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 THE HISTORY OF 
 THE 
 
 IlfflAN EMPIRE
 
 THE HISTORY OF 
 THE 
 
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 Original Title 
 
 BBniCATED DT SR*^ ^InH AUTBORITV TO 
 
 MBR MOST OBACIOUS ^Hl jH^ MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 
 
 THE 
 
 INDIAN EMPIRE: 
 
 narour, topookabbt, ssoboot^ cukatb, ropiTLATioN, chief cinxs Ain> fbotinces ; tkibdtast aits fboiiozio 
 
 'BTAIB; KIUTAja' EOWXR AKD BBSOUBOBS; BKLIOIOR, ESUCAHON, CEIVK; LAITD TXNUSXS;. 
 SSATLK FSODUOXB ; OOTEKHMXNT^ mtASOI, ABS OOMMEBCX. 
 
 wira n rvui moovxt or i 
 
 MUTunr or thx benoai. abut ; of thb nrsrsBEOTioN ur wbbtxbn utdia ; and ab bxpositioh 
 
 01' IHS ALIiBOBD CAUBXS. 
 
 BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, 
 
 AVTBOa OF TBS ** HUTO»VOV TBB BKJTIBB COLOMIBS," BTC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS, PORTRAITS, AND VIBW& 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 mi Mvnirr or thk benoai aeht ; mwsvsxanos ts westx&m vkxxa. ; am ajt sxfositton of the 
 
 ALLEOEO CAUSES. 
 
 THK LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIM[TBD, 
 
 M, rATKKNORBK BOW, LOMOOM : AMU A. W. OITTbMS, U, PABK PLACE, HEW TOBK.
 
 THE 
 
 INDIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE SEPOY TROOPS. 
 
 INTRODFCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 ALLEGED CAUSES OF DISCONTENT— OPPRESSIVE AND PAUPERISING TENURE OF 
 LAND— INEFFICIENT ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE— EXCLUSION OF NATIVES 
 FROM ALL SHARE IN THE GOVERNMENT— IGNORANCE OF THE LANGUAGES, AND 
 AVERSION EVINCED TOWARDS THE NATIVES— EDUCATION, RELIGION, AND MIS- 
 SIONARY OPERATIONS— CASTE— FREE PRESS— DEFECTIVE CURRENCY— OPIUM 
 MONOPOLY— NEGLECT OF PUBLIC AVORKS— REPRESSION OP BRITISH ENTERPRISE 
 —RECENT ANNEXATIONS— INFRACTION OF THE HINDOO LAW OF INHERITANCE 
 —EXTINCTION OF NATIVE STATES— SATTARA, NAGPOOR, CARNATIC, TANJORE, 
 JHANSI, OUDE, Etc.— STATE OF THE BENGAL ARMY; RELAXED DISCIPLINE; 
 REMOVAL OF REGIMENTAL OFFICERS TO STAFF AND CIVIL EMPLOYMENTS; 
 PAUCITY OF EUROPEAN TROOPS ; SEPOY GRIEVANCES ; GREASED CARTRIDGES 
 —MOHAMMEDAN CONSPIRACY— FOREIGN INTRIGUES; PERSIAN AND RUSSIAN. 
 
 Never, perhaps, was the condition of Bri- 
 tish India deemed more fair and promis- 
 ing than at the conclusion of 1856. The 
 new governor-general, Lord Canning, who 
 arrived in the spring of that year, had seen 
 no reason to question the parting declara- 
 tion of his predecessor, Lord Dalhousie — 
 that India was " in peace without and 
 within," and that there appeared to be " no 
 qimrter from which formidable war could 
 reasonably be expected at present."* 
 
 The British and Anglo-Indian press, adopt- 
 ing the same tone, declared " the whole of 
 India" to be " profoundly tranquil."t The 
 conviction seems to have been general amid 
 all ranks and classes, from the viceregal 
 palace at Calcutta, to the smallest and most 
 distant English post ; and thus it happened 
 that the vessel of the state pursued her 
 course with all sail set, in the full tide of 
 prosperity, till a series of shocks, slight at 
 first, but rapidly increasing in strength 
 and frequency, taught a terrible lesson of 
 the necessity for careful steering amid the 
 sunken rocks, the shoals, and quicksands, 
 
 • Minute by the Marquis of Dalhousie, 28th 
 February, 1856. — Parliamentary Papers (Commons), 
 16th June, 1856; pp. 6—8. 
 
 t The Times, 9th December, 1856. 
 
 VOL. II. B 
 
 heretofore so feebly and faintly traced in 
 those famous charts and log-books — the 
 voluminous minutes and correspondence of 
 the East India Company. 
 
 The sky had been carefully watched for 
 any indication of the storms of foreign in- 
 vasion ; but the calm waters of our " strong 
 internal administration," and the full cur- 
 rent of our " unparalleled native army," had 
 so long borne the stately ship in triumph 
 on their bosom, that few attempts were 
 made to sound their depths. Those few 
 excited little attention, and were, for the 
 most part, decidedly discouraged by the 
 authorities both in England and in India. 
 The consequence has been, that at every 
 step of the revolt, we have encountered 
 fresh proofs of our ignorance of the first 
 conditions on which rested the general 
 security of the empire, and the individual 
 safety of every European in India. 
 
 Our heaviest calamities, and our greatest 
 advantages, have come on ns by surprise : 
 we have been met by foulest treachery in 
 the very class we deemed bound to us hy 
 every tie of gratitude and self-interest, and 
 we have found help and fidelity among 
 those whom we most distrusted. Wc have 
 failed where we confidently looked for 
 
 J
 
 ALLEGED CAUSES OF DISCONTENT. 
 
 triumph ; we have succeeded where we anti- 
 cipated failure. Dangers we never dreamed 
 of, have risen suddenly to paralyse our 
 arms J and obstacles which seemed well- 
 nigh insurmountable, have vanished into 
 thin air before us. Our trusted weapons 
 have proved worthless; or worse — been 
 turned against ns; and, at the outset of the 
 struggle, we were like men whose pistols had 
 been stolen from their holsters, and swords 
 from their scabbards, while they lay sleep- 
 ing; and who, starting up amazed and be- 
 wildered, seized the first missiles that came 
 to hand to defend themselves against a foe 
 whose numbers and power, whose objects 
 and character, were alike involved in mid- 
 night darkness. 
 
 \'ery marvellous was the presence of 
 mind, the self-reliance, the enduring cou- 
 rage displayed by English men and women, 
 and many native adherents, in their terrible 
 and unlooked-for trial; and very comfort- 
 ing the instances of Christian heroism 
 which adorn this sad and thrilling page of 
 Anglo-Indian history : yet none will ven 
 ture to deny, that it was the absence of 
 eflBcient leaders on the part of the muti- 
 neers, and not our energy and foresight, 
 which, under Providence, was the means of 
 enabling us to surmount the first over- 
 whelming tide of disaster. Nothing can 
 be more contradictory than the opinions 
 held by public men regarding the imme- 
 diate object of tlie mutineers. Some deny 
 that the sepoys acted on any " prearranged 
 plan;" and declare, that "their primary 
 and prevailing motive was a panic-terror 
 for their religion."* Others regard the re- 
 volt as the issue of a systematic plot, which 
 must have taken months, if not years, to 
 organise ; and compare the outbreak to the 
 springing of a mine, for which the ground 
 must have been hollowed, the barrels filled, 
 the train laid, and the match fired, before 
 the explosion. t A third party assert, that 
 our own impolicy had gathered together 
 masses of combustibles, and that our heed- 
 lessness (in the matter of the greased car- 
 tridges) set them on fire. 
 
 It is quite certain that the people of India 
 labour under many political and social 
 evils, resulting from inefficient administra- 
 tion. Human governments are, at best, 
 
 * See Indopliilus' (Sir Charles Trevelyan's) Let- 
 ters to the Times, llepublished by Longman as a 
 pamphlet : p. 37. 
 
 t See Sir E. Bulwer Lytton's speech at the Herts 
 Agricultural Society, October, 1867. 
 
 fallible and weak instruments. In Chris- 
 tian England, after so many centuries of 
 freedom, kept aud strengthened by un- 
 ceasing effort, we all acknowledge how far 
 the condition of the masses falls^ short, in 
 reality, of what in theory we might have 
 hoped for. How, then, can we doubt, that 
 there must be in India much greater scope 
 for oppression, much greater need for 
 watchfulness. We have seen, in Ireland, a 
 notable example of the efiects of absentee 
 proprietorship ; but here is a case of ab- 
 sentee sovewigntyship, in which the whole 
 agency is systematically vested in the 
 foreign delegates of a foreign power, few of 
 whom have ever acquired any satisfactory in- 
 sight into the habits, customs, or languages 
 of the people they were sent to govern. 
 
 It is easier to account for the errors 
 committed by the Company than for the 
 culpable neglect of ParUament. We know 
 that an Indian question continued to be the 
 " dinner-bell" of the House of Commons, 
 notwithstanding the revelations of the Tor- 
 ture Committee at Madras, until the mas- 
 sacres of Meerut and Cawnpoor showed 
 that the government of India was a subject 
 which affected not only the welfare of the 
 dark-coloured millions from whom we ex- 
 acted tribute, but also the lives of English- 
 men, and the honour of Englishwomen — 
 the friends or relatives, it might be, of the 
 heretofore ignorant and listless legislators. 
 
 A right understanding of the causes of 
 the revolt would materially assist all en- 
 gaged in framing measures for the resto- 
 ration of tranquillity, and for a sounder 
 system of administration. The following 
 enumeration of the various causes, distant 
 and proximate, which are asserted by differ- 
 ent authorities to have been concerned in 
 bringing about the present state of affairs, 
 is therefore offered, with a view of enabling 
 the reader to judge, in the course of the 
 narrative, how far events have tended to 
 confirm or nullify these allegations. 
 
 Land-tenure. — The irregular, oppressive, 
 and generally pauperising tenure of land, 
 has been set forth in a preceding section : 
 and since every sepoy looks forward to the 
 time when he shall retire on his pension to 
 live in his own cottage, under his own fig- 
 tree, the question is one in which he has a 
 clear and personal interest. Irrespective of 
 this, the manner in which the proprietary 
 rights of the inhabitants of the Ceded and 
 Conquered provinces have been dealt with.
 
 BREACH OF FAITH WITH THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. 
 
 is a matter of history with which the land- 
 owners in native independent states are 
 sure to make themselves acquainted; and 
 the talookdars and hereditary chiefs of 
 Oude, could not but have remembered with 
 alarm, the grievous breach c*" faith com- 
 mitted against the proprietors of the soil in 
 the North-Westem Provinces. 
 
 A general allusion to this disgraceful 
 procedure has been already made;* but 
 the following detail is given on the autho- 
 rity of various papers drawn up by Mr. 
 Henry St. George Tucker. The views of 
 Mr. Tucker were, it should be premised, 
 ntterly opposed to any system " founded on 
 the assumption of the government being 
 the universal landlord;" which sweeping 
 assumption he regarded " as a virtual anni- 
 hilation of all private rights." 
 
 The Ryotwar Settlement made by Munro, 
 in Madras, he thought tended to the im- 
 poverishment of the country, the people, 
 and the government itself; and was, in 
 fact, a continuation of the policy of Tippoo 
 Sultan, who drove away and exterminated 
 the proprietors ; his object being to engross 
 the rents as well as revenues of the country. 
 The landowners of the North- Western 
 Provinces — including Delhi, Agra, Bareilly, 
 and the cessions from Oude in 1801 — have, 
 however, peculiar and positive grievances to 
 complain of. In 1803, under the adminis- 
 tration of the Marquis Wellesley, a regula- 
 tion was passed, by which the government 
 pledged themselves, "that a permanent 
 settlement of the Ceded provinces would be 
 concluded at the end of ten years;" and 
 proclaimed "the proprietary rights of all 
 zemindars, talookdars, and other descriptions 
 of landholders possessing a right of property 
 in the lands comprising their zemindaries, 
 talooks, or other tenures, to be confinned 
 and established under the authority of the 
 British government, in conformity to the 
 laws and usages of the country." In 1805, 
 a regulation was passed by the same gov- 
 ernment, in nearly corresponding terms, 
 declaring that a permanent settlement 
 would be concluded with the zemindars and 
 other landholders in the Conquered pro- 
 vinces, at the expiration of the decennial 
 leases. But, in 1807, the supreme govern- 
 ment being anxious to extend to the land- 
 
 • Itidian Empire, vol. i., p. 579. 
 t Calcutta Records — Regulation X. of 1807; sec. 5. 
 \ See Letter of Court of Directors to Bengal, 
 16th March, 1813. 
 
 § The Ryotwar : see Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 675. 
 
 owners of our newly-acquired territory 
 those advantages which had been conferred 
 on the zemindars of the Lower Provinces, 
 by fixing the land-tax in perpetuity, a new 
 regulation was enacted, appointing commis- 
 sioners for superintending the settlement of 
 the Ceded and Conquered provinces; and 
 notifying " to the zemindars, and other 
 actual proprietors of land in those provinces, 
 that the jumma which may be assessed on 
 their estates in the last year of the settle- 
 ment immediately ensuing the present set- 
 tlement, shall remain fixed for ever, in case 
 the zemindars shall now be willing to 
 engage for the payment of the public re- 
 venue on those terms in perpetuity, and the 
 arrangement shall receive the sanction of 
 the Hon. Court of Directors."t Far from 
 objecting to the pledge given to the land- 
 holders in those regulations ; far from con- 
 tending against the principle of a fixed 
 assessment, either on the ground of policy 
 or of justice, the Court expressed their 
 approbation of the measure contemplated, 
 and gave it their unreserved sanction. To 
 as late a period as 1813, not even a donbt 
 was expressed in the way of discourage- 
 ment; and the government of India had 
 every reason to presume that they were 
 proceeding in this great work with the full 
 concurrence and approbation of the con- 
 trolling authorities in this country. Mr. 
 Edmonstone, in his able and instructive 
 letters to the Court (of 31st July, 1821), 
 has shown most conclusively, that the plans 
 and proceedings of the government abroad 
 received an ampl6 confirmation. " Unhap- 
 pily," says Mr. Tucker, " different views 
 were adopted at a subsequent period; and 
 since 1813,J the whole tenor of the Court's 
 correspondence with the supreme govern- 
 ment, has not only discountenanced the 
 idea of a permanent settlement of the 
 lands in the Ceded and Conquered pro- 
 vinces, but peremptory injunctions have 
 been issued to that government, prohibiting 
 the formation of such settlement at any 
 future period. The pledge so formally 
 ^ven to the landholders in 1803, and 
 1805, and 1807, has accordingly remained 
 unredeemed to the present day; tem- 
 porary settlements have been concluded, in 
 various ways, with difiFerent classes of per- 
 sons ; some of the principal talookdars have 
 been set aside, and deprived of the manage- 
 ment of their estates ; and the great object 
 seems to have been, to introduce the system 
 of revenue administration§ which obtains in
 
 4 RUIN OP NATIVE ARISTOCRACY IN THE N.W. PROVINCES. 
 
 the territory of Port St. George. I (in 
 1827) was a party to the introduction of 
 leases for thirty years in the Western 
 Provinces, by way of compromise for vio- 
 lating the pledge which had been given to 
 the landholders in 1803 and 1805, to con- 
 firm the settlement then made with them 
 in perpetuity. I trust that this long term 
 will operate as some compensation for their 
 disappointment, and that it will, in a great 
 degree, answer the ends proposed by a per- 
 manent settlement; but, as a principle, I 
 still maintain, that permanency of tenure, 
 and a limitation of the public demand upon 
 the land, were boons Ijestowed under the 
 dictates of a just and enlightened policy, 
 and that Lord Cornwallis is to be regarded 
 as the greatest benefactor of India."* 
 
 The measure referred to by Mr. Tucker, 
 which I had myself the satisfaction of 
 assisting to procure, was, however, partial 
 in its extent, as well as temporary in its 
 operation. It can hardly be called a com- 
 promise ; it was simply a sop thrown by the 
 stronger party who broke the bargain, to 
 certain members of the weaker party, who 
 had no resource but to accept it. The 
 public pledge of a permanent settlement 
 with the whole Conquered and Ceded, or, 
 as they are now styled, North-Western 
 Provinces, remains unredeemed. Moreover, 
 even supposing the landholders could forget 
 the manner in which that great boon was 
 freely promised and arbitrarily withheld, 
 they would still have reason to complain of 
 the irregular and often oppressive assess- 
 ments to which they were and are sub- 
 jected. There is abundant evidence on 
 this heiid ; but none of greater authority 
 than that of Colonel Sleeman, the resident 
 at Luckuow; who, being commissioued by 
 Governor-general Dalhousie to inquire into 
 the state of Oude, became incidentally ac- 
 quainted with the results of our fifty years' 
 government of the half of Oude, ceded to 
 us by the treaty of 1801. 
 
 " The country was then divided into 
 equal shares, according to the rent-roll at 
 the time. The half made over to the Bri- 
 tish government has been ever since yield- 
 ing more revenue to us; while that retained 
 by the sovereign of Oude has been yielding 
 less and less to him : and ours now yields, in 
 IiiihI itvciiue, stamp-duty, and the tax on 
 spirits, two crore and twelve lacs [of rupees] 
 
 • See Memorials of Indian Government ; a selec- 
 tion fri'm the papers of H. St. G. Tucker, edited by 
 J. W. Kaye; pp. 106—137. 
 
 a-year ; while the reserved half now yields 
 to Oude only about one crore and thirty- 
 three lacs. Under good management, the 
 Oude share might, in a few years, be made 
 equal to ours, and perhaps better ; for the 
 greater part of the lands in our share have 
 been a good deal impoverished by over- 
 cropping; while those of the Oude share 
 have been improved by long fallows." 
 Ccionel Sleeman would seem to attribute 
 the greater revenue raised from our terri- 
 tories, to tiJiat obtained by the native govern- 
 ment, simply to our "good management;" 
 for he adds, that " lands of the same natural 
 quality in Oude, under good tillage, now 
 pay a much higher rent than they do in 
 our half of the estate."t Yet, in another 
 portion of his Diary, when describing the 
 decided aversion to British rule entertained 
 by the landed aristocracy of Oude, he 
 dwells on our excessive assessments, as co- 
 operating with the cost and uncertainty of 
 the law in civil cases, in causing the 
 gradual decay of all the ancient families, 
 " A less and less proportion of the annual 
 produce of their lands is left to them in our 
 periodical settlements of the land revenue ; 
 while family pride makes them expend the 
 same sums in the marriage of their chiU 
 dren, in religious and other festivals, per- 
 sonal servants, and hereditary retainers. 
 They fall into balance, incur heavy debts, 
 and estate after estate is put up to auction, 
 and the proprietors are reduced to poverty. 
 They say, that four times more of these 
 families have gone to decay in the half of 
 the territory made over to us in 1801, than 
 in the half reserved by the Oude sovereign ; 
 and this is, I fear, true. They named the 
 families — I cannot remember them."J 
 
 To Mr. Colvin, Lieutenant-governor of 
 the N.W. Provinces, the Colonel writes, that 
 on the division of Oude in 1801, the landed 
 aristocracy were equal in both portions. 
 " Now (28th Dec., 1853) hardly a family of 
 this class remains in our half; while in 
 Oude it remains unimpaired. Everybody 
 in Oude believes those families to have been 
 systematically crushed."^ 
 
 The correspondence in the public jour- 
 nals, regarding the progress of the mutiny, 
 affords frequent evidence of the heavy rate 
 of assessment in the North- West Provinces. 
 For instance, the special correspondent of 
 the Times (Mr. Russell), writing from the 
 
 t Journey through Oude, in 1849-'50, by Colonel 
 Sir W. Sleeman ; vol. i., p. 169. 
 
 \ Ibid., vol. i., p. 321. % Ibid., vol. iL, p. 415.
 
