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) 


THE  SEPOY  WAR  IN  INDIA. 


IHSTOET 


Of  ni 


SEPOY  WAR  m  INDIA. 


1857—1858. 


JOHN  WILLIAM  KATE,  F.R.S., 

•I 
AUTHOB   OF   THE    "HISTOBT    OF   THE   WAB    III    AFGHANISTAN.^ 


VOL.  n. 


•  .     * 


NEW    EDITION. 


LONDON : 

W.  H.  ALLEN  &  CO.,  13,  WATEBLOO  PLACE. 

1874. 
\AU  BighU  Esservcd.'] 


y 


<r 


M  i 


UEi<RY  MOr-isT  «:>  :  Ei'Hrwa 


•  •  •     • 

•  •  • 

•  •  ^»    • • 


•  •     •  .  ••  !     • 

•    •      •    •      •     • 


•   •   •  •  •, 
•••• 


•  •    •••,•;  •••  •••  •      •     ,     ••• 

•••••••••   r  I    •  ••• .  • 


ADVERTISEMENT  TO  NEW  EDITION. 


This  edition  of  the  Second  Volume  of  the  "  Sepoy 
War"  differs  from  the  preceding  one,  mainly  in 
respect  of  the  correction  of  some  vexatious  typo- 
graphical and  clerical  errors,  either  discovered  by 
myself,  or  pointed  out  to  me  by  correspondents,  to 
whom  I  am  most  grateful.  It  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  a  volume  of  nearly  seven  hundred 
pages,  teeming  with  the  names  of  people  and  places, 
mostly  Oriental,  should  be  free  from  errors  of  this 
kind.  I  have  seen  little  reason,  however,  to  ques- 
tion the  material  truth  of  the  numerous  facts  re- 
corded in  this  and  the  preceding  volume,  or  to  mo- 
dify the  judgments  which  I  have  pronounced  upon 
tiiem.  On  one  point  I  have  thought  it  just  to  a 
distinguished  officer,  and  to  the  regiment  which  he 
commanded — Colonel  Custance  and  the  Carabineers 
— ^to  publbh  as  a  Postscript  some  correspondence 
relating  to  a  statement  in  the  Chapter  on  the  Mutiny 
at  Meerut,  respecting  the  causes  of  the  delay  in  turn- 
ing out  the  regiment  on  the  disastrous  evening  of 
the  1 0th  of  May. 

J.  W.  K. 

Jannarr,  1874. 


512960 


^ 


EBBATA. 

Page  79,  note,  for  "  Buktawuss  Singh"  read  '*  Buktawur  Slngb.'* 

Page  261,  line  16,  for  *'  Chuaroo  Bagh"  read  "  Ehoosroo  Bagh/' 

Page  266,  line  13,  for  '*  Moole-gunj"  read  "  Mootee-gunj.'* 

Page  895,  line  5,  for  "  Kooshen  Ghirdena"  read  "  Ehoosroo  Gardens." 

Page  397,  note,  for  "short"  read  "shot." 

Page  426,  line  3  from  bottom,  for  "  Punjabee  troops"  read  "troops  in  the 

Punjab." 
Page  667,  Appendix  (quotation),  line  10  from  bottom,  for  "  Acconntani 

Commissioner"  read  "  Assistant  Commissioner." 
Page  684,  Appendix  (quotation),  for  "  BoeDhar  tribe"  read  "Bhoeerhar 

tribe." 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL  IL 


BOOK  IV.— THE  RISING  IN  THE  NORTH-WEST. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  DELHI  HISTO&Y. 

PAOB 

Importance  of  tlie  Seizure  of  Delhi— Moral  Inflaences — ^Position  of 
the  Delhi  Family — Early  History — Successive  Degradations — ^The 
Question  of  Succession — Intrigues  of  Zeenut-Mehal — Death  of 
P«bce  Fakir-Oodeen— Renewed  Intrigues — Views  of  Lord  Canning 
— State  of  Mahomedan  Feeling  at  Delhi — ^The  Native  Press— Cor- 
respondence with  Persia — The  Proclamation— Temper  of  the 
Soldiery 1 

CHAPTER  ir. 

THE  OUTBKEAK  AT  MEERUT. 

State  of  the  Third  Cavalry— The  Court  of  Inquiry— The  Court 
Ma'rtial— Imprisonment  of  the  Eighty -five— The  Tentli  of  May- 
Release  of  the  Prisoners— General  Revolt  of  the  Sepoys — Inactivity 
of  the  European  Troops — Escape  of  the  Mutineers — Question  of 
Responsibility  Considered 43 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

The  ^eerut  Mutineers  at  Delhi — ^Events  at  the  Palace— Progress  of 
Insurrection — State  of  the  British  Cantonment  —  Mutiny  of  the 
Delhi  Rejsiments — The  Explosion  of  the  Magazine — Escape  of  the 
British  Officers — ^Massacre  of  the  Prisoners 75 


vi  CONl'ENTS- 

CHAPTER  IV. 

CALCUTTA  IN  MAT.  PAOB 

Efforts  of  Lord  Canning— State  of  Public  Feeling  in  CalcutI a— Ap- 
prehensions and  Alarms— Bearing  of  the  Governor-General — Cor- 
respondence wiih  the  Commander-in-Chief— Tlie  First  Movement 
towards  Delhi— The  Volunteer  Question— First  Arrival  of  Succours 
— Appearance  of  Colonel  Neill      .        .        •       •       *        •        •  HI 

CHAPTER  V. 

LAST  DATS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

• 

General  Anson  at  Umballah— First  Movement  of  Troops — ^The  Mili- 
tary Departments — Difficulty  of  Movement — ^The  Panic  on  the 
Hills — ^ITie  Siege-Train — ^Remonstrances  against  Delay — Views  of 
Lord  Canning  and  Sir  John  Lawrence — Good  Work  of  the  Civilians 
— Conduct  of  the  Sikh  Chiefs— The  March  to  Kumaul — ^Death  of 
General  Anson — Succession  of  Sir  Henry  Barnard         •       •       .  137 

CHAPTER  VL 

THE  IfABCH  UPON  DELHI. 

State  of  Meerut — ^The  Sappers  and  Miners — ^Defence  of  Roorkhee— 
Colonel  Baird  Smith — Mutiny  of  the  Sappers— March  of  Wilson'« 
Brigade — ^Battles  of  the  Hindun — Junction  with  Barnard— Battle 
of  Budlee-ka-Scrai— Position  before  Delhi 173 


BOOK  v.— PROGRESS  OF  REBELLION  IN  UPPER 

INDIA. 

CHAPTER  L 

BENAUES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

The  North-West  Provinces— State  of  Affairs  at  Benares- State  of 
the  City— The  Outbreak  at  Azimgurh — Arrival  of  General  Neill— 
Disarming  of  the  Thirty-seventh — ^The  Mutiny  at  Jaunporc — ^Affairs 
at  Allahabad — ^Mutiny  of  the  Sixth — Appearance  of  General  Neill — 
The  Port  Secured— R'jtributory  Measures 197 


•  • 


CONTENTS.  VU 

CHAPTER  n. 

CAWNPOBE.  PAQB 

ArrinJ  of  Havelock  at  Allahabad — Meeting  with  Neill^Ad^ance  of 
Eenaud — Havelock's  Brigade — Cawnpore — ^The  City — The  Can- 
tonment—Sir Hugh  Wheeler — ^Dangers  of  his  Position — ^The  En- 
trenchments— Revolt  of  the  Native  Regiments — Doondoo  Pant, 
''Nana  Sahib"— The  Siege— The  Capitnlation— Massacre  at  the 
Ghaut— Escape  of  a  Solitary  Boat — Its  Adventures  on  the  River — 
Heroic  Deeds  of  Thomson  and  Delafosse 276 

CHAPTER  ni. 

THE  MABCH  TO  CAWNPOBE. 

Havelock  at  Allahabad — Equipment  of  the  Brigade— Advance  towards 
Cawnpore — Junction  with  Renaud — The  Battles  of  Futtehpore, 
Aong,  and  Cawnpore— The  Massacre  of  the  Women  and  Children.  357 

CHAPTER  IV. 

BB-OCCTJPATION  OP  CAWNPOBE. 

Havelock  at  Cawnpore — State  of  the  Soldiery— Discouraging  Cir- 
cumstances—Flight of  the  Nana  —  Destruction  of  the  Bithoor 
Palace— Arrival  of  Neill — His  Punishment  of  Criminals — ^First 
Movement  towards  Lucknow— General  Aspects  of  the  Rebellion    .  386 


BOOK  VL-~THE  PUNJAB  AND  DELHI, 

CHAPTER  I. 

PIBST  CONPLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB, 

General  Condition  of  the  Punjab— Sources  of  Danger— British  Re- 
lations wilh  Afghanistan — Causes  of  Confidence — Montgomery  at 
Lahore — Events  at  Meean-Meer — Services  of  Brigadier  Corbett — 
Disarming  of  the  Native  Regiments— Relief  of  the  Fort  of  Lahore 
— ^Events  at  Umritsurand  Qovindghur — The  Mutinies  at  Ferozpore 
and  PhiUour 417 

CHAPTER  IL 

» 

PESnAWUB  AND  BAWUL-PINDEE. 

Pcshawur — ^Internal  and  External  Dangers — ^The  Civil  and  Military 
Authorities — Edwardes — Nicholson — Cotton — Chamberlain — The 


Vlli  CONTENTS. 

FAQB 

Council  at  Pcshawur — Arrangements  for  a  Moveable  Column— Sir 
John  Lawrence  at  Rawul-Piudec- Despatch  of  Troops  to  Delhi— 
The  March  of  the  Guide  Corps      .  'iiZ 

CHAPTER  III. 

PKOGKESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

General  Policy  of  Sir  John  Lawrence — The  Raising  of  Local  Levies 
—Events  at  Peshawur — Disarming  of  the  Native  Regiments— 
Punisliment  of  Deserters— Mutiny  of  the  Eifly-fifth — Expedition  to 
Hote-Murdan— Mutiny  of  the  Sixty-fourth — The  Outbreak  at 
JuUundhur  ...        ^        ..••••       .  471 

CHAPTER  IV. 

DELHI — ^FISST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

General  Barnard's  Position — Importance  of  the  Capture  of  Delhi— 
Dellii  and  its  Environs — Question  of  an  immediate  Assault — 
Councils  of  War— Abandonment  of  the  Night  Attack— Waiting  for 
Reinforcements — Engagements  with  the  Enemy— The  Centenary  of 
Plassey — Arrival  of  Neville  Chamberlain  and  Raird  Smith — Death 
of  General  Barnard       .        • 513 

CHAPTER  V. 

FBOGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE* 

General  Reed  in  Command — Exertions  of  Baird  Smith — Inadequacy 
of  Resources — Question  of  Assault  Renewed— Engagements  witli 
the  Enemy — Hopes  of  the  Englisli — Assault  Abandoned — Depar- 
ture of  General  Reed — Brigadier  Wilson  in  Command — His  Position 

and  Efforts — Social  Aspects  of  the  Camp — State  of  the  Delhi 
Garrison      •        • 571 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  LIST  SUCCOUES  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

Question  of  the  Abandonment  of  Peshawur — Views  of  Sir  John  Law- 
rence, Colonel  Edwardes,  and  General  Nicholson — Eurther  Dis- 
asters in  the  Punjab— J  helum  and  Sealkote— The  Movable  Column 
— Affair  of  the  Trimmoo  Ghaut — Nicholson  at  Delhi — The  Battle 
ofNujufghur       • •        •        .  587 

Appendix •       •       •       •  6G5 


<^^^r^"^»«w" 


PJiEFACE  TO  VOL.  II. 


When  the  first  volume  of  this  book  was  published, 
I  had  little  expectation  that  the  second  would  be  so 
long  in  course  of  completion,  as  the  result  has  shown 
it  to  have  been.  In  truth,  I  had  not  measured  aright 
the  extent  of  the  work  before  me.  But  when  I  came 
to  take  .account  of  the  wealth  of  my  materials,  and 
to  reflect  upon  the  means  of  converting  them  into 
history,  I  saw  clearly  that  the  task  I  had  undertaken 
was  a  more  arduous  and  perplexing  one  than  I  had 
originally  supposed. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  make  the  reader  under- 
stand my  perplexities ;  and  I  hope  that,  understand- 
ing, he  will  sympathise  with  them.  The  events  to  be 
narrated  covered  a  large  area  of  space,  but  were  com- 
pressed within  a  small  period  of  time.  Chronologi- 
cally they  moved  along  parallel  lines,  but  locally  they 
were  divergent  and  distracting.  The  question  was 
how  it  was  best  to  deal  historically  with  all  these 
synchronous  incidents.  To  have  written  according  to 
date,  'with  some  approach  to  fidelity  of  detail,  a 


.    I 


X  PREFACE. 

number  of  separate  narratives,  each  illustrative  of  a 
particular  day,  or  of  a  particular  week,  would  have 
been  easy  to  the  writer,  and  would  in  some  sort  have 
represented  the  character  of  the  crisis,  one  of  the 
most  distinguishing  features  of  which  was  derived 
from  the  confusion  and  distraction  engendered  by  the 
multiplicity  of  simultaneous  outbursts  in  diflTerent 
parts  of  the  country.  This  mode  of  treatment^  how- 
ever, though  it  might  accurately  reflect  the  situation, 
was  not  likely  to  gratify  the  reader.  The  multiplicity 
of  personal  and  local  names  rapidly  succeeding  each 
other  would  have  bewildered  him,  and  no  distinct 
impression  would  have  been  left  upon  his  mind.  But 
though  the  nature  of  the  subject  utterly  forbade  all 
thought  of  unity  of  place  and  unity  of  action,  with 
reference  to  the  scope  of  the  entire  work,  there  was  a 
certain  unification  of  the  several  parts  which  was  prac- 
ticable, and  which  suggested  what  might  be  called  an 
episodical  treatment  of  the  subject,  with  such  connect- 
ing links,  or  such  a  general  framework  or  setting,  as 
historical  truth  might  permit.  And,  in  fact,  different 
parts  of  the  country  were  so  cut  off  from  each  other 
when  mutiny  and  rebellion  were  at  their  height,  that 
each  series  of  operations  for  the  suppression  of  local 
revolt  had  a  separate  and  distinct  character.  Cer- 
tainly, in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  War,  there  was 
no  general  design — little  co-operation  or  cohesion. 
Every  man  did  what  was  best  in  his  eyes  to  meet  with 
vigour  and  sagacity  an  unexpected  crisis.  The 
cutting  of  our  telegraph-wires  and  the  interruption  ol 
our  posts  were  among  the  first  hostile  efforts  of  the 
insurgents  in  all  parts  of  the  countr3^  Joint  action 
on  a  large  scale  was  thus  rendered  impossible,  and  at 
the  commencement  of  the  War  it  would  scarcely  have 
been  desirable.    For  our  people  had  to  deal  promptly 


PREFACE.  XI 

with  urgent  symptoms,  and  references  and  consulta- 
tions would  have  been  fatal  to  success. 

Thus  circumstanced  with  respect  to  the  component 
parts  of  this  History,  I  could  not  easily  determine  to 
what  particular  events  it  would  be  best  to  give  priority 
of  narration.  One  thing  soon  became  unpleasantly 
apparent  to  me.  I  had  made  a  mistake  in  forecasting 
the  plan  of  the  entire  work,  in  an  "  Advertisement" 
prefixed  to  the  First  Volume.  It  was  impossible  to 
write  adequately,  in  this  instalment  of  my  book,  of 
all  the  operations  which  I  had  originally  intended  to 
record.  With  materials  of  such  great  interest  before 
me,  it  would  have  been  unwise  to  starve  the  narra- 
tive ;  so  I  thought  it  best  to  make  confession  of  error, 
and  to  expunge  my  too-hasty  promises  from  subse- 
quent editions  of  the  work.  In  pursuance  of  this  re- 
vised scheme,  I  was  compelled  to  put  aside  much 
that. I  had  written  for  this  Second  Volume,  and 
though  this  has  necessarily  retarded  its  publication, 
it  has  placed  me  so  much  in  advance  with  the  work 
to  be  accomplished,  that  I  hope  to  be  able  to  produce 
the  next  volume  after  a  much  shorter  interval  of 
time. 

The  selection  made  for  this  volume  from  the 
chapters  which  I  had  written  may  not  perhaps  be 
the  best,  but  it  is  at  least  sufficiently  intelligible. 
After  describing  the  earlier  incidents  of  the  mutiny, 
as  at  Meerut  and  Delhi,  at  Benares  and  Allahabad, 
and  at  dififerent  stations  in  the  Punjab,  I  have 
narrated,  up  to  a  certain  point,  those  two  great 
series  of  operations — the  one  expedition  starting 
from  Bengal  with  troops  drawn  from  the  Littoral, 
the  other  from  the  North-Western  Frontier,  with 
forces  derived  from  the  Hill  Stations  and  the  Punjab 
— which  were  consummated  in  the  capture  of  Delhi 


Xll  PREFACE. 

and  the  first  relief  of  Lucknow  In  the  one  T 
have  traced  the  movements  of  Keill  and  Have- 
lock,  under  the  direction  of  Lord  Canning,  and 
in  the  other  of  Anson,  Barnard,  Wilson,  and  Nichol- 
son, with  the  aid  and  inspiration  of  Sir  John 
Lawrence.  It  is  by  thus  following  the  fortunes 
of  individuals  that  we  may  best  arrive  at  a  just  c6n- 
ception  of  the  general  action  of  the  whole.  For  it 
was  by  the  energies  of  individual  men,  acting  mostly 
on  their  own  responsibility,  that  little  by  little  re- 
bellion was  trodden  down,  and  the  supremacy  of  the 
English  firmly  re-established.  It  will  be  seen  that  I 
have  adhered  very  closely  to  pure  narrative.  The 
volume,  indeed,  is  a  volume  of  fact,  not  of  contro- 
versy and  speculation ;  and  as  it  relates  to  the  earlier 
scenes  of  the  great  struggle  for  Empire,  it  is  mostly 
an  account  of  military  revolt  and  its  suppression. 

Dealing  with  the  large  mass  of  facts,  which  are 
reproduced  in  the  chapters  now  published,  and  in 
those  which,  though  written,  I  have  been  compelled 
to  reserve  for  future  publication,  I  have  consulted 
and  collated  vast  piles  of  contemporary  correspon- 
dence, and  entered  largely  into  communication,  by 
personal  intercourse  or  by  letter,  with  men  who  have 
been  individually  connected  with  the  events  described. 
For  every  page  published  in  this  volume  some  ten 
pages  have  been  written  and  compiled  in  aid  of  the 
narrative ;  and  if  I  have  failed  in  the  one  great 
object  of  my  ambition,  to  tell  the  truth,  without 
exaggeration  on  the  one  hand  or  reservation  on  the 
other,  it  has  not  been  for  want  of  earnest  and  labo- 
rious inquiry  or  of  conscientious  endeavour  to  turn 
my  opportunities  to  the  best  account,  and  to  lay 
before  the  public  an  honest  exposition  of  the  his- 
torical facts  as  they  have  been  unfolded  before  me. 


PREFACE.  XIU 

Still  it  is  probable  that  the  accuracy  of  some  of  the 
details  in  this  volume,  especially  those  of  personal 
incident,  may  be  questioned,  perhaps  contradicted, 
notwithstanding,  I  was  about  to  say,  all  the  care  that 
I  have  taken  to  investigate  them,  but  I  believe  that  I 
should  rather  say  "by  reason  of  that  very  care." 
Such  questionings  or  contradictions  should  not  be  too 
readily  accepted ;  for,  although  the  authority  of  the 
questioner  may  be  good,  there  may  be  still  better 
authority  on  the  other  side.  I  have  often  had  to 
choose  between  very  conflicting  statements;  and  I 
have  sometimes  found  my  informants  to  be  wrong, 
though  apparently  with  the  best  opportunities  of 
being  right,  and  have  been  compelled  to  reject,  as 
convincing  proof,  even  the  overwhelming  assertion, 
"  But,  I  was  there."  Men  who  are  personally 
engaged  in  stirring  events  are  often  too  much  oc- 
cupied to  know  what  is  going  on  beyond  the  little 
spot  of  ground  which  holds  them  at  the  time,  and 
often  from  this  restricted  stand-point  they  see  through 
a  glass  darkly.  It  is  hard  to  disbelieve  a  man  of 
honour  when  he  tells  you  what  he  himself  did ;  but 
every  writer,  long  engaged  in  historical  inquiry,  has 
had  before  him  instances  in  which  men,  after  even  a 
brief  lapse  of  time,  have  confounded  in  their  minds 
the  thought  of  doing,  or  the  intent  to  do,  a  certain 
thing,  with  the  fact  of  having  actually  done  it.  In- 
deed, in  the  commonest  affairs  of  daily  life,  we  often 
find  the  intent  mistaken  for  the  act  in  the  retrospect. 

The  case  of  Captain  Rosser's  alleged  offer  to  take  a 
Squadron  of  Dragoons  and  a  Troop  of  Horse  Artillery 
to  Delhi  on  the  night  of  the  10th  of  May  (illustrated 
in  the  Appendix)  may  be  regarded  as  an  instance  of 
this  confusion.  I  could  cite  other  instances.  One 
will   suffice: — A  military  officer   of  high   rank,    of 


XIV  PBEFACE. 

stainless  honour,  with  a  great  historical  reputation, 
invited  me  some  years  ago  to  meet  him,  for  the 
express  purpose  of  making  to  me  a  most  important 
statement,  with  reference  to  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing episodes  of.  the  Sepoy  War.  The  statement  was 
a  very  striking  one ;  and  I  was  referred,  in  confirma- 
tion of  it,  to  another  officer,  who  has  since  become 
illustrious  in  our  national  history.  Immediately  on 
leaving  my  informant,  I  wrote  down  as  nearly  as 
possible  his  very  words.  It  was  not  until  after  his 
death  that  I  was  able  orally  to  consult  the  friend  to 
whom  he  had  referred  me,  as  being  personally  cog- 
nisant of  the  alleged  fact — the  only  witness,  indeed, 
of  the  scene  described.  The  answer  was  that  he  had 
heard  the  story  before,  but  that  nothing  of  the  kind 
had  ever  happened.  The  asserted  incident  was  one, 
as  I  ventured  to  tell  the  man  who  had  described  it 
to  me  at  the  time,  that  did  not  cast  additional 
lustre  on  his  reputation ;  and  it  would  have  been 
obvious,  even  if  he  had  rejoiced  in  a  less  unblemished 
reputation,  that  it  was  not  for  self-glorification,  but 
in  obedience  to  an  irrepressible  desire  to  declare  the 
truth,  that  he  told  me  what  afterwards  appeared  to 
be  not  an  accomplished  fact,  but  an  intention  un- 
fulfilled. Experiences  of  this  kind  render  the  historical 
inquirer  very  sceptical  even  of  information  supposed 
to  be  on  "  the  best  possible  authority."  Truly,  it  is  very 
disheartening  to  find  that  the  nearer  one  approaches  , 
the  fountain-head  of  truth,  the  further  ofi^  we  may  • 
find  ourselves  from  it.* 

*  If.   may    be   mentioned    liere  pugned  in  a  former  work  of  history  by 

(though  not  directly  in  confirmation  the  author  of  this  book,  was  the  only 

of  the  above)  as  a  curious  illustra-  one  which  he  had  made  as  the  result 

tration  of  ihe  difficulty  of  discern-  of  his  own  personal  knowledj^e — the 

in^  between  truth  and  error,  that  only  fact  which  he  had  witnessed 

the  only    statement    seriously  im-  with  his  own  eyes. 


PREFACE.  XV 

But,  notwithstanding  such  discouraging  instances 
of  the  difficulty  of  extracting  the  truth,  even  from  the 
testimony  of  truthful  men,  who  have  been  actors  in 
the  scenes  to  be  described,  I  cannot  but  admit  the 
general  value  of  such  testimony  to  the  writer  of  con- 
temporary history.  And,  indeed,  there  need  be  some 
advantages  in  writing  of  events  still  fresh  in  the 
memory  of  men  to  compensate  for  its  manifest  dis- 
advantages. These  disadvantages,  however,  ought 
always  to  be  felt  by  the  writer  rather  than  by  the 
reader.  It  has  been  often  said  to  me,  in  reply  to  my 
inquiries,  "  Yes,  it  is  perfectly  true.  But  these  men 
are  still  living,  and  the  truth  cannot  be  told."  To 
this  my  answer  has  been :  "To  the  Historian  all  men 
are  dead."  If  a  writer  of  contemporary  history  is 
not  prepared  to  treat  the  living  and  the  dead  alike — 
to  speak  as  freely  and  as  truthfully  of  the  former  as 
of  the  latter,  with  no  more  reservation  in  the  one 
case  than  in  the  other— he  has  altogether  mistaken 
his  vocation,  and  should  look  for  a  subject  in  prehis- 
toric times.  There  are  some  actors  in  the  scenes  here 
described  of  whom  I  do  not  know  whether  they  be 
living  or  whether  they  be  dead.  Some  have  passed 
away  from  the  sphere  of  worldly  exploits  whilst  this 
volume  has  been  slowly  taking  shape  beneath  my  pen. 
But  if  this  has  in  any  way  influenced  the  character  of 
my  writing,  it  has  only  been  by  imparting  increased 
tenderness  to  my  judgment  of  men,  who  can  no  longer 
defend  themselves  or  explain  their  conduct  to  the 
world.  Even  this  off'ence,  if  it  be  one  against  his- 
torical truth,  I  am  not  conscious  of  having  actually 
committed. 

I  have  but  a  few  more  words  to  say,  but  because  1 
say  them  last  it  must  not  be  thought  that  I  feel  them 
least.     I  am  painfully  sensible  that  in  this  narrative 


XVI  TREFACE. 

I  have  failed  to  do  justice  to  the  courage  and  con- 
stancy of  many  brave  men,  whose  good  deeds  de- 
served special  illustration  in  this  narrative,  and 
would  have  received  it,  but  for  the  exigencies  of  time 
and  space,  which  have  forbidden  an  ampler  record. 
This,  perhaps,  may  be  more  apparent  in  other  volumes 
than  in  this.  But,  whatever  may  be  the  omissions  in 
this  respect,  I  do  not  think  that  they  will  be  attri- 
buted to  any  want  of  appreciation  of  the  gallantry 
and  fortitude  of  my  countrymen  in  doing  and  in 
suflfering.  No  one  could  rejoice  more  in  the  privilege 
of  illustrating  their  heroic  deeds  than  the  author  of 
these  volumes.  It  is  one  of  the  best  compensations 
of  historical  labour  to  be  suffered  to  write  of  exploits 
reflecting  so  much  honour  upon  the  character  of  the 
nation. 

J.  W.  K. 

Penge — ^Midsummer,  1870, 


i  1867. 


Trri .  SiMMUuLnt 


«    « 


HISTOET  OF  THE  SEPOY  WAB. 


BOOK  rV.— THE  RISING  Df  THE  NOETH-WBST. 

[Mat,  1867.] 


CHAPTER  I. 

IMPOBTANCE  OF  THE  SEIZU&E  OP  DELHI — MOBAL  INFLUENCES— POSITION  OP 
THE  DELHI  PAMILT — ^EAELY  HISTOET — ^SUCCESSIVE  DEGRADATIONS— THE 
QUESTION  OP  SaCCESSION^INTBIGUES  OP  ZEBNUT-MEHAL— DEATH  OP 
FBINCB  FAXIBrOOD-DEEN—RENEWED  INTBIGUES—VIEWS  OP  LOBD  CAN- 
NING— STATE  OP  MAHOMEDAN  PEELING  AT  DELUI — THE  NATIVE  PBESS — 
COBBESPONDENCE  WITH  PEBSIA — THE  PROCLAMATION — ^TEHPER  OP  THE 
SOLDIERY. 

It  was  a  work  of  time  at  Calcutta  to  elicit  all  the  Lord  Can- 
details  of  the  sad  story  briefly  outlined  in  the  pre-  peihi  Ques- 
ceding  chapter.     But  the  great  fact  was  patent  to^^^°- 
Lord  Canning  that  the  English  had  been  driven  out 
of  Delhi,  and  that,  for  a  time,  in  that  great  centre  of 
Mahomedanism,  the  dynasty  of  the  Mogul  Family 
was  restored.     The  tremendous  political  significance 
of  this  revolution  could  not  be  misunderstood  by  the 
most  obtuse,  or  glossed  over  by  the  most  sanguine. 
The  Emperors  of  Delhi  had  long  ceased  to  exercise 
any  substantial  authority  over  the  people  whom  they 

TOL.  II.  B 


•  •  • 


•    •  •       •   •    •      •   « 


•••••••   •••/••     •  •.  -      • 


'*  THE  IJeLHI  HISTORY. 

1804-57.  had  once  governed.  For  fifty  years  the  Master  of 
the  Delhi  Palace  had  been,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
English,  merely  a  pageant  and  a  show.  But  the 
pageantry,  the  show,  the  name,  had  never  ceased 
to  be  living  influences  in  the  minds  of  the  princes  and 
people  of  India.  Up  to  a  comparatively  recent  period 
all  the  coin  of  India  had  borne  the  superscription  of 
the  Mogul ;  and  the  chiefs  of  India,  whether  Maho- 
medan  or  Hindoo,  had  still  continued  to  regard  the 
sanction  given  to  their  successions  by  that  shadow  of 
royalty,  as  something  more  assuring  than  any  recog- 
nition which  could  come  from  the  substance  of  the 
British  Government.  If  the  Empire  of  Delhi  had 
passed  into  a  tradition,  the  tradition  was  still  an 
honoured  one.  It  had  sunk  deeply  into  the  memories 
of  the  people. 

Doubtful,  before,  of  the  strength  of  these  influences. 
Lord  Canning  now  began  to  suspect  that  he  had 
been  misinformed.  In  the  preceding  year,  he  had 
mastered  the  whole  Delhi  history,  and  he  knew  full 
well  the  peculiar  circumstances  which  at  that  period 
made  it  so  perilous  that  the  Imperial  Family  should 
be  appealed  to  in  aid  of  the  national  cause.  He  saw 
before  him,  in  all  their  length  and  breadth,  the  inci- 
dents of  family  intrigue,  which  imparted  a  vigorous 
individuality  to  the  hostility  of  the  Mogul.  He  knew 
that  the  chief  inmates  of  the  palace  had  never  been 
in  a  mood  of  mind  so  little  likely  to  resist  the  temp- 
tations now  offered  to  them.  He  knew  that  the  old 
King  himself,  and  his  favourite  wife  who  ruled  him, 
had  been  for  some  time  cherishing  animosities  and 
resentments  which  rendered  it  but  too  likely  that  on 
the  first  encouraging  occasion  they  would  break  into 
open  hostility  against  the  usurping  Englishman,  who 
had  vaulted  into  the  seat  of  the  Mogul,  reduced  him 


LORD  WELLSSLET  IHD  SHAH  ALLUM. 


to  a  suppliant,   and  thwarted  him  in  all  the  most  iso^— 57 
cherished  wishes  of  his  heart 


With  as  much  brevity  as  may  suffice  to  make  the  Hie  Delhi 
position  clear,  the  Delhi  story  must  be  told.    The  old  ^SbiT^*"'* 
King,  Behaudur  Shah,  whose  sovereignty  had  been 
proclaimed,  was  the  second  in  descent  firom  the  Em- 
peror Shah  Allum,  whom,  blind,  helpless,  and  miser- 
able, the  English  had  rescued  from  the  gripe  of  the     isw. 
Mahrattas,*  when  at  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  armies  of  Lake  and  Wellesley  broke  up  their 
powerful  confederacy,  and  scattered  the  last  hopes  of 
the  French.     Shah  Allum  was  the  great-grandson  of 
Aurungzebe,  the  tenth  successor  in  a  direct  line  from 
Tlmour,  the  great  founder  of  the  dynasty  of  the 
Moguls.     Even   in   the   depths   of  his   misery   and 
humiliation,  he  was  regarded  by  the  most  magnificent 
of  English  viceroys  as  a  mighty  potentate,  whom  it 
was  a  privilege  to  protect,  and  sacrilege  to  think  of 
supplanting.     The  "  great  game"  of  Lord  Wellesley 
embraced  nothing  so  stupendous  as  the  usurpation  of 
the  Imperial  throne.     Perhaps  it  was,  as  his  brother 
Arthur  and  John  Malcolm  declared,  and  as  younger 
men  suspected  and  hinted,  that  the  Governor-General, 
worn  out  by  the  oppositions  and  restrictions  of  the 
LeadenhaU-street  Government,  and  broken  in  health 
by  the  climate  of  Calcutta,  had  lost  his  old  daring 
and  cast  aside  his  pristine  ambition.     Perhaps  it  was 
believed  by  him  and  by  his  associates  in  the  Council 

♦  Lord  Lake's  firet  interview  with  peror,  oppressed  by  tbc  accumulated 

him  is  thus  offidsliy  described  in  the  odamities  of  old  age  and  d^raded 

records  of  the  day  :  "Li  the  mag-  authority,  extreme  poverty  and  loa 

nificcnt  palace  buUt  by  Shah  Jehan  of  sight,  seated  tmder  a  smaU  tattered 

the  Commander-in-Chief  was  oshered  canopy,  the  remnant  of  his  royal 

into  the  royal  presence,  and  found  state,  with  every  «;^"^*Pi«»^,; 

the  imfortiinate  and  venerable  Em-  ance  of  the  misery  of  his  condition. 

b2 


4  THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 

]804— 5.  Chamber  that  it  would  be  sounder  policy,  tending 
more  to  our  own  grandeur  in  the  end,  to  gather 
gradual  strength  from  this  protective  connexion  with 
the  Emperor,  before  endeavouring  to  walk  in  the 
pleasant  paths  of  imperialism.  But  in  either  case,  he 
recoiled  from  the  thought  of  its  being  suspected  in 
England,  that  he  wished  to  place  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, substantively  or  vicariously,  on  the  throne  of 
the  Moguls.  *^  It  has  never,"  he  wrote  to  the  Secret 
Committee  of  the  Court  of  Directors,  June  2,  1805, 
"been  in  the  contemplation  of  this  Government  to 
derive  from  the  charge  of  protecting  and  supporting 
his  Majesty  the  privilege  of  employing  the  Royal 
Prerogative  as  an  instrument  of  establishing  any 
control  or  ascendancy  over  the  States  and  Chieftains 
of  India,  or  of  asserting  on  the  part  of  his  Majesty 
any  of  the  claims  which,  in  his  capacity  of  Emperor 
of  Hindostan,  his  Majesty  may  be  considered  to 
possess  upon  the  provinces  ori^nally  composing  the 
Mogul  Empire.  The  benefits  which  the  Governor- 
General  in  Council  expected  to  derive  from  placing 
the  King  of  Delhi  and  the  Royal  Family  under  the 
protection  of  the  British  Government,  are  to  be 
traced  in  the  statement  contained  in  our  despatch 
to  your  Honourable  Committee  of  the  13th  of  July, 
1804,*  relative  to  the  evils  and  embarrassments 
to  which  the  British  power  might  have  been  ex- 
posed by  the  prosecution  of  claims  and  pretensions 

*  The  objects  are  thas  ename-  India,  and  the  British  GoTemment 

rated  in  the  despatch  to  which  re-  has  obtained  a  favourable  opportu- 

ferencc  is  made :  "  The  deliverance  nitv  of  conciliating  the  confidence 

of  the  Emperor  Shah  Allum  from  the  and  securing  the  applause  of  sor- 

control  of  the  French .  power  esta-  rounding  states  by  providing  a  safe 

blished  in  the  North- West  quarter  and  tranquil  asylum  for  the  declining 

of  EUndostan,  by  which  the  Govern-  age  of  that  venerable  and  unfortu- 

ment  of  France  has  been  deprived  of  nate  monarch,  and  a  suitable  main- 

a  powerful  instrument  in  the  eventual  tenance  for  his  numerous  and  dis- 

prosecution  of  its  hostile  designs  tressed  family/' — July  13, 1804. 
against  the  British  Government  in 


..y-twrn-gg^WP  .     .■■  'I   ■'^^^^^^gi^Wi^tgq 


ENDOWMENT  OF  THE  IMPERIAL  FAMILY.  5 

on  the  part  of  the  Mahrattas,  or  of  the  French,  in  the    1804-5. 
name  and  under  the  authority  of  his  Majesty  Shah 
AUum,  if  the  person  and  family  of  that  unhappy 
monarch  had  continued  under  the  custody  and  con- 
trol of  those  powers,  and  especially  of  the  French." 

It  must  have  taxed  the  ingenuity  of  Lord  Welles- 
ley,  even  with  the  experienced  guidance  and  assist- 
ance of  Sir  George  Barlow  and  Mr.  Edmonstone,  to 
design  a  scheme  for  the  continuance  or  restoration  of 
the  Empire  on  a  small  scale — a  scheme  whereby  Shah 
Allum  might  become  more  than  a  pensioner,  a 
pageant,  and  a  puppet,  and  yet  less  than  the  sub- 
stance  of  a  sovereign.  He  was  to  be  a  King  and  yet 
no  King — a  something  and  yet  nothing — a  reality 
and  a  sham  at  the  same  time.  It  was  a  solace  to  us, 
in  the  "great  game,"  to  know  that  we  "held  the 
King;"  but  it  was  a  puzzle  to  us  how  to  play  the 
card.  It  was,  indeed,  a  great  political  paradox,  which 
Lord  Wellesley's  Government  was  called  upon  to  in- 
stitute ;  and  he  did  the  best  that  could  be  done,  in 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed,  to  recon- 
cile not  only  the  House  of  Timour,  but  the  people 
who  still  clung  reverentially  to  the  great  Mahomedan 
dynasty,  to  the  state  of  things  which  had  arisen  out 
of  those  circumstances.  It  was  determined  that  a 
certain  amount  of  that  dignity,  which  is  derived  from 
territorial  dominion,  should  still  be  attached  to  the 
person  of  the  Emperor;  that  within  certain  limits 
he  should  still  be  the  fountain  of  justice ;  and  that 
(negatively)  within  those  limits  the  power  of  life  or 
death  should  be  in  his  hands.  And  in  addition  to 
the  revenues  of  the  districts  thus  reserved  as  an.  ap- 
panage of  the  Throne,  he  and  his  family  were  to  re- 
ceive stipendiary  allowances  amounting  to  more  than 
^  hundred  thousand  pounds  a  year. 


6  THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 

1804—5.  Thus  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Indies — ^the  Great 
Mogul,  traditionally  the  grandest  sovereign  in  the 
Universe — became,  whilst  still  indued  with  the  purple 
and  the  gold  of  imperial  state,  and  rejoicing  in  the 
appearance  of  territorial  dominion,  virtually  a  pen- 
sioner of  a  Company  of  Merchants.  The  situation 
was  one  which  conferred  many  advantages  on  the 
British  Government  in  India,  but  it  was  not  without 
its  dangers.  Even  in  the  depths  of  his  misery  and 
degradation,  the  King's  name  was  a  pillar  of  strength ; 
the  rags  of  royalty  were  reverenced  by  the  people. 
And  Lord  Wellesley  saw  clearly  that  if  the  ancestral 
State  of  the  Mogul  were  perpetuated — ^if  he  were  left 
to  reside  in  the  Palace  of  Shah  Jehan,  with  all  the 
accompaniments  of  his  former  grandeur  around  him, 
in  the  midst  of  a  Mahomedan  population  still  loyal  to 
the  House  of  Timour — ^there  might  some  day  be  an 
attempt  to  reconstruct  the  ruined  monarchy  in  the 
person  of  one  of  Shah  AUum's  successors,  which 
might  cause  us  grievous  annoyance.  So  it  was  pro- 
posed that  Mongh}^?  should  become  the  residence  of 
the  Imperial  Family.  But  the  old  King  shuddered 
at  the  thought  of  removal,  and  the  shudder  ran 
through  his  family,  from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest, 
male  and  female,  relatives  and  dependants.  Not,  there- 
fore, to  inflict  any  further  pain  or  humiliation  upon 
them.  Lord  Wellesley  consentrcd  that  they  should  abide 
in  the  Delhi  Palace.  At  some  'future  time  their  re- 
moval might  be  eflFected  without  any  cruel  divulsions, 
any  of  those  strainine:s  and  crackins^s  of  the  heart- 
stiLga,  which  must  allend  the  exodus  of  Princes  born 
in  the  purple,  with  the  memory  of  actual  sovereignty 
still  fresh  mthin  them. 

AkbarShab.       I^  December,  1806,  Shah  Allum  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  Akbar  Shah.    It  happened  that 


AKBAR  SHAH  AND  MB.  SETON.  7 

• 

the  English  officer,  who  at  that  time  represented  the  1806. 
British  Government  at  Delhi,  was  a  courtier  of  the 
old  school,  whose  inveterate  politeness  of  speech  and 
manner  had  ample  scope  for  exercise  at  the  ex- 
imperial  Court.  Mr.  Seton  would  have  died  rather 
than  hurt  the  feelings  of  the  humblest  denizen  'of  the 
Palace.  In  the  caricatures  of  the  period  he  was 
represented  saluting  Satan  with  a  low  bow,  and 
hoping  that  his  Majesty  was  well  and  prosperous. 
Associated,  at  this  time,  in  a  subordinate  capacity 
with  Mr.  Seton,  but  much  trusted,  and  consulted  by 
him  with  the  deference  shown  to  an  equal  in  age  and 
position,  was  young  Charles  Metcalfe,  who,  although 
little  more  than  a  boy,  saw  clearly  the  store  of  future 
trouble  which  the  British  Government  was  laying  up 
for  itself  by  not  curbing  the  pretensions  of  the  now 
efifete  Mogul.  "I  do  not  conform,"  he  wrote,  "to 
the  policy  of  Seton's  mode  of  managing  the  Royal 
Family.  It  is  by  a  submifiision  of  manner  and  con- 
duct, carried  on,  in  my  opinion,  far  beyond  the  re- 
spect and  attention  which  can  be  either  prescribed 
by  forms  or  dictated  by  a  humane  consideration  for 
the  fallen  fortunes  of  a  once  illustrious  family.  It 
destroys  entirely  the  dignity  which  ought  to  be 
attached  to  him  who  represents  the  British  Govern- 
ment, and  who  in  reality  is  to  govern  at  Delhi;  and 
it  reuses  (I  have  perceived  the  effect  disclosing  itself 
with  rapidity)  ideas  of  imperial  power  and  sway 
which  ought  to  be  put  to  sleep  for  ever.  As  it  is 
evident  that  we  do  not  mean  to  restore  imperial 
power  to  the  King,  we  ought  not  to  pursue  a  conduct 
calculated  to  make  him  aspire  to  it.  Let  us  treat 
him  with  the  respect  due  to  his  situation ;  let  us 
make  him  comfortable  in  respect  to  circumstances, 
and  give  him  all  the  means,  as  far  as  possible,  of 


8  THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 

1806—37.  being  happy ;  but,  unless  we  mean  to  re-establish  his 
power,  let  us  not  encourage  him  to  dream  of  it." 
No  grey-haired  politician  could  have  written  any- 
thing wiser  than  this ;  and  when,  after  the  lapse  of  a 
few  years,  the  writer  himself  became  "  Resident"  at 
Delhi,  and  had  the  supreme  direction  of  affairs,  all 
his  boyish  impressions  were  confirmed.  He  was 
brought  face  to  face  with  a  state  of  things  offensive 
alike  to  reason  and  to  humanity ;  but  neither  he  nor 
his  successors  in  the  Residency  could  do  more  than 
recommend  one  measure  after  another  which  might 
gradually  mitigate  the  evils  which  stood  out  so  obtru- 
sively before  them. 

Time  passed ;  and  the  English  in  India,  secure  in 
their  great  possessions^  dreading  no  external  enemy, 
and  feeling  strong  within  them  the  power  to  tread 
down  any  danger  which  might  arise  on  Indian  soil, 
advanced  with  a  firmer  step  and  a  bolder  presence. 
They  no  longer  recoiled  from  the  thought  of  Empire. 
What  had  appeared  at  the  commencement  of  the 
century  to  be  perilous  presumption,  now  seemed  to 
be  merely  the  inevitable  accident  of  our  position. 
The  "  great  game"  had  been  imperfectly  played  out 
in  Lord  Wellesley's  time ;  and  ten  years  afterwards 
Lord  Hastings  saw  before  him  the  results  of  that 
settlement  where  nothing  was  settled,  and  resolved 
to  assert  the  supremacy  of  the  British  Government 
over  all  the  potentates  of  India.  Times  were  changed 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  our  feelings  had 
changed  with  them.  The  Company  had  not  quite 
forgotten  that  it  had  been  established  on  a  "pure 
mercantile  bottom."  But  [the  successes  of  our  arms 
in  Europe  had  given  us  confidence  in  ourselves  as  a 
great  military  nation ;  and,  though  the  Directors  in 
Leadenhall-street,  true  to  their  old  traditions,  migl^t 


a    M  m  w^m^^^^mm^i^^^mm^^i^a^^mi 


DIMINUTION  OF  IMPERIAL  PKIVILEGES.  9 

Still  array  themselves  against  all  projects  for  the  1806—37. 
extension  of  our  military  and  political  power  in  the 
East,  it  was  felt  that  the  people  of  England  would 
applaud  the  bolder  policy,  if  it  were  only  successful. 
From  that  time  England  became  arbiter  of  the  fate 
of  all  the  Princes  of  India.  There  was  no  longer 
any  reluctance  to  assert  our  position  as  the  para- 
mount power.  It  was  a  necessary  part  of  the  scheme 
then  to  put  down  the  fiction  of  the  Delhi  Empire. 
The  word  Empire  was,  thenceforth,  to  be  associated 
only  with  the  British  power  in  the  East ;  and  the 
mock-majesty,  which  we  had  once  thought  it  service- 
able to  us  to  maintain,  was  now,  as  soon  as  possible, 
to  be  dismissed  as  inconvenient  lumber. 

It  might  be  narrated  how,  during  a  period  of 
thirty  years,  the  sun  of  royalty,  little  by  little,  was 
shorn  of  its  beams — how  first  one  Governor-General 
and  then  another  resisted  the  proud  pretensions  of 
the  Mogul,  and  lopped  off  some  of  the  ceremonial 
obeisances  which  had  so  long  maintained  the  inflated 
dignity  of  the  House  of  Timour.*  All  these  humilia- 
tions rankled  in  the  minds  of  the  inmates  of  the 
Palace ;  but  they  were  among  the  necessities  of  the 
continually  advancing  supremacy  of  the  English.  It 
may  be  questioned  whether  a  single  man,  to  whose 
opinion  any  weight  of  authority  can  fairly  be  at- 
tached, has  ever  doubted  the  wisdom  of  these  exci- 
sions. And  humanity  might  well  pause  to  consider 
whether  more  might  not  yet  be  done  to  mitigate 
that  great  evil  of  rotting  royalty  which  had  so  long 
polluted  the  atmosphere  of  Delhi.  That  gigantic 
Palace^  almost  a  city  in  itself,  had  long  been  the 

♦  It  was  not  until  1835,  that  the    perors,  and  the  "  Company's  rupee" 
current  coin  of  India  ceased  to  bear    was  substituted  for  it. 
ike  superscription  of  the  Mogul  em- 


10  THE  DELHI  HISTORT. 

1806-37.  home  of  manifold  abominations;  and  a  Christian 
Government  had  suffered,  and  was  still  suffering, 
generation  after  generation  of  abandoned  men  and 
degraded  women,  bom  in  that  vast  sty  of  refuge,  to 
be  a  curse  to  others  and  to  themselves.  In  subdued 
official  language,  it  was  said  of  these  wretched  mem- 
bers of  a  Royal  House,  that  they  were  "  independent 
of  all  law,  immersed  in  idleness  and  profligacy,  and 
indifferent  to  public  opinion."*  It  might  have  been 
said,  without  a  transgression  of  the  truth,  that  the 
recesses  of  the  Palace  were  familiar  with  the  com- 
mission of  every  crime  know  in  the  East,  and  that 
Heaven  alone  could  take  account  of  that  tremendous 
catalogue  of  iniquities. 
1837.  On  the  evening  of  the  28th  of  September,  1837, 

gjj*^^^^  Akbar  Shah  died,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two.  He  had 
intrigued  some  years  before  to  set  aside  the  succes- 
sion of  the  Heir- Apparent  in  behalf  of  a  favourite 
son ;  but  he  had  failed.f  And  now  Prince  Aboo 
Zuffer,  in  the  official  language  of  the  day,  ^^  ascended 
the  throne,  assuming  the  title  of  Abool  Mozuffer 
Surajoodeen  Mahomed  Behaudur  Shah  Padshah-i- 
Gazee.''  It  is  sufficient  that  he  should  be  known 
here  by  the  name  of  Behaudur  Shah.  He  was  then 
far  advanced  in  age;  but  he  was  of  a  long-lived 
family,  and  his  three-score  years  had  not  pressed 
heavily  upon  him.  He  was  supposed  to  be  a  quiet, 
inert  man,  fond  of  poetry,  a  poetaster  himself;  and 
not  at  all  addicted,  by  nature,  to  political  intrigue. 
If  he  had  any  prominent  characteristic  it  was 
avarice.     He  had  not  long  succeeded  to  the  title 

*   Sometimes,    however,    great  rate  efforts,  in  favour  first  of  one 

crimes  were  punished.    Prince  Hy-  son,  then  of  another.    The  first  en- 

der  Shekob,  for  example,  was  exe-  deavour  was  attended  with   some 

outed  for  the  murder  ot  his  wife.  eventful  circumstances  which  might 

t  Indeed,  he  had  made  two  sepa-  haye  led  to  violence  and  bloodshed. 


MISSIONS  TO  ENGLAND.  11 

before  he  began   to  press  for  an   addition   to  the      1837. 
royal  stipend,  which   had  in   some  sort  been  pro- 
mised to  Akbar   Shah.     The  Lieutenant-Governor  Sir  Charles 
was  unwilling  to  recommend  such  a  waste  of  the 
public  money;    but   the  Governor-General,  equally  Lord  AucJc- 
believing  it  to  be  wasteful,  said  that,  although  as  a^*^^' 
new  question  he  would  have  negatived  it,  the  promise 
having  been  given  it  ought  to  be  fulfilled — ^but  upon 
the  original  conditions.     These  conditions  were,  that 
the  King  should  execute  a  formal  renunciation  of  all 
further  claims  upon  the  British  Government;   but 
Behaudur  Shah  did  as  his  father  had  done  before 
him.     He  refused  to  subscribe  to  the  proposed  con- 
ditions, and  continued  to  cherish  a  belief  that,  by 
sending  an  agent  to  England,  he  might  obtain  what 
he  sought  without  any  embarrassing  restrictions. 

Akbar  Shah  had  employed  as  his  representative  the  Rammohun 
celebrated  Brahmin,  Rammohun  Roy,  and  ever  still  ^''^• 
regarding  himself  as  the  fountain  of  honour,  had 
conferred  on  his  envoy  the  title  of  Rajah.     English 
society  recognised  it,  as  it  would  have  recognised  a 
still  higher  title,   assumed  by  a  Khitmudgar;  but 
the  authorities  refused  their  official  recognition  to 
the  Rajahship,  though  they  paid  becoming  respect  to 
the  character  of  the  man,  who  was  striving  to  en- 
lighten the  Gentiles,  as  a  social  and  religious  re- 
former.   As  the  envoy  of  the  Mogul  he  accomplished 
nothing ;  and  Behaudur  Shah  found  that  the  "  case" 
was  much  in  the  same  state  as  it  had  been  when 
Rammohun  Roy  left  India  on  the  business  of  the  late 
King.     But  he  had  still  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  a 
mission  to  England,  especially  if  conducted  by  an 
Englishman.     So  when  he  heard  that  an  eloquent  George 
lecturer,  who  had  gained  a  great  reputation  in  the  Thompson. 
Western  world  by  his  earnest  advocacy  of  the  rights 


12  THE  DELHI  HISTOBY. 

1843.  of  the  coloured  races,  had  come  to  India,  Behaudur 
Shah  invited  him  to  Delhi,  and  was  eager  to  enlist 
his  services.  He  had  many  supposed  wrongs  to  be  re- 
dressed. Lord  Ellenborough  had  given  the  finishing 
stroke  to  the  system  of  nuzzur-giving,  or  tributary 
present-making,  to  the  King,  by  prohibiting  even 
such  offerings  by  the  Resident*  Thus  had  passed 
away  almost  the  last  vestige  of  that  recognition,  by 
the  British  Government,  of  the  imperial  dignity  of 
the  House  of  Timour ;  and  although  money-compen- 
sation had  been  freely  ^ven  for  the  loss,  the  change 
rankled  in  the  mind  of  the  King.  But  the  Company 
had  already  refused  to  grant  any  increase  of  stipend 
to  the  Royal  Family  until  the  prescribed  conditions 
had  been  accepted  ;t  and  Mr.  George  Thompson 
had  no  more  power  than  Rammohun  Roy  to  cause  a 
relaxation  of  the  decision.  And  in  truth,  there  was 
no  sufficient  reason  why  the  stipend  should  be  in- 
creased. A  lakh  of  rupees  a  month  was  sufficient, 
on  a  broad  basis  of  generosity,  even  for  that  multi- 
tudinous family;  and  it  would  have  been  profligate 
to  throw  away  more  money  on  the  mock-royalty  of 
Delhi,  when  it  might  be  so  much  better  bestowed.  % 
There  was,  indeed,  no  ground  of  complaint  against 

*  Nazzurs  had  formerly  been  pre-  acconnt  of  the  affair,  which  will  be 
sented  by  tlie  Qovemor-General  and  found  in  the  Appendix, 
the  Commander-in-Chief — by  the  f  Letter  of  tne  Court  of  Direc- 
latter,  it  would  seem,  as  recently  as  tors,  Feb.  11, 1846 :  *'  It  being  im- 
1837,  on  the  accession  of  Shah  Be-  possible  for  us  to  waive  this  oondi- 
haudur. — See  Letter  of  the  Govern-  tion  (of  executing  a  formal  renuncia- 
ment  of  India,  May  23, 1838.  And  tion  of  all  further  claims^  the  King 
in  the  cold  season  of  1842-3  Lord  must  be  considered  as  naving  de- 
Ellenborough's  secretaries  nresented  clined  the  offered  benefit." 
nuzzurs  to  the  King,  witnout  any  |  Inaddition  to  this  monthly  lakh 
intimation  to  the  Governor-General ;  of  rupees,  paid  in  money,  Behaudur 
who,  on  learning  what  they  had  done,  Shah  continued  to  enjoy  the  pro- 
was  surprised  and  indignant  in  the  ceeds  of  some  crown  lanos,  and  also 
extreme,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  nuz-  of  some  ground-rents  in  the  city. — 
zur-giving  for  ever.  Mr.  William  See  evidence  of  Mr.  Sanders  at  the 
Edwards,  one  of  the  secretaries  Kin^s  trial :  "  He  was  in  receipt  of 
concerned^  has  given  an  interesting  a  stipend  of  one  lakh  of  rupees  per 


ZENAKA  INTRIGUES.  13 

the  British  Goveniment;  and,  perhaps,  the  King  1843—9. 
would  have  subsided  into  a  state,  if  not  of  absolute  Zenana  in- 
content,  of  submissive  quietude,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  that  activity  of  Zenana  intrigue,  which  no  Orien- 
tal sovereign,  with  nothing  to  do  but  to  live,  can  ever 
hope  to  resist.  He  had  married  a  young  wife,  who 
had  borne  him  a  son,  and  who  had  become  a  favourite, 
potential  for  good  or  evil.  As  often  it  has  happened, 
from  the  tune  of  the  patriarchs  downwards,  this  son 
of  his  old  age  also  became  a  favourite ;  and  the  King 
was  easily  wrought  upon  by  Queen  Zeenut-Mehal  to 
endeavour  to  set  aside  the  succession  of  the  heir- 
apparent  in  favour  of  the  boy-prince.  The  unjust 
supercession,  which  his  father  had  endeavoured  to 
perpetrate  against  him,  might  now  some  day  be  put 
in  force  by  himself,  for  the  gratification  of  his  fa- 
vourite. But  it  was  necessary  in  such  a  case  to  walk 
warily.  Any  rash  hasty  action  might  be  followed 
by  a  failure  which  could  never  be  repaired.  In  any 
case,  it  would  be  better  to  wait  until  the  child,  Jewan 
Bukht,  were  a  few  years  older,  and  he  could  be  ex- 
tolled as  a  youth  of  promise.  Meanwhile  the  great 
Chapter  of  Accidents  might  contain  something  in 
their  favour.  So  hanging  on  to  the  skirts  of  Circum- 
stance, he  watched  for  the  coining  of  an  opportunity. 
And  ere  long  the  opportunity  came— bringing  with 
it  more  than  had  been  looked  for,  and  not  all  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  royal  expectants. 

1849. 

The  story  may  be  briefly  told.     In  1849,  Prince  The  story  of 

the  succes- 

mensem,  of  which  ninelT-nine  thou-  the  crown  lands  in  the  neighbour-  sion. 

sand  were  paid  at  Delni,  and  one  hood  of  Delhi.    He  also  received  a 

thousand  at  Lucknow,  to  the  mem-  considerable  sum  from  the  ground- 

bers  of  the  famih  there.    He  was  rents  of  houses  and  tenants  in  the 

also  in  receipt  of  revenue  to  the  city  of  Delhi." 
amount  of  a  lakh  and  a  half  from 


14 


THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 


1849.  Dara  Bukht,  the  Heir- Apparent,  died.  At  this  time 
the  King,  Behaudur  Shah,  had  numbered  more  than 
seventy  years.  In  natural  course  his  death  could  be  no 
very  remote  contingency.  The  question  of  succession, 
therefore,  pressed  heavily  on  the  mind  of  the  Governor- 
General.  Lord  Dalhousie  was  not  a  man  to  regard 
with  much  favour  the  mock  sovereignty  of  the  Mogul. 
Others  before  him,  with  greater  tenderness  for  an- 
cient dynastic  traditions,  had  groaned  over  the  long 
continuance  of  a  state  of  things  at  which  reason  and 
truth  revolted ;  and  the  extinction  of  the  titular  dig- 
nity of  the  Kings  of  Delhi,  after  the  death  of  Behau- 
dur Shah,  had  been  urged  upon  the  Government  of 
the  East  India  Company.*  But  the  proposal  stirred 
up  divisions  in  the  Council  Chamber  of  Leadenhall, 
which  resulted  in  delayed  action.  The  usual  expe- 
dient of  waiting  for  further  advices  from  India  was 
resorted  to,  and  so  Lord  Dalhousie  found  the  ques- 
tion unsettled.  The  death  of  Prince  Dara  Bukht 
afforded  an  opportunity  for  its  settlement,  which  a 
Governor-General  of  Dalhousie's  temperament  was 
not  likely  to  neglect.  The  next  in  succession,  accord- 
ing to  Mahomedan  law,  was  Prince  Fakir-ood-deen, 
a  man  thirty  years  of  age,  reputed  to  be  of  quick 
parts,  fond  of  European  society,  and  tolerant  of  the 
British  Government.  And  the  Governor- General  saw 
both  in  the  character  of  the  man  and  the  circum- 
stances of  his  position  that  which  might  favour  and 


*  Writing  on  tlie  1st  of  Augnst, 
1844,  the  Conrt  of  Directors  ob- 
served ;  "  The  Governor-General  has 
piven  directions  to  the  Agent  that, 
in  the  event  of  the  demise  of  the 
King  of  Delhi,  no  step  whatever 
shall  be  taken  which  can  be  con- 
strued into  a  recognition  of  the  de- 
scent of  that  Utle  to  a  successor  with- 


out specific  authority  from  the  Go- 
vemor-General.  If  in  these  instruc- 
tions the  abolition  of  the  title  is 
contemplated,  we  cannot  give  it  our 
sanction  until  we  have  heard  further 
from  you  on  the  subject,  arid  have 
had  time  to  consider  the  purport  and 
the  grounds  of  the  recommendation 
whicli  may  be  offered." 


POLICY  OP  LORD  DALHOtJSIE.  15 

facilitate  the  changes  which  he  wisely  desired  to      1849. 
introduce. 

It  was  manifestly  the  duty  of  the  British  Govern-  Jjord 
ment  not  to  perpetuate  a  state  ot  things  which  had  measures. 
nothing  but  tradition  to  gloss  over  its  pflFensive  de- 
formity. But  the  operation  that  had  become  neces- 
sary was  not  one  to  be  performed  violently  and  ab- 
ruptly, without  regard  to  times  and  seasons.  Feeling 
sure  that  the  opportunity  could  not  be  far  distant, 
Lord  Dalhousie  had  been  contented  to  wait.  It  had 
now  come.  Prince  Dara  Bukht  was  the  last  of  the 
Delhi  Princes  who  had  been  "  bom  in  the  purple."  He 
had  been  reared  and  he  had  ripened  in  the  expectation 
of  succeeding  to  the  Kingship  of  Delhi;  and  there 
might  have  been  some  hardship,  if  not  a  constructive 
breach  of  faith,  in  destroying  the  hopes  of  a  lifetime 
at  the  very  point  of  fruition.  But  Prince  Fakir- 
ood-deen  had  been  bom  a  pensioner.  He  had  no 
recollection  of  "  the  time  when  the  King*  of  Delhi 
still  sat  on  the  throne,  and  was  recognised  as  the 
paramount  potentate  in  India."  It  could,  therefore, 
be  no  injustice  to  him  to  admit  his  accession  to  the 
chiefship  of  the  family  upon  other  conditions  than 
those  which  had  been  recognised  in  the  case  of  his 
father ;  whilst  it  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Governor- 
General,  sound  policy,  on  the  other  hand,  to  sweep 
away  all  the  privileges  and  prerogatives  which  had 
kept  alive  this  great  pretentious  mock -royalty  in  the 
heart  of  our  Empire. 

The  evils  to  be  removed  were  many ;  but  two 
among  them  were  more  glaring  than  the  rest.  The 
perpetuation  of  the  kingly  title  was  a  great  sore. 
Lord  Dalhousie  did  not  overrate  its  magnitude. 
Perhaps,  indeed,  he  scarcely  took  in  its  true  propor- 
tions.    For  he  wrote  that  the  Princes  of  India  and 


16  THE  DELHI  HISTORT. 

1849.  its  people,  whatever  they  might  once  have  been,  had 
become  "  entirely  indifferent  to  the  condition  of  the 
King  or  his  position."*  And  he  added:  "The  Bri- 
tish Government  has  become  indeed  and  in  truth  the 
paramount  Sovereign  in  India.  It  is  not  expedient 
that  there  should  be,  even  in  name,  a  rival  in  the 
person  of  a  Sovereign  whose  ancestors  once  held  the 
paramountcy  we  now  possess.  His  existence  could 
never  really  endanger  us,  I  admit ;  although  the  in- 
trigues of  which  he  might,  and  not  unfrequently  has 
been  made  the  nucleus,  might  incommode  and  vex 
us."  I  have  said  before  that  Lord  Dalhousie  "  could 
not  imderstand  the  tenacity  with  which  the  natives 
of  India  cling  to  their  old  traditions — could  not  sym- 
pathise with  the  veneration  which  they  felt  for  their 
ancient  dynasties."f  Time  might  have  weakened  the 
veneration  felt  for  the  House  of  Delhi,  but  had  not, 
assuredly^ffaced  it.  There  was  still  sufficient  vitality 
in  it  to  engender,  under  favouring  circumstances, 
something  more  than  discomfort  and  vexation.  But 
Lord  Dalhousie  erred  only  in  thus  under-estimating 
the  proportions  of  the  evil  which  he  now  desired  to 
remove.  He  was  not,  on  that  account,  less  impressed 
with  the  fact  that  it  would  be  grievous  impolicy  on 
the  part  of  the  British  Government  to  suffer  the 
kingly  title,  on  the  death  of  Behaudur  Shah,  to  pass 
to  another  generation. 

The  other  evil  thing  of  which  I  have  spoken  was 
the  maintenance  of  the  Palace  as  a  royal  residence. 
Regarded  in  the  aspect  of  morality  and  humanity, 
as  already  observed,  it  was  an  abomination  of  the 
worst  kind.  But,  more  clearly  even  than  this, 
Lord  Dalhousie  discerned  the  political  and  military 
disadvantages  of  the   existing  state  of  things,   by 

♦  Minute,  February  10, 1849.  f  Ante,  vol  i.  p.  356. 


DANGER  OF  THE  MAGAZINE.  17 

which,  what  was  in  reality  a  great  fortress  in  the  1849. 
hands  of  a  possible  enemy,  was  suffered  to  command 
the  chief  arsenal  of  Upper  India.  "Here,"  wrote 
the  Governor-General,  "  we  have  a  strong  fortress  in 
the  heart  of  one  of  the  principal  cities  of  our  Empire, 
and  in  entire  command  of  the  chief  magazine  of  the 
Upper  Provinces — ^which  lies  so  exposed,  both  to 
assault  and  to  the  dangers  arising  from  the  careless- 
ness of  the  people  dwelling  around  it — that  it  is  a 
matter  of  surprise  that  no  accident  has  yet  occurred 
to  it.  Its  dangerous  position  has  been  frequently 
remarked  upon,  and  many  schemes  have  been  pre- 
pared for  its  improvement  and  defence ;  but  the  only 
eligible  one  is  the  transfer  of  the  stores  into  the  Palace, 
which  would  then  be  kept  by  us  as  a  British  post, 
capable  of  maintaining  itself  against  any  hostile 
manoeuvre,  instead  of  being,  as  it  now  is,  the  source 
of  positive  danger,  and  perhaps  not  unfrequently  the 
focus  of  intrigues  against  our  power."* 

There  was  undoubted  wisdom  in  this.     To  remove 

*  It  does  not  appear,  however,  its  effects  as  regards  the  destniction 

that  Lord  Dalhousie  laid  any  stress  of  life.    2nd.  It  would  destroy  the 

upon  the  fact  that   no   European  magnificent  Palace  of  Delhi.    3rd. 

troops  were  posted  in  Delhi,    rior.  The  loss  of  Government  property 

indeed,  did  Sir  Charles  Napier,  who  would  also  be  verv  great,  especially 

at  this  time  was  Gommander-in-Chief  if  my  views  of  the  importance  of 

of  the  British  army  in  India.    He  Delhi,  given  in  my  report,  be  acted 

saw  clearly  that  the  military  situa-  upon ;  namely,  that  it  and  Dinapore 

tion  was  a  false  one,  and  he  wrote  should  be  two  great  magazines  for  the 

much  about  the  defence  of  the  city,  Bengal  Presidency.    4th.  It  is  with- 

but  without  drawing  any  distinction  out  defence  b^ond  what  the  guard 

between     European     and    Native  of  fifty  men  offer,  and  its  gates  are 

troops.  In  both  cases  the  anticipated  so  weak  that  a  mob  could  push  them 

danger  was   from  a  rising  or   the  in.    I  therefore  think  a  powder  ma- 

peopie,  not  of  the  soldierv.    With  gazine  should  be   built  in  a  safe 

respect  to  the  situation  of  tne  maga-  place.  There  is  a  strong  castle  three 

zine,  Sir  Charles  Napier  wrote  to  the  or  four  miles  from  the  town  which 

Governor-General  (Lahore,  Dec.  15,  would  answer  well,  but  I  fear  the 

1849),  saying :    "  As    regards   the  repairs  would  be  too    expensive ; 

magazine,  the  objections  to  it  are  as  more  so,  perhaps,  than  what  would 

follows :  1st.  It  IS  placed  in  a  very  be  more  efficacious,  viz.,  to  build  a 

populous  part  of  tne  city,  and  its  magazine  in  a  suitable  position  near 

explosion  would  be  very  horrible  in  the  city." 

VOL.  IT.  C 


18  THE  DELHI  HISTORT. 

1849.  the  Delhi  Family  from  the  Palace,  and  to  abolish  all 
their  Alsatian  privileges,  upon  the  death  of  Behaudur 
Shah,  could  have  been  no  very  difficult  work.  But 
to  Lord  Dalhousie  it  appeared  that  this  part  of  the 
duty  which  lay  before  him  should  be  accomplished 
with  the  least  possible  delay.  He  conceived  that 
there  would  be  no  necessity  to  wait  for  the  demise 
of  the  titular  sovereign,  as  in  all  probability  the  King 
might  be  persuaded  to  vacate  the  Palace,  if  suffi- 
cient inducement  were  held  out  to  him.  He  ar- 
gued that,  as  the  Kings  of  Delhi  had  possessed  a 
convenient  and  favourite  country  residence  at  the 
Kootab,  some  twelve  miles  to  the  south  of  Delhi, 
and  that  as  the  place  was  held  in  great  veneration, 
generally  and  particularly,  as  the  burial-place  of  a 
noted  Mahomedan  saint  and  of  some  of  the  ancestors 
of  Behaudur  Shah,  his  Majesty  and  the  Royal  Family 
were  not  likely  to  object  to  their  removal,  and,  if 
they  did  object,  it  was  to  be  considered  whether  pres- 
sure might  not  be  put  upon  them,  and  their  consent 
obtained  by  the  extreme  measure  of  withholding  the 
royal  stipend.  But  the  representative  of  a  long  line 
of  Kings  might  not  unreasonably  have  demurred  to 
the  expulsion  of  his  Family  from  the  old  home  of  his 
fathers,  and  it  demanded  no  great  exercise  of  imagi- 
nation to  comprehend  the  position. 
Views  of  the      When  this  exposition  of  Lord  Dalhousie's  views 

TT  JL 

Government,  was  laid  before  the  Court  of  Directors  of  the  East 
India  Company,  the  subject  was  debated  with  much 
interest  in  Leadenhall- street.*  Already  had  the 
strong  mind  of  the  Governor-General  begun  to  influ- 
ence the  councils  of  the  Home  Government  of  India. 
There  were  one  or  two  able  and  active  members  of 

*  Sir  Archibald  Galloway,  who    century^  was  Chairman  of  the  East 
had  taJJLen  part  in  the  defence  of    India  Company. 
Delhi  at  the  commencement  of  the 


CONFLICTS  m  THE  HOME  GOVERNMENT.  19 

the  Court  who  believed  implicitly  in  him,  and  were  1849. 
resolute  to  support  everything  that  he  did.  There  was 
another  section  of  the  Court,  which  had  no  special 
faith  in  Lord  Dalhousie,  but  which,  upon  system, 
supported  the  action  of  the  local  Governments,  as 
the  least  troublesome  means  of  disposing  of  difficult 
questions.  But  there  was  a  third  and  powerful  party 
— powerful  in  intellect,  more  powerful  still  in  its 
unflinching  honesty  and  candour,  and  its  inalienable 
sense  of  justice  —  and  this  party  prevailed.  The 
result  was  that  the  majority  agreed  to  despatch 
instructions  to  India,  negativing  the  proposals  of 
the  Governor-General.  But  when  the  draft  went  Conflict  be- 
from  LeadenhaU-street  to  Cannon-row,  it  met  with  court  and 
determined  opposition  from  the  Board  of  Control,  ^^®  ^*^^- 
over  which  at  that  time  Sir  John  Hobhouse  pre- 
sided.* It  was  contended  that  the  British  Go- 
vernment were  not  pledged  to  continue  to  Shah 
AUum's  successors  the  privileges  accorded  to  him, 
and  that  the  Court  had  not  proved  that  the  pro- 
posals of  the  Governor-General  were  either  unjust 
or  impolitic.  Then  arose  one  of  those  sharp  con- 
flicts between  the  Court  and  the  Board  which 
in  the  old  days  of  the  Double  Government  some- 
times broke  in  upon  the  monotony  of  their  coun- 
cils. The  Court  rejoined  that  the  proposals  were 
those  of  the  Governor-General  alone,  that  the  con- 
currence of  his  Council  had  not  been  obtained,  that 
the  contemplated  measures  were  ung^enerous  and  un- 
wise,! and  that  it  would  give  grievous  offence  to  the 

» 

*  Mr.  James  Wilflon  and  the  Hon.  dispute.    The  sovereignty  of  Delhi 

John  Eliot  were  then  Secretaries  to  is  a  title  utterly  powerless  for  in- 

the  Board.  jury,  but  respected  by  Mahomedans 

t  '' The  question,*'  they  said,  "is  as  an  ancient  honour  of  their  name, 

not  one  of  supremacy.    The  supre-  and  their  good  feelings  are  conci- 

macy  of  the  British  power  b  beyond  liated  to  the  British  Goyemment  by 

c2 


20  THE  DELHI  HISTOKT. 

1849.  Mahomedan  population  of  the  country.  They  were 
prepared  to  sanction  persuasive  means  to  obtain  the 
evacuation  of  the  Palace,  but  they  most  strongly 
objected  to  compulsion.  The  Board  then  replied  that 
it  was  not  necessary  in  such  a  case  to  obtain  the  con- 
sent of  the  Members  of  Council,  and  that  if  they  had 
felt  any  alarm  as  to  the  results  of  the  proposed  mea- 
sure, they  would  have  communicated  their  apprehen- 
sions to  the  Court  (which,  however,  was  a  mistaken 
impression) — ^that  there  was  no  sort  of  obligation  to 
continue  to  the  successors  of  Shah  Allum  what  Lord 
Wellesley  had  granted  to  him — that  it  was  a  question 
only  of  policy,  and  that  as  to  the  effect  of  the  pro- 
posed measure  on  the  minds  of  the  Mahomedans,  the 
local  ruler  was  a  better  judge  than  the  Directors  at 
home  (and  this,  perhaps,  was  another  mistake) ;  but 
when  the  Indian  minister  added:  "The  chance  of 
danger  to  the  British  Empire  from  the  head  of  the 
House  of  Timour  may  be  infinitely  small ;  but  if  a 
Mahomedan  should  ever  think  that  he  required  such 
a  rallying-point  for  the  purpose  of  infusing  into  those 
of  his  own  faith  spirit  and  bitterness  in  an  attack  on 
Christian  supremacy,  he  would  surely  find  that  a 
Prince  already  endowed  with  the  regal  title,  and  pos- 
sessed of  a  royal  residence,  was  a  more  efficient  in- 
strument in  his  hands  than  one  placed  in  the  less 
conspicuous  position  contemplated  by  Lord  Dal- 
hoUjSie  and  his  advisers,"  he  spoke  wisely  and  pre- 
sciently.     On  receipt  of  this  letter,  the  Court  again 

the  respect  it  shows  for  that  ancient  that  memory  is  regarded  is  altogether 

honour.    The  entire  indifference  of  distinct  from  any  hopes  of  its  renewal, 

the  Princes  and  the  people  of  India  But  it  is  a  feeling  which  it  is  impolitic 

to  the  condition  or  position  of  the  to  wound.    From  mere  hopelessness 

King  is  alleged ;  but  the  Court  can-  of  resistance  it  may  not  immediately 

not  think  it  possible  that  any  people  show  itself,  but  mar  remain  latent 

can  ever  become  indifferent  to  the  till  other  causes  ol  public  danger 

memory  of  its  former    greatness,  may  bring  it  into  action." 
The  traditional  deference  with  which 


I    li^i.b^  ■ 


REMONSTRANCE  OF  THE  COURT.  21 

returned  to  the  conflict,  urging  that  they  felt  so  1849. 
deeply  the  importance  of  the  subject  that  they  could 
not  refrain  from  making  a  further  appeal  to  the 
Board.  They  combated  what  had  been  said  about 
the  implied  concurrence  of  the  Council,  and  the  argu- 
ment against  the  claims  of  the  Delhi  Family  based 
upon  the  action  of  Lord  Wellesley,  and  then  they 
proceeded  to  speak  again  of  the  feelings  of  the  Maho- 
medan  population.  "The  amount  of  disaffection," 
they  said,  "  in  the  Mahomedan  population,  which  the 
particular  measure,  if  carried  into  effect,  may  pro- 
duce, is  a  matter  of  opinion  on  which  the  means  do 
not  exist  of  pronouncing  confidently.  The  evil  ma/ 
prove  less  than  the  Court  apprehend,  or  it  may  be  far 
greater  than  they  would  venture  to  predict.  But  of 
this  they  are  convinced,  that  even  on  the  most 
favourable  supposition,  the  measure  would  be  con- 
sidered throughout  India  as  evidence  of  the  com- 
mencement of  a  great  change  in  our  policy."  "  The 
Court,"  it  was  added,  "  cannot  contemplate  without 
serious  uneasiness  the  consequences  which  may  arise 
from  such  an  impression,  should  it  go  forth  generally 
throughout  India — ^firmly  believing  that  such  an  act 
would  produce  a  distrust  which  many  years  of  an 
opposite  policy  would  be  insufficient  to  remove." 
Then,  having  again  entreated  most  earnestly  the 
Board's  reconsideration  of  their  decision,  they  con- 
cluded by  saying,  that  if  they  failed,  they  would 
"  stiU  have  discharged  their  duty  to  themselves,  by 
disclaiming  all  responsibility  for  a  measure  which 
they  regarded  as  unjust  towards  the  individual 
fiEimily,  gratuitously  offensive  to  an  important  portion 
of  our  Indian  subjects,  and  calculated  to  produce  an 
effect  on  the  reputation  and  influence  of  the  British 
Government  both  in  India  and  elsewhere,  such  as 


22  THE  DELHI  HISTOBY. 

1849.       they  would  deeply  deplore."    But  the  last  appeal  fell 
on  stony  ground.     The  Board  were  obdurate.     They 
deplored  the  difference  of  opinion,  accepted  the  dis- 
December  31,  claimer,  and,  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  directed, 
^^-  "  according  to  the  powers  vested  in  them  by  the  law," 

a  despatch  to  be  sent  to  India  in  the  form  settled  by 
the  Board.  So  instruction»^were  sent  out  to  India, 
signed  ministerially  by  certain  members  of  the  Court, 
totally  opposed  to  what,  as  a  body,  they  believed  to 
be  consistent  with  policy  and  justice. 
of"tbc*^  On  full  consideration  of  this  correspondence,  con- 

argument,  ducted  as  it  was,  on  both  sides,  with  no  common 
ability,  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  conviction  that  both 
were  right  and  both  were  wrong— right  in  what  they 
asserted,  wrong  in  what  they  denied.  It  was,  in 
truth,  but  a  choice  of  evils  that  lay  before  the  double 
Government ;  but  each  half  of  it  erred  in  denying  the 
existence  of  the  dangers  asserted  by  the  other.  Much, 
of  course,  on  both  sides  was  conjecture  or  speculation, 
to  be  tested  by  the  great  touchstone  of  the  Future ; 
and  it  depended  on  the  more  rapid  or  the  more  tardy 
ripening  of  events  on  the  one  side  or  the  other  to 
demonstrate  the  greater  sagacity  of  the  Court  or  the 
Board.  If  there  should  be  no  popular  excitement 
before  the  death  of  Behaudur  Shah,  to  make  the  King 
of  Delhi,  in  his  great  palatial  stronghold,  a  rallying- 
point  for  a  disaffected  people,  that  event,  followed  by 
the  abolition  of  the  title  and  the  removal  of  the 
Family  from  the  Palace,  might  prove  the  soundness 
of  the  Court's  arguments,  by  evoking  a  Mahomedan 
outbreak ;  but,  if  there  should  be  a  Mahomedan,  or 
any  other  popular  outbreak,  during  the  lifetime  of 
Behaudur  Shah,  it  might  be  shown,  by  the  alacrity 
of  the  people  to  rally  round  the  old  imperial  throne, 
and  to  proclaim  again  the  sovereignty  of  the  House 


DOUBTS  OF  LOfiD  DALHOUSIE.  23 

of  Timour,  that  the  apprehensions  of  the  Board  had  1849. 
not  been  misplaced,  and  that  the  danger  on  which 
they  had  enlarged  was  a  real  one.  There  was  equal 
force  at  the  time  in  the  arguments  of  both,  but  there 
was  that  in  the  womb  of  the  Future  which  was 
destined  to  give  the  victory  to  the  Board. 

Lord  Dalhousie  received  the  instructions  bearing  i^^^- 
the  official  signatures  of  the  Court  in  the  early  spring  ^f^|* 
of  1850  ;*  but  he  had  before  learnt  in  what  a  hot- 
bed of  contention  the  despatch  was  being  reared,  and 
when  it  came,  he  wisely  hesitated  to  act  upon  its 
contents.  It  is  to  his  honour  that,  on  full  considera- 
tion, he  deferred  to  the  opinions  expressed  by  the 
majority  of  the  Court,  and  by  others  not  in  the  Court, 
whose  opinions  were  entitled  to  equal  respect.  "  The 
Honourable  Court,"  he  said,  "  have  conveyed  to  the 
Governor-General  in  Council  full  authority  to  carry 
these  measures  into  effect.  But  I  have,  for  some 
time  past,  been  made  aware  through  different  chan- 
nels, that  the  measures  I  have  thus  proposed  regard- 

*  Some  powerful  protests  were  on  the  British  name."    "  I  have  the 

recorded  bj  members  of  the  Court  hikbest  respect/'  he  said,  "  for  the 

— amon^  others  by  Mr.  Tucker,  then  talents,  the  great  acquirements,  and 

nearly  eighty  jears  of  age..    In  this  this  public  spirit  of  Lord  Dalhousie ; 

Eaper  he  said :  "  That  they  (the  Delhi  but  I  must  think  that  an  individual, 
LDiilT)  can  be  induced  voluntarily  to  who  has  only  communicated  with  the 
abanaoB  their  palace,  I  cannot,  for  people  of  India  through  an  inter- 
one  moment,  believe.  The  attachment  preter,  cannot  have  acquired  a  very 
of  the  natives  generally  to  the  seats  mtimate  knowledge  of  the  character, 
of  their  ancestors,  however  humble,  habits,  feelings,  and  prejudices  of  the 
is  well  known  to  all  those  who  know  people."  The  veteran  airector  erred, 
anything  of  the  people  of  India;  however,  in  making  light  of  the 
but  in  this  case  there  are  peculiar  stren^thj^of  Delhi  as  a  fortified  city, 
circumstances,  the  cherished  associsi- '  "  It  is  not,"  he  said,  "  a  fortress  of 
tions  of  glory,  the  memory  of  past  any  strength It  has  been  re- 
grandeur,  which  must  render  the  peatedly  entered  and  sacked  b;f  un- 
Palace  of  Delhi  the  object  of  attach-  disciplined  hordes."  "  There  is,  in 
ment  and  voneration  to  the  fallen  fact,    he  continued, ''  no  ground  for 

family If  the  object  is  to  be  assuming  that  Delhi  can  become  a 

accomplished,  it  mu^t  be   by  the  military  post  of  importance,  espe- 

exertion  of  military  force,  or  intimi-  cially  now  that  we  have  advanced 

dation  disgraceful  to  any  Govern-  our  frontier  to  the  banks  of  the 

ment^  and  calculated  to  bring  odium  Indus." 


24  THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 

1850.  ing  the  throne  of  Delhi,  have  not  met  with  the  con- 
currence of  authorities  in  England  whose  long  ex- 
perience and  knowledge  of  Indian  affairs  entitle 
their  opinions  to  great  weight,  and  that  many  there 
regard  the  tendency  of  these  proposed  measures  with 
anxiety,  if  not  with  alarm."  He  added  that,  with 
unfeigned  deference  to  the  opinions  thus  expressed, 
he  still  held  the  same  views  as  before ;  but  that, 
although  his  convictions  remained  as  strong  as  ever, 
he  did  not  consider  the  measures  themselves  to  be  of 
such  immediate  urgency  as  to  justify  his  carrying 
them  into  effect,  "contrary  to  declared  opinions  of 
undoubted  weight  and  authority,  or  in  a  manner  cal- 
culated to  create  uneasiness  and  doubt."  He  was 
willing,  therefore,  to  suspend  action,  and,  in  the  mean 
while,  to  invite  the  opinions  of  his  Council,  which 
had  not  been  before  recorded. 
Palace  ^  Whilst  the  main  questions  thus   indicated  were 

under  consideration,  another  difficulty  of  a  personal 
character  arose.  The  King  protested  against  the 
succession  of  Fakir-ood-deen.  Stimulated  by  his 
favourite  wife,  Zeenut-Mehal,  he  pleaded  earnestly 
for  her  son,  then  a  boy  of  eleven.  One  objection 
which  he  raised  to  the  succession  of  his  eldest  sur- 
viving son  was  a  curious  one.  He  said  that  it  was  a 
tradition  of  his  House,  since  the  time  of  Timour,  that 
no  one  was  to  sit  on  the  throne  who  had  been  in  any 
way  mutilated ;  Fakir-ood-deen  had  been  circumcised, 
and,  therefore,  he  was  disqualified,*  The  objection  was 

*  The  statement  was  an  exag-  mv  learned  friend,  Moulavee  Sjnd 
gerated  one — as  all  the  Mo&^l  Em-  Ahmed,  C.S.I.,  the  rite  was  disoon- 
perors,  up  to  the  time  of  Hooma-  tinned,  generally,  in  the  family.  But 
yoon,  wertf  circumcised.  After  the  for  certain  physical  reasons,  an  ex- 
accession  of  this  prince,  for  reasons  ception  was  made,  with  respect  to 
given  in  a  very  interesting  note,  at  Fakir-ood-deen,  and  Zenut-Mehal 
tne  end  of  the  volume,  furnished  by  seized  upon  the  pretext. 


intrigues. 


VIEWS  OF  THE  SUPREME^  COUNCIL.  25 

urged  with  much  vehemence,  and,  it  was  added,  that  1.1850. 
Fakir-ood-deen  was  a  man  of  bad  character.  The 
immediate  eflfect  of  these  representations  was  that 
Lord  Dalhousie  determined  for  a  while  to  suspend" 
official  action  with  respect  to  the  question  of  succes- 
sion, and  to  see  what  circumstances  might  develop  in 
his  favour. 

In  the  mean  time  he  invited  the  opinions  of  his  Opmions  of 
colleagues  in  the  Supreme  Council.  It  consisted,  at 
that  time,  of  Sir  Frederick  Currie,  Sir  John  Littler, 
an  old  Company's  officer  of  good  repute,  and  Mr. 
John  Lowis,  a  Bengal  civilian,  blameless  in  all  offi- 
cial and  personal  relations,  one  of  the  lights  of  the 
Service,  steady  but  not  brilliant.  The  first  shrewdly 
observed  that  we  might  leave  the  choice  of  a  suc- 
cessor until  the  King's  death,  which  could  not  be 
very  remote,  and  that  we  might  then  easily  make 
terms  with,  or  impose  conditions  upon,  the  accepted 
candidate,  for  the  evacuation  of  the  Palace.  The 
General  looked  doubtfully  at  the  whole  proposal.  He 
believed  that  the  Mahomedan  population  of  India 
still  regarded  with  reverence  the  old  Mogul  Family, 
and  would  be  incensed  by  its  humiliation.  He  coun- 
selled, therefore,  caution  and  delay,  and  in  the  end 
persuasion,  not  compulsion.  But  John  Lowis  laughed 
aU  this  to  scorn.  He  did  not  believe  that  the  Maho- 
medans  of  India  cared  anything  about  Delhi,  or  any- 
thing about  the  King ;  and  if  they  did  care,  that,  he 
said,  was  an  additional  reason  why  the  title  should  be 
abolished,  and  the  Palace  vacated,  with  the  least  pos- 
sible delay.* 

*  "  But,  if  tbese  fean  are  not  the  Mahomedans  (no  doubt  the  most 
groundless,  surely  they  afford  a  posi-  restless  and  discontented  of  our  sub- 
tile reason  for  taking  the  proposed  jects)  have  continued  to  look  upon 
step,  because  the  result  anticipated, ,  the  representatives  of  the  House  of 
as  it  appears  to  me,  can  arise  only  if  Timour  as  their  natural  head,  and  to 


26 


THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 


[  1860. 


A^eement 
"With  the    • 
Heir- 
Apparent. 


The  result  of  these  deliberations  was  that  a  de- 
spatch was  sent  to  England,  recommending  that 
affairs  should  remain  unchanged  during  the  lifetime 
of  the  present  King — that  the  Prince  Fakir-ood-deen 
should  be  acknowledged  as  successor  to  the  royal 
title,  but  that  advantage  should  be  taken  of  the  pre- 
tensions of  a  rival  claimant  to  the  tittilar  dignity,  to 
obtain  the  desired  concessions  from  the  acknowledged 
Head  of  the  Family — that  inducements  should  be 
held  out  to  him  to  leave  the  Palace  and  to  reside  in 
the  Eootab,  and  that,  if  necessary,  this  advantage 
should  be  purchased  by  the  grant  of  an  additional 
stipend. 

To  all  the  recommendations  of  the  Governor- 
General — so  far  as  they  concern  this  history — ^the 
Home  Government  yielded  their  consent.  Permis- 
sion was  then  granted  to  the  Delhi  Agent  to  make 
known  to  Prince  Fakir-ood-deen,  at  a  confidential 
interview,  what  were  the  intentions  and  wishes  of  the 
British  Government.  A  meeting,  therefore,  took 
place  between  the  Prince  and  Sir  Thomas  Metcalfe ; 
and  the  former  expressed  himself,  according  to  official 
reports,  prepared  to  accede  to  the  wishes  of  the 
Government,  "  if  invested  with  the  title  of  King,  and 
permitted  to  assume  the  externals  of  royalty."  An 
agreement  was  then  drawn  up,  signed,  sealed,  and 
witnessed,  and  the  work  was  done.  It  was,  doubtless, 
pleasant  to  the  authorities  to  think  that  the  heir  had 
acceded  willingly  to  all  the  demands  made  upon  him. 
But  the  fact  is  that  he  consented  to  them  with  intense 
disgust,  and  that  throughout  the  Palace  there  were 
great  consternation  and  excitement,  and  that  no  one 

count  upon  the  Palace  of  Ddhi  as  a  favourable  oppoitimity,  to  remove 

rallving  point  in  the  event  of  any  the  head,  ana  to  put  the  projected 

ontoreak  amongst  them.  If  it  be  so,  rallying  point  into  safe  hands, 
it  is  siirdj  sound  policy,  on  the  first 


D£ATH  OF  THE  HSDt  27 

was  more  vexed  than  the  mother  of  the  rival  claimant^      1850. 
Queen  Zeenut-Mehal. 

I  must  pass  hastily  over  the  next  two  or  three  1856. 
years,  during  which  the  animosities  of  the  Queen  i>eath  of 
Zeenut-Mehal,  and  of  her  son,  Jewan  Bakht,  con-  deen. 
tinned  to  fester  under  the  irritations  of  a  great  disap- 
pointment. And  ere  long  they  were  aggravated  by 
the  thought  of  a  new  grievance;  for  the  King  had 
endeavoured  in  vain  to  induce  the  British  Govern- 
ment to  pledge  itself  to  make  to  his  favourites,  after 
his  death,  the  same  payments  as  he  had  settled  upon 
them  during  his  life.  The  intrigues  which,  if  suc- 
cessful, would  have  secured  to  them  so  much  at  the  ex- 
pense of  others,  altogether  failed.  But  the  King  lived 
on — lived  to  survive  the  heir  whose  succession  was  so 
distasteful  to  him.  On  the  10th  of  July,  1856,  Prince 
Fakir-ood-deen  suddenly  died.  It  was  more  than 
suspected  that  he  had  been  poisoned.  He  was  seized 
with  deadly  sickness  and  vomiting,  after  partaking 
of  a  dish  of  curry.  Extreme  prostration  and  debility 
ensued,  and  although  the  King's  physician,  Ahsan- 
oollah,  was  called  in,  he  could  or  would  do  nothing 
to  restore  the  dying  Prince ;  and  in  a  little  time  there 
were  lamentations  in  the  Heir-Apparent's  house,  and 
tidings  were  conveyed  to  the  Palace  that  Fakir-ood- 
deen  was  dead.* 

How  that  night  was  spent  in  the  apartments  of 

*  The  Palace  Diary  of  the  day  administered  a  clyster,  which,  how- 

sa^s :    "  Having  felt  hungry,   the  ever,  did  no  good.    At  six  o'clock, 

Prince  imagined  that  an  empty  sto-  the  Heir- Apparent  was  in  a  moribond 

madi  promoted  bile,  and  partook  of  state,  and  immediately  after  the.noise 

some  oread  with  oorry  gravy,  when  of  lamentation  was  heard  in  the  direc- 

immediately  the  vomitings  increased,  tion  of  the  Heir-Apparent's   resi- 

which  produced  great  debility.  Every  dence,  and  news  was  brougjht  to  the 

remedy  to  affonl  relief  proved  in-  Palace  of  H.IC.H.'s  demise.    Uis 

effectual,  and  H.R.H.  rapidlysunk.  Majesty  expressed  his  sorrow.    The 

MeerzaElaheeBuksh  sent  for  Hakim  Newab  Zeennt-Mehal  Begom  oon- 

Aasan-oolah  to  prescribe.  The  Hakim  doled  with  his  Majesty." 


28  THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 

3856.      Queen    Zeenut-Mehal    can    only    be    conjectured. 
Judged  by  its  results,  it  must  have  been  a  night  of 
stirring  intrigue  and  excited  activity.     For  when,  on 
the  following  day,  Sir  Thomas  Metcalfe  waited  on  the 
King,  his  Majesty  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Agent  a 
paper  containing  a  renewed  expression  of  his  desire 
to  see  the  succession  of  Jewan  Bakht  recognised  by 
the  British  Government.     Enclosed  was  a  document 
purporting  to  convey  a  request  from  others  of  the 
King's  sons,   that  the  offspring   of   Zeenut-Mehal, 
being  endowed  with  "  wisdom,  merit,  learning,  and 
good  manners,"  should  take  the  place  of  the  Heir- 
Apparent.     Eight  of  the  royal  princes  attached  their 
seals  to  this  address.    But  the  eldest  of  the  survivors 
— Meerza  Eorash  by  name — ^next  day  presented  a 
•       memorial  of  his  own,  in  which  he  set  forth  that  his 
brethren  had  been  induced  to  sign  the  paper  by  pro- 
mises of  increased  money-allowances  from  the  King, 
if  they  consented,  and  deprivation  of  income  if  they 
refused.    An  effort  also  was  made  to  bribe  Meerza 
Korash  into  acquiescence.     He  professed  all  filial 
loyalty  to  the  King;   declared  his  willingness  to 
accede,  as  Heir- Apparent,  to  such  terms  as  the  King 
might  suggest;  but  when  he  found  that  his  father, 
instigated  by  the  Queen  Zeenut-Mehal,  was  bent  on 
setting  him  aside  altogether,  he  felt  that  there  was 
nothing  left  for  him  but  an  appeal  to  the  British 
Government.     "As  in  this  view,"  he  wrote  to  the 
British  Agent,  "  my  ruin  and  birthright  are  involved, 
I  deem  it  proper  to  represent  my  case,  hoping  that  in 
your  report  due  regard  will  be  had  to  all  the  above 
circumstances.     Besides  being  senior,  I  have  accom- 
plished  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  and  have  learned  by 
heart  the  Koran ;  and  my  further  attunments  can  be 
tested  in  an  interview." 


LOBD  CANNING  AND  TH£  D£LHI  SUCCESSION.  29 

By  this  time  Lord  Canning  had  succeeded  to  the      1856. 
Govemor-Generabhip,  and  a  new  Council  sate  beside  Views  of 
him.     The  whole  question  of  the  Delhi  succession,  "^^ 
therefore,  was  considered  and  debated  by  men  unin- 
fluenced by  any  foregone  expressions  of  opinion.     In 
truth,   the  question  was  not  a  difficult  one.     The 
course  which  Lord  Dalhousie  meant  to  pursue  was 
apparently  the  wisest  course ;  although  he  had  erred 
in  believing  that  the  Mahomedans  of  Upper  India 
had  no  lingering  affection  for  the  sovereignty  of  the 
House  of  Delhi ;  and  not  less  in  supposing  that  the 
removal  of  the  King  and  the  Royal  Family  from  the 
Palace  in  the  city  would  not  be  painful  and  humi- 
liating to  them.     But,  with  laudable  forbearance,  he 
had  yielded  to  the  opinions  of  others,  even  with  the 
commission  in  his  hands  to  execute  his  original  de- 
signs.   Lord  Canning,  therefore,  found  the  Delhi 
question  unsettled  and  undetermined  in  many  of  the 
most  essential  points.     Bringing  a  new  eye  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  great  danger  and  the  great  abo- 
mination of  the  Delhi  Palace,  he  saw  both,  perhaps, 
even  in  krger  dimensions  than  they  had  presented  to 
the  eye  of  his  predecessor.     He  did  not,  therefore, 
hesitate  to  adopt  as  his  own  the  views  which  Lord 
Dalhousie  had  recorded  with  respect  to  the  removal 
of  the  Family  on  the  death  of  Behaudur  Shah.     "  It 
is  as  desirable  as  ever,"  he  wrote,  "  that  the  Palace  of 
Delhi — which  is,  in  fact,  the  citadel  of  a  large  fortified 
town,  and  urgently  required  for  military  purposes — 
should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  of  the 
country,  and  that  the  pernicious  privilege  of  exemp- 
tion from  the  law,  which  is  conceded  to  the  Crown 
connexions  and  dependants  of  the  King  now  congre- 
gated there,  should,  in  the  interests  of  morality  and 
good  government,  cease*''    It  was  scarcely  possible. 


30  THE  DELHI  HlflTORY. 

1856.  indeed,  that  much  diflference  of  opinion  could  obtain 
among  statesmen  with  respect  to  the  political  and 
military  expediency  of  placing  this  great  fortified 
building,  which  dominated  the  city  of  Delhi,  in  the 
secure  possession  of  British  troops ;  nor  could  there 
be  any  doubt  in  the  mind  of  a  Christian  man  that, 
in  the  interests  of  humanity,  we  were  bound  to  pull 
down  all  those  screens  and  fences  which  had  so  long 
shut  out  the  abominations  of  the  Palace  from  the 
light  of  day,  and  excluded  from  its  murky  recesses 
the  saving  processes  of  the  law. 

But  the  extinction  of  the  titular  sovereignty  was 
still  an  open  question.  Lord  Canning  had  spent  only 
a  few  months  in  India,  and  those  few  months  had 
been  passed  in  Calcutta.  He  had  no  personal  know- 
ledge of  the  feelings  of  the  princes  or  people  of 
Upper  India;  but  he  read  in  the  minutes  of  pre- 
ceding members  of  the  Government  that  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  House  of  Timour  had  become  faint  in 
men's  minds,  if  they  had  not  been  wholly  effaced; 
and  he  argued  that  if  there  was  force  in  this  when 
written,  there  must  be  greater  force  after  a  lapse  of 
years,  as  there  was  an  inevitable  tendency  in  time  to 
obliterate  such  memories.  "  The  reasons,"  he  said, 
"which  induced  a  change  of  purpose  in  1850  are  not 
fuUy  on  record;*  but  whatever  they  may  have  been, 
the  course  of  time  has  assuredly  strengthened  the 
arguments  by  which  the  first  intentions  were  sup- 
ported, and  possibly  has  removed  the  objection  to  it." 
He  further  argued  that  as  much  had  already  been 
done  to  strip  the  mock  majesty  of  Delhi  of  the 
purple  and  gold  with  which  it  had  once  been  be- 

*  That  is^  not  on  record  in  India,  not  know  that  the  "  Court's  de- 
Tlie  reasons  are  fully  stated  above :  spatch"  was  reaUj  not  their  despatch 
but  Lord  Canning  apparently  did    al  all. 


LORD  CANNING  ON  THE  DELHI  SUCCESSION.  31 

dizened — that  as  first  one  privilege  and  then  another,  1866. 
which  had  pampered  the  pride  of  the  descendants  of 
TimouP,  had  been  torn  from  them,  there  could  be 
little  difficulty  in  putting  the  finishing  stroke  to  the 
work  by  abolishing  the  kingly  title  on  the  death  of 
Behaudur  Shah.  "  The  presents,"  he  said,  "  which 
were  at  one  time  offered  to  the  King  by  the  Governor- 
General  and  Commander-in-Chief  have  been  discon- 
tinued. The  privilege  of  a  coinage  carrying  his  mark 
is  now  denied  to  him.  The  Governor-General's  seal 
no  longer  bears  a  device  of  vassalage ;  and  even  the 
Native  chiefs  have  been  prohibited  from  using  one. 
It  has  been  determined  that  these  appearances  of 
subordination  and  dependence  could  not  be  kept  up 
consistently  with  a  due  respect  for  the  real  and  soUd 
power  of  the  British  Government,  and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  the  title  of  King  of  Delhi,  with  the  fiction 
of  paramount  sovereignty  which  attaches  to  it  .  .  . 
To  recognise  the  title  of  King,  and  a  claim  to  the 
external  marks  of  royalty  in  a  new  person,  would  be 
an  act  purely  voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  India,  and  quite  uncalled  for.  Moreover,  it 
would  not  be  accepted  as  a  grace  or  favour  by  any 
but  the  individual  himself.  But,"  added  the  Go- 
vernor-General, "  whatever  be  the  degree  of  rank  in- 
herited, the  heir  whom  in  right  and  consistency  the 
Government  must  recognise,  is  the  eldest  surviving 
son  of  the  King,  Prince  Mirza  Mahomed  Korash,  who 
has  no  claims  from  early  reminiscences  to  see  the 
unreal  dignity  of  his  House  sustained  for  another 
generation  in  his  own  person." 

The  policy  to  be  observed  having  thus  been  deter- 
mined, the  Governor-General,  with  the  full  concur- 
rence of  his  Council,  proceeded  to  issue  definite  in- 


B2  THE  DELHI  HISTORT. 

1856.     structions  for  the  guidance  of  his  Agent.    The  sub- 
stance of  them  is  thus  stated : 

"1.  Should  it  be  necessary  to  send  a  reply  to  the 
King's  letter,  the  Agent  must  inform  his  Majesty  that 
the  Governor-General  cannot  sanction  the  recognition 
of  Mirza  Jewan  Bakht  as  successor. 

"2.  Mirza  Mahomed  Korash  must  not  be  led  to 
expect  that  his  recognition  will  take  place  on  the 
same  terms  as  Fakir-ood-deen's,  and  that  during 
the  King's  lifetime  no  communication  is  to  be  made, 
either  to  his  Majesty,  or  to  any  other  member  of  the 
family,  touching  the  succession. 

"  3.  On  the  King's  demise.  Prince  Mirza  Mahomed 
Korash  should  be  informed  that  Government  recog- 
nise him  as  the  head  of  the  family  upon  the  same 
conditions  as  those  accorded  to  Prince  Mirza  Fakir- 
ood-deen,  excepting  that,  instead  of  the  title  of  King, 
he  should  be  designated  and  have  the  title  of  Shah- 
zada,  and  that  this  communication  should  be  made 
to  him  not  in  the  way  of  writing,  negotiation,  or 
bargaining,  which  it  is  not  the  intention  of  the 
Governor-General  in  Council  to  admit,  but  as  the 
declaration  of  the  mature  and  fixed  determination 
of  the  Government  of  India. 

"4.  A  report  to  be  made  of  the  number  of  the 
privileged  residents  in  the  Palace ;  to  how  many  the 
privilege  would  extend,  if  the  sons  and  grandsons, 
but  no  more  distant  relatives  of  any  former  King 
were  admitted  to  it. 

"  5.  The  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  rupees  per  men- 
sem from  the  family  stipend  to  be  fixed  as  the  future 
assignment  of  the  heir  of  the  family." 


&^ft!*'  ®^       Such,  as  represented  by  official  documents — such 

Mehal. 


PALACE  INTRIGUES.  33 

as  they  were  then  known  to  Lord  Canning — ^were  the  1866. 
state  and  prospects  of  the  Delhi  Family  at  the  close 
of  the  year  1856.  But  there  was  something  besides 
reserved  for  later  revelation  to  the  English  ruler, 
which  may  be  recorded  in  this  place.  The  King, 
stricken  in  years,  would  have  been  well  content  to 
end  his  days  in  quietude  and  peace.  But  the  restless 
intriguing  spirit  of  the  Queen  Zeenut-Mehal  would 
not  suffer  the  aged  monarch  to  drowse  out  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days.  She  never  ceased  to  cling  to 
the  hope  that  she  might  still  live  to  see  the  recogni- 
tion of  her  son  as  Bang  of  Delhi,  and  she  never 
ceased  to  intrigue,  at  home  and  abroad,  by  the  light 
of  that  pole-star  of  her  ambition.  One  impediment 
had  been  removed  by  death.  Another  might  be  re- 
moved in  the  same  way.  And  if  the  British  Govern- 
ment would  not  favour  the  claims  of  Jewan  Bakht, 
other  powerful  Governments  might  be  induced  to 
hold  out  to  him  a  helping  hand.  It  was  stated  after- 
wards that  the  King  had  never  resented  the  determi- 
nation to  exclude  the  Delhi  Family  from  the  Palace, 
as  the  exclusion  would  not  affect  himself,  and  he  had 
no  care  for  the  interests  of  his  successor.*  But  it  has 
been  shown  that  Queen  Zeenut-Mehal  was  loud  in 
her  lamentations  when  it  was  known  that  Fakir-ood- 
deen  had  surrendered  this  ancient  privilege;  for 
although  she  hated  the  recognised  heir,  she  knew 
that  he  was  not  immortal ;  and  changes  of  Govern- 
ment, moreover,  might  beget  changes  of  opinion. 
There  was  still  hope  of  the  succession  of  Jewan  Bakht 
so  long  as  the  old  King  lived ;  and  therefore  she  de- 
sired to  maintain  all  the  privileges  of  the  Kingship 
unimpaired  to  the  last  possible  moment  of  doubt  and 
expectancy. 


0 


Evidence  of  Assan-oolalii  on  the  trial  of  the  King  of  Delhi. 


VOL.  II.  r> 


34  THE  DELHI  HISTOET. 

1857.  Meanwhile,  the  youth  in  whom  all  these  hopes 

centred,  was  growing  up  with  a  bitter  hatred  of  the 
English  in  his  heart.  The  wisdom,  the  learning,  the 
good  manners  of  the  Heir-expectant  were  evinced  by 
the  pertinacity  with  which  he  was  continually  spit- 
ting his  venom  at  the  English.  He  did  not  hesitate 
to  say,  even  in  th6  presence  of  British  subjects,  that 
"  in  a  short  time  he  would  have  all  the  English  under 
his  feet."*  But  his  courage  was  not  equql  to  his  bit- 
temess ;  for  if  he  were  asked  what  he  meant  by  suet 
language,  he  would  answer  that  he  meant  nothing. 
He  was  "  only  in  sport."  He  had  been  for  years  past 
imbibing  this  venom  in  the  Zenana,  under  the  trai- 
torous tuition  of  his  mother,  and  he  was  ever  anxious 
to  spit  it  out,  especially  in  the  presence  of  women. 

To  what  extent  the  intrigues  thus  matured  in  the 
Queen's  apartments  may,  by  the  help  of  her  agents, 
have  been  made  to  ramify  beyond  the  Palace  walls,  it 
is  not  easy  to  conjecture.  There  is  no  proof  that  in 
or  about  Delhi  the  question  of  succession  was  re- 
garded with  any  interest  by  the  people.  It  little 
mattered  to  them  whether  one  Prince  or  another 
were  recognised  as  the  head  of  the  Family  and  the 
recipient  of  the  lion's  share  of  the  pension.  If  at- 
tempts were  made  to  excite  the  popular  feeling  to 

*  See  the  evidence  of  Mrs.  Flem-  English  under  his  feet,  and  after  that 

ing,  an  !£!nglish  sergeant's  wife,  who  he  will  kill  the  Hindus/    Hearing 

thus  recites  an  incident  which  oc-  this  I  turned  round  to  Jawan  Bakiit, 

curred  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  paid  and  asked  him,  '  What  is  that  you 

by  her  to  the  Queen  Zeenut-Mehal :  are  saving  P'  He  replied  that  he  was 

"  I  was  sitting  down  with  his  sister-  only  joking.     I  said  if  wliat  you 

in-law,  and  Jawan  Bakht  was  stand-  threaten  were  to  be  the  case,  your 

ing  by  with  his  wife.     My  own  head  would  be  taken  off  first.    He 

daughter,  Mrs.  Scully,  was  also  pre-  told   me   that  the  Persians  were 

sent.     I  was  tsdking  with  Jawan  coming  to  Delhi,  and  that  when  they 

Bakht's   sister-in-law,  when   Mrs.  did  so,  we,  tbat  is,  myself  and  daugh- 

Scully  said  to  me,  '  Mother,  do  you  ter,  should  go  to  him,  and  he  would 

hear  what  this  joung  rascal  is  say-  save  us.    After  this  he  left  us.    I 

ing  P   He  is  tellmg  me  that  in  a  short  think  this  must  have  occurred  about 

time  he  will  have  all  the  infidel  the  middle  of  April,  1857  " 


EIGITE&IENT  IN  DELHI.  35 

manifest  itself  on  the  side  of  Jewan  Bakht,  they  were  1867. 
clearly  a  failure.  But  there  is  at  least  some  reason 
to  think  that  the  emissaries  of  the  Palace  had  been 
assiduous  in  their  efforts  to  stir  into  a  blaze  the 
smouldering  fires  of  Mahomedan  zeal,  and  to  excite 
vague  hopes  of  some  great  Avatar  from  the  North- 
West,  which  would  restore  the  fallen  fortunes  of  the 
House  of  Delhi,  and  give  again  to  the  Mahomedans 
of  India  the  wealth  and  honour  of  which  they  had 
been  deprived  by  the  usurpation  of  the  English. 

So  it  happened  that  as  the  new  year  advanced  State  of  fe«l. 
there  was  unwonted  excitement  among  the  Mahome- 
dans of  Delhi.  The  Native  newspapers  teemed  with 
vague  hints  of  a  something  coming  that  was  to  pro- 
duce  great  changes,  resulting  in  the  subversion  of  the 
power  of  the  English.  Exaggerated  stories  of  the 
Persian  war,  and  most  mendacious  statements  of  re- 
verses  sustained  by  the  English,  were  freely  circulated 
and  volubly  discussed.  At  one  time  it  was  said  that 
the  Persians  had  come  down  to  Attock,  and  at  another 
that  they  were  in  full  march  through  the  Bolan  Pass. 
Then  it  was  alleged  that  the  real  history  of  the  war 
was,  that  the  Shah  of  Persia  had  for  five  generations 
been  accumulating  munitions  of  war  and  heaping  up 
t^asure  for  the  ^p„^  <rf  oonqnering  InI,U 
that  the  time  had  now  come  for  action.  Russia,  it 
was  said,  had  placed  its  immense  resources  freely  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Shah.  A  thoroughly  appointed 
army  of  nearly  half  a  million  of  men,  with  immense 
supplies  of  military  stores,  had  been  sent  to  the  aid  of 
Persia ;  and  if  the  regular  military  forces  of  the  Czar 
were  not  sufficient,  a  large  contingent  of  Russian 
police  would  be  sent  to  reinforce  them.  There  were 
eager  speculations,  too,  as  to  the  course  that  would  be 
adopted  by  the  French  and  the  Ottoman  Govem- 

d2 


36  THE  DELHI  HISTORT. 

1857.  ments.  "  Most  people,"  it  was  declared  in  a  Native 
newspaper,  rejoicing  in  the  name  of  the  **  Authentic 
News,"  "  say  that  the  King  of  France  and  the  Emperor 
of  Turkey  will  both  side  with  the  Persians."  Aid  it 
was  added  that  the  Russians  were  the  real  cause  of 
the  war ;  for,  "  using  the  Persians  as  a  cloak,  they 
intend  to  consummate  their  own  designs  by  the  con- 
quest of  Hindostan."  Other  writers  affirmed  that 
although  Dost  Mahomed,  Ameer  of  Caubul,  pre- 
tended to  be  the  friend  of  the  English,  and  took  their 
money  and  their  arms,  he  was  prepared  to  turn  both 
against  the  infidels  and  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  Persia. 
Alike  in  the  Bazaars  and  in  the  Lines — ^in  the  shops 
of  the  money-changers  and  in  the  vestibules  of  the 
Palace — these  stories  excited  vague  sensations  of 
wonder  and  of  awe,  which  were  strengthened  by  the 
circulation  of  the  prophecy,  which  took  diflFerent 
shapes,  but  pointed  in  all  to  the  same  result,  that 
when  the  English  had  ruled  in  India  for  a  hundred 
years  they  would  be  driven  out,  and  a  Native  dynasty 
restored.* 

*  See  the  following,  written  by  a  foreign  nation  would  rule  in  India 

Sir  James  Ontram  in  January,  1858 :  a  hundred  years,  after  which  the  true 

"  What   amazing    statements   and  belieyers  would  regain  their  ascend- 

opinions  one  hears  both  in  India  ancy.    When  the  century  elapsed, 

and  in  England.   What  can  be  more  the  Mussulmans  did  their  best  to 

ridiculous  than  the  cry  that  the  re-  establish  the  truth  of  their  prophet's 

beUion  was  caused  by  the  annexa*  declaration,  and  induced  the  mndoo 

tion  of  Oude,  or  that  it  was  solely  a  Sepoys,  ever,  as  you  know,  the  most 

military  mutiny  ?"    [This,  it  should  credulous  and  silly  of  mankind,  to 

be  observed,  is  addressed  to  Mr.  raise  the  green  standard,  and  for- 

Mangles.]    "  Our  soldiers  have  de-  swear  their  allegiance,  on  the  ground 

serted  their  standards  and  fought  that  we  had  determined  to  make  the 

against  us,  but   rebellion  did  not  whole  of  India  involuntary  converts 

orig[inate  with  the  Sepoys.    The  re-  to  Christianity."    As  to  the  text  of 

bellion  was  set  on  foot  by  the  Maho-  the  prediction,  a  native  newspaper, 

medans,  and  that  long  before  we  citing  it  as  the  prophecy  of  the 

rescued  Oude  from  her  oppressors.  "  revered  saint  Shan  Mamat-oollah,'* 

It  has  been  ascertained  that  prior  to  puts  it  in  these  words,  the  original 

that  Mussulman  fanatics  tnversed  of  which  are  in  verse:  "After  the 

the  land,  reminding  the  faithful  that  fire^worshippers  and  Christians  shall 

it  had  beaiforetold  in  prophecy  that  have  held  sway  over  the  whole  of 


INTBIGUES  WITH  PERSU.  37 

That  the  King  was  intriguing  with  the  Shah  of  1867. 
Persia  was  reported  in  the  month  of  March  to  the  Lieu-  Wartdngs, 
tenant-Governor  of  the  North- Western  Provinces  by 
a  Native  correspondent,  who  added :  "In  the  Palace, 
but  more  especially  in  the  portion  of  it  constituting 
the  personal  apartments  of  the  King,  the  subject  of 
conversation,  night  and  day,  is  the  early  arrival  of 
the  Persians.*  Hassan  Askarif  has,  moreover,  im- 
pressed the  King  with  the  belief  that  he  has  learned, 
through  a  divine  revelation,  that  the  dominion  of  the 
King  of  Persia  will  to  a  certainty  extend  to  Delhi, 
or  rather  over  the  whole  of  Hindustan,  and  that  the 
splendour  of  the  sovereignty  of  Delhi  will  again  re- 
vive, as  the  sovereign  of  Persia  will  bestow  the  crown 
upon  the  King.  Throughout  the  Palace,  but  par- 
ticularly to  the  Eling,  this  belief  Tias  been  the  cause 
of  great  rejoicing,  so  much  so,  that  prayers  are 
offered  and  vows  are  made,  whilst,  at  the  same  time, 
Hassan  Askari  has  entered  upon  the  daily  perform- 
ance, at  an  hour  and  a  half  before  sunset,  of  a  course 
of  propitiatory  ceremonies  to  expedite  the  arrival  of 
the  Persians  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Christians." 

This  warning  wa^  of  course  disregarded.  A  rooted 
confidence  in  our  own  strength  and  security,  and  a 
haughty  contempt  for  the  machinations  of  others, 
was  at  that  time  a  condition  of  English  statesmanship. 
It  was  the  rule — and  I  fear  that  it  is  still  the  rule — 
in  such  a  case  to  ^discern  only  the  exaggerations  and 

Huidostan  for  a  handred  jean,  and  that  the  native  newspapers,  ooming 

when  injustice  and  oppression  shall  into  the  Palace,  reported  the  progress 

prevail  in  tbeir  Government,  an  Arab  of  the  war,  but  that "  the  King  never 

nrince  shall  be  bom,  who  will  ride  seemed  to  evince  any  marked  inte- 

lorth  triamphantlv  to  slay  them."  rest  one  way  or  the  other." 

*  It  was  statea,  however,  in  evi-       t  This  man  was  a  Mahomedan 

denoe  on  the  Kind's  trial,  that  the  Priest  of  the  Hereditarv  Priesthood, 

war  with  Persia  had  excited  very  who  dwelt  near  the  Delhi  Gate  of 

little  interest  in  the  Pakce.  Assan-  the  Palace,  and  was  ever  active  in 

O^ahy  the  King's  pbysiciaD^  said,  encouraging  intrigues  with  Persia. 


88  THE  DELHI  HISTORT. 

1867.  absurdities  with  which  such  statements  are  crusted 
over.  The  British  officer  to  whom  such  revelations 
are  made  sees  at  a  glance  all  that  is  preposterous  and 
impossible  in  them ;  and  he  dismisses  them  as  mere 
follies.  He  will  not  suffer  himself  to  see  that  there 
may  be  grave  and  significant  truths  beneath  the  outer 
crust  of  wild  exaggeration.  When,  therefore,  lieute- 
nant-Govemor  Colvin  received  the  letter  announcing 
that  the  King  of  Delhi  was  intriguing  with  the  Shah 
of  Persia,  and  that  the  latter  would  ere  long  restore 
the  monarchy  of  the  Mogul,  he  laughed  the  absurdity 
to  scorn,  and  pigeon-holed  it  among  the  curiosities  of 
his  administration.  He  did  not  consider  that  the 
simple  fact  of  such  a  belief  being  rife  in  Delhi  and 
the  neighbourhood  was  something  not  to  be  disre- 
garded. It  in  reality  very  little  mattered  whetiier 
the  King  of  Delhi  and  the  Shah  of  Persia  were  or 
were  not  in  communication  with  each  other,  so  long 
as  the  Mahomedans  of  Upper  India  believed  that  they 
were.  It  is  the  state  of  feeling  engendered  by  such  a 
belief,  not  the  fact  itself,  that  is  really  significant  and 
important.  But  there  is  nothing  in  which  English 
statesmanship  in  India  fails  more  egregiously  than  in 
this  incapacity  to  discern,  or  unwillingness  to  recog- 
nise, the  prevailing  sentiments  of  the  people  by  whom 
our  statesmen  are  surrounded.  The  letter  sent  to  the 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  North- Western  Provinces 
was  produced,  at  a  later  period,  as  strong  evidence  of 
the  guilt  of  the  King  of  Delhi ;  but  the  recorded  his- 
tory of  this  document  is,  that  it  was  "  found  among 
the  papers  of  the  late  Mr.  Colvin." 
Intrigues  The  story  of  the  correspondence  between  the  King 

with  Persia.  Qf  Delhi  and  the  Shah  of  Persia  was  not  a  mere  fable. 
Authentic  record  of  such  transactions  is  rarely  to  be 
obtained,  and  history  must,  therefore,  fall  back  upon 


INTRIGUES  WITH  PEfiSIA.  39 

evidence  which  may  not  be  altogether  conclusive.  1867. 
The  facts,  however,  appear  to  be  these.*  The  power 
of  Mahomedanism  is  greatly  weakened  by  sectarian 
divisions-  A  Soonee  hates  a  Sheeah,  or  a  Sheeah 
hates  a  Soonee,  almost  as  much  as  either  hates  a 
Christian.  The  King  of  Delhi  was  a  Soonee,  whilst 
the  King  of  Oude  and  the  Shah  of  Persia  were 
Sheeahs.  Now,  it  happened  that  whilst  Behaudur 
Shah  was  in  great  tribulation  because  he  could  not 
persuade  the  English  Government  to  gratify  the 
cherished  wishes  of  his  favourite  wife,  he  was  minded 
to  become  a  Sheeah.  There  were  some  members  of 
his  family  settled  in  Oude,  who  were  also  of  this  per- 
suasion. Whether  by  invitation,  or  whether  of  his 
own  motion,  is  not  very  apparent,  but  one  of  them, 
the  King's  nephew,  Meerza  Hyder  by  name,  accom- 
panied by  a  brother,  visited  his  Majesty  at  Delhi,  and 
carried  back  on  his  return  tidings  that  the  great 
change  had  been  effected,  and  that  the  Mogul  sought 
to  be  admitted  within  the  pale  of  the  Sheeah  religion. 
This  man  was  known  in  the  Delhi  Palace  as  one  re- 
joicing in  intrigue.  It  could  not  have  been  difficult  , 
to  persuade  the  old  King  that  the  fact  of  his  conver- 
sion might  be  turned  to  good  account,  and  that  if 
nothing  else  would  come  of  it,  it  would  make  the 
Shah  of  Persia  and  the  King  of  Oude  more  willing  to 
assist  him  in  the  troubles  and  perplexities  by  which 
he  was  surrounded.  It  is  probable  that  he  had  no 
very  clear  notion  of  what  might  come  of  such  an 
alliance — ^no  very  strong  hope  that  it  would  end  in 
the  overthrow  of  the  English — but  he  was  readily 
persuaded  to  address  letters  to  the  King  of  Persia, 

*  They  are  mainly  deriyed  from  most  accarate  and  trustworthy.    T 

ihe  eviaence  of  Assan-oolah,  the  see  no  reason  to  question  his  state- 

KiQj^s  ph^ician,  of  all  the  witnesses  ments. 
on  tiie  trial  of  Behaudur  Shah  the 


40  THE  DELHI  HISTORY. 

1857.  and  to  despatch  them  secretly  by  confidential  agents. 
And  this  was  done  before  the  emissaries  from  Luck- 
now  had  taken  their  departure.  There  is  a  suspicion 
also  that  he  sent  letters  to  Russia ;  but,  if  he  did,  in 
all  probability  they  never  reached  their  destination. 
There  was,  however,  from  that  time  a  vague  belief  in 
the  Palace  that  both  the  Persians  and  the  Russians 
were  coming  to  the  deliverance  of  the  King,  and  that 
ere  long  he  would  again  be  surrounded  by  all  the 
splendour  that  irradiated  the  Mogul  throne  in  the 
meridian  of  its  glory. 

These  intrigues,  whatever  their  importance,  were 
well  known  in  Delhi  in  the  early  months  of  1857; 
and  the  impression  which  they  produced  on  the  minds 
of  the  people  was  strengthened  by  the  sight  of  a  pro- 
clamation which  was  posted  on  the  Jumma  Musjeed 
in  the  middle  of  the  month  of  March.  This  procla- 
mation,  purporting  to  have  been  issued  by  the  King  of 
Persia,  set  forth  that  a  Persian  army  was  coming  to 
release  India  from  the  grasp  of  the  English,  and  that 
it  behoved  all  true  Mahomedans  to  gird  up  their  loins 
resolutely,  and  to  fight  against  the  unbelievers.*  The 
name  of  Mahomed  Sadik  was  attached  to  it;  but 
none  knew  who  he  was.  In  outward  appearance  it  was 
but  an  insignificant  affair ;  though  it  bore  rude  illus- 
trations representing  a  sword  and  a  shield,  it  does 

*  It  ia  well  known  that  a  copy  of  the  young,  the  small  and  the  great, 

a  proclamation  addressed  to  Maho-  the  wise  and  the  ignorant,  the  ryot 

medans  generally,  urging  a  war  of  and  the  sepoy,  all  without  exception 

extermination  against  the  ITnglish,  to  arise  in  defence  of  the  orthodox 

was  found  in  the  tent  of  the  Persian  faith  of  the  Prophet."    Afterwards 

prince  at  Mohumrah,  after  the  en-  it  was  frankly  acknowledged  by  the 

gagement  which  took  place  there  in  Persian  Government  that  they  had 

the  spring  of  1857.    There  was  no  attempted   to    create   a    diversion 

special  reference  in  this  document  against  us  in  India — such  expedients 

to  the  restoration  of  the  Delhi  sove-  being  all  fair  in  war. 
reignty  i  it  called  upon  "  the  old  and 


DISQUISTUDE  IN  DELHI.  41 

not  appear  to  have  produced  any  great  excitement  in  1867, 
Delhi,  and  the  attention  which  it  attracted  was  short- 
lived, for  the  paper,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  hours, 
was  torn  down  by  order  of  the  magistrate.  But  the 
Native  newspapers  published  the  substance  of  the 
proclamation,  accompanying  it  with  vague  and  mys- 
terious hints,  or  with  obscure  comments,  obviously 
intended,  in  some  instances,  to  be  read  in  a  contrary 
sense.  There  was  in  these  effusions  hostility  to  the 
British  Government — ^but  hostility  driven  by  fear  to 
walk  warily.  Ambiguous,  enigmatical  language  suited 
the  occasion.  It  was  stated  that  a  communication 
had  been  addressed  to  the  magistrate,  informing  him 
that  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  Cashmere  would  be 
taken ;  the  intent  being,  it  is  said,  to  signify  that  the 
Cashmere  Gate  of  Delhi  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemies  of  the  British  Government.  There  was  plainly 
a  very  excited  state  of  public  feeling  about  Delhi. 
The  excitement  was,  doubtless,  fomented  by  some 
inmates  of  the  Palace ;  and  the  King's  Guards  con- 
versed with  the  Sepoys  of  the  Company,  and  the  talk 
was  still  of  a  something  coming.  But  Behaudur 
Shah,  in  the  spring  of  1857,  was  never  roused  to 
energetic  action.  Much  was  done  in  his  name  of 
which  he  knew  nothing,  and  much  besides  which  he 
weakly  suffered.  And  as,  in  that  month  of  May, 
news  came  from  Meerut  that  there  was  great  excite- 
ment among  the  soldiery,  and  some  of  the  Native 
officers  at  Delhi  were  summoned  to  take  part  in  the 
great  on-coming  trial,  those  who  sat  at  the  King's 
door  talked  freely  about  the  revolt  of  the  Native 

*  See  evidence  of  Sir  Theophilus    clamation  was   posted   pp   iu  the 
Metcalfe.    It  vas  stated,  however,    streets  and  lanes  of  the  city, 
in  the  Native  papers,  that  the  pro- 


42 


THE  DELHI  HISTORT. 


1867.  army,  and  in  the  vestibules  of  the  Palace  it  was 
proclaimed  that  the  dynasty  of  the  Moguls  would 
soon  be  restored,  and  that  all  the  high  offices  of  State 
would  be  held  by  the  people  of  the  country.* 


*  Moknnd  Lai,  the  King's  secre- 
tary, said:  "I  don't  know  whether 
anj  direct  proposals  came  to  the 
prisoner,  bnt  the  King's  personal 
attendants,  sitting  abont  the  entrance 
to  his  private  apartments,  used  to 
oonyerse  among  themselyes,  and  say 


that  very  soon,  almost  immediately, 
the  army  would  revolt  and  come  to 
the  palace,  when  the  Government 
of  the  King  would  be  re-established, 
and  all  the  old  servants  would  be 
greatly  promoted  and  advanced  in 
position  and  emoluments," 


THE  OTJTBSEAE  AT  HEEKUT.  43 


CHAPTER  II. 

STATE  or  THE  THIRD  CAYALBT — THE  COXTBT  07  IKQmBT— THE  COURT* 
MARTIAL— DfPRISONHElTT  OF  THE  EIOHTT-FIVE — THE  TBVTH  OF  MAT — 
RELEASE  OP  THE  PRISONERS— GENERAL  REVOLT  OP  THE  SEPOTS — ^DT- 
ACTIVITT  OP  THE  EUROPEAN  TROOPS — ^ESCAPE  OP  THE  HUTINESB8— 
QUESTION  OP  RESPONSIBILITY  CONSIDERED. 

Whilst  the  vague  feeling  of  excitement  above 
described  was  gathering  strength  and  consistency  at 
Delhi,  and  the  "something  coming"  appeared  to  be 
approaching  nearer  and  nearer,  events  were  develop- 
ing themselves  in  the  great  military  station  of  Meerut, 
thirty  miles  distant,  which  were  destined  to  precipi- 
tate a  more  momentous  crisis  in  the  imperial  city 
than  had  been  anticipated  by  the  inmates  of  the 
Palace.  The  Native  troops  at  that  great  Head- 
Quarters  station  were  smouldering  into  rebellion,  and 
the  Sepoy  War  was  about  to  commence.  The  brief 
telegraphic  story  already  recorded,*  when  it  expanded 
into  detailed  proportions,  took  this  disastrous  shape. 

The  Third  Regiment  of  Native  Cavalry  was  com-  Colonel 
manded  by   Colonel   Carmichael  Smyth.     He  hadttJ^^bM 
graduated  in  the  regiment,  and  had  seen  some  ser-  Cavalry. 
vice  with  it,  but  he  had  never  earned  the  entire  April— May, 
confidence  of  officers  or  men.     He  was  not  wanting      ^ 

*  Jnfe,  Tol.  i.  p.  595. 


44  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  HEERET. 

April,  in  intelligence  or  in  zeal,  but  he  lacked  temper  and 
1857.  discretion,  and  the  unquestionable  honesty  of  his 
nature  was  of  that  querulous,  irritable  cast  which 
makes  a  man  often  uncharitable  and  always  un- 
popular. He  had  a  quick  eye  for  blots  of  every 
kind;  and,  being  much  addicted  to  newspaper- 
writing,  seldom  failed  to  make  them  known  to  the 
public.  Nobody  knew  better  than  Colonel  Smyth 
that  the  Bengal  Army  was  hovering  on  the  brink 
of  mutiny.  He  had,  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  year, 
visited  the  great  fair  at  Hurdwar,  where  the  disaflfiec- 
tion  of  the  Nineteenth  Regiment  had  been  freely 
discussed.  He  had  afterwards  gone  to  Mussooree, 
where  he  learnt  from  day  to  day  what  waa  passing 
at  Umballah,  and  he  was  so  impressed  by  what  he 
heard  respecting  the  general  state  of  the  Sepoy  re- 
giments  and  their  readiness  for  revolt,  that  he  had 
written  to  the  Commander-in-Chief  to  inform  him  of 
the  dangerous  state  of  the  Army.  But  when  the 
general  order  went  forth  that  the  men  were  no 
longer  to  bite  the  cartridges.  Colonel  Smyth  thought 
that  the  opportunity  was  one  of  which  he  should 
avail  himself  to  allay  the  excitement  in  his  own 
regiment,  and  he  therefore  held  the  parade  of  the 
24th  of  April,  with  results  which  have  been  already 
described.* 
General  Not  SO  thought  the  officer  commanding  the  Meerut 

division  of  the  Army.  General  Hewitt  was  an  old 
Company's  officer,  who  had  risen  to  high  rank  by  the 
slow  process  of  regimental  and  army  promotion,  and 
who  in  quiet  times  might  have  drowsed  through  the 
years  of  his  employment  on  the  Staff  without  mani- 
festing any  remarkable  incapacity  for  command.  The 
burden  of  nearly  seventy  years  waa  aggravated  by 

*  Jnh,  vol.  J.  p.  567. 


Hewitt. 


GENERAL  HEWITT.  45 

the  obesity  of  his  frame  and  the  inertness  of  his  April, 
habits.  But  he  was  a  kind-hearted,  hospitable  man,  ^^^^• 
liked  by  all,  and  by  some  respected.  It  was  his  de- 
sire to  keep  things  quiet,  and,  if  possible,  to  make 
them  pleasant.  He  lamented,  therefore,  that  Colonel 
Smyth  had  made  that  crucial  experiment  upon  the 
fidelity  of  his  regiment  which  had  resulted  in  open 
mutiny.  "Oh!  why  did  you  have  a  parade?"  he 
said  to  the  Colonel.  "  My  division  has  kept  quiet, 
and  if  you  had  only  waited  another  month  or  so,  all 
would  have  blown  over." 

It  was  necessary,  however,  after  what  had  oc- The  Court  of 
curred,  in  an  official  point  of  view  to  do  something,  ^^^'y* 
So  he  ordered  a  Native  Court  of  Inquiry  to  be  a^- 
sembled.  The  Court  was  composed  of  six  members, 
four  of  whom  were  Native  officers  of  the  Infantry 
and  two  Native  officers  of  the  Cavalry.  The  wit- 
nesses examined,  including  those  who  had  manu- 
factured and  served  out  the  cartridges,  said  that 
there  was  nothing  objectionable  in  them — ^nothing 
that  could  offend  the  religious  scruples  of  Hindoo  or 
Mahomedan — ^nothing  that  in  any  way  differed  from 
the  composition  of  the  cartridges  which  the  Sepoys 
had  been  using  for  years.  The  oldest  troopers  in  the 
regiment,  Hindoo  and  Mahomedan,  were  examined ; 
but  they  could  give  no  satisfactory  account  of  the 
causes  of  alarm  and  disaffection  in  the  regiment. 
They  could  only  say  that  a  general  impression  of  im- 
purity existed.  One  Mussulman  trooper,  with  much 
insolence  of  manner,  blustered  out,  "  I  have  doubts 
about  the  cartridges.  They  may  look  exactly  like 
the  old  ones,  but  how  do  I  know  that  pig's  fat  has 
not  been  smeared  over  them  ?"  ^  But  the  next  witness 
who  was  examined — ^a  Hindoo — ^took  one  of  the  car- 
tridges  into  his  hand  and  handled  it  freely,  to  show 


46  THE  OUTBBEAK  AT  HEERUT. 

April,  that  in  his  eyes  there  was  nothing  offensive  in  the 
1857.  new  ammunition.  Altogether,  the  Court  of  Inquiry 
elicited  nothing.  It  dealt  with  material  facts,  which 
were  well  known  before.  But  it  was  not  the  pal- 
pable, but  the  impalpable — a  vague  and  voiceless 
idea — ^that  had  driven  the  regiment  to  mutiny.  That 
which  the  troopers  dreaded  was  not  pollution,  but 
opinion.  They  were  troubled,  not  by  any  fear  of 
desecration  to  their  faith  or  of  injury  to  their  caste, 
but  by  the  thought  of  what  their  comrades  would  say 
of  them.  In  a  military  sense,  in  an  official  sense,  all 
this  was  unreasonable  in  the  extreme ;  but  every  man 
felt  in  his  inmost  heart  more  than  he  could  explain 
in  intelligible  words,  and  the  shadow  of  a  great  fear 
was  upon  him,  more  terrible  for  its  indistinctness. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Court  of  Inquiry  were  sent 
to  Head-Quarters ;  and  whilst  the  orders  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief were  awaited,  the  Eighty-five  were 
dismissed  from  duty,  and  ordered  to  abide  in  their 
Lines.  There  was,  then,  for  a  little  space,  a  fever  of 
expectancy.  What  meetings,  and  conspiracies,  and 
oath*tAkings  there  may  have  been  in  the  Sepojrs' 
quarter  during  that  long  week  of  waiting,  can  be 
only  dimly  conjectured ;  but  one  form  of  expression, 
in  which  their  feelings  declared  themselves,  was 
patent  to  alL  It  was  written  in  characters  of  fire, 
and  blazed  out  of  the  darkness  of  the  night.  From 
the  verandahs  of  their  houses  the  European  officers 
saw  these  significant  illuminations,  and  knew  what 
they  portended.  The  burnings  had  commenced  on 
the  evening  preceding  the  fatal  parade  of  the  24th 
of  April,  when  an  empty  hospital  had  been  fired.* 
Then  followed  a  more  expressive  conflagration.  The 
house  of  a  Sepoy  named  Bridge-Mohun  Singh,  who 

*  Colonel  Smyth  sayi  it  was  a  horse-hospitaL 


EXGITEMSNT  IN  MSEEUT.  47 

had  been  the  first  to  practise  the  new  mode  of  using  May, 
the  cartridges,  was  burnt  down.  This  man  (the  son  ^^^''• 
of  a  pig-keeper),  who  had  been  dismissed  from  an 
Infantry  regiment  and  imprisoned  for  theft,  had  en- 
listed under  a  new  name  in  the  Third  Cavalry,  and 
had  managed  so  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  Com- 
manding Officer,  that  he  was  seldom  absent  from  the 
Colonel's  bungalow.  To  the  whole  regiment,  and 
especially  to  its  high-caste  men,  this  was  an  offence 
and  an  abomination,  and  nothing  could  more  clearly 
indicate  the  feeling  in  the  Lines  of  the  Third  than 
the  fact  that  this  man's  house  waa  burnt  down  by 
the  troopers  of  his  own  regunent 

In  the  bungalows  also  of  the  European  residents, 
during  this  first  week  of  May,  there  was  much  excite- 
ment and  discussion.  There  waa  plainly  a  very  dis- 
agreeable entanglement  of  events  out  of  which  it  was 
not  easy  to  see  the  way,  and  people  said  freely  that  it 
ought  never  to  have  arisen.  But  speculation  with 
respect  to  the  Future  was  even  more  busy  than 
censure  with  respect  to  the  Past.  What,  it  was 
asked,  would  be  the  issue  of  the  reference  to  Head- 
Quarters  ?  The  more  general  belief  was,  that  orders 
would  come  for  the  dismissal  of  the  recusant  troopers ; 
but  even  this,  it  was  thought,  would  be  a  harsh 
measure,  that  might  drive  others,  by  force  of  sym- 
pathy,  to  rebellion.  It  was  an  interval  which  might 
have  been  turned  by  our  English  officers  to  good 
account  in  soothing  the  feelings  of  their  men,  and 
explaining  everything  that  was  of  a  doubtful  or  sus- 
picious character.  Some,  indeed,  did  strive,  with  a 
wise  foreknowledge  of  the  coming  danger,  to  accom- 
plish this  good  object;  but  others  believed  that  all 
was  right,  that  there  was  no  likelihood  of  their  re- 
giments being  driven  either  by  their  fears  or  their 


Martial. 


48  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEERUT. 

May,  resentments  to  revolt  against  the  Law;  and  they 
1857.  drowsed  on  placidly  in  the  conviction  that  it  was 
but  an  accidental  ebullition;  provoked  by  the  mis- 
management  of  an  indiscreet  Commanding  Officer, 
and  that  the  general  temper  of  the  Native  troops  at 
Meerut  was  all  that  could  be  desired. 
The  Court-  In  the  first  week  of  May  the  instructions  so  eagerly 
looked  for  were  received  from  the  Head-Quarters  of 
the  Army.  The  fiat  of  General  Anson  had  gone 
forth  from  Simlah.  A  Native  General  Court-Martial 
was  to  be  assembled  at  Meerut  for  the  trial  of  the 
Eighty-five.  The  prisoners  were  then  confined  in  an 
empty  hospital,  and  a  guard  of  their  own  regiment 
was  placed  over  them.  The  tribunal  before  which 
they  were  to  be  brought  up  for  trial  was  composed 
of  fifteen  Native  officers,  of  whom  six  were  Ma- 
homedans  and  nine  were  Hindoos.  Ten  of  these 
members  were  furnished  by  the  regiments  at  Meerut 
— Artillery,  Cavalry,. and  Infantry;  five  came  from 
the  Infantry  regiments  at  Delhi.  On  the  6th  of  May 
the  Court  commenced  its  sittings,*  and  continued  its 
proceedings  on  the  two  following  days.  The  exami- 
nation of  Colonel  Smyth  and  the  other  witnesses  for 
the  prosecution  elicited  no  new  facts,  and,  indeed,  the 
whole  case  of  military  disobedience  was  so  clear,  that- 
the  trial,  though  it  was  protracted  during  three  days, 
was  little  more  than  a  grim  formality.  Every  man 
felt  that  his  condemnation  was  certain,  and  sullenly 
abided  the  issue.  The  prisoners  could  put  forth  no 
defence  which  either  Law  or  Discipline  could  accept, 

*  Tlie  charge  was,  "  For  having  Eegiment  of  Light  Cavalry,  by  not 

at  Meerut,  on  the  24th  of  April,  having  taken  the  cartridges    ten- 

1867,  severally  and  individually  dis-  dered  to  each  of  them  individually 

obeyed  the  lawful  command  of  their  for  use  that  day  on  parade,  when 

superior  officer,  Brevet-Colonel  O.  ordered  by  Colonel  Smyth  to  take 

M.  C.  Smyth,  commanding  the  Third  the  said  cartridges." 


SENTENCE  OF  THE  COURT-MABTIAL.  49 

But  when  the  Havildar  Muttadeen  Singh  pleaded,  1857. 
on  behalf  of  himself  and  comrades,  that  they  sus-  ^J- 
pected  some  foul  design  because  their  Commandant 
took  so  much  pains  to  convince  them  that  it  was  aU. 
right,  and  to  induce  them  to  fire  the  cartridges,  there 
was  something  not  altogether  irrational  or  illogical  in 
the  argument.  If  there  was  nothing  in  the  ammuni- 
tion different  from  that  which  they  had  always  used, 
why,  it  was  asked,  should  the  proceedings  of  the 
Colonel  have  been  so  different  ?*  But  in  effect  the 
defence  of  the  prisoners  was  little  more  than  a  confes- 
sion, and  the  Court,  by  a  vote  of  fourteen  members 
against  one,  found  the  Eighty-five  guilty,  and  sen- 
tenced them  to  imprisonment  and  hard  labour  for  ten 
years.  But  with  this  there  went  forth  a  recommen- 
dation to  "  favourable  consideration  on  account  of  the 
good  character  which  the  prisoners  had  hitherto  borne, 
as  testified  to  by  their  Commanding  Officer,  and  on 
account  of  their  having  been  misled  by  vague  reports 
regarding  the  cartridges." 

The  proceedings  went  up,  in  due  course,  to  the  The  Mntenoe 
General  commanding  the  Division,  and  Hewitt  ap- 
proved and  confirmed  the  sentence.  "  I  would  will- 
ingly attend,"  he  remarked,  "  to  the  recommendation 
of  the  Court,  if  I  could  find  anything  in  the  conduct 
of  the  prisoners  that  would  warrant  me  in  so  doing. 
Their  former  good  character  has  been  blasted  by  pre- 

*  The  same  difficulty  suggested  the  cartridges  to  the  mouth,  and 

itself  to  the  Court.    Colonel  Smyth  attended  the  parade  for  that  purpose, 

was  asked,  "  Why  did  you  tell  the  When  I  came  on  parade,  the  Adju- 

men  that  they  would  luive  to  fire,  tant  informed  me  that  the  men  had 

instead  of  merely  ordering  them  to  not  taken  their  cartridges,  and  it 

do  so?"    Colonel  Smyth's  answer  was  on  that  account  I  ordered  the 

was :   "  The  parade  was  in  orders  Havildar-Maior  to  take  a  cartridge 

the  day  before,  and  entered  in  the  and  load  ana  fire  before  them ;  and 

order-book  as  usual,  and  each  man  it  was  then,  also,  that  I  said,  that 

was  ordered  to  receive  three  car-  when  the  whole  Army  hear  of  this 

tridges.  I  wished  to  show  them  the  way  of  loading  they  would  be  much 

new  way  of  loading  without  putting  pleased,  and  exclaim, '  Wah !  wah !' " 

VOL.  U.  E 


50  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  HEERUT. 

1867.  sent  misbehaviour,  and  their  having  allowed  them- 
•y*  selves  to  be  influenced  by  vague  reports  instead  of 
attending  to  the  advice  and  obeying  the  orders  of 
their  European  superiors,  is  the  gist  of  the  offence  for 
which  they  have  been  condemned.  It  appears  from 
these  proceedings  that  these  misguided  men,  after 
consultation  together  on  the  night  of  the  23rd  of 
April,  1857,  came  to  the  resolution  of  refusing  their 
cartridges.  Having  so  far  forgotten  their  duty  as 
soldiers,  their  next  step  was  to  send  word  to  their 
troop  captains  that  they  would  not  take  their  car- 
tridges unless  the  whole  of  the  troops  in  the  station 
would  do  so  likewise.  Some  of  them  even  had  the 
insolence  to  desire  that  firing  parades  might  be  de- 
ferred till  the  agitation  about  cartridges  among  the 
Native  troops  had  come  to  a  close.  In  this  state  of 
insubordination  they  appeared  on  parade  on  the 
morning  of  the  24th,  and  there  consummated  the 
crime  for  which  they  are  now  about  to  suffer,  by  re- 
peatedly refusing  cartridges  that  had  been  made  as 
usual  in  their  regimental  magazine,  when  assured, 
too,  by  Colonel  Smyth  that  the  cartridges  had  no 
grease  on  them — ^that  they  were  old  ones,  and  exactly 
similar  to  what  had  been  in  use  in  the  regiment  for 
thirty  or  forty  years.  Even  now  they  attempt  to 
justify  so  gross  an  outrage  upon  discipline  by  alleging 
that  they  had  doubts  of  the  cartridges.  There  has 
been  no  acknowledgment  of  error — ^no  expression  of 
regret— po  pleading  for  mercy."  "  To  the  majority 
of  the  prisoners,"  therefore,  it  was  added,  "no  por- 
tion of  the  sentence  will  be  remitted.  I  observe, 
however,  that  some  of  them  are  very  young,  and  I 
am  willing  to  make  allowance  for  their  having  been 
misled  by  their  more  experienced  comrades,  and 
under  these  circumstances  I  remit  one  half  of  the 


THE  PUNISHMENT  PARADE.  51 

sentence  passed  upon  the  following  men,  who  have       1857. 
not  been  more  than  five  years  in  the  service."    And      ^^^' 
then  followed  the  names  of  eleven  young  troopers, 
whose  term  of  imprisonment  was  commuted  to  five 
years.    The  sentence  was  to  be  carried  into  effect  at 
daybreak  on  the  9th  of  May. 

The  morning  dawned,  lowering  and  gusty,  and  the  ^^  ^-  , 
troops  of  the  Meerut  Brigade  were  drfwn  up  on  the  K^! 
ground  of  the  Sixtieth  Rifles  to  see  the  prisoners  for- 
maUy  dismissed  to  their  doom.  The  Third  Cavaby 
had  received-  their  orders  to  attend  unmounted.  The 
European  troops  and  the  Artillery,  with  their  field- 
guns,  were  so  disposed  as  to  threaten  instant  death 
to  the  Sepoys  on  the  first  symptom  of  resistance. 
^  Under  a  guard  of  Rifles  and  Carabineers,  the  Eighty- 
five  were  then  brought  forward,  clad  in  their  regi- 
mental uniforms — soldiers  still ;  and  then  the  sentence 
was  read  aloud,  which  was  to  convert  soldiers  into 
felons.  Their  accoutrements  were  taken  from  them, 
and  their  uniforms  were  stripped  from  their  backs. 
Then  the  armourers  and  the  smiths  came  forward 
with  their  shackles  and  their  tools,  and  soon,  in  the 
presence  of  that  great  concourse  of  their  old  com- 
rades, the  Eighty-five  stood,  with  the  outward  symbols 
of  their  dire  disgrace  fastened  upon  them.  It  was 
a  piteous  spectacle,  and  many  there  were  moved  with 
a  great  compassion,  when  they  saw  the  despairing 
gestures  of  those  wretched  men,  among  whom  were 
some  of  the  very  flower  of  the  regiment — soldiers 
who  had  served  the  British  Government  in  trying 
circumstances  and  in  strange  places,  and  who  had 
never  before  wavered  in  their  allegiance.  Lifting  up 
their  hands  and  lifting  up  their  voices,  the  prisoners 
implored  the  General  to  have  mercy  upon  them, 
and  not  to  consigi^  them  to  so  ignominious  a  doom. 

e2 


52  THE  OUTBBEAK  AT  MEEEUT. 

1867.  Then,  seeing  that  there  was  no  other  hope,  they 
^y-  turned  to  their  comrades  and  reproached  them  for 
quietly  -suffering  this  disgrace  to  descend  upon  them. 
There  was  not  a  Sepoy  present  who  did  not  feel  the 
rising  indignation  in  his  throat.  But  in  the  presence 
of  those  loaded  field-guns  and  those  grooved  rifles, 
and  the  glittering  sabres  of  the  Dragoons,  there  could 
not  be  a  thought  of  striking.  The  prisoners  were 
marehed  off  to  their  cells,  to  be  placed  under  the 
custody  of  a  guard  of  their  own  countrymen ;  the 
parade  was  dismissed ;  and  the  Sepoys,  Cavalry  and 
Infantry,  went,  silent  and  stern,  to  their  work,  to 
talk  over  the  incidents  of  that  mournful  morning 
parade.* 

It  was  Saturday.  So  far  as  English  eyes  could  see 
or  English  brains  could  understand,  the  day  passed ' 
quietly  over.  The  troop-captains  of  the  Third  Ca- 
valry visited  the  prisoners  in  the  gaol,  which  was 
situated  at  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  from  the 
cantonment,  to  be  for  the  last  time  the  channel  of 
communication  between  them  and  the  outer  world. 
It  was  their  duty  to  adjust  the  balances  of  the  Sepoys' 
pay,  and  they  were  anxious,  in  the  kindness  of  their 
hearts,  to  arrange  the  settlements  of  the  prisoners' 
debts,  and  to  carry  any  messages  which  the  men 
might  desire  to  send  to  the  families  from  whom  they 
had  been  sundered.  And  whilst  this  was  going  on  in 
the  gaol,  wild  reports  were  flying  about  the  Bazaars, 
and  there  was  a  great  fear  in  the  Lines,  for  it  was 

*  Lord  Canning's  commentary  on  iug  the  eighty-five  prisoners^  after 

these   proceedings    may    be  given  such  a  ceremony^  to  the  gaol,  with  no 

here:  "  The  rivetting  of  the  men's  other  than  a  native  guard  over  them, 

fetters  on  parade,  occupying,  as  it  was,  considering  the  nature  of  their 

did,  several  hours,  in  the  presence  of  offence,  and  the  known  temper  of  a 

many  who  were  already  ill-disposed,  part  of  the  Army,  a  folly  that  is  in- 

andmany  who  believed  in  the  car-  conceivable." — LeHer  to  Mr.  Femon 

tridge  fable,  must  have  stung  the  Smith,  June  6, 1857*    MS,  Corre* 

brigade  to  the  quicf .    The  consign*  spondenee. 


THE  MEEBUT  CANTONMENT.  58 

said  that  the  Europeans  were  about  to  take  possession  1857. 
of  the  magazines,  and  that  the  two  thousand  fetters,  ^J- 
of  which  Rumour  had  spoken  before,  were  now 
ready,  and  that  the  work  of  the  morning  was  only 
an  experiment  and  a  beginning.  But  the  shades  of 
evening  fell  upon  Meerut,  and  the  English  residents, 
after  their  accustomed  ride,  met  each  other  at  dinner, 
and  talked  cheerfully  and  confidently  of  the  Past  and 
the  Future.  At  one  dinner-table,  where  the  Commis- 
sioner and  his  wife  and  the  Colonel  of  the  Eleventh 
Sepoys  were  present,  a  rumour  was  mentioned  to  the 
efiect  that  the  walls  had  been  placarded  with  a  Ma- 
homedan  proclamation  calling  upon  the  people  to  rise 
against  the  English.  But  the  general  feeling  wlas  one 
of  indignant  disbelief,  and  ^ach  man  went  to  his 
home  and  laid  his  head  upon  his  pillow  as  tranquilly 
as  though  from  one  end  of  Meerut  to  another  there 
had  been  no  bitter  resentments  to  be  gratified,  in  the 
breasts  of  any  but  the  manacled,  harmless,  helpless 
prisoners  in  the  great  gaol. 

I  must  pause  here,  a  little  space,  for  the  better  The  Meerut 
explanation  of  what  follows,  to  speak  of  the  great  ^"ito""^^*- 
Cantonment  of  Meerut.  This  military  station  was  one 
of  the  most  extensive  in  India.  It  covered  an  area 
of  some  five  miles  in  circumference,  the  space  being 
divided  by  a  great  mall  or  esplanade,  along  which 
ran  a  deep  nullah,  or  ditch,  cutting  the  station  into 
two  separate  parallelograms,  the  one  containing  the 
European  and  the  other  the  Native  force.  The  Euro- 
pean Lines  were  on  the  northern  quarter  of  Meerut, 
the  Artillery  Barracks  being  to  the  right,  the  Dra- 
goons to  the  left,  and  the  Rifles  in  the  centre.  Be- 
tween the  barracks  of  the  two  last  stood  the  station 
church;  a  great  plain  or  parade-ground  stretching 
put  still  further  to  the  northward*     The  Sepoy  Lines 


54  TH£  OUTBREAK  AT  MEEEUT. 

1857.  lay  to  the  south  of  the  cantonment,  and  between 
May.  what  may  be  called  the  European  and  Native  quar- 
ters,  there  was  an"  intervening  space  covered  with 
shops  and  houses,  surrounded  by  gardens  and  trees. 
Still  further  to  the  southward  lay  the  city.  The 
officers  of  the  European  regiments  and  Artillery 
occupied  bungalows  along  the  northern  line,  whilst 
the  Sepoy  officers  dwelt  chiefly  near  their  own  men. 
The  Brigadier's  house  was  on  the  right,  not  far  from 
the  Artillery  Barracks  and  Mess-House.  The  Gene- 
ral's residence  was  nearer  to  the  Native  Lines.  The 
most  noticeable  features  of  the  whole,  and  those  which 
it  is  most  important  to  bear  in  mind  in  the  perusal  of 
what  follows,  are  the  division  of  the  great  canton- 
ment into  two  parts,-  the  distance  of  the  European 
barracks  from  the  Native  lines,  and  the  probability 
therefore  of  much  that  was  passing  in  the  latter  being 
wholly  unknown  to  the  occupants  of  the  former. 
Sunday,  The  fierce  May  sun  rose  on  the  Sabbath  morning, 

M»y  1^'  and  the  English  residents  prepared  themselves  to  at- 
tend the  ministrations  of  their  religion  in  the  station 
church.  There  was,  indeed,  a  lull;  but  the  signs 
of  it,  afterwards  noted,  clearly  presaged  that  there 
was  something  in  the  air.  In  the  European  barracks 
it  appeared  that  there  was  a  general  desertion  of 
the  Native  servants,  whose  business  it  was  to  ad- 
minister to  the  wants  of  the  white  soldiery,  and  in 
the  bungalows  of  the  officers  there  was  a  disposition 
on  the  part  of  their  domestics,  especially  of  those  who 
had  been  hired  at  Meerut,  to  absent  themselves  from 
their  masters'  houses.  But  these  things  were  observ- 
able at  the  time  only  as  accidental  circumstances  of 
little  significance,  and  the  morning  service  was  per- 
formed and  the  mid-day  heats  were  lounged  through, 
as  in  times  of  ordinary  security.     Severed  from  the 


SUJXDAY  ETENIN6  AT  MEEBUT.  55 

great  mass  of  the  people,  the  English  could  see  no-  1857. 
thing  of  an  unwonted  character  on  that  Sunday  ^yl^« 
afternoon ;  but  in  the  lines  of  the  Native  soldiery, 
in  the  populous  Bazaars,  and  even  in  the  surrounding 
villages  there  were  signs  of  a  great  commotion.  The 
very  children  could  see  that  something  was  about  to 
happen.  Men  of  all  kinds  were  arming  themselves. 
The  dangerous  classes  were  in  a  state  of  unwonted 
excitement  and  activity.  Many  people  of  bad  cha- 
racter had  come  in  from  the  adjacent  hamlets,  and 
even  from  more  remote  places,  as  though  they  dis- 
cerned the  prospect  of  a  great  harvest.  Among  the 
mixed  population  of  the  Lines  and  the  Bazaars  were 
men  agitated  by  emotions  of  the  most  varied  cha- 
racter. Hatred  of  the  English,  desire  for  revenge, 
religious  enthusiasm,  thirst  for  plunder,  were  all  at 
work  within  them;  but  paramount  over  all  was  a 
nameless  fear;  for,  ever  as  the 'day  advanced,  the 
report  gained  strength  that  the  English  soldiery, 
armed  to  the  teeth,  would  soon  be  let  loose  amongst 
them ;  that  every  Sepoy  before  nightfall  would  have 
fetters  on  his  wrists ;  that  the  People  would  be  given 
up  to  massacre,  and  the  Bazaat^  to  plunder. 

The  sun  went  down  and  the  time  came  for  evening 
service,  and  the  English  chaplains  prepared  them- 
selves for  their  ministrations.  One  has  narrated  how, 
when  he  was  about  to  start  With  his  wife  for  the 
station  church,  the  Native  nurse  warned  them  that 
there  was  danger,  and  besought  her  mistress  to  re- 
main at  home.  The  woman  said  that  there  would 
be  a  fight  with  the  Sepoys,  but  the  Chaplain  listened 
incredulously  to  the  statement,  and  taking  his  wife 
and  children  with  him,  entered  his  carriage,  and  was 
driven  to  church.*     In  the  church-compound  he  met 

*  See  the  Chaplain's  (Mr.  Hot-    and  children  in  a  place  of  safety  on 
ton's)  Narrative.    He  left  his  "wife    the  way  to  church. 


56  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEERUT. 

1867,  his  colleague  and  other  Christian  people  with  a  look 
^y-*-^*  of  anxious  inqiriry  on  their  pale,  scared  faces.  It 
was  plain  that  the  warning  by  which  it  was  endea- 
voured to  stay  his  progress  was  something  more  than 
an  utterance  of  vague  suspicion  or  senseless  fear. 
Sounds  and  sights  had  greeted  the  church-goers  on 
their  way  which  could  not  be  misinterpreted.  The 
unwonted  rattling  of  musketry  on  that  Sabbath 
evening,  the  assembly-call  of  the  buglers,  the  hurry- 
ing to  and  fro  of  armed  men  on  the  road,  the  panic- 
struck  looks  of  the  unarmed,  the  columns  of  smoke 
that  were  rising  against  the  fast-darkening  sky,  aU 
told  the  same  story.  The  Native  troops  at  Meerut 
had  revolted. 
Outbreak  of  It  will  never  be  known  with  certainty  whence 
W"*  arose  the  first  promptings  to  that  open  and  out- 
rageous rebellion  of  which  these  sounds  and  sights 
were  the  signs.  What  meetings  and  conspiracies  there 
may  have  been  in  the  lines — whether  there  was  any 
organised  scheme  for  the  release  of  the  prisoners,  the 
burning  of  cantonments,  and  the  murder  of  all  the 
Christian  officers,  can  be  only  dimly  conjectured. 
The  probabilities  are  at  variance  with  the  assumption 
that  the  Native  troops  at  Meerut  deliberately  launched 
themselves  into  an  enterprise  of  so  apparently  despe- 
rate a  character.  With  a  large  body  of  English 
troops — Horse,  Foot,  and  Artillery — to  confront 
them  in  the  hour  of  mutiny,  what  reasonable  hopes 
could  there  be  of  escape  from  swift  and  crushing  re- 
tribution ?  They  knew  the  temper  and  the  power  of 
English  soldiers  too  well  to  trust  to  a  contingency  of 
inaction  of  which  the  Past  aflPbrded  no  example. 
There  was  not  a  station  in  India  at  which  an  out- 
break of  Native  troops  could  appear  to  be  so  hopeless 
an  experiment  as  in  that  great  military  cantonment 
which  had  becopie  the  Head-Quarters  of  the  finest 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MUTINY.  57 

Artillery  Regiment  in  the  world.  But  this  very  1867. 
feeling  of  our  overpowering  strength  at  Meerut  may  ^y  ^^• 
have  driven  the  Sepoys  into  the  great  panic  of  de- 
spair, out  of  which  came  the  spasm  of  madness  which 
produced  such  unexpected  results  on  that  Sabbath 
night.  There  had  been  for  some  days  an  ominous 
report,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken,  to  the  effect 
that  the  Europeans  were  about  to  fall  suddenly  on 
the  Sepoy  regiments,  to  disarm  them,  and  to  put 
every  man  of  them  in  chains.  In  fear  and  trembling 
they  were  looking  for  a  confirmation  of  this  rumour 
in  every  movement  of  the  English  troops.  When, 
therefore,  the  Sixtieth  Rifles  were  assembling  for 
church  parade,  the  Sepoys  believed  that  the  dreaded 
hour  had  arrived.  The  Third  Cavalry  were  naturally 
the  most  excited  of  all.  Eighty-five  of  their  fellow- 
soldiers  were  groaning  in  prison.  Sorrow,  shame, 
and  indignation  were  strong  within  them  for  their 
comrades'  sake,  and  terror  for  their  own.  They  had 
been  taunted  by  the  courtesans  of  the  Bazaar,  who 
asked  if  they  were  men  to  suffer  their  comrades  to 
wear  such  anklets  of  iron';*  and  they  believed  that 
what  they  had  seen  on  the  day  before  was  but  a  fore- 
shadowing of  a  greater  cruelty  to  come.  So,  whilst 
the  European  soldiers  were  preparing  themselves  for 
church  parade,  the  Native  troopers  were  mounting 
their  horses  and  pricking  forward  towards  the  great 
gaol. 

Then  it  became  miserably  apparent  that  a  fatal  Hescne  of  the 
error  had  been  committed.   There  were  no  European  P"~^"- 

*  This  is  stated  TerydistincUjby  been  ornamented  with  these  anklets 
Mr.  J.  C.  V^ilson  (an  excellent  an-  and  incarcerated ;  and  for  what  ? 
thority)  in  his  interesting  Moradabad  Because  they  would  nol;  swerve  from 
Report.  "And  now,"  he  writes,  their  creed;  and  you,  cowards  as 
''the  frail  one's  taunts  were  lieard  you  are,  sit  still  indifferent  to  your 
far  and  wide,  and  the  rest  of  the  fate.  If  you  have  an  atom  of  man- 
regiment  was  assailed  with  words  hood  in  you,  go  and  release  them.* " 
like  these:   'Tour  brethren   have 


58  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEEBUT. 

1857.  soldiers  posted  to  protect  the  prison-house  in  which 
May  10.  ^gj.^  ^jjg  condemned  malefactors  of  the  Sepoy  Army. 
The  prisoners  had  been  given  over  to  the  "  civil 
power,"  and  an  additional  guard,  drawn  from  the 
Twentieth  Sepoy  Regiment,  had  been  placed  over 
the  gaol.  The  troopers  knew  what  was  the  temper 
of  that  regiment.  They  had  no  fear  for  the  result, 
so  they  pushed  on,  some  in  uniform,  man  and  horse 
fully  accoutred,  some  in  their  stable  dresses  with 
only  watering  rein  and  horse-cloth  on  their  chargers, 
but  all  armed  with  sabre  and  with  pistol.  Soon 
under  the  walls  of  the  gaol — soon  busy  at  their  work 
' — ^they  met  with,  as  they  expected,  no  opposition. 
The  rescue  began  at  once.  Loosening  the  masonry 
around  the  gratings  of  the  cells  in  which  their  com- 
rades were  confined,  they  wrenched  out  the  iron  bars 
and  helped  the  prisoners  through  the  apertures.  A 
Native  smith  struck  off  their  chains,  and  once  again 
free  men,  the  Eighty-five  mounted  behind  their  de- 
liverers, and  rode  back  to  the  Lines.  The  troopers 
of  the  Third  Cavalry  at  that  time  had  no  other  work 
in  hand  but  the  rescue  of  their  comrades.  The  other 
prisoners  in  the  gaol  were  not  released,  the  buildings 
were  not  fired,  and  the  European  gaoler  and  his 
family  were  left  unmolested.* 

*  There  are  conflicting  statements  the  fire,  pillage,  and  slaughter."  But 

on  the  subject  of  the  release  of  the  Mr.  Commissioner  Williams^  in  his 

prisoners  in   the   new  gaol.      Dr.  very  circumstantial  ofiScial  report, 

O'Callaghan   ("  Scattered  Chapters  says  that  the  troopers  ''  dug  out  of 

on  the  Indian    Mutiny")    asserts,  the  wall  the  gratings  of  some  of  the 

that  not  only  the  eighty-five,  but  all  windows  of  the  ward  in  which  the 

the  other  prisoners  had  been  released  eighty-five  mutineers  were  confined, 

by  the  infantry  guard  before  the  and  took  their  comrades  away,  the 

cavalry  arrived.  When  the  troopers  ^uard  of  the  Twentieth  accompany- 

arrived,  he  says,  "  After  their  rapid  mg,  and  the  armed  guard  of  the  gaol 

and  furious  gallop  at  the  gaol,  they  soon  followed.    None  of  the  other 

found  their  comrades    already  re-  convicts,  in  number  about  eight  hun- 

leased  and  emerging  from  incarcera-  dred,  were  released  by  the  cavalry 

tion,  and  the  general  crowd  of  felons  troopers,  nor  was  any  injury  done  by 

also  rushing  rapidly  forth  to  join  in  them  to  the  buUdiugs."  But  he  adds. 


MUTINY  OF  THE  ELEVENTH  AND  TWENTIETH,     69 

Meanwlule.  the  Infantry  regiments  had  broken  1867 
into  open  revolt.  The  Sepoys  of  the  Eleventh  and  '""^  ^^* 
the  Twentieth  were  in  a  state  of  wild  excitement,  j^^y  ^  *^® 
Maddened  by  their  fears— expecting  every  moment 
that  the  Europeans  would  be  upon  them — ^believing 
that  there  was  one  great  design  in  our  hearts  to 
manacle  the  whole  of  them,  and,  perhaps,  to  send 
them  as  convicts  across  the  black  water,  they  thought 
that  the  time  had  come  for  them  to  strike  for  their 
liberties,  for  their  lives,  for  their  religions.  So  it 
happened  that  when  the  excitement  in  the  Lines  was 
made  known  to  some  of  our  English  officers,  and  they 
went  down,  as  duty  bade  them,  to  endeavour  to  allay 
it,  they  found  that  the  men  whom  they  had  once  re- 
garded as  docile  children  had  been  suddenly  turned 
into  furious  assailants.  Among  those  who,  on  that 
Sunday  evening,  rode  down  to  the  Sepoys'  Lines  was 
Colonel  Finnis,  who  commanded  the  Eleventh.  A 
good  soldier,  beloved  by  officers  and  by  men,  he 
had  the  old  traditionary  faith  in  the  Sepoys  which  it 
became  those,  who  had  served  with  them  and  knew 
their  good  qualities,  to  cherish.  Strong  in  the  belief 
of  the  loyalty  of  his  regiment,  Finnis,  with  other 
officers  of  his  corps,  went  into  the  midst  of  them  to 
remonstrate  and  to  dissuade.  He  was  speaking  to  his  Death  of 
men,  when  a  soldier  of  the  Twentieth  discharged  his  yo^. 
musket  and  wounded  the  Colonel's  horse.  Presently 
another  musket  was  discharged  into  his  body.  The 
ball  entered  at  his  back ;  he  fell  from  his  horse,  and 
a  volley  was  fired  into  him.  He  died,  "  riddled  with 
bullets."  Thus  the  Sepoys  of  the  Twentieth  had 
slain  the  Colonel  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  and  the 

"  About  three  hnndred  or  four  hun-  which  contained  about  seven  hun- 
dred Sepoys  released  the  conyicts  dred   and   twenty   prisoners   alto- 
from  the  old  gaol,  which  is  between  gether." 
the  citj  and  the  Native  lines,  and 


60  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEEBUT. 

1857.  bullets  of  the  former  had  been  scattered  in  the  ranks 
May  10.  ^£  ^jjg  latter.  For  a  little  space  the  two  regiments 
looked  at  each  other ;  but  there  was  no  doubt  of  the 
.  issue.  The  Eleventh  broke  into  open  revolt,  and 
fraternised  with  their  comrades  of  the  Twentieth. 
Progress  of  The  whole  of  the  Native  Regiments  at  Meerut*^ad 
the  B45yolt.  jj^^  revolted.  The  Sepoys  of  the  Infantry  and  the 
troopers  of  the  Cavalry  had  made  common  cause 
against  us.  Hindoos  and  Mahomedans  were  stirred 
by  one  impulse  to  slaughter  the  Feringhees,  man, 
woman,  and  child.  So  as  the  sun  went  down  the 
massacre  went  on,  and  our  people,  who  were  re- 
turning from  the  unaccomplished  evening  service,  or, 
ignorant  of  the  excitement  and  the  danger,  were 
starting  for  the  wonted  evening  ride  or  drive,  were 
fiercely  assailed  by  the  infuriated  soldiery,  and  shot 
down  or  sabred  as  they  sate  their  horses  or  leaned 
back  in  their  carriages  to  enjoy  the  coolness  of  the 
air.  Wheresoever  a  stray  English  soldier  was  to  be 
found,  he  was  murdered  without  remorse.  The 
Bazaars  and  the  neighbouring  villages  were  pouring 
forth  their  gangs  of  plunderers  and  incendiaries.  From 
every  street  and  alley,  and  from  the  noisome  suburbs, 
they  streamed  forth,  like  wild  beasts  from  their  lairs, 
scenting  the  prey.*    The  prisoners  in  the  gaols  were 

*  "  Cities,  like  forests,  Lave  their  selves  and  were  ready  for  the  on- 

dens,  in  which  everything  that  is  slaught  before  the  Sepojs  had  com- 

most  wicked  and  formidable  con-  menced  the  carnage.      "  Before  a 

ceals  itself.    The  only  difference  is  shot  had  been  fired,  the  inhabitants 

that  what  hides  itself  thus  in  cities  of  the    Sudder   Bazaar  went  out 

.  is  ferocious,  unclean,  and  little —  armed    with   swords,    spears,    and 

that  is  to  say,  ugly;  what  conceals  clubs,  any  weapon  they  could  lay 

itself  in    the  forests   is  ferocious,  hands  on,  collected  in  crowds    in 

savage,  and  grand — that  is  to  say,  every  lane  and  allej,  and  at  every 

beautiful.    Den  for  den,  Ihose  of  the  outlet  of  the  Bazaars ;  and  the  resi- 

beasts  are  preferable  to    those  of  dents  of  the  wretched  hamlets,  which 

men,  and  caverns  are  better  than  had  been  allowed  to  spring  up  all 

hiding-places." — Victor  Hugo.    Mr.  round  it  and  between  it  ana  the 

Commissioner  Williams,  in  his  offi-  city,  were  to  be  seen  similarly  armed, 

cial  report  above  quoted,  says  that  pouring  out  to  share  in  what  they  evi- 

the  towns-people  had  armed  them-  dently  Knew  was  going  to  happen.'* 


CONFIDENCE  OF  THE  ENGUSH.  61 

let  loose,  and  the  police  became  their  comrades  in  1857. 
crime.  But  so  little  concert  and  arrangement  was  ^Ji^- 
there,  that  some  detachments  on  guard-duty,  posted 
in  the  European  quarter  of  the  great  straggling  can- 
tonment^ appear  to  have  remained  faithful  to  their 
English  masters  after  their  fellow-soldiers  had  broken 
out  into  open  revolt.  Indeed,  whilst  in  one  part  of 
the  cantonment  the  Sepoys  were  butchering  their 
ofScers,  in  another  they  were  saluting  them  as  they 
passed,  as  though  nothing  had  happened.*  Even  at 
the  Treasury,  with  all  its  manifest  temptations,  the 
Guard  stood  staunchly  to  its  duty,  and  at  a  later 
hour  made  over  the  charge  in  all  its  integrity  to  the 
Europeans  sent  to  defend  it.  Not  a  rupee  had  been 
touched  by  the  Sepoys.  And  when  the  rabble  from 
the  city  swarmed  upon  it,  they  found  it  covered  by  a 
guard  of  Riflemen. 

But,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  great  tribulation,  there 

was,  in  the  hearts  of  our  Christian  people,  a  strength 
of  confidence  which  calmed  and  comforted  them ;  for 
they  said  to  each  other,  or  they  said  to  themselves, 
"  The  Europeans  will  soon  be  upon  them."  There  were 
two  regiments  of  Sepoy  Infantry  at  Meerut,  and  a 
regiment  of  Sepoy  Cavalry.  But  the  English  mus- 
tered a  battalion  of  Riflemen,  a  regiment  of  Dragoons 
armed  with  carbines,  and  a  large  force  of  European 
Artillery,  with  all  the  accessories  of  Head-Quarters!f 

*  I  do  not  mean  to  sigDify  that  deteriorating  oircnmstanoes,  of  which 

the  Sepoys  in  the  Earopean  quarter  account  must  be  taken.   A  consider- 

of  the  cantonment  were  umformly  able  number  of  the  Carabineers  could 

({uiescent  at  this  time ;   for  I  am  not  ride,  and  there  were  no  horses 

informed  that  the  Guard  at   Bri-  for  them  if  they  could.    Not  more 

gadier  Wilson's  house  fired  at  some  than  half  of  the  regiment  (five  hun- 

officers  who  were  passing,  before  dred  stronpr)  were  mounted.    Many 

they  broke  away.    But  there  was  of    the    European    gunners,    too, 

obviously  no  general  concert.  were  yonng  recruits,  imperfectly  ac 

t  History,  however,  must  not  ex-  quainted  with  artillery  drUl.    There 

aggerate  the  actual  strength  of  this  were  only  two  field-batteries  fully 

European  force.    There  were  some  equipped. 


62  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEEKUT. 

1857.  There  was  not  an  Englishwoman  in  the  cantonment — 
•■^^  ^"'  the  model  cantonment  of  India — who,  remembering 
the  presence  of  this  splendid  body  of  White  soldiers, 
had  any  other  thought,  at  the  first  semblance  of  open 
mutiny,  than  that  there  must  be  a  sad  massacre  of  the 
Native  troops.  With  a  re^ment  of  British  Dragoons 
and  a  few  Galloper  guns,  Gillespie,  half  a  century 
before,  had  crushed  the  mutiny  of  Vellore,  and  saved 
the  Southern  Peninsula  from  universal  revolt  and 
rebellion.*  He  struck  decisively  because  he  struck 
at  once.  And  no  one  now  doubted  that  a  blow  struck 
with  promptitude  and  vigour  on  this  Sabbath  even- 
ing would  save  Meerut,  and  check  the  nascent  activi- 
ties of  revolt  in  the  adjacent  country.  But  by  God's 
providence,  for  whatsoever  purpose  designed,  this  first 
great  revolt  of  the  Sepoys  was  suffered,  unchecked, 
unpunished,  to  make  headway  in  a  clear  field,  and  to 
carry  everything  before  it.  The  great  confidence  of 
the  Christian  people  was  miserably  misplaced.  They 
looked  for  a  deliverance  that  never  came.  In  some 
parts  of  the  great  cantonment  they  were  abandoned 
to  fire  and  slaughter  as  hopelessly  as  though  there 
had  not  been  a  single  English  soldier  in  that  great 
Head-Quarters  of  the  Meerut  Division. 


S^^°^        The  story  of  this  great  failure  is  not  easily  told,  and 
peans.  the  attempt  to  tell  it  cannot  be  made  without  sadness. 

Many  narratives  of  the  events  of  that  night  have 
been  written ;  and  each  writer  has  told,  with  graphic 
distinctness  of  detail,  what  he  himself  saw  and  heard ; 
but  the  confusion  of  those  few  critical  hours  is  fully 
represented  by  the  conf usedness  of  the  entire  story ; 
and  it  is  difficult  to  impart  unity  and  consistency  to 

*  See  anie,  Tol.  i.  pages  230— S32* 


THE  COLONEL  OF  THE  THIED  CAVALRY.       63 

a  scene,  made  up  of  scattered  eflfects,  bewildering  and  1857. 
distracting.  What  [was  wanted  in  that  conjuncture  ^^J^^- 
was  the  one  man  to  impart  to  our  British  manhood 
the  promptitude  and  unity  of  action  which  would 
have  crushed  the  mutiny  and  saved  the  place — 
perhaps  the  country :  and  that  one  man  did  not  rise 
in  the  hour  of  our  tribulation. 

There  were  three  officers  at  Meerut  whose  bearing  Conduct 
in  that  critical  hour  the  historian  is  especially  bound  Smyth, 
to  investigate.  They  were,  the  officer  commanding 
the  Third  Cavalry,  the  Brigadier  commanding  the 
Station,  and  the  General  commanding  the  Division. 
All  three  were  resident  in  Meerut.  It  is  not  to  be 
questioned  that  when  a  regiment  breaks  into  mutiny, 
the  place  of  the  commanding  officer,  for  life  or  for 
death,  is  in  the  midst  of  it.  Not  until  aU  hope  has 
gone  can  there  be  any  excuse  for  his  departure.  As 
the  captain  of  a  blazing  vessel  at  sea  is  ever  the  last 
to  leave  the  quarter-deck  and  to  let  himself  down  the 
side  of  his  ship,  so  the  commandant  of  a  regiment  in 
the  fire  of  revolt  should  cling  to  it  as  long  as  the 
semblance  of  a  regiment  remains,  and  the  safety  of 
others  can  be  aided  by  his  presence.  When,  there- 
fore, intelligence  reached  Colonel  Smyth  that  the 
troopers  of  his  regiment  had  broken  into  mutiny,  it 
was  his  duty  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  Cavalry  lines. 
But  he  did  not  go  near  the  Lines.*    He  went  to  the 

*  ''Most  of  the  officers  of  the  an  early  escape  into  the  protection  of 
Third  Light  CaTalnr  at  once  pro-  the  European  military  quarter." — 
ceeded  to  the  lines  of  their  regiment,  (7  Callaahan,  Scattered  Chapters  on 
arming  hastily,  and  ordering  their  the  Indian  Mutinv,  It  should  be 
horses  to  follow ;  but  I  have  never  stated,  however,  that  Colonel  Smvth 
been  able  to  discover  that  the  officer  was  Field-Officer  of  the  week — a  fact 
commanding  the  corps  repaired  to  upon  which  he  himself  has  laid  con- 
bis  post,  or  was  seen  in  the  lines  siderable  stress,  as  though,  in  his 
amongst  the  men,  during  the  whole  estimation,  it  exempted  him  from  all 
of  that  eventful  evening  and  night :  special  regard  for  his  own  particular 
and  it  would  appear  that  Colonel  regiment. 
8myth  was  so  fortunate  as  to  make 


64  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEERUT. 

1857.  Commissioner's  house.  He  went  to  the  General's; 
^*y  ^^*  and  he  went  to  the  Brigadier's.  He  went  everywhere 
but  to  his  Regiment.  From  the  moment  that  the 
troopers  broke  out  into  revolt  they  saw  no  more  of 
their  Colonel.  He  spent  the  night  with  the  Head- 
Quarters  of  the  Division,  where  the  rifles  and  the 
carbines  and  the  field-guns  were  collected,  and  never 
had  the  least  conception  all  the  time  of  what  had  be- 
come of  his  men.*  But  they  were  not  all  past  hope. 
That  something  might  have  been  done  to  save  at  least 
Captain  a  portion  of  the  regiment  we  know.  Captain  Craigie, 
"^^®'  at  the  first  sound  of  the  tumult,  mustered  his  troop, 
ordered  them  to  accoutre  themselves  as  for  a  parade, 
and  when  they  had  mounted,  galloped  down  to  the 
gaol,  accompanied  by  his  subaltern,  Melville  Clarke. 
They  were  too  late  to  prevent  the  rescue  of  the 
primer, ,  bu,  ^t  to  set  a  grand  e^mpl.  Oraigie 
and  Clarke  kept  their  men  together,  and  brought 
them  back,  with  unbroken  discipline,  to  the  parade- 
ground  of  the  regiment.  And  during  that  night 
many  acts  of  heroic  fidelity  were  written  down  to 
the  honour  of  Craigie's  troop.  They  had  faith  in 
their  Captain.  And  it  has  been  truly  recorded  of 
Craigie  and  Clarke,  that  "  these  gallant  Englishmen 
handled  the  troop  as  if  mutiny  were  a  crime  unknown 
to  their  men."* 

*  Colonel  Smyth  has  pablislied  night,  and  accompanied  him  a^in 

his  own  account  of  his  proceedings  the    next   morning   with    CaTalry, 

on  the  evening  of  the  10th  of  May :  Infantry,  and  Artmery  through  the 

"1  went/'  he  sa^s,"  first  to  Mr.  cantonments,   and  went   with   the 


Greathed's,  gave  mformation  to  the  Artillery  and  Cavalry  on  the  right  of 

servants,  as  Mr.  G.  was  out the  Delhi  road,"  &c.  &c. 

I  then  went  on  to  the  General's,  and  f  Official  Keport  of  Mr.  Commis- 

heard  that  he  had  just  left  the  house  sioner  Williams.    The  writer  states 

in  his  carriage ;  so  I  galloped  onto  that  ''Lieutenant  Clarke  rode  out 

the  Brigadier's I  went  on  to  from  the  head  of  the  troop,  and  ran 

the  Artillery  parade,  and  found  the  his  sword  through  a  trooper  of  the 

Brigadier  alreadjr  on  the  ^ound ;  regiment  who  was  insulting  an  Euro- 

and  I  accompanied  him  with  the  pean  lady,  and  Captain  Craigie  gave 

troops  to  the  other  end  of  the  canton-  the  wretch  his  finishing  stroKC." 
ments,  and  remained  with  him  all 


BRIGADIER  ARCHDALE  WILSON.  65 


iJt. 


The  station  was  commanded  by  Colonel  Archdale  185 
Wilson,  Brigadier  of  Artillery.  He  was  a  man  of  a  .^*^  ^^' 
spare  and  wiry  frame,  of  active  athletic  habits,  who  wlls^^^* 
had  ever  borne  a  good  character  in  the  splendid 
regiment  to  the  command  of  which  he  had  then  risen. 
For  some  years,  when  the  Head-Quarters  of  the  Ar- 
tillery had  been  at  Dum-Dum,  in  the  vicinity  of  Cal- 
cutta, he  had  been  Adjutant-General  of  the  regiment, 
and  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  all  its  details. 
But  he  had  not  seen  much  active  service  since  his 
youth,  and  had  never  had  any  grave  responsibilities 
cast  upon  him.  His  training  had  been  too  purely  of  a 
professional  character  to  generate  any  great  capacity 
for  taking  in  a  situation  of  such  magnitude  as  that 
which  he  was  now  suddenly  called  upon  to  confront. 
But  he  was  not  a  man,  in  such  a  crisis  as  had  then 
arisen,  to  look  idly  on,  or  to  shrink  from  a  forward 
movement.  What  he  did  at  the  outset  was  what  it 
became  him  to  do.  It  was  about  half-past  six  when 
Brigade-Major  Whish  drove  into  the  Brigadier's  com- 
pound, and  told  him  that  the  Native  troops  had 
broken  into  mutiny.  Instantly  Wilson  ordered  his 
horse  to  be  saddled  and  brought  round,  and  having 
sent  orders  to  the  Artillery  and  Carabineers  to  join 
him  there,  he  galloped  to  the  parade-ground  of  the 
Rifles,  and  finding  them  on  the  point  of  marching 
for  church,  directed  their  Colonel  to  dismiss  the 
parade,  and  to  reassemble  them  as  quickly  as  possible 
with  their  arms.  This  was  promptly  effected;  but 
there  was  some  delay  in  supplying  the  regiment  with 
balled  cartridge.  The  Dragoons  had  not  yet  come  up. 
It  has  been  stated  that  the  Colonel  had  suffered  the 
regiment  to  be  mustered  as  for  an  ordinary  parade  ;* 
and  the  slow  process  of  roll-call  had  been  going  on 

*  This  Gobnel  Cuatance  bto  contradicted. — See  Appendix. 
VOL.  II.  F 


66  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEEBUT. 

1867.      whilst  the  last  hour  of  daylight  was  passing  away, 
May  10.     Qj^^  ^]^Q  enemy  were  slaughtering  our  people  with 

impunity. 
Movements        Meanwhile,  General  Hewitt  had  appeared  on  pa- 
Siopeans.     rade,  and  the  Artillery  had  been  brought  up  to  the 
ground.     When   Colonel  Jones   reported   that   the 
Rifles  were  ready  for  action,  Wilson,  with  the  Gene- 
ral's sanction,  detached  one  company  to  the  Collector's 
cutcherry  to  protect  the  treasure,  and  another  for  the 
protection  of  the  barracks.     Taking  the  other  com- 
panies, with  the  Artillery,  he  marched  down  upon 
the  Native  Infantry  Lines,  where  he  expected  to  find 
the  main  body  of  the  mutineers  assembled.     On  or 
near  the  parade-ground  he  was  joined  by  the  Cara- 
bineers, who  had  lost  their  way.*     There  was  now  a 
force  ready  for  action  which  might  have  destroyed 
all  the  Sepoys  in  Meerut,  if  they  could  have  been 
brought  into  action  with  the  white  soldiers — ^if,  in- 
deed, our  people  could  only  have  seen  the  enemy  for 
a  little  space  of  time.     But  the  shades  of  night  had 
now  fallen  upon  the  scene.     And  when,  near  the  Na- 
tive Infantry  huts,  the  English  troops  were  deployed 
into  line  and  swept  the  whole  space  where  it  was 
expected  that  the  mutineers  would  have  been  found, 
not  a  man  was  to  be  seen,  either  in  the  Infantry 
Lines  or  on  the  parade-ground ;  and  none  knew  whi- 
ther they  were  gone.     But  near  the  Cavalry  Lines  a 
few  troopers  were  seen,  and  the  Rifles  opened  fire 
upon  them.    The  mutineers  fled  into  a  wood  or  copse 
at  the  rear  of  their  huts,  and  the  guns  were  then 
unlimbered,  and  a  few  harmless  rounds  of  grape  fired 
•         into  the  obscurity  of  the  night. 

It  was  plain  now  that  the  mutineers  were  dis- 
persed.    The  question  was.  What  were  they  doing  ? 

*  Brigadier  Wilson  did  not  see    of  troops  were  returning  to  the 
the  Caraoineers  nntii  the  whole  body    European  Lines. 


-C"  f   -,"     L.L  . 


TERBORS  OF  THE  NIGHT.  67 

To  Wilson  it  seemed  that  the  mutineers  had  moved  1857. 
round  to  the  European  quarter  of  the  Cantonment ;  May  lo— 11. 
and  he  therefore  recommended  the  General  to  move 
back  the  brigade  for  its  protection.  To  this  Hewitt, 
glad  to  be  advised,  assented ;  and  the  troops  set  their 
faces  homewards.  By  this  time  the  moon  had  risen, 
and  the  blazing  bungalows  of  the  English  officers  lit 
up  the  scene  with  a  lurid  glare.  But  our  troops  met 
only  a  few  unarmed  plunderers.  The  mutineers  were 
not  to  be  seen.  What,  then,  was  to  be  done  ?  It  has 
been  often  stated  that  one  officer  at  least  answered 
the  question  as  it  ought,  to  have  been  answered. 
Captain  Rosser,  of  the  Carabineers  (so  the  story 
runs),  offered  to  lead  a  squadron  of  his  regiment  and 
some  Horse  Artillery  guns  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy 
along  the  Delhi  road.  But  the  statement  has  been 
authoritatively  contradicted.*  It  is  only  certain  that 
tte  enemy  escaped ;  and  that,  with  the  exception  of 
some  pickets  which  were  planted  on  the  bridges  across 
the  nullah  which  ran  between  the  European  Canton- 
ment and  the  Native  Lines  and  Sudder  Bazaar,  the 
whole  of  Hewitt's  force  bivouacked  for  the  night  on 
the  European  parade-ground. 


And  the  night  was  a  night  of  horror  such  as  His-  May  lo— ii. 
tory  has  rarely  recorded.  The  brief  twilight  of  the  '^^^^?^^  ^^  ^^^ 
Indian  summer  had  soon  passed ;  and  the  darkness 
which  fell  upon  the  scene  brought  out,  with  terrible 
distinctness,  the  blazing  work  of  the  incendiary. 
Everjrwhere,  from  the  European  quarters,  from  the 
bungalows  of  the  English  officers,  from  the  mess- 
houses  and  other  public  buildings,  from  the  residences 
of  the  unofficial  Christian  community,  the  flames 
were  seen  to  rise,  many-shaped  and  many-coloured, 

*  See  Appendix  for  an  inqniry  into  the  truth  of  this  story. 

f2 


68  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  3IEERUT. 

1857.  lighting  up  the  heavy  columns  of  smoke  which  were 
May  10-11.  suspended  in  the  still  sultry  air.  And  ever,  as  the 
conflagration  spread,  and  the  sight  became  more  por- 
tentous, the  sounds  of  the  great  fiery  destruction,  the 
crackling  and  the  crashing  of  the  burning  and  falling 
timbers,  the  roar  of  the  flames,  and  the  shrieks  of  the 
horses  scorched  to  death  in  their  stables,  mingled 
with  the  shouts  and  yells  of  the  mutineers  and  the 
rattling  of  the  musketry  which  proclaimed  the  great 
Christian  carnage.  The  scared  inhabitants  of  the 
burning  buildings — the  women  and  children  and  non- 
combatants — sought  safety  in  the  gardens  and  out- 
houses, whither  they  were  often  tracked  by  the  insur- 
gents, and  shot  down  or  cut  to  pieces.  Some  fled  in 
the  darkness,  and  found  asylums  in  such  places  as 
had  escaped  the  fury  of  the  incendiaries.  Some  were 
rescued  by  Native  servants  or  soldiers,  faithful  among 
the  faithless,  who,  in  memory  of  past  kindnesses, 
strove  to  save  the  lives  of  their  white  masters  at  the 
peril  of  their  own. 
Escape  of  Among  those  who  were  thus  saved  were  Hervey 

missioner.  Grcathcd,  the  Commissioner,  and  his  wife.  Warned 
of  the  approaching  danger,  first  by  an  oflBcer  of  the 
Third  Cavalry,  and  then  by  a  pensioned  Afghan 
chief,  he  had  taken  his  wife,  and  some  other  English- 
women who  had  sought  safety  with  him,  to  the  ter- 
raced roof  of  his  house;  but  the  insurgents,  after 
driving  off  his  guard,  applied  the  firebrand  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  building,  plundered  the  rooms,  and 
then  surrounded  the  place.  With  the  flames  raging 
beneath  him,  and  the  enemy  raging  around  him,  his 
position  was  one  of  deadly  peril.  And  Greathed 
and  his  companions  must  have  perished  miserably 
but  for  the  fidelity  of  one  of  those  Native  servants 
upon  whom  so  much  depended  in  the  crisis  which 


IXCroENTS  OF  THE  NIGHT.  69 

was  then  threatening  our  people.  With  rare  pre-  1857. 
sence  of  mind  and  fertility  of  resource  he  simulated  Maj]0-li. 
intense  sympathy  with  the  rebels.  He  told  them  that 
it  was  bootless  to  search  the  house,  as  his  master  had 
escaped  from  it,  but  that,  if  they  would  follow  him 
to  a  little  distance,  they  would  find  the  Feringhees 
hiding  themselves  behind  a  haystack.  Fully  con- 
fiding in  the  truth  of  his  story,  they  sufi^ered  them- 
selves to  be  led  away  from  the  house;  and  its  in- 
mates descended  safely  into  an  empty  garden  just  as 
the  upper  rooms  were  about  to  "fall  in  wdth  a  tre- 
mendous crash."* 

There  were  others  far  less  happy  on   that  disas- Incidents  of 
trous  Sunday  evening.     Wives,  left  without  protec-    ®  °  ^  * ' 
tion  whilst  their  husbands  were  striving  to  do  their 
duty  in  the  Lines,  were  savagely  cut  to  pieces  in  their 
burning  homes;  and  little  children  were  massacred 
beneath  the  eyes  of  their  mothers.     Then  delicate 
English  ladies,  girt  about  with  fiery  danger,  death  on 
every  side,  turned,  with  a  large-hearted  sympathy, 
their  thoughts  towards  their  sufiering  fellow^-country- 
women,  and  tried  to  rescue  them  from  the  threatened 
doom.    In  adjacent  bungalows  were  two  ladies,  wives  • 
of  officers  of  the  Brigade.     One  was  under  special 
protection,  for  her  husband  had  endeared  himself  to  Mrs.  Craigie. 
the  men  of  his  troop  by  his  unfailing  kindness  and 
consideration  for  them.     The  other,  wife  of  the  Ad- 
jutant of  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  had  but  recently  ^"- ^^""- 
come  from  England,  and  was  strange  to  all  the  en- 
vironments of  her  situation.     The  more  experienced 
Englishwoman,  seeing  the  danger  of  her  position,  and 
hearing  the  shrieks  which  issued  from  her  house,  was 
moved  with  a  great  compassion,  and  sent  her  servants 

*  Mrs.  Qreathed's  Narratiye.  See  yoted  conduct  of  Syud  Meer  Khan, 
abo  note  in  Appendix  for  some  an  Afghan  pensioner  resident  at 
account   of    the^  gallant   and    de-    Meerut. 


70  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  HEERUT. 

1857.  to  rescue  the  affiighted  creature  from  the  fury  of  her 
May  10— IL  assailants.  But  when,  after  some  delay,  they  entered 
her  house,  they  found  her  covered  with  wounds, 
lying  dead  upon  the  floor.  Then  the  insurgents, 
having  done  their  bloody  work,  raged  furiously  against 
the  adjacent  bungalow,  and  were  only  driven  from 
their  purpose  by  the  fidelity  of  some  of  Craigie's 
troopers,  who  were  ready  to  save  the  wife  of  their 
Captain  at  the  risk  of  their  own  lives.  In  the  course 
of  the  night,  after  doing  good  service,  Craigie  re- 
turned, in  fear  and  trembling,  to  his  household  gods, 
thinking  to  find  them  shattered  and  desecrated ;  but, 
by  the  exceeding  mercy  of  God,  safe  himself,  he  found 
them  safe,  and  soon  had  matured  measures  for  their 
escape.  Wrapping  up  the  ladies  in  dark-coloured  horse- 
cloths  to  conceal .  their  white  garments  in  the  glare  of 
the  burning  station,  he  led  them  from  the  house,  and 
hiding  under  trees,  or  in  a  ruined  temple,  they  passed 
the  night  in  sleepless  horror.  Often  the  voices  of 
bands  of  mutineers  or  plunderers  in  the  compound 
smote  upon  their  ears ;  but  there  were  help  and  pro- 
tection in  the  presence  of  a  few  of  Craigie's  troopers, 
who  hovered  about  the  place,  and  in  some  of  his  own 
body-servants,  who  were  equally  true  to  their  master. 
In  the  early  morning  the  enemy  had  cleared  off,  and 
there  was  a  prospect  of  escape.  So  they  returned 
sadly  to  their  dearly-loved  home,  collected  a  few  che- 
rished articles  and  some  necessary  clothing,  and  went 
forth  from  their  Paradise  with  the  flaming  sword 
behind  them,  never  again  to  return.  And  the  leave- 
takings  of  that  sorrow-laden  night  were  the  first  of 
many  cruel  divulsions,  which  tore  happy  families  from 
their  homes  and  sent  them  forth  into  the  wide  world, 
houseless  wanderers  and  fugitives,  with  a  savage  and 
remorseless  enemy  yelling  behind  them  in  their  track. 


.f  BLP  ■  1  •^i^r^'^ 


THE  DAWN.  71 

Many  other  episodes  of  pathetic  interest  might  here      1857. 
be  related  illustrative  of  the  horrors  of  that  night,  if    ^*y  ^^ 
historical  necessity  did  not  forbid  such  amplitude  of 
detailed  recital     The  sweepings  of  the  gaols  and  the 
scum  of  the  Bazaars — all  the  rogues  and  ruffians  of 
Meerut,  convicted  and  unconvicted,  and  the  robber- 
tribes  of  the  neighbouring  villages — were  loose  in  the 
Cantonment,  plundering  and  destroying  wherever  an 
English  bungalow  was  to  be  gutted  and  burnt.     The 
Sepoys  had  left  the  work,  which  they  had  commenced, 
to  men  who  found  it  truly  a  congenial  task.     Day 
dawned ;  and  those  who  survived  the  night  saw  how 
thoroughly  the  work  had  been  done.     As  they  crept 
from  their  hiding-places  and  sought  safety  in  the 
public  buildings  protected  by  the  Europeans,  they 
saw,  in  the  mangled  corpses  which  lay  by  the  way- 
side, in  the  blackened  ruins  of  the  houses  which 
skirted  the  roads,  and  in  the  masses  of  unmovable 
property,  thrown  out  of  the  dwelling-places  of  the 
English,  and  smashed  into  fragments  apparently  by 
blows  from  heavy  clubs,  ghastly  evidences  of  the  fury 
of  their  enemies.*     But  with  the  morning  light  a 
great  quietude  had  fallen  upon  the  scene.     The  Se- 
poys had  departed.     The  ruffians  of  the  gaols  and 
the  Bazaars  and  the  Goojur  villages  had  slunk  back 
into  their  homes.     There  was  little  more  to  be  done 
— ^nothing  more  that  could  be  done  in  the  face  of  the 
broad  day — ^by  these  despicable  marauders.     So  our 
people  gathered  new  heart ;  and  as  the  sun  rose,  they 
thought  that  our  time  had  come. 

•  "  The  inveterate  animosity  with  of  cement,  resting  on  kiln-burnt 
which  the  work  of  destruction  was  bricks,  were  as  effectually  destroyed 
carried  ont  may  be  judged  of  by  the  as  the  thatched  bungalows.  Pro- 
fact  that  houses  built  entirely  of  ma-  perty  which  the  miscreants  could 
sonry,  with  nothing  inflammable  ex-  not  carry  off  was  thrown  out  and 
cept  the  doors  and  the  beams,  which  smashed  into  fragments,  evidently 
for  a  considerable  height  from  the  pounded  with  hea^  clubs." — Jffpori 
ground  supported  the  roofs,  formed  of  Commissioner  WiUiams. 


72  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEERUT. 

1857.  But  the  Meerut  Brigade  did  nothing  more  in  the 

May  11.  clear  morning  light  than  it  had  done  in  the  shadow 
The  day  after.  ^^  ^j^^  darkness.  The  English  troops,  with  the  Eng- 
lish leaders,  rose  from  the  bivouac;  and  it  dawned 
upon  them  that  more  than  two  thousand  mutineers 
had  made  their  way  to  Delhi.  Even  then,  if  the  Cara- 
bineers and  the  Horse  Artillery  had  been  let  loose,  they 
might,  before  noon,  have  reached  the  imperial  city 
and  held  mutiny  in  check.  But  contemporary  annals 
record  only  that  the  European  troops.  Horse,  Foot, 
and  Artillery,  went  out  for  a  reconnaissance  "  on  the 
right  of  the  l^elhi  road."  Not  a  man  was  despatched 
to  the  place  which  was  the  great  centre  of  political 
intrigue  and  political  danger — which  was  the  great 
palatial  home  of  the  last  representative  of  the  House 
of  Timour,  and  which  held  a  large  body  of  Native 
troops,  and  the  great  magazine  of  Upper  India,  unpro- 
tected by  even  a  detachment  of  Europeans.  Nor  less 
surprising  was  it,  that,  with  all  these  shameful  proofs 
of  the  great  crimes  which  had  been  committed,  the 
rising  indignation  in  the  breasts  of  our  English 
leaders  did  not  impel  them  to  inflict  terrible  retribu- 
tion upon  other  criminals.  The  Bazaars  on'that  Mon- 
day morning  must  have  been  full  of  the  plundered 
property  of  our  people,  and  of  many  dreadful  proofs 
and  signs  of  complicity  in  the  great  crime  of  the  pre- 
ceding night.  Eetribution  might  have  fallen  on 
many  of  the  murderers  red-handed ;  but  not  a  regi- 
ment was  let  loose  upon  the  guilty  quarter.  The 
murdered  bodies  were  collected  and  laid  out  in  the 
Theatre,  where  a  mimic  tragedy  was  to  have  been  per- 
formed that  evening ;  and  the  slayers  of  women  and 
children,  and  the  desecrators  of  our  homesteads,  were 
suffered  to  enjoy  unmolested  the  fruits  of  their  work  ;* 

*  "It  is  a  marvellous  thing  that,    work   in  every  direction,   thouffk 
with  the  dreadrul  proof  of  the  night's    groups  of  savages   were   actualiy 


QUESTION  OP  RETRIBUTION.  73 

whilst  the  Meerut  Brigade,  Horse,  Foot,  and  Artillery,      1857. 
marched  about  Cantonments,  and  looked  at  the  Delhi    ^*y  in- 
road along  which  the  mutineers  had  made  good  their 
escape.* 

What  might  have  been  done  by  our  people  to 
overtake  the  guilty  actors  in  the  tragedy  of  that 
Sunday  night,  and  to  strike  awe  into  the  hearts  of  all 
who  were  minded  to  follow  in  the  same  track,  may 
be  gathered  from  an  individual  example,  the  record 
of  which  lies  before  me.  It  has  been  narrated  how 
Mrs.  Chambers,  wife  of  the  Adjutant  of  the  Eleventh, 
was  foully  murdered  in  her  bungalow.  One  of  her 
husbands  friends,  Lieutenant  MoUer  of  the  same 
regiment,  obtained  soon  afterwards  what  appeared 
to  be  good  evidence  that  a  certain  butcher  of  the 
Great  Bazaar  was  the  assassin.  On  this  he  started  in 
his  buggy  for  the  Bazaar,  tracked  out  the  guilty  man, 
seized  him,  and  carried  him  back  to  Cantonments 
with  a  loaded  pistol  at  his  head.  A  drum-head  court- 
martial  was  assembled,  and  whilst  Chambers  lay  in 
convulsions  in  an  adjoining  room,  the  wretch  was 
tried,  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  And 
in  a  little  while  his  lifeless  body  was  swinging  from 
the  branch  of  a  mango-tree.f  There  may,  at  this 
time,  have  been  other  examples  of  individual  courage 
and  resolution  of  the  same  stem  character,  as  there 
were  afterwards  in  all  parts  of  the  disturbed  country ; 
but  the  arm  of  authority  was  not  uplifted  to  strike, 
and  the  multitude  of  criminals  escaped* 

seen  gloating  over  the  mangled  and  Were  restrained ;  the  bodies  were 

matiuited  remains  of  the  victims,  the  collected  and  placed  in  the  theatre, 

column  did  not  take  immediate  yen-  in  which  a  dramatic  tragedy  would 

geanceon  the  Sudder  Bazaar  and  its  have  been  enacted,  but  for  the  real 

environs,  crowded  as  the  whole  place  and  awful  one  which  occurred  the 

was  with  wretches  hardly  concealing  night  before." — Bepori  of  Cammis- 

their  fiendish  satisfaction,  and  when  sitmer  WillioMt, 

there  were  probably  few  houses  from  *  See  statement  of  Colonel  Smyth, 

which  plundered  property  miffht  not  quoted  aiUey  page  64,  note, 

have  been  recovered.    But  the  men  f  This  was  on  the  14th  of  May* 


74  THE  OUTBREAK  AT  MEERUT. 

1857.  Indeed,  wheresoever  a  number  of  Englishmen  are 

May  11.  gathered  together  there  will  surely  be  deeds  of  gal- 
lantry, many  and  great,  though  they  may  be  oblite- 
rated by  the  hand  of  death  or  lost  in  the  confusion 
of  the  hour.  And  Meerut  saw  many  acts  of  personal 
bravery  done  by  our  people  which  will  never  perhaps 
find  sufficient  record.*  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten 
that  many  noble  instances  of  gratitude  and  gene- 
rosity, or  it  might  perhaps  have  been  only  of  common 
humanity,  were  apparent  in  the  conduct  of  the 
Natives,  who,  whilst  their  brethren  were  striking, 
put  forth  their  hands  to  save,  and  risked  their  own 
lives  to  protect  those  of  the  people  whose  only  crime 
it  was  that  they  had  white  faces.f 

*  "  The  firm  bearing  of  the  De-  Commismner  Williams.  Unpublished 
puty-Assistant  Gommissary-Gleneral,  Correspondence* 
who  stood  by  his  office  till  his  house  f  "  Two  Sepoys  of  the  Eleventh 
was  in  flames,  and  a  young  officer  Native  lufantry  most  carefully  es- 
mshed  in  with  his  lower  jaw  shat-  corted  two  ladies,  with  children,  to 
tered  by  a  musket-ball,  and  it  was  the  Dragoon  Barracks.  A  Maliome- 
evident  that  the  mutinoas  guard  dan  in  the  city  sheltered  two  Chris- 
would  abstain  no  longer ;  the  gallant  tian  families,  when  the  act  was  not 
resistance  oftheExecutiye  Engineer,  only  a  singular  deviation  from  the 
Grand  Trunk  Koad ;  the  courage  general  conduct  of  his  sect,  but  one 
with  which  at  least  one  woman  at-  full  of  danger  to  himself.  A  female 
tacked  and  wounded  her  assailants  servant  and  washerman  succeeded 
— these  and  many  other  instances  in  saving  the  young  children  of  a 
of  the  fortitude  with  which  our  lady,  whom  also  they  were  attempt- 
countrymen  and  countrywomen  met  ing  to  save  veiled  in  Native  clothes, 
the  unexpected  onskught,  deserve  when  a  ruffian  drew  open  the  veil, 
notice,  but  cannot  be  detailed  in  saw  the  pale  face,  and  cut  the  poor 
such  a  narrative."— i2<5por^  of  Mr,  mother  to  pieces." — Ibid, 


THE  SIDE  TO  DELHI.  75 


CHAPTER  III. 

4 

THE  UEEKUT  MUTIl^BEILS  AT  DELHI— EVENTS  AT  THE  PALACE —PKOGRESS 
OF  IN8UB&ECTI0N — ^STATE  OF  THE  BBITISH  CANTONMENT — MUTINY  OF 
TUB  DELHI  BEGIMENTS — THE  EXPLOSION  OF  THE  MAGAZINE — ESCAPE  OF 
THE  BBITISH  OFFICEBS— MASSACSE  OF  THE  PBISONEBS. 

Whilst  the  Meerut  Brigade  were  bivouacking  on  i857. 
the  great  parade-ground,  the  troopers  of  the  Third  ^»y  ii- 
Cavalry,  scarcely  drawing  rein  on  the  way,  were  pgUj"  ®  ^ 
pricking  on,  in  hot  haste,  all  through  the  moonlit 
night  for  Delhi.  And  the  foot  regiments  were  toiling 
on  laboriously  behind  them,  making  rapid  progress 
under  the  impulse  of  a  great  fear.  It  is  hard  to  believe 
that  on  that  Sabbath  evening  a  single  Native  soldier 
had  discharged  his  piece  without  a  belief,  in  his  inmost 
heart,  that  he  was  going  straight  to  martyrdom.  A 
paroxysm  of  suicidal  insanity  was  upon  them.  They 
were  in  a  great  passion  of  the  Present,  and  were 
reckless  of  the  Future.  But  the  sound  of  the  carbines 
and  the  rifles  and  the  roar  of  the  guns,  with  their 
deadly  showers  of  grape  and  canister,  must  have  been 
ringing  in  their  ears,  and  they  must  have  felt  that 
they  were  lost  hopelessly.  And  now,  as  they  speeded 
onwards  in  the  broad  moonlight,  they  must  have 
listened  for  the  noise  of  the  pursuing  Dragoons,  and 
must  have  felt,  in  their  panic  flight,  that  the  Euro- 
peans would  soon  be  upon  them.  But  hour  after 
hour  passed,  and  there  was  no  sound  of  pursuit ;  and 
soon  after  break  of  day  they  saw  the  waters  of  the 


76  THE  S£IZUB£  OF  DELHI. 

1867.  Jumna  glittering  in  the  morning  sun,  and  the  great 
May  1  !•  Q[iy  q£  Refuge  rose  encouragingly  before  them.  Before 
eight  o'clock,  the  foremost  troopers  had  crossed  the 
river  by  the  bridge  of  boats,  had  cut  down  the  toll- 
keeper,  had  fired  the  toll-house,  had  slain  a  solitary 
Englishman  who  was  returning  to  Delhi  across  the 
bridge ;  and  under  the  windows  of  the  King's  Palace 
they  were  now  clamouring  for  admittance,  calling 
upon  his  Majesty  for  help,  and  declaring  that  they 
had  killed  the  English  at  Meerut  and  had  come  to 
fight  for  the  Faith. 
At  the  Hearing  their  cry,  the  King  summoned  to  his  pre- 

sence Captain  Douglas,  the  Commandant  of  the  Palace 
Guards.  In  the  Hall  of  Audience,  supporting  his 
tottering  limbs  with  a  stafi^,  the  aged  monarch  met  the 
English  Captain.  Douglas  said  that  he  would  descend 
and  speak  to  the  troopers;  but  the  King  implored 
him  not  to  go,  lest  his  life  should  be  sacrificed,  and 
laying  hold  of  one  of  his  hands,  whilst  Ahsan-ooUah, 
the  King's  physician,  took  the  other,  imperatively 
forbade  him  to  go  down  to  the  gate.  Then  Douglas 
went  out  on  a  balcony  and  told  the  troopers  to  depart, 
as  their  presence  was  an  annoyance  to  the  King.  He 
might  as  well  have  spoken  to  the  winds.  Baffled  at 
one  point,  they  made  good  their  entrance  at  another. 
It  was  in  vain  to  tell  them  to  close  the  gates,  there 
were  so  many ;  and  the  guards  were  not  to  be  trusted. 
It  happened  that  the  Thirty-eighth  Sepoy  Kegiment 
was  then  on  duty  in  the  city — that  regiment  which 
had  successfully  defied  the  Government  when  it  had 
been  designed  to  send  it  across  the  Black , Water.* 
Already  they  were  prepared  to  cast  in  their  lot  with 
the  mutineers.  The  Calcutta  Gate  was  the  nearest  to 
the  bridge  of  boats;  but  when  this  was  closed,  the 

*  See  aiUe,  yoI.  i.  pages  4AI,  462. 


THE  TROOPERS  IN  THE  CITY.  77 

troopers  made  their  way  along  the  road  that  runs  be-      1^57. 
tween  the  palace  walls  and  the  river  to  the  Rajghat       *^ 
Gate,  which  was  opened  to  them  by  the  Mahomedans 
of  the  Thauba-Bazaar,  and  they  clattered  into  the 
town. 
Then  ensued  a  scene  of  confusion  which  it  is  difR-  J^'og^esa  of 

,  ,  the  iDsurrec 

cult  to  describe.  Cutting  down  every  European  they  tion. 
could  find,  and  setting  fire  to  their  houses,  they 
doubled  back  towards  the  Calcutta  Gate,  where  they 
learnt  that  Commissioner  Fraser,  Douglas  of  the 
Palace  Guards,  and  other  leading  Englishmen  would 
be  found.  As  they  rode  on,  with  the  cry  of  "  Deen- 
Deen !"  they  were  followed  by  an  excited  Mahomedan 
rabble.  The  citizens  closed  their  shops  in  amazement 
and  terror,  and  from  one  end  of  Delhi  to  the  other, 
as  the  news  ran  along  the  streets,  there  was  sore  be- 
wilderment and  perplexity,  and  everybody  looked  for 
the  coming  of  the  pursuing  Englishmen,  and  feared 
that  they  would  inflict  a  terrible  retribution  upon  the 
city  that  had  harboured  the  guilty  fugitives.  But  no 
English  regiments  were  coming  to  the  rescue.  And 
these  maddened  Native  troopers,  with  such  vile  fol- 
lowers as  they  could  gather  up  in  the  streets  of  Delhi, 
were  now  masters  of  the  city.  They  knew  that 
throughout  all  the  Sepoy  regiments  in  Cantonments 
there  was  not  a  man  who  would  pull  a  trigger,  or 
draw  a  sword,  or  light  a  por^fire  in  defence  of  his 
English  officer.  Without  a  fear,  therefore,  they  rushed 
on,  scenting  the  English  blood,  eager  for  the  larger 
game,  and  ever  proclaiming  as  they  went  glory  to  the 
Padishah  and  death  to  the  Feringhees. 

Whilst  the  Meerut  mutineers  were  coming  up  from 
the  further  end  of  the  long  line  of  palace  buildings. 
Commissioner  Eraser  at  the  other  end  was  vainly  en- 
deavouring to  secure  the  loyalty  of  the  Sepoy  Guards. 


78  THE  SEIZUBE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  Captain  Douglas  also  had  gone  forth  on  the  same  vain 
^^7  ^^'  errand.  But  it  was  soon  clear  that  they  were  power- 
less. The  troopers  came  upon  them,  and  the  Thirty- 
eighth,  heedless  of  Eraser's  appeals,  fraternised  with 
the  new  comers.  Words  now  were  nothing ;  authority 
was  nothing.  In  the  face  of  that  surging  multitude, 
increasmg  in  numbers  and  in  fury  every  moment,  the 
English  gentlemen  felt  that  they  carried  their  lives  in 
then*  hands.  When  the  leading  troopers  gaUoped 
up,  Eraser  and  Douglas  were  in  a  buggy  together; 
but  seeing  the  danger  that  beset  them,  they  descended 
and  made  for  the  gate  of  the  civil  guard-house,  or 
police-station,  where  other  Englishmen  joined  them. 
Taking  a  musket  from  one  of  the  guards,  Eraser  shot 
the  foremost  of  the  troopers  dead,  and  those  who  fol- 
lowed, seeing  their  comrade  drop,  feU  back  a  little 
space;  but  the  multitude  behind  pressed  on,  and  it 
was  soon  apparent  that  safety  was  to  be  found  only  in 
flight.  Eraser  then  re-entered  his  buggy  and  drove 
for  the  Lahore  Gate  of  the  Palace,  whilst  Douglas 
flung  hhnself  into  the  ditch  of  the  Eort,  and  though 
severely  injured  by  the  fall,  thus  sheltered  from  the 
fire  of  the  enemy,  crept  towards  the  Palace  Gate. 
Some  Chuprassies  of  the  Palace  Guard,  who  had  fol- 
lowed him,  lifted  him  up,  almost  powerless  from  the 
injuries  he  had  received,  and  one  of  them  took  the 
Captain  on  his  shoulders  and  carried  him  into  the 
Palace.  Presently  Eraser  and  Hutchinson,  the  Col- 
lector, who  had  been  wounded  at  the  commencement 
of  the  aflfray,  arrived  also  at  the  Palace.* 

*  All  this  is   neoessarilT  given  other  that  he  arrived  with  Mr.  Fra- 

upon  Native  evidence,  adclnced  at  ser.    A  third  sajs,  that  as  soon  as 

the  trials  of  the  King  of  De^i  and  Captain  Douglas  was  able  to  speak, 

Moghul  Beg.    In  some  respects  the  he  ordered  his  Chnprassies  to  search 

statements  are  contradictory.    One  for  Mr.  Hutchinson  and  bring  him 

witness  says  that  Mr.  Hutchinson  into  the  Palace, 
accompanied  Captain  Donghu ;  an- 


MASSAOBE  IN  THE  PALACE.  79 

In  the  apartments  occupied  by  Captain  Douglas,  1857. 
there  were  then  residing,  as  his  guests,  Mr.  Jennings,  ^^^  ^^* 
the  English  Chaplain,  Miss  Jennings,  his  daughter,  5Jr^^rL«- 
and  a  young  lady  named  CUfford,  a  friend  of  the 
latter.  Mr.  Jennings  had  from  an  early  hour  of  the 
morning  been  watching  through  a  telescope  the  ad- 
vance of  the  Meerut  mutineers,  and  he  knew  that 
there  was  mischief  in  the  wind.  Hearing  a  noise,  he 
went  below,  and  found  that  Captain  Douglas  had 
just  been  brought  in  and  placed  on  a  stone-seat  in  a 
lower  court.  Under  his  directions,  Douglas  and 
Hutchinson  were  carried  by  some  of  the  Palace  Guards 
up  the  staircase  to  the  apartments  over  the  gateway,* 
whilst  Eraser  remained  below,  endeavouring  to  allay 
the  excitement.  Standing  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs, 
with  a  sword  in  his  hand,  the  last-named  was  address- 
ing a  noisy  crowd,  when  a  man  named  Moghul  Beg, 
an  orderly  of  the  Palace  Guards,  rushed  upon  him  and 
clove  his  cheek  to  the  bone.t  The  others  followed 
up  the  attack,  cutting  at  him  with  their  swords,  and 
presently  Simon  Eraser,  Commissioner,  lay  a  corpse  at 
the  foot  of  the  stairs. 

