevertheless,  Mr.  Gubbins 
relates,  that  an  officer  who  resided  in  his 
house  during  the  siege,  offered,  in  the  event 
of  the  enemy  taking  Lucknow  by  storm,  to 
shoot  Mrs.  Gubbins ;  and  required  a  similar 
pledge   on   behalf  of  his   own    wife.     Mr. 
Gubbins  replied,  that  "the  necessity  had 
not  arisen ;  and  there  was,  therefore,  then 
no  need  to  provide  for  it."     He  adds,  in  the 
manly,   honest  tone  that  characterises  his 
narrative — "  and  besides,  I  could  not  do  it."* 
Mr.    Polehampton   asserts   that   Colonel 
Inglis  asked  him,  whether  Mrs.  Inglis  would 
be  justified  in  killing  her  own  children, rather 
than  let  them  be  murdered  by  the  muti- 
neers?    He  rephed,  "No;  for  the  children 
could  but  be  killed."     Major  Banks  asked 
him,  "as  a  clergyman,"  for  advice  what  to 
do,  if  it  were  certain  that  the  women  would 
be   captured,    and    treated    as    they    were 
alleged  to  have  been  at  Delhi  and  Meerut. 
Tlie  answer  was,  that  in  that  case,  he  (Mr. 
Polehampton)  would  shoot  his  wife.f 

Neither  the  chaplain  nor  the  commis- 
sioner lived  to  see  the  issue  of  the  siege. 
The  former  was  wounded  while  attending 
the  sick  in  the  hospital  (which  he  liad 
done  zealously  and  kindly),  and  eventually 
died  of  cholera.  The  latter  received  a 
bullet  through  the  temples,  while  reconnoi- 
tring the  enemy  from  a  loophole  of  Mr. 
Gubbins'  house,  on  the  21st  of  July.  Mr. 
Ommaney,  the  judicial  commissioner,  had 
been  previously  killed  by  a  cannon-ball, 
which  hit  him  as  he  sat  in  his  chair,  after 
passing  over  the  body  of  Sergeant-major 
Watson,  who  was  lying  down,  and  who, 
though  not  touched  by  the  ball,  died  at  the 
same  moment. | 

The  first  sally  made  by  the  garrison  was 
against  Johannes'  house,  so  called  from 
having  been  the  property  of  a  merchant  of 
that  name.  From  a  loopholcd  turret  near 
the  roof,  the  double-barrelled  rifle  of  an 
African  eunuch,  formerly  in  the  service  of 
the  King  of  Oude,  commanded  the  Cawn- 
poor battery ;  and  the  bullets  swept  down 
the   main   street,    frequently   entering  the 

*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  349. 

t  Memoir  of  the  llev.  H.  S.  Polehampton;  p.  271. 

X  Rees'  Lucknow,  p.  128. 


MINES  AND  COUNTER-MINES— LUCKNOW,  1857. 


387 


windows  of  the  hospital.  The  eunuch's  aim 
was  so  sure,  that  the  soldiers  called  him 
Bob  the  Nailer.  A  sally  was  made  on  the 
7th  of  July,  and  the  house  was  entered  by 
blasting  open  a  little  doorway.  A  number 
of  the  enemy  were  found  asleep,  and 
bayoneted.  The  rifleman  himself,  seated 
at  his  elevated  post,  and  engaged  in  return- 
ing the  fire  specially  directed  by  the  garri- 
son to  divert  his  attention,  was  unconscious 
of  the  approach  of  the  British  up  to  the 
moment  in  'which  he  was  surrounded  and 
slain. 

Through  inadvertence  the  house  was  left 
standing,  and  was  speedily  reocciipied  by 
sharpshooters.  Six  weeks  later  it  was  un- 
dermined by  Captain  Fulton,  and  seventy  or 
eighty  rebels  were  killed  by  the  explosion ; 
after  which  the  captain  sallied  forth,  and 
drove  the  insurgents  from  several  of  the 
adjacent  buildings,  which  were  then  de- 
stroyed. 

The  besiegers,  although  for  the  most 
part  cowardly  and  unskilful,  proved  them- 
selves able  and  persevering  in  the  construc- 
tion of  mines;  and  had  not  the  Lucknow 
garrison  contained  engineers  remarkable 
for  skill  and  courage,  the  repeated  attempts 
of  the  enemy  could  hardly  have  been  in- 
effectual. Captain  Fulton  was  a  host  in 
himself.  He  organised  a  small  body  of 
miners,  comprising  a  few  Cornishraen  (the 
32nd  was  raised  in  Cornwall)  and  some 
Seiks.  One  of  the  officers  has  sketched 
with  his  pencil,  and  another  with  his  pen,* 
the  gallant  Fulton,  in  the  perilous  position 
and  cramped  attitude  in  which  he  passed 
whole  hours,  lying  at  the  end  of  a  narrow 
subterranean  passage,  during  the  stifling 
heat  of  an  Indian  July,  listening  to  the 
enemy's  miner  coming  nearer  and  nearer, 
until  his  pickaxe  actually  pierced  the  gal- 
lery, and  exposed  the  disconcerted  workman 
to  the  view  and  ready  pistol  of  the  solitary 
sentinel. 

The  first,  and  most  serious  general  attack, 
was  made  by  the  rebels  on  the  30th  of  July. 
They  sprang  a  mine,  intending  to  destroy  a 
battery    constructed    by    Captain    Fulton, 

•  Lieutenant  Mecham  and  Mr.  Couper.  Vide 
Sketches  of  Lucknow,  already  quoted.  "  It  was  not 
a  very  easy  matter,"  Mr.  Couper  writes,  "  for  an 
unpractised  hand  to  reach  the  end  of  a  mine  in 
a  dark  night.  The  shaft  itself  was  generally  not 
less  than  twelve  feet  deep,  and  the  usual  means 
of  descent  was  a  rope.  On  reaching  the  bottom, 
the  neophyte  crawled  on  his  hands  and  knees 
till  the  narrowing  of  the  passage  compelled  hira 
to  abandon  that  mode  of  progression,  and  wriggle 


called  the  Redan,  which  commanded  the 
whole  of  the  river  side,  and  the  buildings 
on  the  opposite  bank.  The  enemy  had 
miscalculated  the  distance,  but  the  smoke 
hindered  their  seeing  their  failure ;  and,  on 
hearing  the  loud  explosion,  they  concluded 
that  a  breach  had  been  effected,  and,  with 
fixed  bayonets,  advanced  to  the  attack. 
Hundreds  were  shot  down;  but  still,  after 
discovei:ing  their  mistake,  they  were  un- 
willing to  retreat ;  and  one  of  their  officers, 
waving  his  sword,  on  the  point  of  which  he 
had  placed  his  cap,  shouted — "Come  on, 
my  braves  \"  Again  they  advanced ;  but 
their  leader  being  killed,  and  terrible  gaps 
made  in  their  ranks,  they  retreated  in  con- 
fusion, under  a  deadly  fire  from  the  British 
guns  and  muskets.  Similar  assaults  were 
made  on  various  points;  but  happily  the 
weakest  were  avoided,  because  supposed  to 
be  undermined.  Two  lesser  posts,  almost 
entirely  defended  by  non-military  men, 
were  fiercely  assaulted  by  a  body  of  sepoys 
and  matchlockmen,  led  by  a  fanatic  dressed 
in  green,  carrying  the  Moslem  flag  in  his 
hands,  and  shouting  "  Deen  !  deeu  I"  He 
was  shot,  and  fell  into  the  ditch:  fifty  or  sixty 
of  his  followers  were  likewise  killed;  and, 
after  some  hours'  hard  fighting,  the  survi- 
vors retired,  carrying  ofl:'  their  flag,  and 
nearly  all  their  dead. 

The  affair  commenced  at  nine  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  and  the  firing  did  not  cease 
till  four  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The  rebels 
then  sent  a  flag  of  truce,  and  begged  leave 
to  remove  the  slain  and  wounded,  whom 
they  had  not  been  able  to  bear  away.  This 
permission  was  readily  granted.  The  loss 
of  the  enemy  was  estimated  to  exceed  1,000 
men.  The  Europeans  had  four  killed  and 
twelve  wounded,  and  about  ten  natives 
killed  and  wounded.  The  sanitary  arrange- 
ments at  this  time  are  said  to  have  been 
much  neglected.  Mr.  Rees  refers  to  causes 
of  effluvia  to  which  it  is  not  pleasant  to 
advert,  but  which  must  have  fearfully 
aggravated  the  sufferings  of  the  besieged, 
and  contributed  to  produce  that  plague  of 
flies,  which  was  generally  complained  of  as 

on,  worm  fashion,  as  best  he  could.  Then,  having 
arrived  at  the  end,  he  composed  himself  to  listen, 
and  would  probably  hear  some  noise,  such  as 
a  cock  scratching  the  earth  or  the  chopping  of 
wood,  which  to  his  inexperienced  and,  bewildered 
ear  would  sound  suspicious ;  then  he  would  hastily 
wriggle  out  of  the  mine  to  report  his  observations, 
much  to  the  disgust  of  a  more  practised  hand,  who 
of  course  las  immediately  sent  down,  to  return  with 
the  information  that  there  was  nothing  going  on." 


388 


THE  BREAD-WANT  DURING  THE  SIEGE  OF  LUCKNOW. 


far  exceeding  the  sufferings  inflicted  by  the 
mosquitoes  at  night,  or  anything  which 
could  be  conceived  as  arising  from  appa- 
rently 80  minor  an  evil.  "They  swarraed 
in  millions,"  Rees  declares.  "  Our  beef," 
he  adds,  "of  which  we  get  a  tolerably  small 
quantity  every  other  day,  is  usually  studded 
with  them ;  and  while  I  eat  my  miserable 
dall  aud  roti  (boiled  lentil  soup  and  un- 
leavened bread),  a  number  of  scamps  fly 
into  my  mouth,-  or  tumble  into  the  plate." 

The  want  of  bread  was  severely  felt. 
The  flour,  kneaded  with  water,  made  into 
thin  cakes  by  clapping  between  the  hands 
of  the  native  servants,  and  then  baked  on 
iron  plates  over  the  fire,  proved  unwhole- 
some, and  the  sick  and  children  grew  to 
loathe  the  sight  of  the  chupatties.  The 
native  bakers  had  all  fled  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  siege ;  but  Mr.  Gubbins  con- 
fesses himself  unable  to  explain  why,  when 
yeast,  and  printed  instructions  for  bread- 
making  were  procurable,  "no  woman  of 
the  220  within  the  intrenchment  could  be 
found  capable  of  acquiring  the  knowledge  of 
so  rudimentary  an  operation  in  cookery. 
Ignorance  was  not,  however,  the  sole  cause  of 
the  deficiency ;  for  it  is  added,  that  "  the  men 
were  too  much  engaged  in  sterner  duties ; 
and  to  have  baked  for  the  whole  inmates  of 
each  garrison,  would  have  been  too  severe  a 
labour  for  the  ladies."  Or  the  ladies'-maids 
either,  it  would  appear;  for  Mr.  Gubbins 
speaks  of  "  our  English  maid,  Chivers,  pre- 
siding at  the  tea-table,"*  when  she  might 
have  saved  some  valuable  lives  by  presiding 
at  the  flour-tub,  and  teaching  herself  first, 
and  then  the  soldiers'  wives  and  native  ser- 
vants, how  to  prepare  digestible  bread.  If 
Cobuett  had  lived  to  hear  of  the  bread- 
want  in  Agra,  what  a  homily  he  would 
have  preached  on  the  defective  training,  and 
consequent  domestic  incapacity,  of  English- 
women, especially  of  soldiers'  wives. 

By  the  end  of  July,  the  strength  of  the 
garrison  had  materially  diminished.  In 
the  32nd  regiment  alone,  the  loss  was  170, 
by  death  or  wounds.  One  great  deliverance 
had  marked  this  month,  the  danger  itself 
being  overlooked  till  it  was  past.  A  quan- 
tity of  "  bhoosa"  (chopped  straw  for  bul- 
locks' fodder)  had  been  left  in  an  open 
space  of  ground  before  the  hospital  battery. 
A  few  yards  distant  there  was  a  large  under- 
ground po^yder-magazine.  The  enemy  suc- 
ceeded in  setting  the  fodder  on  fire  unob- 
served;  and  the  flames  must  have  heated 
•  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  pp.  205,  206. 


the  ground,  ignited  the  gunpowder,  and 
blown  up  the  garrison,  but  for  a  heavy 
shower  of  rain  (July  7tli),  which  fell  in  time 
to  prevent  a  conflagration.  The  fire  smoul- 
dered for  a  whole  week.  Had  it  oncp 
blazed  forth,  the  British  could  scarcely  have 
extinguished  it;  as,  from  its  exposed  posi-- 
tion,  every  person  who  had  approached  the 
spot  would  have  been  killed  by  the  rebel 
sharpshooters. t 

August  arrived.  On  the  5th  the  firing 
of  cannon  was  heard  in  the  city.  The 
besieged  believing  that  the  British  troops 
were  come,  shook  hands  with  one  another 
in  extreme  delight,  and  rushed  to  the 
tops  of  the  houses,  heedless  of  danger,  to 
catch  the  first  glimpse  of  their  deliverers. 
The  short-lived  joy  gave  place  to  bitter  dis- 
appointment. The  rebels  perceived  the 
mistake;  and  either  from  Johannes'  house, 
or  at  the  Baillie  guard,  where  they  had 
taken  up  a  position  so  near  the  intrench- 
ment as  to  be  easily  heard,  taunted  the 
Europeans,  telling  them  the  cannonade  was 
a  grand  salute,  fired  at  various  points,  in 
honour  of  the  Oude  prince  whom  they  had 
proclaimed  king. 

On  the  15th,  Ungud  returned  with  a 
note  from  Colonel  Tytler  to  Mr.  Gubbins, 
dated  "  Mungulwar,  August  4th."  It  ran 
thus : — 

"  We  march  to-morrow  morning  for  Lucknow, 
having  been  reinforced.  We  sliall  push  on  as 
speedily  as  possible.  We  hope  to  reach  you  in 
four  days  at  furthest.  You  must  aid  us  in  every 
way,  even  to  cutting  your  way  out,  if  we  can't  force 
our  way  in.     We  are  only  a  small  force." 

Brigadier  Inglis,  and  the  leading  autho- 
rities, were  scarcely  less  disconcerted  by 
the  misappreciation  of  their  position,  which 
the  communication  revealed,  than  by  the 
information  given  by  Ungud,  that  subse- 
quent to  its  date  the  force  had  advanced 
towards  Lucknow,  won  two  easy  victories 
at  Oonao  and  Busserut  Gunj,  and  then 
retired  for  some  unknown  reason.  A  letter 
was  sent  by  the  brigadier  to  General  Have- 
luck,  of  which  the  following  is  an  ex- 
tract : — 

"  It  is  quite  impossible,  with  my  weak  and 
shattered  force,  that  1  can  leave  my  defences.  You 
must  bear  in  mind  how  I  am  hampered;  that  I 
have  upwards  of  120  sick  and  wounded,  and  at 
least  220  women,  and  about  230  children,  and 
no  carriage  of  any  description ;  besides  sacrificing 
twenty-three  lacs  of  treasure,  and  about  thirty  guns 
of  sorts.  *  *  •  If  you  hope  to  save  this  force, 
no  time  must  be  lost  in  pushing  forward.     We  are 

t  Rees'  Siege  of  Lucknow,  p.  129. 


HAVELOCK'S  FIRST  CAMPAIGN  IN  OUDE— JULY  29th,  1857.       389 


daily  being  attacked  by  the  enemy,  who  are  within 
a  f<?w  yards  of  our  defences.  Their  mines  have 
already  weakened  our  post.  •  •  •  My  strength 
now  in  Europeans  is  350,  and  about  300  natives, 
and  the  men  are  dreadfully  harassed ;  and  owing 
to  part  of  the  Kesidency  having  been  brought  down 
by  round  shot,  many  are  without  shelter.  Our  na- 
tive force  having  been  assured,  on  Colonel  Tytler's 
authority,  of  your  near  approach  some  twenty-five 
days  ago,  are  naturally  losing  confidence ;  and  if 
they  leave  us,  I  don't  see  how  the  defences  are  to 
be  manned." 

IJngud's  information  was  correct  in  the 
main,  although  the  victories  at  Oonao  and 
Busserut  Gunj  were  not  so  easily  gained, 
at  least  not  so  cheaply  purchased,  as  he 
represented.  The  facts  were  these.  Gene- 
ral Havelock,  on  crossing  the  Ganges,  en- 
camped at  the  fortified  village  of  Mungul- 
war,  six  miles  from  Cawnpoor ;  and  on  the 
29th  of  July  he  marched  tlienne  for  Luck- 
now.  Nothing  could  have  been  less  pro- 
mising than  the  starting  of  men  already 
struggling  under  the  collapse  consequent 
on  fierce  excitement,  amid  torrents  of  rain, 
to  wade  knee-deep  through  swampy  plains, 

I  without  tents,  scantily  fed,  fever-struck  by 
the  sun  by  day,  smitten  with  deadly  sick- 
ness by  the  moon  at  night,  yet  expected  to 
force  their  way  through  mud-walled  vil- 
lages inhabited  by  a  warlike  population, 
whose  hostility  there  was  reason  to  anti- 
cipate.* General  Havelock  set  forth  in 
ignorance  (whether  culpable  or  otherwise  is 
a  distinct  question)  of  the  dangers  and  diffi- 
culties to  be  encountered.  The  talookdars 
of  Oude  had  as  yet,  for  the  most  part, 
remained  neutral ;  many  of  them  had  shel- 
tered and  protected  European  fugitives ; 
but  causes  of  hostility  were  not  wanting : 

j  the  forcible  deposition  of  Wajid  Ali  with- 
out the  concurrence,  asked  or  given,  of  his 
subjects,  was  an  ostensible  ground  of  dis- 
affection :  our  law,  revenue,  and  govern- 
mental proceedings ;  our  exactions  and  our 
omissions,  especially  our  unfulfilled  pro- 
mises, had  given  many  influential  chiefs 
deep  personal  offence;  while  the  peasants, 
alarmed  by  the  village-burning  system, 
were  quite  ready  to  defend  their  hearths 
and  homes,  as  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  do  when  banded  together  to  resist  ex- 
cessive taxation  under  native  rule.  It 
would  have  been  politic,  and  moreover  just, 

•  A  non-commissioned  officer  of  the  84th  writes, 
that "  during  the  passage  of  the  river  it  rained  almost 
incessantly ;  and  my  party,  which  was  the  last,  had 
no  shelter ;  for  on  a  march  like  ours,  no  tents  are 
brought,  so  some  of  the  men  had  to  wander  about 
all  night  in  the  rain  without  a  roof  to  shelter  them ; 


in  a  general  entering  a  country  under  such 
circumstances,  to  have  issued  a  manifesto 
to  the  people  at  large,  stating  the  object 
of  the  expedition,  asking  their  co-operation, 
and  promising  protection  to  families,  and 
fair  remuneration  for  any  service  they 
might  be  able  to  render.  Instead  of  this. 
General  Havelock  started  as  if  entering  an 
enemy's  country,  and  met  the  opposition 
he  had  taken  no  pains  to  deprecate. 

The  troops  had  not  advanced  above  three 
or  four  miles  from  Mungulwar,  when  they 
came  upon  a  fortified  village  called  Oonao. 
Here  a  small  force,  chiefly  villagers,  de- 
fended themselves  with  desperation,  after 
their  three  guns  were  captured.  The 
Europeans  were  engaged  in  firing  a  par- 
ticular enclosure,  as  the  only  way  of  dis- 
lodging its  defenders,  when  the  field- 
engineer  of  the  force,  who  had  ridden 
round  to  the  front  to  reconnoitre,  galloped 
back,  with  the  information  that  a  very 
large  force  of  infantry,  cavalry,  and  guns, 
was  rapidly  advancing,  from  the  other  side, 
upon  Oonao ;  whereupon  the  work  in  the 
village  was  left  half  done,  for  the  Seiks  to 
finish;  while  the  column  regained  the 
main  road,  and  beheld  6,000  men,  with 
their  guns  in  advance,  at  a  distance  of 
about  1,500  yards.  An  artillery  officer 
describes  himself  as  looking  forward  at  the 
vast  masses  of  infantry  and  cavalry  with 
which  the  plain  swarmed  in  front,  and  then 
backward  at  the  small,  thin  line  of  men, 
struggling  on  knee-deep  in  swamp  :  yet  in 
that  line  none  quailed  for  fear;  only  a 
groan  ran  along  it — "  Oh,  that  we  had 
cavalry  to  cut  the  dogs  up  !"t 

The  English  artillerymen  had  happily 
the  sun  at  their  backs,  and  they  opened 
on  the  rebel  infantry  with  effect;  while 
the  Enfield  rifles  rapidly  emptied  the  sad- 
dles of  the  cavalry.  The  enemy  wavered, 
then  turned,  and  fled  pell-mell  to  a  vil- 
lage across  the  plain,  leaving  the  English 
masters  of  the  field.  It  was  past  2  p.m., 
and  the  victors  stopped  three  hours  to  cook 
and  eat.  After  this,  they  marched  eight 
miles  to  Busserut  Gunj,  a  large  walled 
village,  surrounded  by  swamps,  where  three 
guns  had  been  placed  in  position.  These 
were  soon  silenced  by  the  fire  of  the  British 

the  consequence  was,  that  a  good  cany  took  the 
cramps  and  died."- — Timet,  September  29th,  1857. 

t  Letter  published  in  Saturday  Review,  Novem- 
ber, 1857.  Evidently  written  by  the  same  pen  that 
ably  described  the  march  from  Allahabad  to  Cawn- 
poor— previously  quoted. 


390 


OONAO  AND  BUSSERUT  GUNJ— JULY  29th,  1857. 


artillery ;  and  the  sepoys,  after  a  feeble 
defence,  were  driven  out  of  the  village ;  the 
Nana  Sahib,  it  was  afterwards  said,  being 
with  them,  and  the  first  to  fly :  but 
the  matchlockmen  fought  desperately,  and 
house  after  house  had  to  be  separately 
stormed  before  Busserut  Gunj  was  eva- 
cuated. One  villager  occupied  a  little 
mud  fort  (which  was  almost  the  first  post 
carried),  and  he  contrived  to  hide  himself, 
and  thus  escape  the  fate  of  his  comrades, 
who  had  been  all  bayoneted.  When  the 
main  body  had  passed  on,  the  villager,  in- 
stead of  con  tinning  to  lie  concealed,  emerged 
from  his  lurking-place,  and  plied  his  soli- 
tary matchlock  with  effect  against  the  guns, 
the  baggage,  the  elephants,  or  anything 
that  came  within  range.  The  rear-guaid, 
struck  with  his  contempt  of  death,  desired 
to  spare  him,  and  called  to  him  to  desist; 
but  he  would  not;  and  then  a  party  of 
Seiks  lit  a  fire  round  the  fort,  and  shot  him 
through  the  head,  as  he  leant  over  the 
parapet  to  take  a  last  aim  at  his  foes.* 

The  English  troops  lost  twelve  killed 
and  seventy-six  wounded  during  the  day. 
The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  calculated  to 
have  been  500  at  Oonao  alone.  Twenty- 
one  guns  were  captured,  including  two 
complete  9-pounders,  quite  new  from  the 
Cossipoor  foundry.  An  important  victory 
had  been  gained ;  and  the  officers  and 
soldiers,  notwithstanding  the  discomfort 
which  surrounded  them  as  they  encamped 
that  night  on  the  causeway  beyond  the 
village,  congratulated  themselves  on  being 
within  a  forced  march  and  a-half  of  Luck- 
now.  The  next  morning  an  order  for  a 
retrograde  movement  was  issued.  General 
liavelock  gave  no  explanation  of  the 
grounds  of  a  measure  at  once  unpopular, 
and  totally  at  variance  with  the  sanguine 
hopes  he  had  so  lately  expressed.  The 
occupation  of  nearly  all  the  available  car- 
riage for  the  wounded  and  the  sick,  and 
the  question  of  how  to  provide  for  casual- 
ties in  the  event  of  another  action,  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  main  cause  of  the  retreat. 
Neither  officers  nor  men  appear  to  have 
recognised  the  necessity  for  this  humili- 
ating step;  on  the  contrary,  one  of  the 
general's  aides-de-camp  notes  in  his  jour- 
nal, that  the  very  idea  of  a  retrograde 
movement  filled  the  force  with  consterna- 
tion,  and  the  order  drew  forth   the  first 

•  Saturday  Review,  November,  1857. 

t  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  112. 

X  Haturday  Review,  November,  1857. 


murmurs  he  had  heard;  adding,  the  "almost 
universal  feeling  in  our  little  band,  is  one 
of  indignation  at  not  being  led  forward. "f 
Another  officer  (an  anonymous  but  able 
writer,  and  a  keen  observer),  after  balancing 
the  difficulties  on  both  sides,  thinks  the 
advance  should  have  been  persisted  in.' 
He  argues,  that  by  following  close  upon 
the  heels  of  the  beaten  foe,  the  English 
might  have  calculated  on  meeting  with  but 
slight  opposition  at  the  only  dangerous 
place  on  the  road — the  Bunnee  bridge, 
twelve  miles  from  Busserut  Gunj ;  and  from 
thence  to  Lucknow  the  road  was  clear. 
At  the  city  itself  there  would  probably  have 
been  a  sharp  fight ;  but  it  was  known  that 
the  guns  of  the  advancing  force  could 
be  placed  iu  such  a  position  as  would 
enable  them,  in  conjunction  with  the  guns 
of  the  Residency,  to  shell  the  city.  The 
troops  were  most  anxious  to  make  the 
attempt.  "  If,"  it  was  argued,  "  the  force 
be  now  considered  too  small  to  eff"ect  its 
object,  why  was  not  that  considered  and 
decided  on  the  other  side  of  the  river?" 
Having  once  crossed  the  Ganges,  caution 
was  out  of  place;  and  Danton's  motto, 
"  L'audace,  I'audace,  toujours  I'audace,"  was 
the  best  rule  of  action  iu  so  desperate  au 
undertaking.  J 

Certainly  our  power  in  India  was,  as  it 
ever  had  been,  based  on  opinion ;  and  the 
retreat  at  this  crisis  being  viewed  by  the 
rebels  as  a  sigu  of  weakness,  more  than 
counterbalanced  the  effect  of  the  previous 
victories.  On  returning  to  Mungulwar, 
the  general  began  to  strengthen  that  posi- 
tion, so  as  to  make  it  an  intrenched  camp ; 
and  there  the  troops  remained,  Maiting  for 
reinforcements.  At  this  unpropitious  mo- 
ment, a  manifesto  was  issued,  explaining 
why  the  British  had  entered  the  country  in 
arms,  and  deprecating  hostility  on  the  part 
of  the  Oude  population.  It  was  too  late ; 
the  protestations  were  not  believed,  and 
only  tended  to  confirm  the  waverers  in  the 
idea  that  the  English  were  now  striving  to 
gain  by  diplomacy,  what  they  had  failed  in 
obtaining  by  force.  The  rebel  ranks  were 
strengthened  by  many  chiefs  of  note  imme- 
diately after  the  first  retreat  of  Havelock. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  the  "  fiery 
Neil"  chafed  at  the  news ;  but  when  Have- 
lock applied  to  him  for  reinforcements,  re- 
quiring a  battery,  two  24-pounders,  and 
i,000  European  infantry,  he  sent  him  half 
a  battery  and  the  two  guns  fully  equipped, 
with   about   150  infantry,  leaving   himself 


HAVELOCK'S  SECOND  ADVANCE  AND  RETREAT  IN  OXIDE. 


391 


with  250  available  men  to  hold  Cawnpoor, 
aiid  take  care  of  about  as  many  sick  sent 
back  from  Mungulwar.  Writing  to  Eng- 
land, in  evident  disapproval  of  the  retreat  of 
Havelock,  and  his  requirement  of  another 
full  regiment,  Neil  remarks — 

"  If  he  waits  for  that,  he  must  wait  reinforcements 
from  Calcutta,  and  a  long  delay,  during  which  time 
Lucknow  may  share  the  fate  which  befel  Cawn- 
poor, The  rebels,  flushed  with  victory,  will  return 
on  this,  reoccupy  Cawnpoor,  and  I  have  no  troops 
to  keep  them  out.  I  must  be  starved  out.  The 
influence,  too,  on  Agra  may  be  most  disastrous ;  but 
I  hope  General  Havelock,  who  has  been  so  success- 
ful, will  now  advance  again  and  relieve  Lucknow."* 

The  general  made  a  second  attempt. 
Starting  afresh  on  the  4th  of  August,  he 
found  Oonao  unoccupied,  and  bivouacked 
there  that  night.  Next  morning  the 
troops  marched  on  Busserut  Gunj,  with  the 
intention  of  proceeding  from  thence  to 
NaAvab  Gunj,  a  place  five  miles  further  on 
the  road  to  Lucknow,  said  to  be  held  in 
great  force  by  the  enemy.  But  Busserut 
Gunj  proved  to  be  reoccupied  by  guns  and 
matchlockmen ;  and  although  the  village 
was  cleared,  and  the  rebels  driven  from  an 
adjacent  plain  (where  large  tents,  especially 
a  pretentious  one,  striped  red  and  white, 
bespoke  the  presence  of  recognised  leaders), 
the  state  of  affairs  was  so  unpromising,  that 
a  consultation  was  held  on  the  propriety  of 
retreating ;  and,  this  time,  the  force  almost 
unanimously  acknowledged  its  necessity. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  the  British  lost 
two  killed  and  twenty-three  wounded ;  the 
enemy  had  300  casualties.  Still,  Colonel 
Tytler,  whose  despatches  are  succinct  and 
explicit,  writes  to  the  commander-in-chief — 

"  The  whole  transaction  was  most  unsatisfactory, 
only  two  small  iron  guns  (formerly  captured  by  us, 
and  destroyed,  in  our  ideas)  being  taken.  It  be- 
came painfully  evident  to  all  that  we  could  never 
reach  Lucknow :  we  had  three  strong  positions  to 
force,  defended  by  fifty  guns  and  30,000  men.  One 
night  and  a  day  had  cost  us,  in  sick  and  wounded, 
104  Europeans,  and  a  fourth  of  our  gun  ammuni- 
tion :  this  does  not  include  our  killed  and  deadf — 
some  ten  men.  We  had  1,010  effective  Europeans, 
and  could,  consequently,  parade  900  or  so  ;  the  men 
are  cowed  by  the  numbers  opposed  to  them,  and 
the  endless  fighting.  Every  village  is  held  against 
us,  the  zemindars  having  risen  to  oppose  us ;  all  the 
men  killed  yesterday  were  zemindars." 

The  artillery  officer  recently  quoted,  ex- 
presses similar  opinions;  only  that,  writ- 
ing in  the  freedom  of  private  correspon- 
dence, he  explains  circumstances  to  which 

•  Ayr  Observer,  September,  1857. 
t  Thus  in  I'arl.  Paper. 


the  quartermaster-general  could  not  allude. 
After  showing  the  difference  between  the 
present  and  former  expedition,  and  the 
manner  in  which  the  people  now  openly 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  mutineers,  he 
described  the  troops  as  being  disheartened 
by  sickness,  exposure,  and  unremitting 
fatigue,  and  also  "  by  a  late  order,  contain- 
ing an  insinuation  against  the  courage  of 
an  unnamed  portion  of  the  force,"  which 
had,  "  as  a  matter  of  course,  been  taken  to 
itself  by  each  individual  regiment,  and 
created  a  feeling  of  universal  dissatisfac- 
tion."t 

So  the  troops  marched  back  to  Mungul- 
war, and  remained  for  three  or  four  days 
inactive.  A  letter  written  by  General  Have- 
lock on  the  9th  of  August,  shows  how  com- 
pletely his  sanguine  anticipations  had  fallen 
to  the  ground.  "Things  are  in  a  most 
perilous  state,"  he  tells  his  wife.  "  If  we 
succeed  in  restoring  anything,  it  will  be  by 
God's  especial  and  extraordinary  mercy." 
"  I  must  now  write  as  one  whom  you  may 
see  no  more,  for  the  chances  of  war  are 
heavy  at  this  crisis."  "Thank  God  for 
my  hope  in  the  Saviour.  We  shall  meet  in 
heaven."§ 

At  length  it  was  resolved  to  recross  the 
Ganges.  A  place  was  chosen  for  the 
embarkation  of  the  force,  where  the  river 
was  much  narrower  than  opposite  Cawn- 
poor ;  but,  to  reach  this  spot,  a  succession  of 
swamps  and  creeks  had  to  be  crossed. 
Causeways  were  thrown  across  the  swamps, 
and  bridges  of  boats  over  the  creeks, 
with  all  speed,  the  engineers  working 
manfully.  On  the  11th,  the  necessary 
preparations  being  completed,  and  the 
commissariat  stores  sent  over  in  advance, 
the  troops  hoped  to  enjoy,  that  night,  "  the 
shelter  of  a  tent,  or  the  comfort  of  a  bed," 
luxuries  from  which  they  had  parted  on 
entering  Oude. 

But  a  further  delay  arose.  At  3  p.m. 
the  bugle  sounded,  and  orders  were  given 
for  a  third  advance.  The  reason  was,  that 
the  general  had  received  false  information 
that  the  enemy  had  come  to  Oonao  with 
the  intention  of  attacking  the  Europeans 
while  crossing  the  river.  About  200  men 
were  left  to  guard  the  bridge;  the  re- 
mainder, which  could  not  have  greatly 
exceeded  800,  started  "with  their  arms  in 
their  hands,  and  their  clothes  on  their 
backs;  not  another  thing."     On  reaching 

X  Saturday  Review,  November,  1857. 
§  Brock's  Havekclc,  p.  189. 


892    HAVELOCK'S  THIRD  FIGHT  AT  BUSSERUT  GUNJ— AUG.  12,  1857. 


Oonao,  there  was  not  a  soul  to  be  seen ; 
but  correct  intelligence  came  in,  to  the  effect 
that  the  enemy,  under  the  impression  that 
the  general   had   crossed   the  Ganges  two 
days    before,    had    encamped,    with    4,000 
infantry  and  500  cavalry,  one  horse  battery, 
and  some  native  guns,  in  front  of  Busserut 
Gunj.     That  night  the  tired  and   hungry 
men  bivouacked  on  the  swampy  plain ;  and 
the  next  morning  they  arose  at  dawn,  wet 
with  a  heavy  shower  that  had  fallen  in  the 
night,  to  attack  the  foe  a  third   time   at 
nearly  the  same  place,  but  more  strongly 
posted   than    on    previous   occasions.     The 
hostile  artillery  was  well  manned.     "  In  five 
minutes  after  we  came  into  action,"  says  an 
artillery  officer,  "  every  man  at  the  gun  I 
was  laying,  was  wounded  with    grape,  ex- 
cept the  sergeant  and  myself;  and  four  of 
our  gun  cattle  were  knocked  over  by  round 
shot."*      Owing    to    the    deep   and   wide 
morasses  which  defended  the  front  of  the 
enemy,  there  was  difficulty  and    delay  in 
bringing  the  British  guns  to  bear  on  the 
opposing  batteries.     Eventually  one  of  these 
was  taken  in  flank,  and  both  were  silenced, 
partly    by    some    "lucky    shrapnel,"    but 
mainly  by  one  of  the  magnificent  charges  of 
the  Highlanders,  who  rushed  on  the  guns, 
captured  two,  and  turned  them  against  the 
flying  foe.     The  others  were  carried  off  by 
the   enemy.     The   exhausted   victors  were 
quite  incapable  of  pursuit.     They  had  lost 
five    killed,    and    thirty    wounded.      The 
casualties  on  the  other  side  were  estimated 
at  300. 

After  halting  to  take  breath,  the  Euro- 
peans returned  to  Oonao,  "  where  they 
cooked  food ;"  and  thence,  in  the  cool  of 
the  evening,  back  to  Mungulwar.  On 
the  following  day  the  Ganges  was  crossed, 
and  Havelock  rejoined  Neil,  with  the  rem- 
nants of  his  shattered  forces.  The  "  vic- 
tories" he  had  gained,  read  well  in  his 
despatches:  but  what  were  the  facts?  He 
had  thrice  driven  the  enemy  from  the  same 
ground ;  had  captured  the  same  cannon 
over  and  over  again  :  but  he  had  retreated 
three  times ;  and,  being  finally  defeated  in 
the  sole  object  of  the  campaign,  had  re- 
turned to  Cawnpoor  with  the  loss  of  a 
fourth  of  his  men.  The  estimate  of  native 
casualties  was  very  uncertain  :  but  even  if 

•  Saturday  Review,  November,  1857. 
t  Friend  of  India — the  proprietor  of  the  journal 
(Mr.  Marshman)  being  the  general's  brother-in-law. 
\  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  120. 
§  Friend  of  India,  Sept.  10th,  1857.) 


these  were  reckoned  by  thousands,  the 
rebel  ranks  were  being  constantly  recruited. 
There  was  scarcely  a  second  opinion  on  the 
subject  throughout  India.  The  operations 
in  Oude  were  declared, even  by  an  authorityf 
strongly  favourable  to  General  Havelock, 
to  have  been  "  complete  failures,"  and  very' 
costly  ones;  for  the  troops  had  been  ex- 
posed, from  the  20th  of  July  to  the  13th  of 
August,  without  tents,  and  had  made  a 
three  weeks'  campaign  of  what  was  expected 
to  have  been  but  an  advance  of  a  few  days. 
Major  North  declares,  that  what  was  en- 
dured in  marching  from  Allahabad  to 
Cawnpoor,  was  light  in  comparison  to  the 
sufferings  encountered  in  the  advances  and 
retreats  in  Oude.  J 

On  returning  to  Cawnpoor,  a  great 
difference  was  observable  in  the  place, 
through  the  exertions  of  Neil.  He  had 
felt  the  necessity  of  conciliating  the  shop- 
keepers; and  every  morning,  at  daybreak, 
he  went  among  them,  and  endeavoured  to 
reassure  them  regarding  the  expected  ad- 
vance of  the  mutineers,  whose  appearance, 
in  overwhelming  numbers,  was  daily  ex- 
pected. Another  measure  of  his  has  been 
much  discussed.  Captaia  Bruce,  the 
superintendent  of  police,  in  searching 
the  house  of  a  nawab  said  to  be  engaged 
in  besieging  Lucknow,  found  that  his 
female  relatives  had  been  left  behind,  and 
immediately  seized  them;  giving  them 
at  the  same  time  to  understand,  that 
they  would  alone  be  protected  so  long 
as  any  English  women  or  children  who 
might  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Oude 
rebels  should  be  uninjured. §  In  ex- 
tenuation of  this  and  other  harsh  mea- 
sures, it  must  be  remembered  that  Neil 
was  in  a  most  arduous  and  critical  posi- 
tion. The  departure  of  the  moveable 
column  had  encouraged  the  mutineers  to 
reassemble  at  Bithoor.  With  his  small 
force,  aided  by  the  little  steamer  Berham- 
pootra,  Neil  repeatedly  dispersed  them; 
but  it  was  to  no  purpose :  they  returned 
again  immediately  ;  for  their  numbers  and 
their  desperate  case  left  them  no  alterna- 
tive but  armed  rebellion. 

The  motley  horde  at  the  town  of  Bithoor, 
consisted  of  some  of  the  2nd  and  4th  cav- 
alry, portions  of  Nana  Sahib's  followers,  and 
of  the  rebel  infantry  from  Sanger:  num- 
bering, in  all,  4,000  men  with  two  guns. 
Havelock  marched  against  them  on  the 
16th  of  August,  took  the  guns,  and  drove 
them  off;  but  could  not  attempt  pursuit. 


ENGAGEMENT  AT  BITHOOR— AUGUST  12th,  1857. 


393 


not  only  from  the  want  of  ciivalry,  but  also 
from  tlie  exhausted  condition  of  his  own 
troops.  The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  esti- 
mated at  250  killed  and  wounded ;  the 
British  had  eight  rank  and  file  killed,  and 
forty-one  wounded  :*  twelve  died  from 
sun-stroke, t  and  many  others  from  cholera 
and  the  effects  of  exposure  and  fatigue. 

On  this  occasion,  the  ill  effect  of  march- 
ing Englishmen  in  India  by  day  instead  of 
by  night,  was  particularly  manifest.  The 
men  came  into  action  so  fagged  with  the 
heavy  road  and  hot  sun,  that  even  the 
excitement  of  fighting  scarcely  sustained 
them.  Strangely  enough,  the  sepoys  were 
equally  exhausted ;  for  a  Hindoo  fast,  which 
had  fallen  on  the  previous  day,  had  been 
strictly  kept  by  them,  and  scores  were 
bayoneted  as  they  lay  fainting  on  the 
ground ;  while  others,  having  fled  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  guns,  flung  themselves 
down,  incapable  of  further  movement. 

The  Europeans  were  surrounded  by  de- 
pressing circumstances.  It  was  about  forty 
days  since  they  quitted  Allahabad  in  high 
health  and  spirits  :  during  that  time  they  had 
been  engnged  with  the  enemy,  on  an  ave- 
rage, every  fourth  day.  Changed  in  appear- 
ance, no  less  than  diminished  in  numbers, 
were  they  now.  "  It  was  really  pitiable," 
the  anonymous  chronicler  of  the  proceed- 
ings writes,  "  to  see  the  regiments  marching 
back  from  Bithoor.  The  78th  left  Allaiia- 
bad  over  300  strong ;  it  is  now  reduced  to 
less  than  100  fighting-men.  The  64th, 
that  started  a  few  months  ago  for  Persia 
1,000  strong,  is  now  reduced  to  the  size  of 
two  companies,  and  the  rest  in  propor- 
tion."J 

The  troops  with  which  General  Have- 
lock  had,  on  the  23rd  of  July,  talked 
of  "  relieving  Lucknou',  and  reconquering 
and  pacificating  Oude,"  were,  on  the  15th 
of  August,  descril)ed  by  him  as  in  process 
of  "absorption  by  disease;"  and  by  Neil, 
as  "much  used  up;  imperative  they  should 
be  rested  and  not  exposed ;  not  equal  to  a 
few  miles'  march  :"  "total,  seventeen  officers 
and  4G6  men,  non-eB'ective."  On  the 
23rd  of  August,  Havelock  telegraphed  to 
Calcutta,  that  unless  immediate  reinforce- 
ments could  be  sent,  he  must  abandon 
Cawnpoor,  and  fall  back  on  Allahabad. § 
There  is  no  record  in  the  public  papers  of 

*  Brigadier-general  HaTelock's  despatch,  August 
17th,  IS Jl.—Lonilon  Gazette,  Nov.  24th,  1857. 

t  Neil's  telegram  to  commander-in-chief. — Pari. 
Papers  (No.  4),  p.  102. 

VOL.  II.  3  E 


this  date,  to  show  in  what  manner  Havelock 
fulfilled  those  duties  regarding  the  food, 
shelter,  and  ap|)ointments  of  the  troops,  the 
details  of  which  fill  so  many  hundreds  of 
pages  in  the  "  Wellington  Despatches," 
and  explain  why  Colonel  Wellesley  con- 
ducted the  guerilla  warfare  which  suc- 
ceeded the  capture  of  Seriiigapatara  with 
such  complete  success,  amid  the  jungles 
and  fortified  villages  of  Malabar,  and  the 
trackless  forests  of  Wynaad.  Havelock 
coraraauded  men  admirably  in  the  field ; 
but  what  were  his  commissariat  arrange- 
ments? Did  he,  or  did  he  not,  habitually 
overrate  his  resources  and  his  victories, 
and  expose  the  men  to  fatigues  and  hard- 
ships which,  by  greater  vigilance  and 
judgment,  might  have  been  avoided  or 
mitigated  ?  The  Lifo,  announced  by  his 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  Marshman,  may  ex- 
plain how  far  Havelock  struggled  against 
the  force  of  circumstances ;  and  what  his 
reasons  were  /or  acts  which  are  at  present 
inexplicable,  especially  that  strongly  com- 
mented on  by  the  Indian  press,  of  changing 
the  quarters  of  the  troops  after  the  Bithoor 
affair  of  the  16th,  from  the  comparatively 
dry  and  comfortable  houses  in  canton- 
ments, to  tents  pitched  upon  a  swampy  flat. 
The  first  night  of  the  alteration  the  rain 
fell  in  torrents ;  and  though  the  tents 
were  good  and  did  not  leak,  the  absence 
of  drainage  covered  the  ground  with  a 
carpet  of  mud.  "During  the  day,  the 
soldiers  were  allowed  to  go  to  the  stables 
for  some  protection ;  but  at  night  they 
were  compelled  to  sleep  on  the  wet  ground  : 
and  what  with  wet  feet  and  wet  clothes, 
the  consequences  may  be  imagined."  They 
were  subsequently  "permitted  to  remain 
in  the  stables ;"  but  these  were  built  on  a 
dead  flat,  with  swamps  of  mud  between 
each  range,  so  that  the  men  made  paths 
of  bricks,  in  order  to  reach  their  quar- 
ters dryshod.  The  Friend  of  India,  after 
stating  these  and  other  circumstances, 
adds,  "  but  General  Havelock  is  a  most 
energetic  office?." ||  No  one  will  deny 
this;  yet,  if  the  other  assertions  of  the 
editor  be  correct,  the  general  lacked  quali- 
fications indispensable  in  the  person  en- 
trusted with  the  care  of  such  costly  and 
perishable  articles  as  European  troops. 
Under  the    circumstances,    it   is    not   sur- 

t  Artillery  officer. — Saturday  Heview,  November, 
1857. 
§  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (N«.  4),  p.  113. 
II  Friend  of  India,  September  10th,  1857. 


394        GENERAL  HAVELOCK,  MAJOR  STIRLING,  AND  H.M.  64th. 


prising  that,  on  the  20th  of  August,  he 
should  have  been  compelled  to  inform  the 
comuiander-in-chief,  tliat  the  troops  "  had 
been  assailed  in  the  most  awful  way  by 
cholera,  and  were  reduced  to  700  in  the 
field."  Two  officers  died  that  day  of 
cholera.* 

In  another  respect,  the  conduct  of  Have- 
lock  was  injudicious.  His  tendency  to 
favouritism  gave  rise  to  much  angry  dis- 
cussion ill  the  forrce.  He  praised  the  High- 
landers in  general  orders,  despatches,  and 
telegrams,  in  the  most  glowing  terms;  and 
well  he  migiit:  but  the  services  of  other 
portions  of  the  column,  of  the  Fusiliers, 
and  especially  of  the  64tli,  were  acknow- 
ledged in  a  much  less  gratifying  manner. 
After  adverting  to  the  conquest  of  Cawn- 
poor  by  Lord  Lake,  in  1803,  and  making 
the  extraordinary  assertion  that  the  Nana 
was  the  nephew  of  a  man  whose  "  life 
was,  by  a  too  indulgent  government,  spared 
in  1817;"  the  general  order  complimented 
the  Highlanders  on  a  charge  equal  to 
that  by  which  Assaye  was  won ;  and  con- 
cluded with  the  following  paragraph  : — 

"  Sixty-fourth  1  you  have  put  to  silence  the  jibes 
•of  your  enemies  throughout  India.  Your  fire  was 
reserved  until  you  saw  the  colour  of  your  enemy's 
mustachios — this  gave  us  the  victory." 

Probably  the  gallant  64th  would  rather 
have  dispensed  with  the  praise,  richly  as 
they  had  earned  it,  than  have  been  humi- 
liated by  the  suggestion  that  their  recent 
bravery  had  been  necessary  to  silence  jibes, 
which,  to  notice,  was  to  envenom. 

The  allusion  to  Lord  Lake  was  unfortu- 
nate, for  it  drew  attention  to  the  contrast 
between  the  rare  and  slight  notice  taken  in 
that  general's  despatches,  of  tlie  services 
rendered  by  his  beloved  son  and  aide- 
de-camp,  Major  Lake ;  and  the  persistence 
with  which  General  Havelock  "  begged 
specially  to  commend  his  aide-de-camp, 
Lieutenant  Havelock,  lOtli  Foot,  to  the  pro- 
tection and  favour  of  his  excellency  the 
cornmander-in-chief." 

The  death  of  Captain  Beatson  enabled 
Havelock  to  gratify  his  parental  affection 
by  nominating  his  sou  to  the  post  of  assist- 
ant adjutant-general,  the  talents  evinced 
in  the  action  of  the  16th  of  July  being 
mentioned  in  justification  of  the  appoint- 
mentjt  and  reiterated  in  a  subsequent  des- 

•  Further  Pail.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  107. 
t  Brigadier-ceneral  Havelock,  July  20th,  1857. — 
Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  14. 


patch, J  as  the  ground  for  a  recommenda- 
tion for  the  Victoria  medal.  On  the  latter 
occasion,  the  brigadier-general  described  his 
son  as  having  led  the  64tli  to  the  capture 
of  the  last  hostile  gun,  the  commanding 
officer  being  in  front,  dismounted.  When 
this  despatch  returned  to  India,  in  the' 
columns  of  the  London  Gazette,  both  Have- 
lock and  Stirling  were  dead;  the  latter 
having  fallen  at  the  head  of  his  men,  in  the 
act  of  spiking  a  hostile  gun.  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Bingham,  who  had  succeeded  to 
the  command  of  the  64th,  addressed  the 
commander-in-chief  (Sir  Colin  Campbell) 
on  the  subject,  declaring,  that  "  the  despatch 
was  so  worded,  as  to  make  it  appear  that 
the  late  Major  Stirling,  Who  afterwards  be- 
came a  lieutenant-colonel,  was  not  properly 
leading  his  regiment;"  whereas  the  officers 
maintained,  that  he  had  acted,  "  as  he  did  on 
all  such  occasions,  most  nobly  and  gallantly, 
and  that  he  was  on  foot  at  the  time,  because, 
in  consequence  of  a  shell  bursting,  his  horse 
had  become  unrideable.  In  short,  it  was 
very  painful  to  the  regiment,  that  the 
memory  and  reputation  of  their  late  gallant 
commanding  officer  should  have  been  so  un- 
fairly tampered  with."§  Sir  Colin  Campbell 
recognised  the  importance  of  the  case  as  a 
dangerous  precedent ;  and,  after  drawing 
the  attention  of  the  Duke  of  Cambridge  to 
the  foregoing  circumstances,  he  added — 

"  I  confess  to  have  a  strong  feeling  of  sympathy 
with  the  officers  of  the  64th  regiment ;  and  it  would 
be  a  matter  of  great  satisfaction  to  me,  if  you  would 
have  the  goodness  to  move  his  royal  highness  to 
give  a  gracious  expression  towards  the  memorj' of 
the  late  Lieutenant-colonel  Stirling,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  64th  regiment.  This  instance  is  one  of  many 
in  which,  since  the  institution  of  the  Victoria  Cross, 
advantage  has  been  taken  by  young  aides-de-camp 
and  other  staff  officers  to  place  themselves  in  pro- 
minent situations  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  atten- 
tion. To  them  life  is  of  little  value,  as  compared 
with  the  gain  of  public  honour;  but  they  do  not 
reflect,  and  the  generals  to  whom  they  belong  also 
do  not  reflect,  on  the  cruel  injustice  thus  done  to 
gallant  officers,  who,  besides  the  excitement  of  the 
moment  of  action,  have  all  the  responsibility  atten- 
dant on  this  situation.  We  know  that  the  private 
soldier  expects  to  be  led  by  his  regimental  officers, 
whom  he  knows  and  recognises  as  the  leaders  to 
whom  he  is  bound  to  look  in  the  moments  of  the 
greatest  trial  and  danger,  and  that  he  is  utterly  re- 
gardless of  the  accidental  presence  of  an  aide-de- 
camp or  other  staff  officer,  who  is  an  absolute 
stranger  to  him.  There  is  another  point,  also, 
having  a  great  importance.  By  such  despatches  as 
the  one  above  alluded  to,  it  is  made  to  appear  to 

X  August  18th,  1^61— Ibid.,  p.  103. 
§  Sir  Colin  Campbell  to  the  L)uke  of  Cambridge, 
'  March  30th,  1858.— Pari.  Papers,  June  8th,  1858. 


SIR  COLIN  CAMPBELL  ARRIVES  AT  CALCUTTA— AUG.  13th,  1857.     395 


the  world,  that  a  regiment  would  have  proved 
•wantino;  in  courage,  except  for  an  accidental  cir- 
cumstance. Such  a  reflection  is  most  galling  to  a 
regiment  of  British  soldiers — indeed  almost  intole- 
rable ;  and  the  fact  is  remembered  against  it  by  all 
the  other  corps  in  her  majesty's  service.  Soldiers 
feel  such  things  most  keenly.  I  would,  therefore, 
again  beg  leave  to  dwell  on  the  injustice  sometimes 
done  by  general  officers  when  they  give  a  public 
preference  to  those  attached  to  them  over  old 
officers,  who  are  charged  with  the  most  difl5cult  and 
responsible  duties. — I  have,  &o. 

"C.  Campbkll,  Commander-in-chief. 
"  The  Adjutant-general,  Horse-Guards,  London." 

The  Duke  of  Cambridge  responded  to 
Sir  Colin's  appeal,  by  declaring  that — 

"  H.R  H.  enters  fully  into  the  feelings  of  Lieu- 
tenant colonel  Bingham,  who  has,  in  vindication  of 
the  character  of  his  late  commanding  officer  and  of 
the  64th  regiment,  so  honourably  appealed  to  your 
sense  of  justice;  and  he  has  much  gratification  in 
now  recording  his  entire  satisfaction  with  the  whole 
conduct  of  Lieutenant-colonel  Stirling,  and  of  the 
excellent  regiment  which  he  commanded  with  so 
much  credit  to  himself  and  advantage  to  the 
service."* 


In  tliis  painful  affair,  no  blame  could  of 
course  attach  to  young  Havelock,  who  was 
popular  with  the  troops,  and  is  mentioned 
in  tiie  private  correspondence  of  the  period, 
as  a  brave  soldier  of  the  Charles  O'Malley 
stamp.  He  would  have  made  a  first-rate 
commander  of  irregular  corps;  and  that  is 
no  light  praise. 

That  the  officers  of  the  64th  were  justi- 
fied in  considering  the  despatch  in  question 
calculated  to  mislead  the  public  regard- 
ing the  services  of  Major  Stirling,  is  evi- 
dent from  the  manner  in  which  the  pas- 
sage was  quoted  by  the  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  when  proposing  to  extend  the 
annuity  of  .£1,000  a-year  settled  upon 
the  general  with  his  baronetcy,  to  his  next 
heir.  Lieutenant  Havelock.  The  chancel- 
lor spoke  of  the  lieutenant  as  taking  the 
lead  on  account  of  the  death  of  Major 
Stirling;  whereas  the  major  was  unhurt 
on  that  occasion,  but  fell  at  Cawnpoor 
four  weary  months  later. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


CALCUTTA ;  ARRIVAL  OF  SIR  COLIN  CAMPBELL  FROM  ENGLAND,  AND  REINFORCE- 
MENTS FROM  THE  COLONIES;  REVOLT  IN  BEHAR,  PATNA,  AND  DINAPOOR;  RELIEF 
OF  AKRAH;  THE  VENGEANCE-CRY;  GOVERNMENT  INSTRUCTIONS  REGARDING 
MUTINEERS;  KOLAPOOR  AND  SATTARA ;  BERHAMPOOR,  ROHNEE,  AND  BHAU- 
GULPOOR.— JULY  TO  OCTOBER,  1857. 


The  incident  just  narrated,  has  brought 
Sir  Colin  Campbell  somewhat  abruptly  he- 
fore  the  reader,  or  rather  brought  him 
back  again  ;J  for  Sir  Colin  was  a  veteran 
Indian  as  well  as  Peninsular  campaigner. 
Decisive  intelligence  of  the  character  of 
the  sepoy  mutiny  reached  England  on  the 
27th  of  June,  and  created  extraordinary 
excitement,  among  all  classes  through- 
out the  United  Kingdom.  Hundreds  of 
voices  trembled  as  they  uttered,  "  Who 
can  tell  what  horrors  are  being  enacted 
even  now  ?"  And  these  fears  were  realised ; 
for  that  baneful  27th  of  June  witnessed 
the  first  Cawnpoor  massacre.  Troops  could 
not  be  dispatched  at  a  day's  notice,  nor 
(for  the  most  part)  officers  either;  but 
twenty-four  hours  sufficed  for  the  prepara- 
tions of  the  hardy  Scot,  to  whom  the  gov- 

•  Dated  "Horse-Guards,  May  17th,  1858." 
t  Indian  debate. — Timet,  February  8th,  1858. 
X  See  Introductory  Chapter,  p.  104. 


ernment  and  the  nation  appealed  with  one 
accord  in  the  emergency.  It  is  singular  how 
many  distinguished  men  have  returned  from 
India  in  disgrace  or  in  disgust,  and  gone 
out  again  amid  the  most  enthusiastic  admi- 
ration of  qualities  which  had  been  previ- 
ously ignored.  Sir  Colin  was  one  of 
these.  He  had  held  the  command  on  the 
Punjab  frontier  after  its  conquest,  and  had 
differed  on  material  points  from  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  regarding  the  military  opera- 
tions to  be  conducted  there.  "A  guerilla 
war,  carried  on  by  civilians,"  was  his  espe- 
cial aversion ;  and  when  Lord  Dalhousie,  on 
being  referred  to  regarding  some  point  in 
dispute,  decided  in  favour  of  the  Punjab 
authorities,  and  expressed  himself  in  "suffi- 
ciently cutting  terms"  with  ivespect  to  Sir 
Colin,  the  latter  resigned  his  position,  and 
returned  to  England.  His  sword  had  no 
time  to  rust  in  its  sheath.  In  the  Crimea 
he  did  good  service ;  but  it  was  as  a  general 


396 


PERSON  AND  CHARACTER  OF  SIR  COLIN  CAMPBELL. 


of  division  only.*  He  was  passed  over,  in 
a  marked  manner,  until  the  Indian  storm 
burst  forth ;  and  then,  because  the  govern- 
ment needed  a  ^ood  man  for  the  office  of 
commander-in-chief,  even  more  than  a  good 
office  for  a  "  Dowb,"  and  knew  of  no  one 
who  united  warlike  and  oligarchical  quali- 
fications, the  latter  were  dispensed  with, 
and  Colin  Campbell  returned  to  India, 
to  cope  with  the  greatest  perils  that  ever 
menaced  British  India.  Had  the  charac- 
ter of  the  new  commander-in-chief  been 
thoroughly  appreciated  by  the  public  in 
1857,  it  is  possible  tiiat  his  popularity 
would  have  been  for  the  time  much  dimi- 
nished. He  was  not  rabid  against  sepoys; 
he  knew  them  well;  had  never  thought 
them  free  from  the  vices  and  defects  com- 
mon to  a  host  of  mercenaries ;  and  did  not 
now  view  them  as  demons.  His  character 
as  a  commander  was  misunderstood ;  for 
being,  in  all  that  concerned  himself,  hardy 
and  energetic,  brave  to  excess  where  his 
own  life  was  concerned — it  was  said  in 
England,  that  he  was  "  too  rash  to  be  en- 
trusted with  the  command  of  an  army."t 
In  India,  the  very  opposite  was  asserted  : 
it  was  feared  that  he  would  be  too  chary  of 
the  health  and  life  of  the  troops;  and  that 
(in  the  words  attributed  to  Lord  Dal- 
housie)  he  would  "carry  caution  to  the 
verge  of  something  else." J 

A  glance  at  the  person  of  the  weather- 
beaten  soldier,  was  calculated  to  moderate 
these  extreme  views  of  his  character.  The 
organ  of  caution  might  be  strongly  de- 
veloped underneath  the  gray  curls  ;  but  no 
evidence  of  indecision,  or  want  of  self- 
reliance,  could  be  found  there,  nor  any 
weakness  traced  in  the  spare  and  compact 
figure,  in  the  broad  and  vigorous  fore- 
liead,  seamed  with  many  a  furrow ;  in  the 
kindly  but  keen  blue  eye,  glancing  from 
beneath  the  shaggy  eyebrow ;  or  the  well- 
cut  mouth,  screened  by  a  short  moustache, 
the  only  hair  suffered  to  remain  on  his 
face,  even  under  an  Indian  sun.§ 

Sir  Colin  landed  at  Calcutta  on  the  13th 
of  August,  1857,  when  things  were  at  their 
very  worst.  Oude  in  arras;  Rohilcund  re- 
volted; the  Doab  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy ;   Central  India  in   confusion ;    one 

•  See  an  able,  though  not  unprejudiced,  sum- 
marv  of  Sir  Colin  CamphcWx  Campaign,  by  "  A 
(li<iai)led  Officer;"  dated  "  Dublin,  July  loth,  1858."— 
'Tiinea,  August  5tli,  18i8. 

t  Speech  of  Lieutenant-colonel  Alison. — Times, 
May  28th,  1858. 

X  Times,  August  5th,  1857. 


great  magazine  captured ;  the  gun  manu- 
factory lost  at  Futtehghnr;  communication 
with  the  Ptinjal)  cut  olf ;  the  force  at  Delhi 
(the  last  accounts  of  which  were  dated  the 
iSth  of  July,  and   had   come  by  Bombay) 
"struggling  to  hold  a  position  of  observa- 
tion,  not  siege,"   before   Delhi;    Lucknow' 
blockaded;  Agra  threatened  by  the  Gwalior 
contingent;    Cawnpoor    again    in    danger 
from    foes   without    and   pestilence   within. 
Yet  all  this  seems  to  have  failed  to  rouse 
the  Calcutta  authorities  to  energetic  action. 
A  writer  who  had  ample  meatis  of  knowing 
the  facts  of  the  case,  asserts,  that  when  the 
new  commander-in-chief  arrived  in  Calcutta, 
everything  was  deficient,  and  had  to  be  pro- 
vided.    "The   first   arrivals   from  England 
would,  ere  long,  be  coming  in,  and  for  their 
equipment  nothing  was  in  readiness;  means 
of  transport  there  were  hardly  any ;  horses 
for  cavalry  or  artillery  there   were  none ; 
Enfield    rifle    ammunition    was    deficient ; 
flour  even  was  running  out;    guns,    gun- 
carriages,   and    harness,  for  the    field   bat- 
teries, were  either  unfit  for  active  service, 
or   did    not   exist.     Great    and    immediate 
were  the  efforts  now  made  to  supply  these 
various  wants.     Horses  were  purchased  at 
an   immense  price  (j680  for  each  trooper, 
on  an  average) ;  those  of  the  8th  Madras 
light  cavalry  who  had  refused   to  embark 
for   service   in    Bengal,    were    taken    from 
them   and  sent  up  to  Calcutta ;   rifle-balls 
were  manufactured  at  Calcutta,  at  Madras, 
and  sent  for  overland  from  England;  flour 
was  ordered  to  be  procured,  with  the  least 
possible  delay,  from  the  Cape ;  field  guns 
were   cist   at   the    foundry   at    Cossipoor ; 
gun-carriages  and  harness  made  up  with  all 
possible   has'ie ;    the    commissariat    depart- 
ments  stimulated   to   a   degree   of  activity 
hitherto    not    even    dreamt    of.     *     *     * 
The  whole  military  machine  was  set  agoing 
with  a  high  steam  pressure. "|| 

The  great  error  of  the  Calcutta  authori- 
ties, and  the  one  which  was  most  inex- 
cusable, inasmuch  as  they  had  refused  to 
listen  to  the  suggestions  and  entreaties  of 
Sir  H.  Lawrence  on  the  subject,  regarded 
the  transit  of  troops.  Sir  Patrick  Grant 
had  initiated  certain  arrangements  ;  Sir 
Colin  developed  a  system  by  which  200  men 

§  Russell.— Tioies,  June  4th,  1858. 

jl  Lnrd  Clyde's  Campaiyn  in  India.  Understood 
to  be  written  by  Lieutenant-colonel  Alison,  the 
elder  of  the  two  brothers  (the  only  sons  of  Sir  Archi- 
bald Alison)  who  went  out,  the  one  as  military 
secretary,  the  other  as  aide-de-camp,  to  Sir  Colin. — 
Blackwood's  Edinburgh  Magazine,  October,  1858. 


AID  FROM  THE  COLONIES— ELGIN,  PEEL,  AND  OUTRAM. 


397 


a-day  were  regularly  forxvarded  along  the 
Grf^at  Trunk  road  to  Allaliabad  (500  miles 
distant),  in  covered  carts  drawn  by  bul- 
locks, which  were  relieved  at  regular  stages ; 
the  men,  on  arriving  at  each  halting-place, 
finding  their  meals  prepared  for  them,  as  if 
they  had  been  travelling  on  an  English 
railway;  while  the  road  was  kept  clear 
of  the  rebels  by  small  columns  of  in- 
fantry and  artillery  moving  along  it  at 
irregular  intervals.  Until  the  end  of  Octo- 
ber, the  commander-in-chief  remained  at 
Calcutta,  ceaselessly  employed  in  the  pre- 
parations on  which  his  subsequent  successes 
were  based. 

The  first  succour  came,  as  has  been 
already  shown,  from  the  colonies.  The 
wide-spread  power  of  England,  and  the 
ready  response  given  in  each  province  within 
reach  to  the  cry  for  help,  materially  con- 
tributed to  save  the  mother-country  her 
Indian  empire.  The  colonial  governors  be- 
haved with  admirable  decision.  Sir  Henry 
Ward  instantly  forwarded  to  Calcutta 
almost  every  British  soldier  in  Ceylon  ;  and 
the  reinforcement  was  most  opportune, 
although  it  consisted  only  of  a  few  compa- 
nies of  H.M.  37th,  with  a  small  proportion 
of  artillery.  Lord  Elphinstone  (whose  ener- 
getic and  successful  administration  of  the 
Bombay  government  has  received  the  im- 
perfect appreciation  which  commonly  at- 
tends the  policy  of  those  who  study  to  pre- 
vent, rather  than  to  quell  revolt),  upon  his 
own  responsibility,  sent  vejisels  to  the  Mau- 
ritius and  the  Cape  for  troops.  Sir  James 
Higginson  unhesitatingly  surrendered  the 
garrison  of  his  island,  consisting  of  the  5th 
Fusiliers,  the  4th  and  33rd  regiments ;  and 
Sir  George  Grey  answered  the  appeal  by 
forwarding  four  seasoned  regiments  to  India. 
In  fact,  every  horse  and  man  available  at 
the  moment  were  dispatched  from  the  Cape 
to  the  transports  which  were  waiting  for 
them.  The  colonists  seconded  the  governor 
with  hearty  zeal.  In  order  that  every 
soldier  might  be  spared  for  India,  the  in- 
habitants of  Cape  Town  and  its  vicinity 
cheerfully  took  npon  themselves  all  the 
duties  of  the  garrison ;  and  as  the  demand 
for  horses  was  especially  urgent,  the  studs 
of  private  stables  (including  that  of  the  gov- 
ernor himself)  were  freely  yielded  for  the 
service  of  the  expedition,  without  any  such 
enhancement  of  price  as  the  occasion  would 
naturally  bring  about.* 

The  diversion  of  the  Chinese  expedition 
•  Times,  October  20th,  1857. 


from  Hong  Kong  to  China,  was  the  fruit  of 
Lord  Elgin's  clear  view  of  the  manner 
in  which  one  duty  might  be  overbalanced 
by  another,  and  of  his  moral  courage  in 
risking  the  success  of  his  own  mission,  for 
the  sake  of  affording  efficient  co-operation 
to  the  Indian  government. 

The  unexpected  arrival  of  1,700  troops 
was  a  joyful  surprise  for  the  people  of 
Calcutta;  and  the  society  of  Lord  Elgin 
for  a  month,  must  have  been  welcome  to 
the  harassed  governor-general ;  for  they 
had  been  friends  from  boyhood. 

The  Shannon,  moreover,  brought,  in  the 
person  of  its  captain,  a  first-rate  artillery 
officer.  The  commander  of  the  naval  bri- 
gade in  the  Crimea,  was  sadly  wanted  in  a 
country  whose  abundant  rivers  could  not 
boast  a  single  gun-boat.  William  Peel  was 
the  very  man  for  the  emergency.  At  tliree- 
and-thirty  he  had  attained  a  reputation 
which  would  have  gladdened  the  father 
whose  career  of  statesmanship  had  been 
so  suddenly  closed,  and  which  had  been 
as  a  spring  of  new  life  to  his  widowed 
mother.  Circumstances  had  developed  his 
peculiar  gifts,  especially  the  "mechanical 
aptitude"t  indispensable  to  a  sailor.  He 
had  also  the  unflagging  energy,  the  dogged 
persistence  needful  in  that  most  onerous 
position — the  command  of  marines. 

Scarcely  had  his  vessel  cast  anchor  in  the 
Ganges,  before  he  commenced  organising  a 
naval  brigade;  and  on  the  18th  of  August, 
the  government  were  able  to  announce  that 
Captain  Peel,  with  400  seamen  and  ten  68- 
pounders,  had  left  Calcutta  for  Allahabad. 

The  timely  close  of  the  Persian  expe- 
dition has  been  already  noticed.  It  was 
in  many  points  important,  but  especially 
as  it  placed  at  the  disposal  of  govern- 
ment the  services  of  an  able  commander, 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  Indian  affairs. 
This  was  Sir  James  Outram,  who,  it  will 
be  remembered,  had  taken  a  prominent  part 
in  the  annexation  of  Oude  as  chief  commis- 
sioner. In  1857  he  had  returned  to  Eng- 
land, "bowed  down  bysickness  and  continual 
pain,  which  almost  deprived  him  of  sleep ;" 
but,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Persian  war, 
he  accepted  the  command  of  the  expedi- 
tion, and,  at  its  successful  close,  returned 
to  India,  where  he  arrived  on  the  1st  of 
August,  and  was  nominated  to  the  united 
command  of  the  troops  in  the  Dinapoor  and 
Cawnpoor  divisions,  and  reappointed  chief 
commissioner  in  Oude.  It  was  iiitended 
t  Russell.— rimes,  December  31st,  1808. 


398 


GENERAL  LLOYD,  OF  DINAPOOR— MR.  TAYLER,  OF  PATNA. 


that  he  should  at  once  proceed  to  Cawn- 
poor  with  reinforcements,  and  march  thence 
to  the  relief  of  Lucknow ;  but  a  fresh 
delay  arose,  in  consequence  of  the  out- 
break of  mutiny  and  insurrection  in  the 
province  of  Behar. 

Patna,  the  chief  city,  contains  upwards  of 
300,000  inhabitants,  a  large  proportion  of 
whom  are  Mussulmans.  It  is  situated  on 
the  Ganges,  which  river  separates  the 
Patna  district  .from  those  of  Sarun,  Tir- 
lioot,  and  Monghyr.  The  small  civil  sta- 
tions of  Gya,  fifty  miles  to  the  south, 
Chupra,  forty  miles  to  the  north,  and 
Arrah,  thirty-five  miles  to  the  west,  of 
Patna,  were,  in  June,  1857,  under  the  con- 

■  trol  of  the  commissioner,  Mr.  \\niliam 
Tayler,  whose  conduct,  as  a  commissioner 
of  revenue,  had  led  his  colleagues  to  inti- 
mate, that  unless  it  were  changed,  they 
could  not  continue  to  work  witli  him.  He 
was  still  more  unpopular  with  the  natives, 
having,  in  the  matter  of  raising  funds  for 
an  industrial  institution  at  Patna,  "  ex- 
cited much  dissatisfaction  and  scandal  in 
his  division."  His  proceedings  were  being 
inquired  into  at  the  time  of  the  mutiny. 
At  such   a   crisis,   the  lieutenant-governor 

•  naturally  desired  to  avoid  a  change  in  the 
head  executive  office  of  the  district,  and 
trusted  that  the  intelligence,  energy, 
and  local  knowledge  of  the  commissioner, 
might,  under  the  close  supervision  prac- 
ticable by  means  of  the  electric  tele- 
graph, be  made  useful  to  the  public.  The 
military  station  of  Dinapoor,  ten  miles  to 
the  westward  of  Patna,  was  garrisoned  bv 
H.M.  10th  Foot,  the  7th,  8th,  and  40th 
N.I.,  one  company  of  European,  and  one  of 
Native  artillery.  Major-general  Lloyd,  the 
officer  in  command  of  the  station,  has  been 
already  mentioned.  He  liad  seen  fifty- 
three  years'  service ;  and  though  of  course 
an  old  man,  had  been  chosen,  as  lately  as 
1854,  for  the  suppression  of  the  Sonthal 
insurrection;  and  his  conduct  on  that  occa- 
sion had  given  entire  satisfaction  to  Lord 
Dalhousie.  He  was  liable  to  attacks  of 
gout,  which  at  times  unfitted  him  for  field 
service.  Still,  it  will  he  seen,  when  the 
subject  is  reviewed  with  the  calmness 
which  is  rarely  evinced  in  discussing  re- 
cent events,  whether  the  major-general, 
notwithstanding  his  seventy  years  and  his 
"  gouty  feet,"  does  i^ot  deserve  credit 
for  the  policy  with  which  he  so  long  kept 
back  the  Native  regiments  under  his  coui- 
maod    from    open    mutiny,    and    for    the 


arrRngements  which  were  (as  he  avers) 
rendered  unsuccessful  by  the  incapacity 
and  selfish  terror  of  those  who  should  have 
carried  them  out. 

Unfortunately,  the  military  and  civil 
authorities  acted  on  different  plans.  Con- 
ciliation was  the  motto  of  the  major-gen<- 
eral;  "unlimited  hanging,"  of  the  com- 
missioner. The  latter  found  a  zealous  co- 
adjutor in  Major  Holmes,  who  commanded 
the  12th  irregular  cavalry  at  Segowiie, 
about  a  hundred  miles  distant.  A  detach- 
ment of  the  12th  had  been  located  at 
Patna,  and  constant  intercourse  was  main- 
tained between  that  city  and  Segowiie. 
Marked  contempt  was  evinced  by  the  com- 
missioner and  the  major  for  superior  autho- 
rity. Major  Holmes  took  upon  himself,  in 
the  middle  of  June,  to  declare  a  large  tract 
of  country  under  martial  law,  and  wrote  to 
the  magistrates  of  the  various  districts,  ac- 
quainting them  with  his  determination, 
and  desiring  to  proclaim  a  reward  of  fifty 
rupees  for  the  capture  of  every  rebel  sepoy, 
or  for  information  which  might  lead  to  tlie 
conviction  of  any  persons  guilty  of  speak- 
ing seditions  words  against  the  government. 
All  petty  rajahs  were  to  be  informed,  that 
for  concealing  any  sedition  or  any  rebels, 
they  would  be  punished  as  principals.  The 
style  of  this  communication  was  as  extra- 
ordinary as  the  matter.  The  letter  to  Mr. 
McDonnel,  of  Sarun,  dated  "  Segowiie, 
June  19th,"  began  as  follows: — "As  a 
single  clear  head  is  better  than  a  dozen 
confused  ones  in  these  times,  and  as  military 
law  is  better  than  civil  in  a  turbulent  coun- 
try, I  have  assumed  absolute  military  control 
from  Gornckpoor  to  Patna,  and  have  placed 
under  absolute  military  rule  all  that  coun- 
try including  the  districts  of  Sarun,  Chum- 
parun,  and  Tirhoot." 

The  magistrates  appealed  to  Mr.  Halliday, 
the  lieutenant-governor  of  Bengal,  for  in- 
structions how  to  act  with  regard  to  Major 
Holmes;  and  were  informed,  in  reply,  that 
his  proceeding  was  to  be  repudiated  as 
wholly  illegal  and  unauthorised,  nothing 
whatever  having  occurred  in  Behar  to  jus- 
tify the  proclamation  of  martial  law.  An 
explanation  was  required  from  Mr.  Tayler, 
as  to  his  reasons  lor  not  informing  the 
lieutenant-governor  of  what  bad  occurred ; 
to  nvhich  he  answered,  that  although  he 
knew  Major  Holmes  had  acted  illegally, 
he  had  intentionally  avoided  noticing  it; 
feeling  that,  "however  the  formalities  of 
civilised    society    might    be    violated,   the 


DR.  LYELL  KILLED  AT  PATNA— JULY  3rd,  1857. 


399 


esseutials  of  all  society,  life,  property,  and  j 
order,  were  most   effectually  preserved   by 
the  military  despotism  thus  established,  and 
that  the  end  fully  justified  the  means."* 

Mr.  Tayler  was  following  out,  at  Patna, 
a  course  of  policy  identical  with  that  at- 
tempted by  Major  Holmes  on  the  Segowlie 
frontier ;  and,  by  "  constant  arrests,  and  an 
unceasing  use  of  hemp,"  was  gaining  great 
credit  "  from  the  planters  and  mercantile 
community — even  from  the  fettered  press 
of  Iudia."t  But  while  private  correspon- 
dence and  public  jouinals  furnished  full 
accounts  of  these  vigorous  steps,  the  orders 
and  inquiries  of  the  lieutenant-governor 
were  utterly  disregarded.  At  length  he 
learned,  from  private  sources,  that,  on  the 
21st  of  June,  Mr.  Tayler  had  ciiused  the 
four  leading  members  of  the  Wahabee  sect 
of  Mohammedans  in  Patna  to  be  arrested, 
and  had  taken  steps  to  disarm  the  city. 
When  compelled  to  account  for  his  conduct, 
the  commissioner  admitted,  that  the  only 
evidence  against  the  prisoners  "  was  that  of 
an  untrustworthy  informer,  who  produced 
letters  to  substantiate  his  charge,  of  which 
one  only  was  genuine ;  and  that  his  state- 
ments regarding  the  distiibution  of  money, 
the  entertainment  of  fighting-men,  and 
other  preparations  of  revolt,  proved  incor- 
rect from  subsequent  discoveries."  He  had, 
however,  deemed  it  "  politic  to  detain  the 
principal  Wahabee  gentlemen,  as  hostages 
ibr  the  good  behaviour  of  the  sect,  which  is 
said  to  be  numerous,  and  peculiarly  formi- 
dable from  its  orgiinisation,  and  to  be  ready 
to  merge  all  its  differences  with  other  ^lo- 
hammedans,  to  join  in  a  crusade  against 
the  Christians. "t 

In  consequence  of  the  order  for  disarming, 
a  large  amount  of  weapons  was  produced ; 
but,  in  the  search  subsequently  instituted, 
"  few,  if  any,  were  found,"  and  none  in  the 
houses  of  the  Wahabees.  A  reign  of  terror 
had  commenced  for  the  natives  ;  a  scaffold 
was  erected  on  the  parade  ;  "  all  inhabitants 
were  warned  to  remain  at  home  after  nine  at 
night;" and  many  loyal  subjectswere  arrested 
in  their  own  homes  at  midnight,  on    the 

•  Government  Narrative  of  Events. — Further  Pari. 
Papers,  18.57  (No.  5),  p.  20. 

t  Mutiny  of  the  Beityal  Army :  by  One  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier ;  p.  177. 

t  Further  Pari.  Papers  {No.  5),  p.  3. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  24. 

11  Among  the  letters  found  in  the  house  of  Peer 
Ali,  was  one  written  by  iiim,  in  which  lie  says,  "  I 
require  the  assistance  of  your  prayers  to  obtain  my 
end ;  if  not,  1  value  not  life."     On  the  same  sheet  of 


accusation  of  some  revengeful  servant  or 
treacherous  relative.  Mr.  Tayler  brushed 
aside  all  forms  of  law  as  if  they  had  been 
so  many  cobwebs,  and  used  the  despotic 
powers  he  had  assumed,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  irritate  the  whole  of  the  native  popula- 
tion, and  engender  a  dangerous  feeling  of 
insecurity  among  the  respectable  portion  of 
the  inhabitants. §  At  length,  on  the  3rd  of 
July,  an  imeute  took  place.  At  about  eight 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  200  men,  with  flags, 
music,  and  guns,  broke  into  the  premises  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Mission,  and  destroyed 
some  property,  but  stole  nothing,  and  in- 
jured no  one.  Dr.  Lyell,  assistant  to  the 
opium  agent,  with  nine  Seiks,  proceeded  to 
the  spot :  he  was  on  horseback ;  and,  having 
distanced  his  support,  rode  alone  to  the 
mob,  and  was  shot.  Captain  Rattray,  with 
a  detachment  of  Seiks,  soon  arrived,  and 
the  rabble  dispersed.  Thirty  men,  said 
to  be  concerned  in  the  outbreak,  were 
arrested  and  tried  by  the  commissioner 
and  the  magistrate,  Mr.  Lowis  (who  was 
subsequently  removed  from  office  by  Mr. 
Tayler,  for  not  seconding  with  sufficient 
energy  his  anti-native  proceedings).  Four- 
teen of  the  prisoners,  including  Peer  Ali,  a 
Mussulman  bookseller||  (who  is  said  to  have 
shot  Dr.  Lyell),  were  condemned  to  death, 
and  executed  the  same  day;  the  remaining 
sixteen  were  sentenced  to  ten  years'  im- 
prisonment. The  mode  in  which  convic- 
tions were  obtained  may  be  understood 
from  the  following  circumstance: — A  police 
jemadar,  named  Waris  Ali,  had  been  ar- 
rested on  suspicion  during  tiie  night  of 
the  23rd  of  June.  He  begged  earnestly 
for  life,  and  asked  if  he  could  do  anything 
to  obtain  it.  The  reply  and  commentary 
made  by  Mr.  Tayler,  were  as  follows : — 
"I  told  him — 'I  will  make  a  bargain  with 
you;  give  me  three  lives,  and  I  will  give 
you  yo,urs.'  He  then  told  me  all  the 
names  that  I  already  knew ;  but  could  dis- 
close nothing  further,  at  least  with  any 
proof  in  support.  He  was  evidently  not 
sufficiently  clever  to  be  Ali  Kurreem's  con- 
federate."'^     And,    on   the    6th   of   July, 

paper,  another  hand  had  written — "The  state  of 
affairs  at  Patna  is  as  follows.  Some  respectable 
parties  of  the  city  are  in  prison,  and  the  subjects 
are  all  weary  and  disgusted  with  the  tyranny  and 
oppression  exercised  by  government,  whom  they  all 
curse.  May  God  hear  the  prayers  of  the  oppressed 
very  soon." — Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  (No.  5), 
p.  21.  The  house  of  Peer  Ali  was  razed  to  the 
ground,  by  the  commissioner's  order. 
^  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  0),  p.  16. 


400 


KOOER  SING,  THE  OCTOGENARIAN  RAJPOOT  CHIEF. 


Waris  All  was  hanged.  Mr.  Tayler  was  not 
to  be  thus  foiled.  He  had  made  up  his  mind 
that  some  wealthy  peison  must  have  been 
concerned  iu.the  conspiracy,  and  that  an 
example  was  required  from  the  iviflueiitial 
classes.  The  destined  victim  was  Lootf  Ali 
Khan,  the  richest  banker  in  Patna,  who 
chanced  to  be  at  the  time  at  law  with  his 
nephew,  Velayut  Ali  Khan.  The  nephew 
appears  to  have  played  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Tayler,  and  Lootf  Ali  was  arrested 
by  the  order  of  the  commissioner,  and  com- 
mitted for  trial  on  the  ground  of  having 
knowingly  harboured  a  deserter  named  Mo- 
habet  Ali,  who  was  the  nephew  of  one  of  his 
servants.  The  case  was  tried  by  tlie  ses- 
sions judge,  Mr.  R.  N.  Farquharsou,  and 
the  prisoner  was  acquitted  ;  but  the  conduct 
of  Mr.  Tayler  was  so  extraordinary,  that 
Mr.  Farquharsou  laid  the  entire  case  before 
the  lieutenant-governor,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  "transmitted  several  private  letters, 
sent  him  by  the  commissioner;  in  which, 
with  a  very  indecent  disregard  of  ordinary 
propriety,  Mr.  Tayler  had  continued,  during 
the  trial,  to  endeavour  to  influence  the 
mind  of  the  judge,  and  almost  to  urge  him 
to  condemn  the  prisoner."  Mr,  Farqu- 
harsou further  mentioned — 

"  Reports  being  current  that  some  of  the  men, 
punished  as  being  concerned  in  the  city  outbreak, 
were  convicted  by  the  commission  presided  over  by 
Mr.  Tayler,  on  evidence  less  reliable  than  that 
which  he  had  rejected  in  Lootf  All's  case.  The 
judge  was  not  in  the  least  cognizant  of  what  the 
evidence  was,  but  considered  it  his  duty  to  report 
the  common  opinion  on  the  subject,  for  the  govern- 
ment to  take  such  steps  as  might  be  thought  fit 
to  test  the  truth  of  statements  damaging  to  the 
civil  service,  and  to  the  European  character  at 
large.'" 

Of  course,  a  functionary  whose  "  con- 
stant, indcHcate,  and  illegal  interference"t 
with  the  course  of  justice  was  always  on  the 
side  of  severity,  would  be  sure  to  alienate  the 
minds  of  the  zemindars  from  the  govern- 
ment. Mr.  Tayler  was  not  the  person  to 
confirm  the  wavering  allegiance  of  Ilajpoot 
nobles.  Among  those  who  had  suft'ercd 
deeply  from  our  revenue  proceedings,  was 
Kooer  Sing — a  dhief  whose  "lionourable 
and  straightforward  character"J  stood  high 
even  among  Europeans  ;  but  who,  although 
between  eighty  and  ninety  years  of  age,  was 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (No.  5),  p.  18. 
t  Ibid,  p.  24. 

\  Mr,  Tayler.      Letter  dated  July  23rd,    1857.— 
Appendix  to  Pari.  Papers  (No.  5),  p.  142. 
§  Mr.  Wake  expressed  a  similar  opinion. 


an  object  of  suspicion  on  account  of  the 
influence  he  exercised  as  the  head  of  an 
ancient  family ;  from  his  personal  ability ; 
and  from  "  his  peculiar  position  as  the 
ruined  owner  of  vast  estates,  who  would  be- 
come supreme  in  the  district  on  the  occur- 
rence of  disorder,  but  who,  as  long  as  law. 
and  order  prevailed,  could  barely  find  the 
means  to  pay  the  interest  of  his  debts." 

Therefore,  Alonzo  Money,  the  Behar 
magistrate,  suggested  the  adoption  of  a  con- 
ciliatory policy  with  regard  to  Kooer  Sing, 
and,  indeed,  to  the  people  generallj'.  "  One 
or  two  executions"  might,  he  writes,  "  strike 
terror  and  do  good  ;"  but  "  tlie  daily  repeti- 
tion of  such  scenes  (where  the  people  are 
against  us)  only  hardens  and  aggravates;" 
and  he  added,  that  if  "  one  of  the  influential 
zemindars,  like  Kooer  Sing,  be  suspected 
and  pushed  hard,  he  may  very  probably 
prefer  rebellion  to  hanging;  and  his  example 
would  be  contagious. "§ 

Mr.  Tayler  could  not  appreciate  this 
reasoning;  and  though  he  repeatedly  men- 
tions the  aged  chief  in  terms  of  respect, 
most  unusual  with  him,  he  nevertheless  sent 
a  Mussulman  agent  to  the  palace  of  Kooer 
Sing,  at  Jugdespoor,  near  Arrah,  to  intimate 
the  suspicions  entertained  of  his  loyalty, 
and  to  bid  him  repair  in  person  to  Patna,  to 
give  an  accouut  of  himself.  "The  native 
agent  was  at  the  same  time  directed  to 
scrutinise  everything  connected  with  and 
about  Kooer  Sing,  and  to  submit  a  con- 
fidential report  regarding  it  to  the  com- 
missioner." An  ordinary  proprietor,  in  the 
midst  of  his  tenantry,  might  have  been 
successfully  treated  in  this  manner;  but 
the  present  zemindar  chanced  to  be  a  Raj-  ^ 
poot,  iu  the  heart  of  his  clan;  and  the  gov- 
ernment agent  came  back  as  wise  as  he 
went.  Kooer  Sing  received  him  lying 
on  a  bed,  and  pleaded  age  and  infirmity  in 
reply  to  the  commissioner's  summons,  but 
pledged  himself  to  repair  to  Patna  as  soon 
as  his  health  would  permit,  and  the  Brah- 
mins could  find  a  propitious  day  for  the 
journey.  From  other  sources  the  govern- 
ment were  told,  tbat  he  had  declared  he 
would  not  go  to  Patna,  and  would  resist  if 
sent  for.  The  secret  inquiry  made  on  his 
estate  did  not  elicit  information  as  to  any 
preparations  having  been  made  for  revolt; 
"  nor  did  there  ap|iear  to  be  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  his  people  were  particularly  dis- 
aff'ected.  It  was  well  known  that  they 
would  follow  him  as  their  feudal  chieftain, 
in  the  event  of  his  raising  the  standard  of 


E  m    s  II  'w  © 


SEPOYS  AT  DINAPOOR  SUBORDINATE  UNTIL  JULY  25th.     401 


rebellion ;  but  beyond  this  nothing  was 
ascertained."* 

Leaving  the  Patna  commissioner  and 
Major  Holmes  to  pursue  their  course  of 
"  hanging  right  and  left,"t  by  reason  of  the 
powers  of  life  and  death  extended  to  them 
and  twelve  other  persons  in  Behar,  or  its 
immediate  vicinity,  between  the  17th  of 
June  and  the  10th  of  July; J  it  is  necessary 
to  turn  to  Diuapoor,  where  Major-geueral 
Lloyd  was  maintaining  order  by  the  opposite 
system  of  confidence  and  conciliation.  For 
many  weeks  he  was  successful.  The  ill- 
conducted  disarming  at  Benares,  the  news 
of  which  caused  initant  revolt  at  Allahabad 
and  Fyzabad,  created  great  excitement  at 
Dinapoor  on  the  7th  of  June ;  and  Major- 
general  Lloyd  asserts,  that  had  it  not  been 
for  the  influence  and  exertions  of  their  Eu- 
ropean officers,  the  three  native  regiments 
would  Lave  deserted  with  their  arms  that 
night.  His  conviction  was,  that  the  sepoys, 
beiug  on  the  watch  for  the  slightest  evidence 
of  an  attempt  to  disarm  them,  would  have 
fled  with  their  weapons  on  the  approach  of 
the  guns  and  Europeans ;  and  their  disper- 
sion, armed  or  unarmed,  was  deprecated 
by  him,  on  the  grotind  that  it  would  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  disorganisation  of  the  sur- 
rounding country,  and  would  necessitate 
the  detention  of  troops  whose  presence  was 
needful  to  save  the  garrisons  of  Lucknow 
and  Cawnpoor.  Still,  viewing  an  outbreak 
as  a  probable  contingency,  he  made  arrange- 
ments to  meet  it  with  the  officers  of  the  sta- 
tion and  functionaries  of  the  surrounding 
districts,  and  the  boats  on  the  Soane  river 
were  ordered  to  be  collected  "on  the  further 
bank,  in  readiness  to  be  destroyed  or  sunk 
in  the  event  of  mutiny,  so  as  to  hinder 
the  crossing  of  the  rebels. 

The  course  taken  certainly  gained  time. 
The  native  regiments,  especially  the  40th, 
behaved  well  throughout  the  remainder  of 
the  trying  month  of  June,  and  up  to  the 
25th  of  July.  The  question  of  disarming 
them  was  publicly  canvassed ;  for  the  mer- 
cantile community  of  Calcutta  were  largely 
interested  in  the  indigo-producing  district 
of  Tirhoot,  of  which  Patna  and  Dinapoor 
were  the  two  chief  stations;  and  a  revolt  at 
this  period,  while  the  plant  was  still  uncut, 
would  have  ruined  many  capitalists.  With  the 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  5),  p.  38. 
t  Times,  August  19th,  1857. 
i  P'urther  Pari.  Papers  (No.  5),  p.  10. 
i  General  Lloyd's  Letter. — Daiiu  News,  October 
30th,  1857. 