 WRETCHEDNESS OP MADRAS RYOTS. 
 
 camp at Bareilly, speaks of the " indigent 
 population" of Rohilcund ; and asserts, on 
 the authority of Mr. Donalds, a settler and 
 planter there, that the Company's land-tax 
 on certain districts was not less than sixty- 
 sis per cent.* 
 
 It is to be hoped that a searching and 
 unprejudiced inquiry will be instituted 
 wherever decided and general disaffection 
 has been manifested — wherever such state- 
 ments are made as that from Allahabad ; in 
 which it is asserted, that "one, and only 
 one, of the zemindars has behaved well to us 
 duriug the disturbances here."t 
 
 An exposition of the working of the 
 " model system" in Southern India, is given 
 by Mr. Bourdillou, secretary to the govern- 
 ment at Madras, in the revenue department, 
 in a pamphlet published in 1852, in which 
 he showed that, in the year 1848-'9, out of a 
 total of 1,071,588 leases (excluding joint 
 holdings in the fourteen principal ryotwarree 
 districts), no fewer than 589,932 were each 
 under twenty shillings per annum ; ave- 
 raging, in fact, only a small fraction above 
 eight shillings eacli : 201,065 were for 
 amounts ranging from twenty to forty 
 shillings ; averaging less than 28.?. 6d. each : 
 and 97,891 ranged between forty and sixt}' 
 shillings; averaging 49s. 6d. each. Thus, 
 out of 1,100,000 leases, 900,000 were for 
 amounts under sixty shillings each, the 
 average being less than 19*. 6d. each 
 per annum. Mr. Bourdillou thus describes 
 the condition of several millionj of people 
 subject to the Crown of England, and 
 under its complete jurisdiction in some 
 parts for more than half a century: — " Now 
 it may certainly be said of almost the whole 
 of the rj-ots paying even the highest of 
 these sums, and even of many holding to a 
 much larger amount, that they are always in 
 poverty, and generally in debt. Perhaps one 
 of this class obtains a small amount out of 
 the government advances for cultivation; 
 but even if he does, the troulile he has to take, 
 and the time he loses in getting it, as well as 
 the deduction to which he is liable, render 
 this a questionable gain. For the rest of his 
 wants he is dependent on the bazaar-man. 
 To him his crops are generally hypothecated 
 before they are reaped ; and it is he who 
 redeems them from the possession of the 
 
 • The Times, July 6th, 1858. 
 
 t Pari. Papers, 4th February, 1858. 
 
 i According to Mr. Mead, " 18,000,000 souls, in 
 Madras, have only a penny a-week each to subsist 
 on."— (p. 3.) 
 
 village watcher, by pledging himself for the 
 payment of the kist (rent claimed by gov- 
 ernment.) These transactions pass without 
 any written engagements or memoranda 
 between the parties ; and the only evidence 
 is the chetty's (bazaar-man) own accounts. 
 In general, there is an adjustment of the 
 accounts once a year; but sometimes not 
 for several years. In all these accounts 
 interest is charged on the advances made 
 to the ryot, on the balance against him. 
 The rate of interest varies with the circum- 
 stances of the case and the necessities of 
 the borrower : it is probably seldom, or 
 never, less than twelve per cent, per annum, 
 and not often above twenty-four per cent. 
 Of course the poorest and most necessitous 
 ryots have to pay the highest. A ryot of 
 this class of course lives from hand to 
 mouth; he rarely sees money, except that 
 obtained from the chetty to pay his kist: 
 the exchanges in the out-villages are very 
 few, and they are usually conducted by 
 barter. His ploughing cattle are wretched 
 animals, not worth more than seven to 
 twelve shillings each ; and all the rest of 
 his few agricultural implements are equally 
 primitive and inefficient. His dwelling is a 
 hut of mud walls and thatched roof, far 
 ruder, smaller, and more dilapidated than 
 those of the better classes of ryots above 
 spoken of, and still more destitute, if pos- 
 sible, of anything that can be called furni- 
 ture. His food, and that of his family, 
 is partly thin porridge, made of the meal of 
 grain boiled in water, and partly boiled rice 
 with a little condiment; and generally, the 
 only vessels for cooking and eating from, are 
 of the coarsest earthenware, much inferior 
 in grain to a good tile or brick in England, 
 and unglazed. Brass vessels, though not 
 wholly unknown among this class, are rare. 
 As to anything like education or mental 
 culture, they are wholly destitute of it." 
 
 Mr. Mead, who resided several years at 
 Madras, and who visited other parts of 
 India, declares, that by the system which 
 the British government have pursued, " the 
 native aristocracy have been extinguished, 
 and their revenues lost equally to the rulers 
 and the multitude. The native manufac- 
 turers are ruined ; and no corresponding in- 
 crease has taken place in the consumption 
 of foreign goods. Not a fourth of the land 
 is taken up for tillage ; and yet 200,000 
 men annually leave these shores, to seek 
 employment on a foreign soil. The tax- 
 ation of all kinds, and the landlord's reut.
 
 6 INEFFICIENT ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE THROUGHOUT INDIA. 
 
 amount to but 5s. per head ; and yet the sur- 
 plus production of 23,000,000 is but 2s. 7d., 
 and the imports but 1*. 6d., each person."* 
 The people of the North- West Provinces 
 are being rapidly reduced to the condition 
 of those of Southern India; and it is asserted, 
 that they would rejoice at any change which 
 promises relief from a " system" calculated 
 to weigh down, with unceasing pressure, th'" 
 energies of every man who derives his sub- 
 sistence from the cultivation of the soil. 
 
 TTie Inefficient Administration of Justice 
 is an admitted evil ; the costliness, the 
 procrastination, above all, the perjury and 
 corruption for which our civil and criminal, 
 our S udder and Adawlut courts, are noto- 
 rious. Shortly before the outbreak of the 
 mutiny, Mr. Halliday, the lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor of Bengal, urged, in the strongest 
 language, the necessity for measures of 
 police reform, which should extend to "our 
 criminal judicatories as well as to the ma- 
 gistracy and constabulary organisation." 
 He adds, after referring to the evidence 
 brought forward in Mr. Dampier's elaborate 
 reports — " I have myself made much per- 
 sonal inquiry into this matter during my 
 tours. Whether right or wrong, the general 
 native opinion is certainly that the admin- 
 istration of criminal justice is little better 
 than a lottery, in which, however, the best 
 chances are with the criminals ; and I think 
 this, also, is very much the opinion of the 
 European raofussil [country] community. 
 * * * Often have I heard natives ex- 
 press, on this point, their inability to un- 
 derstand the principles on which the courts 
 are so constituted, or so conducted, as to 
 make it appear in their eyes as if the object 
 were rather to favour the acquittal, than to 
 insure the conviction and punishment of 
 offenders; and often have I been assured 
 by them, that their anxious desire to avoid 
 appeariug as prosecutors, arose in a great 
 measure from their belief that prosecution 
 was very likely to end in acquittal, even, as 
 they imagined, in the teeth of the best evi- 
 dence ; while the acquittal of a revengeful 
 and unscrupulous ruffian, wa? known by ex- 
 perience to have repeatedly ended in the 
 most unhappy consequences to his ill-ad- 
 Tised and imprudent prosecutor. That this 
 very general opinion is not ill-founded, may, 
 I think, be proved from our own records." t 
 The youth and inexperience of the ma- 
 • Mead's Sepoy Revolt; p. 313. (Routledge, 1858.) 
 t Minute to Council of India, 30th April, 1856. 
 
 gistrates, which contributes so largely to 
 the inefficiency of the courts over which 
 they preside, arises out of the numerical in- 
 adequacy of the covenanted service- to sup- 
 ply the number of officers required by the 
 existing system. The Hon. A. Kinuaird 
 stated, in the House of Commons, June 
 11th, 1857, that in Bengal, there were but 
 ieveuty covenanted and uncovenanted ma- 
 gistrates, or one to 460,000 persons; and 
 that there were three or four cases of a 
 single magistrate to more than a million 
 souls. It is terrible to think of the power 
 such a state of things must throw into the 
 hands of the native police, and this in a 
 country where experience has taught us, 
 that power, thus delegated, has invariably 
 been employed as a means of extorting 
 money. No wonder, then, that " from one 
 end of Bengal to the other," the earnest 
 desire and aim of those who have suffered 
 from thieves or dacoits, should be, " to keep 
 the matter secret from the police, whose 
 corruption and extortion is so great, as to 
 cause it to be popularly said, that dacoity 
 is bad enough, but the subsequent police 
 inquiry very much worse." 
 
 The frequent change, from place to place, 
 and office to office, is urged as another 
 reason for the inefficiency of our system. 
 In the district of Dacca, for instance, the 
 average time of continuance in the magis- 
 trate's office, has been, for the last twenty 
 years, not ten months. The extent of the 
 evil may be understood by looking over the 
 register of civil servants, and their ap- 
 pointments. The Friend of India quotes 
 the case of a well-known name among 
 Indian officials — Henry Lushington — who 
 arrived in India on the 14th of October, 
 1821, and, by the 9th of May, 1842, had 
 filled no less than twenty-one offices — a 
 change every year. But during this time 
 he returned to Europe twice, and was ab- 
 sent from India four years and a quarter : 
 his occupancy of each office, therefore, 
 averages scarcely nine months. The jour- 
 nalist adds — " Thousands of miles of coun- 
 try, inhabited by millions of people, would 
 have neither justice nor protection, were it 
 not for the illegally assumed power of the 
 planter and zemindar. There are districts 
 in which the magistrate's court is sixty 
 miles away ; and in one case, I know of 
 a judge having to go 140 miles to try a 
 case of murder — so wide does his juris- 
 diction extend. This very district contains 
 upwards of two m.illions of people ; yet to
 
 " INGENUOUS YOUTHS" SENT OUT AS INDIAN JUDGES. 
 
 govern it there are just two Europeans ; 
 and one of these spends a considerable por- 
 tion of his time in sporting, shooting wild 
 animals, and hunting deer."* 
 
 The diminished numbers and impaired 
 efficiency of the rural police, or village 
 chowkeedars, during the last twenty years, is 
 another reason why " our magistracy is losing 
 credit and character, and our administration 
 growing perceptibly weaker." They are, 
 says lieutenant-governor Halliday, so in- 
 adequately and uncertainly paid, as to be 
 kept in a permanent state of starvation; and 
 though, in former days, magistrates battled 
 for them with unwilling zemindars and 
 villagers, and were encouraged by govern- 
 ment to do so, they are now declared to 
 have no legal right to remuneration for 
 service, and have themselves become too 
 often the colleagues of thieves and robbers. 
 The measures suggested by Mr. Halliday 
 as indispensable to the effectual improve- 
 ment of the Bengal police, were — the im- 
 provement of the character and position 
 of the village chowkeedars, or watchmen ; 
 the payment of adequate salaries, and the 
 holding forth of fair prospects of advance- 
 ment to the stipendiary police ; the appoint- 
 ment of more experienced officers as cove- 
 nanted zillah magistrates ; a considerable 
 increase in the number of the uncove- 
 nanted or deputy magistrates ; an improve- 
 ment in our criminal courts of justice; 
 and, lastly, the establishment of sufficient 
 means of communication with the interior 
 of districts : because no system could work 
 well while the police-stations and the large 
 towns and marts in the interior continued 
 to be cut off from the chief zillah stations, 
 and from one another, by the almost entire 
 absence of roads, or even (during a large 
 part of the year) of the smallest bridle- 
 roads or footpaths. 
 
 The proposer of the above reforms added, 
 that they would involve an increased ex- 
 penditure of £100,000 a-year on the magis- 
 tracy and police of Bengal ; and this state- 
 ment, perhaps, furnishes an explanation of 
 the little attention excited by a document 
 full of important but most unpalatable 
 assertions. The onus cannot, however, be 
 allowed to rest solely on the local authori- 
 ties. The consideration of the House of 
 
 • Quoted by Mr. Kinnaird, in Bengal, its Landed 
 Tenure and Police Syttetn. (Ridgway, 1857; p. 14.) 
 The series of measures provided by Lord Cornwallis, 
 to protect the cultivator under the Permanent Set- 
 tlement from oppression on the part of the proprie- 
 
 Commons has been urgently solicited, by 
 one of its own members,t to the report of 
 the lieutenant-governor ; and the fact of 
 such flagrant evils being alleged, by a lead- 
 ing functionary, to exist in the districts 
 under the immediate eye of the supreme 
 government, is surely a sufficient warning, 
 not merely of the necessity of promptly re- 
 dressing the wrongs under which the Ben- 
 galees laboured, but also of investigating 
 the internal administration of the distant 
 provinces. It is unaccountable that the 
 judicial part of the subject should have been 
 so long neglected, after the unreserved con- 
 demnation of the system, pronounced by 
 Lord Campbell in the House of Lords in 
 1853. In reply to the complaint of the Duke 
 of Argyll regarding the stro"ng expressions 
 used in a petition for relief, presented on 
 behalf of the people of Madras, his lordship 
 adverted to the mode in which " ingenuous 
 youths" were dispatched from the college 
 at Haileybury, with, at best, a very imper- 
 fect acquaintance with the languages of In- 
 dia, and were made at once judges. Even 
 the advantage of only acting in that capa- 
 city was withheld, the same youth being one 
 day a judge of civil cases, the next a col- 
 lector of revenue, and the next a police ma- 
 gistrate. Speaking from experience derived 
 from the appeals which had come before him 
 as a member of the judicial committee of 
 the Privy Council, he thought, "as far as 
 regarded the administration of justice in the 
 inferior courts, no language could be too 
 extravagant in describing its enormities." J 
 The testimony borne by Mr. Halliday, in 
 Bengal, entirely accords with that given by 
 other witnesses regarding the administra- 
 tion of justice in the North- Western Pro- 
 vinces. Colonel Sleeman, writing in 1853, 
 declared — " There is really nothing in our 
 system which calls so much for remedy." 
 He says, that during his recent tour 
 through Oude, he had had much conversa- 
 tion with the people generally, and with 
 many who had sojourned in our territory 
 in seasons of disturbance. They were all 
 glad to return, rather than remain in our 
 districts and endure the evils occasioned by 
 " the uncertainties of our law, the nkultipli- 
 city and formality of our courts, the pride 
 and negligence of those who preside over 
 
 tors, have been disregarded ; and the consequence of 
 this neglect has been to leave too great power in 
 the hands of the zemindars. — (Ibid., p. 6.) 
 
 t By the Hon. A. Kinnaird, June 11th, 1856. 
 
 i Hamard^t Debates, vol. cxxiv., p. 647.
 
 8 
 
 NATIVE MODE OF PROCURING TESTIMONY. 
 
 them, and the corruption and insolence of 
 those who must be employed to prosecute 
 or defend a cause in them, and enforce the 
 fulfilment of a decree when passed." Colonel 
 Sleeman cites the statements made to him 
 by the Brahmin communities of two villages, 
 invited back by the native authorities from 
 the Shahjehanpoor district, and resettled on 
 their lands; "a mild, sensible, and most 
 respectable body, whom a sensible ruler 
 would do all in his power to protect and 
 encourage ; but these are the class of land- 
 holders and cultivators whom the reckless 
 governors of districts under the Oude gov- 
 ernment most grievously oppress. They 
 told me : — 
 
 " ' Your courts of justice are the things we most 
 dread, sir ; and we are glad to escape from them as 
 Boon as we can, in spite of all the evils we are ex- 
 posed to on our return to the place of our birth. 
 • • • The truth, sir, is seldom told in these 
 courts. There they think of nothing but the num- 
 ber of witnesses, as if all were alike j here, sir, we 
 look to the quality. When a man suffers wrong, 
 the wrongdoer is summoned before the elders, or 
 most respectable men of his village or clan ; and if 
 he denies the charge and refuses redress, he is told to 
 bathe, put his hand upon the peepul-tree, and declare 
 aloud his innocence. If he refuses, he is commanded 
 to restore what he has taken, or make suitable re- 
 paration for the injury he has done ; and if he re- 
 fuses to do this, he is punished by the odium of all, 
 and his life becomes miserable. A man dare not 
 put his hand upon that sacred tree and deny the 
 truth — the gods sit in it, and know all things ; and 
 the offender dreads their vengeance. In your Adaw- 
 luts, sir, men do not tell the truth so often as they do 
 among their own tribes or village communities: they 
 perjure themselves in all manner of ways, without 
 shame or dread ; and there are so many men about 
 these courts, who understand the ' rules and regula- 
 tions' (aen and kanoon), and are so much interested 
 in making ti'uth appear to be falsehood, and false- 
 hood truth, that no man feels sure that right will 
 prevail in them in any case. The guilty think they 
 have just as good a chance of escape as the inno- 
 cent. Our relations and friends told us, that all 
 this confusion of right and wrong, which bewildered 
 them, arose from the multiplicity of the ' rules and 
 regulations,' which threw all the power into the 
 hands of bad men, and left the European gentlemen 
 helpless!'"* 
 
 The comment made on the above asser- 
 tions, tends to establish their accuracy. 
 Colonel Sleeman says — "The quality of tes- 
 timony, no doubt, like that of every other 
 commodity, deteriorates under a system 
 which renders the good of no more value, 
 in exchange, than the bad. The formality 
 
 • Sleeman's Journey through OtuJe, vol. ii., p. 68. 
 
 t Ibid., vol. i., p. 1G8; vol. ii., p. 415. 
 
 J The clause runs as follows : — " That no natives 
 of said territories, nor any natural born subject of 
 her majesty resident therein, shall by reason only of 
 
 of our courts here, as everywhere else, tends 
 to impair, more or less, the quality of what 
 they receive. The simplicity of courts com- 
 posed of little village communities and 
 elders, tends, on the contrary, to improve 
 the quality of the testimony they get ; and, 
 in India, it is found to be best in the isolated 
 hamlets and forests, where men may be 
 made to do almost anything rather than tell 
 a lie. A Mahratta pnndit, in the valley of 
 the Nerbudda, once told me, that it was 
 almost impossible to teach a wild Gond of 
 the hills and jungles the occasional value of 
 a lie. It is the same with the Tharoos and 
 Booksas, who are almost exclusively the 
 cultivators of the Oude Turaee forest, and 
 with the peasantry of the Himalaya chain 
 of mountains, before they have come much 
 in contact with people of the plains, and 
 become subject to the jurisdiction of our 
 courts. These courts are, everywhere, our 
 weak points in the estimation of our sub- 
 jects ; and they should be everywhere sim- 
 plified, to meet the wants and wishes of so 
 simple a people." f 
 
 The Exclusion of the Natives from all Share 
 in the Government, has been acted on as 
 necessary to our retention of India. Yet 
 many leading authorities agree in viewing 
 the degraded state in which they have been 
 held as a great defect in our system. 
 " We exclude them," said Sir Thomas 
 Munro, " from every situation of trust and 
 emolument. We confine them to the 
 lowest offices, with scarcely a bare sub- 
 sistence. * * * We treat them as an in- 
 ferior race of beings. Men who, under a 
 native government, might have held the 
 first dignities of the state ; who, but for us, 
 might have been governors of provinces, 
 are regarded as little better than menial 
 servants, and are often not better paid, and 
 scarcely permitted to sit in our presence." 
 
 Lord Metcalfe, Lord William Bentinck, 
 and others, have taken the same tone j 
 and the opinions of the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, Sir Robert Peel, and Lord Glenels, 
 are sufficientlv evidenced in the 87th 
 clause of the Charter Act of 1833, which 
 declares the natives eligible to all situations 
 under government, with certain exceptions. 
 This clause,^ so generously intended, has 
 
 his religion, place of birth, descent, colour, or any 
 of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, 
 or employment under the said Company." Mr. Came- 
 ron, a gentleman long and intimately acquainted 
 with India, writing in 1853, says—" During the
 
 NATIVES EXCLUDED FROM HONOURS AND EMOLUMENTS. 9 
 
 proved a cruel mockery, by exciting expec- 
 tations which have been frustrated by the 
 conditions attached to it, and the deter- 
 mined opposition of the Court of Directors, 
 even when those conditions, including the 
 voyage to England, have been fulfilled. 
 