Meanwhile,    in  the  upper  rooms,    Douglas  and  Murder  of  the 
Hutchinson  were  lying  m  grievous  pam,  and  the         ^ 
Jennings  family  were  ministering  to  them.    The  ex- 
cited  crowd,  having  murdered  the  Commissioner,  now 
rushed  up  the  staircase  eager  for  the  blood  of  the 
other  English  gentlemen.     An  attempt  was  made  to 

*  Some  statements  are  to  the  the  ri^ht  side  of  his  neck."    But  at 

efiPectthatMr.JenningsandMr.Hut-  the  tnal  of  Moghul  Beg,  five  years 

chinson  carried  Douglas  up-stairs.  afterwards  (1862),  it  was  stated  by 

t  Here,  again,  there  is  discordant  one  Boktawuss  Sing  that  he  *'  atcw 

evidence.    On  the  trial  of  the  King,  the  prisoner  inflict  the  first  wound 

it  was  more  than  once  stated  that  which  was  on  Mr.  Eraser's  face." 

the  first  blow  was  struck  by  one  Another  witness,  Kishun  Singh,  also 

Hadjee,  a  lapidary  or  seal-engrayer,  stated,  '*  I  saw  the  prisoner  strike 

who  (according  to  one  witness)  "  in-  the  first  blow."    See  further  state- 

flicted  a  deep  and  mortal  wound  on  ments  in  the  Appendix. 


80  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  close  the  doors  al  the  head  of  the  staircases,  but  the 
^*y  II*  murderous  gang  forced  their  way  upwards,  streamed 
into  the  rooms  where  Douglas,  Hutchinson,  Jennings, 
and  the  innocent  young  Englishwomen  were  listening 
with  dismay  to  the  tumult  below,  and,  before  a  prayer 
could  be  lifted  up,  had  massacred  them  with  exultant 
ferocity.  It  was  quickly  done.  A  brief  and  bloody 
murder,  terrible  to  contemplate,  then  stained  the 
Delhi  Palace ;  but  no  circumstances  of  shameful  out- 
rage aggravated  the  horror  of  the  deed.* 

There  was  then  a  scene  of  fearful  uproar  and  con- 
fusion, which  filled  the  old  King  with  bewilderment 
and  terror.  The  murderers,  with  their  blood-stained 
swords  in  their  hands,  went  about  boasting  of  their 
crimes,  aud  calling  upon  others  to  follow  their 
example.  The  court-yards  and  the  corridors  of  the 
Palace  were  swarming  with  the  mutineers  of  the 
Third  Cavalry  and  of  the  Thirty-eighth,  and  soon 
the  Meerut  Infantry  Regiments  f  began  to  swell  the 
dangerous  crowd,  whilst  an  excited  Mahomedan 
rabble  mingled  with  the  Sepoys  and  the  Palace 
Guards.  The  troopers  stabled  their  horses  in  the 
courts  of  the  Palace.  The  foot-men,  weary  with  the 
long  night  march,  turned  the  Hall  of  Audience  into  a 
barrack,  and  littered  down  on  the  floor.  Guards  were 
posted  all  about  the  Palace.  And  the  wretched, 
helpless  King  found  that  his  royal  dwelling-house 
was  in  military  occupation. 

*  It  was  stated,  and  for  some  time  it  is  on  evidence  that  Captain  Doug- 
believed,  that  the  English  ladies  had  las,  shortly  before  his  death,  sent  a 
been  dragged  before  the  King,  and  message  to  the  King,  requesting  him 
either  murdered  in  his  presence  or  by  to  send  palanquins  to  remove  the 
his  orders,  and  some  highly  dramatic  ladies  to  tne  Queen's  apartments,  and 
incidents  liave  been  puolished  illus-  that  he  did  so — but  too  late, 
trative  of  this  complicity  of  the  f  There  is  considerable  diversity 
Mogul  in  the  first  murders.  But  of  statement  relating  to  the  hour  at 
there  is  not  the  least  foundation  for  which  the  Meerut  Infantry  Hegi- 
these  stories.    On  the  other  hand,  ments  arrived. 


MASSACRE  IN  THB  EUROPEAN  QUARTER.  81 

Whilst  these  events  were  passing  within  the  pre-  1867. 
cincts  of  the  Palace,  in  the  quarter  of  the  city  most  in-  *^  ' 
habited  by  the  English  residents  the  work  of  carnage 
and  destruction  was  proceeding  apace.  It  is  not  easy 
to  fix  the  precise  hour  at  which  each  particular  inci- 
dent in  the  dreadful  catalogue  of  crime  and  suffering 
occurred.  But  it  seems  to  have  been  under  the  me- 
ridian sun  that  the  principal  unofficial  Englishmen 
in  Delhi  fell  victims  to  the  fury  of  the  enemy. 
About  noon  the  Delhi  Bank  was  attacked  and  plun-  g^^^^  ®  " 
dcred,  and  all  its  chief  servants,  after  a  brave  resist- 
ance, massacred.  Mr.  Beresford,  the  manager  of  the 
Bank,  took  refuge  with  his  wife  and  family  on  the 
roof  of  one  of  the  outbuildings.  And  there,  for 
some  time,  they  stood  at  bay,  he  with  a  sword  in  his 
hand,  ready  to  strike,  whilst  his  courageous  help- 
mate was  armed  with  a  spear.  Thus,  with  resolute 
bravery,  they  defended  the  gorge  of  the  staircase, 
until  the  assailants,  seeing  no  hope  of  clearing  the 
passage,  retired  to  scale  the  walls  in  the  rear  of  the 
house.  The  attack  was  then  renewed,  but  still  the 
little  party  on  the  roof  made  gallant  resistance.  It 
is  related  by  an  eye-witness  that  one  man  fell  dead 
beneath  the  lady's  spear.  But  to  resist  was  but  to 
protract  the  pains  of  death.  They  were  overpowered 
and  killed,  and  the  Bank  was  gutted  from  floor  to 
roof.  The  Delhi  Press  establishment  shared  the  same  ^  ^^^ 
fate.  The  Christian  compositors  had  gathered  there, 
in  pursuance  of  their  craft ;  and  never,  perhaps,  since 
the  first  dawn  of  printing,  had  work  been  done, 
sadder  and  grimmer  than  this — for  it  was  theirs  to 
record  in  type  that  the  hand  of  death  was  upon 
them.  The  telegraph  had  brought  in  the  early  morn* 
ing  tidings  that  the  Meerut  mutineers  were  hastening 
to  Delhi,  and  would  soon  be  at  the  city  gates.     Some 

VOL.  11.  0 


82  THE  SEIZUBE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  must  have  felt  then  that  they  were  composing  their 
May  11.  Qy^  death-warrants-  The  little  slips  of  printed 
paper — ^Delhi  Gazette  "  Extras" — ^went  forth,  and  the 
printers  remained  to  meet  the  crisis,  which  they  had 
just  announced.  About  mid-day  a  crowd  of  insur- 
gents rushed  into  the  office,  killed  all  the  Christian 
compositors,  who  could  not  effect  their  escape,  and 
with  clubs  and  poles  destroyed  the  house  and  its 
contents,  taking  away  all  the  type  that  they  could 
carry,  to  turn  to  another  and  a  deadlier  use.  Every- 
where the  Christian  people  were  butchered,  their 
property  was  plundered  or  destroyed,  and  then  their 
houses  were  fired.*  The  Church  was  an  especial 
object  of  the  fury  of  the  insurgents.  They  gloated 
over  the  desecration  of  all  that  was  held  in  rever- 
ence by  our  Christian  people.  They  tore  down  and 
shattered  the  monumental  slabs  on  the  walls ;  they 
seized  the  sacramental  plate ;  then  they  ascended  to 
the  bdfry,  rang  a  peal  in  derision,  and,  loosening  or 
cutting  the  ropes,  let  the  bells  fall  with  a  crasii  on 
the  stones  below. 


Cantonments  Meanwhile,  there  was  great  excitement  in  the 
British  Cantonments,  where  the  Sepoy  regiments  of 
the  Company  were  posted.  Our  military  force  was 
cantoned  on  a  Ridge  overlooking  the  great  city,  at  a 
distance  of  about  two  miles  from  it.  There  had  during 
the  preceding  week  been  no  symptoms  of  inquietude 

*  "Private  houses  were  entered  cleared  out  the  best-regulated  houses 

by  troopers  (their  horses  being  held  from  puniah  to  floor-cloth.     They 

at  the  gates  of  the  gardens),  who  then  either  set  fire  to  the  house,  or, 

said  they  did  not  come  for  loot  but  if  it  were  not  of  an  inflammable 

/t/%,  and  when  thejwere  disappointed  nature,  they  pulled  out  the  doors 

in  their  greed  for  European  life,  they  and  window-frames,  &c.,  in  some 

let  in  the  budmashes  of  the  city,  cases  the  beams  from  the  roofs." — 

who,  in  the  space  of  half  an  hour,  Mr.  WagmUreiber'i  Narraiive. 


EVENTS  m  CANTONMENTS.  83 

« 

among  them.     Some  Native  officers  from  the  Delhi      1857. 
regiments  had  been  sitting  on  the  great  Meerut  Court-     ^"^ 
Martial;   but  how  far  they  sympathised  with  the 
prisoners  cannot  be  confidently  declared.     It  would 
have  been  strange,  however,  if  what  had  happened  at 
Barrackpore  and  Berhampore  had  not  been  discussed 
at  Meerut,  and  if  the  Native  officers  had  not  carried 
back  with  them  that  uneasy  feeling  of  the  something 
coming  which  was  rapidly  spreading  from  station  to 
station.     It  is  certain,  however,  that  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  which  saw  at  Meerut  the 
first  great  baptism  of  blood,  a  carriage  arrived  in  the 
Delhi  Cantonments  full  of  Natives,  who,  though  not  in 
regimental  uniform,  were  known  to  be  Sepoys  from 
Meerut.*  What  was  said  or  done  in  the  lines  on  that 
evening  and  during  the  ensuing  night  can  only  be 
conjectured.   But  the  following  morning  found  every 
regiment  ripe  for  revolt. 

At  the  early  sunrise  parade  of  that  day  all  the 
troops  in  the  Delhi  Cantonments — the  Thirty-eighth,  . 
the  Fifty-fourth,  and  Seventy-fourth  Regiments,  with 
the  Native  Artillery — ^were  assembled  to  hear  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Court-Martial  on  Issuree  Pandy,  the 
Barrackpore  Jemadar,  t  read  aloud;  and  as  they  were 
read,  there  arose  from  the  assembled  Sepoys  a  murmur 
of  disapprobation.  There  was  nothing  beyond  this ;  but 
some  officers  in  Cantonments,  who  had  been  eagerly 
watching  the  signs  of  the  times,  felt  that  a  crisis  was 
approaching.  At  the  early  breakfast,  however,  where 
our  officers  met  each  other,  after  morning  parade,  at 
mess-houses  or  private  bungalows,  there  was  the 
wonted  amount  of  light-hearted  conversation  and 
careless  laughter.    And  when  they  separated,  and 

*  See  eridence  of  Captain  T^er       f  Issuree  Fandv  had  beea  hanged 
at  the  trial  of  the  King  of  Delhi.         on  April  22tid.^An(e  vol.  i.  p.  584. 

G  2 


84  THE  SEIZUBE  OF  DELHI. 

• 

IW*  each  man  went  to  his  home  to  bathe  and  dress,  and 
May  11.  prepare  for  the  larger  breakfast  and  the  business  or 
the  pleasure  of  the  morning,  it  was  not  thought  that 
the  day  would  differ  from  other  days.  But  before  the 
work  of  the  toilet  was  at  an  end,  our  people  were 
startled  by  the  tidings  that  the  Native  Cavalry  from 
Meerut  were  forcing  their  way  into  the  city.  Native 
servants  and  Sepoy  orderlies  carried  the  news  to  their 
officers,  and  every  man  hurried  on  his  clothes,  feeling 
that  there  was  work  before  him.  But  even  then  the 
prevailing  idea  was  that  there  had  been  an  escape 
from  gaol ;  no  more.  No  one  thought  that  there  was 
danger  to  an  Empire.  If,  it  was  said,  the  troops  at 
Meerut  had  mutinied,  the  strong  body  of  Europeans 
there — the  Rifles,  the  ^Carabineers,  and  the  white 
Artillery — ^would  surely  have  been  upon  their  track. 
It  was  not  possible  that  more  than  a  few  fugitives 
could  ever  reach  Delhi. 
Colonel  Rip.  So  argued  our  officers  on  the  Delhi  Ridge,  as  they 
Kl4"foiir^  listened  to  the  bugle-call  and  buckled  on  their  swords. 
The  Fifty-fourth  were  ordered  out  for  service,  and 
two  of  De  Tessier's  guns  were  to  accompany  them  to 
the  city.  It  was  necessarily  a  work  of  time  to  get  the 
field-pieces  ready  for  action ;  so  Ripley,  leaving  two 
companies  to  escort  the  Artillery,  marched  ddwn  to 
the  nearest  gate.  This  was  the  Cashmere  Gate.  A 
little  way  on  the  other  side  of  it  was  the  Main-guard, 
at  which  some  men  of  the  Thirty-eighth  were  posted. 
They  had  already  in  their  hearts  cast  in  their  lot  with 
the  mutineers,  and  when  Ripley  appeared  with  the 
Fifty-fourth,  the  time  for  action  had  come,  and  they 
threw  off  then  the  last  remnant  of  disguise.  The 
troopers  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  with  the  insurgent 
rabble  from  the  toAvn,  were  surging  onwards  towards 
the  gate.    The  Fifty-fourth,  who  had  brought  down 


PROGRESS  OF  MUTINY.  85 

their  pieces  unloaded,  now  received  the  order  to  load ;  1857. 
and  meanwhile,  Captain  Wallace,  acting  as  field-  Mayii. 
ofiicer  of  the  day,  who  had  taken  command  of  the 
Main-guard,  ordered  the  Thirty-eighth  to  fire  upon 
the  mutineers.  To  this  they  responded  only  with 
insulting  sneers.  Not  a  man  brought  his  musket  to 
the  "  present." 

This  was  the  turning-point  of  the  great  disaster. 
The  Fifty-fourth  were  scarcely  less  faithless  than  their 
comrades.  They  fired  in  the  air,  and  some,  perhaps, 
fired  upon  their  officers.*  After  shooting  two  of  the 
insurgents,  Ripley  was  cut  down,  and  near  him  fell 
also  the  lifeless  bodies  of  Smith  and  Burrowes, 
Edwards  and  Waterfield.  When  the  two  companies 
in  the  rear  approached  the  Cashmere  Gate  with  the 
guns,  they  met  Captain  Wallace  riding  in  hot  haste 
towards  them ;  he  begged  them,  for  mercy's  sake,  to 
hurry  on,  as  the  troopers  were  shooting  down  our 
officers.  Soon  they  had  ghastly  evidence  of  this 
dismal  truth,  for  the  mangled  body  of  their  Colonel 
was  being  brought  out,  "literally  hacked  to  pieces." 
Paterson  then  ordered  his  men  to  load,  and  pushed 
on  with  all  speed  to  the  gate.  But  the  report  of  the 
approach  of  the  guns  had  already  awed  the  mutineers, 
and  when  they  passed  the  gate,  our  officers  found  no 
trace  of  the  enemy  whom  they  had  come  to  attack, 
except  in  the  receding  figures  of  a  few  troopers,  who 
were  scampering  towards  the  city.  But  they  found 
most  miserable  traces  of  the  preceding  conflict,  in  the 
dead  bodies  of  their  comrades,  which  were  scattered 
about  the  place.  These  were  now  brought  in  to  the 
Main-guard,  before  which  the  guns  had  been  planted, 

*  There  seems  to  be  some  doubt  Lowerer^thatColonel  Ripley  declared 
aboat  the  conduct  of  the  Fifty-fourth  that  his  own  men  had  bayoneted 
ia  this  first  collision.    It  is  stated^    him* 


86  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1867.      and  the  two  companies  of  the  Fifty-fourth  posted  as  a 
May  11.    garrison.    And  there  they  remained  hour  after  hour, 
gaining  no  assured  intelligence  of  the  movements  of 
the  rebels,  and  ever  cheerful  in  the  thought  that  aid 
from  Meerut,  with  its  strong  European  force,  must 
certainly  be  close  at  hand. 
Major  Abbott     Meanwhile,  Captain  Wallace  had  been  directed  by 
Seventy.        Major  Patcrson  to  bring  up  the  Seventy-fourth  Regi- 
fourtb.  ment,  with  two  more  guns.    Major  Abbott,  on  gaining 

intelligence  of  the  defection  of  the  Thirty-eighth,  and 
the  doubtful  conduct  of  the  Fifty-fourth,  mounted  his 
horse,  hastened  to  the  lines  of  his  regiment,  and  ad- 
dressed his  men.  He  told  them  that  the  time  had  come 
for  them   to  prove  that  they  were  true  and  loyal 
soldiers ;  and  he  called  for  volunteers  to  accompany 
him  down  to  the  Cashmere  Gate.  There  was  not  a  man 
there  who  did  not  come  to  the  front ;  and  when  the 
order  was  given  to  load,  they  obeyed  it  with  befitting 
alacrity.     Then  they  marched  down,  with  two  more 
guns,  under  Lieutenant  Aislabie,  and  about  mid-day 
were  welcomed  by  Paterson  and  his  party  at  the  Main- 
guard.  The  force  at  this  post  had  now  been  strength- 
ened by  the  return  of  some  Sepoys  of  the  Fifty- 
fourth,  who  had  gone  off  in  the  confusion,  and,  having 
roamed  about  for  some  time  in  a  state  of  bewilder- 
ment and  panic,  had  at  last  turned  back  to  the  point 
from  which  they  had  started,  hanging  on  to  the  skirts 
of  circumstance,  wondering  what  would  be  the  result, 
and  waiting  to  see  whether  a  retributive  force  from 
Meerut  was  sweeping  into  the  City  of  the  Mogul. 
At  tiie  Main-      Time  passcd,  and  the  slant  shadows  thrown  by  the 
descending  sun  Vere  falling  upon  the  Main-guard. 
Yet  still  no  authentic  intelligence  of  what  was  pass- 
ing in  the  city  reached  our  expectant  officers,  except 
that  which  was  conveyed  to  them  by  European 


.1 9  ■  '  J      >  ■.■■     .■__*>..  XU.L-LL  ^WSa^^r 


AT  THE  MAIN-GUARD.  87 

fugitives  who  sought  safety  there  from  "other  parts  1857. 
of  the  city.  Scared  and  bewildered  they  had  come  in,  ^^^  •^^' 
each  with  some  story  of  an  escape  from  death,  provi- 
dential—  almost  miraculous.  But  there  was  little 
room  for  rejoicing,  as  it  seemed  to  them  that  they 
had  been  saved  from  old  dangers  only  to  encounter 
new.  At  the  Main-guard  they  were  surrounded  by 
Sepoys,  waiting  only  a  fitting  opportunity  to  dis- 
encumber themselves  of  the  last  remnant  of  their  out- 
ward fidelity.  At  any  moment  they  might  break  out 
into  open  revolt,  and  shoot  down  the  Europeans  of 
both  sexes  congregated  in  the  enclosure.  It  was  a 
time  of  intense  anxiety.  It  was  evident  that;  the  in- 
surrection  was  raging  in  the  city.  There  was  a  con- 
fused  roar,  presaging  a  great  tumult,  and  smoke  and 
fire  were  seen  ascending  from  the  European  quarter. 
Then  there  was,  at  intervals,  a  sound  of  Artillery, 
the  meaning  of  which  was  not  correctly  known,  and 
then  a  tremendous  explosion,  which  shook  the  Main- 
guard  to  its  very  foundation.  Looking  to  the  quarter 
whence  the  noise  proceeded,  they  saw  a  heavy  column 
of  smoke  obscuring  the  sky ;  and  there  was  no  doubt 
in  men's  minds  that  the  great  Magazine  had  exploded 
— ^whether  by  accident  or  design  could  only  be  con- 
jectured. But  whilst  the  party  in  the  Guard-house 
were  speculating  on  the  event,  two  European  officers 
joined  them,  one  of  whom  was  so  blackened  with 
smoke  that  it  was  difficult  to  discern  his  features. 
They  were  Artillery  subalterns,  who  had  just  escaped 
from  the  great  explosion.  The  story  which  it  was 
theirs  to  teU  is  one  which  will  never  be  forgotten. 


The  great  Delhi  Magazine,  with  all  its  vast  sup- Explosion  of 
plies  of  munitions  of  war,  was  in  the  city  at  no  great    *    ^s*^"^®- 


§8  Tfifi  ^mi3U  OF  ttLBl. 

1857,  distance  from  the  Palace.  It  was  in  charge  of  Lieu- 
May  11.  tenant  George  Willoughby,  of  the  Bengal  Artillery, 
with  whom  were  associated  Lieutenants  Forrest  and 
Raynor,  officers  of  the  Ordnance  Commissariat  De- 
partment, and  six  European  Conductors  and  Com- 
missariat Sergeants.  All  the  rest  of  the  establishment 
was  Native.  Early  morning  work  is  a  condition  of 
Anglo-Indian  life,  and  Willoughby  was  at  the  Maga- 
zine superintending  the  accustomed  duties  of  his  de- 
partment, and  little  dreaming  what  the  day  would 
bring  forth,  when  Forrest  came  in  accompanied  by  the 
magistrate,  Sir  Theophilus  Metcalfe,  and  informed 
him  that  the  Meerut  mutineers  were  streaming  across 
the  river.  It  was  Metcalfe's  object  to  obtain  from  the 
Magazine  a  couple  of  guns  wherewith  to  defend  the 
Bridge.  But  it  was  soon  apparent  that  the  time  for 
such  defence  had  passed.  The  troopers  had  crossed 
the  river,  and  had  found  ingress  at  the  Palace  Gate. 
A  brave  and  resolute  man,  who,  ever  in  the  midst  of 
danger,  seemed  almost  to  bear  a  charmed  life,  Met- 
calfe then  went  about  other  work,  and  Willoughby 
braced  himself  up  for  the  defence  of  the  Magazine. 
He  knew  how  much  depended  on  its  safety.  He  knew 
that  not  only  the  mutinous  soldiery,  but  the  danger- 
ous classes  of  Delhi,  would  pour  down  upon  the  Maga- 
zine, some  eager  to  seize  its  accumulated  munitions  of 
war,  others  greedy  only  for  plunder.  If,  he  thought, 
he  could  hold  out  but  a  little  while,  the  white  re- 
giments at  Meerut  would  soon  come  to  his  aid,  and  a 
strong  guard  of  English  Riflemen  with  guns  manned 
by  European  artillerymen,  would  make  the  Magazine 
secure  against  all  comers.  It  was  soon  plain  that  the 
Native  establishment  of  the  Magazine  was  not  to  be 
trusted.  But  there  were  nine  resolute  Englishmen 
who  calmly  prepared  themselves  to  face  the  tremen- 


D£F£NC£  OF  THE  MAGAZINE.  89 

dous  odds  which  threatened  them,  and,  if  the  sacrifice  1857. 
were  required,  to  die  beneath  the  ruins  of  the  Maga-  ^^^  ^^' 
zine.  Cheered  by  the  thought  of  the  approaching 
succour  from  Meerut,  these  brave  men  began  their 
work.  The  outer  gates  were  closed  and  barricaded. 
Guns  were  then  brought  out,  loaded  with  double 
charges  of  grape,  and  posted  within  the  gates.  One 
of  the  Nine,  with  port-fire  in  hand,  stood  ready  to  dis- 
charge the  contents  of  the  six-pounders  full  upon  the 
advancing  enemy  if  they  should  find  their  way  into 
the  enclosure.  These  arrahgements  completed,  a 
train  was  laid  from  the  powder-magazine,  and  on  a 
given  signal  from  Willoughby,  if  further  defence 
should  be  hopeless,  a  match  was  to  be  applied  to  it, 
and  the  Magazine  blown  into  the  air. 

Whilst  in  this  attitude  of  defence,  a  summons  to 
surrender  came  to  them  in  the  name  of  the  King«  It 
was  treated  with  contemptuous  silence.  Again  and 
again  messengers  came  from  the  Palace  saying  that 
his  Majesty  had  ordered  the  gates  to  be  opened,  and 
the  stores  given  up  to  the  Army.  If  not,  ladders 
would  be  sent,  and  the  Magazine  would  be  carried  by 
escalade.  Unmoved  by  these  menaces,  Willoughby 
and  Forrest  answered  nothing,  but  looked  to  their 
defences ;  and  presently  it  was  plain  that  the  scaling- 
ladders  had  arrived.  The  enemy  were  swarming  over 
the  walls.  At  this  point  all  the  Natives  in  the  Maga- 
zine, the  gun-lascars,  the  artificers  and  others  whose 
defection  had  been  expected,  threw  off  their  disguise, 
and,  ascending  some  sloping  sheds,  joined  the  enemy 
on  the  other  side. 

The  time  for  vigorous  action  had  now  arrived.  As 
the  enemy  streamed  over  the  walls,  round  after  round 
of  murderous  grape-shot  from  our  guns,  delivered 
with  all  the  coolness  and  steadiness  of  a  practice- 


90  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

ft 

1857.  parade,  riddled  the  advancing  multitudes;  but  still 
:May  11.  they  poured  on,  keeping  up  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry 
from  the  walls.*  Yet  hoping  almost  against  hope 
to  hear  the  longed-for  sound  of  the  coming  help  from 
Meerut,  the  devoted  Englishmen  held  their  ground 
until  their  available  ammunition  was  expended.  Then 
further  defence  was  impossible ;  they  could  not  leave 
the  guns  to  bring  up  shot  from  the  Magazine,  and 
there  were  none  to  help  them.  Meanwhile,  the 
mutineers  were  forcing  their  way  at  other  unpro- 
tected points  into  the  great  enclosure,  and  it  was 
plain  that  the  Nine — two  among  them  wounded, 
though  not  disabled,  for  the  strong  will  kept  them  at 
their  posts — could  no  longer  hold  the  great  storehouse 
from  the  grasp  of  the  enemy.  So  the  signal  was 
given.  Conductor  Scully  fired  the  train.  In  a  few 
seconds  there  was  a  tremendous  explosion.  The 
Magazine  had  been  blown  into  the  air. 

Not  one  of  that  gallant  band  expected  to  escape 
with  his  life.  But  four  of  the  Nine,  in  the  confusion 
which  ensued,  though  at  first  stunned  and  bewildered, 
shattered  and  bruised,  made  good  their  retreat  from 
the  ruins.  Willoughby  and  Forrest,  it  has  been  seen, 
escaped  to  the  Main-guard.  Rajnior  and  Buckley 
took  a  dijSferent  direction,  and  eventually  reached 
Meerut.  Scully  and  his  gallant  comrades  were  never 
seen  alive  again.  But  the  lives  thus  nobly  sacrificed 
were  dearly  paid  for  by  the  enemy.  Hundreds 
perished  in  that  great  explosion ;  and  others  at  a 
distance  were  struck  down  by  the  fragments  of  the 
building,  or  by  bullets  flung  from  the  cartridges 
ignited  in  store.  But  it  was  not  possible  that  by  any 
such  explosion  as  this  the  immense  material  resources 

*  The  assailants  appear  to  have    Eleventh  and  Twentieth  Eegiments 
been    principally   Sepoys    of    the    from  Meerut. 


EVENTS  IN  THE  CANTONMENT.  91 

of  the  great  Delhi  Magazine  should  be  so  destroyed  1857. 
as  to  be  unserviceable  to  the  enemy.  The  effect  of  ^"^  ^^• 
the  heroic  deed,  which  has  given  to  those  devoted 
Nine  a  cherished  place  in  History,  can  never  be 
exactly  computed.  But  the  grandeur  of  the  con- 
ception is  not  to  be  measured  by  its  results.  From 
one  end  of  India  to  another  it  filled  men's  minds 
with  enthusiastic  admiration ;  and  when  news  reached 
England  that  a  young  Artillery  officer  named  Wil- 
loughby  had  blown  up  the  Delhi  Magazine,  there  was 
a  burst  of  applause  that  came  from  the  deep  heart  of 
the  nation.  It  was  the  first  of  many  intrepid  acts 
which  have  made  us  proud  of  our  countrymen  in 
India ;  but  its  brilliancy  has  never  been  eclipsed. 


In  the  British  Cantonment  on  the  Ridge  a  column  Progress  of 
of  white  smoke  was  seen  to  arise  from  the  city,  andS^enU. 
presently  the  sound  of  the  explosion  was  heard.  It 
was  then  four  o'clock.  Brigadier  Graves  and  the 
officers  under  him  had  been  exerting  themselves  to 
keep  together  such  of  the  troops  as  had  not  marched 
down  to  the  Delhi  City,  ever  hoping  that  the  Euro- 
peans from  Meerut  would  soon  come  to  their  relief, 
and  wondering  why  they  were  so  long  in  making 
their  appearance.  It  seemed  strange,  but  it  was  pos- 
sible, that  the  extent  of  the  danger  was  not  appre- 
hended by  General  Hewitt ;  strange  that  it  should  be 
necessary  to  send  for  succours  to  Meerut,  and  yet,  as 
the  day  advanced  and  no  help  came,  it  clearly  had 
become  necessary  to  appeal  for  the  aid  which  ought 
to  have  been  freely  and  promptly  sent.  Then  one  brave 
man  stepped  forward  and  offered  to  carry  a  letter  to 
the  General  at  Meerut.  This  was  Doctor  Batson,  the 
Surgeon  of  the  Seventy-fourth  Regiment.  The  gallant 


92  THE  8EIZUBE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  oflFer  was  ^accepted.  The  letter  was  written,  and 
May  11.  placed  in  Batson's  hands.  He  took  leave  of  his  wife 
and  children,  whom  he  might  never  see  again,  dis- 
guised himself  as  a  Fakeer,  and  set  forth  on  his  peril- 
ous journey.  But  well  as  he  played  his  part,  and 
able  as  he  was  to  speak  the  language  of  the  country 
as  fluently  as  his  own,  he  had  not  proceeded  far  before 
his  disguise  was  penetrated ;  the  colour  of  his  eyes 
had  betrayed  him.  He  was  fired  upon  by  the 
Sepoys,  robbed  and  stripped  by  the  villagers,  and 
finally  cast  adrift,  to  wander  about  naked  and  hungry, 
weary  and  footsore,  passing  through  every  kind  of 
peril,  and  enduring  every  kind  of  pain. 

All  day  long  the  Sepoys  in  the  Cantonment  had 
been  hovering  upon  the  brink  of  open  mutiny.  They 
had  committed  no  acts  of  violence  against  their 
officers,  but,  like  their  comrades  at  the  Main-guard, 
though  held  back  by  the  fear  of  the  white  regiments 
that  were  expected  from  Meerut,  they  were  festering 
with  the  bitterness  of  national  hatred,  and  eager  to 
strike.  The  ladies  and  children  had  been  gathered 
up  and  sheltered  in  a  place  known  as  the  Flagstaff 
Tower.*  There  two  of  De  Tessier's  guns  were  posted ; 
but  the  Native  gunners  were  not  to  be  trusted,  and 
besides  the  officers,  there  were  only  nineteen  Euro- 

*  Tliia  Flagstaff  Tower  became  that  expression  of  anxiety  so  near 

afterwards  verj  celebrated  in  the  akin  to  despair.    Here  were  widows 

history  of  the  siege  of  Delhi.    On  mourning  their  husbands'   murder, 

that  11th  of  May  it  was  little  better  sisters  weeping  over  the  report  of  a 

than  a  "  Black  Hole."    The  scene  brother's  death,  and  some  there  were 

within  the  tower  is  thus  described  whose  husbands  were  still  on  duty  in 

by  an  eye-witness :  "Here  we  found  the  midst  of  the  disaffected  Sepoys, 

a  large  number  of  ladies  and  children  of  whose  fate  they  were   as   yet 

collected  in    a  round  room  some  ignorant.    It  was  a  Black  Hole  in 

eighteen  feet  in  diameter.  Servants,  miniature,  with  all  but  the  last  hor- 

male  and  female,  were  huddled  toge-  rible  features  of  that  dreadful  prison, 

tber  with  them;  many  ladies  were  in  a  and  I  was  glad  even  to  stand  in  the 

fainting  condition  from  extreme  heat  sun  to  catch  a  breath  of  fresh  air." 

and  nervous  excitement,  and  all  wore  •— JIfr.  WaffetUreiker's  Narraiite, 


ACTION  OF  THE  B07AL  FAMILY.  93 

peanS)  or  Christians,  in  the  Cantonment.  It  was  felt  1S57. 
that  at  any  moment  a  crisis  might  arrive,  when  ^"7  ^^• 
nothing  but  a  sudden  flight  could  save  the  lives  of 
this  little  handful  of  our  people.  The  explosion  of 
the  Magazine  seems  to  have  brought  on  the  inevitable 
moment,  when  the  last  links  that  bound  the  Native 
soldiery  to  their  European  officers  were  to  be  broken. 

At  the  Main-guard  in  the  City,  as  in  the  Canton-  Events  at  the 
ment  on  the  Ridge,  the  same  process  was  going  on  in  "S^^^- 
the  light  of  the  setting  sun.  The  disaffection  of  the 
Delhi  regiments  had  ripened  into  general  mutiny. 
The  last  restraints  were  flung  aside  under  an  assumed 
conviction  that  the  Europeans  from  Meerut  were  not 
coming  to  avenge  their  slaughtered  brethren.  The 
great  national  cause  was  swelling  into  portentous 
external  dimensions  under  the  inflations  of  the  King 
and  Princes,  and  others  of  stronger  lungs  than  their 
own.  Everywhere  it  had  been  noised  about  from 
early  morning  that  the  King  was  on  the  side  of  the 
mutineers,  and  that  to  fight  against  the  English  was 
to  fight  for  the  King — to  fight  for  the  restoration  of 
the  Mogul  throne — ^to  fight  for  the  religion  of  the 
Prophet.  And  as  the  day  advanced,  there  were  more 
unmistakable  signs  that  this  was  neither  an  invention 
nor  a  delusion.  The  inmates  of  the  Palace,  timid, 
feeble,  effete  as  they  were,  had  plainly  risen  against 
the  dominant  Christian  power.  The  yoke  of  the 
Feringhees  was  to  be  cast  off.  The  time  had  come 
when  all  the  great  offices  of  State  would  again  be 
filled  by  the  people  of  the  East — by  Mahomedans  and 
Hindoos,  under  the  restored  dynasty  of  the  Moguls. 
And  whilst  many  were  inspired  by  these  sentiments, 
many  abo  were  moved  by  a  great  lust  of  plunder; 
and  as  the  sun  neared  the  horizon,  and  still  there 


94  TH£  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1867.      were  no  signs  of  the  avenging  Englishmen  on  the 
May  11.    YQQ^^  from  Meerut,  massacre  and  spoliation  were  safe 
and  easy,  and  all  the  scum  of  Delhi,  therefore,  was 
seen  upon  the  surface  of  the  rebellion. 

To  hold  out  any  longer  against  such  overwhelming 
odds  was  now  wholly  impossible.  At  the  Main-guard 
the  massacre  of  our  people  was  commenced  by  a 
voUey  from  the  Thirty-eighth,  delivered  with  terrible 
effect  into  the  midst  of  them.  Gordon,  the  field- 
officer  of  the  day,  fell  from  his  horse  with  a  musket- 
ball  in  his  body,  and  died  without  a  groan.  Smith 
and  Reveley  of  the  Seventy-fourth,  were  shot  dead.* 
That  any  Christian  person  escaped  amidst  the  shower 
of  musketry  that  was  poured  upon  them  seemed  to  be 
a  miraculous  deliverance.  There  was  now  nothing 
left  to  the  survivors  but  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  There 
was  but  one  means  of  escape,  and  that  a  perilous, 
almost  a  hopeless,  one.  There  was  an  embrasure  in 
the  bastion  skirting  the  court-yard  of  the  Main-guard, 
through  which  egress  might  be  obtained,  and  by 
dropping  down  into  the  ditch — ^a  fall  of  some  thirty 
feet — and  ascending  the  opposite  scarp,  the  slope  of 
the  glacis  might  be  gained,  beyond  which  there  was 
some  jungle,  which  might  afford  cover  to  the  fugitives 
till  nightfall.  Young  and  active  officers,  not  crippled 
by  woimds,  might  accomplish  this ;  but  the  despairing 
cries  of  some  Englishwomen  from  the  inner  rooms  of 
the  Guard-house,  reminded  them  that  they  could  not 
think  wholly  of  themselves.  To  remain  in  the 
Guard  was  to  court  death.  The  mutineers  were  not 
only  firing  upon  our  people  with  their  muskets,  but 
pointing  their  guns  at  us.     The  only  hope  left  was  a 


The  latter  (Eeveley)  had  a    knot  of  Sepoys  below,  the  next  mo- 
.  ffun  in  his  hand ;  he  quietly    ment  expirecL'^ — UetUenant  Fibarfs 


loaded 

raised  fiimself  ap  with  a  dying  effort.    Narrative. 

and  discharging  both  bairela  into  a 


ESCAPE  FROM  THE  MAIN-GUABD.  95 

descent  into  the  ditch,  but  even  that  was  more  like  1857. 
despair.  So  thQ  women  were  brought  to  the  embra^  ^^^  ^^* 
sure,  and  whilst  in  terror  and  confusion  they  were 
discussing  the  possibility  of  the  descent,  a  round-shot 
passed  over  their  heads,  and  they  felt  that  there  was 
not  a  moment  to  be  lost.  The  officers  then  fastened 
their  belts  together,  and  thus  aided,  whilst  some 
dropped  into  the  ditch  to  receive  the  women,  others 
helped  them  from  above  to  descend.  At  last,  not 
without  much  difficulty,  aggravated  by  the  terror  of 
the  poor  creatures  who  were  being  rescued,  the  whole 
were  lowered  into  the  ditch ;  and  then  came  the  still 
more  difficult  task  of  ascending  the  opposite  bank. 
The  steepness  of  the  ascent  and  the  instability  of  the 
soil  made  their  footing  so  insecure,  that  again  and 
again  they  were  foiled  in  the  attempt  to  reach  the 
summit.  The  earth  gave  way  beneath  them,  and 
helping  men  and  helpless  women  rolled  back  to  the 
bottom  of  the  ditch  amidst  a  shower  of  crumbling 
earth.  Despair,  however,  gave  them  superhuman 
energy,  and  at  last  the  whole  of  our  little  party  had 
surmounted  the  outer  slope  of  the  ditch,  and  were 
safe  upon  the  crest  of  the  glacis.  Then  they  made 
their  way  into  the  juugle  which  skirted  it,  and  pushed 
on,  some  in  the  direction  of  the  Cantonments,  and 
some  in  the  direction  of  Metcalfe  House. 


Meanwhile,  in  the  British  Cantonment  on  the  Escape  from 
Ridge  our  people  had  been  reduced  to  the  same  ex-  Cantonraents. 
tremity  of  despair.  The  Sepoys  had  turned  upon 
them  and  now  held  possession  of  the  guns.  It  was 
no  longer  possible  to  defend  the  place  or  to  keep 
together  even  the  few  Native  soldiers  who  were  in- 
clined to  remain  faithful,  under  the  influence  of  old 


96  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1867.  habits  and  personal  attachments.  Two  circumstances, 
May  II.  however,  were  in  favour  of  the  English  in  Canton- 
ments. One  was,  that  the  Sepoys  at  a  distance  from 
the  Palace  and  the  City  were  less  acquainted  with  the 
extent  to  which  the  Royal  Family  and  the  Maho- 
medan  citizens  of  Delhi  were  aiding  and  supporting 
the  mutineers.  The  other  was,  that  our  officers,  being 
at  their  homes,  had  facilities  of  conveyance — ^horses, 
and  carriages,  and  carts — ^wherewith  to  carry  off  their 
families  to  Meerut  or  Kumaul,  with  some  provisions 
.  for  the  journey,  and  perhaps  some  of  the  remnant  of 
their  household  gods.  When  first  they  moved  off, 
there  was  a  slight  show  or  pretence  of  the  Sepoys  going 
with  them.  They  fell  in  to  the  word  of  command, 
and,  for  a  little  space,  accompanied  the  departing 
Englishmen  ;  'but  soon  the  columns  were  broken  up, 
the  Sepoys  streamed  into  the  Bazaars,  and  all  sem- 
blance of  discipline  was  abandoned.  Three  or  four 
officers,  who  had  remained  with  them,  tried  to  rally 
their  men  in  vain.  The  Sepoys  implored  them  to 
escape  before  the  rabble  from  the  city  burst  upon  the 
Cantonment.  Already,  indeed,  the  English  carriages 
had  been  lighted  upon  their  way  by  the  blaze  of  our 
burning  bungalows.  If  the  officers  who  were  the  last 
to  quit  the  Cantx)nment  could  rescue  the  regimental 
colours,  it  was  the  most  that  they  could  hope  to  ac- 
complish.* 
The  flight  So,  forth  from  the  Cantonment  and  forth  from  the 

rom       I.    Qj^y  ^^j^^  ^^^  fugitive  people.     Many  narratives  of 

deep  and  painful  interest  have  been  written,  descrip- 
tive of  the  sufferings  which  they  endured,  and  the 
dangers  which  they  encountered.     It  has  been  nar- 

*  The  last  to  quit  the  Cantonment    Gambier,  Captain  Peile,  and  Captain 
were,  apparently,  Colonel  Knyvett    Holland, 
of  the  Thirty-eighth^   Lieutenant 


INCIDENTS  OF  THE  FLIGHT.  97 

rated  how  they  hid  themselves  now  in  the  jungle,       1857. 
now  in  the  ruins  of  uninhabited  buildings ;  how  they  ^  11—12. 
tore  ofF  their  epaulettes  or  other  bright  appendages 
of  their  uniform  lest  they  should  attract  notice  by 
glittering  in  the  moonlight  or  the  sunshine ;  how  they 
crouched  like  hares  in  form,  or  hid  themselves  in 
gaps  and  hollows;  how  they  were  tracked  and  de- 
spoiled by  robbers ;  how  they  were  lured  into  seem- 
ingly friendly  villages  and  then  foully  maltreated; 
how  they  waded  through  or  swam  rivers,  carrying 
the  women  and  children  across  as  best  they  could ; 
how  they  were  beaten  and  stripped,  and  sent  on  their 
way  under  the  fierce  unclouded  sun  of  the  Indian 
summer,  without  clothing  and  without  food;  how 
they  often  laid  themselves  down  at  night  weary,  ex- 
hausted, and  in  sore  pain,  crouching  dose  to  each 
other  for  warmth,  expecting,   almost  hoping  that 
death  would  come  at  once  to  relieve  them  from  their 
sufferings ;  how  delicate  women  and  young  children 
struggled  on,  sometimes  separated  from  their  hus- 
bands or  fathers,  but  ever  finding  consolation  and 
support  in  the  kindly  and  chivalrous  ministrations  of 
English  gentlemen.*     Some  made  good  their  way  to 
Meerut,  some  to'Kurnaul,  some  to  Umballah.   Others 
perished  miserably  on  the  road,  and  a  few,  unable  to 
proceed,  were  left  behind  by  their  companions.    This 
was  the  sorest  trial  of  all  that  befel  the  fugitives.     It 
went  to  the  hearts  of  these  brave  men  to  abandon 
any  of  their  fellow-sufferers  who  could  not  longer 
share  their  flight.    But  there  was  no  help  for  it    So, 
once  or  twice,   after  vain  endeavours  to  carry  the 
helpless  one  to  a  place  of  safety,  it  was  found  that, 

*  And  nobly  the  women  played  Wood   and  Mrs.  Peile — saved   a 

their  parts,  and  not  always  as  the  wounded  officer,  the  husband  of  the 

weaker  yessels.    One  pubhshed  nar-  former,  who  could  not  have  moved 

rative  relates  how  two  ladies — ^Mrs.  onward  without  their  support. 

VOL.  II.  H 


98 


THE  SEIZUBE  OF  DELHI. 


1867.      with  the  enemy  on  their  track,  death  to  the  Many 
Maj  11—12.  jjj^t  follow  further  eflforts  to  save  the  One,  and  so 
the  wretched  creature  was  left  behind  to  die.* 

But  truth  would  not  be  satisfied  if  it  were  not 
narrated  here  that  many  compassionate  and  kindly 
acts  on  the  part  of  the  Natives  of  the  country  re- 
lieved the  darkness  of  the  great  picture  of  national 
crime.  Many  of  the  fugitives  were  succoured  by 
people  in  the  rural  districts  through  which  they 
passed,  and  sent  on  their  way  in  safety.  In  this  good 
work  men  of  all  classes,  from  great  landholders  to 
humble  sweepers  took  part,  and  endangered  their  own 
lives  by  saving  those  of  the  hapless  Christians,  f 


May  11—16.  Whilst  these  remnants  of  our  British  officers,  with 
Massacre  of  their  wives  and  children,  were  thus  miserably  escaping 
'"^^'''-  from  Delhi,  there  were  others  of  our  country  people, 
or  co-religionists,  who  were  in  pitiable  captivity  there, 
awaiting  death  in  a  stifling  dungeon.  These  were, 
for  the  most  part,  European  or  Eurasian  inhabitants 
of  the  Darao-gunj,  or  English  quarter  of  Delhi,  en- 
gaged in  commerce  or  trade.  On  the  morning  of  the 
11th  of  May,  many  of  these  people,  hearing  that  the 
mutineers  were  crossing  the  bridge,  gathered  them- 
selves  in  one  of  the  "largest  and  strongest  houses" 
occupied  by  our]  Christian  people,  and  there  barri- 
caded themselves.  These,  however,  and  others,  burnt 
or  dragged  out  of  their  houses,  escaped  death  only  to 


*  See  Lieutenant  Vibart's  Narra- 
tive. 

t  Mr.  Williams,  in  his  official  re- 
port, gives  a  list — but  not  a  complete 
one — of  the  Natives  who  succoured 
the  Delhi  fugitives.  See  also  narra- 
tive of  the  escape  of  Captain  T.  W. 
Holland :  "  There  being  no  milk  in 


the  viUage,  one  Pultoo  sweeper,  or 
others  of  his  family,  used  daily  to 
take  the  trouble  to  go  to  procure 
some  from  adiacent  villages."  Again : 
"I  remained  with  Jumnadass  (a 
Brahmin)  six  dajs.  He  gave  me 
the  best  part  of  his  house  to  live  in, 
and  the  best  food  he  could/'  &c.  &c. 


IfASSAOEE  OF  PRISONERS.  99 

be  carried  prisoners  to  the  Palace,  where  they  were  1857. 
confined  in  an  underground  apartment,  without  ^^  l^—i^- 
windows,  and. only  one  door,  so  that  little  either  of 
air  or  light  ever  entered  the  dreary  dwelling.  There 
nearly  my  Christian  people— men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren— ^were  huddled  together,  scantily  fed,  constantly 
threatened  and  insulted  by  the  Sepoys  and  Palace- 
guards,  but  bearing  up  bravely  beneath  the  burden 
of  their  sorrows.  After  four  or  five  days  of  this 
suJBTering,  a  servant  of  the  King  asked  one  of  the 
ladies  in  the  dungeon  how,  if  they  were  restored  to 
power,  the  English  would  treat  the  Natives ;  and  the 
answer  was,  "  Just  as  you  have  treated  our  husbands 
and  children."  On  the  following  day  they  were  led  M*y  i^- 
forth  to  die.  The  Palace-guards  came  to  the  prison- 
door  and  told  them  to  come  forth,  as  they  were  to  be 
taken  to  a  better  residence.  Sorely  mistrusting  their 
guards,  they  crowded  out  of  the  dungeon.  A  rope 
was  thrown  round  them,  encircling  the  party  so  that 
none  could  escape.  Then  they  were  taken  to  a  court- 
yard— ^the  appointed  shambles — ^where  great  crowds 
of  people  were  gathered  together  to  witness  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  Christians.  As  they  stood  there  cursing 
the  Feringhees  and  throwing  up  their  jubilant  crie^ 
the  work  of  slaughter  commenced.  It  is  not  easy  to 
tell  the  story  with  an  assured  belief  in  its  truth.  It 
seems,  however,  that  the  Nemesis  of  the  Third  Cavalry 
was  there ;  that  some  of  the  troopers  fired  with  car- 
bine or  pistol  at  the  prisoners,  but  by  mischance 
struck  one  of  the  King's  retainers.  Then  there  began 
a  carnage  at  the  sabre's  edge.  It  is  hard  to  say  how 
it  was  done.  Whether  many  or  whether  few  swords- 
men fell  upon  the  Christians  is  uncertain.*     But,  in 

*  One  statement  is  to  the  effect    fifty  men  fell  npon  them  with  their 
that  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and    swords;  and  another  is,  that  two 

h2 


100  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  a  brief  space  of  time,  fifty  Christian  people — ^raen, 
May  16.  -vvomen,  and  children — ^were  remorselessly  slain.*  A 
sweeper,  who  had  helped  to  dispose  of  the  corpses, 
bore  witness  that  there  were  only  five  or  six  men 
among  them.  The  bodies  were  heaped  up  on  a  cart, 
borne  to  the  banks  of  the  Jumna,  and  thrown  into 
the  river. 

So  there  was  not,  after  that  16th  of  May,  a  single 
European  left  in  Delhi,  either  in  the  Cantonment  or 
in  the  City.  The  British  had  no  longer  any  footing 
in  the  capital  of  the  Mogul.  We  had  been  swept  out 
by  the  great  besom  of  destruction,  and  Behaudur  Shah 
reigned  in  our  place.  Since  the  days  of  Suraj-ood- 
dowlah  and  the  Black  Hole,  no  such  calamity  had 
ever  overtaken  our  people,  and  never  since  we  first 
set  foot  on  Indian  soil  any  such  dire  disgrace.*  That 
a  number  of  Christian  people  should  be  thus  foully 
massacred  was  a  great  sorrow,  but  that  nothing  should 
be  done  to  avenge  the  blood  of  our  slaughtered 
countrymen  was  a  far  greater  shame.  The  sorrow 
was  at  Delhi ;  the  shame  was  at  Meerut.  The  little 
band  of  Englishmen  suddenly  brought  face  to  face 
with  mutiny  in  the  Lines,  insurrection  in  the  City, 
and  revolution  in  the  great  teeming  Palace  of  Delhi ; 
who  found,  as  their  enemies  on  that  May  morning, 
six  mutinous  Sepoy  Regiments,  a  hostile  Mahomedan 
population,  and  the  retainers  of  the  old  Mogul 
dynasty,  with  the  King's  name  as  the  watchword, 
and  the  Princes  as  the  leaders  of  the  many-sided 
revolt,  could  not  have  done  much  more  than  they 
did  to  stem  the  tide  that  was  rushing  upon  them.  It 
was  not  possible  that  they  should  hold  out  for  more 

swordsmen  did  the  entire  buicherj    three  children,  escaped  by  feiguing 
by  themselves.  Mahomedanism. 

*  A  woman  (Mrs.  Aldwell)  with 


■  jm^«UUiwa^B?PiWS55S- 


«    « « « 


EESPONSIBIUTY  OF  THE  FAILURE.  101 

than  one  dreadful  day  with  such  a  power  arrayed  1857. 
against  them.  Their  doom  had  been  sealed  in  the  ^*^" 
early  morning.  When  the  hoofs  of  the  foremost 
troop-horse  rung  upon  the  bridge  across  the  Jumna, 
the  death-knell  of  the  British  was  sounded.  From 
mom  to  noon,  from  noon  to  sunset,  still  our  people 
were  sustained  by  a  strong  faith  in  the  manhood  of 
their  countrymen,  who,  at  a  little  distance,  had  Horse, 
and  Foot,  and  a  great  strength  of  Artillery  to  bring 
to  their  succour.  But  when  the  sun  went  down,  and 
there  was  no  sign  at  Delhi  of  the  approach  of  the 
Dragoons  or  the  Galloper  guns,  they  saw  that  they 
were  deserted,  and  what  could  they  do  but  fly  ? 


But  did  the  responsibility  of  this  grievous  inaction  Question  of 
rest  with  General  Hewitt  or  with  Brigadier  Wilson  ?  responsibility. 
The  General  has  asserted  that,  as  the  command  of  the 
station  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Brigadier,  the  move- 
ment of  the  troops  depended  upon  bim.  But  when 
a  General  Officer,  commanding  a  division  of  the 
Army,  thus  shifts  the  responsibility  on  to  the  shoul- 
ders of  a  subordinate,  he  virtually  seals  his  own  con- 
demnation. When,  at  a  later  period,  Wilson  was  called 
upon  by  the  supreme  military  authorities  for  a  full 
explanation  of  the  causes  of  the  inaction  of  the  Euro- 
pean troops  on  the  night  of  the  10th  of  May,  and 
reference  was  made  to  what  Hewitt  had  stated,  the 
former  wrote  in  reply,  "  I  would  beg  to  refer  to  the 
Regulations  of  the  Bengal  Army,  Section  XVIL, 
which  will  show  what  little  authority  over  the  troops 
is  given  to  the  Brigadier  commanding  a  station  which 
is  the  Head-Quarters  of  a  Division,  and  that  I  could 
not  have  exercised  any  distinct  command,  the  Major- 
General  being  present  on  the  occasion.  As  Brigadier, 


•  •••  .    ••     •  ••  •  •     • 


•     ••-••"'•  -•.  •••  •       •     •     •*• 

•    ••••••••••     ••••;.•.•,• 

102  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  I  only  exercised  the  executive  command  of  the  troops 
^ay-  under  the  orders  of  the  Major-General."  "  I  may  or 
may  not,"  he  added,  "  have  been  wrong  in  offering 
the  opinion  I  did  to  the  Major-General.  I  acted  to  the 
best  of  my  judgment  at  the  time,  and  from  the  uncer- 
tainty regarding  the  direction  taken  by  the  fugitives, 
I  still  believe  I  was  right.  Had  the  Brigade  blindly 
followed  in  the  hope  of  finding  the  fu^tives,  and  the 
remaining  portion  of  the  Cantonment  been  thereby 
sacrificed,  with  all  our  sick,  women  and  children,  and 
valuable  stores,  the  outcry  against  those  in  command 
at  Meerut  would  have  been  still  greater  than  it  has 
been." 
C5au8e8  of  This,  in  part,  is  the  explanation  of  that  first  great 

FaUure.  failure,  which  so  perplexed  and  astounded  all  who 
heard  of  it,  and  which  led  to  great  and  disastrous 
results  hereafter  to  be  recorded.  The  military  com- 
manders at  Meerut  believed  that  it  was  their  first  duty 
to  protect  life  and  property  in  the  Cantonment.  The 
mutinous  Sepoys,  aided  by  the  escaped  convicts,  and 
by  ruffians  and  robbers  from  the  bazaars  and  villages, 
had  butchered  men,  women,  and  children,  had  burned 
and  gutted  the  houses  of  the  white  people  in  the 
Native  quarter  of  the  Cantonment,  and  it  was  believed 
that,  if  due  precautions  were  not  taken,  the  other  great 
half  of  military  Meerut  would  share  the  same  fate,  that 
the  Treasury  would  be  plundered,  and  that  the  maga- 
zines would  fall  into  the  enemy's  hands.  To  Wilson 
it  was  natural  that  the  safety  of  the  Cantonment 
should  be  his  first  care ;  but  Hewitt  commanded  the 
whole  Meerut  Division,  including  the  great  station  of 
Delhi,  with  its  immense  magazine,  and  not  a  single 
European  soldier  to  guard  its  profusion  of  military 
stores.  It  needed  no  breadth  of  vision,  no  forecast 
to  discern  the  tremendous  danger  which  lay  at  thq 


w.-j-_    21's^Be^/m^s^SR 


THE  POUCY  OP  SELF-DELUSION.  103 

distance  only  of  a  night*s  march  from  Meerut — dan-  1867. 
ger  not  local,  but  national ;  danger  no  less  portentous  ^^^' 
in  its  political  than  in  its  military  aspects.  But  not 
an  effort  was  made  to  intercept  the  fatal  flood  of 
mutiny  that  was  streaming  into  Delhi  General 
Hewitt  ignored  the  fact  that  the  whole  of  the  Meerut 
Division  was  under  his  military  charge,  and  thinking 
only  of  the  safety  of  the  place  in  which  he  himself 
resided,  he  stood  upon  the  defensive  for  many  days, 
whilst  the  rebels  of  the  Lines,  of  the  Gaols,  and  the 
Bazaars,  were  rejoicing  in  the  work  that  they  had 
done  with  impunity  equal  to  their  success. 

But  the  judgment  of  the  historian  would  be  but  a 
partial — an  imperfect — judgment,  if  it  were  to  stop 
here.  There  is  something  more  to  be  said.  Beneath 
these  personal  errors,  there  lay  the  errors  of  a  vicious 
system  and'a  false  policy.  To  bring  this  great  charge 
against  one  Commander  of  a  Division  or  another 
Commander  of  a  Division,  against  one  Commander- 
in-Chief  or  another  Commander-in-Chief,  agamst 
one  Governor-General  or  another  Governor-General, 
against  this  Department  or  against  that  Department, 
would  be  a  mistake  and  an  injustice.  It  was  not  this 
or  that  man  that  wanted  wisdom.  The  evil  lay 
broad  and  deep  in  the  national  character.  The  arro- 
gance of  the  Englishman,  which  covered  him  ever 
with  a  great  delusion,  forbiddmg  him  to  see  danger 
when  danger  was  surrounding  him,  and  rendering  it 
impossible  in  his  eyes  that  any  disaster  should  over- 
take so  great  and  powerful  a  country,  was  the  prin- 
cipal source  of  this  great  failure  at  Meerut.  We  were 
ever  lapping  and  lulling  ourselves  in  a  false  security. 
We  had  warnings,  many  and  significant;  but  we 
brushed  them  away  with  a  movement  of  impatience 
^d  contempt.    There  is  a  cant  phrase,  which,  be- 


104  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  cause  it  is  cant,  it  may  be  beneath  the  dignity  of 
•^*y-  History  to  cite ;  but  no  other  words  in  the  English 
language,  counted  by  scores  or  by  hundreds,  can  so 
express  the  prevailing  faith  of  the  EngUshman  at 
that  time,  as  those  two  well-known  words,  ^^  All 
sereney  Whatever  clouds  might  lower — ^whatever 
tempests  might  threaten — still  it  was  *'  All  serene." 
It  was  held  to  be  unbecoming  an  Englishman  to  be 
prepared  for  a  storm.  To  speak  of  ugly  signs  or 
portents— to  hint  that  there  might  be  coming  perils 
which  it  would  be  well  to  arm  ourselves  to  encoun- 
ter— ^was  to  be  scouted  as  a  feeble  and  dangerous 
alarmist.  What  had  happened  at  Barrackpore  and 
Berhampore  might  well  have  aroused  our  people  to 
cautious  action.  We  had  before  seen  storms  burst 
suddenly  upon  us  to  our  utter  discomfiture  and  de- 
struction; but  we  were  not  to  be  warned  or  in- 
structed by  them.  When  Henry  Lawrence  wrote, 
"  How  unmindful  have  we  been  that  what  occurred 
in  the  city  of  Caubul  may  some  day  occur  at  Delhi, 
Meerut,  or  Bareilly,"*  no  one  heeded  the  prophetic 
saying  any  more  than  if  he  had  prophesied  the  imme- 
diate coming  of  the  day  of  judgment.  Everything, 
therefore,  at  Meerut,  in  spite  of  plain  and  patent 
symptoms  of  an  approaching  outbreak,  was  in  a  state 
of  utter  unpreparedness  for  action.  There  were 
troopers  without  horses,  troopers  that  could  not  ride 
— artillerymen  without  guns,  and  artillerymen  who 
did  not  know  a  mortar  from  a  howitzer,  or  the  dif- 
ference  between  round-shot  and  grape.  This  was  not 
the  fault  of  General  Hewitt  or  Brigadier  Wilson ;  it 
was  the  fault  of  the  system — ^the  policy.  The  pre- 
vailing idea,  and  one  for  which  there  was  good  wa?- 

*  See  ante,  vol.  i.  p.  453. 


NEVER  READY.  105 

rant,  was,  that  the  Government  desired  that  things  1857. 
should  be  kept  quiet.  Even  to  have  a  battery  of  "^y* 
artillery  equipped  for  immediate  service  was  held  to 
be  a  dangerous  movement,  that  might  excite  alarm, 
and,  perhaps,  precipitate  a  crisis,  which  otherwise 
might  be  indefinitely  delayed.  When  an  officer  of 
Artillery  commanding  one  of  the  Meerut  batteries 
sought  permission,  a  few  days  before  the  outbreak,  to 
load  his  ammunition-waggons,  that  he  might  be 
ready,  in  case  of  accident,  for  prompt  service,  he  was 
told  that  such  a  step  would  excite  suspicion  among 
the  Natives,  and  that  therefore  it  could  not  be  sanc- 
tioned. And  this  may  have  been  right.  The  wrong 
consisted  in  having  allowed  things  to  drift  into  such 
a  state,  that  what  ought  to  have  been  the  rule  was 
regarded  as  something  altogether  abnormal  and  ex- 
ceptional, and  as  such,  a  cause  of  special  alarm.  The 
policy  was  to  believe,  or  to  pretend  to  believe,  that 
our  lines  had  been  cast  in  pleasant  places ;  and  the 
system,  therefore,  was  never  to  be  prepared  for  an 
emergency — never  to  be  ready  to  move,  and  never 
to  know  what  to  do.  In  pursuance  of  this  system 
the  Commander-in-Chief  was  in  the  great  play-ground 
of  Simlah,  and  the  Chiefs  of  Departments  were  en- 
couraging him  in  the  belief  that  the  cloud  "  would 
soon  blow  over."  So  officers  of  all  ranks  in  the  great 
Divisions  of  the  Army  in  the  North- West — ^in  the 
Sirhind,  in  the  Meerut,  in  the  Cawnpore  Divisions — 
did,  according  to  the  pattern  of  Head-Quarters,  and 
according  to  their  instincts  as  Englishmen;  and, 
therefore,  when  the  storm  burst,  we  were  all  naked, 
defenceless,  and  forlorn,  and  knew  not  how  to  en- 
counter its  fury. 

It  has  been  contended  that  a  prompt  movement  in 
pursuit  of  the  mutineers  might  not  have  been  sue- 


106  THE  SEIZURE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.      cessful.    And  it  is  right  that  all  circumstances  of 
^y*       difficulty  should  be  fully  taken  into  account.     Re- 
bellion developed  itself  under  the  cover  of  the  night. 
The  mutineers  dispersed  themselves  here  and  there, 
and  our  people  knew  not  whither  to  follow  them. 
Question  of    fhe  Cavalry,  however,  must  have  taken  to  the  road, 

pursuit  con-  . 

sidered.  and  where  the  Native  troopers  could  go,  our  Dragoons 
might  have  pursued  them;  but  the  former  had  a 
long  start,  and  it  is  said  that,  as  they  would  have 
been  the  first  to  enter  Delhi,  they  would  have  de- 
stroyed the  bridge  across  the  Jumna ;  and  that  even 
if  our  Cavalry  and  Horse  Artillery  had  made  their 
way  into  the  City,  they  would  have  found  them- 
selves entangled  in  streets  swarming  with  an  armed 
rabble,  stimulating  and  aiding  the  hostile  Sepoy 
Regiments  who  had  been  prepared  to  welcome,  and 
to  cast  in  their  lot  with  their  comrades  from  Meerut. 
But  it  is  to  be  observed,  upon  the  other  hand,  that  if 
the  troopers  of  the  Third  Cavalry,  who  were  the  first 
to  enter  Delhi,  had  cut  off  the  communication  with 
Meerut,  by  destroying  the  bridge,  they  would  have 
shut  out  large  numbers  of  their  own  people,  who 
were  pouring,  or  rather  dribbling,  into  Delhi  all 
through  the  day.  If  the  Meerut  troops  had  arrived 
on  the  banks  of  the  Jumna  in  a  serried  mass,  under 
a  capable  commander,  they  would,  when  the  whole 
had  passed  over,  have  destroyed  the  bridge,  to  cut  off 
the  pursuit  of  the  enemy  from  Meerut.  But  straggling 
in  at  intervals,  under  no  recognised  chiefs,  this  was 
not  to  be  expected ;  and  if  it  had  been  done,  a  great 
part  of  the  Meerut  Infantry  Regiments  must  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  pursuing  Englishmen,  and 
been  destroyed  by  the  grape-shot  or  sabres  within 
sight  of  the  Palace  windows. 

But  the  mere  military  argument  in  such  a  case 


MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  PUBSUIT.  107 

does  not  dispose  of  the  historical  question ;  for  it  was  1857. 
from  the  moral  no  less  than  from  the  material  effects  ^^ 
of  the  pursuit  that  advantage  was  to  be  derived. 
The  sight  of  a  single  white  face  above  the  crest  of 
a  parapet  has  ere  now  put  a  garrison  to  flight.  And 
it  may  not  unreasonably  be  assumed  that,  if  on  that 
Monday  morning  a  few  English  Dragoons  had  been 
seen  approaching  •  the  Jumna,  it  would  have  been 
believed  that  a  large  body  of  white  troops  were 
behind  them,  and  rebellion,  which  was  precipitated 
by  our  inactivity,  would  then  have  been  suspended 
by  the  fear  of  the  coming  retribution.  Unless  the 
Dragoons  and  Horse  Artillery  had  headed  the  Sepoys, 
which  was  not  indeed  to  be  expected,  the  first  sudden 
rush  into  Delhi  must  have  occasioned  wild  confusion, 
and  many  lives  must  have  been  sacrificed  to  the  fury 
of  the  troopers  and  the  rabble  of  abettors.  But  the 
disaster  would  have  been  but  limited — ^the  defeat  but 
temporary.  It  is  doubtful  whether,  if  the  avenging 
Englishmen  had,  that  morning,  appeared  under  the 
walls  of  Delhi,  the  Sepoy  Regiments  stationed  there 
would  have  broken  into  rebellion ;  and  it  is  well 
nigh  certain,  that  in  the  presence  of  the  British  troops 
the  Royal  Family  of  Delhi  would  not  have  dared 
to  proclaim  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  mutineers. 
All  through  the  hours  of  the  morning  there  was  doubt 
and  hesitation  both  in  the  Cantonments  and  in  the 
Palace ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  sun  was  going  down 
that  it  became  manifest  that  Delhi  was  in  the  throes 
of  a  great  revolution.  Emboldened  and  encouraged 
by  what  seemed  to  be  the  sudden  prostration  of  the 
English,  our  enemies  saw  that  their  time  had  come, 
whilst  our  friends  lost  confidence  in  our  power  and 
our  fortune,  and  feared  to  declare  themselves  on  our 
side.     Better  in  that  case  for  the  English  soldiers  to 


108  THE  SEIZUBE  OF  DELHI. 

1857.  come  to  Delhi  to  be  beaten  than  not  to  come  at  all. 
^y-  It  was  the  want  of  effort  at  such  a  moment  that  did 
us  such  grievous  harm.  For  from  one  station  to  an- 
other the  news  spread  that  the  Sepoys  had  conquered 
the  English  at  Meerut,  and  proclaimed  the  Mogul 
Emperor  at  Delhi.  The  first  great  blow  had  been 
struck  at  the  Feringhees,  and  ever  from  place  to 
place  the  rumour  ran  that  they  had  been  paralysed 
by  it.* 
Alleged  con-  There  is  another  question  to  which,  fitly  here,  a 
general  rhSi^.f®^  Sentences  may  be  devoted.  It  has  been  said 
that,  in  looking  at  this  great  history  of  the  Sepoy 
War  as  a  whole,  we  shall  not  take  just  account  of  it, 
unless  we  consider  that,  inasmuch  as  there  had  been 
a  conspiracy  throughout  the  Bengal  Native  Army  for 
a  general  rising  of  the  Sepoys  all  over  the  country  on 
a  given  day,  the  sudden  outbreak  at  Meerut,  which 
caused  a  premature  development  of  the  plot,  and  put 
the  English  on  their  guard  before  the  appointed 
hour,  was  the  salvation  of  the  British  Empire  in 
India.  Colonel  Carmichael  Smyth  was  ever  assured 
in  his  own  mind  that,  by  evolving  the  crisis  in  the 
Third  Cavalry  Regiment,  he  had  saved  the  Empire. 
It  was  his  boast,  and  he  desired  that  it  should  be 
made  known  to  all  men,  that  he  might  have  the  full 
credit  of  the  act.  And  I  am  bound  to  say  that  there 
is  high  testimony  in  support  of  the  belief  thus  confi- 
dently expressed.  Mr.  Cracroft  Wilson,  who  was 
selected  by  the  Supreme  Government  to  fill  the  post 
of  Special  Commissioner,  after  the  suppression  of 
rebellion,  with  a  view  to  the  punishment  of  the 
guilty  and  the  reward  of  the  deserving,  has  placed 

*  There  is  an  expressive  Hindos-  — "to^ar,"  or  helpless.     It  was 

tanee  word  in  verj  common  cur-  currently  said  that  the  English  were 

rencjr  among  both  Europeans  and  laehar. 
Natives  on  the  Bengal  side  of  Indi^ 


TH£  QUESTION  OF  GENERAL  COMBINATION.  109 

upon  record  his  full  belief  in  this  story  of  a  general  1857. 
conspiracy  for  a  simultaneous  rising.  "  Carefully  ^»y- 
collating,"  he  has  written,  "oral  information  with 
facts  as  they  occurred,  I  am  convinced  that  Sunday, 
31st  of  May,  1857,  was  the  day  fixed  for  mutiny  to 
commence  throughout  the  Bengal  Army ;  that  there 
were  committees  of  about  three  members  in  each 
regiment  which  conducted  the  duties,  if  I  may  so 
speak,  of  the  mutiny;  that  the  Sepoys,  as  a  body, 
knew  nothing  of  the  plans  arranged;  and  that  the 
only  compact  entered  into  by  re^ments,  as  a  body, 
was,  that  their  particular  regiments  would  do  as  the 
other  regiments  did.  The  committee  conducted  the 
correspondence  and  arranged  the  plan  of  operations, 
viz.,  that  on  the  31st  of  May  parties  should  be  told 
off  to  murder  all  European  functionaries,  most  of 
whom  would  be  engaged  at  church ;  seize  the  trea- 
sure, which  would  then  be  augmented  by  the  first 
instalment  of  the  rubbie  harvest;  and  release  the 
prisoners,  of  which  an  army  existed  in  the  North- 
Westem  Provinces  alone  of  upwards  of  twenty-five 
thousand  men.  The  regiments  in  Delhi  g^nd  its  im- 
mediate vicinity  were  instructed  to  seize  the  maga- 
zine and  fortifications.  .  .  .  From  this  combined  and 
simultaneous  massacre  on  the  31st  of  May,  1857,  we 
were,  humanly  speaking,  saved  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Smyth  commanding  the  Third  Regiment  of  Bengal 
Light  Cavalry,  and  the  frail  ones  of  the  Bazaar.* 
.  .  .  The  mine  had  been  prepared,  and  the  train 
had  been  laid,  but  it  was  not  intended  to  light  the 
slow  match  for  another  three  weeks.  The  spark, 
which  fell  from  female  lips,  ignited  it  at  once,  and 
the  night  of  the  10th  of  May,  1857,  saw  the  com- 

•  Ante,  Chapter  II. 


110  THE  6£IZUB£  OF  DELHI. 

1857.      mencement  of  a  tragedy  never  before  witnessed  since 

^*y-      India  passed  under  British  sway."* 

This  is  strong  testimony,  and  from  a  strong  man 
^-one  not  prone  to  violent  assumptions  or  strange 
conjectures,  who  had  unusual  opportimities  of  inves- 
tigating the  truth,  and  much  discernment  and  dis- 
crimination to  turn  those  opportunities  to  account. 
But  the  proofs  of  this  general  combination  for  a 
simultaneous  rising  of  the  Native  troops  are  not  so 
numerous  or  so  convincing  as  to  warrant  the  accep- 
tance of  the  story  as  a  demonstrative  fact.  It  is  cer- 
tain, however,  that  if  this  sudden  rising  in  all  parts 
of  the  country  had  found  the  English  unprepared, 
but  few  of  our  people  would  have  escaped  the  swift  de- 
struction. It  would  then  have  been  the  hard  task  of 
the  British  nation  to  reconquer  India,  or  else  to  suffer 
our  Eastern  Empire  to  pass  into  an  ignominious  tra- 
dition. But  whether  designed  or  not  designed  by 
man,  God's  mercy  forbade  its  accomplishment;  and 
in  a  few  hours  after  this  first  great  explosion,  the 
Electric  Telegraph  was  carrying  the  evil  tidings  to  all 
parts  of  the  country.  The  note  of  warning  was 
sounded  across  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land;  and  wherever  an  Englishman  was  stationed 
there  was  the  stem  preparation  of  defence. 

*  Mr.  J.  C.  Wilson's  Moradabad  Narratire  (Official),  Dec.  24, 1858. 


FIBST  EFFOBTS  AT  BECOTEBT.         Ill 


CHAPTER  rV. 

SCTOBTS  OF  LOBD  CANNIKG — STATE  OF  PUBLIC  FESUNG  IN  CALCUTTA — 
APPBEHSNSIONS  AND  ALABHS— BEABING  OF  THE  GOVEBNOBrGENEEAL 
— COEBESPONDENCE  WITH  THE  COUUANDEB-IN- CHIEF  —  THE  FIBST 
MOTEMSNT  TOWABDS  DELHI — THE  YOLUNTEEB  QUESTION — FIBST 
ABBIVAL  OF  SUCCOUBS — AFPEABANCE  OF  COLONEL  NEILL. 

Whilst  little  by  little  the  details  recited  in  the  i867. 
preceding  chapter  were  making  themselves  known  to  May. 
Lord  Canning  in  Calcutta,  the  Governor-General, 
calmly  confronting  the  dangers  and  difficulties  before 
him,  was  straining  every  nerve  to  repair  the  first 
great  disaster,  and  to  protect  those  defenceless  tracts 
of  country  in  which  new  rebellions  were  most  likely 
to  assert  themselves.  "The  part  of  the  counti^J! 
he  wrote  to  the  President  of  the  India  Boa^, 
"which  gives  me  most  anxiety  is  the  line  which  ^^ 

stretches  through  the  length  of  Bengal  from  Bar- 
rackpore  close  by  to  Agra  in  the  North-Western 
Provinces.  In  that  length  of  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  there  is  one  European  Regiment  at  Dina- 
pore^  and  that  is  all.  Benares  has  a  Sikh  Regi- 
ment, but  no  Europeans ;  Allahabad  the  same ;  not 
reckoning  a  himdred  European  invalids,  who  were 
sent  there  a  few  days  ago.  At  one  of  these  places 
the  Native  Regiment  is  a  suspected  one,  and  at 
either  the  temptation  to  seize  the  Fort  or  the  Trea- 


112  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  sury  will  be  very  great,  if  they  hear  that  Delhi  con- 
May  10.  tinii^  in  the  hands  of  mutinous  regiments.  There- 
fore, the  two  points  to  which  I  am  straining  are  the 
hastening  of  the  expulsion  of  the  rebels  from  Delhi, 
and  the  collection  of  the  Europeans  here  to  be  pushed 
up  the  country."  What  he  did,  in  the  early  part 
of  May,  for  the  gathering  of  troops  from  a  distance, 
has  been  told  in  the  first  volume  of  this  History.  The 
results  of  those  initial  efibrts  rapidly  developed  them- 
selves ;  but  what  seems  to  be  swift  despatch,  in  tran- 
quil times,  is  weary  waiting,  when  the  issues  of  life 
or  death  may  depend  upon  the  loss  or  gain  of  an 
hour. 


Calcutta  in        Meanwhile,  in  the  great  vice-regal  capital  of  India 
ihe  month  of  jj^^^^  ^^  ^^^^  tribulation.   For  there  were  gathered 

together  large  numbers  of  Christian  people,  men, 
women,  and  children.  But  numbers  did  not  seem  to 
impart  to  them  either  strength  or  courage.  A  vast 
majority  of  those  Christian  inhabitants  were  men 
who  had  been  habituated,  through  long  years,  to 
peace  and  security.  There  was  not  in  the  whole 
world,  perhaps,  a  more  tranquil,  self-possessed  city, 
than  Calcutta  had  ever  been  during  a  period  of 
nearly  a  century.  Even  the  local  tumults,  to  which 
all  great  towns  are  more  or  less  periodically  subject, 
had  been  absent  from  the  "  City  of  Palaces."  The 
worst  disturbances  had  resulted  from  the  excita- 
bility of  stray  sailors  from  the  merchant-ships  over- 
much refreshed  in  the  punch-houses  of  the  Dhurrum- 
toUah  or  the  Chitpore  Bazaar.  And  the  Natives  of 
the  country  generally  had  been  regarded  as  a  harm- 
less, servile,  obsequious  race  of  men,  to  be  reviled, 
perhaps  beaten  at  discretion,  by  the  haughty  and 


ALARM  IN  CALCUTTA,  113 

intolerant  Englishman.    That  Englishman,  as  seen      1857. 
in  Calcutta^  was,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  non-official      ^y- 
tj^e ;  experienced  in  the  ways  of  commerce,  active,  official 
enterprising,  intelligent,  but  with  little  knowledge  of  ^"S^*^"^"- 
the  Native  character  save  in  its  trading  aspects,  and 
little  given  to  concern  himself  about  intricate  ques- 
tions of  Indian  policy.     The  name  of  "  Ditcher"  had 
been  given  to  him,  as  one  who  seldom  or  never  passed 
beyond  the  boundary  of  thef  Mahratta  ditch.   The  rail- 
way had  done  something  to  diminish  this  incliisive- 
ness;  but  still  many  of  the  European  residents  of 
Calcutta  knew  little  of  the  great  world  beyond,  and 
Avere  prone,  therefore,  to  attach  undue  importance 
to  the  busy  commercial  capital  in  which  they  were 
bu3dng  and  selling,  and  were  holding  their  house- 
hold gods.     Their  idea  of  India  much  resembled  the 
Chinese  map-maker's  idea  of  the  world.     The  City  of 
Palaces,  like  the  Celestial  Empire,  covered,  in  their 
minds,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  sheet. 

It  was  not  strange  that  men  of  this  class,  unac- 
customed to  great  excitements,  little  used  to  strenuous 
action  of  any  kind,  and  in  many  instances,  perhaps, 
wholly  unskilled  in  the  use  of  offensive  weapons, 
should  have  been  stunned  and  bewildered  by  the 
tidings  from  the  North- West,  and  what  seemed  to  them 
the  probabilities  of  a  recurrence  of  similar  tragedies 
in  Bengal.  Nor  was  it  strange  that  they  should  have 
looked  eagerly  to  the  Government  to  put  forth  all  its 
available  resources  to  protect  them  against  the  dan- 
gers which  their  excited  imaginations  beheld  rapidly 
approaching.  The  very  confidence  which  they  had 
before  felt  in  their  security,  and  their  general  con- 
tempt for  the  subject  races,  now  rendered  the  reaction 
which  had  set  in  all  the  more  exaggerated  and  over- 
whelming.    The  panic  in  May  has,  perhaps,  been 

VOL.  n.  I 


114  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  overstated  in  the  recital.  But  stories  are  still 
M^J'  current  of  Christian  families  betaking  themselves  for 
safety  to  the  ships  in  the  river,  or  securing  them- 
selves within  the  ramparts  of  the  Fort,  and  of  men 
staining  their  manhood  by  hiding  themselves  in 
dark  places.  But  these  manifestations  of  unmanly 
fear  were  principally  among  the  Eurasians  and  Por- 
tuguese, or  what  are  described  as  the  "  lower  order 
of  European  shopkeepers.^'  That  some  people  left 
their  homes  in  the  suburbs,  that  some  took  their 
passages  to  England,  that  many  bought  guns  and 
revolvers,  and  lay  down  to  rest  full-dressed  and  full- 
armed,  is  not  to  be  questioned.*  And  it  is  certain 
that  the  prevailing  feeling  was  that  the  Governor- 
General  failed  to  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the 
danger — that  nothing  could  rouse  him  from  the 
lethargy  indicated  by  his  still  face  of  marble  and 
his  tranquil  demeanour — ^and  that,  in  a  word,  he  was 
not  equal  to  the  occasion. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  say  that  the  apprehensions 
of  the  Calcutta  community  were  altogether  unrea- 
soning and  unreasonable,  for  there  were  many  sources 
of  alarm  at  this  time.  Foremost  of  all  there  was 
the  great  dread  of  the  Sepoys,  who,  a  little  while 
before  trusted  guardians  of  our  lives  and  properties, 
had  suddenly  grown  into  murderers  and  despoilers. 
There  was  but  little  space  between  Barrackpore  and 
Calcutta.     A  night's  march  might  have  brought  the 

*  I  wish  it  to  be  borne  in  mind  load  quickly  and  fire   low.     The 

that  this  refers  entirely  to  the  state  ships  and  steamers   in  the  rivers 

of  things  in  Ma^.    A  hi  more  un-  have  been   crowded  with   families 

mistakable  panic,  of   which   some  seeking   refuge    from   tbe   attack, 

account  will   hereafter   be   given,  which  was  nightly  expected,  and 

arose  in  the  middle  of  June.    But  everywhere  a   sense  of  insecurity 

even  of  the  former  month  a  contem-  prevailed,  which  was  natural  enough 

poraryjournidist  wrote: ''Men went  when  the  character  of  the  dai^r 

about  with  revolvers  in  their  car-  apprehended  is  taken  into  conside- 

riages,  and  trained  their  bearers  to  ration." — Friend  qf  India,  May  28. 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  GOVERNOR-GENERAL.      115 

whole  brigade  into  the  capital,  to  overpower  the  1867. 
European  guards,  to  seize  the  Fort,  and  to  massacre  ^^^^ 
the  Christian  inhabitants.  Then  there  was  in  the 
immediate  suburbs  of  Calcutta,  along  the  river-bank, 
the  great,  ree'king,  overflowing  sewer  of  the  Oude 
household — ^the  exiled  King,  his  astute  Prime  Minis- 
ter, and  his  multitude  of  dependents,  all  restless  in 
intrigue,  and  eager  to  inflict  measureless  retribution 
upon  the  nation  that  had  degraded  and  despoiled 
them.  And  then  again  there  was  a  vague  fear,  domi- 
nant over  all,  that  the  vast  and  varied  populations  of 
the  Native  suburbs  and  bazaars  would  rise  against 
the  white  people,  release  the  prisoners  in  the  gaols, 
and  gorge  themselves  with  the  plunder  of  the  great 
commercial  capital  of  India.  All  these  were  at  least 
possibilities.  What  had  been  done  at  Meerut  and 
Delhi  might  be  acted  over  again  at  Calcutta  on  a 
larger  scale  and  with  more  terrible  efiect. 

After  a  lapse  of  years  we  may  speak  lightly  of]^^^^^^ 
these  dangers,  and  say  that  Lord  Canning  discerned  Canning. 
the  true  state  of  things,  whilst  others  saw  them 
darkly  through  the  glass  of  their  fears.  But  the 
difierence,  perhaps,  was  rather  that  of  outward  bear- 
ing than  of  inward  appreciation  of  the  position  of 
aflairs.  It  is  hard  to  say  how  much  depends,  in  such 
a  crisis,  upon  the  calm  and  confident  demeanour  of 
the  head  of  the  Government.  Day  after  day  passed, 
and  the  Governor- General  sat  there,  firm  as  a  rock, 
waiting  for  fresh  tidings  of  disaster,  and  doing  all 
that  human  agency  could  do  to  succour  our  dis- 
tressed people  and  to  tread  down  the  insolence  of  the 
enemy.  The  great  English  community  of  Calcutta 
thought  that  he  did  not  see  the  magnitude  of  the 
danger,  because  he  did  not  tremble  for  the  fate  of  the 
capital.     He  did  not  know  what  it  was  to  tremble, 

i2 


116  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  and  some  said  that  he  did  not  know  what  it  was  to 
^*J'  feel.  But  though  he  wore  a  calm  face,  in  no  man's 
mind  was  there  a.  clearer  sense  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  crisis,*  and  in  no  man's  heart  was  there  a  deeper 
pity.  He  pitied  those  at  a  distance,  who  were  really 
girt  about  with  peril,  and  whose  despairing  cries  for 
help,  in  the  shape  of  English  troops,  nearly  broke  his 
heart.  But  he  pitied  most  of  all,  with  a  con- 
temptuous pity,  those  who  exaggerated  the  dangers 
around  them,  who  could  not  conceal  their  fears,  and 
who  would  fain  have  induced  him  to  treat  Calcutta 
as  though  it  were  the  whole  Indian  Empire.  If  there 
were  any  impassiveness,  any  obduracy  in  him,  it  Avas 
simply  that  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  think 
much  about  the  place  in  which  he  was  living,  whilst 
there  were  other  places  begirt  with  more  inmiinent 
peril.  He  forgot  himself,  with  the  self-negation  of  a 
noble  nature,  and,  forgetting  himself,  he  may  for  a 
whUe  have  forgotten  those  immediately  around  him. 
And  so  it  happened  that  the  fears  of  many  English- 
men  in  Calcutte  were  mixed  with  strong  rientments, 
and  they  began  to  hate  the  Governor-General  who 
could  not  bring  himself  to  think  that  the  Indian 
Empire  was  included  within  the  circuit  of  the  Mah- 
ratta  ditch. 

As  the  month  of  May  advanced,  the  panic  increased. 
It  has  been  shown,  in  measured  terms,  what  the  Go- 

*  Lord  Canning's  correspondence  The  course  of  the  Government  has 

abounds  with  proofs  of  this.    Take  been  guided  by  justice  and  temper, 

the  following  from  a  characteristic  I  do  not  know  that  any  one  measure 

lettertoBishopWilson,  which  clearly  of  precaution  and  strength,  which 

shows  that  he  did  not  underrate  the  human  foresight  can  indicate,  has 

danger,  although  he  was  confident  of  been  neglected.     There  are  stout 

the  national  abilitv  to  surmount  it :  hearts  and  clear  heads  at  the  chief 

''The  sky  is  very  olack,  and  as  jet  posts  of  danger — Agra,  Lucknow, 

the  signs  of  a  clearing  are  faint,  and  Benares.    For  the  rest,  the  issue 

But  reason  and  common  sense  are  is  in  higher  hands  than  ours.    I  am 

on  our  side  &om  Uie  yery  beginning,  very  confident  of  complete  success." 


OFFERS  OF  SERVICE.  117 

vernor-General  thought  of  these  manifestations  of  a  1857. 
great  terror.*  In  later  letters  he  spoke  out  in  more  ^J* 
emphatic  language,  and  contemporary  records  of  a^^**" 
less  exalted  character  seem  to  support  his  assertions. 
Perhaps  his  eagerness  to  encourage  others,  by  showing 
that  he  had  no  fear  for  the  Presidency,  carried  him 
into  an  excess  of  outward  indiflference.  Certainly,  he 
did  not  seem  to  appreciate,  in  the  first  instance,  an 
offer  made  by  the  British  inhabitants  to  enrol  them- 
selves into  a  volunteer  corps  for  the  protection  of  the 
great  City  of  Palaces.  Many  public  bodies  came 
forward  at  this  time  with  protestations  of  unswerving 
loyalty  and  free  offers  of  service.  The  Trades  Asso- 
ciation, the  Masonic  Lodges,  the  Native  Christian 
Community,  and  side  by  side  with  our  own  com- 
patriots and  fellow-subjects,  the  representatives  of 
the  great  French  and  American  nations,  sj^mpa- 
thising  with  us  in  our  distress.  Such  offers  were 
worthy  and  honourable,  and  entitled  to  all  gratitude 
from  our  rulers.  Those  communities  desired  to  be 
armed  and  disciplined  and  organised  after  the  manner 
of  soldiers.  Lord  Canning  told  them  in  reply  that 
they  might  enrol  themselves  as  special  constables. 
And  it  was  thought  that  there  was  a  touch  of  con- 
tempt in  the  very  nature  of  the  answer. 

But,  although  Lord  Canning  believed  that  there 
was  a  "  groundless  panic,"  he  had  no  design  to  reject 
contemptuously  those  offers  of  assistance.  His  desire 
was  to  display  no  outward  symptom  of  alarm  or  mis- 
trust. He  was  supreme  ruler,  not  of  a  class  or  of  a 
community,  but  of  all  classes  and  communities.  He 
saw  clearly  that  the  great  fear  had  possessed  every 
quarter  of  the  city  and  its  suburbs,  and  was  agitating 

♦  Ante,  vol.  i.  pp.  610,  611. 


118  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  th®  breasts  of  all  the  varied  populations  inhabiting 
May.  them,  and  he  knew  that  what  might  tranquillise  and 
subdue  in  one  direction  might  alarm  and  irritate  in 
another.  At  no  period  of  our  history  were  the 
Natives  of  India  in  so  great  a  paroxysm  of  fear.  They 
shuddered  to  think  that  they  might  lose  their  caste — 
shuddered  to  think  that  they  might  lose  their  lives. 
All  sorts  of  strange  reports  were  afloat  among  the 
people,  and  the  English  were  eager  that  Lord  Can- 
ning should  contradict  them  by  public  proclamation. 
"  One  of  the  last  reports  rife  in  the  Bazaar,"  he  wrote 
on  the  20th  of  May,  "  is,  that  I  have  ordered  beef  to 
be  thrown  into  the  tanks,  to  pollute  the  caste  of  all 
Hindoos  who  bathe  there,  and  that  on  the  Queen's 
birthday  all  the  grain-shops  are  to  be  closed,  in  order 
to  drive  the  people  to  eat  unclean  food.  Men,  who 
ought  to  have  heads  on  their  shoulders,  are  gravely 
asking  that  each  fable  should  be  contradicted  by  pro- 
clamation as  it  arises,  and  are  arming  themselves  with 
revolvers  because  this  is  not  done.  I  have  already 
taken  the  only  step  that  I  consider  advisable,  in  the 
sense  of  a  refutation  of  these  and  like  rumours,  and 
patience,  firmness,  and  I  hope  a  speedy  return  of  the 
deluded  to  common  sense,  will  do  the  rest."  And 
clearly  recognising  all  these  conflicting  fears  and 
suspicions,  he  walked  steadily  but  warily  between 
them,  assailed  on  all  sides  by  cries  for  special  help, 
but  knowing  well  that  the  safety  of  all  depended 
upon  the  strength  and  constancy  of  his  resistance. 
Celebration^  The  Queen's  birthday  was  celebrated  in  Calcutta 
Birthday?^  *  ^*^^  *^^  wontcd  fashion.  A  grand  ball  was  given  at 
May  25.  Government  House.*  It  was  the  desire  of  Lord  Can- 
ning, above  all  things,  that  nothing  should  be  done 
to  betray  any  want  of  confidence  in   the  general 

»  The  24th  of  May  fell  on  Sunday.    The  celebration  was,  therefore,  on 
the  25th.  i  i   *♦ 


THE  queen's  birthday.  119 

loyalty  of  the  people.  He  had  been  besought  to  ex-  1867. 
change  his  own  personal  guard  of  Natives  for  one  ^y* 
composed  of  Europeans,  but  this  he  had  refused  to 
do.  And  the  sweet  face  of  Lady  Canning  was  to  be 
seen,  evening  after  evening,*  calm  and  smiling,  as  she 
took  her  wonted  drive  on  the  Course  or  in  the  open 
suburbs  of  Calcutta.  And  now  that  it  was  repre- 
sented that  it  might  be  expedient  to  omit  the  usual 
feu-de-joie  fired  in  the  Queen's  honour,  the  suggestion 
was  rejected;  but  in  order  that  there  might  be  no 
misapprehension  as  to  the  ammunition  used  on  the 
occasion,  a  guard  of  Sepoys  was  sent  to  bring  some 
of  the  old  unsuspected  cartridges  out  of  the  regi- 
mental stores  at  Barrackpore.  The  ball  in  the  even- 
ing was  weU  attended;  but  some  absented  them- 
selves, believing  that  the  congregation  under  one  roof 
of  all  the  leading  members  of  the  English  community 
would  suggest  a  fitting  occasion  for  an  attack  on 
Government  House.*  There  was  not,  indeed,  a  ruffle 
even  upon  the  surface ;  although  the  day  was  likely 
to  be  one  of  more  than  usual  excitement,  for  it  was 
the  great  Mahomedan  festival  of  the  Eed,  and  it  was 
thought  in  many  places  besides  Calcutta  that  a  Mus- 
sulman rising  might  be  anticipated.  After  this  there 
was  some  little  return  of  confidence.  But  any  acci- 
dental circumstance,  such  as  the  explosion  of  a  few 
festal  fireworks,  was  sufficient  to  throw  many  into  a 
paroxysm  of  alarm.f 

*  "  Two  young  ladies  refused  to  two  o'clock  by  what  sounded  like 

go  at  the  last  moment,  and  sat  up  guns  firing.    Many  thought  the  Ali- 

with  a  small  bag  prepared  for  flight,  pore  gaol  had  been  broken  open, 

till  their  iaXher  returned  from  the  Many  gentlemen  armed  themse^es, 

ball  and  reassured  them." and  got  carriages  ready  for  the  ladies 

"  Miss has  hired  two  sailors  to  to  fly  to  the  fort.    On  going  into 

sit  up  in  her  house  of  a  night ;  but  the  verandah  I  was  thankful  to  see  a 

they  got  tipsy,  and  frightened  Her  great  display  of  fireworks  going  up, 

more  than  imaginary  enemies." —  which  was  the  cause  of  ail  the  noise. 

Journal  of  a  Lad^t  AS,  It  was  the  marriage  of  one  of  the 

t  *'  A  tew  nights  ago  woke  up  at  Mysore  princes." — Ibid, 


120  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  All  this  time,  Lord  Canning,  aided  by  those  imme- 

May.  diately  around  him,  was  doing  all  that  could  be  done 
raovement  on  for  the  successful  attainment  of  the  great  ends  to 
Delhi.  which  he  had  addressed  himself  from  the  commence- 

ment— ^the  recovery  of  Delhi  and  the  protection  of 
the  Gangetic  provinces.     But  it  was  not  easy  in  the 
existing  dearth  of  troops  to  accomplish  both  of  these 
objects  with   the  desired   despatch ;   and  it  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  some  difference  of  opinion 
prevailed  among  the  advisers  of  Lord  Canning  as  to 
the  policy  which,  in  these  straitened  circumstances, 
it  was  more  expedient  to  adopt.     It  is  believed  that 
the  Civil  members  of  the  Supreme  Council,  seeing 
how  large  a  portion  of  our  available  military  strength 
would  be  locked  up  under  the  walls  of  Delhi,  and 
how,   in  the  meanwhile,  large  breadths  of  country 
would  be  exposed  to  the  fury  of  the  enemy,  advised 
Aat  the  attack  on  the  great  city  of  the  Mogul  should 
be  delayed  for  a  while,  in  order  to  employ  the  Euro- 
pean troops  in  Upper  India  upon  the  general  defence 
of  the  country.     Sir  John  Low  was  of  a  different 
opinion ;  and  he  drew  up  a  minute  on  the  subject, 
full  of  sound  arguments  in  favour  of  an  immediate 
effort  to  recover  the  lost  position.  But  the  Governor- 
General  had  already  come  to  that  conclusion.     In- 
deed,  he  had  never  doubted,   for  a  day,  that  let 
what  might  happen  elsewhere,  it  was  his  first  duty 
to  wrest  the  imperial  city  from  the  hands  of  the 
insurgents.     He  saw  plainly  that  the  fall  of  Delhi 
had  imparted  a  political,  a  national  significance  to  a 
movement,   which   otherwise  might  have  been  re- 
garded as  litde  more  than  a  local  outbreak.     It  had, 
indeed,  converted  for  a  while  a  mutiny  into  a  revolu- 
tion ;  and  the  Governor-Genieral  felt,  therefore,  that 
to  strike  at  Delhi,  was  to  strike  at  the  very  heart  of 
the  danger — ^that  tp  deliver  a  deadly  blow  at  that 


FIEST  EPFOBTS  AT  RETRIEVAL.'  121 

point  would  be  to  cause  an  immediate  collapse  of  the  1857. 
vital  powers  of  rebellion  from  one  end  of  the  country  May. 
to  the  other. 

So  he  at  once  issued  his  orders  for  the  striking  of 
that  blow;    and  day  after  day  the  telegraph  wires 
carried  to  the  Commander-in-Chief  briefly  emphatic 
orders  to  make  short  work  of  Delhi.     Though  the 
Lower  Provinces  were  all  but  bare  of  European  troops 
there  was  some  wealth  of  English  regiments  upon  the 
slopes  of  the  Northern  Hills,  where  the  Head-Quar- 
ters of  the  Army  were  then  planted ;  and  Lord  Can- 
ning, with  something  of  the  impetuosity  of  the  civi- 
lian, which  is  prone  to  overlook  military  difficulties, 
believed  that  those  regiments  might  be  gathered  up 
at  once  and  poured  down  with  resistless  force  upon 
Delhi.     Severed  by  nearly  a  thousand  miles  from 
the  point  of  attack,  he  felt  that  he  himself  could  do 
but  little.     But  he  had  faith  in  the  Commander-in- 
Chief — faith  in  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  North- 
West  Provinces — ^faith  in  the  great  Commissioner  of 
the  Punjab ;  and  in  the  first  letter  which  he  wrote  to 
England,  after  the  outbreak  at  Meerut,  he  said :  "  As 
to  expediting  the  crushing  of  the  Delhi  rebels,   I 
work  at  some  disadvantage  at  a  distance  of  nine 
hundred  miles ;  but  the  forces  are  converging  upon 
the  point  as  rapidly  as  the  season  will  admit,  and  I 
am   confident  that  with  Colvin's  aid  and  example, 
every  man  will  be  inspirited  to  do  his  utmost.     I 
have  made  the  Commander-in-Chief  aware  of  the  vast 
importance  to  the  Lower  Provinces  that  an  end 
should  be  made  of  the  work  quickly.     Time  is  every- 
thing.    Delhi  once  crushed,  and  a  terrible  example 
made,  we  shall  have  no  more  difficulties."    To  what 
extent  the  realised  facts  fulfilled  his  sanguine  antici- 
pations, will  presently  be  made  apparent. 

Meanwhile,  the  Goyernor-Gpneral  was  anxiously 


122  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857*      turning  to  gobd  account  the  first-fruits  of  his  initial 
^y-       measures  for  the  collection  of  European  troops,  and 
^v^ivom    tryii^g  to  succour  those  defenceless  posts  at  which 
below.  the  enemy  were  most  likely  to  strike.     The  difficul- 

ties and  perplexities  which  beset  him  were  great 
He  had  only  two  European  regiments  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  capital — the  Fifty-third  Foot,  whose 
Head-Quarters  were  in  Fort  William,  and  the  Eighty- 
fourth,  who  had  been  brought  round  from  Rangoon 
in  March,  and  who  had  since  been  stationed  at  Chin- 
surah,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hooghly,  above  Barrack- 
pore.     He  would  fain  have  sent  upwards  a  part  of 
the  little  strength  thus  gathered  at  the  Presidency ; 
but  those  two  regiments  were  all  that  belonged  to 
him  for  the  defence  of  Lower  Bengal.     There  was 
not  another  English  regiment  nearer  than  Dinapore, 
four  hundred  miles   distant  from   Calcutta.      And 
there,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  capital, 
were  many  points  which  it  was  of  extreme  importance 
to  defend.     There  was  Fort  William,  with  its  great 
Arsenal;  there  was  the  Gun-manufactory  at  Cossi- 
pore,  a  few  miles  higher  up  the  river ;  there  was  the 
Powder-manufactory  at  Ishapore,  some  twelve  miles 
beyond,  and  there  was  the  Artillery  School  of  In- 
struction at  Dum-Dum,  with  all  its  varied  appliances 
for  the  manufacture  of  ordnance  stores.     A  little 
r,    way  beyond  Chowringhee,  the  fashionable  suburb  of 
the  City  of  Palaces,  lay  the  great  gaol  of  Alipore, 
crowded  with  malefactors,  many  of  the  worst  class ; 
and  hard  by  were  the  Government  clothing  godowns, 
or  stores,  from  which  the  uniforms  and  accoutrements 
of  the  army  were  drawn.     Then  in  difierent  parts  of 
the  city  were  the  Calcutta  Mint  and  the  Treasury 
and  the  Banks,  all  groaning  with  coin — so  that  there 
was  nothing  wanting  that  could  have  supplied  an 


CHARGES  AGAINST  GOYERNlfENT.  123 

insurgent  army  with  all  the  munitions  and  equip-       1857. 
ments  of  war,  and  enabled  them  to  take  the  field       ^^' 
against  us  with  the  unfailing  cement  of  high  pay  to 
keep  them  together. 

Wise  after  the  event,  public  writers  have  said  that  Conduct  of 
if  Lord  Canning,  in  the  third  week  of  the  month  of  considered. 
May,  had  accepted  the  first  ofier  of  the  European 
inhabitants  to  enrol  themselves  into  a  volunteer 
corps — ^that  if  he  had  disbanded  the  Sepoy  Regi- 
ments at  Barrackpore,  and  ordered  the  disbandment 
of  those  at  Dinapore — events  which  were  subse- 
quently rendered  necessary^ — ^a  large  portion  of  the 
European  force  in  Bengal  might  have  been  set  free 
and  pushed  up  by  rail  and  road  to  the  points  which 
were  most  beset  with  danger,  and  that  great  disasters 
which  subsequently  befel  us  might  thus  have  been 
averted.*  There  are,  doubdess,  many  things  which, 
in  that  month  of  May,  would  have  been  done  dif- 
ferently, and  might  have  been  done  better,  if  the 
future  had  been  clearly  revealed  to  those  who  had  the 
conduct  of  afiairs.  But  we  must  judge  men  according 

*  The  two  ablest  of  the  early  hundred  sailors  were  at  the  disposal 
writers,  the  author  of  the  "  Bed  of  the  Goyemment  a  week  after  the 
Pamphlet^"  and  Mr.  Meade  in  his  revolt  became  known.  .  .  .  Whilst 
**  Sepo7  Revolt,"  dwell  very  em-  the  volunteers  were  learning  how  to 
phatically  on  this  point.  The  former  load  and  fire,  and  the  merchant  sea- 
says:  "An  enrolmeut  on  a  large  men  were  being  instructed  in  the 
scale  at  this  time  would  have  enabled  use  of  artillery.  Government  might 
the  Governor-General  to  dispense  have  placed  from  the  terminus  (at 
with  the  services  of  one  European  Eanee^unge)  to  Cawnpore  a  line 
regiment  at  least ;  but  so  bent  was  of  stations  for  horses  and  bullocks, 
he  on  ignoring  the  danger,  that  he  guarded,  if  necessary,  by  posts  of 

not  only  declined  the  offers  of  the  armed  men Had  Govem- 

Trades'  Association,    the   Masonic  ment  only  consented  to  do  just  a 

Praternity,  the  Native  converts,  the  fortnight  oeforehand  what  they^were 

Americans,  and  the  French  inhabit-  coerced  to  do  on  the  14th  of  June, 

ants  and  others,  but  he  declined  they  might  have  had  on  the  first  day 

them  in  terms  calculated  to  deaden  of  that  month  a  force  of  two  thou- 

rather  than  to  excite  a  feeling  of  sand   Europeans    at    Raneegunge, 

loyalty."     Mr.  Meade   says:    "A  fully    equipped    with     guns     and 

thousand^English  volunteer  infantry^  stores." 
four  hundred   cavalry,  and  fifteen 


124  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  to  the  light  of  the  day  which  shone  upon  them,  not 
^^y*  the  light  of  the  morrow,  which  had  not  yet  broken 
when  they  were  called  upon  to  act.  Ulumined  by  this 
morrow's  light,  we  now  know  that  it  might  have  been 
better  if  the  Barrackpore  and  Dinapore  regiments 
had  been  disarmed  in  the  middle  of  May;  but  the 
former  were  then  protesting  their  loyalty,  and  offer- 
ing to  fight  against  the  rebels,  and  the  latter  were 
still  believed  in  by  General  Lloyd,  who  commanded 
the  Division.*  The  temper  of  the  troops,  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  seemed  at  that  time  to  depend  upon 
the  fate  of  Delhi,  and  more  experienced  Indian 
statesmen  than  Lord  Canning  believed  that  Delhi 
would  soon  be  crushed.  And,  whilst  it  was  deemed 
expedient  to  keep  the  Bengal  Native  Army  together 
so  long  as  any  hope  survived,  it  was,  at  that  time,  in 
Bengal,  held  to  be  impossible  to  disarm  all  the  Native 
regiments.  Disarming,  said  Lord  Canning,  is  "a 
very  effective  measure,  where  practicable,  but  in 
Bengal,  where  we  have,  spread  over  from  Barrack- 
pore  to  Cawnpore,  fifteen  Native  regiments  to  one 
European,  simply  impossible.  A  very  different  game 
has  to  be  played  here."t 

Moreover,  in  the  neighbourhood  both  of  Calcutta 
and  of  Dinapore,  there  were  other  dangers  than  those 
arising  from  the  armed  Sepoy  regiments.  In  the 
latter  there  was  the  excited  Mahomedan  population 
of  Patna,  of  which  I  shall  speak  hereafter ;  and  in  the 
former  there  were  the  many  local  perils,  of  which  I 

*  As  late  as  the  2nd  of  June,  assail  them,  in  which  case  I  fear 

General  Lloyd  wrote  to  Lord  Can-  the;  could  not  be  relied  upon.    The 

ning,  saying :    "  Although  no  one  1  hing  required  to  keep  them  steady 

can  now  feel  full  confidence  in  the  is  a  blow  quickly  struck  at  Delhi, 

loyalty  of  Native  troops  generally,  — MS.  Correspondtnce, 
yet  I  DeHeve  that  the  regiments  here        f  Lord  Canning  to  Mr,  Yemon 

will  remain  quief,  unless  some  great  Smith,  June  5, 1857. — MS*  Corre- 

temptation    or    excitement    should  spondence. 


THE  VOLUNTEER  QUESTION.  125 

have  already  spoken.     And  it  was  at  least  doubtful       3857. 

whether  an  undisciplined  body  of  sailors  and  civi-       ^^y* 

lians,  even  with   a  few  staff-officers  to   keep   them 

together,  would  have  supplied  the  place  of  a  regular 

regiment  of  Europeans.      Lord  Canning,   knowing 

well  the  constitution  of  the  European  community  of 

Calcutta,  did  not  think,  from  the  very  nature  of  their 

interests  and  their  occupations,  that  they  could  form 

a  defensive   body  on  which  any  reliance  could  be 

placed.    Where  the  treasure  of  men  is  there  will  their 

hearts  be  also ;  and,  in  many  instances,  if  possible, 

their  hands.     It  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that,  if 

there  had  been  any  sudden  alarm — if  the  signal  had 

been  sounded,  and  every  man's  services  needed  in  a 

critical  emergency,  many  would  not  have  thought 

rather  of  their  wives  and  children  than  of  the  public 

safety,  and  some,  perhaps,  more  of  their  own  material 

property  than   of  that  of  the  State.*      Doubtless 

there  were  brave  and  patriotic  spirits  among  them 

who  would  have  gone  gladly  to  the  front ;  but  Lord 

Canning,  perhaps,  did  not  err  in  thinking  that  the 

majority  of  members  of  the  non-military  community 

were  too  much  encumbered  by  their  worldly  affairs 

to  make  efficient  soldiers,  either  for  the  performance 

of  ordinary  duties  or  the  confronting  of  imminent 

peril.     That  they  could  have  formed  a  substitute  for 

regular  soldiers  was  improbable,  though  they  would 

have  been  a  serviceable  supplement  to  them. 

If,  then,  the  volunteers  had  been  enrolled  when 
the  first  offer  of  service  was  made  to  Lord  Canning, 

*  It  is  very  vividly  in  my  recol-  the  most  experienced  men  in  the 

lection  that,  on  the  famous  lOth  of  district  in  which  I  lived  how  many 

April,  1848,  when  there  was  a  va^e  of  those  sworn  in  would  turn  out  on 

expectation  that  London  would  be  the  given  signal  (it  was  to  be  the 

sacked  by  the  Chartists,  and  im-  ringing  of  the  church  bell),  and  I 

mense  numbers  of  special  constables  was  told  "  not  ten  per  cent." 
had  been  sworn  in«  I  asked  one  of 


126  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  he  could  not  have  done  more  than  he  did  to  send 
***?•  succours  up  the  country.  Nor  did  it,  at  the  time, 
seem  to  him  that  the  danger  was  so  imminent  on  the 
Gangetic  provinces  as  to  demand  that  Bengal  should 
be  stripped,  even  for  a  few  weeks,  of  her  only  re- 
liable defences.  It  was  just  during  that  particular 
interval  between  the  receipt  of  intelligence  of  the 
Meerut  outbreak  and  the  arrival  of  the  first  reinforce- 
ments from  beyond  the  seas,  that  the  accounts  from 
the  upper  country  were  least  alarming.  There  was, 
apparently,  a  suspension  of  rebellious  activity.  The 
telegraphic  messages  received  from  the  principal 
stations  were  all  of  an  assuring  character.  On  the 
19th  and  20th  the  report  from  Benares  was,  "All 
perfectly  quiet,"  "troops  steady."  On  the  19th  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  telegraphed  from  Lucknow,  "All 
very  well  in  city,  cantonments,  and  country."  Sir 
Hugh  Wheeler,  at  Cawnpore,  on  the  same  day,  sent 
a  kindred  message,  "All  quiet  here,  the  excitement 
somewhat  less."  From  Allahabad,  on  the  same  day, 
the  tidings  were,  "  Troops  quiet  and  well  behaved ;" 
and  the  Lieutentot-Govemor  of  the  North-West  Pro- 
vinces at  Agra  assured  the  Governor-General  that 
"Things  were  looking  cheerful."  "There  may,"  it 
was  added,  "  be  some  delay  in  the  actual  advance  on 
Delhi.  It  is  generally  felt,  however,  that  it  must  soon 
fall,  and  the  flame  has  not  spread."  The  following 
days  brought  intelligence  of  the  same  satisfactory 
complexion,  the  only  evil  tidings  being  those  which 
spoke  of  mutiny  at  Aligurh,  and  that  was  quickly 
followed  by  the  announcement  from  Agra  that  a 
strong  expedition  had  been  organised  for  the  re- 
capture of  the  place. 

There  was  little,   therefore,   that  Lord  Canning 
could  do  in  the  earlier  weeks  of  May  to  succour  the 


COLLECTION  OF  TROOPS.  127 

North-Westem  Provinces,  and  judged  by  the  light  of      1857. 
the  day  no  pressing  necessity  to  incur,  for  that  pur-      ^*y* 
pose,  great  risks  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  capital. 
What  little  he  could  do  with  safety  he  did.     He 
ordered  up  a  detachment  of  the  Eighty-fourth  to 
Benares,   and  he  suggested  to   General  Lloyd,   at 
Dinapore,  that  he  might,  perhaps,  send  a  company 
or  two  of  the  Tenth  to  the  same  point.     These  first 
movements  might  save  a  few  Uves,  and  might  give  a 
general  impression  of  action  on  our  part,  the  import- 
ance of  which  was  great  at  such  a  time.     But  it  was 
to  the  reinforcements  coming  from  beyond  the  seas 
that  he  eagerly  looked  for  substantive  aid.     He  had 
written    on    the   19th  to    the   Indian   Minister  in 
England,   saying:  "Towards  this  object  the  steps 
taken  are  as  follows — ^The  Madras  Fusiliers  are  on 
their  way,  and  will  be  here  on  the  21st  or  2i2nd.     A 
regiment  has  been  sent  for  from  Rangoon,  and  wiU 
arrive  in  the  course  of  next  week.     Two  regiments 
at  least  with  some  Artillery   (perhaps  three  regi- 
ments), will  come  round  from  Bombay  as  soon  as 
they  arrive  from   Persia.      They   are  all   on  their 
way.     Another  regiment  from  Kurrachee  is  ordered 
up  the  Indus  to  Ferozepore,  as  a  stand-by,  if  John 
Lawrence  should  want  help.     An  officer  goes  to-day 
to  Ceylon  to  procure  from  Sir  Henry  Ward  every 
soldier  he  can  spare.      I  have  asked  for  at  least 
five  hundred  Europeans,  but  will  accept  Malays  in 
place  of  or  besides  them.     The  same  officer  carries 
letters  to  Elgin  and  Ashburnham,  begging  that  the 
regiments  destined  for  China  may  be  turned  first 

to  India This  is  all  that  I  can  do  at  present 

to  collect  European  strength,  except  the  withdrawal 
of  one  more  regiment  from  Pegu,  which,  when  a 
steamer  is  available,  will  take  place."      And  now, 


128  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

185?.      before  the  end  of  the  month,  he  learnt  that  the 
May.      Madras  Fusiliers  were  in  the  river.     Such  was  his 
confidence,  that  when  succours  began  to  arrive,  he 
felt,  however  small  they  might  be  in  proportion  to 
his  needs,  that  the  tide  was  beginning  to  turn  in  his 
favour.     After  a  fortnight  of  enforced  inaction,  there 
was  something  invigorating  in  the  thought  that  he 
was  now  beginning  to  hold  palpably  in  his  hands  the 
means  of  rendering  substantial  aid  to  his  defenceless 
countrymen.  And  he  knew,  moreover,  that  the  moral 
eiFect  of  the  arrival  of  a  single  European  regiment 
would  be  greater  than  the  material  assistance,  for  it 
would  soon  be  noised  abroad  that  the  English  were 
coming  from  beyond  the  seas  to  avenge  their  slaugh- 
tered brethren,  and  Rumour  would  be  sure  to  mag- 
nify the  extent  of  the  arrival.*  • 
Colonel  Neill      Still,  in  itself  the  gain  was  very  great ;  for  the 
Madras         vessels  which  were  working  up  the  Hooghly  were 
Fusiliers.       bringing  not  only  a  well-seasoned,  well-disciplined 
regiment,  in  fine  fighting  order,  but  a  chief  who  had 
within  him  all  the  elements  of  a  great  soldier.     The 
First  Madras  European  Regiment  was  commanded 
by  Colonel  James  George  Neill.     It  was  one  of  those 
few  English  regiments  which,  enlisted  for  the  service 
of  the  East  India  Company,  and  maintained  exclu- 
sively on  the  Indian  establishment,  bore  on  their 
banners  the  memorials  of  a  series  of  victories  from 

*  I  am  aware  that  a  contrary  be  as  stated,  we  may  readily  under- 
statement has  been  made.  It  has  stand  the  object  of  tne  concealment, 
been  asserted  that  the  Government  It  might  have  been  sound  policy 
took  pains  rather  to  conceal  than  not  to  make  known  the  coming  of 
to  make  known  the  arrival  of  re-  the  troops  until  they  were  landed 
inforcements  at  Calcutta.  Especially  and  fit  for  service.  If  there  had  been 
by  disguising  the  names  of  the  vessels  any  combination  for  a  rising,  the 
in  which  the  troops  were  coming  up  moment  seized  would  probably  have 
the  river.  If  the  Alethea,  for  ex-  been  when  it  was  known  that  our  re- 
ample,  were  coming  up,  she  was  inforcements  were  at  the  Sandlieads. 
telegraphed,  it  was  said,  as  the  But  I  am  assured,  on  the  highest 
Sarah  Sandt.    AssiLming  the  fact  to  authority,  that  the  story  is  not  true. 


COLONEL  NEILL.  129 

the  earliest  days  of  our  conquests  in  India.  It  had  1857. 
just  returned  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  when  Neill,  ^*^- 
fresh  from  Crimean  service,*  found  to  his  delight 
that  he  was  to  be  appointed  to  command  the  regi- 
ment with  which  he  had  served  during  the  greater 
part  of  his  adult  life.  He  had  gone  down  to  see 
the  regiment  disembark,  and  he  had  written  in  his 
journal  that  they  were  "  a  very  fine  healthy  body  of 
men,  fully  equal  to  any  regiment  he  had  ever  seen." 
This  was  on  the  20th  of  April,  and  he  little  then  knew 
how  soon  he  would  be  called  upon  to  test  their 
eflBciency  in  the  field.  Three  or  four  weeks  after- 
wards, news  came  that  Upper  India  was  in  a  blaze, 
and  the  tidings  were  quickly  followed  by  a  summons 
for  the  regiment  to  take  ship  for  Bengal.  Then 
Neill  rejoiced  exceedingly  to  think  of  the  lessons  he 
had  learnt  in  the  Crimea,  and  the  experience  he  had 
gained  there;  and  he  felt,  to  use  his  own  words, 
"fully  equal  to  any  extent  of  professional  employ- 
ment or  responsibility  which  could  ever  devolve  upon 
him." 

Bom  in  the  month  of  May,  1810,  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  chief  town  of  Ayrshire,  in  Scotland, 
James  Neill  had  entered  the  Indian  service  in  his 
seventeenth  year,  and  was,  therefore,  when  sum- 
moned to  take  active  part  in  the  Sepoy  War,  a  man 
of  forty-seven  years  of  age,  and  a  soldier  of  thirty 
years'  standing.  Of  a  strong  physical  constitution, 
of  active  athletic  habits,  he  shrunk  from  no  work, 
and  he  was  overcome  by  no  fatigue.  There  were 
few  men  in  the  whole  range  of  the  Indian  Army 
better  qualified  by  nature  and  by  training  to  engage 
in  the  stirring  events  of  such  a  campaign  as  was 

*  He  had  been  Second-in-Command,  under  Sir  Bobert  Vivian,  of  the 
Anglo-Turkish  Contingent. 

VOL.  II.  K 


130  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1867.  opening  out  before  him.  He  was  a  God-fearing 
^*y-  Scotchman,  with  something  in  him  of  the  old  Cove- 
nanter tjrpe.  He  was  gentle  and  tender  as  a  woman 
in  his  domestic  relations,  chivalrous  and  self-denjdng 
in  all  the  actions  of  his  life,  and  so  careful,  as  a  com- 
mander, of  all  under  his  charge,  that  he  would  have 
yielded  his  tent,  or  given  up  his  meals  to  any  one 
more  needing  them  than  himself.  But  towards  the 
enemies  of  our  nation  and  the  persecutors  of  our  race 
he  was  as  hard  and  as  fiery  as  flint ;  and  he  was  not 
one  to  be  tolerant  of  the  shortcomings  of  our  own 
people,  wanting  in  courage  or  capacity,  or  in  any  way 
failing  in  their  manliness.  He  knew,  when  he  em- 
barked for  Bengal,  that  there  was  stem  work  before 
him;  and  he  brooded  over  the  future  so  intently, 
that  the  earnestness  and  resolution  within  him  spoke 
out  ever  from  his  countenance,  and  it  was  plain  to 
those  around  him  that,  once  in  front  of  the  enemy,  he 
would  smite  them  with  an  unsparing  hand,  and  never 
cease  from  his  work  until  he  should  witness  its  full 
completion,  or  be  arrested  by  the  stroke  of  death. 
May  23.  On  the  23rd  of  May  Colonel  Neill  was  off  Calcutta 
with  the  leading  wing  of  his  regiment,  and  soon  the 
whole  corps  had  disembarked.  But  it  was  easier  to 
bring  troops  into  port  along  the  great  highway  of 
the  ocean,  than  to  despatch  them  with  the  required 
rapidity  into  the  interior  of  the  country.  Every 
possible  provision,  however,  had  been  made  and  was 
still  being  made  to  push  forward  the  reinforcements 
by  river  and  by  road.  Every  available  horse  and 
bullock  along  the  line  had  been  purchased  by  Go- 
vernment ;  every  carriage  and  cart  secured  for  the 
conveyance  of  the  troops  up  the  country.*   The  river 

*  *'  A  steady  stream  of  reinforce-    nares.  Every  horse  and  bollock  that 
ments  is  now  beiog  poured  into  Be-    can  be  bought  on  the  road  is  engaged. 


NEILL  AND  THE  RAILWAY  AUTHORITIES.  131 

steamers  were  carrying  their  precious  freights  of  1857. 
humanity,  but  too  slowly  for  our  needs,  in  that  dry  ^' 
season,  and  the  railway  was  to  be  brought  into  re- 
quisition to  transport  others  to  the  scene  of  action. 
It  was  by  the  latter  route  that  the  bulk  of  Neill's 
regiment,  in  all  nine  hundred  strong,  were  to  be 
despatched  towards  Benares.*  It  might  have  been 
supposed  that,  at  such  a  time,  every  Christian  man 
in  Calcutta  would  have  put  forth  all  his  strength  to 
perfect  and  to  expedite  the  appointed  work,  eager  to 
contribute  by  all  means  within  his  power  to  the  rescue 
of  imperilled  Christendom.  Especially  was  it  to  be 
looked  for  that  all  holding  such  authority  as  might 
enable  them  to  accelerate  the  despatch  of  troops  to 
our  threatened,  perhaps  beleaguered  posts,  would 
strain  every  nerve  to  accomplish  eiFectually  this  good 
work.  But  on  the  platform  of  the  Calcutta  terminus, 
on  the  river  side,  opposite  to  Howrah,  all  such  natural 
zeal  as  this  seemed  to  be  basely  wanting.  There  was 
no  alacrity  in  helping  the  troops  to  start  on  their 
holy  duty ;  and  soon  apathy  and  inaction  grew  into 
open  opposition.  When  the  second  party  of  a  hun- 
dred men  was  to  be  despatched,  stress  of  weather 
delayed  their  arrival,  from  the  flats  in  the  river,  at 
the  platform  or  landing-stage,  near  which  the  train 
was  waiting  for  them,  under  the  orders  of  the  Supreme 


and  the  dawk  establishments  have  Secretary  and  the  Deputj-Quarter- 

been  increased  to  the  utmost.    The  master-6e  neral,  and  made  all  arran|^- 

men  who  go  bj  horse-dawk   reach  ments  to  start  off  the  men  I  had 

Benares  in  five  d&js ;  those  hj  bul-  brought  up  by  steamers  to  Benares, 

lock  in  ten.   The  u)rmer  conveyance  However,   next    day  there  was    a 

can    take    only   from    eighteen    to  change.    Only  a  hundred  and  Miirty 

twenty-four  a  day  ;  the  latter  a  hun-  men  went  up  the  country  by  steamer, 

dred.  Some  are  gone  up  by  steamers,  and  the  rest  I  am  startmg  off  by  tlie 

These  will  be  sixteen  days  on  the  train." — Private  Letter  of  CoL  Neill. 

journey." — Lord  Canning  to  Sir  E,  The  .rail  then  only  went  as  far  as 

Wheeler^  May  26.    MS.  Kaneegunge. 
*  "  I  landed  and  saw  the  Military 

K  2 


132  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  Government.  But  as  the  Fusiliers  came  alongside 
^"y-  and  were  landing,  in  the  darkness  of  the  early  night, 
without  an  eiFort  of  help  from  the  railway  people, 
the  station-master  cried  out  that  they  were  late,  and 
that  the  train  would  not  wait  for  them  a  moment. 
Against  *this  Neill  remonstrated,  but  the  official, 
growing  more  peremptory  in  his  tone  and  insolent 
in  his  manner,  threatened  at  once  to  start  the  train. 
Other  functionaries  then  came  forward,  and  addressed 
him  in  the  same  threatening  strain.  One  said  that 
the  Colonel  might  command  his  regiment,  but  that 
he  did  not  command  the  railway,  and  that  the  train 
should  be  despatched  without  him.  On  this,  Neill 
telling  them  that  they  were  traitors  and  rebels,  and 
that  it  was  fortunate  for  them  that  he  had  not  to 
deal  with  them,  placed  a  guard  over  the  engineer  and 
stoker,  and  told  them  to  stir  at  their  peril.  A  few 
weeks  later,  in  parts  of  the  country  more  distant  from 
the  central  authority,  such  traitors  as  these  would, 
perhaps,  have  been  hanged. 

The  train  started,  some  ten  minutes  after  its  ap- 
pointed time,  with  its  precious  burden  of  Fusiliers ; 
and  the  tidings  of  what  Neill  had  done  soon  reached 
Lord  Canning.  It  was  not  in  the  brave  heart  of  the 
Governor- General  to  refuse  its  meed  of  admiration 
to  such  an  act.  Even  official  Calcutta,  though  a  little 
startled  in  its  proprieties,  commended,  after  a  time, 
the  Madras  Colonel,  whilst  at  all  the  stations  above, 
when  the  story  was  known,  people  said  that  the  right 
man  was  on  his  way  to  help  them,  and  looked  eagerly 
for  the  coming  succours. 


eiuStincnta.        -^^^  never,  in  a  season  of  trouble,  was  there  a 
more  timely  arrival;  for  the  lull  of  which  I  have 


■<~i*r»-' 


SPECIAL  LEGISLATION.  133 

spoken  now  seemed  to  be  at  an  end.  As  the  month  1857. 
of  May  burnt  itself  out,  the  tidings  which  came  from  May. 
the  country  above  were  more  distressing  and  more 
alarming.  It  was  plain  that  the  North- West  Pro- 
vinces, from  one  end  to  the  other,  were  fast  blazing 
into  rebellion — plain  that  we  were  destined  to  see 
worse  things  than  any  we  had  yet  witnessed — and 
that  the  whole  strength  of  the  British  nation  must 
be  put  forth  to  grapple  with  the  gigantic  danger.  If 
there  had  been  any  hope  before,  that  the  rebellion 
would  die  out,  or  be  paralysed  by  the  infliction  of 
swift  retribution  on  Delhi,  it  had  now  Ceased  to  ani- 
mate the  breasts  of  Lord  Canning  and  his  colleagues. 
They  now  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  the  salvation 
of  the  English  power  in  India,  not  only  that  our 
people  should  be  everywhere  let  loose  upon  the 
enemy,  but  that  they  should  be  armed  with  excep- 
tional powers  suited  to,  and  justified  by  the  crisis. 
A  reign  of  lawlessness  had  commenced ;  but  for  a 
while  the  avenging  hand  of  the  English  Government 
had  been  restrained  by  the  trammels  of  the  written 
law.  It  was  time  now  to  cease  from  the  unequal 
conflict.  The  English  were  few  ; .  their  enemies  were 
many.  The  many  had  appealed  to  the  law  of  brute 
force ;  and  the  few  were  justified  in  accepting  the 
challenge.  The  time  for  the  observance  of  municipal 
formalities — of  niceties  of  criminal  procedure — of 
precise  balancings  of  evidence  and  detailed  fulness 
of  record — had  clearly  now  passed  away.  A  terrible 
necessity  had  forced  itself  upon  the  rulers  of  the 
land.  In  the  great  death-struggle  which  had  come 
upon  us,  the  written  law  had  been  violated  upon  the 
one  side,  and  it  was  now  to  be  suspended  upon  the 
other.  The  savage  had  arisen  against  us,  and  it  had 
become  our  wor)c  to  fight  the  savage  with  his  owq 


134  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

1857.  weapons.  So  the  law-makers  stood  up  and  shook 
■^*y-  themselves  loose  from  the  trammels  of  the  law.  On 
the  30th  of  May,  the  Legislative  Council  passed  an 
Act  which  swept  away  the  old  time-honoured  seats  of 
justice,  wheresoever  RebellioYi  was  disporting  itself, 
and  placed  the  power  of  life  and  death  in  the  hands 
of  the  executive  officer,  whatsoever  his  rank,  his  age, 
or  his  wisdom.  The  Act,  after  declaring  that  all 
persons  owing  allegiance  to  the  British  Government, 
who  should  rebel  or  wage  war,  or  attempt  to  do  so, 
against  the  Queen  or  Government  of  the  East  Indies, 
or  instigate  or  abet  such  persons,  should  be  liable  to 
the  punishment  of  death,  transportation,  or  imprison- 
ment, gave  the  Executive  Government  of  any  Presi- 
dency or  Place  power  to  proclaim  any  district  as  in 
a  state  of  rebellion,  and  to  issue  a  Commission  forth- 
'  with  for  the  trial  of  all  persons  charged  with  offences 
against  the  State,  or  murder,  arson,  robbery,  or  other 
heinous  crime  against  person  or  property — the  Com- 
missioner or  Commissionei's  so  appointed  were  em- 
powered to  hold  a  Court  in  any  part  of  the  said 
district,  and  without  the  attendance  or  futwah  of  a 
law  officer,  or  the  assista-nce  of  assessors,  to  pass  upon 
every  person  convicted  before  the  Court  of  any  of 
the  above-mentioned  crimes  the  punishment  of  death, 
or  transportation,  or  imprisonment;  "and  the  judg- 
ment of  such  Court,"  it  was  added,  "  shall  be  final 
and  conclusive,  and  the  said  Court  shall  not  be  sub- 
ordinate to  the  Sudder  Court."*  This  gave  immense 
power  to  individual  Englishmen.  But  it  armed  only 
the  civil  authorities ;  so  an  order  was  passed  by  the 
Governor-General  in  Council  authorising  the  senior 

*  Tbe  Act,  which  receiyed  the    June,  is  givcu  entire  in  the  Ap- 
assent  of  the  Groyernor-General,  and    pendii, 
ttius  passed  into  law  on  the  8th  of 


ARRIVAL  OF  REINFORCEMENTS.  135 

military  officer,  of  whatsoever  rank,  at  any  military      3  857. 
station  in  the  Bengal  Presidency,  to  appoint  General    ^^^  ^^ 
Courts-Martial,  either  European  or  Native,  or  mixed, 
of  not  less  than  five  members,  and  "  to  confirm  and 
carry  into  effect,  immediately  or  otherwise,  any  sen- 
tence of  such  Court-Martial." 


With  the  new  month  came  in  further  reinforce-  June, 
ments  from  beyond  the  seas,  and  something  like  5^^^®-^^°" 
confidence  was  re-established  in  the  Christian  com- 
munities of  Calcutta;  for  although  rebellion  was 
spreading  itself  all  over  Upper  India,  the  continual 
stream  of  English  troops  that  was  beginning  to  pour 
into  the  capital  seemed  to  give  security  to  its  inmates. 
The  regiments  released  from  service  in  the  Persian 
Gulf,  were  now  making  their  appearance  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hooghly.  The  Sixty-fourth  arrived  on 
the  3rd  of  June,  and  soon  afterwards  the  Thirty-fifth 
came  in  from  Moulmein,  And  then  the  kilted  High- 
landers of  the  Seventy-eighth,  also  from  Persia,  were 
seen  ascending  the  ghauts  of  Calcutta,  with  their  red 
beards  and  their  bare  knees — an  unaccustomed  sight 
to  the  natives  of  Bengal,  in  whose  eyes  they  appeared 
to  be  half  women  and  half  beasts.  Others  followed, 
and  every  effort  was  made  to  expedite  their  despatch 
to  the  upper  country.  At  Raneegunge,  to  which 
point  the  railway  ran  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Calcutta,  an  experienced  officer  was  making  arrange- 
ments to  send  on  detachments  by  horse-dawk  and 
bullock-dawk  to  Benares ;  but  the  resources  of  the 
State  were  miserably  •inadequate  to  the  necessities  of 
the  crisis,  and  prompt  movement  by  land,  therefore, 
on  a  large  scale  was  wholly  impossible.  The  journey 
to  Benares  could  be  accomplished  ill  five  days ;  but 


136  THE  CALCUTTA  COMMUNITY. 

3867.      it  was  officially  reported  to  Lord  Canning  that  only 
June,      from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  men  a  day  could  thus 
be  forwarded  by  horsed  carriages.     By  the  4th  of 
June,  it  was  computed  that,  by  these  means  of  con- 
veyance, ninety  men  with  their  officers  would  have 
reached   Benares ;  by   the   8th,  eighty-eight  more ; 
and  by  the  12th,  another  batch  of  eighty-eight.     The 
bullock-carriages,   which   aiForded  slower   means  of 
progression,  bijt  which  could  carry  larger  numbers, 
might,  it  was  calculated,  convey  the  troops  onward 
at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  men  a  day.*     So,  on  the 
10th  of  June,  Lord  Canning  was  able  to  write  to 
Mr.  Colvin,  saying:   "The  Europeans  are  still  sent 
up  steadily  at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  men 
a  day,  and  henceforward  they  will  not  be  stopped 
either  at  Benares  or  Allahabad,  but  be  passed  on  to 
Cawnpore.      My   object  is  to   place   at   Sir  Hugh 
Wheeler's  disposal  a  force  with  which  he  can  leave 
his  intrenchments  at  Cawnpore,  and  show  himself  at 
Lucknow  or  elsewhere.     He  will  best  know  where 
when  the  time  arrives.     To  this  end,  I  call  upon  you 
to  give  your  aid  by  furthering  by  every  means  in 
your  power  the  despatch  southwards  of  a  portion  of 
the  European  force  which  has  marched  upon  Delhi." 
It  had  not  yet  dawned  upon  the  Government  that 
Delhi  was  not  to  be  "  made  short  work  of"  by  the 
force  that  had  come  down  from  the  North  to  attack 
it.     And  there  were  many  others  of  large  experience 
all  over  the  country  who  believed  that  there  was  no 
power  of  resistance  in  the  place  to  withstand  the  first 
assaults  even  of  such  an  English  army  as  Anson  was 
gathering  up  and  equipping  for  service.     What  that 
force  was,  and  what  it^s  efforts,  I  have  now  to  relate. 

f  l^r,  Cecil  Beadon  to  Lord  Canning,  May  26.— ITiy.  Correspondence, 


^'^'^^^^^m^^mmm^mm 


HEAD-QUARTERS.  137 


CHAPTER  V. 

GENERAL  ANSON  AT  UUBALLAIl — PIKST  MOVEMENT  07  TROOPS— THE  MILI- 
TAEY  DEPARTMENTS— DIFFICULTY  OP  MOVEMENT— THE  PANIC  ON  THE 
HILLS — THE  SIEGE-TRAIN— REMONSTRANCES  AGAINST  DELAY — VIEWS  OP 
LORD  CANNING  AND  SIR  JOHN  LAIVRENCE— GOOD  WORK  OP  THE  CIVILIANS 
— CONDUCT  OP  THE  SIKH  CHIEFS— THE  MARCH  TO  KUKNAUL— DEATH  OP 
GENERAL  ANSON — SUCCESSION   OP  SIR   HENRY  BARNARD. 

Disquieted  by  reports  of  the  uneasy  nervous  state  Maj  12. 
of  the  regiments  at  Head-Quarters,  but  little  appre-  q\^^' 
bending  the  approach  of  any  gigantic  danger,  General 
Anson  was  recreating  himself  on  the  heights  of  Sim- 
lah,  when,  on  the  12th  of  May,  young  Barnard  rode 
in  from  Umballah  bearing  a  letter  from  his  father. 
It  informed  the  Commander-in-Chief  that  a  strano:c 
incoherent  telegraphic  message  had  been  received  at 
the  latter  place  from  Delhi.  But  it  was  plain  that 
the  Meerut  Sepoys  had  revolted.  An  hour  after- 
wards, another  message  was  brought  to  Anson,  con- 
firming the  first  tidings  of  revolt.  Confused  though 
it  was,  it  indicated  still  more  clearly  than  its  prede- 
cessor, that  the  Native  Cavalry  prisoners  at  Meerut 
had  escaped  from  gaol,  that  the  Sepoys  thence  had 
joined  the  Delhi  mutineers,  and  that  there  had  been 
at  both  places  a  massacre  of  Europeans.* 

*  The  first  telej»ram,  as  given  in  a  All  the  bungalows  are  on  fire— burn- 
letter  from  Anson  to  Lord  Canning,  in<^  down  bf  the  Sepoys  of  Meerut. 
ran  thus  :  "  We  must  leave  office.    They  came  iq  this  mgrning.  We  are 


138  LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1S57.  When  this  intelligence  reached  the  Commander- 

May  12.  in-Chief,  he  did  not  at  once  take  in  its  full  signi- 
ficance ;  nor,  indeed,  did  men  of  far  greater  Indian 
experience — the  Head-Quarters  StaflF,  by  whom  he 
was  surrounded — perceive  the  dire  purport  of  it. 
But  he  discerned  at  once  that  something  must  be 
done.  He  saw  that  the  city  of  Delhi  and  the  lives 
of  all  the  Europeans  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  insur- 
gents ;  and  th^tt  it  was  incumbent  upon  him  to  send 
down  all  the  white  troops  that  could  be  despatched 
from  the  Hills,  to  succour  our  imperilled  people,  if 
the  flames  of  rebellion  should  spread.  So  he  sent  an 
Aide-de-camp  to  Kussowlee,  on  that  day,  with  orders 
for  the  Seventy-fifth  Foot  to  march  to  Umballah  ;* 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  Company's  European 
regiments  at  Dugshai  and  Sobathoo  were  directed  to 
hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  march  at  a  moment's 
notice.  But  he  did  not  put  himself  in  motion.  He 
wrote  to  Lord  Canning,  saying  that  he  anxiously 
awaited  further  reports,  and  that  if  they  were  not 
favourable  he  should  "at  once  proceed  down  to 
Umballah."  He  had  scarcely  despatched  this  letter, 
when  a  third  telegraphic  message  was  received,  from 
which  he  learnt  more  distinctly  what  had  happened 
*  at  Meerut  on  the  preceding  Sunday.    Next  morning, 

he  wrote  again  to  Lord  Canning,  still  saying  that  his 

off.    Mr.  C.  Todd  is  dead,  I  tliink.  Boats.   Fifty-fourtii  Native  Infantry 

He  went  out  this  morning,  and  has  sent  against  tliem,  but  would  not  act. 

not  yet  returned.     We  learnt  that  Several  officers  killed  and  wounded, 

nine  Europeans  are  killed."    This  City  in  a  state  of  considerable  excite- 

was  received  at  three  p.m.    The  se-  ment.  Troops  sent  down,  but  nothing 

cond  message,  received  at  four,  said :  known  yet.  Information  will  be  for- 

"  Cantonments  in  a  state  of  siege,  warded." 

Mutineers  from  Meerut — ThirdLight  *  Captain  Barnard   had,   on  his 

Cavalry — numbers  not  known — said  way  to  Simlah,  warned  the  Seventy- 

to   be  a  hundred    and   fifty    men.  fifth  to  be  ready  to  march  on  the 

Cut  off  communication  with  Meerut.  arrival  of  orders  from  Head-Qu^r- 

Taken  possession  of  the  Bridge  of  ters. 


FIEST  MOVEMENT  OF  TROOPS.  139 

own  movements  would  depend  upon  the  information  1857. 
he  received.  But  he  was  beginning  to  discern  more  May  13. 
clearly  the  magnitude  of  the  danger,  and  he  or- 
dered the  two  Fusilier  regiments  to  move  down  to 
Umballah,*  and  the  Sirmoor  battalion t  to  proceed 
from  Dhera  to  Meerut.  From  the  first  he  appears 
to  have  perceived  clearly  that  the  most  pressing 
danger  which  threatened  us  was  the  loss  of  our 
Magazines.  He  felt  that  the  great  Magazine  at 
Delhi,  with  its  rich  supplies  of  arms  and  ordnance 
stores,  and  implements  of  all  kinds,  must  already  be 
in  possession  of  the  mutineers,  and  he  lost  no  time 
in  taking  measures  to  secure  our  other  great  military 
store-houses,  by  sending  European  troops  for  their 
defence.  "  I  have  sent  express,"  he  wrote  to  Lord 
Canning  on  the  13th,  "to  desire  that  the  Fort  at 
Ferozepore  may  be  secured  by  the  Sixty-first  Foot, 
and  the  Fort  at  Govindghur  by  the  Eighty-first. 
Two  companies  of  the  Eighth  from  JuUundhur  to 
Phillour."  The  importance  of  securing  the  latter 
place  could  scarcely,  indeed,  be  over-estimated.  J 
How  it  was  accomplished  by  the  authorities  of  the 
Punjab  will  hereafter  be  told.  In  this  place  it  need 
only  be  recorded  that  thence  was  it  that  the  siege- 
train  was  to  be  drawn  which  was  to  open  the  way  for 
our  re-entrance  into  Delhi,  or  to  perform  any  other 

*  Major  G.  O.  Jacob,  of  the  First  should  concentrate  on  Phillour,  and, 

European  Regiment,  who  happened  takiiig  boat  down  the  Sutlej,  make 

to  be  at  Simlah,  rode  down  to  Dug-  for  England  as   fast  as    possible ; 

shui  during  the  night,  and  warned  another,  however — one  who,  alas ! 

the  regiment  early  in  the  mornins>f.  fell  among  the  earliest  victims  of  the 

t  A  corps  of  brave  and  faithful  rebellion—su^^ested  that  the  Phil- 

Groorkahs,  whose  good  services  will  lour  Eort,  with  its  large  magazine, 

be  hereafter  detailed.  ^^§^^  ^^  made  available  for  a  very 

X  Mr.  Cave-Browne  says :  "  A  re-  different  purpose.    Hence  the  idea 

port  did  float  about  the  Punjab,  the  of   a  siege-train."     This  last  was 

truth  of  which  we  have  never  heard  Colonel   Chester,  Adjutant-General 

denied,  that  one  member  of  the  Staff  of  the  Army, 
suggested  that  all  European  troops 


140 


LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 


1857. 
May. 


May  14. 

First  ino7e- 
ments  of 
General 
Anson. 


service  that  circumstances  might  demand  from  it  in 
the  operations  to  be  now  undertaken.  An  Artillery 
officer  was  despatched  thither  with  all  speed  to  make 
the  necessary  arrangements  ;*  and  the  Goorkah  Regi- 
ment, known  as  the  Nusseree  Battalion,  and  then  be- 
lieved to  be  loyal  to  the  core,  was  ordered  down  from 
Jutogh,  near  Simlah,  to  form,  with  a  detachment  of 
the  Ninth  Irregular  Cavalry,  an  escort  for  the  train 
from  Phillour  to  Umballah.  This  was  not  more  than 
any  soldier  of  a  few  years'  experience  would  have 
done ;  but  as  it  was  an  important,  though  an  obvious 
movement,  and  tended  much  to  our  subsequent 
success,  it  should  be  held  in  remembrance  by  all  who 
say  that  in  this  conjuncture  Anson  did  less.f 

Before  the  day  was  spent,  the  Commander-in-Chief 
had  made  up  his  mind  that  he  must  quit  Simlah. 
"  I  am  just  off  for  Umballah,"  he  wrote  to  Lord 
Canning,  at  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  14th. 
..."  This  is  a  most  disastrous  business,"  he  added, 
"  and  it  is  not  possible  to  see  what  will  be  the  result. 
They  say  the  King  of  Delhi  is  at  the  bottom  of  it. 
I  doubt  it ;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  has  taken 
advantage  of  the  opportunity,  and  is  assisting  the 
insurgents.  ...  If  the  mutineers,  having  possession 
of  the  city,  make  their  stand  behind  the  walls,  we 
shall  want  a  good  force  and  artillery.  This  must  be 
collected  at  Kurnaul,  as  it  would  not  be  wise,  I 
think,  to  divide  the  force  we  shall  have  and  send  part 
from  Meerut  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river.  But 
I  hope  to  hear  something  which  will  enable  me  to 


*  Captain  Worth ington,  who  was  and  commandinj^  t!ie  bridge  over  tlie 

on  sick-leave  at  Simlah  at  the  time.  Sutlej,  it  contained  the  onl^  maj^a- 

t  The  author  of  the  "History  of  zine  that  could  now  furnish  us  wiih 

the  Siege  of  Delhi,"  says :  "  On  the  a  siege-train/'  &c.  &c.     But  it  is 

16th  Sir  John  Lawrence  telegraphed  clear  that  General  Anson  had  sent 

tx)  Jollundhur  to  secure  the  Port  of  instructions  to  this  effect  three  davs 

phillour.  Two  marches  to  tlie  south,  before.  ^ 


AFFAIRS  AT  UMBALLAH.  141 

decide  what  is  best  to  be  done  when  1  get  to  Um-      1857. 
ballah."  May  16. 

He  reached  that  place  on  the  morning  of  the  15th, 
and  many  sinister  reports  met  him  there.     It  was 
plain  that  the  Native  regiments  in  the  Punjab  were 
in  a  state  of  open  or  suppressed  mutiny,  and,  there- 
fore, that  he  could  not  expect  immediate  assistance 
from   that   province.      ''  We   are   terribly   short   of 
artillery   arumunition,"  he  wrote.     "The  two  com- 
panies of  Reserve  Artillery  I  asked  for  from  Lahore 
and  Loodhianah  cannot,  of  course,  now  be  given,  and 
we  have  no  means  of  using  the  siege-train.     All  the 
European  troops  within  reach  will  be  here  on  the 
17th.     If  we  move  upon  Delhi,  I  think  it  must  be 
from  Kurnaul.     It  is   extraordinary  how  little  we 
know   of  what  is  going  on  in  other  parts  of  the 
country^ — ^nothing  whatever  from  Agra,   Cawnpore, 
Oudh,  &c."     On  the  following  day,  he  wrote  again 
to  Lord  Canning,  saying :  "  I  have  been  doing  my 
best  to  organise  the  Force  here,  ready  for  a  move ; 
but  tents  and  carriages  are  not  ready,  and  they  are 
indispensable.     We  are  also  deficient  in  ammunition, 
which  we  are  expecting  from  Phillour.     I  hope  we 
shall  be  in  a  state  to  move  shortly,  if  required.     But 
we  have  no  heavy  guns  for  Delhi,  if  we  are  to  attack 
the  mutineers  there.     We  must  not  fritter  away  or 
sacrifice  the   Europeans  we   have,    unless  for  some 
great  necessity." 

Many  troubles  and  perplexities  then  beset  him.    It  The  Um- 
has  been  already  shown  that  the  Native  regiments  at  ^g^^s.    ^* 
Umballah  were  in  a  state  of  smouldering  mutiny, 
kept  only  from  bursting  into  a  blaze  by  the  con- 
tiguity of  European  troops.*     The  incendiary  work, 

*  Ante,  book  iii.  chapter  v. 


142 


LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 


1857. 
Mny  11. 


which,  in  the  preceding  month,  had  so  mystified  the 
Commander-in-Chief  and  the  General  of  Division, 
had  by  this  time  explained  itself.     It  was  clear  that 
the  Sepoys  were  ripe  for  revolt.     With  the  strong 
European  force  now  gathered  at  Umballah,  Anson 
might  have  reduced  them  to  impotence  in  an  hour. 
To  the  vigorous^understanding  of  Sir  John  Lawrence 
nothing  was  clearer  than  that  the  true  policy,  in  that 
conjuncture,  was  to  disarm  the  Native  regiments  at 
Umballah  before  advancing  upon  Delhi ;  and  he  im- 
pressed this  necessity  upon  Anson  by  telegraph  and 
by  post  from  Rawul-Pindee,  but  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  refused  to  sanction  the  measure.*   It  seemed  to 
be  an  easy  escape  out  of  some  difiiculties  which  beset 
his  position  at  Umballah.     He  had  the  wolf  by  the 
ears.     He  could  not  with  safety  carry  the  regiments 
with  him,  and  he  could  not  leave  them  behind.     But 
he  was  met  with  remonstrances  from  oflScers  on  the 
spot,  who  protested  that  some  pledges  had  been  given 
to  the  Sepoys  which  could  not  honourably  be  broken, 
though  in  truth  the  Sepoys  themselves  had  practically 
violated  the  compact,  and  there  would  have  been  no 
breach  of  faith  in  turning  their  treachery  against 
themselves.    It  was,  however,  resolved  to  appeal  only 
to  their  good  feelings,  and  so  they  were  left  with  arms 
in  their  hands  to  use  them  on  a  future  day  foully 
against  us  in  return  for  our  forbearance.f 


*  See  Punjab  Heport  of  May  25, 
1858:  "The  Chief  Commissioner 
conceived  that  the  first  step  was  to 
disarm  these  regiments  whom  it  was 
equally  dangerous  either  to  leave  at 
Umballah  or  to  take  to  Delhi.  This 
course  the  Chief  Commissioner  lost 
no  time  in  urging,  but  when  the 
Commander-in-Chief  took  the  matter 
in  hand,  the  local  military  authorities 
pointed  out  that  they  had  pledged 
theDiselves  not  to  disarm  the  Sepoys. 


It  was  in  vain  urged  per  contra  that 
the  compact  had  been  no  sooner 
made  than  it  was  broken  by  the 
Sepoys  themselves.  There  was  not, 
indeed,  the  sbadpw  of  a  reasonable 
hope  that  these  men  would  prove 
faithful." 

t  It  should  not  be  omitted  alto- 
gether from  the  narrative  that  on 
tne  19th  the  Commander-in-Chief 
issued  another  address  to  the  Native 
Army,  in  the  shape  of  a  General 


PANIC  AT  SIMLAH.  143 

Another  source  of  anxiety  was  this.     Before  the       1857. 
week  had  passed,  news  came  to  Umballah  that  the      ^^^' 
Goorkahs  of  the  Nusseree  Battalion,  from  no  sympathy  Nusseree 
with  the  regular  army,  but  from  some  personal  causes  ^a^**!^^^- 
of  disaffection,  had  broken  into  revolt  just  when  their 
services  were  wanted,  had  refused  to  march  to  Phillour, 
had  plundered  the  Commander-in-Chief's  baggage, 
and  threatened  to  attack  Simlah.     Then  there  came  The  panic  on 
a  great  cry  of  terror  from  the  pleasant  places  which 
Anson  had  just  quitted,  and  in  which,  only  a  few  days 
before,  the  voice  of  joy  and  gladness  had  been  reso- 
nant in  a  hundred  happy  homes.     It  was  the  season 
when  our  English  ladies,  some  with  their  husbands, 
some  without  them,  were  escaping  from  the  hot  winds 
of  the  Northern  Provinces  and  disporting  themselves, 
in  all  the  flush  of  renovated  health  and  strength  and 
new-bom  elasticity,  under  the  cheering  influence  of 
the  mountain  breezes  on  the  slopes  of  the  Himalayahs. 
It  might  well  have  been  regarded,  in  the  first  instance, 
as  a  happy  circumstance  that  so  many  of  our  country- 
women vwere  away  from  the  military  cantonments,  in 
which  mutiny  and  murder  had  so  hideously  displayed 
themselves ;  but  when  it  was  known  that  these  joyous 
playgrounds  were  being  stripped  of  their  defences, 
and  that  if  danger  were  to  threaten  the  homes  of  our 

Order,  in  which,  after  adverting  to  as  solemnly  he  pledges  his  word  and 

the  general  uneasiness  of  the  Sepoys  honour  that  none  shall  ever  be  ex- 

and  to  iiis  former  efforts  to  allay  it,  ercised.    He  announces  this  to  the 

he  said  :  "  His  Excellency  has  deter-  Native  A.rmy  in  the  full  confidence 

mined  that  the  new  rifle-cartridge,  that  all  will  now  perform  their  duty 

and  every  new  cartridge,  shall  be  dis-  free  from  anxiety  and  care,  and  be 

continued,  and  that  in  future  balled  prepared  to  stand  and  shed  the  last 

ammunition  shall  be  made  up  by  each  drop  of  their  blood,  as  they  have 

regiment  for  its  own  use  by  a  proper  formerly  done,  by  the  side  of  the 

establishment  entertained   for  this  British  troops,  and  in  defence  of  the 

purpose.    The  Commander-in-Chief  country/*      Such  words  in  season 

solemnly  assures  the  Army  that  no  might  be  good,  but  the  season  had 

interference  with  their  castes  or  re-  long  since  passed, 
ligions  was  ever  contemplated,  and 


144         LAST  DAYS  OF  GENEEAL  ANSON. 

1857.  people  there  would  be  nothing  but  God's  mercy  to 
May.  protect  them,  a  feeling  of  insecurity  and  alarm  arose, 
which  needed  but  little  to  aggravate  it  into  a  great 
panic.  When,  therefore,  tidings  came  that  the  Nus- 
seree  Battalion,  at  a  distance  of  some  three  or  four 
miles  from  Simlah,  had  risen  in  rebellion,  there  was 
general  consternation.  It  w^as  rumoured  that  the  offi- 
cers and  their  families  at  Jutogh  had  been  murdered, 
and  that  the  Goorkahs  were  marching  on  Simlah  intent 
on  slaughter  and  spoliation.  Then,  for  the  greater 
part  of  two  long  days,  many  tasted  the  bitterness 
of  death.  The  agony  of  terror  swept  our  English 
families  out  of  their  holiday-homes,  as  with  the 
besom  of  coming  destruction ;  and  in  wild  confusion 
men,  women,  and  children  streamed  down  towards 
the  plains,  or  huddled  together  at  the  point  esteemed 
to  be  best  capable  of  defence.*  Never,  at  any  time 
or  in  any  place,  have  the  consummate  gallantry  of 
Englishmen  and  the  heroic  endurance  of  English- 
women been  more  nobly — more  beautifully — mani- 
fested than  in  the  great  conflict  for  supremacy  of 
which  I  am  writing.  But  the  incidents  of  those  two 
days  on  the  Hills  are  not  to  be  regarded  with  na- 
tional pride.  The  strong  instinct  of  self-preservation 
was  dominant  over  all.  Men  forgot  their  manhood 
in  what  seemed  to  be  a  struggle  for  life  ;f  and  it  is 
not  strange,  therefore,  that  delicate  ladies  with  little 
children  clinging  to  them,  should  have  abandoned 
themselves  uncontroUedly  to  their  fears. 

*  This  was  the  Bank.  See  Cave-  f  Mr.  Cave  -  Browne  describes 
Brown's  "  Puujab  and  Delhi  in  "  ladies  toiling  along  on  foot,  vainly 
1857,"  which  contains  an  animated  trying  to  persuade,  entreat,  threaten 
account  of  the  two  days'  panic  on  the  bearers  to  hurry  on  with  their 
tlie  Hills.  The  writer  says  that  at  jampanSy  on  which  were  their  help- 
the  Bank  were  congregated  some  less  children,  while  men  were  out- 
four  hundred  of  our  Christian  people,  Lidding  each  other,  and  outbidding 
"  of  whom  above  a  hundred  were  ladies,  to  secure  bearers  for  their 
able-bodied  men."  baggage." 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  GOORKAHS.         145 

But  the  panic  was  a  groundless  panic.  The  Nus-  1857. 
seree  Battalion,  though  grossly  insubordinate,  was  ^*y- 
not  intent  on  the  murder  of  our  people.  The  Goor- 
kahs  had  grievances,  real  or  supposed,  to  be  redressed,  • 
and  when  certain  concessions  had  been  made  to  them, 
they  returned  to  their  allegiance,  and  afterwards  be- 
came good  soldiers.*  And  not  without  some  feeling 
of  shame  our  people  went  back  to  their  deserted 
homes  and  found  everything  just  as  it  had  been 
left.  Those,  whose  excited  imaginations  had  seen 
blazing  houses  and  household  wrecks,  re-entered  their 
dwelling-places  to  see  with  their  fleshly  eyes  the 
unfinished  letter  on  the  desk  and  the  embroidery  on 
the  work-table  undisturbed  by  marauding  hands. 
Even  the  trinkets  of  the  ladies  were  as  if  they  had 
never  been  out  of  the  safest  custody.  But  confidence, 
which  is  ever  "  a  plant  of  slow  growth,"  is  slowest 
when  once  trampled  or  cut  down ;  and  it  was  long 
before  our  English  families  at  the  hill-stations  re- 
covered the  serenity  they  had  lost.  Every  oflicer  fit 
for  service  was  called  to  join  his  regiment,  and  the 
European  soldiery  were  too  much  needed  in  the  field 
to  allow  any  force  to  be  left  for  the  protection  of  the 
tender  congregation  of  women  and  children  on  the 
slopes  of  the  great  hills,  t 

The  Commander-in-Chie^  had,  indeed,  other  things  Preparation 
to  consider  than  these  social  alarms.  The  defection  ^^^  ^'®^ 
of  the  Nusseree  Battalion  was  a  source  of  perplexity 

*  It  ia  said  that  one    of  their  out  of  Sinilah,  Mr.  Mayne,  the  Chap- 

principal  causes  of  complaint  was  lain,  informed  him  tiiat  the  station 

the  fact  that  they  had  been  ordered  was  in  sreat  danger  from  the  number 

to  march  down  to  the  plains,  and  of "  budmashes"  in  the  Bazaars,  and 

that  no  arrangements  haa  been  made  asked  that  some  Europeans  migbt 

for  the  protection  of  their  families  in  be  sent  up  for  its  protection,    llie 

their  absence.    Tbey  were  also  in  General  said  that  he  could  not  spare 

arrears  of  pay.  any.    "  What,  then,  are  the  ladies 

t  Mr.  Cave-Browne  relates  that  as  to  do  ?"  asked  the  Chaplain.     "  The 

the  Commander-in-Chief  was  riding  best  they  can/'  was  the  answer. 

VOL?  II.  L 


146         LAST  DATS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857*  upon  other  grounds,  as  it  was  hard  to  say  how  the 
^y*  siege-train  could  be  escorted  safely  to  Umballah.  It 
was  of  the  highest  importance,  at  this  time,  that  the 
^  European  troops  should  be  exposed  as  little  as  pos- 
sible to  the  blazing  heats  of  the  summer  sun.  ft  was 
the  sultriest  season  of  the  year,  and  cholera  was 
already  threatening  our  camp.  The  regiment  of 
hardy  Goorkahs,  of  whose  loyalty  there  had  been  no 
previous  doubt,  were  just  the  men  for  the  work ;  and 
now  their  services  were  lost  to  us  for  awhile.  There 
was  nothing,  therefore,  left  but  a  resort  to  Hindos- 
tanee  troops  of  doubtful  fidelity,  or  to  a  contingent 
force  supplied  by  a  friendly  Native  chief  Mean- 
while there  was  great  activity  in  the  Magazine  of 
Phillour.  Day  and  night  our  troops,  under  Lieu- 
tenant Griffith,  Commissary  of  Ordnance,  toiled  on 
incessantly  to  prepare  the  siege-train  and  to  supply 
ammunition  of  all  kinds  for  the  advancing  army.  A 
day,  even  an  hour,  lost,  might  have  been  fatal;  for 
the  Sutlej  was  rising,  and  the  bridge  of  boats,  by 
which  the  train  was  to  cross  the  river,  might  have 
been  swept  away  before  our  preparations  were  com- 
plete. 

The  Depart-       But  there  were  worse  perplexities  even  than  these. 

ments.  'pjj^  elaborate  organisation  of  the  army  which  Anson 

commanded  was  found  to  fce  a  burden  and  an  encum- 
brance. The  Chiefs  of  all  the  Staff-departments 
of  the  Army  were  at  his  elbow.  They  were  necessarily 
men  of  large  experience,  selected  for  their  approved 
ability  and  extensive  knowledge ;  and  it  was  right  that 
he  should  consult  them.  But  Departments  are  ever 
slow  to  move— ever  encumbered  with  a  sense  of 
*  responsibility,  which  presses  upon  them  with  the 
destructive  force  of  paralysis.  These  Indian  Military 
Departments  were  the  best  possible  Departments  in 


THE  ARMY  DEPAKTMEMTS.  147 

time  of  peace.     They  had  immense  masses  of  corre-       1857. 
spondence  written  up  and  endorsed  with  the  most      ^*y* 
praiseworthy  punctuality  and  precision.     They  were 
always  prepared  with  a  precedent ;  always  ready  to 
check  an  irregularity,  and  to  chastise  an  over-zealous 
public  servant  not  moving  in  the  strictest  grooves  of 
Routine.    It  was,  indeed,  their  especial  function  to 
suppress  what  they  regarded  as  the  superfluous  acti- 
vities of  individual  men  ;  and  individual  men  never 
did  great  things  until  they  got  fairly  out  of  the  reach 
of  the  Departments.     They  were  nominally  War 
Departments.     There  would  have  been  no  need  of 
such  Departments  if  war  had  been  abolished  from  off 
the  face  of  the  land.     But  it  was  the  speciality  of 
these  War  Departments  that  they  were  never  pre- 
pared for  war.     Surrounded  as  we  were,  within  and 
without,  with   hostile  populations,  and  living  in  a 
chronic  state  of  danger  from  a  multiplicity  of  causes, 
we  yet  were  fully  prepared  for  almost  anything  in 
the  world  but  fighting.  Without  long  delay  we  could 
place  ourselves  in  neither  a  defensive  nor  an  offen- 
sive attitude.    We  could  "  stand  fast"  as  well  as  any 
nation  in  the  world,  but  there  was  never  any  facility 
of  moving.     As  soon  as  ever  there  came  a  necessity 
for  action,  it  was  found  that  action  was  impossible. 
The  Adjutant-General,   the   Quartermaster-General, 
the  Commissary-General,   the    Chief  of  the  Army 
Medical  Department,  each  had  his  own  special  reason 
to  give  why  the    "thing"   was   "impossible."     No 
ammunition — no  carriages — no   hospital   stores — ^no 
doolies  for  the  sick  and  wounded.     Each  head  of  a 
Department,  indeed,  had  his  own  particular  protest 
to   fling  in   the  face   of  the   Commander-in-Chief. 
Nunquamparatus  was  his  motto.     It  was  the  custom 
of  Departments.    It  was  the  rule  of  the  Service.    No 

l2 


148 


LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 


1857.  one  was  at  all  ashamed  of  it.  It  had  come  down  by 
May.  official  inheritance  from  one  to  the  other,  and  the 
Chief  of  the  Department  merely  walked  in  the  plea- 
sant paths  which,  years  before,  as  a  Deputy  Assistant, 
he  had  trodden  under  some  defunct  Chief  of  pious 
memory.  In  a  word,  it  was  the  system.  Every  now 
and  then,  some  seer  like  Henry  La\vrence  rose  up  to 
protest  against  it.  And  when,  in  the  plain  language 
of  common  sense,  the  truth  was  laid  bare  to  the 
public,  some  cried,  "  How  true !"  but  the  many  smiled 
incredulously,  and  denounced  the  writer  as  an 
alarmist.  And  so  General  Anson,  having  found 
things  in  that  normal  state  of  unpreparedness  in 
which  his  predecessors  had  delighted,  had  followed 
in  their  footsteps,  nothing  doubting,  until  suddenly 
brought  face  to  face  with  a  dire  necessity,  he  found 
that  everything  was  in  its  wrong  place.  The  storm- 
signals  were  up,  but  the  life-boat  was  in  the  church- 
steeple,  and  no  one  could  find  the  keys  of  the 
church.* 

It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that  Anson  felt  it 
would  not  be  prudent,  with  the  means  then  at  his 
disposal,  to  risk  "  an  enterprise  on  Delhi."  ".  It 
becomes  now  a  matter  for  your  consideration,"  he 
wrote  to  Sir  John  Lawrence  on  the  17th,  "whether 
it  would  be  prudent  to  risk  the  small  European 
force  we  have  here  in  an  enterprise  on  Delhi.  I 
think  not.  It  is  wholly,  in  my  opinion,  insufficient 
for  the  purpose.     The   walls  could,  of  course,  be 


*  On  the  18 til  of  May  General 
Barnard  wrote  from  Umballah,  say- 
ing: ''And  now  that  they  [the 
European  regiments]  are  collected, 
without  tents,  without  amniuiiitiou, 
the  men  have  not  twenty  rounds 
apiece.  Two  troops  of  Horse  Artil- 
lery, twelve  guns,  but  no  reserve 


ammunition,  and  their  waggons  at 
Loodianah — seven  days'  off!  Com- 
missariat without  sufficient  transport 
ht  hand.  This  is  the  boasted  Indian 
Army,  and  this  is  the  force  with 
which  the  civilians  would  have  us 
go  to  Delhi." — Compare  also  letter 
quoted  in  the  text,  page  165. 


CORRESPONDENCE  OF  GENERAL  ANSON.      149 

battered  down  with  heavy  gnns.  The  entrance  1857. 
might  be  opened,  and  little  resistance  oiFered.  But  ^^^' 
so  few  men  in  a  great  city,  with  such  narrow 
streets,  and  an  immense  armed  population,  who 
knew  every  turn  and  corner  of  them,  would,  it 
appears  to  me,  be  in  a  very  dangerous  position,  and 
if  six  or  seven  hundred  were  disabled,  what  would 
remain  ?  Could  we  hold  it  with  the  whole  country 
around  against  us  ?  Could  we  either  stay  in  or  out 
of  it  ?  My  own  view  of  the  state  of  things  now  is, 
that  by  carefully  collecting  our  resources,  having  got 
rid  of  the  bad  materials  which  we  cannot  trust,  and 
having  supplied  their  places  with  others  of  a  better 
sort,  it  would  not  be  very  long  before  we  could  pro- 
ceed without  a  chance  of  failure,  in  whatever  direc- 
tion we  might  please.  Your  telegraphic  message  in- 
forming me  of  the  measures  which  you  have  taken  to 
raise  fresh  troops  confirms  me  in  this  opinion.  I  must 
add,  also,  that  this  is  now  the  opinion  of  all  here  '  - 
whom  I  have  consulted  upon  it — the  Major- General 
and  Brigadier,  the  Adjutant-General,  Quarter-master- 
General,  and  Commissary-General.  The  latter  has, 
however,*  oiFered  a  positive  impediment  to  it,  in  the 
impossibility  of  providing  what  would  be  necessary 
for  such  an  advance  under  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
days.  I  thought  it  could  have  been  done  in  less ; 
but  that  was  before  I  had  seen  Colonel  Thomson. 
Indeed,  it  is  very  little  more  than  forty-eight  hours 
since  I  came  here,  and  every  turn  produces  some- 
thing which  may  alter  a  previous  opinion."* 

♦  The  views  of  General  Anson  at  was  one  strongly  opposed  to  the 
this  time  are  thus  stated  in  an  un-  popular  instinct  at  the  moment.  He- 
published  memoir  by  Colonel  Baird  cognising,  as  all  conversant  with 
Smith,  from  which  other  quotations  miUtary  affairs  could  not  fail  to  do, 
will  be  made :  "  It  is  generally  un-  that  strategically  considered  the  posi- 
derstood  that  the  course  which  re-  tion  of  a  weak  force  at  Delhi  must 
commended  itself  most  to  his  mind  be,  if  not  utterly  false,  yet  of  extreme 


150  LAST  DATS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1867.  But  these  doubts  were  but  of  brief  duration.     Let 

^•^*  Adjutants-General,  and  Quarter-masters-General,  and 
cncewith  Commissaries- General  suggest  what  difficulties  they 
Lorf  Can-  might,  there  were  other  powers,  to  North  and  South, 
in  whose  sight  all  delay,  in  such  a  crisis,  was  an 
oflfence  and  an  abomination.  Lord  Canning,  from 
Calcutta,  and  Sir  John  Lawrence,  from  the  Punjab, 
flashed  to  the  Head-Quarters  of  the  Army  emphatic 
messages,  urging  Anson  to  move  on  Delhi,  with  such 
force  as  he  could  gather;  and  followed  up  their 
eager  telegrams  with  letters  scarcely  less  eager.  The 
Governor-General,  to  whom  Anson  had  not  conmiu- 
nicated  the  views  which  he  had  expressed  in  the  pre- 
ceding letter  to  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  the  Pun- 
jab, was  overjoyed  by  the  thought  that  there  was  so 
much  activity  at  Head-Quarters.  Encouraged  by 
the  earlier  letters  of  the  Military  Chief,  and  still  more 
by  a  message  he  had  received  from  Mr.  Colvin,  at 
Agra,  Canning  wrote  on  the  17th  to  Anson,  saying 
that  he  learnt  the  good  news  "with  intense  plea- 
sure." "  For,"  he  added,  "  I  doubted  whether  you 
would  be  able  to  collect  so  strong  a  body  of  troops 
in  the  time.  I  cannot  doubt  that  it  will  now  prove 
amply  sufficient,  and  I  am  very  grateful  to  you  for 
enabling  me  to  feel  confident  on  this  point.  An  un- 
successful  demonstration  against  Delhi,  or  even  any 
appearance  of  delay  in  proceeding  to  act,  when  once 
our  force  is  on  the  spot,  would  have  a  most  injurious 
eifect — I  mean  in  Bei^gal  generally.     Every  station 

danger,  he  is  believed  to  have  advo-  permitting  the  fire  of  revolt  to  bam 

cated  the  withdrawal  of  the  small  as  fiercely  as  it  mi^ht  within  th(^ 

and    isolated    detachments  on   the  limits  indicated,  to  check  its  spread 

Boab,  and  the  concentration  of  the  beyond  them  on  the  northward,  and 

whole  available  British  force  between  ultimately  to  proceed  to  quench  it 

the  Sutlej  and  the  Jumna,  there  to  with  means  that  would  make  the 

await  the  arrival  of  reinforcements  issue  certain." — Unpublished  Memoir 

by  the  line  of  Uie  Indus,  and,  while  by  Colonel  Baird  Smith.    MS, 


J~-    JJW^W^— ^^P— — ^■^^^■^T^^F^apP    JJ    >■       ^    -^  ■ 


VIEWS  OF  SIB  JOHN  LAWRENCE.  151 

and  cantonment  is  in  a  state  of  excitement,  and  any-  1857. 
thing  in  the  nature  of  a  check  would  give  confidence  ^y* 
to  the  disaffected  regiments,  which  might  lead  to 
something  worse  than  the  horrors  of  Delhi.  Allahabad, 
Benares,  Oudh  (except  Lucknow,  which  I  believe  to 
be  safe),  and  a  host  of  places  of  less  importance  where 
Native  troops  are  alone,  will  continue  to  be  a  source 
of  much  anxiety  until  Delhi  is  disposed  of.  It  is  for 
this  that  I  have  telegraphed  to  you  to  make  as  short 
work  as  possible  of  the  rebels,  who  have  cooped  them- 
selves up  there,  and  whom  you  cannot  crush  too  re- 
morselessly. I  should  rejoice  to  hear  that  there  had 
been  no  .holding  our  men,  and  that  the  vengeance 
had  been  terrible." 

Whilst  Lord  Canning  was  thus  expressing  his  gra-  Corrwpond- 
titude  to  Anson,  Sir  John  Lawrence,  who  was  nearer  jX  L^t-^ 
the  scene  of  action,  and  in  closer  communication  with  rence. 
the  Commander-in-Chief,  knowing  better  what  were 
the  prevailing  counsels  at  Head-Quarters,  was  urgent 
in  his  remonstrances  against  delay.  He  knew  the 
temper  of  the  people  well ;  and  nothing  was  clearer 
to  the  eye  of  his  experience  than  that,  in  the  con- 
juncture which  had  arisen,  it  was  necessary  above  all 
things  to  maintain  an  appearance  of  successful  ac- 
tivity. Any  semblance  of  paralysis  at  such  a  time 
must,  he  knew,  be  fatal  to  us.  At  such  periods  the 
Natives  of  India  wait  and  watch.  It  is  in  conformity 
with  the  genius  of  a  people,  equally  timid  and  super- 
stitious, to  be  worshippers  of  success.  John  Law- 
rence knew  well  that  if  at  any  time  the  English  in 
India  should  betray  symptoms  of  irresolution  in  the 
face  of  danger,  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands, 
believing  that  the  day  of  our  supremacy  is  past, 
would  first  fall  away  from,  and  then  rise  against  their 
masters.      But  we  had  reached   an  epoch  in  the 


152  LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857.  History  of  our  great  Indian  Empire  at  which  the 
May.  impression  of  our  coming  fall  was  stronger  than  it 
had  ever  been  .before,  and  there  were  those  who,  on 
the  first  sign  of  weakness  in  our  camp,  would  have 
pointed  exultingly  to  the  beginning  of  the  end.  It 
was  not  a  time,  indeed,  to  calculate  military  means 
and  resources,  or  to  regard  strategical  principles  in 
the  conduct  of  our  armies ;  but  simply  to  move  and 
strike — to  move  somewhere  and  to  strike  some  one. 
And  it  was  to  this  necessity  of  prompt  and  vigorous 
action  that  the  counsels  of  John  Lawrence  ever 
pointed — not  to  any  particular  line  of  procedure  to 
DC  dictated  to  the  Military  Chief.  "  I  do  not  myself,'' 
he  wrote  to  Anson,  on  the  21st  of  May,  "  think  that 
the  country  anywhere  is  against  us — certainly  not 
from  here  to  within  a  few  miles  of  Delhi.  I  served 
for  nearly  thirteen  years  in  Delhi,  and  know  the 
people  well.  My  belief  is,  that  with  good  manage- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  Civil  ofiicers,  it  would  open 
its  gates  on  the  approach  of  our  troops.  It  seems 
incredible  to  conceive  that  the  mutineers  can  hold  ' 
and  defend  it.  Still,  I  admit  that  on  military  prin- 
ciples, in  the  present  state  of  affairs,  it  may  not  be 
expedient  to  advance  on  Delhi ;  certainly  not  until 
the  Meerut  force  is  prepared  to  act,  which  it  can  only 
be  when  set  free.  Once  relieve  Meerut,  and  give 
confidence  to  the  country,  no  difiiculty  regarding 
carriage  can  occur.  By  good  arrangements  the 
owners  will  come  forward,  but  in  any  case  it  can  be 
collected.  From  Meerut  you  will  be  able  to  form  a 
sound  judgment  on  the  course  to  be  followed.  If 
the  country  lower  down  be  disturbed,  and  the  Sepoys 
have  mutinied,  I  conceive  it  would  be  a  paramount 
duty  to  march  that  way,  relieve  each  place,  and  dis- 
arm or  destroy  the  mutineers.     If,   on  the   other 


VIEWS  OF  SIR  JOHN  LAWRENCE.  153 

hand,  all  were  safe,  it  would  be  a  question  whether  1857. 
you  should  consolidate  your  resources  there,  or  ^^J- 
march  on  Delhi.  I  think  it  must  be  allowed  that 
our  European  troops  are  not  placed  at  this  or  that 
station  simply  to  hold  it,  but  to  be  ready  to  move 
wherever  they  may  be  required.  Salubrious  and 
centrical  points  for  their  location  were  selected ;  but 
so  long  as  we  maintain  our  prestige  and  keep  the 
country  quiet,  it  cannot  signify  how  many  canton- 
ments we  abandon.  But  this  we  cannot  do,  if  we 
allow  two  or  three  Native  corps  to  checkmate  large 
bodies  of  Europeans.  It  will  then  be  a  mere  ques- 
tion of  time,  by  slow  degrees,  but  of  a  certainty  the 
Kative  troops  must  destroy  us.  We  are  doing  all 
we  can  to  strengthen  ourselves,  and  to  reinforce  you, 
either  by  direct  or  indirect  means.*  But  can  your 
Excellency  suppose  for  one  moment  that  the  Irregu- 
lar troops  will  remain  staunch,  if  they  see  our  Euro- 
pean soldiers  cooped  up  in  their  cantonments,  tamely 
awaiting  the  progress  of  events.  Your  Excellency 
remarks  that  we  must  carefully  collect  our  resources; 
but  what  are  these  resources,  but  our  European 
soldiers,  our  guns,  and  our  materiel:  these  are  all 
ready  at  hand,  and  only  require  to  be  handled  wisely 
and  vigorously  to  produce  great  results.  We  have 
money  also,  and  the  control  of  the  country.  But  if 
disaifection  spread,  insurrection  will  follow,  and  we 
shall  then  neither  be  able  to  collect  the  revenue, 
nor  procure  supplies."  "  Pray,"  he  continued,  "  only 
reflect  on  the  whole  history  of  India.  Where  have 
we  failed,  when  we  acted  vigorously  ?  Where  have 
we  succeeded,  when  guided  by  timid  counsels? 
Clive,  with  twelve  hundred,  fought  at  Plassey  in 

*  This  is  to  be  understood  as  referring  to  the  measures  takeii  in  the 
Punjab. 


154  LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON.  . 

1857.  opposition  to  the  advice  of  his  leading  officers,  beat 
May.  forty  thousand  men,  and  conquered  Bengal.  Mon- 
son  retreated  from  the  Chumbul,  and  before  he 
gained  Agra,  his  army  was  disorganised  and  partially 
annihilated.  Look  at  the  Caubul  catastrophe.  It 
might  have  been  averted  by  resolute  and  bold  action. 
The  Irregulars  of  the  Army,  the  Kuzzilbashes,  in 
short  our  friends,  of  whom  we  had  many,  only  left 
us  when  they  found  we  were  not  true  to  ourselves. 
How  can  it  be  supposed  that  strangers  and  merce- 
naries will  sacrifice  everything  for  us  ?  There  is  a 
point  up  to  which  they  will  stand  by  us,  for  they  know 
that  we  have  always  been  eventually  successful,  and 
that  we  are  good  masters  ;  but  go  beyond  this  point, 
and  every  man  will  look  to  his  immediate  benefit, 
his  present  safety.  The  Punjab  Irregulars  are  march- 
ing down  in  the  highest  spirits,  proud  to  be  trusted, 
and  eager  to  show  their  superiority  over  the  Regular 
troops — ready  to  fight,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  with 
the  Europeans.  But  if,  on  their  arrival,  they  find 
the  Europeans  behind  breastworks,  they  will  begin 
to  think  that  the  game  is  up.  Recollect  that  all  this 
time,  while  we  are  halting,  the  emissaries  of  the 
mutineers  are  writing  to,  and  visiting,  every  canton- 
ment. ...  I  cannot  comprehend  what  the  Commis- 
sariat can  mean  by  requiring  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
days  to  procure  provisions.  I  am  persuaded  that  all 
you  can  require  to  take  with  you  must  be  pro- 
curable in  two  or  three.  We  have  had  an  extra- 
ordinary good  harvest,  and  supplies  must  be  abun- 
dant between  Umballah  and  Meerut.  The  greater 
portion  of  the  country  is  well  cultivated.  We  are 
sending  our  troops  in  every  direction  without  diffi- 
culty, through  tracts  which  are  comparatively  desert. 
Our  true  policy  is  to  trust  the  Maharajah  of  Putteeala, 


VIEWS  OF  SIR  JOHN  LAWRENCE.  155 

and  Rajah  of  Jheend,  and  the  country  generally,  for  1857. 
they  have  shown  evidence  of  being  on  our  side,  but  ^*y- 
utterly  to  distrust  the  regular  Sepoys.  I  would  spare 
no  expense  to  carry  every  European  soldier — at  any 
rate,  to  carry  every  other  one.  By  alternately  march- 
ing and  riding,  their  strength  and  spirits  wiU  be 
maintained.  We  are  pushing  on  the  Guides,  the 
Fourth  Sikhs,  the  First  and  Fourth  Punjab  regi- 
ments of  Infantry,  from  diflferent  parts  of  the  Punjab, 
in  this  way.  If  there  is  an  officer  in  the  Punjab 
whom  your  Excellency  would  wish  to  have  at  your 
side,  pray  don't  hesitate  to  apply  for  him.  There  is 
a  young  officer  now  at  Head-Quarters,  who,  though 
young  in  years,  has  seen  much  service,  and  proved 
himself  an  excellent  soldier.  I  allude  to  Captain 
Norman,  of  the  Adjutant-General's  office.  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  had  the  highest  opinion  of  his  judgment ; 
and  when  he  left  Peshawur  it  was  considered  a 
public  loss." 

Of  the  exceeding  force  and  cogency  of  this  no 
doubt  can  be  entertained.  It  was  the  right  language 
for  the  crisis — rough,  ready,  and  straight  to  the 
^point.  The  great  Punjab  CommissJoner,  with  his 
loins  girt  about,  eager  for  the  encounter,  impatient 
to  strike,  was  not  in  a  mood  to  make  gentle  allow- 
ances or  to  weigh  nice  phrases  of  courteous  discourse. 
But,  in  what  he  wrote,  he  intended  to  convey  no  re- 
proaches to  the  Military  Chief  It  was  simply  the 
irrepressible  enthusiasm  of  a  nature,  impatient  of 
departmental  dallyings  and  regulation  restraints,  and 
in  its  own  utter  freedom  from  all  fear  of  responsi- 
bility not  quite  tolerant  of  the  weakness  of  those  who, 
held  back  by  a  fear  of  failure,  shrink  from  encoun- 
tering heroic  risks.  It  was  not  that  he  mistrusted 
the  man  Anson,  but  that  he  mistrusted  all  the  cum- 


156         LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857.  brous  machinery  of  the  Head-Quarters  Departments, 
May.  which  never  had  been  found  ripe  for  sudden  action — 
never  had  improvised  an  expedition  or  precipitated 
an  enterprise,  ever  since  Departments  were  created — 
though,  in  truth,  he  could  not  see  that  in  the  ma- 
chinery itself  there  was  anything  to  unfit  it  for 
prompt  action.  "  I  should  greatly  regret,"  he  wrote 
two  days  afterwards,  "if  any  message  or  letter  of 
mine  should  annoy  you.  I  have  .written  warmly 
and  strongly  in  favour  of  an  advance,  because  I  felt 
assured  that  such  was  the  true  policy.  However 
much  we  may  be  taken  by  surprise,  our  military 
organisation  admits  of  prompt  action.  The  country 
is  almost  sure  to  be  witli  us,  if  it  were  only  that  we 
save  them  from  trouble ;  and  this  will  more  espe- 
cially be  the  case  in  an  afi^air  like  the  present,  when 
we  have  really  to  contend  only  with  our  own  troops, 
with  whom  the  people  Can  have  no  sympathy."  The 
Commissariat,  in  such  a  case,  is  ever  the  chief 
stumbling-block;  and  the  impediments  thrown  up 
are  those  of  which  military  men  take  the  most,  and 
civilians  the  least,  account.  Anson  was  told  at  Um- 
ballah  that  they  were  insuperable.  But  John  Law- 
rence, at  Rawul-Pindee,  could  not  recognise  the  force 
of  the  obstructive  argument.  "1  cannot  compre- 
hend," he  wrote  to  Anson,  "  why  Colonel  Thomson 
requires  so  much  supplies.  To  carry  so  much  food 
with  the  troops  is  to  encumber  the  column  and  waste 
our  money.  To  guard  against  accidents,  three  or 
four  days'  supplies  should  be  taken,  but  no  more. 
My  belief  is,  that  ten  thousand  troops  might  march 
all  over  the  North- West,  and,  provided  they  paid  for 
what  they  required,  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  sup- 
plies would  be  experienced."  It  is  plain,  too,  that  at 
this  time  the  Delhi  difficulty  was,  in  the  Punjab, 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  ACTION.  157 

held  to  be  a  light  one,  for  Lawrence  added :  "I  still  1857. 
think  that  no  real  resistance  at  Delhi  will  be  at-  ^^J- 
tempted ;  but,  of  course,  we  must  first  get  the  Meerut 
force  in  order,  and,  in  moving  against  Delhi,  go  pre- 
pared to  fight.  My  impression  is,  that,  on  the  ap- 
proach of  our  troops,  the  mutineers  will  either  dis- 
perse, or  the  people  of  the  city  rise  and  open  their 
gates."* 

Whether  General  Anson  ever  recognised  the  fact  Final  orders 
that  the  conjuncture  was  one  in  which  all  rules  of  Goyemment. 
warfare  must  bow  their  necks  to  stern  political  neces- 
sity, is  not  very  apparent ;  but  if  he  still  maintained 
his  opinions  as  a  soldier,  he  knew  well  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  yield  his  judgment  to  the  authority  of  the 
supreme  Civil  power;  and  when  he  received  an 
emphatic  enunciation  of  the  views  of  the  Governor- 
General,  he  prepared  to  manih  down  upon  Delhi. 
"  I  regret,"  he  wrote  to  the  Governor- General  on  the 
23rd  of  May,  "that  it  has  not  been  possible  to  move 
sooner  upon  Delhi.  The  force  is  so  small  that  it 
must  not  be  frittered  away.  You  say  in  your  tele- 
graphic message  that  Delhi  must  be  recovered,  '  but 
[the  operations]  to  be  undertaken  by  a  strong  British 
force.'  There  is  not  this  in  the  country.  We  have 
collected  all  within  reach.  I  venture  to  say  that  not 
an  hour  has  been  lost,  and  that  the  movement  of  the 
troops  from  Umballah  will  have  been  accomplished  in 
a  space  of  time  which  was  not  considered  possible  on 
my  arrival  here."     And  he  concluded  his  letter  by 

*  In  a  previous  letter  (May  21)  own  banners  in  a  good  cause,  with 

Lawrence  had  written:  "At  Delhi  European  officers  at  their  head,  and 

the.    Sepoys    have   murdered   their  English  comrades  at  their  side,  thej 

officers  and  taken  our  guns,  but  even  have  seldom  done  anvthing ;  as  mu- 

there  they  did  not  stand.     No  num-  tineers  tiiey  cannot  fight — they  will 

ber  of  them  can  face  a  moderate  body  burn,  destroy,  and  massacre,  but  not 

of  £furopeans  fairly  handled.  Of  late  fight." 
years,  even  when  nghting  under  our 


158  LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857.  saying :  "  I  should  be  glad  to  know  whether  you 
^*^'  consider  the  Force  with  which  I  propose  to  attack 
Delhi  suflScient — and,  namely,  '  a  strong  British 
^  *  Force.'  "  He  had  by  this  time  clearly  calculated  his 
available  strength  for  the  great  enterprise  before  him 
— ^and  it  was  this,  as  detailed  in  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  General  Hewitt  at  Meerut :  "  The  force  from 
Umballah  consists  of  the  Ninth  Lancers,  one  squadron 
of  the  Fourth  Lancers,  Her  Majesty's  Seventy-fifth 
Foot,  First  European  Regiment,  Second  European 
Regiment,  Sixtieth  Native  Infantry,  two  troops  of 
Horse  Artillery.  They  are  formed  into  two  small 
brigades.  Brigadier  Halifax  commands  the  first.  .  . 
Brigadier  Jones  the  second  brigade.  Four  companies 
of  the  First  Fusiliers,  one  squadron  of  Ninth  Lancers, 
two  guns,  Horse  Artillery,  were  moved  to  Kurnaul 
on  the  17th,  and  arrived  on  the  20th.  Six  companies 
of  the  First  Fusiliers  followed  on  the  21st.  Her 
Majesty's  Seventy-fifth  Foot  and  Sixtieth  Regiment 
of  Native  Infantry  marched  on  the  22nd.  One 
squadron  Ninth  Lancers  and  four  guns  will  march  on 
the  24th  or  25th.  The  above  will  be  at  Kurnaul  on 
the  28th.  The  Second  Europeans,  third  troop  third 
brigade  of  Horse  ArtiUery  will  probably  follow  on  the 
26th.  The  whole  will  be  at  Kurnaul  on  the  30th. 
I  propose  then  to  advance  with  the  column  towards 
Delhi  on  the  1st,  and  be  opposite  to  Baghput  on  the 
5th.  At  this  place  I  should  wish  to  be  joined  by  the 
force  from  Meerut.  To  reach  it  four  days  may  be  cal- 
culated on."  "A  small  siege-train,"  he  added,  "  has 
left  Loodianah,  and  is  expected  here  on  the  26th.  It 
will  require  eleven  days  to  get  it  to  Delhi.  It  may 
join  us  at  Baghput  on  or  about  the  6  th,  the  day  after 
that  I  have  named  for  the  junction  of  your  force.  I 
depend  on  your  supplying  at  least  one  hundred  and 


OKD£BS  OF  GOy£RNH£NT.  159 

twenty  Artillerymen  to  work  it.     You  will  bring,       1867. 
besides,  according  to  statement  received,  two  squad-  ^' 

rons  of  Carabineers,  a  wing  of  the  Sixtieth  Rifles, 
one  light  field  battery,  one  troop  of  Horse  Artillery, 
and  any  Sappers  you  can  depend  upon,  and  of  course 
the  non-commissioned  European  officers  belonging  to 
them." 

Whilst  Anson  was  writing  this  from  Umballah,  Lord 
Canning  was  telegraphing  a  message  to  him,  through 
the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Agra,  announcing  the 
reinforcements  which  were  expected  at  Calcutta,  and 
adding  that  everything  depended  "  upon  disposing 
speedily  of  Delhi,  and  making  a  terrible  example.  No 
amount  of  severity  can  be  too  great.  I  will  support 
you  in  any  degree  of  it."  There  was  nothing  uncer- 
tain  in  this  sound.  But  it  is  clear  that  the  Governor- 
General,  in  "his  eagerness  to  strike  a  sudden  and  a 
heavy  blow  at  the  enemy,  very  much  underrated  the 
miUtary  difficulties  with  which  Anson  was  caUed  upon 
to  contend,  and  believed  overmuch  in  the  facile  exe- 
cution of  the  impossible ;  for,  on  the  31st  of  May,  he 
telegraphed  again  to  the  Commander-in-Chief,  saying: 
"  I  have  heard  to-day  that  you  do  not  expect  to  be 
before  Delhi  till  the  9th  (June).  In  the  mean  time 
Cawnpore  and  Lucknow  are  severely  pressed,  and 
the  country  between  Delhi  and  Cawnpore  is  passing 
into  the  hands  of  the  rebels.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  prevent  this,  and  to  relieve  Cawnpore. 
But  rapid  action  will  do  it.  Your  force  of  Artillery 
wiU  enable  you  to  dispose  of  Delhi  with  certainty.  I 
therefore  beg  that  you  will  detach  one  European 
Infantry  regiment  and  a  small  force  of  European 
Cavalry  to  the  south  of  Delhi,  without  keeping  them 
for  operations  there,  so  that  Aligurh  may  be  re- 
covered and  Cawnpore  relieved  immediately.     It  is 


160  LAST  DAIS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857.     impossible  to  overrate  the  importance  of  showing 
^^y*      European  troops  between  Delhi  and  Cawnpore,  Luck- 
now  and  Allahabad,  depend  upon  it." 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  what  would  have  been  the 
perplexity  in  General  Anson's  mind,  if  he  had  re- 
ceived these  instructions.  The  recovery  of  Delhi 
seemed  to  be  an  enterprise  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
slender  means  at  his  disposal ;  but  he  was  expected 
also  to  operate  in  the  country  beyond,  and  in  the 
straits  of  his  weakness  to  display  strength  on  an  ex- 
tensive field  of  action.  The  Army  was  already  on  its 
way  to  Delhi.  For  whilst  the  Military  Departments 
were  protesting  their  inability  to  move  the  Army,  the 
Civilians  at  Umballah — officially  the  Commissioner 
of  the  Cis-Sutlej  States,  and  the  Deputy  Commis- 
sioner of  the  district,  individually  Mr.  George  Barnes 
and  Mr.  Douglas  Forsyth — were  putting  forth  their 
strength,  moving  all  the  agents  beneath  them,  and 
employing  the  influence  which  their  position  had 
given  them  among  the  people  to  accomplish  promptly 
and  effectually  the  great  object  now  to  be  attained. 
It  little  mattered  if,  at  such  a  time,  the  ordinary 
Civil  business  were  temporarily  suspended.  It  be- 
hoved, at  such  a  moment,  every  man  to  be  more  or 
less  a  soldier.  So  the  Civil  officers,  not  only  at  Um- 
ballah, but  all  around  it,  in  the  important  country 
between  the  Jumna  and  the  Sutlej,  went  to  work 
right  manfully  in  aid  of  the  military  authorities ; 
collected  carts,  collected  cattle,  collected  coolies,  and 
brought  together  and  stored  in  Umballah  large  sup- 
plies of  grain  for  the  army.*     And  this,  too,  in  the 

*  Mr.  Barnes,  in  his  official  re-  arose  in  the  want  of  carriages.    The 

port,  has  recorded  that,  "  As  soon  Deputy  Commissary-General  having 

as  it  was  seen  by  the  Commander-  officially  declared  his  inability  to  meet 

in -Chief  tliat  an  onward  movement  the  wants  of  the  army,  the  Civil  Au- 

should  be  made^  a  sadden  difficulty  thorities  were  called  upon  to  supply 


AH)  OF  THE  NATIVE  CHIEFS.  161 

face  of  difficulties  and  impediments  which  would  1857. 
have  dismayed  and  obstructed  less  earnest  workmen ;  ^^^  ^^' 
for  ever,  after  the  fashion  of  their  kind,  Natives  of 
all  classes  stood  aloof,  waiting  and  watching  the  issue 
of  events ;  from  the  capitalist  to  the  coolie  all  shrunk 
alike  from  rendering  active  assistance  to  those  whose 
power  might  be  swept  away  in  a  day. 

There  were  other  important  services,  which  at  this  Protected 
time  the  Civil  officers  rendered  to  their  country; 
doing,  indeed,  that  without  which  all  else  would  have 
been  in  vain.  In  the  country  between  the  Jumna 
and  the  Sutlej  were  the  great  chiefs  of  what  were 
known  as  the  "  Protected  Sikh  States."  These  states, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  century,  we  had  rescued 
by  our  interference  from  the  grasp  of  Runjeet  Singh, 
and  ever  since  the  time  when  the  Rajah  of  Puteealah 
placed  in  the  hands  of  young  Charles  Metcalfe  the 
keys  of  his  fort,  and  said  that  all  he  possessed  was  at 
the  service  of  the  British  Government,  those  chiefs, 
secure  in  the  possession  of  their  rights,  had  been  true 
to  the  English  alliance.  They  had  survived  the  ruin 
of  the  old  Sikh  Empire,  and  were  grateful  to  us  for 
the  protection  which  we  had  afforded  and  the  inde- 
pendence which  we  had  preserved.  There  are  sea- 
sons in  the  lives  of  all  nations,  when  faith  is  weak  and 
temptation  is  strong,  and,  for  a  little  space,  the  Cis- 
Sutlej  chiefs,  when  the  clouds  of  our  first  trouble  were 
lowering  over  us,  may  have  been  beset  with  doubts 
and  perplexities  and  fears  of  siding  with  the  weaker 
party.     Their  hesitation,   however,  was  short-lived. 

the  demand.  At  TJmballah  there  has  five  hundred  carts,  two  thousand 

ever  been  a  difficulty  to  furnish  cattle  camels,  and   two  thousand  coolies 

of  any  kind,  the  carts  being  of  a  very  were  made  over  to  the  Commissariat 

inferior  description ;  however,  such  Department;  thirty  thousand  maunds 

as  they  were,  they  had  to  be  pressed  of  grain  were  likewise  collected  and 

into  service,  and  in  the  course  of  a  stored  for  the  Army  in  the  town  of 

week,  after  the  utmost  exertions,  XJmballah." 

VOL.  n.  M 


LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1867.  The  excellent  tact  of  Douglas  Forsyth,  who  took 
*^'  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  calling  upon  the 
Maharajah  of  Puteealah  for  assistance,  smoothed 
down  the  apprehensions  of  that  chief,  and  he  took 
his  course  manfully  and  consistently,  never  swerving 
from  the  straight  path  of  his  duty.  The  chiefs  of 
Jheend  and  Nabha  followed  his  example,  and  were 
equally  true  to  the  British  alliance.*  It  was  of  the 
utmost  importance,  at  that  time,  that  the  road  from 
Umballah  to  Kurnaul  should  be  kept  open ;  for  it 
was  to  the  latter  place — once  a  flourishing  military 
cantonment,  but  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing 
deserted  and  decayed — ^that  the  troops  from  Umballah 
were  now  marching;  and  there  the  fugitives  from 
Delhi  had  mostly  assembled,  and  something  of  an 
attempt  had  been  made  to  re-establish  the  shattered 
edifice  of  British  authority  upon  a  fragment  of  the 
ruins  of  Delhi,  t  Above  all,  to  hold  Kurnaul  was  to 
keep  open  the  communications  between  Umballah 
and  Meerut,  and  so  to  facilitate  the  junction  of  the 
forces  from  those  two  points.  Happily  for  us,  in 
this  juncture  the  Newab  of  Kurnaul,  a  Mahomedan 

*  See  Mr.  Barnes's  report.  "  The  Commissioner  of  Ferozepore.    Thus 

first  object  was  to  provide  for  the  all  points  of  the  main  line  of  road 

safety  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Road  and  were    secured,  and   the    Eajah  of 

the  two  stations  of  Thanesur  and  Jheend  was  also  instructed  to  collect 

Loodhianah,  which  were  without  re-  supplies  and  carriages  for  the  field 

liable  troops.  I  accordingly  directed  force,  to  protect  the  station  of  Kur- 

the  Bajah  of  Jheend  to  proceed  to  naul,"  &c.    It  should  be  added  that 

Kurnaul  with  all  his  ayailable  force.  Sir  John  Lawrence  had  telegraphed 

The  Maharajah  of  Puteealah,  at  my  on  the  13th  to  "  get  the  Maharajah 

request,  sent  a  detachment  of  all  of  Puteealah  to  send  one  regiment 

arms,  and  three  guns,  under   his  to  Thanesur  and  another  to  Lood- 

brother,  to  Thanesur  on  the  Grand  hianah."    The  policy  from  the  first 

Trunk  Road  between  Umballah  and  was  to  trust  the  great  Cis-Sutlej 

Kurnaul.    The  Rajah  of  Nabha  and  Chiefs.      See  also  note  in  the  Ap- 

the  Newab  of  Malair  Kotela  were  pendix. 

remiested  to  march  with  their  men        f  Brigadier  Graves  and  Mr.  Le 

to  Loodhianah,  and  the  Rajah  of  Fu-  Bas,  who  had  eifected  their  escape 

rcedpore  was  desired  to  place  him-  from  Delhi,  were  the  representatives 

self  under  the  orders  of  the  Deputy  of  the  military  and  civil  authority. 


THE  MARCH  TO  KURNAUL.  163 

nobleman  and  land-owner  of  large  influence  in  that  1857. 
part  of  the  country,  threw  the  weight  of  his  personal  ^*y- 
power  into  the  scales  on  our  side.*  This,  doubtless, 
was  great  help  to  us;  and  when  the  Jheend  Rajah 
sent  down  his  troops  to  Kurnaul,  the  danger  of  a 
general  rising  of  the  mixed  population  of  that  part 
of  the  country  had  passed  away.  The  Contingent 
arrived  on  the  night  of  the  18th,  and  on  the  following 
morning  the  first  detachment  of  Europeans  marched 
into  the  cantonment.*  Meanwhile,  the  Puteealah 
Rajah  was  occupying  Thanesur,  on  the  great  high 
road  between  Umballah  and  Kurnaul,  and  thus  the 
communication  between  these  two  important  points 
was  fully  secured. 

At  the  distance  of  a  few  miles  from  the  station 
of  Kurnaul  lies  the  town  of  Paniput,  a  place  famous 
in  Indian  annals;  for  there,  on  the  neighbouring 
plain,  had  great  armies  contended,  and  thrice  with 
tremendous  carnage  the  destinies  of  India  had  been 
decided  on  its  battle-fields.  At  this  point  the  bulk 
of  the  Jheend  Contingent  was  now  posted,  and  as  fresh 
detachments  of  the  army  from  Umballah  marched 
into  Kurnaul,  the  advanced  guard  pushed  on  to 
Paniput,  where  it  was  presently  joined  by  the  rear 
companies  of  the  Fusiliers,  two  more  squadrons  of 
the  Lancer  regiment,  and  four  guns.  The  Europeans, 
weakened  though  they  were  by  the  burning  heats  of 
May,  were  eager  for  the  conflict,  and  already  there 
had  grown  up  amongst  them  that  intense  hatred  of  the 

*  Mr. Raikes  states,  in  his  "Notes  I  have  decided  to  throw  in  my  lot 

on  the  Revolt,"  that  "When  we  had  with  yours.    My  sword,  my  purse, 

no  military  force  near  Kurnaul,  and  and  my  followers  are  at  your  dis- 

all  men  watched  anxiously  the  con-  posal.'  " 

duct  of  each  local  chief,  tne  Newab  f  ^his  advanced  detachment  con- 

of  Kurnaul  went  to  Mr.  Le  Bas  and  sisted  of  four  companies  of  the  Eirst 

addressed  him  to  the  following  effect :  Fusiliers,  two  Horse  Artillery  guns, 

'  Sir,  I  have  spent  a  sleepless  night  and  a  squadron  of  the  Ninth  Lancers, 
in  meditating  on  the  state  of  affairs ; 

m2 


164        LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857.      Native  races  which  afterwards  bore  such  bitter  fruit, 
^*^-       for  even  then  they  were  beginning  to. see  before  them 
evidences  of  the  destroying  hand  of  the  Insurgent.. 
May  27.  With  the  last  of  the  European  regiments  General 

Geneiaf  -^°^^°  ^^^*  Umballah,  on  the  25th  of  May ;  and,  on 
Anson.  the  26th,  he  was  lying  at  Kurnaul,  helpless  and 
hopeless,  on  the  bed  of  death,  in  the  mortal  agonies 
of  the  great  pest  of  the  country.  On  the  following 
day.  Sir  Henry  Barnard  arrived  in  Camp,  a  little 
after  midnight,  just  in  time,  as  he  said,  to  receive 
the  dying  farewell  of  his  chief.  Anson  was  all  but 
gone ;  but  he  recognised  his  friend,  and,  in  a  faint 
voice,  articulated :  "  Barnard,  I  leave  you  the  com- 
mand. You  will  say  how  anxious  I  have  been  to  do 
my  duty.  I  cannot  recover.  May  success  attend 
you.  God  bless  you. .  Good-bye."*  And  another 
hour  had  not  spent  itself  before  General  George 
Anson  had  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  all  human 
praise  or  censure.  The  great  responsibility  thrown 
upon  the  Chief- Commander  had  filled  him  with 
mental  anxiety,  which  had  increased  the  depressing 
influences  of  over-fatigue  and  exposure  to  the  cli- 
mate in  the  most  trying  season  of  the  year.  He  had 
evinced  much  tender  consideration  for  the  health  of 
his  men,  and  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  struck 
down  by  the  fiery  blasts  of  the  Indian  summer.  He 
was  a  brave  soldier  and  an  honest  gentleman ;  and 
another  brave  soldier  and  honest  gentleman,  whilst 
the  corpse  lay  unburied  in  the  next  room,  wrote  a 
letter,  saying :  "  I  solemnly  declare  to  you  on  my 
character  as  an  officer,  who,  at  all  events,  came  to 
this  country  with  the  prestige  of  recent  service  with 
him,  that  not  an  hour  has  been  lost  in  getting  the 

*  Letter  of  Sir  XL  Barnard  to  one  a.m.  on  tlie  27th;  at  2.15  he 
Sir  Charles  Yorke,  May  27,  1857.  breathed  his  last."  Cholera  was  the 
"  This/'  he  adds^  "was  at  half-past    immediate  cause  of  his  death. 


BARNAKD'S  TRIBUTE  TO  ANSON.  165 

small  force  now  advanced  as  far  as  Paniput,  and  I      1867. 
hope  to  keep  pushing  on,  as  fast  as  I  can  get  them         ^' 
up,  on  Delhi.     The  day  I  heard  of  the  disaster  at 
Delhi — which  at  Umballah  preceded  any  account 
from  Meerut — I  immediately  despatched  my  son,  who 
rode  to  Simlah  during  the  night  to  warn  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief, and  bring  him  do\vTi.     He  has  him- 
self detailed  all  his  movements  to  you,  and  I  cannot 
but  entertain  hope,  had  he  lived,  you  would  have 
taken  a  different  view  of  his  conduct,  and  not  attri- 
buted any  want  of  energy  to  him.     Whatever  might 
have  been  accomplished  by  an  immediate  rush  from 
Meerut  could  not  be  expected  from  Umballah.     The 
European  troops  were  all  in  the  Hills.     Nothing  but 
three  regiments  of  Native  troops  and  some  Artillery 
Europeans  were  at  the  latter  place ;  and  when  the 
regiments  on  the  Hills  were  assembled,  the  General 
Avas  met  by  protests  against  his  advance  by  the 
leading  Staff  and  Medical  Officers  of  his  Army.     The 
Commissariat  declared  their  utter  inability  to  move 
the  troops;  the  medical  men  represented  theirs  to 
provide  the  requisite  attendants  and  bearers.     Still 
matters  went   on.     Troops  were  moved  as  fast  as 
could  be  done,  and  arrangements  made  to  meet  the 
difficulty  of  bearers.     Ammunition  had  to  be  pro- 
cured from  Phillour,  for  the  men  had  not  twenty 
rounds  in  their  pouches,  and  none  in  store ;  and  the 
Artillery  were  inefficient,  as  their  reserve  waggons 
were  all  at  Loodhianah.     It  is  only  this  day  that  I 
expect  the  necessary  supply  of  ammunition  to  arrive 
at  Umballah.     I  have  determined  (I  say  /,  for  poor 
Anson  could  only  recognise  me  and  hand  me  over 
the  command  when  I  arrived  last  night)  not  to  wait 
for  the  siege-train."* 

*  Sir  Henry  Barnard  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  May  27, 1857.    MS, 


166  LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857.  Thus  passed  away  from  the  scene  one  of  its  chief 

^ay-  actors,  just  as  the  curtain  had  risen  on  the  great 
Barnard  ia  drama  of  British  action.  With  what  success  Anson 
command,  might  have  played  his  distinguished  part  can  now  be 
only  conjectured.  There  are  those  who  believe  that 
alike  in  wisdom  and  integrity  he  far  outshone  all  his 
colleagues  in  the  Supreme  Council,  and  that  when  the 
crisis  arrived  he  took  in  the  situation  and  measured 
the  work  to  be  done  with  an  accuracy  and  precision 
which  none  beside,  soldier  or  civilian,  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  opening  incidents  of  the  War.*  Little  time 
was  allowed  to  him  to  recover  from  the  first  shock  of 
the  storm  before  it  overwhelmed  and  destroyed  him. 
But  it  would  be  unjust  to  estimate  what  he  did,  or 
what  he  was  capable  of  dqing,  by  the  measuring-rod 
of  those  who,  during  that  eventful  fortnight,  believed 
that  the  recovery  of  Delhi  was  to  be  accomplished  by 
the  prompt  movement  of  a  small  and  imperfectly 
equipped  British  force.  It  is  not  in  contemporary 
utterances  that  we  are  to  look  for  a  just  verdict.  We 
must  put  aside  all  thought,  indeed,  of  what  even  the 
wisest  and  the  strongest  said  in  the  first  paroxysm  of 
perplexity,  when  all  men  looked  to  the  Chief  of  the 
Army  to  do  what  then  seemed  to  be  easy,  and  found 
that  it  was  not  done.  How  difficult  it  really  was  will 
presently  appear.  And  though  the  result  of  a  sudden 

*  See  the  statements  of  the  author  rejecting  as  crude  and  ridiculous  the 

of  the  "  Jled  Pamphlet :"  "  It  was  a  suggestions  sent  up  bj  the  collective 

common  practice  to  sneer  at  General  wisdom  of  Calcutta."    History  may 

Anson  as  a   mere  Uorse •  Guards'  not   unwillingly    accept    this;   but 

General,  as  one  who  had  gained  his  when  it  is  said  that  General  Anson, 

honours  at  Newmarket.    But  it  is  *'  when  brought,  in  both  the  Coun- 

nevertheless  a  fact  that  this  Horse-  cils" — ^that   is,  the  Executive  and 

Guards*  General,  by  dint  of  applica-  Legislative  Councils — "  face  to  face 

tion  and  perseverance,  made  himself  with  men  who  had  made  legislation 

so  thoroughly  a  master  of  his  profes-  for  India  the  study  of  their  lives, 

sion,  that,  when  the  mutiny  broke  distanced  them  all,"  one  cannot  help 

out,  he  drew  up  a  plan  of  operations,  -  being  somewhat  startled  by  the  bolo- 

which  his  successor,  a  Crimean  Ge-  ness  of  the  assertion, 
neral,  carried  out  in  all  its  details, 


JDDGBiENT  OP  LORD  CANNING-  167 

blow  struck  at  Delhi  might  have  been  successful,  it  1857. 
is  impossible,  with  our  later  knowledge  of  subsequent  ^^^  ^^' 
events  to  guide  us,  not  to  believe  that  in  the  month 
of  May  the  risk  of  failure  was  greater  than  the  fair 
prospect  of  success.  And  we  may  be  sure  that  if 
Anson  had  flung  himself  headlong  upon  the  strong- 
hold of  the  enemy  and  failed,  he  would  have  been 
stigmatised  as  a  rash  and  incapable  general,  ignorant 
of  the  first  principles  of  war. 

Perhaps  the  judgment  of  Lord  Canning  on  these  Snmining  up 
initial  delays  and  their  causes  may  be  accepted  as  Canning. 
sound  and  just.  "  The  protracted  delay,"  he  wrote, 
"  has  been  caused,  as  far  as  I  can  gather  from  private 
letters  from  General  Anson  since  I  last  wrote,  by 
waiting  for  the  siege-train,  and  by  want  of  carriage 
for  the  Europeans.  As  regards  the  siege-train,  I 
believe  it  to  have  been  an  unwise  delay.  We  shall 
crush  Delhi  more  easily,  of  course;  but  I  do  not 
believe  that  we  should  have  been  exposed  to  any 
reverse  for  want  of  a  siege-train,  and  the  time  lost 
has  cost  us  dear  indeed.  As  to  the  carriage  and 
Commissariat,  it  is  impossible,  in  the  absence  of  all 
information,  to  say  how  far  the  delay  was  avoidable 
and  blamable.  It  would  have  been  madness  to  move 
a  European  force  at  this  season  with  any  deficiency 
of  carriage  (with  cholera,  too,  amongst  them),  but  I 
greatly  doubt  whether  General  Anson  was  well  served 
in  this  matter  of  carriage.  From  many  letters  from 
Head-Quarters  which  have  been  before  me,  I  am 
satisfied  that,  with  the  exception  of  one  young  officer,* 
there  was  not  a  man  on  the  Army  Staff  who  gave 
due  thought  to  the  political  dangers  of  delay  and  to 

*  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  has  abundantly  justified  all  the  high 
officer  here  indicated  was  Captain,  opinions  of  his  character  then  entert 
now  (1869)  Colonel  Norman,  who    tained. 


168  LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON. 

1857.  the  perils  which  hung  over  us  elsewhere  as  long  as  no 
^^y-  move  was  made  upon  Delhi.  With  the  Staff,  the 
Medical  Staff  especially,  arguing  the  necessity  of  com- 
pleteness, and  none  of  them  apparently  conscious  of 
the  immense  value  of  time,  it  is  very  probable  that 
time  was  lost.  On  this  subject  you  will  see  a  letter 
from  Sir  John  Lawrence  to  the  Commander-in-Chief. 
It  is  very  earnest  and  practical,  like  all  that  comes 
from  him,  and  I  wish  with  all  my  heart  that  he  had 
been  nearer  to  Head-Quarters.  His  counsels  and  his 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  country  would  have  been 
invaluable.  You  must  bear  in  mind^  however,  in 
regard  to  his  estimate  of  the  time  which  should  have 
been  sufficient  to  put  the  army  in  motion,  that  a 
great  change  was  made  in  the  Commissariat  three 
years  ago,  when  the  Transport  establishments  were 
given  up,  and  it  was  determined  to  trust  henceforward 
to  hiring  beasts  for  the  occasion.  We  are  now 
making  the  first  experiment  of  this  change.  Econo- 
mically, it  was  a  prudent  one,  and  in  times  of  ordi- 
nary war  might  work  well ;  but  I  shall  be  surprised 
if  General  Anson  were  not  greatly  impeded  by  it. 
Could  it  have  been  foreseen  that  our  next  operations 
would  be  against  our  own  regiments  and  subjects,  no 
sane  man  would  have  recommended  it." 

From  the  death-bed  of  General  Anson  Sir  Henry 
Barnard  had  received  his  instructions  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  Delhi  Field  Force.  And  taking  that 
command,  he  cast  up  at  once  the  difficulties  of  his 
position.  He  thought  that  if  Anson's  death  had  not 
been  accelerated,  his  last  moments  had  been  embit- 
tered, by  the  reproaches  of  eager-minded  civilians, 
who  could  not  measure  military  difficulties  as  they 
fire  measured  by  soldiers ;  and  he  felt  that,  in  the 


FIRST  MOVEMENTS  OF  BABNARD.  169 

execution  of  his  duty  to  his  country,  he  might  bring  1857. 
like  censure  upon  himself.  He  was  in  a  novel  and  ^^y* 
wholly  unanticipated  position,*  and  he  felt  that  he 
was  expected  to  do  what  was  impossible.  But  he 
went  resolutely  at  the  work  before  him;  and  flung 
himself  into  it  with  an  amount  of  energy  and  ac- 
tivity  which  excited  the  admh-ation  and  l^rprise  of 
much  younger  men.  He  determined,  on  the  morning 
of  the  27th,  not  to  wait  for  the  siege-train,  but  after 
exchanging  some  six-pounders  for  nine-pounders,  to 
march  on  to  Delhi,  forming  a  junction  on  the  way 
with  the  Meerut  force  under  Brigadier  Wilson.  '*  So 
long  as  I  exercise  any  power,"  he  wrote  to  Lawrence 
on  the  day  after  Anson's  death,  "  you  may  rest  assured 
that  every  energy  shall  be  devoted  to  the  objects  I 
have  now  in  view,  viz.,  concentrating  all  the  force  I 
can  collect  at  Delhi,  securing  the  bridge  at  Baghput, 
and  securing  our  communication  with  Meerut.  For 
those  objects  aU  is  now  in  actual  motion.  The  last 
column  left  Umballah  last  night,  and  the  siege-train 
will  foUow  under  escort,  provided  by  Mr.  Barnes.  I 
have  noticed  to  the  Commissariat  that  supplies  will 
be  required,  and  hope  that,  when  within  two  days' 
march  of  Delhi,  our  presence  may  have  the  influence 
you  anticipate,  and  you  may  soon  hear  of  our  being 
in  possession  of  the  place."  On  the  31st  he  wrote 
from  Gurrounda :  "  I  am  preparing  with  the  Com- 
mimding  Engineer  the  plan  of  the  position  to  take  up 

♦  "  It  is  a  novel  position,"  he  liave 'side  blows  of  reproof,' because 

wrote  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  "  for  he  has  not  treated  them  with  the 

an  officer  to  find  himself  placed  in  utmost  severity,  and  rather  sought 

who  comes  to  the  country  prepared  occasion  to  disgrace  than  endeavour 

to  treat  its  army  as  his  own ;  to  make  to  support  them.  That  I  have  endea- 

every  idlowance  for  the  difference  of  vourea  to  support  them  I  fully  admit, 

constitution;  to  encourage  its  past  and^  if  a  fault,  I  must  bear  the 

good  deeds  uid  honourable  name ;  to  blame." — MS,  Correspondence. 