VOL.  II.  3  F 


government,  also,  the  tranquillity  of  Behar 
was  a  financial  question ;  for  at  Patna  alone 
(a  city  of  eight  miles  in  extent),  the  opium 
godowns  were  valued  at  j63,o6o,000  ;  and 
at  Ghazipoor  there  was  nearly  £2,000,000 
of  the  same  property,  besides  one  of  the 
largest  government  studs  in  India.  The 
5th  Fusiliers,  800  strong,  arrived  at  Cal- 
cutta, from  the  Mauritius,  on  the  5th  of 
July,  and  were  dispatched  by  a  steamer,  on 
the  12th,  up  the  Ganges.  It  was  calculated 
that  they  would  be  oflf  Dinapoor  about  the 
22nd  ;  and  the  European  planters,  interested 
in  the  indigo  trade,  petitioned  Lord  Canning 
to  order  the  Fusiliers  to  disembark  and 
disarm  the  native  regiments,  in  conjunction 
with  H.M.  10th  Foot.  Lord  Canning  re- 
fused, and  persisted  in  leaving  General 
Lloyd  free  to  disarm  the  sepoys,  or  not,  as 
he  thought  fit.  General  Lloyd,  encompassed 
by  difficulties ;  with  nothing  left  him  but  a 
choice  of  evils;  harassed  by  the  railing  of 
the  Europeans,  yet  unwilling  to  see  the 
troops  whom  he  had  so  long  commanded, 
pass  through  the  now  hackneyed  phases  of 
panic,  revolt,  and  dispersion  or  extermina- 
tion— resolved,  in  an  evil  moment,  on  a  half 
measure,  which  excited  the  fear  of  the  sepoys 
without  allaying  that  of  the  Europeans. 
This  was  to  suflTer  the  sepoys  to  retain  their 
muskets,  but  to  render  them  useless  by 
taking  away  the  percussion-caps  from  the 
native  magazine,  leaving  fifteen  caps  per 
man.  Accordingly,  on  the  morning  of  the 
25th  of  July,  two  bullock-carts  were  sent 
for  the  caps,  and  were  loaded  without  oppo- 
sition ;  but  while  passing  the  native  lines, 
on  the  way  to  the  European  portion  of  the 
cantonment,  the  7th  and  8th  regiments 
caught  sight  of  the  carts,  and  rushed  for- 
ward to  seize  them.  The  officers  went 
among  the  men,  and  the  carts  were  suffered 
to  proceed.  "The  40th  N.I.  made  a  decided 
demonstration  towards  the  cause  of  order 
and  discipline,  being  ready  to  oppose  any 
attempt  to  rescue  the  eaps."§ 

The  withdrawal  of  the  remaining  caps 
was  immediately  resolved  on.  The  Native 
officers  were  ordered  to  collect  them,  it 
being  considered  that  the  men  would  feel 
it  quite  madness  to  attempt  resistance. 
But  panic  is  a  form  of  madness ;  and  the 
example  of  scores  of  regiments  should  have 
shown  that  resistance  might  be  expected 
under  certain  circumstances,  although  even 
temporary  success  might  be  hopeless.  The 
7th  and  8th  N.I.,  when  asked  for  their 
caps,  rose  in  open  mutiny :  "  the  40th  did 


402 


MUTINY  AT  DINAPOOR— JULY  25th,  1857. 


not  at  first  join ;  but  being  fired  on  by  men 
of  the  lOtb,  from  the  roof  pf  tlie  European 
hospital,  they  went  off  and  joined  the  muti- 
neers."* General  Lloyd  was  suffering  from 
an  attack  of  gout.  He  had  no  horse  at  hand. 
He  had  previously  given  full  instructions 
for  the  attack  and  pursuit  of  the  sepoys  by 
the  guns  and  H.M.  10th,  and  had  received 
from  the  colonel  of  that  regiment  a  promise 
not  to  "  be  caught  napping."  Therefore, 
beheving  that  he  could  do  nothing  further 
regarding  the  land  operations,  the  general 
went  on  board  a  steamer  which  had  arrived 
at  Dinapoor  that  morning,  and  proceeded 
in  it  along  the  rear  of  the  native  lines;  for 
the  river  being  only  some  200  yards  dis- 
tant from  the  right  of  the  advancing  column 
of  guns  and  Europeans,  General  Lloyd  "  ex- 
pected to  get  some  shots  at  the  sepoys  on 
shore,  or  escaping  by  the  river." 

The  guns,  notwithstanding  the  arrange- 
ment that  the   bullocks   were  to  be   kept 
ready  for  harnessing,  were  tardy  in  approach- 
ing the  native  lines.     At  length  they  opened 
at  a  long  range   on   a  body  of  mutineers 
assembled  near  the  N.I.  magazines.     H.M. 
10th  and  37th  fired,   "also,   at  impossible 
distances ;  and  the  whole  of  the  three  regi- 
ments fled  en  masse:  even  the  sick  in  the 
hospitals  went."t     Several  boats,  laden  with 
fugitives,  were  run  down  and  sunk  by  the 
steamer;    but   the  majority  of  the  rebels 
escaped ;  for  they  fled   across  the   swampy 
fields,  behind  the  magazines,  across  a  full 
nullah;  beyond  which  the  Europeans,  under 
Colonels  Eenwick  and  Huyshe,  found  pur- 
suit   impracticable.      The    troops    "  burnt 
down  some  villages  and  the  native  bazaar,"J 
did  some  work  in  the  shape  of  "  loot,"  and 
then  returned  to  their  quarters.     General 
Lloyd,  believing  he  saw  some  sepoys  further 
up  the  shore,  pursued  them  in  the  steamer, 
but  found  only  unarmed  villagers,  on  whom, 
he  adds,  "of  course  I  did  not  fire."     This 
last  sentence  is  important,  for  it  accounts 
for   the    general's    unpopularity   with    the 
anti-native  faction.     To  understand  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  case,  it  must  be  noticed,  that  the 
narrow  strip  of  land  on  which  the  Dinapoor 
cantonment  stands,  bounded  on  the  north 
side  by  the  Ganges,  and  on  the  south  by 
a  deep  muddy  nullah  and  bay,  was  at  this 
time  a  perfect  swamp,  by  reason  of  the  heavy 

*  Gen.  Lloyd's  Letter.— DatVy  News,  Oct.  30,  1857. 

t  Ihid.  See  also  llie  general's  despatches,  in 
Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (No.  4  ) 

X  Letter  of  Lieutenant  Robertson,  7th  N.  L — 
Times,  September  22nd,  1857. 


rains  of  the  preceding  month.     The  main 
body    of  the    sepoys    having    crossed    the 
swamp   and  nullah,  took  up  their  position 
on   the  road  from   Patna,  via  Phoolwaree, 
towards  Arrah,  with  the  road  to  Gya  open 
in  tlieir  rear.     Fearing   that   Patna  might 
be  attacked,  the  general  sent  off  a  detach- 
ment thither,  retaining  only  500  men  and 
four    guns   at    Dinapoor.     Cavalry   he   had 
none.     The    road    between    Dinapoor   and 
Arrah  was  hardly  practicable  for  European 
soldiers,  and  impassable  for   guns;   only  a 
small   party   could  liave   been    spared  that 
evening  fur   the    reinforcement   of  Arrah ; 
and  it  was  hoped,  that  even  should  the  mu- 
tineers resolve  on  attacking  that  place,  the 
boats  on  the  Soane  would  lie  destroyed  by 
the  person  entrusted  with  that  duty  (a  Mr. 
Pahlen,  of  the  railway  works),   in  time  to 
hinder  their  crossing  the  river.     But,  by  a 
seeming  fatality,  every  arrangement  at  Dina- 
poor was  contiavened  by  the  incapacity  of 
individuals,  or  the  force  of  circumstances. 
The    age   and    physical   infirmities    of  the 
general  have  been  harshly  dwelt  on ;   but 
his  manly  and  succinct  account  of  the  whole 
affair  is  his  best  vindication  from  the  blame 
heaped  upon  him,  the  chief  part  of  which  he 
shows  would  have  been  more  justly  bestowed 
on   his    apathetic    or  incapable    coadjutors 
and    subordinates.     When    the   time   came 
for  action,  Pahlen  thought  only  of  his  own 
safety,  and  fled,  leaving  the  mutineers  the 
means  of  crossing  to  the  Arrah  side  of  the 
river.     The  day  after  the  mutiny  (Sunday, 
the  26th),  a  detachment  of  riflemen  were  sent 
off  in  a  troop-boat  attached  to  a  steamer,  up 
the    Soane,   to  be  landed   at  a  point   nine 
miles  from  Arrah ;   but  the  water  was  not 
deep  enough,  and  the  steamer  returned  ia 
the  evening  without  having  effected  any- 
thing.    The  next  day  a  second  attempt  was 
made;     but   the     Horungotta,    after    three 
hours'  steaming,  grounded  on  a  sand-bank, 
and  could   not  be  got  oflf.     There  was  no 
other    steamer    available  till   the   following 
evening,  when  the  Bombay  arrived;  and  the 
general  determined  on  sending  her  and  the 
flat  attached,  with  250  men,  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  10th  Foot,  to  go  and  pick 
up  the  stranded  flat   (which  had  250  men 
on  board),  and  tow  both  to  the  appointed 
spot.     The  expedition  was  to  start  on   the 
next  morning,  commanded  by  Colonel  Fen- 
wick.    When  the  time  came,  the  commander 
of  the  steamer  had  changed  his  mind,  and 
said    he    could    not  tow    two   flats ;    conse- 
quently  the  party  had  to   be  reduced  by 


DISASTROUS  ATTEMPT  TO  RELIEVE  ARRAH— JULY  29th,  1857.      403 


a  hundred  meu  of  the  10th  Foot.  Colonel 
Feuwick  refused  to  accompany  the  dimi- 
nished force,  which  now  consisted  of  410 
men,  of  whom  seventy  were  Seiks;  and  sent 
Captain  Dunbar  in  his  stead — an  officer, 
General  Lloyd  writes,  "of  whose  unfit- 
ness for  such  a  command  I  suspect  Colonel 
Fenwick  may  have  been  unaware."  The 
party  landed  at  7  p.m.,  without  "  gettinfj 
their  dinners,  or  even  a  drop  of  gro^," 
althougli  they  had  three  days'  provisions 
on  board.  A  few  harmless  shots  were  fired 
by  some  sepoys  guarding  the  boats  at  the 
ghaut,  and  then  the  Europeans  inarched 
on  unmolested  to  a  bridge  about  a  mile 
and  a-half  fiom  Arrah.  Here  they  halted 
for  half-an-hour ;  and  the  second  in  com- 
mand (Captain  Harrison),  and  some  volun- 
teers who  had  accompanied  the  expedition, 
urged  Captain  Dunbar  to  remain  there 
for  theniglit,  as  their  movements  were  being 
watched  by  native  horsemen ;  and,  in  the 
dim  light  of  a  setting  moon,  nothing  was 
more  probable  than  an  ambuscade.  But 
Captain  Dunbar,  having  heard  from  the 
magistrate  (Wake)  that  it  was  improbable 
anv  opposition  would  be  offered,  thought 
it  preferable  to  move  on — the  want  of  food 
for  the  men  being  probably  a  reason 
against  delay.  A  volunteer  who  accompa- 
nied the  expedition  (Macdouell,  magistrate 
of  Cliui)ra),  states  that,  up  to  this  time,  the 
troops  had  thrown  out  Seik  skirmishers  as 
they  advanced :  but  now  they  marched 
on  in  a  body;  Dunbar,  Macdonell,  Lieu- 
tenant Ingilby,  7th  N.I.,  who  had  volun- 
teered, and  was  in  command  of  the  Seiks, 
with  about  twenty  of  the  latter,  being  some 
200  yards  in  advance  of  the  column. 
After  proceeding  to  within  half  a  mile  of 
Arrah,  they  entered  a  tope,  or  thick  grove 
of  trees,  and  were  nearly  through  it,  when 
a  volley  of  musketry  flashed  like  light- 
ning along  the  line;  and  another  and 
another,  in  quick  succession,  showed  the 
troops  that  they  were  surrounded.  Cap- 
tain Dunbar  was  among  the  first  to  fall ; 
then  there  was  much  desultory  firing  from 
among  the  trees — as  many  of  the  Eu- 
ropeans being  killed  by  one  another  as 
by  the  enemy.  At  length,  with  great 
difficulty,  the  officers  succeeded  in  re- 
forming the  men  in  a  field  some  400  yards 
from  the  tope ;  and  here  they  remained  till 
morning,  the  rebels  firing  into  them,  and 

*  Captain  Harrison's  Report;  IJinapoor,  July  31st. 
—  London  Gnzette,  November  24th,  1857. 

t  See  a  sln]ple  and  intelligible  narrative  of  the 


the  men,  in  defiance  of  orders,  returning 
the  fire,  by  which  means  they  revealed 
their  exact  position,  and  wasted  shot  which 
could  be  ill  spared. 

Next  morning  the  panic  still  prevailed: 
the  men  were  only  half  a  mile  from  Arrah ; 
yet,  instead  of  proceeding  thither,  they 
started  back  for  the  steamer,  a  distance  (by 
the  road  they  took)  of  twelve  miles.*  The 
mutineers,  emboldened  by  the  manifest 
exhaustion  and  insubordination  of  the  Eu- 
ropeans, followed  them  with  a  sharp  run- 
ning fire,  taking  advantage  of  every  tree 
and  inequality  of  ground,  and  inflicting 
severe  loss,  which  would  have  been  still 
heavier  had  not  the  rebels  been  short  of 
ammunition.  There  were  no  dhoolies  for 
the  wounded,  who  trailed  along  their  in- 
jured limbs,  or  were  left  to  perish;  for  the 
only  doctor  who  accompanied  the  party 
was  himself  hit,  atul  incapacitated  for  his 
duties ;  but  the  Seiks  obtained  a  bed 
in  a  village,  and  carried  some  officers 
on  it.  On  reaching  the  ghaut,  the  Euro- 
peans became  perfectly  uncontrollable.  In 
defiance  of  commands  and  entreaties,  they 
rushed  into  the  i)oats,  threw  arms  and  ac- 
coutrements into  the  water,  and  exposed 
themselves  as  a  mark  to  the  rebels,  who 
sunk  two  boats,  and  set  fire  to  a  third. 
Officers  and  privates  stripped  to  the  skin, 
and  sprang  into  the  water.  Three  officers 
and  sixty-three  men,  all  wounded,  were 
among  those  who  reached  the  steamer : 
seven  officers  and  184  men  were  left 
for  dead.  A  French  volunteer  (apparently 
connected  with  the  railway),  who  had  re- 
monstrated against  the  retreat,  gave  valu- 
able assistance  at  the  time  of  embarkation, 
though  himself  hit  and  lamed  ;  managing, 
"  through  his  good  manners  towards  the 
people  [that  is,  the  villagers],"  to  obtain 
a  boat,  and  get  sixty  of  the  wounded  safely 
on  board ;  after  which,  writes  one  of  the 
party,  "  our  Frenchman  remained  behind, 
forgetting  himself  to  save  more  lives.  He 
was  the  last  of  all  who  swam  across  the 
river,  and  happily  he  saved  his  life.  As 
soon  as  he  came  on  board,  he  washed  our 
wounds  and  our  faces  all  round,  and  pro- 
cured us  a  most  welcome  drop  of  rum. "f 

When  the  steamer  regained  Dinapoor, 
she  anchored  opposite  the  hospital,  and  tlie 
spectators  learned  at  once  the  extent  of  the 
disaster.     No  blame  could  in  justice  attach 

expedition,  by  a  private  soldier :  published  in  the 
Star  (December  2nd,  1857) ;  a  journal  remarkable 
for  the  variety  and  accuracy  of  its  Indian  intelligence. 


404  DEFENCE  OF  AURAH— JULY  26th  TO  AUGUST  2nd,  1857 


to  General  Lloyd;  but  popular  clamour 
fixed  on  him  as  a  scapegoat ;  and  the  Cal- 
cutta Phcmix  inserted  the  following  state- 
ment, without  explanation  or  comment : — 

"  A  scene  of  a  most  painful  character  took  place 
at  Dinapoor,  on  the  arriral  there  of  the  remnant  of 
the  forces  sent  against  Arrah.  As  soon  as  the 
news  of  the  repulse  and  consequent  loss  spread 
among  the  women  of  the  lOlh  regiment,  they 
rushed  in  a  hody  to  the  bungalow  of  General 
Lloyd,  and  would  hare  literally  torn  him  to  pieces, 
had  he  not  succeeded  in  barricading  his  bungalow." 

Meanwhile,    the    Arrah    residents    held 
their  ground    manfully;    resistance  haying 
been    rendered    possible   by   the   foresight 
and  energy  of  Mr.  Boyle,  the  district  engi- 
neer of  the  railway  company,   who,  some 
weeks    before   the    Dinapoor    mutiny,    had 
fortified  a  small  detached  two-story  house, 
with  a  flat  roof,  previously  used  for  billiard 
playing,  which  stood  in  the  compound  with 
his  main  dwelling-house,  and  provisioned  it 
with  meal,  corn,  biscuit,  water,  wine,   and 
beer.     On  the  evening  of  the  25th  of  July, 
an  express  from  Dinapoor  announced  that 
a   disturbance   was    apprehended.      Subse- 
quent   messengers   were   sent,    but    inter- 
cepted   by  the    Dinapoor    mutineers,   who 
crossed  the  Soane  the  next  day  at  a  point 
eight  miles  from  Arrah,  and,  on  the  Mon- 
day morning,  marched  into  that  place  and 
released  400  prisoners.     They  were  joined 
by  a  large  number*  of  Kooer  Sing's  people ; 
and  the  combined  force  took  possession  of 
the  government  treasury,  containing  85,000 
rupees  ;  after  which  they  charged  the  bun- 
galow, where  Mr.  Boyle,  Mr.  Wake   (the 
magistrate),  and   his  assistant,  Mr.  Colvin, 
Mr.  Littledale,  the  judge,  and   some  sub- 
officials  and  railway  men,  including  a  Mo- 
hammedan and  several  Eurasians  (sixteen 
in    all),    with    fifty    Seiks,    had   taken    up 
their  position.     There  were  no  women  or 
children    to    be    considered,    and    the   be- 
sieged were  resolved  to  defend  themselves 
to  the  last.     Most  of  the  Europeans,  besides 
revolvers  and  hog-spears,  had  two  double- 
barrelled  guns,  or  a  gun  and  a  rifle,  with 
abundance  of  ammunition ;  and,  providen- 
tially, a  large  surplus,  from  which,  when  the 
Seiks'    supplies  began  to  run  short,   they 
made  some  thousand  cartridges.     The  mu- 
tineers, astonished  at  the  vigour  with  which 

•  Mr.  Boyle  says  there  were  3,000  mutineers,  and 
as  many  dependents  of  Kooer  Sing ;  but  this  seems 
scarcely  possible.  Letter  dated  "  Dinapoor,  August 
\6\}n."— Times,  October  6th,  1857. 

t  Letter  of  Indophilus. —  Times,  October  24th, 
1867. 


their   assault   was   repelled,  changed  their 
tactics ;  and,  from  the  trees  with  which  the 
compound   was  filled,  from   the  out-build- 
ings, and  from  Mr.  Boyle's  dwelling-house, 
they  opened  a  galling  fire  on  the  bungalow- 
fort.     Two  small  cannon  were  brought  to 
bear  on  it,  and  shifted  daily,  according  to 
what    seemed    the    weakest    points;    being 
fired   as   frequently  as  shot  could  be  pre- 
pared, with  which  the   mutineers  were  at 
first    unprovided.      Every    endeavour   was 
made  to  induce  the  Seiks  to  abandon  the 
Europeans  ;  but  to  the  nightly  treacherous 
harangues,  the  answer  agreed  on  was  in- 
variably   given    by    a    volley    of    bullets, 
directed,   at    the  first   pause,   towards   the 
speaker's  hiding-place.      The   Seiks   never 
wavered  for  an  instant  in  loyalty  or  in  dis- 
cipline, and  their  untiring  labour  met  and 
prevented  every  threatened  disaster.    Water 
began  to  run  short ;  a  well  of  eighteen  feet 
by  four  was  dug  in  less  than  twelve  hours. 
The  rebels  raised  a  barricade  on  the  top  of 
Mr.  Boyle's  house ;  that  of  the  bungalow- 
fort  grew  in  the  same  proportion.     A  shot 
shook  a  weak  place  in  the  defences ;  it  was 
made  twice  as  strong  as  before.     The  re- 
bels were  found  to  be  mining;  a  counter- 
mine was  quickly  executed.     The  besieged 
began  to  feel  the  want  of  animal  food;  and 
making  a  sally  at  night,  brought  in  four 
sheep.     In  fact,  they  accomplished  things 
which,  had   they  not  succeeded,  it  would 
have  been  deemed  madness  to  attempt,  and 
which  could  not  have  succeeded  but  for  the 
ignorance    and » disunion    of    the    enemy, 
whose  plans,  if  only  one  of  them  had  been 
energetically  carried  out,  must  have  over- 
powered  the    little   fort.      They   tried   to 
smoke  out  the  Europeans  by  burning  large 
quantities  of  chillies  (red  pepper)  to  wind- 
ward ;t  they  drove  the  horses  of  the   be- 
sieged, including  Mr.  Boyle's  Arab,  up  to 
the  building,  and  left  the  carcasses,  together 
with  the  dead  bodies  of  several  sepoys,  to 
putrefy  within  fifty  yards  of  it.     The  worst 
trial  the  garrison  endured  during  the  seven 
days'   siege,   was    on  Thursday,   the  30th, 
when  they  heard   the   sudden   and  heavy 
volleys  fired  at  Dunbar's  force;  and  as  the 
sound    grew    fainter,   guessed    that    their 
couurymen  had  fallen  into  an  ambush,  and 
that  they  themselves   had   lost  their  best 
and    almost   only  hope   of  succour.      But 
help  came   from    an  imlooked-for  quarter. 
Major  Vincent  Eyre,  an  artillery  officer  of 
repute,  on  his  way  to  Allahabad,  landed  at 
Ghazipoor  (where  the  65th  N.I.  had  been 


RELIEF  OF  ARRAH— MR.  BOYLE'S  REWARD, 


405 


quietly  disarmed  on  the  10th  of  July) 
on  the  28th  of  July,  and  there  learned 
the  state  of  affairs  at  Arrah.  Taking 
it  for  granted  that  a  relieving  force  would 
be  sent  from  Dinapoor,  he  prevailed  upon 
the  authorities  to  allow  him  to  make 
an  attempt  at  co-operation  from  Bnxar,  for 
which  place  he  started  with  only  sixty 
men ;  but,  on  ariiving  there  on  the  30th  of 
July,  he  found  a  steamer  and  flat,  with  150 
of  the  5th  Fusiliers  on  board.  Major  Eyre 
wrote  from  thence  to  inform  General  Lloyd 
of  his  intention  to  march  on  Arrah ;  but 
the  Dinapoor  detachment  had  started  on 
the  previous  day;  co-operation  was  there- 
fore impossible,  and  ought  to  have  been 
needless. 

On  the  evening  of  the  1st  of  August, 
Eyre  marched  from  Buxar  with  little  more 
than  200  men,  two  guns,  and  a  24-pounder 
howitzer.  On  reaching  Shahpoor,  a  village 
eighteen  miles  from  Buxar,  he  learned  the 
news  of  Dunbar's  disaster.  He  pushed  on 
determinedly,  yet  with  all  caution,  under 
cover  of  skirmishers  armed  with  the  dreaded 
Enfield  rifle,  until,  on  arriving  at  a  place 
called  Beebee  Gunj,  the  rebels  attempted 
to  obstruct  his  passage,  but  were  dispersed 
by  a  general  charge  of  the  European  in- 
fantry, leaving  the  road  to  Arrah  clear. 
The  siege  was  raised  forthwith,  and  the 
station  abandoned  by  the  enemy.  On 
examination,  a  hostile  mine  was  discovered 
to  have  been  just  completed,  and  the  gun- 
powder lay  ready  for  the  explosion ;  but  it 
was  a  clumsy  attempt,  and  M'ould  hardly 
have  succeeded,  for  the  powder  was  bad, 
and  another  stroke  of  the  pick  would  have 
broken  into  the  counter-mine.  Only  one  of 
the  besieged  (a  Seik)  had  been  badly  hurt : 
of  Major  Eyre's  force,  two  men  had  been 
killed,  and  sixteen  wounded.  The  part  acted 
by  Kooer  Sing  is  not  clear.  Probably  he 
was  carried  away  by  the  torrent,  and  feeling 
himself  compromised,  preferred  (in  Mr. 
Money's  words)  "rebellion  to  hanging;" 
death  in  open  fight,  rather  than  by  the  rope. 
Terms  were  offered  to  the  garrison,  not  in 
his  name,  but  in  that  of  the  rebel  leader, 
a  subahdar  of  the  8th  N.I.  It  is  stated  by 
Major  Eyre,  that  Kooer  Sing  fled  with  the 
defeated  mutineers,  to  save  his  family,* 
which  makes  it  probable  that  the  chief's 
revolt  was  unpremeditated,  otherwise  he 
would  have  taken  a  previous    opportunity 

*  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (No.  4),  p.  76. 
t  A  donation  of  1,000  rupees  was  also  given  by 
government  to  a  railway  employe,  named  Victor,  for 


of  placing  his  women  in  safety,  according 
to  the  invariable  rules  of  Rajpoot  honour. 
It  is  remarkable  how  little  we  know  of  the 
other  side  of  the  Indian  mutiny:  the  blind- 
ing effect  of  our  ignorance  of  the  native  lan- 
guage and  character,  is  apparent  in  every 
page  of  the  despatches,  especially  in  the 
way  in  which  rebel  leaders  of  note  are 
spoken  of.  "  Put  a  price  on  their  heads — 
confiscate  their  estates" — was  the  sentence 
indiscriminately  pronounced  on  all  real 
and  many  alleged  rebels.  The  first  direction 
was  useless,  even  in  the  case  of  such  a  crea- 
ture as  the  Nana;  the  second,  while  it  gave 
little  relief  to  a  government  which  never 
yet  gained  increase  of  territorial  revenue 
without  more  than  proportionate  increase  of 
governmental  expenditure,  created  a  swarm 
of  enemies;  for  our  system  of  confiscation, 
unlike  that  of  the  Hindoos  and  Mohamme- 
dans— not  content  with  levelling  an  ancient 
family  with  the  dust,  in  punishmeut  for 
the  offences  of  its  chief — extinguishes  the 
mortgages  with  the  estates,  and  ruins  the 
tenants  as  well  as  the  landholder. 

Thus  the  government,  in  munificently 
rewarding  Mr.  Boyle,  by  conferring  on  him 
a  jaghire  of  £1,000  a-year,  and  settling 
£500  a-year  on  his  heirs  for  ever,  destroyed 
the  merit  of  the  act  by  carving  this  im- 
perial gift  out  of  the  property,  not  of  Kooer 
Sing,  but  of  his  creditors. f 

Kooer  Sing's  palace  at  Jugdespoor  was 
said  to  be  held  by  3,000  men,  of  whom  half 
were  sepoys.  Major  Eyre,  reinforced  by 
200  of  the  10th  from  Dinapoor,  marched 
from  Arrah  on  the  11th  of  August;  drove 
the  enemy  from  an  intrenched  position  at 
the  village  of  Dulloor,  back  through  the 
dense  jungle  extending  from  thence  to 
Jugdespoor,  and  entered  the  palace  almost 
unopposed.  Six  men  wounded  formed  the 
total  loss  of  the  British ;  the  enemy's  casu- 
alties were  estimated  at  300.  On  this 
occasion,  the  10th  were  as  ungovernable 
from  fury  as  their  comrades  had  before  been 
from  panic.  Major  Eyre  had  previously 
adopted  the  village-burning  system;  nor 
did  he  neglect  the  present  opportunity 
of  following  out  the  same  incendiary  policy 
on  a  larger  scale.  He  states,  apparently 
without  any  fear  of  censure,  that  after 
pillaging  the  palace,  where  "  much  pro- 
miscuous property  fell  into  onr  hands," 
he  destroyed  the   town,  and    blew  up  the 

his  conduct  at  Arrah.  Probably  this  was  the  French- 
man whose  good  offices  are  so  gratefully  noticed  in 
the  account  of  a  private  soldier,  quoted  at  p.  403 


406      MAJOR  EYRE  REPROVED  FOR  BURNING  HINDOO  TEMPLE. 


palace  and  principal  buildings  around  it, 
including  a  new  Hindoo  temple,  on  which 
Kooer  Sing  had  recently  lavished  large 
sums ;  the  reason  for  the  latter  act 
being,  that  the  Brahmins  had  instigated 
the  chief  to  rebel.  At  the  time  tins  de- 
struction was  committed,  Kooer  Sing  had 
fled,  the  sepoys  had  dispersed,  and  the 
surrounding  country  was  quite  quiet. 
Kooer  Sing  had  another  palace  at  Jutow- 
rali,  some  little  distance  from  Jugdespoor ; 
which  was  destroyed  by  a  detachment  sent 
by  Eyre  for  the  purpose ;  as  were  also 
the  residences  of  Oomar  Sing  and  Dhyal 
Sing,  the  two  brothers  of  the  old  chief.* 

The  above  facts  are  stated  in  the  ac- 
counts published  in  the  London  Gazette: 
there  were  probably  other  and  fuller  ones; 
for  a  letter  dated  "  Diiiapoor,  August  18th," 
speaks  of  an  official  desixitch,  which  de- 
clared that  "  the  behaviour  of  the  men  of  the 
lOtli  was  beyond  all  praise,  and  that  they 
fought  like  demons."     The  writer  adds — 

"  Our  men  eerved  the  sepoys  after  their  fashion 
towards  our  unfortunate  men  at  Arrah,  for  they 
hung  up  the  wounded  and  the  bodies  of  the  Icilled 
Vl)on  trees  along  the  road,  a  mile  and  a-half,  and 
then  proceeded  on  towards  the  palace  of  the  rajah, 
where  they  found  about  fifty  more  of  the  scoundrels 
■concealed,  the  whole  of  whom  were  shot  down  by 
the  10th  men,  who  hung  the  bodies  of  the  sepoys 
with  their  own  blue  shirts  over  the  jvalls,  and  left 
them  to  wither  in  the  sun.  In  this  palace  (if  it 
could  be  called  one),  two  boxes  of  rupees  were 
found,  each  containing  about  4,000.  The  whole 
were  divided  among  the  men,  who  afterwards  burnt 
the  palace  to  the  ground,  as  well  as  all  the  villages 
in  its  vicinity,  and  killed  a  number  of  the  people 
belonging  to  Kooer  Sing."+ 

Wliether  private  as  well  as  public  ac- 
counts reached  head-quarters,  is  matter 
for  conjecture;  but  the  commander-in- 
chief,  after  praising  the  judgment  evinced 
in  the  military  movements  of  the  major, 
expressed,  in  a  short  but  significant  para- 
grapli,  his  regret  at  having  "  to  disapprove 
of  the  destruction  of  the  Hindoo  temple  at 
Jugdespoor  by  Major  Eyre,  under  a  mis- 
taken view  of  the  duties  of  a  commander 
at  this  present  crisis." 

Lord  Canning  and  his  council  were 
already  alarmed  at  the  thirst  for  ven- 
geance manifested  by  individual  officers,  the 
soldiers  of  a  few  regiments,  and  especially 
by  certain  civilians  and  planters.  Some 
of  the  latter,  like  Venables  of  Azimghur 
(the  "terrific  severity"!  of  whose  policy  was 

•  Major  Eyre,  August  \i\.'b.— London  Gazette, 
December  4th,  1857. 

t  Times,  October  7th,  1857. 


admitted  by  his  warmest  admirers),  could 
yet  plead  that  their  presence  preserved 
a  whole  district  from  disorganisation ;  and 
that  the  new  ropes  to  hang  rebels,  so 
largely  indented  for,  were  used  at  the  bid- 
ding of  men  who  were  imperilling  their 
own  necks  by  remaining  at  their  posts,  and. 
upholding  tlie  authority  of  their  govern- 
ment, when  officials  of  weaker  nerve  had 
mounted  their  horses  and  ridden  off  for 
dear  life,  abandoning  public  and  private 
property,  and  leaving  the  peaceably  dis- 
posed at  the  mercy  of  the  insurgents.  A 
mistake  was  at  first  made  in  accepting  the 
lavish  shedding  of  native  blood  as  a 
guarantee  for  vigorous  and  decisive  action. 
Mr.  Tayler,  the  Patna  commissioner,  had  a 
reputation  of  this  kind,  which  he  might 
have  retained,  had  he  been  less  publicly 
and  severely  tested.  On  the  23rd  of  July, 
his  special  coadjutor  (Major  Holmes)  was 
murdered  at  Segowlie.  The  major  and  his 
wife  (the  brave  Lady  Sale's  daughter)  were 
driving  out  in  the  evening.  About  two  miles 
from,  the  lines,  six  12th  Irregulars  seized 
the  reins  of  the  horses,  and  beheaded  both 
the  major  and  Mrs.  Holmes  :  then,  pro- 
ceeding to  the  house  of  the  assistant- 
surgeon,  they  killed  him,  with  his  wife  and 
one  of  their  children ;  and  Mr.  Bennet, 
the  postmaster.  The  regiment  then  rose, 
and  after  the  usual  course  of  plundering 
and  burning,  quitted  the  station. 

Mr.  Tayler  is  further  stated  to  have 
been  influenced  by  the  tidings  from  Haza- 
reebagh,§  where  two  companies  of  the 
8th  N.l.  mutinied  (July  29tli),  robbed  the 
treasury  of  cash,  government  paper,  and 
bank  notes,  to  the  amount  of  74,000 
rupees;  and  released  all  the  prisoners, 
both  iu  the  penitentiary  and  district  gaol, 
to  the  number  of  800.  The  Europeans 
fled  uninjiu'ed  in  one  direction,  and  the 
sepoys  in  another. || 

Notwithstanding  these  outbreaks,  the 
majority  of  the  stations  in  the  Patna  divi- 
sion were  tranquil ;  and  it  was  with  sur- 
prise that  the  officials  at  Chupra,  Mozufl'er- 
poor,  and  Cliumparun,  received  from  the 
commissioner  an  order  to  abandon  their 
respective  posts,  leaving  treasury,  gaol,  and 
district  to  their  fate;  Mr.  Tayler's  object 
being  to  concentrate  the  strength  of  the 
province  at  Dinapoor  and  Patna.  The 
order  was  unconditional;  and  when,  under 

J  See  Times,  October  16th,  1857. 

§  Mutiny  of  the  JScnyal  Army ;  p.  177. 

II  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  u2. 


REMOVAL  OP  MR.  TAYLER.  PATNA  COMMISSIONER. 


407 


I 


a  sense  of  the  humiliation  involved  in 
obedience  to  it,  the  ju<ige  of  Beliar  remon- 
strated, it  was  reiterated  in  a  still  more 
positive  form.  The  magistrate  of  Mozuffer- 
poor  (near  which  station  "  a  large  number 
of  available  English  settlers"  resided)  like- 
wise tried  to  convince  Mr.  Tayler  of  its 
impropriety;  but  failing,  returned  at  once 
to  his  station,  in  direct  disobedietice  of  the 
order,  and  was  rewarded  by  finding  the 
government  treasure  (£90,000)  still  safe,  the 
Native  guards  having  defended  it  against 
sixteen  of  Major  Holmes'  Irregulars,  who 
had  been  beaten  off  from  the  gaol,  treasury, 
and  town,  by  the  guards  and  inhabitants. 

Cliupra  was  threatened  by  a  strong  party 
of  the  ]2th  Irregulars.  There  were,  how- 
ever, "forty-five  European  soldiers  and  a 
hundred  Seiks,  with  Shergotty  and  its  little 
garrison  close  at  hand ;"  and  but  for  the 
commissioner's  peremptory  order,  the  officers 
would  hardly  have  fled  as  they  did,  with  a 
precipitation  "apparently  injudicious  and 
pusillanimous."  The  ill  efi^ects  of  their 
flight  were  averted  by  the  loyalty  and 
spirit  of  a  Mohammedan  gentleman,  whose 
good-will  was  previously  doubted,  named 
Ciizi  Ramzan  Ali.  He  assumed  the  com- 
mand on  the  departure  of  the  English;  kept 
everything  tranquil,  and  held  cutcherry  in 
the  accustomed  manner;  and  when,  their 
recall  being  repudiated,  the  civilians  returned 
with  all  speed  to  their  post,  he  delivered 
over  to  them  the  station,  courts  of  justice, 
prisons,  prisoners  and  all,  in  perfect  order. 

At  the  civil  station  of  Gya,  the  troops 
consisted  of  forty  of  H.M.  84th,  and  116 
Seiks.  The  residents,  in  obedience  to  Mr. 
Tayler's  order,  quitted  the  station  on  the 
morning  of  the  31st  of  July,  abandoning  their 
houses,  property,  the  government  stores, 
and  money,  to  the  amount  of  £70,000. 
They  hud  proceeded  about  three  niiles  on  the 
road  to  Patna,  when  Mr.  Alonzo  Money,* 
the  collector,  and  Mr.  Hollings,  an  opium 
agent,  having  had  some  conversation  on  the 
subject,  resolved  on  returning  to  Gya.     No 


*  In  the  course  of  an  Indian  debate  (see  Times, 
February  9th,  1857)— for  which  both  Lords  and 
Commons  had  "  crammed"  somewhat  hurriedly, 
studying  newspapers  and  Ked  pamphlets,  rather  than 
Blue  Books— the  Earl  of  Derby  lauded  "  the  splen- 
did act  of  insubordination"  performed  by  Alonzo 
Money,  in  maintaining  Gya  in  opposition  to  "  the 
orders  of  his  superiors."  His  lordship,  in  the  same 
Bjjeech,  mentions  "  Commissioner  Tayler,  of  Arrah," 
with  praise,  for  having  taken  "  a  more  enlarged  view 
of  affairs  than  the  government  itself."  The  opinion 
thug  pronounced  rests  upon  a  palpable  misconcep- 


one  chose  to  accompany  them ;  but  they 
found  all  quiet — the  native  police  doing 
duty  at  the  gaol  and  treasury  as  when  they 
left,  and  the  respectable  inhabitants  ready 
to  welcome  their  return.  The  reported 
advance  of  Kooer  Sing,  and  the  position  of 
Gya,  on  the  direct  route  from  Hazareebagh 
to  the  north-west,  induced  Mr.  Money 
again  to  quit  the  station  (August  5th), 
bearing  with  him  the  treasure,  which  was 
safely  forwarded  to  Calcutta  by  the  aid  of 
a  detachment  of  the  64th  Foot. 

The  commissioner  was  pronounced  to 
have  issued  an  order,  under  the  influence  of 
a  panic,  as  discreditable  as  it  had  proved 
disastrous.  He  was  instantly  removed,  and 
Mr.  Farquharson,  the  judge,  directed  to  fill 
his  place  until  Mr.  Sarauells  could  arrive  to 
take  the  duties  of  officiating  commissioner. 
At  this  time  matters  were  very  gloomy 
in  Behar.  Mr.  Tayler's  "ill-judged  and 
faint-hearted  order"f  had  spread  alarm  in 
every  direction.  The  relief  of  Arrah  was 
not  known  at  the  time  of  his  supersession  ; 
and,  in  fact,  he  had  counselled  Major  Eyre 
"to  retire,  and  abandon  the  gallant  gar- 
rison to  their  fate."  J 

In  the  city  of  Patna  great  uneasiness 
existed ;  but  the  removal  of  the  com- 
missioner was  viewed  with  satisfaction  by 
nearly  every  respectable  aud  well-disposed 
resident  in  that  city.§  The  restrictive  and 
coercive  measures  enforced  by  him  were 
abandoned  by  Mr.  Farquharson,  from  a 
conviction  of  their  impolicy  and  inutility; 
the  parade  was  freed  from  the  ugly  gallows ; 
and  the  political  prisoners  were  released, 
"  because  there  was  literally  nothing  against 
them."  Still,  so  much  intrigue  and  party 
spirit  had  been  engendered  among  the 
natives  of  Patna  and  its  neighbourhood, 
including  the  principal  Native  officers,  that 
the  lieutenant-governor,  not  satisfied  with 
securing  in  Mr.  Samuells  "  the  best  man 
available  to  restore  order  and  confidence 
among  the  people,"  felt  it  important 
that    he    should    have   a    respectable    and 

tion  of  the  point  at  issue.  Mr.  Tayler  was  commis- 
sioner, not  of  Arrah,  but  of  Patna,  of  which  Arrah  is 
but  a  district;  and  he  was  the  authority  disobeyed 
by  Mr.  Money,  and  other  subordinate  officials,  whose 
conduct  was  praised  and  rewarded  by  Lieutenant- 
governor  Halliday,  and  the  Supreme  government. 

t  See  Indophilus'  (Sir  C.  Trevelyan)  able  com- 
ments on  Mr.  Tayler's  order  and  its  consequences. — 
Times,  October  2'4th,  1857. 

X  "  Narrative  of  Events,"  by  government  of  Ben- 
gal.— Further  Pari.  Papers,  1667 ;  p.  77. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  7e 


408 


APPOINTMENT  OF  MOONSHEE  AMEER  ALL 


trustworthy  native  subordinate,  unconnected 
with  the  local  disputes,  to  assist  him  in  the 
crisis.  The  appointment  of  Mr.  Samuells 
himself  was  only  temporary,  for  he  was  an 
officiating  judge  in  the  Sudder  Court;  and 
he  recommended  that  government  should 
take  advantage  of  the  services  of  Moonshee 
Ameer  Ali,  a  member  of  a  highly  respect- 
able family  in  the  Patna  district ;  a  vakeel 
of  the  Sudder  Court,  in  large  and  lucrative 
practice;  and  for  many  years  confidentially 
employed  by  the  government  as  their 
vakeel  in  resumption  suits  before  the  spe- 
cial commissioner. 

Accordingly,  Ameer  Ali  was,  on  the  5th 
of  August,  appointed  special  assistant  to 
the  commissioner  of  Patna.  The  salary  of 
700  rupees  per  mensem,  which  was  the 
highest  that  the  lieutenant-governor  had 
power  to  assign  him,  was  avowedly  a  very 
imperfect  compensation  for  the  loss  of 
practice  he  would  undergo  during  his  tem- 
porary absence  from  the  Sudder  Court; 
but  he  was  gr£.tified  by  the  title  of  Khan 
Bahadoor,  and  was  also,  in  order  to  give 
him  a  position  and  consideration  in  the 
division,  appointed  a  deputy  magistrate  in 
all  the  districts  of  the  Patna  division. 

"The  nomination  was  received  with  a 
shout  of  indignation  from  those  who  are 
called  the  Calcutta  public  :"*  nevertheless, 
it  answered  all  the  desired  objects ;  and 
through  the  Moonshee's  influence  and  ex- 
ertions, the  Mohurrum  (a  festival  which 
always  dangerously  stimulates  the  bigotry 
and  belligerence  of  the  Mussulmans)  passed 
off  .more  quietly  than  it  had  ever  been 
known  to  do  in  Patna,  and  that  without 
any  coercion  of  the  people,  or  display  of 
military  force.  Much  apprehension  was 
entertained  regarding  "  the  chance  of  a 
collision  between  the  European  soldiery 
and  the  townspeople;  but  every  means 
were  taken  to  prevent  it  by  closing  all 
spirit-shops  within  reach,  and  by  constantly 
ascertaining  the  presence  of  the  men  by 
roll-call."t 

Another  good  result  of  the  Moonshee's 
brief  but  avowedly  successful  tenure  of 
office  was,  that  it  mitigated  the  alarm 
excited  in  the  minds  of  the  Mohammedan 
community  by  the  violent  tone  adopted 
towards  them  by  the  majority  of  Anglo- 
Indian  journals.     At  all  the  stations  passed 

*  Duke  of  Argyll.— Indian  debate,  February  10th, 
1858. 

t  "  Narrative  of  Events,"  by  government  of  Ben- 
gal.—Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  5),  p.  50. 


by  Mr.  Samuells  on  his  way  up  the  river, 
from  Calcutta  to  Patna,  he  found  the  Mo- 
hammedans "  in  dread,  lest  the  government 
should  issue  an  edict  of  proscription  such 
as  the  Calcutta  papers  advocated ;"  for 
the  natives  "  not  unfairly  argued,  that  under 
the  present  licensing  system,  when  the  gov-- 
ernment  allows  writings  of  this  kind,  which 
are  manifestly  in  violation  of  the  conditions 
of  the  license,  to  continue  unchecked,  it 
must  be  supposed  to  view  them  without 
displeasure." 

The  remarks  of  the  commissioner  were 
corroborated  by  the  heutenant-governor. 
The  latter,  in  adverting  to  the  violent  cen- 
sure heaped  by  the  press  on  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  native  and  a  Mohammedan  to  a 
post  for  which  those  very  circumstances 
helped  to  qualify  him,  observed — 

"  To  persons  of  any  sense  and  knowledga  of 
affairs  it  cannot  be  needful  to  offer  any  refutation 
of  objections  so  founded.  They  come  from  a  class 
of  persons  who  have  made  themselves  ridiculous  in 
the  present  day  by  supposing  and  suggesting,  that 
both  in  regard  to  civil  and  military  operations,  we 
can,  and  ought  to,  act  in  future  by  European  agency 
alone,  without  reposing  any  trust  or  confidence  on 
native  aid — a  thing  impossible,  even  if  it  were  de- 
sirable ;  and  who  are  ignorant  or  forgetful,  that  even 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  infamous  treachery,  cowardice, 
and  cruelty  by  which  so  many  of  our  Indian  fellow- 
subjects  have  disgraced  their  name  and  nation,  there 
have  been  not  a  few  signal  instances  of  courage, 
fidelity,  and  humanity,  on  the  part  of  both  Moham- 
medans and  Hindoos;  and  that  on  more  than  one 
occasion,  natives  of  both  religions  have  remained  to 
face  danger  in  defending  stations  and  positions 
unoccupied  or  abandoned  by  Europeans,  and  have 
evinced  a  loyalty  and  constancy  in  the  service  of  the 
British  government,  which  it  would  be  ag  impolitic 
as  ungrateful  to  overlook  or  to  undervalue."! 

Mr.  Samuells,  after  remarking  that  the 
English  papers  had,  for  many  years  past, 
formed  the  source  to  which  the  native  news- 
writers  looked  for  intelligence,  adduced, 
from  his  personal  knowledge,  evidence 
in  support  of  his  assertion,  that  "  since 
the  revolt  commenced,  the  greatest  anxiety 
had  been  manifested  to  learn  what  the 
English  papers  said ;  and  every  one  for- 
tunate enough  to  get  hold  of  an  English 
paper,  is  called  upon  to  translate  it  for  the 
edification  of  large  circles  of  listeners,  who 
again  retailed  the  news  and  comments  of 
the  journals  in  their  villages."§ 

Let  any  reader  turn  over  a  file  of  the 
Times,  during  the  first  few  months  of  the 

t  "  Narrative  of  Events." — Further  Pari.  Papers 
(No.  5),  p.  25. 

§  Despatch  of  Mr.  Samuells. — Further  Pari. 
Papers,  1858  (No.  7),  p.  101. 


LORD  SHAFTESBURY,  AND  LADY  CANNING'S  ALLEGED  LETTER.    409 


I 


mutiny,  and  judge  the  effect  its  Indian 
articles  were  likely  to  produce,  serving,  as 
they  did,  as  texts  for  the  leaders  of  the 
Friend  of  India,  a  journal  which  abated  little 
of  its  personal  hostility  to  the  leading  offi- 
cials after  the  departure  of  Mr.  Mead, 
and  increased,  rather  than  diminished,  in 
violence  against  the  natives. 

"  There  are  no  measures,"  it  asserted, 
"which  the  government  of  India  can  adopt, 
provided  they  be  of  the  extremest  severity, 
which  will  not  be  cordially  supported  at 
home."  And  in  support  of  this  doctrine, 
the  Friend  especially  dwelt  on  the  cry  for 
vengeance  uttered  in  England,  "  at  a  time 
when  the  Cawnpoor  massacre  was  still  dis- 
believed." "  The  humanitarians"  had,  it 
declared,  disappeared  :*  and  "  the  only  man 
in  England  who  ventured  to  object  to  ven- 
geance, was  stoned  off  the  platform." 

The  latter  assertion  needs  no  refutation 
to  English  readers :  the  former  was  one  of 
those  perverted  truths  which  do  more 
mischief  than  direct  falsehoods.  Certain 
intelligence  regarding  Cawnpoor  had  not 
been  received ;  but  such  circumstantial 
accounts  were  current,  of  fiend-like  crimes 
perpetrated  by  natives  on  the  persons  of 
English  women  and  children,  that  the  story 
of  Cawnpoor,  when  truly  told,  was  less 
painful,  and  incomparal)ly  less  disgusting. 

The  credulity  displayed  in  England 
almost  rivalled  that  of  the  Calcutta  com- 
munity; but  it  was  more  excusable,  in- 
asmuch as  certain  high  authorities  in  Eng- 
land, being  misled  themselves,  gave  the  sanc- 
tion of  popular  name  and  high  social  rank,  to 
reports  which,  without  this  support,  would 
have  neutralised  their  own  venom  by  their 
inconsistency  and  want  of  corroboration. 

No  one  contributed  more  to  inflame  the 
passions  of  the  masses,  and  drown  the 
remonstrances  of  better-regulated  minds, 
than  a  nobleman,  whose  zeal  for  religion, 
and  active  sympathies  for  the  wretched 
of  his  own  land,  gave  him  wide-spread 
influence.  Lord  Shaftesbury  took  the  very 
gloomiest  view  of  the  native  character;  and 
when  the  first  excitement  was  over,  and 
most  persons  began  to  feel  that  even  a  sepoy 
might  be  painted  too  black  ;  the  earl  stated, 
at  a  public  meeting  in  October,  1857,  that 
he  had  himself  seen  a  letter  from  the  highest 
lady  in  India,  describing  how,  "day  by  day, 
ladies  were  coming  into  Calcutta,  their  ears 
and  their  noses  cut  off,  and  their  eyes  put 

•  Friend  of  India,  October  15th,  1857. 
+  Times,  November  2nd,  1857. 
voi„  II.  3  o 


out;"  and  "that  children  of  the  tenderest 
years  have  been  reserved  to  be  put  to 
death,  under  circumstances  of  the  most 
exquisite  torture,  &c.,  &c."t 

For  a  long  time  no  one  ventured  to  doubt 
that  Lord  Shaftesbury  had  actually  seen 
this  most  appalling  statement  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Lady  Canning.  At  length,  when 
crowds  of  widows  and  orphans  returned 
to  England  unmutilated,  and  for  the  most 
part  without  the  slightest  wound  or  bruise 
from  a  native  hand;  and  when  English- 
women were  suffered  to  go  out  to  India,  as 
many  as  forty-three  in  one  ship.J  and  some 
of  them  as  brides — people  began  to  question 
how  far  their  credulity  had  been  imposed 
upon. 

The  weathercock  on  the  top  of  Printing- 
house  Square,  veered  round  from  the 
vengeance  point  about  Christmas,  1857; 
and  early  in  February,  letters  found  place 
in  the  columns  of  the  Times,  from  "  Lovers 
of  Truth,"  and  "Lovers  of  Accuracy," 
questioning  the  assertions  made  at  various 
public  meetings,  and  calling  upon  Lord 
Shaftesbury  to  reiterate  or  retract  that 
volunteered  by  him  three  months  previously. 
His  lordship  gave  a  prompt  and  manly 
reply.  He  owned  to  having  been  wholly 
in  error  regarding  the  alleged  letter;  said 
that,  in  the  heat  of  speaking,  he  might 
have  used  the  words,  "  I  saw,"  instead  of  "  I 
heard  of;"  and  that  when  the  speech  was 
brought  to  him  for  correction,  before  being 
issued  in  a  separate  form,  he  corrected  it 
hastily,  to  "  I  heard,"  instead  of  "  I  heard 
of."§  What  is  this  but  a  version  of  the 
story  of  the  Three  Black  Crows? — only, 
unhappily,  the  blunder,  fabrication,  or  hoax, 
whichever  it  may  have  been,  was  not  a 
harmless  jest.  The  explanation  came  too 
late  to  blunt  the  edge  of  the  swords  it  had 
sharpened ;  too  late  to  prevent  England 
from  disgracing  herself  in  the  eyes  of  con- 
tinental Europe,  by  the  excess  of  her  rage. 

Some  few  statesmen,  like  Sir  John 
Pakington,  strove  to  allay  the  popular 
ferment,  by  suggesting,  that  even  if  the 
sepoys  had  committed  the  crimes  attributed 
to  them,  "  our  hands  were  not  clean."  India 
had  not  been  well  governed :  and  he  spoke 
with  fearless  rectitude  of  the  existence — 

"  Of  official  proof,  that  in  collecting  the  revenue  of 
India,  there  had  been  practised,  in  the  name  of  Eng- 
land— he  would  not  say  by  the  authority,  but  he 
feared  not  without  the  knowledge  of  Englishmen — 

X  Daily  News,  November  Sth,  1857. 
5  Times,  October  2nd  and  4th,  1857. 


THE  VENGEANCE-CRY  OF  THE  "TIMES." 


Id  been  practised  tortures  little  less  horrible 
bse  which  we  now  deplored.  This  must  be 
,  mind  in  the  day  of  reckoning.'" 

But  such  reasoning  was  little  heeded ;  for 
the  war-whoop  uttered  by  the  Times  had 
found  so  loud  an  echo,  that  Mr.  Disraeli 
declared,  he  had  heard  and  read  things  of 
late,  which  made  him  suppose  that  the 
rehgious  opinions  of  the  people  of  England 
had  undergone  sorae  sudden  change,  and 
that  they  were  about  to  forsake  the  worship 
of  Him  whose  name  they  bear,  for  that  of 
Moloch.  He  protested  against  "  meeting 
atrocity  with  atrocity,"  and  taking  Nana 
Sahib  as  a  model  for  the  conduct  of  the 
British  soldier.f 

This  language  hardly  seems  too  strong, 
when  such  stanzas  as  the  Liberavimus 
Animam  of  Punch  were  copied  at  full 
length  in  the  London  journals,  declared  by 
the  Friend  of  India  to  be  "  worth  five  bat- 
talions," and  published  in  the  columns  of 
that  journal,  at  the  Mission  Press  at  Serara- 
poor,  with  every  trick  of  type,  capital  let- 
ters, and  italics,  to  attract  attention.  The 
rhythm  would  be  lost  in  the  translation ;  but 
the  spirit  is  too  terribly  earnest  not  to  affect 
a  native  auditory.  The  threat  of  "  A  ven- 
geance— aye,  darker  than  war  ever  knew," 
for  instance,  is  sufficiently  intelligible;  so 
is  the  sentiment  of  the  following  verses  : — 

"  Who  pules  about  mercy  ?     That  word  may  be  said 
When  steel,  red  and  sated,  perforce  must  retire, 
And  for  every  soft  hair  of  each  dearly  loTed  head, 
A  cord  has  dispatched  a  foul  fiend  of  hell-fire. 

4;  }(c  «  *  }|t  «  * 

"  But  woe  to  the  hell-hounds !     Their  enemies  know 

Who  hath  said  to  the  soldiers  that  fight  in  His 

name, 

'  Thy  foot  shall  be  dipped  in  the  blood  of  the  foe, 

And  the  tongue  of  thy  dogs  shall  be  dipped  in 

the  same.' " 

The  poet  (for  no  ordinary  rhymer  wrote 
these  fierce  lines)  also  spoke  of  "  a  world" 
which  would — 

"  Behold  with  acclaim, 
That  hecatomb  slain  in  the  face  of  the  sun." 

But  this  idea  was  soon  negatived  by  the 
indignation  expressed  by  the  leading  con- 
tinental journals,  at  "the  spirit  of  revenge 
■which  they  assume  to  be  rampant  in  British 
hearts."  These  are  the  words  of  the  Times, 
whiph,  as  early  as  October,  1857,  began  to 
modify  its  language,  and  offer  a  clumsy  vin- 
dication of  its  vengeance-cry;  asserting,  that 
the  British,  whose  opinions  it  was  supposed 

•  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  S.   Pakington's  speech  at 
Worcester,  October,  1857. 

t  Mr.  Disraeli.— rimes,  October  1st,  1857. 


to  represent,  "  are  not  a  cruel  people ;  and, 
"as  conquerors  and  colonists,  we  are  not 
jealous  of  our  imperial  rights  :"  in  proof  of 
which,  it  cited  "  associations  organised  for 
the  express  purpose  of  maintaiuing  the 
claims  of  aborigines  against  British  settlers;" 
which  associations  had  never  before  been 
adverted  to  in  the  journal,  except  in  the 
language  of  censure  or  contempt. 

The  fabrication  of  the  Highlanders  di- 
viding  Miss   Wheeler's   hair,J    is   alluded 
to  in  the  first  of  these  verses.     The  con- 
cluding scriptural  quotation  is  taken  from 
a  Psalm,  which  contains  a  prophecy  con- 
cerning "  the  people  who  delight  iu  war," 
which  the  Times,  or  Friend  of  India,  would 
not  care   to  quote.      As  to  puling    about 
mercy,  the  tendency  of  the  moment  was  in 
an  opposite  direction ;  not  "  maudlin  huma- 
nity"§  or  sympathy  (at  least,  not  for  native 
suffering)  was  in  fashion,  but  rather  maud- 
lin ferocity.     The  Friend  gave  its  readers, 
Indian    and   English,  some  verses    quoted 
from  the  Daily  News ;  remarking,  that  the 
"  Martin  F.  Tupper  who  would  cover  India 
with  '  groves  of  gibbets,'  is  the  man  who, 
as  the  author  of  Proverbial  Philosophy,  sees 
his  writings  on  every  lady's  work-table ;" 
adding,  that  "  the  almost  feminine  weak- 
ness which  renders  those  writings  unread- 
able by  men,  does   but  intensify  his  pre- 
sent expression  of  opinion."     The  opinion, 
heralded  in  a  manner  so  uncomplimentary 
to  the  author  and  his  lady  admirers,  was  to 

"  Hang  every  Pariah  hound. 
And  hunt  them  down  to  death  in  all  the  hills  and 
cities  round." 

The  "  Haman*  of  high  caste"  were  to  have 
lofty  gibbets ;  the  Baal  priests  to  be 
bound  with  "fetters  hard  and  fast;"  and 
as  to  Delhi — that  imperial  city,  whose 
miserable  inhabitants  an  apathetic  govern- 
ment had  suffered  to  fall. into  the  hands  of 
a  horde  of  rebellious  mercenaries — its  fate, 
if  Mr.  Tupper  had  had  the  ordering  of 
affairs,  would  have  been  as  follows : — 

"  But — Delhi  ? — Yes,  terrific  be  its  utter  sack  and 

rout : 
Our  vengeance  is  indelible — when  Delhi  is  wiped 

out, 
And  only  so ;  one  stone  upon  another  shall  not 

stand, 
For  England  swears  to  set  her  mark  upon  that 

traitor  land ! 
Her  mark,  the  hand  of  justice,  the  Cross — a  cross 

of  flame,  &c."|l 

%  See  page  383.  §  Times,  August  8th,  1857. 

II  Friend  of  India,  October   22nd,  1857.     Daily 
News,  Sept.  2nd,  1857.^ 


ABUSE  OP  POWERS  BY  PENAL  COMMISSIONERS-JULY,  1857.    411 


The  Friend  of  India  agreed  with  Mr. 
M.  P.  Tupper,  that  Delhi  should  be  "  wiped 
out,"  not  simply  for  the  sake  of  vengeance, 
but  as  a  proclamation  to  the  whole  of  the 
East,  that  England  "  will  not  tolerate  the 
existence  even  of  a  city  which  can  advance 
an  ancestral  or  traditionary  claim,  to  be 
the  seat  of  any  other  dynasty."*  With  re- 
gard to  the  general  conduct  of  the  war,  the 
Calcutta  correspondent  of  the  Times  quoted 
the  following  sentences  from  the  Friend,  as 
being  "understood  to  represent  the  universal 
idea  of  the  course  to  be  followed :" — 

"  1.  That  in  districts  under  martial  law,  and 
during  actual  warfare,  the  loss  of  life  and  pro- 
perty should  be  regulated  by  military  necessities 
alone. 

"  2.  That  every  mutineer  who  has  taken  up  arms, 
or  quitted  his  ranks,  should  die. 

"  3.  That  every  rebel  who  has  taken  up  arms 
should  die. 

"  4.  That  in  every  village  where  a  European  has 
been  murdered,  a  telegraph  cut,  or  a  dak  stolen,  a 
swift  tribunal  should  exercise  summary  justice. 

"  5.  That  every  village  in  which  a  European  fugi- 
tive lias  been  insulted  or  refused  aid,  should  be 
heavily  fined." 

The  writer  added — "It  is  believed  the 
government  measure  will  fall  short  of  this 
as  regards  the  villagers,  but  not  as  regards 
the  mutineers. "t 

The  early  government  measures  had  sanc- 
tioned greater  severities  than  these,  in  the 
hanging  commissions,  freely  granted  to  any 
and  every  European.  The  Times  even- 
tually admitted  this;  declaring  that,  "  by  its 
two  acts  on  the  subject,  the  Indian  legis- 
lature made  every  indigo-planter  in  the 
country  virtually  a  military  officer;"  and 
the  governor-general  soon  found  reason  to 
regret  the  abuse  of  the  "  enormous  powers" 
confided  to  many  unfit  persons,  of  punishing 
real  or  alleged  rebels  "  by  death,  transporta- 
tion, or  imprisonment,  and  by  forfeiture  of 
all  property  and  efFects."J 

Before  the  close  of  July,  the  government 
became  convinced — 

"  That  the  powers  above  referred  to  had  been,  in 
some  cases,  unjustly  and  recklessly  used ;  that  the  in- 
discriminate hanging,  not  only  of  persons  of  all  shades 
of  guilt,  hut  of  those  whose  guilt  was  at  the  least 
very  doubtful,  and  the  general  burning  and  plunder 
of  villages,  whereby  the  innocent  as  well  as  the 
guilty,  withont  regard  to  age  or  sex,  were  indis- 
criminately punished,  and,  in  some  instances,  sacri- 
ficed, had  deeply  exasperated  large  communities  not 

*  Frie7id  of  India,  October  8th,  1857. 

t  Times,  November  30th,  1857. 

\  Governor-general  in  council,  Dec.  11th,  1957. 

§  Ibid,  Dec.  24th.— Pari.  Papers,  Feb.,  1858. 


otherwise  hostile  to  the  government ;  that  the  cessa- 
tion of  agriculture,  and  consequent  famine,  were  im- 
pending ;  that  there  were  sepcys  passing  through 
the  country,  some  on  leave,  others  who  had  gone  to 
their  homes  after  the  breaking  up  of  their  regiments, 
having  taken  no  part  in  the  mutiny,  but  having  done 
their  utmost  to  prevent  it;  others  who  had  risked 
their  lives  in  saving  their  European  officers  from  the 
sanguinary  fury  of  their  comrades ;  and  that  all  of 
these  men,  in  the  temper  that  at  that  time  generally 
prevailed  among  the  English  officers  and  residents 
throughout  the  country,  and  still  unhappily  prevails 
in  some  quarters,  were  liable  to  be  involved  in  one 
common  penalty ;  and,  lastly,  that  the  proceedings 
of  the  officers  of  government,  had  given  colour  to 
the  rumour,  which  was  industriously  spread,  and 
credulously  received,  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
that  the  government  meditated  a  general  bloody 
prosecution  of  Mohammedans  and  Hindoos,  in  re- 
venge for  the  crimes  of  the  sepoys,  and  only  waited 
for  the  arrival  of  European  troops  to  put  this 
design  into  exeoution.''§ 

Allahabad  and  its  vicinity  was  the  locality 
where  the  greatest  excesses  were  committed  ; 
and,  in  July,  there  appeared  many  indica- 
tions of  the  outbreak  of  a  servile  war.  Mr. 
Moore,  magistrate  of  Mirzapoor,  had  been 
"  particularly  active  in  burning  down  what 
he  considered  disaffected  villages;"  and 
"  he  had  been  warned,  that  if  he  persisted  in 
such  extreme  measures  against  the  natives, 
they  would  at  last  turn  in  self-defence." || 

He  did  persist^ — caused  zemindars  to  be 
hung  before  their  own  doors,  and  went  on 
shedding  blood  like  water,  until,  on  the 
4th  of  July,  a  zemindar,  named  Jorye  Sing, 
with  several  of  his  followers,  surprised  Mr. 
Moore  and  two  planters,  named  Jones  and 
Kemp,  while  bathing  at  Parlay  indigo  fac- 
tory, and  put  them  to  death.  They  cut  off 
Moore's  head,  and  carried  it  away.  That 
evening  Lieutenant-colonel  Pott,  with  fifty 
faithful  47th  N.I.  sepoys,  "scoured  the 
country,  and  burnt  some  villages,"**  but 
failed  to  capture  Jorye  Sing  or  his  asso- 
ciates. An  officer  who  accompanied  the 
expedition,  has  described  the  conduct  of  the 
civilian  who  accompanied  it  as  the  acting 
magistrate. 

"  When  villagers  were  brought  in  as  prisoners, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  questioned,  he  would 
commence  conversation  by  walking  up  to  them 
as  they  squatted  on  the  ground,  and  kicking  their 
naked  bodies  with  his  heavy  riding-boots.  At 
another  time  he  would,  with  his  fist,  strike  the 
unresisting  wretches  in  the  face ;  and  these  gentle 
persuasives  failing,  he  would  have  them  tied  up  to  a 
tree,  and  whipped  with  a  stick  or  piece  of  rope, 

II  Letter  from  European  officer,  dated  "  Allahabad, 
July  16th,  1857."— Stor,  September  3rd,  1857. 
^  See  p.  302. 
••  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857;  p.  129. 


412      LORD  CANNING'S  "  CLEMENCY"  INSTRUCTIONS— JULY  31,  1857. 


until  they  would  give  the  information  he  required. 
This  appeared  to  me  Tery  like  the  old  mode  of 
putting  people  to  torture  to  extract  evidence."* 

Oa  the  11th  of  July,  application  was  made 
from  Allahabad,  for  rockets  of  all  sizes,  to 
clear  villages  with.f  Whether  the  request 
was  granted  or  refused,  does  not  appear;  but 
the  government  found  it  imperative  to  take 
speedy  measures  to  "impress  civil  officers 
invested  with  power  under  the  penal  acts 
of  1857,  with  a  more  just  sense  of  their 
duties  and  responsibilities ;  to  save  innocent 
men  from  shameful  death,  and  iunocent 
families  from  the  destruction  of  home  and 
property;  to  prevent  the  fields  from  re- 
maining un  tilled,  and  the  crops  unsown;  and 
to  assure  the  people  generally  that,  notwith- 
standing all  that  has  passed,  justice — and 
not  vengeance — is  the  policy  of  the  British 
government."  With  this  view,  detailed  in- 
structions were  drawn  up  by  the  governor- 
general  in  council,  on  the  31st  of  July, 
forbidding  civilians  from  punishing  auy 
unarmed  man  as  a  mere  deserter,  and  pro- 
hibiting the  indiscriminate  burning  of  vil- 
lages. Several  commissions  were  with- 
drawn, including  those  held  by  Messrs. 
Irvine,  Palmer,  and  Sandys,  at  Allahabad. J 
As  a  further  check  on  the  vindictive  spirit 
displayed  in  that  city,  Mr.  Grant  was  sent 
thither,  on  the  28th  of  August,  as  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  the  Central  Provinces. 
A  loud  outcry  was  raised  against  these  pro- 
ceedings; and  "clemency"  Canning,  and 
"  anti-hangman"  Grant,  were  very  un- 
popular. The  latter  was  compelled  to  de- 
fend himself,  officially,  against  a  wholly  un- 
founded charge  of  having  released  150Cawn- 
poor  rebels  imprisoned  by  General  Neil.§ 

Before  long,  even  the  Times  admitted,  that 
"the  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the  sepoys 
might  perhaps  have  led  to  the  revolt  of  the 
Bombay  and  Madras  armies." || 

Indeed,  circumstances  occurred  in  the 
Bombay  presidency,  on  the  very  day  on 
which  the  "clemency"  instructions  were 
dated,  calculated  to  create  great  doubt  as 
to  the  soundness  of  the  Bombay  army. 

Kolapoor  is  a  native  state,  bounded  on 
the  north  and  north-east  by  Sattara;  on 
the  east  and  south  by  the  British  coUecto- 
rate  of  Belgaum  ;  and  on  the  west  by  Sawunt 
Warree  and  the  British  collectorate  of  Rut- 

•  Letter  of  officer.— 5<or,  September  23rd,  1857. 
t  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857;  p.  114. 
X  Friend  of  India,  August  27th,  1857. 
5  The  Times'  leader  (Oct.  29lh,  1857)  which  con- 
tains this  and  other  unfounded  charges  against  Mr. 


nagherry.  In  1844,  the  management  of  this 
state  was  forcibly  assumed  by  the  British 
government,  the  queen-mother  set  aside 
on  the  plea  of  misgovernment,  and  affairs 
carried  on  in  the  name  of  the  young  rajah, 
"whose  authority  (Mr.  Thornton  writes  in 
the  last  edition  of  his  Gazetteer)  remains  in 
abeyance."  The  family  of  the  rajah,  whose 
rights  were  thus  summarily  dealt  with,  trace 
their  descent  from  Sevajee,  the  founder  of 
the  Mahratta  empire :  the  inhabitants  of 
the  state  are  chiefly  Mahrattas  and  Ramoo- 
sees,  the  class  in  which  Sevajee  found  his 
best  and  stanchest  adherents. 

On  the  31st  of  July,  the  27th  Bombay 
N.l.  (a  regiment  mainly  raised  in  the  tur- 
bulent native  state  of  Sawunt  Warree,  in 
1844)  was  quartered  at  Kolapoor.  The 
mutiny  commenced  as  many  others  had 
done.  At  night,  just  as  the  officers  were 
separating  after  mess — some  to  play  bil- 
liards, some  going  quietly  home  to  bed — 
the  Native  officers  rushed  in  a  body  to  their 
commander.  Major  RoUand,  to  tell  him 
there  was  a  partial  mutiny  in  the  regiment. 
The  Kolapoor  irregular  infantry,  and  a 
portion  of  the  27th  N.I.,  remained  faithful ; 
but  when  the  officers  tried  to  form  them 
into  line  to  oppose  the  mutineers,  each 
man  looked  at  his  fellow  with  distrust;  and 
in  the  darkness,  the  heavy  rain,  noise  and 
confusion,  the  Europeans  carried  off  the 
ladies  and  children  to  the  Residency,  about 
two  miles  from  the  native  lines,  and  left  the 
rebels  to  loot  the  native  bazaar,  rob  the 
quarter-guard  of  50,000  rupees,  and  pillage 
the  store-room  of  all  the  available  ammuni- 
tion. The  next  morning  140  men  were 
found  to  have  absconded.  Three  young 
officers,  the  eldest  of  whom  (Lieutenant 
Norris)  was  only  twenty-four,  were  also 
missing.  It  appears  that  they  had  fled  to 
the  jungle,  thinking  the  whole  regiment 
had  risen;  and  were  overtaken  and  killed 
by  the  mutineers  on  the  2nd  of  August. 
In  the  course  of  the  first  day  after  the  mu- 
tiny, seventy-four  rebels  were  captured,  but 
could  not  be  brought  to  trial,  on  account  of 
the  critical  state  of  the  regiment,  until  the 
arrival  of  European  troops.  News  of  the 
rising  had  been  telegraphed  to  Sattara; 
and  Lieutenant  Kerr,  the  adjutant  of  the 
South  Mahratta  Horse,  instantly  started  for 

Grant,  is  followed  by  an  article  on  the  "  extreme 
facility"  of  lying,  as  a  contrivance  for  creating  facts 
—or  what  are  as  good  as  facts  for  the  time — with- 
out the  smallest  difficuhy. 
!|  I'imes,  February  6th,  1858. 


KOLAPOOR  MUTINY— BOMBAY  PRESIDENCY— JULY  31st,  1857.      413 


Kolapoor  with  fifty  troopers,  reaching  his 
destiuation  on  the  morning  of  the  3rd, 
liaving  ridden  seventy-six  miles  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  not  lost  a  single  man  or 
horse  by  the  way,  although  they  had  swam 
three  deep  and  rapid  rivers,  usually  deemed 
impracticable  iu  the  rains.*  Kolapoor  was 
saved.  European  reinforcements  were  sent 
from  Bombay  and  Poonah.  The  regiment 
was  disarmed,  and  courts-Yna^ti^d  held ;  the 
result  of  which  was,  that  sixty-three  sepoys 
were  executed,  sixty-six  transported  for  life, 
eighteen  sentenced  to  imprisonment,  four 
reprieved  and  admitted  as  evidence,  and 
fourteen  acquitted. f 

The  Kolapoor  mutiny  caused  great  ex- 
citement at  Sattara.  The  annexation  of 
that  state  has  been  already  narrated.  Per- 
haps uo  Indian  prince  was  ever  worse  treated 
by  the  East  India  Company,  than  the  good 
and  able  ruler  deposed  by  them  in  1839. J 
The  people  felt  his  wrongs  deeply,  and  the 
lapse  of  years  had  failed  to  reconcile  them 
to  British  rule.  The  testimony  of  Lord 
Elphinstone  is  decisive  on  this  point: — 

"  The  annexation  of  Sattara  was  far  from  being 
popular  among  the  people  of  that  province.  The 
upper  classes,  especially,  regarded  the  introduction 
of  British  rule  with  dislike;  and  all  classes  of  Mah- 
rattas  looked  with  regret  upon  the  extinction  of  the 
Ime  of  the  great  freebooter,  who.  delivered  them 
from  the  Mohammedan  yoke,  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  that  wide-spread  confederacy  which  has  been 
called  the  Mahratta  Empire."§ 

In  the  course  of  the  mutiny,  the  British 
had  been  repeatedly  taunted  with  their  ill- 
treatment  of  the  rajah  of  Sattara;  and  fears 
were  entertained  that  an  attempt  might  be 
made  to  restore  the  state  to  independence, 
under  a  representative  of  the  House  of 
Sevajee.  The  widows  of  the  last  two  rajahs, 
with  their  adopted  sons,  had  been  permitted 
to  occupy  the  royal  palaces,  and  to  keep  up 
as  much  state  as  their  limited  means  would 
allow.  Mr.  Rose,  the  chief  civil  officer  iu 
Sattara,  saw  reason  to  believe  that  a  plot 
was  being  formed  "  for  the  restoration  to 
the  gadi  of  the  adopted  son  of  the  elder 
branch;" II  and,  as  the  speediest  mode  of 
counteraction,  he  caused  the  two  Ranees 
and  their  sons  to  be  seized  by  night,  re- 
moved them  to  Butcher's  Island,^  and  re- 

*  Letter  from  officer  of  27th  N.I. — Daily  News, 
November  3rd,  1857. 

t  Pari.  Papers  regarding  regiments  which  have 
mutinied ;   p.  70. 

X  See  vol.  i.,  p.  432. 

§  Minute  by  Lord  Elphinstone,  August  18th, 
1859.— London  Gazette,  October  7th,  1859. 


solved  on  their  detention  as  state  prisoners 
(although  there  was  uo  accusation  of  con- 
nivance on  their  part)  until  tranquillity 
should  be  restored.  The  fragmentary  in- 
formation furnished  in  the  official  or  other 
gazettes  and  journals,  does  not  affurd  the 
means  of  framing  a  connected  account  of 
proceedings  at  Sattara;  but  it  is  certain 
that  a  uumber  of  lives  were  taken  at  various 
times,  as  the  penalty  for  conspiring  to 
restore  the  native  raj.  A  singular  circum- 
stance was  connected  with  one  of  these 
executions.  On  the  8th  of  September 
eighteen  men  were  brought  out  to  die,  of 
whom  five  were  to  suffer  death  by  hanging, 
seven  to  be  shot,  and  six  to  be  blown  away 
from  guns.  One  of  the  guns,  to  which  a 
native  was  fastened,  could  not  be  fired, 
although  primed  and  loaded  twice :  there- 
fore, after  some  delay,  the  wretched  man 
wa«  unbound,  and  shot  by  a  file  of  the  3rd 
Europeans.**  Througliout  the  mutiny, 
Lord  Elphinstone  was  warmly  supported  by 
the  governor-general  of  Portuguese  India 
— the  Viscount  de  Torres  Novas.  In  per- 
mitting the  British  troops  to  land  at  Goa, 
in  the  monsoon  of  1857,  he  acted  in  opposi- 
tion to  his  council,  and  in  violation  of  the 
Portuguese  laws.  His  conduct  was,  how- 
ever, approved  in  Portugal,  and  a  bill  of 
indemnity  passed,  absolving  him  from  any 
penalties  he  had  thereby  incurred. ft 

After  the  mutiny  at  Kolapoor,  symptoms 
of  disaffection  were  noticed  in  several  por- 
tions of  the  Bombay  army  ;  and  on  the  13th 
of  September,  the  men  of  the  21st  N.I.  were 
disarmed  at  Kurrachee. 

The  mode  of  dealing  with  the  disarmed 
sepoys  was  fiercely  discussed  in  the  closing 
months  of  the  year  1857.  It  was  a  difficult 
question ;  for  several  regiments  (like  the 
governor-general's  body-guard  at  Calcutta, 
after  the  Dinapoor  affair)  had  been  deprived 
of  their  arms,  under  the  most  positive  assur- 
ances that  the  measure  was  purely  a  tempo- 
rary precaution.  The  ultra-vengeance  party 
showed  special  rancour  against  these  men, 
and  recommended,  that  "  every  disarmed 
sepoy  should  be  put  in  irons,  and  made  to 
work  on  the  roads. "J J  Another  suggestion 
was,   to  send   them    to    Saugor   Island    (a 

II  Minute  by  Lord  Elphinstone,  August  18th, 
1659.— London  Gazette,  October  7th,  1859. 

^  An  islet  in  the  Bombay  Harbour. 

*•  Friend  of  India,  October  1st,  1857. 

tt  Minute  by  Lord  Elphinstone. 

\X  Englishman.  Quoted  in  Friend  of  India,  Octo- 
ber 1st,  1857. 


414 


MISCONDUCT  OP  H.M.  10th  AT  DINAPOOR. 


barren  island  at  the  month  of  the  Hooghly), 
and    let   them   shoot   tigers    with   greased 
cartridges,  nntil  they  volunteered  to  serve 
in  China ;  and  several  regiments  were  even- 
tually sent  thither,  although  foreign  service 
was   expressly   excluded   by   the   terms   of 
enlistment.      The    wild    and    exaggerated 
expressions  used  by  newspaper  correspon- 
dents, would  probably  have  produced  little 
effect  on  educated  Europeans,  who  incline, 
more  or  less,  to  Mr.  Russell's  view  of  those 
"  curious  exponents  of  diseased  ideas,  called 
newspapers ;"    but   the    sepoys    looked   to 
them  for  information  of  the  intentions  of 
the   Feringhee :    and   the   otherwise   inex- 
plicable mutiny  of  disarmed  regiments,  is 
accounted  for  by  their  belief  that,  as  their 
ruin  was  resolved  on,  they  had  better  die 
at   once  in  open   revolt.     Except   for   the 
sake  of  those  dependent  on  him  (and  they 
are  always  numerous,  for  celibacy  is  scarcely 
known    in    India ;    and    our    government 
makes  no  provision  for  the  aged,  the  desti- 
tute,   or   the    incurably    sick),   the    sepoy, 
whether  Hindoo  or  Mussulman,  has  little 
fear  of  death :    the   creeds  of   both  teach 
them  too  much,  and  too  little,  to  leave  room 
for  the  mystery  which   shrouds  the  Dark 
Valley  in  the  mind  of  civilised,  infidels   (if 
such  there  be),  or  the  fears  which  make  it 
terrible  even  to  Christians.     The  only  point 
on  which  the  mutineers  were  sensitive,  was 
as  to  the  mode  of  execution.     The  sepoys 
had   a  half  aristocratic,  half  superstitious 
shrinking  from  the  halter,  or  the  barbarous 
and  disgusting  process  of  blowing  from  guns. 
The  Times  exulted  over  this  weakness,  and 
declared  that  there  were  "  few  persons  who 
would  not  think  a  simple  extermination  of 
the  sepoys  on  the  field  of  battle  rather  a 
tame   conclusion    of  the   affair."      In   the 
same  leading  article,  an  assertion  was  made 
(which  needs  no  other  contradiction  than 
the   public  speeches   reported   in  its    own 
columns),    that    "  ladies    and    gentlemen, 
preachers  of  all  persuasions,  and  speakers  of 
all  platforms — every  tongue,  every  pen,  de- 
mands the  destruction  of  70,000  sepoys;" 
condemning  "  all  who  are  ever  so  remotely 
compromised  in  these  crimes,  as  fallen  be- 
low the  level  of  humanity — degraded  to  a 
low  class  of  brutes,  fit  only  to  be  knocked 
on  the  head,  or  crushed  under  the  foot."* 

Times,  October  21st,  1857. 
t  Ibid.,  October  24th,  1857. 
T  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  39. 
§  Daily  News,  October  16th,  1857. 
II  The  Europeans  tried   for   murder   were   even- 


The  journalist  out-Tuppered  Tupper;  for 
the  latter  made  an  exception  in  favour  of 
the  "  Abdiels  of  our  guard,"  the  faithful 
few  who  had  resisted  "the  will  of  the 
army,"  and,  amid  general  defection,  stood 
firmly  by  their  officers.  The  Times  made 
no  such  exceptions,  but  defended,  as  "wild. 
justice,"t  an  onslaught  on  them  by  British 
soldiers,  which  had  been  publicly  de- 
nounced by  the  highest  military  authority 
as  "  cold-blooded  murder." 

The  outrage  in  question  was  committed 
at  Dinapoor,  after  General  Lloyd  had  been 
removed  from  the  divisional  command, 
and  threatened  with  a  trial  by  court-mar- 
tial, "for  his  conduct  connected  with  the 
mutiny  of  the  troops."J  His  disgrace  de- 
prived the  natives  (whether  citizens  or 
sepoys)  of  a  friend ;  and  the  10th  became 
daily  more  drunken  and'  insubordinate. 
About,  a  hundred  of  the  unfortunate 
40th  N.I.  had  remained  stanch,  and  re- 
fused to  accompany  their  mutinous  com- 
panions. The  men  of  the  10th,  on  their 
return  from  the  Jugdespoor  expedition 
(which,  with  its  slaughter,  burnings,  and 
Ijlunder,  was  not  calculated  to  improve 
their  discipline),  went  to  the  place  where 
the  faithful  sepoys  were  encamped,  dragged 
them  into  the  barrack  yard,  and  com- 
menced slaughtering  them  with  bullets  and 
bayonets.  At  the  sound  of  the  firing,  the 
whole  station  turned  out  in  alarm :  the 
authorities  hastened  to  the  spot,  and  be- 
held a  scene  which  one  of  the  witnesses 
describes  as  not  easily  to  be  forgotten. 
"Wounded  sepoys,  dead  and  dying;  one 
sepoy  had  five  bayonet  thrusts ;  one  shot 
just  in  the  centre  of  the  forehead  ;  another's 
mouth  shattered  by  shot :  all  groaning 
pitifully  in  their  agonies."§  Before  the 
massacre  could  be  stayed,  five  victims  had 
been  killed  and  twelve  wounded,  including 
a  woman.  The  affair  would  probably  have 
been  hushed  up,  had  not  Sir  James  Out- 
ram  arrived  at  Dinapoor  (August  17th) 
while  the  court  of  inquest  was  sitting.  || 
He  issued  a  general  order,  expressing  "  the 
utmost  horror  and  indignation"  at  the  con- 
duct of  the  men  of  the  10th,  and  left  a  hun- 
dred men  of  the  5th  Fusiliers  "to  perform 
the  town  duties,  which  could  not  safely  be 
entrusted  to  the  10th  regiment,  under  the 

tually  acquitted,  in  default  of  legal  evidence.  Sir 
Colin  Campbell  approved  the  finding  of  the  court, 
but  blamed  the  "  naste  and  carelessness"  with  which 
it  had  been  drawn  up. — Times,  December  2nd, 
1857. 


ASSASSINATION  OF  SIR  NORMAN  LESLIE— JUNE  12th,  1857.       415 


lax  discipline  and  exasperated  feelings  it 
displays  towards  natives  of  all  classes."* 
Neither  was  General  Outram  satisfied  with 
the  conduct  of  the  Dinapoor  functionaries, 
who,  influenced  hy  causeless  alarm,  had  re- 
called the  90th  regiment,  which  had  passed 
up  the  river  four  days  before,  on  its  way  to 
Cawnpoor.  The  panic  was  occasioned  by 
the  defection  of  the  5th  irregular  cavalry  at 
Bhaugulpoor ;  and  that  defection  had  itself 
originated,  or  been  hastened,  by  a  similar 
cause.  The  steamer  and  flat,  with  General 
Outram  on  board,  anchored  off  Bhaugul- 
poor on  the  15th  of  August;  and  a  report 
was  spread  by  two  mutinous  sowars,  that 
the  5th  cavalry  would  be  surprised  and 
disarmed  in  the  night.  Therefore  the  men 
mounted  and  fled,  leaving  all  their  pro- 
perty, except  the  horses,  which  were  their 
own,  behind  them.  Half  of  the  Native 
officers  remained  stanch.  The  head-quar- 
ters of  the  regiment  had  been  recently 
changed  from  Rohnee  to  Bhaugulpoor,  in 
consequence  of  an  event  which  occurred 
at  the  former  place  on  the  12th  of  June. 

There  were  then  no  troops  except  the  5th 
irregular  cavalry  at  Rohnee,  and  no  suspi- 
cion was  entertained  of  their  disloyalty. 
The  three  European  officers.  Major  Mac- 
donald,  Sir  Norman  Leslie  (the  adjutant), 
and  Dr.  Grant,  were  taking  tea  in  the 
verandah  of  the  major's  bungalow,  when  a 
rush  of  feet  was  heard,  and  three  men,  with 
drawn  swords,  sprang  upon  the  Europeans. 
Macdonald,  starting  from  his  chair,  seized  it 
by  the  arms,  and  after  receiving  three  sword- 
cuts  on  the  head  in  quick  succession,  and 
finding  himself  as  "neatly  scalped  as  any 
Red  Indian  could  do  it,"t  he  contrived  to 
give  "  an  ugly  poke"  to  his  opponent, 
"  which  appeared  to  disconcert  him,  and  he  at 
once  bolted,  followed  by  the  others."  The 
doctor  was  severely  wounded ;  but  the  adju- 
tant was  covered  with  gashes.  The  first 
thrust,  which  he  received  sitting  in  his 
chair,  "cut  clean  through  his  back  into  his 
chest,  so  that  he  breathed  through  the 
wound  in  the  lungs."  But  he  was  quite 
sensible;  and  when  his  companions,  with 
their  own  wounds  scarcely  stanched,  bent 
over  him,  he  exclaimed,  "It  is  very  hard 
to  die  in  this  manner.  My  poor  wife  and 
children  !  what  will  become  of  them  !"  He 
then  "applied  himself  to  make  his  peace 

•  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  153. 
t  Letter   by    Major   Macdonald. — Further  Pari. 
Papers  (not  numbered),  1857;  p.  23. 
I  Ibid. — Daily  News,  August  6th,  1837. 


with  God,  and  breathed  his  last  in  about 
half-an-hour."J  The  struggle  was  brief 
and  silent.  The  major  did  not  call  for 
help,  believing  that  the  assassins  were  men 
of  his  own  regiment,  and  would  be  seconded 
by  other  mutineers.  But  he  failed  in  recog- 
nising them ;  and  the  doctor  thought  that 
they  were  uot  troopers.  The  Native  officers 
concurred  in  endeavouring  to  trace  the 
criminals,  and  three  5th  men  were  seized, 
two  of  whom  "were  found  with  bloody 
clothes ;"  and  the  third  "  confessed  that  he 
had  done  for  Leslie;"  and  this  was  evidence 
enough.  The  major  had  them  ironed,  held 
a  drum-head  court-martial,  and  sentenced 
them  to  be  hanged  the  next  morning. 
It  is  strange  that  neither  the  major  nor 
the  doctor  could  verify  the  convicts.  One 
of  them  was  "of  very  high  caste  and  in- 
fluence," and  a  low-caste  man  was  chosen 
to  hang  him.  The  other  two  were  recruits. 
The  regiment  was  drawn  out,  and  the  major 
stood  by  with  his  loaded  pistol  in  his  hand, 
while  an  elephant  was  brought  up.  One 
of  the  doomed  men  mounted  this  novel 
scaff'old,  and  the  noose  was  slipped  over  his 
throat.  The  animal  was  then  driven  off". 
Three  times  the  process  was  repeated ;  after 
which  the  corpses  were  left  dangling,  and 
the  men  retired  quietly  to  their  lines,  leav- 
ing the  major  scarcely  able  to  believe  that 
his  head  was  still  on  his  shoulders. § 

Altogether,  this  aff'air  forms  one  of  the 
strangest  episodes  in  the  whole  mutiny. 
It  seems  doubtful  whether  the  men  who 
were  executed  for  the  crime  were  the  actual 
perpetrators.  The  surrender  of  the  cri- 
minals was  demanded,  as  needful  for  the 
honour,  probably  for  the  existence,  of  the 
corps ;  and  the  character  of  both  Hindoos 
and  Mohammedans,  renders  it  easy  to  be- 
lieve that  three  men  might  be  chosen  by 
lot,  or  tempted  by  the  pledge  of  provision 
for  their  families,  to  die,  for  the  sake  of 
preserving  their  comrades.  "  It  was  boasted 
at  the  time,  that  one  of  the  assassins  was 
hung  by  his  own  father,  in  order  to  show 
the  loyalty  of  the  regiment." || 

The  writer  (an  American  missionary  from 
Allahabad)  who  mentions  this  unnatural 
proceeding,  adds,  that  it  was  "  only  a  blind," 
and  that  the  regiment  was  biding  its  time. 
But  this  supposition  does  not  account  for 
the  neglect  of  a  tempting  opportunity  of 

§  Extract  of  a  letter  written  by  Major  Macdonald. 
— Times,  September  10th,  1857. 

jl  Statement  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hay. — Times,  Septem- 
ber, 1837. 


416      THE  5th  I.C.   DISARMED  AT  BERHAMPOOR— AUGUST  1st,    1857. 


revolt;  and  it  is  more  probable  that  the 
eventual  defection  of  the  5th  cavalry  vras 
(as  Major  Macdonald  asserted)  occasioned 
by  sheer  panic.  Not  that  it  was  to  be 
expected  that  this  or  any  other  corps  could 
be  safely  employed  in  hostile  operations 
against  their  own  countrymen  and  co- 
religionists, at  the  bidding  of  a  foreign 
master.  They  might,  in  an  extreme  case, 
have  stood  on  the  defensive ;  but  that  they 
should  take  an  offensive  part  in  such  a 
struggle,  was  opposed  to  all  natural  feeling, 
all  conventional  usage.  That  fathers  should 
hang  their  own  sons,  and  brothers  fight 
against  brothers,  was  rather  more  than  the 
sternest  military  code  could  exact. 

Certainly  the  5th  I.C.  had  no  desire 
to  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  their 
officers ;  for,  instead  of  taking  the  lives  of 
the  wounded  and  defenceless  Europeans, 
they  sat  up  all  night  after  the  assault, 
watching  round  them,  and  were,  for  the 
two  subsequent  months,  obedient  and  loyal. 
The  major  had  perfect  confidence  in  them  ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  pain  he  suffered 
from  the  injury  he  had  received  in  the 
head,  and  the  danger  of  fever  he  would  not 
delegate  his  duties  to  other  hands,  declaring 
he  would  stay  and  die,  rather  than  trust  any 
strange  officer  with  the  men.*  At  his 
suggestion,  the  head-quarters  were  removed 
from  Rohnee,  which  was  an  isolated  posi- 
tion, surrounded  by  nullahs,  to  Bhaugul- 
poor.  After  the  mutiny  at  that  place,  the 
detachments  at  Rohnee  and  Doomkee  ab- 
sconded also;  and  thus  another  efficient 
cavalry  regiment  was  added  to  the  hostile 
ranks.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  5th 
Irregulars  were  alarmed  by  the  treatment 
of  other  regiments,  and  especially  by  the 
seizure  of  the  horses  of  the  Uth  Irregulars 
at  Berhampoor. 


Berhampoor  had  been,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, the  scene  of  the  first  mutiny.f  At 
the  end  of  July  it  was  held  by  the  11th 
cavalry  and  the  63rd  N.I.  These  troops 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  resist  the  ex- 
ample of  mutiny,  after  it  had  come  so  near 
to  them  at  Dinapoor.  Therefore  Colonel 
Campbell,  C.B.,  the  officer  in  command  of 
H.M.  90th,  being  sent  with  his  regiment 
up  the  Ganges,  was  directed  to  disembark 

*  Further  Pari.  Papers  (not  numbered),  1857  ; 
p.  23. 

t  See  page  129. 

