STOEMS AND SUNSHINE OF
A SOLDIER'S LIFE,
STOKMS AND SUNSHINE
OF
A SOLDIER'S LIFE
LT-GENERAL COLIN MACKENZIE, C.B.
1825-1881
FERENDUM ET SPERANDUM
VOL. II.
EDINBUKGH: DAVID DOUGLAS
1884
[A II rights reserved. ]
Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXII.
MARRIAGE - AND TOUES.
(1843-46.)
" I could not love thee dear so much
Loved I not honour more." LOVELACE.
Arrival Marriage Carlyle Mr. Elphinstone Avitabile Appeal
Lord Ellenborough's recall Visits Landseer Wolff "Bread-
albane" Witches "Handling" Free Church Dr. Chalmers
Becomes a Presbyterian Hamburg Ishak Menahem Man-
oeuvres in Prussia Orlich Bliicher Court dinners General von
Gerlach Unbelief Clothes-funeral Prince of Prussia Life in
Dresden Caste Eeligion in Germany Milking the lioness
Grant of 6000 rupees Death of Mrs. Mackenzie, senior Broad-
foot's death ........ Pages 1-21
CHAPTER XXIII.
INDIA AGAIN - RAISES REGIMENT.
(1847-49.)
Dr. Duff Society in Calcutta Letter from Akbar General von
Gagern Command of 4th Sikhs Benares Count Goertz Hos-
pitality Lodiana Raising the Regiment Delhi magazine
Afghan exiles " Make a good supper" Jacob's death Mission-
aries Boorish Europeans Jezailchis A fatiha Wives Death
VOL. ii. a
VI CONTENTS.
of Akbar Letter from Shah Muhammad Aminullah smothered
Reading the Gospels Strict, yet friendly "My affair, not
yours" Regiment quarrels Volunteers Subsequent behaviour
of 4th Sikhs Lord Dalhousie Governor-General's camp Chil-
lianwala Zeal for others Guzerat Consultations with the
Governor - General Recommended for C. B. Peshawar John
Lawrence Simla Henry Lawrence Hodgson Famine Ap-
pointed Brigadier Sir C. 'Napier Lahore Amritsur Parting
with regiment and friends Delhi Voyage Bombay
Pages 22-50
CHAPTEE XXIV.
ELICHPUR.
(1850-52.)
"It's better to hear the lark sing than the mouse squeak." Old Douglas Proverb.
Mulkapur pillaged Native authorities India a continent Elichpur
Chikalda Life in the jungle Strict morality Anarchy
Prisoners Aga Muhammad Berar fever State of country
' ' Perhaps you may die " March to Bombay Dr. M. Mitchell's
description of him Return Abuses Preaching My illness
Contingent in arrears Rohillas Gallant Rajput JMian harp
Orderly killed Parting Ibrahim's friendship Havelock Bible
Society Lady Falkland Lord F. Fitzclarence Highland sol-
diers Command at Aurangabad A convert Elichpur Young
widower Mr. Munger Distress of troops Anxiety Kabul
medal -Lord Dalhousie Wounded coolie 5th Cavalry
General Fraser ........ 51-74
CHAPTER XXV.
ANNEXATION OP BERAR.
(1853.)
Colonel Low Chronic anarchy Two sides to the question Makes
Revenue Survey Marches to Umrauti Rebellious Governor
Heat Advances Clagett Brigadier Mayne Camp life Sani-
CONTENTS. Vll
tary measures The Governor-General's boast Best arrangements
Parsimony Treatment of theNawab of Elichpur Books Pic-
turesque scene Mercies Death of Rubee Love for animals
Punishment of death Kindness Pay Mackeson's assassination
Wheler Preaching the Gospel Chikalda A wounded pet
Warlike longings Striving against sin . . Pages 75-96
CHAPTER XXVI.
CAPTURING KOHILLAS BOLARUM.
(1854-55.)
Leaving Elichpur Two converts Drunken Sepoys Active orderly
Rohillas out Attack on Colonel B and family Camp at
Sirpur Dutch deputies Takes prisoners Bolarum ' ' Not
kafirs " Donald Mackinnon Extortion Atrocities " Screwing
the people" Nizam Salar Jung Reading Neal's Puritans
Joy cannot be expressed Bereavement Working together
Eve's parrot Rubee Ball cartridges Woman worship Friends
"Man and beast" Self-command Will not wear medal My
return General Eraser Air of command Journey to Bolarum
-Mesmerism Fete at Salar Jung's Arabs . . 97-113
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE BOLARUM MUTINY.
(Sept. 1853.)
The Muharram Nizam's cavalry Murder of Major Davies Usual
orders Mistake corrected Signs of mutiny concealed Mutineers
stopped Attack on Brigadier On all Christians Wounds dressed
3d Rissallah 3d Infantry False reports -Mr. Bushby False
alarm True friends Faithful servants A curl Musalman
opinion Extreme danger Faith Evidence refused Resumes
command Captain S. Orr Resident denies mutiny Opinion
of troops Great suffering Change of opinion "He won't
die" "Bibi" Residency Lord Dalhousie's order Its mis-
takes Injustice to native officers Maimed for life Outram
Donald Stewart Loyalty of 3d Infantry Effect of order
114-148
Vlll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HOME THE GREAT MUTINY.
(1856-57.)
Sir W. Gomm Venice Prague Teplitz Silesia Operation Levee
News of the Mutiny Praetorian guards Centralization Pay
Lord Palmerston Gives up furlough J. S. Mill Paris The
Hindustan Moslim prayer Essence of Islam Rebellion Not
obligatory Oppression Pasha's hospitality Missionary's views
on the Mutiny Pottinger's letter Defeat at Arrah Havelock's
death Lady Canning Lord Canning's unpopularity "Chris-
tians" Bishop Wilson Concealments Deceit Panic Sunday
Arming the wounded Isolation of Calcutta Heroism Storm of
Delhi Mackenzie's letter Tragedies Mismanagement H. M.'s
37th Invalids Pages 149-172
CHAPTER XXIX.
EPISODES OF THE GREAT MUTINY.
(1857-58.)
4th Sikhs at Filor Lodiana G. Ricketts and Hasan Khan 4th at
Delhi "Rubbish" Lieut. Alexander Taylor "Will you do
it?" Ladies from Lucknow Highlanders The second relief
Afghan servants Mutilations H.M. 's letters A coffin for-
gotten Colonel Wheler Hearsey rebuked Sepoy converts
Mr. Colvin Officers blamed John Lawrence denies rebellion
Ignorance of Government Bengalis unwarlike Warnings The
three fishes Educating the rich Suggestions adopted Governor-
General's Agent Refutation of fanaticism . . . 173-188
CHAPTER XXX.
MURSHEDABAD.
(1858.)
Sir G. R. Clerk How to Govern India Captain Layard Mission-
aries Berhampore Durbar "About her property" "Astern
Christian" Visit to the Begums Afghan servants Gallant
Kotwal An Afrit Old-fashioned dinner Hatred to Christians
CONTENTS. IX
Renegades The fortunate abode Sorning Colonel A. Cotton
The river Old Residency Isabella Gray Hastings' first wife
How you load a rifle "A pin and a pistol" Installation of the
Nawab Begum Fever Lady Canning Annexation of Oudh
Fever The Behra Unmannerly officers A lady's portrait
Female slavery Leases of girls Kidnapping Neglect of Naval
Brigade Pages 189-209
CHAPTER XXXI.
CALCUTTA.
(November 1858.)
" Avec un langage si pur, une si grande recherche dans nos habits, des moeurs si
cultivees, de si belles lois et un visage blanc, nous sommes barbares pour quelques
peuples." LA BRUYERE.
Voyage to Calcutta Ghat murders Police Sherishtadar's opinion
"Your pleasure, Madam ?" Empress of India Active charity
Christian education Brahman on education " You're a woman "
British unpopular Planters Mackenzie's courtesy and fearless-
ness Death of Captain Mackinnon Tiger party Bibi Quick-
sand Shiahs and Sunis Evidence of ladies The Nazim's mother
Cheating a widow Visit to the Viceroy A lady disarms a Sepoy
Magazine at Delhi The great shoe question The ball Courtesy
Neglect of Europeans The Nazim restive Gets his salute Guilt
of King of Delhi European and Sikh troops How the mutineers
treated the people "Yield to circumstances" Afghans on
music Landing elephants 210-228
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE WHITE MUTINY.
(1859-60.)
Two classes in Army Irish chaplain Objections of soldiers Ber-
hampore 5th Dumpies Colonel Kenneth D. Mackenzie Sir
James Outram The Muharram Orders and counter orders
Bishop Cotton End of the Dumpies Chronic misfortune of
India Diwan goes with Governor-General Satka ! Rhinoceros
Hasan Khan . . 229-241
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MURSHEDABAD POLITICAL STORMS.
(1859-60.)
Nazims Grievances The murder case Appeal to Governor-General's
Agent Rough narrative Confidential Mr. Edmonstone's opinion
Outram "Cheating the Nazim " Mr. Beadon becomes secre-
tary Governor-General wrathy Jugget Seth Intemperate Let-
ter Sympathy of Council Official report burked Much to be
said Peace and comfort Burial-ground of Nazims Slackness of
discipline Idle hands Regimental pets Sir Hugh Rose
Murderous attack Visit to Calcutta Mr. Wilson Sir B. Frere
Two deaths State visit Sacrifice Nazim's illness Summary
discipline Severe illness of the Governor - General's Agent's
Female slavery Slaves demand freedom Immorality of Bengal
Indigo riots Boat race Tiger party Sickness among the
troops Quinine refused Curious encyclical Tiger of nineteenth
century Pages 242-263
CHAPTER XXXIV.
INTRIGUES.
(January 1861.)
A Lieutenant-Colonel Subpoenaed to Calcutta Visits the prisoners
European and Eastern princes Madras armyproud of him Nawab
Nazim insults Diwan Apologises Affronts Governor-General's
Agent Dismisses Diwan Letter from Colonel Mackenzie Artil-
lery school Rule for intercourse with native chiefs Mr. Mon-
triou sent up Captain Layard's description Governor-General's
change of front Removes Governor -General's Agent Nawab
Nazim's regret Colonel Durand and Sir B. Frere Mackenzie's
unselfishness Superintendent of Army Clothing Stay at Seram-
pore Howrah Lord Canning leaves Some traits of his character
Lord Elgin Nazim's proceedings Beadon's attacks Macken-
zie vindicated Na"zim repents and apologises . . 264-278
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER XXXV.
SUPERINTENDENT ARMY CLOTHING.
(1862-65.)
" It is by privation, not unfrequently by disaster, that God qualifies souls for
the highest ends." KER'S Sermons, p. 167.
Superintendent's work Reforms Major Rothney Unhealthy office
Christmas at Serampore Jagganat Lord Dalhousie's offering
"Lucky gold" Nazim's complaint of his education Fear of
female education Leave Calcutta Archduchess Charlotte An
Italian patriot Austrian officers Milan chaplain Signor Turino
Italian feeling No reverence St. Anne's five tongues Am-
brosian rite Mackenzie speaks in Italian Church Turin Corpus
Domini The King and his peasants Home Dangerous illness
Return to India Sir John Lawrence not liked by natives
Mackenzie's appointment abolished Cyclone Port of Mutlah
Bhutan We are military Wahabi trials "A rogue" Behar
Lai Singh on ryots and planters Mr. Hugh Fraser Muhammad
Hasan Khan on the Gospel Atta on misery of the people
Humanity Serampore Titaghar Go to Madras Captain Grant
of Africa Takes furlough Pages 279-300
CHAPTER XXXVI.
(1866.)
" For us, our resting was not won as yet,
For other shores our windy sails were set."
Journey home Society in Egypt Palgrave Arab story Poisoning
Bedowins not Musalmans Fanaticism Sir Hudson Lowe Sicily
Garibaldi Palermo mission Priests not received Naples
Kissing hands No lazzaroni Baron Bach Rattazzi Pompeii
Wounds Letter - paper Massacre at Barletta Pisa Curta-
tone Florence Drs. Revel and de Sanctis War Con-
scripts Want of cash Monastery Monsummano Cure
Charity organisation C.B. Fighting for others Abyssinia
Madras, 1868 The Nilgiris Commands not offered Letter
from J. S. Mill Not fit for the plains "Breaking bread"
Caste among converts Bangalore Parade Christian minors
Xll CONTENTS.
and betrothed converts Invariable coolness Memorial against
Supercession Major-General Illness Lord Mayo's murder
Bishop Gell Colonel Haughton Thomas, R.A. Religious
liberty for soldiers Leave Bangalore and India Home
Pages 301-323
CHAPTEK XXXVII.
HOME.
(1873-81.)
' Etre avec les gens qu'on aime, cela sufflt ; rever, leur parler, ne leur parler
point, penser a eux penser a des choses plus indifferentes mais auprfes d'eux, tout
" ' il." LA BKUYJSJRE.
Herbert Edwardes Visits Bibi Helpfulness Dr. M. Mitchell's
letter Banda and Kerwee prize Vivisection No party spirit
Letters against attack on Afghanistan Brutality of officer
Cavagnari's death Dr. Liddon Homburg Religion in Ger-
many Music Calw Boll Paris Frost-bite Dusseldorf
Pictures Hanover A blind king Dresden Teplitz "De-
fenestration " Marshal Mb'ltke Count Piickler Breslau
Conversions . . . 324-345
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
(1881.)
Severe Illness Nuremberg Innspruck Verona Pallanza General
Cadorna Italian Army Mission at Intra Milan Monstrous
Picture Venice Free Italian Church Brenner Pass Trent
Musical festival Officers' prayer meeting Constant prayer
Longing to depart Last days ..... 346-360
APPENDIX . . - 361
INDEX 367
LIEUT. -GENERAL COLIN MACKENZIE, C.B.
CHAPTEK XXII.
MARRIAGE AND TOURS.
(1843-46.)
THE news of the outbreak at Kabul in November, reached
England only in the following March. Nothing beyond the
bare fact of Burnes' murder was known until Lady Sale's
letter brought further intelligence of it. One paragraph,
said : "Mackenzie defended the fort he was in until his
ammunition was expended, and then cut his way in. Has
three wounds." Then nothing more was heard for weeks.
Terrible as are the shocks conveyed by telegrams, they are
at least better than wearing suspense. But now Mackenzie
was free. He reached England some time in June, and
came to Malvern, where Admiral and Mrs. Douglas with
their two daughters were staying, in July. Four years had
elapsed; he was at liberty "to speak;" and he spoke to
such good purpose that they became engaged on the 25th
July while on a visit to his sister, Mrs. King King.
Admiral Douglas was at this time eighty-six. He had
gone to sea at eleven, and for forty years had never been
on shore for three months at a time. He had married at
the termination of his active career as Commander-in-Chief
of the West Indian and North American Station, and still
VOL. II. B
COLIN MACKENZIE.
retained a remarkable amount of health and vigour
together with all the large-heartedness and warm affections
which had distinguished him through life. He had long
been very anxious that his eldest daughter should marry,
but had left her quite free to refuse. He had always liked
Mackenzie, and had been greatly interested in his doings
in Afghanistan, expressing an emphatic opinion that " Colin
Mackenzie was a fine fellow ; " and when informed of the
state of the case he consented at once, and told his daughter
" she could not have chosen any man he thought so highly
of," and that " he never saw one he would so willingly give
her to."
It is characteristic of Mackenzie's earnest character that
just after their engagement we find this entry in the journal
of his betrothed :
" Colin asked me if I liked to look forward to the end, to
death, and the world beyond ; and we agreed that the prospect
of eternity enhanced infinitely present happiness. "We like to
remember that this is but a little bit of our life, and by familiar-
ising ourselves with the view of death we learn to enjoy every-
thing more richly from the happy prospect beyond, and to dread
the dark and narrow passage to it far less. When he remarked
that some would think this a strange topic for him to entertain
me with, I could not help feeling that no other conversation
could have given me the same deep pleasure or endeared him to
me half so much."
The wedding took place at St. George's, Hanover Square,
on the 21st November 1843; Lieutenant Haughton, now
nearly recovered, being one of the six "best men" who
accompanied the bridegroom. A cousin of the bride, Pat-
rick M. Stewart, long M.P. for Eenfrewshire, still remem-
bered with affection by many, and one of the best of
speakers, chose to enlighten the company on " The Romance
of Real Life," of which this was the result, and paid a
COLIN MA CKENZIE.
graceful compliment to the two "Heroes of Afghanistan"
present.
On returning to civilised life the captives had with
regret shaved their beards, for the Crimean war had not yet
revived the custom of wearing them ; but Mackenzie and
Macgregor retained the moustache, though that manly
ornament was then almost unknown in England.
The newly-married pair soon took up their quarters in
London at the house of Mrs. Carpenter, Mackenzie's sister,
which she had offered them. Then followed a winter of
much fatigue and excitement. Although they went to no
evening parties, yet they dined out on an average three times
a week. Almost all the officers returning from Afghanistan
were constantly at their house, sometimes with exciting
stories, sometimes with serious business, such as the vin-
dication of the dead or absent, or the redress of injustice
to survivors.
Mackenzie was enthusiastically received at an India
House dinner, and at the anniversary of the Highland
Society; but he steadily refused to be made a lion of,
and declined the most flattering invitations from strangers,
even when conveyed by Lord Auckland. But there were
numerous acquaintances he could not avoid forming, many
of which (especially with the family of General Elphin-
stone) ripened into friendship. Two were specially in-
teresting, one with Mr. Babbage, the other with Mr. and
Mrs. Carlyle. Both of us observed with pain the wrong
impression produced on the public mind by the publi-
cation of Carlyle's Reminiscences. The idea given of that
warm-hearted genial friend is quite contrary to the truth.
The morbid outpourings of a heartbroken man have been
laid bare to those who knew him not, who never saw the
humorous expression which took the bitterness out of some
exaggerated sketch of a man or his doings, and who did
COLIN MACKENZIE.
not know how faithful he was in friendship, how simple,
pleasant, and kind in social intercourse. Mrs. Allan
Cunninghame said that no words could express the kind-
ness of the Carlyles, when she lost her eldest son Joe.
Many delightful evenings were spent with him and his clever
wife. I being then slightly deaf, Carlyle would come and
sit by me and repeat anything I did not happen to hear, and
the impression of sharpness was given rather by Mrs. Carlyle
than by her husband. When we called in Cheyne Row
twelve years later we were as warmly received as if they
had parted from us the day before. Even after Carlyle had
lost his beloved wife he came in to see his old friends, and,
sad and broken as he was, showed much of his former warmth.
On one occasion Carlyle dined with us to meet Mount-
stuart Elphinstone, and it was interesting to note how two
men of such different antecedents fraternised on the spot,
each recognising the noble qualities of the other. Carlyle
spoke the broadest Annandale dialect and was very blunt
in manner. His laugh was quite infectious, it was such a
genial roar. He had no faith in phrenology said "two
bottles may be the same shape, but ye canna tell whether
they hold brandy or small beer " but affirmed that a long
head invariably indicated talent. Burns had the longest
head he ever saw. When his coffin was opened Carlyle
put his own hat on the bare skull it would just go on.
He said decidedly that Dr. Johnson had done far more good
by his writings than Coleridge, that the former had made
a vast change for the better in English literature. Coleridge,
he said, was "the maist we-e-erisome mortal possible to
hear, he went on and on and you never could make out
what he would be at he just considered you a pail, into
which he poured out his ideas, and no matter what you
said, he continued pouring away. He was a weak man,
could not give up opium till he hired a man to prevent him
COLIN MACKENZIE.
from taking it. A weak man is not fit for the service ; he
should just leave the ranks ; he's not fit for the world."
He added that he felt inclined to say to Coleridge, "Eh
mon, tell us what you do mean." Mr. Elphinstone told
Carlyle the story of Mahmud of Ghazni paying the famous
poet Ferdusi, for the labour of thirty years in writing the
Shah Nameh, with a sack full of coppers. Carlyle expressed
vehement contempt, laughed heartily at his own wrath,
and then asked "Is this Ferdusi dead 1 ?" Another very
interesting dinner-party was in honour of General Avit-
abile, who had suddenly arrived in London. No less than
five languages were spoken at table. Avitabile related the
mutiny at Peshawar to me, and two ladies at the other end
of the table declared that they heard ucddere and ammazzare
(kill and slay) at every second word. My husband had
long before this fully regained his spirits, and used to say :
" I feel quite a boy again. I feel like Job in his latter
days."
He had of course appealed to the Home Authorities
for redress in regard to his pay and allowances, but it is
very unusual to obtain redress against a Governor-General,
and the President of the Board of Control (Lord Eipon),
" out of delicacy to Lord Ellenborough" referred the matter
back to him ! with what result may be imagined.
All the late captives were naturally opposed to Lord
Ellenborough. On some one saying he ought to be im-
peached, Mr. Haughton replied : " If he were impeached, I
would buy a new hat for the occasion." One of the ladies
cried: "And I a new bonnet." Mr. Haughton rejoined
in his deliberate way : "I would give alms to the poor."
Lord Ellenborough had become more and more regardless
of the Court of Directors. He would not even give them
the customary appellation of " Honourable Masters," neither
would he behave as their Governor-General. Their dissatis-
COLIN MACKENZIE.
faction with him came to a climax in April, but the opposi-
tion of the Board of Control prevented them from recalling
him. It so happened that among our warmest friends were
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Lindsay and Lady Jane Hamilton,
who was staying with them. One Sunday (21st April) the
Duke of Wellington paid a visit to his old friend Lady Jane,
and gave both her and Mr. Lindsay clearly to understand
that he agreed with them in their condemnation of Lord
Ellenborough. Mr. Lindsay went the next day to the
India House, related this conversation, told the twenty-two
directors present that he did not think the Duke was one
who would not avow in public what he had said in private,
and the whole twenty-three signed the letter recalling Lord
Ellenborough on the spot. Mr. Lindsay came home much
pleased and much excited, was taken ill that evening, and
died in his sleep. When some days after, Sir Robert Peel
briefly announced the Governor-General's recall, the Duke
openly disapproved of it ! However, the deed was done.
On learning it Lord Ellenborough was furious, left Govern-
ment House at once, and went to one belonging to the
Nawab Nizam at Alipur. However, after a few days, he
was persuaded to return, so as not to make a scandal. The
news gave lively satisfaction to the other members of his
Government. Mr. Cameron wrote to Mackenzie (13th July
1844) :
" I never drew up any document with more alacrity than the
notification for the Gazette that the Government being vacant had
devolved upon the member in Council next in rank. Lord E.
did not come into Council, and I did not see him for two days
after. He was then in apparently good spirits, and said in his
wild way : ' Do you know why they did not send Hardinge here
as Commander-in-Chief ? ' 'No,' said I, 'I do not.' 'Because,'
replied he, ' it was thought that when he and I got together no
one could tell where we should go to ! ' "
COLIN MACKENZIE.
In June 1844 we began a delightful round of visits
among relations and friends, chiefly in Scotland, which did
more than anything else to restore his shattered health.
He had also become a convert to homoeopathy, to which he
faithfully adhered ever after. Among our visits was a
charming one to Culhorn, a long stay at Crossmount, near
Loch Rannoch, and a most interesting one at Taymouth.
Landseer and Lord C E arrived at Taymouth
during our stay. The former was very amusing and full of
anecdote. He told of the well-known Lady Holland say-
ing that she " did not know how she would have got over
Lord Holland's death if that dear boy Edgar " (a stalwart
page) " had not read Tom Jones to her." Colin described
how Dr. Wolff had rushed at him and kissed him on first
meeting, and then related the martyrdom of Stoddart and
Conolly, and Wolff's steadfastness when threatened with
death by the tyrant of Bokhara. Lord C said with a
languid drawl : " Why shouldn't he turn Musalman ? " The
answer was prompt : " Because he believes the words of our
Saviour, ' he that denieth me before men him will I deny
before my Father which is in Heaven;' and although
Wolff is an eccentric and odd man, yet I do not think he
would save his life in this world to lose his soul in the
next."
Her Majesty and the Prince had paid their first visit to
Taymouth the year before, and it was still so difficult for
people in those parts to realise that any one could be greater
than "Breadalbane," that a toll -keeper said to Menzies of
Chesthill, " It was weel dune o' Breadalbane to countenance
the Queen and she sae far frae her ain hame."
A good deal of superstition still lingered in the High-
lands. A boatman on the Tummel told us that there were
still some witches farther north. A young lady replied she
had heard there was one in Glenlyon. " She ought to be
8 COLIN MACKENZIE.
burned up at once," was the energetic rejoinder. Colonel
Macdonald of related that he, in common with others
of the Macdonalds, is believed by the people to have the
power of curing diseases by " handling." A man lately came
to him whose thumb had been cut off, hoping that Colonel
Macdonald could make it grow on again.
When my husband " came home " (to use the pathetic
idiom of our exiles in India) he was naturally wholly ignor-
ant of the merits of the Free Church controversy, and rather
disinclined to a body commonly accused of wishing to estab-
lish clerical supremacy. The press and the English nation
in general do not distinguish between the supremacy of the
Church over the State claimed by Eome, and the supremacy
of the Church over her own members in spiritual things.
The Parliament and people of England, like Bishop Kyle,
to this day see no other alternative than the supremacy of
Church over State, or of State over Church. They have
wholly lost sight of the fact that the Lord has set up a
kingdom on earth of which He alone is the King and Head,
of which the subjects are those who obey the truth, and in
which the Bible is the only law ; that this kingdom is as
distinct from civil government, also established by God, now
as it was in the days of Paul and Nero ; that in all civil
matters we are subject to Csesar, but in all spiritual and
church matters to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. I had
imbibed these doctrines of the Church of Scotland firmly
before the Disruption, but, finding he knew nothing of the
merits of the case, I let the subject alone, feeling sure he
would change his views when he came to understand the
question. I had not long to wait. During our stay in
Ayrshire he accompanied his host to an ordination in the
Established Church, and was greatly pained and disgusted
at the levity and even coarseness of the conversation at the
ordination dinner. He began to think there might be good
COLIN MACKENZIE.
reasons for leaving such a body. Subsequently, at Grange-
rnuir, Lady William Douglas lent him Baptist Noel's pam-
phlet on the question, which satisfied his mind. The
preaching of Mr. Wood at Elie and intercourse with Dr.
Burns of Toronto, and a large party of Free Church minis-
ters at Taymouth, determined him to join the Free Church,
of which he was ever after a warm adherent.
In England men have left the Established Church because
they dissented from some part of her formularies. In Scot-
land every secession has been for the sake of closer adher-
ence to the standards and principles of the Church. The
strongest bees swarmed into a new hive, and ever and anon
there has been a fresh revival of zeal, and the process has
been repeated. At the disruption the Church, as a body,
disestablished herself. In 1844, therefore, after losing her
best men and every one of her missionaries, the Establish-
ment was at its worst. But since then faithful men have
been growing up within her borders, and if they hold fast
the aid standards of the Church, the most earnest and
devout among them, will probably " come out," unless the
Establishment ceases to exist.
At that time party spirit still ran very high. Masters
dismissed faithful servants and even tenants who joined the
Free Church, and sites for building were generally refused,
causing great hardship both to ministers and people. We
came across several instances of this sort of persecution,
which roused Mackenzie's generous indignation. For instance,
opposite the Inn at Thornhill (Dumfriesshire), where almost
all had joined the Free Church, there was a pulpit of wood
very like a pigeon-house, used by the Free Church ministers,
as the owner of the land refused a site for building. The
maid was asked what the people did when it rained, as the
benches were wholly without shelter. She said : " Oh, they
just sit on and put up their umbrellas." In another case a
10 COLIN MACKENZIE.
most excellent minister, felt keenly the pang of leaving his
beautiful manse, though he had resolved to join the Free
Church. His wife, took a small house while he was at the
Assembly, and had the shop and back room thrown into
one. One end was the minister's study, the dining-table
was in the middle, and at the other end the piano and sofa.
They had no servant except a woman, who came in part of
the day to do the roughest work.
Only two peers joined the Free Church, and it was
looked upon almost as a loss of caste to do so. A lady
summed up her objections to it by saying it was "very vul-
gar and very expensive." But neither entreaty nor sarcasm
could move Colin Mackenzie when his mind was made up,
and he attended the ministry of Dr. Beith at Stirling in
spite of both.
In Edinburgh a kind introduction from Lord Breadal-
bane brought us the great pleasure of Dr. Chalmers' ac-
quaintance. My husband attended none but Free Churches,
save the English Chapel of his dear friend the Eev. D. T. K.
Drummond, who was in full sympathy with them. On his
return to India he greatly enjoyed the ministry of John
Macdonald and the friendship of Dr. Duff, Dr. Ewart, Dr.
Mackay in Calcutta. Although now a decided Presbyterian,
he still admired the English Liturgy, but his liking for it
diminished, and latterly he never attended it, if he had any
alternative. He would occasionally communicate in the
Church of England, but he always refused to be present at
the baptismal service, because he did not believe that " the
child is regenerate" as soon as it is baptized; but held
strongly that man could only give " the outward sign," and
that " the invisible grace " was the gift of the Holy Spirit
direct to the soul of the believer.
Two things in that eight months' tour were very strik-
ing. We only heard one bad sermon, and only met one
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 1
maid-servant who had not an intelligent apprehension of
the question between the Free Church and the Establish-
ment, surely characteristic facts of the state of Scotland.
My husband always deeply lamented the schism between
the upper and lower classes in Scotland, caused by the
gentlemen becoming Episcopalians. This division is a new
thing in Scottish history, and unhappily it is every day
widening.
In August 1845 we took our two elder daughters l with
a governess via Hamburg to Dresden, where we were joined
by a very dear old friend, Mrs. Edwards, her son, and
daughter, with whom we had the happiness of spending a
year. On board the steamer were two fine -looking Jews,
master and servant, from Bokhara. They were both
exceedingly ill, and my husband doctored them and wrapped
them up in his cloaks, for which, when they recovered, they
rewarded him by a good deal of information, assuring him
that the people of Bokhara would have hailed a British force
as deliverers.
At the end of September he took me to Berlin that
he might be present at the manoeuvres of the Prussian
army. General von Gerlach, to whom Chevalier Bunsen
had given him a letter, being absent in Pomerania, com-
mended him to the care of Captain Leopold von Orlich,
well known for his interesting Travels in India. Captain
von Orlich got quarters and a horse for him at a place four
German miles from Berlin, where the troops were. He
was obliged to leave me at the hotel, as, had I gone on
horseback, so unprecedented a sight might have caused a
fit of apoplexy to more than one old officer, for at that time
ladies did not ride in Prussia.
On arriving at Jiihnsdorf he was most kindly wel-
comed by a benevolent old gentleman, who turned out to
1 By his first marriage.
12 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
be Baron Knesebeck, who was hospitably giving quarters to
about seventy officers, who were stowed away five or six
in a room. All received the stranger with the frank cor-
diality of soldiers, and admired his skill in shaving himself
with cold water and without a looking-glass by fixing his eyes
on a nail. Among others, he was greatly pleased with
Ratibor Count Wrschowitz, of a very old Bohemian family,
whom he described as saying his prayers lying flat in bed
with his hands joined, like an ancient knight on a monu-
ment. The next morning the good old Baron superintended
their breakfast, bringing in sweet cakes with his own hands.
On the ground Orlich presented the stranger to the
Prince of Prussia, 1 who, on the Bang's arrival, commanded
an A.D.C. to present him to His Majesty. The King was
most gracious to both the English officers present, and dur-
ing the manoeuvres came up to talk to them with as much
frankness as any gentleman doing the honours to his friends.
He was surprised at my husband's youthful appearance, and
said : " What ! are you a captain already ? " All the princes
were most amiable, simple, and courteous, as were all the
officers, without exception. According to the good German
fashion, every officer and soldier salutes every other, so
that my husband declared that his hand never left the peak
of his shako. He had been provided with a troop horse
who reared straight up and would not stand still a moment.
The manoeuvres were very interesting, and he could only
detect one serious blunder, viz. that the attacking party
left a regiment of cavalry drawn up in front of their adver-
sary's battery, and this was immediately pointed out by the
King. He spent three days at Jiihnsdorf, and Baron
Knesebeck showed him an arm-chair, the only piece of
furniture left to him when the French plundered his house.
Riding out early next morning my husband heard a
1 The present grand old Emperor.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 13
friendly voice behind him say : " Good morning, Captain
Mackenzie, how are you ? " " Very well, thank you, Sir,
how are you ? " and turning, found that his friend was the
Prince of Prussia ! The King greeted him in the same
kindly way, besides coming up to speak to him afterwards.
He dined with the Prince of Prussia, and when he took
leave of Baron von dem Knesebeck, the good old man with
tears in his eyes kissed him on both cheeks, and said he
could not express the pleasure he had had in making his
acquaintance, and that although they might not meet again
in this world, he trusted that they would hereafter, adding :
"I shall probably go first, and I will bespeak you a logis."
Finding that he would be invited to accompany the King
to the Opera and to sup with him afterwards, he begged
Captain von Orlich to prevent the invitation, as he would
be obliged to decline it, and asked him to tell His Majesty
that he never went to any theatre, which Orlich promised
to do.
He and . Captain von Orlich formed a great attachment
to one another. The latter was a small man with a most
intelligent expression and eagle eye, very ambitious, but
ambitious of distinguishing himself, and not merely of being
distinguished. He told us many interesting things. He
had a sister who died young. In 1815 she was esteemed
the most beautiful girl in Berlin. When old Bliicher
returned from Paris he went up to her at a grand ball and
said : " You are betrothed to such a distinguished officer, and
you are such a beautiful lady, that I must dance with you."
Bliicher's two grandsons, not having passed the exami-
nation necessary before becoming officers, he went in great
wrath to the King, whom he had the privilege of seeing at
all times, and said : " Sire, my two grandsons have not
passed their examination, and they are not to become officers !
I have examined them, and they know a great deal more
1 4 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
than I do, and yet I am Your Majesty's Field Marshal ! "
The King comforted him and promised that they should
receive their commissions.
On the 25th there was a very interesting sham fight.
Twelve thousand were to force their way, in spite of an
imaginary enemy, to the gates of Berlin. They carried the
village of Mariendorf, and then advanced in close column,
three deep, instead of our " thin red line. " He never saw men
march so steadily and well, yet one-third of them were only
raised ten months ago. They drill three hours a day. The
march past at the close was most beautiful, and, even in
charging, the cavalry preserved the line perfectly. The only
things with which fault could be found were the long traces
between the artillery wheelers and leaders, the weakness of
the cavalry horses, and the practice of keeping the bayonet
always fixed, which fatigues the soldier, unsteadies his
aim, renders him liable to wound himself, and is of no use,
as it is the affair of a moment to "fix bayonets."
My husband was invited on the field to dine with His
Majesty. The dinner at the palace was in the magnificent
ball-room, of white marble decorated with silver. About 200
were present, but no ladies except the princesses and their
suite. Captains Mackenzie and St. Clair were about to
take their places at the centre table, which was in little
request, when the Grand Chamberlain came to conduct
them to seats nearly opposite the King. The soldiers on
duty were some of the handsomest men in the army, and
instead of pages the royal family were attended by cadets.
The young Princess of the Netherlands amused herself with
feeding one of them, a very little fellow, with bonbons,
which his comrades endeavoured to pillage from him, and
one, not satisfied with eating a sweetmeat, licked his kid
glove as a finale. A magnificent band played during dinner.
The King then rose, and in the most hearty manner pro-
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 5
posed the health of his uncle, Prince Henry, now at Rome,
and, having tossed off a bumper in his honour, he gave 'The
Army and its Generalissimo the Prince of Prussia.' Many
of the guards were veteran soldiers with three or four orders
and medals, for whom all the old officers had either a little
joke or a kindly bow.
The court dinner -hour was four o'clock, so that the
guests were at home again before seven. The invitations
were conveyed verbally by a courteous official, who carried
a list of the proposed guests.
Directly on returning from Pomerania General von
Gerlach came to call. It was a very interesting visit. The
General was a truly Christian man, for many years Adjutant,
or, as we should say, Aide-de-camp or Equerry to Frederic
William IV. when Crown Prince. It was his duty to
accompany his royal master to the theatre, but he would
never go farther than the door, where he made his bow.
Frederick William III. was devoted to the drama, but his
son took little interest in it, and only cared for some
Greek plays, which he caused to be reproduced and which
put every one else to sleep. On the other hand, when
on some State occasion His Majesty attended a ballet, he
invariably slept all the time. General von Gerlach pro-
nounced the theatre "une chose abominable." He made
many inquiries as to the state of religion in England, and
said Eonge, the founder of the Lichtfreunde, was a mere
Socinian. Prediger von Gerlach, the General's brother, is
the only minister in Berlin who preaches against the theatre,
and who refuses to remarry divorced persons. The present
king made an attempt to secure the better observation of
the Sabbath, and made people shut up their shops, and it
was his intention to decrease the facilities for divorce.
Infidelity is very common. An English officer in the
Prussian service told us he did not think there was a man
16 C OLIN MA CKENZIE.
in his regiment who read the Bible otherwise than as a
common book.
We of course visited Potsdam, and saw the metal
sarcophagus in which Frederick the Great is " beigesetzt,"
as the Germans aptly express this mode of disposing of the
body above ground. Napoleon visited it, and, laying his
hand on it, said : " S'il 6tait vivant je ne serais pas id." Only
one-fourth of the garrison can attend public worship at a
time. This garrison church was lately the scene of a
ludicrous ceremony. The Emperors Alexander and Francis
and the late King of Prussia wished to be buried together
to commemorate the "Holy Alliance ;" but as this could
not be done, their three uniforms were actually interred
together with much ceremony last year at Potsdam. The
late King himself designed the coffin for his clothes, and
the funeral took place on Sunday, after church, all the
garrison being under arms ! It was of these three
Sovereigns that the Court Circular recorded that, having
ascended a hill, the " Allerhochsten Herrschaften beteten
zum Hochsten " the Most Highest (Sovereigns) prayed to
the "Most High!"
There was another very agreeable dinner-party at the
Prince of Prussia's. The Princess is a very charming
person, with perfect manners, not the least condescending,
but full of quiet dignity and kindness. She spoke to every
one. The Prince of Prussia asked Colonel Clunie if he had
been in the war in Afghanistan, and on his replying that
he had not been so fortunate, His Eoyal Highness answered,
" Ah, c'^tait une campagne pleine de malheurs, et d'honneur"
turning towards my husband with a bow. This dinner
was also exclusively military, no ladies being present save
the Princess and two of her maids of honour. When the
two officers took leave, the Prince shook hands with them,
and told Colin he hoped to see him again in Berlin.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 7
The German officers were much better informed about
the East than people in England. Indeed the King com-
plained to a friend of ours that he never could get any
information about India from English gentlemen, remarking
emphatically : " Something will surely happen one day
which will compel them to inform themselves about India."
The Empress of Russia was at this time wasting away
with a mortal disease. A lady related to me that she had
just been standing in the hall of the palace when the
Empress was carried in from her carriage on a chair. She
was very simply dressed with a little cap, and accompanied
by her daughter, the Grand Duchess Olga. The poor
Empress visited all the rooms those where she herself had
played as a child, and that where her father died. She
touched the sheets of the bed, stroked them, and murmured,
" Mein Vater ! Mein guter Vater /" and then, thinking, no
doubt, of her approaching separation from her children, she
cried : " Meine Kinder ! Meine armen Kinder /" and so went
away, weeping bitterly, her head hanging down, her face
hidden in her handkerchief, and her beautiful daughter
weeping by her side.
After a gratifying visit marked by the greatest kind-
ness and courtesy from all quarters, we returned to Dresden
and spent a quiet, pleasant winter almost entirely in German
society, their hours and habits being so different from those
of the English that it was hardly possible .to see much of
both.
There was great simplicity of manners and dress.
The usual way of entertaining was at seven o'clock tea, to
which Baroness Tiimpling, the Mistress of the Eobes, and
the only lady who was "Excellency" in her own right,
used to come in a sedan, while Baroness Lasperg, a Princess
of Holstein, came on foot with a servant after her the
only preparation for receiving Her Highness being a shilling
VOL. n. c
18 COLIN MACKENZIE.
cake ! Another pleasant acquaintance was General Frederici,
the Commander-in-Chief of the Saxon Army, whose presence
at tea caused the rapid flight of every officer to put on
full uniform. Almost the only intimate friends we made
among our countrymen were two who became very dear to
us Mr. and Lady Lucy Grant of Kilgraston. He thought
it advisable not to be presented at Court, as that would
have involved attendance at balls which we both desired to
avoid. At that time etiquette was still so rigid in Hanover
and other parts of Germany that the aristocracy were
divided by the most rigid line of demarcation from all who
were not noble. At Court balls in Hanover every one was
placed according to military rank, the Generals and their
wives at the top of the room, the Lieutenants and Ensigns
at the bottom ; but at Dresden one had the great advantage
of being able to mix with artists, and we derived great
enjoyment from the acquaintance of Retsch, Dahl, Vogel,
Professor Grahl, and others. Among many other charming
German acquaintances, Baroness von der Decken, and her
daughters became the dearest of friends.
Religion in Saxony was at a very low ebb. The chief
Saxon minister, Ammon, considered preaching " an affair
of police," i.e. he preached because Government paid him
for doing so. He was bound to preach certain views, but
he was not bound to believe them. He was a thorough
Rationalist, and his family, if not himself, frequented the
theatre on Sunday evenings. No one considered the Lord's
Day as " holy to the Lord," even theoretically. The
Gospel was nowhere preached save by Director Graul of
the Missionary Institution, a High Lutheran, and his
colleague, Dr. Trautman, and they were only allowed to
hold meetings and to preach once a month, strangers being
excluded from the prayer meetings at the Institution. This
was a recent enactment of the police at the instigation of
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 9
the ministers of Dresden. The people had more faith
than the pastors, and the most pious adhered to the Mora-
vian Church. 1 President von Gerlach said to us : "Germany
is so torn by religious discussions on points of vital im-
portance, such as the Divinity of our Lord, original sin,
and salvation by grace, that the religious differences in
Scotland and England appear to us trifling in comparison.
Here the contest is between Deism, Infidelity, and Chris-
tianity." He reckoned that in Magdeburg one-half were
Deists, and as the Church of Rome is zealous in supporting
the Divinity of our Redeemer and other primary Christian
doctrines, those who desire something better than Deism
are apt to take that Church for the only champion of
Evangelical truth.
It was therefore astonishing to our German friends
to find an officer who openly confessed his faith, expounded
the Scriptures morning and evening to his family, and
spoke boldly of the way of salvation, and on some it made
a lasting impression. Eight months passed in this quiet
happy life. We kept early hours. Breakfast was of coffee
or cocoa, for tea cost nine shillings per lb., and good Russian
tea twenty. 2 Dinner was followed by long walks or excur-
sions in the beautiful neighbourhood, skating, and German
lessons, in which my husband always desired to know the
reason of every rule and the meaning of every syllable.
He was much amused at finding that August the Strong
was by his father's directions fed with the milk of a lioness
" loffelweise " (spoon- wise), to the great indignation of his
1 At present (thirty-five years later) the case is reversed. Unbelief
now pervades the nation, while the pastors have in good measure
returned to the faith, though as yet with but little influence on the
masses.
2 Although I was a very inexperienced housekeeper, our monthly
household expenses for eight persons and two servants were only
17 : 10s., exclusive of rent and wages.
20 COLIN MACKENZIE.
mother, who complained to her father, Frederick III. of
Denmark, that " they had nourished her dear child with
wild beasts' milk, and thus sinned against God and her
Royal Stock" As the family circle were discussing the
question whether this could possibly have had the effect of
making the child so wonderfully strong, my husband inclin-
ing to the affirmative, I could not help saying : "I should
like to know how they milked the lioness" a practical
difficulty which put a stop to speculations.
After supper and family worship, when the children
went to bed, he read aloud during the winter nearly the
whole of Calvin's Institutes, while we worked, and the evening
was wound up with music. He had a very fine mellow
voice, and learned a great number of Soldaten Lieder.
He had no training, but a perfect ear and exquisite
sensibility to good music, a. luxury in which Dresden
abounded.
In 1846 the Court of Directors partially paid their
debts by a grant to him of 6000 rupees " in testimony of
their sense of your distinguished conduct and services dur-
ing the disasters in Afghanistan and the subsequent mili-
tary operations, and of the important aid rendered by you
both to your fellow-captives and to Government;" but even
then the refusal of his proper pay and allowances left him
deeply in debt. 1
In the midst of this peaceful domestic life we received
the intelligence of the almost sudden death of his mother
at the age of eighty on 8th February 1846. On the pre-
vious Thursday she appeared in perfect health, and con-
versed with Mr. Beamish, who often visited her. She was
taken ill that afternoon, but was not thought to be in dan-
ger till Saturday morning, when she became apparently
insensible, noticing no one, until Mr. Beamish, after pray-
1 The same sum was also granted to Captain G. St. P. Lawrence.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 21
ing by her bedside, took her hand and entreated her to tell
him if she were firmly trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The hand that seemed lifeless returned his energetic clasp,
and with a radiant expression she answered firmly " I am I "
She breathed her last about eight that evening, the news of
her illness only reaching us after all was over, as letters
from London then took nine days. On this followed the
loss of his brother in affection George Broadfoot, who fell
at Ferozshahar. He came in deadly pale and said : " Very
sad news from India Broadfoot has fallen, General Sale,
M'Caskill, Colonel Taylor of the 9th, D'Arcy Todd." 1 He
felt this unexpected blow so deeply that for the time it
injured his health. Towards the close of this year it
became necessary to return to India. Leaving the children
in Germany we spent five most happy weeks with my dear
parents at Wimbledon preparing for the voyage. Then came
one of those terrible partings which are almost as bad as
death.
I never saw my beloved father or aunt again.
1 Broadfoot's body was not found for two days. He was buried at
Firozpur on Christmas Day, the Governor - General, Commander- in -
Chief, and all, following.
CHAPTEE XXIII.
INDIA AGAIN RAISES REGIMENT.
(1847-49.)
AFTER a comfortable voyage under the kindest of com-
manders, Captain Henning, R.N., we met with an affectionate
reception from our brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs.
C. H. Cameron. During his stay in Calcutta nothing inter-
ested my husband so much as Dr. Duff and his mission. It
was a wonderful thing to see a thousand young Hindus
receiving a more thoroughly Christian education than they
could have got in Europe, every branch of instruction being
saturated with Christian truth and Christian principles.
Dr. Duff, with his great powers of eloquence, persuasion,
and administration, might have taken the foremost place as
a statesman, but he was devoted heart and soul to mission
work, and a very interesting knot of highly-educated young
converts had now gathered round him. It was impossible
to know this great missionary without entertaining the
warmest esteem and affection for him, and he fully recipro-
cated the feelings of his soldier friend. His single-hearted
and able Rajput convert Behari Lai Singh also became our
life-long friend.
Society in Calcutta was still of the old Indian type :
there was an amount of show and lavish expenditure which
ceased after the Mutiny. The dress of the ladies was gor-
COLIN MACKENZIE. 23
geous ; sixty servants were to be found in one house ; and
to a new-comer the strict etiquette and even the wearisome
" bara khanas," or great dinner-parties, were amusing.
One of the first greetings Captain Mackenzie received
was a letter from Akbar Khan affectionately reproaching
him for his neglect of the duties of friendship in not giving
him news of his welfare. As it was from an enemy he of
course communicated this epistle to Government, who did
not wish him to answer it.
General von Gagern, Governor of the Netherlands
India, came to Calcutta on his way home, with his very
gentlemanly A.D.C., Baron d'Aerssens. Mr. Cameron
being extremely occupied in preparing the Indian Code, it
fell to Captain Mackenzie to escort the strangers to the
different places of interest, and it was with deep regret we
heard of the General's assassination two years after while
in the act of addressing the insurgents at Baden. He fell
a victim to the ambition of his brother, the President of the
Diet at Frankfurt, and to his own noble and chivalrous
character. My husband's absence from India during three
years and a half, though necessary for his health and pro-
ductive of much enjoyment, was very prejudicial to his
advancement in the political line. When he returned every
post was filled up. Lord Hardinge, being about to try the
experiment of raising four Sikh regiments, offered him the
command of the 4th with an expression of regret that he
had nothing better to give him. We therefore proceeded
up the country by Dak, i.e. in palanquins, taking seven days
to reach Benares, where we stayed for ten days with Major
Carpenter, who was in charge of several deposed princes,
among them the Rajas of Kurg, Satara, and Vizianagram.
We had a very amusing visit to the Satara Raja and his
ladies, the Raja leading me about by the wrist as if I had
been a naughty child. Here, too, another friendship was
24 COLIN MACKENZIE.
formed (as was usually the case when we fell in with a
German gentleman). This was with a most intelligent
cultivated young man, Karl Count Goertz, who was travel-
ling to see the world before settling in life. His society was
as congenial as that of two French Legitimists, Comte de
B and Comte N , was the reverse. The first of
these two was very gentlemanly in manner, but the other
excited the indignation of the young unmarried ladies by
impertinent attentions, and both of them the grave dis-
pleasure of the men, Count Goertz included, by the coarse-
ness of their conversation, whenever the ladies were out of
earshot.
We had also delightful visits to Mr. Parry Woodcock
at Allahabad, Mr. and Mrs. Edmonstone at Agra, Mr. and
Mrs. Arthur Eoberts, all of them perfect strangers, who
received us with such open-hearted warmth as to make us
feel towards them as to old friends. The hospitality itself
was then a necessity as there were no hotels of any kind, so
that one stranger thought nothing of announcing to another
the arrival of a whole party whom he himself had never seen,
but the kindness shown was of course due to the character
of the host. At last Lodiana, then one of the ugliest stations
in the country, was reached on the 26th February. It lies
in the midst of an immense sandy plain on the Satlej, then
the N.W. frontier of India, and had been partly burned
and all the trees destroyed the year before by the Sikhs.
So terrible an idea was formed of this out-station, that both
in Calcutta and Benares friends seriously entreated my hus-
band not to expose me to the hardships of living there. I
however said I had come to India to stay with my husband,
though I quite believed that the " mud houses " we were
going to live in were something like the mud huts in the
bazar ! We found ourselves, however, the occupants of as
comfortable a house of mud bricks as could be wished, one of
COLIN MACKENZIE. 25
four which stood in the compound of the American Presby-
terian Mission. There two happy years were spent in
constant intercourse with the three mission families, the
Janviers, Newtons, and Eudolphs, many of whom have been
called to go " up higher," while the others are still devoting
themselves to the service of the Lord.
Captain Mackenzie's work in raising and drilling the
4th Regiment Frontier Brigade, was so engrossing, that
neither of us went into any society. Rising at gun-fire, i.e.
early dawn, often before 4 A.M., he was every morning on
parade, having only two officers, a second in command, and
an adjutant. He was for some time very unlucky in his
adjutant, who could not spell, wrote " wich," " campane," and
so forth, and was quite incapable of drafting a letter or even
copying one. A great deal of work thus fell on me ; I had to
write from dictation, keep the accounts of the regiment, and
do many other things that the adjutant should have done.
I used to go every morning to parade either on an
elephant or horseback to bring back my husband. Then
we sat in the shade for chota hazari (little breakfast), that
most sociable of Indian institutions, when intimate friends
drop in for tea or sour curds, and chat until the heat drives
every one into the house. Then followed a nap and a
bath, prayers, and breakfast, during which, or even before
it, came visits from Afghan friends, especially Hasan
Khan, who to the satisfaction of all parties was living in
comfort at Lodiana, which contained a large colony of
Afghan exiles. Then followed inspection of men offering
to enlist, among whom appeared one day a batch of Mahwaris,
who are all professional thieves, but who seemed in no wise
disconcerted at the laughter with which their proposal was
greeted. Next appeared the Havildar - Major (Native
Sergeant-Major) in his clean white garments with the
regimental books, and the Quartermaster-Sergeant and the
26 COLIN MACKENZIE.
writer (a very clever Turk) to do the work of the office.
This was particularly heavy, because as the Governor-
General chose to keep the Sikh regiments under himself,
giving orders through the military secretary, all the
military departments thwarted them in every possible way,
ignored them, knew nothing about them, cut their pay, and
would do nothing for them. A commandant does not get
his full pay until his men are armed. The Ordnance
Department sent Captain Mackenzie wretched old muskets
which he stoutly refused to receive, demanded a committee
who pronounced them "only fit to be broken up," and
succeeded in obtaining serviceable arms just six months after
he had indented for them, of course losing a considerable
part of his pay while waiting for them. He said at the
time : " The magazine at Lodiana is almost totally
denuded of everything it ought to have. The nearest
magazine is that at Delhi, 200 miles distant, situated in the
heart of the city, in the midst of a fanatical Muhammadan
population three miles from the cantonments, with a slender
guard, thus being open to a surprise by any daring ad-
venturer or sudden outbreak." These words were almost
prophetic, for we did lose the magazine at Delhi in '57 and
the loss nearly cost us India. Numbers of other soldiers
saw the danger, but our Government always neglects the
most ordinary precautions.
During office hours native officers and men, came
with complaints and requests. Then followed afternoon
parade, when Captain Mackenzie again drilled them himself,
so that it was sometimes six in the evening before he had
time either to rest or bathe. The house was always open,
and its master was always accessible to the multitude
of Afghans, who came either to see him or to request his
help, and, owing to the trust they placed in him, I as his
wife was welcomed by all their families, being the only Euro-
COLIN MACKENZIE. 27
pean lady they had ever seen. Some even came to see me,
which was a still greater mark of confidence. The Afghan
women are fair and often very handsome, full of spirit and
intelligence, though of course uneducated. They have of
late (1882) begun to learn from Zenana Missionaries.