 The monopoly of commerce was the worst 
 feature of the E. I. Company, as regarded 
 the British nation ; the monopoly of patron- 
 age is its worst feature as ' regards the 
 Indian population, and not its best as 
 regards that of England. Lord William 
 Bentinck stated the case very ably in his 
 evidence before the select committee on 
 steam communication with India in 1837. 
 "The bane of our system is not solely that 
 the civil administration is entirely in the 
 hands of foreigners, but that the holders of 
 this monopoly, the patrons of these foreign 
 agents, are those who exercise the directing 
 power at home; that this directing power is 
 exclusively paid by the patronage ; that the 
 value of this patronage depends exactly 
 upon the degree iu which all the honours 
 and emoluments of the state are engrossed 
 by their clients, to the exclusion of the 
 natives. There exists, in consequence, on 
 th3 part of the home authorities, an interest 
 in respect to the administration precisely 
 similar to what formerly prevailed as to 
 commerce, directly opposed to the welfare 
 of India; and, consequently, it will be re- 
 marked without surprise, that in the two 
 renewals of the charter that have taken 
 place within the last twenty-five years, in 
 the first, nothing was done to break down 
 this administrative monopoly ; and in the 
 second, though a very important principle 
 was declared, that no disability from holding 
 office in respect to any subjects of the Crown, 
 by reason of birth, religion, descent, or 
 colour, should any longer continue, still no 
 provision was made for working it out ; and, 
 as far as is known, the enactment has re- 
 mained till this day a dead letter."* 
 
 The number of natives employed in the 
 administration, notwithstanding the large 
 accessions of territory between the years 
 1851 and 1857 (inclusive), has actually de- 
 creased from 2,910 to 2,846. Of the latter 
 number, 85G receive less than ^120 per 
 
 twenty years that have [since] elapsed, not one of 
 the natives has been appointed to any office except 
 such as they were eligible to before the statute." 
 Mr. Henry Richard, commenting on this policy, re- 
 marks — " In adopting this course, and treating the 
 natives as a conquered and inferior race, on no ac- 
 count to be admitted to political and social equality 
 with ourselves, we are not only violating the die 
 VOL. II. C 
 
 annum; 1,377 from £120 to £240 per an- 
 num; and only eleven receive above £840. f 
 These figures, when compared with the in- 
 creased numbers and high salaries of the 
 European covenanted and uncovenanted 
 servants, can hardly fail to suggest a reason 
 why the Hindoos — who frequently filled 
 the chief positions in Indo-Mohammedan 
 states, and almost invariably that of Dewan 
 (or chancellor of the exchequer) — may 
 think the rule of power-loving, money-get- 
 ting Englishmen, worse for them than that 
 of the indolent Moslem, who, though he 
 sometimes forcibly destroyed the caste of 
 thousands, yet never withheld from their race 
 the honours and emoluments of high office. 
 Rajpoots led the forces of Delhi; Rajpoot- 
 nies (though that they aflected to consider 
 a degradation) sat within its palaces in 
 imperial state — the wives and mothers of 
 emperors : Brahmins filled every revenue 
 office, from that of the treasurer-in-chief to 
 the lowest clerk ; all the financial business 
 being transacted by them. The Great Mo- 
 guls, the minor Mohammedan sovereigns, 
 and tiieir chief retainers, were spendthrifts 
 rather than hoarders : they won kingdoms 
 with their swords ; and, like all conquerors, 
 looked to reap where they had not sown ; but 
 avarice, or the love of money for its own 
 sake, was very rare among them. They sat 
 on their silver howdahs, on the backs of 
 their elephants, and threw rupees, by bags- 
 fnl, among the people, who always benefited, 
 at least indirectly, by the lavish expenditure 
 for which they furnished the means. 
 
 The modern Brahmins (whatever their 
 ancestors may have done) certainly evince 
 more acquaintance with, and predilection 
 for, the practice of the rules of Cocker, than 
 for the abstract study of the Vedas, and the 
 geographical and astronomical absurdities of 
 the Shastras. They are born diplomatists, 
 as well as financialists. Our greatest states- 
 men have acknowledged their remarkable 
 ability. The despatches, especially the sup- 
 plementary ones, of the late Duke of Wel- 
 lington, abound with evidence of this : and 
 when describing the character of Talleyrand, 
 the duke could find no better comparison 
 than that he was "like Eitel Punt (the 
 
 tates of justice and of Christian morality, but we are 
 disregarding all that the experience of the past has 
 taught us to be wise policy with a view to perma- 
 nent success." — {Present and Future of India under 
 British Rule, p. 37.) 
 
 • Pari. Papers, 26th April, 1858 ; p. 201. 
 
 t Pari. Paper (House of Commons), 16th April| 
 1858.
 
 10 AVERSION EVINCED BY THE ENGLISH TOWARDS THE NATIVES. 
 
 Brahmin minister of Sindia) ; only not so 
 clever."* Such men as these can hardly 
 be expected to endure, without resentment, 
 treatment which keeps the promise to the 
 ear, yet breaks it to the sense. 
 
 In England we have grown used to the 
 assertion, that there is no such thing as pub- 
 lic opinion or discussion among the natives : 
 but this is a mistake, and only proves that 
 we have overlooked its rise and progress. 
 The public meetings held in every presi- 
 dency, the numerous journals, and, still 
 more, the political pamphlets published by 
 natives, attest the contrary. Of the latter 
 class one now lies before me, written in 
 English — fluent, grammatical English — with 
 just a sufiBcient tinge of Orientalism to give 
 internal evidence of the veritable author- 
 ship. The writer, after admitting the pro- 
 tection afforded by British rule from ex- 
 ternal violence and internal commotion, adds 
 — " But it has failed to foster the growth 
 of an upper class, which would have served 
 as a connecting link between the govern- 
 ment and the mass of the people. The 
 higher order of the natives have, ever since 
 its commencement, been shut out of all 
 avenues to official distinction. They may 
 acquire colossal fortunes in commercial and 
 other pursuits, or obtain diplomas and 
 honours in colleges and universities, but 
 they cannot be admitted into the civil ser- 
 vice, or the higlier grades in the military 
 service, without undertaking a voyage to 
 England, and complying with other equally 
 impracticable conditions. The highest situa- 
 tions to which they can aspire, are deputy- 
 magistrateships and Sudder ameenships."t 
 
 Ignorance of the Languages, and the Aver- 
 sion evinced towards the Natives, are the 
 causes alleged by Baboo Shew Purshad (in- 
 spector of schools in the Benares division), 
 for the " unpopularity of the government, 
 and, consequently, of all the miseries under 
 which the country labours." The reluc- 
 tance of the English functionaries to mix 
 •with the natives, has prevented their ac- 
 quiring that thorough knowledge of their 
 sentiments and capabilities, social and 
 moral condition, internal economy, wants, 
 and prejudices, which are essential to suc- 
 cessful government. " In England," says 
 
 • Kaye's Life of Malcolm, vol. i., p. 241. 
 
 + 2%« Mutinies, the Government, and the People ; 
 by A Hindoo ; p. 36. (Printed at Calcutta, 1858.) 
 
 1 Thoughts of a Native of Northern India on the 
 JUbellion, its Causes and Remedies (Dalton, Coik- 
 
 the writer just quoted, " you have only to 
 pass good acts, and draw goo^ rules, and 
 people will take upon themselves to see 
 that they are worked in the right way, and 
 for their benefit, by the local authorities ; 
 but here the case is otherwise : the best 
 regulations can be turned into a source of 
 the worst oppression by an unscrupulous 
 and exacting magistrate ; and if you give 
 us a good magistrate, he can keep us happy 
 without any regulation at all. The Pun- 
 jab owes its happiness more to Sir John 
 Lawrence and Messrs. Montgomery and 
 Macleod, than to any system or regulation. 
 * * * It is owing to these few officers, who 
 come now and then to the lot of some dis- 
 tricts, that people have not yet despaired 
 and risen in a body. * * * The govern- 
 ment will feel, no doubt, stronger after the 
 suppression of the mutiny than they ever 
 were. If the hatred of their countrymen 
 towards the natives increases in ratio to the 
 increase of power, as hitherto, the disaffec- 
 tion of the people, and the unpopularity of 
 the government, will increase also propor- 
 tionally. The consequences are obvious : 
 and, be assured, the country will be deso- 
 lated and ruined. "J 
 
 Englishmen, generally, have no gift for 
 languages ; and this has been always one of 
 their weak points as rulers of India, where 
 it is of the first importance that all func- 
 tionaries, whether civil or military, should 
 be — not first-rate Grecians, or versed in 
 black-letter lore^r-but able to converse, in 
 the vernacular dialect, with the men over 
 whom they bear rule. Had such knowledge 
 been at all general, warnings would, in all 
 human probability, have been received of 
 the combinations (such as they were) which 
 preceded the massacres of Meerut, Cawn- 
 poor, and Jhansi. It is a serious defect in 
 the system (springing, no doubt, from the 
 monopoly of patronage), that so little trouble 
 has been taken to promote the efficiency of 
 the servants of the Company, as adminis- 
 trators of a delegated despotism. Lord 
 Wellesley strove earnestly for this end ; but 
 his efforts were coldly received, and are 
 even now insufficiently appreciated. 
 
 So far as the natives are concerned, 
 sending out " incapables" to bear rule over 
 them, manifests a shameful indifference to 
 
 spur-street, 1858) : with a Preface, written at Cal- 
 cutta, and cigncd " M. W." — initials which suggest 
 the name of a well-known member of the Bengal 
 (uncovenanted) service. The Dedication to H. C. T., 
 Esq., is similarly suggestive.
 
 EUROPEAN FUNCTIONARIES IGNORANT OF NATIVE LANGUAGES. 11 
 
 their interests, and is inflicting a wrong, of 
 which we cannot hope to escape the penalty. 
 " It is suicidal to allow India to be a refuse, 
 as it is at present to a great extent, for 
 those of our youth who ai'e least qualified 
 to make their way in their own country ; 
 and it is such au insult to the natives, who 
 are full of intelligence, and are making great 
 progress in European knowledge of all 
 kinds, that if anything could excuse them 
 for rebelling, it would be this." 
 
 This is plain speaking from an authority 
 like Indophilus ; and what he adds with re- 
 gard to young officers is equally applicable 
 to civilians : — " It should not be left, as it is 
 at present, to the decision of a young man 
 whether he will pass in the native languages 
 or not. The power of understanding his 
 men, and of rendering himself intelligible 
 to them, should be considered an indispen- 
 sable qualification ; and those who cannot, 
 or will not, acquire this necessary accom- 
 plishment, should be removed from the ser- 
 vice. Every officer should be presumed to 
 understand the language of his soldiers."* 
 
 The change which has taken place in 
 Anglo-Indian society, has, without doubt, 
 been a painful one for the natives. The 
 very large increase in the proportion of 
 Englishwomen who now accompany their 
 husbands, fathers, and brothers to India, 
 has tended to decrease the association with 
 the native gentry; and these are becoming 
 yearly less able to vie with the Europeans. 
 One branch of the intercourse of former 
 days has greatly diminished; the conven- 
 tionalities have become more stringent ; the 
 temptations have decreased; the shameless 
 profligacy described by Clivef no longer 
 exists; and a dark-coloured "beebee" (lady), 
 the mother of a large family of Eura- 
 sians, would not now be considered a fit 
 head for the household of a distinguished 
 military or civil servant. Ho^v far any 
 radical reform has taken place, or whether 
 the great " social evil" has only changed 
 its hue, it is hard to say ; but several trust- 
 worthy witnesses assert as an evident fact, 
 that the Europeans and natives of all classes 
 associate far less than they used to do, 
 and that many of the former have adopted a 
 supercilious tone towards the latter, which 
 is equally impolitic, unjust, and inconsistent 
 * Letter to the Times, September 23th, 1837. 
 t Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 307. 
 X A writer in the Times, " who has passed his life 
 in India," asserts, that •' the white and the dark man 
 are no more equal, and no more to be governed by 
 the same rules, than the man and ihe ape."— (" H." 
 
 with the usual refining and softening effect 
 of legitimate domestic intercourse. 
 
 Tlie repeated use of the word "niggers" 
 in recent books of Indian memoirs, and in 
 the correspondence published in the public 
 journals, J is itself a painful and significant 
 symptom. An American traveller asks, how 
 we can reconcile our denunciation of the 
 social inequality of the negro and white races 
 in America with our own conduct to the 
 East Indians ? "I allude," he says, " to the 
 contemptuous manner in which the natives, 
 even those of the best and most intelligent 
 classes, are almost invariably spoken of and 
 treated. The tone adopted towards the 
 lower classes is one of lordly an-ogance; 
 towards the rich and enlightened, one of 
 condescension and patronage. I have heard 
 the term ' niggers' applied to the whole 
 race by those high in office ; with the lower 
 order of the English it is the designation in 
 general use."§ 
 
 Sir CharlesNapier considered, thatnothing 
 could be worse than the manners of Eng- 
 lishmen in India towards natives of all ranks. 
 Therefore, when endeavouring to bring 
 into operation the resources of Sinde, he 
 refused British officers a passage on board 
 his merchant steamers, knowing that " if 
 granted, they would go on board, occupy 
 all the room, treat my rich merchants and 
 supercargoes with insolence, and very pro- 
 bably drink and thrash the people." || 
 
 Religion and Education. — Missionary ope- 
 rations are alleged to have had their share 
 in jeopardising the permanence of our 
 power; while, on the contrary, the advocates 
 of religious enterprise assert, that had the 
 messengers of the glad tidings of universal 
 peace and good-will been suffered to have 
 fre': way in India, as in every other depen- 
 dency or colony of the British empire, such 
 an exposition of the tenets of Protestant 
 Christianity would long since have beeu 
 afforded to the intelligent and argumenta- 
 tive Hindoos, as would have rendered it 
 impossible for the most artfully-concocted 
 rumours, founded on the most unfortunate 
 combination of circumstances, to persuade 
 them (in the teeth of a hundred years' ex- 
 perience to the contrary), that force and 
 fraud would ever be used to compel the 
 Nov. 23rd, 1837.) It is much to be regretted, that 
 sue 1 mischievous and exceptional opinions as these 
 should find unqualified expression in a journal 
 which circulates largely throu,i;hout India. 
 
 § Taylor's Visit to India, l^c., in 1853 j p. 273. 
 
 il Life, by Sir William Napier; vol. iii., p. 473. 
 
 L.
 
 12 
 
 RELIGION AND EDUCATION IN INDIA— 1813 to 1834. 
 
 adoption of a creed which appeals to the 
 reasou, and requires the habitual exercise 
 of the free-will of every disciple. 
 
 With some few and partial exceptions, the 
 policy of the home and local government 
 has been steadily and even sternly repres- 
 sive of all attempts for the extension of 
 Christianity ; and every concession made 
 has been wrung from them by the zeal of 
 influential individuals, supported by public 
 opinion. It needs not to establish this fact 
 on evidence, or to remind the reader that 
 English missionaries were not eveu tolerated 
 in India until the year 1813; that Marsh- 
 man and Carey were compelled to take up 
 their residence without the British frontier, 
 in the Danish settlement of Serampoor; 
 that Judson and his companions were actu- 
 ally deported; and that Eobert Haldane's 
 munificent and self-sacrificing intention of 
 expending ^40,000 on the formation of an 
 effective mission for Benares, was frustrated 
 by the positive prohibition of government, 
 despite the efforts of Wilberforce and others. 
 An Indian director is said to have de- 
 clared, that "he would rather a band of devils 
 landed in India than a- baud of mission- 
 aries ;"* and his colleagues acted very much 
 as if they shared his conviction. 
 
 Secular education was long viewed by 
 the East India Company as a question in 
 which they had no concern ; and the efforts 
 made by the Marquis Wellesley and others, 
 were treated with an indifference amounting 
 to aversion. At length public opinion be- 
 came decided on the subject; and, in 1813, 
 the sura of £10,000 was, by the determina- 
 tion of parliament, decreed to be annually 
 appropriated, out of the revenues of India, 
 for the cultivation of exclusively Hindoo 
 and Mohammedan lore. 
 
 In 1824, Mr. Mill (the historian, who 
 entered the service of the Company after 
 writing his famous exposition of the worst 
 features of their rule) was ordered to pre- 
 pare a despatch on the subject of education. 
 He did so, and in it boldly laid down the 
 principle of inculcating sound truth, in op- 
 position to the absurd fictions of the Shas- 
 tras. The directors accepted his dictum, 
 and founded English schools and colleges 
 for exclusively secular instruction. Lord 
 W. Bentinck, in 1834, pursued a similar 
 course; and a few thousand youths (including 
 Naua Sahib) learned to talk English fluently, 
 
 • Quoted bv the Hon. A. E.inEaird — Exeter Hall, 
 Jan. eth, 1858. 
 
 + Arthur's Mysoor,p. 91, 
 
 to quote Shakespeare, Pope, Addison, and 
 Byron, instead of the Ramayana and the 
 Mahabharata, Hafiz or Sadi ; and to jeer with 
 the flippancy of superficial scepticism at the 
 ignorance of their parents and countrymen, 
 in asserting that the earth rests on eight 
 elephants, a serpent, a turtle, and such like;t 
 and at the Mu^ulmans, for believing in 
 Mohammed's journey to the moon. After 
 all, such instruction was a direct and tan- 
 gible interference with the religious views 
 of the people. No greater would have been 
 committed, had we placed before them a 
 frank and full exposition of our own creed, 
 choosing Moses rather than Milton to nar- 
 rate the origin and fall of the whole human 
 race, and trusting to the equally inspired 
 record of the evangelists, to impart, with re- 
 sistless power, the divinely revealed mystery 
 of man's redemption. 
 
 We have taught the whole truth as re- 
 gards material things — tliat the earth is 
 round, for instance, and that the ocean is 
 everywhere the same; in opposition to the 
 Brahminical doctrine, that the earth con- 
 sists of seven continents, divided by seas 
 composed respectively of salt-water, wine, 
 sugar-cane juice, clarified butter, curds, 
 milk, and fresh-water. Spiritual truth we 
 have not ventured to set forth ; and the con- 
 querors who represent a nation which ap- 
 plauds itself for the maintenance in strict 
 union of church and state, have become the 
 voluntary exponents of a neutral system 
 which closely resembles practical infidelity. 
 And practical infidelity is the cause to which 
 alone our conduct is attributed by the more 
 intelligent class of the natives. They know 
 that the government is firm even to obsti- 
 nacy in the maintenance of its convictions, 
 and they utterly discredit the reality of a 
 belief which can co-exist with the tempo- 
 rising and cowardly half measures em- 
 ployed by those who are in all other things 
 habitually positive and outspoken. 
 
 The Anglo-Indian authorities were not, 
 however, all blind or indifferent to the 
 workings of the " Godless colleges." In 
 Madras, a strong feeling grew up in favour 
 of the teaching of the Bible in government 
 schools. The Marquis of Tweeddale, then 
 governor, shared and ably expressed this 
 opinion, declaring, that " it required a 
 more solid foundation than is to be found 
 in the Hindoo or Mohammedan faith, to 
 bear the change which learning operates on 
 the mind of those who emerge out of a 
 state of ignorance, and attain those mental
 
 THE BIBLE EXCLUDED FROM GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS. 
 
 13 
 
 acquirements which enlarged education 
 
 gives. 
 