X  Colonel  Campbell's  Letter.— rime»,  October  16th, 
1857. 


at  Berhampoor  quietly  and  expeditiously, 
and  to  disarm  the  Native  troops,  including 
some  artillery.  He  landed,  under  heavy 
rain,  on  the  1st  of  August,  and  had  paraded 
and  disarmed  the  infantry  before  the  cav- 
alry reached  the  ground.  They  came  from 
a  distance  of  five  miles,  and  expected  to 
meet  only  a  detachment  of  H.M.  35th. 
Colonel  Campbell,  who  had  been  but  a  few 
days  in  India,  looked  -with  admiration  at 
the  troopers,  and  afterwards  declared  that, 
as  regarded  riders,  horses,  and  equipments, 
he  had  never  seen  their  equal.  They 
were  splendid  men,  but  savage  beyond 
expression,  and  with  swords  like  razors.  J 
They  might  well  be  savage  at  being  com- 
pelled to  surrender  their  valuable  horses 
and  arms,  which,  being  irregular  troops, 
were  their  own  property ;  and  this  without 
any  compensation,  simply  on  the  ground 
that  they  might  not  be  tempted  to  revolt. 
Colonel  Campbell  says — "  They  had  no 
idea  that  their  fine  horses  would  be  taken 
from  them ;  if  they  had  thought  so  they 
would  have  gone  off  in  a  body."  Some  of 
them  put  their  feet  in  their  stirrups  to  re- 
mount; but  the  colonel  seeing  this,  ad- 
vanced a  line  of  skirmishers,  and  cut  off 
their  retreat.§  "They  told  the  sepoys 
afterwards,"  he  writes,  "that  they  we're 
cowards  to  give  up  their  arms,  and  that 
if  they  had  waited  until  they  came  up, 
they  would  have  fought  us;  but  that  my 
men  were  so  placed,  they  could  not  escape. 
When  ordered  to  disarm,  they  obeyed ;  but 
some  broke  their  swords ;  others  threw 
their  pouches  into  the  air;  and  when  their 
horses  were  led  from  the  field,  they  pulled 
off  their  long  jack-boots  and  spurs,  and 
pitched  them  away."||  Colonel  Campbell 
accomplished  his  painful  task  with  much 
tact;  made  allowance  for  the  excitement  of 
the  troopers ;  and,  "  of  course,  treated 
them  as  a  regiment  having  committed  no 
crime." 

The  90th  left  Berhampoor  on  the  3rd 
of  August,  and  arrived  off  Dinapoor  on  the 
12th.  They  passed  on  up  the  river;  but 
the  Dinapoor  authorities,  on  hearing  of  the 
defection  of  the  5th  Irregulars,  had  recalled 
them  in  the  fit  of  panic  already  mentioned. 
They  also  detained  the  5th  Fusiliers. 
General    Outram  learned  this  on  his  own 

§  Letter  by  "  Instructor  of  Musketry ;"  present 
with  the  90th  at  Berhampoor. — Daily  News,  October 
24th,  1857. 

II  Colonel  Campbell's  Letter. — Times,  October  15th, 
1857. 


OUTRAM  LEAVES  HAVELOCK  TO  COMMAND  LUCKNOW  FORCE.      417 


upward  journey,  and,  anxious  to  avoid  any 
delay  in  relieving  Lucknow,  and  to  prevent 
tlie  disease  which  he  foresaw  would  be 
engendered  by  needlessly  detaining  the 
troops  on  board  crowded  boats  during 
intensely  hot  weather,  he  sent  his  private 
secretary  and  aide-de-camp  (Messrs.  Money 
and  Sitwell)  on  foot,  at  ten  o'clock  at 
night,  from  where  the  steamer  had  an- 
chored, to  the  city  of  Patna,  a  distance  of 
seven  or  eight  miles,  to  dispatch  an  express 
to  forbid  the  detention  of  the  reinforce- 
ments. But  it  was  too  late;  the  90tli  had 
received  their  recall,  and  the  consequences 
foreseen  by  General  Ontrani  took  place. 
Owing  to  mismanagement  at  Calcutta,  the 
troops  had  already  had  "  a  perfectly  mise- 
rable voyage;  black  biscuit,  and  stinking 
meat"  for  food ;  no  place  to  lie  on  but  the 
bare  deck,  exposed  to  the  weather  night  and 


day,  and  almost  eaten  up  with  sandflies  and 
mosquitoes.  They  had  left  Dinapoor  five 
days,  and  had  reached  Buxar,  a  distance  of 
about  120  miles,  when  they  were  suddenly 
recalled.  The  troops  could  not  understand 
the  reason  of  this  vacillation,*  which  was 
much  censured  by  the  press,  and  ascribed  to 
the  very  man  who  had  striven  to  prevent  it. 
Before  the  90th  revisited  Dinapoor,  cholera 
and  fever  had  broken  out ;  a  doctor  and 
three  men  were  dead ;  and  it  was  needful 
to  land  the  men,  cleanse  the  vessels,  and 
add  some  comforts  for  the  sick  before  the 
voyage  could  be  resumed.  They  started 
again  in  four  days,  and  reached  Allahabad 
on  the  4th  of  September,  after  losing  nearly 
thirty  men  coming  up  the  Ganges.  "The 
voyage,"  writes  one  of  the  party,  "would 
have  been  very  delightful  if  we  had  had 
proper  accommodation." 


CHAPTER    XXI 


REINFORCEMENT  OF  LUCKNOW  BY  OUTRAM  AND  HA VELOCK.— SEPTEMBER,  1857. 


The  original  plan  of  General  Outram  was 
to  collect  a  force  of  about  1,000  infantry 
and  eight  guns  at  Benares,  and  march  from 
thence,  by  the  direct  route,  to  Lucknow,  a 
distance  of  about  150  miles  ;  thereby  turn- 
ing, or  taking  in  the  rear,  the  numerous 
nullahs  between  Lucknow  and  Cawnpoor. 
The  force  under  General  Havelock  was  to 
cross  the  Ganges  at  Futtehpoor,  and  the 
river  Saye  at  Bareilly,  and  join  General 
Outram  (with  his  assistance)  beyond  the 
latter  place.  This  arrangement  was  ren- 
dered impracticable  by  the  reduced  num- 
bers and  miserable  condition  of  the  troops 
under  General  Havelock,  who,  so  far  from 
being  able  to  advance  alone  even  part  of 
the  way  towards  Lucknow,  was  anticipating 
(August  21st)  the  necessity  of  abandoning 
Cawnpoor,  and  falling  back  on  Allahabad. 
Therefore  General  Outram  had  no  resource 
but  to  hasten  on  with  all  speed  to  Cawnpoor. 
As  Neil,  when  about  to  start  from  Alla- 
habad, had  been  unexpectedly  superseded 
by  Havelock,  so  now  Havelock  would  have 

*  "  Instructor  of  Mucketry." — Daily  News,  Octo- 
ber 24lh.  t  Russell. —  I'inies,  June  7lli,  1858. 
vol..  II.  3  H 


been  superseded  by  Outram,  but  that  "  the 
modern  Bayard"  thought  it  would  be,  in  his 
own  soldier-like  phrase,  "  unfair  to  assume 
the  command"  under  the  circumstances. 
He  therefore  telegraphed  to  General  Have- 
lock, that  he  intended  to  accompany  the 
expedition  in  his  civil  capacity,  as  chief 
commissioner  of  Oude,  and  •  offered  his 
military  services  as  a  volunteer ;  adding — 
"  To  you  shall  be  left  the  glory  of  relieving 
Lucknow,  for  which  you  have  already  so 
nobly  struggled."  Havelock,  it  is  said, 
"  was  not  a  demonstrative  man ;  and,  in 
his  reply  to  that  communication,  he  did  not 
allude  in  the  least  to  the  generous  act 
which  left  him  so  much  glory."t  How- 
ever, in  announcing  to  the  troops  his  con- 
tinuance in  the  command,  he  of  course 
mentioned  the  reason  in  grateful  terms ; 
and  the  whole  Anglo-Indian  army,  with 
Sir  Colin  Campbell  for  their  spokesman, 
were  enthusiastic  in  their  admiration  of  an 
act  of  self-sacrifice  and  generosity,  "  on  a 
point,  of  all  others,  dear  to  a  real  soldier."J 

X  General   Orders  of    Commander-in-chief;   Cal- 
cutta, September  28th,  1857. 


418 


PERSON  AND  CHARACTER  OF  SIR  JAMES  OUTRAM. 


General  Outrara  might  abnegate  the  honour 
of  leading  the  relieving  force,  but  the  merit 
was  none  the  less  his.  There  was,  in  effect, 
no  other  man  in  India  so  fitted  for  the 
task :  he  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
Lucknow  and  the  whole  surrounding  coun- 
try ;  and  the  troops  knew  well  that  such 
kuowleilge,  possessed  by  such  a  leader,  was 
in  itself  a  guarantee  against  their  being 
exposed  to  needless  or  fruitless  danger. 
An  artillery  officer  has  drawn  a  life-like 
sketch  of  the  noble  soldier,  who  "  served 
when  he  might  have  commanded ;"  as  "  a 
short,  sti'ongly-built  man ;  black-haired, 
with  a  keen  twinkling  eye,  and  a  cheerful 
bright  smile,  and  a  kind  word  for  all  ; 
dressed  in  a  blue  frock-coat,  and  everlast- 
ingly puffing  away  at  a  cheroot ;  quiet  in 
manner ;  cool,  unwavering,  determined — 
one  whom  neither  the  hottest  and  most 
deadly  fire,  the  gravest  responsibility,  or 
the  most  perilous  and  critical  juncture,  can 
excite  or  flurry."* 

It  was  quite  true  that  Sir  James  Outram 
had  a  kind  word  for  all,  especially  those 
who  needed  it  most;  and  in  September, 
1857,  a  more  wretched  and  friendless  class 
than  the  sepoys  could  hardly  be  found 
under  the  sun.  For  them  he  raised  his 
powerful  voice,  recommending  goverumeut 
to  institute  tribunals  for  the  trial  of  such 
as  might  surrender,  and  had  not  been 
guilty  of  murder.  He  said,  in  a  letter  to 
Mr.  J.  P.  Grant — "  It  is  high  lime  to  show 
we  do  not  propose  to  wage  war  to  the  knife 
and  to  extermination  against  all  Hindoos, 
or  against  all  sepoys  because  they  are 
sepoys."t 

The  reinforcements  under  Sir  James 
Outram,  comprising  about  ],400  bayonets, 
marched  from  Allahabad  to  Cawnpoor  with- 
out obstruction;  but  Sir  James  Outram 
learning,  while  on  the  road,  that  a  party 
of  insurgents  from  Oude,  with  four  guns, 
had  crossed  the  Ganges  into  the  Doab,  dis- 
patched Major  Eyre  to  clear  the  country, 
at  the  head  of  a  well-chosen  "  partv,  con- 
sisting of  100  of  H.M.  Fusiliers,' 50  of 
H.M.  64th  regiment,  mounted  on  elephants, 
with  two  guns,  and  completely  equipped 
with  tents,  two  days'  cooked  provisions, 
and  supplies  for  three  more."J  This  was 
the  way  to  organise  victory.  The  troops, 
including  forty  of  the  12th  irregular 
cavalry,  under  Captain  Johnson,  came  upon 
the  enemy,  not  fasting  and  footsore,  shiver- 

•  Lt.  Majendie's  Up  amonff  the  Pandies,  p.  159. 
t  Kussell. — I'imet,  June  7th,  1858. 


ing  with  ague,  or  parched  with  fever,  as 
HavelocU's  force  had  done  )epeatedly ; 
but  fresh  and  strong.  They  marched  "by 
moonlight;  and,  at  daybreak  on  the  11th 
of  September,  overtook  the  insurgents,  who 
fled  precipitately  to  their  boats,  flung  their 
guns  into  the  river,  and  strove  to  escape;  ' 
but  were  nearly  all  killed  by  the  fire  of  tiie 
guns  and  musketry  poured  into  the  crowded 
vessels  from  the  bank  above.  The  rebels 
blew  up  one  boat  on  its  being  boarded, 
and  thereby  killed  one,  and  wounded  five, 
Europeans,  and  as  many  natives.  No  other 
casualties  occurred. 

Sir  James  Outram  reached  Cawnpoor  on 
the  15th  of  September.  The  head-quarters, 
and  the  greater  part  of  H.M.  64th,  were 
left,  under  Lieutenant-colonel  Wilson,  at 
Cawnpoor,  to  garrison  the  strong  intrench- 
ment  which  had  been  thrown  up  upon  the 
bank  of  the  river;  and,  on  the  19th  of 
September,  the  rest  of  the  army  crossed 
the  Ganges  by  the  bridge  of  boats,  con- 
structed by  Major  Crommelin,  of  the  engi- 
neei:s.     The  force  was  as  follows : — 

European  Infantry,  2,388;  European  Volunteer 
Cavalry,  109;  European  Artillery,  282;  Seik  In- 
fantry, 341 ;  Native  Irregular  Cavalry,  59.  Total 
Eurupeam,  2'!'^ ;  Natites,  iOO.    In  all,  3,179. 

These  were  divided  into  two  brigades — 
the  one  under  General  Neil ;  the  other 
under  Colonel  Hamilton,  of  the  78th.  Sir 
James  Outrain  took,  or  rather  shared,  the 
command  of  the  volunteer  cavalry  with 
Captain  Barrow. 

The  passage  of  the  river  was  accom- 
plished almost  unopposed ;  but  the  troops, 
on  reaching  Mungulwar  on  the  21st  of  Sep- 
tember, found  the  rebels  in  position,  with 
six  guns.  They  were  speedily  driven 
thence  by  the  infantry  and  Major  Olphert's 
battery,  and  fled,  hotly  pursued  by  Out- 
ram and  the  volunteer  cavalry,  through 
Oonao,  to  a  spot  between  that  village  and 
Busserut  Gunj.  Here  two  guns  were 
abandoned  by  the  large  retreating  force  to 
a  hundred  horsemen.  With  these  guns,  and 
a  third  before  taken,  a  standard  of  the  Ist 
N.I.,  and  some  camel-loads  of  ammunition, 
the  volunteers  rejoined  the  main  body. 
The  rapid  movements  of  the  Europeans 
prevented  the  foe  from  defending  or  de- 
stroying the  three-arched  bridge  which 
crosses  the  river  Saye  at  the  village 
of  Bunnee,  the  very   point   the   dread  of 

t  General  Outram's  despatch,  September  11th, 
1857.-  Further  Varl.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  228. 


OUTRAM  OVERRULED  BY  HAVELOCK— SEPT.  2oth,  1857.         419 


I 


I 


which  had  led  to  Havelock's  first  ill-omened 
retreat.  The  force  reached  the  bridge  on 
the  22nd,  at  the  close  of  a  fifteen  miles' 
march  under  torrents  of  rain,  and  halted 
on  the  Lucknow  side.  On  the  23rd,  after 
advancing  ten  miles,  they  found  the  rebels 
strongly  posted  in  one  of  the  spacious 
country  residences  of  the  ex-king  of  Oude. 

The  Alumbagh,  or  World's  Garden  (a 
summer  residence  of  the  late  queen- 
mother),  consists  of  a  very  fine  strong 
mansion,  a  mosque  close  by,  an  Iraaum- 
barrah  for  the  celebration  of  the  Mohurrum, 
and  various  other  buildings,  situated  in  the 
midst  of  pleasure-grounds,  walled  in  with 
stone  bastions  at  the  angles.  The  masses 
of  rebel  infantry  and  cavalry  were  sup- 
ported by  six  guns,  two  of  which  opened 
on  the  British  volunteer  cavalry  and 
Olphert's  horse  battery ;  but  were  speedily 
silenced  ;  and,  after  an  attempt  at  a  stand 
in  the  inner  enclosed  garden,  were  driven 
out  in  confusion,  and  pursued  by  a  portion 
of  the  force,  with  Outram  at  their  head,  as 
far  as  the  Charbagh  (four  gardens)  bridge, 
across  the  canal,  which  forms  the  southern 
boundary  of  Lucknow.  But  guns  from  the 
city  were  sent  out  to  support  the  enemy, 
and  the  victors  were  glad  to  fall  back 
on  the  Alumbagh,  pitch  tents,  and  obtain 
a  day's  rest 

On  the  25th,  at  8  a.m.,  the  troops 
marched  for  Lucknow,  leaving  the  sick  and 
wounded  with  the  baggage  and  tents  at  the 
Alumbagh,  under  a  guard  of  250  iiifantry 
and  guns. 

Tlie  Charbagh  bridge,  injured,  though 
not  cut  through,  defended  by  a  battery  of 
four  guns,  with  the  houses  close  behind  it 
loopholed  and  full  of  riflemen  and  mus- 
keteers, was  carried  with  heavy  loss.  From 
this  point,  the  direct  road  to  the  European 
fortifications  traversed  a  densely  populated 
portion  of  the  city,  the  distance  being 
rather  less  than  two  miles.  It  was  believed 
that  this  road  had  been  cut  through  and 
strongly  barricaded  in  several  places.  In- 
stead, therefore,  of  attempting  to  force  an 
entrance  thereby.  General  Outram,  who 
had  at  this  time  taken  the  command  of 
the  first  brigade,  led  the  troops,  by  a  cir- 
cuitous by-road,  towards  the  Residency, 
leaving  the  78th  Highlanders  to  hold  the 
entrance  of  the  main  street  while  the 
baggage  passed.  The  main  body  pressed 
on,   and  encountered   little   opposition   till 

•  Havelock's  despatch,  Sept.  30th,  1867. — London 
Oazette. 


they  reached  the  gate  of  the  Kaiserbagh 
(King's  Garden)  palace,  from  whence  four 
guns  opened  fire,  and  volleys  of  musketry 
were  poured  forth  from  an  adjacent  build- 
ing— the  mess-house  of  the  32nd.  Two 
heavy  guns,  directed  by  Major  Eyre  against 
the  Kaiserbagh  battery,  twice  temporarily 
silenced  it  during  a  brief  halt  made  there, 
in  consequence  of  a  message  from  the  78th 
Highlanders,  reporting  that  they  were  hard 
pressed;  for,  being  impeded  by  the  litters 
and  baggage,  they  had  become  entangled 
in  the  narrow  streets,  and  were  in  danger 
of  being  cut  off  in  detail. 

Darkness  was  cotuing  on  ;  and  Outram 
suggested  to  Havelock  to  halt  within  the 
courts  of  the  palace  of  Pureed  Buksh  for 
the  night,  so  as  to  afford  the  rear-guard 
and  the  wounded  the  opportunity  of  closing 
up.*  But,  unhappily,  Outram  had  delegated 
his  authority  to  Havelock  until  the  rein- 
forcement should  be  effected  ;  and  "that  gal- 
lant officer  was  of  opinion  that  he  ought  to 
hasten  to  the  Residency,  and  that  he  would 
be  exposed  to  severer  loss  if  he  halted. "f 

Major  North  also  states,  that "  the  oppor- 
tunity to  rest,  though  at  first  acceptable  to 
the  wearied  soldiers,  soon  became  irksome, 
so  great  was  their  eagerness  to  reach  our 
desired  goal,  the  Baillie  guard."  The 
men  murmured  at  being  exposed  to  the 
enemy's  fire ;  and  •'  young  Havelock,  nephew 
to  the  general,  unable  to  resist  the  ex- 
citement of  the  moment,  suddenly  ex- 
claimed, '  For  God's  sake,  let  us  go  on, 
sir!' "J  whereupon  the  order  was  given  to 
resume  the  advance.  Outram  had  been 
previously  wounded  by  a  musket-ball,  but 
he  tied  a  handkerchief  round  his  arm  to 
stay  the  bleeding;  and  when  entreated  to 
dismount  and  have  the  hurt  properly  dressed, 
replied,  "  Not  till  we  reach  the  Residency." 
On  hearing  the  decision  given  in  opposition 
to  his  counsel,  at  the  prompting  of  an  im- 
petuous youth, §  Outram  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  column,  and  was  the  first 
man  to  enter  the  intrenchraents.  The  con- 
sequences of  Havelock's  ill-advised  resolve 
are  thus  described  by  a  writer  recently 
quoted  : — "  The  advance  was  pressed  with 
such  haste,  that  the  enemy  became  em- 
boldened by  the  appearance  of  precipitation. 
They  returned  to  the  houses  overlooking  the 
streets,  and  to  the  Kaiserbagh.  When  our 
rear-guard  appeared  they  were  met  by  a 
heavy  fire;  our  baggage-guard  was  charged 

t  Russell. — Times,  June  7th,  1858. 

j  Major  North's  Journal,  p.  199.  §  Ibid. 


420 


REINFORCEMENT  OF  LUCKNOW— SEPT.  25th,  1857. 


by  cavalry  from  the  open  ground ;  our 
dhoolies  were  burnt ;  the  wounded  and  sick 
were  massacred — sauve  gut  pent — a  panic — 
a  rush  to  the  Residency  took  place.  We 
lost  a  9-pounder  gun,  hackeries,  and  bag- 
gage ;  seventy-seven  wounded  and  sick  met 
a  cruel  death,  and  sixty-one  men  of  the 
rear-guard  were  killed;  making  a  total  of 
138  casualties."* 

The  actual  entrance  to  the  Baillie  guard 
is  well  told  by  a  ^'civilian,"  who  had  volun- 
teered to  accompany  the  force.  After 
describing  the  manner  in  which  the  troops 
hurried  pell-mell  through  the  illunainated 
streets,  with  "sheets  of  fire  shooting  out 
from  the  houses;"  and  passed  under  the  walls 
of  the  Kaiserbagh  while  the  natives  hurled 
down  stones  and  bricks,  and  even  spat  on 
the  heads  of  the  Europeans  ;  he  proceeds — 

"  Suddenly  we  found  ourselves  opposite  to  a  large 
gateway,  with  folding  doors,  completely  riddled 
with  round  shot  and  musket-balls,  the  entrance  to 
a  large  enclosure.  At  the  side  of  this  was  a  small 
doorway,  half-blocked  up  by  a  small  mud  wall,  and 
the  Europeans  and  Seiks  were  struggling  to  get 
through  while  the  bullets  were  whistling  about 
them.  I  could  not  think  what  was  up,  and  why  we 
should  be  going  in  there ;  but  after  forcing  my  way 
up  to  the  door,  and  getting  my  head  and  shoulders 
over  the  wall,  I  found  myself  being  pulled  over  by 
a  great  unwashed,  hairy  creature,  who  set  me  on  my 
legs,  and  patted  me  on  my  back  ;  and  to  my  astonish- 
ment I  found  myself  in  the  long-looked-for  Baillie 
guard.  What  an  entry  compared  with  the  one  we 
had  promised  ourselves  !  We  expected  to  march  in 
with  colours  flying  and  bands  playing,  and  to  be 
met  by  a  starving  garrison,  crying  with  joy ;  ladies 
waving  handkerchiefs  on  all  sides,  and  every  ex- 
pression of  happiness ;  but  instead  of  that,  we 
entered  as  a  disorganised  army,  like  so  many  sheep, 
finding  the  whole  of  the  garrison  at  their  posts,  as 
they  always  remained,  and  a  few  stray  officers  and 
men  only  at  the  gate  to  meet  U8."f 

The  great  unwashed,  hairy  creature,  who 
helped  to  pull  the  "  civilian"  in,  and  then 
patted  him  on  the  back,  was  probably 
"burly  Jack  Aitken,"  who  with  a  band  of 
sepoys  of  the  13th  N.I.,  held  the  Baillie 
guard  during  the  entire  siege.  A  sad 
mistake  was  made  here  by  the  78th,  who 
seeing  the  sepoys,  and  not  knowing  that 
they  were  within  the  precincts  of  the  garri- 

•  Russell. —  Times,  June  7th,  1857. 

t  Letter  of  "civilian."— r»wie«,  Feb.  Ist,  1858, 

t  Kees'  Lucknow,  p.  243.  The  Quarterly  Review 
(Murray's)  also  states  this  fact :— "  It  is  but  too 
true  that  several  faithful  soldiers  were  bayoneted 
at  their  guns,  in  the  Baillie  guard  battery,  by  the 
infuriated  soldiers  of  the  78th,  who  confounded 
them  with  other  natives." — April,  1858. 

§  Journal,  p.  200.  Major  North  does  not  further 
state  the  manner  of  Neil's  death.  The  statement  in 
the  text  is  the  one  given  in  the  private  correspondence 


son,  bayoneted  three  of  the  13th  N.I. 
The  poor  fellows  made  no  resistance.  "  One 
of  them  waved  his  hand,  and  crying  '  Kooch 
purwani  (nevermind) ;  it  is  all  for  the  good 
cause ;  welcome  friends !'  fell  and  ex- 
pired."! 

These  men  were  fit  comrades  for  Henry  ' 
Lawrence.     God  grant  them  to  be  fellow- 
workers   with  him  in  the  life  beyond  the 
grave  1     It    was   the    day   of  days   for   an 
heroic   death.     Many  a   man,   during   the 
eleven   hours   which   elapsed    between   the 
departure  of  the  column  from  the  Alumbagh 
to  the  entrance  of  the  main  body  in  the 
Residency,  cheerfullj'  gave  up  his  life  for 
his  friends.     The  reinforcement  of  Lucknow 
stands  out  in  strong  relief,  as  one  of  the 
most  interesting  features  in  the  history  of 
the  mutiny;  not  because  it  cost  more  lives 
than  all  Havelock's  other  engagements  put 
together;    but   on   account    of   the    noble 
spirit  which  impelled  the  troops  to  spend 
their  blood  freely  for  a  worthy  end.     They 
sought  neither  vengeance,  glory,  nor  loot; 
but  to  rescue  a  crowd  of  women  and  chil- 
dren from  the  hands  of  cruel  foes.     Hus- 
bands, fathers,  brothers,  uncles  were  among 
the     breathless,     eager    host    that    swept 
through  the  fire-lit  streets.     The  archway 
leading  into  the  Khas  Bazaar  is  now  called 
"Neil's  gate,"  for  he  fell  there;  but  his  lifeless 
body  was  carried  into  the  Residency.    Major 
North,  whose  horse  had  just  been  struck  by 
a  bullet,  was  trying  to  push  forward  the 
dhoolie  of  a  friend  (Captain  Johnson,  5th 
Fusiliers)  who  was  wounded  to  the  death ; 
when  General  Neil,  turning  round  on  his 
horse,  said,  "  I  shall  see  the   rear  of  my 
brigade  forward  ;  it  is  getting  dark."§     He 
passed  on   under   the   arch,  and  was  shot 
through  the  head.     His  men  fired  a  volley 
against  the  wall  from  which  the  fatal  bullet 
issued,  hoping  that  some  of  their  shots  might 
enter  the  loopholes  and  avenge  them   for 
the  loss  of  their  leader ;  and  then  pressed 
forward,  their  numbers  diminishing  beneath 
the    iron     hail,    and    their    progress    im- 
peded   by   the   bodies   of   the    dying    and 
the   dead.      At  length   they   reached    the 

of  the  time,  and  also  in  the  Memoir  of  Harelock, 
by  the  Rev.  William  Brock,  who  had  access  to  that 
general's  private  letters.  Nevertheless,  Rees  affirms, 
that  General  Neil  had  "actually  arrived  within  our 
intrenchments,  when  he  heard  that  some  of  our 
heavy  guns  were  in  jeopardy.  He  galloped  out 
again ;  but  scarcely  had  he  done  so,  when  a  bullet 
struck  him  on  the  head,  and  he  fell.  Our  guns 
were,  however,  saved  by  the  intrepidity  of  our 
Madras  regiment  and  Highlanders." — Siege  of  Luck- 
now, p.  238. 


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DR.  HOME  AND  HIS  GALLANT  COMPANIONS— SEPT.  26th,  1857.      421 


Residency,  and  were  received  with  a  burst 
of  eager,  grateful  welcome,  which  for  a  time 
banished  every  feeling  but  that  of  uncon- 
trollable delight. 

Most  musical  were  the  notes  of  the  bag- 
pipe to  every  European  ear  in  Lucknow ; 
most  gladdening  the  loud  hurrah  which 
echoed  and  re-echoed  from  the  various 
distinct  garrisons  within  the  defences. 
"  From  every  pit,  trench,  and  battery — 
from  behind  the  saTid-bags  piled  on  sliattered 
houses — from  every  post  still  held  by  a  few 
gallant  spirits,  rose  cheer  ou  cheer — even 
from  the  hospital."*  Officers  and  men, 
friends  and  strangers,  shook  hands  indis- 
criminately ;  but  when  the  soldiers  saw  their 
countrywomen  pouring  forth  to  meet  them 
with  their  babes  in  their  arras,  and  looked 
upon  the  fair  young  faces  flushed  with 
excitement,  yet  attenuated  by  the  perils 
and  privation  of  an  eighty-eight  days'  siege ; 
the  big,  rough-bearded  men,  who  had  never 
quailed  before  the  foe,  sobbed  with  emotion 
as  they  seized  and  kissed  the  children,  and 
passed  them  from  one  to  another  to  be 
caressed  in  turu,  exclaiming,  "  Thank  God, 
this  is  better  than  Cawnpoor  I"  "  God 
bless  you  1"  "  We  thought  to  have  found 
only  your  bones."t  Afterwards,  the  first 
burst  of  enthusiasm  being  over,  they  mourn- 
fully turned  aside  to  speak  among  them- 
selves of  the  heavy  loss  they  had  suffered, 
and  to  inquire  the  names  of  the  numerous 
comrades  who  had  fallen  by  the  way. 

A  large  number  of  the  wounded,  with 
the  rear-guard  of  H.M.  90th,  under 
Colonel  Campbell,  had  been  left  in  dhoolies 
in  the  walled  passage  in  front  of  the  Motee 
Munzil  palace.  Nothing  could  be  done  to 
rescue  them  on  the  night  of  the  25th, 
although  General  Havelock's  son  was  among 
the  number,  having  been  badly  wounded 
in  the  arm.  There  was  a  path  through 
the  palaces  skirting  the  river,  screened,  in 
all  but  two  places,  from  the  enemy's  fire; 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  26th,  Mr. 
J.  B.  Thoruhill,  a  young  civilian  whose  wife 
was  cousin  to  Lieutenant  Havelock,  volun- 
teered to  guide  the  escort  sent  out  by 
Sir  James  Outrara,  who  had  now  assumed 
the  command.  Unhappily,  Thornhill  be- 
came confused,  and,  in  returning  to  the 
Residency,   missed   his   way,    and    led    the 

•  Diary  of  a  Staff  Officer.  Quoted  in  Gubbins' 
Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  300. 

t  Diary  of  Mrs.  Harris,  p.  120.  Gubbins'  Oudh, 
p.  161.     Rees'  Siege  (f  Lucknow,  p.  224. 

X  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  323. 


dhoolie-bearers  and  their  escort  through 
the  very  gate  where  General  Neil  had 
fallen,  into  the  streets  of  the  city.  Many 
bearers  were  killed ;  but  a  few  of  the 
litters  were  carried  safely  through  the  fire, 
including  that  of  Lieutenant  Havelock. 
Thornhill  reached  the  Residency  mortally 
injured.  The  majority  of  the  wounded 
officers  and  men  were  massacred  in  the  fatal 
spot  now  known  as  "  Dhoolie  Square."J 

The  memory  of  a  gallant  exploit  relieves 
the  gloom  of  this  painful  transaction.  Nine 
unwounded  men  of  the  escort,  including 
Dr.  A.  C  Home,  of  the  90th  regiment, 
together  with  five  wounded  officers  and 
men,  being  cut  off  from  advance  or  re- 
treat by  the  enemy,  took  refuge  in  a 
small  building  which  formed  one  side  of 
Neil's  gateway,  and  there  defended  them- 
selves during  the  whole  day  of  the  26th 
and  the  succeeding  night,  though  sur- 
rounded by  large  bodies  of  the  enemy, 
and  almost  hopeless  of  relief.  Private 
McManua  (5th  Fusiliers)  killed  numbers 
of  the  foe,  and  the  dead  bodies  outside  the 
doorway,  formed  in  themselves  an  impe- 
diment to  the  enemy's  making  a  rush  on 
the  little  garrison.  Private  Ryan,  of  the 
Madras  Fusiliers,  could  not  be  prevented 
from  attempting  to  rescue  his  officer.  Cap- 
tain Arnold,  who  was  lying  wounded  in  a 
dhoolie  at  some  distance.  McManns, 
though  hurt  in  the  foot,  joined  Ryan  ;  their 
companions  removed  the  barricade;  and 
the  two  heroes  rushed  forth,  dashed  into 
the  square  under  a  heavy  musketry  fire, 
dragged  Captain  Arnold  out  of  his  litter, 
and  carried  him  into  the  house.  They  es- 
caped unhurt ;  but  Arnold  was  shot  through 
the  thigh  while  in  their  arms.  Another  sally 
was  made,  and  a  disabled  soldier  brought 
in.  He  also  was  mortally  wounded,  while  his 
bearers  remained  uninjured.  Private  Hullo- 
well,  of  the  78th,  was  an  efficient  member 
of  the  brave  band.  The  assailants  showed 
themselves  only  at  intervals,  when  they 
would  come  forward  as  if  resolved  to  storm 
the  place;  but  Hollowell  repeatedly  killed 
the  foremost  man,  and  the  rest  fell  back. 
At  length  he  had  an  opportunity  of  taking 
aim  at  their  leader,  an  old  man  dressed  in 
white,  with  a  red  cummerbund  (or  waist- 
band), who  died  on  the  spot;  after  which 
the  insurgents  went  away,  and  left  the  Euro- 
peans an  interval  of  quiet.  Tliey  looked 
forth  on  the  deserted  street,  and  seeing  seve- 
ral of  the  headless  trunks  of  their  coun- 
trymen, were  strengthened  in  their  resolve 


422 


THE  LIFE  OF  AN  ARMY  SURGEON. 


of  holding;  out  to  the  last  gasp.  Soon  the 
enemy  reappeared,  and,  advancing  under 
cover  of  a  screen  on  wheels,  scrambled 
on  the  roof  of  the  building  in  which  the 
Europeans  had  taken  refuge,  and  attempted 
to  set  it  on  fire  with  lighted  straw.  The  be- 
sieged, seizing  the  three  most  heJpless  of  their 
wounded,  rushed  into  the  square,  and  took 
refuge  in  a  shed  on  the  opposite  side,  fdled 
with  dead  and  dying  sepoys.  The  enemy 
dug  holes  in  the  roof,  and  fired  down  on 
the  Europeans,  who,  snatching  up  two  pots 
of  water,  broke  through  a  mud  wall,  and 
fled  across  a  courtyard  back  into  the  build- 
ing they  had  originally  occupied.  "  At  this 
time,"  says  Dr.  Home,  "  hope  was  gone." 
Including  himself,  six  men  remained  capable 
of  using  arms,  and  three  more  of  standing 
sentry.  Of  the  wounded,  some  were  deli- 
rious j  while  others  were  on  the  eve  of  be- 
coming so  from  the  horrors  of  their  position. 
The  dead  bodies  of  sepoys,  and  of  a  horse 
killed  that  morning,  hemmed  them  in : 
above  their  heads,  on  the  roof,  they  heard 
the  footsteps  of  the  foe  pacing  backwards  and 
forwards;  and,  worse  than  all,  the  moans 
of  their  unhappy  countrymen,  perishing 
in  the  half-burnt  dhoolies,  were  distinctly 
audible.  The  night  closed  in,  and  the 
enemy  ceased  firing.  The  Europeans  had 
now  only  seven  rounds  left  for  six  men. 
Death  stared  them  in  the  face.  Were  they 
to  perish  by  fire,  by  the  sword,  or  by  starva- 
tioti?  Almost  worn  out,  the  nine  men 
capable  of  keeping  watch  were  told-off  in 
three  reliefs,  and  the  others  fell  asleep — 
starting  up  at  every  noise,  from  terrible 
dreams  to  a  more  terrible  reality.  At 
2  A.M.  they  heard  the  sound  of  heavy 
firing;  and,  with  a  sudden  revulsion  of 
feeling,  such  as  shipwrecked  men  on  a  raft 
feel  at  sight  of  a  vessel,  they  roused  them- 
selves and  shouted,  "  Europeans  !  Euro- 
peans \"  But  the  volleys  ceased  ;  the  hopes 
of  the  listeners  expire<l  also;  and  the  few 
still  strong  to  suffer,  resigned  themselves 
to  their  fate  ;  for  they  could  not  carry  away 
the  wounded,  and  would  not  leave  then\. 
Time  passed  on.  Shortly  after  daybreak, 
distant  firing  was  again  heard.  But  it  made 
no  impression  on  the  heart-sick  party  till  the 
approaching  sound  grew  so  distinct,  that  a 
quick  ear  caught  the  sharp  "  ping"  of  the 
Enfield  rifle  ;  and  Ryan  sprang  up,  shouting, 
"Oh,  boys  !  them's  our  own  chaps."  Then 
all  joined  in  a  loud  cheer,  and  began  to  take 
aim  at  the  looplioles  fr(3m  which  the  enemy 
were   firing   on   the    advancing   deliverers. 


In  three  minutes.  Captain  Moorsom  and 
his  party  (who  had  come  to  rescue  the  guns 
left  at  the  Motee  Munzil)  were  in  sight ;  and 
by  his  good  management,  the  besieged, 
with  their  wounded  and  their  dead,  reached 
the  Residency.  Mr.  Gubbins  states  that 
McManus,  Ryan,  and  HoUowell  were  pre-- 
serited  with  the  Victoria  medal  by  General 
Outram  ;  but  he  does  not  mention  their  re- 
ceiving any  more  substantial  reward.  The 
services  of  Dr.  Home  were  eventually  ac- 
knowledged by  the  home  government  in  a 
similar  manner.*  It  is  not  often  that  medi- 
cal officers  receive  this  kind  of  decoration. 
Yet  no  class  of  men  are  more  useful  in  their 
vocation.  None  do  harder  duty  and  bear 
greater  privations,  with  fewer  prizes  to 
stimulate  and  more  blanks  to  depress  their 
energies,  than  our  army  and  navy  surgeons. 
Theirs  is  a  noble  calling,  and  needs  a  brave 
heart,  a  clear  head,  and  a  skilful  hand. 
The  soldier  has  indeed  his  trials  in  the 
perils  of  the  battle-field,  the  exhausting 
marches,  the  dreary  night-watches.  But  the 
life  of  the  army  surgeon  is  spent  among  the 
sick  and  the  dying,  fighting  inch  by  inch  a 
battle  in  which  he  is  perpetually  worsted ; 
constantly  seeing  the  black  side  of  war, 
while  others  look  on  its  pageants  and  its 
prizes;  braving  death,  not  in  a  whirl  of 
excitement,  with  flags  flying  and  trumpets 
sounding,  but  following  in  the  rear  with  the 
muffled  drum  and  the  dead-cart — striving 
to  rescue  a  yet  living  though  mutilated 
form  from  human  or  carrion  foes,  or  to  save 
a  few  victims  prostrated  by  pestilence — 
snatching  them  like  brands  from  the  fire,  at 
the  risk  of  perishing  unheeded  in  the  effort. 
The  unflinching  courage  with  which  Dr. 
Home  stood  by  the  wounded  during  the 
day  and  night  of  the  26th  of  September, 
forms  one  of  the  noblest  records  in  the 
history  of  the  Indian  mutiny.  Yet  probably 
he,  and  many  others  of  his  fraternity,  could 
tell  of  days  and  nights  spent  in  a  crowded 
hospital,  amidst  sights  and  sounds  as  horri- 
ble; or  in  the  streets  of  a  fever- stricken 
city;  or  in  those  worst  dens,  where  vice 
and  disease  combine  to  make  a  hell  on 
earth.  Who  would  not  rather  meet  th'e 
noisy  terrors  of  cannon  and  the  sword,  than 
inhale,  for  days  and  weeks  togetlier,  the 
poisonous  vapours  of  a  pest-house?  Cer- 
tainly, war  medals  and  prize-money  are  not 
fit  rewards  for  men  whose  lives  are  devoted 
to  the  alleviation  of  human  suffering; 
and  their  virtue  (as  far  as  the  British 
•  Lojidon  Gazette,  June  18th,  1808. 


DEATH  OP  CAPTAIN  FULTON— SEPT.  14th,  1857. 


423 


government  is  concerned)  is  left  pretty  much 
to  1)6  its  own  reward. 

General    Outram,    once    established    iu 
Lucknow,  was  in  a  position  to  estimate  the 
condition    and    resources    of  the    garrison. 
The  original  defenders  numbered  1,692  per- 
sons ;  of  whom  927  were  Europeans,  and  765 
Natives.    Before  the  25th  of  September,  350 
Europeans  had  been  killed,  and  the  number 
of  natives   was  diminished   by   363  deaths 
and  desertions.     There  remained,  including 
sick    and    wounded,    577    Europeans,    and 
402  Natives.     The  reinforcement  had  been 
effected  at  a  cost  to  the  relieving  force,  of 
119  killed,  339  wounded,  and  77  missing  :  iu 
all,  535,  including  Colonel  Bazely  (Bengal 
artillerv),    killed    at    his     guns ;     Colonel 
Campbell,*   of   H.M.   90th,  mortally,    and 
Lieutenant-colonel  Tytler  severely,  wounded. 
This   loss,   together  with   the   detention  of 
250  effective  men   at  the  Alumbagh,  took 
away  all  reasonable  prospect  of  carrying  oft' 
the    women    and    children,    the    sick    and 
wounded,   from    Lucknow ;    for    the   total 
number  of  these  was   no  less  than  1,500. 
Want  of  carriatje  alone  rendered  the  trans- 
port through  five  miles  of  disputed  suburb 
an  impossibility.     There  were  two  alterna- 
tives— the  one  to  strengthen  the  exhausted 
garrison  with  300  men,  and  retire  with  the 
remainder  of  the  infantry  on  the  Alumbagh  ; 
the  other  (on  which  Outram  resolved),  to 
stay  at  Lucknow,  and  institute  a  vigorous 
defence. t     Costly  as  the  reinforcement  had 
been,   it    had    saved   the    garrison,    though 
not    in    the    sense    of    entire    rescue    or 
raising    the    siege.     Since   the    failure    of 
Havelock's    attempts    to    reach    them    in 
August,  the  position   of  the  l)esieged  had 
become  far  more  critical.     They   had  lost 
defenders  whose  skill,  general  character,  or 
tact,  had  exercised  a  peculiar  influence  on 
the   community.     Major    Bruere,    a    very 
popular  officer  of  the  13th  N.I.,  had  fallen, 
and  been  carried  to  his  grave  by  his  faithful 

•  Colonel  Campbell  suffered  amputation,  and 
lingered  until  the  12th  of  November,  when  he  died. 
Mrs.  Case  relates  an  anecdote,  simple  in  itself,  but 
interesting  as  illustratini;  the  straitened  circum- 
stances and  self-denial  of  the  brigadier  and  his  good 
wife.  "A  white  fowl  had  been  brought  to  Mrs. 
Inglis  for  sale ;  but  she  thought  the  price,  five 
rupees  (ten  shillings),  was  much  too  high.  How- 
ever, Colonel  Inglis  bought  it ;  its  legs  »  ere  secured, 
and  it  constantly  hopped  about  before  our  door. 
Mrs.  Inglis  thought  it  was  too  bad  that  it  should 
be  eating  our  rice,  and  was  just  going  to  order  it  to 
be  killed  and  cooked  for  dinner,  when  little  Johnny 
(Inglis)  comes  running  into  the  room — '  Mamma, 
Mamma,   the  white   fowl  has  laid  an  egg!'     This 


sepoys — a  rare  honour  for  a  commander  of 
Native  troops  at  this  epoch.     Captain  Rad- 
cliffe,  the  leader  of  the  volunteer  cavalry  at 
Chinhut,  lay  mortally  wounded  j  and  Lieu- 
tenant   Graham     (4th    light    cavalry)     had 
committed  suicide.     Deprat,  a  French  mer- 
chant,   who    had    served    as    a    Chasseur 
d'Afrique  in  Algeria,  was  shot  in  the  face  by 
a  musket-ball.     The  enemy  specially  hated 
him ;  for  Azim  Oollah,  on  the  part  of  the 
Nana,  had  made  the  Frenchman  offers  which 
he  had  indignantly  rejected.     But  all  these 
losses  were  light  in   comparison   with  one 
which  took  place  on  the  14th  of  September, 
and  is  described  as  an  irreparable  calamity, 
the  news  of  Avhich    "  was  received   by  all 
classes  of  the  community   with   a   degree 
of  grief  second  only  to  that  caused  by  the 
death  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence. "J     Captain 
George  Fulton,  while  visiting  Mr.  Gubbins' 
battery  to  examine  the  enemy's  movements, 
was  killed  by  a  cannon-ball,  which,  entering 
by    an  embrasure,   carried  away  the  back 
part  of  his  head.     He  had  a  painless  death 
and    an   honoured   grave ;    but    he   left   a 
widow  and  a  large  family.     After  his  loss, 
the  mining  of  the  enemy   was  prosecuted 
with    better   chance    of  success;    and    Sir 
James    Outram,    on    obtainiug    access    to 
the  exterior  of   the  iutrenchments,  found 
that    six    mines    had    been    completed    in 
the  most  artistic  manner  (one  of  them  from 
a  distance  of  200  feet,  under  the  principal 
defensive    works    of    the   garrison),    which 
were   ready  for  loading,  and  the  firing  of 
which    would    have    placed    the    garrison 
entirely    at    their    mercy.     The    delay    of 
another  day,  therefore,  might  have   sealed 
their  fate.§ 

The  chief  drawback  from  the  value  of 
the  reinforcement,  was  the  fact  that  the  new- 
comers had  brought  no  provisions  or  stores 
with  them ;  no  clothes  of  any  kind  but 
those  they  wore ;  no  grain;  but  gun-bullocks 
only.     The  number  of  patients  in  hospital 

saved  its  life.  Colonel  Campbell  was  very  fond  of 
an  egg ;  it  was  the  only  thing  he  could  take  well. 
The  white  fowl,  from  tliis  notable  day,  laid  an  egg 
daily  till  Colonel  Campbell  died ;  after  which  it 
never  laid  another.  We  have  brought  the  fowl 
away,  and  maybe  it  will  some  day  be  in  England." 
— Day  by  Day  at  Lucknow,  p.  73. 

t  Outram's  despatch;  Lucknow,  September  30th, 
1857. — London  Gazette,  February  17th,  1858. 

I  Gubbins;  p. 289.  Hees;p.  211.  The  "covenanted 
civilian"  and  the  "  interloper"  are  quite  agreed  on 
this  point :  and  on  other  matters,  their  valuable 
books,  while  often  differing  as  regards  opinions, 
concur  in  almost  all  material  facts. 

§  Outram's  despatch,  September  30tb,  1857. 


424 


VARIETIES  OF  DOMESTIC  ECONOMY  AT  LUCKNOW. 


was  raised  from  130  to  627 ;  and  the  supply 
of  bedding  and  medical  stores  was  insuffi- 
cient to  meet  the  unexpected  demand.     No 
servants,  except  the  cooks  of  the  regiment, 
had  been  allowed  to  accompany  the  force ; 
and  the  discomfort  of  the  first  few  days  was 
excessive.     The  auctions  of  deceased  officers' 
property  were  most  exciting  affairs ;  and  a 
brush  and  comb,  or  a  piece  of  soap,  were 
objects    of    active    competition.      Flannel 
shirts  were  especially  coveted.     A  very  old 
one  of  poor  Captain   Fulton's,  which    had 
seen  service   in    all    the   mines   about   the 
place,  and  was  covered  with  mud  and  dirt, 
sold  for  £4:  lOs.     Brandy  fetched  £2  10s. 
a  bottle  before  the  end  of  the  blockade.     A 
handsome    new    uniform    went    for    twelve 
rupees.     Beer  and   sherry  were  alike  pur- 
chased at  £7  per  dozen.    Tobacco  was  almost 
unattainable.    Cigars  were  worth  5».  a-piece  : 
but  both  men  and 'Officers  smoked  the  dried 
leaves   of  the    Neem   tree   and   of  several 
shrubs.      Opium,    and    occasionally    other 
articles,  the  Seiks  obtained  through  Native 
deserters  from  the  garrison,  with  whom  they 
maintained  a  stealthy  intercourse.     A  month 
before  the  arrival  of  the  reinforcements,  the 
original  troops  had  been  put  on  half  meat 
rations;  namely,  twelve  ounces  for  each  man, 
and  six  ounces  for  each  woman.     The  rum 
was  soon  exhausted,  and  no  spirits  or  malt 
liquors  were  served  out.     When  the  stores 
of  tea  and  coft'ee  failed,  roasted  grain  was 
used  as  a  substitute.     It  must  not,  however, 
be  supposed  that  all  in  Lucknow  endured 
equal    hardships.      "  It  was    known,"   says 
Mr.  Gubbins,  "that  there  were  some  fami- 
lies  where    bottled    beer   and   porter  were 
daily  enjoyed,  as  well  as   some  other  rare 
comforts."*       The  table  d'hote  in  his  own 
establishment     was     certainly    not    on     a 
starvation    scale.      The    bottled    beer   was 
reserved    for   the   sick   and   the    "  nursing 
ladies,"  of  whom  there  were  four  among  Mr. 
Gubbins'    guests.     The    general    allowance 
was  a  glass  of  Sauterne  at  luncheon ;  and,  at 
dinner,   "  one  glass  of  sherry,  and  two  of 
champagne  or  of  claret,  were  served  to  the 
gentlemen,   and   less  to  the   ladies."     The 
meat-rations  were  stewed  with   spices  and 
vegetables,    being  rarely    eatable   as    plain 
boiled  or  roast;  and  two  rice  puddings,  made 
with  milk  and  eggs,  were  daily  placed  on 
table.     Tea,  with  sugar  and  milk,  was  dis- 
tributed thrice  a  day.     This  bill  of  fare  was 
varied  occasionally  by  preserved  salmon,  and 

*  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p,  261. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  205. 


sometimes  by  a  plum  or  jam  pudding,  the  ap- 
pearance of  which  "  always  caused  great  ex- 
citement at  t)ie  dinner-table  ;"  and  such  was 
the  demand  i'or  these  delicacies,  that  there 
was  "  often  none  left  for  the  lady  of  the 
house,  who  helped  thera."t  Happy  were  the 
individuals  who  found  refuge  in  Gubbins' 
house,  whether  nursing  mothers  or  wounded 
officers,  like  Major  Vincent  Eyre :  happy 
even  those  from  other  garrisons  invited  to 
share  the  Sauterne,  salmon,  rolly-polly  pud- 
dings, and  tea  with  milk  and  sugar  in  it. 
Their  good  fortune  contrasted  strongly  with 
the  utter  wretchedness  endured  in  other 
posts,  where  ladies  "  had  to  gather  their 
own  sticks,  light  their  own  fire,  knead  and 
make  their  own  chupatties,  and  cook  with 
their  own  hands  any  other  food  which 
formed  their  meal."f 

"  We  often  leave  off  dinner  as  hungry  as 
when  we  began,"  writes  Mrs.  Harris,  the 
wife  of  the  excellent  chaplain,  who  was  in 
the  house  of  Dr.  Fayrer,  where  Sir  James 
Outram  and  his  staff  had  taken  up  their 
abode.  "  Nothing  for  breakfast  this  morn- 
ing," she  notes  in  her  journal,  "  but 
chupatties  and  boiled  peas :"  and,  on 
the  following  day,  there  is  the  entry — 
"  Our  store  of  wine  and  beer  is  come  to 
an  end."§ 

The  establishment  of  the  commander  of 
the  garrison  (Brigadier  Inglis)  had  few 
luxuries.  One  of  his  guests  (the  widow  of 
Colonel  Case)  remarks  in  her  diary,  on 
the  3rd  of  August — "  Mrs.  Inglis  weighs 
out  everything  for  our  daily  consumption 
with  her  own  hands;  and  so  good  is  her 
management,  tiiat  she  is  always  able  to 
give  a  little  arrowroot  or  sugar  to  a  sick 
child,  and  has,  two  or  three  times,  suc- 
ceeded in  making  little  puddings  for  inva- 
lids, with  but  a  very  limited  quantity  of 
sugar."  Moreover,  the  brigadier's  wife 
never  went  empty-handed  to  the  soldiers' 
wives.  Her  own  table  was  scantily  furnished ; 
and  "  a  fruit  pie  for  dinner,"  is  noted,  on 
the  15th  of  November,  as  "  a  thing  we 
have  not  liad  for  four  months;  and  the 
poor  children  enjoyed  it  greatly."  The 
sugar  was  reserved  for  the  children ;  but 
Mrs.  Case  being  unable  to  drink  her  tea 
without  it,  took  one  cup  at  breakfast,  and 
"  got  a  bit  of  sugar  for  it,"  until  the  28th 
of  September,  when  the  poor  lady  sorrow- 
fully writes — "  I  gave  up  taking  sugar 
to-day;    and  we  are  using  our   last   piece 

\  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  206. 
§  Mrs.  Harris's  Diary,  p.  134. 


OUTRAM'S  PROCEEDINGS  AT  LUCKNOW— SEPTEMBER,  1857.      425 


of  soap."*  At  a  very  early  period  of  the 
siege,  both  officers  and  men  had  given  up 
using  white  shirts,  jackets,  or  caps,  and 
dyed  their  linen,  not  exactly  the  famous 
Isabella  colour,  but  a  peculiar  reddish-slate, 
formed  by  a  mixture  of  black  and  red  ink. 
Some  surprise  was  at  one  time  expressed 
as  to  how  a  suSiciency  had  been  obtained, 
until  it  was  discovered  that  the  public 
offices  had  been  robbed  of  almost  all  their 
stores. 

The  soldiers  of  the  relieving  force  suffered 
more  than  others  from  hunger.  The  cold 
night-work,  and  the  absence  of  the  accus- 
tomed stimulants,  quickened  their  appe- 
tites ;  and,  not  satisfied  with  their  rations, 
they  would  constantly  run  into  the  kitchens 
when  baking  was  in  progress,  seize  a  chu- 
patty,  and  leave  a  rupee  in  its  place.f 

Sir  James  Outram's  first  act  was  to 
extend  the  position — a  measure  which  was 
needful  for  the  accommodation  of  the  in- 
creased garrison,  and  also  to  keep  the 
enemy  at  greater  distance.  The  so-called 
defences  (which  deserved  that  name  only  in 
comparison  with  the  Cawnpoor  mud-bank) 
were  little  more  than  a  number  of  buildings 
of  various  kinds,  scattered  over  a  large 
garden ;  but,  unhappily,  so  far  were  they 
from  being  encircled  by  a  stout  brick  wall, 
that  there  were  numerous  points  where  a 
dozen  men  abreast  might  have  entered  with 
less  effort  than  would  be  needed  to  cross 
an  ordinary  fence  in  England.  The  only 
thing  which  kept  out  the  mutineers, 
was  the  belief  that  these  places  were 
mined.  Therefore,  in  their  repeated  at- 
tacks, they  chose  spots  where  ladders  were 
necessary. J 

There  was  much  advantage  attendant 
on  the  location  of  the  British  troops  in 
the  palaces  of  Tehree  Kothee,  Chuttur 
Mnnzii,  and  Pureed  Buksh,  which  ex- 
tend along  the  river,  from  the  Residency 
nearly  to  the  Kaiserbagh.  Two  of  the 
palaces  had  been  evacuated  by  the  enemy ; 
the  third,  the  Tehree  Kothee,  or  House  of 
the  Stars,  although  the  nearest  to  the 
European  intrenchment,  was  occupied,  till 
the  27th  of  September,  by  some  sepoys  and 
other  armed  men,  who  were  then  bayoneted 

•  Day  hy  Day  at  Luchnow,  pp.  130,  213. 

t  Mrs.  Inglis's  Journal,  p.  24.     Mrs.  Case,  p.  268. 

X  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  348. 

§  Maun  Sing  was  offered  "  a  perpetual  jaghire, 
secured  on  land,  of  £'25,000  per  annum,"  if  he  re- 
mained faithful  and  rendered  active  aid.  A  like 
offer  was  made  to  Kajah  Nawab  Ali,  of  Mohuma- 

A'OL.  II.  3  1 


or  shot  by  the  British.  Between  this 
building  and  the  Pureed  Buksh  was  the 
General's  House,  so  called  from  being  the 
residence  of  the  King  of  Oude's  brother, 
absent  with  the  queen-mother  in  England. 
This  was  forcibly  taken  possession  of,  and  a 
large  number  of  ladies  and  female  servants 
were  made  prisoners,  with  two  sons  of  the 
general.  The  women  of  inferior  rank  were 
set  at  liberty;  the  others  were  domiciled 
with  the  family  of  Mr.  Gubbins'  native 
butler.  Considerable  plunder  was  obtained 
in  the  palaces;  but  it  was  chiefly  in  the 
shape  of  jewels  and  native  arms,  rare  china 
and  embroidered  clothes;  though  some  fevv 
prizes  of  tea,  grain,  and  tobacco  were 
carried  off  in  triumph  by  the  soldiers. 

At  this  juncture  the  conduct  of  Maun 
Sing  was  a  serious  cause  of  uneasiness. 
He  was  still  playing  the  game  of  fast- 
and-loose  already  described,  waiting  evi- 
dently to  see  which  side  was  the  stronger; 
but,  on  the  whole,  inclining  to  the  British, 
and  willing  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  theirs, 
provided  he  should  receive  a  heavy  and 
specific  consideration  for  his  services. 

Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  aware  of  the  power 
of  this  chief  and  his  family,  had  commenced 
negotiations  which  would  probably  have 
insured  his  early  and  cordial  co-opera- 
tion ;  but  at  Sir  Henry's  deatii  (July  4th), 
those  negotiations§  fell  to  the  ground ;  and  it 
was  not  until  the  12th  of  September  that 
Lord  Canning,  in  a  strangely  indited 
message,  empowered  General  (Jutram  to 
assure  Maun  Sing,  that  if  he  continued 
to  give  effective  proof  of  his  fidelity  and 
good-will,  his  position  in  Gude  should 
be  at  least  as  good  as  it  was  before  the 
annexation ;  while  the  proprietors  in  Gude, 
wiio  had  deserted  the  British  government, 
would  lose  their  possessions.  Here  is  a 
plain  announcement  of  the  poliby  the  Cal- 
cutta government  intended  to  pursue  to- 
wards the  talookdars  of  Gude.  This  was 
published  in  the  Indian  Blue  Books  for 
1857 ;||  but  could  hardly  have  beeu  read 
by  either  Lords  or  Commons,  otherwise  so 
much  surprise  would  not  have  been  ex- 
pressed at  Lord  Canning's  confiscatiug  pro- 
clamation in  1858.     But  the  Gude  barons 

bad,  and  to  Rajah  Goorbux  Sing,  of  Ramnugger 
Dhumeyree;  with  many  others.  "  Their  replies  were 
generally  evasive,  promising  generally  well,  but  com- 
plaining that  they  now  neither  possessed  followers 
nor  guns  with  which  they  could  assist  us." — Gub- 
bins' Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  169, 

II  Further  Pari.  Papers  (No.  4),  p.  232. 


436 


CONDUCT  OF  MAUN  SING. 


may  be  inclined  to  exclaim,  "All's  well 
that  ends  well;"  since  the  announcement 
of  the  governor-general's  matured  scheme 
of  wholesale  confiscation,  has  served  them 
better  than  any  clement  half-measure  on 
his  part  could  have  done.  If  King  John 
had  been  less  despotic.  Magna  Cliarta  might 
not  have  been  signed  at  Runiiymede.  If 
Lord  Canning  had  not  laid  the  axe  at  the 
root  of  all  proprietary  rights,  the  barons  of 
Oude  would  hardly  have  heard  from  the 
lips  of  the  Indian  viceroy,  an  admission, 
even  "  under  conditions,"  of  their  previously 
unrecognised  claims. 

To  return  to  tlie  narrative.  The  pro- 
mise to  Maun  Sing  was  as  vague  as  the 
denunciation  against  the  mass  of  the 
great  proprietary  body  of  Oude  for  "  de- 
serting"— not  actively  opposing,  but  de- 
serting— the  government,  was  clear  and 
definite.  It  is  impossible  to  judge  to 
what  extent  this  letter  may  have  affected 
Mehndi  Hossein,  of  Goruckpoor,  and  other 
chiefs,  who,  though  politically  compro- 
mised, had  yet  a  claim  on  the  British 
government,  as  the  protectors  of  fugitive 
Europeans.  The  blockade  of  the  Lucknow 
Residency  was  resolutely  carried  on,  not- 
withstanding the  strengthened  and  ex- 
tended position  of  its  defenders ;  and  it 
is  a  significant  fact,  that  the  ranks  of 
the   besiegers  were  frequently   augmented 


during  nearly  three  months  after  the  arrival 
of  Outram  and  Havelock. 

Maun  Sing  was  supposed  to  have  some 
10,000  men  under  his  orders.  None  of 
these  were  known  to  aid  the  other  insur- 
gents, but  appeared  to  maintain  an  armed 
neutrality.  When  subsequently  ca.lled  to 
account  for  his  proceedings,  their  leader 
said  that  he  never  intended  to  have  gone  to 
Lucknow  had  not  the  widow  of  his  late 
uncle,  Buktawur  Sing,  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  rebels.  He  found  an  opportunity  of 
rescuing  her  in  the  confusion  of  the  re- 
inforcement of  the  British  garrison,  and 
had  made  arrangements  to  move  back  with 
his  troops  forty  miles,  when  he  suddenly 
learned  that  the  British  had  attacked  the 
palace,  and  were  about  to  disgrace  the 
seraglio  of  the  King  of  Oude.  He  at  once 
marched  to  protect  the  ladies,  for  he  had 
eaten  the  king's  salt.  In  reply.  Maun 
Sing  was  informed  that  the  British  never 
injured  helpless  women  and  children ;  and 
was  desired  at  once  to  withdraw  his  ad- 
herents from  Lucknow,  and  communicate 
with  General  Outram;  but  no  reward 
was  oflFered  in  the  event  of  obedience. 
The  result  may  be  easily  guessed.  After 
long  hesitation.  Maun  Sing,  from  a  doubtful 
friend,  became  a  secret  foe,  and  at  length 
assumed  a  prominent  place  among  the 
rebel  leaders. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 


AFFAIRS  IN  THE  PUNJAB;  BATTLE  OF  NUJUFGHUR;  CAPTURE  OF  DELHI; 
SURRENDER  OF  THE  KINO. 


On  the  28th  of  September,  1857,  the  fol- 
lowing intelligence  was  published  by  the 
Foreign  Office,  London,  regarding  the 
capital  of  the  Punjab : — 

"The  26th  N.L  mutinied  at  Lahore  on  the 
30th  of  July,  and  murdered  the  commanding  officer, 
Major  Spencer;  but  the  mutineers  were  totally 
destroyed." 

There  was  nothing  remarkable  in  the  an- 
nouncement. "  Cut  up,"  "  accounted  for," 
and  "  totally  destroyed,"  were  understood  to 
be  convertible  terms,  and  expressed  the  or- 
dinary mode  of  dealing  with  mutinous  regi- 
ments before  the  Calcutta  instructions  of 


the  31st  of  July  came  into  force ;  and  after 
that  period,  where,  from  distance  or  inter- 
rupted communication,  the  governor-gene- 
ral's authority  was  practically  in  abeyance. 
The  instructions  themselves  affected  only 
the  dealings  of  civilians  in  the  matter  of 
runaway  sepoys  and  village-burning.  The 
Calcutta  government  did  not  attempt  to 
interfere  with  the  military  authorities  in 
these  matters. 

The  exterminator  of  the  26th  N.I.  was 
Mr.  Frederick  Cooper,  the  deputy-commis- 
sioner of  Umritsir.  His  proceedings,  fully 
and  frankly  told,  were  entirely  approved  by 
the  governor-general.  Sir  John  Lawrence, 


MR.  COOPER  PURSUES  26th  N.I.— 31st  JULY,  1857. 


427 


Mr.  (now  Sir  R.)  Montgomery,  and  the 
Anglo-Indian  press.  Mr.  Cooper  evidently 
considered  that  he  had  acted  in  an  exem- 
plary manner,  and  that  his  conduct  deserved 
the  praise  it  met  with,  as  prompt,  spirited, 
and  thorough.  Impressed  with  this  convic- 
tion, he  wrote  a  book,  which  is  invaluable  as 
affording  an  insight  into  the  state  of  feeling, 
or,  to  speak  more  charitably,  frenzy,  which 
characterised  this  terrible  epoch.  The  fol- 
lowing details,  so  far  as  they  regard  Mr. 
Cooper,  are  given  on  his  own  authority,  and, 
as  nearly  as  possible,  in  his  own  words  : 
certainly  no  others  could  be  found  more 
graphic  and  explicit.  Mr.  Montgomery, 
indeed,  praises  Mr.  Cooper's  actions,  but 
blames  his  description  of  them.  The  gen- 
eral public  will  probably  reverse  this  cen- 
sure, and  think  the  utter  absence  of  what 
in  polite  language  is  termed  "diplomatic 
reserve,"  the  redeeming  feature  of  the 
narrative. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  on  the  13th 
of  May,  all  the  Native  troops  at  Lahore, 
amounting  to  about  3,800,  had  been  dis- 
armed as  a  precautionary  measure.  Five 
months  elapsed,  during  which  the  Seik 
levies,  and  about  400  Europeans,  kept 
watch  night  and  day  over  the  sepoys,  who 
exhibited  "great  sullenness."*  Whether 
they  had  formed  any  scheme  for  a  general 
attempt  to  escape  from  their  unpleasant 
position,  is  not  known  :t  but  on  the  30th 
of  July,  some  commotion  was  observed  in 
the  ranks  of  the  26th  N.I.,  stationed,  under 
surveillance,  at  Meean  Meer;  which  British 
officers  affirm  to  have  been  the  result  of  a 
mere  panic — the  immediate  cause  being  a 
dust-storm  :J  and  this  is  not  improbable, 
because  the  natives  of  India  are  affected  by 
the  accidents  of  climate  to  an  extent  few 
Europeans  can  conceive. §  There  is  no  cir- 
cumstantial account  of  the  assassination  of 
the  commanding  officer  (Major  Spencer), 
the  sergeant-major,  and  the  native  havildar. 
Mr.  Cooper  writes — "  It  is  feared  that  the 
ardour  of  the  Seik  levies,  in  firing  when  the 
first  outbreak  occurred,  preci|)itated  the 
murders,  and  frigiitened  all  [the  26th  N.I.] 
— good,   bad,  or  indifferently  disposed — to 

*  Letter  in  vindication  of  Mr.  Cooper;  by  Sir  R. 
Montgomery:  written  on  learning  "  that  the  punish- 
ment inflicted  on  the  26th  N.I.,  has  been  seriously 
impugned  in  the  House  of  Commons :"  dated 
"Lahore,  29th  April,  1859."— Pari.  Paper,  29th 
July,  1859.  In  reading  this  letter,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  writer  was  himself  gravely  com- 
promised. 


flight."  It  is,  he  adds,  "concurrently  ad- 
mitted, that  a  fanatic,  named  Prakash  Sing, 
rushed  out  of  his  hut,  brandishing  a 
sword,  and  bawling  out  to  his  comrades 
to  rise  and  kill  the  Feringhees,  and  selected 
as  his  own  victim  the  kind-hearted  major."|| 
Sir  R.  Montgomery  states  that  the  Seiks 
had  not  reached  the  lines  of  the  regiment 
when  the  murders  were  committed,^  in 
which  he  considers  the  whole  body  con- 
cerned :  but  he  admits,  that  "  subsequent 
inquiries  seemed  to  point  to  a  particular 
man,  as  having  dealt  a  fatal  blow  to  Major 
Spencer."**  On  witnessing  the  fall  of  the 
major,  the  26th  took  to  flight,  under  cover 
of  the  dust-storm,  which  was  still  raging. 
A  few  stragglers  remained,  and  perished  in 
the  lines  when  these  were  furiously  can- 
nonaded by  the  Seiks  and  Europeans,  to 
the  alarm  of  the  residents  in  the  station. 
No  one  at  Meean  Meer  knew  what  road  the 
mutineers  had  taken,  and  they  were  pursued 
in  a  wrong  direction.  But  news  reached 
Umritsir  the  next  day,  that  they  were  trying 
to  skirt  the  left  bank  of  the  Ravee,  and 
had  met  with  unexpected  opposition  from 
the  Tehsildar,  with  a  body  of  police,  at  a 
ghaut  twenty-six  miles  distant.  Mr.  Cooper, 
with  about  eighty  or  ninety  horsemen,  at 
once  started  from  Umritsir  in  pursuit.  An 
abstract  of  his  proceedings  is  given  in  small 
type,  to  economise  space. 

"  So  cool  was  the  day,  that  no  horses  were 
knocked  up,  and  the  troopers  reached  their  destina- 
tion without  accident.  The  villagers  were  assem- 
bled on  the  bank,  flushed  with  their  easy  triumph 
over  the  mutineers,  of  whom  some  150  had  been 
shot,  mobbed  backwards  into  the  river,  and  drowned 
inevitably;  too  weakened  and  famished  as  they 
must  have  been  after  their  forty  miles'  flight,  to 
battle  with  the  flood.  The  main  body  had  fled 
upwards,  and  swam  over  on  pieces  of  wood,  or 
floated  to  an  island  about  a  mile  off'  from  the  shore, 
where  they  might  be  descried  crouching  like  a  brood 
of  wild  fowl."  Two  boats  were  dispatched  laden  with 
troopers,  the  Hindoostanees  being  carefully  excluded, 
lest  their  presence  should  lead  to  accidental  escapes 
among  the  mutineers.  The  boats  reached  the  island 
in  about  twenty  minutes.  "  The  sun  was  setting 
in  golden  splendour;  and  as  the  doomed  men,  with 
joined  palms,  crowded  down  to  the  shore  on  the 
approach  of  the  boats,  one  side  of  which  bristled 
with  about  sixty  muskets,  besides  sundry  revolvers 
and    pistols — their    long   shadows   were   flung    far 

t  Cooper,  p.  152.  %  Star,  March  11th,  1859. 

§  At  Lucknow,  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  aflbrded  the 
Europeans  a  respite  from  the  fire  of  the  besiegers. 
While  it  lasted,  no  native  would  shoulder  a  musket. 
They  viewed  the  phenomena  with  consternation, 
and  considered  that  it  foreboded  famine. 

II  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  153. 

%  Montgomery's  Letter  ;  p.  2.  •*  Ibid, 


428 


THE  BASTION  AND  WELL  OP  UJNALLA— 1857. 


athwart  the  gleaming  waters.  In  utter  despair, 
forty  or  fifty  dashed  into  the  stream  ;  and  the  sowars 
being  on  the  point  of  talking  pot-shots  at  the  heads 
of  the  swimmers,  orders  were  given  not  to  fire." 
The  mutineers,  taking  this  for  an  indication  of 
humane  intentions  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Cooper,  at 
once  surrendered  themselves.  "They  evidently 
■were  possessed  of  a  sudden  and  insane  idea  that 
they  were  going  to  be  tried  by  court-martial,  after 
some  luxurious  refreshment.  In  consequence  of 
which,  thirty-six  stalwart  sepoys  submitted  to  be 
bound  by  a  single  man,  and  stocked  like  _  slaves 
into  a  hold  into  one  of  the  two  boats  emptied  for 
the  purpose."  By  midnight,  282  sepoys  of  all  ranks 
•were  safely  lodged  in  the  police-station.  There 
■were,  also,  "numbers  of  camp-followers,  who  were 
left  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the  villagers."  A 
drizzling  rain  came  on,  and  it  was  found  necessary 
to  delay  the  execution  until  morning.  A  reinforce- 
ment of  Seiks,  with  a  large  supply  of  rope,  arrived, 
and  enabled  the  commissioner  to  dismiss  the  portion 
of  his  force  which  he  feared  might  prove  refractory. 
"The  1st  of  August  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
great  Mohammedan  sacrificial  festival  of  the  Bukra 
Eed.  A  capital  excuse  was  thus  afforded  to  permit 
the  Hindoostanee  Mussulman  horsemen  to  return 
to  celebrate  it  at  Umritsir;  while  the  single  Chris- 
tian, unembarrassed  by  their  presence,  and  aided  by 
the  faithful  Seiks,  might  perform  a  ceremonial 
sacrifice  of  a  difi'erent  nature."  Trees  were  scarce, 
and  the  numbers  of  the  prisoners  too  great  for 
hanging :  they  were  therefore  pinioned,  tied  toge- 
ther, and  brought  out  ten  at  a  time  to  be  shot.  On 
learning  their  fate,  they  were  filled  with  astonish- 
ment and  rage.  "One  of  the  executioners  swooned 
away,"  and  interrupted  the  "ceremonial  sacrifice," 
presided  over  by  "the  single  Christian:"  but  the 
proceedings  were  soon  resumed ;  and  after  237 
sepoys  had  been  put  to  death,  a  native  official 
announced  to  the  "solitary  Anglo-Saxon  magis- 
trate," that  the  remainder  refused  to  come  out  of 
the  bastion.  Mr.  Cooper  proceeded  thither.  "  The 
doors  were  opened,  and,  behold !  they  were  nearly 
all  dead !  Unconsciously,  the  tragedy  of  Holwell's 
Black  Hole  had  been  re-enacted.  *  *  *  Forty- 
five  bodies,  dead  from  fright,  exhaustion,  fatigue, 
heat,  and  partial  sufi'ocation,  ■were  dragged  into 
light."  The  whole  of  the  corpses  were  flung  by  the 
village  sweepers  into  a  deep  dry  well,  within  100 
yards  of  the  police-station  j  and  Mr.  Cooper 
triumphantly  remarks,  "  There  is  a  well  at  Cawn- 
poor ;  but  there  is  also  one  at  Ujnalla !"  And  he 
appends  the  demi-official  letters  of  Sir  John  Law- 
rence and  Mr.  Montgomery,  in  proof  of  their 
cordial  approbation  of  the  whole  transaction.  The 
former  of  these  was  merely  a  general  congratulation 
on  a  successful  enterprise;  the  latter  is  at  greater 
length,  and  contains  the  following  paragraphs; — 
" My  de.\r  Cooper,  Sunday:  9  a.m. 

"  All  honour  to  you  for  what  you  have  done ; 
and  right  well  you  did  it.  There  was  no  hesitation, 
or  delay,  or  drawing  back.  It  will  be  a  feather  in 
your  cap  as  long  as  you  live.      ***** 

"  The  other  three  regiments  here  [at  Lahore]  were 
very  shaky  yesterday ;  but  I  hardly  think  they  will 
now  go.  I  wish  they  would,  as  they  are  a  nuisance ; 
and  not  a  man  would  escape  if  they  do."* 

It  is  startling  to  know  tliat  one  of  the 
leading    advocates   for   the   propagation   of 
•  Critia  in  the  Punjab,  p.  168.       f  Ibid.,  p.  164. 


Christianity  in  India,  should  regard  the 
above  transaction  as  a  feather  in  a  man's 
cap.  Still  more,  that  the  revolt  and  ex- 
termination of  three  other  regiments,  should 
liave  been  anticipated  by  him  as  a  desirable 
mode  of  getting  rid  of  "  a  nuisance,"  and 
winning,  perhaps,  a  blood-red  feather  for" 
another  cap.  Mr.  Cooper  has  compared 
the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta  and  the  Well  of 
Cawnpoor  with  the  Bastion  and  the  Well  of 
Ujnalla:  and  the  comparison  is  so  far 
correct,  that  the  leading  characteristic  of 
the  three  massacres  (Surajah  Dowlah's, 
Nana  Sahib's,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  magis- 
trate's) was  an  utter  recklessness  of  human 
suffering.  The  wretched  captives  of  the 
Nana  were  preserved  as  long  as  was  con- 
sistent with  the  safety  of  their  gaolers. 
When  it  was  seen  that  they  were  not 
sufficiently  valuable,  as  hostages,  to  be 
worth  the  risk  and  trouble  of  preserving, 
they  were  put  out  of  the  way  in  haste — 
cruelly,  clumsily.  The  sole  extenuation  for 
such  deeds,  is  their  being  perpetrated  by 
persons  whose  own  lives  are  at  stake. 

But  the  severest  censure  passed  upon 
Surajah  Dowlah,  was  for  the  cold-blooded 
indifference  he  displayed  towards  the  survi- 
vors of  the  Calcutta  prison.  It  seems,  from 
Mr.  Cooper's  account,  that  there  were  sur- 
vivors in  the  Ujnalla  bastion  tragedy;  but 
of  their  fate  no  special  mention  is  made. 
A  severely  wounded  sepoy  was  reprieved 
for  Queen's  evidence.  Every  other  prisoner 
was  put  to  death :  and  it  is  said,  that 
"within  forty-eight  hours  of  the  date  of 
the  crime,  there  fell  by  the  law  nearly  500 
men."  What  crime  ?  what  law  ?  the  reader 
may  ask,  demanded  the  extermination 
of  a  helpless  multitude,  described  by  the 
very  best  authority  as  unarmed  and  panic- 
stricken,  famishing  with  hunger,  and  ex- 
hausted with  fatigue?  Mr.  Cooper  answers 
— "The  crime  was  mutiny;  and  had  there 
even  been  no  murders  to  darken  the  memory 
of  these  men,  the  law  was  exact.  The  pun- 
ishment was  death. "t  Concerning  the  re- 
prieved sepoy,  Mr.  Montgomery  wrote — 

"  Get  out  of  the  ■wounded  man  all  you  can,  and 
send  him  to  Lahore,  that  he  may  himself  proclaim 
what  has  been  done.  The  people  ■will  not  other- 
wise believe  it."  He  adds — "  There  will  be  some 
stragglers ;  have  them  all  picked  up  ;  and  any  you 
get,  send  us  now.  You  have  had  slaughter  enough. 
We  want  a  few  for  the  troops  here,  and  also  for 
evidence." 

The  request  was  complied  with.  The 
sepoy,  when  sufficiently  recovered,  was  sent. 


EXTERMINATION  OP  SEPOYS— FEROZPOOR  AND  PESHAWUR.        429 


with  forty-one  others  subsequently  cap- 
tured, to  Lahore,  where  they  all  suffered 
death  by  being  blown  away  from  the  can- 
non's mouth.  Thus,  in  the  emphatic  words 
of  Mr.  Cooper,  "  the  26th  were  both  ac- 
counted for  and  disposed  of." 

The  terror  inspired  by  the  mode  in  which 
disarmed  i-egimeuts  were  dealt  with,  and 
the  "confiscation"  by  government  of  horses 
which  were  the  private  property  of  troopers 
dismounted  as  a  matter  of  precaution, 
caused  so  much  excitement  as  to  precipitate 
other  corps  into  revolt,  and  thus  gave  the 
desired  plea  for  getting  rid  of  "  the  nui- 
sance" of  their  existence.  Mr.  Montgomery, 
on  his  own  showing,  contemplated  the  ex- 
termination of  the  3,000  remaining  sepoys 
at  Lahore  as  a  desirable  event ;  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  the  feeling  was  not 
general  in  the  Punjab. 

Ferozpoor. — On  the  19th  of  August,  a 
portion  of  the  disarmed  and  dismounted 
10th  light  cavalry  broke  into  revolt.  Mr. 
Cooper  considers  it  just  possible  that  the 
news  had  reached  them  that  their  horses 
were  to  be  taken  away.*  They  rushed 
forth  at  the  dinner-hour  of  the  European 
troops,  jumped  on  all  available  horses  bare- 
backed, and  seized  the  guns,  overpowering 
the  gallant  resistance  of  the  artillery  guard. 
Private  Molony  was  mortally  wounded — in 
fact,  nearly  hacked  to  pieces  by  the  muti- 
neers, who  had  managed  to  procure  and 
secrete  swords,  pistols,  and  spears.  A 
party  of  the  61st  and  of  the  artillery  came 
up,  and  recaptured  the  guns  before  the 
mutineers  could  fire.  An  interval  of  great 
confusion  ensued.  The  Europeans  were 
hurrying  to  the  fort ;  while  the  rebels 
"  were  bent  more  on  flight  than  auglit 
else;"t  and  their  escape  was  favoured  by 
the  mismanagement  of  "  a  gun,  placed 
originally  to  command  a  bridge  leading 
from  the  barracks  to  the  Native  infantry. 
It  was  fired  into  the  rows  of  cavalry  horses; 
sind  while  it  hardly  disturbed  the  muti- 
neers, it  killed  and  wounded  thirty-two 
horses."J  Veterinary  Surgeon  Nelson  was 
killed  while  endeavouring  to  escape  to  the 
fort.  Mr.  Cooper  does  not  mention  the 
number  of  the  10th  cavalry  who  muti- 
nied ;  but  the  revolt  is  officially  stated  to 
have  been  confined  to  a  portion  of  the 
regiment.  § 

•  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  172. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  174.  J  Ibid,  p.  173. 

§  Pari.  Kelurn  regarding  regiments  which  have 
mutinied ;  p.  8. 


Peshaivur. — A  fanatic  of  high  family, 
named  Seyed  Ameer,  who  had  recently 
returned  from  Mecca,  was  known  to  have 
been  striving  to  excite  the  Afghans  of 
the  Khyber  Pass  to  a  "holy  war."  The 
wise  and  steady  rule  of  Dost  Mohammed, 
although  the  chief  was  old  and  ill,  suf- 
ficed to  maintain  the  tranquillity  of  this 
dangerous  frontier.  Seyed  Ameer  failed 
with  the  native  tribes ;  but  his  letters 
and  messages  to  the  Peshawur  troops 
caused  so  much  excitement,  that  on  the 
28th  of  August,  General  Cotton  deemed 
it  necessary  to  institute  a  fresh  search 
for  weapons  in  the  lines  of  the  disarmed 
regiments. 

A  considerable  amount  of  arms  was  dis- 
covered; and  the  51st  N.I.,  exasperated 
"  by  the  taunts  of  the  newly-raised  Afreedee 
regiments,  who  were  carrying  out  the 
search,  rushed  upon  the  piled  arms  of  the 
18th  Punjab  infantry,"  and,  in  their  mad- 
ness, attempted  resistance.  The  three 
European  officers  were  overpowered  by 
numbers,  and  driven  into  a  tank,  but  not 
injured.  General  Cotton  (gun  Cotton)  was 
in  readiness  for  the  emergency.  The  in- 
discriminate flight  of  the  mutineers  had 
scarcely  begun  before  there  opened  on  the 
unarmed  masses  a  "fusilade,  which  com- 
menced on  the  parade-ground  at  Peshawur, 
and  ended  at  Jnmrood.  *  *  *  Every  civil 
officer  turned  out  with  his  'posse  comilatus' 
of  levies  or  police ;  and  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  the  whole  country  was  covered  with 
the  chase  ;"||  which  Mr.  Cooper  describes 
as  having  been  "  long,  keen,  and  close. 
Standing  crops  were  beat  up,  ravines  probed 
as  if  for  pheasants  and  hares  ;  and  with  great 
success."^  On  the  following  day,  700  of 
the  51st  N.I.  "lay  dead  in  three  deep 
trenches."** 

The  pursuit  commenced  at  noon,  and 
Colonel  Cooper,  of  the  51st  N.I.,  died  from 
the  heat.  A  large  proportion  of  the  fugitives 
were  taken  prisoners,  and  tried  by  drum- 
head court-martial .  Neither  extreme  youth, 
nor  peculiar  suft'erings,  nor  any  other 
extenuating  circumstance,  was  held  to  offer 
grounds  for  the  non-infliction  of  capital 
punishment.  Truly  enough  has  it  been 
said,  that  "  severity  and  distrust  have  been 
the  rule  in  the  Punjab." 

Cooper  mentions  the  following  incident 

{I  Colonel  Edwardes'  Report. — Pari.  Papers  on  the 
mutiny  in  the  Punja'oj  published  April,  1859;  p.  77. 
^  Cooper's  Crisis  in  the  Punjab,  p.  177. 
**  Colonel  Edwardes'  Keport,  p.  78, 


430 


DEATH  OF  SIR  H.  BARNAUD— DELHI,  JULY  5th,  1857. 


connected    with     this     sanguinary    trans- 
action : — 

"  One  sepoy  literally  died  two  deaths,  and  the 
first  time  was  buried.  When  the  fatal  Tolley  was  dis- 
charged, he  fell  with  the  others,  and  feigned  death; 
his  body  was  flung  rather  high  up  in  the  chasm, 
and  coTcred  over  with  lime.  He  managed  to  crawl 
out  at  dark  and  escape  to  the  hills;  hut  was  caught 
and  brought  in.  He  pleaded  previous  demise,  but 
ineffectually ;  and  this  time  he  moulders  with  the 
forms  of  his  mutinous  comrades." — (page  178). 

In  August,  1857,  Sir  John  Lawrence 
was,  to  all  intents  and  jjurposes,  a  dictator 
in  Northern  India.  His  policy  was,  from 
first  to  last,  daring,  desperate,  determined. 
The  speedy  capture  of  Delhi  was  his  watch- 
word :  to  relinquish  the  attempt,  would  be 
to  sacrifice  the  life  of  every  European  in 
Northern  India.  Wiiile  his  right  hand 
laboured  efficiently  for  the  extinction  of  the 
portion  of  the  Bengal  army  within  his 
reach,  his  left  was  employed  in  raising 
another  Native  force,  as  costly,  and  pos- 
sibly more  dangerous.  In  the  month  of 
August,  a  growing  sense  of  the  precarious 
character  of  Seik  and  Goorka  loyalty  pre- 
vailed ;  and  though  the  public  despatches 
maintained  the  confident  tone  which  ap- 
peared expedient,  even  high  functionaries, 
civil  and  military,  could  not  always  conceal 
their  distrust  of  the  new  auxiliaries,  who 
dealt  death  so  relentlessly  for  the  lust  of 
gold  and  revenge,  but  whose  weapons 
might  be  turned — who  could  say  how  soon  ? 
— against  the  Europeans.  "  The  capture  of 
Delhi  had  become  the  turning-point  of  our 
fate,"  Mr.  Cooper  writes.  "  Every  day  had 
become  fraught  with  danger :  even  our pres- 
tige  was  waning.  Seiks  had  come  back  to 
the  Punjab,  and  declared  they  were  fighting 
our  l)attles.  One  old  Seik  had  thought 
it  just  as  likely  they  might  be  fighting 
against  us  in  a  year  hence !  Peshawur 
was  waxing  more  feverish  every  day.  Six 
per  cent,  government  paper  was  twenty-five 
per  cent,  discount.  Lahore  and  Umritsir 
were  equally  excited."*  The  blood  lavishly 
poured  forth  in  the  Punjab  had  produced 
a  deep  pause  of  terror  and  suspense.  But 
the  probability  of  a  strong  and  terrible 
reaction  was  too  evident  to  be  overlooked  ; 
and  in  the  meantime,  the  army  of  observa- 
tion, stationed  before  Delhi,  was  dwindling 
away,  and  being  reinforced  from  the  Pun- 
jab, until  the  very  last  troops  that  could  be 
scraped  together  were  sent  off"  under  the 
command  of  Brigadier-general  Nicholson, 
•  Cooper's  Crigii  in  the  Punjab,  p.  190. 


an  officer  whose  age  and  rank  forbade  his 
taking  the  lead,  although  the  troops  would 
have  joyfully  hailed  him  as  their  chief. 

Delhi. — The  proceedings  of  the  force 
before  Delhi  have  been  detailed  up  to  nearly 
the  close  of  June.f  On  the  1st  and  2nd 
of  July,  the  Rohilcund  mutineers  arrived  at 
Delhi,  marching  across  the  bridge  of  boats, 
within  full  view  of  the  spectators  from  the 
British  camp  posted  on  the  ridge.  The 
Jhansi  rebels,  the  Neemuch  brigade,  the 
Kotah  contingent,  and  other  smaller  re- 
inforcements poured  into  the  city,  until,  by 
the  middle  of  August,  the  enemy  were 
believed  to  number  at  least  30,000  men. 
Their  free  access  to  the  left  side  of  the 
Jumna  was  ensured  by  the  aforesaid  bridge 
of  boats,  which  was  under  the  close  fire  of 
their  ordnance  in  the  Selimghur,  or  Selim's 
fort,  and  fully  2,500  yards  from  the  nearest 
British  gun.  So  that  while  the  British 
were  near  enough  to  see  the  flags  flying, 
and  cart-loads  of  treasure  carried  into  Delhi, 
and  to  hear  the  rebel  bands  play  "Rule 
Britannia,"  our  artillery  could  not  check  the 
triurnph  of  the  foe  by  so  much  as  a  single 
effective  volley. 

On  the  5th  of  July,  Sir  Henry  Barnard 
was  attacked  by  cholera,  and  died  in  the 
course  of  the  day.  His  want  of  experience 
in  Indian  warfare  had  told  against  him  as  a 
commander;  and  his  brief  tenure  of  power 
hardly  gave  opportunity  for  a  fair  judgment 
to  be  formed  of  his  military  capacity ;  but 
his  character  as  a  high-minded,  true- 
hearted  gentleman,  was  i)eyond  all  ques- 
tion. "  Tell  them  at  home,"  he  said, 
"  that  I  die  happy."  Then  his  mind  wan- 
dered :  and  his  last  words  were,  "  Strengthen 
the  right !" — evidently  thinking  the  British 
position  attacked.  The  gun-carriage  which 
served  for  his  hearse  was  followed  by 
many  gallant  officers,  who  sympathised 
with  the  bitter  grief  with  which  Captain 
Barnard  declared,  as  he  stood  by  the 
open  grave — "  I  have  lost  the  very  best  of 
parents,  and  the  most  intimate  and  endear- 
ing of  friends."  General  Reid  assumed 
the  commaud ;  but  resigned  it  from  ill- 
health  on  the  17th  of  July,  and  retired  to 
Umballah,  accompanied  by  Colonels  Con- 
greve  and  Curzon. 

General  Archdale  Wilson  was  his  suc- 
cessor. He  had  been  thirty-eight  years  in 
the  service  of  the  E.  I.  Company;  and  it  is 
a  curious  fact,  that  most  of  the  guns  era- 
ployed  on  either  side,  both  in  attacking 
t  See  page  211. 


BRIGADIER-GENERAL  ARCHDALE  WILSON. 


431 


and  defending  Delhi,  had  been  cast  by  him 
when  holding  the  appointment  of  super- 
intendent of  the  Calcutta  foundry.  He 
was  one  of  the  twelve  sons  of  a  clergy- 
man. When  he  took  command  of  the 
Delhi  field  force,  he  was  fifty-five  years 
of  age ;  and  is  described  as  "  a  tali 
soldierly-looking  man,  with  a  small  brow, 
quick  eye,  and  large  feeble  mouth."* 
His  antecedents  as  the  brigadier  com- 
manding the  Meerut  station  on  the  11th 
of  May,  were  unfavourable.  He  was  distin- 
guished neither  for  brilliant  ability  nor 
fertility  of  resource :  not  a  general  whose 
name,  like  Nicholson's,  would,  under  any 
circumstances,  have  struck  terror  into  the 
rebel  camp,  and  inspired  confidence  in  his 
own ;  not  a  strategist,  like  Campbell ;  not 
a  preux  Chevalier,  like  Outram ;  not  an  en- 
thusiast, brave  and  true  (though  vacillating 
and  egotistical),  like  Havelock;  not  a  disci- 
plinarian like  Neil;  not  a  leader  such  as 
Sir  Hugh  Rose  afterwards  proved  to  be; 
but  just  a  slow,  cautious,  pains-taking  artil- 
lery officer,  whose  leading  characteristic 
was  an  exaggerated  estimate  of  the  impor- 
tance of  his  own  arm  of  the  service. 

It  was  afterwards  said  of  him,  that  he 
was  born  to  take  Delhi.  It  would  have 
been  more  honourable,  though  less  advan- 
tageous to  him  in  other  points,  had  it  been 
written  in  his  horoscope,  that  he  should 
save  the  imperial  city  by  forestalling 
"  the  thirty  troopers  who  revolutionised 
India.  ''\  I3ut  as  no  accouut  of  his  proceed- 
ings in  the  Meerut  crisis  has  yet  been 
laid  before  the  public,  it  is  not  easy  to 
determine  the  extent  to  which  he  is  respon- 
sible for  "the  cardinal  errors  and  fatal 
inc!^)acities  which  pre-eminently  marked 
tlie  conduct  of  the  authorities  in  command 
of  the  Meerut  division,  at  a  period  when 
errors  and  incapacity  were  by  no  means 
unfrequently  conspicuous."t  Little  infor- 
mation has,  even  after  the  lapse  of  two 
years,  transpired  regarding  that  fatal  night, 
when  tyrannical  incapacity  on  one  side,  and 
fear  and  rage  on  the  other,  with  panic  (i.e., 
temporary  insanity)  on  both,  opened  the 
flood-gates  for  the  ocean  of  blood  and  tears 
which  has  since  desolated  India.  The 
latest  writer  on  the  subject,  who  visited 
Meerut,  and  made  all  possible  inquiries  on 
the  spot,  remarks,  that  "  every  one  talks  of 
the    incapacity   of    the    aged   veteran,    on 

•  Russell's  Diary,  vol.  i.,  p.  192. 
f  Strangely  enough,  there  is  a  saying  of  Mustapha 
Khan's,  current  in  India,  that  "  if  forty  sabres  should 


whom  the  whole  affair  produced  the  effect 
of  a  hideous  night-mare;"  and  he  adds, 
"  what  was  Sir  Archdale  Wilson,  of  Delhi, 
doing  ?"§ 

In  the  freedom  of  the  mess-table,  officers 
are  alleged  to  assert,  that  General  Hewitt 
requested  the  then  Colonel  Wilson  to  act 
for  the  best;  and  that  he  (not  from  any 
want  of  personal  bravery,  but  from  sheer 
bewilderment)  did  nothing,  and  would 
sanction  nothing;  but  shared  the  surprise 
which  was  the  prevalent  feeling  among  the 
Meerut  Europeans  on  the  morning  of  the 
12th  of  May,  at  finding  their  heads  re- 
mained on  their  shoulders — that  is,  in  a 
literal  sense ;  for,  in  a  figurative  one,  they 
had  certainly  either  lost  them,  or  had  none 
to  lose. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  why  Wilson  was 
trusted  to  head  the  Delhi  force;  but,  besides 
the  little  choice  left  by  the  eonventionaii- 
ties  of  our  military  system,  it  is  possible 
that  Sir  John  Lawrence  (who,  directly  or 
indirectly,  must  at  such  a  moment  have 
had  a  voice  in  the  matter),  knowing  the 
jealous  and  impetuous  spirit  which  pervaded 
the  camp,  was  decided  by  similar  considera- 
tions to  those  which  induce  both  branches 
of  the  church  militant,  Romish  and  Protes- 
tant, to  choose  safe  second-rate  men  for 
popes  and  archbishops.  So  far  as  is  known, 
there  was  only  one  first-rate  general,  both 
safe  and  brilliant,  in  Northern  ludia — 
namely,  Nicholson ;  and  he  could  not  then 
be  spared  from  the  Punjab. 