Setting aside the injustice of invading Afghanistan
because we were afraid of Eussia, of devastating whole
districts, destroying their fruit-trees (a thing expressly for-
bidden in Scripture) and their crops, their only means of
subsistence because they would not submit to a sovereign
whom we had set over them, the miseries inflicted by our
interference on those whom we professed to support ought
not to be forgotten. It was sad to see men of rank and
property reduced to absolute want. In one case a father
and son (nearly connected with Shah Shujah) never paid a
visit together because they had only one choga (cloak)
between them. Another man of rank was obliged to sell
even his sword for food. An old retainer of Shah Shujah
said sadly : "I live upon fasting, and the day when a little
pulse is cooked in my house is a feast."
One little trait of my husband's quick sympathy may
be given. Driving home one evening after dark he saw by
the firelight a poor man and boy turning a little spit with a
very scanty portion of kabob upon it for their supper. He
sent his horse-keeper back with half a rupee, bidding him
tell the man to make a good supper but to say nothing else.
The sais accordingly ran back, thrust the money into his
hand, and cried : " Make a good supper." "Achha !" (good)
cried the poor man, with his eyes and mouth wide open ;
but before he could say another word the sais had vanished
into the dark night, leaving him in doubt whether it was a
Djinn or no. My husband turned to me and said : " I
remember, when in captivity, watching a young Afghan
eating kabobs which he had roasted on his ramrod. I sup-
28 COLIN MACKENZIE.
pose I looked at him hungrily, for he bit off one end with
his fine white teeth and thrust the other into my hand,
saying : ' Eat and welcome ' I was very glad of it."
In June we had the grief of losing our faithful servant
Jacob, who was carried off by a week's fever, during most
of which he was unconscious. Hasan Khan was greatly
grieved and said : " Read to him out of your book ; it
will do him good read to him." My husband explained
that he had been repeating passages of Scripture to him.
Jacob kept tight hold of his dear master's hand, and, when
asked if his faith were strong in Christ, squeezed it and
nodded. He strove to say something to a Hindustani horse-
keeper who had been with him in Afghanistan, pointing to
his heart and then to heaven, as if he wished to exhort him
to believe in the Lord. Mackenzie asked the man if he
understood what Jacob meant. " Oh yes," said he ; " this is
what he has been saying to me for many days." He had
been unwearied in speaking of the Gospel to all the servants
and every one within his reach, and all were attached to
him from his kindness and helpfulness. By his last letters
he evidently thought his time on earth might be short. He
wrote : "I myself looking to Jesus, where is my resting-
place that is to say my sweet grave." To us it was the loss
of a dear friend. His cheerful, loving service and sympathy
could never be replaced.
Four artillery sergeants volunteered to carry the coffin,
and many Afghans were present in the chapel. One man
of rank arrived, counting his beads and repeating some sort
of prayers for the dead. He sat with his fingers in his ears
while the missionary read the 15th chapter of Corinthians,
but remarked afterwards to Hasan Khan that there was
"not much difference between us and them!" He saw
clearly that we were not idolaters.
My husband constantly recommended the Gospel to all
COLIN MACKENZIE. 29
about him his men, his servants, and his Afghan friends.
With several of the latter he used often to read the Scrip-
tures in Persian, and, when the frequent remark was made,
"The Sahibs do not live according to their book," it was a
comfort to be able to reply, "Some do the missionaries
do," and to receive the invariable acknowledgment: "Ah!
yes, they do." The Afghan princes showed their respect for
the character of the missionaries and their native converts,
by taking them into their own houses for protection during
the Sikh invasion in 1845 and afterwards during the Mutiny
of 1857.
It was painful to meet many instances of gross incivility
on the part of Europeans, even such as were gentlemen by
position, towards both natives and Afghans. All over
India want of courtesy is considered a proof of low birth
and low breeding. A poor coolie at Delhi was heard to
remark to another, concerning a civilian who had just
driven by: "He is no gentleman; he never returns a salam!"
The Nizam ud Doulah, a brother-in-law of Shah Shu j ah and
a man of great dignity and perfect manners, said of the
English authorities at Lodiana : " I never go near any of
these people, for they don't know how to behave ! " Captain
Mackenzie was one morning with the Deputy-Commissioner
(a captain in the army) when Murteza Shah came in to
speak about some business. Sayad Murteza Shah was
quite a gentleman and very courteous, and to him our cap-
tives in Afghanistan were mainly indebted for their release.
The Deputy-Commissioner would hardly listen to a word he
had to say, leant back in his chair, repeating, " I can't do
anything, I can't do anything," and at last cried imperiously,
" Jao !" (Be off!), on which Murteza Shah did go, without
even a salam. Captain Mackenzie hastily followed his old
friend, made him get into his buggy, and drove him home.
The Sayad remarked: "What a vulgar tyrannical man!"
30 COLIN MACKENZIE.
Murteza Shah had not long returned from a mission to Ka-
bul, where he was the means of recovering about a hundred
children of Sepoys and camp-followers who had perished
on the retreat, and among them a European boy. One of
these orphans, a girl, had lost both feet from frost-bites.
My husband and Mr. Janvier carried her to the Ameri-
can Orphanage, and the former had a little sledge on
wheels made, on which her young companions dragged her
merrily about. Two men in our regiment had escaped
from slavery less than two years before. One was just
above Istalif when we stormed it, and said the mountains
were then full of our prisoners, many of whom were
sent off to Balkh as slaves. He declared that there were
some English among them. Had our troops only been
allowed to stay a few days longer they would all have been
brought in ; but Lord Ellenborough's vehement injunctions
to retreat prevented this. On another occasion Murteza
Shah, on his way to visit an officer in camp, met a European
who asked him what book he had in his hand, and, when
it was handed to him, struck Murteza Shah with a bar of
iron on the leg so that the blood gushed out. Again, a
young Afghan gentleman on horseback took refuge in an
officer's compound while an elephant passed by. The owner
rushed out shouting, " Jao ! Jao !" and flung a stone at him.
Our friend said : "Not knowing whether he was drunk or
only ignorant, I took no notice." He added : "I know you
arid several other gentlemen, so I am aware that you are
not all alike ; but such acts make unlearned people detest
the British name."
Lord Ellenborough had promised that, as a reward for
their heroic fidelity, Ferris' and Broadfoot's Jezailchis should
be for ever retained in our service. There ought to be
some record of Government promises, for notwithstanding
this they were disbanded, some of them immediately, others
COLIN MACKENZIE. 31
when Lord Hardinge, in a sanguine mood, reduced the
strength of the army after the Sikh campaign. One hun-
dred and twenty of these men were sent to Captain Mac-
kenzie to provide for, and, speaking of the injustice of dis-
banding them, one of them plucked off his cap, and thrusting
his bald head under my husband's very moustache, showed
a tremendous scar the whole length of his skull, crying :
"Do you think I took that on my head for nothing?"
Another, whom he himself had cut down for mutiny, in
the fort of Nishan Khan, seeing that his old leader did not
immediately recognise him, turned up his sleeve and dis-
played the cut he had given him as a sort of love-token
between them. He returned a short time after, having
demanded his discharge from the regiment into which
Mackenzie had got him, because he had not been promoted
immediately. Captain Mackenzie slapped his cheek, told
him he was an ass, and then took him by the shoulders and
nearly shook his head off, all of which this sturdy Afghan,
with battle-axe in hand, took most meekly.
When we heard of the death of my dear father the
Afghans all showed the greatest sympathy. A huge burly
native officer of cavalry, Atta Muhammad, who was after-
wards slain in seizing Major Mackeson's murderer, came to
express his sorrow. Placing his hands together like an
open book he said: "Let us have a,fatiha (prayer) for her."
My husband put his hands in the same position and Atta
Muhammad, with his eyes full of tears, prayed that the
Most High would bless and comfort me, and that the bless-
ing of Jesus the Messiah might come upon me. The
Afghan women came and wept, and Hasan Khan admon-
ished my husband " Comfort her, comfort her ! "
And yet these very men, so capable of strong attachment
and sympathy, in general think nothing of the death of a
wife. When in Afghanistan Captain Mackenzie was several
32 COLIN MACKENZIE.
times asked "Are you married ?" "No, my wife isdead."-
" We hear you are very sorry when your wives die ; did you
weep ? " " Yes, I did." Whereupon they were struck dumb
with astonishment that any one should feel the death of a
wife so strongly. "Why should you grieve 1 ?" say they,
"there are plenty of others." This is only one among
many proofs that every violation of the laws of God brings
its own punishment. Polygamy has destroyed family life
and family affection.
Soon after we arrived at Lodiana, news came from
Afghanistan of the death of Akbar Khan. It is said that
when he ceased to be a Ghazi he took to drinking. On his
death, his father-in-law Muhammad Shah Khan, carried off
his property to the amount, the Afghans say, of seven lacs,
but the Amir Dost Muhammad, having razed Muhammad
Shah Khan's fort of Badiabad (the same in which the
captives were imprisoned), he was obliged to fly to the
Hindu Kush mountains and take refuge among the kdfirs,
who are thought to be the descendants of Alexander the
Great's army. From thence he wrote to Captain Mackenzie
reminding him of their former friendship, and asking if it
continued. The letter was brought by a Sayad, to whom
he had given a token whereby he might judge of Mackenzie's
disposition towards him. The Sayad began: "Muhammad
Shah Khan says to you, 'When you were in peril of life by
the fort of Mahmud Khan how did I act 1 ' " My husband
answered : " When the sword was raised to strike me he
put his arm round my neck and took the cut on his own
shoulder." Then the Sayad knew that he might deliver the
letter. Captain Mackenzie replied that he would always
acknowledge him as a friend, and sent him two Persian
Testaments for himself and his brother. Some time after
a poor-looking man, rosary in hand, with a most intelligent
wily expression, came down with a second letter, which
COLIN MACKENZIE. 33
he drew from the binding of a small book. He then sat
down on the floor counting his beads, but quietly noting
everything that was said or done. In this letter Muham-
mad Shah Khan and his brother declared themselves ready
to obey the slightest nod of the British Government, but
Government wisely would have nothing to say to them.
A most gentlemanly old Afghan, Sirfraz Khan, brother of
that "malignant and turbaned" old paralytic Aminullah
Khan, related that the Amir, Dost Muhammad, having mar-
ried a daughter of Aminullah, had then murdered him with
his own hands, smothering him with a pillow ! Such was
the end of Aminullah.
An Afghan gentleman was with Captain Mackenzie one
evening when he was sending medicine to a little girl ill
with fever. He mentioned that the poor child often came
to the house, adding : " And now perhaps she may die."
" God forbid that she should die," cried he, " you are going
to have prayers, pray for the child ; " and then turning to
him he said suddenly : "I wish you knew what is in my
heart towards you. It is great friendship. I see here
purity of life ; " and then he expressed a hope that even
though not Muhammadan he might be saved, saying, in a
kind of soliloquy : " I have a strong hope that there may be
a place for you in Paradise." My husband took the oppor-
tunity of explaining to him the grounds on which he hoped
for salvation, namely, the blood of Christ alone. They used
often to read the Scriptures together, and though the
Musalman constantly capped a passage with some absurd
legend from the Kuran, yet when they came to the part
where the Jews cried " Crucify him ! crucify him ! " he could
not forbear bursting out with a most emphatic exclamation
of " Kambacht ! " (wretches), and as he went on he uttered
constantly an Arabic invocation, signifying why are such
crimes permitted !
VOL. II. D
34 COLIN MACKENZIE.
Though as Commandant, Captain Mackenzie was ex-
tremely strict in punishing real offences, he was at the same
time most friendly in his intercourse with his men. He
would never countenance any act of idolatry or false worship,
but took pains to explain to them why he could neither be
present nor lend carpets, far less the colours of the regiment,
for any of their religious festivals. He said he was a Chris-
tian because he believed there was no other way of salva-
tion ; that he never interfered with any man's worship, but,
that as he looked upon idolatry as a great sin, he would be
acting contrary to his conscience if he took any part in it.
They always seemed quite to understand. He would lend
carpets for marriages, and would take me to see their
wrestling matches and sword-play, when I was sure to be
drenched with rose water (from the same motive which
made Jacob call the Queen "he") "out of respect." He
spoke quite freely to his native officers and men, just as he
did to Europeans, confessing his own faith, appealing to
their reason as to the folly of idolatry, and all in so friendly
a manner as never to give offence. One day he was telling
his Havildar-Major about Ceylon, which the Hindus believe
to be inhabited by demons. He said to him : " I often eat
grief on your account and that of your countrymen whom
I see worshipping idols; for there is but one God, who
alone should be worshipped." The Havildar answered :
" True, there is but one God." " Is it not lamentable, then,
that men should bow down to images which they themselves
make of wood and stone?" "And mud," interjected the
Havildar-Major. "Your worthless Brahmans tell you
these fables for their own profit and not for your good."-
" True," said he, " they do it for their own profit ; for the
other day when we gave a little feast to our brethren of
the 1 1th, they came among us and extracted fifteen rupees
from us, and then told us all the gods were pleased;"
COLIN MACKENZIE. 35
and the Havildar- Major finished with a little scornful
laugh that spoke volumes.
Captain Mackenzie's tact was unfailing. A Havildar
(native sergeant) and party sent out to apprehend deserters,
were by some extraordinary mistake on the part of the
civil authorities at Firozpur seized and put in prison, five
deserters being allowed to escape. Justly indignant at
this, Captain Mackenzie sent word to his men to remain in
prison until he could effect their release with honour. But
the civil authorities, finding they had got into a scrape, were
far from imitating the magistrates of Philippi, but thrust
the Havildar and his men out. They came back boiling
over with indignation, and the non-commissioned officer, a
very fine Sikh, cast off his turban to express the depth of
the degradation to which he had been subjected. Had he
been condoled with, he would have been an aggrieved man
for life, but his commandant told him impatiently to put on
his turban, for the matter did not concern him at all. " It
is my affair," said he, " it is my honour that is involved ; "
so they went to their lines apparently quite convinced that
that was the proper view of the matter.
In August 1848 a serious quarrel took place between the
Sikhs and Afghans of the regiment, and the latter rushed
off to our house late at night, bringing with them a Mullah,
whose beard had been pulled by the irreverent Sikhs. My
husband bade them go to sleep without speaking a word
good or bad, to any man. Next morning, after a long
drill from 4 to 6 A.M., he sent for the Sikh priest, gave the
word to march, and led the regiment out five miles across
country through great pools of water in one of which a
fat native officer stuck, and had to be pulled out by two
Sepoys made them charge at the " double " for a quarter
of a mile, brought them back over rough sandy ground at
nine o'clock, thoroughly tired out ; drilled them again for
36 COLIN MACKENZIE.
more than two hours in the afternoon, besides roll-calls
every three hours, and finished by issuing an order (read at
ten successive roll-calls) telling them that "the State required
eight hundred soldiers, and not eight hundred Mullahs,
Pandits, or Granthis, and that any one who insulted or
attacked another on account of his religion, whether he
were Christian, Musalman, Hindu, or Sikh, was guilty of
a high military offence, and would be punished accord-
ingly." There never was any quarrelling again.
The men built their own huts and even made their
own bricks. Captain Mackenzie planted rows of trees
between the lines, and gave them all his own vegetable seeds
from England to make gardens. He delayed swearing in
the regiment for many months, so that he could dismiss any
man without trouble, and being a Deputy-Magistrate he
could try and punish offences. It was eight months before
the regimental pay was adjusted, during which time the
Commandant had to make advances to them on his own
responsibility from money procured from the Treasury, to
the amount of ten thousand pounds.
He succeeded in forming a splendid regiment. Not one
of the non-commissioned officers was under six feet. They
were as "good to look at as to go." After the tragical
assassination at Multan in May 1848 of Mr. Agnew and
Lieutenant Anderson, two of those many young lives full
of promise which have been treacherously cut short in
India, and Chutter Sing's subsequent outbreak, the whole
regiment volunteered for service against him, to the great
gratification of their Commandant. Unluckily a Bengal
civilian was acting Kesident in the absence of Colonel
Henry Lawrence, and far from taking advantage of this
gallant offer, he merely observed that he " was much
amused by it ! " Some months later, gallant old Lord Gough
passed through Lodiana, and my husband rode out to
COLIN MACKENZIE. 37
see his friends in camp. He had often said that he had
volunteered quite enough, and did not intend doing so
any more ; but he had no sooner got into camp than all his
philosophy and love of peace evaporated. He assailed the
Adjutant-General and Quartermaster-General with requests
to employ him as a volunteer, offering to do anything they
liked without pay, when he fell in with his own Adjutant,
Lieutenant Rothney, who had come out on the very same
errand. Captain Mackenzie was filled with indignation at
the very thought of losing his invaluable Adjutant, who
in his turn was dismayed at the idea of losing his Com-
mandant ! After this he gave me a promise that when
he wished to volunteer he would tell me beforehand, and
I assured him I would not oppose his wish, and to this
compact we both adhered. He always impressed upon his
men that a soldier was a gentleman, and therefore should
be foremost in doing whatever had to be done, and how
thoroughly he succeeded in imbuing his regiment with his
own high spirit was seen when they afterwards volunteered
for Burmah, marching down the country in the midst of
the rains.
Lord Dalhousie wrote to him on this occasion (13th
September 1852) :
"Your Singhs are behaving beautifully, coming down wading
rivers tip to their necks, and carrying plump Captain B in
his palki through on their heads, all readiness and good humour,
and I hear with one hundred supernumeraries ! "
It was still more evident in the way they fought
during that campaign. As soon as Mackenzie, who was
then commanding a division in the Dekkan, heard that his
men were about to engage the enemy, he volunteered to
join and serve as a subaltern under Captain Armstrong,
who had succeeded him in command of the regiment, for
the sake of leading his beloved corps the first time it went
38 COLIN MACKENZIE.
into action. Lord Dalhousie wrote again to congratulate
him on their conduct. But, above all, the metal they were
made of was seen when in 1857, under Major Eothney, 1 they
saved Lodiana by threshing the Jalandar mutineers, and by
the way they fought at Delhi.
In December 1848 the Governor -General came up to
Lodiana, and soon sent Mr. Elliot, the Political Secretary,
to ask Captain Mackenzie, who was now one of the very
few surviving officers acquainted with the Pan jab and
Afghanistan, to come to him. During an interview of two
hours he was much struck with the great talent and tact
displayed by Lord Dalhousie, who seized instinctively upon
every point worth considering.
Early in January he was again summoned to the
Governor-General's camp at Makku, near Firozpur, posting
horses and riding the seventy miles at a stretch. He was
hospitably received by Captain W. Mayne, commanding
the Bodyguard, and went out coursing jackals the evening
of his arrival. He wrote : "Being well mounted, I entered
with glee into the sport, and suddenly found myself laying
in the dogs at a neck-or-nothing pace over very queeracious
ground, and also instructing my brother sportsmen in
certain n^steries connected with woodcraft.
" 13th January. Last night had a famous gallop across
this huge plain, but this morning I refused to go out to hunt
with and his officers because they swore so much. At
breakfast they were more careful, and I earnestly hope it
may please God, even through my weak instrumentality, to
convince them of the sin of so detestable a practice. I am
trying to persuade some of them to join me in public
worship to-morrow. Strange that Lord Dalhousie has
neither chaplain nor public worship of any kind on the
1 His former Adjutant, then in command of the 4th Sikh Light
Infantry.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 39
Sabbath. . . . About five attended, and there was much less
swearing. I think my freely expressed opinions have told
a little. More than one has said he wished I could
remain among them, frankly acknowledging the iniquity of
his ways. One said : ' I know you are right, and that if
I were to die this instant I should go to hell ! ' "
So careful was he to do nothing which might be a
bad example, that he even refrained from writing to his
wife on the Sabbath he was in camp. During the eight
days he spent there he had many interviews with the
Governor-General, and after the fatal battle of Chillianwala,
Lord Dalhousie sent for him, and, with eyes full of tears,
showed him the terrible list of killed and wounded. Four
hundred of H.M.'s 24th were left stark and stiff on
the field, and the next day thirteen of their officers lay
dead in the mess-tent. The 30th Native Infantry behaved
most gallantly, seized and spiked ten guns, with great loss,
only one of their officers out of the seventeen who went
into action was untouched. The 56th Native Infantry,
who behaved nobly, were almost destroyed.
Mr. Courtenay, the Governor-General's Private Secre-
tary, wrote to Captain Mackenzie :
" Sir H. Lawrence and Lord Gifford came in from the Com-
mander-in- Chief s camp, and have given us very clear accounts
of the affair of the 1 8th (Chillianwala). The only conclusion I
can arrive at is, that the Sikhs in every sense of the word licked
. us ; and, if their cavalry had only gone on, must have routed us
and taken the Commander-in-Chief s staff prisoners. Our own
people were quite prepared for it, nor do they seem to know
why it was not done. But providentially the fellows stopped,
seeming bewildered by the success of their charge, and, without
provocation, fled in confusion. There was at one time a body
of three thousand Sikh, horsemen on the open plain, to our
right flank, unsupported in any way, who came and went with-
out a single horse or man being sent at them."
40 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
My husband wrote : " Lack of sarks will drive me
home, as I have given two of my flannel shirts and drawers
to a poor young officer ill of smallpox."
During this stay in the Governor-General's camp he
was constantly employed in advocating the claims of others,
among them those of General Ventura, whose property had
been most unjustly confiscated. His letters are full of
such passages as : "Fought Ventura's battle, and completely
enlisted Courtenay in his favour, not so Elliot." " I have
put matters right for E by speaking to the Governor-
General. I have got Elliot to put down R and C
for political employment."
He urged, unfortunately in vain, the claims of Prince
Shahpur to an increase of his miserable pension,
espoused the cause of a young Armenian lady who had
been married and deserted by an English officer, and suc-
ceeded in obtaining full pay for life for as many of his
Jezailchis as still survived, with an extra amount for those
who had lost limbs from frost-bites. All the Afghans
found a friend and protector in him ; he was never weary
of recounting the services they had rendered to us, or in
endeavouring to procure employment for those who were in
need. Never was there a more zealous friend. The number
of letters he wrote, of cases he stated, of memorials he
drew up for other people, would have done credit to an
active solicitor, and he expended his interest as freely as
his time on behalf of others. 1
After Chillianwala, Lord Dalhousie found it necessary
to use the curb most strongly, and to give peremptory
orders to the impulsive old Chief to wait for the force
1 As a lad at Madras he told the Commander-in-Chief that his
friend George Broadfoot was far fitter for an appointment than him-
self, to which His Excellency kindly replied that one need not prevent
the other.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 41
from Multan, and to use his guns when he did engage the
enemy.
The Commander-in-Chief's camp was kept in constant
expectation of an attack from the Sikhs, who occupied a
strong position at Eussul, about four miles distant, when
lo ! one fine morning the enemy had vanished, and for some
days nobody knew which way they had gone or where they
were. Our blunders and our inactivity made the Sikhs
careless, the Multan force arrived, and at Guzerat, our
splendid artillery being allowed fair-play for three hours,
we gained a complete victory on the 21st February.
After we had set the Amir Dost Muhammad free in
1843, he had regained supreme power in Afghanistan, and
now took advantage of our difficulties with the Sikhs to
proclaim a Jehad (religious war) against us, which caused
many Afghans in our service (as at Attok) to leave, though
with much regret at doing so. Two of his sons and a
body of Durani horse having fought against us at Guzerat,
where they were routed by the Sind horse, the Private
Secretary consulted Captain Mackenzie " confidentially " as
to the utility or expediency of inducing the Khaiberis to
obstruct their return, and what would be the best mode of
operating.
Prince Shahpur applied to be allowed to go to Afghan-
istan, either with or without British assistance. Muhammad
Shah Khan had made him great offers of support, and he
enclosed two of these letters, but the Governor -General
wisely determined not to interfere beyond our own frontier.
Captain Mackenzie had seen so much of the misery of the
people under Sikh rule, that he had all along strongly
advocated the annexation of the Panjab, both on this
account and as the only way of putting a stop to the out-
breaks of the Sikh soldiery. There was no settled govern-
ment, and no probability of any; the soldiery had it all
42 COLIN MACKENZIE.
their own way, to the great detriment of the peaceable
inhabitants. The Sikhs are a very small body, but they
were all military fanatics, with an exorbitant notion of
their own prowess.
Sir Henry Hardinge had refrained from annexation after
the Satlej Campaign in 1846, and had given the Sikhs
another chance of governing the Panjab, by appointing a
Council of Regency, with Sir Henry Lawrence at the head,
during the minority of the little Maharaja Dhulip Sing.
But the Sikh soldiery were not to be controlled. There is
every reason to suppose that Mulraj was drawn into a con-
test with the British against his intention. But, now that
we had been forced to overthrow the nominal Government of
the Panjab, it became a question whether we should set it
up again. John Lawrence was strongly in favour of annexa-
tion, but his brother Henry was vehemently opposed to it,
and wrote to the Governor-General : " I did think it unjust,
I now think it impolitic," and at first refused to carry it
out. Colin Mackenzie considered that the Governor-General
showed considerable magnanimity in persuading Henry
Lawrence to retain his post, but they never worked com-
fortably together. Lord Dalhousie always undervalued his
opinion both of men and measures, and was not sorry to
remove Sir Henry from the Panjab before he himself left
India. It was soon known that the Governor-General had
taken Colin Mackenzie into his counsels, and it was very
amusing to watch the dexterity with which he parried every
attempt to discover what was about to be done, baffling all
inquiries by the most absurd answers. After the victory of
Guzerat Sir Henry Elliot exhorted Mackenzie to bring
forward his claims, assuring him of the Governor-General's
support. Lord Dalhousie recommended him for Brevet
and the C.B., but the want of the Afghan medal proved a
bar to honours.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 43
The two military secretaries, Colonel Stuart and Colonel
Benson, now strongly advised Lord Dalhousie to secure the
friendship of the Afghans by restoring the province of
Peshawar, which had been wrested from them by Ran jit
Singh. Sir Henry Elliot was greatly opposed to this, and
wrote to Mackenzie to come immediately to camp. He
rode out to Firozpur, where the Governor-General now was,
and meeting some of the wounded, comforted them as far
as he could with his sandwiches and cheroots. The
Governor-General sent for him on his arrival, and asked
his candid opinion. During a prolonged conversation he
proved, to Lord Dalhousie's satisfaction, that the Indus, a
fordable river at times, was no boundary at all, and that
our only strong and thoroughly defensible frontier was the
one we already held. To give up Peshawar would be to
place the Afghans inside the gate of India, instead of
keeping them outside. The Governor - General acknow-
ledged his obligations to his adviser by following his advice,
and by offering him his choice of appointments in the Pan jab,
which he declined, supposing that it would be purely civil
and financial work, expressing his preference for military
or political employment. On this occasion he met John
Lawrence for the first time. That great public servant was
decidedly unsophisticated in his manners. On being sum-
moned to take his place at the dinner-table opposite to the
Governor - General, he replied : " I'm going to sit here, I
want to have a jaw with Mackenzie."
19th March 1849. He describes his visit to George
Broadfoot's tomb. " Poor old Sale lies close to him, and
you may imagine my thoughts. We do indeed labour for
the things that perish in the using, neglecting that which
alone endures for ever. May God grant us both grace to
have our treasure in Heaven, so that at whatever hour we
may be called, we may be found safe in Jesus."
44 COLIN MACKENZIE.
He rode back the eighty miles to Lodiana without
stopping, in order to spend his birthday with his wife.
The following May he took me up, for change of air, to
Simla, where he spent a considerable portion of the next
six months. The presence of the Governor -General and
Commander-in-Chief with about four hundred officers and
their families, made it the gayest place in India. As there
were no wheel-carriages, every one rode or went in a sort of
sedan-chair called &jhappan. After more than two years'
hard work, this holiday in the society of many friends,
especially Mrs. George Lawrence and that lovable hero
Major Hope Grant and his young wife, with excursions in
magnificent scenery, a delightful climate, and exquisite
music, were sources of great refreshment and enjoyment.
The soldierly figure of the kindly, gallant old Chief, Lord
Gough, was a prominent one at Simla ; and his successor,
Sir Charles Napier, won all hearts by his perfect simplicity
of demeanour, his straightforward candour in bluntly ac-
knowledging an error, his warmth of heart, and his original
and interesting conversation. No wonder his staff almost
adored him.
Henry Lawrence and his admirable wife came for a short
time. The former was not happy about Panjab affairs, and
had many conferences with Colin Mackenzie, who en-
deavoured to persuade him that it was far better the
Governor-General's measures should be carried out by him,
who had the welfare of the country so strongly a't heart,
than by any other. In these conversations Lawrence's
beard was a great sufferer. It was long and scanty, and
after tugging at it, he would turn the ends between his
teeth and gnaw them reflectively. Colonel J. S. Hodgson,
commanding one of the four Sikh regiments, had also a
grievance against the Governor-General. So much did he
take it to heart, that he resigned. Colin Mackenzie could
COLIN MACKENZIE. 45
not endure the idea of such an officer being lost to the
army, and exerted all his powers of persuasion to induce
Lord Dalhousie to allow Colonel Hodgson to withdraw his
resignation. Having succeeded with infinite difficulty, he
found it no less hard to persuade the indomitable Com-
mandant himself, but at last he prevailed, and Colonel
Hodgson afterwards expressed his gratitude to him, and
distinguished himself brilliantly in command of the Frontier
Brigade.
While at Simla we received from our friends at Lodiana
accounts of one of those famines so common in India, of
which no one ever hears and of which no notice is taken.
Mrs. Newton of the American Presbyterian Mission wrote :
" August.
" We have had fine rains lately, but there is great distress
among the poor. We undertook two weeks ago to employ at
eight pice (one penny) a day all women and men who came beg-
ging, and would work in removing the sand which had accumu-
lated. Our numbers have increased daily, and our means not
being large, we reduced their pittance to six pice, thus securing
the work to ouly the extreme poor. Still, as the news of getting
employment spread, the numbers continued to increase. At this
time more than three hundred miserable, half-starved, half-naked
men, women, and children are in the compound filling holes and
levelling sandhills, being paid in cowries, and it is piteous to see
the poor women with a child on the hip and a basket of sand
hurrying with their load, so eager for the cowries. We have
thirty in the poor-house too much reduced to work. We cannot
let the poor creatures perish, nor can we alone feed them much
longer, so to-day we have sent out a statement of the case. Many
of the people are from the villages, their cattle are dead, and
they are unable to cultivate their ground both for that reason
and for want of seed. At night they sleep on the damp ground
without shelter or covering."
Of course a subscription was raised for them, but this
46 COLIN MACKENZIE.
misery constantly recurs in most parts of India, except where
irrigation works have been carried out, as in the Rajaman-
dry district.
Lord Dalhousie always showed Mackenzie marked
friendship, and shortly before leaving the hills offered him
the command of the Elichpur Division as Brigadier of the
1st class. He said in his minute : " I know no officer whose
claims . . . are superior to those of Captain Colin Mackenzie.
. . . The gallantry, ability, and endurance displayed by him in
the events which occurred at the time of the rising at Kabul
are amply recorded, and in connection with the subsequent
events of that period entitle him to a higher reward at the
hands of the Government of India than the command of a
local corps in the Satlej Provinces." 1 This was very
gratifying. It was a fine appointment of about 2000 rupees
a month, but involved a very long and expensive journey.
There was also an order against officers marching through
the Central Provinces to the Dekkan (South) during the
unhealthy season after the rains. We could not, therefore,
start immediately, though like everybody else we returned
to the plains at the end of October. There we had the
pleasure of again meeting Sir Charles Napier when his camp
came to Lodiana in November. There was a degree of
affectionate intimacy rarely equalled between him and the
members of his " military family," all of whom were
devoted to their chief. When his baby grand -daughter
appeared in the morning she was kissed and petted by the
1 In a private letter to General Fraser the Governor-General wrote,
22d October 1849 : " I have been glad of this opportunity of acknow-
ledging the services in some degree compensating the losses of a gallant
officer in your army, Captain Colin Mackenzie. I am sorry to lose him
from his present command, but it was due to him in justice to promote
him when I could." Captain Mackenzie had also been much gratified
by a letter from Sir Charles Napier, 5th October 1849, saying : " You
have well earned promotion and the Companionship of the Bath. "
COLIN MACKENZIE. 47
whole Staff as if they had all been her brothers or uncles.
It was very amusing to hear the lamentations of the Heads
of Department at being deprived of two immense double-
poled tents apiece and reduced to captain's tents, which are
quite large enough for either use or comfort. The Com-
mander-in-Chief had hitherto paraded the country more like
a satrap than a soldier, with an enormous train of servants
and baggage-cattle. Sir Charles Napier was determined to
reduce this cumbrous magnificence out of regard both to
the public purse and to military efficiency, and loud were
the wailings of the injured dignitaries. 1
Before leaving the north-west my husband was anxious
to show me Lahore, where the little Maharaja Dhulip Sing
was still treated as a sovereign, though his kingdom had
been annexed. My cousin, Captain James Douglas, 60th
Rifles, a model Christian officer, who was to us as a brother,
came from Peshawar to meet us. I was the first lady he had
seen for eighteen months. This ten days' visit to Lahore
was full of interest. There was a Grand Installation of the
Bath, when Sir Charles Napier warmly greeted his old
antagonist Amir Shir Muhammad of Sind, who was placed
near him, but would have nothing to say to the Sikh chief
Tej Sing, who is said to have held back his troops from
attacking us at Sobraon. " Tej Sing ! I won't sit by him ;
he's a traitor ! " Then came an inspection of the splendid
treasury with Sir Charles Napier, a drive to the beautiful
gardens of Shalimar with Mr. Montgomery, visits to the
tombs of the Emperor Jehangir and of the Lion of the Pan-
jab, Ranjit Singh, and a charming expedition to Amritsur, the
sacred capital of the Sikhs, with its gold temple in the
midst of a white marble tank. The city was still full of
1 One reason subsequently alleged for a Commander -in -Chief not
taking the field during the great Mutiny, was the impossibility of find-
ing carriage for his office and records.
48 COLIN MACKENZIE.
those fighting devotees the Akalis, dressed in dark blue
cotton with pointed turbans, in which steel chains and sharp-
edged quoits ar.e intertwined. Herbert Edwardes was at
Lahore fresh from gathering laurels at Multan, and also
Captain Hodson, two very different men of very different
principles, though of equal gallantry.
On our return to Lodiana parting with the regiment
and our dear friends made Christmas a sad one. At his
final parade Captain Mackenzie addressed every company
in both Persian and Hindustani, twenty-three speeches in
all. The men showed extraordinary regret, and after more
than thirty years those still in the regiment speak of him
with the greatest affection. " Ah, Sahib, that was a man"
said one to a young officer.
Dr. Duff happened to reach Lodiana just at this time,
and his quick sympathy was aroused by the mutual attach-
ment of the men and their Commandant. Shahzadah Shah-
pur took leave of his friend with tears in his eyes. Hasan >
Khan squeezed him in his arms and sobbed.
We were obliged to go round by Calcutta to meet a
young daughter recovering from consumption and two
young cousins, her companions. At Delhi we enjoyed a
delightful visit to Sir Theophilus Metcalfe in his beautiful
houses there and at the Kutab, and had the pleasure of
meeting Mr. Eiley in his proper position as a commissioned
officer. Some interesting visits were paid to the old King
of Delhi, and portraits taken of his favourite wife and
son Jewan Bakht afterwards so notorious during the
Mutiny. The retrospect of those ten days is bathed in
sunshine, so full were they of interest and enjoyment, yet
within seven years the kind host was dead, the beautiful
houses plundered and ruined, the old King and his family
in captivity in Kangoon. The corpses of three of his sons
had lain in front of the mosk after 11,000 of our men
COLIN MACKENZIE. 49
had taken Delhi by storm, paying for every step with
the blood of a hero. Here Nicholson fell, tended by
Neville Chamberlain, and comforted in his last hours by
telegrams full of God's Word from Herbert Edwardes at
Peshawar.
After a delightful visit to Agra and to Fattihpur Sikri, the
Versailles of the East, we met with an affectionate welcome
from the James Mackenzies in Calcutta, where we found
our three young travellers. A pleasant visit was followed
by a pleasant voyage round India to Bombay. Captain
Dawson of the Arab ship Sulemdni and his wife were most
agreeable companions, who seemed to be walking humbly
with God, and it was a great grief to hear six months
afterwards that they had gone down with the ship off
Madras. The voyage, including a visit to Colombo, was
a perfect pleasure-trip. The wind was so light that we
were almost always in sight of land, and thus saw the
romantic Western Ghats, but it took six weeks before we
entered the harbour of Bombay (beautiful as the Bay of
Naples), at the end of March. Mr. Grey, the head of a
great firm, received us all most hospitably ; the house was
at Breach Candy, some miles from Bombay. It consisted
of two or three detached bungalows connected by covered
passages and surrounded by wide matted verandahs, fenced
by ornamental shrubs. There is something exceedingly
soporific in the soft sea breeze which specially affects
strangers, so that at a large party I once saw a lady asleep
in every window when the gentlemen rejoined us after
dinner, and we were assured that an officer on first landing
slept for more than thirty hours, after which he was as
wide awake as other people.
We had the great pleasure of becoming acquainted with
Dr. and Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Nesbit, and Mr. and Mrs. Murray
Mitchell, of the Free Church Mission. These excellent
VOL. II. E
50 COLIN MACKENZIE.
men were all remarkable linguists, vernacular preaching
and missionary tours forming a great part of their work.
It was a very great satisfaction to find Mulla Ibrahim
settled in Bombay. His noble brother Musa had died
some time before, fully acknowledging the Lord Jesus as
the true Messiah. Sad to say, his son has been made a
Musalman at Meshed. Ibrahim was extraordinarily hand-
some, as fair as an Englishman, as were several of the
Jewish ladies. It was astonishing to see how far the Arab
Jews surpass those of Europe in personal appearance.
The varied population, Arabs, Jews, Parsis, Biluchis,
Mahrattas, etc., etc., the beauty of the island and adjacent
scenery, the wonderful caves of Elephanta and Salsette
combine to make Bombay far better worth seeing than
Calcutta or Madras. There have been converts from all
these tribes, and very remarkable and efficient converts
they have been.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ELICHPUR.
(1850-1852.)
WHEN we left Bombay on the 8th April, the season was
so far advanced that it became necessary to hurry on-
wards with double gangs of bearers, making one march
in the morning and another in the evening. Crossing the
Grodavari, we entered the Nizam's territory on the 14th,
and henceforward had no more roads. The journey was
entirely cross country, and a guide had to be taken at
each village, even the cavalry escort being ignorant of the
way. Though with very little baggage our retinue consisted
of upwards of 120 persons. We stayed one night at Ajanta
with a young married lady (whose husband was absent),
in the native house where the Duke slept after the battle of
Assye. It was a sad and lonely life for her, as there were
no other Europeans within many miles, and her husband
was never able to be at home in the day. The country was
so infested with tigers that one had been killed in the
bathroom of the house. We soon came upon other signs of
the absence of civilisation, law, and order. The Eajputs
of the country, being greatly oppressed by the Musalmans,
had risen in arms, and being joined by Afghans, Arabs,
and the hordes of masterless men who infest the land, in
hopes of being hired to fight and especially to plunder,
together with three hundred Sikhs, they burned and pillaged
52 COLIN MACKENZIE.
the town of Mulkapur to the amount of upwards of two
lacs of rupees. All this had been foreseen and reported
to the Eesident at Haidrabad, without whose positive 'order
the Brigadiers could do nothing ; but the foreseen outbreak
was allowed to take place, the city was ruined, and, when
all was over, a large force was sent into the field to "shut the
stable-door " and sit down before it. We found Mulkapur
completely deserted, so that when my palki was placed on
the ground it roused a leopard, the sole occupant of the
spot, the ravines about it being full of dead bodies. For
fourteen marches there were no houses, and as we carried no
tents the different Nawabs and other native authorities
pitched tents and sent trays of native dinners (some of
which were very nice) at each halting-place. The heat was
sometimes 101 under canvas, and beyond that degree it
did not much signify what it was, as one could not feel any
hotter. It was impossible to keep awake even over the lightest
literature, so that with more or less struggle all resigned
themselves to slumber until sunset brought some degree of
coolness and restored animation. Some of the Nawabs who
politely came to pay their respects to the Brigadier, were
fine old Patans who had seen much service. The chief
men of each place used to come on horseback attended by
their sons and retainers, forming a gay and picturesque
procession. The Patels or village headmen also came,
generally with some complaint.
We had long known the marked difference in character,
habits, appearance, and language between the inhabitants
of Bengal and those of Behar, and between both, and the
Rajput, the Panjabi, the Kashmiri, the Sikh, and the
Afghan ; but we now came in contact with totally different
races. The small, sober, hardy Mahrattas, the fair intelligent
Parsis, the simple hill tribes of Gonds and others, and great
numbers of our old friends the Afghans under the appel-
COLIN MACKENZIE. 53
lation of Patans. People often forget that India is not a
country but a continent, and that upwards of one hundred
and thirty languages are spoken within its borders.
Elichpur was at length reached on the 24th April. It is
in the great valley of Berar, the richest black cotton soil in
India, full of luxuriant vegetation, with the picturesque
and varied outline of the Satpura range about twenty miles
distant. The house and garden were large and commodious.
A worthy conductor of artillery wrote : " I most humbly
beg leave to inform you that the heat is insufferable ; " and
as this exactly expressed the fact, a speedy move was speedily
made to Chikalda, the neighbouring hill-station, close to
the famous fort of Gawilghar, taken by General Stevenson
and the Duke in 1803. The bungalow at Chikalda con-
sisted at first of only three rooms, but the delightful climate
and scenery made up for any deficiency of house accommo-
dation. It was a wild jungle life, to visit one's neighbours
was impossible except by daylight, owing to the abund-
ance of wild beasts. A panther carried off a small dog close
to the sentry ; a tiger walked in the dusk between my
husband and me and two young ladies, who were in front
of us ; and when most of the officers returned to Elichpur
at the beginning of the rains, a bear took up his quarters
in the verandah of an empty house near us. Another bear
used to come at night to eat the fruit of a magnificent
banyan at the back of the bungalow. My husband would
rouse me up, place a spare three-ounce rifle in my hands,
and stealthily advance to get a shot at the intruder, while I
in a muslin dressing-gown sat on the steps, laughing under
my breath at the oddness of the situation. The shadows
were so deep and the moonbeams so deceitful, that although
he often got a shot at the bear, the bear never seemed the
worse for it, and may have fed on that Ficus Indicus for
years after. A tiger lurked on the path from the plains,
54 COLIN MACKENZIE.
and at night the stampede of a herd of buffaloes was often
heard when they were let out of their pen to drive off " Mr.
Fluffy," as the tigers were familiarly called. My husband
was often out shooting with his gallant little Eajput hunts-
man, both by day and by night. Sometimes they stalked
the magnificent bison, sometimes the sambhar or elk, some-
times the boar, and often brought home the jungle bakri
or wild sheep. He used to take out a man with basket
and spade on these hunting expeditions and bring home
the most lovely orchids, pink and white lilies, and other
flowers. Nothing can be imagined more beautiful than the
jungle. It was full of magnificent flowering trees and
creepers, and extended seventy miles northwards to the
Vindya range. Everything grew like Jack's bean-stalk.
Geraniums and heliotropes became large bushes, climbing
roses shot forth eighteen feet in one season, orange and fig
trees bore fruit the third year. In our Elichpur garden there
was a magnificent grove of orange and citron trees of various
kinds. One of the former bore upwards of two thousand
oranges in one year, all of which came to perfection. My
husband had a great love and extraordinary fascination for
animals, and in this wild place we were surrounded by pets
of every kind. Besides his beloved Arab " Rubee," there
was a coal black Rampur greyhound, one of a breed said
never to have been tamed by a European, who followed
me like a shadow, and would let no one approach me after
dark without a terrific growl; a young sambhar or elk
who chewed muslin flounces to pap, and gnawed off the
corners of the chairs : a chikor, or hill partridge, the size
of an ordinary hen, the boldest bird known, who pecked
everybody impartially in the most unprovoked manner,
drawing blood at each stroke, but took a strange fancy for
me, he would lie on my lap letting himself be stroked
like a cat, and would sit on my shoulder when I walked
COLIN MACKENZIE. 55
in the garden. We had tame birds of all kinds, especially
Hira and Bibi, two parakeets, full of quaint and sweet little
tricks. Hira would climb up inside the leg of her dear
master's trousers, squeeze herself out at the waistband, un-
buckle his stock and fling it on the ground, lay eggs in his
jack-boot as he sat writing, and yawned to excess whenever
he whistled "A Sprig of Shillelah." Bibi was his faithful
little companion for more than twenty-five years, and used
to recognise with a shout of joy, not only his step, but that
of his horse, and when in London his knock at the door.
There was also a lovely little baby antelope, who
stamped to be taken up in one's arms, would turn faithful
old "Monty" (a wire-haired Dandy Dinmont) out of his
place under my chair, lie down on it, and comfort him
by licking his nose. With all these paradisiacal pleasures,
with long rides to explore the country, for no carriage
could be used, and with gardening and other improvements
out of doors, and a good piano and books within, the time
passed pleasantly, even when there was a deluge of rain.
Besides public worship on Sunday, my husband had a
weekly meeting at his own house for reading the Scriptures
and prayer, at which he read many of Bonar's Kelso Tracts.
The Brigadier was extremely strict as to the morality of his
officers. He would have no intercourse, except officially,
with those who were known to be leading immoral lives,
and yet he treated them exactly as he did his friends in all
matters of leave and other indulgences. More than one
afterwards confessed he had been right, and became strongly
attached to him. Another acknowledged that the Brigadier's
refusal to associate with him was a real kindness, and was very
grateful for his attentions and visits during a severe illness.
Several fights had taken place in the neighbourhood of
Elichpur, and all sorts of atrocities committed on the
defenceless villagers. The flames of their burning houses
56 COLIN MACKENZIE.
could be seen from cantonments, while the Brigadiers were
strictly forbidden to interfere ! But the news of an im-
pending attack on the Nawab induced my husband to return
to Elichpur at the end of August, that he might at least be
on the spot.
A poor Afghan woman came to beg for some assistance
as she was almost starved, her husband, with about a score
of others, having been kept in prison nearly two years on
suspicion of being concerned in some of the chronic dis-
turbances of the country. Finding that this was true, he
made them petition the Nizam's Government, and forwarded
their appeals, and the consequence was, they were tried
and all of them released. Against some there was not even
a charge. Of course it is more convenient to make a show
of zeal by arresting respectable old Pandits and other
innocent people, than to meddle with members of powerful
gangs. At this time a Kazilbash gentleman, 1 Aga Muham-
mad, was living with us. He had formerly held a con-
fidential situation about the person of Fattih Jung, Shah
Shujah's son and successor. When this prince was obliged
to surrender the Bala Hissar to Akbar Khan, the latter
broke faith and imprisoned him. His death was determined
on for the following day, when Aga Muhammad contrived
his escape, letting him down over the wall by tying their
turbans together. He hid Fattih Jung in the house of his
aunt, a woman of noble character, raised all the money he
could for him, and got him safe into General Pollock's
camp. When our army evacuated Afghanistan, Aga
Muhammad fled to Lodiana a ruined man. About three
years after, his wife managed to join him, and when we
were about to leave Lodiana, the Aga expressed his inten-
tion of accompanying us. "I have no one but you," he
said, and as he was a man of tried gallantry, most amiable
1 Lit. "red head," i.e. an Afghan of Persian descent.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 57
disposition, gentlemanly demeanour, and a good Persian
scholar, my husband put him in charge of his servants and
baggage on their march to the Dekkan. He then acted as
a sort of major-domo, and, being an agreeable companion,
he used to hunt with the Brigadier, and as he was much
in his company, they constantly read the Scriptures together
in Persian.
But all the luxuriant beauty and fertility of Berar was
accompanied, as is so often the case in India, by deadly
malaria. Nine of our servants were ill at once ; the Aga
was laid up for weeks ; and my husband, having gone up
to Chikalda, where I had been nursing a lady ill with fever,
went down on foot into one of the gullies after sunset with
another officer in pursuit of a tiger. He was attacked by a
virulent jungle or typhus fever, and was in great danger.
From the 21st to the 29th October were days of anguish
never to be forgotten. Warburg's Fever Tincture was the
means of bringing out copious perspiration and checking the
disease. He was ordered to the Cape for eighteen months,
the staff- surgeon stating that " this officer has a strong
aversion to legitimate treatment, but pins his faith to
homoeopathy ! He is extremely nervous, every feeling is
suffering." Just as he was beginning to recover, the number
of Kohillas in the district so greatly increased that the
Nawab of Elichpur found himself obliged to entertain seven
hundred of these lawless adventurers, who raged about the
city, committing all manner of excesses. The Nawab could
not afford to maintain them, and did not dare to discharge
them. As an outbreak was probable, the Brigadier, though
still so weak that he could hardly write, offered to give up
his sick leave, if General Fraser thought his presence desir-
able, adding : " Should the troops take the field, I feel sure
that I should be able to do my duty." The comment made
by a friend was : " Just like that fellow Colin ! "
58 COLIN MACKENZIE.
There was a little shrine, something like a kennel, close
to our house at Elichpur, where a lamp was burned at night
before the idol. As this was on his own land, he ordered
it to be removed. When we returned to Elichpur after his
illness, the gardener came and entreated him to allow the
idol to be replaced and propitiated with a light. He said :
"You see you have been very ill, and perhaps you may
die ! " But of course his master remained firm in his refusal.
He left for Bombay on the 5th December in a palanquin,
and regained strength so rapidly that in a week he went
out shooting after the morning's march. Our route lay
through a lovely country, though much of the land had
recently been left uncultivated. The nights were very mild,
but the days hot, and to avoid the sun it was necessary to
mount at 4 A.M., and even earlier. There is no such thing
as the gray dawn in the Dekkan, it is all gold and rose-
coloured. When we reached Bombay, he was congratulated
by every one on looking so well. This being the cold
season, we were able to see more of Bombay than on our
former visit. The sight of its riches, and above all, of the
arsenal, elicited from an Afghan servant the enthusiastic
exclamation : "What a glorious place for a chappao ! " (foray).
Commodore Lushington took us to Elephanta, and had the
caves lit with blue lights, which produced a most weird
effect. Dr. and Mrs. Wilson, and Hosmasdji Pestonji, one
of the first Parsi converts, escorted me to the still more
interesting Buddhist caves of Salsette. But the society of
the missionaries was in itself our greatest pleasure. Dr.
Murray Mitchell thus recalls this visit : " Colin Mackenzie
was not a man to be forgotten by any one who ever came
in contact with him. . . . What my wife and I deeply felt
was the very hearty interest he took in missionary work.
It was then the day of small things in India. We were
struggling with overwhelming difficulties, which friends in
COLIN MACKENZIE. 59
Europe could hardly understand, and which drew forth
from most of our countrymen in India only the sneering
remark that modern missions were a failure. The Brigadier
believed in missions, in the imperative duty to carry them
on, and also in their ultimate success. He gave them his
fullest and warmest sympathy. He was a most hearty
friend, both of the missionaries and of the converts, and
when I was lately in Bombay (1882) I heard the warmest
expressions of regard for the memory of General Mackenzie,
and it was evident that none of our Bombay friends who
had come in contact with him could ever possibly forget
him. It was his true, deep interest in mission work that
first drew our hearts to him. But I do not require to
remind you that he had the power to charm, almost to
fascinate, in conversation. His narratives about Afghanistan,
his captivity, his many 'hairbreadth 'scapes,' were most
thrilling. His power of description, his power of expres-
sion, were most remarkable. A friend once said to me :
'Colin Mackenzie is a born orator.' The fittest word was
never wanting, and it always fell into the fittest place.
How much we wished that those vivid portraitures, those
word-pictures, could be preserved ! Scarcely less remark-
able was his acquaintance with English literature. I often
wondered how a man who had lived such a stirring life as a
soldier, had been able to read and to recollect so much of
the choicest books. All the things I have mentioned made
him a delightful companion; but we soon saw that even
these were not his noblest characteristics. The absolute
truthfulness, the utter sincerity of his mind, appeared in
every word he spoke. So did his instant and stern rejec-
tion of every suggestion that deviated by a hair's-breadth
from the straight line of duty or of honour. With him the
question was not what was expedient, but what was right.
'Fiat justitia, ruat ccelum,' might have been his motto.
60 COLIN MACKENZIE.
He often reminded me of the character we ascribe to Crom-
well's Ironsides, but I might say more, he had much of the
spirit of the martyr in him ; he would at all hazards obey
the Lord's command, and vindicate His cause; and if he
could do so only at a tremendous cost, then he rejoiced to
make the sacrifice. His moral courage equalled his physical
courage, and each rose to the measure of heroic."
The Aga's illness had been very severe, he thought he
should die. One night on the march down he went out
into the open air and prayed to the Lord Jesus to heal him.
When he told his friend this, he added : " He heard me,
for you see here I am." He expressed an earnest wish to
be further instructed in the faith of Christ ; my husband
therefore left him and his wife in Bombay with Dr. Wilson
and Mr. Murray Mitchell.