170        LAST  DAYS  OF  GENERAL  ANSON, 

1857.      when  we  reach  Delhi,  and  hope  that  no  let  or  hin- 
^"y-       drance  will  prevent  our  being  ready  to  act  upon  the 
place  by  the  5th." 

The  force  from  Umballah  was  now  in  full  march 
upon  Delhi.  The  scorching  heat  of  the  summer, 
which  was  taking  terrible  eflPect  upon  the  health  of 
the  European  soldiery,  forbade  much  marching  in 
the  daytime.  The  fierce  sun  beat  down  upon  the 
closed  tents  of  our  people,  and  as  they  lay  in  weary 
sleep,  or  vainly  courting  it,  there  was  stillness,  almost 
as  of  death,  in  our  camp.  But  with  the  coolness  of 
evening  Life  returned.  The  lassitude  was  gone.  Men 
emerged  from  their  tents  and  were  soon  in  all  the 
bustle  and  preparation  of  the  coming  march.  The 
clear  starlit  nights  are  said  to  have  been  "  delicious."* 
But  as  the  English  soldier  marched  on  beneath  that 
great  calm  canopy  of  heaven,  there  was  within  him 
the  turmoil  and  the  bitterness  of  an  avenging  thirst 
for  blood.  It  fared  ill  with  those  against  whom 
charges  were  brought  of  inflicting  injury  upon  fugi- 
tives from  Delhi.  Some  villagers,  believed  to  be  thus 
guilty,  were  seized,  tried,  condemned,  and  executed 
amidst  every  possible  indignity  that  could  be  put 
upon  them  by  our  soldiers  under  the  approving 
smiles  of  their  officers.f  And  ever  as  they  marched 
on,  there  was  an  eager  desire  to  find  criminals  and  to 
execute  judgment  upon  them ;  and  it  was  not  easy 
for  the  hands  of  authority  to  restrain  the  retributive 
impulses  of  our  people. 

*  See  the  "  Histoij  of  the  Siege  during  the  few  hours  between  their 

of  Delhi,  by  One  who  Served  there/'  trial  and  execution,  were  unceasingly 

for  a  very  animated  account  of  the  tormented  by  the  soldiers.     They 

march.  pulled  their  hair,  pricked  them  witn 

t  "  The  fierceness  of  the  men  their  bayonets,  and  forced  them  to 

increased  every  day,  often  venting  eat  cow's  flesh,  while  officers  stood 

itself  on  the  camp-servants,  many  by  approving." — History  of  the  SUge 

of  whom  ran  away.    The  prisoners,  ofDelhi^  by  One  icho  /Served  there. 


EXPECTED  JUNCTION  WITH  WILSON'S  BRIGADE.        171 

The  day  of  action  was  now  not  far  distant ;  and  1857. 
all  believed  that  it  would  be  a  day  of  signal  retribu-  ^*y* 
tion.  "  Most  of  the  men,"  it  has  been  said,  "  believed 
that  one  battle  would  decide  the  fate  of  the  mutinous 
regiments.  They  would  fight  in  the  morning ;  they 
would  drink  their  grog  in  Delhi  at  night."*  Even 
the  sick,  in  the  hospital  tents,  sat  up,  declared  that 
they  were  well,  and  with  feeble  voices  implored  to  be 
discharged  that  they  might  be  led  against  the  hated 
enemy.  But  Barnard's  force  was  weak,  and  im- 
patient as  were  his  troops  to  push  forward,  it  was 
necessary  that  they  should  form  a  junction  with 
Wilson's  brigade,  which  was  advancing  from  Meerut, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  What  that  brigade 
had  done  since  the  disastrous  night  of  the  10th  of 
May  must  now  be  briefly  related. 

♦  "  The  History  of  tlie  Siege  of  Delhi,  by  One  wlio  Served  there." 


172  THE  UABCH  UPON  DELHI. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

STATE  OP  MEERUT — THE  SAPPERS  AND  MINERS— DEPE NCR  OF  ROOEKHEE — 
COLONEL  BAIRD  SMITH — MUTINY  OF  THE  SAPPERS — MARCH  OP  WILSON *S 
BRIGADE — BATTLES  OP  THE  HINDUN — JUNCTION  WITH  BARNARD — BATTLE 
OP  BUDLEE-KA-SERAI— POSITION  BEFORE  DELHI. 

1857.  On  the  day  after  that  dreadful  night  at  Meerut, 

Meenit  after  which  witnessed  the  first  horrors  of  the  revolt,  it  was 

the  outbreak.     ■•     '     /«  /»     i  -i       •  n     i 

May  12— 27.  *"^  effort  of  the  authorities  to  concentrate  all  the 
surviving  Europeans,  and  such  property  as  could  be 
saved,  within  the  English  quarter  of  the  great  Can- 
tonment. All  the  outlying  picquets  and  sentries 
were  therefore  recalled ;  and  all  who  lived  beyond 
the  new  line  of  defence  were  brought  in  and  lodged 
in  a  capacious  public  building  used  as  the  Artillery 
School  of  Instruction,  and  known  as  the  Dum- 
dumma.  There  also  the  treasure  was  brought  from 
the  Collectorate,  and  safely  guarded  against  the 
plunderers,  who  were  roving  about  the  place.  For 
the  predatory  classes  were  now  making  high  festival, 
the  escaped  convicts  from  the  gaols,  the  Goojurs  from 
the  neighbouring  villages,  and  all  the  vile  scum  and 
refuse  of  the  bazaars  were  glorying  in  the  great  para- 
lysis of  authority  which  had  made  crime  so  easy  and 
so  profitable.  From  the  Cantonment  the  great  har- 
vest of  rapine  stretched  out  into  the  surrounding 
district.  There  was  no  respect  of  persons,  races,  or 
creeds,    All  who  had  anything  to  lose  and  lacked 


STATE  OF  MEERUT.  173 

Strength  to  defend  it,  were  ruthlessly  despoiled  by  the  1857. 
marauders.  Travellers  were  stopped  on  the  high-  *^' 
way;  the  mails  were  plundered ;  houses  were  forcibly 
entered  and  sacked,  and  sometimes  all  the  inmates 
butchered.*  And  so  entirely  had  all  semblance  of 
British  authority  disappeared,  that  it  was  believed 
that  the  English  in  Meerut  had  been  slain  to  a  man.f 
Meanwhile,  with  the  proverbial  rapidity  of  evil 
tidings,  news  had  travelled  up  from  Delhi,  which  left 
no  doubt  of  the  total  defeat  of  the  English,  the  Pro- 
clamation of  the  Padishah,  and  the  concentration  of 
the  rebel  troops,  who,  it  was  believed,  would  soon 
return  to  Meerut  with  all  the  immense  resources  of 
the  great  Magazine  at  their  command.  And  pre- 
sently fugitives  came  in  with  the  sad  details  of 
mutiny  and  massacre,  and  exciting  narratives  of  their 
own  providential  escapes.  J     All  this  increased  the 

*  Take  the  following  illustration  force.  The  General  of  Division, 
from  the  Official  Report  of  Mr.  with  several  officers,  inhabited  one 
Commissioner  Williams  :  "  Ram-  of  the  Horse  Artillery  barracks, 
dyal,  a  prisoner  confined  in  the  Civil  whilst  most  of  tlie  residents  occupied 
Gaol  under  a  decree  for  arrears  of  the  Field  Magazine,  now  univers- 
rent,  hastened  to  his  village,  Bhoj-  ally  known  as  the  far-famed  Bum- 
poor,  during  the  night  of  the  10th,  Bumma,  an  enclosed  space  of  about 
and  the  next  day  at  daybreak  col-  two  hundred  yards  square,  with  walls 
lected  a  party  and  attacked  a  money-  eight  feet  high,  a  ditch  and  four 
lender  who  had  a  decree  against  bastions  at  each  corner.  Thus 
him,  and  murdered  him  and  six  of  strengthened,  it  was  defensible 
his  household."  against  any  number  of  rabble  insur- 

t  See  description  of  the  state  of  gents  unprovided  with  heavy  guns 
Meerut  after  the  outbreak  given  by  or  mortars.  So  completely  were 
Major  G.  W.  Williams  in  his  *'  Nar-  the  rest  of  the  cantonments  deserted, 
rative  of  Events:"  "I  found  the  that  many  Natives  believed  that 
whole  of  the  station  south  of  the  everj  European  had  been  exter- 
Nullah  and  Begum's  Bridge  aban-  minated,  ana  their  power  being  un- 
doned,  for  here  the  storm  that  was  seen,  unfelt,  was  readily  supposed 
to  shake  India  to  its  basis  first  broke  to  have  been  subverted." 
out,  and  the  ravages  there  visible  :|:  Among  those  who  escaped  from 
were,  strange  to  say,  not  acoom-  Beihi,  but  perished  on  the  way,  was 
plished  by  bands  of  soldiery  formid-  the  gallant  leader  of  the  little  party 
able  from  their  arms  and  discipline,  that  defended  the  great  Belhi  Maga^ 
but  by  mobs  of  wretched  rabble  zine.  It  is  stated  that  WilloughDy 
(hundreds  of  whom  would  have  been  was  murdered,  with  several  corn- 
instantaneously  scattered  by  a  few  panions,  by  the  inhabitants  of  a 
rounds  of  grape),  and  this  in  the  village  near  the  Hindun  river, 
face  of  an  overwhelming  Enropean 


174  THE  MABCH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857.  general  consternation.  It  was  plain  now  that  there 
May.  was  wide-spread  revolt.  All  Civil  authority  was 
practically  suspended  ;  so  Martial  Law  was  pro- 
claimed in  the  joint  names  of  General  Hemtt  and 
Mr.  Greathed;  and  the  first  who  tasted  the  ready 
justice  of  the  improvised  gallows  was  the  butcher 
from  the  Bazaar,  who  had  brutally  murdered  Mrs. 
Chambers  in  her  house.  But  this  seems  to  have 
been  an  isolated  act  of  vigour,  due  rather  to  the 
energy  of  an  individual  than  to  the  joint  authority 
from  which  the  edict  had  proceeded.* 


The  Sappers  On  the  16th  an  incident  occurred  which  increased 
the  general  consternation.  Sixty  miles  from  Meerut, 
on  the  Ganges  Canal,  lies  Roorkhee,  the  Head- 
Quarters  of  the  Engineering  science  of  the  country. 
There  the  great  Thomason  College,  with  its  famous 
workshops,  was  in  all  the  bustle  and  animation  of  its 
varied  mechanical  industry.  There  was  the  centre 
of  the  Irrigation  Department,  whence  issued  the 
directing  authority  that  controlled  the  great  system 
of  Canal  Works  which  watered  the  thirsty  [land. 
There,  too,  was  posted  the  regiment  of  Sappers  and 
Miners — trained  and  educated  native  military  Engi- 
neers under  European  officers.  It  was  a  great 
thriving  bee-hive ;  and  that  month  of  May  found  the 
workers  in  all  their  wonted  peaceful  activity,  with 
plans  and  projects  suited  to  the  atmosphere  of  quiet 
times,  and  no  thought  of  coming  danger  to  disturb 
the   even  tenor  of  daily  life.     "  No  community  in 

Baird  Smith,  the  world,"  wrote  one,  who  may  be  said  to  have  been 
the  chief  of  this  prosperous  colony,  "could  have  been 
living  in  greater  security  of  life  and  property,"  when 

*  Ante^  page  73. 


AFFAffiS  AT  ROORKHEE.  175 

Major  Fraser,  who  commanded  the  Sappers  and  1857. 
Miners,  received  an  express  from  the  General  at  *^' 
Meerut,  ordering  him  to  proceed  by  forced  marches 
to  that  station,  as  the  Sepoy  regiments  were  in  open 
revolt.  When  intelligence  of  this  summons  reached 
Colonel  Baird  Smith,  he  at  once  suggested  that  the 
regiment  should  be  despatched  by  the  route  of  the 
Ganges  Canal.  To  this  Fraser  readily  agreed ;  and 
within  six  hours  boats  were  prepared  sufficient  for 
the  conveyance  of  a  thousand  men.  The  regiment 
mustered  only  seven  hundred  and  thirteen,  who  were 
equipped  and  ready  for  the  journey,  when  another 
express  came  ordering  two  companies  to  stand  fast 
at  Roorkhee,  for  the  protection  of  that  place.  So 
eventually  some  five  hundred  men  set  out,  under 
Fraser,  for  Meerut. 

Then  came  to  Roorkhee  the  news  of  the  Delhi  mas-  ^f^jj^^yj^^ 
sacre.  And  as  the  Sappers  were  moving  down  to 
Meerut,  Baird  Smith  was  making  admirable  arrange- 
ments for  the  defence  of  the  great  engineering  dep6t, 
in  which  he  took  such  earnest  and  loving  interest. 
Officially,  he  was  Superintendent-General  of  Irriga- 
tion in  the  North-Western  Provinces ;  a  most  useful 
functionary,  great  in  all  the  arts  of  peace,  and  with 
a  reputation  which  any  man  might  be  proud  to  pos- 
sess. But  the  man  of  much  science  now  grew  at 
once  into  the  man  of  war,  and  Roorkhee  became  a 
garrison  under  his  command.  Not  an  hour  was  lost.* 

*  "  It  was  at  daybreak  that  I  Commandaiit  of  the  Sappers  and 

received  the  first  intimation  of  the  Miners,  bad  received  an  express  from 

Meerut  mutiny  and  massacre.  When  the  General  at  Meerut,  ordering  him 

I  went  to  the  porch  of  my  house  to  to  proceed  by  forced  marches  to  that 

mount  my  horse  for  a  morning  ride,  place.    I  immediately  suggested  the 

I  found  MedHcott,  our  geological  Ganges  Canal  route  instead  of  forced 

professor,  sitting  there,  looking  op-  marches,  which  would  have  fatigued 

pressed  with  some  painful  intelli-  the  men  much,  and  made  them  un- 

gence,  and,  on  my  asking  what  the  fit  for  service." — MS.  Correspondence 

matter  was,  he  then  told  me  that  of  Colonel  Baird  Smith. 
about  an  hour  before^  Eraser,  the 


1 76  THE  MARCH  UPON  DfiLHI. 

1857.  Those  indeed  were  times  when  to  lose  an  hour  might 
^^'  be  to  lose  everything ;  and  Baird  Smith  knew  that 
there  was  no  emergency  against  which*  he  might 
not  be  called  upon  to  provide.  Even  the  companies 
of  Sappers,  which  had  been  left  for  the  defence  of 
Roorkhee,  might  soon  become  a  source  of  infinite 
danger.  It  was  soon  settled  that  the  workshops 
should  become  the  citadel,  to  which  women  and  chil- 
dren might  be  removed;  and  there,  on  the  16th  of 
May,  all  these  helpless  ones,  little  less  than  a  hundred* 
in  number,  were  comfortably  accommodated  in  the 
several  rooms,  whilst  to  each  of  our  male  people  some 
fitting  duty  was  assigned.  Their  number  was  not 
much  greater  than  that  of  the  women  and  children ; 
and  half  of  them  were  non-combatants,  clerks  attached 
to  the  establishment,  and  little  accustomed  to  the  use 
of  arms.  The  trained  soldiers  were  but  about  fiftyf 
in  number,  with  eight  or  ten  good  officers ;  and  of 
these  Baird  Smith  took  the  command,  telling  them 
off  into  different  guards,  and  organising  different 
departments,  so  that  nothing  was  omitted  or  neglected 
that  could  add  to  the  defence  of  the  place. 

The  Sapper  companies,  suspected  of  disloyalty  from 
the  first,  were  placed  under  their  officers  in  charge 
of  the  College  buildings.  Baird  Smith  had  talked  to 
some  of  their  leading  men,  endeavouring  to  allay  the 
obvious  excitement  among  them  by  friendly  expla- 
nations and  assurances ;  and  after  that,  he  said,  "  I 
could  do  no  more."  The  wretched  story  of  the  bone- 
dust  flour  was  rife  amongst  them,  and  there  was  a 
vague  fear,  as  in  other  places,  of  a  meditated  attack 

*  There  were  on  the  28th  of  May  May  30th,  says    lliat  the  trained 

fifty  women  and  forty -three  children,  soldiers  were  only  about  thirty,  but 

according  to  the  Disposition  List  of  the  numbers  given  in  the  text  is 

the  Roonchee  Garrison  of  that  day.  on  the  authority  of  the  nominal  roll 

t  Baird  Smithy  in  a  letter  dated  of  the  garrison. 


_  THE  SIRMOOR  BATTALION.  177 

by  the  British,  taking  them  by  surprise,  disarming,  1857. 
and  then  destroying  them.  In  such  a  state  of  feeling  ^*^" 
every  circumstance  of  an  exceptional  character  is 
misinterpreted  into  an  indication  of  offence,  and 
when  it  was  known  to  the  Sappers  at  Roorkhee  that 
the  Sirmoor  Battalion — a  regiment  of  Goorkahs  com- 
manded by  'Major  Charles  Reid — was  coming  down 
from  Dhera,  on  its  way  to  Meerut,*  a  terrible  sus- 
picion took  possession  of  them ;  they  believed  it  was 
a  hostile  movement  against  themselves.  When  this 
became  knowli  to  Baird  Sxnith,  he  sent  an  express  to 
Reid  requesting  him  not  to  march  upon  Roorkhee,  but 
to  make  straight  for  the  Canal,  and  at  once  to  embark 
in  the  boats  that  were  waiting  for  him.  Reid  grasped 
the  position  at  once,  and  acted  upon  the  suggestion. 
Pretending  that  he  had  missed  his  way,  he  asked  for 
a  guide  to  lead  him  straight  to  the  banks  of  the 
Canal,  and  so  they  marched  on  to  the  boats  without 
increasing  the  general  alarm.  And,  said  Reid,  Baird 
Smith  "was  right  beyond  doubt,  and  his  good  judg- 
ment  and  forethought  may  have  been — indeed,  I  feel 
pretty  sure  was — the  means  of  saving  the  place  and 
the  lives  of  the  ladies  and  children."t 

Meanwhile,  the  main  body  of  the  Sappers,  under  Mutiny  of 

the  Sappers. 

*  Immediately  on  receiving  intel-  he  adds,  "  but  as  soon  as  tiiey  moved 
ligence  of  the  state  of  al&irs  at  on,  I  called  up  a  couple  of  my  men 
Meerut,  Baird  Smith  had  written  to  and  asked  them  what  the  Sappers 
Major  Keid,  warning  him  that  his  had  said  to  them.  One  little  fellow 
services  would  most  probably  be  re-  replied,  '  Thejr  wanted  to  know  if  we 
quired  at  that  place,  and  offering  to  were  going  over  to  Meerut  to  eat 
provide  boats  for  the  regiment.  A  the  ottah  (flour)  sent  up  especially 
day  or  two  afterwards  the  summons  for  the  Goorkahs  by  the  Governor- 
came  from  Head-Quarters.  General ;  that  the  ottah  at  Meerut 

t  Major  Reid  has  recorded  that  was  nothing  but  ground  bullocks' 

whilst  he  was  embarkinof  his  Goor-  bones.*  'And  what  was  your  reply  P' 

kalis — •'almond-eyed  Tartars,"  as  I  asked.     ' I  said,' was  the  answer, 

Baird  Smith  described  them — several  'the  regiment  was  going  wherever 

men  of  the  Sappers  came  from  Meerut  it.  was  ordered — we  obey  the  bugle- 

and  entered  into  communication  with  call'  " 
them.    "  I  took  no  notice  at  first," 

VOL.  U.  N 


178  THE  MAECa  UPON  DELHI. 

1857.  Major  Fraser,  had  marched  into  Meerut.  Not  with- 
May  15.  out  some  feelings  of  suspicion  and  alarm,  they  had 
moved  down  the  great  Canal ;  but  their  behaviour 
had,  on  the  whole,  been  orderly,  and  when,  on  the 
15th,  they  arrived  at  their  destination,  there  was  no 
reason  to  doubt  their  fidelity.  Brought,  however, 
into  the  immediate  presence  of  a  large  body  of  Euro- 
pean troops,  who  had  the  blood  of  their  slaughtered 
countrymen  to  avenge,  they  were  in  that  excitable, 
inflammable  state,  which  needs  only  a  single  spark  to 
draw  forth  the  latent  fire.  It  soon  fell.  It  seems 
that  the  Commandant  had  promised  them  that  they 
should  retain  charge  of  their  own  ammunition.  He 
had  no  intention  of  breaking  faith  with  them ;  but  he 
desired  that,  for  greater  security,  it  should  be  stored 
in  a  bomb-proof  building,  which  had  been  placed  at 
his  disposal.  If  the  object  of  this  had  been  carefully 
explained  to  the  men,  they  would  probably  have  as- 
sented without  a  murmur.  But  when,  on  the  day 
after  their  arrival,  the  ammunition  was  being  con- 
veyed to  its  destination,  the  Sepoys  suspected 
treachery,  resented  the  removal  of  the  magazine, 
stopped  the  laden  carts,  and  broke  into  open  mutiny. 
An  Afghan  Sepoy  fired  his  piece  from  behind  the 
Commandant,  and  Fraser  fell,  shot  through  the  back. 
Others  fired  at  Adjutant  Mansell,  but  missed  him; 
and  the  Native  non-commissioned  officer  who  was 
in  attendance  on  Fraser  was  killed  in  the  affray. 
Having  done  this,  the  mutineers  broke  and  fled,  but 
their  victory  was  but  short-lived.  A  troop  of  the  Cara- 
bineers and  some  Horse  Artillery  guns  were  let  loose 
upon  them.  The  greater  number  escaped ;  but  some 
fifty  of  the  fugitives  were  overtaken  outside  canton- 
ments among  the  sand-hills,  and  were  killed.  And 
so  the  Sappers  and  Miners,  as  a  regiment,  ceased  to 


MESSAGES  I'ROM  A6&A.  179 

exist.     Two    companies,    however,   which  were  at      1857. 
work  in   another  part   of   Meerut,   were   disarmed  ^y^^""^*- 
and  set  to  work  on  the  fortification  of  the  Dum- 
dumma. 

After  this,  there  was,  for  a  time,  a  lull  at  Meerut.  Inactivity  at 
The  destruction  of  the  Sappers  was,  perhaps,  regarded 
as  a  cause  of  congratulation  and  a  source  of  confi- 
dence, and  as  the  advancing  month  brought  with  it 
no  new  alarms,  and  it  seemed  that  the  mutineers 
were  resolved  to  concentrate  their  strength  at  Delhi, 
and  not  to  emerge  thence — as  people  whose  fighting 
powers  were   greater    behind  walls — things  began 
gradually  to  assume  a  cheerful  complexion,  and  the 
inmates  of  the  Artillery  School  ceased  to  tremble  as 
they  talked  of  what  was  to  come.     But  there  was 
vexation  in  high  places.     The  telegraph  line  between 
Meerut  and  Agra  was  sometimes,  if  not  always  open  ; 
and  Lieutenant-Governor  Colvin,  who  never  could  lose 
sight  of  the  fact  that  there  were  a  battalion  of  English 
Rifles,  a  regiment  of  English  Dragoons,  and  two  bat- 
teries of  English  Artillery  at  Meerut,  was  constantly 
urging  them,  for  God's  sake,  to  do  something.  Think- 
ing, after  a  while,  that  it  was  quite  useless  to  exhort 
General  Hewitt  to  put  forth  any  activity  in  such  a 
case,  Colvin  addressed  himself  to  Brigadier  Wilson, 
thus  virtually  setting  aside  the  General  of  Division. 
Nettled  by  this,  Hewitt  telegraphed  to  Agra  respect- 
fully to  request  that  the  Lieutenant-Governor  would 
transmit  through    him   orders  to  his  subordinates 
when  such  a  step  could  cause  no  delay.     But  the 
Lieutenant-Governor  still  continued  to  telegraph  to 
the  Brigadier,  beseeching  him  to  go  out  in  force  so 
as  to  keep  open  the  main  road  and  to  prevent  dan- 
gerous combinations  of  revolted  troops  throughout 
the  Doab.      "  What  plan,"  he  had  asked,    "  does 

n2 


180  THE  MARCH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857'  Brigadier  Wilson  propose  for  making  the  Meerut 
May  15— 24.  force  actively  useful  in  checking  an  advance  down 
the  Doab  ?  If  the  mutineers  leave  Delhi  in  force,  it 
is  plain  that  no  wing  of  a  corps,  or  even  a  single 
corps,  could  stay  their  march.  Therefore  a  move  in 
strength  to  Bolundshuhur  seems  to  be  the  right  one." 
And  now  the  Agra  authorities  continued  to  urge 
these  movements,  but  were  met  by  protests  that  it 
would  be  inexpedient  to  divide  the  force.  "  The  only 
plan,"  said  Wilson,  "  is  to  concentrate  our  European 
force,  and  to  attack  Delhi.  He  had  consulted,"  he 
said,  "with  all  the  European  officers  in  the  force, 
and  they  were  unanimously  of  opinion  that  any 
movement  of  the  force  from  Meerut  would  be  highly 
imprudent  without  the  orders  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  as  it  might  counteract  any  movement  that  he 
might  be  forming."  "  To  move  in  full  strength,"  he 
added,  "would  involve  the  abandonment  of  all  the 
sick,  women  and  children  and  [  ]."    Then  came 

the  inevitable  story  that  "  the  Commissariat  report 
that  they  cannot  supply  carriage  for  a  force  of  half 
the  strength  ;"  and  yet  it  was,  numerically,  but  a  small 
force  that  would  have  taken  the  field.*  So  Colvin 
yielded  the  point,  and  no  longer  looked  to  Meerut  for 
assistance. 

It  has  been  shown  that,  as  one  result  of  the  inacti- 
vity of  this  beautiful  force  of  all  arms,  a  belief  gained 
ground  in  the  adjacent  country  that  the  English  at 
Meerut  had  all  been  killed  to  a  man.  Although  the 
surrounding  villages  were  swarming  with  robber- 
clans,  who  had  murdered  our  people  and  sacked  our 

*  In  tills  telegraphic  message  it  is  portion  of  the  efficient,  and  all  the 

stated  that  the  force  consisted  of —  inefficient  men  would  have  been  left 

Rifles,  700;  Carabineers,  mounted,  in  Meerut,  the  number   for  field- 

380 ;    dismounted,   100 ;    Artillery  service  would  not    have  exceeded 

recruits,  undrilled,  364.    As  some  1000. 


AERANGEMENTS  FOR  THE  MARCH.  181 

houses,  it  was  not  until  the  24th  of  May,  two  weeks      i^^''* 
after  the  great  tragedy,  that  a  small  party  of  our^  ^^^  ,^r 

^  ^  1        •        1      -  /.  Death  of  Mr. 

Dragoons  was  sent  out  to  chastise  the  inmates  of  one  Johnston, 
of  these  nests  of  plunderers.  On  that  day,  for  the 
first  time,  the  English  magistrate,  Mr.  Johnston, 
obtained  the  assistance  of  troops  to  enable  him  to 
suppress  the  overflowing  crime  of  the  district.  The 
village  of  Ikteeapore  was  then  burnt,  and  the  people 
learnt  that  English  soldiers  were  still  alive  in  Meerut. 
But  the  demonstration  was  an  ill-fated  one.  For 
Johnstone,  who  had  gone  out  with  the  troops,  riding 
homewards  in  hot  haste,  when  the  work  was  done, 
eager  to  be  again  actively  employed,  was  fearfully 
injured  by  the  falling  of  his  horse,  and  three  days 
afterwards  expired. 


But  the  Meerut  Brigade  had  now  done  with  in- William 
action.  The  "  orders  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,"  ^ 
for  which  it  had  been  waiting,  had  arrived.*  It  had 
been  supposed  for  some  time  that  the  road  between 
Eumaul  and  Meerut  was  closed;  but  in  the  camp 
of  the  Commander-in-Chief  there  was  an  officer,  equal 
to  any  difficult  work,  who  volunteered  to  carry  de- 
spatches to  the  latter  place,  and  to  bring  back  the 
much-needed  information  of  the  state  of  Wilson's 
Brigade.  This  was  Lieutenant  William  Hodson,  a 
man  of  rare  energy  of  character,  who  was  then 
serving  with  the  First  (Company's)  Fusiliers.  He 
had  been,  years  before,  one  of  that  little  band  of 
pioneers  who,  under  Henry  Lawrence,  had  cleared 
the  way  for  the  civilisation  of  the  Punjab,  and  he 
had  afterwards  risen  to  the  command  of  that  famous 
Guide  Corps,  the  institution  of  which  had  b^en  one 

*  See  ante,  p.  158. 


182  THE  MARCH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857. 

^y-  of  the  most  cherished  and  the  most  successful  projects 
of  his  accomplished  chief.  But,  amidst  a  career  of 
the  brightest  promise,  a  heavy  cloud  had  gathered 
over  him,  and  he  had  rejoined  his  old  regiment  as  a 
subaltern,  chafing  under  a  sense  of  wrong,  and  eager 
to  clear  himself  from  what  he  declared  to  be  un- 
merited imputations  upon  his  character.*  This  gloom 
was  upon  him  when  General  Anson,  discerning  his 
many  fine  qualities,  offered  him  a  place  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  Quartermaster-General,  and  espe- 
cially charged  him  with  the  intelligence  branch  of  its 
duties,  in  prosecution  of  which  he  was  to  raise  a  body 
of  a  hundred  horse  and  fifty  foot.f  This  was  at  Um- 
ballah,  to  which  place  he  had  marched  down  with  his 
regiment  from  Dugshai.  He  was  soon  actively  at  work. 
He  hastened  down  to  Kumaul,  and  there  picking 
up  some  horsemen  of  the  Jheend  Rajah's  Contin- 
gent, rode  into  Meerut,  a  distance  of  seventy-six 
miles,  delivered  his  despatches,  took  a  bath,  a  break- 

*  It  would  not  consort  with  the  son's  fraternal  biographer  against 
nature  of  this  work  to  enter  into  an  certain  high  Punjabee  officia^^  in- 
elaborate inquiry  into  the  justice  or  eluding  Sir  Herbert  Edwardes,  who 
injustice  of  the  treatment  to  which  has  gone  to  his  rest  whilst  this 
Lieutenant  Hodson  was  subjected  volume  has  been  Rowing  under  mj 
by  Lord  Dalhousie's  Government,  pen.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that 
It  is  right,  however,  to  state  that  such  men  were  infltienced  by  feelings 
some  misapprehension  appears  to  of  envy,  hatred,  and  all  uncharitable- 
prevail  as  to  the  alleged  offence  on  ness.  Indeed,  Mr.  Hodson  in  no 
account  of  which  the  Commandant  small  measure  furnishes  his  own  re- 
of  the  Guides,  who  was  also  a  futation  of  such  charges,  when  he 
Deputy-Commissioner  in  the  Pesha-  says  in  one  sentence  that  his  brother 
wur  district,  was  remanded  to  his  was  disliked  becaused  he  was  a  pro- 
regiment.  He  was  not  removed  from  tdg^  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  and  in 
the  command  of  the  Guides  in  con-  another  that  Sir  Herbert  Edwardes 
sequence  of  any  irregularity  in  his  was  his  chief  opponent.  Edwardes 
accounts,  but  he  was  removed  alto-  was  the  last  man  in  India  to  be  pre- 
gether  from  the  Punjab  on  account  judiced  against  a  favourite  of  Henry 
of  his  treatment  of  an  influential  Lawrence. — See  a  further  note  in 
Eusofzye  chief.  It  was  the  Court  of  the  Appendix. 
Directors  that  decreed  him  to  be  t  'Ihis  order  was  subsequently 
unfit  to  hold  any  office  of  trust.  And  extended  to  the  raising  of  "  an 
I  must  protest  strongly  against  the  entire  new  regiment  of  Irregular 
charges  Drought  by  Lieuteaant  Sod-  Horse." 


THE  MABCH  FROM  MEERUT.  183 

fast,  and  a  little  sleep,  and  then  rode  back  with  papers      1857. 
for  the  Commander-in-Chief.     Meanwhile,  the  bulk     ^»y27. 
of  the  Meerut  Brigade  was  in  the  bustle  of  preparation 
for  an  advance,  under  Wilson,  to  join  the  column 
which  was  moving  down  from  the  hills  to  the  attack 
of  Delhi.     Many  then,  who  had  chafed  under  the 
restraints  of  the  past  fortnight,  took  fresh  heart,  and 
panted  with  the  excitement  of  coming  action.     In 
high  spirits,  the  troops  marched  out  of  cantonments 
on   the  night  of  the   27th  of  May.    The  column 
consisted  of  two  squadrons  of  the  Carabineers ;   a 
wing  of  the  Sixtieth  Rifles ;    Scott's  light  field-bat- 
tery ;  Tombs's  troop  of  Horse  Artillery ;  two  eighteen- 
pounder  guns,  all  manned  by  Europeans ;  with  some 
Native    Sappers    and    Irregular  Horse.      Brigadier 
Archdale  Wilson   commanded  the  force,   and  Mr. 
Hervey   Greathed  accompanied  it   as  civil  officer. 
And  with  them  rode,  at  the  head  of  an  improvised 
body  of  Horse,  Jan  Fishan  Khan,  the  Afghan  chief, 
who,  unlike  most  of  his  countrymen,  thought  that  he 
was  bound  to  do  something  in  return  for  the  British 
pension,  which  supported  him  and  his  house.* 

The  marches  of  the  two  first  days  were  uneventful.     May  30. 
No  enemy  appeared,  and  Greathed  believed  that  the  The  battles 
rebel  force  would  not  attempt  to  give  us  battle  ex-  Hindun. 
cept  before  the-  walls  of  Delhi.     But  when,  on  the 
30th   of  May,  Wilson's  force  reached  Ghazee-ood- 
deen  Nuggur,f  near  the  river  Hindun,  there  were 

*  The  feeling  generally,  at  this  by  Baird  Smith  in  the  unpublished 

time,  and  in  some  instances  the  con-  fragment  of  history,  to  which  I  have 

duct,  of  the  Afghan  pensioners,  of  above   referred :    "  This    town,   of 

whom  there  was  quite  a  colony  in  respectable  size,  and  with  some  an- 

Loodhianah,  denoted  the  ingratitude  cient  traces  of  walls,  stands  on  the 

of  the  race.     See  Mr.  iUcketts's  left  bank  of  the  Hindun,  about  a  mile 

interesting     Loodhianah     Report,  from  that  river.    A  long  causeway 

"  Papers  relating  to  the  Mutiny  in  carries  the  Grand  Trunk  &oad  across 

the  Punjab,  1857."  the  broad  valley,  within  which  the 

f  The  position  is  thus  described  stream,  shrunk  auring  the  scorcliing 


184  THE  MABCH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857.  signs  of  a  coming  struggle.  Flushed  with  Success, 
May  30'  and  confident  in  their  strength,  the  mutineers  had 
left  their  stronghold,  and  had  come  on  to  give  battle 
to  the  Meerut  Brigade  before  its  junction  with  the 
force  from  Umballah.  They  had  planted  some  heavy 
guns  on  a  ridge  to  the  right  of  their  position,  and 
from  this  point  they  opened  fire  upon  our  people. 
Then  the  eighteen-pounders,  under  Light,  and  Scott's 
field  battery,  made  vigorous  answer,  and  under  their 
cover  the  British  Riflemen  advanced,  and  moving 
along  the  causeway,  came  to  close  quarters  with  the 
enemy.  For  some  time  a  stubborn  conflict  was  main- 
tained ;  but  our  Horse  Artillery,  under  Henry  Tombs, 
supported  by  the  Carabineers,  dashed  to  the  right, 
crossed  the  Hindun,  making  light  of  its  rugged  bank 
and  dangerous  bed,  and  successfully  turned  the  left 
flank  of  the  enemy.  Under  the  galling  fire  then 
poured  in  upon  them  the  mutineers  reeled  and  stag- 
gered, and  presently  broke.  Some  took  refuge  in  a 
viDage,  whence  they  were  driven  by  our  Riflemen, 
and  soon  the  whole  body  of  the  enemy  were  in  igno- 
minious flight  towards  the  walls  of  Delhi.  Five  of 
their  guns  fell  into  our  hands,  and  they  left  many  of 
their  fighting  men  behind  them.  Our  own  loss  would 
have  been  small,  but  for  the  explosion  of  an  ammu- 
nition-waggon ;  not  by  an  accident  of  warfare,  but  by 
an  act  of  resolute  and  sacrificial  courage  on  the  part 
of  one  of  the  mutineers.  A  Sepoy  of  the  Eleventh 
Regiment  deliberately  discharged  his  musket  into  the 

heats  of  May  to  a  mere  rivulet,  capable,  if  need  were,  of  some  de- 
wanders  in  a  channel  of  extreme  fence.  Villages,  farnishing  consider- 
tortaosity,  fordable  both  by  infantry  able  means  of  resistance  in  their 
and  artillery,  thoagh,  from  the  pre-  mud-walled  houses  and  narrow  lanes 
valence  of  quicksands,  the  process  is  are  scattered  at  intervals  along  th 
not  altogether  free  from  risk  of  mis-  road,  and  the  ground  in  ridges  o 
hap.   A  suspension  bridge  spans  the  sensible  magnitude  on  both  oank^ 
stream,  and  on  the  right  bank  the  but  especially  on  the  right.'* 
cjiuseway  is  covered  by  a  toll-house, 


I    ■  — ^— ^i^^^^—— ^i— ^—^^W— — IP 


I  THE  BATTLES  OF  THE  HINDUN.  185 

midst  of  the  combustibles  just  as  a  party  of  the  Rifles,  1S57. 
under  Captain  Andrews,  were  gallantly  seizing  the  ^y^^- 
gun  to  which  the  cart  belonged.  The  explosion  cost 
the  man  his  life;  but  Andrews  and  some  of  his 
followers  were  killed  by  it,  and  others  were  carried 
wounded  from  the  scene.*  It  taught  us  that  among 
the  mutineers  were  some  brave  and  desperate  men, 
who  were  ready  to  court  instant  death  for  the  sake  of 
the  national  cause.  Many  acts  of  heroism  of  this 
kind  brighten  up  the  history  of  the  war,  and  many 
more  were,  doubtless,  performed,  of  which  History 
has  no  record. 

The  mutineers  fled  in  hot  haste  to  Delhi,  where  May  81. 
they  were  reviled  for  their  disgraceful  failure,  and 
sent  back  reinforced,  to  try  whether  Fortune  would 
help  them  on  another  day.  Stimulated  by  promises 
of  large  rewards  to  achieve  a  great  success  in  honour 
of  the  restored  monarchy,  they  again  marched  to  the 
Hindun.  That  day  was  our  Whit-Sunday.  There 
was  no  Church  parade.  But  the  morning  was 
ushered  in  by  the  most  solemn  and  beautiful  of  all 
our  Church  services — ^that  of  the  Burial  of  the  Dead. 
There  was  genuine  sorrow  for  those  who  had  fallen 
as  they  were  laid  in  unconsecrated  ground,  "  a  babool 
tree  and  a  milestone  marking  the  spot."t  Little  space 
was  then  left  for  mournful  reflections.  It  was  soon 
known  that  the  Sepoys  were  returning  to  the  attack. 
About  noon  our  bugles  sounded  the  alarm.  The 
enemy  had  taken  up  a  position  on  the  ridge  to  the 
right  of  the  Hindun,  about  a  mile  from  our  advanced 

*  *'  The  officers  that  night  drank  snre,  from  his  gallantry  and  other 

in  solemn  silence  to  the  memory  of  estimable  qualities,  that  the  memory 

the  brave  dei)arted ;    and  from  the  of  poor  Andrews  will  be  Ions?  and 

manner  in  which  the  toast  was  pro-  fondly   cherished    by    them." — The 

posed  by  Dr.  Innes,  the  surgeon  of  Chaplain's  (Mr,  Rotiott's)  Narrative, 

the  regiment,  and  received  by  every  f  Chaplain's  Narrative, 
officer  and  member  of  the  mess,  I  am 


186  THE  MARCH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857.  posts  on  the  bridge.  Pushing  forward  his  guns,  he 
May  31.  opened  a  heavy  fire  upon  Wilson's  force.  This  was  a 
signal  for  our  advance.  The  Artillery  were  sent  for- 
ward to  reply  to  the  enemy's  fire — the  Eifles,  with 
two  of  Scott's  guns,  occupying  the  head  of  the  bridge. 
The  battle,  which  then  raged  for  some  two  hours,  was 
almost  wholly  an  Artillery  fight.*  But  Cavalry  and 
Infantry  were  exposed  both  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy, 
and  to  the  more  irresistible  assaults  of  the  sun.  It 
was  the  last  day  of  May,  one  of  the  hottest  days  of 
the  year.  The  fiery  blasts  of  the  summer  were  aggra- 
vated by  the  heat  thrown  from  the  smouldering 
embers  of  the  burnt  villages.  The  thirst  of  our 
people  was  intolerable.  Some  were  smitten  down  by 
sun-stroke;  others  feU  exhausted  by  the  way;  and 
there  is  a  suspicion  that  some  were  destroyed  by 
water  poisoned  by  the  enemy.f  But,  in  spite  of  all 
these  depressing  circumstances,  Wilson's  troops  drove 
the  enemy  from  their  position.  When  the  fire  of  the 
mutineers  had  somewhat  slackened,  the  Brigadier 
ordered  a  general  advance  of  his  force,  and  the  Sepoys 
recoiled  before  it.  But  although  they  felt  that  they 
could  not  hold  their  ground  and  continue  the  battle, 
they  did  not  fly,  shattered  and  broken,  as  on  the  pre- 
ceding day.  Having  discharged  into  our  advancing 
columns  a  tremendous  shower  of  grape-shot,  they 
limbered  up  their  guns  before  the  smoke  had  dis- 
persed, and  fell  back  in  orderly  array.     Exhausted 

♦"Theconduct  of  Tombs's  troop  Horse  Artillery,  was  killed  by  a 

yesterday  was    the    admiration    of  shot  from  one  of  the  enemy's  guns, 

every  one;  for  a  long  time  they  t  This  is  stated  by  Mr.  Kotton, 

were  engaged  on  two  sides  witli  the  wlio  says : "  Some  were  sun-stricken, 

enemy's  artillery.    Liffht  then  got  some  slain,  and  a  few,  whose  cruel 

hi?  two  eigliteen-pounaers  down  to  thirst  induced  them  to  slake  it  with 

the  river-bank  and  drew  off  the  fire  water    provided  by  the  enemy  in 

upon  himself,  and  paid  it  back  with  vessels  containing  strong  corrosive 

interest." — Hervey  Greaihed*9  Let-  poison,  were  thus  deprived  of  life," 
ters.     Lieutenant  Perkins,  of  the 


THE  FIRST  VICT0BIE8.  187 

by  the  cruel  heat  and  suffering  agonies  of  thirst,  the  1857. 
English  soldier  could  not  improve  his  victory  by  ^ay^l. 
giving  chase  to  the  retiring  enemy.  The  mutineers 
carried  off  all  their  guns  and  stores,  and  made  good 
their  retreat  to  Delhi.  But  they  had  been  thus  twice 
beaten  in  fair  fight  by  inferior  numbers,  and  had 
nothing  but  their  disgrace  to  carry  back  with  them 
and  to  lay  at  the  feet  of  their  King. 

In  the  English  camp  there  was  great  rejoicing; 
and,  as  the  news  spread,  all  men  were  gladdened  by 
the  thought  that  the  tide  now  seemed  to  have  turned, 
and  that    retribution,  which,  though  delayed,  was 
certain,  was  now  overtaking  the  enemies  of  our  race 
and  the  murderers  of  our  people.     The  old  stem 
courage  had  been  again  asserted,  and  with  the  old 
results.     Success  had  returned  to  our  ranks ;    and 
there  was  special  cause  for  congratulation  in  the  fact 
that  Wilson,  with  a  portion  only  of  the  old  Meerut 
Brigade,  had  been  the  first  to  inflict  punishment  on 
the  rebels,  and  among  them  upon  some  of  the  very 
men  who  had  prevailed  against  us  so  grievously  a 
little  time  before.     But  the  situation  of  the  little  force 
on  the  Hindun  was  not  without  its  perils.     It  was 
doubtful  whether  our  troops,  exhausted  as  they  were 
by  the  work  that  they  had  done  under  that  fiery  sky, 
could  successfully  sustain  another  attack,  if,  as  was 
probable,  the  enemy  should  come   out  again  from 
Delhi,  and  in  increased  numbers.     But  the  month  of 
June  came  in,  bringing  with  it  no  fresh  assaults,  but    June  1. 
a  welcome  reinforcement*    The  Goorkah  regiment, 
nearly  five  hundred  strong,  having  moved  up  from 
Bolundshuhur,  marched  into  camp,  under  its  gallant 
Commandant,  Major  Charles  Reid.  At  first  they  were 
taken  for  a  body  of  the  enemy  marching  upon  our 
rear.     But  no  sooner  were  they  identified  than  the 


188  THE  MABGH  UPON  DELHI. 

1867.      British  troops  turned  out  and  welcomed  them  with 
Jmw.      i^g^  cheers.* 

Movements  MeanTi^hile  the  Delhi  Field  Force,  under  Barnard, 
forc^"^^^'^  had  marched  down  to  Alipore,  which  lies  at  a  dis- 
tance of  twelve  miles  from  Delhi.  It  arrived  there 
on  the  5th  of  June,  and  was  halted  until  the  Meerut 
troops  could  come  up  from  the  Hindun.  There  had 
been  some  want  of  understanding  between  the  com- 
manders of  the  two  forces  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
operations  and  the  point  of  junction.  It  had  been 
thought,  at  one  time,  that  it  would  be  strategically 
expedient  to  move  upon  Delhi  from  both  banks  of 
the  Jumna;  and  after  the  battles  of  the  Hindun, 
Wilson's  force  had  halted  for  orders  from  the  chief. 
Those  orders  were  received  on  the  4th  of  June.  That 
evening  Wilson  commenced  his  march,  and  soon  after 
midnight  on  the  morning  of  the  6th  he  crossed  the 
Jumna  at  Baghput.  The  delay  was  a  source  of  bitter- 
ness to  the  Umballah  troops,  who  were  furiously  eager 
to  fall  upon  the  enemy.  Fresh  tidings  of  mutiny  and 
murder  had  reached  them,  and  the  blood  of  officers 
and  men  alike  was  at  fever  heat.  The  impatience, 
however,  was  but  short-lived.  Wilson  was  now  close 
at  hand.  And  already  the  waiting  was  bearing  good 
fruit.  On  the  6th  the  siege-train  arrived. 
Arrival  of  Orders  for  the  equipment  of  the  train  had  been 

siege-train.  received  on  the  17th  of  May.  On  the  morning  of  the 
24th,  the  gates  of  the  Fort  were  opened.  The  guns 
and  waggons  and  the  labouring  buUocks  were  all 
ready.    The  Sepoys  of  the  Third  Regiment  at  Phil- 

*  "  The  whole  foroe  turned  ont  may  hare  to  tium  ont.*    Exhausted 

and  cheered  the  rmment  into  camp ;  as  my  men  were,  I  certainly  was  not 

but  my  poor  little  fellows  were  so  anxious  for  a  fight,  and  was  thankful 

dead  beat  they  could  not  return  the  the  mutineers  left  us  alone  that  day." 

hearty  cheers  with  which  they  were  ^Unpublished  Memoir  by  Major  C. 

welcomed.    '  Get  something  to  eat  Heid. 
sharp/  said  the  Brigadier,  'as  we 


THE  SIEGE-TRAIN. 


189 


lour  had  volunteered  to  escort  the  train  ;*  and,  with 
some  troopers  of  the  Ninth  Irregular  Cavalry,  they 
now  marched  upon  the  Sutlej.  The  bridge  was  still 
passable,  'and  the  train  crossed  over.  Two  hours 
afterwards  the  boats,  which  spanned  the  river,  had 
been  swept  away  by  the  flooding  waters.  But, 
although  the  Sepoys  of  the  Third  Regiment,  who  had 
then  the  game  in  their  hands,  had  suffered  the  train 
to  cross  the  bridge,  it  was  known  that  they  were 
mutinous  to  the  core.t  So  when  the  whole  line  of 
ordnance  was  secure  on  the  other  bank  of  the  river, 
it  was  quietly  explained  to  the  Sepoys  of  the  Third 
that  their  services  were  no  longer  needed.  A  Con- 
tingent of  Horse  and  Foot  had  been  furnished  by  the 
Rajah  of  Nabha,  and  it  was  now  ready  to  relieve  the 
men  of  the  suspected  regiments.  Under  this  guard 
of  auxiliaries,  with  which  the  detachment  of  Irre- 
gular Cavalry  moved  forward,  the  train  laboured  on 
to  Umballah,  which  it  reached  on  the  27th  of  May. 
But  a  new  difficulty  awaited  it  there ;  for,  although 
the  gmis  had  arrived,  they  were  useless  for  want  of 
gunners.  A  weak  company  was,  therefore,  despatched 
from  Ferozepore  by  bullock-train,  to  be  afterwards 
strengthened  by  recruits  from  Meerut.  Meanwhile, 
the  position  of  the  train  was  not  without  its  sur- 
rounding dangers.  The  Nusseree  Battalion,  which 
had  been  guilty  of  such  shameful  defection  in  the 


1857. 
June. 


*The  tnin  oontiated  of  eight 
eighteen-ponnden,  four  eight-inch 
howitzers,  twelve  fiye-ana-a-half- 
inch  mortarsy  and  four  eight-inch 
mortars  {Norman),  The  officer  in 
charge  of  the  tram  was  Lieutenant 
Grimtb.  Major  Kaye  commanded 
the  whole  detachment. 

t  This  is  an  instance  of  what  has 
been  called  the  "  inexplicable  incon- 
sistency" of  the   Sepoys,  who  so 


often  allowed  theii  best  opportunities 
to  escape;  but  Mr.  Rioketts  suf- 
ficiently affords  a  dae  to  it  when,  in 
his  interesting  Loodhianah  Eeport, 
he  says  that  they  were  pledged  in 
concert  with  otners  to  a  certain 
course  of  procedure,  and  that  no 
temptation  of  immediate  advantage 
could  induce  them  to  diverge  from 
the  programme.  The  later  history  of 
this  corps  will  be  found  in  Book  Yl. 


190  THE  MAECH  UPON  DELHI. 

3857.       hour  of  our  need,  had  come  into  Umballah,  andthe 

June.       Sepoys  of  the  Fifth  were  striving  to  induce  the  Goor- 

kahs  to  combine  with  them  to  seize  the  guns  and  to 

march  to  Delhi.*    The  plot,  however,  was  frustrated, 

and  the  siege-train  passed  on  safely  to  Head- Quarters,  t 

T  ^^^  '^'  11.      On  the  7th  of  June,  amidst  hearty  welcomings 

Junction  with  i     •  t       -ir  • 

theMeerut     and  warm  congratulations,   the  Meerut  contingent 
force,  inarched  gaily  into  Alipore.     At  one  o'clock  on  the 

following  morning  they  commenced  the  march  on 
Delhi,  thirsting  for  the  battle.  Their  scouts  had 
told  them  that  the  enemy  were  strongly  posted  in 
front  of  the  approaches  to  the  city,  resolute  to  contest 
the  progress  of  the  British  Force.  Never  since  the 
first  English  soldier  loaded  his  piece  or  unsheathed 
his  sword  to  smite  the  dark-faced,  white-turbaned 
Moor  or  Gentoo — ^not  even  when  Olive's  army,  a  cen- 
tury before,  landed  in  Bengal  to  inflict  retribution  on 
the  perpetrators  of  the  great  crime  of  the  Black  Hole 
— ^had  our  people  moved  forward  under  the  impulse 
of  such  an  eager,  burning  desire  to  be  amongst  the 
murderers  of  their  race,  as  on  that  early  June  morn- 
ing, when  Barnard's  fighting  men  knew  that  the  muti- 
neers of  Meerut  and  Delhi  were  within  their  reach. 
It  had  been  ascertained  that  the  enemy  were  strongly 
posted.  Infantry  and  Cavalry,  with  thirty  guns,  about 
six  miles  from  Delhi,  at  a  place  called  Budlee-ka- 
Serai,  where  groups  of  old  houses  and  walled  gardens, 
once  the  country  residences  of  some  of  the  nobles  of  the 
Imperial  Court,  supplied  positions  capable  of  power- 
ful resistance,  t  On  this  place  marched  Barnard,  on 
the  early  morning  of  the  8th  of  June,  along  the 


*  The\,!Fifth  was  afterwards  dis-  a  detachment  of  Fusiliers  was  sent 

armed  in  the  presence  of  two  com-  to  join  the  escort.    The  artillerymen 

panies  of  the  Fusiliers.  from  Ferozepore  joined  at  Kurnaul. 

t  On  a  requisitionfrom  Major  Kaye  X  Baird  Smith. 


BATTL£  of  BU1)L££-KA-S£tua.  191 

Grand  Trunk  Road,  with  the  river  on  one  side  and      1857. 
the  Western    Jumna    Canal    on   the   other,   whilst     •^^®- 
Brigadier   Hope   Grant,  with    Cavalry   and    Horse 
Artillery,  crossed  the  canal  and  moved  down  along 
its  right  bank  with  the  object  of  taking  the  enemy 
in  flank. 

Day  was  just  dawning  when  Barnard's  colunms  J"»e  8. 
came  within  fire  of  the  Sepoy's  guns.  The  disposi-  BudleeJta- 
tions  which  he  had  made  for  the  attack  were  excel-  Serai. 
lent,  and  they  were  not  frustrated  by  any  discovery 
of  a  mistaken  estimate  of  the  enemy's  movements. 
He  found  the  rebels  where  he  expected  to  find  them. 
Whilst  Showers,  with  the  First  Brigade,  was  to 
attack  upon  the  right.  Graves,  with  the  Second,  was 
to  lead  his  men  against  the  enemy's  position  on  the 
left  ;  and  Grant,  on  the  first  sound  of  the  guns,  was 
to  recross  the  canal  by  the  bridge  in  the  rear  of  the 
rebel  camp,  and  to  take  them  in  flank.  The  strength 
of  the  enemy  was  known  to  be  in  their  Artillery. 
Four  heavy  guns.  Money's  Horse  Artillery  troop,  and 
part  of  Scott's  Battery,  were  sent  in  advance  to 
silence  their  fire,  but  the  guns  of  the  mutineers  were 
of  heavier  metal  than  our  own,  and  it  was  not  easy 
to  make  an  impression  on  their  batteries.  For  some 
time  the  Artillery  had  the  fighting  to  themselves.* 
Officers  and  men  were  dropping  at  their  guns,  and 
for  a  little  space  it  seemed  doubtful  whether  they 
could  hold  their  own.  But  the  British  Infantry 
now  deployed  into  line ;  and  the  inspiring  mandate 
to  charge  the  guns  went  forth  to  the  Seventy-fifth. 
Then  Herbert  led  out  his  noble  regiment  with  a 
ringing  cheer,  right  up  to  the  enemy's  batteries,  and 

*  "Light,  Kaye,  and  Fagan,  with  fantry  came  up  and  got  into  line.*' — 
four  heayy  guns,  bore  the  brunt  for  Hervey  Oreathed^a  Letiers.^^^&ioT 
some  time,  until  the  brigade  of  in«    Kaye  was  in  command. 


192  THE  IfABCH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857.  the  Second  Europeans  followed  in  support.  Nothing 
Junes,  could  resist  the  impetuous  rush  of  these  English 
soldiers ;  but  the  rebels  stood  well  to  their  guns,  and 
showed  that  there  was  some  resolute  spirits  beneath 
those  dusky  skins,  and  that  the  lessons  they  had 
learnt  in  our  camps  and  cantonments  had  not  been 
thrown  away.  Many  fought  with  the  courage  of 
desperation,  and  stood  to  be  bayoneted  at  their  guns. 
It  was  not  a  time  for  mercy ;  if  it  was  sought,  it  was 
sternly  refused. 

Meanwhile  the  Second  Brigade,  under  Graves, 
charged  the  enemy's  position  on  the  left,  and,  about 
the  same  time,  Hope  Grant,  whose  march  had  been 
delayed  by  the  state  of  the  roads  along  which  he 
had  advanced,  appeared  in  the  enemy's  rear  with  his 
Cavalry  and  Horse  Artillery.  Thus  the  programme 
of  the  preceding  day  was  acted  out  in  all  its  parts, 
and  the  enemy,  attacked  on  every  side,  had  nothing 
left  to  them  but  retreat.  At  first,  they  seem  to  have 
fallen  .back  in  orderly  array ;  but  the  Lancers,  under 
Yule,  fell  upon  them  so  fiercely,  and  the  Horse  Artil- 
lery guns,  though  impeded  by  the  watercourses, 
opened  so  destructive  a  fire  upon  them,  that  they 
were  soon  in  panic  flight,  shattered  and  hopeless. 
All  the  guns,  and  stores,  and  baggage  which  they 
had  brought  out  from  the  great  city  were  aban- 
doned ;  and  so  our  first  fight  before  Delhi  ended  in 
an  assuring  victory. 

But  the  day's  work  was  not  done.     Barnard  saw 

clearly  that  it  was  a  great  thing  to  make  an  impres- 
sion on  the  enemy,  not  easily  to  be  effiiced,  on  the 

first  day  of  the  appearance  of  the  Army  of  Retribu- 
tion before  the  walls  of  Delhi.  The  sun  had  risen, 
and  the  fury  of  the  June  heats  was  at  its  height.  Our 
men  had  marched  through  the  night,  they  had  fought 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  ENEMY.  193 

a  battle,  they  were  worn  and  weary,  and  now  the  1857. 
fierce  sun  was  upon  them,  and  there  had  been  but  ^^^  ^• 
little  time  to  snatch  any  sustaining  food,  or  to  abate 
the  thirst  of  the  Indian  summer ;  but  the  strong  spirit 
within  them  overbore  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  and 
there  was  no  demand  to  be  made  upon  them  by  their 
leader  to  which  they  were  not  prepared  to  respond. 
Barnard's  soldierly  experiences  had  taught  him  that 
even  a  force  so  broken  as  the  advance  of  the  enemy 
at  Budlee-ka- Serai,  might  rally,  and  that  they  might 
have  a  strong  reserve.  He  determined,  therefore,  to 
push  onward,  and  not  to  slacken  until  he  had  swept 
the  enemy  back  into  Delhi,  and  had  secured  such  a 
position  for  his  force  as  would  be  an  advantageous 
base  for  future  operations.  From  Budlee-ka-Serai 
the  road  diverges  into  two  branches,  the  one  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  Grand  Trunk  leading  to  the  suburb 
of  Subzee-mundee,  and  the  other  leading  to  the  old 
British  Cantonments.  Stretching  in  front  of  these 
two  positions,  and  forming,  as  it  were,  the  base  of 
a  triangle,  of  which  the  two  roads  were  the  sides,  was 
a  long  rocky  ridge  overlooking  the  city.  At  the 
point  of  divergence,  Barnard  separated  his  force,  and 
sending  Wilson  with  one  division  along  the  former 
road,  led  the  other  himself  down  to  the  Ridge.  There 
he  found  the  enemy  posted  in  some  strength  with 
heavy  guns  ;  but  another  dexterous  flank  movement 
turned  their  position,  and,  before  they  could  change 
their  line,  the  Sixtieth  Rifles,  the  Second  Europeans, 
and  Money's  Troop  were  sweeping  along  the  Ridge ; 
and  soon  Wilson,  who  had  fought  his  way  through 
the  Subzee-mundee,  and  driven  the  enemy  from  their 
shelter  there,  appeared  at  the  other  end,  and  the 
rebels  saw  that  all  was  lost.  There  was  nothing  left 
for  them  now  but  to  seek  safety  behind  the  walls  of 
VOL.  u.  o 


194  THE  MARCH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857.  the  city.  From  those  walls  their  comrades,  looking 
June  8.  out  towards  the  scene  of  action,  could  see  the  smoke 
and  flame  which  pronounced  that  the  Sepoys'  Lines, 
in  our  old  cantonments,  were  on  fire.  That  day's 
fighting  had  deprived  them  of  their  shelter  outside 
the  walls,  and  given  us  the  finest  possible  base  for  the 
conduct  of  our  future  operations  against  the  city.* 
S^MU°^  So  the  victory  of  the  8th  of  June  was  complete, 
and  it  remained  for  us  only  to  count  what  we  had 
gained  and  what  we  had  lost  by  that  morning's  fight- 
ing. The  loss  of  the  enemy  is  computed  at  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men  ;  and  they  had  left  in  our  hands 
twenty-six  guns,  with  some  serviceable  ammunition, 
which  we  much  wanted.f  Our  own  loss  was  small, 
considering  the  dashing  character  of  the  work  that 
had  been  done.     Four  officers  and  forty-seven  men 

*  In  these  first  operations,  as  in  all  a  Native  regiment)  doubts  about  us ; 
others,  as  will  subsequently  appear,  but  I  think  they  are  now  satisfied." 
the  Sirmoor  Battalion  did  excellent  It  is  true,  as  stated,  that  the  Sir- 
service.  Major  Reid  thus  describes  moor  Battalion  was  the  only  Native 
their  couduct  on  the  8th :  "  About  regiment  engaged  on  our  side ;  but 
one  o'clock  p.m.  we  reached  the  there  were  other  Native  detach- 
Ridge,  when  I  was  directed  by  ments.  The  Sappers  from  Meerut 
General  Barnard  to  occupy  Hindoo  fought  well,  and  were  commended 
llao's  house,  which  is  withm  twelve  in  Sir  H.  Barnard's  despatch,  as  was 
hundred  yards  of  the  Moree  Bastion,  also  the  Contingent  of  the  Jheend 
Had  just  made  ourselves  comfortable,  Rajah.  And  Jan  Fishan  Khan,  with 
when  the  alarm  was  sounded.  In  his  horsemen,  did  gallant  service, 
ten  minutes  the  mutineers  were  seen  Flushed  with  the  excitement  of  tiie 
coming  up  towards  Hindoo  Rao'e.  battle,  the  Afghan  chief  is  said  to 
house  m  force.  I  went  out  with  my  have  declared  that  another  such  day 
own  regiment  and  two  companies  of  would  make  him  a  Christian. 
Rifles,  and  drove  them  back  into  f  The  statement  in  the  text  is 
the  city.  This,  however,  was  not  given  on  the  authority  of  Sir  H. 
accomplished  till  five  p.m.,  so  that  Barnard's  official  despatch.  But  the 
we  were  under  arms  for  sixteen  number  of  guns  captured  on  the  8th 
hours.  Heat  fearful.  My  little  fellows  of  June  is  set  down  at  thirteen  in 
behaved  splendidly,  and  were  cheered  Major  Norman's  Narrative,  Major 
by  every  European  regiment.  It  Reid's  Extracts  from  Letters  and 
was  the  only  Native  regiment  with  Notes,  and  in  the  "  History  of  the 
the  force,  and  I  may  say  every  eye  Siege  of  Delhi,  by  an  Officer  who 
was  upon  it.  The  General  was  served  there,"  &c.  Norman  has 
anxious  to  see  what  the  Goorkahs  specified  in  detail  the  nature  of  tlie 
could  do,  and  if  we  were  to  be  captured  ordnance,  and  he  is  notable 
trusted.    They  had  (because  it  was  for  his  acooracy. 


THE  ENGLISH  ON  THE  RIDGE.  195 

were  killed  in  the  encounters  of  that  day,  and  a  hun-       1857. 
dred  and  thirty-four  men  were  wounded  or  missing.     J^®  ^» 
Among  those  who  received  their  death-wounds  at 
Budlee-ka-Serai  was  the  chief  of  Sir  Henry  Barnard's 
Staff.      Colonel   Chester,   Adjutant- General    of  the 
Army,  was  shot  down,  almost  at  the  commencement 
of  the  action.   As  he  lay  there,  in  agony,  with  young 
Barnard,  the  General's  son  and  aide-de-camp,  vainly 
endeavouring  to  help  him,  he  asked  the  young  officer 
to  raise  his  head,  so  that  he  might  see  the  wound  that 
was  rending  him ;   and,  having  seen  it,  he  knew  that 
he  was  dying.     Telling  Barnard  that  nothing  could 
be  done  for  him,  he  begged  his  young  friend  to  leave 
him  to  his  fate.     Then  presently  the  spirit  passed 
away  .from  his  body :  and,  at  sunset,  all  that  was  left 
of  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army  was  laid  in  the 
grave.     To  the  Commander  of  the  Delhi  Force  this 
must  have  been  a  heavy  loss,  for  Chester  possessed  all 
the  knowledge  and  experience  which  Barnard  lacked ; 
and  the  Adjutant-General  was  a  brave  soldier  and  a 
man  of  sound  judgment,  and  his  advice,  in  any  diffi- 
cult conjuncture,  would  have  been  wisely  received 
with  respect.*     But  Chester  had  risen  in  the  Depart- 
ment, and  the  time  was  coming  when  departmental 
experience  and  traditionary  knowledge  were  ito  be 
stripped  of  their  splendid  vestments.     And  History, 
without  any  injurious  reflection  upon  his  character, 
may  declare  that  the  incident  was  not  all  evil  that 


*  "Among  the  slain  was  unhappily  lished  Memoir »    Two  other  officers 

Colonel  Charles  Chester,  Adjutant-  of  the  Staff   were  killed,  Captain 

General  of  the  Army,  a  brave  and  C.  W.  Russell  and  Captain  J.  W. 

expeiienced  soldier,  whose  loss  thus  Delamain.    The  fourth  officer  who 

early  in  the  campaign  was  a  grave  lost  his  life  was  Lieutenant  Har- 

and  lamentable  misfortune;  for  his  rison  of  the  Seventy-fifth;  Colonel 

sound  judgment  and  ripe  knowledge  Herbert  of  that  regiment  was  among 

would  have  been  precious  in  council  the  wounded, 
as  in  action." — JSaird  Smith's  unpub- 

o  2 


196  THE  MAECH  UPON  DELHI. 

1857.      in  due  course  brought  Neville  Chamberlain  and  John 

June  8.     Nicholson  down  to  Delhi. 

But  it  is  not  by  lists  of  killed  and  wounded,  or 
returns  of  captured  ordnance,  that  the  value  of  the 
first  victory  before  Delhi  is  to  be  estimated.  It  had 
given  us  an  admirable  base  of  operations — a  com- 
manding military  position — open  in  the  rear  to  the 
lines  along  which  thenceforth  our  reinforcements 
and  supplies,  and  all  that  we  looked  for  to  aid  us  in 
the  coming  struggle,  were  to  be  brought.  And  great 
as  was  this  gain  to  us,  in  a  military  sense,  the  moral 
effect  was  scarcely  less ;  for  behind  this  ridge  lay  our 
^old  cantonments,  from  which  a  month  before  the 
English  had  fled  for  their  lives.  On  the  parade- 
ground  the  Head- Quarters  of  Barnard's  Force  were 
now  encamped,  and  the  familiar  flag  of  the  Feringhees 
was  again  to  be  seen  from  the  houses  of  the  Imperial 
City. 


■  PiH       — lamtm    ij     « 


BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD.  197 


BOOK  v.— PROGRESS  OF  REBELLION  IN  UPPER 

INDIA. 

[Mat— July,  1857.] 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  XORTII-WJSST  PROVINCES— STATE  OP  AFFAIRS  AT  BENARES— STATE  OP 
THE  CITY— THE  OUTBREAK  AT  AZIMGURII — ARRIVAL  OF  GENERAL  NEILL 
— DISARMING  OP  THE  THIRTY-SEVENTH — THE  MUTINY  AT  JAUNPORB — 
AFFAIRS  AT  ALLAHABAD— MUTINY  OP  THE  SIXTH — APPEARANCE  OP 
GENERAL  NEILL — THE  PORT  SECURED — RETRIBUTORY  MEASURES. 

It  has  been  seen  that  whilst  Lord  Canning  was  1^57. 
eagerly  exhorting  the  chiefs  of  the  Army  to  move  ^^^' 
with  all  despatch  upon  Delhi,  never  doubting  that  a 
crushing  blow  would  soon  descend  upon  the  guilty 
city,  he  was  harassed  by  painful  thoughts  of  the  un- 
protected state  of  the  country,  along  the  whole  great 
line  of  the  Ganges  to  Allahabad  and  thence  through 
the  Doab  to  Agra.  There  was  one  English  regi- 
ment at  Dinapore;  there  was  one  English  regiment 
'  at  Agra;  and  besides  these  the  whole  strength  of 
our  fighting  men  consisted  of  a  handful  of  white 
artillerymen  and  a  few  invalided  soldiers  of  the 
Company's  European  Army.  And,  resting  upon  the 
broad  waters  of  the  Ganges,  there  was  the  great 
military  cantonment  of  Cawnpore,  with  a  large 
European  population,  a  number  of  Sepoy  regiments, 
and  few,'  if  any,  white  troops.  To  all  these  unpro- 
tected places  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  and  the 
Jumna,  and  the  more  inland  stations  dependent  upon 


198  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

I857t  them,  the  most  anxious  thoughts  of  the  Governor- 
^^y*  General  were  now  turned,  and  his  most  earnest 
efforts  directed.  If  the  Native  soldiery,  who  were 
thickly  strewn  along  these  lines,  not  only  in  all 
the  military  cantonments,  but  in  all  the  chief  civil 
stations,  guardians  alike  of  the  property  of  our  Go- 
vernment and  the  lives  of  our  people,  had  risen  in 
that  month  of  May,  nothing  short  of  the  miraculous 
interposition  of  Providence  could  have  saved  us  from 
swift  destruction. 

But  in  all  that  defenceless  tract  of  country  over 
which  the  apprehensions  of  the  Governor-General 
were  then  ranging,  and  towards  which  he  was  then 
eagerly  sending  up  reinforcements,  rebellion  was  for 
a  time  in  a  state  of  suspension.  Whether  it  was 
that  a  day  had  been  fixed  for  a  simultaneous  rising 
of  all  the  Sepoy  regiments,  or  whether,  without  any 
such  concerted  ^arrangements,  they  were  waiting  to 
see  what  the  English  would  do  to  avenge  their 
brethren  slaughtered  at  Meerut  and  Delhi,  the  Native 
soldiery  at  the  stations  below  those  places  suffered  day 
after  day  to  pass  without  striking  a  blow.  No  tidings 
of  fresh  disaster  from  the  great  towns,  or  from  the 
military  cantonments  dotting  the  Gangetic  provinces, 
followed  closely  upon  the  news  of  the  capture  of  the 
Imperial  City.  But  everywhere  the  excitement  was 
Spreading,  alike  in  the  Lines  and  the  Bazaars,  and  it 
was  plain  that  many  weeks  would  not  elapse  without 
a  fresh  development  of  trouble,  more  dreadful,  per- 
haps, than  the  first  growth,  of  which  he  already  had 
before  him  the  record. 


Benares,  A  little  more  than  four  hundred  miles  from  Cal- 

cutta, in  the  direction  of  the  north-west,  lies  the  city 


BENARES.  199 

of  Benares.     Situated  on  a  steep  sloping  bank  of      1857. 
the  Ganges,  which  its  buildings  overhang,  it  is  the      ^*y- 
most  picturesque  of  the  river-cities  of  Hindostan.    Its 
countless  temples,  now  beautiful  and  now  grotesque, 
with  the  elaborate  devices  of  sculptors  of  different 
ages  and  different  schools ;  its  spacious  mosques  mth 
their  tall  minarets  grand  against  the  sky  ;*  the  richly 
carved  balconies  of  its  houses;  its  swarming  marts 
and    market-places,   wealthy  with    the   produce   of 
many  countries  and  the  glories  of  its  own  looms ;  its 
noble  ghauts,  or  flights  of  landing-stairs  leading  from 
the  great  thoroughfares  to  the  river-brink,  and  ever 
crowded  with   bathers  and   drawers   of  the  sacred 
water;  the  many-shaped  vessels  moored  against  the 
river-banks,  and  the  stately  stream  flowing  on  for 
ever  between  them,  render  this 'great  Hindu  city, 
even  as  seen  by  the  fleshly  eye,  a  spectacle  of  unsur- 
passed interest.     But  the  interest  deepens  painfully 
in  the  mind  of  the  Christian!  traveller,  who  regards 
this  swarming  city,  with  all  its  slatternly  beauty,  as 
the  favoured  home  of  the  great  Brahminical  super- 
stition.   It  is  a  city  given  up  to  idolatry,  with,  in  the 
estimation  of  millions  of  people,  an  odour  of  sanc- 
tity about  it  which  draws  pilgrims  from  all  parts 
of  India  to  worship  at  its  shrines  or  to  die  at  its 
ghauts.     Modern  learning  might  throw  doubt  upon 
the  traditional  antiquity  of  the  place,  but  could  not 
question  the  veneration  in  which  it  is  held  as  the 
sacred  city  of  the  Hindoos,  the  cherished  residence 
of  the  Pundits  and  the  Priests. 

But  neither  sacerdotal  nor  scholastic  influences  had 
softened  the  manners  or  tempered  the  feelings  of  the 

*  A  recent  writer  states  that  it  is  mosques  in  the  city  of  Benares. — 

computed  that   there  are  fourteen  See  Sherring's  "  Sacred  City  of  the 

hundred  and  fifty-four  temples  and  Hindus*' 
two     hundred     and     seventy- two 


200  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  people  of  Benares.*  There  had  always  been  some- 
^*^-  thing  more  than  the  average  amount  of  discontent 
and  disaffection  among  the  citizens  ;  and  now  in  the 
summer  of  1857  this  was  increased  by  the  high  price 
of  provisions — always  believed  to  be  one  of  the 
curses  of  British  rule.f  And  there  was  another 
source  of  special  danger.  Some  of  the  most  dis- 
reputable members  of  the  Delhi  Family  had  been 
long  resident  at  Benares,  where  they  had  assumed 
all  the  airs  of  the  Imperial  Family,  and  persistently 
endeavoured  in  secret  to  sow  resentment  in  the  city 
against  the  English.  These  wretched  Mogul  Princes, 
it  was  not  doubted,  would  be  well  disposed,  in  such 
a  conjuncture,  to  foment  rebellion  among  the  Sepoys ; 
and  it  was  scarcely  less  probable  that  the  State  pri- 
soners— Sikhs,  Mahrattas,  Maliomedans,  and  others, 
who  had  been  made  to  find  an  asylum  in  Benares, 
would  find  ample  means  of  gratifying  their  love  of 
intrigue  in  dangerous  efforts  against  the  power  that 
Jiad  brought  them  to  the  dust.J 

*  The  population  of  Benares  is  upon  the  poorer  classes ;  the  Poor- 
estimated  at  about  two  hundred  beah  Sepoys,  wlio  liad  been  more  or 
thousand,  of  which  an  unusually  less  restless  since  the  beginning  of 
large  proportion  are  Hindoos.  The  March,  now  publicly  called  on  their 
author  of  the  "Red  Pamphlet"  com-  gods  to  deliver  them  from  the  re- 
putes the  number  at  three  hundred  ringhees,  clubbed  together  to  send 
thousand,  and  Macaulay  rhetorically  messengers  westward  for  intelligence, 
amplifies  it  into  "  half  a  million."  and,  finally,  sent  away  their  Gooroo 
In  May,  1857,  Mr.  Tucker,  the  Com-  (priest),  Test,  as  they  said,  in  the 
missioner,  writing  to  Lord  Canning,  troubles  which  were  coming,  he 
speaks  of  "  the  huge,  bigoted  city  of  should  suffer  any  hurt." — Report  of 
Benares,  with  a  hundred  and  eighty  Mr.  Taylor,  Officiating  Joint-Magis- 
thousand  of  the  worst  population  irate, 

in  the  country."  This  is  probably  %  Major  Charters  Macpherson, 
rather  under  the  number,  but  it  is  who  had  been  Grovernor-Generars 
to  be  remembered  that  there  is  in  Agent  at  Benares,  before  the  ap- 
Benares  always  an  immense  floating  pointment  was  incorporated  with 
population  of  pilgrims  from  other  the  Commissionership,  has  ihus  de- 
provinces,  scribed  some  of  the  leading  features 

t  "  The  city,  always  the  most  tur-  of    the    population    of    Benares : 

bulent  in  India,  was  now  the  more  "  These  attenuated  shadows  of  the 

dangerous  from  the  severity  with  regality  of    Delhi  —  these  strong, 

which  the  high  price  of  corn  pressed  noble,    robust,    and    workman -like 


THE  TROOPS  AT  BENARES.  201 

At  a  distance  of  about  three  miles,  inland,  from  1857. 
the  city  of  Benares,  is  the  suburb  of  Secrole.  There  ^*y- 
was  the  English  military  cantonment — there  were  Cantonment, 
the  Courts  of  Law  and  the  great  Gaol — the  English 
Church  and  the  English  Cemetery — the  Govern- 
ment College — ^the  several  Missionary  Institutes — ^the 
Hospitals  and  Asylums — the  Public  Gardens,  and 
the  private  residences  of  the  European  officers  and 
their  subordinates.  The  military  force  consisted  of 
half  a  company  of  European  Artillery  and  three 
Native  regiments.  These  were  the  Thirty-seventh 
Regiment  of  Native  Infantry,  the  Sikh  Regiment  of 
Loodhianah,  and  the  Thirteenth  Regiment  of  Irregular 
Cavalry — in  all,  some  two  thousand  men,  watched 
by  some  thirty  English  gunners.  The  force  was 
commanded  by  Brigadier  George  Ponsonby.*  He 
was  an  officer  of  the  Native  Cavalry,  who  fifteen 
years  before,  in  the  affair  of  Purwan-durrah— that 
charge,  which  was  no  charge,  and  which  was  at  once 
so  heroic  and  so  dastardly — had  covered  himself  with 
glory.  The  names  of  Eraser  and  Ponsonby,  who 
flung  themselves  almost  alone  upon  the  horsemen  of 
Dost  Mahomed,  will  live  as  long  as  that  great  war  is 
remembered,  and  will  be  enshrined  in  the  calendar 
of  our  English  heroes.  In  spite  of  those  fifteen  years, 
the  incident  was  still  fresh  in  men's  minds  in  India, 
and  there  was  confidence  in  the  thought  that  Pon- 
sonby commanded  at  Benares. 

There  other  good  soldiers  also  were  assembled; 

Sikh  chiefs,  whom  my  heart  takes  ventricle ;  then,  also,  its  Pundit-dom 

in  straight;  then  the  shroffs,  nier-  in  full   strength  yet,  all  this  has 

chant-zeraindars,  and  bankers  of  four  passed  before  me  most  curiously." — 

hundred    years*  standing,   and    in-  Memorials  of  an  Indian  Officer, 
surance  companies  of  Benares— the        *  In  the  early  part  of  May,  Pon- 

Tery  essence,  pride,  and  heart  of  sonby  had    not    taken    command. 

Gangetic  commerce,  or  rather  half-  Colonel  Gordon  then    commanded 

heart,  Mirzapore  holding  the  other  the  station. 


202  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  and  civilians  too,  with  the  best  courage  of  the  soldier 
May.  and  more  than  his  wonted  wisdom.  Mr.  Henry 
at^BenMeT*  Carre  Tucker — one  of  a  family  famous  alike  for 
courage  and  for  capacity — was  Commissioner  of 
Benares.  Mr.  Frederick  Gubbins,  who,  some  time 
before,  as  Magistrate,  had  acquired  by  a  grand  dis- 
play of  energy  in  a  local  crisis  an  immense  ascendancy 
over  the  minds  of  the  people,  was  now  the  Judge. 
Mr.  Lind  was  the  Magistrate  of  Benares.  It  is  im- 
possible to  over-rate  their  exertions.*  As  soon  as  the 
•  fatal  news  arrived  from  Meerut  and  Delhi,  they  saw 
clearly  the  danger  which  beset  them,  and  the  work 
which  lay  before  them,  to  preserve  our  old  supre- 
macy in  such  a  place.  The  crisis  was  one  which  de- 
manded that  the  civil  and  military  authorities  should 
take  counsel  together.  Warned  by  the  wholesale 
butcheries  of  Meerut  and  Delhi,  they  deemed  it  a 
point  of  essential  urgency  that  there  should  be  a 
common  understanding  as  to  the  place  of  resort  for 
women  and  children  and  non-combatants  in  the 
event  of  a  sudden  surprise  or  alarm.  A  council, 
therefore,  was  held ;  but  it  would  seem  that  no  de- 
finite plan  of  action  was  formed.  On  the  following 
day  two  military  officers  called  upon  Mr.  Lind,  -with 
a  proposal  that  greatly  startled  him.  One  was  Captain 
William  Olpherts,  commanding  the  Artillery,  an  officer 
of  good  repute,  brave  as  a  lion,  but  of  uncertain 
temper,  who  had  served  under  Williams  of  Kars,  in 
the  auxiliary  operations  connected  with  the  Crimean 
War.     The  other  was  Captain  Watson,  of  the  En- 

*  "  The    magistrate    and   judge  the  tales    of   spies,  who  reported 

(Messrs.  Lind  and  Gubbins)  exerted  clearly  the  state  of  feeling  m  the 

themselves  with  great  skill  to  main-  city,  and   told  the   minds   of   the 

tain  the  peace  of  the  city;   now  Sepoys    far    more    truly  than  the 

patrolling  with  parties  of  "Sowars,  officers  in  command." — Mr.  Taylor's 

now  persuading  Bunyahs  to  lower  Report. 
the  price  of  corn,  now  listening  to 


PROPOSED  RETREAT  TO  CHCNAR.  203 

gineers.     Their  opinions  were  entitled  to  be  received       1857. 
with  respect ;  but  when  they  suggested  the  propriety  ^' 

of  an  immediate  retreat  to  the  strong  fortress  of 
Chunar  (eighteen  miles  distant  from  Benares),  Mr. 
Lind.  resented  the  proposal,  and  said  that  nothing 
would  induce  him  to  leave  his  post.  When  his  visitors 
had  taken  their  departure,  the  Magistrate  hastened  to 
Mr.  Gubbins,  and,  returning  to  his  own  house  with 
the  Judge,  was  presently  joined  by  Mr.  Tucker  and 
by  Colonel  Gordon,  who  temporarily  commanded  the 
station.  Qlpherts  and  Watson  had  intimated  that 
Gordon  had  approved  the  plan  of  retreat  to  Chunar ; 
but  when  in  answer  to  a  question,  which  he  put  to 
Mr.  Gubbins,  the  civilian  said,  "I  will  go  on  my 
knees  to  you  not  to  leave  Benares !"  Gordon  promptly 
answered,  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  so.  I  was 
persuaded  against  my  will."  Mr.  Tucker  had  never 
doubted  that  it  was  their  duty  to  stand  fast.*  So  it 
was  resolved  that  no  sign  of  anxiety  should  be  made 
manifest,  either  to  the  soldiery  or  to  the  people ;  that 
every  one  should  remain  in  his  own  home,  as  in 
quiet  times,  and  that  there  should  be  no  open  display 
of  arming,  or  any  other  symptom  of  distrust.  But  in 
the  event  of  a  sudden  rising  either  of  the  soldiery 
or  of  the  people,   all  the   Christian   residents  not 

*  Mr.  Taylor,  however,  in  his  sajs  :  "  One  officer  of  high  rank  and 
official  narrative,  says :  *'  Thej  both  much  experience  reconi mended  that 
(Lind  and  Gubbins)  returned  to  we  should  make  a  night  march,  and 
Mr.  Lind's  house  to  discuss  the  best  shut  ourselves  up  in  Chunar.  Colo- 
means  of  operation,  and  were  soon  nel  Gordon,  commanding  the  station, 
joined  bj  Mr.  Tucker,  the  Commis-  Mr.  Gubbins,  the  judge,  and  Mr. 
sioner,  and  Colonel  Gordon.  When  Lind,  the  magistrate,  unanimonslj 
the  former  alluded  to  the  plan  (the  agreed  witli  me  that  to  show  anj 
retreat  to  Chunar)  in  terms  which  open  distrust  in  this  manner  wonld 
seemed  to  imply  he  approTcd  it,  Mr.  cause  a  panic,  the  bazaars  wonld  be 
Lind  condemned  it  most  stron^lv,"  closed,  and  both  tlie  troops  and  the 
&c.  &c.  It  is  possible  that  for  city  would  be  up  against  us.  We, 
"  former"  we  should  read  **  latter."  therefore,  determined  to  face  the 
In  a  letter  before  me  (May  19),  ad-  danger  without  moving  a  muscle." 
dressed  to  Lord  Canning,  Mr.  Tucker 


204  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.      engaged  in  suppressing  it  were  to  seek  refuge  in  the 
^^y-      Mint. 

^  SS^*^  -^^^  ®^  *^^  daily  goings  on  of  social  life  fell  back 
again  into  the  old  groove ;  and  some  even  found,  in 
the  prospect  before  them,  causes  of  increased  hopeful- 
ness and  bountiful  anticipations  of  a  pleasure-laden 
future.  Were  there  not  European  troops  coming  up 
from  Dinapore  and  Calcutta,  and  would  there  not  be 
gay  doings  at  Benares  ?  Those  whose  duty  it  was  to 
know  what  was  going  on  in  the  surrounding  country, 
heard  this  careless  talk  with  something  of  a  shudder, 
but  wisely  refrained  from  saying  anything  to  dash  the 
cheerfulness  of  the  talkers.  "  My  game,"  wrote  the 
Commissioner  to  the  Governor-General,  "  is  to  keep 
people  in  good  spirits ;  so  I  keep  my  bad  news  to  my- 
self, and  circulate  all  the  good."  Meanwhile,  he  and 
his  colleagues  were  doing  all  that  could  be  done,  with- 
out noise  or  excitement,  to  restore  confidence  alike  to 
the  soldiery  and  to  the  townspeople.  It  was  no  small 
thing  to  supply  an  antidote  to  the  famine-prices  which 
were  then  ruling  in  the  markets  of  the  city,  and  this 
might  be  done,  so  flir  at  least  as  the  evil  bore  upon 
the  soldiery,  without  interfering  mth  the  privileges 
of  the  sellers.  So  the  Commissioner  guaranteed,  on 
the  part  of  Government,  that  for  every  rupee  paid  by 
the  Sepoys  for  their  ottah^  a  certain  number  of  pounds, 
as  in  ordinary  times,  should  be  given,  Avhilst  the  Judge 
and  the  Magistrate  went  about  in  the  city  endeavour- 
ing (and  with  good  success)  to  convince  the  chief 
importers  of  grain  that  it  would  be  sound  policy  in 
the  end  to  keep  down  their  prices  to  the  normal 
rates.*     These  things   had  a  good  effect ;   but  the 

*  "I  guaranteed  Ponsonby  yes-  hungry  man.    All  the  bazaars  are 

terday  in  issuing  ottali  to  the  troops  open,  but  very  naturally  the  gjrain- 

at  sixteen  seers,  and  trust  jou  will  sellers  are  appreliensive,  and  raising 

bear  mc  out.     It  is  ill  talking  to  a  their  prices.      Gubbins  and    Lina 


FIRST  SUCCOURS.  205 

Utter  weakness  of  the  European  force  in  Benares  1857. 
stared  these  brave  and  sagacious  men  in  the  face  at  ^^^' 
every  turn,  and  they  felt  that,  under  Providence, 
nothing  could  save  them  until  the  arrival  of  succour, 
except  the  calmness  and  confidence  of  their  demeanour 
in  the  hour  of  danger.  "  So  great  is  my  confidence," 
wrote  the  Commissioner,  "  that  I  have  not  a  single 
weapon,  beyond  a  heavy-handled  riding- whip,  in  my 
possession.  In  dealing  with  a  parcel  of  children, 
which  Sepoys  and  all  Natives  are,  moral  force  goes  a 
great  way."  And  it  should  be  noted  here,  as  an 
encouraging  symptom,  that  about  this  time  all  the 
Sikh  Sirdars,  then  prisoners  at  Benares,  offered  their 
services  to  Mr.  Tucker — and  it  was  believed  in  good 
faith — to  act  as  a  body-guard  to  him,  and  to  protect 
his  house. 

And  the  confidence  thus  felt — which  in  the  breasts  I'irst  arrival 
of  some,  at  least,  was  a  sustaining  trust  in  the  over-  ments. 
flowing  mercy  of  God — was  made  manifest  before    May  24. 
all  the  people  of  Benares,  by  a  practical  illustration 
of  a  remarkable  kind.     On  the  24th  of  May,  a  de- 
tachment of  fourty-four  men  of  the  Eighty-fourth 
Queen's,  who  had  been  pushed  up  by  the  Governor- 
General  by  dawk,  arrived  from  Chinsurah,  near  Cal- 
cutta.    This   reinforcement  would  have  more  than 
doubled  the  reliable  military  strength  on  which  the 
security  of  the  English  at  Benares  was  to  depend. 
From  every  station  along  the  great  line  of  country  ^ 

between  Delhi  and  Calcutta  had  come  the  despairing 

have  been  in  the  city  all  the  morning  wealthy  merchants,  the  price  of  grain 

trying  to  show  the  principal    ini-  *in  the  Bazaar  has  fallen  from  twelve 

porters  the  good  policy  of  Keeping  or  thirteen  seers  to  fifteen  seers  (for 

down  prices  as  much  as  possible." —  the  rupee).    This  is  a  great  triumph 

Mr.  IL  C.  Tucker  to  Lord  Canning,  of  confidence,  and  has  reassured  the 

May  23, 1857.   "  Through  the  exer-  multitude  wonderfully."— ^Atf  Same 

lions  of  Mr.  Qubbins,  assisted  by  to  the  Same,  May  26, 1857. 
Mr.  Lind,  and  his  influence  with  the 


206  BENAHES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  cry,  "  For  God's  sake  send  us  Europeans !"  And  now 
^^  ^^'  that  this  help  had  come  to  the  first  of  the  great  un- 
defended stations — small,  it  is  true,  in  numbers,  but 
still  at  such  a  time  an  immense  relief  and  reinforce- 
ment to  the  little  band  of  Christian  men,  who  were 
trusting  in  God,  and  maintaining  a  bold  front  before 
their  fellows — ^they  bethought  themselves  of  others 
who  were  in  greater  need  than  themselves,  and  suf- 
fered the  welcome  detachment  to  pass  on  to  Ca^vn- 
pore  ;  and  that  too  at  a  time  when  they  seemed  to  be 
in  their  greatest  peril.  For  news  had  just  come  that 
the  Seventeenth  Regiment,  at  Azimgurh,  some  sixty 
miles  distant,  was  on  the  verge,  if  not  in  the  full 
stream,  of  open  mutiny,  and  the  Benares  regiments 
seemed  only  to  be  waiting  for  a  signal  from  their 
comrades  in  the  neighbourhood.  Still  they  thought 
more  of  others  than  of  themselves.  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence had  written  earnestly  to  urge  upon  them  the 
great  need  of  Cawnpore,  where  General  Wheeler  was 
threatened  by  a  dangerous  enemy  ;  and  so  Ponsonby 
and  Tucker,  taking  counsel  together,  determined  to 
let  the  succour  which  had  been  sent  to  them  pass  on 
to  the  relief  of  others.  "  Gordon,"  wrote  the  Com- 
missioner, "  thinks  that  we  have  run  too  great  a  risk 
in  sending  on  at  once  the  parties  of  the  Eighty- 
fourth,  whom  you  sent  on  to  us  by  dawk;  but  Sir 
Henry  LaAvrence  wrote  to  me  so  urgently  to  send 
every  man  who  could  be  spared,  that  Ponsonby  iind 
I  concurred  in  thinking  that  it  was  our  duty  to  run 
some  risk  here,  and  stretch  a  point  for  the  relief  of 
Cawnpore.  Besides,  we  argued  that  nothing  could 
show  better  to  the  suspected  Thirty-seventh  Regi- 
ment than  that  when  we  had  got  Europeans  from 
Calcutta,  and  placed  our  guns  in  safety,  we  did  not 
care  to  detain,  but  sent  them  on  straight  to  join  the 


ItfiLlfiP  to  CAWNPOM.  207 

troops  collecting  above.     This  is  a  real  mark  of  con-      1857. 
fidence  in  the  Sepoys  and  in  ourselves.     Besides,  it  ^^^  25-27. 
will  do  good  at  Allahabad,  and  along  the  road,  to  see 
Europeans  moving  up,  party  after  party,  so  fast.    So 
if  anything  does  happen   to   Benares  before  other 
Europeans  join,  your  lordship  must  excuse  the  de- 
spatch of  these  forty-four  men  as  an  error  of  judg- 
ment on  the  right  side."     Other  Europeans  had  been 
expected  from  Dinapore,  but  scarcely  had  the  men  of 
the  Eighty-fourth  been  pressed  forward,  when  tidings 
came  that  the  detachment  of  the  Tenth  from  Dina- 
pore, which  had  been  proceeding  upwards  to  the 
relief  of  Benares,  had  "  stuck  iFast  at  Chapra."     "  So 
all  hopes  for  the  present,"  it  was  added,  "  from  that 
quarter  are  gone."     "Brave  Brigadier  Ponsonby," 
continued  the  Commissioner,  "  calls  the  failure  of  the 
Dinapore  relief  '  a  slight  contretemps,  somewhat  un- 
pleasant, but  it  cannot  be  helped.'    I  am  glad  we  did 
not  know  of  it  yesterday  evening,  as  it  might  have 
prevented  the  despatch   of  the  forty-four  men  to 
Cawnpore."     But,  next  day,  when  further  reinforce- 
ments  arrived,   they  were  all   hurried  onward  to 
Cawnpore.     "  I  had  another  telegram  this  morning,'' 
wrote  Mr.  Tucker  to  Lord  Canning  on  the  27th, 
"  from  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  begging  me  to  spare  no 
expense  in  hurrying  up  European  aid.     We  send  up 
all  the  men  we  get  from  Calcutta.  Thirty-eight  more 
will  go  this  evening.     We  do  not  keep  one  for  our- 
selves."   Even  the  detachment  of  the  Tenth  from 
Dinapore  was  to  be  sent  on  '^  the  moment  it  arrives." 
"  Your  lordship  may  feel  assured,"  added  the  Com- 
missioner, "  that  nothing  will  be  left  undone  to  insure 
the  quickest  possible  relief  to  Cawnpore.     I  have  let 
Sir  H.  Wheeler  know  what  we  are  doing  to  relieve 
him,  as  Hope  is  half  the  battle." 


508  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  Thus,  already,  was  the  great  national  courage  of 

May.  ^^Q  English  beginning  to  take  many  shapes.  Whilst 
Englishman-  some,  girding  up  their  loins,  were  eager  to  antici- 
hood.  pg^^  danger  and  to  strike  at  once,  smiting  every- 

where, hip  and  thigh,  like  the  grand  remorseless 
heroes  of  the  Old  Testament,  others  were  fain  to 
oppose  to  the  mass  of  rebellion  that  was  surging  up- 
wards to  the  surface,  the  calm  impassive  fortitude  of 
patient  resolution,  born  of  an  abiding  faith  in  God. 
Men  of  different  temperaments  and  different  convic- 
tions then  wrought  or  waited  according  to  the  faith 
that  was  in  them,  with  self-devotion  beyond  all  praise. 
There  was  need  of  strenuous  action  in  those  days  ; 
but  there  was  need  also  of  that  calm  confidence  which 
betrays  no  sign  of  misgiving,  and  the  very  quietude 
of  which  indicates  a  consciousness  of  strength.  Re- 
stricted sympathy  and  narrow  toleration  are  among 
the  manifestations  of  our  national  character,  not  less 
than  the  broad  many-sided  courage  of  which  I  have 
spoken ;  and  therefore  it  has  happened  that  sometimes 
rash  judgments  have  been  passed  by  men  incapable 
of  understanding  other  evidences  of  bravery  than 
those  which  their  own  would  put  forth  in  similar 
crises.*  But  it  may  be  easier  to  go  out  to  battle  with 
death  than  quietly  to  await  its  coming.  The  energy 
that  stimulates  the  one  is  less  rare  than  the  patience 
that  inspires  the  other.  But  this  quiet  courage  must 
be  content  to  wait  for  quiet  times  to  be  estimated  at 
its  true  worth. f 

*  Charles  Dickens,  in  a  notice  of  inclined  to  think  that  this  inability 

the  Life  of  Walter  Savage  Landor,  so  far  from  being  singular,  is  the 

\irhich  I  have  read  since  the  passage  commonest  thing  in  the  world, 
in  the  text  was  written,  says  that        f  How  utterfy  free  the  Commis- 

Landor's  "  animosities  were  chiefly  sioner  was  from  the  least  leaven  of 

referable  to  his  singular  inability  to  official  jealousy,  and  how  ea^er  he 

dissociate   other   people's  ways   of  was  to  do  justice  and  to  get  justice 

thinking  from  his  own."    But  I  am  done  to  his  colleagues,  may  be  seen 


F^Vn^H^mpH 


BEARING  OF  TH£  COMMISSIONER.  209 

Henry  Tucker  was  a  Christian  gentleman,  in  whom  1857. 
the  high  courage  of  our  race  took  this  latter  form.  ^^J- 
He  went  about,  fearless  and  confident,  saying  to  him-  Henry  Carre 
self,  "The  Lord  is  my  rock,  my  fortress,  and  my'^^^'^*^- 
deliverer ;  the  God  of  my  rock,  in  Him  will  I  trust. 
He  is  my  shield  and  the  horn  of  my  salvation ;  my 
high  tower,  and  my  refuge  ;  my  Saviour."*  And  in 
this  abundant,  overflowing  confidence  and  resigna- 
tion he  seemed  to  despise  all  human  means  of  de- 
fence, and  almost  to  regard  defensive  efforts — "se- 
condary means" — as  a  betrayal  of  want  of  faith  in 
the  Almighty.  "  Rather  against  Ponsonby's  and  my 
wish,"  he  wrote  to  the  Governor-General,  "but  by 
the  advice  of  Messrs.  Gubbins  and  Lind,  and  at  the 
entreaty  of  the  European  residents,  arms  and  ammu- 
nition have,  this  day,  been  issued  out  to  all.  who 
required  them.  I  hope  that  it  will  make  their  minds 
easy,  and  that  they  will  rest  quiet.  1  am  so  thank- 
ful we  have  no  place  of  defence  here.  We  have  no- 
where to  run  to,  so  must  stand  firm — and  hitherto 
there  has  not  been  one  particle  of  panic  and  con- 
fusion." And  he  said  that  if  the  enemy  came  he 
would  go  out  to  meet  them  with  a  bible  in  his  hand, 
as  David  had  gone  out  to  meet  Goliath  with  a  pebble 
and  a  sling.  He  rode  out  in  the  most  exposed  places, 
evening  after  evening,  with  his  daughter,  as  in  quiet 
times ;  and  when  some  one  suggested  to  him  that  the 

in  the  following  extracts  from  letters  means  of  securing  great  peace  and 

written  by  him  to  Lord  Canning :  «quiet  in   the  citj.  and  neighbour- 

"  Mr.  F.  Uubbins  is  a  Ter?  superior  hood."    And  again :  **  I  hope  your 

man,  and  will  make  a  model  com-  lordship  will  find  time  for  a  letter 

missioner.    I  feel  very  thankful  to  of  Aeariy  thanks  to  Mr.  F.  Gubbins 

hare  such  a  coadjutor  nere  to  make  for  his  bieautiful  police  arrangements 

up  for  my  own  great  deGcieucies."  and  general  exertions,  in  which  Mr. 

And  in  another  letter  the  Comtnis-  Lind  has  aided  greatly." 

sioner  says :  "  Mr.  Gubbins  is  carry-  *  He  wrote  to  Lord  Canning  that 

ing  on  the  work  in  this  district  most  the    22nd   chapter  of  Samuel  II. 

energetically.    Under  the  blessing  (which  contains  these  words)  had 

of  Froyidence,  he  has    been   the  been "  their  stand-by." 

VOL.  II.  P 


210  BENAR£S  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.       hat  which  he  wore,  being  of  a  peculiar  character, 

May.       would  clearly  indicate  the  Commissioner,  and  afford 

a  mark  for  a  rebel  shot,  he  said  that  he  was  as  safe  in 

one  head-dress  as  in  another,  and  had  no  thought  of 

a  change. 

Language  and  action  of  this  kind  might  be  re- 
garded as  mere  imbecility.  It  is  not  strange,  indeed, 
that  a  man  of  Mr.  Tucker's  character  was  described 
as  an  amiable  enthusiast  quite  unequal  to  the  occa- 
sion; for  his  courage  was  not  of  the  popular  type, 
and  his  character  not  intelligible  to  the  multitude. 
But,  even  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  mere  human 
wisdom,  the  course  which  was  favoured  by  the 
Benares  Commissioner  had  much,  at  that  time,  to  re- 
commend it.  For  as  the  absolute  weakness  of  the 
European  community,  with  only  thirty  effective  sol- 
diers to  defend  them,  forbade  any  successful  resort  to 
arms,  it  was  sound  policy  thus  to  preserve  a  quietude 
of  demeanour,  significant  of  confidence — confidence 
both  in  our  own  security  and  in  the  loyalty  of 
those  who  surrounded  and  who  might  have  crushed 
us  in  an  hour.*  In  continual  communication,  not 
only  with  Lord  Canning  at  Calcutta,  but  with  the 
chiefs  of  all  the  great  stations,  as  Dinapore,  Cawn- 
pore,  Lucknow,  and  Agra,  Henry  Tucker  knew  what 
was  being  done  in  some  quarters,  and  what  was 
needed  in  others,  to  meet  the  difficulties  of  the  crisis. 
He  knew  that  help  was  coming  from  below;  and 
that  if  rebellion  were  smouldering  either  in  the  Lines 
or  in  the  City,  the  longer  it  could  be  left  to  smoulder, 

*  I  do  not  wish  it  to  be  inferred  policy  of  inaction.    It  will  be  seen 

from  this  that  I  think  the  serving  presently  that  Lord  Canning,  though 

out  of  arms  and  ammunition  to  the  ne  admired  the  calm  confidence  of 

European  residents  was  a  mistake ;  Mr.  Tucker,  sided  with  Mr.  Gubbins 

but  I  can  appreciate  Mr.  Tucker's  in  this  matter,  and  I  do  not  doubt 

motives,  and  understand  his  reasons  that  he  was  right, 
for  inscribing  "Thorough"  on  his 


COMMENDATIONS  OF  LORD  CANNING.  211 

before  bursting  into  a  blaze,  the  better.  The  con-  3857 
fiding  policy  was  the  temporising  policy.  Those  who  ^' 
best  knew  the  character  of  the  Bengal  Sepoy,  knew 
that  a  vague  fear,  more  impressive  for  its  very 
vagueness,  was  driving  thousands  into  rebellion ;  and 
that  the  best  way  to  keep  things  quiet  was  to  do 
nothing  to  excite  or  to  alarm.  And  so  the  month  of 
May  wore  on,  and  European  reinforcements  came 
from  below ;  but,  in  spite  of  the  great  temptation  to 
retain  them.  Tucker  and  Ponsonby  had  strength  to 
send  them  onward  to  succour  others.  They  knew 
that  they  were  exposing  themselves  to  the  reproaches 
of  their  comrades ;  but  they  felt  that  they  could 
beay  even  this.  "You  and  I,"  wrote  Ponsonby  to 
the  Commissioner,  "  can  bear  much  in  such  a  cause. 
To  aid  the  distressed  is  not  so  very  wicked." 


The  high  bearing  of  the  chief  officers  at  Benares  Eacourage- 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  Governor-General.  And  2o?d  Can- 
in  the  midst  of  all  his  urgent  duties — ^his  pressing  ning. 
cares  and  anxieties — Lord  Canning  found,  or  made, 
time,  to  write  letters  of  stirring  encouragement  to 
all,  of  whose  good  deeds  he  had  ample  assurance. 
"Whether  the  weU-doer  were  a  General  Officer,  a 
Civil  or  Political  Commissioner,  or  a  young  regi- 
mental subaltern.  Lord  Canning  wrote  to  him,  with 
liis  own  hand,  a  letter  of  cordial  thanks,  full  of  frank 
kindliness,  which  braced  up  the  recipient  to  new 
exertions  and  made  him  ever  love  the  writer.  He 
knew  the  effect  at  such  a  time  of  prompt  recognition 
of  good  service,  and  he  felt  that  such  recognition, 
under  the  hand  of  secretaries,  public  or  private, 
would  lose  half  its  influence  for  good.  He  had  a 
wonderful   grace  of  letter-writing;    and  there  are 

p2 


212  B£NAR£S  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  many  now  who  treasure  up,  as  their  most  cherished 
^^y*  possessions,  the  few  expressive  lines,  warm  from  the 
heart,  in  which,  amidst  dangers  and  difficulties  that 
might  well  have  excused  graver  omissions,  the  Go- 
vernor-General poured  forth  his  gratitude  to  his  sub- 
ordinates for  good  aid  of  any  kind — for  wise  counsel, 
for  fertility  of  resource,  for  active  heroism,  or  for 
patient  courage. 

Thus,  on  the  23rd  of  May,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Tucker : 
"  Although  it  represents  a  most  critical  state  of 
things  at  Benares,  it  satisfies  me  that  the  crisis  is  met 
with  calm  courage,  based  upon  that  which  alone  is 
the  foundation  of  true  courage,  and  that  events  as 
they  arise  will  be  dealt  with  temperately,  firmly,  and 
with  sound  judgment.  You  have,  indeed,  a  precious 
stake  upon  the  issue.  I  sympathise  deeply  with  your 
family.  If  they  need  to  be  assured  of  it,  I  beg  you 
to  tell  them  that  not  an  hour  has  been,  or  will  be, 
lost  in  sending  aid  to  Benares,  and  wherever  else  it 
may  be  most  urgently  required.  .  .  .  Come  what 
may,  do  not  fear  any  aspersions  or  misrepresenta- 
tions. No  one  shall  be  ignorant  how  nobly  the 
authority  of  our  Government,  and  the  honour  and 
dignity  of  Englishmen,  has  been  upheld  at  Benares." 
May  30.  ^d  ^o  Mr.  Gubbins  he  wrote,  a  week  afterwards, 
saying :  "  If  I  had  more  leisure  for  writing  letters,  I 
should  not  have  left  you  so  long  without  a  word  of 
thanks  for  your  admirable  and  most  judicious  exer- 
tions. I  know  from  Mr.  Tucker's  letters  and  mes- 
sages, and  also  from  other  quarters,  how  much  is  due 
to  you  and  to  Mr.  Lind,  and  I  beg  you  both  to 
believe  that  I  am  most  grateful  for  it.  You  have  all 
had  a  difficult  game  to  play — ^if  ever  there  was  one ; 
and  your  success  has  been  hitherto  complete.  I  pray 
that  you  may  carry  it  through.     You  have  done 


THE  MUTINY  AT  AZIMGURH.  213 

really  good  service  in  the  Bazaars,  in  obtaining  a  1857. 
reduction  of  the  price  of  grain."  And  he  then  added,  ^^^  ^^• 
with  reference  to  the  difference  of  opinion  which  had 
prevailed  respecting  the  arming  of  the  Europeans, 
"  I  think  you  quite  right  in  recommending  that  arms 
should  not  be  refused  to  the  Europeans,  who  desired 
them.  Your  self-confidence  has  been  made  quite 
plain  by  the  calm  front  you  have  already  shown  to 
all  danger;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  any  of  the 
advantages  thereby  gained  will  be  sacrificed  by  the 
adoption  of  a  common-sense  precaution,  which  does 
not  necessarily  imply  mistrust  of  those  more  imme- 
diately around  you,  when,  as  is  too  surely  the  case, 
there  is  abundance  of  danger  at  a  little  distance."* 


But  although  outwardly  there  was  fair  promise  of  June,  i857. 
continued  tranquillity,  as  the  month  of  May  came  to  2?Az?inffurli 
a  close  a  crisis  was,  indeed,  approaching.  The  birth 
of  June  was  ushered  in  by  the  familiar  work  of  the 
incendiary.  A  line  of  Sepoys'  huts  recently  vacated 
was  fired ;  and  it  was  found  that  the  wretched  scum 
of  Delhi  royalty  were  in  close  communication  with 
the  incendiaries.  Then  news  came  that  the  Sepoy 
regiment  at  Azimgurh,  sixty  miles  off,  had  revolted. 
This  was  the  Seventeenth  Regiment,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Major  Burroughs.  It  had  been  believed  all 
along  to  be  tainted,  for  it  had  been  brigaded  with  the 
Nineteenth  and  Thirty-fourth,  which  had  been  igno- 
miniously  disbanded,  and  it  was  known  that  some  of 
the  men  of  the  former  were  harboured  in  its  Lines. 
Its  insolence  had  been  manifested  unchecked,  for 
Burroughs  was  not  equal  to  the  occasion ;  and,  al- 
though the  Magistrate,  Home,  had  himself  addressed 

*  MS.  Correspondence  of  liord  Canning. 


2 1 4  BENAR£S  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  the  Sepoys,  and  otherwise  striven  to  keep  them  true 
May— June.  ^  their  salt,  the  evil  influences  had  prevailed,  so  that 
before  the  end  of  the  month  the  men  of  the  Seven- 
teenth were  ripe  for  revolt.*  It  happened  that  just 
at  this  critical  moment  they  scented  the  spoil.  The 
rattle  of  the  rupees  was  heard  in  the  distance.  A 
treasure-escort  was  coming  in  from  Goruckpore,  under 
charge  of  a  company  of  the  Seventeenth  Sepoys  and 
some  horsemen  of  the  Thirteenth  Irregular  Cavalry, 
and  this  was  to  have  been  despatched,  with  the 
surplus  treasure  of  Azimgurh,  to  Benares,  under 
command  of  Lieutenant  Palliser,  who  had  been  sent 
from  the  latter  place  with  a  detachment  of  the 
Thirteenth  to  escort  it.  Five  lakhs  of  rupees  had 
come  from  Goruckpore,  and  two  lakhs  were  added  to 
it  at  Azimgurh;  seventy  thousand  pounds  in  the 
hard  bright  coin  of  the  country,  and  this  was  now  in 
the  grasp  of  the  Sepoys.  The  temptation  was  more 
than  they  could  resist.  So  they  rose  and  loudly 
declared  that  the  treasure  should  not  leave  the 
station.  This  stern  resolution,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  lulled  for  a  time,  and  on  the  evening  of 
June  3.  the  3rd  of  June,  the  treasure-escort  marched  out  from 
Azimgurh.  It  was  felt,  however,  that  the  danger 
had  not  been  escaped,  and  that  at  any  moment  the 
Sepoys  might  break  into  open  rebellion.  The  oflSicers 
and  their  wives  were  dining  at  the  mess  of  the 
Seventeenth,  when  all  their  anxieties  were  confirmed 
by  the  well-known  warning  voice  of  the  guns.  It  was 
plain  that  the  firing  was  in  the  direction  of  the 
parade-ground.  A  beating  of  drums  was  soon  heard ; 
and  no  words  were  needed  to  express  the  assurance  of 

*  On  May  24,  when  some  men  afterwards  violently  assaulted  a  Na- 
impudently  rejected  extra  cartridges  tive  officer,  Major  Barroughs  found 
which  were  served  out  to  thew«  and    himself  too  weak  to  punish. 


^^ 


THE  MUTINY  OF  AZIMGURH.  215 

all  that  the  Sepoys  had  risen.*  There  was  then  a  1857. 
scene  of  confusion,  which  it  is  not  easy  accurately  to  ^^^^^ 
describe.  The  ladies  and  non-combatants  hurried  off 
to  the  Cutcherry,  which  had  been  fortified  by  the 
Magistrate  and  his  colleagues,  and  there  barricaded 
themselves.  Meanwhile  the  Sepoys,  having  shot  their 
Quartermaster  and  their  Quartermaster- Sergeant, t 
but,  Avith  the  strange  inconsistency  of  conduct  which 
distinguished  all  their  movements,  having  spared  and, 
indeed,  protected  the  rest  of  their  officers,  hurried 
after  the  treasure-escort  to  seize  the  coin  on  the  road 
to  Benares.  And  with  them  went  the  myrmidons  of 
the  Police-force,  which  Home  had  made  vast  efforts 
to  strengthen  for  the  protection  of  the  gaol,  but  which 
had  displayed  its  zeal  in  the  hour  of  our  trouble  by  . 
releasing  the  prisoners,  and  giving  up  the  houses  of 
the  English  to  plunder  and  conflagration. 

When  they  swarmed  down  upon  him,  all  armed 
and  accoutred  and  eager  for  the  spoil,  Palliser  found 
that  he  was  helpless.  The  troopers  of  the  Thirteenth 
Irregulars  were  wavering.  They  were  not  so  far 
gone  in  rebellion  as  to  desire  the  death  of  their 
officers,  but  a  strong  national  sympathy  restrained 
theip  from  acting  against  their  countrymen.  The 
officers,  therefore,  were  saved.  But  the  treasure  was 
lost.    The  Sepoys  of  the  SeventeenthJ  carried  it  back 

*   There    were  two    post   gans  not  touch,  but  would  protect  them, 

stationed  at  Azimgurh.    These  the  oqIj  that  there  were  some  of  the 

mutineers  seized  at  the  commence-  mutineers  who  had  sworn  the  death 

ment  of  the  outbreak.    They  were  of  particular  o£Bcera,  and  therefore 

afterwards  taken  into  Onde.  they  begged  the  whole  party  to  take 

f  Lieutenant    Hutchinson    and  to  their  carriages  and  be  off  at  once. 

Quartermaster-Sergeant  Lewis.  'But  how  are  we  to  ^et  our  car- 

I  It  is  stated  on  the  authority  of  riages  P'  said  they, '  seemg  that  they 

Lieutenant  Constable  of  the  Seven-  are  scattered  atl  through  the  sta- 

teenth,  that  the  Sepoys  "behaved  tion.'     'Ah,  we  will  fetch  them,' 

with  romantic  courtesy."     "  They  said  the  Sepoys ;  and  so  they  did, 

formed  a  square  round  their  officers,  and  gave  tne  party  an  escort  for 

and  said  tbit  they  not  onl^  would  ten  miles  out  or  the  station  on  the 


216  BENARES  AND*  ALLAHABAD. 

1857,  to  Azimgurh,  whilst  the  Irregulars  escorted  their 
^^^^*  officers  on  to  Benares.  Meanwhile,  the  European 
residents  of  the  former  place  had  fled  to  Ghazeepore ; 
and  when  the  Sepoys  returned  to  their  old  station, 
they  found  all  European  authority  gone,  and  the 
official  functionaries,  civil  and  military,  swept  out  of 
it  to  a  man.  So,  flushed  with  success,  they  marched 
off  to  Fyzabad  in  military  array,  with  all  the  pomp 
and  panoply  of  war. 


The  crisis  at       When  news  of  these  events  reached  Benares,  crusted 

?uneT  1857.  ^^^^  ^^^  *^®  fi^*  instance  with  some  exaggerations,  it 
was  plain  that  the  hour  was  approaching  when  tran^ 
quillity  could  no  longer  be  maintained.  But  the 
vigorous  activity  of  Gubbins  and  the  calm  composure 
of  Tucker,  holding  rebellion  in  restraint  whikt  suc- 
cours were  far  off,  had  already  saved  Benares ;  for 
now  fresh  reinforcements  were  at  hand,  and  with 
them  one  who  knew  well  how  to  turn  them  to  account. 
After  despatching  his  men,  as  has  been  already  told,* 
by  the  railway  to  Raneegunge,  Colonel  Neill  had  made 
his  way,  by  train  and  horse-dawk,  to  Benares  with  the 
utmost  possible  despatch,  eager  to  avenge  the  blood 
of  his  slaughtered  countrymen.  And  with  this  Ma- 
Arrival  of  dras  Colonel  came  the  first  assertion  of  English  man- 
hood that  had  come  from  the  South  to  the  rescue  of 
our  people  in  the  Gangetic  provinces.  Leading  the 
way  to  future  conquests,  he  came  to  strike  and  to 
destroy.     He  was  one  of  those  who  wisely  thought 

road  to  Ghazeepore.  It  has  been  that  the  Sepoys  of  the  Seventeenth 
remarked  that  to  complete  the  ro-  implored  the  Irregulars  to  slay  their 
mance  they  oagbt  to  have  offered  officers,  '*  appealing  to  religion,  na- 
the  officers  a  month's  pay  out  of  the  tionalitv,  love  of  money,  even  offer- 
treasure  they  were  plundering." —  ing  5000/.  for  each  head."  These 
Annals  of  the  Indian  Rebellion^  Pari  inconsistencies,  however,  were  fast 
IF,  This  is  somewhat  inconsistent  becoming  common  phenomena, 
with  tl^e  statement  {fied  Famphlef)  *  Ante,  p.  132. 


NEILL  AT  BENARES,  217 

from  the  first,  that  to  strike  promptly  and  to  strike  1857. 
vigorously  would  be  to  strike  mercifully ;  and  he  ^^^  *• 
went  to  the  work  before  him  with  a  stern  resolution 
not  to  spare.  ,Both  from  the  North  and  from  the 
South,  at  this  time,  the  first  great  waves  of  the  tide 
of  conquest  were  beginning  to  set  in  towards  the 
centres  of  the  threatened  provinces.  From  one  end 
of  the  line  of  danger,  Canning,  and  from  the  other, 
Lawrence,  was  sending  forth  his  succours — ^neither 
under-estimating  the  magnitude  of  the  peril,  but 
both  confident  of  the  final  result.  It  was  the  work 
of  the  latter,  as  will  be  told  hereafter,  to  rescue 
Delhi,  whilst  the  former  was  straining  every  effort  to 
secure  the  safety  of  Benares,  Allahabad,  Agra,  Cawn- 
pore,  Lucknow,  and  other  lesser  places  dependent 
upon  them.  And  now  assistance  had  really  come  to 
the  first  of  these  places.  A  detachment  of  Madras 
Fusiliers  was  at  Benares,  and  the  men  of  the  Tenth 
Foot,  from  Dinapore,  whose  arrival  had  been  delayed 
by  an  accident,  had  also  made  their  appearance.  It 
was  determined,  therefore,  that  the  Sepoys  should  be 
disarmed. 

But  a  question  then  arose  as  to  the  hour  of  dis-  The  question 
arming.  The  first  idea  was,  that  the  regiment  should  ^  ^""^"^n- 
be  paraded  on  the  following  morning,  and  that  then 
the  several  companies,  after  an  assuring  explanation, 
should  be  called  upon  to  lay  down  their  arms.  But 
there  were  those  in  Benares,  to  whom  the  thought  of 
even  an  hour's  delay  was  an  offence  and  an  abomi- 
nation. When  work  of  this  kind  is  to  be  done,  it 
should  be  done,  they  thought,  promptly.  Stimulated 
by  the  intelligence  from  Azimgurh,  and  suspecting 
what  was  in  store  for  them,  the  Sepoys  might  rise 
before  morning,  and  then  all  our  councils  and  cau- 
tions would  be  vain.    The  chief  Qomnjan^  was  in 


218  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1867.  Ponsonby's  hands,  and  it  was  for  hinti  to  give  the 
June  4.  "vv^ord  for  disarming.  It  appears  that  Colonel  Gordon, 
who  had  ascertained  that  the  more  turbulent  spirits 
of  the  city  were  in  communication  with  the  Sepoys, 
accompanied  the  Brigadier  to  the  house  of  the  Com- 
missioner to  consult  with  him.  Tucker  suggested 
that  they  should  call  on  Gubbins;  so  they  went  to 
the  Judge's  residence,  and  there  they  received  ample 
confirmation  of  the  reports  which  Gordon  had  heard. 
Soon  afterwards  they  met  Colonel  Neill,  who  was 
eager  for  immediate  action  ;*  and,  after  some  dis- 

*  The  circumstances  conducing  only  confirmed  Colonel  Gordon's 
to  this  change  of  plan  have  been  report,  but  gave  much  more  detailed 
variously  stated.  Mr.  Taylor,  in  his  information  as  to  the  secret  proceed- 
official  report,  already  quoted,  says  :  in^^s  of  the  men  of  the  Thirty-seventh 
"  It  appears  that  as  Brigadier  Pon-  Native  Infantry.  (Colonel  I^eillcame 
sonby  was  returning  home  after  the  in  while  Mr.  Gubbins  was  speaking, 
Council,  he  met  Cmonel  Neill,  who  and  soon  afterwards  the  Brigade- 
recommended  him  to  disarm  the  Major,  Captain  Dodgson,  entered  to 
corps  at  once.  Disregarding  all  report  that  the  treasure,  which  was 
other  consideration,  he  hurried  to  on  its  way  from  Azimgurh  to  Benares 
the  parade-ground."  But  in  a  letter  under  a  guard  of  fifty  men  of  the 
before  me,  written  by  Brigadier  Irregular  Cavalry,  had  been  plun- 
Fonsonby  in  July,  that  officer  states  dered  by  the  Seventeenth  Native 
that,  ''On  the  4!th  of  June  Lieute-  Infantry — the  guard  of  the  Irregu- 
nant-Colonel  Gordon,  commanding  lars  haying  connived  at  the  deed, 
the  regiment  of  Loodhianah,  called  It  was  immediately  felt  that  this  cir- 
and  informed  me  that  he  had  reason  cumstance,  occurring  in  such  close 
to  believe  the  men  of  the  Thirty-  proximity  to  Benares,  rendered  the 
seventh  Native  Infantry  were  enter-  adoption  at  once  of  some  strong 
ing  into  a  conspiracy  with  some  of  measures  imperative,  and  Lieutenant- 
the  bad  characters  of  the  city,  in  Colonel  Gordon  proposed  the  dis- 
view  to  the  subversion  of  the  British  arming  of  the  Thirty-seventh  Native 
power  in  Benares.  After  some  con-  Infantry,  to  which  I  acceded.  There 
versation  on  the  subject,  in  which  was  some  discussion  as  to  wheUier 
I  ascertained  from  the  Lieutenant-  this  should  be  attempted  at  once,  or 
Colonel  that  he  considered  that  he  at  ten  a.h.  on  the  following  day. 
could  rely  on  the  fidelity  of  his  own  Mr.  Gubbins  having  expressed  his 
regiment,  we  agreed  to  go  together  opinion  that  emissaries  from  the 
to  the  Commissioner,  Mr.  Tucker,  Seventeenth  Native  Infantry  would 
and  to  acquaint  him  with  what  had  soon  be  in  Benares,  it  was  settled 
been  communicated.  We  proceeded  to  disarm  tlie  Thirty-seventh  at  five 
to  Mr.  Tucker,  and  on  Droachine  o'clock,  and  it  being  now  past  four, 
the  subject  of  our  visit,  he  proposed  it  was  also  arranged  to  keep  the 
that  we  should  go  to  Mr.  F.  Gubbins,  measure  as  quiet  as  possible  in  order 
who  lived  close  at  band,  and  we  did  that  the  regiment  might  not  be  on 
so.  Mr.  Gubbins,  it  appeared,  had  its  guard."  Nothing  can  be  more 
heard  from  his  spies  that  which  not  distinct  than  tbis^     But  Colonel 


THE  DISARMING  PAR'ADE,  219 

cussion,  the  Brigadier  consented  to  hold  a  parade  at      1857. 
five  o'clock,  and  at  once  to  proceed  to  the  work  of    ^^^  *• 
disarmament. 

Then  Ponsonby  and  Gordon  went  together  to  the 
house  of  the  latter,  where  they  found  or  were  joined 
by  Major  Barrett  of  the  Thirty-seventh.  The  Sepoy 
officer,  after  the  manner  of  his  kind,  with  that  fond 
and  affectionate  confidence  in  his  men,  which  was 
luring  so  many  to  destruction,  solemnly  protested 
against  the  measure,  as  one  which  would  break  their 
hearts.  To  this  Ponsonby  replied,  that  what  he  had 
learnt  from  Mr.  Gubbins  had  left  him  no  alternative, 
and  that,  therefore,  it  was  Barrett's  duty  to  warn  the 
officers  to  be  ready  for  the  five  o'clock  parade.  The 
Brigadier  had  ordered  his  horse  to  be  brought  to 
Gordon's  house,  and  now  the  two  mounted  and  rode 
to  the  parade-ground,  to  plan  the  best  disposition  of 
the  troops.  The  horse  which  Ponsonby  rode  had  not 
been  ridden  for  a  month.     It  was  fresh  and  restive, 

Ncill,  with  equal  distinctness,  de-  seventh  to  be  disarmed  ...  the  Irre- 
clares  that  Ponsonby  and  Gordon  galars  and  Sikhs  said  to  be  staunch 
cdled  npon  him,  and  that  he  (Neill)  to  act  with  us."  We  have,  there- 
recommended  the  afternoon  parade,  fore,  before  us  three  conflicting 
In  his  official  despatch  he  sa^ :  statements.  Mr.  Taylor  says  that 
"  Brigadier  Ponsonby  consulted  with  Ponsonby  met  Neill  as  the  former 
me  about  taking  the  muskets  from  was  going  home  from  Gubbins's 
the  Tfiirty-seventh,  leaving  them  house.  Ponsonby  says  that  Neill 
tlieir  side-arms.  He  proposed  wait-  came  into  Gubbins's  house,  when  he 
ing  xmtil  the  following  morning  to  (the  Brigadier)  and  Gordon  were 
do  this.  I  urged  its  being  done  at  there.  And  Neill  says  that  the 
once,  to  which  he  agreed,  and  le/i  mv  Brigadier  and  Gk>rdon  visited  him  in 
quariera  to  make  lus  arrangements,  his  own  quarters.  The  matter  is  of 
in  his  private  Journal,  too,  he  re-  little  importance  in  itself;  but  the 
cords  that,  "The  Brigadier  called  discrepancies  cited  afford  an  apt 
OH  me  at  three  p.m.  with  Colonel  illustration  of  the  difficulties  which 
Gordon  of  the  Sikhs,  informing  me  beset  the  path  of  a  conscientious 
of  the  mutiny  of  the  Seventeenth  at  historian.  On  the  whole,  I  am  dis- 
Azimgurh . .  .  very  undecided  ....  posed  to  think  that  Neill,  writing  on 
would  put  off  everything  until  to-  the  day  of  the  events  described,  is 
morrow.  I  speak  out,  and  urse  more  likely  to  be  correct  than  Pon- 
liim  to  act  at  once,  which  he  unwill.  sonby,  writing  a  month  afterwards, 
ingly  agrees  to  ...  the  Europeans  or  Taylor,  collecting  facts  after  the 
to  parade  at  five  p.m.  ...  the  Thirty-  lapse  of  more  than  a  year. 


220  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1867.  and  the  motion  of  the  animal,  aided  by  the  slant  rays 
June  4,  Qf  ^jj^  afternoon  sun,  soon  began  to  affect  him.  En- 
feebled as  he  was  by  previous  illness,  he  becam?, 
in  his  own  words,  "most  anxious  and  uneasy  in 
mind  and  body."  But,  whilst  Gordon  was  drawing 
up  the  Sikh  regiment,  he  rode  to  the  European 
Barracks,  where  he  found  Neill  mustering  the  Eu- 
ropeans, and  Olpherts  getting  ready  his  guns.  The 
necessary  orders  were  given ;  but  the  Brigadier  felt 
that  he  was  no  longer  equal  to  the  responsibility  of 
the  work  that  lay  before  him. 

And,  in  truth,  it  was  difficult  and  dangerous  work 
that  then  lay  before  the  English  commanders.  The 
Native  force  was  some  two  thousand  strong.  The 
Europeans  hardly  mustered  two  hundred  and  fifty.* 
Of  the  temper  of  the  Sepoy  regiment  there  was  no 
doubt.  The  Irregulars  had  been  tried  on  the  road 
from  Azimgurh,  where  they  had  betrayed  the  weak- 
ness of  their  fidelity,  if  they  had  not  manifested 
the  strength  of  their  discontent.!  But  the  Sikh 
regiment  was  believed  to  be  faithful ;  and,  if  it  were 
faithful,  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  result  of  that 
afternoon's  parade.  It  is  said  that,  as  they  were  as- 
sembling for  parade,  they  were  in  high  spirits,  and 
appeared  to  be  eager  to  be  led  against  the  Hindos- 
tanees  of  the  regular  Army.    Not  merely  in  Benares, 

*  The   official   returns   state —  any  desire   to   leave  them.     The 

H.M.'8  Tenth  Regiment,  one  hon-  troopers,  who  receiyed  high  pay  and 

dred  and  fifty  men  and  three  officers ;  found  their  own  horses,  were  &;ene- 

Madras  Fusiliers,   sixty  men   and  rally  men  of  a  better  class,  ana  the 

three  officers ;  Artillery,  thirty  men  position  of  the  Native  officers  was 

and  two  officers.  of  a  higher  and  more  responsible 

t  These  regiments  of  Irregular  character  than  in  the  regular  Army. 
Cavalry  were  differently  constituted  All  these  things  were  at  first  sup- 
from  those  of  the  regular  Sepoy  posed  to  be  favourable  to  the  con- 
Army.  They  had  few  ^  European  tinuance  of  the  fidelity  of  the  Irre- 
officers,  and  those  only  jsicked  men,  gular  Cavalry.  But  it  was  soon 
who  haid  the  greatest  nnde  in  their  found  that  they  were  as  incurably 
several  corps,  and  ^Idom  or  never  tainted  ^s  the  rest. 


THE  DiSAttMING  PA&Al)£«  221 

but  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  was  it  of  the  highest  1867. 
moment  that  the  Sikh  fighting  men  should  be  on  our  ^^^  ^' 
side;  for  it  was  believed  that  the  fame  of  their 
loyalty  would  spread,  on  all  sides,  to  the  confines  of 
our  Empire,  and  that,  throughout  the  Punjab  itself, 
the  renown  of  their  achievements  would  stimulate 
others  to  do  likewise.  But  everywhere  so  great  a 
sensitiveness  thrLQed  through  the  Native  troops  of  all 
nationalities,  that  it  was  always  possible  that  the 
weight  of  a  feather  in  the  balance  might  determine 
the  out-turn  of  events  on  the  side  of  loyalty  or 
rebellion. 

When  the  order  for  disarming  had  gone  forth,  The  disarm- 
Colonel  Spottiswoode  and  his  officers  proceeded  to  the  "^  ^ 
parade-ground  of  the  Thirty-seventh,  turned  out  the 
regiment,  and  ordered  them  to  lodge  their  muskets 
in  the  bells-of-arms.  There  were  about  four  hundred 
men  on  parade,  the  remainder,  with  the  exception 
of  one  company  at  Chunar,  being  on  detached  duty 
in  the  station.  To  Spottiswoode  it  appeared  that  the 
men  were  generally  well-disposed.  There  were  no 
immediate  signs  of  resistance.  First  the  grenadier 
company,  and  then  the  other  companies  up  to  No.  6, 
quietly  lodged  their  arms  in  obedience  to  the  word 
of  command.  At  this  point  a  murmur  arose,  and 
some  of  the  men  were  heard  to  say  that  they  were 
betrayed — ^that  the  Europeans  were  coming  to  shoot 
them  down  when  they  were  disarmed.  Hearing  this, 
Spottiswoode  cried  out  that  it  was  false,  and  appealed 
to  the  Native  officers,  who  replied  that  he  had  always 
been  a  father  to  them.  But  a  panic  was  now  upon  them, 
for  they  saw  the  white  troops  advancing.  By  word 
of  command  from  Ponsonby  the  Europeans  and  the 
guns  were  moving  forward  towards  the  Sepoys'  Lines, 
Opposite  to  the  quarter-guard  of  the  Thirty-seventh 


222  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  the  Brigadier  ordered  the  little  force  under  Colonel 
June  4.  Neill  to  be  wheeled  into  line  and  halted.  He  then 
went  forward  and  spoke  to  the  Sepoys  of  the  guard. 
He  said  that  they  were  required  to  give  up  their 
arms,  and  that  if  they  obeyed  as  good  soldiers,  no 
harm  of  any  kind  would  befall  them.  As  he  spoke  he 
laid  his  hand  assuringly  on  the  shoulder  of  one  of  the 
Sepoys,  who  said  that  they  had  committed  no  fault. 
To  this  Ponsonby  replied  in  Hindostanee :  "  None ; 
but  it  is  necessary  that  you  should  do  as  you  are 
ordered,  as  so  many  of  your  brethren  have  broken 
their  olths  and  murdered  their  officers,  who  never 
injured  them."  Whilst  he  was  still  speaking,  some  of 
the  men  shouted  to  their  comrades  on  the  right  and 
left  ;  a  stray  shot  or  two  was  fired  from  the  second 
company,  and  presently  the  Sepoys  rushed  in  a  body 
to  the  bells-of-arms,  seized  their  muskets,  loaded  and 
fired  upon  both  their  own  officers  and  the  Europeans. 
Going  about  the  work  before  them  in  a  systematic, 
professional  manner,  they  sent  some  picked  men  and 
good  marksmen  to  the  front  as  skirmishers,  who,  kneel- 
ing  down,  whilst  others  handed  loaded  muskets  to 
them,  fired  deliberately  upon  the  Europeans  from  a 
distance  of  eighty  or  a  hundred  yards.  Seven  or  eight 
men  of  the  Tenth  were  shot  down,  and  then  the  rest 
fell  back  in  line  with  the  rear  of  the  guns.  Meanwhile 
the  officers  of  the  Thirty-seventh,  who  had  been  pro- 
videntially delivered  from  the  fire  of  their  men,  were 
seeking  safety  with  the  guns ;  but  Major  Barrett,  who 
had  always  protested  against  the  disarming  of  the 
regiment,  and  now  believed  that  it  was  foully  used, 
cast  in  his  lot  with  it,  and  would  not  move,  until  a 
party  of  Sepoys  carried  him  off  to  a  place  of  safety. 

To  the  fire  of  the  Sepoy  musketeers  the  British 
Infantry  now  responded,  and  the  guns  were  wheeled 


THE  DISARMING  PARADE.  223 

round  to  open  upon  the  mutineers  with  irresistible  1867. 
grape.  The  English  gunners  were  ready  for  imme-  •^'^  ^• 
diate  action.  Anticipating  resistance,  Olpherts  had 
ordered  his  men,  when  they  moved  from  their  Lines,  to 
carry  their  cartridges  and  grape-shot  in  their  hands.* 
The  word  of  command  given,  the  guns  were  served 
with  almost  magical  rapidity  ;  and  the  Thirty-seventh 
were  in  panic  flight,  with  their  faces  turned  towards 
the  Lines.  But  from  behind  the  cover  of  their  huts 
they  maintained  a  smart  fire  upon  the  Europeans; 
so  Olpherts,  loading  his  nine-pounders  both  with 
grape  and  round  shot,  sent  more  messengers  of  death 
after  them,  and  drove  them  out  of  their  sheltering 
homes.  Throwing  their  arms  and  accoutrements  be- 
hind them,  and  many  of  them  huddling  away  clear 
out  of  Cantonments  beyond  the  reach  of  the  avenging 
guns,  they  made  their  way  to  the  city,  or  dispersed 
themselves  about  the  country,  ready  for  future  mis- 
chief and  revenge. 

Meanwhile,  the  detachment  of  Irregular  Cavalry 
and  Gordon's  Sikhs  had  come  on  to  parade.  It  was 
soon  obvious  what  was  the  temper  of  the  former. 
Their  commander.  Captain  Guise,f  had  been  killed  by 
a  Sepoy  of  the  Thirty-seventh,  and  Dodgson,  the  Bri- 
gade-Major, was  ordered  to  take  his  place.  He  had 
scarce  taken  command,  when  he  was  fired  at  by  a . 
trooper.  Another  attempted  to  cut  him  down.  But 
the  Sikhs  appear  to  have  had  no  foregone  intention 
of  turning  against  our  people.  Whether  the  object  of 
the  parade  and  the  intentions  of  the  British  ofiicers 
were  ever  sufficiently  explained  to  them  is  not  very 

*  Whether  this  was  observed  bj        f  One  writer  says  that  Guise's 

the  Sepoys  I  know  not;  but  if  it  head  was  afterwards  split  open  by 

were,  there  cau  be  no  difficulty  in  his  own  troopers.    He  was  shot  on 

accounting  for  their  suspicion  and  the  rear  of  the  Lines^  as  he  was 

alarm.  going  to  parade. 


224  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.      apparent;  but  they  seem  to  have  been,  in  this  junc- 
Juiie4.     tup^  doubtful  and  suspicious,  and  it  needed  but  a 
spark  to  excite  them  into  a  blaze.     The  outburst  of 
the  Irregulars  first  caused  them  to  waver.     They  did 
not  know  what  it  all  portended ;  they  could  not  dis- 
cern friends  from  foes.     At  this  critical  moment,  one 
of  the   Sikhs  fired   upon   Colonel   Gordon,   whilst 
another  of  his  men  moved  forward  to  his  protection. 
In  an  instant  the  issue  was  determined.     Olpherts 
was  limbering  up   his   guns,  when  Crump,  of  the 
Madras  Artillery,  who  had  joined  him  on  parade  and 
was  acting  as  his  subaltern,  cried  out  that  the  Sikh 
regiment  had  mutinied.  At  once  the  word  was  given 
to  unlimber,  and  at  the  same  moment  there  was  a  cry 
that  the  Sikhs  were  about  to  charge.  At  this  time  they 
were  shouting  and  yelling  frantically,  and  firing  in  all 
directions — their  bullets  passing  over  and  through  the 
English  battery.  They  were  only  eighty  or  a  hundred 
yards  from  us  pn  an  open  parade-ground  ;  and  at  that 
time  our  Artillery  were  unsupported  by  the  British 
Infantry,  who  had  followed  the  mutineers  of  the 
Thirty-seventh  Regiment  into  their  Lines.     It  was 
not  a  moment  for  hesitation.     The  sudden  rush  of 
a  furious  multitude  upon  our  guns,  had  we  been  un- 
prepared for  them,  might  have   overwhelmed  that 
half-battery  with  its  thirty  English  gunners;   and 
Benares  might  have  been  lost  to  us.     So  Olpherts, 
having  ascertained  that  the  officers  of  the  Sikh  corps 
had  take  refuge  in  his  rear,  brought  round  his  guns 
and  poured  a  shower  of  grape  into  the  regiment. 
Upon  this  they  made  a  rush  upon  the  guns — a  second 
and  a  third — but  were  driven  back  by  the  deadly 
showers  from  our  field-pieces,  and  were  soon  in  con- 
fused flight.     And  with  them  went  the  mutineers  of 
the  Irregular  Cavalry ;  so  the  work  was  thoroughly 


PONSONBY  AND  NEILL  225 

done,  and  Olpherts  remained  in  possession  of  the      1857. 

field.  JnJic  4. 

Whilst  these  events  were  developing  themselves  Neill  in 

■*■     °-        ^  command. 

on  the  parade-ground,  the  little  power  of  endurance 
still  left  in  the  Brigadier  was  rapidly  failing  him, 
and  before  the  afternoon's  work  was  done  he  was 
incapable  of  further  exertion.     The  slant  rays  of  the 
declining  sun,  more  trying  than  its  meridian  height, 
dazzled  and  sickened  the  old  soldier.     The  pain  and 
discomfort  which  he  endured  were  so  great  that  he 
was  unable  any  longer  to  sit  his  horse.     Having  pre- 
viously given  orders  to  Colonel  Spottiswoode  to  fire 
the  Sepoys'  Lines  that  none  might  find  shelter  in  them, 
he  made  over  the  command  to  Colonel  Neill,  who 
eagerly  took   all  further  military  responsibility  on 
himself.*     The  victory  of  the  Few  over  the  Many 
was  soon  completed.     Some  who  had  sought  shelter 
in  the  Lines  were  driven  out  and  destroyed,  whilst  a 
few  who  succeeded  in  hiding  themselves  were  burnt 
to  death  in  their  huts.f 

*  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  officers  present  at  the  parade,  in- 
exact period  at  which  Ponsonby  gave  dudiiu;  a  full  narrative  written  by 
over  the  command  to  Neill.  From  Brigaoier  Ponsonby,  and  furnished 
the  officifll  report  of  the  latter  it  to  me  by  his  widow,  and  the  private 
would  appear  to  have  been  done  journals  and  letters  of  Colonel  NeiU, 
before  the  Sikhs  broke  into  mutiny,  as  well  as  his  official  reports.  Golo- 
but  Ponsonby's  own  statement  would  nel  Spottiswoode's  statement  is  pub- 
fix  the  time  at  a  later  period.  The  lishea  in  the  Parliamentary  Ketum 
account  in  the  text  is  the  official  relating  to  the  regiments  that  have 
version  of  the  transfer  of  command ;  mutinied.  There  was  also  a  very 
but  the  fact,  I  believe,  is  that  Neill,  clearly  written  narrative  by  Ensign 
seeing  Ponsonby  on  the  ground,  Tweedie  (one  of  the  young  officers 
went  up  to  lum  and  said,  "  General,  wounded  by  the  fire^  of  the  Sikh 
I  assume  command."  Sk)  Neill's  regiment),  printed  in  the  newspapers 
journal,  and  oral  information  of  an  of  the  dav.  Besides  these,  I  have 
officer  who  heard  him  say  it.  had  the  aclvantage  of  much  personal 

'I'  There  is  no  passage  in  this  his-  .conversation  with  one  of  tne  chief 
tory  on  which  more  care  and  labour  surviving  actors  in  the  scene  de- 
have  been  expended  than  on  the  scribed,  and  have  received  from  him 
above  narrative  of  the  disarming  written  answers  to  my  questions  on 
at  Benares  on  the  4th  of  June.  In  all  doubtful  points.  I  have  a  strong 
compiling  it  I  have  had  before  me  conviction,  therefore,  that  the  story 
several  dtetaUed  statements  made  by  cannot  be  more  correctly  told. 

VOL.  II.  Q 


226  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  All  the  circumstances  of  this  parade  of  the  4th 

June  4.  Qf  June  being  fairly  reviewed  and  impartially  con- 
questSon^-  ^idered,  it  is  not  strange  that  some  should  think  that 
siderecL  it  was  grievously  mismanaged.  That  this  was  the 
opinion  of  the  highest  authorities  at  the  time  is 
certain.  Writing  on  the  6th  of  June  to  the  Go- 
vernor-General, the  Benares  Commissioner  said, 
"  I  fear  the  business  of  disarming  was  very  badly 
managed  indeed.  The  Sepoys  feel  very  sore  at  what 
they  consider  an  attack  on  men,  many  of  whom  were 
unarmed  at  the  time.  This  is  not  a  point  for  a 
civilian  to  discuss,  but  the  general  opinion  seems  to 
be  that  the  affair  was  much  mismanaged/'  This 
opinion  was  shared  by  Lord  Canning,  who  wrote,  a 
fortnight  afterwards  to  the  President  of  the  India 
Board,  that  the  disarming  "  was  done  hurriedly  and 
not  judiciously."  "  A  portion  of  a  regiment  of 
Sikhs,"  he  added,  "  was  drawn  into  resistance,  who, 
had  they  been  properly  dealt  with,  would,  I  fully 
believe,  have  remained  faithful."  And,  sixteen 
months  afterwards,  the  civil  functionary,  on  whom 
it  devolved  to  -write  an  official  account  of  these  trans- 
actions, deliberately  recorded  his  belief,  it  may  be 
assumed  after  full  investigation,  that  the  Sikhs  were 
>  brought  out  not  knowing  what  was  to  be  done ;  that 
the  whole  affair  was  a  surprise ;  that,  as  a  corps,  they 
were  loyal,  and  "would  have  stood  any  test  less 
rude." 

The  inference  to  be  drawn  from  this  is  not  so  much 
that  the  business  was  done  badly  as  that  it  was  done 
hastily ;  or  rather  that  it  was  done  badly  because  it 
was  done  hastily.  The  sudden  resolution  to  disarm 
the  Thirty-seventh  on  that  Thursday  afternoon  left 
no  time  for  explanations.  If  the  whole  of  the  black 
troops  at  Benares  had  been  known  to  be  steeped  in 


w^f^^  —   •  -■ 


MILITARY  CONSIDERATIONS.  227 

sedition  to  the  lips,  and  ready  for  an  immediate  1857. 
outbreak,  it  would  have  been  sound  policy  to  sur-  ^^^^' 
prise  them,  for  only  by  such  a  course  could  our  little 
handful  of  white  soldiers  hope  to  overthrow  the 
multitude  of  the  enemy.  But  whilst  the  regular 
Sepoys  were  only  suspected,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of 
treacherous  designs,  and  the  intentions  of  the  Irre- 
gulars were  still  doubtful,  there  had  been  nothing  in 
the  conduct  of  the  Sikh  regiment  to  cast  a  doubt 
upon  its  fidelity.  It  was  an  occasion,  indeed,  on  which 
kindly  explanations  and  assurances  might  have  had 
the  best  efifect.  But  there  was  no  time  for  this. 
When  it  was  tried  with  the  Thirty-seventh,  both  by 
the  Brigadier  and  by  the  Colonel,  it  was  too  late; 
for  the  Europeans  were  advancing,  and  the  panic 
had  commenced.  And  with  the  Sikhs  it  seems  not 
to  have  been  tried  at  all.  It  would,  however,  be 
scarcely  just  to  cast  the  burden  of  blame  on  any  in- 
dividual ofiicer.  What  was  evil  was  the  suddenness 
of  the  resolution  to  disarm  and  the  haste  of  its 
execution.  But  this  is  said  to  have  been  a  necessary 
evil.  And  whilst  we  know  the  worst  that  actually 
happened,  we  do  not  know  the  something  worse  that 
might  have  resulted  from  the  postponement  of  the 
disarming  parade.  Even  at  the  best,  it  is  contended, 
if  the  Thirty-seventh  had  been  quietly  disarmed,  it 
would  have  been  sore  embarrassment  to  us  to  watch 
all  those  disarmed  Sepoys.  It  would,  indeed,  to  a  great 
extent  have  shut  up  our  little  European  force,  and, 
thus  crippling  its  powers  of  action,  have  greatly  dimi- 
nished our  strength.  Moreover,  it  is  contended  that, 
in  the  crisis  that  had  arisen,  this  stem  example,  these 
bloody  instructions,  had  great  effect  throughout  that 
part  of  the  Gangetic  provinces,  and,  indeed,  through- 

q2 


228  B£NAR£S  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  out  the  whole  of  the  country.  It  was  made  manifest 
June  4.  that  European  military  power  was  neither  dead  nor 
paralysed.  There  was  a  beginning  of  retribution. 
The  white  troops  were  coming  up  from  beyond  the 
seas.  Though  few  in  numbers  at  first,  there  were 
thousands  behind  them,  and  Upper  India  would  soon 
be  covered  by  our  battalions.  The  moral  effect  of 
this,  it  was  said,  would  be  prodigious.  The  mailed 
hand  of  the  English  conqueror  was  coming  down 
again  crushingly  upon  the  black  races. 

And  even  as  regards  the  Sikh  corps,  it  was  said 
that  a  large  proportion  of  the  regiment — ^the  regi- 
ment from  Loodhianah — were  not  Sikhs,  but  Hin- 
dostanees ;  that  they  were  the  brethren  of  the  regular 
Sepoys,  and  that  they  had  come  on  to  parade  with 
their  pieces  loaded.  This  last  fact  is  not  conclusive 
against  them.  It  may  have  been  the  result  wholly 
of  tmcertainty  and  suspicion.  But  Olpherts,  when  he 
fired  upon  them,  was  fully  assured  that  they  had 
broken  into  open  mutiny,  and  nothing  ever  afterwards 
tended  to  weaken  his  original  conviction.  That  there 
was  mutiny  in  the  regiment — and  mutiny  of  the 
worst  kind — however  limited  it  may  have  been,  is 
certain ;  and  if  this  were  the  first,  it  was  far  from 
being  the  last  instance  of  a  whole  regiment  being 
irrevocably  compromised  by  the  misconduct  of  a  few 
Sepoys.  An  officer,  with  his  guns  loaded,  in  the 
presence  of  an  overwhelming  number  of  Native 
soldiers,  cannot  draw  nice  distinctions  or  disentangle 
the  knot  of  conflicting  probabilities.  He  must  act  at 
once.  The  safety  of  a  station,  perhaps  of  an  Empire, 
may  depend  upon  the  prompt  discharge  of  a  shower 
of  grape.  And  the  nation  in  such  an  emergency  will 
less  readily  forgive  him  for  doing  too  little  than  for 
doing  too  much. 


-  — — -,  jiar- 


AFTER  THE  MLTINY.  229 

Complete  as  was  the  military  success,  the  danger  1857. 
was  not  passed.  The  dispersion  of  a  multitude  of  June  4— 5. 
mutinous  Sepoys  might  have  been  small  gain  to  us  afterwards. 
in  the  presence  of  a  rebellious  population.  If  the 
malcontents  of  the  city  had  risen  at  this  time  and 
made  common  cause  with  the  dispersed  soldiery  and 
with  their  comrades  under  arms  at  the  different 
guards,  they  might  have  overwhelmed  our  little 
gathering  of  Christian  people.  But  the  bountiful 
Providence,  in  which  Commissioner  Tucker  had 
trusted,  and  which  seemed  to  favour  the  brave  efforts 
of  Judge  Gubbins,  raised  up  for  us  friends  in  this  awful 
crisis,  and  the  fury  of  the  many  was  mercifully  re- 
strained. It  had  been  arranged  that  in  the  event  of  an 
outburst,  all  the  Christian  non-combatants  should  be- 
take themselves  to  the  Mint,  which  lay  between  the 
Cantonment  and  the  city,  as  the  building  best  suited 
to  defensive  purposes.  The  rattle  of  the  musketry  and 
the  roar  of  the  guns  from  the  parade-ground  pro- 
claimed that  the  Sepoys  had  risen.  There  were  then 
great  alarm  and  confusion.  Numbers  of  our  people 
made  for  the  Mint.  The  missionaries  left  Benares 
behind  them,  and  set  their  faces  towards  Bamnuggur 
on  their  way  to  Chunar.*  The  civilians,  some  with 
their  wives  and  families,  sought  refuge,  in  the  first 
instance,  in  the  Collector's  Cutcherry,  ascending  to 
the  roof  of  the  building,  where  at  least  they  were 
safe  from  capture,  t  But  there  was  a  great  and  rea- 
sonable fear  that  the  Sikhs  of  the  Treasury-guard, 

*  There  were  some  exceptions  to  Govemment  by  exertinj^  his  in- 
the  general  exodus .  of  the  mission-  fluence,  which  was  considerable  in 
aries.  Mr.  Lenpholt,  of  the  Church  the  neighbourhood,  to  obtain  sup- 
Missionary  Society,  seems  to  have  plies  for  our  European  troops, 
stood  fast  in  the  mission  premises  f  The  Commissioner  was  not  of 
with  his  flock  of  Native  Christians,  this  part^.  He  had  gone  \o  the 
Tius  excellent  man  afterwards  ren-  lifint. 
dered  good  seryioe  to  the  British 


230  BENARES  AND  ALUHABAD. 

1857.  rendered  furious  by  the  slaughter  of  their  country- 
{Jttne4j— 5.  j^q^^  would  seize  the  Government  coin,  and  the 
crown  jewels  of  their  own  exiled  Queen,  which  were 
stored  with  it,  and  would  then  fire  the  building  and 
attack  our  Christian  people  wheresoever  they  could 
be  found. 
Good  Bcr-  And  that  they  would  have  struck  heavily  at  us  is 

Soorut  Singh,  not  to  be  doubted,  if  one  of  their  nation,  a  Sikh  chief 
of  good  repute,  had  not  come  to  our  aid  in  the  hour 
of  our  greatest  need.  This  was  the  Sirdar  Soorut 
Singh,  who,  after  the  second  Sikh  war,  had  been  sent 
to  reside  at  Benares,  in  honourable  durance,  and  who 
had  fuUy  appreciated  the  generous  treatment  he  had 
received  from  the  English.  He  had  unbounded  con- 
fidence in  Gubbins ;  and  when  the  crisis  arose,  he 
manfully  shouldered  a  double-barrelled  gun  and  ac- 
companied his  English  friend  to  the  Cutcherry. 
Promptly  and  energetically  he  came  forward  to  aid 
.  us,  and  by  his  explanations  and  persuasions  softened 
down  the  anger  of  the  Sikh  soldiery,  who  might  have 
been  excused  if  they  were  burning  to  avenge  the  blood 
of  their  slaughtered  comrades.  Thus  assured  and 
admonished,  they  not  only  abstained  from  all  acts  of 
personal  violence,  but  they  quietly  gave  up  the 
Government  treasure  and  the  Lahore  jewels  to  the 
Europeans,  to  be  conveyed  to  a  place  of  safety.* 
Pundit  Nor  was  this  noble-minded  Sikh  Sirdar  the  only 

Chund.'        friend  who  rose  up  to  aid  us  in  this  conjuncture. 
Even  from  that  great  hot-bed  of  Hindooism,  Brah- 

*  The  place  of  safety  was  witliin  children  and  a  storehouse  for  the 

tlie  strong  cells    of   the  Artillery  treasure.    Mr.  Taylor,  in  his  official 

Congee-House,  whither  the  treasure  narrative,    says   tne    treasure    was 

was  taken,  by  the  advice,  I  believe,  taken  to  the  magazine.    In  reward 

of  Captain  Olpherts,  who  had  always  for  the  fidelity  and  forbearance  of 

protested   against    the   notion   of  the  Sikhs,  the  Commissioner  next 

making  the  same  building  available  morning  very  properly  distributed 

both  as  a  refuge  for  the  women  and  ten  thousand" rupees  among  them. 


FRIENDS  IX  N£ED.  231 

1857. 

minism  itself  sent  forth  a  staunch  ally  and  potent  June  4— 5. 
deliverer  to  be  a  present  help  to  us  in  our  trouble. 
Pundit  Gokool-Chund,  a  high-caste  Brahmin,  known 
to  all,  respected  by  all  in  Benares,  flung  all  the 
weight  of  his  influence  into  the  scales  in  our  favour. 
He  was  a  servant  of  the  Government — Nazir  of  the 
Judge's  Court — and  as  such  in  constant  intercourse 
with  Gubbins.  Had  he  been  a  Christian  gentleman, 
he  could  not  have  striven,  day  and  night,  more 
ceaselessly  and  more  successfully  to  succour  our 
people.  There  was  another,  too,  who  put  forth  al>eonarain 
protecting  hand,  and  was  earnest  in  his  endeavours  ^'^^' 
to  allay  the  inquietude  of  the  people.  This  was  a 
wealthy  and  influential  Hindoo  noble — Rao  Deona- 
rain  Singh| — a  loyal  and  devoted  subject  of  the 
British  Government,  a  man  of  high  intelligence  and 
enlightenment,  liberal  and  humane.  No  words  could 
exaggerate  the  importance  of  his  services.  Nor  was 
the  titular  Rajah  of  Benares  himself  wanting  in  The  Rajah  of 
good  offices  to  the  English.  On  the  night  of  that  ^®"*'^- 
4th  of  June,  he  succoured  the  missionary  fugitives, 
and,  from  first  to  last,  he  placed  all  his  resources  at 
our  disposal,  and  seemed  honestly  to  wish  well  to 
our  cause.  Truly,  it  would  have  gone  ill  with  our 
little  handful  of  Christian  people,  if  God  had  not 
raised  up  for  us  in  our  sorest  need  these  staunch  and 
powerful  friends  from  among  the  multitude  of  the 
Heathen.* 

The  prompt  action  of  Soorut  Singh  saved  the 
civilians  at  the  Cutcherry.  For  many  hours  they 
remained  there,  anxious  and  uncertain,  calculating 
the  chances  against  them,  but  resolute  to  sell  their 
lives  at  the  highest  price.  But  two  hours  after  mid- 
^ht  a  little  party  of  English  gentlemen,  headed  by 

*  See  in  Appendix;  a  Memoranclam  on  the  Benares  Rajahs. 


232  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  Gubbins,  went  forth  in  the  broad  moonlight  to 
June  4—5.  obtain  the  assistance  of  an  European  guard  from  the 
Mint  to  escort  thither  the  fugitives  at  the  Cutcherry. 
As  they  went,  they  were  fired  at  by  some  Sepoys ; 
but  they  returned,  unharmed,  with  the  guard,  and 
safely  conveyed  their  companions  to  the  appointed 
place  of  refuge.*  There  the  hours  of  morning  dark- 
ness passed  away  in  drear  discomfort,  and  day 
dawned  upon  a  scene  of  misery  and  confusion  in  the 
Mint.  Officers  and  ladies,  masters  and  servants, 
huddled  together,  for  the  most  part  on  the  roof, 
without  much  respect  of  persons  or  regard  for  pro- 
prieties of  costume.  The  Europeans  who  had  been 
sent  for  their  protection  bivouacked  in  the  lower 
rooms,  many  of  them  utterly  worn  out  with  the  ex- 
hausting labours  of  the  day ;  whilst  outside  in  the 
compound,  or  enclosure,  was  a  strange  collection  of 
carriages,  buggies,  palanquins,  horses,  bullocks,  sheep, 
goats,  and  packages  of  all  sizes  and  all  kinds  brought 
in  for  the  provisioning  of  the  garrison. 
June  6—9.  "  The  town  is  quite  quiet,"  wrote  Commissioner 
Stete  of  the  fucker  to  Lord  Canning  on  the  following  morning, 
"  in  the  midst,"  as  he  said,  "  of  the  utmost  noise  and 
confusion  of  this  crowded  building,"  which  made  it 
difficult  to  write  at  all,  and  was  altogether  so  distract- 
ing, that,  though  a  man  of  grave  speech,  he  described 
it  as  ^^  such  a  Pandemonium,  that  it  was  impossible 
to  think,  write,  or  do  anything  in  it."    There  had 

*   This  incident    is   made  still  at  the  party  in  the  buggy.    There 

brighter  by  an  act  of  heroism  vhich  was  no  time  for  warning  or  for  hesi- 

it  is  a  pleasure  to  record.  It  is  thus  tation,  and  he  at  once  reined  back 

officially  narrated:  ''Messrs.  Gub-  his  horse,  covering  with  his  own 

bins,  Gaulfield,  and  Demomet  went  body  his  companions  in  danger.    It 

in  a  buggy  to  the  Mint,  and  Mr.  were  far  easier  to  praise  such  an  act 

Jenkinson,  G.S.,  accompanied  them  than  to  praise  it  worthily,  and  I 

on  horseback.     As  the  party  was  praise  it  best  by  not  praising  it  at 

crossing  the  bridge,  Mr.  Jenkinson  all." — Mr,  Taytofs  Official  Tfarra- 

saw  9ome  ambushed  ^poys  aiming  iive. 


QUIETUDE  OF  THE  CITY.  233 

been  an  alarm  in  the  course  of  the  night  of  risings  in  1867. 
the  city ;  for  the  Mahomedans  had  hoisted  the  green  ^^^  s— ^^ 
flag,  but  nothing  came  of  the  demonstration.  And 
days  passed,  but  still  there  was  quietude  throughout 
Benares.  All  the  circumstances  of  the  "  Sacred  City 
of  the  Hindoos"  being  considered,  it  must  be  a  source 
of  wonder,  not  only  that  so  little  Christian  blood  was 
shed,  but  that  there  was  so  little  resistance  of  any 
kind  to  the  authority  of  the  British  Government* 
"  It  is  quite  a  miracle  to  me,"  wrote  Commissioner 
Tucker  to  the  Governor-General  on  the  9th  of  June, 
"how  the  city  and  station  remain  perfectly  quiet. 
We  all  have  to  sleep  at  night  in  the  Mint,  but  not  a 
house  or  bungalow  has  been  touched,  and  during  the 
day  everything  goes  on  much  as  usual."t    Wisely 

*  Up  to  this  time  only  one  £ng-  land  letters  when  I  was  with  him,  a 
lisli  officer  (Captain  Guise)  had  been  few  days  before  he  died,  and  kissed 
killed,  and  fonr  wounded — all  on  them  again  and  again,  and  asked  me 
the  parade  of  the  4th  of  June,  to  read  them  to  liim,  which  I  did. 
The  wounded  officers  were  Captain  poor  boy  1" — MS.  Correspondence* 
Dodgson,  and  Ensigns  Tweedie,  f  The  following  characteristic 
Chapman,  and  Hayter.  A  letter  passage  in  the  letter  above  quoted 
from  Captain  Dodgson  states  that  ought  not  to  be  withheld.  "  I  do 
tiie  last-named  was  "shot  by  the  firmly  believe,"  wrote  Mr.  Tucker, 
Sikhs  when  they  turned  round  and  "  that  there  is  a  special  Divine  in- 
fired  upon  us."  Young  Hayter  was  fluence  at  work  on  men's  minds  to 
shot  in  both  thighs,  and  had  >a  third  keep  them  quiet.  The  few  Euro- 
wound  below  the  knee.  The  latter  peans  in  the  Mint  and  round  the 
was  so  painful  that  the  limb  was  guns  could  do  nothing  to  guard  the 
amputated ;  but  he  sunk  under  his  Cantonment ;  but  of  ail  the  three 
sufferings,  and  died  a  week  or  two  mutinous  regiments  not  one  seems 
afterwards.  There  is  something  so  to  have  thought  of  burning  the 
touching  in  the  brief  account  of  the  station  or  plundering  the  houses  of 

f>oor  young  soldier's  last  days,  in  the  the  residents.  There  is  much  prayer 

etter  above  Quoted  from  Captain  here,  and  I  know  that  many  pravers 

Dodgson  to    Mr.  Tucker,  that   I  are  offered  up  for  us ;  and  I  fully 

cannot  refrain  from  {giving  the  fol-  believe  that  they  are  accepted  at  the 

lowing  extract  from  it.    "  He  bore  Throne  of  Grace,  and  that  this  is 

his  wounds  with  the  utmost  forti-  the  cause  of  the  quiet  we  enjoy, 

tude,  and  when  told  that  there  was  Even  with  all  the  best  possible  ar- 

no  hope  of  recovery,  said  he  hoped  rangements  that  we  can  make,  there 

be  was  prepared  to  die.  ...  I  used  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  mutineers, 

to  read  the  Prayers  for  the  Sick  to  who  are  hanging  about,  or  the  city 

him,  and  many  of  the  Psalms  of  his  rabble,  from  doinff  any  mischief  they 

own  dioosing.    The  last  he  selected  please,  but  they  ao  not  i^ttempt  it/' 

was  the  fifty-first.    I{e  got  his  oyer?  — MS>  Corretpondenee^ 


234  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.      and  vigorously  was  Gubbins  now  doing  his  work. 
June  5—9.  He  had  sunk  the  judge  in  the  magistrate.     His  court 
was  closed,  and  he  had  taken  the  weight  of  the 
executive  upon  him.     And  now,  partly  by  the  fear, 
partly  by  the  love  he  had  inspired  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  he  held  them  in  restraint,  and  the  great 
city  lay  hushed  beneath  his  hand. 
Stfttoofthe        But  although  there  was  extraordinary  repose  in 
Sets  *^^  ^^*y'  ^^  *^^  surrounding  districts  violence  and 

anarchy  arose  with  a  suddenness  that  was  quite 
astounding.  It  was  not  merely  that  the  mutinous 
Sepoy,,  hanging  .bou.  the  «l[acent  village,,  were 
inciting  others  to  rebellion  (this  was  to  be  expected), 
but  a  great  movement  from  within  was  beginning  to 
make  itself  felt  upon  the  surface  of  rural  society,  and 
for  a  while  all  traces  of  British  rule  were  rapidly  dis- 
appearing from  the  face  of  the  land.  Into  the  real 
character  and  general  significance  of  this  movement 
I  do  not  purpose  here  to  inquire.  The  investigation 
is  an  extensive  one,  and  must  be  deliberately  under- 
taken. It  is  enough,  in  this  place,  to  speak  of  imme- 
diate results.  The  dispersion  of  the  Native  soldiery 
on  the  4th  of  June  was  followed  almost  immediately 
by  disorder  and  rapine  in  the  contiguous  country. 
A  few  days  sufficed  to  sweep  away  law  and  order,  and 
to  produce  a  revolution  of  property,  astonishing  even 
to  those  who  were  best  acquainted  with  the  character 
and  temper  of  the  people.  "  I  could  not,"  wrote  Mr. 
Tucker  on  the  13th,  "  have  believed  that  the  moment 
the  hand  of  Government  was  removed  there  would 
have  been  so  sudden  a  rising  of  landholders  to  plun- 
der each  other  and  people  on  the  roads.*  All  the 
large  landholders  and  auction-purchasers  are  paralysed 

*  "  The  Native  idea  now  is,"  he    off,  and  that  it  is  every  man  for 
added, ''  that  British  rule  has  slipped    himself." 


MARTIAL  LAW.  235 

and  dispossessed,  their  agents  being  frequently  mur-      1867. 
dered  and  their  property  destroyed."*   To  arrest  this  ^^^  ^^®- 
new  danger,  which  threatened  to  become  a  gigantic 
one,  overwhelming,  irrepressible,  our  people  had  now 
to  put  forth  all  their  strength. 

On  the  9th  the  Government  of  India  caused  Martial  ^^^  ^' 
Law  to  be  proclaimed  in  the  divisions  of  Benares  and  en^tments. 
Allahabad.  On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Tucker,  not  know- 
ing that  already  the  Legislature  had  provided  the 
extraordinary  powers  which  he  soughtt— nay,  even 
more  than  he  soughl^wrote  to  the  Governor- General, 
suggesting  that  he  should  place  the  Benares  division 
"  beyond  the  reach  of  Regulation  Law,  and  give  every 
civil  officer,  having  the  full  power  of  magistrate,  the 
power  of  life  and  death."  "  I  would  prefer  this  to 
Martial  Law,"  he  added,  "  as  I  do  not  think  the  greater 
proportion  of  the  military  can  be  intrusted  with  the 
power  of  life  and  death.  The  atrocious  murders  which 
have  taken  place  have  roused  the  English  blood,  and 
a  very  slight  circumstance  would  cause  Natives  to  be 
shot  or  hung.  I  would,  therefore,  much  prefer  re- 
taining the  powers  in  the  hands  of  those  who  have 
been  accustomed  to  weigh  and  to  value  evidence. 
No  civilian  is  likely  to  order  a  man  to  be  executed 
without  really  good  cause.  "J 

Time  soon  exploded  the  error  contained  in  these 
last  words.  But  the  Benares  Commissioner,  though 
a  little  blinded  by  class  prejudice,  was  right  when  he 
wrote  about  the  hot  English  blood,  which  forbade 
the  judgment  of  a  cool  brain.  Already  our  military 
officers  were  hunting  down  criminals  of  all  kinds, 
and  hanging  them  up  with  as  little  compimction  as 

*  See  Mie,  vol.  i.  p.  157.  did  not  receive  the  sanction  of  the 

t  The  Act,  of  which  a  summary  Governor-General  before  the  8th  of 

has  been  given  (Book  iv.  chap,  iv.)^  June. 

though  passed  on  the  30th  of  Maj^  |  MS.  Correspondence, 


236  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  though  they  had  been  pariah-dogs  or  jackals,  or 
June  9.  vermin  of  a  baser  kind.  One  contemporary  writer 
has  recorded  that,  on  the  morning  after  the  disarm- 
ing parade,  the  first  thing  he  saw  from  the  Mint  was 
a  "  row  of  gallowses."  A  few  days  afterwards  military 
courts  or  commissions  were  sitting  daily,  and  sen- 
tencing  old  and  young  to  be  hanged  with  indiscrimi- 
nate  ferocity.  These  executions  have  been  described 
as  "  Colonel  Neill's  hangings."  But  Neill  left  Benares 
four  or  five  days  after  the  outbreak,  and  it  did  not 
devolve  on  him  to  confirm  the  sentences,  of  which  I 
have  heard  the  strongest  reprobation.  On  one  occa- 
sion, some  young  boys,  who,  perhaps,  in  mere  sport 
had  flaunted  rebel  colours  and  gone  about  beating 
tom-toms,  were  tried  and  sentenced  to  death.  One 
of  the  oflBlcers  composing  the  court,  a  man  unsparing 
before  an  enemy  under  arms,  but  compassionate,  as 
all  brave  men  are,  towards  the  weak  and  helpless, 
went  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to  the  commanding  officer, 
imploring  him  to  remit  the  sentence  passed  against 
these  juvenile  offenders,  but  with  little  effect  on  the 
side  of  mercy.*  And  what  was  done  with  some  show 
of  formality,  either  of  military  or  of  criminal  law, 
was  as  nothing,  I  fear,  weighed  against  what  was 
done  without  any  formality  at  all.  Volunteer  hang- 
ing parties  went  out  into  the  districts,  and  amateur 
executioners  were  not  wanting  to  the  occasion.  One 
gentleman  boasted  of  the  numbers  he  had  finished  off 
quite  "  in  an  artistic  manner,"  with  mango-trees  for 
gibbets  and  elephants  for  drops,  the  victims  of  this 

*  The  general  reader,  however,  India — ^a  hnsband,  a  father,  with  all 

mnst  not  calcalate  years  in  sach  a  the  full-grown  passions  of  maturity 

case  as  they  would  oe  calculated  in  — and  an  equal  sense  of  personal 

Europe.    What,  estimated  by  years,  independence  and  responsibility. 
J8  a  boy  in  EngbMu)  is  ^  mcoi  in 


THE  GIBBET  AND  THE  LASH.  237 

wild  justice  being  Strang  up,  as  though  for  pastime,      1857. 
in  "  the  form  of  a  figure  of  eight."  ^^^  ^• 

This,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  was  the  Martial  Law,  of 
which  such  graphic  details  have  been  given  by  con- 
temporary writers,  without  a  prevision  of  publicity.* 
But  the  Acts  of  the  Legislative  Council,  under  the 
strong  hand  of  the  Executive,  fed  the  gallows  with 
equal  prodigality,  though,  I  believe,  with  greater 
discrimination.  It  was  a  special  immunity  of  this 
Benares  mutiny  that  the  prison -gates  were  not 
thrown  open,  and  the  city  deluged  with  a  flood  of 
convicted  crime.  The  inmates  of  the  gaol  remained 
in  their  appointed  places.  But  even  this  had  its 
attendant  evils.  For  as  crime  increased,  as  increase 
it  necessarily  did,  prison-room  was  wanted,  and  was 
not  to  be  found.  The  great  receptacle  of  the  criminal 
classes  was  gorged  to  overflowing.  The  guilty  could 
not  be  sufifered  wholly  to  escape.  So  the  Gibbet  dis- 
posed of  the  higher  class  of  malefactors,  and  the  Lash 
scored  the  backs  of  the  lower,  and  sent  them  afloat 
again  on  the  waves  of  tumult  and  disorder.  But, 
severe  as  Gubbins  was  when  the  crbis  was  at  its 
height,  he  restrained  his  hand  when  the  worst  had 
passed,  and  it  had  cea^d  to  be  an  expedient  of  mercy 
to  strike  into  the  hearts  of  the  people  that  terror, 
which  diminishes  crime  and  all  its  punitory  con- 
sequence.  '        ^ 

Meanwhile,  other  sources  of  anxiety  were  develop*  ^  J'"^®  »• 
ing  themselves  in  more  remote  places.    One  incident  Jj^JS;. 
must  be  narrated  here  as  immediately  connected  with 
the  outbreak  of  the  4th  of  June.     The  story  of  the 

*  See  especially  a  letter,  written    the  Times,  and  quoted  at  some  length 
by  a  private  of  the  Seventy-eighth    by  Mr.  Montgomery  Martin. 
Highlanders,  which  was  published  in 


238  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1867.  Loodhianah  regiment  of  Sikhs  has  not  yet  been  fully 
June  8.  loi^  There  was  a  detachment  of  it  at  Jaunpore,  a 
civil  station,  some  forty  miles  from  Benares.  When 
news  arrived  on  the  5th  of  June  that  the  Thirty- 
seventh  had  revolted,  and  were  pouring  into  the 
district^  they  made  demonstrations  of  fidelity  to  their 
British  oflBcers ;  but  when  later  tidings  came  that  the 
head-quarters  of  their  own  regiment  had  been  fired 
on  by  the  Europeans,  they  rose  at  once  in  open 
mutiny.  Lieutenant  Mara,  the  oflScer  commanding 
them,  was  shot  down.  Mr.  Cuppage,  joint-magistrate, 
on  his  way  to  the  gaol,  shared  the  same  fate.  The 
Treasury  was  plundered.  And  all  surviving  Euro- 
peans,  after  a  humiliating  surrender  of  their  arms, 
were  driven  to  seek  safety  in  flight.  British  govern- 
ment was  expunged,  as  it  had  been  at  Azimgurh,  and 
its  chief  representatives  were  glad  to  find  a  hiding- 
place  for  themselves  in  quarters  which,  a  little  time 
before,  their  Jiat  could  have  swept  away  like  summer 
dust.  Then  the  station  was  given  up  to  plunder; 
and  the  mutiny  of  a  few  Sikh  mercenaries  grew  into 
a  general  insurrection  of  the  people.  The  houses  of 
the  English  were  gutted  and  burnt.  The  soldiery, 
burdened  with  money-bags,  having  gone  off  towards 
Oude,  the  plunder  of  "  the  Treasury  was  completed 
by  decrepit  old  women  and  wretched  little  boys,  who 
had  never  seen  a  rupee  in  their  lives."*  And  all  over 
the  district,  the  state  of  things,  brought  about  by 
our  settlement  operations  and  our  law  courts,  dis- 

*  Mr.  Taylor's  official  narrative,  hours ;  the  bolder  spirits  thought  to 
The  writer  adds :  "  In  the  district  secure  more  brilliant  advantages  by 
not  a  semblance  of  authority  was  intercourse  with  the  rebel  powers  in 
left  to  any  one.  Those  who  had  Oude."  In  no  other  district,  Mr. 
lost  their  estates  under  our  rule  Taylor  observesy  were  "  auction  pur- 
thought  this  a  good  time  to  regain  chasers  more  numerous,  old  Zemin- 
them ;  those  who  had  not,  thought  dars  more  powerful,  or  the  present 
that  they  could  make  a  little  profit  landholders  on  worse  terms  among 
by  plundering  their  weaker  neigh-  themselves." 


DESPATCH  OF  TROOPS.  239 

appeared  like  the  bursting  of  a  bubble.  The  very  i^^''- 
presence  of  our  fugitive  people,  though  powerless 
and  forlorn,  was  an  offence  and  an  abominati6n  to 
the  now-dominant  class,  who  drove  them  from  their 
sanctuary  in  the  house  of  a  friendly  Rajah  to  take 
refuge  in  an  indigo  factory.  And  it  became  one  of 
the  Benares  Commissioner's  greatest  cares  to  rescue 
Mr.  Fane  and  his  companions  from  the  dangers  which 
then  beset  them.  Having  discovered  their  abode,  he 
sent  out  "  a  party  of  Europeans  and  volunteers  to 
bring  them  into  Benares."* 

Troops  were  now  coming,  up  every  day  from  below.  p«8patcJ*  oi 
Benares  was  safe*  Other  stations  were  to  be  saved,  upwards. 
The  best  service  that  could  be  rendered  to  the  State 
was  the  prompt  despatch  of  reinforcements  to  the 
upper  country — ^and  most  of  all  to  Allahabad  and 
Ca^pore.  This  service  wa«  intrusted  to  Mr.  Archi- 
bald  Pollock.t  True  to  his  great  historical  name,  he 
threw  himself  into  the  work  with  an  amount  of 
energy  and  activity  which  bore  the  best  fruits. 
Every  kind  of  available  conveyance  was  picked  up 
and  turned  promptly  to  account  in  the  furtherance 
of  the  eagerly  looked-for  Europeans,  whose  appear- 
ance was  ever  welcomed  by  our  peril-girt  people  as  a 
great  deliverance.  Nor  was  want  of  sufficient  con- 
veyance the  only  difficulty  to  be  overcome.  There 
was  a  want  of  provisions  for  Europeans,  especially  of 
flour  and  rum;  and  Mr.  Tucker  wrote  eagerly  to 
Lord  Canning  to  send  up  commissariat  stores  of 
every  kind  for  the  soldiery,  "  as  European  necessaries 
are  not  to  be  had  here  in  any  quantity."    He  was 

*  Mr.  Tacker  to  Lord  Canning,        f  The  youngest  son  of  General 
June  9th.    In  this  letter  the  fugi-    Sir  Gteorge  Pollock.    He  was  then 
tires  are  said  to  have  consisted  of    joint-magistrate  of  Benares, 
sixteen  men«  five  ladies,  and  eleven 
children. 


240  BENA11ES.AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1867.  very  eager  at  this  time  to  save  the  treasure  in  neigh- 
'^^^^'  bouring  civil  stations  along  the  main  line,  as  Mirza- 
pore  and  Ghazepore,  and  he  sent  parties  of  Europeans 
by  steamer  to  bring  it  off  in  safety  to  Benares.  It 
was,  moreover,  a  great  object  to  keep  the  white  troops 
in  motion,  and  thus  to  display  European  strength, 
first  at  one  point,  then  at  another,  and  by  means  of 
a  few  to  make  an  appearance  of  many,  as  in  a  mimic 
theatre  of  war.  At  once  to  have  recovered  Azimgurh 
and  Jaunpore,  from  which  we  had  been  so  ignomi- 
niously  expelled,  would  have  been  a  great  stroke ; 
and  the  Commissioner  wrote  to  Lord  Canning,  saying 
that  if  the  Government  would  allow  him  to  divert 
two  hundred  Europeans  from  the  main  line  of  opera- 
tions, the  magistrates  and  other  civil  officers  might 
return  to  their  posts,  and  British  authority  might  be 
re-established.  But  troops  could  not  be  spared  for 
the  purpose,  and  it  was  left  to  another  day  and  to 
other  means,  whereof  due  record  will  be  made  here- 
after, to  prove  to  the  people  of  those  districts  that  the 
English  had  not  been  swept  out  of  the  land.  The 
narrative  must  now  follow  the  upward  line  of  the 
Ganges  to  the  next  great  city  of  note. 


Allahabad.  About  seventy  miles  beyond  Benares,  at  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Ganges  and  the  Jumna,  lies  the  city  of 
Allahabad.  It  has  none  of  that  wealth  of  structural 
beauty  which  renders  Benares  so  famous  among  the 
cities  of  the  East.  Its  attractions  are  derived  chiefly 
from  its  position,  at  the  extreme  point  or  promon- 
tory of  the  Doab,  formed  by  the  meeting  of  the 
waters.  The  broad  rivers  rushing  down  towards  the 
sea,  and  mingling  as  they  go  their  streams  of  varied 
colour  and  varied  motion — ^the  one  of  yeUow-brown, 


ALLAHABAD.  241     . 

thick  and  turbid,  the  other  blue,  clear,  and  sparkling*  1867. 
— ^the  green  banks  between  which  they  flow,  the  rich  **"** 
cultivation  of  the  inner  country  dotted  with  groves 
and  villages,  make  a  landscape  pleasant  to  the  eye. 
But  the  town  itself,  principally  situated  on  the 
Jumna,  has  little  to  command  admiration.  It  has 
been  called  in  derision  by  natives  of  Hindostan, 
•'  Fukeerabad,"  or  the  city  of  beggars ;  but  the  Fort, 
which  towers  above  it,  massive  and  sublime,  with  the 
strength  of  many  ages  in  ite  soUd  masonry,  imparts 
peculiar  dignity  to  the  place.  Instinct  with  the  his- 
torical traditions  of  the  two  elder  dynasties,  it  had 
gathered  new  power  from  the  hands  of  the  English 
conqueror,  and,  garrisoned  by  English  troops,  might 
almost  have  defied  the  world. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  military 
importance  of  the  situation  at  the  junction  of  the 
two  rivers,  commanding,  as  it  does,  the  great  fluvial 
thoroughfare  of  Hindostan,  and  also  the  high  road  by 
land  from  the  Upper  to  the  Lower  Provinces.  Both 
in  a  strategical  and  political  sense,  its  security  had 
ever  been  of  great  moment ;  but  the  recent  acquisi- 
tion of  Oude  had  rendered  it  still  more  essential  that 
it  should  be  safely  in  hand.  In  this  powerful  fortress 
of  Allahabad  was  an  arsenal  stored  with  all  the 
munitions  of  war,  and  an  array  of  guns  in  position 

*  Historians  and  poets  alike  de-  poetically,  says :   "  The  spot  where 

light  to  describe  the  meeting  of  the  the  Sister  Nuddees  fGreek  Nyades) 

waters.    '' The  half-modernised  for-  meet  makes  a  magnincent  prospect, 

tress,"  says  Trotter,  **  looks  grandly  The  Ganges  has  a  turbid,  muddy 

down  on  the  meeting  of  the  clearer  current — the  Jumna,  a  sparkling 

Jumna  with  the  yellow  waters  of  the  stream.    Each  at  first  tries  to  keep 

broad  Ganges''  (History  ofthe  BrU  itself  distinct,  till,  happy  to  meet 

iish  Empire  in  India) ;    Waterfield  after  a  long  parting,  tney  run  into 

(Indian  BalladiS  ^ingR  ot  *' iht  vi&'  each  othei^s  embrace,  and,  losing 

ters  blue  and  orown;"  and  again,  themselves  in  one,  flow  in  a  common 

"  Where   Yamuna    leaps    blue   to  stream.    The   Ganges   strikes   the 

Ganga's  arms."     And   Bholonauth  fancy  as  more  matronly  of  the  two 

Chunder    {Travels   of  a   Hindoo)^  — the   Jumna   a   gayer,    youthful 

writing  in  prose,  but  scarcely  less  sister." 

VOL.  II.  E 


242  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  commanding  the  approaches  from  the  country  below. 
And  their  possession  by  the  enemy  would  have  been 
a  disaster  beyond  compare.  Some  time  before,  Sir 
James  Outram  had  suggested  to  Lord  Canning  the 
expediency  of  adopting  measures  for  the  greater 
security  of  Allahabad,  and  had  warned  him  of  the,  at 
least  possible,  danger  of  such  a  mischance  befalling 
us.*  I  do  not  know  whether  these  warnings  were 
remembered -warnings  afterwards  repeated  most 
emphatically  by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence ;  but  there  was 
no  place  to  wWch  Lord  Canning  turned  his  thoughts 
with  greater  anxiety  and  alarm — no  place  to  which 
he  was  more  eager  to  send  relief  in  the  shape  of 
European  troops. 

Tidings  of  the  great  disaster  at  Meerut  reached 
Allahabad  on  the  12th  of  May,  and  a  few  days  after- 
wards came  the  story  of  the  progress  of  the  rebellion, 
and  the  restoration  of  the  Mogul  Emperors  of  Delhi. 
At  the  beginning  of  May,  the  force  posted  at  Allahabad 
consisted  of  a  single  Sepoy  regiment,  the  Sixth,  under 
the  conmiand  of  Colonel  Simpson,  which  had  marched 
in  from  Jummalpore  at  the  latter  end  of  March,  re- 
lieving the  Eleventh,  under  Colonel  Finnes.  But  on 
the  9th,  a  wing  of  the  Ferozpore  Regiment  of  Sikhs 
had  arrived  from  Mirzapore ;  and  ten  days  later  two 
troops  of  Oude  Irregular  Horse  came  in,  under  orders 
from  Sir  Henry  Lawrence,  to  place  themselves  under 
the  civil  authorities.  Shortly  afterwards  sixty  Euro- 
pean invalids  were  brought  in  from  Chunar.  The 
bulk  of  the  Native  troops  occupied  their  Lines  in  the 
Cantonment,  which  lay  at  a  distance  of  two  or  three 
miles  from  the  Fort  between  the  two  great  rivers. 

*  "  I  m^^self  am  more  shocked  you  may  recollect  I  told  you  of  tlie 
than  surprised/'  he  wrote  from  warning  that  I  gave  to  Lord  Can- 
Baghdad  to  the  Chairman  of  the  ning  when  I  was  last  at  Calcutta, 
East  India  Company^  on  first  hearing  and  suggested  that  measures  should 
of  the  outbreak,  '*for  I  haye  lon^  be  adopted  for  the  better  security  of 
dreaded  something  of  the  sort;  and  Allahaoad.''— /«fftf  8, 1857.    MS. 


Q^W* 


THE  SIXTH  EEGIMENT  OF  SEPOTS.  243 

Detachments  were  posted  in  the  Fort.  The  principal  1857. 
civil  officers  were  Mr.  Chester,  the  commissioner,  and 
Mr.  Court,  the  magistrate-^both  men  of  courage  and 
resolution,  not  easily  shaken  or  disturbed.  They  and 
the  other  civilians,  as  well  as  the  military  officers, 
dwelt  in  comfortable  and  pleasant  garden-houses  in 
the  European  station,  without  an  anxious  thought 
of  the  future  to  disturb  them. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  commanding  officer,  and,  indeed,  Colonel  Simp- 
of  every  Englishman  who  held  a  commission  under  s^^^JT*^  ^^^^ 
him,  the  Sixth  was  true  to  the  core,  and  was  tho- 
roughly to  be  trusted.  It  was  one  of  those  regiments 
in  which  the  officers  looked  lovingly  on  their  soldiers 
as  on  their  children ;  cared  for  their  comforts,  pro- 
moted their  amusements,  and  lived  amongst  them  as 
comrades.  They  had  done  so  much  for  their  men, 
and  seen  so  many  indications  of  what  at  least  simu- 
lated gratitude  and  affection,  that  it  would  have  been 
to  their  discredit  if  they  had  mistrusted  a  regiment 
which  had  such  good  reason  to  be  faithful  to  the 
English  gentlemen  who  had  treated  them  with  the 
kindness  of  parents.  But  the  civil  officers,  who  had 
none  of  the  associations  and  the  sympathies  which 
made  the  centurions  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  ever 
willing  to  place  their  lives  in  the  hands  of  the  native 
soldiery,  saw  everywhere  grounds  of  suspicion  and 
causes  of  alarm.  There  was  evidently  a  wide-spread  State  of 
feeling  of  mistrust  both  in  the  City  and  in  the  Can-  ^g^J^ 
tonment.*    All  kinds  of  vague  reports  were  in  the 

*  Mr.  Willock,  joint  magistrate,  break  in  the  cit^  would  follow  an 
says  in  bis  official  report,  "  As  each  6meute  of  the  soldiery.  The  men 
day  passed  some  fresb  rumour  was  of  tbe  city  warned  the  magistrate 
circulated  regarding  tbe  state  of  against  the  infidelity  of  tbe  Sepoys, 
public  feeling  in  tbe  city.  Agents  and  the  Sepoys  cautioned  their  offi- 
of  the  rebel  leaders  were  evidently  cers  against  toe  city  people,  protest- 
busy  poisoning  the  minds  of  the  ing  against  the  tales  that  had  been 
people.  . . .  The  Bazaar  was  closed,  circulated  of  their  lukewarmness 
and  it  was  very  evident  that  an  out-  towards  Goyemment." 

b2 


244 


BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 


1857. 


May  82. 

Couflictin^ 
projects. 


air.  Whether  the  disturbing  faith  had  grown  up 
spontaneously  in  the  minds  of  the  Natives,  or  whether 
the  great  lie  had  been  maliciously  propagated  by 
active  emissaries  of  evil,  it  was  believed  that  a  heavy 
blow  was  to  be  struck  at  the  religion  of  the  people.* 
At  one  time  it  was  reported  that  the  English  had 
determined  to  serve  out  the  greased  cartridges  on  a 
given  day,  and  that  the  resriment  would  be  paraded  on 
the  glacis  of  the  Fort,  in  a  position  commanded  by  our 
guns„  and  blown  into  the  air  if  they  disobeyed  orders. 
Then  it  was  said  that  the  Sepoys  had  determined  to 
prevent  the  treasure  being  moved  into  the  Fort;t 
and  again,  that  the  Sikhs  were  conspiring  with  the 
Native  Infantry  for  a  joint  attack  upon  the  English. 
At  the  same  time,  the  price  of  grain  and  of  other 
kinds  of  food  rose  in  the  market,  and  the  common 
feeling  of  disquietude  was  enhanced  by  the  discontent 
occasioned  by  the  deamess  of  provisions,  which  was 
always  attributed  to  the  agency  of  the  English. 

In  this  state  of  uncertainty.  Colonel  Simpson  pro- 
posed to  betake  himself  with  his  regiment  to  the 
Fort.  This  movement  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Mr. 
Court,  the  magistrate,  and  the  project  was  abandoned. 


*  I  have  remarked,  and  with  mucL 
uniformitY  of  obserration,  that  these 
monstrous  reports  of  "  forcible  con- 
yersion,"  or  destruction  of  caste, 
were  most  rife  where  the  Mahome- 
dan  population  was  the  densest.  Al- 
lahabad contained  an  unusual  num- 
ber of  Mussulmans,  whilst  in  Benares 
there  was  a  great  preponderance  of 
Hindoos;  but  these  reports  appear 
to  have  been  circulated  more  freely 
in  the  former  than  in  the  lalter  city. 

f  It  was  said  that  this  ought  to 
have  opened  the  eyes  of  Colonel 
Simpson  to  the  real  state  of  his 
corps.  But  the  fact  is,  that  the  cir- 
cumstance referred  to  in  the  text 
was  nothmg  more  than  an  alleged 


conyersation  between  a  Native  officer 
of  the  Irregular  Cavalry  and  another 
of  tlie  Sixth.  The  former  was  said 
to  have  asked  whether  the  Sixth 
would  allow  the  treasure  to  be  re- 
moved, and  the  latter  to  have  an- 
swered, '*  Some  of  them  would  not 
until  they  had  received  their  arrears 
of  pay/^  "This,"  says  Colonel 
Simpson, "  was  immediately  reported 
to  tne  Adjutant,  who  did  not  credit 
it.  On  the  33rd  I  made  poor  Flun- 
kett  and  Stewart  inquire  into  the 
business,  and  the  latter  reported  to 
me  there  was  no  truth  in  it,  as  the 
Native  officer  and  men  of  the  Sixth 
guard  denied  the  accusation.' 


» 


OUTWAED  LOYALTY  OP  THE  SEPOYS, 


245 


On  the  same  evening  a  council  of  the  leading  civil  1857. 
and  military  officers  was  held,  and  it  was  determined  ^J  ^^' 
that  the  women  and  children  only  should  be  removed 
next  morning  into  the  Fort.  But  next  morning, 
before  daybreak,  there  was  a  change  of  plan.  The 
order,  which  had  decreed  that  "no  (adult)  male 
should  be  allowed  to  enter  the  Fort,"  was  cancelled, 
in  spite  of  Court's  remonstrances,  and  two  hours 
before  noon  "  there  was  a  regular  flight  to  the  Fort 
of  men,  women,  and  children,  carrying  with  them  all 
the  property  they  could."*  But  later  in  the  day  the 
energy  of  the  magistrate  prevailed,  and  the  non- 
military  members  of  the  community  were  enrolled 
into  a  volunteer  guard,  to  patrol  the  city  and  station, 
accompanied  by  some  mounted  police. 

As  the  month  wore  on  to  its  close,  appearances  May  26. 
seemed  rather  to  improve.  Some  apprehensions  had  Lip-loyalty, 
been  entertained  lest  the  great  Mahomedan  festival  of 
the  Eedj  which  was  to  be  celebrated  on  the  25  th, 
should  stir  all  the  inflammatory  materials  gathered 
together  in  Allahabad  into  a  blaze.  The  day,  how- 
ever, passed  over  without  any  disturbance ;  and  at  a 
parade  held  in  the  evening,  two  Sepoys,  who,  on  the 
pr«ceding  day,  had  given  up  a  couple  of  Mehwattees, 
charged  with  tampering  with  their  fidelity,   were 


•  Official  Eeport  of  Mr.  Eendall 
Thompson,  officiating  magistrate. 
Colonel  Simpson,  in  a  narrative  of 
events  with  which  he  has  furnished 
me,  says,  *'  On  the  23rd  of  May,  the 
ladies,  children,  and  non-muitary 
were  ordered  into  the  Fort  for  secn- 
rity,  in  consequence  of  the  various 
reports  received  by  the  magistrate 
regarding  the  unsettled  state  of  the 
city  of  Allahabad,  ag&[ravated  by  the 
high  price  of  grain.  It  might  be 
gathered  from  this  that  the  magis- 
trate had  approved  of  the  removal 


to  the  Port  of  the  non-military  males, 
whereas  the  official  report  states 
that  he  had  in  reality  protested 
against  it.  Colonel  Simpson,  how- 
ever, says,  in  another  memorandum, 
that  "a  notice  to  this  effect"  (t.^. 
the  removal  of  "ladies,  children, 
and  non-military")  "  was  circulated 
by  the  magistrate  throughout  the 
station,  and  renmentally  by  two  of 
his  sowars."  uolonel  Simpson  says 
that  it  was  signed  both  by  himself 
and  Court. 


246  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  publicly  promoted.*  But  this  spasm  of  energy  seems 
May  25.  to  have  been  designed  only  to  throw  dust  into  the 
eyes  of  the  authorities.  It  is  stated  that,  at  the  very 
same  time,  they  were  intriguing  with  the  Oude 
Cavalry.  Perhaps  the  arrest  was  designed  to  irritate 
the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  city.  If  so,  it  was  a 
successful  movement ;  for  it  was  soon  noised  abroad 
that  a  rescue  would  be  attempted,  and  so  the  prisoners 
were  removed  to  the  Fort. 

After  this  there  were  outward  quietude  and  security, 
for  although  with  the  new  month  there  arose  increased 
excitement  in  the  city,  still  more  favourable  appear- 
ances presented  themselves  in  the  cantonment.  The 
Sepoys  of  the  Sixth,  seemingly  not  satisfied  with  the 
latent  loyalty  of  quiescence,  quickened  into  energy 
and  enthusiasm,  and  demanded  to  be  led  against 
the  rebels  of  Delhi.  News  of  their  noble  ofier  was 
promptly  telegraphed  to  Calcutta,  and  Lord  Canning 
sent  back  by  the  wires  a  cordial  expression  of  the 
thanks  of  Government.  But  to  the  civilians  at  least 
it  was  apparent  that  the  danger  was  not  passed,  for 
every  day  the  excitement  became  greater  in  the 
city. 
News  from  Afikirs  were  in  this  state  when  news  came  from 
ju°^^'  Benares  that  the  Sepoys  stationed  there  had  risen  in 
revolt,  and  that  they  had  been  dispersed  by  Neill's 
Europeans.  The  telegraph  brought  the  first  tidings 
to  Simpson,  who,  as  an  initial  measure  of  precaution, 
issued  orders  that  the  gates  of  the  Fort  should  be 
closed  night  and  day,  and  no  one,  of  whatsoever 

*  Sir  Jobn  Malcolm  writes  of  the  are  turbulent^  vindictive,  cunning, 

Mehwattees,  that, "  although  nsualW  cruel,  robbers,  murderers,  and  as- 

reokoned  Mahomedans,  it  is  dim-  sassins — yet  they  are  faithful,  un- 

cult  to  say  whether  they  are  Ma-  daunted  g[aards  and  servants  to  those 

homedans  or  Hindoos ;  they  partake  whose   nimuk   (salt)  they  eat." — 

of  both  religions,  and  are  the  most  Malica  Report ,  p.  678,  note, 
desperate  rogues  in  India.    They 


raiWi 


FB£FABATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE.  247 

colour  or  creed,  admitted  without  a  passport.*  The  1857. 
next  st^p  was  to  guard  the  approaches  to  Allahabad.  '^^^  *■ 
The  road  from  Benares  ran  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Ganges,  which  was  crossed  by  a  bridge  of  boats  at 
a  point  nearly  opposite  to  the  Fort,  to  the  suburb  of 
Darao-gunj.  It  seemed  to  be  so  certain  that  the 
Benares  mutineers  would  make  for  Allahabad,  that, 
on  a  requisition  of  the  Magistrate,  a  Company  of  the 
Sixth  Was  sent,  with  two  guns,  to  defend  the  bridge 
by  which  the  passage  of  the  river  must  have  been 
made.  At  the  same  tiine,  a  detachment  of  the  Oude 
Irregular  Cavalry  was  posted  on  an  open  space  be- 
tween the  bridge-head  and  the  cantonment,  so  as  to 
command  all  the  approaches  to  the  latter.  And  no 
one  then  seemed  to  doubt  that  those  Native  guards 
would  defend  the  bridge  and  the  station  as  staunchly 
and  as  truly  as  if  the  insurgents  had  been  people  of 
other  races  and  other  creeds. 

It  will,  perhaps,  never  be  known  to  the  full  satis- 
faction of  the  historical  inquirer  whether  the  Sixth 
Regiment  was  saturated  with  that  deepest  treachery 
which  simulates  fidelity  for  a  time,  in  order  that  it 
may  fall  with  more  destructive  force  on  its  unsuspect- 
ing victim,  or  whether  it  had  been,  throughout  the 
month  of  May,  in  that  uncertain,  wavering  condition 
which  up  to  the  moment  of  the  final  outburst  has 
no  determined  plan  of  operations.  The  officers  of 
the  regiment  believed  that  the  men  were  staunch  to 
the  core.     Outwardly,  thiere  were  no  indications  of 

*  "From  this  period  (May  25)  night,   and   neither  European  nor 

until  the  4th  of  June  more  or  less  Native  was  allowed  ingress  or  egress 

excitement  prevailed  in  the  city  of  without  a  })ass,  so  as  more  particu- 

Allahabad,    and    on  that  date  the  larly  to  guard  against  any  tamperers 

mutiny  at  Benares  took  place,  and  from  Benares  or  from  the  city  of 

was  reported  to  me  by  telegraphic  AlhhBihsd"— Memorandum  by  Coh- 

wire.  On  the  same  evening  I  ordered  nel  Simpson,    MS, 
the  Fort  Gates  to  be  closed,  day  and 


248  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  hostility.  But  when  news  came  that  the  Native  regi- 
June  6.  ments  at  Benares  had  risen,  and  that  the  Europeans 
had  fallen  upon  them,  the  long-abiding  vacillation 
rose  into  robust  resolution,  and  the  regiment  sprung, 
as  it  were,  in  a  moment  upon  its  prey.  Whether  it 
was  in  a  wild  panic  of  fear,  believing  that  Neill  and 
the  Europeans  would  soon  be  upon  them,  or  whether 
in  the  belief  that  the  time  for  action  had  now  come, 
as  they  would  probably  soon  be  joined  by  the  Sepoys 
from  Benares,  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  June  found 
them  ripe  for  any  deed  of  violence. 

But  even  as  the  sun  was  setting  on  that  day — the 
last  sun  that  ever  was  to  set  upon  this  model  regi- 
ment— there  was  unbroken  faith  in  its  fidelity.  The 
warning  voice,  however,  was  not  silent.  The  Adju- 
tant of  the  Sixth  received  a  letter  from  a  non-com- 
missioned officer  of  the  regiment,  telling  him  that 
the  news  from  Benares  had  caused  much  excitement 
in  the  Lines.  The  Adjutant  took  the  letter  to  the 
Colonel.  But  Simpson  could  not  admit  that  any- 
thing was  wrong.  He  added,  however,  that  at  the 
sunset  parade,  which  was  to  be  held  for  the  promul- 
gation of  the  thanks  of  the  Governor-General  to  the 
regiment,  the  temper  of  the  men  would  be  clearly 
ascertained. 
The  Thanks-  The  parade  was  held.  The  thanks  of  the  Gover- 
fwafe.  nor-General  were  read.  The  Commissioner,  who 
had  attended  at  the  request  of  the  Colonel,  addressed 
the  regiment  in  Hindostanee,  praising  them  for  the 
loyalty  they  had  evinced.  The  Sepoys  appeared  to 
be  in  the  highest  spirits ;  and  they  sent  up  a  ringing 
cheer  in  response  to  the  stirring  words.  When  the 
parade  was  over,  the  officers,  for  the  most  part,  rode 
or  walked  to  the  Mess.  With  Colonel  Simpson  rode 
Captain  Plunkett — an  officer  of  the  Sixth,  who  had 


TH£  LAST  MESS-DINNER.  249 

served  for  more  than  twenty  years  with  the  regiment.      1857. 
He  spoke  with  delight  of  the  pride  he  felt  in  its     J^^^eO. 
noble  conduct,  and  his  faith  in  its  enduring  fidelity. 
Thus  conversing  they  rode  to  the  Mess-house,  where 
other  officers  had  assembled,  and  were  discussing  the 
events  of  the  day.     Among  them  was  Captain  Birch, 
the  Fort- Adjutant,   who  besought  the   Colonel  to   . 
recall  the  guns  posted  at  the  Bridge  of  Boats  and  to 
post  them  in  the  Fort,  where  they  were  more  needed. 
To  this,  Simpson  esteeming  the  Fort  to  be  his  first 
charge,  and  having  been  warned  not  to  trust  the 
Sikhs,  of  whom  the  garrison  mainly  consisted,  gave 
his  consent ;  and  orders  went  forth  for  their  recall.* 

There  was  a  goodly  gathering  in  the  Mess-house,  The  last 
for  the  number  of  officers  had  been  recently  increased  JJ ^sk^ 
by  the  arrival  of  a  party  of  young  cadets,  who  had 
been  ordered  to  do  duty  with  the  Sixth — mere  boys, 
with  the  roses  of  England  on  their  cheeks  and  the 
kisses  of  their  mothers  still  fresh  upon  their  lips. 
Without  any  sense  of  ills  to  come,  old  and  young 
took  their  places  at  the  dinner-table  in  perfect 
serenity  of  mind.  There  was  at  least  one  faithful 
regiment  in  the  service !  The  civilians,  equally  as- 
sured, went  to  their  houses  and  dined ;  and  did  as 
was  their  wont  in  the  evening,  wrapped  themselves 
up  in  early  slumber,  or  kept  themselves  awake  with 
the  excitement  of  cards.  Some,  indeed,  who  had 
slept  in  the  Fort  on  the  preceding  night,  were  now 
again  in  their  own  homes.  On  no  evening,  perhaps, 
since  the  first  startling  news  had  come  from  Delhi 
and  Meerut,  had  there  been  so  little  trepidation — so 
little  excitement.     But  about  nine  o'clock  the  whole 

*  These  varnings  came  from  Sir  the  Sikhs,  and  to  man  the  Port  with 

Henry  Lawrence  at  Lucknow  and  all  the  Europeans  available  at  Alla- 

Sir    Qogh  Wheeler  at   Cawnpore.  habad. 
Simpson  was  advised  not  to  tmst 


250  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.      European  community  of  Allahabad  were  startled  by 
JuDfi  6.     ^Yie  sound  of  a  bugle-call  announcing  the  alarm.   The 
Colonel  had  left  the  Mess,  and  was  walking  home- 
wards, when  the  unexpected  sound  smote  upon  his 
ears  and  urged  him  onward  to  his  house,  where  he 
called  for  his  horse,   mounted,    and  rode  for  the 
.    quarter-guard.     Thither  many  other  officers  had  re- 
paired on  the  first  sound  of  the  bugle-notes.     The 
truth  was  soon  apparent  to  them.   The  faithful  Sixth 
had  revolted. 
Revolt  of  the      The  story  was  this:  The  detachment  sent  to  de- 
egimen.     £^^^  ^j^^  Bridge  had  been   the  first  to  rise,  as  it 

had  been  first  to  learn  how  the  guns  had  been  turned 
upon  the  Native  troops  at  Benares,  and  whilst  Simp- 
son with  his  officers  was  dining  comfortably  at  the 
Mess-house,  the  orders,  which  he  had  despatched  for 
the  withdrawal  of  the  Artillery  from  Darao-gunj,  had 
been  sternly  resisted.  The  Sepoy  Guard,  told  off  as 
an  escort,  rose  against  the  Artillery-officer,  Lieute- 
nant Harward,  and  declared  that  the  guns  should  be 
taken  not  to  the  Fort,  but  to  the  Cantonment ;  and 
the  rest  of  the  detachment  turned  out,  armed  and 
accoutred,  to  enforce  the  demand.  True  to  the  noble 
regiment  to  which  he  belonged,  Harward  hastened 
to  the  post  of  the  Oude  Irregulars,  which  lay  between 
the  Bridge-head  and  the  Cantonment,  to  bring  up 
succours  to  overawe  the  Sepoys  and  to  save  the 
guns.  The  Irregulars  were  commanded  by  Lieute- 
nant Alexander — a  young  officer  of  the  highest  pro- 
mise— ^who  at  once  responded  to  Harward's  call,  and 
ordered  out  his  men.  Tardily  and  sulkily  they  pre- 
tended to  obey.  Whilst  they  were  forming,  a  hastily- 
written  note  was  despatched  by  Harward  to  the  Fort. 
The  sound  of  the  guns,  grating  along  the  road  to 
Cantonments,  was  distinctly  heard ;  and  the  Irregu- 


BEYOLT  OF  THE  SIKHS.  251 

lars,  headed  by  Alexander  and  accompanied  by  Har-  1857. 
ward,  whom  the  former  had  mounted  on  a  spare  '^'^'i^^- 
horse,  then  rode  out  to  intercept  the  mutineers. 
They  soon  came  upon  the  party,  under  the  broad 
light  of  the  moon;  but  when  the  order  was  given 
to  charge  the  guns,  and  the  English  officers  dashed 
at  them,  only  three  troopers  responded  to  the 
stirring  summons.  The  rest  fraternised  with  the 
enemy.  Alexander,  as  he  rode  forward  and  was 
rising  in  his  stirrups  to  strike,  was  shot  through  the 
heart,  and  Harward  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life.* 
The  mutineers,  who  had  before  sent  out  two  of  their 
party  to  warn  their  comrades,  and  had,  it  is  stated, 
sent  up  signal  rockets,  now  marched  with  the  guns 
to  the  Lines,  and  when  their  colonel  appeared  on 
parade,  the  whole  regiment  was  in  the  throes  of 
rebellion. 

It  was  then  too  late  for  the  voice  of  authority  to  Escape  of 
overawe  or  to  persuade.  Simpson  saw  that  there  gi^pion. 
was  great  excitement  on  the  parade-ground.  Some 
of  his  officers  were  commanding  their  men  to  fall  in, 
but  there  was  little  appearance  of  obedience.  And 
when  he  rode  up  to  inquire  why  the  guns  had  been 
brought  on  parade,  two  Sepoys  of  the  Guard  replied 
by  firing  upon  him.  Expostulation  was  vain.  A 
voUey  of  musketry  responded  to  his  words ;  and  he 
saw  that  everjrwhere  on  the  parade-ground  the  Sepoys 
were  shooting  down  their  officers.  Seeing  that  there 
was  no  hope  of  saving  the  colours,  he  then  rode  to 
the  left  of  the  Lines,  where  some  men  of  the  Light 

•  "During  the  night,  the  few  the  mad  craeKyof  his  enemies,  for 

Irregulars  who  had  remained  staunch  besides  the  shot  in  his  breast,  which 

came  in,  bringing  with  them  the  body  killed  him,  were  sabre-cuts  all  over 

of  their  officer,  Lieutenant  Alex  an-  his  head  and  face." — Mr.TAmpsoM's 

der,  who  had  been  shot,  as  before  Report, 
related.    His  body  bore  witness  to 


252 


BENABES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 


1857. 
June  6. 


Company,  in  whom  there  still  seemed  to  be  a  feeling 
of  compunction,  if  not  of  regard  for  their  chief, 
clustered,  unarmed  and  unaccoutred,  round  his  horse, 
and  besought  him  to  ride  for  his  life  to  the  Fort. 
Hoping  still  to  save  the  Treasury,  he  rode,  accom- 
panied by  Lieutenant  Currie,  in  the  direction  of  that 
building,  but  fired  upon  from  all  sides,  he  soon  saw 
that  the  case  was  hopeless.*  He  had  now  well  nigh 
run  the  gauntlet  of  danger,  and  though  a  ball  had 
grazed  his  helmet,  he  had  providentially  escaped; 
but  opposite  the  Mess-house,  as  he  galloped  towards 
the  Fort,  the  Guard  formed  in  line  at  the  gate  and 
fired  upon  him.  A  musket-ball  took  effect  on  his 
horse ;  but  Simpson  was  still  unhurt,  save  by  a  blow 
on  the  arm  from  a  spent  shot ;  and  the  last  dying 
efforts  of  his  charger  landed  him  safely  within  the 
walk  of  the  Fort,  covered  with  the  blood  of  the  noble 
animal  that  had  borne  him. 

Meanwhile,  others  less  fortunate  had  fallen  beneath 
the  Ensigns.  ^^  musketry  of  the  mutineers.  Currie,  who  had  ac- 
companied tihe  Colonel  to  the  Treasury,  escaped  the 
fire  of  tiie  guards  and  sentries;  Captaki  Gordon  and 
Lieutenant  Hicks  escaped  also,  as  did  two  of  the 
cadets,  to  the  Fort;f  but  Plunkett,  with  his  score 
years  of  good  service  in  the  Sixth,  Adjutant  Steward, 
Quartermaster  Hawes,  and  Ensigns  Pringle  and 
Munro  were  shot  down  on  parade.  Fort- Adjutant 
Birch  and  Lieutenant  Innes  of  the  Engineers  were 


Massacre  of 


*  "  As  my  duty  was  to  save  the 
Treasury,  if  possible,  I  proceeded  in 
that  direction,  when  l  was  imme- 
diately fired  on  by  the  whole  guard 
of  thrrty-two  men  on  one  flank,  with 
a  night-picket  of  thirty  men  on  the 
other.  The  detachment  of  the  Third 
Oude  Irregular  Cavalry  remained 
passive,  and  did  not  fire." — Memo- 
randum of  Colonel  Simpson,  MS. 


J  Hicks  and  the  cadets  (Pearson 
Woodgate)  were  at  the  Darao- 
gunj  when  the  mutiny  broke  out. 
They  were  made  prisoners  and  car- 
ried towards  Cantonments,  but,  in 
their  eagerness  to  join  in  the  plunder 
of  the  Treasury,  the  Sepoys  suffered 
them  to  depart,  and  afterwards  tliey 
made  ^ood  their  escape  by  twice 
swimming  across  the  river. 


i 


MURDER  OF  ENSIGNS. 


253 


also  killed,  and  eight  of  the  unposted  boy-ensigns  1867* 
were  murdered  in  cold  blood  by  the  insurgent  June  6. 
Sepoys.*  The  poor  boys  were  leaving  the  Mess- 
house,  when  the  brutal  soldiery  fell  upon  them. 
Seven  were  slaughtered  on  the  ground ;  but  one,  a 
boy  of  sixteen,  escaped  with  his  wounds,  and  hid 
himself  in  a  ravine.  Having  supported  himself  for 
some  days,  merely,  it  would  seem,  by  water  from  a 
brook,  he  was  discovered  in  his  hiding-place,  dragged 
before  one  of  the  insurgent  leaders,  and  confined  in  a 
serai  with  a  Native  catechist.  The  faith  of  the 
convert  was  giving  way  to  the  sufiferings  which  he 
endured,  when  Arthur  Cheek,  who  had  been  scarcely 
a  month  in  India,  exhorted  his  companion  to  be 
steadfast  in  the  faith.  "  Oh,  my  friend,"  he  is  re- 
ported to  have  said,  "  whatever  may  come  to  us,  do 
not  deny  the  Lord  Jesus."  He  was  rescued,  but  he 
was  not  saved.  On  the  16th  of  June  the  poor  boy 
died  in  the  Fort  from  exposure,  exhaustion,  and 
neglected  wounds,  t 

It  was  fortunate  that  the  bulk  of  our  people  were  In  the  Fort, 
shut  up  in  the  Fort,  where  no  external  perils  could 
assail  them.  But  there  was  danger  within  the  walls. 
A  company  of  the  Sixth  formed  part  of  the  garrison, 
and  the  temper  of  the  Sikhs  was  doubtful.  When 
the  noise  of  firing  was  first  heard  it  was  believed  that 
the  Benares  mutineers  had  arrived,  and  that  the 
Sepoys  of  Allahabad  were  giving  them  a  warm  re- 
ception. But  at  a  later  hour  the  truth  broke  in  upon 
them ;  and  all  doubt  was  removed  by  the  appearance 


*  It  has  been  commonly  stated 
that  these  poor  boys  were  killed 
whilst  sitting  at  the  Mess-table.  I 
am  assured,  however,  on  the  best 
authority  that  this  is  a  mistake.  Few 
incidents  of  the  mutiny  have  excited 
greater  horror  than  this,  which  is 


familiarly  spoken  of  as  the  massacre 
of  the  "  poor  little  griflBns." 

f  See  Mr.  Owen's  Journal.  It 
has  been  erroneously  stated  else- 
where that  he  died  in  the  bands  of 
the  enemy,  on  the  day  of  Neill's  ar- 
riyal  at  AllaJiabad,  the  11th  of  June. 