 * * * Nor do I see how native 
 
 society itself can safely and permanently 
 advance except upon this basis. I would 
 therefore adopt the rule proposed by the 
 council, which recognises the Bible as a 
 class-book in the government schools, but 
 at the same time leaves it free to the native 
 student to read it or not, as his conscience 
 may dictate, or his parent may desire."* 
 
 The Court of Directors refused to comply 
 with liord Tweeddale's recommendation, 
 and persevered in their previous resolve, 
 despite the remonstrances of the Madras 
 council, and their clear exposition of the 
 mistaken view on which that determination 
 was founded. An able pen wrote a denuur 
 ciation of the system, which now reads like a 
 prophecy : — " The government does not 
 know what it is doing. No doubt it is 
 breaking down those superstitions, and dis- 
 persing those mists, which, by creating 
 weakness and disunion, facilitated the con- 
 quest of the country ; but, instead of sub- 
 stituting any useful truth, or salutary prin- 
 ciples, for the ignorance and false principles 
 which they remove, they are only facilitating 
 the dissemination of the most pernicious 
 errors, and the most demoralising and revo- 
 lutionary principles. I have been appalled 
 by discovering the extent to which athe- 
 istical and deistical writings, together with 
 disaffection to the British government and 
 hatred to the British name, have spread, 
 and are spreading, among those who have 
 been educated in government schools, or 
 are now in the service of government. The 
 direction of the government system of edu- 
 cation is rapidly falling into the hands of 
 astute Brahmins, who know how to take 
 advantage of such a state of things, and 
 at the same time to strengthem them- 
 selves by an alliance with Parsee and Mus- 
 sulman prejudices; while the European 
 gentlemen who still remain nominally at 
 the head of the system, know nothing of the 
 under-currents which pervade the whole, 
 or consider themselves as bound, either by 
 principle or policy, not to make any exer- 
 tions in favour of Christian truth ; while the 
 professed object of the government is to 
 give secular instruction ouly."t 
 
 • See Lord Tweeddale's Minute, August 24th, 
 1846, and reply thereto. — Sixth Report of House of 
 Lords, 1853; pp. 189; 152. 
 
 f Testimony of Professor Henderson, of the Bom- 
 bay Government Schools, dated 31st October, 1803; 
 published in a Discourse upon his death, by Dr. Wil- 
 ton president of the Bombay Literary Society. 
 
 In April, 1847, an order was issued by 
 the Court of Directors to the governor-gen- 
 eral, requiring, that the principle which had 
 been " uniformly maintained, of abstaining 
 from all interference with the religion of 
 the natives of India," should be rigidly en- 
 forced. A paragraph in a previous despatcli 
 (to Madras, 21st May, 1845), declared it to 
 be " the duty of government, and not less 
 of its officers, to stand aloof from all mis- 
 sionary labours, either as promoting or as 
 opposing them." At this time, it was well- 
 known that many of the most esteemed 
 ofiBcials, civil and military,, were, and had 
 been for years past, members of committees 
 of Bible and Missionary societies. A public 
 demand for "specific instructions" regarding 
 the meaning of the directors, was made by 
 their servants; and this, together with the 
 privately expressed opinions which reached 
 the governor-general (Lord Hardinge), in- 
 duced him to withhold the despatch and 
 recommend its suppression ; in which the 
 directors concurred, because. its publication 
 " might give rise to discussion on a subject 
 on which it is particularly desired that the 
 public mind should not be excited."! 
 
 In the year 1849, a native of high- 
 caste, occupying a responsible position in 
 the Calcutta college, publicly embraced 
 Christianity, and was immediately dismissed 
 by the English authorities. § 
 
 The government pursued the system of 
 excluding the Bible from its schools, while 
 the missionaries persisted in making it the 
 foundation of theirs ; and the opinion 
 of the natives was evidenced in the large 
 voluntary contributions made by them to 
 the latter. The statistics of 1853 gave 
 the following result : — Government schools, 
 404; scholars, 25,362: Christian Mission 
 schools, 1,668; scholars, 96,177. The re- 
 turns showed some singular facts : among 
 others, that the only school at Bangalore in 
 which Brahmin youths were found, was a 
 missionary one. 
 
 In 1854, the duty of adopting measures for 
 the extension of education, was avowed in a 
 despatch by Sir Charles Wood ; and the doc- 
 trine of grants in aid for the support of ail 
 schools, without reference to the religious 
 doctrine taught therein, w{^s plainly set forth. 
 
 J Pari. Papers (House of Commons), 12th Feb- 
 ruary, 1858; pp. 3, 5, 11. — Letter from a Layman 
 in India ; pamphlet, published by Dalton, Cock- 
 spur-street, 1858; pp. 11, 12. — Speech of Rev. W. 
 Chalmers, Exeter Hall, January 5th, 1858. 
 
 § Christian Education for Indio in the Mother- 
 ) Tongue, p. 15.
 
 14 
 
 CRY FOR "CHRISTIAN EMANCIPATION" IN INDIA. 
 
 A minister of public instruction for India 
 was appointed, with a salary of £3,000 
 a-year; four inspectors, with salaries varying 
 from £1,500 down to £750; and a large 
 number of sub-inspectors: but no single 
 vernacular school* was established, neither 
 was any attempt made to frame and cir- 
 culate tracts on agriculture and mechanics, 
 or to convey, in the native languages, the 
 more elementary and practical portions of 
 the knowledge generally availed of in Europe 
 for the furtherance of various branches of 
 trade and manufacture.t 
 
 The extensive scale on which prepara- 
 tions were made surprised the natives, and 
 the unauthorised and improper statement 
 of some of the officials, that "it was the 
 order of government that people should 
 now educate their chiJdren,"J created miich 
 anxiety. Yet proselytising was neither 
 contemplated nor desired. The Calcutta 
 Bible Society requested permission of the 
 Council of Education to place a copy of the 
 Bible, in English and the vernacular, in the 
 library of each government school and col- 
 lege. It was notorious that the Koran and 
 the Shastras were there; yet the council 
 declined to give the Bible a place beside 
 them, because it would be a breach of 
 " neutrality ."§' 
 
 In England, and even in India, the autho- 
 rities generally seem to have had no mis- 
 givings as to the result of purely secular 
 teaching. Some few, however, deprecated 
 education of any kind to any extent ;. and 
 this party included a late governor-general. 
 Lord Ellenborough, who declared his belief 
 of its incompatibility with the maintenance 
 of British dominion in India — a conviction, 
 the ground of which is explained by a sub- 
 sequent statement made by his lordship in 
 his place in parliament (in 1852), that "no 
 intelligent people would submit to our gov- 
 ernment."l| 
 
 Witb such views, it is not surprising that 
 Lord Ellenborough, when addressing the 
 House of Lords on the 9th of June, 1857, 
 on the recent tidings of the mutiny of the 
 Bengal army, should have adverted with 
 extreme astonishment to a svatemeut which 
 he could " scarcely believe to be true," 
 though he had seen it " distinctly stated in 
 the papers, that the governor-general himself, 
 
 • A Vernacular Society is now being organised 
 jn London. It is much needed ; for, as its chief pro- 
 moter, Mr. Tucker, truly says, no people have ever 
 been Christianised through a foreign langunge. 
 
 t Keport of Public Meeting for the Formation of 
 
 Lord Canning, subscribed largely to a mis- 
 sionary society, which has for its object the 
 conversion of the natives." The«.reply of 
 Lord Lansdowne was, that if " Lord Can- 
 ning had so acted as to give countenance to 
 such belief as the noble earl inferred, he 
 would no longer deserve to be continued in 
 his office.'' These, and similar expressions 
 of opinion, have done good by affording 
 unmistakable evidence of the feelings enter- 
 tained by men of high talent and position. 
 A cry arose for " Christian emancipation," 
 and several public meetings took place. 
 On one of these, held at Exeter Hall on the 
 5th of January, 1858, the Times commented 
 in the following terms : — " We have made 
 a great mistake in India. The religious 
 policy pursued by the government of that 
 country, has made us, as one of its own 
 servants declared, 'cowards in the eyes of 
 men, and traitors in the eyes of God.' 
 * * * A stranger to the question, after 
 reading the noble chairman's speech on 
 that occasion, might well imagine that the 
 Hindoos were the conquerors, and we the 
 subjects ; that we had been tyranuically 
 debarred, for more than a century, from the 
 free exercise of our religion ; and that we 
 were at length seizing a favourable moment 
 to demand relief from these unjust disabili- 
 ties. All that his lordship, and those who 
 followed him, asked for, was Christian 
 emancipation ■ * * * and that, under a 
 government acknowledging faith in Christ 
 Jesus, the profession of the Gospel should 
 no longer be visited with penalties of civil 
 disqualification. These are literally the 
 conditions to which our policy has driven 
 us. * * * We were never really neutral ; 
 we made ourselves partisans; but, unfor- 
 tunately, in our anxiety to escape the 
 charge of favouring Christianity, we ac- 
 tually favoured heathenism. * * * AH 
 this must now end, if not for truth's sake, 
 for the sake of government itself. Our 
 policy has broken down utterly, and proved 
 destructive to its own objects. There is no 
 mistaking the results of the experiment. 
 Where, asked Lord Shaftesbury, did the 
 insurrection break out ? Was it in Madras, 
 where Christians are most numerous, and 
 where Christianity has been best treated ? 
 Was it in Bombay, where caste was scouted, 
 
 a Christian Vernacular Education Society, 20th May, 
 1858; p. 8. 
 
 X Pari. Papers, 13th April, 1858; p. 2. 
 
 § Letter from a Layman, p. 13. 
 
 II Dickinson's India under a Bureaucracy, p. 117.
 
 DANGER OP CHANGING IDOLATERS TO ATHEISTS. 
 
 15 
 
 and Hindoos taught that government could 
 pay no heed to sucli pretensions? No; it 
 was in Bengal, where idolatry and caste 
 received the greatest reverence; and in tlie 
 Bengal army, which represented the most 
 pampered class of the whole population." 
 
 One last incident, illustrative of the anti- 
 Christian policy of the Indian government, 
 remains to be quoted. The Southals — a 
 wild tribe, resembling our gipsies — were 
 driven into rebellion in 1856,' by the mis- 
 conduct of some railway contractors, the 
 exactions of native bankers, and the out- 
 rages committed by the native police. The 
 missionaries materially aided in restoring 
 tranquillity, and succeeded in obtaining the 
 confidence of these poor savages, who were 
 without the pale of Hindoo caste ; and the 
 Calcutta authorities entered into arrange- 
 ments with the Church Missionary Society 
 for the establishment of schools of religious 
 and industrial instruction among them, and 
 specially among the females.* When the 
 measure became known in England, the 
 home government refused its sanction, and 
 ordered the establishment of schools on its 
 own plan, the teachers of which were to be 
 "most strictly enjoined to abstain from any 
 attempt to introduce religious subjects in 
 any form."f 
 
 It is interesting to learn, from one of the 
 Hindoos themselves, the view taken by them 
 of our so-called neutrality. Shew Purshad 
 says — " It is absurd to think that the Eng- 
 lish are hated by the Hindoos on account of 
 their religion. * * * It is not religion, 
 but the want of religion, which has brought 
 so much evil to this country. The people 
 know that the government is a Christian 
 one. Let it ac*' openly as a true Christian : 
 the people will never feel themselves disap- 
 pointed; they will only admire it. * * * 
 Education must be carried on upon a 
 
 * See Mr. J. M. Strachan's Letter tu Captain 
 Eastwick. (Seeley, 1858.) 
 
 t Pari. Papers (Commons), 24lh Aug., 1857; p. 2. 
 
 X See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 46. 
 
 § " Active resistance to the recently introduced 
 messing system in the gaols of Bengal and tlie N.W. 
 Provinces, has produced bloodshed." — Col. Sjkes' 
 Letter to the Times, October 8th, 1857. 
 
 II Thoughts «fa Native, SfC, pp. 18—34. 
 
 ^ Mr. Tucker was connected with the Benares 
 district for twenty-five years : during this period he 
 avowed and acted up to his own high standard of 
 Christian duty, at tlie risk of being deemed a dan- 
 gerous fanatic ; the more so because the " Holy 
 City" of Benares is the stronghold of the Brahmins, 
 and holds a somewhat similar position, in the esti- 
 mation of the Hindoos, to what -Mecca does in that 
 of the Moslems. Yet, on his departure for Europe 
 
 sounder principle, and religion must be 
 fostered. Don't turn India from idolatry 
 to atheism. * * * Who can detest 
 'religion?' It is the order of their own 
 ShastrasJ that every man is to revere his 
 own religion. You may have a thousand 
 missionaries to preach, and another thou- 
 sand as masters of the schools, at 'the ex- 
 pense of the government, or distribute a 
 thousand Bibles at the hands of the gov- 
 ernor-general. The people will not murmur 
 out a single syllable, though they may 
 laugh and jeer ; liut take care that you do 
 not interfere with their caste — you do not 
 force them to eat the food cooked by another 
 in the gaols,§ or thrust grease down their 
 throats with the cartridges made by Eu- 
 ropeans. ♦ * * Difference of caste 
 must vanish, with many other offsprings of 
 folly and ignorance, when its proper time 
 comes. To try to exterminate it now must 
 end in bloodshed." || 
 
 Mr. Henry Carre Tucker, the son of the 
 late chairman of the East India Company 
 (and himself no mean authority^), confirms 
 the statement, from long personal experience 
 — that so long aS we scrupulously abstain 
 from any direct interference with the cere- 
 monial observances of caste, we may teach 
 Christianity as much as we please, adding — 
 " This view is strengthened by the fact, that 
 during the late mutiny, those large military 
 stations have escaped the best where the 
 governors were most zealous for Chris- 
 tianity." He proceeds to instance Pesha- 
 vvur, under Herbert Edwardes ; and Lahore, 
 under "those brave Christian men, Johc 
 Lawrence and Robert ^Montgomery :" bu 
 here we cannot follow him without anti- 
 cipating the subsequent narrative. His 
 conclusions, however, are too important to 
 be omitted : they are — " That we ought to 
 assume a bolder position as a Christian gov- 
 
 in March, 1858, a valedictory address was presented 
 to him, signed by all the principal inhabitants — e.\- 
 pressing sorrow at the termination of their official 
 connection, a " deep sense of admiration of his en- 
 larged spirit of philanthropy and almost boundless 
 benevolence," and " gratitude for his zealous exer- 
 tions in extending the benefits of education." In 
 token of their sense of the manner in which he had 
 employed his few leisure hours in furthering " the 
 welfare, here and hereafter, of those committed to his 
 charge," the subscribers to the address collected 
 among themselves 6,000 rupees, for the obtainment 
 of a full-length portrait of their friend, to be placed 
 in the Benares college; and witli the balance, after 
 defraying the cost of the jiicture, they propose t& 
 found a scholarship to commemorate his name. 
 Certainly the Hindoos know how to apprcciati! 
 Christian disinterestedness when they meet with it.
 
 16 
 
 CASTE, A SOCIAL CONVENTION. 
 
 ernment; that it is quite feasible to Chris- 
 tianise our education ; and that, instead of 
 causing alarln and disaffection, those dan- 
 gerous points have, through God's blessing, 
 been the most quiet where Cliristian exer- 
 tion has been the greatest. Oude, destitute 
 of all missionary effort, and the sepoys, to 
 whom Christian instruction was closed, were 
 the worst of all."* 
 
 The ignorance displayed by the sepoys, 
 and that large part of the Indian population 
 connected with the army, regarding Chris- 
 tianity, is remarkable, even after making 
 every possible allowance for the rigid exclu- 
 sion of missionary teaching, and the abso- 
 lute prohibition of proselytism among their 
 ranks. t The cause is obvious — not simply 
 to the minds of earnest Christians, but to 
 the class who have least sympathy with any- 
 thing approaching religious enthusiasm. 
 
 The Times,i in one of its leading articles, 
 is constrained to admit, that it is because 
 the superior beneficence and purity of our 
 religion have not been vividly and trans- 
 parently exhibited in practice, that we " have 
 not converted the people who have witnessed 
 the every-day life of British gentlemen and 
 ladies — we will not say to an acceptance of 
 our religion, but even to any high regard for 
 it. * * * "We ought to have stood high 
 in that land of many religions, as a con- 
 sistent, believing, just, kind, and holy people. 
 That we have not even done this, and that 
 we are regarded simply as unbelievers, with 
 httle religion except a few negative tenets, 
 which we find convenient for political pur- 
 poses, must be deemed a shortcoming in 
 our practice. It must be our fault that we 
 Christians stand so much lower in the reli- 
 gious scale of India than we did in the scale 
 of ancient paganism." 
 
 While (according to the above impartial 
 testimony) we have not taught Christianity 
 either by precept or example, and while 
 among the sepoys the Bible has remained a 
 
 • It would 6eem as if the government had feared 
 the infiueiice of Christianity among the English 
 soldiery ; for it is only very recently that chaplains 
 have been appointed to accompany expeditions. 
 Xo provision of the kind was made in the Cabool 
 war ; and Sir Charles Napier loudly complained of 
 1 similar deficiency among his force in Sinde. 
 
 \ Witness the case of Purrub-deen Pandeh, a high- 
 caste Biahmin (a naik in the 25th regiment), who, 
 though " previously much esteemed in the corps," 
 was summarily removed for having received Chris- 
 tian baptism. This occurred at Meerut in 1819. — 
 (Pari. Papers, 8th February, 1858.) 
 
 X October 6th, 1857. 
 
 § See London Quarterly lieriew, October, 1857 : 
 
 sealed book, no such embargo has ever been 
 laid on the Koran. The Mohammedans, 
 themselves essentially propagandists,*- have 
 remained masters of the situation. Wrapped 
 in a complacent belief of their own supe- 
 riority, as believers iu a revelation more 
 recent and complete than that of their con- 
 querors, the followers of the False Prophet 
 adopt their own classification of " Jews, 
 English, infidels, and heretics;" and really 
 viewing us (in a certain sense) as we do the 
 Jews, have taken pains to communicate 
 this impression to the Hindoos. 
 
 Indeed, who will venture to defend from 
 the charge of practical atheism, a govern- 
 ment that causes such sentences as " Gocl 
 is a Spirit," to be expunged from its school- 
 books ;§ being apparently ignorant that this 
 fundamental truth is the very essence of all 
 that is sound in Mohammedanism, and is 
 acknowledged, at least in theory, by every 
 Brahmin and Buddhist in India. 
 
 Caste, and the panic-terror which the 
 idea of its violation may have occasioned, 
 constitute a social and political, even more 
 tiian a religious question. || Sir Charles 
 Napier well defined the difference when 
 he said, that what the natives dreaded, 
 was " not conversion, but contamination." 
 Caste is no universal, immutable law : it 
 is a pure convention ; but one which, by 
 the nature of our position, we are bound to 
 respect to a certain reasonable extent. 
 
 The traditional four castes^ have merged 
 into innumerable others. Human passions 
 have proved too strong for the strongest 
 fetters ever forged by a wily priesthood. 
 Intermarriages have taken place between 
 every variety of caste ; and the result is, the 
 general division of the Hindoo population 
 into high-caste (consisting of Brahmins who 
 compose the priest and scholar class, and 
 the Rajpoots, who are hereditary soldiers), 
 low-caste (iu which all the Mahrattas, and 
 
 article on the " Sepoy Rebellion ;" by the Rev. W. 
 Arthur; p. 259. 
 
 II No European can form, though they ought to 
 form, a correct idea of the difference between the 
 prejudices of caste and those of religion. Give a 
 couple of gold mohurs to a pundit, and he will cheer- 
 fully compose a book in refutation of his own reli- 
 gion ; but give him a glass of water openly touched 
 by you, even through the medium of a stick a hun- 
 dred feet long, and he will not drink it, though you 
 offer him a thousand gold mohurs. Secretly, per- 
 haps, he may not have objection to do anything 
 either to please you or satiate his own passions 
 — {2'hotu/hts of a Xative, i^c; p. 18) 
 
 U See Indian Emjtire, vol. i., p. 14.
 
 HIGH-CASTE, LOW-CASTE, AND OUT-CASTE. 
 