My husband having completely recovered his health,
gave up his sick leave, and after an absence of three
months, spent chiefly at Bombay, we returned to Elichpur
on the 15th of March, and as usual spent the hot weather
at Chikalda the Brigadier riding down to cantonments
whenever business required ; but so insecure was the city
of Elichpur that we never once set foot inside it. On one
of these temporary absences he wrote : " It is incredible
how abuses creep in slily. Men always think me soft at
first, because I do not annoy them as some senior officers
do, so that in the case of coarse natures I am obliged
to bite to convince them that I have teeth. I am trying
to obtain justice for the poor old Patel (headman of a
village) of Dhokulkera." As there was no chaplain, the
Brigadier or his staff officer was expected not only to
conduct public worship, but even to baptize, marry, and
bury. Major Mackenzie was asked to perform the marriage
ceremony for a bride of only thirteen. He flatly refused to
sanction so monstrous a deed, and the family were there-
COLIN MACKENZIE. 61
fore obliged to delay the ceremony for a year or so. He
mentions reading in church Chalmers's sermon " Heaven a
Character, not a Locality," which seemed to be appreciated
by some who would not have been expected to do so, but
who probably had never heard such a sermon in their
lives." He was at all times a first-rate reader, with great
force and emphasis, and some people complained that " the
Brigadier preached the sermons instead of reading them."
Certainly nothing could be less formal or humdrum than
his elocution.
At Christmas 1851 we had the pleasure of welcoming
my mother and sister, whom I had persuaded to come to
India instead of going straight to the Holy Land. But
before they arrived I had already been attacked by the same
Berar fever which had so nearly proved fatal to my husband.
Less violent in my case, it was much more pertinacious
returned at every full moon, and at last every other day.
I was ordered to Europe as the only chance of life. This
was in April ; but it was impossible to move during the
fierce heat of the hot season or the combined heat and
damp of the monsoon. The black cotton soil of Berar
becomes liquid mud ; and as there were no houses on the
way, there was no alternative but to wait until November,
hoping I should hold out till then.
The Contingent was now six months in arrears of pay.
The men had to borrow at ruinous interest to keep body and
soul together, and the Brigadier repeatedly urged upon the
Supreme Government the justice of paying this interest for
them.
In July he was obliged to start suddenly for canton-
ments on account of a band of Rohillas who, being cheated
of their pay, were pillaging the country, children being-
seized and held for ransom. The Thug Department had a
list of three hundred to four hundred Dacoits, but entire
62 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
villages were in league with them, and turned out to rescue
those who were arrested ! The Nawab of Kidpur, a place
twenty-five miles distant, fled to cantonments to ask for
succour. The Brigadier directed him to return, if attacked
to resist stoutly, and if overmatched to apply for help and
he would be succoured in a few hours. The Rohillas, how-
ever, thought better of it and drew off. Our own carts
were attacked near Jalna, the drivers robbed of everything,
and one of them wounded ; but the banditti considered it
more prudent not to detain the carts, as they contained
nothing they could carry off. The Governor of Umrauti 1
and the Commandant of the native garrison, a gallant
Rajput named Bhowani Sing, came to blows. The latter
threw himself, with a small party, into the Travellers'
Bungalow, blocked up the door, and fortified himself by
hollowing out the floor, so that his little child, his horse,
and his men were safe, even when they brought artillery
against him. After a most gallant defence for about three
days, until the house was reduced to a heap of ruins, he
managed to escape into cantonments, where the Brigadier
gave him refuge on parole, and afterwards sent an escort
with him to Haidrabad to secure him from being murdered
on the way. He was a thin, wiry man, with deep set eyes,
aquiline nose, and a most melancholy, determined expres-
sion. He died not long after.
Though my husband was brimming over with fun and
humour he was excessively sensitive to emotion, passionately
fond of music and poetry, for which he had an astonishing
memory. He wrote to me about this time :
" Please screw up the strings of our ^Eolian harp ; its sounds
transport me into the azure fields above to mingle with that
company of whom we hope hereafter to form a joyful group.
1 The chief commercial city of the country.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 63
' In air the trembling music floats,
And on the winds triumphant swell the notes,
So soft, though high, so loud, and yet so clear,
E'en listening angels lean from Heaven to hear. '
That description belongs to a higher class of melody than the
ecstatic trills, wild flights, and mournful soul-stricken cadences
of the harp of the viewless winds ; but I love with all my heart
the sounds which first awoke pure and high fancies in my
boyish heart. I cannot tell you the effect an JMian harp still
has on me."
During his absence I had a severe shock. A Brahman
orderly who always attended me asked leave to go out
shooting, was seized by a tiger, and though not severely
injured died the second day after in spite of all we could
do. My husband returned, gave him stimulants, and endea-
voured to cheer him ; but the poor man said : " My heart
is gone from me." The doctor said he had seen numerous
cases of high-caste natives who eat little or no meat dying
from injuries from which a European would easily recover,
and yet their powers of endurance are far greater. This
brought on my fever every other day, but at last November
arrived. Warburg's Tincture checked the fever for six
weeks, and allowed of my being moved to the plains and
then to Bombay, where Mr. and Mrs. Murray Mitchell
received us with the utmost hospitality and kindness at a
lovely little house in the midst of a palm grove. There we met
the Aga and his wife, the Bibi, who had just returned from
a visit to the Panjab. Coming down the Indus the Bibi's
favourite parakeet fell into the river. Without a moment's
hesitation the Aga plunged into the rolling waters and
rescued it.
All the disadvantages and dangers of India are nothing
to its partings. Leaving all the friends one has in the
country to go among strangers, perhaps fifteen hundred
64 COLIN MACKENZIE,
miles off, with small prospect of ever meeting again,
is a trial that seldom happens in Europe; but the tear-
ing asunder of parents and children, husband and wife,
is a pang one can never forget even when reunited. A
man, who has been one day happy in the midst of his
family, finds himself bereaved of them all at a blow, and
has to return to his routine of work, and wander sad and
solitary through his desolate home with nothing to cheer
him but the kindness of friends. Sympathy is very rarely
lacking, but no amount of sympathy can equal his need.
Happily he does not realise that in most cases he has lost
his children for ever, that the little petted daughter who
has been his delight will refuse to return to him, or will
come back as a stranger with none of the tender reminis-
cences which fill her parents' hearts.
To my husband this parting was peculiarly trying, the
remembrance of his former loss suggesting many anxious
fears. New Year's Day 1853 was indeed a sad one. Again
he left his wife on board and returned alone ; but he now
knew in Whom he believed, and could cast all his care on
the unspeakable Love of his Eedeemer.
In his first letter to me he mentions that on his rough
little voyage from the ship he was unsuccessful in convinc-
ing his companions, who were strangers to him, that "mis-
sionaries in India are not idle, luxurious, bigoted fellows,
whose teaching, aided by bribery (!), is likely to cause the
loss of India to the British ! "
Our finances had hardly recovered the heavy expense of
the journey from the Panjab, of bringing so large a party
from Calcutta to Elichpur, and of the purchase of two
houses, furniture, etc. Mulla Ibrahim, who was beginning
to prosper as a merchant in Bombay, but whose capital was
still very small, in the most brotherly way brought my
husband four thousand rupees as a loan. Of course he
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 65
began to repay this in a few months, but the prompt and
friendly service was most opportune. Nothing showed the
Brigadier's real attachment to his Afghan friends more
than the way in which he reckoned on their sympathy.
When he heard that I had passed the first few days of my
voyage in safety and felt better, he "communicated his
joy not only to his friends at Bombay, but to Hasan
Khan, Prince Shapur, and Abdul Eahman Khan."
He spent some days with one whom he styles "the
Colonel Gardiner of the day," his "dear old friend Major
Havelock," and writes :
"Dear Havelock cleave th unto me, and truly his friendship
is a great honour. With him I spent as pleasant a time as could
be in your absence, for Havelock is an experienced, mature, and
much-tried Christian. He is a Baptist, and we used to discuss
the difference in our opinions most amicably without the one
making any impression on the other. " 1
In this time of trial he was surrounded by " the fervid
love of the children of Him who is Love," and he felt that
a separation such as he was enduring, taught him more and
more the value of the undying love of God. " I am quite
sure that this season of loneliness to my heart is meant
to be one of grace to my soul. Calm reflection, com-
munion with one's own heart if accompanied by earnest
prayer and searching the Word, must promote the growth
of grace in a believer. It will comfort you to know that I
1 He records a matter of public interest. " Havelock has a large
compilation of genuine and most valuable memoranda of the last
Afghan and first Sikh wars ; but these will never see the light until
after that truly Christian soldier shall have entered that blessed state
where the wicked have ceased from troubling and the weary are at rest ;
and so he frankly told Lord Hardinge the other day when questioned
as to his literary intentions, for, quoth he : ' My Lord, I have a value
for my commission.' Lord Hardinge said nought. " Havelock also drew
up a memoir of George Broadfoot never yet published.
VOL. II. F
COLIN MACKENZIE.
am much in prayer, and I am striving to bring every
thought into subjection to Christ." Having taken the
chair at the Bible Society, he writes : " The Komish
Bishop has attacked our Bible Society meeting, is much
disgusted with Dr. Wilson, and anticipates very little
toleration for the poor Roman Catholic soldiers from the
circumstance of Brigadier Mackenzie being in the chair,
warmly supported as he was by Colonel Havelock ! This
is the way these designing priests always appeal to the
passions of the lower orders. Nothing would please these
fellows more than being able to excite the minds of the
soldiery, for well do they know the weak side of unbelieving
rulers, and they hope that ' in a grate f eere ' the said rulers
would issue some stringent order on the subject of military
men assisting at Christian meetings and demonstrations."
" 15th January 1853. Last evening I dined at Parell.
Lord and Lady Falkland were most kind in their inquiries
after you, and really showed much sympathy. I sat next
Lady Falkland at dinner, and we had an animated conver-
sation. Some joke having been uttered about becoming
old and consequently foolish, I took occasion to point out
to her very quietly the hopes of and promises to a Christian,
quoting 'They shall bring forth fruit in old age,' etc., and
instancing Hannah More. My hostess seemed to agree
cordially, so I went on, and our discussion ended by her
maintaining (gently) baptismal regeneration. I begged her
to allow me to send her a book with a chapter on that sub-
ject marked, to which she assented after a fashion. Conse-
quently I have this morning despatched Protestantism
compared tvith Romanism, with a letter, to which I hope she
will make a pleasant answer, and consent to read the
discussion on baptism. At all events (as the Hielandman
said), 'She hath done what she could.' Lord Frederick
Fitzclarence talked a great deal with me, desiring me to
COLIN MACKENZIE. 67
call on him again before I leave Bombay. I am to go to
witness his mode of drilling men in the park at Parell. He
is far too much of the pipeclay-and-ramrod officer to my
fancy, still he might be an efficient man in actual war-
fare. I saw him the other morning review the 78th High-
landers at Colaba, and truly M'Intyre, who commanded,
deserves credit for not losing his temper, so much was he
bullied by the fat man. You should have seen the quizzi-
cal expression of many of the soldiers] as they caught my
eye while filing past me during the Commander-in-Chief's
antics. They evidently esteemed them at their proper
value." 1
The command of the Aurangabad division became
vacant. In healthiness and nearness to Bombay it was pre-
ferable to the Elichpur division. My husband wrote : " I
should like the command at Aurangabad, and shall accept
it if offered. The great question ought to be ' Where can
we best serve the Lord?' So the best way is to resign
ourselves entirely into His hands and to pray that we may
have no will of our own." Soon after he says : " Mayne
goes to Aurangabad, and all my friends are filled with
wrath against me for not having entered the lists against
him. I prefer resting on my oars, and leaving these things
in the hands of a wise and kind Providence, unless it appears
quite plain that I ought to act, and, in this instance, I had a
great objection to place myself in a position of rivalry with
my old comrade. Moreover, I with my habits, can, humanly
speaking, stand the climate of Elichpur better than Mayne.
1 Highland soldiers are peculiarly shrewd in such matters. It is
told of Sir Colin Campbell that in the midst of a volley of abuse
which he was hurling at a regiment on parade he was compelled to
pause for want of breath, when a stalwart Highlander in the ranks
remarked aloud, quite coolly, to his comrade: "Eh Jock, the auld
man's madder than ever to-day ! " The abuse stopped, and Sir Colin
rode off laughing.
COLIN MA CKENZIE.
Depend upon it, all will turn out for the best. You
will rejoice with me to learn that our Sikhs have been
engaged and that they have greatly distinguished them-
selves, the despatch describing them as having gone at the
enemy 'like lightning.' You may imagine how thankful
I am. Oh that these gallant fellows were Christians !
" On leaving Bombay Mr. Mitchell asked me to allow
Venkat Rao, a Christian Brahman, to accompany my people,
as he was anxious to obtain an interview with his young
wife at Mominabad (Mayne's cavalry station), where her
relations kept her imprisoned. I consequently gave him
Kashmiri to ride, supplied him with funds, and gave him
letters to Mayne and others. Captain Wroughton received
him most kindly, but Mayne professed himself ' unable to
help him in any way ! ' I fear the name of ' convert ' indis-
posed him to exertion. Had the man been a Muhammadan
or a Hindu, doubtless he would have done his best to help
him.
" I liked what I saw of Venkat Rao much. He is most
meek, patient, and trusting, and I am sure, whether he
regains his wife or not, the Lord will bless the expedition
in some way to his soul. My servants tell me that he
spoke ' sweet words ' to them on the road about salvation.
Well, all is arranged for the best, as we shall see and fully
acknowledge hereafter. Oh for more faith and patience
meanwhile !"
He spent a month after his return to Elichpur with his
kind friends, Major and Mrs. Ward. He then went back
to his own house. " Here I am quite alone. I have with
difficulty swallowed some breakfast, and am struggling to
feel as a Christian man who cannot number the mercies he
has received from the Lord. ... I have much more comfort
in making my requests known to God than I used to have.
This alone is an inexpressible privilege."
COLIN MACKENZIE.
All his sympathies were called forth by the bereave-
ment of an officer who had taken his young wife to the
coast after a trying illness borne with the utmost gentleness,
fortitude, and patience. She told her husband she knew
she must die after two days, but said she was quite happy.
One morning he looked cautiously into the palki, supposing
she was enjoying sweet sleep, but she had departed. Mac-
kenzie wrote : " My heart bleeds for him. He has our
earnest prayers that the spirit of God may deal with him
and give him cause to bless this terrible affliction." When
he returned to duty the young widower of course called on
his commanding officer. The latter spoke to him of the
precious promises of the Gospel, and " remembering how a
similar affliction had first led himself to the throne of grace,
he was quite overcome with emotion." F , who was a
Romanist, heard him most attentively, doubtless moved by
this warm sympathy, assented to all he said, and observed
that the doctrine of " perseverance " was new to him and
most comforting, and promised to read the Bible for himself.
He soon began to find great pleasure in so doing, and often
dined and spent the evening alone with his friend, joining
with him in reading and prayer. He seemed anxious to
ascertain the truth or falsehood of the "ancient faith," as he
called it; the last point to which he clung being prayers
for the dead. A few months later my husband wrote :
" F told Ward yesterday that reading the Bible and re-
maining a Roman Catholic were incompatible. For this the
Lord be praised!"
4th March. Mr. Munger, a most excellent American
missionary from Nagar, came to Elichpur. The hot winds
were already blowing, but the good man would not allow
the Brigadier and Major Ward to post bearers for him "lest
he should lose the opportunity of preaching in some villages
where the sound of the Gospel has not yet been heard." On
70 COLIN MACKENZIE.
the Lord's day he preached early for two hours in Mahratti
and afterwards two excellent sermons in English. As his
tent and saddle had become useless, his friends fitted him
out between them, and discovered that he was starting on
his long journey with only sixteen rupees in his pocket !
Writing of a person who delayed joining an appointment
where active hostilities were expected, Major Mackenzie says
characteristically : " Political agents must, on occasion, stick
their pens behind their ears and betake themselves to the
claymore. Any gentleman would feel cheered and en-
livened by such a prospect, but not so this young infidel."
The troops were, as usual, lamentably in arrears. "They
have only been paid for November (five months ago) ; they
are now beginning to feel that the enormous interest that
they have been compelled to pay for the means of keep-
ing body and soul together during the last two years has
saddled them with a debt that a lifetime will scarcely enable
them to pay off. My request that the Governor-General
would compel the Nizam to pay off this debt, incurred by
these poor men in consequence of his breach of faith, still
remains unanswered, so I am resolved to pitch in another
' Junius ' on the subject." At the weekly prayer-meeting he
expounded Galatians, for which he carefully prepared "to
counteract as much as possible the doctrine of sacramental
salvation."
In March he writes : " Dearest, this separation is part
of the cross, which, if true disciples, we must bear cheer-
fully. Let us even now be glad in the Lord and encourage
each other. I am steadfastly resolved, by God's grace, to
use this time of trial and to realise its mercy."
April. "Another week and I shall, D.V., have tidings
of you, my best love. I quake a little, but I will not give
way. I must hope or my heart would stop beating. It is
very sweet in prayer to remember that we pray to Him to
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 7 1
whom we are going. The feeling is too common that we
shall, as it were, come in contact with God first when
we see Him on the judgment seat, and in praying to be
kept prepared for that awful moment we make a distinction
which does not exist between the great Being to whom we
address our supplications and the Judge whom we fear to
encounter. It is good to realise their identity, and I am
enabled to feel that my Saviour and Judge are united in
Jesus Christ."
Great delay having taken place in the arrival of the
mail from the Cape, he writes, 23d April 1853 : " I am ter-
ribly discouraged. I must write in the midst of all my
anxiety and misery, not knowing if this will ever meet your
eye. The Lord's will be done, but this suspense is to me
perfect torture. I could not put pen to paper but for the
fear that the omission of a single mail might subject you to
a small portion of what I feel at this moment. I pray liter-
ally without ceasing, and I knmo that all is well."
My letters from the Cape reached him at last on the
25th April, "a day spent in fervent thanksgiving, and
ever since I have been a changed man. All life and energy
had been literally, in spite of many a rallying effort, dying
out. Now I am so much encouraged at this display of the
undeserved goodness and mercy of God that my spirits are
good and my duties pleasant. I wake with a thankful
heart and go to sleep with a deep sense that the Lord is
sustaining us. I never had any doubt as to the wisdom,
faithfulness, and love of our Heavenly Father, but after
waiting more than three months and a half I could not help
fearing. It is good for me to have felt this great anxiety
amounting at times to almost anguish, for it drove me to
spread out my heart as a scroll before the Lord. I went to
Jesus as I was, 'poor and miserable, and blind and naked,'
and truly He has succoured and fed and clothed me ; there-
72 COLIN MACKENZIE.
fore the purpose of my heart is, which may God confirm, to
call on Him as long as I live."
Three days afterwards he received his Kabul medal,
which he had won more than ten years previously, and
which was obtained by the pertinacious advocacy of Lord
Dalhousie. 1 "The Honourable Court have completely
stultified themselves in having so long withheld it, my
claims in '53 being exactly what they were in '43. I have
locked it up, and truly I care not to wear it unless thou
couldest attach it to the breast of my uniform. The ribbon
ought to be a dark green, that being the sacred colour of
the Muhammadans, of our victory over whom the medal is
a sign, but it is a Frenchified, watered affair. Nevertheless,
I am grateful to Him who dispenses even the smallest
benefits that I have at last obtained justice, and I made the
arrival of the hardly-earned sign that I had done my duty
a subject for special thanksgiving."
On getting the medal he applied for the six months'
batta (extra allowance) granted to Pollock's force, and
obtained it for himself and for those of his fellow-captives
who had served with it.
As usual, he made friends and then recommended the
Gospel to them. "The senior jemadar of cavalry and I
have lately become intimate. He is a fine old Patan from
Alighar. I shall make him a present of a Gospel in Hin-
dustani."
1 He had all along said that "promotion and honours were
favours, but he demanded the medal as a right." Mr. Courtenay, the
Private Secretary, wrote: "You will doubtless have received the
extract from the Court's despatch, which they desired should be com-
municated to you, and I hope you will not have taken their harsh ex-
pressions to heart. My belief is that you never would have got even
the scant and tardy measure of justice which has now been extorted
from your honourable masters but for the vigorous importunity which
they censure."
COLIN MACKENZIE. 73
Writing of a friend who appeared to be unwilling to
act, he says : " The truth is that under Lord Dalhousie
few men like to be responsible for the boiling of a turnip,
for he has been lately so pestered by undue interference on
the part of the Home authorities, the two Boards, that he
is dangerous, like a solitary bull-bison. On very trifling
occasions he goreth his inferiors, so we must make allow-
ances for ! "
"An unfortunate coolie 1 came tothedoor just now with his
head so mangled by a bear that while the doctor was dress-
ing it, I assisting, I scarcely knew whether to cry or faint,
and the melancholy case was aggravated by the presence of
the poor man's wife, the picture of wretchedness, and a host
of children. I have sent him to hospital, and shall main-
tain him and his family until he is well."
5th May. " The Mir Adil 2 has taken refuge in canton-
ments with his family. But for me I believe the old
' Chancellor ' would have been murdered long ago. The
rescue of a prisoner from his house was planned the other
day ; I quietly ordered the cavalry night picket to be on
duty by day also (the one next the city), to have an eye to
the Mir Adil's compound, and, in case of an attack, to fall
on the assailants and give no quarter. This last clause
leaked out, and no attack has been made."
Moved by false information Lord Dalhousie committed
a great injustice by disbanding the 5th Cavalry. In vain
Major Mackenzie and others endeavoured to put him in
possession of the real facts he was one who never aban-
doned a conviction right or wrong. He passionately pro-
nounced the splendid Nizam's cavalry " rotten ; " refused to
listen to the Resident, General Fraser, who thereupon
resigned, and was allowed to leave India after fifty years
distinguished service (chiefly political) without a word of
1 Day labourer. 2 Chief Judge.
74 COLIN MACKENZIE.
acknowledgment. The Nizam, whose cavalry they were
supposed to be, not being even consulted.
On the 14th June Major Mackenzie received the joyful
intelligence of the safe arrival of his wife and daughter in
England, and soon after had to take the field to carry out
the annexation of Berar.
CHAPTEE XXV.
ANNEXATION OF BERAR.
(1853.)
" He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he that
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." Proverbs xvi. 32.
COLONEL Low, an old pupil of Sir John Malcolm, had suc-
ceeded General Fraser as Eesident. Of the most scrupulous
integrity and honour, kind and courteous to all, men hardly
knew what far-seeing wisdom and statesmanship lay hid
under his pleasant, unassuming demeanour. 1
The state of the Nizam's dominions was lamentable in
the extreme. When the Great Moghul empire fell to pieces,
partly from the deterioration in character which always
takes place in Muhammadan sovereigns when they cease
to be warriors, and partly from the invasions of Nadir
Shah from the north and the Mahrattas from the south,
the different viceroys became more and more independent.
It was the same process by which first the Carlovingian
and then the Holy Eoman Empire of Germany were dis-
integrated. The Vazir of Oudh, the Nizam of Haidrabad,
1 My husband wrote : "I like Colonel Low better and better,
whether he agrees with me or not, he writes and acts like a gentle-
man. " When they became personally intimate these two men loved
each other.
76 COLIN MACKENZIE.
the Nazim l of Bengal, from viceroys of provinces became
practically sovereign princes, paying merely a nominal
allegiance to the Emperor, just like the Electors and
Dukes in Germany.
The Subahdar or Nizam (Governor) of the Dekkan be-
came independent in the eighteenth century, and in 1798
Lord Wellesley made a treaty with him against the French,
by which a contingent of 6000 troops under British officers
on the Irregular system was to be maintained by the Nizam.
It was a first-rate little army, the five regiments of Irregular
Cavalry being among the finest in India. The Eesident at
Haidrabad was Commander- in -Chief, and without his
sanction not a man could be employed. The Nizam was at
this time (1853) sunk in the most disgraceful and stupefying
excesses. Every office was sold to the highest bidder, and
the farmers of revenue, in their anxiety to remain at the
capital, both to "enjoy its abominations" and to watch
their own interests, sub-let the soil, the revenue and the
very flesh and blood of the agricultural population. A
taluqdar (or holder of a fief) was often dispossessed in
defiance of all good faith, because some one else offered
higher terms to the corrupt ministers of the Nizam. Every
man of importance had Arabs, Kohillas, or other mercen-
aries on his pay, either to defend the post he held or to
seize one from his neighbour. The whole country was in
a state of chronic anarchy and civil war; blazing vil-
lages, sacked and desolated towns, marked the track of
these lawless freebooters, while the officers commanding the
four divisions were forbidden to interfere. Every now and
then the men in authority were compelled by the Resident
to pay up and dismiss their Arabs and Kohillas (the latter
being the common name for Afghans), but no precautions
1 Niz&m and Ndzim come from the same Arabic root, signifying
order or arrangement. They were Governors or Viceroys.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 7 7
were taken to prevent their re-entering the country. In
1851-2 Major Mackenzie informed General Fraser that the
Eohillas were returning in small parties, and requested per-
mission to hold the pass by which they entered and to turn
them back, but this was refused.
The pay of the contingent being hopelessly in arrear,
Lord Dalhousie determined in 1853 to take the manage-
ment of the rich valley of Berar (a territory rather larger than
Denmark, which had been presented to the Nizam in 1803
by Lord Wellesley), so as to provide for the past and future
payment of the troops. In all arrangements between native
princes and Government there are two sides to the question.
It often appears that treaties bind us to a course of action
towards the prince which is most unjust and disastrous
towards his subjects. The sight of the way in which the
country was ravaged made one long for annexation, for
the sake of the poor inhabitants. It is curious to read a
letter from Lord Dalhousie to Major Mackenzie, 12th
September 1852. "As for taking the country, I fervently
hope it will not be taken in my time at least. Treaties
can't be torn up like old newspapers, you know." It would
have been well if the Cabinet had acted on this principle
in Oudh, when, as Sir John Low pointed out, the remedy
provided by treaty would have secured all the advantages,
and avoided the dangers of annexation. Brigadier Mackenzie
had foreseen that a measure of this sort was inevitable in
Berar, and had therefore set himself for six months pre-
vious to the positive announcement, to prepare for it.
This he did by quietly employing confidential agents,
chiefly his own Persian writer, Munshi Badr-u-Din, and
his Mahratta writer, Bapoji Pandit, to ascertain the value
of the revenue of Berar, and the exact quota paid by
every town and village within the province. This was
accomplished by much anxious, personal labour, and at
78 COLIN MACKENZIE.
considerable personal expense to himself. His two agents
did their work very cleverly and well, without creating
suspicion, or causing inconvenient rumours. Colonel Low,
heartily acknowledged the value and correctness of this
information, which he had been quite unable to extract
from the Nizam, whose aversion to the dismemberment of
his territory prompted him to oppose and thwart the
British Government in every possible way. At last (27th
May 1853), in the very height of the hot season, the
Brigadier received instructions to march to Umrauti, the
chief city in Berar (forty miles from Elichpur), to keep
the public peace, and to prevent the Taluqdars (barons)
from plundering and oppressing the Zamindars (farmers),
bankers, and other peaceable persons, before the transfer
of territory was effected.
Eighteen miles from Elichpur was the grand old fortress
of Gawilghar, the usual garrison of which consisted of
six or eight worn-out old men; but as it still retained its
reputation as a stronghold, it might have given trouble if
it had fallen into the hands of a body of Arabs. The
Brigadier's first step was therefore to send a company to
take possession of it. His next was to issue a circular to
the native authorities throughout his division, warning them
that he held them responsible for every act of cruelty or
oppression within their districts.
He marched the next evening, and sat down before
Umrauti on the 30th. The first incident was an insolent
refusal to admit the usual guard into the city. A party of
Eohillas and Arabs in charge of the gate lit their match-
locks and warned them off. The Taluqdar of Umrauti was
the notorious Budan Khan, who had formerly been expelled
from the Nizam's service by order of the Governor-General.
He was at Haidrabad, and one of his Naibs or deputies,
Mohib Ali, was Governor of Umrauti, and was the caitiff
COLIN MACKENZIE. 79
who had done his utmost to destroy the gallant Kajput,
Bhowani Sing.
Cannonading a closely-packed commercial city, full of
traders, was a thing not to be thought of, " save under the
pressure of dire necessity." The Brigadier therefore en-
camped within cannon-shot of the walls, and demanded the
reason of the refractory Naib's refusal to admit the troops
of his master the Nizam. Beginning to fear he had made
a mistake, Mohib Ali sent a vakil (envoy or agent), an
ancient Musalman, with a venerable white beard, and a
present. The envoy was received civilly on account of his
age, but the present of sheep, sweetmeats, sugar-cane,
etc., refused, and Mohib Ali was informed that prompt
measures would be taken to (in military phrase) " take the
shine out of him." The gate flew open, supplies for the
camp flowed out, and the next day Mohib Ali, though
afflicted with fever, appeared in very humble guise, pro-
fessed profound repentance, and besought the Major Sahib
not to humble him in the sight of the people by again
returning his offering. He was received with respect, but
reminded of his responsibility, a warning being added, that
if the Brigadier were forced to attack, no quarter would
be given. In the meantime the native authorities, great and
small, were taking advantage of the actual interregnum
to levy taxes in advance on every village, and the weather
was so intensely hot 117 in the commanding officer's tent
that the infantry could not make forced marches to the
various scenes of violence. He therefore ordered up two
eighteen -pounders under Major Ward, and applied for
additional cavalry.
The people were uncertain who would be their future
rulers, and this uncertainty was kept up by daily letters
from Haidrabad, asserting that Berar would not be ceded
to the British. The native authorities refused to supply
80 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
the cultivators with the usual advances in money to enable
them to sow, the rains were approaching, and had these
advances, called " takavi," been delayed ten days more the
whole country must have lain fallow for that year, with
the result of starvation and misery to the people. The
necessity for these advances arose from the system of rack-
rent and extortion, under which the farmers had been kept
in a state of perfect destitution. They were frequently
without even a plough ; their implements, cattle, nay, even
their scanty wearing apparel, and in some cases their very
children, having been seized and sold by some petty agent
of their rulers. Major Mackenzie was of opinion that the
need for takavi would probably cease in two years from our
taking possession of Berar, but in the meantime his first
object was to save the unfortunate peasantry. Hundreds
of them were preparing to emigrate, or rather to flee, into
the Nagpur territory, leaving all they had to leave ; and if
the land had remained uncultivated, the starving people left
behind would have banded themselves together as Dacoits.
He therefore acted on his own responsibility, issued procla-
mations from one end of the country to the other, exhorting
the population to resist tyranny, and to make known to
him without delay if they even apprehended oppression, to
fear no man, and to apply to him for advances to enable
them to cultivate. Having before him the complete revenue
survey he had made, he was enabled to do this, partly
through the Nawab of Elichpur, whom he guaranteed
against loss, partly through Sunder Pandit, the Sir Desh-
pandia of Umrauti (a man of extraordinary intelligence
and aptitude for business), and partly through his own
Persian and Mahratta munshis, who literally worked night
and day to complete the advances in time before the
setting in of the rains. Every case was examined, and
after ascertaining both need and amount, the Brigadier
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 8 1
doled out half the sum, supplying the remainder only
on receiving reports of the right application of the first
part. He met with the most cordial support from the
Resident, Colonel Low, who sanctioned all he had done,
thus enabling him to give the guarantee of Government
to the bankers who supplied the money, and to obtain it
at one-fifth of the interest the poor people had been accus-
tomed to pay.
Within a week after the proclamation promising pro-
tection to all, the Naib of Ridpur, who had on a former
occasion fled into cantonments for protection, sent to beg
the Brigadier to rescue him from a confederacy of his own
Patels (heads of villages), who had gathered a party of
Rohillas, and were "walking over his head." It was the
Sabbath, but Major Mackenzie forthwith despatched Cap-
tain Clagett with a squadron of horse to surround the
village, some twenty miles off. On reaching the spot,
Clagett found that the exactions of the Naib had driven
the Patels to take up arms, and that " the force of Rohillas "
did not exceed a dozen men. They all surrendered at once,
and were brought into camp prisoners, the Naib being
ordered in to answer for having made a false representa-
tion. My husband continues : " I admonished the Patels
never to take the law into their own hands, and told them
to return to their village; thrust the Rohillas out of the
country; and having turned the Naib's face upside down
with a sharp reprimand, sent him back 'a humiliated
Moslem.' The chief sufferer was Clagett, who was laid up
with sunstroke, and forced to go to Chikalda, leaving a very
pleasant fellow less at the mess. Although it ended in
smoke, the prompt attention paid to the very first requisi-
tion probably prevented the necessity for any further
' dours,' i.e. raids."
In due time formal orders arrived from the Nizam
VOL. II. G
82 COLIN MACKENZIE.
(which had been promptly demanded by Colonel Low),
requiring Mohib Ali to dismiss his mercenaries, and to
repair to Haidrabad, with, at the same time, secret instruc-
tions from Budan Khan to delay, and try to humbug the
Brigadier. The latter was aware of this, but granted the
Naib's request to be allowed to stay a few days to wind up
his affairs, and in the meantime sent for his friend Nawab
Jani of Jhalgam, the most influential man in Berar of great
prudence and energy, and who had suffered so much from
the tyranny of the Nizam, that he was devoted to the
British to take Mohib Ali's place at the head of the dis-
trict. The mercenaries were started towards Haidrabad,
followed up by a troop of horse to watch their behaviour.
It would have been better for Mohib Ali if he had gone
when he was bidden, for Major Mackenzie, discovering that
he had been forestalling the revenue, placed him under
surveillance until the arrival of Captain Bullock, the newly-
appointed Commissioner, and directed the Mir Adal (chief
judge), whose salary was five years in arrears, to reopen
his court. But one of his greatest difficulties came from
his brother-Brigadier, William Mayne. Early in June, on
learning that the latter was ordered to co-operate with him,
Major Mackenzie requested the Eesident to settle their
relative seniority, he himself being only a captain in the
army with the local rank of Major, while Mayne was a
Brevet-Major, and expressed his willingness to serve under
Mayne's orders if Colonel Low wished it. Most fortunately
for the country, the Resident decided in favour of Mac-
kenzie, who was senior as Brigadier, and who was thus
enabled to control Mayne. The latter was bent on finding
some opportunity for personal distinction, reproached
Mackenzie for his forbearance towards the refractory Naib,
saying, "At this rate we shall never win our spurs," and
insinuated that advances to the cultivators were mere waste
COLIN MACKENZIE. 83
of money. Mackenzie, on the other hand, thought only of
the good of the people, and earnestly sought wisdom and
guidance from on High. He had intercepted a letter from
Haidrabad directing Mohib Ali to "provoke Mackenzie
Sahib to shed blood," which would have enabled the Nizam
to complain that his territory had been wrested from him
by force, and would probably 'have set the whole country
in flames. Mackenzie did not allow himself to be provoked
by either side. His letters to Mayne are models of courtesy,
though he had no small difficulty in restraining him. In
his eagerness to bring on a fight, with prospective honours
at the end of it, Mayne repeatedly insulted the Naib of
Akot in the most scandalous manner, using expressions
which cannot be committed to paper. Fortunately the
Naib (a Hindu) had the prudence to restrain himself until
he saw how matters were going. Major Mackenzie wrote
to Major Mayne : " So far from wishing to fight, they
are ready, if you treat them decently, to come out and
make pujah to your jackboots," which proved to be the
case.
Meanwhile Major Mackenzie was endeavouring to
reconcile the different officials to the change. As he was
already on friendly terms with most of them, his personal
influence enabled him to effect this, and he was zealously
assisted by the Nawab Jani, " of whom he could not speak
too highly," and the poorer people were no sooner convinced
that they would be protected than they came to him in
crowds. He gives the following picture of camp life :
"I am daily beset by multitudes who openly curse their
Moghul masters, and frightful cases of cruelty and tyranny
are brought before me, many of which I cannot meddle
with, being of old date. But I have apprehended some
murderers and thieves, inquired into some cases of alleged
torture, and put some tyrannical officials in irons. The
84 COLIN MACKENZIE.
rustic population will now start fair and full of hope and
confidence in British rule, knowing that for this year at
least, they will only have to pay 2 per cent for the money
lent them, instead of from 10 to 20 per cent. If the poor
are for once clothed and fed, and if the Government receive
their due, my labour will not be in vain. ... I am striving
to tread the narrow path, with an enlarged and joyful
heart. I have more peace than I used to have, and that
encourages me wonderfully. ... I think you would be
surprised to witness the quiet and family-like look of
our camp and mess. We all breakfast and dine at
mess, and I have made myself perpetual president, and say
grace at all meals : your dear father's simple and com-
prehensive prayer. 1 We have public worship at gunfire 2
on the Sabbath. A second service in this dreadful weather
(117 in my tent) is impossible; all attend, subordinates and
all, and are very attentive to the sermon which I read
dear Ward 3 doing curate and reading prayers. At last F
has joined us. The Bible has done this. There is a
diabolical idol in the midst of our (the officers') tents, which
I was constantly tempted to smash into very small frag-
ments. I cannot help thinking that the sight of this
abomination, hung with fresh garlands every day, con-
tributed to make F feel a more intense disgust at the
similar idolatry in the Eomish Church. My Brahman
orderly tells me that idolatry is a great lie, and that now
he never worships images. He knows that Christianity is
true, but caste is too strong for him. I have given away
some tracts, and I have had more than one opportunity
of explaining the doctrines of Christianity to intelligent
persons.
1 "0 Lord, supply the wants of others, and make us truly thankful
for Thy mercies, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
2 Early dawn. 3 Major Ward, commanding Artillery.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 85
" The excessive rains have turned the soil into a perfect
slough. Part of the camp was inundated and the officers
of the 5th Infantry found themselves surrounded by a rapid
and broad stream/' Being unfettered by commissariat re-
gulations, the Brigadier was enabled to take any measures
he deemed proper for the health of the troops. He there-
fore had every tent surrounded by a deep trench to drain
off the rain, and furnished with a brazier and plentiful
supply of charcoal to keep out the damp. This made the
men both warm and cheerful. Eaised paths were formed
through the camp, and on these the sentries paced to and
fro, instead of having to wade through slush.
"A leopard, mad with hunger, in the midst of the
heavy rain, came into the camp and tried to eat a sentry,
and then various sleeping persons, merely snatching at and
biting their legs, anxious for flesh, dead or alive. We
killed a great number of deadly snakes, and literally scores
of scorpions. Droves of wild boar used to come into camp
every night and bully the sentries, who were in a ' grate
feere.' And all this within half a mile of the city walls,
a significant proof of the government of the country not
being one that encouraged agriculture and a multiplying
population. I found a very old and sick Sikh; him I
doctored and fed, for the sake of our poor old friend,
and I gave him a present when I came away. A most
picturesque elder, with a beautiful white beard. I also got
hold of an Afghan in extremity. He might have been
cured, but he would not take nourishment during the
day, it being the Eamzan, wherefore he died and was
decently buried at my expense. His death made me very
sad.
"Forage having failed in this neighbourhood, I ordered
the artillery back to Elichpur, telling Ward to choose his
own time. He started too soon, before the break in the
COLIN MACKENZIE.
rains was confirmed, and the battery is stuck fast in the
mud six miles from here. I cannot help him save by
sending him port wine and bread."
Even with the help of a hundred extra cattle and whole
villages clapped on to the drag ropes, the guns were seven
days marching thirty-six miles.
The whole population appeared delighted at their
deliverance from worse than Egyptian bondage by coming
under British rule. Thus Mackenzie, by taking on himself
the work of a commissioner, saved the Government from a
loss of from half to three-quarters of the revenue ; and it
was due to him alone that Lord Dalhousie was able to
boast in his parting minute that Berar had been annexed
"without shedding a drop of blood or losing a rupee of
revenue."
The Deputy-Commissioner, Captain Bullock, who took
charge of the ceded districts, wrote to the Brigadier:
" You made the best arrangements and in the best possible
way, and you have saved us from a serious defalcation in
the revenue."
My husband wrote : " Now mark my words : this
service will never elicit a 'Thank ye' from the superior
authorities;" and, with the exception of one from the
Eesident, it never did. Unfortunately Colonel Low was
soon promoted to a seat in the Supreme Council and suc-
ceded by Mr. George Bushby.
In the middle of July the Brigadier made over all
revenue and civil matters to the new Deputy -Commis-
sioner, to whom he lent his writers. He was greatly vexed
with what he styled "the penny- wise and thousand-pound
foolish " character of the new arrangements, of which no
one was more sensible than Captain Bullock. For instance,
the Mir Adal was henceforward to receive only one -half
his former salary, which, even in the case of a comparatively
COLIN MACKENZIE. 87
just and conscientious judge, was " doing Satan's work in
the way of temptation."
Mackenzie never forgot that it was the ill-timed parsi-
mony of the Supreme Government in trying to save
.14,000, which brought on the outbreak in Afghanistan,
and he strongly held Sir Henry Lawrence's maxim that
" in a new country liberality is economy in the end." The
ex-Naib Mohib Ali confessed to him that he had taken
many bribes, but defended his misdeeds on the plea that,
although he had so great a charge and necessarily great
expense, his salary from Budan Khan was only two hundred
rupees a month, and all the respectable natives present agreed
that this was a very strong palliation. But our Government
allotted to his successor a salary of fifty rupees a month,
thus insuring abundant crops of " unlawful hay." With
similar short-sightedness the pay of the native collector of
customs, a position of peculiar temptation, was fixed at five
shillings a month ! What was even worse, the fief of the
Nawab of Elichpur was taken by Government, and no
compensation was made to him. His ancestor had rendered
essential service to the British under Sir Arthur Wellesley,
and we had guaranteed the possession of his lands to him
and his family. The Nawab had co-operated with the
Brigadier in the recent annexation, and in return he was
left in extreme old age, with about three hundred women
of his own and his predecessors' families, to absolute penury.
In vain Major Mackenzie made the strongest representa-
tions in his behalf; all his exertions were unsuccessful.
Lord Dalhousie did not attach sufficient weight to the
statements of those on the spot. Surely our reputation for
generosity and for gratitude for past services was of more
political importance (to say nothing of morality) than a heavy
balance to our credit.
Now that my husband had done his revenue work, he
88 COLIN MACKENZIE.
got through a great deal of reading. His first leisure in
the day was always given to the study of the Word of
God. He read with especial pleasure and edification Tait
on the Hebrews, which " filled him with joy and comfort."
"This book," he says, "has been a means of realising to
my soul many promises which I had previously appreciated
very feebly. Truly, the clearer our .views of God's sur-
passing love in Jesus, the more profound becomes our
abhorrence of sin. To me sin is now as a body of death,
and I bless God that I can at times feel with Paul that
my Lord and Saviour has delivered me therefrom. At
other times my faith is feeble and sense of sin and in-
firmity very discouraging." Barnes' Notes on the New
Testament he pronounces "more suited for a Sunday
scholar than for grown people who have studied the Scrip-
tures." That which he liked he never failed to recom-
mend to others ; thus we find him reading Pollok's
Course of Time aloud to two of his officers till they are
both delighted with it. Another is studying D'Aubigne's
Protector, and the new convert is carefully reading the
Pilgrim's Progress.
He left tJmrauti 15th August, not having lost a single
man, owing under God to the precautions he had taken for
the health of the troops. A most welcome break in the
monsoon made the return march to Elichpur delightful.
He thus sketches their halt at Daigam : " We encamped
in the prettiest grove I have seen in India. The day was
cool, and I was thinking all day, and especially in the
evening when I took a stroll with our plumy pets on my
head and shoulder, how very much you would have enjoyed
this most picturesque scene. The grove is of vast extent,
interspersed with knolls, little glades, and lawns. The
short green grass was like a velvet carpet, and the white
tents of the infantry shining through the luxuriant foliage
COLIN MACKENZIE. 89
of the magnificent trees, the gleaming of their arms, piled
in front of the regiment, the picketed cavalry-horses, the
groups of men and women in every imaginable costume,
from the British uniform to that of the primitive and
scrupulous Hindu whose dusky skin, while engaged in
the religious rite of preparing his simple meal, is set off
by the white cloth from his waist to mid-thigh the hum of
cheerful voices, and the loud laugh (for all were in high
spirits at the prospect of rejoining their friends and families),
the occasional bugle blast and roll of the drum announcing
some military duty all combined to throw an air of romance
over our encampment." Another great mercy was that a
dreadful epidemic of cholera did not break out at Umrauti
until the day after the force had left it, and all these
favours were gratefully acknowledged as gracious answers
to prayer.
But the exposure to forty days' continuous rain proved
fatal to his matchless Arab, Rubee. All his friends knew
Rubee, and used to inquire for him in writing as a member
of the family. In vain his master sat up all night with
him, and every remedy was tried to alleviate his sufferings.
"When he was in extremity I began to caress him and
talk to him, when he turned his large black eye on me
with such a beseeching human expression, rested his head
on me, and in the midst of his great pain appeared quite
soothed by my voice and touch." He died on the second
day after of inflammation. " I was thankful when his pain
ceased. . . . Shall I grudge my best horse, even though he
was my friend, to Him who in answer to even such prayers
as mine gave me your precious life, my Helen. Not even
a sparrow can die without God's permission, and all that I
have, you and my children, are His. Do you know the
fondling ways of Hira and Bibi (his little parakeets) soothe
me in this trial. ... I do not think it wrong to receive
90 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
consolation from this tiny source, for their love also is a
gift." He writes some time after: "Do not grudge the
loss of Rubee. I am obliged to be on my guard to smother
that regret which might degenerate into unwillingness to
acquiesce cheerfully."
Whether a love for animals be, as some affirm, a Celtic
characteristic or not, it was a marked feature in Mackenzie's
character. He inculcated humanity on all around, and
never would suffer an animal to be teased. One of his
little girls when walking sprang forward, carefully removed
a snail from the path, and then explained " Papa told me
particularly never to let a creature be trodden under foot."
It was not only an instinct ; it was also the consideration
that they were God's creatures, and therefore cared for by
their Creator.
His two beautiful little parakeets almost lived upon his
shoulder, or on his helmet when out of doors. One of
them, " Bibi " (a perversion of baby), was his faithful little
companion for more than twenty-five years, and was as dear
to him as a child. He had that primary qualification for
a rider, perfect sympathy with his horse, and his magnificent
bay Arab Eubee would stop in full career at a word, and
frolicked like a kid whenever he happened to laugh. Though
a very strict disciplinarian he suffered extremely when he
had to inflict punishment. At this time he writes : " I
am trying by general court-martial a gross case of murder
by a husband of his wife. If we convict the man I shall
contrive to avoid being present at the execution. I have
a greater horror of witnessing a violent death than you
imagine natural in a man of blood and broil. My prin-
cipal feeling is that after death comes the judgment, and
that there is not the slightest ground for hope for the
wretch whom we mth deliberation are sending to his fearful
doom."
COLIN MACKENZIE. 91
His kindness to all about him was unbounded. He
stood up as stoutly for men he did not particularly like as
for those he loved, if they needed his help. It was quite a
matter of course to invite an officer who had no house to
be his guest for three or four months at a time ; now he
sits up three nights running with a man who had made
himself so unpopular that no one volunteered to help; then
he incurs the displeasure of Lord Dalhousie by his pertinacity
in representing the injustice of depriving an officer of his
appointment.
At the weekly prayer-meetings he now explained the
Epistle to the Romans ; both officers and subordinates
attended. Many seemed to profit, and after he left, these
meetings as well as public worship on Sundays were kept
up by the subordinates.
His pay as Brigadier was about two thousand rupees
( = 200) a month. Of this he sent one thousand to his
wife, and writes : " I find I can without being stingy, i.e.
seeing officers at my table and entertaining a chance way-
farer, live on five hundred a month, so that we may hope to
break the neck of all our debts." But taking the field
brought innumerable extra expenses, and he incurred great
loss by the changes made in the Contingent. The four
divisions were merged into two, and he was eventually
moved to Bolarum, near Haidrabad. He writes in July :
" I hope (D.V.) I may have the Northern Division, but I
leave it in His hands with confidence;" and again : " This
change to Bolarum will be ruinous, for of course no one
will buy our houses; 1 but my mind is quite easy, for He
who guides our steps can easily recompense us. N'importe !
we know whose are the silver and the gold. Faith
has the promise of the life that now is and of that
1 As Elichpur thus ceased to be the headquarters of a division,
the Brigadier's house was not wanted.
92 COLIN MACKENZIE.
which is to come. I would far sooner remain in India
all my life than increase in riches and be led to set
my heart upon them. I cannot help feeling thy absence.
"... In general, however, I am cheerful The only way
for me is to abound in prayer, and never to be idle for a
moment."
His secular reading was Alison's History and Coleridge's
Friend, which he enjoyed, but adds : "Coleridge is at times
unnecessarily mystical. I question if he could translate
some of his own sentences into plain English. ... I feel so
much pleasure in resuming my old habits of regular study."
His Brigade-Major, who was living with him, was Captain
Sutherland Orr, whom he always looked upon as a legacy
from Broadfoot, whose Adjutant he had been. Orr was a
man of warm feelings and great gallantry, and appeared
sincerely attached and grateful to Mackenzie, who lost no
opportunity of forwarding his interests, 1 and had been the
chief means of procuring for him the command of a cavalry
regiment.
About this time he was grieved to hear of the assassina-
tion of Major Mackeson at Peshawar by a fanatic Afghan,
who also mortally wounded Atta Muhammad, the Afghan
Kotwal, or Mayor of the city, who endeavoured to save Mac-
keson. Regretting the neglect of the precautions he himself
would have taken in such a perilous post, Mackenzie quaintly
remarks : "It is an advantage to have had a knife at one's
throat. It puts a man on the qui vive / . . . Good Colonel
Wheler is suffering much persecution at the hands of the
military authorities for preaching the Gospel and for refusing
1 In one instance he dictated an appeal from him to Lord Ellen -
borough pointing out that he was in command of Broadfoot's sappers
when Akbar was defeated on the 7th April 1842. Every other captain,
including those who were laid up by wounds, received a brevet-majority
on this occasion, but Orr got nothing.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 93
to abstain from telling his fellow- sinners that they have
souls to be saved and that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
from all sin. He has been removed from his regiment in
Peshawar and ordered down to Barrackpore, some fifteen
hundred miles, at this unhealthy season. Well, the servant
is not above his master. But who can say that persecution
has ceased ? Mackeson resisted the preaching of the Gospel,
in defiance of Christ's command, lest a religious hostility
should be aroused among the Muhammadan tribes. Did
that save him from the dagger of a religious fanatic \ De-
pend upon it that preaching the Gospel will never make
mischief between the British Government and the tribes of
India or Central Asia, Hindu or Muhammadan. Quite a con-
trary effect may be expected from a faithful performance of
the duty for which God has sent us to this vast region ;
and woe to us as governors if we shrink from the honour-
able task."
Major Mackenzie himself did not think it his duty to
preach. He held that, besides an officer's obligation to
obey, if he remains in the service, it was not usually for
the advantage of the cause of Christ that one in authority
should preach the Gospel among the heathen. It holds out a
premium to hypocrisy, and makes it difficult to judge of the
purity of the motives of an inquirer. He found that there
were abundant opportunities of speaking of the way of
salvation in friendly conversation with men of all ranks,
and he often gave both tracts and portions of Scripture to
Musalmans and Hindus. Just at this time he writes with
much concern : " The Mir Adal, I fear, is dying. I have
never been able to gain his ear." In this, as in so many
other points, he and Herbert Edwardes were entirely of
one mind. A few months later Major Edwardes wrote to
tell him that on his recent arrival at Peshawar to succeed
Mackeson, Major Martin, 9th 1ST. I. (Avho had given 10,000
94 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
rupees anonymously for the purpose of establishing a
mission at Peshawar), came with Mr. Maltby the chaplain
to consult him about it. " There was a panic from poor
Colonel Mackeson's assassination, and I cannot account on
any other supposition than that it pleased God to advise
me well, for the unhesitating assurance which I at once
gave them, that as Commissioner I would not forbid the
mission, as a magistrate would protect it, and as a private
individual do all I could for it. ... Here is your friend
C , the best of men, has been preaching in the streets
of Kohat, a little poky Afghan valley, hedged in with
rocks and ruffians, and collecting fog and fanaticism beyond
other places. The Deputy-Commissioner reports an excited
populace, and calls on me to get C removed from the
frontier before he be killed. That is embarrassing, all
because C - could not remember he was in the service
of man, and must leave it if he wishes thus entirely to
serve God. A missionary is in the eyes of natives an
English Fakir. They respect and hear him, but they
don't clutch their children up out of fear of him. An
officer of Government comes to them with a Bible in
one hand and a sword in the other, and at once there is
a cry of persecution. The orders of Government, there-
fore, in my judgment, fall in with the best interests of
missions."
Not long after his return to Elichpur my husband went
up to Chikalda, which in October was in full beauty, the
climate quite European. " Orr and I are sitting with a fire,
which is exceedingly comfortable. Poor dear Hira is in her
cage very sick. She, the night before last, dreamed a frightful
dream, and struck her beak so forcibly against the iron bars
of her cage, assaulting a ghostly cat, rat, or rival, that she
was all blood when I hastily took her out, and her tongue
has been ever since so swollen that she cannot eat anything.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 95
To-day I contrived to pour a few drops of thin arrow-
root down her throat, and I constantly bathe the sweet
thing's mouth with arnica and water. She moves me to
tears by her helplessness and mute appeals for relief. I
hope I shall be able to save her life, for truly her nest is in
a corner of my heart. Surely it is not wrong to pray for
the life of a little creature that loves you. ... I think I
may say Hira's life is safe. I shall give her a warm bath
during the day, and dry her before the fire. The weather
is glorious this morning ; Nature smiles and adores ; and all
the trees, fresh and shining, clap their hands. May God
give me grace that I may not be behind inanimate nature,
but that I may serve Him henceforth with gladness and
singleness of heart."
Sutherland Orr was greatly concerned about the little
pet. It is a pretty picture these two stout soldiers en-
grossed in tending a little wounded bird. The next extract
from my husband's letters is in almost droll contrast :
" The Afridis having waxed bold since Mackeson's murder,
a force has been assembled near Peshawar to coerce them.
I have a sort of hankering at times to be there, which is
rather increased by S. Orr's warlike longings, but I shall
not volunteer."