254  BENAKES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  of  the  Commandant  Simpson,  smeared  with  the  blood 
Juno  6.  q£  Jj^^  wounded  charger.  His  first  care  was  to  order 
the  Sepoys  of  the  Sixth  to  be  disarmed.  This  duty  was 
entrusted  to  a  detachment  of  the  Sikh  corps,  under 
Lieutenant  Brasyer — an  officer  who  had  won  for 
himself  a  commission  by  his  gallantry  in  the  great 
battles  of  the  Punjab,  and  who  now  proved  his 
mastery  over  his  men  by  forcing  them  to  do  a  dis- 
tasteful service.  With  the  news  that  the  Benares 
Sepoys  of  the  Regular  Army  had  been  mown  down 
by  the  white  troops,  came  also  tidings  that  Gordon's 
regiment  had  been  riddled  by  our  grape-shot.  It 
was,  therefore,  fearfully  probable  that  the  offended 
nationality  of  the  Sikhs  at  Allahabad  would  rise 
against  their  Christian  masters,  partly  in  revenge  and 
partly  in  fear.  Happily  the  treasure  was  outside  the 
Fort.  Had  the  design  of  bringing  it  within  the  walls 
not  been  abandoned,  the  love  of  loot  and  the  thirst  of 
blood  would  have  prevailed  together,  and  Allahabad 
might  have  been  lost. 

It  was,  in  truth,  a  most  critical  moment.  Had 
the  men  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  and  the  Sikhs  then 
in  the  Fort  made  common  cause  with  each  other,  the 
little  Christian  garrison  could  have  made  but  feeble 
resistance  against  such  odds.  The  Sepoys,  who  were 
posted,  for  purposes  of  defence,  at  the  main-gate, 
had,  on  the  first  sound  of  firing  in  Cantonments, 
been  ordered  to  load  their  pieces :  so  they  were  ready 
for  immediate  action.  The  Sikhs  were  drawn  up 
fronting  the  main-gate,  and  before  them  were  the 
guns,  manned  by  the  invalid  Artillerymen  from 
Chunar,  in  whom  the  energy  of  earlier  days  was 
revived  by  this  unexpected  demand  upon  them. 
And  at  a  little  distance,  in  overawing  position,  were 
posted  little  knots  of  European  volunteers,  armed 


IN  THE  FOBT.  255 

and  loaded,  ready  on  the  first  sign  of  resistance  to  1867. 
fire  down  from  the  ramparts  upon  the  mutineers.  J^ane^- 
There  is  something  very  persuasive  always  in  the 
lighting  of  port-fires,  held  in  the  steady  hands  of 
English  Artillerymen.  The  Sepoys,  charged  to  the 
brim  with  sedition,  would  fain  have  resisted  the 
orders  of  the  white  men,  but  these  arrangements 
thoroughly  overawed  them.  They  sullenly  piled 
arms  at  the  word  of  command,  and  were  expelled 
from  the  Fort  to  join  their  comrades  in  rebellion. 

The  first  danger  was  now  surmounted.  Those  who 
knew  best  what  was  passing  in  the  minds  of  the 
Native  soldiery  of  all  races,  clearly  saw  the  magni- 
tude of  the  crisis.  It  is  impossible  to  over-estimate 
the  disastrous  consequences  that  would  have  ensued 
from  the  seizure  and  occupation  by  the  enemy  of  the 
Fortress  of  Allahabad,  with  all  its  mighty  munitions 
of  war.  One  officer,  however,  was  prepared  at  any 
risk  to  prevent  this  catastrophe  by  precipitating 
another.  Stimulated,  perhaps,  by  the  noble  example 
set  by  WiUoughby  at  Delhi,  Russell,  of  the  Artillery, 
laid  trains  of  gunpowder  from  the  magazines  to  a 
point,  at  which  he  stood  during  the  disarming  of  the 
Sixth,  near  the  loaded  guns ;  and  if  mutiny  had  then 
been  successful,  he  would  have  fired  the  trains  and 
blown  the  magazines,  with  all  the  surrounding  build- 
ings, into  the  air.*  The  expulsion  of  the  Hindostanee 
Sepoys,  effected  by  Brasyer's  cool  courage  and  ad- 
mirable management,  averted  for  the  moment  this 
great  calamity;  and  all  that  was  left  undone,  did 
itself  afterwards  by  the  help  of  the  national  character 
of  the  Sikhs. 

*  I  first  read  this  anecdote  in  Mr.  authority  of  Mr.  Gonrt,  the  magis- 
Clive  Bay  ley's  Official  Report.  Mr.  trate,  whose  testimony  is  not  to  be 
Bayley  has  stated  the  fact  on  the    questioned. 


256  BENAAES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  Such  was  the  mutiny  of  the  Sixth  Regiment — in 

June  6.     j^  purely  military  aspects  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
City.  in  the  whole  history  of  the  war,  and,  memorable  in 

itself,  stiU  more  memorable  for  its  immediate  popular 
.  results.  For  the  great  city  rose  in  an  instant.  The 
suburbs  caught  the  contagion  of  rebellion ;  far  into 
the  rural  districts  the  pestilence  spread,  and  order  and 
authority  lay  prostrate  and  moribund.  If  a  general' 
rising  of  the  people  had  been  skilfully  planned  and 
deliberately  matured,  there  could  not,  to  all  outward 
appearance,  have  been  a  more  simultaneous  or  a  more 
formidable  insurrection.  But,  in  truth,  there  was  no 
concert,  no  cohesion.  Every  man  struck  for  hunself. 
In  not  one  of  the  great  cities  of  India  was  there  a 
more  varied  population  than  in  Allahabad.  But  there 
was  a  greater  preponderance  than  is  often  seen  of  the 
Mahomedan  element.  And  it  was  a  perilous  kind  of 
Mahomedanism ;  for  large  numbers  of  the  ancient 
dependents  of  decayed  Mogul  families  were  cherishing 
bitter  memories  of  the  past,  and  writhing  under  the 
universal  domination  of  the  English.  The  dangerous 
classes,  indeed,  were  many,  and  they  seem  to  have 
been  ripe  for  revolt  on  the  first  sign  of  the  rising  of 
the  soldiery.  So,  whilst  the  events  above  recorded 
were  passing  in  the  Fort,  in  the  city  and  in  the 
station  were  such  tumult  and  confusion  as  had  never 
been  known  before.  All  through  the  night  of  the 
6th  of  June  licence  and  rapine  had  full  sway.  The 
gaol  was  broken  open,  and  the  prisoners  released. 
Vast  numbers  of  convicted  criminals,  with  the  irons 
still  rattling  on  their  limbs,  rushed  forth,  to  the  con- 
sternation of  the  peaceful  inhabitants,  to  turn  their 
newly-acquired  liberty  to  account  in  the  indulgence 
of  all  the  worst  passions  of  humanity.  To  the  English 
station  they  made  their  way  in  large  bodies,  shouting 


KISINGS  IN  THE  CITY.  257 

and  yelling  as  they  went;  and  every  European  or  1857. 
Eurasian  who  crossed  their  path  was  mercilessly  ^'*^^* 
butchered  on  the  spot.  The  houses  of  the  Christian 
inhabitants  were  plundered ;  and  the  flames  from  our 
burning  bungalows  soon  lit  up  the  skies  and  pro* 
claimed  to  many  in  the  Fort  that  their  pleasant 
homes  would  soon  be  only  heaps  of  ashes.  And 
there  was  a  mighty  pillage  in  the  quarters  of  the 
Christian  shopkeepers  and  the  wharfs  and  warehouses 
of  the  steam  companies.  The  railway-works  were 
destroyed.*  The  telegraphic  wires  were  torn  down. 
All  our  people  outside  the  Fort  were  ruthlessly  put 
to  death  by  the  insurgents,  and  it  has  been  said  with 
every  possible  aggravation  of  cruelty.  All  the  tur- 
bulent population  of  the  great  city  turned  out  to 
glut  their  vengeance  against  the  Feringhees,  or  to  • 
gratify  their  insatiate  thirst  for  plunder.  And  with 
them  went  not  only  the  Sepoys,  who,  a  day  before, 
had  licked  our  hands,  but  the  superannuated  pen- 
sioners of  the  Company's  Native  Army,  who,  though 
feeble  for  action  were  blatant  in  council,  and  were 
earnest  in  their  eflfbrts  to  stimulate  others  to  deeds  of 
cowardice  and  cruelty.f  Law  and  authority  were, 
for  a  while,  prostrate  in  the  dust ;  whilst  over  the 

*  There  seemed  to  be  an  especial  who  received  them  "from  the  lips  of 
raee  against  the  Bail  way  anoi  the  an  eye-witness."  "Houses  were  plun- 
Telegraph.  How  far  it  was  the  dered  and  burnt,"  he  says,  "their 
growth  of  the  superstitions  feelings  inmates  chopped  to  pieces,  some 
glanced  at  in  the  first  volume  of  roasted,  almost  all  cruelly  tortured, 
tliis  work  (pp.  190,  et  seq.),  I  do  not  the  children  tossed  on  bayonets, 
venture  to  declare.  There  was  ap-  Foremost  in  the  commission  of  these 
parently  a  great  fear  of  the  engines,  atrocities  were  the  pensioners.  . . .  • 
lor  the  insurgents  brought  the  guns  These  men,  unable  from  their  in- 
to bear  upon  them  and  battered  firmities  to  fight,  were  not  thereby 
them  to  pieces,  some  appearing  to  precluded  from  inflicting  tortures  of 
be  afraid  of  approaching  them  as  the  most  diabolical  nature.  They 
though  they  were  living  monsters.  even  took  the  lead  in  these  villanies, 

f  See  tue  Eed  Pamphlet.     The  and   encouraged    the    Sepoys   and 

author  states  that .  lie  gives  facts  others  to  follow  their  example/' 
"from  an  undoubted  source" — one 

VOL.  n.  8 


258 


BSNABES  AKD  ALLAHABAD. 


\ 


1857. 
June  6. 


June?. 


Cotwallee,  or  head-quarters  of  the  city  police,  the 
green  flag  of  the  Prophet  declared  the  supremacy  of 
Mahomedan  rule. 

Nor  was  it  only  against  the  white-faced  Europeans 
and  the  Christian  people  of  the  half-blood  that  the 
fury  of  the  disaffected  was  at  this  time  levelled.  In 
some  quarters  of  Allahabad  were  a  large  number  of 
quiet  settlers  from  the  plains  of  Bengal,  and  many 
others  drawn  thither  by  the  exigencies  of  their  re- 
ligion— ^peaceful  pilgrims  to  the  sacred  Pryag.  If  to 
be  a  Bengallee  were  not  at  that  time  held  in  the 
North- Western  Provinces  to  be  the  next  thing  to  a 
Christian,  it  was  at  least  known  that  he  was  an 
unwarlike,  feeble  personage,  likely  to  have  money  in 
his  possession,  and  small  means  of  defending  it. 
Upon  these  harmless  people  the  "budmashes"  feU 
heavily,  and  established  a  reign  of  terror  among 
them.  Their  property  was  seized,  their  lives  were 
threatened,  and  only  spared  by  abject  promises  to 
disgorge  the  savings  of  a  life,  and  to  swear  allegiance 
to  the  restored  Government  of  the  Mogul.* 

To  sack  the  Treasury  was  commonly  the  first 
thought  of  the  insurgents,  alike  of  military  mutineers 
and  criminals  from  the  streets  and  bazaars.  But  the 
coin  lay  untouched  during  the  night  under  a  Sepoy 
guard,  and  the  first  impulses  of  personal  greed  were 
restrained  by  some  feeling  of  nationality  which  had 
found  entrance  into  their  breasts,  though  only  on  the 
briefest  tenure.      It  was  agreed  that  the  treasure 


*  **  The  Bengallees  cowered  in 
fear,  and  awaited  within  closed  doors 
to  ha?e  their  throats  cut.  The  women 
rabed  a  dolorous  cry  at  the  near 
prospect  of  death.  From  massacring 
their  officers,  and  plundering  the 
Treasury,  and  letting  open  the  gaol- 
birds, the  Sepoys  spread  through  the 


town  to  loot  the  inhabitants.  Our 
friend,  as  well  as  his  other  neigh- 
bours, were  soon  eased  of  all  their 
valuables,  but  were  spared  their  lives 
on  promise  of  allegiance  to  their  (the 
Native)  Government." — Travels  of  a 
Hindoo,  by  BhoUmauih  Chunder. 


THE  TREASURY  SACKED.  259 

should  be  carried  in  its  integrity  by  the  regiment  to  1857. 
Delhi,  and  laid,  with  their  services,  at  the  feet  of  J^«7. 
the  King.  The  spasm  of  self-devotion  seems  to  have 
ended  with  the  night.  In  the  morning  the  Sepoys  of 
the  Sixth  are  said  to  have  assembled  on  the  parade- 
ground,  and  to  have  voted  for  the  repudiation  of  this 
patriotic  scheme.  Soon  after  noon  they  went  to  the 
Treasury,  opened  its  doors,  and  began  to  serve  out 
the  money-bags.  Each  Sepoy  took  as  many  rupees 
as  he  could  carry,  and  when  the  whole  had  satisfied 
themselves,  they  left  what  remained  to  the  predatory 
classes,  convicted  and  unconvicted,  of  the  city.  Then 
there  was  very  little  more  thought  of  the  national 
cause,  of  Delhi,  or  of  Behaudur  Shah.  As  a  regiment 
the  Sixth  disbanded  itself,  and  each  soldier,  carrying 
his  spoil,  set  out  for  his  native  village.  But  the  spirit 
of  rapine  had  been  roused  in  all  the  adjacent  country ; 
and  there  were  many  who,  in  the  absence  of  white- 
faced  fugitives,  were  by  no  means  reluctant  to  plunder 
the  black.  And  it  is  suspected  that  very  few  of  the 
Sepojrs,  carrying  off  an  ample  provision  for  the  re- 
mainder of  their  lives,  ever  lived  to  spend  the  money 
in  the  ease  and  dignity  of  their  native  homes.* 

It  is  supposed  that  many,  escaping  towards  Oude,  Rebellion  in 
perished  in  the  Gangetic  villages  not  far  from  the  ^°  ^^*'^*'- 
city.  For  as  at  Benares,  so  at  Allahabad,  the  pea- 
santry rose  at  once  under  their  old  Talookhdars,  who 
had  been  dispossessed  by  the  action  of  our  law- 
courts  ;  and  there  was  anarchy  in  the  rural  districts. 
The  auction  purchasers — ^absentee  proprietors — dwelt 
principally  in  the  city,  and  the  ryots  had  no  sympathy 
with  them.    For  their  own  sakes  they  were  eager  but 

*  It  ia  said  tliat  about  thirty  laklis  every  Sepoy  carried  off  three  or  four 
of  rupees  (about  300,000/.)  were  in  bags,  each  containing  a  thousand 
the  Allahabad  Treasury,  and  that    rupees  (100/.) 

S2 


260  BENAEES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1867.  feeble  supporters  of  Government ;  all  the  muscle  and 
June  7.  sinew  of  the  agricultural  races  were  arrayed  against 
us.  Indeed,  it  soon  became  painfully  apparent  to 
the  British  authorities  that  the  whole  country  was 
slipping  away  from  them.  For  not  only  in  the  dis- 
tricts beyond  the  Ganges,  but  in  those  lying  between 
the  two  rivers,  the  rural  population  had  risen.  The 
landowners  there  were  principally  Mahomedans,  and 
ready  to  join  any  movement  which  threatened  to 
drive  the  English  from  the  land.  It  was  there,  too, 
in  the  Doab  that  Brahminism  was  most  powerfully 
enthroned.  The  point  where  the  Ganges  and  the 
Jumna  meet,  known  as  the  Pryag,  is  one  of  peculiar 
sanctity  in  the  estimation  of  Hindoos,  and  the  Priest- 
hood,  therefore,  were  strong  in  numbers  and  in  in- 
fluence.  The  gathering  of  the  pilgrims  was  a  source 
of  wealth  to  them,  and  they  believed  that  if  the 
supremacy  of  the  English  were  overthrown  their 
gains  would  be  greater  and  their  power  on  the 
ascendant.  So  these  "  Pryag- wallahs'*  stirred  up  the 
Hindoo  population  of  the  Doab ;  and  soon  there  was 
scarcely  a  man  of  either  faith  who  was  not  arrayed 
against  us.  But  on  the  further  bank  of  the  Jumna 
affairs  were  more  propitious.  There  were  incidental 
risings,  plunderings  and  burnings  of  villages,  but 
more  on  the  surface  than  on  the  Ganges  or  in  the 
The  lUiahs  Doab.  For  it  happened  that  some  powerful  Rajahs, 
Ditm  whose  interest  it  was  to  maintain  order,  either  sided 

and  Bantu     with  the  English  or  maintained  a  discreet  neutrality 
whilst  the  tumult  was  at  its  worst,  and  rose  up  to  aid 
us  when  the  star  of  our  fortune  again  began  to 
ascend.* 
Tlie  Mouia-        After  the  lapse  of  a  ffew  days,  the  first  orgies  of 
'^^  crime  being  over,  and  there  being  nothing  more  to 

plunder  and  little  more  to  destroy,   the  universal 

*  See  Mr.  Eendall  Thompson's  Official  Narrative. 


J 


w  —  a  ■  ■!•  «    tf^^^a^a^g^tw^Kfm^^^vsv^ 


THE  MOULAVEE  AND  HIS  FOU.OWERS.  261 

rapine,  with  all  its  distractions  and  confusions  and  18B7. 
internecine  conflicts,  began  to  take  a  more  consistent  ^^"^  '• 
shape,  and  something  like  an  organised  rebellion 
arose  in  its  place.  There  was  a  man  known  as  the 
"  Moulavee,"  around  whom  the  insurgent  population 
gathered,  as  he  proclaimed  the  restored  rule  of  the 
Emperor  of  Delhi.  Whence  he  sprung  few  people  at 
the  time  could  say.  But  it  was  known  at  a  later 
period  that  he  came  from  one  of  the  Mahomedan 
villages  in  the  Doab,  which  had  gone  into  rebeUion. 
Making  great  pretensions  to  sanctity,  and  investing 
himself  with  the  character  of  a  prophet  as  well  as  of 
a  ruler  of  men,  he  stimulated  the  dormant  fanaticism 
of  the  people,  and  roused  them  to  array  themselves 
against  the  Feringhees.  Establishing  his  head-quarters 
in  the  Chusroo  Bagh — a  spacious  walled  garden,  in 
which  were  some  tombs,  held  in  high  veneration- 
he  simulated  the  possession  of  miraculous  powers,  by 
some  obvious  trickeries,  which  deluded  his  excited 
followers,  and  for  awhile  he  was  recognised  as  Go- 
vernor of  Allahabad.  It  little  mattered  who  or  what 
he  was,  so  long  as  he  was  strong  in  his  hatred  of  the 
English,  and  could  induce  the  Mussulman  population 
to  believe  that  the  Mahomedan  dynasty  would  soon 
be  restored.  So  for  a  little  time  he  succeeded  in 
setting  up  the  likeness  of  a  provisional  government, 
and  the  name  of  the  Moulavee  was  on  the  lips  of  all 
the  followers  of  the  Prophet.  Telling  them  that  the 
Book  of  Fate  declared  the  speedy  extinction  of  the 
white  race  in  India,  he  urged  his  people,  day  after 
day,  to  attack  the  Fort;  but,  though  they  made 
sundry  demonstrations,  they  kept  at  a  discreet  dis- 
tance from  our  guns.* 

*   Some  of  the  cotemporary  ac-  gations  have  not  thrown  mnch  li^ht 

counts  state  that  it  was  difScult  to  upon  the  subject.    From  a  high  civil 

trace  either  the  name  or  origin  of  authority,  who  had  the  best  oppor* 

the  Moulavee,  and  my  later  investi-  tuuity  of  ascertaining  the  history  of 


262  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  But  this  state  of  things  was  not  to  be  suffered  much 

June  7.     longer  to  endure.      The  man,  who,  by  his  timely 

Reinforce-  ij  j-n  -l-  /» 

nieiits  from    energy,  had  saved  Benares,  was  now  pushmg  on  for 
below.  ^]^Q  rescue  of  Allahabad.    The  one  true  soldier  that 

was  needed  to  put  forth  a  strong  hand  to  smite  down 
the  growing  rebellion  in  the  Gangetic  Provinces  was 
hurrying  upwards,  with  a  little  band  of  English 
fighting  men,  to  show  that  the  national  manhood  of 
the  country  had  lost  nothing  of  the  might  that  had 
enabled  it  to  establish  the  empire  of  the  Few  in  the 
vast  territories  of  the  Many.  Having  sent  forward 
an  advanced  party  of  the  Fusiliers,  under  Lieutenant 
Arnold,  and  made  over  the  command  of  Benares  to 
June  9.  Colonel  Gordon,  Neill  left  that  place  with  another 
party  of  his  regiment,  and  pressed  on  by  horse-dawk 
to  Allahabad.  Arnold  had  reached  the  Bridge  of 
Boats  on  the  7th,  but  he  had  been  unable  at  once  to 
cross,  as  the  passage  was  held  by  the  mutineers,  and 
there  had  been  some  delay  in  sending  a  steamer  to 
bring  them  across  the  river  to  the  Fort.  Their  arrival 
did  something  to  establish  confidence  in  the  garrison, 
but  the  news  that  Neill  was  coming  did  still  more. 
The  old  high  spirit  of  self-reliance  had  never  waned ; 
and  it  was  stUl  felt  that  a  handful  of  European 
soldiers  under  a  commander,  with  a  clear  head  and  a 
stout  heart,  might  hold  Allahabad  against  the  whole 
world  of  mutiny  and  rebellion. 

the  man,  I  can  learn  only  that  "  he  a  schoolmaster,  had  gained  some  re- 
was  not  known  in  the  district  before  spect  in  his  village  oy  his  excessive 
the  mutiny/'  and  was  **  said  to  be  sanctity ;  and  on  the  first  spread  of 
an  emissary  from  Lucknow."  The  the  rebellion,  the  Mahomedan  Zemin- 
best  account  that  I  can  find  is  that  dars  of  Fergunnah  Chail,  ready  to 
given  by  Mr.  Willock  in  his  official  follow  any  leader,  placed  this  man  at 
report.  "  At  this  time,"  he  says,  their  head,  and  marched  to  the  city, 
"  the  city  and  suburbs  were  held  bv  proclaiming  him  Governor  of  the 
a  body  of  rebels  under  the  now  well-  district  in  the  name  of  the  King  of 
known  Moulavee  Lyakut  Ali.  This  Delhi." 
man,  a  weaver  by  caste,  and  by  trade 


NEHL  AT  ALLAHABAD.  263 

On  the  11th  of  June  Neill  arrived.  As  he  entered  1857. 
the  gates  of  the  Fort,  the  Sentry  exclaimed,  "Thank  ^^l^' 
God,  sir,  you'll  save  us  yet !"  Lord  Canning,  who  Neill. 
saw  clearly  that  he  had  now  at  his  disposal  one  of 
the  men  mo8t  wanted  in  such  a  crisis,  had  commis- 
sioned  the  electric  wires  to  instruct  the  Colonel  of 
the  Madras  Fusiliers  to  take  command  at  Allahabad ; 
and  Neill  had  hastened  upwards,  under  the  burning 
heats  of  June,  with  a  disregard  for  self,  which  well 
nigh  cost  him  his  life.*  He  had  obtained  entrance 
into  the  Fort,  not  without  great  personal  risk;  and 
only  the  indomitable  will  within  him  kept  him  from 
succumbing  to  the  fierce  rays  of  the  noon-day  sun. 
For  some  time  after  his  arrival  he  could  sustain  him- 
self only  by  continually  lying  down  and  drinking 
large  quantities  of  champagne  and  water.  But  he 
never  for  a  moment  doubted  his  capacity  to  grapple 
successfully  with  the  difficulties  before  him ;  whatso- 
ever might  be  his  physical  prostration,  he  had  no 
mental  shortcomings,  no  deterring  sense  of  responsi- 
bility to  enervate  and  arrest  him.  "I  had  always 
the  greatest  confidence  in  myself,"  he  wrote  at  this 
time  to  the  partner  of  his  life ;  "  and  although  I  felt 
almost  dying  from  complete  exhaustion,  yet  I  kept 
up  my  heart."  Whatever  the  conjuncture  might  be, 
it  was  the  nature  of  the  man  to  rise  to  the  height  of 
the  occasion — "  to  scorn  the  consequence  and  to  do 
the  thing."  He  had  long  been  looking  for  an  oppor- 
tunity, and,  now  that  it  had  come,  he  was  not  one  to 
succumb  to  the  assaults  of  bodily  weakness,  and  to 

*  "  I  was  quite  done  up  by  my  ^ing  on,  I  was  obliged  to  sit  down 

dash  from  Benares,  and  ge&ing  into  m  tne  batteries  and  give  my  orders 

the  Fort  in  that  noonday  heat.    I  and  directions. . . .  For  seTeral  days 

was  so  exhausted  for  days,  that  I  I  drank  champagne  and  water  to 

was  obliged  to  lie  down  constantly,  keep  me  up." — Letter  from  Colonel 

I  could  only  sit  up  for  a  few  minutes  Neill  to  hie  Wife,    MS,  Correepond- 

at  a  time,  and  when  our  attacks  were .  ence. 


264  BENARES  AND  ALUHABAD. 

1857.  halt  with  the  goal  before  him.  He  was  not  a  "  Sepoy 
June  11.  officer,"  and  he  had  neither  any  credulity  nor  any 
tenderness  to  deter  him  from  striking  root-and-branch 
at  the  black  soldiery  who  had  betrayed  us,  and  the 
people  who  were  rising  into  rebellion  on  the  ruins  of 
the  Native  Army. 

He  took  in  the  position  of  affairs  at  a  glance.  On 
his  way  from  Benares,  he  had  seen  that  the  whole 
country  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  was  in  a  state  of 
anarchy  and  confusion,  and  he  knew  that  already  the 
rising  had  become  something  more  than  a  military 
mutiny.*  At  Allahabad,  his  first  thought  was,  that  it 
was  a  wonderful  interposition  of  Providence  that  the 
Fortress  was  still  in  our  hands.  "  How  the  place  has 
not  fallen,"  he  wrote,  "  that  is,  not  been  taken  by  the 
Sikhs,  is  a  wonder.  They  appear  to  be  petted  and 
made  much  of.  The  enemy  are  all  around  us ;  we 
are  kept  within  the  Fort.  I  shall  settle  that  part  of 
it  ere  long."  And  he  did  settle  it.  The  Fort  had  been 
invested  and  menaced  by  the  enemy.  Neill's  first 
impulse  was  to  prove  that  the  English  could  do  more 
June  13.  *^^^  defend  themselves.  On  the  morning  after  his 
Offcnsiye  arrival,  he  opened  fire  from  the  Fort  guns  on  the 
operations.  yjHage  of  Darao-gunj,  which  was  held  by  a  large 
body  of  insurgent  rabble,  and  then  sent  forward  to 
the  attack  detachments  of  Fusiliers  and  Sikhs,  who 
cleared  the  village,  burnt  it,  and  regained  possession 
of  the  bridge,  which  Neill  afterwards  repaired.  A 
further  detachment  of  a  hundred  men  of  the  Fusiliers 
came  up  on  that  day,  under  the  command  of  Major 

*  ''June  10.  The  tone  and  bear-  — the  toll-hoose  on  road  to  Sydabad 

iDg  of  the  Native  officials  bad — evi-  plundered — nearly  destroyedf —  the 

dently  a  good  deal  of  plundering —  body  of  the  murdered  man,  an  Eu- 

Tillages  burning  in  all  directions —  ropean,  in  the  house ;  his  daughter 

the  country  almost  deserted — plun-  said  to  be  taken  off  by  a  neiirhbour- 

dered  by  the  Zemindars  about.   The  ing  Zemindar."  -—  NeilPs  Journal 

revenues  just  about  to  be  collected  MS. 


DRUNKENNESS  IN  THE  FORT.  265 

Stephenson,  and  passed  over  without  interruption  to      1857. 
the  Fort.  ^^  i^-^*- 

Neill  now  felt  himself  strong  enough  for  any  Removal  of 
emergency.  The  first  suggestion  of  this  i^ioreased  ^®^®[]^^^* 
strength  was  the  removal  of  the  Sikhs  from  the  Fort. 
Fort.  In  truth,  they  were  fast  demoralising  our  own 
people  in  the  garrison.  They  had  been  going  in  and 
out  revelling  in  the  pillage,  and  the  Volunteers  had 
been  by  no  means  behind  them  in  predatory  activity, 
especially  in  the  direction  of  the  "six  dozen  cases" 
of  strong  drink.  The  stores  of  the  European  mer- 
chants and  the  go-downs  of  the  river  steam-com- 
panies, with  aU  their  undeUvered  consignments,  had 
been  plundered ;  and  beer,  wines,  and  spirits  were  as 
plentiful  as  water  in  the  Fort.  The  Sikhs  brought  in 
large  supplies  of  liquor  of  all  kinds,  drank  what  they 
could,  and  sold  the  rest  to  the  Europeans.  The 
finest  champagnes  of  Clicquot  and  Perrier- Jouet,  and 
the  best  brandies  of  Martel  and  Hennessey,  were  sell- 
ing for  sixpence  a  bottle.  So  a  reign  of  intoxication 
commenced  which,  for  a  while,  subverted  all  mili- 
tary authority,  and  made  us  as  helpless  as  children. 
This  was  an  enemy  for  which  Neill  was  not  prepared ; 
but  his  clear  brain  soon  discerned  the  means  of  meet- 
ing and  subduing  it.  He  directed  the  Commissariat 
Officers  to  purchase,  at  the  prices  asked  by  the  Sikhs, 
all  the  liquor  remaining  in  their  hands,  and  to  lodge 
it  securely  in  the  Government  stores.  This  done,  the 
removal  of  the  Sikhs  to  quarters  outside  the  Fort  was 
comparatively  easy;  but  it  was  not  to  be  done  by 
force.  He  had  taken  counsel  with  Brasyer  and  with 
the  energetic  Magistrate  Court,  and  it  had  been  de- 
termined that  the  characteristic  greed  of  the  Sikhs 
should  still  be  stimulated  by  thoughts  of  the  plunder 
of  some  of  the  rebel  zemindarrees.     So  they  were 


266  BENASES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  persuaded  to  take  up  a  position  in  some  old  Govem- 
Jnnc  15.  ment  buildings  outside  the  Fort,  commanded  by  the 
guns  on  its  ramparts. 
Attack  on  the  Having  thus  overcome  the  difficulties  which  lay  in 
^^^^  '  his  path,  Neill  addressed  himself  earnestly  to  the 
work  before  him — ^the  dispersal  of  the  rebels  and  the 
restoration  of  order.  On  the  15th  of  June,  having 
sent  off  the  Christian  women  and  children  in  a  river 
steamer  to  Calcutta,  he  turned  his  available  resources 
to  the  best  account,  and  made  an  impression  on  the 
enemy,  which  greatly  disheartened  and  enfeebled 
them.  Having  directed  the  guns  of  the  Fort  to  open 
upon  the  villages  or  suburbs  of  Kydgunj  and  Moole- 
gunj,  he  sent  Harward,  with  a  howitzer  and  a  party 
of  volunteer  riflemen  on  board  a  steamer,  to  operate 
from  the  river,  and  marched  a  detachment  of  Fusiliers, 
Sikhs,  and  Irregular  Cavalry  upon  the  villages,  with 
orders  to  scour  them  thoroughly  and  penetrate  into 
the  country  beyond.  The  land  party  met  with 
stalwart  opposition,  but  the  rush  of  the  Sikhs  was 
irresistible.  They  swept  through  the  villages,  and 
such  was  the  terror  that  our  demonstration  on  that 
day  inspired,  that  when  night  fell,  the  Insurgent 
leaders  sought  safety  in  flight,  and  deserted  the  guns, 
which  they  had  taken  from  us,  and  the  prisoners 
whom  they  had  captured  at  the  commencement  of 
the  outbreak;  and  among  them  was  young  Cheek, 
of  whose  fate  I  have  already  spoken,  and  who  was 
rescued  only  to  die.* 
The  aspect  of  affairs  now  began  rapidly  to  im- 

*  The  Allahabad  Yoknteers  showed  locks  at  that  time  being  as  valuable 

great  spirit  and  plack,  erring,  how-  as  European  soldiers.    "These  gen- 

ever,  on  the  side  of  exuberance,  tlemen  volunteers,"  he  characterise 

Neill  complained  bitterly  that  upon  ticall^r  added,  "behave  so  lawlessly 

this  occasion  tbe^  had  impeded  his  and   insubordinately,  that   I   have 

operations  bv  "firing  upon  a  herd  of  threatened  to  shoot  or  hang  a  few  if 

buUocks,  ana  other  madness" — bul-  they  do  not  improve." 


FLIGHT  OF  THE  MOULAVEE.  267 

prove.  "  On  the  17th  the  Magistrate  proceeded  to  1867. 
the  Ootwallee,  and  there  restored  his  own  authority  ^^^  ^'^' 
and  installed  his  own  officers."  "  No  resistance,"  it  is 
added,  "  was  oflfered,  and  the  whole  place  seemed 
deserted."*  A  terrible  rumour  had  been  running 
through  the  streets  of  Allahabad.  It  had  been  re- 
ported that  the  English  in  the  Fort  were  about  to 
bombard  the  city.  What  was  the  origin  of  the  story 
it  is  hard  to  say.  It  may  have  grown  up,  as  other 
rumours  grew  up,  in  the  hotbed  of  a  people's  fears ; 
or  it  may  have  been  propagated  by  those  whose  in- 
terest it  was  to  sweep  out  the  insurgents,  t  But  from 
whatsoever  source  it  sprung,  it  was  almost  magical  in 
its  eflPects.  Nothing  that  the  Moulavee  and  his  lieu- 
tenants could  do  to  reassure  the  minds  of  the  people 
had  availed  to  allay  the  panic  and  restrain  the  flight, 
and  before  nightfall,  on  the  day  of  Neill's  victory, 
according  to  the  Moulavee's  own  story,  "  not  a  house 
was  tenanted,  and  not  a  light  was  to  be  seen  in 
the  city."  Lyakut  Ali  himself  had  escaped  towards 
Cawnpore. 

On  the  18th,  Neill  marched  out  again  with  his 
whole  force.  Sending  one  detachment  to  attack  the 
Pathan  village  of  Derryabad  and  the  Mehwattee 
villages  of  Syderbad  and  Russelpore,  he  led  the  main 

•  Report  of  Mr.  Fcndall  Thomp-  it  with  shot  and  shell.     To  show 

son.  the  sincerity  of  their  advice,  these 

f  The  following  is  the  Monlavee's  men,  with  their  followers,  set  off, 

account  of  the  evacuation.    *'  Some  giving  out  to  all  that  they  had  left 

evil-minded  men,"  he  said,  "who  their  nouses  and  property  to  God's 

had  sided  with  '  the  accursed  ones/  protection,  and  were  going  to  save 

urged  that  for  a  time  the  Fort  would  themselves  by  flight.     On  hearing 

be  a  safe  retreat,  and  that  if  they  this  fearful  report,  the  people,  not- 

would  remain  in  it  a  few  days  longer,  withstanding  my  repeated  injuno- 

they  (the  evil-minded  Natives)  would  tions,  commenced  a  precipitate  flight, 

contrive  to  spread  abroad  in  the  city  with  their  families  and  goods.  — 

fearful  reports  that  the  English  were  Penoannah  addressed  by  the  Moulavee 

preparing  the  Artillery  of  the  Tort  Lyakut  AH,  apparently  to  the  King 

to  destroy  the  citv,  and  that  before  of  Delhi. — Supplement  to  Allahabad 

dawn  ihey  wotild  begin  bombarding  Official  Narrative. 


268  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1857.  body  into  the  city,  which  he  found  deserted,  and 
June  18.  afterwards  halted  them  in  the  now-desolated  canton- 
ment on  the  old  parade-ground  of  the  Sixth.  The 
fighting  was  now  over.  The  work  had  been  done. 
The  English  were  masters,  not  merely  of  the  Fort, 
but  of  the  recovered  city,  and  the  European  station 
from  which  they  had  been  driven  scarcely  two  weeks 
before.  And  now  there  lay  before  them  the  great 
question — the  most  difficult,  perhaps,  which  soldiers 
and  statesmen  ever  have  the  responsibility  of  solving 
—  whether,  after  such  convulsions  as  have  been 
illustrated  in  these  pages,  true  righteousness  and 
true  wisdom  consisted  in  extending  the  hand  of 
mercy  and  aiming  at  conciliation,  or  in  dealing  out  a 
stem  and  terrible  retribution.  Our  soldiers  and 
statesmen  in  June,  1857,  at  Allahabad,  solved  the 
question  in  practice  by  adopting  the  latter  course. 


Retribution.  Over  the  whole  history  of  the  Sepoy  War — over 
the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  country  which 
witnessed  its  manifold  horrors — ^there  is  no  darker 
cloud  than  that  which  gathered  over  Allahabad  in 
this  terrible  summer.  It  is  an  early  chapter  of  the 
chronicle  of  the  great  conflict  of  races  which  I  am 
now  writing ;  and  though  foul  crimes  had  even  then 
been  committed  by  our  enemies,  they  were  light  in 
comparison  with  what  were  to  come,  and  the  retribu- 
tion also  was  light.*    Perhaps,  however,  the  English- 

*  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  at  AUj,  brought  in  for  having  joined 

this  time  an  impression  was  abroad  the  Monlavee  and  insurgents.  Three 

that    acts    of  barbarity  had   been  witnesses  saw  him.     He  had  served 

committed,  which  were  afterwards  about  twenty  years.    Direct  his  im- 

doubted,  if  not  wholly  disproved.    I  mediate  execution  by  hanging.  This 

find  the  following  in  Keill's  Journal,  is  the  sixth  unfortunate  wretch  I 

underdate  Junel7,  MS. :  *'ASowar  have  ordered  for  immediate  death, 

of  Mr.  Court's^  named  Syed  Esau  a  duty  I  never  contemplated  having 


BETBIBUTION.  269 

man  had  at  this  time  a  keener  sense  than  afterwards  1857. 
possessed  him  of  the  humiliation  which  had  been  put'^'^^®  18—80. 
upon  his  conquering  race.  Much  of  the  anguish  was 
in  the  novelty  of  the  thing.  The  sting,  though  it 
struck  deeper,  was  afterwards  less  severely  felt,  be- 
cause the  flesh  had  become  indurated,  and  the  nerves 
were  more  tensely  strung.  So  it  happened  that  whilst 
the  first  bitterness  of  our  degradation — ^the  degrada- 
tion of  fearing  those  whom  we  had  taught  to  fear  us 
— ^was  still  fresh  upon  ouf  people,  there  came  a  sudden 
accession  of  stout  English  hearts  and  strong  English 
hands,  ready  at  once  to  punish  and  to  awe.  Martial 
Law  had  been  proclaimed ;  those  terrible  Acts  passed 
by  the  Legislative  Council  in  May  and  June  were  in 
full  operation  ;  and  soldiers  and  civilians  alike  were 
holding  Bloody  Assize,  or  slaying  Natives  without 
any  assize  at  all,  regardless  of  sex  or  age.  Afterwards, 
the  thirst  for  blood  grew  stronger  still.  It  is  on 
the  records  of  our  British  Parliament,  in  papers  sent 
home  by  the  Governor-General  of  India  in  Council, 
that  "  the  aged,  women,  and  children,  are  sacrificed, 

to  perform.    God  grant  1  may  have  niii^  and  her  father,  a  clergyman  at 

acted  with  justice.    I  know  I  haye  Demi,  are  both  bnitallj^  murdered  in 

with  severity,  but.  under  all  the  cir-  the  palace  before  the  king,  she,  poor 

cumstances  I  trust  for  forgiveness,  creature,  subjected  to  the  most  un- 

I  have  done  all  for  the  ^ood  of  my  heard-of  indignities  and  torture  be- 

country,  to  re-establish  its  prestige  forehand."     I  have  already  stated 

and  power,  and  to  put  down  this  that  Miss  Jennings  was  murdered, 

most  barbarous,  inhuman  insurrec-  not  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  and 

tion.  The  instances  of  refined  cruelty,  that  she  was  not  outraged  (ante,  page 

treachery,  and  the  most  brutal  bar-  80).   Mrs.  Cliambers  was  murdered, 

/   barity,  are  too  numerous.   One  poor  as    is    stated,  by  a   butcher,   and 

lady,  Mrs.  Macdonald,  at  Meerut,  her  murderer  was  hun^  (ante,  paffe 

near  her   confinement,  is  brutally  69).    I  can  find  no  evidence  of  tuo 

treated ;  has  her  nose,  ears,  hands,  mutilations  said  to  have  been  inflicted 

and  breasts  cut  off,  and  at  last  has  on  Mrs.  Macdonald.    I  have  quoted 

tlie  child  cut  out   of  her.     Mrs.  this  passage  from  Neill's   Journal 

Chambers,  a  .beautiful  young  girl,  mainly  to  show  that  he  had  a  strong 

only  just  come  out  married  from  religious  sense  of  his  responsibility, 

home,  at  the  same  place,  has  her  and  that  his  executions  were  not  as 

throat  cut  by  a  butcher.    Miss  Jen-  numerous  as  has  been  asserted. 


270  BENAAES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

* 

1857.  as  well  as  those  guilty  of  rebellion.'^*  They  were  not 
June  18—30.  deliberately  hanged,  but  burnt  to  death  in  their 
villages — ^perhaps  now  and  then  accidentally  shot. 
Englishmen  did  not  hesitate  to  boast,  or  to  record 
their  boastings  in  writing,  that  they  had  "spared 
no  one,"  and  that  "  peppering  away  at  niggers " 
was  very  pleasant  pastime,  "enjoyed  amazingly. "f 
And  it  has  been  stated,  in  a  book  patronised  by  high 
official  authorities,  that  "  for  three  months  eight 
dead-caxts  daUy  went  their  rounds  from  sunrise  to 
sunset  to  take  down  the  corpses  which  hung  at  the 
cross-roads  and  market-places,"  and  that  "  six  thou- 
sand beings  "  had  been  thus  "  summarily  disposed  of 
and  launched  into  etemity."J 

I  merely  state  these  things.  There  are  some  ques- 
tions so  stupendous  that  human  weakness  may  well 
leave  it  to  the  Almighty  Wisdom  to  decide  them. 
There  is  a  dreadful  story  to  be  told  in  another  chapter. 
God  only  knows  whether  what  has  been  told  in  this 
contributed  to  the  results  to  be  presently  recorded. 
But  there  is  one  great  lesson  to  be  learnt  from  the 
tragedies  of  Benares  and  Allahabad.  *  It  is  the  great 
lesson  of  Universal  Toleration.  An  Englishman  is 
almost  suflFocated  with  indignation  when  he  reads  that 
Mrs.  Chambers  or  Miss  Jennings  was  hacked  to  death 
by  a  dusky  ruffian ;  but  in  Native  histories,  or,  history 
being  wanting,  in  Native  legends  and  traditions,  it 
may  be  recorded  against  our  people,  that  mothers 
and  wives  and  <5hildren,  with  less  familiar  names,  fell 
miserable  victims  to   the   first   swoop   of  English 

*  Papers  presented  to  Parliament,  nauth  Chunder),  edited  by  Mr.  Tal- 

Pebrua^  4,  1858,  moved  for  byMr.  boys  Wheeler.      See  note    in  the 

Vernon  Smith,  formerly  President  of  Appendix.    I  believe  the  statement 

the  Board  of  Control,  and  signed  H.  in  the  text  to  be  an  exaggeration, 

D.  Seymour.  but  such  exaggerations  are  very  sig- 

Jlbid.  nificant. 
'*  Travels  of  a  Hindoo''  (Bholo- 


^ 


THE  COMMISSASUT.  271 

vengeance;  and  these  stories  may  have  as  deep  a      1857. 
pathos  as  any  that  rend  our  own  hearts.     It  may  be,  ^^^  18--30. 
too,  that  the  plea  of  provocation,  which  invests  the 
most  sanguinary  acts  of  the  white  man  in  this  deadly  ^ 

struggle  with  the  attributes  of  righteous  retribution, 
is  not  wholly  to  be  rejected  when  urged  in  extenua- 
tion of  the  worst  deeds  of  those  who  have  never 
known  Christian  teaching. 


Whilst  Neill  was  thus  re-establishing  British  Preparations 
authority  at  Allahabad,  he  was  depressed  by  the  advance, 
thought  of  the  danger  surroundmg  his  countrymen 
at  Cawnpore  and  Lucknow,  and  eager  to  equip  a 
force  with  the  utmost  possible  despatch  for  the  relief 
of  those  important  posts.  Men  were  available  for 
the  purpose,  but  means  were  wanting.  The  scarcity 
of  provisions  suitable  to  the  English  soldier,  con- 
cerning which  Mr.  Tucker  had  written  to  Lord 
Canning,  and  which  the  Governor-General  was  taking 
prompt  measures  to  rectify,  was  one  great  impedi- 
ment  to  the  desired  movement.  There  was,  too,  a 
want  of  carriage.  Large  numbers  of  Commissariat 
bullocks  had  been  collected  for  the  service  of  the 
Army,  but,  on  the  first  burst  of  the  rebellion,  the 
insurgents  had  swept  them  away,  and  of  all  the  losses 
we  sustained  this  was,  perhaps,  the  most  grievous. 
Then,  too,  there  was  a  want  of  tents.  There  was  a 
want  of  well  nigh  everything  required  by  British 
troops  in  the  worst  part  of  the  Indian  summer,  when 
the  intolerable  heat  might  any  day  be  followed  by 
deluging  rains,  which  would  quickly  turn  the  baked 
earth  into  a  great  morass. 

It  was  no  fault  of  the  Commissariat  at  this  time 
that  the  arrangements  progressed  so  slowly.    Captain 


272  BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 

1867.  Davidson,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  department, 
June  18—30.  did  all  that  could  be  done  to  collect  supplies  and  car- 
riage ;  but  the  convulsions  of  the  preceding  fortnight 
had  dispersed  the  people  upon  whom  he  would  have 
relied  for  aid,  and  well  nigh  destroyed  the  resources 
of  the  place.  Those  who  would  have  come  forward 
as  contractors  at  such  a  time,  had  fled  in  dismay-^ 
some  from  the  violence  of  the  insurgents,  and  some, 
in  ignorant  terror,  from  the  anticipated  retribution  of 
the  English — and  many  had  returned  to  find  them- 
selves ruined.  Property  was  destroyed.  Industry 
was  paralysed.  The  great  incubus  of  fear  pressed 
universally  upon  the  trading  classes.  Whether  more 
might  have  been  done,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
outbreak,  to  save  the  supplies  then  in  hand — ^both 
the  property  of  the  Government  and  of  private  indi- 
viduals— ^was  not  now  the  question.  Davidson  had 
to  deal  with  things  as  the)^  were,  and  it  was  not  his 
fault  that  in  the  last  week  of  June  they  did  not  wear 
a  diflPerent  complexion.  Eager  as  Neill  was  to  push 
forwards,  he  could  not  discern  in  this  delayed  depart- 
mental action  any  just  ground  of  complaint.  It  was 
clear  to  him  that  the  evil  lay  in  the  circumstances  of 
his  position,  not  in  the  incapacity  of  his  agents.* 

*  It  is  right  that  Neill's  opinion  the  Commissariat  were  confined  to 

on  this  subject  should  be  stated  in  the    Fort   entirely.     The    steamer 

his  own  words.    Great  blame  was  Godowns  bad  been  gutted,  the  bazaar 

cast  on  the  Commissariat  by  cotem-  up  to  the  walls  of  the  Fort  plun* 

porary  journalists,  especially  by  the  dered,  in   the    occupation    or  the 

editor  of  the  Friend  of  India,  who  enemy,  your  contFactors  driven  away, 

published  an  article  with  the  sting-  and  their  property  either  plundered 

mg  title,  '*  How  Cawnpore  was  lost."  or  not  available  for  the  service  for 

Upon   this    Neill  very  generously  some  days  after  these  insurgents  had 

wrote  to  Captain  Davidson,  saying :  been  driven  away.    It  was  no  fault 

"The  editor  has  certainly  made  a  whatever  of  the  Commissariat  that 

mistake  in  stating  that  your  stores  it  should  have  been  reduced  to  the 

were  outside.    I  understood  that  all  condition  yours  was,  from  being  cut 

we  had  was  inside  the  Fort ;  and  off  from  outside,  and  the  dispersion 

when  I  joined,  and  until  the  insur-  of  your  people;  but  you  had  done 

gents  were  cleared  out  of  the  place,  all  you  could  before  the  outbreak  in 


THE  CHOLERA.  273 

And  soon  a  greater  evil  befel  him ;  for  whilst  he      18W. 
was  waitinff  for  means  to  equip  the  relieving  force,  "^""^  1^—30 

ri^    .  X    J  I.-      X  J     X       ,' The  outbreak 

t/holera  swept  down  upon  his  troops  and  struck  of  Cholera, 
them  with  terrific  suddenness.  The  intense  heat  of 
the  weather,  the  constant  exposure,  the  want  of 
wholesome  food,  and  the  abundance  of  stimulating 
liquors,  combined  to  facilitate  its  pestilential  ap- 
proaches. On  the  23rd  of  June  the  services  of  seventy 
men  had  been  lost  to  the  British  Commander.  "  We 
buried  twenty,  three  nights  ago,  at  one  funeral,"  wrote 
an  officer  of  the  Fusiliers,  "  and  the  shrieks  of  the 
dying  were  something  awful.  Two  poor  ladies  who 
were  living  over  the  hospital  died,  I  believe  from 
fright."  Then  other  very  grievous  wants  afflicted  our 
people.  Whilst  in  tliis  miserable  condition,  it  was 
discovered  that  nearly  everything  that  could  diminish 
the  miseries  of  the  sick  who  were  to  be  left  behind, 
or  enable  the  convalescent  to  move  forward,  was 
wanting  to  the  British  Commander.  The  reign  of 
terror  had  done  its  sure  work.  Camp-followers  of  all 
kinds  were  "  almost  unprocurable."  Whilst  our  in- 
valids lay  gasping  in  the  stifling  atmosphere  of  the 
improvised  hospitd,  there  were  few  or  none  to  puU 
the  punkah-ropes  or  to  water  the  tatties.  There  were 
few  dhoolies,  and,  as  workmen  were  not  to  be  ob- 
tained, none  could  be  made  j  and  if  they  had  been 
made,  there  would  have  been  no  bearers  to  carry 

storing  inside  the  Fort  sufficient  to  surpassed,  and  it  surprised  me  you 
make  us  independent  for  some  time,  were  so  soon  able  to  regain  posses- 
had  the  insurants  kept  hold  of  the  sion  of  the  resources  of  the  place, 
city.  In  consequence  of  your  being  and  enable  me  to  move  Benaud's 
cut  off  from  most  of  your  people  ana  detachment  on  the  30th."  This  was 
resources  outside,  you  were,  in  my  written  on  the  32nd  of  August.  It 
opinion,  at  the  time  I  arrived,  dis-  may  be  added,  that,  two  months 
organised,  in  so  far  as  unable  to  be&re,  Neill  had  written  in  his  iour- 
eouip  a  force  or  detachment  to  move,  nal  that  great  efforts  were  made  to 
The  exertions  of  yourself  and  officers,  get  in  supplies,  and  he  had  added, 
from  my  arrival  until  my  departure  "  Captain  Davidson  seems  to  be  a 
from  Allahabad,  could  not  have  been  most  energetic  man." — MS.  Corr, 

VOL.  II.  T 


274 


BENARES  AND  ALLAHABAD. 


llenaud's 
advance. 


1857.  them.*  For  everywhere  the  terror-stricken  Natives 
Jane  18-30.  stood  aloof  from  the  chastising  Englishmen.  It  was 
as  though  we  had  dried  up  the  wells  and  destroyed 
the  crops,  from  which  we  were  to  obtain  our  suste- 
nance. Without  the  aid  of  the  Natives  we  could  do 
nothing ;  and  yet  we  were  doing  our  best  to  drive 
them  far  beyond  the  glimmer  of  our  tents. 

And  so  the  last  day  of  June  found  Neill  still  at 
Allahabad.     Not  a  single  European  soldier  had  been 
sent  to  succour  Cawnpore.      But  on  the  afternoon 
of  that  day  a  detachment  was  to  start  under  Major 
Renaud  of  the  Madras  Fusiliers.    It  consisted  of  four 
hundred  European  soldiers,  three  hundred  Sikhs,  one 
hundred  troopers  of  Irregular  Cavalry,  and  two  guns. 
Renaud,  a  fine  soldier,  with  his  heart  in  his  work, 
had  received  written  instructions  from  Neill  as  to 
his  course  of  action;    and  he  had  become  the  not 
unwilling  recipient  of  orders  to  inflict  a  terrible  retri- 
bution  upon  all  suspected  of  guilty  complicity  in 
the  foul  designs  of  the  enemy.     But  indiscriminate 
slaughter  was  no  part  of  the  commission.     "  Attack 
and  destroy,"  wrote  Neill,  "  all  places  en  route  close 
to  the  road  occupied  by  the  enemy,  but  touch  no 
others;   encourage  the  inhabitants  to  return,   and 
instil  confidence  into  all  of  the  restoration  of  British 
authority."    Certain  guilty  villages  were  marked  out 
for  destruction,  and  all  the  men  inhabiting  them  were 
to  be  slaughtered.   All  Sepoys  of  mutinous  regiments 
not  giving  a  good  account  of  themselves  were  to  be 
hanged.     The  town  of  Futtehpore,  which  had  re- 
covered, too,  that  "  there  were  but 
sixteen  dhoolies  arailable  (although 
a  considerable  number  of  these  was 
a  primary  requisite  for  the  projected 
expedition),  and  all  materials  for 
making  others  were  wanting,  as  well 


*  Colonel  Neill  reported  that 
"followers  of  ail  kinds  are  almost 
unprocurable ;    there  are  but  few 

Eunkahs  and  no  tatties;  the  men 
ave,  therefore,  not  the  proper  ad- 
vantages of  barrack  accommodation 
for  this  hot  season."    It  was  dis- 


as  workmen. 


RENAUD'S  COLUMN.  ,  275 

volted,  was  to  be  attacked,  and  the  Pathan  quarters  1^57. 
destroyed,  with  all  their  inhabitants.  "  All  heads  of  ^^^^  ^^• 
insurgents,  particularly  at  Futtehpore,  to  be  hanged. 
If  the  Deputy-Collector  is  taken,  hang  him,  and  have 
his  head  cut  off  and  stuck  up  on  one  of  the  principal 
(Mahomedan)  buildings  of  the  town."*  And  whilst 
Renauds  column,  with  these  terrible  instructions, 
was  to  advance  along  the  straight  road  to  Cawnpore, 
Captain  Spurgin,  with  another  detachment,  was  to 
take  a  steamer  up  the  Ganges  to  the  same  point,  to 
co-operate  with  Renaud  on  his  march,  to  anchor  as 
near  as  possible  to  Wheeler's  entrenchments,  and  to 
place  the  vessel  at  Sir  Hugh's  disposal  for  the  rescue 
of  the  women  and  children,  the  sick  and  the  wounded, 
of  his  distressed  garrison. 

f  The  si|o;?iificauce  of  these  in-    rent  in  a  fatare  chapter,  wherein  the 
structions  will  be  made  more  appa-    story  of  Futtehpore  will  be  told. 


%*  It  should  have  been  observed,  at  page  259,  with  reference  to  the 
statement  that  "  those  terrible  Acts  passed  by  the  Legislative  (3ouncil  in 
May  and  July  were  in  full  operation/'  that,  in. addition  to  the  Act  of 
May  30  (already  recited),  another  was  passed  on  June  6,  extending  the 
powers  given  in  the  former:  "By  Act  No.  XIV.  of  1857,  passed  on  the 
6th  of  June,  provision  was  made  for  the  punishment  of  persons  convicted 
of  exciting  mutiny  or  sedition  in  the  army,  the  offender  was  rendered  liable 
to  the  punbhment  of  death  and  the  foifeiture  of  all  his  property;  and 
persons  guilty  of  harbouring  such  offenders  were  made  liable  to  heavy 
punishment.  Power  was  also  given  to  general  courts- martial  to  try  all 
persons,  whether  amenable  to  the  Articles  of  War  or  not,  charged  with  any* 
offence  punishable  by  this  or  the  preceding  Act;  and  the  Supreme  and 
Local  executive  governments  were  authorised  to  issue  commissions  in  any 
district,  for  the  trial  by  single  commissioners,  without  the  assistance  of 
law  officers  or  assessors,  and  with  absolute  and  final  power  of  judgment 
and  execution,  of  any  crime  against  the  State,  or  any  'heinous  offence' 
whatever;  the  term  'heinous  offence'  being  declared  to  include  every 
crime  attended  with  great  personal  violence,  or  committed  with  the  inten- 
tion of  forwarding  the  designs  of  those  who  are  waging  war  against  tiie 
State." — Despatch  of  OovemmeiU  of  India  to  Court  of  Direeton,  Decem- 
ber 11, 1857. 


T  2 


276  CAWKFOKE. 


CHAPTER  II. 


ABBIYAL  07  HAVSLOCK  AT  ALLAHABAD^UEETING  WITH  NEILL — ^ADVAKCE 
OP  KENAUD — HAVELOCR's  BRIGADE — CAWVFOEE — ^THB  Cni — THE  CAN- 
TONMENT— SIB  HUGH  WHEELER — DANGERS  OP  HIS  POSITION — THE  EN- 
TRENCHMENTS—REYOLT  OP  THE  NATIVE  REGIMENTS— DOONDOO  PUNT, 
"nana  sahib"— the  SIEGE — THE  CAPITULATION — MASSACRE  AT  THE 
GHAUT— ESCAPE  OP  A  SOLITART  BOAT — ITS  ADVENTURES  ON  THE  RIVER- 
HEROIC  DEEDS  OP  THOMSON  AND  DELAPOSSE. 


1867.  On  that  30th  of  June — a  day  rendered  memorable 

June.  in  the  history  of  the  revolt  by  a  great  event  to  be 
hereafter  narrated  —  a  new  actor  appeared  on  the 
scene  at  Allahabad.  On  that  morning  a  soldier  of 
high  rank  and  high  reputation  arrived  from  Calcutta. 
His  arrival  would  have  been  welcomed  by  all  men, 
for  good  soldiers  were  sorely  needed,  bujt  there  was 
one  adverse  circumstance,  which  detracted  from  the 
general  delight.  The  officer  who  had  come  up  by 
dawk,  with  a  special  commission  from  Government 
to  take  command  of  the  troops  advancing  to  the 
relief  of  Cawnpore  and  Lucknow,  thereby,  in  virtue 
of  seniority,  superseded  Colonel  Isfeill,  in  whom  all 
men  had  a  steadfast  faith.  Three  days  before  the 
arrival  of  the  officer  who  was  to  supersede  him,  he 
had  written  to  the  Governor-General,  saying,  ''We 
are  getting  on  well  here,  laying  in  grain  and  collect- 
ing carriage  for  Brigadier  Havelock's  Brigade."  There 


■"■'I  ''       t    mtm    M   ^i^woMPMi  mwi^a^ip    -^  ■  .k^^.a  >.,_^k.-_^  .■'-^^'"S^rgZZ'  "i    ■■■■.■<    ,■ 


HENRT  HAYELOGK.  277 

might  seem  to  be  some  taint  of  bitterness  in  these  1857. 
words.  But  Neill  did  not  slacken  in  his  exertions  '^*"®* 
because  the  brigade,  which  he  had  hoped  himself  to 
command,  was  to  be  commanded  by  another.  He  had 
learnt  some  days  before  that  it  would  not  devolve 
upon  him  to  rescue  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler  and  his  com- 
rades, if  already  destruction  had  not  descended  upon 
them ;  but  he  had  pushed  forward  his  preparations 
for  the  advance  with  the  utmost  possible  despatch,  as 
though  there  had  been  no  one  coming,  after  he  had 
borne  so  long  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  to 
gather  up  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  and  to  snatch  from 
him  the  glory  which  he  coveted.  But  recognising  the 
chances  of  the  service,  to  which  every  soldier  must 
submit,  he  neither  complained  nor  repined,  but  waited 
for  his  own  time,  feeling  sure  that  it  would  come. 


He  was  no  common  man  who  had  now  arrived  to  Hatelock. 
command  the  brigade.  Colonel  Henry  Havelock 
was  a  veteran  officer  of  the  Queen's  Army;  but 
during  his  forty  years  of  service  he  had  done  as  much 
good  Indian  work,  in  camp  and  cantonment,  as  if  he 
had  been  attached  to  one  of  the  regiments  of  the  Com- 
pany in  the  old  days,  when  officers  did  not  live  on 
furlough.  He  had  fought  in  Burmah  and  in  Afghan- 
istan, and  was  familiar  with  nearly  every  great  miU- 
tary  station  lying  between  those  two  extreme  points. 
He  had  tested  the  temper  of  Mahratta  armies  in 
Central  India,  and  of  the  old  Sikh  battalions  in  the 
zenith  of  their  warlike  pride.  He  was  every  inch 
a  soldier.  Military  glory  was  the  passion  of  his 
life.  But  he  was  a  man  of  the  middle  classes,  with- 
out powerful  interest  or  wealthy  connexions,  having 
only  his  own  merit  to  recommend  him ;  and  he  had 


278  CAWNPORE. 

1S57.  risen  slowly  from  siibaltem  to  captain,  from  cap- 
•^"°®-  tain  to  field-officer,  and  now,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
two,  he  had  never  held  an  independent  command ; 
he  had  never  been  permitted  to  realise  that  great 
dream  of  his  youth,  that  great  ambition  of  his  man- 
hood^—to  head  an  army  in  the  battle-field.  For 
nearly  half  a  century  he  had  been  sedulously  study- 
ing his  profession,  reading  every  military  memoir 
that  he  could  obtain,  English  or  Continental,  and 
turning  his  matured  knowledge  to  account  by  con- 
tributing  from  the  wealth  of  his  own  personal  ex- 
periences to  th§  military  history  of  his  country.  In 
a  thorough,  artistic  knowledge  of  the  principles  of 
European  warfare,  no  soldier  in  the  country  surpassed 
him.  There  was  no  disinclination  anywhere  to  ac- 
knowledge this;  but  some  thought  that  he  was  a 
theorist  and  a  pedant,  and  doubted  whether  all  his 
book-learning  would  profit  him  much  amidst  the 
stem  realities  of  active  service. 

This  mistrust  was,  perhaps;  in  some  measure  engen- 
dered by  the  fact  that  Henry  Havelock  was  what  in 
the  light  language  of  the  camp  was  called  a  "  saint." 
A  man  of  strong  religious  convictions,  he  had  married 
a  daughter  of  the  great  Baptist  Apostle,  Dr.  Marsh- 
man  of  Serampore.  This  alliance,  which  was  one  of 
unmixed  happiness  to  him,  was  followed  by  his  public 
acceptance  of  the  tenets  and  formularies  of  the  great 
and  enlightened  sect  of  Protestant  Christianity  in 
which  his  wife  had  been  nurtured  and  reared.  There 
was  laughter  and  ridicule  from  the  profane,  but, 
perhaps,  little  surprise  anywhere ;  for  Havelock  had 
ever  been  a  God-fearing,  self-denying  man;  some- 
what rigid  and  austere ;  and  having  only  Christian 
people  to  deal  with,  he  had  not  hesitated  to  teach 
them  to  be  good  men  as  well  as  good  soldiers.    Even 


HENRT  HAVELOCK.  279 

in  his  first  campaign,  thirty  years  before  the  period  1857. 
to  which  this  History  relates,  the  company  which  he  •^"°^* 
commanded  was  known  as  "  Havelock's  saints" — ^men 
who  were  never  drunk  and  always  ready  for  service. 
But  the  Christian  zeal  of  Henry  Havelock  never 
overlaid  his  martial  instincts.  He  was  thoroughly 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind  that  war  was  righteous 
and  carnage  beautiful.  And  ever  as  years  went  on, 
and  his  hair  grew  white,  and  his  features  sharpened, 
and  his  small  spare  figure  lost  the  elasticity,  though 
never  the  erectness  of  his  prime,  he  cherished  the 
same  strong  desire  to  commaud  an  army  in  the  field. 
He  has  often  been  likened  to  one  of  the  Puritan 
warriors  of  the  Great  Rebellion,  and  it  has  been  said 
that  "  a  more  simple-minded,  upright.  God-fearing 
soldier  was  not  among  Cromwell's  Ironsides."* 

He  was  Adjutant-General  of  Queen's  troops  in 
India,  when,  in  the  cold  weather  of  1856-57,  he 
was  selected  by  Sir  James  Outram  to  command  a 
division  of  the  Army  then  embarking  for  Persia ;  and, 
with  the  permission  of  the  Commander-in-Chief;  he 
proceeded  to  Bombay  to  join  the  force  with  the  rank 
of  Brigadier-General.  Small  opportunity  of  gaining 
distinction  was  permitted  to  him,  for  the  war  speedily 
collapsed,  and  the  sword  was  returned  to  the  scab- 
bard. On  the  5th  of  April,  when  Havelock  was 
mustering  his  division  for  church  service,  Outram 
announced  to  him  that  a  treaty  of  peace  had  been 
signed.  Of  all  the  bountiful  ^lustrations  of  God's 
providence  working  in  our  behalf,  which  that  event- 
ful year  witnessed,  this  was  perhaps  the  most  signal. 
It  was  a  merciful  deliverance  beyond  the  power  of 
words  fully  to  express.  Havelock  did  not  then  know 
its  full  significance ;  but  in  a  little  while  he  acknow- 

*  Weitmituter  Revieto,  quoted  by  Mr.  Montgomery  Martiii* 


280  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  ledged  with  thanksgiving  the  abundant  goodness  of 
Jun«.  Qq^  in  ^ii^g  getting  free  so  many  European  regi- 
ments. Quitting  Mohamrah  on  the  15th  of  May, 
he  was  at  Bombay  on  the  29th.  It  had  been  his  first 
thought  to  rejoin  the  Head-Quarters  of  the  Army 
by  a  landward  march,  but,  after  consulting  Lord 
Elphinstone  and  his  Military  Secretary,  it  appeared 
to  him  that  the  journey  was  not  practicable ;  so  he 
took  ship  for  Galle,  hoping  there  to  catch  a  steamer 
for  Calcutta.  Off  Cultura,  in  Ceylon,  the  vessel  went 
aground  at  night,  and  was  in  infinite  danger  of  going 
<o  pieces  before  assistance  could  come  from  shore. 
Mercifully  delivered  from  the  waves,  he  made  his 
way  to  Galle,  found  a  steamer  there,  which  had 
been  despatched  for  European  troops,  and  embarked 
for  Madras.  There  he  found  that  Sir  Patrick  Grant, 
the  Commander-in-Chief  of  that  Presidency,  had  been 
summoned  to  Calcutta,  and  was  waiting  for  the  Fire 
Queen  to  convey  him  to  the  Hooghly. 
Sir  Patrick  It  was  of  no  Small  importance  that  Lord  Canning 
should  receive  the  advice  and  assistance  of  an  expe- 
rienced officer  of  the  Bengal  Army,  acquainted  with 
the  character  and  the  temper  of  the  Native  soldiery 
and  versed  in  all  military  details.  Sir  Patrick  Grant 
had  been  Adjutant- General  of  the  Army  of  the 
chief  Presidency;  he  had  seen  hard  service  in  the 
field;  and  he  was  held  in  esteem  both  as  a  good 
soldier  and  as  a  ripe  military  administrator.  When, 
therefore,  tidings  of  General  Anson's  death  reached 
Lord  Canning,*  he  placed  himself  at  once  in  cpmmu- 

*  This  was  on  the  3rd  of  Jane,  blow  in  tbe  midst  of  present  troubles. 

The  first  intelligence  came  from  Sir  But  this  is  not  a  time  to  be  depressed 

John  Lawrence  at  Rawnl  Findee.  by  any  calamity,  when  every  effort 

Writing  to  England  on  the  following  must  be  made  to  keep  up  tiie  hearts 

day,  Lord  Canning  said :  "  It  comes  of  those  around  us.    I  assure  you 

upon  me  as  a  sad  and  dispiriting  that  they  need  it,  though  I  am  glad 


Grant. 


HENRT  HAYELOCK.  281 

nication  with  Grant.  Having  previously  telegraphed  1857. 
to  Madras,  on  the  6  th  of  June  the  Governor-General  ^^^' 
wrote  to  him,  saying,  "My  first  impulse  was  to  send 
for  you  to  fill  the  place  of  acting  Commander-in- 
Chief,  and  every  day's  deliberate  consideration  has 
confirmed  it.  I  am  satisfied  that  there  is  no  man 
who  can  so  well  serve  the  State  at  this  crisis  as  your- 
self, and  I  earnestly  beg  you  to  come  to  Calcutta  as 
soon  as  you  can.  Should  this  not  reach  you  in  time 
to  allow  of  your  coming  by  the  next  packet,  perhaps 
a  sailing  vessel  could  be  taken  up,  by  which  time 
would  be  saved.  But  you  will  judge  of  this.  I  would 
have  sent  a  steamer  for  you  two  days  ago,  but  I  have 
none  here  but  the  Assaye^  and  she  must  go  to  Ran- 
goon for  the  Twenty-ninth  as  soon  as  she  is  coaled. 
The  storm  has  not  begun  to  clear  yet,  nor  will  it  till 
Delhi  falls."  So  Grant  and  Havelock,  embarking 
together,  steamed  up  the  Bay  to  Calcutta,  and  arrived 
there  on  the  1 7th  of  June.  It  was  a  source  of  great 
personal  happiness  to  the  latter  that  he  was  accom- 
panied by  his  son,  then  a  subaltern  of  the  Tenth 
Foot,  in  whom  already  were  discernible  aU  the  in- 
stincts and  capacities  which  combine  to  make  a  good 
soldier. 

For  a  man  eager  for  military  service  on  an  ex- 
tended field  of  action,  no  time  could  be  more  pro- 
pitious. Welccnne,  indeed,  to  Lord  Canning  was  the 
advent  of  so  tried  and  capable  a  soldier  as  Havelock ; 
and  Patrick  Grant,  who  well  knew  his  worth,  was 
forward  to  recommend  him  for  immediate  employ- 
ment. News  had  come  that  Benares  had  been  saved ; 
but  the  fate  of  Allahabad  was  still  doubtful,  and 

to  say  that  the  panic  which  had  to  Sir  Patrick  Grant  to  come  to  Cal- 
seized  the  Calcutta  world  when  the  cutta  immediately  to  assame  the 
last  mail  left  is,  in  a  measure,  sup-  office  of  acting  Commander  -  in- 
pressed.  ....  I  haye  telegraphed  Chief."— Jfi^.  Correspondence, 


282  CAWNPORE. 

1867.      Cawnpore  and  Lucknow  were  girt  around  by  deadly 
June,      p^j^i     j^  ^Qg  ^j^g  work  of  Government  at  this  time, 

not  only  to  push  forward  every  available  European 
soldier,  but  to  take  steps  to  turn  those  reinforcements 
to  the  best  account  by  wise  and  skilful  organisation. 
Havelock  had  already  mapped  out  a  plan  of  opera- 
tions, the  formation  of  a  movable  column,  acting 
upwards  from  the  Lower  Provinces,  being  a  part  of 
it;  and  this  column  he  was  commissioned  to  com- 
•  mand,  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General.  He  was 
directed,  "  after  quelling  all  dbturbances  at  Allaha- 
bad, not  to  lose  a  moment  in  supporting  Sir  Henry 
Lawrence  at  Lucknow  and  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler  at 
Cawnpore,"  and  to  "  take  prompt  measures  for  dis- 
persing and  utterly  destroying  all  mutineers  and  in- 
surgents." The  sovereign  importance  of  swift  action 
was  earnestly  impressed  upon  him,  and  it  was  added 
that  the  Commander-in-Chief,  having  "  entire  confi- 
dence in  his  well-known  and  often-proved  high  ability, 
vigour,  and  judgment,"  refrained  from  giving  more 
definite  instructions,  and  left  him  to  shape  his  move- 
ments according  to  the  circumstances  that  might 
develop  themselves.* 

The  ambitious  hopes  of  a  life  were  now  on  the 
point  of  absolute  fulfilment.  He  had  an  independent 
command ;  no  one  to  control  his  movements  in  the 
field;  no  one  to  hamper  his  individual  judgment. 
But  with  all  his  self-reliance,  he  rested,  in  his  human 
weakness,  more  on  the  mighty  arm  of  the  God  of 
Battles.  "  May  God,"  he  said,  "  give  me  wisdom  to 
fulfil  the  expectations  of  Government,  and  to  restore 
tranquillity  in  the  disturbed  districts."  There  were 
some  circumstances  against  him.  It  was  the  worst 
season  of  the  year  for  military  operations.   The  altcr- 

*  Marshman's  Life  of  Havelock. 


HENRT  HAVELOCK.  283 

nations  of  scorching  heat  and  drenching  rain,  which  1857. 
are  the  atmospherical  necessities  of  an  Indian  July,  "^^^^ 
were  trying  in  the  extreme  to  the  European  soldier. 
His  force  was  to  consist  of  four  regiments  of  Infantry, 
with  Cavalry  and  Artillery.  Two  of  these  regiments, 
the  Sixty-fourth  and  the  Seventy-eighth  Highlanders, 
had  belonged  to  his  old  Persian  division ;  and  this 
was  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  him.  But  he  was 
sorely  distressed  when  he  thought  of  the  want  of 
horse,  the  want  of  guns,  and  the  want  of  gunners, 
and  the  certain  scarcity  of  carriage  which  would, 
perplex  him  at  Allahabad,  where  his  force  was  to  be 
formed,  owing  to  the  heavy  loss  of  Commissariat 
cattle  which  had  been  sustained  by  us  during  the 
disorders  of  that  place.  Still,  full  of  heart  and  hope, 
he  took  his  leave  of  the  Governor-General  and  the 
Commander-in-Chief,  and  turned  his  back  on  Calcutta, 
proceeding  upwards  by  dawk,  on  the  25th  of  June. 


And  now,  on  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  the  Hayelock  and 
month,,  he  was  breakfasting  with  Neill  at  Allahabad.  ^^^^' 
Much  had  these  two  fine  soldiers  to  say  to  each  other. 
Neill  had  to  report  what  had  been  recently  done 
at  Allahabad.  His  instructions  to  Renaud  and 
Spurgin  were  brought  under  review,  and  were  cor- 
dially approved  by  Havelock.  Nothing  could  have 
been  better  than  the  arrangements  which  had  been 
made  for  the  despatch  of  this  vanguard  of  the  reliev- 
ing army,  or  more  carefully  considered  than  all  the 
instructions  which*  had  been  issued.*     It  was  agreed 

*  These  instructions,  the  snb-  Indian  Officers"),  were  highly  com- 
stance  of  which  is  given  in  the  mended  by  Sir  Patrick  Grant,  who 
})receding  chapters  (and  which  were  wrote :  "  Your  instructions  to  Re- 
published verbatim  in  the  Memoir  naud  and  Spurgin  are  admirable,  and 
of  General  Neill,  in  the  '*  Lives  of  provide  for  every  possible  present 


i 


284  CAWNPORE. 

1867.      that  Renaud  should  advance  that  evening,  but  that 
"*•      the  steamer  which  was  to  carry  Spurgin  and  his  de- 
tachment should  not  steam  out  at  once,  as  its  progress 
would  be  more  rapid  than  that  of  the  marching 
column,  whose  advance  it  was  intended  to  cover. 
Advance  of        So  Renaud,  leading  the  van  of  the  relieving  force. 

Column!"  *^**  ^ft^^  ^^^S  <ielay  was  sent  on  to  save  our  im- 
perilled people  at  Cawnpore,  pressed  on,  proud  of 
his  commission,  and  eager  to  do  the  bidding  of  his 
chief.  It  was  a  grand  movement  in  advance — ^but, 
like  many  of  our  grand  movements,  the  heart-break- 
ing words  "Too  Late"  were  written  in  characters  of 
darkest  night  across  it.  On  they  marched  for  three 
days,  leaving  everywhere  behind  them  as  they  went 
traces  of  the  retributory  power  of  the  English  in  deso- 
lated villages  and  corpses  dangling  from  the  branches 
of  trees.*  But  on  the  2nd  or  3rd  of  July,f  a  Native 
spy,  sent  by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  from  Lucknow, 

circumstances  as  well  as  all  erentuali-  nand's  column  when  it  mored  out  in 
ties,  and  by  them,  and  them  only,  adrance  of  Havelock's  force,  told  me 
Benaud  should  have  been  guided,  that  the  executions  of  Natives  were 
I  hope  you  were  in  time  to  prevent  indiscriminate  to  the  last  degree.  .  . 
the  withdrawing  Spurgin's  detach-  In  two  days  fortjr-two  men  were 
ment  from  the  steamer,  and  that  the  hanged  on  tne  roadside,  and  a  batch 
vessel  has  proceeded  up  the  river  of  twelve  men  were  executed  be- 
according  to  your  original  intention,  caose  their  faces  were  '  turned  the 
Sending  ner  was  an  excellent  mea-  wrong  way*  when  they  were  met  on 
sure,  and  I  anticipate  most  favour-  the  march.  All  the  villages  in  his 
able  results  from  it,  and  she  will  be  front  were  burnt  when  he  halted, 
of  incalculable  value  in  collecting  These  'severities'  could  not  have 
boats  and  assisting  in  making  the  been  justified  by  the  Cawnpore 
passage  of  the  river  after  the  work  massacre,  because  thev  took  place 
to  be  done  at  Cawnpore  is  finished."  before  that  diabolical  act.  The 
— MS,  Correspondence,  officer  in  question  remonstrated  with 
*  I  should  be  untrue  to  history  if  Renaud,  on  the  ground  that,  if  he 
I  did  not  record  my  belief  that  these  persisted  in  this  course,  he  would 
retributory  measures  were  distin-  emptv  the  villages,  and  render  it  im- 
gnished  by  undue  severity.  William  possible  to  supply  the  army  with 
Kussell,  among  whose  many  high  provisions."  This  b  confirmed  by 
qualities  as  a  public  writer  truthful-  the  account  of  the  signs  of  retribu- 
ness  is  conspicuous,  records  the  fol-  tion  apparent  to  those  Who  followed 
lowing  in  his  "  Diary  in  India :"  "  In  in  the  wake  of  Renaud's  march, 
the  course  of  a  conversation  to-day,  ^  On  the  3rd,  Lieut.  Chalmers 
an  officer,  who  was  attached  to  Il]6*  rode  hito  Allahabad  with  the  news. 


RUMOUBED  LOSS  OF  CAWNPORE.  285 

came  into  Renaud's  camp,  and  announced  that  no-      18^7. 
thing  could  now  be  done  for  the  relief  of  Cawnpore.     ^^^  *• 
Wheeler  had  capitulated,  and  all  his  people  had  been 
mercilessly  destroyed. 

This  miserable  intelligence  was  received  with  dif- 
ferent emotions  by  Neill  and  Havelock.  The  former 
was  long  unwilling  to  believe  that  Cawnpore  had 
fallen.  He  looked  upon  the  story  as  an  invention  of 
the  enemy  intended  to  arrest  the  forward  movement 
of  the  Force  which  the  English  were  equipping  for 
its  relief  His  wish  was  father  to  the  thought ;  for, 
although  he  could  not  reproach  himself  for  the  delay 
that  had  occurred  in  the  despatch  of  reinforcements 
to  Wheeler's  help— delays,  which  had  the  full  sanc- 
tion of  the  highest  military  authority  in  the  country* 
— ^he  could  not,  without  reluctance,  accept  the  fact 
that  those  delays  had  shattered  all  his  hopes  of  suc- 
couring our  distressed  people,  and  had  turned  the 
relieving  force  into  an  army  of  retribution.  But 
Havelock  had  full  faith  in  the  disastrous  story.  Two 
spies  came  into  Allahabad.  They  spoke  of  what  they 
had  seen.  Examined  separately,  they  recited  the 
same  details;  there  were  no  contradictions  or  dis- 
crepancies in  their  evidence.  They  amply  confirmed 
the  reports  which  had  reached  Renaud's  Camp,  and 
had  been  sent  in  by  him  to  Allahabad.     Taking  these 

*  Sir  Patrick  Grant  had  written  again,  on  the  following  day :  '*  Far 
to  him  more  than  once  to  urge  him  be  it  from  me  to  hamper  you  in  any 
to  be  cautious,  and  not  to  strip  Al-  wa^— your  energy,  decision,  and  ac- 
lahabad  of  troops  or  to  send  an  in-  tivity  are  admirable ;  bnt  I  must 
sufficient  force  to  Cawnpore.  "  You  warn  you  to  be  cautious  not  to 
talk  of  an  early  advance  towards  commit  too  small  a  force  of  £uro- 
Cawnpore,  and  I  shall  be  right  ^lad  peans  towards  Cawnpore.  If  Delhi 
that  you  made  a  move  in  that  direc-  has  fallen,  as  we  believe  it  has,  the 
tion ;  but  I  pray  you  to  bear  in  fugitives  from  it  will  all  make  for 
mind  that  Alkhabaais  apoint  of  the  Cawnpore  and  Lucknow,  and  there 
very  ^atest  importance,  the  perfect  will  certiunly  be  an  immense  gather- 
security  of  whicn  ought  not  to  be  in^  of  scum  of  all  sorts  at  those 
neglected  on  any  account."     And  points."— Jfi^.  Correspondence. 


286  CAWNPOEE. 

1857.  different  views  of  the  actual  position  of  affairs  in 
June.  advance,  the  two  soldiers  differed  with  respect  to  the 
course  to  be  pursued.  Havelock  despatched  orders 
to  Renaud  to  stand  fast.  But  Neill  was  eager  for 
him  to  push  forward,  and  telegraphed  to  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief remonstrances  against  delay.  Have- 
lock argued  that  if  Cawnpore  had  fallen,  the  troops 
that  had  besieged  it  would  be  released  for  action 
elsewhere,  and  would  assuredly  move  down  in  im- 
mense numbers  to  intercept  the  advance  of  the 
coliunn  from  Allahabad,  and  utterly  to  overwhelm  it 
But  Neill,  still  thinking  the  report  a  ?i^e  of  the 
enemy,  eagerly  contended  that  all  would  be  lost  if 
we  faltered  at  such  a  moment.  Both  were  right  in 
their  several  deductions.  Time  proved  that  Havelock 
was  right  as  to  the  facts.  Cawnpore  had  fallen,  and 
the  garrison  had  been  destroyed  almost  to  a  man. 
How  it  happened — how  for  more  than  three  weeks 
the  little  band  of  heroic  Englishmen  had  stood  their 
ground  against  the  teeming  multitude  of  the  enemy, 
and  how  at  last  treachery  had  accomplished  what 
could  not  be  done  by  honest  fighting,  is  now  to  be 
told.  It  is  the  saddest  chapter  in  the  Avhole  history  of 
the  war — but,  perhaps,  the  brightest.  However  feeble 
the  recital,  no  Englishman  can  ever  read  it  withou* 
the  profoundest  emotions  both  of  pity  and  of  pride. 


The  City  of  The  city  or  town  of  Cawnpore  had  nothing  in  or 
Cawnpore.  about  it  to  make  it  famous  in  story.  It  had  no 
venerable  traditions,  no  ancient  historical  remains,  no 
architectural  attractions,  to  enable  it  to  rank  with 
Benares  or  Agra.  Commercially  it  shone  only  as 
the  city  of  the  workers- in-leather.  It  was  a  great 
emporium  for  harness  of  all  kinds,  and  for  boots  and 


ITS  CITY  AND  CANTONMENT.  287 

shoes  alike  of  the  Asiatic  and  the  European  types  of  1857. 
civilisation.  If  not  better,  these  articles  were  cheaper  ^*^* 
than  elsewhere,  and  few  English  officers  passed 
through  the  place  without  supplying  themselves  with 
leatherrware.  But  life  and  motion  were  neyer  want- 
ing to  the  place,  especially  on  the  river-side,  where 
many  stirring  signs  of  mercantile  activity  were  ever 
to  be  seen.  The  broad  waters  of  the  Ganges,  near 
the  Great  Ghaut,  floated  vessels  of  all  sizes  and  all  • 
shapes,  from  the  stately  venetianed  pinnace  to  the 
rude  open  "  dinghy,"  or  wherry ;  and  there  clustering 
about  the  landing-steps,  busy  with  or  idly  watching 
the  debarkation  of  produce  and  goods  of  varied  kinds, 
or  waiting  for  the  ferry-boats  that  crossed  and  re- 
crossed  the  Ganges,  were  to  be  seen  a  motley  assem- 
blage of  people  of  difierent  nations  and  difierent 
callings  and  different  costumes ;  whilst  a  continual 
Babel  of  many  voices  rose  from  the  excited  crowd. 
In  the  streets  of  the  town  itself  there  was  little  to 
evoke  remark.  But,  perhaps,  among  its  sixty  thou- 
sand inhabitants  there  may  have  been,  owing  to  its 
contiguity  to  the  borders  of  Oude,  rather  a  greater 
strength  than  common  of  the  "  dangerous  classes." 

The  station  of  Cawnpore  was  a  large,  straggling  The  Canton- 
place,  six  or  seven  miles  in  extent.  The  British  Unes  "^'^*- 
stretched  along  the  southern  bank  of  the  Ganges, 
which  about  midway  between  the  two  extremities  of 
the  cantonment  was  spanned  by  a  bridge  of  boats, 
leading  from  a  point  opposite  the  city  to  the  Lucknow 
road  on  the  other  bank.  There  was  nothing  peculiar 
to  Cawnpore  in  the  fact  that  the  private  dwelling- 
houses  and  public  offices  of  the  English  were  scattered 
about  in  the  most  promiscuous  manner,  as  though 
they  had  fallen  from  the  skies  or  been  projected  by 
an  earthquake.      At  the  north-western   extremity. 


288  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  lying  between  the  road  to  Bithoor  and  the  road  to 
^*y-  Delhi,  were  the  principal  houses  of  the  civilians,  the 
Treasury,  the  Gaol,  and  the  Mission  premises.  These 
buildings  lay  beyond  the  lines  of  the  military  canton- 
menjt,  in  the  extreme  north-western  comer  of  which 
was  the  Magazine.  In  the  centre,  between  the  city 
and  the  river,  were  the  Church,  the  Assembly  rooms, 
the  Theatre,  the  Telegraph  office,  and  other  public 
edifices ;  whilst  scattered  about  here  and  there,  with- 
out  any  apparent  system,  were  the  principal  mUitary 
buildings,  European  and  Native;  the  Native  lines  lying 
for  the  most  part  in  the  rear  towards  the  south- 
eastern point  of  the  cantonment.  It  was  the  essential 
condition  of  an  English  cantonment  that  it  should 
straggle,  and  there  was  not  one  more  straggling  than 
CaAvnpore.  But,  on  the  whole,  it  was  not  a  disagree- 
able, nor,  indeed,  an  inconvenient  place,  although 
the  distances  to  be  travelled  were  great  and  the  heat 
of  the  summer  months  was  excessive.  Even  to  the 
dust,  which,  except  during  the  rainy  season,  w^as 
prodigious,  the  residents  became  accustomed  after  a 
little  while ;  or,  if  they  did  not,  they  reconciled  them- 
selves to  it  by  thinking  that  the  station  had  many 
great  social  advantages,  that  it  was  well  provided 
with  means  of  amusement  upon  the  most  approved 
principles  of  western  civilisation,  and  that  "  Europe 
goods"  of  all  kinds  were  almost  as  plentiful  as  in 
Calcutta.. 

For  during  a  long  series  of  years  Cawnpore  had  been 
one  of  the  most  important  military  stations  in  India. 
There  were  few  officers  either  of  the  Queen's  or  the 
Company's  Army  who,  during  the  period  of  their 
Eastern  service,  had  not,  at  some  time  or  other,  done 
duty  in  that  vast  cantonment.  But  the  extension  of 
our  Empire  towards  the  Afghan  frontier  had  greatly 


SIR  HUGH  WHEELER.  289 

diminished  its  importance  as  a  military  position ;  and  1357. 
although  the  subsequent  annexation  of  Oude  had  ^J- 
done  something  to  restore  the  faded  pretensions  of 
the  Cawnpore  division,  the  station  itself  only  suffered 
further  decline.  It  was  still  the  Head  Quarters  of 
the  Division,  and  the  commanding  General  resided 
there  with  the  Division  Staff.  But  there  were  no  longer 
European  Regiments,  or  even  an  European  Regiment, 
in  iti^  barracks.  A  great  strength  of  Native  soldiery 
garrisoned  the  place,  with  some  sixty  European 
Artillerymen,  and  afterwards  sixty  men  of  Her  Ma- 
jesty's Eighty-fourth  Regiment  and  a  few  Madras 
Fusiliers,  whom  Tucker  and  Ponsonby  had  sent  on 
from  Benares.*  The  First,  the  Fifty-third,  and  the 
Fifty-sixth  Sepoy  Regiments  of  Infantry  were  there, 
and  the  Second  Regiment  of  Sepoy  Cavaby— in  all, 
about  three  thousand  men.  And  it  was  computed 
that  the  aggregate  population  of  the  Cantonment, 
with  its  vast  assemblage  of  camp-followers,  was  nearly 
equal  to  that  of  the  Town. 

The  Cawnpore  Division  was  then  conmianded  by  Sir  Hugb 
Greneral  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler.  He  was  an  old  and  a  ^*^^^'- 
distinguished  officer  of  the  Company's  Army.  He 
had  seen  much  good  service  in  Afghanistan  and  in  the 
Punjab,  and  had  won  his  spurs  under  Gough  in  the 
second  Sikh  War,  in  command  of  a  division  of  his 
army.  No  man  knew  the  Sepoys  better,  and  no  man 
was  more  respected  by  them.  But  he  had  known 
them  a  little  too  long.  Looking  back  through  more 
than  half -a- century  of  good  service,  he  could  re- 

*  AnUy  p.  211,  Mowbray  Thorn-  Madras  Fusiliers,  and  fifty-nine  men 
son  says  tiiat  "the  European  force  of  the  Company's  Artillery—about 
consisted  of  the  officers  attached  to  three  hundred  combatants  in  all." 
the  Sepoy  regiments;  sixty  men  of  the  Mr.  Sherer,  in  his  official  narrative, 
Eighty -fourth  Regiment ;  seventy-  computes  the  invalids  of  the  Thirty- 
four  men  of  the  Inirtv-second,  who  second  at  thirty, 
were  invalided ;  sizty-nve  men  of  the 

VOL.  U.  U 


290  CAWNPORE ; 

1857  member  how  they  fought  in  the  good  old  days  of 
May.  Lake  and  Ouchterlony.  There  was  nothing,  indeed, 
to  be  said  against  him  except  that  he  bore  the  burden 
of  more  than  seventy  years.  He  bore  it  lightly,  suc- 
cumbing little  to  the  pressure.  Still  it  was  there ;  and 
it  was  a  necessity  that  he  should  have  lost  beneath 
it  some  measure  at  least  of  the  vigour  and  energy  of 
his  prime.  He  was  of  short  stature  and  of  light 
weight ;  and  to  the  last  he  was  a  good  and  active 
horseman.  Accompanied  by  his  daughters,  he  often 
went  out  in  pursuit  of  a  jackal,  with  a  few  imported 
hounds,  which  he  kept  for  the  purpose  ;*  and  there 
was  still  enough  of  the  fire  of  the  sportsman  in  the 
aflhes  of  the  veteran  to  suffer  him,  in  the  crisp  air  of 
the  early  morning,  to  enjoy  the  excitement  of  the 
chase. 

But  General  Wheeler,  though  far  advanced  in 
years,  had  lost  none  of  the  clearness  of  his  mental 
vision.  He  had  not  become  blind  to  the  failings  of 
the  Sepoy ;  he  had  not  encased  himself  in  that  hard 
incredulity  which  forbade  many  to  believe  it  pos- 
sible that  the  Native  soldier  could  ever  be  "  untrue 
to  his  salt."  Ever  since  the  first  symptoms  of  dis- 
quietude at  Barrackpore  and  Berhampore  had  been 
manifested,  he  had  watched  narrowly  the  Sepoy  regi- 
ments under  his  immediate  command,  looking  for 
indications  of  a  like  temper  among  them.f    And 

*  See  Mowbray  Thomson's  nar-  cloaded,  and  to  open  the  minds  of 

rative.    The  blood  which  ran  in  the  the  Sepoys  to  the  insensate  folly  of 

veins  of  Wheeler's  children  was  not  their  proceeding.    And  if  this  had 

that  of  the  pnre  European  race.  been  a  mere  military  outbreak,  as 

f  "  He  had  proved  himself  on  so  some  have  imaginea;    if  the  dis- 

many  occasions    so  fertile  in   re-  possessed  princes  and  people  of  the 

sources,  so  ready  to  overcome  diffi-  land,  farmers,  nllagers,  ryots,  had 

culties,  so  prompt,  active,  and  ener-  not  made  common  cause  witli  the 

getic,  that  ne  was  thought  the  man  Sepoys,  there  is  every  reason  to  be- 

of  all  others  most  competent  tc  deal  lieve  that  but  a  portion  of  the  Force 

with  an  insurrection  of  this  character  would  have  revolted." — Eed  Pam- 

— ^most  fitted  to  unravel  tbe  web  of  phlei, 
mystery  in  which  its  origin  was  then 


ITS  DEFENCELESS  STATE.  291 

when  news  came  of  the  revolt  of  the  Native  Regi-  1857. 
ments  at  Meerut  and  at  Delhi,  he  saw  clearly  that  "^y* 
it  would  demand  the  exercise  of  all  his  influence  to 
prevent  a  similar  explosion  at  Cawnpore.  Then 
he  lamented  that  hard  necessity  had  stripped  the 
station  of  European  troops,  in  order  that  Oude  and 
other  newly-acquired  territories  might  be  defended. 
Annexation  was  doing  its  work.  We  had  extended 
our  Empire  without  increasing  our  Army ;  and  so  it 
happened  that  many  of  the  most  important  stations 
between  the  new  and  the  old  capital  of  India  were, 
saving  a  few  English  gunners,  utterly  without  Euro- 
pean troops.  It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  any 
position  more  dispiriting  than  Wheeler's  in  that  fatal 
month  of  May.  Lucknow  had  got  the  regiment, 
which  might  otherwise  have  been  stationed  at  Cawn- 
pore;  and  not  only  was  the  latter  negatively,  but 
positively,  weakened  by  the  arrangement,  for  all  the 
human  impedimenta,  the  women,  the  children,  and 
the  invalids  of  the  Thirty-second  Queen's,  had  been 
left  at  that  place.  And  there  were  many  besides  these. 
Cawnpore  abounded  in  excellent  house  accommoda- 
tion,  as  weU  as  in  pubUc  buUdings  of  all  Knds ;  and  not 
merely  the  wives  and  children  of  our  civil  and  mili- 
tary functionaries,  high  and  low,  but  the  families  also 
of  European  or  Eurasian  merchants  and  traders  were 
gathered  there  in  large  numbers,  and  the  grievous 
responsibility  of  protecting  aU  these  helpless  ones 
then  fell  upon  the  aged  General.  His  half-a-century 
of  service  had  brought  him  no  such  work  as  this. 

There  was  much  then  going  on  in  the  Lines  of  state  of  the 
which,  doubtless,  the  General  knew  nothing ;  but  now  ^^^*®^^ 
and  then,  as  the  month  of  May  advanced,  unpleasant 
revelations  were  made  to  him  through  his  officers.   It 
did  not  appear  that  the  Sepoys  were  disaffected  or 

u2 


292  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  even  discontented,  but,  as  in  other  places  of  which  I 
^^y-  have  spoken,  a  great  fear  was  settling  down  upon  our 
Native  soldiery.  The  most  extravagant  stories  were 
current  among  them.  The  Hindoo  and  Mahomedan 
troops  on  a  given  day  were  to  be  assembled  upon  an 
undermined  parade-ground,  and  the  whole  of  them 
blown  into  the  air.  This  and  other  fables  equally 
monstrous  were  freely  circulated  among  the  Sepoys 
and  readily  believed.  Nothing  could  be  more  alarm- 
ing to  one  well  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the 
Native  soldier  than  the  free  acceptance  of  stories  of 
this  kind,  which  showed  that  the  old  bonds  of  con- 
fidence  were  utterly  broken ;  and  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler, 
therefore,  plainly  saw  that  the  danger  was  one  which 
it  would  be  most  difficult  to  arrest,  for  nothing  is  so 
intractable  as  a  panic.  For  some  days  after  the  news 
from  Meerut  and  Delhi  had  reached  Cawnpore,  he 
had  hope  that  the  pubUc  mind  might  be  reassured; 
but  this  soon  passed  away.  It  was  plain  to  him,  as 
time  wore  on,  that  the  excitement  rather  increased 
than  diminished.  And  the  peril  which  stared  him  in 
the  face  was  not  merely  the  peril  of  mutinous  soldiery ; 
he  was  threatened  also  by  an  insurgent  population, 
which  might  have  overwhelmed  him.  And  it  seemed 
to  him  in  this  emergency  that  the  best  means  of  defend- 
ing  the  lives  of  the  Christian  communities  and  main- 
taining, though  only  on  a  narrow  space,  the  authority 
of  the  Christian  Government,  until  succours  should 
arrive  to  enable  him  to  act  on  the  offensive,  was  by 
throwing  up  some  defensive  works,  within  which  the 
English  might  gather  themselves  together,  and  with 
the  aid  of  their  guns  keep  the  enemy  at  a  distance. 
Beyond  this  there  was  nothing  that  he  could  do ;  and 
it  was  not  easy  to  determine  how  even  this  little  was 
to  be  done. 


h0m 


'^ 


ence. 


THE  ENTRENCHED  POSmON,  293 

Of  all  the  defensible  points  in  the  Cantonment,  it  1857. 
was  held,  in  the  first  instance,  that  the  Magazine  in  May. 
the  north-western  comer  of  the  military  lines  was^ff)^**  °^ 
that  best  adapted,  in  the  exigency  which  had  arisen, 
for  a  defensive  position.  It  almost  rested  on  the 
river,  and  it  was  surrounded  by  walls  of  substantial 
masonry.  But  instead  of  this.  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler 
selected  a  spot  about  six ,  miles  lower  down  to  the 
south-east,  at  some  distance  from  the  river,  and  not 
far  from  the  Sepoys'  huts.  There  were  quarters  of 
some  kind  for  our  people  within  two  long  hospital 
barracks  (one  wholly  of  masonry,  the  other  with  a 
thatched  roof) — single-storied  buildings  with  veran- 
dahs running  round  them,  and  with  the  usual  out- 
houses attached.  This  spot  he  began  to  entrench,  to 
fortify  with  artillery,  and  to  provision  with  supplies 
of  difierent  kinds.  Orders  went  forth  to  the  Com- 
missariat, and  their  efibrts  were  supplemented  by  the 
managers  of  the  regimental  messes,  who  freely  sent 
in  their  stores  of  beer  and  wine,  hermetically-sealed 
dainties,  and  other  creature-comforts  that  might  serve 
to  mitigate  the  evils  of  the  brief  detention  which 
was  believed  to  be  the  worst  that  could  befal  us.  But 
the  aggregate  amount  of  food  was  lamentably  iU- 
proportioned  to  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion.  The 
Native  contractors  failed,  as  they  often  do  fail  at  such 
times,  and  the  stores  which  they  sent  in  fell  short  of 
the  figures  in  the  paper-indents.  All  else  was  of  the 
same  kind — ^weak,  scanty,  and  insufficient.  As  to  the 
so-called  fortifications,  they  were  so  paltry  that  an 
English  subaltern  could  have  ridden  over  them  on 
a  cast-horse  from  the  Company's  Stud.  The  earth- 
works were  little  more  than  four  feet  high,  and  were 
not  even  bullet-proof  at  the  crest.  The  apertures 
for  the  artillery  exposed  both  our  guns  and  our 


294  CAWNPOEE. 

1857.  gunners,  whilst  an  enemy  in  adjacent  buildings  might 
^^y-  find  cover  on  all  sides.  Not,  however,  from  igno- 
rance or  negligence  did  this  insufficiency  arise.  The 
last  weeks  of  the  dry  season  were  upon  us,  and  the 
earth  was  so  hard  that  it  was  difficult  to  dig  it,  and 
so  friable  when  dug  that  the  necessary  cohesion  was 
almost  unattainable. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  Wheeler  ought  to  have 
chosen  the  Magazine  as  the  centre  of  his  lines  of 
defence,  and  that  all  the  subsequent  evil  arose  from 
the  absence  of  this  obvious  precaution.  The  con- 
siderations which  suggested  themselves  to  the  military 
critics  were  not  absent  from  his  own  mind.  But  there 
was  one  paramount  thought  which  over-ruled  them. 
The  first  step  towards  the  occupation  of  the  Maga- 
zine would  have  been  the  withdrawal  of  the  Sepoy 
guard ;  and  to  have  attempted  this  would  certainly 
have  given  the  signal  for  an  immediate  rising. 
With  the  small  European  force  at  his  disposal  it 
would  have  been  manifestly  unwise  to  provoke  a 
collision.  If  the  first  blow  were  to  be  struck  by 
our  own  people,  it  would,  he  believed,  have  imme- 
diate results  of  a  far  more  disastrous  character  than 
those  which  were  likely  to  arise  from  a  spontaneous 
revolt  against  British  authority,  detached  from  those 
feelings  of  animosity  and  resentment  which  might 
have  been  engendered  by  a  first  offensive  movement 
on  our  part.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  spot 
selected  for  our  refuge  was,  indeed,  but  a  miserable 
place  for  the  protection  of  a  large  body  of  Christian 
people  against  the  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
that  might  surge  up  to  destroy  them.  But  it  was 
not  believed,  at  that  time,  that  Wheeler  and  his  fol- 
lowers would  be  called  upon  to  face  more  than  the 
passing  danger  of  a  rising  of  the  ''  budmashes"  of 


QUESTION  OF  DEFENCE.  295 

the  city  and  the  bazaars.  All  the  information  that  1S57. 
reached  him  confirmed  the  belief  that  if  the  regi-  May. 
ments  should  mutiny  they  would  march  off  at  once 
to  Delhi.  And  he  was  in  almost  daily  expectation 
of  being  recruited  from  below  by  reinforcements 
sent  upwards  from  Calcutta.  All  that  was  needed,  it 
then  appeared  to  the  General  and  to  others,  was  a 
place  of  refuge,  for  a  littie  space,  during  the  confusion 
that  would  arise  on  the  first  outbreak  of  the  military 
revolt,  when,  doubtless,  there  would  be  plunder  and 
devastation.  It  was  felt  that  the  Sepoys  had  at  that 
time  no  craving  after  European  blood,  and  that  their 
departure  would  enable  Wheeler  and  his  Europeans 
to  march  to  Allahabad,  taking  all  the  Christian 
people  with  him.* 

Whilst  these  precautions  were  being  taken,  the  Help  from 
General  sent  an  express  to  Lucknow,  requesting  Sir  ^^'^"°^- 
Henry  Lawrence  to  lend  him,  for  a  while,  a  com- 
pany or  two  of  the  Thirty-second  Regiment,  as  he 
had  reason  to  expect  an  immediate  rising  at  Cawn- 

*  However  sound  these  reasons  many  thousand  stand  of  arms,  artil- 
may  have  been,  it  is  not  to  be  ques-  lerv  tevts,  harness,  &c.  &c.  General 
tioned  that  the  selection  was  a  ^reat  Wheeler  ought  to  have  gone  there 
misfortune.  The  Magazine  position  at  once ;  no  one  could  have  pre- 
is  thus  described  by  General  Neill,  vented  him ;  thev  might  have  saved 
after  visiting  the  place,  on  his  first  everything  they  had  almost,  if  they 
arrival  at  Gawnpore :  "It  is  a  walled  had.  There  is  something  awfal  in 
defence,  walled  enclosure,  proof  the  number  of  catastrophes,  which 
against  musketry,  covering  an  area  could  have  been  avoided  by  a  oom- 
of  three  acres — sample  room  in  it  for  mon  degree  of  caution." — mS.  Cor^ 
all  the  prison— close  to  the  bank  respoudence.  It  was  not,  however, 
of  the  river ;  the  houses  dose  to  it  waut  of  caution,  but  perhaps  over- 
are  all  defensible,  and  they,  with  the  caution,  that  caused  Wheeler  not  to 
Ma^zine,  could  have  been  held  resort  to  the  Magazine  buildings, 
against  any  Native  force,  as  having  The  distance  between  the  Lines  and 
the  large  and  [obscure^  guns,  with  the  Magazine  is  to  be  taken  into  ac- 
abundance  of  ammunition,  neither  count;  and  some  military  authori- 
the  Nana  nor  the  Natives  would  ties  may  differ  from  NeilPs  opinion, 
have  come  near  them.  They  could  that  no  one  could  have  prevented 
have  moved  out  and  attacked  them  Wheeler  from  betaking  himself,  with 
with  the  guns,  and  would  have  not  his  women,  children,  and  invalids, 
only  saved  themselves  but  the  city,  to  the  Magazine, 
to  say  nothing  of  a  large  arsenal  and 


296  CAWNPORE. 

1857  pore.*  Little  could  Lawrence  spare  a  single  man 
^^  from  the  troublous  capital  of  Oude ;  but  those  were 
days  when  Christian  gentlemen  rose  to  noble  heights 
of  generosity  and  self-sacrifice ;  and  Henry  Lawrence, 
who,  at  any  time,  would  have  divided  his  cloak  with 
another,  or  snatched  the  helmet  with  the  last  drop 
of  water  from  his  own  lips,  was  not  one  to  hesitate 
when  such  a  demand  was  made  upon  him.  He 
sent  all  that  he  could  send — eighty-four  men  of 
the  Thirty-second,  Queen's — packed  closely  in  such 
wheeled  carriages  as  could  be  mustered.  He  sent  also 
two  detachments  of  the  Oudfe  Horse  to  keep  open 
the  road  between  Cawnpore  and  Agra,  and  render 
such  other  assistance  as  Irregular  Horse  well  com- 
manded can  render,  if  only  they  be  true  to  their 
leaders.  A  party  of  Oude  Artillery  accompanied 
them  with  two  field  guns,  under  Lieutenant  Ashe— 
a  young  officer  of  rare  promise,  which  was  soon  to 
ripen  into  heroic  performance.! 
rietcher  With  these  detachments  went  Captain  Fletcher 

Hayca.  Hayes,  Military  Secretary  to  Sir  Henry  Lawrence — a 
man  of  great  capacity  and  great  courage;  in  the 
prime  of  his  life  and  the  height  of  his  daring.  He 
had  graduated  in  one  of  our  great  English  univer- 

*  It  should   be   observed  that  same  time  a  kindly  explanation  of 

Lncknow  was  within  the  Cawnpore  the  circumstaDces,  whicn  had  recon- 

Division  of  the  Army,  and  thereiore,  oiled  the  General  to  the  change, 

in   the    normal    state    of    affairs,  f  The  number  of  Europeans  sent 

Wheeler  might  have  made  any  dis-  by  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  to  Gawn- 

position  of   the  troops  under  his  nore  has  been  variously  stated.   His 

command  that  seemed  fit  to  him.  Military  Secretary,  in  a  letter  to 

But  when  the  crisis  arose.  Sir  Henry  Mr.  Eomonstone,  sets  it  down  at 

Lawrence  had  telegraphed  to  the  fifty  men   and   two  officers.    The 

Governor-General  for  "  plenary  mili-  Cavalry  detachments  were  sent  on 

tary  authority  in  Oude,"  and  Lord  by  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  and  the  offi- 

Canning  had  gladly  given  him  the  cers  were  murdered ;  but  Ashe  and 

powers  tie  had  sought  (vol.  i.  page  the  guns  remained,  or  returned,  to 

ol6),  writing   to  Wheeler  at  the  take  good  part  in  the  defence. 


DOONDOO  PUNT,  NANA  SAHIB.  297 

sities,  and  was  an  erudite  scholar  and  an  accom-  1S57. 
plished  gentleman.  He  was  now  sent  to  Cawnpore  ^^^' 
to  ascertain  the  real  state  of  affairs  there  for  the  in- 
formation of  his  Chief  So  he  mounted  his  horse 
and  started  with  the  Cavalry,  giving  up  his  carriage, 
in  which  he  had  at  first  intended  to  travel,  to  a 
party  of  European  soldiers: — "For,"  he  wrote,  "as 
they  represented  three  hundred  rounds  of  balled 
ammunition  ready  at  any  moment  for  anybody,  I 
thought  that  they  were  of  far  more  importance  than 
any  number  of  military  secretaries."  All  through  the 
day,  from  dawn  to  some  hours  after  sunset,  they 
toiled  on,  suffering  severely  from  the  intense  heat 
and  the  parching  thirst.  But  they  reached  Cawn- 
pore without  disaster ;  and  in  a  little  while  Hayes 
had  taken  in  the  situation  and  had  flung  himself  into 
the  work  that  lay  before  him,  as  if  he  had  been  one 
of  the  garrison  himself. 


And  when  English  authority  at  Cawnpore  ap- The  Nana 
pealed  to  Henry  Lawrence  for  assistance,  as  though  ®*^*^- 
by  some  strange  fatality  it  were  doomed  that  aid 
should  be  sought,  in  the  crisis  which  had  arisen, 
from  the  two  extremes  of  humanity,  an  appeal  was 
made  to  our  neighbour,  the  Rajah  of  Bithoor. 

Doondoo  Punt,  Nana  Sahib,  after  the  visit  to 
Lucknow,  recorded  in  my  first  volume,*  had  re- 
turned to  his  home  at  Bithoor.  He  had,  doubtless, 
clearly  discerned  the  feeling  in  the  Oudh  capital — 
nay,  throughout  the  whole  province.  He  knew  well 
that  there  was  a  great  excitement — ^it  might  be  of 
danger,  it  might  be  of  fear — ^alive  among  the  Sepoys 

•  Jniet  vol.  i.  pp.  676 — 6. 


298  CAWNPOBE. 

1867.  all  over  Upper  India.  He  felt  that  he  hated  the 
May.  English,  and  that  his  time  had  come.  But  all  that 
was  passing  in  the  mind  of  the  disappointed  Mah- 
ratta  was  as  a  sealed  hook  to  the  English.  Of  course 
the  whole  story  of  the  disappointment  was  on  record. 
Had  it  not  gone  from  Calcutta  to  London — ^from 
London  back  to  Calcutta ;  and  from  Calcutta  again 
to  Cawnpore  ?  And  did  it  not  cover  many  sheets  of 
foolscap?  Military  men  might  know  little  of  the 
story  which  has  been  told  in  this  book,*  and  to 
civilians  a  rejected  memorial  was  so  common  a 
thing,  that  even  to  the  best-informed  of  them  there 
could  have  appeared  to  be  no  earthly  reason  why 
Doondoo  Punt  should  not  accept  his  position  quietly, 
submissively,  resignedly,  after  the  fashion  of  his  kind, 
and  be  ever  after  loyal  to  the  Government  that  had 
rejected  his  claims.  So  when  danger  threatened 
them,  it  appeared  to  the  authorities  at  Cawnpore 
that  assistance  might  be  obtained  from  the  Nana 
Sahib.  For  although  Lord  Dalhousie  and  the  Com- 
.  pany  had  refused  to  increase  his  store,  he  had  abun- 
dance  of  money  and  all  that  money  could  purchase, 
including  horses  and  elephants  and  a  large  body  of 
retainers — almost,  indeed,  a  little  army  of  his  own. 
He  had  been  in  friendly  intercourse  with  our  officers 
up  to  this  very  time,  and  no  one  doubted  that  as  he 
had  the  power,  so  also  he  had  the  will  to  be  of  sub- 
stantial use  to  us  in  the  hour  of  our  trouble.  It 
was  one  of  those  strange  revenges,  with  which  the 
stream  of  Time  is  laden.  The  "  arbiter  of  others' 
fate "  had  suddenly  become  "  a  suppliant  for  his 
own ;''  and  the  representatives  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment were  suing  to  one  recently  a  suitor  cast  in  our 
own  high  political  courts.     The  madness  of  this  was 

•  AntCy  vol.  i.  pp.  98,  et  seq. 


BfR.  HILLERSDON  AND  THE  NANA.  299 

seen  at  Lucknow ;  but  it  was  not  seen  at  Cawnpore.  1857. 
So  the  alliance  of  the  Nana  Sahib  was  sought  as  an  ^y* 
element  of  strength  in  our  hour  of  trouble.* 

It  was  in  this  wise :  To  secure  the  safety  of  the 
Government  treasure  was  necessarily  at  such  a  time 
one  of  the  main  objects  of  both  the  military  and  the 
civil  authorities.  If  it  could  be  lodged  within  the 
entrenchments  it  would  be  out  of  the  grasp  of  the 
soldiery,  who,  as  our  officers  well  knew,  on  the  first 
open  manifestation  of  revolt,  would  assuredly  make 
for  the  Treasury  and  gorge  themselves  with  the 
spoil.  But  when  there  was  mention  made  of  an  in- 
tention to  remove  the  coin,  the  Sepoys,  by  whom  it 
was  guarded,  were  outwardly  all  loyalty  and  devo- 
tion, and  declared  that  it  was  safe  in  their  hands.  The 
reason  of  this  was  manifest ;  and  Wheeler,  anxious 
above  all  things  not  to  precipitate  a  collision,  shrunk 
from  insisting  upon  a  measure  which  would  in  all 
probability  have  been  violently  resisted.  To  counter- 
act any  danger  from  this  source,  it  was  considered  a 
good  stroke  of  policy  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  assist- 
ance of  a  party  of  the  armed  followers  of  the  Nana 
Sahib,  who  had  been  in  frequent  intercourse  with 
Mr.  Hillersdon,  the  Collector,  and  who  had  smilingly 
assured  that  officer  of  his  sjonpathy  and  friendship. 
The  Treasury  stood  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
Bithoor  road,  some  miles  away  from  the  military 
lines ;  and  very  soon  some  two  hundred  of  the  re- 
'  tainers  of  the  Nana,  with  a  couple  of  guns,  were 
posted  at  Newab-gunj,  which  commanded  both  the 
Treasury  and  the  Magazine.t 

*  Mr.  Martin  Gubbins  states  that  cautioning  him  afi^ainst  the  Nana, 

the  General  was  distinctly  warned  and  stating  Sir  Henri's  belief  that 

not  to  trust  the  Nana  Sahib.    "  Sir  he  was  not  to  be  depended  upon."— 

H.  Lawrence/'  he  says,  "  concurred  Mutinies  in  Oudh,  page  32. 

in  \\\y  suspicions,  and  by  his  autho-  f  Some  time  afterwards,  Tantia 

rity  1  addressed  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler,  Topee  gave  the  following  accoxuit  of 


300  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  This  was  on  the  22iid  of  May.     On  the  preceding 

^e  Place  of  ^g^y  ^jjg  reinforcements  from  Lucknow  had  arrived ; 
^'22^  and  about  the  same  time,  on  the  suggestion  of  the 
General,  the  women  and  children  and  non-combatants 
had  betaken  themselves  to  the  place  of  refuge  within 
the  improvised  entrenchments.  There  was  then  a 
scene  of  frightful  conftision,  which  one,  who  had  just 
arrived  from  Lucknow,  thus  graphically  described, 
"  The  General,"  wrote  Fletcher  Hayes  in  a  private 
letter  to  Secretary  Edmonstone,  "  was  delighted  to 
hear  of  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans,  and  soon  from 
all  sides,  I  heard  of  reports  of  all  sorts  and  kinds  which 
people  kept  bringing  to  the  General  until  nearly  one 
A.M.,  on  the  22nd,  when  we  retired  to  rest.  At  six  a.m. 
I  went  out  to  have  a  look  at  the  various  places,  and 
since  I  have  been  in  India  never  witnessed  so  fright- 
ful a  scene  of  confusion,  fright,  and  bad  arrangement 
as  the  European  barracks  presented.  Four  guns 
were  in  position  loaded,  with  European  artillerymen 
in  nightcaps  and  wide-awakes  and  side-arms  on,  hang- 
ing to  the  guns  in  groups — looking  like  melodramatic 
buccaneers.  People  of  all  kinds,  of  every  colour, 
sect,  and  profession,  were  crowding  into  the  barracks. 

Mr.  Hfllersdon's  negotiations  with  then  in  the  entrenchmflnts,  and  not 

the  Nana  Sahib.    I  give  it  as  the  in  his  house.    He  sent  us  word  to 

Native  version  of  the  transaction : —  remain,  and  we  stopped  at  his  house 

"In  the  month  of  May,  1857,  the  during  the   night.     The  Collector 

Collector  of  Cawnpore  sent  a  note  came  in  the  morning  and  told  the 

of   the  following    purport   to  the  Nana  to  occnpy  his    own    house, 

Nana  Sahib  at  Bithoor,  viz.  that  he  which  was  in  Cawnpore.    We  ac- 

begged  him  (the  Nana)  to  forward  cordmgly   did   so.     We  remained 

bis  wife  and  children  to  Enghmd.  there  four  davs,  and  the  gentleman 

The  Nana  consented  to  do  so,  and  said  it  was  fortunate  we  nad  come 

four  days  afterwards  the  Collector  to  his  aid,  as  the  Sepoys  had  become 

wrote  to  him  to  bring  his  troops  and  disobedient ;    and   that    he   would 

guns  with   him    from   Bithoor   to  applv  to  the  General  in  our  behalf.  ' 

Cawnpore.    I  went  with  the  Nana  He  did  so,  and  the  General  wrote  to 

and  about  one  hundred  Sepoys  and  Agra,  whence  a  reply  came  that  ar- 

three  hundred  match]ock-men  and  rangements  would  be  made  for  the 

two  guns  to  the  Collector's  house  pay  of  our  men." — MS,  Records. 
at  Cawnpore.     The  Collector  was 


SCENE  IN  THE  ENTKEKGHMENTS.  '   301 

Whilst  I  was  there,  buggies,  palki-gharrees,  vehicles  1857. 
of  all  sorts,  drove  up  and  discharged  cargoes  of^j^^^^^* 
writers,  tradesmen,  and  a  miscellaneous  mob  of  every 
complexion,  from  white  to  tawny — ^all  in  terror  of 
the  imaginary  foe  ;  ladies  sitting  down  at  the  rough 
mess-tables  in  the  barracks,  women  suckling  infants, 
ayahs  and  chUdren  in  aU  directions,  and-officers 
too  I  In  short,  as  I  have  written  to  Sir  Henry,  I  saw 
quite  enough  to  convince  me  that  if  any  insurrection 
took  or  takes  place,  we  shall  have  no  one  to  thank 
but  ourselves,  because  we  have  now  shown  to  the 
Natives  how  very  easily  we  can  become  frightened, 
and  when  frightened  utterly  helpless.  During  that 
day  (the  22nd)  the  shops  in  all  the  bazaars  were 
shut,  four  or  five  times,  and  all  day  the  General  was 
worried  to  death  by  people  running  up  to  report  im- 
probable  stories,  which  in  ten  minutes  more  were 
contradicted  by  others  still  more  monstrous.  All 
yesterday  (23rd)  the  same  thing  went  on ;  and  I 
wish  that  you  could  see  the  European  barracks  and 
the  chapel  close  to  it — and  their  occupants.  *  I 
believe  that  if  anjrthing  will  keep  the  Sepoys  quiet, 
it  wiU  be,  next  to  Providence,  the  great  respect  which 
they  all  have  for  General  Wheeler,  and  for  him  alone. 
He  has  all  his  doors  and  windows  open  all  night,  and 
has  never  thought  of  moving  or  of  allowing  his 
family  to  move.  Brigadier  Jack,  Parker,  the  can- 
tonment magistrate,  and  Wiggins,  the  Judge  Advo- 
cate-General, are,  I  believe,  the  only  people  who  sleep 
in  their  houses."* 

The  chief  source  of  immediate  danger  at  this  time  Temjer  of 
was  the  temper  of  the  Second  Cavalry.     The  place  in  cavalrj?*^ 
the  Army  List  assigned  to  this  regiment  had,  for  some 
time,  been  a  blank.     It  was  the  number  of  the  regi- 

*  MS.  Correspondence. 


302  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  ment  which  had  disgraced  itself  at  Purwandurrah, 
^y-  and  had  been  ignominiously  disbanded ;  and  it  was 
not  until  1850,  that  the  number  had  been  restored  to 
the  List  of  the  Bengal  Army.*  That  the  troopers 
were  ripe  for  revolt  was  certain,  for  already  they 
were  quietly  making  arrangements  to  send  away  their 
families  and  their  property,  and  soon  they  had  no- 
thing in  their  huts  but  their  drinking-vessels.  They 
stood,  as  it  were,  with  their  loins  girt  about  for  action, 
and  Wheeler  had  more  than  once  credible  information 
that  they  were  about  immediately  to  strike.  It  was 
believed  that,  differing  from  the  infantry  regiments 
at  Cawnpore,  these  cavalry  Sepoys  included  in  their 
programme  the  murder  of  their  officers.  There  were 
many  Mahomedans  in  the  corps,  and  Mahomedan 
feeling  was  then  strong  in  the  place.  There  had 
been  great  gatherings  at  the  mosques,  in  which  the 
Mussulman  Sepoys  had  taken  a  forward  part,  for  the 
fuU  discussion  of  the  crisis.  And  it  was  thought,  as 
had  before  been  thought,  in  other  places,  that  the 
festival  of  the  Eed,  on  the  24:th  of  May,  would  prove 
the  appointed  day  for  a  great  Mahomedan  demonstra- 
tion. But  it  passed  over  as  quietly  as  any  other  day. 
There  was  the  usual  interchange  of  courtesies  and 
compliments,  as  in  quiet  times,  between  the  two 
races ;  and  on  one  side,  at  least,  there  was  much  self- 
congratulation  that  the  anniversary  was  well  over. 
FroKress  of  But  all  this  time,  as  the  arrangements  were  pro- 
ceeding apace  for  the  security  of  our  place  of  refuge, 
the  general  feeling  of  mistrust  was  fixing  itself  in  the 
hearts  of  the  soldiery.     The  principle  of  "  trusting 

*  Another  regiment  (the  Eleventh  of  the  Second  had  been  re-cnlisted 

Light  Cavalry)  had  been  raised  in  —  the   Havildar  -  Major,  Bhowany 

the  phioe  of  the  Second;   and  the  Singh,   of  whom  more    hereafter, 

officers  of  the  latter  had  been  trans-  The  Eleventh  was  renumbered  the 

ferred  to  it  bodily.  Only  one  trooper  Second,  for  its  gallantry  at  Mooltan. 


mistrust. 


MISTRUST  OF  THE  SEPOYS.  303 

all  in  all  or  not  at  all"  was  in  those  days  the  only  one  1857. 
to  be  worked  out  in  action  with  any  prospect  of  ^y* 
success.  There  was  strength  in  striking  the  first 
blow  with  a  heavy  mailed  hand.  There  was  strength 
also  in  perfect  quietude  and  composure.  But  in  any 
middle  course  there  was  weakness ;  and  whether  in 
doing  or  in  suflfering,  "to  be  weak  is  to  be  miser- 
able." When,  therefore,  Wheeler  began  to  throw  up 
defences  which  could  not  defend  him,  and  to  betray 
his  mistrust  of  the  Sepoys,  without  having  it  in  his 
power  efiectually  to  arrest  the  danger,  of  which  such 
action  indicated  the  dread,  there  was  nothing  but 
misery  before  him.  Indeed,  when  our  people  were 
seen  wildly  leaving  their  homes  and  seeking  safety 
either  within  our  so-called  entrenchments  or  in  some 
strongly-built  edifices  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  the 
Sepoys  beheld  the  English  artillerymen  placing  guns 
in  position,  the  end  was  certain,  and  the  beginning 
of  the  end  had  come.  Some  regarded  the  movement 
as  an  indication  of  fear ;  some  looked  upon  it  as  a 
menace.  All  regarded  it  as  a  proof  of  mistrust. 
Confidence  was  at  an  end ;  there  was  a  deadly  breach 
between  the  officer  and  the  soldier. 

But  during  that  last  week  of  May,  whatever  plots  May  24—31. 
and  perils  might  have  been  fermenting  beneath  the 
surface,  outwardly  everything  was  calm  and  re- 
assuring.  And  the  brave,  old  General  began  to  think 
that  the  worst  was  over,  and  that  he  would  soon  be 
able  to  assist  Lawrence  at  Lucknow.  On  the  1st  of  June  1. 
June,  he  wrote  to  Lord  Canning,  saying,  "  I  have 
this  day  sent  eighty  transport-train  bullocks  in  relays 
at  four  stages  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  up  Euro- 
peans from  Allahabad ;  and  in  a  few — a  very  few 
days,  I  shall  consider  Cawnpore  safe — nay,  that  I 
may  aid  Lucknow,  if  need  be."    And  he  added,  "I 


304 


CAWNPORE. 


1857. 
June. 


Help  to 
LuoKnow. 


have  left  my  house  and  am  residing  day  and  night 
in  my  tent,  pitched  within  our  entrenched  position, 
and  I  purpose  continuing  to  do  so  until  tranquillity 
is  restored.  The  heat  is  dreadful.  I  think  that  the 
fever  has  abated;  but  the  excitement  and  distrust 
are  such  that  every  act,  however  simple  or  honestly 
intended,  is  open  to  misapprehension  and  misrepre- 
sentation. My  difficulties  have  been  as  much  from 
the  necessity  of  making  others  act  with  circum- 
spection and  prudence  as  from  any  disaflfection  on 
the  part  of  the  troops.  In  their  present  stat«,  a 
single  injudicious  step  might  set  the  whole  in  a  blaze. 
It  is  my  good  fortune  in  the  present  crisis,  that  I  am 
well  known  to  the  whole  Native  Army  as  one  who, 
although  strict,  has  ever  been  just  and  considerate  to 
them  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  and  that  in  a  service 
of  fifty-two  years  I  have  ever  respected  their  rights 
and  their  prejudices.  Pardon,  my  Lord,  this  appa- 
rent egotism.  I  state  the  fact  solely  as  accounting 
for  my  success  in  preserving  tranquillity  at  a  place 
like  Cawnpore.  Indeed,  the  men  themselves  have 
said  that  my  name  amongst  them  had  alone  been  the 
cause  of  their  not  following  the  example  so  excitingly 
set  them."* 

And,  indeed,  this  pleasurable  anticipation  of  re- 
ciprocating Henry  Lawrence's  chivalrous  generosity 
was  not  so  much  empty  talk.  Part  of  the  detach- 
ment of  the  Eighty-Fourth,  which  had  been  sent 
from  Benares,f  was  now  passed  on  to  Lucknow.  And 


*  MS.  Correspondence. 

f  See  ante,  pa^^e  289.  They  appear 
to  have  reached  Cawnpore  on  the 
night  of  the  26th,  or  morning  of  the 
27th  of  May.  They  were  sent  to 
Lucknow  on  the  3rd  of  June. — See 
Wheeler's  telegram  to  Government. 
"  Sir  H.  Lawrence  haying  expressed 


some  uneasiness,  I  have  just  sent 
him  by  post  carriages,  out  of  my 
small  force,  two  officers  and  fifty 
men  of  Her  Majesty's  Eighty-fourth 
Foot  Conveyance  for  more  not 
available.  This  leaves  me  weak, 
but  I  trust  to  holding  my  own  until 
more  Europeans  arrive." 


STATE  OF  OUR  DEFENCES.  305 

as  they  crossed  the  Bridge  of  Boats  and  set  their  faces  1857. 
towards  the  Oudh  capital,  there  was  inward  laughter  ^'^®- 
and  self-congratulation  under  many  a  dusky  skin  at 
the  thought  of  what  the  English  were  doing.  It  was 
hard  to  say,  in  that  conjuncture,  at  what  particular 
point  European  manhood  was  most  needed,  but  it  is 
certain  that  in  that  entrenched  position  at  Cawnpore 
it  was  weary  work  for  those  who  kept  watch  and 
ward,  day  and  night,  with  loaded  guns,  behind  the 
low  mud  walls  we  had  raised  for  our  defence.*  And 
bitter  was  the  grief,  a  few  days  later,  that  a  single 
white  soldier  had  been  suflfered  to  leave  Cawnpore. 

For  when  the  month  of  June  came  in,  the  revolt  Working  of 
of  the  Native  Brigade  was  merely  a  question  of  time  *^®  P^®*' 
— a  question  of  precedence.  It  was  to  be ;  but  it 
was  not  quite  settled  how  it  was  to  be — how  it  was 
to  begin.  There  was  not  that  perfect  accord  between 
the  regiments  out  of  which  simultaneous  action  could 
arise.  Some  were  eager  to  strike  at  once;  some 
counselled  delay,  t  The  Cavalry  troopers,  always  the 
most  excitable  and  impetuous,  were  ready  for  the 
affray  before  their  more  slowly-moving  comrades  of 

*  "  Last  night  T  went  the  rounds  and  accordingly  remained  in  charge 

of  our  positions  with  the  Oeneral.  till  daybreak." — Fletcher  Hayes  to 

The  battery  is  divided  in  half,  and  Henry  Lawrence,    May  26.  mS. 

placed  cast  and  west,  commandmg  +  "The  chief  obstacle  to  a  rise 

the  principal  approaches ;  we  came  ana  insurrection  of  the  Sepoys  is, 

upon  one  half  oattery  without  any  that  they  are  undecided  as  to  who 

challenge  or  the  least  exhibition  of  should  commence  it.  They  have  been 


any  alarm  on  the  part  of  the  gunners,  wrangling   among    themselves   for 

I  walked  up  and  put  mvhana  on  one  some  days.    An  attempt  was  made 

of  the  guns,  and  could  have  spiked  bv  a  Native  officer  to  make   the 

all  three  widi  the  greatest  ease.  .  .  .  Cavalry  seize  their  arms  and  turn 


I  walked  up  and  put  mvhand  on  one  some  days.    An^attempt  was  made 

Id  have  spiked  bv  a  Na  " 

greatest  ease.  .  .  .  Cavalry 

Some  little  time  afterwards  the  offi-  out.    He  made  a  trumpeter  take  bis 

cer  in  chai^  was*found  asleep,  and  trumpet  and  commence  with  the  sig- 

was  immediately  put  under  arrest. . .  nal,  but  the  trumpet  was  seized  and 

Dempster,  the  Adjutant  of  the  Ar-  snatched  away  by  another  Native 

tillery,  was  so  worn  out  with  watch-  officer.     Last  night  there  was  an 

ing  at  night  and  performing  other  alarm,  and  the  gunners  stood  to  their 

duties,  that,  seeing  be  was  so  done  guns,  but  everything  passed  over 

up  and  could  not  look  after  both  auietly." — The  Same  to  the  Same, 

batteries,  I  said  I  would  take  one,  ^fay  26. 

VOL.  ir.  X 


306  CAWNPOEE. 

1867.  the  Infantry.  But  everywhere  in  the  Lines  and  in 
June.  j^Q  Bazaars  the  plot  was  working.  And  the  plotters 
were  not  only  in  the  Lines  and  the  Bazaars.  Out  at 
Newab-gunj,  where  the  retainers  of  the  Bithoor  Rajah 
were  posted,  and  where  the  Rajah  himself  had  fixed 
his  quarters  for  a  little  while  to  do  the  bidding  of 
his  friends  the  Feringhees,  were  the  germs  of  a  cruel 
conspiracy.  To  Doondoo  Punt  and  to  the  ministers, 
Hindoo  and  Mahomedan,  who  surrounded  him,  there 
could  be  no  more  grateful  tidings  than  those  which 
came  from  the  Sepoy's  quarters ;  and  as  they  looked 
at  the  Treasury,  the  Magazine,  and  the  Gaol,  which 
lay  so  temptingly  at  hand,  it  seemed  to  them  that 
the  work  was  easy.  Some  of  these  retainers  were  in 
communication  with  the  men  of  the  Second  Cavalry  ; 
and  it  is  stated  that  arrangements  were  soon  made 
for  an  interview  between  one  of  the  Cavalry  soubah- 
Teeka  Singh,  dars,  an  active  agent  of  sedition,  and  the  Nana  Sahib 
of  Bithoor.  It  is  not  easy  to  extract  from  the  mass 
of  Native  evidence — often  second-hand  reports  de- 
rived from  interested  or  prejudiced  sources — ^the  true 
history  of  all  the  secret  meetings  which  have  been 
described,  and  to  feel  in  such  a  case  the  confidence 
which  should  never  be  absent  from  historical  asser- 
tion.* But  it  is  stated  that  during  the  first  days 
of  June  there  were  frequent  interviews  between  the 

•  Tlie  depositions  taken  down  by  Second  Cavalry,  began  to  liave  inter- 
Colonel  Williams,  Comniissioner  of  views  wilh  the  Nana,  and  said  to 
Police,  North-West  Provinces,  are  hitn  on  one  occasion,  *  You  have 
very  full,  and  the^  are  of  a  highly  come  to  take  charge  of  the  Magazine 
intcreslin<r,  and,  m  some  respects,  and  Treasury  of  the  English.  We 
valuable  character ;  but  Colonel  Wil-  all,  Hindoos  and  Mahomedaus,  have 
liaras  himself  admits  that  much  must  united  for  our  religions,  and  the 
be  received  with  caution,  as  being  whole  Bengal  Army  have  become  one 
only  hearsay  evidence.  Take,  for  in  purpose.  What  do  you  say  to  it  ?' 
example,  the  following  from  the  cvi'  The  Nana  replied,  '  I  also  am  at  the 
dence  of  Sheo  Churren  Das :  *'  Three  disposal  of  the  Army.'  /  Aeard  this 
or  four  days  before  the  troops  broke  from  the  Sowars  themselves'* 
out,  Teeka  Singh,  Soubahdar  of  the 


FIKST  OUTBREAK  OF  MUTINY.  307 

chiefs  of  the  rebellious  Sepoys  and  the  inmates  of  the      1867. 
Bithoor  Palace ;  and  that  it  was  known  to  the  sol-       •^^®' 
diery  before  they  broke  into  rebellion  that  the  Nana 
was  with  them,  and  that  all  his  resources  would  be 
thrown  into  the  scale  on  the  side  of  the  nascent 
rebellion. 

On  the  night  of  the  4th  of  June,  the  Second  June  4. 
Cavalry  and  the  First  Infantry  Regiment  were  ready  9^'fe®*^  ^^ 
for  immediate  action.  The  troopers  had  got  to  horse 
and  the  foot-men  were  equipping  themselves.  As 
ever,  the  former  were  the  first  to  strike.*  It  was 
aft43r  the  wonted  fashion.  There  was  a  firing  of 
pistols,  with  perhaps  no  definite  object ;  then  a  con- 
flagration which  lit  up  the  sky  and  told  our  people 
in  the  entrenchments  that  the  game  of  destruction 
had  commenced ;  and  then  a  mad  nocturnal  ride  to 
Newab-gunj,  scenting  the  treasure  and  the  stores  in 
the  Magazine.  The  First  Regiment  soon  followed 
them.  In  vain  their  colonel,  calling  them  his  "  baba-  ^^^^ 
logue,"  his  children,  had  implored  them,  in  affec- 
tionate, parental  tones,  not  to  stain  themselves  by 
such  wickedness.  It  was  too  late.  The  Sepoys  did 
not  wish  to  harm  their  officers,  but  they  were  bent 
on  rebellion.  They  hurried  after  the  Cavalry,  setting 
their  faces  towards  the  north-west,  where  lay  the 
Treasury,  the  Gaol,  and  the  Magazine,  with  Delhi  in 
the  distance.     Thither  as  they  went  they  burnt,  and 

*  A  casaal  circtunstance,  of  no  scions  at  the  time  from  intoxication, 

great  importance  in   itself,   seems  caused  much  dissatisfaction,  the  ma- 

just  at  this  time  to  have  accelerated  tinously-inclined  Cavalr^r  declaring 

the  crisis.     It  is  thas  summarised  o])enly  that  perhaps  their  fire-arms 

by  Colonel  Williams,  in  his  synopsis  might  be   discharged   by  accident 

of  the  evidence  collected  by  him:  some  day.    The  violent  and  insub- 

"  Again  the  unfortunate  incident  of  ordinate  conduct  of  the  troops,  par- 

a  cashiered  officer  named  Cox  firing  ticularly  of  the  Cavalry,  though  they 

on  a  patrol  of  the  Second  Cavabry  on  still  ostensibly  took  duty,  caused 

the  night  of  the  2nd  of  June,  and  many  to  take  refuge  in  the  entrench- 

his  acquittal  after  trial  on  the  follow-  ments.'' 
ing  day,  on  the  plea  of  being  uncon- 

x2 


308  CAWNPORE, 

1857.      plundered,  and  spread  devastation  along  their  line  of 
June  4v     march,  but  left  the  Christian  people  behind  them  as 
though  not  lusting  for  their  blood. 

Arrived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Newab-gunj,  the 
Sepoys  of  the  two  re^ments  fraternised  with  the 
retainers  of  the  Nana.  The  Treasury  was  sacked, 
the  gates  of  the  Gaol  were  thrown  open  and  the 
prisoners  released.  The  public  offices  were  fired  and 
the  records  burnt.  The  Magazine,  with  all  its  sup- 
plies of  ammunition,  and  the  priceless  wealth  of 
heavy  artillery,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  muti- 
neers.* The  spoil  was  heaped  upon  elephants  and  on 
carts,  which  the  troopers  had. brought  from  their 
Lines;  and  the  one  thought  of. the  soldiery  was  a 
hurried  march  to  the  great  imperial  centre  of  the 
rebellion.  But  where  were  the  two  other  regiments  ? 
The  Sepoys  at  Newab-gunj   had  begun  to   doubt 

*  It  is  stated,  and  on  venr  high  other  trifles — happened  not  to  be 
authority,  that  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler  shown  the  gun-soeds,  and  did  not 
and  his  Staff  were  ignorant  of  the  enter  the  Magazine ;  in  fact,  forgot 
contents  of  the  Cawnpore  Magazine,  all  about  it,  and  reported  that  there 
I  find  the  following  in  a  letter  from  was  nothing  in  the  'Magazine,'  as  it 
General  Neili,  in  which  he  gives  the  was  staled."  The  authority  of  such 
results  of  his  inquiry  into  the  "  Story  a  man  as  General  Neill  must,  in  all 
of  Cawnpore."  He  had,  at  that  time,  cases,  be  respected,  but  it  is  hardly 
been  in  communication  with  the  only  credible  that  the  contents  of  the 
two  surviving  officers  of  the  siege.  Magazine  were  unknown  to  the  An  il- 
"  General  Wheeler  was  then  under  lery  officers  at  Cawnpore,  especially 
the  delusion  that  the  Nana  would  to  the  Ordnance  Commissariat  De- 
assist  him.  All  the  mutineers  went  partment.  Moreover,  it  is  to  be 
one  march  to  Delhi.  The  Nana  got  observed  that  the  supposed  ignorance 
them  to  return,  and  General  Wheeler  is  not  consistent  with  the  undoubted 
found  himself  surrounded,  and  guns  anxiety  manifested  by  Wheeler  and 
firing  upon  him  in  everv  direction  his  cllief  officers  to  blow  up  the 
from  our  own  Arsenal,  of  the  exist-  Magazine  at  the  commencement  of 
ence  of  which  guns  General  Wheeler  the  outbreak.  Arrangements  had 
and  his  staff  were  until  then  i^no-  been  made  for  this,  but  the  feat 
rant.  It  appears  that  a  committee  could  not  be  accomplished.  Colonel 
of  officers,  some  time  before,  were  Williams  says  :  ''  The  Assistant- 
sent  down  to  examine  the  Arsenal,  Commissary,  Mr.  Riley,  had  been 
and  to  report  what  was  in  it.  They  directed  to  blow  up  the  Magazine, 
came  down  in  the  usual  easy-going  but  was  unfortunately  prevented  by 
style^nly  thought   of  tents  and  the  Sepoys  on  guard  there." 


.  J^.»_" 


EEYOLT  OF  THE  INFANTRY.  309 

whether  their  comrades  were  coming  to  join  them.*  1867. 
All  through  the  hours  of  darkness  and  of  dawn  the 
Fifty-third  and  the  Fifty-sixth  gave  no  sign  of  com- 
radeship. Their  officers  had  spent  the  night  with  J«ne6. 
them  in  their  Lines,  and  from  two  in  the  morning 
till  after  sunrise  the  regiments  had  been  on  parade,* 
every  officer  with  his  own  company.  Then  they  were 
dismissed ;  the  men  took  off  their  uniforms,  and  pre- 
pared for  their  morning  meal.  The  English  officers 
went  to  the  entrenchments  or  to  their  own  bungalows. 
Then  the  latent  j&re  of  mutiny  began  to  spread  from 
man  to  man,  from  company  to  company.  Some 
emissaries  from  the  Second  Cavalry  had  come  in  to 
tempt  them.  Their  share  of  the  spoil  might  be  lost 
by  delay. '  It  might  have  been  that  no  presence,  no 
influence  of  English  officers  could  then  have  kept  the 
regiments  true  to  their  allegiance.  The  experiment 
was  not  tried,  but  another  was  substituted  for  it. 
Wheeler's  entrenched  position  commanded  the  parade- 
ground,  and  a  long  far-reaching  gun  was  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  Sepoys'  Lines.  They  broke  at  the 
third  discharge  of  the  British  cannon,  and  made  their 
way  in  wild  confusion  to  Newab-gunj.  They  broke, 
but  not  all;  some,  still  true  to  their  old  masters, 
followed  them  into  the  entrenchments,  and  were 
faithful  to  the  end  of  their  lives. 

It  was  still  the  game  of  the  Cawnpore  mutineers  The  first 
to  make  their  way  straight  to  Delhi,  to  join  the  p*j^  *® 
regiments  already  assembled  there,  and  to  serve  the 
cause  of  the  King.     And  they  gladly  recognised  the 
Nana  Sahib  as  their  leader.     They  had  money  and 
munitions  of  war  and  carriage  for  the  march,  and 

•  It  seems  that  the  Cavalry  had    the  work  of  appropriation  before  the 
broken  into  the  Treasury  and  begun    Infantry  arrifed. 


310  '  CAWNPORE. 

1857.      they  expected  great  things  from  the  restored  sove- 
Jiuie5.     reignty  of  the  Mogul.     But  Doondoo  Piint,  stimu- 
lated by  those  about  him,  and  chiefly,  it  is  thought, 
by  the  wily  Mahomedan,  Azimoollah,  looked  askance 
at  the  proposed  centralisation  of  rebellion,  and  urged 
upon  the  Sepoy  leaders  that  something  better  might 
be  done.     They  had  made  one  march  to  the  imperial 
city,  but  halted  at  Kullianpore,  whither  the  Nana 
had  accompanied  them.     Then  they  began  to  listen 
to  the  voice  of  the  charmer,  and  to  waver  in  their 
resolution.     The  Bithoor  people  might  be  right.     It 
might  be  better  to  march  back  to  Cawnpbre.* 
Desicna  of         Wise  in  his  generation,  the  Nana  Sahib  saw  clearly 
Sahib.  tliG  danger  of  an  eclipse.     To  march  to  Delhi  would 

be  to  place  himself  in  a  subordinate  position^ — perhaps 
to  deprive  him  of  all  substantive  authority  under 
the  baneful  influence  of  Mahomedan  jealousy.  The 
troops  might  desert  him.  The  Emperor  might  re- 
pudiate him.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Cawnpore 
he  would  be  supreme  master  of  the  situation.  He 
knew  well  the  weakness  of  the  English.     He  knew 

*  This  is  the  received  version  of  vrith  us  also  joined  the  rebels.  After 

what  took  place  between  the  Bith-  this  the  whole  army  marched  from 

oor  people  and  the  Sepoys.  It  is  not,  that  place,  and  the  rebels  took  the 

however,  given  with  any  certainty  Nana  Sahib  and  myself  and  all  our 

of  its  correctness.     Tantia  Topee  attendants    along  with  them,   and 

afterwards  endeavonred  to  make  it  said, '  Gome  along  to  Delhi.'  Having 

appear  that  the  Nana   had  acted  gone  three  coss  from  Cawnpore,  the 

under  compulsion.   The  following  is  Nana  said  that  as  the  day  was  far 

his  evidence: — **Two    days    after-  spent  it  was  far  better  to  halt  there 

wards,  the  three  regiments  of  In-  then,  and  to  march  on  the  following 

fantry  and  the  Second  Light  Ca-  dav.     They   agreed   to    this,   and 

valrv  surrounded  us,  and  imprisoned  halted.    In  the  morning  the  whole 

the  Nana  and  myself  in  the  Trea-  army  told  him  (the  Nana)  to  go 

sury,  and  plundered  the  Magazine  with  them  towards  Delhi.  The  Nana 

fuid   Treasury  of   everything  they  refused,  and  the  army  then  said, 

contained,  leaving  nothing  in  either.  '  Come  with  us  to  Cawnpore  and 

Of  the  treasure,  the  Sepoys  made  fight  there/    The  Nana  objected  to 

over  two  lacs  and  eleven  thousand  this,  but  they  would  not  attend  to 

rupees  to  the  Nana,  keeping  their  him.    And  so,  taking  him  with  them 

own  sentries  over  it.     The  "Nana  as  a  prisoner,  they  went  towards 

was  also  under  charge  of  these  sen-  Cawnpore,  and  fighting  commenced 

tries,  and  the  Sepoys  which  were  there." 


DESIGNS  OF  THE  NANA  SAHIB.  311 

well  that  at  Lucknow  the  danger  which  beset  us  was  1857. 
such  that  no  assistance  could  be  looked  for  from  "^^^  ^• 
that  quarter,  and  that  from  none  of  the  large  towns 
on  the  Ganges  and  the  Jumna — as  Benares,  Allaha- 
bad, and  Agra — had  Wheeler  any  prospect  of  imme- 
diate relief.  With  four  disciplined  Native  regiments 
and  all  his  Bithoor  retainers  at  his  back — ^with  guns 
and  great  stores  of  ammunition  and  treasure  in 
abundance,  what  might  he  not  do  ?  If  the  range  of 
his  own  imagination  did  not  take  in  at  once  the 
grand  idea  of  the  restoration  of  the  Peishwahship, 
there  were  those  at  his  elbow  to  suggest  the  prospect 
of  such  a  consummation.  He  had  been  told  by 
AzimooUah  that  the  power  of  the  English  in  Europe 
was  declining.  He  knew  that  we  were  weak  in 
India — ^that  vast  breadths  of  country,  over  which 
Rebellion  was  running  riot,  lay  stripped  of  European 
troops.  Now,  he  felt,  was  the  time  to  strike.  The 
game  was  in  his  own  hands.  The  ambition  and  the 
malice  of  the  Mahratta  might  be  gratified  at  one 
blow. 

At  Kullianpore.  therefore,  the  Nana  arrested  the 
march  of  the  mutineers  to  Delhi.  It  is  not  very 
clearly  known  what  arguments  and  persuasions  were 
used  by  him  or  his  ministers  to  induce  the  mutinous 
regiments  to  turn  back  to  Cawnpore.  It  is  probable 
that,  infirm  of  purpose,  ductile,  unstable,  and  want- 
ing leaders  with  force  of  character  to  shape  their 
plans,  they  were  induced  by  promises  of  larger  gain, 
to  turn  back  to  the  place  which  they  had  quitted, 
and  which  lay,  still  with  much  wealth,  at  their  mercy. 
Cawnpore  had  not  been  half  gutted.  And,  perhaps, 
there  were  ties,  of  a  better,  or  at  least  a  tenderer 
kind,  which  lured  some  of  the  Sepoys,  who  were  still 
men,  back  to  their  old  haunts.     In  all  such  cases,  it 


812  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  may  be  assumed  that  the  mass  of  the  soldiery  huddle 
June  5.  confusedly  to  their  doom— objectless,  rudderless,  per- 
plexed, and  bewildered,  not  knowing  what  is  to  come. 
The  blind  impulse  of  the  moment,  perhaps  a  sudden 
contagion  of  fear,  not  the  strength  of  a  stedfast  con- 
viction, or  a  settled  purpose,  swept  them  along,  like  a 
flock  of  scared  sheep  on  a  dusty  road.* 

But  there  was  no  such  want  of  purpose  among 
those  who  swept  the  flock  back  to  Cawnpore.  There 
were  teeming  brains  and  strong  wills  and  resolute 
activities  among  the  people  of  the  Bithoor  Palace. 
It  commonly  happens  that  we  know  but  little  about 
the  individual  manhood  which  shapes  events  in  the 
camps  of  our  Native  enemies.  The  chief  actor  is 
not  always  of  the  highest  rank — ^he,  in  whose  name 
the  deeds,  which  make  History,  are  done.  And 
perhaps,  we  shall  never  know  what  foul  promptings 
and  instigations  were  the  prologue  of  the  great  tra- 
gedy then  about  to  be  enacted.  But  from  this  time 
Doondoo  Punt,  Nana  Sahib,  stood  forth  in  the  eyes 
of  men  as  our  arch  enemy;  and  with  him  were  Balla 
Rao  and  Baba  Bhut,  his  brothers ;  the  Rao  Sahib,  his 
nephew ;  and  Tantia  Topee,  who  had  been  his  play- 
fellow in  former  days,  and  had  grown  into  his  coun- 
sellor  and  his  guide.  And  ever  by  his  side,  linked  to 
him  by  bonds  of  pitiless  hatred  for  the  English,  the 
astute  Mahomedan,  AzimooUah,  the  sometime  table- 
servant  of  an  English  master,  who  had  pleaded  the 
Nana's  cause  in  England  and  made  love  to  English 
ladies.  He  had  played  his  game  so  well  that  no  one 
had  suspected  him.  Only  a  few  days  before  the 
regiments  had  broken  into  rebellion,  he  had  been  in 
friendly  and  familiar  intercourse  with  English  officers, 

*  The  Matiny  of  the  Bengal  Army  is  still  described  by  Natives  of  India 
as  the  "  Shecps*  Mutiny." 


THE  FIRST  ATTACK. 


313 


veiling  his  hatred  under  the  suavity  of  his  manners      1857. 
and  the  levity  of  his  speech. 

But  as  day  dawned  on  Saturday,  the  6th  of  June,*  J^"©  6. 
Wheeler  was  startled  by  the  receipt  of  a  letter  from  ^®  ^^^^ 
the  Nana  Sahib,  intimating  that  he  was  about  to 
attack  the  entrenchments.  The  supposed  departure 
of  the  Sepoys  to  Delhi  had  inspired  the  General  and 
his  companions  with  new  hopes.  It  would  be  easy  for 
them,  they  thought,  in  a  little  while,  to  drop  down 
to  Allahabad.  But  this  pleasant  dream  was  now  rudely 
broken.  The  rebellious  soldiery  were  returning  to 
Cawnpore,  strengthened  in  numbers  by  the  retainers 
of  the  Nana,  and  still  more  invigorated  by  the  iden- 
tification with  the  rebel  cause  of  men  of  influence 
and  energy,  able  to  keep  together  the  scattered  atoms 
of  revolt,  and  to  organise  a  great  movement  against 
the  English,  The  blow  fell  heavily  upon  the  brave 
old  General;  on  soldiers  and  civilians;  on  officers 
and  men ;  heavily  upon  all  who  clung  to  them  for 
protection.  There  was  not  an  hour  to  be  lost.  Forth 
went  the  mandate  for  all  the  English  to  concentrate 
themselves  within  the  entrenchments.  The  women 
and  children  and  non-combatants  were  already  there 
— and  those  on  duty  in  the  garrison ;  but  many  of 
the  Sepoy  officers  had  slept  or  watched  in  the  Sepoys' 
lines,  and  had  gone  thence  to  their  own  bungalows ; 
and  now  they  were  summoned  without  a  moment's 
pause  or  respite  to  the  earthworks,  with  no  time  to 
snatch  a  hasty  mouthful  of  food,  to  collect  a  change 


*  Captain  Mowbray  Thomson 
("  Story  of  Cawnpore")  says  that  it 
was  on  Sunday  the  7th,  but  Colonel 
Williams,  who  collated  all  the  eW- 
dence  on  record,  says  it  is  proved 
that  the  mutineers  returned  to  Cawn- 
pore on  the  6th.  The  Ked  Pamphlet 
gives  the  6th  as  the  date  of  the  re- 


turn of  the  troops  to  Cawnpore,  and 
the  7th  as  the  date  of  the  receipt  of 
the  Nana's  letter.  This  mght  ex- 
plain the  discrepancy;  but  Captain 
Thomson  speaks  of  the  two  inci- 
dents as  synchronous,  and  Mr.  Tre- 
telyaa  adopts  this  yieir. 


314  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  of  clothes  for  the  morrow,  and  scarcely  to  apparel 
June  6.  themselves  for  the  work  of  the  day.  Leaving  their 
household  gods,  which  they  had  hoped  still  to  pre- 
serve, they  obeyed,  promptly  but  regretfully,  the 
orders  of  their  chief^  and  hurried  into  the  entrench- 
ments. Soon  every  one  was  at  his  post.  It  was  a 
jniserable  place  for  defensive  purposes,  but  such  as  it 
was,  the  best  dispositions  were  made  for  its  defence. 
And  every  mm  braced  himself  up  for  the  work  before 
him,  with  clenched  teeth  and  a  stem  resolution  to 
show  what  English  manhood  could  do  to  prevail 
against  the  fearful  odds  to  which  it  was  opposed. 
Approacbof  And  whilst  our  people  were  thus  manning  the 
®  ^^^'  several  posts  which  had  been  marked  out  for  the 
defence  of  our  feeble  earthworks,  the  enemy  were 
surging  onwards  in  confused  numbers  towards  the 
entrenchments ;  but  eager  rather  for  plunder  than 
for  battle,  they  turned  aside  to  gorge  themselves  with 
the  spoil,  in  city  and  cantonment,  which  lay  profusely 
at  their  mercy,  and  to  murder  all  the  defenceless 
Christian  people  who  fell  in  their  way.*  The  ques- 
tion of  proprietorship  disturbed  them  Uttle.  Not  con- 
tent with  the  pillage  of  the  Feringhees,  many  enriched 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  their  own  countrymen, 
and  some  at  least  straightway  deserted  the  ranks  of 
the  rebel  army  and  made  their  way  to  their  own 
homes.  But  enough  remained,  after  all  defections, 
thoroughly  to  invest  our  position — and  more,  per- 
haps, than  could  be  brought  under  effectual  com- 

•  «  An  old  gentleman,  supposed  house  being  set  on  fire,  were  obli^d 

to  be  a  merchant,  with  bis  wife  and  to  abandon  it,  and  were  murdered  as 

two  children,  one  a  boy  of  sixteen,  they  fled.    Another  European  (un- 

the  other  a  little  girl,  on  being  found  known)  was  shot  br  the  troopers, 

secreted  in  a  house  near  the  dawk-  whowere  indefatigable  in  their  search 

bungalow,  were  shot  in  front  of  it.  after  Christiana." — Col.  Williamt*s 

Four  ofBce-wrilers,  living  in  a  house  Synopsis. 
on  the  bank  of  a  canal  .  .  .  their 


COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  ATTACK  315 

»  ■ 

mand  and  control.  Organisation,  however,  was  not  1857. 
wholly  neglected.  In  the  name  of  the  Nana  Sahib,  "^^^  ^* 
promotions  and  appointments  were  made  in  the  army 
of  the  Peishwah.  The  Soubahdar,  Teeka  Singh, 
who  had  been  from  the  commencement  the  most 
active  promoter  of  revolt,  received  the  command  of 
the  cavalry,  with  the  rank  of  General ;  whilst  Jemadai; 
Dulgunjun  Singh  and  Soubahdar  Gunga  Deen  were 
appointed  to  the  command,  as  Colonels,  of  infantry 
regiments.  The  names  of  these  dignitaries  will  sug- 
gest the  fact  that  the  chief  commands  were  given  to 
Hindoos.  But  whether,  as  has  been  supposed,  this 
proceeded  from  the  belief  that  "  the  boldest  and  most 
active  of  the  mutineers  were  not  Mussulmans,  but 
Hindoos,"*  or  whether  it  were  that  the  prejudices 
and  predilections  of  the  Mahratta  Brahmin,  who  was 
recognised  as  the  rebel  leader,  wrought  strongly  in 
favour  of  his  co-religionists,  can  only  be  conjectured. 

For  some  hours  after  the  first  alarm,  the  little  The  Attack 
garrison  waited  and  waited ;  and  there  was  no  sound  <5<>°^«"«^<^^' 
of  the  threatened  attack.  But  about  noon  the  boom- 
ing of  the  cannon  told  that  the  enemy  had  com- 
menced their  operations.  A  round-shot  from  a  nine- 
pounder  came  into  our  entrenchments,  scaring  and 
scattering  a  large  party  of  ladies  and  children,  who 
were  gathered  together  outside  the  barracks.  Then 
the  bugle  sounded;  and  our  fighting  men  got  to 
their  posts,  and  prepared  themselves  for  the  unequal 
conflict.  As  the  day  advanced,  shot  after  shot  from 
the  enemy's  guns  was  poured  in  with  increasing 
rapidity  and  deadliness  of  aim,  and  with  the  sound 
of  every  shot  arose  the  screams  of  the  women  and 
the  children.      On  that  first  day  of  the  siege  the 

*  See  Mr.  Treveljan's  interesting    tion  is  contained  in  Colonel  Wil« 
Yolnmey  "  Cawnpore."    The  sugges-    liams's  Synopsis  of  Eridenoe* 


316  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  unaccustomed  horror  tore  down  all  barriers  of  self- 
June  6.  restraint.  But  soon  this  human  weakness,  which 
vented  itself  in  the  shrill  utterances  of  fear,  passed 
away  from  these  helpless  ones;  and  in  its  place  there 
was  an  unnatural  stillness,  more  pathetic  than  the 
wailings  of  grief  and  the  clamorous  outbursts  of 
terror. 


June  6—27.  Then  commenced  a  siege,  the  miseries  of  which  to 
®  ^^^  the  besieged  have  never  been  exceeded  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  All  the  wonted  terrors  of  a  multitu- 
dinous enemy  without,  of  a  feeble  garrison  and  scant 
shelter  within,  of  the  burden  of  women,  and  chil- 
dren, and  sick  people,  with  little  to  appease  their 
wants  or  to  allay  their  sufferings,  were  aggravated  by 
the  burning  heat  of  the  climate.  The  June  sky  was 
little  less  than  a  great  canopy  of  fire;  the  summer 
breeze  was  as  the  blast  of  a  furnace.  To  touch  the 
barrel  of  a  gun  was  to  recoil  as  from  red-hot  iron. 
It  was  the  season  when  European  strength  and  energy 
are  ever  at  their  lowest  point  of  depression ;  when 
military  duty  in  its  mildest  form  taxes  the  powers  of 
Englishmen  to  the  utmost,  and  English  women  can 
do  little  more  than  sustain  life  in  a  state  of  languid 
repose,  in  shaded  apartments,  with  all  appliances  at 
command  to  moderate  the  temperature  and  to  miti- 
gate the  suffering.  But  now,  even  under  the  fierce 
meridian  sun,  this  little  band  of  English  fighting 
men  were  ever  straining  to  sustain  the  strenuous 
activity  of  constant  battle  against  fearful  odds ;  whilst 
delicate  women  and  fragile  children  were  suddenly 
called  to  endure  discomforts  and  privations,  with  all 
the  superadded  miseries  peculiar  to  the  country  and 
the  climate,  which  it  would  have  been  hard  to  battle 


SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  BESIEGED.  317 

with,  in  strong  health,  under  their  native  skies.  The  1857. 
morning  and  evening  baths,  the  frequent  changes  ^^^^  ^'~^^' 
of  raiment,  the  constant  ministrations  of  assiduous 
servants  in  the  smallest  things,  which  are  the  neces- 
sities of  English  life  in  India,  were  now  suddenly 
lost  to  these  helpless  ones;  and,  to  intensify  the 
wretchedness,  the  privacy  and  seclusion  so  dear  to 
them  became  only  remembrances  of  the  past.  Even 
amidst  the  roar  of  the  cannon  and  the  rattle  of  the 
musketry,  with  death  around  them  in  many  ghastly 
shapes,  the  loss  of  these  privileges  was  amongst  the 
heaviest  of  their  trials,  for  it  violated  all  the 
decencies  and  proprieties  of  life,  and  shocked  the 
modesty  of  their  womanly  natures. 

To  the  English  soldier  in  India  to  be  outmatched 
m  numbers  is  scarcely  a  discouragement.  Ever  since, 
a  century  before,  Clive  had  fought  against  heavy 
odds  the  great  battle  of  Plassey,  our  l^nglish  forces 
had  ever  been  outnumbered  in  the  field,  and  yet  they 
had  fought  their  way  to  empire.  The  overwhelming 
multitude  of  Sepoys  which  now  encompassed  our 
position  at  Cawnpore,  were  kept  at  bay  by  the  little 
handful  of  English  soldiers  that  now  manned  our 
feeble  entrenchments.  As  men,  all  the  mighty  host 
of  Hindoos  and  Mahomedans  which  the  Nana  Sahib 
sent  against  us  were  utterly  contemptible  in  our  eyes. 
Had  the  positions  of  the  two  nations  been  reversed, 
had  the  English  been  outside  those  paltry  earth- 
works, one  rush  would  have  carried  the  place,  and 
the  whole  garrison  would  have  been  put  to  the  sword 
in  an  hour.  There  was  nothing  to  keep  the  besiegers 
out  of  the  entrenchments  but  the  contrast  between 
the  indomitable  pluck  of  the  Few  and  the  flaccid 
irresolution  of  the  Many.  The  besiegers,  who  might 
have  relieved  each  other  every  hour,  who  might  have 


318  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  bathed,  and  eaten,  and  smoked,  and  slept  whilst  their 
June  6— 27.  comrades  were  on  duty,  and  sent  any  number  of 
fresh  troops  to  the  assault,  shrank  from  a  close 
encounter  with  our  weary  people,  overworked  and 
underfed,  ever  labouring  in  the  trenches,  ever  under 
fire,  with  the  clothes  rotting  on  their  backs,  and  the 
grime  from  the  guns  caking  on  their  hands  and  faces. 
But,  poor  and  despicable  as  the  enemy  were,  they 
were  rich  and  royal  in  their  possessions.  They  had 
an  immense  wealth  of  artillery.  The  Cawnpore 
Magazine  had  sent  forth  vast  supplies  of  guns  and 
ammunition.*  And  now  the  heavy  ordnance  of  the 
Government  was  raking  its  servants  with  a  destruc- 
tiveness  which  soon  diminished  our  numbers  working 
in  the  trenches.  The  English  artillerymen  dropped 
at  their  guns,  until  one  after  another  the  places  of 
our  trained  gunners  were  filled  by  volunteers  and 
amateurs,  with  stout  hearts  but  untutored  eyes,  and 
the  lighter  metal  of  their  guns  could  make  no  ade- 
quate response  to  the  heavy  fire  of  their  twenty-four- 
pounders.  But,  when  the  enemy  neared  our  para- 
pets, and  sought  further  to  molest  us  at  close  quar- 
ters, they  met  with  such  a  reception  as  soon  put  them 
to  panic  flight. 
Captain  In  these  encounters  there  was  one  man  ever  con- 

Moore,  spicuous — ever  in  the  front  of  the  battle — inspiring 
and  animating  all  who  served  under  him  by  his 
lustrous  example.  This  was  Captain  Moore,  of  the 
Thirty-second — a  soldier  of  a  commanding  presence, 
light-haired  and  blue-eyed,  whom  no  toil  could 
weary,  no  danger  could  daunt.  Wounded  at  the 
commencement  of  the  siege,  he  went  about  with  his 

*  And  in  addition  to  the  guns    at  the   Ghaut,  which  were  about 
and  stores  taken  from  the  Magazine,    to  be  despatched  to  Roorkhee. 
were  other  supplies  of  both  found 


CAPTAIN  MOORE.  319 

ann  in  a  sling;  but  the  strong  spirit  within  him  1857. 
defied  pain.  Day  and  night  he  laboured  on,  now  in  ^^"^  ^^^f* 
the  trenches,  now  heading  desperate  sorties  against 
the  enemy,  but  even  when  he  ceased  to  hope,  he 
neither  fainted  nor  failed.  There  was  no  greater 
heroism  than  this  English  captain's  in  all  the  war 
from  first  to  last — ^no  name  more  worthy  than  his  to 
be  recorded  in  the  rolls  of  our  English  chivalry. 

But  though  ever  in  the  heroic  annals  of  the  siege 
this  fair-haired  captain  must  hold  the  foremost  place 
as  the  Agamemnon  of  the  defence,  there  were  other 
heroic  deeds  than  his  worthy  of  distinguished  record 
— other  brave  men  whose  names  should  find  fitting 
mention  in  the  page  of  history.  There  was  Vibart, 
Major  of  the  Second  Cavalry,  who  held  the  Redan, 
slackening  not,  day  or  night,  in  his  exertions,  and 
though  ever  under  the  merciless  fire  of  the  enemy, 
active  and  robust  to  the  last.  There  was  Whiting, 
Captain  of  the  Bengal  Engineers,  who  commanded 
at  the  north-west  point  of  the  entrenchments,  a  man 
of  stout  heart  and  clear  brain.  There  was  Jenkins, 
Captain  of  the  Second  Cavalry,  described  as  "  one  of 
the  bravest  and  best  of  our  party,"  who  held  one  of 
our  outposts  beyond  the  trenches  with  unflinching 
gallantry,  till  a  bullet  through  the  jaws,  from  the 
musket  of  a  Sepoy  who  was  feigning  death,  brought 
his  services  to  an  agonising  end.  There  was  Mow- 
bray-Thomson,  Subaltern  of  the  Fifty- sixth,  who 
"had  the  miserable  satisfaction"  of  avenging,  on  the 
spot,  the  death  of  his  friend — a  soldier  ever  to  be 
found  where  danger  was  hottest,  of  whose  deeds  the 
world  would  have  known  more  if  any  other  pen  than 
his  had  chronicled  the  events  of  the  siege;  now 
holding,  Avith  a  few  followers,  a  perilous  outpost,  now 
heading  a  desperate  sortie  against  merciless  odds,  he 


320  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  exposed  himself  to  death  in  every  shape,  but  he 
June  6—27.  geemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life.*  And  there  was  his 
friend  and  comrade  to  the  last,  Delafosse  of  the 
Fifty-third,  a  young  hero,  equal  to  any  feat  of  heroic 
daring.  One  day  a  shot  from  the  enemy's  battery 
had  blown  up  a  tumbril  and  set  fire  to  the  woodwork 
of  the  carriage,  in  the  place  where  our  ammunition 
was  stored.  It  was  clearly  seen,  both  by  the  insur- 
gents and  by  our  own  people,  that  if  the  fire  were 
not  extinguished  there  would  soon  be  a  most  disas- 
trous explosion.  So  the  Sepoy  batteries  poured  in  a 
deadly  stream  of  eighteen  and  twenty-four  pound 
shot.  But  unmoved  by  these  messengers  of  death, 
Delafosse  went  forth,  threw  himself  down  beneath  the 
blazing  carriage,  tore  off  the  burning  wood  with  his 
hand,  and  throwing  dry  earth  upon  the  fire,  stifled 
it  before  it  could  spread.  Then  there  was  Sterling, 
the  dead  shot,  who,  perched  up  in  a  sort  of  crow's- 
nest  on  the  barrack-wall,  which  Delafosse  had  impro- 
vised for  him,  picked  off  single  Sepoys  with  unerring 
aim,  and  became  a  scourge  to  our  assailants;  and 
Jervis  of  the  Engineers,  who,  with  indomitable  pride 
of  race,  refused  to  run  from  a  black  fellow,  and  was 
shot  through  the  heart  whilst  walking  across  the  open 
in  stem  composure,  with  the  pingings  of  the  hostile 
bullets,  and  the  imploring  cries  of  his  comrades  to 
save  himself,  sounding  in  his  ears.  There  was  Ashe, 
too,  the  stout  gunner  from  Lucknow,  Avho  served 
his  nine-pounders,  to  the  admiration  of  the  whole 
garrison  and  to  the  terror  of  the  besiegei^s,  with  un- 
failing  courage  and  consttocy  from  day  to  day,  pour- 
ing in  round  after  round  with  astonishing  rapidity, 

♦  Mr.  Trcvel.van  very  felicitously  order  that  England  might  know  how, 

says  of  him,  "  This  officer  did  his  in  their  exceeding;  distress,  her  sons 

best  to  lose  a  life  which  destiny  had  not  been  immindful  of  their 

seemed  delermined  to  preserve,  in  ancient  honour." 


GiLLANTRT  OF  THE  6ESIEGED.  321 

and  after  each  discharge  leaping  on  to  the  heel  of  1857. 
his  gun,  and,  regardless  of  the  danger  of  exposure,  •^""eG— 27. 
taking  a  new  sight,  and  dealing  out  new  death  in  the 
direction  most  disastrous  to  the  enemy.  And  there 
were  many  other  soldiers  so  good  and  true  in  the 
hour  of  our  great  national  need,  that  History  deplores 
its  insufficiency  to  do  full  justice  to  the  individual 
heroism  of  all  the  mighty  defenders  of  those  miserable 
works. 

Nor  were  these  great  and  glorious  manifestations  Gallantry  of 
of  the  consummate  bravery  of  our  people  confined  C^^^'^^- 
to  those  who  Avere  combatants  by  profession.  There 
were  many  in  the  entrenchments,  not  bred  to  arms, 
who  started  suddenly  into  stalwart  soldiers.  Among 
them  were  some  railway  engineers,  potent  to  do  and 
strong  to  endure,  who  flung  themselves  into  the  work 
of  the  defence  with  unstinting  self-devotion,  and 
made  manifest  to  their  assailants  that  they  were  men 
of  the  warrior  caste,  although  they  wore  no  uniforms 
on  their  backs.  Conspicuous  among  them  was  Mr. 
Heberden,  who  was  riddled  Avith  grape-shot,  and  lay 
for  many  days,  face  downwards,  in  extreme  agony, 
which  he  bore  with  unmurmuring  fortitude  until 
death  came  to  his  relief.*  And  not  the  least  heroic 
of  that  little  band  of  heroes  was  the  station- chaplain, 
Mr.  Moncriefi^,  who  went  about  ministering  to  the 
sick  and  the  wounded,  offering  the  consolations  of 
religion  to  all  who  were  passing  aAvay  from  the  scene, 
and  with  that  "access  of  unexpected  strength"  de- 
rived from  prayer  sustaining  the  toilers  in  the  en- 
trenchments, who  turned  aside  for  a  little  while  from 
their  ghastly  work  to  listen  to  the  sweet  promises  of 
the  Gospel. 

•  Not  until  the  close  of  the  siege.    "  He  was  carried  on  a  mattress  down 
to  the  boats,  where  he  died.*' 

VOL.  II.  Y 


322  CAWNPOEE. 

1857.  And  never  since  war  began,  never  "  in  the  brave 

June  6—27.  (j^yg  of  old,"  of  whicli  poets  delight  to  sing,  when 
endurance,  women  turned  their  hair  into  bow-strings,  has  the 
world  seen  nobler  patience  and  fortitude  than  clothed 
the  lives  and  shone  forth  in  the  deaths  of  the  wives 
and  daughters  of  the  fighting-men  of  Cawnpore.  No 
bow-strings  were  used  in  this  defence;  our  arrows 
were  of  another  kind.  They  went  forth  from  the 
roaring  mouths  of  our  guns  in  the  shape  of  round- 
shot  and  grape  and  canister.  But  when  these  missiles 
fell  short,  or  by  reason  of  the  damage  done  to  our 
pieces  by  the  heavy  artillery  of  the  enemy,  could 
not  be  used  in  the  form  from  which  they  were  issued 
from  the  expense-magazine,  the  gentlewomen  of 
Cawnpore  gave  up  some  of  the  cherished  compo- 
nents of  their  feminine  attire  to  improvise  the  ammu- 
nition most  needed.*  It  would  take  long  to  tell 
in  detail  all  the  stories  of  womanly  self-devotion  and 
patient  endurance  and  calm  courage  waiting  for  the 
end.  Among  these  heroines  was  Mrs.  Moore,  the 
true-hearted  wife  of  the  leader  of  the  garrison.  All 
the  officers  who  fought  under  him  had  for  her  a  ten- 
derness equal  to  his  own,  and  they  "fitted  up  for 
her  a  little  hut,  made  of  bamboo  and  covered  with 
canvas,"  where  "she  would  sit  for  hours,  bravely 
bearing  the  absence  of  her  husband  while  he  Avas 
gone  on  some  perilous  enterprise."  f  Many  others, 
perhaps,  suffered  more.  The  pangs  of  child-birth 
came  upon  *ome  in  the  midst  of  all  this  drear  dis- 
comfort and  painful    publicity.      Some  saw  their 

* '^  In  consequence  of  the  irregu-  tapped  the  canisters,  we  charged 

laritjof  the  bore  of  the  guns,  through  them  with  the  contents  of  the  shot- 

the  damage  inflicted  upon  tbem  by  cases — a  species  of  cartridge  pro- 

the  enemy's  shot,  the  canister  could  bably  never  heard  of  before." — Mow- 

not   be  driven  home;   the  women  bray'ThonuoiCs Narrative. 

gave  us  theur  stockings,  and  haying  f  Mowbray-Thomson's  Narrative. 


BURNING  OF  THE  BARRACK.  323  . 

children  slowly  die  in  their  arms;  some  had  them.  1857. 
swept  away  from  their  breasts  by  the  desolating  fire  ^^^^  ^^^^' 
of  the  enemy.  There  was  no  misery  which  humanity 
could  endure  that  did  not  fall  heavily  upon  our 
English  women.  It  Avas  the  lot  of  many  only  to 
suffer.  But  those  who  were  not  prostrate,  or  in  close 
attendance  upon  their  nearest  and  dearest,  moved 
about  as  sisters  of  charity,  and  were  active  in  their 
ministrations.  Nor  was  there  wanting  altogether  the 
stalwart  courage  of  the  Amazon.  .It  is  related  that 
the  wife  of  a  private  of  the  Thirty-second,  named 
Bridget  Widdowson,  stood  sentry,  sword  in  hand,  for 
some  time  over  a  batch  of  prisoners  tied  together  by 
a  rope;  and  that  the  captives  did  not  escape  until 
the  feminine  guard  had  been  relieved  by  one  of  the 
other  sex. 

After  the  siege  had  lasted  about  a  week  a  great  The  bumin 
calamity  befel  the  garrison.  In  the  two  barracks  of  j^® 
which  I  have  spoken  were  gathered  together  all  the 
feeble  and  infirm,  the  old  and  the  sick,  the  women  and 
the  children.  One  of  the  buildings,  it  has  been  said, 
had  a  thatched  roof,  and  whilst  all  sorts  of  projectiles 
and  combustibles  were  flying  about,  its  ignition  could 
be  only  a  question  of  time.  Every  effort  had  been 
made  to  cover  the  thatch  with  loose  tiles  or  bricks, 
but  the  protection  thus  afforded  was  insufficient,  and 
one  evening  the  whole  building  was  in  a  blaze.  The 
scene  that  ensued  was  one  of  the  most  terrible  in  the 
entire  history  of  the  siege ;  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
who  lay  there,  too  feeble  and  helpless  to  save  them- 
selves, were  in  peril  of  being  burnt  to  death.  To 
their  comrades  it  was  a  work  of  danger  and  difficulty 
to  rescue  them;  for  the  enemy,  rejoicing  in  their 
success,  poured  shot  and  shell  in  a  continuous  stream 
upon  the  burning  pile,  which  guided  their  fire  through 

y2 


tr 
o 


324  CAWNPORE. 

« 

1657.  the  darkness  of  the  night.  Two  artillerymen  only 
June  6—27.  perished  in  the  flames.  But  the  destruction  of  the 
barrack  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  besieged.  It  de- 
prived numbers  of  women  and  children  of  all  shelter, 
and  sent  them  out  houseless  to  lie  day  after  day  and 
night  after  night  upon  the  bare  ground,  without 
more  shelter  than  could  be  aflforded  by  strips  of  can- 
vas and  scraps  of  wine-chests,  feeble  defences  against 
the  climate,  which  were  soon  destroyed  by  the  un- 
ceasing fire  of  the  enemy.  And  there  was  a  worse 
result  even  than  this.  The  conflagration  destroyed 
all  the  resources  upon  which  our  people  had  relied 
for  the  mitigation  of  the  suff^erings  of  the  sick  and 
wounded.  All  our  hospital  stores  and  surgical  instru- 
ments were  lost  to  us;  and  from  that  time  Death 
and  Pain  had  their  way  without  anything  to  arrest 
the  one  or  to  soften  the  other. 

There  was  another  result  of  this  conflagration,  of 
which  little  or  no  notice  has  been  taken  by  the  chro- 
niclers of  the  Siege.  It  has  been  narrated  that  a  few 
faithful  Sepoys  cast  in  their  lot  with  their  white 
officers,  and  accompanied  them  within  the  entrench- 
ments. It  appears  that  they  were  told  that  they 
might  find  shelter  in  this  barrack,  and  we  may  assume 
that  they  littered  down  in  the  verandahs.  There 
Bbowany  w^as  one  old  Native  officer,  the  Soubahdar-Major  of 
s.ngh.  ^Y^^  Second  Cavalry,  who  from  the  first  had  arrayed 
himself  against  the  mutineers  of  his  regiment,  and 
had  received  the  reward  of  his  great  loyalty  to  the 
English  in  the  wounds  which  he  carried  off  with  him 
to  the  entrenchments.  And  this  reward  Avas  soon 
supplemented  by  another.  Death  came  to  the  brave 
old  man  whilst  still  clinging  to  his  former  masters. 
He  was  killed  in  the  early  vaxt  of  the  siege  by  a 


FAITHFUL  SEPOYS.  325 

shell.*  The  Fifty-third  Regiment  is  stated  to  have  1857. 
sent  ten  Native  officers,  with  Faithful  Sepoys,  into  ^  ^°®  ^~2' 
General  Wheeler's  camp.  All  the  other  regiments 
contributed  their  quota  to  the  garrison,  and  there 
is  evidence  that  during  the  first  week  of  the  siege 
they  rendered  some  service  to  the  English.  But 
when  the  barrack  was  destroyed,  there  was  no  place 
for  them.  Provisions  were  already  falling  short,  and 
although  there  was  no  reason  to  mistrust  them,  it 
was  felt  that  they  were  rather  an  encumbrance  than 
an  assistance.  So  they  were  told  that  they  might 
depart;  and  as,  although  there  was  danger  beyond 
the  entrenchments,  there  was  greater  danger  within 
them,  they  not  reluctantly  perhaps  turned  their  faces 
towards  their  homes.  Some  perished  by  the  way; 
some  succeeded  in  reaching  their  native  villages ;  a 
few  returned,  after  a  time,  to  the  British  Camp,  to 
detail  their  experiences  of  the  early  days  of  the  siegcf 

Day  after  day  passed,  and  ever  as  our  little  garrison  Mortality  m 

the  Ganisou. 

*  This  is  the  man  of  whom  pre-  house  caught  fire  from  the  enemy's 

vious  mention  has  been  made  (page  shot.  I  believe  the  shot  was  wrapi>ed 

302)  as  the  one  Sepoy  of  the  old  in  some  inflammable  material^  which 

disgraced  Second  Gavahry  that  had  catching  the  thatched  roof,  soon  be- 

been  re-enlisted.    It  is  to  be  hoped  came  a  blaze." — (Deponlion  ofBhola 

that  good  provision  has  been  made  Khan^  Sepoy  Fifty-third  Native  In» 

for  the  family  of  so  brave  a  man  and  fautry,)    "  The  barracks  caught  fire 

so  faithful  a  servant.  about  four  o'clock  p.m.,  on  tne  9th 

f  "  The  Major  having  gone  to  or  10th.  The  Major  then  told  us  he 
inquire  of  General  Wheeler  what  we  could  do  nothing  for  us,  there  being 
were  to  do,  the  latter  came  out  and  an  order  of  General  Wheeler  pro- 
ordered  us  to  occupy  the  hospital  hibiting  any  Native  from  entering 
barracks;  he  said,  'in  such  a  oar-  the  entrenchment.  He  therefore 
rack  we  shall  not  manage  to  save  recommended  us  to  provide  for  our 
our  lives,  as  the  round-shot  will  reach  own  safety.  .  .  .  The  whole  party 
us  from  all  sides.'  ...  On  the  even-  then  left  the  hospital  barrack." — 
ing  of  the  9th  or  10th,  a  hot  round-  {Deposition  of  Earn  Buksh,  Fay-ffO' 
shot  fell  on  our  barrack  and  set  it  vildar,  Fifty-third  Native  Infantry.) 
on  fire.  On  this  we  left  it,  and  con-  The  numoer  of  these  Sepoys  is  sup- 
cealed  ourselves  for  the  night  in  a  posed  to  have  been  about  eighty  or 
nullah  not  far  distant."  "  We  held  a  hundred,  with  a  considerate  pro- 
the  hospital  barracks  from  the  5th  to  portion  of  Native  officers, 
the  9th  or  10th ;  we  left  because  the 


826  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  waned  weaker  and  weaker,  the  fire  of  the  enemy 
June  6—27.  gp3^^  hotter  atid  hotter.  With  what  terrible  effect  it 
told  upon  our  stfifering  people  in  the  entrenchments, 
on  brave  fighting  men,  on  patient  women,  and  on 
poor  little  children,  has  been  narrated  by  one  of  the 
survivors  with  a  simplicity  of  pathos  which  goes 
straight  to  the  heart.  Incidents,  which  in  ordinary 
times  would  have  been  described  with  graphic  minute- 
ness of  detail,  have  been  told  in  a  few  words  as  events 
of  such  common  occurrence,  as  scarcely  to  have  excited 
a  sensation  in  the  garrison.  If  the  "  burra  sahib,"  or 
great  lord  of  the  district,  to  whom  a  few  weeks  before 
all  Natives  Avould  have  crouched,  were  shot  dead  in 
an  instant,  or  the  commandant  of  a  regiment,  whose 
word  had  been  law  to  a  thousand  armed  men,  were 
disabled  by  agonising  wounds,  it  was  the  talk  of  the 
entrenchments  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  then  a 
new  tragedy  brushed  it  away.  In  truth  it  did  not 
much  matter  at  what  moment  death  came.  Happiest 
those,  perhaps,  to  whom  it  came  soonest.  Hillersdon, 
the  Collector,  who  had  negotiated  the  alliance  with 
the  Nana  Sahib,  fell  a  corpse  at  the  feet  of  his  young 
wife,  with  his  entrails  torn  out  by  a  round  shot.  A 
few  days  afterwards  she  was  relieved  from  the  ghastly 
memories  of  her  bereavement  by  a  merciful  fall  of 
miasonry,  which  killed  her.  The  General's  son  and 
aide-de-camp,  Lieutenant  Wheeler,  was  lying  wounded 
in  one  of  the  barrack-rooms,  when,  in  the  presence  of 
his  whole  family,  father,  mother,  and  sisters,  a  round 
shot  boomed  into  the  apartment,  and  carried  off  the 
young  soldier's  head.  Another  round  shot  struck  up 
splinters  into  Major  Lindsay's  face,  gashing  and  blind- 
ing him.  He  lingered  on  in  darkness  and  in  agony 
for  some  days,  attended  by  his  wife,  when  Death 
took  him,  and  she  soon  followed.     Colonel  Williams, 


SUFFERINGS  OF  OUR  PEOPLE.  327 

of  the  Fifty-sixth,  being  disabled  by  a  wound  early  1857. 
in  the  siege,  died  of  apoplexy  from  sunstroke,  leaving  ^^^^  6—27. 
his  wife  and  daughters  in  the  entrenchments.  The 
former,  shot  in  the  face  and  frightfully  disfigured, 
lay  for  some  days,  tended  by  her  wounded  daughter, 
until  death  came  to  the  suffering  widow's  relief. 
Colonel  Ewart,  of  the  First,  who  would  have  taken 
an  active  part  in  the  defence  if  he  had  been  spared, 
was  disabled  at  an  early  period,  but  lingered  through 
the  siege,  attended  by  his  admirable  wife,  only  to  be 
brutally  murdered  at  the  end  of  it.  Captain  Halliday 
was  shot  dead  carrying  from  the  barracks  to  the  en- 
trenchments a  little  horse-soup,  which  he  had  begged 
for  his  famishing  wife.  Thus  many  of  Wheeler's 
chief  officers  were  rendered  powerless  for  good  by 
the  unceasing  fire  of  the  enemy,  whilst  the  old 
General  himself  issued  orders  from  the  shelter  of  the 
barracks,  but  was  seldom  capable  of  taking  part  in 
the  active  duties  of  the  defence.  In  bitterness  of 
spirit  he  saw  his  garrison  diminishing  every  day 
before  his  eyes.  There  was  a  well  a  little  way  out- 
side the  entrenchments,  which  served  as  the  general 
cemetery  of  the  Christian  people;  and  night  after 
night  the  carnage  of  the  day  was  carried  to  this 
universal  mausoleum.  And  there  were  some  who 
died  hopelessly,  though  not  in  the  flesh;  for  the 
horrors  of  the  siege  were  greater  than  they  could 
bear,  and  madness  fell  upon  them,  perhaps  as  a 
merciful  dispensation. 

It  is  impossible  to  compute  the  aggregate  of  death  Chastisement 
which  our  people  dealt  back  to  the  enemy  in  return  ^     ^  enemy, 
for  these  visitations.     It  is  known  that  in  the  space 
of  three  weeks  the  English  consigned  to  the  well  two 
hundred  and  fifty  of  their  party.     The  number  of 
bodies  buried  by  the  insurgents  or  devoured  by  the 


828  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  vultures  and  jackals,  must  have  been  counted,  if 
June  6—27.  ^^^j.  counted  at  all,  at  this  amount  many  times  told. 
If  hands  were  scarce  in  the  entrenchments,  muskets 
were  not;  and  every  man  stood  to  his  work  with 
some  spare  pieces  ready-loaded,  which  he  fired  with 
such  rapidity  that  the  enemy  marvelled  when  they 
thought  of  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  number  of 
our  garrison.  But  it  was  not  only  from  the  entrench- 
ments that  death  went  forth  to  greet  our  assailants. 
Incidental  allusion  has  been  made  to  our  outposts. 
There  was  a  row  of  unfinished  barracks  at  one  corner 
of  our  position,  which  it  was  of  immense  importance 
to  us  to  possess,  in  whole  or  in  part,  lest  the  enemy 
should  hold  them  against  us,  and  make  sad  havoc 
within  our  miserable  earthworks.  There  were  in  all 
eight  of  these  buildings.  Two  the  English  contrived 
to  occupy,  and  between  these  two  was  a  third,  with 
the  well  attached  in  which  we  buried  our  dead,  and 
which  we  saved  from  the  grasp  of  the  enemy.  From 
the  shelter  which  we  thus  held,  and  which  must  have 
given  good  command  over  two  sides  of  our  entrenched 
position,  our  people  poured  in  a  deadly  fire  on  the 
insurgents,  whenever  they  approached  our  works. 
Conspicuous  among  the  defenders  of  these  outposts, 
as  has  already  been  told,  were  Jenkins  and  Mowbray- 
Thomson ;  and  to  these  good  names  should  be  added 
that  of  Lieutenant  Glanville,  of  the  Second  Bengal 
Europeans,  who  held  with  sixteen  men  "Number 
Two  "  barrack,  described  as  the  key  of  our  position, 
until  he  was  incapacitated  by  a  dangerous  wound.* 
From  the  barracks,  or  carcasses  of  barracks,  thus 
gallantly  held,  such  punishment  was  inflicted  upon 
the  enemy,  as  even  after  a  lapse  of  years  could  not  be 
remembered  by  any  one  living  to  look  back  upon  it 

*  He  vas  succeeded  in  the  command  by  Mowbmj.TliomaQQ, 


CHASTISEMENT  OF  THE  SEFOTS.  329 

without  a  shudder.  Here  was  the  hardest  Avork,  and  1867. 
hence  came  the  greatest  carnage.*  Any  adventurous  ''"^®  6—27. 
Sepoy  coming  within  the  reach  of  our  rifles  or  mus- 
kets, paid  the  penalty  of  his  audacity,  and  never 
troubled  us  or  disported  himself  any  more.  Some- 
times, if  a  favourable  opportunity  presented  itself, 
our  little  garrisons  made  bold  sallies  into  the  open, 
spiking  the  enemy's  guns  and  cutting  off  all  who  fell 
in  their  way.  It  was  not  of  much  use ;  for  whether 
guns  were  spiked  or  men  were  killed,  there  were  so 
many  of  both  in  the  background,  that  the  loss  was 
scarcely  felt  for  a  moment.  Indeed,  the  ranks  of  the 
besiegers  were  recruited  from  time  to  time,  as  the 
siege  went  on,  amongst  others  by  the  Sepoys  from 
Azimgurh,f  and  the  new  hands  were  often  found  to 
be  better  than  the  old.  To  us,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  loss  of  every  man  was  a  grievous  calamity,  for 
Ave  waited  and  waited  for  succours  that  never  came; 
and  though  sometimes  our  people  were  stimulated  by 
the  belief  that  firing  was  to  be  heard  in  the  distance, 
intimating  the  approach  of  reinforcements,  they  were 
soon  driven  back  again  upon  disappointment  and 
despair. 

The  incidents  of  one  day  much  resembled  those  of 
another,  both  in  what  was  done  and  what  was  suffered. 
Few  landmarks  broke  the  uniformity  of  that  great 
expanse  of  glorious  disaster.  One  day,  however,  at 
Cawnpore,  as  in  other  places  where  the  great  struggle 
for  empire  was  going  on,  differed  from  the  rest ;  for  june  23. 
it  was  the  centenary  of  the  battle  of  Plassey.     On  Centenary  of 

Jr  loSsey. 

*  "  The  orders  ^iven  to  ns  were  'wholesale  carnage  that  nothing  could 

not  to  surrender  with  our  lives,  and  have  justified  but  the  instinct  of  self- 

we  did  our  best  io  obey  them,  though  preserratioo,  and,  I  trust,  the  equally 

it  was  only  by  an  amount  of  fatigue  strong  determination  to  shelter  the 

that  in  the  retrospect  now  seems  women  and  children  to   the   last 

scarcely  possible  to  have  been  a  fact,  moment." — Motobrav-Tkcmson, 

and  by  the   perpetration  of  such  f  The  Seventeenth  Native  Infantry. 


330  CAWNPOEE. 

1857.  the  previous  night  there  had  been  signs  of  extra- 
June  23.  ordinary  activity  in  the  enemy's  ranks,  and  a  medi- 
tated attack  on  our  outposts  had  been  thwarted  by 
Moore's  fertility  of  resource  ;*  and  as  the  morning  of 
the  23rd  dawned  upon  Cawnpore,  the  insurgents, 
stimulated  to  the  utmost  by  the  associations  of  the 
day,  came  out  in  full  force  of  Horse,  Foot,  and 
Artillery,  flushed  with  the  thought  of  certain  success, 
to  attack  both  our  outposts  and  our  entrenchments. 
If  the  whole  strength  of  the  Nana's  force  was  not 
brought  forth  to  surround  us  on  this  memorable  day, 
all  its  components  were  fully  represented.  And  there 
was  a  stern  resolution,  in  many  cases  strengthened 
by  oaths  on  the  Ganges- water  or  the  Koran,  to  destroy 
the  English  or  to  die  in  the  attempt.  The  excite- 
ment of  aU  branches  of  the  rebel-army  was  at  its 
highest  pitch.  The  impetuosity  of  the  Cavahy  far 
exceeded  their  discretion,  for  they  galloped  forward 
furiously  within  reach  of  our  guns,  and  met  with 
such  a  reception,  that  many  horses  were  left  rider- 
less, and  the  troopers  who  escaped  wheeled  round 
and  fled  in  fearful  confusion.  The  Infantry,  more 
cautious,  improvised  moving  ramparts  to  shelter  their 
skirmishers,  by  rolling  before  them  as  they  advanced 
huge  bales  of  cotton;  but  our  guns  were  too  well 

*  The  following  illustrative  anec-  going  out  into  the  open,  and  I  shall 

dote,  told  by  Mowbray -Thomson,  give  the  word  of  command  as  though 

claims  insertion  in  this  place :  "  We  our  party  were  about  to  commence 

saw  the  Fandies  gathering  to  this  an  attack.'    Forthwith  they  sallied 

position  from  all  parts,  and  fearing  out,  Moore  with  a  sword,  Delafoase 

that  my  little  band  would  be  alto-  with  an  empty  musket.    The  cap- 

gether  overpowered  by  numbers,  I  tain  vociferated  the  words, '  Number 

sent  to  Captain  Moore  for  more  men.  one  to  the  front.'    And  hundreds  of 

The  answer  was  not  altogether  unex-  ammunition  pouches  rattled  on  the 

pected.   '  Not  one  could  be  spared !'  bayonet  sheaths  as  our  courageous 

Shortly   afterwards,  however,    the  foes  vaulted  out  from  the   cover 

gallant  captain  came  across  to  me  in  afforded  by  heaps  of  rubbish,  and 

company  with  Lieutenant  Delafosse,  rushed  into  the  safer  quarters  pre* 

and  ne  said  to  me, '  Thomson,  I  think  sented  by  the  barrack  walls." 
I  shall  try  a  new  dodge;  we  are 


FAMINE.  331 

served  to  suffer  this  device  to  be  of  much  use  to  the  1857. 
enemy,  for  some  well-directed  shots  from  our  batteries  ^^  ' 
set  fire  to  these  defences,  and  the  meditated  assault 
was  defeated  before  it  had  developed  itself  into  action. 
The  attack  on  the  outer  barracks  was  equally  unsuc- 
cessful. The  enemy  swarmed  beneath  our  walls,  but 
were  saluted  with  so  hot  a  fire  from  Mowbray-Thom- 
son  and  his  companions,  that,  in  a  little  time,  the 
seventeen  had  laid  one  more  than  their  number  dead 
at  the  doorway  of  the  barrack.  The  great  assault  of 
the  Centenary  of  Plassey,  which  was  to  have  humbled 
the  Feringhees  to  the  dust,  and  to  have  revenged  the 
victory  of  Clive,  was  in  the  issue  a  disastrous  failure. 
The  enemy  begged  to  be  permitted  to  bury  their 
dead ;  and  the  remains  of  their  cotton-bales  served  to 
stop  the  gaps  in  the  earthworks  of  the  English.  But 
there  was  a  more  deadly  foe  than  this  weak  and  dis- 
ordered crowd  of  Hindoos  and  Mahomedans  to  be 
encountered  by  our  distressed  people ;  and  the  Nana 
Sahib  saw  another  source  of  victory  than  that  which 
lay  in  the  number  of  his  fighting  men. 

For  hunger  had  begun  to  gnaw  our  little  garrison.  ApproMhea 
Food  which  in  happier  times  would  have  been  turned  ^^*""^' 
from  with  disgust,  was  seized  with  avidity  and  de- 
voured  with  relish.  To  the  flesh-pots  of  the  besieged 
no  carrion  was  unwelcome.  A  stray  dog  was  turned 
into  soup.  An  old  horse,  fit  only  for  the  knackers, 
was  converted  into  savoury  meat.  And  when  glorious 
good  fortune  brought  a  Brahminee  bull  within  the 
fire  of  our  people,  and  with  difBlculty  the  carcase  of 
the  animal  was  hauled  into  the  entrenchments,  there 
was  rejoicing  as  if  a  victory  had  been  gained.  But 
in  that  fiery  month  of  June  the  agonies  of  thirst 
were  even  greater  than  the  pangs  of  hunger.  The 
well  from  which  our  scant  supplies  of  water  were 


332  dAWNPORE. 

1857,      drawn  was  a  favourite  mark  for  the  Sepoy  gunners. 

^^^  It  was  a  service  of  death  to  go  to  and  fro  with  the 
bags  and  buckets  which  brought  the  priceless  mois- 
ture to  the  lips  of  our  famished  people.  Strong  men 
and  patient  women  thirsted  in  silence,  but  the  moans 
of  the  wounded  and  the  wailings  of  the  children  it 
was  pitiable  to  hear.  The  bheesties,  or  professional 
water-carriers,  were  soon  slain  in  the  exercise  of  their 
calling,  and  then  English  soldiers  addressed  them- 
selves to  the  hazardous  work  of  ministering  at  the 
well.  A  brave-hearted  civilian,  John  Mackillop, 
appointed  himself  captain  of  the  well,  and,  after  a 
week  of  this  hazardous  service,  was  shot  down  at  his 
post.  As  he  lay  dying,  his  care  was  still  for  those 
in  whose  cause  he  had  yielded  up  his  life,  and  he 
besought,  almost  with  his  last  breath,  a  stander-by 
to  carry  the  precious  fluid  to  the  lady  to  whom  it 
had  been  promised.  And  so  as  day  by  day  our 
people  were  wasting  under  these  dire  penances  of 
hunger  and  thirst,  the  hopes  of  the  Nana  grew 
higher  and  higher,  and  he  knew  that  the  end  was 
approaching. 


June  25. 


The  Capitu-       Three  weeks  had  now  nearly  passed  away  since  the 
intion.  investment  had  commenced — three  weeks  of  such 

misery  as  few,  since  sorrow  entered  the  world,  have 
ever  been  condemned  to  suflfer.  No  reinforcements 
had  come  to  their  assistance.  The  looked-for  aid 
from  below  seemed  now  to  be  a  grim  delusion.  Their 
numbers  were  fearfully  reduced.  Their  guns  were 
becoming  unserviceable.  Their  ammunition  was 
nearly  expended ;  and  starvation  was  staring  them  in 
the  face.  To  hold  their  position  much  longer  was 
impossible.  To  cut  their  way  out  of  it^  with  all  those 


THE  CAPITULATION.  333 

women  and  children,  was  equally  impossible.  The  1857. 
shadow  of  a  great  despair  was  over  theiri.  When  ^^^^^< 
thus,  as  it  were,  at  the  last  gasp,  there  came  to  them 
a  message  from  the  Nana  Sahib,  brought  by  the 
hands  of  a  Christian  woman.  It  was  on  a  slip  of 
paper  in  the  handwriting  of  AzimooUah,  and  it  was 
addressed  "to  the  subjects  of  Her  Most  Gracious 
Majesty  Queen  Victoria."  "  All  those  who  are  in  no 
way  connected" — so  the  document  ran — "with  the 
acts  of  Lord  Dalhousie,  and  are  willing  to  lay  down 
their  arms,  shall  receive  a  safe  passage  to  Allaha- 
bad."* 

There  was  not  a  soldier  in  garrison  who  did  not 
recoil  from  the  thought  of  surrender — who  would 
not  have  died  with  sword  or  musket  in  hand  rather 
than  lay  down  his  arms  at  the  feet  of  the  treacherous 
Mahratta.  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler  lifted  up  his  voice 
against  capitulation.  To  the  English  General  the 
bitterness  of  death  was  as  nothing  to  the  dishonour  of 
abandoning  his  post.  He  had  not  yet  given  up  the 
hope  of  relief  from  the  lower  country,  and  he  mis- 
trusted the  Nana  of  Bithoor.  The  younger  officers 
were  all  for  fighting  it  out  to  the  last ;  but  Moore 
and  Whiting,  whom  the  General  consulted  in  this 
conjuncture,  reluctantly  declared  themselves  in  favour 
of  capitulation.  They  had  no  thought  for  themselves. 
Had  there  been  only  men  in  the  entrenchments,  they 
would  have  counselled  and  clung  to  the  nobler  and 
the  manlier  course.  But  when  they  thought  of  the 
women  and  children,  and  of  what  might  befall  them 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  they  turned  hopefully  to 

*  There  are  contrary  statemenfs  "  important  point."  But  I  cannot  say 

with  respect,  to  the  identity  of  tlie  that  I  think  it  is  of  much  use  to  dis- 

messenger.     Some  say  that  it  was  cass,  or  of  consequence  to  determine^ 

Mrs.  Greenaway,  some  Mrs.  Jacobi.  the  question. 
Mr.  Trevelyan  speaks  of  it  as  an 


334  CAWNPORE 

1857.      whatsoever  prpmised  deliverance  from  the  horrors  ot 
June  25.    ^j^g  pg^^  ^j^^  ^^^  greater  horrors  that  might  be  in  the 

future.  There  was,  too,  a  great  crowd  of  sick  and 
wounded,  who  could  not  be  abandoned,  and  yet  who 
could  not  be  carried  off  in  the  face  of  an  opposing 
enemy.  So  the  overtures  of  the  Nana  Sahib  were 
not  rejected ;  and  the  messenger  carried  back  to  the 
enemy's  Camp  an  announcement  that  Wheeler  and 
his  chief  officers  were  deliberating  upon  the  offer 
that  had  been  made  to  them. 
June  26.  Next  morning  (there  was  then  an  armistice)  Azim- 
oollah  and  Jowalla-Persaud  presented  themselves  near 
our  entrenchments,  and  Captain  Moore  and  Whiting, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Roche,  the  Postmaster,  went  out 
with  full  powers  to  treat  with  the  emissaries  of  the 
Nana.  It  was  then  proposed  that  the  British  should 
surrender  their  fortified  position,  their  guns,  and 
their  treasure,  and  that  they  should  march  out  with 
their  arms  and  sixty  rounds  of  ammunition  in  each 
man's  pouch.  On  his  part,  the  Nana  was  to  afford 
them  safe  conduct  to  the  river  side,  and  sufficient 
carriage  for  the  conveyance  thither  of  the  women  and 
the  children,  the  wounded  and  the  sick.  Boats  were 
to  be  in  readiness  at  the  Ghaut  to  carry  them  down 
the  Ganges,  and  supplies  of  flour  (some  added  "  sheep 
and  goats  also")  were  to  be  laid  in  for  the  sustenance 
of  the  party  during  the  voyage  to  Allahabad.  These 
proposals  were  committed  to  paper  and  given  to 
AzimooUah,  who  laid  them  before  his  chief,  and  that 
afternoon  a  horseman  from  the  rebel  camp  brought 
them  back,  saying  that  the  Nana  had  agreed  to  them, 
and  that  our  people  were  to  evacuate  the  entrench- 
ments on  that  very  night 

Against  this  Wheeler  protested;   and  the  draft- 
treaty  was  returned  with  an  intimation  that  it  was 


THE  CAPITULATION.  335 

impossible  to  march  out  until  the  morning.  Then  1S67« 
the  enemy  began  to  gasconade  and  to  endeavour  to 
intimidate  our  people.  They  might  as  well  have 
threatened  to  move  the  Himalayahs.  Doondoo  Punt^ 
Nana  Sahib,  sent  word  that  he  knew  exactly  the  state 
of  our  defences,  the  condition  of  our  guns,  and  the 
scarcity  of  our  provisions ;  that  he  would  open  fire  at 
once  upon  our  wretched  place  of  refuge,  and  that  in 
a  few  days  not  a  man  would  be  alive.  Whiting  and 
Mowbray-Thomson  went  out  to  meet  the  Bithoor 
emissaries,  and  the  former  replied,  as  became  a  lion- 
hearted  Englishman,  that  they  might  carry  our  en- 
trenchments, if  they  could ;  that  their  soldiers  had 
generally  shown  greater  alacrity  in  retiring  from 
than  in  advancing  towards  our  fortifications,  and 
that  we  had,  at  all  events,  abundance  of  powder  in 
our  magazine  to  blow  up  both  armies  together.  This 
determined  language  had  its  effect.  The  Nana  con- 
sented to  wait  till  the  morrow.  And  a  gentleman 
named  Todd,  who  had  been  his  English  tutor,  carried 
the  treaty  to  the  Rajah's  quarters,  at  the  Savada 
Kotee,  and  obtained  his  signature  to  it. 

The  Nana  is  represented  to  have  been  very 
courteous  to  his  old  preceptor.  It  was  the  time, 
indeed,  for  serenity  of  manner  and  suavity  of  de- 
meanour— ^nay,  indeed,  for  kindly  and  compassionate 
utterances  and  mollifying  assurances.  So,  also,  when 
Jowalla-Persaud,  with  two  others,  went  over  as 
hostages  to  the  British  entrenchments,  he  blandly 
condoled  with  the  British  commander,  expressed  his 
sorrow  that  the  old  General  should  have  suflFered  so 
much — ^that  after  half  a  century  of  service  with  the 
Sepoy  Army  of  the  Company  they  should  turn 
against  him  at  the  close  of  his  life.  But  God  be 
praised,  it  was  now  all  over— deliverance  was  at 


1 


336  CAWNPOER 

1857.  hand.  Every  care  would  be  taken  that  the  English 
June  26—27.  gentlemen  and  their  families  should  not  be  molested 
on  their  way  to  the  river.  And  the  companions  of 
Jowalla-Persaud  talked  to  others  in  the  same  polite 
and  almost  obsequious  strain.  That  night  our  guns 
were  made  over  to  the  enemy,  and  some  of  the  old 
Golundauze  of  the  Company  were  placed  in  charge 
of  them. 
The  massacre     So  forth  from  their  entrenchments,  in  the  early 

at  J  he  Ghaut.  .  .   ,  r  ,      o  •  'xi.  xt_ 

J  gy  mommg,  went  the  remnant  of  our  garrison,  with  the 
women  and  the  children,  who  had  outlived  the  hor- 
rors of  the  siege — ^gaunt  and  ghastly,  in  tattered  gar- 
ments, emaciated  and  enfeebled  by  want,  worn  by 
long  suffering,  some  wounded  and  scarred  with  the 
indelible  marks  of  the  battle  upon  them.  The  river 
was  distant  only  a  mile  from  our  starting-point.  But 
to  them  it  was  a  long  and  a  wretched  journey.  The 
wounded  were  carried  mostly  in  palanquins.  The 
women  and  children  went  in  rough  native  bullock- 
carriages  or  on  the  backs  of  elephants,  whilst  the  able- 
bodied  marched  out  on  foot  with  but  little  semblance 
of  martial  array,  Moore  as  ever  in  the  van,  and 
Vibart  bringing  up  the  rear  of  the  funeral  proces- 
sion. The  veteran  Wheeler,  with  his  wife  and 
daughters,  is  said  to  have  walked  down  to  the 
boats,*     With  what  faith  and  hope  within  him,  the 

*  This  is  Tery  distinctly  stated  by  Colonel  Williams,  in  his  synopsis, 

Mowbray-Thomson :  "Poor  old  Sir  says,  "Hassim  Khan,  the  rider  of 

Hugh  W  heeler,  his  lady,  and  dangh-  General  Wheeler's    elephant,  after 

ters, .walked  down  to  the  boats."  taking  Lady  Wheeler  and  her  two 

Other  accounts,  of  a  more  circum-  daughters  to  the  first  boat  on  the 

Btantial,  but  perhaps  not  more  trust-  line,  returned  for  the  General,  whom 

worthy  character,  indicate  that  the  meeting  on  the  way  mounted  on  a 

ladies  were  conveyed  to  the  Ghaut  galloway,  he  likewise  conveyed  to 

on  an  elephant,  and  that  the  General  the  boats."    The  Christian  wife  of  a 

himself  went  in  a  palanquin.    This  musician  of  the  Eifty-sixth  regiment, 

is  the  statement  of  Mr.  Trevelyan,  named  Bradshaw,  says :   "  General 

who  very  carefully  collated  all  the  Wheeler  came  last  in  a  palkee(palan- 

evidence  that  has  been  produced,  quin).    They  carried  him  into  the 


THE  SUTTEE  CHOURA  GHAUT.  337 

poor  old  man  turned  his  face  towards  the  Ghaut,  He  1857. 
alone  who  reads  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  ever  knew.  ^™®  ^'^' 
But  there  were  many  in  that  woe-begone  train  who, 
although  there  was  no  sunshine  on  their  faces,  had 
glimmerings  in  their  hearts  of  a  peaceful  future,  and 
who  were  fain  to  carry  with  them  as  they  went  such 
of  their  household  gods  as  they  had  saved  from  the 
great  wreck,  or  little  memorials  of  the  past,  relics, 
perhaps,  of  departed  friends,  to  be  treasured  after 
long  years  in  the  old  home  beyond  the  seas.  Little 
was  all  they  could  take  with  them,  weighed  against 
what  they  had  left  behind ;  parents,  husbands,  wives, 
brothers,  sisters,  children,  friends.  The  beautiful  had 
left  their  beauty,  the  young  had  left  their  youth,  in 
those  battered  barracks ;  and  even  the  children  had 
old  and  wizened  faces,  which  told  that  they  had  lived 
long  years  in  the  last  miserable  month. 

The  place  of  embarkation  was  known  as  the  Suttee 
Choura  Ghaut,  so  called  from  a  ruined  village  hard 
by  which  bore  that  name.  The  road  ran  across  a 
wooden  bridge,  painted  white,  which  reminded  a 
traveller,  who  afterwards  visited  the  spot,  "  of  a  bit 
in  a  Surrey  common."*  Over  this  bridge  they  defiled 
down  into  a  ravine,  which  led  past  the  compounds 
of  some  of  our  English  residences  to  the  Ghaut  on 
the  river-side.  Near  the  Ghaut  was  a  Hindoo  temple,! 

water,  near  the  boat.      He   said,  the  greater  the  uncertainty  that  is 

'  Carry  me  a  little  further  towards  left  upon  the  mind.    This  is  given 

the  boat:'  but  the  Sowar  said,  'No,  as  another  instance  of  the  difficulty 

get  out  here !'    As  the  General  got  of  extracting  the  truth  from  a  mass 

out  of  the  palkee,  head  foremost  a  of  conflicting  evidence. 

Sowar  gave  him  a  cut  with  his  sword  *  Mr.  Trevelyan :  "  Story  of  Cawn- 

in  the  neck,  and  he  fell  into  the  pore." 

water.  .  .  .  My  son  was  killed  near  f  "  Small  but  in  good  repair,  re- 

him.  I  saw  it,  alas !  alas !"  Another  sembling  nothing  so  much  as  those 

statement  is :    ''  The  General  and  summer  houses  of  a  century  back, 

some  officers  were  on  elephants —  which  at  the  comers  of  old  houses 

Mrs.  Wheeler  was  in  a  palkee."  The  overhane  Dutch  canals  and  suburban 

farther  the  investigation  is  pursued,  English  bye-ways." — Trevelgan, 

VOL.  II.  Z 


338  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  known  as  the  Temple  of  Hurdeo,  or  the  Fisherman's 
June  27.  Temple,  a  structure  of  somewhat  fanciful  and  not 
unpicturesque  design.  The  incidents  of  this  mile- 
march  were  not  many.  The  Sepoys,  as  our  wretched 
people  huddled  on  towards  the  river,  sometimes 
crowded  round  and  talked  to  their  old  officers,  utter- 
ing words  of  admiration  or  of  compassion,  which 
were  not  wholly  feigned.  But  as  everywhere  the 
Sepoy  stands  out  as  a  living  inconsistency  of  the 
strangest  kind,  no  one  can  read  with  surprise  any 
story  illustrating  the  malignant  and  cruel  hatred 
that,  at  the  same  time,  burned  in  the  bosoms  of  some 
who  had  once  served  in  our  ranks.  Among  those 
who  left  the  entrenchments  on  that  June  morning 
were  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Ewart,  a  brave  and  good  man, 
with  a  wife  every  way  worthy  of  him.  He,  sorely 
wounded,  was  carried  on  a  bed  or  litter,  and  the  lady 
walked  anxiously  beside  him.  But  their  progress  was 
slow ;  they  fell  in  the  rear  before  they  had  reached 
the  bridge,  and  some  Sepoys  of  his  own  regiment — 
the  First — seeing  his  helpless  condition,  thus  severed 
from  his  countrymen,  came  up  to  him  and  taunted 
him.  Ordering  the  litter  to  be  placed  on  the  ground, 
they  mocked  and  mimicked  him,  saying,  "  Is  not  this 
a  fine  parade.  Colonel;  is  not  the  regiment  well 
dressed  up  ?"  Saying  which,  they  fell  upon  him  with 
their  swords  and  killed  him ;  and  though  some  made 
profession  of  not  sla3dng  women,  Mrs.  Ewart  was 
presently  cut  down,  and  lay  a  corpse  beside  the 
body  of  her  husband 

That  the  boats  were  ready  on  the  river-side  had 
been  ascertained  by  a  Committee  of  our  own  people ; 
and  when  the  dreary  procession  reached  the  ap- 
pointed place  of  embarkation,  the  uncouth  vessels 
were  seen  a  little  way  in  the  stream,  in  shallow  water ; 


THE  MASSACRE  AT  THE  GHAUT.         339 

for  it  was  the  close  of  the  dry  season,  and  the  river  1857. 
was  at  its  lowest.  The  boats  were  the  ordinary  eight-  ^^®  ^'• 
oared  budgerows  of  the  country — ungainly  structures 
with  thatched  roofs,  looking  at  a  distance  like  float- 
ing hay-stacks,  and  into  these  our  people  now  began 
to  crowd  without  order  or  method,  even  the  women 
with  children  in  their  arms,  with  but  little  help 
from  others,  wading  knee-deep  in  the  water,  and 
scrambling  as  they  best  could  up  the  sides  of  the 
vessels.  It  was  nine  o'clock  before  the  whole  were 
embarked,  and  some.  Heaven  only  knows,  for  their 
voices  are  sealed,  may  have  breathed  more  freely  as 
they  awaited  the  friendly  order  to  push  off  and  to 
drop  down  the  stream  towards  the  great  goal  of  ulti- 
mate deliverance.  But  there  were  those  on  the  river 
banks — ^those  even  in  the  boats  themselves — ^who  had 
far  other  thoughts,  far  other  expectations.  Every 
boat  that  had  been  prepared  for  our  people  was 
intended  to  be  a  human  slaughter-house.  They  had 
not  gone  down  to  the  banks  of  a  friendly  river  that 
was  to  float  them  to  safety.  They  had  been  lured  to 
the  appointed  shambles,  there  to  be  given  up  to  cruel 
death. 

So  foul  an  act  of  treachery  the  world  had  never 
seen.  Doondoo  Punt,  Nana  Sahib,  the  adopted  son 
of  the  last  of  the  Peishwahs,  had  studied  to  some 
purpose  the  early  history  of  his  race.  He  knew  how 
the  founder  of  the  Mahratta  Empire — ^the  head  of 
the  great  family  who  had  been  the  masters  of  the 
Peishwahs — had,  under  false  pretext  of  friendly  em- 
brace, dug  his  wagnuck  into  the  bowels  of  the  Maho- 
medan  envoy,  and  gained  by  foulest  treachery  what 
he  could  not  gain  by  force.  The  wagnuck  was  now 
ready — the  wagnuck  of  a  thousand  claws — ^in  the 
hands  of  the  man  who  aspired  to  be  the  founder  of  a 

z2 


340 


CAWNPORE. 