The  first  view  taken  by  the  new  com- 
mander was  not  a  cheerful  one.  The  per- 
sonal honours  and  advantages  consequent 
on  the  capture  of  Delhi,  dazzling  as  they 
were  in  perspective,  did  not  blind  him  to 
the  perils  and  difficulties  massed  together 
in  the  foreground. 

Three  days  before  General  Reid's  resig- 
nation, the  mutineers  had  sallied  forth  ia 
great  force,  and  attacked  the  batteries  on 
the  Hindoo  Rao  ridge.  They  were  driven 
back  with  a  loss  estimated  at  1,000  men. 
The  British  had  fifteen  killed  and  nearly 
200  wounded.  Brigadier  Chamberlain 
received  a  wound,  which  it  was  said  would 
keep  him  "  on  his  back  for  six  weeks  at 
least."  The  want  of  his  services  was  not 
so  sensibly  felt  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  his  reputation.  His  youth 
and    energy,   which    had   conduced  to   his 

come  I,,  agree  together,  they  might  bestow  a  king- 
dom."— Siyar  ul  Mutakherin,  vol.  ii.,  p.  418. 
X  Russell's  Dianj,  vol.  ii.,  p.  266.    §  Ihid.,  p.  257. 


432 


CONDITION  OF  DELHI  FIELD  FORCE— JULY,  1857. 


success  as  s.sahreur  and  leader  of  irregulars, 
led  him  to  act  with  an  impetuosity  which 
was  not  suited  to  the  present  phase  of  the 
siege.  It  is  asserted  hy  a  keen  observer, 
that  "in  two  or  three  actions  after  his 
arrival,  we  lost,  by  pushing  too  far,  more 
men  than  formerly,  and  many  more  than 
we  could  spare,  and  by  leading  an  advance 
party  under  the  walls  of  Delhi,  where  they 
were  mowed  down  by  the  enemy's  grape."* 
Hodson,  who  had  so  joyously  hailed  the 
brigadier's  arrival  in  carap,t  admits  that 
he  erred  in  "  too  great  hardihood  and  ex- 
posure in  the  field,  and  a  sometimes  too 
injudicious  indifference  to  his  own  life  or 
that  of  his  men."  Thus,  on  the  14th, 
"seeing  a  hesitation  among  the  troops  he 
led,  who  did  not  like  the  look  of  a  wall 
lined  with  Pandies,  and  stopped  short, 
instead  of  going  up  to  it ;  he  leaped  his 
horse  clean  over  the  wall  into  the  midst  of 
them,  and  dared  the  men  to  follow,  which 
they  did  ;  but  he  got  a  ball  in  his  shoulder.":}: 
A  great  oversight  is  stated  to  have 
occurred  on  this  occasion. §  The  enemy 
brought  out,  and  abandoned,  six  guns, 
which  the  English  neglected  to  seize,  and 
suffered  the  rebels  to  recover.  ||  Altogether, 
the  results  of  the  engagement  were  far  from 
satisfactory,  and  assisted  in  producing  the 
depression  manifest  in  Brigadier  Wilson's 
letter  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  of  the  18th  of 
July,  which  was  written  in  French  for 
more  security.  Colonel  Baird  Smith, 
chief  officer   of  engineers    (styled,   in   the 

•  Letter  from  Umballah. — Times,  October  26th, 
1857. 

t  See  page  211. 

J  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  335. 

§  Another  engagement  took  place  on  the  19th  of 
July,  in  which,  according  to  Hodson,  great  loss  had 
nearly  been  incurred  through  the  incapacity  of  the 
officer  in  command — "a  fine  old  gentleman,  who 
might  sit  for  a  portrait  of  Falstaff,  so  fat  and  jolly  is 
he;  Colonel  Jones,  of  the  60th  Rifles."  Hodson's 
vanity,  which,  notwithstanding  his  disclaimers,  was 
a  conspicuous  feature  in  his  character,  renders  him 
a  doubtful  authority,  as  he  is  apt  to  praise  himself 
at  the  expense  of  other  people;  but  he  distinctly 
asserts,  that  Colonel  Jones,  having  driven  the  enemy 
back  into  Delhi,  found  himself  in  turn  pursued, 
and  gave  an  order  to  retreat  "  in  a  heap :"  but 
when  Hodson  remonstrated  on  the  cruel  loss  which 
would  thereby  be  incurred,  he  received,  in  reply, 
carle  blanche  to  act  as  he  saw  best,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  drawing  off  the  men  in  order,  under  the 
protection  of  the  guns.  (Twelve  Years  in  India, 
p.  238).  The  conduct  of  Colonel  Jones  on  the  day 
of  the  storming  of  Delhi,  tends  to  invalidate  this 
disparaging  testimony. 

11  Rotton's  Siege  of  Delhi,  p.  183. 

f  Further  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1857  j  p.  63. 


letter,  "  I'officier  de  Genie  en  chef"),  the 
brigadier  says,  "agreed  with  him  that  an 
assault  would  be  dangerous  and  disastrous." 
There  were  before  Delhi,  2,200  English, 
and  1,500  Punjabees,  constantly  besieged 
and  daily  attacked  by  a  "numberless"  foe; 
and  Sir  John  Lawrence  was  urged  to  send 
forthwith  to  Delhi  a  complete  English  regi- 
ment, and  two  of  Seiks  and  Punjabees. 
The  request  was  supported  by  the  declara- 
tion— "  If  I  am  not  very  quickly  reinforced, 
I  shall  be  compelled  to  retire  to  Kurnaul."^ 
This  was  the  turning-point  in  the  war. 
Then  it  was  that  Sir  John  Lawrence 
put  forth  all  his  strength.  His  powerful 
intellect  comprehended  the  whole  danger: 
his  moral  courage  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
The  men  about  him  were  for  the  most  part 
of  his  own  school — the  John  Lawrence, 
as  distinguished  from  the  Henry  Lawrence 
school;  the  main-spring  of  the  one  system 
being  fear;  of  the  other,  love.  Sir  Henry's 
exercise  of  authority  had  been  always  patri- 
archal, paternal.  He  could  not,  and  he 
would  not,  bend  to  conventional  notions  of 
government.  His  public,  like  his  private 
life,  was  ever  grand,  simple,  and  consistent. 
The  word  "  Christian"  is  too  hackneyed  to 
be  applied  to  such  a  man.  In  all  humility, 
it  may  be  said  that  he  was  Christ-like — 
specially  so  in  "  the  love  of  the  people  of 
the  country,  with  which  he  inspired"  his 
coadjutors  and  subordinates.**  After  all, 
the  tender  reverence  in  which  his  memory 
is  uniformly  held  by  Anglo-Indians,tt  speaks 

*•  Raikes'  HevoU  in  the  North-  West  Provinces, 
p.  33. 

tt  Any  one  who  has  had  occasion  to  examine  the 
piles  of  books,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers,  filled 
with  Indian  intelligence,  published  in  the  eventful 
years  1857  and  1858,  must  have  been  struck  not 
simply  with  the  frequent  recurrence  of  the  name  of 
Henry  Lawrence,  but  with  the  halo  which  surrounds 
it.  No  one  seems  to  have  known  without  loving  him  ; 
and  none  name  without  [jraising  him.  Men  who 
differ  in  every  other  point  under  the  sun  of  India, 
and  whose  anti-native  feelings  would  alone  appear 
sufficient  to  incapacitate  them  from  in  any  degree 
appreciating  Henry  Lawrence,  speak  of  him  with  a 
reverent  tenderness  as  honourable  to  them  .is  to 
him.  For  instance,  Frederick  Cooper,  in  a  few  grace- 
ful, touching  lines,  dedicates  his  book  on  the  Punjab 
(of  all  books  in  the  world !),  not  to  the  living  Sir 
John,  but  to  the  memory  of  Sir  Henry,  though  he 
knew  nothing  more  of  him  "  than  was  patent  to  the 
world — the  example  he  set."  The  dedication  of 
Hodson's  ieWers  is  another  stone  added  to  the  same 
cairn.  But  perhaps  the  most  striking  testimony  is 
that  borne  by  Mr.  Russell,  who,  after  hearing  the 
varied  opinions  of  men  who  had  known  Sir  Henry 
long  and  intimately,  and  many  of  whom  must  have 
been  frequently  opposed  to  him,  was  "  led  to  think 


CONCENTRATION  OP  EUROPEAN  TROOPS  IN  THE  PUNJAB— 1857.    433 


strongly  for  the  sound  judgment  and  right 
feeling  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  English 
hearts,    even    when   placed   in   the   trying 
position  of  a  "superior  race" — even  when 
lashed  to  fury  by  a  terrible,  unexpected, 
and  most  painful  check — the  more  humili- 
ating, because  none  but  the  ignorant,  the 
apathetic,  or  the  blindly  prejudiced  could 
consider  it  wholly  undeserved.     The  delibe- 
rate  persuasion  of  Henry   Lawrence,   ex- 
pressed   to    Robert    Montgomery    as   the 
result  of  long  and  varied  experience,  was, 
that,    "on    the    whole,   the    people    were 
happier    under    native    government    than 
under  our  own."*     The  writer  who  records 
this  memorable  speech,  excuses  himself  from 
entering  upon  the  causes  of  the  revolt;  but 
this  brief  sentence  comprehends  them  all. 
Our  civilisation  and   our  Christianity  have 
failed  ;  and  why?     Because  the  civilisation, 
real,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  England,  has 
been   but   as  a  varnish  in   India :    and  as 
to  our  Christianity — that,  to  be  effective, 
must    begin    at    home.      When    English 
clergymen  and  laymen  in  India  concur  in 
showing  forth,  in  their  daily  lives,  a  desire  to 
follow    in    the    footsteps   of    their  Divine 
Master,    and    become,    like    him,    "holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,"  they  may  reasonably 
expect  the  attention  of  the  heathen  to  be 
drawn  to  the  means  which  have  wrought  so 
miraculous  a  change.     Until  then,  our  so- 
called  enlightenment  must  fail  to  make  us 
the   "  lights  of  the    world"    we    aspire    to 
be;  and  our  skin-deep  civilisation  can  serve 
but  to  disguise  the  true  character  of  the 
material    beneath  the    glaze.      Besides,    if 
our  standing  as  individual  Christians  were 
ever  so  high,  it  is  the  beneficence  of  our 
governmeut  which  must  be  the  test  of  our 
merits  as  rulers  with  the  mass  of  the  people. 
It  is  a  mockery  to  teach  the  Bible  in  our 
schools,  unless,  as  rulers,  we  harmonise  our 
example  with  our  precepts;  and,  not  in  cant 
or   in   enthusiasm,  but   in   sober   reliance 
on  the  Divine  blessing,  endeavour  for  the 
future  "to  do  justice,  to  love  mercy,  and 
vralk  humbly  with  our  God."     It  would  be 
infidelity  to  doubt  that  an  administration 
conducted  on   these    principles  must   suc- 
ceed, even  in  the  lowest  and  most  worldly 
point  of  view. 

Sir  Henry  Lawrence  did  great  things  in 
the   Punjab   as   a    peace-maker;    but    his 

that  no  such  exemplar  of  a  truly  good  man  can  be 
found  in  the  ranks  of  the  servants  of  any  Christian 
state  in  the  latter  ages  of  the  world."  These  grave 
and  thoughtful  words  have  peculiar  force  as  coming 
VOL.  II.  3  K 


rare  powers  were  always  cramped  by  his 
subordinate  position.  The  clever,  resolute, 
and  unscrupulous  policy  of  Lord  Dalhousie 
was  in  perpetual  opposition  to  Sir  Henry's 
principles  of  action  ;  and  he  had  no  resource 
but  to  quit  the  Punjab.  Sir  John  remaiued. 
Supported  by  a  heavy  expenditure  of  money, 
and  backed  by  European  troops  assembled 
together  from  all  parts  of  India,  he  subju- 
gated the  turbulent  chiefs.  A  rough-and- 
ready  administrative  system,  widely  different 
from  that  under  which  the  North-West 
Provinces  writhed,  was  initiated ;  and  Sir 
John  Lawrence,  himself  a  picked  man,  sur- 
rounded by  picked  men,  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing a  despotism,  which  will  probably 
last  so  long  as  the  present  men,  or  others 
equally  efficient,  are  found  to  man  the 
life-boat  which  alone  has  a  chance  of  living 
in  such  a  stormy  sea. 

In  one  sense  it  is  quite  true,  that  in  the 
Punjab  John  Lawrence  found  the  means  of 
regaining  Delhi.  But  it  is  no  less  true, 
that  Lucknow,  Allahabad,  Benares,  Cawn- 
poor,  and  Dinapoor,  had  been  almost  de- 
nuded of  European  troops,  for  the  sake  of 
concentration  in  the  new  province,  from 
whence  they  could  not  be  spared  even 
when  needed  for  the  accomplishment  of 
a  newer  annexation — that  of  Oude.  Lord 
Dalhousie  was  always  hampered  by  a 
deficiency  of  the  troops  necessary  to  the 
success  of  his  aggressive  policy ;  and  this 
paucity  has  pressed  with  double  force 
on  his  successor.  Bitter  experience  has 
proved  the  value  of  the  friendship  of  the 
sovereigns  of  Oude  in  all  our  former  wars ; 
of  the  subsidies  with  which  they  reple- 
nished our  treasuries ;  the  men  whom  they 
sent  to  fill  our  ranks — never  false  to  us  till 
we  were  false  to  Oude ;  for  false,  and  nothing 
less,  were  the  whole  of  those  "  suppressed 
treaty"  proceedings  which  led  to  the  down- 
fall of  Wajid  AH.  His  misgovernment, 
his  incapacity,  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
question.  He  was  a  faithful  ally;  and  bad 
as  his  rule  was,  the  people  preferred  it 
to  ours.  We  took  no  pains  to  reconcile 
them  to  the  change,  and  no  precautions  to 
overawe  the  disaffection  our  revenue  pro- 
ceedings excited. t 

Could  Sir  John  Lawrence  have  been 
spared  from  the  Punjab,  and  sent  at  once 
to  Oude  with  a  band  of  the  sternest  and 

from  the  brilliant  pen  of  the  Times'  special  corres- 
pondent.— Diary,  vol.  ii.,  p.  139. 

*  Kussell's  Diary  in  India,  vol.  ii.,  p.  414. 

■jr  See  Introductory  Chapter,  p.  88. 


484      NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  KING  OP  DELHI  DURING  THE  SIEGE. 


shrewdest   men' ia   both   services,    and    a 
strong  military  force,  he  would   probably 
(had  Providence  been  pleased  to  permit  it) 
have  accomplished  a  successful  usurpation. 
Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  with  a  body  of  his 
picked  men,  without  any  troops  at  all,  and 
the  smallest  possible  amount  of  red-tapists, 
might    have   carried   through   a   bloodless 
annexation,    by   conciliating,    as    he    only 
could,  the  good-will  of  chiefs  and  people. 
But     tlie     opportunity     was    lost,    either 
through  the  wilful   blindness  or  the  pro- 
crastination which   are  the   besetting  sins 
of  the  present  Indian  administration.     The 
annexation   or   usurpation    of    Oude     (the 
terms  are  synonymous)  has  proved  a  clumsy 
failure;  while  the  conquest  of  the  Punjab 
has    been   a   success,   though   costly,    and 
it  may  be,  temporary :  but  the  abilities  of 
both  the  Lawrences — the  fear  inspired  by 
the  one,  and  the  love  by  the  other — had  been 
brought  to  bear  in  the  latter  case.     Sir  John 
has  proved  himself  to  possess  the    strong 
nerve,  the  indomitable  energy,  the  master- 
policy  needful  to  constitute  a  subjugator. 
The    sharpest    sword    ever    fashioned    in 
Damascus    is    not    more   superior  to   the 
weapons   which    our    officers    irreverently 
term  "  regulation  spits,"  than  it  is  inferior 
in  power  to  the  iron  sceptre  wielded  by  his 
strong   right   hand.      Of    his    conduct    at 
this  crisis  but  few  particulars  are  known. 
Some  of  his  letters,  or  half-a-dozen  pages 
indited  by  a  worshipping  Boswell  (not  an 
ordinary  biographer  v/ho  sees  through  spec- 
tacles or  writes  with  reservations),  would  be 
invaluable.     But  at  present  there  is  nothing 
of  the  kind  available.     The  reports  on  the 
administration  of  the  Punjab  are  valuable 
in   their  way;    but   besides  the  inevitable 
drawback,  that  the  -writers   naturally   put 
their    own    acts    in    the    most    favourable 
hght,   and  that   all    facts    are,  to    a  great 
extent,  at  the  mercy  of  the  describer — it 
happens  that  the  ofttcial  records  pass  over, 
without  attempting  to  explain,  several  of  the 
most  important  features  of  the  epoch.     In 

•  Greathed's  Letters,  pp.  205—217. 

t  Hodson,  as  head  of  the  intelligence  department, 
appears  to  have  encouraged  the  leading  men  in  the 
city  in  making  these  applications,  for  the  eake  of 
compromising  ihem  with  tlieir  party.  His  Memoirs 
contain  only  general  laudation  of  the  extent  of  the 
information  he  obtained ;  bu-t  not  how  he  obtained 
.  it.  Mr.  Cooper,  however,  is  more  explicit,  and  gives 
a  fiiU  descrijjtion  of  the  manner  in  which  Moonshee 
Kujub  Ali  "diplomatised,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  accomplished  Hodson."  A  Hakeem,  or  Moham- 
medan of  eminence,  was  selected  for  the  experiment ; 


one  much  canvassed  question  regarding  the 
Delhi  royal  family,  uncertainty  still  prevails. 
It  appears  that,  during  the  brief  tenure  of 
command  by  General  Reid,  the  miserable 
king,  in    his    anxiety  to  escape  from   the 
tyranny  of  the  sepoys  who  pretended  to  be 
fighting  for  his  throne,  proposed,  through 
native  agency,  to  open  one  of  the  gates  of 
his   palace   (which   led    through  the   town 
wall,  and  thence  into  the   palace)   to  our 
troops,   on  the    sole    condition    that    the 
British   general   should  guarantee  his  life 
and  his  pension.      Brigadier  Chamberlain 
suggested  that  the  king  should  make  the 
offer  in  person,  and  that  his  power  to  per- 
form it  should  be  clearly  established ;  and 
General  Reid  requested  the  opinion  of  Sir 
John  Lawrence  on  the  proposition.     The 
reply  was  sent  by  telegraph ;  and  it  was  to 
the  effect  that,  if  the  king  could  prove  he  had 
no  share  in  the  murder  of  any  European, 
his  life  and  pension  might  be  guaranteed, 
on  condition  of  his  placing  the  British  in 
possession  of  the  city ;  in  which,  however, 
he  could  not  be  suffered  to  remain.     Sir 
John  Lawrence  concluded  by  stating — "  I 
have  no  idea  what  orders  government  has 
given ;  but  those  are  my  views."     He  then 
addressed   Lord  Canning  on   the   subject, 
urging  that  the  speedy  occupation  of  Delhi, 
with  the  smallest  possible  loss,  was  suffi- 
cientlj''  important  to  render  the  proposed 
arrangement  with  the  king  desirable,  pro- 
vided   he   really   possessed   the   means   of 
executing  his  part  of  the  contract.     This 
power  he  did  not  possess,  being  literally 
a    helpless    puppet   in   the   hands   of    the 
sepoys,  just  as  his  immediate  ancestors  had 
been  in  the  grasp  of  the  Mahrattas,  Rohillas, 
and  other  successful  adventurers  or  ruUug 
factions.     Consequently,  the  repeated  over- 
tures made  by  the  king,  by  his  favourite 
queen,  Zeenat  Mahal  (whom  Mr.  Greathed 
speaks  of  as  "  a  great  pohtical  personage"), 
by    the    princes,    and    chief    persons    in 
the    city,   were    rejected*    or    temporised 
with  by  Hodsou's  spies.f    The  interrupted 

and  a  letter  was  writteti,  couched  in  terms  which, 
if  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  sepoys,  would 
"  infallibly  lead  them  to  infer  the  treachery  of  the 
Hakeem;  but  if  it  reached  the  Hakeem,  might  in- 
duce him  to  betray  his  companions."  This  letter 
S])ecially  invited  the  friends  of  the  king  to  negotiate 
on  his  behalf,  and  "  not  to  suflfer  the  lamp  o 
Hindoostan  [i.e.,  the  King  of  Delhi]  to  be  ex- 
tinguished, but  to  communicate  in  person,  or  by 
writing,  with  the  British  camp."  This  letter  was 
received  by  the  Hakeem  j  and  the  suspicions  of  the 
eepoys  being  roused  against  hiai  by  the  destruction 


STATE  OF  AFFAIRS  IN  "PANDEMON-IUM"-JULY,  1857.        435 


communication  between  Calcutta  and  North- 
Western  India,  combined  probably  with 
the  dilatoriness  and  procrastination  which 
characterised  the  Supreme  government, 
prevented  Sir  John  Lawrence  from  re- 
ceiving any  instructions  regarding  the 
policy  to  be  pursued  towards  the  King 
of  Delhi  until  the  6th  of  September.  In 
the  meanwhile,  Sir  John  had  steadily  urged 
that  the  siege  must  be  maintained  at  all 
costs,  and  that  the  troops  must  "  hang  on 
to  their  noses"  before  Delhi.  It  is  asserted 
that  he  "  was  urging  the  assault  with  the 
utmost  importunity  on  the  reluctant  Gene- 
ral Wilson,"  when  he  received  a  telegram 
from  Calcutta,  addressed  to  Madras,  Bom- 
bay, Agra,  and  Mr.  Greathed  at  Delhi  j 
which  ran  as  follows : — 

"  Calcutta,  August  20th,  2.10  p.M. 
"  Rumourii  have  more  than  once  reached  this 
government,  that  overtures  hare  been  made  by  the 
feing  of  Delhi  to  the  officer  commanding  the  troops 
there,  and  that  these  overtures  may  be  possibly 
renewed  upon  the  basis  of  the  restoration  of  the 
king  to  the  position  which  he  held  before  the  mutiny 
of  Meerut  and  Delhi.  The  governor-general  wishes 
it  to  be  understood  that  any  concession  to  the  king, 
of  v?hich  the  king's  restoration  to  his  former  position 
should  be  the  basis,  is  one  to  which  the  government, 
as  at  present  advised,  cannot  for  a  moment  give  its 
consent.  Should  any  negotiation  of  this  sort  be 
•ontemplated;  a  full  report  of  all  the  circumstances 
jQUSt  be  submitted  to  the  governor-general  in  coun- 
cil before  the  government  is  committed  to  any- 
thing."* 

The  instructions  bore  the  Calcutta  post- 
mark before  referred  to — insufficient  and  too 
late.  They  were  nothing  more  than  the 
expressions  of  a  general  policy  on  the  part 
of  a  government  "  as  at  present  advised ;" 
in  other  words,  having  no  specific  know- 
ledge of  the  actual  state  of  affairs.  Yet  on 
them  Lord  Granville  subsequently  founded 
an  eulogium  ou  the  governor-general,  at 
the  expense  of  the  chief  commissioner  of 
the  Punjab,  by  stating  that  "  even  Sir  John 
Lawrence  was  willing  to  make  terras  with 
the  king ;  but  Lord  Canning,  a  civihan,  had 
the  courage  to  take  upon  himself  the  re- 
sponsibility of  absolutely  refusing  these 
propositions."+  The  dates  prove  that  Lord 
Canning  had  no  more  to  do  with  the 
"absolute  refusal"  given  to  the  king  in 
July,  than    Lord  Granville   himself;    and 

of  a  powder-magazine,  with  which  he  was  suspected 
of  being  connected,  they  searched  his  house,  found 
Rujub  All's  letter,  became  furious  against  the  Hakeem, 
and  burnt  his  house  to  the  ground.  He  fled  to 
the  palace,  and  was  supported  by  th'j  king.  "  Great 
divisions,"  Mr.  Cooper,  adds,  "were  the   result  of 


had  little  better  information  regarding  the 
exigencies  of  aff'airs  at  Delhi  than  Mr. 
Vernon  Smith.  If  the  viceroy  had  had  an 
opportunity  of  regaining  Delhi  through  the 
efi'orts  of  the  old  king,  without  bloodshed, 
as  early  as  the  5th  of  July,  and  had  rejected 
it;  then,  indeed,  the  life  and  money  need- 
lessly wasted  in  consequence  of  that  refusal, 
would  have  been  a  serious  charge  against 
him.  It  is  possible  he  might  have  refused 
to  sanction  any  such  negotiations,  or  at  least 
delayed  and  doubted  to  a  degree  which 
would  have  been  equivalent  to  a  refusal; 
for  the  Delhi  force  constantly  complained 
that  their  labours  and  p')sition  were  not 
understood  at  Calcutta.  The  commissioner 
(H.  H.  Greathed)  speaks  very  plainly  on 
the  subject;  remarking,  that  the  diificulty 
in  taking  Delhi  must  be  a  sore  point  with 
Lord  Canning,  for  by  it  would  be  measured 
the  extent  of  ihe  mistake  of  leaving  Delhi 
and  its  magazine  in  the  hands  of  Native 
troops,  when  a  spirit  of  mutiny  was  known 
to  be  abroad.  Mr.  Greathed  received  the 
message  of  the  20th  of  August  on  the  5th 
of  September,  and  evidently  thought  it 
unimportant.  He  remarks,  that  "it  had 
been  telegraphed  to  Cawnpoor,  then  by 
cossid  through  Agra.  It  was  only  to  warn 
me  against  receiving  any  advances  from  the 
palace  people."^ 

The  months  of  July  and  August,  as  spent 
by  the  force  before  Delhi,  were  marked  bv 
few  events.  The  engineers  were  employed 
in  improving  and  extending  the  position  of 
the  troops,  especially  by  clearing  away  the 
old  buildings,  walls,  and  gardens  in  the 
Subzee  Mundee  suburb ;  and  the  attacks  of 
the  mutineers  grew  feebler.  They  were 
evidently  much  disheartened,  .ind  fought 
with  gradually  decaying  energy.§ 

Of  the  state  of  affairs  in  "  Pandemo- 
nium" (as  Delhi  was  called  in  camp), 
information  was  obtained  through  various 
persons.  One  of  the  Native  officers  of  the 
Guides  entered  the  city  in  disguise ;  and 
after  remaining  there  four  days,  returned  tp 
camp.  The  mutineers  and  tradespeople 
were  at  open  strife.  "The  9th  N.I.  had 
already  decamped,  and  thousands  would 
follow  if  they  dared."  || 

The  following  account  of  a  durbar,  held 

this  adroit  piece  of  tactic8."-T-C7rjsi»  in  the  Punjab, 
p.  207. 

*  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (No.  4),  p.  106. 

t  Times,  October  5th,  1858. 

X  Groathed's  Letters,  p.  250. 

^Twelve  Years  in  India,  j).  242.     ]|  Ihid.,  p.  21D. 


436 


WILSON'S  ORDER  RESPECTING  CAMP-FOLLOWERS. 


on  the  7th  of  July,  is  given  by  Mr.  Greathed, 
on  the  authority  of  an  eye-witness : — 

"  Each  speaker  adduced  some  story  of  the  fero- 
city and  cruelty  of  the  English.  One  said  a  council 
of  war  had  been  held  to  discuss  the  propriety  of 
putting  every  Hindoostanee  soldier  in  the  camp  to 
death;  another,  that  our  misdeeds  were  drawing 
down  the  displeasure  of  Providence,  as  many  of  our 
chief  people  in  Calcutta  and  London  are  dying  of 
disease,  and  two  commanders-in-chief  had  been 
driven  to  commit  suicide ;  a  third,  from  Loodiana, 
said  the  Hakeem  (chief  authority)  at  Loodiana 
(Ricketts)  had  gained  the  appellation  of  Kikkus 
(vernacular  for  demon),  on  account  of  his  cruelty. 
At  last  the  king  gave  a  great  sigh,  and  said, '  What- 
ever happens,  happens  by  the  will  of  God :'  and  the 
durbar  broke  up."* 

Mr.  Cooper  also  gives  accounts,  furnished 
by  spies,  regarding  the  internal  condition 
of  Delhi;  and  quotes  their  letters,  ex- 
pressing their  hope  that  actual  rebels,  and 
all  who  had  shed  blood  or  been  plundering, 
would  be  severely  punished;  but  that  the 
government  would  compassionate  the  king, 
the  nobles,  and  the  citizens  of  Delhi,  who 
were  innocent  and  helpless. f 

An  officer  serving  before  Delhi,  writes, 
that  the  mutineers  "have  not  attempted  to 
capitulate,  because  they  knovr  that  nothing 
but  death  will  satisfy  English  soldiers :" 
and  he  adds — "  Nought  else  shall  they  have 
at  our  hands."J 

Another  officer,  serving  in  the  Punjab, 
states — "  Part  of  my  old  regiment  that  muti- 
nied and  went  to  Delhi  the  other  day,  left 
it  again,  and  gave  themselves  up.  This  is 
the  only  regiment  that  has  done  so.  I 
don't  know  what  has  been  done  with  them. 
For  my  part,  I  would  destroy  them  all."§ 

A  third  officer,  writing  from  Meerut, 
applauds  the  justice  of  the  Highlanders  and 
others,  who,  in  passing  through  Cawnpoor, 
had  killed  every  native  they  could  find.]] 
A  fourth,  writing  from  the  Delhi  camp, 
has  "every  reason  to  believe,  that  when  our 
troops  enter  Delhi,  a  fearful  massacre  of  the 
inhabitants  will  take  place.  The  officers,  as 
a  body,  will  do  nothing  to  check  it."1[ 

The  exasperation  manifested  by  the 
Europeans  against  the  natives  generally, 
materially  increased  the  fatigues  and  perils 
of  the  force  before  Delhi.     Sir  John  Law- 

•  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  102.     f  Crisis,  ^c,  p.  211. 

X  Times,  October  24th,  1857.  §  Ibid. 

I]  Ibid.  A  Captain  (McMullin  ?)  in  the  23rd  N.L, 
writing  from  Mhow,  after  describing  the  village- 
burning,  and  the  "fiendish  delight"  with  which,  in 
his  magisterial  capacity,  he  had  officiated  as  "  hang- 
man ;"  adds,  that  if  matters  were  left  in  his  hands, 
"  every  Mohammedan  should  be  strung  up  for  his 
faith."— Da.Vy  Netcs,  Sept.  11th,  1867. 


rence  declared  that  the  Europeans  were 
perishing  for  the  want  of  natives  to  assist 
them  in  the  day-work;  that  is,  minor 
duties  performed  in  the  sun.**  It  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  check  the  excesses 
of  the  soldiery,  especially  as  regarded  their 
conduct  towards  the  camp-followers ;  and  ■ 
Brigadier  Wilson  published  a  general  order 
on  the  subject,  which  the  Friend  of  India 
holds  up  to  admiration,  as  a  marked  con- 
trast to  that  issued  by  Sir  James  Outram 
upon  a  similar  subject.  "  It  had  come  to 
the  knowledge  of  Brigadier  Wilson,  that 
numbers  of  camp-followers  had  been  bayo- 
neted and  shot  by  European  soldiers.  He 
pointed  out  that  a  continuance  of  such  reck- 
less conduct  would  cause  the  army  to  dege- 
nerate into  an  undisciplined  rabble  ;"tt  and 
dwelt  on  the  great  inconvenience  which 
would  result  from  the  desertion  of  the 
camp  by  the  natives,  some  of  whom, 
alarmed  by  the  fate  of  their  companions, 
had  "thought  it  prudent  to  decamp."jj 
Certainly,  Sir  James  Outram  would  have 
held  different  language,  and  would  have 
found  many  voices  to  echo  his  sentiments ; 
for  even  at  this  period,  occurrences  were 
not  wanting  to  show  the  nobler  side  of  the 
native  character,  or  the  appreciation  it  re- 
ceived. For  instance :  among  many  Eng- 
lishwomen and  children,  brought  to  the 
Delhi  camp  as  helpless  fugitives,  was  a 
Mrs.  Nunu,  the  wife  of  a  European  in 
the  customs'  department.  When  the  mu- 
tiny broke  out  at  Goorgaon,  her  husband 
was  absent;  but  the  people  of  the  neigh- 
bouring village  carried  her  off  with  her 
children,  and  fed,  clothed,  and  concealed 
the  helpless  family  for  three  months, 
regardless  of  the  threats  of  the  muti- 
neers, or  the  offered  bribe  of  a  hundred 
rupees  for  her  surrender;  until,  at  the 
expiration  of  that  time,  an  opportunity 
occurred  for  bringing  her  safely  into  camp. 
The  officer  at  whose  picket  the  party 
appeared,  said  that  "  the  woman  spoke  most 
gratefully  of  their  kindness  and  devotion; 
and  her  little  boy  seemed  to  have  the 
greatest  affection  for  the  grey-headed  old 
man  on  whose  shoulder  he  was  perched."§§ 

^  Letter  from  Delhi  camp,  August  11th,  1857. — 
Times,  October  1st,  1857. 

•*  Telegram  from  Sir  John  Lawrence  during  the 
crisis  of  the  siege.  Quoted  by  Times'  Lahore  corres- 
pondent.—  Times,  June  19th,  1858. 

tt  Friend  of  India,  September  10th,  1857. 

II  Kotton's  Siege  of  Delhi,  p.  171. 

§§  Letter  of  Officer ;  Delhi,  August  9th,  1857. — 
Times,  October  3rd,  1857. 


NICHOLSON  AND  LAST  REINFORCEMENTS  REACH  DELHI.      437 


Another  incident  which  created  some 
sensation  in  the  camp,  was  the  capture  of 
a  female  leader,  a  Mohammedan,  who  led 
a  sortie  out  of  Delhi.  Mr.  Greathed 
compares  her  to  "  Joan  of  Arc."  Hodson 
says  she  sallied  forth  on  horseback,  and 
"  fought  against  us  like  a  fiend ;"  and  by 
his  advice.  General  Wilson,  who  had  at 
first  released  her,  caused  her  to  be  recap- 
tured and  sent  to  Umballah.*  As  the 
month  of  August  advanced,  both  of&cers 
and  men  began  to  exhibit  signs  of  extreme 
weariness  at  "  the  waiting  race"t  in  which 
they  had  been  so  long  engaged.  The 
monotonous  and  fatiguing  character  of 
their  duties  was  increasingly  felt,  and  told 
in  the  hospital  lists;  yet  so  little  injury 
was  inflicted  by  the  constant  firing  of  shot 
and  shell  by  the  rebel  garrison,  that  the 
meanest  follower  in  the  British  camp  did 
not  turn  from  his  work  at  hearing  the 
balls  rattling  along  the  protecting  ridge, 
well  knowing  the  enemy  could  not  pass 
it.f  "  We  are,"  Mr.  Greathed  writes,  "  as 
secure  against  assaults  as  if  we  were  in 
Delhi,  and  the  mutineers  outside."  There 
were  pony-races,  cricket,  and  quoits  in  the 
lines  J  and  the  officers  kept  up  their  spirits 
by  "  genial,  jolly  mess  dinners,"  where  mirth 
was  promoted  by  "very  good  Moselle,"  but 
regulated  by  the  presence  of  a  clergyman; 
which,  Mr.   Greathed  states,   was  working 

a   reform,   inasmuch   as   "  Colonel , 

whenever  he  forgot  himself  and  used  the 
word  'damnable,'  corrected  it  with  that 
of  '  devilish ;'  the  effect  being  to  give  two 
jurons  instead  of  one."§  The  state  of 
aft'iiirs  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  bolder 
spirits  in  camp.  If  "  the  prince  of  free 
lances"  may  be  accepted  as  their  spokes- 
man, General  Wilson  was  losing  the  con- 
fidence of  the  force  as  regarded  his  judg- 
ment, and  had  become  nervous  and  ahirmtd, 
and  over-anxious  even  about  trifles.  In  fact, 
after  Wilson  had  exercised  the  chief  com- 
mand for  above  a  month,  his  young  subor- 
dinate writes  of  him  as  "an  old  gentleman 
who  meant  well,  II  but  would  probably  break 
down  like  others  of  his  class,  who,  though 
personally  brave  as  lions,  had  not  big 
hearts  or  heads  enough  for  circumstances 


•  Neither  public  nor  private  records  (so  far  as  the 
author  is  aware)  afford  any  statement  of  the  fate  of 
this  dauntless  woman. 

t  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  259. 

\  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  50.  §  Ibid.,  p.  176. 

II  Hodson's  Iwetve  Years  in  India,  p.  270. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  254. 


'  of  serious  responsibility."^  After  all  (he 
adds,  in  allusion  to  the  retreat  of  Havelock, 
which  was  keenly  felt  at  Delhi),  "  Nicholson 
is  the  general  after  my  heart."** 

On  the  8th  of  August,  Brigadier-general 
Nicholson  reached  the  camp,  as  the  pre- 
cursor of  4,000  troops  sent  to  Delhi  by 
Sir  John  Lawrence.  The  hilarity  of  the 
mess-table  was  considerably  diminished  by 
the  stern  and  taciturn  bearing  of  the  new- 
comer ;tt  but  the  tone  of  the  army  was 
raised :  and  to  the  Seiks  especiall}',  the 
presence  of  "Nikkul  Seyn"  was  at  once 
a  check  to  insubordination,  and  a  stimulus 
to  zeal. 

The  first  considerable  success  obtained 
over  the  enemy,  was  achieved  by  him  at 
Nujufghur:  but  shortly  before  this  event, 
Hodson  had  given  them  a  smart  check 
by  one  of  his  daring  expeditions. 

The  great  advantage  enjoyed  by  the 
British  force,  was  its  uninterrupted  com- 
munication with  the  Punjab.  This  the 
mutineers  never  tried  to  cut  ofi^  (although 
they  had  abundance  of  men  and  ammunition 
wherewith  to  make  the  attempt  without 
endangering  their  hold  on  Delhi)  until 
the  14th  of  August,  on  which  day  a  body 
of  troops,  chiefly  cavalry,  left  the  city  by 
the  Nujufghur  road,  with  the  object,  it  was 
presumed,  of  interrupting  onr  communica- 
tions with  Umballah  and  the  Punjab,  or 
of  attacking  Jheend,  the  rajah  of  which 
principality  was  a  stanch  and  zealous 
British  ally.  Lieutenant  Hodson  was  sent 
to  watch  them,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
frustrate  their  intentions.  His  party  con- 
sisted of  233  of  his  own  newly  raised  corps, 
called  Hodson's  Horse,  and  nicknamed 
"  the  Flamingoes,"  on  account  of  the  scarlet 
turbans  and  sashes  tied  over  the  right 
shoulder,  which  enlivened  their  khakee 
(dust-coloured)  tunics;  103  of  the  Guide 
cavalry,  twenty-five  Jheend  horse,  and  six 
European  officers.  This  little  force  had 
several  skirmishes  with  scattered  bands  of 
the  enemy,  and  came  off  victorious.  Not- 
withstanding the  flooded  state  of  the  coun- 
try, they  proceeded  to  Rohtuck,  and,  after 
procuring  its  evacuation,  returned  to  camp 
on  the  22nd  of  August. 


**  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  ]).  275. 

•ft  "  General  Nicholson  was  at  dinner :  he  is  a  fine, 
imposing-looking  man,  who  never  speaks  if  he  can 
help  it,  which  is  a  great  gift  for  a  public  man.  But 
if  we  had  al!  been  as  solemn  and  taciturn  during 
the  last  two  months,  I  do  not  think  we  should  have 
survived." — Greathed's  Letters,  p.  179. 


438      NICHOLSON'S  VICTORY  AT  NUJUFGHUR— AUGUST  35th,  1857. 


On  the  34th,  a  large  force  of  the  enemy, 
with   eighteen  guns,    left   Delhi   with   the 
avowed  intention  of  intercepting  a  siege- 
train  known  to  be  in  progress  from  Feroz- 
poor,  with  a  very  slender  escort.     At  day- 
break on  the  following  morning,  Brigadier- 
general  Nicholson  started  in  pursuit,  with 
a    brigade    composed    of   1,000   European 
and    3,000    Native    troops,     and    sixteen 
horse  artillery  guns,  under   the  command 
of  Major  Tombs,  one  of  the  bravest  and 
most   skilful   officers  in  the  army.     After 
marching  from  daybreak  till  5  o'clock  p.m., 
a  distance  of  eighteen  miles,  crossing  "  two 
difficult  swamps,"*  and  an  extensive  sheet 
of  water  three  feet  deep,  the  general  came 
upon  the  enemy,  in  a  position  stretching 
from    the    bridge     over     the     Nujufghur 
canal,  to  the  town  of  Nujufghur  itself,  an 
extent   of    a   mile    and    three-quarters,    or 
two    miles.      A   very   brief  reconnaissance 
was  all  that  the  waning  light  permitted; 
but  a  plan  of  attack,  hastily  formed  and 
executed,    was    completely    successful,    and 
the   rebels  were    soon  in  full  retreat  over 
the   bridge.     The  victory  was  thouglit  to 
be  wholly  accomplished,  with  scarcely  any 
numerical  loss  to  the  British  :  the  whole  of 
the  enemy's  guns  (thirteen)  had  been  cap- 
tured, and  the  town  of  Niyufghur  cleared 
by  Lieutenant  Lumsden  and  the  1st  Punjab 
infantrv,  when  it  was  discovered  that  a  few 
men  had  concealed  themselves  in  the  little 
village   of  Nnglee,    a   ^evr   hundred    yards 
iu   rear  of   the    British    line.     Lieutenant 
Lumsden  was  sent  to  drive  them  out ;  but 
the  sepoys,  finding  themselves  surrounded, 
resolved    to   sell    their    lives    denrly,    and 
killed   the  lieutenant   and    several   of   the 
Punjabees ;  so  that  Nicholson  was  obliged 
to  send  H.M.  61st  to  overpower  this  hand- 
ful of  desperate  men;  which,  after  all,  the 
6Ist  failed  to  effect.     The  place  "was  not 
taken,  but  was  evacuated  by  its  defenders 
during  the  night."t  The  British  casualties, 
chiefly  incurred  in  the  ineffectual  attacks  on 
Nuglee,  comprised  nearly  a  hundred  killed 
and  wounded.     The  baggage  had  been  left 
on  the  road  ;  and  the  troops  were  obliged, 
after  fourteen  hours'  marching  and   fight- 
ing, to  bivouac  on  the  field  without  food 
or   covering    of    any    kind.  J      They   bore 
these  hardships  with  cheerfulness,    enoou- 
nged  by  the  presence  of  an  able  leader, 

•  The  -words  are  tliose  of  Nicholson's  despatch ; 
and  he  is  chary  in  the  use  of  adjectives. — London 
Gazette,  Nov.  24th,  18J7. 

t  Norman's  Campaign  of  the  Delhi  Army,  p.  33. 


and  also  by  the  acquisition  of  "  loot" 
in  the  shape  of  rupees,  of  which  one  man 
was  said  to  have  obtained  900  (i690).§ 
The  bridge  was  mined  and  blown  up ; 
such  of  the  captured  waggons  and  tumbrils 
as  could  not  be  carried  away  were  destroyed, 
and,  soon  after  sunrise,  the  troops  set  forth 
on  their  return  to  the  camp,  which  they 
reached  the  same  evening.  The  object  of 
the  expedition  was  accomplished :  the  de- 
feated mutineers  returned  to  Delhi,  and 
abandoned  the  idea  of  intercepting  the 
communication  or  harassing  the  rear  of  the 
British  force.  During  the  absence  of  Gene- 
ral Nicholson,  the  insurgents  came  out  of 
the  city  iu  great  force;  but  after  suffering 
severely  from  the  British  artillery,  they  re- 
tired without  making  any  serious  attack. 
The  total  British  casualties  were  only  eight 
killed  and  thirteen  wounded. 

Bythe  6th of  September,  allreinforcements 
that  could  possibly  be  expected,  together 
with  the  siege-train,  had  arrived.  The 
number  of  effective  rank  and  file,  of  all 
arms — artillery,  sappers,  cavalry,  and  in- 
fantry— was  8,748;  and  there  were  2,977 
in  hospital.  The  strength  of  the  British 
troops  was — ^artillery,  580 ;  cavalry,  443 ; 
infantry,  3,294. 

The  European  corps  were  mere  skele- 
tons, the  strongest  only  having  409  effec- 
tive rank  and  file;  while  the  53nd  light 
infantry,  which,  three  weeks  before,  had 
arrived  with  fully  600  rank  and  file,  had 
now  only  242  men  out  of  hospital. ||  The 
necessity  for  a  speedy  assault  had  become 
indisputable. 

The  Cashmere  contingent  of  2,200  men 
and  four  guns  (assembled  by  Gholab  Sing, 
but  sent  on,  after  his  death  on  the  2nd  of 
August,  by  his  successor,  Rungbeer  Sing); 
had  also  reached  Delhi;  and  several  hundred 
men  of  the  Jheend  rajah's  contingent,  which 
had  previously  been  most  effectively  em- 
ployed in  maintaining  our  communication 
with  Kurnaul,  were  called  in,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  rajah  in  person,  at  his  particular 
request,  to  take  part  in  the  storm  of  Delhi. 

To  understand  the  nature  of  the  opera- 
tions now  commenced,  it  is  necessary  to 
bear  in  mind  the  peculiar  character  of  the 
place  to  be  stormed,  and  the  numbers  and 
position  of  the  attacking  force.  In  the  case 
of  Delhi,  all  the  ordinary  conditions  of  a 

J  Nicholson's  despatch,  Aug.  28th. — London  Ga- 
zette, November  2'ltli,  1857. 

§  Account  published  in  I'imes,  Nov.  7ih,  1857. 
;|  Norman's  Campaign  of  the  Delhi  Army,  p.  33. 


LIEUT.-COLONEL  BAIRD  SMITH  ON  DELHI  DEFENCES. 


489 


siege  were  reversed.  The  garrison  greatly 
outnumbered  their  assailants — could  receive 
reinforcements  and  supplies — could  come 
and  go  at  pleasure.  The  defences  were 
seven  miles  in  circumference,  and  extended 
over  au  area  of  three  square  miles.  They 
were  modernised  forms  of  those  which  ex- 
isted when  the  city  fell  before  Lord  Lake's 
army  in  1803,  and  were  more  formidable  to 
au  unprofessional  eye  than  to  that  of  a 
scientific  engineer.  The  proportion  of  be- 
sieged to  besiegers,  the  magnitude  of  the 
arsenal  inside,  and  the  impossibility  of 
complete  inyestment,  constituted  the  real 
strength  of  the  place.*  Its  weakness  laj 
in  the  want  of  unanimity  in  its  defenders, 
and  in  the  absence  of  an  able  and  recognised 
commander — in  the  augrj'  feeling  with  which 
the  unfortunate  iuhabitauts  regarded  the 
mutinous  rabble,  whose  presence  inflicted 
on  them  so  many  miseries,  and  ruined  the 
trade  in  gold  and  silver  tissues  and  brocades, 
in  jewellery,  miniature-painting,  and  the 
engraving  of  gems,  for  which  the  ancient 
capital  of  the  Moguls  enjoyed  a  European 
celebrity  up  to  the  black-letter  day,  the  11th 
of  May,  1857.  It  hivs  been  said  that  the  at- 
tack ou  Delhi  resembles  that  on  Sebastopol, 
rather  than  those  on  Seringapatam  and 
Biiurtpoor ;  but  there  is  little  ground  for 
comparison  in  any  of  these  instances. 
There  were  no  Europeans  in  Delhi,  skilled 
in  military  tactics,  and  backed  by  the  re- 
sources of  a  powerful  empire,  as  at  Sebas- 
topol— no  Tippoo  Sultan  defending  his  for- 
tress in  person  to  the  death,  supported  by 
loyal  veterans  trained  under  Hyder  Ali,t  as 
at  Seringapatam — no  daring,  resolute  leader 
like  the  Jat  rajah,  who,  in  1804,  successfully 
defended  his  castle  of  Bhurtpoor  against 
the  British,  and  four  times  repulsed  them 
from  the  battlements,  in  which  the  besieged 
chieftain  declared  his  every  hope  was  bound 
up.J  The  old  King  of  Delhi,  who  had  in- 
herited the  scholarly,  but  not  the  warlike, 
tendencies  of  his  race,  and  had  a  heavy 
burden  of  years  and  sickness  to  bear  in 
addition  to  the  anxieties  of  his  position, 
Was  incapable  of  feeling  or  inspiring  this 
kind  of  resolve ;  and  if  any  of  his  harem- 
bred  sons  and  grandsons  had  evinced  capa- 
city for  wielding  either  the  sword  or  the 
sceptre,  it  would  Lave  been  most  marvel- 
lous.    There  are  conditions  under  whicii 

•  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1808  (No.  6,),  p.  220. 

t  See  vol.  i.,  p.  380. 

X  Ibid.,  p.  401. 

§  Coopers  C'risii  ia  the  Punjab,  p.  218, 


the  vigorous  development  of  mind  and 
body  is  next  to  impossible :  the  palace- 
prison  of  Delhi  combined  all  these. 

The  unremitting  communications  made 
by  the  Icing  to  the  British,  confirm  his 
assertion,  that  his  connexion  with  the  muti- 
neers was,  on  his  part,  always  hateful  and 
involuntary.  Hodsou's  spies  described  the 
last  of  the  Moguls  as  appearing  before  the 
durbar  tearing  his  beard,  snatching  the 
turban  from  his  hoary  head,  and  invoking 
vengeance  on  the  authors  of  his  wretched- 
ness. §  One  of  the  princes,  Alirza  Mogul, 
was  tried  by  court-martial  in  September, 
for  favouring  the  British ;||  another,  Mirza 
Hadjee,  had  drawn  upon  himself  much 
angry  suspicion  by  concealing  Christians. 
The  queen,  Zeenat  Mahal,  had  always 
been  unpopular  for  her  efforts  to  save 
European  life.^ 

The  disorganisation  and  disunion  of  the 
rebels  more  than  counterbalanced  their 
numbers;  and  the  back-door  of  retreat  open 
to  themj  probably  served  the  British  cause 
l)etter  than  the  power  of  complete  invest- 
ment coidd  have  done.  Had  the  mass  of 
sepoys  in  Delhi  been  once  impressed  with 
the  conviction  that  their  death  was  inevit- 
able, they  would  probably  have  tu-rned  and 
fought  with  desperation,  as  the  handful  of 
mutineers  did  at  Nujufghur.  As  it  was, 
the  bridge  of  boats  was  left  intact  by  our 
batteries;  but  whether  from  accident  or 
policy,  does  not  appear. 

The  leading  features  of  the  defences,  and 
of  the  ground  occupied  by  the  foixje,  are  thus 
succinctly  described  by  Colonel  Baird  Smith, 
the  diief  eugineer  of  the  Delhi  field  force  :— 

"The  eastern  face  of  the  city  rests  on  the  Jumna; 
and  during  the  season  of  the  year  when  our  opera- 
tions were  carried  on,  the  stream  may  be  described 
a«  washing  the  base  of  the  walls.  All  access  to  a 
besieger  on  the  river-front  is,  therefore,  impractica- 
ble. The  defences  here  consist  of  an  irregular  wall, 
with  occasional  bastions  and  towers ;  and  about 
one-half  of  the  length  of  the  river-face  is  occupied 
by  the  palace  of  the  King  of  Delhi,  and  its  out- 
work— the  old  Mogul  fort  of  Selimghur. 

"  The  river  may  be  described  as  the  thord  of  a 
rough  arc,  formed  by  the  remaining  defences  of  the 
place.  These  consist  of  a  succession  of  bastioned 
fronts,  the  connecting  curtain  being  very  long,  and 
the  outworks  limited  to  one  crownwork  at  the 
Ajmeer  gate  and  Martello  towers,  mounting  a  single 
gun  at  such  points  as  require  some  additional  flank- 
ing fire  to  that  given  by  the  bastions  themselves. 
The  bastions  arc  small,  mounting  generally  three 

II  Further  Pari.  Papers,  1857  (No.  4),  p.  197. 
%  See  Sherer's  Indian  Church  during  the  Great 
RehelUnu  (p.  51),  for  further  information  regarding 
he  unfortunate  prince,  Mirza  Hadjee. 


440      TWO  PRACTICABLE  BREACHES  EFFECTED—DELHI,  SEPT.,  1857. 


giins  in  each  face,  two  in  each  flank,  and  one  in 
embrasure  at  the  salient.  They  are  provided  with 
masonry  parapets,  about  12  feet  in  thickness,  and 
have  a  relief  of  about  16  feet  above  the  plane  of 
site.  The  curtain  consists  of  a  simple  masonry 
wall  or  rampart,  16  feet  in  height,  11  feet  thick  at 
top,  and  14  or  15  at  bottom.  This  main  wall  carries 
a  parapet  loopholed  for  musketry,  8  feet  in  height, 
and  3  feet  in  thickness.  The  whole  of  the  land 
front  is  covered  by  a  berm  of  variable  width,  rang- 
ing from  16  to  30  feet,  and  having  a  scarp  wall  8 
feet  high;  exterior  to  this  is  a  dry  ditch  of  about 
25  feet  in  height^  and  from  16  to  20  feet  in  depth. 
The  counterscarp  is  simply  an  earthern  slope,  easy 
to  descend.  The  glacis  is  a  very  short  one,  extend- 
ing only  50  or  60  yards  from  the  counterscarp  : 
using  general  terms,  it  covers  from  the  besieger's 
view  from  half  to  one-third  of  the  height  of  the 
walls  of  the  place.  *  *  «  * 

■  "  The  ground  occupied  by  the  besieging  force  ex- 
ercised a  most  important  influence  on  the  plan  and 
progress  of  the  works  of  attack.  On  the  western 
side  of  Delhi,  there  appear  the  last  outlying  spurs  of 
the  Aravelli  Mountains,  represented  here  by  a  low 
ridge,  which  disappears  at  its  intersection  with  the 
Jumna,  about  two  miles  above  the  place.  The 
drainage  from  the  eastern  slope  of  the  ridge  finds  its 
way  to  the  river  along  the  northern  and  north- 
western falls  of  ihe  city,  and  has  formed  there  a 
succession  of  parallel  or  connected  ravines  of  con- 
siderable depth.  By  taking  advantage  of  these 
hollow  ways,  admirable  cover  was  obtained  for  the 
troops,  and  the  labour  of  the  siege  most  materially 
reduced.  The  whole  of  the  exterior  of  the  place 
presents  an  extraordinary  mass  of -old  buildings  of 
all  kinds,  of  thick  brushwood,  and  occasional  clumps 
of  forest  trees,  giving  great  facilities  for  cover, 
which,  during  the  siege  operations  at  least,  proved 
to  be,  on  the  whole,  more  favourable  to  us  than  to 
the  enemy."* 

The  plan  of  attack  formed  by  Colonel 
Baird  Smith,  provided  for  a  concentrated, 
rapid,  and  vigorous  assault  on  the  front  of 
the  place,  included  between  the  Water,  or 
Moree,  and  Cashmere  bastions ;  arrange- 
ments being  made,  at  the  same  time,  for 
silencing  all  important  flanking  fire,  whe- 
ther of  artillery  or  musketry,  that  could  be 
brought  to  bear  on  the  lines  of  advance  to 
be  taken  by  the  assaulting  columns.  The 
exposed  right  flank  of  the  trenches  was 
shielded  from  sorties.  The  left  was  secured 
by  being  rested  on  the  river,  and  by  the 
occupation  of  the  Koodsee  Bagh — a  beau- 
tiful garden,  full  of  orange  and  lemon  trees ; 
surrounded  on  three  sides  with  a  high  wall, 
and  ending  with  a  terrace  beside  the  river. 
This  strong  post,  only  250  yards  from  the 
city  wall,  was  taken  possession  of  by  the 
British  without  opposition ;  as  was  also 
Ludlow  Castle  (formerly  the  residence  of 
the  unfortunate  commissioner,  Mr.  Eraser). 

*  Lieut-colonel   Baird   Smith's  report ;   Septem- 
ber nth,  1851.— London  Gazette,  Dec.  15th,  1857. 
t  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  pp.  284,  287. 


The  best  information  procurable, indicated 
that,  on  the  front  of  attack,  the  fire  of  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  pieces  might  have  to 
be  subdued.  To  effect  this,  fifty-four  siege 
guns  were  available,  and  were  formed  into 
various  batteries,  one  of  which  commanded 
the  only  route  open  to  the  sorties  of  the 
enemy,  and  prevented  any  material  injury 
being  sustained  from  this  source. 

The  mutineers  beheld  the  operations 
carried  on  against  them  with  astonishment 
and  alarm,  Hodson  writes — "  The  sepoys 
in  Delhi  are  in  hourly  expectation  of 
our  attack;  the  cavalry  keep  their  horses 
saddled  night  and  day,  ready  to  bolt  at  a 
moment's  notice — so  say  the  news-letters. 
I  suspect  that  the  moment  we  make  an 
attack  in  earnest,  the  rebel  force  will  dis- 
appear. *  *  *  There  is,  at  present,  nothing 
to  lead  one  to  suppose  that  the  enemy  have 
any  intention  of  fighting  it  out  in  the  city 
after  we  have  entered  the  breach.  All,  I 
fancy,  who  can,  will  be  off  as  soon  as  we 
are  within  the  walls."  On  the  13th  of  Sep- 
tember, he  speaks  of  the  rebels  as  "  fast 
evacuating  Delhi."t 

The  time  for  a  decisive  struggle  at  length 
arrived.  On  the  night  of  the  13th,  Cap- 
tain Taylor,  the  second  engineer  officer  (on 
whom,  in  consequence  of  the  wound  from 
which  Baird  Smith  was  sufi'ering,  much 
extra  duty  devolved),  with  Lieutenants 
Medley  and  Lang,  Greathed  and  Home, 
stole  down  and  examined  the  two  breaches 
near  the  Cashmere  and  Water  bastions; 
and  both  being  reported  practicable,  orders 
were  at  once  issued  for  the  assault  to 
be  made  at  daybreak  on  the  following 
morning. 

The  order  issued  by  Major-general  Wil- 
son for  the  regulation  of  the  conduct  of  the 
troops  during  the  assault,  if  not  vigorous, 
was  at  least  pitiless.  "British  pluck  and 
determination"  would,  the  major-general 
felt  assured,  carry  everything  before 
them ;  and  the  bloodthirsty  and  murderous 
mutineers  would  be  driven  headlong  out  of 
their  stronghold,  or  be  exterminated.  He 
considered  it  hardly  needful  to  remind  the 
force  (and,  in  truth,  it  was  worse  than 
needless)  of  "  the  cruel  murders  committed 
on  their  officers  and  comrades,  as  well  as 
their  wives  and  children ;"  but  he  called 
upon  them,  notwithstanding  this,  to  spare 
all  women  and  children  that  might  come  in 
their  way. 

This  peculiar  phrase  requires  some  ex- 
planation, which  is  given  by  Mr.  Cooper, 


"WILSON'S  GENERAL  ORDER  REGARDING  STORM  OF  DELHI.      441 


who  has  the  knack  of  telling  just  what  the 
general  public  want  to  know,  and  officials, 
civil     and    military,     carefully    withhold. 
lie  states  that,  early  in  September,   "  the 
awful  miseiies  of  warfare,  and  the  ghastly 
destitution  of  anarchy,  were  fully  felt  by  the 
population,  shopkeepers,  and  retail  trades- 
men of  Delhi ;"    and  they  sought,  at  the 
hands  of  the  British  array,  protection  for 
their  wives    and   children.     No   less   than 
"  2,500  women  aud  children  tried  to  leave, 
and  about  600  carts  blocked  up  the  main 
streets ;    but    all  egress   was    prevented."* 
From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  towns- 
people were  anxious  to  separate  from  the 
sepoy  rabble,   and  not   compromise   them- 
selves   by    flying   in    the    same     direction. 
General  Wilson  had,  however,  no  idea  of 
dealing   with   the    unarmed    population    as 
defenceless    British    subjects.       His    quali- 
fied compassion  for   the   wretched    women 
and  children  who,  having  been  prevented 
from    leaving    the    city,     might     come    in 
the  way  of  the  soldiers,  did  not  extend  to 
their   equally   unfortunate    husbands    and 
fathers.     Not  one  suggestion  of  mercy  was 
made   for  age  or  youth.     The  license  for 
slaughter  was  as  large   as    could   well   be 
desired  :    the    amount    of    life    destroyed 
would    proportiouably   increase   the    glory 
of    the    triumph ;     but    the    "  loot"    was 
auotlier    question     altogether,    and    could 
by   no   means    be    left    to    the    discretion 
of  the  soldiery.     The  subjoined  paragraph 
is    important,    because    it    was    naturally 
construed    by    the    troops   as    affording    a 
guarantee  that  the   booty  taken  in   Delhi 
would  be  divided  among  them ;  and  much 
dissatisfaction  was   expressed   at  the  non- 
performance of  a  promise  which,   directly 
or   indirectly,  ought   never   to   have    been 
made. 

"It  is  to  be  explained  to  every  regiment  that 
indiscriminate  plunder  will  not  be  allowed ;  that 
prize-agents  have  been  appointed,  by  whom  all 
captured  property  will  be  ccjUeeted  and  sold,  to  be 
divided,  according  to  the  rules  and  regulations  on 
this  head,  fairly  among  all  men  engaged  ;  and  that 
any  man  found  guilty  of  having  concealed  captured 
property  will  be  made  to  restore  it,  and  will  forfeit 

•  Crisis  in  the  I'unjah,  p.  212.  Mr.  Cooper  had 
the  best  means  of  obtaining  both  official  and  private 
information  ;  and  although  the  philanthropist  may 
condemn  the  tone  of  his  book,  the  historian  must 
gratefully  acknowledge  the  clear  and  comprehensive 
manner  in  which  he  states  facts,  according  to  his 
view  of  them,  without  arranging  and  garbling  them 
to  suit  the  public  eye,  or  to  shield  himself  from 
the  displeasure  of  his  superiors.  There  are  two 
other  books  regarding  the  Delhi  campaign  (fre- 
VOL.    II.  3   L 


all  claims  to  the  general  prize;  he  will  also  be  likely 
to  be  made  over  to  the  provost-marshal,  to  be  sura- 
marilv  dealt  with." 


In  the  course  of  the  order,  a  prohibition 
against  "  straggling"  during  the  assault 
was  thrice  repeated  ;  and,  like  most  reitera- 
tions, appears  to  have  produced  very  little 
effect.  Happily,  the  actual  conduct  of  the 
assault  was  placed  by  Wilson  in  the  hands 
of  "that  most  brilliant  officer,  Brigadier- 
general  Nicholson,"t  whose  excellent  ar- 
rangements "elicited  the  admiration  of  all. "J 
The  troops  were  divided  into  five  columns  : 
the  first  four,  destined  to  attack  as  many 
different  points,  were  respectively  com- 
manded by  Nicholson,  Brigadier  Jones,  Colo- 
nel Campbell,  and  Major  Reid;  the  fifth — 
a  column  of  reserve — by  Brigadier  Long- 
field.  There  were  1,000  men  in  the  first 
column ;  850  in  the  second ;  950  in  the 
third ;  860  in  the  fourth  (besides  the  Cash- 
mere contingent,  strength  not  known)  j 
and  1,300  in  the  reserve. 

In  the  dark  but  clear  dawn  of  morning 
the  columns  assembled,  marching  with 
quiet  measured  tramp,  the  scaling-ladders 
in  front,  aud  the  batteries  firing  with  re- 
doubled fury  to  cover  the  advance;  while  the 
answering  shells,  rockets,  aud  round  shot, 
as  they  l)urst,  or  hissed,  or  rushed  over  the 
heads  of  the  troops,  lit  up  the  atmosphere 
with  lurid  flashes. §  The  men  watched  in 
breathless  silence  for  the  signal  for  the 
general  rush.  It  was  to  be  given  by  Nichol- 
son ;  and  many  an  anxious  eye  was  turned 
on  him.  The  Europeans  felt  confidence  in 
tlic  leadership  of  a  man  of  first-rate  ability 
aud  proved  success  in  Indian  warfare — one, 
too,  who  was  known  to  be  singularly  just 
and  discriminating  in  officially  recognising 
the  merits  of  his  subordinates.  The  natives 
equally  admired  his  prowess  and  his  luck 
(nujeeb) ;  and  the  Seiks,  who  considered 
him  peculiarly  their  own,  were  as  proud  of 
him  as  the  Greeks  of  Achilles.  His  com- 
manding presence  has  been  already  men- 
tioned :  even  in  ordinary  society,  the  phy- 
sical and  mental  vigour  evidenced  in  every 
feature   of  his   face,  in   every  limb   of  his 

quently  quoted  in  preceding  pages),  which  possess 
worth  and  interest  of  the  same  kind  ;  but  the  merit 
in  these  cases  rests  with  the  editors  rather  than  the 
authors  ;  for  had  either  Commissioner  Greathed  or 
Captain  Hodson  survived,  their  "Letters"  would 
probably  not  have  been  published. 

t  Urigadier-general  Wilson's  despatch,  22nd  Sept., 
18oT. — London  Gazette,  Dec.  loth,  ]So7. 

J  Pari.  Papers  on  Mutiny,  1858  (No.  6),  p.  219. 

§  Medley's  Year's  Campaiyning  in  India,  p.  105. 


442     DELHI  STORMED— CASHMERE  GATE  BLOWN  IN— SEPT.  14,  1857. 


body,  attracted  more  attention  than  his 
unusually  massive  but  harmonious  propor- 
tions.* He  was  scarcely  five-and-thirty 
years  of  age,  but  he  looked  older;  and 
though  his  large  beard  still  retained  its 
glossy  blackness,  his  curls  had  turned  grey. 
Such  was  the  man  who  led  the  troops 
against  Delhi  on  the  14th  of  September. 
He  rode  forth  in  tlie  strength  and  prime  of 
manhood  :  a  few  hours  later  he  was  brought 
back  ill  a  litter,  his  whole  frame  quivering 
in  mortal  agony. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  the  fortune  of 
the  day  was  decided,   that  Nicholson  fell : 
the  critical  opening  of  the  storm  was  con- 
ducted by  him.     He  gave  the  word,  "  For- 
ward \"  and  the  Rifles  dashed  to  the  front  | 
with  a  cheer,  skirmishing  through  the  low  i 
jungle  in  front  of  the  breach,  so  as  to  cover  ; 
the  advance  of  the  first  and  second  columns. 
Both  officers  and  men  fell  fast  under  the 
bullets  of  the  enemy  while  the  ladders  were 
being  let  down  into  the  ditch  to  mount  the 
escarp ;  but  when   this   was   accomplished 
the  breaches  were  carried  with  ease,  for  the 
mutineers    fled    in    confusion    before  the 
British  bayonet. 

Meanwhile,  the  third  column  effected  an 
entrance  by  the  Cashmere  gate.     At  the 
head   marched    an    explosion   party,    com- 
posed of  Lieutenants    Salkeld  and   Home, 
Sergeants    Smith    and    Carmichael,    Cor- 
poral Burgess,  and  Bugler  Hawthorne,  with 
fourteen  Native  sappers  and  miners  of  the 
old    Bengal    army,    and    ten    Punjabees. 
Covered  by  the   fire    of   the    Rifles,    the 
advanced  party    safely   reached   the   outer 
barrier-gate,  which   they  found  open  and 
unguarded.      Home,    Smith,    Carmichael, 
Havildar    Madhoo,     and    another   Native ' 
sapper,  passed  over  the  partially  destroyed 
drawbridge,     and     succeeded    in    placing 
powder-bags  at  the  foot  of  the  double  gate. 
The  enemy,  on  recovering   their   first    as- 
tonishment at  the  audacity  of  the  procedure, 
poured  forth  volley  after  volley  through  the 
open  wicket.     Carmichael  was  killed,  and 
Madhoo  wounded;  but  the  powder  was  laid, 
and  the  four  survivors  sprang  into  the  ditch ; 
while  the  firing  party,    under   Lieutenant 
Salkeld,  proceeded  to  perform  its  perilous 
duty.        Salkeld    was    mortally    wounded 
while  endeavouring  to  fire  the  charge,  and 

*  Brigadier-general  Nicholson  was  six  feet  two 
inches  in  height. 

t  The  Victoria  medal  was  bestowed  by  General 
Wilson  on  Home,  Salkeld,  Smith,  and  Hawthorne. 
Salkeld  died  in  the  course  of  a  fiw  days;  Home 


fell,  handing  the  slow-match  to  Burgess, 
who  succeeded  in  setting  the  train  on 
fire,  but  was  shot  dead  immediately  after- 
wards. Havildar  Tiluk  Sing  was  wounded; 
and  another  Hindoo,  whose  name  is  given 
in  the  report  as  Ram  Heth,  was  killed.. 
Thus  the  most  popular  exploit  of  the 
day  was  performed  by  Europeans,  Seiks, 
and  Bengal  sepoys,  fighting,  suffering,  and 
dying  side  by  side.  Colonel  Baird  Smith 
names  no  less  than  six  natives,  as  having 
shown  the  most  determined  bravery  and 
coolness  throughout  the  whole  operationj; 
and  praises  "  the  remarkable  courage  shown 
by  the  Native  officers  and  men  in  assist- 
ing their  wounded  European  comrades." 
While  the  train  was  being  lit.  Bugler 
Hawthorne,  under  a  heavy  fire,  had  carried 
the  wounded  Salkeld  from  the  bridge 
into  the  ditch,  and  bound  up  his  wounds  : 
he  then  sounded  the  regimental  call  of 
the  52nd  three  times. t  The  troops  scram- 
bled across  the  fallen  gates  and  over  the 
bodies  of  a  score  of  mutineers  killed  in  the 
explosion,  and  gained  the  ramparts  in  time 
I  to  echo  the  cheers  of  the  two  columns 
which  had  stormed  the  breaches  iu  the 
Cashmere  and  Water  bastions, 

Unhap|)ily,  the  fourth  column  had  failed 
in  performing  its  allotted  task  of  clearing 
the  Kishen  Gunj  suburb  and  carrying  the 
i  Lahore  gate.  The  Jummoo  contingent  com- 
'  menced  the  attack ;  suffered  heavily,  and 
were  driven  back  before  the  artillery  arrived. 
Major  Reid  moved  down  with  the  Goorkas 
to  renew  the  attack,  but  fell  wounded  in 
the  head  by  the  heavy  fire  opened  by  the 
enemy  from  the  bridge  over  the  canal,  from 
walls  and  loopholed  buildings.  Captain 
MeBarnet  was  killed.  Lieutenant  Sheb- 
beare,  with  a  few  Guides  and  some  Euro- 
peans, took  possession  of  a  mosque,  and 
strove  to  re-form  the  troops  and  charge  the 
enemy's  position.  Lieutenant  Murray,  of 
the  Guides,  was  killed  while  gallantly 
seconding  Lieutenant  Shebbeare,  who  was 
himself  struck  by  two  balls ;  and  Sergeant 
Dunleary,  of  the  Fusiliers,  was  likewise 
slain  while  exhibiting  conspicuous  gal- 
lantry.J  Major  Reid  and  the  senior  engi- 
neer, both  severely  wounded,  were  the  only 
officers  well  acquainted  with  the  localities 
of  the   place.§     Between  the    want   of  a 

was  killed  on  the  1st  of  October,  by  the  accidental 
explosion  of  a  mine  at  Malaghur. 

J  Captain  Mutev's  Report,  Sept.  17th,  1857.— 
London  Gazette,  Dec.  loth,  1857. 

§  Medley's  Year's  Campaignimj  in  Iniiia,  p.  110. 


t  B 


g   ;3.  5= 

B     S  ^ 

1  i-  ^ 

Si  §  =Ji 

S   I  S 

I" 

8   '*  2s= 

2  I  «{} 


53 


•E. 


I  I      © 


Ss» 


•S= 


?      5= 


NICHOLSON  MORTALLY  WOUNDED— SEPT.  Utu,  1857. 


443 


competent  leader  and  tlie  panic  of  the 
troops,  the  result  was,  that  after  losing  a 
great  number  of  men  and  four  guns,  they 
were  "  completely  defeated,  and  fell  back  to 
camp."* 

This  failure  impeded  the  advance,  and 
embarrassed  the  proceedings  of  the  other 
columns,  by  leaving  the  enemy  in  trium- 
phant possession  of  the  Lahore  gate.  Gen- 
eral Nicholson  proceeded  thither,  clearing 
the  ramparts  as  he  advanced.  The»road  lay 
through  a  narrow  lane,  down  which  the 
rebels  poured  volleys  of  grape  and  musketry. 
The  Europeans  recoiled  before  tlie  deadly 
fire;  and  Nicholson,  in  endeavouring  to 
cheer  them  on,  and  induce  them,  by  his 
example,  to  renew  the  advance,  offered  a  too 
easy  mark  to  the  foe.  He  fell,  shot  through 
the  body,  the  ball  entering  his  right  side, 
and  coming  out  under  tlie  left  armpit.  He 
was  carried  off  with  some  difficulty ;  and  his 
favourite  orderly,  an  Afghan,  named  Khajah 
Khan,  who  had  stormed  the  breach  with 
him,  writes — "  The  general  then  desired  to 
be  laid  in  the  shade;  and  said,  'I  will  re- 
main here  till  Delhi  is  taken.'"  But  there 
were  several  anxious  days  to  be  spent  before 
the  capture  was  accomplished.  The  troops 
who  hung  back  from  Nicholson,  would 
not  follow  any  one  else;  and  Captain 
Brookes,  who  succeeded  to  the  command, 
relinquished  the  attempt  to  force  them 
forward,  and  fell  back  on  the  Cabool  gate, 
where  he  was  joined  by  the  column  under 
Brigadier  Jones.  Meanwhile,  the  third 
column  endeavoured,  by  Nicholson's  orders, 
to  advance  upon  and  occupy  the  Jumma 
Musjid,  that  "  chastest,  grandest,  and 
noblest  temple  ever  erected  by  those  great 
architects  the  Mohammedans  ;"t  but,  on 
examination,  the  gate  was  found  to  be  too 
strong  to  be  blown  open  without  powder- 
bags  or  artillery.  Colonel  Campbell  had 
neither,  in  consequence  of  the  fall  of  Sal- 
keld  and  the  impracticability  of  bringing 
guns  over  the  broken  bridge  at  the  Cash- 
mere gate.  The  colonel,  himself  wounded, 
retired  to  the  Cabool  gate.  The  church  and 
other  structures  were  taken  possession  of 
by  the  troops ;  when  General  "Wilson  rode 
into  Delhi,  map  in  hand,  and  established 
his  head-quarters  in  n  strong  building, 
called  Secandcr's,  or  Skinner's  House,  from 
the    famous    Eurasian   leader   of    irregular 

*  Norman's  Campairjn  of  the  Delhi  Army,  ji.  44. 
t  Russell. — Times,  Sept.  3r(l,  1858. 
X  Medley's  Year's  Camimiijninj  in  Indiu,  p.  113. 
§  See  an  able  account  of  the  capture  of  Deilii,  by 


cavalry,  by  whom  it  was  erected.  When 
the  first  tumult  had  subsided,  much  un- 
satisfactory information  was  obtained  re- 
garding the  number  of  casualties,  the  con- 
dition of  the  remaining  force,  and  the 
strength  of  the  enemy's  positions. 

The  portion  of  Delhi  on  which  the  as- 
sault was  commenced,  contained  large  quan- 
tities of  wine  and  spirits  (the  produce  of  a 
long  line  of  road  on  which  those  articles 
are  the  main  staple  of  European  com- 
merce). The  temptation  to  intoxication, 
to  which  the  troops  readily  succumbed, 
was  thought  to  be  the  result  of  deep 
strategy  on  the  part  of  the  mutineers ;  but 
of  this  there  is  no  proof.  The  straggling 
and  looting  deprecated  by  General  Wilson 
was  extensively  carried  on :  "  men  of  dif- 
ferent columns  and  regiments  got  mixed 
up  togetlier,  shops  and  houses  were  broken 
open  and  completely  gutted,  and  stores  of 
beer,  champagne,  and  brandy  were  found, 
and  quickly  appropriated."!  Another  eye- 
witness says,  that  "the  army  became  dis- 
organised to  a  degree  which  was  highly 
dangerous  when  the  battle  was  half  wou."§ 
And  he  further  remarks,  that  it  seem/  "  as 
if  the  only  common  bond  which  unites  the 
various  races  fighting  under  our  stfvndard, 
is  the  common  love  of  liquor."  The  newly 
arrived  Cashmere  auxiliaries  were  not 
wanting  in  this  essential  part  of  good  fel- 
lowship and  bad  discipline.  "  In  their 
drinking  and  plundering  propensities,  and 
somewhat  impaired  discipline,  they  hardly 
differ  from  the  Europeans,  whom  they 
allege  to  be  their  models  in  these  particu- 
lars." Mr.  Greathed,  the  Delhi  commis- 
sioner, declares  that  the  Seiks  had  "  no 
points  of  resemblance  with  Pandies,  but  took 
their  lots  of  rum  like  true  Christians." || 
Certainly,  if  the  love  of  strong  drink  is  a 
proof  of  orthodox  belief,  Europeans,  Seiks, 
Goorkas,  Afghans,  and  Cashmerians,  evi- 
denced theirs  in  strong  contrast  to  the 
heathenish  sobriety  of  the  Hindoo  muti- 
neers. Usually,  the  fire-water  of  civilisa- 
tion has  been  its  most  efficient  weapon  for 
the  destruction  of  nations.  On  this  occa- 
sion the  two-edged  weapon  wounded  the 
hand  that  wielded  it.  The  disorganisa- 
tion produced  by  drunkenness  rendered  our 
loss  heavy  and  our  progress  slow,  and 
augmented,    if   it   did   not    originate,    the 

a  civilian  (evidently  not  Greathed,  Saunders,  or 
Metcalfe);  dated  "Delhi,  Sept.  26lh.  1807." — Times, 
December,  1857. 

11  Greatlied's  LelUrs,  p.  17G. 


444 


STATE  OF  BRITISH  ARMY— SEPT.  15th,  1857. 


unexpected  determination  with  ■which  the  | 
mutineers,  and  especially  some  parties  of 
armed  fanatics,  defended  houses  in  the 
streets,  after  suffering  tlie  breaches  to  be 
made  and  won  with  but  feeble  opposition. 
Hodson  asserts,  that  the  troops  were 
"utterly  demoralised  by  liard  work  and 
hard  drink."  "  For  the  first  time  in  my 
life,"  lie  adds,  "  I  have  had  to  see  English 
soldiers  refuse  repeatedly  to  follow  their 
officers.  Greville,*.  Jacob,t  Kicholson,^ 
and  Speke  were  all  sacrificed  to  this."§ 

A  fourth  eye-witness  describes  the  Eng- 
lish army,  on  Tuesday,  the   15th,   as  still 
"drowned   in   pleasure;''    and    remarks — 
"With  all  my  love  for  the  army,   I  must 
confess,  the  conduct  of  professed  Christians, 
on    this   occasion,    was    one    of    the    most 
humiliating  facts  connected  with  the  siege. 
How  the  enemy  must  have  gloried  at  that 
moment  in  our  shame  !"||     Had  the  tac- 
tician, Tantia  Topee,  or  that  clever  fiend, 
Azim    Oollah ;    the    gallant    octogenarian, 
Kooer    Sing,     or   the    resolute    Ranee    of 
Jhansi,  been  in  Delhi,  to  take  advantage  of 
the  suicidal  excesses  of  the  armj'^,  the  whole 
field  force  might  have  been  overwhelmed  by 
the  sheer  weight  of  numbers.     As  it  was, 
above  a  fourth  part  of  the  assailants  had 
fallen  in  obtaining  a  fourth  part  of  the  city. 
The  total  casualties,  European  and  Native, 
of  the  14th,  were    1,145.1      The    list  in- 
cluded the  best  known  and  most  popular 
men  in  camp.    Nicholsou  and  his  younger 
brother    (a  lieutenant   in  the  2nd  Punjab 
cavalry)  lay  side  by  side  in  the   hospital; 
Major  Reid  had  been  struck  down  at  the 
head   of  the    Goorkas ;    Major  Tombs,    of 
the    horse    artillery,    had    been    hit,    with 
twenty-four  out  of  the   fifty  men    he   was 
leading  at  the  time.     Captain  Rosser,  of  the 
Carabineers,  the  gallant  officer  who  begged 
to  be  allowed  to  pursue  the  fugitive  muti- 
neers from  Meerut  on  the  11th  of  May, 
was    mortally   wounded.      The    engineers, 
European  and  Native,  had  behaved  nobly, 
and    suffered    heavily.      Brigadier- general 
Chamberlain,    though   not    sufficiently    re- 
covered to  take  part  in  the  storm,  had,  on 
learning  the  repulse  of  the  fourth  column, 

*  Captain  S.  Greville,  1st  Fusiliers. 

+  Major  G.  O.  Jacob,  1st  Fusiliers. 

i  Lieutenant  E.  Speke,  65th  N.I.,  attached  to 
Isl  Fusiliers. 

§  Hodson's  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  296. 

!|  Rotton's  Siege  of  JJeUd,  ]).  303. 

<1  The  casualties  were — Europeans  killed,  8  officers 
and  162  rank  and  file;  wounded,  52  officers,  510 
rank  and  file.     Naiices  killed,  103  j  wounded,  310. 


and  the  prostrate  condition  of  its  brave 
leader,  hastened  to  the  Hindoo  Rao  ridge, 
and  performed  essential  service  in  restor- 
ing the  troops  to  order,  and  superintend- 
ing the  reoccupation  of  tlie  position. 

All  things  considered,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  General  Wilson  should  have  felt  him- 
self in  a  very  precarious  position  on  the 
morning  following  the  storming  of  the 
breaches.  A  day-by-day  chronicler  of  the 
siege  declares,  that  the  general  "  talked  of 
withdrawing  from  the  walls  of  Delhi  to  the 
camp  again,  until  he  should  be  reinforced  ;" 
but  was  overruled  by  the  advice  of  men 
whose  responsibility  was  less,  and  their 
hopes  stronger  than  his.**  The  chief  ad- 
viser referred  to  was  undoubtedly  Nichol- 
son. The  report  circidated.  among  the 
officers  was,  that  on  hearing  of  the  proposed 
evacuation  of  Delhi,  Nicholson  declared  he 
hoped  to  have  stretigth  enough  to  blow  out 
the  general's  brains  if  he  gave  such  an 
order.  Happily  the  contingency  did  not 
arise;  and  General  Wilson  took  an  impor- 
tant step  for  the  restoration  of  discipline, 
by  the  destruction  of  all  the  wine  and 
beer  found  in  the  merchants'  godowns,  not 
leaving  any  (the  chaplain  to  the  force 
asserts)  even  for  the  use  of  the  sick  and 
wounded. tt 

While  the  main  body  of  the  troops  were 
being  reorganised,  the  artillery  were  slowly 
but  surely  gaining  ground;  though  less 
by  the  actual  havoc  they  committed  on  the 
admirably  built  structures  in  which  the 
enemy  made  a  last  stand  (for  it  is  said  that 
our  mortar  batteries  were  neither  strong 
enough,  nor  sufficiently  numerous  to  do 
effectually  such  extensive  work),f  |  than  by 
the  terror  they  inspired.  A  shrewd  ob- 
server writes,  on  the  26th  of  September — 
"  I  do  not  think  that  the  enemy  were 
actually  forced  out  by  our  shells.  I  was 
surprised  to  find  how  little  damage  was 
done  by  them.  The  walls  of  the  palace 
are  almost  intact ;  so  are  by  far  the  greater 
portion  of  the  buildings  inside;  and  it  is 
quite  clear  that  the  chances  were  yet  very 
much  in  favour  of  such  as  chose  quietly 
to  sit  in  them."§§ 

Missing,  10  Europeans.  Lieutenant  Gambler,  who 
escaped  with  Colonel  Knyvett  from  Delhi,  joined 
the  force  a  few  days  before  the  storm,  and  was 
mortally  wounded  in  the  struggle. —  Campaign  of 
the  Delhi  Army,  p.  40. 

*•  llotton's  Siege  of  Delhi,  p.  303. 

tt  Ihid.,  p.  304. 

jj:  Article  on  the  capture  of  Delhi — Times,  Decem- 
ber 2nd,  1857.  •§§  Ihid. 


REBELS  EVACUATE  DELHI— SEPT.  20th,  1857 


445 


The  courage  "  to  sit  still"  was  the  last 
quality  the  sepoys  were  likely  to  evince 
while  a  prospect  of  unmolested  retreat  re- 
mained open  to  them.  The  suburb  of 
Kishen  Gunj,  so  resolutely  held  on  the 
14th,  was  voluntarily  abandoned  the  very 
next  day,  seven  guns  being  left  in  position. 
The  mutineers  fled  in  disorderly  crowds, 
the  cavalry  being  the  first  to  disappear. 
As  the  enemy  retreated,  the  British  ad- 
vanced, but  with  a  tardiness  which  was 
officially  attributed  to  "  the  usual  license 
which  invariably  accompanies  an  assault  of 
a  large  city."* 

The  Lahore  gate  was  taken  possession  of 
on  the  20th ;  and,  about  the  same  time,  the 
camp  of  a  large  body  of  mutineers  outside 
the  Delhi  gate  was  also  occupied.  Cap- 
tain Hodson  and  some  cavalry  entered 
the  camp,  and  secured  quantities  of  cloth- 
ing, ammunition,  and  plunder  of  various 
descriptions ;  the  late  proprietors  having 
evidently  fled  with  precipitation.  A  num- 
ber of  wounded  and  sick  sepoys  had  been 
left  behind,  and  were  all  killed  by  Hodsou's 
Horse. t 

It  was  now  suspected  that  the  king  and 
his  family  had  fled ;  and  Colonel  John 
Jones,  with  a  body  of  troops  (including 
some  of  the  60th  Rifles  and  Engineers), 
marched  against  the  palace,  which  appeared 
deserted,  save  that  occasionally  a  musket- 
shot  was  fired  from  over  the  gateway  at  tlie 
British  troops  stationed  at  the  head  of  the 
Chandnee  Chouk,  or  chief  street.  Tlie 
gate  was  blown  in  (Lieutenant  Home  being 
the  person  to  light  tlie  fusee),  and  the  sole 
defenders  were  found  to  be  two  or  three 
men,  who  are  called,  in  the  official  report, 
fanatics ;  but  who  were  more  probably  de- 
voted adherents  of  the  king,  who  sacrificed 
their  lives  in  concealing  his  retreat.  Tiiey 
were  immediately  bayoneted,  as  were  also 
a  number  of  wounded  sepoys  found  lying 
on  beds  in  the  marble  balcony  of  the  Pul)lic 
Hall  of  Audience.  An  officer  of  engineers 
(not  Home),  in  a  letter  published  in  the 
Times,  writes — "  I  saw  one  man  (sepoy) 
have  both  hands  cut  off  with  a  tulwar;  shot 
in  the  body;   two  bayonet  wounds  in  the 

♦Despatch  ef  Adjutant- general  Chamberlain, 
Sept.  18lh,  1857. — London  Gazette. 

t  Norman's  Campaujn  of  tlie  Delhi  Army,  p.  45. 

X  llotton's  Sie(je  of  I)elhi,  p.  31G. 

§  In  a  letter  dated  October  23rd,  Hodson  au- 
thorises some  person,  whose  name  is  left  in  blank,  to 
"  contradict  the  story  about  the  rupees;"  wliich,  he 
says,  "  was  born  in  IJelhi,  and  was  partly  the  cause 
of  General  Wilson's   bad  behaviour  to  me."    The 


chest;  and  he  still  lived  till  a  rifleman  blew 
his  brains  out.  I  did  not  feel  the  least  dis- 
gusted, or  ashamed  of  directing,  or  seeing 
such  things  done,  when  I  reflected  ou  what 
those  very  wretches  perhaps  had  done." 
This  work  being  accomplished,  Colonel 
Jones  (Hodson's  FalstafF)  seated  himself  on 
the  throne,  and  drank  the  health  of  Queen 
Victoria,  to  which  toast  the  troops  responded 
with  rounds  of  cheers.  J 

Repeated  attempts  at  negotiation  were 
made  on  behalf  of  the  king,  who  separated 
himself  from  the  sepoys  and  adult  princes  ; 
and,  with  Zeenat  Mahal,  her  son  (a  lad  of 
fifteen),  and  a  body  of  his  immediate  re- 
tainers, betook  himself  to  tlie  mausoleum  of 
his  ancestor,  the  good  Emperor  Humayun. 
The  walls  of  this  structure  are  of  red 
stone,  inlaid  with  marble;  the  large  dome  is 
entirely  of  marble.  In  the  interior  is  a 
large  circular  apartment,  in  the  middle  of 
which  stands  a  white  marble  sarcophagus, 
containing  the  remains  of  Humayun  ;  and 
around  are  smaller  chambers,  occupied  by 
the  bodies  of  his  relatives  and  favourite 
nobles.  Like  most  structures  raised  by  a 
race  of  men  "who  built  like  giants,  and 
finished  their  work  like  jewellers,"  the 
tomb  was  capable  of  being  used  fur  pur- 
poses of  defence.  The  mausoleum  itself 
rises  from  the  centre  of  a  platform  200  feet 
square,  supported  on  every  side  by  arcades, 
and  ascended  by  four  great  flights  of  stone 
steps. 

The  queen  induced  the  king  to  take  up 
this  isolated  position  as  a  preliminary  step 
to  surrender,  in  reliance  on  a  distinct  pledge 
of  personal  safety,  which  Hodson  states  he 
sent,  to  withdraw  the  king  from  the  rebels, 
and  from  the  stronghold  (the  Kootub  Minar) 
which  he  had  readied.  The  account  of  the 
circumstances  connected  with  the  surrender 
of  the  king,  rests  on  the  same  authoi-ity  ;  and 
that  must  be  received  with  caution,  inas- 
much as  it  conveys  grave  implications  on 
General  Wilson;  with  whom  the  dashing 
leader  of  irregulars  had  about  this  time  a 
misunderstanding  on  a  point  affecting  his 
honour.  § 

Tlie    "backbiting,"    of    which    Captain 

moi.ey  in  question,  amounting  to  £00,000,  was 
brought  to  Hodson  by  his  men,  the  night  before 
he  was  starting  on  some  minor  service  which  de- 
tained him  three  or  four  days,  and  he  locked  up 
the  money  in  the  regimental  chest  for  safety.  On 
his  return,  he  found  that  "  a  story  had  been  cir- 
culated by  the  native  who  had  disgorged  the  coin, 
that  I  had  kept  the  money  for  myself!  Of  course, 
the  very  day  1  returned,  it  was,  with  heaps  of  other 


446        KING,  QUEEN,  AND  PRINCE  SURRENDER— SEPT.  21st,  1857 


Hodson  complains  as  impeding  the  per- 
formance of  his  duties,  whether  real  or 
imaginarj',  would  inevitably  bias  his  judg- 
ment of  the  actions  of  the  persons  viewed 
as  enemies.  Of  these,  General  Wilson  was 
the  head:  the  other  names  are  left  blank. 