He was at this time doing two good things watching
against sin and striving to help others. He says : " Sudden
anger is a terribly besetting sin of mine, but I shall gain
the victory over that and all other causes of stumbling, for
I am striving to overcome in the strength of our gracious
Lord and Master. You will grieve to know that all my
exertions to obtain justice for the poor old Elichpur Nawab
are as yet unsuccessful. He is literally left to starve in
extreme old age. I am still working for him. I wish I
had the second volume of Calvin on the Psalms. His com-
ments comfort me much in all my troubles by encouraging
COLIN MACKENZIE.
me to seek relief from the free mercy of God. I see more
clearly the privilege of being treated by God as a son. The
promise I will never leave thee or forsake thee is as often
fulfilled in sending as in withdrawing affliction, as Paul
proves."
CHAPTER XXVI.
CAPTURING ROHILLAS BOLARUM.
(1854-5.)
MY husband felt leaving Elichpur and Chikalda very
much, and to his distress all "his establishment, Munshi,
Pandit, and others were, under the new arrangements, sent
adrift without even a donation ! " He provided for as many
as he could. But he had also a great comfort. Just as he
was preparing for his departure the Rev. Robert Hunter of
the Free Church Mission Nagpur, arrived, and two con-
verts sat with him at the Lord's table, Captain F and
Baldeo Sing. This young Rajput who had come down from
Agra three years before with the Brigadier's servants, had
afterwards expressed a wish to become a Christian, had
been instructed and baptized by the Nagpur missionaries,
and had given great satisfaction by his conduct. My hus-
band writes : " You can imagine my joy and gratitude to
the Most High."
He left Elichpur on the 10th January 1854 amid the
sincere regret of all classes, and endeavoured to take advan-
tage of this warmth of feeling to impress spiritual truth on
the minds of those he was leaving. The native officers
came in a body to thank him " for the consideration he had
always shown them ; the Nawab Jani (who afterwards ap-
pointed him guardian to his children) came to Elichpur on
VOL. II. H
98 COLIN MA CKENZ1E.
purpose to take leave. Many parted from him with tears.
He tells his wife : "My friendly banker, Sukram Das, thrust
into my hand a small sack of the famous Bikanir sugar-
candy wherewith to keep up my spirits ! I really think
that the only persons within my compound (for I speak not
of the rogues in the bazar) who were right glad to see me
go, and who loudly and indecently expressed their joy
(fact !), were the crows, against whom you know I have
waged war to the knife ever since their relations at Lodiana
murdered sweet Hira's and Bibi's dear little predecessors."
He travelled the first forty miles in a bullock-carriage
" horsed " by relays of gun bullocks. Meeting an officer
en route to Elichpur " mourning over separation from his
wife and family," he at once invited him to occupy his
house. The third day found him at Mangrul, where it was
reported to him that a party of Sepoys on detachment
were drunk and bullying the villagers. " I sent the
Naib Daffadar (a non-commissioned native officer) and six
troopers, and made them prisoners. I am carrying them
as such to Hingoli. Had I had the power I possessed in
Lodiana I would then and there have ' taught them ' as
David did the insolent elders. . . . The foremost in the
fray, a Naik, still intoxicated, took his oath that he had
exhausted himself in vain efforts to keep the peace. Soodial,
my old Brahman orderly, is with me, having taken leave
to carry my gun and to see me safe to Haidrabad. He is
such a good-natured, cheerful fellow that he is quite a
comfort to me. He is, moreover, indefatigable, and brings
in supplies even more quickly than the greencoats, for he
says, ' The sawar sits on his horse in front of the Kotwali, 1
and cries "leao" (bring), and the Kotwal answers "muharo"
(wait), but I go and fetch the things.'
"Do not be alarmed at the newspaper accounts of the
1 A very_modest native version of Town Hall.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 99
Eohillas being out, as thirty Sepoys are with my carts and
twelve troopers ride with me. A dour (raid) has gone
from Hingoli against a band of Kohilla marauders supposed
to be connected with those who the other day attacked
Colonel B , his wife, and daughter, on the road to Nagpur,
robbed them of everything, wounded him severely, and
stripped the ladies, leaving them only their shifts (and that
after much entreaty), and beat Miss B cruelly because
she had no jewels. This unfortunate family were obliged to
walk some four miles in the hot sun to the next miserable
village, where a poor old woman sheltered them and put
her all (four rupees) into Colonel B 's hand, beseech-
ing him not to betray her doing so." From Hingoli the
Brigadier started on the 18th to take command of the above
force at Sirpur, near Indur, and was nearly a month in
camp.
" 3d February. Having a civilian Resident and a peace-
worn Secretary to satisfy that I put on my pinafore with
legs and clean my teeth every day, must plead my excuse
for brevity. My sweet wife, Marlbro' and the Dutch
Deputies were a joke to C. M. and Bushby and Briggs.
William Orr had done the principal part of the work before
I reached camp, and had done it right well The maraud-
ing bands are for the most part prisoners, or dispersed to
assemble again at a more convenient season, and renew
their horrible outrages and depredations. Two forts on the
great road from Haidrabad to Nagpur are still held by
Arabs and Rohillas, and may oblige us to make an example
of them. I have sent them my ultimatum.
" 21 st February. Since I wrote I have secured three
gangs of marauders. The last batch showed fight, suppos-
ing themselves safe on the side of a steep rocky hill ; but
our troopers scrambled up in a wonderful manner, having
outstripped the infantry, slew one or two, wounded others,
100 COLIN MACKENZIE.
and (contrary to my ideas of no quarter in all cases of
resistance) brought in some prisoners, among them the
notorious Gulab Khan. I was much vexed at their sparing
this murderous rascal, for by bribery he may now escape
hanging. My nice dog 'Peggy' was carried off by a hyena
close to my tent." It was curious that while many of his
far more important services were unnoticed, this almost
bloodless campaign was trumpeted forth all over Europe,
the five hundred prisoners being multiplied into five
thousand.
The " campaign " being over they made a forced
march to Bolarum. Here he met his old acquaintance,
Mr. Bushby, and had the great pleasure of finding an
evangelical chaplain, the Rev. R Murphy, and a true
Christian friend in Brigadier James Bell, commanding the
Company's troops at Sekanderabad, six miles from his
own headquarters at Bolarum, and about half-way between
that and the Nizam's capital of Haidrabad. At his new
station there were good rides and drives, and the climate
was so superior to that of Berar as to make up for the great
losses caused by the move. "The air is dry, the soil
gravelly, even in April and May the nights and mornings
are cool and pleasant, and during the rains the temperature
is at all times fresh and balmy. The sawars of the 4th
Cavalry go to see the exceedingly pretty and chaste church
which looks like white marble, and come out of it in astonish-
ment, saying to each other : 'These people are not kafirs!'
Clagett found this out from the hobblehoys of the regi-
ment, to whom he is very kind, teaching them to ride, etc.,
and who place unlimited confidence in him. He says he
looks on them as the pulse of the regiment. Donald
Mackinnon, commanding the 3d Infantry, is a very good
officer, an honest, warm-hearted, shrewd Highlander, and
impressed by the Truth.
COLIN MACKENZIE. ' 101
" There are about twelve thousand Arabs in the city of
Haidrabad, but their great pecuniary stake in the country
makes them averse to coming to blows with the British
force. The Nizam owes them from two to four years' pay.
All above the very lowest among them are usurious money-
lenders, and are the creditors of every class, from Nawabs
and Rajas down to the starved and naked peasantry of
this misgoverned country. They charge from six to eight
per cent per mensem, with compound interest in cases of
unpunctuality. If the unhappy debtor cannot pay, they
quarter a certain number of soldiers upon him, whom he
has to feed and pay. I have known a man charged with
an imaginary debt tied up naked by the heels, and flogged
in that position every day until he contrived to escape from
torture by suicide. By the way, the perpetrator of this
enormity is ' a mild Hindu,' but you may judge from this
instance of the usual modus operandi. The number of Arabs
in the whole country does not amount to more than fifteen
thousand men. They refuse to allow any one of their
body to be tried by the Nizam's Courts, and arrogate to
themselves the right of trying all of their own nation of
whatever crime accused. Their enormous wealth, acquired
by diabolical oppression and unheard-of usury gives them
an amount of influence quite disproportioned to their
numbers.
" 13th March 1854. I am glad to say that nearly four
hundred of the banditti we lately secured in the districts of
Bodan and Indur have been sentenced to imprisonment in
irons for ten years and upwards. It remains to be seen if
any will be hanged. Two of the chiefs taken ought to
suffer death, for among their exploits of an equally atrocious
nature they carried one unhappy zamindar, who refused to
give up his rights, to the front of his own house, there
deliberately cut his throat, and plastered his blood all over
102 COLIN MACKENZIE.
the door and lintel, to the horror of the inmates. One man
of some consideration and substance would not sign a bond
for a large sum, so him they whipped with tamarind rods
day after day so perseveringly that when we released him
it was necessary, while hearing his miserable tale, to make
him stand at a distance, as he was one huge fester from his
neck to his heels. In short, their crimes will not bear
enumeration. Nothing is so difficult as to obtain evidence
against these villains, as in addition to mortal fear lest the
ruffians themselves, being set free by bribery, or their fellows
should avenge themselves (which was actually threatened
in open Court by a prisoner), outraged women shrink from
further humiliation, and their male relations not less so.
This is natural.
" 2lst March. I suspect that the officers employed to
collect the revenue are screwing the people very unmerci-
fully. They will not recommend a remission in part of
rents lest their own names as successful collectors should
suffer, and, considering the wretched season the agricul-
turists have had, I have privately done my best to open
Bushby's eyes in this matter ; but, as it is none of my
business, I cannot say if my interference will do any
good. The inhabitants of the valley of Berar are by no
means contented with our rule, from which they had
anticipated great things. I think that they have found
out that the Sahibs can be grasping as well as the native
taluqdars."
A little later he writes : " The affairs of this miserable
country cannot well be worse. The Nizam, sunk in sloth
and unutterable debauchery, attends to no recommendation
from either the Eesident or his minister, and the vilest men,
ay, and women, are exalted to assist in the downfall of his
authority. The longer we delay the abolition of the devil's
rule in the Dekkan the greater will be our responsibility as
COLIN MACKENZIE. 103
the chosen arbiters of India's destinies. The unhappy sub-
jects of this besotted prince would soon right themselves,
but for the presence of British bayonets, and they therefore
naturally connect us with all the miseries they are obliged
to endure, with curses deep though not loud. This feeling
operated much to our prejudice during our late campaign
against the Eohillas. Information was not to be had, and
witnesses hung back most pertinaciously. Even those who
had suffered wrongs inexpressible could scarcely be induced
to complain by our reiterated assurances that the British
Government was in earnest and determined to protect them.
Now that the Nizam's people, having been bribed, have
allowed the desperate ruffians, whom we secured with such
difficulty, to escape, and inasmuch as these very felons have
been again hired by their former master, the infamous
Budan Khan, under the very nose of the Nizam, again to
burn, murder, and plunder on his account, their pay being
unlimited license for themselves, what must the fearful
population think of us but as art and part with the
fiends by whom they are tormented? So it is. The
present Minister, Salar Jung, is a hopeful and well-disposed
young gentleman, but his swinish master will not attend to
him; only grunts in answer to the strongest representa-
tions, and at last answers : ' Tu chokra ! ' (Thou boy !) l "
With all these facts before him, it is no wonder that Major
Mackenzie longed for the annexation of the country.
Sympathy for the sufferings of the people often moves
1 This "hopeful lad," an Arab by descent, became the celebrated
Sir Salar Jung, who, after the death of the old Nizam, succeeded in
introducing a degree of order and prosperity into the Haidrabad terri-
tory and finances previously unheard of. His loyalty to the British
during the Mutiny was a service of the utmost importance. As a boy,
Salar Jung had been intimate with General J. S. Eraser and his family,
and it is said that he thus received an impression of British trust-
worthiness and honour which nothing could efface.
104 COLIN MACKENZIE.
those on the spot to call for the overthrow of a native
dynasty, while just men at a distance, looking only to
treaties and engagements, vehemently oppose it. But there
can be no doubt that, as it is British power alone which
maintains the authority of native princes and secures them
from the natural remedies for tyranny, revolution and
assassination, that we are bound to put a stop to the misuse
of the authority which we uphold. Men of these opposite
views seldom understand each other, and it is for this reason
that these sad details have been given somewhat at length.
There is little doubt that a good native prince is better
liked than our Government, but the latter is gladly hailed
as a relief from tyranny and anarchy.
A few passages from his letters will show some of his
thoughts and feelings:
" 13th March. I am again reading diligently, and alto-
gether time does not linger with me. The Lord is very
merciful. Did you ever read Neal's Puritans through ? It
is very interesting, and every Protestant ought to possess
himself of the facts of that history.
"In the next world, or rather in this world, redeemed
from the curse and purified from sin, we shall breathe
nothing but a fragrant atmosphere of divine love, every
inhalation causing our hearts to throb with joy unspeak-
able and full of glory. Even in this our state of proba-
tion joy is too deep for expression. Shall we be able
to express the tenth part of our happiness if it please
God we meet on earth again? and if so, why when our
full redemption is complete and we stand side by side
in the presence of the Lamb, or rather when together we
cast our crowns at His feet, those crowns which He pur-
chased for us with His blood, it will indeed require an
immortal and glorified nature to sustain the ecstatic thrill of
that first experience of the realities of Heaven. Do you
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 105
not feel with me, my own true-hearted and deeply-loved
wife?
" With the knowledge that the anchor of our souls (I
had almost written soul) is fast secured within the veil, the
thing which to each is most terrible the death of the
other loses much of its appalling nature. With the ever-
lasting arms around us both, reposing on the same bosom,
what signifies it which of God's children first falls asleep ! \
God be praised, that I can at times realise and rejoice
in my heavenly Father's, my Saviour's love, and when
a cloud comes over my spirit, I pray and then relief
comes."
Speaking of bereavement he says :
" 7th April. The wound generally throbs more after the
healing process has begun, and the benumbing effects of a
severe stroke of affliction being over, after-recollections stir
the heart and re-open the fountain of tears. Resignation
to the will of God is not the act of an instant ; it is a con-
tinuous effort, which cannot be sustained save by uninter-
mitted supplies of grace from on High.
"May. I am now writing at the table, where, in my
airy speculations, I have assigned you a place ; for I hope
that we shall generally occupy the same room and work and
study together."
He mentions an officer who was staying with him.
"I have spoken to over and over again. He
acknowledges the necessity of religion, but, although by no
means at ease, makes not the least effort in earnest to attain
to a state of true belief. To me, now that my eyes are
opened, this sort of apathy is not astonishing, but confirma-
tory of the truth of Christ's declaration that no man can go
to Him except the Father draw him ; and I marvel more
and more at the Lord's long-suffering towards myself, for
how have I resisted and grieved the Holy Spirit ! Well,
106 COLIN MACKENZIE.
we must pray for all such, and speak the truth in love, in
season and out of season."
As usual, he notices his little pets.
" The parrot that sat on Eve's shoulder was not more
intelligent than Bibi. I am sure she had a parrot, and that,
with a loyal instinct surer than her reason, it refused to
share the forbidden fruit. I often feel reproved by the
birds of the air and the beasts of the field, for ' the ox
knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib,' etc. It
seems in that, to me most affecting passage, the Lord, in
expostulating with His people, purposely exemplifies their
spiritual stupidity by showing their inferiority in common
gratitude to these two reputedly dullest of dull animals."
He recalls his "matchless Eubee."
"Is he annihilated? or roams he through pleasant
pastures ? Will he in due season, at the restoration of all
things, roam 'loose fly his forelock and his ample mane?'
" 25th May. I have succeeded in introducing a great
improvement into the Contingent viz. double quantity of
ball cartridge, and half the allowance of blank ammunition ;
we shall (D. V.) now have steady good shots, and no wild firing
in action." From Bruxelles I had given him some account
of the dedication of the whole month of May to the worship
of the Virgin. He writes (20th June 1854) : " You allude
to Romanism being mariolatry, i.e. woman-worship. It is so
literally, and in maintaining it so fiercely the priests are
aware of the power of enslaving the mind possessed by that
kind of worship, ever since men departed from the know-
ledge of the only true God. The worship of goddesses is
always of a more enthusiastic nature than that of male
idols Diana, Mary, Kali, and others. We cannot examine
this subject too closely without dwelling on what is better
banished from the mind. The whole world lieth in wicked-
ness." He came across many who remembered his dear
COLIN MACKENZIE. 107
friend Captain Chalmers in Maisur, and writes : " I love
and esteem Frederick Chalmers with all my heart. When-
ever I meet any old comrades, ' Christian, Roman, heathen,
all same,' as the drummer said, i.e., all speak of Chalmers
in kind and laudatory terms. Truly he was enabled to
walk wisely and kindly towards all."
While in camp my husband formed a strong attachment
to Dr. W. Mackenzie, C.B., and later on to Mr. Gorton,
the senior chaplain, who, alternately with Mr. Murphy,
took one of the Sunday services at Bolarum, the Brigadier
himself taking the other, and in case of illness, both ; so
that he used to style himself Mr. Gorton's curate. On
one occasion Mr. Gorton related that he had heard Dr.
Pusey lecture on the passage " The Lord preserveth man
and beast." Having spoken on the first part, he gravely
added that " perhaps ' beast ' might have some reference to
dissenters;" so, of course, Major Mackenzie and all the other
Presbyterians meekly styled themselves " beasts."
Hearing of my improved health, he writes : " If you
really can rejoin me this cold weather, oh, joy, joy ! But
be not rash, for I would rather continue to endure and
trust in God for patience, than run the slightest risk to thy
precious health." He was at this time persuaded to send
in a memorial to the Court of Directors for a Brevet-
Majority, with back rank from 1842. This was strongly
recommended by the Resident, who shared the feeling of
Mr. Astell, the senior director, when he declared that " if
he could, he would make Mackenzie a General." Mackenzie
adds : " If even-handed justice be dealt out to me, all will
be well ; and if not, all will still be well, ay, best." The
application had no result. The letter (23d June) continues :
" I know that by the grace of God I can command any
turbulent emotions, whatever the cause, much more easily
than I could two years ago. I can, from my heart, thank
108 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
God for all the mortifications and trials I have gone through
since we parted, of some of which you wot not. Our cor-
rection is sometimes hard for the flesh to bear, but Christ
was made perfect (i.e. in a certain sense) through suffering.
By and by I hope for a little respite, 'a sunbeam on a
winter's day,' and when that comes from the Lord, then
' He addeth no sorrow thereto.'
" I4:th July. I will not wear my medal, not even the
ribbon, until you attach it with your own slender fingers to
my breast. Bring me to a court feminine if you like, but
on that point I am in open mutiny, and wish to be insolent ! "
I landed at Madras with our three daughters, after a
pleasant voyage in the Owen Glendower, six days before he
arrived. We had the happiness of meeting on the 4th January
1855. While in Madras he took me to call on General and
Mrs. Fraser, who were just going home. They were most
cordial, and it was curious to behold the General's amaze-
ment at the change in the young officer whom he had last
seen in Coorg. He said : " I remember him so well with
his hair flying out, waving his sword at the head of his
men;" adding reflectively, "He has quite the air of com-
mand." Then turning to my husband he said : " You ought
to be in a very high position, your manner and way of
speaking and writing are such." The correspondence
between them as Resident and Brigadier had not always
been harmonious, and the General had sometimes written
as if he were addressing a presumptuous young gentleman
who had no business to express his opinions. His surprise
at the effects of twenty years of experience and command
shows, that when men have to work together they ought
always, if possible, to meet in order to understand each
other.
The journey to Bolarum was a very fatiguing one,
especially to my husband, as Colonel Carpenter had left his
COLIN MACKENZIE. 109
wife, with a party of eight, in his charge. Five days'
voyage in the Owen brought us to Cocanada (nowadays a
flourishing port), where we found shelter for the day in the
only European house in the place, that of the absent magis-
trate, whose servants cooked dinner for us. We then went
by moonlight up the newly-finished Eajahmandry Canal,
part of Sir Arthur Cotton's magnificent irrigation works,
which, besides promoting traffic to an extraordinary degree,
have rendered famine in that district a thing of the past.
Fourteen palanquins and twenty-one carts being required
for so large a party, we had to wait a week at Dowalesh-
waram, where we were most hospitably entertained by
perfect strangers, Dr. and Mrs. Jackson.
On entering the Nizam's country we were met by our
own servants and escort ; and it is characteristic of heathen
manners that at Ellora the Tehsildar, with a crowd of
dancing girls belonging to the temple, came to meet the
Brigadier "out of respect." Some of them were very
young and very pretty, and it made one's heart ache to
think of their fate, dedicated to vice out of devotion to the
idol ! The rest of the journey was uneventful, save that a
wild boar charged the line of march near Bezoarah and
knocked over a bearer, but though speared by a sawar, got
away. The bearer lay for dead from sheer fright, but
turned out to be very little hurt. Every now and then
some one was stung by a scorpion, and not having any
ipecacuanha in my palki, which, when made into a paste
with water, relieves the pain at once, a sawar dismounted,
turned up his sleeves, and made passes down the afflicted
leg, " drawing out the pain and throwing it away." I asked
him what he called this process in Hindustani. The answer
was " Ilm " (Science). The bungalows for travellers were
all bomb-proof, and only accessible by a flight of steps to
the top of the wall which enclosed them.
1 1 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
The 22d February saw us at home in Bolarum with most
of our old servants about us. The butler Sivu was an
invaluable servant, who spoke English well, but shared the
curious incapacity of the Madras people to distinguish
between / and p. He one day proposed to " have pups "
for dinner. I objected, and endeavoured to teach him to
say puffs. The result was that at dinner, to his master's
great diversion, he solemnly invited him to eat fups !
In the middle of April, Aga Muhammad, with his wife
and her old mother, arrived in safety in spite of having
been stopped by Rohillas and much alarmed. The Bibi
was a woman of high spirit and energetic temper, and, when
she first heard that her husband intended to become a
Christian, there were no bounds to her grief and indigna-
tion. She wept night and day, threatened to poison him
or herself, and in short made his life a burden. But his
patience and forbearance gradually softened her, he taught
her to read, her prejudices gave way before the truth, he
was admitted into the visible Church on the 23d October
1853, and his wife in November of the following year. It
was a great delight to welcome them both as Christians.
The Aga was so moved that he could not speak.
The climate of Bolarum was one of the finest in the
world ; the society very large ; we had a comfortable
house and lovely garden. The sky seemed without a
cloud. In July the Brigadier's eldest daughter married his
Brigade-Major, Captain Hoseason. Soon after the young
Minister of the Nizam, Nawab Salar Jung, gave an enter-
tainment in honour of the marriage of the Resident's
youngest daughter, Mrs. Bell. We drove out to the
Residency, and from thence went with Mrs. Bushby on a
charjama, or pad, on which three sit on each side of the
elephant as on a jaunting-car, to the city about two miles
distant. As we proceeded with several elephants and
COLIN MA CKENZIE. Ill
palkis following, numberless torches and flaming cressets in
front and on each side, and the Brigadier's guard of twelve
Irregular troopers dashing after us, while the narrow streets
and roofs of the houses, which were about the same height
as ourselves, were crowded with people the whole scene
was most picturesque. The city, to enter which we had
to ford a river, is inexpressibly dirty. Turning in at a
gate barely wide enough for the elephant, we found our-
selves in the Court of Salar Jung's house. It was lined
with his guard, dressed and armed exactly like Madras
Sepoys. He had also a bodyguard of Turks, two of whom
we saw, armed to the teeth with swords and pistols till they
looked like moving stacks of arms. A strong party of
Arabs were also keeping watch over our safety. The noise
was indescribable, every one shouting and pushing to main-
tain order and make way. Salar Jung received us at the
door, and ushered us into his Shish Mahal, or glass palace,
an immense court open to the sky, surrounded by arcades.
Within these at each end is a spacious apartment or recess,
with sofas along three sides of it, the walls and ceilings
panelled with large mirrors and the pillars of glass. In
the centre of the court, which was brilliantly illuminated
by glass chandeliers, whose light was reflected a thousand
times in the mirrors, was a large tank with three fountains,
bordered by trees and shrubs, with rows of coloured lamps
around its edge. The whole scene was fairy-like. The
ladies were all in pretty demi-toilettes, as none who have
sense would wear low dresses in a native house, as it would
greatly shock their hosts. There were about sixty guests,
and some hundred servants belonging to them and to their
host, mostly dressed in white.
On both sides of the hall are apartments fitted up in Euro-
pean style with a piano, billiard-table, busts, and pictures.
Passing through divers passages, quite capable of defence
112 COLIN MACKENZIE,
(as every great house partakes of the nature of a fort), with
sentries at the doors, we came to Mir Alam's Durbar, a
great hall built by the grandfather of the present Vazir. It
is open on one side to a court one story below it, where
clients and petitioners resort. Here the dinner was laid, a
small table at which we, the Bara Sahibs, sat, being placed
at right angles to a longer one. The cookery was English,
intermixed with native delicacies. A deer roasted whole
at the top of the table, a raised pie of china, which when
opened let loose a volley of small birds, an antelope made
of sugar with black eyes, were the most remarkable dishes.
The Nawab's little nephew had several servants waiting on
him, whom he joked with and stuffed with sweetmeats.
One was a little negro boy, whom he sent round for me to
look at. After dinner we had some of the most beautiful
fireworks imaginable. Many were fired from a mortar, and
came down as gold and silver rain, stars, serpents, etc.
Then we returned to the Shish Mahdl, where coffee was
served, followed by a Nach in the Dekkan fashion. The
Nach girls were richly, but inelegantly dressed in very full
petticoats gathered under the armpits, heavily trimmed with
gold. One was very handsome, grave and stately. Several
of the others would have been good-looking but for their
bold expression. The dancing was slow and very mono-
tonous. A few days later we recalled the medical opinion
in the case of Miss Squeers, viz. that "if the comb had
gone a few inches further it might have entered the brain."
So if we had stayed at Salar Jung's a few hours later, we
might all have been captured, for just after the company
left his house it was invested by the Arabs. They had
evidently no intention of annoying us, for they waited until
we were all fairly away, and then seized the chouk or main
street of the city, barricaded it, and shot several people, the
wrong people of course, for bullets, like promotion, seldom
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 1 3
fall on the right man. Some time before, the Nawab had
imprisoned one of the Gosains (religious mendicants, the
most intriguing set of men in the Dekkan), in whom the
Arabs had some interest. The old Shams-ul-Umra, the
first nobleman in the country, head of the rival family to
that of Salar Jung, behaved gallantly, marched down at
the head of his retainers, and advised the Minister to call
in the Contingent and put down the Arabs by force ; but
although the Nizam confesses that he could not maintain
himself without the Contingent, he is too jealous of European
influence to permit it to be employed within the city unless
the case were desperate. So after some days Salar Jung
was obliged to make a compromise.
It was to us a pleasant, peaceful time. The garden
with its magnificent yuccas like gigantic lilies of the
valley ; its gold mohur tree blazing in scarlet and gold ; the
casuarinas, underneath which my husband loved to make
me stand that I might hear the mimic murmur of the
Avaves, was a source of constant enjoyment. There was a
group of graceful cork trees, and he was promising himself
the pleasure of showing them in full flower. Daily we
watched the buds, but before "the cork trees were in
blossom " came the Muharram, and all that it brought.
VOL. II.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE BOLARUM MUTINY.
(Sept. 1853.)
"It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die
before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have
licence to answer for himself." Acts xxv. 16.
" Summum crede nefas, animam prseferre pudori,
Et propter vitam, vivendi perdere causas."
THE story of the Bolarum Mutiny requires a few prelimi-
nary explanations. Most persons have heard of the two
great hostile sects of Muhammadans, the Sunis and the
Shiahs, who may be roughly compared to Protestants and
Romanists. The Turks belong to the former, the Persians
to the latter, whose religion chiefly consists in devotion to
Ali, the son-in-law of their Prophet. The Muharram is the
ten days' fast observed by Shiahs in remembrance of the
death of Hasan and Husain, the sons of Ali and Fatima,
the daughter of Muhammad. It is consequently a time of
mourning and lamentation, when all devout Shiahs fast and
deprive themselves of every customary luxury, spending
every evening in reading and reciting dirges, beating their
breasts, and bewailing with tears and groans the fate of
the martyrs. On the tenth day of the fast, the Tazias, or
models of the bier of Husain, are carried in procession,
with allams, or standards made in the fashion of an open
hand, to some plain representing the desert of Kerbella,
where they are thrown into a tank. Of these allams the
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 1 5
only one recognised by Northern Muhammadans is the
Panja, or Hand of Husain ; but many others are used in
India, one called the Nal Sahib (literally, Mr. Horse-
shoe), to which people, especially women, make vows. They
are all made of metal or wood, but none of them are what
we style flags. In the Dekkan the Muharram is so far
perverted from its original purpose that it is a season of
festivity, not only for Sunis who are regularly and devoutly
cursed during its celebration by all orthodox Shiahs, " Suni
par lanat ! " (Curses on the Sunis !) being part of the
established formulary but also for Hindus, who become,
pro tempore, Musalmans, fight by their side against people
of their own caste, and will eat no meat that has not been
made lawful in Muhammadan fashion. But the stricter
and more learned Musalmans highly disapprove of mum-
mery and license, so inconsistent with the commemoration
of a martyrdom. 1
The Nizam's Horse, which consisted of five regiments (or
Bissallahs), have long been considered the finest Irregular
Cavalry in India, with the exception of Jacob's Horse. 2
Not one of these regiments had ever been stained with dis-
loyalty, save the 3d, which had, some years before, cut its
Bissaldar to pieces, had in 1828 murdered its Commandant,
Major Davies, 3 and bore a general bad character for insolence
1 The processions peculiar to Southern India consist of mummers dis-
guised as bears, tigers, or women, and are of a very disgusting nature.
2 The native Commandant of these regiments is called a Rissaldar,
and the captains and sergeants of troops are styled Jemadars and Duffa-
dars, the nomenclature being different from that in Northern India. It
is worthy of note that there were not above twenty-five to thirty Shiahs
in the 3d Cavalry, yet most of the regiment joined in the Muharram.
3 This ill-fated officer, commonly called Tiger Davies, from his
encounters with tigers, was a man of remarkable gallantry. On one
occasion he routed the band of a noted freebooter, singled out the
chief himself, who was a Hindu, rather fat and heavy, and followed
him, determined to slay him. The chief knew who was after him and
1 1 6 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
and dissipation. They were opium-eaters almost to a
man.
By an anomalous arrangement, the cavalry throughout
called out to one of his followers, a Muhammadan, who was galloping
in front : " Is this the way you leave me, after eating my salt so long ? "
The Muhammadan's pride was' roused, he turned round, allowed his
chief to pass him, and confronted Major Davies, sword in hand, crying
out : " Have a care, you Feringhi infidel !" Those who witnessed the
light said it was a beautiful thing to see two such sword-players, but
in two or three minutes Major Davies ran his sword through the body
of the Musalman. The chief, of course, got off. After this, a most
foolish and injudicious young officer, in temporary command of the
3d Nizam's Cavalry, introduced some changes in the dress of the men,
and, in particular, ordered them to shave their beards. They consented
to cut them short, but refused to part with the symbol of manhood, so
dear to a Musalman. Upon this he actually had the folly to have two
of them held and shaved on parade. Consequently, one morning Major
Davies was informed that the men had mutinied. Very unwisely rely-
ing on his power over them, he threw himself on his horse, rode to the
spot with only one orderly, and commanded them to lay down their
arms. The men wavered, when he unhappily added, that all should
be pardoned save the havildar who was the ringleader. This man,
seeing his life was gone, joined his hands, and approached Major
Davies in the attitude of supplication, calling him Mabap (father and
mother), as if suing for mercy, drew his pistol, and shot him through
the body. This turned the scale in favour of mutiny. In spite of a
score of sabre-cuts, Major Davies still kept his seat, though unable to
draw his trusty sword. He galloped home, and just as he came up to
the window where his young wife sat, waiting breakfast for him, fell off
his horse a dead man. The young second in command, Lieutenant
Stirling, who had joined in irritating the men, followed and overtook
the mutineers, who had by this time made off across the country.
When they saw him, though his party was smaller in numbers, they
dismounted and rushed into a small Masjid. The young officer
immediately threw himself off his horse, called to his men to follow,
forced the door of the mosk, and, after a terrible struggle, in
which he received two severe wounds, slew the havildar with his own
hand, and left every one of the mutineers dead on the spot. He
himself was afterwards shot through the head in reducing a refractory
zamindar.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 1 7
the country was under separate command. At this time
Captain Sutherland Orr was acting as Cavalry Brigadier in
the absence of Major Mayne, and, though personally subject
to Brigadier Mackenzie, exercised independent authority
over the cavalry, with which Mackenzie, though his com-
manding officer, had nothing to do, save on parade or in the
field. Every cantonment is divided into districts assigned
to the different branches of the service, as the artillery lines,
the officers' lines, the cavalry lines, which are sacred from
the intrusion of those of another arm, especially as regards
festivals or religious ceremonies. A Hindu procession
venturing into the cavalry lines would probably be cut to
pieces.
On the approach of the Muharram, the Brigadier directed
his Brigade-Major to "issue the usual orders" for preventing
collision between rival processions, by prescribing the route
each was to take. These orders proclaimed (in accordance
with universal custom in all cantonments) that " no proces-
sions will be allowed in any of the main roads near the
officers' quarters," for it is easy to perceive the consequences
which would result from bands of uproarious, half -intoxi-
cated mummers, being allowed to range at will over the
roads which form the only drives and rides of the European
officers and ladies. But the Brigade-Major, thinking, by
mistake, that Wednesday and not Sunday the 23d September
was the great day of the Muharram, added a clause " No
processions, music, or noise will be allowed, on any account
whatever, from twelve o'clock on Saturday to twelve o'clock
Sunday night." As soon as the Brigadier read this in the
order-book on Thursday afternoon he at once disapproved
of it as injudicious, and learning that Sunday was the im-
portant day he cancelled the order, and Captain Orr re-
ported that the troopers were pleased and grateful.
Everything appeared in order. The Brigadier had not
118 COLIN MACKENZIE.
the slightest ground for supposing that the 3d Cavalry were
mutinously inclined ; but at least three persons had reason
to know it. One was the Eesident, who, two days before,
to use his own words, had been " grossly insulted by those
Muharram people " near the cavalry lines. Another was
the Brigade-Major, who stopped a riotous procession near
his house on the Thursday evening, but never reported the
fact. The third was Captain Orr himself. He had been
obliged to place a native officer under arrest for mutinous
language, and had expressed his conviction, before more
than one person, that if the order for stopping the Muharram
on Sunday were not reversed " there would be an awful
row." But not one of these significant occurrences had been
reported, as duty required, to the Brigadier, and Captain
Orr afterwards avowed that he had purposely concealed the
state of his regiment from his commanding officer, as,
"knowing his fearless disposition, he dreaded that he would
put it down by force."
Friday, 21st September, was a beautiful evening, but at
such a season of license the Brigadier thought it better that
his wife and daughters should remain at home. We were
all in the garden. I was busy transplanting a geranium
when Captain and Mrs. Sutherland Orr were announced.
The whole party sat down in the open air commanding a
full view of the low hedge which separated the garden from
the public road. A procession, accompanied by at least two
men on horseback, came along the forbidden road quietly
until they reached the corner of the garden, where they
halted and then went on again, making a hideous uproar.
The Brigadier said, "Orr, those are some of your people,"
and sent one of his chaprasis l to desire them to go round
the other way. Mrs. Orr, greatly agitated, cried : " Oh,
1 A Chaprasi is an official messenger, with a badge, by which it is
known to what office he is attached.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 1 9
don't meddle with them ! they nearly mutinied last year at
Hingoli, and I am sure there will be something of the kind
now." Captain Orr said : " You should not say that ;" but
added his entreaties that the Brigadier would not interfere.
This, however was impossible. Wilful disobedience to
orders is mutiny, and an officer is bound by his military
oath to enforce obedience at any and every risk. The mob
carried small square flags chequered red and green, which
it appears are symbols of defiance, never used but with war-
like intentions against rival processions or others.
The mob refused obedience, and the Brigadier then sent
first his Orderly Naik (native corporal), and lastly the
havildar of his guard, to reiterate the order, giving them
the choice of either going or surrendering their flags ; at the
same time he himself walked towards the gate. The mob an-
swered insolently that the roads were theirs, that they would
not go, and would make a noise, and redoubled their clamour.
The Brigadier, finding his authority set at defiance, had only
two courses open to him, for there was no possibility of
identifying the culprits afterwards, owing to their disguise.
One was to send out his guard (at this season composed
exclusively of Hindus) to turn the procession by force. This
he was unwilling to adopt, as the chances were a hundred
to one that the excited Muhammadan rabble, full of opium
and wickedness, would have drawn their swords, and that
blood would have been shed, thus affording a pretext for a
permanent religious feud between the Musalman cavalry
and the Hindu infantry. The other was to try what his
personal interference and authority would do.
Captain Orr saw him going, but even then gave him no
hint of the disaffected state of the Bissallah. Mrs. Orr
became very much alarmed, and said to me : " Oh, you
don't know how dangerous they are at the time of the
Muharram ! " Upon this I followed my husband, and
1 20 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
meeting Captain Orr half-way, he remarked that it was a
pity that the Brigadier interfered. I understood this to
refer only to the danger thereby incurred, and replied :
"But he is quite right, don't you think so ?" Captain Orr,
on being pressed for an answer, replied : " No ; I think it
very wrong of him." Knowing nothing of the orders
issued, I rejoined : " Then go and tell him so plainly ; you
know he can bear to hear the truth. Go now," and gently
pushed him towards the gate. Thus urged, Captain Orr
went out, leaving me close to the hedge, from which I dis-
tinctly saw everything that took place.
The Brigadier left the garden with his usual long parade
step, quietly reminded the rioters of his orders, and gave
them the choice of yielding up their flags or going off the
forbidden road. They reiterated : "The roads are ours!"
whereupon he seized first one flag, and then the other, drew
them out of the hands of the bearers, and handed them to
his chaprdsi.
Captain Orr came up at this moment, and there was a
cry of " Here is our Captain Sahib ! let us hear what he
has to say." A sawar (Sir Bilund Khan) made as if he
would strike the Brigadier with his sword, crying : " My
flags (bauti) are as dear as my life." "Why did you not
take your flags away 1 ?" said the Brigadier, turning upon
him, and, wresting, his sword from his hand, desired the
guard to take him prisoner. The whole mob then dispersed
and ran across the little green which separated them from
their lines, shouting: "Deen ! Deen!" (religion) the Mu-
hammadan war-cry. The Brigadier then ordered a duffadar,
who had been sitting by on his horse the whole time, to
desire the Eissaldar to send a picket of five -and -twenty
troopers to keep the peace, and to come over immediately
himself. Thus the Brigadier was successful in preventing
the attempted insult to his lawful authority, and there
COLIN MACKENZIE. 121
the first act of the drama ended. There is, however,
every reason to believe that this procession was a pre-
arranged trap to induce the Brigadier, by upholding discip-
line, to afford some pretext for the open mutiny of the
regiment.
Captain Orr, alarmed at the idea of arresting a trooper,
told the guard that Sir Bilund Khan was not the man they
were ordered to arrest (pointing out another man), and
" coaxed him " to go to his lines. The mutineer was no
sooner released than he rushed off to the lines, threw his
turban on the ground, and gathered the whole regiment by
the war-cry of " Deen ! Deen ! " The rioters having fled, two of
our servants, greatly alarmed at their master going into the
midst of the mob, urged me to beg him to come in ; and
finding he did not come, I went out and found him, as he
invariably was in moments of emergency, as cool and quiet
as if he were taking an ordinary saunter. I rather expected
he would be angry with me for going outside the gate, but
when I remonstrated with him for thus exposing himself
he merely replied : " You do not understand the matter ;
I cannot suffer my orders to be set at defiance." Finding
it a plain question of duty, I of course ceased to object.
He then desired me to go into the house. We all returned
slowly to the compound, and were joined by Lieutenant
William Murray, second in command of the Rissallah. Just
after entering the gate an alarm was raised that the rioters
were returning, and Captain Orr took his wife, who was
quite hysterical, in my Bath -chair to the house. My.
husband again desired me to go in. I did so, leaving him
walking up and down with Mr. Murray, some of his guard
standing by.
I was unaware of fresh danger until some of our
servants, finding I would not run, laid hold of my wrists.
As a native would never think of doing such a thing except
122 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
in extremity, I did run, and found that Captain Orr had
laid his wife on a spare bed in a little back room where
our daughters all were. Mrs. Orr, who was very delicate,
was imploring her husband not to go out, or he would be
murdered. He said : " Mrs. Mackenzie, take care of my
wife ; " and cried repeatedly : " For God's sake, my dear
girl, let me go ; I'm disgraced for ever if I am not with
Mackenzie." He took hold of both her arms to loosen
them from his neck, but she clung to him with such tenacity
that he could not have done so except by violence, Avhich
in her state of health was not to be thought of. I said to
her : "Dear, I will stay with you. I will not even go out
to my husband. Do let him go." She cried most piteously :
"Oh, make him listen to me. I only want to say two
words to him." I begged him to listen to her for a moment,
as it would pacify her. He was just bending over her to
do so when the Brigadier staggered in and leant against the
opposite door. I ran and laid hold of his arm, and my
hand went into the bone. He said : " Help me into the
little court." I did so, and sent two of his daughters for
Avine, as he was very faint. It was too dark to see how
dreadfully he was wounded, and I left him sitting on the
step and sent one messenger to desire the 3d Infantry to
come immediately and another for Dr. Whitelock, and on
returning found that Captain Orr had laid the Brigadier on
his back in the little walled court adjoining the room.
To return to what had passed outside. As I left
him in the avenue, the Brigadier was aware of the near
approach of another mob from the lines, and desired Aga
Sahib to go into the house. The latter refused. He replied :
" It is my order ; it will be more dangerous for us both if
you stay here." Whereupon Aga Sahib very unwillingly
obeyed. Passing the guard-house he called to them to
load, and flew to his own house to get his arms ready. As
COLIN MACKENZIE. 123
soon as his wife found he had left the Brigadier in danger
she reproached him vehemently before he could say a word
in his defence.
In the meantime the Brigadier sent four Sepoys to
close the gate, ordering them to allow no one to enter. The
havildar of the guard had gone with a prisoner to the
guard-house, which was at a considerable distance, and
quite out of sight.
Mr. Murray entreated him to go into the house, but he
replied, " I cannot leave my own avenue. I cannot suffer
myself to be bearded by these fellows," feeling, as he
afterwards explained to an officer who asked him why he
had not done so, that " as a gentleman he could not run
without a blow having been struck," and being anxious to
prevent the mob from following the ladies into the house.
" It was better," he said, " that I should face a fanatical
mob like that alone, than bring them down on a party of
helpless women."
Instead of obeying the order to bring a picket to keep
the peace, the Kissaldar 1 rode over and sat on his horse at
the gate to superintend the attack on the Brigadier. In a
moment a crowd of armed sawars burst open the gate ;
the four Sepoys ported arms instead of using their
bayonets ; they were thrust on one side, and the Briga-
dier, hearing the mutineers approach, said to Lieutenant
Murray : "We must face them." As he afterwards related
" Murray stuck by me gallantly ; he turned with me as if I
had given the word of command, and yet he knew as well
as I what was coming." They walked a few 'paces towards
the mutineers, and the Brigadier raised his hand in the act
of speaking, thinking that some spark of discipline must
still remain in them, when a man sprang from behind
1 This man was a duffadar (sergeant) in the regiment when Major
Davies was assassinated.
124 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
another who was beating a drum, and struck him a violent
blow with a sword on the head. Sabre-cuts followed in
rapid succession ; one split the skull, another severed the
outer bone of the left arm, a third cut the deltoid to the
bone, two others took off the middle finger of the right
hand, and severed all the tendons and bones at the back of
it. His not having fallen is no less than a miracle. " The
Lord stood by him and strengthened him."
Mr. Murray was knocked down, stunned, and cut over
the hip, and the Brigadier, finding, as he told the doctor
with a spark of his old fun, that " there was no chance of
the fellows listening to reason," in other words, that to
stand there was to be murdered, at last turned and made
for the house. Streaming with blood, God gave him such
strength that he actually outran his pursuers, though they
were after him like a pack of hungry wolves. As he
mounted the steps one or two overtook him, and gave him
two tremendous gashes on the back, one of them eleven
inches long. A chaprasi and servant shut the door of the
house after him, and while the mutineers were breaking it
open, bursting the Venetians out of their frames, he passed
down some steps, across a small garden, up into a verandah,
where he had evidently staggered, a large circle being
sprinkled with his blood, in and out of bedrooms and
sitting-rooms, through the dining and drawing-rooms, look-
ing for his family (giving orders to put out all the lights),
and thence into the little room beyond, where, by the good
providence of God, the whole party were assembled. The
whole way was tracked with his blood, and it seemed no
less than a miracle that one so sorely wounded could walk
so far, open and shut doors with both hands disabled, and
retain such perfect coolness and presence of mind. He
forbade lights being brought to examine his wounds, but
the moon soon shone out, and one deadly gash after
COLIN MACKENZIE. 125
another was revealed. Not knowing the mutineers were
actually in the house, I not only went repeatedly into the
dining-room, but sent our daughters for what was required,
and one of them had barely time to get out of the drawing-
room when the sawars burst in the doors. The house was
intricate to a stranger, and having effected an entrance into
the new wing they searched it in vain for their prey. See-
ing the Ayah flying, they called out, " Kill her too, she is a
Christian ; " but at that moment one of them destroyed the
lamp with his sabre, and she escaped in the darkness. They
then came round to the front of the old part of the house,
broke in the doors, overturned the furniture, cut chairs to
pieces, slashed wall-shades, Phankah frills, etc., threatening
to kill the Mahratta chaprasi if he did not tell where his
master was, and loudly declaring they would put the ladies
to death. They fired repeatedly; two balls were afterwards
found in the house, and one passed over the Brigadier as he
lay fainting on the ground. Gaffur Khan, himself belong-
ing to the 3d Kissallah, who had been for some years the
Brigadier's standing orderly, exerted himself to draw off his
mutinous comrades, and persuaded them that they had
killed the Brigadier and that the ladies had fled to the
Residency. Wanting something for my husband, I was
about to open the door leading into the room where the
mutineers were, when the servants threw themselves in my
way, and informed me the house and compound were full
of them. I returned to my husband, expecting every
moment the assassins would burst in. The door between
us and them was not even locked, but no one opened it ! I
could not pray for anything. I could only rest in the
thought "Thou God seest us," feeling the Lord's presence
and waiting to see what He would do.
I had sent a message for the 3d Infantry to come over
immediately, and Gurdial, Orderly, gave the alarm in the
126 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
infantry lines, which are very near the back of the house.
The Subahdar-Major collected all the standing guards at
hand, about twenty men, and was bringing them to the
Brigadier's compound when Jemadar Sumjaun met him,
and persuaded him to let him take them over, while the
Subahdar-Major took charge of the regiment.
The jemadar made his men load, but found none
of the mutineers. On asking for orders, Gaffur Khan, the
Orderly, told him: "The Sahib forbids you to fire." He
turned to the havildar of the guard and asked what he had
seen, who replied that the Brigadier having sent him to
the guard-house with the prisoner, he had seen nothing
(the guard -house being a considerable distance to the rear
of the dwelling-house), but that previous to sending him
away the Brigadier had more than once refused to grant
him permission to load. This was all true.
The arrival of the jemadar's party was immediately re-
ported to Captain Sutherland Orr, yet he never went out
or gave any orders to them, although the Brigadier, being
totally disabled, had desired him, as his second in command,
to act in his stead. Most of the mutineers having, as they
supposed, accomplished their purpose of killing their com-
manding officer, issued from the gate of his compound,
attacked the carriage of one of the Sekanderabad chaplains,
and wounded the two ladies who were with him, and the
party was only saved by the attention of their cowardly
assailants being attracted to the carriage of Captain Donald
Mackinnon, Commandant of the 3d Infantry, which came up
at that moment. He being a first-rate whip, lashed his
horses to their utmost speed, and burst through the crowd
with no other injury than his hat, coat, Mrs. Mackinnon's
bonnet, and the hood of the carriage being slashed in several
places, none of the shots fired at them taking effect. As he
drove along he ordered the alarm bugle to be sounded. On
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 127
hearing this the whole of the 3d Infantry, Musalmans and
Hindus alike, flew to arms, many of them throwing their
belts over their undress ; and the sound of their approach
soon cleared the compound of the cowardly troopers. Loud
noises being heard in the cavalry lines, I sent repeatedly to
learn the state of affairs. The answer brought was that
they were " triumphing" and that they were all laughing in
the lines.
The Aga's wife and her old mother, a bigoted Musal-
mani, had rushed over to the house, careless of the danger,
and finding the Brigadier fainting, they threw themselves
down and kissed his head, thinking he was dying. As the
moon rose it was seen that he was soaking in blood. Fear-
ful of wounds on his body, I cut and tore open his shirt and
washed his chest, which was untouched, as he had parried
most of the blows with his arms, each of which had received
four sabre-cuts ; his thickly-wadded coat had also helped
to save him. When I found the frightful gash on his head
he feebly said : " That is nothing ; let that alone till the
doctor comes."
Dr. Whitelock, who had been out for his evening walk,
at last arrived; and, seeing the desperate nature of the
wounds, went for further assistance. When he returned,
the Brigadier was moved to the bed in the adjoining
room.
About nine o'clock, Captain Orr having sent to the lines
for some native officer, Jemadar Muhammad Huseyn, the
very man he had placed in arrest for mutinous language, at
length came. The Brigadier addressed a few words to
him to the effect that he did not suppose the whole regi-
ment concerned in so foul a business, but that there were
bad men in every corps, who ought to be seized, when
Captain Orr eagerly interrupted him, beseeching him to say
nothing on that score.
1 28 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
When this man withdrew, the wounds were sewn up and
dressed. There were no less than eleven sabre cuts, besides
three severe contusions. The middle finger of the right
hand hung by a shred. He said to me, " Dear, you must
make up your mind to let them take off this middle finger,"
thinking more of the pain to me than to himself. When
the head was shaved, the wound was found to be more than
five inches long, down to the brain, and it was this that
made the surgeons think recovery hopeless. He was per-
fectly collected, and bore everything without a groan, until
chloroform was administered. Instead of making him
insensible, it only excited him. He shouted in Persian and
then some words in a language no one understood, but
which the Aga thought were Pushtu. He called my
name in the most heartrending tones, " Oh Helen ! Helen !
Helen dear !" and this was the hardest to bear of all. He
then evidently thought he was fighting, and struggled
violently ; but when the poor finger was taken off he quickly
recovered, and was very much troubled lest, as he expressed
it, he had "shown any effeminacy." The whole was not
over till past ten.
Dr. Pritchard arrived from Sekanderabad, and remained
the whole night, and the verdict of the medical men was
that, with wounds of such a nature, there was no hope.
This Lieutenant Napier Campbell told me in the most feeling
manner. I could not shed a tear, but begged him to pray,
and went back to my husband. In the midst of extreme
exhaustion he was wonderfully cheerful. I said : "Darling,
it is God's will and therefore " Right," said he. I
added : " He is with thee now ; can you feel His presence V
" / do" was his solemn answer. Another time I said :
"May the Lord stand by thee and strengthen thee !" He
replied : "He did stand by me." I could not bring myself
to repeat the doctors' opinion, but said : " The Lord will be
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 29
with you, dear." He answered brightly : " He is with me."
In feeding him with arrowroot I took a large spoon.
He smiled and said : " Don't ; you'll spoil my mouth." No
speech could have brought more comfort. From that time
I never lost hope.
The favourite dog, a wiry -haired Scotch terrier, was
found huddled up in a corner, and the little pet parakeet,
who never heard his master's voice without giving a respon-
sive shout, was trembling on his perch ; both shivering from
fear and both perfectly silent, though they had been in the
room the whole time. The good Aga, with fever on him,
would not quit his side, but lay on the floor near him.
I opened my Bible at the 30th Psalm ; it was wonderfully
appropriate and encouraging.
Captain Donald Mackinnon and Lieutenant Napier
Campbell of the Artillery were among the first to arrive
after the outrage. The former posted sentries round the
house, and immediately took the evidence of his men who
had been present. They both showed themselves staunch
and energetic friends, and Captain Mackinnon, to his dying
day, always spoke of Mackenzie as "My Brigadier."
In the meantime, the Bissaldar, having superintended
the murderous attack, had returned to his lines, served out
ammunition, and sent out pickets on the Sekanderabad
road, who met General Bell's pickets and turned them back
by a false message. One officer from the latter cantonment
met them on his way into Bolarum, and so far forgot his
duty as to enter into conversation with men whom he knew
to be at that moment in open mutiny, and to have just at-
tempted the murder of their commanding officer. He carried
their story to the Resident and to General Bell, stating
as facts, that the Brigadier had seized the standards of the
procession, trampled them under foot, spit on them, knocked
down their bearers, and committed other acts of violence,
VOL. n. K
1 30 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
by which the regiment had been roused to a state of frenzy.
General Bell at once said : " That is very unlike Mackenzie ;
I cannot believe it." A few days after he told his informant :
" Why, there was not a word of truth in all that you told
me!"
Many people came to .our house that night, and I saw
this officer in close conversation with Captain Orr. Up to
that time there had been no reason to doubt the friendliness
of either; but, by one of those intuitions for which it is
impossible to account, it flashed across my mind that they
were making mischief, and I immediately employed part of
the sleepless hours in making exact memoranda of all that
I had seen and heard. This I continued to do daily, a
most fortunate circumstance, as intense anxiety and emotion
would otherwise have rendered my recollections uncertain
and confused, and I was thus enabled afterwards to draw up
an authentic narrative of all that took place.