1857. 
Juue37. 


i>3w  or  renovated  Mahratta  Empire.  Day  after  day, 
week  after  week,  the  English,  with  their  little  band 
of  fighting  men,  had  defied  all  the  strength  of  this 
new  confederacy,  aided  by  the  moral  and  material 
help  of  our  lessons  and  our  resources ;  and  now  the 
enemy,  under  the  garb  of  a  new-bom  friendship,  was 
hiding  the  cruel  weapon  that  was  to  destroy  them. 
Everything  was  ready  for  the  great  carnage.  Tantia 
Topee,  who  had  been  appointed  master  of  the  cere- 
monies, sat  enthroned  on  a  "  chaboutree,"  or  plat- 
form, of  a  Hindoo  temple,  and  issued  his  orders  to  his 
dependents.  Azimoollah,  also,  was  there,  and  the 
brethren  of  the  Nana,  and  Teekha  Singh,  the  new 
Cavalry  General,  and  others  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  Bithoor  party.  And  many  Zemindars  from  the 
districts,  and  merchants  and  lesser  people  from  the 
city,  are  said  to  have  gone  forth  and  to  have  lined 
the  river  banks  to  see  the  exodus  of  the  English ;  not 
knowing  what  was  to  come,  and  not  all,  perhaps, 
rejoicing  in  our  humiliation.  It  looked  like  a  great 
holiday-show.  Scarcely  is  a  more  animated  scene  to 
be  witnessed  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames  on  the  day 
of  our  great  national  boat-race.  And  it  was  some- 
thing even  more  than  this,  for  there  was  a  great 
military  display.  The  soldiery  had  gone  out  in  force 
— Horse,  Foot,  and  Artillery;  and  the  troopers  sat 
their  horses,  with  their  faces  turned  towards  the 
river,  a3  though  anxious  for  the  sport  to  begin.  And 
their  patience  was  not  long  tried.  The  signal  had 
been  given,  and  the  butchery  was  to  commence.* 


*  As  Tantia  Topee  is  here  stated 
to  have  been  the  foremost  agent  in 
tills  hellish  work,  it  will  interest  the 
reader  to  see  the  master-butcher's 
own  account  of  the  butchery :  *'  The 
Nana>"  he  declared,  "got  a  female 
who  had  been  captured  before  to 


write  a  letter  to  General  Wheeler  to 
this  effect:  that  the  Sepoys  would 
not  obey  his  orders,  and  that,  if  he 
wished,  he  (the  Nana)  would  get 
boats  and  convey  him  and  those 
with  him  in  the  entrenchment  as  far 
as  AUahabad.  An  answer  came  from 


THE  BURNING  OF  THE  BOATS.         341 

No  sooner  were  our  people  on  board  the  boats,  1857. 
than  the  foul  design  became  apparent.  The  sound  of  ^'"^  ^'^' 
a  bugle  was  heard.  The  Native  boatmen  clambered 
over  the  sides  of  the  vessels  and  sought  the  shore. 
Then  a  murderous  fire  of  grapeshot  and  musket-balls 
was  opened  upon  the  wretched  passengers  from  both 
banks  of  the  river ;  and  presently  the  thatch  of  the 
budgerows,  cunningly  ignited  by  hot  cinders,  burst 
into  a  blaze.  There  was  then  only  a  choice  of  cruel 
deaths  for  our  dear  Christian  people.  The  men,  or 
the  foremost  amongst  them,  strenuous  in  action  to 
the  last,  leaped  overboard,  and  strove,  with  shoulders 
to  the  hulls  of  the  boats,  to  push  them  into  mid- 
channel.  But  the  bulk  of  the  fleet  remained  im- 
movable, and  the  conflagration  was  spreading.  The 
sick  and  wounded  were  burnt  to  death,  or  more  mer- 
cifully suffocated  by  the  smoke;  whilst  the  stronger 

the  General  that  he  approved  of  this  Bigxal  to  start  the  boats.    On  this 

arrangement,  and  the  same  evening  point,  however,  witnesses  were  ez- 

the  General  sent  the  Nana  something  amined  and  cross-examined  with  the 

over  one  lac  of  rupees,  and  authorised  same  result.  One  said,  "  In  my  pre- 

him  to  keep  the  amount.    The  fol-  sence  and  hearing  Tantia  Topee  sent 

lowing  day  I  went  and  got  readv  for  Teeka  Sing,  Soubahdar  or  Second 

forty  boats,  and  having  caused  all  Cavalrjr,  known  as  a  General,  and 

the  gentlemen,  ladies,  and  children  gave  him  orders  to  rush  into  the 

to  get  into  the  boats,  I  started  them  water  and  spare  none."    Another 

off  to  Allahabad.  In  the  mean  while,  said,  "  I  was  standing  concealed  in  a 

the  whole  army,  artillery  included,  comer,  close  to  where  Tantia  Topee 

liaving  got  ready,  arrived  at  the  was  seated,  and  I  heard  him  tell 

river  Guige^.    The  Sepoys  jumped  Teeka  Sing,  a  Soubahdar  of  the 

into  the  water,  and  commencea  a  Second  Cavalry,  who  was  known  as 

massacre  of  all  the  men,  women,  and  the  General,  to  order  the  Sowars  to 

cliildren,  and  set  the  boats  on  fire,  go  into  the  water  and  put  an  end  to 

They  destroyed  thirty-nine  boats ;  the  Europeans,  and  accordingly  they 

one,  however,  escaped  as  £ar  as  Kala  rushed  into  the  river  and  murdered 

Kunkur,  but  was  there  caught,  and  them."    Other  witnesses  spoke  dis- 

brought  back  to  Cawnpore,  and  all  tinctly  to  the  same  effect ;  one  man 

on  board  of  it  destroyedf.  Four  days  adding,  "  All  orders  recording  the 

after  this  the  Nana  said  he  was  going  massacre,  issued  by  the  PTana,  were 

to  Bithoor,  to  keep  the  anniversary  carried  into  execution  bv  Tantia 

of  his  mother's  death."    This  state-  Topee."    I  do  not  think  tnat  there 

ment  is  at  least  partially  true,  and  can  be  the  least  doubt  of  the  guilty 

it  might  be  suggested  that  the  signal  activity  of  Tantia  Topee  in  this  foiu 

which  Tantia  Topee  was  seen  to  give  deed* 
was,  according  to  his  statement^  a 


342  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  women,  with  children  in  their  arms,  took  to  the 
June  27.  riyer,  to  be  shot  down  in  the  A-ater,  to  be  sabred  in 
the  stream  by  the  mounted  troopers,  who  rode  in 
after  them,  to  be  bayoneted  on  reaching  land,  or  to 
be  made  captives,  and  reserved  for  a  later  and  more 
cruel  immolation.  The  fewest  words  are  here  the 
best.  I  should  have  little  taste  to  tell  the  foul  details 
of  this  foul  slaughter,  even  if  authentic  particulars 
were  before  me.  It  is  better  that  they  should  remain 
in  the  obscurity  of  an  uncertain  whole ;  enough  that 
no  aspect  of  Christian  humanity,  not  the  sight  of  the 
old  General,  who  had  nearly  numbered  his  fourscore 
years,  nor  of  the  little  babe  still  at  its  mother  s  breast, 
raised  any  feeling  of  compunction  or  of  pity  in  these 
butchers  on  the  river-side.  It  sufficed  that  there 
was  Christian  blood  to  be  shed. 

Whilst  this  terrible  scene  was  being  acted  at  the 
Ghaut,  the  Nana  Sahib,  having  full  faith  in  the 
malevolent  activity  of  his  lieutenants  on  the  river- 
bank,  was  awaiting  the  issue  in  his  tent  on  the  can- 
tonment plain.  It  is  related  of  him  that,  unquiet  in 
mind,  he  moved  about,  pacing  hither  and  thither,  in 
spite  of  the  indolence  of  his  habits  and  the  obesity 
of  his  frame.  After  a  while,  tidings  of  the  progress 
of  the  massacre  were  brought  to  him  by  a  mounted 
trooper.  What  had  been  passing  within  him  during 
those  morning  hours  no  human  pen  can  reveal. 
Perhaps  some  slight  spasm  of  remorse  may  have 
come  upon  him,  or  he  may  have  thought  that  better 
use  might  be  made  of  some  of  our  people  alive  than 
dead.  But  whether  moved  by  pity  or  by  craft,  he 
sent  orders  back  by  the  messenger  that  no  more 
women  and  children  should  be  slain,  but  that  not  an 
Englishman  was  to  be  left  alive.  So  the  murderers, 
after  butchering,  or  trying  to  butcher,  the  remnant 


ESCAPE  OF  VIBABrS  BOATS.  343 

of  our  fighting-men,  stayed  their  hands  and  ceased  1857. 
from  the  slaughter ;  and  a  number  of  weaker  vie-  ^"^®  ^'^^ 
tims,  computed  with  probable  accuracy  at  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five,  some  sorely  wounded,  some  half- 
drowned,  all  dripping  with  the  water  of  the  Ganges 
and  begrimed  with  its  mud,  were  carried  back  in 
custody  to  Cawnpore,  by  the  way  they  had  come, 
envjdng,  perhaps,  those  whose  destiny  had  been 
already  accomplished. 


• 

But  among  the  men — survivors  of  the  Cawnpore  Escape  of  the 
garrison — ^were  some  who  battled  bravely  for  their  ^^  ^^" 
lives,  and  sold  them  dearly.  Strong  swimmers  took 
to  the  river,  but  often  sunk  in  the  reddened  water 
beneath  the  fire  of  their  pursuers;  whilst  others, 
making  towards  the  land  lower  down  the  stream, 
stood  at  bay  on  bank  or  islet,  and  made  vain  hut 
gallant  use  of  the  cherished  revolver  in  the  last  grim 
energies  of  death.  There  was  nothing  strange,  per- 
haps, in  the  fact  that  the  foremost  heroes  of  the 
defence  were  the  last  even  now  to  yield  up  their  lives 
to  the  fury  of  the  enemy.  One  boat  held  Moore  and 
Vibart,  Whiting  and  Mowbray-Thomson,  Ashe,  Dela- 
fosse,  Bolton,  and  others,  who  had  been  conspicuous 
in  the  annals  of  that  heroic  defence.  By  some  acci- 
dent or  oversight  the  thatch  had  escaped  ignition. 
Lighter,  too,  than  the  rest,  or  perhapS  more  vigorously 
propelled' by  the  shoulders  of  these  strong  men,  it 
drifted  down  the  stream ;  but  Moore  was  shot  through 
the  heart  in  the  act  of  propulsion,  and  Ashe  and 
Bolton  perished  whilst  engaged  in  the  same  work. 
The  grape  and  round-shot  from  the  Oude  bank  of  the 
river  ere  long  began  to  complete  the  massacre.  The 
dying  and  the  dead  lay  thickly  together  entangled  in 


344  CAWNPOM. 

1867.      the  bottom  of  the  boat,*  and  for  the  living  there  was 

June  37.    not  a  mouthful  of  food. 

As  the  day  waned  it  was  clear  that  the  activity  of 
the  enemy  had  not  abated.  That  one  drifting  boat, 
on  the  dark  waters  of  the  Granges,  without  boatmen, 
without  oars,  without  a  rudder,  was  not  to  be  left 
alone  with  such  sorry  chance  of  escape ;  so  a  blazing 
budgerow  was  sent  down  the  river  after  it,  and 
burning  arrows  were  discharged  at  its  roof.  Still, 
however,  the  boat  was  true  to  its  occupants;  and 

June  38.  with  the  new  day,  now  grounding  on  sand-banks, 
now  pushed  off  again  into  the  stream,  it  made  weary 
progress  between  the  two  hostile  banks,  every  hour 
lighter,  for  every  hour  brought  more  messengers  of 
death,  t  At  sunset^  a  pursuing  boat  from  Cawnpore, 
with  fifty  or  sixty  armed  Natives  on  board,  came 
after  our  people,  with  orders  to  board  and  to  destroy 
them.  But  the  pursuers  also  grounded  on  a  sand- 
bank ;  and  then  there  was  one  of  those  last  grand 
spasms  of  courage  even  in  death  which  are  seldom 
absent  from  the  story  of  English  heroism.  Ex- 
hausted, famishing,  sick  and  wounded,  as  they  were, 
they  would  not  wait  to  be  attacked.  A  little  party 
of  officers  and  soldiers  armed  themselves  to  the  teeth, 

*  "  The  horrors  of  the  lingering  Nuzuffgurh,  and  they  opened  upon 

hours  of  that  day  seemed  as  u  they  us  with  musketry.     Major  Vibart 

would  never  cease.   We  had  no  food  had  been  shot  through  one  arm  on 

in  tlie  boat,  and  had  taken  nothing  the  preceding  day ;  nerertheless,  he 

before  starting.    The  water  of  the  got  out,  and  whilst  helping  to  push 

Ganges  was  all  that  passed  our  lips,  off  the  boat  was  shot  througli  the 

aaveprayers,  and  shneks,  and  groans,  other  arm.     Captain  AthiU  Turner 

The  wounded  and  the  deaa  were  had  both  his  legs  smashed.    Captain 

often  entangled  together  in  the  bot-  Whiting   was    killed.     Lieutenant 

tom  of  the  boat;  to  extricate  the  Quin  was  shot  through  the  arm; 

corpses  was  a  work  of  extreme  diffi-  Captain  Seppings  through  tbe  arm, 

culty,  though  imperatively  necessary  and  Mrs.  Seppingjs  through  the  thigh, 

from  the  dreaded  consecjuences  of  Lieutenant  Harrison  was  shot  dead, 

the  intense  heat  and  the  importance  ....  Blenman,  our  bold  spy,  was 

of  lightening  the  boat  as  much  as  shot  in  the  groin," — JiQiffbray-Thom^ 

possiole." — Motobra^'Thoniion,  soti^ 

f  "At  two  F.v.  we  stranded  qS 


T 


THE  LAST  STAND.  345 

and  fell  heavily  upon  the  people  who  had  come  down  1857. 
to  destroy  them.  Very  few  of  the  pursuers  returned  ^^^  ^^• 
to  tell  the  story  of  their  pursuit.  This  was  the  last 
victory  of  the  hero-martyrs  of  Cawnpore.*  They  took 
the  enemy's  boat,  and  found  in  it  good  stores  of  am- 
munition. They  would  rather  have  found  a  little 
food.  Victors  as  they  were,  they  returned  to  the 
cover  of  the  boat  only  to  wrestle  with  a  more  for- 
midable enemy.  For  starvation  was  staring  them  in 
the  face. 

Sleep  fell  upon  the  survivors ;  and  when  they  woke  June  29. 
the  wind  had  risen,  and  the  boat  was  drifting  down 
the  stream — ^in  the  darkness  they  knew  not  whither ; 
and  some  even  then  had  waking  dreams  of  a  coming 
deliverance.  But  with  the  first  glimmer  of  the  morn- 
ing despair  came  upon  them.  The  boat  had  been 
carried  out  of  the  main  channel  of  the  river  into  a 
creek  or  siding,  where  the  enemy  soon  discerned  it, 
and  poured  a  shower  of  musket-balls  upon  its  miser- 
able inmates.  Then  Vibart,  who  lay  helpless,  with 
both  arms  shot  through,  issued  his  last  orders.  It 
was  a  forlorn  hope.  But  whilst  there  was  a  sound 
arm  among  them,  that  could  load  and  fire,  or  thrust 
with  a  bayonet,  still  the  great  game  of  the  English 
was  to  go  to  the  front  and  smite  the  enemy,  as  a  race 
that  seldom  waited  to  be  smitten.  So  Mowbray- 
Thomson  and  Delafosse,  with  a  little  band  of  Euro- 
pean soldiers  of  the  Thirty-second  and  the  Eighty- 
fourth,  landed  to  attack  their  assailants.  The  fierce 
energy  of  desperation  drove  them  forward.  Sepoys 
and  villagers,  armed  and  unarmed,  surged  around 
them,  but  they  charged  through  the  astounded  mul- 

*  Mowbray-Thomson  was  one  of  ns,  eighteen  or  twenty  of  us  charged 

these.  Nothing  can  be  more  modest  them,    and   few  of   their   number 

than  this  part  of  his  narrative.  *'  In-  escaped  to  tell  the  stoiy." 
stead  of  waiting  for  them  to  attack 


stand. 


346  CAWNTORE. 

1857.  titude,  and  made  their  way  back  again  through  the 
June  29.  crowd  of  blacks  to  the  point  from  which  they  had 
started.  Then  they  saw  that  the  boat  was  gone.  The 
fourteen  were  left  upon  the  pitiless  land,  whilst  their 
doomed  companions  floated  down  the  pitiless  water. 
The  last  There  was  one  more  stand  to  be  made  by  Mowbray- 
Thomson  and  his  comrades.  As  they  retreated  along 
the  bank  of  the  river,  seeing  after  a  while  no  chance 
of  overtaking  the  boat,  they  made  for  a  Hindoo 
temple,  which  had  caught  the  eye  of  their  leader,  and 
defended  the  doorway  with  fixed  bayonets.  After  a 
little  time  they  stood  behind  a  rampart  of  black  and 
bloody  corpses,  and  fired,  with  comparative  security, 
over  this  bulwark  of  human  flesh.  A  little  putrid 
water  found  in  the  temple  gave  our  people  new 
strength,  and  they  held  the  doorway  so  gallantly,  and 
so  destructively  to  the  enemy,  that  there  seemed  to 
be  no  hope  of  expelling  them  by  force  of  arms.  So 
whilst  word  went  back  to  Dundoo  Punt,  Nana  Sahib, 
that  the  remnant  of  the  English  Army  was  not  to  be 
conquered,  the  assailants,  huddling  round  the  temple, 
brought  leaves  and  faggots,  which  they  piled  up 
beneath  the  walls,  and  strove  to  bum  out  the  little 
garrison.  Then  Providence  came  to  their  help  in 
their  sorest  need.  The  wind  blew  smoke  and  fire 
away  from  the  temple.  But  the  malice  of  the  enemy 
had  a  new  device  in  store.  They  threw  bags  of 
powder  on  the  burning  embers.  There  was  now 
nothing  left  for  our  people  but  flight.  Precipitating 
themselves  into  the  midst  of  the  raging  multitude, 
they  fired  a  volley  and  then  charged  with  the 
bayonet.  Seven  of  the  fourteen  carried  their  lives 
with  them,  and  little  else,  to  the  bank  of  the  river. 
There  they  took  to  the  stream;  but  presently  two 
of  the  swinmiers  were  shot  through  the  head,  whilst 


THE  FOUR  SURYIVOBS.  347 

a  third,  well  nigh  exhausted,  making  for  a  sand-  1867. 
bank,  had  his  skull  battered  in  as  soon  as  he  landed.  ^^^  *^' 
But  the  surviving  four,  being  strong  swimmers, 
and  with  heroic  power  in  doing  and  in  suffering, 
struck  down  the  stream,  and  aided  by  the  current, 
evaded  their  pursuers.  Mowbray-Thomson  and  De- 
lafosse,  with  privates  Murphy  and  Sullivan,  reached 
alive  the  territory  of  a  friendly  Oude  Rajah,  and  sur- 
vived to  tell  the  story  of  Cawnpore. 

Teeming  as  it  does  with  records  of  heroic  exploits,  Neglected 
this  narrative  of  the  Sepoy  War  contains  nothing  ^^~^"- 
that  surpasses— perhaps  nothing  that  can  justly  be 
compared  with — this  wonderful  episode  of  the  last 
struggles  of  the  martyrs  of  Cawnpore.  The  grand 
national  courage,  of  the  manifold  developments  of 
which  it  is  impossible  to  write  without  strong  emotion, 
has  no  nobler  illustration  than  that  of  the  last  stand 
of  the  remnant  of  the  Cawnpore  garrison.  A  year 
before,  England  had  made  tardy  reparation  of  past 
neglect  by  instituting  an  Order  of  Valour.  It  bears  a 
name  which  renders  it  personally  dear  to  the  reci- 
pients of  this  generation,  and  will  be  cherished  in 
historical  ages  yet  to  come.  It  was  right  that  of  such 
an  order  there  should  be  but  one  class.  But  if  there 
had  been  many  classes,  Mowbray-Thomson  and  Dela- 
fosse.  Murphy  and  Sullivan,  would  have  earned  the 
highest  decoration  of  which  the  order  could  boast. 
But,  I  know  not  by  what  strange  omission,  by  whose 
neglect,  or  by  what  accident  for  which  no  one  is 
responsible,  it  happens  that  not  one  of  these  heroes 
has  borne  on  his  breast  the  Victoria  Cross.  Doubt- 
less, they  are  the  representatives  of  a  gigantic  disaster, 
not  of  a  glorious  victory.  But  the  heroism  of  failure 
is  often  greater  than  the  heroism  of  success.  And 
since  the  time  when,  in  the  days  of  early  Rome,  the 


348  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  Three  kept  the  Bridge,  there  have  been  none  more 
•^^®  worthy  of  all  the  honour  that  a.sovereign  or  a  nation 
can  bestow,  on  the  doers  of  brave  deeds,  than  those 
who  held  the  temple  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  and 
fought  their  way  through  an  armed  multitude  thirst- 
ing for  their  blood,  until  from  village  to  village  there 
ran  the  cry  that  the  Englishmen  could  not  be  beaten. 


Fate  of  the  Whilst  the  gallant  Four,  thus  mercifully  saved  by 
p^Y*  ^^'  what,  humanly  regarded,  had  seemed  to  be  a  sum- 
mons to  certain  destruction,  the  companions  from 
whom  they  had  been  severed  were  losing  all  hope  of 
deliverance.  What  befel  them  after  they  drifted 
away,  leaving  Mowbray-Thomson  and  his  little  band 
of  resolute  fighting-men  on  the  shore,  can  never  be 
accurately  known  in  detail.  But  the  boat  was  over- 
taken, and  all  its  living  cargo  carried  back  to  Cawn- 
June  30.  pore,  and  turned  out  upon  the  well-known  landing- 
place,  where  a  great  assemblage  of  Sepoys  was  ready 
to  receive  them.  Some  eighty  Christian  people  in  all 
had  been  brought  back,  after  three  days  of  agony  and 
terror  on  the  dark  waters  of  the  Ganges,  too  merciless 
to  overwhelm  them.*  From  the  river  bank  they  were 
driven,  a  miserable  herd  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
to  the  old  cantonment,  to  await  the  execution  of  the 
orders  of  the  Nana.  He  went  out  himself  to  gloat 
upon  their  suflFerings.  The  men  were  doomed  to 
death  at  once.  The  women  and  children,  with  greater 
refinement  of  cruelty,  were  suffered  to  survive  their 
husbands  and  their  fathers,  and  reserved  for  a  second 
death.     One  English  lady  clung  to  her  husband,  and 

*  Eighty  is  the  number  given  by  brought  back  on  carts,  and  arrived 
Mr.  Sherer  after  very  careful  inquiry  at  the  Ghant  on  the  30th  of  June, 
and  collation  of  evidence.  They  were 


MOVEMENTS  OP  THE  NANA  SAHIB.  349 

perished.  The  rest  were  torn  away,  whilst  the  mus-  1857. 
kets  of  the  Sepoys  were  loaded  for  that  fatal  fusillade.  ® 
Then  an  English  officer,  who  throughout  all  the 
accidents  of  that  river  voyage  had  preserved  a  prayer- 
book  of  the  Church  of  England,  sought  permission  to 
read  to  his  doomed  comrades  a  few  sentences  of  that 
beautiful  liturgy,  whose  utterances  are  never  so 
touchingly  appropriate  as  amidst  the  sorest  trials 
and  troubles  of  life.  Leave  was  granted.  And  with 
one  arm  in  a  sling,  whilst  with  the  other  he  held  the 
precious  volume  before  his  eyes,  Seppings  proclaimed 
to  that  doomed  congregation  the  great  message  of  sal- 
vation ;  and  even  amidst  the  roar  and  rattle  of  the 
musketry  the  glad  tidings  were  still  ringing  in  their 
ears,  as  they  passed  away  to  another  world. 

Then  the  women  and  children  were  sent  to  swell 
the  crowd  of  captives,  which  these  conquerors  of  the 
hour  were  holding  still  in  store  as  a  final  relish  for 
their  feast  of  slaughter.  All  who  had  not  been 
burnt,  or  bayoneted,  or  sabred,  or  drowned  in  the 
great  massacre  of  the  boats  on  the  27th  of  June, 
had  been  swept  up  from  the  Ghaut  and  carried  to  the 
Savada  House,  a  building  which  had  figured  in  the 
history -of  the  siege  as,  for  a  time,  the  head-quarters 
of  the  rebel  leader.  And  now  these  newly-made 
widows  and  orphans  were  added  to  the  shuddering 
herd  of  condemned  innocents. 

This  done,  Doondoo  Punt,  Nana  Sahib,  carrying     July  1. 
with  him  an  infinite  satisfaction  derived  from  the  The  Nana 
success  of  his  machinations,  went  off  to  his  palace  at  Peiahwah. 
Bithoor.     Next  day,  in  all  the  pride  and  pomp  of 
power,  he  was  publicly  proclaimed  Peishwah.     No 
formality,  no  ceremony  was  omitted,  that  could  give 
dignity  to  the  occasion.     He  took  his  seat  upon  the 
throne.    The  sjicrament  of  the  forehead-mark  was 


350  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  duly  perfonned.  The  cannon  roared  out  its  recogni- 
J'^yl-  tion  of  the  new  ruler.  And  when  night  fell,  the 
darkness  was  dispersed  by  a  general  iUumination, 
and  showers  of  fireworks  lit  up  the  sky.  But  it  was 
not  long  before,  even  in  the  first  flush  of  triumph, 
heaviness  fell  upon  the  restored  sovereignty  of  the 
Peishwah.  He  was,  after  all,  only  a  miserable  tool 
in  the  hands  of  others.  And  news  soon  reached  him 
that,  in  his  absence  from  Cawnpore,  his  influence  was 
declining.  The  Mahomedan  party  was  waxing  strong. 
It  had  hitherto  been  overborne  by  the  Hindoo  power, 
probably  more  than  all  else  for  want  of  an  efl&cient 
leader.  But  there  was  a  Mahomedan  nobleman, 
known  as  the  Nunny  Newab,  who  had  taken  a  con- 
spicuous, if  not  an  active,  part  in  the  siege.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  outbreak  he  had  been  made 
prisoner  by  the  Nana  Sahib,  and  his  house  had  been 
plundered ;  but  subsequently  they  had  entered  into 
a  covenant  of  friendship,  and  a  command  had  been 
given  to  the  Newab.  He  directed  or  presided  over 
one  of  the  batteries  planted  at  the  Racquet  Court, 
driving  down  to  it  in  his  carriage,  and  sitting  on  a 
chair,  in  costly  attire,  with  a  sword  at  his  side  and  a 
telescope  in  his  hand ;  and  there  was  no  battery  that 
wrought  us  greater  mischief  than  the  Nunny  Newab's. 
He  had  got  together  some  cunning  Native  artificers, 
who  experimentalised  on  red-hot  shot  and  other  com- 
bustibles, not  without  damage  to  the  lives  of  those 
working  in  the  batteries;  and  it  was  a  projectile 
from  one  of  his  guns— described  as  a  ball  of  resin— 
which  set  fire  to  the  barrack  in  the  entrenchments. 
The  Nana  was  so  delighted  with  this  exploit  that  he 
sent  the  Newab  a  present  of  five  thousand  rupees, 
and  the  story  ran,  that  in  the  administrative  arrange- 
ments which  were  to  follow  the  extirmination  of  the 


DISTURBING  RUMOURS.  351 

English,  he  was  to  be  Governor  of  Cawnpore.  Among      1857. 
the  Mahomedans  of  the  neighbourhood  he  was  held      "^^^^^ 
in  high  estimation,  and  large  numbers  of  followers 
attended  him  as  he  went  down  every  day  to  his 
battery. 

And  now  there  was  some  talk  of  setting  up  the 
Newab  as  head  of  the  new  Government.  If  this  had 
been  done  there  would  have  been  faction  fights 
between  Hindoos  and  Mahomedans,  which  would 
have  weakened  the  power  of  the  general  enmity  to 
the  Christian  races,  and  hastened  the  day  of  retribu- 
tion. Then  other  disturbing  rumours  reached  him. 
The  English  reinforcements  were  advancing  from 
Allahabad — ^hot  for  revenge,  eager  for  blood.  The 
story  ran  that  the  white  soldiers  were  hanging  every 
Native  who  came  in  their  way.  It  was  plain  that 
the  time  for  strenuous  action  had  come.  A  great 
fear  was  settUng  down  upon  the  minds  of  the  in- 
habitants  of  Cawnpore,  who  were  leaving  their  homes 
in  the  city  and  seeking  refuge  in  the  villages ;  and 
the  military  classes,  as  is  ever  their  wont  at  such 
times,  were  clamouring  for  donatives,  and  declaiming 
against  the  parsimony  of  the  Nana.  To  send  forth 
assuring  and  even  boastful  addresses  alike  to  the 
citizen  and  to  the  soldier,  was  his  first  care  in  this 
month  of  July  ;*  and  it  was  necessary,  without 
delay,  to  issue  largesses  in  money,  and  in  the  alluring 
shape  of  those  much-coveted  gold  bangles,  the  thought 
of  which,  ever  since  the  commencement  of  the  siege, 
had  stimulated  the  activity  of  the  Sepoys. 

So  the  Peishwah  of  the  hour  was  summoned  back      July  6. 
to  Cawnpore  by  the  lieutenants  whom  he  had  left  to 
govern  in  his  absence.     He  established  himself  in  an 
edifice,  of  goodly  proportions,  which  had  been  built 

*  Some  of  these  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


352  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  for  an  hotel  by  a  Mahomedan  capitalist ;  and  here  he 
July  6.  jjgj^  jjjgj^  carnival.  The  native  gossips  of  the  day- 
related  how,  after  the  fashion  of  the  East,  he  strove 
to  drown  the  cares  and  anxieties  which  gathered 
round  him,  with  music,  and  dancing,  and  buffoonery 
in  public ;  and  that  he  solaced  himself,  in  more  re- 
tired hours,  with  strong  drink  and  the  caresses  of  a 
famous  courtesan.  Day  after  day  his  scouts  brought 
exaggerated  stories  of  the  advance  of  the  English 
battalions ;  and  he  issued  instructions  to  his  officers 
to  go  out  to  meet  them.  He  had  put  forth  astound- 
ing proclamations  to  assure  the  people  that  the  pride 
of  the  English  had  been  humbled  to  the  dust,  and 
that  their  armies  had  been  overwhelmed  by  more 
powerful  nations,  or,  by  God's  providence,  drowned 
in  the  sea.  There  was  no  lie  which  Doondoo  Punt 
and  his  lieutenants  had  not  put  forth,  in  some  shape 
or  other,  to  assure  the  minds  of  the  people  and  to 
make  men  believe  that  there  was  nothing  now  to  be 
hoped  or  feared  from  the  prostrate  Feringhees.  But 
ever,  as  the  month  of  July  wore  on,  news  came 
from  below  that  the  English  were  advancing;  and 
the  Peishwah  trembled  as  he  heard,  even  in  the 
midst  of  his  revelries.  There  was,  however,  one  more 
victory  to  be  gained  before  the  collapse  of  the  new 
Mahratta  power  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges.  And 
the  Nana  smiled  as  he  thought  that  the  game  was  all 
in  his  own  hands. 
The  captives  It  was  only  a  victory  over  a  number  of  helpless 
in^eBeebee-^Qnigj^  and  children — ^a  victory  safe  and  easy.  The 
English  prisoners  had  been  removed  from  the  Savada 
Eotee  to  a  small  house,  which  had  been  built  by  an 
English  officer  for  his  native  mistress  (thence  called 
the  "  Beebee-ghur") ;  but  had  more  recently  been 
the  residence  of  a  humble  Eurasian  clerk.     There 


THE  FDTTEHGURH  VICTIMS.  853 

was  scanty  accommodation  in  it  for  a  single  family,  ^^^'f- 
In  this  wretched  building  were  now  penned,  like  **^  ^  ' 
sheep  for  the  slaughter,  more  than  two  hundred 
women  and  children.  For  the  number  of  the  cap- 
tives had  by  this  time  been  increased  by  an  addition 
from  a  distance.  Whilst  our  Christian  people  at 
Cawnpore  had  been  suffering  what  has  been  but 
dimly  portrayed  in  the  preceding  pages,  there  had 
been  a  great  crisis  at  Futtehgurh,  the  British  military 
station  adjacent  to  the  city  of  Furruckabad,  in  the 
district  of  that  name.  It  lies  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  Ganges,  eighty  miles  above  Cawnpore.  In 
the  first  week  of  June,  after  nearly  a  month  of  ex- 
treme anxiety,  it  had  become  apparent  that  the  lives 
of  all  the  Europeans,  and  they  were  many,  would  be 
sacrificed  if  they  continued  to  dwell  at  Futtehgurh. 
So,  not  knowing  in  the  first  week  of  June  the  true 
position  of  affairs  at  Cawnpore,  a  large  number  of 
our  people  took  to  their  boats  and  drifted  down  to 
the  great  British  cantonment,  as  to  a  place  of  refuge. 
The  story  of  Futtehgurh  must  be  told  in  another 
chapter  of  this  narrative.  It  is  enough  that  it  should 
be  related  here  that  those  who  descended  the  river 
were  attacked  on  the  way,  and  that  when  one  boat 
reached  the  neighbourhood  of  Cawnpore  the  Nana 
Sahib's  people  captured  it,  dragged  out  its  unhappy 
inmates,  and  carried  them,  bound,  to  the  feet  of  their 
master.  Then  there  was  a  slaughter,  in  his  presence, 
of  all  the  men,  three  excepted ;  and  the  women  and 
children  were  carried  off  to  swell  the  miserable  crowd 
in  the  "  Beebee-ghur." 

This  new  prison-house  lay  between  the  Native  city 
and  the  river,  under  the  shadow  of  the  improvised 
palace  of  the  Peishwah,  within  sound  of  the  noisy 
music,  and  within  sight  of  the  torch-glare  which  sig- 

VOL.  IL  2  a 


354  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  nalised  his  highness's  nocturnal  rejoicings.*  Thus 
July  7—16.  huddled  together,  fed  upon  the  coarsest  provender  of 
the  country,  doled  out  to  them  by  sweepers,  their  suf- 
ferings were  intolerable.  Cholera  and  diarrhcBa  broke 
out  among  them,  and  some  were  mercifully  suflFered 
to  die.f  If,  in  the  agony  and  terror  of  this  captivity, 
bereft  of  reason,  any  one  of  these  sufferers  antici- 
pated, by  action  of  her  own,  the  day  of  doom,  God 
will  surely  take  merciful  account  of  the  offence.  The 
horror  of  a  fouler  shame  than  had  yet  come  upon 
them  may  have  crazed  more  intellects  than  one. 
But  there  was  in  this  no  more  than  a  phantom  of  the 
imagination.  Our  women  were  not  dishonoured  save 
that  they  were  made  to  feel  their  servitude.  They 
were  taken  out,  two  at  a  time,  to  grind  com  for  the 
Nana's  household.     An    educated    English   gentle- 

*  The  following  minute  descrip-  lady  or  woman,  I  attributed  this 
tion  of  tiie  "  Beebee-ghur"  is  from  a  error  to  the  writer's  brief  residence 
private  journal  kept  by  Major  Gor-  in  India,  but  I  find  the  passage  is 
don  of  the  Sixty-nrst :  "  It  was  a  taken  from  Mr.  Sherer's  official  re- 
dismal  kind  of  bungalow  in  a  small  port,  a  document  of  the  highest  value, 
compound  near  what  used  to  be  the  I  must  still,  however,  hold  to  the 
Assembly  Rooms.  There  was  a  nar-  opinion  that  *'  ek  beebee"  means  one 
row  verandah  running  along  nearly  lady,  and  I  should  have  thought  that 
the  whole  of  the  front.  At  the  two  the  pathos  of  the  "  ap  se  "  lav  in  its 
ends  of  it  were  bathing-rooms,  open-  meaning  that  she  killed  herself,  if  it 
ing  both  into  the  verandah  and  mto  were  not  for  a  susoicion  that  in 
siae-rooms.  Then  came  an  inner  Sherer's  report  "  beeoee  "  is  a  mis- 
entrance  room,  and  then  one  about  print  for  "  baba."  I  have  not  seen  the 
sixteen  by  sixteen,  and  then  an  open  ori^pnal  list,  but  it  was  translated  by 
verandah  as  in  front.  At  either  side  Major  Gordon,  who  was  on  General 
was  a  narrow  room.  ...  It  was,  in  Neill's  Staff.  This  officer  wrote  down 
fact,  two  small  houses,  built  on  in  his  journal,  at  the  time,  most  of 
exactly  the  same  plan,  facing  each  the  names.  "  Prom  the  7th,"  he  says, 
other,  and  having  a  space  enclosed  "to  the  morning  of  the  15th,  twenty- 
between  them.''  eight  people    died ;    nine  cholera ; 

f  Mr.  Trevelyan,  referring  to  a  nine  diarrhoea ;  one  dysentery ;  three 

diary  kept  by  a  Native  doctor  who  of  wounds ;  one,  an  infant  two  days 

visited  tlie  prisoners,  says,  "  There  old ;  five,  disease  not  mentioned.    I 

is  a  touching  little  entry  which  de-  could  not  make  out  all  the  names, 

serves  notice.  In  the  column  headed  but  those  of  which  I  am  sure  are" .  . 

*  names '  appears  the  words  *  ek  bee-  and  then  a  list  is  given,  including, 

bee*  (one  baby),  under  tliat  marked  under  date  July  10,  "  A  baby  of  two 

'  disease'  is  written '  ap  se,'  of  itself."  days  old — of  itself."    This  seems  to 

As  a  "beebee"  is  not  a  baby,  but  a  be  conclusive. 


i^*^'«-w: 


>.j=^ 


EUMOUBS  OF  HAVELOCrS  APPROACH.  355 

woman  needed  not  even  a  week's  residence  in  India  1857. 
to  teach  her  the  meaning  of  this.  As  they  sat  there  ^^^  ^--U. 
on  the  ground,  these  Christian  captives  must  have 
had  some  glimmering  recollection  of  their  biblical 
studies,  and  remembered  how  in  the  East  the  grind- 
ing of  com  was  ever  regarded  as  a  symbol  of  subjec- 
tion— ^how,  indeed,  it  was  one  of  the  crowning  curses 
of  the  first  great  captivity  on  record.*  When  the  wives 
of  the  English  conquerors  were  set  to  grind  com  in 
the  court-yards  of  the  Mahratta,  the  national  humilia- 
tion was  then  and  there  complete — then,  but  only  for 
a  little  while ;  there,  but  only  on  a  little  space.  And 
the  pathos  of  the  picture  is  perfected  when  we  see 
that  these  delicate  ladies,  with  their  faces  to  the  grind- 
stone, did  not  find  the  office  so  wholly  distasteful,  as 
it  enabled  them  to  carry  back  a  little  flour  to  the 
"  Beebee-ghur"  to  feed  their  famishing  children. 

So  here,  just  under  the  windows  of  the  Nana  Sahib, 
was  a  very  weak,  defenceless  enemy,  which  might  be 
attacked  with  impunity  and  vanquished  with  ease. 
But,  with  that  other  enemy,  which  was  now  ad- 
vancing from  Allahabad,  and,  as  the  story  ran,  de- 
stroying every  one  in  their  way,  the  issue  of  the  con- 
test was  more  doubtful.     A  great  body  of  Horse  and 

*  Some,  perhaps,  may  have  called  of  it.  Therefore,  hear  now  this,  thoa 
to  mind,  in  this  hour  of  humiliation,  that  art  given  to  pleasures,  that 
the  awful  appropriateness  of  tbe  dwellest  carelessly,  that  sayest  in 
forty-seventh  chapter  of  Isaiah,  and  thine  heart,  '  I  am  and  none  else  be- 
mostly  of  these  solemn  words :—  side  me ;  I  shall  not  sit  as  a  widow, 
*'  Come  down  and  sit  in  the  dust,  O  neither  shall  I  know  the  loss  of  chil- 
virgin  daughter  of  Babylon,  sit  on  dren.  But  these  two  things  shall  come 

the  ground for  thou  shalt  no  to  thee  in  a  moment,  in  one  day,  the 

more  be  called  tender  and  delicate,  loss  of  children  and  widowhood. . . . 

Take  the  millstones  and  grind  meal :  Evil  shall  come  upon  thee ;  thoa 

uncover  thy  locks,  make  bare  the  shalt  not  know  from  whence  it  riseth; 

leg,  uncover  the  thigh,  pass  over  the  and  mischief  shall  fall  upon  thee; 

rivers Thou  saidst,  *  I  shall  be  thou  shalt  not  be  able  to  put  it  off, 

a  lady  for  ever,'  so  that  thou  didst  and  desolation  shall  come  upon  thee 

not  lay  these  things  to  thy  heart,  suddenly." 
neither  didst  remember  the  latter  end 

2a2 


356.  CAWNPOEE. 

1857.  Foot,  with  a  fonnidable  array  of  guns,  had  gone  down 
July  7—15.  ^^  dispute  the  progress  of  the  British ;  but,  before  the 
month  of  July  was  half  spent,  news  came  that  they 
had  been  disastrously  beaten.  Havelock  had  taken 
the  field  in  earijiest.  The  hopes  of  his  youth,  the 
prayers  of  his  manhood,  had  been  accomplished ;  he 
had  lived  to  command  an  army,  to  gain  a  victory, 
and  to  write  a  despatch  in  his  own  good  name. 


«%  At  the  close  of  this  chapter,  I  must  express  my  obligations  to  the 
printed  volumes  of  Captain  Mowbray-Thomson  aud  Mr.  Otto  Trevelyan. 
The  reminiscences  of  the  one  writer  and  the  investigations  of  the  other 
liave  been  equally  serviceable  to  me.  But  to  no  one  am  1  more  indebted 
than  to  Colonel  Williams  for  the  invaluable  mass  of  oral  information  which 
he  has  elicited  and  placed  on  record,  and  the  admirable  synopsb  which 
accompanies  it.  From  an  immense  pile  of  conflicting  evidence,  I  believe 
that,  guided  by  Colonel  Williams,  I  nave  extracted  the  truth.  There  are 
still,  however,  some  doubts  and  uncertainties  as  regards  points  of  detail, 
especially  in  respect  of  the  numbers  both  of  the  fightmg  men  in  the 
entrenchments  and  of  the  women  and  children  in  the  "Beebee-ghur." 
The  discrepancy  with  respect  to  the  former  may  have  arisen  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  in  some  lists  the  sick  were  computed,  but  not  in  others. 
Colonel  Williams  gives  a  nominal  roll  of  European  troops  composing  the 
English  portion  of  the  Cawnpore  garrison  who  were  killed  between  the 
6th  and  30th  of  June.  In  this  we  ha?e  the  names  of  fifty-nine  Artillery- 
men, seventy -nine  men  of  the  Thirty-second,  forty -nine  of  the  Eighty- 
fourth,  and  fifteen  of  the  Madras  Eusiliers — making  in  all  two  hundred 
and  two,  exclusive  of  officers.  Mr.  Sherer's  numbers  difTer  from  these — 
his  ag^egate  being  a  hundred  and  sixty-four.  With  regard  to  the  women 
and  children  in  the  '*  Beebee-ghur,"  T  think  that  Major  Gordon's  estimate 
is  most  probably  correct.  He  says,  after  studying  the  list  of  prisoners, 
"  It  appears  from  this  that  two  hundred  and  ten  were  left  on  the  11th, 
and  as  twelve  died  between  that  and  the  15th,  there  must  probably  have 
been  a  hundred  and  ninety- seven  when  the  massacre  took  place.'* 


•r^  r  ▼■ 


^n3^^^^C^ 


H1Y£L0CK  AT  ALLAHABAD.  857 


CHAPTER  III. 

GBNEBAL  HAVELOCK  AT  ALLAHABAD  ~  EQT7IFKBNT  OF  THE  BSIOADE  — 
ADVANCE  TOWABDS  CAWNPOBE— JUNCTION  WITH  BENAUD— THE  BATTLES 
Oy  7I7TTEHPORE,  A0N6,  AND  CAWNFOBE— THE  MAS8ACBE  OP  THE  WOIIEN 
AND  CHILDBEN — BE-OCCUFATION  OF  CAWNFOBE. 

Assured  of  the  miserable  fact  tbat  Cawnpore  had  1857. 
fallen,  General  Havelock,  having  halted  Renaud's  July, 
column  at  Lohanga,  was  eager  to  advance  to  join  him 
and  to  push  on  for  the  recovery  of  the  important 
position  that  we  had  lost,  and  the  chastisement  of  the 
insolent  enemy.  He  telegraphed  to  Sir  Patrick  Grant 
at  Calcutta,  saying:  "We  have  lost  Cawnpore,  an 
important  point  on  the  great  line  of  concimunication, 
and  the  place  from  which  alone  Lucknow  can  be 
succoured;  for  it  would  be  hardly  possible,  at  this 
season  of  the  year,  to  operate  on  the  cross-roads.  My 
duty  is,  therefore,  to  endeavour  to  take  Cawnpore,  to 
the  accomplishment  of  which  I  will  bend  every  effort. 
I  advance  along  the  trunk-road  as  soon  as  I  can 
unite  fourteen  hundred  British  Infantry  to  a  battery 
of  six  well-equipped  guns.  Lieutenant-Colonel  NeiU, 
whose  high  qualities  I  cannot  sufficiently  praise,  will 
follow  with  another  column  as  soon  as  it  is  organised| 
and  this  fort  is  left  in  proper  hands."* 

*  Marshman's  Life  of  ELayelock. 


358  THE  MAECH  TO  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  Havelock  had  hoped  to  commence  his  march  on 

July  4—7.  the  4th  of  July,  but  the  impediments  in  the  way  ot 

Preparations    ,t_  ix*  j.     j?  \,'    r  x 

for  the  the  complete  equipment  of  his  force  were  too  nume- 
MarcL  ^qus  and  too  serious  to  admit  of  so  early  a  move- 
ment All  the  old  difficulties,  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken,  were  in  his  way,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
sun  was  dimly  declining  on  the  7th  that  he  could 
give  the  order  to  march.  It  was  but  a  small  force 
for  the  work  before  it.  A  thousand  European  In- 
fantry soldiers,  belonging  to  four  different  regiments, 
composed  the  bulk  of  Havelock's  army.  Some  of 
these  were  seasoned  soldiers,  but  some  were  raw 
recruits.  Then  there  were  a  hundred  and  thirty  of 
Brazier's  Sikhs,  a  battery  of  six  guns,  and  a  little 
troop  of  Volunteer  Cavalry,  mustering  only  eighteen 
sabres,  but  in  the  hands  of  such  men  worth  their 
number  five  times  told.  Among  them  were  young 
officers,  whose  regiments  had  revolted,*  and  civilians 
whose  cutcherries  were  closed ;  and  as  they  rode  out, 
badly  mounted  (for  Palliser's  Irregulars  had  taken 
the  best  horses),  under  their  gallant  leader.  Captain 
Barrow  of  the  Madras  Cavalry,  there  was  a  large- 
hearted  enthusiasm  among  them  which  made  them 
feel  equal  to  the  encounter  of  any  number  of  Native 
horsemen  that  could  be  brought  against  them.  Nor 
should  there  be  omission  from  the  record  of  the  fact 
that,  when  Havelock  marched  forth  for  the  recovery 
of  Cawnpore  and  the  relief  of  Lucknow,  he  was 
accompanied  by  some  of  the  best  staff-officers  with 

*  "  New  to  the  country,  new  to  often  without  a  tent  or  cover  of  any 

the  service,  unaccustomed  to  rough-  sort  to  shelter  them  from  the  rain  or 

ing  it,  brought  up  in  every  luxury,  sun,  with  bad  provisions  and  hard 

and  led  to  believe  that  on  their  work.  Side  by  side  with  the  privates 

arrival  in  India  they  would  have  the  they  took  their  turn  of  duty,  and 

same,  these  young  officers  (deprived  side  by  side  with  them  they  fought, 

ofemploymentbythemutiny  of  their  were  wounded,  and  some  died." — 

regiments)    willingly    threw  them-  Quoted  in  MarshmatCs  Life  of  Have- 

selves  into  the  thick  of  the  work,  lock.    Author  not  stated. 


■   lll'IIFf^lFTf^^y^^iWW 


HAYELOCK'S  FIRST  MARCHES.  359 

whom  it  lias  ever  been  the  good  fortune  of  a  general      l»67. 
to  be  associated.  In  lieutenant-Colonel  Fraser-Tytler  ^^^^  ^""^*' 
and  Captain  Stuart  Beatson  he  had  a  Quarter-Master 
General  and  an  Adjutant-General  of  his  brigade, 
selected  by  himself,  not  to  be  out-matched  in  efficiency 
by  any  officers  of  those  departments. 

It  was  a  dull,  dreary  afternoon  when  Havelock's  Marck  for 
Brigade  marched  out  of  Allahabad,  and  very  soon  ^^^habad. 
the  rain  came  down  in  torrents  to  damp  the  ardour 
of  the  advancing  force.  Neither  on  that  day  nor  on 
the  succeeding  one  was  the  progress  rapid.  Many 
of  the  men  were  unused  to  Indian  marching,  and  num- 
bers fell  in  the  rear,  weary,  footsore,  disabled.  There 
was  great  discouragement  in  this ;  but  as  Havelock 
advanced,  it  became  more  and  more  apparent  to  him 
not  only  that  Cawnpore  had  fallen,  but  that  a  large 
body  of  the  enemy  were  advancing  to  meet  him,  and 
this  rendered  it  not  only  expedient,  but  imperative, 
that  no  time  should  be  lost  in  joining  the  advanced 
column.  Neill,  doubtful,  as  it  has  been  seen,  of  the 
fall  of  Cawnpore,  had  telegraphed  to  Sir  Patrick 
Grant,  urging  him  to  push  on  Renaud's  column,  and 
Renaud  was  moving  forward  into  the  clutches  of  the 
Nana's  force ;  and  though  Havelock's  knowledge  of 
the  inestimable  value  at  such  a  time  of  English  life 
and  English  health  rendered  him  careful  of  his  men, 
he  now  recognised  a  paramount  emergency  over- 
ruling these  considerations,  and  sped  onwards  by 
forced  marches  to  overtake  his  Lieutenant.  And  an 
hour  after  the  midnight  of  the  11th — 12th  of  July, 
in  the  broad  light  of  an  unclouded  moon,  his  fore- 
most details  came  up  with  Renaud's.  detachment. 
Before  dawn  the  junction  was  completed.  Renaud 
drew  up  his  men  along  the  side  of  the  road ;  and  as 
the  Highlanders  strtick  up  the  stirring  strain  of  the 


360  THE  MAECH  TO  CAWNPORE. 

1857.      "  Campbells  are  coming,"  welcomed  the  new  arrivals 
with  ringing  cheers.  Then  they  marched  on  together, 
and  about  seven  o'clock  the  whole  force  halted  at 
Belindah,  a  spot  some  four  miles  from  the  city  of 
Futtehpore.* 
July  12.        The  troops  were  weary  and  footsore,  and  Havelock 
o?p5t*h^     was  eager  to  give  his  men  the  rest  and  refreshment 
pore,  they  so  much  needed.     So  arms  were  piled,  and  our 

soldiery  were  preparing  for  the  morning  meal,  when 
their  hungry  hopes  were  disappointed  by  the  unex- 
pected arrival  of  a  twenty-four-pound  shot,  which 
well-nigh  reached  the  feet  of  the  General.  The  truth 
was  soon  apparent.  Colonel  Tytler  had  gone  forward 
with  an  escort  to  reconnoitre,  and  some  spies,  de- 
spatched by  La^vrence  from  Lucknow,  had  brought 
him  word  that  the  enemy  were  at  Futtehpore.  There 
was  no  more  thought  of  the  breakfast.  The  battle 
was  before  them.  The  men  stood  to  their  arms  and 
feU  in  at  the  word  of  command,  and,  forgetful  of  the 
long  and  weary  night-march  just  ended,  set  their 
faces  towards  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  and  strode  on, 
steady  and  stem,  to  meet  them. 

They  soon  met.  For  the  enemy,  thinking  that  they 
had  come  up  with  the  advanced  column  only,  under 
Major  Renaud,  swept  forward  with  an  insolent  front, 
confident  of  victory.  Conspicuous  before  all  were 
the  troopers  of  the  Second  Cavalry,  who  came  on 
menacingly  in  an  extended  line,  as  though  eager  to 

*  Calcutta  Beview,  vol.  xxxii.,  few  matclilock-men.  This  was  pro- 
Article,  "Havelock's  Indian  Cam-  bably  correct  at  the  time,  but  the 
pai^/'  written  by  one  who  took  Nana,  with  his  large  force,  was  march- 
part  in  it.  This  writer,  a  very  able  ing  down  upon  it,  and  had  we  ad- 
one,  says,  '*  We  shall  not  soon  for-  Tanced  not  a  soul  wonld  have  lived 
fet  the  scene. . . .  We  well  recollect  to  tell  the  tale;  but  Providence  pre- 
ow  anxious  Major  Kenaud  was  to  served  us  from  a  fate  which  at  that 
capture  Futtehpore  before  Havelock  time  would  have  been  ruinous  to  our 
reached  us,  it  having  been  reported  power  in  India," 
to  us  that  it  was  defended  only  by  a 


THE  BATTLE  OF  FUTTEHPORE.         361 

enclose  our  little  band  in  the  toils  of  a  swift  destruc-  1857. 
tion.  So  Havelock,  as  he  wrote,  unwilling  "to  be  •^^J^^. 
bearded,  determined  at  once  to  bring  on  an  action." 
Then  the  truth  became  miserably  apparent  to  the 
enemy ;  and  in  an  instant  the  light  of  proud  defiance 
paled  beneath  the  astounding  disclosure.  The  weak 
detachment,  that  was  to  have  been  so  easily  over- 
whelmed, had  suddenly  grown,  as  though  under  the 
hand  of  Shiva  the  Destroyer,  into  a  strong,  well- 
equipped,  well-handled  force  of  all  arms,  advancing 
to  the  battle  with  a  formidable  line  of  guns  in  the 
centre.  Flushed  with  the  savage  memories  of  the 
past,  and  eager  for  fresh  slaughter,  these  bloodhounds 
of  the  Nana  Sahib  had  rushed  upon  their  prey  only 
to  find  themselves  brought  face  to  face  with  death. 
Surprise,  disappointment,  fear,  trod  down  even  the 
brutal  instincts  ^dthin  them,  and  the  paralysis  of  a 
great  reaction  was  upon  them.  The  fight  commenced. 
It  was  scarcely  a  battle ;  but  it  was  a  consummate 
victory.  Our  Enfield  rifles  and  our  guns  would  not 
permit  a  conflict.  The  service  of  the  Artillery  was 
superb.  There  had  come  upon  the  scene  a  new  war- 
rior, of  whom  India  had  before  known  nothing,  but 
whose  name  from  that  day  became  terrible  to  our 
enemies.  The  improvised  battery  of  which  Havelock 
made  such  splendid  use  was  commanded  by  Captain 
Maude  of  the  Royal  Artillery.  He  had  come  round 
from  Ceylon,  with  a  few  gunners,  but  without  guns ; 
and  he  had  gone  at  once  to  the  front  as  one  of  the 
finest  Artillerymen  in  the  world.  The  best  troops  of 
the  Nana  Sahib,  with  a  strength  of  Artillery  exceed- 
ing our  own,  could  make  no  stand  against  such  a  fire 
as  was  opened  upon  them.*     Falling  back  upon  the 

*  "  The  enemy's    fire    scarcely    for  four  hours  allowed  him  no  re- 
touched us,"  wrote  Uavelock;  **ours    pose."      **  Twelve  British  soldiers 


862  THE  MAfiCH  TO  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  town,  with  its  many  enclosures  of 'walled  gardens, 
July  12.  ^i^Qy  abandoned  their  guns  one  after  another  to  our 
exhausted  battalions ;  and  after  one  vain  rally  of  the 
rebel  Horse,  which  solved  the  vexed  question  of  the 
unworthiness  of  Palliser's  Irregulars,  gave  up  the 
contest  in  despair.  Then  Havelock  again  lamented 
his  want  of  Cavalry ;  for  he  could  not  follow  up,  as 
he  wished,  his  first  brilUant  success ;  and  more  of  the 
rebel  Sepoys  escaped  than  was  pleasing  to  the  old 
soldier.  But  he  had  done  his  work  well  and  was 
thankful;  thankful  to  his  troops  for  their  gallant 
services ;  thankful  to  the  Almighty  Providence  that 
had  given  him  the  victory ;  and  proud  of  the  great 
national  character  which  was  now  so  nobly  reassert- 
ing itself.*  It  was  the  first  heavy  blow  struck  at  the 
pride  of  the  enemy  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
The  glad  tidings  were  received  with  exultant  delight 
in  every  house  and  bungalow  in  the  country.  In 
due  time  England  caught  up  the  psBan ;  and  the 
name  of  Havelock  was  written  at  the  corners  of  our 

were  straok  down  by  the  snn  and  dar,  who  sacrificed  his  own  life  m 

never  rose  a^ain.     But  our  fight  endeavouring  to  save   that  of  his 

was  fought  neither  with  musket  nor  leader." 

baronet  nor  sabre,  but  with  Enfield        *  See  Havelock's  Order  of  Thanks 

rifies  and  cannon :  so  we  lost  no  issued  next  day  to  the  troops  under 

men."   This  probably  means  no  Eu-  his  command;  m  which  he  attributes 

ropeans;  for  Havelock*s  biographer,  the  victory,  with  a  sort  of  Cromwel- 

after  quoting  the  General's  despatch,  lian  many-sidedness,  "  to  the  fire  of 

says,  with  reference  to  the  conduct  British  Artillery,  exceeding  in  ra- 

of  the  Irregular  Cavalry  at  this  time,  pidity   and  precision  all    that  the 

that  "  only  twelve  followed  their  brigadier  has  ever  witnessed  in  his 

commanding  officer.  Lieutenant  Pal-  not  short  career;  to  the  power  of 

User,  whose  blind  confidence  in  his  the  Enfield  rifie  in  British  hands ;  to 

men  and  gallant  s])irit  carried  him  British    pluck,  that  great  quality 

headlong  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy  which  has  survived  the  vicissitudes 

(at  Euttehpore),  without  a  glance  of  the  hour  and  gained  intensitv  from 

behind  to  ascertain  if  he  were  sup-  the  crisis ;   and  to  the  blessing  of 

ported.    Here  he  was  overpowered  Almighty  God  on  a  most  righteous 

and  knocked  off  his  horse,  and  would  cause — the   cause   of  justice,   hu- 

inevitably  have  been  cut  to  pieces  manity,  truth,  and  i2;ood  goverumcnt 

had  he  not  been  rescued  by  ine  de-  in  India." 
voted  gallantry  of  his  Native  Bessal- 


FUTTEHPOKE.  363 

streets,  on  the  sides  of  our  public  conveyances,  and      1857. 
on  the  sign-boards  over  our  houses  of  public  enter-     ^^^  ^^* 
tainment* 


Futtehpore  was  given  up  to  plunder.  It  was  a  The  story  of 
guilty — a  blood-stained  city.  A  few  weeks  before  it  ^^^^^hpore. 
had  risen  in  rebellion.  And  now  the  mark  of  a  just 
retribution  was  to  be  set  upon  it.  The  story  may  be 
briefly  told  in  this  place.  The  Treasury-guard  con- 
sisted of  some  sixty  or  seventy  Sepoys  of  the  Sixth 
Regiment.  About  the  end  of  May,  a  large  detach- 
ment of  the  Fifty-sixth,  with  some  Sowars  of  the 
Second  Cavalry — both  of  which  regiments  were  then 
fast  seething  into  rebellion  at  Cawnpore — arrived  at 
Futtehpore  with  treasure  from  Banda,  and  passed  on 
to  AUahabad.  What  dark  hints  and  suggestions  may 
have  passed  between  them  can  never  be  known.  No 
great  uneasiness  was  then  felt  by  the  European  resi- 
dents. The  temper  of  the  people  did  not  seem  to  difier 
much  from  what  it  had  been  in  more  quiet  times,  and 
public  business  went  on  from  day  to  day  in  the  old 
groove  without  interruption. 

The  Chief  Civil  Officer  at  Futtehpore  was  Mr. 
Robert  Tudor  Tucker,  the  Judge.  He  was  a  brother 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Benares.  There  were  some 
strong  resemblances  between  them.     Both  were  de- 

*  It  appears  from  Taniia  Topee's  have  been  with  the  Nana's  party  at 
narrative,  which  on  such  a  point  as  this  time.  One  of  the  witnesses, 
this  may  be  trusted,  that  the  Sepoys  whose  depositions  have  been  pub- 
were  anxious  that  the  Nana  should  lished  by  Colonel  Williams,  when 
accompany  them  to  ^Futtehpore.  asked,  "Who  commanded  at  the 
**  The  Nana  refused,"  lie  said  :  "  I  battle  of  Futtehpore  P"  answered, 
and  the  Nana  remained  at  Cawnpore,  '*  I  myself  saw  Teeka  Sin<;h,  the 
and  sent  JowallarPersaud,  his  agent.  General,  and  the  Allahabad  Moula- 
along  with  them  to  "Futtehpore."  vee,  and  Jowalla-Persaud,  going  off 
Teeka  Sing,  the  Second  Cavalry  Ge-  to  command.  Many  others  went— 
neral,  accompanied  him.  The  Alia-  small  fry  of  leaders." 
habad  Moulave?,  also,   appears  to 


364  THE  MARCH  TO  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  vout  Christian  men,  earnestly  and  conscientiously 
treading  the  appointed  path  of  official  duty.  People 
spoke  of  Henry  Tucker  as  an  enthusiast;  but  the 
enthusiasm  of  Robert  Tucker  had  been  roused  to  a 
still  higher  pitch  by  the  intensity  of  his  religious 
convictions,  which,  even  from  his  schoolboy  days  up 
to  the  prime  of  his  mature  manhood,  had  been 
striking  deeper  and  deeper  root,  in  spite  of  all  the 
discouragements  and  distractions  of  Eastern  life.  At 
the  entrance  to  Futtehpore  he  had  erected  four 
pillars  of  stone,  on  two  of  which  were  engraved  the 
Ten  Commandments,  in  Persian  and  Hindee,  and 
on  the  others,  in  the  same  characters,  scriptural  texts 
containing  the  essence  of  the  Christian  faith.  There 
they  stood,  that  he  who  ran  might  read,  proclaiming 
to  Hindoos  and  Mahomedans  the  cherished  creed  of 
the  Feringhees ;  but  no  man  defaced  or  insulted 
them.  And  the  good  Judge  made  no  disguise  of  his 
effi)rts  to  convert  the  people ;  but  still  no  man  mo- 
lested him.  His  kindness  and  liberality  seem  to  have 
endeared  him  to  all  classes.  They  saw  that  he  was 
just  and  gentle ;  merciful  and  self-denying ;  and  that 
he  taught  lessons  of  love  by  the  practice  of  his  daily 
life.  In  very  literal  truth,  he  was  what  the  Natives 
of  India,  often  in  exaggerated  language,  call  a  "  poor 
man's  provider."  Wherever  misery  was  to  be  found, 
his  helping  hand  was  present.  The  destitute  and  the 
sick  were  his  children,  in  the  absence  of  those  en- 
deared to  him  by  the  tenderest  ties.  For  he  was  a 
husband  and  a  father ;  but  his  family  at  this  time 
were  in  England ;  and  when  the  day  of  trouble  came 
he  rejoiced  that  he  stood  alone. 

The  storm  burst  on  the  9  th  of  June.  The  two 
great  waves  of  rebellion,  the  one  from  Allahabad, 
the  other  from  Cawnpore,  met  here  with  overwhelm- 


ROBERT  TUCKER.  365 

ing  force.     Hindoos  and  Mahomedans  rose  against      1857. 
us ;  the  latter,  as  ever,  with  the  more  cruel  violence.  ® 

The  roving  bands  of  Sepoys  and  Sowars  and  escaped 
gaol-birds,  who  were  flooding  the  surrounding  dis- 
tricts, wholly  disorganised  our  police ;  and  what  was 
said  to  be  a  Mahomedan  conspiracy  was  hatched  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  city.  Then  the  dangerous  classes 
seem  to  have  bubbled  up,  and  there  were  the  usual 
orgies  of  crime.  The  Treasury  was  plundered.  The 
prison-gates  were  broken  open.  The  Record-oflSce 
was  burnt  down.  Other  public  offices  were  con- 
demned to  the  same  destruction.  The  Mission  pre- 
mises were  attacked.  And,  when  the  European  com- 
munity gathered  together  in  a  barricaded  house 
resolved  that  it  would  be  utter  madness  to  remain 
any  longer  at  Futtehpore,  for  all  authority  was  gone, 
all  hope  of  maintaining  any  longer  a  semblance  of 
Government  utterly  departed,  they  left  the  station 
by  the  light  of  blazing  bungalows,  and  sallied  forth 
to  find  themselves  "  amidst  a  perfect  Jacquerie  of  the 
surrounding  villages."*  But  they  made  their  way 
across  the  Jumna  to  Banda,  and  were  saved. 

One  Englishman  stood  fast.  One  Englishman 
could  not  be  induced  to  quit  his  post,  whatever 
might  be  the  perils  which  environed  him.  As  long 
as  there  was  a  pulse  of  life  in  his  body,  Robert  Tucker 
believed  that  it  was  his  duty  to  give  it  to  the  Govern- 
ment which  he  served.  Throughout  the  day  he  had 
been  most  active  in  his  endeavours  to  suppress  crime 
and  to  restore  order.  Unlike  his  brother  Henry, 
who  had  never  fired  a  shot  in  his  life,  or  carried  a 
more  formidable  weapon  than  a  riding-whip,  the 
Futtehpore  Judge  armed  himself,  mounted  his  horse, 
and  went  out  against  the  enemy,  with  a  few  horse- 

*  Mr.  Sherer  to  Mr.  Chester,  June  19, 1857.    MS. 


366  THE  MAECH  TO  CAWNPORE. 

1867.  men  at  his  back.  He  left  some  rebels  dead  in  the 
J^e  »•  streets,  and  carried  back  with  him  some  wounds  upon 
his  person.*  His  countrymen,  when  they  turned 
their  backs  on  Futtehpore,  left  him  in  the  Cutcherry, 
still  hoping  against  hope  that  he  might  weather  the 
storm ;  and  believing  that,  if  this  by  God's  Provi- 
dence were  denied  to  him,  it  was  his  duty  alike  to 
God  and  Man  to  die  at  his  post. 

The  issue  was  soon  determined.  What  followed 
the  departure  of  his  countrymen  is  but  obscurely 
known.  Of  the  one  patent,  miserable  fact,  that 
Robert  Tucker  was  killed,  there  was  never' a  mo- 
ment's doubt.  The  story  ran  that  at  the  head  of  the 
Mahomedan  conspiracy,  or  if  not  at  its  very  hearty 
was  a  well-known  Native  functionary — Deputy-Magis- 
trate by  office — Hikmut-ooUah  by  name.  He  had 
received  great  benefits  from  Mr.  Tucker,  who  had  full 
faith  in  the  man ;  and  for  some  time  it  was  believed 
that  Mussulman  treachery  and  ingratitude  had  culmi- 
nated in  the  crowning  crime  of  this  man's  life.  "  Poor 
Tucker,"  wrote  Mr.  Sherer,  the  Magistrate  of  Futteh- 
pore, to  Commissioner  Chester,  "  was  shot  by  Hikmut- 
ooUah's  orders,  he  himself  reading  out  the  Koran 
whilst  thQ  guns  were  fired.  A  Native  Christian, 
Joseph  Manuel,  a  servant  of  mine,  was  present  when 
this  took  place."  But  many  still  doubt,  if  they  do  not 
wholly  discredit,  much  that  has  been  said  of  Hikmut- 
ooUah  Khan.  He  might  have  saved  his  benefactor, 
but  did  not.  Perhaps  he  went  with  the  stream,  not 
having  courage  to  oppose  it.     The  crime  may  have 

•  Mr.  Clive  Bay  lev,  in  his  All  ah  a-  conduct  and  his  personal  prowess 

bad  report,  says :  "  It  is  impossible  (Mr.  Tucker  was,  I  believe,  more 

not  to  admire,  however   much    it  than  once  wounded  early  in  tlie  dav) 

might  be  regretted,  the  heroic  devo-  actually  succeeded  in  preserving,  for 

tion  of  the  late  Mr.  Tucker ;  nor  is  a  few  hours  longer,  some  show  of 

it  mucli  d  matter  of  wonder  that  his  order." 


DEATH  OF  ROBERT  TUCKER.         367 

been  but  negative.  But  History  does  not  doubt  that  1857. 
the  Futtehpore  Judge  sold  his  life  dearly  on  the  roof  ^^^  ^• 
of  the  Cutcherry.  Resolutely  and  fiercely  he  stood 
at  bay,  loading  and  firing,  loading  and  firing,  until 
he  had  shot  down  many  of  his  assailants.  It  is  said 
that  he  was  not  overcome  at  last  until  the  insurgents 
had  fired  the  Cutcherry.  And  so  the  quiet  Christian 
Judge,  so  meek  and  merciful  in  time  of  peace,  giving 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  were  Caesar's,  rose  in  the 
hour  of  war  to  the  noblest  heights  of  heroic  daring, 
aftd  died  for  the  Government  that  he  had  served. 

There  were  some,  however,  even  in  that  guilty 
city,  who  viewed  with  horror  and  indignation  the 
murder  of  the  good  Judge.  And  as  the  ruffians  were 
returning  from  the  Cutcherry,  rejoicing  in  their  cruel 
work,  two  Hindoos  met  them,  and  openly  reviled 
them  for  slaying  so  just  and  righteous  a  man.  Had 
he  not  always  been  the  friend  of  the  poor  ?  But  the 
murderers  were  in  no  mood  to  be  rebuked.  Furious 
before,  they  were  infuriated  to  a  stiU  higher  pitch  by 
these  reproaches.  So  they  fell  upon  the  witnesses 
and  slew  them. 


In  Havelock's  camp  there  was  at  this  time  one  of  The  pniiisli- 
the  civil  officers  who  had  escaped,  more  than  a  month  jf^^^pore. 
before,  from  Futtehpore.  Mr.  Sherer,  the  Magistrate,  July  13—13. 
after  many  adventures,  had  made  his  way  to  Allaha- 
bad, and  had  thence  marched  upwards  with  the 
avenging  army.*     For  five  weeks  anarchy  and  con- 
fusion had  reigned  throughout  the  district.     The  au- 
thority of  the  Nana  Sahib  had  been  nominally  recog- 

*  Mr.  Willock  had  gone  on,  as  both  then  and  afterwards  had  proved 

civil  officer,  with  Renaud's  detach-  himself,  in  conflict  with  the  enemy, 

ment.     He  had  been  very  active  to  be  a  gallant  soldier, 
during  the  crisis  at  Allahabad,  and 


368  THE  MAfiCH  TO  CAWKPORE. 

1857.  nised,  but  in  truth  there  was  scarcely  any  semblance 
July  12—13.  Qf  Governments  Every  man  stood  up  for  himself, 
taking  and  keeping  what  he  could.  Along  the  line 
of  Havelock's  march,  Sherer  observed  the  significant 
symbols  of  a  widespread  desolation — telling  after- 
wards the  story  of  what  he  saw  in  oxie  of  the  best  of 
those  admirable  official  narratives  through  which 
many  of  our  foremost  civilians  have  done  so  much 
for  historical  truth.  "  Many  of  the  villages,"  he 
wrote,  "  had  been  burnt  by  the  wayside,  and  human 
beings  there  were  none  to  be  seen.  .  •  .  The  swamps 
on  either  side  of  the  road ;  the  blackened  ruins  of 
huts,  now  further  defaced  by  weather  -  stains  and 
mould;  the  utter  absence  of  all  sound  that  could 
indicate  the  presence  of  human  life,  or  the  employ- 
ment of  human  industry,  such  sounds  being  usurped 
by  the  croaking  of  frogs,  the  shrill  pipe  of  the  cicala, 
and  the  undcr-hum  of  the  thousand  winged  insects 
engendered  by  the  damp  and  heat;  the  ofifensive 
smell  of  the  neem-trees ;  the  occasional  taint  in  the 
air  from  suspended  bodies,  upon  which,  before  our 
very  eyes,  the  loathsome  pig  of  the  country  was  en- 
gaged in  feasting ; — all  these  things  appealing  to  our 
different  senses,  combined  to  call  up  such  images  of 
desolation,  and  blackness,  and  woe,  as  few,  I  should 
think,  who  were  present  would  ever  forget."*    And 

*  The  other  side  of  the  picture  had,  not  content  with  murder  and 

should,  in  fairness,  also  be  given.  In  mutilation,   burned  our  bungalows 

the  following  we  see  some  of  the  and  desecrated  our  churches  only  as 

phenomena  ofthe  great  revolt  against  an  Asiatic  can  desecratn,  we  had 

civilisation  which  preceded  the  retri-  witnessed,  but  we  scarcely  expected 

bution  whose  manifestations  are  de-  what  we  saw  in  passing  alon^  the 

scribed  in  the  text :  "  Day  by  day,"  road.  There  was  satisfactory  evidence 

says  a  writer  in  the  Calcutta  Me-  that  the  genius  of  the  revolt  was  to 

ri^fff,  "as  we  marched  alon^,  we  had  destroy  everything  that  could  pos- 

ample  evidence  of  the  certainty  with  sibly  remind  one  of  England  or  its 

which  the  Asiatic  had  determined  to  civilisation.      The    telegraph  wires 

tear  us  out  of  the  land,  root  and  were  cut  up,  strewing  the  ground, 

branch ;  the  untiring  malignity  which  and  in  some  instances  carried  off,  the 


BATTLE  OF  AONG.  369 

now  in  the  city  itself  were  silence  and  solitude  scarcely  1857. 
less  impressive  and  significant.  The  streets  were  de-  •^**^^- 
serted ;  but  there  were  signs  of  recent  habitation.  In 
the  shops  and  houses  much  wealth  of  plunder  was 
left,  which  could  not  be  removed  in  time  by  the 
affrighted  owners  beyond  the  reach  of  the  despoUers. 
So  now  our  soldiers,  English  and  Sikhs,  were  let 
loose  upon  the  place,  and  before  the  day  was  spent  it 
had  been  sacked.  Next  morning,  when  the  column 
moved  on,  the  Sikhs  were  left  behind,  flushed  with 
delight  at  the  thought  that  to  them  had  been  entrusted 
the  congenial  task  of  setting  fire  to  the  town. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  Havelock,  having  on  the  pre-  Battle  at 
ceding  day  dismounted  and  disarmed  the  Irregular  ^^"^; 
Cavalry,  whose  treachery  was  undeniable,  again  came 
in  front  of  the  enemy.  They  had  posted  themselves 
in  strength  at  the  village  of  Aong,  with  something  of 
an  entrenchment  in  front,  and  on  either  flank  some 
walled  gardens,  thickly  studded  with  trees,  which 
afforded  serviceable  shelter  to  their  musketeers.  But 
no  superiority  of  numbers  or  of  position  could  enable 
them  to  sustain  the  resistless  rush  of  the  English. 
Very  soon  they  were  seen  in  confused  flight,  strewing 
the  groimd  as  they  fled  with  all  the  abandoned  im- 
pedimenta of  their  camp— tents,  stores,  carriage,  and 
munitions  of  war.  But  the  cost  of  that  morning's 
success  was  indeed  heavy.  For  one  of  the  best 
soldiers  in  the  British  camp  was  lost  to  it  for  ever. 
Major  Renaud,  who  had  charged  at  the  head  of  the 
Madras  Fusiliers — ^his  beloved  "  Lambs" — ^was  carried 
mortally  wounded  to  the  rear.  Those  who  knew 
him  best  deplored  him  most ;  but  the  grief  which 

telegraph  posts  were  dug  oat,  the  to  themselves,  but  still  English,  wero 
bungalows  burnt,  and  the  poor  un-  defaced,  and  in  many  instances  de- 
offending  milestones,  so  useful  even    stroyed." 

VOL.  n.  2  b 


370  THE  MARCH  TO  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  arose  when  it  was  afterwards  known  that  he  was  dead 
J^y  15.  ^g^  j^^^  confined  to  his  old  comrades  of  the  Coast 
Army.  He  had  already  earned  an  Indian  reputation. 
Passage  of  The  day's  work  was  not  then  over.  A  few  miles 
*'*  dd  ^^^°"  ^^y^^^  *^®  village  of  Aong  was  a  river  to  be  crossed, 
known  as  the  Pandoo-nuddee.  It  was  but  a  stream- 
let in  comparison  with  the  Ganges,  into  which  it 
flowed.  But  the  July  rains  had  already  rendered  it 
swollen  and  turbid;  and  if  the  bridge  by  which  it 
was  crossed  had  been  destroyed  by  the  enemy,  Have- 
lock's  progress  would  have  been  most  disastrously 
retarded.  So,  when  his  scouts  told  him  that  the 
enemy  were  rallying,  and  were  about  to  blow  up  the 
bridge,  he  roused  his  men,  exhausted  as  they  were, 
and  called  upon  them  for  a  new  effort.  Nobly  respond- 
ing to  the  call,  they  pushed  forward  with  unexpected 
rapidity.  It  was  a  two  hours'  march  to  the  bridge- 
head under  a  fierce  sun;  but  our  weary  people 
carried  the  energies  of  victory  with  them  to  the  bais 
of  the  Pandoo-nuddee.  The  enemy,  strengthened 
by  reinforcements  which  had  come  in  fresh  from 
Cawnpore,  under  Bala  Rao,  the  brother  of  the  Nana, 
were  entrenched  on  the  other  side  with  heavy  guns, 
which  raked  the  bridge.  But  Maude's  battery  was 
soon  brought  into  action ;  and  a  favourable  bend  of 
the  river  enabling  him  so  to  plant  his  guns  as  to 
take  the  enemy  in  flank,  he  poured  such  a  stream  of 
Shrapnel  into  them  that  they  were  bewildered  and 
paralysed,  and,  some  say,  broke  their  sponge-staffs  in 
despair.  They  had  undermined  the  bridge-head, 
and  had  hoped  to  blow  the  whole  structure  into  the 
air  before  the  English  could  cross  the  river.  But 
there  was  not  a  cool  head  or  a  steady  hand  among 
them  to  do  this  work.  And  the  Fusiliers,  under 
Major  Stephenson,  with  an  expression  on  their  stem 


massacre. 


MASSACRE  OF  THE  PRISONERS.  371 

faces  not  to  be  misunderstood,  swept  across  the  1857. 
bridge,  and  put  an  end  to  all  fear  of  ics  destruction.  ^^^J  ^^' 
Then  the  rest  of  Havelock's  force  accomplished  the 
passage  of  the  river,  and  pushed  on  with  their  faces 
towards  Cawnpore,  weary  and  exhaust^  in  body, 
but  sustained  by  the  thought  of  the  coming  re- 
tribution. 

They  did  not  then  know  the  worst.  The  crowning  The  last 
horror  of  the  great  tragedy  of  Cawnpore  was  yet  to 
come.  On  the  afternoon  of  that  15th  of  July, 
Doondoo  Punt,  Nana  Sahib,  learnt  that  Havelock's- 
army  had  crossed  the  Pundoo-nuddee,  and  was  in 
full  march  upon  his  capital.  The  messenger  who 
brought  the  evil  tidings  was  Bala  Rao  himself,  with 
a  wound  in  his  shoulder,  as  proof  that  he  had  done 
his  best.  It  might  be  that  there  was  a  coming  end 
to  the  short-lived  triumphs  of  the  new  Peishwah. 
What  now  was  to  be  done  ?  The  chief  advisers  of 
the  Nana  Sahib  were  divided  in  opinion.  They 
might  make  a  stand  at  Bithoor,  or  form  a  junction 
with  the  rebel  force  at  Futtehgurh,  or  go  out  to 
meet  the  enemy  on  the  road  to  Cawnpore.  The  last 
course,  after  much  confused  discussion,  was  adopted, 
and  arrangements  were  made  to  dispute  Havelock's 
advance.  The  issue  was  very  doubtful;  but,  as 
already  said,  the  mighty  conquerors  of  Cawnpore 
had  one  more  victory  to  gain.  They  could  slaughter 
the  English  prisoners.  So,  whether  it  were  in  rage, 
or  in  fear,  or  in  the  wantonness  of  bestial  cruelty ; 
whether  it  were  believed  that  the  English  were  ad- 
vancing only  to  rescue  the  prisoners,  and  would  turn 
back  on  hearing  that  they  were  dead;  whether  it 
were  thought  that  as  no  tales  can  be  told  by  the 
dead,  the  total  annihilation  of  the  captives  would 
prevent  the  identification  of  the  arch-oflfenders  on 

2b2 


372  THE  MARCH  TO  CAWNFORE. 

1857.  the  day  of  retribution ;  whether  the  foul  design  had 
July  16.  j^  hirth  in  the  depths  of  the  Nana's  black  heart,  or 
was  prompted  by  one  still  blacker,  the  order  went 
forth  for  the  massacre  of  the  women  and  children  in 
the  Beebee-ghur.  The  miserable  herd  of  helpless 
victims  huddled  together  in  those  narrow  rooms  were 
to  be  killed.  What  followed  is  best  told  in  the  fewest 
and  simplest  words.  There  were  four  or  five  men 
among  the  captives.  These  were  brought  forth  and 
killed  in  the  presence  of  the  Nana  Sahib.  Then  a 
party  of  Sepoys  was  told  ofi^,  and  instructed  to 
shoot  the  women  and  children  through  the  doors 
and  windows  of  their  prison-house.  Some  soldierly 
instincts  seem  to  have  survived  in  the  breasts  of 
these  men.  The  task  was  too  hideous  for  their  per- 
formance. They  fired  at  the  ceilings  of  the  cham- 
bers. The  work  of  death,  therefore,  proceeded  slowly, 
if  at  all.  So  some  butchers  were  summoned  from 
the  bazaars — stout  Mussulmans  accustomed  to  slaugh- 
ter ;  and  two  or  three  others,  Hindoos,  from  the  vil- 
lages or  from  th.e  Nana's  guard,  were  also  appointed 
axecutioners.*    They  went  in,  with  swords  or  long 

*  Some  obscarity  sarronnds  this  most  authentic  of  all  (John  Fitchett, 
terrible  incident,  and  perhaps  it  is  drammer  of  the  Sixth  Native  In- 
better  that  it  should  be  so.  Colonel  fantr^r),  who  stated  that  he  had  been 
Williams,  to  whose  inyestigations  a  prisoner  with  our  people,  was 
History  is  so  much  indebted,  says  clearlf  convicted  of  a  direct  false- 
with  respect  to  the  evidence  before  hood  in  this  respect ;  and  it  is  only 
him,  that,  "  on  approaching  the  last  where  his  evidence  was  supported  br 
and  most  terrible  scene,  all  seem  in-  others  that  it  is  to  be  entirely  trusted, 
stinctively  to  shrink  from  confessing  It  should  be  stated  here  that  the 
any  knowledge  of  so  foul  and  bar-  male  prisoners,  shot  to  death  on  the 
barous  a  crime  as  the  indiscriminate  16th  of  July,  were  three  of  the 
slaugliter  of  helpless  women  and  in-  principal  fugitives  from  Euttebgurh, 
nocent  children.  Evidence  that  seems  and  two  members  of  the  Greenaway 
clear  and  strong  from  the  15  th  of  family.  The  Sepoy-Guards  at  the 
May  to  the  14tli  of  July,  suddenlr  Beebee-ghur,  who  refused  to  slaugh- 
ceases  on  the  fatal  day  of  the  15tli  ter  the  women  and  children,  belonged 
of  that  month."  The  most  reliable  to  the  Sixth  Regiment  from  Allana- 
testimony  was  that  of  some  half-caste  bad.  The  Nana  is  stated  to  have 
drummers  or  band-boys.  But  the  been  so  incensed  by  their  conduct 
principal  witness,  whose  narrative  is  that  he  threatened  to  blow  them 
the  most  detailed^  and  seemingly  the  from  guns. 


9sats9m 


FATE  OP  THE  CAPTIVES.  373 

kniveS;  among  the  women  and  children,  as  among  a      1857. 
flock  of  sheep,    and  with    no   more   compunction,  Jiilyis— 16. 
slashed  them  to  death  with  the  sharp  steel. 

And  there  the  bodies  lay,  some  only  half-dead, 
all  through  the  night.  It  was  significantly  related 
that  the  shrieks  ceased,  but  not  the  groans.  Next 
morning  the  dead  and  the  dying  were  brought  out, 
ghastly  with  their  still  gaping  wounds,  and  thrown 
into  an  adjacent  well.  Some  of  the  children  were 
alive,  almost  unhurt ;  saved,  doubtless,  by  their  low 
stature,  amidst  the  closely-packed  masses  of  human 
flesh  through  which  the  butchers  had  drawn  their 
blades ;  and  now  they  were  running  about,  scared 
and  wonder-struck,  beside  the  well.  To  toss  these 
infantile  enemies,  alive  or  dead,  into  the .  improvised 
cemetery,  ah^ady  nearly  choked-full,  was  a  smaU 
matter  that  concerned  but  little  those  who  did  the 
Nana's  bidding.  But  beyond  this  wholesale  killing 
and  burying,  which  sickened  the  whole  Christian 
world,  and  roused  English  manhood  in  India  to  a 
pitch  of  national  hatred  that  took  years  to  allay,  the 
atrocity  was  not  pushed.  The  refinements  of  cruelty 
— the  imutterable  shame — ^with  which,  in  some  of 
the  chronicles  of  the  day,  this  hideous  massacre  was 
attended,  were  but  fictions  of  an  excited  imagination, 
too  readily  believed  without  inquiry  and  circulated 
without  thought.  None  were  mutilated — none  were 
dishonoured.  There  was  nothing  needed  to  aggra- 
vate the  naked  horror  of  the  fact  that  some  two 
hundred  Christian  women  and  children  were  hacked 
to  death  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours.* 

*  This  is  stated,  in  the  most  un-  tinotly  in  denial  of  the  assertion  that 

(qualified  manner,  by  the  official  fane-  onr  women  had  been  mutilated  and 

tionaries,  who  made  the  most  diligent  dishonoured.  Colonel  Williams,  than 

inquiries  into  all  the  circumstances  whom  there  can  be  no  better  autho- 

of  the  massacres  of  June  and  July,  rity,  says  that  the  most  searching 

Mr.  Sherer  and  Mr.  Thomhill,  in  and  earnest  inauiries  totally  disprove 

their  official  reports,  speak  most  dis-  the  nnfoundea  assertion,  whicn  was 


374  THE  ICABCH  TO  OAWNPOBE. 

1S57.  Then,  this  feat  accomplished,  the  Nana  Sahib  and 

July  16.  jjjg  allies  prepared  to  make  their  last  stand  for  the 
Cawnpore.  defence  of  Cawnpore  and  the  Peishwahship,  On  the 
morning  of  the  16th,  Doondoo  Punt  went  out  himself 
with  some  five  thousand  men — ^Horse,  Foot,  and 
Artillery — to  dispute  Havelock's  advance.  The 
position — some  littie  distance  to  the  south  of  Cawn- 
pore— which  he  took  up  was  well  selected ;  and  all 
through  that  July  morning  his  lieutenants  were  dis- 
posing their  troops  and  planting  their  guns.  Mean- 
while, Havelock  and  his  men,  unconscious  of  the 
great  tragedy  that,  a  few  hours  before,  had  been  acted 
out  to  its  close,  were  pushing,  on,  under  a  burning 
sun,  the  fiercest  that  had  yet  shone  upon  their  march. 
Exhausted  as  he  was  by  the  mid-day  heats  the 
English  soldier  toiled  on,  sustained  by  the  thought 
that  he  might  still  rescue  from  destruction  the  two 
hundred  women  and  children  held  in  foul  durance 
by  the  Nana.  To  faint  or  fail  at  such  a  time  would 
have  been,  he  thought,  cowardice  and  crime.  So 
weary  and  foot-sore,  dizzy  beneath  the  vertical  rays 
of  the  meridian  sun,  and  often  tortured  by  parching 
thirst,  he  plodded  along  the  baked  road  and  panted 
for  the  coming  encounter. 

The  hour  of  noon  had  passed  before  the  English 
General  learnt  the  true  position  of  the  enemy.  It 
was  plain  that  there  was  some  military  skill  in  the 
rebel  camp,  in  whosesoever  brain  it  might  reside; 

at  first  so  frequently  made  and  so  India,  but  failed  to  track  down  a 

currently  believed,  that  personal  la-  single  one.  The  most  authentic  case 

dignity   and    dishonour   had    been  of  mutilation  with  which  I  am  ac- 

offered  to  our  poor  suffering  country-  qnainted  is  one  that  comes  to  me 

women.    To  this  it  may  be  added,  from  Ireland,  whilst  I  am  writing 

that  some  of  the  administrators  of  this  chapter.    Some  wild  Irishmen 

the  Mutiny  BeHef  Fund  in  England  went  into  the  house  of  a  Mr.  Con- 

took  gfjsat  pains  to  investigate  cer-  nor,  and,  taking  him  for  another  man, 

tain  alleged  cases  o'  mutilation,  said  against  whom  they  had  a  grudge, 

to  have  been  brovght  over  from  deliberately  cut  off  lus  nose. 


BATTLE  OF  CAWNPOBE.  376 

for  the  troops  of  the  Nana  Sahib  were  disposed  in  a      1857. 
manner  which  taxed  all  the  power  of  the  British     ^^^  ^^• 
Commander,  who  had  been  studying  the  art  of  war 
all  his  life.     To  Havelock's  column  advancing  along 
the  great  high  road  from  Allahabad — ^to  the  point 
where  it  diverges  into  two  broad  thoroughfares,  on 
the  right  to  the  Cawnpore  cantonment  and  on  the 
left,  the  "great  trunk,"  to  Delhi — ^the  Sepoy  forces 
presented  a  formidable  front.     It  was  drawn  up  in 
the  form  of  an  arc,  bisecting  these  two  roads.     Its' 
left,  almost  resting  upon  the  Ganges,  had  the  advan- 
tage of  some  sloping  ground,  on  which  heavy  guns 
were  posted ;  whilst  its  right  was  strengthened  by  a 
walled  village  with  a  great  grove  of  mango-trees, 
which  afforded  excellent  shelter  to  the  rebels.     Here 
also  heavy  guns  were  posted.     And  on  both  sides 
were  large  masses   of  Infantry,   with  the  Second 
Cavalry  in  the  rear,  towards  the  left  centre,  for  it 
was  thought  that  Havelock  would  advance  along  the 
Great  Trunk  Road.     When  all  this  was  discerned,  it 
was  plain  that  to  advance  upon  the  enemy's  front 
would  be  to  court  a  great  carnage  of  the  troops,  upon 
the  care  of  which  so  much  depended.     Havelock's    ' 
former  victories  had  been  gained  mainly  by  the  far- 
reaching  power  of  the  Enfield  Rifles  and  the  unerring 
precision  of  Maude's  guns.     But  now  he  had  to  sum- 
mon to  his  aid  those  lessons  of  warfare — both  its  rules 
and  its  exceptions — ^which  he  had  been  learning  from 
his  youth  upwards ;  and  they  did  not  fail  him  in  the 
hour  of  his  need.    He  remembered  "  old  Frederick  at 
Leuthen,"  and  debouching  to  the  right,  advanced  in 
open  column  against  the  enemy's  left  flank.     The 
movement  had  its  disadvantages,  and  had  he  been  the 
paper-pedant,  which  some  thought  him,  he  might  not 
have  resorted  to  such  a  manoeuvre.     But  its  success 


376  THE  MARCH  TO  OAWNPORE. 

1867.  proved  the  efficacy  of  the  exception.  He  had  fully 
July  16.  explained  the  intended  movement  to  his  commanders. 
Standing  in  the  midst  of  them,  he  had  traced  in  the 
dust,  with  the  point  of  his  scabbard,  the  plan  of 
operations,  and  had  convinced  himself  that  they  tho- 
roughly understood  it.  Then  the  order  was  given  for 
the  advance ;  and  primed  with  good  libations  of  malt 
liquor,  they  moved  forward  in  column  of  subdivisions, 
the  Fusiliers  in  front,  along  the  high  road,  until  they 
reacted  the  point  of  divergence.  Then  the  Volunteer 
Cavalry  were  ordered  to  move  right  on,  so  as  to 
engage  the  attention  of  the  enemy  and  simulate  the 
advance  of  the  entire  force,  whilst  the  Infantry  and 
the  guns,  favoured  by  the  well-wooded  country, 
moved  off  unseen  to  the  right.  The  feint  succeeded 
admirably  at  first.  The  Cavalry  drew  upon  them- 
selves the  enemy's  fire.  But  presently  an  open  space 
between  the  trees  revealed  Havelock's  designs,  and 
the  Nana's  guns  opened  upon  our  advancing  columns, 
raking  the  Highlanders  and  Sixty-fourth,  not  without 
disastrous  effect.  But  nothing  shook  the  steadiness 
of  the  advance.  That  hardest  lesson  of  all  to  the 
British  soldier,  to  reserve  his  fire,  had  been  learnt  to 
perfection  by  these  brave  fellows.  The  last  sub- 
division having  emerged  from  the  wood,  they  were 
rapidly  wheeled  into  line,  and,  to  the  consternation 
of  the  enemy,  moved  forward  with  a  resolute  front 
and  disconcerted  the  arrangements  on  which  the 
Nana  had  prided  himself  so  much  and  so  confidently 
relied.  But  the  native  legions  had  strong  faith  in 
the  efficacy  of  their  guns,  which  outmatched  our  own 
in  number  and  in  weight  of  metal.  At  that  time  we 
could  not  make  fitting  response,  for  Maude's  battery 
was  struggling  through  ploughed  fields,  and  his  draft- 
cattle  were  sinking  exhausted  by  the  way ;  and  even 


BATTLE  OF  CAWOTORE.  877 

when  they  came  up,  these  light  field-pieces,  worked      1857. 
as  well  as  guns  were  ever  worked,  could  but  make     ^^^  ^^' 
slight  impression  on  the  heavy  ordnance  from  the 
Cawnpore  magazine. 

For  a  little  space,  therefore,  the  Sepoys  exulted  in 
the  preponderance  of  their  Artillery-fire,  and  between 
the  boomings  of  the  guns  were  heard  the  joyous 
sounds  of  military  bands,  striking  up  our  sthring 
national  tunes,  as  taught  by  English  band-masters, 
and,  as  though  in  mockery,  selecting  those  with  the 
greatest  depth  of  English  sentiment  in  them.  It  was 
a  du-e  mistake.  As  he  caught  the  familiar  sounds  of 
"  Cheer,  boys,  cheers  1"  the  face  of  the  British  soldier 
settled  down  into  that  stem,  compressed  look,  when 
the  rigid  jaw  teUs  how  the  teeth  are  clenched  and 
the  muscles  strung,  and  the  heart  is  hard  as  a  stone. 
•The  battle  now  was  to  be  won  by  the  pluck  of  the 
English  Infantry.  It  was  not  a  number  of  "  mere 
machines"  that  Havelock  was  urging  forward,  but  so 
many  individual  men  with  great  hearts  in  their 
bosoms,  every  one  feeling  as  if  he  had  a  personal 
wrong  to  redress.  The  awful  work  of  charging  heavy 
guns,  well  served  by  experienced  gunners,  was  now 
to  be  commenced;  and  the  Highlanders,  led  by 
Colonel  Hamilton,  took  the  post  of  honour,  and 
were  the  first  to  charge.  The  shrill  sounds  of  the 
pibroch  from  the  bagpipes  in  the  rear  seemed  to  send 
them  all  forward  as  with  the  force  of  a  catapult.  The 
rush  of  the  kilted  soldiers,  with  their  fixed  bayonets, 
cheering  as  they  went,  was  what  no  Sepoy  force  could 
withstand.  Strongly  posted  as  the  guns  were  in  a 
walled  village,  village  and  guns  were  soon  carried, 
and  there  was  an  end  to  the  strength  of  the  enemy's 
left. 

The  Sepoy  troops  fled  in  confusion — some  along 


378  THE  MARCH  TO  CAWNPOEE. 

1857.  the  Cawnpore  road,  others  towards  the  centre  of  their 
^^  ^^'  position,  where  a  heavy  howitzer  was  posted,  behind 
which  for  a  while  they  rallied.  There  was  more 
work  then  for  the  British  Infantry.  A  few  minutes 
after  their  first  grand  rush  they  had  gathered  breath, 
and  fallen  again  into  orderly  array.  Then  Havelock 
challenged  them  a  second  time  with  a  few  of  those 
spirit-stirring  words  which,  from  the  lips  of  a  trusted 
general,  are  as  strong  drink  to  the  weary  soldier,  and 
every  man  felt  invigorated,  and  equal  to  any  work 
before  him.  The  Highlanders  responded  with  a 
cheer,  and,  foUowed  by  the  Sixty-fourth,  flung  them- 
selves  on  the  trenchant  howitzer  and  the  village  which 
enclosed  it,  and  again  the  burst  was  irresistible.  The 
gun  was  captured,  and  the  village  was  cleared. 

For,  just  at  this  critical  moment,  the  little  body  of 
Volunteer  Cavalry,  composed  mainly  of  English, 
officers,  appeared  upon  the  scene,  flushed  with  a 
noble  enthusiasm,  resolute  and  dauntless,  determined 
to  show  with  their  flashing  sabres  what  they  could 
do  against  any  odds.  Never  was  there  a  more  heroic 
charge.  It  waa  the  charge  of  but  Eighteen.  Captain 
Barrow  led  it.  And  among  those  who  went  into 
action  was  Captain  Beatson,  who  had  been  struck 
down  by  cholera,  and  who  was  powerless  to  sit  his 
horse ;  but,  dying  as  he  was,  he  could  not  consent  to 
lose  his  chance  of  taking  his  part  in  the  great  act  of 
retribution.  So  he  placed  himself  upon  a  tumbril 
and  was  carried  into  action,  and  as  dear  life  was 
passing  away  from  him,  his  failing  heart  pulsed  with 
great  throbs  of  victory.  The  sabres  of  the  Eighteen 
were  less  bright  and  sharp  after  they  had  encountered 
the  enemy.  When  they  drew  rein,  diminished  in 
numbers — for  horses  and  riders  had  been  shot  down 
— ^the  Footmen  of  the  British  Army  saluted  them 


BATTLE  OF  CAWNFORE.  379 

with  a  ringing  cheer;  and  the  General  again  and  1867. 
again  cried,  "  Well  done !  I  am  proud  to  command  ^^J  ^^• 
you !"  It  was  this  body  of  "  Gentlemen  Volunteers," 
into  which  the  "Bayard  of  the  Indian  Army" — 
James  Outram— felt  it,  a  month  afterwards,  a  high 
privilege  to  enlist,  when  he  might  have  commanded 
the  whole  of  the  force. 

Whilst  the  Cavalry  were  thus  covering  themselves 
with  glory,  the  Infantry  swept  on  to  the  enemy's 
right,  where  two  more  guns  were  posted,  and  carried 
them  with  the  irresistible  ardour  that  takes  no  denial 
But  the  enemy,  having  found  fresh  shelter  in  a 
wooded  village,  rallied  with  some  show  of  vigour, 
and  poured  a  heavy  fire  into  our  line.  Weary  and 
exhausted  as  our  people  were,  they  had  lost  none  of 
the  grand  enthusiasm,  which  made  every  man  a  giant ; 
and  when  the  calm  clear  voice  of  the  General  was 
heard,  inquiring  who  would  take  that  village,  the 
Highlanders  bounded  forward,  as  if  they  had  newly 
come  into  action,  and  the  rest  responded  with  like 
alacrity  to  the  appeal.  Again  the  Sepoy  host  were 
swept  out  of  their  cover,  and  seemed  to  be  in  full 
retreat  upon  Cawnpore,  as  though  the  day  were  quite 
lost.  But  there  was  yet  one  more  stand  to  be  made« 
As  gun  after  gun  was  captured  by  the  rush  of  our 
Infantry,  still  it  seemed  ever  that  more  guns  were  in 
reserve,  far-reaching  and  well-served,  to  deal  out 
death  in  our  ranks.  Baffled  and  beaten  as  he  was, 
the  Nana  Sahib  was  resolute  to  make  one  more  stand. 
He  had  a  twenty-four  pounder  and  two  smaller  guns 
planted  upon  the  road  to  the  Cawnpore  cantonment, 
from  which  fresh  troops  had  come  pouring  in  to  give 
new  strength  to  the  defence.  It  was  the  very  crisis 
of  the  Peishwah's  fate.  Conscious  of  this,  he  threw 
all  his  individual  energies  into  the  work  before  him, 


880  THE  MAECH  TO  CAWNPORE. 

1857.      and  tried  what  personal  encouragement  could  do  to 
July  16.    stimulate  his  troops.     And  he  flashed  his  gaudy  pre- 
sence on  his  people  in  a  last  convulsion  of  courage 
and  a  last  eflfort  of  resistance. 

For  there  was  at  this  moment  a  pause  in  our  on- 
ward operations.  The  great  tidal  wave  of  British  con- 
quest seemed  for  a  moment  to  be  receding.  Our  gun- 
bullocks  were  utteriy  exhausted  by  the  day's  work, 
and  could  not  bring  our  artillery  to  the  front.  Our 
Infantry  soldiers,  not  less  physically  exhausted,  though 
wonderfully  sustained  by  the  strong  humanity  within 
them,  were  lying  down,  partly  to  rest,  partly  to  escape 
the  tearing  fire  of  the  enemy.  As  they  lay  on  the 
ground,  they  heard  exultant  noises  in  the  enemy's 
camp.  The  clanging  of  the  cymbals,  the  shrill  blasts 
of  the  bugles,  and  the  roll  of  the  drums  heard  between 
the  intervals  of  the  artillery  fire,  told  that  there  was 
imwonted  excitement  in  the  Sepoy  ranks.  It  sounded 
like  a  boast  and  a  menace ;  and  it  filled  with  fresh 
fury  the  breasts  of  our  weary  troops.  Sights  followed 
sounds  rapidly.  There  was  the  bustle  of  a  hostile 
advance.  The  Infantry  were  moving  forward.  The 
Cavalry  were  spreading  themselves  out  as  though  to 
swoop  down  upon  our  little  body  of  fighting  men 
and  to  encompass  them  with  swift  destruction, 
whilst  the  guns  continued  to  pour  forth  their  round 
shot  in  an  almost  unintermittent  stream.  To  the 
quick  eye  of  the  General  it  then  appeared  that  there 
was  not  a  moment  to  be  lost.  So  he  called  upon  his 
men  to  rise ;  and  they  leaped  at  once  to  their  feet, 
stirred  almost  to  madness  by  the  taunts  of  the  enemy. 
One  more  rush,  and  the  victory,  like  those  which  had 
gone  before,  would  be  complete. 

Then  Havelock's  eyes  were  gladdened  by  a  sight 
which  seemed  to  be  a  glorious  response  to  all  the 


THE  LAST  GHABQE.  381 

dreams  of  his  youth  and  all  the  prayers  of  his  man-  1857. 
hood.  The  Infantry  prepared  to  advance  right  upon  ^^^  ^^' 
the  death-dealing  battery  of  the  enemy,  the  Sixty- 
fourth  Foot,  led  by  Major  Sterling,  in  front.  At 
this  moment  the  General's  aide-de-camp — "  the  boy 
Harry" — ^wheeled  his  horse  round  to  the  centre  of 
the  leading  regiment,  and  rode  straight  upon  the 
muzzle  of  the  twenty-four  pounder,  whose  round  shot 
had  now  been  supplanted  by  grape,  which  was  making 
deadly  gaps  in  our  advancing  column.  It  was  a 
moment  of  rapture  to  the  white-haired  veteran,  com- 
pensating him  for  all  disappointments  and  delays,  for 
all  unjust  supersessions,  for  all  professional  discoura^ge- 
ment,  when  he  saw  that  last  battery  carried  and  knew 
that  his  son  was  safe.  The  work  was  well  nigh  done, 
when  four  guns  of  Maude's  battery  came  up  to  com- 
plete it.  A  terrific  fire  was  opened  upon  the  beaten 
enemy,  who  were  soon  in  confused  flight ;  and,  after 
such  a  day's  fighting  as  might  have  tried  to  the 
utmost  the  powers  of  the  best  troops  in  the  best  of 
climates,  they  bivouacked  at  nightfaU  two  miles  from 
Cawnpore,  every  man  too  weary  to  need  a  pillow  and 
too  thirsty  not  to  relish  even  a  draught  of  dirty  water. 

They  were  then  two  miles  from  the  cantonment,    July  17. 
and  next  morning  they  marched  on  to  occupy  it.  But  Cawnpore  rc- 

OCCUDICUi 

ere  they  were  under  arms  a  dreadful  story  ran  like  a 
shudder  along  the  line.  They  were  too  late  to  save : 
they  had  come  only  to  avenge.  Havelock's  spies  had 
brought  in  word  that  the  captive  women  and  children, 
whom  they  had  hoped  to  rescue,  had  passed  beyond 
the  reach  of  human  aid.  The  morning's  news  clouded 
the  joy  of  yesterday's  victory ;  and  our  men  went  on 
with  heavy  hearts  to  the  scene  of  our  recent  national 
sorrows.  The  enemy  had  evacuated  the  place,  leaving 
behind  them  only  a  body  of  horse  to  announce  the 


382  THE  MARCH  TO  OAWNPORE. 

1857.  exodus  of  the  rebel  force  by  blowing  up  the  great 
July  17.  magazine,  the  resources  of  which  had  constituted  their 
strength,  and  given  them  six  weeks  of  victory.  As 
our  advanced  guar3  neared  the  Cawnpore  canton- 
ment, there  was  seen  to  rise  from  the  earth  an  im- 
mense balloon-shaped  cloud,  and  presently  was  heard 
a  terrific  explosion,  which  seemed  to  rend  the  ground 
beneath  one's  feet  with  the  force  of  a  gigantic  earth- 
quake. There  was  no  mistaking  such  a  proclamation ; 
and  as  one  man  said  to  another,  "There  goes  the 
magazine  I"  many,  doubtless,  thought  how  different  it 
would  have  been  if  this  exploit  had  not  been  left  to 
our  successors.  By  this  one  fatal  omission  all  had 
been  lost  to  us  at  Cawnpore. 

But  now  the  English  flag  was  again  hoisted,  and 
Havelock,  profoundly  thankful  to  the  Almighty  dis- 
poser of  events,  who  had  given  him  the  victory,  put 
forth  an  eloquent,  spirit-stirring  "  Order,"  in  which 
the  just  meed  of  hearty  commendation  was  given  to 
the  troops  which  had  won  his  battles  for  him. 
"  Soldiers,"  he  said,  "  your  General  is  satisfied,  and 
more  than  satisfied,  with  you.  He  haa  never  seen 
steadier  or  more  devoted  troops.  Between  the  7th 
and  the  16th  you  have,  under  the  Indian  sun  of  July, 
marched  a  hundred  and  twenty-six  miles  and  fought 
four  actions."  Such  troops  and  such  a  General  were 
worthy  of  each  other.  No  troops  fought  better 
throughout  the  war,  and  none  were  ever  better  com- 
manded. The  last  engagement,  known  as  the  Battle 
of  Cawnpore,  stamped  Havelock's  character  as  a  mili- 
tary commander.  The  battle,  as  he  wrote,  "  was  won 
by  God's  blessing,  non  vi  sed  arie^  It  was  one  of 
those  triumphs  of  mind  over  matter,  "  by  which  man 
conquers  man."  We  had  everything  against  us. 
Numbers  some  five  times  told ;  a  far  greater  strength 


haveiloce's  order  of  thanks.  383 

of  artillery;  a  commanding  position,  with  strong  1867. 
natural  defences — all  favoured  the  enemy ;  whilst  a  ^^^  ^^' 
climate  more  deadly  to  the  exotic  soldier  than  grape 
and  canister,  and  heavy,  broken  ground,  over  which 
our  exhausted  cattle  could  not  drag  their  guns, 
so  as  to  bring  them  into  action  when  most  wanted, 
fearfully  diminished  the  fighting  powers  of  our  scanty 
force.  Had  Havelock,  after  the  fashion  of  some  rash 
and  inexperienced  commanders,  attempted  to  carry 
the  enemy's  position  in  front,  he  would  probably  have 
lost  half  his  men ;  but  the  dexterous  flank  movement, 
which  so  disconcerted  the  plans  of  the  Nana  Sahib, 
saved  our  own  people  from  the  wholesale  carnage 
which  would  otherwise  have  descended  upon  them. 
There  was  not  a  life  wasted.  The  indomitable  pluck 
of  the  British  Infantry  was  husbanded  to  the  best 
purpose,  and  every  man  felt  that  confidence  in  his 
leader  which  makes  each  soldier  worth  a  file. 

But  Havelock  had  only  made  a  beginning,  and  he 
did  well  in  reminding  his  followers  that  their  work 
was  only  begun.  Cawnpore  was  but  the  first  stage 
of  the  career  of  victory  which  lay  before  them. 
"  Your  comrades  at  Lucknow,"  said  the  General  in 
his  order  of  thanks,  "  are  in  peril.  Agra  is  besieged ; 
Delhi  is  still  the  focus  of  mutiny  and  rebellion.  You 
must  make  great  sacrifices  if  you  would  obtain  great 
results.  Three  cities  have  to  be  saved,  two  strong 
places  to  be  disblockaded.  Your  General  is  confident 
that  he  can  accomplish  all  these  things,  and  restore 
this  part  of  India  to  tranquillity,  if  you  only  second 
him  with  your  efforts,  and  if  your  discipline  is  equal 
to  your  valour." 

It  might  be  thought  that  these  "ifs"  were  not 
needed ;  that  the  English  soldiers  who  had  followed 
Havelock  from  Allahabad  to   Cawnpore,   and  had 


384  THE  MARCH  TO  CAWKPOBE. 

1867.  already  so  nobly  seconded  his  eflforts,  had  placed 
June  17—18.  themselves  beyond  the  reach  of  all  such  doubts  and 
suspicions.  But  the  General  was  a  practised  writer 
of  despatches  and  general  orders ;  for  years  he  had 
been  doing  for  others  what  he  was  now  doing  for 
himself.  Few  men  knew  better  the  use  of  words  or 
was  less  likely  to  make  a  slip  in  any  public  manifesto. 
There  was,  in  truth,  no  ingratitude  and  no  inad- 
vertence in  this  language  of  misgiving.  There  was 
only  too  much  justice,  and  too  deep  a  meaning  in 
it.  For,  scarcely  had  the  Force  reached  Cawnpore, 
when  it  was  seen  that  the  demoralisation  of  drunken- 
ness was  upon  it.  "  Whilst  I  was  winning  a  victory," 
said  Havelock,  "  on  the  sixteenth,  some  of  my  men 
were  plundering  the  Commissariat  on  the  line  of 
march."  And  once  within  reach  of  the  streets  and 
bazaars  of  Cawnpore,  strong  drink  of  all  kinds,  the 
plunder  chiefly  of  our  European  shops  and  houses, 
was  to  be  had  in  abundance  by  all  who  were  pleased 
to  take  it.  And  that  they  did  take  it  was  not  sur- 
prising. Even  "  Havelock's  saints,"  if  there  had  been 
a  re-birth  of  them,  would  have  been  sorely  tempted 
and  tried  by  this  upward  march,  by  the  heat,  the 
hunger,  the  thirst,  the  fatigue ;  by  the  excitement  of 
constant  battle,  by  the  thought  of  the  intolerable 
wrong  that  had  been  inflicted  on  our  people,  and  by 
the  burden  of  the  retribution  which  they  carried  with 
them.  They  had  seen  death  in  many  shapes;  and 
now  they  had  brought  in  for  burial  the  bodies  of 
their  comrades  slain  in  the  battle  or  stricken  down 
by  the  pestilence.  These  evil  influences— still  more 
evil  in  their  alternations,  now  of  excitement,  now  of 
depression — drove  the  British  soldiers  to  the  brief 
solace  of  strong  drink ;  and  such  a  state  of  things 
arose,  that  Havelock  now  did  what  Neill  had  before 


PREVENTION  OP  DRUNKENNESS.  385 

done  at  Allahabad — ^he  "  ordered  all  the  beer,  wine,  1867. 
spirits,  and  every  drinkable  thing  at  Cawnpore,  to  be  ^' 
purchased  by  the  Commissariat."  "  If  it  had  re- 
mained," he  said,  reporting  what  he  had  done  to  the 
Commander-in-Chief,  "it  would  have  required  half 
my  force  to  keep  it  from  being  drunk  up  by  the 
other  half,  and  I  should  not  have  had  a  soldier  in 
camp." 


4 

I 
I 


VOL.  n.  2  0 


386  CAWKPOBE  KEOCCUPIED. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HAYELOCK  AT  CAWHFOBE — STATE  OP  THE  SOLDIEBT — ^DISCOUKAOIITG  CIB- 
CUUSTANCES— FLIOHT  OF  THE  NANA — ^SESTBUCTION  OF  THE  BITHOOB 
PALACE — ^ABBIVAL  OF  MEILL — HIS  PUNISHHEMT  OP  CRIMINALS — PIBST 
KOYEHENT  TOWABDS  LUCKNOW — GENEBAL  ASPECTS  OF  THE  BEBELLION. 

1857.  The  English  soldier  is  never  a  model  of  forbear- 

^^f\  ^^c^'  When  the  blood  is  up  and  the  drink  is  down 
Soldiery  he  is  very  terrible  to  all  who  come  across  his  path. 
Even  in  fair  fight  with  a  Christian  enemy,  there  are 
times  and  seasons  when  the  instincts  of  a  brutal 
nature  are  stronger  than  the  conscience  and  the  rea- 
son of  the  man.  The  honourable  resistance  of  brave 
men,  fighting  for  their  hearths  and  altars,  has  often 
roused  the  passions  of  our  soldiery  to  such  a  height 
that  they  have  spared  neither  sex  nor  age,,  yielded  to 
no  pity,  and  abstained  from  no  crime.  But  never, 
since  England  had  a  standing  army,  have  such  pro- 
vocations assailed  our  fighting-men  as  those  which 
hardened  the  hearts  of  Havelock's  battalions  on  their 
march  to  Cawnpore.  The  rage  within  them  was  not 
wholly  an  unrighteous  rage,  for  at  the  bottom  of  it 
was  an  infinite  compassion  for  the  women  and  children 
who  had  been  so  foully  wronged,  and  a  just  hatred 
and  horror  of  the  crime  of  the  wrong-doers;  and 
they  did  well  to  be  angry.  The  Tragedy  of  Cawnpore 


J 


PROVOCATIONS.  387 

excited  an  intense  national  hatred  in  the  breasts  of  1837. 
Englishmen  in  distant  countries  and  after  a  long  lapse  ^  "  ' 
of  time ;  but  here  our  soldiers  were  on  the  very  scene 
of  the  butchery,  the  butchers  were  still  red-handed, 
and  the  evidences  of  the  slaughter  were  stiU  fresh- 
visible  to  the  eye,  clear  to  the  understanding,  with  a 
horrible  suggestiveness  even  to  the  most  obtuse.  Our 
people  went  to  the  Entrenchments,  and  there  they 
wondered  and  admired.  They  went  to  the  Beebee- 
ghur,  and  there  they  shuddered  and  wept.  To  think 
of  so  much  consummate  bravery  and  of  the  end  of 
it,  was  enough  to  madden  even  sober-minded  men, 
and  to  stimulate  them  to  acts  of  fearful  retribution. 

If,  then,  the  first  days  of  the  re-occupation  of 
Cawnpore  had  been  stained  by  excesses  on  the  part 
of  our  soldiery -far  greater  than  any  which  are 
recorded  against  them — it  would  be  the  duty  of  the 
historian  to  speak  lightly  of  their  offences.  Neither 
in  the  Cantonment  nor  in  the  Town  was  there  any 
enemy,  in  the  military  sense  of  the  word;  for  the 
once  boastful  army  of  the  Nana  was  broken  and 
dispersed,  and  none  clearly  knew  whither  it  had 
ffone.  But  those  were  days  in  which  whole  races 
were  looked  upon  as  enendes,  and  whole  cities  were 
declared  to  be  guilty  and  blood-stained.  And  if 
Havelock's  fighting  men,  whilst  the  blood  was  still 
wet  in  the  slaughter-house,  had  looked  upon  every 
Native  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  that  accursed 
spot  as  an  adherent  of  the  Nana,  and  struck  at  all 
with  indiscriminate  retribution,  such  sweeping  pun- 
ishment might  now  be  looked  back  upon  with  less 
feeling  of  shame  than  upon  much  that  was  done,  be- 
fore and  after,  under  less  terrible  provocation.  As  the 
record  runs,  it  does  not  seem  that  the  burden  laid 

2c2 


388  CAWNPOKE  BEOCCUPIED. 

1867.  upon  Cawnpore  was  heavy  in  relation  to  its  guilt* 
Julj  16—18.  Heaven  knows  what  was  in  their  hearts,  or  what 
might  have  been  done,  but  for  the  strong  restraining 
hand  laid  upon  them  by  their  Commander.  That  the 
citizens  themselves  expected  chastisement  is  certain. 
For  whilst  a  few,  on  our  arrival  at  Cawnpore,  came 
to  our  camp  with  propitiatory  offerings  of  milk  and 
vegetables,  fruits  and  flowers,  large  numbers  flocked 
panic-struck  out  of  the  town  to  hide  themselves  in 
the  adjacent  villages,  or  to  seek  safety  on  the  Oude 
side  of  the  river.  Some  were  propelled  by  the  know- 
ledge of  their  guilt ;  some,  scared  by  the  tidings  that 
had  come  from  below,  fled  under  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation.  Meanwhile,  our  people  were  plunder- 
ing in  all  directions,  the  Sikhs,  as  ever,  showing  an 
activity  of  zeal  in  this  their  favourite  pursuit.  It  is 
probable  that  much  of  the  property  then  seized  un- 
derwent only  a  process  of  restoration,  and  came  back 
to  the  nation  at  last  to  which  it  properly  belonged. 
But  this  did  not  hallow  it  in  Havelock's  eyes.  He 
set  his  face  stedfastly  against  it,  and  issued  an  order 
in  which  he  said,  "The  marauding  in  this  camp 
exceeds  the  disorders  which  supervened  on  the  short- 
lived triumph  of  the  miscreant  Nana  Sahib.  A 
Provost-Marshal  has  been  appointed,  with  special 
.  instructions  to  hang  up,  in  their  uniform,  all  British 
soldiers  that  plunder.  This  shall  not  be  an  idle 
threat.  Commanding  officers  have  received  the  most 
distinct  warnings  on  the  subject." 
Donbts  and        This  was  not  cheerful  work,  but  there  was  other 


anxieties. 


*  Most  exaggerated  stories  of  this  tion,  representing  rather  what  might 

retributory    carnage    at    Cawnpore  have  been  than  what  was.     Some- 

were  at  one  time  in  circulation.    It  wished  tliat  it  had  been  so,  for  ven- 

was  stated  both  in  Anglo-Indian  and  geance'sake;  others,  that  there  might 

in  Continental  journals  that  ten  thou-  be  a  pretext  for  maligning  the  £ng« 

Band  of  the  inhabitants  had  been  lish. 
killed.  This  was  a  tremendous  asser- 


■  rm^^n^mm^ 


ANXIETIES  OF  OUE  POSITION, 


389 


perhaps  still  more  depressing.  The  sick  and  wounded  1857. 
were  to  be  visited.  Cholera  and  dysentery  were  in  ^^J 16—18. 
his  Camp.  Two  of  the  finest  soldiers  in  the  army  BeSon."^ 
lay  dying— one  stricken  in  the  battle,  the  other  by 
the  pestilence.  Human  aid  could  do  nothing  for 
them.  Then  there  was  great  doubt  as  to  the  position 
of  the  enemy.  Strong  as  it  was  in  courage,  Have- 
lock's  column  was  very  weak  in  numbers,  and  tidings 
came  that  the  Army  of  the  Nana  Sahib  was  at 
Bithoor,  mustering  five  thousand  muskets  and  sabres, 
and  forty-five  guns.  It  was  probable  that  the  place 
had  been  strengthened  by  every  possible  means  which 
the  wealth  of  material  in  his  hands  could  supply, 
and  it  was  certain  that  our  light  artillery  could  make 
no  impression  on  a  stronghold  so  fortified  and  de- 
fended.  It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that,  in  the 
lull  which  succeeded  the  re-occupation  of  Cawnpore, 
aU  these  discouragements  caused  a  feeUng  of  depres- 
sion  almost  amounting  to  despondency  to  sink  for  a 
little  space  into  Havelock's  mind,*  But  it  presently 
passed  away.  For  the  good  Providence  which  had 
battled  so  often  for  us  was  still  on  our  side,  and  the 
dangers  which  he  had  dreaded  were  delusions. 

In  truth,  he  had  already  accomplished  more  than  Flight  of 
he  had  ventured  to  hope.     He  had  beaten  the  enemy    ®  ^"^ 
more  thoroughly  on  the  16th  than  he  knew  at  the 
time,  and  there  was  no  present  fear  of  the  Nana 
bringing  his  broken  battalions  into  the  field  against 
us.    After  the  battle,  the  baffled  Mahratta  had  taken 

*  "As  he  sat  at  dinner  with  his  After  remaining  long  in  deep  thought^ 

son  on  the  evening  of  tbe  17th,  his  his  strong  sense  of  dntj,  and  his  . 

mhid  appeared,  for  the  first  and  last  confidence  in  the  justice  of  his  canse, 

time,  to  be  affected  with  gloomy  restored  the  buoyancy  of  his  spirits, 

forebodings,  as  it  dwelt  upon  the  and  he  exclaimed,    'If  the  worst 

possible  annihilation  of   his  brave  comes  to  the  worst,  we  can  but  die 

men  in  a  fruitless  attempt  to  accom-  with  our  swords  in  our  hands.' " — 

plish  what  was  beyond  their  strength.  Marahman*t  Li/e  of  Havelock, 


390  CAWKPOBE  BEOCCTPIED. 

1857-  flight  to  Bithoor,  attended  by  a  few  Sowars ;  and  as 
Juij  16— 18.  he  rode  throngli  Cawnpore,  his  horse  flecked  with 
foam,  he  might  have  met  the  public  criers  proclaim- 
ing that  the  Feringhees  had  been  well  nigh  exter- 
minated, and  offering  rewards  for  the  heads  of  the 
few  who  were  still  left  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 
But  the  lie  had  exploded,  and  his  one  thought  at  that 
moment  was  escape  fipom  the  pursuing  Englishman. 
Arrived  at  Bithoor,  he  saw  clearly  that  the  game 
was  up.  His  followers  were  fast  deserting  him. 
Many,  it  is  said,  reproached  him  for  his  failure.  All, 
we  may .  be  sure,  clamoured  for  pay.  His  terror- 
stricken  imagination  pictured  a  vast  avenging  Army 
on  his  track;  and  the  great  instinct  of  self-pre- 
servation  prompted  him  to  gather  up  the  women  of 
his  family,  to  embark  by  night  on  a  boat  to  ascend 
the  Ganges  to  Futtehgurh,  and  to  give  out  that 
he  was  preparing  himself  for  self-immolation.  He 
was  to  consign  himself  to  the  sacred  waters  of  the 
(janges,  which  had  been  the  grave  of  so  many  of  his 
victims.  There  was  to  be  a  given  signal,  through  the 
darkness  of  the  early  night,  which  was  to  mark  the 
moment  of  the  ex-Peishwah's  suicidal  immersion. 
But  he  had  no  thought  of  dying.  The  signal  light 
was  extinguished,  and  a  cry  arose  from  the  religious 
mendicants  who  were  assembled  on  the  Cawnpore 
bank  of  the  river,  and  who  believed  that  the  Nana 
was  dead.*  But,  covered  by  the  darkness,  he  emerged 
upon  the  Oude  side  of  the  Ganges,  and  his  escape 
was  safely  accomplished.! 

*  Mr.  Sherer,  from  whose  report  to  the  Palace  and  commenced  plon- 

these  particulars  are  taken,  says :  dering  all  that  they  could  lay  their 

**  The  Gungapootras  were  waiting  on  hands  on.   The  crafty  Nana  was  dis- 

the  shore.     About  mid-stream  the  embarking  in  the  darkness  on  the 

light  was  extinguished,  and,  with  a  other  side." 

yell  that  must  have  reached  the  boat,  f  His  last  act  before  leaving  Bi- 

the  mendicant  Brahmins  rushed  up  thoor  was  the  murder  of  the  only 


^W«— i— M^-^.i»1»— ».— ^»^»i.»»^— ^fa-*"       ^^1  ._ 


RESTORATION  OP  AUTHORITY.  391 

Meanwhile,  Havelock,  thinking  that  a  strong  force  ^gsr. 
of  the  enemy  would  probably  soon  march  down  upon  juiy  16—18. 
his  position,  had  moved  the  bulk  of  his  little  army 
to  the  north-western  point  of  the  cantonment,  near 
Newab-gunj,  to  defend  the  line  of  the  Great  Trunk 
Road.  Strategically,  the  movement  was  the  result 
of  an  error ;  but,  in  another  sense,  it  was  grounded 
upon  a  too  substantial  fact,  and  had  a  wisdom  of  its 
own,  apart  from  the  manoeuvres  of  the  enemy.  It 
took  the  troops  far  away  from  the  temptations  of  the 
liquor-shops,  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  that  discipline  which  he  had  sorrowfully 
seen  fading  away.  And  whilst  the  military  chief  J»tyl8. 
was  thus  taking  measures  for  the  protection  of  both 
races,  the  civil  magistrate  was  proclaiming  through 
the  City  the  re-assertion  of  the  British  power  and  the 
re-establishment  of  the  British  law.  At  the  Cotwalee, 
the  people  flocked  around  Sherer  and  his  escort,  and 
professed  their  delight  at  our  reappearance  amongst 
them.  And  there  was  probably  much  sincerity  in 
these  professions,  on  the  part  at  least  of  the  trading 
classes,  who  commonly  lost  more  than  they  gained 
by  these  convulsions.  Not  only  were  the  English 
and  their  followers  good  customers  in  quiet  times, 
but  the  peaceful  citizens  had  an  interest  in  the  main- 
tenance of  order  and  the  upholding  of  the  law,  for 
with  the  predatory  classes,  who  thrive  in  times  of 
tumult  and  terror,  there  was  little  respect  for  colour 
or  creed.  The  wolfish  propensities  of  humanity  were, 
in  all  such  conjunctures,  strongly  developed,  and  as 

captive  in  his  hands.  This  was  a  had  treated  her  with  kindness :  but 
woman,  named  Carter,  who  had  been  when  the  Nana  fled  from  Bithoor  he 
taken  prisoner,  and  who  had  sur-  ordered  the  woman  and  her  infant  to 
yived  the  pangs  and  perils  of  child-  be  pat  to  death,  and  the  guard  faith- 
birth  in  the  Nana's  Palace.  The  folly  obeyed  him. 
widows  of  the  deceased  ex-Peishwah 


392 


CAWNPOKE  REOCCUFIED. 


1857. 


July  19. 

Destruction 
of  the 
Bithoor 
Palace. 


at  Allahabad  so  at  Cawnpore,  innocent  industry 
cowered  beneath  the  rampant  rapacity  of  crime. 

On  the  following  day,  it  was  determined  that  the 
actual  position  of  affairs  at  Bithoor  should  be  ascer- 
tained beyond  all  doubt  So  a  detachment  was  sent 
out  under  Major  Stephenson,  of  the  Madras  Fusiliers, 
to  beat  up  the  quarters  of  the  some-time  Pretender 
to  the  Peishwahship,  and  to  set  our  mark  upon  the 
place.  The  information  which  Havelock  had  received 
from  his  spies  caused  him  rightly  to  think  that  it 
would*  not  need  the  services  of  a  strong  force  to  do 
all  that  was  required.  The  old  home  of  the  Nana 
had  been  abandoned.  There  was  no  enemy  to  be 
seen.  So  the  Palace  lay  at  the  mercy  of  our  soldiery 
— ^and  it  was  soon  despoiled  and  destroyed.  There 
was  much  of  the  plunder  of  our  dwelling-houses  in 
its  apartments— traces  of  our  English  civilisation 
everywhere  in  kid  gloves  and  champagne,  and  books 
for  hot- weather  reading.  But  the  Government  trea- 
sure, to  which  the  Nana  had  helped  himself  in  such 
profusion,  was  not  to  be  found,  and  the  family  jeweb 
had  either  been  carried  off  or  hidden  away,  past  all 
chance  of  immediate  discovery.  It  was  reserved  for 
a  later  domiciliary  visit  to  disclose  some  of  the  hiding 
places  of  the  abandoned  property.*  But  a  consi- 
derable wealth  of  artillery  was  carried  off  by  Major 
Stephenson  on  his  return  march  to  Cawnpore. 

So,  for  the  time  at  least,  there  was  a  clearance  on 
that  side  of  the  river.  The  local  influence  of  the 
Nana  was  gone.     The  last  home  of  the  Peishwahs 


*  A  Native  witness,  who  kept  a 
diary  of  the  incidents  of  this  eyent- 
ful  summer — *'  a  humble  but  loyal 
subject  of  the  State,  Nanuck-chund 
by  name"  —  says  that  the  treasure 
(coin)  had  been  looted  by  the  people 


before  the  English  arriyed.  Mr. 
Sherer  qbjb  that,  in  his  opinion,  the 
destruction  of  the  Palace  was  a  mis- 
take, as  it  rendered  more  remote  the 
prospect  of  discoyering  concealed 
treasure. 


l^ANA  KA&AlN  RAO.  393 


was  a  ruin.     The  only    important  member   of  his      18^7. 

household  who  remained  was  the  Nana  Narain  Rao,     ^^^  ^^ 

son  of  the  Soubahdar  Rixmchunder  Punt.     This  man 

had  been  well  known  to  the  English  at  Cawnpore, 

and  had  been  by  many   of  our  people,  with  only  a 

hazy  knowledge  of  native  individuality,  mistaken  for 

the  other  and  greater  Nana,  the  adopted  son  of  the 

Peiahjvah,  of  whom  he  was  in  truth  only  a  retainer.* 

Whether  this  man  were   one  of  those  double-dyed 

traitors  who  hang  on  to  the  skirts  of  success  and  are 

driven   backwards   and   forwards  by  every  gust  of 

fortune,   or  whether  his   sympathies  had  all   along 

been  with  the  English,   it  is  hard  to  say ;  but  it  is 

stated  that  he  had  been  imprisoned  by  the  Nana,  and 

it  is  certain  that,  after  his  master's  flight,  he  made 

tenders  of  allegiance  and  offered  his  services  to  the 

British  GeneraLf  He  had  been  the  first  to  send  word 

•  See  note  on  this  subject,  toL  i.  was  redly  attached  to  the  British 

pagers.    I  suspect  that  many  who  ^"^l,  ^^^f^  ^f^"^  ,^^^^^       . 

Kfl   taU^ed   of  their  acquaintance  I>^«>  Pont  captured.  '—In  an- 

^Ih^^e   Nana,    knew  only  Nana  S^-i^-^  1\^  ^,^1^^^^^  ^ 

+^?M;nmble  but  loyal  subject  owing  to   the  tr«ichcry    of'  Nana 

ot  me  QtsM!,    ^"^  MixioM    Bithoor  Lave  been  set  oa  fit»   and 

in  .  P«^««*»«^^^*^f  Table    that  the  tnutor  N««  Na,SJ  k2 
to   oonrict   Naram   KM  oi  a  ^         ^^^^  off  i^^ 

treacbenr.     He  statw,  thrt     ««»  thTGoTernmeat."!?.  j,/. 

doo  Pant  to  tl-e  °*^  ioBitl.oor.  Kaiain  Rao.  son  of  lie  Soubahdar. 

Ganges   and    '^"^^  l^i  j^  wishes  to  pass  himself  off  ^  »  ^t 

'^^'HIaIII  TlSt  W«  father.  Rum-  wisher  of  tbe  Government;  but  there 

„,inded  '••"^'••^Ji  been  a  faithful  U  a  pwtcrowd  at  tha moment, «rf 

cbunder  ^X^h^^  of  the  Nana,  the  SuhiWogue   ha»e  no    time  to 

■^T?'  ^^»«d^  B*o)  was  bound  to  jw*-.  »  •»  '^.  *?!  .<tilB«snlt  to 

*"l  ^  ^^^SSopertT    at   Bithoor.  find  w.tne»e»  against  "ktm  b,  sum. 

protect    tbe  ^^^^  j^  attention,  manr  inquines,  and  I  see  no  chance 

feut  Naram  Bao  V^  „„t  t^^t  of>ng  a  wmpUint   j^j^j^t  ^^ 

On  the  «»^^'  w  Wi«d.  and    before  any  officer."    This  n»*n' 
<Ju>  Kanar*   "°^.  r~^,,  r.,  -aitu^r     Amce  is  not  Terr  trosttrortl.. 


394  CAWNPORE  REOCCUPIED. 

« 

1857.      to  Havelock  that  Bithoor  had  been  evacuated  by  the 

July  19.     Nana  andjiis  followers,  and  it  was  at  least  probable 

that  some  useful  information  might,  at  a  later  period, 

be  derived  from  him.    So  he  was  kindly  received,  but 

not  without  some  cautionary  words. 


Neill's  In  the  meanwhile  Colonel  Neill  was  making  his 

frorn^'^  way  up  to  Cawnpore.  After  the  departure  of  Have- 
Allahabad,  lock,  he  had  been  actively  employed  in  maturing  his 
arrangements  for  the  defence  of  Allahabad,  and  in 
endeavouring  to  collect  troops  from  below.  In  this 
last  respect  he  had  made  no  great  progress ;  for  the 
unsettled  state  of  affairs  at  Benares*  made  Colonel 
Gordon,  who  thought  that  the  latter  place  was  of  the 
two  in  the  greater  danger,  reluctant  to  diminish  his 
military  strength.  But  he  had  pushed  forward  his 
defensive  measures  with  an  elaborate  completeness, 
which  left  nothing  unconsidered,  scarcely  anything 
undone.  And  when  he  found  that  his  duty  sum- 
moned him  to  Cawnpore,  to. take  a  more  active  part 
in  the  coming  campaign,  he  drew  up  an  elaborate 
paper  of  instructions  for  the  guidance  of  his  suc- 
cessors, which  he  committed  to  the  care  of  Captain 
Drummond  Hay.f  On  the  important  subject  of 
"  Supplies"  he  wrote  at  some  length.  On  the  number 
and  disposition  of  the  troops  he  next  commented. 
"  By  order  of  Government,"  he  said,  "  this  garrison 

*  "  1  look  npon  Benares  as  macli  hostile  every  day,  while  we  are  at 

more  exposed  than  Allahabad,  inas-  any  time  exposed  to   an  invasion 

much  as  you  have  a  regular  fort,  from  Oude,  via  the  unoccupied  post 

whereas  our  position  as  a  military  of  Jaunpore."  —  Gordon  to  Neill. 

one  is  bad  as  bad  can  be  without  July  11. 

fortifications.     A  few  hundred  Eu-        f  Of  H.M.'s  Seventy-eighth,  Co- 

ropeans  seprvrated  from  the  river  by  lonel  O'Brien  had  been  appointpd 

city  containing  half  a  million  of  Neill's  successor  at  Ailahabad,  but 

inhabitants,  and  the  country  people  he  did  not  arrive  in  time  to  receive 

already  becoming  more  and  more  charge  directly  from  Neill. 


KEILL  AT  ALLAHABAD.  395 

is  to  be  maintained  at  the  strength  of  six  hundred  1857. 
and  forty-five  Europeans.  Of  these  I  would  not  J^ly?— 15 
have  more  than  three  hundred  and  forty-five  inside 
the  Fort,  seventy  in  the  Musjid,  a  Company  at  the 
Railway  Station  near  the  Kooshen  Gardens,  a  Com- 
pany at  Mr.  Hodgson's  house,  and  some  in  the 
Church  in  Cantonments.  .  .  .  The  church  would  be 
occupied  by  soldiers  as  a  barrack."  Those  were  days 
when  we  could  not  afibrd  to  be  nice  in  matters  of 
this  kind,  and  such  desecrations  were  of  ordinary 
occurrence.  He  wrote  also  of  the  state  of  the  defences, 
pointing  out  all  the  weak  points ;  of  the  Police ;  of 
the  Arsenal  and  the  Ordnance  Stores ;  of  the  Intelli- 
gence Department ;  and  under  the  head  of  "  Hang- 
ing" he  wrote,  "  I  have  always  tried  by  general  court- 
martial  any  prisoners  connected  with  the  garrison, 
the  Provost  hanging  those  so  sentenced."  Then, 
after  precise  instructions  relating  to  the  families  of 
officers  and  soldiers,  to  the  training  of  picked  In- 
fantry soldiers  in  the  gun-drill,  to  repair  the  dis- 
tressing  deficiency  of  Artillerymen,  and  to  the  sani- 
tary condition  of  barracks  and  other  quarters  for  the 
soldiery,  he  proceeded  to  speak  of  the  operations  to 
be  undertaken  in  the  event  of  fresh  manifestations  of 
revolt.  This  section  he  headed  "  Defensive  Opera- 
tions ;"  but  he  characteristically  added,  "  I  prefer  the 
ofiensive  system."  "If  I  had  the  power,"  he  wrote, 
"  I  should  never  permit  an  enemy  to  enter  the  City. 
With  a  small  force,  in  addition  to  a  garrison  suffi- 
cient to  hold  the  Fort,  the  City,  Cantonment  and  all 
between  the  two  rivers,  could  be  disputed  for  long 
against  superior  numbers.  I  would  hold  Kydgunge 
to  the  last,  and  if  closely  invested  would  cut  down 
the  trees  within  fire  and  gunshot  of  the  Fort,  knock 
down  some  garden  walls  near  the  Fort,  and  if  the 


396  CIWNFORE  REOCOUPIED. 

1857.  enemy  attempted  to  assault  from  the  Papamow  or 
July  7—16.  Benares  side,  they  could  easily  be  prevented  crossing 
the  river.  I  prefer  the  offensive  system,  and  always 
follow  it  when  possible ;  make  frequent  sharp  attacks, 
well  planned  and  supported,  using  as  much  artillery, 
nine-pounders  if  possible,  as  I  could  muster.  The 
general  object  is  now  to  put  down  the  parties  moving 
about  and  plundering  villages;  Native  troops  (the 
Sikhs)  answered  well,  and  did  good  service.  When 
Europeans  are  en  route,  they  may  be  employed,  but 
I  would  never  send  them  out  on  purpose,  except 
in  cases  of  emergency.  Powder-bags,  to  blow  in 
doors,  &c.,  are  useful  things  to  have  in  this  village. 
Also  rockets,  when  to  be  had,  and  persons  who  know 
the  use  of  them." 
July  16.  AH  this  done  for  the  continued  security  of  the 
important  position  which  his  energy  had  saved,  Neill 
was  eager  to  go  to  the  front.  The  opportunity  was 
before  him.  On  the  15th  of  July  he  had  received  a 
telegraphic  message  from  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
containing  laudatory  recognition  of  Havelock's  vie- 
tory  before  Futtehpore,  and  of  the  general  conduct 
of  the  operations  intrusted  to  him.  With  this  had 
come  also  an  important  addition :  "  But  his  (Have- 
lock's) health  is  not  strong,  and  the  season  is  very 
trying ;  it  is  urgently  necessary,  therefore,  that  pro- 
vision should  be  made  for  placing  the  command  of 
the  column  in  tried  hands  of  known  and  assured 
efficiency,  in  whom  perfect  confidence  can  .be  placed, 
in  case  Havelock  should  become  from  any  cause  unfit 
for  duty.  You  have  been  selected  for  the  post,  and 
accordingly  you  will  proceed  with  every  practicable 
expedition  to  join  Havelock,  making  over  the  com- 
mand of  Allahabad  to  the  next  senior  officer."  The 
rank   of  Brigadier-General  had  been  conferred  on 


NEILL  AT  CAWNPORE.  397 

Neill,  and,  thus  stimulated  by  the  feeling  that  he  18&7» 
had  the  full  confidence  of  Government,  he  started  on  ^^J  ^• 
the  same  evening  for  Cawnpore ;  and  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  20th  he  arrived  there  and  reported  him- 
self to  the  Commander  of  the  Force.  "  I  had  hardly 
seen  General  Havelock,"  he  wrote  afterwards  in  a 
letter  to  a  friend,  "before  he  said  to  me:  'Now, 
General  Neill,  let  us  understand  each  other;  you 
have  no  power  or  authority  here  whilst  I  am  here, 
and  you  are  not  to  issue  a  single  order.'  "* 

But  it  was  arranged  that  whilst  Havelock,  being  Neill  at 
in  chief  command,  should  mature  his  arrangemente  C»'"'Po«'- 
for  the  crossing  of  the  Ganges,  Neill  should  remain 
in  charge  of  Cawnpore.  One  of  his  first  acts,  after 
his  arrival,  was  to  inquire  into  all  the  circumstances 
of  the  recent  massacres,  and  to  do  what  he  could  to 
avenge  them.  There  are  deeds  which  it  is  better  to 
sufier  the  actor  to  chronicle  in  his  own  words.  In  a 
letter  before  me,  Colonel  Neill,  after  describing  events 
already  recorded  in  this  narrative,  says :  "  The  men 
were  shot,  the  women  and  children  were  brought 
up  to  a  little  bungalow  near  the  Assembly-rooms. 
The  Futtehgurh  fugitives,  such  as  were  saved,  were 
brought  in  there  too.  I  have  sent  a  list  of  all,  and 
their  fate.     Upwards  of  two  hundred  women  and 

*  It  should  be  stated,  however,  saw  Renaud,  bis  left  leg  taken  oft, 
that  as  Neill  entered  in  his  journal  high  up  the  thigh,  looking  very  pale 
at  the  time  that  he  had  been  well  and  ill.  .  .  .  Stephenson,  with  re- 
received  by  Havelock,  it  may  be  as-  mainder  of  Fusiliers,  gone  out  to 
sunied  that  there  wa»  no  discourtesy  Bithoor  with  Cavalry  and  Sikhs  to 
in  the  manner  in  which  tliis  intima-  destroy  it.  Cavalry  with  Barrow 
tion  was  conveyed.  See  following  bring  in  suns  in  the  forenoon.  .  .  • 
passage  :  "  Got  into  Cawnpore  about  General  Havelock  informs  me  he  will 
seven  a.m.,  Monday  20th  .  .  .  and  leave  me  at  Cawnpore  in  command 

am  well  received  b;  General  Have-  during  his  absence Much 

lock.    Poor  Captain  Beatson,  Adju-  plundering  in   the  city  by  Sikhs, 

tant-General,  died  of  cholera,  and  Sixty-fourth   and   Seventy -eighth ; 

Gurrie,  of  Eighty-fourth,  died  of  his  most  disgraceful." 
wound,  a  round  short  in  the  side; 


398  CIWNPORE  REOCCUPIED, 

1867.  children  were  brought  into  that  house;  many  had 
^^*  been  killed  in  the  boats,  many  killed  and  died  in  the 
entrenchments;  aU  who  survived  fever,  dysentery, 
and  cholera,  in  the  confinement  in  that  house,  were 
barbarously  murdered,  after  the  receipt  of  the  intelli- 
gence of  Havelock's  first  victory — ^this  by  the  Nana's 
order.  They  were  badly  fed  and  treated  at  first,  but 
afterwards  got  more  and  clean  clothing,  and  servants 
to  wait  on  them.  They  were  sent  their  evening  meal 
on  that  fatal  day,  and  after  it  these  fiends  rushed  in 
and  butchered  them  all;  they  were  shot  and  hacked 
to  pieces.  The  bodies  of  all  who  died  there  were 
thrown  into  the  well  of  the  house,  all  the  murdered 
ako.  I  saw  that  house  when  I  first  came  in.  Ladies' 
and  children's  bloody  torn  dresses  and  shoes  were 
lying  about,  and  locks  of  hair  torn  from  their  heads.* 
The  floor  of  the  one  room  they  were  all  dragged  into 
and  kiUed  was  saturated  with  blood.  One  cannot 
control  one's  feelings.  Who  could  be  merciful  to  one 
concerned?  Severity  at  the  first  is  mercy  in  the  end. 
I  wish  to  show  the  Natives  of  India  that  the  punish- 
ment inflicted  by  us  for  such  deeds  will  be  the 
heaviest,  the  most  revolting  to  their  feelings,  and 
what  they  must  ever  remember,  t  I  issued  the  fol- 
lowing order,  which,  however  objectionable  in  the 

•  Other  narrators  have  described  were  scattered  about  in  terrible  con- 

the  scene  in  similar  language.  Major  fusion."    The   alleged    inscriptions 

North  says :  "  Tortured  by  the  fierce  on  the  walls  were  malicious  or  silly 

thirst  of  revenge,  and  penetrated  forgeries. 

by   the  sense  of   their   sufferings,  j  In  another  letter,  Neill  says: 

strange  wild  feelings  awoke  within  "My  object  is  to  inflict  a  fearful 

us.    Vaunting,  eager,  maddened,  we  punishment  for  a  revolting,  cowardly, 

sped  onward  to  the  dreary  house  of  barbarous  deed,  and  to  strike  terror 

martyrdom,  where  their  olood  was  into  these  rebels.  ...  No  -one  who 

outpoured   like  water ;  the  clotted  has  witnessed  the  scenes  of  murder, 

gore  lay  ankle  deep  on  the  polluted  mutilation  and  massacre,  can  ever 

floor,  and  also  long  tresses  of  silken  listen  to  the  word  'mercy'  as  applied 

hair,  fragments  of  female  wearing  to  these  fiends.*' 
apparel,  hats,  books,  children's  toys. 


THE  CLEAN3IN0  OF  THE  SLAUGHT££-HOUS£.  399 

estimation  of  some  of  our  Brahminised  infatuated  1857 
elderly  gentlemen,  I  tMnk  suited  to  the  occasion,  or  ^^^* 
rather  to  the  present  crisis:  '  25th  July,  1857.  The 
well  in  which  are  the  remains  of  the  poor  women  and 
children  so  brutally  murdered  by  this  miscreant,  the 
Nana,  will  be  j&lled  up,  and  neatly  and  decently 
covered  over  to  form  their  grave :  a  party  of  European 
soldiers  will  do  so  this  evening,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  an  officer.  The  house  in  which  they 
were  butchered,  and  which  is  stained  with  their  blood, 
will  not  be  washed  or  cleaned  by  their  countrymen ; 
but  Brigadier -General  Neill  has  determined  that 
every  stain  of  that  innocent  blood  shall  be  cleared  up 
and  wiped  out,  previous  to  their  execution,  by  such 
of  the  miscreants  as  may  be  hereafter  apprehended, 
who  took  an  active  part  in  the  mutiny,  to  be  selected 
according  to  their  rank,  caate,  and  degree  of  guilt. 
Each  miscreant,  after  sentence  of  death  is  pronounced 
upon  him,  will  be  taken  down  to  the  house  in  ques- 
tion, under  a  guard,  and  will  be  forced  into  cleaning 
up  a  small  portion  of  the  blood-stains ;  the  task  will 
be  made  as  revolting  to  his  feeUngs  as  possible,  and 
the  Provost-Marshal  will  use  the  lash  in  forcing  any 
one  objecting  to  complete  his  task.  After  properly 
cleaning  up  his  portion,  the  culprit  is  to  be  imme- 
diately hanged,  and  for  this  purpose  a  gallows  will 
be  erected  close  at  hand.' — ^The  first  culprit  was  a 
Soubahdar  of  the  Sixth  Native  Infantry,  a  fat  brute, 
a  very  high  Brahmin.  The  sweeper's  brush  was  put 
into  his  hands  by  a  sweeper,  and  he  was  ordered  to 
set  to  work.  He  had  about  half  a  square  foot  to 
clean ;  he  made  some  objection,  when  down  came  the 
lash,  and  he  yelled  again ;  he  wiped  it  all  up  clean, 
and  was  then  hung,  and  his  remains  buried  in  the 
public  road.     Some  days  after,  others  were  brought 


.J     I mm^^m^ 


KB 


400  CAWNPORE  EEOCCDPIED. 

1857.  in — one  a  Mahomedan  officer  of  our  civil  courts  a 
Jnly*  great  rascal,  and  one  of  the  leading  men :  he  rather 
objected,  was  flogged,  made  to  lick  part  of  the  blood 
with  his  tongue.  No  doubt  this  is  strange  law,  but 
it  suits  the  occasion  well,  and  I  hope  I  shall  not  be 
interfered  with  until  the  room  is  thoroughly  cleansed 
in  this  way.  ...  I  will  hold  my  own,  with  the  bless- 
ing and  help  of  God.  I  cannot  help  seeing  that  His 
finger  is  in  all  this— we  have  been  false  to  ourselves 
80  often." 

This  story  has  been  told  before,*  and  with  com- 
ments of  various  shades  of  opinion.  It  is  very  safe 
and  easy  in  quiet  times,  and  in  a  Christian  land,  to 
condemn  such  acts  as  these  with  placid  judicial 
severity,  for  the  sentence  of  condemnation  demands  no 
thought,  and  is  sure  to  evoke  much  sympathy.  But 
we  must  re-live  that  month  of  July,  and  transport 
ourselves  to  the  threshold  of  the  Beebeeghur,  rightly 
to  estimate  them.  If  ever,  in  the  history  of  human 
strife,  it  were  righteous  to  invest  retribution  with 
unknown  terrors,  it  was  whilst  the  blood  of  our 
innocents  was  still  red  in  the  slaughter-house.  It  was 
not  that  men,  in  ordinary  conjunctures  strong-headed 
and  tender-hearted,  lost  the  power  of  discerning 
between  right  and  wrong  in  the  face  of  the  horrors 
that  beset  them,  but  that  many  of  the  wisest  and 
best  amongst  our  people,  sternly  composed  in  the 
midst  of  all  excitements  and  bewilderments,  delibe- 
rately harboured  the  conviction,  that  it  was  their 
duty  to  put  mercy  far  away  from  them,  and  to  visit 
exceptional  wickedness  with  an  exceptional  severity 
of  punishment.  There  was  a  remorseless  logic  in  the 
arguments  on  which  they  built  up  this  faith.  It  was 
contended  that  as  there  were  diflferent  degrees  of 

*  It  was  first  published,  soon  after  the  event,  in  an  Ayrshire  journal. 


»■■  ■   ■»■ 


DEATH-PUNISHMENT  WITH  TORTURE.  401 

murder,  there  should  also  be  different  degrees  of  1857. 
death-punishment.  Colonel  John  Nicholson,  of  whose  ^^^^ 
heroic  character  and  illustrious  career  it  will  here- 
after  be  my  privilege  to  write  in  detail,  was  eager 
to  have  a  special  Act  passed,  legalising  in  certain 
cases  more  cruel  forms  of  execution — ^that  is  to  say, 
death  with  torture.  "  Let  us,"  he  wrote  to  Colonel 
Edwardes,  at  the  end  of  May,  "  propose  a  Bill  for  the 
flaying  alive,  impalement,  or  burning  of  the  mur- 
derers  of  the  women  and  children  at  Delhi.  The 
idea  of  simply  hanging  the  perpetrators  of  such 
atrocities  is  maddening.  I  wish  that  I  were  in  that 
part  of  the  world,  that  if  necessary  I  might  take  the 
law  into  my  own  hands."  Again,  a  few  days  later, 
vehemently  urging  this  exceptional  legislation :  "You 
do  not  answer  me  about  the  BiU  for  a  new  kind  of 
death  for  the  murderers  and  dishonourers  of  our 
women.  •  I  will  propose  it  alone,  if  you  will  not 
help  me.  I  will  not,  if  I  can  help  it,  see  fiends  of 
that  stamp  let  off  with  simple  hanging."  Edwardes, 
it  seems,  was  naturally  reluctant  to  argue  the  ques- 
tion with  his  energetic  friend ;  but  Nicholson  could 
not  rid  himself  of  the  thought  that  such  acts  of  cruel 
retribution  were  justified  in  every  sense,  and  he 
appealed  to  Holy  Writ  in  support  of  the  logical 
arguments  which  he  adduced.  Writing  at  a  later 
period,  he  said,  "  As  regards  torturing  the  murderers 
of  the  women  and  children :  If  it  be  right  otherwise, 
I  do  not  think  we  should  refrain  from  it,  because  it 
is  a  Native  custom.  We  are  told  in  the  Bible  that 
stripes  shall  be  meted  out  according  to  faults,  and  if 
hanging  is  sufficient  punishment  for  such  wretches, 
it  is  too  severe  for  ordinary  mutineers.     If  I  had 

*  This  was  the  mistake  of  the  day.    There  had  been  no  dishonouring  of 
our  women,  in  tlie  sense  intended. 

VOL.  II.  2  D 


402  RE-OCCUPATION  OF  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  them  in  my  power  to-day,  and  knew  that  I  were  to 
^^^'  die  to-morrow,  I  would  inflict  the  most  excruciating 
tortures  I  could  think  of  on  them  with  a  perfectly 
easy  conscience.  Our  English  nature  appears  to  me 
to  be  always  in  extremes.  A  few  years  ago  men 
(frequently  innocent)  used  to  be  tortured  merely  on 
suspicion.  Now  there  is  no  punishment  worse  than 
hanging,  which  is  a  very  easy  death,  for  atrocities 
which  could  not  be  exceeded  by  fiends.  We  have 
different  scales  of  punishment  for  different  kinds  of 
theft,  assault,  forgery,  and  other  crimes — ^why  not 
for  murder  ?" 

Kindred  sentiments  might  be  quoted  from  other 
sources.  Even  the  wisest  and  best  in  those  days, 
though  some  might  have  shrunk  from  the  open  ad- 
vocacy of  torture,  were  prone  to  think  that  instan- 
taneous death  to  men,  who  perhaps  gloried  in  it  as 
an  anticipatory  dismissal  to  eternal  beatitude,  was 
but  an  inadequate  requital  for  the  enormous  crimes 
that  were  committed  against  us.  Christian  piety, 
indeed,  was  not  slow  to  rebuke  those  who,  in  that 
conjuncture,  had  any  bowels  of  compassion,  making 
them  reluctant  to  smite  heavily  at  the  persecutors  of 
our  race.  It  was  from  one  of  the  purest  hearts  and 
one  of  the  soundest  heads  in  all  our  Christian  commu- 
nity that  the  following  remonstrance  issued.  It  was 
addressed  to  Henry  Tucker,  Commissioner  of  Benares : 
"  I  fear  in  your  case  your  natural  tenderness.  But, 
consider  that  we  have  to  crucify  these  affections  as 
well  as  our  lusts.  The  magistrate  bears  not  the  sword 
in  vain.  The  Word  of  God  gives  no  authority  to  the 
modern  tenderness  for  human  life  which  would  save 
even  the  murderer.  I  believe  that  your  duty  now  is 
to  be  firm  and  resolute,  to  execute  the  law  rigorously 
in  its  extreme  penalties,  and  to  set  your  face  as  a  flint 


■  ^      «~^  ^^ 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  ADVANCE.  403 

against  all  concessions.  It  is  necessary  in  all  Eastern  1857. 
lands  to  establish  a  fear  and  awe  of  the  Government.  ^^^' 
Then,  and  not  till  then,  are  its  benefits  appreciated. 
Previously,  they  are  ascribed  to  weakness.  We  must 
be  sternly,  rigorously  just  against  all  treason,  vio- 
lence, and  treachery,  and  hand  down  a  tradition  of 
our  severity.  Otherwise  these  troubles  will  recur." 
And  even  now,  after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  there 
are  few  righteous  men  who  will  not  readily  accept  » 
this  doctrine.  What  is  dreadful  in  the  record  of  re- 
tribution is,  that  some  of  our  people  regarded  it  not 
as  a  solemn  duty  or  a  terrible  necessity,  but  as  a 
devilish  pastime,  striking  indiscriminately  at  the  black 
races,  and  slaying  without  proof  of  individual  guilt. 
That  Neill  was  fully  assured  in  his  own  mind  that  the 
men,  on  whom  he  had  inflicted  the  terrible  punish- 
ment,  thus  described  in  his  own  words,  were  among 
the  actual  perpetrators  of  the  great  crime  which  he 
was  called  upon  to  punish,  cannot  be  questioned; 
and  we  must  all  devoutly  hope  that  he  was  right. 


But  the  chastisement  of  the  enemy  was  but  a  small  Preparations 
part  of  the  work  which  then  lay  before  the  English  ^^  ^"^^* 
Generals.  Their  mission,  indeed,  was  to  save,  not  to 
destroy.  Havelock  had  reminded  his  followers  that 
the  campaign  was  only  begun — ^that  Lucknow  was  in 
peril,  Agra  besieged,  and  Delhi  still  a  focus  of  re- 
bellion. And  he  had  written  to  Neill,  sajdng,  "  The 
instant  you  join  me,  I  will,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
strike  a  blow  that  shall  resound  through  India."  He 
uttered  these  words  in  the  flush  of  victory,  when  the 
excitement  of  battle  had,  perhaps,  unhinged  the 
habitual  caution  of  the  sagacious  commander.  And 
now  that  there  was  a  lull  in  the  operations  of  the 

2d2 


404  BE-OCCUFATION  OF  CIWNPORE. 

1857.  war,  the  difficulties  which  lay  before  him  presented 
themselves  in  their  true  proportions.  But,  although 
less  sanguine  and  confident  than  before,  he  was  not 
less  determined  to  cross  the  river  and  to  push  on  into 
Oude  with  the  utmost  possible  despatch. 
The  defence       It  was  necessary,  however,  before  all  things,  at  that 

J  1  iT— 23  *^°^^  *^  secure  the  position  of  the  detachment  that  was 
'  to  be  left  under  the  command  of  General  Neill.  Have- 
lock  could  ill  spare  a  single  man  from  the  little  force 
with  which  he  was  to  advance  on  Lucknow,  and  it  was 
with  reluctance  that  he  consented  to  leave  so  large  a 
number  as  three  hundred  men  for  the  defence  of 
Cawnpore.  But  with  the  terrible  experience  of  the 
past  before  him,  he  felt  that  he  could  not  do  less. 
Uncertain  as  to  the  position  of  his  late  antagonists — 
apprehending  the  probability  that,  on  his  crossing  the 
Ganges  with  the  bulk  of  his  force,  a  large  body  of 
the  Nana's  troops  would  double  back  on  Cawnpore — 
Havelock  had  resolved  from  the  first  to  select  the 
most  advantageous  site  for  an  entrenched  camp,  and 
before  the  arrival  of  Neill  the  entrenchments  had 
been  commenced.  "At  a  little  distance  from  the 
common  ferry,"  says  Havelock's  biographer,*  "  there 
was  an  elevated  plateau,  about  two  hundred  yards  in 
length  and  a  hundred  in  breadth,  situated  on  the 
bank  of  the  river.  At  the  distance  of  about  five 
hundred  yards  from  it  there  was  an  island  on  the 
river,  partly  submerged  in  this  season  of  the  year. 
Between  it  and  the  Oude  Bank  were  two  smaller 
islands  of  alluvial  land,  thrown  up  by  the  action  of 
the  river,  but  covered  with  water  two  or  three  feet 
deep,  and  visible  only  from  the  reeds  which  spring  up 
upon  them.  The  General  was  of  opinion  that  these 
islands  might  be  turned  to  good  account,  if  he  was 

*  Mftrshman's  Life  of  Harelock. 


-.-- ^^-^■.T»i^wiL«5-.-,     w^  —  '  ■     .  .^  ■■..       '■  ---ii.     w—  ••■■       -«.ir!y" 


THE  NEW  ENTRENCHMENTS.  405 

obliged  to  recross  the  river,  while  the  entrenchment  1867. 
on  the  right  bank  would  effectually  cover  that  opera-  '^^^  19—23. 
tion.  On  this  mound,  accordingly,  a  field-work 
capable  of  accommodating  and  also  of  being  defended 
by  three  hundred  men  was  commenced  on  the  19th, 
and  pushed  on  with  extraordinary  vigour."*  The 
work  was  done  by  Native  day-labourers  chiefly  from 
the  city.  The  offer  of  good  wages,  paid  regularly 
every  evening,  brought  us  the  ready  services  of 
hundreds — nay,  thousands  of  men,  careless  of  what 
government  or  what  race  were  in  the  ascendant,  so 
long  as  they  could  eat,  and  smoke,  and  sleep,  with 
certainty  and  without  molestation.  Disarmed  and 
dismounted  troopers  of  the  Irregular  Horse  were  also 
set  to  work  at  the  trenches ;  and  any  skilled  Euro- 
peans, willing  to  help,  were  retained,  and  their  assist- 
ance paid  for  by  the  State. 

So  Neill  found  the  works  already  in  progress  when 
he  arrived,  and  they  grew  beneath  the  hands  of  the 
great  swarm  of  labourers  with  surprising  rapidity. 
His  quick  soldierly  eye  saw  at  once  that  there  were 
some  defects  in  the  position ;  but  he  admitted  that 
none  better  could  have  been  selected.  Whilst  the 
workmen  plied  their  shovels,  our  baggage  was  sent 
into  the  entrenchments,  and  the  two  Generals  went 
about  collecting  the  guns  which  were  to  defend  the 
works  in  course  of  construction.f  Then  the  sick  were 

*  Mr.  Sherer,  in  his  official  re-  General  Neill's  Journal,  wliich  illns- 

port,  says :  *'  General  Neill  was  left  trate  the  narrative  of  these  proceed- 

with  a  garrison  of  less  than  two  in^ :    "  Wednesday,  ^2nd. — Heavy 

hundred  men  to  hold  Cawnpore."  rain  this  momiDg— ride  ont  to  see 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  entrenchment — don't  like  the  ground 

that   the   number   stated   by  Mr.  about  it,  but  suspect  there  is  no 

Marshman   is    tiie    more   correct,  better  position.    Have  a  long  talk 

General  Neill  himself,  writing  on  with  the  General  about  it.  .  .  .  Gro 

t)ie 22nd,  says :  " I  shail  have  nearly  with  General  to  see  the  Arsenal;  It 

three  hundred  men  of  all  kinds."  is  entirdv  destroyed ;  in  a  bad  posi- 

t  See  the  following  extracts  from  tion.     l!nere  are  some  brass  dis- 


406  RE-OCCDPATION  OF  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  sent  in,  and  every  preparation  made  for  sheltering 
July  19—23.  Qj^^  providing  for  the  effective  garrison.  And  whilst 
meiS^for  ^^^^  was  being  done,  arrangements  were  being  made 
crossing  the  for  the  conveyance  of  the  bulk  of  Havelock's  force 
across  the  waters  of  the  Ganges.  The  old  bridge  of 
boats  had  been,  for  all  practical  purposes,  destroyed  ; 
and  now  the  steamer,  which  had  brought  Spurgin 
and  his  party  up  from  Allahabad,  was  employed  in 
collecting  boats ;  but  it  was  a  work  of  no  small  dif- 
ficulty to  obtain  them.  Boatmen,  too,  were  wanting, 
for  men  of  this  class,  conscious  that  they  had  aided 
and  abetted  the  foul  murder  of  our  people,  had 
prudently  dispersed  on  our  reappearance  on  the 
scene.  But,  after  a  while,  some  were  induced  to  re- 
turn to  their  craft,  on  a  promise  of  indemnity  for  past 
offences.  A  number  of  them  were  enrolled  into  a 
corps,  and  organised  on  a  fixed  scale  of  payment* 

mounted  guns  there,  also  three  large  inferior  commanding  officers.    I  fear 

iron  ones  in  carriages.    These,  with  General  Havelock  will  not  get  off  in 

all  the  guns  here,  are  being  taken  time  he  expected ;  the  difficulties  in 

down  to  the  entrenched  position,  crossing  the  Ganges  are  verj  great. 

There  is  great  plundering  Thursday,    2Zrd,  —  Agreeably    to 

going  on  by  the  troops — most  dis-  orders  of  yesterday,  send  all  sick 

graceful — and  On  the  part  of  Ck)m-  down  to  entrenchment,  get  baggage 

mandants,    more    particularly   the  down,  and  start  myself  with  Gordon 

Sixtj-fourth;  a  disinclination  to  pre-  and  Bruce Governor-Gene- 

vent  their  men  misconducting  them-  ral's  proclamation  giving  rewards  for 

selves.    I  should  have  adopted  veij  capture  of  rebels  and  bringing  back 

decided  steps  with  all  these  regi-  property,  published  and  promulgated 

ments,  and  this  force  at  first,  but  m  the  bazaars,  and  all  about — get 

this  has  been  neglected.    All  have  copies  printed  off.    Heavy  rain  at 

taken  to  plundering,  and  the  example  night.    The  entrenched  position  has 

set  by  ofacers  has  been  very  bad  in-  no    strength  —  except   with    three 

deed;  the  plundering  of  the  mer-  times    the  men — but  I  will  hold 

chants  and  shopkeepers  in  the  city  it." 

by  bands  of  soldiers  and  Sikhs  has        *  "  See  Ty  tier — arrange  about  a 

been  most  outrageous,  and  there  has  corps  of  boatmen.     He  sends  me 

been  no  check  to  it.    Orders  here  part  of  a  note  he  has  sent  to  General 

seem  to  be  unattended  to.    Pistols  Havelock  about  my  going  with  him. 

and  guns  fired  off  in  camp.    Colonel So  I  may  be  off  soon — set 

Tytler  informs  me  the  want  of  at-  my  house   in   order,  as   it  were, 

tention  to  orders  by  Commandants  Arrange  about  what  I  shall  take  and 

of  Corps  and  others  is  disgraceful,  what  leave  behind,  &c.  &c" — Gene^ 

and  I  see  it  plainly.    I  suppose  no  ral  Neilfs  Journal,  July  25.    MS, 
orce  ever  marched  with  a  set  of  so 


STATE  OF  OUDB.  407 

There  were  many,  at  that  time,  who,  as  they  had  1857 
believed  that  it  was  easy  *'to  make  short  work  of  "^^^y- 
Delhi,"  believed  also  that  the  relief  of  Lucknow  Stete  of 
would  be  attended  with  no  kind  of  difficulty.  Even  Oude. 
in  Havelock's  camp  it  seemed  to  some  to  be  an  easy 
task  to  make  good  the  march  to  the  Oude  capital. 
The  distance  was  not  great,  but  it  was  not  a  question 
of  distance.  The  whole  of  Gude  was  up  in  arms 
against  us.  It  was  no  more  than  any  sane  man, 
acquainted  with  the  circumstances  that  had  attended 
and  the  events  which  had  followed  the  annexation  of 
the  kingdom  of  Oude,  must  have  involuntarily  pre- 
dicated. The  passions  of  all  the/influential  classes 
were  roused,  and  their  antagonism  stimulated  to  the 
utmost,  against  us.  The  remnant  of  the  old  Court 
of  Lucknow,  the  Soldiery,  the  Landed  Aristocracy, 
were  all  arrayed  against  the  power  that  had  trodden 
them  down  into  the  dust.  It  was  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  before  the  end  of  June  there  had  *  been 
mutiny  and  rebellion  in  nearly  every  station  through- 
out the  province.  Moreover,  it  was  the  great  nur- 
sery of  the  Sepoys  of  the  Bengal  Army.  Every 
village  held  the  homes  and  families  of  men  who  were 
fighting  against  us ;  and,  therefore,  bristled  with  our 
enemies.  Our  regular  regiments  had  ripened  rapidly 
in  rebellion.  For  a  little  space  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence had  believed  that  he  might  play  off  the  Irre- 
gulars against  the  battalions  of  the  Line.*    But  they 

*  At  the  end  of  May,  Sir  Henrj  will  be  one  feeling  tbronghout  the 

Lawrence  had  written  to  Lord  Can-  army — a  feeling  that  onr  prestige  is 

ning,  saying :  *'  Hitherto  the  coun-  gone — and  that  feelinff  will  be  more 

try  has  been  quiet,  and  we  have  dangerous  than  any  ouier.  Religion, 

plajed  the  Irregulars  against  the  fear,  hatred,  one  and  all,  have  their 

Line  regiments.    But  being  consti-  influences ;  but  there  is  still  a  reve- 

tuted  of    the  same  materials,  the  rence  for  the  Company's    Ikhbal. 

taint  is  fast  pervading  them,  and,  in  When  it  is  gone,  we  shall  have  few 

a  few  weeks,  if  not  days,  unless  in  friends,  ind^/* 
the  interim  Delhi  be  captured,  there 


408  BE-OOCUPATION  OF  CAWNPOR£. 

1857.  were  composed  of  the  same  elements ;  and  in  Oude, 
^^^'  as  in  other  parts,  this  faith  was  soon  stripped  of  all 
that  had  sustained  it,  and  stood  out  as  a  naked  de- 
lusion. The  great  "ikhbal"  of  the  Company  was 
fast  waning,  and  even  our  friends  forsook  us,  believ- 
ing ns  to  be  weak.  There  was  little  hope,  indeed, 
from  any  source  but  from  the  wisdom  of  our  leaders 
and  from  the  courage  of  our  English  fighting-men. 
Of  all  these  conditions,  so  hostile  to  British  supre- 
macy in  Oude,  I  shall  write  more  fully  in  another 
part  of  this  narrative.  It  is  sufficient  in  this  place 
to  give  a  brief  account  of  the  results,  which  had  de- 
veloped themselves — results  obstructive  in  the  ex- 
treme to  the  advance  of  Havelock's  army. 

These  results,  as  apparent  at  the  end  of  June,  were 
thus  described  by  Mr.  Gubbins*  in  a  letter  to  Lord 
Canning :  "  Every  corps  at  every  station  in  the  pro- 
vince has  mutinied,  and  the  districts  now  are  in  a 
state  of  anarchy.  Talookhdars  are  forcibly  resuming 
their  former  villages,  and  burning  and  slaying  all  who 
oppose  them.  Old  feuds  are  again  breaking  out,  and 
fighting,  both  with  guns,  musketry,  &c.,  is  going  on 
in  every  quarter,  more  or  less.  The  head  Civil  Autho- 
rity having  been  forced  in  each  instance  to  aban- 
don his  Sudder  Station ;  his  Thannahs  and  Tehseels 
have  gone  also,  and  there  is  no  restraint  on  violence 
and  anarchy.  Did  the  mutineers  pass  through  and 
away,  civil  officers  might  again  go  out,  and  order 
might  again  be  restored ;  but  they  are  not  gone,  and 
are  hanging  about  the  province,  looking  for  an 
opportunity  of  attacking  Lucknow.  This  I  believe 
they  will  never  obtain,  and  they  are  meanwhile 
melting  daily  away.     The  following  is  the  present 


*  Martin  Gubbins,  Einancial  Commissioner  of  Oude — brother  of  Fre- 
derick Ghibbins  of  Benares. 


•  ^'    ■■  ■  t^^n^^m^^mm^i^ 


STATE  OF  OUDE.  409 

aspect  of  the  stations  of  mutineers  in  the  province :      3857. 
"  Khyrabad  Division  (Seetapoor,  Mohumdi,  and  Mul-      •^"^^• 
laon). — ^Entirely  abandoned.     There  was  a  terrible 
massacre  of  the  Europeans  of  Shahjehanpoor  and 
Mohumdie.     Of  the  mutinous  troops,  the  Forty -first 
Native  Infantry  and  Tenth  Oude  Irregular  Infantry 
have  gone  towards  Delhi ;  and  eleven  hundred  men, 
the  remains  of  the  Ninth  Oude  Irregular  Infantry 
and  Police  Corps,  are  at  Mehmoodabad,  forty  miles 
hence,  trying  to  induce  the  Tolookhdars  to  join,  and 
daily  melting  away. — Ludmow  Division  (Lucknow, 
Onao,  Duriabad) :  Lucknow,  and  eight  miles  round 
it,  is  all  that  remains  orderly  in  Oude.     We  hold 
two  posts,  the  Residency  and  Muchee  Bhowan,  be- 
sides a  miserable  European  force  in  cantonment. 
The  Muchee   Bhowan  is    imposing  for  the  towns- 
people; but  the  Natives  know,  and  our  engineers 
have  declared,  it  to  be  utterly  untenable.     Should, 
therefore,  a  siege  be   attempted,  it  will  be  blown 
up.     The  works  at  the  Residency  have  been  greatly 
strengthened,    including  my  residence  and  others, 
and  really  a  prolonged  defence  can  be  made.    At 
Duriabad  is  the  Fifth  Oude  Irregular  Infantry  in 
mutiny,  but  with  numbers  diminished.     They  have 
been  joined  by  Fisher's  Horse  (Fifteenth),  and  the 
Eighth  Oude  Irregular  Infantry  from  Sultanpore. — 
Baraitch  Division :  the  Second  and  Third  Oude  Irre- 
gular Infantry,  and  TuUoh's  Battery,  and  a  hundred 
Horse,  in  mutiny,  have  not  yet  crossed  the  Gogra ; 
are  waiting. — Fyzabad  Division :  this  was  the  most 
dangerous  quarter;   the  Twenty-second  Native  In- 
fantry, the  Seventeenth  from  Azimgurh :  the  Sixth 
Oude  Irregular  Infantry,  part  of  the  Fifteenth  Oude 
Cavalry,  and  Mill's  Battery  making  up  the  mutineers 
there.    This  is  dissipating  somewhat — ^the  Fifteenth 


410  BE-OCCDPATIOX  OF  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  Oude  Horse  having  turned  towards  (as  we  believe) 
^^^J'  Cawnpore.  Sultanpore  abandoned  and  burnt ;  many 
Europeans  killed.  Salone :  ditto  ;  Europeans  saved." 
Such  was  the  state  of  things  that  had  grown  up  in 
Oude,  whilst  the  English  at  Cawnpore  had  been  en- 
gaged in  that  fatal  struggle  for  existence  which  has 
been  narrated  in  the  preceding  chapters.  Notwith- 
standing all  these  reverses,  there  had  been  great  con- 
fidence in  the  final  issue,  and,  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other,  men  felt  that  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence was  a  tower  of  strength.  But  the  month  of 
June  had  closed  in  darkly  and  sadly  upon  the  Luck- 
now  garrison.  On  the  last  day  of  the  month,  the 
English  had  been  disastrously  defeated  in  battle  at 
Chinhut.  July  had  dawned  upon  the  siege  of  Luck- 
now.  And  Havelock's  victorious  entrance  into  Cawn- 
pore had  been  saddened  by  the  news  which  met  him 
— that  one  of  the  first  victims  of  that  siege  had  been 
Henry  Lawrence  himself.  The  General  had  known 
him  well  in  old  times.  They  had  served  together  in 
Afghanistan ;  and  were  associated  by  bonds  of  mu- 
tual esteem  and  affection.*  And  none  knew  better 
than  Havelock  the  loss  which  the  country  had  sus- 
tained. But  little  time  was  left  for  the  indulgence  of 
personal  or  public  sorrow.  The  first  thoughts  of  the 
General  were  to  be  given  to  the  living,  not  to  the 
dead.  It  was  plain  to  him  that  our  beleaguered  people 
in  Lucknow  were  in  deadly  peril,  and  that  all  de- 
pended, under  Providence,  upon  the  rapidity  with 
which  he  could  make  good  his  march  to  the  Oude 
capital  He  felt,  too,  that  the  work  before  him  was 
not  restricted  to  the  relief  of  Lucknow.     He  did  not, 

*  ''  Their  acquaintance  had  com-  of  that  mutual  appreciation  and  es 

menced  sixteen  years  before,  amidst  teem  by  which  great  minds  are  at- 

tbe  embarrassments  in  Afghanistan,  tracted  to  each  othev ."—MarsAmoH's 

and  it  had  gradually  ripened  into  a  Id/e  of  Havelock, 
sacred  fnencbhip,  under  the  influence 


GENERAL  STATE  OP  THE  COUNTRY        411 

at  first,  appreciate  the  full  extent  of  the  difficulties  1857. 
which  beset  his  course,  and,  in  the  enthusiasm  born  "^^^^^ 
of  success,  he  thought  that,  having  relieved  Lucknow, 
he  might  either  march  to  the  reinforcement  of  the 
Army  before  Delhi,  which  was  still  holding  out  with 
undiminished  effrontery,  or  he  might  operate  effec- 
tually in  other  parts  of  the  country,  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  mutiny  and  rebellion  which  in  the  North- 
western Provinces  had  now  become  almost  universal. 

For  from  many  parts  of  Upper  India  evil  tidings  General  con- 
had  reached  the  Cawnpore  commanders.  Disaster  ^^^^^^^ 
had  followed  disaster  with  astounding  rapidity. 
Almost  every  day  brought  a  new  story  of  mutiny 
and  massacre — a  new  list  of  murdered  men,  women, 
and  children.  Some  stories  were  more  terrible,  some 
lists  were  longer  than  others ;  but  ever  there  was  the 
same  sad,  but  not  inglorious,  record  of  chivalrous 
action  and  heroic  endurance  on  the  part  of  the  Few, 
and  of  cruelty  and  cowardice  on  the  part  of  the 
Many.  The  gigantic  horror  of  Cawnpore  dwarfed 
all  other  calamities  that  had  overtaken  our  people. 
But  there  were  other  crimes  committed  in  that  month 
of  June  light  only  when  weighed  against  the  burden 
of  guilt  borne  by  the  butcher  of  Bithoor.  In  Jhansi 
— one  of  Lord  Dalhousie's  annexations  by  Right  of 
Lapse* — there  had  been  an  insurrection  headed  by 
the  Ranee,  with  a  great  destruction  of  English  life. 
Nearly  all  Bundlekund  was  bristling  up  in  arms 
against  us.  The  troops  of  Scindiah  and  Holkar  had 
mutinied  and  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Poorbeahs  of 
the  Company's  army ;  and  many  of  our  people  had 
perished  miserably  in  the  territories  of  those  princes, 
though  as  yet  there  were  no  signs  of  the  hostility  of 
the  Durbars.  Higher  up  in  Rohilkund  not  only  were 
the  Sepoys  in  mutiny,  murdering  their  officers,  but 

*  See  Yolume  I.,  pages  91 — 92. 


412  RE-OCCUPATION  OF  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  the  country  was  in  rebellion,  and  Mahomedan  rule 
July.  ^as  proclaimed  under  the  vice-royalty  of  Khan 
Behaudur  Khan.  Hansi  and  Hissar  had  seen  their 
own  tragedies;-  and  there  had  been  other  episodes  of 
the  most  painful  interest  to  stir  English  hearts  to 
their  depths.  In  the  Punjab,  although  it  seemed  that 
we  were  riding  out  the  storm,  strained  to  the  utmost 
but  not  yielding  to  its  blows,  it  was  becoming  plain 
that  the  Bengal  regiments  were  breaking  into  revolt, 
and  streaming  down  to  swell  the  tide  of  rebellion 
at  the  great  centre  of  Delhi.  And  ever  as  week 
followed  week,  though  false  rumours,  too  readily 
accepted,  of  the  capture  of  the  great  imperial  strong- 
hold reached  the  lower  country,  only  to  sow  the 
seeds  of  future  disappointment,  the  Mogul  capital 
was  held  by  the  mutinous  troops  that  had  proclaimed 
the  supremacy  of  Behaudur  Shah. 

From  Agra — ^then  the  seat  of  the  Government  of 
the  North- Western  Provinces — ^the  tidings  were  not 
assuring.  The  great  provincial  capital,  which  all 
through  the  month  of  May  had  been  held  in  security, 
though  not  without  much  doubt  and  anxiety,  had  in 
June  been  beleaguered  by  an  enemy,  which,  in  the 
shape  of  the  mutinous  regiments  from  Neemuch  and 
Nusseerabad,  had  marched  down  to  attack  the  second 
city  in  Hindostan.  And  whilst  Lieutenant-Governor 
Colvin  and  all  his  Chief  Officers  had  been  shut  up  at 
Agra,  the  districts  under  his  charge  had  been  rolling 
away  from  him.  That  great  triumph  of  British  ad- 
ministration, so  vaunted,  so  believed — the  Settle- 
ment of  the  North- Western  Provinces — had  sud- 
.  denly  collapsed.  For  a  time  there  was  a  great 
revolution  of  landed  property,  and  almost  all  that 
the  English  had  decreed  had  been  down-trodden  with 
a  remorseless  heel,  as  though  what  we  had  done  and 


GENERAL  STATE  OF  THE  COUNTRY.        4]  3 

boasted  had  been  purposely  done  in  violent  scorn  of  1^57. 
the  genius  and  instincts  of  the  people.  Even  the  ^' 
Supreme  Government,  in  the  first  week  of  July,  were 
constrained  to  admit  that  "  the  North- Western  Pro- 
vinces were  for  the  moment  lost."*  However  humi- 
liating the  fact  may  have  been,  it  was  a  fact.  Our 
latest  administrative  triumphs  had  crumbled  away  at 
our  feet. 

There  was  some  comfort  in  the  thought  that  the 
main  bodies  of  the  Madras  and  Bombay  armies  had 
not  fallen  away  from  their  allegiance.  But  it  was 
hard  to  say  what  any  hour  might  bring  forth.  One 
Bombay  regiment  was  rising ;  there  were  threaten- 
ing movements  in  the  Southern  Mahratta  Country, 
and  more  than  a  suspicion  that  the  old  adherents  of 
the  Rajahs  of  Sattarah  were  in  league  with  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Peishwahs.  The  Bombay  services 
in  the  persons  of  Brigadier  Le-Grand  Jacob  and 
Messrs.  Rose  and  Seton-Karr  were  emulating  the  good 
deeds  of  their  brethren  in  Bengal,  and  Lord  Elphin- 
stone  was  nobly  vindicating  the  confidence  which  the 
British  Government  had  reposed  in  him,  by  placing 
him,  for  a  second  time,  at  the  head  of  an.  Indian  pre- 
sidency. It  was  not  beyond  the  pale  of  probability 
that  Western  India  would  soon  be  in  a  blaze.  Then, 
in  the  Deccan,  there  was  the  great  Mahomedan  State 
of  Hyderabad,  where  the  Nizam,  guided  and  sup- 
ported by  his  accomplished  minister,  Salar  Jung, 
holding  fast  to  the  English  alliance,  still  doubted 
whether  they  could  much  longer  restrain  their  troops, 

•  "  The  Bengal  Native  Army  was  the  revolt  was  still  extending ;  and 

in  mutiny ;  the  North-Western  Pro-  tiie  hearts  of  all  Englishmen  in  India 

vinccs  were  for  the  moment  lost;  the  were  daily  torn  by  accounts  of  the 

King  of  Delhi  and  our  treacherous  massacre,  and  worse  than  massaore, 

Sopors  were  proclaiming  a  new  em-  of  their  women    and  children." — 

pire;   small  bodies  of  gallant  En-  Government  of  India  to  Court  of 

glishmen  were  holding  out  in  iso-  Directors,  July  4i,  1857. 
lated  stations  against  fearful  odds ; 


414  BE-OGCUPATION  OF  CAWNPOBE. 

1857.  if  Delhi  continued  to  defy  the  English  Government 
^^^'  and  to  baffle  all  the  efforts  of  its  armies.  The  great 
chiefs  of  Rajpootana  had  as  yet  given  no  sign ;  but 
if  Western  India  were  to  rise,  the  contagion  might 
spread  to  them,  and,  in  such  circumstances,  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  calculate  the  embarrassments  of 
having  a  hostile  country  intersecting  our  communi- 
cations between  our  leading  positions  on  the  East 
and  on  the  West.  Nepaul  professed  fidelity  to  her 
alliance,  and  was  willing  to  lend  us  an  auxiliary  body 
of  troops  to  operate  upon  Oude;  but  there  were 
those  who  believed  that  on  the  first  symptom  of 
disaster,  they  would  be  eager  to  turn  against  us ;  and 
that,  in  any  case,  the  enlistment  of  such  allies  would 
be  a  confession  of  weakness,  which  would  inflict  a 
severe  moral  injury  on  our  Government.  In  what- 
soever direction  we  turned  our  eyes  there  was  not  a 
gleam  of  comfort  to  be  seen. 


nver. 


Crossing  the  By  the  25th  of  July,  Havelock's  little  army  had 
crossed  the  Ganges.  It  had  been  a  work  beset  with 
^  ^'  difficulties;  but  the  practical  energy  of  Colonel 
Tytler  had  surmounted  them.  The  whole  were  now 
on  the  Oude  side  of  the  river.  The  entire  force  con- 
sisted of  about  fifteen  hundred  men,  with  ten  guns 
imperfectly  equipped  and  inefficiently  manned.  There 
was,  as  before,  a  great  dearth  of  Cavalry.  Excellent 
as  it  was  in  all  soldierly  qualities,  this  little  band  of 
volunteer  Horse  mustered  only  sixty  sabres.  It  was 
in  truth  a  very  weak  Brigade,  such  as  only  the  glo- 
rious audacity  of  the  English  could  have  conceived 
for  a  moment  to  be  capable  of  accomplishing  the 
work  before  it.  The  hopes  of  the  Lucknow  garrison 
had  been  raised  by  something  like  a  promise  of  relief 


THE  ADVANCE  INTO  OUDE.  415 

in  the  little  space  of  five  or  six  days.*  But  it  was  1857. 
one  that  now  seemed  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  fulfil-  ^^^  25—28. 
ment.  And  the  wonder  is  not  that  the  difficulties 
of  the  enterprise  should  have  forced  themselves  upon 
Havelock's  mind,  in  all  their  real  magnitude,  when  he 
found  himself  across  the  Ganges,  but  that  he  should 
for  a  moment  have  made  light  of  them.  The  week 
betAveen  the  21st  and  28th  of  July  had  brought  with 
it  an  amount  of  knowledge  of  the  circumstances 
which  surrounded  him  very  fatal  to  the  sanguine 
views  which  he  had  encouraged  on  his  first  arrival  at 
Cawnpore.  On  the  28th  he  was  at  Mungalwur — ^it  can- 
not be  said  encamped.  That  he  might  move  as  lightly 
and  rapidly  as  possible,  he  had  advanced  without  the 
impediment  of  tents.  "  Some, "  it  has  been  narrated  by 
an  officer  of  the  force,  "  were  fortunate  enough  to 
get  native  huts ;  some  managed  to  get  native  vaults, 
in  which  over-crowding  was  the  rule;  whUe  the  Sikh 
soldiers  ingeniously  rigged  up  thatched  huts  for 
themselves,  "f    There  was  need,  for  the  rain  fell,  day 

•  See  the  following  extract  from  drous  news  was  trne." — "  Many 
Mr.  Martin  Gubbns's  "  Mutinies  in  persons  had  entertained  great  doubt 
Oudh."  On  the  22nd  or  23rd  of  Julj,  of  the  truth  of  Ungud's  information, 
the  trusty  spy  TJngud  arrived  with  But  their  doubts  were  happily  re- 
tidings  of  Havelock's  arrival  at  moved  by  his  reappearance  at  my 
Cawnpore.  "We  had,  it  will  be  post  on  the  night  of  the  25th  of 
remembered,"  says  the  Financial  July ;  and  this  time  he  brought  a 
Commissioner,  "received  no  single  letter.  It  was  a  reply  by  Colonel 
iota  of  intelligence  since  the  siege  Eraser  Tytler  to  the  letter  which 
began ;  and  now  Ungud  recounted  Ungud  had  carried  from  me,  and 
to  us  the  marvellous  tale  of  a  hand-  confirmed  the  intelligence  which 
ful  of  men  under  Havelock  having  Ungud  had  previously  given  me. 
defeated  the  Nana  in  three  engage-  Colonel  Tytler  wrote  that  the  Ce- 
ments, and  being  actually  at  uie  neral's  force  was  sufficient  to  defeat 
moment  master  of  Cawnpore.  The  the  enemy,  that  the  troops  were 
news  was  astounding.  We  had  all  then  crossing  the  river,  and  that  we 
along  been  expecting  that  the  Nana  might  hope  to  meet  in  five  or  six 
would  cross  the  river  and  join  the  days." 

besieging  force,  if  he  had  not  ac-  f  Calcutta   Review,   vol.  xxxii., 

tu  ally  done  so  abreadv.    I  examined  Article,  "Havelock's  Indian  Cam- 

TJngud  strictly,  and  came  to   the  paign." 
conclusion  thai  the  joyful  and  won- 


416  KE-OCCUFATION  OF  CAWNPORE. 

1857.  after  day,  in  torrents,  after  the  manner  of  an  Indian 
Julj28.  July,  and  cholera  had  broken  out  in  the  force. 
There  was  nothing  to  cheer  or  to  animate  the  leader 
but  the  one  hope  of  saving  the  garrison  of  Lucknow. 
"  I  have  this  morning,"  wrote  Havelock  to  Sir  Patrick 
Grant,  who  had  suggested  that  the  enterprise  was  a 
hazardous  one,  "  received  a  plan  of  Lucknow  from 
Major  Anderson,  engineer  in  that  garrison,  and  much 
valuable  information  in  two  memoranda,  which  es- 
caped the  enemy's  outpost  troops,  and  were  partly 
written  in  Greek  characters.*  These  communica- 
tions, and  much  information  orally  derived  from 
spies,  convince  me  of  the  extreme  delicacy  anddiffi- 
culty  of  any  operation  to  relieve  Colonel  Inglis,  now 
commanding  in  Lucknow.  It  shall  be  attempted, 
however,  at  every  risk,  and  the  result  faithfully  re- 
ported."! 
The  advance  3o  Havclock  marched  on — Cawnpore  with  its 
into  Oude.  ghastly  memories  behind  him  ;  before  him,  at  Luck- 
^^  now,  the  great  horror  of  a  catastrophe  still  more 
tragic  and  overwhelming;  around  him  everywhere 
a  multitude  of  mutinous  soldiers  and  an  armed 
population,  hostile  to  the  core ;  and  with  him  only 
the  fearlessness  of  the  Englishman  to  make  head- 
way against  these  terrific  odds. 

*  These  had  been  brought    by        f  Marshroan's  Life  of  Hayclock. 
Ungud,  the  spy,  of  whom  mention 
has  been  made  in  a  former  note. 


''•MiiMWi 


«■ 


TH£  PUNJAB  AND  DELHI.  417 


BOOK  VI.— THE  PUNJAB  AND  DELHI. 

[Mat— July,  1857.] 


CHAPTER  L 

GENERAL  COJTDITION  OP  THB  PUNJAB — SOURCE  OP  DANGER — ^BRITISH  RE- 
LATIONS VITH  APGHANISTAN — CAUSES  OP  CONPIDENCE — MONTGOMERY 
AT  LAHORE — EVENTS  AT  MEEAN-MEER — SERYICES  OP  BRIGADIER  CORBBTT 
— DISARMING  OP  THE  NATIVE  REGIMENTS — RELIEP  OP  THE  PORT  OP 
LAHORE— EVENTS  AT  UMRITSUR  AND  G0VINDGHX7R — THB  MUTINIES  AT 
PEROZEPORE  AND  PHILLOUR, 

Although  to  Lord  Canning  it  had  appeared  that  May,  1857. 
the  most  formidable  dangers  which  threatened  the  Stet?  of  the 
security  of  the  Anglo-Indian  Empire  took  shape  in  ^^^^  ' 
the  lower  countries,  because  those  countries  were 
almost  wholly  destitute  of  the  defence  of  European 
troops,  he  saw  far  off,  at  the  furthest  extremity 
of  our  British  dominions,  other  great  perils  scarcely 
less  in  degree,  but  of  a  widely  different  kind,  and 
counteracted  by  more  favourable  conditions.  In  the 
lower  provinces  he  feared  the  malice  of  the  Native 
soldiery.  In  the  Punjab  he  dreaded,  most  of  all,  the 
enmity  of  the  people.  Sepoy  regiments  were  scattered 
all  over  the  Sikh  country;  but  the  province  was, 
indeed,  the  great  European  garrison  of  British  India. 
The  strength  of  English  manhood  may  have  been 
slight  in  relation  to  the  actual  defensive  requirements 
of  our  frontier-province  abutting  upon  the  Afghan 
country,  from  which,  even  from  remote  periods,  suc- 

VOL.  II.  2  B 


418  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  ceeding  dynasties  had  looked  for  the  stream  of  foreign 
May.  invasion — small,  too,  in  comparison  with  the  nume- 
rical power  of  the  Native  regiments,  regular  and 
irregular,  which  were  posted  in  all  parts  of  the 
Punjab.  But  even  with  the  m3rsterious  failure  of 
Meerut  before  his  eyes,  the  Governor-General  was  full 
of  confidence  when  he  counted  up  the  European 
regiments  on  the  frontier,  and  felt  that  they  might 
overawe  the  Sepoys.  Yet  he  could  not  help  regard- 
ing with  some  disquieting  apprehensions  the  state  of 
the  general  population  of  the  province.  Little  more 
than  seven  years  had  passed  since  the  Empu^e  of 
Kunjeet  Singh  had  been  brought  under  the  yoke  of 
the  English.  The  State  had  been  overthrown  by  the 
soldiery.  It  was  the  license  of  its  military  bands 
that  had  unintentionally  opened  to  us  the  gates  of  the 
country  of  the  Five  Rivers,  and  the  same  power,  re- 
vived or  reawakened,  might  now  cast  us  out,  and  re- 
store for  a  while  the  dynasty  of  the  Singhs.  Men  of 
the  most  sanguine  temperament,  inflated  well-nigh  to 
bursting  with  national  self-love,  could  hardly  believe 
that  the  Sirdars  of  the  Punjab,  who  had  lost  so  much 
by  the  conquest  of  their  country,  had  become  wholly 
reconciled  to  British  rule  and  eager  to  perpetuate  it. 
The  truth  embodied  in  a  few  pregnant  words  by  the 
greatest  master  of  common  sense  that  the  world  has 
Bacon.  ever  seen — "  So  many  overthrown  estates,  so  many 
votes  for  troubles" — could  not  be  ignored  at  such  a 
time.  Then  there  was  that  other  great  fount  of 
danger — "disbanded  soldiery" — ^which  might  send 
forth  a  sudden  torrent  to  swell  the  great  stream  of 
trouble.*  "Walled  towns,  stored  arsenals  and  armories, 

*  The  nnmbere,  however,  must  medans,  4000  hill  Rajpoots,  4000 

not  be  exaggerated.   The  remains  of  Hindostanees,  and  1000  Goorkahs. 

the  PoDJabee  Army,  arter  the  second  About  4000  of  these  old  soldiers 

Sikh  war,  probably  did  not  exceed  were  enlisted  into  the  Punjab  Irre- 

26,000  men.  Of  these  about  10,000  ^ular  Force,  and  an  equal  number 

were  Sikhs,  7000  Punjabee  Maho-  into  the  Military  Police. 


EXTERNAL  DANGERS.  419 

goodly  races  of  horse,  chariots  of  Var,  elephants,  1857. 
ordnance,  artillery,  and  the  like,"  wrote  the  same  ^^*J^- 
great  master—"  all  this  is  but  a  sheep  in  lion's  skin, 
except  the  breed  and  disposition  of  the  people  be 
stout  and  warlike."  The  breed  and  disposition  of  the 
Sikhs  were  stout  and  warlike.  We  could  not  regard 
with  contempt  the  military  prowess  of  the  nation 
which  had  sent,  forth  the  men  who,  in  the  great 
battles  of  the  Sutlej,  had  taxed  to  the  utmost  the 
skill  and  valour  of  Hardinge  and  Gough,  with  the 
,  best  troops  of  the  British  Empire  at  their  back,  and 
had  driven  our  Dragoons  like  sheep  before  them  on 
the  plain  of  Chillianwallah. 

Nor  was  the  only  danger  which  threatened  the 
position  of  the  British  in  our  great  frontier  province, 
that  which  glared  upon  us  from  the  Punjab  itself. 
Beyond  the  border  were  turbulent  tribes,  occupying 
the  Afghan  passes,  whom  it  had  been  our  policy  now 
to  bribe,  now  to  awe,  into  submission.  An  irruption 
of  these  predatory  hordes  into  the  plain  of  Peshawur 
would  have  caused  widespread  confusion,  in  the 
midst  of  which  bodies  of  Afghan  Horse,  led,  perhaps, 
by  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Barukzye  family  of  Caubul, 
might  have  streamed  down  upon  our  position,  and 
burying,  as  they  had  before  done,  all  jealousies  and 
animosities  in  the  grave  of  a  common  purpose,  might 
have  allied  themselves  with  the  Sikhs,  and  swept  the 
English  out  of  the  country.  But  thinking  of  this, 
Lord  Canning  thought  also  of  the  recent  subsidiary 
treaty  with  Dost  Mahomed,  of  the  friendship  that  had 
been  outwardly  established  between  the  two  nations, 
and,  above  all,  of  the  fact  that  the  strongest  feelings 
of  self-interest  dictated  to  the  Ameer  a  course  of 
neutrality  at  such  a  time,  and  that  love  of  English 
money  was  stronger  than  hatred  of  the  English  race. 

2  e2 


420  FIEST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1^67.  Thankfully  and  hopefully,  he  remembered  the  wise 
^•J«  advice  of  Edwardes  and  the  admirable  diplomacy  of 
Lawrence;*  and  he  ceased  to  be  troubled  by  the 
thought  of  an  Afghan  invasion,  tremendous  as  would 
have  been  the  disaster  if  it  had  come  upon  us  at  such 
a  time. 

There  were  some  other  circumstances,  too,  in  our 
favour.  The  population  of  the  Punjab  was  a  mixed 
population.  There  were  national  and  religious  diver- 
sities, which  forbade  the  imion  and  concentration 
which  give  force  even  to  the  feeble.  In  other  parts 
of  our  Empire  there  were  diversities  of  faith,  but  long 
contact  had  rubbed  off  the  angularities  which  kept 
them  apart,  and  in  the  Hindooised  Mahomedan,  or 
the  Mahomedanised  Hindoo,  might  be  seen  something 
almost  amounting  to  fusion.  But  there  was  a  gulf  be- 
tween thte  Sikhs  and  the  Mahomedans  of  the  Punjab 
— ^between  both  and  the  people  of  Hindostan.  The 
Sikhs  learnt  with  no  feeling  of  joy  or  sympathy 
that  the  King  of  Delhi  had  been  proclaimed  in  his  old 
capital,  and  that  Mahomedanii^m  was  likely  again  to 
be  dominant  in  Upper  India.  They  called  to  mind  ex- 
citing national  prophecies,  which  said  that  the  Sikhs 
would  some  day  stream  down  to  the  sack  of  Delhi ; 
and  the  old  greed  of  plunder  was  revived  strenuously 
within  them.  It  might  be  better  for  them,  at  first,  to 
cast  in  their  lot  with  the  Feringhees,  whose  hour 
would  come  sooner  or  later ;  it  was  too  soon  to  strike 
then.  There  was  some  comfort  in  this  thought.  There 
was  comfort,  too,  in  the  remembrance  that  the  Punjab 
had  been  disarmed;  that  the  warlike  population  of 
the  conquered  .country  no  longer  went  about  with 
swords  at  their  sides,  or  had  firelocks  stored  in  their 
houses.     In  all  such  cases  it  is  probable  that  the  dls- 

*  Jnte,  ToL  i.  pp.  432,  et  seg. 


FAVOURABLE  CONDITIONS.  421 

armament  is  but  partial;  for  whilst  the  searchings  of  1857. 
authority  are  active,  many  implements  of  war  are  ^^^' 
buried  in  the  ground,  or  hidden  in  stacks  or  thatches, 
ready  to  be  exhumed  or  extracted  from  their  hiding- 
places,  if  necessity  for  their  use  should  arise.  Still  the 
danger  from  that  source — of  many  arms  in  the  hands 
of  men  knowing  how  to  use  them — ^though  not,  per- 
haps, wholly  removed,  had  been  greatly  diminished ; 
and  in  numerous  instances  the  sword  had  been  turned 
into  the  ploughshare  or  the  reaping-hook,  and  soldiers 
had  settled  down  into  the  peaceful  ways  of  agri- 
cultural life.  That  they  felt  the  benefits  of  a  strong 
and  a  just  Government  after  the  years  of  unrest  which 
had  followed  the  death  of  Runjeet  Singh  is  not  to  be 
doubted ;  and  theic  martial  instincts  might  have  been 
dying  out  under  the  subduing  influences  of  a  reign  of 
order. 

These  circumstances  were  to  be  counted  up  in  our 
favour ;  and  there  was  one  more  to  be  added  to  the 
account.  As  the  country  below  the  Sutlej  had  been 
well-nigh  swept  of  its  military  strength  to  garrison 
the  Punjab,  so  also  might  it  be  said  that  the  lower 
provinces  had  been  drained  of  the  best  energies  of  the 
political  and  civil  branches  of  the  service  to  govern 
and  to  administer  it.  Lord  Canning,  ever  hopeful 
and  sanguine ;  and,  manly  himself,  appreciating  the  ^ 
power  of  individual  manhood  in  others,  looked  confi- 
dently  towards  the  country  in  which  John  Lawrence 
and  his  lieutenants  stood  vigilant  and  ready  for 
action.  Resolute  that  the  Punjab  should  in  all  senses 
be  a  success,  Lord  Dalhousie  had  looked  around  him 
for  men  of  good  performance  and  of  good  promise, 
and  the  flower  of  the  two  services  was  planted  there 
when  he  handed  over  the  Government  of  India  to  his 
supQessor,     There  Robert  Montgomery  «,iid  Ponal4 


422  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  Macleod,  afterwards  Chief  Rulers  of  the  Province, 
^y*  filled  the  places  next  in  rank  to  the  Chief  Commis- 
sionership.  There  Thornton  and  Roberts,  Barnes  and 
Ricketts,  of  the  one  service — ^Edwardes  and  Nicholson, 
Becher  and  Lake,  Taylor  and  James,  of  the  other,  and 
many  other  resolute  and  sagacious  men,  were  teaching 
the  people  to  respect  and  love  them.  There,  too,  was 
that  famous  Pimjab  Irregular  Force  raised  by  the 
Lawrences,  and  commanded  by  Neville  Chamber- 
lain, with  picked  oflSlcers  under  him — men  such  as 
Coke,  Wilde,  Daly,  and  others  of  the  same  stamp— a 
force  of  horse  and  foot,  trained  alike  to  activity  and 
to  endurance  amidst  the  difficulties  of  a  mountain 
frontier  eight  hundred  miles  in  extent,  and  little 
likely,  it  was  believed,  to  sympathise  with  the  Poor- 
beah  regiments  of  Hindostan .  If  anywhere  through- 
out  our  Indian  dominions  confidence  could  be  placed 
in  the  men  whose  lot  it  would  be  to  grapple  with 
the  dangers  rising  up  before  them,  it  was  in  the  "  pet 
province"  of  Lord  Dalhousie.  No  man  knew  better 
than  Lord  Canning  how  all  might  be  lost  by  indi- 
vidual feebleness,  or  all  might  be  won  by  individual 
strength.  All  had  been  lost  at  Meerut  and  Delhi ; 
but  he  had  abundant  faith  in  Lawrence  and  in  those 
who  worked  under  him  in  the  Punjab  ;  and  as  days 
passed,  and  he  learnt,  somewhat  slowly  by  reason 
of  postal  and  te.legraphic  interruptions,  the  events 
which  were  developing  themselves  in  that  province, 
he  felt  more  and  more  assuredly  that  his  confidence 
was  not  misplaced.  Of  these  events  I  now  proceed 
to  speak. 


Lawrence  at       The  Summer  heats  had  driven  Sir  John  Lawrence 
Kndee.        ^^^^  Lahore.    The  ceaseless  labour  of  years  had 


ROBERT  MONTGOMERY.  423 

weakened  a  robust  frame  and  impaired  a  naturally  1857. 
strong  constitution.  A  visit  to  England  had  been  re-  ^y* 
commended  to  him ;  but  with  that  great  love  of  his 
work,  which  was  shared  by  all  who  worked  under 
him  in  the  Punjab,  he  was  reluctant  to  leave  the 
country  so  long  as  he  could  do  his  duty  with  manifest 
advantage  to  the  State.  But  he  had  recognised  the 
necessity  of  consenting  to  a  compromise,  and  going 
out  half-way  to  meet  the  urgency  of  the  case.*  There 
were  cool  and  pleasant  places  -within  the  range  of  the 
great  province  which  he  administered — places  in 
which  he  might  do  his  work,  during  the  extreme 
heats  of  the  sununer  weather,  without  the  waste  of 
strength,  which  could  not  be  arrested  at  Lahore.  So 
he  had  been  wont,  in  the  month  of  May,  to  repair  to 
the  refreshing  slopes  of  the  Murree  Hills ;  and  thither 
he  was  this  year  bound,  when  the  first  tidings  of  the 
disastrous  events  at  Meerut  and  Delhi  were  brought 
by  telegraph  to  the  Punjab.  Then  he  stood  fast  at 
Rawul-Pindee,  a  spot  from  which  he  could  observe 
well  all  that  was  passing  in  the  Punjab,  and  looking 
down,  as  it  were,  from  an  eminence  on  the  varied 
scene  below,  could  issue  mandates  to  his  lieutenants 
all  over  the  country,  and  make  his  presiding  genius 
felt  beyond  the  limits  of  the  province  he  governed. 

Next  in  authority  to  the  Chief  Commissioner  was  May  11—12. 
the  Judicial  Commissioner.     Mr.   Robert  Montgo- Montgomery 
mery  was  a  Bengal  civilian  of  thirty  years'  stand-  *       ^^' 
ing  in  the  service.     A  member  of  a  good  Irish  Pro- 
testant  family,  he  had  been  taught  and  disciplined  in 
early  youth  at  that  school  which  had  imparted  the 
rudiments  of  education  to  the  Lawrences.    There,  on 

*  On  the  13th  of  May,  Sir  John  night  before  last  I  put  some  aconite 

Lawrence,  in  a  letter  to  Colonel  on  my  temple.  It  is  a  deadly  poison. 

Edwardes,  wrote :    "  I   have  been  In  the  night  it  worked  into  my  eye, 

yery  unwell  an4  unable  to  write.  The  and  I  was  nearly  blinded." 


424  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  the  banks  of  the  Foyle,  these  young  contemporaries 
^*y*  had  become  familiar  with  the  stirring  watch- words  of 
Deny:  "No  surrender!"  There,  if  they  did  not 
acquire  much  classic  lore,  they  laid  broad  and  deep 
the  foundations  of  a  manly  character.  Hardy,  robust, 
and  well-disciplined,  they  went  forth  into  the  world 
by  different  paths ;  but  time  brought  the  Derry  boys 
again  together  to  sit  beside  each  other  on  the  same 
Bench,  and  to  learn  the  same  great  lessons.  When 
the  Lahore  Board  of  Administration  was  dissolved, 
Henry  and  John  Lawrence  and  Robert  Montgomery 
were  its  members.  On  the  institution  of  the  new  ad- 
ministrative system,  under  the  Chief  Commissioner- 
ship  of  John  Lawrence,  Mr.  Montgomery  became 
Judicial  Commissioner.*  There  were  some  charac- 
teristic differences  between  him  and  his  chief;  but 
they  lay  mainly  on  the  surface.  An  unmistakable 
benevolence  of  aspect,  and  a  rare  gentleness  of 
manner,  might  have  led  some  to  suppose  that  he  was 
one  made  to  shine  only  in  quiet  times  and  in  happy 
circumstances.  But  the  genial  smile  and  the  kindly 
voice,  which  won  all  hearts,  denoted  not  the  absence 
of  that  resolute  will  and  that  stern  courage  which 
spoke  out  so  plainly  in  the  look  and  bearing  of  the 
Chief  Commissioner.  It  only  needed  a  great  occasion 
to  show  that  he  could  be  hard  as  a  rock  and  cruel  as 
steel  to  resist  the  oppressions  of  the  proud,  and  to 
smite  the  persecutors  of  our  race.  Ajid  those  who 
knew  him  best  said  of  him  that  it  was  a  fortunate 

*  During  the  existence  of  the  Lawrence ;  but,  at  a  later  period, 

Lahore   Board   of  Administration,  his  measures  both  in  Oade  and  the 

Montgomery,  who  was  a  civilian  of  Punjab  indicated  his  mature  acoept- 

the  Tnomasonian  school,  who  had  ance  of  the  principles  and  policy  of 

graduated    in   the    North- Western  the  latter.  luJio  one  have  the  Native 

rrovinces,  concurred  in  the  opinions  aristocracy  found  a  more  generous 

and  supported  the  views  of  John  advocate  than  in  Sir  llobert  Monti 

more  frequently  than  those  of  Heiu^  gomery, 


LAHORE  AND  MEEAN-MEER.  425 

circumstance  that  they  had  then  at  Lahore,  as  chief     l®^''- 
director  of  affairs,  one  who  was  a  man  of  impuke,        *^' 
with  whom  to  think  was   to  act,  and  whose  very 
defects,  including  a  want  of  caution  and  circumspec- 
tion, were  of  a  kind  to  be  essentially  serviceable  in 
such  a  conjuncture. 

The  hour  of  the  great  crisis  found  Mr.  Mont- State  of  the 
gomery  at  the  civil  station  of  AnarkuUee,  situated  Meean-Meer. 
at  the  distance  of  a  mile  from  the  Punjabee  capital. 
In  the  city  of  Lahore  itself  there  was  a  mixed  popula- 
tion, numbering  nearly  a  hundred  thousand,  the  most 
numerous  classes  being  Sikhs  and  Mahomedans,  many 
of  them  born  soldiers.  The  Fort,  which  was  within 
the  walls  of  the  city,  was  garrisoned  by  a  company 
of  an  European  regiment,  some  details  of  European 
Artillery,  and  half  a  regiment  of  Sepoys.  These 
detachments  for  garrison  duty  were  relieved  at  fixed 
intervals,  and  returned  to  the  Cantonment  of  Meean- 
Meer,  six  miles  from  Lahore,  where  the  great  bulk  of 
our  military  force  was  posted.  At  that  station  were 
three  regiments  of  Native  Infantry  and  a  regiment  of 
Native  Cavalry,  watched  by  the  Eighty-first  Foot  and 
two  troops  of  European  Horse  Artillery.  Two  of  the 
Sepoy  regiments  were  among  the  most  distinguished 
in  the  service.  The  Sixteenth  Grenadiers  was  one  of 
the  "beautiful  regiments"  which  had  fought  under 
Nott  against  the  Afghans  of  Candahar,  and  the 
Twenty-sixth  had  done  so  well  under  Pollock,  that 
Lord  EUenborough  had  made  it  a  Light  Infantry 
corps.  The  other  Native  regiments  were  the  Forty- 
ninth  Infantry  and  the  Eighth  Cavalry.  Roughly 
computed,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Native  troops  out- 
numbered the  Europeans  as  four  to  one. 

On  Monday,  the  11th  of  May,  it  was  known  at     Maj  ll^ 
Lahore  that  the  Meerut  regimei^ts  bad  revolted.    Oii 


426  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  the  morning  of  the  12th  came  the  still  more  exciting 
^y  ^^'  intelligence  that  Delhi  was  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels. 
The  tremendous  significance  of  these  tidings  was  not 
likely  to  be  underrated  by  a  man  of  Montgomery's 
intelligence  and  experience.  ,  But  it  did  not  bewilder 
him  for  a  moment.  He  saw  clearly  that  the  safety  of 
India  depended  at  such  a  time  on  the  salvation  of  the 
Punjab.  The  Punjab  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and 
all  Upper  India  must  be  lost.  It  was  certain  that  the 
great  arsenal  of  Delhi  had  gone  from  us ;  it  was  im- 
possible to  exaggerate  the  helplessness  of  the  English 
if  the  magazines  of  the  Punjab  and  the  adjacent  ter- 
ritories were  also  to  be  wrested  from  them.  Any 
success  on  the  part  of  the  Regular  Sepoy  regiments 
might  stimulate  all  the  Irregular  battalions  in  the 
Punjab  to  revolt,  and  this  might  be  followed  by  a 
rising  of  the  people.  But  it  was  not  equally  clear 
how  this  gigantic  evil  was  to  be  arrested.  Under- 
standing well  the  Native  character,  Montgomery 
knew  that  the  Sepoy  was  not  less  likely  to  be  driven 
into  hostility  by  his  fears  than  by  his  resentments. 
It  might,  therefore,  be  the  safer  course  to  keep  things 
quiet,  and  to  betray  no  symptom  of  suspicion.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  was  impossible  to  overrate  the 
advantage  of  striking  the  first  blow.  The  party  that 
is  first  to  be  the  party  of  action  has  a  double  chance 
of  success. 

But  the  general  knowledge  that  there  was  a  spirit 
of  mutiny  in  the  Bengal  Army  might  not  have  in- 
duced the  authorities  at  Lahore  to  take  the  initiative, 
and  might  not  have  justified  them  in  doing  it,  if 
there  had  been  no  particular  knowledge  of  local  dis- 
affection among  the  Punjabee  troops.  This  know- 
ledge, however,  had  been  obtained.  On  a  suggestion 
from  Mr.  Montgomery,  Captain  Richard  Lawrence, 


SYMPTOMS  OF  SEDITION.  427 

Chief  of  the  Police  and  Thuggee  Departments  in  the  1857. 
Punjab,  had  commissioned  the  head-writer  of  the  May  12. 
Thuggee  office,  a  Brahmin  of  Oude,  to  ascertain  the 
feelings  and  intentions  of  the  Lahore  troops.  A  fitter 
agent  could  not  have  been  employed,  for  his  were 
both  the  country  and  the  caste  of  the  most  influential 
of  the  Poorbeah  Sepoys.  He  did  his  work  loyally 
and  well.  Scrupulous  as  he  was,  on  the  score  of 
caste,  as  any  Brahmin  in  the  service,  he  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  treacherous  machinations  of  men  who 
were  eating  the  salt  of  the  British  Government,  and 
were  under  the  kindly  care  of  its  officers ;  and  he 
brought  back  to  Richard  Lawrence,  after  brief  but 
satisfying  inquiry,  tidings  that  the  regiments  at 
Meean-Meer  were  ripe  for  revolt.  '^  Sahib,"  said  the 
faithful  Brahmin,  "  they  are  full  ofjissad* — they  are 
up  to  this  in  it;"  and  he  laid  his  hand  upon  his 
throat.  It  was  plain  that  they  were  only  waiting  for 
information  from  the  countries  below  to  break  into 
open  mutiny. 