According  to  Hodson's  account,  it  would 
seem  that  he,  and  he  only,  in  all  the  camp, 
saw  the  importance  of  securing  the  persons 
of  the  king,  queen,  and  prince.  He  dwells 
on  the  incentive  to  combination  the  war- 
like men  of  the  north-west  would  have  had 
"  in  the  person  of  the  sacred  and  '  heaven- 
born'  monarch,  dethroned,  wandeiing,  and 
homeless."*  This  is  quite  true :  the  history 
of  India  teems  with  evidence  of  the  devo- 
tion of  Rajpoot  chieftains  to  unfortunate 
Mogul  princes.  Moreover,  in  consequence 
of  the  intermarriage  (not  concubinage)  of 
the  imperial  house  with  those  of  the  lead- 
ing princes  of  Rajpootana,  the  best  blood  of 
those  ancient  families  flowed  in  the  veins 
of  the  "wandering  and  homeless"  Moham- 
med Bahadur  Shah.  "  General  Wilson," 
Hodson  asserts,  "  refused  to  send  troops  in 
pursuit  of  him  [the  king] :  and  to  avoid 
greater  calamities,  I  then,  and  not  till 
then,  asked  and  obtained  permission  to 
ofler  him  his  wretched  life,  on  the  ground, 
and  solely  on  the  ground,  that  there 
was  no  other  way  of  getting  him  into  our 
possession.  The  people  were  gathering 
round  him.  His  name  would  have  been  a 
tocsin  which  would  have  raised  the  whole  of 
Hindoostan."f  It  was  expedient  "  to  secure 
ourselves  from  further  mischief,  at  the 
simple  cost  of  sparing  the  life  of  an  old  man 
of  ninety."      General  Wilson  "  at  last  gave 

things,  made  over  to  the  agents." — Twelve  Years 
ill  India,  p.  340.  The  name  of  tlie  native  who  "  dis- 
gorged" the  coin  is  not  given  j  neither  are  the  cir- 
cumstances told  under  which  such  an  immense  sum 
was  obtained  from  a  single  individual.  But  the 
subject  of  "  loot"  was  an  unpleasant  one  to  Hodson. 
He  complains  of  a  report,  at  Simla,  of  his  having 
Bent  some  "magnificent  diamonds"  to  his  wife; 
whereas,  the  only  ones  he  bad  obtained  were  set  in  a 
brooch  he  had  bought  from  a  trooper,  a  montli 
before  Delhi  was  taken  (p.  336).  One  way  or  other, 
he  had,  however,  been  making  money  with  a 
rapidity  which  deserved  "  the  character  given  of 
him,  as  the  most  wide-awake  man  in  the  army" 
(p.  342).  An  anecdote  recorded  by  his  brother,  in 
support  of  this  assertion,  also  corroborates  his  com- 
parison of  the  "  captain  of  free  lances"  to  a  border 
chieftain ;  for  it  brings  to  mind  the  inseparable 
accompaniments  of  border  warfare,  freebooting,  or 
cattle-lifting,  which  men  who  live  by  the  sword, 
gain  wealth  by,  at  the  expense,  direct  or  indirect, 
of  utter  destitution  to  the  wretched  peasantry  who 
live  by  the  plough  or  by  their   herds  and  flocks. 


orders  to  Captain  Hodson  to  promise  the 
king's  life,  and  freedom  from  personal  in- 
dignity, and  make  what  other  terms  he 
could  -."l  and  thereupon  Hodson  rode  to 
the  tomb  with  fifty  sowars,  accompanied  by 
the  one-eyed  Rujub  Ali,  and  another  Mo-, 
hammedan.  These  two  entered  the  build- 
ing; and  after  two  hours'  discussion  with 
Zeenat  Mahal  (who  insisted  on  the  life  of 
her  father  being  included  in  the  govern- 
ment guarantee ;  which  was  done),  the  king, 
queen,  and  prince  came  out  of  the  tomb, 
and  surrendered  themselves.  The  reader 
may  probably  expect  that  the  British  officer 
who  received  them  (a  man  of  some  note,  and, 
moreover,  the  son  of  one  minister  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  brother  of  another,  who 
presents  him  to  the  public  as  a  specimen 
of  a  sixth-form  Rugbeian,  and  "  a  Christian 
soldier  of  our  own  day")§  would  have 
been  moved  with  compassion  for  the  mise- 
rable family.  The  noble-hearted  Arnold,  or 
sturdy  Tom  Brown  and  his  schoolfellows, 
would  have  had  some  reverence  even  for 
a  great  name,  and  much  pity  for  "  the 
very  old  and  infirm"  ||  man  whose  mis- 
fortune it  was  to  bear  it :  but  Hodson 
had  no  weakness  of  this  kind.  A  very 
different  feeling  acted  as  a  drawback  on 
his  satisfaction :  he  dared  not  enjoy  the 
triumph  of  slaying  the  last  of  the  Mo- 
guls, and  was  obliged  to  encounter  "  the 
obloquy"5[  of  having  spared  his  life.  He 
intimates,  that  his  plighted  word,  as  the  re- 
presentative of  General  Wilson,  would  not 
have  sufficed  to  insure  the  safety  of  the 
royal  prisoner.  "The  orders  I  received 
were  such,  that  I  did  not  dare  to  act  on 

The  story  is  as  follows  :-^In  an  expedition  under- 
taken in  October,  Brigadier  Showers  had  captured, 
at  various  places,  much  property  in  coin,  and  great 
quantities  of  cattle.  On  one  occasion  upwards  of 
1,700  head  of  cattle  had  been  taken.  The  brigadier 
was  going  to  leave  them  behind,  when  Hodson 
offered  to  buy  them  at  two  rupees  a-head.  He  did 
so ;  sent  them  under  su  escort  of  his  own  troopers 
to  Delhi,  "  where  they  arrived  safely,  and  were  of 
course  sold  at  a  large  profit."  Shortly  afterwards 
he  invested  part  of  the  proceeds  in  a  house  at  Um- 
ballah,  which  happened  to  be  then  put  uji  for  a 
forced  sale  at  a  great  depreciation  (p.  342).  A 
great  many  "  cow-houses"  in  Kngland,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland,  have  sprung  up  since  the  old  Indian 
pagoda-tree  has  been  forced  into  bearing  by  the 
toiTents  of  blood  spilt  in  1857;  but  the  owners 
are  not  Henry  Lawrences,  or  Colin  Campbells,  or 
Outrams. 

•  Hodson's  Ttcclve  Years  in  India,  p.  304. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  315.  ^  t  If'id;  P-  305. 

§  See  Preface  to  Ttcelve  Years  in  India. 

II  Ihid.,  p.  316.  f  Ibid.,  p.  324. 


(a, 
'Si 


^ 


ti= 


SE= 


fe? 


PRINCES  PURSUED  BY  HODSON  AND  MACDOWELL— SEPT.,  1857.     447 


the  dictates  of  my  own  judgment,  to  the 
extent  of  killing  him,  when  he  had  given 
himself  up  ;  but  had  he  attempted  either  a 
flight  or  a  rescue,  I  should  have  shot  him 
down  like  a  dog."*     The  king  was  utterly 
exhausted :  flight  was  out  of  the  question. 
On  being  brought  out  in  his  palkee,  Hod- 
son  demanded  his  arms;  and  when  the  king 
hesitated,  he  was  told,  "very  emphatically, 
that  if  any  attempt  were  made  at  a  rescue, 
he  would  be  shot  down  like  a  dog."t    As 
the   conditions    of  surrender   included  no 
mention  of  such  a  contingency,  the  latter 
threat   of    Hodson's    cannot    be  justified, 
though  it  may  be  excused  on  the  plea  of 
"expediency."     It  was   a  breach  of  faitli; 
and,  indeed,  Hodson's  whole  behaviour  was 
inconsistent  with  the  pledge  of  protection 
against  personal  indignity  given  to  the  king. 
He  might  at  least  have  left  General  Wilson 
to   receive   the  costly  weapons  which  the 
wearer  had  never  used,  and  which  were,  in 
fact,    state   ornaments — a   part  of  the  re- 
galia.    But    Hodson    (to    quote    his    own 
words)  considered,  that  "  I    and  my  party 
[the  fifty  sowars]  had  a  right  to  all  we  found 
on  the  king  and  princes  :"|  and  desiring 
"  to  wear  a  sword  taken  from  the  last  of 
the  House  of  Timur,  which  had  been  girt 
round  the  waists  of  the  greatest  of  his  pre- 
decessors," §  he  made  sure  of  the  coveted 
property,  by  standing  by  the  palkees  with  a 
drawn  sword  in  his  hand,  until  his  mandate 
to  "  stand  and   deliver"  had  been  obeyed, 
first  by  the  king  and  then  by  the  young 
prince,    .Tumma   Bukht.     When    this   was 
over,  and  other  valuable  property  secured, 
the    captives   were    carried   to   Delhi,    and 
delivered    up    to    the    civil    officer,    Mr. 
Saunders,    who    swore,    "by   Jove!"    that 
Hodson  ought  to  be  made  commander-in- 
chief  forthwith. II     General   Wilson   would 
not  sanction  Hodson's  wholesale  appropria- 
tion of  the  spoil,  but  requested  him  "to 
select   for   himself,    from   the    royal   arms, 
what  he  chose."     He  took  two  magnificent 
swords — one    bearing   the  name  of  Nadir 
Shah ;  the  other  with  the  seal  of  the  Em- 
peror Jehangeer  engraved  upon  it :  the  lat- 
ter he  intended  to  present  to  the  Queen. 

The  truthfulness  which  is  the  recognised 
characteristic   of    our    Royal   Lady,   would 

•  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  324. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  306.  t  ^'"(^^  P-  327. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  329.  II  Ibid.,  p.  307. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  Z29.  *•  7Wd.,  p.  322. 

+t  Letter  of  engineer  officer. — Times,  November 
19th,  1857.  XI  Ttcelce  Years,  ^■"..,  p.  300. 


render  such  a  present  most  distasteful,  did 
she  but  know  the  circumstances  connected 
with  its  attainment.  Hodson,  however,  ex- 
pected to  get  the  Victoria  medal  in  re- 
turn.^ Other  honours  he  looked  forward 
to  from  government.  In  fact,  he  plainly 
states,  that  his  services  "  entitled  him  to 
have  anything"**  the  authorities  could  give 
him. 

Three  other  princes — namely,  Mirza  Mo- 
ghul  (the  person  said  to  have  been  tried  by 
a  sepoy  court-martial),  and  his  son  Aboo 
Bukker,  a  youth  of  about  twenty  years  of 
age,tt  with  a  brother  of  Mirza  Moghul's, 
whose  name  is  variously  given — on  hearing 
of  the  king's  surrender,  followed  his  ex- 
ample, by  proceeding  to  the  tomb  of  Huma- 
yun,  hoping  to  make  terms  for  their  lives. 
On  hearing  this,  Hodson  "  set  to  work  to 
get  hold  of  th2m."tJ     He  states — 

"  It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the 
general  was  persuaded  to  allow  them  to  be  inter- 
fered with,  till  even  poor  Nicholson  roused  himself 
to  urge  that  the  pursuit  should  be  attempted.  The 
general  at  length  yielded  a  reluctant  consent;  add- 
ing, '  But  don't  let  me  be  bothered  with  them.'  I 
assured  him  that  it  was  nothing  but  his  own  order 
which  '  bothered'  him  with  the  king,  as  I  would 
much  rather  have  brought  him  dead  than  living." 

Having  obtained  the  necessary  sanction, 
Captain§§  Hodson  and  Lieutenant  Mac- 
dowell,||||  with  100  picked  men,  rode  to  the 
tomb,  and  sent  in  Rujub  Ali  and  a  cousin  of 
the  princes  ("  purchased  for  the  purpose,  by 
the  promise  of  his  life"),1!f^  to  "  say  that  the 
princes  must  give  themselves  up  uncon- 
ditionally, or  take  the  consequences."*** 
There  were  about  3,000  Mussulman  fol- 
lowers iu  the  tomb,  and  as  many  more 
in  the  adjacent  suburb,  all  armed.  Two 
hours  were  passed  in  discussion  before  the 
princes  were  induced  to  throw  themselves 
on  the  mercy  of  the  British.  This  determi- 
nation was  taken  in  opposition  to  the 
entreaties  of  the  majority  of  their  adhe 
rents,  who  rent  the  air  with  shouts,  and 
begged  to  be  led  against  the  two  Europeans 
and  the  party  of  Seik  cavalry,  whom  they 
detested  with  an  hereditary  and  fanatical 
bitterness.  At  length  the  three  princes 
came  out,  in  a  covered  vehicle  called  a 
"  Ruth,"  drawn  by  ])ullocksj  used  by  Indian 

§§  He  became  captain  by  the  death  of  Major 
Jacob,  mortally  wounded  on  the  14tli  of  Sep- 
tember. 

II II  Mortally  wounded  at  Shumsabad,  January  31st, 
1858.  fl5[  Tioelve  Years  in  India,  p.  310. 

*••  Ibid.,  p.  oOl. 


448    SURRENDER  AND  FATE  OF  THREE  DELHI  PRINCES— SEPT.,  1857. 


ladies  in  travelling.  The  princes  evinced 
no  trepidation  ;'but,  bowing  to  Hodson,  re- 
marked that,  of  course,  their  conduct  would 
be  investigated  in  the  proper  court.*  He 
returned  their  salute,  and  directed  the 
driver  to  proceed  to  Dellii.  The  people 
prepared  to  follow  the  princes,  but  were 
prevented,  and  induced  to  surrender  their 
arms  quietly.  This  measure  occupied  some 
time :  when  it  was  accomplished,  Hodson 
followed  his  captives,  and  overtook  them 
about  a  mile  from  Delhi,  or  five  miles 
from  the  tomb. 

A  mob  had  collected  round  the  vehicle, 
and  seemed  disposed  to  turn  on  the  guard. 
Hodson  galloped  among  them,  saying  that 
the  prisoners  "  were  the  butchers  who  had 
murdered  and  brutally  used  women  and 
children."  The  fierce  shouts  of  the  hun- 
dred Seik  troopers,  armed  to  the  teeth, 
effectually  seconded  this  denunciation,  and 
the  crowd  moved  off  slowly  and  sullenly. 
Hodson  then  surrounded  the  ruth  with  his 
troopers ;  desired  the  princes  to  get  out ; 
seized  their  arms ;  made  them  "  strip  and 
get  into  the  cart :  he  then  shot  them  with 
his  own  hand."t 

After  gathering  up  the  weapons,  orna- 
ments, and  garments  of  the  princes,  Hodson 
rode  into  the  city,  and  caused  the  dead 
bodies  to  be  exposed  in  front  of  the  police- 
court  (until,  "  for  sanitary  reasons,  they 
were  removed"),  J  on  the  very  spot  where  the 
head  of  the  famous  Seik  Gooroo,  Teg  Baha- 
door,  had  been  placed,  by  order  of  Aurung- 
zebe,  200  years  before.  The  Seiks  gloried 
in  the  coincidence.  Hodson  gloried,  also, 
in  having  made  "the  last  of  the  House  of 
Timur  eat  dirt."§  Certainly,  in  that  dirt 
the  bitterness  of  death  was  mingled; 
whereas  that  which  the  captor  swallowed 
with  such  zest,  was  gilt  with  what  looked  like 
glory,  and  sweetened  with  loot.  Months 
afterwards,  when  the  newspapers  from 
England  and  the  continent  reached  India 
— when  one  of  his  countrymen  spoke 
of  the  worse  mark  than  a  bar  sinister, 
which  heralds  rivet  to  the  shield  of  the 
knight  who  slays  his  prisoiier;||  and  when 
the  French,  speaking  of  him  in  the  lau- 

*  Medley's  Year's  Campair/ninr/,  p.  HI. 
t  Macdowell's  account.    Twelve  Years,  ^-c,  p.  315. 
X  Ticelve  Years  in  India,  p.  302. 
§  Ibid.,  p.  279. 

II  Star,  November  27th,  1867. 
<f  See  Colonel   Seaton's  Letter.     Twelve    Years 
in  India,  p.  317. 

•*  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  316. 

tt  Captain  Hodson's  biographer  gives  no  account 


guage  applicable  to  an  executioner  who 
looked  sharply  after  his  perquisites,  as- 
serted that  he  stripped  the  princes  "pour 
ne  pas  gater  le  buiin"^\ — he  changed  his 
tone,  and  instead  of  confidently  anticipating 
all  conceivable  honours,  declared  himself 
quite  indifferent  to  clamour,**  having  made 
up  his  mind  at  the  time  to  be  abused.  The 
same  disappointment  which  befel  him  in 
regard  to  the  king's  property,  recurred  in 
the  case  of  the  princes.  The  general  would 
not  allow  him  to  appropriate  the  spoil  :tt 
and  he  states  that  he  gave  up  (to  the  general 
stock  of  prize  property)  "  all  except  some  of 
the  personal  arms  of  the  princes,  which  were 
botli  intrinsically  and  historically  valuable. 
It  is  not,  however,  correct  that  he  surren- 
dered all ;  for  his  letters  to  his  wife  re- 
peatedly advert  to  "  the  turquoise  armlet 
and  signet-rings  of  the  rascally  princes 
whom  I  shot ;"  which  he  sent  to  her  by  the 
hands  of  Colonel  Seaton,  in  September.JJ 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  by  prevent- 
ing the  king  and  queen  from  remaining  at 
large,  Hodson  did  good  service ;  but  he 
greatly  exaggerated  his  own  merit,  by 
passing  over  the  fact,  that  the  king  and 
queen  were  anxious  to  place  themselves 
under  British  protection,  on  a  bare  pledge 
of  security  for  life,  and  exemption  from 
personal  indignity.  The  three  princes  also 
rejected  opportunities  of  escape,  and  volun- 
tarily surrendered  themselves,  in  the  ex- 
pectation (which  Hodson  at  least,  by  a 
bow,  encouraged  them  in  entertaining)  that 
their  conduct  would  be  fully  and  fairly  in- 
vestigated. What  direct  or  indirect  as- 
surances were  made  to  them  by  their  cousin 
and  the  Moolvee,  is  not  told ;  but  it  is  not 
commonly  reasonable  to  suppose  that,  except 
on  some  clear  understanding,  they  would 
have  been  so  infatuated  as  to  separate 
willingly  from  6,000  armed  and  zealous  ad- 
herents, and  give  themselves  up  to  two 
Englishmen,  backed  only  by  a  hundred  of 
their  notorious  enemies.  General  Wilson, 
in  his  despatches,  mentions  the  surrender  of 
certain  members  of  the  royal  family,  and  the 
escape  of  others,  with  the  utmost  brevity.' 

It  appears  that  a  large  number  of  royal 

of  the  booty,  but  it  must  have  been  considerable. 
The  correspondence  of  the  period  mentions  ele- 
phants, horses,  camels,  carriages  filled  with  royal 
property,  and  "  lots  of  stores,"  as  taken  possession 
of  by  Hodson  and  his  "Horse." 

Jl  Twelve  Years  in  India,  p.  323.  Colonel  Seaton 
was  at  first  appointed  prize-agent,  but  resigned  the 
office  in  consequence  of  differences  with  General 
Wilson. 


r 


MR.  MONTGOMERY'S  APPROVAL  OF  CAPTAIN  HODSON. 


449 


prisoners  were  captured  by,  or  surrendered 
to,  a  column  under  Brigadier  Showers,  at 
Humavun's  tomb,  on  the  28th  of  Septem- 
ber.    Hodson  remarks,  that  seven  sons  and 
grandsons  of  the  king  were  made  over  to  the 
"  j'oung  civilian  [query,  Metcalfe],  sent  to 
j  carry  on  political  duties,  and  take  charge  of 
j  the  different  members  and  hangers-on  of  the 
I  royal  family."    They  all  escaped  in  less  than 
!  two  hours.     Some  were  retaken,  brought  to 
Delhi,    summarily   tried,  hung,    and  flung 
into  the  Jumna ;  others  made  good  their 
flight,  including  Prince  Feroze  Shah,  who 
has  since  proved  so  troublesome  an  enemy. 
What  Sir  John  Lawrence  thought  of  the 
management  of  affairs,   does  not  appear ; 
but  he  is  spoken  of  as  "  no  friendly  judge" 
of  Captain  Hodson,  who,  however,  received 
the  following  note  from  Mr.  Montgomery ; 
which  resembles,  in  its  general  tone,  that 
in  wliich  the   same   authority    (now   chief 
commissioner  in   Oude)   congratulated  Mr. 
Cooper  on  the  proceedings  connected  with 
the  Ujualla  Bastion  and  Well : — 

"  My  dear  Hodson, 

'•  All  honour  to  you  (and  to  your  '  Horse') 
for  catching  the  king  and  slaying  his  sons.  I  hope 
you  will  bag  many  more ! — In  haste,  ever  yours, 

"  R.  Montgomery." 

The  peculiar  terms  used  in  the  Pun- 
jal),  grate  harshly  on  English  ears.  Mr. 
Russell,  who  rarely  quotes  any  words  with- 
out providing  for  their  correct  interpreta- 
tion by  the  uninitiated,  explains,  that  to 
"  make  a  good  bag,"  meant  to  kill  a  great 
many  natives ;  and  says,  that  "  potting  a 
Pandy,"  or  slaying  a  mutineer,  "described 
one  of  the  purest  enjoyments  of  which  Chris- 
tians are  or  ought  to  be  capable."*  In  this 
enjoyment  the  Delhi  force  were  stinted,  not 
by  any  fault  on  the  part  of  their  com- 
mander, but  by  the  perversity  of  the  "  Pan- 
dies,"  who  would  not  stop  to  be  killed, 
but  fled,  it  was  supposed,  to  Muttra, 
intending  to  cross  the  Jumna  at  that  point. 
Oa   this   head,   the   general's    information 

*  Times,  November  loth,  I808. 

+  See  a  Letter  in  the  Times  (Nov.  27th,  1857), 
announced  as  the  production  of  "an  officer  in  the 
6l8t,  who  commanded  the  [storming]  party  which 
took  the  palace,  and  afterwards  had  the  custody  of 
the  old  king;"  with  orders  "to  shoot  him"  rather 
than  suffer  him  to  be  carried  off.  This  witness 
says — "  We  daily  find  hidden  in  the  houses, 
sepoys  who  are  unable  to  escape,  from  sickness  or 
wounds :  these  are  all  put  to  death  on  the  spot.  On 
the  24th,  I  caught  a  fine  tall  sowar,  or  trooper,  of 
some  light  cavalry  regiment;  dragged  him  out  into 
the  street,  and  shot  him  dead.  *  *  *  We  have 
plundered  all  the  shops,  and  all  the  valuables  are 
VOL.  II.  3  M 


was,  he  admitted,  "  very  defective ;"  but 
their  destination  (if  they  had  yet  recovered 
from  their  panic  sufficiently  to  have  decided 
the  point)  was  the  less  important,  because 
the  state  of  the  conquering  force  forbade  any 
idea  of  immediate  pursuit.  The  sepoys  left 
behind  were  chiefly  wounded  or  panic- 
stricken  wretches,  hiding  about  in  holes  and 
cornersjt  who,  when  found,  entreated  the 
"  Sahib-logue"  to  shoot  them  at  once,  and 
not  cut  them  up  with  cold  steel.  J  Still  Delhi 
was  rich  in  materials  for  "  making  a  good 
bag."  To  carry  on  Mr.  Montgomery's  simile, 
there  were  plenty  of  battues,  only  not  of  the 
favou-r-ite  description  of  game — not  phea- 
sants, but  barn-door  fowls,  which,  however, 
had  the  advantage  of  having  cost  the  sports- 
men nothing  in  rearing,  and  were  better 
worth  plucking. §  Women  and  children  were 
to  be  spared.  A  gentleman,  whose  letters, 
published  in  the  Bombay  Telegraph,  after- 
wards went  the  round  of  the  Indian  and  Eng- 
lish papers — remarks,  that  "the  general's 
hookum  regarding  the  women  and  children, 
was  a  mistake,"  as  they  were  "  not  human 
beings,  but  fiends,  or,  at  best,  wild  beasts, 
deserving  only  the  death  of  dogs."  He 
then  describes  the  state  of  affairs  on  the 
21st  of  September : — 

"  The  city  is  completely  deserted  by  all  the  muti- 
neers ;  and,  in  fact,  there  are  few  natives  of  any 
sort  to  be  found,  excepting  those  of  our  army.  All 
the  city  people  found  within  the  walls  when  our 
troops  entered  were  bayoneted  on  the  spot ;  and  the 
number  was  considerable,  as  you  may  suppose, 
when  I  tell  you  that  in  some  houses  forty  and  fifty 
persons  were  hiding.  These  were  not  mutineers, 
but  residents  of  the  city,  who  trusted  to  our  well- 
known  mild  rule  for  pardon.  I  am  glad  to  say  they 
were  disappointed." 

Another  writer  remarks — "  For  two  days 
the  city  was  given  up  to  the  soldiery ;  and 
who  shall  tell  in  how  many  obscure  corners 
the  injured  husband,  son,  or  brother,  took 
his  blood  for  blood  !"||  The  allusion  here 
is  probably  intended  to  apply  solely  to 
injured   Europeans;   but   those   who   hold 

being  collected  and  sold  for  prize.     Our  vengeance 
cannot  be  appeased." 

I  Daily  News,  November  ICth,  1857. 

§  The  plunder  appropriated,  in  addition  to  that 
made  over  to  the  prize-agent,  must  have  been  very 
large.  One  witness  remarks — "It  is  supposed  the 
KiHes  will  go  to  England  with  upwards  of  £1,000 
each,  though  General  Wilson  has  issued  an  order 
that  the  prizes  shall  be  all  put  together  and  divided. 
Most  of  our  men  [6th  Carabineers]  are  worth 
upwards  of  a  hundred  rupees." — Times,  November 
21st,  1857. 

II  Mutiny  of  Bengal  Army ;  by  One  who  has 
served  under  Sir  Charles  Napier;  p.  21i._ 


450 


LIFE  AND  MONEY  SPENT  IN  BESIEGING  DELHI. 


that  "  every  medal  has  two  sides,"  and 
wish  to  see  both,  will  remember  how  un- 
accountably heavy  our  loss  was  on  the  first 
day  of  the  assault,  and  how  greatly  it 
exceeded  the  first  calculations  ofilcially 
rendered;  the  excess  being  from  the  num- 
ber of  Europeans  slain  in  houses  and  sheds, 
which  they  entered  in  direct  disobedience 
to  the  general's  significant  prohibition 
against  "  straggling."  The  number  of  men 
of  the  61st  regiment  found  "in  holes  and 
corners,"  is  said  to  have  been  appalling.* 

The  total  European  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
missing;,  from  May  30th  to  September  20th,  is  thus 
officially  stated  by  Major  Norman  : — 

Europeans.  Natives.  Total. 

Killed 572  440  1,012 

Wounded    ....      1,566  1,229  2,795 

Missing 13  17  30 

Total    ....      2,151  1,686  3,837 

Of  the  total  number,  2,163  were  killed,  wounded, 
and  missing,  prior  to  the  8th  of  September  j  327  be- 
tween that  date  and  the  morning  of  the  storm  ;  1,170 
on  the  14th ;  and  177  from  that  day  to  the  20th.t 

Of  the  number  of  men  who  died  from 
disease,  or  retired  on  sick  leave,  no  ac- 
count is  given.  Neither  has  any  detail 
been  yet  published  of  the  expenses  in- 
curred before  Delhi.  The  means  of  meet- 
ing them  were  found  by  Sir  John  Law- 
rence, "  who  supplied  the  military  chest  of 
the  army  before  Delhi  with  £200,000 ;  and 
contrived  to  borrow,  from  native  chiefs  and 
capitalists,  a  sum  of  £410,000  more."  J 

It  is  not  likely  that  the  number  of  natives, 
whether  sepoys  or  city  people,  who  were 
slaughtered  at  Delhi,  will  ever  be  even 
approximately  estimated.  The  Indians  are 
not  good  accountants,  and  will  probably  be 
very  inaccurate  in  this  point  of  their  record. 
But  the  capture  of  the  city  will,  in  all  pro- 
bability, find  its  historian,  as  the  previous 
ones  have  done ;  and  then  some  light  will 
be  thrown  on  the  sufferings  of  the  69,738 
men,  and  the  68,239  women,  who  inhabited 
Delhi  before  the  siege.  Meanwhile,  we  may 
rest  assured,  that  "  no  such  scene  has  been 
witnessed  in  the  city  of  Shah  Jehan  since 

♦  Star,  November  2l8t,  1857. 

+  Campaign  of  the  Delhi  Army,  pp.  52,  53. 

X  Editorial  article  on  services  of  Sir  J.  Lawrence. 
-Times,  April  26th,  1857. 

§  Bombay  correspondent. —  2Ymei,Novemberl6th, 
1807.  The  writer  is  not  borne  out  by  facts  in 
the  contrast  he  draws  between  the  "righteous 
vengeance  of  the  British  general"  and  "the  san- 
guinary caprice  of  the  Persian  tyrant."  Nadir 
Shah,  under  circumstances  of  extraordinary  provo- 
cation, withdrew  the  protection  he  at  first  extended 


the  day  that  Nadir  Shah,  seated  in  the 
little  mosque  in  the  Chandnee  Chouk, 
directed  and  superintended  the  massacre 
of  its  inliabitants."§ 

If  an  answer  could  be  obtained  to  the 
question  of  how  many  women  and  children 
died  of  sheer  destitution  in  consequence  of  • 
the   siege,   or    escaped    starvation   or   dis- 
honour by  jumping   into  wells,  rivers,  or 
some  other  mode  of  suicide — where  is  the 
Englishman  who  would  make  the  inquiry  ? 
That  the  European  soldiers,  maddened  as 
they   were  with  the  thirst   for   vengeance, 
and  utterly  insubordinate  through  drunk- 
enness,   really   refrained    from     molesting 
the  women,  is  what  many  may  hope;  but 
few  who  have  had  any  experience  of  mili- 
tary life,  in  the  barrack  or  the  camp,  will 
credit.     But  granting  that,  the  Europeans 
separated    the.   worship    of    Moloch    from 
that   of  Chemos ;    is   it    conceivable    that 
the    Seiks,    Goorkas,    and    Afghans    con- 
curred, in  exhibiting  equal  self-control    in 
this  single  respect?      If  so,  the  taking  of 
Delhi  has  a  distinct  characteristic;  for  never 
before,  in  the  annals  of  war,  did  the  in- 
quirer fail  to  find  "  lust  hard  by  hate."     The 
truth  is,  that  the  history  of  the  capture  of 
Delhi  has  found  no  chronicler  except  as  re- 
gards the  exclusively  military  proceedings, 
which   Colonel    Baird  Smith  and   Captain 
Norman  have  given  with  a  fulness  and  pre- 
cision not  often  found  in  official  documents. 
Perhaps  it  is  too  early  to  expect  a  satisfac- 
tory narrative  of  any  other  portion.    Those 
who  know  the  facts,  must  needs  be,  for  the 
most    part,    men   whose   position  compels 
them  to  write  in  the  tomb-stone  style,  and 
describe  things  "not  as  they  were,  but  as 
they  should  have  been  ;"  or  else  to  be  alto- 
gether silent.     The  "  Letters"  of  the  com- 
missioner, Mr.  Greathed,  afl'ord  information 
of  unquestionable  authenticity;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, stop  short  at  the  crisis. || 

Writing  on  the  16th,  he  remarks,  with 
truth,  that  the  gradual  occupation  of  the 
town  would  contribute  much  more  to  its 
effectual  ruin  than  if  it   had   been  taken 

to  the  citizens ;  but  renewed  it,  and  stopped  the 
slaughter,  at  the  intercession  of  the  Emperor  Mo- 
hammed.— (See  vol.  i.  of  this  work,  p.  165). 

11  Mr.  Rotton's  Narrative  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi  is 
a  useful  book ;  and  would  have  been  still  more  so, 
had  the  writer  habitually  stated  his  authority  for 
facts  which  he  could  only  know  by  report.  The 
test  of  "  Who  told  you  ?" — so  frequently  applied 
in  conversation — ought  never  to  be  forgotten  by 
those  who  take  upon  themselves  the  labours  of  an 
annalist. 


COMMISSIONER  GREATHED  DIES  OF  CHOLERA— SEPT.  19th,  1857.     451 


possession  of  at  one  blow.  The  whole 
population  were  being  driven  out,  and  had 
little  chance  of  seeing  their  property  again. 
He  describes  himself  and  his  elder  brother, 
Colonel  Edward  Greathed,  in  a  European 
shop  at  the  Cabool  gate,  which  the  troops 
were  diligently  looting.  The  commissioner 
took  a  wine-glass,  to  replace  one  which  he 
had  broken  shortly  before  (belonging  to  an 
oflScer),  and  saw  some  chandeliers,  to  which 
he  thought  he  had  some  right ;  but  being 
"  a  poor  plunderer,"  he  let  them  alone. 
The  instincts  of  a  gentleman  were  too  strong 
in  the  Delhi  commissioner  to  permit  him  to 
share  the  general  eagerness  for  "  loot :" 
this,  at  least,  is  the  construction  most 
readers  will  put  upon  the  above  sentence, 
which  occurs  in  a  confidential  letter  to  his 
wife.     Two  days  later,  he  writes — 

"  If  the  king  wishes  to  have  the  lives  of  his 
family  and  his  own  spared,  he  had  better  surrender 
the  palace,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  save  that  slaughter. 
Great  numbers  of  women  have  thrown  themselves 
on  our  mercy,  and  have  been  safely  passed  on. 
One  meets  mournful  processions  of  these  unfortu- 
nates, many  of  them  evidently  quite  unaccustomed 
to  walk,  with  children,  and  sometimes  old  men."* 

The  very  day  after  these  kindly  and  com- 
passionate words  were  written,  the  hand 
that  penned  them  lay  cold  in  death.  The 
whole  army  was  appalled  at  hearing  that 
the  strongest  and  healthiest  man  in  camp 
had  been  struck  down  by  cholera.  He  was 
in  the  prime  of  life  (just  forty) ;  active  in 
his  habits,  moderate  in  his  opinions,  and 
ou  good  terms  with  all  parties.  Had  he 
lived,  the  treatment  of  the  royal  family 
would  probably  have  been  less  distressing 
to  them,  and  more  honourable  to  us ;  and 
as  he  had  no  personal  cause  for  bitter  feel- 
ing against  the  people  of  Delhi,  the  powers 
of  life  and  death  might  have  been  more 
safely  deposited  in  his  hands  than  in  those 
of  Sir  T.  Metcalfe,  the  young  subordinate 
on  whom  they  devolved,  and  who,  though 
popular  with  the  Europeans  as  a  dashing 
free-lance,  was  the  very  last  person  who 
ought  to  have  been  thus  trusted.  The  more 
so,  since  his  inexperience,  or  want  of  judg- 
ment, had  been  manifested  before  the 
mutiny.f  Under  the  circumstances,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  a  high-spirited  young 
man  who  had  been  three  days  hiding  about 


•  Greathed's  Letters,  p.  283. 
t  See  Introductory  Chapter,  p.  117. 
X  speech  of  Captain  Eastwick,   deputy-chaii-man 
of  the  East  India  Company  ;  August  20th,  1858. 
§  Times,  February  6th,  1858. 


the  city,  and  had  endured  the  misery  and 
humiliation  of  a  perilous  and  wearisome 
escape,  should,  on  re-entering  Delhi,  em- 
powered to  exact  "vengeance"  for  public 
wrongs,  have  acted  under  the  evident  in- 
centive of  personal  and  private  grievances. 

It  was  right  to  resort  to  Sir  T.  Metcalfe 
as  a  witness,  but  not  also  as  a  judge.  It  is 
contrary  to  English  ideas  of  justice,  that  a 
man  should  be  suffered  to  carry  out  his 
notions  of  retribution  by  hanging  as  many 
victims  as  he  pleases  on  the  beams  and 
angles  of  his  ruined  mansion. 

The  fierce  anger  entertained  by  the  Euro- 
peans in  general  against  the  natives,  was 
warrant  for  severity ;  and  the  terrible  office 
to  be  performed  at  Delhi,  ought  never  to 
have  been  entrusted  to  an  official  of  whom 
it  could  even  be  reported  as  possible,  that 
he  had  said,  that  whenever  he  grew  weary 
of  his  task,  he  went  to  look  at  his  house 
to  be  invigorated.  His  energy  never  ap- 
peared to  flag ;  and  the  natives  soon  learned 
to  fear  his  name  almost  as  much  as  their 
fathers  had  loved  that  of  his  uncle,  the 
good  and  great  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe. 

Sir  John  Lawrence,  notwithstanding  the 
Draconian  severity  of  his  code,  is  stated,  on 
good  authority,  to  have  been  from  the  first 
"the  opponent  of  blind,  indiscriminate 
vengeance,  and  the  strong  advocate  of  an 
amnesty,  to  include  all  except  the  mur- 
derers in  cold  blood  of  our  countrymen  and 
countrywomen."  And  when,  "after  the 
capture  of  Delhi,  he  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  districts  of  Delhi  and  Meerut,  his 
first  act  was  to  put  a  stop  to  civilians 
hanging  from  their  own  will  and  pleasure, 
and  establish  a  judicial  commission  to  try 
all  offenders."! 

The  fact,  however,  remains.  Lord  Ellen- 
borough,  the  ex-governor-general  of  India, 
who  has  never  been  accused  of  an  exag- 
gerated horror  of  bloodshedding,  and  who 
deems  our  position  in  India  analogous  to 
that  of  the  Normans  in  Saxon  England — 
declared  in  parliament,  on  the  16th  of 
February,  1858,  "that,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  days,  since  the  capture  of  Delhi, 
there  have  been  five  or  six  executions  every 
day.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  hope  to  re- 
establish civil  government  in  that  country, 
if  the  ordinary  proceeding  of  law  is  to  be 
the  inflictiou  of  death."§ 

But.  so  it  was  ;  and  day  after  day,  week 
after  week,  jiionth  after  month,  the  hanging 
went  on  ;  and  the  two  large  gallows  in  the 
middle  of  the  Chaiidnee  Chouk  'the  Regent- 


452 


SIR  T.  IVrETCALFE'S  PROCEEDINGS  IN  DELHI. 


street,  or  rather  Boulevards,  of  Delbi),  with 
their  ghastly  burdens,  contrasted  strangely 
with  the  life  and  gaiety  around  them ; 
with  the  English  soldiers  in  tlieir  scarlet 
uniform  or  khakee  undress ;  the  Seik  and 
Afghan  irregular  cavalry,  on  their  prancing, 
well-groomed,  gaily-saddled  horses — the 
riders  wearing  small  red  turbans  spangled 
with  gold,  their  dark-blue  tunics  turned  up 
with  red ;  red  cummerbunds,  liglit-yellow 
trowsers,  large  top-boots,*  and  arms  sharp 
for  use,  bright  for  ornament ;  Goorkas 
"  dressed  up  to  the  ugliness  of  demons," 
in  black  worsted  head- gear  (described  as  a 
frightful  compromise  between  a  Gleugarry 
cap  and  a  turban)  f  and  woollen  coats  ;J 
English  ladies  and  children  on  elephants, 
and  Englishmen  on  camels,  horses,  and 
ponies.  A  visitor — one  of  the  many 
who  poured  into  Delhi  after  the  cap- 
ture— notices  as  a  characteristic  feature 
of  the  scene,  a  prize-agent  in  a  very 
pretty  carriage  with  servants  in  hand- 
some livery,  and  his  children  after  them, 
mounted  on  an  elephant. §  The  same 
witness  adds — "  I  saw  Sir  Theophilus  Met- 
calfe the  other  day  ;  he  is  held  in  great 
dread  here  by  the  natives,  and  is  every  day 
trying  and  hanging  all  he  can  catch." 

Mrs.  CooplanH,  the  widow  of  the  clergy- 
man killed  at  Gwalior  in  June,  relates  the 
following  anecdote  in  illustration  of  "  this 
wholesome  dread."  She  was  the  guest  of 
the  Mrs.  Garstin  referred  to,  and  therefore 
had  means  of  knowing  the  fact. 

"  One  day  a  native  jeweller  came  to  offer  his 
wares  for  sale  to  Mrs.  Garstin,  who,  thinking  he 
charged  too  much,  said,  '  I  will  send  you  to  Met- 
calfe Sahib;'  on  which  the  man  bolted  in  such  a 
hurry  that  he  left  his  treasures  behind,  and  never 
again  showed  his  face. 

The  account  given  by  this  lively  lady,  of 
what  she  saw  and  did  in  Delhi,  throws  light 

*  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gtcalior,  p.  65. 
t  Kussiell. 

I  Letter  from  Delhi  officer. — Times,  October  1st, 
1857. 

§  Letter  from  Delhi. — Times,  January,  185S. 

II  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwalior,  p.  273. 
*j  A  day  of  humiliation  had  been  observed  in  India 

(as  also  in  England)  on  account  of  the  mutiny. 
The  prayer  framed  by  Bishop  Wilson  was  character- 
ised by  humility ;  so  also  were  those  he  wrote  for  the 
use  of  families;  in  which  he  deprecated  the  Divine 
wrath — acknowledging  that  it  was  due  both  for  the 
eins  of  the  present  masters  of  India,  and  also  of  those 
who  had  gone  before  them  in  the  land.  He  died  at 
Calcutta, February  2nd,  1858 ;  and  although  an  octo- 
genarian, remained  to  the  last  as  active  as  if  he  had 
numbered  but  fifty  years.     In  tone  he  is  described 


on  several  points  which  the  authorities  would 
have  preferred  leaving  in  darkness.  The 
most  popular  amusements  in  the  city  were 
looting,  and  going  to  look  at  the  old  king 
and  his  family — much  as  country  people  in 
England  used  to  go  to  the  Tower  of  London, 
fifty  years  ago,  to  look  at  the  lions.  But  the 
Delhi  lion  was  extremely  old ;  had  neither 
teeth  nor  claws;  was  ill  fed,  and  kept  in 
a  dirty  cage — circumstances  not  very  hon- 
ourable to  the  humanity  of  his  keepers. 

The  leading  Europeans  occupied  the  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  palace,  and  their 
wives  soon  flocked  to  Delhi  to  join  them. 
The  royal  apartments,  the  royal  wardrobe, 
even  to  articles  of  daily  use,  were  appro- 
priated by  the  conquerors;  while  the  king, 
queen,  and  prince  were  thrust  into  the 
upper  part  of  a  half-ruined  gateway,  with 
a  British  sentinel  at  the  door,  prepared  to 
defeat  any  attempt  at  rescue  which  this 
treatment  might  provoke,  by  shooting  the 
aged  captive. 

The  reverend  chronicler  of  the  siege 
gives  no  account  of  the  treatment  of  the 
royal  family;  but  he  calls  upon  his  readers 
to  admire  "  the  piety  of  General  Wilson, 
in  suggesting  that  our  successes  should  be 
celebrated  on  Sunday,  September  27th, 
in  a  public  manner,  by  a  general  thanks- 
giving." Mr.  llotton  and  his  colleague, 
having  no  "  episcopal  functions,"  made 
some  slight  alterations  in  the  morning 
service,  and  indited  certain  additions,  as 
unlike  those  which  the  venerable  Bishop  of 
Calcutta^  would  have  framed,  as  could  well 
be  conceived ;  in  the  course  of  which, 
certain  (alleged)  special  providences  were 
enumerated  with  a  presumption  which 
must  have  been  painful  to  many  present, 
notwithstanding  that,  in  every  other  re- 
spect, "  the  rubrics  and  calendars  were  re- 
ligiously observed."**     Had  the  sun  stood 

as  having  been  decidedly  evangelical.  Though 
deeply  respected,  he  is  said  not  to  have  been 
popular;  but  popularity  was  little  courted  by  a  man 
who  "  stood  up  in  the  pulpit  in  Burmali,  and  roundly 
taxed  the  Europeans  with  tlieir  concubinage ;  and 
never  hesitated  one  moment  to  reprehend  any  one, 
whatever  his  official  or  social  rank." — See  Letter  of 
Calcutta  correspondent:  2V»ies,  February  15lh,  1858. 
In  pecuniary  matters  he  was  liberal  to  the  last  degree. 
The  "  blameless  purity"  of  his  life,  his  great  learning 
and  fearless  character,  probably  gave  rise  to  tiie 
complaint,  that  his  keen  intellect  was  "  sometimes  a 
little  sardonic,"  and  drew  criticism  on  minor  eccen- 
tricities which  would  else  have  passed  unnoticed. 
Generous  in  death  as  in  life,  he  left  his  splendid 
library,  by  will,  to  the  Calcutta  public. 
••  ilotton's  Siege  <f  Delhi,  p.  325. 


lEKiiaT  MAffilAlL-.  ©EOaiiM    ©IS   (5)(!JEEW   ®F  PEiffill 


MRS.  HODSON'S  VISIT  TO  THE  ROYAL  FAMILY. 


453 


still  in  its  course  for  General  Wilson  as  for 
Joshua,  a  more  specific  acknowledgmeut 
could  hardly  have  been  offered,  than  that 
in  which  a  body  of  protestants  (professedly 
fallible,  whether  clergy  or  laity)  presumed 
to  recognise,  in  the  unusually  healthy 
season,  a  miraculous  interposition  on  their 
behalf,  and  to  thank  the  Most  High  "  for 
the  regulation  of  that  season  in  such  extra- 
ordinary manner  as  to  favour  Thy  servants 
composing  the  army,  which  stood  for  so 
many  months  before  Delhi ;"  also  "  for 
every  triumph  upon  every  occasion,  and  in 
every  engagement,  against  the  mutineers 
since  we  took  the  field."* 

Apart  from  these  extraordinary  interpola- 
tions, there  must  have  been  something  de- 
cidedly novel  and  exciting,  something  to 
talk  about  afterwards,  in  hearing  the  Church 
of  England  service  performed  on  a  Sunday 
morning  in  the  king's  private  council-cham- 
ber— the  far-famed  "  Dewani  Khas" — and 
looking  round  on  the  numerous  inscrip- 
tions, inlaid  in  jewels,  including  the  Persian 
couplet,  translated  and  adopted  by  Moore — 

"  And,  oh  !  if  there  be  an  Elysium  on  earth, 
It  is  this,  it  is  this." 

The  train  of  thought  likely  to  be  excited 
might  border  upon  profanity;  but  then 
what  a  lesson  on  the  precarious  tenure  of 
human  greatness  might  not  the  congrega- 
tion receive  from  their  afternoon's  drive 
through  the  desolate  streets,  especially  if 
they  improved  the  occasion  by  looking  in 
upon  the  late  master  of  the  Dewani  Khas. 

Several  visitors  have  placed  their  obser- 
vations on  record  :  those  of  Mrs.  Hodson 
(the  captain's  wife)  were  published  in  the 
Times  and  other  papers. t  She  describes 
herself  as  being  accompanied  by  Mr.  Saun- 
ders (the  civil  commissioner)  and  his  lady ; 
and  as  passing  through  a  small  low  door, 
guarded  by  a  British  sentry,  into  a  room 
divided  in  two  by  a  grass  matting;  in  one 
half  of  which  a  woman  was  "cooking  some 
atrocious  compound ;  in  the  other,  on  a 
native  bedstead  (that  is,  a  frame  of  bamboo 
on  four  legs,  with  grass  ropes  strung  across 
it),"  lay  the  King  of  Delhi.  The  writer 
proceeds  to  state — 

"  No  other  article  of  furniture  whatever  was  in 
the  room.  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  say  that  a  feel- 
ing of  pity  mingled  with  my  disgust,  at  seeing  a 
man,  recently  lord  of  an  imperial  city  almost  un- 

•  Rotton's  Siege  of  Delhi,  p.  325. 

t  This  account,  sent  to  the  Times  by  the  Kev.  S. 
H.  Hodson,  is  not  given  in  the  memoir  of  his 
brother,   which   he   subsequently   published.     The 


paralleled  for  riches  and  magnificence,  confined  in 
a  low,  close,  dirty  room,  which  the  lowest  slave  in 
his  household  would  scarcely  have  occupied,  in  the 
very  palace  where  he  had  reigned  supreme,  with 
power  of  life  and  death,  untrammelled  by  any  law, 
within  the  precincts  of  a  royal  residence  as  large  as 
a  considerable-sized  town ;  streets,  galleries,  towers, 
mosques,  forts,  and  gardens ;  a  private  and  a  public 
hall  of  justice,  and  innumerable  courts,  passages, 
and  staircases." 

The  name  of  his  visitor  being  announced, 
"the  old  man  raised  his  head,  looked  at 
her,  and  muttered  something  she  could  not 
understand ;  which,  perhaps,  was  as  well  j 
since  the  unheard  sentence  was  more  likely 
to  have  been  a  curse  than  a  blessing.  Mrs. 
Hodson  might  surely  have  gratified  her 
curiosity  witiiout  intruding  herself  on  the 
king  as  the  wife  of  the  man  who  had  slain 
his  unarmed  sons,  and  threatened  to  shoot 
him  like  a  dog  in  the  event  of  an  attempted 
rescue.  After  leaving  him,  the  party  en- 
tered "  a  smaller,  darker,  dirtier  room  than 
the  first,"  inhabited  by  some  eight  or  ten 
women,  who  crowded  round  a  common 
charpoy,  on  which  sat  Zeenat  Mahal.  It 
seems  probable  that  the  fallen  queen,  who 
was  known  to  be  an  able  and  courageous 
woman,  thought  her  visitor  a  far  more 
important  personage  than  she  really  was, 
and  suppressed  her  feelings  for  the  sake  of 
her  only  child ;  but  she  held  a  high  tone 
nevertheless,  and  said,  that  if  the  life  of  the 
king  and  of  her  son  had  not  been  promised 
by  the  government,  the  king  was  preparing 
a  great  army  which  would  have  annihilated 
the  British.  Then  she  motioned  to  Mrs. 
Hodson  to  sit  down  upon  her  bed  (there 
being  no  other  resting-place).  But  this 
courtesy,  Mrs.  Hodson  states,  she  "de- 
clined, as  it  looked  so  dirty ;"  and  she  adds — 
"Mr.  Saunders  was  much  amused  at  my 
refusal,  and  told  me  it  would  have  been 
more  than  my  life  was  worth,  six  months 
before,  to  have  done  so." 

Probably,  had  the  high-born  wife  of  the 
governor-general,  or  Lady  Outram  (the 
noble  mate  of  the  Bayard  of  India),  or  the 
true,  tender-hearted  partner  of  the  toils 
and  perils  of  Brigadier  Inglis  at  Lucknow, 
or  hundreds  of  other  Englishwomen,  been 
asked  by  an  imprisoned  lady  to  sit  beside 
her  on  her  wretched  pallet,  they  would  in- 
stantly have  complied;  and,  moreover,  would 
have  taken  care  to  provide  (if  need  were, 
out  of  their  private  purse)  a  clean  coverlet 

reason  is  evident ;  the  object  of  the  biographer  being, 
to  vindicate  his  brother's  conduct  towards  the  king 
and  princes,  and  to  refrain  from  giving  details 
likely  to  excite  sympathy  for  their  sufferings. 


454         GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S  ORDERS  REGARDING  THE  KING. 


for  the  future.  If  Zeenat  Mahal  felt  the 
mortification  attributed  to  her,  she  had  not 
long  to  wait  before  "  the  whirligig  of  time 
brought  in  its  revenges."  Widowhood  is  an 
overwhelming  calamity  in  Oriental  life; 
and  the  fallen  queen  must  have  started 
when  she  learnt  (as  she  was  sure  to  do,  cir- 
cumstantially, by  native  report)  that  Captain 
Hodson,  while  searching  about  for  sepoys, 
or,  in  his  own  words,  trying  to  "  make  a 
good  bag,"*  had  been  shot  in  a  dark  room 
full  of  fugitives,  and  had  died  iu  conse- 
quence, after  many  hours  of  intense  agony.f 
When  he  prophesied  on  the  12th  of  March, 
1858,  regarding  the  King  of  Delhi,  that 
"the  old  rascal  will  not  trouble  us  loug," 
he  little  thought  that  his  own  course  was 
within  a  month  of  its  termination;  Avhile 
the  king  had  still  years  of  life  to  endure. 

To  return  to  Delhi.  Zeenat  Mahal  was 
not  fortunate  in  the  sight-seers  who  came 
to  gaze  on  her  misery ;  and  being  deprived 
of  any  other  protection,  she  used  her 
woman's  weapon — the  tongue — to  rid  her- 
self of  at  least  one  of  them.  This  one  was 
Mrs.  Coopland ;  who,  after  going  about 
Delhi  looking  for  loot,  and  having  had  very 
little  success,  pronounced  it  disgraceful  to 
England  that  the  old  king  had  not  been 
shot,  and  the  city  razed  to  the  ground. 
Her  interview  with  the  king  and  prince 
(who,  she  says,  looked  about  fourteen  years 
of  age),  and  with  the  queen  (who  was 
"dressed  in  a  black  cotton  gown"),  is  told 
with  unusual  brevity;  but  it  appears  that  the 
latter  glanced  at  the  mourning  garb  of  her 
visitor,  and  asked  what  had  become  of  her 
"  sahib"  (husband)  iu  so  contemptuous  a 
manner,  that  Mrs.  Coopland   bade  her  be  ■  indignity  or  needless  hardship. 


is  too  old  to  bo  responsible  for  anything  that  has 
been  done.  •  •  »  I'he  youngest  son  we  saw, 
looking  like  fifteen  (they  say  eighteen) ;  bold  and 
coarse  to  look  at.  He  is  the  only  child  of  the  queen. 
With  her  some  of  our  ladies  have  had  a  long  inter- 
view :  they  found  her  seated  on  a  common  charpoy 
(bedstead),  dressed  in  white  cotton  clothes,  with  few 
and  very  trifling  ornaments ;  all  her  grand  things 
having  been  taken  from  her.  She  is  described  as 
short  and  stout,  above  thirty  years  of  age,  with  a 
round,  animated  face,  not  at  all  pretty,  but  having 
very  pretty  little  plump  hands;  she  was  cutting 
betel-nut  to  eat  with  her  pawn.  She  professes  the 
utmost  horror  of  the  3rd  cavalry,  to  whom  she  traces 
all  her  misfortunes.  She  says  the  king  was  helpless 
to  control  them;  and  that  when  their  an-ival  had 
placed  Delhi  in  rebellion  against  us,  they  were  as 
ready  to  rob  her  as  anyone  else.  She  says  the  mu- 
tineers did  rob  the  palace,  and  that  all  her  jewels 
were  only  saved  hy  being  buried.  Some  of  the 
women  told  them  fthe  English  ladies]  they  had  had 
English  women  and  children  ii^  the  palace  after  the 
massacre,  in  hope  of  preserving  them,  but  that  the 
mutineers  demanded  them,  and  could  not  be  resisted. 
Heaven  knows  if  the  royal  family  be  clean  in  heart 
and  hand  or  not.  *  *  *  If  they  are,  as  they  say, 
innocent  of  any  share  in  the  rebellion,  they  are 
victims  indeed.  1  trust  all  examinations  may  be 
judiciously  and  fairly  conducted."^ 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
Calcutta  government  were  aware  of  the 
petty  degradations  to  which  the  Delhi 
family  were  subjected.  On  the  contrary, 
the  orders  of  the  governor -general  explicitly 
directed  an  opposite  course  of  procedure. 
Provided  no  promise  of  life  had  been  givea 
to  the  king,  he  was  to  be  brought  to  trial; 
and  if  found  guilty,  the  sentence  was  to  be 
carried  out  without  reference  to  Calcutta. 
But  in  the  event  of  his  life  having  been 
guaranteed,  one  or  two  officers  were  to 
be  appointed  specially  to  take  charge  of 
him ;  and   he  was    "  to  be  exposed  to  no 


silent,  and  abruptly  quitted  the  room,  leav. 
ing  Zeenat  Mahal  mistress  of  the  field.* 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter, 
dated  "  Delhi  Palace,  November  16th,"  sup- 
plies some  deficiencies  in  the  descriptions  of 
Mrs.  Hodson  and  Mrs.  Coopland  ;  and  is 
written  by  a  less  prejudiced  observer : — 

"  Desolate  Delhi !  It  has  only  as  yet  a  handful  of 
inhabitants  in  its  great  street,  the  Chaudnee  Chouk, 
who  are  all  Hindoos,  I  believe.  Many  miserable 
wretches  prowl  through  the  camps  outside  the  city, 
begging  for  admission  at  the  various  gates,  but 
none  are  admitted  whose  respectability  cannot  be 
vouched  for.  •  •  •  \Ve  have  seen  the  cajjlive 
king  and  royal  family ;  they  are  in  ruinous  little 
rooms  in  one  of  the  gates  of  the  palace.  The  old 
king  looks  very  frail,  and  has  a  blank,  fixed  eye,  as 
of  one  on  whom  life  is  fast  closing.     He  certainly 

•  Hodson's  Twehe  Years  in  India,  p.  330. 

t  Ihid.,  p.  370. 

j  Mrs.  Coopland's  Escape  from  Gwalior,  p.  277. 


In  fact,  the  impression  entertained  at 
Calcutta  and  in  England  was,  that  the  royal 
family  were  treated  with  undue  considera- 
tion ;  and  this  view  of  the  case  was  fostered 
by  certain  journals.  The  Friend  of  India 
called  "  the  attention  of  the  government 
of  India  to  the  state  of  things  existing  in 
the  city  of  Delhi ;"  and  declared  that  the 
prince,  Jumma  Bukht,  was  in  the  habit 
of  riding  through  the  city  "  on  an  elephant, 
with  two  British  officers  behind  him,  to  do 
him  honour."  With  an  evident  misgiving 
as  to  the  credit  likely  to  attach  to  an  asser- 
tion issuing  from  such  a  prejudiced  autho- 
rity, the  editor  adds — "The  statement 
appears  so  incredible,  that  it  may  be  set 

§  Times,  December,  1858. 

Ij  Secretary   of  government  to  General  Wilson; 
Calcutta,  October  10th,  1857. 


MR.  LAYARD'S  VISIT  TO  INDIA. 


455 


aside  as  a  mere  newspaper  report ;  but  we 
entreat  the  government  to  believe  that  it  is 
one  which  we  would  not  publish  without 
such  information  as  produces  absolute  cer- 
tainty." 

The  Lahore  Chronicle  went  a  little  far- 
ther :  described  the  king  as  surrounded 
with  the  insignia  of  royalty ;  attended  upon 
by  a  large  retinue ;  and  stated,  that  he 
coolly  insulted  the  British  officers  who 
visited  him ; — all  of  which  would  probably 
have  passed  unnoticed,  had  not  the  editor 

thought  fit  to  point  out  Mr.  O and 

Colonel  H as  delinquents,  on  whose 

heads  to  pour  forth  the  "universal  feeling 
of  indignation  and  disgust"  which  had  been 
"created  in  all  Christian  classes  in  the 
country." 

Mr.  Omraaney  was  one  of  the  civil 
functionaries  in  Delhi.  Colonel  Hogge, 
the  other  gentleman  denounced  by  the 
initial  letter  of  his  name,  was  a  remarkably 
skilful  and  popular  officer,  whose  services 
during  the  siege  and  storm,  as  director  of 
the  artillery  depot,  had  been  warmly  com- 
mended in  official  despatches  and  private 
correspondence.*  He  at  once  addressed  the 
editor  of  the  Lahore  Chronicle,  and,  in  few 
and  plain  words,  explained  the  circumstances 
which  had  led  to  the  charge  of  "  lackeying 
the  king's  son  about  the  streets  of  Delhi." 
Colonel  Hogge  stated  that  he  visited  the 
king  with  the  commissioner  and  several 
officers  of  rank ;  that  Jumma  Bukht,  appa- 
rently a  youth  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  of 
age,  had  asked  "  if  he  might  be  permitted 
to  go  out  occasionally  for  an  airing,  along 
with  any  gentleman  who  would  take  him ;" 
and  as  Colonel  Hogge  was  in  the  habit  of 
going  out  every  evening  on  an  elephant, 
the  commissioner  inquired  if  he  would  mind 
occasionally  calling  for  the  prince.  An 
oflBcer  was  present,  who  held  high  official 
rank  in  the  array ;  but  neither  he  nor  any 
of  the  others  could  see  any  objection  to  the 
performance  of  an  act  of  ordinary  humanity ; 
and  the  colonel  twice  took  the  lad,  for  a 
change  from  the  close  stifling  atmosphere  of 
his  prison-chamber,  into  the  air.  The  first 
time,  having  nothing  but  a  pad  on  the  ele- 
phant, the  colonel  put  his  companion  in 
froAt,  to  prevent  him  from  slipping  off"  and 

*  Brigadier-general  Wilson  bears  strong  testimony 
to  the  voluntary  service  rendered  by  "  that  excel- 
lent officer,  Lieutenant-colonel  Hogge"  (despatch, 
September  22nd,  1857).  And  Greathed,  in  writing 
to  his  wife,  speaks  of  the  formidable  appearance  of 
the  ordnance  park,  and  dwells  on  the  exertions  and 


trying  to  escape  :  the  second  time  he  placed 
him  behind;  without,  however,  considering 
the  point  of  any  importance. 

The  letter  concluded  with  the  following 
remarks  regarding  Jumma  Bukht: — "I 
found  him  a  very  intelligent  lad.  He  gave 
me  a  good  deal  of  information  about  the 
mutineers,  their  leaders,  and  their  plans; 
and  had  I  remained  longer  at  Delhi,  I  should 
probably  have  taken  him  out  oftener ;  but 
having  returned  to  Meerut  on  the  26tli  of 
October,  I  had  no  further  opportunity ."f 

People  in  England  were  greatly  puzzled 
by  the  conflicting  accounts  received  from 
India,  especially  from  Delhi,  regarding  the 
condition  of  the  royal  family,  and  the  cases 
of  mutilation  and  torture  alleged  against 
the  sepoys;  not  one  of  which  had  been 
proved,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  to  iden- 
tify and  provide  for  any  such  victims,  made 
by  the  committee  entrusted  with  the  enor- 
mous sums  raised  throughout  the  British 
empire,  and  liberally  augmented  by  contri- 
butions from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe, 
on  behalf  of  the  European  sufferers  by  the 
Indian  mutiny. 

Mr.  Layard,  M.P.  for  Aylesbury,  whose 
Eastern  experience  had  rendered  him  incre- 
dulous of  newspaper  horrors,  resolved  to 
judge  for  himself.  He  visited  Delhi;  and 
on  his  return  to  England,  gave,  at  a  public 
meeting  in  May,  1858,  the  following  descrip- 
tion of  his  interview  with  the  king : — 

"I  saw  that  broken-down  old  man — not  in  a 
room,  but  in  a  miserable  hole  of  his  palace — lying 
on  a  bedstead,  with  nothing  to  cover  him  but  a 
miserable  tattered  coverlet.  As  I  beheld  him,  some 
remembrance  of  his  former  greatness  seemed  to 
arise  in  his  mind.  He  rose  with  difficulty  from  his 
couch;  showed  me  his  arms,  which  were  eaten  into 
by  disease  and  by  flies — partly  from  want  of  water; 
and  he  said,  in  a  lamentable  voice,  that  he  had  not 
enough  to  eat !  Is  that  a  way  in  which,  as  Chris- 
tians, we  ought  to  treat  a  king  ?  I  saw  his  women 
too,  all  huddled  up  in  a  corner  with  their  children ; 
and  I  was  told  that  all  that  was  allowed  for  their 
support  was  16s.  a-day !  Is  not  that  punishment 
enough  for  one  that  has  occupied  a  throne  ?" 

Of  course,  a  torrent  of  invective  was 
poured  upon  Mr.  Layard  by  the  anti-native 
party,  both  in  England  and  in  India ;  and 
every  possible  motive  alleged  for  his  con- 
duct except  the  dictates  of  conscience  and 
humanity.     Moreover,  he  stated  that,  while 

precautions  taken  to  ensure  efficiency  ;  adding,  that 
Colonel  Hogge  was  the  life  of  his  department :  every 
one  worked  cheerfully  under  him. — Letters,  p.  251. 
t  Times,  December  29th,  1857.  The  Lahore 
Chronicle  is  quoted  at  length  in  the  Star,  Decem- 
ber 29th,  1857. 


456 


MR.  RUSSELL'S  VISIT  TO  THE  KING  OF  DELHL 


ill  India,  he  had  tried  to  find  a  case  of 
mutilation,  but  without  the  slightest  suc- 
cess ;  and  he  beUeved  the  horrible  and  re- 
volting cruelties  ascribed  to  the  natives  to 
be  utterly  untrue  ;  and  asserted,  that  they 
"had  never,  even  in  a  solitary  instance, 
been  authenticated."* 

Mr.  Russell,  the  special  correspondent  of 
the  Times,  who  followed  Mr.  Layard  to 
India  (leaving  London  at  the  close  of  De- 
cember, 1857);  confirmed  his  statements,  to 
a  considerable  extent,t  as  regarded  the  un- 
founded assertions  made  with  regard  to 
native  atrocities,  and  likewise  with  respect 
to  the  king,  who,  in  June,  1858,  was  still 
shut  up  in  the  same  dreary  prison,  and 
clothed  in  "  garments  scanty  and  foul." 
Mr.  Russell's  interview  with  the  old  king 
took  place  while  the  latter  was  suffering,  or 
rather  just  rallying,  after  a  violent  attack  of 
vomiting.  The  privacy  which  would  be 
allowed  a  condemned  murderer  in  England, 
would  have  been  deemed  "  maudlin  senti- 
mentality" in  the  present  case;  but  the 
commissioner  (Mr.  Saunders)  and  his  com- 
panions waited  in  an  open  court  outside, 
till  the  sickness  of  the  king  abated.  Then, 
while  he  yet  gasped  for  breath,  they  entered 
the  dingy,  dark  passage,  which  contained 
no  article  of  furniture  "  but  a  charpoy,  such 
as  those  used  by  the  poorest  Indians.  The 
old  man  cowered  on  the  floor  on  his  crossed 
legs,  with  his  back  against  a  mat,  which 
was  suspended  from  doorway  to  doorway,  so 
as  to  form  a  passage  about  twelve  feet  wide 
by  twenty-four  in  length."  Mr.  Russell's 
picture  of  the  king  takes  it  character,  in  no 
small  degree,  from  the  surrounding  circum- 
stances of  dirt  and  degradation.  He  pro- 
bably did  not  see  quite  as  clearly  as  Mr. 
Layard  had  done,  the  disgrace  reflected  on 
his  custodians  by  the  abject  misery  to  which 
the  aged  king  was  subjected.  The  reason 
is  obvious.  Mr.  Russell  went  in  company 
■with  his  host  the  commissioner,  and  other 
leading  authorities,  all  of  whom  were  anxious 
to  secure  the  good  word  of  the  man  who 
had  the  ear  of  Europe  turned  to  him,  and 
the  Times  for  a  speaking-trumpet.  Nor  is  it 
wonderful  that  the  frank  hospitality  of  "  the 
ruddy,  comely  English  gentleman" — "the 
excellent    commissioner,"    Mr.    Saunders, 

»  Speech  at  St.  James's  Hall,  May  llth,  1858. 

t  Mr.  Russell,  after  referring  to  Mr.  Layard's 
speeches  and  lectures,  which  "  have  been  received 
with  a  shower  of  dirty  dish-clouts  from  the  well- 
furnished  Billingsgate  repertoire  of  the  convict 
Cleon  of  Calcutta" — states,  "  there  are  many  of  his 


and  the  ready  courtesy  of  "  the  fair  English- 
woman," his  wife,  should  have  thrown  a 
little  dust  even  in  the  keen-sighted,  honest 
eyes  of  the  correspondent.  The  portrait  of 
the  king  is,  however,  a  veritable  Russell; 
but  painfuUj',  not  pleasantly,  life-like — 

"  The  forehead  is  very  broad  indeed,  and  comes 
out  sharply  over  the  brows ;  but  it  recedes  at  once 
into  an  ignoble  Thersites-like  skull;  in  the  eyes 
were  only  visible  the  weakness  of  extreme  old  age 
— the  dim,  hazy,  filmy  light  which  seems  about  to 
guide  to  the  great  darkness ;  the  nose,  a  noble 
Judaic  aquiline,  was  deprived  of  dignity  and  power 
by  the  loose-lipped,  nerveless,  quivering  and  gas])- 
ing  mouth,  filled  with  a  flacid  tongue ;  but  from 
chin  and  upper  lip,  there  streamed  a  venerable,  long, 
wavy,  intermingling  moustache  and  beard  of  white, 
which  again  all  but  retrieved  his  aspect.  His  hands 
and  feet  were  delicate  and  fine,  his  garments  scanty 
and  foul.  Recalling  youth  to  that  decrepit  frame, 
restoring  its  freshness  to  that  sunken  cheek,  one 
might  see  the  king  glowing  with  all  the  beauty  of 
the  warrior  David ;  but  as  he  sat  before  us,  I  was 
only  reminded  of  the  poorest  form  of  the  Israelitish 
type,  as  exhibited  in  decay  and  penurious  greed  in 
its  poorest  haunts  among  us."}; 

In  one  respect,  at  least,  the  king  retained 
and  exhibited  the  characteristic  of  his  race. 
"The  Great  Moguls  were  their  own  lau- 
reates ;"  and  Shah  Alum,  the  blind  emperor, 
uttered,  from  the  depths  of  his  misery  and 
humiliation, sentiments  second  onlyin  pathos 
to  those  of  David,  when  he,  too,  lay  humbled 
in  the  dust.  "  The  tempest  of  misfortune," 
Shah  Alum  declared,  "  has  risen  and  over- 
whelmed me.  It  has  scattered  my  glory  to 
the  winds,  and  dispersed  my  throne  in  the 
air."  But,  he  added,  "while  I  am  sunk  in 
an  abyss  of  darkness,  let  me  be  comforted 
with  the  assurance,  that  out  of  this  affliction 
I  shall  yet  arise,  purified  by  misfortune, 
and  illuminated  by  the  mercy  of  the  Al- 
mighty." The  descendant  of  Shah  Alum 
(the  present  Mohammed  Bahadur  Shah) 
solaced  himself  in  a  similar  manner;  and 
notwithstanding  his  physical  and  mental 
decrepitude,  had,  only  a  day  or  two  before 
Mr.  Russell's  visit,  "  composed  some  neat 
lines  on  the  wall  of  his  prison,  by  the  aid 
of  a  burnt  stick."  The  pride  of  race  still 
lingered  in  "the  dim,  wandering-eyed, 
dreamy  old  man ;"  and  "  when  Brigadier 
Stisted  asked  him  how  it  was  he  had  not 
saved  the  lives  of  our  women,  he  made  an 

'facts'  [apparently  alluding  to  cruelties  committed 
by  Europeans  upon  natives]  which  we  know  to  be 
true :  as  the  colonel  [a  Bengal  officer,  whose  name 
is  withheld]  said,  '  I  know  far  worse  than  anything 
he  has  said.'" — Diary  in  India,  vol.  ii.,  p.  124. 
X  Ibid.,  p.  61. 


POSITION  OF  KING  OF  DELHI  BEFORE  THE  MUTINY. 


437 


impatient  gesture  with  his  hand,  as  if  com- 
manding silence ;  and  said, '  I  know  nothing 
of  it.  I  had  nothing  to  say  to  it.' "  Jumma 
Bukht  betrayed  the  same  feehng.  He  rose 
from  the  charpoy  at  the  sound  of  European 
voices,  and  salaamed  respectfully;  but  the 
commissioner,  hearing  that  he  was  ill, 
bade  him  lie  down  again  ;  and,  with  another 
salaam,  he  threw  himself  on  his  back  with 
a  sigh,  and  drew  the  coverlet  of  the  bed 
over  his  face,  as  if  to  relieve  himself  from 
an  unwelcome  gaze. 

Mr.  Russell  was  not  a  servant  of  the 
E.  I.  Company;  and  although  he  studiously 
refrained  from  censuring  individuals,  he 
spoke  freely  of  the  meanness  and  injus- 
tice with  which  the  king  had  been  treated 
before  the  mutiny.  la  fact,  no  unpre- 
judiced person  could  look  back  on  the 
rise  and  progress  of  British  power  in  India, 
without  seeing  that  our  recent  charges 
against  the  King  of  Delhi  could  not,  by  the 
law  of  nations,  entitle  us  to  set  aside  the 
counter- charges  of  him  who  never  once 
abandoned  his  claim  as  emperor  of  India, 
and  lord  paramount  of  every  other  power,  the 
Company  included.  In  the  first  instance,  the 
Merchant  Ad  venturers  kotooed  and  salaamed 
to  his  ancestors  for  permission  to  build  a 
warehouse  or  two ;  and  then  they  repeated 
the  process  for  leave  to  fortify  their  factories, 
and  defend  their  goods  from  the  maraud- 
ing incursions  of  the  Mahrattas — those  dis- 
turbers of  the  peaceful  subjects  of  the  Great 
Mogul.  That  a  body  of  humble  traders,  so 
very  humble  as  their  protestations,  carefully 
preserved  in  Leadenhall-street,  show  them 
to  have  been,  should  covet  sovereign  power 
even  for  the  sake  of  its  accompaniment  of 
territorial  revenue,  was  quite  out  of  the 
question;  and  this  attitude  of  deprecation 
grew  so  fixed,  that  despite  the  pride  of 
individual  governors-general,  the  Company 
maintained  to  the  last  a  most  anomalous 
position  with  regard  to  native  sovereigns, 
and  especially  towards  the  King  of  Delhi. 
In  England  this  was  not  understood,  simply 
because  India  was  never  viewed  as  a  national 
question,  or  thought  of  at  all  by  the  British 
government,  except  in  connexion  with  the 
Company's  dividends  and  patronage;    and 

•  Russell's  Letter.— rimes,  August  20th,  1858. 
In  a  Jliitory  of  the  Indian  Mutiny,  by  Mr.  Charles 
Ball,  which  comprises  a  valuable  collection  of  the 
chief  official  and  private  documents  published 
during  the  crisis,  the  quotation  from  Mr.  Kussell, 
given  in  the  text,  is  thus  commented  on  : — "  Surely 
if  we  contrast  this   abject  submission   within   the 

VOL.  II.  3  N 


it  was  only  when  some  new  financial  crisis 
arose,  that  a  vague  misgiving  was  enter- 
tained as  to  the  probable  mismanagement 
of  the  sovereign  power,  as  the  cause  of  the 
unsatisfactory  state  of  the  revenue.  Mr. 
Russell  truly  asserts,  that — 

"  There  were  probably  not  five  thousand  people, 
unconnected  with  India,  in  the  country  from  which 
India  was  governed,  who,  two  years  ago,  had  ever 
heard  of  the  King  of  Delhi  as  a  living  man  ;  or  who 
knew  that  even  then,  in  the  extreme  of  his  decrepi- 
tude, and  in  utter  prostration  of  his  race,  the  de- 
scendant of  Akhbar  had  fenced  himself  round  with 
such  remnants  of  dignities,  that  the  governor-general 
of  India  could  not  approach  him  as  an  equal,  and 
that  the  British  officers  at  Delhi  were  obliged  to 
observe,  in  their  intercourse  with  him,  all  the  out- 
ward marks  of  respect  which  a  sovereign  had  a 
right  to  demand  from  his  servants.  •  •  •  Qur 
representative,  with  '  bated  breath  and  whispering 
humbleness' — aye,  with  bare  feet  and  bowed  head, 
came  into  the  presence  of  our  puppet  king.  More 
than  that — the  English  captain  of  the  palace  guard, 
if  summoned  to  the  presence  of  the  king,  as  he  fre- 
quently was,  had  not  only  to  uncover  his  feet,  but 
was  not  permitted  to  have  an  umbrella  carried  over 
his  head,  or  to  bear  one  in  his  own  hand,  while 
proceeding  through  the  courtyards— a  privilege  per- 
mitted to  every  oificer  of  the  royal  staff.  This  was 
the  case  in  the  time  of  the  last  resident,  up  to  the 
moment  of  the  revolt,  and  in  the  time  of  the  last 
captain  of  the  guard,  up  to  the  time  of  his  assassi- 
nation !"• 

Facts  Hke  these,  once  published  in  Eng- 
land, altered  the  tone  of  public  feeling; 
but,  long  before  they  became  generally 
known,  the  fate  of  the  King  of  Delhi  had 
been  decided,  and  he  was  spoken  of  as 
having  reaped  the  reward  of  disloyalty  and 
ingratitude.  In  the  earlier  sections  of  this 
work,  abundant  historical  evidence  will  be 
found,  to  show  that  no  member  of  the  House 
of  Timur  ever  owed  the  E.  I.  Company 
either  fealty  as  sovereigns,  or  gratitude  as 
benefactors.  These  obligations  were  on 
the  side  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers, 
who  never  did  more  than  pay  back  to  the 
Moguls,  with  a  grudging  hand,  a  very  small 
and  constantly  diminishing  proportion  of 
the  revenues  of  certain  districts,  the  whole 
of  which  had  been  originally  assigned  by 
Lord  Wellesley  for  the  support  of  the  House 
of  Timur;  which  the  Company  affected  to 
hold,  purely  by  right  of  an  imperial  decree. 
A  summary  of  our  dealings  with  the  Delhi 

walls  of  the  palace,  with  the  haughty  and  irritating 
assumption  of  superiority  that  pervaded  Euro])ean 
society  without  those  walls,  proclaiming  hourly  a 
living  lie  to  the  astute  people  of  India,  we  have 
little  cause  to  feel  surprise  at  the  consequences  of 
our  own  conduct,  characterised  as  it  had  been  by 
duplicity  and  arrogance." — (Vol.  ii.,  p.  379). 


458 


E.  I.  COMPANY  AND  THE  GREAT  MOGULS. 


family,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Russell,  is  too 
important  to  be  omitted  here ;  for,  besides 
the  strong  facts  and  the  nervous  style, 
there  is  additional  weight  attached  to  it, 
as  being  written  in  Delhi  by  the  special 
correspondent  of  the  Times,  in  1858. 

"  To  talk  of  ingratitude  on  the  part  of  one  who 
saw  that  all  the  dominions  of  his  ancestors  had 
gradually  been  taken  from  him,  by  force  or  other- 
wise, till  he  was  left  with  an  empty  title,  a  rnore 
empty  exchequer,  and  a  palace  full  of  penniless 
princesses  and  princes  of  his  own  blood,  is  perfectly 
preposterous.  Was  he  to  be  grateful  to  the  Com- 
pany for  the  condition  in  which  he  found  himself? 
Was  he  to  bless  them  for  ever,  because  Polyphemus, 
in  the  shape  of  the  British  government,  snatched 
poor  blind  Shah  Alum  from  the  hands  of  the  Mah- 
rattas,  and  then  devoured  him  piecemeal  ?  *  *  _  * 
The  position  of  the  king  was  one  of  the  most  in- 
tolerable misery  long  ere  the  revolt  broke  out.  His 
palace  was  in  reality  a  house  of  bondage  ;  he  knew 
that  the  few  wretched  prerogatives  which  were  left 
him,  as  if  in  mockery  of  the  departed  power  they 
represented,  would  be  taken  away  from  his  succes- 
sors; that  they  would  be  deprived  even  of  the 
right  to  live  in  their  own  palace,  and  would  be 
exiled  to  some  place  outside  the  walls.  We  denied 
permission  to  his  royal  relatives  to  enter  our  ser- 
vice ;  we  condemned  them  to  a  degrading  existence, 
in  poverty  and  debt,  inside  the  purlieus  of  their 
palace,  and  then  we  reproached  them  with  their 
laziness  and  sensuality.  We  shut  the  gates  of  mili- 
tary preferment  upon  them ;  we  closed  upon  them 
tVie  paths  of  every  pursuit ;  we  took  from  them 
every  object  of  honourable  ambition  :  and  then  our 
papers  and  our  mess-rooms  teemed  with  invectives 
against  the  lazy,  slothful,  and  sensuous  princes  of 
his  house.  Better  die  a  hundred  deaths  than  drag 
on  such  a  contemptible,  degrading  existence."* 

"Within  the  walls  of  this  palace  there  was  a 
population  of  more  than  5,000  souls,  of  which  no 
less  than  3,000   were  of  the  blood-royal,  and  de- 


scendants  of  Timour-lung 


The   king 


seldom  stirred  out  of  late  years,  or  went  beyond  the 
palace  walls  ;  but  inside  their  precincts  he  was  sub- 
jected to  constant  annoyance  from  his  numerous 
relatives :  the  Great  Mogul  Olivers  were  always 
'  asking  for  more.'  •  «  *  They  were  in  a  state 
of  such  poverty,  that  some  of  these  royal  families 
were  in  want  of  their  meals  ;  and  their  numbers 
had  increased  far  beyond  the  provision  made  for 
them."t 

Every  word  of  the  fresh,  glowing  sum- 
mary of  Mr.  Russell  will  be  valuable  in  the 
sight  of  those  who  have  the  honesty  and  the 
courage  to  face  the  truth.  The  responsibility 
for  righteous  dealing  with  the  still-existing 
princes  of  India,  and  the  vast  population  in 
general,  now  rests  on  the  British  nation. 
If  the  strong,  warm,  public  heart  be  per- 
manently interested  in  behalf  of  India, 
great  benefit  may  arise  from  the  connexion ; 

*  Russell's  Diary,  vol.  ii.,  p.  51. 

I  Russell's  Letter.— .Times,  August  20lh,  1858. 

X  Keats'  Imhella. 


but,  if  not — if  India  sink  into  a  purely  finan- 
cial or  party  question,  the  patronage  in  the 
hands  of  an  oligarchy  will  be  far  more  dan- 
gerous to  the  constitution  of  the  governing 
country,  than  it  ever  could  have  been  in  that 
of  a  middle-class  mercantile  body ;  and  the 
consequences  to  the  governed  will  be  worse, 
inasmuch  as  the  wilful  ignorance,  the  neg- 
lect and  procrastination  which  were  the 
conspicuous  failings  of  the  Company's  ad- 
ministration, are  the  very  ones  of  which 
the  colonial  department  of  the  state  has 
been  most  generally  accused.  The  men  of 
the  bureau,  and  the  men  of  the  ledger, 
have  much  the  same  temptations  to  guard 
against,  only  that  the  thirst  for  power  pre- 
dominates in  one  case,  and  for  pelf  in  the 
other.  Patronage  combines  both.  The  dan- 
ger is  great  that  the  ministers  of  the  Crown 
will  follow  the  well-worn  track  of  the  old 
directors,  who  wrote  excellent  despatches — 
calm,  moderate,  and  didactic — with  one 
hand,  while  with  the  other — 

"  Half  ignorant,  they  turn'd  an  easy  wheel. 
That  set  sharp  racks  at  work,  to  pinch  and  peel."J 

This  was  literally  true  in  some  parts  of 
India,  as  was  proved  by  the  revelations  of 
the  torture  committee,  and  figuratively  so 
in  the  proceedings  connected  with  the  ex- 
tinction of  several  native  states,  of  which 
Mr.  Russell's  account  of  the  dealings  of 
the  E.  I.  Company  with  the  Mogul  dynasty, 
may  serve  as  an  illustration : — 

"  When  Lord  Lake  received  the  emperor  after 
the  battle  of  Delhi,  he  could  not  be  less  generous 
than  the  Mahrattas ;  and  accordingly,  all  the  terri- 
tories and  revenues  which  had  been  assigned  by 
them  for  his  support,  were  continued  by  the  British 
to  Shah  Alum.  His  stipend  of  60,000  rupees  per 
mensem,  and  presents  of  70,000  rupees  per  annum, 
making  altogether  less  than  £80,000  per  annum, 
were  in  1806,  in  compliance  with  promises  made  in 
1805  by  the  East  India  Company,  raised  to 
£102,960  a-yeai';  and,  in  1809,  to  a  lac  a-month,  or 
£120,000  a-year.  But  Akhbar  Shah  complained  of 
the  smallness  of  this  allowance  for  himself,  his 
family,  and  his  state  and  dependents;  and,  in  1830, 
he  sent  an  agent  to  England  to  lay  his  case  before 
the  authorities,  whereupon  the  Court  of  Directors 
offered  an  addition  of  £30,000  per  annum,  on  con- 
dition that  the  Mogul  '  abandoned  every  claim,  of 
every  description,  he  might  be  at  anytime  supposed  to 
possess  against  them.'  The  control  of  this  £30,000 
extra  was  to  be  taken  out  of  the  king's  hands.  He 
refused  to  accept  the  augmentation  on  such  terms, 
alleging  that  he  had  a  right,  according  to  treaty,  to 
expect  a  decent  maintenance  for  himself  and  his 
family;  and  the  money  was  never  given,  the  grant 
being  annulled  in  1840  by  the  directors,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  refusing  to  comply  with  the  conditions 
annexed  to  its  acceptance.  The  present  ex-king 
adopted  the  objections  of  his  father ;  and  thus,  since 


DEATH  OP  NICHOLSON— SEPTEMBER  23rd,  1857. 


459 


1830,  when  the  East  India  Company  offered  to  buy 
up  some  visionary  claims  for  £30,000  per  annum, 
admitting  that  the  sum  then  given  to  the  king  was 
too  small — the  state  of  Delhi,  a  mere  pageantry,  has 
been  carried  on  with  increasing  debt  and  poverty 
and  difficulty.  But  more  than  this.  While  they 
were  weak  and  grateful,  the  Hon.  East  India  Com- 
pany presented  nuzzurs,  or  offerings,  to  the  king, 
the  queen,  and  the  heir,  as  is  the  custom  of  feuda- 
tories in  India.  In  1822  they  began  to  take  slices 
off  this  little  lump  of  pudding.  In  1822  the  com- 
mander-in-chiefs nuzzur  was  stopped.  In  1827, 
the  resident's  offering,  on  the  part  of  the  British 
government,  was  suspended.  In  1836,  the  nuzzurs 
usual  on  the  part  of  British  officers  were  cur- 
tailed ;  next  the  queen's  nuzzurs  were  cut  off;  and, 
in  lieu  of  those  acknowledgments  of  a  degrading 
nature,  the  king,  although  claiming  the  same  sove- 
reign rights,  and  asserting  his  pretensions  as  lord  in 
capite  of  the  lands  which  once  formed  his  dominions, 
received  the  sum  of  £1,000  per  annum.  The  king 
was  not  permitted  to  go  beyond  the  environs  of 
Delhi;  the  princes  were  refused  salutes,  or  were 
not  allowed  to  quit  Delhi  unless  they  abstained 
from  travelling  as  members  of  the  royal  family,  and 
were  content  to  give  up  all  marks  of  distinction. 
And  yet  these  rules  were  laid  down  at  a  time  when 
the  royal  or  imperial  family  were  our  good  friends, 
and  when  we  were  actually  keeping  up  absurd  and 
ridiculous  forms,  which  rendered  our  contempt  and 
neglect  of  others  more  galling  and  more  apparent. 
"We  did  all  this,  and  yet  suffered  the  occupant  of 
the  powerless  throne  to  believe  that  he  was  lord  of 
the  world,  master  of  the  universe,  and  of  the  Hon. 
East  India  Company,  king  of  India  and  of  the 
infidels,  the  superior  of  the  governor-general,  and 
proprietor  of  the  soil  from  sea  to  sea."* 

The  statements  of  a  succession  of  wit- 
nesses, regarding  the  petty  personal  indig- 
nities to  which  the  King  of  Delhi  was  sub- 
jected for  many  months,  have  occasioned  the 
mention  of  circumstances  not  properly  be- 
longing to  this  chapter,  which  was  in- 
tended to  end  with  the  complete  occupa- 
tion of  the  city. 

The  capture  of  Delhi  was  a  splendid 
achievement :  the  mass  of  the  army,  ofiBcers 
and  men,  were  not  responsible  for  the 
causes  which  produced  the  fearful  struggle ; 
and  there  is  no  drawback  on  the  admiration 
duo  to  the  dauntless  resolve  with  which 
they  held  their  ground  during  so  many 
weary  months.  '  The  triumph  was  great : 
but  even  the  shouts  of  victory  had  a  melan- 
choly sound  to  those  who  looked  on  wrecks 
of    regiments    (the    gallant    60th    E.ifles,t 

*  Russell's  Letter.— r/»ics,  August  20th,  18o8. 

t  The  corps  most  prominently  engaged  before 
Delhi,  were  the  60th  Bifles,  Sirmoor  battalion,  and 
Guides.  The  Rifles  commenced  with  440  of  all 
ranks  ;  a  few  days  before  the  storm  they  received  a 
reinforcement  of  nearly  200  men  ;  their  total  casu- 
alties were  389.  The  Sirmoor  battalion  commenced 
450  strong,  and  once  was  joined  by  a  draft  of  90 
men.     Its  total  casualties  amounted  to  319,    The 


for  instance),  and  thought  of  the  strong 
healthy  frames,  the  genial,  hopeful  hearts 
that  never  would  return  to  gladden  English 
homes.  In  looking  back  over  the  des- 
patches and  letters  written  from  Delhi 
during  the  first  days  of  its  reoccupation, 
it  seems  as  if  public  and  private  grief  for 
the  fallen,  found  a  focus  in  the  person  of 
Nicholson,  who,  struck  down  in  the  heat  of 
battle,  continued  for  several  days,  in  the 
intervals  of  agony,  to  direct  the  conduct  of 
military  operations. 

General  Wilson  bore  cordial  testimony 
to  the  extraordinary  services  and  popularity 
of  his  comparatively  youthful  subordinate; 
and  in  communicating  to  government  the 
success  of  the  assault, he  stated,  that  "during 
the  advance.  Brigadier-general  Nicholson, 
to  the  grief  of  myself  and  the  whole  army, 
was  dangerously  wounded."  It  was  the 
simple  truth :  the  whole  army  felt  like  one 
man  for  him  "who  was  confessedly,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  every  Indian 
tongue,  the  first  soldier  in  India."J  After 
all,  there  was  a  better  tie  than  the  love 
of  liquor  or  of  loot  between  the  Europeans 
and  Seiks — their  mutual  appreciation  of 
a  great  leader:  and  assuredly  it  was  a 
humanising  feeling,  that  made  knit  brows 
relax,  and  proud  lips  quiver,  according  as 
the  answer  to  the  oft-repeated  inquiry — 
"  Is  Nicholson  better  ?" — was  cheering  or 
the  reverse.  On  the  23rd,  hope  was  ex- 
tinguished :  "  and  with  a  grief  unfeigned 
and  deep,  and  stern,  and  worthy  of  the 
man,  the  news  was  whispered — '  Nicholson 
is  dead.^  "§  His  faithful  Seik  orderly  says, 
that  the  general  expressed  himself  "  greatly 
delighted"  at  having  survived  to  witness  the 
complete  occupation  of  Delhi.  He  further 
adds,  that  when  the  spirit  of  the  Sahib  had 
taken  its  flight  from  this  transitory  world, 
General  Chamberlain,  and  some  English 
gentlemen,  came  and  cut  each  a  lock  of 
hair  from  his  head.  "At  simrise,  several 
of  the  horse  artillery  came  and  took  the 
general's  coffin,  and  placed  it  on  a  bier 
behind  the  horses,  and  carried  it  once  more 
towards  the  Cashmere  gate.  They  made 
him  a  grave  by  the  two  roads  by  which  the 

Guides  (cavalry  and  infantry)  commenced  with 
about  550,  and  the  casualties  were  303.  The  artil- 
lery had  365  casualties ;  the  engineers,  293  :  two- 
thirds  of  the  engineer  officers  were  among  the 
killed  and  wounded.— Norman's  Cumpaiijn,  p.  47. 

X  Russell.— TwHcs,  August  20th,  1858. 

§  Report  from  Lieutenant-colonel  H.B.  Edwardes, 
March  23rd,  1858.— Pari.  Tapers  on  the  Punjab, 
April  14th,  1859. 


460 


BURIAL  OF  THE  DEAD  AT  DELHI— SEPTEMBER,  1857. 


assault  was  made.     Brigadier  Chaihberlain, 
and  some  other  distinguished  officers,  and 
also  Mr.  Saunders,  the  commissioner,  came 
and  did  reverence  to  the  body,  and,  having 
taken  up  the  coffin,  placed  it  in  the  grave." 
It  is  easy  to  understand  the  admiration 
with  which  Nicholson  was  regarded  by  the 
Europeans  as  a  master  in  the  art  of  war, 
and  by  the  natives  for  his  personal  prowess. 
The  warlike  Seiks  were  especially  devoted 
to  him;  and  one  of  them,  standing  at  the 
grave,  bewailed  the  loss  of  a  leader,  "  the 
tramp  of  whose  war-horse  was  heard  a  mile 
off."     There    is    less    apparent   cause    for 
the  strong  affection  with  which  this  stern, 
silent     man     unconsciously     inspired     his 
seniors  in   age   and   rank,  his  equals  and 
rivals,    and,    most    of    all,     his    inferiors 
and  subordinates.     His  despatches  exhibit 
him   as   a  man  of  few  words  j   hearty  and 
discriminating  iu  his  praise ;  moderate,  but 
equally  discriminating,  in  his  censure:  in 
all     cases     unselfish,     unpretending,     and 
"  thorough."     But  of  his  private  life,  his 
opinions    and    feelings,    little    is    known. 
Unlike   the  chief  civilian   connected  with 
tbe    Delhi   force,   the   chief    warrior    died 
unmarried.     No  widow  remained  to  gather 
up,  with  loving  hand,  his  letters  and  other 
memorials;    but   he  has  left  brothers  and 
friends :    and   one   of  the   latter,    Herbert 
Edwardes,    could    not    better    employ   his 
graceful,    ready    pen,    than    by   giving    to 
England  a  memoir  of  the  man  whom  he 
has  always  delighted  to  honour.     Meantime 
the  body  of  John  Nicholson  rests  surrounded 
by  a  host  of  his  companions-in-arms,  and 
near  that  of  Greathed,  who,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, perished  in   the   fierce  grip   of 
cholera,  while  the  bullet  did  its  slow  work 
on  the  iron  frame  of  the  warrior. 