It was not till fully three hours after the attack that
Captain Orr went near the Bissallah. He found the whole
regiment under arms. They would not listen to him, and
it was only after " soothing and coaxing " them for upwards
of an hour that they professed obedience. He required, as
a proof of it, that they should send a picket of fifty men
to the Brigadier's quarters ; this they flatly refused to do.
At last he prevailed upon them to consent as a personal
favour to himself, and rode at their head to the gate of the
compound ; but there he encountered the Sepoys of the 3d
Infantry, who drew up across the road, and refused admit-
tance either to him or his troopers. Their commandant,
Captain Mackinnon, was therefore sent for. Captain Orr
called out : "You may take away the infantry;" and then
added in a low tone, " Keep fifty men at the back of the
house," thus showing that his confidence in the troopers was
only pretended. Captain Mackinnon told him plainly that
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 131
not a trooper should enter, and that if they did, he would
move away the whole of the infantry. Captain Orr there-
fore left the sawars outside, and not one did enter the gates
from that time till they left the cantonment, save three
orderlies in immediate attendance on him. Nevertheless
he officially reported that the cavalry had " relieved the 3d
Infantry!"
At daybreak the next morning I went to examine the
house and garden. My Bath-chair was slashed with sabre-
cuts, the verandahs were full of broken chairs hacked to
pieces. The place where my husband had been assailed
was marked by a pool of blood and by two pieces of the
loose muslin ends of the turban round his wideawake hat,
the many folds of which had turned the course of the sabres.
From thence to the door the road was covered with
fragments of cotton from his wadded coat, and with several
pieces of muslin of different patterns, such as the native
kurtas or shirts are made of, a pair of native shoes, and the
papers of seven ball cavalry cartridges. The path he had
taken was easily tracked by the blood on the pillars, floor,
walls, and furniture; and it seemed most wonderful that
the infatuated murderers should have stopped short in the
next room to that occupied by their victim. As a poor
woman who had received kindness from him said, with awe :
" God hid you, madam, in the hollow of His hand."
General Bell had immediately got the troops at Sekan-
derabad under arms, expecting a summons from the Eesi-
dent, and came in early on Saturday to the Bolarum Eesi-
dency, but nothing could induce Mr. Bushby to follow his
advice. The Eesident had hitherto been on the most
friendly terms with the Brigadier, but he was a civilian of
the old Calcutta school, and was now filled with fears of " a
general rising among all the Musalmans of India, which
would shake our empire to its foundations," and inveighed
1 32 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
furiously against all fanatics (meaning thereby not Musal-
mans but Christians), who ought, he said, to be turned out
of the Contingent. Captain Orr had persuaded him that
the Rissallah was quite innocent, but when General Bell at
last prevailed on him to require them to give up the as-
sassins, they positively refused, and rushed out armed on
parade, thus openly mutinying a second time. Captain Orr was
so far alarmed that he sent written orders to Lieutenant
Campbell to get his guns ready "very quietly;" and to
Captain Mackinnon to bring his whole regiment to the com-
pound. The 3d Infantry were posted behind the bushes
ready to receive the attack, which was expected every
moment, and it was thought necessary to move the Briga-
dier in spite of his exhausted condition, which made it a
hazardous experiment, to the upper story of the new wing,
as this could be easily defended against any force. The
Madras troops were ordered in from Sekanderabad, but
were not allowed to act. The only result of their coming
was, that on Sunday they so alarmed the mutineers by
marching up to their lines, that they surrendered some of
the culprits who had been identified. General Bell told
the Resident plainly that an .opportunity had been lost of
giving an excellent lesson, not only to the Rissallah, but to
the whole army, of which they stood in great need.
On Monday, 24th, it was reported that a large force
was coming from the city to help the Rissallah. The Resi-
dent believed it, and sent his wife and daughter for refuge
.to General Bell's at Sekanderabad. Mrs. Orr and most of
the other ladies fled, and it seemed safer to send away also
the young ladies in our house. 1 The Aga's wife behaved
nobly as ever. She was very unwilling to go, but when
1 One young lady, Rose Riddell, an orphan, whom for her meekness
the Brigadier used to call "Arrogance," resolutely refused to move, and
installed herself for the night on the hearth-rug in my dressing-room,
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 33
told it was necessary (as I wished to be free from all other-
care but that of my husband) she quietly assented, made
her preparations, and was ready with her old mother in a
few minutes. She asked the Aga if he were going. 'No,'
he answered, ' how can I leave my chief ? ' and without the
least fuss she bade him farewell, though she supposed the
whole party left in imminent danger. Great was- the tumult
at Sekanderabad the troops under arms the whole night,
the barracks filled with ladies and children roused out of
their sleep.
After a great deal of coming and going all night, in-
cessant messages and notes coming to me, the Eesident at
last sent his carriage to fetch the Brigadier. It was there-
fore necessary to communicate the affair to the latter. I
did so in a few words. He asked " on what authority the
report was believed 1 ?" "A baniah" (shopkeeper). "He
ought to be flogged for spreading such nonsense ! Are any
of the 3d Infantry here?" "Yes." "That's enough; I won't
move," and thus he settled the matter in two minutes. He
was, however, greatly disturbed when he heard that Mr.
Bushby was coming, and said several times : " That is very
wrong. It is a great sign of weakness. Tell Mr. Bushby
not to come, and that I am not going to Sekanderabad."
But it was too late, for just after, about three o'clock A.M.,
the Kesident and Mrs. Mackinnon, almost the only lady left
in cantonments, arrived at our house. The ladies went to
bed, the officers slept on chairs and couches, and the Eesident
sat up till daylight alleviated his anxiety. Five minutes' in-
quiry would have shown the groundless nature of the scare.
I very soon became aware that the mutineers' story as
related to the Resident was generally received, and there-
determined to share the fate of her friends. Good faithful Rose has
long entered into her rest, but her affection will never be forgotten by
those to whom she was so true.
1 34 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
fore made a point of seeing all visitors for the first two days
to put them in possession of the truth. Among them was
Captain S. Orr, who on the first morning gave me a true ver-
sion of the affair, which I at once committed to paper. But
when two days later he told me a totally different story,
endeavouring to persuade me, contrary to the evidence of
my own eyesight, that the procession was composed " only
of children, mere boys," and that " nothing could be better than
the temper of the regiment," I became unwillingly convinced of
his deceit and never saw him again. The press was entirely
misled. The Brigadier was assailed on all sides ; accused
of "fanaticism," of " preaching to the sawars," of "interfering
with their religion ! " and a Roman Catholic paper gravely
asserted that some years ago he had pulled down either a
Muhammadan mosk or a Hindu temple, they were not
quite sure which ! The flags were said to have been broken
and trampled on ; and the act (which was wholly imaginary)
was likened to trampling on the Host in a Eoman Catholic
country, and to pulling the pall off a coffin in a Protestant
one, whereas it would have been much more like confiscating
a mince -pie or a branch of holly at Christmas. Never
did party spirit run higher, and these baseless calumnies
aggravated my trial to an inconceivable extent. It was
necessary to conceal them from my husband, but I resolved
that whether he lived or not his reputation should be de-
fended, and therefore sent copies of the true account all
over India. So careful was I to state facts in the most
moderate manner that Colonel E. Henderson, who knew
every circumstance, wrote : " I do not consider that you
have done justice to your husband's forbearance, when he
first met the rioters; or to his bravery afterwards, when he
scorned to flee before the infuriated mutineers intent upon
his murder. I am perfectly satisfied the whole affair was
preconcerted"
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 135
But if the outbreak of malice and even of treachery in
some who were most bound to the sufferer, was remarkable,
the proofs of sympathy, esteem, and brotherly affection
which poured upon him from all quarters were no less so,
and verified the Divine proverb, that "there is a friend that
sticketh closer than a brother."
Stout soldiers like his old schoolfellow Colonel Hender-
son of the Engineers, burst into tears and kissed him when
they saw the state he was in. He said afterwards, with
emotion: "All the most gallant spirits kissed me." Some
knelt by his bedside to pray for him. Though dissuaded
on account of the danger, for the troopers had possession
of the roads, nothing could keep Mr. Gorton (the senior
chaplain) and his delicate wife from driving over to Bolarum
to see their friend. Not only in the Aga and his wife, but
in every Christian without exception, strangers as well as
friends, the real brotherhood of the children of God was
manifested with the greatest warmth. In all the missions
prayer was daily made in his behalf. This fiery trial was
like a test to distinguish between base metal and pure gold.
Every one's character was manifested with unmistakable
clearness, as a flash of lightning reveals every feature of
a landscape. While my husband was lying maimed and
helpless, totally unable even to be informed of the attacks
made on him, one friend after another stood gallantly
forward to bear testimony to his character, and to his
extraordinary influence among natives of all classes, "his
peculiar facility," as one expressed it, of drawing their
hearts to him. 1
1 An officer who knew him well relates that when he "spoke to
his comrades of his kind, sweet, unselfish character, his experience, his
knowledge of natives, much was the amazement. ' Most unaccountable
how it could have happened.' I answered in one word, ' Bhang. ' I
don't believe that without it, a single native in the whole of India
136 COLIN MACKENZIE.
He had always been very careful of the comfort and health
of his servants, building good quarters for them, supplying
them and their families with warm clothing and blankets,
and was exceedingly gentle and kind to the women and
children. They now showed the greatest faithfulness and
affection ; all were ready to wait on him day or night.
Early one morning the wives of three of the servants were
found sitting in solemn conclave in the garden over a curl
of his hair, which they had picked up and laid on a white
cloth, surrounding it with flowers, and making many salams
to it, till at length they began to dispute who should have
it. The gardener's wife said : " God has given me this
curling hair of my master, and I will keep it," and so she
did.
It is remarkable that all his native friends proved true.
This almost provokes the inquiry whether mere outward
profession of Christianity be not worse than ignorance of it.
Hasan Khan, the Afghan princes Shahpur and his brother,
the Nawab of Jhalgam, Mulla Ibrahim, the Eissaldar of
the 1st Cavalry, the Mir Adal or Chief Judge of Berar,
with many others, wrote repeatedly for news of his pro-
gress. The Mir Adal, a Hadji and Molewi of great learn-
ing, said : " The devil must have taken full possession of
these wretches. Every one knows what a friend the Sahib
has been to Musalmans. This is no religious quarrel, but
pure ' Sheitan ka kisah ' (a work of the devil) ; " and the
Vazir Salar Jung, himself a Shiah, cordially agreed with
him.
The Nizam, one of the most bigoted Musalmans and
thorough haters of the British in India, when he was
informed of the murderous outbreak, growled out: "Yih
Din ka kisah nahin : maro " (This is no religious quarrel :
who knew him, or had even heard of him, would do such a dastardly
deed on Colin Mackenzie."
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 37
slay them i.e. the mutineers); and yet, in spite of this
decisive testimony, European officers were found to re-echo
the cry of fanaticism, " interference with the religion of the
natives," etc. etc., as if they knew better than bigoted Musal-
mans ! The Friend of India indignantly pronounced this
" the most melancholy feature of the affair. It is, we believe,
the first time in which open mutiny has been extenuated
by English officers, defended and palliated by an English
press."
It was a principle with " old Indians," by which
Government was strongly influenced, that the European,
the officer, and especially the Christian, must be in the
wrong; and the native, more particularly the troops,
right. 1
By General Bell's advice a company of the 3d N.I.
remained on duty in the Brigadier's compound until the
3d Cavalry left the station. 2 The native officers actually
quarrelled among themselves as to who should command
the guard over the Brigadier. They were to be poorly
requited for their fidelity.
Moving the sufferer to an upper story had a most bene-
ficial effect ; the room was lofty, open on all sides into wide
verandahs, and consequently both quiet and so cool that no
pankahs were necessary; and there was the comfort of
feeling that in case of attack fifty men could hold it against
hundreds. It was quite a fort. He went on so well for
the first few days that I asked a medical officer if he
did not think he might recover. He explained that fever
must set in when the wound in the head began to heal, and
1 This was clearly shown at the beginning of the great Mutiny.
Colonel Wheler was compelled to retire from the service, though he
had nothing whatever to do with the Barrackpore Mutiny, and although
his own regiment, the 31st, to which he had preached for years, proved
the Abdiel of the Bengal Army. 2 See Appendix A, p. 361.
1 38 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
that would be fatal. "But perhaps it will not set in 1 ?"
He answered : " My dear Mrs. Mackenzie, in these days
God does not work miracles ; " adding, with great tears
dropping from his eyes : " All God's people in these can-
tonments are praying for him : " and the Lord hearkened.
No fever of any consequence did set in, and in eight days
the head had healed so far that the bandage was taken off.
His coolness and perfect composure from the very first
were most wonderful, and he was the most unselfish of
patients. When I read Eom. viii. 35 to him, " What shall
separate us from the love of Christ ; shall tribulation . . .
or peril or sword ? " he said, with great earnestness : " The
sword, so far from separating me, has made me know more
of the love of Christ. I welcome, this trial."
He was evidently much in prayer, and whenever he
had an interval of greater ease he would play me little
tricks and laugh at their success. A tiny splinter of bone
was taken from his head, which he called a " chip of the old
block." He was almost entirely starved for five days, and
only on the sixth day got a little beef -tea. This was a
great mistake ; he ought to have been well nourished.
He suffered intense pain in the amputated finger. Both
arms were in splints, and he used to say cheerfully :
" Happy is the man who can rub his own nose !"
A letter to my mother says: "From the first my
dearest husband has recognised God's hand in this heavy
trial. He quoted: 'Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous but grievous ; nevertheless, afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby ' (Heb. xii. 11). I felt the first
days as if my heart would break to see my noble energetic
husband so maimed and helpless, and the whole house
dabbled with his blood, so that I cannot move without
stepping on it.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 139
"The Aga has been invaluable, nursing him with un-
wearied tenderness. llth October. He cannot be left
alone, and now requires some amusement, such as being
read and talked to, as he is able to sit up a little. Nothing
can exceed his patience and cheerfulness."
Four days after the outrage, a Court of Inquiry assem-
bled under the Presidency of Major Cuthbert Davidson,
assistant to the Resident. As most of the officers composing
the Court were junior to the Brigadier, and some under his
command, there could be no inquiry into his acts ; but the
proceedings, though relating entirely to men under his
command, were, in utter subversion of all military discipline,
kept secret from him, and he never saw them.
On the 9th of October, at the risk of his life, he dictated
a statement to Major Davidson and Major Pritchard, but
paid dearly for this exertion by excessive subsequent ex-
haustion. So anxious was he not to injure Captain S. Orr,
that he made no mention of his leaving him to face the
mutineers alone, or of his remaining inactive afterwards.
The inquiry was greatly mismanaged ; Major Davidson was
a very unsuitable president, as he had formerly been Com-
mandant of the mutinous Bissallah, and none of the evidence
was taken on oath. My husband was anxious that my
evidence should be heard, as I was the only European
eye-witness besides Captain Orr, but Major Davidson twice
refused, on the plea that " ladies' evidence, unless absolutely
necessary, is never taken."
The Brigadier resumed command of cantonments on the
10th, and immediately sent away the cavalry picket which
Captain Orr had posted outside his gate, determined that
he would have no hand in placing mutineers on duty. His
motive for resuming command before he was even out of
danger, was chiefly that he might demand a copy of Captain
Orr's Report to the Eesident. This Report proved to be
140 COLIN MACKENZIE.
full of inaccuracies, self-contradictions, and inventions, the
climax being directly contrary to fact. It stated: "So
satisfied was I of the fidelity and good-feeling of the men
that I took a strong picket of them down to the Brigadier's
house, with which I relieved the regiment of infantry ; " and yet
in the very next paragraph he states : "There can be no
doubt the rioters intended to murder the Brigadier," these
rioters being all sawars ! The Brigadier refuted these state-
ments, officially charging Captain S. Orr with falsehood, of
which heavy charge no notice was ever taken. 1
Not only did officers of the Eissallah deny that there had
been any mutiny, and talk of the regiment being as " quiet
as lambs," but Captain S. Orr asked one of the ladies who
was wounded what could make her think the assailants
were sawars 1 (!), and continued to receive the Rissaldar
in the most friendly manner at his own house. The Kesi-
dent expressed his displeasure at those who spoke of the
3d Cavalry as " mutineers," and threatened to hand up one
of the chaplains to Government for using this term in a
private note to an officer.
The Hindu religious festival of the Dusserah fell on the
12th of October. The Hindus of the force had already
obtained their usual ten days' leave, when they unanimously
renounced it, both infantry and artillery stating that they
could not think of availing themselves of it, " as the Briga-
dier would not be safe." Men do not give up at once an
indulgence and the observance of religious rites without
some strong reason, and the behaviour of the 3d Infantry
and Artillery shows very clearly their opinion of the conduct
and temper of the Eissallah. The Brigadier issued an order
thanking them for their fidelity and zeal.
On the 1st November the 3d Rissallah was sent away to
Aurangabad and relieved by the 2d Cavalry, who were such
1 See Appendix B, p. 361.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 141
ardent partisans of Brigadier Mackenzie, the natives even
more so than the Europeans, that the officers considered it
fortunate that they did not meet the 3d Bissallah on the
road, as they would certainly have come to blows with
them for having disgraced the mounted branch of the
service.
In the meantime my husband had been suffering most
severely. My letters are disjointed, but they may give a
better idea of what he endured than a smoother narra-
tive :
"26th October. To-day is five weeks, and they have
taken the splint off the left arm, but the cut is not healed.
He has been suffering dreadfully the last week from spas-
modic pains, caused, they say, by loss of blood. Pray much
for us, for I have had more anxiety than I could well bear.
His unselfishness is wonderful. Our Lord is very gracious
to us. His behaviour was most noble. I trust his cause
to Him who has so miraculously preserved his life, and I
doubt not the truth will be known. My hair has grown so
gray the last month !
"8th November. To-day my Colin walked and sat
in the verandah enjoying the fresh morning air for the
first time. The little dog caught sight of him from the
garden below, and fairly shrieked with joy at seeing him
again."
On the 15th he was able to take his first drive, but in
a day or two 'the opium which had been given him on
account of the spasms began to affect him. It was evident
that the quantity must be daily increased, or that it must
be left off altogether. He determined to give it up, and
persevered heroically in spite of the dreadful feeling of
indescribable horror which oppressed him. This lasted
about a week, and he said afterwards "death would have
been a relief." This seemed to me the most heroic thing he
1 42 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
ever did. Though by God's great mercy the spasms left
him, he then suffered from extreme sleeplessness, and
became so alarmingly weak and languid that the doctors
urged immediate change of air. The very next day (23d
November) he was moved five miles into Sekanderabad to
the house of his old friend and fellow-captive, Captain E.
Webb, with the result of an immediate improvement in
appetite. The following day he went on six miles more to
the Residency at Haidrabad, which Mr. Bushby kindly
placed at our disposal. It is a magnificent building in the
midst of beautiful grounds.
By the end of November he was able to read part of
the day, and in spite of the nervousness and restlessness
which troubled him, he was one of the most even-tempered
and unselfish of patients. All the Resident's Staff showed
him sympathy and kind attention, and the quiet of the
place, with its noble tamarind and banyan trees making
the garden always shady, was very soothing to him.
Not less so was the change in public opinion. The
papers began to learn the truth, and spoke of him as "the
very soul of honour," " the most gallant courteous gentle-
man," etc. The Friend of India stood up valiantly for him,
and said that " not a shadow of blame could be cast upon
him," and that "if the truth is known regarding his great
forbearance in the first instance, and his undaunted gallantry
in turning unarmed to meet these cowardly murderers, no
one could withhold the highest admiration." The feeling
of the European troops who had served with him was
amusingly exemplified by a sergeant. The 3d Dragoons,
then in the North -West, were eagerly discussing the news
of the Bolarum Mutiny, when one of them, who had known
him in Afghanistan, reassured his comrades " I know
Brigadier Mackenzie : he won't die, no, not he !" and then,
as if it suddenly struck him that it did not quite depend
COLIN MACKENZIE. 143
on a man's own resolution, he added, as a saving clause :
" Or if he do die, he won't die funking !"
But the shock to his nerves had been terribly severe,
and showed itself in most acute attacks of neuralgia or
periosteal pains in the arms, which obliged him to walk up
and down for hours every night. We used to pace the
verandahs together until at last, towards the end of
December, the pain was mercifully relieved by pouring
pitcherfuls of cold water over the arms until they were
almost numb.
When his little favourite, Bibi, the parakeet, was
brought to him, the creature's joy was quite touching. It
ran up to his shoulder, kissed him over and over again, ran
round to the other shoulder, kissed him on that side,
throwing itself backward to look at him, shouting, and
trembling all over with delight. It was too much for his
shattered nerves, and the tears rolled down his cheeks. The
faithful little thing could eat nothing that day from sheer
excitement. And these are the creatures they shoot at
matches in Bangalore as they do pigeons in England !
Although he kept up his spirits, he could not bear
the slightest excitement without subsequent exhaustion for
two or three days, and complete change of scene was pro-
nounced indispensable to his recovery. He waited, how-
ever, for the Governor-General's decision, taking an interest
meanwhile in the associations connected with the Residency
the Zenana Compound, built for the native lady whom
a former Resident (Kirkpatrick) married ; l the gigantic
tortoises, older than the British dominion in India; and
the tomb of a Sati, with a rough bas-relief of the victim
riding behind her husband on one horse.
At last, in January, Lord Dalhousie's orders arrived. A
gentleman came over from Bolarum to watch "how the
1 Their daughter is the Kitty Kirkpatrick mentioned by Carlyle.
144 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
Brigadier and his wife would take them. " Of course neither
of us flinched a hair's-breadth.
The decision of Government was promulgated without
any communication having been made to the Brigadier, any
question being put to him, any hint given that blame was
attached to him, or any portion of the evidence laid before
Government none of which was taken on oath having
been made known to him. General Bell had been in
Calcutta, most anxious to express his opinion on the sub-
ject to the Governor -General, but Lord Dalhousie had
allowed him no opportunity of doing so. On first hearing
of it he said, " Mackenzie does not know what fear is ;
he has gone out among a fanatical mob, and got himself
cut to pieces." He spoke of him with much affection and
admiration, but he had got this idea into his head, and
it never could be got out again. The only person whom
the Governor-General consulted on the matter was Major
Cuthbert Davidson, who went to meet his lordship
on the coast. The information laid before Government
having been very incomplete and inaccurate, there were
several mistakes in the decision, which could not have
occurred had the Brigadier been communicated with.
Lord Dalhousie stated, " with sincere regret, that in his
opinion, the immediate and the real cause of the outrage
was the act of the Brigadier himself in rushing from his
compound into the midst of a Musalman rabble, roused by
the excitement of the Muharram, and there seizing their
standards, and coming into personal conflict with them.
The Governor-General in Council entertains a high respect
for Brigadier Mackenzie, as a good and distinguished soldier,
and as honourable, conscientious, and gallant a gentleman
as the army can show. His Lordship in Council therefore
looks with not less regret than disapprobation on the
intemperate act which has produced so much evil, and has
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 145
brought down such grievous suffering upon the Brigadier
himself."
Now the orders were those sanctioned by Government
throughout India. He did not "rush;" his forbearance
was shown by sending repeatedly and refusing to employ
force ; and a very important point was entirely overlooked.
There was every reason to believe that the Mutiny was
preconcerted ; the only loyal native officer of the 3d Cavalry,
now promoted to Kissaldar, openly declared this; therefore
the Brigadier, in stopping the first overt act of mutiny,
could not possibly be the cause of it. It was known that
an inflammatory proclamation from Lucknow had reached
Haidrabad, and it is highly probable that this was the
immediate cause of the outbreak.
The Governor-General then denounced the conduct of
the Eissallah, and directed the dismissal of the native
officers (without trial), excepting Jemadar Mozuffur Khan, 1
he having invited the interposition of the European officers.
The only objection to this was that he had done no such
thing. It is certain that he never came near the house. It
is equally certain that Jemadar Muhammad Huseyn did
come, and did urge Captain Orr to go to the regiment.
His Lordship then, without one word of commendation
for the distinguished zeal and loyalty of the 3d Infantry
(both Musalmans and Hindus), dismissed the jemadar who
had first come to our rescue and the havildar of the guard
for not firing on the mutineers. The first received distinct
orders not to fire ; the second was not present. 2 This proves
the very imperfect nature of the information conveyed to
Government.
The Brigadier sent in the petitions of the three men so
unjustly dismissed, strongly supporting them by his own
testimony, and on the Eesident's refusal either to read or to
1 See Appendix C. 2 See Appendix D.
VOL. II. L
146 COLIN MACKENZIE,
forward them, he sent them direct to the Governor-General,
hoping that a statement of facts would induce Lord Dal-
housie to reverse the sentence. But this and all his subse-
quent efforts on their behalf proved vain.
Our own house having been let, the Nawab Salar Jung
very kindly placed his Bolarum house at our disposal,
and we went in to prepare for Europe. Before our de-
parture my husband, though scarcely able to sit his horse,
ordered a parade, at which he took leave of the 3d Infantry,
thanked the regiment for their fidelity, and presented the
native Commandant with his own sword. The native
officers afterwards came to pay their farewell visit. One
and all entreated him, many of them with tears in their
eyes, to do his best for Jemadar Sumjaun, saying: "He was
our brother, and now he is as one dead." When that
unfortunate officer came in, the Brigadier offered him a
chair, to which his rank formerly entitled him, but he
refused, and sat down on the ground.
My husband's wounds had healed most rapidly, but their
effects remained, and he never fully recovered the excessive
loss of blood. He was not only maimed for life, but suffered
always more or less from his wounds. He also deeply felt
the want of power which he had hitherto possessed in so
great a degree. Every now and then there was something
he had always done, which he could do no longer. He
almost gave up driving, in which he had excelled, and it
was very sad to see the mortification with which he looked
at his sword, and said " I shall never be able to draw my
sword again ! "
But he felt strongly that any suffering or injustice he
met with, however hard to bear, was still permitted in love
by his Heavenly Father, and was among those " all things
which work together for good to them who love God;" but
the shameful treatment of men who had no such hope to
COLIN MACKENZIE. 147
sustain them, and the utter indifference to common justice
shown by others who called themselves Christians, cut him
to the heart. 1
He had, however, the consolation that every true
soldier approved of all he had done. Outram said, with
indignation : " Why, I thought every one knew you did
perfectly right at Bolarum ! " And long afterwards Colonel
Donald Stewart (since Commander-in-Chief of India), after
re-reading the narrative of the Mutiny, said to Mackenzie :
"Even now, with your full knowledge of all the circum-
stances, I don't see how, if the thing happened over again,
you could act otherwise as a gentleman."
The 3d Infantry had evinced the most perfect fidelity
and zeal. It was to their loyal and determined conduct
that every Christian owed life and safety ; and not even
one of the Musalmans among them (all of whom volun-
tarily gave up their leave for the Muharram) failed in his
duty. Nevertheless they never received the slightest
acknowledgment from either the Eesident or the Supreme
Government an omission which, together with the sur-
prising dismissal of the two native officers, who were
the first to come to the rescue, caused the deepest dis-
appointment and great bitterness of feeling in that gallant
regiment.
The effect of this order, by which the men of the loyal
infantry were punished nearly as severely as those of the
mutinous cavalry, the blame cast upon the Brigadier for
doing his plain duty, and the impunity granted to assassins
and murderers, had the worst effect. It taught the Army
that Mutiny and Assassination were venial crimes. More than
one officer has since been threatened in the performance of
his duty with the words "Kemember what befel Mackenzie
Sahib ! " and, instead of the army being taught a lesson,
1 Appendix E.
148 COLIN MACKENZIE.
which many officers besides General Bell even then saw " to
be greatly needed," and which, had it been consistently
followed up, might have averted the Mutiny of 1857, they
were confirmed in the idea that the Government did not
dare to punish, and were encouraged to attempt and per-
petrate the horrors which, . in less than two years after,
deluged India with blood.
CHAPTEE XXVIII
HOME THE GREAT MUTINY.
(1856-1857.)
"Ye Christian dogs! you know your option, the Kuran, the tri-
bute, or the sword." Kur&n.
11 Kill them wherever you find them." Kurdn, chap. ix.
" And though our souls have many a billow breasted,
Others are rising in the distance now."
WE embarked at Bombay in March. Sir William and
Lady Gomm were among the passengers, the late Com-
mander-in-Chief, though most cordial and friendly, never
uttered a syllable on the Bolarum outbreak. He had just
pronounced the Bengal army in " a perfectly healthy state
of discipline," an opinion endorsed by Lord Dalhousie in
his farewell Minute ! The gentlemen on board vied
with each other in showing kindness and attention to the
wounded Brigadier, waiting on him and helping him in
every possible way.
Landing at Trieste, we spent a week at Venice, with
which my husband was charmed ; but his sympathy was
strongly roused for the inhabitants groaning under the
Austrian yoke. The city bore traces of the bombardment,
guns were placed under the arcades of the Doge's Palace,
ready to sweep the square, and when the magnificent
Austrian bands came to perform, each musician had his
150 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
loaded musket by his side, and every respectable Italian
left the piazza.
Two Hungarian priests on board the steamer indicated
the manner in which their unfortunate country was
governed, by showing a rope. At Adelsberg we joined
three charming unmarried American ladies in visiting
the lovely caves, and travelled with them in carriages to
Vienna. We were delighted with Prague. That most
interesting of cities, like Vienna and Venice, bore marks of
the shot and shell to which the Emperor had treated each
of his capitals. Visiting the old Jewish burial-ground, the
most ancient in Europe, my husband got into a discussion
with a Jew who had given up all the hopes and all the
beliefs of his people, who looked for no Messiah, longed for
no restoration of Israel, and seemed to have nothing Jewish
left to him but national pride, though what an unbelieving
Jew has to be proud of does not appear.
It was with real respect that Major Mackenzie saluted the
deposed Emperor Ferdinand, then living on the Wradschin.
This prince suffered from epilepsy, but although the mind
was weakened, yet having sworn to maintain the rights of
his people, nothing could make him break his oath. His
answer was : " Mein Eid, mein Eid " (my oath), wherefore he
abdicated in favour of his nephew. The Brigadier was
travelling in uniform, having no plain clothes, and got
a violent attack of bronchitis on the journey to Dresden.
We greatly enjoyed the warmth with which all the
old friends we had left ten years before greeted our
return. Certainly Germans are most faithful and hearty in
friendship. My mother and sister were then living at
Bruxelles, and after a fortnight's rest with them, we hastened
to London to print a true narrative of the Bolarum Mutiny,
and to endeavour to get redress for the unfortunate native
officers. Having done all in his power, he was ordered to
COLIN MACKENZIE. 151
Teplitz in August, where the waters were wonderfully
efficacious in restoring some degree of flexibility to the
right hand, and in 'removing the severe periosteal pains
from which he suffered. Here, too, a warm friendship was
formed with Count and Countess Piickler, with whom some
delightful days were passed at Weistritz, in the Silesian
mountains. Another great pleasure was a visit to Mr. and
Mrs. Edward, of the Free Church Mission to the Jews at
Breslau, from whom we heard further details of Austrian
treachery and tyranny. 1
The Christmas of that year was spent, as so many of
our happiest anniversaries had been spent, in the dear
circle at Grangemuir the last time that it was an un-
broken one. Other visits followed to Taymouth, Pollok,
Kennet, etc., all bringing refreshment to both mind and
body.
In April my husband obtained an extension of sick
furlough, and in May, his strength being pronounced suffi-
ciently restored, he underwent a severe operation, "not
without peril," by the removal of the joint and centre of the
sword hand. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, he
attended a levee, and used often to recall the boisterous
scene so different from that of former years. In vain the
gentlemen of the Court entreated order and patience;
those at the farther end of the anteroom cried, "Forward,
forward," and absolutely charged the door of the presence-
chamber, so that in the struggle the floor was strewn with
feathers from the officers' hats, as if they had been autumn
leaves, and Mackenzie having only one serviceable arm,
was spun round in spite of the efforts of Captain Clagett
1 Ex grat. Flying from Jassy on account of the Russian invasion
in 1848, Mr. and Mrs. Edward reached Lemberg at the end of October.
Twenty thousand Austrian troops occupied the town. They were
suddenly withdrawn, and the town bombarded I
152 . COLIN MACKENZIE.
to shield him, and violently propelled into Her Majesty's
presence backwards !
The Queen, seeing his right arm in a sling, and noticing
his difficulty in managing hat and sword as he knelt, put
her hand to his lips with such a sweet look of compassion
and sympathy that he never forgot it. It was but a trifle,
but it showed the womanly kindness of our tender-hearted,
stout-hearted Queen, who cares no more for a bullet past
her head than if it were an after-dinner cracker, and yet is
so quick to sympathise with all sorrow or suffering.
We then went to Norfolk, and the date of a delightful
visit to the Eev. Edward and Mrs. Eyre, with a tour to
Holkham, Raynham, and other places of interest, stamped
itself on our minds, for the days so full of peaceful enjoy-
ment to us were those of the outbreak of the great Mutiny,
10th May 1857. We heard the terrible news on the 27th
June, at Manchester, whither we had gone with Lady
William Douglas and her eldest daughter, to enjoy perhaps
the finest collection of pictures ever brought together. It
came like a thunderclap. We knew so well what mutiny
meant, that we realised the scene more than perhaps any
one else in England, It was evident that the motives which
caused mutiny at stations so distant from each other as
Berhampore, Barrackpore, and Mirat, must affect the whole
Bengal army.
Some years before Major Mackenzie had officially
warned Lord Dalhousie of the dangerous state of the native
troops, urging " the necessity for strict discipline, without
which an army of mercenaries must degenerate into Stre-
litzes, janissaries, or praetorian guards," for which plain
speaking he got a reprimand from Government, backed by
another from the Court of Directors ! He now wrote a
letter to the Times, under the signature of " Miles," which
was only inserted through the personal influence of Carlyle,
COLIN MACKENZIE. 153
pointing out that "the root of the matter was the false
policy of Government" their system of centralisation
which had deprived officers of all authority, so that they
could neither reward nor punish, thus destroying the tie of
personal influence, the only tie which can bind mercenary
soldiers to a foreign Government, and recommending that
twenty thousand men, especially artillery, should im-
mediately be sent to India, " by, if possible, the overland
route."
The Life of Sir John Lawrence shows that he at once
named the alienation between the officers and Sepoys as
one of the main causes of the Mutiny, but not being a mili-
tary man, he did not put his finger on the cause of that
alienation, which was centralisation. 1 Lord Hardinge, as
an old soldier, made the Commandants of his four Sikh in-
fantry regiments, deputy-magistrates, with power to punish
offences, and they, having sole power to select men for promo-
tion (as in all Irregular regiments), their men looked to them
and to no one else. The only regiments which remained
faithful (besides Wheler's corps, the 31st) were Irregulars.
This fatal system of CENTRALISATION cannot be too
much denounced, for there is always a tendency to recur
to it.
Mr. .Kaye, then secretary to the Court of Directors,
wrote to ask Major Mackenzie's opinion of the " causes and
remedies " of the Mutiny. He replied at length (6th July),
dwelling on this fatal system of centralisation begun by
Lord William Bentinck :
1 Sir Charles Napier said : " The Governor-General takes two-thirds
of the power which a Commander-in-Chief ought to exercise." Sir
Frederick Currie sent such troops as he thought fit to besiege Multan.
Lord Dalhousie and the Council arranged all the details of the Burmese
War. Mr. Bushby was Commander-in-Chief in the Dekkan, whereas
the military commanders could not move a man, nor try an offence.
154 COLIN MACKENZIE.
" Very unlike "Wellesley, Hastings, and other great rulers, who
knew not only how to choose their instruments, but how to
trust them. Officers have been deprived of all real authority.
The youngest Sepoy has learnt to look over the head of his
company officer to the Colonel of the regiment, beyond the
Colonel to the Brigadier, beyond the Brigadier to the General,
beyond the General to the Adjutant -General, and, to use the
words of Sir Charles Napier, the Commander-in-Chief himself
has been constantly turned by the Governor -General into a
' monster Adjutant.' . . . The dolcefar niente system has been in
a manner forced upon officers, while a spirit of antagonism
towards his superiors has been fostered in the Sepoy up to its
present pitch."
Next to this came the complicated system of payment,
with never-ending retrenchments. (Sir Henry Lawrence
had long before declared that disputes about pay had been
the most frequent cause of mutiny.) He recommended
mixing races and castes both in regiments and in the army,
enlisting Afghans, Eohillas, low castes, Malays, and even
Caffres and negroes, and stationing regiments away from
their own districts, promotion by merit instead of seniority,
an extension of the Irregular system, the despatch of troops
without a moment's delay, and stationing men-of-war at Bom-
bay and Calcutta. He added his conviction that this
would turn out to be a Muhammadan plot, of which the
Hindus had been made tools, an opinion afterwards amply
verified.
He urged that " officers should have the full power as
well as the full responsibility belonging to the duties of
their office. . . . When a man is trusted he does his utmost,
when he is sure of support in doing right he will seldom
spare himself, but if he is sure of nothing but being in-
spected, suspected, and neglected, he loses heart and zeal,
draws his pay, and keeps out of scrapes. . . . The officers should
COLIN MACKENZIE. 155
not only be the representatives of Government as regards
the Sepoys, they should be the representatives of the
Sepoys as regards Government. Latterly they have not
been permitted to act in either capacity, consequently
innumerable cases of hardship and wrong have been un-
redressed. The pay of the men has been cut without
explanation, innocent men have been dismissed, incapable
native officers and men have been retained when entitled to
pension, assistance has been refused to regiments when
food was at famine price, and in the case of the car-
tridges, orders have been given, offensive to the religious
feelings of the troops, and all against the earnest, re-
spectful, and repeated remonstrances of their commanding
officers."
Our staunch friend Lord Breadalbane was very anxious
that Lord Palmerston should hear Major Mackenzie's
opinions on the Mutiny, and wrote to him on the subject.
My husband had a long interview with the Prime Minister
and found him most pleasant; but after endeavouring
for upwards of an hour to enlighten him on the origin
and causes of the Mutiny, it was rather discouraging
when Lord Palmerston asked : " Then do you mean
to say that, in your opinion, the ' Mahometans ' (sic)
had anything to do with this outbreak?" It made him
feel almost hopeless of making any one understand the
subject.
Mr. Webber, the surgeon who had so skilfully operated
on his hand, stated in a certificate (14th July) that it would
be extremely hazardous for him to return to India, but he
could not remain inactive in such an emergency ; and, within
three weeks (4th August), he volunteered to return at once.
In September the Court refused his wound pension, but
granted permission to return to duty, accompanied by an
expression of their wish " that some position might be found
156 COLIN MACKENZIE,
for Brigadier Mackenzie suited to his rank and distinguished
services."
On taking leave of him, John Stuart Mill laid hold of
his hand and said : " It is by men like you that we have
won India, and it is by men like those who have injured
you that I fear we shall lose it."
The excitement of those days can hardly be realised.
A letter from India became common property. One spoke,
thought, wrote of nothing but the Mutiny; and it was
a relief to be out of the way of hearing fresh horrors and
fresh losses.
Passing through Paris, Major Mackenzie was warmly
received by his old friend Prince Czartoriski and his nephew
Count Zamoiski, who had not given up hope of the restora-
tion of freedom to Poland. Paris was then daily becoming
more magnificent ; the old crooked streets being replaced by
wide and straight ones, which could be swept from end to end
by cannon, while the poor were driven beyond the barriers
by the demolition of their dwellings in order to erect mag-
nificent houses for the richer classes. This caused great
discontent, but the city was full of troops, and Major Mac-
kenzie observed that the regiments on duty at the Louvre
were changed daily. No one said the Emperor was liked,
but he was preferred to a Red Republic.
My mother and sister accompanied us to Marseilles,
where the parting was more than usually sad, as no one
could tell what might befall those who were "outward
bound."
December 1858. We comforted ourselves with the
thought that " we are all travelling, and that rapidly, towards
our home above, and the life that is now passing from us
apart is only the short journey-time towards our eternal
reunion, when we shall walk hand in hand in ' the city
which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. 5 '"'
COLIN MACKENZIE. 157
Our real life is not fleeting away, but coming. A bright
morning, with no night; no more pain, sickness, or sorrow;
no more tears, no more partings.
" Blessed Land ! no foe can. enter,
And wo friend departeth thence."
Some blamed my husband for taking me with him,
but he was the last man who would expose any woman
to danger. It was an unspeakable relief to be together
as long as possible, and I made up my mind if he were
ordered to the front, to go to the nearest place possible to
him. By the good providence of God, we never were
separated.
The steamer was excessively crowded with officers
ordered to India, but very few ladies; and the Emu
having knocked against a rock, the soldiers intended
for her were stuffed into the Hindustan, making the
number in all seven hundred ! The spacious decks were
piled ten feet high with luggage and stores. We carried
out 250 artillery and engineers, the first which were
sent overland. My husband had urged this measure
immediately on hearing of the Mutiny, but it was then
declared "impracticable!"
Among the passengers was a distinguished Oriental
scholar, Captain Nassau Lees, who went into one of the
mosks at Cairo and wrote down the prayer which is offered
by all Muhammadans throughout the world, the name of
the King of Delhi being substituted in India for that of the
Sultan. It is as follows : " Lord save the Sultan and
destroy the infidels (kafirs) ! Cause their feet to slip and
sully their banners ! And bring shame upon their women,
and make their children orphans ! And cause them to
waste away with grief, and cause their descendants, and
158 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
their women, and their property to become a prey to the
Moslim!" 1
In Egypt my husband had some highly interesting
conversations, which afforded striking commentaries on this
prayer. Halim Pasha spoke freely about the Mutiny. He
said : " The British should not be astonished at this outbreak
and these atrocities. I am a Musalman myself, yet I can-
not help saying that the very essence of Islam consists in a
desire to slay Christians." There is no sympathy felt in Egypt
for the Indian Musalmans, who are looked upon as Hindus.
He added : " It is all nonsense to think of governing Muham-
madans by conciliation. If you are to keep India you must
keep it by the strong hand." Every one in Egypt told us
that the Musalmans were all ripe for a Jehdd, or religious
war against Christians, and that they were only kept in
order by the strong hand of Said Pasha.
Hekykian Bey, a highly intelligent Syrian gentleman,
insisted much on the necessity of ruling according to "simple
justice, so as to be understood by the most ignorant, and
not according to the subtleties of English law, and especially
on letting our power be seen and felt, as nothing but the
display of force justifies a Muhammadan, according to his
own principles, in submitting to any authority that is not of
his own religion. He is bound to resist and rebel except
when he cannot help himself."
The Sheik ul Islam at Cairo, the head of the Muhammadan
faith, told Captain Lees, whom he treats as a friend on ac-
count of his knowledge of Musalman law and literature, that
it was " not obligatory (farz) to rise up against the British
Government in India, because there was no chance of success;"
but this does not prevent its being jaiz, or commendable !
1 When the Nazim of Bengal found this in my album, though no
Arabic scholar, he read it fluently (as a Romanist would do a Pater or
Credo), and remarked : "A very strong prayer."
COLIN MACKENZIE. 159
The oppression of the people in Egypt is frightful.
Men are seized and carried off to work for the Pasha, and,
no arrangements being made to feed them, they die by
thousands. The prophecy c The Egyptians will I give over
into the hand of a cruel lord " (Isa. xix. 4) is still being
fulfilled.
Like all Oriental princes, the Pasha is extremely mag-
nificent in his gifts and hospitality. We were told that
the British Government actually suffered him to defray all
the expenses of transporting two regiments of cavalry from
India during the Crimean War, which cost him 50,000.
We also allow him to pay all the expenses of our Governors-
General and Commanders-in-Chief when passing through
Egypt. He sends his own carriages and steamers for
them, and Lord Canning's excursion up the Nile cost His
Highness about .5000. As he has an empty exchequer,
this money is wrung from "the hard hands of peasants"
already ground to the dust by extortion and misery.
The Eev. Dr. Kincaid, a colleague of Judson in the
American Burman Mission, a man of great sense and experi-
ence, was among the passengers, and gave a lecture on the
present crisis, which met with general approval. He ex-
pressed strongly his sense of the sin and folly of the Indian
Government in protecting idolatry and Muhammadanism
and, as far as in it lay, discountenancing the Truth. He
said it would be contrary to all we read and know of God's
dealings with men, if such conduct in the most religious and
highly -favoured nation on earth had been passed over
without some signal mark of Divine indignation, and he
believed that the innocent women and children had been
allowed to suffer so cruelly to mark it as a national visita-
tion, and because this was the only thing that could have
aroused the nation. Had only officers and civilians fallen,
people at home would have said it was their fault; but
1 60 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
now they are compelled to look beyond individual faults.
Mr. Kincaid said he had conversed with officers of all
ranks, and that it was as much as an officer's commission
was worth if he did not pamper and spoil the Sepoys. In
every case in dispute between an officer and his men, the
Government always pronounced the officer in the wrong
never supported his authority, but brought him into contempt
by supporting his men on all occasions against him, and this
out of a mean fear of what the Sepoys might do if their
religious prejudices were interfered with. What they can
do in spite of, or in consequence of, all this petting and
spoiling has been sufficiently shown.
These were entirely Mackenzie's own views, and were
shared by almost every officer of experience in India.
Fifteen years before Eldred Pottinger wrote : " Latterly
every effort has been made to reduce the power of the
commanding officers, and Government has nearly succeeded.
All our old soldiers regret past times, however, and would
rather have the old system than the new. If the Govern-
ment does not take some decided step to recover the affec-
tions of the army I really think that a single spark will
How the Sepoys into mutiny ; for the zeal of the officers is
cold, and it has been that alone which has prevented this
hitherto" (29th May 1842).
At Galle we fell in with a surgeon of the 37th Queen's,
who related some particulars of the disastrous attempt to
relieve Arrah by Capt. D . He went blundering on in
the dark in spite of remonstrances. The party was attacked
in a narrow causeway between two ditches, they could not
see the enemy, and had to return to the steamer, leaving
many of their wounded, with half their number hors de
combat. The women of the 10th Foot, who were exceedingly
anxious because no guns had been sent with the force (for
old soldiers' wives know pretty well what ought to be done),
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 161
no sooner heard of the return of the steamer, which anchored
opposite the hospital, her decks covered with the dead and
dying, than they ran down to inquire for their husbands.
Maddened at the tidings they rushed off in a body to General
Lloyd's quarters, and would have torn him in pieces had
not his staff barricaded the house and sent for assistance.
On the 4th December the Calcutta pilot came on board
with the news of Havelock's death. It was announced in
a telegram singularly wanting in feeling : " All well at
Alambagh. General Havelock died this morning."
As we lay to at the mouth of the river, the air seemed
laden with wailing and groans. One could not tell what the
noises really were, but they brought to mind the heathen
description of the sounds of woe heard from Hades. Of
India at that moment it might truly be said
" The earth is full of farewells to the dying,
And wailings for the dead;
Kachel is ever o'er her children crying
And is not comforted."
We arrived the next day and found a home with our
brother James J. Mackenzie, one of the most kindly and
hospitable of men. We dined at Government House a few
days after; Lord Canning talked with my husband for
more than half an hour. Lady Canning was a charming
person, though at this time careworn, she retained her fine
eyes, Diana-like figure, and magnificent hair, which nearly
touched the ground, and which she wore in coils of braids
at the back of the head without any other ornament.
Like her sister Lady Waterford, whose beauty in most
respects contrasted with hers, she was remarkable for
the peculiar grace of her head and neck, which reminded
one of a swan. She was in every respect a noble woman,
of frank unaffected courtesy and great energy, intellect, and
accomplishments.
VOL. II. M
1 62 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
Lord Canning was at this time at the very height, or
rather depth of unpopularity. Very few would raise their
hats to him on the course, unless Lady Canning was with
him. He had done everything to alienate his countrymen,
and so late as 25th May had discourteously refused the loyal
offers of Europeans (foreigners as well as British), and of
native Christians to form volunteer corps, attributing their
offer to "a passing and groundless panic." He had then
gagged the English press ;* required Europeans, at a time when
it was necessary for every man and woman to carry arms, to
take out a license for doing so ; threatened punishment to
all who should interfere with native religious ceremonies,
which no one thought of doing; refused to disarm the
Sepoys, and denied reward to the loyal. A petition to
the Queen, signed by almost every one who was free to do it,
earnestly asked for his recall, and a proposition was seriously
made to seize him and ship him off to England by means of
a party of merchant seamen. This memorial, though it
stated undeniable facts, was never laid before either Her
Majesty or before Parliament, because it had " not been
forwarded through the Governor-General."
Lord Canning was a man of great courage and great
obstinacy, but his cold demeanour and want of sympathy
unfitted him for a leader of men. His rudeness of manner
when irritated, even towards the highest officials, turned
their hearts against him; but he was better than the advisers
who misled him, and of whom he afterwards bitterly com-
plained. He had, however, less excuse than was supposed,
for Sir John Lawrence, on the first news of the Mirat rising
1 The little American Mission Press at Allahabad was warned ' ' not
to print anything which may tend to bring the Government into con-
tempt," and the Friend of India, the best paper in the country, was
threatened with suppression for an article in which it would be hard to
discover a fault.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 163
" wrote such a remarkably clear view of the probable course
of the mutiny, that it will ever remain a monument of his
foresight and sagacity." 1 As we have seen, Colin Mac-
kenzie did the same thing ; so did many others who knew
India and the army, of which the Governor-General, the
Commander-in-Chief, and most of the Calcutta functionaries
were entirely ignorant. A hundred years before, Clive
wrote: "There never was such attention paid to the
advice of military men in Calcutta as was consistent with the
safety of the place when in danger, a total ignorance of which
was the real cause of the loss of Fort- William." It is very
curious to mark the close parallel between 1757 and 1857.
At this time India was divided into two parties the
Supreme Government with some of its secretaries on one
side, and on the other the British inhabitants, military and
civil, the missionaries, planters, clergy, merchants, etc.
The rough private uncovered his head and turned pale
from a natural impulse of reverence and horror on entering
the slaughter-house at Cawnpore. As stout-hearted an
officer as ever breathed 2 was so overpowered by "the sight of
the clotted blood and torn fragments of the clothing " of the
murdered women and innocent babes, that he could only
find relief for his bursting heart by falling on his knees in
prayer in a corner of the room. Our men's battle-shout is
" Remember Cawnpore," even the Sikhs cry " Cawnpore ka
badla " (Eevenge for Cawnpore). And while these things
were burning into our souls, the Governor -General took
every opportunity of showing confidence in the Sepoys,
1 Life of Lord Lawrence, ii. p. 97.
- Lieutenant John Tower Lumsden, shot through the heart at the
Sikanclra Bagh while coolly hacking at the breach with a pickaxe to
make it large enough for the 78th to enter. He wrote to his wife: " If
I fall, let this comfort you, that I trust fully in the blood and atone-
ment of my Redeemer."
164 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
and of discouraging the loyal. When 150 native Christians
from Krishnaghar offered their carts and services to Govern-
ment, Lord Canning would not even answer them, because
they had addressed him as " Christians."
Archdeacon Pratt told Brigadier Mackenzie that good
Bishop Wilson signed a request to the Governor -General
that he would appoint a day of humiliation and prayer in
consequence of the mutiny, adding that he was sure His
Excellency would be glad to avail himself of this opportunity
for doing so. Lord Canning replied in a most unbecoming
letter to the effect that the Government did not require to
be instructed by the Bishop of Calcutta (though, if this is
not a Bishop's special duty, what is?), and refused the
request. The Bishop, whose age ought to have protected
him from rudeness, replied meekly, and finding the Governor
obdurate, he circulated a form of prayer among all the
chaplains, saying: "I know it is quite illegal; but I hope it
will be forgiven under such circumstances."
Nothing destroyed public confidence so much as the
want of openness on the part of the Government. At first
their declarations in April "that discipline was restored
throughout the Bengal army," arose from ignorance, and from
not understanding the true state of the country, but there
were afterwards deliberate attempts to conceal facts and to
deceive the public. The consequence was, that no one be-
lieved them, even when they spoke the truth. For instance,
when the news of the Cawnpore massacre first reached
Calcutta, a poor lad whose father was in the entrenchments,
was overwhelmed with grief. His master, the Principal of
the Doveton College, 1 applied to Mr. Beadon, the Home
Secretary, begging him to let the poor young fellow know
the truth. Mr. Beadon assured him it was not true. The
Blue Book afterwards proved that at that very time the
1 Dr. George Smith, C.S.I.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 65
Government were not only in possession of the fact, but
had reported it home !
It was the fashion to laugh at the flight of the Euro-
pean inhabitants of Calcutta on panic Sunday, the 15th
June 1857. Lord Canning asked me if I would have fled.
I said I had never heard what ground there was for alarm.
He was evidently ignorant that Mr. Milne of the Free Church,
in common with every other preacher in Calcutta, received an
official notification that the Sepoys at Barrackpore had risen,
some said, had murdered all the Europeans at Dumdum,
and were marching on Calcutta. The masters and boys of
Doveton College made preparations for defence, and notice
was given, from the fort, that blue lights would be sent up
as signals from any part of the town that might be attacked.
This was quite enough to account for the panic, which was
shared by some in high office.
The whole day long carriages and carts kept pouring
into the fort, and half Calcutta slept either there or on
board the ships, which, had the news been true, was the
best thing they could have done. It afterwards became
known that the mutinous regiments had gathered together
the evening before, and that it was only a deluge of rain,
to which natives have a great aversion, which prevented
their marching on Calcutta.