In  this  conjuncture  Montgomery  took  counsel  with  The  ConncU 
his  colleagues — the  chief  civilians  and  staff-officers  at  f^,  '**^'^^^- 
Anarkullee,  who  assembled  in  the  house  of  Macpher- 
son,  the  Military  Secretary.  They  were  Mr.  Donald 
Macleod,  Mr.  Egerton,  Colonel  Ommaney,  Mr.  Ro- 
berts, Captains  Macpherson,  Richard  Lawrence,  and 
Waterloo  Hutchinson.  There  was  an  animated  dis- 
cussion. Macpherson  had  already  talked  the  matter 
over  with  Robert  Montgomery,  and  they  had  agreed 
that  it  would  be  expedient  to  deprive  the  Sepoys  of 
their  anmiunition.  It  was  now  suggested  by  the 
former  that  this  should  be  done — that  the  ammuni- 
tion should  be  lodged  in  store,  and  that  the  regiments 
should  be  told  that,  as  they  had  obviously  much 

*  Sedition. 


428  FIKST  CONFUCTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  anxiety  with  respect  to  the  greased  cartridges,  it  was 
May  12.  the  order  of  the  Government  that  all  ground  of  alarm 
should  be  removed  for  the  present  by  leaving  them 
without  any  ammunition  at  all.  On  this  Richard 
Lawrence  said,  "  I  would  disarm  them  altogether ;" 
to  whicH  Macpherson  replied  that  it  was  scarcely 
probable  that  the  military  authorities  would  consent 
to  such  a  measure.  After  some  further  discussion, 
Montgomery  determined  that  he  and  Macpherson 
should  drive  over  to  the  military  station  and  propose 
to  the  Brigadier,  at  any  rate,  to  deprive  the  Native 
regiments  of  their  ammunition.  In  ordinary  course 
of  affairs,  the  Chief  Commissioner  would  have  been 
consulted.  But  there  was  an  interruption  of  the  tele- 
graphic communication  between  Lahore  and  Rawul- 
Pindee ;  so  the  responsibility  of  deciding  upon  imme- 
diate action  rested  with  Montgomery,  and  he  cheer- 
fully undertook  it.' 
Briber  The  Station  of  Meean-Meer  was  then  in  military 

charge  of  Brigadier  Stuart  Corbett,  an  officer  of  the 
Indian  Army,  who  had  served  the  Company  for 
nearly  forty  years,  but  had  lost  but  little  of  the  bodily 
and  none  of  the  mental  vigour  of  his  prime ;  and  it 
was  a  happy  circumstance  that  he  had  none  of  that 
incapacity  to  grasp  strange  incidents  and  new  situa- 
tions— ^none  of  that  timid  shrinking  from  respon- 
sibility— which  is  so  often  evinced  by  feeble  minds, 
trammelled  by  the  associations  of  long  years  of  con- 
vention and  routine.  A  happy  circumstance,  indeed, 
that  to  such  a  man  Montgomery  now  communicated 
the  alarming  tidings  which  had  been  received  from 
Meerut  and  Delhi.  Corbett  saw  at  once  that  there 
was  a  pressing  necessity  for  prompt  and  vigorous 
action ;  and  though,  at  first,  knowing  well  the  feel- 
ings of  the  officers  und^r  his  command^  he  cQuld  not; 


Corbett. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  DI8ABMIN6.  429 

embrace  the  bold  project  of  disarming  the  troops,  3857 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  adopt  the  proposal  to  render  ^^J^^- 
the  Native  regiments  comparatively  harmless  by  the 
seizure  of  their  ammunition.  But,  as  the  day  ad- 
vanced, he  began  to  doubt  whether  the  precautionary 
measures  on  which  they  had  resolved  in  the  morn- 
ing would  suffice  for  such  an  emergency.  So  he 
wrote  to  Macpherson  in  brief  decided  language,  more 
emphatic  than  official,  saying  that  he  would  "  go  the 
whole  hog"  and  disarm  the  troops  altogether.  And 
Montgomery  readily  consented  to  the  proposal.* 

It  was  a  bold  measure,  and  to  be  accomplished  The  Station 
only  by  secrecy  and  suddenness.     But  neither  Mont- 

*  It  has  been  stated,  and  upon  prepared  to  break  into  rebellion,  and 
authority  commonly  trustworthy —  that  everywhere  their  first  measure 
that  of '  Mr.  Gaye-'Browne,  in  his  would  be  the  seizure  of  our  maga- 
very  valuable  work,  "  The  Punjab  zines.  The  authority  for  this  story 
and  Delhi  in  1857'' — that  it  was  the  was  a  Sikh  police-officer  -  said  to  be 
consideration  of  a  more  pressing  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelli- 
local  danger  that  caused  the  extreme  gence,  and  of  undoubted  loyalty  to 
measure  of  disarming  the  troops  to  the  British  Government — who  had 
be  agreed  upon.  It  is  said  that  in-  communicated  it  to  Richard  Law- 
telligence  had  been  received  to  the  rence.  But  after  a  very  searching 
effect  tiiat  the  Sepoy  regiments  had  inquiry  into  the  events  of  that  morn- 
conspired  to  seize  tiie  fort  of  Lahore,  ing  at  Meean-Meer,  I  have  been 
It  was  garrisoned,  as  above  related,  compelled  to  discard  the  whole  story, 
bv  some  European  Infantry  and  Ar-  so  far  at  least  as  concerns  its  alleged 
tillery,  and  a  wing  of  a  Native  regi-  effect  upon  the  minds  of  Montgomery 
ment.  During  the  first  half  of  tne  and  Corbett,  and  the  consequent  dis- 
month  of  May,  the  Twenty-sixth  arming  of  the  troops.  Mr.  Browne 
were  on  garrison  duty ;  but  on  the  says  that  God's  mercy  in  permitting 
15th  of  the  month  tiiey  were  to  be  the  timely  discovery  of  this  plot 
relieved  by  the  Forty-ninth.  And  it  "  alone  saved  hundreds  from  the 
was  agreed  that  the  wing  marching  snare  laid  for  them."  But  there  are 
out  and  the  wing  marching  in— more  grave  doubts  as  to  the  existence  of 
than  a  thousand  men  in  all — should  the  plot,  and  it  was  not  even  talked 
turn  upon  the  Europeans  and  slay  of  until  q/ter  the  measure  of  disarm- 
them ;  and  then,  at  a  given  signal  to  ing  the  troops  had  been  agreed  upon, 
be  seen  from  a  distance,  the  Bepoys  What  Richard  Lawrence,  Gaptam  of 
at  Meean-Meer  should  rise,  massacre  Police,  really  ascertained,  at  Mont- 
their  officers,  seize  the  guns,  fire  ^omery's  suggestion,  was  that  which 
the  Cantonments,  and  release  adl  the  is  stated  in  the  text.  And  it  is 
prisoners  in  the  gaol.  Nor  was  tiie  the  belief  both  of  Montgomery  and 
rising  to  be  confined  to  Meean-Meer.  Richard  Lawrence,  as  viow  before 
It  was  believed  that  at  Umritsur,  at  me  under  their  own  hands,  that  no 
Eerozepore,  at  Phillour,  and  Jullund-  new  information  of  any  kind  caused 
hur  the  Sepoy  regiments  were  alike  Corbett  to  adopt  the  bolder  coarse. 


430  FIEST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  gomery  nor  Corbett  doubted  for  a  moment  that  a 
May  12— 13.  gjjjgj^  white  regiment,  with  a  good  complement  of 
European  Artillery,  resolutely  commanded  and  skil- 
fully handled,  coiJd  overawe  the  Native  Brigade,  and 
force  them  to  lay  down  their  arms.  A  general  parade 
was,  therefore,  ordered  for  the  following  morning. 
There  was  nothing  in  it  to  invite  suspicion.  Every- 
thing went  on  as  usual  in  Cantonments.  A  ball  was 
that  evening  to  be  given  by  the  officers  of  the  station 
to  Colonel  Renny  and  the  officers  of  the  Eighty-first 
Foot.  All  suggestions  as  to  its  postponement  were 
wisely  set  aside.  Nothing  was  to  be  done  to  excite 
suspicion.  The  Sepoys  of  Meean-Meer,  and  their 
brethren  of  all  classes,  were  to  see  that  the  English 
were  feasting  and  dancing  in  total  unconcern,  as  ever 
conscious  of  their  strength  and  confident  in  their 
security.  So  the  rooms  of  the  Artillery  Mess-House 
were  lighted  up  at  the  appointed  time;  and  hosts 
and  guests  assembled  as  though  bent  only  on  the 
enjoyment  of  the  hour.  A  few  there  knew  what  was 
coming  in  the  morning,  and  others  had  a  vague  im- 
pression of  an  impending  danger — ^an  approaching 
crisis — ^that  might  turn  that  gaily  decorated  ball-room 
into  a  grim  battle-field.  Some  vague  reports  passed 
from  one  to  another  about  the  muster  of  which  they 
had  read  in  the  order-book ;  and  the  more  suspicious 
were  well  pleased  to  think  that  they  could  lay  their 
hands  upon  their  swords  in  a  moment.  The  greater 
number  neither  knew  nor  suspected,  but  grumbled, 
saying  that  it  was  an  inconsiderate  and  unkindly 
thing  at  best  to  order  a  general  parade  for  the  morn- 
ing after  a  ball.  And  so  they  danced  on  into  the 
small  hours  of  the  morning,  and  saw  their  wives 
and  daughters  home,  as  though  there  were  nothing  to 
disturb  the  smooth  surface  of  ordinary  events.    The 


THE  REGIMENTS  BISAfiMED.  431 

Native  sentries  posted  here  and  there  in  Cantonments  1^57. 
saw  nothing  in  the  movements  of  the  English  to  indi-  ^  * 
cate  anxiety  or  mistrust.  If  the  Sepoys  had,  as  was 
alleged,  really  planned  the  destruction  of  the  English 
at  Meean-Meer,  they  must  have  rejoiced  in  the  thought 
that  their  victims,  utterly  regardless  of  their  doom, 
were  going  blindfold  to  the  shambles. 

But  when  the  hours  of  morning-darkness  were  May  13. 
past,  and  day  had  dawned  upon  Meean-Meer,  other  ^^^^JScI 
thoughts  than  these  took  possession  of  the  Sepoy 
mind.  The  Brigade  assembled  on  the  parade-ground. 
There  was  nothing  peculiar  in  the  appearance  of  that 
assembly,  except  that  Montgomery,  Roberts,  and 
others  of  the  chief  civil  officers  from  Anarkullee,  were 
to  be  seen  mounted  on  the  ground.*  Every  soldier 
obeyed  the  orders  that  were  issued  to  him.  The 
regiments  were  drawn  up  in  line  of  contiguous 
columns.  The  Artillery  and  Eighty-first  (not  num- 
bering more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  men)  were 
on  the  right,  the  Native  Cavalry  on  the  left,  and  the 
Infantry  regiments  in  the  centre ;  the  white  men  ap- 
pearing as  a  mere  dot  beside  the  long  line  of  the 
blacks.  At  the  head  of  each  regiment  was  read 
aloud  the  Government  order  disbanding  the  muti- 
nous Thirty-fourth  at  Barrackpore.  These  formal 
proceedings  over,  the  serious  business  of  the  morning 
commenced.  The  Native  regiments  were  ordered  to 
change  front  to  the  rear,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
Eighty-first  also  changed  front,  so  as  to  face  the 
Sepoys ;  the  Artillery,  then  in  the  rear,  loading  their 
guns  unseen  by  the  Native  regiment.  When  this 
manoeuvre,  which  seemed  whilst  in  execution  to  be 
only  a  part  of  the  Brigade  exercise  of  the  morning, 

*  They  had  ridden  over  from  Anarkullee  in  the  mombg.     It  appears 
that  thej  were  not  at  the  ball. 


432  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  had  been  accomplished,  a  staff  officer,  Lieutenant 
^*y-  Mocatta,  Adjutant  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Regiment, 
who  could  speak  the  Native  languages  fluently  and 
correctly,  was  ordered  forward  by  the  Brigadier  to 
read  his  address  1o  the  Sepoys.  He  did  it  well,  in  a 
clear  loud  voice,  explaining  to  them  that  now,  a 
mutinous  spirit  having  evinced  itself  in  other  regi- 
ments, and  brought  many  good  soldiers  to  certain  de- 
struction, it  was  better  that  the  distinguished  regi- 
ments at  Meean-Meer,  which  had  done  so  much  good 
service  to  the  State,  should  place  themselves  beyond 
the  reach  of  temptation  by  surrendering  all  means  of 
offence ;  so  they  were  ordered  to—"  Pile  arms." 

Whilst  this  address  was  being  delivered  to  the 
Sepoys,  the  Eighty-first  fell  back  by  subdivisions  be- 
tween the  guns;  and  when  the  word  was  given  to 
pile  arms,  the  Native  regiments  found  themselves  face 
to  face  with  a  long  line  of  Artillery,  and  a  row  of 
lighted  portfires  in  the  hands  of  the  English  gunners. 
At  the  same  time  the  voice  of  Colonel  Renny  rung 
out  clearly  with  the  command,  "  Eighty-first,  load  I" 
and  then  there  was  the  rattle  of  the  ramrods,  which 
told  that  there  was  death  in  every  piece.  For  a 
minute  the  Grenadiers  had  hesitated  to  obey  the 
order ;  but  thus  confronted,  they  saw  that  to  resist 
would  be  to  court  instant  destruction ;  so  they  sullenly 
resigned  themselves  to  their  fate,  and  piled  their 
muskets  to  the  word  of  command,  whilst  the  Cavalry 
unclasped  their  belts  and  laid  their  sabres  on  the 
ground.  The  Eighty-first  then  came  forward  and  re- 
moved  the  arms,  for  which  a  large  number  of  carts 
were  waiting  near  the  parade-grounds,  and  the  Sepoys 
went  baffled  and  harmless  to  their  Lines.*     It  was  a 

*  The  arms  were  taken  under  a  guard  of  the  Eighty-first  to  the  Lahore 
Fort. 


LAHORE  SAVED.   '  433 

great  design  executed  with  consummate  skill ;  and  if      1857. 
by  a  first  blow  a  battle  was  ever  won,  the  battle     ^y^^* 
of  the  Punjab  was  fought  and  won  that  morning  by 
Montgomery,  Corbett,  and  Renny. 

But  this  bloodless  victory  at  Meean-Meer  was  not ^^SJIrtof 
the  whole  of  that  morning's  work.  Whilst  the  parade  Lahore, 
was  being  held,  three  companies  of  the  Eighty-first 
were  marching  to  Lahore  to  secure  the  Fort.  A  wing 
of  the  Twenty-sixth  Sepoys  was  on  garrison  duty 
there.  It  was  yet  wanting  two  days  of  the  completion 
of  their  tour  of  duty ;  and  unless  they  wondered  why 
none  of  their  oflSicers  were  dancing  at  Meean-Meer, 
there  was  nothing  to  create  suspicion  that  there  was 
anything  unwonted  in  the  air.  But  when  suddenly,  a 
little  while  after  sunrise,  news  came  that  the  Euro- 
peans were  marching  on  the  Fort,  they  saw  at  once 
that  whatever  plots  were  to  have  been  acted  out  on 
the  15th,  they  had  been  discovered,  and  that  the  game 
was  altogether  lost.     Colonel  Smith,  with  his  three 
companies,  marched  into  the  Fort.    The  Sepoys  were 
ordered  to  lay  down  their  arms.     Resistance  was 
hopeless,  and  they  obeyed  to  a  man.    The  companies 
of  the  Eighty-first  were  then  told  off  to  their  various 
duties,  and  the  Sepoys  were  marched  to  Meean-Meer, 
crest-fallen  and  dispirited,  there  to  learn  the  history  of 
the  eventful  parade  of  the  morning.   They  found  the 
place  bristling  with  the  bayonets  only  of  the  white 
men.     European  picquets  and  sentries  were  posted 
everywhere.     Arrangements  were    being    made  to 
secure  the  safety  of  the  women  and  children  in  the 
English  barracks,  and  messengers  were  speeding  to 
different  parts  of  the  country  to  warn  our  countrymen 
of  the  danger  with  which  they  were  threatened. 


VOL.  II.  2  F 


434  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  To  secure  the  safety  of  one  point,  although  that 

^aj  13.  Qjjg  point  were  the  great  capital  of  the  Punjab,  had 
audUmrit-'  ^o*  been,  on  that  12th  of  May.  the  sole  object  of 
^^*  Montgomery's  exertions.     With  a  strong  European 

Brigade,  Horse,  Foot,  and  Artillery,  the  authorities 
•  at  Meerut  had  refused  to  divide  their  force,  and  had 
looked  only  to  the  safety  of  the  station.     But  at 
Lahore,  with  only  one  regiment  of  English  Infantry 
and  a  few  English  gunners,  in  the  face  of  a  still  larger 
body  of  Native  troops,  Montgomery  took  a  compre- 
hensive view  of  all  surrounding  dangers,  and  turned 
the  scanty  means  at  his  disposal  to  larger  account 
than  most  men  would  have  deemed  possible.     But  it 
was.  his  good  fortune  to  find  in  the  military  chief  a 
kindred  spirit,  and  to  meet  with  ready  response  to  all 
his  suggestions.  If  at  that  time  there  had  been,  on  the 
part  of  the  military,  any  ominous  shakings  of  heads 
and  feeble  wringings  of  hands,  all  would  have  been 
lost.     But  to  Corbett  and  Renny  nothing  seemed 
impossible.     With  the  perilous  work  before  them  of 
disarming  the  Meean-Meer  troops,  they  had  sent  off 
three  companies  •  of  their   one  white    regiment  to 
Lahore;    but  the  crisis  was  one  which  demanded 
even  further  sacrifice  of  immediate  strength.     It  was 
certain  that  there  was  much  to  be  done  with  small 
means ;  but  it  is  in  such  daring  and  such  doing  that 
greatness  consists.     Another  company  of  the  Eighty- 
first  was  despatched  in  Native  carriages,  hastily  col- 
lected, to   afford  succour  to  another  place  which 
seemed  to  be  girt  with  danger. 

The  fortress  of  Govindghur,  which  lies  some  thirty 
miles  from  Lahore,  is  the  military  stronghold  of  the 
great  city  of  Umritsur,  the  spiritual  capital  of  the 
Punjab — a  city  invested  in  the  minds  of  the  Sikh 
people  with  the  holiest  associations.  In  no  place 
throughout  the   Punjab  was  the  influence  of  the 


GOVINDGIIUR.  435 

priesthood  so  powerful ;  in  no  place  had  the  spirit  of     J^^^* 
nationality  so  largely  survived  the  subjugation  of  the 
people.    There  the  Sikh  inhabitants  were  more  likely 
to  rise  than  in  any  part  of  the  country ;  and  to  that 
centre,  more  than  to  any  other  point,  were  the  Sikhs 
likely  to  turn  their  eyes  for  a  given  signal  of  general 
insurrection.     From  the  first  moment,  Montgomery 
had  recognised  the  paramount  importance  of  securing 
the  Fort  and  overawing  the  city.    On  the  mortiing  of 
the  12th,  with  the  Delhi  telegrams  before  him,  he  had 
written  to  Mr.  Cooper,  Deputy  Commissioner,  ad- 
vising him  of  what  had  happened  below,  telling  him 
that  at  Lahore  they  might  have  to  fight  for  their 
lives,  and  urging  upon  him  the  immediate  necessity 
of  "  caring  for  Govindghur."     "  I  would  advise,"  he 
said,  "  every  precaution  being  adopted  beforehand,  so 
as  to  be  ready  in  case  of  a  row.    You  shall  have  the 
best  information  of  aU  that  is  going  on,  and  the  more 
quietly  we  move  the  better.  Do  not  alarm  the  Sepoys 
by  any  previous  acts,  but  keep  the  strictest  watch  on 
them ;  and  the  feelings  of  the  city  should  be  ascer- 
tained by  every  source  at  your  command.     Open 
communication  with  JuUundhur,  and  find  out  what 
is  going  on  there.    My  advice  is  to  be  fully  alive  and 
awake,  and  prepared  for  the  worst,  without  creating 
any  alarm  by  any  open  act.     If  the  troops  should 
rise,  you  have  the  Fort  to  go  to,  and  can  defend  your- 
selves."   And  thesfe  stirring  words  were  addressed  to 
a  lieutenant  worthy  of  his  chief.     Mr.  Cooper  was 
not  a  man  to  be  appalled  by  any  danger ;  and  imder 
him  again  there  was  another  civil  officer,  Mr.  Mac- 
naghten.  Assistant  ConmiiBsioner,  equally  ripe  for  any 
hazardous  enterprise  that  might  fall. in  the  way  of  his 
duty. 
Cool  and  collected,  and  fertile  in  resources  and  ex* 

2  f2 


436  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  pedients,  these  two  now  bethought  themselves  of 
^*^'  turning  to  the  best  account  every  possible  circum- 
stance that  was  in  their  favour.  The  report  at 
Umritsur  was  that  the  disarmed  Sepoys  from  Meean- 
Meer  were  coming  in  a  body  to  help  the  regiments  at 
the  former  place  to  seize  upon  Govindghur.  The 
fortress  was  garrisoned  mainly  by  Sepoy  troops.  The 
only  Europeans  were  the  gunners  of  a  weak  company 
of  Artillery.  There  was,  however,  in  the  Canton- 
ment a  horse-battery,  under  Captain  Waddy,  manned 
by  white  soldiers,  and  this  was  now  removed  into  the 
Fort.  Cooper,  with  a  party  of  Irregular  horsemen 
and  some  faithful  Sikhs,  took  post  opposite  the  Fort 
gates,  whilst  Macnaghten  went  out  on  the  Lahore 
road  to  raise  a  body  of  villagers  to  intercept  the  ad- 
vance of  the  rebel  Sepoys.  The  agricultural  com- 
munities were  known  to  be  on  our  side.  They  were 
in  a  state  of  unexampled  prosperity.  There  had  been 
one  of  the  richest  harvests  known  for  years.  Many 
of  the  peasantry  were  hardy  Jdt  cultivators,  with  no 
sympathetic  leanings  towards  the  Sepoys  from  Hin- 
dostan.  They  promptly  responded  to  the  call,  and 
arming  themselves  with  whatsoever  weapons  they 
could  seize — ^perhaps  only  the  implements  of  their 
calling — went  forth  to  form  a  living  barrier  against 
the  wave  of  insurrection  which,  it  was  believed,  was 
pouring  in  from  Lahore.  But  safety,  not  danger,  was 
on  the  road.  About  midnight,  a  noise  as  of  a  coming 
multitude  was  heard.  Macnaghten  mustered  his 
villagers,  and  formed  across  the  highway  a  sturdy 
rampart  of  carts,  behind  which  they  awaited  the  ap- 
proach of  the  enemy.  But  they  found  themselves 
face  to  face  with  a  most  welcome  arrival  of  friends.  It 
was  the  company  of  the  Eighty-first,  under  Chichester, 
that  had  been  sent  to  the.  relief  of  Govindghur. 


F£ROZ£POR£  AND  FHILLOUR.  437 

Before  daylight  the  relief  had  been  accomplished,      1857. 
and  the  fortress  was  safe.  ^*^' 


So,  for  the  time,  by  the.  exertions  of  Montgomery  Ferozeporc. 
and  Corbett,  and  those  who  worked  under  them,  the 
two  great  cities  of  Lahore  and  Umritsur  were  placed 
beyond  the  reach  of  immediate  danger.  By  prompt 
and  unexpected  movements  on  the  part  of  British 
authority,  the  revolt  of  the  Sepoys  had  been  pandysed 
in  the  very  hour  of  its  birth,  and  on  the  spots  most 
favourable  to  its  vigorous  development.  But  there 
were  other  places,  at  no  great  distance,  which,  although 
of  far  less  political  importance,  suggested  grave  doubts 
and  anxieties  to  our  chiefs ;  and  Montgomery,  there- 
fore, on  the  same  day  sent  expresses  to  all  the 
principal  civil  officers  in  the  Punjab,  bearing  copies 
of  a  confidential  circular  letter,  in  which  they  were 
informed  of  what  had  taken  place,  and  warned  to  be 
in  readiness  to  act  promptly  and  vigorously  in  the 
event  of  an  Emergency,  but  to  maintain  outward 
calmness  and  quietude  in  the  face  of  danger — to  be 
fully  alive  to  the  magnitude  of  the  crisis,  but  to 
betray  no  symptom  of  alaim  or  excitement.  In- 
structions were  issued  for  the  safe  custody  of  the 
Treasuries,  for  the  strengthening  of  the  Sikh  Police, 
and  for  the  detention  of  all  Sepoy  letters;  and  it 
ended  with  the  assuring  words :  "  I  have  full  reliance 
on  your  zeal  and  discretion." 

There  were  two  places,  especially,  which  it  was 
most  important  to  secure,  on  account  of  the  military 
resources  they  contained.  At  Ferozepore  and  Phillour 
were  large  quantities  of  munitions  of  war,  with  but 
few  European  troops  to  defend  the  magazines  against 
|;he  too  probable  assau|ts  pf  the  Sepoys,    At  thp 


438  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  former  place  were  an  arsenal  and  a  magazine  of  con- 
May  13.  siderable  dimensions— the  largest  in  that  part  of 
fifth  and  the  I^ciia.  Two  regiments  of  Native  Infantry  and  a 
Tiftj-seTcnih.  regiment  of  Native  Cavalry  were  posted  there,  and 
the  temper  at  least  of  one  of  the  regiments  was  more 
than  suspected.  Appearances,  however,  were  less 
formidable  than  at  Meean-Meer,  for  the  European 
strength  was  greater  in  proportion  to  the  Sepoy 
force.  Tha  Sixty-first  Queen's  was  cantoned  at 
Ferozepore,  and  there  also  were  two  companies  of 
European  Artillery.  The  station  was  commanded  by 
Brigadier  Innes,  an  old  Sepoy  officer  of  good  repute ; 
but  he  laboured  at  that  time  under  the  disadvantage 
of  being  a  stranger.  He  had  arrived  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  brigade  only  on  the  morning  of  the  llth. 
On  the  following  night  news  came  from  Lahore  that 
the  Sepoys  in  Meerut  and  Delhi  had  risen,  and  the 
Brigadier  was  informed  that  the  Native  troops  at 
Lahore  were  to  be  disarmed  on  the  following  day.  On 
the  13th  the  Brigadier,  anxious  to  discern  for  himself 
the  bearing  of  his  men,  held  a  morning  parade.  Their 
demeanour  was  not  encouraging.  If  there  were 
nothing  openly  defiant  in  their  manner,  there  was  an 
absence  of  that  easy,  careless,  unoccupied  look  which 
characterises  the  Sepoy  in  quiet  times.  It  was  plain 
that  something  was  coming. 

The  parade  dismissed,  Brigadier  Innes  called  a 
Council  of  War.  The  members  summoned  were  the 
principal  political  officers,  the  Commandants  of  the 
several  regiments,  and  the  Commissary  of  Ordnance. 
There  was  no  attempt  to  obscure  the  fact  that  the 
temper  of  the  Sepoys  was  most  suspicious,  and  that 
the  safety  of  the  station  depended  on  prompt  and 
vigorous  action.  Instantly  to  disarm  the  Native 
jregiments  in  a  body  was  not  held  to  be  a  measure 


EVENTS  AT  FEROZEPORE,  439 

that  could  be  attempted  without  danger ;  why  is  not  1857. 
very  clear.  So  it  was  determined  to  divide  them — a  ^^  ^^' 
poor  half-measure,  which  could  scarcely  be  crowned 
with  success — and  to  disarm  them  separately  on  the 
morrow.  But  the  morrow  of  vigdrous  action  never 
comes.  The  man  for  a  crisis  is  he  who  knows  no 
morrow,  but  is  resolute  to  strike  to-day.  The  regi- 
ments were  paraded  separately,  and  marched  off  to 
different  camping-grounds  at  a  distance  from  their 
Lines.  The  Fifty-seventh  quietly  obeyed  orders,  and 
bivouacked  on  their  allotted  space  for  the  night.  The 
Forty-fifth,  who  were  marched  through  the  great 
Bazaar,  lost  there  the  little  loyalty  that  was  left  in 
them;  for  among  the  buyers  and  the  sellers  were 
scatterers  of  sedition,  and  sparks  flew  about  every- 
where to  bring  on  a  great  explosion.  It  happened, 
too,  that  as  they  went  the  Sepoys  caught  sight  of  the 
European  soldiery,  and,  believing  that  a  hostile 
movement  was  intended,  raised  a  cry  that  there  was 
treachery  abroad,  and  numbers  of  them  fell  out, 
loaded  their  muskets,  and  made  a  rush  for  the  maga- 
zine. The  rest  marched  on  to  their  camping-ground. 
The  outer  defences  of  the  magazine  were  in  a  state 
to  favour  the  ingress  of  the  mutineers.  The  ditch  was 
filled  up,  and  the  walls  were  in  ruins  ;  so  the  Sepoys 
of  the  Forty-fifth  were  soon  within  the  so-called 
intrenchments.  .  But  the  magazine  itself  was  less 
assailable,  for  it  was  "protected  by  a  high  wall,  and 
the  only  entrance  was  defended  by  a  guard  of  Red- 
mond's Europeans.  The  Sepoys  within  did  their  best 
to  assist  their  comrades  with  scaling-ladders  ;*  but  the 
English  soldiery  were  more  than  a  match  for  the 

*  Brigadier  Innes  says  that  the    scaling-ladders,  vhich  must  haTe 
Sepoys  of  the  Forty-fifth  "  made    been  previoi^l^  prepared," 
d  rush  at  the  intrenchments  with 


440  FIEST  CONFUC3T8  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  mutineers  within  and  without.  The  former  were 
May  13—14  g^j^ed  and  disarmed ;  the  latter  were  driven  back,  but 
not  before  Redmond  himself  had  been  wounded.  The 
magazine  was  thus  saved,  and  three  more  companies 
of  the  Sixty-first  having  been  thrown  into  it,  its 
security  was  established.  But  to  save  the  magazine 
was  in  eficct  to  sacrifice  the  Cantonment.  With  so 
small  a  body  of  European  troops,  it  was  impossible  to 
defend  one  part  without  exposing  another.  The  very 
division  of  the  Sepoys,  which  had  been  thought  an 
element  of  strength,  was  in  result  only  a  source  of 
difficulty  and  danger.  The  remaining  companies  of 
the  Sixty-first,  menaced  on  both  sides,  could  do  little 
or  nothing  to  save  the  Cantonment.  For  the  great 
Bazaar  poured  fourth  its  multitudes  to  plunder  and 
destroy.  The  bungalows  of  the  European  officers,  the 
mess-houses,  the  churches,  Protestant  and  Catholic, 
were  sacked  and  fired.  The  night  was  a  night  of 
terror ;  but  the  families  of  the  English  officers  were 
safe  in  the  barracks  of  the  Sixty-first,  and  the  fury  of 
the  assailants  did  not  fall  on  our  defenceless  people. 

Meanwhile  the  Fifty-seventh  had  remained  inactive 
on  their  campmg-ground,  and  when  morning  dawned 
it  was  found  that  there  had  been  bi^t  few  deserters. 
The  Brigadier,  therefore,  declared  that  he  would  re- 
gard them  as  loyal  soldiers,  if  they  would  lay  down 
their  arms  in  the  European  Lines.  The  Light  Com- 
pany marched  in  with  apparent  willingness ;  but  as 
the  others  were  following,  they  saw  a  movement  of 
the  Sixty-first,  directed  against  some  men  of  the 
Forty-fifth,  who  had  been  tampering  with  their  more 
loyal  comrades,  and  believing  that  the  Light  Com- 
pany had  been  trapped,  they  broke  in  dismay  and 
fled  across  the  plain.  After  some  time  the  efforts  of 
th^ir  oncers  to  dispe^  the  fear  which  had  seized  theq\ 


EVENTS  AT  FEROZEPORE.  441 

were  successful,  and  they  were  brought  back  again  to  1857. 
their  camping-ground.  Little  by  little,  as  the  day^^^^""^** 
advanced,  confidence  was  restored ;  and  before  night- 
fall they  had  been  marched  to  the  European  barracks, 
and  had  surrendered  their  arms  and  the  colours  of 
their  regiment.  But  the  Sepoys  of  the  Forty-fifth 
were  still  roaming  about  the  station,  defiant  and  ripe 
for  mischief;  and  in  the  morning  there  was  a  report 
that  the  mutineers  intended  to  seize  the  regimental 
magazines.  To  remove  the  ammunition  into  the 
general  magazine  was  impossible;  so  the  Brigadier 
determined  to  destroy  it.  Two  loud  explosions  were 
presently  heard,  and  it  was  known  that  the  magazines 
of  the  Forty-fifth  and  Fifty-seventh  had  been  blown 
into  the  air. 

There  was  now  nothing  left  for  the  Forty-fifth  but 
flight.  Their  comrades  were  disarmed.  Their  ammu- 
nition was  destroyed.  The  Europeans  were  now 
comparatively  free  to  act,  and  the  troopers  of  the 
Tenth  Cavalry  had  not  yet  drawn  a  sabre  against 
their  officers.  The  chances,  therefore,  were  all  against 
the  Sepoys ;  so  they  took  their  colours,  and  turned 
their  faces  towarcjs  Delhi.  And  then,  for  the  first 
time,  a  spasm  of  energy  seized  upon  the  Brigadier. 
Some  companies  of  the  Sixty-first,  with  two  guns  of 
the  horse-battery,  went  in  pursuit,  and  then  two  ♦ 

squadrons  of  the  Tenth  Cavalry  took  up  the  work  of 
the  tired  footmen,  and  with  Major  Marsden,  the 
Deputy  Commissioner — a  dashing  officer  and  a  bold 
rider — drove  them  some  twelve  miles  from  Ferozepore, 
and  scattered  them  over  the  country,  till  they  threw 
away  their  arms  and  colours,  and  hid  themselves  in 
villages  or  crouched  in  the  jungle.  Some  were  taken 
prisoners  by  their  pursuers,  some  were  given  up  by 
t;be  villagers ;  Ijut  \t  is  |5eli^ve4  tliftt  some  also  sue* 


442  FIRST  CONFUCTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.       ceeded  in  joining  the  Sepoy  force  within  the  walls  of 

May  13-U.  Delhi. 

The  great  magazine  of  Ferozepore  had  been  saved ; 
but  there  was  no  lustre  in  the  achievement.  The 
British  had  nothing  on  which  to  congratulate  them- 
selves but  the  bare  fact.  The  fact  was  one  of  large 
proportions,  for  the  loss  of  such  suppUes  of  ordnance 
stores  and  their  gain  to  the  enemy  would  have 
weakened  our  means  of  oflfence,  and  made  the  work 
of  reconquest  far  slower  and  more  difficult.*  But 
when  we  think  of  what  Corbett  had  done  with  his 
one  weak  regiment  at  Meean-Meer  against  a  far  larger 
body  of  Sepoys,  we  marvel  and  are  mortified  as  we 
dwell  upon  the  record  of  events  at  Ferozepore.  The 
Sixty-first,  supported  by  the  Artillery,  could  have 
done  what  the  Eighty-first  had  been  doing,  and  might 
have  saved  the  Cantonment.  But  Innes,  shrinking 
from  responsibility,  resorted  to  half-measures,-  and 
accomplished  only  a  half-success.  We  must  not, 
however,  judge  him  too  severely.  He  did  at  least  as 
much  as  most  Native  Infantry  officers,  accustomed 
only  to  the  routine  of  quiet  times,  the  harness  of  the 
regulations,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Adjutant- 
General's  office,  would  have  done,  and  indeed  after- 
wards did,  when  suddenly  brought  face  to  face  with 
a  great  and  trying  emergency.  Perhaps  it  is  less 
strange  that  he  only  half  succeeded,  than  that  he  did 
not  fail  outright. 


Phillour.  There  was  yet  another  place  of  great  military  im- 

*  Mr.  Care-Browne  says :  "  Thus,  hands  of  the  mutineers,  with  its  piles 
although  the  Cantonment  had  to  some  of  shot  and  shells,  its  pits  of  gun- 
extent  been  sacrificed,  there  was  the  powder,  and  its  weU-stored  aimourj, 
consolation  of  knoTOig  the  magazine  Delhi  had  not  been  re-won  under 
was  Bayed,    Had  it  fallen  into  the  foup  ti^fies  four  months." 


PHILLOUfi.  443 

portance,  the  seizure  of  which  was  supposed  to  form  1857. 
part  of  the  first  great  group  of  measures  designed  for  ^*y* 
the  subversion  of  British  authority  in  the  Punjab, 
and  which  it  was,  therefore,  of  the  utmost  moment  to 
secure.  This  was  the  Fort  of  Phillour,  lying  between 
Jullundhur  and  Loodhianah,  on  the  great  high  road 
to  Delhi.  It  had  been  described  as  the  "  key  of  the 
Punjab ;"  but,  like  other  keys  of  the  same  kind,  it 
was  by  no  means  in  safe  keeping.  A  considerable 
arsenal  was  planted  there,  but  there  were  no  Euro- 
pean troops  to  protect  it.  When  the  day's  work  was 
done,  and  the  Ordnance  Cpnmiissariat  officers  had 
gone  to  their  homes,  there  was  not  a  white  face  to  be 
seen  in  the  Fort.  The  Sepoys  of  the  Third  Infantry 
garrisoned  the  place  and  occupied  the  adjacent  Can- 
tonment. At  a  distance  of  some  twenty-four  miles 
was  the  military  station  of  Jullundhur,  where  the 
Eighth  Queen's  were  posted,  with  two  Native  Infantry 
regiments,  a  regiment  of  Native  Cavalry,  and  a  pro- 
portionate force  of  Artillery.  The  Infantry  regiments 
— ^the  Thirty-sixth  and  the  Sixty-first — were  known 
to  be  tainted.  They  had  been  in  recent  contact  with 
corps  which  had  already  broken  into  rebellion.  That 
these  Jullundhur  regiments  had,  in  concert  with  the 
Third,  plotted  the  seizure  of  the  Fort  of  Phillour, 
with  its  guns  and  stores,  was  believed,  if  it  was  not 
proved  to  be  a  fact ;  and  only  prompt  action  could 
avert  the  threatened  disaster.  The  work  to  be  done 
was  very  much  the  same  work  as  had  been  so  suc- 
cessfully accomplished  at  Meean-Meer,  and  with  the 
same  means.  The  European  regiment  and  the 
Artillery  might  have  disarmed  the  Sepoys  and 
secured  the  Fort  of  Phillour. 

The  brigade  was  under  the  command  of  Brigadier 
Johnstone,  a  Queen's  officer  of  the  regulation  pattern. 


444  FIRST  CONFLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.       He  was  absent  from  JuUundhur  when  news  came  of 
May  11—13.  ^j^^  great  events  at  Meerut  and  Delhi,  and  Colonel 
Hartley,  of  the  Eighth  Queen's,  was  in  temporary 
command  of  the  force.     On  the  11th,  the  first  vao:ue 
tidings  of  disaster  were  passing  along  the  telegraph 
wires  through  JuUundhur  to  Lahore.    No  action  was 
taken  on  that  day  ;  the  story  might  be  exaggerated ; 
it  might,  therefore,  be  better  to  "  wait  for  further 
information,"    Next  day  all  doubt  was  removed,  and 
Colonel  Hartley  took  counsel  with  the  chief  civil  and 
military  officers  at  the  station.     It  was  plain  to  every 
one  that^  as  an  essential  measure  of  security,  Phillour 
must  be  occupied  by  European  troops.  It  was  agreed, 
therefore,  that  a  detachment  of  the  Eighth  should  be 
sent  off  secretly  under  cover  of  the  night.     Other 
measures  of  precaution  were  to  be  taken.    The  guns, 
duly  covered  by  European  detachments,  were  to  be 
posted  so  as  to  sweep  the  parade-grounds  of  the 
Native  troops,  and  the  gunners  were  to  be  always  at 
their  posts.     Europeans  from   Olphert's*   troop  of 
Horse  Artillery  were  to  act  as  Cavalry  and  patrol  the 
station.    The  ladies  and  children  were  placed  either 
in  the  Royal  Barracks  or  in  the  Artillery  schoolroom 
and  library.     Every  officer  in  the  Cantonment  was 
constantly  alert,  day  and  night,  in  case  of  the  antici- 
pated surprise;   sn^d  as  it  was  expected   that  the 
Native  Cavalry  troopers  would  make  a  rush  upon 
the  guns,  heaps  of  stones  were  scattered  about  so  as 
to  impede  the  advance  of  the  horsemen,  and  to  throw 
them  into  confusion  whilst  our  grape-shot  was  acting 
upon  them.     But  with  these  defensive  measures  our 
action  ceased.     If  there  was  any  thought  of  striking 
the  arms  from  the  hands  of  the  Native  soldiery  it  was 

*  Henry  Olpherts  of  the  Bensil    pherts  of  f  lie  same  corps,  then  serving 
Artillery— cousm   qf  ITilljam   QK    at  ^eD|M:es.— 4^/^«  P*  S^)  ^c, 


n 


PHlLLOUa.  445 

speedily  abandoned.  The  reason  given  is,  that  in  the  1857. 
neighbourhood  of  JuUundhur  were  several  smaller  ^^^  ^* 
stations  occupied  only  by  Sepoy  troops,  and  that  if 
the  regiments  there  had  been  disarmed,  their  com- 
rades at  Hosheyapore,  Kangra,  Noorpoor,  and  Phil- 
lour  would  have  risen  against  their  defenceless  officers 
at  those  places,  and  would  have  streamed  down  upon 
JuUundhur,  recovered  the  arms  of  the  regiments 
there,  and  set  the  whole  country  in  a  blaze. 

Meanwhile,  at  Phillour,  on  the  12th  of  May,  the 
Artillery  Subaltern  Griffith,  who,  as  an  Assistant 
Commissary  of  Ordnance,  was  in  charge  of  the 
magazine,  was  doing  all  that  resolute  manhood  could 
do  to  protect  the  precious  charge  confided  to  hyn. 
Intelligence  of  the  outbreak  had  been  brought  by  an 
officer  of  the  Telegraph  Department,  who  came  laden 
with  help  in  the  shape  of  the  necessary  apparatus  to 
place  the  interior  of  the  Fort  in  direct  communication 
with  JuUundhur.  In  the  course  of  a  few  hours  this 
was  done,  and  a  message  came  right  into  Griffith's 
private  office-room,  informing  him  that  succours  were 
on  their  way.  Hopefully,  cheerfuUy,  the  ArtiUery 
Subaltern  then,  with  a  little  handful  of  Europeans 
attached  to  the  magazine,  addressed  himself  to  the 
work  of  holding  the  Fort  during  the  critical  hours  of 
the  darkness.  At  sunset  the  gates  were  closed.  A 
gun  was  brought  down  to  the  gateway,  and  aU 
through  the  night  the  Uttle  party  of  Englishmen 
kept  guard,  relieving  each  other  with  ready  portfire, 
and  keeping  watch  from  the  ramparts  to  catch  the 
first  sound  of  any  commotion  in  Cantonments  which 
might  indicate  that  the  Sepoys  had  risen.  But  all 
was  quiet  in  the  station,  and  all  was  quiet  within  the 
Fort.  The  Sepoys  of  the  Third  were  not  yet  ready. 
The  appointed  hour  of  revolt  had  not  come.     So  the 


44fi  FIRST  COOTLICTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  night  passed,  and  the  day  dawned ;  but  ere  the  dawn 
^y*  had  come  the  looked-for  deliverance  was  at  hand. 
A  hundred  and  fifty  men  of  the  Eighth  Foot,  two 
Horse  Artillery  guns,  and  a  party  of  Punjabee  Horse, 
appeared  under  the  walls  of  the  Fort.  The  gate  was 
thrown  open.  The  relieving  force  marched  in  ;  and, 
to  the  dismay  of  the  Sepoys,  European  sentries  were 
posted  everywhere  in  their  place,  and  the  arsenal  of 
Phillour  was  saved.  It  was  truly  a  good  night's 
work ;  for  the  Fort  might  have  become  the  rallying-' 
place  of  all  the  mutinous  regiments  in  that  part  of 
the  country,  and  it  was  preserved,  as  has  been  already 
shown,  to  be  of  immense  importance  to  us  in  our 
subsequent  retributory  operations.* 

*  See  ante,  pp.  188, 189,  for  tlie  story  of  the  equipment  of  the  siege 
train  and  its  march  from  Phillour. 


PESHAWUB  AND  RAWUL-PIMDEE.  447 


CHAPTER  II. 

PSSHIWITE-— INTBRNAL  AND  EXTEKNAL  DAN6EB8— THE  CIYIL  AKD  MILI- 
TART  AUTHORITIES— EDWAKDES — HICHOLSON — COTTON — CHAMBESLAIN 
— THE  COUNCIL  AT  PESHAWUK — ASBANOEKENTS  FOB  A  MOVABLE 
COLUMN— SIB  JOHN  LAWBENCE  AT  BAWUL-PINDBS — DESPATCH  OP  TB00P8 
TO  DELHI— THE  MABCH  OP  THE  GUIDE  COBPS. 

But  the  place  to  which,  of  all  the  military  stations  Peshawar, 
in  the  Punjab,  the  thoughts  of  men  were  turned  at  ^*^'  ^^^'^' 
this  time  with  the  deepest  interest,  was  the  frontier- 
post  of  Peshawur.  There,  in  May,  1857,  was  a  strong 
defensive  force  of  all  arms — the  Native  troops  greatly 
outnumbering  the  Europeans.  There  were  two  regi- 
ments of  Queen's  troops,  with  Artillery,  horse  and 
foot,  the  whole,  perhaps,  amounting  to  little  more 
than  two  thousand  men,  whilst  the  Native  troops 
might  be  counted  up  at  nearly  four  times  the  number. 
In  the  neighbourhood,  at  Nowshera  and  Hote-Murdan, 
were  other  components  of  the  brigade,  planted  in  the 
Peshawur  Valley.  At  the  former  place  were  the 
Twenty-seventh  Foot,  nearly  a  thousand  strong,  and 
at  the  latter  was  the  famous  Guide  Corps,  under  Cap- 
tain Daly,  which,  though  recruited  in  the  country, 
was  believed  to  be  as  staunch  as  if  every  soldier  were 
an  English  yeoman.  Counting  up  all  the  components 
of  the  brigade  in  the  valley,  it  may  be  said,  in  round 


dangers. 


448  P£SBAWUR  AND  EAWUL-PIND££. 

1857.       numbers,  that  there  were  two  thousand  five  hundred 
^*y-       Europeans  and  ten  thousand  Natives,  and  that  only  a 
tithe  of  the  latter  could  be  trusted  by  their  English 
oflGicers. 
External  These  were  heavy  odds  against  us ;  but  they  did 

not  constitute  the  main  sources  of  danger.  If  the 
British  troops  were  free  to  act  against  the  mutinous 
Sepoys,  there  could  be  little  doubt  that,  well  handled, 
they  could  dispose  of  all  comers.  But  beyond  the 
frontier,  as  I  have  already  briefly  said,»  were  other 
great  and  imminent  perils.  If  the  Afghan  tribes  oc- 
cupying the  passes  beyond  Peshawur — ^the  Afredis, 
the  Eusofzyes,  the  Mohmunds,  and  other  wild  clans, 
whom  we  had  been  endeavouring  to  reclaim  from 
their  lawless  habits,  and  not  wholly  without  success — 
had  been  incited,  partly  in  the  interests  of  the  faith 
and  partly  in  the  interests  of  plunder,  to  pour  down 
upon  us  a  great  mass  of  humanity,  predatory  and 
fanatic,  we  might  have  been  simply  overwhelmed  by 
the  irruption.  Our  English  manhood  could  not  have 
sustained  the  burden  of  the  double  calamity,  if  the 
internal  and  external  enemy  had  risen  against  us  at 
the  same  time. 

And  the  external  enemy,  which  might  in  such  a 
crisis  have  risen  against  us,  was  not  merely  a  gather- 
ing of  these  barbarous  mountain  tribes.  Beyond  the 
passes  were  the  Afghans  of  Caubul  and  Candahar. 
The  friendship  of  Dost  Mahomed  had  been  purchased 
by  our  British  gold,  but  he  had  never  ceased  to  de- 
plore the  dismemberment  of  his  empire  by  the  Sikhs ; 
he  had  never  ceased  to  hanker  after  the  recovery  of 
the  Peshawur  Valley,  now  part  of  a  Britbh  province 
by  the  intelligible  right  of  conquest.  For  this  he  had 
already  risked  much — ^for  this  he  might  risk  much 

*  Anidy  page  4:04^  with  reference  to  Lord  Cauning's  previsions. 


DOST  BiAHOMED.  449 

more.  This  eager  longing  after  Peshawur  has  been  1857. 
described  as  the  madness  of  a  life.  It  naight,  at  such  ^^• 
a  time  as  this,  be  stronger  than  the  teachings  of 
experience — stronger  than  the  dictates  of  sagacity — 
stronger  even  than  the  great  national  avarice  which 
was  burning  within  him.  It  was  difficult  to  feel  any 
confidence  in  his  forbearance  at  such  a  time.  A  well- 
developed  mutiny  of  the  Sepoy  troops  in  the  Peshawur 
Valley  would  afford  such  an  opportunity  as  might 
never  arise  again  in  the  history  of  the  nation.  The 
formidable  British  force  which  guarded  the  frontier 
would  then  be  as  a  chained  giant,  powerless  to  resist 
a  foreign  invasion.  If  then  the  Ameer  were  to  raise 
the  green  standard  and  to  call  upon  the  chiefs  and 
people  of  Afghanistan,  in  the  name  of  the  great 
prophet,  to  pour  down  upon  the  Feringhees,  who  in 
days  past  had  so  humiliated  them — ^who  had  rooted 
up  their  vines  and  destroyed  their  orchards,  and  set 
their  mark  upon  the  capital  city  of  their  empire — all 
the  great  chiefe  and  the  leading  tribes  would  have 
gathered  around  him,  and  a  great  flood  of  Mahome- 
danism  would  have  poured  upon  us,  iswollen,  perhaps, 
by  more  distant  streams.  It  was  difficult  to  say,  at 
such  a  time,  what  might  not  be  written  down  in  the 
great  Book  of  the  Future.  A  very  little  thing  might 
turn  the  tide  against  us  and  overwhelm  us.  The 
natural  feeling,  therefore,  amongst  our  people  was 
one  of  perilous  insecurity ;  and  the  Natives  of  India 
asked  each  other,  then  and  afterwards,  with  signi- 
ficant earnestness  of  inquiry,  "What  news  from 
Peshawur?"* 

*  Mr.  Caye-Browne  gives  the  fol-  paying  bis  usual  visit  of  courtesy  to 

lowing  suggestive  anecdote  in  his  the  head  civilian  of  the  station.    In 

narrative.     The  incident  occurred  the  course  of  conversation,  the  latest 

when  he  was  at  TJmritsur,  in  the  news  from  Camp  (Delhi)  was  exuit- 

middle  of  Juae :  "  One  of  the  most  ingly  mentioned,  when   the    Sikh, 

influential  of  the  Sikh  Sirdars  was  seeming  to  pay  little  heed  to  whut 

VOL.  U.  2  G 


charge  of 


450  FESHAWC1L  AKB  KAWLLrFCCDEIL 

I897.  At  this  time  the  political  charge  of  Peshawnr  was 

^^7-      in  the  hands  of  two  of  the  most  remariud>le  men  to 

]^!^rir  ^  fonnd  among  the  younger  officers  of  the  Indian 
Army.  Both  had  been  reared  under  the  Lawrences ; 
and  in  that  mixed  service  known  in  India  as  '^  poli- 
tical employment)**  which  at  one  time  demands  the 
exercise  of  the  highest  energies  of  the  military  officer 
and,  at  another,  of  the  finest  qualities  of  die  civil 
administrator,  had  ripened  into  soldier-statesmen  of 
the  best  kind.  Of  Herbert  Edwardes  I  have  already 
spoken.*  He  was  Commissioner  at  Peshawnr.  John 
Nicholson  was  his  lieutenant,  or  deputy-commissioner. 
They  were  dose  firiends,  full  of  love  and  admiration 
of  each  other.  If  either  had  greater  love  or  admira- 
tion for  another  firiend  at  a  distance,  that  other  ficiend 
was  Henry  Lawrence,  whom  both  revered  and  strove 
to  imitate,  walking  not  unworthily  in  the  footsteps  of 
their  great  exemplar. 

joim  Nidiol-  The  SOU  of  a  physician  in  Dublin,  who  died  at  the 
commencement  of  a  professional  career  in  which  were 
the  germs  of  a  great  success,  John  Nicholson  had 
entered  the  Company's  service  as  a  cadet  of  Infantry 
on  the  Bengal  establishment  at  the  age  of  sixteen. 
He  was  still  a  boy  when  the  chances  of  service  sent 
him  with  his  regiment — ^the  Twenty-seventh — ^into 
Afghanistan ;  and  when  in  that  dreary,  sorrow-laden 
winter  of  1841  the  national  spirit  of  the  tribes  rose 
against  the  intrusion  of  the  English,  young  Nicholson, 
afiter  much  good  promise  of  the  finest  soldierly  qua- 


BOSL 


best  news  jpu  can  give  n;e !'  '  Wbj  Peshawar  goes,  the  whole  Punjab 

do  joa  always  ask  so  anxiously  about  will  be  rolled  up  in  rebellion  like 

Peshawnr?*  the  civilian  said.    The  this.'  " 
Sirdar  did  not  at  once  reply,  but,        *  VoL  L,  page  26,  ei  seq. 


i 


JOHN  NICHOLSON.  451 

lities,  became  a  prisoner  at  Ghuznee  and  afterwards     1857. 
a  captive  in  the  hands  of  Akbar  Khan.     Rescued  by      ^*^- 
General  Pollock,  he  returned  to  the  provinces  of  India, 
and  when  again  the  peace  of  India  was  broken  by  the 
incursion  of  the  Sikh  army,  John  Nicholson,  after  a 
brief  period  of  service  in  the  Commissariat  Depart- 
ment, was,  on  the  recommendation  of  Henry  Law- 
rence,  who  had  taken  note   of  his  fine  soldierly 
qualities,  appointed  by  Lord  Hardinge  to  instruct 
and  discipline  the  Infantry  regiments  of  Golab  Singh, 
the  new  ruler   of  Cashmere.     He   was  afterwards 
appointed  an  assistant  to  .Lawrence,  who  was  then 
Resident  at  Lahore,   and  became  permanently  at- 
tached to  the   Political  Service.     From  that  time 
John  Nicholson,  independent  of  military  rank,  was 
released  from  the  trammels  of  his  youth.   He  saw  his 
opportunity  before  him,  and  he  bided  his  time.     His 
desires  were  towards  military  action,  and  in  due  course 
that  which  he  had  longed  for  came ;  the  Sikh  chiefs 
were  rising  against  the  military  occupation  and  poli- 
tical interference  of  the  English,  and  John  Nicholson 
soon  found  that  he  had  work  to  do  in  the  field.     He 
did  it  with  a  cool  head  and  a  stout  heart,  and, 
although   his   freedom    of  speech   sometimes  gave 
offence  to   his  seniors,  he  made  it  clear  to  those 
under  whom  he  served  that  he  was  a  man  to  be 
trusted.    The  great  conflict  for  the  supremacy  of 
the    Punjab   came ;    Nicholson  was   in  the  midst 
of  it — ^at  Chillianwallah,   at   Guzerat,   and  in  the 
front  of  Gilbert's  pursuit  of  the  Afghan  auxiliaries. 
And  when  the  country  became  a  British  province  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  enlisted  his  services  into  the  com. 
mission,  and,  toiling  on  for  years  on  the  outskirts  of 
civilisation,  he  manifested  an  extraordinary  aptitude 
for  the  coercion  and  the  government  of  barbarous 

2g2 


452  PESHAWUR  AND  RAWUL-PINDEE. 

1857.  tribes.  After  this  service  in  Bunnoo,  where  the  wild 
^y-  people  deified  him,  he  had  for  a  little  space  thought 
of  leaving  the  Punjab  and  serving  under  his  old 
master  in  Oude,  or  of  taking  part  in  the  Persian  war 
as  a  commander  of  Irregulars.  But  the  cloud  which 
seemed  to  overshadow  his  prospects  soon  passed  away, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1857  he  was,  as  I  have  before 
said,  at  Peshawur  as  the  lieutenant  of  his  friend  Her- 
bert Edwardes,  or  in  other  and  more  official  words, 
Deputy  Commissioner  of  the  division.  Only  a  little 
time  before,  Edwardes,  being  on  a  brief  visit  to  Cal- 
cutta, had  said  to  Lord  Canning,  "You  may  rely 
upon  this — that  if  ever  there  is  a  desperate  deed  to 
be  done  in  India,  John  Nicholson  is  the  man  to  do 
it."  And  now  the  truth  of  these  friendly  but  pro- 
phetic words  was  about  to  be  realised.  The  hour  had 
come  and  the  man  was  present. 

At  this  time  John  Nicholson  was  in  his  thirty-sixth 
year.  Of  lofty  stature,  of  a  handsome  open  counte- 
nance, with  strong^  decision  of  character  stamped 
upon  it,  he  carried  with  him  a  noble  presence,  which 
commanded  general  observation,  and  among  the 
Natives  excited  awe.  His  manner  was  not  genial. 
Some  said  it  was  cold ;  it  was  certainly  reserved ; 
and  the  first  impressions  which  he  made  on  men's 
minds  were  often  unfavourable.  His  words  were 
few;  and  there  was  a  directness  and  authoritative- 
ness  about  them  which  made  strangers  think  that  he 
was  dogmatical:  perhaps,  overbearing.  But  those 
manifestations  were  not  the  growth  of  an  arrogant 
self-conceit,  but  of  great  conscientiousness  and  self- 
reliance.  For  he  thought  much  before  he  spoke, 
and  what  he  said  was  but  the  utterance  of  a  strong 
conviction  which  had  taken  shape,  not  hastily,  in  his 
mind ;  and  he  was  not  one  to  suppress  what  he  felt 


SYDNEY  COTTON.  453 

to  be  the  truth,  or  to  mince  nice  phrases  of  expres-  1857 
sion.  Still  it  would  be  flattery  to  deny,  or  to  obscure  ^* 
the  fact,  that  he  had  at  one  time  little  control  over  a 
naturally  fiery  temper,  and  that,  as  he  grew  older, 
he  brought  it  with  difficulty  under  subjection.  There 
could  have  been  nothing  better  fo^  one  of  Nichol- 
son's temperament  than  constant  intercourse  with 
such  a  man  as  Herbert  Edwardes ;  and  he  now  grat.e- 
fuUy  acknowledged  in  his  heart  that  his  character 
was  ripening  under  these  good  influences,  and  that, 
please  God,  much  that  was  crude  and  imperfect  in  it 
might  soon  disappear.* 

It  was  another  happy  circumstance  at  that  time  Sydney 
that  the  Brigade  was  commanded  by  an  officer  alto- 
gether of  the  right  stamp.  Brigadier  Sydney  Cotton 
— a  true  soldier,  and  one  of  a  family  of  soldiers — 
commanded  the  troops  in  the  Peshawur  Valley.  He 
had  seen  service  in  many  parts  of  the  world.  Owing 
no  extraneous  advantages  to  his  family  connexions, 
he  had  ever  been  one  of  those  hard-working,  un- 
shrinking, conscientious  military  officers,  who  do  not 
serve  the  State  less  ungrudgingly  because  it  has  been 
ungrateful  to  them,  but  who,  rising  by  slow  grada- 
tion, never  have  an  opportunity  of  going  to  the  front 
and  showing  of  what  stuff  they  are  made,  until  age 
has  enfeebled  their  powers.  Of  his  forty-seven  years 
of  service  in  the  Royal  Army  the  greater  number 
had  been  passed  in  India.  But  he  was  of  a  constitu- 
tion well  adapted  to  sustain   the  assaults  of  the 

*  In  1849,  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  tumult  if  we  all  gave  candid  opinions 

wrote  to  him :  "  Let  me  advise  you  of  each  other.  I  admire  you  sincerely 

as  a  friend  to  curb  your  temper,  and  as  much  as  any  man  can  do,  but  say 

bear  und  forbear  w'ith  Natives  and  thus  much  as  a  general  warning." 

Europeans,  and  you  will  soon  be  as  In  wrilin^  this,  Lawrence  wrote  as 

distinguished  a  civilian  as  you  are  a  one  conscious  of  the  same  natural  in- 

soldier.     Don't  think  it  is  necessary  firmity  in  himself.    He  had  manfully 

to  say  all  you  think  to  every  one.  struggled  against,  and  in  a  great 

The  wqrld  would  be  one  mass  pf  inet^ure  overcome  it. 


454  PESHAWUR  AND  RAWUL-PINDEE, 

1857.      climate,  and  his  threescore  years  had  taken  from  him 
^^^'      little  of  the  vigour  and  activity  of  his  prime.     Of 
good  stature,  but  of  a  spare,  light  frame,  he  had  all 
the  external  attributes  of  a  good  soldier,  and  there 
were  few  men  in  the  whole  range  of  the  service  who 
vrere  more  familiar  with  the  duties  of  his  profession 
in   all  its  grades.     Constant  intercourse  with   the 
British  soldier,  in  the  Barrack  and  in  the  Camp,  had 
not  only  made  him  thoroughly  acquainted  with  his 
habits  and  feelings,  but  had  developed  within  him  a 
tender  and  tolerant  affection  for,  a  generous  sympathy 
with,  all  who  worked  under  him.     Few  commanding 
officers  had  been  more  careful  of  the  common  soldier 
than  Sydney  Cotton,  or  had  more  thoroughly  earned 
his  confidence.     He  was  known  and  acknowledged 
to  be  one  of  the  best  regimental  officers  in  the  Army. 
No  opportunity  until  now  had  been  afforded  to  him 
of  testing  the  higher  qualities,  which  enable  a  man  to 
face  large  responsibilities,  and  to  combat  great  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  with  a  serene  front.     But  the 
latent  power  was  in  him ;  the  opportunity  had  now 
come,  and  he  was  equal  to  it.   Edwardes  and  Nichol- 
son had  confidence  in  the  Brigadier ;  and  although, 
like  many  of  his  class,  he  had  an  habitual  contempt 
for  civilians  and  soldier-civilians,  he  could  not  help 
thanking  God,  in  the  depths  of  his  heart,  that  cir- 
cumstances had  now  rendered  him  the  fellow-labourer, 
in  a  great  cause,  of  two  soldiers,  of  whom  any  army 
in  the  world  might  be  proud — ^two  soldiers,  though 
vested  with  civil  authority,  as  eager  to  take  the  field 
and  to  share  its  dangers,  as  though  they  had  never 
left  the  camp. 
First  tidings       These  three  men  were  at  Peshawur^  when,  on  the 
break.     "     12th  of  May,  news  reached  them  to  the  effect  that 
May  12.     one  of  the  greatest  military  stations  in  Upper  India 


FIRST  TIDINGS  OF  REVOLT.  455 

was  in  a  blaze,  and  that  the  European  regiments  1^57. 
were  on  the  defensive.  Edwardes,  who  had  an  ^' 
assured  faith  in  the  good  results  of  the  Afghan  policy, 
which  he  had  so  successfully  advocat^ed,  had  little 
apprehension  that  Peshawur  would  be  lost  to  the 
Empire.  "  As  to  this  place,"  he  wrote  to  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  "  it  will  be  the  last  to  go ;  and  not  go  at  all, 
if  the  intermediate  country  be  occupied  by  a  good 
field-force  engaged  in  making  stern  examples.  The 
celebrated  Sixty-fourth  Native  Infantry  is  here  ;*  and 
the  report  in  the  station  is,  that  the  Native  regiments 
here  are  prepared  to  follow  whatever  lead  is  set  them 
by  the  Twenty-first  Native  Infantry,  which,  coeteris 
paiibus^  is  a  good  one."  But  he  did  not,  although  not 
fearing  for  Peshawur,  under-estimate  the  magnitude 
of  the  crisis.  He  knew  that  a  great  struggle  was  ap- 
proaching, and  that  the  energies  of  the  British  nation 
must  be  strained  to  the  utmost.  He  knew  that,  in  the 
Punjab,  there  would  be  much  strife  and  contention, 
and  that  every  Englishman  in  the  province  would 
have  to  put  forth  all  his  strength.  He  was  a  man 
ever  ripe  for  action,  and  he  had  in  John  Nicholson 
a  meet  companion.  "  I  have  not  heard  yet,"  he 
wrote  in  the  letter  above  quoted  to  the  Chief  Com- 
missioner, "  whether  you  are  at  Pindee  or  Murree ; 
but  as  we  have  received  here  telegraphic  news  of  the 
10th  of  May  from  Meerut  that  the  Native  troops 
were  in  open  mutiny,  and  the  Europeans  on  the 
defensive  only,  I  write  a  line  to  tell  you  that  Nichol- 
son and  I  are  of  opinion  that  a  strong  movable 
column  of  reliable  troops  (Europeans  and  Irregulars)' 
should  take  the  field  in  the  Punjab  at  once — ^perhaps 
at  Lahore  would  be  best,  so  as  to  get  between  the 

*  See,  for  an  account  of  a  previous  mutiny  of  t^js  regim^nt^  ante^ 
yol.  i.,  pages  281—289. 


456  PESHAWUR  AND  RAWUL-PINDEE. 

1857.  stations  which  have  mutinied  and  those  that  have 
May  IS.  ^^^ .  ^^^  move  on  the  first  station  that  stirs  next ; 
and  bring  the  matter,  without  further  delay,  to  the 
bayonet.  This  disaffection  will  never  be  talked  down 
now.  It  must  be  put  down — and  the  sooner  blood 
be  let  the  less  of  it  will  suffice.  Nicholson  desires 
me  to  tell  you  that  he  would  be  ready  to  take  com- 
mand of  them,  and  I  need  not  add  the  pleasure  it 
would  give  me  to  dq  the  same.  We  are  both  at 
your  disposal,  remember ;  and  if  this  business  goes,  as 
it  soon  will,  to  a  question  of  personal  influence  and 
exertion,  either  of  us  could  raise  a  serviceable  body 
out  of  the  Derajat  in  a  short  time."  And  he  added 
in  a  postscript,  "  Whatever  you  do  about  a  movable 
force,  do  it  at  once.  There  is  no  time  to  be  lost  in 
getting  to  the  struggle  which  is  to  settle  the  matter." 
Neville  There  was  then  at  no  sreat  distance  from  Peshawur 

°'  another  man,  whose  counsel  and  assistance  were 
eagerly  desired  in  this  conjuncture.  It  was  felt  that 
the  presence  of  Neville  Chamberlain  was  needed  to 
complete  that  little  confederacy  of  heroes,  on  the 
wisdom  and  courage  of  whom  the  safety  of  the 
frontier,  under  Providence,  mainly  depended.  Briga- 
dier Chamberlain  at  this  time  commanded  the  Punjab 
Irregular  Force.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  his  life  and 
the  fulness  of  his  active  manhood.  Of  a  fair  stature, 
of  a  light  but  sinewy  frame,  he  had  every  physical 
qualification  that  could  make  a  dashing  leader  of  Ir- 
regular Horse.  And  in  early  youth,  he  had  acquired 
a  reputation  as  an  intrepid  and  eager  soldier,  who 
was  ever  in  the  front  where  danger  was  to  be  faced 
and  glory  was  to  be  gained.  On  the  battle-fields  of 
Afghanistan  and  the  Punjab,  he  had  sho>vn  what 
was  the  temper  of  his  steel,  and  he  had  carried  off 
jnorp  honourable  wounds  in  l^and-to-h^nd  encgupter 


NEVILLE  CHAMBERLAIN.  457 

with  the  enemy  than  any  of  his  contemporaries  in  the  ]857. 
service.  It  was  said,  indeed,  that  his  great  fault  as  a  ^*y  ^^• 
soldier  was,  that  he  exposed  himself  too  recklessly  to 
danger.  But  with  this  irrepressible  military  enthu- 
siasm, which  had  well-nigh  cost  him  his  life,  he  had 
a  large  fund  of  sound  common  sense,  was  wise  in 
council,  and  had  military  knowledge  far  beyond  that 
of  the  bold  swordsman  who  heads  against  heavy  odds 
a  charge  of  Horse..  And  with  all  these  fine  quali- 
ties he  combined  a  charming  modesty  of  demeanour 
— a  general  quietude  and  simplicity  of  character, 
which  not  only  forbade  all  kinds  of  self-assertion, 
but  even  shrunk  from  the  commendations  of  others. 
He  had  been  selected,  as  the  fittest  man  in  the 
Army,  to  command  the  Punjab  Irregular  Force, 
of  which  I  have  before  spoken,*  and  which  had 
already  won  immense  confidence  in  the  Punjab, 
and  no  little  reputation  in  more  distant  parts  of 
India.  Ne^t  to  the  European  regiments,  this  was 
the  most  reliable  portion  of  the  military  force  in 
the  Punjab — indeed,  the  only  other  reliable  part  of 
the  great  Army  planted  there  for  the  defence  of  the 
frontier.  It  was  of  extreme  importance  at  this  time 
that  Chamberlain  and  Cotton  should  be  in  communi- 
cation as  to  the  best  means  of  co-operating,  especially 
with  respect  to  the  proposed  Movable  Column  ;  and 
so  Edwardes  wrote  to  him,  asking  him  to  ride  over 
to  Peshawur  and  to  take  counsel  with  him  and  the 
chief  military  authorities — a  measure  of  which  they 
entirely  approved.  Chamberlain  at  once  responded 
to  the  summons,  and  hastened  over  to  Peshawur. 

So,  on  the  13th  of  May,  an  hour  or  two  after  hisThePesha- 
arrival,  a  Council  of  War  was  held  at  the  house  of  ^"^J^^^^^^^^- 
General   Ree4,      The   members    present   were   the       *^ 

»  Jnte,  page  4?2, 


458  PESHAWUR  AND  RAWUL-PINDEE. 

1867.     General,  the  Brigadier,  Edwardes,  Chamberlain,  and 
May  13.    Nicholson.     Half  an  hour  before  their  assembling, 
Edwardes  had  received  a  telegraphic  message  from 
John  Lawrence  approving  the  formation  of  the  Mov- 
able Column,  and  announcing  that  the  Native  troops 
at  Meean-Meer  had  that  morning  been  disarmed. 
There  was  no  division  in  the  Council.     The  military 
and  political  authorities  at  Peshawur  were  moved  by 
a  common  spirit,   and  acted  as  one  man.     It  was 
agreed  that  in  the  conjuncture  which  had  arisen,  all 
civil  and  military  power  in  the  Punjab  should  be 
concentrated  on  one  spot ;  that  to  this  effect  General 
Reed  should  assume  the  command  of  all  the  troops 
in  the  province,  that  he  should  join  the  Chief  Com- 
missioner  at  Rawul-Pindee,  or  at  such  place  as  might 
be  the  seat  of  the  local  government  at  the  time,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  in  constant  intercourse  with 
the    Chief   Commissioner,    and    harmonious    action 
might  thus  be  secured  between  the  civil  and  military 
authorities.     The  real  object  of  this  did  not  lie  on 
the  surface.    There  was  an   occult  meaning  in  it, 
which  caused  Edwardes  and  Nicholson  to  smile  com- 
placently at  the  Council-table,  and  to  exchange  many 
a  joke  in  private.    Thip  concentration  of  the  military 
authority  of  the  Punjab  in  the  person  of  General 
Reed — a  worthy  .  old  officer,  without  very  strong 
opinions  of  any  kind — ^really  transferred  it  to  the 
hands  of  the  political  officers.     It  was  a  great  thing 
not  to  be  checked — not  to  be  thwarted — not  to  be 
interfered  with — ^not  to  have  regulation,  and  routine, 
and  all  sorts  of  nervous  fears  and  anxieties  thrust 
upon  them  from  a  distance.     It  was  desirable,  how- 
ever, that  the  semblance  of  military  authority  should 
be  maintained  throughout  the  land — ^that  the  rights 
of  seniority  should  be  outwardly  respected — that 


GENERAL  REED. 


459 


every  man  should  be  in  his  own  place,  as  upon 
parade,  and  that  a  General  should  at  all  times  be  a 
General,  even  though  for  purposes  of  action  he  should 
be  merely  a  stock  or  a  stone.  The  Natives  of  India 
watch  these  things  shrewdly  and  observingly,  and 
estimate,  with  rare  sagacity,  every  indication  of  a 
failure  of  the  wondrous  union  and  discipline,  which 
they  look  upon  as  the  very  root  of  our  supremacy.* 
But,  though  it  was  at  all  times  and  in  all  places, 
desirable  to  keep  up  this  show  of  a  wonderful 
machinery,  working  wheel  by  wheel  with  perfect 
regularity  of  action,  it  was  not  always  expedient  to 
maintain  the  reality  of  it.  There  were  times  and 
conjunctures  when  the  practical  recognition  of  the 
authority  of  rank,  which  in  the  Indian  army  was 
only  another  name  for  age,  might  wisely  be  foregone ; 
and  such  a  crisis  had  now  to  be  confronted.  On  the 
whole,  it  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  just  such 
a  man  as  General  Reed — a  man  not  obstinate,  not 
wedded  to  any  opinions  or  foregone  conclusions  of  his 
own,  and  yet  not  more  cautious,  irresolute,  or  fearful 
of  responsibility  than  the  majority  of  old  soldiers  who 
had  never  been  called  upon  to  face  a  momentous 
crisis — was  then  the  senior  officer  in  that  part  of 


1857. 

May  13. 


*  In  the  first  volume  of  this  His- 
tory I  observed,  willi  immediate 
reference  to  the  dissensions  between 
Lord  Dalhousie  and  Sir  Charles 
Napier,  that  these  conflicts  of  au- 
t  hority  were  generally  regarded,  by 
the  more  intelligent  Natives  of  India, 
as  proofs  of  weakness  in  the  British 
Government,  and  that  some  regarded 
tliem  as  precursors  of  our  downfall. 
I  have  since  read  the  following  con- 
firmation of  this  opinion  in  the  Cor- 
respondence of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton :  "  Of  this  I  am  certain,"  wrote 
the  Duke  to  Lord  Comber  mere, 
*'  that  any  public   and   continued 


difiFerence  between  the  Governor- 
General  and  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  is  prejudicial  to  the  public 
interests,  and  cannot  be  allowed  to 
exist.  It  is  prejudicial  for  this 
reason.  It  shakes  the  authority  of 
Government  to  its  very  foundation ; 
and  while  such  differences  cuutiuue, 
every  little  man,  who  takes  part 
with  either  one  or  the  other,  be- 
comes of  importance.  The  interests 
of  the  party  are  the  great  object. 
Those  of  the  public  are  laid  aside 
and  forgotten,  and  even  injured 
with  ioipuuity." 


460  PESHAWUB  AND  RAWUL-PINDEE. 

1857.      the  country ;  indeed,  under  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
^  ^^'     the  senior  officer  of  the  Bengal  Presidency.     He  had 
good  sense  of  the  most  serviceable  kind — ^the  good 
sense  to  understand  his  own  deficiencies,  and  to  ap- 
preciate the  fact  that  there  were  abler  men  than 
himself  about   him.      So,  whilst   he  was  rising  to 
the  honourable  position  of  military  dictator  of  the 
Punjab,  he  wisely  ceased  to  dictate.     The  time  had 
come  for  the  universal  domination  of  Brains — John 
Lawrence,  with  Herbert  Edwardes  for  his  Wuzeer, 
then  took  the  supreme  direction  of  affairs,  always 
consulting  the  chief  military  authorities,  but  quietly 
educating  them,  and  flattering  them  with  the  belief 
that  they  dictated  when  they  only  obeyed. 
The  Movable      The  next  resolution  was  that  a  Movable  Column  of 
Column.        reliable  troops,  as  before  suggested,  should  be  or- 
ganised, to  take  the  field  at  once,  under  a  competent 
commander,  and  to  operate  upon  any  point  where 
rebellion  might  bristle  up,  or  danger  might  threaten 
us  in  the  Punjab.  A  suspected  Sepoy  garrison  was  to 
be  removed  from  the  Fort  of  Attock — an  important 
position,  which  it  was  of  immense  moment  to  secure ; 
and  our  communications  were  to  be  placed  beyond 
the  reach  of  danger  by  posting  at  the  Attock  ferry  a 
Pathan  guard  under  a  tried  and  trusty  Pathan  leader. 
At  the  same  time  other  changes  in  the  disposition  of 
the  troops  were  to  be  made;  the  Native  regiments 
being  drawn  into  the  posts  at  which   they  might 
least  readily  co-operate  with  each  other,  and  most 
easily  be  overawed  by  the  Europeans.     At  the  same 
time,  it  was  determined  that  Brigadier  Chamberlain 
should  proceed   at  once  to   Kawul-Pindee  to  take 
counsel  with  the  Chief  Comiriissioner ;  and  that  John 
Nicholson,  if  his  services  were  not  called  for  in  a 
military  capacity,   should   accompany  the  Atovabl^ 


THE  MOVABLE  COLUJiN.  461 

Column  as  its  political  officer.  These  proposals  were  1857. 
telegraphed  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  and  all  but  the  ^^y^^- 
last  were  cordially  accepted.  The  Chief  Commis- 
sioner thought  that  Nicholson's  services  were  required 
at  Peshawur,  and  in  that  particular  juncture  it  was 
believed  that  the  public  service  would  suffer  by  his 
departure.  Moreover,  he  had  a  faith,  that  had  been 
bravely  earned,  in  the  general  efficiency  of  his  as- 
sistants all  over  the  country.  And  he  knew  that  it 
would  not  be  wise  to  supersede  local  authority  by  a 
delegate  from  Head-Quarters.  And  never,  perhaps, 
did  John  Lawrence  exhibit  his  instinctive  sagacity 
more  clearly  than  in  this  first  resolution  to  plkce 
every  officer  in  the  Punjab  on  his  own  particular 
stand-point  of  responsibility,  and  thus  to  evoke  to 
the  utmost  all  the  power  within  him. 

The  details  of  the  Movable  Column  were  soon 
jotted  down,  but  it  was  not  so  easy  to  settle  the 
question  of  command.  Cotton  and  Edwardes,  Cham- 
berlain and  Nicholson,  were  all  equally  eager  to 
place  themselves  at  its  head.  It  was  to  be  determined 
only  by  superior  authority;  so  General  Reed  made, 
a  reference  to  the  Commander-in-Chief.  Edwardes 
could  not  be  spared  from  the  frontier,  where  he  was 
a  tower  of  strength :  the  names  of  Cotton,  Cham- 
berlain, and  Nicholson,  were  submitted  to  Head- 
Quarters.  And  the  telegraph  wires  brought  back  the 
intimation  that  General  Anson  had  selected  Neville 
Chamberlain  as  the  leader  of  the  column. 

On  the  16th,  General  Reed  and  Brigadier  Cham-  The  Rawul- 
berlain  joined  the  Chief  Commissioner  at  Rawul- qquq^i, 
Pindee,  and  on  that  evening  Colonel  Edwardes  re-     May  16. 
ceived  a  telegraphic  message  summoning  him  to  join 
the  Head-Quarters  Council.     Making  over  his  own 
particular  charge  to  Nicholson,  he  proceeded  at  once 


462  tESHAWDk  AND  RAWUL-PINDEfi. 

1857.  to  Pindee,  and  was  soon  in  eager  but  confident  dis- 
*^  •  cussion  alike  of  the  present  and  the  future.  The 
stern  resolution  and  unflinchiog  courage  of  John 
Lawrence  were  then  lighted  up  by  the  radiant  aspect 
of  Herbert  Edwardes,  whose  cheerfulness  was  so  un- 
failing, and  whose  political  wisdom  so  often  glinted 
out  in  bright  flashes  of  wit,  that  the  Councils 
of  War  which  were  held  during  that  gathering  at 
Rawul-Pindee  were  said  to  be  "  great  fun."*  Never, 
perhaps,  in  the  face  of  such  enormous  diflSculty  and 
.danger,  shaking  the  very  foundations  of  a  great 
empire,  did  men  meet  each  other  with  brighter  faces 
or  more  cheering  words.  It  was  an  occasion  on  which 
the  eventual  success  of  our  resistance  depended,  more 
than  all  else,  upon  the  heart  and  hope  of  our 
great  chiefs,  on  whose  words  all  men  hung,  and  in 
whose  faces  they  looked  for  the  assurance  and  en- 
.  couragement  which  inspired  and  animated  all  be- 

neath them.  It  was  said  of  John  Lawrence,  at  that 
time,  that  he  was  as  calm  and  confident  as  if  he 
had  been  contemplating  only  the  most  common-place 
events,  and  that  Herbert  Edwardes  was  in  higher 
spirits,  more  natural  and  more  unrestrained,  than  he 

*  It  iTiny  be  mentioned  here  that  stating  that  there  was  some  talk  at 
the  capital  story,  repeated  in  so  Umballah  of  intrencliing,  and  not 
many  contemporary  memoirs,  to  the  marching.  Edwardes  humorously 
effect  that  Sir  John  Lawrence,  being  suggested  that  a  telegram  should  be 
at  the  whist-t  able,  answered  a  tele-  despatched  to  "  Major  A.  where?er 
graphic  message  from  General  Anson  he  may  be  found,"  saying,  "  "When 
with  the  words,  "  Clubs  are  trumps  in  doubt  play  a  trump— act  up  to 
— ^not  spades;  when  in  doubt  play  your  own  principles" — the  belief 
a  big  one" — originated  in  a  joke  of  Dcing  that  General  Anson  had  writ- 
Herbert  Edwardes.  The  stor^  always  ten  the  well-known  work  on  whist 
was  one  of  doubtful  authenticiU,  as  by  "  Major  A."  Charles  Nicholson 
it  was  le»s  likely  that  Sir  John  Law-  then  suggested  as  an  amendment 
rence  than  that  General  Ansou  would  the^words,  "  Clubs  are  trumps,  not 
be  caught  at  the  whist-tablc.  The  spa2es."  Lawrence  consented,  and 
fact  is,  that  Lawrence,  Edwardes,  the  pregnant  sentence  was  de- 
Charles  Nicholson,  and  one  or  two  spatchcd  to  Mr.  Barnes,  who,  doubt- 
others  were  to^zether,  when  a  tele-  less,  communicated  it  to  General 
gram  from  Mr.  Barnes  was  received,  Anson. 


StE  JOHN  LAWRMCe.  463 

had  ever  been  known  to  be  by  men  who  had  served      1867. 
with  him  in  more  quiet  times.  A  great  and  ennobling    ^•y  ^^• 
faith  was  settling  down  in  the  breasts  of  our  Punjabee  . 
chiefs.     It  had  dawned  upon  them  that  it  would  be 
their  work,  not  merely  to  save  the  Province,  but  to 
save  the  Empire. 

History  will  take  the  measure  of  men's  minds  in 
accordance  with  the  extent  to  which  they  looked 
upon  this  crisis,  as  a  local  or  an  imperial  one,  and 
directed  their  efforts  to  the  suppression  of  the  one  or 
the  other.  Physically,  it  is  known  rarely  to  happen 
that  men,  who  have  a  clear,  steady  sight  to  discern 
distinctly  near  objects,  have  that  wide  range  of  vision 
which  enables  them  to  comprehend  what  is  observable 
in  the  distance ;  and  the  faculty  which,  either  on  a 
large  or  a  small  scale,  enables  a  man  to  grasp  moral 
objects,  both  immediate  and  remote,  is  equally  rare. 
General  Hewitt's  small  mind  took  in  nothing  beyond 
the  idea  that,  as  he  lived  at  Meerut,  it  was  his  duty 
to  save  Meerut.  But  the  great  intellect  of  Sir  John 
Lawrence  grasped  all  the  circumstances  of  the  im- 
perial danger,  and  held  them  in  a  vice.  He  had  his 
own  particular  province  in  hand — carefully  and 
minutely ;  no  single  post  overlooked,  no  single  point 
neglected.  He  knew  what  every  man  under  him  was 
doing,  what  every  man  was  expected  to  do;  there 
was  nothing  that  happened,  or  that  might  happen,  in 
the  Punjab  over  which  he  did  not  exercise  the  closest 
vigilance ;  but  the  struggle  for  supremacy  at  his  own 
doors  never  obscured  the  distant  vision  of  the  great 
imperial  danger.  He  never  domesticated  his  policy ; 
he  never  localised  his  efforts.  He  never  said  to  him- 
self, "The  Punjab  is  my  especial  charge.  I  will 
defend  the  Punjab.  1  have  no  responsibility  beyond 
it."     He  would    have    weakened    the    Punjab    to 


464  1»£SHAWU&  AKD  £AWlJL-PIND££. 

1857-  strengthen  the  Empire.  He  would,  perhaps,  have 
^y*  sacrificed  the  Punjab  to  save  the  Empire.  In  this, 
indeed,  the  strength  of  his  character — ^his  capacity 
for  government  on  a  grand  scale — ^was  evinced  at 
the  outset)  and,  as  time  advanced,  it  manifested  itself 
in  every  stage  of  the  great  struggle  more  signally 
than  bdfore.* 

It  was  felt  in  the  Pindee  Council  that,  "  whatever 
gave  rise  to  the  mutiny,  it  had  settled  down  into 
a  struggle  for  empire,  under  Mahomedan  guidance, 
with  the  Mogul  capital  for  its  centre,  t  From  that 
time,  this  great  centre  of  the  Mogul  capital  was  never 
beyond  the  range  of  John  Lawrence's  thoughts — 
never  beyond  the  reach  of  his  endeavours.  Seen,  as 
it  were,  through  the  telescope  of  long  years  of  politi- 
cal experience,  sweeping  all  intervening  time  and 
space,  the  great  city  of  Delhi,  which  he  knew  so  well, 
was  brought  close  to  his  eyes ;  and  he  felt  that  he 
had  a  double  duty.  Much  as  he  might  think  of 
Lahore,  Umritsur,  or  Peshawur,  he  thought  still 
more  of  Delhi.  He  felt  as  lesser  men  would  not 
have  felt,  that  it  was  his  duty  in  that  emergency  to 
give  back  tp  the  Empire,  in  time  of  intestine  war,  all 
that  he  could  give  from  that  abundance  of  military 
strength  which  had  been  planted  in  the  province  at 
a  time  when  the  defence  of  the  frontier  against  ex- 
ternal aggressions  was  held  to  be  the  first  object  of 
imperial  importance.  Knowing  well  the  terrible 
scarcity  of  reliable  troops  in  all  the  country  below 
the  Punjab,  and  the  encouraging  effect  of  the  occu- 
pation of  Delhi  by  the  rebel  troops,  he  resolved  to 
pour  down  upon  the  imperial  city  every  regiment 

*  A  fuller  account  of  Sir  John  Edwardes  in  his  Peshawur  Military 

Lawrence's  internal   policy  is  re-  Eeport — a  document  of   great  in- 

served  for  another  chapter.  terest  and  ability,  and  one  most  ser- 

t  These  are  the  woids  of  Colonel  viceable  to  the  historian. 


THE  GUIDE  CORPS.  465 

that  he  could  send  to  its  relief.  From  that  time  his  1867 
was  the  directing  mind  which  influenced  for  good  ^*y* 
all  that  was  done  from  Upper  India,  working  down- 
wards to  rescue  our  people  from  the  toils  of  the 
enemy,  and  to  assert  our  dominion  under  the  walls 
of  Delhi,  where  the  great  battle  of  supremacy  was  to 
be  fought. 

And  the  first  succour  which  he  sent  was  the  The  march 
famous  Guide  Corps,  which  Henry  Lawrence  had  de-  c^^pg,  ® 
signed  ever  to  be  ready  for  service — ever  to  be  the 
first  for  action.  It  was  at  that  time  stationed  at 
Hote  Murdan,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Henry 
Daly.  On  the  morning  of  the  13th,  two  officers, 
who  had  gone  over  to  Nowshera  to  attend  a  ball 
which  had  been  given  at  that  station,  brought  to 
Hote-Murdan  tidings  that  the  Fifty-fifth  Regiment  at 
the  former  place  had  received  orders  to  relieve  the 
Guide  Corps  at  the  latter.  All  was  then  excitement 
and  conjecture.  No  man  knew  the  reason  of  the 
movement ;  no  man  knew  what  had  happened  or 
what  was  coming.  "  No  uproar,"  it  was  said,  **  along 
the  line  of  frontier.  No  incursion  to  repress.  No 
expedition  to  join."  The  story  told,  at  six  in  the 
morning,  was  true;  and  two  hours  afterwards  its 
truth  was  confirmed  by  the  sight  of  the  approaching 
regiment  in  the  distance.  About  the  same  time  an 
express  came  in  from  Peshawur,  bringing  orders  for 
the  Guide  Corps  to  march  at  once  to  Nowshera. 
With  the  official  orders  came  a  private  letter  from 
Edwardes  to  Daly,  which  cast  a  terrible  glare  of 
light  upon  all  that  had  before  been  obscure.  "  That 
you  may  better  know  how  to  act  on  the  enclosed 
instruction  to  move  to  Nowshera,  I  write  privately 
to  tell  you  that  telegraphic  news  of  open  mutiny 
among  the  Native  troops  at  Meerut  having  reached 

VOL.  II.  2  H 


466  PESHAWUR  AND  RAWUL-PINBEE. 

1857.  US  here  to-day,  we  think  a  movable  column  should 
^^y*  be  assembled  in  the  Punjab,  and  get  between  the 
stations  that  have  gone  wrong  and  those  that  have 
not^  and  put  down  further  disaffection  by  force.  It 
is  obviously  necessary  to  constitute  such  a  column  of 
reliable  troops,  and  therefore  it  has  been  proposed  to 
get  the  Guides  and  Her  Majesty's  Twenty-seventh 
Regiment  together  without  delay  as  a  part  of  the 
scheme."  So  Daly  at  once  mustered  his  Guides,  and 
before  midnight  they  were  at  Nowshera.  He  had 
not  long  laid  himself  down  to  rest,  when  he  was 
awakened  by  an  express  from  Cotton  ordering  the 
Guides  to  move  upon  Attock.  At  gun-fire  they  re- 
commenced their  journey,  and  before  noon,  after  a 
trying  march,  under  a  fierce  sun,  they  reached  their 
destination,  scorched  and  dried,  but  full  of  spirit  and 
ripe  for  action.  "  The  Punjab,"  wrote  the  gallant 
leader  of  the  Guides  on  that  day,  "is  paying  back 
India  all  she  cost  her,  by  sending  troops  stout  and 
firm  to  her  aid.'' 
May  16.  From  Attock,  after  securing  the  Fort,  and  holding 
it  until  the  arrival  of  a  detachment  sent  from  Kohat, 
Daly  marched,  two  hours  after  midnight,  on  the 
morning  of  the  I6th,  in  the  light  of  the  rising  moon, 
which  soon  was  obscured  by  a  blinding  dust-storm. 
When  it  cleared  away,  the  air  was  fresh  and  pleasant^ 
and  the  corps  marched  on,  a  distance  of  more  than 
twenty  miles,  until,  at  eight  o'clock,  it  bivouacked 
in  a  grove  of  peach  and  apricot  trees,  which  enabled 
them  to  dispense  with  tents.  At  midnight,  after  a 
few  hours  of  early  slumber,  the  trumpet-call  was 
again  heard,  and  they  resumed  their  march,  in  the 
cool  morning  air,  through  a  beautiful  country  skirted 
by  a  range  of  verdant  hills ;  and  on  the  morning  of 
the  18th  they  were  at  Rawul-Pindee. 


MARCH  OF  THE  GUIDE  CORPS.  467 

There  was  nothing  needed  to  stimulate  a  man  of  1857. 
Daly's  high  enthusiasm,  but  it  was  refreshing  and  May  18. 
invigorating  to  be,  even  for  a  little  while,  in  close 
and  familiar  intercouse  with  such  men  as  Lawrence, 
Chamberlain,  and  Edwardes — and  a  fourth,  Hugh 
James,  then  acting  as  Secretary  to  the  Chief  Com- 
missioner, who  had  a  noble  spirit  and  a  high  intelli- 
gence worthy  of  the  confidence  of  his  great  master. 
There  is  nothing  more  delightful  than  this  attrition 
of  ardent  natures.  Great  men  become  greater  by 
such  sympathetic  contact.  It  was  a  source  of  infinite 
rejoicing  to  Daly  to  learn  that  the  Guides,  which 
might  have  done  great  service  as  a  part  of  the 
Movable  Column  in  the  Punjab,  were  honoured  by 
being  the  first  regiment  selected  to  move  down  to  the 
relief  of  Delhi.  "  The  Guides,  I  believe,"  wrote  Daly 
in  his  journal  on  the  18th  of  May,  "  are  to  march 
down  and  to  show  to  the  people  Native  troops  willing 
and  loyal.  I  shall  rejoice  at  this,  and  march  down 
with  all  my  heart."  And  so  they  marched  down — 
with  a  great  enthusiasm  stirring  their  gallant  leader, 
and  through  him,  all  who  followed ;  officers  and  men, 
moved  by  one  common  heroism  of  the  best  kind. 
"  I  am  making,  and  I  mean  to  make,"  wrote  Daly  on 
the  1st  of  June,  "  the  best  march  that  has  been  heard 
of  in  the  land !"     And  nobly  he  fulfilled  his  promise. 

At  this  time  he  had  reached  Loodhianah.  In  the  June  1—4. 
early  morning  of  the  4th  the  Guides  were  at  Um- 
ballah,  and  on  the  6th  they  were  at  Kumaul.  There 
they  found  Mr.  Le  Bas  and  Sir  Theophilus  Metcalfe, 
who  had  escaped  from  Delhi,  and  were  eager  to 
punish  some  neighbouring  villages,  which  were  be- 
lieved to  have  harboured  insurgents,  and  to  be  full  of 
people  bent  upon  the  plunder  of  the  Feringhees. 
Eager  as  Daly  was  to  push  on  to  Delhi,  and  reluctant 

2n2 


468  PESIIAWUR  AND  RAWUL-PINDEE. 

1857.  to  destroy  wholesale,  in  retaliation  for  what  might 
June.  Qjjiy  \yQ  Qj^  offence  of  the  few,  he  for  some  time  re- 
sisted the  retributory  eagerness  of  the  civilians,  but 
at  length  yielded  to  their  wishes,  and  sent  the  Guides 
forward  to  the  attack.  The  villagers  fled  in  dismay ; 
some  were  killed  on  their  retreat ;  others  were  made 
prisoners ;  and  soon  the  blaze  of  their  burning  houses 
could  be  seen  from  many  a  distant  mile.  But  the 
mercy  of  the  Christian  officer  was  shown  towards  the 
helpless  and  unoffending ;  Daly  saved  the  women  and 
the  children,  and  helped  them  to  remove  the  little 
property  they  possessed. 

The  delay  was  unfortunate.     The  unwelcome  duty 
thus  forced  upon  the  Guide  Corps  deprived  it  of  the 
coveted  honour  of  taking  part  in  the  first  attack  upon 
the  Delhi  mutineers.     Had  not  the  civilians,  in  that 
great  zeal  for  the  desolation  of  villages,  which  dis- 
tinguished many,  perhaps  too  many  of  them,  before 
the  year  was  at  an  end,  arrested  Daly's  onward  march, 
he  would  have  been  present  with  his  corps  at  the 
battle  of  Budlee-ka-serai.     As  it  was,  he  marched 
June  9.     into  camp  a  day  too  late.*     The  battle  had  been 
The  Guide     fought,  but  the  corps,  by  the  march  alone,  had  covered 
Delhi.  itself  with  glory,  and  it  was  received  on  its  arrival  by 

the  Delhi  Field  Force  with  ringing  cheers.  There 
were  now  two  Native  regiments  in  the  British  camp 
whom  all  men  trusted — the  Goorkahs  under  Reid, 
and  the  Punjabee  Guide  Corps  under  Daly.     And 

*  "The  morning  after  tlie  battle  lime  of  the  year,  from  near  Pesha- 

the  Guides  enrered  camp  under  the  wur  to  Delhi,  a  distance  of  fire  hun- 

command  of  Captain  Daly.     They  dred  and  eighty  miles  in  twenty-two 

were  already  well  known  as  one  of  days.    Their  stately  height  ancf  mili- 

the  finest  regiments  in  India.    They  tary  bearing  made  ail  who  saw  them 

were  almost  all  of  Afghan  or  Persian  proud  to  have  such  aid.    They  came 

race,  and  consisted  of  three  troops  m  as  firm  and  light  as  if  they  had 

of  cavalry,  perhaps  the  best  riders  marched  only  a  mile." — Hislory  of 

in  our  pay,  and  six  companies  of  in-  the  Siege  of  Delhi,  by  One  tcho  Served 

fantry  armed  with  the  rifle.    They  there, 
had  marched  in  this,  the  hottest 


FIRST  CHARGE  OF  THE  GUIDES.  469 

soon  it  will  be  seen  how  gallantly  they  proved  the  1857. 
fidelity  that  was  in  them.  Indeed,  on  the  very  day  •^^^^• 
of  their  arrival,  the  Guides  went  out,  fresh  as  if  they 
had  slept  a  long  sleep,  and  loitered  through  a  cool 
morning,  to  give  the  Delhi  mutineers  a  taste  of  their 
temper.  The  enemy  were  not  prepared,  on  the  day 
after  the  battle,  to  risk  another  great  engagement ; 
but,  intent  on  not  suflPering  us  to  rest,  they  sent  out 
parties  of  Horse  and  Foot  to  attack  our  advanced 
position.  The  Guides  went  gallantly  to  the  front. 
The  sabres  of  their  horsemen  were  crossed  with  those 
of  the  troopers  of  the  Third  Cavalry ;  but  not  long 
could  the  rebels  stand  the  onslaught.  The  failure  of 
the  attack  would  have  been  complete,  if  it  had  not 
cost  us  the  life  of  one  of  our  finest  officers.  Daly  was 
unharmed,  though  struck  by  a  spent  shot>  and  his 
horse  killed  in  the  encounter ;  but  his  second  in  com- 
mand, young  Quintin  Battye,  who  had  charged  at 
the  head  of  the  Guides'  Cavalry,  was  carried  mortally 
wounded  from  the  field.  The  gallantry  of  his  bear- 
in«:  throuo:hout  this  fierce  encounter  had  attracted 
the  admiration  of  his  chief;  and  Daly,  when  last  he 
saw  his  lieutenant  in  action,  had  cried  out  with  the 
irrepressible  enthusiasm  with  which  one  brave  man 
regards  the  bravery  of  another,  "  Gallant  Battye  I 
well  done,  brave  Battye!"  and  soon  afterwards  a 
rebel  came  up  within  two  yards  of  the  English 
officer,  and,  after  vainly  endeavouring  to  bayonet 
him,  discharged  his  piece  into  Battye's  body.  The 
deed  was  amply  revenged.  A  Soubahdar  of  the  Guide 
Corps  cut  the  Sepoy  doAvn  as  he  fired.* 

*  Soubahdar  Merban  Singh.    This  pany,  which  he  commanded.    "  The 

gallant  soldier  was  a  Goorkah,  "  one  men,"  wrote  Daly  lo  John  Lawrence, 

of  those  sent  down  by  Sir  Henry  "speak  of  him  with  tears  and  sobs." 

Lawrence"  to  join  the  Guide  Corps.  He  had  two  brothers  ajso  killed  in 

He  fell  in  action,  some  days  after-  actioi^. 
wards*,  at  the  head  of  the  first  com- 


470  PESHAWUR  AND  RAW UL-PINDEE. 

1857.  And  as  the  young  hero  lay  dying,   in   grievous 

June.        pain,  on  that  night  which  was  to  be  his  last,  a  re- 

Quintin^       inembrance  of  the  pleasant  Argos  of  his  school  days 

Battje.          mingling  with  the  pride  of  the  soldier  and  the  great 

love  of  country  which  sustained  our  people,  he  said, 

with  a  smile  on  his  handsome  face,  to  the  chaplain 

who  was  ministering  to  him,  "  Dulce  et  decorum  est 

pro  patri4  mori ;"  and  so  ended  his  brief  and  honour- 

able  career.* 

*  See  Chaplain's  "  Narrative  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi," 


PBOGEESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB.  471 


CHAPTER  III. 

GENERAL  POLICT  OF  SIB  JOHN  LAWBENCE— TJJE  RAISING  OF  LOCAL 
LEVIES— EVENTS  AT  PSSHAWUR — DISARMING  OF  THE  NATIVE  REGI- 
MENTS—PUNISHMENT OF  DESERTERS — MUTINY  OF  THE  FIFTY-FIFTH — 
EXPEDITION  TO  HOTE-MURDAN — MUTINY  OF  THE  SIXTY-FOURTH— THE 
OUTBREAK  AT  JULLUNDHUR. 

Whilst  Daly's  Guide  Corps  was  making  this  May,  1857. 
splendid  march,  and  the  Punjab  was  contributing  the  ^?^^2\^^ 
first-fruits  of  its  accumulated  strength  to  the  succour  Lawrence, 
of  the  English  Army  at  Delhi,  events  were  ripening 
in  the  frontier  province,  and  John  Lawrence  and  his 
associates  were  laying  fast  hold  of  the  crisis  with  a 
vigorous  tenacity,  as  men  knowing  right  well  the 
sovereign  importance  of  promptitude  of  action.  The 
Chief  Commissioner,  in  earnest  council  with  Edwardes 
and  Chamberlain,  had  clearly  marked  out  the  policy 
which  was  now  to  be  pursued  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Punjab.  When  intelligence  of  the  events  at  the 
capital,  and  especially  of  the  disarming  of  the  Native 
regiments  at  Meean-Meer,  reached  him,  he  had  been 
at  first  somewhat  startled  by  the  boldness  of  the  con- 
ception, and  perhaps  inclined  to  question  the  wisdom 
of  the  achievement.  For  John  Lawrence,  with  all  his 
immense  energy  and  resolution,  was  a  man  cautious 
and  circumspect,  who  never  acted  upon  impulse.  If 
\ie  thought  at  the  beginning  that  this  open  movement 


472  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  against  the  Sepoys  on  the  part  of  the  Sirkar — this 
^^"  vehement  declaration  of  v^rant  of  confidence  in  men 
who  had  as  yet,  within  his  own  circle  of  administra- 
tion, done  nothing  disloyal — was  hastily  to  proclaim 
a  war  that  it  was  not  desirable  to  precipitate,  there 
was  substantial  reason  for  the  doubt.*  But  he  very 
soon  felt  full  assurance  that  what  had  been  done  had 
been  done  wisely  and  well.  And  from  that  time, 
sternly  recognising  the  fact  that  the  crisis  had  come, 
that  there  was  nothing  to  be  postponed,  or  coqueted 
with,  or  smoothed  down,  he  flung  himself  into  the 
work  before  him,  full-brained  and  strong-armed,  and 
grappled  with  it  as,  perhaps,  no  other  man  could  have 
done.  Then  he,  in  his  turn,  startled  others  by  the 
boldness  of  his  conceptions.  There  were  men  equally 
shrewd  aijd  courageous  at  Lahore,  who  learnt  with 
alarm  that  the  Chief  Commissioner  was  enlisting 
Sikhs  and  Afghans  into  the  service  of  the  State.  But 
this  policy  was  based  upon  a  sound  estimate  of  the 
antagonism  between  the  Poorbeah  Sepoys  from  Hin- 
dostan  aad  the  Punjabee  races,  whether  Sikhs  or 
Mahomedans — a  natural  antagonism  fostered  and  in- 
creased by  the  conduct  of  the  former.f    To  replace 

*  See  the  following  extract  from  Line.  The  latter  had  rendered  them- 
a  private  letter  addressed  bj  Law-  selves  iusufferable  by  assuming  airs 
rence  to  Edwardes,  in  which  the  of  superiority,  and  regarding  the 
position  of  affairs  is  most  accurately  former  with  disdain,  as  being  them- 
stated  in  a  few  words :  "  The  mis-  selves  more  warlike  and  better  sol- 
fortune  of  the  present  state  of  affairs  diers.  *'  We  mar-ed  (beat)  Caubul, 
is  this, — Each  step  we  take  for  our  we  mar-ed  the  Punjab,"  was  the 
own  security  is  a  blow  against  the  e very-day  boast  of  the  Poorbeah 
reguUr  Sepov.  He  feels  this,  and  Sepoy  to  the  Sikh,  whom  he  further 
on  his  side  tales  a  further  step,  and  stigmatised  as  a  man  of  low  caste, 
so  we  go  00,  until  we  disband  or  The  bad  feeling  between  the  two 
destroy  them,  or  they  mutiny  and  races  was  still  further  fostered  by 
kill  their  officers."  the  cold  shoulder  usually  turned  by 

f  On  the  parts  of  the  Sikhs  and  the  Poorbeahs  to  the  Sikhs  and  Pun- 

Punjabees  there  happily  enlisted  a  jabecs,  whom  they  coidd  not  openly 

considerable  degree  of  antipathy,  if  prevent  enlbting  into  regiments  of 

not  downright  enmity,  towards  the  the  Line, 
5epoys  of  the  Native  Corps  of  the 


LOCAL  LEVIES.  473 

these  Hindostaiiees,  among  whom  it  every  day  became  1857. 
more  apparent  that  mutiny  was  spreading  like  a  ^*^- 
pestilence,  by  the  mixed  races  of  the  province  and  the 
frontier,  might  be  to  substitute  a  new  danger  for  the 
old ;  but  the  one  was  certain,  the  other  merely  con- 
jectural. And  there  was  good  reason  to  believe  that 
so  long  as  we  were  capable  of  asserting  our  strength, 
the  military  classes  of  the  Punjab  would  array  them- 
selves on  our  side,  if  only  for  the  sake  of  gain.  Among 
the  Sikhs,  Delhi  was  both  an  offence  and  a  tempta- 
tion. Old  prophecies  had  foretold  that  the  Imperial 
City  of  the  Mogul  would  some  day  be  given  up  to  the 
plunder  of  the  Khalsa.  And  it  was  not  to  be  doubted 
that  the  destruction  of  the  Hindostanee  Army  of  the 
Company  would  tend,  sooner  or  later,  to  assist  them 
to  recover  the  ascendancy  they  had  lost.  Sir  John 
Lawrence  saw  this  clearly  enough;  but  he  had  to 
deal  with  an  immediate  necessity,  and  he  had  no  need 
at  such  a  time  to  take  thought  of  the  Future.  So  he 
asked  the  consent  of  the  Governor- General  to  the 
raising  of  local  levies,  and  this,  sought  and  granted 
on  a  small  scale,  soon  expanded  into  larger  propor- 
tions, and  Sir  John  Lawrence  held  in  his  hand  an 
open  commission  to  act  according  to  his  own  judgment 
and  discretion.* 

This  policy  met  with  general  favour  among  the 
chief  political  officers  in  the  province,  and  there  were 
few  who  did  not  press  for  permission  to  recruit  in 
their  o>vn  districts.  But  it  was  soon  apparent  that 
there  was  in  some  parts,  especially  on  the  frontier, 
overmuch  of  hesitation,  resulting  from  want  of  con- 
fidence in  our  strength.     Meanwhile  other  precau- 

*  I  ought  not  te  omit  to  state  out  to  excerpt  these  men  from  the 
that,  as  many  Sikhs  had  enlisted  iuio  Hindostanee  corps,  and  form  them 
flie  Sepoy  regiments,  au  order  went    jnto  separate  battalion^. 


474  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  tionary  measures  were  being  pressed  forward  with 
^*y*  that  promptitude  and  energy  which  always  distin- 
guished such  operations  in  the  Punjab.  The  Police 
were  strengthened.  The  utmost  vigilance  was  enforced 
upon  them.  The  different  passages  of  the  Punjab 
Rivers — the  fords  and  ferries — were  watched  and 
guarded ;  and  every  effort  was  to  be  made  to  inter- 
cept those  emissaries  of  evil  who,  in  the  guise  of 
wandering  fakeers  or  other  religious  mendicants,  were 
sowing  the  seeds  of  sedition  broadcast  over  the 
country.*  Then,  again,  great  endeavours  were  made 
— and  with  wonderful  success — ^to  save  the  Govern- 
ment Treasure,  the  loss  of  which  was  not  to  be  calcu- 
lated by  the  number  of  rupees  to  be  struck  off  our 
cash-balances.  It  was  emphatically  the  sinews  of 
war  to  the  enemy.  Wherever  it  was  held,  under 
Native  guards,  at  outlying  stations,  it  was  removed  to 
places  of  security  and  stored  under  the  protection  of 
European  soldiers.  And  at  the  same  time  an  order 
went  forth — merciful  in  the  end,  but  terrible  in  the 
hour  of  our  need — to  punish  all  offenders  against  the 
State  with  a  deterring  severity,  which  would  strike  a 
great  fear  into  the  hearts  of  the  people.  "  There  was 
no  room  then  for  mercy,"  it  was  said ;  "  the  public 
safety  was  a  paramount  consideration."  The  ordinary 
processes  of  the  law  were  set  aside,  and  authority  was 
given  to  any  two  civil  officers  to  erect  themselves  into 
a  special  commission  to  try  criminals,  and  to  execute 
upon  them,  when  needed,  the  sentence  of  death.  At 
the  same  time,  seeing  that  it  was  better  to  remove 

*  I  have  been  told  that  the  pic-  As  this  opinion  has  been  made  public 

tare  in  the  first  volume  of  this  His-  through  an  influential  channel,  I  may 

torv,  of  the  wandering  emissaries  of  note  that  the  statement  in  the  text 

sedition,  who,  in  one  disguise  or  is  from  Sir  John  Lawrence's  official 

another,  traversed  the  country,  was  report,  laid  before  Parliament, 
purely  an  effort  of  my  imagination. 


RETURN  OF  EDWABDE8  TO  PESHAWUB.  475 

the  means  of  oflTence  than  to  punish  its  commission,  1857. 
he  tried  to  clear  the  province  of  all  that  mass  of  ^*y* 
disaflfected  non-military  humanity  from  Hindostan,* 
which  was  either  hanging  on  to  the  skirts  of  the 
Poorbeah  Army,  or  had  followed  the  Feringhees  in 
the  hour  of  success,  moved  by  the  great  lust  of  gain 
to  worship  what  they  now  reviled.  And  all  these 
measures  for  the  internal  security  of  the  province 
seemed  to  John  Lawrence  the  more  necessary,  as  he 
was  straining  every  nerve  to  send  down  troops  to 
Delhi,  and  thus  was  weakening  his  own  defensive 
powers.  For  this  reason,  too,  it  seemed  to  him  that 
we  should  act  vigorously,  and  at  once,  against  our 
declared  enemies,  taking  the  initiative  whenever  op- 
portunity presented  itself,  and  establishing  a  reputa- 
tion for  that  confidence  in  our  own  resources,  the 
belief  in  which  by  our  adversaries  is  always  a  tower 
of  strength.  And  already  events  were  hurrying  on  to 
this  desired  point.  One  great  opportunity  was  close 
at  hand,  and  others  were  pressing  on  tumultuously 
behind. 


On  the  21st  of  May,  Colonel  Edwardes  returned  Events  at 
to  Peshawur.f    Little  sunshine  greeted  him  there. 
His  colleagues.  Cotton  and  Nicholson,  had  no  cheer- 
ful intelligence  to  offer  him.   A  great  cloud  was  over 

*   "  The   traitorous     symptoms  jacent  cities.  Most  of  the  lower  ckss 

evinced  and  the   intrigues   set  on  of  employes  were  discharged,  and 

foot  by  tlic  non-military  Hindos-  numbers  of  camp-fullowers  deported 

tanccs  in  the  Punjab  territories,  ren-  out  of   the  province.*'— .9i>    John 

dered  it  necessary  to  remove  large  Lawrences  Official  Report, 

numbers  of   them.      These  people  f  The  regular  Hindostanee  regi- 

were  employed  to   a    consideraole  menta  at  Fcshawur  consisted  of  the 

extent  among  the  police  and  other  Fifth  Cavalry  and  the  Twenty-first, 

subordinate    civil    establishments ;  Twenty-fourtli,  Twenty-seventh,  and 

and  as  camp-followers  they  swarmed  Fifty-first  Infantry  regiments. 
\n  every  Cantonment,  and  in  the  ad- 


476  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  the  place.  The  Sepoy  regimente  had  shown  unmis- 
^y*  takable  signs  of  that  feverishness  which  presages 
revolt.  Cotton  had  divided  his  Hindostanee  troops 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  joint  action  more  diffi- 
cult; and  he  had  placed  Europeans,  with  guns,  in 
their  immediate  vicinity,  to  be  prepared  for  a  sudden 
rising.  From  many  parts  of  the  country  tidings  of 
fresh  mutinies  had  come  in,  and  there  was  a  general 
belief  that  the  whole  Native  Army  was  rotten  to  the 
core.  Intercepted  letters  showed  that  the  excite- 
ment was  not  confined  to  those  whose  names  were 
written  on  the  muster-rolls  of  our  regiments.*  Nichol- 
son, who,  with  his  wonted  energy,  had  been  pushing 
forward  the  work  of  raising  local  levies,  had  found 
an  uneasy  feeling  among  the  chiefs  of  the  principal 
tribes,  and  a  general  unwillingness  to  enlist  into  the 
service  of  a  Government  which  seemed  to  be  in  a 
state  of  decrepitude,  if  not  of  decay.  "  Men  remem- 
bered Caubul,"  wrote  Edwardes  at  a  later  period. 
"Not  one  hundred  could  be  found  to  join  such  a 
desperate  cause."  It  was  clear,  therefore,  both  to 
him  and  to  Nicholson  that  it  was  necessary  to  sweep 
away  the  doubts  and  uncertainties  which  were  keep- 
ing up  this  dangerous  state  of  unrest,  and  to  assert, 
vigorously  and  undeniably,  the  power  of  the  English 
on  the  frontier. 
Maj21.  On  the  night  of  the  2l8t,  they  had  gone  to  rest 
in  their  clothes  beneath  the  same  roof,  both  assured 
that  a  few  more  hours  would  ripen  their  plans,  when 
an  express  arrived  informing  them  that  the  companies 
of  the  Fifty-fifth  had  mutinied  at  Nowshera,  some 

*  "  Thanesur  Brahmins  and  Fatna  selves Tlie  wiiole  disclosed 

Maliomedans,  Hindostanee  fanatics  such  a  picture  of  fanatic  zeal  and 

in  the  Swat  Valley,  and  turbulent  base  treachery  as  made  the  very 

outlaws    in   Gitanah,  were    calling  name  of  a  Foorbeah  Sepoj  suspected 

upon  the  Sepoys  to  declare  tliem-  apd  loathed.'* — Cave-Broicne, 


TUE  MIDNIGHT  MEETING.  477 

twenty-four  miles  distant  from  Peshawur,  and  that  ^^^7. 
there  was  no  reliance  to  be  placed  on  the  Tenth  ^  "" 
Regiment  of  Irregular  Cavalry  at  the  same  place. 
The  former  regiment  had  been  brigaded  at  Meerut 
and  other  stations  with  the  Third  Cavalry,  and  was 
regarded  as  a  fugleman  corps,  whose  every  move- 
ment would  be  strictly  followed  by  the  regiments  in 
the  Punjab.  It  needed  not  any  long-sustained  con- 
versation between  Edwardes  and  Nicholson  for  both 
to  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  the  Native  troops  at 
Peshawur  should  be  at  once  disarmed.  So  the  Com- 
missioner and  Deputy -Commissioner  of  Peshawur 
went  straightway  to  the  Quarters  of  the  Brigadier, 
and  woke  him  up  in  the  dead  of  the  night.  Starting 
from  his  sleep,  Cotton  saw  beside  him  his  two  political 
associates,  and,  wondering  what  had  brought  them 
to  his  bed-side,  prepared  himself  to  listen.  He  was 
not  a  man  in  any  emergency  to  be  flustered,  and 
he  soon  took  in  with  a  cool  brain  the  whole  state  of 
the  case.  It  would  be  necessary  to  send  European 
troops  from  Peshawur  to  coerce  the  refractory  regi- 
ment at  Nowshera  and  Hote-Murdan,  and  the  white 
troops  at  Cotton's  disposal,  already  weakened  by 
the  requirements  of  the  Movable  Column  and  by 
summer  sickness,  could  little  afford  a  further  draft 
from  them,  whilst  the  Hindostanee  regiments  were  in 
armed  force  in  the  Cantonment.  Moreover,  it  was 
plain  that  the  tribes  on  the  Frontier  were  eagerly 
watching  events,  and  that  the  excitement  was  every 
day  increasing.  But  there  were  two  aspects  in  which 
this  might  be  regarded,  for  thus  to  strip  the  Frontier 
of  a  large  part  of  its  defenders — to  reduce  the  avail- 
able force  at  the  disposal  of  the  British  Government 
to  a  handful  of  European  troops — ^might  be  to  en- 
courage the  Afghans  to  stream  through  the  Khybur 


478  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.      Pass  in  an  irresistible  spasm  of  energy  for  the  rc- 
^y  22-     covery  of  Peshawur.     The  risk  of  action  was  great ; 
the  risk  of  quiescence  seemed  also  to  be  great.  But  to 
those  three  brave  men,  in  midnight  council  assem- 
bled, it  appeared  that  the  bolder  would  be  the  better 
course ;  and  so  it  was  resolved  that  they  should  be 
the  first  to  strike,  and  that  four  of  the  five  Sepoy 
regiments  should  be  disarmed  at  break  of  day.*   The 
responsibility  of  the  blow  would  rest  with  Cotton. 
He  did  not  hesitate  to  accept  it. 
Disarming  of      There  was  no  time  to  be  lost.     So  he  at  once  sum- 
regi^^.     Dioned  the  Commanding  Officers  of  the  Native  regi- 
ments to  his  Quarters.     Day  broke  before  they  were 
assembled.     There,  in  the  presence  of  Edwardes  and 
Nicholson,  Cotton  told  them  what  he  had  determined 
to  do,  and  ordered  them  to  parade  their  regiments 
with  all  possible  despatch.    Then  there  arose  a  storm 
of  remonstrance.     Protesting  their  entire  confidence 
in   the  fidelity   of  their   men,    these   Sepoy   Com- 
mandants clamoured  vehemently  against  the  threat- 
ened disgrace  of  their  regiments ;  and  one  declared 
his  conviction  that  his  corps  would  never  submit  to 
lay  down  its  arms,  but  would  rise  against  the  order 
and  resolutely  attack  the  guns.f    Cotton   listened 

*  The  Twenty-first  Sepoy  regi-  Native  Infantry  corps  to  carry  on 
ment  was  exempted  from  tlie  opera-  the  duties  of  the  station." 
tion  of  t  he  disarming  order.  It  was  f  "  It  was  impossible  not  to  sym- 
the  senior  regiment  in  the  Canton-  pathise  with  the  soldierly  fechngs 
ment,  and  as  such^  according  to  of  Colonel  Halrington  and  Major 
military  etiquette  and  usage,  the  Shakespeare;  but  when  Colonel 
other  battalions  looked  to  it  for  an  Plumbc  has  implicit  confidence  in 
example.  It  had  certainly  not  given  the  Twentv-seventh  Native  Infantry 
a  signal  for  insurrection,  and  what-  to  be  unshaken  by  events  in  Min- 
ever may  have  been  the  feelings  with  dost  an,  and  had  nothing  to  recom- 
which  it  regarded  the  supremacy  of  mend  but  conciliation,  whilst  the 
the  English,  it  had  shown  no  active  Colonel  of  the  Fifty-first,  on  the 
symptoms  of  disaffection.  It  was  other  hand,  predicted  that  his  men 
thought  advisable,  therefore,  to  spare  would  attack  the  ^uns  if  called  on 
it,  the  more  esftecially  as  it  was  neld  to  give  up  their  muskets,  hesitation 
to  be  "indispensable  to  keep  one  was  at  an  end." — Edwardes' ^  Report, 


THE  DISARMING  PARADE.  479 

attentively  to  all  that  was  said,  but  the  discussion  1857. 
proceeded  after  argument  had  been  exhausted,  and,  ^*y  ^^• 
after  a  while,  Edwardes,  thinking  that  time  and  words 
were  being  wasted,  broke  in  with  an  emphatic  sen- 
tence, to  the  effect  "  that  the  matter  rested  entirely 
with  Brigadier  Cotton."  On  this  Cotton  at  once  ex- 
claimed :  "  Then  the  troops  as  originally  determined 
will  be  disarmed."  This  silenced  all  further  remon- 
strance. Not  another  word  was  said  by  way  of 
argument.  The  regimental  Commandants  received 
their  instructions  and  went  forth  to  do  the  bidding 
of  their  chief. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  Peshawur  Force  had 
been  wisely  cut  in  two,  as  a  precautionary  measure, 
by  Brigadier  Cotton.  It  was  now  arranged  that 
Edwardes  should  accompany  Cotton  to  the  right 
wing,  whilst  Nicholson  went  to  the  left  with  Colonel 
Galloway  of  the  Seventieth  Queen's,  who  stood  next 
in  seniority.*  With  the  former  were  Her  Majesty's 
Eighty-seventh  Fusiliers,  with  the  latter  the  Seven- 
tieth, both  with  detachments  of  Artillery  to  support 
them.  It  was  a  moment  of  intense  anxiety.  The 
Sepoy  Commandants  were  parading  their  men,  and 
the  Queen's  Regiments  were  lying  in  wait  to  attack 
them  on  the  first  sign  of  resistance.  The  suddenness 
of  the  movement  took  the  Sepoys  aback ;  they  laid 
dovm  their  arms  to  the  bidding  of  their  own  officers. 
And  as  the  piles  grew  and  grew,  under  the  mournful 
process  of  humiliating  surrender,  a  feeling  of  pro- 
found grief  and  shame  took  possession  of  their  of- 
ficers, and  it  is  recorded  that  some  of  them  cast  their 
own  swords  and  spurs  upon  the  heaps  of  abandoned 
musketry  and  sabres  in  token  of  the  strength  of  their 

*  Brigadier  Cotton  at  this  time    force,  whilst  Colonel  Gall6waj[  was 
commanded  generally  the  Frontier    Brigadier  commanding  the  station. 


480  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1837.       sympathy  with  the  Sepoys,  and  their  detestation  of 
May  22.     ^j^^  authority  which  had  degraded  them.* 

The  arms  surrendered,  Brigadier  Cotton  addressed 
the  regiments,  praising  them  for  the  readiness  with 
which  they  had  obeyed  orders ;  and  they  went  to 
their  Lines.  Thus  was  the  work  done  well  and 
thoroughly — and  without  the  shedding  of  a  drop  of 
blood.  The  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  people  was 
magical.  They  believed  that  we  were  strong  because 
we  were  daring.  The  old  aphorism,  that  "  nothing 
succeeds  like  success,"  was  here  triumphantly  veri- 
fied. The  tribes,  who  had  held  aloof  whilst  danger 
threatened  us,  and  the  issue  was  doubtful,  now 
pressed  forward  eagerly  to  do  homage  to  the  auda- 
city of  the  English.  Without  another  halt  of  doubt, 
or  tremor  of  hesitation,  they  came  forward  with 
their  offers  of  service.  "  As  we  rode  down  to  the 
disarming,"  said  Herbert  Edwardes,  "a  very  few 
chiefs  and  yeomen  of  the  country  attended  us,  and  I 
remember,  judging  from  their  faces,  that  they  came 
to  see  which  way  the  tide  would  turn.  As  we  rode 
back  friends  were  as  thick  as  summer  flies,  and  levies 
began  from  that  mpment  to  come  in."  Good  reason, 
indeed,  had  Sir  John  Lawrence  to  write  to  the 
Peshawur  Commissioner,  with  hearty  commendation, 
saying:  "  I  look  on  the  disarming  of  the  four  corps 
at  Peshawur  as  a  master-stroke— one  which  will  do 
much  good  to  keep  the  peace  throughout  the  Punjab. 
Commandants  of  Corps  are  under  a  delusion,  and 

*  Colonel  Edwardes's  official  re-  then,  and  afterwards,  was  of  a  liiglilj 

port.    "  As  the  muskets  and  sabres  insubordinate  character,    aud  that 

of  the  once  honoured  corps  were  serious  consequences  to  them  would 

hurried  unceremoniously  into  carts,  have  ensued,  *'  had  it  been  prudent 

it  was  said  that  here  and  there  the  to  exhibit  such  a  division  in  the 

spurs  and  swords  of  English  officers  European  element  in  the  eves  of 

fell  sympathisinglj  upon  the  pile."  the  Native  troops  and  the  people 

General  Cotton  says  tliat  the  con-  of  the  country." 
duct  of  some  of  the  Sepoy  officers 


ARREST  OF  FUGmVES.  481 

! 

whilst  in  this  state  their  opinions  are  of  little  value.  1857. 
.  .  .  We  are  doing  well  in  every  district — Becher  ^^i- 
famously."* 

But  although  the  Native  regiments  at  Peshawur  Punishment 
had  been  disarmed,  they  had  not  been  rendered  °  eserters. 
altogether  innocuous.  Arms  on  that  frontier,  though 
for  the  most  part  of  a  ruder  kind  than  our  own,  were 
abundant,  and  our  disciplined  Sepoys,  fraternising 
with  the  border  tribes,  might  have  returned  to  do  us 
grievous  injury.f  It  was,  perhaps,  too  much  to 
expect  that  the  entire  body  of  Sepoys  would  remain 
quietly  in  their  Lines ;  for  if  the  active  principle  of 
rebellion  were  within  them,  they  would  be  eager  to 
cross  the  Frontier,  and  if  they  were  under  the  pressure 
of  a  great  panic,  confused  and  bewildered  by  the 
blow  which  had  fallen  upon  them,  they  would  surely 
believe  that  it  was  the  design  of  the  English  to  destroy 
the  soldiers  whom  they  had  disarmed.  It  was  scarcely, 
therefore,  to  be  hoped  that  at  such  a  time  there  would 
be  no  desertions.  But  it  was  necessary  at  once  to 
arrest  these  natural  impulses  to  leave  the  Lines.J  It 
was  not  a  time  for  tenderness — ^for  mercy — even  for 
justice.  A  stern  example  was  to  be  made  of  the  first 
offenders.  So  the  Police  were  put  upon  their  track, 
and  the  tribes  were  encouraged  to  arrest  the  fugitives. 
Many  were  brought  back,  in  the  firm  grip  of  their 
supposed  friends  and  confederates — some  of  them 
after  falling  among  thieves  and  being  despoiled  of  all 
they  possessed. 

Those  were  the  early  days  of  our  great  trouble,  and 
Regulation  and  Routine  were  still  paramount  amongst 
us.    The  technicalities  of  the  Judge- Advocate  had 

^  *  Major  Jolin  Becher  of  the  En-        +  MS.  Correspondence. 
eIneers,I)epaty-Commlssioner  of  the        f  The  desertions  were  principftUy 
Hazareh  Division  of  the  Punjab.  from  the  Fifty-first  Regiment. 

VOL.  II.  2  I 


482  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.      not  been  dispensed  with ,  and  the  trial  of  these  deserters, 
^ay  28.     therefore,  was  conducted  with  all  due  ceremony  and 
formality.*     Colonel  Galloway  was  President  of  the 
Court-Martial  assembled  by  order  of  General  Reed, 
and  the  first  result  was  that  the  Soubahdar  Major 
of  the    Fifty-first,   found  guilty   of  desertion,    was 
sentenced  to  death  ;  whilst  a  Havildar  and  a  Sepoy 
were  condemned  to  short  terms  of  imprisonment.  The 
leniency  of  these  latter  sentences  provoked  Cotton  and 
Edwardes ;  but  the  public  execution  of  a  high  Native 
officer  might  still  have  a  good  deterring  effect.     So 
on  the  evening  of  the  28th  of  May,  what  was  called, 
in  the  demi-official  language  of  the  time,  "  an  useful 
timber  frame- work"  was  erected  on  the  parade-ground, 
and  a  general  parade  was  ordered  for  the  following 
morning.     "  The  Soubahdar  Major  of  the  Fifty-first 
was  hanged  this  morning,"  wrote  Edwardes  to  Nichol- 
son on  the  29th,  "  in  presence  of  all  the  troops,  who 
behaved  well.     I  occupied  the  road  in  rear  of  Can- 
tonments with  Horse  and  Foot  levies,  in  case  the 
Fifty-first  should  refuse  to  attend  the  parade,  as  some 
people  expected,  in  which  case  General  Cotton  would 
have  put  them  to  the  bayonet. "f  But  soon  the  "use- 
ful timber  frame-work"  thus  called  into  requisition 
for  the  first  time  at  Peshawur  was  put  to  larger  uses, 
until  the  process  of  suspension  became  tedious,  and 
convicted  offenders  were  blown  from  the  guns. 
Destruction        In  the  meanwhile  retribution  was  overtaking  the 
fifth!''  ^'^*^"   Fifty.fifth  Regiment  at  Murdan.     "  An  hour  hence," 
wrote  Edwardes  on  the  day  after  the  disarming  at 
Peshawur,  "  a  small  force  of  three  hundred  European 
Infantry,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  Cavalry  (Native 

*  The  Judge-Advocate  said  that    were  revivified  into  institutions  of 
drum-head  courts-martial  were  "  ob-    the  present, 
solete."  It  was  not  long  before  they        f  MS.  CJorrespondence. 


THE  MARCH  TO  HOTE-MURDAN.  483 

Irregulars),  and  eight  guns,  six  of  which  are  howitzers,  1857. 
will  march  from  this  Cantonment  to  the  ferry  at  Do-  ^^^' 
bundee,  and  thence  proceed  to-morrow  night  in  one 
long  march  to  the  Fort  of  Murdan,  for  the  purpose 
of  disarming  the  Fifty-fifth  Native  Infantry,  which  is 
said  to  be  in  a  state  of  mutiny."  The  expedition  was 
commanded  by  Colonel  Chute  of  the  Seventieth 
Queen's,*  and  with  it,  as  political  officer,  went  Colonel 
John  Nicholson,  ever  eager  to  be  in  the  thick  of  the 
action.  It  has  been  already  related  that  the  Fifty- 
fifth  had  been  ordered  to  relieve  the  Guide  Corps  at 
Hote-Murdan.  It  had  proceeded  thither  from  Now- 
shera,  leaving  two  companies  at  the  old  station  under 
Captain  Cameron.  There  the  Queen's  Twenty-seventh 
(Enniskillens)  had  been  stationed  with  Brougham's 
battery ;  but  the  former  had  been  ordered  to  Rawul- 
Pindee,  and  the  latter  to  Peshawur.  And  now,  with 
the  exception  of  a  little  handful  of  Europeans,  who 
had  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  sick  and  the  women 
and  children  of  the  old  European  garrison,  the  place 
was  left  to  the  mercy  of  mutinous  Native  troops,  t 
The  situation  was  one  of  extreme  danger.  But  it 
was  manfully  confronted  by  Lieutenant  Davies  of  the 
Enniskillens,  who,  having  placed  his  helpless  charge 
in  a  convenient  barrack,  drew  up  his  little  body  of 
staunch  Englishmen,  fully  accoutred  and  ready  for 
action,  and  prepared  to  meet  his  assailants.  These 
signs  of  resistance  were  too  much  for  the  mutineers. 
Having  fired  a  few  random  shots  from  a  distance, 
they  made  off  towards  the  river,  intending  to  cross 
by  the  bridge  of  boats,  and  to  join  their  comrades  in 

•  Brigadier  Cotton  wisbed  him-  f  It  should  be  stated  that  tliere 

self  to  go  in  command,  but  Ed wardes  was  a  detachment  of  the  regiment 

persuaded  him  to  remain  at  Fesha-  posted  on  the  Attock  to  guard  the 

wur,  where  his  services  were  more  ferry  at  Khyrabad.  These  men  were 

needed.  the  first  to  mutiny. 

2i2 


484  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.      Hote-Murdan.     But  Taylor,  of  the  Engineers,  with 
^  *^  •  characteristic  readiness  of  resource,  broke  the  bridge, 

by  drawing  out  the  boats  in  mid-channel,  and  only  a 
few  men  made  the  passage  of  the  river  and  joined 
their  head-quarters  in  the  course  of  the  night.  The 
rest  returned  to  their  Lines,  and  for  a  while  remained 
sullen  and  inactive.  But  a  summons  came  to  them 
to  march  to  Murdan,  and  on  the  night  of  the  22nd 
they  went  thither  peaceably  under  Cameron's  com- 
mand. 

They  went  to  swell  the  tide  of  treason.  There  was 
no  doubt  of  the  treachery  of  the  main  body  of  the 
regiment,  although  with  lip-loyalty  it  was  still-  de- 
ceiving its  officers,  after  the  old  fashion;  and  its 
Colonel,  Henry  Spottiswoode,  who  is  described  as  "  a 
devoted  soldier,  who  lived  for  his  regiment,"  pro- 
tested that  he  had  "implicit  confidence"  in  his  men, 
and  implored  Cotton  not  to  act  against  them.  So 
strong,  indeed,  was  his  trust,  that  even  the  warnings 
of  some  men  of  his  own  corps  could  not  shake  it. 
Two  hundred  Sikhs  had  been  enlisted  into  the  regi- 
ment since  it  had  been  stationed  in  the  Punjab,  and 
these  men  now  offered,  if  separated  from  the  rest,  to 
fight  the  whole  of  the  Hindostane(5  Sepoys.  But 
Spottiswoode  shook  his  head  and  declined  the  offer. 
He  had  faith  in  his  children  to  the  last.  He  would 
"stake  his  life  on  their  staunchness;"  and  he  did. 
On  the  night  of  the  24th,  the  advance  of  the  force 
from  Peshawur  was  suspected,  if  not  known,  by  the 
Sepoys,  and  the  Native  officers  went  to  the  Colonel 
for  an  explanation.  Spottiswoode  knew  the  truth  of 
the  report  but  too  well.  He  could  answer  nothing 
of  an  assuring  kind,  and  the  deputies  went  unsatisfied 
from  his  presence.  Then  his  heart  sunk  within  him. 
It  was  all  over.    The  mutual  confidence  on  which  he 


I  •  U  WIJJ    lUUU. — -P^_-  .   •  "--  ,   .^  ^^..^^ 


MUTINY  OF  THE  FIFTY-FIFTH. 


485 


had  relied  so  much  was  gone  for  ever.    He  could  not      1857. 
bear  the  thought  of  the  future,  so  left  alone  in  his     ^^J^^- 
room  he  blew  out  his  brains.* 

As  day  was  breaking  on  the  25th,  Chute's  column, 
having  been  strengthened  by  a  body  of  Punjab  In- 
fantry under  Major  Vaughan,  came  in  sight  of  the 
Fort  of  Hote-Murdan.  No  sooner  was  their  advance 
discerned  from  the  walls  than  the  Fifty-fifth  rose  in 
a  body  and  rushed  forth  tumultuously,  turning  their 
faces  towards  the  hills  of  Swat.  Now  that  their 
Colonel  was  gone,  they  felt  that  there  was  no  hope 
for  them.  So  they  went,  taking  with  them  their  arms, 
their  regimental  colours,  all  the  treasure  they  could 
seize,  and  all  the  ammunition  that  they  could  carry 
with  them.  Chute  sent  on  a  detachment  of  all  arms 
of  his  little  force,  whilst  he  occupied  the  Fort  with  the 
remainder  ;t  but  the  mutineers  had  a  long  start,  and 
the  country  was  such  that  our  guns  could  not  be 
brought  within  range  of  the  fugitives.  These  things 
were  in  their  favour.  But  there  was  one  thing 
terribly  against  them.  Nicholson  was  there.  His  Nicholson  in 
foot  in  the  stirrup,  his  sword  by  his  side,  and  a  few  P^^^^*- 
trusty  horsemen  behind  him,  all  his  old  martial 
instincts,  of  which  civil  employment  had  long  denied 
the  gratification,  grew  strong  mthin  him  again,  and 
he  swept  down  upon  the  flying  Sepoys  with  a  grand 
swoop,  which  nothing  could  escape  or  resist.  It  was 
said  afterwards  that  the  tramp  of  his  war-horse  was 
heard  miles  off.    "  Spottiswoode's  light-hearted  boys," 


*  See  an  interestin<;  note  in  Mr. 
Cave- Browne's  book,  vol.  i.,  p.  170. 
Colonel  Spottiswoode  had  served 
chiefly  with  the  Twenty-6rst,  and 
had  been  only  for  a  few  months  in 
command  of  the  Fifty-fifth. 

f  It  should  be  stated  that  the 
officers  of  the  Fifty-fifth,  with  about 


one  hnndred  and  twenty  men,  came 
out  of  the  Fort  and  joined  Chute's 
force.  It  was  doubted  whether  they 
were  more  faithful  than  the  rest. 
Colonel  Edwardes  (Official  Report) 
says  that  they  were  brought  over  by 
the  threats  and  persuasions  of  their 
officers, 


486  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.  he  wrote  to  Edwardes  on  the  24th,  "  swear  that  they 
May  24r— 26.  y^  ^j^  fighting.  N'otts  oMons  voir.''  And  a  day  or 
two  later  he  wrote  to  the  same  beloved  correspondent 
saying,  "The  Fifty-fifth  fought  determinately,  as  men, 
who  have  no  chance  of  escape  but  by  their  own 
exertions,  always  do."  But  the  pursuing  party  killed 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  mutineers,  cap- 
tured about  a  hundred  and  fifty,  with  the  regimental 
colours,  and  more  than  two  hundred  stands  of  arms.* 
The  rest  took  refuge  in  the  Loond-khoor  hills.  And 
many  of  those  who  fell  on  that  day  fell  under 
Nicholson's  own  strong  arm.  Of  those  under  him, 
none  fought  so  well  as  his  own  Mounted  Police.  The 
men  of  the  Irregular  Cavalry  only  "pretended  to 
act."t  "  I  did  not  get  home  till  7  p.m.  yesterday," 
he  wrote  to  Edwardes  on  the  26th  of  May,  "  having 
been  just  twenty  hours  in  the  saddle,  and  in  the  sun 
the  whole  day.  So  you  may  fancy  I  was  dead  beat, 
and  my  horse  too.  He  carried  me  over  seventy 
miles." 

If  there  had  been  any  doubt  before  as  to  the  man 
of  men — ^the  one,  of  all  others,  strong  in  action  and 
swift  in  pursuit,  by  whom  desperate  work,  such  as 
Edwardes  had  spoken  of  in  Calcutta,  was  to  be 
done  best,  the  question  was  now  settled.  All  men 
saw  in  this  the  first  of  Nicholson's  great  exploits  in 

♦    Colonel  Cliute    to    Brigadier  — Edwardes's  Report.       Nicholson 

Cotton,  Murdan,  May  26.  wrote  that  *'  the  casnalties  in  the 

t  "  There  were  some  Irrepfulars,  Tentli  Irregular  Cavalry  tiie  other 

but  they  only  pretended  to  act.  Cap-  day  were  an  excellent  index  of  the 

tain  Law,  who  commanded  a  party  state  and  value  of  the  corps." — 

of  the  Tenth  Irregular  Cavalry,  got  "These  casualties  were  one  European 

wounded  in  setting  a  vain  example  officer,  wounded  whilst  trying  to  ^t 

to  his  men,  one  of  whom  treacher-  his   men   to    advance,  one  Sowar 

ously  fired  into  the  Fifth  Punjab  killed,  not  by  the  Fifty-fifth,  but  by 

Infantry.    Tlie  Fifth,  under  Major  Vanghan's  men,  into  whom  he  trea- 

Yaughan,  followed  as  close  as  in-  cheronsly  fired." — MS,  Correspond- 

fantry  could  do,  and  showed  an  ad-  ence, 
mirable  spirit  throughout  the  day." 


_^^ 


PUNJABEE  BROTUERllOOD.  487 

the  mutiny-war,  the  forerunner  of  many  others  of  the      1857- 
same  stamp.      It  was  a  fine  thing  at  that  time —  ^' 

nothing  finer  in  the  whole  history  of  the  War — ^to 
mark  the  enthusiasm  with  which  men,  all  earnest  in 
the  great  work  before  them,  rejoiced  in  the  successes 
of  their  brethren,  and  sent  forth,  one  to  another, 
pleasant  paeans  of  encouragement.  The  chief  officers 
of  the  Punjab  were  bound  together  not  merely  by 
the  excitement  of  a  common  object ;  the  bonds  of  a 
common  afifection  were  equally  strong  within  them, 
and  each  was  eager  to  express  his  admiration  of  the 
good  deeds  of  another.  There  may  have  been  good 
fellowship  in  other  provinces,  but  in  none  was  there 
such  fellowship  as  this.  Met  of  the  stamp  of  Ed wardes 
and  Nicholson,  Becher  and  Lake,  James  and  MTher- 
son — all  having  equal  zeal  for  the  public,  but  not  all 
enjoying  equal  opportunities,  or,  perhaps,  possessing 
equal  powers,  free  from  all  jealousies,  all  rivalries — 
were  strong  in  mutual  admiration,  and  were  as  proud 
of  the  exploits  of  a  comrade  as  of  their  own.  This 
great  raid  of  John  Nicholson  stirred  the  hearts  of  all 
men  to  their  depth.  Edwardes  in  letter  after  letter, 
in  brief  but  emphatic  sentences,  had  sent  him  those 
fine,  frank,  genial  words  of  hearty  commendation, 
which  no  man  ever  uttered  more  becomingly  or  more 
acceptably,  and  afterwards  recorded  officially  that  his 
friend  "  with  a  handful  of  horsemen  hurled  himself 
like  a  thunderbolt  on  the  route  of  a  thousand  muti- 
neers." And  John  Becher,  all  a-glow  with  admira- 
tion of  the  two  Peshawur  Commissioners,  wrote  to 
Edwardes,  saying,  "  I  rejoice  to  see  you  thus  riding 
on  the  whirlwind  and  controlling  the  storm,  and  glad 
amidst  the  thunder-clouds.  Your  letter  sounds  like 
a  clarion-blast  full  of  vigour  and  self-reliance ;  and  I 
am  proud  to  see  you  and  Nicholson  in  this  grand 


488 


PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE*  PUNJAB. 


1857.  storm,  masters  at  your  work ;  right  glad  that  Nichol- 
^^y*  son  did  not  leave.  There  was  work  for  his  war-horse, 
and  he  is  in  his  element — the  first  who  has  struck  a 
death-blow.  And  we  may  be  proud  of  John  Law- 
rence as  a  master-spirit  in  these  times."* 
June  2.  A  terrible  example  was  now  to  be  made  of  the 
mutineers  of  the  Fifty-fifth.  A  hundred  and  twenty 
Sepoy  prisoners  were  in  the  hands  of  the  British. 
They  were  all  liable  to  the  punishment  of  death.  It 
was  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  time  had  come  when 
the  severity  of  the  hour  would  be  the  humanity  of 
all  time.  But  these  rebels,  though  taken  fighting 
against  their  masters,  and  known  to  have  had  murder 
in  their  hearts,  had  not  shed  the  blood  of  their  offi- 
cers, and  there  were  some  amongst  them  who  in  the 
tumult  of  the  hour  had  been  carried  away  by  the  mul- 
titude without  any  guilty  intent.  The  voice  of  mercy, 
therefore,  was  lifted  up.  "  I  must  say  a  few  words 
for  some  of  the  Fifty-fifth  prisoners,"  wrote  Nicholson 
to  Edwardes.  "The  officers  of  that  regiment  all 
concur  in  stating  that  the  Sikhs  were  on  their  side  to 
the  last.  I  would,  therefore,  temper  stern  justice 
with  mercy,  and  spare  the  Sikhs  and  young  recruits. 
Blow  away  all  the  rest  by  all  means,  but  spare  boys 
scarcely  out  of  their  childhood,  and  men  who  were 
really  loyal  and  respectful  up  to  the  moment  when 
they  allowed  themselves  to  be  carried  away  in  a  panic 
by  the  mass."  And  Sir  John  Lawrence  ^vrote  also 
in  the  same  strain  to  the  Commissioner  of  Peshawur. 
"  In  respect  to  the  mutineers  of  the  Fifty-fifth,  they 


•  Nicliolson  himself  was  very 
anxious  that  too  much  credit  should 
not  be  giveu  to  him  for  this  exploit. 
It  was  stated  in  the  public  prints 
tiiat  he  had  commanded  the  expe- 
ditionary force  from  Peshawur,  and 
that  lie  Imd  been  twenty  iiours  in 


pursuit  of  the  enemy;  and  he  re- 
quested that  it  iiiivht  be  explained 
with  equal  publicity  that  Colonel 
Chute  commanded  the  force,  and 
that  lie  (Nicholson)  had  been  twenty- 
hours  in  the  saddle,  but  not  all  that 
time  in  pursuit. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  MUTINEERS.  489 

were  taken  fighting  against  us,  and  so  far  deserve  i857. 
little  mercy.  But,  on  full  reflection,  1  would  not  put  Jiia«- 
them  all  to  death.  I  do  not  think  that  we  should  be 
justified  in  the  eyes  of  the  Almighty  in  doing  so.  A 
hundred  and  twenty  men  are  a  large  number  to  put 
to  death.  Our  object  is  to  make  an  exainple  to 
terrify  others.  I  think  this  object  would  be  effect- 
ually gained  by  destroying  from  a  quarter  to  a  third 
of  them.  I  would  select  all  those  against  whom  any- 
thing bad  can  be  shown — such  as  general  bad  cha- 
lacter,  turbulence,  prominence  in  disaffection  or  in 
the  fight,  disrespectful  demeanour  to  their  officers 
during  the  few  days  before  the  26th,  and  the  like. 
If  these  did  not  make  up  the  required  number,  I 
would  then  add  to  them  the  oldest  soldiers.  All  these 
should  be  shot  or  blown  away  from  guns,  as  may  be 
most  expedient.  The  rest  I  would  divide  into  batches : 
some  to  be  imprisoned  ten  years,  some  seven,  some 
five,  some  three.  I  think  that  a  sufficient  example 
will  then  be  made,  and  that  these  distinctions  will  do 
good,  and  not  harm.  The  Sepoys  will  see  that  we 
punish  to  deter,  and  not  for  vengeance.  Public 
sympathy  will  not  be  on  the  side  of  the  sufferers. 
Otherwise,  they  will  fight  desperately  to  the  last,  as 
feeling  certain  that  they  must  die."* 

And  in  these  opinions,  equally  politic  and  merciful, 
the  military  authorities  concurred ;  indeed,  there  was 
at  one  time  some  talk  of  suffering  those  men  of  the 
Fifty-fifth,  who  had  not  actually  committed  themselves, 
to  retain  their  arms,  and  even  of  rewarding  the  best  of 
them.  But  subsequent  investigation  proved  that  the 
Hindostanees  who  had  not  left  the  Fort  owed  their 
immunity  from  actual  crime  rather  to  accident  than 
to  loyal  design ;  so  they  were  discharged  without  pay, 

*  MS.  Correspondence. 


490  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.       and  sent  beyond  the  Indus,  whilst  the  Sikhs,  who  had 

June  10.     made  gallant  offer  of .  service,  were  left  with  their 

arms  in  their  hands,  and  drafted  into  other  regiments. 

Then  came  the  stem  work  of  retribution.  On  the 
8rd  of  June,  twelve  deserters  of  the  Fifty-first  had 
been  hanged;  and  now  on  the  10th,  the  parade- 
ground  of  the  Eighty-seventh  Queen's,  on  which  the 
gallows  had  been  permanently  erected,  witnessed 
another  scene  of  execution  still  more  ghastly  in  its 
aspect.  The  fugitives  from  Hote-Murdan  had  all 
been  sentenced  to  death.  A  hundred  and  twenty 
criminals  had  been  condemned  to  be  blown  away 
from  our  guns.  But  the  recommendations  of  the 
Chief  Commissioner  had  tempered  the  severity  of  the 
sentence,  and  only  one-third  of  the  number  had 
been  marked  for  execution.  Forty  prisoners  were 
brought  out  manacled  and  miserable  to  that  dreadful 
punishment-parade.  The  whole  garrison  of  Peshawur 
was  drawn  up,  forming  three  sides  of  a  square,  to 
witness  the  consummation  of  the  sentence.  The  fourth 
side  was  formed  by  a  deadly  array  of  guns.  Thou- 
sands of  outsiders  had  poured  in  from  the  surround- 
ing country  to  be  spectators  of  the  tremendous  cere- 
mony— all  curious,  many  doubtful,  some  perhaps 
malignantly  eager  for  an  outbreak,  to  be  followed  by 
the  collapse  of  British  ascendancy.  The  pieces  of  the 
Europeans  were  loaded.  The  officers,  in  addition  to 
their  regulation  arms,  had  for  the  most  part  ready  to 
their  clutch  what  was  now  becoming  an  institution — 
the  many-barreled  revolver  pistol.  The  issue  was 
doubtful,  and  our  people  were  prepared  for  the  worst 

Under  a  salute  from  one  of  the  batteries,  the 
Brigadier  -  General  appeared  on  parade.  Having 
ridden  along  the  fronts  of  the  great  human  square, 
he  ordered  the  sentence  to  be  read.     And  this  done, 


THE  GREAT  PUNISHMENT  PARADE.        491 

the  grim  ceremony  commenced.  The  forty  selected  1857. 
malefactors  were  executed  at  the  mouth  of  the  guns.*  June  10. 
No  man  lifted  a  hand  to  save  them.  The  Native 
troops  on  parade  bore  themselves  with  steadiness,  as 
under  a  great  awe,  and  when  orders  went  forth  for 
the  whole  to  march  past  in  review  order,  armed  and 
unarmed  alike  were  obedient  to  the  word  of  com- 
mand. To  our  newly-raised  levies  and  to  the  curious 
on-lookers  from  the  country,  the  whole  spectacle  was 
a  marvel  and  a  mystery.  It  was  a  wonderful  display 
of  moral  force,  and  it  made  a  deep  and  abiding  im- 
pression. There  was  this  great  virtue  in  it,  that  how- 
ever unintelligible  the  process  by  which  so  great  a 
result  had  been  achieved,  it  was  easy  to  understand 
the  fact  itself.  The  English  had  conquered,  and  were 
masters  of  the  position.  Perhaps  some  of  the  most 
sagacious  and  astute  of  the  spectators  of  that  morn- 
ing's work  said  to  each  other,  or  to  themselves,  as 
they  turned  their  faces  homeward,  that  the  English 
had  conquered  because  they  were  not  afraid.  The 
strength,  indeed,  imparted  to  our  cause  by  the  dis- 
arming-parade of  the  24th  of  May  had  been  mul- 
tiplied ten-fold  by  the  punishment-parade  of  the  10th 
of  June.  And  it  is  hard  to  say  how  many  lives — the 
lives  of  men  of  all  races — ^were  saved  by  the  seeming 
severity  of  this  early  execution. 

Among  the  rude  people  of  the  border  the  audacity 
thus  displayed  by  the  English  in  the  face  of  pressing 
danger  excited  boundless  admiration.  They  had  no 
longer  any  misgivings  with  respect  to  the  superiority 

♦  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  nei-  the  horror,  shrunk  from  describing, 

ther  Sir  Herbert  Edwardes,  in  his  I  may  well  abstain  from  dwelling  on 

Official  Peshawur  Report,  nor  Sir  in  detail.    There  is  no  lack,  how- 

S^dnej  Cotton  in  liis  published  Nar-  ever,  of  particulars,  all  ghastly  and 

rative,  says  one  word  about  this  some  grotesque,  in  the  cotemporary 

punishment-parade.  Aud  what  these  letters  before  me. 
brave  men,  being  eye-witnesses  of 


492  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  of  a  race  that  could  do  such  great  things,  calmly  and 
June  10.  coolly,  and  with  all  the  formality  of  an  inspection- 
parade.  The  confidence  in  our  power,  which  the 
disbandment  of  the  Native  regiments  had  done  so 
much  to  revive,  now  struck  deep  root  in  the  soil. 
Free  offers  of  allegiance  continued  to  come  in  from 
the  tribes.  Feeling  now  that  the  English  were 
masters  of  the  situation,  their  avarice  was  kindled, 
and  every  man  who  had  a  matchlock  or  a  tulwar, 
or,  better  still,  a  horse  to  bring  to  the  muster,  came 
forward  with  his  tender  of  service  to  the  British  offi- 
cers at  Peshawur.  The  difficulties  and  perplexities 
of  the  crisis  could  not  obscure  the  humours  of  this 
strange  recruiting.  Herbert  Edwardes,  who  was  the 
life  and  soul  of  every  movement  at  that  time,  has 
himself  sketched  its  comic  aspects  with  an  almost 
Hogarthian  fidelity  of  detail.*  But  this  passed, 
whilst  every  week  developed .  more  strikingly  its 
serious  results.  For,  as  the  month  of  June  advanced, 
and  news  came  that  the  English  had  not  retaken 
Delhi,  and  across  the  border  went  from  mouth  to 
mouth  the  rumour  of  the  fiery  crescent,  there  was 
increasing  danger  that  Mussulman  fanaticism  might 
prevail  over  all  else,  and  that  a  religious  war  once 
proclaimed,  it  would  be  impossible  to  control  the 
great  tide  of  Mahomedanism  that  would  pour  itself 
down  from  the  North.  If  in  that  hour  the  English 
had  been  weak  at  Peshawur,  they  might  have  been 
overwhelmed.  But  much  as  those  wild  Moslems 
loved  Mahomed,  they  loved  money  more,  and  when 
they  saw  that  we  were  strong,  they  clung  to  us,  as 
the  wiser  policy. 

The  end  of  the  Fifty-fifth  may  be  narrated  here. 

*  See  the  Peshawur  Mutiny  He-    will  be    found    entire  in  the  Ap- 
port,  especially  para^aph  66,  which    pendix. 


THE  END  OF  THE  FIFTY-FIFTH.  493 

Even  more  deplorable  than  the  fate  of  these  men,  1857 
thus  suddenly  brought  face  to  face  with  ignominious  ^^^' 
death,  was  the  doom  impending  over  their  comrades, 
who  had  escaped  from  Nicholson's  pursuing  horsemen 
across  the  border  into  Swat.  There  they  found  the 
country  rent  by  intestine  feuds;  almost,  indeed,  in 
the  throes  of  a  revolution.  The  temporal  and  spiritual 
chiefs — the  Padshah  and  the  Akhoond — were  at  strife 
with  one  another.  The  mutineers  took  themselves 
and  their  arms  to  the  former,  but  he  had  no  money 
to  pay  them,  and  our  sleek,  well-fed  Hindostanees 
soon  discovered  that  they  had  committed  a  grievous 
blunder.  In  a  little  while  the  body  of  their  leader — 
the  self-made  shattered  corpse  of  a  white-bearded 
Soubahdar — ^was  floating  down  the  river  under  the 
walls  of  Nowshera,  and  his  followers,  disappointed 
and  destitute,  were  turning  their  faces  towards  the 
country  of  the  Rajah  of  Cashmere,  sick  of  Mussulman 
fanaticism,  and  hoping  to  excite  sympathy  and  obtain 
service  under  a  Rajpoot  government.  These  poor 
deluded  Hindoos,  who  had  abandoned  pay,  pension, 
peace,  everything  that  was  dear  to  them,  under  a 
blind  besetting  belief  in  the  bigotry  of  their  Christian 
masters,  now  found  themselves  breast-high  in  the 
bitter  waters  of  Mahomedan  persecution.*  They  had 
escaped  the  chimera  of  a  greased  cartridge  to  be  de- 
spoiled of  their  sacred  threads  and  circumcised.  They 
had  fled  from  a  random  rumour  to  confront  a  revolt- 
ing reality.  And  now  they  were  fain  to  go  skulking 
along  the  border,  taking  their  gaunt  bodies  and 
tattered  garments  to  any  place  of  refuge  open  to  them, 
seeking  rest,  but  finding  none ;  for  as  they  huddled 

*    Mr.   Cave- Browne  sajs  that  were  sold  for  slaves.    Rumour  has 

"  many  a  sleek  Brahmin  was  made  a  it  that  one  fat  old  Soubahdar  was 

compulsory  Mahomedan,  doomed  to  sold  for  four  aiinas  (sixpence)." 
servile  offices  iu  their  musjids ;  others 


494  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  along  the  Hazareh  border,  stumbling  through  rocky 
June.  defiles,  more  inhospitable  than  their  Mahomedan 
persecutors,  John  Becher  raised  the  friendly  clans  to 
hunt  them  out  Uke  vermin.  Then  their  misery  was 
at  its  height.  Hungry  and  naked  and  footsore,  it 
was  death  to  them  to  move,  it  was  death  to  them  to 
remain  still.  Another  venerable  Soubahdar  set  an 
example  of  suicide  to  his  followers  by  shooting  him- 
self, declaring  that  it  was  better  to  die  at  once  than 
to  perish  slowly  by  starvation.  Becher  himself  has 
told  with  rare  force  of  language  how  first  one  detach- 
ment then  another  was  assisted  by  friendly  Kohis- 
tanees  and  others,  whose  services  he  had  most  saga- 
ciously enlisted,  until  the  whole  were  either  destroyed 
or  brought  prisoners  into  our  camp.*  Then  came 
the  last  scene  of  all,  in  which  the  Gibbet  and  the 
Guns  were  the  chief  actors.  On  the  very  outskirts 
of  civilisation,  where  only  a  few  Englishmen  were 
gathered  together,  the  last  of  "  Spottiswoode's  light- 
hearted  fellows"    paid  the    penalty  of  their   folly 

*  See  Major  Becher's  published  has  also  warned  the  Goojars  and 
report — Punjab  Mutiny  Papers.  In  people  of  the  country  to  pay  them 
a  private  letter  to  Edwardes  (July  1)  off.  I  have  had  several  messengers 
he  gives  a  graphic  description  of  the  who  have  seen  them.  They  are 
flight  of  the  Sepoys  and  the  raising  mostly  Hindoos.  Looking  naked 
of  the  border  clans.  "After  making  as  they  do,  the  women  and  children 
a  march,"  he  said,  "  in  the  direction  throw  stones  at  them  and  cry,  '  Out 
of  Kbagan,  they  turned  back  and  on  you,  black  Kaffirs  without  de- 
went  by  the  more  difficult  road  cencv  T  And  they  were  shocked  by 
through  the  Kohistan,  along  the  the  habits  which  they  witnessed  in 
Indus  to  Cbilass,  and  with  faces  to-  the  early  morning.  The  people  of 
wards  Ghiljet,  or  some  other  portion  Pucklee  and  Hazara  have  come  forth 
of  Cashmere,  as  to  the  promised  like  spirits  at  my  bidding.  I  have 
laud  of  safety.  One  of  their  officers  been  deluged  with  clansmen,  and  our 
shot  himself  at  the  prospect ;  one  or  camp  is  very  picturesque. ...  I  have 
two  have  died  already ;  several  are  received  satisfactory  assurances  from 
very  ill.    They  have  no  carnage  and  all  our  border  chiefs.    If  the  Syuds 

are  rather  hungry The  road  is  of  Khagan  had  not,  like  good  men 

very  difficult  even  for  men  of  the  and  true,  manned    their  front,    I 

country.    They  have  no  shelter,  and  think  the  Sepoys  would  have  tried 

I  believe  that  very  few  can  escape ;  an  easier   route ;    but  then  again 

besides  which,  the  Maharajah  Gholab  they  would  have  found  men  of  Gho- 

Singh  has  moved  a  regiment  to  his  lab  Singh's  ready  at  MozuBerabad." 

GhSjet  frontier,  and  swears  he  will  MS.  Correspondence. 
polish  off  every  man  he  meets.    He 


THE  LAST  OF  THE  FIFTY-FIFTH.  495 

or  their  crime.  One  party  after  another  of  the  fugi-  1857. 
tives  was  brought  in,  tried  by  a  military  court  and  •^^®" 
sentenced  to  death;  and  they  were  hung  up,  or 
blown  away,  on  some  commanding  ground,  to  be  a 
warning  and  a  terror  to  others.  Brave  and  sullen 
they  went  to  their  doom,  asking  only  to  die  like 
soldiers  at  the  cannon's  mouth,  not  as  dogs  in  the 
noose  of  the  gibbet.  Little  less  than  two  hundred 
men  were  executed  at  that  time  in  the  Hazareh 
country.  "Thus,  hunted  down  to  the  last  like  wild 
beasts,  was  consummated  the  miserable  fate  of  the 
Fifty-fifth  Regiment,  and  thus  they  afforded  a  salu- 
tary example  to  other  mutinous  regiments,  by  proving 
the  far  reach  of  our  power,  and  that  there  was  no 
refuge  even  beyond  our  border."*  If  any  had  not 
been  thus  hunted  out,  their  fate  was  perhaps  worse 
than  that  of  the  executed  malefactors,  for  they  were 
sojd  into  slavery,  and  compelled  to  apostatise  for 
their  lives. 


Elsewhere,  however,  were  ominous  symptoms  upon  -^J*"?*  ^ 
the  Frontier.  Nicholson,  since  his  great  raid  against 
the  fugitives  of  the  Fifty-fifth,  had  been  still  in  the 
field,  and  he  had  frequently  written  to  Edwardes  that 
the  Mussulman  chiefs  on  the  border  were  eagerly 
watching  the  progress  of  events,  and  encouraging  the 
rebellion  of  our  Native  soldiery ;  who,  at  the  same 
time,  had  been  making  overtures  to  them.  There 
was,  too,  a  notorious  outlaw,  named  Ajoon  Khan, 
who  was  believed  to  be  intriguing  with  our  troops  at 
Abazye,  a  fortress  on  the  banks  of  the  Swat  River, 
and  Nicholson  was  eager  to  make  a  swoop  upon  him.f 

*  Major  Becher's  Eeport.  See  the  followinff  significant  passage 

f   This  uneasy  feeling    on   the    in  Mr.  Forsytlrs  Matiny  Kjeport : 

frontier  had  been  of  long  standing.    "  Of  the  causes  which  fed  to  this 


496  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  "  The  game  is  becoming  nicer  and  more  complicated," 
^^y^^'  he  had  written  on  the  26th  of  May  from  Murdan, 
"Ajoon  Khan  has  come  down  to  Prangar,  and 
it  is  generally  believed  that  he  has  done  so  at 
the  instigation  of  our  troops  there.  This  does  not 
seem  improbable.  There  is  no  doubt  that  for  some 
time  past  emissaries  (mostly  MooUahs)  from  the 
Hills  had  been  going  backwards  and  forwards  be- 
tween the  Fifty-fifth  Native  Infantry  here  and 
certain  parties  in  their  own  country."  Four  days 
May 30.  afterwards,  he  wrote  from  Omurzye,  saying:  "We 
are  just  starting  for  Abazye.  I  will  let  you  know 
this  evening  whether  I  recommend  the  disarming  of 
the  Sixty-fourth  Native  Infantry.  I  am  strongly  in- 
clined to  believe  that  we  should  not  merely  disarm 
but  disband  that  corps,  and  the  Tenth  Irregular 
Cavalry.  There  is  no  doubt  that  they  have  both 
been  in  communication  with  the  Akhoond  of  Swat  . 
...  If  the  disarming  of  both  or  either  corps  be  de- 
termined upon,  we  can  do  it  very  well  from  here, 
without  troubling  the  Peshawur  troops.  I  believe 
we  did  not  pitch  into  the  Fifty-fifth  one  day  too  soon. 
That  corps  and  the  Sixty-fourth  were  all  planning 
to  go  over  to  the  Akhoond  together.  I  have  got  a 
man  who  taunted  my  police  on  the  line  of  march 
with  siding  with  infidels  in  a  religious  war.  May 
I  hang  him  ?" 

rebellion  it  is  not  for  me  to  speak,  tlicj supposed  that  Hyderabad  would 

but  I  canDot  refrain  from  recording  follow,    tliere  Mould    soou    be    no 

one  fact,  which  was  not  without  sit?*  stronghold  of  Islam  left  in  Hindos- 

nificance.   In  August,  1856,  a  letter  tan,  and  unless  some  effort  were 

from  the  Akhoond  of  Swat,  addressed  made  the  cause  of  true  believers 

to  Futteh  Khan,  of  Pindee  Gheb,  would  he  lost.    In  the  event  of  the 

was  brought  to  me  at  Kawul-Pindee.  Mahomedans  of  Oude  entering  on 

Among  much  other  news,  the  writer  anv  plan,  they  wished  to  know  what 

stated  that  the  Mahomedans  of  Luck-  aid  they  migllt  expect  from  the  Dost, 

now  had  written  to  Dost  Maliomed,  The  sagacious  reply  to  this  observa- 

informing  him  that  Oude  had  been  tion  was  stated  by  the  writer  to  be, 

taken  by  the  British,  and  that  as  *  What  will  be  remains  to  be  seen.'*' 


DISABMIKG  OF  THE  SIXTT-FOU&TH.  497 

On  the  following  day  Nicholson  wrote  from  Abazye,  1857. 
saying:  "We  arrived  here  all  right  yesterday,  and  ^'*^®* 
found  the  Sixty-fourth  looking  very  villainous,  but  of 
course  perfectly  quiet.  They  have  been  talking  very 
disloyaUy  both  to  the  Ghilzyes'*  (men  of  the  Khelat-i- 
Ghilzye  Regiment)  "  and  people  of  the  country, 
and  the  former  have  ceased  to  associate  with  them. 
The  latter  have  been  rather  hoping  for  a  row,  in  .the 
midst  of  which  they  may  escape  paying  revenue." 
What  he  saw  was  quite  enough  to  convince  him  that 
it  would  be  well  to  do  the  work  at  once.  Approval 
had  come  from  Cotton,  from  Edwardes,  and  from 
Lawrence.  So  a  detachment  of  Europeans,  with  some 
Punjabee  details  and  some  guns  of  Brougham's  bat- 
tery, the  whole  imder  that  officer,  were  sent  to  dis- 
arm the  companies  at  Shubkudder,  and  afterwards 
those  at  Michnee,  whilst  the  force  at  Abazye  was 
being  dealt  with  by  other  components  of  Chute's 
column.  The  teeth  of  the  Sixty-fourth  were  drawn 
without  difficulty.  But  the  annihilation  of  the  Tenth 
Irregular  Cavalry  was  reserved  for  another  day. 
Nicholson  recommended  that  no  action  should  be 
taken  against  the  Irregulars  until  tidings  of  the  fall 
of  Delhi  should  have  reached  the  Punjab.  He  little 
thought  how  remote  was  this  event  at  the  beginning 
of  Jime ;  that  long  months  were  yet  to  wear  away 
in  unsuccessful  efforts  to  accomplish  the  great  object 
for  which  the  Punjab  was  pouring  out  so  much  of 
its  military  strength.  And  others  were  of  the  same 
sanguine  temper  all  over  the  Province — ^fortunately, 
for  this  faith,  strong  though  delusive,  sustained  them, 
and  they  worked  with  better  heart  and  greater  vigour 
for  holding  fast  to  the  lie. 

There  was  now  no  further  service  for  Chute's 
column  to  perfonn.   So  it  marched  back  to  Peshawur, 

VOL.  IL  2  K 


498  PROOBESS  OF  EYENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  and  Nicholson  rode  on  in  advance  of  it^  to  resume  his 
June  10.  political  duties.  On  the  10th  of  June,  Edwardes 
welcomed  his  friend  and  fellow-workman  mth  warm 
congratulations  on  his  success.  ^'Nicholson  came  in 
from  Abaaye  this  morning/'  he  wrote  to  Sir  John 
Lawrence,  "  looking  rather  the  worse  for  exposure ; 
and  we  have  been  going  over  the  batta  question,  &c., 
with  the  General,  and  have  decided  to  say  nothing 
about  it  till  Delhi  falls,  and  then  to  disarm  the 
Tenth  Irregular  Cavalry,  and  exempt  from  the  abo- 
lition of  batta  the  Twenty-first  Native  Infantry,  the 
Ehelat-i-6hilzye  Regiment,  and  the  Seventeenth  and 
Eighteenth  Irregular  Cavalry,  if  they  keep  quiet" 
And  in  the  same  letter  he  wrote  to  the  Chief  Com- 
missioner, saying,  "  What  a  terrible  job  is  the  going 
off  of  those  three  regiments  from  Jullundhur  and 
Phillour  towards  Delhi!"  It  was  a  source  of  sore 
distress  and  dire  aggravation  to  Edwardes  and  Nichol- 
son that,  whilst  they  had  been  doing  so  much  for 
the  defence  of  the  province  and  the  maintenance  of 
the  honour  of  the  nation,  others  were  throwing 
away  every  chance  that  came  in  their  way,  and  by 
their  weakness  and  indecision  suffering  the  enemy  to 
escape. 


Mutiny  at  For  in  other  parts  of  the  province  there  was  not 
Jullundhur.  always  that  glorious  audacity  which  secures  success 
by  never  doubting  its  attainment.  In  the  first  week 
of  June,  the  Sepoy  regiments  at  Jullundhur,  whom, 
as  we  have  already  seen.  Brigadier  Johnstone  had  not 
disarmed  in  May,  were  swelling  with  sedition  and 
ripe  for  revolt.  Major  Edward  Lake,  who,  in  early 
youth,  had  shared  with  Herbert  Edwardes  the  dis- 
tinction of  striking  the  first  blow  at  the  Mooltanee 


THE  OUTBREAK  AT  JDLLUNBHDR.        499 

ingurgents  of  '49,  was  Commifldioner  of  the  JuUundhur  1857. 
division.  He  had  been  absent  on  circuit  when  the  •^"°®* 
events  occurred  which  have  been  detailed  in  a 
previous  chapter,*  but  before  the  end  of  the  month 
he  had  returned  to  Head-Quarters,  had  closely  ob- 
served the  temper  of  the  Sepoys,  and  had  been  con- 
vinced that  they  were  only  waiting  an  opportunity  to 
break  into  open  rebellion.  He  strongly  counselled, 
therefore,  the  disarming  of  the  regiments.  But  there 
was  no  Cotton  at  JuUundhur,  The  Sepoy  com- 
mandants shook  their  heads  after  their  wonted 
fashion ;  and  the  Brigadier,  tossed  hither  and  thither 
by  wild  conflicts  of  doubt,  at  last  subsided  into 
inaction.  Events  were  left  to  develope  themselves, 
and  they  did  so  with  all  possible  advantage  to  the  mu- 
tineers. On  the  night  of  the  7th  of  June,  the  Native  Jiu^e  7. 
battalions — two  regiments  of  Foot  and  one  of  Horse 
— inaugurated  a  general  rising  by  setting  fire  to  the 
house  of  the  Colonel  of  the  Queen's  regiment.  In  a 
little  while  the  Lines  were  all  astir  with  the  sights 
and  sounds  of  open  mutiny ;  and  the  officers  were 
making  their  way  to  the  parade-grounds,  whilst 
women  and  children,  in  wild  excitement,  were  hurry- 
ing to  the  appointed  place  of  refuge.  It  is  not  easy 
to  describe  the*  uproar  and  confusion  which  made  the 
midnight  hideous,  nor  to  explain  the  reason  why,  in 
the  presence  of  an  European  regiment  and  a  troop  of 
European  Artillery,  the.  insurgents  were  allowed  to 
run  riot  in  unrestrained  revolt.  The  incidents  of  the 
rising  were  of  the  common  type.  They  were  not  dis- 
tinguished by  any  peculiar  atrocities.  It  seems  that 
there  was  a  general  understanding  among  the  Sepoys 
that  on  a  given  day  they  should  set  their  faces  towards 
Delhi.     As  a  body,  they  did  not  lust  for  the  blood  of 

•  Ante,  pp.  427-28. 

2k2 


500  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  their  officers ;  but  in  the  excitement  of  the  moment, 
Juno  7.  murderous  blows  were  dealt.  Adjutant  Bagshawe, 
of  the  Thirty-sixth  Regiment — a  gallant  officer  and  a 
good  man — ^was  mortally  wounded  whilst  endeavour- 
ing to  rally  a  party  of  his  Sepoys.  The  death-blow 
did  not  come  from  one  of  his  own  men,  but  from  a 
trooper  who  "  rode  up  and  shot  him."  Other  officers 
were  wounded  in  the  confusion  of  the  hour ;  houses 
were  burnt,  and  property  was  destroyed.  But  there 
were  instances  of  fidelity  and  attachment  on  the  part 
of  the  Sepoys;  men  came  forward  staunchly  and 
devotedly  to  save  the  lives  of  their  officers.  And 
altogether  there  were  the  usual  contradictions  and 
anomalies,  which,  more  or  less  all  oyer  the  country, 
seemed  to  indicate  the  general  half-heartedness  of  the 
Sepoy  revolt. 

It  was  obviously  the  intention  of  the  JuUundhur 
Brigade  to  pick  up  the  long-wavering  regiment  at 
Phillour,  and  then  for  the  whole  to  march  on  to 
Delhi.*  A  trooper  of  the  Cavalry  galloped  forward 
in  advance  of  the  rebel  force  to  give  the  Third  the 
earliest  tidings  of  their  approach.  The  conduct  of 
the  last-named  corps  appears  to  be  inscrutable,  ex- 
cept upon  the  hypothesis  of  a  long-cherished  design, 
and  that  patient^  sturdy  resistance  of  all  immediate 

*  I  find  the  following  in  tlie  Pun-  oat  by  known  facts  and   circum- 

i*ab  Mutiny  Papers.  It  seems  to  stances.  It  was,  strictly,  that  all  the 
eave  little  doubt  with  respect  to  the  troops  in  the  Jullunder  Doab  had 
foregone  design :  *'  These  intentions  agreed  to  rise  simultaneously ;  a  de- 
were  by  chance  divulged  by  a  taohment  from  Jullunder  was  to  go 
wounded  Havildar  of  the  lliird  over  to  Hooshiarpore,  to  fetch  away 
Native  Infantry  to  an  officer,  who  the  Thirty-third  Native  Infantry, 
found  hmi  concealed  at  Homavoon's  failing  which  the  Thirty-third  were 
tomb,  after  the  capture  of  l)elhi.  to  remain  (and  they  did  so) ;  then 
This  information  was  given  without  their  arrival  at  Phillour  was  to  be  the 
any  attempt  at  palliation  or  reserve,  signal  for  the  Third  to  join,  when  all 
....  It  was  from  the  lips  of  a  man  were  to  proceed  to  Deini,  facing  the 
who  knew  his  end  was  near,  and  river  as  best  they  could.'' — Report  of 
conveyed  the  impression  of  truth  to  Mr,  RickeiU, 
ts  hearer;  it  is^  moreover,  borne 


INACTIVITY  AT  PHILLOUB.  501 

temptations,  which  seems  in  many  instances  to  have  1867. 
distinguished  the  behaviour  of  men  waiting  for  an  ^^^  ^• 
appointed  day  and  a  given  signal  The  Third,  that 
might  have  done  us  such  grievous  injury  when  the 
siege-train  was  in  its  grasp,  now  that  the  time  had 
come,  cast  in  its  lot  with  the  JuUundhur  mutineers, 
and  swept  on  towards  the  city  of  the  King.  It  is 
one  of  the  worst  disgraces  of  the  war  that  these 
JuUundhur  regiments  were  ever  suffered  to  reach 
Phillour.  There  was  no  lack  of  men  eager  to  pursue 
the  mutineers ;  but  the  one  word  from  the  one  respon- 
sible authority  was  not  spoken  until  all  orders  might 
as  well  have  been  given  to  the  winds.  The  mutineers 
had  done  their  work  and  marched  out  of  cantonments 
by  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  not  until  seven 
was  the  word  given  for  the  advance  of  the  pursuing 
column.  The  extreme  consideration  of  Brigadier 
Johnstone  for  his  European  troops  was  such  that  he 
waited  until  the  fierce  June  sun  had  risen — ^waited 
until  the  commissariat  was  not  ready — ^waited  until 
the  enemy  had  escaped.*  The  pursuers  marched  out 
and  marched  back  again,  never  having  seen  the 
enemy  at  all. 

The  history  of  the  so-called  pursuit  appears  to 
be  this.  Jn  the  course  of  the  day,  there  being  a 
vague  impression  that  Phillour  might  be  in  danger, 
Olpherts,  with  two  of  his  guns,  carrying  a  small  party 

*  I  ^ve  this  on  the  antliorily  of  equipment  for  gpins,  horses,  &c.,  and 
Brigadier  Johnstone,  who  himself  these,  after  the  utmost  despatch  of 
says :  *'  The  pursuit  of  the  mutineers  officers,  as  ready  and  zealous  as  mea 
commenced  before  seven  o'clock  of  could  be,  were  found  impossible  to 
the  morning  following  the  night  of  be  completed  at  an  earlier  hour.  The 
the  ontbreak.  It  could  not  have  complaint  of  one  writer  I  under- 
been  undertaken  earlier.  The  direc-  stand  is,  that  the  haste  of  departure 
tion  taken  by  the  rebels  was  not  in  pursuit  was  so  great,  that  the  In- 
ascertained  tilt  half-past  three  o'clock,  fantrj  had  to  march  without  rations 
Preparations  had  to  be  made  in  ob-  and  other  comforts,  which  is  true," 
tainmsc  carriage  for  the  infantry,  pro*  ftc.  Ac. — Letter  to  Lahore  Ckroniele. 
Yiding  rations,  ftc,  perfecting  the 


502  PROGRESS  OP  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  of  the  Eighth  Queen's  on  their  carriages,  and  accom- 
June  8.  panied  by  the  Second  Punjab  Cavalry,  pushed  on  to 
that  place,  where  they  found  that  the  officers  of  the 
Third  had  escaped  into  the  Fort,  and  that  the  Sepoys 
were  crossing  the  river  at  a  ferry  some  four  miles 
distant.  After  a  while,  the  main  body  of  the  troops 
from  Jullundhur  came  up,  and  then  the  question 
arose  as  to  whether  anything  could  be  done.  Those 
who  would  fain  have  done  something,  did  not  know 
what  to  do,  and  those  who  knew  what  should  be 
done,  were  not  minded  to  do  it.  No  one  from  Jul- 
lundhur knew  the  way  from  Phillour  to  the  Sutlej, 
and  the  Phillour  officers,  shut  up  in  the  Fort,  sent 
out  no  one  to  guide  them.  So  the  result  was  that 
no  one  did  anything,  and  the  pursuing  column 
bivouacked  bravely  for  the  night.  It  is  understood 
that  the  highest  military  authorities  were  convinced 
that  Brigadier  Johnstone  had  done  his  duty  nobly — 
but  History  and  the  Horse  Guards  are  often  at  issue. 
Kickctts  and  Such,  however,  are  the  alternations  of  light  and 
Thornton,  gtiadow  in  this  narrative,  that  the  narrator  has  never 
to  tarry  long  without  an  example  of  that  activity  of 
British  manliness  which  saved  the  Empire  in  this 
great  convulsion.  Whilst  the  Jullundhur  Brigadier 
was  thus  earning  the  approbation  of  the  highest 
military  authorities,  two  junior  civilians,  acting  only 
on  their  own  impulses,  were  doing  their  best  to  cut 
off  the  march  of  the  mutineers.  One  of  these  was  a 
young  gentleman  named  Thornton,  who  had  been  one 
of  the  first  to  enter  the  service  by  the  open  door  of 
general  competition,  and  who  seemed  to  be  bent  on 
proving  that  the  reproach  levelled  at  the  new  order  of 
civilians — that  they  were  men  of  books,  not  men  of 
action — was  unfounded  and  unjust.  He  had  ridden 
over  from  Loodhianah  to  Phillour  to  pay  the  regi* 


LOODHIANAH  IN  DANGER.  503 

ment  there,  had  learnt  that  the  troops  had  risen,  and      1867. 
had  pushed  on  with  all  haste  to  the  river-bank  and      J'*"^ 
cut  away  the  bridge  of  boats.     Hurrying  then  back 
to  Loodhianah,   he  found   that  Mr.   Ricketts,   the 
Deputy-Commissioner,  had  received  by  telegraph  in- 
formation of  the  rising  at  Jullundhur,  and  was  already 
making  such  preparations  as  he  could  for  the  security 
of  that  important  post.  Ljring  on  the  great  high  road 
from  the  Punjab  to  Hindostan,  it  was  to  be  assumed 
that  the  mutineers  would  sweep  through  it,  carrying 
destruction  with  them,  on  their  route  to  the  appointed 
goal  of  Delhi.     Little  was  it  that  Ricketts  could  have 
done  in  any  case,  but  that  little  was  made  less  by  the 
fact  that  the  news  of  the  Jullundhur  rising  reached 
the  Sepoys  at  Loodhianah  almost  as  soon  as  it  had 
reached  himself,  and  they  were  not  less  prompt  in 
action.  Those  Sepoys  were  ai  detachment  of  the  Third 
from  Phillour.     They  were  waiting  for  the  signal 
and  ready  to  strike.     Their  first  movement  was  to 
seize  the  Fort  and  the  Treasury.     There  were  no 
European  troops,  so  this  was  easily  accomplished. 
The  situation  was  one  of  infinite  peril.  The  mutineers 
from  Jullundhur  and  Phillour  might  be  expected  at 
any  hour.     But  the  Sutlej  was  still  between  them, 
and  if  Ricketts  could  guard  the  passages  of  the  river 
only  for  a  little  space,  the  pursuing  column  might 
come  upon  the  fugitives  before  they  had  crossed. 
Fortunately,  the  Fourth  (Rothney's)  Sikh  Regiment 
had  reached  Loodhianah  that  morning  after  a  long 
and  weary  march.     Three  companies,  under  Lieu- 
tenant Williams,  were'  now  told  off  for  service,  and 
the  Rajah  of  Nabha  was  called  upon  for  a  Contingent. 
The  chief  sent  detachments  of  Horse  and  Foot,  with 
two  six-pounder  guns,  and  with  theae  Ricketts  went 
out  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  river. 


nm 


504  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

'  1867.  The  first  thing  was  to  ascertain  the  exact  position 
June  8.  Qf  tj^g  enemy.  So  Ricketts,  crossing  the  river  in  a 
ferry-boat,  walked  along  the  opposite  bank  to  Phillour, 
and  there  learnt  that  the  insurgents,  having  been 
baulked  by  Thornton's  destruction  of  the  bridge,  had 
made  for  a  Ghaut,  some  four  miles  higher  up,  at  a 
narrow  bend  of  the  stream,  and  were  preparing  for 
the  passage  of  the  Sutlej.*  Possessed  of  this  important 
information,  the  gallant  civilian  recrossed  the  river, 
rejoined  the  detachment,  and,  in  concert  with  Lieu- 
tenant Williams,  made  his  arrangements  to  check 
the  advance  of  the  mutinous  regiments.  Had  John- 
stone, with  the  Europeans,  been  in  pursuit  of  the 
mutineers,  the  enemy  would  have  been  between  two 
fires,  and  the  bulk  of  them  would  have  been  destroyed. 
But  the  Brigadier  made  no  sign;  and  so  Ricketts 
and  Williams  had  all  the  work  and  all  the  glory  to 
themselves.  It  was  ten  o'clock  at  night  when  they 
came  within  sight  of  the  Sepoy  regiments.  The  road 
was  bad,  the  sand  deep,  the  ditches  numerous.  Their 
guides  had  misled  and  deserted  them,  and  much  good 
time  had  been  lost.  The  main  body  of  the  enemy, 
some  sixteen  hundred  in  number,f  had  already  crossed, 
and  our  little  handful  of  Sikh  troops  now  came  sud- 
denly upon  them.  Ricketts,  who  improvised  himself 
into  a  Commandant  of  Artillery,  took  charge  of  the 
guns,  and  Williams  directed  the  movements  of  the 
Cavalry  and  Infantry.  The  guns  were  at  once 
unlimbered,  but  the  horses  of  one  of  them  took 
fright  and  fled,  carrying  the  six-pounder  with  them. 

*  "At  the  Lussam  Ferry,  four  hers,  took  possession  of  the  other 

miles  above  Phillour,  the  advanced  side  also." — Afr,  £ame^$  Report. 
goard  of  the  mutineers  manasred  to        f   "  The  greater  part  of   three 

seLee  a  boat  that  vas  on  the  Jullun-  regiments  of  Infantry  and  one  regi- 

dhur  side^  and  crossiqs:  over  in  num-  ment  of  Cavalryy  bat  without  guns." 


THE  PASSAGE  OF  THE  RIVER.  505 

The  other  gun,  a  nine-pounder,  was  well  served,  and  1857. 
before  the  enemy  knew  that  we  were  upon  them,  it  ^^"'^  ^^' 
delivered  a  round  of  grape  with  good  effect,  whilst  at 
the  same  time  Williams's  Sikhs  poured  in  two  destruc- 
tive volleys.  The  mutineers  returned  the  fire,  and 
then  the  Nabha  troops  turned  their  backs  upon  the 
scene  and  fled  like  a  flock  of  sheep.  For  some  time 
the  unequal  contest  was  nobly  maintained.  Round 
after  round  from  the  one  gun  was  poured  in  so  rapidly 
and  so  steadily,  that  practised  ears  in  Johnstone's 
camp,  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  thought  that 
they  discerned  the  utterances  of  two  or  three  field- 
pieces ;  whilst  at  the  same  time  the  Sikhs,  spreading 
themselves  out  so  as  not  to  be  outflanked  by  superior 
numbers,  poured  in  volley  after  volley  with  destruc- 
tive effect.  But  gallant  as  were  these  efforts,  they 
could  not  last.  During  well-nigh  two  hours  they 
kept  back  the  surging  multitude  of  the  enemy ;  but 
then  the  gun  ammunition  was  expended.  The  car- 
tridges of  the  Sikhs  had  been  nearly  fired  away; 
Williams  had  fallen,  shot  through  the  lungs ;  and  the 
midnight  moon  revealed,  with  dangerous  distinctnesSy 
the  position  of  our  little  band.  There  was  nothing, 
therefore,  left  for  Ricketts  but  to  draw  off  his  force 
and  return  to  the  British  Cantonment. 

Then  the  mutinous  regiments,  no  longer  obstructed  Rising  at 
or  opposed,  swept  on  to  Loodhianah.  About  an  hour  l^o^^Ki*»j^li. 
before  noon,  on  the  9th  of  June,  they  entered  the 
city.  The  company  in  the  Fort  fraternised  with 
them.  The  turbulent  classes  rose  at  once,  scenting  a 
rich  harvest  of  rapine,  and  for  a  little  while  disorder 
and  destruction  were  rampant  in  the  place.  There 
were  some  peculiar  elements  in  the  population  of 
Loodhianah  from  which  danger  was  ever  likely  to 


606  PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.  flash  out  in  seasons  of  general  excitement.*  Large 
Jiiiie9.  numbers  of  aliens  were  there.  Foremost  amongst 
these  were  the  Caubul  refugees — the  miserable  in- 
capables  of  the  Suddozye  Family,  with  their  swarms 
of  dissolute  retainers — all  eating  the  bread  of  British 
compassion,  but  hating  the  hand  that  fed  them. 
Then  there  was  the  great  colony  of  Cashmere  shawl- 
weavers,  who,  sheltered  and  protected  as  they  never 
could  have  been  elsewhere,  followed  their  peace- 
ful calling  unmolested,  and  held  their  gains  in  the 
most  perfect  security.  Both  of  these  classes  now 
rose  against  us  with  a  vehemence  proportioned  to  the 
benefits  they  had  received.  The  Caubulees  were 
"  conspicuous  in  the  outrages  and  plunder  committed 
in  the  city;"  and  the  Cashmerees  were  among  the 
.  foremost  in  "plundering  the  Government  stores,  in 
pillaging  the  premises  of  the  American  Mission,  in 
burning  the  churches  and  buildings,  in  destroying 
the  printing  presses,  and  in  pointing  out  the  resi- 
dences of  Government  officials,  or  known  well-wishers 
of  Government,  as  objects  of  vengeance  for  the  muti- 
nous troops."  Besides  these,  there  were  large  num- 
bers of  Mahomedan  Goojurs,  who  had  been  wrought 
up  to  a  high  state  of  fanaticism  by  the  preachings  of 
an  energetic  Moulavee,  and  who  were  eager  to  declare 
a  jehad  f  against  us.  All  these  persons  now  welcomed 
the  mutineers,  and  aided  them  in  the  work  of  spolia- 
tion. The  prisoners  in  the  gaol  were  released.  What- 
soever belonged  to  Government — ^whatsoever  belonged 
to  Englishmen — ^was  destroyed,  if  it  could  not  be 
carried  off;   the  quiet,   trading  communities  were 

*  "  It  is  filled  with  a  dissolute,  without  regular  troops  to  restrain,  a 

lawless,  mixed  population  of  Caubul  district  traversed  by  roads  ia  every 

pensioners,  Casnmere  shawl-workers,  direction  ...  a  river  which  for 

Goojurs,  Bowreahs,  and  other  pre-  months  in  the  year  is  a  mere  net- 

datory  races.    There  is  a  fort  with-  work  of  fordable  creeks." 
out  Europeans  to  guard  it,  a  city       f  Holy  war. 


r 


ESCAPE  OF  THE  MUTINEEBS.  507 

compelled  to  contribute  to  the  wants  of  the  muti-  1857. 
neers  in  money  or  in  kind;  grain  and  flour  were  J^®^- 
carried  off  from  the  bunniahs'  shops ;  and,  wherever 
a  horse  or  a  mule  could  be  found,  the  rebel  hand 
was  laid  instantly  upon  it.  It  was  too  much  to  ex- 
pect that  these  traders,  how  much  soever  they  may 
have  benefited  by  British  rule  and  profited  by  the 
maintenance  of  order,  should  take  any  active  steps  to 
aid  the  authorities  in  such  a  crisis.  The  bankers 
secreted  their  money-bags,  and  the  merchants  locked 
up  their  wares,  and  every  man  did  what  he  thought 
best  for  himself  in  the  face  of  the  general  confusion. 

And  what  was  Johnstone  doing  all  this  time  ?  Escape  of  the 
Johnstone  was  playing  out  with  admirable  eflFect  an-  Mutmeen. 
Other  act  of  the  great  tragedy  of  "  Too  Late."  The 
Europeans  had  heard  the  firing  of  the  preceding 
night,  and  had  waited  eagerly  for  the  order  to  move, 
but  no  order  came.  Three  hours  after  Ricketts's  one 
gun  had  been  silenced  by  want  of  ammunition,  Henry 
Olpherts,  with  his  splendid  troop  of  Horse  Artillery, 
and  a  party  of  the  Eighth  Foot,  was  suffered  to  go 
through  the  ceremony  of  taking  command  of  the 
"advance"  of  the  force  that  was  to  march  to  the 
rescue  of  Loodhianah  and  to  the  extermination  of 
the  Jullundhur  mutineers.  But  no  sooner  were  they 
ready  to  move  than  fresh  misgivings  assailed  the 
mind  of  the  Brigadier.  It  would  not  be  "safe"  to 
send  forward  such  a  force  without  adequate  supports. 
In  vain  Ricketts  sent  expresses  to  Johnstone's  Camp, 
urging  him  to  send  forward  the  Horse  Artillery  to 
his  aid;  but  the  day  wore  on,  the  succours  never 
came,  and  the  enemy  rioted  uncjiecked  in  Lood- 
hianah until  nightfall.*    Then  the  insurgent  regi- 

*  '*  In  the  mean  time  no  troops  advance,  and  they  might  haye  caused 
arrived  in  pnrsnit  I  sent  twice,  them  (the  matineers)  immense  loss; 
b^ing  the  Horse  Artillery  might    but  they  could  not  be  trusted  to  the 


$08      PROGBESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.      ments  made  a  forced  march  towards  Delhi,  and  when 
^^^'      at  last  our  Europeans  made  their  appearance  at 
Loodhianah)  pursuit  was  hopeless.    The  JuUundhur 
insurgents  had  escaped. 

The  evil,  which  had  been  thus  done  or  suffered  by 
our  inertness,  was  small  in  comparison  with  the 
danger  which  had  been  escaped.  It  was  the  true 
policy  of  the  enemy,  at  that  time,  to  occupy  Lood- 
hianah.  With  the  Fort  in  their  possession — ^guiis 
mounted  and  manned,  the  Government  treasure  in 
their  hands,  and  the  bulk  of  the  population  on  their 
side — ^they  might,  for  a  while  at  least,  have  success- 
fully defied  us.  To  the  British  cause,  the  loss  of  this 
important  city,  lying  on  the  great  high  road  from  the 
Punjab  to  Delhi,  would,  indeed,  have  been  a  heavy 
blow.  It  would  have  affected  disastrously,  perhaps 
ruinously,  the  future  operations  of  the  war,  by  defer- 
ring indefinitely  the  capture  of  Delhi.  But  inste&d  of 
this,  the  mutinous  regiments  merely  carried  them- 
selves off,  by  the  least  frequented  routes,  to  the  Great 
Head-Quarters  of  Rebellion,  there  to  swell  the  already 
swoUen  numbers  of  the  garrison,  without  increasing 
its  actual  strength.* 

Fourth  Sikhs  or  the  small  detach-    made  a  most  untoward  diversion  for 


ment  of  Puniab  Cavalry,  and  liad  to    our  small  force  before  Delhi ;  but 
European  In&Dtrj 

ortunitv  to 
destroy  these  mutineers  was  lost,    they  liad  carried  off  blank  for  balled 


wait  for  the  European  In&ntry ;  and    their  ammunition  was  expended ;  in 
80  this  second  great  opportunity  to    their  hurry  in  leaving  Jullundhur 


and  as  they  had  four  miles'  start  of  ammunition,  and   so   they  had  to 

the  European  Infantry,  of  course  hurry  on  by  forocd  marches,  avoid- 

pursuit  was  hopeless  that  evening."  ing  any  possibility  of  collision  with 

— Biekeitt,  our  troops." — Mr,  EieieiU*$  Eeport, 

*  "  I  ima£;ine  their  plan  was  tern-  The  writer  admits  that  this  is  for 

porarily  to  hold  the  Fort  and  City  the  most  part  conjecture,  but  he 

of  Loodhianah,  where  they  could  thinks  that  it  is  borne  out  by  the 

command  the  Grand  Trunk  Eoad  fact  that,  if  their  ammunition  had  not 

from  the  Punjab  to  Delhi,  whence  failed  them,  the  mutineers  had  the 

they  could  have  spread  disorganisa-  game  in  their  own  hands.    I  have 

tion  throughout  Cis-Sutlej,  and  have  had  no  opportunity  of  investigating 

shaken  the  Sikh  States,  and  by  cut-  the  hypothesis  that  the  Jullundhur 

ting  off  supplies  and  pUcing  troops  regiments  supplied  themselves  with 

in  requisition  to  attack  them,  have  blank  cartridges  by  mistake. 


PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  EEBELS.  509 

It  was  now  necessary  to  make  a  severe  example  of  1857. 
all  who  had  been  guilty  of  aiding  and  abetting  the  "^^^ 
mutinous  Sepoys,  or  who  had  taken  advantage  of  the 
confusion  which  they  had  created.  It  was  easy  to 
bring  the  guilt  home  to  the  offenders,  for  plundered 
property  was  found  in  their  possession;  and  now 
that  English  authority  had  reailserted  itself  in  all 
its  strength,  witnesses  flocked  in  from  all  sides,  eager 
to  give  damnatory  evidence  against  their  fellow- 
citizens.  More  than  twenty  Cashmerees  and  others 
were  promptly  tried,  and  as  promptly  executed. 
The  telegraphic  wires  brought  from  higher  official 
quarters  the  necessary  confirmation  of  the  sentence 
of  death,  and  on  the  evening  of  their  trial  the  pri- 
soners were  hanged.  Others  detected  in  seditious 
correspondence  shared  the  same  fate.  "It  was  by 
such  measures  as  these,"  wrote  the  Commissioner  of 
the  Cis-Sutlej  States,  "  that  the  peace  was  preserved ; 
any  vacillation  or  tender-heartedness  would  have 
been  fatal,  for  rebellion  would  have  spread  in  the 
province,  and  many  valuable  lives  would  have  been 
lost  inlicovering  our  authority.  So  long  as  order 
was  maintained  here,  our  communications  with  the 
Punjab  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Delhi  force  on  the 
other,  were  kept  unimpaired ;  as  it  was,  with  daily 
convoys  of  treasure,  ammunition,  stores,  and  men 
passing  down  the  road,  I  am  happy  to  say  that  not  a 
single  accident  occurred." 

The  next  step  was  to  disarm  the  people  of  Lood- 
hianah.  Taking  advantage  of  the  presence  of  Coke's 
regiment,  which  afterwards  made  good  its  march  to 
Delhi,  Ricketts  disarmed  the  town  of  Loodhianah. 
And  in  other  parts  of  the  Cis-Sutlej  States  the  same 
process  was  carried  on  with  the  zeal,  vigour,  and 
success  that  distinguished  all  the  efforts  of  the  officers 


510  PROGRESS  OF  ETEKTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.  of  the  Punjabee  Commission.  But,  doubtless,  as 
J  one— Ju  J.  ^^  fonner  occasions,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  there 
were  many  concealments,  even  in  our  own  territories ; 
and,  moreover,  the  contiguity  of  the  Protected  Native 
States  afforded  opportunities  of  evading  the  search, 
to  which  the  people  on  the  border  eagerly  resorted. 
Mr.  Barnes  called  upon  the  chiefs  to  adopt  similar 
measures,  and  they  formally  complied ;  but  he  said 
that  they  were  slow  to  move  and  suspicious  of  our 
intentions.*  There  was,  in  truth,  a  general  feeling  of 
mistrust ;  and  it  was  presently  ascertained  that  the 
people  were  not  only  concealing  arms,  but  making 
large  purchases  of  saltpetre  and  sulphur,  and  other 
components  of  gunpowder,  for  use  in  a  day  of  danger. 
It  was  all  in  accordance  with  their  genius  and  their 
temper,  and  it  could  excite  no  surprise  in  any  reason- 
able mind.  But  it  was  necessary  to  grapple  with 
these  evils ;  so  proclamation  was  made,  rendering  the 
carrying  of  arms  a  misdemeanor,  and  restrictions 
upon  the  sale  and  export  of  all  kinds  of  ammunition 
and  their  components.f 

Whilst  preventive  and  precautionary  measures  of 
this  kind  were  being  pushed  forward  throughout  the 
Punjab,  there  were  unceasing  efforts  all  along  the 
great  road  to  Delhi  to  furnish  the  means  of  transport- 
ing stores  for  the  service  of  Barnard's  army.  In  thb 
most  essential  work  civil  and  military  officers  worked 
manfully  together;  and  although  there  were  many 
difficulties  to  be  overcome,  the  great  thoroughfare 

*  Mr.  Barnes's  Cis-Sutlej  Report,  the  trial  and  punishment  of  muti- 
f  At  this  time  communication  be-  neers  and  heinous  criminals,  or  for 
tween  Calcutta  and  the  Punjab  was  disarming  the  population,  or  check- 
very  slow  and  irregular,  and  tidings  ing  the  importation  of  military  stores, 
of  the  let^islative  enactments  passed  we  only  anticipated  the  acts  almost 
in  Calcutta  had  not  yet  reached  the  simultaneouslr  passed  at  Calcutta  by 
Frontier  Province.  i\it  Mr.  Barnes,  the  wisdom  oi  tne  Legislative  Coun- 
writing  at  a  later  period,  observed,  oil." 
"  That  in  the  measures  adopted  for 


AH)  TO  THE  DELHI  fORGE.  511 

was  soon  alive  with  carts  and  carriages  and  beasts  of  1867. 
burden  conveying  downwards  all  that  was  most  J»^ne— Julj 
needed  by  the  Army,  and  especially  those  vast  supplies 
of  ordnance  ammunition  which  were  required  to 
make  an  impression  on  the  walls  of  the  city  which 
we  were  besieging.*  It  is  hard  to  say  what  might 
not  have  befallen  us  if,  at  this  time,  the  road  had  not 
been  kept  open ;  but  the  loyalty  of  the  great  chiefe 
of  the  Protected  Sikh  States,  and  the  energy  and 
sagacity  of  Barnes  and  Ricketts,  secured  our  commu- 
nications, and  never  was  the  Delhi  Field  Force  in 
any  danger  of  the  interception  of  its  supplies.f 


Thus  was  the  Punjab  aiding  in  many  ways  the 
great  work  of  the  recovery  of  Delhi  and  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  revolt  It  was  sending  down  material, 
and  it  was  sending  down  masses  of  men.  Nor  was 
this  all  that  it  could  do.  The  Punjab  had  become 
the  Nursery  of  Heroes.  And  it  was  from  the  Punjab 
that  now  was  to  be  drawn  that  wealth  of  individual 
energy  upon  which  the  destinies  of  nations  so  greatly 

*   To   the   actiyitj  of  Captain  peace  in  these  districts,  and  to  whose 

Briggs,  who   oi^anised  a  militarr  influence  withjblie  independent  chiefo 

transport  train,  and  worked  it  with  I  am  mainly  indebted  for  the  valaable 

admirable  success,  we  are  mainly  in-  aid  of  the  ruteeala  and  Jheend  Con- 

debted  for  these  good  results.    But  tingents,  by  means  of  which  our 

we  are  a  little  too  prone  to  forget  communication  with  our  rear  has 

such  services  as  these,  or,  perhaps,  been  kept  open,  and  the  safe  escort 

we  undervalue  the  importance  of  of  numerous  convoys  of  stores  and 

feeding  an  army  and  loading  its  ammunition  to  the  camp  has  been 

guns.  effected;   and  his   most   energetic 

f  These  services  were  afterwards  assistant,  Mr.  G.n.Bicketts,the  De- 
becomingly  acknowledged  hj  Gene-  puty-Commissioner  of  Loodhianah, 
ral  Wilson,  who  wrote  to  Sir  John  of  whose  imflaggin^  exertions  in 
Lawrence,  saying :  "  I  beg  to  bring  procuring  carriage,  aiding  the  move- 
specially  to  your  notice  the  very  im-  ments  of  troops,  and  forwarding  sup- 
portant  services  rendered  by  the  Com-  plies,  and  or  his  hearty  co-opera- 
missioner  of  the  Cis-Sutiej  States,  tion  with  the  magazine  officer  in 
Mr.  G.  C.  Barnes,  to  whose  good  the  despatch  of  ammunition,  I  am 
government,  under  yourself,  may  be  deeply  sensible^  and  cannot  speak 
partly  attributed  the  preservation  of  too  highly." 


512 


PROGRESS  OF  EVENTS  IN  THE  PUNJAB. 


1857. 
Juue. 


depend.  Death  had  made  its  gaps  in  the  Delhi 
Army.  The  death  of  General  Anson  sent  General 
Reed  down  to  the  Head-Quarters  of  the  Army  as 
Senior  Officer  in  the  Presidency,  and,  therefore,  Pro- 
visional Commander-in-Chief.  Who  then  was  to  com- 
mand the  Frontier  Force  ?  For  some  little  time  there 
was  a  terror  in  the  Peshawur  Council  lest  Brigadier 
Johnstone,  who  had  smoothed  the  way  for  the  safe 
conduct  of  his  Native  troops  to  Delhi,  should  be 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  division.  It  could 
not  be  permitted  whilst  Sydney  Cotton  was  there. 
Little  by  little  regulation  was  giving  way  to  the 
exigencies  of  a  great  crisis;  and  when  news  came 
that  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army  had  been 
killed  in  the  battle  of  Budlee-ka-serai,  there  was  a 
demand  for  the  services  of  Neville  Chamberlain  as 
the  fittest  man  in  the  country  to  be  Chief  of  the 
Staff  of  the  besieging  Force.  So  Nicholson  was 
"  instinctively  selected  to  take  command  of  the  Pun- 
jab Movable  Column,  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier- 
General,"*  whilst  Chamberlain  proceeded  downwards 
to  join  the  Head- Quarters  of  the  Army.  What 
Barnard  and  his  troops  were  doing  it  is  now  my 
duty  to  narrate. 

*   These  words  are  in  Colonel  berlain  and  John  Nicholson,  in  the 

Edwardes's  Official  Eeport.      The  prime  of  their  lives,  with  all  their 

writer  adds:  "How  common  sense  faculties  of  doinii^ and  enduring, hare 

revenges  itself  on  defective  systems,  attained  the  rank  of  Brigadier-Gene- 

when  real  danger  assails  a  state !  ral  P    Why  should  we  keep  down  in 

Had  there  heen  no  struggle  for  life  peace  the  men  who  must  be  put  up 

or  death,  when  would  NeYule  Cham-  in  War  P'* 


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39^  Si 


THE  BIDOE.  513 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OBVEKAL  BABITABD'S  POSITION— nCPOBTANCX  OF  THE  CAFT17BB  0?  DBLHI— 
DELHI  AND  ITS  ENVIBONS — QUESTION  OV  AN  HCHEDIATB  ASSAULT  — 
COUNCILS  OV  WAE — ^ABANDONMENT  OF  THE  NIOHT  ATTACK — WAITING 
FOB  BEINFOBGEICENTS — ENGAOEIOBNTS  WITH  THE  ENEMT— THE  CEN- 
TENABT  OF  PLA88ET — ^ABEIYAL  OF  NEVILLE  CHAMBEBLAIN  AND  BAIBD 
SMITH— DEATH  OF  GENEBAL  BABNABD. 

The  Delhi  Field  Force  having  planted  its  Head-  June,  1867. 
Quarters  on  the  old  site  of  the  British  Cantonments  ^^J^Jf 
on  the  "  Ridge,"  was  now  spreading  itself  out  over  Sdhi. 
the  ground  which  it  had  conquered,  in  the  manner 
best  adapted  to  both  offensive  and  defensive  opera- 
tions. Seldom  has  a  finer  position  been  occupied 
by  a  British  Army ;  seldom  has  a  more  magnificent 
panorama  turned  for  a  while  the  soldier's  thoughts 
from  the  stem  realities  of  the  battle.  It  was  difficult 
not  to  admire  the  beauty  of  the  scene  even  amidst 
the  discomforts  of  the  camp  and  the  labours  of  the 
first  encamping.  The  great  city,  with  its  stately 
mosques  and  minarets,  lay  grandly  at  our  feet,  one 
side  resting  upon  the  Jumna,  and  others  forming  a 
mighty  mass  of  red  walls  standing  out  threateningly 
towards  the  position  which  we  had  occupied.  And 
scattered  all  about  beneath  us  were  picturesque 
suburbs,  and  stately  houses,  walled  gardens  and 
verdant  groves  refreshing  to  the  eye ;  whilst  the  blue 
waters  of  the  flowing  Jumna  glittered  in  the  light  of 

VOL.  n,  2  L 


514  FmST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.       the  broad  sun.     It  was  not  an  hour  for  philosophical 
•^"*®-       speculation  or  for  the  indulgence  of  any  romantic 
sentiments  concerning  the  decay  of  empires  and  the 
revolutions  of  djmasties ;  else  was  there  much  food 
for  thought  in  the  strange  circumstances  which  had 
brought  a  British  Array  to  besiege  a  city  which,  only 
a  month  before,  had  been  regarded  as  securely  our 
own  as  London  or  Liverpool,  and  to  contend  against 
a  Sovereign  who,  within  the  same  brief  space  of  time, 
had  been  held  in  contempt  as  a  harmless  puppet 
There  was  no  room  in  the  minds  of  our  military 
chie&  for  such  thoughts  as  these.  They  contemplated 
the  position  on  which  they  had  encamped  our  Army 
with  the  keen  eyes  of  practical  soldiers,  and  looked 
around  them  from  their  commanding  position  upon 
the  ground  that  was  to  be  the  scene  of  their  future 
operations.     And  this  was  the  result  of  the  survey. 
Roadfl  and         Intersecting  the  old  Cantonment  towards  the  left- 
centre,  ahd  then  following  its  front  towards  the  right, 
was  a  road  which  joined  the  Grand  Trunk  from 
Eumaul,  beyond  the  extremity  of  the  Ridge,  and  led 
down,   through   a  mass  of  suburban  gardens  and 
ancient  edifices,  to  the  Caubul  Gate  of  Delhi.     Two 
other  roads,   also  leading  from   Eumaul,  diverged 
through  the  Cantonment  to  different  gates  of  the 
city.     And  scarcely  less  important  to  us  than  the 
roads  were  the  canals  which  were  cut  through  the 
country  in  the  neighbourhood  of  our  camp.     In  the 
rear  of  our  encampment  was  a  branch  canal,  known 
as  the  Nujufgurh  Jheel  Aqueduct,  which  carried  the 
waters  emptied  into  this  lake  to  the  stream  of  the 
Jumna.     To  the  right  rear  of  our  position  this  great 
drain  was  intersected  by  the  Western  Jumna  Canal, 
which  passing  through  a  bold  excavation  of  the  solid 
rock,  flowed  through  the  great  suburbs  of  Delhi,  and 


canals. 


THE  GREAT  CANALS.  515 

entering  the  city  by  a  culvert  under  the  walls,  tra-      1867. 
versed  the  length  of  its  main  street  and  emptied      ^^^' 
itself  into  the  river  near  the  walls  of  the  Imperial 
Palace.    And  it  was  a  source  of  especial  rejoicing  to 
the  British  chiefe,  firstly,  that  our  position  was  open 
to  the  rear,  and  that  there  were  good  roads  leading 
down  to  it,  from  which  we  could  keep  up  a  constant 
communication  with  the  Punjab,  now  become  our 
base  of  operations ;  and,  secondly,  that  there  was  an 
abundant  supply  of  water  in  the  Nujufgurh  Canal. 
It  was  the  driest  season  of  the  year,  and  in  common 
course  the  canal  would  have  been  empty.     But  the 
excessive  rains  of  1856  had  so  flooded  and  extended 
the  area  of  the  lake,  that  it  had  not  ceased  even  in 
the  month  of  June  to  emit  an  unfailing  supply  of 
pure  good  water  to  fill  the  aqueduct  in  the  rear  of 
our  position* — water  in  which  not  only  our  people 
could  freely  bathe,  but  which  they  could  drink  with 
safety  and  with  pleasure ;  and  it  is  hard  to  say  how 
much  the  salubrity  of  the  camp  was  maintained  by 
this  providential  dispensation.     Nor  was  it  merely 
in  a  sanitary  point  of  view  that  this  flow  of  water 
was  so  advantageous  to  the  English,  for  in  its  mili- 

*  See  remarks  of  Colonel  Baird  during  the  whole  period  of  the  siege. 

Smith  on  this  subject  TUnfinished  It  is  scarcelypossible  to  over-estimate 

Memoir):    "  B^  one  oi  those  re-  the  value  of  such  a  provision  both  to 

markable  coincidences  of  which  so  the  health  and  comfort  of  the  troops, 

many  occurred  to  favour  the  English  for  without  it  the  river,  two  miles 

cause  as  to  suggest  the  idea  of  a  distant,  or  the  wells  in  Cantonment, 

special  Providence  in  them,  the  rains  .  all  brackish  and  bad,  must  have  been 

of  the  year  preceding  the  mutiny  had  the  sole  sources  of  water  supply  for 

been  unprecedented  in  magnitude,  man  and  beast.    Sanitary  arrange- 

and  the  whole  basin  had  been  gorged  ments  were  facilitated,  good  drainage 

with  water,  the  area  covered  exceed-  secured,  abundant  means  of  ablution 

ing  a  hundred  square  miles and  healthy  aquatic  exercises  were 

From  the  enormous  accumulation  of  provided,  and  the  Jheel  Canal  was 

water  in  the  Jheel  during  1856,  this  not  merely  a  good  defensible  line  for 

canal,  ordinarily  dry  during  the  hot  military  operations,  but  a  precious 

season,  was  filled  with  a  deep,  rapid  addition  to  the  comfort  and  salnbrity 

stream  of  pure  and  wholesome  water  of  the  camp." 

2l2 


516  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  tary  aspects  it  was  equally  favourable  to  defensive 
^"^-  purposes.  And  so  there  were  comfort  and  encourage- 
ment in  the  contemplation  of  our  position. 
The  Bidge.  And  a  nearer  inspection  of  the  Ridge,  though  there 
were  some  countervailing  circumstances  to  detract 
from  the  general  satisfaction,  had  an  assuring  effect 
upon  the  British  Leader  and  the  Staff  by  whom  he 
was  surrounded.  It  had  been,  in  part  at  least,  the 
site  of  the  old  Delhi  Cantonment.  The  left  of  this 
rocky  chain  rested  upon  the  Jumna  some  three  or 
four  miles  above  Delhi,  whilst  the  right  extremity 
approached  the  Caubul  Gate  of  the  city  at  a  dis- 
tance of  about  a  thousand  yards.  "Formed  of  a 
hard,  compact,  semi-crystalline  quartz  rock,  disposed 
in  layers,  and  presenting  occasional  natural  cliffs  on 
the  city  side,"*  it  extended  along  a  line  of  rather 
more  than  two  miles,  at  an  elevation  of  from  fifty  to 
sixty  feet  above  the  general  elevation  of  the  city.f 
The  natural  soil  was  so  hostile  to  cultivation  that  the 
general  aspect  of  the  Ridge  was  bare  and  rugged ; 
and  the  same  gritty,  friable  qualities  of  the  earth 
rendered  it  especially  ill-adapted  to  defensive  pur- 
poses, for  where  no  cohesive  properties  existed  the 
construction  of  earth-works  was  almost  impossible. 
On  the  left  and  centre  of  the  Ridge,  obliquely  to  the 
front  of  attack,  the  tents  of  the  English  were  pitched 
a  little  to  the  rear  of  the  ruins  of  their  old  houses, 
which  effectually  concealed  us  from  the  besieged. 
The  extreme  left  of  the  Ridge  was  so  far  retired  from 
the  mwn  position  'of  the  enemy  as  to  be  in  little 
danger  from  his  assaults,  but  our  post  on  the  ex- 

*  MS.  Memoir  by  Colonel  Baird  exceed  eighty  or  mnetr  feef    In 

Smith.  ^  another  memorandum  he  says  that 

f  Baird  Smith  says  in  the  Memoir .  "  the  average  command  may  be  taken 

qnoted  above  tliat  its  ntmost  height  for  practical  purposes  at  about  forty 

above  the  level  of  the  city  does  not  feet." 