 17 
 
 most of the remaining native princes, are 
 included), and, thirdly, out-caste — a section 
 diffused all over India, and forming a large 
 proportion of the entire population. The 
 Abbe Dubois maintained, thnt they were, in 
 his time, one in five ; but an able writer of 
 our own day suggests one in ten as nearer 
 the truth : adding — " Even in this pro- 
 portion the Indian out-castes would be 
 twenty millions of human beings, or more 
 than the population of aljl England."* 
 
 This class includes the aborigines, or at 
 least the predecessors of the Hindoos, the 
 Gonds, Bheels, Sonthals, &c., who have 
 never accepted caste ; and, indeed, could 
 not by Brahmiuical law find place in it. 
 The ban-ier is equally impassable for the 
 Mussulmans, whose observance of certain 
 caste rules is worthless in the sight of the 
 Hiudoos. No man can venture to foretel 
 how much longer the system may endure, 
 or how soon it may be thrown to the winds. 
 The Jains have caste ; the Buddhists (who 
 still linger in India) have none. Then there 
 are the Seiks, originally a peaceable, reli- 
 gious sect, founded by a Hindoo, whose 
 creed was derived from the Vedas and the 
 Koran. Caste was suddenly abolished among 
 them by Govind, their tenth " Guru," or 
 spiritual chief; converts were gladly wel- 
 comed from all quarters, and admitted to a 
 perfect equality. f 
 
 A similar change may come over the mass 
 of the Hindoos ; and as the teaching of St. 
 Paul produced the simultaneous conversion 
 of two thousand persons, so here, whole 
 communities may be led at once to renounce 
 the error which has so long enthralled them. 
 Or, the work may be more gradual — indivi- 
 dual enlightenment may be the thin edge 
 of the wedge : but in either case, Christian 
 civilisation is the instrument which alone 
 can prosper in our hands — the only one that 
 affords any rational prospect of leading to 
 the voluntary renunciation of caste. This 
 renunciation does not necessarily accom- 
 pany conversion to Christianity ; though it 
 would seem to be an inevitable consequence. 
 
 Some of the Hindoo pamphleteers, how- 
 ever, declare that, caste can hardly be 
 deemed incompatible with Christianity, when 
 it exists so evidently, although undfer pecu- 
 liar form8,'among the English. They ask, 
 whether we do not treat all men Whose 
 skins are darker than our own, as if of quite 
 
 * Sepny Rebellion in India ; by the Rev. AV. 
 Arthur. — London Quarterly Review, October, 1857. 
 t See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 154. 
 vol,. II. D 
 
 another caste or breed? Whether half-caste 
 is not our contemptuous term for an Eura- 
 sian ? Tliey point to the whole framework of 
 Anglo-Indian society, to its "covenanted" 
 service, to the rigid exclusiveness produced 
 by patronage alike in the military and civil 
 service, in confirmation of their assertion. 
 High-caste, low-caste, and out-caste, with 
 their various subdivisions, are, they saj', 
 pretty clearly defined in oui practice, how- 
 ever forcibly we may repudiate such dis- 
 tinctions in theory. 
 
 To return : the Indo-Mohammedans have, 
 to a certain extent, imitated Brahmiuical 
 practices as conventional distinctions, and 
 are interested in inciting the Hindoo se- 
 poys to maintain a system which enables 
 them to dictate to their officers the what, 
 wheu, how, and where, in a service in 
 which unhesitating and unquestioning obe- 
 dience is otherwise exacted, 'llie natives 
 are perfectly aware that caste is a great 
 inconvenience to the Europeans, and that it 
 materially impedes their efficiency as sol- 
 diers and servants. It is this which made 
 them so watchful of every measure of gov- 
 ernment that might infringe on the caste 
 monopoly of privileges and immunities, 
 which we had unwisely made their " Magna 
 Charta," and which we, strangely enough, 
 took no pains to investigate or define. The 
 consequence of our ignorance of its theory 
 and regulations has been, that we have been 
 perpetually falling into opposite errors — 
 vacillating between absurd deference" to pre- 
 tended scruples, and real infraction of the 
 first and most invariable observances. Per- 
 secution on the one hand, undue concessions 
 on the other, have been our Scylla and Cha- 
 rybJis ; but it is our ignorance that has 
 made them so. 
 
 In considering the operation of caste in 
 India, we must bear in mind that it is a 
 thing hard to preserve intact, and easily de- 
 stroyed, either by force or fraud. Many, 
 comparatively recent instances of both are 
 on record ; and Tippoo Sultan. especially' de- 
 lighted in compelling Brahmins to forfeit 
 their privileges by destroying kine. The 
 natives know us too well to fear any such 
 ebullitions of insane barbarity or fierce zeal ; 
 but it is quite possible they may anticipate 
 our desiring the annihilation of caste on the 
 score of policy, and dread our attempting it 
 l)y a coup d'etat. It is alleged that articles 
 in the public journals, regarding the need 
 of soldiers experienced by England in 
 carrying out the Russian, Persian, and Chi-
 
 18 
 
 THE GREASED CARTRIDGES. 
 
 nese wars, gave rise to rumours which were 
 circulated among the sepoys, of the anxietj' 
 of government to get rid, at once and for 
 ever, of the shackles which prevented the 
 Indian troops from being sent across the 
 Cala-pani, or Black water, to fight our bat- 
 tles in foreign climes.* A Hindoo would 
 naturally cling to the system which was at 
 once his reason and excuse for avoiding 
 expatriation, v.hich he fears worse than 
 death ; and his suspicions would easily be 
 roused on the subject. 
 
 The readiest way of destroying caste, is 
 by forcing or tempting the party concerned 
 to taste anything prepared by unclean hands 
 — that is, by persons of an inferior, or of no 
 caste; or which contains the smallest par- 
 ticle of the flesh of kine. The Mohamme- 
 dans abstain as rigidly from tasting the 
 flesh of the impure hog, as the Hindoos from 
 that of the sacred cow. The motive differs, 
 hut the result is the same. In both cases, 
 the abstinence respectively practised is one 
 of the first and most generally recognised 
 of their rules. The Indian government 
 could scarcely have been ignorant, when 
 issuing a new description of fire-arms to 
 the sepoys, that to bite a cartridge greased 
 with cows' or pigs' fat, was more to Hin- 
 doos and Indo-Mohammedans, than "eat- 
 ing pork to a Jew, spitting on the Host 
 to a Roman Catholic, or trampling on the 
 Cross to a Protestant. "f To the Hindoos 
 it was indeed much more, so far as tem- 
 poral welfare was concerned ; for it involved 
 practical outlawry, with some of the pains 
 and penalties specially attached to conver- 
 «ion to Christianity. It is clear, that if it 
 had been necessary to distribute greased 
 cartridges, to be bitten by the troops, not 
 only the greatest care ought to have been 
 taken that no contaminating material should 
 be used in the manufacture, but also that 
 an explicit assurance should have been given 
 to this effect. Yet, the inspector-general of 
 ordnance has stated, that " no extraordinary 
 care appears to have been taken to ensure 
 the absence of any objectiouable fat. "J So 
 that, so far from endeavouring to remove all 
 suspicion from the minds of the sepoys, of 
 any intention to inflict on them the calamity 
 they most dreaded, we did not even guard 
 against its |>erpetration. 
 
 The issue of the greased cartridges, under 
 
 * Mead's Sepni/ Revolt, p. 37. (Routledge and 
 Co. : London, 1858.) 
 
 t Letters of Indophilus, p. 33. 
 
 \ Pari. Papers (by command), 1857 ; p. 7. 
 
 such circumstances, was unquestionably a 
 gross blunder, and is viewed by many as 
 the exciting cause of the mutiny. ... 
 
 The Free Press, and the so-called Gagging 
 Act of Lord Canning, have given rise to 
 discussions which bring to mind Dr. John- 
 son's remark, that opinions formed on the 
 efiicacy of a certain branch of scli^Ustic 
 discipline, are apt to be materially in- 
 fluenced by the fact, " of which end of the 
 rod falls to one's share." The evils alleged 
 to have l)een produced by unrestricted pub- 
 lication, are too circumstantially stated by 
 official authorities to be omitted in the pre- 
 sent category ; and it becomes necessary to 
 show, if possible, the two sides of the ques- 
 tion — that is, the case of those who wield, 
 and those who wince under, the rod of cen- 
 sorship. It is now little more than twenty 
 years since complete freedom of the pre.>is 
 was bestowed by Sir Charles Metcalfe. § 
 The measure was sudden and startling: it 
 was scarcely in accordance with liis own 
 previous views ; and it was in decided oppo- 
 sition to the opinions which the Court of 
 Directors had from time to time enunciated. 
 
 A recapitulation of the restrictive mea- 
 sures adopted in the three presidencies, 
 from 1799 to 1819, is given in an important 
 communication made by "the Chairs" || 
 to the president of the India Board, on 
 the 17th of January, 1823. Among other 
 evidence in support of the necessity for a 
 rigid censorship, they quoted the following 
 Minute, written in 1807, by Lord William 
 Bentinck (then governor of Madras), re- 
 garding a charge delivered by oue of the 
 judges of the Supreme Court (Sir Henry 
 Gwillim) to the grand jury : — 
 
 " It is necessary, in my opinion, for the public 
 safely, that the press in India should be kept under 
 the most rigid control. It matters not from what 
 pen the dangerous matter may issue; the higher the 
 authority the greater the mischief. We cannot pre- 
 vent the judges of the Supreme Court from uttering, 
 in open court, opinions, however mischievous; hut 
 it is in our power, and it is our duty, to prohibit 
 them from being circulated through the country by 
 means of the press. Entertaining strongly this 
 sentiment, I would recommend that the order of 
 government may be given to all proprietors of 
 printing-presses, forbidding them, upon pain of the 
 utmost displeasure of the governor in council, to 
 print any paper whatever without the j)reviou8 
 sanction of the governor in council, communicated 
 by the chief secretary ."H 
 
 § Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 431. 
 II The chairman and deputy-chairman of the 
 E. I. Company (J. Pattison and W. Wigram.) 
 ^ Pari. Papers (Commons), 4th May, 1858.
 
 BENTINCK, METCALFE, AND ELPHTNSTONE ON FREE PRESS. 19 
 
 The opinion pronounced by Sir Thomas 
 Munro, regarding the revolution which a 
 free press would produce throughout the 
 native army, is next quoted; and the writers 
 proceed to express similar and very decided 
 views on the subject : — 
 
 " A free press is a fit associate and necessary 
 appendage of a representative constitution ; but in 
 no sense of the terms can the government of India 
 be called a free, a representative, or a popular govern- 
 ment ; the people had no voice in its establishment, 
 nor have they any control over its acts. • • • 
 Can it be doubted that the respect of the natives for 
 our authority would be greatly diminished, and the 
 energy of the government impaired, by a free press ? 
 • * • It is impossible to suppose that a foreign 
 government, however strong and beneficent its cha- 
 racter, should not be obnoxious in some degree to 
 those who live under it. It is humbling to the pride 
 of the people; and where they differ, as in India, in 
 religion, in language, in manners, in colour, and in 
 customs from those who administer the government, 
 there cannot be much sympathy or attachment 
 between them. Though the situation of the large 
 body of the people may now be greatly better, on the 
 whole, than it was under their native governments, 
 there are not a few, particularly among the Moham- 
 medans, who have suffered from the change. These, 
 we may be sure, will always be ready to avail them- 
 selves of any opportunity of retrieving their fortunes, 
 and we know not that they could deiire a more efficient 
 auxiliary than a licentious press, labouring daily to 
 extinguish all respect for our character and govern- 
 ment in the minds of their countrymen. The ten- 
 dency and effect of our system, too, has been to 
 beget in the minds of the people at large a respect 
 for themselves, and notions of their own importance, 
 which makes the task of governing them a more 
 difficult one than it was when they first came under 
 our rule. But the delicacy of our situation in India 
 cannot be well understood without special advertence 
 to the circumstance of the government being de- 
 pendent in a great degree for its security on a native 
 army, which, though better paid, with reference to 
 the wages of labour, than any other army in the 
 world, contains in its organisation some elements of 
 discontent. The exclusion of the natives from its 
 higher ranks must necessarily be a source of heart- 
 burning to men of family and ambition ; and when a 
 sense of mortification is united with a spirit of enter- 
 prise, their joint workings are not easily daunted or 
 repressed. It may be difficult to retain the fidelity 
 of men of this description, with all the care and cau- 
 tion that can be exercised ; but it would appear to 
 be either a lamentable infatuation, or unpardonable 
 rashness, to allow them to be goaded on to revolt, 
 by means over which we possess or may obtain con- 
 trol. Whatever English newspapers are published 
 at the presidencies will naturally find their way to 
 the principal military stations. Many of the native 
 officers can read and understand English ; and by 
 means of the native servants of the European officers, 
 it will not be difficult for them to obtain the perusal 
 of those papers, containing a perhaps exaggerated re- 
 presentation of their grievances or an inflammatory in- 
 centive to rebellion, which, from their assemblage in 
 garrisons and cantonments, they have better means of 
 concerting than any other portion of the population."' 
 • Pari. Papers, 4th May, 1858 ; pp. 20—23. 
 
 The degree of severity with which the 
 restrictions enacted to control the press 
 were enforced, depended of course materially 
 on the character of those by whom the 
 supreme authority was wielded. Lord 
 Amherst used his power as governor- 
 general in such wise as entirely to stifle 
 all public discussion; and Lord William 
 Bentinck, his successor (in 1828), was so 
 impressed by the mischievous effect of this 
 policy, that though, as has been shown, very 
 ready to repress, in the most summary 
 fashion, any real or imagined excess on the 
 part of journalists, he, nevertheless, deemed 
 it necessary to issue a notice inviting sug- 
 gestions from any quarter for the itnprove- 
 ment of public measures, and the develop- 
 ment of the resources of the country ; and 
 the result was the publication of letters 
 from various quarters, written with much 
 ability and freedom ; among which, the first 
 and most important were those afterwards 
 embodied by the Hon. Frederick Shore, in 
 his Notes on Indian Affairs. 
 
 Lord William Bentinck quitted India in 
 1835 ; Lord Auckland came out as his suc- 
 cessor in the same year ; and it was during 
 the brief provisional sway of Sir Charles 
 (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe, that the im- 
 portant measure was adopted of giving 
 complete freedom to the press. In ex- 
 plaining the difference between his own 
 opinions and those of his predecessor, Sir 
 Charles says — 
 
 " His lordship, however, sees further danger in 
 the spread of knowledge and the operations of the 
 press. I do not, for my own part, anticipate danger 
 as a certain consequence from these causes. I see 
 so much danger in the ignorance, fanaticism, and 
 barbarism of our subjects, that I rest on the spread 
 of knowledge some hope of greater strength and 
 security. • • • The time is past when the ope- 
 rations of the press could be effectually restrained. 
 Even if that course would be any source of safety 
 (which must be very doubtful), nothing so precarious 
 could in prudence be trusted to. If, therefore, in- 
 crease of danger is really to be apprehended from 
 increase of knowledge, it is what we must cheerfully 
 submit to. We must not try to avert it j and, if we 
 did, we should fail."t 
 
 Lord Elpliinstone (the present governor 
 of Bombay), in commenting on this passage, 
 truly says, that Lord Metcalfe " considers 
 the freedom of the press, and the diffusion 
 of knowledge, as convertible terms ;" and 
 expresses his surprise that a statesman who 
 entertained such alarming notions of the 
 insecurity and unpopularity of our rule, 
 should have been the man to abolish the 
 
 ■j- SeUctiont from the Metcalfe Papers, p. I9t.
 
 20 AUCKLAND, ELLENBOROUGH, AND NAPIER ON FREE PRESS. 
 
 few remaining restrictions deemed indis- 
 pensable by his predecessor.* 
 
 In 1841, Lord Auckland revoked an 
 order passed in 182G, prohibiting public 
 servants from being connected with news- 
 papers as editors or proprietors. Next 
 carae Lord Ellenborough ; who found his 
 tranquillity so disturbed by the " abuse" of 
 the press, that after three months' residence 
 in India, he ceased " to read a word that 
 appeared in the newspapers. "f The com- 
 mander-in-chief, Lord Gough, is alleged to 
 have avowed with yet more stoical philo- 
 sophy, that "for his part, he never rpad 
 any paper but the Tipperarij Journal." 
 The governor-general deemed it the most 
 judicious course to treat all attacks on his 
 administration with silent contempt ; and, 
 in 1843, he issued an order of opposite 
 tenor to that of Lord Auckland ; which, 
 by enforcing strict secrecy regarding all in- 
 formation officially obtained, neutralised the 
 power which had been freely exercised un- 
 der the express sanction of the three pre- 
 vious rulers. 
 
 " Lord Ellenborough's general order," 
 says Indophilus, " and the disposition which 
 was shown to place a strict interpretation 
 upon it, effectually restrained the pens of 
 the Company's servants ; and no govern- 
 ment could stand such pounding and kick- 
 ing, and bedaubing and besmearing, as 
 ensued." Statements, however false, put 
 forth in ignorance or from malice preppnse, 
 were left to be copied into the native papers ; 
 and no denial, no antidote in any shape, 
 was offered. For instance, a paragraph 
 went the round of the newspapers, that it 
 was intended to annex the Rajpoot states; 
 and although great disquiet was thereby 
 ■occasioned throughout Rajpootana, no con- 
 tradiction was ever published.]: 
 
 The Afghan war, and the annexation of 
 Sinde, were subjects on which the authori- 
 ties were perhaps wise in preferring to 
 
 • Miimte of 24th June, 1858. Pari. Papers 
 (House of Commons), 4th May, 1858; pp. 52, 53. 
 
 t Debate, 27th Dec, 1857. — Times report. 
 
 X Letters of Indophilus, p. 48. 
 
 § Life, vol. iii., p. 194. |1 Ihid., vol. ii., p. 218. 
 
 5f Ibid., vol. ii. p. 305. Dr. Buist (editor of the 
 Bombay Times, and sheriff of Bombay), in a pamphlet 
 entitled, " Corrections of a Few of the Errors con- 
 tained in Sir William Napier's Life of his Brother, 
 in so far as they affect the Press of India," gives 
 some valuable statements regarding the Indian 
 newspapers ; of which he says there were, in 1843, 
 about thirty ; costing close on £100,000 a-year for 
 their maintenance — deriving their chief support, and 
 nearly all their intelligence from oificers of the 
 
 submit to comments which they might treat 
 as calumnious, rather than engage in con- 
 troversy; but sometimes leadings-officials, 
 more sensitive or less discreet than their 
 superiors, broke all bounds, and declaimed 
 against the press in terms of unmeasured 
 invective. The brave, testy, inconsistent 
 general. Sir Charles Napier, who came to 
 India at sixty years of age with five pounds 
 in his pocket, for the sake of providing for 
 his family,§ and who did provide for them 
 magnificently, by what he termed that 
 "very advantageous, useful, humane piece 
 of rascality," the seizure of Sinde ;|| — this 
 man (who was as ready with his pen as 
 with his sword, and, in either case, fought 
 ever without a shield) fairly flung himself 
 into a hornet's-nest by his reckless and 
 indiscriminate abuse of those "ruffians,"^ 
 whom he boasted of taking every public 
 opportunity of calling "the infamous press 
 of India."** One of them excited his special 
 displeasure by taking part against him in 
 the Outram controversy — Dr. Buist, of the 
 Bombay Times, whom Sir Charles alternately 
 threatened with a law-suit and a horse- 
 whipping, and of whom he spoke at a public 
 dinner as that " blatant beast ;"tt a mot 
 which he duly records, and which Sir Wil- 
 liam has not thought it derogatory to his 
 brother's fame to publish. 
 