Again, on the 7th March 1858, some alarming intelli-
gence reached Government. The disarmed Sepoys on
duty at the hospitals were not removed, but arms were
served out to the wounded as they lay on their cots,
swords to some, muskets to others. I had gone to
take fruit, etc., to the invalids, and watched the proceed-
ing with great amazement, and naturally mentioned it at
Government House that evening to Colonel Birch, the mili-
tary secretary, who asked what could make me believe such
a thing. But when I told him I had just seen it with
166 COLIN MACKENZIE.
my own eyes, he made no further observation. The
volunteers were kept under arms that whole night, but the
reason was not made known. At Christmas 1857, and for
long after, there was no communication with any place
above Cawnpore. Delhi letters were more than a month
old, all the roads to Bombay and the south were stopped,
and people got news of their up-country friends via England.
One young married lady was caught in the storm at
Cawnpore, and happily died of fever. Her poor husband
wrote to her for months afterwards congratulating himself
on her being safe in Calcutta !
A letter at that time says, " The heroism of our men and
officers could not be surpassed. We have proved ourselves
the Imperial race fit and worthy to govern only excepting
the Supreme Government. The defence of Arrah by Mr.
Boyd (railway engineer), and its relief by Vincent Eyre, was
most noble, but we are out-numbered. Oudh has to be re-
conquered ; we hold nothing there but the ground on which
Outram is encamped and the graves of our heroes. That is
a seed which will bear fruit. Havelock died in his uniform,
having no other clothes, and doubtless with his Christian
armour brighter than ever. The rebels have suffered but
little, they have scarcely ever met us in fair fight; but
our leaders are often so stupid, like Wyndham at Cawnpore,
that our men are surprised and cut up. We want abund-
ance of reinforcements. Eemember this, Delhi was taken
without help from England, and by only 11,000 men, of
whom but 3000 were British. It was a far finer and
more difficult task than Sir Colin Campbell's Relief of
Lucknow, and was marked by 'the most heroic endurance
and indomitable perseverance ever displayed by an attack-
ing army."
Brigadier Mackenzie met with marked respect and atten-
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 67
tion both on the voyage and in Calcutta. William Edwardes,
late Commissioner of Badaon, whose Personal Adventures
in the Indian Rebellion records one of the most touching
episodes of that dark time, wrote to him : " I congratulate
the country on your safe return to India. We want such
men as you in these dreary days."
My husband wrote :
" It was a comfort to me that my dear friend and brother
Havelock did not die by the hand of one of our base enemies.
When I think of the manner in which I was last wounded, if I
am dumb and open not my mouth and strive to stifle the up-
risings of my heart, it is because I feel that it is in reality the
Lord, and that in very faithfulness He has thus chastened me.
And in this belief I am confirmed by the subsequent injustice
I have sustained, inasmuch as I am peculiarly sensitive on that
particular point. All the Lord's remedies for the diseases of
His children, although sharp, are specifics ; and so we shall find
them in the long run."
We heard of some tragedy daily. A poor lady, the
wife of a truly Christian officer at Faizabad, was at the
time the Mutiny broke out so delicate and nervous, that on
hearing of it she fell from one fainting fit into another.
When it took place at Faizabad, her husband's last words
as he put her into the carriage which was to take her to the
boat, were : "Trust in Jesus, He will be with you." She
never saw him again. He went to his mutinous regiment,
was wounded, and drowned. The Sepoys compelled her
to quit the boat, and left her on the bank with her
children, a girl of seven, a boy of three, a baby in arms,
and another expected.
A man promised to take her down the river in a
little boat. He carried her over to the Oudh side, and,
having got some money from her, said she must land
1 68 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
immediately, for the Sepoys were coming, and then rowed
away with all her little valuables, leaving her sitting on
the bank. She walked to the edge of the jungle, where
she took off her petticoat, spread it on the ground for
her children to lie on, and sat watching them all night,
hearing the wolves howling in the distance. She wan-
dered about for three weeks from village to village,
begging food for her children, and trying to find a mother
who would give her poor baby the nourishment which
she had not. Sometimes the women would do so, some-
times not. The villagers gave her such food as they had,
but they would never suffer her to remain more than
one night from fear of the consequences of protecting her.
She still lived in hope of seeing her husband, and always
inquired if they knew of any Sahibs in the neighbourhood.
They as constantly replied that the Sahibs were at another
village, whither she went, to be again deceived. She told
Mrs. Wylie afterwards that she had no fear, and that she
never felt the presence of God so vividly as during those
three weeks.
One night she was sitting under a tree with her poor
little ones, when she saw a body of armed men approach-
ing in the bright moonlight. She thought her last
hour had come, and taking her infant on her arm, she
walked towards them, and said : "If you wish, kill us, but
do not torture the children." They were overawed, and
replied, "We do not want to kill you," and went on their way.
At last Man Sing (who saved Colonel Lennox and several
other Europeans, and then openly rebelled) sent a litter for
her, and she was taken to a ruinous house in one of his
villages, where she was allowed to remain. After Neill's
advance to Allahabad, Man Sing sent word to Mr. Astell
that he should send for her, which he did, but by that
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 169
time her mind had given way, she had lost her memory,
and knew not where she was. She is now in Calcutta,
hourly expecting her confinement. She has recovered her
senses, and said to Mrs. Wylie : " I have no strength of
body and no strength of mind, so you see clearly it was
not my strength brought me through." Her bright intel-
ligent little girl remembers everything. Many of the
natives believe that the Ganges fell six inches from
horror at the murder of the women and children at
Cawnpore.
Besides what may be called the permanent stupidity
of our arrangements, such as having the arsenal at Nagpur
close to the city and eleven miles from our troops at
Kampti, there was even more than the usual amount
of British mismanagement. H.M.'s 37th was the first
regiment which arrived. They came from Ceylon;
nothing was ready for them, and there was nobody to
receive them. They were kept two days on board, in the
midst of torrents of rain, until Colonel Dames landed them
on his own responsibility. No shelter was provided, and
officers and men passed two more days in the open coal-
sheds. They were then marched up to Barrackpore to
disarm the regiments there, and marched back again the
next day, and, of course, an officer and several men died of
sunstroke. To prevent Colonel Dames, as senior officer,
taking command of the fort, the 37th were encamped on
the glacis, instead of being quartered within, and finally
put on board a flat, where cholera broke out. On in-
spection it was discovered that there was a store of rotten
potatoes beneath the planking. The result was that up-
wards of fifty men died before the regiment reached Dina-
pore. Is this to be tolerated? Lord Canning removed
the man who ought to have been present at the landing-
170 COLIN MACKENZIE.
place to receive the regiment ; but the careless system and
the want of value for our men's lives continue. For example,
a detachment of H.M.'s 53d were "forgotten" and kept
forty-eight hours without food, when on guard at the
Normal school ! The troops have suffered greatly from
drinking the unwholesome and drugged liquor at the native
spirit shops. A gentleman saw two privates, one with
only his shirt, the other without even that, carried to the
fort in a state of perfect insensibility, having been drugged
and stripped of everything. It is a comfort to know that,
in the 97th, Hedley Vicars' regiment, the cases of drunken-
ness are only one a week. General Sydney Cotton strongly
advised that one or two officers of the Indian Army should
be attached to every home regiment on first arriving, as
the mortality during the first year is quadruple that of any
subsequent one, owing to the officers' want of experience.
Men who have been risking their lives for ours are left
for months in arrears of their pay. Thirty convalescent
soldiers were put on board the Himalaya the other day,
with nothing but the clothes they stood in. Many of
them had only caps of paper. Mr. Harrington, the chaplain,
accompanied them to the mouth of the river, and dis-
covering their destitute condition (for the men never com-
plain), he bought as many straw hats as he could from a
boat that happened to come along side, and commissioned
the captain to purchase clothes at the Cape and charge
them to the Eelief Fund. Not long ago, about 120 sick
men from up the country, were marched through the
native town in the heat of the day, with no one to control
them but one sub-assistant surgeon. The consequence was
they all got intoxicated at the innumerable grog-shops
they passed, and, on arriving at the hospital, the chief
surgeon there had to place several of them in irons
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 7 1
for mutinous behaviour. The men in the fort a few
days ago, were sleeping on the bare ground without any
beds.
tth March. Most of the sick and wounded at both
the Medical College and the Hindu College Hospitals
had nothing but hospital clothing. They never complain
either of suffering, wounds, or want. It was only by direct
questions one found it out. They lost all their necessaries
at Lucknow and Cawnpore, and have no money to buy
others, as they have got no compensation. A committee
will sit at some " conditional future " time to decide their
claims, and in the meantime several have been obliged to
embark with nothing but hospital dressing-gowns, to en-
counter the bitter cold off the Cape. Surely there ought
to be some officer whose business it is to look after
the men, and who has the power to get what they want
for them.
The invalids heard that Miss Fendall, a city missionary,
was visiting the female hospital, and sent to beg she would
come and see them too. Several of them begged her to
read to them, and their attention was very touching. Poor
dear men ! Most of them have been ill five months, having
been wounded in Havelock's first advance to Lucknow.
The poor ladies of the 37th, who had come from
Ceylon, were of necessity left behind at a Calcutta hotel,
perfect strangers. As a matter of course, Major Mackenzie
placed himself at their service, and helped them in all
their difficulties, so that " all this helpless flock of ladies
doted on him." One pretty young creature of twenty-one
was dying of consumption. The other ladies waited on
her day and night, but they were obliged to send for my
husband to carry her upstairs to a more airy room. She
suffered dreadfully, but said meekly : " Not one pang too
172 COLIN MACKENZIE.
much." One night she was delirious; they sent for "the
Brigadier." She hooked her finger into his button-hole,
and sang the " May Queen " to him. It was most touching.
Sir Colin Campbell kindly telegraphed leave of absence
to her husband, who arrived just in time to see her
alive.
CHAPTER XXIX.
EPISODES OF THE GREAT MUTINY.
(1857-8.)
"Joyful rang the pibroch loud
Through the sounding streets of Lucknow,
And like angels sent to save
Came the brave ones to the succour.
Agus Mhorag."
SHERIFF NICHOLSON.
WOUNDED officers now began to reach Calcutta, and gave
most interesting details of recent events.
Nothing came home to Colin Mackenzie's heart more
than the accounts he received of the conduct of the 4th Sikhs,
the regiment he had raised and formed. His eyes shone
and his step grew lighter, when he heard of their gallant
behaviour. " Dear old Rothney," as he always called his
former Adjutant, was now in command. l John Lawrence
1 When Captain Colin Mackenzie was made Brigadier in the
Dekkan, Major Armstrong succeeded him as Commandant, Lord
Dalhousie excusing himself for not giving Lieutenant Rothney
political employment, because he could not deprive the 4th of both
Commandant and Adjutant at once. After the Burmah Campaign
1852 Rothney was for a time posted to the 3d Sikhs a mutiny took
place in the regiment, and a great number of them were dismissed.
Captain Rothney took every man's account with the regimental shop-
keepers, to see that they were not cheated, settled all their affairs
by that afternoon, and when the whole was over, burst into tears from
grief at the misconduct and ruin of his men. He afterwards rejoined
the 4th as Commandant.
174 COLIN MACKENZIE.
despatched them to Delhi. On the 5th June they came
to Jalandar, where there were three disaffected native
regiments. Brigadier Johnstone hurried the Sikhs off to
Filor, on the right bank of the Satlej, lest they should
make the Sepoys uneasy. But the regiments in question
broke out the next morning, cut down some of their officers,
and marched for Delhi. They picked up the 3d Native
Infantry at Filor, twenty miles distant, and took thirty hours
to cross the Satlej. Brigadier Johnstone took seven hours
to start in pursuit of them, and then bivouacked at Filor.
George Bicketts, the Deputy-Commissioner at Lodiana, with
Lieutenant Williams commanding three companies of the 4th
Sikhs, who had just arrived, and joined by Muhammad Hasan
Khan, 1 and some of his men, attacked the three regiments
on the bank of the Satlej. Mr. Ricketts and Hasan Khan
worked the only gun with their own hands. The Sikhs
fought ten times their number until all their ammunition
was expended, and their officer shot through the lungs, 2
when they fell back in good order. When the mutineers
reached Lodiana they were joined by all the badmashes
(Anglice, scoundrels) in the city, and those jackals, the
Kashmiris, began to plunder right and left. Mr. Ricketts
called in some of the petty Rajas. Hasan Khan barricaded
his house, and joined him in endeavouring to save the
city and cantonments from utter destruction. Hasan
Khan so over -exerted himself in pushing and dragging
the guns that he broke a blood-vessel, which very nearly
cost him his life. 3 The two Afghan princes, Teimur and
1 The. same who had distinguished himself so much at Kabul
under Colin Mackenzie.
2 Lieutenant Williams afterwards recovered.
3 Mr. George Ricketts called him "the stoutest friend, other than
European, that I have ever had. His services were invaluable to me.
He was the one man by whose information and advice alone I pulled
through at Lodiana."
COLIN MACKENZIE. 175
Shahpur, took the missionaries, with the native catechists and
Christians, into their own houses to protect them. Rothney,
with the main body of the Sikhs, held the town and fort
in check, thrashed the mutineers in spite of overpowering
numbers, and then scoured the country, cutting up all the
mutineers they could catch and hanging the Kashmiri
plunderers, as they themselves expressed it, " beh-guftagu "
(without any dialogue). Having cleared Lodiana they
went on to Delhi, and were the first reinforcement the
besieging force received. 1 The very day they arrived (23d
June) the right of our line, including the Guides, were in
imminent danger of being cut off. The whole city turned
out and attacked the besiegers. An officer of the Guides
relates, that they fought f or fifteen hours without food. The
Guides twice fired away every shot in their pouches, and at
last the fearful news was brought that there was no more
ammunition to be had. They had to do their best by pre-
tending to fire, and keeping the post with the bayonet.
" I certainly thought we were all done for, when part of the
regiment of Sikhs, who had just marched into camp, came
up with a yell to our assistance ; they were fresh men,
and had lots of ammunition, so we rushed on and drove
the enemy back."
Three days after, the mutineers came out to fight, and
some hundreds of them, seeing a party of the Sikhs cooking,
threw aside their arms and said : " Come to us ; we are your
brothers." The Sikhs said nothing, but, when the mutineers
came up, killed every one. What makes the fidelity of
these men the more remarkable is that the Hindustanis of
the regiment turned traitors on arriving at Delhi, and, in
1 One recruit had arrived two days before, the infant son of Captain
and Mrs. Fraser Tytler, born on the 21st, in the midst of a heavy
cannonade. The soldiers were quite cheered by the event, and called
the babe their "first reinforcement."
176 COLIN MACKENZIE.
spite of their previous good behaviour at Lodiana, fired
upon their native officers. Captain Eothney turned the
whole of them out of camp on the spot. Through-
out the siege the regiment distinguished itself on every
occasion, and formed part of the victorious columns which
stormed the city. They were acknowledged by all to be
fully equal to European troops. Only four officers at a
time were attached to these Irregular regiments, and during
the siege five belonging to the 4th Sikhs were either
killed or seriously wounded. An officer wrote : " The
Guides, the 4th Sikhs, and the Ghurkas, ought ever to be
remembered by every Englishman." Another officer thus
accounted for the efficiency of this regiment : " They have
only four officers, but their commander can do almost what-
ever he pleases. Punishment is immediate, and therefore
they are so well in hand. Captain Eothney is greatly be-
loved by his men, having been Adjutant of the regiment
when it was raised. On one occasion a European regiment
was badly handled, being led slowly against a battery. The
men were falling fast, and the regiment began to give way.
Captain Rothney saw the mistake ; he had about twenty-five
Sikhs with him, and calling on them to follow, he charged
at their head towards the point in question, passed the
English regiment shouting to them to come on. The Euro-
peans burst into a cheer, followed him, and the post was
taken." 1
Captain Rothney used to sleep in a large tent with a
good many other officers ; and one night, according to his
1 All that Captain Rothney got for his splendid services was a
brevet-majority. Twenty years later, after two other campaigns, he
received the C. B. We four had the happiness of meeting in Calcutta
in 1862, again in England the following year, and for the last time in
1880. He was then much out of health, and had had the sorrow of
losing both his sons. On the 1st January 1881 " he was not, for God
took him. "
COLIN MACKENZIE. 177
custom, was reading his Bible in bed. A new arrival, a
young officer, flung a boot at his lamp and upset it. Rothney
very quietly put it together again as well as he could, drew
up the clothes, and went to sleep. The next morning the
culprit came to him with a most humble apology, begging
him to forgive his conduct, and assuring him that he did
not know he was reading the Bible. Of course, they were
most friendly ever after.
Not half the glorious story of the siege of Delhi, and the
six days' storm of the city has ever been told.
It was Lieutenant Alexander Taylor, of the Engineers
who drew up the plan for taking Delhi. When it was laid
before Sir Archdale Wilson, he wrote across it "rubbish,"
and scornfully sent it back. Colonel Baird Smith, the Chief
Engineer, carefully traced the word " rubbish " in ink, put
the plan by, carried another copy of it to the General's
tent, and never left him until he had extorted his consent.
Taylor's plan was carried out in every particular. The
batteries, made of fascines, were thrown up in one night,
and the next morning the enemy found the guns in position.
It was known in camp that Nicholson was determined to
set aside the General if he had refused to order the
assault, and that other officers were prepared to back him
in doing so.
One of the prettiest things done after the siege was by
Lieutenant Watson, at Agra. He was in command of about
one hundred and eighty Sikhs and Patans belonging to the
Irregular Cavalry in the Panjab. They had been separated
from their mutinous regiments, formed into a corps, and
sent down to Delhi. The three troops being under Lieu-
tenants Gough, Probyn, and Younghusband, they were
riding cheerily on in advance of the line when they found
themselves confronted by a compact body of two thousand
mutineers of the Irregular Cavalry. Watson saw that daring
VOL. II. N
178 COLIN MACKENZIE.
was the only means of averting disgrace and defeat. He
rode up to his subalterns and said : " Probyn, will you do
it?" "Yes," said Probyn. "Gough, will you do it?"
"Yes," said Gough. " Younghusband, will you do it?"
Each man nodded assent. Watson gave the word, and
they charged into the very. midst of the enemy, who broke
before the shock. One regiment of mutineers fled past a
battery which was coming up, and received its full fire ; then
past the Europeans, who poured a volley into them, and
thus ran the gauntlet of the whole line. Our loss was very
slight, that of the rebels immense ; and every man of the
gallant little band rode back with his sword dripping with
blood. All the three subalterns having got their Captain-
cies, are now Brevet -Majors and Colonels. Lieutenant
Watson, who commanded them, had been unlucky in his
promotion, and is Lieutenant Watson still (1858), which is
really a scandal.
At length a royal salute announced the arrival in
Calcutta of the ladies and wounded from Lucknow. Lord
Canning sent his carriages to meet them, and Lady Canning,
with womanly sympathy, had provided caps and cuffs for
the widows. The children suffered dreadfully ; most of
them died, and an officer taking one in his arms spanned
its thigh with his finger and thumb. The poor ladies looked
double their proper age, and did not regain their youthful
appearance for weeks ; while not a single case of amputation
survived. One dear little boy of three, on hearing the even-
ing gun in Calcutta, asked if "anybody was killed."
When Havelock arrived at Lucknow on the 25th Sep-
tember, the first who rushed in were some Highlanders out
of breath, covered with dust and smoke. They rushed to
the ladies, shook hands with them again and again, took
the children and passed them about from one to the other,
crying and sobbing. The scene of joy was beyond descrip-
COLIN MACKENZIE.
tion. After the final relief an old European woman, Mrs.
Sage, described leaving the Residency in a piteous manner.
She said they were told to sit down while the men fired,
and then bidden to be up and run while the men loaded.
She sat and ran, and sat and ran, until she lost all recollec-
tion but that of finding herself in the arms of a stout High-
lander, who carried her into the Kaiserbagh, 1 from whence
they were despatched in common open carts.
They had no shelter except what they could improvise,
and making forced marches had time neither to cook nor
to eat. Only the worst cases of wounds were carried in
litters. Between Cawnpore and Allahabad these latter
suffered still more, for the dulis were kept with the
Commander -in -Chief's camp, and they were sent on in
carts. One poor lady took the opportunity of being con-
fined just as they crossed the bridge at Cawnpore. Imme-
diately after, she had to get out of her palki and walk to
her tent, but neither she nor the baby was any the worse.
Poor Mrs. B , a very sweet young woman, was sent
into Lucknow by Sir Henry Lawrence's orders when the
Mutiny first broke out. Her husband remained with the
regiment, of which he was surgeon, until it mutinied, when
he escaped. During five months she knew not whether he
was dead or alive, and her first question when Sir Colin
Campbell arrived at the Residency was whether he still
lived. She was told he was with the force, and would be
with her very soon. She was expecting him every moment
when his dead body was brought in. He had been shot on
entering the gateway.
Early in January, while still waiting in Calcutta,
we were joined by four Afghan servants. My letter
asking Hasan Khan to send them reached Lodiana llth
November, and they started on the 12th. Hasan Khan
1 A palace in the outskirts of Lucknow.
180 COLIN MACKENZIE.
summoned his people and said : " Mackenzie Sahib
wants four men who will go and join him." "I, and
I, and I," resounded on all sides ; so he chose four Sultan
Muhammad, Ghulam Jan, Mirza Muhammad, and Atta
Muhammad. They were detained a month in Agra by
the commanding officer until he could send them onwards
with our troops, and even then they ran great risks from
the rebels on one hand and our troops on the other. At
the Allahabad Kacheri they saw a crowd of unfortunate
creatures water-carriers, grass-cutters, etc. with noses,
ears, or hands cut off by the rebels. When at last they
arrived, after all their difficulties, they embraced my
husband's knees, kissed his hand, pressed it to their eyes,
and exclaimed: "Now indeed the sun shines upon us."
They are not bound to him by any special tie, but simply
by his influence among their people. These men started
off on a journey of 1100 miles without even an advance
of pay.
Lady Canning showed me some very interesting letters
from the Queen, expressing the warmest sympathy with
the sufferers in India. She said : " We think of it night
and day. You, dearest Lady Canning, who shared my
anxieties for my beloved Crimean troops, will understand
my feelings." She said she did not ask for details of the
massacres and horrors, adding, " I could not bear them," but
for particulars of escapes. It was quite delightful to see
the warmth and deep feeling with which she wrote.
One of the most remarkable preservations was that of
the officers at Allahabad. Colonel Simpson was one of
those who placed implicit confidence in his men. He put
one company with two guns on the bridge and served out
forty rounds of ammunition to his regiment. Major Moor-
croft having died, all officers were warned to attend his
funeral on the evening of the 5th June. The chaplain was
COLIN MACKENZIE. 181
in his buggy ready to drive to the burial-ground, the
officers were mounting, preparing to start, when it was
discovered that by some unaccountable neglect no coffin had
been ordered. The funeral was therefore deferred. Had
all the officers left the fort as intended, they would doubt-
less have been shot down in the burial-ground and the fort
seized, for the Mutiny broke out the next day, the Sepoys
walked off with the guns, and murdered most of their offi-
cers while the band played " God Save the Queen ! " The
rest were only saved by the arrival of Colonel Neill and
the Madras Fusiliers.
Being on terms of intimacy with a great number
of men of every class military and civil, members of
Government, missionaries, independent Europeans and
natives we were able to ascertain the truth on many
disputed points. For instance, much blame was thrown
on Colonel Wheler (the well-known missionary colonel)
for doing nothing when Lieutenant Baugh was cut
down at Barrackpore. This was most unjust, for he
could give no orders. The Brigadier (C. Stuart) being on
parade, Colonel Wheler reported the matter to him, but
not one of the officers had any firearms. General Hearsey,
hearing of the Mutiny, came up at that instant with
an officer on each side of him, all with cocked revolvers,
and the jemadar was seized. Colonel Wheler had only
joined the mutinous regiment three months, while his
own regiment (the 31st), to which he had preached openly
for twenty years, evinced the most conspicuous loyalty
even when all their officers were withdrawn from them,
for which they afterwards received the title of Wafadar
the faithful or loyal regiment. General Hearsey was
rebuked by the Governor -General for venturing to pro-
mote the only faithful Sepoy of the 19th on the spot, 1
1 A right possessed by every Commandant of Irregular regiments.
182 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
a curious proof of the inveteracy of civil interference.
Colonel Wheler was placed on the retired list. 1 The
Government was habitually afraid of supporting Chris-
tians. Only six years before, in 1851, Suja Sing, a Rajput
of the Khilat-i-Ghiljye Regiment, was struck off the strength
of the corps for receiving baptism. How totally unnecessary
this was, even as a matter of policy, was proved by the case
of Matadin, a high-caste Sepoy of Mackenzie's regiment, who
was baptized that same year, and although he met with
much unkindness, neglect in hospital, and so forth, this
was alleviated by the kindness of his Adjutant (Rothney)
and of Quartermaster-Sergeant Ferguson, whose tent he
shared, and with whom he used to go out, after the day's
march, to distribute tracts. He served through the cam-
paign in Burma, and afterwards became a catechist of the
American Presbyterian Mission at Ambala, respected by
all. 2
Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor of Agra, had issued
a proclamation at the very beginning of the disturbances
to the effect that even mutineers would be treated with
leniency so long as they had not murdered any European.
This proclamation was greatly abused, but Mr. Colvin gave
to a friend his reasons for issuing it. He said : " I feel that
every corps in the service will join the rebels it is the
native character to follow suit. I have only one regiment
of Europeans, and that I cannot send from here. There
are hundreds of Europeans in the district, and at the other
stations in the North- West Province, where there are none
but native troops. Communication is stopped; I do not
know what is going on. The native regiments may be true,
but, most likely, false one and all will probably turn
1 A very interesting Life of Colonel Wheler has been published by his
like-minded friend, Major H. M. Conran.
2 There are now several native converts in the army.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 183
against us ; but I have hopes that if they see the proclama-
tion in time, they may be induced on going away, to do so
without murdering any Europeans ; and if so, my object
will be attained. If one European be saved, I need not fear
public opinion."
In Oudh there was partial mutiny as early as the 2d
May. The officers of the risked their lives by sleep-
ing in the lines, they did everything possible to reassure
their men, but when the regiment disbanded itself (or,
according to the expressive Hindustani idiom, Mfur ho gdyd
became camphor, i.e. evaporated) the officers were told
it was their fault ! They demanded a court-martial, and
were about to be tried, when the disastrous affair at Chinhat
took place, and Sir Henry Lawrence, like a Christian and
a gentleman, apologised for having censured them. This
shows how inveterate was the custom of casting all the
blame on the officers when their men behaved ill, if even
such a man as Henry Lawrence could at first so misjudge
them.
Even Sir John Lawrence did not fully appreciate the
nature of the revolt. He denied that it was either a rebel-
lion or even a Muhammadan rising, but considered it as
a mere military mutiny, which was true in the Panjab.
Those who denied the impossibility of getting justice, and the
consequent discontent of the people, ignored the fact that
the population were against us, and never helped us but
no one else did. Again, no one seems to have misunder-
stood the importance of the revolt save Lord Canning and
his counsellors. The army both here and at home saw
what was coming, so did the merchants and independent
Europeans in general; so did many up-country civilians
like Mr. W. Edwardes. Only the Government and secretaries
were blind, and continued so. One reason of this was that
hardly any of the Calcutta officials knew anything of India.
184 COLIN MACKENZIE.
They had generally spent their lives at the Presidency, had
risen from the Secretariat to Council, and formed a little
(almost family) clique, who knew no more of the up-country
people than a Parisian knows of the Highlands or of
Hungary. The only people they were at all acquainted
with the Bengalis were loyal. Those natives of Bengal
who were in the Upper Provinces were as cruelly treated
by the rebels as if they had been Europeans, and they
are so unwarlike, that there was not a single Bengali in
the ranks.
There cannot be a doubt that warnings of the approach-
ing outburst had been abundant ; almost every officer had
some instance of such to relate, but no one had paid attention
to them. For instance, six weeks before the Mirat massacre
a proclamation from the King of Persia calling on all the
faithful to rise and exterminate the infidels, was posted up
in the great Mosk at Delhi; and the magistrate was warned
anonymously that an attack would be made on the Kashmiri
Gate, but, like Mr. Colvin at Agra, he took no notice of it.
At the old King's trial more than thirty letters were pro-
duced, proving the complicity of the Shah in the plot for a
period of at least two years beforehand. The Bolarum
Mutiny, for which no plausible reason was ever suggested,
ought to have aroused inquiry.
A Sikh Sirdar once related a story to Sir John Lawrence
which ought to be learnt by heart by every officer and civilian
in India. It was to illustrate the right and the wrong way
of meeting danger. "There were once three fishes who
lived in a lovely clear tank shaded by trees. A stream
entered it on one side and left it on the opposite one,
through a very narrow opening, across which was built a
low dam. These fishes were of great diversity of character
one by name Durandeshan (the far-seeing provident fish), 1
1 Lit, far-keeker.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 185
was extremely observant and thoughtful. Nothing escaped
him, and he was not satisfied until he knew the reason
and foresaw the consequences of everything that took
place around him. He was never off his guard, but always
watchful, suspicious of danger, and prompt to take the
most effective measures of precaution. His neighbour,
Untapunta Prittimar, or the happy-go-lucky fish, never
troubled his head about any danger that was not close at
hand. He always hoped ' something would turn up,' and
that if the worst came to the worst he would be able to
manage somehow. He was a bold, courageous, careless fish,
who had often narrowly escaped with life where Durande-
shan had skilfully avoided all danger. The third, Dirag
Suthi, was a stupid, blundering oaf of a fish, who had not
two ideas in his head. Such as he was, however, he lived
in peace with his neighbours, and none of the three had any
cause for disquiet, until one fine day Durandeshan espied a
tiny stream of mud coming into the tank. He watched it,
and perceived that it was gently increasing, and anon, a few
pebbles began to roll in. He called a Council of War, and
in strong terms set before the other fishes the necessity of
taking some measures to avoid the coming danger. He
argued that this tiny stream of mud betokened some
commotion in the stream above, that this was evidently
approaching them, and that they ought immediately to take
some steps for safety. Untapunta Prittimar made light of
such caution, asked why should they care for a little mud,
he had never heard that mud did a fish any harm, and for
his part he was not going to let any one think that he was
afraid. Durandeshan argued with him in vain, and, find-
ing all his endeavours useless, he made his bow and leapt
over the dam into the quiet stream beneath. He had
scarcely done so, when a shadow fell across the tank. It
was that of a fisherman wading from the upper part of the
186 COLIN MACKENZIE.
stream, who now cast his net. Dirag Suthi, who had not
understood either Durandeshan's reasoning or Untapunta
Prittimar's careless confidence, had stayed in the tank because
it was the least troublesome course, and was caught at once.
Untapunta Prittimar, finding himself in imminent danger,
exerted himself as never fish did before, made the most
surprising splashes, stirred up the mud, hid himself behind
stones, dodged about with extraordinary dexterity, and at
last, all bruised and bleeding, succeeded in leaping over the
dam and rejoining Durandeshan, whose serenity had not
been even disturbed by the commotion that had been going
on in the tank. Dirag Suthi was fried that evening for the
fisherman's supper, and Untapunta Prittimar became, it is
to be hoped, a wiser as well as a sadder fish. Now, said
the Sikh, the English are just like Untapunta Prittimar.
They scorn to take any precautions, and therefore, although
they do contrive to get out of the most dreadful scrapes,
yet it is at an expense of suffering which they need never
have incurred if they had exercised a little more foresight."
This story was often discussed in camp, John Lawrence of
course taking the side of Durandeshan.
Another point of very great importance, and one on which
my husband entirely coincided with his valued friend Dr.
Duff, was the necessity of a change in the educational policy
of India. Dr. Duff vigorously exposed the folly of expending
immense sums in educating the sons of fat Babus, men "made
of milk and sugar and ghi," and rich Muhammadans, and
neglecting the education of the poor. The rich students at
the Muhammadan and Hindu colleges pay five rupees a
month and cost Government fifty i.e. <60 a year each ;
whereas the whole sum then spent on the education of
the millions in Bengal was 2500 a year less than the
salary of the inspector of schools ! There are thirty-five
million of ryots in Bengal (i.e. the population of France),
COLIN MACKENZIE. 187
and out of these not more than two or three per cent can
read intelligently. Nothing can be done for the miserable
peasantry until they are educated. The Government make
a great flourish about education, but they mean giving
education to men who can afford to pay for it, and not to
poor oppressed Sudras. The Government also insist on the
district in which a school is situated paying half the ex-
penses of it, before a grant -in -aid is allowed. Now the
people are too ignorant to know the value of education and
far too poor to pay for it. Government had forbidden
the Santals, who are not Hindus, but a simple aboriginal
tribe, being taught by the missionaries, and directed that
they shall be "instructed without any reference to religion."
Education of this sort will be an ambiguous benefit to the
people, and undoubtedly a great hindrance to a peaceable
Government.
At last all Brigadier Mackenzie's suggestions of sending
artillery overland, increasing the power of commanding
officers, enlisting men of different races in every regiment
(suggestions made by many other men of experience), had
been adopted.
His old friend, Major George Macgregor, who had been
for some years Governor-General's Agent at Murshedabad,
was about to join Jung Bahadar and the Nipal Contingent,
and plainly said that if they did not send Mackenzie to
Murshedabad in his place, "they might look out for
squalls."
Lord Canning, on the 30th January, wrote offering
Major Mackenzie the appointment, saying : " I shall have
very great pleasure in naming you to it. It is at least an
honourable post to an officer who has served with as much
distinction as yourself." Strange to say this letter was lost !
and my husband knew nothing of the matter till a copy was
sent to him a fortnight later.
188 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
There could not have been a more complete refutation
of the accusations of " fanaticism " and " interference with
the religion of the natives " than putting the Brigadier in
charge of a Shiah Prince and a turbulent Musalman city
larger than Delhi.
CHAPTEE XXX.
MUKSHEDABAD.
(1858.)
THERE were few men whom Colin Mackenzie admired more
than his former Chief, Sir George E. Clerk, and he delighted
to quote a letter which he received from him in 1854 on
the principles on which India should be governed. "There
is at all times," wrote Sir George, " a magnificent majority
of that two hundred millions of people ready to uphold and
sympathise with our Eaj l in preference to any other Eaj
they have ever heard of, provided our principles of adminis-
tration are honourable, not faithless ; liberal, not greedy ;
above-board, not dodgy. . . . The Asiatic character is so
quick to discern and disconcert artifices, that the European
who vainly supposes he can practise them, will discover too
late, that he is a mere baby in their hands."
Nothing could more aptly describe Major Mackenzie's
own views and modes of action. "With a large amount of
foresight, his high courage combined with his inherent
honesty and truthfulness to make him on all occasions take
the most direct road to his end. This often excited the
amazement of natives, but it inspired them with implicit
trust in him. These principles were fully exemplified during
his four years' tenure of office at Murshedabad.
1 Rule.
190 COLIN MA CKENZ1E.
We reached Berhampore late at night, 13th March 1858,
and two or three days after he paid his visit of ceremony to
the Nawab Nazim, his mother, and grandmother, the latter
being the great lady of the family, Her Highness the Nawab
Begum, who is considered the equal of the Nawab. The
Agent talked to these ladies through the pardah a thick
curtain which hid them from view. A few days later we
were invited by Captain F. P. Layard (Executive Engineer)
and his wife to meet his brother, the celebrated traveller,
who had been our fellow-passenger. Mr. Layard had been
much prejudiced against missionaries, but now candidly
confessed that although he came to India thinking the mis-
sionaries had a good deal to say to the Mutiny, he had
found them the most intelligent and soundest men he had
met. The fact is, that people who decry missions or mis-
sionaries generally know nothing about them.
Berhampore is about one hundred and twenty miles up the
river from Calcutta, and is the oldest cantonment in Bengal.
The officers' barracks form three sides of a square. Mrs.
Sherwood lived here with her husband, and " little Henry "
is buried here.
It is about eleven miles from Murshedabad, where the
Nazim (or Titular Viceroy of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa)
lived. The Diwan or minister, Raja Prosunno Narain Deb,
a very clever Bengali of high character, who, like the Nazim,
spoke English perfectly, came with His Highness' compli-
ments to invite me to be present at the durbar on the Nao
E6z or New Year. As all the ceremonial is now a thing
of the past the following account of it may be interesting :
The palace is a magnificent European building so totally
unsuited to a native family that His Highness cannot live in it.
It was erected contrary to his wishes, by the Military Board
at the cost of 165,000 ! Twelve of his sons live in one
wing, the other is a splendid abode for the Governor-General's
COLIN MACKENZIE. 191
Agent. The public rooms are very handsome, filled with
most expensive marqueterie, mirrors, and ornaments.
The coup d'c&il in front of the palace, with the richly-
caparisoned elephants and camels, and every description of
native vehicle, was very pretty and gay. We were
ushered into a handsomely furnished drawing-room for me,
and another for the gentlemen, being received with " God
Save the Queen " and all sorts of honours. The durbar
was held in a very handsome room. The Nawab's chair of
state, like a throne of solid silver, and the Agent's silver chair
on his left hand, being placed under a magnificent canopy of
cloth of gold. The Nawab's gold and jewelled Huka and Huka
carpets were in front of his seat, and another (less fine) for
the Governor-General's Agent. All the officers were in full
uniform.
I was conducted to a seat at the upper end of a sofa on my
husband's left. Then came one or two ladies I had brought
with me. Two of our Afghans, a chobdar (mace-bearer),
with a silver mace, and a whole posse of cha/prdsis (official
messengers), made up our suite. Chairs were arranged
down both sides of the room, ticketed with the names of
those entitled to each place. Next to the sofa was the
chair of Jugget Set, the representative of the famous
banker of the same name, who rendered us such good
service in Olive's time, and who, although now having no
property but a pension from Government, has the right of
sitting on the Nawab's left, next the Agent. He is a fair,
small old man, with a peculiarly sweet expression. It was
amusing to see the Nawab's various attendants, his Sepoys,
whom he disarmed last year ; his Bodyguard ; his Bengali
doctor, with a most perfect aquiline nose and hawk eye; his
Musalman doctor; and his handsome Persian arzbeghi (master
of the ceremonies). The last is a man of great energy, who
will put his hand to anything, and who, a little time ago,
1 92 COLIN MA CKENZ1E.
rode furiously up to Captain Layard at a picnic to announce
that the chief Begum had just expired. Captain Layard
expressed his surprise. " But what is to be done with her
property?" asked the practical Persian. Captain Layard
again expressed some regret for the poor old lady. "But
about her property 1 " was the rejoinder.
The Nawab is about twenty-eight, with a pleasing ex-
pression ; amiable, but easily led. He was in a horrid fright
on learning that Brigadier Mackenzie was to be Governor-
General's Agent, as he had heard that he was a very stern
Christian, but was greatly relieved by his courteous and
hearty manner. The Brigadier gave him his arm (as to
a lady) and led him in. He came up to be introduced to
me, and then took his seat. He wore a plain white dress
and turban, without a single ornament. His little sons
all came to be introduced ; they were covered with jewels,
especially magnificent emeralds and pearls. Then the
ceremony began. Every one of the Nawab's court pre-
sented him with a nazzar or gift of homage, generally
of money, which he took and handed to a deaf and dumb
Abyssinian on his right hand. His near relations he
embraced, and they kissed his arms. All came who were
in his service, among them Mr. Ryan, who, when rudely
asked lay a Calcutta barrister, before whom he was giving
evidence, "Who are you, Sirl" replied in a strong Irish
accent, "I have the honour to be the Commandant of
His Highness the Nawab Nazim's Bodyguard, and I have
the honour to be the Adjutant of His Highness the Nawab
Nazim's Infantry, and I have the honour to have the
charge of His Highness the Nawab Nazim's horned cattle ! "
Besides this worthy man, the Nawab has a coachman from
Aberdeen, and it was strange to see him in his top-boots and
livery offer his nazzar and make a salam. A crowd of
chobdars at the end of the room continually shouted His
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 193
Highness' titles. Some of the officials made profound
salams, and walked backwards all down the room, others
made none at all. The huntsman brought live birds, which
he waved over His Highness' head. They are then let
loose, to procure good luck. A filigree flower was offered
to the Nawab, which he very courteously presented to me.
At the conclusion he decorated the Agent with a sort of
chain, made of gold tinsel ribbon, and sent similar ones,
which the Agent then put over the heads of the ladies and
officers. His Highness then bestowed chains with his own
hand on everybody, and Major Mackenzie finally led him
into the drawing-room, where we sat and talked a little.
The Diwan's son, a very pretty clever little boy of five,
made such low salams to the Nawab and to us, that his
diamond aigrette fell out. The Nawab has about twelve
sons, the eldest ten years old very well-behaved children.
After lunch the Diwan came to fetch me to pay a visit
to the Begums. We went in tonjons with immense green
umbrellas, escorted by the Chief Eunuch a rather fine-
looking Abyssinian, above eighty years old, named Darab
Ali Khan, who is at the head of His Highness' family
and followed by several chobdars. The Nawab's dwelling
is scandalously bad, unhealthy, confined, shabby, and
miserable. I sat between his first and second wives. The
Nazim introduced a lady very plainly dressed as "his
mother," but afterwards explained that she was called so,
as his father's widow. She is the mistress of his house.
The great lady of the family, the Dulin (or bride) Begum
is just dead, and his grandmother is to be installed in her
place as Nawab Begum, to receive the title of Highness, and
be addressed in a separate letter when the Governor-
General writes to the Nawab. It was many a long year
since the Dulin Begum was a bride, but nicknames are
often used as formal appellations. The Nazim's first wife
VOL. II.
194 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
the only one who was a lady by birth was pretty, so
far as delicate regular features and a graceful figure can
make a woman so, without an atom of expression. The
other looked very ill, having had fever on and off for three
years. The court was so small, that the green in the
middle was only the size of a large dining-table, and it was
enclosed on all sides so that no air could reach it. The
ladies were beautifully dressed; their hair braided with
magnificent jewels. The Nawab in a low tone admonished
them to speak, but they held down their heads and giggled,
and he explained that it was not the custom that they
should speak before superiors, as his mother, his sister, or
himself. Mrs. Layard asked if they never talked to His
Highness. " They might say ' Dinner is ready,' nothing
more," was the reply. Mrs. Layard, who has known him
many years, very cruelly inquired if His Highness would
not like his wives to talk to him as English ladies do, to
which he answered vigorously, "Oh, of course I should."
After repeated injunctions and signs from the Nazim, one
of them plucked up courage to ask after my health. I
inquired for hers, but could not obtain any answer. Mrs.
Layard then asked the Nawab what the ladies would like to
speak about. He said : "About their jewels." He added
he "believed they talked among themselves," quite in the
tone one might surmise that probably crows understand
each other's caws. A woman was present who spoke
English perfectly, fair but probably a half-caste. She had a
very disagreeable contemptuous manner towards the ladies.
They each offered us attar of roses and a tinsel necklace
and flower, so that we returned most brilliantly adorned.
Our Afghans rapidly became good servants. The
youngest, Ghulam Jan, was nephew of stout Atta Muham-
mad of Fisher's Horse, who was Kotwal or Mayor of
Peshawar. When Colonel Mackeson was assassinated, Atta
COLIN MACKENZIE. 195
Muhammad threw himself upon the murderer, but before
he could master him, received a wound, of which he died
ten days after. Nothing has ever been done for his widow
and his son, who now hardly earns his livelihood as a
Dak, carrier, i.e. post-runner. This is very bad, even as a
matter of policy. Ghulam was an immense creature, and
so strong that he excused himself for rubbing the spoons
and forks gently, saying : "If I put forth my strength, I
fear the small of their backs would break." He has a
brother about three inches taller than himself, who, coming
home one night, met an Afrit. The monster wrestled with
him furiously until he pronounced the name of God, when
it vanished, leaving him with a red mark from his throat
to his waist, so sorely had he been squeezed. The other
men testified to their knowledge of the fad !
In about a month, it was hoped that the Afghans were
sufficiently drilled to allow of a dinner-party of twenty-two
being given, and in a rash moment the ordering of the
entertainment was confided to a worthy old Portuguese, the
major-domo of the Nazim, who gave the company a de-
monstration of the old style of Indian dinner-parties. So
barbaric a feast was never seen. Sixteen to eighteen dishes
of meat were on the table at once two turkeys, a sirloin, a
saddle of mutton, a leg, with pies, ducks, fowls, ortolans,
etc. etc. My husband said in a low voice to his handsome
Afghan, Sultan, who was standing behind his chair : "Where
is the Abdar (water-cooler) 1 Why does he not bring the
iced wine ?" whereupon Sultan uplifted his voice and sung
out as if from a masthead, all the way to the kitchen, about
sixty yards off : " Oh-h-h, Abdar ! where are you ? Why is
the ice not here ? " which had the happy effect of making
the company merry and sociable.
Probably nowhere among Europeans was Christianity so
much a party question as at this time in India. Hatred to
196 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
Christianity, and to all who obeyed what "the Duke" called
its "marching orders," i.e. missionaries, was more openly
avowed than was at all usual in England, though one of
the Directors had expressed a fervent hope that "now we
should get rid of these d d saints." A magistrate at Ber-
hampore related of himself, that whenever a native Christian
was brought before him he always gave him six months'
imprisonment without any further inquiry. Captain Layard
pointed out to this same person the house in which Mrs.
Sherwood lived. He inquired who Mrs. Sherwood was.
"Don't you know 'Little Henry and his bearer V" asked
Captain Layard. " Oh, I remember ; the little beast who
corrupted his bearer."
The Adjutant of a regiment of Nazim's cavalry wrote to
the Morning Post about this time (January 1858) to relate
that a trooper brought him a tract which proved Muhammad
not to be a prophet. " On which," he says, " I spat on it
and put it under my feet." Inquiries for other copies of
the same tract were made, and they were burned by the
commanding officer in presence of some of the men. To
this line of conduct the writer attributes his regiment's
loyalty, and contrasts it with that of Brigadier Mackenzie.
It is probably the first time that a British officer has ever
boasted of having acted like a renegade.
At Allahabad a half-caste named De Cruz was said to
have turned Muhammadan like the above-mentioned officer
to escape danger. He was questioned as to the truth of
the report, and very coolly replied : " Yes, as a temporary
measure !" The magistrate was for hanging him.
In April we went to stay at the Mubarak Manzil, or For-
tunate Abode, a prettily-furnished English house in the midst
of a park, whigh the Nazim lent to us. Here a former Gover-
nor-General's Agent permanently resided, and lived wholly
at the Nazim's expense. Even after all General Macgregor's
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 1 97
reforms, people seemed to think that everything belonging
to the Nizamat was for common use. The Brigadier, as he
was still called, received applications from almost strangers
for "four elephants for a month's shooting." A young
civilian asked "my dear Mackenzie" for two elephants to
be "sent immediately to Bolio," twenty-four miles off.
Others requested that "the Nizam's carriages may be sent
and tiffin (lunch) provided" for divers ladies "who wish to
see the palace." My husband was determined that the
Nazim should be master in his own house, and replied in
the latter case by offering one of his own carriages, but
declining to ask His Highness for food. Some time after
on the Nazim's invitation, he took a party of forty to
spend the day at the palace. The Mubarak Manzil was
very convenient, as it enabled the Nazim to visit the Agent
privately ; for, ever since Lord Dalhousie deprived him of
his usual salute, he had steadily abstained from entering the
cantonments. Here he used to come freely, and would relate
his losses how a gold throne set with jewels and 30,000
worth of magnificent emeralds had disappeared, etc. etc.
We had a delightful visit from Colonel Arthur Cotton,
who did wonders for the Madras Presidency by his irriga-
tion works. In ten years the revenue rose 25 per cent,
and the exports were doubled. He told us of whole dis-
tricts being depopulated by famine, and not a shadow of
inquiry made, nor any remedy being even thought of. Lord
Dalhousie reported him to the Home Government as " per-
fectly insufferable," because he said the state of Cuttack was
" a disgrace to any Government." He got out of the scrape
by stating that it was " formerly a disgrace even to a native
Government, and that now it was worse," neither of which
facts could be denied.
The Bhagarati, like all the rivers in Bengal, requires
control, for it shapes its course yearly, cutting away banks
198 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
and destroying property to an immense amount. There is
not a stone in all Bengal, so there is nothing to oppose the
progress of the water. A great part of the city of Murshed-
abad was threatened with destruction, and Major Mackenzie,
being much concerned, took his friend to judge of the im-
pending danger. Colonel Cotton sent in a plan for divert-
ing the course of the current by "groynes," the whole
expense of which would have been 2000. Major Mac-
kenzie backed this as strongly as possible. Mr. Halliday,
the Lieutenant-Governor, supported it ; but he and Mr. J.
P. Grant, the President of Council, were on such bad terms
that whatever the one proposed the other opposed, and
therefore the latter, as the acting representative of the
Supreme Government, returned for answer that he " did
not see that Government was called upon to protect the
city of Murshedabad ! "
Accordingly, when the rains set in, a fine old mosk came
down with a crash, followed by many other buildings. Trees
were growing in the water that were a few days before on
dry land, and many poor huts slipped into the river with
the ground on which they stood.
Kasimbazar, the old Residency (from which gentlemen's
silk pocket-handkerchiefs used to come), was not far from the
villa we were living in, and we often visited it. The only
well being outside the fort, the garrison was consequently
obliged, a hundred years ago, to surrender to the infamous
Nawab Suraj-u-Doulah. They did so on condition of
marching out with arms and baggage ; but the gate was no
sooner opened than the treacherous Muhammadans rushed
in and massacred them all, the unfortunate young ensign in
command shooting himself.
Under one of the bastions is the tomb in black
basalt of " pise et egregiae Dominae Isabellas Graise " (wife of
Dominus Gray), who died in 1737 at the age of thirty-two.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 199
It is as fresh as if cut yesterday. Who could she be"?
and how came she there ? Close by is the old burial-ground
which contains the tombstone of Mary, Warren Hastings'
first wife, and her infant daughter Elizabeth, " erected by
her husband in due regard to her memory." She died July
1759. She was the girl-widow of Captain Dugald Campbell,
who was killed by mistake at Budge-budge, and after his
death petitioned the Governor and Council for assistance,
representing that she was " only sixteen, and left destitute
among strangers." Warren Hastings, who was the Resident at
Murshedabad after the battle of Plassey, took most effectual
means of relieving her distress by marrying her ; but the
inscription on her tomb is certainly a very cold one. The
rival settlements of the French and the Dutch were at a
short distance ; the former has gone into the river, which
has so totally abandoned the English Residency, up to which
Admiral Watson used to sail in his ships, that the old
Custom-houses are now by the side of the road instead of
on the bank of the Bhagarati. The French burial-ground
has disappeared, but the Dutch one still contains some mas-
sive monuments. The British Residency being pronounced
unhealthy during a sickly season, was sold by Government
for four thousand rupees to a Calcutta firm, who built
the present Residency at Berhampore entirely out of the
materials, letting the new erection to Government for the
use of the Governor-General's Agent at two hundred rupees
a month, and selling part of the remaining bricks to the
Public Works Department for six thousand rupees a good
specimen of a Government bargain ! The old bricks are
the admiration of all engineers so thin, and so thoroughly
burnt as to be almost as lasting as Roman work.
The Agent used to drive in and out of Berhampore for
the transaction of his office work, and one evening at dinner
complained that he was so tired he should like to lie down,
200 COLIN MACKENZIE.
and then, turning to his Afghans, explained that the Jews
used to recline while eating. " A very bad custom," quoth
Ghulam. "It must be comfortable," urged his master.
"No, a very bad custom. When you load a rifle, don't you
keep it upright ? "
The disarmed 63d Native Infantry and a Cavalry regi-
ment were still at Berhampore, and were several times
detected tampering with the Nazim's Bodyguard and others
in the city. It was like paying a nest of hornets to keep
near one. Every European, therefore, went about armed.
The troops took their muskets to church, and my excellent
and valued Scotch housekeeper was beyond measure amused
at my calling to her from the carriage to " bring a small pin
and my pistoL"
Friday, the 16th of July, having been fixed on as a
"lucky day" for the installation of His Highness' grand-
mother, I was requested to take part in the ceremony " as
the Eepresentative of the British Government." A proces-
sion of magnificently-caparisoned elephants, with gold and
silver howdahs, gold ornaments on their foreheads and
ears, and gaily -dressed camels, went to the dwelling of
the Begum to bring her in state to her new abode.
Money was scattered from some of the howdahs which
preceded the old lady, who was carried in a nalki or state
palanquin, with five gold and silver umbrellas about her.
Just before ten o'clock I was entreated to hurry to the
deori (residence), as it was now the lucky hour, and Her
Highness was waiting to be installed. She was a very
pleasing, friendly old lady of sixty, handsomely dressed
in pink, spangled with gold, her gray hair d, la chinoise,
but with no ornaments except a valuable ring or two.