At  this  time,  also,  heaps  upon  heaps  of 
nameless  native  dead  had  to  be  disposed 
of;  and  the  first  permission  given  to  the 
wretched  inhabitants  to  return  to  the  city, 
was  conditional  on  their  performing  this 
most  needful  service.  Again,  Delhi  seemed 
destined  to  become  one  vast  burying-place. 
The  interment  of  the  fallen  Europeans  was 
conducted  with  all  honour;  their  wives  and 
children  were  sure  of  protection  and  main- 
tenance ;  while  the  bodies  of  the  vanquished 
natives  were  huddled  out  of  sight,  and 
their  families  left  to  starve.  Some  proud 
Indians,  in  their  despair,  followed  the 
Rajpoot  custom;  and  sooner  than  suffer 
their  wives  or  daughters  to  fall  into  the 
hands   of  the   fierce  soldiery,  killed  them 


with  their  own  hands.  What  a  strange 
thrill  must  have  passed  through  the  stout 
heart  of  Brigadier  Inglis,  and  others  at 
Lucknow,  who  had  contemplated  a  similar 
proceeding,  when  they  learned,  that  but  a 
few  days  before  that  joyful  25th  of  Sep- 
tember (when  a  shout  of  welcome  hailed 
Outram  and  Havelock's  arrival  in  the  Resi- 
dency, and  when,  in  the  words  of  Mrs. 
Inglis'  touching  letter  to  her  mother, 
"  darling  John  kissed  me,  and  said,  I  thank 
God  for  his  mercies"),  many  husbands  and 
fathers  in  Delhi  had,  in  their  wretchedness, 
slain  their  wives,  and  fled  with  them  "  any- 
where— anywhere  out  of  the  world  !"  An 
engineer  officer,  writing  from  Delhi  on  the 
23rd  of  September,  gives  a  terrible  instance 
of  this  procedure.  He  is  not  in  the  least  a 
humanitarian ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  one 
of  those  who  rejoiced  in  the  increased 
severity  of  the  conquerors,  which  he  illus- 
trates in  the  following  manner : — "  Two 
of  our  Native  sappers  were  murdered  in 
the  city;  so  we  went  out,  and  hunted  up 
about  fifty  or  sixty  men — thorough  rascals ; 
and  our  men  have  been  shooting  them  ever 
since.  I  saw  twenty-four  knocked  over, 
all  tied  together  against  the  walls."  Thie 
witness  does  not  mention  what  the  sappers 
were  doing  when  they  were  killed ;  but  his 
silence  is  significant,  when  viewed  in  con- 
nection with  the  following  observation : — 

"I  have  given  up  walking  about  the  back  streets 
of  Delhi,  as  yesterday  an  officer  and  mjself  had 
taken  a  party  of  twenty  men  out  patrolling,  and  «e 
found  fourteen  women  with  their  throats  cut  from 
ear  to  ear  by  their  own  husbands,  and  laid  out  in 
their  shawls.  We  caught  a  man  there  who  said  he 
saw  them  killed,  for  fear  they  should  fall  into  our 
hands;  and  showed  us  their  husbands,  who  had 
done  the  best  thing  they  could  afterwards,  and 
killed  themselves."* 

It  matters  nothing  now  to  the  thousands 
who  perished  at  Delhi,  whether  their  bodies . 
are  decaying  in  coffins  or  in  pits,  burnt  by 
fire,  and  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of 
heaven,  or  dissolving  in  the  sacred  waters, 
of  the  Ganges.  They  have  passed  into 
a  world  in  which,  according  to  Divine 
revelation,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  caste; 
and  must  all  appear  before  a  judge  who 
is  no  respecter  of  persons — at  a  tribunal 
where  the  mighty  and  the  mean,  generals 
and  covenanted  civilians,  "  Pandies"  and 
"  niggers,"  will  have  to  account  for  the 
deeds  done  in  the  flesh.  For  them,  as  for 
ourselves,  we  can  but  pray  that  all  may 
find  the  mercy  which  all  will  need. 
•  rimes,  November  19th,  1857. 


chaptp:r  XXIII. 

BELIEF  OF  AGRA ;  RESCUE  OF  LUCKNOW  GARRISON ;  EVACUATION  OF  LUCKNOW; 
WINDHAM  BESIEGED  AT  CAWNPOOR,  AND  RELIEVED  BY  SIR  COLIN  CAMPBELL.— 
SEPTEMBER  TO  DECEMBER,  1857. 


The  public  mind  in  England  and  in  India 
fastened  on  three  points  of  absorbing 
interest  in  the  Mutiny,  to  which  all  others 
were  regarded  as  incomparably  inferior — 
namely,  Delhi,  for  its  political  importance ; 
Cawnpoor ;  and  Lucknow,  for  the  sake  of  the 
European  communities  imprisoned  there. 
The  consequence  of  this  concentration  has 
been,  that  the  details  of  the  events  con- 
nected with  these  three  sieges,  have  been 
poured  forth  with  the  freedom  which  the 
certainty  of  a  large  and  eager  audience 
was  calculated  to  produce :  and  the  infor- 
mation afforded  on  these  heads  has  been 
so  discussed  and  sifted,  that  the  harvest  of 
knowledge,  but  yesterday  cut  down  by  the 
sickle  of  the  journalist,  is  to-day  fit  for  the 
storehouse  of  the  historian.  This  is  the 
case,  also,  in  regard  to  the  outbreaks  at  the 
various  stations.  The  actors  have,  for  the 
most  part,  furnished  accounts  of  what  they 
did  and  suffered  in  their  own  persons : 
and,  after  making  due  allowance  for  pre- 
judice and  inadvertence,  there  remains  a 
most  valuable  mass  of  evidence ;  the  ar- 
rangement and  condensation  of  which, 
in  the  foregoing  pages,  have  involved 
an  expenditure  of  time  and  labour  which 
only  those  who  have  attempted  a  similar 
piece  of  literary  mosaic  can  appreciate. 
But  while  our  information  as  regards  the 
Mutiny  is  thus  abundant,  that  respecting 
the  Insurrection  generally,  and  especially 
the  tedious,  harassing  war  in  Oude,  is  far 
more  scanty.  The  voluminous  records  of 
the  commissioners  of  various  districts  (now 
at  the  India  House),  must,  at  least  to  some 
extent,  be  made  public,  and  many  Des- 
patches and  Memoirs  be  rendered  available, 
before  anything  like  a  satisfactory  or  com- 
prehensive account  can  be  written,  without 
the  strongest  probability,  that  the  assertions 
of  to-day  will  be  contradicted  by  the  reve- 
lations of  to-morrow. 

The  author  of  this  work  has,  therefore, 
deemed  it  best  to  devote  the  chief  purt  of 
his  limited  space  to  the  History  of  the 
Mutiny,  noting  briefly  the  leading  facts 
connected  with  the  Insurrection. 


Relief  of  Agra. — Shortly  after  the  cap- 
ture of  Delhi,  the  health  of  General  Wilson 
broke  down,  and  he  resigned  the  command 
of  the  force,  and  went  to  the  hills.  Before 
his  departure,  he  dispatched  2,650  troops, 
under  Colonel  Greathed  (including  750 
Europeans),  in  pursuit  of  a  body  of  rebels, 
stated  at  5,000  strong,  who  had  proceeded  to 
Muttra.  They  crossed  the  Jumna,  and  then 
marched  right  across  theDoal)  towards  Oude, 
which  they  succeeded  in  reaching;  the  at- 
tempt to  intercept  them  proving  unsuccess- 
ful. The  British  force  quitted  Delhi  on  the 
24th  of  September,  but  made  little  progress 
for  many  days,  being  occupied  in  burning 
neighbouring  villages  (the  inhabitants  of 
which  were  accused  of  harbouring  sepoys), 
and  in  seizing  suspected  chiefs.  A  stand 
was  made  on  the  28th  of  September  at  Bo- 
lundshuhur,  by  a  body  of  the  12th  N.I., 
14th  irregular  cavalry,  and  a  rabble  of 
burkandauzes  and  chupprassies,  with  some 
insurgent  Moham.medans.  They  were  dis- 
persed, with  the  loss,  it  was  said,  of  300 
men  :  the  British  casualties  were,  six  (rank 
and  file)  killed,  and  forty-five  wounded  (in- 
cluding camp-followers).  The  fort  of  Ma- 
laghur  (seven  miles  from  Bolundshuhur) 
was  precipitately  abandoned  by  its  owner, 
Wullydad  Khan,  on  the  approach  of  the 
British  ;  and  a  halt  was  made  there,  because 
the  number  of  sick  and  wounded  already 
exceeded  tlie  means  of  carriage,  which  was 
sent  for  to  Meerut,  whither  the  patients 
were  conveyed.  The  defences  of  MaJaghur 
were  destroyed  on  the  2ud  of  October,  and 
the  column  moved  off  to  Alighur,  of  which 
city  they  took  possession  without  losing  a 
life ;  as  also  of  a  village  called  Akrabad, 
fourteen  miles  further,  where  the  cavalry 
(of  whom  about  500  were  comprised  in 
the  column)  surprised,  and  slew,  two  Raj- 
poot chief's  of  some  note — twin-brothers, 
named  Mungul  and  Mytaub  Sing — with 
about  a  liundred  of  their  adherents.  After 
destroying  the  village,  Colonel  Greathed 
resumed  his  march,  in  compliance  with 
urgent  requisitions  from  Agra  to  hasten  to 
the    protection   of   that   city,   which    was 


462      MUTINEERS  ATTACK  AGRA  BY  SURPRISE— OCT.  10th,  1857. 


threatened  by  the  Mhow  and  Indore  muti- 
neers, who,  after  vainly  endeavouring  to  in- 
duce Sindia  to  become  their  leader,  had 
quitted  Gwalior  in  disgust ;  and  would  have 
attacked  Agra  some  time  before  the  capture 
of  Delhi,  but  for  the  difficulties  thrown  in 
their  way  by  the  Maharajah  and  Dinkur 
Rao.  The  chief  part  of  the  contingent 
still  lingered  at  Gwalior,  under  the  im- 
pression that  Sindia  would  be  compelled, 
or  induced,  to  raise  the  standard  of  re- 
bellion :  his  own  household  troops  were 
scarcely  less  clamorous  against  the  British ; 
and  the  influence  of  the  Mhow  and  Indore 
mutineers  was  so  powerful,  that  the  Maha- 
rajah, dreading  that  they  would  return,  and 
either  seize  on  him  or  oblige  him  to  flee  to 
Agra,  took  the  bold  measure  of  sweeping 
the  boats,  in  a  single  night,  from  both 
banks  of  the  Chumbul,  and  thus  cut  off  the 
communication  between  the  declared  rebels 
and  the  waverers.  The  fall  of  Delhi  ren- 
dered the  former  desperate  ;  and  the  Mhow 
and  Indore  mutineers,  reinforced  by  several 
bodies  of  fugitives  from  Delhi,  seized  seven 
guns  from  our  faithful  ally,  the  Rana  of 
Dholpoor,  and  prepared  to  attack  Agra. 

On  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  October,  a 
vidette  of  militia  cavalry,  which  had  been 
sent  out  to  reconnoitre,  was  driven  in  by 
the  enemy's  horse,  and  pursued  to  within 
two  or  three  miles  of  cantonments.     This 
occurrence,  proving  the  proximity  of  the 
enemy,  was  at  once  communicated  to  Colonel 
Greathed,  and  the  column  hurried  on  to 
Agra,  and  entered  the  city  (after  a  forced 
march  of  forty-four  miles  in  twenty-eight 
hours)   early  in  the  morning  of  the  10th 
of  October,   crossing  the  bridge  of  boats, 
and  passing  under  the  fort,  from  whence 
the    entire    European    community    issued 
forth   to    witness   the    welcome    spectacle. 
Mr.  Raikes  was  standing  at  the  Delhi  gate, 
watching   the  troops    as   they    slowly   and 
wearily  marched  past,  when  a  lady  by  his 
side,  pointing  to  a  body  of  "  worn,  sun-dried 
skeletons,"  dressed  in  the  khakee,  or  dust- 
coloured  Seik  irregular  uniform — exclaimed 
— "Those    dreadful-looking   men  must  be 
Afghans  1"      Although  the  soldiers  whose 
appearance   elicited   this   uncomplimentary 
remark,  were  within  three   yards  of  him, 
Raikes    did   not    discover   that   they    were 
Englishmen  until  he  noticed  a  short  clay 

•  Raikes'  Hevolt  in  the  N.  W.  Provinces,  p.  70. 
t  Letter  from  civilian,  dated  October  16th,  1857. 
^Times,  December  2nd,  1857. 


pipe  in  the  mouth  of  nearly  the  last  man.* 
Such  was  the  unrecognisable  condition  of 
the  survivors  of  H.M.  8th  Foot. 

It  was  eight  o'clock  when  the  tired  troops 
encamped  on  the  parade-ground.  The 
mutineers,  it  was  said,  had  threatened  to 
cross  the  Kharee,  a  small  river  ten  miles  dis- 
tant ;  but  had  failed  in  doing  so,  and  were 
"  making  off  on  hearing  of  the  approach  of 
the  column. "t  Notwithstanding  what  had 
occurred  on  the  previous  day,  no  vidette 
was  sent  out  to  see  if  the  road  was  clear; 
and  without  taking  the  slightest  precau- 
tion against  surprise,  the  greater  portion  of 
the  officers  dispersed  to  see  their  friends  in 
the  fort,  while  the  men  bivouacked  on  the 
cantonment  parade-ground,  awaiting  the 
gradual  arrival  of  their  tents  and  baggage. 

At  half-past  ten  o'clock,  while  breakfast 
was  in  every  man's  mouth,  a  big  gun  was 
heard — and  another,  and  another,  and  many 
more.  People  started.  Surely  it  must  be 
a  salute;  though  rather  irregular."  The 
fact  was,  that  the  enemy  had  quietly 
marched  in,  cannon  and  all;  and  the  call 
to  arms  in  the  British  camp  was  given  after 
the  first  hostile  discharge  of  artillery  had 
knocked  over  several  men  and  guns. 
Here,  an  officer  was  hit  while  in  the  act  of 
washing  himself;  there,  a  soldier  as  he  lay 
asleep.  An  eye-witness  describes  "the 
scene  of  wild  confusion  which  ensued ;" 
declaring,  "  that  there  was  no  command, 
and  no  anything;  and  camp-followers  and 
horses  fled  in  all  directions." 

The  despatches  of  Colonels  Cotton  and 
Greathed  confirm  this  assertion.  The  for- 
mer states,  that  when  he  hastened  to  the 
camp  and  took  command,  he  "  found  that 
the  enemy,  completely  hidden  by  the  high 
standing  crops,  had  opened  a  heavy  fire 
from  a  strong  battery  in  the  centre,  sup- 
ported by  several  guns  on  each  flank,  and 
were  sweeping  our  position  with  a  powerful 
cross-fire."  Colonel  Cotton  remarks,  that 
Colonel  Greathed  was  apparently  not  awai'c 
of  his  being  on  the  field.J  In  fact,  the  only 
point  of  which  the  rival  commanding  officers 
were  mutually  aware,  was  the  presence 
of  an  enemy. '  Happily,  the  British  troops, 
both  European  and  Native,  exhibited  re- 
markable readiness  in  preparing  to  repel 
the  unexpected  attack,  without  waiting  for 
absent  officers.     Colonel  Greathed   states, 

X  Lieutenant-colonel  H.  Cotton's  despatch;  Agra, 
October  13th,  1837. — London  Gaxette,  December 
15th,  1867. 


ATTACK  UPON  AGRA—OCTOBER  10th,  1857. 


465 


that  when,  on  hearing  the  hostile  guns,  he 
galloped  to  the  front,  which  he  reached 
three  minutes  after  the  assembly  had 
sounded — he  found  the  artillery  already  in 
action;  the  9th  Lancers  in  their  saddles 
[  (in  every  variety  of  undress  j  some  in  jackets, 
but  more  in  shirt-sleeves),  formed  up  into 
squadrons;  and  the  whole  of  the  troops, 
without  exception,  drawn  up  on  their  re- 
spective alarm-posts,  as  if  for  parade* 

Had  the  enemy  pushed  in  without  giving 
the  British  troops  time  to  form,  the  advan- 
tage on  their  side  would  have  been  great ; 
but,  native  like,  they  waited  to  see  the 
effect  of  their  big  guns.  The  delay  was 
fatal  to  them.  It  was  not  until  our  artillery 
was  at  work,  that  the  rebel  cavalry  charged 
right  into  the  parade.  They  took  a  detached 
and  disabled  gun  for  a  moment,  and  were 
so  completely  intermingled  with  the  British, 
that  the  gunners  could  not  fire  on  them. 
"But,"  writes  a  civilian  who  had  galloped 
to  the  scene  of  action,  "the  tired  Seiks, 
sitting  on  the  ground,  formed  square  with 
the  utmost  coolness,  and  fired  well  into 
them.  The  Lancers  were  ready,  and  charged 
at  them  as  the  Lancers  can  charge.  They 
[the  rebels]  were  broken  and  defeated;  yet 
some  of  them  did  actually  sweep  right  round 
the  camp  and  cantonments,  and  created 
such  a  panic  among  the  general  population 
as  scarce  was  seen — every  one  riding  over 
every  one  else  in  the  most  indiscriminate 
manner :  in  fact,  there  never  was,  and  never 
will  be,  so  complete  a  surprise.  But  by 
this  time  commanding  officers  had  come 
on  the  field,  and  every  arm  was  in  action. 
Our  artillery  fought  nobly — in  fact,  all  did ; 
and  though  it  was  some  time  before  we 
could  find  exactly  where  we  were,  and 
where  the  enemy  was  (and  they  attacked 
on  three  sides  at  once),  eventually  they  were 
repulsed,  and  began  to  retreat."t  The 
rebels  at  first  retired  in  some  orde'  •.  but 
before  they  had  proceeded  far  they  aban- 
doned three  guns,  and  their  retreat  became 
a  flight.  Led  by  "  Gun  Cotton,"  the  tired 
column    continued    the   pursuit  until   the 

*  Lieutenant-colonel  Greathed's  despatch ;  Agra, 
Oct.  13th,  1851.— Lo7ulon  Gazette,  Dec.  15th,  1857. 

t  Times,  December  2nd,  1857. 

j  Norman's  Cavipaiijn  of  the  Delhi  Army,  p.  G3. 

§  Letter  from  Agra. — Daily  News,  Nov.  30,  1857. 

11  Kaikes'  Revolt  in  the  N.  W.  Provinces,  p.  72. 
The  efforts  of  several  ladies  at  various  stations, 
especially  of  Miss  Tucker  at  Benares,  appear  to 
have  contributed  to  the  spiritual,  no  less  than 
the  physical,  well-being  of  the  patients.  Several 
interesting  narratives   are   given   in   a  little  book, 


rebel  camp,  which  was  within  five  miles  of 
the  city,  was  reached,  the  guns  (thirteea 
in  all)  and  baggage  seized,  and  the  Mhow 
and  Indore  brigades  completely  dispersed, 
excepting  the  fugitive  cavalry.  After  a  ten 
miles'  chase,  the  victorious  troops  returned 
to  Agra,  having  exhibited  an  amount  of 
readiness,  nerve,  and  persistence,  unsur- 
passed in  any  of  the  brilliant  episodes  of 
the  Indian  Mutiny. 

It  is  said  that  the  surprise  was  on  both 
sides,  the  mutineers  having  made  the  attack 
in  ignorance  of  the  arrival  of  the  moveable 
column;  but  it  is  highly  improbable  that 
the  native  population  round  Agra,  aggrieved 
as  they  had  been  by  the  village-burning 
system,  would  have  allowed  the  insurgents 
to  remain  in  ignorance  of  this  event.  The 
fact  that,  "for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  beleaguered  Agra,  all  the  newsmongers 
were  of  one  accord,"  is  itself  an  indication 
of  some  latent  motive.  At  all  events,  the 
peasantry  were  cruelly  punished  for  their 
alleged  disloyalty;  for  the  troops  are  officially 
stated  to  have  fired  all  the  villages  "  which 
had  allowed  the  rebels  to  pass  without 
sending  word  to  Agra."J 

The  total  casualties  on  our  side,  were 
eleven  killed,  fifty-six  wounded,  and  two 
missing ;  the  loss  of  horses  was  very  severe, 
amounting  to  sixty-nine  killed  and  wounded. 
No  less  than  3,000  natives  were  stated  to 
have  perished. §  That  evening,  the  Motee 
Musjid,  or  Pearl  Mosque,  the  most  grace- 
ful building  in  India,  received  the  sick  and 
wounded.  Mrs.  Raikes  and  other  ladies 
divided  themselves  into  watches,  attending 
night  and  day,  at  stated  intervals,  for  several 
weeks;  and  never,  during  the  whole  time, 
was  a  word  uttered  by  a  soldier  which  could 
shock  the  ears  of  their  gentle  nurses.  || 

All  immediate  cause  of  anxiety  regarding 
Agra  being  now  removed,  the  column  quitted 
that  city  on  the  1.5th  of  October.  On  the 
18th,  Brigadier  Hope  Grant,  C.B.,  of  H.M. 
9tli  Lancers,  joined  the  force,  and  assumed 
the  command.  A  halt  was  made  at  Myn- 
poorie ;  the  abandoned  fort  blown  up ;  the 

entitled  The  British  Soldier  in  India  (Dalton,  28, 
Cockspur-street,  18G0) ;  especially  one  regarding 
Campbell,  a  private  of  the  93rd  Highlanders,  whoso 
attachment  to  the  Coolie  who  nursed  him  with 
unwearying  care,  is  touchingly  told.  The  first 
thing  he  did  on  rising  from  his  sick  bed,  was  to  go 
to  the  bazaar,  purchase  materials  for  a  suit  of 
clothes  (including  a  very  smart  turban)  for  his  friend, 
and  have  them  made  by  a  native  tailor,  under  his 
own  inspection.  Then  he  purchased  a  pair  of  white 
kid  gloves,  as  a  Christmas  gift  for  Miss  Tucker. 


464 


CHARACTER  AND  APPEARANCE  OF  TANTIA  TOPEE. 


rajah's  property  seized;  and  £25,000,  left 
in  the  government  treasury  when  the  out- 
break took  place,  were  recovered  and  carried 
away.  On  the  26th,  the  troops  reached 
Cawnpoor,  and  there  halted,  awaiting  the 
orders  of  the  commander-in-chief. 

Meanwhile  S  Colin  Campbell  had  com- 
pleted his  onerous  labours  at  Calcutta.  The 
difficulties  he  had  to  contend  with  there, 
were  of  a  nature  peculiarly  trying  to  a 
person  of  his  active,  resolute  habit  of  mind. 
His  first  trial  arose  from  the  dilatoriness 
of  the  authorities  in  Leadenhall-street ; 
through  which,  at  the  very  height  of  the 
crisis,  while  the  British  public  spoke  of  the 
commander-in-chief  as  having  been  sent 
out  "  under  circumstances  which  made  him 
very  nearly  a  dictator,"  he  was  actually  ex- 
cluded from  the  Calcutta  council  for  a 
fortnight,  waiting  the  reception  of  the 
necessary  forms;  and  when  these  arrived, 
and  he  was  at  length  sworn  in,  he  found 
himself  only  one  of  a  council  by  no  means 
inclined  to  espouse  his  views ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  opposed  to  many  of  them,  and 
specially  to  the  rapidity  and  vigour  of  his 
military  arrangements,  and  to  his  con- 
viction of  tlie  necessity  of  concentrating 
the  troops  in  large  bodies  upon  the  most 
important  points,  even  though  such  con- 
centration might  involve  great  immediate 
local  sacrifices.  There  was  another  diffi- 
culty, the  existence  of  which  is  clearly 
traceable  in  Sir  Colin's  despatches  and 
general  orders — namely,  the  relaxation  of 
discipline  among  the  European  officers, 
M'hich  had  arisen  from  the  practical  dissolu- 
tion of  anything  like  a  central  authority ; 
the  natural  result  being,  that  the  com- 
manders of  garrisons  and  detached  forts, 
became  accustomed  to  reason  upon,  instead 
of  to  obey,  an  order;  and  disobeyed  it 
altogetlier,  if,  in  their  opinion,  and  looking 
to  the  state  of  affairs  around  them,  its 
execution  was  inexpedient.  The  loose  reins 
were,  however,  gathered  up  by  the  new 
commander-in-chief  with  quiet  determi- 
nation; and  at  length,  the  most  weari- 
some portion  of  his  task  being  accom- 
plished, he  quitted  Calcutta  on  the  27th 
of  October,  and  travelled,  day  and  night, 
by  horse  dak  to  the  seat  of  war.  Between 
the  Soane  river  and  Benares,  he  narrowly 
escaped  falling  into  the  hands  of  a  body  of 
the  mutinous  32nd  N.I.,  who  were  cross- 
ing the  road  at  the  very  moment  he  came 
up.  On  the  1st  of  November  he  reached 
Allahabad;  and,   on    the   2nd,    he    arrived 


at  Futtehpoor  (half-way  to  Cawnpoor),  jus* 
as  a  bodv  of  British  troops,  consisting 
of  H.M.  53rd  Foot,  93rd  Foot,  the  Naval 
Brigade,  under  Captain  Peel,  and  a  company 
of  Royal  Engineers,  had  defeated  at  Kudjwa, 
twenty  miles  distant,  a  considerable  force, 
composed  of  the  Dinapoor  mutineers.  The' 
action  had  been  severe,  and  the  victory  for 
some  time  doubtful.* 

The  mutineers  had  retreated  to  Calpee, 
on  the  Jumna,  to  join  a  body  of  the  Nana's 
adherents,  commanded  by  Tantia  Topee, 
whose  name  then,  for  the  first  time,  took  a 
prominent  position  in  the  accounts  of  our 
spies.  Azim  Oollah  had  been  paramount 
while  treachery  and  massacre  were  viewed 
as  the  means  of  elevating  the  Nana  to  a 
throne;  but  now  that  military  ability  was 
needful,  the  authority  devolved  on  Tantia 
Topee,  a  Brahmin,  born  at  Ahmednuggur, 
who  had  been  from  boyhood  in  the  imme- 
diate service  of  the  Nana.  To  the  moment 
of  his  death  he  persisted  in  denying  having 
borne  any  part  in  the  Cawnpoor  massacre ; 
and  the  probability  is,  that  he  spoke  the 
truth ;  for  his  fearless,  unyielding  dis- 
position rendered  him  indifferent  to  pleasing 
or  displeasing  the  Europeans.  A.s  p.  Brah- 
min, the  slaughter  of  women  and  children 
must  have  been  utterly  repugnant  to  his  prin- 
ciples; and  his  study  of  the  old  predatory 
system  of  Mahratta  warfare,  would  show  him 
that  such  crimes  were  denounced  by  the 
greatest  men  of  his  nation.  The  zeal  and 
fidelity  which  he  evinced  in  the  service  of 
his  hateful  master,  were  extraordinary. 

Tantia  Topee  was  nearly  fifty  years  of  age ; 
five  feet  six  inches  in  height ;  stout,  and  well 
made,  with  an  intelligent  face  and  a  large 
head,  of  great  breadth  from  ear  to  ear.  His 
piercing  black  eyes  were  surmounted  by 
sharply-arched,  grey  eyebrows;  and  the 
hair,  with  which  his  head  was  abundantly 
covered — as  well  as  that  of  his  beard,  mous- 
tache, and  whiskers,  was  of  the  same  colour. 
His  look  and  bearing  gave  promise  of 
prompt  action,  and  dogged  fixity  of  purpose. 
The  mutineers  rallied  round  him  with  a 
confidence  they  never  evinced  in  any  other 
leader;  and  it  was  under  his  banner  that 
the  Gwalior  contingent  placed  themselves 
when,  on  the  13th  of  October,  they  broke 
away  from  Sindia,  and,  after  destroying 
anddefacing  their  late  cantonments,  quitted 
Gwalior,  burning  and  wasting  the  country 

*  Lord  Clyde's  Cariipaiifti ;  by  Lieutenant-colonel 
Alison.— Blackwood's  'Edinburgh  Mayadne,  Octo- 
ber, 1858. 


SIR  COLIN  CAMPBELL  AT  THE  ALUMBAGH— NOV.  12th,  1857.    465 


as  they  went,  to  revenge  themselves  on  the  ' 
Maharajah,   whom   they  denounced  as  the 
great   enemy  and  betrayer  of  their  cause. 
They  did  not  reach  Calpee  until  nearly  the 
end  of  November  :  but  the  prospect  of  their 
earlier   arrival    greatly  increased   the  diffi- 
culties  of  the    commander-in-chief,   whose 
whole   force,  of  all  arms,    did    not   exceed 
4,200  men  ;  and  who  had  to  choose  between 
the  rescue  of  the  Lucknow  garrison  from 
the  grasp  of  a  strongly  posted  rebel  army, 
numbering  at  least  60,000,  and  the  safety  , 
of  the  intrenched  camp  at  Cawnpoor,  which  : 
covered  the  boat-bridge  across  the  Ganges,  I 
and  commanded  the  line  of  communication  j 
with  Allahabad.     At  the  same  time,  the  re- ! 
ports  from  the  Punjab  were  not  satisfactory ; 
an  uneasy   feeling  was  officially  spoken  of, 
which  was  privately  explained  as  meaning, 
that   the   wild    tribes    round   Mooltan  had 
risen  and  interrupted,  if  not  cut  off,  our 
communication  with  Lahore. 

The  position  of  Sindia,  from  being  difficult, 
was  fast  becoming  one  of  personal  peril ; 
the  example  of  the  Gwalior  contingent 
going  off  in  defiance,  with  a  siege-train  and 
abundant  munitions  of  war,  being  almost 
irresistible  to  his  household  troops.  Outram 
wrote  from  Lucknow  (October  28th),  ex- 
pressing Jiis  anxiety  "  to  prevent  the  force 
being  hurried  from  Cawnpoor  to  the  Alnm- 
bagh;"  declaring,  that  it  was  obviously  to 
the  advantage  of  the  state  that  the  Gwalior 
rebels,  then  said  to  be  preparing  to  cross 
into  the  Doab,  should  be  first  effectually 
destroyed,  and  that  the  relief  of  Lucknow 
should  be  a  secondary  consideration.  The 
post  at  the  Alumbagh  had  been  strength- 
ened and  supplied  with  food ;  but  of  the 
Lucknow  garrison,  Outram  could  only  say — 
"We  can  manage  to  screw  on,  if  absolutely 
necessary,  till  near  the  end  of  November, 
on  further  reduced  rations.  Only  the 
longer  we  remain,  the  less  physical  strength 
we  shall  have  to  aid  our  friends  with  when 
they  do  advance,  and  the  fewer  guns  shall 
we  be  able  to  move  out  in  co-operation." 
This  letter  was  unfortunate  in  its  effect  on 
Sir  Colin  Campbell ;  for  he,  knowing  of  old 
the  cheerful  and  unselfish  spirit  of  Outram, 
concluded  the  relief  of  Lucknow  a  matter 
of  more  pressing  necessity  than  was  actually 
the  case ;  for,  as  Outram  afterwards  avowed, 
he  was  much  deceived  as  to  the  quantity  of 
grain  in  store  (which  greatly  exceeded  the 
estimated  amount).  He  added,  however — 
"There  was  no  doubt  the  few  remaining 
gun-bullocks  would  not  suffice;  and  I  was 

VOL.  II.  3  o 


fully  prepared  to  eke  out  the  time  by  eating 
up  our  starving  horses."*  Sir  Colin  could 
not  entertain  the  idea  of  exposing  the  brave 
garrison  to  this  extremity :  their  speedy 
rescue  was  clearly  a  paramount  duty.  On 
the  9th  of  November  he  quitted  Cawnpoor, 
and,  by  a  forced  march  of  forty  miles,  joined 
the  troops  then  assembling  near  the  Bun- 
nee  bridge.  On  the  11th,  he  reviewed  his 
small  force  in  the  centre  of  a  vast  plain, 
surrounded  by  woods.  There  were  H.M. 
8th,  53rd,  75th,  and  93rd  regiments ;  the 
Highlanders  (93rd)  being  800  strong — 
veterans,  experienced,  but  not  wasted,  by 
the  Crimean  campaign,  and  enthusiasti- 
cally attached  to  their  Scottish  leader. 
There  were  the  2nd  and  4th  Punjab  in- 
fantry,  a  small  party  of  Native  sappers 
and  miners,  H.M.  9th  Lancers,  detachraenis 
of  Seik  cavalry,  and  a  squadron  of  Hodson's 
Horse,  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
Gough.  Captain  Peel  and  his  "  blue- 
jackets" were  an  invaluable  addition  to 
the  artillery.  By  great  exertions,  a  small 
siege-train,  principally  manned  by  the 
sailors  of  Peel's  Naval  Brigade,  had  been 
prepared,  and  commissariat  arrangements 
made,  to  overcome  the  difficulties  under 
which  Havelock  had  succumbed. 

On  the  following  morning  the  force 
started,  and  that  same  evening  encamped 
at  the  Alumbagh ;  not,  however,  without 
some  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  enemy, 
who  came  forth  from  the  neighbouring  fort 
of  Jellahabad,  and  attacked,  with  horse, 
foot,  and  guns,  the  head  of  the  column  as 
it  approached  the  British  post.  The  assail- 
ants were  quickly  driven  back,  with  the 
loss  of  two  field-pieces,  taken  in  a  brilliant 
charge  by  Gough's  squadron.  On  the  13th, 
Sir  Colin  destroyed  the  fort  of  Jellahabad, 
and  communicated  with  Outram  by  means 
of  a  semaphore  telegraph,  erected  at  the 
Residency  and  the  Alumbagh;  while  the 
natives  watched  the  working  of  the  long 
arms  of  the  machine  in  Lucknow,  and 
vainly  fired  volleys  of  musketry  against  its 
many-coloured  flags. 

It  is  said  that  Sir  Colin  originally  pro- 
posed to  cross  the  Goomtee,  move  up  its 
left  bank,  opposite  the  Residency,  and, 
under  cover  of  his  heavy  guns,  throw  up  a 
bridge,  and  withdraw  the  garrison.  But 
Outram  pointed  out  so  many  local  difficul- 
ties in  this  route,  that  Sir  Colin  abandoned 
it,  and  adopted,  instead,  that  suggested  by 

*  Letter,  27th  Julv,  1858.— Russell's  Diaiy,  vol. 
i!.,  p.  416. 


466    ADVANCE  FROM  THE  ALUMBAGH  TO  LUCKNOW— NOV.  14th,  1857. 


Outram ;  which  was,  to  make  a  flank  march 
across  country,  and  advance  by  the  Dil- 
kooslia,  Martiniere,  and  the  line  of  palaces, 
upon  the  Residency. 

A  brave  and  able  European  guide,  per- 
fectly acquainted  with  the  locaHty,  and  the 
relative  position  of  besieged  and  besiegers, 
had  joined  the  camp  at  Bunnee;  and  the 
information  obtained  from  him  was  very 
important  at  this  crisis. 

A  faithful  Hindoo,  named  Canoujee  Lai, 
was  the  destined  bearer  of  the  despatches 
from  the  Residency,  as  well  as  of  plans  of 
the  city,  and  various  directions  calculated 
to  facilitate  the  advance  ;  when  an  uncove- 
nanted  civilian,  named  Kavauagh,  who  had 
been    acting    as    assistant    field-engineer, 
volunteered  to  accompany  the  native  mes- 
senger. Colonel  R.  Napier,  chief  of  Sir  James 
Outram's  staff,  communicated  the  offer  to 
the  general.     He  hesitated  to  sanction  so 
perilous  an  attempt;    but  at   last   yielded 
his  consent.     Kavanagh  went  home  to  his 
wife  and  children,  and  parted  from   them 
at  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  9th 
of  November,  leaving   his  wife  under  the 
impression  that  he  was  going  on  duty  for 
the    night   to   the    mines.       Half-an-hour 
later  he  presented  himself  to  Sir  James  and 
his  staff,  disguised  as  a  budraash — that  is, 
one  of  the  ordinary  mutineers  of  the  city, 
with  sword  and  shield,  native-made  shoes, 
tight  trowsers,   a  yellow   silk    koortah    (or 
jacket)    over    a   tight-fitting   wlnte  muslin 
shirt,  a  yellow-coloured  chintz  sheet  thrown 
round    his     shoulders,    a     cream-coloured 
turban,  and  a  white  waistband.     His  face, 
throat,  and  hands  were  coloured  with  lamp- 
black   dipped    in    oil,    no    better   material 
being  obtainable.     This,  the  most  important 
part  of  the  disguise,  was  the  least  satisfac- 
tory ;  but  Kavanagh  trusted  for  success  to 
the  darkness  of  the  night,  to  his  conver- 
sance with  the  native  language,  and,  most 
of  all,  to  the  courage  and  tact  of  Canoujee 
Lai,   to  shield  him  from    notice ;  and  the 
event  justified  his  confidence  in  liis  com- 
panion.    The  two  men  passed  through  the 
principal  street  of  the  city,    and  found  it 
dark,    dreary,    and    deserted    by   the   best 
part  of  its  inhabitants.     They  had  to  ford 
the  Goomtee,  and  to  wade  througli  one  of 
the   large  jheels    or   swamps   common    in 
Oude ;  and,    in   so    doing,  the  colour  was 
nearly  washed  off  the  hands  of  Kavanagh. 
The  enemy  were  strongly  posted  round  the 
Alumbagh  ;  therefore  Canoujee  induced  his 
companion  to  proceed  to  the  camp  at  Bun- 


nee ;  and  Kavanagh,  although  liis  feet  were 
sore  and  bleeding  with  the  hard,  tight 
native  shoes,  consented  to  do  so.  About 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  10th  of 
November  they  reached  a  British  outpost, 
and  were  speedily  ushered  into  the  presence 
of  the  commander-in-chief. 

Sir  Colin  fully  appreciated  the  worth  of 
a  service  at  once  brilliant  and  useful :  and 
there  is  something  characteristic  in  the 
cordial  praise  with  which  he  mentions,  in 
consecutive  pai-agraphs  of  a  despatch  to 
Calcutta,  the  gallantry  of  the  uncovenanted 
civilian,  and  that  of  a  young  nobleman 
(Lord  Seymour),  also  a  volunteer,  who 
accompanied  the  force  during  the  operations 
for  the  relief  of  Lucknow.  Mr.  Kavanagh 
received  from  government  a  present  of 
j62,000  in  money,  and  admission  into  the 
regular  civil  service  of  India. 

The  march  from  the  Alumbfigh  com- 
menced at  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
14th,  the  men  having  three  days'  food  in  their 
havresacks.  An  expected  reinforcement  of 
600  or  700  men  (including  portions  of 
H.M.  23rd  and  82iid  regiments)  joined  the 
rear-guard  after  the  advance  had  begun ; 
raising  the  total  force  to  about  4,000  men, 
including  700  cavalry.  The  route  taken 
surprised  the  enemy ;  and  no  opposition  was 
made  until  the  British  advanced  guard 
approached  the  wall  of  the  Dilkoosha  park, 
when  a  smart  fire  of  matchlocks  was  opened, 
and  a  considerable  body  of  skirmishers  fired, 
under  cover  of  a  grove  of  old  trees  inside 
the  park ;  their  white  dresses,  and  the  bright 
flash  of  their  musketry,  being  conspicuous 
as  they  glided  from  trunk  to  trunk.  After 
a  running  fight  of  about  two  hours,  in 
which  our  loss  was  very  inconsiderable, 
the  enemy  was  driven  down  the  hill  to  the 
Martiniere  college,  across  the  gardeu  and 
park  of  the  Martiniere,  and  far  beyond  the 
canal.  The  Dilkoosha  and  the  Martiniere 
were  occupied  by  the  British  troops;  a  bridge 
over  the  canal  was  seized,  and  a  lodgment 
effected  in  a  part  of  the  suburb  on  the 
other  side.  The  troops  bivouacked  for  the 
night  without  tents,  with  their  arms  by 
their  sides.  The  advance  was  to  have  been 
resumed  on  the  following  day;  but  the 
necessity  of  waiting  for  provisions  and 
small-arm  ammunition  from  the  Alumbagh, 
which,  by  a  misapprehension  of  orders,  had 
not  arrived  in  time,  caused  twenty-four 
hours'  delay ;  and  it  was  not  till  early  on 
the  16th  that  the  army  was  again  iu 
motion.       The    Martiniere   and    Dilkoosha 


CAPTURE  OF  THE  SECUNDERBAGH— NOVEMBER  16th,  1857.      467 


were  still  to  be  held ;  and  the  consequeut 
deduction  of  troops,  left  Sir  Colin  only 
3,000  bayonets  wherewith  to  cut  his  way 
through  the  60,000  besiegers  of  the  Resi- 
dency. The  first  point  of  attack  was 
the  Secunderbagh — an  extensive  building, 
situated  in  a  garden  of  120  yards  square, 
surrounded  by  a  high  wall  of  solid  masonry, 
loopholed  all  round,  and  strongly  gar- 
risoned ;  while  opposite  to  it  was  a  village, 
at  a  distance  of  about  100  yards,  also  loop- 
holed  and  filled  with  men.  The  British 
force  approached  the  Secunderbagh  by  a 
lane,  or  narrow  defile,  through  a  wood ; 
and  the  enemy  was  evidently  again  taken 
by  surprise.  So  hazardous  did  the  move- 
ment appear,  that  "  a  staff  officer  remarked 
to  his  right-hand  comrade — '  If  these  fellows 
allow  one  of  us  to  get  out  of  this  cuUde- 
sac  alive,  they  deserve  every  one  of  them 
to  be  hanged.'  "*  But  the  natives  did 
not  recognise  their  opportunity  until  too 
late.  The  guns  were  pushed  rapidly  for- 
ward, and  the  troops  passed  at  a  gallop, 
through  a  cross-fire,  between  the  village 
and  the  Secunderbagh.  With  great  labour 
and  peril.  Captains  Blount  and  Travers 
brought  their  artillery  to  bear  on  the 
inclosure;  and,  at  the  end  of  about  an 
hour  and  a-half,  the  building  was  carried 
by  storm,  by  portions  of  the  53rd,  93rd,  the 
4th  Punjab  infantry,  and  a  battalion  of 
detachments  under  Major  Barnston.  The 
garrison  had  no  means  of  escape  ;  the  only 
gate  being  held  by  the  conquerors.  Many 
sepoys  fought  to  the  last ;  but  some  begged 
for  mercy.  None  was  shown  if  not  a  man 
escaped,  and  five  or  six  women  are  said  to 
have  been  killed. J  The  slauj;hter  was  ter- 
rific :  it  was  carried  on  by  the  officers  -yvith 
revolvers,  by  the  Seiks  and  Highlanders 
with  muskets  and  swords,  until  sunset,  when 
more  than  2,000  native  corpses  lay,  in 
weltering  heaps,  in  that  vast  charnel-house. § 
When  an  entrance  to  the  Secunderbagh 
had  been  effected.  Captain  Peel  went  to 
the  front  with  his  naval  siege-train,  and  ad- 
vanced towards  the  Shah  Nujeef — a  domed 
mosque,  with  a  parapet  at  the  top,  inclosed 
in  a  loopholed  wall,  with  an  entrance 
covered  by  a  regular  work  in  masonry. 
A  heavy  cannonade  was   commenced,  and 

*  Colonel  Alison. — Blackwood,  October,  1858. 

t  Gubbins,  p.  397. 

X  Times,  April  13th,  1857. 

§  Sir  Colin  Campbell  himself  states,  in  his  des- 
patch (Nov.  18th,  1857),  that  above  2,000  of  the 
enemy  were  carried  out  dead. 


maintained  by  the  British  for  three  hours ; 
but  at  the  end  of  that  time,  it  was  manifest 
that  we  were  losing,  not  gaining  ground. 
"The  men,"  Colonel  Alison  writes,  "were 
falling  fast ;  even  Peel's  usually  bright  face 
became  grave  and  anxious.  Sir  Colin  sat 
on  his  white  horse,  exposed  to  the  whole 
storm  of  shot ;  looking  intently  on  the  Shah 
Nujeef,  which  was  wreathed  in  columns  of 
smoke  from  the  burning  buildings  in  its 
front,  but  sparkled  all  over  with  the  bright 
flash  of  small  arms." 

The  heavy  artillery  proved  insufficient  to 
the  task  :  the  place,  if  carried  at  all,  must, 
it  was  evident,  be  won  by  the  aid  of  the 
bayonet.  The  attempt  could  no  longer 
be  delayed :  the  troops  could  advance  no 
further — could  not  even  hold  their  present 
position  much  longer,  unless  the  fire  of  the 
Shah  Nujeef  were  subdued;  and  retreat 
through  the  narrow  lane  could  only  be 
effected  with  great  difficulty,  at  a  risk  of 
fearful  loss,  little  short  of  extermination. 

There  was  no  alternative,  and  the  assault 
was  made.  Sir  Colin,  not  contented  with 
directing  the  movement,  himself  took  the 
lead — a  fact  which  he  passes  over  in  his 
despatch ;  giving  the  merit  of  the  victory 
eventually  gained,  exclusively  to  others.  In 
this  reserve  he  showed  much  judgment ;  for 
his  habit  of  taking  himself  and  his  staff 
into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  was,  in  prin- 
ci[)le,  his  weak  point  as  a  commander-in- 
chief;  yet,  in  practice,  it  became  an  element 
of  success. 

The  seeming  contradiction  between  his 
extreme  economy  of  the  lives  of  others,  and 
readiness  to  imperil  his  own,  was  very  con- 
spicuous in  the  early  operations  in  Oude. 
While  young  officers  wrote  home  to  their 
parents  to  be  of  good  cheer,  for  Sir  Coliu 
"  never  expended  a  man  where  a  bullet 
would  serve  his  turn;"  the  more  experienced 
watched,  with  unceasing  anxiety,  the  manner 
in  which,  when  men  and  not  bullets  were 
needed  to  do  the  work,  the  life  which  was 
incomparably  of  most  value  was  instantly 
placed  in  jeopardy.  For  glory  or  loot  the 
old  Highlander  cared  little,  if  at  all :  he 
was  free  from  any  love  of  killing  for  its  own 
sake; II  but  he  had  no  ordinary  amount 
of  that   daring   which    "  turns   danger   to 

II  In  1839,  when  Sir  Colin  Campbell  vpas  sent  to 
Hull  to  assist  in  quellinfi  the  disturbances  among 
the  colliers,  Sir  Charles  Napier  remarked,  that  he 
was  precisely  the  character  needed:  "a  hardy  soidier, 
but  gentle  and  justj"  adding — "I  want  not  bullies 
to  join  the  civilians'  cry  for  murdering  the  people  to 


468  ATTACK  ON  THE  SHAH  NUJEEF— NOVEMBER  16th,  1857. 


delight."  He  was  never  egotistical,  and 
rarelv  selfish ;  but  when  peril  was  to  be  eu- 
couutered,  then  he  seized  the  lion's  share, 
and  eagerly  took  his  place  in  front  of  his 
troops— a  mark  for  the  foe.  That  he  should 
have  escaped  safe  iu  life  and  limb  is  mar- 
vellous. It  is,  however,  possible  that  he  may 
have  considered  the  hazard  he  encountered, 
justified  by  its  e6fect  on  the  troops. 

"  The  Shah  Xujee.f  [he  writes]  was  stormed  in  the 
boUi'st  maiiiifr  by  the  93rd  Highlanders,  under 
Brigadier  Hope,  supported  b\  a  battalion  of  detach- 
ments under  Major  Barnstoii,  vho  was,  I  regret  to 
say,  severely  wounded  ;  Captain  Peel  leading  up  his 
heavy  guns,  witli  extraordinary  gallantry,  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  building,  lo  batter  the  massive 
stone  walls.  The  withering  fire  of  the  Highlanders 
effectually  covered  the  Naval  Brigade  from  great 
loss;  but  it  was  an  action  ahnost  unexampled  in 
war.  Captain  Peel  behaved  very  much  as  if  he 
had  been  laying  the  Shaiiuon  alongside  an  enemy's 
frigate.'" 

Only  Sir  Conn's  knowledge  of  the  weak- 
ness of  Native  troops  without  European 
guidance — or,  to  use  his  own  comparison,  of 
the  inefficiency  of  the  bamboo  spear  with- 
out the  steel  tip,  could  huve  justified  him  iu 
an  attempt  to  storm  such  a  place  as  the  Shah 
Nujeef.  Just  as  a  practised  chess-player 
will  overwhelm  a  novice  with  a  stroke  which 
he  could  not  venture  upon  with  a  more 
equal  adversary ;  so  Sir  Colin,  accustomed 
to  Indian  warfare,  knew  that  the  danger  of 
hurling  his  troops  against  those  stone  walls, 
was  worth  risking  for  the  salie  of  the 
advantage  which  might  be  gained  by  the 
British,  could  they  succeed  in  inspiring  the 
enemy  with  the  madness  of  panic. 

These  anticipations  were  realised :  the 
natives  succumbed  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  victory  was  theirs ;  but  they  lacked 
intelligence  to  see,  and  nerve  to  grasp  it. 
The  struggle  was  long  and  severe,  as  the 
following  particulars  will  show.  They  are 
gathered  partly  from  private  sources,  but 
chiefly  from  Colonel  Alison's  graphic  nar- 
rative ;  the  authorship  of  which  is  evidenced 
by  the  omission  of  any  notice  of  the  service 
rendered,  and  the  wounds  received,  by  him- 
self and  his  younger  brother.  When  the 
artillery  failed,  Sir  Colin  collected  the  93rd 
around  him,  and  told  them  that  he  had  not 
intended  to  have  employed  them  again  that 

make  an  example.  One  may  be  required — so  much 
the  worse ;  but  let  not  soldiers  seek  occasion  for  it, 
as  almost  all  the  civil  gentlemen  seem  to  do:  let  us 
avoid  that  as  we  would  sin  and  death." — Life  of 
Napier. 

•  Despatch,  Nov.  18th,  1867. — London  Gazette, 
January  16th,  1858. 


day ;  but  that  the  Shah  Nujeef  must  be 
taken  by  them  with  the  bayonet;  and  he 
would  go  with  them  himself. 

The  Hip|lilanders  were  ready,  quite  ready, 
to  follow  Colin  Campbell  to  the  death  ;  and 
not  they  only :  the  whole  of  the  troops 
recognised  the  calm  courage  of  the  leader  ' 
who  never  exposed  a  man  of  them  to  any 
needless  peril  or  fatigue :  they  knew  he 
had  counted  the  cost,  and  were  willing  to 
share  with  him  a  danger  as  great  as  that 
to  which  the  six  hundred  rode  at  Balaklava. 
The  object  to  be  gained  was  incomparably 
greater.  The  lives  at  stake  were  not  merely 
those  of  soldiers,  who  might  well  be  ready 
to  die  sword  iu  hand:  it  was  to  rescue 
women  and  children  that  Sir  Colin  now 
led  the  desperate  assault. 

At  the  word  of  command,  the  royal  ar- 
tillery (Middleton's  battery)  dashed  forward 
with  loud  cheers,  the  drivers  waving  their 
whips,  the  gunners  their  caps,  as  they 
galloped  past  Peel's  guns;  and,  in  the 
teeth  of  a  deadly  fire,  unlimbered,  and 
poured  in  round  after  round  of  grape. 
Peel  worked  his  pieces  with  redoubled 
energy ;  and  under  cover  of  this  iron  storm, 
the  93rd  "  rolled  on  in  one  vast  wave." 
The  commander-in-chief  rode  first  with  his 
Bword  drawn,  his  form  as  upright,  his  eye 
as  keen,  as  when  he  led  the  stormers  at  St. 
Sebastian  in  1813.  His  staff' crowded  round 
him.  The  men  fell  fast;  but  the  column 
continued  to  advance  without  a  check  till 
it  reached  the  foot  of  the  loopholed  wall, 
which  was  nearly  twenty  feet  high.  There 
was  no  breach,  and  the  assailants  had  no 
scaling-ladders.  Two  of  Peel's  guns  were 
brought  to  bear  within  a  few  yards  of  the 
wall ;  and,  covered  by  the  fusillade  of  the 
infantry,  the  sailors  shot  fast  and  strong : 
but  though  the  masonry  fell  off'  in  flakes, 
it  left  the  mass  behind,  perpendicular,  and 
inaccessible  as  ever.  The  muskets  of  the 
garrison  did  great  execution ;  the  officers 
on  horseback  were  nearly  all  wounded  or 
dismounted.  Sir  Colin  was  not  touched 
at  this  time,  but  had  been  slightly  wounded 
earlier  iu  the  day,  by  a  ball  which  reached 
him  after  passing  through  the  head  of  a 
93rd  grenadier.  The  elder  of  the  Alisons, 
v\'hile  riding  a  little  in  advance  of  Sir 
Colin,  in  the  hope  of  shielding  him,  was 
struck  in  the  elbow  and  wrist  by  two  balls, 
fired  from  a  wall-piece,  which  shattered 
his  left  arm  to  pieces.  The  younger,  whose 
sword  had  been  shivered  to  pieces  in  his 
baud  while  he  rode  up  with  the  storming 


LUCKNOW  RESIDENCY  RELIEVED  BY  CAMPBELL— NOV.,  1857.      469 


p<arty  to  the  Secunderbagh,  had  a  second 
narrow  escape.  He  was  struck  from  his 
horse  by  a  ball  in  the  breast,  which  glanced 
off  round  his  ribs,  and  came  out  at  his 
back,  instead  of  passing  through  his  heart. 
The  remaining  members  of  the  staff — Baird, 
Metcalfe,  and  Foster,  with  the  two  gallant 
.  volunteers,  Lord  SeymourandMr.Kavanagh, 
who  were  actively  employed  in  conveying 
Sir  Colin's  orders,  and  searching  along  the 
wall  for  some  breach  at  which  the  men 
might  enter — all  had  their  horses  hit  in 
two  or  three  places.  Brigadier  Hope  (whose 
"towering  form  and  gentle  smile"  Mere 
eagerly  watched  by  the  Highlanders)  and 
his  aide-de-camp  were  rolling  on  the  ground 
at  the  same  moment. 

Sir  Colin's  brow  grew  anxious  and  care- 
worn. By  his  orders  the  dead  and  wounded 
were  carried  to  the  rear,  and  some  rocket- 
frames  brought  up,  and  thrown  witli  ad- 
mirable precision  into  the  interior  of  the 
building.  Under  cover  of  this  movement 
the  guns  were  drawn  off;  and  no  one,  not 
Sir  Colin  himself,  anticipated  the  degree  of 
alarm  produced  on  the  garrison  by  the  fiery 
projectiles.  As  the  last  tlirow  of  a  despe- 
rate game,  Adrian  Hope,  collecting  some 
fifty  men,  stole  cautiously  through  the 
jungle,  and  reached,  unperceived,  a  portion 
of  the  wall,  where  he  had  noticed  a  narrow 
fissure.  Up  this  a  single  man  was,  with 
some  difficulty,  pushed :  he  saw  no  one 
on  the  inside;  and  was  quickly  followed 
by  Hope,  Ogilvy,*  Allgood,t  and  others. 
These  pushing  on,  to  their  astonishment, 
found  themselves  almost  unopposed,  and, 
gaining  the  gate,  threw  it  open  for  their 
comrades,  who  entered  in  time  to  see  the 
white  dresses  of  the  last  of  the  garrison 
before  they  disappeared  at  the  back  of  the 
fortress,  being  soon  hidden  in  the  rolling 
smoke  and  the  dense  shadows  of  night. 
The  destruction  caused  by  the  rockets,  and 
the  unexpected  appearance  of  some  of  the 
British  within  the  walls,  had  produced  the 
evacuation  of  the  fortress. 

The  day's  operations  were  thus  brought 
to  a  successful  close.  Once  again  the  men 
bivouacked  under  the  canopy  of  heaven. 
No  tents  had  been  brought,  and  no  camp- 
fires  could  be  lighted.  Before  the  morning 
dawned,  the  bells  of  the  city  rang  out  loud 
and  clear;  the  beating  of  many  drums  was 
heard;  and  in  expectation  of  an  impend- 
ing attack,  the  British  ranks  were  formed. 

•  Attached  to  the  Madras  sajipers. 
t  ABBistant  ijuartermaster-general. 


None  such  was,  however,  attempted;  and 
prepjirations  were  made  for  the  expulsion 
of  the  enemy  from  the  buildings  which 
intervened  between  the  Shah  Nujeef  and 
the  Residency.  Outram,  on  his  part,  was 
not  idle.  He  blew  up  the  enemy's  works 
near  him;  brought  artillery  to  bear  upon  a 
building,  known  to  the  Europeans  as  the 
Mess-house  of  the  32nd  regiment,  but 
which,  under  the  native  rule,  was  called  the 
Koorsheyd  Munzil,  or  Happy  Palace  ;  made 
vigorous  sorties,  and  opened  a  heavy  fire 
on  the  Tara  Kolitee  and  the  Kaiserbagh, 
from  his  heavy  guns,  howitzers,  and  mor- 
tars. By  the  afternoon  the  communication 
was  open ;  and  although  the  road  was  ex- 
posed to  the  musket-shot  of  the  enemy, 
Outram  and  Havelock  ran  the  gauntlet, 
and  rode  forth  to  meet  their  deliverer.  A 
long  glad  shout  rang  forth  from  the  troops 
as  they  watched  the  evident  satisfaction 
with  which  Sir  Colin  received  the  hearty 
thanks  and  congratulations  of  Outram. J 
Mansfield,  Hope  Grant,  Adrian  Hope,  Peel, 
Greathed,  Ewart,  Norman,  Hope'  John- 
stone, Baird  (Sir  David),  Anson,  Gough, 
the  Alisons,  and  scores  of  other  officers 
were  individually  welcomed ;  and  the  de- 
fending and  relieving  force  shook  hands  in 
a  tumult  of  joyous  excitement.  The  gain 
was  great,  but  the  cost  heavy.  The  total 
British  casualties  were  122  killed,  and  414 
wounded. 

The  relief  of  the  Residency  was  speedily 
followed  by  its  evacuation  ;  for  Sir  Colin 
knew  that  his  presence  was  imperatively 
needed  at  Cawnpoor.  He  had  resolved  on 
seeing  the  women  and  children  placed  in 
safety ;  and,  if  possible,  without  subjecting 
them  to  the  chance  of  a  stray  shot.  Sir 
James  Outram  thought  that  if  the  Kaiser- 
bagh were  destroyed,  two  strong  brigades 
of  600  men  would  suffice  to  hold  the  city. 
Sir  Colin  considered,  that  to  leave  another 
small  garrison  in  Lucknow,  would  be  "  to 
repeat  a  military  error;"  and  resolved  on 
placing  a  strong  movable  division  at  the 
Alumbagh,  as  the  best  means  of  holding 
the  city  in  check,  and  overawing  the  sur- 
rounding country.  The  Residency  was,  he 
said,  a  false  position,  and  could  not  be 
reached  without  severe  loss  on  the  part  of 
a  relieving  army :  he  further  avowed  his 
opinion,  that  the  annexation  of  Oude  was 
an  impolitic  measure,  and  unpopular  with 
all  classes. § 

t  Rees'  Si'effe  nf  ZucJinow,  p.  326. 
§  Gubbins'  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  p.  411. 


470 


BRITISH  EVACUATE  LUCKNOW— NOV.  22nd,  1857. 


The  order  for  withdrawal  was  given  by 
Sir  Colin  immediately  after  his  arrival  at 
the  Residency ;  and  everything  was  done 
to  disgnise  from  the  enemy  the  prepara- 
tions which  were  being  made  for  the  evacu- 
ation of  the  position  so  long  and  resolutely 
defended.  The  Kaiserbagh  was  bombarded 
on  the  20th,  21st,  and  32nd  of  Novem- 
ber; and  the  rebels,  in  momentary  ex- 
pectation of  the  storming  of  the  three 
breaches  made  in  the  walls,  never  dreamed 
of  what  was  taking  place  within  the  Resi- 
dency compound. 

On  the  night  of  the  19th,  the  women 
and  children,  the  sick  and  wounded,  the 
state  prisoners,  the  king's  treasure  and 
jewels,  £240,000  in  money,  and  all  the 
guns  worth  taking  away,  were  safely  trans- 
ferred from  the  Residency  to  the  camp  of 
Sir  Colin  Campbell  at  the  Dilkoosha,  with- 
out exciting  the  notice  of  the  enemy.  The 
removal  was  attended  with  extreme  anxiety 
to  the  commander-in-chief;  who,  moreover, 
then  ascertained  that  his  movements  had 
been  needlessly  hastened  by  the  unfortu- 
nate mistake  regarding  the  quantity  of 
grain  remaining  in  store,  which  was  proved 
by  the  amount  left  behind  for  want  of 
means  of  carriage.  The  proceedings,  at 
this  crisis,  excited  great  interest  in  Eng- 
land, and  every  little  detail  was  seized  and 
dwelt  on  in  the  newspapers.  Many  of  the 
alleged  incidents  were  wholly  fictitious. 
The  anecdote  related  by  Mr.  Rees,  and 
alluded  to  by  other  writers,*  regarding  the 
surprise  with  which  Sir  Colin  beheld  the 
dainties  set  before  him  at  "Gubbins' 
house ;"  and  his  alleged  inquiry,  "  why 
they  had  not  been  given  to  the  starving 
garrison?" — had  its  origin  in  Lucknow; 
which  was  not  the  case  with  the  tale  re- 
garding the  Scotchwoman,  who  was  alleged 
to  have  been  the  first  to  communicate  to 
the  Lucknow  garrison  the  approach  of  the 
relieving  force ;  she  hearing  the  pibroch  of 
the  Highlanders  playing  the  "  Campbells 
are  coming,"  when  dull  lowland  ears  could 
detect  nothing  but  the  accustomed  roar  of 
cannon.     The  "  Jessie  Brown"  storyf — for 

•  See  Captain  Goode's  (64lh  regiment)  Letter, 
published  in  the  Times,  January  15th,  1858. 

t  It  was  originally  a  little  romance,  written  by  a 
French  governess  at  Jersey,  for  the  use  of  her  pupils ; 
which  found  its  way  into  a  Paris  paper;  thence 
to  the  Jersey  Times;  thence  to  the  London  Times 
(December  12th,  1857);  and  afterwards  appeared  in 
nearly  all  the  journals  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

X  Times,  April  13th,  1857.  Mr.  Russell  added, 
that  "  in  order  to  make  a  proper  effect,  most  of  the 


such  was  the  name  of  the  fictitious  heroine — 
like  the  writing  on  the  Cawnpoor  slaughter- 
house, carried  its  own  refutation  with  it ; 
but  the  report  regarding  Sir  Colin  had 
more  probability.  It  was  incorrect ;  for 
he  never  visited  Gubbins'  house,  much 
less  dined  there.  His  life  was,  however,' 
one  unvarying  protest  against  luxury;  and 
Mrs.  Inglis,  in  describing  him  to  her  friends 
in  England,  remarks — "  Sir  Colin  is  much 
liked  :  he  is  living  now  exactly  as  a  private 
soldier;  takes  his  rations,  and  lies  down 
whenever  he  can,  to  rest."  The  insight 
which  the  different  narratives  of  the  siege 
afford  into  the  strangely  varied  phases  of 
life  in  Lucknow  (so  opposite  to  the  mo- 
notonous uniformity  of  misery  endured  at 
Cawnpoor,  where  every  vestige  of  conven- 
tionality had  perished),  renders  it  easy  to 
understand  Mr.  Russell's  account  of  the 
embarrassing  ingredient  which  the  care  of 
so  many  ladies  and  children  (not  to  men- 
tion ladies'  maids)  formed  in  the  calcula- 
tions of  the  commander-in-chief.  '"  He 
was  in  a  fever  at  the  various  small  delays 
which  they  considered  necessary ;  and, 
courteous  as  he  is  to  women,  he  for  oiiC& 
was  obliged  to  be  'a  little  stern'  when  he 
found  the  dear  creatures  a  little  unreason- 
able." The  prolonged  discussion  regarding 
the  amount  of  luggage  to  be  taken,  and 
the  pleading  for  "  these  few  little  clotlies- 
trunks,"  must  have  been  trying  to  the 
courteous,  kindly  old  bachelor,  whose  own 
notions  of  necessaries  and  comforts  were 
almost  Spartan  in  simplicity  :  but  he  "  sus- 
tained his  position  with  unflinching  forti- 
tude ;  till  at  length,  when  he  thought  he  had 
seen  the  last  of  them  out  of  the  place,  two 
young  ladies  came  trippingly  in,  whisked 
about  the  Residency  for  a  short  time,  and 
then,  with  nods  and  smiles,  departed, 
saying,  graciously,  'We'll  be  back  again 
presently.'  '  No,  ladies,  no ;  you'll  be 
good  enough  to  do  nothing  of  the  kind,' 
exclaimed  he :  '  you  have  been  here  quite 
long  enough,  I  am  sure;  and  I  have  had 
quite  enough  trouble  in  getting  you  out 
of  it.'  "X 

ladies  came  out  in  their  best  gowns  and  bonnets. 
Whether  '  Betty  gave  the  cheek'  a  little  touch  of 
red  or  not,  1  cannot  say ;  but  1  am  assured  the  array 
of  fashion,  though  somewhat  behind  the  season, 
owing  to  the  difficulty  of  communicating  with  the 
Calcutta  modistes,  was  very  creditable."  Captain 
Goode  states,  concerning  the  evacuation  of  the  Ke- 
sidency — "The  ladies  had  to  walk  out;  and  I  went 
to  see  them,  expecting  to  find  them  looking  \ery 
miserable.     Instead  of  that,  they  looked  quite  well, 


DEATH  OF  SIR  HENRY  HAVELOCK— NOV.  21st,  1857. 


471 


I 


Tlie  retirement  of  the  garrison  com- 
menced at  midnight  on  the  22nd,  under 
cover  of  Sir  Colin's  outposts :  then  these 
were  quietly  withdrawn ;  the  pickets  fell 
back  througli  the  supports ;  the  supports 
glided  away  between  the  intervals  of  the 
reserve;  the  reserve,  including  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, silently  defiled  into  the 
lane ;  while  the  enemy,  seeing  the  lights 
and  fires  still  burning,  and  no  particular 
change  in  the  general  aspect  of  the  place, 
thought  the  Residency  still  occupied,  and 
kept  up  the  usual  desultory  night-firing  of 
matchlocks  and  musketry. 

On  the  morning  of  the  23rd,  with  the 
last  straggler*  safe  within  his  camp,  Sir 
Colin  issued  a  general  order,  in  which  he 
expressed  his  gratitude  to  the  force  under 
his  command,  in  the  manner  of  a  man  who 
draws  his  breath  freely  after  a  tedious, 
perilous  adventure.  With  regard  to  the 
arduous  duty  performed  by  the  troops.  Sir 
Colin  used  these  remarkable  words: — 

"  From  the  morning  of  the  16th,  till  last  night, 
the  whole  force  has  been  one  outlying  picket,  never 
out  of  fire,  and  covering  an  immense  extent  of 
ground,  to  permit  the  garrison  to  retire  scathless 
and  in  safet)-,  covered  by  the  whole  of  the  relieving 
force.  *  *  •  The  movement  of  retreat  of  last 
night,  by  which  the  final  rescue  of  the  garrison  was 
effected,  was  a  model  of  discipline  and  exactness. 
The  consequence  was,  that  the  enemy  was  completely 
deceived,  and  the  force  retired  by  a  narrow  tortuous 
lane — the  only  line  of  retreat  open  in  the  face  of 
60,000  enemies — without  molestation."t 

The  arrival  at  the  Dilkoosha  was  clouded 
by  the  death  of  Sir  Henry  Havelock,  who 
had  borne  that  designation  only  four  days, 
having  learnt  from  Sir  Colin  the  news  of 
his  nomination  as  a  Knight  Commander  of 
the  Bath.  .  The  honours  and  wealth  in 
store  for  his  family  he  could  hardly  have 

dressed  up  with  white  kid  gloves ;  and  made  me  feel 
quite  ashamed  of  my  dirty  appearance,  as  I  had 
been  sleeping  on  the  ground,  in  the  dirt,  for  several 
nights." — Times,  January  loth,  1857. 

•  Captain  Waterman  was  left  behind  asleep.     He 
woke  two  hours  after  the  departure  of  the  garrison, 
and,  terrified  at  his  position,  ran  on  and  on  through 
the  darkness  of  night,  till,  breatliless  and  exhausted, 
he  at  length  overtook  the  rear-guard.     The  shock 
affected  his  intellect  for  some  time. — Rees,  p.  347. 
t  Sir  Colin  Campbell's  despatch,  23rd  Nov.,  1857. 
j  AVhen  the  news  of  Havelock's  death  reached 
England,  many  verses  were  written  in  honour  of  his 
memory.     One  of  his  biographers  declared — 
"  The  heralds  have  made  search,  and  found  his 
lineage  of  the  best: 
He  stands  amid  the  sons  of  God,  a  son  of 
God  confessed !" 

Rev.  W.  Brock's  Havelock,  p.  273. 
Punch    also    made  some    strong    assertions;    but 


anticipated,  much  less  the  extraordinary, 
though  ephemeral,  enthusiasm  felt  for  him 
in  England — ephemeral,  that  is,  in  its  ex- 
aggeration; for,  beyond  all  question,  its 
object  was  a  good  and  gallant  man,  and 
will  doubtless  be  esteemed  as  such,  when 
the  reaction  caused  by  indiscriminate  lauda- 
tion shall  have  passed  away.  His  career 
had  been  an  arduous  one;  and  he  sank 
quickly,  but  gently,  at  the  last ;  his  com- 
plaint (dysentery)  being  aggravated  by  the 
"  bread-want,"  so  severely  felt  at  Lucknow. 
Mr.  Gubbins,  who  went  to  the  general's 
tent  the  day  before  his  death,  approached 
the  dhoolie  in  which  he  lay,  and  found 
young  Havelock  seated  on  the  ground  be- 
side his  father,  with  one  arm  powerless,  in 
a  sling,  and  with  the  other  supplying  the 
wants  of  the  dying  man,  who  would  allow 
no  one  to  render  him  any  attendance  but 
his  son.  Sir  Henry  expired  on  the  24th ; 
and  his  remains  were  carried  to  the  Alum- 
bagh,  and  there  interred. { 

The  whole  force — women  and  children, 
sick  and  wounded,  treasure  and  baggage — 
reached  the  Alumbagh  without  molesta- 
tion ;  and,  on  the  27th,  Sir  Colin,  leaving 
4,000  men  with  General  Outram,  started 
for  Cawnpoor  with  about  3,000  men, 
and  the  women,  children,  and  treasure 
rescued  from  Lucknow.  He  took  with 
him  the  wounded  of  both  forces.  In  all, 
2,000  helpless  persons  had  to  be  borne 
along  by  troops  only  one-third  more  nu- 
merous. Bunnee  bridge  was  safely  reached 
the  same  evening  ;  the  general  encamped  a 
little  beyond  it,  and  there  heard  heavy 
firing  in  the  direction  of  Cawnpoor.  No 
news  had  been  received  from  that  place  for 
several  days,  and  it  was  evidently  necessary 
to   press   forward   as    quickly   as    possible. 

they  were  limited  in  their  scope  to  this  present 
life  ;  and  ended  with  the  following  line — 

"  Dead,  he  keeps  the  realm  he  saved  !" 
Mr.  Russell  (who  left  England  in  December)  was 
surprised  at  finding,  that"  among  his  fellow-travellers, 
the  [Anglo]  Indians  on  board  did  not,  as  a  general 
rule,  exhibit  much  enthusiasm  about  Havelock." 
Still  greater  was  his  astonishment  at  visiting  the 
grave  at  the  Alumbagh,  and  finding  it  in  the  un- 
clean garden-ground,  used  as  a  halting-place  by  the 
drivers  of  sheep  and  oxen  along  the  Cawnpoor 
road.  The  letter  H,  rudely  carved  on  a  tree,  marked 
the  spot;  and  at  the  foot  of  it  was  a  trench,  about 
six  feet  long  and  three  broad,  which  was  filled  with 
mud.  The  ground  had  "  apparently  fallen  in,  as  if 
the  wood  or  brick  which  had  been  used  to  protect 
the  coffin,  had  become  decayed."  Such  was  the 
condition  of  Havelock's  grave,  November  28th,  1858. 
— Russell's  Diary  in  India  in  the  Year  1858-'9; 
vol.  ii.,  p.  335. 


472    GEN.  WINDHAM  AND  THE  GWALIOR  CONTINGENT— NOV.  26, 1857. 


Early  on  the  following  morning,  the  troops, 
convoy  and  all,  were  again  in  motion. 
Shortly  after  the  march  was  resumed,  two 
or  three  notes  were  successively  brought  to 
Sir  Colin — first  announcing  that  Cawnpoor 
had  been  attacked ;  secondly,  that  General 
Windham,  the  oflRcer  in  command,  was 
hard  pressed ;  and  thirdly,  that  he  had 
been  obliged  to  fall  back  from  outside  the 
city  into  his  intrenchineiit. 

Cawnpoor. — General  Windham  (an  officer 
well  known  in  connection  with  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  features  in  the  Crimean 
war — the  attack  on  the  Iledan)  had  re- 
ceived intelligence  of  tiie  advance  of  the 
Gwalior  contitigent,  and  had  asked,  and 
obtained  leave,  about  the  I4th  of  Novem- 
ber, to  be  allowed  to  detain  detachtnents 
instead  of  forwarding  them  to  Lucknow, 
by  which  means  his  garrison  was  increased, 
until,  on  the  26th  of  November,  it  numbered 
1,700  effective  men.  Among  the  officers 
was  Captain  Mowbray  Thomson,  one  of 
the  four  survivors  of  the  first  Cawnpoor 
massacre.  His  exertions  mainly  contributed 
to  the  timely  construction  of  the  fort 
erected  there ;  which,  after  all,  was  but  "  an 
indifferent  tete-de-pont,  covering  the  bridge 
which  was  thrown  at  that  point  over  the 
Ganges."*  An  eye-witness  writes — "  But 
for  his  working  hand-to-hand  with  his  men 
and  artificers,  from  day  dawn  to  dark,  day 
by  day,  as  though  he  had  a  frame  of  iron, 
nerves  of  steel,  and  an  indomitable  will,  the 
most  important  works  would  have  remained 
unfinished  when  the  late  fearful  storm  broke 
upon  us."f  Captain  Thomson's  knowledge 
of  native  character,  and  his  kindly  disposi- 
tion, gave  him  great  influence  with  the 
natives,  4,000  of  whom  were  constantly 
employed;  the  digging  being  done  by  the 
men,  who  received  twopence  a-day  for 
labouring  from  sunrise  to  sunset ;  the 
women  and  childijen,  who  cairied  away 
the  earth  in  their  hands,  earning  each  a 
penny.f 

Sir  Colin  Campbell's  instructions  to 
General  Windham  were,  "  not  to  move  out 
to  attack,  unless  compelled  to  do  so  by 
circumstances,  to  save  the  bombardment  of 

•  Defence  of  Cawnpoor  in  November,  1857 :  by 
Colonel  Adye,C.B.;  p.  3. 

t  Letter  dated  "  Cawnpoor,  December  7lh."— 
Times,  January  28ih,  1858. 

}  Thomson's  Story  of  Cawnpoor,  p.  221. 

§  Colonel  Adye's  Defence  of  Cawnpoor. 

y  Sir  Colin,  in  conversing  with  Mr.  Russell  at 
Cawnpoor,  "  laid  the  greatest  stress  on  the  all- 
importance  of  handling  soldiers  judiciously  when 


the  ititrenchment."§  The  difficulty  lay  in 
deciding  what  circumstances  would  warrant 
a  movement  which  at  Lucknow  and  at 
Agra  had  produced  such  disastrous  results. 
General  Windham  considered  that  it  would 
be  better  to  run  the  risk  of  meeting,  rather 
than  of  waiting,  the  approach  of  the  con- 
joined force  of  the  Nairn's  troops  and  the 
Gwalior  contingent.  He  was  quite  new  to 
Indian  warfaie  :  he  must  have  heard  how 
easily  Havelock  had  driven  the  Nana  from 
his  positions  at  Cawnpoor  and  at  Bithoor ; 
but  he  does  not  appear  to  have  understood, 
that  the  Gwalior  contingent,  a  compact  and 
disciplined  force,  possessed  of  a  siege-train, 
and  the  knowledge  needful  for  its  use, 
formed  a  new  element  in  the  rebel  cause; 
and  neither  he  nor  any  other  person,  at 
this  time,  suspected  the  ability  of  Tantia 
Topee,  or  his  manner  of  handling  the  Nana's 
beaten  and  dispirited  troops.  Moreover, 
the  English  force  was  composed  of  detach- 
ments which  had  never  before  acted  together 
in  the  field  ;  and  some  of  them  (just  arrived 
from  England)  had  been  engaged,  under 
Windham,  in  two  unsuccessful  attacks 
against  the  Redan — a  circumstance  which 
Sir  Colin  himself  subsequently  alluded  to, 
in  reference  to  the  second  series  of  disasters 
at  Cawnpoor. II 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th  of  Novem- 
ber, Windham  set  forth  with  1,200  infantry, 
100  sowars,  and  eight  guns,  in  the  hope  of 
repelling  20,000  men  with  40  guns.  After 
marching  eight  or  nine  miles,  he  came  upon 
the  advanced  guard  of  the  enemy,  drawn 
up  in  the  dry  bed  of  the  Pandoo  Nuddee. 
Falling  upon  them  without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  he  carried  their  position  at  the- 
first  rush,  and  chased  them  through  a  vil- 
lage half  a  mile  in  the  rear;  but  soon  the 
main  body  of  the  rebels  was  seen  advanc- 
ing in  such  strength,  that  Windham  gave 
the  order  for  retreat ;  and,  closely  followed, 
but  not  attacked,  by  the  enemy,  fell  back 
upon  Cawnpoor,  and  encamped  for  the  night 
in  a  plain  outside  the  city.1[ 

The  next  morning,  the  enemy,  led  by 
Tantia  Topee,  suddenly  surrounded  and  as- 
saulted the  force.     Windham  considering, 

they  are  taken  under  fire  for  the  first  time.  'It  may 
take  years  to  make  infantry  which  has  once  re- 
ceived a  severe  check,  feel  confidence  in  itself  again; 
indeed,  it  will  never  be  done,  perhaps,  except  by  the 
most  careful  handling.  It  is  still  longer  before 
cavalry,  once  beaten,  recover  the  dash  and  enterprise 
which  constitute  so  much  of  their  merit. ' " — Diary, 
vol.  i.,  p.  200. 

^  General  Windham's  despatch,  Nov.  30th,  1857. 


BRIGADIER  WILSON  KILLED  AT  CAWNPOOR— NOV.  28th,  1857.       473 


it  would  appear,  that  he  had  only  na- 
tives to  contend  with,  and  quite  unversed 
in  the  Mahratta  tactics  which  his  oj)ponent 
had  studied  so  zealously,  left  his  flank  ex- 
posed, and  made  no  provision  for  the  safety 
of  his  camp.  At  the  end  of  five  hours' 
fighting  in  front,  he  proceeded,  in  person, 
to  ascertain  the  state  of  things  in  the  in- 
trenchments,  and  found  that  the  enemy  had 
turned  our  flank,  penetrated  into  the  town, 
and  attacked  the  new  fort.  An  order  was 
given  for  a  general  retirement  within  the 
outer  intrenchment.  A  panic  ensued  ;  the 
camp-followers  fled ;  and  the  advanced  camp, 
with  much  equipage  and  baggage,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  In  the  hurried 
flight,  a  24-pounder  was  overturned  and 
abandoned  in  one  of  the  narrow  streets  in 
the  city.  Colonel  Adye  and  Captain  Aus- 
tin crept  out  at  midnight  with  a  hundred 
men,  and  brought  it  in. 

Still  desirous  of  not  entirely  shutting 
himself  up  within  the  intrenchments,  the 
general  made  arrangements  for  holding  the 
broken  and  wooded  ground  between  the 
town  and  the  Ganges,  where  the  church 
and  assembly-rooms  stood.  These  build- 
ings contained  nearly  all  the  field-stores 
and  luggage  of  the  commander-in-chief's 
army ;  which,  with  unaccountable  impru- 
dence, Windham  had  neglected  to  remove 
within  the  works  during  the  night  of  the 
27th.  On  the  following  morning  the  enemy 
occupied  the  town,  erected  batteries  in  front 
of  it,  and  carried  on  the  attack  with  such 
rigour,  that,  before  the  close  of  the  day,  the 
garrison  had  everywhere  fallen  back  into 
the  intrenchments ;  leaving  the  commissa- 
riat stores,  including  500  tents,  11,000 
rounds  of  Enfield  cartridges,  a  large  quan- 
tity of  saddlery  and  harness,  and  similar 
camp  requisites  (for  the  manufacture  of 
which  Cawnpoor  is  famous),  with  officers' 
and  soldiers'  baggage,  and  private  property 
valued  at  £50,000,  in  the  hands  of  the 
rebels.  There  had  been  much  determined 
courage  evinced  during  the  day;  but  its 
results  were  marred  by  the  want  of  eff"ective 
combination.  The  Rifle  Brigade  long  held 
its  ground  most  bravely;  but  the  palm 
of  suff"ering  and  of  daring  on  that  calamitous 
day,  is  generally  accorded  to  H.M.  64th. 

The  guns  from  the  centre  battery  of 
the  enemy  were  committing  fearful  havoc 
amongst  Brigadier  Carthew's  brigade.  Per- 
ceiving this,  the  colonel  of  the  64th,  Briga- 
dier Wilson,  headed  a  successful  charge  on 
the  battery;  but   being  unsupported,  the 

VOL.  II.  3  p 


advantage,  dearly  gained,  was  soon  lost.  It 
appears  that  the  movement  was  made  with- 
out the  order  of  the  general  commanding; 
for  Windham,  in  his  despatch,  speaks  of  Bri- 
gadier Wilson,  as  having  "  thought  proper, 
prompted  by  zeal  for  the  service,  to  lead 
his  regiment  against  four  guns,  placed  in 
front  of  Brigadier  Carthew."  The  regi- 
ment (H.M.  64th)  was  represented  by  only 
fourteen  officers  and  160  men  ;  but  detach- 
ments of  H.M.  84th  and  82nd,  raised  the 
number  associated  in  the  attack  to  300. 
The  chief  loss  fell  on  the  64th :  seven 
officers  were  killed,  and  two  wounded ;  while 
of  the  men,  eighteen  were  killed,  and  fifteen 
wounded.  Brave  old  Brigadier  Wilson 
(*hose  horse,  wounded  in  two  places,  carried 
him  with  difficulty  over  the  rough  ground) 
was  pushing  on  with  all  possible  speed  to 
the  front,  shouting,  "  Now,  boys,  you  have 
them!"  when  he  was  struck  down,  mortally 
wounded.  The  men  carried  him  to  the 
rear,  while  he  continued  to  urge  them  to 
maintain  the  honour  of  the  corps.  Major 
Stirling  then  took  command  of  the  64th,  and 
was  killed  in  the  act  of  spiking  a  gun ;  as 
was  also  Captain  M'Crea,  a  very  promising 
officer,  who  was  surrounded  and  cut  to  pieces 
while  spiking  the  enemy's  fourth  gun.* 

It  is  said  that  the  charge  was  not  only 
unsupported,  but  that  the  British  guns 
opened  fire  on  the  64th  ;t  and  Brigadier 
Carthew  mentions  the  fact  of  his  own  troops 
firing  in  the  dark  into  each  other,  as  one 
of  the  causes  which  rendered  his  position 
untenable,  and  obliged  him  to  retire  with- 
out permission,  and  without  waiting  for  the 
reinforcements  which,  in  compliance  with 
his  request.  General  Windham  was  then 
bringing  to  his  aid — a  precipitancy  cen- 
sured by  the  commander-in-chief.J 

The  retirement  of  Brigadier  Carthew  was 
but  a  part  of  the  circle  of  misfortune  which 
seemed  to  be  again  closing  round  a  British 
garrison  in  Cawnpoor.  The  total  losses, 
during  the  three  days,  had  exceeded  300 
men ;  and,  worse  than  all,  the  heavy  plunge 
of  round  shot  into  the  Ganges,  near  the 
bridge  of  boats,  showed  that  the  enemy 
understood  the  importance  of  endeavouring 
to  intercept  the  communication  with  the 
force  then  on  the  road  from  Lucknow.  The 
vexed  and  weary  garrison  looked  forward 

•  Letter  from  officer  attached  to  the  64th. — Times, 
January  16th,  1838. 

t  Letter  from  a  civilian,  dated  "  Cawnpoor,  Nov. 
28th."— 2Yme«,  January  16th,  1858. 

X  Sir  Colin  Campbell's  despatch,  Dec.  9th,  1867. 


474      CAWNPOOR  RELIEVED  BY  SIR  C.  CAMPBELL— NOV,  28th,  1857. 


anxiously  to  what  the  next  morning,  or  even 
the  coming  night,  might  produce,  when  the 
clatter  of  a  few  horsemen  was  suddenly- 
heard  as  they  passed  over  the  bridge,  and 
ascended,  at  a  rapid  pace,  the  road  which 
led  to  the  fort.  The  soldiers  on  the  ramparts 
joyfully  announced  the  arrival  of  the  fore- 
runners of  the  relieving  force.  The  parapet 
was  soon  crowded ;  and  when  the  foremost 
rider,  an  old  man  with  grey  hair,  was 
recognised  as  the  commander-in-chief  (he 
having  ridden  on,  with  his  staff,  in  advance 
of  the  column),  cheer  after  cheer  greeted 
his  arrival ;  till  the  enemy,  surprised  at  the 
commotion,  for  a  few  minutes  ceased  firing. 

The  warmth  of  the  reception  was  gratify- 
ing; but  the  position  in  which  Sir  Colin 
found  himself,  was  one  of  complicated  peril 
and  difficulty.  The  unauthorised  retire- 
ment of  Brigadier  Carthew  occurred  imme- 
diately after  Sir  Colin's  arrival  in  the  fort, 
and  left  the  town  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
who  took  possession  of  it  during  the  night, 
and  were  allowed  to  retain  it,  because  the 
entire  force  was  engaged  in  the  protection 
of  the  families  and  the  wounded.  The 
passage  of  the  river  occupied  thirty  hours, 
and  was  effected  with  perfect  safety;  the 
fire  of  the  Naval  Brigade  (superintended  by 
Peel),  and  of  all  the  field  batteries,  as  well 
as  the  guns  from  the  intrenchment,  having 
succeeded  in  silencing  the  rebels,  who  then 
proceeded  to  the  assembly-rooms  and  ad- 
joining houses,  appropriated  what  they 
could  of  the  property  stored  therein,  and 
made  a  bonfire  of  the  remaining  commis- 
sariat field-stores  and  baggage  of  the  troops 
returning  from  Lucknow. 

Sir  Colin's  mortification  at  being  com- 
pelled to  stand  as  it  were  with  his  hands 
tied,  and  witness  the  conflagration,  must 
have  been  extreme.  He  had  laboured 
strenuously,  while  at  Calcutta,  to  make  full 
provision  for  the  troops,  and  now  the  work 
had  to  be  done  again  in  his  absence.  His 
telegram  to  Lord  Canning,  reveals  his  fear 
of  the  procrastination  which  had  already 
aggravated  his  difficulties ;  and  he  entreats 
his  lordship  "to  give  the  most  urgent  orders 
for  the  transmission  of  great-coats,  &c.,  to 
supply  the  deficiency  occasioned  by  the 
destruction  of  all  the  clothing  of  the  eight 
or  ten  regiments  here  and  at  Lucknow."*- 

Cool-headed  as  Sir  Colin  was  when  the 
safety  of  others  was  concerned,  the  High- 
land blood  was  apt  to  tingle  in  his  fingers, 

•  Telegram,  dated  "  Cawnpoor,  December  2nd, 
1867." 


even  when  holding  the  pen ;  and  the  caution 
of  the  commander  overruling  the  daring 
of  the  man,  is  conspicuous  in  the  following 
paragraphs  of  one  of  his  most  interesting 
despatches : — 

"  I  am  obliged  to  submit  to  the  hostile  occupation 
of  Cawnpoor,  until  the  actual  dispatch  of  all  my 
incumbrances  towards  Allahabad  has  been  effected. 

"  However  disagreeable  this  may  be,  and  although 
it  may  tend  to  give  confidence  to  the  enemy,  it  is 
precisely  one  of  those  cases  in  which  no  risk  must 
be  run.  1  trust  when  the  time  has  arrived  for  me 
to  act  with  due  regard  to  these  considerations,  to 
see  the  speedy  evacuation  of  his  present  position  by 
the  enemy."t 

On  the  night  of  the  3rd  of  December, 
Sir  Colin  got  rid  of  his  "  incumbrances" — 
all  the  families,  and  half  the  wounded,  being 
finally  dispatched  from  the  camp ;  and,  in 
the  course  of  the  two  following  days,  his 
arrangements  were  completed  for  consign- 
ing the  remainder  of  the  wounded  to  places 
of  safety.  Meantime  the  enemy  had  vainly 
striven  to  destroy  the  floating  bridge  by 
fire-boats,  and  had  been  defeated  in  an 
attack  on  the  British  pickets. 

On  the  morning  of  the  6th,  Sir  Colin, 
with  a  force  composed  of  5,000  infantry, 
600  cavalry,  and  35  guns,  issued  from 
the  intrenchments,  to  combat  25,000  men, 
with  40  guns;  divided  into  two  distinct 
bodies — that  of  the  Nana  Sahib,  under 
the  command  of  Tantia  Topee  and  Bala 
Sahib,  the  Nana's  brother,  having  its 
line  of  retreat  on  Bithoor ;  and  that  of  the 
Gwalior  contingent,  whose  retreat  lay 
towards  Calpee.  Sir  Colin's  plan  was  to 
throw  himself  on  the  right  of  the  foe,  which 
"  was  both  tactically  the  weakest,  and 
strategically  the  most  important,  point  to 
gain;"  defeat  it  before  it  could  be  rein- 
forced from  the  centre;  "seizethe  camp  of 
the  Gwalior  contingent,  and  establish  him- 
self, o  cheval,  upon  their  line  of  retreat; 
thus  at  once  striking  at  his  enemy's  com- 
munications, whilst  he  preserved  his  own. "J 

The  plan  was  admirable,  and  success- 
fully executed.  The  struggle  was  protracted 
through  the  day ;  but  it  terminated  in  the 
complete  defeat  and  dispersion  of  the 
enemy,  and  the  capture  of  thirty-two  of 
their  guns,  with  only  ninety-nine  casualties 
on  the  part  of  the  victors.  The  battle  was 
full  of  remarkable  particulars ;  but  Sir 
Colin  specially  called  the  notice  of  the 
governor-general  to  the  "incalculable  ser- 
vice" rendered  by  "  Captain  Peel  and  his 

t  Despatch,  December  2nd,  1857. 

X  Lieut.-colonel  Alison. — Blackwood,  Oct,  1858. 


BRITISH  REOCCUPATION  OP  CAWNPOOR— DEC.  6th,  1857.        475 


gallant  sailors,"  in  clearing  the  front  with 
their  guns :  adding,  that  "  on  this  occasion 
there  was  the  sight  beheld  of  24-pounder 
guns  advancing  with  the  first  line  of  skir- 
mishers." The  rout  was  complete,  and  was 
most  vigorously  carried  out.  Sir  Colin  led 
the  pursuit  of  the  Gwalior  contingent ;  and 
Colonel  Alison,  in  his  grapliic  description 
of  the  engagement,  and  of  the  condition  of 
the  abandoned  camp  (which  proved  that  the 
onslaught  had  been  unexpected),  writes — 

"  For  fourteen  miles  the  cavalry  and  horse  artil- 
lery rode  at  the  gallop;  at  every  step  ammunition- 
waggons  and  baggage-carts  fell  into  our  hands  j 
every  body  of  infantry  presenting  any  appearance 
of  consistency  was  ridden  down  and  dispersed  ;  the 
slaughter  was  great ;  till  at  last,  despairing  of  effect- 
ing their  retreat  by  the  road,  the  rebels,  disbanding 
and  throwing  away  their  arms  and  accoutrements, 
dispersed  over  the  country  on  each  side,  and  flying 
into  the  jungle  and  the  cultivation,  shrouded  them- 
selves in  its  thick  cover  from  the  red  sabres  and 
lances  of  the  horsemen.  *  *  *  So  complete  was 
the  surprise,  that,  in  the  abandoned  camp,  the  chupat- 
ties  were  found  heating  upon  the  fires ;  the  bullocks 


stood  tied  beside  the  hackeries;  the  sick  and  wounded 
were  lying  in  hospitals;  the  smith  left  his  forge, 
and  the  surgeon  his  ward,  to  fly  from  the  avenging 
bayonets.  Every  tent  was  found  exactly  as  its  late 
occupants  had  sprung  from  it.  Many  arose  too  late, 
for  the  conquerors  spared  none  that  day;  neither 
the  sick  man  in  his  weakness,  nor  the  strong  man 
in  his  strength."* 

The  triumphant  reoccupation  of  Cawn- 
poor  was  the  last  salient  point  in  the 
eventful  year  1857.  Sir  Colin  was  anxious 
to  proceed  against  Futtehghur,  but  was 
compelled  to  wait  until  the  return  of  the 
bullock-waggons  and  camels  employed  in 
the  transport  of  the  women  and  children  to 
Allahabad,  should  afford  him  means  of 
transport  to  the  army.  Meantime,  the 
remains  of  the  Gwalior  contingent  reas- 
sembled at  Calpce ;  and  Tantia  Topee, 
with  wonderful  energy  and  perseverance, 
betook  himself  to  the  oft-repeated  task  of 
gathering  together  the  Nana's  rabble  re- 
tainers, who  seemed  to  have  been  scattered 
to  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


REOCCUPATION  OF  FUTTEHGHUR;  SIEGE  AND  REOCCUPATION  OF  LUCKNO W.- 
JANUARY, FEBRUARY,  AND  MARCH,  1858. 