 With such personal feeli.igs as these, it 
 is not to be wondered that Sir Charles 
 should regard the public statements of the 
 journalists with jealous aversion, and should 
 accuse them of desiring to excite mutiny 
 among the troops; of inciting the hos- 
 tile tribes to rise against them; of glory- 
 ing in the sufferings of their countrymen; 
 and many similar accusations in which the 
 fiery old warrior gave vent to his irrepres- 
 sible belligerence. His is not fair testi- 
 mony concerning the operation of a free 
 press ; and it is necessary to turn to more 
 impartial witnesses. Sir Charles Trevelyan 
 
 British army. The Englishman (Calcutta) was con- 
 ducted by Captain McNaughton (Bengal Army.) 
 and Mr (now Sir Ronald McDonald) Stevenson, 
 projector and engineer of the great Bengal railway : 
 Hurkaru — Mr. John Kaye, Bengal artillery, now of 
 the India House (author of the History of the 
 Afghan War) : Calcutta Star and Morning Star — 
 Mr. James Hume, barrister, now police magistrate 
 of Calcutta ; Friend nf India — -the well-known Mr. 
 John Marshman : Bombay Courier, by Mr. W. 
 Crawford, barrister, now senior magistrate of police : 
 and Bombay Genthman's Gazette, by Mr. P. J. 
 McKenna. — (p. 15.) 
 
 •• Life, by Sir William Napier, vol. iii., p. 124. 
 
 tt Ibid., vol. iii., p. 294.
 
 OPERATION OF A FREE PRESS IN INDIA— 1837. 
 
 21 
 
 asserts, tliat it has been, " on the whole, 
 highly beneficial :" and that — 
 
 " There oannot be a greater evil than that public 
 officers should he exempted from the control of public 
 opinion. In Lord William Bentinck's, Lord Met- 
 calfe's, and Lord Auckland's time, the press was 
 held in wholesome respect by the public function- 
 aries at the most remote stations, and it acted as a 
 sort of moral preventive police. • • • 'We used 
 to call it the Parliament of the Press. It may 
 safely be said, that there was not a single good 
 public measure which was not powerfully aided by 
 it. As regards the native press, some newspapers 
 were conducted in a creditable manner in the Eng- 
 lish language, by and for the natives, who had re- 
 ceived an English education ; others were published 
 in the native language by the missionaries : and it 
 must not be supposed that the remainder, which 
 were written by natives in the native languages, did 
 nothing but preach sedition. Their standard, both 
 of intelligence and morality, was, no doubt, below 
 that of the English newspapers; but they opened 
 the minds of the natives to an interest in general 
 topics, and tavfjht them to think, from which every 
 thing else might be expected."' 
 
 Sanscrit literature proves that the Hin- 
 doos were a thoughtful people before the 
 English set foot in India; but the spread of 
 European and " non-religious" theories, has 
 been certainly likely to teach them to reason 
 ill an entirely different fashion. We know 
 that Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and Con- 
 dorcet gave currency to ideas which took a 
 very practical form in the French Revolu- 
 tion. These writers, with the English in- 
 fidel, Tom Paine, have found imitators and 
 admirers in India, and their doctrines are 
 flung abroad like firebrands by the native 
 press. A blind, tmreasoning distrust of all 
 governments — a fierce disaffection towards 
 all constituted authorities — thirst for license 
 under tlie name of freedom ; such are the 
 fruits of the tree of knowledge, apart and 
 contra-distinguished from the tree of life. 
 A saying, attributed to the Duke of Wel- 
 lington, is often cited against the danger at- 
 tendant on promoting education without reli- 
 gion — that of making men "clever devils." 
 No better illustration of this need be ad- 
 duced than the terrible scenes enacted by 
 the Bengal sepoys,among whom native news- 
 papers of the worst class have freely circu- 
 lated. The utter indifference so long evinced 
 by government, regarding the number, tone, 
 
 * Letters of Indophibts, p. 45. 
 
 t On application to the East India House for 
 some additional details to those given in the Indian 
 Empire (vol. i., p. 523), the writer was informed 
 that the directors had no information on the subject. 
 
 X Dr. Buist's Corrections of Sir W. Napifr, p. 40. 
 
 § The Edinburgh Hevieto speaks of the Anglo- 
 Indian press as exclusively representing " the opin- 
 
 and character of the native journals, is 
 almost incredible ;t indeed, that complete 
 freedom should have been accorded even to 
 the European press, is strangely at variance 
 with the general policy of the Company. 
 
 In 1857, the adult male European popu- 
 lation scattered throughout India, not in 
 the service, was estimated at only 4,000. J 
 The journals must, therefore, to a great 
 extent, have been maintained by officials. 
 Some of them, especially the Madras At/ie- 
 ncpum, uniformly deprecated annexation ; 
 and thus its supporters contributed with 
 thejr purses, and sometimes with their pens, 
 to oppose the very acts which, in their 
 official capacity, they were bound to en- 
 force. § It was impossible that the natives 
 should not take a lively interest in discus- 
 sions which immediately affected them. 
 Even a child, hearing its own name often 
 repeated, would listen ; and the natives have 
 done so to some purpose. 
 
 Five years ago, one of the ablest and 
 most disinterested advocates for the neces- 
 sity of Indian reform, as the sole means of 
 averting the blow which has since fallen, 
 wrote : — 
 
 " The free press is doing its work in India : the 
 Parsee merchants, the zemindars, the native heads 
 of castes, are beginning to feel their power, to com- 
 bine, and to ask for redress of grievances ; some of 
 them are violent, and these do not alarm me ; but 
 some are remarkably temperate ; and I confess, that 
 knowing the strength of their case, I fear the men 
 who begin so temperatelv, and have reason on their 
 side."|| 
 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe, in establishing, and 
 Lord Auckland in confirming, the freedom 
 of the press, especially insisted that the 
 boon thus granted might be withdrawn, in 
 the event of its proving injurious in opera- 
 tion. " Should the safety of the state ever 
 demand such a course, in a single hour a law 
 may be passed to stop or to control every 
 press in India: nothing has been lost of 
 useful power."^ 
 
 In the middle of June, 1857, when the 
 mutiny was at its height, the supreme 
 government deemed it necessary to pass 
 an act, which, for the space of the suc- 
 ceeding twelvemonth, was intended to re- 
 place the press in the position it occupied 
 
 ions of European settlers in the country, or half-castes 
 not in the Company's service," whopi it describes as a 
 class bitterly hostile to government. (October, 1847.) 
 Mr. Mead, on the contrary, affirms, that " six out of 
 seven of the whole body of subscribers are in the 
 Company's service." — Sepoy Revolt, p. 183. 
 
 II Dickinson's India under a Bureaucracy, p. 20. 
 
 "U Minute, by Lord Auckland, 8tb August, 1836.
 
 22 
 
 RESTRICTIONS ON THE PRESS RE-ESTABLISHED— 1857. 
 
 in 1835, before the removal of all restrictioTis 
 by Sir Charles ^Metcalfe. The authorities 
 were unanimous regarding the necessity of 
 the measure, which involved the re-iu- 
 stitution of the licensing systena, together 
 with a rigid censorship. The act was passed 
 by the governor-general in council in a 
 sitting; and Lords Harris and Elphinstone, 
 the governors of Madras and Bombay, ex- 
 pressed their entire acquiescence. No dis- 
 tinction was made between the English 
 and the native press, the government being 
 desirous to avoid drawing invidious distinc- 
 tions between European and native sub- 
 jects. They add, moreover — 
 
 " We do not clearly see how any distinction of the 
 sort could be really carried into effect, for there are 
 now more than one newspaper in the English lan- 
 guage written, owned and published by natives, 
 almost exclusively for circulation amongst native 
 readers ; and although we have no reason to fear 
 that treasonable matter would be designedly pub- 
 lished in any English newspaper, we have to guard 
 in these times against errors, indiscretion, and tem- 
 per, as well as against international sedition. • • • 
 I'o show that the necessity of controlling the Eng- 
 lish as well as the native press, is not merely imagi- 
 nary, it will be enough to state, that the treasonable 
 proclamation of the king and mutineers of Delhi — 
 cunningly framed so as to influence the Moham- 
 medan population as much as possible against the 
 British government,. and ending with the assurance, 
 that the multiplicatfon and circulation of that docu- 
 ment would be an act equal in religious merit to 
 drawing the sword against us, was published by a 
 respectable English newspaper of this town without 
 comment. For doing the very same thing, with 
 comments having the outward form of loyalty, the 
 publishers of three native Mohammedan papers in 
 Calcutta,,have been committed to the Supreme Conrt, 
 to take their trial for a seditious libel."' 
 
 Lord Harris went further than this, and 
 declared "the larger portion of the British 
 press throughout the country," and par- 
 ticularly in the Madras presidency, to be 
 " disloyjil in tone, un-English in spirit, 
 wanting in principle, and utterly regardless 
 of correctness in statement. "f He com- 
 plained especially of the seditious matter 
 circulated among the sepoys by a newspaper 
 entitled the Examiner, " the mouth-piece 
 of the Roman Catholic priests."J Lord 
 Elphinstone considered the unrestricted 
 liberty of the press incompatible with the 
 continuance of British rule. "Systematic 
 abuse of the government," he writes, " mis- 
 
 * Despatch to the Court of Directors, dated 4th 
 July, 1857. Signed — Canning, Dorin, Low, Grant, 
 and Peacock. Pari. Papers (Commons), 28th Au- 
 gust, 1857 ; pp. 4, 5. 
 
 t Minute, by Lord Harris, dated "Fort St. George, 
 2nd May, 1857"— /«('(/., p. 11. 
 
 X Minute, 22nd June, 1857— tflirf., p. 13. 
 
 representation of its acts, and all attempts 
 to create ill-feeling between the different 
 classes of the community, especially be- 
 tween the European officers and the native 
 soldiery, must be prevented."§ The home 
 authorities confirmed the act, declaring 
 that they felt no doubt of its necessity. || 
 
 The first Euglish paper threatened with 
 the revoke of its licence, was the well-known 
 Friend of India, which, in an article en- 
 titled " The Centenary of Plassy," censured 
 the mamraon-worship of the East India 
 Company, and declared that "only the 
 intense greediness of traders could have 
 won for us the sovereignty of the country." 
 Mohammedan princes and Hindoo rajahs 
 were spoken of as a class that would speedily 
 die out; and in conclusion, the writer held 
 forth a hope that the second centenary of 
 Plassy might be " celebrated in Bengal by 
 a respected government and a Christian 
 people." 
 
 The secretary to government (Mr. Bea- 
 don) officially informed the publisher, that 
 the circulation of such remarks, in the 
 existing state of affairs, was dangerous 
 "not only to the government, but to tiie 
 lives of all Europeans in the provinces not 
 living under the close protection of British 
 bayonets." This communication was pub- 
 lished in the Friend of India, with satiri- 
 cal comments, which the authorities consi- 
 dered so offensive, that the licence would 
 have been withdrawn but for the resigna- 
 tion of Mr. Mead, who was acting as 
 provisional editor during the absence of 
 the proprietor, Mr. Marshraan.<[ 
 
 The Bengal Hurkarii (Messenger) was 
 warned for its exaggerated echo of the 
 vengeanc&.cry of the London Times ; a 
 writer, styling himself " Militaire," de- 
 nouncing the just .and wise recommen- 
 dation of government not needlessly to 
 " embitter the feelings of the natives," and 
 urging that, "for every Christian church 
 destroyed, fifty mosques should be de- 
 stroyed, beginning with the Jumma Musjid 
 at Delhi ; and for every Christian man, 
 woman, and child murdered, a thousand 
 rebels should bleed."** 
 
 Ten days later, another article appeared, 
 which contained the following passage : — 
 
 § Minute, 24th June, 1857. Pari. Papers (Com- 
 mons), 4th May, 1858 ; p. 53. 
 
 II Letter of Court of Directors, 26th August, 1857 
 —Ibid., p. 30. 
 
 % Pari. Papers— /6iV., pp. 42—46. Mead's Se- 
 poy Revolt, pp. 359 — 376. 
 
 ** Bengal Httrkaru, 5th September, 1857.
 
 PRESS-CENSORSHIP ENFORCED, AND LICENCES REVOKED. 23 
 
 " There are many good, honest, simple people in 
 Calcutta, who are both surprised and disappointed 
 that popular indignation has not boiled up to a 
 higher pitch. They are astounded at finding that 
 Lord Canning has not been already ordered home in 
 irons, and that Mr. Beadon has not been sentenced 
 to be tarred and feathered, and ridden upon a rail, 
 previously to being placed in some extremely un- 
 covendnt'ed situation under a native superior. We 
 are very far from saying that these proceedings 
 would not be appropriate in the cases in question ; 
 but we would say to our enthusiastic friends, ' My 
 dear sirs, you are too impatient. - All in good 
 time."" 
 
 The licence of the Hurkaru was revoked ; 
 but the editor (Mr. Blanchard) having re- 
 signed, a new licence was issued to the 
 proprietor. Other English papers have 
 been warned for transgressing the condi- 
 tions of their licences ; but the native edi- 
 tors generally do not appear to have in- 
 curred censure. 
 
 The existing difficulty seems to be, the 
 course to be adopted with regard to the 
 republication of articles from English 
 papers. The following, for instance, is 
 styled by Mr. Frere (commissioner of 
 Sinde), " a very mischievous perversion of 
 an Indian debate, which, in quieter times, 
 might be amusing." A summary of griev- 
 ances could hardly be deemed amusing at 
 any moment. At the present crisis, it is 
 not only humiliating, but alarming, to find 
 such statements circulating in Hiudoostan 
 on the authority of British parliamentary 
 debates ; for the so-called perversion is 
 really a summary of the leading arguments 
 advanced by members of both houses 
 against the East India Company, more 
 especially by the Marquis of Clauricarde, 
 whose speech, it was predicted at the time, 
 would occasion great excitement among the 
 natives of India. 
 
 " The Jam-iJamsihid of Meerut relates, that in 
 durbar of , the Marquis of Clanricarde com- 
 plained much of the Indian government; that a 
 vast amount of rupees was expended among the 
 home authorities in the way of pay, they knowing 
 little of the circumstances of the country ; that the 
 nobles and great men of Hindoostan were becoming 
 extinct i and the middle classes gradually suffering 
 damage, and poor people bemg ruined. It would 
 be proper that the country should be so governed, 
 that the people do not' suffer. Some zillahs require 
 a decrease of taxation, and the, salt- tax is very wrong. 
 In whatever countries there' was fitting manage- 
 ment, the latter impost had been abolished. Beside 
 
 • Bengal Ifttrkaru, 14th September, 1857. 
 t Pari. Papers (Commons), 4th May, 1858. p. 48. 
 \ All the italicised words are exactly rendered 
 from the Persian by their English synonymes. 
 § Kirman, the name of a town and province in 
 
 tliis, in Hindoostan, the system of justice was de- 
 fective. Moreover, on this account, the English 
 name suffered ; and, in Hindoostan, amid ten judges, 
 nine are Hindoostanees, but their pay and position 
 was unimportant and inconsistent with their duties. 
 And the heads of the B. I. Company say, that amid 
 fourteen crore (million) of Hindoostanees, not one 
 is worthy of rank or trust ; a very sad and distress- 
 ing statement, enough to break the hearts of the 
 people of Hindoostan, and cow their spirits. Besides 
 which, he said many more things ; in answer to 
 which, the Duke of Argyle was unable to advance 
 any c! jar argument."! 
 
 It would be difficult to know on what 
 ground an editor could be warned for the 
 republication of the above statements, unless 
 it were on the strength of the now repu- 
 diated axiom, " The greater the truth, the 
 greater the libel !" 
 
 In another case — that of a Persian news- 
 paper, edited in Calcutta by one Hafiz 
 Abdul Kadir — the insurrectionary views of 
 the writer were undisguised. The licence 
 was, of course, revoked ; and the press and 
 printing materials seized It would have 
 been madness to suffe: such effusions as 
 the following to go forth : — ■ 
 
 " Now, when the drum of the power of the Eng- 
 lish is sounding so loudly, it is in every one's mouth 
 that the state of Travancore also is to be annexed 
 to the British dominions upon -the ground of mal- 
 administration. It is also said that the principality 
 ofUlwar will be con/iscated\ by government. But 
 at present the progress of confiscation is arrested by 
 the government of the Almighty Ruler. 
 
 " The government should first arrest the progress 
 of the disturbances and disorders which are raging 
 in all parts of the country, and then address itself to 
 these confiscations again. I formed a design of 
 going to Worms. But the " worm8"§ unexpectedly 
 eat off my head. He (God) is Almighty. He does 
 what he will. He makes a world desert in a breath. 
 
 " Everybody knows, and now perhaps it has be- 
 come quite clear to the lords of annexation, what 
 kind of mischief the confiscation of Lucknow has 
 done, causing ruin to thousands of their own friends. 
 * * * Come what may, in these degenerate 
 days, the men of Delhi must be celebrated as sons 
 of Rustum, and very Alexanders in strength. Oh ! 
 God destroy our enemies utterly, and assist and aid 
 our sovereign (Sultan)." 
 
 With the above characteristic extract 
 this sectioQ may fitly conclude, without 
 any attempt to hazard conclusions on so 
 difficult a subject as the degree of con- 
 trol necessary to be exercised for the main- 
 tenance of a despotic government, in a 
 crisis so arduous and unprecedented as the 
 present. 
 
 Persia, also signifies "woi;ms." The conceit can 
 thus be rendered into English. The whole tone of 
 the article, in the original, is highly sarcastic. — 
 Goolahun Nuwhahdr, 27th June, 1857. Pari. Papers 
 (Commons), 4th May, 1858 ; pp. 46, 47.
 
 24 
 
 METALLIC CURRENCY AN INCITEMENT TO MUTINY. 
 
 Currency* — An ill-regulated and insuffi- 
 cient currency has long pressed heavily on 
 the people, and has exercised a singular 
 influence in the present crisis. Until re- 
 cently there was only one public bank (that 
 of Bengal) in all Incl:;". : with much difficulty 
 two others, also under the control of gov- 
 ernment, were established at Bombay and 
 Madras; but the amount of notes issued by 
 them is insufficient for the requirements 
 of even these cities. Three or four joint- 
 stock banks have been lately formed ; but 
 the government has continued, up to the 
 present time, to rely on a bulky and in- 
 divisible coin, the silver rupee (worth about 
 two shillings), for its standard circulating 
 medium. The exclusive use, by the state, of 
 metallic money, has occasioned the accumu- 
 lation of treasure, amounting, sometimes, 
 to fourteen millions sterling, in thirty or 
 forty treasuries, scattered all over the 
 country. Forty to fifty thousand sepoys 
 have been annually employed in escorting 
 money from one district to another, an em- 
 ployment properly belonging to a police 
 force; which has occasioned much discontent, 
 and tended to the relaxation of discipline, 
 and general demoralisation of the soldiery. 
 A paper currency would have answered 
 every purpose of local taxation and pay- 
 ments to the troops : it would have been far 
 more easily transmissible, and it would not 
 have offered so tempting a bribe to native 
 cupidity. In several instances, it is evident 
 that the sepoys were stimulated to the 
 commission of crime by the hope of plun- 
 dering the local treasuries of much larger 
 sums than were ever allowed to remain 
 in them. 
 