We pressed each other's hands, and I wished her joy and
prosperity. Then I rose, and she took her seat on the
masnad. It is a low throne raised two or three inches
COLIN MACKENZIE. 201
from the floor, with a large bolster of gold brocade at the
back, and a smaller one on each side, placed on a magnificent
silver carpet with a gorgeous canopy overhead. I then
wished her joy again, and we made sweet speeches as well
as I could manage. The Nazim, whom she brought up as
a child, was the first to pay his homage. He came sud-
denly in, and fell down at her feet with his head on the
ground. She took his head between both her hands and
rubbed it with unmistakable fondness as you would a
curly-headed child, and then embraced him formally, first
over one shoulder and then over the other. His present
was then brought, a magnificent gold huka studded with
jewels. He then came to speak to me, but a whole crowd
of dancing women who nearly filled the hall, most of them
hideous old hags " sinfully ugly," as a painter once said to
me tossed their arms on high with such a hubbub of bless-
ings and congratulations that one could not hear one's own
voice. There was one old hag with gray hair and long
wolfish teeth, and another fat one with wicked black eyes
and cheeks distended with pan. The whole band pointed
at the Nawab Begum in an ecstasy of admiration, then
threw up their arms again, as if in a rapture of devout grati-
tude for being permitted to see such a day. The old lady
listened with the most perfect indifference to the deafening
clamour. By .the bye, the Nazim was rolling pan about in
his mouth while he was expressing his filial affection, and
when he was speaking to me, which had a very odd effect
One of the eunuchs posted himself by me, and told me the
names of the different ladies present. His Highness went
and sat on the floor a little behind his grandmother ; he
was dressed as usual in plain white, with bare feet. Three
of his wives came in very richly arrayed, and made very
respectful salams to the old lady before taking their seats
together on one masnad to my right. Two of these are
202 COLIN MACKENZIE.
the Nawab's wives, to use his own words, " equal in rank
and in his affection," except that the first has precedence.
The third has no rank, but they are much attached to her.
In this family the eldest son succeeds without any reference
to the position of his mother, which never affects that of
the children among Shiahs. The room was now filled with
women, who came forward in turn to make salams and
present their nazzars. Each of the Nazim's ladies presented
five gold mohars, but the old lady took no notice of them,
did not return their salutation, and left one of the eunuchs
to take the money off the handkerchief on which it is pre-
sented, and add it to the heap at her feet. Some offerings
she received graciously and returned the salute, taking the
money herself ; others she left unnoticed, and even received
with disdain. Several of the Nazim's little daughters were
there, wearing a sort of helmet or cap of jewels that was
very becoming to their dark eyes. The two elder live
with the Nawab Najibunissa (whose installation we were
attending). They were married last year, although not
above ten years old, to two sons of Ali Naki, the Prime
Minister of Oudh, now in prison at Calcutta. The Nazim
wanted to persuade the eldest to come to me. This she
would by no means do, but struggled with him, so he put
her astride on his hip and brought her to me. He and his
sister sat and talked and ate pan together most cosily. He
went out to see the Agent, but speedily came back, jumped
up on a sofa, and began untying the pardahs or wadded
curtains between us and the verandah. This left us nearly
in the dark and frightfully hot, in spite of hand pankahs
with which they diligently fanned me. It appeared that
Nawab Jaffir Ali, one of the Nazim's uncles, who is always
making a fuss about precedence, insisted on his right of
entering the. deori instead of sending his nazzar. Conse-
quently we were nearly smothered, while the eunuchs went
COLIN MACKENZIE. 203
to and fro bringing in each man's nazzar separately. All
this time the dancing-women shouted and screamed with
short intervals of rest, "flashes of silence." Sometimes
they sang, sometimes they danced. The most horrid thing
was to see the old woman with long teeth swimming about,
trotting mincingly, half-hiding her face with her veil, then
suddenly flinging it aside with the most languishing coquet-
tish airs. A child of ten or twelve years of age followed,
her face distended into the most unnatural fixed smile that
can be imagined. It was like an imp dancing, tragical to
behold. The songs are so bad that the Nazim won't allow
them in his own zenana, so I took care to tell them I could
not hear the words. One of the women played on a sort
of drum, another on a Brobdignag guitar, much larger than
a violoncello, and held upright. After some hours of this
uproar I took my leave, the Nawab Begum thanking me
much for having "done her honour." There was no
umbrella ready, and in crossing the court I felt the sun
like a dart at the back of my head. This was the begin-
ning of a severe ilhiess, and when my husband returned
one evening from a visit to the Nazim it was to find me
literally "wrestling for life" under a violent attack of
Bengal fever. Warburg's tincture was the means of stop-
ping it, and I was moved into Berhampore.
Early in August Lady Canning arrived in her yacht
accompanied by her cousins, Colonel and Mrs. Charles
Stuart, and two A.D.C.'s. Two more charming women
could hardly be found. I took them to see the old Resid-
ency; they were interested in everything. The next morn-
ing my husband escorted her to Murshedabad, where the
Nazim came on board to pay her a visit.
The "fortunate day" had proved very much the contrary;
for the "Representative of the British Government" on
the occasion had nearly died, and the Nawab Begum had
204 COLIN MACKENZIE.
actually done so. But the Nazim determined to " wave off
grief " in order to wait upon Her Excellency. He told her
point blank that "Lord Dalhousie was the cause of the
Mutiny." Lady Canning did not wish to hear this, so
Major Mackenzie remarked : " There were many concomi-
tant causes." But the Nazim was not to be so put off, and
repeated with great emphasis that "Lord Dalhousie was the
chief cause of the Mutiny." He was charmed with Lady
Canning, said : " She is such a thorough lady," and " so
clever." "And no pride," added the Diwan.
The Nazim's opinion concerning the Mutiny was shared
by many native gentlemen, for the annexation of Oudh was
thought to be his act ; whereas it was one of those interven-
tions of the Cabinet at home which have so often proved
disastrous. Just after the annexation of Oudh the Gwalior
Raja came to Calcutta. His Diwan, the well-known Dinkar
Rao, asked Colonel Eyre, whom he knew well, what was said
about it in England. Colonel Eyre replied that those who
objected to annexation did so on the ground that it would
excite suspicion and distrust in the native princes. " That
is exactly the case," was the answer. " No one can feel safe."
Intervention in Oudh had become absolutely necessary, but
it had been provided by treaty that, in case of flagrant mis-
government, we might take the management of the country
into our hands by means of a Council of Regency, as was
done in Maisur. This was the course advocated by Colonel
Sleeman and General Low, who strongly protested against
annexation as a breach of faith and a most dangerous
measure. Not only was the Bengal army almost entirely
recruited from Oudh, but the majority of our native civil
officials were drawn from thence. No wonder then that
annexation, followed as it was by wholesale disturbance of
the actual tenure of property, should have resulted in
mutiny and insurrection.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 205
Another attack of fever obliged my husband to take me
to the Palace, where our apartments, being on the upper
story, were a good deal above the reach of malaria.
Early in September was the festival of the Behra (raft)
in honour of Khawjah Khizr, the patron saint of all rivers
and waters, and styled "The Regent of Life." He is said
to be either a brother of the prophet Elijah or Elijah him-
self (authorities differ !), who, having discovered the Water
of Life, is still living somewhere on the earth, and will live
till the day of judgment. It is believed that he can ensure
duration of life and health, and vows and offerings of lights
are made to him to obtain these blessings. The Nazim
gave a dinner-party of forty, at which everything was very
handsome and well managed. According to custom, the
Agent gave his arm to the Nazim, who sat at his left hand ;
but, like the modern Hinduised Muhammadans of India, did
not eat with Christians. A provisional depot of European
troops having been lately formed, twelve of the officers were
present, some of whom showed a total ignorance of good
manners, lounging in the drawing-room before dinner, with
one foot on the other knee, or lolling in arm-chairs " with-
out either formality or politeness," as the Spaniards say.
They seized the bottles of champagne which the servants
were handing round and kept them under their chairs, and
were noisy and disagreeable after dinner.
It was a clear, still, dark night ; a beautiful illumination
like a fort was on the opposite bank of the river, and when
the Behra, or procession of rafts of all sizes, made of plantain
stems supported on earthen pots, came floating down the
river bearing ships, castles, and palaces traced in coloured
fire, some of them throwing up rockets as they passed, with
other tiny ones like fiery swans, the effect was magical.
The Nazim sent his carriages to convey his guests to and
from Berhampore, and in return for his hospitality, one of
206 COLIN MACKENZIE.
them wrote a vulgar letter to a Calcutta paper, decrying the
dinner, the wines, the band, and the whole entertainment.
This person having left, the Colonel in command wrote to
the Governor-General's Agent disclaiming in the name of
the officers, " then under his command, any participation in
so ungentlemanly an act." One officer at this party main-
tained that it was "most probable that Christianity was
founded on Muhammadanism," a little mistake of six
hundred years ! Another in the Indian Navy (fourteen
years in the country) inquired if the Nazim were a Hindu
or a Musalman. The Agent answered that he was the
Muhammadan of the highest rank in Bengal. "0, then, I
suppose he is a Brahman ! " was the reply, which sent the
Nazim, when he heard of it, into a fit of laughter.
The Agent's strong representations had been successful
in obtaining Lord Canning's consent that a new residence
should be built for the Nawab. The latter requested him
to sit for his picture to complete the series of Governor-
General's Agents, and was anxious to have one of me also ;
but fearful of this not being quite proper, he made the
Diwan inquire beforehand of the painter if he was certain
that it would not be in any way disrespectful to ask for a
lady's portrait.
An earthquake and a magnificent comet were memorable
phenomena. The Afghans no sooner saw the comet with
its fiery tail reflected across the whole breadth of the river
than they remarked, " That forebodes woe to kings," just
what Shakespeare said: "With fear of change perplexing
monarchs."
Although slavery is supposed to be abolished in India it
practically exists, and always will exist among the followers
of the false Prophet. A Muhammadan can marry only
four wives, but he may have as many slaves as he pleases,
whom he cannot marry, but whose children inherit.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 207
Mr. Octavius Toogood, the Magistrate of Monghyr, dis-
covered in April 1858 that the Kazi of the district habit-
ually registers in the Judge's Court deeds for the lease
of girls for ninety years. One Muhammadan sold his
daughter Chand, aged seven, to Massamat Amiran for 12
rupees 8 annas (twenty-five shillings), her children to belong
to Amiran for ever ! All admit it and say that it is always
done. The Kazi (brother of the principal Sadar Amin,
i.e. judge of the same station) says that deeds of sale are for-
bidden in the Kuran, but not leases ! But in general the
law is not even evaded ; it is simply set at nought.
At every festival or show the people flock to see the sight,
and as the men often cannot leave their work, the women
and children are put under charge of some village elder.
Eich Muhammadans have agents on the look-out for those
that are good-looking ; the guardian receives a few rupees,
reports on his return that the young woman or child has died
of fever or cholera, and no more is heard of the matter.
So helpless and so apathetic are the people that the Diwan
says a man is sometimes seen gathering up a bunch of
young girls, leading four or five in one hand "as if they were
chickens." These women are never suffered to leave the
Zenana, and are often cruelly treated. Some years ago two
young girls in the service of the Dulin Begum scaled a high
wall, dropped down on the other side, and laid a petition
before Major Macgregor, who at once requested the Diwan
to go in his name to the deori of the Dulin Begum
and inquire personally of the women if they wished to
leave or to stay. About eighteen of them fell at his feet
and implored him to let them go. Some brought food all
mouldy and bad and showed him how they were fed.
Others rejected the offer of large pensions to induce them
to remain. Two even left their children in order to return
to their own villages. There were some who cried most
208 COLIN MACKENZIE.
bitterly, and begged to be released, but the eunuchs managed
to conceal them. 1
At this time forty women in the Nazim's own establish-
ment insisted on leaving the Palace and getting respectably
married. On this unheard-of demand the Nazim knew not
what to do. A few years back the poor girls would have
been soundly beaten by the eunuchs ; but now the Diwan,
certain of the Brigadier's support, represented that India
was a free country, and if they chose to go, no one had any
right to detain them, and never left the Palace until every
one of the forty had taken her departure. It seems as if
the Nazim never forgave what he considered interference in
his household affairs.
Lunatic asylums, convents, and zenanas ought all to be
subject to inspection, in order to protect those who are
immured in them. There could be no difficulty if this were
done by women of unimpeachable character.
The detachment of H.M.'s 35th being about to leave
Berhampore, a dinner was given to the men by the officers
of the station. Major Mackenzie went to see them, accom-
panied by one of his Afghan servants, who was so enchanted
with the cheering that he was continually imitating it, and
said : " If they shout in that manner in battle, the livers of
their enemies must break ! "
Soon after, a steamer stopped at the station on its way
to Calcutta with a number of invalids of the Naval Brigade,
which had just been fighting so gloriously. The Governor-
General's Agent went on board to look after them, and
found they had no doctor, not even an apothecary, not an
ounce of medicine of any sort, and no comforts whatever,
though some of them were seriously ill with fever, sun-
stroke, etc. The Naval Brigade was paid off at a season
1 The Diwan's report to the Governor-General's Agent, 3d October
1855.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 209
when no other employment was procurable, and no ships
were leaving Calcutta, consequently about three hundred
of them were bivouacking in Calcutta during the hottest
month of the year. That glorious corps, the 9th Lancers,
was sent down the river in open boats under a blazing sun,
and upwards of a hundred of them were embarked on board
the Euxlne without a grain of medicine. The mismanage-
ment was endless.
VOL. II.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CALCUTTA.
(November 1858.)
HAVING had a return of fever, it became necessary to take
me down the river for change of air. The voyage was
a most comfortable one of eight days, in a large pinnace
with bedroom, dressing-room, and sitting-room, attended by
various smaller boats for the servants. On the way we
saw an unfortunate Hindu brought to the riverside to die.
People supposed to be dying sometimes linger for days,
exposed to the sun, and deprived of all succour, and death
is hastened by the mouth and nostrils being stuffed with
mud. Of course numerous murders take place under cover
of this superstition, and if the sufferer should unadvisedly
recover, he remains an alien to his family, and is relegated
to one of the villages peopled by similar outcasts. My
husband mentioned to his Sherishtadar, law clerk, a bigoted
old Musalman, that Darogahs (native police superintendents)
were to be abolished, and deputy-magistrates appointed in
their stead. He replied : " That will be an excellent thing
if the deputy-magistrates are Europeans, but if they are
natives, things will be worse than ever."
This sagacious dictum received a curious illustration a
short time after. A highly-educated Muhammadan magis-
trate was paying me a visit. The conversation turned on a
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 211
robbery from a boat, over which one of the Agency chaprasis
had been on duty at the time. I expressed surprise that
this man had not been questioned on the subject. Where-
upon the magistrate said : " Is it your pleasure, Madam,
that that man be put in prison ? "
We reached Calcutta on the 1st November. All the
ships, including the American ones, 1 were dressed with flags,
in honour of Her Majesty's assumption of the direct sover-
eignty of India. She was usually styled Empress of India
from this time. The Queen's Proclamation gave great satis-
faction to the natives ; but in the Bengali translation her title
of " Defender of the Faith " was transmuted into " Defender
of the Faith of Nations," Hindu, Musalman, etc. Noth-
ing could be finer than the illuminations. Every building,
and some of the shipping, was outlined in gold-coloured fire.
Public affairs generally seemed to be at a standstill.
Seventeen hundred cases in the Military Department,
and seven hundred in the Political, were waiting for
the Governor -General's decision. But there was more
activity in private life. Every one who was in Calcutta at
that time will remember a little knot of ladies who were
unwearied in good works. One founded a refuge for fallen
women, another took charge of the home for sufferers by
the Mutiny, a third founded the Normal School for girls,
all worked together, and some regularly visited our sick
and wounded soldiers in hospital.
During his stay in Calcutta, Major Mackenzie, according
to his habit, took pains to ascertain the opinion of natives
of all ranks regarding recent events, and the feelings of the
people. One of his visitors, a Brahman of the highest caste,
an old pupil of Dr. Duff's, who had once applied for baptism,
and still attended public worship, made no secret of his
1 Throughout the Mutiny the Americans identified themselves with
us, and used to pray for a "blessing on our troops."
212 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
Christian convictions, but showed no intention of giving up
all for Christ. He said the great remedy for the woes of
India is vernacular education on a Christian basis. Hindus
and Christians agreed that vernacular education would be
the best protection for the ryot, by raising him above his
present childish, irrational, condition, but that it has never
been even tried as a general measure. The Bengalis are
fully sensible of the advantages of British rule, and contrast
it most favourably with the tyranny of their former Muham-
madan masters; their main cause of complaint is the difficulty
of getting justice. The general opinion seems to be that our
civil courts are a failure, and my husband always advocated
the decision of cases by the native Panchayet, a body of five,
two chosen by each party, and the fifth by some superior.
The Sadr Adalat, or Court of Appeal in criminal cases,
was notorious for its amazing decisions, but it now did itself
honour for once in a way. Mr. H. V. Bayley, one of the
judges, related to me that a poor woman asked her husband
how much matting he had made that day. He replied,
" You're a woman," and seizing a heavy wooden mallet, ran
at her. His mother interfered, saying: "What harm has
she done 1 She only asked how many mats you had made 1"
To which her son responded, " You're a woman, too," and
crushed in her skull with one blow of the mallet. He then
knocked down his wife, pulled her up again, and killed her
too with his mallet. The magistrate considered " that he
had some provocation, and, as the mallet was at hand, it
was not murder." Wonderful to say, the Sadder for once
took a common-sense view of the question, pronounced that
it was murder, and hanged him.
The Diwan considered that the ryots were far too
heavily taxed, and confessed that the British were very
unpopular. He complained of the rudeness with which
natives of rank are treated by Europeans, especially by
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 213
civilians the military were "more plain and simple"
and of the ignorance of native habits and feeling evinced
by most men in office. Two members of Council asked
Major Mackenzie whether the Nazim were a Shiah
or a Suni ! Speaking of his own countrymen, the Diwan
said : " They are very polite outwardly, but there is great
hatred in their hearts towards us." The Bengali despises
the European because he can always cheat him. He thinks
his own science and literature much better than ours. The
only thing that has shaken his belief in his own superiority
is the railroad. An old Eaja, who hated Europeans, and
would never call on one, came to see the train. He re-
mained perfectly silent as it rushed by, and then exclaimed :
"This has done more for the country than all our gods !"
There is certainly great oppression exercised towards the
ryots, some think even more by European than by native
landholders. One English gentleman gave up his career
as planter because the ryots were constantly tied up and
flogged. Another, a man of great experience, manager of
some of the largest estates in Bengal, and substantially a
just man, put his only son into the Dragoons, and declared
that he would rather follow him to his grave than see him
in his own profession. My husband was strongly of opinion
that an influx of Europeans into India, by bringing planters
and magistrates alike more under the influence of healthy
English public opinion, would go far to prevent unlawful
exercise of power. He himself was one of those who did
most to conciliate the natives, showing the same frank
courtesy and sympathy to a native gentleman as to a
European. l No one ever took a liberty with him, and yet
1 A Bombay officer, who had himself ruled his district as a father,
well-known and honoured in Edinburgh, wrote to him : " Oh that all
Europeans understood the natives as well as you do ! It makes me
blush for my country to think of how some of our representatives in
India conduct themselves towards the natives."
214 COLIN MACKENZIE.
he never stood upon his dignity. His open-handedness to
the poor, and his giving medicine to all comers, made a
great impression. The Nazim had become quite attached
to him, and evidently enjoyed his society, often spending
the whole day with him. He was greatly struck by his
openness, and said : " He had known many Agents, but not
one who would speak out so plainly." But a Bombay
officer truly wrote to Calcutta : " You have got Colin
Mackenzie, who never feared man or devil."
It was with great grief we heard that our true and
manly friend, Captain Donald Mackinnon, had fallen in an
unsuccessful attack on a petty mud fort held by Rohillas.
We returned from Calcutta in January 1859, and not long
after the Nazim invited a party to go out tiger-shooting.
I wrote to my mother : " The day after we arrived in
camp was Sunday. Colin read the English service and
an admirable sermon by Vinet on Grace and Law. None
of the gentlemen went out shooting. Monday we were all
up by six, took our early coffee, and started soon after eight,
each having a separate elephant. I and the Diwan had each
a canopy of sailcloth over our howdahs. The Nazim, in a
tight green shot silk chapkan (coat), and little white muslin
skull-cap, and like his sons, well fortified with amulets, wore
his gold spectacles upside down (much the best way for
shooting) ; had a battery of six double-barrelled guns besides
fowling-pieces, with a man in the back seat who loaded for
him and held a red silk umbrella over his head. He was
mounted on a magnificent tusker, with spotted head and
ears. As soon as we got clear of the camp we formed into
line, about forty elephants small and great, and advanced
slowly through the long grass. The wind was delightfully
fresh, and it was a most picturesque and cheerful sight.
Next the Nazim came Colin, habited in shepherd's plaid
flannel, an Elwood's patent helmet with red muslin pagri,
COLIN MA CKENZIE, 215
and like the rest of the gentlemen, four double-barrelled
rifles, besides a revolver in his belt, and a first-rate native
Shikari or huntsman to load for him. I came next on a
magnificent female elephant, thoroughly staunch, with George
the Aberdeen coachman behind. He had volunteered to
take care of me, and to load a brace of beautiful pea-rifles
which had been allotted to my share. I carried arnica,
niatico, and old pocket-handkerchiefs in case any one should
be hurt. We all changed our colours more than once during
the day by divesting ourselves of successive wrappages as it
grew hotter. The shapes of the hats were wonderful, each
man apparently having invented a pattern of his own. The
Nazim is a crack shot, and killed several partridges as we
advanced. Bashir Ali, one of the Abyssinians, is also
an excellent shot. He was a curious lathy figure, and,
like many of the natives, shoots equally well from either
shoulder. Several deer were killed and two boars, and
at length we reached the jungle. The country was
a wide plain intersected by ditches, with patches of
swampy ground and clumps of thorny Babul trees. The
first belt of jungle we came to was literally impenetrable.
The howdah elephants which, of course, are the most
powerful, could not enter without breaking the howdahs to
pieces. The smaller elephants could not make their way
through, though one heard the report of trees breaking on
all sides. The beaters, too, are timid. There was a dense
tangled thicket through which a deep marshy stream wound
its way, but we could only look in and skirt it. Not a
breath of air stirred inside. A tiger was entrenched within,
but he was too wise to come out, and having no hand
grenades, nor even tom-toms, we could not make him show
himself. By this time it was past noon, and getting very
hot. We dismounted under the shade of a large tree, and
had sandwiches, etc. The Nazim taking his refection at
21 6 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
a little distance, and the Diwan, as a Hindu, his still
farther off. The Diwan makes no profession of valour.
He told us that when he was at the head of the Tosha
Khana (Treasure Chamber), Lord Ellenborough desired
him to serve out swords to all his establishment just before
the battle at Gwalior. There came an alarm that the
enemy were upon them, when most of them fled. The
Diwan, who had reserved the handsomest sword of all for
himself, took to his heels, and flung his splendid weapon
into a tank, from whence he had afterwards some trouble
in recovering it. Captain Layard has been amusing him-
self by telling the Diwan horrid examples of tiger accidents,
so that I believe he has come on his first shooting expedi-
tion with a very uneasy mind. He had a large native spear
for his weapon. Afterwards the Nazim joined us, and sat
down on the rough ground, though I offered him a cushion;
then we all fired at a bottle, but nobody hit it, until at
last the Nazim, who practises constantly, and breaks sixty
to eighty a month, demolished it. We remounted, and went
to a most promising nullah. Then came shots in rapid
succession, and the cry that the tiger was coming. We
were all in a state of great excitment. I had a beautiful
position, just above a small open spot between the banks of
the nullah, and intended to cover myself with glory by
giving him a finishing shot, when he dwindled down to a
leopard, then to a tiger-cat, and when he was discovered,
he was already dead, and only a civet-cat !
" 2d March. Colin and I stayed in camp, so imagine our
envy and jealousy when the party returned with a magnifi-
cent tigress 10 feet long to the tip of her tail, and 3 feet
9 to the shoulder, also one of her cubs, a fine stag, seven other
deer, etc. They were all in great delight, and I am happy
to say had all (the Nazim included) wished for me. The
tigress charged into an open piece of ground out of the very
COLIN MACKENZIE. 217
jungle which we had ineffectually beaten on Monday.
Another of her cubs was wounded ; she had three or
four ; they sometimes have as many as five.
"It is very pretty to hear the guns discharged as the
sportsmen approach camp, and to see the line of torch-
bearers going forth to light them, and- to show the game.
The first thing done is to singe off the tiger's whiskers,
and the hair inside its ears ; as the former, when cut up
and mixed with food, are said to cause death.
" Do you know how legends grow 1 One of the Akrobas
(relatives of the Nawab Nazim) having seen Bibi one day
when calling at the Eesidency, went home and told the
most astounding stories regarding this wonderful bird ; in
particular he swore that a servant having offended Bibi,
he had heard the bird desire his master to discharge the
man ; that the Sahib had done so on the spot ; that Bibi had
then, after reflection, said : ' He is an old servant ; I would
not send him quite away; it will be sufficient to keep
him in suspense a month or two.' A man came to complain
that a tiger had killed his cow the night before. We found
a cow nearly picked clean by village dogs and vultures, but
no trace of any tiger ; but the mere exercise is pleasant.
The Nazim's little boys have now become very friendly ;
they are all very obedient, and well trained ; and one of
them, a dear little fellow named Miran Sahib, asked to
come with me on my elephant. He laughed and talked,
told me all the English words he knew, and then began
to sing to himself. On Friday, the Nazim, who is exceed-
ingly strict in observing the Musalman Sabbath, and
never hunts on that day, spent most of it in our
tent helping me at chess. A very fine elephant coming
home the other evening got into a quicksand, and they
say it was most painful to see the poor creature struggling
and sinking deeper and deeper. It was of no use to order
218 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
people out from camp, for they would not have gone, so
afraid are they of the dark ; but the next morning Atta
was despatched with a whole herd of Bengalis to rescue
the elephant. It had rained furiously all night, and he
had sunk in so deep that it was a wonder how he was
ever got out. They had not even cut off his pad, and no
one but Atta had a knife to do it. Then they gave him
the hurdles, which form the bodies of the hackeries (carts),
and by slipping these under his body, he at last extricated
himself and came in in an exhausted condition. Five
bottles of brandy were mixed with a mash of rice to
restore his strength. He 'souped' it up with eagerness,
and appeared greatly refreshed thereby.
"After eight days in camp, some of us started on
Saturday morning to return. We went on prosperously
in palkis and on elephants till within thirteen miles from
Murshedabad. There we rashly got into the carriages
which were waiting for us, but it soon became evident
that the horses could not drag the carriage if we were in
it. After walking about a mile, I got in again. We soon
stuck fast in the deep mud, and Colin had literally to put
his shoulder to the wheel, and, with some of the men, at
last got the carriage under way. The Diwan and the
Brownings came up in a palki-carriage, drawn by an elephant,
and we followed their example the first time I ever went in
a 'one elephant chay.' We stopped at the Palace to take
luncheon, but the Nizamat servants being Shiahs, would
not supply our Afghans with any food because they were
Sunis, and I was obliged to give them all the biscuits and
gingerbread nuts I could find."
Every Governor -General's Agent had difficulties in
managing the ladies of the Nizamat. The Nazim's mother
and wives having been cited as witnesses in a civil suit, of
which they knew nothing whatever, His Highness vehemently
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 219
remonstrated in a Persian letter to the Agent: "The
Begums are in the greatest trouble, distraction of mind, and
confusion. May I therefore explain through this friendly
pen that taking the evidence of females and retired ladies
under the veil is, in our creed, forbidden and odious more
especially ladies of the rank and dignity of the Nawab Nazim,
entails derogation of character, by rending the veil of
modesty and decorum." But it was of no avail; Major
Mackenzie was obliged to take their evidence. The Nazim
brought three of his wives, and placed them together behind
the thick curtain, in front of which the Agent sat. He
requested the Nazim to go in and separate them, which he
did. Then they gave their answers in such a low murmur,
that old Darab AH was obliged to repeat every word.
Their depositions, which they cannot read, were carried
inside to have their seals affixed ; but, of course, evi-
dence taken in such a way can have very little value,
personification and fraud are so easy. His Highness'
mother, who is a very perverse person, and who, having
been a dancing girl, stands to arms with peculiar alertness
in defence of her dignity and decorum, at first utterly
refused to be examined; whereupon the Governor-General's
Agent sent her a message that, by resisting the law, she
was only making herself ridiculous, and injuring the
interests of her son ; and that if she did not instantly
consent, he should feel it his duty immediately to write a
letter to the Government, the consequences of which would
astound her. On hearing this undefined threat she gave
in at once. The Nazim seemed to think it was the only
way to deal with her, and utterly declined going with the
Agent. " I am not going there to be abused before you,"
said he. " She is a very extraordinary woman. The
last time I went there, she threatened to tie me up and
flog me." They say she really does beat him with her
220 COLIN MACKENZIE.
slipper, but he is a very good son to her. Another case
gives a lively idea of the helplessness of these poor women.
A widow lady petitioned the Agent for help. Her com-
plaint was that another woman had possession of her
signet, and was thus enabled to draw her pension of
thirty rupees a month, and devour it. Major Mackenzie
commissioned Darab Ali Khan to inquire into the case.
He reported that in spite of her written denial it was
true that Kamaru Nissa Begum had possession of the
widow's seal ; that she gave receipts in her name, and
kept the money for herself; that he beheld the widow
in a sad and wretched plight, with nothing but a blanket
and a tahband (waist cloth), to cover her loins. 1 She
related her story in the presence of a number of women,
with such cries and lamentations, that those who were
by, begged for quarter from her convulsive expressions
of grief and wailing, and implored peace (al aman).
Many confirmed her statements, while Kamaru Nissa had
not a word to say for herself. The latter not only em-
bezzled 3000 rupees, which the widow inherited, but sold
her house over her head, bought it in with the widow's
own money, and then resold it at a profit, " thus blotting
out the name of the deceased Nawab from the books of
memory, and leaving the widowed sanctuary of the de-
parted (i.e. his wives) without house or home. Until
they erect a home to dwell in, their houses, like the snails,
are- on their backs." The poor widow is, as might be sur-
mised, a woman of extreme simplicity of character. The
Agent decided that the stipend of the culprit should be
sequestrated until the amount of which the poor lady had
been defrauded was made up; and, as a further check
against such evil doings, required that all receipts for
pensions should be countersigned by the Diwan for
1 The minute portion of dress worn by the poorest men !
COLIN MACKENZIE. 221
men, and by Darab Ali Khan for the women of the
family.
At the end of March 1859 it was decided that the
Nazim and the Agent should go down to Calcutta to visit
the Governor-General. Lord Canning was extremely friendly
to us, and we had the pleasure of meeting Lord Harris and
thanking him for the great sympathy he had shown at the
time of the Bolarum Mutiny. The Viceroy had expressed
his intention of transferring my husband to Mpal, but after
all Colonel Eamsay did not vacate the post. As usual a
visit to headquarters afforded much interesting information.
One anecdote related by a personal friend of the lady was a
striking illustration of the superior force of British will. A
quiet, gentle woman, who escaped with her husband during
the Mutiny, was on one occasion annoyed by a man walking
up and down before her with a drawn sword and insolent
gestures. She went up to him and desired him to lay down
that sword. He disobeyed, she repeated the order, and as
he still took no notice of it, she said, " If you do not lay
down that sword I will take it from you," and on his retorting
with menacing action, she seized his hand, took away the
sword, and has got it still as a trophy. This shows how
we rule Hindustan. Every European woman or child
has a sense of power and strength of will which the
natives lack. Another fact was no less illustrative of
British stupidity. Can it be credited that the magazine
at Delhi has actually been put lack into the heart of the
city, and a Sikh guard placed over it, as well as a guard of
Europeans ?
The first thing the Governor-General's Agent had to do
on arriving, was to accompany the Nazim to pay a private
visit to the Viceroy; but there arose a knotty question
regarding the Nazim's shoes. Lord Dalhousie introduced
a rule, that natives wearing European shoes might keep
222 COLIN MACKENZIE.
them on at Government House, but if they wore native
shoes they must take them off. Mr. Edmonston supported
this, on the plea that a native taking off his shoes is a mark
of respect, like a European taking off his hat, but the Diwan
denies this, and says the salam is the mark of respect, and
that taking off the shoes is for cleanliness sake, that properly,
a Hindu should wash his hands after touching his shoes,
because they tread on the dirt, and to enter with them
into a native house, where the inmates sit and eat on the
floor, is as disrespectful as it would be for us to put our feet
on the chairs or dining table ; but where chairs are used,
and Europeans walk about in boots, no reason exists for
making a native take off his shoes. In the palace at Mur-
shedabad the Diwan and His Highness' children keep their
shoes on in the presence of the Nazim, but in the zenana
he himself goes barefoot. The Nazim claims the right of
wearing his slippers before the Governor-General as his
equal, and this has hitherto always been allowed. Lord
Canning, however, "put his foot down" on European shoes,
which were to be black Now wearing black is contrary to
a Shiah's conscience, but there was no help for it. Tolera-
tion could not stoop so low as to admit of coloured shoes, so
the Nazim went in black spring boots. He had previously
been requested " not to speak on business," thus frustrating
the very object of his visit, which was to obtain redress
for the injustice with which he had been treated. The
Governor-General did not return his visit for fully three
weeks, and Major Mackenzie had some trouble in keep-
ing the Nazim in Calcutta. His Excellency declined an
entertainment which the Nazim, according to precedent,
wished to give him. When the Viceroy at last visited
the Nazim he asked Major Mackenzie "if it would be
contrary to His Highness' religion to come to an evening
party." Being reassured on that point, he invited him for
COLIN MACKENZIE. 223
the following Monday, but the party was unavoidably post-
poned.
On the Queen's birthday Lord Canning held his first
levee as Viceroy, and expressed his wish that His Highness
should be present. He and the Governor-General's Agent
proceeded together, and on the way the Nazim asked if he
should show his hair. Major Mackenzie advised him to
do so, upon which he took off his turban, and made one of
his servants behind the carriage undo about fifty little
plaits, and comb it out as they drove along. Although the
Governor-General had stated that the Nazim was to accom-
pany him into the throne-room, he never gave him his arm,
nor even asked him to come, so that Junab Ali (His High-
ness) naturally remained where he was. Sir James Outram
greeted him heartily, so did Mr. George Loch, and all the
natives paid him the greatest respect, and begged to be
presented to him. Lord Canning asked him to come to the
ball in the evening, and accordingly he went. The Foreign
Secretary ought to have met the Nazim at the foot of the
stairs, but Mr. Beadon had previously declared his inten-
tion of not doing so, so nobody met His Highness. Just as
he got to the top he perceived that he had forgotten to
change his gold slippers for the black shoes exacted by the
Governor -General, and was in great perplexity. Major
Mackenzie comforted him, and wishing to save him any
further mortification took him half-way down stairs, stowed
him and the Diwan away in a private passage, and went him-
self to fish out the shoes from the carriage. No one unac-
quainted with India can fully appreciate this apparently
simple act of. kindness. When at last they reached the
ballroom, Lord Canning just shook hands with the Nazim,
and took no further notice of him whatever. Lady Canning,
with her usual grace and courtesy, made room for him by
her, and seemed as if she endeavoured to make up for her
224 COLIN MACKENZIE.
lord's want of cordiality and politeness. The Nazim left
very early, not at all gratified. On public occasions Lord
Canning stands in one place all the evening, and seldom
speaks to any one but a Secretary, and then apparently on
business, whereas Lord Dalhousie, and still more Lord Mayo,
had a courteous and pleasant word for every man in the
room, and especially for native gentlemen, who are a hundred-
fold more sensitive to any lack of attention than English-
men. 1 But even the latter keenly felt the neglect with
which their solid services were treated. For instance, when
he went to Lucknow, Lord Canning had durbars and all
sorts of honour and rewards for the natives, but never took
the least notice of about eighty or ninety Europeans who
had formed part of the glorious garrison, not even of such
men as Mr. Venables, a rich planter of very high character,
who had armed his ryots, recovered Azimghar, restored
order, collected the revenue (the civilians having been
all withdrawn to Benares), and held the district, rein-
forced only by a small party of native troops, for six
weeks.
To return to the ball. Every one remarked the in-
decorum of dancing polkas and waltzes in hoops, the effect
of which may be imagined ! Dancing of any sort is bad
enough in the presence of natives, but this style of per-
formance covers us with disgrace. When the Patiala Raja
came to Calcutta one of the Sikhs was asked what he
thought of the ball. "Every nation has its own customs,"
he politely replied, " but this seems very curious to us."
When the Ndzim was persuaded to give a ball at his own
palace, he placed sentries at the foot of the stairs leading to
1 Urbanity and the habit of frank courtesy to foreigners is quite an
essential for a Viceroy, or Governor in India. All our successful rulers
as Lord Wellesley, Lord Hastings, Sir John Malcolm, Mountstuart
Elphinstone, etc. etc. have possessed this personal charm.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 225
the ballroom, and would not suffer a single native to go
up. " I know it is innocent," said he, " but natives do not
understand it."
The Nazim had now been two months in Calcutta, and
had received very little attention ; he was therefore anxious
to return. Lord Canning had requested to be informed on
what day he would leave, from which the Agent inferred
that he intended, as a reward for the Nazim's loyalty during
the Mutiny, to restore his former salute, a point on which
the latter was most sensitive. The Nazim had fixed on
Wednesday ; but as a special train could not be had before
Friday, the latter day was named to the Viceroy. Early
on Wednesday the Diwan came to the Agent in great
trouble, as the Nazim declared he would go by the ordinary
train that very day. In vain the Diwan said, in that case
he would not accompany him. He was obliged to appeal
to Major Mackenzie, who wrote rather a stiff note to
His Highness, armed with which his man of business,
Mr. D and the Diwan, set forth and met him on the
road to the station. Mr. D made him turn back, at
which he was so cross that he reviled his Minister. How-
ever, he soon recovered his temper, patted the Diwan, and
told him not to mind, saying : " I was so angry I was obliged
to vent my anger on some one." But the Diwan was not
to be pacified, and made an excuse not to go when sent for
that evening. The next day the Nazim made ample amends
for his rudeness. He had, however, vowed not to eat or
drink, save dry chapatis (thin scones) and water, till he got to
Murshedabad, at which Mr. D rather rejoiced, and said,
" It serves your Highness right ; " but asked him if he could
not find some mullah who could release him from his vow.
With all his bigotry, however, the Nazim has a profound
contempt for mullahs, and said : " Oh ! no priests ; they will
say anything." On Friday morning, just as they were
VOL. II. Q
226 COLIN MACKENZIE.
starting, a sawar galloped up with a letter to the Governor-
General's Agent announcing that the Viceroy had ordered
a salute of nineteen guns (instead of the thirteen to which
Lord Dalhousie had reduced it) to be fired in honour of His
Highness. The Nazim did not say much, but was greatly
pleased. The Diwan's spirits rose at once, and he could not
forbear twitting the Nazim in the mildest tone of voice,
pointing out that if His Highness' impatience had led him
to leave on Wednesday, unknown to the Governor-General,
he would not have got the salute !
We remained in Calcutta some time longer.
Many most interesting facts regarding the Mutiny had
come to light, and my husband was of so sympathetic a
nature that every man poured out his experiences and feel-
ings to him, sure of being listened to with cordial interest ;
and if, as is usually the case in this wicked world, he had a
grievance, he was certain of sympathy and energetic help.
Much, therefore, was told to him that the public never
knew, and that in many cases the Government tried to con-
ceal. Among other things he received proof that the
wretched old King of Delhi was guilty of the murder of our
unfortunate countrymen and women. His own Court news-
writer recorded on the 16th May that the army "demanded
all the Europeans that they might be put to death. The
King, thinking it just, granted it. Afterwards His Majesty
held a grand durbar." No one knows why Jewan Bakht
was not tried for his life. He was present twice during the
trial of his father, but behaved with such impertinence that
he was not allowed to come again. Zinat Mahal, the fav-
ourite wife, mother of Jewan Bakht, " led the king a life."
Whenever Mr. Saunders or others came to speak to the
wretched old man, who was in full possession of his facul-
ties, she would scream at them from behind a curtain,
abusing both of them, and making her complaints known
COLIN MACKENZIE. 227
at the top of her voice a thorough cold-hearted cruel
shrew.
It was well known to the natives that for some time
previous to the beginning of the Mutiny the native com-
missioned and non-commissioned officers of the Bengal army
were receiving extra pay. Where did this come from 1 ?
The most probable answer, and that which the Ndzim be-
lieves is, from the treasures of the King of Oudh.
Our European troops had been kept well in hand ; but
many of the Sikhs plundered shamefully and oppressed the
people greatly. The Queen's officers came out boiling over
with indignation, fancying every native they met had shared
in the atrocities, and many of them would scarcely let a
native pass without a kick or a blow ; but this was not the
case with those who had served in India, and even the first
kept their men in order.
A civilian who conversed with many of the rebel Sepoys
who gave themselves up to him in the Shahabad district
told us that one, a very clever man who had been a General
of division among them, related their mode of proceeding.
When they came to a small town or village they first
gathered all the women, stripped them of their ornaments,
and often ill-used them ; then they proceeded to torture the
men to make them show where their property was con-
cealed ; and on leaving the place they would collect all the
charpais (light bedsteads) and make four men carry each of
them to the end of the next march, the Sepoys lying at full
length as in a palki. This man confessed that at first the
population was friendly to the mutineers, but that he had
often heard the villagers long for the return of the British
rule.
A Major of Engineers, who has been out with Brigadier
Douglas in the Shahabad district, told my husband that on
one occasion the force came upon an unfortunate European
228 COLIN MACKENZIE.
who had been left at the point of death by the rebels. He
was a remarkably hairy man ; these wretches had stripped
him, filled his hair, beard, eyebrows, and even that on his
chest and back, with gunpowder, and set fire to it. He
was dying in the greatest agony as his countrymen came
up. Some of the stories had a sort of grim humour. During
the siege of Delhi a Sikh came up to Sir Edward Campbell
and took the freedom of examining and handling the pretty
little bugle the Kifles wear on their belts. A rifleman near
eyed him very suspiciously, and when he moved on said to
his officer : " I tell you what it is, Sir, I had a great mind
to knock his head off; but in these times we must yield to
circumstances."
It was curious to see how the Afghans appreciated our
music. The Nazim sent a native musician to perform before
us. He played with great execution with enharmonic scales,
but in the usual monotonous style. Ghulam said : " This
would be the sort of music to have at two o'clock in the
morning when one can't sleep." Afterwards they were
present at a philharmonic meeting ; the first piece was a
very spirited symphony of BeethoA^en. The Afghans were
delighted. Quoth Ghulam : ' ' This music makes a man drunk ! "
A cargo of elephants having arrived from Burma, my
husband took me one evening to see them. We walked
along the ledge outside the bulwarks, as the deck was too
dirty for a lady, and looked down into .the hold where the
elephants stood closely packed in two rows. The landing
of these huge creatures was very awkwardly done, some of
the poor beasts being kept dangling in the air as if they had
no more feeling than the elephant of Denmark. They
showed their usual sense in letting themselves down easily,
and settling themselves in the boat which brought them
one by one to shore.
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE WHITE MUTINY.
(1859-1860.)
WHEN Her Majesty assumed the direct Sovereignty of India,
it was of course necessary that the Company's troops should
enter her service. When a royal regiment is ordered home,
men who volunteer to remain in India receive bounty, and
had the Company troops been treated in this way and
asked to re-enlist, the great majority would gladly have
done so, but the Home Government most unwisely thought
fit to transfer them by Act of Parliament. Now, the
British soldier will oppose the most stubborn resistance to
any infringement on his rights. There were two very dis-
tinct classes in the Indian army the artillery, pronounced
by Sir Charles Napier " unequalled by any in the world,"
with the nine regiments of European infantry ; and on the
other hand the newly-raised regiments of cavalry and
infantry, commonly called "Dumpies," men of a very
inferior class both physically and morally, drawn in a great
measure from the refuse of our great cities. These new
regiments were officered at haphazard, often by lads of
under four years' service, some of whom had not even
passed their drill ! They were only half-trained, had never
been brought under discipline, and were guilty of the
grossest insubordination and even violence. The two
classes were alike in nothing except the feeling that they
230 COLIN MACKENZIE.
had been unfairly dealt with, in being transferred to a fresh
service without their own consent. The old soldiers were
universally loyal, with the exception of some of the Irish
who had been worked upon by designing priests. At
Gwalior an Irish Eomanist chaplain was turned out for
treasonable practices, and his successor himself informed
the commanding officer that after his dismissal he had
gone about secretly among the men, endeavouring to
incite them to open mutiny. General Birch, the Military
Secretary, informed Major Mackenzie in May, that
another priest at Hazaribagh, hight Father Jehoshaphat !
had been tampering with the Bengal Europeans at that
place, inciting them to " take what they want by force, as
they had arms in their hands." There was a strong feeling
of sympathy with the loyal soldiers among all classes.
Even the strictest disciplinarians, like Colin Mackenzie
himself, advocated conciliation, and thought that if the
order refusing their demands had given them freedom of
choice, and had made some acknowledgment of the eminent
services the old regiments had just rendered, there would
have been no outbreak; but, instead of this, they were
curtly told their request was "inadmissible," and they
keenly felt the contemptuous tone of the reply. One of
the members of Council asked me what my husband
thought of the refusal. I said he thought it very un-
gracious. " So it was," he replied, " it was done with no
more thought than gazetting an ensign." Lord Clyde him-
self was of opinion that the men had right on their side, and
allowed them to state their grievances before a Committee
of Inquiry. Although thoroughly loyal subjects, they all
"wished to have had their say" on the matter. Many
declared they " would willingly serve Her Majesty if they
had only been asked," but that Parliament which a gunner
glibly defined as " a company of Lords sitting together "-
COLIN MACKENZIE. 231
" had no right to turn over free men without their consent."
One of them before the Court of Inquiry triumphantly
clinched his argument by saying : " Why, they might hand
me over to that fellow they call the Nana ! " "I don't
wish to be turned over like a slave or dead stock," said
another, who petitioned the Command er-in-Chief as " your
humble Bombardier Hamilton." They did not want their
discharge, what they wanted was the choice of re-enlisting.
Some said : " With a bounty of 3, each and all would
come forward." But most of the Dumpies were " tired of
soldiering," and would have been a good riddance. It soon
became known that there was " an extensive combination
among the men " to refuse to serve without bounty. At
Allahabad, Mirat, Grwalior, Ambala, and Berhampore, there
were overt acts of treason and mutiny. In many regiments
discipline had become frightfully relaxed. At one station,
not long before, the field-officer of the day, Major H ,
found fault with a guard for slowness in turning out.
They seized him, and kept him a prisoner all night in the
guard-house ; and nothing was said about it ! We could
not shoot our own men when traitors and mutineers of so
much deeper die were daily let off.
The mutinous Dumpies went to the barracks of the
60th Rifles, but the latter, enraged at being marched out of
comfortable quarters after all their toils, and still more at
losing seventeen men of cholera in consequence, seized
every man who came among them, tied him up, and gave
him a regular military flogging. The matter was hushed
up, which was a pity, as it was an edifying example. At
Berhampore the new 5th Europeans had been allowed to
pass officers without saluting, to swagger about arm in arm
five or six in a row, shouting songs on the public roads.
All this was known to the Viceroy at the beginning of
April, and it was proposed (for decided was too extreme an
232 COLIN MACKENZIE.
expression for any act of Government) that they should
be removed to another station, where there were older and
steadier regiments, and a smart and strict Brigadier to
bring them into order. After this, in May (during our
absence in Calcutta), they turned out at eleven o'clock one
night, and gave " three groans for Mrs. Queen." The
Major in command told them not to make fun, but to go to
bed. It must be remembered that this officer had saved
Ambala with only two hundred and fifty Europeans against
more than two thousand Sepoys, and was "wigged" by
Government for having executed mutineers " without con-
sulting the civil authorities ! " He was lucky in not being
summarily removed like George Eicketts who saved
Lodiana, and William Tayler who saved Patna; but of
course he felt it would endanger his position if he acted
with vigour. There was a good deal of flogging, but the
project of moving the regiment was not carried out.
The Dumpies got worse ; they were drunk for three days
in honour of Her Majesty's birthday, and so disgraceful a
scene of license was never beheld the canteen being
kept open all day as at Christmas in England. On the 19th
June an express announced that the 5th had broken into
open mutiny (only one hundred and fifty remaining
staunch), had taken possession of one of the barracks,
elected officers of their own, and taken the stripes off the
loyal sergeants and corporals. Major Mackenzie went
the next morning to the Military Secretary, and found
they were thinking of sending General Hearsey by himself
to bring the mutineers to order. Mackenzie observed :
" They might just as well order him to dance a pas seul for
their amusement, and with much better chance of his suc-
ceeding." He strongly urged sending up five hundred
men of the 99th, and 3d Buffs, and two guns. The
question then was whom to send in command. Colin
COLIN MACKENZIE. 233
Mackenzie suggested Colonel Kenneth Mackenzie the
Deputy Adjutant -General. General Birch objected that
he was a Queen's officer, and that they were already getting
an undue share of commands, but his clansman said it was
a case of emergency, and that he was a fit man. So
General Birch went off to lay the matter before Lord
Canning, and Major Mackenzie went, at his request, to
the Marine Office to see if any steamers were ready, and
if they could go up the river. Lord Canning agreed, and
then came a note from his Military Secretary informing
the Governor-General's Agent of what was to be done (little
knowing it was his own plan) and conveying the Governor-
General's request that he would accompany Colonel Kenneth
Mackenzie.
The same day Lord Canning gave the troops the option
of taking their discharge. Had this been done a month or
two sooner there would have been no mutiny, and had the
bounty been even now granted as a boon, in reward for the
splendid services the men had just rendered, very few
would have gone. But the Viceroy refused to allow them
to re -enlist; consequently we lost hundreds of tried
soldiers who would have served the Queen to the last drop
of their blood a notable instance of that civilian mis-
management of military affairs of which the history of India
affords so many examples.
In the meantime the mutinous Dumpies at Berham-
pore had appointed a man named Marshall nicknamed
"the Editor" as their Colonel, with a major, three
captains, eight lieutenants, sergeants, and corporals.
Fatigue parties were told off daily for carrying water, pull-
ing punkas, etc., for although they still received their
rations (to keep them from plundering) they got no rum
and no punka coolies. Every one who got drunk or stole
was flogged on the spot. They were quite respectful in
234 COLIN MACKENZIE.
demeanour, and in much better order than they had ever
been before.
Though Colonel Kenneth Mackenzie had not even the
power of ordering a court-martial, he contrived to reduce
the mutineers to submission ; but he was so hampered by
restrictions that nothing effectual could be done. It was a
most galling position for a thorough soldier. He said to
my husband, with whom he was living : "I wake up in
the morning thinking of all I've got to do; one feels so
helpless with nothing on but one's shirt." Carlyle's whole
philosophy of clothes was comprised in that sentence. The
Commander -in -Chief was not consulted, and Sir James
Outram wrote to Colin Mackenzie (13th July) :
" You must not suppose that Kenneth. Mackenzie is acting
under my instructions. You will recollect that I vainly
endeavoured to induce the Governor-General to decide on his
instructions while he was with us. Afterwards I was no party
to whatever instructions may have been given, and certainly I
am not disposed to father them, for I think with you."
The regiment had been unfairly dealt with in many
ways, especially by the Home authorities. They had real
grievances, and these were not even listened to. They
were still kept at Berhampore, where they plundered and
beat the natives, and at last nearly killed a servant of the
Governor-General's Agent as he left . his master's house.
His nose was broken, he was otherwise cruelly mauled,
robbed of his wages, which he had just received, and left
in a ditch. If the guard of the 99th went near the barracks
after dark the mutineers flung bricks and bottles at them,
and they even pelted two officers out of the barrack. Even
men of the other regiments passed officers without saluting.
At Barrackpore the troops were in such a bad state that
two natives were murdered by them. One of our Afghans,
COLIN MACKENZIE. 235
a most good-natured, hard-working creature, was next
brought home covered with blood and very severely
injured by some of these ruffians, because he would not give
them his boots. As the assailants would not surrender, my
husband put on his uniform and went off to the bazar,
revolver in hand, but found that the Magistrate had already
captured the chief culprit. He himself got slight sunstroke
from going out in a forage cap.
In August 1859 we had for the first time an opportunity
of seeing how the Muharram is kept by Shiahs, for the
disorderly processions in Southern India are mere occasions
for license. Here it was a time of lamentation for the
untimely deaths of the grandsons of Muhammad. The
Diwan entreated the Governor-General's Agent not to
invite any young officers, as their behaviour was problem-
atical, and even a Bengali mob ought not to be annoyed;
so only a small party of discreet guests went in the evening
to the Imambarra, or building, on purpose for these cere-
monies. It is a spacious quadrangle of raised arcades of
great width, with a chapel or shrine in the middle covering
some of the earth of Mekka. At each corner of the arcades
was a trophy, ten or twelve feet high, consisting of a
mirror surrounded by swords and shields, brilliantly
illuminated, with divers toy-camels at its base. In front of
one of these trophies was a sort of glass bird-cage, which
revolved by invisible means. Above the arcades was a
lattice of talc of the most brilliant colours, brightly lit up
from behind, as rich as the finest painted glass. The Nazim
had again made himself ill by walking barefoot in the
procession the night before and sitting up all night, but his
two elder boys met us, dressed in dark blue as a sign of
mourning. No one was allowed to enter while we were
there, excepting their attendants and the singers. Having
walked around our Afghans professing absolute ignorance
236 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
about everything, just as a sound Presbyterian would scorn
to understand the manoeuvres of the mass and having
admired divers silver shrines, one of which was a throne
prepared for Muhammad to sit on, others in honour of
Hasan and Husain, we took our places in one of the
arcades, where about twenty arm-chairs stood on three
sides of a square. The Governor- General's Agent was
seated at one end with the eldest son ; I at the other with
the second boy. A little table was set before each of us,
and we were served with much ceremony on silver salvers
containing glass saucers of almonds, raisins, spices, and
rice. Three singers then sat on their heels on a low dais,
and began a marsiah, or dirge. The music played a sad
and monotonous air, and the singing was so mournful that
it was enough to make one weep. On our way back we
stopped to see some Sepoys performing feats with long
bamboos, to each end of which lighted torches were affixed.