The  object  which  the  commander-in-chief 
deemed  most  important,  was  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  communication  with  Delhi  and 
Agra,  by  the  reduction  and  reoccupation 
of  the  Central  Doab.  A  great  concentric 
movement  was  therefore  made,  by  sweeping, 
with  several  columns,  the  rebel  masses  from 
all  sides  of  the  Doab  upon  Futtehghur,  and 
thrusting  them  from  thence  across  the 
Ganges,  into  Oude  and  Rohilcund.  Colonel 
Seaton,  with  1,900  men,  marched  from  Delhi 
by  the  Grand  Trunk  road,  through  the 
Upper  Doab,  in  the  middle  of  December, 
and,  after  defeating  a  large  rebel  force  at 
Gungeeree  and  Puttialce,  took  possession 
of  Mynpoorie,  after  encountering  and  con- 
quering Tej  Sing,  the  rajah,  outside  the 
walls.  The  position  was  important;  Myn- 
poorie being  close  to  the  junction  of  the 
Agra  and  Delhi  roads  with  that  to  Cawn- 
•  Blackwood,  October,  1858. 


poor.  Brigadier  Walpole,  with  2,000  men, 
swept  through  the  Lower  Doab,  in  the 
direction  of  Calpee  and  the  Jumna,  by 
Akbarpoor  and  Etawah,  and  joined  Seaton 
at  Bewur,  near  Mynpoorie,  whence  the 
combined  force  proceeded  to  Futtehghur. 

Upon  this  point.  Sir  Colin,  at  the  head 
of  the  main  body  (about  5,000  strong), 
likewise  advanced,  quitting  Cawnpoor  on 
the  24th  of  December,  and  clearing  the 
country  on  his  flanks  as  he  advanced. 
Apart  from  any  immediate  military  object, 
he  considered  it  necessary,  for  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  authority,  that  the  march  of 
the  troops  should  be  deliberate  ;t  and,  in  a 
military  point  of  view,  the  execution  of  his 
plan  required,  not  haste,  but  precision,  and 
completeness  of  execution.  Precision  is 
not  easily  obtained  from  Indian  troops ; 
but  Sir  Colin,  with  the  assistance  of 
t  Sir  C.  Campbell's  despatch,  January  6th,  1858. 


476         BRITISH  REOCCUPATION  OF  FUTTEHGHUR— JAN.  2nd,  1858. 


General  Mansfield,  secured  it  in  an  unpre- 
cedented degree,  by  exertions  of  wliich  it 
would  be  impossible  to  calculate  either  the 
amount  or  the  value.  Sir  Colin  had  no 
intention  of  marching  to  Futtehghur,  or 
provoking  an  encounter  with  the  uawab  of 
Furruckabad's  troops,  until  the  columns 
under  Seaton  and  Walpole  should  have 
joined  the  main  body :  but  on  reaching 
the  iron  suspension-bridge  across  the  Kalee 
Nuddee  (Black  '  River)  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1858,  he  found  a  party  of  the 
enemy  actively  employed  in  endeavouring 
to  destroy  the  bridge.  In  this  they  failed  : 
the  damage  done  was  repaired  in  a  few 
hours ;  and,  on  the  following  day,  the  troops 
were  preparing  to  cross  it,  when  the  nawab's 
force,  consisting  of  about  four  battalions 
of  regular  infantry  (41st  N.I.),  a  large 
body  of  cavalry,  and  eight  guns,  appeared 
to  obstruct  the  passage  of  the  river.  An 
engagement  followed,  in  which  the  British, 
without  losing  a  life,  defeated  the  enemy, 
captured  eight  guns  (several  of  which  had 
never  been  fired,  having  come  up  too  late), 
and  slaughtered  great  numbers  of  sepoys ; 
the  cavalry,  under  Hope  Grant,  pursuing 
the  fugitives  for  five  or  six  miles,  spearing 
and  cutting  them  down  at  every  step,  till 
they  found  refuge  in  their  camp  close  to 
Futtehghur  fort.  Pressing  on  the  next 
day.  Sir  Colin  found  the  camp  and  fort,  as 
well  as  the  town  of  Furruckabad,  abandoned. 
The  enemy  had  fled  in  such  haste  across 
the  Ganges,  that  they  had  not  even  cut  the 
boat-bridge  in  their  rear,  or  destroyed  the 
gun-carriage  manufactory,  or  set  fire  to 
the  great  stores  of  seasoned  wood  which  it 
contained ;  and  thus  property  to  the  amount 
of  £100,000  was  saved  to  government.  A 
rebel  chief,  named  Najir  Khan,  had  at- 
tempted to  make  a  stand  in  Furruckabad ; 
but  he  was  given  up,  with  some  guns  which 
he  had  seized,  by  the  inhabitants  them- 
selves, under  the  threat  of  the  destruction 
of  the  town.  "  He  was  executed,"  Colonel 
Alison   writes,    "on    the   4th,    with    some 

•  Mr.  Power  was  afterwards  suspended  for 
"  severity,  and  other  causes."— Thnes,  July  7th,  1858. 

t  Mr.  Russell,  writingatFuttehghur  in  May,  1858, 
states — "  In  this  very  place  we  hung  a  relative  of  the 
iiawab  of  Furruckabad,  under  circumstances  of  most 
disgusting  indignity,  whilst  a  chaplain  stood  by 
among  the  spectators.  It  is  actually  true  that  the 
miserable  man  entertained  one  or  two  officers  of  a 
Uritish  regiment  in  his  palace  the  day  before  his 
death,  and  that  he  believed  his  statements  with 
respect  to  his  innocence  were  received  j  but  in  a 
few  hours  after  he  had  acted  as  host  to  a  colonel  in 


circumstances  of  needless  cruelty,  having 
been  forced  to  eat  hog's  flesh,  and  flogged 
severely  first — deeds  unworthy  of  a  great 
and  victorious  people."  The  newly  re- 
instated magistrate,  Mr.  Power,*  appears  to 
have  been  the  person  responsible  for  this 
barbarity ;  and  Mr.  Raikes  mentions,  that 
two  nawabs  of  Furruckabad-j-  were  hung 
on  the  26th  of  January,  by  Mr.  Power's 
order,  for  being  implicated  in  the  murders 
and  robberies  of  the  British  at  Futtehghur. 
Who  these  two  men  were,  does  not  appear; 
for  magistrates  were  not,  at  this  time,  very 
particular  about  establishing  the  identity 
of  the  men  they  hung :  but  the  real  nawab 
escaped,  and  eventually  obtained  a  more 
formal  trial,  and  more  lenient  sentence. 
His  deserted  palace  was  found  to  be  full  of 
luxurious  appliances ;  mirrors,  chandeliers, 
pictures,  books,  were  in  abundance :  no 
human  beings  remained  there,  except  two 
or  three  old  women  in  the  zenana;  but 
cats,  parrots,  and  pet  dogs  roamed  through 
the  spacious  rooms,  clamorous  for  food. 
Round  the  family  mausolenm,  starving  ani- 
mals wandered- — always,  till  then,  cherished 
for  their  rare  beauty ;  an  elephant  had 
broken  loose,  and  helped  himself  to  food ; 
but  seven  beautiful  horses,  less  fortunate, 
were  tightly  fastened,  and  stood  pawing 
the  ground,  and  looking  piteously  for  some 
one  to  give  them  the  grain,  ready  steeped 
for  their  use,  which  stood  within  sight, 
but  out  of  reach. 

The  reoccupation  of  Futtehghur  being 
accomplished.  Sir  Colin  desired  to  follow 
up  his  advantage  by  the  immediate  invasion 
of  Rohilcund,  and  the  destruction  of  the 
rebel  government  established  by  Khan 
Bahadoor  Khan  at  Bareilly.  He  wished 
to  secure  every  step  as  he  advanced — to 
leave  nothing  behind  him ;  but  steadily 
|)ressiug  on,  to  roll  back  the  rebel  force  on 
one  point,  and  destroy  it  there.  Lord 
Canning  was  of  a  different  opinion ;  and, 
by  the  imperative  orders  of  the  governor- 
general  in  council,  the  commander-in-chief 

our  army,  he  was  pounced  upon  by  the  civil  power, 
and  hanged  in  a  way  wliich  excited  the  displeasure 
of  every  one  who  saw  it,  and  particularly  of  Sir 
William  Peel.  All  these  kinds  of  vindictive,  un- 
christian, Indian  torture,  such  as  sewing  Moham- 
medans in  pig-skins,  smearing  them  with  pork-fat 
before  execution,  and  burning  their  bodies,  and 
forcing  Hindoos  to  defile  themselves,  are  disgrace- 
ful, and  ultimately  recoil  on  ourselves.  They  are 
spiritual  and  mental  tortures  to  which  we  have  no 
right  to  resort,  and  which  we  dare  not  perpetrate 
in  the  face  of  Europe." — Diary,  vol.  ii.,  p.  43. 


SIR  COLIN  CAMPBELL  OVERRULED  BY  LORD  CANNING.        477 


(recognised  as  the  first  strategist  in  the 
I3ritish  army)  was  compelled  to  renounce  his 
matured  plan;  and,  instead  of  proceeding 
to  reduce  Rohilcundj  for  which  his  force 
was  fully  adequate,  was  obliged  to  attempt 
the  subjugation  of  Oude,  for  which  it  was 
wholly  insufficient,  in  consequence  of  the 
strong  detachments  necessarily  posted  at 
numerous  important  stations,  especially  at 
Cawnpoor  and  Futtehghur.  This  inter- 
ference came  at  a  most  unlucky  moment ; 
for  "  the  army  was  concentrated,  and  in  the 
highest  spirits ;  the  weather  cool,  and 
admirably  suited  for  military  operations; 
the  hot  months  coming  on,  when  movement 
is  death."*  Sir  Colin  behaved  admirably. 
Instead  of  quarrelling  with  Lord  Can- 
ning (as  Sir  Charles  Napier  had  done  with 
Lord  Dalhousie),  he  gave  way ;  remarking, 
that  "the  governor-general  has  absolute 
control  over,  and  command  of,  the  army  in 
the  field,  so  far  as  the  direction  of  the  cam- 
paign and  the  points  of  operation  are  con- 
cerned."! The  general  at  once  altered  his 
arrangements,  and  commenced  concen- 
trating his  resources  in  men,  stores,  and 
guns,  on  Cawnpoor;  while  he  continued  at 
Futtehpoor — a  position  which,  by  threaten- 
ing alike  Bareilly  and  Lucknow,  gave  no 
indication  of  his  intentions.  Here  he  re- 
mained for  nearly  a  month,  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  his  own  troops;  bearing,  with  quiet 
dignity,  the  abuse  of  the  Indian  press,  for 
a  delay  which  was  forced  upon  him  in 
entire  opposition  to  his  own  judgment.* 
Friends  and  foes  were  equally  ignorant  of 
his  intentions;  and,  by  various  feints,  he 
kept  the  great  mass  of  the  Rohilcund  troops 
on  the  watch  for  his  expected  movements. 
The  rebels  heard  that  lie  had  personally  ex- 
amined the  broken  bridge  over  the  Ram- 
gunga  river;  and  soon  after  this,  5,000  of  the 
Rohilcund  troops,  with  five  guns,  crossed 
the  Ganges  twelve  miles  above  Futtehghur, 
and  seized  upon  Shumsabad,  a  village  in 
which  British  authority  liad  been  re-estab- 
lished. On  the  27th  of  January,  Brigadier 
Hope  marched  out  against  them,  drove 
them  from  Shumsabad,  captured  their  camp 
and  four  of  their  guns,  and  pursued  them 
for  nine  miles. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  Sir  Colin's  pre- 
parations were  sufficiently  advanced  to  ren- 

•  Colonel  Alison. — Blackwood,  October,  1858. 

t  Kussell's  Diary,  vol.  i.,  p.  211. 

X  The  general  order  issued  by  Sir  Colin  Campbell 
at  the  close  of  the  campaign  of  1857-'8,  contained  a 
reference  to  the  plan  of  operations,  as  having  been  ex- 


der  him  indifiFerent  to  further  concealment ; 
he  therefore  proceeded  to  Cawnpoor,  and 
from  thence  paid  a  short  visit  to  the  gover- 
nor-general, who  was  then  at  Allahabad.  On 
returning  to  Cawnpoor,  Sir  Colin  expressed 
himself  ready  to  march  on  Lucknow.  But 
Lord  Canning  again  interposed  an  obstacle. 
Jung  Bahadoor,  at  the  head  of  9,000 
Goorkas,  was  on  his  way  to  join  the  army ; 
and  would,  it  was  considered,  feel  slighted 
if  the  attack  on  Lucknow  were  made  with- 
out him.  Sir  Colin,  who  had  by  this  time 
made  ample  provision  for  doing  his  own 
work  in  his  own  way,  bore  this  new  impe- 
diment with  manifest  impatience  ;  until  at 
length,  wearied  by  the  repeated  delays  of 
the  Goorkas  (caused  by  their  bad  organisa- 
tion, and  deficient  arrangements  regard- 
ing transport,  food,  and  ammunition),  he 
obtained  from  Lord  Canning  an  unwilling 
assent  (given  in  very  vague  terms)  to  start 
without  waiting  for  these  auxiliaries.  To- 
wards the  end  of  February  the  move  com- 
menced, and  the  army  was  seen  massing 
itself  all  along  the  road  between  Calpee 
and  Bunnee,  like  a  snake  gathering  up  fold 
after  fold,  in  readiness  for  a  spring.  The 
enemy  at  Lucknow  watched  with  affright 
the  strength  of  the  force  which  they  saw 
gathering  with  such  slow,  sure,  almost 
mechanical  action.  Huzrut  Mahal,  the 
Begum  of  Oude,  with  prayers  and  tears, 
besought  the  chiefs  to  drive  Outram  from 
the  Alumbagh  before  the  main  army  should 
join  him.  On  one  occasion,  when  indig- 
nantly haranguing  the  durbar,  she  sud- 
denly tore  the  veil  from  her  beautiful 
face,  and  denounced  her  astonished  hearers 
for  their  indifference  to  the  wrongs  and 
sufferings  of  their  countrywomen.  Re- 
peated, but  wholly  unsuccessful,  attempts 
were  made  on  the  Alumbagh ;  and  in  one 
of  these  (25th  of  February),  the  Begum 
appeared  in  the  field,  mounted  on  an  ele- 
phant. But  her  efforts  were  all  in  vain : 
her  short,  uneasy  term  of  power  was  well- 
nigh  over;  and  she  was  to  be  driven  forth, 
a  hunted  fugitive,  from  her  native  city  :  she 
had  little  to  hope  from  the  chances  of  war; 
for  Colin  Campbell,  with  20,000  men  and 
180  guns,  was  advancing,  with  the  avowed 
resolve  of  crushing  all  opposition  with  artil- 
lery.    "  No  matter  how  long  it  may  take," 

clusively  framed  by  Lord  Canning.  This  order  was 
commented  on  in  parliament  by  the  Ear!  of  Ellen- 
borough,  Sir  James  Graham  and  others,  as  proving 
the  extent  to  which  the  plans  of  the  commander-in- 
cnief  had  been  overruled  by  the  governor-general. 


478 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  LUCKNOW— MARCH  16th,  1858. 


he  said ;  "  I  am  determined  to  have  no 
street  fighting.  I'll  not  have  my  men  shot 
down  from  houses." 

The  progress  of  the  siege  has  been  mi- 
nutely described  by  Mr.  Russell,  in  whom  Sir 
Coliu  placed  entire  confidence.  The  "cor- 
respondent" reached  the  camp  shortly  before 
the  march  commenced  ;  and  even  he  was  un- 
able to  find  words  in  which  to  bring  before 
the  "  mind's  eye  a  train  of  baggage  animals, 
twenty-five  miles  long  ;  a  string  of  16,000 
camels;  a  siege-train  park, covering  a  square 
of  400  by  400  yards,  with  12,000  oxen  at- 
tached to  it ;  and  a  following  of  60,000 
non-combatants."  The  baggage  of  the 
commander-in-chief  was  contained  in  a 
couple  of  small  portmanteaux,  and  he  lived 
in  a  subaltern's  tent.  The  chief  of  the 
staff  was,  it  is  said,  equally  moderate  in  his 
personal  requirements;  and  it  is  easy  to 
understand,  that  Sir  Colin  and  General 
Mansfield,  overwhelmed  by  the  mass  of 
baggage  indispensable  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  healthy  men,  and  the  care  of  the  sick 
and  wounded,  were  anxious  to  set  the 
officers  an  example  of  abstaining  from  need- 
lessly increasing  the  burden. 

The  army,  though  large  and  well  ap- 
pointed, was  of  course  not  sufficient  for  the 
investment  of  a  city  twenty  miles  in  cir- 
cumference ;  but  Sir  Colin  considered  that 
by  operating  from  both  sides  of  the  Goom- 
tee,  it  would  be  possible  to  enfilade  many 
of  the  enemy's  new  works,  and  to  close  the 
great  avenues  of  supply  against  the  town. 
Sir  James  Outram,  who  had  been  with- 
drawn from  the  Alumbagh,  was  directed 
to  cross  the  river,  advance  up  the  left 
bank,  and  turn  the  first  line  of  the  works, 
formed  by  the  rampart  running  along  the 
canal  and  abutting  on  the  river,  which  he 
crossed  by  means  of  bridges  of  casks,  pre- 
viously constructed,  and  ready  in  the  engi- 
neers' paik.  A  column  under  Brigadier 
Franks,  which  had  previously  done  good 
service  in  its  march  across  Oude,  finished 
its  separate  labours  by  freeing  the  banks 
of  the  Goomtee  (February  19th)  from  a 
considerable  body  of  mutineers,  and  from 
a  still  larger  number  of  insurgents  led  by 
Nazim  Mehndie  Hossein,  the  chief  who,  with 
his  uncle,  Mohammed  Hossein,  had  once 
protected  British  fugitives;  but  had  since 
joined  the  flower  of  the  Oude  aristocracy  in 
rallying  round  the  standard  of  the  Begum, 
when  her  cause  was  desperate.  The  assault 
on  Lucknow  commenced  on  the  2nd  of 
March  J  the  river  was  bridged  over  on  the 


5th;  and,  on  the  16th,  the  city  was  com- 
pletely in  the  possession  of  the  British.* 

The  points  where  the  fiercest  struggles 
took  place  were  not  the  same  as  on 
former  occasions.  The  Sccnuderbagh  and 
the  Shah  Nujeef  were  easily  gained  ;  but, 
here  and  there,  a  fe^y  men  died  at  their' 
posts  with  a  resolve  which,  in  an  English- 
man, would  have  been  called  heroic,  but 
which,  in  a  native  enemy,  was  called  folly, 
fanaticism,  or  worse.  The  Chuckerwallah, 
or  Yellow  bungalow  (a  building  occupying  an 
important  position  on  the  race-course),  was 
evacuated  by  the  enemy  ;  but  some  sepoys 
remained  behind,  and  defended  themselves 
so  desperately,  that  their  assailants,  after 
losing  several  men  in  killed  and  wounded 
(including  Lieutenant  Anderson,  an  officer 
of  the  Seiks),  withdrew,  and,  by  order  of 
General  Outram,  brought  heavy  artillery  to 
bear  upon  the  house ;  which,  having  had  the 
desired  effect,  the  Seiks  rushed  in,  and 
slaughtered  all  but  one  of  the  defenders. 
He,  faint  and  feeble  with  many  wounds,  was 
brought  out  with  loud  yells,  and  delibe- 
rately tortured.  A  British  officer  who  saw 
the  whole  scene,  has  described  it  with  fear- 
ful minuteness.  Mr.  Russell's  account  rests 
on  the  authority  of  another  eye-witness. 
The  Seiks,  assisted  by  some  Englishmen, 
first  seized  their  victim  by  the  legs,  and 
strove  to  tear  him  in  two.  Failing  in  this, 
they  dragged  him  along,  stabbing  him  in 
the  face  with  their  bayonets  as  they  went, 
till  they  reached  a  fire  of  small  sticks, 
"improvised  for  the  purpose;"  over  which 
they  held  him,  and  deliberately  burnt  him 
to  death.  Those  who  can  endure  to 
follow  these  details  further,  will  find  them 
in  Lieutenant  Majendie's  book.  His  con- 
clusion is,  that  the  saddest  part  of  the 
scene  was  the  fact,  that  "in  this  nine- 
teenth century,  with  its  boasted  civilisa- 
tion and  humanity,  a  human  being  should 
lie  roasting  and  consuming  to  death,  while 
Englishmen  and  Seiks,  gathered  in  little 
knots  around,  looked  calmly  on."t 

The  Kaiserbagh,  and  a  palace  in  its 
immediate  vicinity,  named  tiie  Begum's 
Kothee,  were  the  buildings  in  and  around 
which  the  chief  force  of  the  enemy  was 
concentrated.     The  attack  on  the  Begum's 

•  It  was  said  that  Sir  Colin  telegraphed  to  the 
governor-general — "  I  am  in  Luck  now."  Sir  Charles 
Napier,  on  conquering  Sinde,  used  a  single  word, 
with  two  true  meanings — " Pcccavi." 

j-  Lieutenant  Majendie's  Up  anwng  the  Pandies, 
pp.  180—188. 


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PLUNDER  OF  THE  KAISERBAGH— MARCH  14th,  1858 


479 


palace  was  made  on  the  11th  of  March. 
The  order,  written  by  General  Mansfield, 
under  Sir  Colin's  direction-,  was,  as  usual, 
"cold  and  precise,  and  exact  as  a  bit  of 
Euclid."  Every  conceivable  contingency 
was  foreseen  and  provided  for ;  arrange- 
ments being  especially  made  for  feeding  the 
troops.  But,  for  once.  Sir  Colin  was  not 
there  to  superintend  the  assault.  A  tele- 
gram had  announced  the  approach  of  Jung 
Bahadur,  and  his  official  reception  was 
deemed  indispensable.  The  Jung  (Mr. 
Russell  remarks)  did  not  possess  "  the 
politeness  of  princes,"  and  was  one  hour 
beyond  the  time  he  had  appointed ;  and 
Sir  Colin,  in  full  uniform,  paced  up  and 
down  the  state-tent  fitted  up  for  the  occa- 
sion, and  listened  to  the  heavy,  rolling  fire 
of  musketry  which  announced  the  com- 
mencement of  the  assault,  "as  a  hunter 
does  to  the  distant  cry  of  the  hounds." 
His  patience  was  almost  exhausted,  when 
Jung  Bahadur,  his  two  half-brothers,  and 
a  staff  of  Goorkas,  made  their  appearance, 
all  richly  attired  "in  a  kind  of  compromise 
between  European  and  Asiatic  uniform." 

The  Jung  had  not  been  long  seated 
before  a  commotion  was  heard  among  the 
dense  crowd  of  spectators.  Hope  John- 
stone, clad  in  a  hodden  gray  tunic,  and 
covered  with  dust,  strode  up  the  line  of  the 
Highlanders,  and  gave  his  message  from 
General  Mansfield,  that  the  Begum  Kothee 
was  taken  with  very  little  loss  to  the  British, 
while  that  of  the  enemy  was  estimated  at 
500.  In  the  course  of  the  evening,  Mauu 
Sing,  who  had  not  yet  resolved  to  cast  in 
his  lot  with  the  British,  visited  the  Jung  in 
the  Goorka  camp,  and  is  said  to  have  made 
an  attempt  to  vindicate  his  conduct;  but 
his  harangue   was   cut  short  with  the  ex- 

*  Times,  June  4th,  1858. 

t  The  property  taken  during  the  day  of  legalised 
plunder  must  have  been  enormous ;  and  also  that 
accumulated  by  individuals  after  the  appointment 
of  prize-agents.  Mr.  Russell  speaks  of  the  "  bar- 
gains" bought  by  officers  on  the  spot,  from  soldiers 
hot  from  plunder.  A  silver  casket,  full  of  gems,  was 
offered  to  him  and  another  officer  for  two  gold 
mohurs  and  a  bottle  of  rum  :  unfortunately  they 
could  not  acce])t  the  proposal,  for  in  India  no 
gentleman  carries  money  in  his  pocket;  and  the 
soldier  would  not  hear  of  delay.  "  Shure  its  not 
safe,"  he  said,  "  to  have  any  but  reddy  money  trans- 
actions these  times."  However,  seeing  the  disap- 
pointment of  the  would-be  purchasers,  he  left 
them  a  nose-ring,  and  a  butterfly  with  opal  and 
diamond  wings,  for  a  keepsake.  Subsequently  a 
jeweller  bought  the  prize  for  £7,500.  This  inci- 
dent adds  force  to  the  statement  made  by  Mr. 
Russell,  concerning  "  certain  small  caskets  in  battered 


clamation — "Oh!  don't  make  excuses.  Had 
I  not  visited  London,  it  is  likely  I  should 
have  been  on  the  other  side  myself." 
Maun  Sing  did  not,  however,  venture  within 
reach  of  the  British  authorities,*  but  soon 
fell  back  on  his  own  fortress  of  Shahgunje. 

That  night,  thousands  of  sepoys  fled 
from  the  city.  The  bombardment  of  the 
Kaiserbagh  was  brought  to  a  close  on  the 
14th,  by  its  unexpected  evacuation.  The 
garrison  had,  apparently,  been  panic-struck, 
and  fled,  leaving  some  princesses  of  the 
Onde  family  in  the  zenana.  Sir  Colin,  on 
hearing  this,  immediately  took  measures 
for  their  protection.  Two  or  three  of 
them,  together  with  one  of  the  Oude 
princes  (a  deaf  and  dumb  youth,  twenty 
years  of  age),  had  been  killed  by  a  discharge 
of  musketry  when  the  doors  were  forced 
in;  but  the  others  were  gradually  calmed 
by  the  assurances  of  the  British  officers 
sent  to  escort  them  to  a  place  of  safety. 
One  of  the  ladies,  when  leaving  the  room, 
pointed  out  to  Captain  Johnstone  a  box 
which  stood  beside  her,  as  containing 
jewels  valued  at  £100,000.  He  hid  the 
box,  fulfilled  his  mission,  and  returned  to 
the  zenana.  It  was  on  fire;  and  the  box 
was  gone.  That  day  the  Kaiserbagh  was 
given  up  to  plunder,  and  this  was  one  of  the 
prizes.  There  must  have  been  many  for- 
tunes found  there.  The  Seiks  and  Goor- 
kas were  by  far  the  best  looters.  The 
British  soldiery  did  not  understand  the 
business,  and  sold  the  rich  jewels  which  fell 
into  their  hands  for  very  trifling  suras  of 
ready  money,  and  rum ;  under  the  influ- 
ence of  which,  they  devoted  themselves  to 
the  gratuitous  destruction  of  everything 
not  immediately  convertible  into  money. f 

The  plunder  which  was  accumulated  by 

uniform  cases,  which  contain  estates  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland,  and  snug  fishing  and  shooting-boxes  in 
every  game-haunted  or  salmon-frequented  angle  of 
the  world."  Some  officers  chose  to  loot  for  them- 
selves ;  and  two  are  named  as  having  been  killed 
while  so  doing.  The  occupation,  even  when  suc- 
cessful, was  apt  to  thin  the  ranks  :  a  few  carbons  of 
crystal  were  found  to  necessitate  leave  of  absence, 
on  account  of  severe  domestic  affliction,  among  the 
officers;  and  the  rupees  and  gold  mohurs  hanging 
heavily  round  the  waists  of  the  soldiers,  acted 
injuriously  on  the  liver.  The  process  of  looting 
has  been  described  by  the  same  graphic  writer 
from    whom    the   foregoing    accounts    have    been 

taken.     The  "  banditti  of  H.M. regiment"  are 

depicted  with  their  faces  black  with  powder,  cross- 
belts  specked  with  blood,  and  coats  stuffed  out  with 
all  manner  of  valuables.  They  smashed  the  fowling- 
pieces  and  pistols,  to  get  at  the  gold  mountings  and 
the  stones  set  in  the  stocks.     They  burned  in  a  fire, 


480 


DEATH  OP  SIR  WILLIAM  PEEL— APRIL  27th,  1858. 


the  prize-agents,  was  estimated,  ou  the  5th 
of  April,  as  worth  jg600,000.*  Fresh  dis- 
coveries were  subsequently  made ;  and  a 
few  weeks  later,  the  amount  reached  a 
million  and  a  quarter.f 

The  total  loss  of  the  force  under  Sir  Colin, 
from  the  2nd  to  the  26th  of  March,  was  127 
killed  and  505  wounded.  Captain  Hodson 
was  one  of  the  sixteen  British  officers  killed 
or  mortally  wounded.  He  was  not  with  his 
regiment,  but  was  serving  as  a  volunteer, 
and  assisting  in  a  search  for  concealed 
sepoys,  when  he  received  his  death-wound. 
The  surgeon  of  his  regiment,  who  had  the 
account  from  the  lips  of  the  dying  man, 
states  that  Hodson  "  said  to  his  orderly,  '  I 
wonder  if  any  of  the  rascals  are  in  there  !' 
He  turned  the  angle  of  the  passage,  and 
looked  into  a  dark  room,  which  was  full  of 
sepoys ;  a  shot  was  fired  from  inside ;  he 
staggered  back  some  paces,  and  then  fell. 
A  party  of  Highlanders,  hearing  who  had 
been  hit,  rushed  into  the  room,  and  bayo- 
neted every  one  of  the  enemy."J  This, 
however,  the  Highlanders  would  certainly 
have  done,  whether  an  officer  had  been 
touched  or  not. 

Among  the  wounded  was  Captain  Peel. 
He  had  not  long  before  received  news  of  his 
having  been  made  a  K.C.B. ;  and  his  own 
pleasure  in  receiving  the  distinction  was 
heightened  by  the  cordial  congratulations  of 
his  comrades,  and  the  proud  joy  of  the  sailors. 
He  was  shot  through  the  thigh  while  placing 
his  guns  before  the  Dilkoosha.  The  wound, 
though  dangerous,  was  not  mortal ;  and 
when  the  army  quitted  Lucknow,  Peel,  who 
was  then  slowly  rallying,  was  placed  in  a 
litter  obtained  from  the  hospital;  and  in 
this  manner  is  supposed  to  have  contracted 
small-pox,  of  which  he  died,  April  27th,  1858. 
His  loss  was  felt  as  a  public  and  private 
calamity.  In  him  had  fallen  the  foremost 
naval  officer  of  the  day — a  leader  who  com- 
bined the  rare  gifts  of  inspiring  his  men 
with  confidence  in  his  judgment,  and  un- 

which  they  made  in  the  centre  of  the  court,  brocades 
and  embroidered  shawls,  for  the  sake  of  the  inwrought 
gold  and  silver.  China,  glass,  and  jade,  they  dashed 
to  pieces  in  pure  wantonness;  pictures  they  ripped 
ip  or  tossed  on  the  flames.  After  alluding  tp  "  many 
a  diamond,  emerald,  and  delicate  pearl,"  ris  having 
made  their  way  to  England,  the  "  special  corres- 
pondent" adds— "It  is  just  as  well  that  the  fair 
wearers  (though  jewellery,  after  all,  has  a  deadening 
effect  on  the  sensitiveness  of  the  feminine  con- 
science) saw  not  how  the  glittering  baubles  were 
won,  or  the  scenes  in  which  the  treasure  was  trove." 
—  Ttnus,  May  31st,  1858-  and  Diart/,  vol.  1.,  p.  331. 


bounded  attachment  to  his  person.  There 
was  no  drawback  ou  the  character  of  the 
gallant  sailor.  He  was  a  cordial  friend  and 
a  chivalrous  foe.  Though  the  son  of  a 
prime  minister,  he  had  fought  his  way,  step 
by  step,  to  the  position  which  he  had 
achieved,  while  yet  but  thirty-four  years  of 
age;  and  it  was  truly  said  of  him,  that 
"there  were  not  many  men  among  the 
humblest  soldiers  of  fortune,  who  would 
have  cared  to  incur  risks  similar  to  those 
which  he  seemed  to  court,  day  after  day,  as 
the  normal  occupation  of  his  life."§  He 
had  hoped  to  share  in  the  capture  of  Delhi; 
and  his  detention  on  the  road  was  a  severe 
disappointment;  still  he  never  murmured, 
but  imperilled  his  life  just  as  freely  in  every 
obscure  skirmish  as  at  Lucknow. 

The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  but  vaguely 
estimated.  Upwards  of  3,000  bodies  were 
buried  by  the  conquerors ;  but  the  rebel 
leaders  all  escaped.  The  Begum  held  out 
after  Lucknow  proper  was  taken,  in  a  large 
palace  called  the  Moosabagh,  situated  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Goomtee.  General 
Outram  was  dispatched  to  assault  the  place, 
while  Brigadier  Campbell  was  sent  to  cut 
off  her  retreat  on  the  south  of  the  Moosa- 
bagh. The  Begum  made  overtures  for 
terms  of  surrender;  but  failing  to  obtain 
them,  she  hastened  to  escape  from  the 
troops  sent  to  intercept  or  pursue  her,  and 
fled  to  Bitowlie  with  her  son,  Birjis  Kudder, 
her  chief  counsellor,  Mummoo  Khan,  and 
a  large  body  of  adherents.  The  Moolvee 
also  tied,  with  a  considerable  following,  in  a 
differeut  direction — a  heavy  price  being 
placed  on  his  head. 

An  interesting  episode  in  the  reoccupa- 
tion  of  Lucknow,  was  formed  by  the  rescue 
of  the  three  survivors  of  the  Seetapoor 
fugitives.  The  party  who  found  shelter  in 
the  fort  of  Lonee  Sing,  rajah  of  Mithowlee, 
in  Junell  (including  Sir  Mountstuart  Jack- 
son and  his  sister;  Captain  Orr,  his  wife 
and  daughter ;  Sergeant  Morton  and  little 

•  Times,  May  31st,  1858. 

t  Star,  June  17th,  1858. 

%  Hodson's  Twelve  Years,  p.  370. 

§  Titnes,  June  5th,  1858.  The  writer  of  the  pre- 
sent work  once  asked  Captain  Peel,  whether  the 
story  told  of  his  having  leaped  from  the  foreyard  of 
H.M.S.  Blenheim,  on  the  voyage  from  China,  was 
correct;  and  if  so,  why  he  did  it?  The  reply  was, 
simply  to  try  the  experiment.  It  must  be  re- 
membered, that  this  occurred  before  his  Crimean 
and  Indian  campaigns  had  taught  him  grave  lessons 
of  the  value  of  life. 

II  Ante,  p.  223. 


JUNG  BAHADUR  AND  THE  GOORKAS. 


481 


Sophy  Christian),  though  harshly  used, 
■were  still  kept  by  the  rajah,  safe  in  life 
and  honour,  until  the  20th  of  October. 
He  then  surrendered  them,  in  compliance 
with  the  imperative  demand  of  the  Oude 
durbar ;  and  they  were  taken  to  Lucknow, 
and  imprisoned  in  the  Kaiserbagh.  There 
they  learned,  that  on  the  day  of  the 
entrance  of  the  relieving  force  into  the 
Residency,  nineteen  prisoners,  Europeans 
and  others*  (including  Sir  M.  Jackson's 
younger  sister,  Georgiana),  had  been  mas- 
sacred by  order  of  the  Moolvee  of  Luck- 
now — a  person  concerning  whose  identity 
much  confusion  has  arisen  from  mistakes 
regarding  his  name.f  At  the  time  of  the 
mutiny  at  Fyzabad  he  was  under  sentence 
of  death  for  sedition,  and  he  afterwards 
rose  to  be  a  leader  of  some  eminence,  by 
dint  of  courage  and  military  ability.  His 
tenets  as  a  Sunni,  or  Sonnite,  were  opposed 
to  those  of  the  royal  family  of  Oude,  and 
of  their  chief  adherents;  and  he  became 
the  head  of  a  rival  faction  at  Lucknow. 
Huzrut  Mahal  had  no  desire  to  embark  in 
•A  jehad,  or  holy  war,  against  the  English : 
her  one  aim  was  the  restoration  of  the 
kingdom  to  her  husband,  or,  failing  that, 
to  her  son,  Birjis  Kudder.  Her  minister, 
Mummoo  Khan,  repeatedly  requested  the 
captive  officers  to  inform  Sir  James  Outram 
that  the  durbar  was  willing  to  release  the 
prisoners,  and  to  allow  the  garrison  to 
leave  the  city  unmolested,  should  the 
British  consent  to  abandon  Oude  entirely. 
The  refusal  of  the  officers  to  communicate 
this  proposition  gave  great  offence ;  but 
similar  negotiations  were  attempted  through 
Maun  Sing.  Sir  James  Outram  appears 
to  have  been  instructed  by  the  governor- 
general  to  offer  money,  and  nothing  else, 
for  the  ransom  of  the  prisoners;  and  this 
was  of  course  useless,  when  the  rebel  chiefs 

•  The  native  Christian  community  of  Lucknow 
formed  a  gunj,  or  quarter  of  the  city,  containing 
perhaps  500  persons.  Most  of  these,  fearing  ill- 
treatment  from  the  rebel  Mohammedans,  concealed 
themselves  during  the  siege ;  but  it  does  not  appear 
they  were  searched  for  or  persecuted  by  the  Be- 
gum's government ;  and  it  is  to  her  credit,  that  on 
learning  the  evacuation  of  the  Residency,  she  set 
at  liberty  200  prisoners,  most  of  whom  had  been 
in  the  service  of  the  English. 

t  Captain  Reid,  a  Fyzabad  official,  calls  him 
Slkunder  Shah ;  Captain  Hutchinson  says  he  was 
known  as  Ahmed  All  Shah. — Hutchinson's  Muti- 
nies in  Oude,  p.  34. 

X  Some  medicine,  procured  for  her  use  from  a 
native  doctor,  was  wrapped  in  the  torn  page  of  an 
English  Bible;  and  contained  Isaiah  li.,  12,  13,  14. 

VOL.  II.  3  Q 


knew  that  their  own  lives  were  considered 
forfeited,  and,  in  fact,  that  blood-money 
was  offered  for  their  heads.  On  the  16th  of 
November,  the  male  captives  were  separated 
from  the  ladies;  led  forth,  and  shot  by  order 
of  the  Moolvee,  by  a  party  of  the  71st 
N.I.  Sophy  Christian  did  not  long  survive 
the  loss  of  her  kind  protector.  Sergeant  Mor- 
ton :  she  sank  on  the  24th.J  But  the  two 
ladies  were  not  quite  forsaken.  A  native 
official,  named  Wajid  Alee,  attached  to  the 
household  of  one  of  the  princesses,  bad 
befriended  the  prisoners  as  far  as  he  dared, 
without  bringing  on  his  own  large  family 
the  wrath  of  the  Moolvee  ;  and  he,  together 
with  Anunt  Ram,  the  vakeel  of  Maun  Sing, 
contrived  a  plan  whereby  Mrs.  Orr's  little 
daughter  was  rescued  by  a  kind  and  brave 
native  woman,  who  carried  her  in  safety  to 
Maun  Sing's  city  residence,  and  thence 
to  the  Alumbagh.  Wajid  Alee  persuaded 
Mummoo  Khan  that  the  health  of  the  cap- 
tives was  affected  by  their  residence  in  the 
Kaiserbagh,  and  succeeded  in  gaining 
leave  to  remove  them  to  a  house  near  one 
of  the  main  roads,  from  whence  they  were 
rescued,  on  the  19th  of  March,  by  Captains 
McNeil  and  Bogle,  and  fifty  Goorkas — 
all  volunteers. §  At  the  same  time,  some 
other  Christians,  Eurasians,  and  descendants 
of  Europeans,  were  saved,  as  well  as  the 
whole  family  of  Wajid  Alee. 

Jung  Bahadur  and  his  troops  had  taken 
part  in  the  concluding  operations  of  the 
siege,  and  borne  their  full  share  in  the 
sack  II  of  Lucknow.  When  it  became 
indispensable  that  further  outrages  should 
be  stopped,  and  the  respectable  inhabitants 
induced  to  return  to  the  city,^  a  message 
was  opportunely  received  from  Lord  Can- 
ning, requesting  the  Nepaulese  chief  to  go 
down  with  his  forces  to  Allahabad.  As  at 
this  time  stringent  orders  were  issued  for 

§  See  Captain  G.  Hutchinson's  Official  Narrative 
of  Mutinies  in  Oude,  for  fuller  details. 

II  Mr.  Russell  observes — "  We  hear,  with  regret, 
that  the  women  are  sometimes  ill-used,  and  Hindoos 
commit  suicide  when  they  are  dishonoured."  He 
further  speaks  of  the  city  as  having  been  a  place  of 
terror,  on  account  of  "  the  license  inevitable  after 
the  storm  of  a  large  town." — Diary ;  and  Letter  to 
the  Times,  May  6th,  1858. 

51  When  the  insulting  manner  in  which  the  right 
of  search  was  exercised,  and  other  offensive  pro- 
ceedings were  stopped,  the  respectable  inhabitants 
began  to  return.  Mr.  Russell  observes — ''  Thousands 
of  citizens  are  returning ;  but  tens  of  thousands 
will  never  return  ;  for  the  court,  the  nawabs,  and 
rajahs  who  maintained  them  are  gone  for  ever,  and 
their  palaces  are  desolate." 


482      OPPOSITE  VIEWS  OF  CANNING  AND  OUTRAAi— OUDE,  1858. 


the  suppression  of  plunder  and  outrage, 
enforced  by  the  introduction  of  an  hourly 
roll-call,  by  the  prohibition,  to  even 
British  soldiers,  of  wearing  side-arms,  ex- 
cept on  guard  or  duty,  and  the  erection  of 
triangles  for  the  summary  punishment  of 
obstinate  offenders — the  Goorkas  were  quite 
willing  to  commence  their  return  to  their 
native  hills.  They  quitted  Lucknow  on  the 
26th  of  March,  and  mustered  8,500  men, 
of  whom  there  were  2,000  sick.  Their 
baggage,  carried  in  4,500  carts,  extended 
over  sixteen  miles;  and,  besides  elephants 
and  camels,  they  had  no  less  than  10,000 
bullocks :  in  fact,  their  whole  force  was  a 
mere  baggage  guard.  Their  homeward 
journey  was  very  slow,  and  the  transit 
proved  a  heavy  drain  on  the  British  com- 
missariat and  treasury.  Eventually,  Sir 
Colin  Campbell  was  obliged  to  detach  a 
British  column  to  enable  the  Goorka  force 
to  pursue  its  way  to  Nepaul.  Jung  Baha- 
dur had  formed  high  expectations  of  the 
reward  to  which  he  was  personally  entitled, 
in  the  form  of  territorial  concessions.  The 
British  government  postponed  the  con- 
sideration of  that  question ;  but,  in  the 
interim,  made  the  chief  a  Knight  Grand 
Cross  of  the  Bath — a  step  which,  it  was 
suggested,*  might  be  accounted  for  on  the 
supposition,  that  these  old,  quasi-ecclesias- 
tical orders  were  considered  proper  subjects 
for  strong  practical  jokes. 

To  return  to  Lucknow.  The  reoccupa- 
tion  of  the  city  was  scarcely  commenced, 
before  Sir  James  Outram  received  the 
orders  of  Lord  Canning  to  issue  a  procla- 
mation, which  declared  the  whole  territory 
of  Oude  confiscated,  excepting  only  the 
estates  of  seven  or  eight  small  chiefs. 
Mr.  Russell  describes  the  alarm  which 
this  document  created  in  camp;  and  de- 
clares that  he  did  not  hear  one  voice 
raised  in  its  defence;  even  those  who  were 
habitually  silent,  opening  their  mouths  to 
condemn  the  policy  which  was  certain  to 
perpetuate  the  rebellion  in  Oude.f 

General  Outram  was  not  the  man  to 
retain  office  at  the  cost  of  carrying  out  a 
policy  which  he   deemed   unjust   and   im- 

•  The  Times,  July  7th,  1858. 

t  Russell's  Diary,  vol.  i.,  p.  356. 

j  Lord  Canning's  despatch,  dated  "  Allahabad, 
March  31  St,  1858."  §  Ibid. 

II  Mr.  George  Campbell,  financial  commissioner 
for  Oude,  arrived  on  the  27th  of  March,  preceding 
Mr.  Monteomery  by  a  few  days.  "  General  Outram 
and  Mr.  Campbell  did  not  at  all  agree  in  the  policy 
which  should   be  adopted  towards  the  rebellious 


politic.  Perhaps  he  had  seen  cause  to 
change  his  opinion  regarding  the  annexation 
of  Oude:  but  whether  or  no,  it  is  certain 
that  he  who,  in  1855,  as  resident  at  Luck- 
now, had  carried  through  the  forcible  depo- 
sition of  Wajid  Ali ;  now,  in  1858,  as  com- 
missioner of  the  revolted  British  province,  ' 
felt  himself  bound  to  consider  the  position 
of  the  rebel  chiefs  in  a  very  different  light 
to  that  in  which  the  Calcutta  government 
thought  fit  to  view  them.  Lord  Canning 
made  some  concessions ;  but  the  same  fatal 
dread  of  seeming  weak,  which  had  pre- 
vented the  timely  withdrawal  of  the  greased 
cartridges,  induced  him  now  to  believe,  that 
in  the  present  crisis,  "any  proclamation 
put  forth  in  Oude,  in  a  liberal  and  for- 
giving spirit,  would  be  open  to  miscon- 
struction, and  subject  to  perversion."f 

Some  startling  statements  and  admissions 
were  made  in  the  course  of  the  correspon- 
dence between  the  governor -general  and  the 
commissioner.  General  Outram  declared 
that,  before  the  mutiny,  the  landowners  had 
been  most  unjustly  treated  under  our  settle- 
ment; and  Lord  Canning,  in  his  guarded 
reply,  was  compelled  to  admit  his  fear  that 
it  was  "  too  true,  that  unjust  decisions  were 
come  to  by  some  of  our  local  officers  in 
investigating  and  judging  the  titles  of  the 
laudowners."§ 

Lord  Canning  evidently  desired  to  do 
in  Oude,  what  Lord  Dalhousie  had  done  in 
the  Punjab.  As  Henry  Lawrence  and  his 
school  were  made  to  give  way,  in  the  latter 
province,  to  John  Lawrence  and  Robert 
Montgomery ;  so  now  Outram  was  super- 
seded by  Montgomery  and  a  staff,  willing 
to  carry  out  the  policy  which  every  man 
(civil  and  military)  in  the  British  camp  in 
Oude,  in  March,  1858,  concurred  in  view- 
ing as  "too  harsh  and  despotic."||  The 
few  days  in  which  General  Outram  exer- 
cised power  were,  however,  beneficially 
employed.  He  issued  the  proclamation 
with  a  rider,  the  intended  effect  of  which 
was  to  induce  the  Oude  talookdars  to  read 
and  run  to,  and  not  from  us  :^  and  he 
is  likewise  said  to  have  used  his  personal 
influence,   based   on   long    and    courteous 

native  chiefs  and  others.  The  former  is  for  a  lar^e, 
and  generous,  and  general  amnesty,  except  in  the 
cases  of  actual  murderers  ;  the  latter  is  for  the  most 
vigorous  prosecution  and  punishment." — Kussell'" 
Diary,  vol.  i.,  p.  363.  Mr.  Campbell  is  known  as  the 
author  of  a  work  advocating  the  extinction  of  nati  ,) 
Indian  dynasties ;  the  annexation  of  territory ;  and 
the  diminution  of  pensions. 
%  Times,  May  6ih,  1858. 


OUDE  PROCLAMATION  REPUDIATED  IN  ENGLAND. 


483 


r 


intercourse  with  the  leading  men,  to  con- 
vince them  that  they  would  find  the  bark 
of  the  governor-general  worse  than  his  bite. 
This  assurance,  though  contrary  to  the  long 
experience  of  landed  proprietors  in  annexed 
or  conquered  provinces,  was  fulfilled  in  the 
way  which  Outram  probably  anticipated. 
The  confiscation  proclamation  created  great 
excitement  in  England  :  the  annexation  of 
Oude  was  inquired  into,  and  generally, 
publicly  and  officially,  denounced  as  an  in- 
justice; and  Lord  Canning  was  compelled 
to  adopt  (at  least  in  measure)  the  very 
policy  which  Outram  had  sacrificed  himself 
to  promote.  And  not  he  alone;  for,  by  a 
strange  coincidence,  Lord  EUenborough, 
who  was  at  the  time  president  of  the 
India  Board,  breaking  through  the  forms  and 
delays  of  official  life,  wrote  out  to  India  a 
despatch,  containing  so  strong  and  uncom- 
promising a  repudiation  of  Lord  Canning's 
policy,  that  the  document  was  immediately 
taken  up  as  a  party  question,  and  Lord 
Elleuborough  resigned  his  position  sooner 
than  compromise  his  colleagues.  Certainly, 
nothing  in  his  term  of  office  "  became  him 
like  the  leaving  it."  It  was  alleged  at  the 
time,  that  Lord  Canning's  proceeding  in- 
volved no  greater  injustice  than  had  been 
practised  towards  the  landowners  after  the 
annexation  of  Sinde  and  the  Punjab.  But 
the  system  carried  out  in  these  two  cases 
was  totally  different.     la  Sinde  one  of  the 


first  acts  of  Sir  Charles  Napier  (supported 
by  Lord  EUenborough),  immediately  after 
completing  the  conquest,  was  to  proclaim 
the  inviolability  of  private  property,  and 
secure  the  landowners  in  their  estates;  a 
measure  which  greatly  facilitated  the  rapid 
and  firm  establishment  of  British  power  in 
the  province.  In  the  Punjab  (as  Mr. 
Baillie  stated  in  parliament — detailing 
facts  already  mentioned  in  this  work).  Lord 
Dalhousie  supported  the  confiscating  policy 
of  Sir  John  Lawrence,  in  opposition  to  that 
of  Sir  Henry,  who  resigned  his  position. 
The  unpopularity  of  the  spoliation  system, 
necessitated  the  concentration  of  British 
troops  in  the  Punjab,  and  thereby  afforded 
both  the  opportunity  and  temptation  for 
a  mutiny  of  the  Native  army.  Circum- 
stances favoured  the  warlike  talookdars  of 
Oude,  and  enabled  them,  individually,  to 
obtain  better  terms  than  could  have  been 
expected  by  persons  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  British  India.  Still,  many  who 
have  been  compromised  by  our  Original 
injustice,  are  beyond  the  pale  of  our  tardy 
generosity.  Some  of  the  bravest  and  best 
chiefs  have  fallen  victims  to  their  uncom- 
promising fidelity  to  the  Begum  of  Oude ; 
and  a  parvenu  and  time-server  like  Maun 
Sing,  pays  state  visits  to  the  governor- 
general;  while  Rajpoot  chiefs,  like  Bainie 
Madhoo  and  Nirput  Sing,  are  hunted  to 
death  in  the  jungle  like  wild  beasts. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

CAMPAIGN  OF  GENERALS  ROSE,  ROBERTS,  AND  WHITLOCK ;  CAPTURE  OF  JHANSI, 
KOTAH,  BAND  A,  KOONCH,  AND  CALPEE ;  FALL  AND  RECONQUEST  OF  GWALIOR; 
RANEE  OF  JHANSI  KILLED;  AZIMGHUR  AND  JUGDESPOORj  DEATH  OF  KOOER 
SING;  GENERAL  WALPOLE  AT  ROYEA;  BRIGADIER  HOPE  KILLED;  SIR  COLIN 
CAMPBELLS  CAMPAIGN;  GENERAL  PENNY  KILLED;  BATTLE  OF  BAREILLY,  AND 
REOCCUPATION  OF  ROHILCUND JANUARY  TO  JUNE,  1858. 


While  the  operations  already  narrated 
were  being  carried  on  by  the  force  under 
the  immediate  command  of  Sir  Colin 
Campbell,  a  series  of  important  movements 
were  performed,  under  his  directions,  by 
two  efficient  columns  furnished  from  Bom- 
bay, under  Generals  Rose  and  Roberts,  for 
the  reduction  of  Central  India;  in  co- 
operation with  a  brigade  sent  from  Madras, 


under  General  Whitlock.  The  proceedings 
of  the  Central  India  field  force,  under 
Sir  Hugh  Rose  (consisting  of  two  brigades ; 
together,  above  5,000  strong),  were  marked 
by  skill,  vigour,  and  perseverance,  and 
attended  with  unvarying  success.  Unfor- 
tunately, limited  space  precludes  their  being 
detailed  in  these  pages;  but  Sir  Hugh's 
clear    and    powerfully   written    despatches 


484 


SIR  HUGH  ROSE  AND  SIR  ROBERT  HAMILTON— 1858. 


nrc  before  the  public*  Sir  Robert 
Hamilton,  the  resident  at  Indore,  whose 
absence  in  England  at  the  time  of  the 
mutiny  was  so  bitterly  regretted  by 
Holcar,  hurried  back  to  his  post,t  and 
became  an  invaluable  coadjutor  to  Rose ; 
the  cordial  assistance  of  the  young  Maha- 
rajah, enabling  him  to  effect  commissariat 
arrangements  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  impossible. 

Ratghur  (twenty-four  miles  from  Saugor), 
one  of  the  old  hill-forts  of  Central  India, 
was  bombarded  by  Rose  on  the  26th  and 
27th  of  January,  1858;  and  before  daylight 
on  the  morning  of  the  28tli,  the  chief  part 
of  the  garrison  were  discovered  to  have 
escaped,  letting  themselves  down  by  ropes 
from  the  rocks.  A  rebel  leader,  named 
Mohammed  Fazil  Khan,  who  had  assumed 
the  title  of  prince  at  Mundesore,  with 
another  nawab  and  200  rebels,  were 
hanged  over  the  principal  gate  of  the  fort.  J 
Lieaving  Ratghur  in  charge  of  the  troops  of 
the  Ranee  of  Bhopal,  the  British  marched  on 
towards  Saugor,  and  once  only  encountered 
opposition ;  when,  on  the  30th,  they  carried, 
after  an  obstinate  defence,  a  strong  village 
twelve  miles  from  Ratghur,  called  in  the 
despatches,  Barodia.  A  gallant  young 
I  captain  of  engineers,  Glastonbury  Neville, 
who  had  served  with  distinction  before 
Sebastopol,  was  killed  by  a  chance  round 
shot  while  acting  as  aide-de-camp  to  the 
general. 

Saugor  fort,  in  which  upwards  of  150 
women  and  children  had  been  shut  up 
since  June,§  was  reached  and  relieved,  with- 
out opposition,  on  the  3rd  of  February. 
The  strong  hill-fort  of  Garracotta,  south- 
east of  Saugor,  held  by  a  numerous  body 
of  Bengal  Native  infantry,  was  abandoned 
without  a  blow ;  and  large  supplies  of  wheat 
and  grain,  sulphur  and  saltpetre,  with  four 
cart-loads  of  ammunition,  were  found  stored 
therein. 

Jhansi,  the  richest  Hindoo  city,  and  most 
important  fortress  in  Central  India,  was 
the  next  point  of  attack.  Since  the  mas- 
sacre in  June,  the  Ranee  had  remained  in 
undisturbed  possession  of  the  little  princi- 
pality ;  and  the  people  were  fully  prepared 
to  support  her  desperate  struggle  for  the 

*  See  London  Gazettes,  1858,  1859. 

t  The  measures  adopted,  under  British  direction, 
for  the  suppresiion  of  mutiny  in  Indore,  cannot  here 
be  detailed.  The  rajah  of  Amjherra  was  put  to 
death,  as  were  also  200  men  of  the  Bhopal  contingent. 
Mr.  Loyard  declares  (on  the  authority  of  an  eye- 


rights  of  the   adopted  heir  and  the  main- 
tenance of  a  native  government. 

The     difficulty    of    obtaining    supplies, 
delayed    the   advance  of*  Sir  Hugh    Rose. 
He  had  reason  to  anticipate  resistance  at 
the   passes   on   the   road   to  Jhansi;    and. 
the   forts   of    Tal    Behut   and   Chanderee 
(which,    notwithstanding    the   fidelity   and 
courage  of  the  rajah  of  Punnah,  had  fallen 
into  the  power  of  the  enemy)  would,  it  was 
said,  be  defended  by  the  rajah  of  Banpore 
— a    chief   who,    after    having    been    dis- 
tinguished   as    the    protector    of    English 
fugitives,||  had  at  length  been  unwillingly 
engulphed    in    the    vortex    of    rebellion ; 
and    proved,    in    the    words    of    General 
Rose,    an  "enterprising   and    courageous" 
enemy.      By   a   series    of  masterly   move- 
ments,  Sir  Hugh,  with  the  second   of  his 
two  brigades,  made  a  feint  at  the  Narut 
Pass,  defended  by  the  rajah  of  Banpore; 
and  a  real  attack  on  the  pass  of  Munde- 
sore, held  by  the  rajah  of  Shahghur,  and 
forced    his   way,    without    losing    a   single 
life.     Chanderee  was  captured  on  the  17th 
of  March,  by  the  first  brigade,  under  Briga- 
dier  Stuart,  with  the   loss   of  two   killed. 
On  the  23rd  of  March,    Sir   Hugh    com- 
menced   operations   against    Jhansi.      The 
fort   is    built    of  granite,    and   stands  >  on 
a   rock,    within    the    city,    which    is    four 
miles    and    a-half    in    circumference,    and 
is    surrounded    by    a    wall    from    six    to 
twelve  feet  thick — varying  in  height  from 
eighteen    to    thirty   feet.      Seven    "  flying 
camps  of  cavalry"  were  established,  as  an 
investing   force,  round    Jhansi,    and   every 
precaution  was  taken  to  blockade  the  citj'. 
Before    Sir    Hugh's    arrival,   the    cavalry 
pickets  sent  on  by  him,  had  overtaken  and 
sabred  about  a  hundred  men,  who  were  en- 
deavouring to  enter  Jhansi,  having  been  sent 
for  by  the  Ranee  to  assist  in  the  defence. 
On  the  first  day  of  the  siege,  the  shells  of  the 
assailants  set  on  fire  long  rows  of  hayricks 
in  the  south  of  the    city,  and  caused   an 
extensive   conflagration ;    but  the  garrison 
repaired  their  defences,  reopened  fire  from 
batteries  and  guns  repeatedly  shut  up,  and 
struggled  to  the  last  with  dauntless  resolve 
against    an    overwhelming    force.      "  The 
Sir    Hugh   writes,    "were   seeu 


women, 


witness,  whose  account  was  corroborated  by  state- 
ments in  the  Indian  papers),  that  the  execution  of 
the  mutineers  was  ])erformed  "  in  a  manner  re- 
pugnant to  humanity." — Times,  August  25th,  1658. 

X  Telegram  from  Sir  R.  Hamilton ;  3rd  Feb.,  1858. 

§  See  p.  366.  ||   See  p.  314. 


TANTIA  TOPEE  DEFEATED,  AND  JHANSI  CAPTURED— 1858.      485 


working  in  the  batteries,  and  carrying  am- 
munition. The  garden  battery  was  fought 
under  the  black  flag  of  the  fakirs.  Every- 
thing indicated  a  general  and  determined 
resistance.'"' 

The  Ranee  had  reason  to  know  that 
efforts  were  being  made  for  her  relief  j  and 
Sir  Robert  Hamilton  had  likewise  been  in- 
formed, from  time  to  time,  that  Tantia  Topee 
and  the  rajah  of  Banpore  were  engaged 
in  organising  a  force,  called  the  "  army 
of  the  Peishwa,"  estimated  at  20,000  men 
and  twenty  guns.  On  the  31st  of  March, 
the  enemy  crossed  the  river  Betwa,  took  up 
a  position  in  rear  of  the  British  camp,  and 
lit  an  immense  bonfire,  as  a  signal  to  Jhansi 
of  their  arrival,  which  was  welcomed  by 
salutes  from  all  the  batteries  of  the  fort  and 
city,  and  shouts  of  joy  from  their  defenders. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerical  weakness 
of  his  force,*  as  compared  with  that  under 
Tantia  Topee,  Sir  Hugh  resolved  on  hazard- 
ing a  general  action,  without  relaxing  either 
the  siege  or  the  investment.  He  therefore 
drew  up  his  force  across  the  road  from  the 
Betwa — a  movement  which  was  effected 
with  silence  and  regularity,  although  not 
accomplished  until  long  after  dark.  That 
night  the  hostile  bodies  slept  on  their 
arms,  opposite  each  other.  Next  morning, 
before  daybreak,  Tantia  Topee  advanced 
against  the  British,  but  was  defeated, 
pursued  for  nine  miles,  and  driven  (31st 
of  March)  across  the  Betwa,  with  the  loss 
of  1,500  men,  eighteen  guns,  and  large 
quantities  of  stores  and  ammunition. 

The  dispersion  of  the  auxiliary  force,  and 
tlie  slaughter  effected  by  the  Shrapnel 
shells  and  Enfield  rifles  of  the  besiegers,  de- 
stroyed the  last  hopes  of  the  Ranee.  Her 
garrison  was  diminishing  at  the  rate  of 
sixty  or  seventy  persons  a  day.  It  is  said 
that  she  made  overtures  for  terms  of  sur- 
render, and  that  tiie  two  messengers  sent 
to  treat  on  her  behalf,  were  hanged. t 

After  the  victory  at  the  Betwa,  Sir  Hugh 

*  "  Artillery — three  siege  guns,  16  light  field  guns ; 
14th  Light  Dragoons,  243  rank  and  file  ;  Hydrabad 
cavalry,  207  sabres j  H.M.  86th,  208  rank  and  file; 
."Jrd  Bombay  European  regiment,  226  rank  and  file  ; 
24th  Bombay  N.L,  298  rank  and  file:  and  25th 
Bombay  N.I."— Rose's  despatch,  April  30th,  1858. 

t  Timet,  August  25th,  1858. 

X  In  the  quarters  of  the  body-guard  were  found 
many  standards,  including  the  silk  union-jack,  given 
by  Lord  W.  Bentinck  to  the  rajah  of  Jhansi. 

§  "  A  Velaitee,  after  an  unsuccessful  endeavour  to 
blow  himself  and  his  wife  up,  attempted  to  hew  her 
in  pieces,  so  that  she  might  not  fall  into  our  hands." 
The  FrUnd  of  India  (June  10th,  1858),  after  re- 


gave  his  troops  a  day's  rest.  The  fire  from 
the  fort  was  no  longer  serious,  for  the  best 
guns  of  the  llanee  had  been  disabled,  and 
her  ablest  artillerymen  killed.  A  practical 
breach  had  been  effected  in  the  city  wall ; 
and,  on  the  3rd  of  April,  the  palace  and 
chief  part  of  the  town  of  Jhansi  were  taken 
by  storm.  There  was  some  desperate  hand- 
to-hand  combats,  especially  at  the  palace. 
In  one  instance,  some  forty  troopers,  part 
of  the  Ranee's  body-guard,  maintained  their 
post  at  the  royal  stables,  fighting  to  the 
last,  and  struggling  even  when  dying  on 
the  ground,  to  strike  again. f  The  last 
men  who  held  the  palace  set  fire  to  trains 
of  gunpowder,  and  perished  in  the  explo- 
sion, which,  though  only  partially  suc- 
cessful, caused  the  death  of  many  men  of 
H.M.  86th  regiment. 

The  Ranee  and  a  large  part  of  the  garri- 
son evacuated  the  fort  during  the  night. 
She  was  pursued,  and  nearly  overtaken. 
Lieutenant  Bowker,  with  a  party  of  cavalry, 
followed  her  to  Bundere,  twenty-one  miles 
from  Jhansi ;  and  there  saw  a  tent,  in 
which  was  spread  an  unfinished  breakfast. 
Pressing  on,  he  came  in  sight  of  the  Ranee, 
who  was  escaping  on  a  grey  horse,  with  four 
attendants  :  but  at  this  point  he  was  severely 
wounded,  and  compelled  to  relinquish  the 
pursuit ;  while  she  was  joined  by  an  escort, 
sent  to  her  aid  by  the  vigilant  Tantia  Topee. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  the  fort  and  re- 
mainder of  the  city  were  taken  possession  of 
by  the  troops,  who,  maddened  by  the  recol- 
lection of  the  massacre  committed  there, 
and  by  the  determined  resistance§  of  the 
people,  committed  fearful  slaughter.  No 
less  than  5,000  persons  are  stated  to  have 
perished  at  Jhansi,  or  to  have  been  cut 
down  by  the  "  flying  camps."  Some  flung 
themselves  down  wells,  or  otherwise  com- 
mitted suicide  J  having  first  slain  their 
women,  sooner  than  trust  them  to  the 
mercy  of  the  conquerors.  Yet  the  British 
soldiers  are  stated  to  have  shown  kindness 

cording  this  and  other  striking  instances  in  which 
death  was  chosen  rather  than  surrender,  remarks, 
that  it  is  impossible  not  to  perceive,  from  the 
despatches  of  Sir  Hugh  Rose,  "  that  other  influences 
than  bang,  a  love  of  plunder,  and  a  dread  of  death, 
must  have  instigated  so  determined  a  resistance." 
The  reason  was  sufficiently  clear:  the  people  of  Jhansi 
fought  for  their  queen  and  the  independence  of  their 
country.  Even  after  the  city  had  fallen,  Sir  Hugh 
declared,  that  "the  high  descent  of  the  Ranee,  her 
unbounded  liberality  to  her  troops  and  retainers, 
and  her  fortitude,  which  no  reverses  could  shake, 
rendered  her  an  influential  and  dangerous  adver- 
sary."—Despatch,  April  30th,  1858. 


486        KOTAH  CAPTURED  BY  ROBERTS— BANDA  BY  WHITLOCK. 


to  the  desolate  and  famishing  mothers  and 
children,  and  to  have  been  seen  sharing 
their  rations  with  them.  Sir  Hugh  also 
gave  orders  that  the  starving  families  should 
be  fed  from  the  prize  grain.  The  British 
casualties  were  thirty-eight  killed,  and  215 
wounded.  The  plunder  obtained  in  the 
fort  and  town  is  said  to  have  been  very 
great.  A  large  number  of  executions  took 
place  daily,  after  the  reoccupation  of  Jhansi. 
Among  the  captives  tried  and  executed 
under  the  orders  of  Sir  Robert  Hamilton, 
was  the  father  of  the  Ranee. 

Kotah. — While  General  Rose  was  occu- 
pied in  the  capture  of  Jhansi,  General 
Roberts  was  employed  in  wresting  Kotah, 
the  capital  of  a  small  Rajpoot  principality 
of  the  same  name,  from  the  hands  of  the 
Kotah  contingent — a  force  which  had  joined 
the  revolt,  and  murdered  the  political  agent 
(Major  Burton)  and  his  two  sons,  in  October, 
1857.  The  rajah  was  faithful  to  us.  The 
murder  of  the  three  Europeans  had  been  per- 
petrated against  his  will ;  and  he  recovered, 
and  buried,  the  bodies  of  the  victims. 
The  head  of  the  major  had  been  cut  off, 
and  fired  from  a  gun.  The  rajah  re- 
mained besieged  by  the  rebels  in  his  palace- 
fort,  situated  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Chumbul,  until  the  27th  of  March,  when 
the  British  force  crossed  the  river,  joined 
him  at  the  fort,  and  from  thence  bombarded 
the  town.  At  noon  on  the  30th,  three 
columns,  each  of  500  men  (72nd  High- 
landers, H.M.  95th,  83rd,  and  10th  and 
12th  Bombay  N.I),  entered  the  town  through 
a  gate  blown  in  by  the  engineers,  and, 
spreading  right  and  left,  carried  the  walls, 
turned  the  barricades  in  the  streets,  and 
quickly,  and  with  slight  loss,  took  possession 
of  the  whole  place.  The  British  loss  was 
sixteen  killed  and  forty-four  wounded.  The 
casualties  were  chiefly  occasioned  by  trains 
of  gunpowder  laid  in  various  directions.* 

Of  the  mutineers,  about  400  were  killed. 
Some  threw  themselves  over  the  walls,  and 
were  dashed  to  pieces;  many  were  taken 
prisoners,  and  subsequently  executed ;  but 
the  mass  escaped,  carrying  with  them  much 
treasure,  and  their  proceedings  consider- 
ably embarrassed  Sir  Hugh  Rose,  who, 
leaving  a  garrison  at  Jhansi,  marched 
upon  Calpee,   the    great    stronghold    and 

•  Fi\e  infernal  machines  (consisting  of  forty 
matchlock  barrels  fixed  on  frames,  moveable  on 
wheels)  were  found  at  the  ends  of  the  streets  ;  but  it 
does  not  appear  that  these  came  ipto  operation. — 
Roberts'  despatch,  April  8th,  1858, 


arsenal  of  the  mutineers— held  by  the  Rac 
Sahib. t  Tantia  Topee  and  the  Ranee  of 
Jhansi  had  again  assembled  their  scattered 
troops,  and  strove  to  bar  the  advance  of  the 
British  to  Calpee,  by  intrenching  4;hem- 
selves  at  the  intervening  town  of  Koonch. 
Sir  Hugh  carried  the  intrenchments  by  a 
flank  movement ;  drove  the  enemy  out  of 
the  maze  of  woods,  temples,  and  walled 
gardens  into  Koonch,  with  his  artillery; 
then  cleared  the  town,  and  pursued  the 
flying  foe,  with  horse  artillery  and  cavalry, 
for  more  than  eight  miles ;  when  the  vic- 
tors, utterly  exhausted  by  heat,  thirst,  and 
fatigue,  could  go  no  further.  A  great  part 
of  the  troops  were  Europeans,  and  they 
had  been  marching  or  fighting  for  sixteen 
hours.  The  sun  was  115"  iu  the  shade. 
Sir  Hugh  Rose  (a  powerful,  active  man 
of  about  fifty  years  of  age)  fell  fainting 
from  his  horse  four  times ;  but  cold  water 
being  poured  over  him,  and  restoratives  ad- 
ministered, he  was  able  to  remount  and 
resume  the  command  he  so  well  knew  how 
to  use.  Only  five  men  were  killed,  and 
twenty-six  wounded  in  action ;  but  forty- 
six  men  fell  under  sun-stroke.  J 

Shorapoor. — While  Rose  and  Roberts 
were  engaged  in  the  operations  above  de- 
scribed,the  Madras  division, under Whitlock, 
had  been  delayed  in  its  advance  by  the  ne- 
cessity of  sending  a  detachment  to  Shora- 
poor, §  a  small  native  state,  where  consider- 
able disafi"ection  had  been  manifested.  The 
rajah,  a  young  man  who,  during  his  mine- 
rity,  had  been  under  British  tutelage,  was 
compelled  to  dismantle  his  forts,  dismiss 
his  armed  retainers,  and  surrender  himself 
a  prisoner.  He  was  tried,  and  condemned 
to  be  transported.  To  a  Hindoo,  under 
such  circumstances,  death  was  the  sole 
alternative  from  dishonour;  and  the  rajah, 
seizing  his  opportunity,  blew  out  his  brains 
with  the  revolver  of  the  British  ofiBcer  who 
was  conveying  him  in  irons  to  the  place 
of  deportation.  His  fate  made  a  deep  im- 
pression in  Shorapoor,  where  his  family 
had  ruled  for  thirty  generations.  ||  Gene- 
ral Whitlock,  when  able  to  resume  his 
march,  moved  on  Calpee,  by  way  of  Chir- 
karee,  Punnah,  and  IJanda ;  of  which  last 
place  he  took  possession  on  the  19th  of 
April,  after  having  fought  a  pitched  battle, 

t  The  adopted  son  of  the  second  adopted  son  of 
the  last  Peishwa,  Bajee  Rao. 

I  Despatch  of  Sir  H.  Rose,  May  24th,  1858. 
§  See  p.  50. 

II  Times,  Oct.  7th,  1858. 


TANTIA  TOPEE'S  INTRIGUES  AT  GWALIOR— MAY,  1858. 


487 


outside  the  town,  with  the  mutineers  and 
insurgents,  who  had  the  nawab  in  their 
power.  General  Whitlock  drove  them  off 
the  field,  and  pursued  them  with  horse 
artillery  and  cavalry;  capturing  four  guns, 
and  killing  500  men. 

Calpee. — The  nawab  and  his  beaten 
troops  joined  the  Ranee  of  Jhansi  at  Calpee, 
which  it  was  expected  would  be  stoutly 
defended  by  the  Gwalior  mutineers,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  urgent  representations 
of  the  Ranee,  who,  while  at  Koonch,  had 
charged  them,  in  an  intercepted  communi- 
cation, "to  hold  to  the  last  Calpee,  their 
only  arsenal."  But  in  vain.  The  place, 
though  surrounded  by  a  labyrinth  of  ravines, 
was  extremely  weak  in  its  fortifications ; 
and  the  natives  have  little  confidence  in 
any  means  of  defence  but  strong  walls. 
Therefore  when,  on  the  23rd,  the  British 
troops  advanced  in  concentrated  force*  on 
the  city,  the  rebels  fired  a  few  ineffectual 
shots  and  fled,  and  their  leaders  were 
compelled  to  accompany  them ;  leaving  Sir 
Hugh  Rose  master  of  the  place,  with  all 
its  stores,  including  fifty  guns,  and  large 
quantities  of  ammunition. 

With  the  capture  of  Calpee,  the  labours 
of  the  Central  India  field  force  seemed  to 
have  come  to  an  end ;  and  Sir  Hugh  an- 
nounced, in  general  orders,  his  own  retire- 
ment to  recruit  his  health,  and  the  intended 
breaking-up  of  the  division.  In  a  spirited 
farewell  address,  he  praised  the  energy  which 
had  upheld  the  men  throughout  a  campaign, 
during  which  they  had  traversed  more  than 
a  thousand  miles  ;  had  crossed  rivers,  forced 
mouutain  passes,  fought  picched  battles, 
and  captured  fortresses :  but  still  more 
highly  he  lauded  the  discipline,  to  which  he 
attributed  the  unchecked  successes  of  their 
march  from  the  western  shores  of  India  to 
the  waters  of  the  Jumna.  Sir  Hugh  orga- 
nised flying  columns,  to  move  from  the  main 
body  of  the  force,  previous  to  its  general 
dispersion ;  but,  either  from  necessity  or 
from  inadvertence,  from  the  exhaustion  of 
the  men,  or  the  non-appreciation  of  the 
emergency,  the  reinforcement  of  Gwalior 
was  delayed,  notwithstanding  the  urgent 
entreaties  of   Sindia,    and   the   anxiety   of 

•  The  Camel  corps,  organised  by  the  commander- 
in-chief  for  the  purpose  of  dispersing  any  body  of 
the  enemy  assembling  in  the  JJoab,  was  ordered  to 
cross  the  Jumna,  and  taken  to  Calpee  by  Sir  Hugh 
Kose,  who,  finding  his  force  daily  diminishing  from 
sickness,  fatigue,  and  intense  heat,  seized  on  all 
available  troops   to  strengthen   his   hands,   at  the 


the  commander-in-chief;  and  thereby  gave 
Tantia  Topee  an  advantage,  of  which  the 
Mahratta  availed  himself  to  play  his  master- 
stroke of  skill  and  audacity. 

Gwalior. — After  the  defeat  at  Koonch, 
Tantia  disappeared.  It  was  subsequently 
discovered  that  he  had  gone  to  Gwalior, 
and  concealed  himself  in  the  bazaar,  where 
he  organised  a  plot  for  the  deposition  of 
Sindia,  and  carried  the  news  of  his  success 
to  the  Calpee  fugitives,  who  had  assembled 
at  Gopalpoor,  on  the  road  to  Gwalior;  upon 
which  place  they  now  advanced,  sending 
assurances  to  Sindia  and  the  Baiza  Bye,t 
that  they  were  coming  with  no  hostile  in- 
tentions, but  only  to  get  supplies  and  money, 
and  go  to  the  Deccan ;  that  opposition  was 
useless,  for  the  troops  and  people  of  Gwa- 
lior were  against  the  British ;  and  they  (the 
rebels)  had  received  from  the  city  200  let- 
ters of  invitation  and  assurance.  Neither 
Sindia  nor  Dinkur  Rao,  nor  the  two  chief 
officers  of  the  army,  knew  anything  of  the 
visit  of  Tantia  Topee — a  concealment  ren- 
dered possible  by  the  general  sympathy  felt 
for  the  rebel  cause,  which  was  daily  more 
evident.  The  zeal  and  ability  of  Dinkur 
Rao,  and  the  dauntless  bravery  of  the 
Maharajah — who  declared  that  he  had 
never  worn  bangles  [i.e.,  been  a  slave),  and 
would  not  submit  to  be  dictated  to  by 
rebels — failed  to  stem  the  torrent  of  dis- 
afi'ection.  The  Rao  and  the  Ranee  took  a 
very  bold  tone  in  addressing  their  followers, 
declaring  that  they  expected  no  opposition ; 
but  adding — "  If  there  should  be  any,  you 
may  fly  if  you  please.  We  shall  die." 
At  this  crisis,  an  unfortunate  difference  of 
opinion  is  said  to  have  arisen  between 
Sindia  and  his  minister.  The  latter  was  in 
favour  of  an  exclusively  defensive  policy, 
pending  the  arrival  of  British  reinforce- 
ments ;  the  former,  deceived  by  certain  ring- 
leaders in  the  confidence  of  Tantia  Topee, 
was  led  to  believe  that  he  might  safely 
attack  the  rebels  (who  were  reported  to  be 
dispirited  and  disorganised)  at  the  head 
of  his  own  household  troops.  The  councils 
of  the  Dewan,  however,  prevailed  up  to 
midnight  on  the  31st  of  May  :  but  after  he 
had  quitted  the  palace,  the  Maharajah  was 


risk  of  incurring  blame  for  absorbing,  in  one  opera- 
tion, the  means  intended  for  the  accomplishment  of 
purposes  of  less  obvious  and  urgent  importance. 

t  The  grandmother  of  Sindia  by  adoption,  known 
by  her  title  of  the  Baiza  Bye,  was  a  person  of 
considerable  ability  and  influence  in  the  Gwalior 
state. 


488 


SINDIA  DRIVEN  FROM  GWALIOR. 


prevailed  upon  to  give  orders  for  an  instant 
march  against  the  advancing  enemy.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  troops  were  assembled  ;  and 
at  daybreak  (June  1st),  without  the  know- 
ledge of  Dinkur  Rao,  Sindia  led  8,000  men 
and  24  guns  to  Burragaon,  eight  miles  from 
Gwalior.  There  he  found,  and  attacked, 
the  rebels  :  but  the  action  had  scarcely  com- 
menced, before  his  army  melted  like  a 
snow-ball  in  the  sun ;  some  quitting  the 
field,  others  •  fraternising  with  the  foe ; 
while  very  many  went  off  to  eat  water- 
melons in  the  bed  of  the  Morar.  Sindia 
strove  to  induce  his  body-guard  to  fight, 
and  about  sixty  of  these  were  killed  and 
wounded.  He  then  ascended  an  adjacent 
hill,  and  saw  his  whole  force  marching 
homewards ;  whereupon  he  galloped  straight 
to  the  Phoolbagh  with  about  fifteen  at- 
tendants, changed  his  dress,  remounted, 
and  rode  towards  Agra.  The  Dewan,  on 
hearing  of  the  Maharajah's  flight,  made 
arrangements  for  the  escape  of  the  Baiza 
Bye  and  other  ladies ;  after  which  he  has- 
tened to  overtake  Sindia,  and,  with  him, 
reached  Dholpoor  in  safety  before  midnight. 

The  Baiza  Bye  and  the  Ranees  pro- 
ceeded to  the  fort  of  Nurwar,  thirty  miles 
off,  except  one  of  them  named  the  "  Gujja 
Raja,"  the  mother  of  the  Maharanee.  Be- 
lieving that  Siudia  was  beleaguered  at  the 
Phoolbagh,  she  seized  a  sword,  mounted 
her  horse,  and  rode  to  the  palace,  summon- 
ing all  to  his  aid,  until  she  found  that  he 
was  really  gone.  Then  she  followed  the 
other  ladies  to  Nurwar,  where  about  600  of 
Sindia's  old  irregular  horse  had  assembled 
for  their  protection.  The  rebels  earnestly 
entreated  the  Baiza  Bye  to  return  and  take 
charge  of  Gwalior;  but  she  made  them 
no  reply,  and  immediately  forwarded  their 
communications  to  Sir  Robert  Hamilton. 

The  rebel  leaders  entered  the  city  in 
triumph,  and  declared  the  Nana  its  ruler 
as  Peishwa,  or  chief  of  the  Mahratta  con- 
federacy, which  they  hoped  to  restore  to  its 
former  importance.  The  treasury  of  Sindia, 
and  his  jewels,  fell  into  their  hands;  six 
months'  pay  was  distributed  among  the 
troops,  and  every  effort  made  to  conciliate  the 
citizens.  But  little  preparation  was  made 
for  the  defence  of  the  fort ;  and  it  is  probable 
that  both  Tantia  and  the  Ranee  concurred 
in  resolving  to  abide  by  the  old  Mahratta 
tactics,  and  avoid  shutting  themselves  up 

•  Letter  from  Bombay  correspondent. — Timet, 
August  Srd,  1858. 

■f  Of  the  9oth  alone,  four  officers  and  eighty-five 


within  walls.  Therefore  they  disposed 
their  forces  so  as  to  observe  and  hold  the 
roads  leading  upon  the  city  from  Indoorkee, 
Seepree,  and  the  north ;  the  necessary 
arrangements  being  effected  mainly  "  under 
the  direction  and  personal  supervision  of 
the  Ranee,  who,  clad  in  military  attire, 
and  attended  by  a  picked  and  well-armed 
escort,  was  constantly  in  the  saddle,  ubiqui- 
tous and  untiring."*  Such  was  the  em- 
ployment of  this  extraordinary  woman  on 
the  anniversary  of  the  Jhansi  massacre. 
Her  own  career  was  fast  hastening  to  its 
close.  When  the  news  of  the  fall  of  Gwalior 
reached  General  Rose,  he  resumed  the  com- 
mand he  had  just  quitted;  requested  the 
Maharajah  to  join  him  from  Agra,  and  the 
Baiza  Bye  and  the  Maharanee  from  Nur- 
war, and  made  instant  preparations  for 
marching  against  the  rebels.  General  Whit- 
lock  took  charge  of  Calpee :  a  portion  of 
General  Roberts'  Rajpootana  force,  under 
Brigadier  Smith,  and  the  troops  of  the  Hy- 
derabad contingent  (who  had  just  received 
leave  to  return  home),  were  ordered  to  aid  in 
besieging  Gwalior;  while  Colonel  Riddell, 
with  a  light  field  battery,  and  reinforcements 
of  cavalry  and  infantry,  was  dispatched  from 
Agra  by  order  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell.  The 
difl'erent  columns  were  moved  forward  with 
the  greatest  celerity ;  the  plan  of  attack 
being,  to  invest  the  city  as  much  as  its 
great  extent  would  allow,  and  then  assault 
the  weakest  side — the  investing  troops 
cutting  ofi"  the  escape  of  the  rebels.  Gene- 
ral Rose  anticipated  that  a  successful  attack 
on  the  enemy,  outside  or  inside  the  city, 
would  be  followed,  as  at  Calpee,  by  the 
easy  capture  of  the  fort.  And  so  it  proved. 
The  Mora  cantonments  (so  named  from  the 
stream  on  which  they  stand),  four  miles 
from  the  Lushkur,  or  city,  were  cariied  by 
storm  on  the  16th  of  June.  The  assault 
was  made  under  the  direction  of  General 
Rose,  by  two  lines  commanded  by  Briga- 
diers Stuart  and  Napier;  and  the  muti- 
neers were  taken  by  surprise  by  the  fierce 
onslaught  made,  although  the  sun  was 
already  high  in  the  heavens,  by  troops 
wearied  by  a  long  night  march,  during  the 
season  when  exposure  to  the  heat  was 
deemed  fatal  to  Europeans.  On  the  17th, 
Brigadier  Smith,  with  H.M.  Qothf  and  the 
10th  Bombay  N.I.,  a  squadron  of  the  8tb 
Hussars,   two  divisions  of  horse  artillery, 

men  were  disabled  by  eun-stroke,  acting  on  frame* 
weakened  by  hunger,  extreme  fatigue,  and  exposure 
in  driving  the  mutineers  from  the  hills. 


GWALIOR  RECAPTURED— RANEE  OF  JITANSI  KILLED. 


489 


and  a  troop  of  the  1st  Lancers,  drove  the 
enemy  from  the  heights  above  the  plain 
which  lies  before  Gwalior,  near  the  Phool- 
bagh  palace.  The  Hussars  subsequently 
descended  to  the  plain,  and  made  a  bril- 
liant charge  through  tiie  enemy's  camp ; 
of  which  Sir  Hugh  Rose  writes — "  One 
most  important  result  was,  the  death  of 
the  Ranee  of  Jl)ausi,  who,  although  a  lady, 
was  the  bravest  and  best  military  leader 
of  the  rebels."  No  English  eye  marked 
her  fall.  The  Hussars,  unconscious  of  the 
advantage  they  had  gained,  and  scarcely 
able  to  sit  on  their  saddles  from  heat  and 
fatigue,  were,  for  the  moment,  incapable  of 
further  exertion,  and  retired,  supported  by 
a  timely  reinforcement.  Then,  it  is  said, 
the  remnant  of  the  faithful  body-guard 
(many  of  whom  had  perished  at  Jhansi) 
gathered  around  the  lifeless  forms  of  the 
Ranee  and  her  sister,  who,  dressed  in  male 
attire,  and  riding  at  the  head  of  their 
squadrons,  had  fallen  together,  killed  either 
by  part  of  a  shell,  or,  as  is  more  probable, 
by  balls  from  the  revolvers  with  which  the 
Hussars  were  armed.  A  funeral  pyre  was 
raised,  and  the  remains  of  the  two  young 
and  beautiful  women  were  burnt,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  Hindoos.* 

The  general  attack  on  Gwalior  was  made 
on  the  18th,  under  Sir  Hugh  Rose  in 
person.  The  Lushkur  was  carried  with 
ease;  and  Brigadier  Smith  captured  the 
Phoolbagh,  killing  numbers  of  the  enemy, 
and  seizing  their  guns.  The  fort  was 
evacuated  in  the  night. 

Brigadier-general  Napier  pursued  the  re- 
treating foe  with  much  vigour;  captured 
twenty-five  pieces  of  cannon;  and,  after 
slaying  many  hundred  men,  "totally  dis- 
persed the  enemy,  with  only  one  casualty  on 
his  own  side."  "Total  dispersion"  was,  how- 
ever, a  part  of  Tantia  Topee's  system.  The 
men  fled  in  small  numbers,  or  singly,  and 
reunited  at  a  given  point. 

On  the  20th  of  June,  the  Maharajah  re- 
entered his  capital;  and  the  population  of 

•  The  above  account  is  derived  from  the  public 
papers  of  the  period.  Since  then,  a  servant  of  the 
Kanee's,  present  at  the  time  of  her  death,  has  fur- 
nished other  and  different  particulars.  The  second 
lady  (who,  all  statements  concur  in  declaring,  never 
left  the  Ranee's  side)  is  said  not  to  have  been  her 
sister,  but  a  Brahmin  concubine  of  the  late  rajah's. 
When  the  Hussars  surprised  the  camp,  the  ladies 
were  seated  together,  drinking  sherbet.  They 
mounted  and  fled;  but  the  horse  of  the  Ranee  re- 
fused to  leap  the  canal,  and  she  received  a  shot  in 
the  side,  and  a  sabre-cut  on  the  head ;  but  still  rode 

VOL.  II.  3  R 


the  half-empty,  half-closed  Lushkur,  shouted 
congratulations  as  their  prince  passed,  es- 
corted by  Sir  Hugh  Rose,  Sir  Robert 
Hamilton,  Major  Macpherson,  and  squad- 
rons of  Hussars  and  Lancers.  The  cere- 
monial was  interrupted  by  a  singular  mani- 
festation of  fanaticism.  Thirteen  men  (four 
contingent  sepoys  and  nine  Velaitees),  with 
two  women  and  a  child,  after  proceeding 
some  miles  from  Gwalior  towards  Agra, 
deliberately  returned  to  die  in  the  vacated 
fort.  They  fired,  from  the  guns  on  tlie 
ramparts,  four  or  five  shots  at  the  troops 
drawn  out  to  receive  the  prince,  and  one 
ball  struck  immediately  in  front  of  Sindia 
and  Major  Macpherson.  Lieutenants  Rose 
and  Waller  were  sent,  with  some  Native 
troops  and  police,  to  destroy  these  desperate 
men,  who  had  taken  post  upon  a  bastion,  a 
gun  of  which  commanded  the  •line  of  ap- 
proach. The  gun  burst  at  the  third  dis- 
charge, and  the  attacking  party  advanced. 
The  fanatics  slew  the  women  and  child,  and 
then  perished,  fighting  to  the  last — killing 
or  wounding  ten  of  their  assailants,  includ- 
ing Lieutenant  Rose,  a  very  promising 
young  officer,  who  died  in  consequence. 
On  reaching  the  Phoolbagh,  Sindia  expressed 
himself  warmly  grateful  for  the  exertions  of 
the  gallant  troops,  in  procuring  his  speedy 
restoration  to  Gwalior.  Still,  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  safe  policy  of  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  had  not  been  adopted  by  the 
governor-general  (under  whose  orders  Sir 
Hugh  Rose  acted,  in  consequence  of  Sir 
Colin's  absence  in  Rohilcund) ;  and  that 
the  urgent  entreaty  of  Sindia  for  British 
troops  had  not  been  complied  with,  and 
the  reinforcement  of  his  capital  made  to 
precede  the  capture  of  Jhansi,  Kotah,  and 
other  places — a  measure  which,  among  other 
advantages,  would  have  saved  the  Maha- 
rajah his  humiliating  flight  from  his  capital, 
and  preserved  his  money  and  jewels  from 
the  hands  of  the  Rao  and  Tantia  Topee.f 

On  the  29th  of  June,  Sir  Hugh  Rose 
resigned    his    command,    and    retired    to 

till  she  fell  dead  from  her  saddle,  and  was  sur- 
rounded and  burnt.  The  Brahminee  had  also  re- 
ceived a  long  sabre-cut  in  front,  of  which  she 
quickly  died. 

t  The  total  amount  of  property  stolen  or  de- 
stroyed, belonging  to  the  Maharajah,  was  estimated 
at  fifty  lacs.  The  Residency,  and  the  dwellings  of 
Dinkur  Rao,  as  well  as  those  of  Sindia's  chief 
officers,  Bulwunt  Rao  and  Mohurghur  (neither  of 
whom  had  been  permitted  to  accompany  the  Maha- 
rajah on  his  ill-fated  expedition),  were  expressly 
given  up  to  plunder  by  the  rebel  chiefs. 


490 


KOOER  SING  AND  THE  INSURRECTION  IN  BEHAR. 