K^mmm^'^^^rr^^^^vmmm^mw^^ti^mtmm 


OUR  ADVANCED  POSTS,  517 

treme  right   "  invited  attack  from  the  moment  of     1857.  * 
occupation  to  the  close  of  the  operations."*  •^"^' 

This  position  on  the  extreme  right  was  surmounted  Hindoo  Rao's 
by  a  somewhat  ^tensive  building  of  comparatively ''°'-- 
modern  construction,  known  as  Hindoo  Rao's  House. 
The  former  owner  of  this  edifice  was  a  Mahratta 
nobleman,  who  is  said  to  have  been  nearly  connected 
with  the  family  of  Scindiah.  Political  necessities 
had  compelled  his  residence  at  a  distance  from 
Gwalior,  and  he  had  settled  himself  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Delhi,  where  he  had  earned  a  good 
reputation  among  all  classes  of  the  community.  Of 
a  robust  manhood  and  a  genial  temperament,  he  was 
noted  for  his  hospitality .f  The  house  had  been  built 
and  fitted  up  much  after  the  fashion  of  an  Anglo- 
Indian  mansion  of  the  better  class.  But  on  his  death 
it  had  been  left  without  an  occupant,  and  on  the 
arrival  of  Barnard's  force  it  was  found  empty  and 
deserted.  It  was  a  roomy  and  convenient  edifice, 
with  good  approaches  both  from  the  Cantonment  and 
the  City ;  and,  apart  from  the  excellence  of  the  situa- 
tion, which  strongly  recommended  it  as  an  advanced 
post,  it  afibrded  good  shelter  and  accommodation  for 
a  considerable  body  of  troops. 

Between  the  two  extreme  points  of  the  Ridge  were  The  Flagstaff 
other  important  posts,  destined  to  occupy  conspicuous  Tower, 
places  in  the  history  of  the  coming  siege.  Near  the 
point  at  which  the  middle  road  of  the  three  crossed 
the  Ridge,  was  the  Flagstaff  Tower,  of  which  men- 
tion has  before  been  made;  for  thence  was  it  that 
our  people,  on  the  fatal  11th  of  May,  huddled  to- 
gether for  transient  safety,  had  looked  forth  despair- 

*  Baird  Smith.  gentleman,  of  frank,  bluff  manners, 

f  '*  Tbe  old  man  was  a  well-known  and  genial  temperament."  —  ^iuW 

member  of  the  local  society — a  keen  SmiiA's  Unfinished  Memoir. 

sportsman,  a  liberal  and  hospitable 


518  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1867.      ingly  towards  the  city,  from  which  the  signal  for 
June.       massacre  was  to  come.*    A  double-storied,  circular 
buUding,  it  had  a  fine  command  of  observation,  com- 
prehending  the  country  lying  between  the  Ridge 
the  walls  of  the  city,  and  was  sufficiently  strong  to 
afford  good  shelter  to  troops.     Further  on  to  the 
right — about    midway  between  the  Flagstaff    and 
The  Mosque.  Hindoo  Rao^s  house — ^was  a  ruined  mosque  "  of  the 
old  Pathan  type,"  which  had  also  good  walls  of 
masonry,  and  was  well  suited  for  an  outpost,  as  it 
afforded  both  shelter  and  accommodation  to  our 
men;  and  still  further  along  the  Kidge  road,  at  a 
distance  of  some  two  hundred  yards  from  our  posi- 
tion on  the  extreme  right,  was  an  ancient  Observa- 
Thc  Obsenra- tory,t  of  somewhat  irregular  structure,   ill-lighted 
^'  and  iU-ventilated,  but  still  a  serviceable  building,  as 

it  afforded  good  support  to  the  advanced  position  on 
our  right,  which  was  so  long  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the 
affray.  At  these  four  points.  Sir  Henry  Barnard, 
after  the  battle  of  Budlee-ka-Serai,  established  strong 
picquets,  each  supported  by  guns. 
The  Suburbs.  The  country  around  Delhi,  which  the  roads  and 
canal-cuttings  above  described  intersected  after  pass- 
ing the  Ridge,  was  a  varied  mass  of  ruined  and 
habitable  houses,  walled  gardens,  green  woodlands, 
cultivated  rice  fields,  and  unhealthy  swamps.  Be- 
yond Hindoo  Rao^s  house  to  the  rear  was  the  beauti- 
ful suburb  of  Subzee-mundee  (or  the  Green  Market), 
Ipng  along  the  Grand  Trunk  Road — a  cluster  of  good 
houses  and  walled  gardens,  which  afforded  shelter  to 
the  enemy,  and  were,  indeed,  the  very  key  of  our  ' 
position.  And  beyond  this  the  plain  was  "covered  with 

*  Jnte,  book  iy.,  chap.  iii.    It  is        f  Built  by  the  Rajpoot  Astro- 
- fd     "•    "'  -  "      


stated  that  a  cart-load  of  dead  bodies    nomer,  Bajah  Jeit  Singh, 
was  found  in  it,  supposed  to  be  the 
bodies  of  officers  of  tne  l^ifty-fourth. 


^^^^^^^TK^mmm^mm 


THE  METCALFE  HOUSE.  519 

dense  gardens  and  thick  groves,  houses,  and  walled  1857. 
enclosures  bordering  upon  the  great  canal."  Beyond  •^^^®- 
Subzee-mundee,  on  this  line  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Road, 
stretching  towards  the  Caubul  Gate  of  the  city,  were 
the  villages  of  Kishen-gunj,  Trevelyan-gunj,  Pahari- 
poor,  and  Tallewarree.  These  villages  were  amongst 
the  worst  of  the  local  evils  opposed  to  us,  for  they 
were  near  enough  to  the  walls  of  the  city  to  cover 
the  enemy  as  they  emerged  from  their  stronghold, 
and  afforded  them  a  sheltered  approach  as  they  ad- 
vanced towards  our  position  on  the  Ridge;  whilst 
they  were  too  far  off  from  our  posts  to  admit  of  our 
occupying  them  in  force.*  Looking  out  from  the 
Ridge  towards  the  centre  and  left  of  our  encampment, 
the  space  before  the  city  appeared  to  be  less  crowded. 
There  were  a  few  somewhat  imposing  buildings  irre- 
gularly scattered  about  this  expanse  of  country, 
among  which  that  known  as  Metcalfe  House  was  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous.  It  stood  on  the  banks  of 
the  river,  in  the  midst  of  an  extensive  park,  and  was 
almost  buried  in  thick  foliage.  Some  substantial  out- 
buildings in  the  park,  with  a  mound  of  some  altitude 
in  their  rear,  seemed  to  recommend  themselves  as 
serviceable  outposts  for  future  occupation.  Between 
the  Metcalfe  House  and  the  city  was  an  old  sum- 
mer-palace of  the  Delhi  Emperors,  known  as  the 
Koosya  Bagh.  It  was  then  little  more  than  one  of 
the  many  memorials  of  the  former  grandeur  of  the 
Mogul  sovereigns  with  which  the  new  capital  was 
surrounded ;  but  the  lofty  gateways,  .  the  shaded 
cloisters  and  arcades,  and  the  spacious  court-yards,  of 
which  it  was  composed,  showed,  even  in  their  decay, 

*  "  They  were  all  sttojif^  positions,  and  commandiug  site  on  the  slope  of 
and  Kishen-^nj  pre-eminently  so,  the  right  flank  of  the  Grorge." — 
from  its  massiTe  masonry  enclosures    Baird  SmUk, 


520  FIB8T  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1657.  that  it  had  once  been  a  place  of  no  common  architec* 
June.  tural  beauty.*  More  remote  from  the  river,  and 
ahnost  in  a  line  with  the  Cashmere  Gate  of  the  city, 
was  Ludlow  Castle — a  modern  mansion  of  some  im- 
portance, which  had  been  the  home  of  the  late  Com- 
missioner, Simon  Fraser,  slaughtered  in  the  Delhi 
Palaccf  It  was  erected  on  the  crest  of  a  ridge 
sloping  down  towards  the  city  walls,  with  the  dry 
bed  of  a  drainage  canal  at  its  base.  And  on  the  line 
of  the  Jumna,  between  the  Koosya  Bagh  and  the 
water-gate  of  the  city,  was  a  spacious  modem  build- 
ing of  the  English  official  tjrpe,  but  surrounded  by 
trees  and  shrubs,  looking  out  from  the  windows  of 
which  it  almost  seemed  that  the  city  walls  were  over- 
hanging the  place.  $  These  were  the  most  noticeable 
edifices,  which  attracted  the  attention  of  our  people 
on  the  Ridge,  as  posts,  which  in  the  coming  opera- 
tions might  be  turned  to  account,  whilst  in  the  inter- 
vening spaces  it  was  seen  that  there  were  gardens 
and  groves,  sometimes  intersected  by  deep  ravines. 
These  fine  breadths  of  luxuriant  foUage,  seen  from 
the  higher  ground,  were  pleasant  to  the  eye  of  the 
English  soldier;  but  it  was  too  probable  that  they 
would  prove  to  be  as  favourable  to  the  operations 
of  the  enemy  as  damaging  to  our  own.§ 

*  "  Its  interior  was  in  ruins,  but  olock-towers,  something  like  aFrench 

sufficient  indications  of  its  design  ch&teau  of  the  last  century.*' 

and  structure  remained  to  show  it  to  1  Baird  Smith, 

have  been  one  of  the  rich  examples  ^  "They  offered  innumerable  fa- 

of  florid  architecture  of  the  later  oilities  for  occupation  by  armed  men 

Moguls,  of  which  Delhi  possesses  so  of  any  de^ee  of  discipline,  and  in 

many  beautiful  illustrations ;    and  truth  so  mcompatible  were  its  fint- 

the  broad  space,  with  its  walls,  was  tures  generally  with  the  action  in 

overgrown  with  orange-trees,  and  mass  of  disciplined  troops  that  the 

limes,  and  rose-bushes,  and  other  many  combats  of  which  it  was  the 

shrubs,  all  growing  in  the  wildest  scene  were  rather  trials  of  skill  be- 

luxurianoe." — Baird  SmiiAj  Unpub*  tween  small  bodies  or  individuals 

lUked  Memoir.  than  operations  by  mass."— -fffftrrf 

+  Mr.  Russell,  in  his  "  Diary  m  Smith.     "  The   luxuriant    foliage, 

Inaia,"  speaks  of  Ludlow  Castle  as  though  picturesque  as  a  landscape- 

''a  fine  mansion,  with  turrets  and  effect,  concealed  to  a  damaging  ex- 


n 


THE  cnr.  521 

And  over  these  tracts  of  country  the  British  Com-  1867. 
mander  now  looked  at  the  great  city  itself,  and  sur-  ^^  ^^■ 
veyed  the  character  of  its  defences.  The  cirquit  of  ^' 
its  walls  extended  to  some  seven  miles,  two  of  which 
were  covered  by  the  side  which  ran  parallel  to  the 
river,  and  were  completely  defended  by  it.  The  rest 
formed  an  irregular  figure,  partly  facing  obliquely 
the  line  of  our  position  on  the  Ridge,  and  partly 
turned  towards  the  country  on  the  left.  These  land- 
ward walls,  about  twenty-four  feet  in  height,  consisted 
of  a  series  of  curtains  of  red  masonry,  terminating 
in  small  bastions,  each  capable  of  holding  from  nine 
to  twelve  guns.  Around  them  ran  a  dry  ditch,  some 
twenty-five  feet  in  breadth  and  somewhat  less  than 
twenty  feet  in  depth,  the  counterscarp  being  an 
earthen  slope  of  very  easy  descent,  "much  water- 
and- weather  worn."  There  was  something  that  might 
be  called  a  glacis,  but  to  the  eye  of  a  skilled  engineer 
it  was  scarcely  worthy  of  the  name.*  The  entrances 
to  the  city  through  these  substantial  walls  of  masonry 
were  numerous.  A  series  of  so-called  gates — ^for  the 
most  part  in  the  near  neighbourhood  of  the  several 

tent  the  movement  of  oar  enemies,  more  of  the  height  of   the  wall, 

who,  creeping  out  of  the  Cashmere  are    the    additions  and    improve- 

or  Lahore  Gates,  wonld,  under  oover  ments    of  English   engineers    of 

of  trees  and  widls  and  houses,  reach  the  present  century." — Bholonauth 

unperceived  almost  the  foot  of  our  Chunder — Travels  of  a  Hindoo.    I 

position  on  the  Ridge.    It  was  thus  rely,  however,  on  Baird  Smith's  au- 

that  our  engineers  found  it  necessary  thority  more   ponfidently  than  on 

to  lop  away  branches  and  cut  down  any  other.    [Since  this  was  written 

trees  and  bushes,  marring  the  beauty  I   have   read  in  Major  Norman's 

of  the  scene,  but  adding  to  our  se-  "  Narrative"  that  there  was  before 

ourity."— IfiS^t  Memorawium  by  an  Delhi  "an admirable  fflaois  covering 

Officer  of  Artillery,  the  wall  for  a  fiill  thircTof  its  heij^ht." 

*  Baird  Smith.    The  most  recent  As  this  is  a  high  authority  I  think  it 

writer  on  the  subject  of  the  material  right  to  auote  Baird  SmitVs  words : 

aspects  of  Delhi,  quoting  a  pro-  "  The   glacis   scarcely   merits   the 

fessional  description  of  the  fortinca-  name,  as  it  is  but  a  short  slope, 

tions,  says,  "The  'original  round  seventy  or  eighty  feet  in  breadth, 

towers  formed  into  angular  bastions,'  springing  from  the  crest  of  the  conn- 

the  *  crenelated  curtains,'  and  the  terscarp,  and  provided  with  no  spe- 

fine  glacis  covering  three^fourths  or  cial  means  of  obstruction."] 


522  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

I857r  bastions — ^were  to  be  seen  at  irregular  intervals  along 
June.  ^^Q  walls.  They  were  abutments  of  heavy  masonry, 
but  not  without  some  architectural  pretensions,  com- 
prising handsome  arched  gateways,  which  were  sur- 
mounted by  towers,  forming  stations  or  look-out  posts 
for  the  city  guards.  These  gates  were  ten  in  number 
—one  was  on  the  river  side  of  the  city;  another 
led  down  to  the  Bridge  of  Boats  from  the  extreme 
corner  of  the  King's  Palace ;  and  the  rest  were 
on  the  landward  sides.  The  gates,  known  as  the 
Cashmere  Gate,  the  Moree  Gate,  and  the  Caubul 
Gate,  were  those  most  easily  assailable  from  our 
position  on  the  Ridge.  Indeed,  it  was  only  on  one 
side  of  the  great  walled  city  that  the  English  Com- 
mander, looking  down  from  his  newly-erected  camp, 
could  hope  to  make  an  early  impression.  To  invest 
so  extensive  a  place  with  so  small  a  force  was  an  ab- 
solute impossibility.  It  was  as  much  as  we  could  do 
to  invest  this  front — ^about  one-seventh  of  the  entire 
enceinte — Cleaving  aU  the  rest  to  the  free  egress  and 
ingress  of  the  enemy. 
The  Palace.  The  Palace,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes  called,  the  Fort 
of  Delhi,  was  situated  about  the  centre  of  the  river- 
front of  the  city,  one  side  almost  overhanging  the 
waters  of  the  Jumna.  The  artist  pronounced  it  to 
be  "a  noble  mass  of  building  of  truly  beautiful  de- 
sign, vast  magnitude,  and  exquisite  detail;"  but  to 
the  eye  of  the  scientific  soldier  it  appeared  to  be 
capable  of  only  very  feeble  resistance  to  the  ap- 
pliances of  modem  warfare.  Its  defences  consisted 
chiefly  of  high  walls  and  deep  ditches,  with  "most 
imperfect  arrangements  for  flanking  or  even  direct 
fire."t    And  on  the  north-east  side,  partly  resting  on 

*  These   gates  were  known  re-    neers  had  entered  on  the  llih  of 
spectively  as  the  Baj -ghaut  and  the    May. 
Calcutta  Gates.    By  them  the  muti-       f  Baird  Smith. 


STRENGTH  OF  THE  ENEMY.  528 

the  main  stream  of  the  Jumna,  was  the  ancient  Pathan     1 857. 
Fort  of  Selimghur,  separated  from  the  Palace  by  a  nar-      J"»«- 
row  stream  of  the  river,  which  was  crossed  by  abridge 
of  masonry.     It  was,  for    defensive  purposes,  an  im- 
portant out-work,  which,  manned  with  heavy  guns, 
might  play  along  the  river-side  as  far  as  the  Metcalfe 
House,  and  enfilade  the  approaches  to  the  city  in 
that  direction.     Such   were  the  principal  material 
objects  which  presented  themselves  to  Barnard  and 
his  Staff,  when  their  telescopes  on  that  June  morning 
swept  the  country  which  lay  between  the  River  and 
the  Ridge.     And  as  they  estimated  the  worth  of  all 
these  several  posts  for  offensive  or  defensive  purposes, 
they  endeavoured  to   calculate  also  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  enemy  within  the  walls.     But  there 
was  little  more  than  dim  conjecture  to  guide  them. 
It  was  assumed  that  the  bulk  of  the  Meerut  and 
Delhi  troops — ^five  regiments  of  Infantry,  one  regi- 
ment of  Cavalry,  and  a  company  of  Native  Artillery 
— were  now  within  the  walls  of  the  city.    And  it  was 
not  less  certain  that  the  Sappers  and  Miners  from 
Meerut,  the  head-quarters  of  the  Aligurh  Regiment, 
the  bulk  of  the  regiments  from  Ferozepore,  large  de- 
tachments of  Native  Infantry  from  Muttra,  and  Irre- 
gulars from  Hansi,  Hissar,  and  Sirsa,  had  swollen 
the  stream  of  insurrection  within  the  circuit  of  Delhi. 
To  these  might  be  added  the   King's  Guards,  and, 
probably,    large  numbers  of  Native  soldiers  of  all 
branches  absent  from  their  regiments  on  furlough, 
according  to  custom  at  that  season  of  the  year.     And 
these  trained  soldiers,  it  was  known,  had  at  their 
command  immense  supplies  of  ordnance,  arms,  am- 
munition,  and  equipments,  wanting  none  of  the  ma- 
terials of  warfare  for  a  much  larger  force.    To  the 
General,  who  had  served  at  Sebastopol,  it  appeared 
that  the  strength  of  Delhi  thus  garrisoned  had  been 


524  FIBST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  greatly  underrated  by  those  who  believed  that  it  was 
^"^^       to  be  disposed  of  in  a  day.** 

And  against  this  great  walled  city  thus  garrisoned 
what  had  Barnard  brought  ?  Collectively  it  may  be 
said  that  he  had  three  thousand  European  soldiers 
and  twenty-two  field  guns.  This  European  force 
consisted  of — 

Her  Majesty's  Ninth  Lancers.  Two  squadrons  of 
the  Carabineers.  Six  companies  of  Her  Majesty's 
Sixtieth  Rifles.  Her  Majesty's  Seventy-fifth  Foot. 
The  First  Bengal  (Company's)  Fusiliers.  Six  com- 
panies of  Second  Bengal  (Company's)  Fusiliers. 
Sixteen  Horse  Artillery  guns,  manned  by  Europeans. 
Six  Horse  Battery  guns,  also  Europeans :  with  the 
Siege-train,  the  details  of  which  have  been  already 
given. 

Besides  these  there  were  two  other  bodies  of  re- 
liable troops,  as  good  as  Europeans — ^the  Groorkah 
battalion  under  Beid,  and  the  Punjab  Guide  Corps 
under  Daly.  There  were  also  a  hundred  and  fifty 
men  of  the  old  regiment  of  Sappers  and  Miners,  that 
had  mutinied  at  Meerut^  and  who  were  still  believed 
to  be  staimch.  In  Barnard's  camp,  also,  were  a  regi- 
ment of  Irregular  Native  Cavalry  (the  Ninth),  and  a 
portion  of  another  (the  Fourth),  but  the  fidelity  of 
both  was  doubtful 


June  9, 1857.     There  were  many  then  in  all  parts  of  India,  espe- 
Qcneral  Bar-  cially  among  the  more  eager-minded  civilians,  who 

nard  at  Delhi. 

*  I  have  endeavoured  in  this  de-  I  have  consulted  a  Tariety  of  antho« 

scription    of   Delhi   to     represent  rities,  but  I  am  principally  indebted 

merely  the  appearances  of  the  great  to  Colonel  Baird  Smith's  unfinished 

city  and  the  environs  as  thev  pre-  Memoir  of  the  Siege  of  DelhL    As 

sented  themselves  to  General  Bar-  this  was  written  after  he  had  been 

nard  and  his  Staff  at  the  time  of  their  enabled  to  verify  by  subsequent  in-> 

first  encamping  on  the  Bidge.  Other  spection    his   impressions    formed 

details  wil(  from  time  to  time,  be  during  the  siege,  I  confidentljr  ac- 

given  as  the  narrative  proceeds.  cepttneaocniBoyofhisdescriptionAt 


THE  QUESTION  OP  ASSAULT.  525 

believed  that  to  reach  Delhi  was  to  take  it.  Habitu-  1867. 
ated  to  success,  and  ever  prone  to  despise  our  •^"^®- 
enemies,  it  seemed  to  our  people,  in  this  conjuncture, 
to  be  a  settled  thing  that  the  force  moving  on  Delhi, 
by  whomsoever  commanded,  should,  in  the  language 
of  the  day,  "dispose  of  it,"  and  then  proceed  to 
finish  the  mutineers  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
Even  the  cool  brain  of  Lord  Canning  conceived  this 
idea  of  the  facility  of  the  enterprise.  It  was  thought 
that  the  Delhi  Field  Force  might  march  into  the 
city,  make  short  work  of  the  rebels,  the  King  and 
Koyal  Family  included;  and  then,  leaving  there  a 
small  British  garrison,  proceed  to  the  relief  of  Luck- 
now,  Cawnpore,  or  any  other  beleaguered  position  in 
that  part  of  Hindostan.  And  this  belief  in  the  pos- 
sible was  so  common,  that  it  soon  began  to  take  in 
men's  minds  the  shape  of  the  actual;  and  before 
the  month  of  June  was  half  spei^^  it  was  said  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  that  Delhi  had  been  retaken, 
and  that  the  star  of  our  fortune  was  again  on  the 
ascendant. 

Whether,  as  was  said  at  the  time,  and  is  still  confi- 
dently maintained  by  some,  if,  after  the  victory  of 
Budlee-ka-Serai,  Barnard  had  swept  on  and  pursued 
the  enemy  into  the  city,  he  might  have  driven  them 
out,  after  great  slaughter,  with  the  loss  of  all  their 
munitions  of  war,  must  ever  remain  a  mystery.  It 
was  not  attempted.  But  it  was  no  part  of  the  General's 
plan  to  sit  down  before  Delhi  and  to  commence  the 
tedious  operations  of  a  protracted  siege.  It  was  as- 
suredly not  his  temper  to  magnify  dangers  and  diffi- 
culties or  to  shrink  from  any  enterprise  that  pro- 
mised even  a  chance  of  success.  It  might  be  a 
hazardous  undertaking;  he  felt,  indeed,  in  his  in- 
most heart,  that  it  was.  But  he  knew  that  his 
countrymen  expected  him  to  do  it.    He  knew  that 


526  FIBST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.      anything  like  hesitation  at  such  a  moment  would 
June  11.    bring  down  upon  him  a  storm  of  reproach.  He  knew, 
also,  that  if  he  failed  in  the  perilous  enterprise,  he 
would   be  charged  with   rashness  and   incapacity. 
But  this  appeared  to  the  fine  old  soldier  to  be  the 
lesser  evil  of  the  two.     Right  or  wrong,  he  was  pre- 
pared to  risk  it. 
Question  of  a      With  such  thoughts  heavy  within  him,  Barnard 
eoup-ae-matn,  ^^  ^^  ^^  means  slow  to  accept  the  counsel  of  the 

young  Engineer  officers,  who  urged  upon  him  the 
expediency  of  an  immediate  attack  upon  the  city. 
Nothing  was  plainer,  than  that  delay  would  weaken 
our  chances  of  success ;  for  not  only  was  the  numeri- 
cal strength  of  the  enemy  increasing  by  fresh  acces- 
sions of  mutineers,  making  the  city  of  the  Mogul 
their  central  rallying-point,  but  there  was  strong 
probability  that  the  material  defences  of  the  place 
would  be  strengthened — especially  by  the  simple 
device  of  bricking  up  the  gateways.  That  this  had 
not  been  done  on  the  11th,  the  Engineers  ascertained ; 
and  on  that  day  they  were  prepared  with  the  plan  of 
a  coup-de-maiTiy  which  they  laid  before  the  General, 
urging  him  to  attempt  it  on  the  following  morning  at 
break  of  day.  "  We  find,"  they  said  in  the  Memo- 
randum placed  in  Barnard's  hands,  "that  the  Cau- 
bul  and  Lahore  Gates  are  not  as  yet  bricked  up — 
that  the  bridges  in  front  of  them  are  up  to  this  time 
perfect — and  that  troops  can  approach  from  camp 
under  cover  to  four  hundred  and  nine  hundred  yards 
of  these  gates  respectively.  An  entrance  can  also  be 
efiected  close  to  the  Caubul  Gate  by  the  channel 
through  which  the  canal  flows  into  the  city.  We 
recommend  a  simultaneous  attempt  to  blow  in  the 
Lahore  Gate  by  powder-bags,  and  such  one  of  the 
two  obstacles  at  the  other  point  (namely,  either  the 


THE  QUESTION  OF  ASSAULT.  527 

Caubul  Gate  or  the  Canal  grating  close  by  it),  as  l^^'- 
may  be  preferred  on  reconnaissance  by  the  oflScers  in  ^®  ' 
chargfe  of  the  explosion  party."  ..."  We  are  im- 
pressed with  the  necessity,"  they  added,  "  of  driving 
the  enemy  out  of  the  City  and  into  the  Fort  by  the 
simultaneous  advance  of  several  columns,  of  which 
two  shall  pass  along  the  ramparts  right  and  left, 
taking  possession  of  every  bastion  and  capturing 
every  gun,  whilst  the  remainder,  advancing  towards 
the  Palace  by  the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  will 
establish  posts  on  the  margin  of  the  esplanade,  which 
surrounds  the  Palace,  communicating  right  and  left 
with  the  heads  of  the  adjoining  columns.  To  this 
end  we  believe  it  essential  that  the  attack  should 
commence  at  the  peep  of  dawn.  We  propose  to  effect 
the  explosions  at  half-past  three  a.m.  ;  intimation  of 
success  to  be  immediately  followed  by  the  advance  of 
the  columns  detailed  for  each  attack,  which  will  be 
in  readiness  at  the  points  hereafter  indicated,  half  an 
hour  before  that  time." 

The  report  embodying  this  scheme  was  signed  by 
four  subaltern  oflScers — by  Wilberforce  Greathed,  by 
Maunsell  and  Chesney,  of  the  Engineers,  and  Hodson^ 
of  the  Intelligence  Department,  at  a  later  period 
known  as    "  Hodson,   of  Hodson's  Horse."*    The 

*  Hodson  himself  has  thus  re-  ant  an  enterprise  as  this,  one  on 
ferred  to  the  matter  in  one  of  the  which  the  safety  of  the  Empire  de- 
letters  published  by  his  brother :  pends.  Wilberjforce  Qreathed  is  the 
''  Yesterday  I  was  ordered  by  the  next  Senior  En^eer  to  Laughton, 
General  to  assist  Qreathed,  and  one  Chesney  is  Major  of  the  Engineer 
or  two  more  Engineers,  in  forming  a  Brigade,  and  Maunsell  commands  the 

Sroject  of  attack,  and  how  we  would  Sappers.    I  was  added  because  the 

0  to  take  Delhi.    We  drew  up  our  General  complimentarily  told  me  that 

scheme  and  gave  it  to  the  General,  he  had  the  utmost  value  for  my 

who  highly  approved,  and  wiU,  I  opinion ;  and  though  I  am  known  to 

trust,  carry  it  out;  but  how  times  counsel   vigorous   measures,   it   is 

must  be  changed  when  four  sub-  equally  well  known  I  do  not  urge 

altems  are  called  upon  to  suggest  a  others  to  do  what  I  would  not  be  i£e 

means  of  carrying  so  vitally  import-  first  to  do  myself/' 


528  FIBST  W£EKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857-  scheme  was  accepted  by  Barnard,  and  orders  were 
June  19.  issued  for  its  execution.  Soon  after  midnight  every- 
thing was  ready.  The  troops  selected  for  this  enter- 
prise  were  duly  warned.  Each  Engineer  officer  had 
his  appointed  work.  They  were  to  assemble,  under 
night  ai^.  cover  of  the  darkness  of  the  night,  between  one  and 
two  o'clock,  and  to  proceed  noiselessly  to  the  s^tes 
which  were  to  have  been  blown  in  with  powder-bags. 
But  when  the  parade  was  held,  an  important  part  of 
the  destined  force  was  missing.  A  body  of  three 
hundred  men  of  the  First  European  Fusiliers  was  to 
have  been  brought  up  by  Brigadier  Graves ;  but  at 
the  appointed  hour  there  was  no  sign  of  his  appear- 
ance ;  and  the  column,  thus  weakened  by  their  de- 
fection, was  not  strong  enough  to  do  the  work  before 
it.  It  was  an  intense  disappointment  to  many  eager 
spirite,  who,  on  that  June  morning,  beUeved  that  the 
stronghold  of  the  enemy  was  within  their  grasp.  But 
there  seemed  to  be  nothing  left  but  the  postpone- 
ment of  the  enterprise ;  so,  reluctantly,  orders  were 
given  for  the  return  of  the  storming  party  to  their 
quarters.  It  is  difficult  not  to  believe  that  Brigadier 
Graves  *  disobeyed  orders.  The  excuse  was  that  he 
misunderstood  them,  and  the  kind  heart  of  Sir 
Henry  Barnard  inclined  him  to  accept  the  excuse.* 

*  Graves  was  Brigadier  of  the  reaching  the  Plagstaff  picqnet  we 

day  on  duty.    The  orders  conyeyed  found  the  Native  ffuards  in  the  act 

to  him  were  verbal  orders,  and  he  of  relief,  and  unable  to  believe  that 

rode  to  Barnard's  tent  to  ask  for  a  it  was  intended  to  leave  that  impor- 

confirmation  of  them.    The  story  is  tant  position,  with  its  two  guns,  in 

thus  told,  and  with  every  appearance  the  charge  of  Natives  only,  he  gal- 

of  authority,  by  Mr.  Gave-Browne :  loped  down  to  the  Greneral's  tent 

"Brigadier  Graves  was  the  field-  for  further  instructions.    Here  he 

officer  of  the  day.    About  eleven  heard  that  they  were  on  the  point 

o'clock  thatnightne  received  verbal  of  assaulting,  and  that  every  ISuro- 

orders  that  the  Europeans  on  picqnet  pean  infantry  soldier  was  required, 

along  the  heights  were  to  move  off  Now  the  Brigadier  probably  knew 

without  being  relieved  for  special  more  of  the  actual  strength  of  Delhi 

duty ;  with  a  vague  hint  that  anight-  than  any  other  soldier  in  the  force ; 

assault  was  in  contemplation.    On  — he  had  commanded  the  brigade  at 


S£GOND  PROJECT  OF  ASSAULT.  529 

But  the  project  of  a  surprise,  though  thus  delayed,      1857. 
was  not  abandoned.      Wilberforce   Greathed  went      ^^®- 
hopefully  to  work,  revising  his  scheme,  and  never  Revised 
ceasing  to  urge  at  Head-Quarters  the  necessity  of  a  J^^^  ^^ 
night  attack.     The  brief  delay  had  at  least  one  ad- 
vantage.    The  moon  was  waning,  and  the  cover  of 
darkness  was  much  needed  for  such  an  enterprise. 
Every  day  had  made  Barnard  more  and  more  sensible 
of  the  underrated  strength  of  the  great  city  which  lay 
before  him.  But  he  still  clung  to  the  idea  of  a  sudden 
rush,  and  either  a  grand  success  or  a  crippling  failure. 
"  The  place  is  so  strong,"  he  wrote  to  Lord  Canning     Jane  13. 
on  the  13th  of  June,  "  and  my  means  so  inadequate, 
that  assault  or  regular  approach  were  equally  difficult 
— I  may  say  impossible ;  and  I  have  nothing  left  but 
to  place  all  on  the  hazard  of  a  die  and  attempt  a 
coup-de-mairij  which  I  purpose  to  do.     If  successful, 
all  will  be  well.     But  reverse  will  be  fatal,  for  I  can 
have  no  reserve  on  which  to  retire.     But,  assuredly, 
you  all  greatly  under-estimated  the   difficulties  of 
Delhi.     They  have  twenty-four-pounders  on  every 
gate  and  flank  bastion  ;  and  their  practice  is  excellent 
— ^beats  ours  five  to  one.     We  have  got  six  heavy 
guns  in  position,  but  do  not  silence  theirs,  and  I 

the  time  of  the  outbreak  ;  and  when  the  walls,  and  the  adyancmg  columns 

asked  his  opinion  as  to  the  chance  were  recalled  into  camp."     Major 

of  success,  ne   replied,  '  You  maj  Keid  expresses  his  opinion  that  the 

certainly  take  the  city  by  surprise.  Brigadier  was    "  perfectly  justified 

but  whether  you  are  strong  enough  in  uaving   declined   to    allow    his 

to  hold  it  is  another  matter.'    Tbis  picquets  to  be  withdrawn  without 

made  the  General  falter  in  his  plans,  written  orders"  (Reid  himself  had 

Some  of  the  young  officers  who  were  received  written  orders,  which  he 

to  take  a  leading  part  now  came  iu  obeyed),  and  decUres  that  the  mis- 

and  found  him  wavering.    The  Bri-  chance  was  a  fortunate  event.    Ma- 

gadier's  remark  had  so  shaken  his  jor  Norman  says  that  "there  are 

purpose  that,  in  spite  of  entreaty  few  who  do  not  now  feel  that  the 

and  remonstrance,  he  withdrew  the  accident  which  hindered  this  attempt 

consent  which,  if  truth  be  told,  he  was  one  of  those  happy  interposi- 

had  never  very  heartily  given  to  the  tions  in  our  behalf  of  which  we  had 

Sroject,  and  the  assault  was  aban-  such  numbers  to  be  thankful  for." 
oned.    The  Rifles,  already  under 

VOL.  n.  2  m 


530  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.      really  see  nothing  for  it  but  a  determined  rush ;  and 
June  14.     ti^ig^  please  God,  you  will  hear  of  as  successful" 

About  this  time,  Barnard  had  under  consideration 
the  revised  scheme  of  Wilberforce  Greathed  for  an 
attack  on  Delhi,  "by  means  of  simultaneous  explo- 
sions of  powder -bags  at  the  Caubul  and  Lahore 
Gates,  and  of  a  charge  against  the  Cashmere  Gate,  to 
be  fired  at  such  time  as  the  attention  of  the  defenders 
of  that  enclosure  may  be  engaged  by  the  first-men- 
tioned operations."    Maunsell  and  Hodson  were  to 
conduct  one  explosion    party,   and   Greathed    and 
McNeill  the  other.     On  the  sound  of  the  bugle,  the 
appointed  storming    parties  were  to   advance  and 
stream  through  the  openings  thus  effected.     Every 
precaution  was  taken  in  the  event  of  failure  at  any 
point,  and  precise  instructions  laid  down  as  to  the 
course  to  be  pursued  by  each  column  of  attack  on 
the    occurrence   of   any  possible  contingency,   and 
nothing  was  wanted  to  show,  not  only  by  written 
description,  but  also  by  plans  and  charts,  what  each 
detail  of  the  force  was  to  do  after  entrance  had  been 
effected. 
Conncils  of        This  project,  signed  by  Wilberforce  Greathed,  was 
dated  June  14.     On  the  following  day  a  Council  of 
War  was  held,  and  the  scheme  was  considered.     It 
was  summoned  by  General  Reed,  who  on  Anson's 
death  had  come  down  from  Rawul-Pindee,  to  assume 
as  senior  officer  in  the  Presidency  the  Provisional 
Command  in  Chief  of  the  Army,*  and  it  was  held 

*  He  had  joined  the  army  about  that  time  his  health  began  to  im- 
the  time  of  its  arrival  at  Delni ;  but  prove,  and  he  did  good  service  by 
he  was  prostrated  by  sickness,  un-  keeping  the  Chief  Commissioner  in- 
able  to  mount  a  horse,  and  quite  formed  of  the  state  of  affairs  at 
incompetent  to  take  any  active  part  Delhi.  The  letters  which  the  Ge- 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  siege.  It  neral  then  wrote  were  full  of  in- 
was  not  before  the  llth  that  he  was  terestinj^  and  important  details,  and 
enabled  to  sit  up  and  write  a  letter  are  distinguished  oy  much  dear  good 
to  Sir  John  Lawrence.    But  from  sense. 


war. 


COUNCIL  OF  WAR.  531 

in  his  tent.  Sir  Henry  Barnard,  Brigadier  Wilson,  1857. 
Hervey  Greathed,  and  the  chief  Engineer  officers,  J^^^^e  !*• 
were  present.  The  old  adage  that  a  Council  of  War 
never  fights  was  not  falsified  in  this  case.  It  was  set 
forth  very  strongly  that  the  project  of  the  Engineers 
involved  the  emplo^jnnent  of  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
Delhi  Field  Force ;  that  there  would  be  no  reserve 
to  fall  back  upon  in  the  event  of  failure ;  and  that, 
in  the  event  of  success,  the  enemy,  streaming  out  of 
Delhi,  might  attack  our  camp,  seize  our  guns,  and 
otherwise  inflict  grievous  injury  upon  us.  The  mili- 
tary authorities  were  all  in  favour  of  delay,  until 
such  time  as  a  reinforcement  of  at  least  a  thousand 
men  might  arrive.  The  Civilian  who  appeared  in 
Council  as  the  representative  of  the  Government  of 
the  North-Westem  Provinces  was  opposed  to  this 
delay.  Very  forcibly  Hervey  Greathed  urged  that  Jiewsof 
"  the  delay  of  a  fortnight  would  disappoint  expecta-  G^SSed. 
tions,  protract  the  disorders  with  which  the  country 
is  afflicted,  increase  the  disafifection  known  to  exist 
among  the  Mahomedan  population  in  the  Bombay 
Presidency,  and  cause  distrust  on  the  part  of  our 
Native  allies ;"  but  he  added  that  he  could  not  take 
upon  himself  to  say  that  the  delay  would  lead  the 
Native  States  actually,  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to 
the  British  Government,  or  endanger  the  safety  of 
Cawnpore  and  Oude,  and  of  the  country  to  the  east- 
w^ard.  He  assumed  that  British  relations  with  the 
Native  States  were  too  close  to  be  so  easily  dissolved, 
and  that  the  concentration  of  English  troops  at 
Cawnpore  would  insure  the  safety  of  the  districts  to 
which  allusion  had  been  made.  Wilberforce  Great- 
hed, ever  ready  for  an  immediate  attack  on  the 
blood-stained  city,  pleaded  that  it  would  be  easy  to 
revise  the  scheme,  so  as  to  leave  a  larger  reserve  in 

2m2 


532  FIBST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  camp.  And,  finally,  it  was  agreed  to  defer  the 
June  16.  decision  to  the  following  day. 
The  Council  On  the  16th  of  June,  therefore,  the  Council  again 
reassembled,  assembled.  The  military  leaders  had  thought  over 
the  grave  question  before  them.  The  feeling  at  the 
first  consultation  had  been  that,  on  political  grounds, 
it  would  be  desirable  to  attack  the  city  immediately 
on  the  arrival  of  the  first  reinforcements.  But  even 
this  much  of  forwardness  waned  on  the  evening  of 
the  15th,  and  the  Commandant  of  Artillery,  who  had 
been  moved  by  Hervey  Greathed's  arguments  at  the 
first  Council,  had  fallen  back  upon  his  military  expe- 
rience, and  had  recorded  a  Memorandum,  which  had 
in  no  small  measure  influenced  Barnard.*  For  the 
General  was  a  man  too  little  self-reliant  for  his  posi- 
tion— ^too  prone  to  be  swayed  hither  and  thither  by 
the  gusts  of  other  men's  recorded  or  spoken  opinions. 
When,  therefore,  on  the  16th  of  June,  the  Council 
of  War  again  met,  and  all  the  military  members  of 
Council,  except  Wilberforce  Greathed,  were  opposed 
to  immediate  operations,  his  resolution  yielded  to  the 
array  of  authority  before  him,  and  again  he  began 

*  Bamard  recorded  a  note  on  tlie  camp,  and  enable  me  to  sustain  the 
15th,  in  which  he  said  that  circum-  position  in  the  case  of  any  reverse 
stances  were  altered ''by  the factthat  attending  the  attempt/'  But  he 
the  Chief  Officer  of  Artillery  had  re-  added  that  political  considerations  of 
presented  that  the  means  at  his  com-  moment  had  been  so  strongly  urged 
mand  were  inadequate  to  silencing  upon  him,  that,  although  reinforce- 
the  enemy's  guns  on  the  walls,  so  ments  were  shortly  expected,  and,  in 
necessary  before  any  approach  could  a  military  noint  of  view,  there  could 
be  made,"  and  that  the  ''Chief  £n-  be  no  douotthat  it  would  be  expe- 
gineer  represented  that,  as  he  had  dient  to  wait  for  them,  he  must 
not  the  means  of  undertoking  any  "  submit  to  those  intrusted  with  the 
necessary  siege  operations,  the  only  political  interests  to  determine  whe- 
practicable  mode  of  attack  rested  on  ther  to  wait  is  less  hazardous  than  to 
a  eoup-de-main,  to  effect  which,  and  incur  the  risk  of  failure.''  He  halted, 
to  occupy  so  large  an  area  as  the  indeed,  between  two  opinions;  but, 
city  of  belhi,  required  the  employ-  he  added,  "  I  am  ready  to  organise 
ment  of  so  much  of  the  force  under  the  attack  to-night,  if  deemed  de- 
my command  as  to  preyent  my  leay-  sirable." 
ing  a  sufficient  number  to  gmurd  my 


COUNCIL  OF  WAB.  533 

to  intrench  himself  behind  military  principles  and      1857. 
precedents.  -^^^  ^^• 

At  that  Council,  on  the  16th  of  June,  Archdale  gP.»^JjJ^^«^ 
Wilson  put  in,  as  the  expression  of  his  matured  judg-  wUmil 
ment  on  the  subject,  the  paper  which  he  had  written 
on  the  day  before,  and  which  was  now  read  aloud : 
"  Taking  into  consideration  the  large  extent  of  the 
town  to  be  attacked,"  it  said,  "  a  full  mile  in  breadth, 
nearly  two  miles  in  length  from  the  Cashmere  to  the 
Delhi  Gate,  I  must  own  that  I  dread  success,  on 
entering  the  town,  almost  as  much  as  failure.  Our 
small  force,  two  thousand  bayonets,  will  be  lost  in 
such  an  extent  of  town;  and  the  insurgents  have 
shown,  by  their  constant  and  determined  attacks 
upon  our  position,  how  well  they  can  and  will  fight 
from  behind  cover,  such  as  they  will  have  in  street- 
fighting  in  the-  city,  when  every  man  will  almost 
be  on  a  par  with  our  Europeans.  With  the  large 
number  of  heavy  ordnance  they  have  mounted  on 
the  walls  (from  thirty  to  forty  pieces),  we  must  also 
expect  heavy  loss  during  the  assault  of  the  gateways, 
as  their  grape-shot  will  command  the  ground  from 
seven  hundred  or  eight  hundred  yards  round  the 
walls.  I  gave  my  vote  for  the  assault,  on  the  arrival 
of  our  first  reinforcements,  solely  on  the  political 
grounds  set  forth  by  Mr.  Greathed,  feeling,  at  the 
same  time,  that,  as  a  military  measure,  it  was  a  most 
desperate  and  unsafe  one.  It  has,  however,  since 
struck  me  that,  even  in  a  political  point  of  view,  it 
would  be  wiser  to  hold  our  own  position  and  wait  for 
the  reinforcements  from  Lahore,  when  we  could  insure 
success  in  our  attack.  So  long  as  we  hold  this  posi- 
tion we  keep  the  whole  of  the  insurgents  in  and 
round  Delhi.  On  taking  the  city,  they  will  naturally 
form  into  large  bodies  and  go  through  the  country, 


534  FIBST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  plundering  in  every  direction.  These  bodies  should 
June  16.  \^Q  immediately  followed  by  movable  brigades,  and 
cut  up  whenever  come  up  with.  It  would  be  im- 
possible, with  the  small  force  we  now  have,  to  leave 
a  sufficient  force  for  the  protection  of  Delhi,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  send  out  such  brigades  as  will  be 
required.  It  appears  to  me  a  question  of  time  only. 
The  country  all  round,  it  is  true,  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  insurgents  and  other  plunderers,  and  must 
remain  so  until  we  can  clear  the  country  by  our 
brigades.  Mr.  Greathed  also  contemplates  the  pro- 
bability of  the  Native  chiefe,  who  are  now  favour- 
able to  us,  becoming  lukewarm  in  our  cause;  but 
what  have  they  yet  done  for  us  ?  The  Gwalior  and 
Bhurtpore  forces  have  long  ago  left  us  to  our  re- 
sources ;  and,  from  what  I  hear,  little  is  to  be  ex- 
pected from  the  Jeypoor  Contingent,  until  they  are 
quite  satisfied  of  our  complete  success  over  the  in- 
surgents." 
Opinion  of         General  Reed  then  declared  his  opinion  at  some 

Ciciicrfti  -  .  XT         •■11*  1  «  1 

Eeed.  length.*     He  said  that  "  our  success  on  the  8th  had 

placed  us  in  a  favourable  position,  and  one  which  we 
could  hold  for  any  time.  It,  therefore,  became  a 
question  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to  await  the 
arrival  of  the  strong  reinforcements  that  were  on 
their  way  to  join  us — the  rear  guard  of  which  must 
have  reached  Loodhianah,  so  that  by  ordinary  marches 
they  ought  all  to  be  assembled  here  in  fifteen  days — 
than  to  risk  an  attack  on  the  place  at  once,  which 
would  require  every  available  bayonet  of  our  force  to 
effect,  leaviQg  no  reserve,  except  Cavalry  and  heavy 
guns  in  position,  thus  risking  the  safety  of  our  camp, 

*  The  substance  of  what  follows  letter  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  and  it 

in  the  text  was  stated  orally  before  was  read  out  at  the  meeting  on  the 

the  Council  of  the  15th.    General  following  day. 
Eeed  afterwards  embodied  it  in  a 


OPINIONS  OF  GENERAL  REED.  535 

stores,  and  magazines,  which  would  be  exposed  to  1857. 
the  incursion  of  many  bodies  of  mutineers  which  we  ^^^  ^^• 
knew  were  encamped  outside  the  walls  of  Delhi,  and 
would  take  the  opportunity  of  looting  our  camp, 
while  our  troops  were  attacking  the  city.  There 
can  be  no  question,"  he  continued,  "  of  the  propriety 
of  waiting,  in  a  militaiy  point  of  view.  In  that 
all  agree.  We  have,  then,  to  look  upon  it  in  a  poli- 
tical aspect,  and  to  inquire  whether,  in  that  sense,  so 
great  a  risk  is  to  be  run  as  an  immediate  assault 
would  entaU.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  expedi- 
tion in  terminating  this  state  of  affairs — which  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  capture  of  Delhi  would  accom- 
plish— ^is  a  great  consideration ;  but  the  possibility  of 
failure,  either  total  or  partial,  in  that  operation  should 
be  averted.  This  can  only  be  done  by  having  in 
hand  such  a  force  as  will  insure  success.  That  force, 
it  is  believed,  will  be  assembled  here  in  the  course 
of  fifteen  days.  In  the  mean  time,  by  holding  this 
position,  we  keep  the  chief  body  of  the  mutineers 
concentrated  in  and  about  Delhi.  They  know  they 
cannot  dislodge  us,  and  that  strong  reinforcements 
are  on  their  way  to  join  us,  while  they  are  prevented 
from  dispersing  and  marauding  the  countrj'^,  which 
would  be  the  effect  of  a  successful  attack  upon  Delhi 
at  any  time.  Now  we  have  not  the  means  of  sending 
out  detachments  to  pursue  them;  then  we  should 
have  ample  means,  and  movable  columns  would  be 
organised  without  delay  to  drive  out  the  mutineers, 
and  re-establish  order  in  the  neighbouring  places 
which  have  suffered.  It  is  not  apparent,  therefore, 
that  the  delay  contem[iated  can  have  an  effect,  politi- 
cally,' sufficiently  injurious  to  warrant  the  certainty 
of  great  loss  and  risk  of  possible  failure,  than  which 
nothing  could  be  more  disastrous  in  its  consequences. 


536  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1657.      We  have  suflFered  no  diminution  of  prestige  since  we 
June  16.     a^yanced  on  Delhi ;  all  our  objects  have  been  accom- 
plished, in  spite  of  great  obstacles,  by  the  well-known 
redoubtable  bravery   of  our  troops,  the  mutineers 
driven  from  their  strong  positions,  and  their  guns 
taken.     Their  sorties  in  force  have  since  been   re- 
pulsed with  great  loss  to  them,  and  in  no  one  in- 
stance have  they  succeeded  in  gaining  any,  even  the 
smallest,    advantage.     Their  only  eflfective   defence 
lies  in  their  walls,  which,  instead  of  being  weak  and 
unable  to  support  the  weight  and  resist  the  concus- 
sion  of  guns, .  are    strong   (recently  repaired    and 
strengthened  by  us),  capable  of  sustaining  a  nume- 
rous   and    heavy    artillery,   with  which    all    their 
bastions   are   mounted.     As  neither   our  time  nor 
material  would  admit  of  a  regular  siege,  an  assault 
or  storm  can  only  be  resorted  to ;  but  the  success 
of  this  must  be  insured.     A  contrary  event  would 
endanger  the  Empire.     Another  reason  has  been 
alleged  for  an  immediate  attack— the   approaching 
rains;  but  they  are  seldom  heavy  till  the  ensuiug 
month,  and  the  sickness  does  not  ensue  till  the  month 
after.     Every  precaution  must,  of  course,  be  taken 
in  cutting  drains  in  camp  previously,  to  carry  off 
the  water,  for  the  wounded  (there  are,  I  am  happy 
to  say,  few  sick) ;  there  are  good  pucka  buildings. 
Native  hospitals,  in  the  Lines  which  we  occupy,  so 
that  no  inconvenience  need  be  expected  as  far  as 
they  are  concerned,  nor  do  I  anticipate  any  for  the 
Force.    There  has  been   no   ^Chota  Bursaut'  yet, 
which  generally  precedes  the  regular  rains,  and  is 
succeeded  by  some  fine  weather  before  these  regularly 
set  in.     The  necessity  of  having  as  large  a  force  as 
can  be  made  available  is  also  apparent  in  the  size 
of  Delhi,  the  circumference  of  which  is  six  or  seveu 


._j 


ABANDONMENT  OF  THE  ASSAULT.  587 

miles.  Having  accomplished  a  lodgment,  a  strong  .1857. 
force  would  be  required  to  clear  the  ramparts  and  •^w^^ol^- 
occupy  the  town,  in  which  they  may  expect  to  be 
opposed  at  every  house  and  wall  behind  which  an 
insurgent  can  find  room,  under  which  it  is  known 
they  can  defend  themselves  with  vigour.  All  things 
considered,"  concluded  the  General,  "it  is  my  opi- 
nion that  the  military  reasons  for  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  a  suflScient  force  to  insure  success  far  out- 
weigh any  political  inconvenience  that  might  arise, 
and  which  would  all  be  remedied  by  certain  success 
in  the  end." 

The  result  of  these  decided  expressions  of  opinion  Abandon- 
on  the  part  of  the  principal  military  officers  at  Delhi  ^"^^f  ^® 
was  that  again  the  project  of  a  coup-de-main  was  aban- 
doned. In  the  face  of  such  opinions,  Barnard  did 
not  consider  that  he  would  be  justified  in  incurring 
the  serious  risks  so  emphatically  dwelt  upon  by 
Wilson  and  Reid.  The  expression  of  his  personal 
views  is  on  record.  Writing  on  the  18th  to  Sir 
John  Lawrence,  he  said  :  "  I  confess  that,  urged  on  jane  18. 
by  the  political  adviser  acting  with  me,  I  had  con- 
sented to  a  coup-de-main  which  would  have  en- 
tailed all  the  above  considerations;  accident  alone 
prevented  it;  it  may  be  the  interposition  of  Provi- 
dence. From  what  I  can  hear,  and  from  the  opinion 
of  others  whom  it  became  my  duty  to  consult,  I  am 
convinced  that  success  would  have  been  as  fatal  as 
failure.  A  force  of  two  thousand  bayonets,  spread 
over  a  city  of  the  magnitude  of  Delhi,  would  have 
been  lost  as  a  military  body,  and,  with  the  treachery 
^  that  surrounds  us,  what  would  have  become  of  my 
materiel?  Be  sure  that  I  have  been  guided  by 
military  rule,  and  that  it  required  moral  courage  to 
face  the  cry  that  will  be  raised  against  our  inactivity 


538  FIEST  WEEKS  OF  THE  8IE6E. 

1857.  before  Delhi ;  I  can  but  act  for  the  best,  and  wait 
June  18.  ^jij  favourable  opportunity  for  striking  the  blow. 
The  great  point  raised  by  Mr.  Greathed  was  the 
security  of  the  Doab,  and  the  desirableness  of  sending 
troops  to  Aligurh  from  Delhi ;  but  were  I .  in  the 
city  now  I  could  not  do  this.  The  Castle  and  Se- 
limgurh  yet  remain  before  me,  and  to  hold  the  city 
and  attack  these  with  a  force  under  two  thousand 
would  prevent  my  detaching  any  there.  The  fact  is, 
Delhi,  bristling  with  lances,  and  garrisoned  by  men 
who,  however  contemptible  in  the  open,  have  sagacity 
behind  stone  walls  and  some  knowledge  of  the  use  of 
heavy  ordnance — ^for  hitherto  they  beat  us  in  the 
precision  of  their  fire — ^is  not  to  be  taken  by  the  force 
from  UmbaUah,  with  two  troops  of  six-pounders ;  and 
its  present  strength  has  been  greatly  under-estimated. 
We  have  fought  one  action  at  Budlee-ka-Serai,  where, 
so  long  as  their  guns  remained  to  them,  they  appeared 
formidable.  We  have  been  subject  to  frequent  at- 
tacks ever  since,  each  made  with  some  spirit,  but  re- 
pulsed with  heavy  loss,  and  having  now  the  position 
taken  up  from  which  we  must  eventually  reduce  the 
place.  It  strikes  me  the  best  policy  is  to  view  it  in 
its  best  light;  it  is  a  difficult  task,  and  not  to  be 
accomplished  without  a  sufficient  force.  Once  in  the 
town,  the  game  is  over  if  we  can  hold  it,  and  imme- 
diately a  force  will  be  available  for  any  purpose  Mr. 
Colvin  requires.  Delay  is  vexatious,  and  losing  men 
daily  in  th^se  attacks  is  heart-breaking.  I  am  well, 
but  much  harassed.  I  do  assure  you,  the  more  I 
think  of  it,  the  more  I  rejoice  in  the  hap-hazard 
experiment  failing.  It  is  some  comfort  to  see  that 
you  agree ;  I  hope  others  will  now  see  I  had  more 
to  do  than  to  walk  into  Delhi."* 

*  To  this  letter  Barnard  added  a  postscript^  sajing :  "  We  gaye  them 


NEW  PROJECTS  OF  ATTACK.  539 

But  Wiberforce  Greathed  still  did  not  despair  of  1857. 
turning  the  hearts  of  the  military  chiefs  towards  his  •'""• 
schemes  of  energetic  action.  Before  a  week  had 
passed,  he  had  submitted  to  Barnard  another  memo- . 
randum,  urging  that  since  the  date  of  the  last  Council 
the  mutineers  had  been  reinforced  by  the  Nusserabad 
Brigade  of  two  regiments  and  six  guns,  and  the 
Jullundhur  force  of  three  regiments  with  one  gun ; 
that  information  had  beon  received  of  the  near  ap- 
proach to  join  the  insurgents  of  the  revolted  Bareilly 
force,  six  regiments  .of  Infantry  with  eight  guns,  and 
a  regiment  of  Cavahy;  and  that,  moreover,  there 
were  tidings  of  the  Gwalior  Contingent,  of  seven 
regiments  of  Infantry,  three  of  Cavalry,  and  three 
batteries  of  Artillery,  with  a  siege-train  and  magazine, 
having  declared  for  the  King  of  Delhi ;  and  that  in 
all  human  probability  Agra  would  be  besieged  by  the 
latter  force — perhaps,  indeed,  already  waj3  in  immi- 
nent peril.  In  such  circumstances  it  had  become  a 
matter  of  infinite  importance  that  a  portion  of  the 
Delhi  force  should  be  detached  to  the  relief  of  the 
former  city.  "  But  this  is  possible,"  he  added,  "  only 
after  Delhi  is  in  our  possession,  and  the  mutineers' 
force  dispersed.  I  respectfully  submit,  therefore,  that 
a  political  necessity  for  pressing  the  attack  of  Delhi  at 

a  {i^reat  beating  jestcrdaj,  with  heavy  hot  is  it,  that,  until  we  approach  ours 

lo88.    Tliej  had  attempted  to  take  nearer,  we  shall  do  no  good;  and 

up  a  position,  seize  [                ^  and  such  is  the  state  of  the  service,  that 

Kislien-gunj,  and  Trevelyan-gunj  and  with  all  the  bother  of  getting  the 

Paharipoor ;  with  two  small  columns  siege-train,  my  commanding  Artillery 

under  Major  Tombs,  B.A.,  and  Major  Officer  can  only  man  six  guns,  and 

Beid,  Sirmoor  Battalion,  we  not  only  my  Engineer  has  not  a  sand-bag.  It 

dislodged  them,  but  drove  them  out  is  really  too  distressing.    I  never 

of  the  serai  above,   and,  in  fact,  contemplated   making    regular  ap- 

drove  all  before  us  on  this  side  of  proaches,  but  I  did  expect  my  guns 

the  Force.    It  has  had  a  very  chill-  to  silence  those  broaght  against  roe. 

ing  effect,  we  hear,  and  thfir  spirits  But  to  do  this  they  must  be  got 

are  much  disturbed.    But  their  fire  nearer.    Delay  concentrates  the  in- 

from  the  north  b  as  true  as  ever ;  so  surgents." 


1  I 


540  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  almost  any  risk  has  arisen,  and  upon  this  ground  I 
Jmie.  venture  to  submit  a  project  of  immediate  attack  con- 
curred in  by  the  officers  who  were  commissioned  to 
prepare  the  first  project."  But  Barnard  was  not  to 
be  induced  to  swerve  from  the  resolution  formed  bv 
the  Council  of  War.  So,  again,  the  younger  and 
more  eager  spirits  of  the  British  camp  were  disap- 
pointed; and  our  troops  fell  back  upon  their  old 
daily  business  of  repulsing  the  enemy's  sorties. 
Work  in  There  was  indeed,  whilst  this  great  design  of  the 

^"^'  coup -de -main  was    under    consideration    at    Head- 

Quarters,  no  lack  of  work  in  camp,  and  no  lack  of 
excitement.  There  were  real  alarms  and  false  alarms, 
and  officers  and  men  on  the  Ridge  were  compelled  to 
be  constantly  on  the  alert.  Greatly  outmatched  as 
w^e  were  in  Artillery,  we  could  make  little  or  no 
impression  upon  the  batteries  of  the  enemy  or  the 
walls  of  Delhi,  and  were,  in  truth,  except  when  our 
Horse  Artillery  guns  were  brought  into  close  quarters, 
only  wasting  our  ammunition.  The  Sepoys,  who 
knew  our » habits  but  too  well,  were  wont  to  come 
out  against  us  in  the  midst  of  the  fiercest  mid-day 
heats.  In  the  climate  they  had  an  ally,  to  which 
they  felt  that  they  could  trust ;  and  many  of  our  best 
and  bravest  were  struck  down,  or  went  about  shiver- 
ing with  ague  or  confused  by  quinine.  The  days 
were  very  hot  and  the  nights  were  unwontedly  cold ; 
and  these  severe  alternations  are  ever  trying  in  the 
extreme  to  the  European  constitution.  But  nothing 
could  abate  the  elastic  cheerfulness  and  hopeful  spirit 
of  our  people.  Some  of  our  younger  officers  then 
ripened  into  heroism  of  the  highest  order,  and  all 
displayed  a  constant  courage  in  action,  and  an  en- 
during fortitude  in  sufiering,  unsurpassed  in  the  mili- 
tary annab  of  any  country  or  any  time.  Day  by  day 


THE  GAMP  AND  THE  GARRISON.         541 

sad  tidings  came  in  of  new  mutinies  and  new  mas-  1857. 
sacres,  and  ever  and  anon  fresh  reinforcements  of  •^^^• 
rebel  regiments  marched  into  Delhi  to  the  sound  of 
band-instruments  playing  our  well-known  English 
tunes.  But  the  dominant  feeling  ever  was,  as  these 
regiments  arrived,  that  it  was  better  for  our  country- 
men and  our  country  that  they  should  be  in  the 
doomed  city  of  the  Mogul  than  they  should  be  scat- 
tered about  the  provinces,  assailing  weak  garrisons  or 
defenceless  cantonments,  for,  please  God,  the  Delhi 
Field  Force  could  not  only  hold  its  own,  but,  on  some 
not  very  remote  day,  make  short  work  of  the  Delhi 
rebels.  How  that  was  best  to  be  done  there  were 
eager  discussions  in  camp,  leading  to  small  results 
and  no  convictions.  It  must  be  admitted  that  there 
were  many  who  shook  their  heads  at  the  project  of 
the  coup-de-main^  of  which  Greathed  and  Hodson  had 
been  the  eager  authors  and  the  persistent  exponents. 
It  was  said  that,  although  the  Force  might  have  made 
its  way  into  Delhi,  only  a  small  part  of  it  would  have 
ever  made  its  way  out.  And  yet  as  weeks  passed 
and  no  change  came  over  the  position  of  the  Army 
before  Delhi,  men  began  to  chafe  under  the  restraints 
which  had  held  them  back.  They  felt  that,  in  aU 
parts  of  India,  Englishmen  were  asking  each  other 
why  Delhi  was  not  taken ;  and  it  was  painful  to  those 
gallant  souls  to  think  that  their  countrymen  had  ex- 
pected of  them  that  which  they  had  not  done. 

Ever  active  among  the  active  was  Sir  Henry 
Barnard.  There  was  not  an  officer  in  camp,  in  the 
flower  of  his  youth,  who,  all  through  this  fiery  month 
of  June,  worked  day  and  night  with  such  ceaseless 
energy  as  the  Commander  of  the  Delhi  Field  Force. 
He  was  not  inured  to  the  climate  by  long  acquaint- 
ance with  it.     He  had  arrived  in  India  at  that  very 


542  FQtST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.       period  of  life  at  which  the  constitution  can  least 
June.       reconcile  itself  to  such  extreme  changes.     But  no- 
thing could  now  induce  him  to  spare  himself.     All 
dAy  long  he  was  abroad  in  the  great  glare  of  the 
summer  sun,  with  the  hot  wind  in  his  face ;  and  it  was 
often  observed  of  him  that  he  never  slept.   Men  have 
ere  now  been  carried  safely  through  the  most  trying 
conjunctures  by  the  possession  of  a  power  enjoyed  by 
many  of  the  world's  greatest  men — ^a  power  of  sleep- 
ing and  waking  at  will.     But  sleep  had  forsaken 
Barnard,  and  therefore  the  climate  and  the  work 
were  grievously  assailing  him.     Not  only  was  there 
strong  within  him,  amidst  all  perplexities,  an  eager, 
dominant  desire  to  do  his  duty  to  the  country,  for 
the  sake  of  which  he  would   at  any  moment  have 
gone  gladly  to  his  death,  but  a  tender  concern  for  the 
welfare  of  all  who  were  under  his  command,  which 
kept  him  unceasingly  in  a  state  of  unrest,  passing 
from  post  to  post  by  day  and  by  night,  now  visiting 
a  battery  or  directing  a  charge,  and  now  gliding  into 
an  officer's  hut,  and  seeing  that  he  was  sufficiently 
covered  to  resist  the  cold  night  air,  as  he  lay  asleep 
on  his  bed.     He  impressed  all  men  with  the  belief 
that  he  was  a  good  and  gallant  soldier,  alid  the 
kindliest-hearted,  truest  gentleman  who  ever  took  a 
comrade  by  the  hand. 

But  although  he  bore  himself  thus  bravely  before 
men,  the  inward  care  was  wearing  out  his  life.  Never 
since  War  began,  was  General  in  command  of  an 
Army  surrounded  by  so  many  discouragements  and 
distresses.  For  in  truth  there  was  no  possibility  pf 
disguising  the  fact  that  instead  of  besieging  Delhi,  he 
was  himself  the  besieged.  The  inadequacy  of  his  means 
of  regular  attack  became  every  day  more  apparent. 
He  had  planted  strong  picquets  with  guns  at  some  of 


THE  METCALFE  HOUSE.  543 

the  principal  outposts  of  Avhich  I  have  spoken ;  and  1857. 
the  enemy  were  continually  streaming  out  to  attack  •'^'*°®- 
them.  At  Hindoo  Rao's  house,  at  the  Flagstaff 
Tower,  and  at  the  Observatory,  detachments  of  In- 
fantry, supported  by  heavy  guns,  were  planted  from 
the  commencement  of  our  operations.  The  Metcalfe  The  Metcalfe 
House  would  also  have  been  garrisoned  from  the 
beginning,  but  for  its  distance  from  our  supports  and 
the  paucity  of  troops  at  our  disposal.  The  occupation 
of  these  buildings  by  the  enemy  was  among  the  first 
effects  of  their  offensive  activity.  It  is  believed  that 
there  was  a  peculiar  feeling  of  animosity  against  the 
Feringhees  in  connexion  with  this  edifice.  It  was 
said  to  have  been  erected  on  land  formerly  the  site  of 
a  Goojur  village ;  and  that  the  Goojurs  had  flown 
upon  it,  eager  for  its  demolition  and  resolute  to  re- 
cover their  ancient  holdings,  on  the  first  outbreak  of 
the  mutiny. ♦  And  there  is  another  story  still  more 
significant.  The  building  was  originally  the  tomb 
of  one  of  the  foster-brothers  of  the  Emperor  Akbar. 
It  had  been  converted  into  a  residence  by  an  English 
civilian,  who  was  murdered,  and  the  act  of  profana- 
tion had  been  vainly  appealed  against  to  another 
civilian,  who  afterwards  shared  the  same  fate.t  What- 
soever  effect  these  circumstances  may  have  had  upon 

*  Caye-Browne's   "  Panjab    and  the  people,  and  threw  it  carelessly  on 

Delhi  in  1857."  one  side  against  the  vail,  where  it 

t  Sir  William  Sleeman  says :  "The  now  lies.    The  people  appealed  in 

magnificent  tomb  of  freestone  cover-  vain,  it  is  said,  to  Mr.  Fraser,  ithe 

ins(  the  remains  of  a  foster-brother  Governor -General's  representative, 

of  Akbar  was  Ion;:  occupied  as  a  who  was  soon  afterwards  assassi- 

dwelling-house  by  the  Late  Mr.  Blake,  nated,  and  a  good  many  attribute  the 

of  the  Bengal  Civil  Service,  who  was  death  of  both  to  this  outrage  upon 

lately  barbarously  murdered  at  Jey-  the  dead  foster-brother  of  Akbar." 

poor.   To  make  room  for  his  dining-  Bholonauth  Chunder,  in  his  "  Tra- 

tables,  he  removed  the  marble  slab  vels  of  a  Hindoo,"  quotes  this  pas- 

wiiich  covered  the  remains  of  the  sa^,  and  adds,  "  Rooms  are  let  in 

dead  from  the  centre  of  the  building  the  Metcalfe  House  for  a  rupee  a  day 

against  the  urgent  remonstrances  of  for  each  person."  See  "  Addenda. 


544  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.       the  conduct  of  the  insurgents,  it  is  certain  that  they 
June.       gutted  the  building  and  did  their  best  to  destroy  it.* 
June  11.     I*  ^^  ^  wreck  when  we  returned  to  Delhi.  A  month 
had  passed,  and  now  the  enemy  were  in  force  at  the 
Metcalfe  House,  where  they  had  established  a  for- 
midable battery,  which  played  upon  the  left  of  oui' 
position  on  the  Ridge.     On  the  morning  of  the  12th, 
the  Sepoy  mutineers  came  out  to  attack  us  both  in 
front  and  rear.     The  ground  between  the  Flagstaff 
Tower  and  the  Metcalfe  buildings  favoured,  by  its 
ravines  and  shrubberies,  the  unseen  approach  of  the 
enemy,  who  stole  up  within  a  short  distance  of  our 
picquet  at  the  former  post,  and  before  the  English 
officer  in   commandt   could  realise  the  position  of 
affairs,  had  opened  fire  upon  him  within  a  range  of 
some  fifty  yards.     Our  men  replied  promptly  with 
the  Enfield  rifle,  but  Knox  was  shot  dead  by  a  Sepoy 
musketeer,  and  many  of  his  men  fell  wounded  beside 
him,  whilst  our  artillerymen  dropped  at  their  guns. 
Meanwhile  a  party  of  mutineers  had  made  their  way 
to  the  rear  of  the  British  camp,  and  were  pushing  on- 
ward with  desperate  audacity  into  the  very  heart  of  it 

*  "  They  stripped  the  roof  of  all  their  arms,  and  refused  to  let  the 

its    massive    ana  valuable  timber,  men  fire."    Mr.  Rotton  (Chaplain's 

carried  off  all  the  doors  and  windows.  Narrative)  says  that  Captain  Knox 

everything  which  they  could  them-  '^^only  a  moment  before  shot  with 

selves  bring  into  use  or  convert  into  his  own  band  one  of  the  enemy, 

money ;  they  demolished  the  costly  when  his  eye  caught  sight  of  a  Sepoy 

marble  statues  and  the  uunumbered  levelling  a  musket  at  him :   '  See/ 

small  articles  of  vertu,  and  then,  said  he  to  one  of  his  men, 'that  man 

with  consistent  Goth-like  ruthless-  pointing  at  me;  take  him  down.' 

ness,  tore  up  and  piled  in  the  centres  The  words  had  hardly  escaped  his 

of  the  rooms  the  volumes  of  that  lips,  when  the  fatal  shot  tooK  effect 

far-famed   library,    believed  to    be  on  his  person.    He  was  on  one  knee 

without  its  equal  in  India,  and  then  when  smgled  out  as  a  mark  by  the 

set   fire  to  tne  building."  —  Cave-  mutineer ;  and  I  am  told,  that  as 

£roume,  soon  as  he  received  the  shot,  he  rose 

f  Captain  Knox,  of  Her  Majesty's  regularly  to  '  attention,'  and  then 

Seventy-fifth.  Mr. Cave-Browne savs  fell  and  expired  without  word  or 

that  he  "  seemed  to  imagine  that  the  groan." 
Sepoys  were  coming  to  lay  down 


ATTACK  ON  HINDOO-RAO's  HOUSE.  545 

before  our  people  were  aroused.  There  was  danger,  1867. 
indeed,  on  both  sides.  But  the  English  got  to  their  ^^^  ^^' 
arms  in  time  to  repulse  the  attack  and  to  carry  vic- 
tory before  them.  The  enemy  turned  and  fled ;  and 
after  them  went  swift  retribution.  Rifles,  Fusiliers, 
and  other  infantry  detachments,  aided  by  Daly's  gal- 
lant Guide  Corps,  pushed  after  them,  and  dealing 
death  as  they  went,  pursued  the  fugitives  through 
the  Metcalfe  grounds  up  to  the  walls  of  the  city.  The 
lesson  was  not  thrown  away  upon  us.  A  strong  pic- 
quet  was,  from  that  time,  planted  at  the  Metcalfe 
House,  and  communications  with  this  advanced  post 
were  kept  open  with  the  Flagstafi^  Tower  on  the 
Ridge.* 

On  the  same  day  an  attack  was  made  on  the  right  Beid's 
of  our  position,  on  that  famous  post  of  Hindoo  Rao's  *^^ ' 
House,  where  Reid  with  his  regiment  of  Goorkahs, 
two  companies  of  the  Rifles,  Daly's  Guides,  two  guns 
of  Scott's  Battery,  *  and  some  heavy  artillery,  was 
destined  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  afiray-  through 
weeks  and  months  of  incessant  fighting.  Exposed 
to  the  fire  of  the  enemy's  guns  planted  on  the  Cash- 
mere, Moree,  and  other  bastions,  this  picquet  was 
seldom  suffered  to  enjoy  many  hours  of  continuous 
restf  On  the  morning  of  the  12th,  under  cover  of 
the  guns,  the  mutineers  came  out  in  two  bodies 
towards  our  right  flank,  the  one  moving  directly  on 

*  "  Thus  throwing  up,  as  it  were,  three  heavy  guns  was  coastnieted 

the  left  flank  of  our  defences,  and  on  the  niglit  of  the  9th  to  reply  to 

rendering  it  almost  impossible  for  the  Cashmere  bastion.    The  centre 

the  enemy  to  pass  round  on  that  battery  for  three  eighteen-pounders 

side." — Norman.  was  close  to  the  House,  and  the 

f  Major  Raid  commanded  all  the  guns  were  all  laid  for  the  Moree 

posts  on  the  ri^ht  of  the  Bidge.    He  bastion.    The  Guides  I  located  in 

describes  the  disposition  of  his  troops  and  behind  the  outhouses."    When- 

as  follows :  "  Mj  own  regiment  and  ever  the  alarm  was  sounded,  two 

one  company  of  Eifles  occupied  the  more  companies  of  the  Rifles  were 

House,  and  one  company  of  Rifles  sent  up  in  support, 
the  Observatory,  where  a  battery  for 

VOL.  11.  2  N 


546  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  the  picquet  at  Hindoo  Rao's  house,  the  others  push- 
June  12.  ing  into  the  gardens  of  the  Subzee-mundee.*  Both 
attacks  were  repuked,  and  with  heavy  loss  to  the 
enemy.  But  it  was  not  without  a  disaster  on  our 
o^vn  side;  for  a  detachment  of  Native  Irregular 
Cavalry,  on  whose  loyalty  we  had  relied,  went  over 
to  the  enemy.  And  so  sudden  was  the  retrograde 
movement  that  the  greater  number  of  them  escaped 
from  the  fire  of  our  guns,  which  were  turned  upon 
them  as  soon  as  their  treachery  was  disclosed.!  Nor 
was  this  the  only  disheartening  circumstance  which, 
about  this  time,  shoved  how  little  the  Native  soldiery 
generally  believed  that  the  Ikhbal  of  the  Company 
was  on  the  ascendant,  even  though  we  had  recovered 
our  old  position  before  Delhi,  and  had  beaten  the 

Mutiny  of  the  enemy  in  three  pitched  battles.  The  officers  of  the 
*^  ®  •  Sixtieth  Sepoy  Regiment  had  come  into  Delhi  with- 
out their  men.  This  corps  was  under  the  command 
of  a  distinguished  soldier.  Colonel  Thomas  Seaton^ 
who  had  made  a  name  for  himself,  fifteen  years  be- 
fore, as  one  of  the  illustrious  garrison  of  Jellalabad. 
He  had  believed,  as  other  Sepoy  officers  had  believed, 
in  his  men,  but  they  had  broken  into  rebellion  at 
Rohtuck,  and  had  now  gone  to  swell  the  tide  of  re- 
bellion within  the  walls  of  Delhi.  No  sooner  had 
they  arrived  than  they  went  out  against  us  and  were 
amongst  the  most  vehement  of  our  assailants. 

June  13—17.     Again  and  again — day  after  day — ^the  enemy  came 

*  "  The  first  of  these  attacks  was  went  to  the  front  i oat  as  if  they  were 

not  serions,  but  the  latter  threatened  going  to  charge,  but  no  sooner  had 

the  Mound  picquet,  and  supports  of  thej  closed  than,  to  my  honor,  I 

ajl  arms  bad  to  be  moved  up.    The  saw  them  mix  up  with  the  enemy 

First  Fusiliers,  under  Major  Jacob,  and  walk  off  with  them.    Imme- 

then  advanced  and  drove  tbe  muti-  diately  1  saw  this  I  ordered  the  guns 

neers  out  of  the  gardens,  killing  a  to  open  upon  them,  but  the  wretches 

considerable  number  of   them." —  were  too  hi  off,  and  I  don't  think 

Gorman's  Narrative,  that  more  than  half  a  dozen  were 

t  Major  Reid  says  that,  "  They  killed." 


i^^mmmmmmrs^f^mmm^ymmmssme^^ 


FIGHTING  IN  THE  SUBURBS.  547 

out  to  attack  our  posts  with  an  uniformity  of  failure  1857. 
of  which  it  would  be  tedious  to  recite  the  details.  ^^^  13—17. 
On  the  13th  and  15th,  they  again  flung  themselves  ]^®^^ 
upon  our  position  at  Hindoo  Rao's  House,  and,  as  ever, 
the  Goorkahs  and  the  Guides  distinguished  themselves 
by  their  unflinching  gallantry.*  On  the  afternoon 
of  the  17th,  we  began  to  act  on  the  offensive.  The 
enemy  were  strongly  posted  in  the  suburbs  of  Kishen- 
gunj  and  Trevelyan-gunj,  between  our  right  and  the 
city,  and  were  erecting  a  battery  on  rising  ground, 
which  would  have  completely  enfiladed  the  Ridge. 
So  two  columns  were  sent  out  to  destroy  their  works. 
It  was  a  dashing  enterprise,  and  Barnard  selected  the 
right  men  for  it.  One  column  was  intrusted  to  Reid, 
the  other  to  Henry  Tombs.  The  former  moved  from 
Hindoo  Rao's  house,  the  latter  from  the  camp.  Both 
were  completeh'^  successful.  After  a  gallant  resist- 
ance by  the  Sappers  and  Miners  of  our  old  Army, 
who,  after  firing  their  muskets,  drew  their  swords  and 
flung  themselves  desperately  upon  us,  the  battery 
and  magazine  w^ere  destroyed,  and  the  village  in 
which  they  were  planted  was  burnt.  Large  numbers 
of  the  enemy  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  their 
rout  Avas  complete.  Our  own  loss  was  trifling. 
Tombs,  always  in  the  thick  of  the  afiray,  had  two 
horses  shot  under  him,f  and  was  himself  slightly 
wounded     Captain   Brown,   of  the  First  Fusiliers, 

*  It  is  said  that  some  regiments  distance,  as  he  intended  to  wheel 

newly  arriyed  from  Oude  took  part  to  his  left.    They  fought  most  des- 

in  these  attacks.    The  Sixtieth  was  perately.    The  Sirdar  Sehaudur  was 

conspicuous  in  the  action  of'  tlie  killed  by  his  orderly,  Lall  Singh.    I 

13th.    Major  Reid  writes,  that  they  took  the  riband  of  India  from  his 

"  marched  up  the  Grand  Trunk  Road  breast  and  sent  it  to  my  wife." 

in  columns  of  sections  right  in  front,  f  ''Making,"  at  this  early  stage, 

and  led  the  attack  headed  by  the  writes  Major  Norman,  "  fiye  horses 

Sirdar  Behaudur  of  the  regiment,  that  from  the  commencement  of  the 

who  made  himself  very  conspicuous,  campaign  up  to  that  date  had  been 

calling  out  to  the  men  to  keep  their  shot  under  him." 

2n2 


548 


FIRST  WEEKS  OP  THE  SIEGE. 


Artillery 
practice  of 
the  enemy. 


1857.      well-nigh  received  his  death-wound.     That  evening 
June  }7.     General  Barnard  walked  into  the  Artillery  mess-tent, 
and  with    characteristic    appreciation    of   gallantry 
lavished  his  well-merited  praises  upon  Tombs. 

There  was  much,  in  all  this,  of  the  true  type  of 
English  soldiership.  But  it  was  weary  and  dishearten- 
ing work  at  the  best.  If  we  lost  fewer  men  than  the 
enemy,  they  had  more  to  lose,  more  to  spare,  and  their 
gaps  could  be  more  readily  filled.  Every  victory  cost 
us  dearly.  And  we  made  no  progress  towards  the 
great  consummation  of  the  capture  of  Delhi.  Every 
day  it  became  more  apparent  that  we  were  grievously 
outmatched  in  Artillery.*  Their  guns  could  take  our 
distance,  but  ours  could  not  take  theirs.  They  were 
of  heavier  metal  and  longer  reach  than  our  o^vn,  and 
sometimes  worked  with  destructive  precision.  On  one 
June  17.  occasion  a  round  shot  from  a  twenty-four-pounder  was 
sent  crashing  into  the  portico  of  Hindoo  Rao's  house, 
and  with  such  deadly  effect  that  it  killed  an  English 
officerf  and  eight  men  and  wounded  four  others,  in- 
cluding a  second  English  subaltern.  We  could  not 
silence  these  guns.  A  twenty-four-pounder  had  been 
taken  from  the  enemy  in  battle,  but  we  had  no  ammu- 
nition in  store  for  a  gun  of  such  calibre,  and  were  fain 
to  pick  up  the  shot  which  had  been  fired  from  the  city 
walls.  Whilst  the  ordnance-stores  at  our  command 
were  dwindling  down  to  scarcity-point,  so  ifast  were 

*  At  first  our  offensive  operations  to  fire  on  the  gateways  only,  not 

were  principally  confined  to  shelling  into  the  town." — Journal  of  an  Ar- 

the  city.    "  We  annoy  them  ezces-  tillery  Officer,    June  16. 
sively  with  out  shells,  some  of  which        f    Lieutenant    Wheatly  of   the 

reach  almost  to  the  Pakce."    Bat  Fifty-fourth  Native   Infantry,  who 

afterwards,  perhaps  because  it  was  ^as  doing  duty  with  the  Sirmoor 

thought  that  we  thus  afflicted  the  Battalion.     Amon;^    the   Cborkahs 

townspeople  rather  than  the  muli-  killed  was  Tecca  Ram,  *'  one  of  the 

neers,  this  course  was  abandoned,  best  shots  in  the  regiment,  who  had 

'*  1  told  you  a  little  while  ago  that  killed    twenty  -  two    tigers    in    the 

we  were  firing  into  the  town,  but  Dhoon." 
last  night  there  was  an  order  given 


FIRE  OF  THE  ENEMY.  549 

the  supplies  in  the  city,  that  it  little  mattered  to  our      1857. 
assailants  how  many  rounds  they  fired  every  hour  of      •^^^®- 
the  day.     The  gallantry  of  the  Artillery  subaltern, 
Willoughby,  had  done  but  little  to  diminish  the  re- 
sources of  the  enemy.     There  were  vast  supplies  of 
material  wealth  that  could  not  be  blown  into  the  air. 
The  fire  from  the  Moree  bastion,  especially,  played 
always  annoyingly  and  sometimes  destructively  on 
the  Ridge.     The  Sepoy  gunners  seemed  to  take  a 
delight,  which  was  a  mixture  of  humour  and  sava- 
gery, in  watching  the  incidents  of  our  camp,  and 
sending  in  their  shots  just  at  a  critical  moment  to 
disturb  our  operations,  whether  of  a  military  or  a 
social  character.     If  one  detachment  were  marching 
to  the  relief  of  another — if  a  solitary  officer  were 
proceeding  to  inspect  a  battery — if  a  line  of  cook- 
boys  were  toiling  on  with  their  caldrons  on  their 
heads  for  the  sustenance  of  the  Europeans  on  picquet, 
a  round  shot  was  sure  to  come  booming  towards 
them,  and  perhaps  -with  fatal  precision  of  aim.     In 
time  our  people  became  accustomed  to  this  exercise, 
and  either  avoided  the  exposure  altogether,  or  kept 
themselves  on  the  alert  so  as  to  anticipate  the  arrival 
of  the  deadly  missile,  and  secure  safety  by  throwing 
themselves  upon  the  ground.     The  cook-boys,  whose 
journeys — as  men  must  eat — could  not  be  arrested  or 
postponed,  became  adepts  in  this  work.     They  went 
adroitly  down  on  their  knees  and  deposited  their  bur- 
dens till  the  danger  had  passed.     The  water-carriers, 
too,  were  greatly  exposed.     And  it  is  characteristic 
of  the  relations  which  at  that  time  existed  between 
the  two  races,  that  although  these  servile  classes  did 
their  duty  with  all  fidelity — and  it  would  have  fared 
ill  with  us  indeed  if  they  had  failed  us  in  the  hour  of 
need — not  only  was  there  little  kindliness  and  sym- 


550  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.      pathy  extended  towards  them,  but  by  some  at  least 
June.      of  the  Englishmen  in  camp,  these  unarmed,  harm- 
less, miserable  servitors  were  treated  with  most  un- 
merited severity.     There  is  something  grotesque,  but 
not  less  terrible  for  its  grotesqueness,  in  the  story  that 
when  the  cook-boys  thus  deftly  saved  themselves  from 
swift  death,  and  secured  also  their  precious  burdens, 
the  European  soldiers  would  sometimes  say,  "It  is 
well  for  you,  my  boys,  that  you  have  not  spilt  our 
dinners."* 
June  18—19.      On  the  18th,  two  Sepoy  regiments  that  had  muti- 
Attack  on  our  nied  at  Nusserabad  streamed  into  Delhi,  bringing  with 
them  six  guns.f    This  welcome  reinforcement  raised 
the  hopes  of  the  mutineers,  and  they  resolved,  on  the 
following  day,  to  go  out  in  force  against  the  besiegers. 
They  had  so  often  failed  to  make  an  impression  on  our 
front,  that  this  time  it  was  their  game  to  attack  our 
position  in  the  rear.    So,  passing  the  Subzee-mundee, 
they  entered  the  gardens  on  our  right,  and,  disap- 
pearing for  a  while,  emerged  by  the  side   of  the 
Nujufgurh  Canal,  to  the  dismay  of  the  camel-drivers, 
whose  animals  were  quietly  browsing  on  the  plain. 
The  day  was  then  so  far  spent  that  the  expectation  of 
an  attack,  which  had  been  entertained  in  the  morn- 
ing, had  passed  away  from  our  camp,  and  we  were 
but  ill-prepared  to  receive  the  enemy.    Our  Artillery 
were  the  first  in  action  against  them.     Scott,  Money, 
and  Tombs  brought  their  guns  into  play  with  mar- 
vellous rapidity ; J  but  for  a  while  they  were  unsup- 

*  I  am  writing'  of  this  now  only  tillery,  with  No.  6  Horse  Battery 

with  reference  to  the  practice  of  the  attached^  and  some  men  of  the  Eirst 

enemy  in  the  city.    I  shall  speak  Bombay  Light  Cavalry, 

more  fully  hereafter  of  the  treatment  |  The  Field  Artillery  employed 

of  the  Natives  in  camp.  on  this  occasion  consisted  of  three 

t  This  reinforcement  consisted  of  guns  each  of  four  different  batteries, 

the  Fifteenth  and  Thirtieth  Sepoy  under  Turner^  Money^  Tombs,  and 

Regiments,    the    Second  Company  Scott.    The  battle  was  fought  by 

Seventh  Battalion  (Golundauze)  Ar-  them. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  OF  JUNE.      551 

ported,  and  the  enemy's  fire,  artillery  and  musketry,  1857. 
was  heavy  and  well  directed.  The  guns  of  the  muti-  J^®  i^- 
neers  were  the  far-famed  guns  of  the  illustrious  gar-  ^y^^^°^ 
rison  of  Jellalabad,  known  in  history  as  Abbott's 
Battery — ^guns  with  the  mural  crown  upon  them  in 
honour  of  their  great  achievements.  The  Infantry, 
too,  of  the  Nusserabad  Brigade  were  proving  their 
title  to  be  regarded  as  the  very  flower  of  the  rebel 
army.  So  fierce  and  well  directed  was  the  fire  of  a 
party  of  musketeers  under  cover,  that  Tombs,  seeing 
his  men  dropping  at  their  guns,  and  unable  to  reach 
the  sheltered  enemy,  doubted  for  a  little  space  whe- 
ther he  could  maintain  himself  against  them.  But  in 
this  crisis  up  rode  Daly  with  a  detachment  of  his 
Guides'  Cavalry,  and  a  word  from  the  heroic  artillery- 
man sent  him  forward  with  a  few  followers  against 
the  musketeers  in  the  brushwood.  The  diversion 
was  successful ;  but  the  gallant  leader  of  the  Guides 
returned  severely  wounded,  and  for  a  while  his  ser- 
vices were  lost  to  the  Force.* 

Meanwhile,  our  Cavalry  had  been  getting  to  horse, 
and  Yule's  Lancers  were  to  be  seen  spurring  into 
action.  But  the  shades  of  evening  were  now  falling 
upon  the  battle,  and  ere  long  it  was  difficult  to  distin- 
guish friends  from  enemies.  Yule's  saddle  was  soon 
empty  ;t  and  Hope  Grant,  who  commanded,  well-nigh 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  for  his  charger  was 

*  The  author  of  the  "  History  of  the  siege  do  not  relate  in  what  niaa- 
the  Siege  of  Delhi "  thus  describes  ner  Yule  met  his  death,  but  bis 
this  incident :  "  A  portion  of  the  horse  galloping  riderless  into  camp 
Guide  Cavalry  came  u]^.  'Daly,  if  seems  to  have  conveyed  the  first* 
you  do  not  charge,'  said  Tombs  to  news  of  his  fall,  and  his  body  lying 
their  leader,  '  my  guns  are  taken/  all  night  on  the  field,  it  may  be  as- 
Daly  spurred  into  the  bushes —  sumed  that  he  was  killed  in  the  con- 
scarcely  a  dozen  of  his  men  followed  fusion  which  arose  wben  the  brief 
him.  He  returned  with  a  bullet  in  twilight  had  closed  upon  the  scene, 
his  shoulder ;  but  the  momentary  It  is  distinctly  stated  that  our  own 
diversion  saved  the  guns."  Artillery  fired  upon  the  Lancers. 

t  The  contemporary  annalists  of 


552  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE, 

1 857.  shot  under  him,  and  it  was  sore  trouble  to  rescue  him 
June  18—19.  \j^  ^j^^  confusion  and  darkness  of  the  moment.  The 
engagement,  scattered  and  discursive  as  were  its  inci- 
dents, is  not  one  easily  to  be  described.  A  confused 
narrative  of  that  evening's  fighting  must  be  most 
descriptive  of  the  chaos  of  the  fight.  Night  fell  upon 
a  drawn  battle,  of  which  no  one  could  count  the 
issues,  and,  as  our  officers  met  together  in  their  mess- 
tents,  with  not  very  cheerful  countenances,  they  saw 
the  camp-fires  of  the  enemy  blazing  up  in  their  rear. 
We  had  sustained  some  severe  losses.  That  fine  field- 
officer  of  the  Lancers,  Yule,  had  been  killed ;  Daly, 
of  the  Guides,  had  been  incapacitated  for  active 
Avork ;  Arthur  Becher,  Quartermaster- General  of  the 
Army,  had  been  wounded ;  and  we  had  left  many  men 
upon  the  field.  The  enemy  had  increased  in  numbers, 
and  with  numbers  their  daring  had  increased.  It 
would  have  gone  ill  with  us  if  the  mutineers  had  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  themselves  in  our  rear,  and  the 
strength  of  the  rebel  force  within  the  walls  had  en- 
abled them  to  renew  their  attacks  on  our  front  and 
on  our  flanks.  They  were  welcoming  fresh  reinforce- 
ments every  day,  whilst  our  reinforcements,  notwith- 
standing the  ceaseless  energies  of  the  authorities  above 
and  below  Delhi,  were  necessarily  coming  in  but 
slowly.  Perhaps  at  no  period  of  the  siege  were  cir- 
cumstances more  dispiriting  to  the  besiegers.      . 

There  was  little  sound  sleep  in  our  camp  that  night, 
but  with  the  first  dawn  of  the  morning,  and  the  first 
breath  of  the  morning  air,  there  came  a  stem  resolu- 
tion upon  our  people  not  to  cease  from  the  battle 
until  they  had  driven  the  exulting  enemy  from  our 
rear.  But  it  was  scarcely  needed  that  we  should 
brace  ourselves  up  for  the  encounter.  The  vehe- 
mence of  the  enemy  was  seldom  of  long  duration. 


DATS  OF  REST.  553 

It  expended  itself  in  fierce  spasms,  often,  perhaps,  the  1867. 
growth  of  vast  druggings  of  bang^  and  was  generally  ^^^  l^* 
exhausted  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours.  On  the 
morning  of  the  19th,  therefore,  our  people  saw  but 
little  of  the  desperate  energy  of  the  18th.  Soon  after 
our  camp  turned  out  there  was  another  scene  of  wild 
confusion.  Nobody  seemed  to  know  what  was  the 
actual  position  of  afi^irs,  and  many  were  quite  unable 
in  their  bewilderment  to  distinguish  between  enemies 
and  friends.  The  former  had  nearly  all  departed, 
and  the  few  who  remained  were  driven  out  with  little 
trouble.  One  last  spasm  of  energy  manifested  itself 
in  a  farewell  discharge  of  round-shot  from  a  Sepoy 
gun ;  but  the  worst  that  befel  us  was  an  amazing 
panic  among  the  camp-followers  beyond  the  canal, 
and  a  considerable  expenditure  of  ammunition  upon 
an  imaginary  foe. 

It  always  happened  that  after  one  of  these  storms  June  20—21, 
of  excitement  there  was  a  season  of  calm.  To  the  ^  ^'^' 
irresistible  voluptuousness  of  perfect  repose  the  Sepoys 
ever  surrendered  themselves  on  the  day  after  a  great 
fight.  The  20th  and  the  21st  were,  therefore,  days  of 
rest  to  our  Force.  The  latter  was  our  Sabbath,  and 
early  service  was  performed  by  Mr.  Rotton  in  the 
mess-tent  of  the  Second  Fusiliers,  and  afterwards  in 
other  parts  of  the  camp.  There  were  many  then 
amongst  our  people  instant  in  prayer,  for  they  felt 
that  a  great  crisis  was  approaching.  They  may  have 
laughed  to  scorn  the  old  prophecy  that  on  the  cente- 
nary of  the  great  battle  of  Plassey,  which  had  laid 
Bengal  at  our  feet,  and  had  laid,  too,  broad  and  deep 
the  foundations  of  our  vast  Anglo-Indian  Empire,  our 
empire  would  be  finally  extinguished.  The  self-re- 
liance of  the  Englishman  made  light  account  of  such 
vaticinations  \  but  no  one  doubted  that  the  superstition 


554  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.      was  strong  in  the  minds  of  the  Delhi  garrison,  and 
June  23.     that  the  23rd  of  June  would  be  a  great  day,  for  good 
or  for  evil,  in  the  History  of  the  War.  It  was  certain, 
indeed,  that  then  one  of  those  convulsive  efforts,  with 
which  already  our  people  were  so  well  acquainted, 
would  be  made  on  a  larger  scale  than  ever  had  been 
made  before.  On  such  a  dayj  warned  by  the  thought 
of  the  prophecy  which  designing  people  had  freely 
circulated  in  the  Lines  of  all  our  rebel  regiments,  it 
could  not  be  doubted  that  Hindoos  and  Mahomedans 
would  unite  with  common  confidence  and  common 
enmity  against  us,  and  that  an  unwonted  amount 
of  confidence  and  hang  would  hurl  their  regiments 
against  us  with  unexampled  fury  and  self-devotion,  in 
full  assurance  of  the  re-establishment  of  Native  rule 
from  one  end  of  India  to  the  other.     Our  force  had 
been  growing  weaker  and  weaker  every  day,  whilst 
the  rebel  force  had  grown  stronger  and  stronger.     It 
was  not,  therefore,  a  very  cheerful  prospect  which  lay 
before  the  English  when  they  thought  of  the  issues 
of  the  morrow. 
June  23.         Day  had  scarcely  broken  on  the  23rd  when  our 
TheCenten-  people  learnt  that  their  expectations  were  not  un- 
^sey.        founded.    The  enemy,  in  greater  force  than  had  ever 
menaced  us  before,  streamed  out  of  the  Lahore  Gate, 
and  again  moved  by  our  right  towards  the  rear  of  the 
British  camp.     But  they  encountered  an  unexpected 
difficulty,  which  disconcerted  their  plans.     On  the 
previous  night  our  Sappers  had  demolished  the  bridges 
over  the  Nujufgurh  Drain,  by  Avhich  the  enemy  had 
intended  to  cross  their  guns ;  and  thus  checked,  they 
were  compelled  to  confine  their  attacks  to  the  right 
of  our  position.    The  effect  of  this  was,  that  much  of 
the  day's  fighting  was  among  the  houses  of  the  Sub- 
zee-mundee,  from  which  the  enemy  poured  in  a  deadly 


THE  C£NT£NART  OF  PLASSET.  555 

fire  on  our  troops.  Again  and  again  the  British  In-  1857. 
fantry,  with  noble  courage  and  resolution,  bearing  ^^' 
up  against  the  heats  of  the  fiercest  sun  that  had  yet 
assailed  them,  drove  the  Sepoys  from  their  cover,  and 
fought  against  heavy  odds  all  through  that  long 
summer  day.  We  had  need  of  all  our  force  in  such 
a  struggle,  for  never  had  we  been  more  outmatched 
in  numbers,  and  never  had  the  enemy  shown  a  sterner, 
more  enduring  courage.  Fresh  troops  had  joined  us 
in  the  morning,  but  weary  as  they  were  after  a  long 
night's  march,  they  were  called  into  service,  and 
nobly  responded  to  the  call.*  The  action  of  the  19th 
had  been  an  Artillery  action ;  this  of  the  23rd  was 
fought  by  the  Infantry,  and  it  was  the  fighting  that 
least  suite  the  taste  and  temper  of  the  English  sol- 
dier. But  the  Sixtieth  Rifles  Avent  gallantly  to  the 
attack,  and  the  Goorkahs  and  Guides  vied  with  them 
in  sturdy,  unflinching  courage  to  the  last.  At  noon- 
day the  battle  was  raging  furiously  in  the  Subzee- 
mundee ;  and  such  were  the  fearful  odds  against  us, 
that  Reid,  cool  and  confident  as  he  was  in  the  face  of 
difficulty  and  danger,  felt  that,  if  not  reinforced,  it 
would  strain  him  to  the  utmost  to  hold  his  own.f  But 
his  men  fought  on ;  and  after  a  while  the  reinforce- 
ments which  he  had  sent  for  came  up,  and  then, 
though  the  contest  was  still  an  unequal  one,   the 

*  These  reinforcements  consisted  my  own  men  again  and  again,  and  at 

of  a  company  of  the  Seventy-fifth  one  time  I  thought  I  must  have  lost 

Poot,  four  companies  of  the  Second  the  day.     The  cannonade  from  the 

Bengal    Fusiliers,    four    £uropean  citv,  and  the  heavy  guns  which  they 

Horse  Artillery  guns  and  part  of  a  had  brought  out,  raged    fast    and 

Native  troop,  with  some  Punjabee  furious,  and  completely  enfiladed  the 

Infantry  and  Cavalty — ^in  all  about  whole  of  my  position.    Thousands 

850  men.  were  brought  against  my  mere  hand- 

J-  "  The  mutineers,  about  twelve  ful  of  men ;  but  I  knew  the  import- 
ock,  made  a  most  desperate  attack  ance  of  my  position,  and  was  deter- 
on  the  whole  of  my  position.  No  mined  to  do  my  utmost  to  bold  it 
men  could  have  fought  better.  They  till  reinforcements  arrived." — BeicPs 
charged  the  Kifles,  the  Guides,  and  Leliers  and  Notes. 


556  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  chances  of  war  were  no  longer  desperately  against  us, 
June.  and  our  stubborn  courage  prevailed  against  the  mul- 
titude of  the  enemy.  As  the  sun  went  down,  the 
vigour  of  the  enemy  declined  also,  and  at  sunset  the 
mutineers  had  lost  heart,  and  found  that  the  work 
was  hopeless.  Before  nightfall  the  Subzee-mundee 
was  our  own,  and  the  enemy  had  withdrawn  their 
guns  and  retired  to  the  city.  It  had  been  a  long 
weary  day  of  hard  fighting  beneath  a  destroying  sun, 
and  our  troops  were  so  spent  and  exhausted  that  they 
could  not  charge  the  rebel  guns,  or  follow  the  retreat- 
ing masses  of  the  mutineers.  It  was  one  of  those  vic- 
tories of  which  a  few  more  repetitions  would  have 
turned  our  position  into  a  graveyard,  on  which  the 
enemy  might  have  quietly  encamped. 
June  24.  After  this  there  was  another  luU,  and  there  was 
State  of  affkirs  again  time  for  our  chief  people  to  take  account  of  the 

in  Pamn  r      r 

^'  circumstances  of  their  position  and  to  look  the  future 
in  the  face.  The  result  of  the  fighting  on  the  Cen- 
tenary of  Plassey  was  somewhat  to  abate  the  confi- 
dence of  the  enemy.  There  were  no  signs  of  the  de- 
scent of  that  great  Star  of  Fortune  v/hich  had  risen 
above  us  for  a  hundred  years.  Little  now  was  to  be 
gained  by  them  from  spiritual  manifestations  and  en- 
couragements. They  had  only  to  look  to  their  mate- 
rial resources ;  but  these  were  steadily  increasing,  as 
the  stream  of  mutiny  continued  to  swell  and  roll  down 
in  full  current  towards  the  great  ocean  of  the  imperial 
city.  Nusserabjid  and  JuUundhur  had  already  dis- 
charged their  turbid  waters,  and  now  Rohilkund  was 
about  to  pour  in  its  tributaries.  All  this  was  against 
us,  for  it  was  the  custom  of  the  enemy  upon  every 
new  accession  of  strength  to  signalise  the  arrival  of 
the  reinforcements  by  sending  them  out  to  attack  ns. 
Thus  the  brunt  of  the  fio^htin*]:  on  the  19th  had  been 


ARRIVAL  OP  REINFORCEMENTS.  557 

borne  by  the  Nusserabad  force,  and  on  the  23rd  by  1857. 
the  regiments  from  JuUundhur.  It  was  felt,  therefore,  •'^^®- 
that  on  the  arrival  of  the  Rohilkund  Brigade  there 
would  be  again  a  sharp  conflict,  which,  although  the 
issue  of  the  day's  fighting  could  not  be  doubtful, 
would  tend  to  the  diminution  of  our  strength,  and 
to  the  exhaustion  of  our  resources,  and  would  place 
us  no  nearer  to  the  final  consummation  for  which  our 
people  so  ardently  longed. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  was  a  source  of  Arrival  of  re- 
congratulation  that  our  reinforcements  were  also  ar- 
riving.    Sir  John  Lawrence  was  doing  his  work  well 
in  the  Punjab,  and  sending  down  both  European  and 
Sikh  troops,  and  every  available  gun,  to  strengthen 
Barnard  in  his  position  before  Delhi.     The  dimen- 
sions of  the  British  camp  were  visibly  expanding. 
The  newly  arrived  troops  were  at  first  a  little  dis- 
pirited by  the  thought  of  the  small  progress  that  had 
been  made  by  their  comrades  before  Delhi ;  for  the 
besiegers  were  found  to  be  the  besieged.     But  they 
soon  took  heart  again,  for  the  good  spirits  of  the 
Delhi  Field  Force  were  contagious,  and  nothing  finer 
had  ever  been  seen  than  the  buoyancy  and  the  cheer- 
fulness which  they  manifested  in  the  midst  of  all 
sorts  of  trials  and  privations.     Many  old  friends  and 
comrades  then  met  together  in  the  mess-tents  to  talk 
over  old  times,  and  many  new  friendships  were  formed 
by  men  meetipg  as  strangers,  on  that  ever-memorable 
Ridge — ^friendships  destined  to  last  for  a  life.     Hos- 
pitality and  good-fellowship  abounded  everywhere. 
There  was  not  an  oflBicer  in  camp  who  did  not  delight 
in  the  opportunity  of  sharing  his  last  bottle  of  beer 
with  a  friend  or  a  comrade.     And  from  the  old  Cri- 
mean General  down  to  the  youngest  subaltern  in  camp, 
all  were  alike  chivalrous,  patient,  and  self-denying. 


558  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  There  was  never  any  despondency  among  them. 

June.       Vast  divergencies  of  opinion  prevailed  in  camp  with 

Last  days  of'  Tcspect  to  the  great  something  that  was  to  be  done. 

General  Bar-  Some  of  the  younger,  more  eager,  spirits  panted  for  a 
rush  upon  Delhi.  The  Engineer  subalterns — Greathed 
and  his  gallant  brethren — never  ceased  to  urge  the 
expediency  of  a  coup-de-main^  and  as  the  month  of 
June  wore  to  a  close,  Barnard  again  consented  to  the 
enterprise — doubtfully  as  to  the  issue,  and  altogether 
reluctantly,  but  with  a  dominant  sense  that  there  was 
nothing  else  to  be  done.     He  was  very  active  at  this 
time.     No  subaltern,  in  the  flower  of  his  youth,  was 
more  regardless  of  exposure  and  fatigue.     Under  the 
fierce  June  sun,  never  sparing  himself,  he  was  con- 
tinually abroad,  and  night  seldom  found  his  anxious 
head  upon  the  pillow.     Sometimes  he  and  his  son 
laid  themselves  down  together,  with  revolvers  in  their 
hands,  but  still  the  general  notion  in  camp  was  that 
he  "  never  slept."  He  was  torn  to  pieces  by  conflicting 
counsels.     But  he  wore  outwardly  a  cheerful  aspect, 
and  ever  resolute  to  do  his  best,  he  bore  up  manfully 
against  the  troubles  which  surrounded  him.     Even 
the  feeling  that,  do  what  he  might,  his  reputation 
would  be  assailed,  did  not,  to  outward  appearance, 
very  sorely  distress  him.     All  men  placed  in  difficult 
conjunctures  must  be  prepared  to  encounter  reproach, 
and  Barnard  well  knew  it.     But  ever  as  time  went 
on  he  won  upon  the  hearts  of  the  officers  under  his 
command  by  his  kindliness  and  generosity.     It  was 
said  that  he  kept  open  tent ;   he  had  a  liberal  table ; 
and  never  had  an  officer  in  high  command  a  keener 
sense  of  individual  merit  or  a  more  open-hearted 
desire  to  bestow  his  personal  commendations  on  all 
who  had  distinguished  themselves  by  acts  of  gallantry. 
So,  before  the  month  of  June  was  at  an  end,  Sir 


SIR  HENRY  BARNARD.  559 

Henry  Barnard  had  securely  established  himself  in      1867. 
the  affections  of  the  Delhi  Field  Force.  ^^^  ^^• 

But,  as  weeks  passed  away,  and  he  saw  that  he  was 
making  no  impression  upon  Delhi,  the  inward  care 
that  was  weighing  upon  his  very  life  grew  heavier  and 
heavier.  He  wrote  many  letters  at  this  time  both  to 
public  functionaries  in  India  and  to  private  friends 
in  England,  in  which  he  set  forth  very  clearly  his 
difficulties  and  perplexities,  and  suggested  that  he 
had  been,  and  was  likely  to  be,  misjudged.  To  Sir 
John  Lawrence  he  wrote,  on  the  28th  of  June,  a 
letter,  in  which  he  reviewed  the  Past  and  set  forth 
the  circumstances  of  the  Present.  "  You  have,  of 
course,"  he  said,  "  been  well  informed  of  our  pro- 
ceedings, which,  from  the  commencement,  have  been 
a  series  of  difficulties  overcome  by  the  determined 
courage  and  endurance  of  our  troops,  but  not  leading 
us  to  the  desired  termination.  When  first  I  took  up 
this  position,  my  Artillery  were  to  silence  the  fire  of 
the  town  fi*om  the  Moree  and  Cashmere  Gates,  at 
leastj  and  our  heavy  guns  then  brought  into  play  to 
open  our  way  into  the  city.  So  far  from  this,  how- 
ever, we  have  not  silenced  a  single  gun,  and  they 
return  us  to  this  day  at  least  four  -to  one.  The  Chief 
Artillery  Officer  admits  the  distance  to  be  too  great ; 
but  to  get  nearer  we  must  look  to  our  Engineers,  who 
are  only  now  commencing  to  collect  some  few  mate- 
rials, such  as  trenching  tools,  sand-bags,  <&c.,  of  which 
they  were  destitute,  and  even  now  have  not  enough 
to  aid  me  in  strengthening  any  outpost.  In  the 
mean  time,  my  force  is  being  worn  out  by  the  con- 
stant and  sanguinary  combats  they  are  exposed  to — 
the  attacka  which  require  every  soul  in  my  camp  to 
repel — ^for  it  is  never  certain  where  the  enemy  intend 
to  strike  their  blow,  and  it  is  only  by  vigilance  I  can 


560  FIKST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.      ascertain   it,  and  having  done  so,  withdraw  troops 
June  28.     from  one  place  to  strengthen  the  threatened  one ;  and 
thus  the  men  are  hastened  here  and  there,  and  ex- 
posed to  the  sun  aU  day.    To  me  it  is  wonderful  how 
all  have  stood  it.  It  is  heart-breaking  to  engage  them 
in  these  affairs,  which  always  cost  us  some  valuable 
Uves.     The  Engineers  had  arranged  a  plan  of  ap- 
proach  on  the  Cashmere  side;  the  difficulties  that 
meet  one  here  are  the  constant  interruptions  the  ope- 
rations would  experience  by  the  fire  from  the  town, 
and  more  so  by  the  more  frequent  renewal  of  these 
dangerous  attacks.     But  a  greater  one  was  in  store 
for  me  when,  on  inquiring  into  the  means,  the  amount 
of  siege  ammunition  was  found  to  be  so  totally  inade- 
quate, that  the  Chief  Engineer  declared  the  project 
must  be  abandoned.     There  remains,  therefore,  but 
one  alternative.     My  whole  force  will  be  here  in  a 
day  or  two,  when  our  entire  project  will  be  matured. 
Disappointing  as,  I  fear,  our  progress  has  been  to 
you,  the  results  of  our  exertions  have  been  great ;  an 
immensely  superior  force  has  been  on  all  occasions 
defeated  with  great  loss,  and  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  spirit  of  this  mutineering  multitude — con- 
temptible in  the  op'fen,  but  as  good,  if  not  better,  than 
ourselves  behind  guns — ^is  completely  broken,  and  that 
the  game  is  in  our  hands ;  for,  by  confining,  or  rather 
centralising  the  evil  on  Delhi,  the  heart  of  it  will  be 
crushed  in  that  spot,  and  that  '  delay,'  so  far  from 
being  detrimental,  has  been  of  essential  use  !   But  for 
the  prestige,  I  would  leave  Delhi  to  its  fate.  Anarchy 
and  disorder  would  soon  destroy  it;  and  the  force 
now  before  it — the  only  one  of  Europeans  you  have 
in  India  set  free — ^would  be  sufficient  to  re-establish 
the  greater  part  of  the  country.     To  get  into  Delhi 


will  greatly  reduce  this  small  force,  and  I  feel  much  1857. 
moral  courage  in  even  hinting  at  an  object  which  I  •'^"^®- 
have  no  intention  of  carrying  out — at  all  events,  till 
after  an  attempt  has  been  made.  You  may  say,  why 
engage  in  these  constant  combats  ?  The  reason  simply 
is  that,  when  attacked,  we  must  defend  ourselves ;  and 
that  to  secure  our  camp,  our  hospitals,  our  stores, 
&c.,  every  living  being  has  to  be  employed.  The 
whole  thing  is  too  gigantic  for  the  force  brought 
against  it.  The  gates  of  Delhi  once  shut,  with  the 
whole  of  your  Native  Army  drilled,  equipped,  and 
organised  within  the  walls,  a  regularly  prepared  force 
should  have  been  employed,  and  the  place  invested. 
Much  as  I  value  the  reduction  of  Delhi,  and  great  as 
I  see  that  the  danger  to  my  own  reputation  will  be  if 
we  fail,  still  I  would  rather  retire  from  it  than  risk 
this  army !  But,  by  God's  blessing,  all  may  be  saved 
yet."  And  in  this  letter,  having  set  forth  the  general 
state  of  the  great  question  before  him,  he  proceeded 
to  speak  of  some  of  its  personal  bearings.  "  My  posi- 
tion," he  said,  "  is  difficult ;  and  not  the  less  so  for  its 
undefined  responsibilities,  which  must  always  be  the 
case  when  a  Commander-in-Chief  is  in  the  same  field. 
But  the  valuable  assistance  which  you  have  given  me, 
in  Brigadier-General  Chamberlain,  will  henceforward 
greatly  lighten  my  anxieties." 

A  few  days  before — on  the  24th  of  June — Brigadier    ju^e  24. 
Chamberlain  had  arrived  in  Camp  to  take  the  post  of  Arrival  of 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Army.   His  coming  had  been  ctenerar 
anticipated  with  the  liveliest  emotions  of  satisfaction.  Chamberlain, 
Some  said  that  he  would  be  worth  a  thousand  men. 
Those  who  had  ever  encouraged  the  bolder  and  the 
more  hazardous  course  of  action  rejoiced  most  of  all, 
for  they  believed  that  his  voice  would  be  lifted  up  in 

VOL.  n.  2  0 


562  FIKST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  favour  of  some  dashing  enterprise.*  It  was,  doubt- 
^^^^  less,  at  that  time  great  gain  to  have  such  a  man  at 
the  elbow  of  the  Commander.f  A  few  months  before 
officialism  would  have  stood  aghast  at  such  a  selec- 
tion. Neville  Chamberiain  had  little  departmental 
experience.  But  the  Departments,  in  that  great  crisis, 
were  not  in  the  highest  honour.  Not  that  they  had 
failed — ^not  that  they  had  done  any  worse  or  any 
better  than  Departments  are  wont  to  do  in  great  con- 
junctures; but  that  the  Delhi  Field  Force  did  not 
want  Departments,  but  men.  There  was  no  want  of 
manliness  in  the  general  Staff,  for  already  within  the 
space  of  three  weeks  one  departmental  chief  had  been 
killed  and  another  disabled.  But  it  was  felt  that  there 
were  men  in  the  country,  cast  in  the  true  heroic 
mould,  with  a  special  genius  for  the  work  in  hand. 
Some  said,  "  Oh,  if  Henry  Lawrence  were  but  here !" 
others  spoke  of  John  Nicholson  as  the  man  for  the 
crisis;  and  all  rejoiced  in  the  advent  of  Neville 
Chamberlain.  There  was  another,  too,  whose  name 
at  that  time  was  in  the  mout^  of  the  general  camp. 
It  was  known  that  Baird  Smith  had  been  summoned 
to  direct  the  engineering  department,  which  had  been 
lamentably  in  want  of  an  efficient  chief.  All  these 
things  were  cheering  to  the  heart  of  the  Crimean 
General,  for  he  mistrusted  his  own  judgment,  and  he 

*  *' Neville  Chamberlain  has  ar-  berlain,  who  fuUj  sees  and  admits 

riyed ;  of  this  we  are  all  glad,  as  well  the  difficulties  I  have  been  placed  in. 

as  the  General.    Wilby's  bold  con-  He  is  favourable  to  the  trial  of  get- 

ceptions  may  now  receive  more  con-  ting  into  the  place,  and  a  reasonaoie 

sideration."  —  Greathed's  Letien. —  hope  of  success  may  be  entertained. 

"Everything  will  be  right,  they  used  I  am  willing  to  .try,  provided  I  can 

to  say,  when  Chamberlain  comes,  see  my  way  to  honourably  secure  my 

and  all  took  courage  when  they  saw  sick  and  wounded,  and  keeping  open 

his  stern  pale  face." — History  of  the  my  supplies." — Sir  H,  Bamara  to 

Sieae  of  Delhi,  Sir  John  Lawrence^  July  1.    MS, 

T  "  You  have  sent  me  a  sound.  Correspondence, 
{rood  auxiliary  in  Brigadier  Cham- 


ARRIVAL  OF  BAIRD  SMITH.  563 

looked  eagerly  for  counsellors  in  whom  he  could      1857. 
confide.  '^"^^ 

Baird  Smith  was  at  Roorkhee,  leading  an  active,  9^^?^®^  ^^^^^ 
busy  life,  thinking  much  of  the  Army  before  Delhi, 
but  never  dreaming  of  taking  part  in  the  conflict, 
when,  in  the  last  week  of  June,  news  reached  him  that 
he  was  wanted  there  to  take  the  place  of  the  Chief 
Engineer,  who  had  completely  broken  down.  Having 
improvised,  with  irregular  despatch,  a  body  of  some 
six  hundred  Pioneers,  and  loaded  fifty  or  sixty  carts 
with  Engineer  tools  and  stores,  he  started  on  the 
29th  of  June,  accompanied  by  Captains  Robertson 
and  Spring.*  Pushing  on  by  forced  marches,  he  was 
within  sixty  miles  of  Delhi, 'when,  on  the  morning  of 
the  2nd  of  July,  after  a  weary  night-march,  an  express 
reached  him  with  the  stirring  news  that  an  assault  on 
Delhi  had  been  planned  for  the  early  dawn  of  the 
morrow,  and  that  all  were  anxious  for  his  presence. 
After  an  hour  or  two  of  sleep,  he  mounted  again,  and 
rode — or,  as  he  said,  "  scrambled" — on ;  getting  what 
he  could  to  carry  him — now  a  fresh  horse,  now  an 
elephant,  and  again  the  coach-and-four  of  the  Rajah 
of  Jheend ;  and  so,  toiling  all  through  the  day  and 
the  night,  he  reached  Delhi  by  three  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  3rd.  Weary  and  worn  out  though 
he  was,  the  prospect  of  the  coming  assault  braced 
him  up  for  the  work  in  hand ;  but  he  had  made  the 
toilsome  march  for  nothing.  The  projected  attack 
was  in  abeyance,  if  it  had  not  wholly  collapsed. 

It  was  the  old  story :  that  fatal  indecision,  which  Postpone- 
had  been  the  bane  of  General  Barnard,  as  leader  of^j^*|^i*|.^'° 
such  an  enterprise  as  this,  had  again,  at  the  eleventh 

*  The  latter  was  going  to  join  his  was  killed  in  an  attack  on  tbe  Native 
regiment  in  the  Punjab.  On  the  troOps  that  had  broken  into  mutiny 
morning  of  his  arrival  at  Jhelum  he    in  that  place. 

2o2 


564  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE, 

1867.  hour,  overthrown  the  bolder  counsels  which  he  had 
July  3.  t)^en  persuaded  to  adopt.  All  the  expected  reinforce- 
ments had  arrived,  and  he  was  stronger  than  he  had 
ever  been  before.*  The  details  of  the  assault  had 
been  arranged;  the  plans  had  been  prepared;  the 
troops  had  been  told  off  for  the  attacking  columns, 
though  they  had  not  yet  been  warned,  and  the  pro- 
ject was  kept  a  secret  in  Camp — when  information 
reached  him  that  the  enemy  were  contemplating  a 
grand  attack  upon  our  position  by  the  agency  of  the 
rebel  regiments  recently  arrived  from  Rohilkund. 
The  time  of  early  morning  appointed  for  the  assault 
— a  little  before  daybreak — would  have  been  pro- 
pitious, for  the  hour  before  dawn  was  dark  and 
cloudy,  and  our  troops  could  have  advanced  unseen 
to  the  City  walls.  But  now  the  opportunity  was 
lost.  The  time  was  coming  for  "  the  moon  and  day 
to  meet,"  and  so  all  hope  of  our  creeping  up,  un- 
seen, beneath  the  shadow  of  the  darkness,  was 
passing  away.  What  Barnard  and  others  called  the 
"  Gamester's  Throw,"  was  not  destined  to  be  thrown 
by  him.f 

*  The  reinforcements  which  had  cording  to  Norman,   our  effective 

1'oined  our  Camp  from  the  Punjab  force  to  six  thousand  six  hundred 

between  the  26th  of  June  and  3rd  of  men  of  all  arms. 
July  were  the  Head-quarters  of  Her        f  The  causes  of  the  abandonment 

MajesW's  Eighth  Foot,  released  by  of  the  enterprise  were  thus  stated 

the  defection  of  the  JuUundhur  Bri-  by  Sir  H.  Barnard :  **  I  had  all  pre- 

gade ;    the   Head-quarters  of   Her  pared  for.  the  aametier's  throw  last 

Majesty's  Sixty-first  Foot;  the  First  night,  when  the  arrival  of  the  re- 

Remment  of  Punjab  Infantry  (Coke's  inforcements  of  Coke's  gave  me  all 

Bines) ;  a  squadron  of  Punjab  Ca-  the  available  means  I  Can  expect.  It 

valry ;  with  two  guns  of  European  was  frustrated,  first,  by  hearing  that 

and  two  of  Native  Horse  Artillery ;  we  were  to  be  attackedin  great  force 

some  European  Reserve  Artillery,  this  morning  at  dawn  of  day,  when 

and  some  SiVh  gimners.  The  want  of  to  a  certainty  our  Camp  would  be 

artillerymen  to  work  our  guns  had  destroyed ;   and,  secontfly,   on  ac- 

beenseverelv  felt,  and  Sir  John  Law-  count   of    serious    dLsaffection    in 

rence  had  done  his  best  to  supply  (Charles)  Nichobon's  Regiment,  all 

them  from  all  sources.  Tbe  reinforce-  the  Hindoos  of  which  I  have  dis- 

iiicnts  detached  above  made  up,  ac-  armed — and  hung  two  of  the  Na- 


TS— ■^^^^^^^■■^^■■■^■■•■•^■l^^^ff— ^^lBV«l^=flS^W^^i^B«^»^^SWlP^"^!^wp^W«BH55^Ff^i"^«w^^"^^^f^W"^^P"™iBM«»^ 


MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  BABEILLY  BRIGADE.  565 

The  threatened  attack  on  our  position,  said  to  have  1867. 
been  fixed  for  the  morning  of  the  3rd,  was  not  then  rj^/^^^'iy 
developed  into  a  fact;  but  at  night  the  Rohilkimd Brigade. 
Brigade* — some  four  thousand  or  five  thousand 
strong,  Horse,  Foot,  and  Artillery — the  Infantry 
in  the  scarlet  uniforms  of  their  old  masters — ^went 
out,  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  and  made  their 
way  towards  Alipore,  in  rear  of  our  Camp,  with 
some  vague  intention  of  cutting  ofi^  our  communica- 
tions by  destroying  a  post  we  had  established  there, 
and  of  intercepting  some  convoys  on  their  way  to  or 
from  the  Ridge.f  A  force  under  Major  Coke,  of  the 
Punjab  Irregular  Army,  who  had  arrived  in  Camp 
on  the  last  day  of  June,  was  sent  out  to  give  battle 
to  the  mutineers.  It  was  a  compact^  well-appointed 
column  of  Cavalry  and  Infantry,  with  some  Horse 
Artillery  guns ;  and  the  leader  was  held  in  repute 
for  his  achievements  in  border  warfare.  But  the  re- 
sult was  a  disappointment.  The  ground  was  marshy ; 
the  progress  was  slow ;  and  we  were  too  late  to  do 
the  work.  Soon  after  daybreak  on  the  4th,  our 
column  came  in  sight  of  the  Sepoy  Regiments  which 
were  then  returning  from  Alepore,  and  our  guns 
were  brought  into  action.     But  Coke  had  not  taken 

live  officers.  The  Ninth  Irregulars  Barnard  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  July 
evinced  evident  sign  of  *  shake,*  and  3, 1869.  MS.  Correspondence. 
as  they  nnmbered  some  four  hundred  *  The  Rohilkund,  or  Bareillj, 
and  fift?,  it  became  a  serious  ques-  Brigade  marched  in  on  the  1st  and 
tion  to  leave  all  these  natives  in  my  2nd  of  July.  It  consisted  of  the 
Camp,  when  all  my  own  forces  were  Eighteenth,  Twenty-eighth,  Twenty- 
employed  elsewhere.  Chamberlain  ninth,  and  Sixty-eighth  Infantry 
admits  that  few  men  were  ever  Regiments;  the  Eignth  IrreguLur 
placed  in  a  more  painfully  respon-  Cavalry,  No.  15  Horse  Battery,  and 
sible  position.  If  I  lose  this  small  two  6-pounder  post  guns  from  Shah- 
force,  it  will  be  felt  all  over  the  jehaopore. 

Punjab,  and  yet,  if  I  do  not  take  f  The  enemy  expected  to  find  a 

Delhi,  the  result  will  be  equally  dis-  convoy  of  wounded  men  going  from 

astrous.    It  will  be  a  good  deed  our  Camp  to  Umballah,  and  another 

when  done! — and  I  will  take  care  with  treasure  and  ammunition  coming 

and  do  it,  with  every  chance  in  my  from  Ferozepore.  But  he  fortunately 

favour,  in  good  will." — Sir  Henry  missed  both  of  them. 


5G6  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  right  account  of  the  dbtance ;  our  light  field  pieces 
^^^'  made  little  impression  upon  the  enemy,  and  our 
Infantry  had  not  come  up  in  time  to  take  part  in 
the  engagement.  The  Sepoy  General,  Bukht  Khan, 
was,  however,  in  no  mood  to  come  to  closer  quarters 
with  us,  so  he  drew  off  his  forces  and  set  his  face 
towards  Delhi,  leaving  behind  him  his  baggage,  consist- 
ing mainly  of  the  night's  plunder — an  ammunition 
waggon  and  some  camel-loads  of  small-arm  cartridges. 
But  they  carried  off  all  their  guns,  and  returned  to 
garrison  not  much  weaker  than  when  they  started. 
"The  distance  we  had  come  from  Camp,"  wrote 
General  Reed  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  "  and  the  deep 
state  of  the  ground,  prevented  our  guns  and  cavalry 
from  pursuing.  In  fact,  the  horses  were  knocked  up, 
and  the  guns  could  scarcely  be  moved,  while  the 
enemy,  being  on  higher  ground,  managed  to  get 
away  their  guns."*  But  if  we  had  gained  no  glory, 
the  enemy  had  added  another  to  their  long  list  of 
failures.  They  had  taken  out  some  thousands  of  their 
best  troops,  and  had  only  burnt  a  village,  plundered 
a  small  isolated  British  post,  and  left  the  plunder 
behind  them  on  the  field.  But,  if  our  eyes  had  not 
been  opened  before  to  the  danger  of  some  day  having 
our  rearward  communications  with  Kumaul  and  the 
Punjab — all  the  upper  country  from  which  we  drew 
our  supplies  and  reinforcements — interrupted  by  a 
swarming  enemy,  who  might  attack  us  at  all  points 

*  MS,Corre9poHdence, — ^The  author  Camp  to  carry  them  in."— Hodson 

of  the  ''  History  of  the  Siege  of  says  that ''  our  loss  was  about  thirty 

Delhi,"  who  was    obviously    with  or  forty  Europeans,  and  three  of  my 

Coke's  force,  adds:  "Our  men  re-  Native  officers  temporarily  disabled." 

turned  completely  exhausted  by  the  Another  writer  {MS.  Journd)  says : 

heat.    Indeed,  many  of  the  Sixty-  "Our  loss  was  one  Irregular,  who 

first  sank  down  beneath  trees,  and  came  from  the  Punjab  with  Coke, 

our  elephants  had  to  be  sent  from  and  an  Artillery  driyer." 


DEATH  OF  GENERAL  BARNARD.         567 

at  the  same  time,  so  as  to  prevent  us  from  effectively  1857 
protecting  our  rear,  this  expedition  of  the  Rohilkund  ^^^J- 
force  dispersed  all  the  films  that  still  obscured  our 
vision;  And  our  Engineer  officers,  therefore,  were 
directed  to  adopt  every  possible  measure  to  render 
the  establishment  of  the  enemy  in  our  rear  a  feat  of 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  accomplishment.;  and  the 
chief  of  these  was  the  destruction  of  the  bridges 
across  the  Nujufgurh  Canal,  except  the  one  imme- 
diately in  our  rear,  which  we  could  always  command 
and  protect. 

Very  soon  Baird  Smith  and  Barnard  were  in  close 
consultation.  The  General  rejoiced  greatly  in  the 
presence  of  his  new  adviser,  and  gave  him  his  un- 
stinted confidence.  The  arrival,  indeed,  of  such  a 
man  as  the  accomplished  Engineer,  who  knew  every 
nook  and  crevice  in  Delhi,  and  who,  before  he  had 
any  expectation  of  being  personally  connected  with 
the  siege,  had  devised  a  plan  of  attack,  was  great  gain 
to  the  besiegmg  force ;  and  Barnard,  whose  ignorance 
of  Indian  warfare  and  mistrust  of  his  own  judgment 
drove  him  to  seek  advice  in  aU  likeliest  quarters, 
would  gladly  have  leant  most  trustingly  on  Smith. 
But  it  was  not  decreed  that  he  should  trust  in  any 
one  much  longer.  His  life  was  now  wearing  to  a 
close. 

On  the  second  day  after  Baird  Smith's  arrival  in  Death  of 
Camp,  cholera  fell  heavily  upon  the  General,  and  B^ma^ 
smote  him  down  with  even  more  than  its  wonted 
suddenness.     General  Reed  had  seen  Barnard  in  the 
early  morning,  and  observed  nothing  peculiar  about 
him ;  but  by  ten  o'clock  on  that  Sunday  morning  a    Juij  6. 
whisper  was  running,  through   the  camp  that  the 
Commander  of  the  Delhi  Field  Force  was  dying. 


568  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  He  had  been  missed  from  his  accustomed  place  at 
^^J  5-  church-service ;  and,  before  many  hours  had  passed, 
his  broken-hearted  son,  who  had  ministered  to  him 
with  all  the  tenderness  of  a  woman,  was  standing 
beside  his  lifeless  body.  "  Tell  them,"  said  the  dying 
General,  speaking  of  his  family  in  England,  almost 
with  his  last  breath — "  tell  them  that  I  die  happy." 
Next  day  his  remains  were  conveyed  on  a  gun-carriage 
to  their  last  resting-place.  "The  only  difference," 
wrote  the  Chaplain  who  performed  the  burial-service, 
"  between  the  General  and  a  private  soldier  consisted 
in  the  length  of  the  mournful  train,  which  followed 
in  solemn  silence  the  mortal  remains  of  the  brave 
warrior." 

From  his  death-bed  he  had  sent  a  message  to  Baird 
Smith,  saying  that  he  trusted  to  him  to  give  such  an 
explanation  of  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed  as  would  save  his  reputation  as  a  soldier. 
And,  indeed,  the  same  generosity  of  feeling  as  he 
had  evinced  in  all  his  endeavours  to  brighten  the 
character  of  his  dead  friend  Anson  was  now  dis- 
played by  others  towards  him ;  for  all  men  spoke  and 
wrote  gently  and  kindly  of  Barnard,  as  of  one  against 
whom  nothing  was  to  be  said  except  that  circum- 
stances were  adverse  to  him.  "  I  found  him,"  wrote 
Baird  Smith,  "  one  of  the  most  loveable  men  I  had 
ever  met — ^rigidly  conscientious  in  every  duty,  a  per- 
fect gentleman  in  manner  and  feeling,  a  brave  soldier, 
but  unequal  to  the  present  crisis  from  an  apparent 
want  of  confidence  in  himself  and  an  inability  to  dis- 
criminate between  the  judgments  of  others." — "  In 
him,"  wrote  General  Reed  to  Sir  John  Lawrence, 
"  the  service  has  lost  a  most  energetic  and  indefati- 
gable officer,  and  I  fear  his  untimely  end  was  in  a 
great  measure  to  be  attributed  to  his  fearless  exposure 


j 


DEATH  OF  GENERAL  BABNARD.         569 

of  himself,  not  only  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  but  to  1857. 
the  more  deadly  rays  of  the  sun." — "  He  was  a  high-  ^^^  ^' 
minded,  excellent  officer,"  said  Mr.  Commissioner 
Greathed ;  "  and  on  European  ground,  in  a  European 
war,  would  have  done  the  State  good  service ;  but  he 
was  too  suddenly  thrust  into  the  most  difficult  active 
service  in  India  that  could  be  imagined,  and  found 
himself  placed  in  command  of  an  Army  which  Ge- 
neral Anson  had  organised,  and  obliged  to  carry  out 
operations  which  he  would  not  himself  have  under- 
taken with  the  means  at  his  command.  With  more 
knowledge  of  the  relative  merits  of  his  troops  and  of 
the  enemy,  he  would,  I  think,  have  achieved  a  great 
success." — "  How  he  has  carried  on  so  long,"  wrote 
Neville  Chamberlain,  "  is  wonderful.  All  day  in  the 
sun,  and  the  most  part  of  the  night  either  walking  up 
and  down  the  main  street  of  the  camp  or  visiting  the 
batteries  and  posts.  His  constitution  was  such  that 
he  could  not  command  sleep  at  the  moments  when  he 
might  have  rested,  and  exhausted  nature  has  given 
way.  We  all  deeply  lament  his  loss,  for  a  kinder  or 
more  noble-minded  officer  never  lived." 


I  need  add  nothing  to  these  tributes  from  the 
foremost  officers  in  the  Camp.  Only  three  months 
before  Barnard  had  written  to  Lord  Canning,  saying : 
"  Cannot  you  find  some  tough  job  to  put  to  me  ?  I 
will  serve  you  faithfully."*  The  "  tough  job"  had 
been  found,  and  a  single  month  of  it  had  sufficed 
to  lay  him  in  his  grave.  But  he  had  redeemed  his 
promise.  He  had  served  the  State  faithfully  to  the 
last  hour  of  his  life. 

*  Ante^  vol  i.,  page  663.    Some    respondence  will  be  found  in  the 
fortbef  extracts  froniBaniard's  Cor-    Appendix. 


570  FIRST  WEEKS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  And  here  fitly  closes  the  second  part  of  this  Story 

^^^^'  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi.  It  is  the  story  of  a  succession 
of  profitless  episodes — desultory  in  narration  as  in 
fact ;  the  story  of  a  month's  fighting  with  no  results 
but  loss  of  life,  waste  of  material  resources,  and  bitter 
disappointment  in  all  the  dwelling-places  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  India,  as  week  after  week  passed  away,  and 
every  fresh  report  of  the  fall  of  Delhi  was  proved  to 
be  a  mockery  and  a  Ue. 


f  BOGBESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OENEEAL  BEED  IN  COMICAKD— EXEETI0N8  OF  BAIKD  6H1  ! 
OF  BESOURCES — QUESTION  OF  ASSAULT  BENEWED— £N< 
THE  ENEMY — HOPES  OF  THE    ENGLISH — ASSAULT    ABA  I 
TUBE  OF  GENERAL  BEED — BBIGADIEB  WILSON  IN  COMMA] 
AND   EFFOBTS— SOCIAL  ASPECTS   OF    THE   CAMP — STAT  ! 
OABBISON. 

Fbom  the  first  hour  of  his  appearan! 
Baird  Smith  had  begun  to  examine  the 
means  and  resources  at  his  disposal, 
great  opinion  of  the  power  of  the  plac: 
siege,  if  the  besiegers  had  adequate  mali 
prosecution.  But  never  was  a  besiegiii 
worse  plight  for  the  conduct  of  great  ope  i 
the  British  Army  before  Delhi.  The  Chi 
found  that  his  siege  ordnance  consisted 
pounders,  nine  18-pounders,  six  8-inch  ii 
two  or  three  8-inch  howitzers.  The  <! 
much  stronger  in  Artillery.  They  coul 
any  point  open  to  attack  from  twenty-fi 
guns,  and  ten  or  twelve  mortars — ^all  as 
as  our  own.  But  there  was  something 
than  this.  If  we  had  possessed  more  gu 
not  have  used  them,  for  there  was  a  depl 
of  ammunition.  Baird  Smith  stood  ag 
discovery  that  the  shot  in  store  for  the 
was  scarcely  equal  to  the  requirements 
siege,  and  there  was  no  immediate  pros 
receipt  of  further  supplies;    whilst,  on 


Assault. 


572  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1867.  hand,  the  enemy  were  furnished  with  the  inex- 
^^^•'  haustible  resources  of  the  great  Delhi  Magazine.  It 
was  plain,  therefore,  that  in  this  helpless  state  it 
would  have  been  madness  to  commence  siege  opera- 
tions, which  must  have  been  speedily  abandoned  from 
the  exhaustion  of  our  material  supplies. 
Queationof  But  the  question  still  suggested  itself:  "Might  not 
the  place  be  carried  by  assault  ?"  It  was  easier  to  an- 
swer this  in  the  affirmative.  "  Here,"  he  argued,  "  the 
relative  forces  are  materially  changed  in  value.  We 
have  a  highly  disciplined  body  under  a  single  head, 
completely  in  hand,  full  of  pluck,  and  anxious  to 
attack,  and  with  almost  unlimited  self-reliance.  The 
enemy  is  without  any  head,  not  in  hand  at  all,  so  far 
broken  in  spirit  that  he  has  never  met  us  in  battle— 
with  any  odds  in  his  favour — without  being  beaten. 
It  is  very  true  that  his  numbers  much  exceed  ours, 
and  that  in  a  town,  'in  street-fighting,  discipline  is  of 
less  value  than  in  the  open  battle-field.  It  is  true, 
also,  that  assaults  axe  proverbially  precarious.  Nar 
poleon  said  of  them,  *  a  dog  or  a  goose  may  decide 
their  issues.'  The  results  of  failure  would  be  as 
terrible  and  depressing  as  those  of  success  would  be 
glorious  and  inspiriting."*  All  these  things  he  de- 
liberately considered ;  but,  weighing  the  chances  on 
either  side,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  "  the  pro- 
babilities of  success  were  far  greater  than  those  of 
failure,  and  the  reasons  justifying  an  assault  stronger 
than  those  which  justified  inaction."  He  therefore 
urged  upon  the  General,  in  an  official  letter,  the 
advantages  of  an  assault  by  escalade,  the  gates  which 
we  desired  to  force  being  blown  in  by  powder-bags. 
"  And,"  he  wrote,  four  months  afterwards,  "  looking 
back  now  with  the  full  advantages  of  actual  ex- 

*  MS.  Correspondence  of  Colonel  Baird  Smitlt 


GENERAL  EEED  IN  COIOIAND.  573 

perience,  and  with,  I  believe,  very  little  disposition      1867. 
to  maintain  a  foregone  conclusion,  because  it  was       "^^^y- 
foregone,  I  think  at  this  moment,  if  we  had  assaulted 
any  time  between  the  4th  and  14th  of  July,  we 
should  have  carried  the  place."  * 

When  the  Engineer's  letter  reached  the  Head-Quar-  General  Reed 
ters  of  the  Force,  Sir  Henry  Barnard  was  dead,  or 
dying,  t  The  command  was  then  assumed  by  General 
Reed.  Since  he  had  been  in  the  Delhi  Camp,  with 
no  immediate  responsibility  upon  him,  his  health  had 
improved ;  and  although  he  still  appeared  to  others, 
especially  to  men  with  the  inexhaustible  energies  of 
Baird  Smith,  a  feeble  invalid,  he  believed  himself  to 
be  equal  to  the  work,  and  wrote  that,  "  with  the  aid 
of  the  Almighty,  he  trusted  to  carry  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue,"  To  this  officer  Baird  Smith's  plan  of 
assault  was  submitted.  He  did  not  immediately 
reject  it.  On  the  9th,  he  Avrote  to  Sir  John  Law- 
rence, saying,  "  We  still  have  the  assault  in  contem- 
plation, the  details  of  which  are  not  yet  quite  com- 
pleted by  the  Engineers'  Department  under  Baird 
Smith."  But  the  delay,  wheLr  originating  in  the 
Engineers'  Department,  or  in  the  councils  of  the 
General,  was  fatal  to  the  scheme;  and,  as  Baird 
Smith  afterwards  wrote,  "the  opportunity  passed 
away,  and  the  question  of  assault  or  no  assault 
finally  resolved  itself  into  doing  nothing  by  sheer 

*  MS.  Correspondence  of  Colonel  General  were  buried  at  ten  o'clock 

Baird  Smith.  on  that  day;  and  Mr.  Rotton  (C^p- 

t  I  have  here  again  to  notice  the  Iain's  Narrative),  who  performed  the 

confusion  of  dates,  of  which  I  have  funeral  service,  says  most  distinctly 

spoken  in  a  former  note.     Baird  that  Barnard  died  at  three  o'doclc 

Smith,  in  a  letter  before  me,  says,  on  Sunday  afternoon,  July  5.  There 

"  My  letter  recommending  the  mea-  is  not  the  least  doubt  of  the  fact, 

sure  went  in  on  the  6th.    I  doubt  if  Baird  Smith's  letter,  therefore,  was 

Sir  Henry  Barnard  ever  saw  it,  as  not  sent  in  until  after  Barnard's 

he  died  a  day  or  two  afterwards."  death,  unless  he  is  wrong  about  tlie 

But  Mr.  Greatbed,  in  a  letter  dated  date  of  its  despatch. 
Jiily  6,  says  that  the  remains  of  the 


574  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  force  of  circumstances."  "  Whatever  Ls,"  he  added, 
July.  « being  best,  I  am  content  with  things  as  they  are, 
and  I  am  very  far  indeed  from  attaching  the  slightest 
blame  to  those  who  differed  from  me  on  the  question 
of  assaulting.  They,  doubtless,  examined  the  proba- 
bilities as  conscientiously  as  -I  did,  but  realised  them 
differently,  and  came  to  a  contrary  conclusion.  The 
difficulties  were  great  enough,  and  the  consequences 
grave  enough,  to  require  every  man  to  form  and  to 
hold  to  his  own  opinion,  and  yet  to  promote  tolera- 
tion at  differences — at  any  rate,  that  was  my  view 
of  the  case,  right  or  wrong."  And,  truly,  it  was  very 
right.  For  there  is  nothing,  perhaps,  which  calls 
for  more  toleration  than  the  solution  of  great  military 
questions,  when  there  are  antagonistic  arrays  of  diffi- 
culties to  be  considered.  It  has  been  said  of  other 
places  than  Delhi,  which  have  stood  protracted  sieges, 
that  they  might  have  been  carried  by  assault  within 
the  first  hour  of  our  appearance  before  them.  It 
was  said  of  Bhurtpore;  it  was  said  of  Sebastopol; 
but  neither  Combermere  nor  Raglan  thought  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  risk  the  chance  of  a  failure  by 
attempting  it. 
Action  of  The  circumstances,  the  force  of  which  was  said  by 

"  ^  '  the  Chief  Engineer  to  have  settled  the  momentous 
question  of  assault  or  no  assault,  were  these.  Whilst 
in  the  English  Camp  our  people  were  considering  the 
best  means  of  attacking  the  enemy  within  the  walls  of 
Delhi,  the  enemy  were  making  renewed  attacks  on 
the  British  Camp  outside  the  walls ;  and  every  new 
attack  reduced  our  scanty  numbers.  On  the  9th 
of  July  they  came  out  .in  force  against  us.  In- 
telligence of  their  design  reached  General  Reed  in  the 
morning,  and  he  was  in  some  measure  prepared  for 
them;  but  he  scarcely  expected  a  daring  inroad  of 


THE  MOUND  PICQUETS.  575 

rebel  Cavialry  into  our  Camp.  •  But  about  ten  o'clock,!  1857. 
through  a  mist  of  heavy  rain,  our  English  officers,  ^^b  9- 
on  the  "Mound^  discerned  their  approach.  Here, 
on  a  piece  of  elevated  ground  to  the  right  rear  of 
our  Camp,  was  planted  a  battery  of  three  heavy 
guns,  with  the  usual  Infantry  Picquet.  In  addition 
to  this  a  Cavalry  Picquet  was  thrown  out,  somewhat 
in  advance  of  the  Mound ;  and  this  now  consisted  of 
a  party  of  Carabineers,  two  Horse  Artillery  guns  of 
Tombs's  troop,  and  a  detachment  of  the  Ninth  Irre- 
gular Cavalry,  under  a  Native  officer,  which  occu- 
pied the  extreme  point  in  advance.J    Perplexed  by 

*  "  We  had  a  sharp  affair  with  porary  accoimts  ofteu  differ  greatly 

the   enemy  yesterday.     I  had  re*  with  respect  to  the  time  of  day. 
ceived   a  report   in    the  morning        X  "The  Mound  vaa  abont  half- 

that  they  were  coming  out  in  force  way  between  the  Bidge   and  the 

on  the  right,  and  Major  Beid  applied  Canal,  which  protected  the  British 

for   their   usual   remforcement   at  rear.     It  was   on  the  right  rear 

Hindoo   Bao's   house,   which  was  flank  of  Camp,  and  overlooked  the 

sent,  and  the  rest  of  the  troops  held  Subzee-ronndee.  Between  the  Mound 

in  readiness  to  turn  out.   About  ten  and  the  Canal  there  were  several 

A.M.  a  party  of  insurgent  Sowars  clumps  of  trees,  and  the  Canal-bank 

made  a  most  daring  inroad  to  the  being  also  fringed  with  them,  the 

rear  of  our  right  by  a  road  leading  view  in  that  direction  was  confused 

to  the  Qrand  Trunk.     These  men  and  interrupted,  and  for  this  reason 

were  dressed  exactly  like  the  Ninth  a  Cavalry  picquet  was  thrown  out 

Irregulars,  which  led  to  the  snppo-  on  the  Canal-bank,  somewhat  in  ad- 

sition  that  part  of  that  regiment,  vance  of  the  Mound,  from  which, 

which  was  on  picquet  on  that  flank,  however,  the  videttes  of  the  Cavalry 

had  mutinied ;  out  it  turned  out  that  picqnet  were  visible.  .  . .  The  guns 

the  greater  part  of  them,  at  least,  and  Carabineers  were  not  stationed 

belonged  to  the  Eighth  Irregukrs  on  the  Mound,  but  at  the  foot  of 

from  Bareilly.     About  a  hundred  and  on  the  right  flank  of  it,  so  that 

men  of  their  people  actually  swent  facing  to  their  proper  front — the 

through  the  nght  of  our  camp  by  Subzee-mundee — ^the  Mound  was  on 

the  rear,  by  the  t)ridge  adjoining  the  their  left  hand  and  the  Canal  on 

burial-ground." — Oen^al  Reed  to  Sir  their  rij|;ht.  The  ground  on  the  right 

John  Latcrenee,  July  10, 1857.  MS.  of  the  picquet  was  somewhat  elevated, 

f  It  will  have  been  seen  that,  in  and  on  tnis  the  tents  of  the  men 

the  preceding  note.  General  Beed  were  pitched  and  the  Cavalry  horses 

says  that  the  enemjr  appeared  about  picqueted.     The  guns  were,  as  it 

ten    o'clock.     Major    Beid    says,  were,  in  a  hollow,  with  the  Mound 

'*  the  action  commenced  about  seven  on  their  left  and  the  elevated  ground 

o'clock."  The  latter  may  refer  to  the  on  the  right.    To  their  front  was  a 

opening  of  the  enemy's  guns.  Major  small  breastwork,  to  which  it  was 

Tombs  says  that,  to  the  best  of  his  ordered  that  the  guns  should  be  run 

recollection,  it  was  about  three  F.v.  up  and  fought  behind  in  case  of  an 

when  he  first  learnt  that  the  troopers  attack,  and  until  the  picquet  could 

were  entering  our  Camp.    Cotem-  be  reinforced."— If^.  Memorandum, 


576  PROGRESS  OF  TH£  SIEGE. 

1857.  the  appearance  of  the  familiar  uniform  of  the  Irre- 
July.  gular  Cavaky  of  our  own  Picquets,  our  people  at  first 
thought  that  they  had  been  driven  in  by  the  advance 
of  the  enemy ;  and  so  the  guns,  which  might  have 
opened  upon  them,  were  pointed  harmlessly  at  the 
troopers.*  But  there  was  something  much  worse 
than  this.  The  mistake  of  the  British  Artillery  was 
followed  by  the  disgrace  of  the  British  Cavalry. 
As  the  Irregulars  of  the  Eighth  from  Delhi  swept  on, 
the  detachment  of  Carabineers,  which  formed  a  part 
of  the  Picquet,  turned  and  fled.  Stillman,  who  com- 
manded them,  remained  alone  at  his  post.  The  first 
error  was  soon  discovered.  Hills,  who  was  in  charge 
of  the  artillery — two  horse-artillery  guns— of  the 
Picquet,  saw  presently  that  it  was  a  hostile  attack, 
and  ordered  out  his  guns  for  action.  But  the  enemy 
were  upon  him ;  he  had  not  time  to  open  fire.  In 
this  emergency  the  dashing  Artillery  subaltern — a 
man  of  light  weight  and  short  stature,  young  in  years, 
but  with  the  coolness  of  a  veteran  and  the  courage  of 
a  giant — set  spurs  to  his  horse  and  rushed  into  the 
midst  of  the  advancing  troopers,  cutting  right  and 
left  at  them  with  good  effect,  until  two  of  them 
charged  him  at  the  same  time,  and  by  the  shock  of 

*   The   actual    assailants   were  ment  proceeded  to  Alipore,  for  tlie 

troopers  of  the   Eighth  Irregular  purpose  of  keeping  open  the  com- 

Cavidry,  who  had  mutinied  at  Ba-  munication  wita  tlie  rear.^    Larffc 

reilly;  but  it  was  more  than  sus-  detachments   were   sent    into    the 

pected  that  the  men  of  the  Ninth  divisions  of  Saharunpore,  Soneput, 

were  cognisant  of  and  favoured  the  and  Paneput.    On  the  21st  of  July, 

attack.     It  has  been  seen  {Note,  in  consequence  of  a  large  desertiou 

ante,  page  565)  that  General  Barnard  from  the  Soneput  detachment,  it  was 

had    oeen  very  doubtful   of  their  deemed  ad?isaDle  to  march  the  regi- 

fidelity.    There  had  been  many  de-  ment  back  towards  the  Punjab." — 

sertions  &om  their  ranks,  but  no  Parliament-ary  Betum  of  Regiments 

signs  of  open  mutiny.    It  may  be  that  hate  Mutinied.    A  wing  of  the 

stated  here  that  after  this  affair  of  Ninth  Irregular  had  accompanied  the 

the  9th  of  July,  the  regiment  was  first  siege-train  to  Delhi  {ante,  paj:e 

quietly  moved   out  of   Camp,  ap-  189),  and  the  other  (dead-Quarters) 

parently  on  dufy.    "On  the  11th  of  wing  had  joined  our  Camp  on  the 

July  the  Head-Quarters  of  the  Regi-  2nd  of  July. 


HILLS  AKD  TOMBS.  577 

the  collision,  both  horse  and  rider  were  thrown  3857. 
violently  to  the  ground.  Regaining  his  feet  after  his  ^^^J  ^• 
assailants  had  passed  on,  he  recovered  his  sword  in 
time  to  renew  the  combat  with  three  Sowars,  two 
mounted  and  one  on  foot.  The  two  first  he  cut 
down,*  and  then  engaged  the  third,  a  young,  active 
swordsman  of  good  courage,  who  came  fresh  to  the 
encounter,  whilst  Hills,  scant  of  breath  and  shaken 
by  his  fall,  had  lost  all  his  first  strength,  but  none  of 
his  first  courage.  The  heavy  cloak,  too,  which  he 
wore,  as  a  protection  against  the  rain,  dragged  at 
his  throat,  and  well-nigh  choked  him.  The  chances 
were  now  fearfully  against  him.  Twice  he  fired,  but 
his  pistol  snapped,  and  then  he  cut  at  his  opponent's 
shoulder.  The  blow  did  not  take  effect;  and  the 
trooper,  watching  his  opportunity,  clutched  at  the 
English  subaltern's  sword  and  wrested  it  from  him. 
Hills  then  closed  with  his  enemy,  grappled  him  so 
that  he  could  not  strike  out  with  the  sabre,  and  smote 
him  with  clenched  fist  again  and  again  on  the  face, 
until  the  Englishman  slipped  and  fell  to  the  ground. 
The  "Mound"  was  a  favourite  place  of  gathering 
in  Camp.  It  commonly  happened  that  many  of  our 
oflicers  were  to  be  seen  there,  watching  the  progress 
of  events  below,  or  discussing  the  operations  of  the 
siege.  But  the  heavy  rain  of  the  9th  of  July  had 
driven  our  people  to  the  shelter  of  their  tents. 
Among  others.  Major  Tombs  was  in  the  Artillery 
mess-tent— one  of  the  cheeriest  places  in  Camp — 
when  a  trooper  of  the  Ninth  Irregular  Cavalry,  in  a 
state  of  high  excitement,  rode  up  and  asked  the  way 

*   "  The   first  I   wounded   and  thouglit  I  had  killed  him ;  apparently 

dropped  him  from  his  horse ;   the  he  must  have  clunfi:  to  his  norse,  for 

second  charged  me  with  a  lance.    I  he  disappeared.    The  wounded  man 

put  it  aside,  and  caught  him  an  then  came  up,  but  got   his  skull 

awful  gash  on  the  head  and  face.    I  split." — HilU  Narrative, 

VOL.  II.  2  P 


578  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1587.      to  the  General's  quarters.     In  reply  to  a  question 
Julj  9.     f^Qjj^  Tombs,  he  said  that  the  enemy  were  showing  in 
front  of  our  picquets ;  but  the  man's  words  seemed 
but  scantly  to  express  all  that  was  in  him,  so  Tombs 
hurried  to  his  own  tent,  took  his  sword  and  revolver, 
and  ordering  his  horse  to  be  brought  after  him, 
walked  down  to  the  Mound  Picquet.      As  he  ap- 
proached the  post,  he  saw  the  Carabineers  drawn  up 
in  mounted  array,  and  our  guns  getting  ready  for 
action.    In  a  minute  there  was  a  tremendous  rush  of 
Irregular  Horse,  the  troopers  brandishing  their  swords 
and  vociferating  lustily ;  and  then  there  was  to  be 
seen  the  sad  spectacle  of  our  Dragoons  broken  and 
fljring  to  the  rear,  whilst  one  of  our  guns  went  right- 
about^ some  of  the  horses  mounted  and  some  rider- 
less, and  galloped  towards  our  Camp.     Tombs  was 
now  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy,  who  were  striking 
at  him  from  all  sides,  but  with  no  effect.     A  man 
of  a  noble  presence,  tall,  strong,  of  robust  frame  and 
handsome  countenance,   dark-haired,   dark-bearded, 
and  of  swart  complexion,  he  was,  in  all  outward 
semblance,  the  model  of  a  Feringhee  warrior ;  and  the 
heroic  aspect  truly  expressed  the  heroic  qualities  of 
the  man.     There  was  no  finei^  soldier  in  the  Camp. 
Threading  his  way  adroitly  through  the  black  horse- 
men, he  ascended  the  Mound,   and  looking  down 
into  the   hollow,   where   his   two   guns   had  been 
posted,  he  saw  the  remaining  one  overturned,  the 
horses  on  the  ground,  struggling  in  their  harness 
or   dead,    with    some   slain    or   wounded   gunners 
beside    them.      Near    the    gun    he    saw   the   pro- 
strate body  of  Hills,   apparently  entangled  in   his 
cloak,  with  a  dismounted  Sowar  standing  over  him 
with  drawn  sword,  about  to  administer  the  death- 
stroke.     At  this  tune  Tombs  was  some  thirty  paces 


HILLS  AND  TOMBS.  579 

from  his  friend.  He  could  not  hope  to  reach  the  1857. 
enemy  in  time  to  cut  him  down  with  the  sabre,  so  ^  ^' 
resting  his  revolver  on  his  left  arm,  he  took  steady 
aim  at  the  trooper,  who  was  turned  full-breasted 
towards  him,  and  shot  him  through  the  body.  The 
blood  oozed  out  through  the  white  tunic  of  the 
wounded  rebel,  and,  for  a  while  at  least.  Hills  was 
saved. 

But  the  danger  was  not  yet  passed.  Tombs  helped 
his  fallen  subaltern  to  rise,  and  together  they 
ascended  the  slope  of  the  Mound.  As  they  were 
watching  the  movements  of  the  enemy,  they  saw  a 
little  way  beneath  them  another  dismounted  Sowar, 
who  was  walking  away  with  Hills'  revolver  in  his 
hand.  They  made  at  once  towards  him.  He  was  a 
young,  strong,  active  trooper,  who  turned  and  attacked 
them  with  his  sword,  as  one  well  skilled  in  the  use  of 
the  weapon.  His  first  blow  aimed  at  Hills  was  par- 
ried. Then  he.  struck  at  Tombs,  who  with  like 
i  address  guarded  the  cut.    But  the  third  blow,  struck 

I  with  despairing  energy,,  as  he  sprung  upon  the  younger 

of  his  opponents,  broke  down  Hills'  guard,  and  clove 

i  the  skull  to  the  brain.     In  a  moment  he  had  turned 

I 

I  upon  Tombs,  who  coolly  parried  the  blow  and  drove 

his  sword  right  through  the  trooper's  body.* 

*  Tiib  narrative  differs  from  some  and  shammed  dead).    I  told  Tombs, 

of  the  pnblished  versions  of  this  and  ve  vent  at  him."    But  it  is  the 

incident,  and,  in  one  respect  at  least,  assured  belief  of  Tombs,  who  saw 

from  the   account  (quoted  above)  tlie  first  trooper  fall,  and  the  blood 

written  by  Hills  himself,  and  printed  streaming  from  the  man's  chest  over 

at  the  time  in  the  English  journals,  his  white  tunic,  that  their  second 

Hills  says  that  the  Sowar  with  whom  antagonist  was  "  another  dismounted 

he  and  Tombs  had  the  second  en-  Sowar."  Ca(erisparibiu,iiienwoT]ld 

counter  was  the  very  man  who  had  seem  to  be  more  reason  to  accept 

attacked  him  in  the  first  instance,  Tombs's  version  than  that  of  his 

and  from  whom  his  friend  had  saved  subaltern,  as  the  circumstances  of 

him.     •'  When  we  got  down,"  he  the  former  were  more  favourable  to 

says,  "  I  saw  the  very  roan  Tombs  cool  and  accurate  observation.    And 

had  saved  me  from  moving  off  with  I  would  rather  believe  this  version, 

my  pistol  (he  had  only  been  wounded,  as  the  one  that  bent  illustrates  the 

2p2 


580  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  Meanwhile,   the  Sowars,  flushed  with   their  first 

July  9.  success,  were  sweeping  onwards  through  our  picquets, 
to  the  main  street  of  our  Camp.  What  could  ac- 
count for  the  rout  of  the  Carabineers — ^what  could 
explain  the  flight  of  the  Horse  Artillery  ?*  The  utmost 
confusion  prevailed.  Our  people  turned  out  in  ex- 
cited haste,  not  knowing  what  it  all  portended. 
The  road  which  the  rebel-troopers  had  taken  led  to 
the  ArtUlery  Lines.  There  was  a  Native  troop  of 
Horse  Artillery  there  under  Major  Renny ;  and  the 
Sowars  called  upon  them  to  fraternise  with  their 
party,  and  to  march  back  with  them  to  Delhi.  The 
loyal  Natives  sternly  replied  that  they  obeyed  only 
their  own  officers.  Near  them  was  Henry  Olpherts' 
European  troop,  unlimbered  and  ready  for  immediate 
action.  The  black  troop  was  between  them  and  the 
enemy;  but  the  Native  gunners  called  upon  the 
white  troopers  to  fire  through  their  bodies.  There 
was  no  need  for  this.  The  whole-  Camp  was  now 
astir.  For  a  little  while  the  Sowars  had  profited  by 
the  uncertainty  and  perplexity  in  our  Camp.     But 

splendour  of  the  achievement.     If  officer,  describing  what  he  saw,  says : 

the  same  Sowar  were  the  hero  of  ''  A  sun  of  the  Horse  Artillery,  that 

both    combats,    he    assuredly    well  had  oeen  on  picquet  on  our  ris^ht, 

earned  bj  that  morning's  fighting  had  just  retreated  into  Camp,  into 

the  Behaudur-Shah  Cross  for  per-  our  main  street,  close  to  my  tent." 

sonid  bravery.    I  should  not  omit  to  The  statement  of  Major  (Sir  Henry) 

add  that  it  has  been  recorded  that  Tombs,  as  embodied  in  the  text,  is 

*'  Tombs's  account  of  the  affair  of  the  Quite   conclusive   on   the    subject. 

9th,  when  the  enemy's  Horse  rode  With  respect  to  the  flight  of  the 

through  our  Camp,  was  torn  up  by  Carabineers,  General  Reed  writes : 

Colonel  Mackenzie.  He  had  omitted  "  In  the  confusion,  I  am  sorry  to 

to  say  a  word  about   himself,  so  say  a  detachment  of  the  Carabineers, 

Mackenzie  gave  the  General  the  true  who  were  esoortins  the  guns,  gave 

version." — Great hed^t  Letters,   Both  way,  in  spite  of  the  enoeavours  of 

Tombs  and  Hills  were  deservedly  re-  their  officers  to  stop  them.    These 

warded  with  the  Victoria  Cross.  men  I  propose  to  dismount  as  a  dia- 

*  It  seems  to  have  been  a  auestion  grace  to  them.     It  would  appear 

among  earlier  writers  whetner  the  that  they  are  composed  mostly  of 

artillery  on  picquet  duty  did  run  recriuts,  and,  being  mounted  on  half- 

away ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  broken  horses,  do  not  know  how  to 

the  fact.    In  a  letter  written  from  manage  them."  —  MS,  Correipond* 

Camp  on  the  same  day,  an  artillery  ence. 


m  JiLu.iN  M.I        ■■■  [  iL     ^  j-i.  w_»,^i   sJM    ii.Pi  ^.1      ■■  ■       ■-■■_■■      <^^^^tmt^^^^^mf^^ 


BENNY  AND  FAGAN.  581 

their  triumph  was  soon  turned  to  defeat,  and  they  1867. 
fled  back  to  Delhi,  leaving  many  of  these  audacious  ^^^  ^* 
rebels  behind  them,  including  the  originator  of  the 
perilous  exploit.*  That  so  many  of  them  escaped  un- 
scathed, returning  by  the  way  they  had  come,  is  not 
to  be  accounted  for,  except  on  the  ground  of  surprise 
and  confusion.  Acts  of  individual  gallantry  are  re- 
corded— ^none  more  lustrous  than  those  scored  up  to 
the  honour  of  the  brave  artillerymen,  Renny  and 
Fagan.f  But  some  dark  clouds  overshadowed  the 
scene.  It  is  related  that  in  the  absence  of  tangible 
enemies,  some  of  our  soldiery,  who  turned  out  on 
this  occasion,  butchered  a  number  of  unoffending 
camp-followers,  servants,  and  others,  who  were  hud- 
dling together,  in  vague  alarm,  near  the  Christian 
churchyard.  No  loyalty,  no  fidelity,  no  patient  good 
service,  on  the  part  of  these  poor  people,  could  ex- 
tinguish for  a  moment  the  fierce  hatred  which  pos- 
sessed our  white  soldiers  against  all  who  wore  the 
dusky  livery  of  the  East. 

This  bold  incursion  of  Irregulars  into  our  Camp  Affairs  in  the 
did  not  supply  all  the  day's  fighting.     All  through  Subzee- 
the  morning  a  brisk  cannonade  had  been  maintained         "' 
by  the  enemy,  and  answered  by  our  guns  on  the 
Right.      It  was  soon  apparent,  however,   that  the 

*  ''They  were  at  first  supposed  suddenly  crossed  a  bridge  and  "gal- 

to   be  the  Ninth,  but,  being  dis-  loped  off  to  Delhi." — See  OreaiketPs 

covered,  were  charged  by  Brigadier  and  Hodeon'e  Letters, 

Grant  with  his  Lancers,  and  Captain  f    Renny  is  said  to  have  shot 

Hodson  with  the  Guides,  who  drove  several  of  the  rebel  troopers  with  his 

them  out  of  Cantonments." — General  revolver.    Fagan  rushea  out  of  his 

Reed  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,     MS,  tent  with  only  a  pen  in  his  hand,  got 

Correspondence.     This,  however,  as  together  a  few  men,  killed  fifteen  of 

regards  Hodson's  part  in  the  expul-  the    enemy,   and    returned  with  a 

sion  of    the    enemy,  is  erroneous,  sword  and  Minie  rifle,  of  wliich  he 

Hodsou  started  in  pursuit  with  the  had  ''  eased"  a  Bessaldar  of  the  Ir- 

Guides,  mistook  the  enemy  for  our  regulars.  —  Norman* s   Narrative, — 

own  people,  and  rode  some  three  Oreatied's  Letters, — History  of  the 

miles  parallel  to  them,  until  they  Sie^e  of  Delhi, 


582  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  rebel  musketeers  were  as  active  as  their  gunners.  A 
July  9.  body  of  Sepoys  had  posted  themselves  in  the  suburb 
of  the  Subzee-mundee,  where,  screened  and  aided  by 
houses  and  walled  gardens,  and  other  enclosures, 
they  kept  up  a  galling  fire  on  our  picquets.  This 
could  not  be  endured ;  so  a  column  was  formed  to 
attack  and  dislodge  them.  It  consisted  of  the  Head- 
Quarters  and  two  companies  of  the  Sixtieth  Rifles, 
detachments  of  the  Eighth  and  Sixty-first  Foot,  and 
the  Fourth  Sikh  Infantry,  with  the  six  guns  of 
Major  Scott's  battery;  whilst  Major  Reid  was  in- 
structed to  co-operate  with  them  with  such  men  as 
could  be  spared  from  the  Main  Picquet.  Commanded 
by  General  Chamberlain,  our  column  swept  through 
the  Subzee-mundee,  and  was  soon  in  close  conflict 
with  the  insurgents.  Posted  as  they  were,  and  often 
firing  down  upon  us  from  some  elevated  structure,  it 
was  not  easy  to  dislodge  them.  The  fighting  was  of 
the  kind  most  distasteful  and  most  destructive  to  our 
British  soldiery.  But  their  stubborn  courage  pre- 
vailed at  last.  The  work  was  done  thoroughly;* 
but  such  thorough  work  always  was  done  by  us,  at 
heavy  cost  to  our  ever-decreasing  force.  We  could 
ill  spare  at  that  time  a  single  fighting  man ;  but  the 
cotemporary  historians  relate  that  more  than  two 
hundred  of  our  people  were  killed  or  disabled  on 
that  9th  of  July.t  And  so  the  chances  of  a  suc- 
cessful assault  upon  the  city  began  to  dwindle  into  a 
certainty  of  failure ;  and  those  who  had  urged  it  with 

•  "  Eventually  everything  was  f  The  number  stated  is  two  bun- 
effected  that  was  desired,  our  success  dred  and  twenty-three,  including  one 
being  greatly  aided  by  the  admirable  officer  killed  and  eight  wounded, 
and  steady  practice  of  Major  Scott's  The  officer  killed  was  Captain  Mount- 
battery  under  a  heavv  fire— eleven  steven,  of  the  Eighth.  There  was 
men  \)emg  put '  hors  ae  combat '  out  heavy  carnage  in  the  enemy's  ranks, 
of  its  small  complement." — Norman, 


ATTACK  ON  THE  MAIN  PICQOET.  583 

the  greatest  confidence,  now  had  their  misgivings.*  1857. 
It  is  true  that  the  carnage  among  the  enemy  had  ^^^  ^• 
been  far  greater  than  in  our  ranks;  but  they  had 
never  been  numerically  stronger  than  at  that  time, 
and  the  heaps  of  dead  which  they  left  behind  them 
diminished  but  little  the  vital  resources  of  that  enor- 
mous garrison. 

And,  a  few  days  afterwards,  this  question  of  as-  Action  of 
sault,  as  Baird  Smith  wrote,  had  finally  "  resolved ''^^^^  ■^** 
itself  into  nothing  by  sheer  force  of  circumstances ;" 
for  there  was  another  hard  fight,  and  another  long 
list  of  casualties.  On  the  14th,  the  enemy  again 
came  out  in  force  to  the  attack  of  our  position  on  the 
Right.  It  was  said  that  they  had  vowed  to  carry 
our  batteries,  and  destroy  that  formidable  picquet  at 
Hindoo  Rao's  house,  which  had  sent  the  message  of 
death  to  so  many  of  their  comrades.  Becher's  spies 
had  gained  intelligence  of  the  movement,  and  Reid 
had  been  warned  of  the  coming  onslaught.  He  was 
quite  ready  for  them,  and  said,  laughingly,  that  they 
had  attacked  him  and  been  beaten  nineteen  times, 
and  that  he  did  not  expect  to  be  worsted  on  the 
twentieth.  The  attack  commenced  about  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  For  some  time  our  people  stood  on 
the  defensive,  keeping  the  mutineers  at  bay.  Both 
forces  were  under  cover,  and  little  execution  was 
done.  But  when  the  sun  was  going  down,  Neville 
Chamberlain  saw  that  the  time  had  come  to  resort  to 
other  measures.  So  despatching  a  letter  to  Reid, 
desiring  him  to  be  prepared  to  attack  the  enemy,  and 
act  in  concert  with  him,  he  sent  Showers  with  another 
column,  consisting  of  detachments  of  the  First  Euro- 

•  See  letters  of  Hervey  Greathed.    moment  they  (the  enemy)  may  be 

ide  of 


Writing  on  the  10th,  he  says :  "  It    considered  in  the  plenitude  of  their 
may  now  be  prudent  to  defer  the    force,"  &c.  &c, 
attack  for  a  snort  time,  for  at  this 


584 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 


1867. 

July  14. 


peans,  the  75th  Queen's,  Coke's  Rifles,  and  Hodson's 
Horse,  with  six  Horse  Artillery  guns  under  Turner 
and  Money,  to  take  them  in  flank.  The  walled 
gardens,  and  other  places  of  shelter,  in  which  the 
mutineers  had  posted  themselves,  were  now  to  be 
cleared ;  and  it  was  a  fine  thing  to  see  bur  columns 
sweeping  down  upon  the  enemy,  Reid's  little  Goorkahs 
setting  up  a  ringing  cheer,  and  every  man  panting 
eagerly  for  the  afiray.  Then  two  of  our  great  Pun- 
jabee  warriors  were  to  be  seen  ever  in  the  thickest  of 
the  fight.  Where  danger  threatened  most,  Cham- 
berlain and  Hodson  were  sure  to  be  seen.  The 
enemy  were  driven  from  point  to  point,  in  confused 
flight,  dean  out  of  their  sheltering  walls;  and  the 
more  impetuous  of  their  assailants  pushed  on  after 
them  along  the  main  road,  within  the  fire  from  the 
walls  of  Delhi.  There  was  it  that  Chamberlain,  fear- 
lessly exposing  himself,  according  to  his  wont,  well- 
nigh  met  his  death-wound.  A  party  of  the  enemy, 
covered  by  a  low  wall,  had  made  a  stand,  and  were 
pouring  in  a  destructive  fire  upon  our  advancing 
soldiery,  which  made  them  for  a  moment  recoil, 
when  the  Adjutant- General,  setting  spurs  to  his 
horse,  called  upon  the  men  to  follow  him,  and  cleared 
the  enclosure.  He  was  gallantly  supported;  but  a 
musket-ball  took  efiect  upon  him,  and  broke  his  left 
arm  below  the  shoulder.*  Our  people  were  then  so 
near  the  city  walls  that  the  pursuit  became  disastrous. 
For  the  enemy  gathered  fresh  courage,  and  rallied 
before  their  defences,  whilst  the  hot  haste  with  which 


*  It  was  thought  at  first  to  be  a 
gun-shot  wound.  A  cotemporary  let- 
ter says :  "  Chamberlain  was  brought 
in  with  a  sorely  shattered  arm.  His 
impression  was  that  he  had  been 
struck  by  grape,  which  was  being 
showered  on  tbem  from  the   city 


walls.  He  bore  his  wound  and  bis 
pain  nobly,  with  a  high  cheerful 
courage,  but  getting  out  of  the  nar- 
row dooley  was  too  much  for  him, 
and  as  he  leant  on  two  or  three 
people  he  stumbled  forward  and  fell, 
almost  on  the  shattered  limb/* 


CHAMBERLAIN  AND  HODSON.  585 

we  had  pushed  on  to  chastise  the  mutineers  was  1857. 
throwing  confusion  into  our  ranks.  The  management  ^^^^  ^^ 
of  the  pursuing  force  was  not  equal  to  the  gallantry 
of  the  pursuit.  At  one  point  we  had  driven  the 
mutineers  from  their  guns,  but  we  were  not  prepared 
to  take  advantage  of  their  desertion.  Hodson*s  quick 
eye  marked  the  opportunity,  and  he  was  eager  to 
charge  the  battery.  But  the  men,  upon  whom  he 
called  to  aid  him,  were  exhausted,  and  at  the  moment 
there  was  no  response.  It  is  always,  in  such  straits,  a 
question  of  moments.  Seeing  that  there  was  hesita- 
tion, a  Sepoy  gunner  applied  the  port-fire  to  a  piece 
loaded  with  grape ;  and  before  the  smoke  had  cleared 
away  the  guns  had  been  limbered  up,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity was  lost  for  ever. 

Again  the  old  story  was  repeated.  We  had  gained 
a  profitless,  perhaps,  indeed,  a  dubious  victory,  at  a 
loss  of  two  hundred  men,  killed  or  disabled.*  The 
finest  soldier  in  the  Camp,  foremost  in  reputation, 
foremost  ever  in  action,  and  all  but  first  in  official 
position,  had  been  carried  maimed  and  helpless  to 
his  tent.  It  was  a  sorry  day's  work  that  sent  Neville 
Chamberlain,  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army,  to  the 
Sick  List.  It  was  a  sorry  week's  work  that  had  de- 
prived our  little  force  of  the  services  of  twenty-five 
officers  and  four  hundred  men.  It  had  quite  settled 
the  question  of  the  assault.  With  these  diminished 
numbers,  how  could  a  sufficient  force  be  left  for  the 
protection  of  our  Camp  ?  Even  the  most  eager  spirits 
now  felt  that  it  must  be  a  hopeless  effort.  "  There 
will  be  no  assault  on  Delhi  yet,"  wrote  Hodson  on  the 
16th;  "our  rulers  will  now  less  than  ever  decide  on 

*  The  author  of  the  "  History  of    and  a  hundred  and  seyenty-seTen 
the  Siege  of  Delhi"  says:  "Seven-    men  wounded." 
teen  men  killed,  and  sis^teen  officers 


586 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 


1867. 
Julj  16. 


July  17. 

Resignation 
of  General 
Beed. 


a  bold  course,  and,  truth  to  tell,  the  numbers  of  the 
enemy  have  so  rapidly  increased,  and  ours  have  been 
so  little  replenished  in  proportipn,  and  our  losses  for 
a  small  anny  have  been  so  severe,  that  it  becomes  a 
question  whether  now  we  have  niinbers  sufficient  to 
risk  an  assault.  Would  to  Heaven  it  had  been  tried 
when  I  first  pressed  it !" 

On  the  17th  of  July  General  Reed  resigned  the 
conmiand  of  the  Delhi  Field  Force.  During  his 
brief  season  of  responsibility  his  health  had  broken 
down  under  the  exertions  and  anxieties  of  his  posi- 
tion,  and  it  was  useless  any  longer  to  struggle  against 
his  daily-increasing  infirmities.  So  he  made  over  the 
conmiand  of  the  Force  to  Brigadier  Archdale  Wilson, 
and  betook  himself  to  the  quietude  of  the  Himalayahs.* 
The  selection  of  an  officer  who  had  done  so  well  in 
the  actions  on  the  Hindun  was  the  source  of  general 
satisfaction  in  the  Camp.f  There  were  few  who  did 
not  see  in  the  change  good  promise  of  increased 
energy  and  activity  in  the  prosecution  of  the  siege. 
But,  in  truth,  we  had  reached  a  period  of  its  history 
at  which  energy  and  activity  could  be  displayed  only 
in  acts  of  defensive  warfare. 


Brigadier 
Wilson  in 
commancL 


It  is  certain  that  when  Brigadier-General  Wilson 
took  command  of  the  Delhi  Field  Force,  the  circum- 
stances which  he  was  called  upon  to  confront  were  of 


*  Hodson  sajs  that  Wilson  suc- 
ceeded by  virtue  of  seniority.  The 
author  of  the  "History  of  the  Sie^ 
of  Delhi"  says,  "he  was  not  the 
Senior  General  in  Camp/'  The 
senior  officer  in  Camp,  according 
to  substantive  rank,  was  Colonel 
Congreve,  of  H.M.'s  Twenty-ninth, 
Quartermaster-General  of  Queen's 
troops.    It  is  stated  that  he  sent  in 


a  protest  against  his  supercession 
ana  retired  to  Simlah.  Genersd  Beed 
had  anticipated  the  difficulty  on  the 
score  of  rank  by  making  Wilson  a 
Brigadier-General — an  appointment 
afterwards  confirmed  by  Govern- 
ment. 

t  See  Greathed's  Letters  and  the 
"  History  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi." 


GENERAL  WILSON  IN  COMMAND.  587 

a  most  discouraffinff  character.     Two  Commanders       1857. 

T    1      IT 

had  been  struck  down  by  Death,  and  a  third  had  been  ^^^  ^'' 
driven  from  Camp  by  its  approaches.  The  Chiefs 
of  the  Staff — the  Adjutant-General  and  Quarter- 
master-General— ^lay  wounded  in  their  tents.  For 
more  than  five  weeks  the  British  troops  before  Delhi 
had  been  standing  upon  the  defensive.  Time  after 
time,  assaults  upon  the  City  had  been  projected,  and 
had  been  deferred ;  and  at  last  the  bold  experiment 
had  been  finally  abandoned.  During  those  five  weeks 
the  enemy  had  attacked  us  a  score  of  times,  and  it 
had  long  been  acknowledged  that  the  British  were 
the  Besieged,  not  the  Besiegers.  It  was  impossible 
that  all  this  should  not  have  had  its  effect  upon  the 
discipline  of  the  Delhi  Field  Force.  It  must  be  an 
eternal  honour  to  that  force,  that  the  deteriorating 
effects  of  such  a  state  of  things  were  so  slight; 
but,  nevertheless,  they  were  clearly  discernible.  The 
strength  of  the  rebel  garrison  had  been  continually 
increasing;  and  though  their  loss  was  even  heavier 
than  our  own,  our  numbers  were  so  inferior,  that  in 
proportion  to  them  our  sufferings  were  greater.  It 
was  hard  to  say  how  much  longer  the  endurance  of 
our  people  would  be  proof  against  a  constant  succes- 
sion of  vexatious  attacks  on  the  part  of  the  enemy, 
and  profitless  victories  on  our  own.  Our  troops  had 
grown  weary  of  beating  the  enemy,  without  appa- 
rently  weakening  their  resources,  or  diminishing  their 
confidence,  or  lengthening  the  intervals  between  their 
attacks.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  in  the 
middle  of  this  month  of  July  the  British  Chief  looked 
the  difficulties  of  our  position  very  gravely  in  the 
face,  and  that  there  were  some  doubts  as  to  whether 
we  could  hold  our  own  much  longer  with  such  fearful 
odds  against  us.     But  no  such  doubts  ought  to  have 


retirement. 


588  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1867.  been  entertained  for  a  moment.  Our  troops  had 
July  17.  \yQQji  much  harassed ;  they  were  diminished  in  num- 
bers ;  they  had  seen  a  constant  succession  of  stubborn 
encounters,  which  had  conduced  nothing  to  the  final 
issue ;  and  they  were  growing  very  weary  of  a  state 
of  things  of  which  they  could  not  see  the  end.  But, 
if  they  had  lost  some  of  their  discipline,  they  had  lost 
none  of  their  heart.  They  were  impatient,  but  not 
desponding.  They  were  equal  to  any  demands  that 
could  have  been  made  upon  them,  and  would  have 
resented  the  idea  of  retreat. 
Question  of  But  ever  since  the  commencement  of  the  month 
the  thought  of  a  retrograde  movement  had  been 
fixing  itself  in  the  minds  even  of  men  who  had  been 
at  one  time  eager  for  the  bolder  course,  which  had 
been  described  as  the  "gamester's  throw."  Before 
the  death  of  General  Barnard,  Hervey  Greathed — 
though  he  had  thro^vn  in  the  weight  of  his  authority 
as  Chief  Civil  Officer  at  Delhi,  into  the  scales  on  the 
side  of  vigorous  action — had  begun  to  discern  the 
fact  that  there  might  be  some  advantages  to  the 
country  generally  in  liberating  the  troops  now  pent 
up  before  the  walls  of  the  great  city,  and  wasting 
their  energies  in  the  strenuous  idleness  of  a  dis- 
astrous defence.*  They  were  much  needed  at  other 
points  where  our  people  were  girt  around  with  danger, 
and  a  great  moral  eflFect  might  be  produced  by  a  suc- 
cession of  victories,  such  as  the  Delhi  Field  Force, 
under  happier  circumstances,  might  calculate  on 
achieving.  The  time  for  assaulting  had  passed.  Ne- 
ville Chamberlain  and  Baird  Smith,  who  were  both 

*    "  The   determination  to  take  whetlier  we    should    maintain  our 

Delhi  by  assault  has  been  twice  on  position,  or  raise  the  siege,  and  dis- 

the  eve  of  execution,  and  I  no  longer  pose  of  our  forces  as  may  best  serve 

feel  confident  that  it  will  again  be  the  public  interests,  until  a  second 

so  far  matured.    And  supposing  I  campaign  be  opened."— G^eaiked  io 

am  right,  the    question  will  arise  Lawrence,  July  4.  MS.  Corres. 


QUESTION  OF  RAISING  THE  SIEGE.  589 

by  official  position  and  native  worth  the  moving  1857. 
principles  of  the  besieging  force,  had  given  up  all  J^yl7. 
hope  of  succeeding  in  such  an  enterprise.  Cham- 
berlain, indeed,  had  begun  to  apprehend  that,  in  their 
existing  state  of  discipline,  it  might  be  hazardous  in 
the  extreme  to  entangle  them  in  the  streets  of  Delhi. 
There  was  nothing  left  for  us,  therefore,  but  to 
hold  on  until  the  arrival  of  reinforcements ;  and  the 
question  had  arisen  and  had  been  freely  discussed  at 
Head-Quarters,  whether,  until  we  could  appear  before 
Delhi  in  greater  strength,  it  would  not,-  both  on  mili- 
tary and  political  grounds,  be  a  wiser  course  to  relax 
our  hold,  and  employ  our  eager  troops  in  other  parts 
of  the  country.  When  Wilson  assumed  command,  he 
found  matters  in  this  state.  He  did  not  originate  the 
question  of  withdrawal. 

What  miffht  have  been  his  resolution,  if  left  to  his  5'9*?i®  ?/, 

•IT  1       TT«  a.  11  Baird  Smith. 

own  unaided  counsels,  History  can  never  declare. 
But  the  eager  protests  of  Baird  Smith  soon  swept 
away  any  doubts  that  the  General  might  have  enter- 
tained.* As  soon  as  the  Chief  Engineer  learnt  that 
the  proposal  was  likely  to  be  laid  before  him,  he 
resolved  to  anticipate  the  formal  reference.  On  the 
first  occasion  of  Wilson  consulting  him  professionally, 
he  threw  all  the  earnestness  of  his  nature  into  a  great 
remonstrance  against  the  project  of  withdrawal.     He 

♦  It  was  on  the  17th  of  July,  the  vager  le  pays.    Pour  faire  ceci  il  est 

first  day  of  Wilson's  command,  that  absolument  n6cessaire  que  Je  sois 

Baird  Smith  pressed  upon  liim  the  renforc^  de  la  plus  grande  force  et 

duty  of  not  relaxing  his  hold  on  aussi  vite  qu'il  est  possible.    J'en- 

Dellii.    On  the  18th  ihe  Brigadier-  tends  que  ce  renforcement  ne  peut 

General  wrote  to  Sir  John  Lawrence  venir  au  sud,  et  en  consequence  je 

urging  him  to  send  further  reinforce-  prie  que  vous  m'enverrez  du  Punjab 

mcnts  immediately.    The  letter  was  un  Begiment  Anglais    complet  et 

in  French,  and  it  contained  these  deux  de  Sikhs  ou  Punjabees.    Si  je 

words :  "  Je  retiendrai  cette  position  ne  suis   pas   bien  vite  renforc6  je 

jusqu'  k  la  fin.    Car  il  est  de  la  plus  serai  forc^  dc  retirer  a  Kurnaul.  Les 

grande  importance  que  Pennemi  soit  consequences  de  ce  mouvement  se- 

ernpech^  de  quitter  Delhi  pour  ra-  raient  d^sastreuses." — MS'  Corrts, 


590  PB06RESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.      told  the  General  that  to  raise  the  siege  would  be  fatal 
July  17.    to  our  national  interests.     "It  is  our  duty,"  he  said, 
"to  retain  the  grip  which  we  now  have  upon  Delhi, 
and  to  hold  on  like  grim  Death  until  the  place  is  our 
own."     He  dwelt  upon  the  many  circumstances  in 
our  favour.     Our  communications  with  the  Punjab 
were   open.     There  was  still  there   a   considerable 
amount  of  available  strength,  which  the  increasing 
security  of  that  great  province  would  soon   place 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Delhi  leader.     The  army  was 
in  good  health,  and  it  was  well  supplied.     It  was 
true  that  little  had  been   done  to  strengthen  the 
position   of  our  besieging  army,    or  to   bring   our 
guns  to  bear  with  more  fatal  effect  upon  the  enemy's 
works.     But  he  pledged  himself  to  do  what  as  yet 
had  been  undone.     And  then  he  urged  the  General 
to  consider  what  would  be  the  result  of  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Force.     "  All  India,"  he  said,  "  would 
at  once  believe  that  we  retreated  because  we  were 
beaten,  and  in  such  circumstances  an  adverse  impres- 
sion of  this  kind  was  as  disastrous  as  the  severest 
defeat  we  could  sustain.    We  must  abandon,  in  such  a 
case,  our  communications  with  the  Punjab,  and  cease 
to  act  as  a  covering  force  to  that  province,  from 
which  all  the  reinforcements  we  could  hope  for  must 
be  drawn;   we  must  again  fight  our  way  to  Delhi 
against  reinvigorated  enemies,  increased  in  numbers 
and  spirits,  and  we  must  cease  to  perform  the  incal- 
culably important  function  of  check-mating  the  entire 
strength  of  the  revolt,  by  drawing  towards  Delhi,  as 
a  great  focus,  all  the  mutinous  regiments  of  all  arms, 
and  so  preventing  them  from  dispersing  themselves 
over  the  country,  and  attacking  and  overpowering 
our  defenceless  posts."    These  arguments  prevailed. 
Wilson  listened,  and  was  convinced.     He  thanked 


WILSON  AND  BAIRD  SMITH.  591 

Baird  Smith  for  this  frank  statement  of  his  views,  1857. 
said  that  he  would  hold  on,  and  then  called  upon  J^^yl^. 
him,  as  Chief  Engineer,  to  state  what  could  be  done  . 
to  maintain  our  position  before  Delhi  with  the  least 
possible  loss,  until  such  time  as  the  Delhi  Field  Force 
could  be  so  strengthened  as  to  render  the  final  assault 
upon  Delhi  secure  in  its  results.  Then  Baird  Smith 
stated  what  Wilson,  as  an  experienced  Artillerjonan, 
had  long  felt,  that  our  great  want  was  a  want  of  far- 
reaching  guns,  that  we  had  been  always  beaten  by 
the  heavy  metal  and  wide  range  of  the  enemy's  Artil- 
lery; but  that  as  soon  as  we  could  bring  down  a 
siege-train  of  sufficient  magnitude  and  sufficient 
weight  to  sUence  the  guns  on  the  walls  of  Delhi, 
success  would  be  certain.  To  all  of  this  Wilson 
readily  assented.  He  asked  for  a  statement  of  the 
strength  of  ordnance  which  would  be  required  for 
siege  operations,  which  in  due  course  was  given ;  and 
at  the  same  time  the  Chief  Engineer  undertook  to 
have  the  work  of  his  own  department  in  a  sufficient 
state  of  forwardness  to  give  every  possible  advantage 
to  the  operations  of  the  Artillery.  "  And  from  that 
time  forward,"  said  Baird  Smith,  in  a  letter  written 
at  a  later  period,  "we  were  guided  by  these  plans, 
and  prepared  busily  for  the  resumption  of  active 
work  on  the  arrival  of  the  siege-train." 

The  first  week  of  Wilson's  command  was  enlivened  Pnrther 
by  two  more  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  enemy  to  o^ositioiu 
drive  us  from  our  advanced  position ;  firstly,  on  the 
Right,  and  then  on  the  Left.     Our  scouts  in  the  city 
had  obtained  intelligence  that  the  enemy  purposed 
to  proceed  in  force  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Alipore,* 

*   Heinforcements   had   entered    their  luok  on  first  arriral  against  the 
Delhi — ^mutineers  from  Jhansi,  who,    Feringhees. 
according  to  custom,  were  to  try 


592  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  in  our  rear,  to  intercept  an  expected  convoy  on  its 
way  to  our  camp,  and  when  they  had  thus  drawn 
out  a  considerable  part  of  our  strength,  to  make  a 
vehement  attack  upon  our  Right.    The  movement  to 

July  18.  Alipore  was  never  made,  but,  on  the  18th  of  July, 
the  enemy  again  betook  themselves  to  the  old  work 
of  harassing  us  from  the  shelter  of  the  suburbs ;  so  a 
detachment  of  Infantry  and  Artillery  was  sent  out, 
under  Colonel  Jones  of  the  Sixtieth  Rifles,  with  the 
old  result.  What  had  come  to  be  called  "rat- 
hunting"  went  on  for  a  while,  and  a  number  of 
British  officers  and  men  fell  beneath  the  fire  of  the 
enemy.*  But  there  was  this  time  no  attempt  at  pur- 
suit. Colonel  Jones,  having  driven  the  mutineers 
from  their  shelter,  withdrew  his  own  men  carefully 
and  skilfully,  covering  their  retirement  with  his  guns. 
It  was  the  last  of  our  many  conflicts  in  the  Subzee- 
mundee  suburb.  Our  Engineer  officers  were  already 
at  work  clearing  away  the  cover — the  garden-walls, 
the  ruined  houses,  and  the  old  serais,  of  which  the 
enemy  had  made  such  good  use  from  the  commence- 
ment of  the  siege,  and  were  connecting  our  advanced 
posts  in  that  direction  with  the  Main  Picquet  on  the 
Ridge. 

July  23.  Perhaps  it  was  in  despair  of  making  any  impression 
upon  our  Right,  that  a  few  days  afterwards,  July 
23rd,  the  enemy  in  considerable  force  streamed  out 
of  the  Cashmere  Gate,  and  endeavoured  to  establish 
themselves  at  Ludlow  Castle,  whence  they  opened  a 
fire  both  on  the  Metcalfe  Picquet  and  the  Ridge.  A 
column  of  British  and  Sikh  Infantry,  with  guns  from 
Turner's  and  Money's  troops,  was,  therefore,  sent  out, 
under  Brigadier  Showers,  to  dislodge  them.      The 

*  Our  loss  was  one  officer  and    (one  mortally)  and   sixty-six  men 
twelve  men  killed,  and  three  officers    wounded. 


EESOLUTION  OF  GENERAL  WILSON. 

I 

work  was  soon  accomplished.  The  enemy  i 
retreat  to  the  city  walls,  but  again  the  fatal  i 
tion  to  press  on  in  pursuit  was  irresistible,  a 
column  was  drawn  on  towards  the  city  wal 
many  of  our  best  officers  were  carried  woun 
the  rear.  Colonel  Seaton,  who  had  been  apj 
to  officiate  as  Adjutant-General,  was  shot  ti 
the  body.  Turner  and  Money  of  the  Artiller 
others,  were  wounded  ;*  and  Captain  Law,  w 
serving  with  Coke's  rifles,  was  killed.  The 
the  enemy  was  not  heavy,  and  they  carried 
their  guns.  After  this,  orders  went  forth  proh 
the  forward  movements,  which  had  alwayj 
attended  with  so  much  disaster.  Our  main 
had  commonly  been  incurred  after  we  had 
back  the  enemy  towards  the  walls  of  their  stron 
This  system  of  warfare  had  been  too  long  pen 
Had  the  enemy's  numbers  been  more  limi 
would  have  been  less  necessary  to  restrain  the  r 
impetuosity  of  our  people  to  push  on  and  to  ] 
in  pursuit;  but  scarcely  any  amount  of  c\ 
that  we  could  inflict  upon  the  mutineers  wj 
substantive  gain  to  ourselves. 

And  so  the  month  of  July  came  to  an  end  a: 
Wikon  in  good  spirits ;  for  Sir  John  Lawrence, 
slackening  in  his  great  w^ork,  had  responded 
General's  appeal  by  fresh  promises  of  help,  and  1 
cast  away  all  thoughts  of  raising  the  siege.  W 
on  the  3Uth  of  July  to  Mr.  Colvin,  who  had  eai 
protested  against  the  thought  of  withdrawing 
Delhi,  he  said :  "  It  is  my.  firm  determination  t 

*  lih.  Cave -Browne  says  that  and,  therefore,  it  would  8( 

Brigadier    Showers  was   wounded,  it  was  not  officially  return( 

and  compelled  to  give  over  the  com-  wound  must  have  been  a  vc 

mand  to  Colonel  Jones.    His  name  one,  if  any,  for  Showers  was 

is  not  in  tlie  list  given  by  Norman,  again  on  the  12th  of  Augus 

VOL.  IL  2  Q 


594  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  my  present  position  and  to  resist  every  attack  to  the 
Ji»ly-  last.  The  enemy  are  very  numerous,  and  may  pos- 
sibly break  through  our  entrenchments  and  over- 
whelm us.  But  this  force  will  die  at  its  post.  Luckily, 
the  enemy  have  no  head  and  no  method,  and  we 
hear  dissensions  are  breaking  out  among  them.  Re- 
inforcements are  coming  up  under  Nicholson.  If  we 
can  hold  on  till  they  arrive,  we  shall  be  secure.  I  am 
making  every  possible  arrangement  to  secure  the  safe 
defence  of  our  position." 


Unrecorded  And  here  I  may  fitly  pause  in  this  recital  of  mili- 
Heroism.  ^^^  events — of  engagement  after  engagement  with 
the  enemy,  following  each  other  in  quick  succession, 
all  of  the  same  type  and  all  leading  to  the  same 
results.  The  true  story  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi  is  not  to 
be  found  in  the  bare  record  of  these  exploits.  Many 
as  were  those  gaUant  soldiers,  whose  active  heroism  it 
has  been  my  privilege  to  illustrate  in  these  pages, 
there  were  many  more  in  the  British  Camp  whose 
names  have  been  unwritten,  but  whose  gallantry,  in 
doing  and  in  suffering,  was  not  less  conspicuous.  It 
was  the  fortune  of  some  to  be  continually  called  to 
the  front,  to  be  specially  thanked  by  commanding 
officers  and  named  in  official  despatches,  whilst  others, 
day  after  day,  week  after  week,  month  after  month, 
laboured  on,  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy  and  to 
all  the  evil  influences  of  camp-life  in  the  worst  season 
of  the  year,  without  praise,  without  encouragement^ 
almost  without  notice.  A  signal  instance  of  this  pre- 
sents itself  in  the  circumstances  of  the  two  branches 
of  the  Artillery.  The  Light  Batteries  were  always  to 
the  front,  and  the  names  of  Scott,  Turner,  Money, 
Tombs,  and  others  of  the  Horse  Artillery  or  Horse 


THE  SIEGE  AETILLEEY.  595 

Batteries  have  repeatedly  claimed  admy*ing  recog-  1857. 
nition ;  but  of  the  Heavy  Batteries,  which,  in  their  J*^y- 
own  way,  were  equally  well  served,  scant  mention  has 
yet  been  made  in  this  narrative  of  the  siege.  *  The 
time  for  breaching  operations  had  not  yet  come,  and 
it  was  a  dull  and  weary  season  for  the  Siege  Artillery 
thus  expending  themselves  in  defensive  efforts,  out- 
matched in  numbers,  outmatched  in  weight  of  metal, 
outmatched  in  profuseness  of  ammunition.  There 
was  a  scarcity  of  officers  for  duty  in  the  batteries ; 
there  was  a  scarcity  of  gunners.  Both  had  to  be 
improvised  and  supplemented  as  best  we  could,  so 
that  men  found  themselves  working  at  the  guns  who, 
a  little  while  before,  did  not  know  a  portfire  from  a 
sponge-staff.  Stray  Lancers,  for.  whom  there  was  not 
much  cavalry-work  in  camp,  were  caught  up  and  set 
to  learn  the  gun-drill,  and  right  good  gunners  they 
often  made ;  whilst  old  Sikhs,  who  had  learnt  artillery 
practice  under  Runjit  Singh's  French  officers,  and 

*  Tbe  principal  officers  witli  the  to  be  a  severe  one,  he  was  driTen 
siege  batteries  were  Colonel  Garbett,  also  to  Simlah,  where  he  died. 
Major  James  Brind,  Major  Murray  [Mackenzie  and  Kaye  had  served 
Mackenzie,  and  Major  iCaye.  The  together  with  the  ]Sati?e  troop  of 
last-named  had  come  down  to  Delhi  Horse  Artillery  which  ascended  the 
with  the  first  siege-train.  Major  Hindoo  Koosh,  and  was  engaged  in 
Brind  joined  soon  afterwards,  and  the  battle  of  Bamceanl.  Major  Gais- 
took  a  leading  part  in  tbe  siege  kill,  who  joined  at  a  later  period  of 
operations  np  to  the  hour  of  final  the  siege,  succeeded  Colonel  Garbett 
success.  Colonel  Garbett,  who  ar-  in  command  of  the  Artillery.  Among 
rived  at  a  later  period,  was  appointed  the  younger  officers  distinguished 
Brigadier  of  Axtillerv,  on  Wilson's  during  the  siege  were  Captain  John- 
nomination  to  the  chief  command ;  son,  Assistant  Adjutant-General  of 
but  he  was  wounded  on  his  way  from  Artillery,  who  came  down  with  Wil- 
one  battery  to  another,  and  though  son  from  Meerut,  and  as  chief  staff- 
the  wound  was  little  more  than  a  officer  did  excellent  service,  and 
graze,  of  which  he  took  no  notice  at  Lieutenant  Light,  an  active  and 
first,  it  became  afterwards  a  most  energetic  officer,  always  eager  to  go 
virulent  sore,  which  compelled  him  to  the  front,  who  was  incapacitated 
to  take  to  his  bed,  and  suose^uently  by  sickness  about  the  middle  of 
to  leaye  the  camp.  He  ultunately  July,  and  unable  to  return  to  his 
died  of  fever.  Major  Mackenzie  was  duties.  Griffith,  Commissary  of  Ord« 
struck  by  the  splmter  of  a  shell  on  nance,  was  driven  from  camp  by 
the  30lh  of  June,  and  though  in  this  cholera,  and  was  succeeded  by  Cap- 
case,  also,  the  wound  did  not  appear  tain  Young. 

2q2 


596 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  SI£G£. 


1857. 
July. 


tucidents  of 
ihe  Siege. 


had  served  the  guns  of  the  Ealsa  at  Sobraon  and 
Chillianwallah,  were  recruited  by  John  Lawrence, 
who  never  missed  a  chance  of  aiding  the  Delhi  war- 
riors, and  sent  down  to  man  Wilson's  batteries.  But 
the  time  was  now  approaching  when  the  real  business 
of  the  Siege  w^ould  commence  in  earnest,  and  the 
officers  of  the  heavy  batteries  would  contribute  their 
share  of  good  work  towards  the  capture  of  the  great 
city. 

Over  and  above  the  excitement  of  the  frequent 
actions  with  the  enemy,  which  always  added  the 
names  of  many  brave  men  to  the  list  of  killed  and 
wounded,  there  were  sometimes  lesser  sensations  to 
stir  the  heart  of  the  Camp,  On  one  occasion,  an  officer 
of  good  repute,  whilst  reconnoitring  as  a  field-en- 
gineer, failed  to  give  the  parole  with  sufficient  promp- 
titude when  challenged  by  one  of  our  sentries,  and 
was  shot  dead  in  the  darkness  of  the  night*  It  often 
happened  that  officers  on  the  look-out  from  exposed 
positions,  or  passing  from  post  to  post,  or  showing 
their  heads  above  the  breastworks  of  our  batteries, 
became  special  marks  for  the  rebel  artillery-men,  and 
narrowly  escaped,  if  at  all,  with  their  lives,  t  Among 
the  current  Camp  jokes  was  one  to  the  efi^ect  that  a 
soldier  had  made  it  matter  of  complaint  that,  since 
the  Engineers  had  built  up  the  parapets  so  high,  a 
fellow  at  work  in  the  batteries  behind  them  could 


*  CaptainGreensill, Her  Majesty's 
Twenty-fourth  Regiment. 

t  See  following  account  of  the 
bursting  of  a  shell,  which  nearly  de- 
prived the  Force  of  one  of  the  best 
oflScers  in  it— Major  Scott  of  the 
Artillery :  "  Major  Scott  had  a  very 
narrow  escape  from  a  shell  yester- 
day; he  was  standing  by  his  horse 
on  the  Ridge,  looking  through  liis 
glass,  when  a  shell  fell  close  by  him 
and  burst  as  it  touched  the  ground. 


I  saw  his  horse  running  off,  and  saw 
him  on  the  ground,  but  he  got  up 
and  walked  on,  and  I  saw  him  riding 
by  just  now,  so  I  suppose  he  is 
not  hurt.  I  was  on  the  '  Genenrs 
Mound'  at  the  time,  and  the  explo- 
sion drew  my  attention,  and  we 
heard  afterwards  who  it  was,  and 
that  a  man  of  the  Fusiliers  had  been 
wounded  by  a  piece  of  the  shell" — 
Lettert  o/Hervey  Greathed. 


SOCIAL  ASPECTS  OE  THE  CAMP.  597 

only  get  shot  in  the  head.     One  officer  is  stated  by      1867. 
the  contemporary  chroniclers  of  the  Siege  to  have  had      "^^J* 
such  a  fancy  for  exposing  himself  in  the  embrasures, 
that,  in  spite  of  repeated  warnings  from  his  comrades, 
he  was  killed  one  day  at  his  dangerous  post. 

The  general  cheerfulness  of  our  People,  in  spite  of  Cheerfulness 
all  dispiriting  circumstances,  was  something  upon°  *  *"^' 
which  it  is  a  pleasure  to  comment.  Day  after  day 
our  officers  met  each  other  with  bright  faces,  laughed 
and  joked,  reciprocated  kindly  offices,  and  exchanged 
the  news  of  the  Camp  or  the  tidings  brought  from 
a  distance.  There  was  ever  alive  amongst  them  a 
warmth  of  good-fellowship,  which  nothing  could 
weaken  or  cool.  To  make  a  friendly  visit  to  the  tent 
of  a  wounded  or  sick  officer  was  a  part  of  every 
sound  man's  duty,  which  he  was  sure  not  to  neglect. 
Such  was  the  overflowing  kindness  shown  to  every 
man  who  was  down,  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
eager  desire  to  be  at  work  again  that  animated  all,  it 
would  have  been  a  privilege  to  be  upon  the  sick-list. 
On  fine  evenings,  when  the  sun  was  going  down,  the 
sick  and  wounded  were  brought  out  from  the  tents 
on  their  beds  and  litters,  thus  to  taste  the  fresh  air, 
to  be  exhilarated  by  the  liveliness  of  the  Camp,  and 
to  commune  with  their  comrades.  Officers  and  men 
alike  enjoyed  this  change.  There  was  one,  however, 
the  noblest  sufferer  of  all,  who  would  not  permit 
himself  to  be  thus  brought  out  of  the  privt^cy  of  his 
tent,  lest  it  should  appear  that  he  was  parading  his 
wounds. 

Meanwhile,  those,  who  were  well,  found  great  de- 
light in  the  comradeship  of  their  several  Messes,  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  the  rough  Bohemianism  which  ne- 
cessity had  substituted  for  the  polite  amenities  of  the 
peaceful  Cftntonxncnt.     The  rougher  the  manage,  the 


598  PROGRESS  OF  TH£  SIEGE. 

1857.  better  the  cheer.  It  has  been  recorded  that  in  one 
^"^y*  notable  instance,  when  tablecloths  came  into  use,  a 
good  deal  of  the  special  jollity  of  the  gathering  was 
scared  away  by  their  introduction.  It  does  not 
appear  that  at  any  time  there  was  a  scarcity  of  pro- 
visions. But  many  things,  which  had  become  almost 
necessities  with  our  officers,  fell  short  from  time  to 
time,  and  were  painfully  missed.  Some  were  more 
fortunate,  or  had  more  forethought,  than  others ;  but 
what  one  Mess,  or  one  man,  missed,  another  was  able 
to  lend  him.  Sometimes  the  supplies  of  beer  or  wine 
were  drunk  out  to  the  last  bottle,  and  commonly 
each  member  of  a  Mess  was  put  upon  an  allowance 
of  drink  ;*  sometimes  the  last  cigar  was  smoked,  and 
the  generosity  of  a  neighbour  supplied  the  inconve- 
nient want.  There  were  no  Sybarites  among  them, 
and  even  those  who  had  been  wont  to  fare  sump- 
tuously every  day,  were  thankful  for  what  they  got, 
and  laughed  at  the  privations  they  were  compelled  to 
endure.  Good  clothes,  too,  after  a  while,  became 
scarce  in  Camp.  There  was  little  regard  for  pro- 
prieties of  costume,  and  men  who  had  delighted  to 
walk  daintily  in  fine  linen,  went  about  in  strange 
costumes  of  flannel,  half  civil  half  military  in  their 
attire,  and  were  fain  to  possess  themselves  of  the 
second-hand  garments  of  their  departed  brethren. 
Even  the  chief  civil  officer  in  Camp,  Hervey  Greathed, 
was  glad  to  get  a  pair  of  boots  fi;om  his  brother  in 
the  Engineers,  and  to  buy  the  leavings  of  young 
Barnard's  toilet  when  he  quitted  Camp  after  his 
father's  death.  And  the  Chaplain  of  the  Force  has 
told  us  how  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  all  thought 

*  The  greatest  inconvenience  of  were    sometimes    sore  pressed  for 

all  was  that  no  allowance  was  made  dinner,  and  compelled  to  fidl  back 

for  quests,  and  this   limited  hos-  on  Commissariat  Beef, 
pitabty,      Stray  arrivals    in  Camp 


■II       ■         I     ^^W—— ^^^^^^^^^^■^■"^T^^^    M^  -^^^^^^— ^^»^^^ 


STATE  OF  THE  SOLDIERY.  599 

of  ministering  in  appropriate  clerical  vestments,  and      1857. 
to  go  about  clothed  like  a  brigand,  ^  ^* 

And  whilst  our  officers  thus  met  each  other  with 
cheerful,  sometimes  radiant  faces,  the  English  soldier 
was  quite  jubilant.  "I  have  been  pleased,"  wrote 
one  of  the  bravest  and  best  of  the  Delhi  warriors, 
"  to  observe  the  cheerful  tone  displayed  at  all  times  by 
our  troops.  I  never  saw  British  soldiers  in  camp  so 
joyous.  They  walk  and  run  about,  in  the  afternoon 
and  evening,  when  the  rain  and  Pandy  are  at  rest,  as 
though  they  had  nothing  serious  to  do.  Nor  has  it 
ever  occurred  to  them  that  there  was  anything 
doubtful  in  the  conflict,"  When  off  duty,  the  men 
amused  themselves  as  in  the  most  peaceful  times, 
plapng  cricket  and  quoits,  getting  up  pony  races, 
and  invigorating  themselves  with  gymnastics.  There 
was  some  talk  of  getting  up  rackets;  but  the  old 
cantonment  racket-court  was  in  so  exposed  a  situation 
that  it  was  thought  by  no  means  an  improbable  con- 
tingency that  the  Enemy  would  take  part  in  the 
sport,  and  with  balls  of  a  larger  diameter  than  those 
proper  to  the  game. 

That  the  excitement  of  strong  drink  was  much  Drunkenness 
coveted  by  the  soldiery  in  the  English  Camp  need  ^^^^ 
scarcely  be  set  down  in  the  narrative ;  but,  on  the 
whole,  it  may  be  recorded  in  their  honour  that  few 
outrages  were  committed  under  its  influence.  The 
wet  season  had  set  in.  The  lowering  skies,  the 
drenching  downfalls  of  rain,  the  constant  damps,  and 
all  the  wonted  accompaniments  of  such  weather,  at  a 
time  when  the  activities  of  service  rendered  shelter 
impossible,  not  only  had  a  depressing  influence  upon 
men's  spirits,  which  rendered  stimulants  ever  wel- 
come to  them,  but  had  external  results,  in  saturated 
clothes  and  boots  oozing  with  water,  that  justified,  if 


600  PBOGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  they  did  not  demand,  a  resort  to  such  supposed  cor- 
^^J'  rectives.  There  were  some  wise  officers  in  Camp, 
who  thought  that  still  better  precautions  might  be 
taken;  and  when  fever  and  ague  were  prevalent 
among  our  people,  bethought  themselves  of  the  value 
of  quinine,  as  a  prophylactic,  and  were  minded  to 
serve  out  a  dose  of  it  every  morning  to  their  men. 
An  Artillery  officer,  of  whom  frequent  mention  has 
been  made  in  this  story  of  the  Siege,  when  he  found 
that  his  gunners  demurred  to  imbibing  the  bitter 
draught,  as  no  part  of  their  military  duty,  told  them 
that  no  one  who  refused  to  take  it  should  ever  have 
an  extra  dram ;  and  so  they  swallowed  the  quinine 
for  the  sake  of  the  rum  which  followed  in  the  course 
of  the  day.  And  the  result  was,  that  scarcely  a  man 
of  this  Company  was  knocked  over  by  the  fever  of 
the  season. 
Tidings  from  During  scasons  of  comparative  quietude  in  Camp, 
news  from  the  outer  world  was  greedily  sought  and 
eagerly  discussed.  There  was  little  or  no  communi- 
cation with  the  country  below,  and  so  far  as  the  pre- 
sent safety  or  future  success  of  the  Delhi  Force  was 
aflFected  by  operations  in  the  lower  country,  there 
was  little  reason  to  concern  themselves  about  those 
distant  events,  tidings  of  which  commonly  reached 
them  crusted  over  with  error,  if  not  in  the  shape  of 
substantial  lies.  Of  the  doings  of  the  Governor- 
General  and  Commander-in-Chief  they  knew,  and 
indeed  cared,  little  or  nothing.*  Sir  John  Lawrence 
was  their  Governor-General — their  Commander-in- 
Chief.  They  looked  to  the  great  Punjab  Commis- 
sioner for  the  means  of  taking  Delhi,  and  with  these 

*  I  have  a  letter  before  me,  on  the  2Gth  of  July,  three  weeks 
written  by  the  Military  Secretary  to  after  General  Barnard's  death,  Go- 
Government,  from  Council  Chamber,  vemment  were  ignorant  of  ttiat 
Calcutta,  froo)  which  it  is  pUin  th^t  event. 


a  distance. 


CAMP  NEWS.  601 

means  he  was  furnishing  them  with  an  energy  of  1857. 
self-denial  beyond  all  praise.  But  the  great  work  •^'^^^* 
which  lay  before  our  people  on  the  Ridge,  with  all 
its  toil  and  anxieties,  its  dangers  and  sufferings,  did 
not  so  engross  men's  minds  as  to  leave  them  no 
thought,  no  sympathy  for  their  brethren  who  were 
girt  with  peril  elsewhere.  Most  of  all  they  sought 
news  from  Cawnpore  and  Lucknow,  where  Wheeler 
and  Henry  Lawrence,  threatened  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing enemy,  were  looking  anxiously  for  succours  from 
below.  False  tidings  of  the  relief  of  Lucknow  were 
continually  coming  into  Camp.  It  was  said,  time 
after  time,  that  Wheeler  was  safe,  sometimes  with  the 
addition  that  he  was  marching  upon  Delhi,  and  at 
others  that  the  Sepoy  regiments  that  had  besieged 
him  were  bound  for  that  place.  At  a  later  period  it 
was  reported  (long  before  the  first  relief  of  Luck- 
now) that  Havelock  had  fought  a  great  battle  with 
Maun  Singh  and  defeated  him,  had  entered  the  Oude 
capital,  and  that  for  three  days  the  city  had  been 
given  up  to  plunder  and  slaughter.  From  Calcutta, 
through  some  circuitous  channel,  there  came  a  report 
that  the  French  troops,  forming  part  of  the  China 
expedition,  were  coming  to  help  us ;  and  it  was 
rumoured  in  Camp  that  so  great  had  been  the  excite- 
ment in  London  on  the  arrival  there  of  news  of  the 
revolt,  that  the  populace  had  burnt  the  India  House, 
and  hung  the  Directors  up  to  the  lamp-posts. 