They passed them under each arm and leg, then rolled on the
ground, whirling the flaming pole over one limb and under
the other in a marvellous manner. Another whirled a cord
with a lighted torch at each end round and round, leaping
frantically all the while, till he appeared to be dancing in
a wheel of fire, the music playing a lively dancing air. Then
one with a burning pole in one hand and brandishing a
sword in the other encountered a second armed with sword
and shield, a third vaulted and sprang .with a sword in each
hand, but no words can give an adequate idea of the wild,
defiant, and, I may say, demoniacal manner in which they
flourished their weapons and limbs. I did not quite like
it, and looked round to see if Ghulam was there with his
pistol, for these wretches were close to my husband,
and they make cuts and passes at the company which
one has to stand without flinching, though " there's no
knowing" (as my mother-in-law used to say if any one
COLIN MACKENZIE. 237
pointed scissors at her) "when the devil may give their
hands a push."
Directly we re-entered the palace the crowd swarmed
into the Imambarra. The next morning there was a pro-
cession headed by camels, with saddle-cloths and little caps
of green and red tied under their chins. Then came led
horses and a great crowd of men naked to the waist, who
every now and then stopped, and crying " Ya Hasan ! Ya
Husain!" threw their arms up in the air and beat their
breasts in concert. It was like a child's game. . The
Nazim's troops were all barefoot and in mourning. His
two elder sons in dark green marched along with great
gravity, each holding a long walking-cane. They were
followed by men carrying richly-worked banners, and pre-
ceded by three singers, who at every few paces turned and
faced them, chanting the Marsiah with great signs of grief
and much gesture. Old Darab Ali Khan, clothed in dark
blue (turban and all), listened intently, wiped his eyes, and
beat his breast, but very gently. Then they moved on,
and after a few paces the same ceremony was repeated.
The fatigue must have been dreadful. Sometimes a wild
cry arose from the whole multitude. The procession was
closed by a number of women beating their breasts, and
then a train of elephants. One could not help wondering
what the wise creatures thought of it all. Rose-water
and comfits were scattered about. In the afternoon the
Arzbeghi, dressed in black, conducted a similar procession,
encouraging the people to thump themselves which some
did with chains by crying "Shahbash !" (Well done) "Sina
maro " (Beat your breasts, beat your breasts), beating his
own in the most guarded manner, and, wiping his right eye
with his right hand, then solemnly transferring the handker-
chief to the left hand to wipe the left eye. He has a strong
sense of the ridiculous, and I am sure if my husband had
238 COLIN MACKENZIE.
caught his eye he would have laughed. He once made him
burst out laughing in full Durbar by the way in which he
wished him joy of being invested with a heavy khillat, or
robe of honour, one frightfully hot day on being restored to
His Highness' favour after a "tiff."
Wednesday night, the ' last day of the Muharram, was
most distracting. Music, drums, tom-toms, and what
sounded like pokers and tongs, went on all night under our
windows. Our rooms were lit up with blue lights from
outside. At one in the morning a camel, all clothed in
black, set out on its pilgrimage, and between two and three
a very fine tazia (tomb), like a tower, was carried past, sur-
rounded by crowds leaping, shouting, and beating their
breasts. Blue lights made it quite bright, and the men, with
double torches, leapt and vaulted, and made fiery wheels of
themselves, and the same facetious jigging air went on and
on, till it was enough to set every one within hearing
in motion. They moved on a little farther, and then
came another discharge of blank cartridge (for I omitted
to say that this was the accompaniment of all the proces-
sions), then another halt, and more fiery dances, and
more weeping and wailing for Husain. On Thursday we
saw many tazias, some of them very pretty, of fresh green
leaves, some of silver going to be thrown away at the
so-called Kerbela, a place a mile or two off. The Nazim's
procession was accompanied by the troops, the elephants
(the latter with their foreheads painted white for grief!),
the camels, the horses, the banners, the singers, went on its
way, and when all was over the population lay down to
sleep to make up for their past fatigue. In driving out in
the evening, we saw several people with ashes on their
heads, like Romanists on Ash Wednesday.
In October, to our regret, the 99th were ordered to China,
and accordingly sold off all their horses, buggies, etc. No less
COLIN MACKENZIE. 239
than eight or nine contradictory orders did that luckless regi-
ment receive from the Governor-General in the course of a
month. When they had sold everything they were told to stay
where they were; next they were to go to Calcutta, then to
Barrackpore; then two companies were to stay, the rest were
to go. The officers took leave of their friends, and were
about to start, when they were counter-ordered. Then the
Dumpies took their discharge en masse, with the exception
of 120 men. The Bhagarati was supposed by Government
to be closed for steamers (which it was not), so they were to
go down to Calcutta, and be sent round by the Sunder-
bunds to Dinapore. Nothing could be more easy. Their
baggage was all on board, and they were starting, when a
fresh order desired them to march to Anatoli, on the banks
of the Ganges, where a steamer would meet them. At this
season the road is impassable, and full of quicksands.
Anatoli is just a bank, no shelter and no food. The Agent
borrowed thirty elephants from His Highness to help the
troops, when they were again counter-ordered. Now here
was Brigadier Christie, an excellent officer of thirty-five years'
standing, on the spot, and instead of simply saying, " Let
the troops be at Dinapore by such a date, send them in the
best manner," Government wrote him a dozen contradictory
and impossible orders. As for referring the movement of
troops to the Commander-in-Chief that never enters their
heads !
In October we had the great pleasure of a visit from the
Bishop and Mrs. Cotton. No one could know the Bishop
without loving and respecting him. Colonel Mackenzie
went with him to the hospital, where he read and prayed
with the men, and nothing could be better than the way he
addressed them. He was travelling in the Lieutenant-
Governor's splendid yacht, from which he was soon to make
a brief and sudden passage through the dark waters into
240 COLIN MACKENZIE.
Life Eternal. The remainder of the Dumpies were at last
sent to Dinapore, where, a year after, they broke out again
in the most causeless manner, and endeavoured to incite a
wing of the 73d and the Bengal Horse Artillery to mutiny.
Sergeant-Major Macniminie of the Artillery showed admir-
able presence of mind made his men fall in, and, sword
in hand, drove the mutineers out of the barrack, taking
two prisoners, who were sentenced to transportation for life.
Sir Hugh Eose gave the Sergeant - Major a commission.
Finally, one was hung, and the regiment disbanded; but
the example of long impunity for insubordination and
violence was not lost even on good regiments. Lord Clyde
could not forbear saying in a general order that, " if some
of the mutineers had been tried by order of the General
commanding the division and shot," the army at large might
have benefited by the example ; but it is the chronic
misfortune of India that civilian Governors -General will
not allow the Commander-in-Chief to do his own work.
The Diwan was made a Eaja, and was borrowed by the
Viceroy to accompany him to the Upper Provinces, as he
had great experience in Durbar etiquette. Previous to
starting he was absent for a few days, during which time
the Nazim contrived to spend nearly three hundred pounds
in what they call satka, or superstitious alms. A Begum
had a headache, so 250 rupees were given to a long-bearded,
large-turbaned Mullah to avert misfortune. One of the
boys sneezed twice, and this required a similar oblation.
Major Mackenzie therefore removed to the Palace, as
during the Raja's absence it was better he should be at
hand for the protection of the Nazim as something between
a guardian angel and a watch-dog. When the Diwan took
leave my husband accompanied him downstairs. There
they found Jugget Seth and a crowd of native gentlemen,
who had come to congratulate the new Kaja, and wish him
COLIN MACKENZIE. 241
a good journey. Jugget Seth produced a small silver box
in the shape of a leaf, and the Diwan said to the Agent,
as if rather ashamed : "Here is a little ceremony." It con-
tained vermilion and rice. In vain he begged the Seth
to use very little. The old gentleman paid no attention,
but made a broad vertical mark on the Diwan's forehead
with his thumb, and then stuck grains of rice upon it, and
threw rice over his head with an invocation, somewhat of a
prayer, that he might be " healthy, wealthy, and wise," for
such was the translation my husband fluently gave of it
not that he knew, for it must have been Sanscrit !
We often amused ourselves by visiting the Nazim's
menagerie, where we had a most curious instance of the
species of fascination my husband possessed for all animals.
A rhinoceros was pointed out as being particularly savage,
having killed at least one man. He put his hand through
the bars and began to rub its ears, and was obliged to
continue doing so for a long while, as the creature rocked
itself to and fro, and moaned in distress whenever he
attempted to leave off. Whenever he revisited the place
this enormous pachyderm recognised him, and pressing its
head against the bars, insisted on being rubbed.
About this time the Legislative Council in Calcutta was
suspended by Lord Canning, whereupon they all took flight
to the hills. Hasan Khan arrived on a visit to his old leader.
He embraced him with the greatest gravity, first over the right
shoulder, then over the left, but was so moved that he could
not speak, and sat holding Major Mackenzie's hand, and
squeezing it every now and then. He told a friend that
such friendship had never existed between an Asiatic and a
Feringhi as between Mackenzie and himself. So true is it
" Hands that fiercest smite in war
Have the warmest grasp for brothers.
Agus Mhorag."
VOL. II. R
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MURSHEDABAD POLITICAL STORMS.
(1859-1860).
" Duo sunt, justitia et libertas, pro quibus quisque^ fidelis usquejad
sanguinem stare debet." AN OLD MONK.
QUITE unexpectedly a political storm of no ordinary nature
now burst on the Agent's head. The " Nazims or Subahdars
of Bengal " were Lord -Deputies, or Viceroys of those
provinces, appointed by the Emperors of Delhi, and remov-
able at pleasure. After Plassy we set up Mir Jafir, the
Commander of the Bengal forces, as Subahdar in place of
the infamous Suraj-u-Doulah, and we have maintained his
family in the position of Nazims ever since. The tenure by
which the East India Company held the vast provinces of
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, was a firman from Shah Alum II.,
Emperor of India, granting them the Diwani, or civil govern-
ment, and the balance of the revenue of those provinces,
"after providing fox the expenses of the Nizamat." The East
India Company and the Nazim were equals both owing
their position to grants from Shah Alum and this equality
was carefully maintained. The Nazim was the " Friend "
and " best of brothers " of the Governor-General, 1 and the
1 This equality is drolly exemplified in a letter from Lord Amherst
to the Nazim in 1828, when official correspondence was still carried on
in Persian : " Truly on receiving the joyful intelligence of the happy
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 243
Government spoke of him as "a Prince whose independence
had been recognised by a treaty with one of his prede-
cessors."
There had been several formal agreements between the
Nazims and the Company, and every successive Governor-
General reiterated the assurance of " scrupulous adherence
to subsisting engagements, and to the obligations of public
faith, and honour." Lord Auckland (March 1836) as usual,
pledged himself to fulfil "subsisting treaties and long-established
relations observed and cherished by former Governors-Gene-
ral." x We had even bestowed increased marks of respect
upon him. Formerly he was styled " His Excellency," and
his children "Sahibzadas," or "gentlemen's sons;" but of late
years he had been called His Highness. This was the state
of things up to Lord Dalhousie's time. But the present
Nazim had many grievances. During his long minority
he had lost money and jewels to an immense amount, and
had silently been deprived of much influence. But his
greatest personal grievance was his treatment in "the
murder case." In March 1853, while on a hunting expedi-
tion, two unfortunate coolies were beaten to death in his
camp. Aman Ali Khan, the chief eunuch, who managed
everything, and some others, were tried. The Sessions judge
found Aman Ali " accessary after the fact, but the Sudder,
(the highest court) acquitted him, and found the other
prisoners guilty of culpable homicide, with no intention of
causing death. Nevertheless, Lord Dalhousie declared
that the crime had been " perpetrated under the very eyes
installation of yoxtr Highness on the seat of ancestral authority, the
budding joy of this friend so bloomed with delight, that to describe
one of its thousand blossoms, or to dress a single rose from this bouquet
in just array, is beyond the flowers and powers of rhetoric. "
1 Governor-General, 23d May 1838 ; Court of Directors, 24th April
1840 ; Governor-General, 28th February 1823 9th June 1836.
244 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
of the Nazim," obliged him instantly to dismiss the acquitted
persons from his service, diminished his salute, and deprived
him and his family of the right of exemption from the
jurisdiction of the civil courts. Nothing is more difficult
than to ascertain the truth in India ; but Major Macgregor,
the Governor-General's Agent, testified to the " gentleness
and humanity of the Nazim's character " and Judge Loch,
who took the depositions, was convinced of the entire inno-
cence of the Nazim, and also of Aman Ali. The Nazim
had vainly sent in divers memorials for redress, and on the
Brigadier's arrival appealed to him for help. Now as
the Marquess of Hastings had declared that the ex-
clusive object of the Governor-General's Agency at Mur-
shedabad " (the expense of which was borne by Nizamat
funds) " was the prosperity and benefit of the Nizamat,"
the Agent felt that the very purpose of his office required
him to take up the subject, and he accordingly devoted some
months to the careful examination of the Nazim's claims.
Having with conscientious labour verified the facts, he
took up his cause with warmth. The Nazim's memorials
having been carefully drawn up, and accompanied by official
proofs, he caused a summary of them to be condensed into
a Narrative, reproducing the very language of the docu-
ments, and, about October 1858, sent this to his friend,
Mr. George Edmonstone, then Foreign Secretary, requesting
him to show it to Lord Canning, and ask him what should
be done. The plan of having official papers printed instead
of copied, had just been introduced, and as copies of the most
secret documents can always be procured by any one willing
to pay for them, 1 Major Mackenzie, to avoid entrusting so
1 In one instance a Government order of great importance, which
had barely left the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, was
purchased by a native gentlemen for 1000 rupees. He told me this
himself.
COLIN MACKENZIE. 245
plain-spoken a paper to his clerks, had it printed, about
three months after, "for private use only," in Calcutta, and
sent two copies to Mr. Edmonstone, who replied that it was
"extremely useful," and that he "had long ago laid the Narra-
tive before the Governor-General, and urged him more than
once to have the sub j ect thoroughly examined. The Governor-
General seemed to acquiesce, but as yet there has been no
action. ... I believe he has made up his mind, . . . and
I may say confidentially that it is not unfavourable. . . .
I wish you well in your endeavours to right His Highness,
and have little doubt that you will succeed in some measure "
(8th Jan. 1859). But just at this time Mr. Edmonstone was
made Lieutenant-Governor of the North- West Provinces,
Lord Canning having installed him " a quarter of an hour
before getting into his travelling carriage." He wrote
(13th Feb. 1859) : " I did what lay in my power to get your
Nawab's case through Lord Canning's hands; he agreed to
every concession but one, still he would not write, and in
India, as you know, nothing is accomplished unless a due
quantity of foolscap is wasted. With Grant, however, to
back your efforts you will have a better chance of success."
The question of the rights of the Nizamat was so frequently
cropping up, that the Bengal Government requested the
Governor-General's Agent to furnish a report on it. Lord
Canning broached the subject of the Narrative at a private
dinner-party, when the Brigadier reminded him that it was
" confidential," not in official style, but intended as the
basis of a public document, should His Excellency give
him permission to comply with the request of the Bengal
Government. He also mentioned that he had given
away several copies to members of Government and others.
Lord Canning gave his sanction on condition that the murder
case was not referred to. A few days after, the private
secretary inquired to whom the Narrative had been given.
246 COLIN MACKENZIE.
Major Mackenzie sent a list of the persons, 1 almost all
Secretaries to Government or former Agents, and supposed
the Viceroy was satisfied, as he continued to be very friendly
for three months, personally asking him to Government
House, and consulting him about disbanding the 63d and
other points.
On the 23d May Major Mackenzie sent in his official
report. It was stronger in facts, but, of course, more guarded
in phraseology than the rough summary. Sir James Outram
told Major Mackenzie that after reading the Narrative he
had plainly expressed his own opinion to the Viceroy, that
" we had cheated the Nazim," and that Lord Canning had
answered, "I am afraid we have." Unfortunately Mr. Cecil
Beadon had succeeded to the post of Foreign Secretary.
The result was, on 10th October, to Major Mackenzie's great
surprise, he received a despatch from the Viceroy express-
ing the most extreme displeasure at his private note of
April, in which he had thanked His Excellency for pro-
mising to read the rough Narrative, at the Narrative itself,
which had been before His Lordship nearly a year, and
with the Agent for having given away any copies of it, a
fact of which the latter had himself informed him seven
months before. The facts were styled " errors " and " mis-
statements," the language " insubordinate," and the Agent
was told that he "ought to have refuted the Nazim's preten-
sions." Major Mackenzie's reply was most courteous, and
even meek in tone, pointing out that both the Narrative and
note were private, and not official, that it must have been
"by an oversight that his confidential communication had
been transferred to the Foreign Department," and request-
ing that the case might be judged by his official report of
1 One of these, the late Mr. A. R. Young, Secretary to the Bengal
Government, warned him " not to trust Beadon, as he was most bitter
against the Nazim."
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 247
23d May, and " not by a private, informal, and avowedly
rough sketch," pointing out that he had only quoted six
lines of any importance not already published in the
Nazim's memorials, or in Blue Books, and expressing deep
regret at having displeased the Viceroy. It is worthy of
note that although Lord Canning's letter professed to be
from the Governor-General in Council, it appeared that the
only member of Council in Calcutta at the time was Sir
James Outram, who was wholly on Mackenzie's side.
In the meantime another incident appears to have aggra-
vated Lord Canning's wrath. Jugget Seth, the descendant
of the famous banker who rendered such essential service to
Clive, had a pension of twelve hundred rupees a month from
the Court of Directors. Out of this he gave an allowance
to a junior member of his family until the latter behaved
very ungratefully, when he withdrew it. The younger man
appealed to the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Halliday, who
ordered Jugget Seth to continue the payment. The Seth
remonstrated, and the Agent represented that no one had
a right thus to dispose of another man's income. The
Lieutenant-Governor was obstinate, and ordered the Gover-
nor-General's Agent to deduct the allowance from Jugget
Seth's stipend. Upon this the old gentleman refused to draw
anything, and sent a memorial, with Major Mackenzie's
strong support, first to the Viceroy, and then an appeal to
the Secretary of State. Sir Charles Wood reversed the
Viceroy's decision. The Agent had the pleasure of learning
this act of justice at New Year 1860, which made him
joyful for the rest of the day. It seems probable, however,
that this defeat excited Lord Canning's anger, for imme-
diately afterwards Mr. Beadon's reply to the explanation
sent in by Major Mackenzie arrived, written in a still
more intemperate tone than his former letter; saying,
inter alia, that the Governor-General expected the word
248 COLIN MACKENZIE.
private to be " used in good faith and without equivoca-
tion." Upon this my husband's first impulse was to throw
up his appointment ; but he was persuaded that to hold
on would be a better vindication of his character from
such unheard-of charges. In his reply he showed that
he had behaved with the most perfect openness towards
the Governor -General, and that "a departure from the
strict rules of truth and honour had never yet been laid
to his charge." In fact, the betrayal of confidence was
entirely on the side of Lord Canning, who made public
use of confidential communications. Lord Canning was
so much in the habit of using insulting expressions to
gentlemen, that his accusations had no weight except from
his official position. About this time another officer was so
affronted by him that he resigned, and one of the members
of Council comforted him by saying : " Never mind, he
has been much more angry with me ! " In this instance
Lord Canning was obliged to apologise. The Military Secre-
tary also shed tears over his rudeness to himself, and pro-
nounced him " no gentleman." Every one was struck by
the tone of personal animosity in the Viceroy's letters ; and
one of the Secretaries asked Major Mackenzie if he had ever
had any personal quarrel with the Governor-General, while
all the members of Council took pains to express their sym-
pathy and respect for him. Sir James Outram told him
he thought he was in no wise called upon to push the matter
any further. Mr. J. P. Grant, the Lieutenant-Governor,
said he could not understand " why the Governor-General
should take the thing so much to heart ;" and when, a few
weeks later, Major Mackenzie complained to Sir Bartle
Frere of such monstrous accusations as "equivocation" and
" bad faith," he answered, " Well, you can afford to have
that said of you, even by a Governor-General."
As for the Official Eeport of the 23d May, called for by
COLIN MACKENZIE. 249
the Government of Bengal, and prepared with so much care,
it was never laid before the Supreme Government. On dis-
covering this, in March 1860, the Agent officially requested
it might bo forwarded, but was peremptorily ordered to
withdraw it, and it was returned to him ! The Nazim
then sent in another memorial, drawn up by an English
gentleman of high character. With this the Governor-
General's Agent refused to have anything whatever to do
beyond simply forwarding it. In July 1861 the Agent
was called upon for a report on the Nizamat Deposit
Fund, and confirmed the statements of the Nazim's memo-
rials (21st July 1861) by copious extracts from the
Government records ; but recommended that grants of land
should, when possible, be substituted for money pensions,
so as to transform the relations and dependants of the
Nizamat " from idle pensioners into useful country gentle-
men."
There was much to be said against a permanent allow-
ance of 160,000 a year to a family who did nothing for it.
The Nazim s had long ceased to exercise any public func-
tions whatever. So long ago as 1770 Clive explained that
it was "to avoid umbrage to foreign nations that the shadow
of a Sulah was necessary." The office of Subah or Nazim
was never hereditary until we made it so ; the succession
depended on the British Government, and no Nazim was
invested until the Governor-General's order was issued.
Under our protection eight Nazims had followed one another
whose sole claim was, " Je me suis donnd lapeine de naUre;"
and the claim on even that score was, in several cases, doubt-
ful. The money is taken from a heavily-taxed people, and
it is not just to them to employ it in this manner. True,
the British Government have made numerous promises of
continuing the stipend and the dignity, and it has clearly
no right despotically to repudiate these engagements, or to
250 COLIN MACKENZIE.
seize a fund it had stipulated to preserve. Some solution
of the difficult problem, how to be just to the tax-payers
yet liberal to the Nizamat had to be found, and the Agent's
suggestion of bestowing lands instead of pensions appears a
reasonable and just one.
Lord Canning's sudden " change of front " was natur-
ally a source of worry and anxiety for some months, but
this did not prevent my husband from enjoying much
peace and comfort. He trusted in the Lord to bring him
through this trouble, as He had done through many others.
In the qmet upper chambers of the Palace he used to read
to me in the early mornings, and enjoyed going through
White's Eighteen Christian Centuries. The weather was so cool
that we took a walk every evening, and were glad of a fire after
sunset. One evening we went across the river to the burial-
ground of the Nazims ; it was a sort of Musalman Jour des
Marts, and the whole place was illuminated. Each grave
was surrounded by a railing covered with lights in talc
shades, and on many of the tombs were a number of flat bed-
room candlesticks with lighted tapers, which had a very
droll effect. Baskets of bread and sweetmeats were distri-
buted from the tombs to poor Muhammadans. At the head
of several of the gravestones of the Nazims was a " kaddam
rassul," or the supposed impression of Muhammad's foot in
clay, which is kept moist and enclosed in a sort of cage.
The Shiahs are the Papists of Islam.
There were frequent proofs of laxity of discipline among
our men. When the 99th left for Calcutta the Agent had
borrowed some of the Nazim's elephants to assist them on
their march. Two months after one of the elephant coolies,
a lad of fifteen, came to him with a very bad bayonet- wound
in his shoulder, given him by one of the men because he did
not understand some order addressed to him in English ! a
shameful act of cruelty. The regimental surgeon had sewn
COLIN MACKENZIE. 251
up the wound, but for want of care it was still very bad.
With proper treatment it soon healed.
A very clear-sighted man who served throughout the
Mutiny, attributed the panic which has several times
seized our soldiers to slackness of discipline. The men
are not accustomed to implicit obedience in time of peace ;
obedience in action is, therefore, by no means a matter of
course. One cavalry regiment, which fled during the
Sikh campaign, behaved gloriously during the Mutiny.
So much depends on the leader. Even so good a regiment
as the 73d deteriorated from the enforced idleness at
Bengal. At the Cape they made all their own coats,
trousers, shoes, etc. ; built their own huts ; raised their
own vegetables. Here they are compelled to be idle
for eight to ten hours a day (though there is no reason
why they should not work as tailors, shoemakers, car-
penters, etc., as well as at the Cape), and consequently they
fall into evil habits, especially drinking.
A really atrocious order was issued some time ago,
from the Adjutant -General's Office at Simla, forbidding
the men to have pets, prints on the walls of their barracks,
or private lights to read by in the evening. This naturally
created great indignation and heart-burning. It was treat-
ing our men like criminals ; and many officers gave refuge
to the regimental pets, though at one place the poor dogs,
parrots, etc., were, by a heartless commanding officer,
turned out even from the cantonment bazar. Sir Hugh
Rose, who has done a great deal for the good of the men,
reversed this order, stating that it was issued without his
knowledge, and that he has always seen these pets with
pleasure.
The Agent had returned very tired from a long day of
business in Berhampore, and had gone early to bed, when
he was roused by a note from Mrs. Vivian, the wife of the
252 COLIN MACKENZIE.
architect of the new Palace, saying, that her husband had
been nearly murdered. Eight Irish privates had come
into Murshedabad, broken open and robbed some shops,
got drunk, and had then gone to the house where Mr. Vivian
was living, about two miles from the Palace, and in the
most unprovoked manner assailed him with short-knobbed
sticks. His pretty little wife rushed out to the assistance
of her husband, and called the chouJcedar (watchman).
" I'll choke you," said one of the fellows, seizing her by
the shoulder, and leaving the print of his bloody hand
upon it. "Oh !" cried she, " if Brigadier Mackenzie were
here, you would not dare do this ! " With frightful oaths
they swore they would " do for him too." A black-bearded
man, named Prendergast, urged the others on, saying :
" Curse these English ; we've fought their battles for
them, and they won't give us a cup of water." The
valiant little woman was so indignant, that she forgot
her fear, and, clenching her little fist, hit her assailant
on the mouth. He was so drunk, that he tumbled down
the steps. She helped her husband, who was covered
with blood, into the house, and bolted the doors. The
ruffians fell on the poor choukedar, who was coming to
the rescue, and murdered him by beating in his skull.
The Brigadier at once dressed and armed himself, sent a
camel-rider to Berhampore to ask that the check-roll of the
regiment might be called, walked over with two of his
Afghans, and found Mr. Vivian severely wounded in the
head, and the verandah all bespattered with blood. Having
bathed and bandaged his hurts, he then drove in to Ber-
hampore. On the way, Ghulam thought he saw a European.
My husband and the two Afghans gave chase, but lost
him in the jungle, for it was only star-light. He found
Colonel Gawler calling the check-roll, and the names of
eight absentees were discovered. Two officers turned out
COLIN MACKENZIE. 253
in their day -shirts to know what was the matter, when,
seeing the Brigadier in uniform, they rushed in and put on
-^-not their trousers but their red tunics, in which they
cut the most absurd figures imaginable, 1 with bare legs
and feet. Two pickets were sent out to arrest the de-
faulters. Major Mackenzie brought the Sergeant-Major
back with him, who, like every other old soldier, remarked :
" The army is not so strict as it used to be, sir." Near
the city they found one of the culprits insensible in a
ditch, so grievously injured (how, no one ever knew, as
he was too drunk to remember anything) that the Agent
sent back the Sergeant-Major in his carriage to bring a
litter, took the man to the dispensary, and sat by him
till morning fearing he would die. The Sergeant said he
was a soldier of fifteen years' standing, named Sullivan,
" a good man, except for the drink" He cried out when-
ever he was touched, and was only quiet while the Briga-
dier was by him. He said: "Are you a gentleman?"
"Yes." "Then, then, I'll do whatever ye bid me." He
kept calling for his father, and " dear Mick." " Mick,
where are ye?" "Who is Mick?" said the Brigadier.
"My only brother." "Why do you call for him?" "I
can't help it," said the poor fellow. He begged, if he died,
his African medal might be sent to his father. But it was
lost. At last he left him in charge of the guard and the
native doctor, and returned home about 6 A.M. After
picking up Sullivan, he came upon the body of the un-
fortunate choukedar, who had just expired. Three men were
arrested by Mr. Ryan, the clothes of one of them covered
with blood. Dr. A , our worthy Scotch doctor, while
dressing Sullivan's wounds, could not forbear saying, " Eh
mon, it's a great pity they ever picked ye oot o' the ditch ;
far better ye had died where ye were, for ye're sure to
string for this," which consolatory speech made the poor
254 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
wretch look most miserable. We had to go down to Cal-
cutta for the trial, but it was mismanaged; and Major Mac-
kenzie's evidence not having been taken by the Grand Jury,
the culprits were not tried for murder, but only for the
assault, and were sentenced to penal servitude for six
years and under. In the course of it Mr. Ritchie, the
Advocate-General, said : " Brigadier Mackenzie, you are
a judge of wounds, how was this inflicted?" And both
he and the judge paid him a high compliment on his
energy and promptitude, whereby the prisoners were
arrested. The judge spoke with great warmth of Mrs.
Vivian's courage and affection for her husband, and said
it was a matter to which her children ought always to
look back with pride.
During this visit to Calcutta (March-April 1860), we
were much interested by making the acquaintance of Mr.
James Wilson, the Finance Minister, and his pleasant wife.
Mr. Wilson was somewhat like Benjamin Franklin, but
with a more genial expression, rather bald, with silky
brown hair, and most attractive in manner and conversa-
tion. Major Mackenzie mentioned to him, that the natives
were preparing to evade the income-tax by a nominal
division of their property among the members of their
family; adding that he would soon remedy that by
making payment of the tax proof of possession. It was
curious that when Mr. Wilson, in Council, introduced a
clause to that effect, and quoted Brigadier Mackenzie as his
authority, Mr. Harrington also quoted his opinion re-
garding the King of Oudh's affairs.
This was also our first meeting with Sir Bartle and Lady
Frere. The former told me that, having heard of my hus-
band ever since he came to India, he expected to meet a
respectable elderly officer ; but when he saw such a young-
looking man, he thought he must be an impostor !
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 255
Two deaths took place during our stay. One was the
young wife of Mr. Henderson, one of the Scotch chaplains,
whose funeral Major Mackenzie attended. He said it
was most touching to see her sweet happy face ; and
then to proceed to lay her remains, in the full confidence
of Christian hope, in their quiet resting-place ; making
way through crowds of painted, shouting, half-intoxicated
heathen, "mad upon their idols," flocking to the horrid
"hook-swinging;" which, to the disgrace of our Govern-
ment, was still tolerated in Calcutta, though suppressed in
Bombay. Colonel Gordon, of the 1st Sikhs, also died just
as he was going home. His last words were : " Close
up ! Close up ! and keep line. How can you go into
action in that way V His desk contained his wife's letters,
his children's hair, his commissions, and a pocket Bible
quite worn.
The Viceroy was not in Calcutta at this time, but every
one gave us the same account, viz. that Mr. Beadon was
virtually Governor -General; everything being decided by
him, and Lord Canning merely attaching his signature.
We returned to Berhampore at the end of April 1860,
and my husband resumed his old habit of hard riding
morning and evening, in spite of the unusually hot season,
the thermometer being often 89 in the house and 150 in
the sun. He rose at 4.30, and of course took a siesta. In
May the Ndzim came in to pay him a state visit, the first time
he had done so since Lord Dalhousie diminished his salute.
To save him from mortification, Major Macgregor and Major
Mackenzie had always received him in the Agent's suite of
rooms at the palace, but now, he got his nineteen guns on
arriving and leaving, with a company of Europeans as a
guard of honour at the Eesidency. By the Nazim's invita-
tion we took out a party to the palace at the Bakri Eed (or,
Feast of the Goat), in memory of the sacrifice of Isaac, or
256 COLIN MACKENZIE.
as the Moslems say, of Ishmael. A square place under the
palace windows was enclosed with kanats (canvas walls) ; in
the middle was an altar of earth with a deep trench at the
foot of it, in front of which an unfortunate camel was
picketed by ropes round all its. feet. A young camel was
fastened in the same manner on one side, and many lambs
and kids on the other. The camel was afterwards covered
with a white sheet looped up at the corners, and when all
was ready, was pulled down on its knees, with its long neck
stretched over the trench. I was afraid of seeing it killed,
so looked out of another window. When I turned again
both the camels were dead. Portions of the meat are after-
wards sent to the Nazim's relations and household, even
Christians get a share. There is something very touching
in seeing a sacrifice; the innocent animals die in con-
sequence of our sin, and are similitudes of that blessed
sacrifice which took it away.
The list of Civil C.B. and KC.B.'s has given great dis-
satisfaction. Herbert Edwardes is classed with Mr. Halliday
and with General Birch, who had nothing whatever to do
with the Mutiny. Mr. Tayler, who saved Patna, gets
nothing. Mr. Samuels, who succeeded him when all was
quiet, is made a C.B. ! There are many other cases of the
same sort.
The Nazim had taken up his abode with his family at
the Mubarak Manzil, and had surrounded the house with
high walls of mats up to the top of the verandahs, and
about two feet from them, so that the house looked as if it
were in a huge packing-case. It was very damp, and four
of his sons were attacked by fever, and he himself be-
came very ill, and sent to beg the Agent to come to him.
My husband gave him Warburg's Fever Tincture, and sat
by him all day, fanning him and keeping him quiet. He
left him for five minutes, and on returning, found the room
COLIN MACKENZIE. 257
crammed full of women, the Nazim's mother at the head of
them, weeping, lamenting and chattering, in a manner to drive
a fever patient into delirium. He drove into Murshedabad
every day for a week, to look after his patient, but the
Nazim made a shy request that I would also come to see
him. I had often visited his wives when they were ill, and
accordingly accompanied my husband the next day, and
was carried in a tonjon to the door of his room. The floor
was covered with a white cloth, and his bed consisted simply
of a thick rug laid on the ground, covered with a sheet, and
three bolsters, one at the head and the others on each side.
Natives sleep in their day clothes. When the Nazim goes
to see his sons, he leaves his slippers at the edge of the
white cloth with which the floor is covered, because the
boys sit upon it, and their meals are placed upon the floor.
The invalid asked leave to eat some sago. They poured
water over his hands, and he washed his mouth by means
of a silver jug and ewer ; then the cup of sago and a saucer
of very indifferent sugar being placed before him, old Darab
Ali Khan mixed them, and ladled up the sago till it was
cool enough to eat. His Highness then washed his right
hand and mouth again, I think, with a short invocation. I
admonished him to keep very quiet, but told him I was
quite sure he would not do so, which proved true, for
about three o'clock the Arzbeghi came to report that His
Highness had a very bad headache, and that, in spite of the
Abyssinians spreading all their ten fingers and trying to
keep them out, the women had, as usual, rushed in and
talked, as the Arzbeghi said, "worse than in the bazar." My
husband went over and found his patient quite excited, his
hands hot, and his head aching. "What can I do ?" said
he, helplessly. "Do! order them out," said the Agent.
"But they won't go; they mil come in." "Then tell
Darab Ali Khan to carry off two of the ringleaders, and
VOL. II. S
258 COLIN MACKENZIE.
give them a good whipping," was the hard-hearted answer.
" But if there are no ringleaders ? " " Then catch two or
three at random." "But they will say: ' I only talked.'"
" That is the very thing they must not do." The Diwan
told me that yesterday he sent all over the city to procure
some palki-bearers, but in vain, as no less than one hundred
and fifty were employed in bringing His Highness' relations
to lament over him ! This is worse than
" Friends in boots
Creek round us when we die,
Snuffling aloud."
At the Agent's next visit, to his amazement and diversion,
the Nazim said : " Brigadier, I have endeavoured to follow
all your instructions, and when the women came yesterday,
I told my mother to give two of them a good whipping ! "
Personal chastisement is so common, even among Musal-
mans of the highest rank, that the Nazim is said to have
once beaten his first wife (the only lady among them all)
most severely with a stick, owing to some story having
been trumped up against her.
In July, just as the Nazim was recovering, my husband,
who had been riding a remarkably rough, bucking Australian
horse, was suddenly seized with excruciating pain in the
small of the back. It was slight inflammation of the mem-
brane of the spine, produced, it was supposed, by the violent
jolting of the horse, and for some days there was danger of
paralysis, but by God's great mercy this was averted, and
after ten days of severe suffering, he began to amend. He
did not leave his bed for a month. It was a great and
sudden trial. He had a kind doctor, his Afghan servants
were invaluable, and some of the men of the 73d had a
special meeting to pray for him. On the 20th August he
was able to walk about the room.
COLIN MA CKENZIE. 259
There is more than one complaint against the Nazim's
mother now before the magistrate, for purchasing children.
While Major Mackenzie was ill, a little girl was carried
off from her parents. Innumerable letters were written
by the Agent to the Nazim and others, and at length
the poor child was recovered, and her friends were too
glad to get her back to prosecute the matter any further.
The Diwan, who had a great sense of justice, was very
anxious that some steps should be taken to check the sale
of girls, and the Agent brought the subject both officially
and privately before Government, recommending that the
female apartments should be visited by women of character
and position, to ascertain of each inmate separately whether
she wished to stay or go, but his letter was never answered.
When I heard of these things, it struck me that whenever
I went to the Deoris all the female attendants, water-
carriers, etc., who stood in rows as I passed, were kept at a
distance by the Abyssinians.
The more one knows of the Moslim, the lower is one's
estimate of their morality, although here and there one of
them is better than his religion. In explaining a passage
of history to the Nazim's sons, Mr. Browning had to
speak of sins of impurity, but even these young boys
maintained stoutly that nothing of the sort was sinful,
except infidelity in a wife. In fact, hardly any of the
women in the whole Nizamat, whether called Begums or
not, have been married, even in the most temporary fashion.
Musalmans have marriages of three kinds Shadi, which is
a grand marriage, with the bride properly dowered, a con-
tract, innumerable ceremonies, and great expense ; Nikah,
which is a private ceremony, with dower, but still a valid
marriage, and then various kinds of temporary contracts.
The Shiahs are really savages in this matter. Among them
all children are legitimate, no matter what may be the posi-
260 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
tion of the mother, and several of the Nazims have been
sons of dancing -girls a most disreputable class. The
Shiahs consider it meritorious to have children, and believe
that they will receive a reward in Paradise for each !
When the Governor -General's Agent was staying at
the palace, the Nazim came almost daily to see him. A
little son of his, by his first wife, died, but he never men-
tioned the fact ; it is probably difficult to feel deeply the
loss of one out of a whole farmyard of children. The Ndzim
said one day that he would not in the least mind bringing
his ladies into the company of the Agent or of Captain
Layard, but that it is the society of other women that he
dreads for them; adding: "Women corrupt each other!"
Every one says that the depth of corruption among both
Hindus and Moslem cannot be expressed.
A most excellent missionary, familiar with the people
and their language from childhood, told Major Mackenzie
that the utter pollution of Bengali society would shock the
most wicked of Englishmen ; the little children six or
seven years old are not only adepts in vice, but system-
atically instructed in all kinds of wickedness by their
fathers and mothers ! He seemed to think they were even
worse than in Upper India. The Musalmans seem worse
than the Hindus, and the Shiahs than the Sunis.
It was in 1860 that the indigo riots took place, which
ended in the ruin of hundreds of planters. The whole
system was a bad one, but the Government of Bengal were
so evidently hostile to the planters, that when Mr. Grant
issued a proclamation telling the ryots that they were not
obliged to sow indigo, they universally believed that the
Bengal Government forbade them to do it, and it was im-
possible to convince them to the contrary. If one were
asked why he would not sow, the invariable answer was,
"Sirkar ka hukm hai" (It is the order of Government).
COLIN MACKENZIE. 261
Major Layard was on a Ganges steamer, and seeing some
of the new police exercising, he asked the pilot (a native)
who they were. The man gravely informed him that
these were the new police raised by the Government to pre-
vent the sowing of indigo. The ryots took forcible pos-
session of the planters' lands, and the latter hired disbanded
Sepoys and European sailors from Calcutta to defend their
property. It may safely be affirmed that Civil Government
did not exist in the Bengal country districts. Every man
did what was right in his own eyes. Things may per-
haps be better now, but the ryots will always be oppressed
and cheated on all sides, until they are educated.
Major Mackenzie was so sociable and genial that he
seldom went to the palace without taking out seven or
eight officers to spend the day there. On one occasion
they came racing back in two boats. Ghulam Jan, the
Agent's big Afghan, scandalously pulled against his master
in the rival boat, on which two young officers seized paddles
and paddled furiously in the Agent's boat, which succeeded
in landing the first man. Mackenzie then accused the others
of having got on shore at Kuggra, a long way off, and of
having run to the landing-place, which caused much mirth.
In November he took several officers out with the Nazim on
a tiger party. The tigers were on an immense chur or sand-
bank in the Ganges, covered with grass so high that it was
often above the heads of the hunters, when they stood
upright on their elephants. The Agent had a very power-
ful female elephant who, when she came to the tiger's lair,
trembled all over, seized the matted grass with her trunk
and shook it vehemently, crying, " Shoo-ooh ! Shoo-ooh ! "
" exactly," he said, "like a girl afraid of a rat." The grass
was too green to burn, and nothing can be done till the
jungle can be burnt; but they all enjoyed themselves
extremely though they "bagged" no tigers.
262 COLIN MACKENZIE.
In December the weather became unusually cold, and
the sickness among the troops so great that one-fifth were
in hospital, and many of those on duty looked more fit for
their beds. They are always most patient, uncomplaining,
and manly, and so modest that one can scarcely get them
to ask for anything. They had been remarkably healthy
during the hot weather and rains, and the officers still con-
tinued so. Knowing by experience how much the appetite
requires coaxing after this deadly jungle fever, savoury
dishes, soups, and puddings were daily sent to the invalids.
It was a great benefit to them at very small expense. It
was discovered that owing to the villainy of a contractor,
potato flour had been supplied instead of arrowroot, and
there is no doubt that many a poor fellow sinks and dies
because he cannot take the coarse food which is sup-
plied in hospital. Major Mackenzie held very strong
opinions on the necessity of ladies visiting hospitals and
looking into the comforts of the men. Many lives are also
sacrificed to "red tape." When the excellent doctor
indented for more quinine, the Medical Board replied that
he had already received his full allowance, quite overlooking
the fact that the number in hospital was nearly tenfold the
average. The Agent therefore gave all that he had, and
the doctor bought the rest, at the rate of nearly an ounce a
day, with other medical comforts, out of his own pocket.
It was a most fatal season in Calcutta. Cholera carried off
three devoted missionaries, Dr. Ewart, Miss Turner, and
Miss Don, within a week.
About this time, a very curious encyclical letter was
issued by the Chief Mulla at Mekka, and widely circulated
in India, lamenting the degeneracy of the Moslem, and
saying that hell was never so full as it is now, especially
with women ; and calling on the faithful to reform them-
selves and their wives, for Muhammad and the Lord
COLIN MACKENZIE. 263
Jesus will speedily come. Soon after the dreadful accounts
of the Syrian massacres reached us, Mr. Seddon, a great
Arabic scholar, who had formerly been the Nazim's Persian
tutor, told me that during the siege of Multan (1848-9) he
saw a Persian newspaper which quoted the verse in the
9th chapter of the Kurdn, which calls on the Moslem to
kill all unbelievers in Islam, and added : " But people do
not believe this, and persist in thinking that the tiger of the
nineteenth century laps milk. It is very ' illiberal ' to think
otherwise ! "
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
INTRIGUES.
(January 1861.)
"Tardi s'awede
D'un tradimento
Chi mai di fede
Mancar non sa.
Tin cor verace
Pieno d'onore
Non e portento
Se ogni altro core
Crede incapace
D'infedelta." 1
Clemenza di Tito.
IN January 1861 my husband became a Brevet Lieutenant-
Colonel, after thirty -five years' service. He was sub-
poenaed to Calcutta to give evidence in a law-suit regarding
some property of the Nazim's. We spent part of the time
with our hospitable friend Mr. Macnicol at Howrah.
Another friend, Mr. E. Scott Moncrieff, was in the habit
of visiting the Europeans in gaol, and informed Colonel
Mackenzie that Sullivan, the man he had picked out of the
ditch at Murshedabad, had expressed a great wish to see
him. He therefore accompanied Mr. Scott Moncrieff, and
1 "He who knows not how to break faith is slow to perceive
treachery. It is no wonder if a heart full of truth and honour thinks
every other heart incapable of faithlessness."
COLIN MACKENZIE. 265
found the poor fellow in hospital, with slight fever. He
declared that he remembered nothing, having been " quite
mad with the drink " the night of the murder. This doubt-
less is true, for the arrack sold in the bazar is constantly
drugged. He seemed very grateful to Colonel Mackenzie,
who spoke earnestly to him on the way of salvation, and
F , one of the worst of his comrades, sat on the bed
opposite, apparently drinking in every word. On leaving,
F said : " Good-bye, I wish you well, Sir." It was a
great pleasure to me to hear from Colonel Balfour of the
Madras army, a very able man, that " the Madras officers felt
very proud of my husband, and had greatly rejoiced at his
getting the Murshedabad appointment." Certainly it is
better to have the honour of reputation and esteem, such
as he has from the whole army, than mere honours, how-
ever high. It is much more flattering to me to hear the
expressions of indignation that he has never had Brevet
and honours, than if he had got them without earning
them, as so many, even good soldiers, have done. But
this pleasant trip to Calcutta was productive of unlooked-
for results.
There is one very remarkable difference between Euro-
pean and Eastern princes, especially Indian princes. The
former become despotic and wilful from the possession of
sovereignty ; the latter generally lose all will, and are com-
pletely dependent on those about them. The Nazim,
though intelligent and well educated, could scarcely give
an answer if his Diwan was away. He looked to him for
a decision on every point, and every one about him helped
to rule him. It is the same with the Nizam at Haidrabad ;
it was the same in Clive's time ; it has been the same for
generations at Delhi and Lucknow. The Musalman princes
have always had Hindu Diwans to manage their affairs,
and have always been ruled by their mothers and grand-
266 COLIN MA CKENZIE.
mothers, their eunuchs, their servants, and often by any
unprincipled European who can gain access to them.
All the affairs of the Nizamat, including those of the
numerous relations and pensioners of the family, were
managed by the Diwan or Minister, who (since 1787) could
neither be appointed nor dismissed without the sanction of
Government. Raja Prosunna Narain Deb had got the Nazim's
affairs into good order, and had done all in his power to
prevent his being cheated and robbed by those about him.
He had thus made many enemies for himself, and while
Colonel Mackenzie was in Calcutta the Nazim took advantage
of his absence to write a most insulting letter to the Diwan,
evidently wishing to drive him to resign, but on the
Agent's remonstrance His Highness immediately apologised
and said he only "meant to express slight displeasure !"
In May 1861 the Agent drove by appointment to the
palace (nine miles) to see the Nazim, who, after sending
word that he was coming, kept him waiting all day and
never appeared. He therefore declined to go to Mur-
shedabad again, until His Highness should apologise and
pay the usual return visit.
There is no doubt that a certain intriguing physician
whom the Nazim had dismissed, accusing him of all sorts
of crimes, and who had secretly returned from Lucknow,
and who had made his master believe that he is not only
a great astrologer but that "he can make gold out of quick-
silver, and many other miracles," had prevailed upon him
to offer this affront to the Agent on purpose to withdraw
him from the great personal influence Colonel Mackenzie
had acquired over him. The Nazim wrote a long letter of
excuses in Persian, acknowledging that " the eye of inquiry
and comfort has always been directed to him in seasons of
sickness," lamenting that " that good friend has disturbed
the purity of his heart with such displeasure," and begging
COLIN MACKENZIE. 267
that "he would gladden the heart of this friend by a
kind answer, that the dust of chagrin may be mutually
allayed;" but he would not pay the return visit. His
next step was to abolish the office of Diwan, which he
had no right whatever to do. In vain his mother and
uncle plainly told His Highness he was wrong. He
refused to see them, insulted his mother, and paid no
attention to the admonition of the Lieutenant-Governor or
to the advice of General Showers, who had been his tutor.
The Agent referred the whole matter to Government,
and in the meantime refused to acknowledge any other
channel of official correspondence than the rightful Diwan.
Consequently the Nazim's stipend could not be paid, as
the Diwan's signature was indispensable to the receipts.
The Nazim endeavoured to persuade Colonel Mackenzie
to come and stay at the palace, ending his letter "with
kindest regards, your affectionate friend." The Lieu-
tenant-Governor approved of all the measures taken by
Governor-General's Agent.
In June our friend Major Layard, being in Calcutta,
the Viceroy questioned him closely about the whole affair,
" spoke very kindly " of all Colonel Mackenzie had done
for the Nazim, and gave Captain Layard to understand
that the Agent possessed his confidence. Yet months went
on, and still no answer of any kind could be extracted from
the Supreme Government. This was of course very trying,
but my husband did not suffer it to destroy his peace of
mind. He wrote but few private letters, but one to my
mother shows the bent of his thoughts :
"July 1861.
"There is no satisfying because no enduring rest save that
which remains for the Lord's people. How we look forward
to Christ's coming ! How the signs of the approach of that
268 COLIN MACKENZIE.
glorious day of deliverance from the remains of sin and of en-
trance into the kingdom of glory thicken around us !"
Speaking of his official worries, he adds :
" We are kept in peace, and we shall be, for we commit our
way to Him who loves us."
He also occupied himself daily with a school which we began
at our house in August, for the detachment of Artillery.
He always opened it by reading and explaining a passage
of Scripture and prayer. The expression of the poor fellows
when they first came was remarkably listless and depressed,
which was no wonder, as they were confined to barracks
most of the day with nothing to do, and had no light by
which they could read or amuse themselves after sunset.
The latter want was supplied by the gift of a lamp or two
and some oil. Two hours a day were occupied by the
school. There were plenty of sums, copies, etc., to prepare
for the next day ; and a station library for the men, of six
hundred volumes, was gathered together. Within a month
the men looked quite different. One of them, a Eomanist,
who was particularly attentive to the Bible -reading, ob-
served: "Words like those couldn't do anybody harm."
My husband undertook to teach the most backward of them
to read, and did so with the utmost patience and gentleness.
Fresh complications now occurred with the Nazim. A
long-established rule, invariably acted on all over India,
prohibits intercourse between a European or any native of
rank and a native prince save through the Political Officer
at his Court. The object of this rule is to prevent intrigue,
and to protect the native chiefs from the interested designs
of adventurers ; and so strictly is it observed, that even
the Judge and the General commanding the division re-
quest the permission of the Governor-General's Agent before
visiting the Nazim. In November 1861 a lawyer named
Montriou, who had already been secretly employed in draw-
COLIN MACKENZIE. 269
ing up the Nazim's letters to Government, came up from
Calcutta and requested the Agent to introduce him to the
Nazim, stating that "his sole object was to make His High-
ness' acquaintance, and that he would carefully abstain from
any allusion to political matters or business." The Nazim,
however, styled him his "legal adviser." As the Nazim
had already legal advisers of character, Colonel Mackenzie
politely declined to comply with Mr. Montriou's request.
On this Mr. Montriou threw off the mask, and appealed to
the Lieutenant-Governor, avowing, in direct contradiction
to his own letter, that he had come "to be the Nazim's
guide on the present crisis ;" and, in defiance of the prohibi-
tion, remained as a guest at the Palace.
Colonel Durand, the Foreign Secretary, had warned Mr.
Montriou of the above stringent rule before he left Calcutta.
Nevertheless the Lieutenant-Governor, who up to the 12th
November, had acknowledged and acted on this rule,
directed that it should now be broken, and that Mr. Mon-
triou and " any other persons should be allowed free access
to the Nazim." The Bengal Office had never had any experi-
ence in political affairs. It is clear that either the Supreme
Government should have abrogated this rule, or that it
should have been enforced.
Mr. Montriou openly boasted that he would cause the
removal of the Governor -General's Agent, and that he
was acting under the sanction of Mr. Beadon; and stated that
his objects were, to prevail on His Highness to withdraw
his memorial of 1860, to abolish the Agency, and "to do
away with all the foolish pomp of the Nazim's position."
He certainly obtained intelligence from the Bengal Office
some days before it reached the Agent officially.
Major Layard, who had known the Nazim from boy-
hood, was struck with the control exercised over him by
Mr. Montriou, in whose presence he was "evidently nervous
COLIN MACKENZIE.
and curbed." When alone with Major Lay ard "he spoke
most strongly of the Agent's former friendship and great
kindness to him and his family during many seasons of
sickness and distress, asserted most strongly that he had
been anxious for months to return his visit in person," and
that on one occasion he had actually started in his carriage
when Mr. Montriou went after him and brought him back.
(This Montriou himself related with triumph.) Major
Layard observed that " Mr. Montriou's bearing was most
confident and assuming, and his comments on Colonel
Mackenzie's acts were most improper and contemptuous,
and it is difficult to imagine how it can be possible for the
Governor-General's Agent to carry on his duties, with such
an undercurrent of cavil continually kept up. Every word,
every remark or report is exaggerated and distorted into
an implied offence and insult. . . . There can be no hope
of reconciliation so long as the present state of things
lasts."
Colonel Mackenzie had repeatedly requested the instruc-
tions of the Supreme Government, and when he complained
of being left for eight months without any support, or even a
hint of the Viceroy's opinion or wishes, the Lieutenant-
Go vernor replied : " You have no reason to fancy that you
have not the protection and support of Government " (7th
January 1862). This proves that Mr. Grant was ignorant of
the Viceroy's intentions (an ignorance shared by members
of the Supreme Council) ; for, within ten days, Lord Can-
ning's decision arrived, sanctioning the Agent's course of
action, upholding his views by confirming Raja Prosunno
Narain Deb as Diwan Nizamat, withdrawing the Agent
until the Nazim should apologise, but entirely approving
of the free admission of Mr. Montriou into the palace !
and directing that Colonel Mackenzie should not return,
"as any