 The Tirnesf has recently published the 
 following forcible remarks on the subject : — 
 
 "Regiments that held Company's paper were 
 faithful until they had exchanged it for gold; regi- 
 ments that had pay in arrear were faithful until the 
 arrears were paid up. The Comjiany's gold has 
 never received credit for the part it played in the 
 mutiny. Yet it had often been presssd upon the 
 authorities at Calcutta, that a paper currency would 
 be a boon to India. Those who wished for this, 
 probably thought little of the danger of carrying 
 bullion in bullock-trunks or palkies through the 
 jungle, or storing it in e.tposed places ; their object 
 was, in all probability, the e.xtension of commerce 
 and the development of the resources of the country. 
 The policy of the Company was, is, and ever must 
 
 • The cash balances in the difTerent Indian trea- 
 suries, varied from twelve to fourteen millions ster- 
 ling. In 1856, the amount was £12,043,334: of 
 this sum, there was in Bengal, £5, 117.553: in the 
 N. W. Provinces, £2,251,904 = £7,369,457. The 
 Madras presidency had £2,311,365; and the Bom- 
 
 be, to discourage all independent enterprise within 
 their territories, and they were consistent in refusing 
 to listen to any such suggestions. Now, however, 
 when we are commencing . new era— if, indeed, we 
 are commencing, or are cbout to commence a new 
 era — this subject must be reconsidered. There can 
 be no good reason why India should not in mone- 
 tary facilities be placed upon a level with England. 
 There is excellent reason v ly the troops should be 
 paid in paper money. The absence of the gold is 
 the absence of a powerful temptation, and thff^-bank- 
 note is a guardian of the fidelity of the man in 
 whose pocket it lies." 
 
 The Opium Monopoly, with its concomi- 
 tant grievances — the forced cultivation of 
 the poppy, and the domiciliary right of search 
 — ranks among the causes of popular disaf- 
 fection. The Company obtain opium from 
 the ryots at a very low price, by a system 
 of advances, and sell it for the contraband 
 China trade, at a very high one.{ An 
 official authority declares, that the peasants 
 in the opium districts of Patna and Benares, 
 are compelled to give up fixed portions of 
 their lands for the production of the poppy. 
 The forced cultivation of this poisonous 
 drug brings on the wretched cultivators the 
 persecuting surveillance of the police ; the 
 probability that they may be retaining some 
 portion for private sale, exposing them to 
 every sort of ingenuity which spies, autho- 
 rised and unauthorised, can imagine, as the 
 means of inflicting fines and extorting 
 bribes. § The deteriorating influence on the 
 consumer cannot be doubted. In China 
 we liave notoriously returned evil for good ; 
 exporting ship-loads of their refreshing 
 herb to combat our own spirit-craving pro- 
 pensities; and importing, in defiance of the 
 laws of God and man, millions of pounds' 
 worth of a stimulant which we know to be, 
 when once resorted to, almost invariably 
 persevered in, to the destruction of the 
 body, and, it would seem, of the soul even, 
 of its miserable victim. In India we found 
 the debasing indulgence general among cer- 
 tain classes. Baber and his successors, with 
 the exception of Aurungzebe, were all its 
 habitual consumers; and the able historian 
 of Rajast'han, Colonel Tod, attributes the 
 loss of independence by the Rajpoots, their 
 general deterioration, and the diminished 
 productiveness of the country, chiefly to the 
 same suicidal practice. 
 
 bay,£2,362,510.— (Parliamentary Papers, April 20th 
 1858.) t June, 1858. 
 
 I J. Passmore Edwards' Evils of the Opium 
 Trade, p. 18. 
 
 § See Iniquities of the Opium Trade ; by Rev. 
 A. A. Thelwell.
 
 THE AVORKING OP THE OPIUM MONOPOLY. 
 
 25 
 
 But though the East India Company 
 (lid not originate the iise or cultivation 
 of opium in all their vast dominions, they 
 have done so in some. It is argued, that 
 the very taxation is itself a discourage- 
 ment to the cultivation; and this would be 
 the case in a free country; but is not true in 
 India, where there are so many means of 
 compelling the peasant to toil like a serf at 
 any labour for a bare subsistence. That 
 the Company have been voluntarily instru- 
 mental in increasing the production, stands 
 on the face of their own records. 
 
 On the cession of Malwa by the Mahrattas, 
 measures were taken to raise from that 
 province a revenue similar to that obtained 
 in the Bengal presidency. A powerful 
 impulse was giveu to the growth of the 
 poppy ; but the cost of cultivation was found 
 so far to exceed that of Bahar or Benares, 
 and the transport was likewise so much 
 more difficult, that the excessive production 
 obtained in Cent.nl India, scarcely afforded 
 sufficient nett ])rofit to atone for the injury 
 done to the Bengal monopoly. The utmost 
 efiforts were made to remedy this, and to pre- 
 vent diminished cultivation in the old pro- 
 viuces. " Premiums and rewards," says a 
 late chairman of the East India Comi)any, 
 " have been held out ; new offices and es- 
 tablishments have been created ; the revenue 
 officers have been enlisted in the service; 
 and the influence of that department has 
 been brought into action to promote the 
 production. * * * Tlie supreme gov- 
 ernment of India, too, have condescended 
 to supply the retail shops with opium, and 
 have thus added a new feature to our fiscal 
 policy. I believe that no one act of our gov- 
 ernment has appeared, in the eyes of re- 
 spectable niitives, both Mohammedan and 
 Hindoo, more questionable than the estab- 
 lishment of the Abkari}^ or tax on the sale 
 of spirituous liquors and drugs. Nothing, 
 I suspect, has tended so much to lower us 
 in their regard. They see us derive a 
 revenue from what they deem an impure 
 source ; and when they find the pollution 
 of public-houses spreading around them, 
 they cannot understand that our real object 
 is to check the use of the noxious article 
 which is sold, or to I'egulate those haunts 
 of the vicious with a view to objects of 
 police. And have we succeeded in pro- 
 
 * Memiirials of Indian Gorenunent ; a selection 
 from the papers of H. St. George Tucker ; edited by 
 Mr. Kaye: pp. 152—134. 
 
 t Ibid., p. loG. 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
 moting these objects? Will any man be 
 so hardy as to maintain, that the use of 
 spirituous liquors and drugs has been di- 
 minished by the operation of the tax, or 
 that it has not been everywhere extended ? 
 * * * But even if we admit that these 
 objects have been kept in view, or that it is 
 becoming, in the present state of the coun- 
 try, to regulate the vend of spirits and 
 drugs, was it becoming in a great govern- 
 ment to exhibit itself as the purveyor of 
 opium to publicans, or — in the words of the 
 Regulation — ' to establish shops, on the part 
 of government, for the retail sale of the 
 drug?' Is it desirable that we should 
 bring it to the very door of the lower 
 oiders, who might never otherwise have 
 found the article within their read), and 
 who are now tempted to adopt a habit alike 
 injurious to health and to good morals?"* 
 
 Not content with stimulating to the 
 utmost the production of opium in our own 
 territories, we voluntarily extended the curse 
 in the Mahratta districts of Central India, 
 in the Afghan state of Bhopal, in Oodipoor, 
 Kotah, Boondi, and other Rajpoot princi- 
 palities, by negotiations and treaties, "such 
 as are not, I believe (says Mr. Tucker), to 
 be paralleled in the whole history of diplo- 
 macy;" whereby we have bound ourselves to 
 the payment of large annual suras on ac- 
 count of opium. " We make it the interest 
 of the chiefs to increase the growth of the 
 poppy, to the exclusion, in some instances, 
 of sugar-cane, cotton, and other products 
 which constitute the riches of a country, 
 and which ought to minister to the comforts 
 of the people." 
 
 These statements are very important, 
 coming from one whose official position, 
 Indian experience, and personal character, 
 give his opinions threefold weight. He 
 adds a brief warning, which, read by the 
 blaze of the incendiary fires of 1857, is 
 pregnant with meaning. " The Rajpoot, 
 with all his heroic bravery and other good 
 qualities, requires very skilful management. 
 The same may be said of the Afghan of 
 Rohilcund, who is still more restless and 
 impatient of control ; and if there were not 
 other and better reasons, I should say that 
 it is not safe, with either race — Rajpoot or 
 Afghan — to supply the means of habitual 
 excitement, which must render them more 
 turbulent and ungovernable."t 
 
 Sir Stamford Raffles, another acknow- 
 ledged authority, indignantly denounced the 
 conduct of the European government in
 
 36 
 
 SEPOY ARMY INJURBD BY INCREASED USE OP OPIUM. 
 
 overlooking every consideration of policy 
 and humanity, and allowing a paltry addi- 
 tion to their finances to outweigh all regard 
 to the ultimate prosperity of the country. 
 Unfortunately, the financial addition* is 
 paltry only when viewed in connection 
 with the amount of evil which it repre- 
 sents, and which has increased in propor- 
 tion to the extended cultivation. An ex- 
 perienced authorityt states, that wherever 
 opium is grown it is eaten ; and considers 
 th«t " one-half of the crimes in the opium 
 districts, murders, rapes, and affrays, have 
 their origin in opium-eating." Major-gen- 
 eral Alexander uses the most forcible lan- 
 guage regarding the progressive and de- 
 structive course of intoxication by opium 
 and ardent spirits throughout India, ap- 
 pealing to the returns of courts-martial and 
 defaulters' books for testimony of the con- 
 sequent deterioration of the sepoys ; and to 
 the returns of the courts and offices of 
 judges, magistrates, and collectors, for that 
 of the mass of the natives. Under this 
 view of the case, and remembering also the 
 example set by the notorious tendency to 
 drunkenness which disgraces the British 
 troops, there is something terribly significant 
 in the fact, that the fiercest onslaughts and 
 worst brutaUties which our countrymen and 
 countrywomen have endured, were com- 
 mitted under the influence of the hateful 
 drugs by which we have gained so much 
 gold, and inflicted so much misery. 
 
 The Neglect of Public Works must take 
 its place among the indirect causes of 
 revolt; ,for it has materially impeded the 
 development of the resources of the coun- 
 try, and furnished the people with only too 
 palpable reason for discontent. It was a 
 subject which ought always to have had the 
 special attention of the Anglo-Indian au- 
 thorities. They should have remembered, 
 that the people over whom they ruled were 
 literally as children in their hands ; and 
 should have taken care to exercise a far- 
 seeiag, providential, and paternal. despotism. 
 Under Mohammedan and Hindoo govern- 
 ments, the princes and nobles have ever 
 delighted in associating their names with 
 some stately edifice, some great road or 
 canal, some public work of more or less 
 
 • See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 682. 
 
 t Mr. Andrew S) m, who had charge of the Com- 
 pany's opium agency at Goruckpoor. See pam- 
 plilets on the Opium Trade ; by Major-general 
 Alexander and Mr. W. S. Fry. 
 
 t Life, vol. ii., p. 428. 
 
 utility. It was a fashion which those who 
 made for themselves a fortune and a name, 
 especially delighted in following; and the 
 fact is so well known that it needs no 
 illustration. Every book of travel affords 
 fresh instances. Foreign adventurers have 
 adopted the same beneficent custom : wit- 
 ness the Martiniere college at Lucknow. 
 Very few Englishmen, however,have thought 
 of spending on, or in India, any considerable 
 portion of the wealth they made there ; the 
 noble Sir Heniy Lawrence and others, 
 whose names are easily reckoned, forming 
 the exceptions. 
 
 It would occupy too much space to offer 
 anything like an enumeration of our short- 
 comings in this respect : able pens have 
 already performed the ungracious task; and 
 it needs but a few hours' attentive study of 
 the admirably condensed exposition given 
 by Lieutenant-colonel Cotton (chief engi- 
 neer of Madras), and of the pamphlets pub- 
 lished by Mr. Dickinson and other mem- 
 bers of the Indian Reform Society, to be 
 convinced how iinjust and impolitic have 
 been our omissions in this important branch 
 of government. 
 
 Sir Charles Napier says, that "in India, 
 economy means, laying out as little for the 
 country and for noble and useful purposes 
 as you can ; and giving as large salaries as 
 you can possibly squeeze out of the pub- 
 lic to individuals, adding large 'establish- 
 ment8.'"t The force of this remark is 
 painfully apparent, when the immense num- 
 ber of " collectors," and the extent and enor- 
 mous expense of the revenue establishment, 
 are compared with the number of engineers, 
 and the cost of the department for public 
 works. The contrast between what is taken 
 from, and what is spent upon India, be- 
 comes still more glaring when the items 
 of expenditure are examined, and a division 
 made between the work3 undertaken on 
 behalf of the government — such as court- 
 houses, gaols, &c. — and those immediately 
 intended for the benefit of the people, such 
 as roads, canals, and tanks. 
 
 The injustice of this procedure is sur- 
 passed by its impolicy. Colonel Cotton 
 says — 
 
 "Certainly, without, any exaggeration, the most 
 astonishing thing in the history of our rule in India 
 is, that such innumerable volumes should have been 
 written by thousands of the ablest men in the ser- 
 vice on the mode of collecting the land revenue, 
 while the question, of a thousand times more im- 
 portance, how to enable the people to pay it, was 
 1 literally never touched upon j and yet, even the
 
 THE NEGLECT OF PUBLIC WQEKS IN INDIA. 
 
 27 
 
 question of the amount of taxation was utterly in- 
 »ignificant in comparison with that. While we have 
 been labouring for a hundred years to discover how 
 to get twenty lacs out of a district which is not able 
 to pay it, not the least thought has been bestowed on 
 the hundreds of lacs it was losing from the enormous 
 cost of transit, which swallowed up all the value 
 of the ryot produce, if they raised it.' • • • 
 If we take the whole loss to India, from want of 
 communication, at only twenty-five million sterling, 
 it is twelve times as great a burthen as the in- 
 terest of the [Indian] debt. • • • Public works 
 have been almost entirely neglected in India. Tho 
 motto hitherto has been — ' do nothing, have nothing 
 done, let nobody do anything.' Bear any loss, let 
 the people die of famine, let hundreds of lacs be lost 
 in revenue for want of water, rather than do any- 
 thing. • • • Who would believe, that without 
 half-a-dozen miles of real turnpike-road, with com- 
 munications generally in the state that they were 
 in England two centuries ago — with periodical 
 famines and a stagnant revenue— the stereotyped 
 answer to any one who urges improvement is, 
 ' He is too much in a hurry — he is too sanguine — 
 we must go on by degrees;' and this, too, in the 
 face of the fact that, almost without exception, 
 money laid out upon public works in India, has 
 yielded money returns of one hundred, two hun- 
 dred, and three hundred per cent., besides innu- 
 merable other advantages to the community. • • • 
 We have already all but lost one century, to the 
 great damage of our finances and the greater injliry 
 of the people."+ 
 
 It is terrible to think of the amount of 
 suflFering occasioned by the ignorant apathy 
 of the nation to vrhom it has pleased Provi- 
 dence to entrust the government of India. 
 "The neglect of public works" is a vague, 
 unmeaning sound in British ears : no nation 
 blessed with free institutions can appreciate 
 its full intent; and no people under the 
 despotism of a single tyrant, but would 
 rise, and cut off the Pharaoh who demanded 
 the tale of bricks, yet withheld the straw. 
 Nothing but the complicated system of our 
 absentee sovereigntyship, can account for 
 such strange persistence in errors which 
 have repeatedly brought the Company to 
 the verge of bankruptcy, and inflicted on 
 the mass of the people chronic poverty and 
 periodical famine. 
 
 In England, we are occasionally horror- 
 struck by some case of death from actual 
 destitution ; and we know, alas ! that large 
 portions of our working population, with 
 difficulty obtain the necessaries of Jife ; but 
 we are also aware that public and indi- 
 vidual benevolence is incessantly at work 
 to diminish the sufferings inseparable, at 
 least to some extent, from an over-populated 
 
 • Public Works in India ; by Lieutenant-colonel 
 Cotton, 1854 ; p. 8. t Ibid., pp. 294, 296. 
 
 I Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 273. 
 
 and money-worshipping country. When 
 Ireland was scourged with famine, the 
 whole British empire, even to its farthest 
 colony, poured forth, unsolicited, its contri- 
 butions in money or in food with eager 
 haste. Is, then, human sympathy depen- 
 dent on race or colour ? No ; or the West 
 Indies would still be peopled with slaves 
 and slave-drivers. The same springs of 
 action which, once set in motion, worked 
 incessantly for the accomplishment of negro 
 emancipation, would, if now touched on 
 behalf of the Hindoos, act . as a lever to 
 raise them from the deep wretchedness in 
 which they are sunk. The manufacturers 
 of Manchester and of Glasgow are surely 
 blind to their own interests, or long ere 
 this they would have taken up the subject 
 of roads, canals, and tanks for India, if only 
 to encourage the growth of cotton in the 
 country in which it is an indigenous pro- 
 duct, and to diminish their dangerous de- 
 pendence on America. Had they done so, 
 they would have had their reward. But the 
 active and enterprising philanthropical class, 
 which includes many "successful merchants" 
 in its ranks, perhaps requires to be told, 
 that the subject of public works for India is 
 at once a great call for national justice and 
 individual charity; that there is no con- 
 ceivable means of fulfilling on so large a 
 scale the unquestionable duty of giving 
 bread to the hungry, as by initiating 
 measures to rescue hundreds of thousands 
 of British subjects from probable starvation. 
 
 The frightful massacres of Meerut and 
 Cawnpoor have not banished from our minds 
 the recollection of that terrible "Black 
 Hole," where 123 persons perished, some 
 from suffocation, and others in the mad- 
 dening agonies of thirst ; and this not from 
 any purpose of fiend-like cruelty, but simply 
 because the young Nawab, Surajah Dowlah, 
 did not know the size of the prison-chamber 
 of the English garrison in which he had 
 directed his prisoners to be secured ; and 
 none of his officers cared to disturb his 
 sleep, to procure a chaTige of orders. When 
 he awoke the door was opened, and the 
 few weak, worn survivors, on whose frames 
 some hours of agony had done the work of 
 years, tottered forth, or were dragged out 
 from amid the already putrefying corpses 
 of their companions. J 
 
 Surajah Dowlah paid, with his throne 
 and life, the forfeit of his apathetic igno- 
 rance ; and his people were happily delivered 
 from that crowning curse — despotic inca-
 
 28 
 
 FAMINES CONSEQUENT ON MISGOVERNMENT. 
 
 pacity. His fate ought to have served as a 
 warning of the effects of mere neglect. 
 Has it done so ; or has the evil been mul- 
 tiplied a thousand-fold under a Christian 
 government ? Can it, or can it not, be proved 
 by pubhc records, that, for every single 
 Englishman who perished while the Indian 
 nawab lay sleeping, many thousand natives 
 have fallen victims to an apathy no less 
 criminal, manifested by the representa- 
 tives of the E. I. Company? This is the 
 meaning, or at least a part of the meaning, 
 of the " neglect of public works in India ;" 
 and the only excuse offered for it is the 
 poverty of the government. It is asserted, 
 that the drain consequent on perpetual 
 wars, which directly enriched and often in- 
 directly ennobled the individuals concerned, 
 occasioned so wide a destruction of native 
 property, created such an unceasing drain 
 on the state revenues, and so increased and 
 complicated the labours of the collectors, 
 that the one-engrossing anxiety of the autho- 
 rities, how to meet current expenses, unavoid- 
 ably superseded every other consideration. 
 
 The peculiar system of the Company has 
 likewise contributed to induce a selfish and 
 short-sighted policy. The brief period of 
 administration allotted to each governor- 
 general, whatever its advantages, has had 
 the great drawback of rarely sufficing for 
 the initiation, organisation, and carrying 
 through of any large measure of general 
 benefit ; and it is, of course, seldom that a 
 new-comer, fresh from England, has the 
 ability or the generosity to appreciate and 
 cordially work out the plan of his prede- 
 cessor. The consequence has been a la- 
 mentable want of any consistent policy for 
 the development of the resources of India. 
 Lord Dalhousie, it is true, exerted himself 
 zealously and successfully in the furtherance 
 of certain great undertakings, in connection 
 with which his name may well be grate- 
 fully remembered. The Ganges canal, the 
 Bengal railway, the electric telegraph, are 
 works of undoubted utility ; and the good 
 service they have rendered to the supreme 
 government in its hour of need, must be 
 calculated in lives rather than in money. 
 But a few great and costly achievements 
 cannot excuse the general neglect mani- 
 fested by the non-appropriation of a certain 
 portion of the revenue of every district to 
 meet its own peculiar and urgent require- 
 ments. From the absence of any adequate 
 provision , the vast reservoirs, someti mes m any 
 miles square, constructed by native princes 
 
 centuries ago, have been allowed, to a con- 
 siderable extent, to go to decay, and are 
 now sources of disease instead of fertility, 
 being covered with rank weeds.* 
 
 The East India Company have added the 
 tax levied by their Mohammedan or Hindoo 
 predecessors for annual repairs, to their 
 general assessments, but have suffered many 
 of the tanks to go to ruin ; while, according to 
 a recent writer (1858), " in many cases they 
 still exact the same money-revenue from 
 the cultivators, amounting,, at the present 
 day, to fifty, sixty, and seventy per cent, of 
 the gross produce of the soil, as if the tanks 
 were kept in perfect repair, and the cul- 
 tivators received the quantity of water re- 
 quired to grow a full crop of produce."! 
 