But  tidings  came  at  last,  only  too  fatally  true,  that 
the  garrison  of  Cawnpore,  with  all  our  women  and 
children  had  been  foully  massacred,  and  that  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  was  dead.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether 
the  indignation  excited  by  the  one  event  or  the  sorrow 
born  of  the  other  were  the  stronger  and  more  abiding 
feeling.     There  was  not  a  man  in  Camp  who  did  not 


602  PROGRESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.       grieve  for  the  great  and  good  commander  of   the 
^^^^'       Lucknow  garrison ;  and  there  were  many  who,  loving 
him  as  a  father  or  a  brother,  shed  such  tears  for  him 
as  they  would  have  shed  for  the  nearest  and   the 
dearest  of  their  kin.*     All  felt  that  one  of  the  Pillars 
of  the  State  had  fallen — perhaps  the  stoutest  and  the 
grandest  of  all — and  that  such  a  master  in  Israel  was 
little  likely  to  be  seen  again.     In  strong  contrast  to 
the  tender  feelings  and  pathetic  utterances  which  this 
calamity  called  forth  throughout  the  general  camp, 
was  the  vehement  exasperation  which  the  news  of  the 
Cawnpore  massacre  elicited — ^the  bitter  hatred,  the 
intense  thirst  of  revenge.      It  was  natural — it  was 
commendable.     Those  stern  soldiers  "  did  well  to  be 
angry."     No  such  foul  act  as  this  had  ever  stained 
the  annals  of  British  connexion  with  the  East.     The 
foul  tragedy  of  the  "  Black  Hole,"  which  for  a  hun- 
dred years  had  been  cited  as  the  great  horror  of  hor- 
rors, now  paled  beside  the  massacre  of  Cawnpore; 
for  the  victims  of  Surajah  Dowlah's  cruelty  had  been 
strong  men.     And  ever  as  the  atrocity  was  discussed 
in  Camp,  our  people  longed  for  tidings  of  the  onward 
march  of  Havelock  and  NeUl ;  and  yearned  for  the 
coming  of  the  day  when  the  order  would  be  given  to 
them  to  set  the  mark  of  the  avenger  on  the  guilty 
city  which  had  so  long  resisted  and  defied  them. 
Treatment         I*  ^as  not  strange  that,  after  this,  the  feeling  ot 
of  the  hatred  against  the  coloured  races,  already  strong  in 

♦  One  officer  tonchingly  records  reached  roe.  Beflection  brings  home 
in  his  journal  now  before  me :  "  I  do  to  one  the  sad  public  loss  which  ins 
indeed  feel  that  I  have  lost  a  prop  in  death  occasions.  At  any  time  India 
the  world."  The  same  writer,  a  day  would  mourn  his  fall,  but  now,  when 
or  two  afterwards  says :  '*  In  these  she  so  much  needs  his  guidance  and 
days  of  battle  and  death  there  is  so  his  wisdom,  the  death  of  the  soldier- 
much  to  excite  the  mind,  that  one  is  statesman  fills  all  with  grief,  and 
not  long,  by  any  possibility,  in  the  this  to  theputting  aside  of  personal 
same  vein  of  thought,  but  I  felt  feeling.  He  was  a  rare  specimen  of 
beaten   down   when  this  sad  tale  Qod*8  handiwork."— if^.  Journal. 


TEEATMENT  OF  NATIVES.  603 

the  Britisli  Camp,  should  have  become  more  vehe-  1857. 
ment  and  outspoken.  It  showed  itself  in  many  ways.  «^^^^ 
We  were  everywhere  surrounded  by  Natives.  The 
tjrpical  Pandy,  whose  name  was  in  every  man's 
mouth,  was  the  representative  only  of  one  of  many 
phases  of  Native  humanity,  which  were  then  ever 
present  to  us.  It  was  one  of  the  most  curious  cha- 
racteristics of  this  Mutiny-war,  that  although  the 
English  were  supposed  to  be  fighting  against  the 
Native  races,  they  were  in  reality  sustained  and  sup- 
ported by  the  Natives  of  the  country,  and  could  not 
have  held  their  own  for  a  day  without  the  aid  of 
those  whom  we  hated  as  our  national  enemies.  Not 
only  were  the  coloured  races  fighting  stoutly  upon 
our  side,*  but  thousands  of  non-combatants  were 
sharing  the  dangers,  without  the  glories,  of  the  siege, 
and  doing  their  appointed  work  with  fidelity  and 
alacrity,  as  though  there  had  never  been  any  rupture 
— any  division  of  interests — any  departure  from  the 
normal  state  of  things,  as  it  existed  in  quiet  times. 
How  utterly  dependent  upon  Native  Agency  is  the 
exotic  European,  though  sprung  from  the  working 
classes,  and  in  his  own  country  accustomed  to  the 
performance  of  the  most  menial  and  laborious  duties, 
is  known  to  all  who  have  dwelt  in  India  for  a  week. 
If  the  labour  of  the  people  had  been  utterly  lost  to  us, 
our  power  must  havg  suddenly  collapsed.  The  last 
drop  in  the  cup  of  domestic .  bitterness  was  the  de- 
sertion of  our  Native  household  servants.  But  a 
Family  could  do  better  without  this  aid  than  a  com- 
pany of  Infantry,  a  troop  of  Horse,  or  a  battery  of 

♦  "  In  camp,"  wrote  Wilberforco  Goorkahs,  Cokey's  (Coke's  Rifles), 

Greathed  to  Mr.  Colvin  (August  23,  and  Sikhs,  are  all  popular,  an^  I 

1857),  "tiiere  is  a  feeling  of  con-  tliinki  all  smart  and  useful." 
(idenoe  in  our  Native  troops.  Guides, 


I 

i 


604  PBOGEESS  OF  THE  SIEGE. 

1857.  Artillery.*  Without  these  Native  attendants  of  various 
July.  kinds,  our  people  would  have  had  no  food  and  no 
drink.  They  could  not  have  fed  their  horses,  or 
served  their  guns,  or  removed  their  sick.  Both  public 
and  private  servants,  with  but  few  exceptions,  re- 
mained true  to  their  employers  throughout  the  siege, 
and  some  displayed  instances  of  rare  personal  devo- 
tion.f  It  little  matters  what  was  the  source  of  this 
fidelity.  It  may  have  been  that  these  people,  ac- 
customed to  the  domination  of  the  English,  satisfied 
to  move  in  the  old  groove,  and  sure  of  their  accus- 
tomed pay  from  month  to  month,  never  troubled 
themselves  to  regard  the  national  aspects  of  the 
struggle,  and,  with  characteristic  hatred  of  change, 
clung,  therefore,  to  their  old  employments.  But,  of 
whatsoever  it  was  the  growth,  the  fact  v;^as  there; 
and  I  am  afraid  that  it  was  not  sufliciently  appreciated 
by  those  who  profited  so  largely  by  it.  It  has  been 
shown  how  the  cook-boys,  carrying  the  coveted 
dinners  to  our  picquets,  were  exposed  to  the  merci- 
less fire  of  the  enemy,  and  how  lightly  their  danger 
was  regarded.  This  was  but  one  of  many  signs  of 
the  little  gratitude  that  was  felt  towards  these  scrvice- 


♦  The  aathor  of  the  "History  of    placing  them  on  my  limb 
the  Siege  of  Delhi,"  says:  "There    they  could  be  provided  for. 


limbers  until 
One  of 

were  ten  Natives  for  every  European  my  Native  drivers  was  shot  through 

in  camp.  In  every  troop  of  Artillery  the  le^  and  the  bone  broken  below 

there  were  four  times  as  many  Na-  the  knee.    He  was  riding  one  of  the 

tives  as  Europeans ;  in  the  Cavalry  leaders  in  the  gun-team.    I  rode  up 

two  men  for  every  horse;  without  and  told  him  to  stop  the  gun  until 

them  the  work  could  not  go  on."  I  could  dismount  him  ;  but  he  said, 

+  Take,  for  example,  the  follow-  *  Kuch-purwan-neh   (never   mind), 

ing,  illustrative  of  the  good  and  g^al-  Sahib.  I  would  sooner  remain  on  my 

lant  conduct  of  some  of  our  Native  horse  with  my  gun.'    And  he  would 

Artillery  drivers.    It  is  from  a  letter  have  remained  had  I  not  insisted  on 

addressed  to  the  author :  "  When  dismounting  him  and  pkcing  him  in 

returning  from  this  day's  work,  my  a  dooly.    This  was  the  sort  of  spirit 

guns  brought  up  the  rear,  and  I  had  many  of  my  Natives  showed  through- 

to  hold  the   mutineers  in    check,  out."— i/iSl  Correspondence, 
picking  up  any  of  our  wounded  and 


TREATMENT  OF  THE  NATIVES.  605 

able  auxiliaries.      But  there  was  more  than  this      1857. 
negative  unkindliness.     For  many  of  our  people  in  ^' 

Camp,  in  return  for  the  good  services  of  the  Natives, 
gave  back  only  the  words  and  blows  of  contumely 
and  insult  more  readily  even  than  in  quiet  times.* 
Those  times  were  changed,  but  we  were  not  changed 
with  them.  The  sturdy  iron  of  the  national  character 
was  so  inflexible  that  the  heat  of  the  furnace  through 
which  we  were  passing  had  not  yet  inclined  it  to 
bend.  As  arrogant,  as  intolerant,  and  as  fearless  as 
ever,  we  still  closed  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  our  lives 
lay  in  the  hollow  of  the  hand  which  we  so  despised. 
Even  in  the  midst  of  disasters  and  humiliations,  which 
would  have  softened  and  enfeebled  others,  our  pride 
of  race  still  upheld  us,  stern,  hard,  and  immovable. 

*   The    following    statement   is  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  one  or 

made  by  the  author  of  the  "  Sif*ge  of  two  medical  men  could  get,  for  those 

Delhi :    "  So  many  sanguinary  fij^hts  under  their  care,   a  few  yards    of 

and  executions  had  brutalised  our  canvas  or  a  reed-hut  under  which 

men,  thnt  they  now  regarded  the  life  they    might    huddle    together.     A 

of  a  Native  as  of  less  value  than  that  general  massacre  of  the  inhabitants 

of  the  meanest  of  animals ;  nor  had  of  Delhi,  a  large  number  of  whom 

their  officers  endeavoured  by  precept  were  known  to  wish  us  success,  was 

or  example  to  correct  tiiem openly    proclaimed.       Bloodthirsty 

Men  of  liumanity  were  shocked,  and  boys  might  be  heard  recommending 

this  made  the  most  reckless  reflect,  that  all  the  Native  orderlies,  irre- 

.  .  .  .  The   spirit   of   exasperation  gulars,    and  other  'poorbeahs'  in 

which  existed  against  Natives  at  this  our  camp  should  be  shot.     These 

time  will  scarcely  be  believed   in  sentiments  were  not  those  of  all,  nor 

Europe.    Servants,  a  class  of  men  of  the  best  and  wisest ;  but  few  ven* 

who  behaved,  on  the  whole,  throuf^h-  tured  to  gainsay  them."    Although 

out    the    mutiny  with    astoiiishmg  this    is  an    anonymous  work,   the 

fidelity,  were  treated  even  by  many  authorship  is  well  known,  and  carries 

of    the    officers    with    outrageous  some  weight  of  authority  with  it.    I 

harshness.    The  men  beat  and  ill-  am  bound,  however,  to  say  that  some 

used  them.     In  the  batteries  they  of  my  informants,  to  whom  I  have 

would  make   the  bheestics  (water-  referred  with  especial  reference  to 

carriers),  to  whom  they  showed  more  the  alleged  inhumanity  of  our  people 

kindness  than  to  the  rest,  sit  out  of  towards  the  Natives  in  camp,  are  ais- 

the    works    to    give    them    water,  posed  to  doubt  whether  it  manifested 

Many  of  the  unfortunates  were  killed,  itself  during  the  siege  more  strongly 

The  sick  syces,  grass-cutters,  and  than  before  the  mutiny.    It  is  said 

dooly-bearers,  many  of  whom  were  to  have  been  only  the  old  normal 

wounded   in    our  service,   lay  for  .state  of  things  —  unaltered,  unre- 

months  on  the  ground,  exposed  to  pressed, 
the  sun  by  day  and  the  cold  at  night ; 


I 


I 


606  PROGRESS  OF  TU£  SI£G£. 

1867.  And  in  spite  of  all  human  calculations,  and  in  defiance 
'^^^'  of  all  reason,  the  very  obduracy  and  intolerance, 
which  might  have  destroyed  us  in  this  conjuncture, 
were  in  eflFect  the  safeguard  of  the  nation.  That 
stubborn,  unyielding  self-reliance,  that  caused  the 
noblest  of  our  enemies  to  say  that  the  English  never 
knew  when  they  were  beaten,  had  caused  the  Indian 
races  to  believe  that  if  a  single  white  man  were  left 
in  the  country,  he  would  regain  the  Empire  for  his 
race.  And  though  it  is  impossible  for  those  who  sit 
deliberately  in  judgment  upon  such  conduct  towards 
a  subject  people  not  to  condemn  it,  the  fact  remains 
that  this  assertion,  this  appearance  of  strength,  tvas 
strength  in  the  midst  of  our  weakness. 
Within  the  Meanwhile,  within  the  walls  of  Delhi  the  national 
^^^^'  character  was  shaping  events  with  equal  force  and 

distinctness.  There  were  feebleness  and  irresolution 
and  divided  councils  in  high  places,  and  elsewhere  a 
great  antagonism  of  interests,  internecine  strife,  op- 
pression, and  misery  not  to  be  counted.  Whilst  the 
English  were  clinging  together  and  moving  as  one 
man,  the  inmates  of  Delhi  were  dislocated  and  dis- 
tracted. The  Court,  the  Soldiery,  the  industrial  in- 
habitants were  in  deadly  feud  the  one  with  the  other, 
and  as  ihe  numbers  of  our  enemies  increased,  their 
difficulties  also  increased.  A  state  of  things  had 
indeed  arisen  very  fatal  to  the  continued  supremacy 
of  the  King,  the  circumstances  of  which  will  be  de- 
tailed in  another  chapter  of  this  history. 


THE  LAST  SUCCOUBS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB.     607 


CHAPTER  VI. 

I 

QTnSSTION  OT  THE  ABANDONMENT  OF  FESHAWTJB— VIEWS  OF  SIB  JOHN  LAW- 
BENCB,  COLONEL  EDWABDES,  AND  GENERAL  NICHOLSON — FUBTHEB  DI8- 
ASTEBS  IN  THE  PUNJAB — JHELUM  AND  8EALK0TE— THE  MOVABLE  COLUMN 
AFFAIB  OF  THE  TBIMMOO  GHAUT— NICHOLSON  AT  DELHI— THE  BATTLE  OF 
NUJUFGHUB. 

The  hope  of  the  Army  before  Delhi  in  the  noble  1857. 
efforts  of  Sir  John  Lawrence  was  not  doomed  to  be  ^y— J«'y- 
disappointed.  It  has  been  seen  how  he  responded  to  S'|5C«!' 
every  call  for  reinforcements ;  how,  as  time  went  on, 
and  the  pride  of  the  Mogul  was  still  unbroken,  the 
great  Punjab  Commissioner  was  little  by  little  strip- 
ping his  province  of  its  most  reliable  troops,  until  it 
appeared  to  others  that  he  was  going  too  far  in  these 
sacrificial  efforts.  A  great  conflict  of  opinion,  in- 
deed, had  arisen  among  the  leading  intelligences  of 
the  Punjab.  To  the  chiefs  of  the  great  Peshawur 
Council  it  seemed  that  the  maintenance  of  the  integ- 
rity of  the  frontier  was  a  paramount  necessity,  to 
which  all  other  considerations  should  yield.  Before 
the  end  of  May  Edwardes  had  written  to  the  Chief 
Commissioner,  saying :  "  Things  seem  to  be  settling 
down  in  Hindostan,  and  to  be  pretty  safe  throughout 
the  Punjab,  and  I  think  that  if  you  could  in  any 
way  manage,  it  would  only  be  prudent  to  throw  some 


608  TH£  LAST  SUCCOUES  FEOM  TH£  PUNJAB. 

1857.  more  strength  upon  this  point.  For  Peshawur  is  a 
vital  point,  as  it  were,  and  if  we  conquer  here  we  are 
safe  everywhere,  whereas  disaster  here  would  roll 
down  the  Punjab.  It  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
disarm  the  regiments,  and  yet  it  recoils  on  us,  for  we 

want  Native  troops We  must  husband  our 

Europeans,  and  we  do  so.     We  carry  them  about  on 
elephants  and  carts  like  children.     If  they  want  a 
post-chaise  per  man  they  must  have  it.    Can  you  not 
think  of  any  way  to  help  us  at  this  pinch  ?  •  .  .  You 
know  on  what  a  nest  of  devils  we  stand.     Once  let 
us  take  our  foot  up,  and  we  shall  be  stung  to  death."* 
But  the  eyes  of  the  Chief  Commissioner  were  turned 
in  another  direction,  and  far  other  thoughts  were 
pressing  on  his  mind.      Peshawur  seemed  to  him  to 
be  a  source  of  infinite  weakness  to  the  whole  Empire. 
Sir  John  Lawrence  had  ever  held  fast  to  the  opinion 
that  the  recovery  of  Delhi  was  an  object  of  such  mag- 
nitude, that  all  else  was  dwarfed  beside  it ;  and  in 
the  stedfast  pursuit  of  this  object  he  was  prepared 
even  to  abandon  the  Peshawur  valley,  leaving  it  in 
the  hands  of  Dost  Mahomed  of  Caubul  in  free  and 
friendly  cession,  and  retiring  within  the  line  of  the 
Indus.    For  Peshawur  was  ever  a  great  blister  to  our 
European   Army,    drawing  thither  to  the  frontier 
regiment  upon  regiment,  and  battery  upon  battery, 
whose  presence  could  not  be  dispensed  with  so  long 
as  we  held  those   dangerous  breadths   of  countrj'^ 
beyond  the  river.     To  release  these  regiments  from 
the  necessity  of  keeping  watch  and  ward  upon  the 
border  would  have  been  immense  gain  to  us  at  such 
a  time.     So  Lawrence  proposed,  in  the  event  of  the 
weakness  of  our  European  Army  threatening  with 
failure  the  enterprise  against  Delhi,   to  invite  the 

*  Coloael  Edwardes  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  May  27, ^MS.  CorrespoMdaui. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  PESHAWUR. 


tUJ 


Ameer  of  Caubul  to  Peshawur,  to  ask  him,  in  pur-      1857. 
suance  of  his  alliance  with  the  British  Government,      ^^*^^ 
to  occupy  the  valley  with  his  troops,  and  finally  to 
promise  that,  if  he  should  remain  true  to  us,  the 
British  Government  would  make  over  the  coveted 
territory  to  him  in  perpetuity. 

To  this  efifect,  therefore,  Lawrence  wrote  to  Ed- 
wardes,  telling  him  to  consult  Nicholson  and  Cotton 
on  the  expediency  of  the  projected  movement.  The 
letter  was  written  on  the  9th  of  June.  His  Secretary 
— Captain  Hugo  James,  a  man  of  great  mental  vigour, 
capable  in  action  as  in  council,  but  who  seems  to 
have  shared  the  common  fate  of  Secretaries,  of  whom 
little  more  account  is  taken  than  of  the  pens  they 
wield,  and  to  have  received  far  less  than  the  credit 
which  he  deserved — was  startled  by  the  proposal  and 
recorded  a  memorandum  against  it.  With  charac 
teristic  frankness  and  candour  John  Lawrence  sent 
it  on  to  Peshawur,  adding  a  note  to  it  in  the  follow- 
ing words :  "  Here  is  James's  view  of  the  matter. 
AU  appears  to  depend  upon  the  if  in  the  third  line.  If 
we  can  hold  the  Punjaub,  doubtless  we  should  retain 
Peshawur.  But  I  do  not  think  that  we  could  do  so. 
Troops  from  England  could  not  be  in  Calcutta  before 
October,  and  up  here  before  December  or  January. 
A  retreating  army  which  has  not  been  beaten  can 

command  supplies One  thing  appears  to  be 

most  certain,  which  is,  that  if  disaster  occurs  at  Delhi, 
all  the  Native  Regulars,  and  some  of  the  Irregulars 
(perhaps  many)  will  abandon  us.  We  should,  then, 
take  time  by  the  forelock." 

But  there  was  nothing  in  this  to  convince  the  Protest  of 
Peshawur  Council.      Nicholson  had  just  returned  ^J|^|  ^' 
from  his  first  great  raid,  and  he  and  Cotton  con- 
curred with  Edwardes  heartily  in  their  opposition  to 

VOL.  n.  2  R 


610     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.  the  project:  "  We  (Edwardes,  Nichokon,  and  Sydney 
June  11.  Cotton),"  wrote  Edwardes  on  June  11,  "are  unani- 
mously of  opinion  that  with  God's  help  we  can  and 
will  hold  Peshawur,  let  the  worst  come  to  the  worst, 
and  it  would  be  a  fatal  policy  to  abandon  it  and  to 
retire  across  the  Indus.  It  is  the  anchor  of  the 
Punjab,  and  if  you  take  it  up  the  whole  ship  will 
drift  to  sea.  For  keeping  the  mastery  of  the  Punjab, 
there  are  only  two  obligatory  points — ^the  Peshawur 
valley  and  the  Maunjha;  all  the  rest  are  mere  depen- 
dencies. Mooltan  is  valuable  as  the  only  practicable 
line  of  retreat  to  the  sea ;  but  if  we  hold  on  resolutely 
to  Peshawur  and  the  Maunjha,  we  shall  never  need 
to  retreat.  If  you  abandon  Peshawur,  you  give  up 
the  Trans-Indus ;  and  giving  up  the  Trans-Indus,  you 
give  up  the  homes  of  the  only  other  troops  besides 
Europeans  from  whom  you  expect  aid.  .  .  •  The  loyalty 
of  the  Mooltanee  Pathan  border  is  a  source  of  the 
greatest  comfort  to  us  now,  but  what  a  blow  to  them 
if  we  let  the  Afghans  overrun  the  Derajat.  And  as  to 
a  friendly  transfer  of  Peshawur  to  the  Afghans,  Dost 
Mahomed  would  not  be  a  mortal  Afghan — ^he  would 
be  an  angel — if  he  did  not  assume  our  day  to  be  gone 
to  India,  and  follow  after  us  as  an  enemy.  .  .  .  Eu- 
ropeans cannot  retreat — Caubul  would  come  again  f 
.  .  .  We  believe  that  at  Peshawur  and  Lahore  we  can 
ride  out  the  gale,  if  it  blow  big  guns,  till  the  cold 
weather  comes,  and  the  English  people  send  us  a  white 
army,  in  whom  (to  use  the  slang  of  the  day)  '  implicit 
confidence'  can  be  placed."  And  again  on  the  follow- 
ing day :  "  The  more  I  think  over  your  proposal  to 
abandon  Peshawur,  the  more  fatal  it  seems,  and  I  am 
convinced  that  whatever  doubt  may  hang  over  our 
attempt  to  hold  it,  the  attempt  to  give  it  up  would  be 
June  80.    certain  ruin."    Eight  days  afterwards  he  wrote  again, 


THE  PESHAWUB  QUESTION,  611 

Still  more  earnestly :  "  I  don't  know  anything  in  this  1857. 
war  that  has  surprised  me  so  much  as  the  judgment 
you  have  now  formed  on  this  subject.  It  is  useless 
to  re-discuss  it ;  but  I  earnestly  hope  you  will  never 
have  cause  to  propose  it  to  Government,  and  that  if 
you  do,  Government  may  not  consent,  for  I  believe 
that  the  move  would  be  more  damaging  than  any 
other  we  could  make.  Aa  to  deliberately  giving  up 
the  Trans-Indus,  by  choice  as  a  boundary,  on  the 
score  of  expense,  it  surprises  me  more  and  more,  for 
you  and  I  have  often  considered  this  matter,  and  I 
always  understood  you  to  be  convinced  that  the  Indus 
is  not  a  practicable  boundary,  and  that  it  would  take 
an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  or  more  between 
Attock  and  Mooltan,  and  never  be  secure." 

To  this  the  Chief  Commissioner  replied,  earnestly  Reply  of  Sir 
setting  forth  the  advantages  of  concentrating  the 
British  forces  in  the  territories  upon  the  hither  side 
of  the  Indus :  "  Here  we  are,"  he  wrote,  "  with  three 
European  regiments,  a  large  artillery,  and  some  of 
our  best  Native  troops  locked  up  across  the  Indus — 
troops  who,  if  at  Delhi,  would  decide  the  contest  in  a 
week.  What  have  we  got  for  all  the  rest  of  the 
Punjab  ?  We  have  barely  two  thousand  Europeans. 
I  doubt  if  we  have  so  many  holding  the  posts  of 
Philour,  Govindghur,  and  Ferozepore,  Lahore,  and 
Mooltan.  We  have  not  a  man  more  with  a  white 
face  whom  we  can  spare.  We  cannot  concentrate 
more  than  we  have  now  done,  except  by  giving  up 
Rawul-Pindee,  and  eventually  Peshawur.  Should 
the  Sikhs  rise,  our  condition  on  this  side  the  Indus 
wiU  be  well-nigh  desperate.  With  the  Peshawur 
force  on  this  side  we  should  be  irresistibly  strong. 
There  was  no  one  thing  which  tended  so  much  to  the 
ruin  of  Napoleon  in  1814  as  the  tenacity  with  which, 

2r2 


John  Law- 
rence. 


612     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FEOM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.      after  the  disasters  at  Leipsic,  he  clung  to  the  line  of 
June  22.    t^e  Elbe,  instead  of  falling  back  at  once  to  that  of  the 
Rhine.      He    thus   compromised    all    his   garmons 
beyond  the  Elbe,  and  when  he  was  beaten  in  the 
field,  these  gradually  had  to  surrender.     But  these 
troops  would  have  given  him  the  victory  had  they 
been  at  his  side  at  Bautzen,  and  the  other  conflicts 
which  preceded  Leipsic." 
June  25.        On  the  evening  of  June  25,  the  Peshawur  Com- 
missioner received    from    Sir    John   Lawrence,   at 
Rawul-Pindee,  a  message  in  the  following  words : 
"A  severe  action  (at  Delhi),  apparently  with  little 
result,  on  the  23rd.     Bareilly  mutineers  en  route  to 
Delhi.     Gwalior  Contingent  have  mutinied.     Agent 
has  left.      If  matters   get   worse,  it  is  my  decided 
opinion  that  the  Peshawur  arrangements  should  take 
effect     Our  troops  before  Delhi  must  be  reinforced, 
and  that  largely.      They  must  hold  their  ground." 
On  the  receipt  of  this  message,  Edwardes,  Cotton, 
and  James*  met  together  in  Council  and  determined 
on  another  remonstrance  against  the  project,  which 
from  the  first  hour  of  its  enunciation  had  so  much 
disturbed  and  alarmed  them.      The  letters  of  the 
Chief  Commissioner  were  sufficiently  perplexing,  but 
they  suggested  rather  proposal  and  discussion  than 
immediate  action,  whilst  the  brief,  expressive  sen- 
tences of  the  telegram  indicated  an  intention  to  do 
the  thing  and  at  once.    The  language,  indeed,  was 
fast  becoming  the  language  of  absolute  instruction. 
There  was  no  time  to  be  lost.   The  chief  military  and 
the  chief  civil  authority  at  Peshawur,  therefore,  put 
forth  severally  energetic  written  protests  against  what 
they  believed  to  be  so  fatal  a  measure.     "  We  have 

*  Captain  James  had  by  this  time    Nicholson  as  Depnty-Commissioner 
been  appointed  to  succeed  Colonel    at  Peshawur* 


THE  PESHAWDE  QUESTION.  I 

pushed  our  conquests,"  wrote  General  Cottoi 
the  very  mouths  of  the  Afghanistan  passei 
this  very  moment,  by  God's  blessing,  our 
position  in  India  is  at  the  mouth  of  the  Khy 
our  good  rule  we  have  engaged  the  affection 
say)  to  a  considerable  extent  of  the  border  ti 
in  the  hour  of  need  they  (who,  not  many  yej 
were  our  most  bitter  enemies),  relying  on  < 
name  and  power,  have  come  forward  to 
against  the  disaffection  of  the  very  troops  wi 
we  had  conquered  the  Sikhs,  Punjabees,  an 
A  retrograde  movement  from  Peshawur,  be! 
would  turn  all  these  parties,  now  our  friends 
us.  The  Punjab  Irregular  Force,  Pathanj 
Punjabees,  and  such  like,  no  longer  respec 
power,  will,  in  all  likelihood,  turn  against 
their  most  valuable  services  be  lost  to  us  i 
My  dear  Sir  John,  our  removal  from  Peshawu 
fail  to  be  disastrous,  and  cannot  be  effected 
immediate  confusion  throughout  the  whole 
part  of  the  country,  and  throughout  the  ler 
breadth  of  British  India.  Hence  the  meas 
seriously  injure  the  interests  of  our  force 
quarters,  whilst  the  additional  strength  to  b( 
would  be  small,  and,  indeed,  we  could  af 
timely  aid.  In  handing  over  the  Peshawui 
to  the  Dost  (a  measure  which  we  may  pretei 
a  mere  matter  of  expediency  and  not  of  ne 
the  Afghans  will  at  once  see  our  weakness,  ; 
duly  profit  by  the  same  against  the  common 
To  this  frontier,  and  to  the  present  strength 
position  on  it,  as  well  as  to  Calcutta  at  the  • 
end  of  our  territory,  we  must  look  for  the  rec 
our  power  throughout  the  intermediate  king 
the  Bengal  Presidency.     Our  great  name  is 


614     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  on  our  frontier,  whilst  Calcutta  and  this  seaboard,  in 
June  26.  the  plenitude  of  power,  with  European  reinforce- 
ments continually  arriving,  will  aflFord  eventually  and 
more  surely  the  necessary  succour.  At  this  very 
moment  six  or  eight  regiments  of  Europeans  must  be 
between  Calcutta  and  Delhi,  en  route  to  the  seat  of 
war,  and  treble  that  amount  will  be  eventually  thrown 
in  from  home  and  elsewhere,  and  by  such  means  must 
our  supremacy  be  recovered.  When  could  our  troops 
reach  the  seat  of  war,  and  in  what  numbers  and  con- 
dition? These  questions  must  be  duly  considered, 
and  by  them  the  loss  and  gain  of  our  removal  from 
hence  be  balanced  and  determined  on.  I  earnestly 
implore  of  you,  my  dear  Sir  John,  to  hold  to  our 
position  on  this  frontier.  The  required  succour  must 
indeed  be  thrown  in  from  Calcutta,  not  from  this. 
When  the  reinforcements  from  above  and  below,  at 
present  in  progress  towards  Delhi,  have  reached  their 
destination,  I  feel  confident  that  that  city  will  again 
fall  into  our  hands,  and  I  am  very  much  mistaken  if 
disaffection  does  not  then  cease  in  all  quarters,  and 
our  power  being  thus  established,  mutiny  will  gra- 
dually disappear  throughout  the  land." 
Opinion  of  On  the  same  morning,  Colonel  Edwardes  wrote, 
wides^^**'  with  like  decision:  "General  Cotton,  James,  and 
myself  are  all  of  opinion  that  you  should  not  go  on 
throwing  away  your  means  in  detail  by  meeting 
General  Reed's  demands  for  reinforcements.  Delhi 
is  not  India,  and  if  General  Reed  cannot  take  it 
^vith  eight  thousand  men,  he  will  not  take  it  with 
nine  thousand  or  ten  thousand.  However  impor- 
tant a  point,  it  is  only  a  point,  and  enough  has 
been  done  for  it.  You  will  serve  the  Empire  better 
by  holding  the  Punjab  than  by  sacrificing  the  Pun- 
jab and  recovering  Delhi.     You  will  sacrifice  th() 


THE  PESHAWUB  QUESTION.  615 

Punjab,  if  you  either  withdraw  General  Cotton's  1857. 
force  from  Peshawur,  or  fritter  away  Nicholson's 
Movable  Column,  already  too  weak.  Make  a  stand  I 
'Anchor,  Hardy,  anchor!'  Tell  General  Reed  he 
can  have  no  more  men  from  here,  and  must  either 
get  into  Delhi  with  the  men  he  has,  or  get  re- 
inforcements from  below,  or  abandon  the  siege  and 
fall  back  on  the  Sutlej,  leaving  Delhi  and  its  depen- 
dencies to  be  reorganised  in  the  cold  weather.  There 
are  two  policies  open  to  you — to  treat  the  Punjab  as 
secondary  to  the  North- West  Provinces  and  go  on 
giving  and  giving  troops  to  General  Reed  tiU  you 
break  down  in  the  Punjab,  or  to  maintain  the  Punjab 
as  your  first  duty  and  the  most  important  point  of 
the  two,  and  to  refuse  to  give  General  Reed  any  more 
troops  than  you  can  spare.     We  are  decidedly  and 

distinctly  of  the  latter  opinion We  consider 

that  if  you  leave  the  Peshawur  frontier,  we  shall  not 
hold  together  for  a  month,  but  be  demoralised  and 
despised,  and  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  flock  of 
sheep.  ...  If  you  hold  the  Punjab,  you  will  facili- 
tate the  reconquest  of  India  from  the  sea-board.  We 
have  only  got  to  hold  on  three  months.  Do  not  try 
too  much.  We  are  outnumbered.  Stick  to  what 
you  can  do.  Let  us  hold  the  Punjab,  coute  qui  coute^ 
and  not  give  up  one  European  necessary  to  that 
duty.  Whatever  takes  place  in  Central  India,  we 
shall  stand  in  a  firm  and  honourable  attitude  if  we 
maintain  the  capitals  on  the  sea  and  the  frontiers 
here.  Between  the  two  it  is  all  a  family  quarrel — an 
insurrection  in  our  own  house.  If  we  let  foreigners 
in  from  the  frontier,  the  Empire  is  invaded.  We 
may  pretend  to  make  friendly  presents  of  provinces, 
but  we  cannot  disguise  that  we  have  lost  them  by 
weakness,     India  has  not  yet  recovered  from  our 


6 16      THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  expulsion  from  Afghanistan.  The  world  ignores  our 
une  26.  voluntary  cession  of  it  after  Pollock's  expedition,  and 
knows  well  that  we  could  not  hold  it.  Do  not  repeat 
the  policy,  and  give  up  the  Trans-Indus.  No  words 
of  mine  can  express  my  sense  of  the  disgrace  and 
ruin  that  it  will  bring  upon  us.  It  is  abandoning 
the  cause  of  England  in  the  East.  Don't  yield  an 
inch  of  frontier;  gather  up  your  resources,  and 
restrict  yourself  to  the  defence  of  the  Punjab.  It  is 
a  practicable  and  a  definite  policy,  and  we  will  sup- 
port you  to  the  last.  ...  If  General  Reed,  with  all 
the  men  you  have  sent  him,  cannot  get  into  Delhi, 
let  Delhi  go.  Decide  on  it  at  once.  .  .  .  Don't  let 
yourself  be  sucked  to  death  as  General  Reed  is  doing. 
He  has  his  difficulties,  and  we  have  ours.  You  have 
made  vast  efforts  for  him,  and  no  one  can  blame  you 
for  now  securing  your  own  promise.  .  .  .  The  Em- 
pire's reconquest  hangs  on  the  Punjab." 
cVi.iion  of  Whilst  Cotton  and  Edwardes  were  thus  throwing 
Nichobon.  ^^^  *^^  earnestness  of  their  natures  into  their  letters 
to  the  Chief  Commissioner,  protesting  against  the 
abandonment  of  Peshawur,  Nicholson,  who  was  pro- 
ceeding to  take  command  of  the  Movable  Column, 
visited  Lawrence  at  Rawul-Pindee,  and  orally  rei- 
terated the  arguments  on  which  the  three  friends 
based  their  opposition  to  the  retrograde  movement. 
Lawrence,  however,  still  clung  to  his  opinion.  "  Ad- 
mitting," he  said,  "  which  I  do,  that  there  is  much 
force  in  the  arguments  adduced  in  favour  of  the 
maintenance  of  our  hold  on  Peshawur,  what  are  we 
to  do  when  all  the  British  troops  which  we  can 
scrape  together,  exclusively  of  those  at  Peshawur, 
have  been  despatched  to  Delhi  and  still  more  be  re- 
quired?" "  Rather  than  abandon  Peshawur,"  an- 
swered Nicholson,  "  let  us  give  up  Murree  and  Rawul- 


THE  QUESTION  OF  PESHAWUR.  617 

Pindee.  Give  up  everyplace  but  Peshawur,  Lahore,  1857. 
and  Mooltaii."  To  this  Lawrence  replied  "  that  such  Jnne— July, 
a  measure  would  isolate  those  three  places,  lock  up  a 
fine  force  in  Peshawur,  and  expose  us  to  destruction 
in  detail."  But  nothing  that  Lawrence  could  urge 
shook  Nicholson's  deeply-grounded  convictions.  They 
parted.  The  soldier  passed  on  to  his  appointed  work. 
The  statesman  remained  to  ponder  the  eagerly  en- 
forced opinions  of  his  chief  advisers  in  the  Punjab, 
whilst  awaiting  the  decision  of  the  Governor- General 
to  watch  the  progress  of  events,  and  to  do  all  in  his 
power  to  avert  the  necessity,  the  apprehension  of 
which  had  so  much  alarmed  and  perplexed  him. 

He  had  written  to  Lord  Canning  on  the  10th  of 
June,  enclosing  the  letter  which  on  the  day  before  he 
had  sent  to  Edwardes;  but  communication  with 
Calcutta  was  at  that  time  slow  and  uncertain  in  the 
extreme,  and  the  brief  telegraphic  message  which  he 
had  asked  for  in  reply  had  not  arrived  in  the  third 
week  of  July.  The  momentous  question  was  still 
unsolved.  Neither  had  come  the  order,  "  Hold  on  to 
Peshawur  to  the  last,"  nor  the  permission,  "  You  may 
act  as  may  appear  expedient  regarding  Peshawur" — in 
one  or  the  other  of  which  forms  he  had  requested  that 
a  telegraphic  message  might  be  sent  to  him.  Events, 
as  they  were  then  developing  themselves,  seemed 
rather  to  strengthen  the  probability  of  the  dreaded 
alternative  being  presented  to  us.  He  knew  little  of 
what  was  passing  below  Delhi,  but  there  and  in  the 
Punjab  itself  were  awkward  symptoms  of  accumu- 
lated danger.  The  numbers  of  the  enemy  were  in- 
creasing, and  with  numbers  there  was  increased  con- 
fidence within  the  great  imperial  stronghold.  And 
regiment  after  regiment  was  falling  away  from  its 
^Uedance  in  the  territories  which  John  Lawrence 


618     THE  LAST  SUCCOUnS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  governed ;  so  that  we  appeared  to  be  drifting  closely 
^^J'  and  more  closely  upon  the  terrible  alternative  -which 
he  had  so  greatly  dreaded.  Still,  therefore,  he  felt 
convinced  that  the  advice  which  he  had  given  was 
wise  and  salutary;  and  again  he  wrote  to  Lord 
Canning  on  the  24th  of  July,  saying :  "  All  these  re- 
ijiforcements  ought  to  enable  our  army  to  maintain 
itself  in  its  present  position,  and  allow  the  mutineers 
to  expend  their  power  against  our  entrenchments. 
But  should  further  aid  be  required  from  this  quarter, 
our  only  resource  would  be  to  abandon  Peshawur 
and  Kohat,  and  to  send  the  troops  thus  relieved  on 
to  Delhi.  It  seems  to  me  vain  to  attempt  to  hold 
Lahore,  and  insanity  to  try  to  retain  Peshawur,  &c., 
if  we  are  driven  from  Delhi.  The  Punjab  will  prove 
short  work  to  the  mutineers,  when  the  Delhi  Army 

is  destroyed My  policy  would  then  be  to 

bring  the  troops  from  across  the  Indus  and  send  them 
to  Delhi ;  in  the  mean  time  to  send  all  our  women 
and  children  down  the  rivers  to  Kurrachee,  and  then, 
accumulating  every  fighting  man  we  have,  to  join  the 
Army  before  Delhi  or  hold  Lahore,  as  might  appear 
expedient.  Colonel  Edwardes,  General  Cotton,  and 
Nicholson  are  for  maintaining  our  hold  on  Peshawur 
to  the  last.  They  argue  that  we  could  not  retire  in 
safety,  and  that  the  instant  we  attempted  to  make  a 
retrograde  movement  all  would  be  up  against  us.  This 
I  do  not  believe ;  but  granting  that  insurrection  would 
immediately  ensue,  I  maintain  that  the  force  at 
Peshawur  would  make  good  its  retreat.  It  contains 
more  soldiers,  more  guns,  more  power,  than  that 
with  which  Pollock  recovered  Caubul  after  forcing 
the  passage  of  the  Khyber.  Between  Peshawur  and 
the  Indus  are  no  defiles,  but  an  open  country;  the 
only  diflSiculty  is  the  passage  of  the  Indus,  which, 


THE  QUESTION  OF  PESHAWUR.  %T^ 

with  Attock  in  our  hands,  ought  not  to  be  a  work  of  1857. 
danger.  It  is  for  your  Lordship  to  decide  what  ^^^' 
course  we  are  to  pursue.  In  the  event  of  misfortune 
at  Delhi,  are  we  to  leave  that  Army  to  its  fate  and 
endeavour  to  hold  its  own,  or  shall  we,  by  a  timely 
retirement  from  beyond  the  Indus,  consolidate  our 
resources  in  the  Punjab,  and  maintain  the  struggle 
under  the  walls  of  Delhi.  I  pray  that  your  Lordship 
will  decide  one  way  or  the  other.  If  we  are  left  to 
decide  the  matter  ourselves,  time  will  be  lost  in  vain 
discussions ;  and  by  the  time  we  decide  on  the  proper 
course  to  follow,  it  will  prove  too  late  to  act  effec- 
tually." 

Whilst  this  appeal  was  slowly  making  its  way  to  its  July  15. 
destination,  an  answer  to  Lawrence's  letter  of  the  10th  P®^^°^  ^^ 
of  June  was  circuitously  travelling  up  to  the  Punjab.  Canmng. 
It  was  dated  July  15,  and  it  said :  "The  outbreak  at 
Indore  on  the  1st  will  no  doubt  have  interrupted  the 
dawk  as  well  as  the  telegraph  to  Bombay.  I  therefore 
send  a  steamer  to  Madras  with  this  letter  and  the 
despatches  which  accompany  it ;  and  I  shall  request 
Lord  Harris  to  telegraph  to  Lord  Elphinstone  my 
answer  to  your  question  regarding  Peshawur.  It 
will  be,  '  Hold  on  to  Peshawur  to  the  last.'  I  should 
look  with  great  alarm  to  the  effect  in  Southern  India 
of  an  abandonment  of  Peshawur  at  the  present  time, 
or  at  any  time  until  our  condition  becomes  more 
desperate  or  more  secure."  Thus,  officially,  was  the 
momentous  question  settled  by  the  "highest  autho- 
rity ;"  practically,  indeed,  it  had  settled  itself  before 
Lord  Canning's  letter  was  received.  The  contin- 
gency, which  had  been  contemplated,  never  arrived ; 
it  was  not  left  for  the  nation  to  discern  the  evil  effects 
of  either  the  retreat  from  Delhi  or  the  abandonment 
of  Peshawur.     The  question  never  went  beyond  the 


620     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  domain  of  discussion,  and  it  is  of  little  use  now  to 
^^J'  speculate  as  to  which  movement  would  have  been 
attended  with  the  more  disastrous  results.  But  there 
would  have  been  a  grave  omission  from  the  pages  of 
this  history  if  there  had  been  no  mention  of  this  dis- 
cussion. For  nothing  is  more  significant  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  dangers  which  threatened  our  Indian 
Empire  in  the  Summer  and  Autumn  of  1857,  than 
the  fact  that  at  a  time  when  the  English  held  fast 
to  the  maxim,  which  Clive  had  enunciated  nearly  a 
century  before,  that  "  to  stand  still  is  danger,  to  re- 
cede is  ruin,"  the  strong  spirit  of  Sir  John  Lawrence 
counselled  the  abandonment  of  the  frontier-station  of 
Peshawur  and  the  adjacent  territory  to  the  Afghans, 
who,  not  long  before,  had  been  our  enemies  in  the 
field.  It  must  be  admitted  that,  at  the  time,  the 
weight  of  authority  bore  heavily  against  the  pro- 
posal ;  and  no  man  was  more  willing  than  Lawrence 
himself  to  acknowledge  that  a  measure  which  met 
with  strenuous  opposition  from  such  men  as  those 
who  set  their  faces  against  it,  was  certainly  a  doubt- 
ful measure.*     But  time  and  maturity  of  reflection 

*  It  ought  always  to  be  remem-  confederacy  of  military  and  political 

bered  that  the  strongest  opponents  officers  on  the  frontier.     On   the 

of    the    measure    were    tne    chief  other  hand  it  is  to  be  observed  that 

Peshawur  officers,  whose  tendency  Neville  Chamberlain,  who  knew  well 

it  naturally  was  to  take  a  local  view  how  nearly  the  siege  of  Delhi  had 

of  the  Question.     Lawrence,  years  been  raised,  confessed  after  the  cap- 

afterwaras,with  characteristic  frank-  ture  of  the  place,  that  he  concurred 

ness,  wrote  that  *'  certainly,  in  hav-  in  the  views,  which  Lawrence  had 

ing  Herbert  Edwardes,  John  Nichol-  declared  some  montlis  before.  It  was 

son,  and  Sydney  Cotton  against  me,  his  belief  that  to  retreat  from  Delhi 

it  is  clear  that  there  was  a  ^eat  would  hivve  been  absolute  ruin.  *' We 

deal  to  be  said  on  the  other  side."  should  have  lost  all  our  heavy  guns 

Indeed,  their  arguments,  as  to  the  and    materiel ;   our  Native  troops 

danger   of  abandoning   Peshawur,  and  our  camp-followers  would  have 

were  altogether  unanswerable.    But  deserted  us ;  and  our  British  force 

80  also  were  the  arguments  as  to  would  have  been  worn  down  and 

the  danger  of  withdrawing  the  Delhi  destroyed.    The  Delhi  Force  could 

Pield  Force.    And  this  danger  Sir  not  have  made  ^ood  its  retreat  on 

John  Lawrence  was  more  capable  of  the  Punjab,  and,  in  such  circum- 

pstixpating   aright   tbaa  the   little  stances,  the  Punjabee  Force  could 


THE  QUESTION  OP  PESHAWUIL  621 

did  not  affect  his  original  convictions.     He  remained      i857. 
stedfast  to  his  first  opinion ;  and  years  have  rather      July, 
increased  than  diminished  the  number  of  adherents  • 
to  the  policy  which  he  enunciated  when  the  crisis 
was  upon  us.     Our  larger  and  more  accurate  know- 
ledge of  the  state  of  aflFairs,  that  existed  in  the 
Summer  of  1857,  has  taught  us  better  to  understand 
the  arguments  by  which   the  Chief  Commissioner 
justified  a  proposal,  by  which  alone  he  conceived  that 
in  the  last  resort  he  could  secure  the  salvation  of  the 
empire.     Those  arguments,  as  more  clearly  discerned 
by  the  later  light  of  history,  may  be  thus  briefly 
summarised : 

No  one  knew  so  well  as  John  Lawrence  what,  in  The  Question 
the  months  of  June  and  July,  was  stirring  the  hearts 
of  the  English  leaders  at  Delhi,  for  to  no  one  did 
they  write  so  frequently,  so  fully  and  so  freely,  to 
declare  their  wants  and  to  describe  their  prospects. 
He  knew  that  the  thought  of  raising  the  siege  was 
present  to  them;  for  it  was  before  him  in  letters, 
some  of  which  are  quoted  in  these  pages.  He  knew 
that  all  depended  upon  the  support  which  he  could 
give  the  besieging  force.  He  did  not  disguise  from 
himself  for  a  moment  the  fact  that  the  abandonment 

not  have  maintained  itself  at  Lahore,  who  were  at  Candahar  at  the  time. 

It  was  doubtful  whether,  with  all  its  looking  at  the  question  from  tlie 

available  means  it  could  have  re-  stand-point  of  Afghan  politics,  sent 

treated  on  Mooltan/'    It  must  be  an  urgent  missive  in  cipher,  urging 

remembered,  too,  that  Lord  Canning,  him  to  hold  on  to  the  last.    "If 

who  took  a  very  unfavourable  view  Peshawur  and  Kohat,"  they  said, 

of  Sir  John  Lawrence's  proposal,  "  are  given  up  at  this  moment,  we 

and   attributed  this  policy  to  the  shall    nave    all  Afghanistan  down 

failing  health  of  the  Chief  Commis-  upon  our  backs,   besides  throwing 

sioner,  had  no  accurate  knowledge  open  the  gate  of  Afghanistan,  the 

of  the  state  of  affairs  at  Delhi — be-  Khjrber,  for  ever.  .  .  .  Don't  give 

tween  winch  place  and  Calcutta  all  an  inch  of  ground ;  but  trust  in 

communication  was  cut  off,  and  the  Providence,  nght  it  out,  and  recal 

capture  of  which  still  seemed  to  be  us  sharp  to  help  you." — MS,    [The 

a  proximate  event  of  no  sort  of  diffi-  extracts  preceding  are  from  unpub« 

culty  to  the  besieging  Force.    It  lished  letters.] 
should  be  added  that  the  Luoisdens, 


622     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  of  Peshawur  would  be  an  immense  evil ;  but  those 
July.  '^erc  times  in  which  there  was  often  only  a  choice  of 
evils,  and  it  seemed  to  Lawrence  that,  in  a  large 
imperial  sense,  the  retirement  of  the  British  Army 
from  Delhi  would  be  the  greater  evil  of  the  two.  He 
stood  pledged  to  the  policy  of  regaining  that  great 
centre  of  Mahomedanism,  and  crushing  the  rebellion 
rampant  there  in  the  name  of  the  King ;  for  he  had 
himself  earnestly  and  energetically,  and  with  an 
overpowering  force  of  argument,  urged  upon  General 
Anson,  at  the  commencement  of  the  crisis,  the  para- 
mount necessity  of  an  immediate  advance  upon  Delhi, 
at  a  time  when  the  chiefs  of  the  Army  Staff  were 
representing  the  thing  to  be  impossible.  He  was 
bound,  therefore,  in  honour  to  do  all  that  lay  in  his 
power  to  bring  it  to  a  successful  issue.  The  policy 
which  he  had  so  stoutly  advocated  in  May  seemed 
still  in  June  and  July  to  be  the  policy  which  the 
national  safety  imperatively  demanded;  nay,  every 
succeeding  day  had  rendered  it  more  apparent  to 
him  that  our  inability  to  "dispose  of"  Delhi  was 
creating  everywhere  an  impression  of  our  weakness, 
which  was  encouraging  our  enemies  and  enervating 
our  friends.  All  eyes  were  turned  towards  that  great 
city,  and  as  weeks  passed,  and  still  it  seemed  that  the 
English,  who  had  gone  to  besiege  had  become  the 
besieged,  there  was  a  growing  mistrust  as  to  the 
"wisdom  of  holding  fast  to  the  English  alliance,  which 
would  soon  have  rendered  us  a  friendless  and  feeble 
few,  to  be  easily  mastered  and  destroyed.  With  this 
knowledge  pressing  hourly  upon  him,  Sir  John  Law- 
rence, the  more  he  thought,  was  the  more  convinced  , 
that,  in  the  last  extremity,  if  the  paucity  of  British  j 
troops  before  Delhi  should  render  its  capture  irapos-  T 
sible,  and  necessitate  the  withdrawal  of  our  Army, 


,i  THE  JUELUM  MUTINY.  623 

he  would  release  the  force  posted  in  the  Peshawur  1857. 
valley,  and  make  over  the  territory  to  the  Ameer  of  ^^^' 
Caubul. 

But  it  was  never  intended  that  this  should  be  a 

precipitate  movement,  or  that  we  should  prematurely 

anticipate  an  extremity  which  might  never  arise.    It 

was  his  design,  in  the  first  instance,  to  move  all  our 

/y  women  and  children  to  the  Lahore  side  of  the  Indus, 

J.:  so  that  our  troops  might  retain  their  grip  of  the 

,..  country  unencumbered  to  the  last  moment,  and  then 

move  lightly  and  rapidly  across  the  river.      The 

fL  cession,  it  was  felt,  would  be  a  source  of  unbounded 

• ,  delight  to  Dost  Mahomed,  and  it  was  believed  that 

-  though  it  might  not  secure  the  permanent  fidelity 

and  friendship  of  the  Afghans,  it  would,  for  a  time 

at  least,  hold  them  in  the  bonds  of  a  flattered  and 

self-satisfied  durance,  and  affbrd  us  the  security  of  the 

^:  forbearance  which  we  desired. 


It  has  been  said  that  there  were  increasing  signs  of  The  Jhelmn 
general  unrest  in  the  Punjab.  The  most  portentous  of  ^  ^* 
these  were  the  mutinies  at  Jhelum  and  Sealkote. 
The  Jhelum  cantonment  lies  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
which  bears  that  name.  That  the  Fourteenth  Sepoy 
Regiment  posted  there  was  on  the  brink  of  mutiny 
was  well  known.  Sir  John  Lawrence,  therefore,  de- 
spatched a  force  thither  to  disarm  them — a  small 
compact  force  consisting  of  some  companies  of  the 
Tv^enty-fourth  Queen's,  some  Horse  Artillery  guns, 
under  Lieutenant  Henry  Cookes,  and  a  party  of  Lind's 
Mooltanee  Horse,  the  whole  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Ellice,  of  the  Twenty-fourth.  The  Chief 
Commissioner  had  prepared  a  plan  of  operations 
for  taking  the  Sepoys  by  surprise ;  but  the  Colonel, 


624     THE  LAST  SUCCOUES  PEOM  THE  PUNJAB, 

1867.      thinking  that  he  knew  better  than  any  civilian  how 
^''     to  manage  an   aflFair  of  this  kind,  departed  from 
Lawrence's  views,  and  sketched  out  a  plan  of  his 
own.     There  was,  therefore,  no  surprise.     When  the 
Europeans  were  seen  filing  down  the  rising  ground 
opposite  the  cantonment,  the  Sepoys  knew  what  was 
coming.*     Happening  to  be  out  on  morning  parade, 
they  saw  the  English  column  advancing.     Regardless 
of  the  orders  and  entreaties  of  their  officers,  they 
began  at  once  to  load  their  muskets.     The  officers 
saw  that  they  had  no  longer  any  power  over  their 
men,  and  sought  safety  with  the  European  troops. 
Then  the  Sepoys  took  up  their  main  position  in  the 
quarter-guard.     It  was  a  strong  brick  building,  with 
a  battlemented  roof,  erected  for  purposes  of  defence 
by  Sir  Charles  Napier,  and  afforded  good  cover  to 
the  insurgents,  who  threw  out  a  party  in  advance  to 
guard  the  approaches  to  it,  whilst  others  took  shelter 
in  their  Lines,  the  mud-huts  of  which  had  been  loop- 
holed  in  expectation  of  the  crisis.     Our  people  were 
full  of  courage  and  enthusiasm,  and  they  flung  them- 
selves headlong  upon  the  enemy.     Lind's  Mooltanees 
charged  gallantly,  but  were  met  by  a  galling  fire, 
which  they  could  not  resist.     Cookes'  guns  opened, 
but  within  too  near  a  range,  and  the  musketry  of  the 
enemy  did  better  execution  than  our  own  Artillery  at 
so  short  a  distance.     The  Sepoys  fired  from  behind 
the  cover  of  their  mud- walk,  and  our  grape  was  com- 
paratively harmless.     But  now  the  British  Infantry 
came  up  with  their  intrepid  commander  at  their  head, 
and  advanced  full  upon  the  quarter-guard.  The  attack 
was  a  gallant  and  successful  one ;  the  quarter-guard 

*  Mr.  Cooper    ("  Crisis  in  the    formed  tbem  of  the  object  of  the 
Punjab")  says  Colonel  Gerrard,  full    European  arrif  aL" 
of  confidence  in  his  men,  had  "  in- 


THE  JHELUH  MUTINY.  625 

was  carried,  and  the  Sepoys  then  vacated  their  huts      1857. 
and  fell  back  upon  the  empty  lines  of  the  Thirty-     ^^^  '• 
ninth,  from  which  they  were  driven  by  the  bursting 
of  a  well-directed  shell  to  a  village  on  the  left  of  the 
cantonment. 

By  this  time  the  noon-day  sun  was  beating  fiercely 
down  upon  our  exhausted  people.  Colonel  Ellice  had 
been  carried  from  the  field  dangerously  wounded. 
Captain  Spring  had  been  shot  dead,*  and  we  had 
lost  many  men  and  many  horses  in  the  encounter. 
Our  troops  had  been  marching  from  the  hour  of 
midnight,  and  had  been  actively  engaged  since  sunrise. 
Nature  demanded  rest ;  and  it  was  sound  discretion 
at  such  a  time  to  pause  in  our  ofi^ensive  operations. 
It  would  have  been  well,  perhaps,  if  the  pause  had 
been  longer  and  the  renewed  operations  more  carefully 
matured.  At  four  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  heat 
was  still  great,  an  attack  on  the  village  was  ordered. 
Colonel  Gerrard,  of  the  Fourteenth,  took  command  of 
the  Force  that  went  out  to  destroy  the  mutinous 
regiment,  in  whose  fidelity  he  had  once  trusted.  The 
result  was  disastrous.  Again  the  Sepoys  had  good 
cover,  and  we  found  ourselves  entangled  in  streets, 
in  which  we  suffered  much,  but  could  do  little.  The 
guns  were  brought  up  within  too  short  a  range,  and 
the  musketry  of  the  enemy  told  with  deadly  effect 
upon  the  gunners.  The  Europeans,  partly  from 
fatigue,  and  partly,  perhaps,  from  the  stimulants 
which  they  had  taken  to  reinvigorate  themselves 
and  the  effect  of  the  slant  rays  of  the  afternoon  sun, 
are  said  to  have  "  staggered"  up  to  the  village  and  to 
have  been  easily  repulsed.     The  retreat  was  sounded, 

*  He  ))ad  left  Roorkhee,  as  pre-  and  had  onlj  just  joined  his  regi- 
viously  stated,  with  Baird  Smith,  on  ment  when  his  career  was  thus  closed 
the  29th  of  June  (ante,  page  563),    on  the  battle-field. 

VOL.  U.  2  8 


626     THE  LAST  SUCCOUBS  F&OM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.  and  our  troops  were  withdrawn.  Two  guns  were 
July  7.  carried  back,  but  a  third,  in  spite  of  the  gallant  eflForts 
of  Lieutenant  Battye,  with  a  party  of  Mounted  Police, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  was  turned 
against  our  retreating  people. 
Nothing  more  could  be  done  on  that  evening.  At 
July  8.  dawn  on  the  morrow  the  conflict  was  to  be  renewed. 
Both  forces  had  bivouacked  on  the  plain.  But  when 
day  broke  it  was  found  that  the  mutineers  had 
evacuated  their  position  and  fled.  Many  had  been 
killed  in  the  two  engagements ;  some  were  drowned 
in  the  Jhelum ;  others  fell  into  the  hands  of  our 
Police,  or  were  subsequently  given  up  by  the  Cash- 
mere authorities,  in  whose  country  they  had  sought 
refuge,  and  thus  surrendered,  they  were  blown  away 
from  our  guns.  Very  few  of  them  ultimately  escaped  ; 
but  the  manner  in  which  the  affair  was  managed 
greatly  incensed  the  Chief  Commissioner.  For,  in 
plain  words,  with  Horse,  Foot,  and  Artillery,  we  were 
beaten  by  part  of  a  regiment  of  Sepoys.  If  we  had 
quietly  surrounded  the  village  and  attacked  it  in  the 
cool  of  the  evening,  it  is  probable  that  not  a  man 
would  ever  have  escaped  from  Jhelum. 
Mutiny  at  When  tidings  of  the  sharp  resistance  of  the  Four- 

^*^^*®*  teenth  reached  Sealkote,  a  still  more  disastrous  state 
of  things  arose  at  that  place.  The  station  was  com- 
manded  by  Brigadier  Frederick  Brind,  an  Artillery 
officer  of  high  repute — a  man  of  lofty  stature  and 
large  proportions,  who  had  done  good  service  in  his 
time,  and  who  was  still  amply  endowed  with  physical 
and  mental  vigour.  But  seldom  was  man  left  by 
hard  circumstances  in  a  position  which  afforded  so 
little  scope  for  the  display  of  his  power.  The  canton- 
ment had  been  stripped  of  European  troops  for  the 
formation  of  the  Movable  Column,  and  there  were 


MUTINT  AT  SEALKOTE.  627 

nearly  a  thousand  Native  soldiers — Horse  and  Foot  1857. 
— all  armed  and  ready  for  action.*  In  such  cir-  Julys. 
cumstances  a  commanding  officer  has  no  choice  to 
make — no  discretion  to  exercise.  He  must  appear  to 
trust  his  men  whether  he  does  or  not ;  for  to  betray 
suspicion  is  surely  to  precipitate  an  outbreak.  So  to 
all  outward  appearance  Brind  had  full  confidence  in 
his  men,  and  as  time  went  on  the  quietude  of  their 
demeanour  seemed  to  justify  more  than  the  pretence. 
But  when,  on  the  8th  of  July,  the  Lines  of  Sealkote 
were  all  astir  with  the  tidings  that  the  Fourteenth  at 
Jhelum  had  been  in  action  with  the  white  troops, 
who  had  attempted  to  disarm  them,  it  was  felt  by  our 
people  that  the  beginning  of  the  end  had  come.  And 
there  was  another  source  of  excitement  on  that  even- 
ing, for  a  messenger  had  come  from  Delhi,  bringing  a 
summons  from  the  King  commanding  them  to  join 
the  Royal  Army.  The  night  was,  therefore,  one  of 
preparation.  On  the  morning  of  the  9th  everything 
was  ready. 

Sealkote  was  a  large,  and  had  been  an  important 
military  station.  In  quiet  times  European  troops 
had  been  stationed  there  in  large  numbers,  with  the 
usual  results.  There  were  good  barracks  and  com- 
modious houses  and  pleasant  gardens,  and  more  than 
the  wonted  number  of  English  gentlewomen  and 
young  children.  There  were  a  church  and  a  chapel, 
and  other  indications  of  the  progress  of  western  civili- 
sation. When,  therefore,  the  storm  burst,  there  was 
much  that  lay  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy,  and  on 
our  side  no  possible  means  of  defence.    Before  the 

*  "  Brigadier     Brind    protested  disarm.    But,  to  the  last,  he  shared 

against  the  European  troops  being  in  the  belief  (almost  grevious)  in  the 

entirely  removed,  and  desired  that  honour   of   the    Sepoy." — Cooper'i 

two  hundred  and  fifty  should  re-  CmU  in  the  Funjab. 
main.  In  reply,  he  was  requested  to 

2s2 


628     THH  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.       sound  of  the  moming-gun  had  been  heard  through- 
July  6.      Q^f  tijg  cantonment,  and  our  people,  according  to 
their  wont,  had  mounted  their  horses  or  entered  their 
carriages,  to  proceed  to  their  wonted  duties,  or  to 
take  the   air  before  the  sun  was  high   above  the 
horizon,  the  Sepoys  had  planted  picquets  all  round 
the  place,  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  Feringhees. 
And  presently  the  din  and  uproar  of  rebellion  an- 
nounced to  our  people,  just  waking  from  their  slum- 
bers, that  the  Sepoys  had  risen.     Our  officers  were 
soon  mounted  and  on  their  way  to  the  parade-ground. 
The  truth  was  then  only  too  apparent     The  troopers 
of  the  Ninth  were  already  in  their  saddles,  and  the 
Forty-sixth  were  under  arms.    Our  people  were  sud- 
denly brought  face  to  face  with  mutiny  in  its  worst 
form.     All  circumstances  and  conditions  were  in  the 
last  degree  unfavourable  to  the  English.     Sealkote 
was  one  of  the  great  stations  at  which  there  had  been 
a  gathering  of  detachments  from  different  regiments 
for  the  new  rifle  practice,  and,  therefore,  great  op- 
portunities of  conspiracy.     It  lay  in  proximity  to  the 
Jummoo  territory  of  the  Maharajah  of  Cashmere, 
who  the  Sepoys  believed,  and  our  authorities  feared, 
would,  in  the  hour  of  danger,  forsake  his  aUiance ; 
and  it  was  utterly  without  any  defence  of  European 
troops.     So  when  the  hour  came  to  strike,  the  con- 
fidence and  audacity  of  the  enemy  had  everything  to 
foster  and  encourage  them. 

As  ever,  the  Cavalry  were  foremost  in  the  work  of 
mutiny — foremost  in  their  greed  for  blood.  Mounted 
on  good  chargeis,  they  could  ride  with  rapidity  from 
place. to  place,  and  follow  the  white  men  on  horse- 
back or  in  their  carriages,  and  shoot  them  down  as 
they  rode.  For  weeks  the  outburst  had  been  ex- 
pected, and  every  English  inhabitant  of  Sealkote  had 


MUTINY  AT  SEALKOTE.        I 

thought  painfully  over  the  coming  cil 
calculated  the  best  means  of  escape.     1 
of  safety  for  which  they  could  make  waa 
once  the  stronghold  of  the  Sikh  Chie 
and  to  this,  when  they  saw  that  notl^ 
done  to  arrest  the  tide  of  rebellion,  whic! 
at  the  flood,  they  endeavoured  to  mal 
retreat.     Some  happily  reached  the  B' 
perished  on  the  way.     A  ball  from  th 
mounted  trooper  entered  the  broad  bac 
gadier,  and  he  was  carried  to  the  Fort 
The  Superintending  Surgeon,  Graham,  t 
in  his  buggy,  as  his  daughter  sat  by  his  si< 
medical  officer  of  the  same  name  was  ^^ 
carriage  among  his  children."     A  Scotcl 
named  Hunter,  on  his  way  to  the  Fort  i 
with  his  wife  and  child,  was  attacked  I 
prassies  of  the  gaol-guard,  and  all  thre< 
lessly  murdered.  The  Brigade-Major,  Cap 
was  killed,  in  the  presence  of  his  famil; 
very  walls  of  the  Fort.     Some  hid  thems 
the  day,  and  escaped  discovery  and  dea 
a  miracle.     Some  were  preserved  by  the: 
and  concealed  till  nightfall  in  the  Lines, 
of  the  Forty-sixth,  who  had  remained  wi 

*  His  daughter  escaped.  She  was  Graham  has  had! 

dragged  to  the  Cavalrj  Guard,  where  after  two  monttis  ol 

she  *^  found  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Lome  sacre,  to  horrors  i 

Campbell  surrounded  by  a  few  faith-  recital  of  them  had 

ful  troopers,  who  conducted  them  in  the  intense  sensat 

safety  to  the  Fort." — ^There  is  a  sig-  had  once  caused, 

nificant  commentary  on  this  incident  History,  it  will  be  o 

in  one  of  Herbert  Ed  wardes's  letters  cecds,  that  whilst  ^ 

to  John  Lawrence :  "  These  indivi-  dies,  then  novel  an 

dual  stories  convev  better  notions  European  mind,  ai 

than  public  despatcnes.   In  ordinary  detail,  some  of  tfa 

times  India  would  have  shuddered  dismissed  with  the 

over  Dr.  Graham  shot  dead  in  his  graphic  message, 

daughter's  arms.    Now,  all  we  say  rative  only  reflects 

is^  '  What  a  wonderful  escape  Miss  perature  of  the  tim 


630  THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  until  the  road  between  the  Parade-ground  and  the 
^^j9*  Fort  was  closed  by  the  enemy,  rode  ofF  towards 
Gogranwallah,  and  reached  that  place,  scorched  and 
weary — ^but  not  hungry  and  athirst,  for  the  villagers 
fed  them  on  the  way — after  a  mid-day  journey  of 
some  forty  miles.  The  personal  incidents  of  that 
9th  of  July  at  Sealkote  would  fill  an  interesting 
and  exciting  chapter.  But  there  is  nothing  stranger 
in  the  story  than  the  fact  that  two  of  our  field  officers 
-^ne,  Colonel  of  a  regiment — ^were  invited  to  take 
command  of  the  mutineers,  and  to  lead  them  to 
Delhi,  with  a  promise  of  high  pay,  and  a  significant 
pledge,  not  perhaps  without  a  touch  of  irony  in  it, 
that  they  might  always  spend  the  hot  weather  on 
the  Hills. 

Whilst  our  people  were  seeking  safety  within  the 
walls  of  the  old  Fort,  and  securing  their  position  by 
strengthening  its  defences,  the  Sepoy  mutineers  were 
revelling  in  the  work  of  spoliation  with  the  congenial 
companionship  of  the  criminal  classes.  The  old  story, 
so  often  abeady  told,  and  still  to  be  told  again  and 
again,  was  repeated  here:  the  mutineers  made  for 
the  Gaol,  released  the  prisoners,  plundered  the  Trea- 
sury, destroyed  the  Cutcherry  with  all  its  records, 
blew  up  the  magazines,  and  gutted  the  houses  of  the 
Christian  inhabitants.  If  there  were  any  special  cir- 
cumstance about  the  Sealkote  insurrection,  it  was 
that  the  household  servants  of  our  English  officers, 
generally  faithful,  or  at  least  neutral,  on  these  occa- 
sions, took  an  active  part  against  their  old  masters. 
That  they  knew  what  was  coming  seems  to  be  proved 
by  the  fact  that  the  Brigadier's  sirdar-bearer,  or  chief 
body  servant,  an  "old  and  favourite"  domestic,  took 
the  caps  off  his  master's  pistols  in  the  night,  as  they 


MUTINY  AT  SEALKOTE,  631  '  ' 

lay  beside  him  while  he  dept.*  And  how  thoroughly  1867. 
they  cast  in  their  lot  with  the  soldiery  is  demon-  J^^- 
strated  with  equal  distinctness  by  the  fact  that  they 
afterwards  fought  against  us,  the  Brigadier's  khan- 
saman,  or  butler,  taking  an  active  part  in  operations 
which  will  be  presently  described.  There  seems  to 
have  been  perfect  cohesion  between  all  classes  of  our 
enemies — ^the  mutineers,  the  criminals  from  the  gaols, 
the  "  Goojurs "  from  the  neighbouring  villages,  and 
the  servants  from  the  houses  and  bungalows  of  the 
English.  From  sunrise  to  sunset  the  work  went  on 
bravely.  Everything  that  could  be  carried  off  by  our 
enemies  was  seized  and  appropriated;  even  the  old 
station-gun,  which  morning  and  evening  had  pro- 
claimed  the  hours  of  uprising  and  down-setting.  And 
nearly  everything  belonging  to  us,  that  could  not  be 
carried  off,  was  destroyed  and  defaced,  except — a 
strange  and  unaccountable  exception — the  Church 
and  Chapel,  which  the  Christians  had  reared  for  the 
worshipping  of  the  Christian's  God. 

Before  nightfall,  all  this  rabble  had  made  off  for 
the  Ravee  river,  on  their  way  to  Delhi,  rejoicing  in 

*  This  might  be  supposed  to  have  stitute") ;  and  he  explained  that  he 
arisen  merely  from  the  instinct  of  had  come  to  take  the  place  tem- 
self-preservation  if  it  had  not  been  porarily  of  a  member  ot  the  esta- 
for  the  after-conduct  of  these  do-  olishment  who  was  sick — a  common 
mestics.  It  is  certain  that,  in  many  practice  in  Anglo-Indian  domestic 
parts  of  the  country,  the  Native  life.  A  few  days  afterwards  the  old 
servants  were  in  a  state  of  deadly  servant  returned  to  his  work,  look- 
fear  lest  their  enra^d  masters,  seek-  ing  very  sleek  and  well ;  and  when 
ing  objects  for  their  revenge,  should  his  master  questioned  him  as  to  the 
turn  upon  them  and  kill  them.  There  cause  of  his  absence,  he  naively 
is  an  anecdote  illustrative  of  this,  replied  that  he  had  received  secret 
almost  too  ffood  to  be  an  invention,  information  that,  on  a  given  day 
It  is  said  that  a  gentleman  in  Cal-  jast  passed,  the  sahib-logue  intended 
cutta,  observing  one  day  a  strange  to  shoot  all  their  Native  servants,  in 
table -servant  waiting  at  dinner,  t be  middle  of  dinner,  and  that,  there- 
asked  him  who  he  was  and  bow  he  fore,  he  had  thought  it  prudent  to 
came  there.  His  answer  was, "  Hum  send  a  "budlee"  to  be  shot  in  his 
budlee  hain,  aahib''  ("  I  am  a  sub-  place. 


632     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  and  excited  by,  their  day's  work.  It  was  a  delightful 
July  9— 10.  relief  to  the  inmates  of  the  decayed  old  Fort,  who 
now  thought  that  if  the  danger  were  not  wholly  past, 
at  least  the  worst  of  it  was  over.  It  has  been  said 
that  they  "slept  more  soundly  and  fearlessly  than 
they  had  slept  for  weeks  before.  The  mine  had  ex- 
ploded and  they  had  escaped."*  It  is  often  so ;  the 
agony  of  suspense  is  greater  than  that  of  the  dreaded 
reality.  But  there  was  one  there  to  whom  no  such 
reUef  was  to  be  given.  The  Brigadier  lay  dying.  A 
true  soldier  to  the  last,  he  had,  whilst  the  death- 
pangs  were  upon  him,  issued*  his  orders  for  the 
defence  of  the  Fort,  and  for  what  little  else  could  he 
done  in  that  extremity.  But  the  ball  from  the 
trooper  s  pistol  had  done  its  work,  and  though  Brind 
lingered  through  the  night,  he  died  before  the  sun 
had  risen;  and  all  felt  that  a  brave  man  and  a 
capable  officer  was  lost  to  the  country,  which  he  had 
so  well  served. 
Nicholson  The  triumph  of  the  Sealkote  Mutineers  was  but 
TableCokm'n  ^^^^-  Retribution  followed  closely  on  their  victory. 
On  the  22nd  of  June,  Colonel  John  Nichobon, 
with  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General,  had  taken  com- 
mand of  the  Movable  Column.  That  so  young  an 
officer  should  be  appointed  to  such  a  conmiand,  in 
defiance  of  what  were  called  the  "  claims"  of  many 
officers  in  the  Division  of  longer  standing  and  higher 
rank,  was  an  innovation  by  no  means  grateful  to 
the  Departments  or  to  the  Seniority-mongers  in  the 
service,  but  it  startled  many  with  a  pleasurable  sur- 
prise, and  to  some  it  was  a  source  of  infinite  re- 
joicing. Elderly  men  with  elderly  wives,  who  had 
never  heard  of  such  a  thing  before,  affected  to  think 
that  there  was  no  great  wisdom  in  the  appointment, 

*  Cttvc-Brownc's  "Punjab  and  Delhi/' 


NICHOLSON  AND  THE  MOVABLE  COLUMN.  633 

and  showed  their  contempt  by  talking  of  Mister  1857. 
Nicholson.  Of  this  the  young  General  could  afford  J«^e-July. 
to  speak  tenderly.  "  I  fear,"  he  wrote  to  Edwardes 
on  the  17th  of  June,  "  that  my  nomination  will  give 
great  offence  to  the  senior  Queen's  officers,  but  I 
shall  do  all  in  my  power  to  get  on  well  Avith  them. 
I  feel  so  sorry  for  the  disappointment  they  must  ex- 
perience, that  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  put  up  with 
a  great  deal  of  coldness  without  taking  offence."  But 
among  the  younger  officers  of  the  Army,  especially 
among  those  in  the  Movable  Column,  the  selection 
was  most  popular.  The  exigencies  of  the  General 
Staff  having  taken  Chamberlain  to  Delhi,  thefe  was 
not  a  man  in  the  Army  whose  selection  would  have 
been  more  welcome  to  those  who  meant  work,  and 
were  resolute  to  do  it.  When  Edwardes  wrote  to 
John  Lawrence,  saying,  *'  You  have  been  very 
vigorous  in  pushing  down  reinforcements,  and  those 
appointments  of  Chamberlain  and  Nicholson  are 
worth  armies  in  this  crisis.  .  .  .  Amid  the  ruins  of 
the  Regular  Army  these  two  Irregular  Pillars  stand 
boldly  up  against  the  sky,  and  I  hope  the  Tom- 
noddies will  admire  their  architecture,"  he  expressed 
the  sentiments  of  all  the  bolder  spirits  in  the  Army, 
eager  to  be  led,  not  by  age  and  rank,  but  by  lusty 
manhood  in  its  prime,  and  who  could  see  better  hope 
for  a  glorious  deliverance  even  in  the  rashness  and 
audacity  of  youth  than  in  the  irresolution  and  in- 
activity of  senile  command.  It  was  truly  a  great 
day  for  India,  when  it  was  decreed  that  Chamberlain 
should  go  down  to  Delhi  and  Nicholson  place  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  Movable  Column  in  the  Punjab. 

The  force  of  which  Brigadier-General  Nicholson 
took  command  consisted  of  Her  Majesty's  Fifty-second 
Light  Infantry ;  a  troop  of  European  Horse  Artillery, 


634     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FBOM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  under  Major  Dawes,  an  excellent  officer,  who  had 
June— July,  ^qjiq  good  service  in  the  Afghan  war ;  a  Horse  Bat- 
tery, also  European,  under  Major  George  Bourchier ; 
the  Thirty-third*  and  Thirty-fifth  Sepoy  Regiments ; 
and  a  wing  of  the  Ninth  Cavalry.  He  joined  the 
force  at  Jullundhur,  and  moved  thence  to  Phillour, 
as  though  he  had  been  marching  down  upon  Delhi. 
Then  some  people  shook  their  heads  and  wondered 
what  he  was  doing  in  thus  carrying  down  with  him 
many  hundreds  of  Sepoys,  with  rebellion  in  their 
hearts,  only  to  swell  the  host  of  the  enemy.  What 
he  wa«  really  doing  was  soon  apparent.  He  was  in- 
tent  on  disarming  the  Native  regiments.  But  as  this 
was  to  be  best  accomplished  by  secrecy  and  sudden- 
ness, he  did  not  blazon  his  design  about  the  Camp. 
But  in  good  time,  the  necessary  instructions  were 
Disarming  of  given.  On  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  June,  the 
thb-d  mi'  Column  was  under  the  walls  of  the  fort  of  Phillour. 
^^.fifth  The  guns  were  drawn  up  on  the  road  and  un- 
limbered,  the  Fifty-second  taking  post  on  both  flanks. 
The  Sepoy  Regiments  marched  on,  little  dreaming  of 
what  was  to  come.  Nicholson  had  given  orders  to 
the  Police  that,  on  the  first  sound  of  firing,  the 
bridge  across  the  river  should  be  cut  away,  so  as  to 
prevent  all  chance  of  escape  if  the  Sepoys  should 
break  and  fly  with  their  arms  in  their  hands.  Lean- 
ing over  one  of  Bourchier's  guns,  he  said  to  that 
officer,  "  If  they  bolt^  you  follow  as  hard  as  you  can ; 
the  bridge  will  have  been  destroyed,  and  we  shall 
have  a  second  Sobraon  on  a  small  scale,  "f  But  the 
Sepoys  did  not  bolt.  In  the  presence  of  those  guns, 
they  felt  that  it  would  be  madness  to  resist  the 

*  The  Thirty-third,  which  had        f  Bourchier's  Ei^iU  MoiUhs'  Cam-^ 
been    stationed    at    Hooshyapoor,    paign. 
joined  the  column  near  Phillour. 


DISARMING  OPERATIONS.  635 

order ;  so  they  sullenly  piled  their  arms  at  the  word       1857. 
of  command.  •^^y* 

Having  disarmed  the  two  Infantry  regiments, 
Nicholson  determined  to  retrace  his  steps  from 
Phillour,  and  to  pitch  his  camp  at  Umritsur.  On 
the  5th  he  was  at  that  place,  the  central  position  of 
which  recommended  itself  to  him,  as  it  enabled  him 
to  afford  speedy  aid,  if  required,  either  to  Lahore  op 
the  JuUundhur  Doab,  while  at  the  same  time  it  over- 
awed the  Maunjba,  and  rendered  hopeless  any  attempt 
to  mutiny  on  the  part  of  the  Fifty-ninth  Regiment 
stationed  in  the  cantonment*  On  the  morning  of 
the  7th,  the  stirring  news  of  the  mutiny  of  the 
Fourteenth  at  Jhelum  reached  his  Camp,  and  he 
hoped  hour  after  hour  to  be  comforted  by  the  tidings 
that  Colonel  Ellice  had  defeated  and  destroyed  them. 
But  the  day  passed,  and  the  night  also  was  spent, 
and  still  the  wished-for  intelligence  did  not  come, 
but  in  its  place  were  ominous  tidings  of  disaster ;  so 
on  the  morning  of  the  9th,  Nicholson,  with  reluct- 
ance which  he  frankly  expressed,!  proceeded  to 
disarm  the  Fifty-ninth.  There  was  a  punishment  Disarming  of 
parade  that  morning.  A  rebel  or  a  deserter  was  to  J}j^j?^^* 
be  executed,  and  all  the  troops,  European  and  Native, 
were  ordered  out  to  witness  the  ceremony.  The 
ground  selected  lay  between  the  city  and  the  fort, 
about  a  milp  from  the  cantonment,  and  there  the 
regiments  and  the  guns  were  drawn  up  on  parade, 
and  the  ghastly  ceremony  was  duly  performed.  This 
done,  the  Sepoys  of  the  Fifty-ninth,  who  only  the 

*  Brigadier-General  Nicholson  to  committed  itself  in  any  way,  nor  do 

the  Adjutant-General  of  the  Army,  I  believe  that  ud  to  the  day  it  was 

July  19, 1857.  disarmed  it  haa  any  intention  of 

t  "I    feel   bound   to    place  on  committing  itself ;  and  I  very  deeply 

record  nriy  belief  tiiat  both  in  conduct  regret  that  even  as  a  precautionary 

and  feeling  this  regiment  was  ^uiie  measure  it  should  have  become  mj 

an  eiceptional  one.    It  had  neither  duty  to  disarmr  it." — Ibid, 


636  THE  LAST  8UCC0UBS  FROM  THE  FUNJIB. 

1857.  day  before  had  been  complimented  on  their  loyalty, 
July.  ^epe  ordered  to  lay  down  their  arms.  Though  sur- 
prised and  bewildered  by  the  command,  they  obeyed 
without  a  murmur;  and  though  many  men  of  the 
Regiment  were  not  present  on  parade,  and,  therefore, 
a  quantity  of  arms  were  still  left  in  possession  of  the 
Sepoys,  they  testified  the  sincerity  of  their  obedience 
by  afterwards  voluntarily  surrendering  them. 

Thus  were  the  teeth  of  another  Native  regiment 
quietly  drawn,  and  the  danger  glaring  at  us  from  the 
ranks  of  our  own  Sepoys  was  greatly  diminished. 
Elsewhere  the  same  process,  as  Nicholson  now  learnt, 
was  going  on  with  more  or  less  success.     At  Rawul- 
Pindee  were  the  Fifty-eighth   Regiment  and   two 
Disarminir  of  companies  of  the  Fourteenth — the  regiment  which 
the  Fiftj.      had  fought  so  desperately  at  Jhelum.     A  letter  from 
"^  Sir  John  Lawrence  announced  that  the  business  of 

disarming  had  been  done,  but  in  no  very  satisfactory 
manner.  "  We  have  disarmed,"  the  Chief  Commis- 
sioner wrote  to  Nicholson  on  the  7th,  "the  seven 
companies  of  the  Fifty-eighth  and  the  two  companies 
of  the  Fourteenth.  We  had  three  guns  and  two 
hundred  and  forty  Europeans,  and  were  very  nearly 
having  a  fight.  The  main  body  broke  and  bolted  to 
their  lines,  and  we  did  not  fire  on  them.  After  about 
an  hour's  work,  however,  during  which  a  good  many 
loaded,  we  got  all  but  about  thirty  to  lay  down  their 
arms.  The  latter  bolted,  and  about  half  were  killed 
or  taken  by  the  Police  Sowars.  Miller  was  badly 
woimded  a  little  above  the  right  wrist ;  both  bones 
were  broken.  He  had  a  narrow  escape.  A  Sepoy- 
gave  him  a  dig  in  the  chest  with  hia  bayonet^  but 
somehow  or  other  the  wound  was  slight."  At  the 
same  time  Edwardes  was  reporting  the  entire  success 
of  his  arrangement  for  the  diswming  of  the  Sepoys  of 


NEWS  FROM  SEALKOTE.  637 

the  Twenty-fourth  at  Fort  Mackeson.*     By  the  help    .   1^57. 
of  Brougham's  mountain  guns  and  some  detachments  theTweaty- 
of  the  Punjab  Irregular  Force  this  was  accomplished  fourth, 
without  a  hindrance  or  a  hitch ;  and  the  disarmed 
Sepoys  were  marched  into  Peshawur,  escorted  by 
Brougham's  guns,  whilst  the  Fort  was  garrisoned 
by  some  Mooltanee  levies,  horse  and  foot.     Nothing 
could  have  been  more  adroitly  managed  than  the 
whole  affair. 

But  tidings  more  exciting- than  these  were  to  reach  MoTemcnfaof 
the  ears  of  the  Commander  of  the  Movable  Column.  Column?'^ " 
The  telegraph  wires  brought  news  from  Lahore  that 
the  Sepoys  at  Sealkote  had  risen,  and  that  rapine  and 
murder  were  abroad  in  the  place ;  another  half-hour, 
and  the  story  was  confirmed  by  a  musician  of  the 
Forty-sixth,  who  had  ridden  in  -with  a  few  blurred 
lines  from  Assistant-Commissioner  M^Mahon,  begging 
him  to  bring  the  Force  to  their  aid.f  Nicholson 
could  now  no  longer  hesitate  about  disarming  the 
wing  of  the  Ninth  Cavalry  attached  to  his  column. 
He  had  hitherto  abstained  lest  such  an  act  should  pre- 
cipitate the  rising  at  Sealkote,  and  now  the  wing  at 

*"  As  day  dawned,  the  two  parties  brevity:  "The  troops  here  are  in 

from  north  and  south  closed  in  upon  open  mutixiT.  Jail  broke.  Brigadier 

the  Fort,  and  threw  a  chain  of  horse-  wounded.  Bishop  killed.  Many  have  * 

men  round  it,  whilst  Major  Brong-  escaped  to  the  Fort.     Bring  the 

ham  drew  up  his  guns  so  as  to  com-  Movable  Column  at  once,  if  possible, 

mand  the  gateway.    Major  Shake-  6^  a.m.,  9th  July."    The  name  of 

spear,    commanding    the   Twenty-  the  bearer  of  this  chit  ought  not 

fourth  Regiment,  and   Lieutenant  to  be  omitted.    Mr.  Cave-Browne 

Hovenden,  of  the  Engineers,  then  says,  "  A  young  band-bojr,  named 

rode  into  the  Fort,  and  ordered  the  M'Douglas,  of  the  Forty-sixth,  had 

Sepoys   to   parade   outside.    Thev  galloned  off   from  the  regimental 

were  much  surprised  and  confusea,  parade-ground  on  a  little  tat  (pony), 

but  made  no  resistance,  and  when  and  by  dint  of  borrowing  and  seizing 

ordered  by  Muor  Shakespear,  piled  fresh  ones  in  the  villages  as  he  passed 

their  arms  and  gave  up  their  belts  through,  he  finished  his  ride  ol  some 

and  pouches  in  an  orderly  manner."  eighty  miles  into  Umritsur,  and  has* 

—Edwardes  to  CoUon,  July  8, 1857*  tened  to  the  General's  quarters  just 

MS.  Correspondence.  as  the  mail-cart  brought  in  the  mes- 

tThe  note,  the  original  of  which  sage  from  Lahore." 
efore  me,  is  significaut  in  its 


638 


TH£  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 


1857.  that  place  was  in  the  fulness  of  rebellion.  Their  arms 
J"ly-  and  horses,  therefore,  were  now  to  be  taken  from 
them.  The  troopers  felt  that  resistance  could  only 
bring  destruction  upon  them,  so  they  quietly  gave  up 
all  that  made  them  soldiers;  and  then  Nicholson 
prepared  himself  to  march.  As  the  day  wore  on, 
fresh  tidings  of  the  movements  of  the  Sealkote 
mutineers  reached  him.  It  was  obvious  that  they 
were  marching  down  on  Goordaspore,  intent  pro- 
bably  on  stirring  up  the  Second  Irregular  Cavalry 
stationed  there,  and,  joined  by  them,  on  plundering 
the  station.  Thence  Nicholson  believed  that  they 
would  make  their  way,  by  the  route  of  Noorpore  and 
Hooshyapore — at  which  places  they  might  reinforce 
themselves  with  Horse  and  Foot* — to  JuUundhur, 
and  thence  march,  a  strong  body  of  mutineers,  down 
The  March  to  to  Delhi.  To  frustrate  this  expected  movement  was 
oor  aspore.  ^^^^  ^^^  desire  of  the  Commander  of  the  Movable 

Column.  He  was  forty  miles  from  Goordaspore,  and 
the  Sepoys  had  two  days'  start  of  him.  But  Nichol- 
son was  bom  to  overcome  difficulties  which  would 
have  beaten  down  other  men.  He  determined  on  a 
forced  march  to  Goordaspore,  and  went  resolutely 
July  10.  *^  work  to  accomplish  it.  The  July  sun  blazed 
down  upon  his  camp  with  a  ferocity  more  appalling 
than  the  malice  of  the  enemy.  But  even  that  was 
to  be  disregarded.  Whatsoever  the  country  could 
yield  in  the  shape  of  carriages,  horses,  and  ponies 
was  at  once  enlisted  into  the  service  of  the  Column.! 


*  The  Fourth  Katiye  Infantry  was 
at  Noorpore.  The  Sixteenth  Irre- 
gular Cavalry  at  Hooshyapore. 

t  Great  praise  is  due  to  the  civil 
authorities  for  their  activity  iu  this 
conj  uncture.  Mr.  Montgomery,  in  his 
official  report,  says :  "  To  the  com- 
mercial men  of  Umritsur  and  Lahore 
the  metalled  road  offers  special  ad- 


Tantages,  for  it  enables  hundreds  of 
native  gigs^or  ekas  to  fly  unceasingly 
between  the  two  cities.  On  the  day 
I  allude  to  the  district  officers  of 
both  places  were  ordered  to  seize 
every  eka,  bylee,  and  pony  that  was 
to  be  seen,  and  to  despatch  them, 
undex'  police  guards,  to  General 
Nichobon's  camp  at  Umritsur,  on 


TH£  MARCH  TO  COORBASPORE.  639 

All  possible  advantage  was  taken  of  the  coolness  of  1867. 
the  night ;  but  when  morning  came  they  were  still  ^^^  ^^* 
some  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles  from  Goordaspore,  with 
the  prospect  of  a  sultry  march  before  them.*  With 
all  his  care  and  labour,  Nicholson  had  not,  even  with 
the  aid  of  the  troop-horses  of  the  Ninth,  been  able  to 
mount  the  whole  of  his  force,  and  some  weary  foot- 
sore work  was  therefore  a  necessity  of  the  conjunc- 
ture. So,  many  were  struck  down  by  the  heat ;  yet, 
notwithstanding  these  discouraging  circumstances, 
they  pushed  forward  in  exceUent  spirits,  and  even 
with  a  strong  enjoyable  sense  of  the  humourous  side 
of  the  service  they  were*  performing.f  It  was  not 
until  the  evening  of  the  11th  that  the  whole  of  the 
force  was  assembled  at  Goordaspore.  There  intelli-  ' 
gence  was  received  that  the  mutineers  from  Sealkote 
were  then  at  Noorkote,  some  fifteen  miles  from  the 
right  hand  of  the  Ravee.  There  were  two  courses 
then  open  to  Nicholson.  He  might  dispute  the  pas- 
urgent  public  service.  These  vehicles,  trying  as  they  were,  the  spirit  of  fun 
on  their  arrival  there,  were  promptly  was  not  extinct.  Tiie  Artillery  made 
loaded  with  British  soldiers,  and  the  extemporary  awnings  of  branches  of 
force  started  at  dusk  for  Goordas*  trees  over  their  gun-carriages  and 
pore,  which  is  at  a  distance  of  forty-  waggons,  giving  them  the  appearance 
four  miles  from  Umritsur,  reaching  of  carts  '  got  up'  for  a  day  at  Hamp- 
it  at  three  p.m.  of  July  11.  It  was  stead;  officers,  crowned  with  wreaths 
joined  at  Battala  by  Mr.  Roberts,  of  preen  leaves,  were  *  chaffed  *  by 
Commissioner,  and  Uaptain  Perkins,  their  comrades  for  adopting  head- 
Assistant-Gommissioner  at  Umrit-  dresses  i  la  Norma.  Here  might  be 
sur."  seen  a  soldier  on  a  rampant  pony, 

*  Colonel  Bourchier  ("  Eight  desiring  his  companion,  on  a  similar 
Months'  Campaign")  sajs  that  they  beast,  to  keep  behind  and  be  his 
made  twenty-six  miles  in  the  night,  '  edge  de  camp ;'  there  a  hero,  mind- 
and  had  then  eighteen  miles  before  ful  perhaps  of  Epping  on  Easter 
them.  But  General  Nicholson,  in  Monday,  bellowing  out  his  inquiries 
his  official  report,  says  that  the  entire  as  to  who  had  seen  the  fox  (stag  ?) 
distance  was  "over  forty-one  miles,"  Privates,  never  intended  for  the 
&ome  three  miles  less  than  Bour-  mounted  branch,  here  and  there 
chier's  computation.  came  to  grief,  and  lay  sprawling  on 

t  Colonel  Bourchier,  in  his  narra-  mother-earth,  while  ever  and  anon 
tive,  gives  the  following  amusing  some  mighty  Jehu  in  his  eka  dashed 
account  of  the  humours  of  the  march :  to  the  front  at  a  pace  a  Bx)man  cha- 
"  Yet,   under  these  circumstances,    rioteer  would  have  envied." 


640     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  sage  of  the  river,  or  he  might  draw  them  on  towards 
July  12.  hinij  by  remaining  inactive  and  keeping  the  enemy 
ignorant  of  his  position.  He  determined  on  the  latter 
course,  and  much  to  the  perplexity  of  some  and  the 
dissatisfaction  of  others,  remained  quiescent  at  Goor- 
daspore  till  nine  o'clock  on  the  following  morning. 
Then  he  learnt  that  the  enemy  were  crossing  the 
river  by  a  ford  about  nine  miles  distant,  at  a  place 
known  as  the  Trimmoo  Ghaut;  so  he  prepared  at 
once  to  fling  himself  upon  them. 
The  Trimmoo  At  noon  he  was  in  sight  of  his  prey,  about  a  mile 
Ghaut  affair.  fj-Qj^  the  river.  The  mutineers  had  crossed  over  with 
their  baggage,  and  the  gtey  jackets  of  the  videttes 
of  the  Ninth  Cavalry  were  first  seen  flitting  about 
in  our  front,  and  then  the  Infantry  were  observed 
drawn  up  in  line,  their  right  resting  on  a  serai  and  a 
dismantled  mud  fort,  and  their  left  on  a  small  village 
and  cluster  of  trees,  with  parties  of  Cavalry  on  each 
flank.  Nicholson  now  made  his  dispositions  for  the 
attack.  Eager  to  get  his  guns  within  short  range  of 
the  enemy,  he  masked  his  advancing  batteries  with 
bodies  of  mounted  Police,  and  moved  on  to  within 
six  hundred  yards  of  the  mutineers,  when  the  Cavalry, 
excited  to  the  utmost  by  the  artificial  stimulant  of 
bang,  rushed  furiously  to  the  encounter,  some  shout- 
ing, some  gnashing  their  teeth.  On  this  Nicholson 
unmasked  one  of  his  batteries,  and  the  maskers  went 
rapidly  to  the  rear.*  It  was  a  moment  of  doubt  and 
anxiety,  especially  with  the  Artillery  commanders, 
whose  Native  drivers  might  have  deserted  them  at  a 
critical  moment,  for  they  had  been  acquainted  at 

♦  Nicholson  liimself  speaks  very  seeming   undesirous   of  enj^aging, 

gently  and  forbearingly  of  this  rear-  were  ordered  to  tlie  rear."    Colonel 

ward  movement  of  the  Police  Ressa-  Bourcbier  says  that  tbey  ran  away, 

lahs :  *'  Tbe  Police,"  he  says,  "  being  "Away  scampered  the  mounted  levies 

no  longer  useful  as  maskers^  and  back  to  Goordaspore." 


APFAIB  OF  TRIMMOO  GHAUT.  641 

Sealkote  with  the  very  Sepoys  against  whom  they  1857. 
had  now  been  brought.  One  half  of  the  old  Brigade  ^ 
was,  indeed,  fighting  against  the  other.  But  the  sus- 
pected men  were  as  true  to  their  salt  in  the  Punjab 
as  they  were  at  Delhi.*  The  guns  were  brought  into 
action  without  a  hitch,  and  the  enemy,  though  they 
fought  steadily  and  well,  and  sent  in  a  volley  from 
the  whole  line  with  the  precision  of  a  parade,  stag- 
gered beneath  the  fire  of  our  batteries,  upon  which 
some  of  the  men  of  the  Forty-sixth  flung  themselves 
with  heroic  courage.  The  grape  and  shrapnel  from 
our  nine  guns  scattered  death  among  the  foremost  of 
the  mutineers:  and  presently  the  Enfield  rifles  of 
the  Fifty-second  began  to  give  deadly  proof  that  the 
smooth-bored  muskets  of  the  Sepoys  were  as  play- 
things contending  against  them.  Still  there  were 
some  amongst  them  to  be  convinced  only  by  the 
thrust  of  the  bayonet.  In  truth,  the  enemy  were 
terribly  out-matched.  With  all  their  gallantry  in 
doing  and  their  fortitude  in  enduring,  what  could 
"  Brown  Bess "  and  the  old  station-gun  do  against 
our  batteries  and  our  rifles?  The  battle  was  soon 
over.  The  mutineers  fell  back  upon  the  river,  and 
Nicholson,  whose  want  of  Cavalry  was  severely  felt, 
did  all  he  could  in  pursuit;  but  could  not  inflict 
much  damage  upon  them.  It  is  said,  however,  that 
they  had  already  left  "  between  three  and  four  hun- 
dred killed  and  wounded  on  the  field."  And  all 
their  baggage  fell  into  our  hands — arms,  ammuni- 
tion, clothing,  and  other  plundered  property,  public 
and  private,  the  spoil  of  the  Sealkote  cantonment. 

*  Colonel  Bourchieraays:  "I  took  attempt  to  ran,  sir,  we'll  cut  off 

the  precaution  to  warn  my  European  tbeir  lieads.'    But  in  this  case,  as 

gunners  to  watch  them.     In  the  in  every  other,  my  Native  drivers 

reply  of  my  Farrier-Serjfeant  spoke  nobly  did  their  duty." 
the  whole  company :  '  If  they  only 

A^OL.  II.  2  T 


642     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  TH£  PUNJAB. 

1857.  There  was  nothing  more  to  be  done  that  day.  The 

July  12— 16.  mid-day  heat  had  completely  exhausted  our  Euro- 
pean fighting  men,  so,  whilst  a  party  of  Punjab  In- 
fantry was  left  to  guard  the  ford  and  protect  the 
baggage,  the  Fifty-second  and  the  Artillery  were 
marched  back  to  Goordaspore.  But  the  day's  fight- 
ing had  resulted  in  a  "  conclusion  where  nothing  is 
concluded,"  so  conclusions  were  to  be  tried  again. 
The  Sepoy  force  was  shattered,  but  not  destroyed. 
Their  fighting  power  was  not  yet  gone.  Perhaps  the 
energy  that  sustained  them  was  the  energy  of  despe- 
ration ;  for  to  fall  back  was  as  perilous  to  them  as  to 
stand  still.  There  was  no  security  for  them  in  any 
direction.  They  had  not  more  than  half  the  number 
that  first  marched  down  to  the  Ravee ;  but  they  were 
brave  and  resolute  men,  and,  even  with  such  fearful 
odds  against  them,  they  did  not  shrink  from  another 
conflict.  The  river  had  risen,  and  that  which  had 
been  a  ford  had  now  become  an  island.  The  old 
station-gun  which  they  had  brought  from  Sealkote 
was  their  sole  piece  of  artillery,  and  they  had  no 
gunners  with  their  force;  but  the  Brigadier's  old 
"  khansaman"  had  lived  for  too  many  years  at  Artil- 
lery stations  not  to  have  a  shrewd  conception  of  the 
manner  of  working  a  gun.  And  thus  planted  on  the 
island  in  the  middle  of  the  Ravee,  they  thought 
that,  for  a  time  at  least,  they  might  defy  us.  The 
river  had  ceased  to  be  fordable,  and  the  civil  autho- 
rities, as  a  precautionary  measure,  had  sunk  all  the 
boats  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood.  So,  when 
Nicholson  again  advanced  from  Goordaspore,  he 
could  do  little  more  in  the  first  instance  than  take 
up  a  position  out  of  reach  of  the  enemy's  one  gun 
and  send  to  a  distance  for  some  boats.  At  daybreak 
July  16.     on  the  morning  of  the  16th,  the  desired  means  of 


DEFEAT  OF  THE  ENEMY.  643 

transport  had  been  obtained,  and  he  was  prepared  to  1867. 
attack  the  enemy  on  their  insular  stronghold.  The  ^^^^  ^^' 
Infantry  crossed  over  one  extremity  of  the  island,  a 
mile  and  a  quarter  from  the  enemy's  position,  whilst 
the  Artillery  took  post  so  as  to  cover  the  advance  of 
the  column  and  to  play  upon  the  hostile  gun.*  The 
Sepoys  were  taken  by  surprise.  Not  until  a  large 
part  of  the  Fifty-second  had  formed  upon  the  island 
did  the  mutineers  know  that  we  had  even  obtained  a 
boat.  The  Assembly  was  then  sounded  ;•  the  black 
troops  mustered  in  haste  and  moved  round  their  gun 
to  sweep  our  advancing  column.  But  the  piece  had 
been  elevated  for  service  at  a  longer  range,  and  in 
the  hurry  of  the  moment  the  amateur  artillerymen 
had  failed  to  depress  the  screw,  which  was  old  and 
rusty,  and  not  easily  to  be  worked ;  so  the  shot  went 
harmlessly  over  the  heads  of  our  people.  On  went 
the  British  Infantry,  with  Nicholson  at  their  head ; 
and  though  some,  stem  and  steadfast  to  the  last,  stood 
to  be  shot  down  or  bayoneted  at  their  gun,  the  rout 
soon  became  general.  Many  were  killed  on  the  island ; 
many  were  Lwned  in  L  river ;  and  a  few  who 
escaped  were  given  up  by  the  people  of  the  surround- 
ing  villages.  These  were  afterwards  tried  by  Special 
Commissions,  and  paid  the  penalty  of  their  crimes  on 
the  gibbet. 

The  Movable  Column  then  marched  back  to  Um-  Nicholson  at 
ritsur;  and  Nicholson  hastened  to  Lahore,  whither  I'*!*^"- 
Sir  John   Lawrence   had  abeady  proceeded  from 
Rawul-Pindee.     The  General  was  there  on  the  21st 
of  July ;  on  the  22nd,  the  Chief  Commissioner  wrote, 
through   his  secretary,  to  the  Commander  of  the 

*  Colonel  Bonrchier  says  that  "to  concealed  by  grass  and  an  earthem 
silence  it  at  such  a  distance  (twelve  breastwork,  was  ahnost  impossible." 
hundred  yards),  whilst  it  was  nearly 

2x2 


644     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FHOM  THE  J^UNJAB. 

1857.      Delhi  Force,  that  "  the  following  troops  were  on  their 
July  22.    ^Q^y  ^Q  Delhi,  or  would  immediately  march  :"  "  The 

menta  for       Kumaon  BattalioD,  about  four  hundred  strong,  which 
Delhi  jjj^  passed  Loodhianah,  and  ought  to  be  at  Delhi  on 

the  4th  or  5th  of  August ;  Her  Majesty's  Fifty-second 
from  the  Movable  Column,  now  at  Umritsur,  six 
hundred  bayonets ;  Mooltanee  Horse,  two  hundred ; 
and  a  nine-pounder  battery.  All  these  troops  should 
be  at  Delhi  by  the  15th,  and  in  an  emergency  might 
make  double  marches.  General  Nicholson  will  com- 
mand the  force."  And  then  it  was  added:  "The 
Chief  Commissioner  further  proposes  to  despatch  the 
troops  marginally  noted  as  quickly  as  possible,  and 

Second  Punjab  Infantry  ....  700  all  Can  be  at  Delhi  by 

H.M.'s  Sixty-first  (a  wine)  .    .    .  400    .  r  j        /»      a  * 

Wing  of  Bcfooch  Battalion  .    .    .  400  the     end     of     AugUSt, 

Fourth  Punjab  Infantry  ....  600   some    of  them    a  gOod 

Two  Companies  of  H.M.'s  Eighth .  200    .     ,  ,.  m,        o 

Detachment  of  Fourth  Sikhs  .  .  100  deal  earner.  Ihe  be- 
Dawes's  Troop  of  H.  A m  ^^j^^  Punjab  Infantry 

2500  and  Wing  of  Her  Ma- 
jesty's Sixty-first  ought  to  be  there  by  the  15  th 
proximo.  The  former  is  now  on  its  way  from 
Mooltan  to  Ferozepore,  whence  it  will  march  on  the 
arrival  of  the  detachment  of  the  Bombay  Fusiliers, 
which  left  this  place  last  night.  The  wing  of  the 
Belooch  Battalion  has  not  yet  left  Mooltan;  but 
orders  for  its  march  have  been  despatched.  The 
Fourth  Punjab  Regiment  is  at  Peshawur,  and  will 
march  in  two  or  three  days.  It  can  hardly  be  at 
Delhi  before  the  end  of  August.  The  Two  Companies 
of  Her  Majesty's  Eighth  are  holding  JuUundhur 
and  Phillour,  and  cannot  be  spared  until  relieved 
by  a  detachment  of  Her  Majesty's  Twenty-fourth, 
now  on  its  way  from  Rawul-Pindee.  Rothney's  Sikhs 
are  at  Loodhianah,  and  will  join  Brigadier-General 
Nicholson  en  route.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Dawes's  troop 


ADVANCE  UPON  DELHI.  645 

will  be  sent  or  not,  as  you  may  desire.  It  is  be-  ^^57. 
lieved  that  light  guns  are  not  required  at  Delhi.  All  ^  ' 
these  troops  are  of  excellent  quality,  fully  equal,  if 
not  superior,  to  any  that  the  Insurgents  can  bring 
against  them,  and  comprise  a  force  of  four  thousand 
two  hundred  men."  Thus  was  Lawrence,  who  did 
all  things  on  the  grand  Titanic  scale,  still  sending 
down  his  reinforcements  by  thousands  to  Delhi — 
thousands  of  Europeans  and  trustworthy  Sikhs,  with 
a  young  General,  whose  personal  presence  alone  was 
worth  a  Brigade  of  Horse,  Foot,  and  Artillery. 

On  the  24th  of  July,  Nicholson  returned  to  Camp.  July  24. 
His  arrival  had  been  anxiously  awaited,  for  doubt  ^J^^^^™*^ 
and  uncertainty  were  in  all  men's  minds.  Speculation  Delhi, 
had  been  rife,  and  all  sorts  of  rumours  of  the  future 
movements  of  the  force  had  been  circulated  among 
them.  Few  had  ventured  to  hope  that  the  order 
would  be  given  to  them  to  march  down  to  Delhi; 
for  the  general  feeling  was  that  the  Punjab  had 
already  been  so  stripped  of  European  troops  that  it 
could  not  afford  to  divest  itself  of  another  regiment 
or  another  battery.  But  Nicholson  had  returned  to 
the  column  with  the  joyous  tidings  that  they  were  to 
set  their  faces  towards  the  scene  of  the  great  struggle. 
"  Our  only  fear,"  wrote  an  officer  of  the  Force,  "  was 
that  Delhi  would  fall  before  we  could  possibly  arrive 
there."  But  all  felt  that  if  any  one  could  take  them 
down  in  time  to  participate  in  the  crowning  opera- 
tions of  the  siege,  Nicholson  was  the  man  to  do  it 
He  was  not  one  to  lose  an  hour.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  the  column  crossed  the  Beeas,  moved  down 
by  forced  marches  to  the  Sutlej,  and  thence  push- 
ing on  with  all  speed  to  the  Jumna.  At  Bara,  on 
the  3rd  of  August,  Nicholson  received  a  letter  from 
General  Wilson,  saying,   "The  enemy  have  re-est^- 


646  THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FKOM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  blished  the  bridge  over  the  Nujufgurh  Canal  (which 
August  6—7.  ^ve  had  destroyed)  and  have  established  themselves 
in  force  there,  with  the  intention  of  moving  on 
Alipore  and  our  communications  to  the  rear.  I, 
therefore,  earnestly  beg  you  to  push  forward  with  the 
utmost  expedition  in  your  power,  both  to  drive  these 
fellows  from  my  rear,  and  to  aid  me  in  holding  my 
position."  On  the  6th,  Nicholson  was  at  Umballah, 
whence  he  wrote,  "  I  am  just  starting  post  for  Delhi 
by  General  Wilson's  desire.  The  column  should  be 
at  Kurnaul  the  day  after  to-morrow,  and  I  shall} 
perhaps,  rejoin  it  at  Paneeput." 
Nicliolsonat  On  the  followng  day  he  stood  upon  the  Delhi 
Ridge  looking  down  at  the  great  city,  taking  in  all 
the  wonderful  suggestiveness  of  the  scene  with  that 
quiet,  thoughtful,  self-contained  solemnity  of  mien, 
which  distinguished  him  from  all  his  cotemporaries. 
He  had  much  then  to  think  of  in  this  little  breath- 
ing-space— ^much  of  the  past,  much  of  the  future. 
The  time  which  had  elapsed  since  his  first  appoint- 
ment to  the  command  of  the  Movable  Column  had 
not  been  without  certain  personal  annoyances,  which 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  stirring  work  around  him 
he  had  not  been  wholly  able  to  brush  asida  It  was 
scarcely  possible  that,  in  the  position  in  which  he 
was  placed,  a  man  of  Nicholson's  peculiar  character 
should,  on  no  occasion,  give  offence  to  higher  autho- 
rity. It  was  his  nature  to  steer  straight  on  to  inde- 
pendent action;  to  "scorn  the  consequence  and  to 
do  the  thing."  And  so  it  happened  that  those  above 
him  thought  that  he  was  taking  too  much  upon  him- 
self, and  that  he  was  grievously  deficient  in  those 
references  and  explanations  which  Officialism,  in 
ordinary  times,  not  improperly  demands.  Even  Sir 
John  Lawrence,  most  emphatically  a  man  of  action. 


NICH0U50N  AT  DELHI.  647 

was  somewhat  disturbed  by  the  fact  that  Nicholson  1867. 
had  disarmed  the  Thirty-third  and  Thirty-fifth  regi-  ^^^g^*^- 
ments  without  previously  consulting  the  Chief-Com- 
missioner, or  very  promptly  explaining  to  him  the 
"  reason  why."  But  afterwards,  with  the  unfailing 
frankness  which  relieved  all  that  was  outwardly  stem 
and  harsh  in  his  nature,  he  admitted  that  he  "  could 
not  expect  Nicholson,  after  knocking  about  in  the 
sun  all  day,  to  write  long  yarns."  "  On  such  occa- 
sions," he  added,  "  a  line  or  two  semi-officially  will 
satisfy  me,  until  I  get  your  formal  report ;  all  I  want 
to  know  is,  what  is  done  and  the  reason."  But 
no  sooner  had  this  little  difference  with  the  Com- 
missioner been  smoothed  down,  than  another  and 
more  serious  one  arose  between  the  Commander  of 
the  Movable  Column  and  the  General  commanding 
the  Division.  Nicholson  had  taken  upon  himself  to 
move  troops,  under  the  command  of  the  latter,  with- 
out consisting  him,  and  had  been  so  severely  re- 
buked, that  he  declared  that  nothing  but  the  thought 
of  the  public  inconvenience,  which  might  result  from 
such  a  step,  restrained  him  from  throwing  up  his 
appointment.  These  wounds  were  still  fresh,  when 
he  reached  Delhi  and  asked  himself  whether  it  were 
likely  that,  in  the  work  which  lay  before  him,  he 
would  be  able  wholly  to  avoid  collisions  with  his 
fellow-workmen.  He  felt  that  much  had  been  done 
of  which  he  could  not  approve,  and  that  much  had 
been  left  undone  which  he  would  have  earnestly 
counselled;  and  he  knew  that  all  this  might  come 
over  again,  and  that  his  resolute  freedom  of  speech 
and  independence  of  action  might  bring  forth  much 
that  would  be  painful  to  himself  and  embarrassing  to 
others.  But  he  had  written  a  few  days  before  to 
3ir  John  Lawrence,  saying :  "  I  might  have  preserved 


648     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  silence,  but  when  in  a  great  crisis  an  officer  holds  a 
August?,  strong  opinion  on  any  matters  of  consequence,  I 
think  he  fails  in  his  duty  if  he  does  not  speak  it  out, 
at  whatever  risk  of  giving  offence."*  And  now  he 
was  determined  that,  cost  him  what  it  mighty  he 
would  suffer  his  convictions  to  declare  themselves 
without  restraint,  regardless  of  everything  but  the 
good  of  the  Empire. 

His  coming  had  been  eagerly  looked  for  in  Camp. 
As  day  after  day  tidings  of  the  rapid  approach  of  the 
Movable  Column,  under  Nicholson,  were  brought  in, 
men  began  to  see  clearly  before  them  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  final  assault,  and  their  hearts  were  glad- 
dened by  the  prospect.  The  approach  of  this  columi] 
was,  indeed,  as  the  promise  of  a  great  deliverance; 
and  when  it  was  whispered  through  the  camp  that 
Nicholson  had  already  arrived,  it  was  as  a  cordial 
to  men's  souls,  for  a  great  reputation  had  preceded 
him,  and  it  was  felt  among  our  people  that  a 
mighty  warrior  had  come  among  them,  who  was 
destined  to  lead  our  troops  into  Delhi,  and  to  crush 
the  power  of  the  MoguL     His  personal  presence 

*  See  the  following  extract  from  India,  upwards  of  five  yean  and  a 

a  letter  written  to  Sir  John  Law-  half  ago,  I  have  had  any  misunder- 

rence  from    Umhallah,  August  6.  standings,  except  with and . 

Lawrence  had  written  to  Nicholson,  The  former,  I  oelieve,  is  conscious 

sayine,  half-seriously,  half-jestingly,  that  he  did  me  wrong,  and  I  trust 

that  ne  was  incorrigible,  and  sug-  the  latter  will  eventually  make  the 

gesting  that  he  might  do  more  go^  same  admission.  ...  I  fear  that  I 

by  carrying  others  with  him  than  by  must  have  given  offence  to  you,  too, 

running  counter  to  them.    To  this  on  the  Eawul-PLndee  question.    I 

Kicholson  had  replied :  "  I  am  very  can  truly  say  that  I  opposed  my 

sorry  to  hear  that  General  Growan  opinion  to  yours  with  great  reluc- 

has  taken  offence  again.     I  don't  tance,  and  had  the  matter  been  one 

wish  to  ignore  him  or  anj  other  of  less  importance,  I  might  bare 

superior;    I  dislike  offendmg  any  preserved  silence;   but  wiien  in  a 

one,  and,  except  on  principle,  would  great  crisis  an  officer  holds  a  strong 

never  have  a  disagreement.     You  opinion  on  any  matter  of   conse- 

write  as  if  I  were  in  the  habit  of  queuce,  I  think  he  Tails  in  his  duty 

giving  offence.    Now  I  cannot  call  if  he  does  not  speak  it  out,  at  what- 

tg  ipind  that  since  my  return  to  ever  rbk  of  givmg  offence.*' 


NICHOLSON  AT  DELHI.  649 

did  much  to  generate  in  men's  minds  the  sublime  1867. 
idea  of  a  Hero — ^a  King  of  Men ;  of  the  Megistos  August  7. 
who  was  to  reign  among  them.  He  had  come  on  in 
advance,  by  Wilson's  request,  to  take  counsel  with 
him;  and  he  was  soon  passing  from  picquet  to 
picquet,  taking  in  with  a  soldier's  eye  all  the  points 
of  our  position,  and  looking  down  critically  upon  the 
defences  of  the  enemy.  He  did  not  at  once  make  his 
way  into  the  hearts  of  men,  but  he  impressed  all  with 
a  sense  of  power.  On  the  evening  of  the  7th  of  August, 
on  which  day  he  arrived  in  Camp,  he  dined  at  the 
Head-Quarters  Mess,  and  the  silent  solemnity  of  his 
demeanour  was  unpleasantly  apparent  to  men  whose 
habitual  cheerfulness,  when  they  met  together  for 
the  social  meal,  had  been  one  of  the  sustaining  in-' 
fluences  of  Camp  Life,  during  all  that  long  dreary 
season  of  waiting  and  watching.  Next  morning, 
accompanied  by  Norman,  he  visited  the  great  posi- 
tion at  Hindoo  Rao's  house,  which  for  two  long 
months  had  borne  the  brunt  of  the  enemy's  attacks. 
Baird  Smith  at  that  time  was  in  consultation  with 
Reid.*  The  brave  commander  of  the  Picquet,  who 
had  done  such  good  service,  could  not  help  inwardly 
resenting  Nicholson's  imperious  manner.  But  when, 
after  the  visitor  had  passed  on,  Reid  complained  to 

*  The  followiDi;  description  is  from  jet  known  in  Camp,  and  it  was  whis- 

the  "  History  of  the  Siege  of  Delhi :"  pared,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  was 

"  Ahout  this  time  a  stranger  of  very  possessed  of  the  most  briUiant  mili- 

striking  appearance  was  remarked  tary  genius.   He  was  a  man  cast  in  a 

visiting  all  our  picquets,  examining  giant  mould,  with  massive  chest  and 

everything,  and  making  most  search-  powerful  limbs,  and  an  expression 

ing  inquiries  about  their  strength  ardent  and  commanding,  with  a  dash 

and  hi2»tory.  His  atl ire  gave  no  clue  of   roughness;    features    of   stern 

to  his  rank ;  it  evidently  never  cost  beauty,  a  long  black  beard,  and  deep 

the  owner  a  thought.    Moreover,  in  sonorous  voice.     There  was  some- 

those  anxious  times  every  one  went  thing  of  immense  strength,  talent, 

as  he  pleased ;  perhaps  no  two  offi-  and  resolution  in  his  whole  ^ait  and 

cers  were  dressed  alike.  It  was  soon  manner,  and  a  power  of  ruling  men 

made  out   that   this  was   General  on  high  occasions  that  no  one  could 

Niciiolson,  whose  person  was  not  escape  noticing," 


650  THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1867.  his  companion  of  Nicholson's  haughty,  overbearing 
Aug.  7—12.  gtyie  Qf  address,  the  Chief  Engineer  answered,  "  Yes, 
but  that  wears  off;  you  Avill  like  him  better  when 
you  have  seen  more  of  him."  And  never  were  words 
of  good  omen  more  surely  verified,  for  afterwards 
they  became  "  the  best  friends" — bound  together  by 
an  equal  desire  to  do  their  duty  to  their  country, 
and,  if  God  willed  it,  to  die  the  soldier's  death. 

Eager  to  be  at  his  work,  Nicholson  made  ready 
offer  of  his  column  to  perform  any  service  that  might 
be  required  on  its  first  arrival.  He  saw  at  once  that 
there  was  something  to  be  done.  The  enemy  had 
established  themselves  at  a  place  on  the  left  of  our 
position,  known  as  Ludlow  Castle,  and  had  planted  a 
•battery  there,  from  which  they  contrived  greatly  to 
harass  our  picquets,  especially  that  known  as  the 
"Metcalfe  Picquet;"  and  it  was  desirable  in  the 
extreme  to  dislodge  them.  This  attack  upon  the 
enemy's  new  position  Nicholson  would  have  gladly 
undertaken.  But  the  activity  of  the  mutineers  was 
so  great,  and  their  fire  was  so  annojdng,  that  it  was 
found  to  be  inexpedient  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of 
the  Movable  Column.  The  work  was  to  be  done  at 
once,  and  Brigadier  Showers,  a  right  good  soldier, 
always  cool  and  collected  in  the  midst  of  danger  and 
difficulty,  was  commissioned  to  do  it. 
August  12.  Before  dajjbreak  on  the  morning  of  the  12th, 
Ludbw^  Showera  led  down  his  men,  along  the  Flag-staff 
Castle.  Road,  upon  Ludlow  Castle.     Covered  by  the  dark- 

ness, they  marched  quietly  on,  and  took  the  enemy 
completely  by  surprise.  A  rattling  fire  of  musketry 
roused  them  from  their  sleep,  and  numbers  were 
shot  down,  scared  and  bewildered,  before  they  could 
realise  what  was  upon  them.  The  Golundauze  rushed 


AFFAIR  OF  LUDLOW  CASTLE.  651 

confusedly  to  the  battery;  but  our  attack  was  so  1857. 
sudden  and  impetuous,  that  they  could  hardly  fire  a  August  12. 
shot  before  the  First  Fusiliers  were  among  them, 
bayoneting  the  brave  fellows  at  their  guns.  Many, 
unable  to  work  their  pieces,  drew  their  swords,  and 
with  their  backs  against  the  wall,  sold  their  lives  as 
dearly  as  they  could.  Masters  of  the  battery,  our 
men  pushed  on,  in  the  grey  dawn  of  the  moving, 
following  the  mutineers  into  the  houses,  where  they 
had  endeavoured  to  find  shelter,  and  shot  them  down 
like  beasts  in  a  cage.  Some  cried  for  mercy,  and 
were  answered  with  a  laugh  and  a  bayonet-thrust. 
By  sunrise  the  work  had  been  done.  The  enemy 
had  been  driven  from  Ludlow  Castle,  and  four  of 
their  six  guns  had  been  taken.  The  victory,  how-  . 
ever,  had  been  dearly  purchased.  The  intrepid  leader 
of  the  assailing  party  had  fallen  severely  wounded ; 
and  Coke,  who  had  led  the  Punjabees  to  the  attack, 
had  shared  the  same  fate.  It  was  in  the  confusion 
attending  the  fall  of  Showers  that  two  of  the  enemy's 
guns  were  suffered  to  escape;  and  when  Colonel 
Edward  Greathed  was  afterwards  sent  to  bring  the 
force  out  of  action,  he  did  not  know  that  these 
trophies  of  victory  were  to  be  recovered,  or  we  may 
be  sure  that  he  would  not  have  returned  without 
them.  Enough,  however,  had  been  gained  to  make 
the  return  to  Camp  a  triumphal  one.  To  secure  the 
success  of  the  surprise,  the  expedition  had  been 
rendered  as  secret  as  possible.  When,  therefore,  the 
sound  of  the  firing  broke  through  the  morning  still- 
ness the  British  Camp  was  aroused,  and  men  wondered 
what  was  the  meaning  of  it.  The  truth  was  soon  ap- 
parent to  them,  and  then  numbers  went  out  to  meet 
the  returning  force,  and  welcomed  them,  as  they  came 


652  THE  UST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.      in  with  the  captured  guns,  rejoicing  exceedingly  that 
so  good  a  day's  work  had  been  done  before  the  break- 
ing of  the  morning's  fast.* 
Arrival  of  the      It  may  with  truth,  I  think,  be  said,  that  at  this 
Cdumn!        point  of  the  long  and  weary  siege  the  great  turning- 
August  14.  point  was  attained.     The  siege-train,  which  was  to 
remedy  our  deplorable  want  of  heavy  ordnance,  was 
labouring  down  from  Ferozepore;  and  on  the  14th 
of  August,  Nicholson,  who  had  ridden  back  to  meet 
his  column,  marched  into  the  Delhi  Camp  at  the  head 
of  his  men.     It  was  a  sight  to  stir  the  spirits  of  the 
whole  Camp.  Our  people  turned  out  joyously  to  wel- 
come the  arrival  of  the  new  comers ;  and  the  glad- 
some strains  of  our  military  bands  floated  down  to  the 
rebel   city  with   a  menace  in  every  note.     Braced 
with  action,  flushed  with  victory,  Nicholson  was  eager 
for  new  exploits.     And  he  did  not  wait  long  for  an 
opportunity  to  demonstrate  to  the  Delhi  Force  that 
they  had  not  over-estimated  the  great  qualities  of  the 
Punjabee  warrior.     The  enemy  had  gained  tidings  of 
the  approach  of  our  siege-train  from  Ferozepore,  and 
they  had  determined  to  send  out  a  strong  force  to  in- 
tercept it.     No  more  welcome  task  could  have  been 
assigned  to  Nicholson  than  that  of  cutting  this  force 
to  pieces.     A  well-chosen,  well-equipped  force  of  all 
arms  was  told  off  for  this  service,  under  his  com- 
mand ;  and,  with  full  assurance  of  victory,  he  pre- 
pared himself  for  the  encounter. 
August  25.       In  the  early  morning  of  the' 25th  of  August,  amidst 
N*w^^h     ^^^vy  rain,  the  force  marched  out   of   Camp,  and 
took  the  road  to  Nujufgurh,  in  which  direction  it 
was  believed  that  the  BareUly  and  Neemuch  Brigades 

*  Hervey  Greathed  says,  tliat  on  posed  the  force  had  suffered  at  all, 

this  occasion  we  lost  nineteen  men  irom  the  jolly  way  in  wiiich  they 

killed,  and  ninety-four  wounded.  He  marched  bacl(,  except  for  seeing  the 

adds:  "Nobody  would  have  sup-  litters," 


THE  BATTLE  OP  NUJCFGURH.  653 

of  the  Rebel  Force  had  moved  on  the  preceding  day.  1857. 
It  was  a  toilsome,  and,  for  some  time,  a  dispiriting  -^^8^*  25. 
march;  for  the  road,  little  better  than  a  bullock- 
track  at  best,  was  sometimes  lost  altogether  in 
swamps  and  floods.  At  many  points  our  gun-wheels 
sank  in  the  mud  up  to  their  axles,  and  needed  all  the 
strength  of  the  Artillerymen  to  extricate  them  from 
the  slough.  The  Infantry,  slipping  and  sliding  on 
the  slimy  soil,  could*  scarcely  make  good  their  footing, 
and  toiled  on  laboriously,  wet  to  the  skin,  and  drag- 
gled with  dirt;  whilst  the  horses  of  the  Cavalry 
struck  up  the  mud  blindingly  into  the  troopers* 
faces;  and  the  camels,  ever  so  serviceably  adroit 
on  arid  soil,  sprawled  hopelessly  in  the  mire,  and 
often  fell  with  their  burdens  by  the  way.  Many  a 
lusty  oath  was  sworn  on  that  morning ;  but  if  temper 
was  lost,  hope  and  heart  remained ;  and  when,  after  a 
halt,  and  some  renovation  of  exhausted  nature,  news 
came  that  they  were  upon  the  track  of  the  enemy, 
and  would  soon  be  amongst  them,  the  difficulties  of 
the  road  diminished,  or  appeared  to  diminish,  and 
they  moved  on  with  cheerful  eagerness.  The  sun  was 
sinking  when  our  leading  column  espied  the  enemy, 
and  at  the  same  time  came  upon  a  stream,  which  the 
rains  had  flooded  into  the  depth  and  dimension  of  a 
river.  The  mutineers  were  posted  along  the  line  of 
Nicholson's  advance,  to  the  left.  Divided  into  three 
bodies,  they  occupied  two  villages  and  a  serai  in  front 
of  them — all  protected  by  guns.  As  our  troops  passed 
the  ford — the  water  even  there  breast-high — the 
enemy  opened  upon  the  British  column  with  a  shower 
of  shot  and  shell  from  the  serai.  But  advancing 
steadily  under  this  fire,  Nicholson  took  in  the  situa- 
tion with  his  quick  soldier's  eye,  forecast  the  action 
in  his  mind,   and   when  his  force  had  crossed  the 


654     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  water,  at  once  made  his  dispositions.  The  foremost 
August  26.  point  of  attack,  and  the  most  perilous,  was  the 
serai.  Against  this  Nicholson  determined .  to  fling 
the  strength  of  his  European  troops,  whilst  he  pro- 
vided for  the  attack  of  the  villages  by  other  com- 
ponents of  his  force.  Then,  having  ordered  the 
Sixty-first  and  the  Fusiliers  to  lie  down,  so  as  to  be 
clear  of  the  enemy's  fire,  he  drew  himself  up  in  hi? 
stirrups,  and  addressed  his  men.  .  He  told  the  Sixty- 
first  that  they  knew  well  what  Sir  Colin  Campbell 
had  said  at  Chilianwallah,  and  what  he  had  again 
told  the  Highland  Brigade  before  the  battle  of  the 
Alma.  "  I  have  now,"  he  said,  "  the  same  words  to 
say  to  you,  and  to  you,  my  friends  of  the  Fusiliers. 
Hold  your  fire  till  you  are  within  twenty  or  thirty 
yards  of  the  enemy,  then  pour  your  volleys  into 
them,  give  them  a  bayonet-charge,  and  the  serai  is 
yours."  Then  Tombs  and  Remington  opened  a  smart 
fire  on  the  serai ;  and  up  the  Infantry  sprang  with  a 
ringing  cheer,  and,  sinking  ankle-deep  in  the  swampy 
ground,  steadily  advanced,  Nicholson  at  their  head, 
in  the  face  of  a  shower  of  grape  and  musketry.  Then 
holding  back  their  fire — the  hardest  of  all  possible 
tasks — they  carried  the  serai,  and  captured  the  guns.* 
But  the  resistance  was  resolute,  the  conflict  des- 
perate. The  heroism  which  was  displayed  by  our 
people  was  emulated  by  the  enemy.  The  Sepoys  fought 
well,  and  sold  their  lives  dearly.  There  was  a  san- 
guinary hand-to-hand  encounter.  Many  of  the  gun- 
ners and  the  drivers  were  bayoneted,  or  cut  down  in 
the  battery,  and  those  who  escaped  limbered  up  and 

*  "Poor  Gabbett  of  the  61st,  a  35lli  N.I.,  who  was  A.D.C.  to  Gene- 
fine  brave  soldier,  twenty  yards  in  ral  Nicholson  (that  moment  rising 
advance  of  his  men,  made  a  rush  on  from  the  ground,  his  horse  haTiiig 
one  of  the  guns;  his  foot  slipped,  been  shot  under  him),  quickly  avenged 
and  he  was  bayoneted  by  a  gigantic  his  death  by  bringing  down  the  rebel 
Pandy ;  but  Captain  Trench,  of  the  with  his  rerolver.'*— Ciicfr-BivipjfA 


THE  BATTLE  OP  NUJDFGUEH.         655 

made,  in  hot  haste,  for  the  bridge  crossing  the  Nu-  1857. 
jufgurh  Canal.  But  the  attacking  partypressed  closely  ^^^P^*  ^5. 
upon  them.  The  swampy  state  of  the  ground  was 
fatal  to  the  retreat.  The  leading  gun  stuck  fast  in 
the  morass,  and  impeded  the  advance  of  those  in  the 
rear.  Then  our  pursuing  force  fell  upon  them,  and 
before  they  had  made  good  their  retreat,  captured 
thirteen  guns  and  killed  eight  hundred  of  their  fight- 
ing men.* 

In  the  mean  while,  the  Punjabees,  having  swept 
on  to  the  attack  of  the  village  on  the  right,  and 
gallantly  cleared  it,  crossed  over  by  the  rear  to  do 
like  service  on  the  other  village,  against  which  a 
brisk  fire  of  artillery  had  been  directed;  but  here 
they  met  with  a  stubborn  resistance.  Lumsden,  who 
led  them  to  the  attack,  was  shot  down;  and  not 
until  a  party  of  the  Sixty-first  had  been  sent  in 
support,  were  the  despairing  energies  of  the  mutineers 
suppressed.  Night  had  by  this  time  fallen  upon  the 
scene.  Nicholson  was  master  of  the  Field,  and  the 
enemy  were  in  panic-flight.  But  our  circumstances 
were  not  cheering.  Our  baggage  had  not  come  up, 
and  our  people  were  compelled,  hungry,  weary,  and 
soaked  as  they  were,  to  bivouac  in  a  morass,  without 
food,  or  anything  to  console  and  sustain  them,  except 
the  thought  of  the  victory  they  had  gained.  Next 
morning,  having  collected  their  spoil,  and  blown  up 
the  Nujufgurh  bridge,  they  commenced  their  march 
back  to  Delhi,  carrying  their  trophies  with  them. 
It  was  ascertained  afterwards  that  it  was  the  Nee- 
much  Brigade  which  Nicholson  had  thus  routed. 
The  Bareilly  Brigade  had  not  come  up  to  take  part 
in  the  action.     It  was  a  mortifying  reflection  to  the 

*  Tlie  euemy  had  four  guns  at  the    and  three  at  the  bridge  over  the 
scrjii,  three  at  each  of  the  villages,    canaL 


656  THE  LAST  SUCCOUftS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  British  leader  that  this  information  had  not  been 
August  26.  communicated  to  him  at  an  earlier  period.  "  I  do 
not  exaggerate,"  he  wrote  afterwards  to  Sir  John 
La^vrence,  "when  I  say  that  had  I  had  a  decent 
political  officer  with  me  to  get  me  a  little  informa- 
tion, I  might  have  smashed  the  Bareilly  Brigade  at 
Palum,  the  next  day.  As  it  was,  I  had  no  informa- 
tion— not  even  a  guide  that  I  did  not  pick  up  for 
myself  on  the  road;  and  had  I  obeyed  my  instruc- 
tions, and  gone  to  Behauder-gurh,  the  expedition 
would  have  been  a  fruitless  one.  I  feel  very  thankful 
for  my  success ;  for  had  these  two  brigades  succeeded 
in  getting  into  our  rear,  they  would  undoubtedly 
have  done  much  mischief." 

The  news  of  the  victory,  first  conveyed  to  Delhi 
by  young  Low,  Nicholson's  aide-de-camp,  who  had 
ridden  on  in  advance  of  the  returning  force,  caused 
great  rejoicing  in  Camp,  and  there  was  strong  desire 
to  give  the  victors  an  ovation  as  they  marched  in 
with  their  trophies.  But  Nicholson's  men  were  weary 
and  in  sorry  plight  for  any  needless  spectacular  dis- 
play, so  they  made  all  haste  to  their  quarters,  and 
as  evening  had  closed  in  upon  them  before  the  whole 
force  had  arrived,  the  ovation  would  have  been  im- 
possible, if  they  had  been  inclined  to  receive  it.  But 
there  were  hearty  congratulations  next  day  freely 
tendered  to  Nicholson,  who  had  done  his  work  right 
well,  and  secured  the  safe  advance  of  the  siege-train. 
It  was  believed,  too,  that  he  had  weakened  the  enemy's 
force,  not  merely  to  the  number  of  those  who  were 
killed  and  wounded  in  action,  for  the  whole  brigade 
was  broken  and  dispersed,  and  many  never  again 
showed  their  faces  in  Delhi.*     Since  the  battle  of 

*  ''  According  to  all  accounts,  the    with)  only  numbers  six  hundred  men 
Neemuch  Brigade  (the  one  I  dealt    now.  Many  of  those  who  fled  would 


CONGRATULATIONS  ON  THE  VICTORY.  657 

Budlee-ka-serai  on  the  8th  of  June,  the  English  at      1857. 
Delhi  had  gained  no   such  victory  as  that  which  ^"S'^^^^o. 
crowned  the  action  at  Nujufgurh. 

Congratulations  upon  this  brilliant  achievement 
poured  in  from  all  sides ;  but  from  none  came  they 
Avith  greater  heartiness  and  sincerity  than  from  Sir 
John  Lawrence,  who  wrote  to  him,  saying :  "  Though 
sorely  pressed  with  work,  I  write  a  line  to  congratu- 
late you  on  your  success.  I  wish  I  had  the  power  of 
knighting  you  on  the  spot.  It  should  be  done.  I 
hope  you  destroyed  no  end  of  villanous  Pandies."* 
To  this  Nicholson  replied,  August  30,  1857  :  "  Many  August  30. 
thanks  for  your  kind  letter  of  the  27th.  I  would 
much  rather  earn  the  good  opinion  of  my  friends 
than  any  kind  of  honorary  distinction.  I  enclose,  for 
your  perusal,  and  Edwardes's,  the  rough  draft  of  my 
report.  The  field  was  of  such  extent,  that  it  was  not 
easy  to  estimate  the  mutineers'  loss.  I  think,  more- 
over, that  they  suffered  more  severely  from  the  fire 
of  our  Artillery,  after  they  had  bolted  across  the 
bridge,  than  they  did  on  the  actual  battle-field. 
....  Except  where  poor  Lumsden  was  killed,  they 
made  little  attempt  to  stand.  Most  of  the  killed 
were  Kotah  Contingent  men.  We  took  the  Nee- 
much  troop  of  artillery  complete,  three  light  field 
battery  guns,  and  four  of  the  King's  Own.  I  wish 
sincerely  that  they  had  had  as  many  more,  as, 
after  their  flank  was  turned,  they  could  not  have 
used  them,  and  must  have  lost  them  all." 

appear  never  to  have  returned  to  •  In  this  letter  Lawrence  writes : 

])elhi.    Most  of  the  oflScers  with  me  "  Don't  assault  until  you  have  given 

in  the  action  rated  them  at    six,  the  mutineers  all  the  powder  and 

seven,  and  ei^ht  thousand  men.  My  shot  whicii  the  siege-train  can  spare, 

^.^^   Z^^^    im     4'VkM4-  fltav  TVAioo  VkofiTAAn       ttvxA    4liPTi     (vr\    in       nnA     mnv    {^nA     Ka 


658     THE  LAST  SUCCOURS  FROM  THE  PUNJAB. 

1857.  After  this  there  was  quiet  for  a  little  space  in  Camp. 

August,  ^ji  jjjgj^  vreve  looking  eagerly  for  the  arrival  of  the 
siege-train,  and  for  those  last  reinforcements  which 
Lawrence  was  sending  down  from  the  Punjab.  Re- 
ports were  floating  about  to  the  effect  that  the  Ba- 
reilly  Brigade  was  going  out  again,  under  Bukht 
Khan,  to  make  another  effort  to  intercept  our  con- 
voys; but  if  this  design  were  ever  entertained  it 
was  soon  abandoned,  for  it  never  developed  into  even 
the  semblance  of  a  fact ;  and  all  again  was  composure. 
There  was  not  a  soldier  in  camp  who  did  not  then  feel 
that  the  time  of  waiting  and  watching  had  well-nigh 
passed — that  we  should  soon  assume  the  offensive  in 
eamest>  with  ample  means  to  secure  success.  Delhi 
now  seemed  to  be  in  our  grasp,  and  the  spirits  of 
men  rose  with  the  thought  of  the  coming  triumph. 
Then  was  it  that  the  mess-tents  of  our  officers  rang 
with  the  loudest  laughter ;  then  was  it  that  our  mill- 
tary  bands  sent  up  their  gayest  music ;  then  was  it 
that  the  inactivity  of  a  disheartened  enemy  gave 
unaccustomed  repose  to  the  besieging  force ;  then  the 
healthy  could  enjoy  their  books  or  games,  and  the 
sick  and  wounded  could  be  brought  to  the  doors 
of  their  tents  to  inhale  the  pleasant  evening  air,  or 
take  in  the  marvellous  beauty  of  the  "  view  from  the 
Ridge.*'  For  nearly  three  months  the  great  city, 
with  its  wealth  of  ordnance,  had  defied  the  best 
courage  and  the  best  skill  of  the  English  nation. 
We  had  been  beaten  by  the  material  resources  of  an 
enemy,  whom,  without  such  aids,  we  could  have 
crushed  in  a  day.  But  now,  as  our  Engineers 
brought  all  the  appliances  of  their  .craft  to  bear  upon 
the  strengthening  and  securing  of  our  positions,  as 
the  space  between  our  siege-works  and  the  city- walls 
was  narrowed  by  their  efforts,  and  breaching-batteries 


PBEPAEATIOKS  FOR  THE  ASSAULT.  659 

were  rising  under  their  hands,  no  man  doubted  that  1857. 
the  coming  month  would  see  Delhi  prostrate  at  our  -A.ugfust. 
feet,  and  the  consummation  of  our  hopes  gloriously 
accomplished.  Again  the  supremacy  of  the  English 
race  in  India,  obscured  only  for  a  little  while,  was  to 
be  re-asserted  and  re-established ;  and  there  was  not 
a  ^white  man  in  camp  who  did  not  long,  with  a  great 
hunger  of  the  heart,  for  the  day  when  the  signal 
^vould  be^ven,  and  it  would  be  left  for  our  English 
manhood  to  decide  for  itself  whether  any  multitude 
of  Natives  of  India,  behind  their  walls  of  masonry, 
could  deter  our  legions  from  a  victorious  entrance 
into  the  imperial  city  of  the  MoguL 


2uS 


APPENDIX. 


THE  LAST  NUZZUE  TO  THE  KING  OF  DELHT. — Paee  12. 


»' 


[From  Mr.  William  Edwards'  "  Reminiscences  of  a  Ben^ 
Civilian" — a  work  which  contains  much  interesting  and  sug- 
l^estive  information  relating  to  the  rebellion  in  the  North- 
West  Provinces.] 

''As  soon  as  the  camp  arrived  at  Delhi,  the  Government 
durbar  records  were  produced,  in  order  that  reference  should 
be  made  to  the  etiquette  followed  as  regarded  the  Emperor, 
on  those  previous  rare  occasions  in  which  Governor-Generals 
had  visited  the  imperial  city.     It  was  found  that  although 
the  relative  position  of  the  Governor-General  and  the  Empe- 
ror did  not  admit  of  their  exchanging  visits,  yet  that  a  depu- 
tation had  been  sent  on  the  part  of  the  Governor-General 
to  ask  after  the  health  of  his  Majesty,  and  tender  him  a 
'  Nuzzur'   of  a  certain  amount  of  gold  mohurs,  which  in 
reality  amounted  to  an  expression  of  submission  and  fealty 
on  the  part  of  the  British  Government  to  the  Great  Moghul, 
and  an  acknowledgment  of  holding  our  Indian  possessions  as 
his  feudatory.    As,  however,  this  had  been  the  usual  practice, 
no  question  was  raised  as  to  its  propriety;  and  therefore, 
without  any  previous  intimation  to  the  Governor-General  of 
what  was  about  to  be  done,  Mr.  Thomason  and  myself,  ac- 
companied by  Colonel  Broadfoot,  proceeded  to  the  palace  on 
elephants,  each  being  provided  with  a  silk  bag  full  of  gold 
mohurs  for  presentation  to  the  King.     We  were  required  to 
proceed  without  any  shoes  into  the  immediate  presence — such 
having  been  in  all  ages  in  India  the  usual  mark  of  respect  on 


662  APPENBDL 

the  part  of  an  inferior  on  approaching  a  superior.  On  this 
occasion  we  compromised  the  matter  by  putting  short  worsted 
cashmere  socks  over  our  boots,  and  thus  entered  the  hall  of 
audience.  On  a  curtain  being  drawn  aside,  we  saw  the  old 
King,  then  apparently  a  very  feeble  old  man  above  seventy 
years  of  age,  seated  on  his  throne,  which  was  elevated  so  as 
to  have  the  royal  person,  as  he  sat  cross-legged,  on  a  level 
with  our  faces.  We  made  a  low  obeisance  to  the  Emperor, 
and  on  approaching  the  throne,  each  in  succession  presented 
his  bag  of  gold  mohurs,  and  inquired  after  his  Majesty's 
health  and  prosperity.  I  confess  to  a  feeling  of  awe  and 
solemnity  passing  over  me  as  I  stepped  up  and  addressed  this 
representative  of  a  long  line  of  kings  and  of  a  once  powerful 
empire,  and  presented  my  Kuzzur  to  bis  Majesty's  accept- 
ance, which  was  remarkable  as  being  the  last  that  was  ever 
offered  on  the  part  of  a  British  subject  to  the  imperial  house 
of  Timour.  The  King  simply  received  it,  and  ordered  us  to 
be  robed  in  dresses  of  honour,  and  to  have  turbans  bound 
round  our  heads.  This  was  done  in  due  form ;  we  made  our 
obeisance  to  the  King,  and  departed.  We  remoimted  our 
elephants,  and  were  paraded  through  the  chief  streets  of  Delhi 
as  ^^  those  whom  the  King  delighted  to  honour."  The  ridi-^ 
culous  transformation  we  had  all  three  undergone,  clad  in 
these  robes  of  tinsel  tissue,  drove  aU  feelings  of  solemnity 
and  respect  out  of  my  mind.  I  contrived  to  get  ahead  of 
my  party,  and  stripping  off  my  own  finery  as  I  sat  on  the 
howdah,  made  my  way  to  the  Governor-General's  tent,  to 
beg  his  lordship  to  come  and  see  the  chief  secretary  and 
Colonel  Broadfoot  as  they  arrived  in  camp,  and  before  dis- 
mounting from  their  elephants,  as  these  two  estimable  gentle- 
men looked  as  if  they  had  gone  suddenly  mad,  and  decked 
themselves  out  in  a  manner  worthy  of  ^  Madge  Wildfire.' 
The  Govemor-Gteneral  begged  me  to  explain  what  we  had 
been  doing,  and  on  my  informing  him,,  his  lordship's  indig-» 
nation  and  surprise  were  extreme;  and  then,  for  the  first 
time,  I  myself  became  alive  to  the  impropriety  of  an  act 
which,  in  reality,  made  Queen  Victoria,  in  Eastern  estima«- 
tion  at  least,  hold  her  Indian  possessions  as  a  mere  feudatory 
and  vassal  of  the  imperial  house  of  Delhi. 


APPENDIX.  663 

The  Governor-General  immediately  issned  instructions, 
forbidding  the  presentation  in  future  to  the  King  of  any 
offenngs  by  British  subjects,  and  directed  me  to  ascertain 
the  average  annual  amount  of  gifts  received  by  his  Majesty 
for  the  past  ten  years,  in  order  that  an  equivalent  amount 
should  be  added  to  the  royal  stipend  from  the  British  treasury 
in  fiiture.  The  Govemor-Generars  measure  was  without 
doubt  right  and  politic.  The  misfortune  was  that  it  had  not 
been  adopted  years  before.^' 


CAPTAIN  BOSSES  AND  THE  FLIGHT  TO  DELHI. — Page  67. 

[The  following  extracts  from  letters,  addressed  to  the 
author,  with  reference  to  the  statement  referred  to  in  the 
text,  frequently  made  and  never  before,  I  believe,  publicly 
contradicted,  that  the  late  Captain  Rosser,  of  the  Carabineers, 
had,  on  the  10th  of  May,  proposed  to  take  a  squadron  of  his 
regiment  and  a  troop  of  Horse  Artillery,  to  cut  off  the  flight 
of  the  mutineers  to  Delhi,  afford  a  curious  illustration  of  the 
difficulties  which  beset  the  path  of  the  historical  inquirer.] 

Sir  Arehdale  Wilson. 

^^  It  is  certainly  not  true  that  Captain  Bosser  offered  to  take 
liis  squadron  in  pursuit  of  the  mutineers  bound  for  Delhi  on 
the  evening  of  the  10th  of  May,  1857 — at  least,  to  my  know- 
ledge— ^the  first  I  ever  heard  of  such  a  story  being  shown  to 
me  in  some  rouglT  sheets  of  your  History.  Captain  Eosser 
was  a  good  and  gallant  ofiicer,  and  may  have  made  such  an 
offer  to  his  own  immediate  commanding  officer,  Colonel 
Custance,  though  I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  of  the  force 
knew  that  evening  that  the  mutineers  had  made  for  Delhi. 
I  did  not  until  the  next  morning." — Dec.  6,  1868. 

Mr.  Charles  Raikes. 

''••••  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  become  well  acquainted 
with  Major  Bosser  during  the  voyage  from  India  to  Suez 
early  in  1858.     He  told  me  in  so  many  words  what  I  asserted 


664  APPENDIX. 

in  my  little  work.  It  was  not  possible  for  me  to  doubt  the 
statement  of  a  man  so  modest,  grave,  and  straightforward,  of 
such  high  principle  and  solidity  of  character,  and  I,  there- 
fore, asserted  as  a  fact  wliat  I  believed  and  still  believe  to  be 
true."— 2>ec.  17,  1868. 

Colonel  Custance* 

^^  The  late  Major  Bosser  was  a  gallant  and  good  ofRcer,  but 
he  did  not  offer  to  take  a  detachment  of  Dragoons  and  Horse 
Artillery  in  pursuit  of  the  mutineers  escaping  to  Delhi  on  the 
10th  of  May,  1857.  Had  he  done  so  I  must  have  known  it, 
as  I  was  his  commanding  officer." — Dec.  21,  1868. 

[It  was  not  thought  necessary  to  pursue  the  inquiry  any 

further.     If  the  oflFer  were  not  made  by  Captain  Rosser  to 

the  commanding  officer  of  his  regiment  or  to  the  Brigadier 
commanding  the  station,  it  cannot  have  been  made  at  all  in 

any  military — any  public — sense,  and  certainly  the  proposal 
cannot  have  been  officially  recognised.  But  that,  on  the 
night  of  the  10th  of  May,  Captain  Bosser  expressed  liia 
willingness  to  lead  a  mounted  detachment  to  cut  off  the 
mutineers  (though  the  offer  may  never  have  taken  the  regu- 
lation-shape), can  hardly,  I  tliink,  be  questioned.] 


SEnVICES  OF  SYUD  MEER  KHAN. — Page  69. 

*'  The  Sirdar  Behaudur,  Syud  Meer  Elhan  Sahib,  a  pen- 
sioner receiving  six  hundred  rupees  a  monfli,  for  aid  rendered 
to  the  Caubul  prisoners  and  good  conduct  in  Afghanistan, 
who  had,  on  hearing  the  disturbance,  immediately  joined  the 
Commissioner,  and  offered  to  escort  him  to  the  European  lines ; 
but  it  was  decided  that  there  was  no  hope  of  the  lady  escaping 
through  the  crowd.  He  then  went  out  to  hold  back  the  mob, 
and  was  shot  through  the  thigh,  and  his  horse  mortally 
wounded.  This  fine  Afghan  was  obliged  to  retire  to  the  city. 
He  came  to  the  Dum-Dumma  the  next  morning  in  spite  of 
his  wound,  and  was  at  the  battles  of  the  Hindun.  When  the 
mob  attacked  the  house,  the  Commissioner  and  his  wife,  Avith 


APPENDIX  665 

the  ifvlfe  of  one  of  tho  residents  of  the  station,  retired  to  the 
roof ;  when  asked  where  their  master  and  mistress  were,  the 
servants  said  that  they  had  gone  to  church :  though  drawn 
B^v^ords  were  put  to  his  throat,  the  Jemadar,  Gholab  Singh, 
persisted  in  this  statement,  and  the  other  servants  were  faith- 
fully silent  regarding  their  master's  presence."— jRq^or*  of 
A£f\  CommUmner  WiUiams. 


THE  MUEDEE  OP  ME.  PEASEE. — Page  79. 

[The  following  is  the  evidence  of  Buktawuss,  or  Bukhtawar 
Singh,  Chuprassy,  as  given  at  the  trial  of  the  King  ot 
Delhi.] 

*^  I  was  the  servant  on  duty  supervising  the  repairs  of  the 
Fort  ditch,  and  was  going  with  the  account  book  for  Captain 
Douglas'  inspection.  I  was  on  my  way,  when  a  trooper 
came  galloping  up  from  the  direction  of  the  Calcutta  Gate. 
The  trooper  had  not  reached  the  Palace  Gate  when  I  observed 
that  Captain  Douglas  was  standing  there.  I  saw  Captain 
Douglas  speaking  to  the  man;  but  before  I  reached  the 
Palace  Gate  myself  the  trooper  turned  his  horse  and  rode  off. 
Captain  Douglas  told  me  to  go  up  to  his  apartments,  and 
said  that  he  was  going  to  the  interior  of  the  Palace  and  should 
return  immediately.  Captain  Douglas  did  so,  and  I  stayed 
at  the  gate,  Makhan,  Kishan  Singh  and  others  accompanied 
him.  Captain  'Douglas  had  hardly  gone  when  Mr.  Fraser 
arrived  in  his  buggy  and  inquired  for  him.  Mr.  Fraser 
alighted  and  walked  on  through  the  covered  way  up  to  the 
opening.  He  then  said  to  me  he  was  going  to  the  Calcutta 
Gate,  and  that  I  was  to  tell  Captain  Douglas  so  on  his  return. 
I  then  myself  proceeded  in  the  direction  of  the  King's  apart- 
ments and  met  Captain  Douglas  returning  in  a  state  of 
excitement.  I  gave  him  Mr.  Fraser's  message.  Captain 
Douglas  went  to  the  Lahore  Gate  of  tho  Palace,  and  told  the 
Native  officer  on  guard  there  to  close  it,  which  was  done. 
Captain  Douglas  at  the  same  time  gave  orders  that  no  crowd 
was  to  be  allowed  to  assemble  on  the  bridge  leading  into  the 


666  AfPENDiJL 

Palace.  Just  about  this  time  an  officer  of  the  King^s,  styled 
a  captain,  also  came  there  from  the  direction  of  the  main 
street  of  Delhi.  The  gate  had  been  closed  and  Captain 
Douglas'  buggy  was  inside,  so  he  directed  me  to  ask  this 
Native  officer  for  his  buggy  that  he  might  go  in  it  as  &r  as 
the  Calcutta  Gate,  whither  Captain  Douglas  proceeded  in  it, 
I  occupying  the  seat  behind.  At  the  Calcutta  Gate  we  found 
Mr.  Fraser,  Mr.  Nixon,  head  clerk,  and  four  or  five  other 
gentlemen.  The  gate  was  closed  after  a  short  time.  Mr. 
Fraser  and  Captain  Douglas  got  into  the  buggy  together,  and 
-^ere  returning  to  the  Palace  accompanied  by  the  other  gen- 
tlemen on  horseback,  but  had  not  proceeded  far  when  four  or 
five  troopers  came  galloping  up  at  full  speed  from  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Ellenborough  Tank.  About  this  time,  there  was 
a  general  cry  that  the  troopers  had  come.  On  reaching  the 
party  of  gentlemen,  one  of  the  troopers  wounded  Mr.  Hut- 
chinson in  the  arm  with  a  pistol  shot ;  the  others  also  fired, 
but  without  efiect.  On  this  Mr.  Fraser  and  Captain  Douglas 
both  got  out  of  the  buggy  and  went  out  of  the  way  of  the 
mutineers^  and  stood  by  the  guard-room  of  the  Constabulary 
Force  at  the  gate :  two  more  gentlemen  joined  them  there. 
Mr.  Fraser  got  a  musket  from  the  Constabulary  Force,  and 
shot  one  of  the  troopers.  This  checked  the  others,  and  they 
turned  and  fled.  A  great  crowd  had  by  this  time  collected, 
and  Captain  Douglas  and  another  gentleman  jumped  into  the 
Fort  ditch,  along  which  they  came  on  to  the  Palace  Grate, 
Mr.  Fraser  and  others  coming  by  the  road ;  but  there  was 
such  confusion  at  the  time,  I  can't  say  how.  Captain 
Douglas  was  in  a  fainting  state  from  the  injuries  he  had 
received  from  jumping  into  the  ditch,  and  we  accordingly 
laid  him  on  a  bed  in  the  Kuliyat  Elhana.  Li  a  short  time 
Mr.  Jennings,  the  clergyman,  came  down,  and  at  his  sug- 
gestion Captain  Douglas  was  taken  up  to  the  apartments 
above  the  gate,  where  he  was  placed  on  a  bed,  Mr.  Jennings 
sending  the  servants  away,  and  telling  them  not  to  crowd 
about  the  place.  We  then  received  an  order  to  go  for  the 
King's  physician,  and  AbduIIa  Chuprassy  fetched  him  ac- 
cordingly. The  physician,  Ahsan  Ullah  Khan,  had  just  left, 
when  we  servants  who  were  sitting  there  saw  some  five 


APPENDIl.  667 

Mahomedans^  King's  servaats,  coming  along  tlie  covered  way 
calling  oaty  ^  Din,  din  I'  Just  at  this  time  Mr.  Eraser  hap- 
pened to  come  down  to  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and  these  men 
immediately  attacked  him  and  killed  him  with  their  sTi^brds. 
While  this  was  happening  on  the  north  side  of  the  gate,  a 
mixed  crowd,  armed  with  swords,  bludgeons,  &c.,  ran  up  the 
stairs  on  the  south  side,  and  gained  the  apartments  above, 
those  assembled  on  the  north  side  joining  them  there  " 


THE  ois-suTLEJ  CHIEFS. — Page  162. 
[The  further  note  on  the  loyal  bearing  of  the  Ois-Sutlej 
chiefs  wiU  be  given  in  volume  iii.] 


KEMOVAL  OF  CAPTAIN  HODSON  FBOM  THE  GUIDE  CORPS.— 

Page  182.      . 

[The  following  passage  from  a  letter  written  to  Hodson's 
biographer  by  the  Military  Secretary  to  the  Punjab  Com- 
missioner, explains  fully  the  circumstances  referred  to  in  the 
text.  After  speaking  of  the  question  of  the  regimental 
accounts  and  the  action  of  the  Court  of  Inquiry,  the  writer 
proceeds  to  say :] 

"  Still,  in  so  far  as  the  inquiry  was  concerned.  Major  H., 
had  he  survived,  might  perhaps  have  commanded  the  Guides 
to  this  day.  His  removal  was  entirely  another  affair.  In 
addition  to  the  command  of  the  Guides,  Lieutenant  H.  held  the 
office  of  Accountant  Commissioner  in  civil  charge  of  Euzofyze. 
Lieutenant  Godby,  of  the  Guides,  was  severely  wounded  by 
an  assassin  at  Murdan,  the  Guides  Corps  station  in  December, 
1853.  The  assassin  was  cut  to  pieces  on  the  spot  by  some 
men  of  the  corps.  His  body  was  identified,  but  all  efforts  to 
discover  the  motives  of  the  miscreant  or  his  abettors  proved 
fruitless.  Lieutenant  Hodson's  suspicions,  however,  fell 
upon  Kader  E^an,  the  Mullik  of  Tooroo  (four  miles  distant 
from  Murdan),  the  most  wealthy  and  influential  chief  in 
Euzofyze.     He  even  further  entertained  the  hope  of  being 


668  APPENDIX. 

able  to  convict  this  Kader  Khan  of  having  caused  the  murder 
of  the  late  Colonel  Mackeson ;  butfinally,  and  after  a  length- 
ened imprisonment  of  seven  months  in  the  Peshawar  gaol, 
Kader  Khan  was  arraigned  by  him  in  the  Commissioner's 
Court  on  one  charge  only,  viz.  that  of  having  instigated  the 
attack  upon  Lieutenant  Grodby.  The  case  completely  broke 
down,  and  the  trial  ended  in  a  full  acquittal  Lieutenant 
Hodson's  proceedings  were  strongly  condemned  by  Lord  Dal- 
housie,  who  directed  his  dismissal  from  civil  employ,  and  that 
he  should  not  retain  command  of  the  Guides,  it  being  incom- 
patible with  the  public  interests  that  he  should  ever  again 
hold  any  position  of  authority  in  the  district  of  Euzofyze, 
and  that  his  getting  another  command  thereafter  should 
depend  upon  the  result  of  the  Military  Court  of  Liquiry.  The 
inquiry  had  not,  however,  closed  so  far  as  to  produce  any 
result,  when  the  Court  of  Directors  took  notice  of  the  trial  of 
Kader  Khan  of  Tooroo,  and  in  conveying  their  approval  of 
the  Govemor-General's  decision  upon  it,  they  added  their 
'  desire'  that  Lieutenant  Hodson  should  not  ^  again  be  en- 
trusted with  any  command  whatever.'  " 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OP  ALLAHABAD. — ^Page  270. 

[From  the  "Travels  of  a  Hindoo,"  by  Bholanauth-Chunder. 
Edited  by  a  Government  Secretary,  and  dedicated  to  the 
Governor-General  of  India.] 

"They  speak  of  it  as  a  fearful  epoch  of  unexampled 
atrocities  on  the  one  side,  and  of  an  unparalleled  retaliation 
on  the  other.  There  were  the  Sepoys  with  the  blood  of  mur- 
dered officers  on  their  heads,  and  budmashos  and  buUies,  and 
cut-throats  and  cut-purses,  all  acknowledging  a  fraternal 
tie,  and  holding  a  bloody  carnival.  But  it  was  impossible 
that  twenty  uncongenial  parties,  divided  by  quarrels  about 
caste,  quarrels  about  religion,  quarrels  about  power,  and 
quarrels  about  plunder,  could  long  act  together  in  an  un- 
disturbed concert.  Soon  as  batch  after  batch  of  Englishmen 
arrived  to  re-establish  the  Saxon  rule,  they  were  driven  like 
chaff  before  the  wind.    Then  followed  a  dreadftd  sequel — the 


APPENDIX, 

horror  of  horrors.    The  martial  law  was  an  oul  i 
the  like  of  which  had  not  been  dreamt  of  in  (  i 
ology.     Bampant  and  ubiqiiitous,  it  stalked 
devouring  hundreds  at  a  meal,  and  surpassed 
the  rakhasi,  or  female  carnival  of  Hindoo  fable  i 
little  whom  the  red-coats  killed ;  the  innocent  i 
the  loyal  and  the  disloyal,  the  well-wisher  and  t  i 
confounded  in  one  promiscuous  vengeance, 
nigger,'  had  become  a  fevourite  phrase  of  the  i 
men  of  that  day.     *  Pea-fowls,  partridges,  an  '. 
together,  but  the  latter  gave  the  best  sport, 
tilt  at  a  wretch  who  had  taken  to  the  open  : : 
In  those  bloody  assizes,  the  bench,  bar,  and  j  : 
of  them  in  a  bland  humour,  but  were  bent 
scores  by  rudely  administering  justice  with  tl  i 
and  halter,  making  up  for  one  life  by  tweii  1 
spring  of  the  British  Lion  was  terrible,  its  cla ' 
criminating. 

"  One's  blood  still  runs  cold  to  remember  th ; 
ing  and  blood-freezing  scenes  that  were  witi 
days.  There  were  those  who  had  especial  n  \ 
been  anxious  to  show  their  rare  qualifications  ii 
drum-head  justice,  scouring  tlirough  the  towi 
they  caught  all  on  whom  they  could  lay  their 
or  pedlar,  shopkeeper  or  artisan,  and  hurrying  tl  i 
a  mock  trial,  made  them  dangle  on  the  nearei 
six  thousand  beings  had  been  thus  summarily  c 
launched  into  eternity,  their  corpses  hanging; 
threes  from  branch  and  sign-post  all  over  the  I 
contributed  to  frighten  down  the  country  in 
and  tranquillity.  For  three  months  did  eight  di 
go  their  rounds  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  to  t 
corpses  which  hung  at  the  cross-roads  and  :i 
poisoning  the  air  of  the  city,  and  to  throw  tl 
burdens  into  the  Gauge?.  Others,  whose  indij 
more  practical  turn,  sought  to  make  capital 
troublesome  times.  The  martial  law  was  a  tei 
in  their  hands  to  turn  men  into  stone,  the  weal 
were  threatened  to  be  criminated,  and  they  lu 
their  lives  as  best  they  could  under  the  circums 


670  APPENDIX. 


PEOOIiAMATIONS  AND  OORBESPONBENOE  OP  THE  KANA  BAHIB, 

Page  351. 

[The  following  extracts  from  the  correspondence  of  Doondoo 
Punt,  Nana  Sahib,  illustrate  the  means  by  which  he  endea- 
voured by  a  succession  of  boastful  lies  to  stimulate  the  ani- 
mosity and  to  sustain  the  courage  of  his  followers.  These 
papers  were  sent  in  by  Nana  Nerain  Bao,  of  whom  mention 
is  made  in  the  text,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  General  Neill, 
who  commissioned  Major  Gordon  to  translate  them.  The 
following  is  from  the  journal  of  that  officer :] 

"  A  relative  of  the  Nana  sent  in  a  quantity  of  the  Nana's 
property  and  ten  of  his  horses  from  Bithoor  this  morning, 
and  came  himself  and  called  on  General  Neill  in  the  forenoon. 
He  had  been  confined  by  the  Nana.  In  the  evening  tw^o 
boxes  were  brought  in  containing  the  whole  of  the  Nana's 
correspondence,  and  'his  letter-book  containing  copies  of  all 
his  orders,  written  in  the  Persian  language.  They  have  been 
made  over  to  me,  which  is  a  rich  treat ;  and  I  sat  poring  over 
these  letters  until  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  and  finished  with 
the  one  in  which  he  ordered  the  destruction  of  all  Europeans 
who  left  in  boats." 

PBOOLAMATION,  DATED  JULY  6tH. 

"  A  traveller  just  arrived  at  Cawnpore  from  Calcutta,  had 
heaxd  that  previous  to  the  distribution  of  the  cartridges,  a 
council  had  been  held  for  the  purpose  of  depriving  the  Hin- 
doostanees  of  their  faith  and  religion.  The  members  of  the 
council  came  to  the  decision,  since  it  was  a  matter  affecting 
religion,  it  would  be  right  to  have  seven  or  eight  thousand 
European  soldiers  that  fifty  thousand  Hindoostanees  might 
be  destroyed,  and  all  (the  rest)  become  Christians.  This 
resolution  was  sent  to  Queen  Victoria,  and  received  her 
approval.  Again  another  council  was  held,  at  whidi  the 
English  merchants  assisted.  It  was  here  determined  that  tho 
European  force  should  be  made  equal  to  the  Hindoostanee 
army  (in  numbers)  so  that  when  the  contest  took  place  there 
should  be  no  fear  of  fi^ilure.  When  this  representation  (from 
the  council)  was  read  in  England,  thirty-five  thousand  soldiers 
were  embarked  in  all  haste  and  despatched  to  India,  and  the 


APPENDIX.  671 

news  of  their  departure  has  reached  Calcatta.  The  Sahibs  of 
Calcutta  ordered  the  distribution  of  the  cartridges  with  the 
especial  object  of  making  Christians  of  the  Kative  army^  so 
that  when  the  army  became  Christians  there  would  be  no 
delay  in  making  Christians  of  the  ryots.  These  cartridges 
were  rubbed  over  with  the  fiit  of  pigs  and  cows.  This  fact 
has  been  asserted  by  Bengalees  who  were  employed  in  the 
manufacture  of  the  cartridges,  and  of  those  who  related  this, 
one  has  been  executed  and  all  the  rest  put  into  confinement. 
They  (the  Sahibs)  made  their  arrangements  here.  This  is 
the  news  from  thence  (Europe).  The  Turkish  Ambassador 
wrote  from  London  to  the  Sultan  to  inform  him  that  thirty- 
five  thousand  men  have  been  despatched  to  Hindoostan  fo^ 
the  purpose  of  making  Christians  of  the  Hindoost^iees.  The 
Sultan  of  Room — may  God  perpetuate  his  sovereignty! — 
despatched  a  Firman  to  the  Pasha  of  Egypt  to  this  effect : 
^  Ton  are  an  ally  of  Queen  Victoria.  But  this  is  not  the 
season  for  amity,  inasmuch  as  my  Ambassador  writes  that 
thirty-five  thousand  soldiers  have  been  despatched  to  Hin- 
doostan for  the  purpose  of  making  Christians  of  the  Native 
ryots  and  troops.  Therefore,  in  this  case,  whilst  a  remedy  is 
in  my  power,  if  I  should  be  negligent,  how  shall  I  show  my 
face  to  God?  And  this  day  (i.e.  conjuncture)  may  some 
time  or  other  be  my  own  [meaning  this  may  some  day  be 
his  own  case]  since,  if  the  English  make  the  Hindoostanees 
Christians,  they  will  make  an  attempt  on  my  dominions.' 

"  When  the  Pasha  of  Egjrpt  received  this  Firman,  he,  pre- 
vious to  the  arrival  of  the  (English)  force,  assembled  and  or- 
ganised his  troops  at  Alexandria,  which  is  on  the  road  to 
Hindoostan.  The  moment  the  soldiers  (English)  appeared, 
the  Pasha's  troops  opened  an  artillery  fire  upon  them  from  all 
sides,  and  destroyed  and  sunk  their  ships,  so  that  not  a  single 
soldier  escaped. 

"  When  the  English  at  Calcutta  had  issued  their  order  for 
the  distribution  of  the  cartridges,  and  the  disturbances  had 
arisen,  they  anxiously  looked  out  for  the  troops  from  London 
to  aid  them.  But  the  Almighty,  in  his  perfect  omnipotence^ 
had  already  disposed  of  these.  When  the  news  of  the 
slaughter  of  the  army  from   London  became  known,  the 


672  APPENDIX. 

Governor-General  was  greatly  afflicted  and  distressed,  and 
thumped  his  head. 

'^  Persian  Quatrain. — In  the  beginning  of  the  night  he  pos- 
sessed the  power  over  life  and  property. — In  the  morning  his 
body  was  without  a  head,  and  his  head  without  a  crown. — 
In  one  revolution  of  the  coerulean  sphere  neitlier  Nadir 
(Shah*)  remained  nor  fljiy  sign  of  him.     ' 

"Issued  from  Painted  Garden  of  the  Pelshwah." 


**  To  Holas  Sing,  Cotwal  of  Cawnpore. 

"You  are  hereby  ordered  to  make  known  within  your 
jurisdiction,  that  whoever  may  have  in  his  possession  any 
property  plundered  from  the  English,  such  as  chairs  and 
tables,  china  and  metal  dishes,  arms,  buggies,  medical  appa- 
ratus, horses,  and  wood,  or  railway  officers'  propcrtj",  such 
as  beams,  iron,  wire,  jackets,  coats  and  trousers,  goats  and 
sheep,  must,  within  four  days,  produce  such  property. 
Should  any  one  secrete  such  things,  and  they  be  found  here- 
after in  his  house  when  searched,  ho  will  be  visited  with 
condign  chastisement.  Should  any  person  have  in  his  house 
an  Englishman  or  any  children  (baba  logue),  he  must  produce 
them,  and  will  not  be  questioned ;  but  any  person  concealing 
the  above,  will  be  blown  into  the  path  of  destruction  from 
the  cannon's  mouth. 

''Dated  4th  Zikad,  or  24th  Jane." 


[The  following  appears  to  have  been  written  afler  the 
massacre  at  the  Ghaut.] 

"  To  Rughoonath  Sing,  Bhowany  Sing,  ^c, 

"  Officers  of  the  Regiment  at  Seetapoor  (Forty-first  N.  I.), 
and  Wahid  Ali  Khan,  Naib   Eessaldar,  First  Irregular 
Cavalry,  at  Sikandra. 
"  Greeting, — Your  petition,  presented  by  Meer  Punah  Ali, 

has  been  received.     Its  contents  have  become  known  to  me. 

The  report  of  your  bravery  and  gallantry  has  given  me  great 

♦  Play  upon  words—"  Nadir,"  if  I  remember  rightly,  is  the  zcnitb. — 
Translator. 


APPENDIX. 

pleasure,  ^  much  praise  be  yours,  thus  should  you  ev 
thus  let  men  act'     Here   (Cawnpore)  this  day  4th 
(27tli  June),  the  white  faces  have  fought  with  us.     Th( 
of  tliem,  by  the  grace  of  Go.i,  and  the  destroying  fori 
the  Jing,  have  entered  hell.    A  salute  in  honour  of  this 
has  been  fired  as  iLsuaL     It  behoves  you  also  to  celebra 
victory  with  rejoicings  and  peals  of  artillery.     Moi 
your  request  for  pennission  to  fight  with  the  infide 
given  me  great  satisfaction.     In  a  few  days,  when  ©rde 
have  been  restored  in  this  district,  the  victorious  force 
has  now  swelled  to  a  large  army,  still  daily  increasin, 
cross  the  Ganges,  continue  to  hem  in  the  infidels  uni 
arrival  of  my  camp.     This  event  will  take  place  shortly 
then  display  jdl  your  valour.     Bear  in  mind  that  the 
pertain  to  both  faiths.     They  must  be  neither  molest< 
injured  in  any  way.     Have  a  care  to  protect  them,  < 

supplies,  and  keep  them  in  readiness. 
"Dated  4th  Zikad  St,  ]273,  27th  June,  1857." 


"  To  Holas  Singhy  Cotwal, 

Whereas,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  fortune  of  the  kir 
the  English  at  Poona  and  in  Punna  have  been  slain  anc 
to  hell,  and  five  thousand  English  who  were  at  Delhi 
been  put  to  the  sword  by  the  royal  troops.  The  Goverr 
is  now  everywliere  victorious  ;  you  are,  therefore,  ordei 
proclaim  these  glad  tidings  in  all  cities  and  villages  by 
of  drum,  that  all  may  rejoice  on  hearing  them*  All  ( 
for  apprehension  is  now  removed. 

"  Duted  8th  Zikad,  1st  July,  1857." 


**  To  Baboo  Ramhukshj  Tdtooqdar^  DltoncUa  Khera,  Ou 

"  Greeting. — Your  petition  dated  6th  Zikad  (29th  J\ 
reporting  the  slaughter  of  the  English,  and  the  deatl 
battle  of  your  brother  Sudhainan  Sing,  with  two  officers, 
also  begging  for  my  favour  as  a  reward  for  your  self-devo 
has  been  perused.  You  are  hereby  informed,  that  I  also 
grieved  at  your  loss,  but  the  will  of  Qod  must  be  subm 
to.     Moreover,  this  event  (the  death  of  his  brother) 

VOL.  II.  2  X 


*74  APPENDK. 

Jiappened  in  tho  cause  of  Government,  and  you  will  ever 
remain  the  object  of  my  protection.     Have  no  manner  of 
iear,  Government  will  certainly  befriend  you. 
"  Dated  10th  Zikad,  or  3rd  Julj,  1857." 


*^  To  Holas  Sing^  CotwaL 

"  Whereas  sundry  persons  of  the  town,  on  hearing  the 
report  of  European  troops  having  marched  from  AllahabatI, 
arc  abandoning  their  homes  and  seeking  shelter  in  villages, 
you  are  hereby  ordered  to  have  proclaimed  throughout  the 
town  that  infantiy,  cavalrj',  and  artillery  have  marched  to 
.Tcpel  the  English.  AVherever  they  may  be  met,  at  Futteh- 
])ore,  Allahabad,  or  wherever  they  may  be,  the  revenging 
force  will  thoroughly  punish  them.  Let  all  remain  witliout 
.fear  in  their  liomes,  and  pursue  thoir  usual  avocations. 
"  Dated  12tL  Zikad,  or  5tli  July,  1857." 


"  To  the  Officers  of  the  Army, 

"  I  have  been  greatly  pleased  with  your  zeal,  valour,  ^nd 
loyalty.  Your  labours  are  deserving  of  tho  highest  praise. 
The  organisation  and  scale  of  pay  and  rewards  establislicd 
here  will  have  likewise  to  be  established  for  you.  Let  your 
minds  be  at  rest,  all  promises  made  will  be  fulfilled.  Troops 
of  all  arms  have  this  day  crossed  the  Ganges  en  route  to 
Lucknow ;  you  will  Ije  aided  in  ever}'-  possible  way  to  slay 
.the  unbelieving  Nazarines,  and  despatch  tliem  to  hell.  The 
greatest  reliance  is  placed  on  your  readiness  and  braveiy  to 
-secure  victory.  On  receipt  of  this  order,  certify  to  me,  under 
your  hand  and  seal,  that  you  have  learned  its  contents,  and 
^are  ready  to  co-operate  in  the  destruction  of  the  infidels. 
Ha\'e  no  fears  as  regards  ordnance  stores.  Any  amount  of 
ammunition  and  heavy  guns  is  available.  Shurf-ood-Dowlali 
4iud  Ali  Reza  Beg,  Cotwal  of  Lucknow,  have  been  ordered  to 
.supply  provisions.  Tliey  will  do  so ;  but  should  they  fail  in 
this  duty  inform  me,  and  a  conspicuous  example  will  be  made 
of  them.  All  of  you  display  valour  and  fortitude.  May 
victory  speedily  crown  your  efforts,  thus  shall  I  myself  bo  at 
-liberty  to  proceed  towards  Allahabad.     There  can  bo  no  lies:- 


APPENDIX.  675 

tation  on  your  parfc  or  on  mine.     After  tliis  rapid  saccoss, 
march  to  Allahabad  and  conquer  there. 
«  Dated  14th  Zikad,  7th  JuW,  1857." 


**  To  Kdlkaperslwdj  Canoongoe — Oude. 

"  Greeting.  —  Your  petition  has  been  received,  stating 
that  seven  boats  containing  Europeans  were  going  down  the 
river  from.Cawnpore,  and  that  two  parties  of  your  men  who 
wore  at  the  spot  joined  the  Government  troops  and  fired  on 
them  so  unremittingly  that  they  proceeded,  shying  the 
English  the  whole  way,  as  far  as  the  villages  of  Abdool  Azeez, 
when  the  horse  artillery  and  yourself  in  person  joined  tlie 
I'est,  and  sank  six  of  the  boats,  the  seventh  escaping  through 
the  force  of  the  wind.  You  have  performed  a  great  deed, 
and  I  am  highly  pleased  with  your  conduct.  Persevere  in 
A'our  devotion  to  the  Government  cause.  This  order  is  sent 
A'ou  as  a  mark  of  favour.  Your  petition,  with  which  a  Euro- 
)>can  was  sent  in,  lias  also  reached  me.  The  European  has 
))cen  sent  to  hell,  thus  adding  to  my  satisfaction. 

"  Dated  16tli  Zikad,  or  9tU  Julj,  1857." 


"  To  Hie  Tlianadar  of  SiraouL 

"  Tho  victorious  army  of  Government  had  marched  towards 
Allahabad  to  oppose  the  Europeans,  and  it  has  now  been 
reported  that  the  latter  have  deceived  the  Grovemmont  troops, 
attacked  and  scattered  them.  Some  troops  are  said  to  remain 
there ;  you  are,  therefore,  ordered  to  instruct  the  landholders 
in  your  jurisdiction  and  in  Futtehpore,  that  every  brave  man 
sliould  join  heart  and  hand  to  defend  his  faith,  to  put  the 
I'juropeaus  to  the  sword,  and  send  them  to  hell.  Conciliate 
sUl  ancient  influential  landholders,  and  persuade  them  to  unite 
in  the  cause  of  their  religion  to  slay  and  send  to  hell  all  the 
infidels.  Moroover,  tell  them  that  Government  will  give 
cvorv  man  his  due,  and  that  those  who  assist  it  shall  be 
rewarded. 

**  Dated  20th  Zikad,  13tli  July,  1857." 


676  APPENDIX. 

"  To  Hie  BaJiadoors  and  Officers  of  Caralrtfy  Artillery^  and 

Infantry  at  Lucknow. 

"  Greeting. — A  force  of  about  one  thousand  British,  with 
several  guns,  were  marching  towards  Cawnpore  from  Allaha- 
bad. To  arrest  and  slay  these  men  an  armj  was  despatchciL 
The  British  are  advancing  rapidly.  On  botli  sides  men  fall 
wounded  or  killed.  The  Europeans  are  now  within  seven 
koss  of  Cawnpore,  and  the  field  of  battle  is  warmly  contested. 
It  is  reported  that  Europeans  are  coming  up  the  river  in 
steamers,  and  strong  defences  have  consequently  been  con- 
structed without  the  town  of  Cawnpore.  Here  my  troops  are 
prepared,  and  at  a  distance  the  battle  rages ;  you  are,  there- 
fore, informed  that  the  aforesaid  British  are  opposite  the 
district  of  Baiswara,  on  this  bank  of  the  river.  It  is  very 
probable  that  they  may  attempt  to  cross  the  Ganges.  You 
must,  for  this  reason,  send  somo  troops  into  the  Baiswara 
country  to  shut  them  in  on  that  side.  My  force  will  press 
them  from  this  direction,  and  by  tliis  combined  action  the 
slaughter  of  the  infidels  may  be  adiieved,  as  is  most  desirable. 

^^  Should  these  people  not  be  destroyed,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  they  will  press  on  to  Delhi.  Between  Cawnpore  and 
Delhi  there  is  no  one  that  could  stand  against  them.  We 
must  without  fail  combine  to  destroy  them  root  and  branch. 

^^  It  is  also  said  that  tlie  British  may  cross  the  Ganges  ; 
some  English  still  remain  in  the  Bailey  Guard  and  maintain 
the  fight,  whereas  here  there  is  not  a  living  English  person 
lefL  Send  troops  immediately  across  the  river,  at  Sheoraj- 
pore,  to  surround  and  cut  up  the  Europeans. 

"Dated  23rd  Zikad,  or  16th  Julj,  1857." 

[This  is  the  last  of  the  series.  On  that  same  evening  Have- 
lodt's  force  encamped  near  Cawnpore,  and  whilst  victory  ^ 
being  proclumed  by  the  Nana^s  order  in  the  city,  he  him- 
self was  flying  for  his  life,  and  his  followers  were  being  dis- 
persed in  all  directions.] 


BECBmTINO  AT  PESHAWUE. — Page  492. 

[The  following  is  thq  paragraph  in  Colonel   Ed^    , 
Mutiny  Eoport,  to  which  reference   is   made  in   tl 
There  is  no  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  great  ( 
the   Punjab  more  valnable   or  more   interesting  tl 
document  from  T^hich  this  extract  is  made :] 

"  Delhi  was  not  to  be  recovered  by  a  coup  de  mail 
Hindoo  Sepoys,  having  mutinied  about  a  cartrido  , 
nothing  to  propose  for  an  empire,  and  fell  in  of  n  : 
with  the  only  policy  that  was  feasible  at  the  mor 
Mahomednn  King  of  Delhi ;  and  certainly  no  other 
could  have  given  sucli  lifo  to  the  coming  struggle.  I 
the  auestion  had  been  nurelv  domestic  between  the  " 


678  APPENDIX. 

Government  even  in  our  distress.     Long  before  tbe  time 
crowds  of  candidates  for  employment  thronged  the  gateways 
and  overflowed  into  the  garden,  the  jockeys  of  unoonqnerably 
vicious  horses  endeavouring  to  reduce  tliem  to  a  show   of 
docility  by  galloping  them  furiously  about  till  the  critical 
moment  of  inspection  came.     At  last,  sick  at  heart  from  tlic 
receipt  of  a  bad  telegram  from  the  provinces,  but  endeavoar- 
ing  to  look  happy,  out  I  used  to  go,  and  &ce  some  hundrods 
of  the  chiefs  and  yeomen  of  the  countr}"^,  all  eager  to  gather 
from  the  Commissioner  Sahib's  countenance  how  the  ^  Kin;; 
of  Delhi'  was  getting  on.     Tlien  the  first  horseman  woulil 
be  brought  up.     The  beast  perhaps  would  not  move.     Tlie 
rider,  the  owner,  and  all  the  neighbours  would  assail  him  with 
whips,  sticks,  stones,  and  Pushtoo  reproaches  that  might  have 
moved  a  rock ;  but  nothing  would  do  till  the  attempt  wjis 
given  up,  and  the  brute's  head  turned  the  other  way,  when 
he  went  off  at  a  gallop  amid  roars  of  laughter  from  the 
Pathans,  who  have  the  keenest  perception  of  both  fan  and 
vice.     No.  2  would  make  a  shift  to  come  up,  but  every  man 
and  boy  in  the  crowd  could  see  that  ho  was  lame  on  two  or 
three  legs.  Then  the  argument  began,  and  leg  by  leg,  blemish 
by  blemish,  the  animal  was  proved  by  a  multitude  of  wit- 
nesses (who  had  known  him  for  very  many  years)  to  bo  i)er- 
fectly  sound ;  and  so  the  enlistment  wont  on  from  day  to 
day,  affording  immense  occupation,  profit,  and  amusement  to 
the  people,  and  answering  a  great  many  good  ends.     Now 
and  then  an  orderly  of  the  Hindoostanee  Irregular  Cavalry, 
admirably  armed  and  mounted,  would  pass  the  spot,  an<l 
mark  his  opinion  of  the  *  levies'  by  a  contemptuous  smile. 
But,  nevertheless,  he  told  his  comrades  in  the  lines  that  the 
country  people  were  all  with  the  English,  and  it  was  of  no 
use  to  desert  or  to  intrigue.'* 


SIB  HENBY  BARNABD  S  LAST  LETTEB  TO  THE  GOVEBXOR- 

GENEBAL. — Page  569. 

[The  following  letter  was  written  to  Lord  Canning  bv  Sir 
n.  Barnard,  three  days  before  his  deatL     He  seems  to  havo 


desired  that,  in  tho  event  of  his  demise,  its  contents  shoi 
made  known  to  the  world :] 

"Cinip  abore  Dellii,  July  2, 1 

"  Mr  DEAR  Lord  CANNDia  j — Ere  this  reaches  yo 

business  hero  will  have  been  settled ;  if  snccessfully,  wi 

a  failnre,  I  shall  like  to  leave  behind  me  a  brief  record  < 

service  of  the  little  force. 

"  Tlie  work  of  reduction  or  re-occupation  of  Delhi  wa 
dently  greatly  under-estimated.  Delhi,  when  once  its 
were  shut,  and  its  immenso  arsenal  and  mnga^ine  in  the 
of  insurgent  troops,  became  a  formidable  operation  to  n 
When  added  to  this  the  passions  of  the  people  were  n 
aud  the  cry  raised  of  a  new  '  Mogul  dynasty,'  it  been: 
imnortant  as  formidable. 


680  APPENDIX. 

an  honourable  retreat,  carrying  ofF  sick,  wounderl,  and  gan% 
To  add  to  my  distresses,  dissatisfaction  is  provod  to  exist  iu 
the  Native  troops  just  arrived,  and  some  have  been  detecte<l 
in  trying  to  tamper  with  the  men  of  Coke's  Corps.  These 
fellows  are  to  be  hanged  to-night ;  but  the  Ninth  Irregular 
Cavalry  and  some  of  the  Seikh  Corps  are  known  to  be  tainted, 
and  would  like  an  opportunity  of  doing  us  any  mischief  thev 
could.  Thus  it  is,  with  enemies  without,  traitors  within,  and 
a  task  before  me  I  cannot  in  reason  feel  my  force  competent 
to  undertake,  I  am  called  upon  to  decide.  Much  is  said 
about  the  Native  character  and  aptitude  at  turning  tail,  but 
where  the  treasure  is  I  fear  the  heart  will  be  found  also,  for 
all  these  miscreants  are  laden  with  plunder  they  will  not 
abandon,  and  they  know  full  well  that  every  man^s  liand  is 
against  them.     They  dare  not  fly. 

"  My  men  are  very  tired  ;  wo  have  had  since  the  action  of 
Budlie-ka-Serai  no  less  than  ten  affairs,  seven  of  which 
employed  my  whole  force,  cavalry  and  infantry ;  in  each  we 
experienced  heavy  loss,  but  inflicted  greater.  Tho  traitors 
are,  or  rather  were,  tired  ;  they  openly  said  it  was  no  use 
fighting,  and  that  unless  assisted  they  would  fly  in  four  day?. 
Yesterday  brought  them  the  Bareilly  people,  so  we  shall  liave 
our  eleventh  to-morrow.  After  that  I  think  the  game  is 
over.  The  Gvvaliors  are  not  coming  on,  and  we  shall  have 
defeated  them  all  in  turn.  But  to  be  useful  I  must  enter  the 
city,  and  this  will,  I  am  fearful,  be  a  sanguinary  affair,  for 
it  is  clear  the  Sepoy  knows  well  how  to  fight  behind  stone 
w^alls. 

"  I  hope  to  hear  of  the  head  of  the  European  columns 
coming  up  fi'om  Calcutta,  and  then  matters  will  begin  to 
look  up  again. 

"  Pray  excuse  this  scrawl ;  it  is  written  in  a  gale  of  wind 
The  rain  has  fallen  for  two  days,  but  it  is  again  fine. 

Very  truly  yoiui?, 

"  H.  Babnard/' 


682  APPENDIX. 

about  to  leave  Benares,  I  asked  him  to  explain  this  still  un- 
solved, mysterious  adhesion  of  disloyalty  to  his  predecessors 
and  himself,  and  if  he  was  aware  of  it.  His  answer  was  re- 
markable :  ^  It  is  so,  it  must  be  so,  it  always  will  bo  so,  but 
I  cannot  as  a  point  of  honour  explain  the  reason.  You  know 
as  well  as  I  do  that  the  British  Government,  made  this  Raj, 
and  if  that  Government  went  down,  where  would  the  Baj 
be  ?' 

'^  So  we  parted,  and  I  left  Benares  no  wiser  on  this  point 
than  when  I  came.  At  last,  by  the  merest  accident,  I  got 
the  clue. 

"  In  1857,  when  we  were  immurod  in  Agra  Fort,  and  it 
was  my  duty  to  control  every  item  of  disbursement,  an  appli- 
cant for  his  pension  was  announced  :  *  The  Rajah  of  Benares !' 

'  Who  on  earth  are  you?'  *Tho  Rajah  of  Benaros,  Bulum 
Bahadur.     Come  for  my  pension  of  two  thousand  rupees  per 

mensem.'     I  asked  him  to  bring  mo  all  his  papers ;  he  had 

no  hesitation,  and  was,  in  fact,  abundantly  communicative. 

"  Now,  never  once  had  the  real  Rajah  of  Benares  given  me 

tlie  least  hint  of  any  such  person's  existence.     Yet  hero  was 

the  grandson  of  the  rebel  Cheyt  Sing,  whose  expulsion  luwl 

been  followed  by  the  substitution  of  the  present  lino,  receiving 

a  Government  bounty  conditionally,  like  Shimei  of  old,  on 

his  not  crossing  the  boundaiy  of  the  Agra  district,  and  he 

had  contrived  to  get  copies  of  secret  papei's,  from  which  it 

appeared  that  the  Court  of  Directors,  perhaps  in  alarm  at 

Burke's  vituperation,  had  of  their  own  motion  granted  this 

allowance  to  the  family  of  the  deposed  rebel.     In  reading 

these  papere,  it  recurred  to  me  t;^iat  on  one  occasion,  when  I 

went  to  visit    the  famous   fort  of  Bejegurh,  Cheyt  Sing's 

last  stronghold,  an  elephant  and  palanquin  were  there  at  the 

foot  of  the  hill,  which  moved  off  at  my  approacli,  and  which 

did  not  return,  when  I  sent  a  message  to  the  party  begging 

him  not  to  consider  my  presence  a  hindrance.     So  I  mado  a 

shot  and  taxed  Bulum  Bahadur  with  being  tliat  party.    After 

much  hesitation  he  allowed  I  was  right,  and  was  immensely 

relieved  that  we  had  both  gone  to  the  same  place,  seeing  that 

his  grandfather  and  mine  (who  was  at  the  capture)  had  once 

been  there,  and  Shimei's  fate  should  not  be  his.  After  which, 


APFEXDIX.  68a 

Balam  Balindar  was  full  of  intelligence  He,  of  course,  was 
brimful  of  loyalty,  while  ^  that  other  man/  as  he  called  liim, 
was  head  and  chief  in  all  the  mutinies  and  local  rebellions, 
and  closely  associated  with  the  Nana*  It  was  one  of  our 
amusements  in  the  intelligence  department,  witlr  which  the 
Bajah  of  Benares  was  keeping  up  communication  at  gi*cat 
personal  expense,  and  all  the  more  valuable  that  we  had  no 
other,  except  via  Bombay,  to  have  B.  B.'s  grave  reports  of 
*  that  other  man's'  defections. 

*^  Not  Ions:  afterwards  came  another  accidental  elucidation. 
The  records  of  the  Bevenue  Board  had  been  gotten  into  the 
!E*ort  and  stowed  anyhow  in  its  recesses.  When  there  was 
leisure  for  some  arrangement,  some  papers  turned  up  which 
had  belonged  to  the  old  Benares  Residency.  Amongst  them 
was  some  secret  correspondence  with  Lord  Comwallis,  and 
this  with  others  explained  the  mystery. 

^^  The  Benares  Baj  originated  with  Munsa  Ram,  a  smalt 
landowner  of  Gungapoor.  By  tlie  ability  of  Bulwunt  Sing, 
and  repeated  cessions  of  the  Nawaub  Vizier,  it  extended  to 
the  whole  province,  and  Bulwunt  Sing  fixed  his  hold  of  it  by 
sUliance  with  tlie  English — ^a  defection  not  forgiven  nor  for- 
gotten by  Oude. 

"  Bulwunt  Sing  was  succeeded  by  Cheyt  Sing,  who  quar- 
relled with  his  minister,  Owsan  Sin;^,  the  grandfather  of 
DeenarajTun  Sing.  The  minister  took  part  with  Hastings, 
Cheyt  Sing  intrigued  with  Francis. 

"  Then  followed  Hastings's  journey  to  Benares,  the  arrest 
of  Cheyt  Sing,  his  rescue,  rebellion,  defeat,  and  flight  to 
Gwalior,  and  the  selection  of  his  successor.  Hastings  thought 
it  due  to  Bulwunt  Sing  to  choose  his  daughter's  son,  Maheep 
Narayun.  Had  he  followed  the  usage  and  traditions  of  the 
tribe,  he  would  have  reverted  to  the  next  male  line  of  Deya- 
ram,  of  which  Koonr  Juggut  Sing  was  the  representative. 

^^  That  might  have  passed  away  into  oblivion,  on  the  ad- 
mitted principle  that  if  the  paramount  Government  can 
depose,  it  can  also  choose ;  but,  unfortunately,  Maheep 
Narayun,  jealous  of  Koonr  Juggut  Sing's  greater  popularity, 
basely  endeavoured,  and  for  the  time  succeeded,  in  impli- 
cating Koonr  Juggut  Sing  in  Vizier  Alee's  rebellion.     He 


684  APPENDIX. 

was  deported  to  Calcutta,  and,  according  to  some  accounts, 
.  diod  in  gaol ;  to  others,  committed  suicide.  *  Ultimately, 
Government  gave  a  pension  to  his  family,  and  Baboo  Futteh 
Narayun,  a  wortliy,  harmless  old  gentleman,  his  descendant, 
is  still  resident  at  Benares. 

"  When  I  next  visited  Benares,  I  told  the  Rajah  the  dis- 
coveries I  had  made.  He  was  not  a  little  astonished,  but, 
after  many  throes,  spoke  out  to  this  effect :  '  Of  course  I 
knew  all  about  Bulum  Bahadur,  his  visit  to  Bejcgurh,  and 
his  detestation  of  "  tliat  other  man."  But  is  he  not  the 
lineal  male  descendant  of  Bulwunt  Sins:?  What  am  I  that  I 
should  complain  ?  I  am  an  interloper  according  to  the  laws 
of  the  Boenhar  tribe,  and  generally  may  pass,  but  we  shall 
be  interlopers  still.  By  favour  of  the  British  Government 
we  might  get  over  this,  but  the  memory  of  Koonr  Juggut 
Sing's  fate  will  never  pass  away.  It  can  never  leave  the  city 
of  Benares,  nor  can  the  secession  of  Bulwunt  Sing  ever  be 
forgotten  in  Lucknow.  If  you  want  me  to  be  hanged  as  a 
traitor,  you  will  get  plenty  of  aid  in  those  quarters.'  '  But, 
surely,'  'I  said,  *  Baboo  Futteh  Narayun  Sing  would  not  lend 
himself  to  any  such  intrigue?'  'No,  on  no  account,'  he 
replied ;  but  he  i)leasantly  added :  '  He  is  always  incurring 
debts,  and  1,  of  course,  shall  pay  them  as  hitherto.'  *  Well,' 
I  said,  '  I  hope  you  and  Deenarayun  Sing  will  be  always 
good  friends.'  He  smiled.  '  Certainly ;  but,  remember, 
Owsan  Sing  betrayed  Cheyt  Sing.' 

"  Of  course  nothing  of  this  inner  revelation  of  Native  cha- 
racter had  been  made  to  Mr.  Tucker  or  Mr.  Gubbins,  and  it 
is  not  surprising  that  neither  of  them  formed  just  estimates 
of  the  two  leading  men  of  Benares  during  tlie  mutinies.  Mr. 
*Tucker  was  too  apt  to  consider  physical  activity  an  element 
of  loj^alty,  Mr.  Gubbins  was  extreme  in  his  likes  and  dis- 
likes ;  the  consequence  was,  where,  as  the  result  subsequently 
proved,  both  had  done  their  duty,  one  was  extravagantly 
commended,  the  other  disparaged.    # 

"  Deenarayun  Sing  behaved  nobly ;  but  he  had  only  a 
house  in  Benares,  liis  landed  estates  wore  in  another  district 
out  of  harm's  wav-  Tlie  other  had  an  extensive  district  to 
protect;  Ins  treasures  were  plundered  to  the  cry  of  *Tlio 


APPENDIX  685 

Nawaiibee  I*  and  his  measures  for  protection  were  regarded 
with  suspicion. 

*^  When  the  political  atmosphere  was  clear,  and  George 
Edmonstone's  cool  judgment  was  available,  the  circumstances 
and  the  individuals  were  better  considered.  I  can  only  give 
the  general  result,  for  I  had  quitted  India  before.  The  Bajah 
of  Benares  was  promoted  to  tlie  rank  of  Maha-Rajah,  and  his 
salute  restored  to  its  integrity.  Deenarayun  Sing  was  con- 
firmed in  the  dignity  of  Bajah,  and  honoured  with  a  seat  in 
the  Legislative  Council,  but  the  proposal  of  the  local  officers 
to  confer  on  him  a  territory  larger  than  many  English  counties 
was  reduced  to  more  reasonable  proportions.  Good  old 
Futteh  Narayun  Sing,  who  did  his  best,  also  had  a  liberal 
grant  assigned  him." 


CEREMONIAL  USAGES  OF  THE  DELHI  FAMILY. 

[The  following  is  the  interesting  note  referred  to  at 
page  24 :] 

"  21,  Mecklenburgli-square,  W.C.,  June  29, 1870. 

"  My  dear  and  respected  Friend, — I  am  in  receipt  of 
your  favour  of  yesterday,  and  am  glad  to  give  you  as  much 
information  as  I  can  on  the  point  in  question. 

^'  It  is  not  the  fact  '  that  since  the  time  of  Timour  no 
member  of  the  family,  who  had  been  in  any  manner  muti* 
lated,  could  sit  upon  the  throne.'  The  best  proof  of  which  is^ 
that  all  the  Mogul  Emperors,  from  Timour  down  to  Humayun, 
were  circumcised.  The  reason  why  the  Mogul  Emperors  and 
Princes  discontinued  the  rite  of  circumcision  is  as  follows : 

'^  About  the  time  of  the  birth  of  the  Emperor  Akbar,  his 
father,  Humayun,  being  engaged  in  a  war  with  Shere  Shah, 
was  compelled  by  the  latter  to  fly  from  India  and  take  refuge 
in  Persia.  History  tells  us  that  Humayun  and  Akbar  were 
placed  in  such  circumstances  that  the  former  could  get  no 
opportunity  of  having  his  son  (Akbar)  circumcised,  and  when 
Humayun  recovered  the  throne  of  Delhi,  his  son  was  some- 
what about  twelve  years  of  age,  so  that  the  proper  time  of 
circumcision  had  expired.     In  addition  to  this  circumstance^ 


^86  AFFENDII. 

tlie  death  of  Humajun,  which  took  place  not  more  than  about 
six  months  after  his  retaking  Delhi,  rendered  the  people  in- 
different as  to  the  above  rite  not  having  been  performed,  as, 
in  fact,  Mahomedans  do  not  consider  it  so  important  or 
indispensable  a  right  as  the  Jews  do. 

^'  The  intertnarriages  with  the  Hindoo  princely  families  of 
India,  a  custom  introduced  by  Akbar,  caused  the  Imperial 
family  to  adopt  many  Hindoo  customs  and  ceremonies,  the 
oonsequence  being  that  the  male  issue  from  the  Hindoo 
princesses  were,  according  to  tlie  Hindoo  rehgion,  not  circum- 
cised. After  a  few  generations,  this  Hindoo  custom  became 
8o  prevalent  in  the  Imperial  family,  that  not  a  single  member 
of  the  whole  Mogul  Dynasty  was  circumcised — a  circumstance 
which  produced  a  superstitious  notion  among  the  common 
))eople  that  the  Royal  family  were  not  circumcised  because 
mutilation  was  considered  a  bad  omen. 

"  Prince  Fukhroodin  was  circumcised  on  account  of  an 

affection ;  but  this  circumstance  could  be  no  bar 

to  his  coming  to  the  throne.  Bahaudoor  Shah  was  a  mere 
{)uppet  in  the  hands  of  liis  consort;  and  this  latter,  who 
opposed  Fukhroodin  being  nominated  heir-apparent,  origi- 
nated this  merely  nominal  objection. 

''  Hoping  that  the  information  that  I  have  been  able  to 
give  on  the  point  will  be  foimd  satisfactory, 

"  Believe  me,  ever  very  truly  yours, 

"  Syed  Ahmed. 

^  J.  W.  Kate,  Esq." 


687 


POSTSCRIPT  TO  NEW  EDITION. 


THE  CAUABINEERS  ON  THE  TENTU  OF  MAY. 

It  was  stated  in  tlie  first  edition  of  this  volume  that  the 
turning  out.  of  the  Carabineers  at  Meorut  on  tlio  10th  of 
May,  1857,  was  delayed  by  the  slow  process  of  a  ref^iraental 
roll-call.  Tliis  Colonel  Custance  denied,  and  snpportal  his 
denial  with  an  overwhelm  in  or  amount  of  documentarv  evi- 
denco.  I  therefore  wrote  him  iho  subjoined  letter,  with  per- 
mission to  publish  it : 

"  Pcnge.  Surrey,  Dec  20, 1870. 
"  Sm, — I  am  perfectly  convinced,  by  the  documentary  evi- 
dence which  you  have  afforded  me  (I  should  have  been  satis- 
fied, indeed,  with  your  own  denial),  that  the  statement  at 
page  G5  of  the  second  volume  of  my  ^History  of  the  Sepoy 
War,'  to  the  effect  that  on  the  10th  of  May,  at  Meerut,  there 
was  a  roll-call  of  the  Carabineers  (then  under  your  com- 
mand) before  they  moved  out  against  the  Sepoy  mutineers, 
was  basc<l  upon  erroneous  information.     As  the  passnge  was 
written  some  years  ago,  I  cannot,  without  a  laborious  search, 
which  I  have  not  yet  had  time  to  make,  ascertain  the  autho- 
rity or  authorities  on  which  the  statement  was  made ;  but 
whatever  the  authority  mav  have  been,  I  regret  that  I  should 
have  been,  however  unintentionally^  the  means  of  giving  pub- 
licity to  a  statement  at  variance  with  the  fact.     I  need  not 
add,  that  I  wish  to  do  all  that  lies  in  my  power  to  correct  the 
error  in  future  issues  of  my  Historj-;    and  all  the  more 
willingly,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  story  which  I 
liave  published  was  commonly  accepted  as  a  fact  before  tho 
appearance  of  my  book.     I  may  add  to  this  that  from  a 
careful  perusal  and  collation  of  the  several  documents  which 
vou  have  sent  me,  containing:  the  evidence  of  officers  and 
non-commissioned  officers  of  your  regiment,  it  appears  that 
tho  Carabineers,  when  proceeding  towards  the  Lines  of  the 
Native  battalions,  were  countermarched,  by  order  conveyed 
to  you  by  a  staf!-officer,  and  marched  towards  tho  gaol,  which 


688  POSTSCRIPT. 

lies,  at  a  considerable  distance,  in  a  different  direction.  It 
seems  that,  on  reaching  the  gaol,  it  was  found  that  the  pri- 
soners had  already  escaped,  so  the  Carabineers  were  marched 
back  again  towards  the  Native  Lines.  On  their  return,  dark- 
ness having  set  in,  they  lost  their  way,  although  under  tlie 
guidance  of  the  staff-officer  who  had  directed  you  to  the  gaoL 
That  this  was  the  real  cause  of  the  tardiness  witli  which  you 
reported  your  arrival  on  the  general  parade  to  the  Brigadier 
is  sufficiently  plain  from  the  evidence  which  you  have  afforded 
nie.  I  have  much  pleasure  m  informing  you  tliat  I  am  per- 
fectly satisfied  of  the  truth  of  these  statements. 

"  You  may  make  any  use  of  this  letter  tliafc  you  may  wish. 

"  I  am  yours  faitlifuUy, 

"  J.  W.  Kate. 

"  Major  General  Custance,  C.B." 

[Afler  this  had  been  published,  I  received  another  letter 
on  the  subject,  which  I  also  feel  bound  to  publish  ;  and  I  am 
the  more  willing  to  give  it  publicity,  because  the  record 
is  highly  honourable  to  the  splendid  regiment  (though  in 
May,  1857,  owing  to  accidental  circumstances,  it  was  not  in 
the  height  of  its  splendour)  whicli  Colonel  Custance  then 
commanded.  I  thought  when  I  last  saw  it,  on  the  occasiou 
of  Lord  Mayo's  funeral,  that  such  a  regiment  might  have 
demolished  at  least  half  of  the  Native  Cavalry  of  Bengal :] 

"  Junior  U.S.  Club,  Pall  Mall,  London,  Feb.  27, 1871. 

"  Deab  Sir, — On  return  home  I  have  looked  over  my 
memoranda  of  Meerut  and  Delhi  in  1857,  and  have  carefully 
read  the  passage  in  your  History  to  which  Colonel  Custance^ 
of  the  Carabineers,  takes  objection.  As  I  can  personally 
vouch  for  certain  points,  I  here  state  them. 

Tlie  Carabineers  turned  out  with  extreme  rapidity.  I 
ought  to  know,  for  it  was  I  who  ordered  a  sergeant  of  tlio 
regiment  from  the  bridge  close  to  the  parade  of  the  mutineers 
to  run  to  Colonel  Custance  himself,  and  I  sent  a  rifJeman 
also  to  the  Brigade  Office.  This  w^as  the  first  intiroaiiou 
given,  as  the  firing,  in  which  Colonel  Finnis  and  others  wero 
killed,  was  then  proceeding.  This  scrgwint  afterwanls  told 
me  that  Colonel  Custance  had  ^  instantly  ordered  out  his 


POSTSCRIPT.  689 

regiment/  and,  on  reaching  his  house  myself  a  few  minutes 
later,  I  saw  the  regiment  on  its  parade  rapidly  getting  ready, 
and  I  heard  the  roll  called  in  the  troop  nearest  mey  an  im- 
portant duty  which  no  good  sergeant  will  omit  on  any  occa- 
sion, as  he  cannot  report  his  men  present  if  he  has  not 
ascertained  it. 

"  Colonel  Custance  and  his  regiment  had  to  await  ^  orders,' 
and  if  any  delay  took  place  it  was,  I  imagine,  owing  to  the 
very  late  arrival  on  the  scene  of  General  Hewitt  from  his 
house,  distant  a  long  way  off,  and  from  whence,  half  dressed, 
and  upset  mentally  and  physically,  he  had  been  brought  by 
Lieutenant  Warde,  Eleventh  Regiment,  N.L  He  was  very 
old  and  feeble.  The  Carabineers  were  in  broad  daylight 
onlered  not  to  the  mutineers'  parade-ground  close  by,  but  to* 
the  prison  some  miles  off,  and  the  services  of  Colonel 
Custance  and  of  his  fine  regiment,  both  of  them  able  and 
ready  to  obey  any  order  long  before  it  was  issued,  were  lost 
pro  tern.  I  myself  saw  the  regiment  drawn  up  and  ready  for 
orders,  and  I  do  not  believe  the  slightest  delay  occurred  when 
those  orders  were  received  by  Colonel  Custance. 

^^  Afler  the  Carabineers  had  left  their  parade,  I  rode  across 
both  the  parade-grounds  of  the  two  mutineer  regiments  to 
try  to  reach  the  house  of  Mrs.  Chambers.  Lieutenant  Shelley 
and  another  officer  wished  to  accompany  me,  and  the  former  ~ 
lent  me  his  Arab.  As  I  crossed,  the  Sepoys  were  then' 
plundering  my  regimental  magazine;  some  on  their  knees, 
and  all  crying,  ^  Quick,  brother,  quick  I  Delhi,  Delhi  1'  and 
I  saw  a  stream  of  Sepoys  and  troopers  going  off  towards  the 
Delhi  Road. 

"  The  Sepoys  took  little  notice,  but  I  saw  several  officers 
lying  dead,  and  one  dying  raised  himself  as  I  passed.  I  had 
almost  reached  the  house  of  Mrs.  Chambers,  then  m  her 
verandah,  and  looking  at  me,  when  five  or  six  Native  troopers 
spread  out  to  cut  me  oii^  and  forced  me  back.  Even  then  but 
few  shots  were  fired  at  me.  I  returned  to  Colonel  Custance's 
house,  and  then  went  to  the  Artillery  Lines,  and  earnestly  and 
repeatedly  begged  General  Hewitt  to  let  me  ride  to  Delhi 
and  give  warning.  Colonel  Smyth  and  Major  Harriott  were 
by,  and  the  latter  urged  the  General  to  send  me,  but  he 

VOL  IT.  2  Y 


690  POSTSCBirr. 

refused  *  unless  I  obtained  Colonel  Wilson's  permission.' 
That  officer  was  actively  engaged  in  the  station,  a  very  large 
one,  and  I,  owing  to  being  misdirected,  could  not  find  him  ; 
and  I  corroborate  his  statement  in  yonr  History  that  he  did 
not  know  that  evening  for  certain  ^  where  the  enemy  had 
gone.'  You  retain  General  Hewitt's,  Colonel  Smyth's,  and 
Major  Harriott's  letters  stating  that  I  offered  to  ride  through 
the  mutineers  to  Delhi ;  and  General  Hewitt  states  I  did  so 
at  7.30  P.M.,  10th  May,  1857,  but  this  was  my  tliird  and  last 
offer  to  him,  after  an  hour  and  a  half  had  been  lost  by  him 
m  sending  me  again  and  again  to  Colonel  Wilson  for  per- 
mission ! 

^^  The  above  proves  the  correctness  of  your  narrative  both  as 
to  the  fact  of  the  ^  roll-call,'  and  that  the  enemy  could  have 
been  attacked  in  broad  daylight  on  their  own  parades,  and 
followed  up  to  Delhi.  That  they  were  in  a  state  of  ^  scare,' 
I  could  myself  testify.  Sir  H.  Durand  and  Sir  G.  Yule  both 
speak  in  the  attested  copies  of  their  letters  in  your  hands  as 
to  the  importance  of  warning  the  Delhi  authorities  of  what 
had  happened. 

^^  Both  Colonel  Custance  and  his  fine  regiment  were  in 
ample  time  to  have  attacked  the  mutineers,  and  were  quite 
ready  for  action ;  and  it  was,  I  submit,  no  fault  of  either 
that  the  regiment  was  ordered  off  elsewhere,  and  our  kitli 
and  kin  lefi^  to  perish. 

^^  I  saw  Captain  Bosser,  Carabineers,  late  the  same  evening, 
and  on  my  stating  that  I  had  nearly  reached  Mrs.  Chambers, 
he  said  '  I  will  follow  them  now  with  a  troop,'  and,  for  aught 
I  know,  made  the  offer^  but  the  enemy  had  then  about  four 
hours'  start. 

^'  It  was  early  next  morning  that  I  found  Mrs.  Chambers's 
body  naked  and  burnt  in  the  comer  of  her  garden.  I  had 
been  with  her  husband  all  night  vainly  searching  for  her,  and 
he  knew  of  my  efforts  to  save  her  the  night  before,  and  often 
thanked  me. 

"  As  I  was  the  only  officer  who  offered  to  ride  through  the 
mutineers  to  Delhi  alone,  and  who  traversed  the  city  early 
next  morning  from  end  to  end  (alone  also),  to  secure  the 
prisoner  alluded  to  in  your  History,  I  naturally  felt  deeply 


POSTSCBIFT.  691 

hurt  at  my  reception  by  General  Hewitt,  who  insisted  I  was 
romancing  (antil  the  prisoner  corroborated  my  assertion), 
and  that  the  city  was  full  of  armed  men.  It  is  of  course 
possible  that  there  were  many  armed  men,  but  I  did  not  see 
them,  and  they  were  quiet  enough,  though  a  rabble  at  once 
surrounded  me. 

"  I  lost  my  Victoria  Cross  by  not  being  allowed  to  go 
to  Delhi,  and  again  owing  to  my  illness,  after  holding 
the  flagstaff  and  guns,  the  only  post  that  did  not  give 
way  on  the  left  flank  on  the  12th  June,  1857.  The  General 
(Barnard)  shook  me  by  the  hand,  and  the  acting  Adjutant- 
General  (General  Norman,  C.B.),  acknowledges  that  I  held 
the.  post  and  guns  with  only  nine  or  ten  men,  mostly 
wounded,  the  enemy  getthig  down  even  into  camp.  I  left 
his  letter  in  your  hands. 

"  You  hold  the  written  testimony  of  four  colonels  present 
on  the  occasion  that  I  deserved  the  V.  C,  whereas  in  my 
twenty-seventh  year  of  service  I  am  still  a  captain.  Of 
course  my  presence  there  was  a  lucky  hit ;  but  so  able  an 
officer  as  General  Norman  or  General  Sir  H.  Durand  (who 
states  it  was  a  most  important  service),  would  not  have  given 
me  credit  if  I  did  not  deserve  it. 

*'  If  you  think  of  referring  to  Colonel  Custance  in  an  intro- 
ductory chapter  to  your  next  volume,  or  elsewhere,  this  note 
—fully  corroborating  the  accuracy  of  your  History — ^is  at 
your  service.  If  the  evidence  of  an  officer  in  my  humble 
position  can  be  of  any  avail,  you  can  make  what  use  you 
please  of  this  letter  now  or  at  any  time.  .  Thanking  you  for 
your  personal  courtesy  to  myself,  and  with  best  wishes  for 
the  success  of  your  important  work, 

"  I  remain,  yours  faithfully, 

"  H.  Le  Champion, 
"  Captain  lOlst  Foot, 
"  Late  Le  Champion  Moller, 
"  11th  Regiment,  N.I/' 

[I  have  submitted  this  letter  to  General  Custance,  who 
writes  that  the  roll-call  which  Captain  Moller  heard  must 


692  POSTSCRIPT. 

have  been  that  of  the  unmounted  men  of  the  regiment.    Here 
I  must  leave  the  question  for  the  judgment  of  the  public] 

[As  regards  Captain  Bosser's  offer  to  take  a  detachment  of 
Cavalrjr  and  some  Horse  Artillery  guns  to  Delhi,  on  the  night 
of  the  10th  of  May 9  I  should  state  that  I  have  received  a 
letter  from  Mrs.  Rosser,  enclosing  one  from  her  husband, 
written  shortly  after  the  outbreak,  most  distinctly  asserting 
that  he  made  the  offer,  which  has  been  denied  by  the  autho- 
rities ;  and  I  must  admit  that  all  I  have  heard,  since  the  first 
edition  of  this  work  was  published,  strengthens  the  convic- 
tion that  the  offer  was  made,  though  not,  perliaps,  in  accord- 
ance with  those  strict  military  rules,  which  though  recognised 
in  quiet  times,  must  be  departed  from  in  a  great  crisis."] 


END  OF  VOL.  II 


LOITDON; 


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