Poonab,  to  seek  the  rest  wliich  his  health 
imperatively  needed;  and  the  forces  that 
had  co-operated  in  achieving  the  series  of 
extraordinary  successes,  which  had  been 
crowned  by  tlie  reconquest  of  Gwaiior,  were 
dispersed  over  various  stations,  pending  the 
return  of  the  cool  season. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  revert  to  the 
operations  carried  on  by  Sir  Coliu  Campbell 
aud  his  lieutenants,  in  other  parts  of  the 
great  seat  of  war.  Behar,  the  oldest  Bri- 
tish province,  was  remarkable  for  its  deep- 
rooted  hostility  to  British  rule — a  feeling 
which  writers  who  differed  on  most  other 
matters,  agreed  in  attributing  to  resump- 
tions, commissions  of  inquiry,  and  interfer- 
ence with  the  tenure  of  land.*  Kooer  Sing, 
of  Jugdespoor,  was  a  remarkable  example 
of  the  hereditary  chief  of  a  powerful  clan, 
driven  into  rebellion  by  the  force  of  circum- 
stances;— an  old  man,  unstained  with  the 
blood  of  women  or  children,  yet  chased 
from  the  home  cf  his  ancestors — his  palace 
sacked,  his  villages  burned;  even  the 
stately  temple  he  had  erected  for  divine 
worship,  razed  to  the  ground;  and  he 
hunted  as  a  criminal  beyond  the  pale  of 
•mercy,  with  a  price  upon  his  head.  The 
sum,  speedily  raised  from  10,000  to  25,000 
rupees,  showed  the  importance  attached  to 
his  capture :  but  the  offer  had  no  other 
result  than  that  of  bringing  hate  and  dis- 
credit on  those  who  offered  the  blood-money. 
The  starving  ryots  would  not  have  betrayed 
the  grey  hairs  of  the  brave  octogenarian  for 
all  his  confiscated  estates ;  and,  to  the  last, 
they  favoured  his  repeated  escapes,  at  the  cost 
of  being  rendered  homeless  and  desolate  by 
the  swift  vengeance  of  the  British  troops. 
The  extent  of  the  influence  exercised  (con- 
sciously and  unconsciously)  by  this  single 
chief,  may  be  understood  by  the  panic  his 
name  occasioned  at  the  seat  of  government; 
where,  according  to  the  Times,  one  of  his 
latest  achievements  created  so  much  alarm, 
as  to  give  rise  to  the  question — "What  if 
Kooer  Sing,  who  has  feudal  suzerainty 
over  a  fifth  of  the  sepoy  array,  should  make 
a   dash    southward,   surprise    Raneegunge, 


seize  the  railway,  and  march  upon  Cal- 
cutta?"t  Apart  from  exaggerations  like  this, 
the  name  of  Kooer  Sing  was  used  wherever 
Bengal  troops  still  remained  loyal,  as  an  in- 
citement to  revolt.  In  Assam,  one  night  ia 
September,  1857,  a  Hindoo  rajah  was  ar- 
rested, with  his  mother  and  family,  aud  his 
treasure  seized,  for  alleged  conspiracy ;  and 
all  the  troops  in  the  district,  except  a  few 
Goorkas,  were  said  to  be  in  the  interest  of 
Kooer  Sing.  In  Berar,  and  the  adjacent 
country,  his  iuflueuce  was  undeniable; 
especially  in  the  Saugor  and  Nerbudda 
territories.  At  Jubbulpoor,  where  the  52nd 
N.I.  was  stationed,  great  excitement  was 
observed  among  the  troops  towards  the  close 
of  the  religious  festival,  known  as  the  Mo- 
hurrum.  A  reinforcement  of  guns,  Euro- 
peans, aud  Madras  sepoys,  was  detached  on 
the  7th  of  September,  from  a  small  moveable 
column  organised  from  the  Nagpoor  force, 
for  service  in  the  Saugor  and  Nerbudda 
territories.  On  the  15th,  an  aged  Gond 
rajah,  named  Shuukur  Shah,  who  traced  his 
descent  through  sixty  generations,  was,  with 
his  sou  and  thirteen  other  persons,  arrested, 
and  thrown  into  the  military  prison  in  the 
cantonments.  It  does  not  appear  that  any 
correspondence  was  found,  but  only  several 
papers  "of  a  rebellious  tendency;"  one  of 
which  was  placed  on  record  by  the  deputy- 
commissioner,  Mr.  Clerk.  It  was  a  prayer, 
invoking  the  goddess  Devi  to  listen  to  the 
cry  of  religion,  to  shut  the  mouth  of  slan- 
derers, devour  the  backbiters,  trample  down 
the  sinners,  and — exterminate  the  British. 

This  invocation  (written  on  the  back  of 
a  government  proclamation)  was  found  in 
a  silk  bag,  in  which  the  rajah  kept  his 
fan,  beside  the  bed  whereon  he  was  lying 
when  arrested. J  The  rajah  and  his  sou 
were  speedily  tried,  and  condemned  to  be 
blown  away  from  guns.  An  unsuccessful 
attempt  was  made  for  their  rescue  during 
the  night  of  the  16th ;  but  precautions  had 
been  taken;  and  the  disappointed  sepoys 
gave  vent  to  their  excited  feelings  by  set- 
ting fire  to  some  unoccupied  bungalows. 
Ou  the    18th   the    execution   took   place. 


•The  Friend  of  Lidia  (December  22nd,  1858) 
remarks,  that  during  the  whole  "  terrible  rebellion," 
the  effect  of  resumption,  and  of  perpetual  interference 
with  tenure,  has  been  severely  felt.  "  It  was  the 
hope  of  regaining  their  lands  w}]ich  armed  the 
aristocracy  of  the  North.West  against  our  rule. 
It  was  the  hope  of  restoring  the  old  possessors  of 
the  soil  which,  in  so  many  districts,  stirred  the 
peasantry  to  revolt.  It  was  the  deep-seated  dis- 
content   created   by  resumptions  in   lichar,  which 


rendered  the  movement  of  Kooer  Sing  possible,  and 
made  that  fine  province,  for  months,  the  seat  of  a 
guerilla  war.  It  is  the  hate  created  by  the  Enam 
commission,  which  renders  the  arrival  of  Tantia 
Topee  in  the  Deccan,  with  a  couple  of  thousand 
ragamuffins  at  his  heels,  a  danger  to  be  averted  at 
any  cost." 

i-  Times,  June  14th,  1858. 

X  Pari.  Papers  on  the  Mutinies  in  the  East  Indies, 
1858  (No.  7)  i  p.  283. 


EXECUTION  OF  GOND  RAJAH  AND  HIS  SON— SEPT.  18th,  1857.    491 


British  officers  and  Native  troops  (rendered 
powerless  by  the  position  of  the  artillery) 
looked  on  in  silence,  as  the  old  man, 
with  his  snow-white  hair,  iron  fetters,  and 
haughty  hearing,  took  his  place  in  front  of 
the  gun  that  was  to  annihilate  him,  praying 
aloud  that  his  surviving  children  might  be 
spared  to  avenge  him ;  and  his  son  echoed 
the  vengeful  petition.  The  signal  was  given  j 
then  the  well-known  muffled  report  followed, 
with  its  usual  horrible  consequences.  The 
natives  were  suffered  to  gather  together  the 
gory,  half-burnt  remains,  on  behalf  of  the 
Ranee ;  while  the  European  officers,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  one  of  them, 
looked  on  with  a  smile  of  gratified  revenge 
on  their  lips.* 

Such  a  scene  as  that  just  described,  could 
hardly  fail  in  producing  a  speedy  result  on 
the  already  compromised  52nd.  That  night 
the  regiment  mutinied  and  left  the  place, 
with  the  exception  of  one  Native  officer 
and  ten  men.  They  carried  off  Lieu- 
tenant Macgregor,  and  offered  to  surren- 
der him  in  exchange  for  the  ten  faithful 
sepoys.  This  could  not,  of  course,  be  done ; 
and  no  attempt  was  made  for  his  deliver- 
ance, except  an  offer  of  money,  which  was 
instantly  rejected.  The  mutineers  had  a 
skirmish  with  the  Kamptee  column  on  the 
27th  of  September,  in  a  jungle  about 
twenty-five  miles  from  Jubbulpoor,  and  re- 
treated, leaving  behind  them  the  mangled 
corpse  of  Lieutenant  Macgregor.  Lieute- 
nants Barton  and  Cockburn,  who  were 
stationed  with  a  company  of  the  52nd  at 
Salemabad,  had  been  previously  suffered  to 
return  to  Jubbulpoor  uninjured,  the  men 
even  bidding  them  farewell  with  tears  in 
their  eyes.  The  52nd  went  to  Nagode,  and 
were  there  joined  by  the  50tli,  who  had 
mutinied  on  the  15th  of  September.  The 
Europeans  fled ;  the  rebels  took  possession 
of  the  treasure,  and  placed  themselves 
under  the  orders  of  Kooer  Sing,  who,  it 
was  expected,  would  march  from  Nagode 
into  Upper  India,  through  llewah,  a  native 
state,  the  young  rajah  of  which  was  re- 
lated to  the  old  Behar  chief  j  and,  it  was 
supposed,  would  neither  have  the  will  nor 
the  courage  to  offer  .iny  seiious  oppo- 
sition. His  situation  had  been  a  very 
painful  one  at  the  outbreak.  The  muti- 
neers burnt  his  villages;  and  the  British 
authorities  at  Allahabad,  pronounced  him 

*  Letter   of  ofTicer   of  52nd  N.I. — Doily  News, 
November  3rd,  ]8o7. 

t  Pari.  Papors  on  Mutiny  (1857);  p.  112. 


"  a  fox  not  to  be  trusted ;"  and  treated  his 
request  for  grape  for  his  guns  with    con- 
tempt.f     Nevertheless,  the  rajah,  ably  sup- 
ported by  the    political   agent   (Ijieutenant 
Osborne),  and  by  Lieutenant-colonel  Hinde 
(who  commanded  the   Rewah  contingent), 
refused  to  suffer  the  rebel  force  to  traverse 
his  country — posted  troops  at  the   moun- 
tain  passes,    and    assumed    so  resolute  an 
attitude,  that   Kooer  Sing  abandoned    the 
attempt,  and  fell  back  on  Banda.     For  six 
months  longer  the   power  of   Kooer   Sing 
and  his  clan  was  unbroken.  In  March,  1858, 
Goruckpoor  was  reoccupied  by  the  rebels, 
and   A«imghur   threatened.     Colonel  Mil- 
man,  the  officer  in  command  at  Azimghur, 
repeated  the  error  so  frequently  committed 
during   the   war,  by  quitting  his  own  in- 
trenchments  to  attack  the  advanced  guard 
of  the  enemy.     An  engagement  took  place 
at   the   village  of  Atrowlee,  twenty  miles 
from  Azimghur.     The  hostile  troops  came 
up   in    overwhelming    numbers,     and    the 
British  fled  to  their  intrenchments,  aban- 
doning their  guns  and  baggage.     The  Raj- 
poot chief  followed  up  his  advantage,  and 
took  possession  of  the  town  of  Azimghur. 
The  next  day  (March  26th),  a  sortie  was 
made  from  the  intrenchment,  under  Colonel 
Dames,  on  the  town.     The  assailants  were 
repulsed,  one  officer  being  killed  (Captain 
Bedford),  and  eleven   men  of  H.M.  37th 
killed  or  disabled.     Sir  Colin  had  foreseen 
the  danger  to  which  Azimghur  would  be 
exposed,    and    had    detached    a    force   for 
its  relief,  under  Sir  Edward  Lugard,  from 
Lucknow  on  the  20th  of  March ;  but  Kooer 
Sing,    by   destroying    a   bridge    over    the 
Goomtee  at  Sultanpoor,  impeded   the   ad- 
vance of  the  column,  which  did  not  reach 
its  destination  until  the  15th  of  April.     In 
the  meantime.  Lord  Mark  Kerr,  with  500 
men,  hastened  from  Benares,  and,  on  the 
6th  of  April,  succeeded  in  joining  the  troops 
in  the  intrenchment,  after  a  sharp  conflict 
with  the  force  posted  to  intercept  his  en- 
trance.    On  the  13th  of  April,  Kooer  Sing, 
with  some  of  his  adherents,  quitted  Azim- 
ghur; and,  on  the  15th,  the  remainder  of 
the  enemy  were  expelled  from  the  city,  and 
pursued  for  several  miles.     One  of  the  two 
lives  lost  by  the  victors    on  this  occasion, 
was   that   of    Mr.    Venables,    the   planter, 
whose  courage  had  been  generally  admired  ; 
whose  "  terrific  severity"  had  been   much 
applauded    by    the   vengeance   party ;    and 
for  whose  head  the  mutineers  had  offered 
[  500  rupees.     Happily  he  did  not  fall  into 


492         FRESH  DISASTER  AT  ARRAH— DEATH  OF  KOOER  SING. 


their  hands,  but  died  of  his  wounds,  among 
his  own  couiitiTmen. 

Kooer  Sing  retreated  towards  his  liere- 
ditury  possessions  at  Jugdespoor,  hotly  pur- 
sued   by  Brigadier   Douglas    on    the   east, 
and  Colonel  Cumberlege  on  the  west,  in  the 
hope    of  closing   upon   him   in  the    angle 
formed  by  the  confluence  of  the  Gogra  and 
the  Ganges.     Brigadier  Douglas  overtook 
Kooer    Sing  at  Bansdeh,  a  town    midway 
between  Ghatrpoor  and  Chupra,  and  routed 
the  rebel  force,  capturing  a  gun  and  four 
elephants.     Kooer  Sing  himself  was  said  to 
have  been  severely  wounded  in  the  thigh ; 
but   he    succeeded,    through    the    devoted 
fidelity  of  the  peasantry,  iu  escaping  from 
the  two  regiments  of  Madras  cavalry,  with 
which  Colonel  Cumberlege  strove  to  inter- 
cept him ;  and  crossed  the  Ganges  in  boats, 
which  were  in  readiness  on  the  river,  just 
iu  time  to  escape  steamers  sent  with  troops 
from  Dinapoor  and  Ghazipoor,  directly  it 
was  known  that  he  had  eluded  his  pursuers. 
Brigadier  Douglas,  on  reaching  the  bank, 
fired  a  few  rounds  from  his   guns  at   the 
rearmost  boats,  and  sunk  one  of  them.     It 
was  asserted  by  the  natives^  after  the  cam- 
paign was  over,*   that   the    old   chief  was 
shot  in  the  arm  while  crossing  the  Ganges, 
and  that   he   had   himself  amputated    the 
shattered   limb.     He   reached    Jugdespoor 
on  the  20th    or   21st  of  April,  where   he 
was  joined  by  his    brother,   Umeer    Sing, 
and    several     thousand     armed     villagers. 
On   the   night   of  the   22nd,    part  of  the 
Arrah  garrison,  in  an  evil  hour,  moved  out 
to  seek  and  attack  the  old  chief,  as  he  lay 
dying  in  his  native  jungles.     Captain  Le 

•  The  disaffeetion  of  the  people  is  repeatedly 
mentioned  in  the  military  despatches  of  the  period. 
For  instance,  Sir  Edward  Lugard  complains  of  "the 
extremely  scanty  information  procurable,  every  soul 
in  the  district  being  ajjparently  against  us." — Friend 
of  India,  December  22nd,  1838. 

t  A  Tery  remarkable  appeal  was  made  by  Khan 
Bahadoor  Khan,  on  behalf  of  the  Mussulmans,  for 
the  cordial  co-operation  of  the  Hindoos.  He  asserted 
that  the  English  were  the  enemies  of  both  classes  j 
that  they  had  attempted  to  make  the  sepoys  forfeit 
caste  by  biting  suet-greased  cartridges  ;  and  caused 
those  who  refused  to  do  so  to  be  blown  away  from 
guns.  But  the  point  most  strongly  urged,  was  the 
recent  systematic  annexation.  "The  English,"  Khan 
Bahadoor  writes,  "  have  made  it  a  standing  rule, 
that  when  a  rajah  dies  without  leaving  any  male 
issue  by  his  married  wife,  to  confiscate  his  territory, 
and  they  do  not  allow  his  adopted  son  to  inherit  it; 
although  we  learn  from  the  Shastras,  that  there  are 
ten  kinds  of  sons  entitled  to  share  in  the  property 
of  a  deceased  Hindoo.  Hence,  it  is  obvious  that 
such  laws  of  the  English  are  intended  to  deprive 


Grand  was  killed ;  the  detachment  repulsed 
with  the  loss  of  both  their  guns ;  and  the 
casualties  amounted  to  130  out  of  300  men. 
The  bad  news  of  this  disaster — the  second 
connected  with  the  name  of  Arrah — was 
counterbalanced  by  the  tidings  of  the  death 
of  Kooer  Sing.  A  guerilla  war  was,  hovv- 
ever,  maintained  by  Umeer  Sing  and  others 
of  the  family,  which  long  prevented  the 
restoration  of  tranquillity  in  liehar. 

Rohilcund  Campaign. — After  the  reoccu- 
pation  of  Lucknow,  the  chief  rebel  strong- 
hold was   Bareilly    (the    capital   of   Rohil- 
cund,  the  province  adjacent  to  Oude),  in 
which  Khan  Bahadoor  Khan  had  established 
his  authority.     The   defeated  Oude  rebels 
flocked    thither;     and,    strangely    enough, 
British   troops   now  advanced   to  conquer, 
on  their  own  account,  the  territory  which 
they  had   once  gained    as  mercenaries  for 
the  vizier  of  Oude,  by  the  defeat  and  death 
of  the  ance»tor  of   Khan  Bahadoor.     The 
chief  was  old,  and  his  faculties  were  said  to 
be  enfeebled  by  the  use  of  opium ;  but  his 
proclamations  and  orders  showed  consider- 
able sagacity. t    One  of  his  directions  proved, 
that  the  description  of  warfare  at  this  time 
generally   adopted  by  the  enemy,  was  the 
result   of    policy,    not   fear    or   indecision, 
"  Do  not,"  he  said,  "  attempt  to  meet  the 
regular    columns    of    the   infidels,  because 
they  are  superior  to  you  in  discipline,  aud 
have  big  guns;  but  watch  their  movement*  ; 
guard  all  the  ghauts  on  tlie   rivers ;  inter- 
cept their  communications ;  stop  their  sup- 
plies;   cut  up    their  daks   and    posts;   and 
keep  constantly  hanging  about  their  camps  : 
give  them  no  rest."J 

the  native  rajahs  of  their  territory  and  property. 
They  have  already  seized  the  territories  of  Nagpoor 
and  Lucknow." — Times,  March  24th,  1848.  The 
Indian  view  of  the  treatment  of  native  prince*  and 
aristocracy,  put  forth  by  an  avowed  enemy,  as  a 
means  of  instigating  rebellion,  is  identical  with  that 
expressed  in  equally  plain  terms  by  many  English 
writers.  In  a  recent  number  of  one  of  our  most 
popular  periodicals,  the  statement  is  made,  that  "  it 
has  been  for  many  years  our  system  to  curtail  the 
dominion,  and  to  depress  the  influence,  of  the 
princes  and  chiefs  of  India.  The  aristocracy  of  the 
country  have  gone  down  beneath  the  chariot- 
wheels  of  the  great  Juggernauth  which  we  have 
driven  over  them.  Not  only  have  we  annexed 
and  absorbed  all  the  territory  on  which  we  could  by 
any  pretext  lay  an  appropriating  hand ;  but,  after 
annexation  and  absorption,  we  have  gone  ruthlessly 
to  work  to  destroy  the  local  nobility.  Our  whole 
system  has  tended  to  this  result." — Blackwood's 
3Iagazine  for  April,  1860;  p.  610. 

%  liusseirsZ)iary,vol.  i.,p.276.  Hyder  AH  adopted 
the  same  policy.     See  vol.  i.  {Indian  JEmpire),  p.  355. 


M 


•^ 


WALPOLE  AT  RO YEA— ADRIAN  HOPE  KILLED-APRIL,  15th,  1858.     493 


The  struggle  with  a  numerous  enemy  re- 
solved on  following  this  system,  was  neces- 
sarily tedious  and  harassing,  and  required 
an  incessant  watchfulness  in  even  minor 
operations ;  the  slightest  intermission  being 
followed  by  disastrous  consequences.  Sir 
Colin  and  General  Mansfield — men  whose 
minds  and  bodies  were  models  of  sustained, 
disciplined  power — maintained  admirable 
order  and  accuracy  in  all  their  proceedings ; 
but  officers  in  detached  commands  were  oc- 
casionally betrayed  into  acts  of  fatal  rashness. 

Sir  Colin,  after  amply  providing  for  the 
tenure  of  Lucknow,  divided  his  force  into 
columns,  which  were  ordered  to  proceed 
by  different  routes  converging  on  Bareilly. 
On  the  9th  of  April,  General  Walpole,  at 
the  head  of  about  5,000  men  of  all  arms, 
marched  from  Lucknow  for  the  purpose  of 
clearing  the  left  bank  of  the  Ganges,  and 
securing  the  passage  of  the  Ramgunga  at 
Aligunj,  in  anticipation  of  the  arrival  of  the 
division  under  the  commander-in-chief.  On 
the  15th,  General  Walpole  reached  a  jungle 
fort,  named  Royea,  near  the  village  of 
Rhodamow. 

Nirput  Sing,  the  Rajpoot  owner  of  the 
fort,  was  an  old  man  and  a  cripple.  He 
had  as  yet  shown  no  hostility  to  the  Bri- 
tish ;  but,  according  to  the  reports  of  our 
spies,  he  had  just  received  a  letter  from 
the  Begum,  and  had  resolved  on  espousing 
her  cause.  On  receiving  the  summons  of 
General  Walpole,  he  "  did  not  come  in,  or 
send  any  satisfactory  reply."* 

The  attack  on  the  fort  was  immediately 
commenced.  General  Walpole  states,  that 
he  "  sent  forward  some  infautry  in  ex- 
tended order,  to  enable  the  place  to  be 
reconnoitred,  when  a  heavy  fire  was  im- 
mediately opened  upon  them,  and  an  occa- 
sional gun."  The  consequence  was,  that 
the  attempted  examination  was  abandoned; 
and  notwithstanding  Sir  Colin's  prohibi- 
tion of  any  attack  on  fortified  places  ex- 
cept with  heavy  artillery,  part  of  the  42nd 
Highlanders  and  4th  Punjab  regiment  were 
suffered  to  attempt  to  storm  the  fort.  It 
is  said  that  they  had  nearly  succeeded,  and 
were  desperately  clambering  up  the  walls, 
helping  each  other  by  hand  and  leg  and  fire- 
lock, when  the  general  sent  to  desire  them  to 
retreat ;  and  Brigadier  Hope,  while  engaged 

•  General  Walpnle's  despatch,  April  16th,  1858.— 
London  Gazette,  July  17th,  1858. 

t  Russell's  Diary  in  India,  vol.  i.,  p.  393. 
i  Kussell.— rtmes,  June  17th,  1858. 
§  AValpole'a  despatch,  April  loth,  1858. 


in  restoring  order  and  getting  the  men 
together  to  retire,  was  mortally  wounded  by 
a  musket-ball,  fired  by  a  man  posted  in  a 
high  tree  inside  the  walls.  The  brigadier 
said  to  his  aide-de-camp,  as  he  fell,  "  They 
have  done  for  me :  remember  me  to  my 
friends;"  and  died  in  a  few  seconds.  As 
many  men  were  lost  in  the  retreat  as 
in  the  advance.  Lieutenant  Willoughby, 
the  brother  to  the  officer  who  took  a 
prominent  part  in  firing  the  small-arm 
magazine  at  Delhi,  was  killed  at  the  head 
of  the  Seiks ;  and  the  42nd  left  Lieute- 
nants Douglas  and  Bramley  behind,  mor- 
tally wounded.  Sergeant  Simpson  rushed 
back,  and  recovered  both  the  bodies;  and 
two  men,  in  striving  to  rescue  others  of 
their  comrades,  were  killed  by  the  fire  from 
the  fort;  which  the  triumphant  garrison 
(whose  numbers  were  stated,  or  guessed,  at 
from  300  to  1,500)  poured  forth  unceasingly, 
amid  shouts  and  yells  of  victory.  In  this 
miserable  biisiness,  above  a  hundred  casual- 
ties occurred ;  forty-two  Highlanders  and 
forty-six  Seiks  were  killed  or  wounded.  The 
fallen  leaders  were  all  popular  men,  espe- 
cially Adrian  Hope ;  and  the  officers  of  the 
42nd  and  93rd,  "  tliemselves  in  a  state  of 
furious  wrath,  and  discontented  with  their 
general,"  declared,  "the  fury  of  the  men  was 
so  great,  that  they  were  afraid  of  mutiny,  or 
worse,  when  poor  Hope  was  buried  !"t  The 
"  worse"  than  mutiny,  here  alluded  to,  is 
elsewhere  explained  as  meaning  personal 
threats  against  Walpole,  for  having  need- 
lessly sacrificed  many  lives. J  Altogether, 
this  first  procedure  against  the  mud  forts 
of  the  chiefs  of  Oude,  was  extremely  dis- 
couraging. 

After  the  withdrawal  of  the  storming 
party,  preparations  were  made  for  investing 
the  place,  which  was  nothing  more  than  a 
wall  enclosing  some  houses,  with  loopholes 
for  musketry,  some  irregular  bastions  at  the 
angles,  and  two  gates,  both  on  the  same  face 
of  the  work.  The  enemy  disappeared  during 
the  night;  and  in  the  morning  the  British 
marched  in.  "A  few  bodies  which  seemed 
to  have  been  overlooked,  and  three  large 
funeral  fires,  with  the  remains  of  the  bodies 
smouldering,"§  afforded  all  the  evidence 
that  could  be  obtained  as  to  the  loss  of  life 
on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  Only  five  guns 
were  found  in  the  fort;  but  the  track  of 
wheels  was  followed  to  a  deep  well,  down 
which  other  guns  were  supposed  to  have 
been  thrown. 

On  the  22nd  of  April,  General  Walpole 


494    ROHILCUND  CAMPAIGN— BATTLE  OF  BAREILLY— MAY  5th,  1858. 


had  a  successful  encounter  with  a  body  of 
Roliilcund  rebels  at  Sirsa;  and,  on  the  27th, 
he  reached  Tingree.  Here  the  united 
force,  under  the  commander-in-chief,  crossed 
the  Ramgunga  by  the  bridge  of  boats 
which  Walpole's  victory  had  prevented  the 
enemy  from  destroying,  and  British  troops 
set  foot  in  Rohilcund  for  the  first  time 
since  the  mutiny.  Sir  Colin  was  anxious  to 
conciliate  the  country-people  by  just  and  con- 
siderate dealings.  ■  The  most  stringent  orders 
were  issued  against  plundering;  and  it  was 
no  unusual  thing  to  see  the  veteran  general, 
with  the  flat  of  his  sword,  or  a  cudgel, 
personally  chastising  the  thievish  camp-fol- 
lowers. At  Jellalabad  (the  first  halt  made 
in  Rohilcund)  there  was  an  old  mud  fort, 
which  had  been  hastily  abandoned  by  the 
enemy.  A  native  official,  who  had  acted  as 
tehsildar  (deputy-collector)  to  the  Company, 
came  in  and  surrendered  himself,  on  the 
assurance  of  an  officer  (Captain  Carey)  that 
his  life  should  be  spared.  Mr.  Money,  the 
civil  officer  with  the  force,  seized  the  man, 
and  ordered  him  to  be  hanged,  which  was 
accordingly  done ;  the  tehsildar  meeting  his 
fate  "  with  calmness  and  even  dignity ;"  but 
declaring,  with  his  last  breath,  that  he  had 
been  snared  by  the  false  promise  of  a  British 
officer.  "  Sir  Colin  was  extremely  indig- 
nant at  the  transaction,  vpliich  he  charac- 
terised in  the  severest  way;"*  and  spoke  to 
Mr.  Money  in  a  sharp  and  decided  tone, 
calculated  to  prevent  such  occurrences  in 
the  camp  for  the  future. 

The  force  reached  Shahjehanpoor  on  the 
30th  of  April,  and  found  it  recently  evacu- 
ated by  the  Nana,  who  had  gone  to  Bareilly 
to  join  Khan  Bahadoor,  the  Begum  of 
Oude,  and  Prince  Feroze  Shah  of  Delhi. 
The  Moolvee  of  Fyzabad  had  proceeded  to 
Mohumdee.  Shahjehanpoor  was  half  empty  ; 
and  the  church,  the  Enghsh  cantonments, 
and  stations  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
mutineers.  On  the  2nd  of  May,  Sir  Colin 
marched  thence  upon  Bareilly,  through  an 
almost  abandoned  country,  wliere  the  fields 
but  too  often  bore  no  promise  of  a  second 
crop.  A  few  very  old  and  very  miserable 
people  were  alone  seen  in  the  villages ;  the 
houses  were  ail  fastened  up,  bolted,  pad- 
locked, and  deserted — a  mortifying  sight  to 
a  commander,  who  suffered  no  plunder  and 

*  Russell. — Times,  June  17th,  1858.  Diary,yo\.  i., 
p.  398.  "  Lord  Canning  subsequently  approved  of 
Mr.  Money's  act,  as  he  proved  the  man  was  a 
ringleader  in  rebellion." — Ibid.,  p.  399. 

t  Despatch  of  Adjutant-general,  May  6th,  1858. 


no  injury,  that  he  could  prevent,  to  be  done 
to  the  unarmed  natives ;  but  a  certain  con- 
sequence of  the  conduct  of  the  so-called 
"  avenging  columns,"  sent  forth  at  an  early 
stage  of  the  war,  when  few  distinctions  were 
made  between  the  innocent  and  the  guilty. 
While  Sir  Colin  marched  from  the  north. 
Brigadier  John  Jones  came  south  from  Mo- 
radabad ;  and  a  third  force,  under  Colonel 
H.  Richmond  Jones  (lately  commanded  by 
General  Penny),  advanced  from  the  west,  to 
concentrate  on  what  was  now  viewed  as 
the  metropolis  of  the  revolt.  General  Penny 
was  a  good  soldier  and  a  careful  leader; 
but,  blinded  by  false  intelligence,  he,  "for 
the  sake  of  sparing  his  troops,  neglected 
some  common  military  precautions,"!  ^^^ 
fell  while  leading  a  loosely-ordered  night 
march  through  Budaon,  at  a  village  called 
Kukrowlee,  from  whence  grape  and  mus- 
ketry were  suddenly  fired  by  an  ambushed 
enemy.  Penny,  whose  bridle-hand  was 
probably  disabled,  seems  to  have  been  car- 
ried by  his  frightened  horse  into  the  midst 
of  a  party  of  Ghazis  hidden  in  a  ditch,  by 
whom  he  was  killed,  and  several  other 
officers  and  men  were  wounded.  The  village 
was  shelled,  and  carried  by  the  bayonet, 
and  the  dead  body  of  the  general  was  found 
stripped  and  covered  with  wounds. 

Bareilly. — On  the  5th  of  May,  the  united 
force  advanced  upon  Bareilly ;  and  an  out- 
lying suburb,  two  miles  from  the  city,  was 
attacked  by  some  Seik  companies,  followed 
by  the  42nd  and  79th  regiments.  The 
Seiks  pressed  forward  to  explore  a  ruined 
mass  of  one-storied  houses  in  front  of  the 
British  lines ;  but  finding  themselves  ex- 
posed to  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry  from  700 
or  800  concealed  matchlockmen,  they  fell 
back  in  disorder  on  the  advancing  High- 
landers, closely  followed  by  a  body  of  Ghazis 
— grey-bearded,  elderly  men,  who,  sword  in 
hand,  with  small  round  bucklers  on  the  left 
arm,  and  green  cummerbunds,  rushed  out 
with  bodies  bent  and  heads  low,  waving 
their  tulwars  with  a  circular  motion  in  the 
air,  and  uttering  their  war-cry — "  Bismillah 
Allah!  deen,  deen  1"  (Glory  to  Allah! 
the  faith,  the  faith  I)  At  first,  the  fana- 
tics were  mistaken  for  Seiks,  whose  passage 
had  already  disturbed  the  British  ranks. 
But  Sir  Colin  was  close  beside  the  42nd, 
and  had  just  time  to  say,  "  Steady,  men, 
steady  I  Close  up  the  ranks.  Bayonet  them 
as  they  come."  A  short  but  sanguinary 
struggle  ensued.  Colonel  Cameron  was 
pulled  off  his  horse,  and  only  saved  by  the 


BATTLE  OF  BAREILLY— DESPERATION  OF  GHAZIS— MAY,  1858.    495 


prompt  courage  of  Sergeant  Gardiner. 
Brigadier  Walpole  was  also  seized  by  two 
or  three  Gliazis,  and  received  two  cuts 
on  the  hand ;  but  lie  was  rescued  by  the 
quick  bayonets  of  the  42nd ;  and,  in  a  few 
minutes,  the  dead  bodies  of  the  devoted 
band  (133  in  number),  and  some  eighteen 
or  twenty  wounded  on  the  British  side, 
were  all  the  tokens  left  of  the  struggle.* 

While  the  Ghazis  were  making  their 
fierce  onslaught  in  front,  the  hostile 
cavalry  swept  among  the  sick  and  camp- 
followers  in  the  rear,  and  seemed  as  if 
they  intended  to  make  a  dash  at  the 
baggage,  but  were  soon  driven  off  by  the 
fire  of  the  British  guns.  The  movement 
had,  however,  created  a  panic  among  the 
camel-drivers  and  bazaar  people;  and 
elephants,  bullocks,  camels,  and  horses 
rushed  wildly  across  the  plain.  Mr.  Eus- 
8ell,  Sir  David  Baird,  and  Captain  Alison 
scrambled  out  of  their  dhoolies  on  to  their 
horses,  and  rode  off,  very  scantily  elad,  to 
the  shelter  of  the  guns,  hotly  pursued  by  the 
sowars,  by  whom  "  the  special  correspon- 
dent^'t  was  severely  wounded,  but  rescued 
through  the  devotiou  of  his  native  servants. 

•  Sir  Colin  himself  had  a  narrow  escape.  As  he 
was  riding  from  one  company  to  another,  his  eye 
caught  that  of  a  Ghazi,  who  lay,  tulwar  in  hand, 
feigning  death,  just  before  him.  Guessing  the  ruse, 
he  called  to  a  soldier,  "  Bayonet  that  man."  The 
Highlander  made  a  thrust  at  him ;  but  his  weapon 
would  not  enter  the  thick  cotton  quilting  of  the 
Ghazi's  tunic  ;  and  the  impostor  was  just  springing 
to  his  feet,  when  a  Seik,  with  "  a  whistling  stroke 
of  his  sabre,  cut  off  the  Ghazi's  head  with  one  blow, 
as  if  it  had  been  the  bulb  of  a  poppy!" — Kussell's 
Diary  in  India,  vol.  ii.,  p.  14. 

f  Mr.  Ilussell  was  lame  from  the  kick  of  a  horse  ; 
Sir  iJavid  Baird  was  ill  of  a  fever;  and  Captain 
Alison  suffering  from  small-pox.  At  this  time  Sir 
Colin  had  no  staff:  he  had  "  used-up"  more  than  one 
set  of  officers  completely;  and  Captain  Hope  John- 
stone alone  remained  with  General  Mansfield. — 
Times,  July  6th,  1858. 

X  Despatch  of  Sir  C.  Campbell,  May  8th,  1858.— 
London  Gazette,  July  28th,  1858.  Sir  Colin's  ap- 
proval was  greatly  valued,  because  of  the  conscien- 
tiousness with  which  it  was  given.  He  never 
courted  populai-ily  by  lavish  praise  ;  and  the  manner 
in  which  he  abstained  from  recommending  officers 
for  the  Victoria  medal,  was  often  discussed  as  a 
grievance  in  his  camp.  It  is  probable  that  the 
spirit  of  the  order  seemed  to  him  injudicious,  as 
tempting  men  to  seek  for  distinction  by  a  single 
daring  act,  rather  than  by  steady  perseverance  in 
ordinary  duty.  In  his  own  breast,  physical  courage 
was  an  instinct  which  required  repression  rather 
than  encouragement;  and  he  »edulously  checked 
every  approach  to  fool-hardiness  in  both  officers 
and  men.  At  this  time,  moreover,  there  was  a 
great  tendency  to  vulgarise  the  decoration  by  its  too 
hasty  and  indiscriminate  bestowal.     One  man  was 


The  enemy  abandoned  the  suburbs ;  but 
it  was  believed  they  were  concentrating 
upon  some  point  in  the  city;  and  Sir 
Colin,  not  deeming  it  advisable  to  expose 
troops,  exhausted  with  thirst  and  intense 
heat,  to  the  fatigue  and  hazard  of  a  series 
of  street  fights,  secured  the  cantonments 
and  advanced  posts,  and  bivouacked  for  the 
night  on  the  tentless  plain. 

Brigadier  John  Jones  arrived  with  his 
column  from  Moradabad  (which  city  the 
rebels  evacuated  at  his  approach),  and  took 
up  his  position  on  the  north  side  of 
Bareilly,  just  as  the  conflict  in  the  suburbs 
terminated.  The  commander-in-chief,  when 
he  advanced  into  the  cantonment  on  the 
following  morning,  heard  the  welcome 
sound  of  the  brigadier's  guns ;  and  declared 
that  "  this  officer  had  obeyed  his  instruc- 
tions with  great  judgment  and  spirit;  de- 
feated a  portion  of  the  enemy  on  the  5th 
instant,  taking  three  guns;  and  finding 
himself  resisted  on  his  approach  to  the 
town  on  the  6th,  took  three  more  which 
were  in  position  against  him  ;  entered  the 
town,  and  took  three  advanced  positions 
without  delay."  J  On  the  morning  of  the  7th, 

alleged  to  have  received  it  for  running  his  sword 
through  the  body  of  a  dying  Ghazi,  who  stood  at 
bay  in  a  patch  of  jungle.  Anotlier  was  recom- 
mended for  it  by  his  comrades,  because  he  "  was 
the  sergeant  who  served  out  the  grog." — Times, 
April  2nd,  1859.  Among  many  instances  of  the 
unsatisfactory  manner  in  which  the  Victoria  Cross 
was  given  and  withheld,  may  be  cited  the  case  of 
Major  Anderson  (25th  N.I.),  the  assistant-commis- 
sioner of  Lucknow,  and  one  of  the  annalists  of  the 
siege.  This  officer  maintained  his  own  house,  as  an 
outpost,  from  the  30th  of  June  till  the  22nd  of 
November,  1857.  Until  the  relief  in  September,  he, 
with  only  ten  men  of  H.M.  32nd,  and  ten  volun- 
teers held  a  sand-bag  breastwork  four-and-a-half 
feet  high,  from  which  a  9  and  an  18-pounder  gun 
had  been  withdrawn,  as  artillerymen  could  not  load 
them,  on  account  of  the  deadly  fire  from  the  adja- 
cent houses.  General  Outram,  on  his  arrival, 
erected  a  battery  on  the  spot,  where  Major  (then 
Captain)  Anderson  continued  till  the  end  of  the 
siege.  The  men  were  relieved  every  week.  He 
remained  there  nearly  five  months,  employed,  day 
and  night,  in  the  defence ;  and  having,  besides,  to 
chop  wood,  cook,  wash  his  own  clothes,  and  dig  in 
the  outworks;  and  all  this  in  a  building  on  which 
nine  guns  of  different  sizes  were  constantly  playing. 
A  desperate  attempt  was  made  by  the  enemy  to 
escalade  this  outpost;  but  was  most  gallantly  re- 
pulsed. Brigadier  Inglis,  in  his  memorable  despatch, 
and  the  various  chronicles  of  the  siege,  have  borne 
testimony  to  the  patient,  unflinching  zeal  of  Major 
Anderson ;  yet  when  an  opportunity  occurred  for 
conferring  on  him  an  honourable  distinction,  his 
services  were  left  unnoticed.  The  occasion  was 
this.  The  pillars  of  the  verandah  of  his  house 
were  shot  away,  and  a  civilian  (Mr.  Capper)  was 


496 


TRANQUILLISATION  OF  ROHILCUND— JUNE,  1858. 


the  town  was  finally  reduced,  with  trifling 
loss  to  the  victors,  except  by  sun-stroke, 
under  which  many  more  fell  than  by  tlie 
tulwars  of  the  Ghazis,  of  whom  detached 
bodies  remained  in  the  houses,  and  fought 
to  the  last.  The  completeness  with  which 
the  concentration  of  the  columns  was  accom- 
plished, excited  much  admiration  for  the 
commander-in-chief^s  power  of  organisa- 
tion. All  parties  concurred  iu  lauding  tlie 
masterly  manner  in  which  the  three 
columns  were  brought  to  bear  on  a  great 
city,  which,  though  without  walls,  was  be- 
lieved to  be  filled  by  thousands  of  men, 
who,  hopeless  of  victory,  only  desired  to 
die  in  a  hand-to-hand  struggle  with  the 
infidel.  A  powerful  and  well-organised 
force  was  needed  to  crush  these  dangerous 
foes,  with  little  loss  of  the  lives  Sir  Colin 
was  so  chary  of  imperilling.  He  succeeded 
in  convincing  Khan  Bahadoor  of  the  fruit- 
lessness  of  protracting  the  struggle ;  and 
the  consequence  was,  that  he  and  the  other 
rebel  leaders  fled,  leaving  the  city  to  fall 
an  easy  prize  into  the  hands  of  the 
British. 

The  great  political  advantage  gained  by 
the  reoccupation  of  Bareilly,  was  enhanced 
by  the  precautions  taken  by  the  com- 
mander-in-chief to  check  plunder  (for 
which  there  was  comparatively  but  little 
opportunity,  as  the  fugitives  had  removed 
all  available  property),  and  by  the  procla- 


mation of  an  amnesty  to  all  but  notorious 
rebels — a  measure  which  was  only  common 
justice  to  the  people  of  Rohilcund ;  who 
had  been  left,  ever  since  the  outbreak  of 
the  mutiny,  entirely  in  the  liands  of  the 
recognised  representative  and  legitimate, 
descendant  of  their  former  rulers. 

The  chief  events  of  this  important  cam- 
paign have  now  been  narrated.  At  its 
close,  the  rebels  had  ceased  to  possess  a 
single  city  or  fortified  town.  The  British 
flag  had  been  replanted  on  the  towers  of 
Delhi,  Lucknow,  Cawnpooi',  Bareilly,  and 
'  numerous  less  important  places,  by  dint  of 
extraordinary  efforts,  which  had  been  at- 
tended with  no  less  extraordinary  success. 
Mutinous  troops,  rebel  princes,  and  re- 
volted citizens,  had  been  overcome  by  men 
fighting  on  a  foreign  soil,  with  frames  tried 
by  an  uncongenial  climate,  and  liable  to  be 
prostrated,  amid  the  din  of  battle,  by  sun- 
stroke, fever,  and  pestilence.  Compassed 
about  by  danger  and  discouragement,  they 
had  steadily  held  on  their  course — plodding 
wearily  through  sandy  plains;  wading 
through  swamps,  or  groping  among  dense 
jungles  often  filled  with  ambushed  foes; 
fighting  battles  and  besieging  cities,  as  it 
were,  incidentally;  until,  in  June,  1858, 
when  no  more  pitched  battles  remained  to 
be  fought,  nor  cities  to  be  besieged,  the 
victors  might  well  retire  to  rest  in  their 
I  cantonments  for  a  short  season. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

CAMPAIGN  IN  OUDEi  FATE  OF  LEADING  REBELS;  MOOLVEE  OF  LUCKNOW;  LALL 
MADHOO  SING,  OF  AMETHIE;  BAINIE  MADHOO,  RANA  OF  SHUNKERPOOR  ;  DAEEE 
BUX,  RAJAH  OF  GONDA;  NIRPUT  SING,  OF  ROYEA;  TANTIA  TOPEE  ;  MAUN  SING; 
MEHNDIE  HOSSEIN;  FEROZE  SHAH,  PRINCE  OF  BELHI;  BEGUM  OF  OUDE,  AND 
BIRJIS  KUDDER;  NAWABS  OF  FURRUCKABAD,  BANDA,  AND  JHUJJUR;  RAJAHS  OF 
MITHOWLEE  AND  BULLUBGHUR;  TRIAL,  SENTENCE,  AND  TRANSPORTATION  OP 
THE  KING  OF  DELHI;  SURRENDER  OF  KHAN  BAHADOOR  KHAN;  PENAL  SETTLE- 
MENT FOR  SEPOYS,  FORMED  AT  THE  ANDAMANS;  TERMINATION  OF  THE  RULE 
OF  THE  E.  L  COMPANY;  PROCLAMATION  OF  THE  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  QUEEN  VIC- 
TORIA, NOV.,  1858;  CONCLUSION. 


The  course  of  action  adopted  by  Sir  Colin 
Campbell,  in  July,  1858,  for  the  reduction 
of  Oude,  was  similar  to  that  which  he  had 

completely  buried  under  the  ruins.  Major  Anderson, 
with  three  other  persons,  immediately  set  to  work  to 
rescue  the  entombed  man ;  and  after  labouring  for 
three-quarters  of  an  hour,  under  a  heavy  fire  of  round 
ihot  and  musketry,  succeeded  in  getting  him  out 


followed  in  the  Doab,  after  the  battle  of 
Cawnpoor.  By  never  committing  the  troops" 
to  a  forward  movement  uutil  they  could  be 

alive.  A  corporal  who  shared  the  perilous  enterprise, 
received  the  Victoria  medal  as  a  reward.  The  major, 
who  commanded  and  co-operated  with  him,  remained 
undecorated.  Of  course,  a  case  like  this  can  only 
be  accounted  for  as  occurring  through  inadvertence. 


FATE  OF  REBEL  LEADERS— BAINIE  MADHOO. 


497 


supported  on  every  side,  he  converted  a 
mitrch  into  a  thorough  process  of  occu- 
pation ;  and,  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1859,  was  able  to  report  to  the  governor- 
general,  that  there  was  "no  longer  even 
a  vestige  of  rebellion  in  Oude."* 

The  campaign  was  wearisome  to  the 
troops;  but  at  its  close,  nothing  remained 
for  them  to  do,  except  to  continue  the 
pursuit  of  tlie  few  insurgent  leaders  who 
seemed  resolved  never  to  be  taken  alive. 
This  small  number  included  the  noblest, 
bravest,  and  ablest  of  the  rebels — such  as 
the  Begum  of  Oude,  with  a  small  band  of 
devoted  Rajpoots;  Prince  Feroze  Shah,  of 
Delhi ;  and  Khan  Bahadoor  Khan  :  it  like- 
wise comprehended  the  Nana,  and  his 
hateful  associate,  Azim  OoUah ;  both  of 
whom  were  of  course  beyond  the  pale 
of  mercy.  Their  cruel  treachery  at  Cawn- 
poor  was  denounced  by  the  Begum,  and 
Prince  Feroze  Shah,  as  having  brought 
a  curse  on  the  native  cause.  Yet  the  offer 
of  i615,000  failed  to  induce  the  people 
to  betray  the  Nana;  and  when,  at  the  close 
of  1858,  his  fortunes  were  utterly  desperate, 
a  hill  chief,  named  the  rajah  of  Churda, 
sheltered  him  and  his  family  for  weeks  in 
his  jungle  fort,  and,  on  the  approach  of  the 
British  troops,  fled  with  him  into  the 
Terai,  the  atmosphere  of  which  was  pesti- 
lential to  natives,  and  fatal  to  Europeans. 

There  were,  however,  exceptional  cases,  in 
which  rebel  chiefs  icll  through  the  treachery 
of  two  or  three  compromised  individuals. 
The  first  of  these  betrayals  was  that  of 
the  Moolvee  of  Lucknow  or  Fyzabad, 
for  whose  apprehension  £5,000  and  a 
free  pardon  was  offered.  On  the  15th  of 
June,  he  arrived  before  Powayne,  a  small 
town,  sixteen  miles  north  of  Shahjehanpoor. 
The  rajah  of  the  place  was,  it  is  said,  ex- 
tremely anxious  to  improve  his  position 
with  the  British,  which  he  had  reason  to 

•  Lord  Clyde's  despatch  of  January  7th,  1859. 

+  Ruasell.— Times,  February  11th,  1859. 

X  At  page  233  :  where  a  mistake  has  been  made  in 
the  name  of  the  rajah,  arising  from  the  confusion 
which  existed  in  the  accounts  sent  home  to  Eng- 
land at  the  time  the  erroneous  paragraph  was 
published.  Lall  Madhoo  Sing  is  the  name  of  the 
Rajah  of  Amethie  ;  Bainie  Madhoo  Sing,  that  of  the 
Rana  of  Shunkerpoor. 

§  One  of  the  causes  which  are  said  to  have  strength, 
ened  the  resolve  of  Bainie  Madhoo,  is  as  follows  : — 
"  A  kinsman  and  great  friend  of  his  resided,  at  the 
time  of  the  outbreak,  on  his  estates  between  Alla- 
habad and  Futtehpoor.  The  commissioner  (Chester), 
aware  of  his  character,  wrote  to  him  to  say  that  he 
was  to  remain   in  his  house,  and  ?ive  us  such  aid  as 

vol,.  II.  3  s 


fear  was  a  dangerous  one;  therefore  he 
caused  the  Moolvee  to  be  shot  while  en- 
gaged in  a  parley  ;  delivered  over  the  dead 
body  to  the  nearest  British  magistrate,  and 
received  the  blood-money.t 

Among  the  chief  leaders  who  surrendered 
themselves  to  the  commander-in-chief,  was 
the  head  of  a  powerful  Rajpoot  clan — Lall 
Madhoo  Sing,  of  Amethie.  Sir  Colin  (or 
rather  Lord  Clyde,  for  he  had  by  this  time 
been  made  a  peer,  in  acknowledgment  of 
the  public  service  rendered  by  the  relief  of 
Lucknow)  appeared  before  the  fort  of 
Amethie  on  the  11th  of  November,  1858; 
but  hostile  operations  were  stayed  by  the 
submission  of  the  rajah,  whose  antecedents 
have  been  already  related, J  and  who  pro- 
tested against  the  decree  for  the  dis- 
armament of  his  followers  and  surrender  of 
his  arms ;  urging,  with  truth,  that  his  fort 
had  sheltered  English  men,  women,  and 
children  when  in  danger;  and  his  arms, 
which  were  very  few,  had  been  used  for 
the  same  purpose.  He  likewise  complained 
boldly  of  the  seizure  of  his  property  at 
Benares,  and  the  refusal  of  all  redress  or 
explanation  of  the  matter. 

Bainie  Madhoo,  the  Rana  of  Shunkerpoor 
(another  Rajpoot  of  similar  rank  to  Lall 
Madhoo  Sing,  and  whose  son  had  married 
the  daughter  of  Kooer  Sing),  abandoned 
his  fort  on  the  approach  of  Lord  Clyde 
(November  15th),  and  marched  off,  with 
his  adherents,  treasure,  gnns,  women,  and 
baggage,  to  join  the  Begum  of  Oude  and 
Birjis  Kudder,  who  was,  he  said,  his  lawful 
sovereign,  and  must  be  obeyed  as  such. 
He  proved  his  sincerity  at  heavy  cost ;  for 
though  offered  his  life,  his  lands,  the  re- 
dress of  injuries,  the  full  investigation  of 
grievances — he  rejected  all,  and  became  a 
homeless  wanderer  in  the  Terai,  for  the 
sake  of  the  Begum  and  her  son,  to  whom 
he  had  sworn  fealty. § 

he  could  render.  He  did  so:  he  provided  coolies, 
transport,  and  stores  for  our  troops.  Some  Sikhs 
quarrelled  with  his  villagers;  and  in  the  fight,  it  is 
said,  a  few  men  lost  their  lives.  The  zemindar  was 
called  in  to  Futtehpoor,  and  he  and  his  elder  son 
were  hanged.  The  second  son  fled  to  Bainie  Madhoo 
for  protection,  and  was  assured  that  he  would  never 
be  abandoned.  Out  of  the  223  villages  on  Bainie 
Madhoo's  estates,  119  were  taken  from  him  on  the 
second  revision,  after  annexation ;  but,  as  he  was 
assured  that  any  complaints  of  unjust  treatment  in 
former  days,  would  be  considered  in  the  event  of 
his  submission,  it  must  be  supposed  he  had  some 
strong  personal  feeling  at  work  [to  account]  for  the 
extraordinary  animosity  he  has  displayed  against 
us."— Russell :  Timet,  January  17th,  1859. 


I 


498       FATE  OF  DABEE  BUX,  NIRPUT  SING,  AND  TANTIA  TOPEE. 


Dabee  Bvx,  Rajah  of  Gondah,  was  another 
of  the  most  determined  rebels.  A  native 
chief  predicated  of  him  and  of  Bainie  Mad- 
huo,  that  they  would  not  surrender — the  lat- 
ter because  he  had  promised  not  to  desert 
Birjis  Kudder  (and  he  never  broke  his  word) ; 
the  former  because  he  was  fond  of  fighting, 
and  had  done  nothing  else  all  his  life.* 

Nirput  Sing,  of  Royea,  a  Rajpoot  chief  of 
inconsiderable  rank  before  the  mutiny,  raised 
himself  to  eminence  by  the  unflinching  re- 
solve with  which  he  stood  aloof  from  pro- 
oclamations  and  amuesties ;  partly,  perhaps, 
because  they  were  so  vaguely  worded,  and 
80  tampered  with,t  as  to  inspire  little  confi- 
dence in  the  intentions  of  the  British 
government  for  the  better  administration  of 
India.  It  was  currently  reported  of  him, 
that  he  had  vowed  (alluding  to  his  crippled 
condition),  "  that  as  God  had  taken  some  of 
his  members,  he  would  give  the  rest  to  his 
country."^ 

Tautia  Topee  held  out,  fighting  as  he 
fled,  and  flying  as  he  fought,§  until  the 
7th  of  April,  1859,  when  he  was  captured 
while  asleep  in  the  Parone  jungles,  ten 
miles  from  Seepree,  by  the  treachery  of 
Maun  Sing ;  heavily  ironed,  tried  by  court- 
martial,  and  hanged.  His  bearing  was  calm 
and  fearless  to  the  last:  he  wanted  no  trial,  he 
said,  being  well  aware  that  he  had  nothing 
but  death  to  expect  from  the  British  gov- 
ernment. He  asked  only  that  his  end 
might  be  speedy,  and  that  his  captive  family 
might  not  be  made  to  sufler  for  transactions 
in  which  they  had  had  no  share. 

*  Since  the  above  page  was  written,  the  prediction 
has  been  verified.  In  November,  1859,  Jung  Baha. 
dur  marched  his  forces  into  the  Terai,  and  en- 
countered Bainie  Madhoo,  who,  with  1,200  men, 
withstood  the  Goorkas,  but  was  killed  with  half  his 
followers.  The  death  of  the  Gondah  Kajah,  and  the 
surrender  of  the  Gondah  Ranee,  with  eighty-nine 
followers,  have  been  officially  reported.  Also  the 
deaths  of  Bala  Rao,  of  Cawnpoor;  General  Khoda 
Buksh,  Hurdeo  Purshaud,  Chuckladar  of  Khyrabad, 
and  many  others. — Times,  January  21st,  1860. 

+  Certain  leading  civilians,  although  "old,  valued, 
and  distinguished"  public  servants,  evinced  their 
repugnance  to  the  amnesty  in  a  most  inexcusable 
manner.  Mr.  Russell  gives  a  case  in  point.  "  It 
will  be  credited  with  difficulty,  that  a  very  dis- 
tinguished officer  of  the  government,  whose  rank  in 
the  councils  of  ths  Indian  empire  is  of  the  very 
•  highest,  actually  suggested  to  one  of  the  officers 
charged  with  the  pacification  of  Oude,  that  he  should 
not  send  the  proclamation  till  he  had  battered  down 
the  forts  of  the  chiefs ;  and  yet  he  did  so.  Had  a 
military  officer  so  far  contravened  the  orders  of  his 
superior,  nothing  could  save  him  from  disgrace  and 
the  loss  of  his  commission.  A  more  disgraceful 
iuggestion  could  scarcely  hare  been  made  to  a  man 


Maun  Sing  himself  had  been  driven, 
many  mouths  earlier,  from  his  pretended 
neutrality  by  Mehudie  Hussein,  who  had 
summoned  him,  in  the  name  of  the  Begum 
of  Oude,  to  join  her  cause  in  person,  at  the 
head  of  his  retainers;  and  not  receiving  a' 
satisfactory  answer,  had  besieged  him  iu 
his  fort  of  Shahgunj ;  whereupon  the  in- 
triguer had  been  compelled  to  seek  aid 
from  the  British,  and  decisively  join  the 
cause  which,  by  that  time  (July,  1858),  was 
beyond  question  ihe  stronger.  This  chief 
and  his  brother,  Rugber  Sing,  have  played 
a  winning  game,  in  a  manner  quite  consis- 
tent with  the  account  of  their  previous 
lives,  given  by  Colonel  Sleemau.  Mehudie 
Hussein,  "a  fine,  tall,  portly  man,  with 
very  agreeable  face;"  his  uncle,  Meer 
Dost  Ali,  and  several  other  of  the  Oude 
leaders,  surrendered  themselves  into  the 
hands  of  the  commander-in-chief  in  Jan- 
uary, 1859,  encouraged  by  the  conciliatory 
tone  the  government  had  gradually  been 
induced  to  assume.  "  I  was  twenty-five 
years  in  the  service  of  the  King  of  Oude," 
said  Mehudie  Husseiu  as  he  entered  the 
British  camp;  evidently  implying  that  he 
could  not,  as  a  man  of  honour,  help  fighting 
iu  the  cause  of  one  he  had  served  so  long. 
Lord  Clyde  behaved  with  frank  courtesy  to 
the  fallen  chiefs ;  invited  them  to  be  seated ; 
and  expressed  his  hope  that  they  would 
now  settle  down  as  good  subjects  of  the 
British  Crown.  "  I  have  been  fifty  years  a 
soldier,"  he  said  ;  "  and  I  have  seen  enough 
of  war  to  rejoice  when  it  is  at  an  end," 

of  honour;  one  more  ruinous  to  our  reputation, 
more  hurtful  to  our  faith,  certainly  could  not  be 
imagined." — Times,  December  21st,  1858. 

X  Russell.— Times,  February  11th,  1858.  Nirput 
Sing  is  said  to  have  been  slain  at  the  same  time  as 
Bainie  Madhoo. 

§  Mr.  Russell,  December  4th,  1858,  wrote—"  Our 
very  remarkable  friend,  Tantia  Topee,  is  too 
troublesome  and  clever  an  enemy  to  be  admired. 
Since  last  June  he  has  kept  Central  India  in  a  fever. 
He  has  sacked  stations,  plundered  treasuries,  emptied 
arsenals,  collected  armies,  lost  them  ;  fought  battles, 
lost  them ;  taken  guns  from  native  princes,  lost 
them ;  taken  more,  lost  them :  then  his  motions 
have  been  like  forked  lightning ;  for  weeks  he  has 
marched  thirty  and  forty  miles  a-day.  He  has 
crossed  the  Nerbudda  to  and  fro;  he  has  marched 
between  our  columns,  behind  them,  and  before 
them.  Ariel  was  not  more  subtle,  aided  by  the 
best  stage  mechanism.  Up  mountains,  over  rivers, 
through  ravines  and  valleys,  amid  swamps,  on  he 
goes,  backwards  and  forwards,  and  sideways  and 
zig-zag  ways — now  falling  upon  a  post-cart,  and 
carrying  ofl'  the  Bombay  mails — now  looting  a  vil- 
lage, headed  and  turned,  yet  evasive  as  Proteus." — 
Times,  January  17th,  1859. 


BEGUM  OP  OUDE— FEROZE  SHAH— NANA  SAHIB— AZIM  OOLLAH.    499 


Other  well-known  Oude  chiefs,  including 
Pirtliee  Pal  Sing,*  had  previously  thrown 
tliemselves  on  the  mercy  of  the  government, 
and  were,  in  several  instances,  treated  with 
less  severity  than  might  have  been  ex- 
pected. When  the  vengeance  fever  subsided, 
the  Europeans  began  to  draw  distinctions 
between  the  insurgent  leaders,  and  to  admit, 
and  even  praise,  the  courage  and  steadfast- 
ness with  which  certain  of  them  endured 
prolonged  suffering.  This  change  of  feeling 
is  very  marked  in  the  case  of  Prince  Feroze 
Shah,  of  Delhi :  his  military  daring,  hair- 
breadth escapes,  and  skilful  horsemanship, 
are  spoken  of  with  admiration ;  and  even 
Anglo-Indian  journals  (the  Delhi  Gazette, 
for  instance)  plead  his  cause,  urging  his 
reported  intercession  on  behalf  of  the  Euro- 
pean ladies  and  children  massacred  at  Delhi 
by  the  mutinous  sepoys  of  the  East  India 
Company.  Few  persons,  now,  but  would 
regret  to  hear  that  the  prince  had  perished 
■either  by  jungle  fever  or  the  hands  of  the 
executioner.  A  still  stronger  interest  at- 
taches to  the  Begum  of  Oude ;  of  whom  it 
has  been  said,  that  she,  "  hke  all  the  women 
who  have  turned  up  in  the  insurrection,  has 
shown  more  sense  and  nerve  than  all  her 
generals  together.'^t 

The  fate  of  the  Nana  and  Azim  Oollah 
is  still  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  It  is  said 
they  are  both  dead  of  jungle  fever;  but 
nothing  short  of  the  identification  of  the 
bodies,  will  quench  tiie  desire  for  their  cap- 
ture cherished  by  the  British  public. 

No  estimate  has  been  attempted  of  the 
number  of  insurgents  who  have  perished  by 
the  civil  sword  ;  indeed,  there  are  no  records 
from  which  a  trustworthy  approximation 
could  be  framed.  It  is  a  subject  on  which 
few  hut  those  personally  interested  possess 
even  limited  information;  and  they,  of 
course,  are  silent  as  the  grave. 

In  the  middle  of  the  year  1858,  Mr. 
Russell  wrote — "  Up  to  this  time,  there 
has  certainly  been  no  lack  of  work  for  the 
executioner.  Rajahs,  nawabs,  zemindars, 
have   been  'strung   up'  or    'polished  off' 

•  See  p.  330,  ante.         t  Times,  Nov.  29th,  1858. 

J  Russell's  Diary,  vol.  i.,  p.  214. — Times,  July 
19th,  1858;  January  17th,  1859.  An  Umballah 
civilian  boasted  to  Mr.  Russell,  that  he  had  hanged 
fifty-four  men  in  a  few  hours  for  plundering  a  village  ; 
enjoyed  the  work,  and  regretted  that  he  had  not  had 
"more  of  it." — Diary,  vol.  ii.,  p.  82. 

§  Friend  of  India,  November  18th,  1858. 

II  See  account  of  proceedings  of  Renaud,  when  he 
moved  from  Allahabad  in  advance  of  Havelock's 
force:  p.  374,  ante:  and  Russell,  ii.,  402. 

^  For  instance,  Colonel  Bourchier,  of  the  Bengal 


weekly,  and  men  of  less  note  daily."  The 
conquests  of  the  Great  Moguls  were  marked 
by  pyramids  of  heads,  piled  up  like  cannon- 
balls  ;  our  path  may  be  traced  by  topes 
full  of  rotting  corpses — not  the  remains  of 
enemies  slain  in  war;  but  the  victims  of 
"  the  special  commissioners,  who,  halter  in 
hand,  followed  in  the  wake  of  our  armies," 
with  excited  passions,  and  "  armed  with 
absolute  and  irresponsible  power."! 

At  the  close  of  the  y«ar  1858,  their  pro- 
ceedings were  denounced  even  in  Calcutta, 
and  they  themselves  became  "  the  objects 
of  incessant  attack.  Some  of  them,  it  is 
said,  spilt  blood  like  water.  Many  were 
inattentive  to  the  rules  of  evidence.  One 
stated,  on  a  requisition  made  by  govern- 
ment, that  he  had  sentenced  '  about'  800, 
but  had  kept  no  exact  account. "§  The 
excesses  of  civilians  cannot,  however,  throw 
into  the  shade  those  committed  by  military 
leaders;  some  of  the  most  notorious  of  which 
were  perpetrated  before  the  fearful  provoca- 
tion given  at  Cawnpoor;||  while  others  were 
prevented  by  the  humanity  of  civilians  at- 
tached to  the  forces.^ 

The  sentence  of  government  on  certain 
influential  leaders,  whose  names  have  been 
mentioned  in  previous  chapters,  remains  to 
be  stated.  The  Nawab  of  Furruckabad  came 
voluntarily  to  head-quarters.  A  price  of 
£10,000  had  been  set  upon  his  person  ;  and 
he  was  expressly  shut  out,  by  proclamation, 
from  all  favour  and  amnesty,  on  accountof  his 
being  deemed,  in  some  measure,  responsible 
for  the  massacre  of  women  and  children  at 
Futtehghur.  On  being  reminded  by  the 
commissioner.  Major  Barrow,  of  the  posi- 
tion in  which  he  stood  ;  the  nawab  replied — 
"  The  best  proof  I  can  give  that  I  do  not 
consider  myself  guilty  is,  that  I  come  here 
to  take  ray  trial,  though  you  have  already 
pronounced  me  guilty,  and  I  have  to  prove 
my  innocence."  In  this,  however,  he  failed, 
notwithstanding  the  strongly  favourable  tes- 
timony of  two  Christian  ladies  (mother  and 
daughter),  the  wives  of  British  officers ;  who 
had  been  known  to  the  nawab  in  former 

artillery,  blamed  Mr.  Sapte,  the  civil  officer  with  his 
column,  for  not  calling  on  him  to  punish  the  town 
of  Khoorja,  on  account  of  a  headless  skeleton  found 
outside  that  place,  near  Alighur;  which  Colonel 
Bourchier  took  to  be  that  of  a  European  female, 
and  Mr.  Sapte  that  of  a  sepoy.  The  case  gave 
rise  to  some  discussion ;  and  Mr.  Sapte  asked — 
"  Even  had  the  skeleton  been  that  of  a  European, 
would  it  have  been  just  to  have  shelled  the  town, 
and  indiscriminately  killed  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, the  innocent  and  the  guilty  ?  An  officer  pro. 
DOsed  this."— i^n'enrf  of  India,  Nov.  11th,  1858. 


500 


NAWAB  OF  FURRUCKABAD— KHAN  BAHADOOR  KHAN. 


times,  and  were  received  in  his  zenana  at 
the  outb'-eak.  The  special  comiuission  as- 
sembled for  his  trial  at  Furruckabad,  found 
liim  guilty  of  beiug  "  accessory  after  the 
fact,"  to  the  murder  of  the  Europeans,  and 
sentenced  him  to  be  hanged  ;  but  the  gov- 
ernor-general commuted  the  sentence  to 
biiuishnient  froju  India  for  life,  because  the 
nuwab  had  surrendered  on  the  faith  of  the 
written  assurance  of  Major  Barrow,  that 
he  would  be  pardoned,  if  not  personally 
concerned  in  the  murder  of  English  people. 
The  life  of  the  uawab  was  therefore  spared  : 
he  was  allowed  to  take  leave  of  his  children, 
but  not  of  his  wife ;  was  heavily  fettered, 
lifted  into  a  covered  cart,  and  £100*  given 
to  him,  wherewith  to  provide  for  his  future 
subsistence  when  he  should  arrive  at  Mecca, 
his  self-chosen  place  of  exile. 

The  life  of  the  Nawab  of  Banda  was 
spared  by  government,  and  a  pension  of 
4,000  rupees  per  annum  allotted  for  his 
subsistence.  The  Rajahs  of  Banpore  and 
ShahgJiur  surrendered,  and  were  directed 
to  reside  at  Lahore  under  official  control. 
The  Rajah  of  Mithowlee,  a  sick,  old  man, 
■  has  been  transported  to  the  Andamans. 

The  Nawab  of  Jhujjur,-^  and  the  Rajah  of 
Bullubghur,  were  both  executed  at  Delhi, 
although  they  pleaded  that  they  had  aided 
the  fugitive  Europeans  as  far  as  they  could, 
but  had  been  powerless  to  resist  the  sepoys. 

Kkan  Bahadoor  Khan,  of  Bareilly,  held 
out  in  the  Terai  until  the  close  of  1859 ;  and 
then,  hemmed  in  by  the  Goorkas  on  one 
side,  and  the  British  forces  on  the  other, 
was  captured  by  Jung  Bahadur.  The 
Khan  is  described  as  an  old  man,  with  a 
long  white  beard,  bent  double  with  rheu- 
matic fever.  His  life  is  considered  forfeited 
by  his  alleged  complicity  in  the  Bareilly 
murders,  but  his  sentence  is  not  yet  pro- 
nounced. Mumrnoo  Khan  surrendered  him- 
self, having  been  previously  dismissed  the 
service  of  the  Begum,  "  for  want  of  courage 
and  devotion. "J  Oomar  Sing  (the  brother 
of  Kooer  Sing)  has  surrendered ;  so  also  has 

*  Tlie  forfi;iled  pension  of  the  nawab  exceeded 
£10,000  per  amiuni,  besides  accidental  stipends 
accruing  to  him  by  lapses,  as  well  as  several  liouses, 
gardens,  jaghires,  villages,  and  lands,  which  were 
granted  or  secured  to  the  family,  in  consideration  of 
the  cession  of  the  province  of  Furruckabad  to  the 
Company  in  1802. — Russell:  Times,  Aug.  '20ih,  1858. 

t  The  Nawab  of  Jhujjur  was  hanged  en  the  23rd 
of  September,  1857.  A  visitor,  then  staying  in 
]>plhi,  enters  in  her  diary,  that  her  host,  "Captain 
Garstin,  went  to  see  the  execution,  and  said  the 
nawab  was  a  long  time  dying.     The  provost-mar- 


Jowallah  Persaud,  one  of  the  Nana's  cliief 
leaders.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1859,  the 
Begum  and  Feroze  Shah  were  the  only 
leaders  of  any  note  still  at  liberty.  The 
prince  was  believed  to  have  escaped  into 
Bundelcund,  with  a  very  small  following. 
The  Begum  had  less  than  1,500  adherents, 
"  half-armed,  half-fed,  and  without  artil- 
lery."§ 

Into  the  history  of  British  India,  in  the 
year  1859,  the  writer  does  not  attempt  to 
enter.  The  date  of  his  conclusion  is  a 
twelvemonth  earlier.  He  has  narrated  the 
rise  and  progress  of  the  Mogul  Empire  and 
of  the  East  India  Company ;  and  his  task 
now  terminates  with  the  expatriation  of 
the  last  of  the  Moguls  in  a  convict  ship  to  a 
semi-Chinese  prison,  and  the -extinction  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Merchant  Adventurers. 
The  two  events  were  nearly  simultaneous. 

After  a  protracted  captivity,  the  King  of 
Delhi  was  brought  to  trial.  The  guarantee 
given  by  Hodson  for  life  and  honourable 
treatment,  was  regarded  just  so  far  as  to  save 
an  octogenarian  from  the  hands  of  the  exe- 
cutioner :  how  he  survived  the  humiliation, 
terror,  grief,  hardships,  insufficient  food, 
and  filth,  of  which  Mr.  Layard  and  others 
were  eye-witnesses,  is  extraordinary.  The 
trial  was  conducted  by  Major  Harriott,  of 
the  3rd  Native  cavalry — the  deputy  judge 
advocate-general,  whose  proceednigs  in 
connection  with  the  Meerut  outbreak 
have  been  noticed. ||  The  European  offi- 
cers, who  desired  to  give  testimony  in  favour 
of  their  men,  had  been  then  peremptorily 
silenced  ;  and  evidence,  exculpatory  of  the 
King  of  Delhi,  was  now  received  in  a 
manner  which  convinced  his  servants  that, 
to  offer  it,  would  be  to  peril  their  own 
lives,  without  benefiting  their  aged  master. 
Major  Harriott  announced,  at  the  onset,  his 
intention  of  leaving  "  no  stone  unturned" 
to  present  the  evidence  against  the  prisoner 
in  its  strongest  light;  and  he  kept  his  word. 

Important  statements — such  as  that  no- 
ticed   in   the   Friend  of  India    (Oct.    8th, 

shal  who  performed  this  revolting  duty,  had  put  to 
death  between  400  and  500  wretches  since  the 
siege,  and  was  now  thinking  of  resigning  his  office. 
The  soldiers,  inured  to  sights  of  horror,  and 
inveterate  against  the  sepoys,  were  said  to  have 
bribed  the  executioner  to  keep  them  a  long  time 
hanging,  as  they  liked  to  see  the  criminals  dance  a 
'Pandies'  hornpipe,'  as  they  termed  the  dying 
struggles  of  the  wretches." — Mrs.  Coopland,  p.  269. 

X   Times,  January  14th,  1860. 

^  Times,  January  30th,  1860. 

tj  See  pages  144  and  264,  mde. 


TRIAL,  AND  TRANSPORTATION  OF  THE  KING  OP  DELHI. 


501 


1857),  that  the  prisoner  had  endeavoured 
10  interfere  on  belialf  of  the  Cavvnpoor  cap- 
tives, and  had  "  suggested  to  Nana  Sahib, 
that  he  should  treat  them  well" — were  not 
inquired  into  :  and  the  wretched  king,  pros- 
trate iu  extreme  weakness,  was,  for  twenty- 
one  days, compelled  to  attend  the  coin't, being 
occasionally  roused  by  liis  gaolers  from  the 
stupor  natural  to  extreme  age,  to  listen  to 
the  charges  brought  against  him.  Among 
the  wiuiesses  was  his  late  confidential 
physician,  whose  "  life  was  guaranteed,  on 
the  condition  of  his  answering,  satisfactorily, 
such  questions  as  might  be  put  to  him."* 

The  king's  brief  defence  was,  that  he  had 
been  perfectly  helpless  in  the  liands  of  the 
mutineers ;  that  he  had  opposed  them  as 
long  as  he  was  able,  by  closiug  the  gate- 
way under  the  palace  windows ;  by  giving 
warning  to  the  European  commandant  of 
the  palace  guards ;  and  by  sending  an  ex- 
press to  the  lieutenant-governor  at  Agra,t 
stating  what  had  occurred :  all  of  which  he 
was  admitted  to  have  done. 

With  regard  to  the  European  massacre, 
he  declared  that  he  had  thrice  interfered  to 
prevent  it  at  the  hazard  of  his  own  life, 
which,  together  with  that  of  Zeenat  Mahal, 
was  threatened  by  the  sepoys ;  and  that  he 
never  gave  his  sanction  to  the  slaughter. 
Of  the  greater  part  of  the  mass  of  orders 
and  proclamations  brought  in  evidence 
against  hiui,  he  declared  he  had  no  recol- 
lection whatever.  In  conclusion,  he  re- 
minded the  court  of  his  refusal  to  accom- 
pany the  sepoys,  and  voluntary  surrender. 

Major  Harriott  commented  on  the  evi- 
dence, in  an  address  of  three  hours'  dura- 
tion ;  iu  the  course  of  which  he  adduced 
much  irrelevant  matter;  drew  some  de- 
ductions, winch  were  evidently  foregone 
conclusions  regarding  the  cause  of  the 
mutiny ;  and  endeavoured,  at  considerable 
length,  to  demonstrate,  that  neither  "  Mus- 
sulman nor  Hindoo  had  any  honest  objec- 
tion to  the  use  of  the  greased  cartridges" — 
an  assertion  intended  to  vindicate  his  own 
conduct  at  Meerut. 

The  court  found  the  king  guilty,  as  a 
"  false  traitor"  and  a  rebel  to  the  British 
government ;  and  as  an  accessory  to  the 
massacre.  Sir  John  Lawrence  concurred 
in  the  finding  of  the  court ;  and  suggested, 
that  "  the  prisoner  be  transported   beyond 

*  Sir  John  Lawrence's  letter  to  governor-general, 
April  29lh,  1858.  t  See  Jiage  159,  ante. 

I  Major  Harriott  quitted  India  shortly  afterwards, 
and   died   suddenly   at    Southampton,   on   landing 


the  seas  as  a  felon,  and  be  kept  iu  some 
island  or  settlement,  where  he  will  be 
entirely  isolated  from  all  other  Moham- 
medans."J  He  refuted  Major  Harriott's 
assumptions  respecting  pretexts  and  causes 
of  disaffection  ;  declaring,  that  the  cartridge 
question  had  been  the  proximate  cause  of 
the  mutiny,  and  nothing  else;  that  the 
Native  army  did  really  believe  that  a  sinis- 
ter, but  systematic,  attempt  was  about  to 
be  made  ou  their  caste ;  and  he  accounted 
for  "  the  bitter  mistrust"  evinced  at  Meerut, 
by  the  fact,  that  the  cartridges  which  the 
3rd  cavalry  refused  to  accept,  were  enveloped 
in  paper  of  a  different  colour  to  that  pre- 
viously used. 

A  diflBculty  arose,  as  to  wheie  to  send  the 
old  king.  The  Andaman  Islands  were  pre- 
occupied ;  for  when  the  Draconian  policy  of 
death  for  every  degree  of  mutiny  gave  place 
to  a  more  discriminating  system,  trans- 
portation was  substituted  in  the  case  of 
the  less  guilty  offenders ;  and  a  penal  settle- 
ment for  sepoys  was  formed  on  those  islands. 

The  propriety  of  isolating  the  king  from 
any  Indian  community  being  much  insisted 
ou,  British  KafTraria  was  proposed  for  his 
place  of  exile ;  but  the  Cape  colonists  (who 
had  resolutely  refused  to  receive  European 
convicts)  declined  to  admit  even  an  Indian 
state  prisoner.  At  length,  a  station  in 
Burmah,  named  Tonghoo,  300  miles  inland 
from  Rangoon  (represented  as  a  most  deso- 
late and  forlorn  district),  was  selected  ;  and 
the  king,  on  the  4tli  of  December,  1858, 
with  Zeenat  Mahal,  Junima  Bukht  and  his 
half-brother  Shah  Abbas  (a  mere  child), 
with  some  of  the  ladies  of  the  zenana,  em- 
barked in  H.M.  steamship  Megcera.  The 
destination  of  the  captives  was  kept  secret 
until  after  their  departure. 

The  general  impression  at  Calcutta  ap- 
pears to  have  been,  that  the  Great  Mogul 
had  been  very  cleverly  dealt  with.  The 
Calcutta  correspondent  of  the  limes  (not 
Mr.  Russell),  after  describing  the  manner 
in  which  the  king  was  carried  on  board, 
remarked — "  Two  hundred  years  ago,  the 
agents  of  the  East  India  Company  stood 
before  this  man's  ancestor,  then  the  abso- 
lute ruler  of  100,000,000  of  people,  with 
folded  bauds,  begging  permission  to  exist 
at  a  single  town  upon  the  coast.  As  the 
natives  say,  it  was  the  foothold  granted  to  a 

from  the  E.  I.  mail-packet,  in  March,  1859.  It 
was  stated  in  the  newspapers  that  £30,000  were 
found  in  his  baggage ;  and  that  he  left  property  to 
a  nephew  to  the  amount  of  £100,000. 


502      SOVEREIGNTY  OP  QUEEN  VICTORIA  PROCLAIMED— NOV.  1, 1858. 


giant."  But  the  'same  storm  which  drove 
the  last  of  the  Moguls  from  Delhi,  to  die  in 
exile,  destroyed  the  power  of  the  giant 
whose  sovereigntj'  had  been  founded  on  the 
ruins  of  the  Mogul  empire.  The  simulta- 
neous increase  of  debt  and  revenue;  the 
repeated  financial  crises ;  the  undeveloped 
resources  of  India;  the  feeble  commerce; 
the  absence  of  suitable  means  of  traffic  and 
communication;  and  the  abject  misery  of 
the  mass  of  the  people,  had  long  been  com- 
mented ou  in  England,  as  proofs  of  ill- 
government.  The  defection  of  the  Bengal 
army,  followed  by  the  insurrection  of  whole 
provinces,  bringing  great  monetary  diffi- 
culty upon  the  government,  and  destitution 
{to  the  extent  of  absolute  starvation  in  very 
many  cases)  upon  the  agricultural  population, 
decided  the  question.  The  "double  gov- 
ernment" of  the  Crown  and  the  Company 
had  failed,  and  the  entire  administration 
was  therefore  assumed  by  the  nation.  On 
the  1st  of  November,  1858,  a  royal  pro- 
clamation, issued  throughout  British  India, 
declared  the  sovereignty  of  Queeu  Victoria. 


clared  indispensable  that  the  major  part  of  the 
council  (nine  at  least)  should  have  served  or 
resided  ten  years  in  India,  and  should  not 
have  left  that  country  more  than  ten  years 
preceding  the  date  of  their  appointment. 

Every  member  was  to  "hold  his  office 
during  good  behaviour;"  with  the  provision, 
that  it  should  be  lawful  for  the  Crown  to 
remove  any  one  from  his  office  upon  an 
address  of  both  houses  of  parliament.  No 
member  was  to  be  capable  of  sitting  or 
voting  in  parliament.  The  secretary  of 
state  might  or  might  not  consult  the  council 
on  any  proposed  measure ;  and  he  might  act 
in  opposition  to  the  expressed  wishes  of  the 
council,  recording  his  reasons  for  so  acting. 
The  members,  also,  were  to  be  at  liberty  to 
record  their  opinions. 

By  this  act  the  E.  I.  Company  remained 
an  incorporated  body,  without  duties  or 
rights,  excepting  the  receipt  of  dividends, 
due  from  time  to  time,  on  the  capital  stock 
of  the  proprietors. 


The  decree  for  the  transfer  of  power  from 
the  Company  to  the  Crown,  was  passed  by 
the  British  parliament,  August  2nd,  1858, 
under  the  title  of  an  "  Act  for  the  better 
government  of  India." 

It  was  therein  provided,  that  a  principal 
secretary  of  state,  with  under-secretaries, 
should  be  appointed,  and  their  salaries  paid 
out  of  the  revenues  of  India.  A  "  Council  of 
India"  was  likewise  established,  consisting  of 
fifteen  members,  with  salaries  of  £1,200  per 
annum,  to  be  paidout  of  the  Indian  revenues. 

Seven  of  the  members  were  to  be  nomi- 
nated by  the  Court  of  Directors  of  the  E.  I. 
Company,  from  their  own  body;  and  the 
remaining  eight  by  the  Crown.     It  was  de- 

*  Times,  November  29th,  1858.-— The  author 
regrets  that  Hmited  space  precludes  the  quotation, 
at  full  length,  of  a  proclamation  issued  by  the 
Begum  of  Oude,  with  the  object  of  counter- 
acting the  effect  of  the  amnesty  proffered,  on 
certain  conditions,  by  the  Queen  of  England,  on 
assuming  the  sovereignty  of  India.  The  Begum 
asked,  what  there  was  in  the  supersession  of  the 
power  of  the  E.  I.  Company  by  that  of  the  Crown, 
which  could  benefit  the  people  of  Hindoostan, 
seeing  that  "  the  laws  of  the  Company,  the  settle- 
ment [of  land]  of  the  Company,  the  English  ser- 
vants of  the  Company,  the  governor-general,  and 
the  judicial  administration  of  the  Company,  are  all 
unchanged  ?"  She  commented  on  the  ill-treat- 
ment which  native  princes — Hindoo  and  Moham- 
medan— had  met  with ;  dwelt  especially  on  the 
violation  of  treaties  involved  in  the  annexation  of 


The  difficulties  and  dangers  inseparable 
from  a  foreign  rule,  have  been  fearfully 
aggravated  by  the  rebellion.  It  is  easier  to 
conceive  the  means  of  meeting  the  addi- 
tional monetary  embarrassments  caused 
thereby,  than  of  bridging  over  the  deep 
broad  gulf  which  separates  the  Europeans 
and  the  natives.  The  royal  proclamations 
and  the  conditional  ofi'ers  of  amnesty  promise 
well ;  but  Indian  statesmen  concur  in  con- 
sidering that  these  documents  produce  very 
little  effect  on  the  people  at  large,  and  are, 
at  best,  viewed  as  applying  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  present  moment,  and  convey- 
ing no  guarantee  for  the  future.  There  is 
much  said  of  radical  reforms,  and  initiation 
of  measures ;  but  the  men,  the  departments, 
the  detail,  are  the  same.*     And  in  India, 

Oude;  warned  the  people  against  being  deluded  by 
a  proclamation,  couched  in  such  vague  terms,  that 
"  everything  was  written,  and  nothing  was  written" 
in  it ;  and  declared,  in  bitter  despair,  "  No  one 
has  ever  seen  in  a  dream  that  the  English  forgave 
an  offence."  With  regard  to  Christianity,  the 
Begum  seized  on  its  most  mysterious  and  compli. 
cated  doctrine,  and  asserted — "  That  religion  is 
true  which  acknowledges  one  God,  and  knows  no 
other.  When  there  are  three  gods  in  a  religion, 
neither  Mussulmans  nor  Hindoos — ray,  not  even 
Jews,  Sun-worshippers,  or  Fire-worsliippers,  can 
believe  it  true."  Then  followed  an  attempt  to 
prove  that  interference  with  the  reli^'ion  and  caste 
of  the  people  of  Hindoostan  had  originated  the 
lebellion.  Altogether,  the  document  deserves  care- 
ful perusal,  as  a  summary  of  native  grievances,  real 
and  alleged. 


CONCLUSION, 


503 


where  the  power  entrusted  always  greatly 
exceeds  the  responsibility  imposed,  the 
character  of  the  official  must  materially 
affect  tlie  working  of  the  measures  he  is 
appointed  to  carry  out.  The  well-earned 
reputation  of  Lord  Clyde  for  justice  and 
mercy,  has  done  more  towards  the  pacifica- 
tion of  Oude,  than  even  his  consummate 
military  combinations  have  effected  for  its 
subjugation  :  proclamations  and  amnesties 
have  been  effective  in  his  mouth,  because 
the  chiefs  had  faith  in  the  truthful,  fearless 
veteran— a  master  of  strategy,  but  no  diplo- 
matist. 

In  the  discussions  regarding  India,  the 
real  question  at  issue  appears  to  be  this: — 
On  what  principle  is  the  future  government 
to  be  based?  Are  we  simply  to  do  what  is 
right,  or  what  seems  expedient?  If  the 
former,  we  may  confidently  ask  the  Divine 
blessing  on  our  efforts  for  the  moral  and 
material  welfare  of  the  people  of  India;  and 
we  may  strive,  by  a  steady  course  of  kind 
and  righteous  dealing,  to  win  their  alienated 
affections  for  ourselves  as  individuals,  and 
their  respect  and  interest  for  the  religion 
which  inculcates  justice,  mercy,  and  humi- 
lity, as  equally  indispensable  to  national  as 
to  individual  Christianity.  The  adoption 
question*  is  still  open,  and  is  viewed  by  the 
native  princes  as  a  touchstone  of  our  future 
policy.  The  recognition  of  the  ancient 
Hindoo  law  of  adoption,  not  as  a  favour, 

•  One  of  the  latest  tragedies  in  the  mutiny  is  said 
to  have  been  the  direct  consequence  of  the  denial 
of  the  right  of  adoption  to  Baba  Sahib,  chief  of 
Nurgoond,  a  little  place  in  the  Southern  Mahratta 
country,  which  had  been  in  the  possession  of  the 
same  family  for  200  years.  Baba  Sahib  being 
childless,  urged  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  adopt 
an  heir,  in  accordance  with  a  treaty  made  with  his 
ancestor  in  1820;  but  his  request  was  peremptorily 
rejected.  He  joined  the  rebels  as  late  as  June, 
1858 ;  and  Mr.  Manson,  the  political  agent,  who 
proceeded  to  the  district  to  restore  order,  was  killed, 
with  all  his  escort.  Nurgoond  was  subsequently 
captured,  and  the  chief  was  hanged. — BombayTimes. 

t  The  annexation  policy,  though  denounced  in 
England  by  the  highest  authorities,  is  still  clung  to 
by  the  Indian  government.  Dhar  is  a  case  in  point. 
This  little  principality  was  held  by  the  Puar  or 
Powar  family  until  the  year  of  the  mutinies.  In 
May,  1857,  the  last  ruler,  Jeswunt  Rao  Powar,  a 
young  and  energetic  man,  was  seized  with  cholera, 
and  died,  after  having,  in  the  intervals  of  agony, 
adopted  his  brother,  Bala  Sahib,  as  his  heir,  and 
entreated  that  the  government  would  sanction  his 
succession.  The  political  agent  declared,  that  the 
deceased  prince  "  had  secured  the  esteem  and 
respect  of  the  people  and  chiefs  of  Western  Malwa, 
as  well  as  the  approbation  of  successive  residents 
and  agents ;"  and  urged  the  granting  of  his  last 
request.    It  was  granted ;  and  Bala  Sahib,  a  boy  of 


but  as  a  right,  would  be  received  by  every 
one  of  our  Indian  allies  with  unqualified 
pleasure.f 

If,  however,  the  "iron-roller"  system  is 
to  be  resumed,  and  we  are  to  keep  our 
footing — if  we  can — on  the  necks  of  the 
people,  it  is  high  time  to  count  the  cost  of 
our  past  experiments,  and  estimate  our 
future  outlay. 

Long  before  the  late  rebellion,  the  exist, 
ence  of  a  standing  army,  which  swallowed  up 
nearly  half  the  net  revenue,  had  been  a 
chronic  source  of  Indian  deficit.  The 
main  part  of  that  force — that  is,  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  Bengal  sepoys,  who  were  sup- 
posed to  secure  our  military  tenure  of  the 
country — revolted;  and  of  these,  at  least 
40,000  have  perished.  The  amount  of  life 
sacrificed  is  not  usually  much  considered  by 
politicians  :  the  native  soldiers  and  citizens 
who  perished,  cost  the  state  nothing ;  and 
by  the  revolt  of  the  chiefs,  pensions  were 
forfeited,  and  estates  confiscated ;  but  every 
European  killed,  was  a  hundred  pounds 
lost ;  and  the  new  levies  raised  to  replace 
the  mutineers,  were  extremely  costly  in  their 
details.  The  army,  European  and  Na- 
tive, is  now  larger  than  ever ;  and  few  will 
deny,  that  the  hastily  enlisted  Seiks  and 
Goorkas,  gorj^ed  with  blood  and  plunder, 
are  less  easily  disciplined  as  mercenaries, 
and  more  to  be  dreaded  as  foes,  than 
their  predecessors,  the  ill-fated  Poorbeahs. 

twelve  years  of  age,  was  proclaimed  rajah.  On  the 
2nd  of  July,  the  23rd  N.I.  mutinied ;  and  the  con- 
tagion soon  spread  to  Mhow,  which  was  only  thirty 
miles  distant.  The  Dhar  troops  revolted  against 
the  boy-prinoe,  and  seized  the  city  fortress,  which 
they  were  compelled  to  surrender  to  Brigadier 
Stuart,  November,  1857.  The  Bengal  government 
directed  that  the  principality  should  be  immediately 
attached ;  and  announced  to  the  young  prince,  that 
"he  must  never  hope  to  see  it  restored  to  his 
hands."  The  Court  of  Directors  condemned  the 
injustice  of  this  proceeding;  and  declared,  June  22nd, 
1858 — "  We  do  not  perceive  how  we  could  con- 
sistently punish  this,  or  any  other  weak  state,  for  its 
inability  to  control  its  troops,  when  it  was  patent  to 
the  whole  world  that  the  more  powerful  states  of 
Gwalior  and  Indore,  and  even  the  British  govern- 
ment itself,  were  unable  to  control  theirs."  The 
reinstatement  of  the  native  ruler  was  therefore 
decreed ;  but  the  Bengal  authorities  quietly  ignored 
the  command  (as  they  had  done  many  previous 
ones),  leaving  the  directors  either  to  conclude  that 
it  had  been  obeyed,  or  to  satisfy  their  consciences 
with  having  made  a  well.sounding  but  unmeaning 
protest  against  an  act  of  glaring  injustice.  How- 
ever, as  in  March,  1859,  the  order  for  the  restora. 
tion  of  Dhar  was  repeated  by  the  secretary  of  state 
for  India  (Lord  Stanley),  it  may  be  concluded  it 
will  be  ultimately  obeyed, — Pari.  Papers  on  Dhar, 
April  8th,  1859. 


504 


CONCLUSION. 


The  native  officers  are  equally  numerous, 
powerful,  and  ill-paid,  as  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year  1857.  Altogether,  the 
revolt  is  calculated  to  have  increased  the 
Indian  debt  by  forty  million  sterling;  this 
sum  raising  the  total  to  one  hundred  mil- 
lion, spent  by  the  E.  I.  Company  almost 
exclusively  in  getting  and  keeping  mili- 
tary possession  of  the  country.  Their 
stewardship  is  condemned  by  the  fact  of 
the  millstone  they  have  hung  round  the 
necks  of  the  people.  They,  as  foreigners, 
have  resorted,  without  scruple,  to  the  selfish 
expedient  of  modern  times,  whereby  one 
generation  relieves  itself  from  the  conse- 
quences of  its  own  extravagance  or  mis- 
management, at  the  expense  of  posterity. 
As  individuals,  the  directors  and  servants 
of  the  Company  have  prospered,  their  sala- 
ries and  pensions  have  been  secured  as  a  first 
charge  upon  the  revenues  of  India,  uncon- 
nected with  the  public  welfare  or  adversity; 
war,  famine,  pestilence,  or  abject  want 
might  decimate  the  governed,  without 
affecting   the   incomes   of    the   governors. 


The  case  is  different  with  the  English  nation 
at  large ;  for  its  commerce  is  seriously  im- 
peded by  every  cause  which  checks  the 
demand  for  British  manufactures. 

The  poverty  of  the  Indian  masses  is  ad- 
mitted to  be  the  result  of  misgovernment, 
ill-regulated  taxation,  and  undeveloped  re- 
sources. But  the  evil  is  not  irremediable. 
The  debt  with  which  the  E.  I.  Company  has 
burdened  the  empire  is  oppressive,  not  on 
account  of  its  intrinsic  weight,  but  because 
of  the  paralysed  condition,  the  unnatural 
depression  of  the  labouring  community. 
Under  a  wise  and  fostering  administration, 
every  one  of  the  extensive  countries  we  call 
provinces,  could  furnish  its  needful  share  of 
revenue  with  ease.  A  general  and  radical 
reform  in  our  financial  and  administrative 
system,  speedily  initiated,  and  firmly  carried 
through,  is  the  only  conceivable  means  by 
which  the  Crown  and  Parliament  can  be 
expected  to  grapple  successfully  with  diffi- 
culties under  which,  in  a  less  aggravated 
degree,  the  East  India  Company  have  suc- 
cumbed. 


T1J£    i:.\'D, 


I. 


t 


DS 

^36 

M35 

1858 

V.2 


Martin,    Robert  Montgomery 
The  Indian  empire 


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