 Water, water ! is the primary want of the 
 Indian farmer; yet, according to Colonel 
 Cotton, it is undoubted that, in the worst 
 year that ever occurred, enough has been 
 allowed to flow into the sea to have irrigated 
 ten times as much grain as would have sup- 
 plied the whole population.;^ The case is 
 put in the clearest light in an extract from 
 a private letter, hastily written, and not 
 meant for publication, addressed by "one 
 of the most distinguished men in India," to 
 Mr. Dickinson, and published by him, under 
 the idea that it was better calculated than 
 any laboured statement, to carry conviction 
 to an unprejudiced mind. The writer, after 
 declaring that the perpetual involvements 
 of the Company had originated in their 
 having omitted not only to initiate improve- 
 ments, but even to keep in repair the old 
 works upon which the revenue depended ; 
 adds — " But this is not the strongest point 
 of the case. They did not take the least 
 pains to prevent famine. To say nothing 
 of the death of a quarter of a million of 
 people in Guntoor, the public works' com- 
 mittee, in their report, calculate that the 
 loss in money by the Guntoor famine, was 
 more than two millions sterling. If they 
 could find money to supply these losses, 
 they could have found a hundredth part of 
 the sum to preventthem. 
 
 " Lord thinks it would be better not 
 
 to blame the government ; how can we pos- 
 sibly point out how improvement can be 
 made without proving that there has been 
 neglect before ? * * * Lord won- 
 
 • Macleod Wylie's Bengal a Field of Missions, 
 p. 241. 
 
 t Lectures on British India; by John Malcolm 
 Ludlow J vol. ii., p. 317. 
 
 J Quoted in the Madrai Petition of 1852.
 
 WANT OF ROADS A CAUSE OF FAMINE. 
 
 29 
 
 ders at my vehemence about public works : 
 is he really so humble a man as to think no 
 better of himself, than to suppose he could 
 stand unmoved in a district where 250,000 
 people had perished miserably of famine 
 through the neglect of our government, 
 and see it exposed every year to a similar 
 occurrence ? If his lordship had been living 
 in the midst of the district at the time, like 
 one of our civilians, and had had every 
 morning to clear the neighbourhood of his 
 house of hundreds of dead bodies of poor 
 creatures who bad struggled to get near the 
 European, in hopes that there perhaps they 
 might find food, he would have realised 
 things beyond what he has seen in his 
 shire park."* 
 
 What excuse, even of ignorance, can be 
 offered for a government that turns a deaf 
 ear to statements so appalling as these, 
 made by their own servants? Such im- 
 penetrable apathy affords a confirmation 
 of the often-repeated assertion, that no- 
 thing but the continual pressure of public 
 opinion in England, will ensure anything 
 being effected in India. Would that this 
 power might be at once exerted ! Even now, 
 in the midst of battles, we ought to be doing 
 something to avert the consequences of past 
 neglect, or the scourge of war will be fol- 
 lowed by the yet more fatal visitations of 
 famine, and its twin-sister, pestilence. 
 
 We may not be able to do much, or any- 
 thing, in some of the most disturbed dis- 
 tricts; but in the great majority, where 
 comparative quiet prevails, a vigorous effort 
 ought at once to be made for the introduc- 
 tion of a better system ; that is, one de- 
 signed to benefit the mass of the people, 
 instead of being exclusively framed to suit 
 the convenience of the European officials. 
 Had this been earlier attempted, we might 
 have had fewer great works to talk about in 
 parliament or at the India House (though 
 that is hardly possible, considering that we 
 are Anglo-Saxons of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury) : but certainly India would not now 
 be so generally destitute of the means 
 of cheap carriage ; neither would it be ne- 
 cessary to urge "the clearing-out of this 
 poisonous old tank ; the repairing of that 
 embankment; the metalling of this mud- 
 track through the jungle; the piercing, by 
 a cheap canal of irrigation, of that tongue 
 of land, of a few miles, between two rivers ;"t 
 
 • Dickinson's India under a Bureaucracy, pp. 
 87—90. 
 
 t Ludlow's Lectures, vol. ii., p. 320. 
 
 the preservation of bridges; and such-like 
 cheap, homely, obscure labours, as are now 
 urgently needed throughout the length and 
 breadth of the peninsula. 
 
 Cheap transit by land and water is a 
 point only secondary in importance to irri- 
 gation, as a means of preventing famine, by 
 enabling one part of the country to help 
 another in the event of the failure of local 
 rains. Major-general Tremenheere, in his 
 recent evidence before parliament (May, 
 1858), when adverting to the brief intervals 
 which have elapsed between the years of 
 scarcity in the present century, forcibly 
 states the necessity for affording the 
 greatest facilities for the transport of pro- 
 duce, as the true remedy for these oft-recur- 
 ring famines. I The evidence of subse- 
 quent witnesses before the same committee, 
 shows that, in a country where easy transit 
 is essential to the preservation of life during 
 periodical visitations of dearth, there exists 
 the most remarkable deficiency of means of 
 intercommunication ever heard of under a 
 civilised government. 
 
 "There are no roads to connect even Calcutta 
 with any of the great cities of the interior. No road 
 to Moorshedabad; no road to Dacca; none to Patna ; 
 no such roads as parish roads in England, to connect 
 villages and market-towns in the interior. Conse- 
 quently, in the rainy season, every town is isolated 
 from its neighbours, and from all the rest of the 
 country. Besides roads, bridges are wanted : there 
 are hardly any bridges at all in the country ; their 
 place is partially supplied by ferries. The grand 
 trunk-road, within the Lower Provinces, is only par- 
 tially bridged ; and half the bridges, I believe, have 
 been washed away from defects of construction."^ 
 
 In Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, the main- 
 tenance of good roads is a duty to which 
 the government are alleged to be specially 
 pledged ; for, in making the decennial set- 
 tlement (on which the permanent one was 
 subsequently grounded), a separate tax for 
 t'le purpose was inserted in the rent-roll, 
 but was afterwards merged in the general 
 assessment, and not applied to the roads. 
 The native land-owners have remembered 
 this breach of faith ; and when urged, some 
 years ago, to make fresh provision for the 
 maintenance of highways, they objected, on 
 the ground of the misappropriation of 
 their actual yearly payments. Happily for 
 them, their interests are closely allied with 
 those of the British settlers. Both classes 
 are equally without the pale of privilege . 
 and patronage, dignities and immunities, 
 
 t First Report of the Select Committee on the 
 Colonization and Settlement of India, p. 6. 
 
 § Ibid. Evidence of W. Theobald, Esq., p. 74.
 
 30 
 
 MILITARY MOVEMENTS IMPEDED BY WANT OP ROADS. 
 
 with which the East India Company has 
 fenced round its covenanted service; but 
 the storm which has disturbed the immi- 
 grant planters in their peaceable avoca- 
 tions, has contributed to procure for them 
 the opportunity of laying before a parlia- 
 mentary committee, and consequently be- 
 fore the nation at large, the obstructions 
 which impede all attempts to earn an hon- 
 ourable livelihood by developing the re- 
 sources of India. 
 
 Several witnesses declare the want of 
 internal communication to be peculiar to the 
 administration of the East India Company, 
 who have attempted nothing except for 
 military or governmental purposes, and even 
 then very imperfectly; while, under Hindoo 
 and Mohammedan dynasties, the peninsula 
 was intersected with roads, the remains of 
 which are still traceable.* The planters, 
 to some extent, make roads in their imme- 
 diate vicinity, suitable to their own neces- 
 sities ; but these do not answer for pur- 
 poses of general traffic, which requires 
 continuous lines. The native land-owners 
 understand road-making, but want the 
 means, not the will, to cari-y it on exten- 
 sively. Mr. Dalrymple, an indigo and sugar 
 planter, and silk manufacturer, resident in 
 India upwards of thirty years, adduces, as 
 an instance of the feeling of the natives on 
 this subject, that he has known one of 
 them make a road for a hundred miles 
 from a religious motive.f 
 
 For the neglect of many duties, and espe- 
 cially of this one, we are paying a severe 
 penalty; and the hardships so long suffered 
 by the natives, in having to carry their arti- 
 cles of produce or merchandise on their 
 heads, along paths impassable for beasts of 
 burden, now fall with tenfold weight on 
 our heavily-laden soldiery. Individual suf- 
 fering, great as that has been (including 
 the long list of victims to "solar apo- 
 plexy," on marches which, by even good 
 common roads or by canals, would have 
 been short and comparatively innocuous), 
 forms but the inevitable counterpart of the 
 public distress, occasioned l)y the present 
 insurmountable impediments to the rapid 
 concentration of military force on a given 
 point. Facilities for the movement of 
 troops are important in every seat of war ; 
 but particularly so in India, where the 
 
 * Second Report — Evidence of Mr. J. T. Mac- 
 kenzie, p. 88. 
 
 t Second Report, p. 67. 
 
 X Telegram of the governor-general to Sir Henry 
 
 extent of country to be maintained exceeds 
 beyond all proportion the number of Euro- 
 pean troops which can at any sacrifice be 
 spared to garrison it. 
 
 The upholders of " a purely military des- 
 potism" have not been wise even in their 
 generation, or they would have promoted, 
 instead of opposing, the construction of rail- 
 ways between the chief cities, as a measure 
 of absolute necessity. If only the few al- 
 ready projected had been completed, Delhi 
 could hardly have fallen as it did — a rich, 
 defenceless prize — into the hands of the mu- 
 tineers, nor afforded them the means of 
 establishing a rallying-point for the dis- 
 affected, and doing incalculable damage to 
 European prestige, by setting an example of 
 temporarily successful defiance. As it was, 
 the contrast was most painful between the 
 lightning-flash that brought the cry for 
 help from stations surrounded by a seething 
 mass of revolt, and the slow, tedious process 
 by which alone the means of rescue could 
 be afforded. Thus, the appeal of Sir Henry 
 Lawrence for reinforcements for Cawn- 
 poor, received the gloomy response, that it 
 was "impossible to place a wing of Euro- 
 peans there in less time than twenty-five 
 days." The bullock-train could take a hun- 
 dred men a-day, at the rate of thirty miles 
 a-day :| this was all that could be done ; and, 
 with every effort, at an enormous cost of life 
 and treasure, the troops arrived only to be 
 maddened by the horrible evidences of the 
 massacre they were too late to avert. 
 
 "Indophilus" views the railroad system as 
 the basis of our military power in India; and 
 considers it "so certain that railways are 
 better than regiments, that it would be for 
 the interest of England, even in a strictly 
 economical point of view, to diminish the 
 drain upon her working population, by 
 lending her credit to raise money for the 
 completion of Indian railways. "§ The 
 urgency of the requirement has become so 
 evident as a measure of expediency, for the 
 maintenance of our sovereignty, that it 
 scarcely needs advocating : on the contrary, 
 it seems necessary to deprecate the too exclu- 
 sive appropriation of Indian revenue to rail- 
 roads (especially costly ones, in which speed 
 is apt to be made a primary requisite), || 
 to the neglect of the far cheaper means of 
 transit which might be opened by single 
 
 Lawrence, May 24th, 1857. — Pari. Papers on the 
 Mutiny; Appendix, p. 315. 
 
 § Letters nf Indophilus, p 12. 
 
 I| See Colonel Cotton's Public Works, p. 184.
 
 REPRESSION OF BRITISH ENTERPRISE, 
 
 31 
 
 rail, by tram-roads, by the formation of 
 canals for steam navigation, and by the 
 opening and improving of rivers. Measures 
 of this kind must be taken, if we would 
 enable the people to bear the expenses 
 attendant on our system of government.* 
 Labour thus wisely employed and directed, 
 would produce capital ; the now insuperable 
 difficulty of raising a sufficient revenue 
 without oppressing the masses, would be 
 removed ; and their rulers, relieved from 
 pecuniary pressure, might dare to be just 
 by renouncing opium smuggling, and to be 
 humane by abandoning the less criminal 
 but still obnoxious saltf monopoly, which, 
 as at present conducted, acts as an irre- 
 gular poll-tax — falling heaviest on those 
 who have farthest to fetch it from the 
 government depots. 
 
 The Repression of British Enterprise is 
 closely connected with the neglect of public 
 works; for had European planters been 
 allowed to settle in any considerable num- 
 bers, and to give free expression to their 
 opinions, they would certainly have agi- 
 tated the subject in a manner which no 
 government could have wholly withstood. 
 
 The Company, from their earliest days, 
 •trove with unremitting care to guard their 
 chartered privileges against the encroach- 
 ments of their countrymen, and adopted a 
 tone of lofty superiority which was scarcely 
 consistent with their own position as 
 " merchant adventurers." Had there not 
 been in America, the West Indies, and 
 other colonies and dependencies of the 
 British crown, abundant outlet for capital 
 and enterprise, the Indian monopoly would 
 probably have been soon broken through': 
 as it was, the " interlopers" were compara- 
 tively few, and easily put down, if they 
 proved in the least refractory, by the strong 
 
 • The salaries of Englishmen in India are all on 
 a very high scale. The average annual salary re- 
 ceived by civilians is estimated at £1,750. — (See 
 article on " British India" — Quarterly Review, Au- 
 gust, 1858; p. 237.) A Queen's officer, directly he 
 embarks for India, has double pay. The fees of the 
 lawyers and solicitors at Calcutta, are more than 
 double what they are in English courts. No trades- 
 man in Calcutta would be satisfied with the Eng- 
 lish rate of profit j and, in fact, all European labour 
 is much more highly remunerated in India than 
 elsewhere. — (First Report of Colonization Committee. 
 Evidence of Major-general Tremenheere ; p. 36 ) 
 It was found necessary to raise the scale of salaries 
 of English functionaries, as a means of preserving 
 them from corruption ; and, to a great extent, the 
 measure has succeeded. Even-handed justice re- 
 
 measure of deportation. Gradually the ex- 
 clusive system was greatly modified by the 
 effects of the parliamentary discussions 
 which accompanied each renewal of the 
 Company's charter, together with the dis- 
 closures of mismanagement involved in the 
 perpetually recurring pecuniary embarrass- 
 ments, from which they sought relief in the 
 creation and augmentation of an Indian 
 national debt. In 1813 their trade with 
 India ceased entirely : it had long been 
 carried on at an actual loss ; the traffic with 
 China, and the Indian territorial revenues, 
 supplying the deficit. Yet, notwithstanding 
 the opening up of the Indian trade to all 
 British subjects (followed by a similar pro- 
 cedure with that of China in 1833), the 
 Company were slow in abating their jealous 
 hostility towards "adventurers," and did 
 their utmost to prevent European enter- 
 prise from gaining a footing in India. They 
 do not seem to have recognised the change 
 of policy incumbent on them when, ceasing 
 to be traders, they became sovereigns of a 
 vast empire, and were thereby bound to 
 renounce class interests and prejudices, and 
 merge all meaner considerations in the para- 
 mount obligation of promoting the general 
 good. 
 
 Of course, colonization, in the ordinary 
 sense of the term, is neither practicable nor 
 desirable in a country already well and gene- 
 rally densely peopled, and where land is the 
 most dearly prized of all possessions. Even 
 in certain favoured localities, where out- 
 door employment can be best undertaken by 
 Europeans, there is no product which they 
 could cultivate on the spot, in which they 
 would not be undersold by the natives. 
 Indeed, it would be manifestly absurd to at- 
 tempt to compete, as labourers, with men who 
 can support themselves on wages ranging 
 from 1^^. to 4^rf. a-day.J It is as the pio- 
 
 quires, that the same experiment should be tried with 
 the natives of the country from which the funds are 
 levied, and it will then be seen whether improved 
 efficiency and integrity may not equally be the re- 
 sult. " A native judge, who has any prospect of pro- 
 motion, hardly ever is known to be corrupt." — Raikes. 
 
 t The difference in the price of salt, between Cal- 
 cutta and Benares, amounts to 100 per cent. Rice, 
 which sells at a seaport at 2s. a bushel, is quoted at 
 an average of 5s. Id. per bushel in the Punjab, the 
 Trans-Indus, and the Cis-Sutlej territories ; the dis- 
 tance of these states from a seaport being from 800 
 to 1,200 miles.— Third Report of Colonization Com- 
 mittee, dated July 12th, 1858. Evidence of W. 
 Balston, Esq. ; p. 65. 
 
 X Evidence of R. Baikie, Esq.— First Report of 
 Colonization Committee, 6th May, 1858; p. 52.
 
 32 
 
 DETERIORATION OF NATIVE MANUFACTURES. 
 
 neers of skill and capital thatEuropeans must 
 look to find remuneration and useful em- 
 ployment in India. In that sense the field 
 is wide enough, and the need great indeed ; 
 for the native products and manufactures 
 have, in many instances, actually diminished 
 in extent and in value under the sway of 
 the East India Company. Every child 
 knows that calico takes its name from 
 Calicut, whence it was first brought to Eng- 
 land ; yet domestic manufacture has been 
 overwhelmed by the cheap, coarse fabrics of 
 the Maqchester steam-power looms; nor 
 has the encouragement been given which 
 might have opened for them a lucrative 
 market in luxurious England for their own 
 more delicate and durable productions. The 
 Dacca muslin — the famous " woven wind," 
 which, when wet, lay on the grass like the 
 night-dew — this, also, has become almost a 
 thing of the past. Yet, if only a market 
 were assured, the cotton could be grown as 
 before, and the same exquisite manipulation 
 would be as cheaply obtainable. 
 
 Much important information regarding 
 the present state of aflFairs, has been laid 
 before the select committee lately appointed 
 to inquire into questions aflFecting the settle- 
 ment of India. Well-informed persons de- 
 clare, that labour is cheap and abundant 
 almost everywhere throughout India;* that 
 the natives are very tractable ; and yet, de- 
 spite their readiness to learn, and long in- 
 tercourse with Europeans, the knowledge of 
 agriculture is in about the same position as 
 at the time of Alexander's invasion. f This 
 is in itself a discreditable fact, considering 
 the effects produced by the application of 
 science to agriculture in Europe : and the 
 apathy manifested in India is especially 
 blamable and impolitic, on the part of 
 a government which has virtually usurped 
 the position of landlord over a large portion 
 of the country, more than one-half of the re- 
 venues of which, that is to say, i615,500,000 
 out of £28,000,000, is derived by rents 
 from the land; while four-fifths of the an- 
 nual exports, namely, £17,500,000 out of 
 £21,500,000, are the direct produce of the 
 soil.f 
 
 • Second Report of Select Committee on Coloni- 
 zation and Settlement of India, 10th June, 1858. — 
 Evidence of Mr. J. P. Wise; p. 40. 
 
 t First Report, 6th May, 1858.— Evidence of 
 Major-general Tremenheere ; p. 29. 
 
 X Second Report. — Evidence of Major-general 
 Tremenheere j pp. 28, 29. 
 
 § /iid.— Evidence of Mr. J. T. Mackenzie ; p. 83. 
 
 II Evidence of Captain J. Ouchterlony. — Third Re- 
 
 While the system pursued has not im- 
 proved under the rule of the Company, the 
 cultivators themselves have absolutely dete- 
 riorated ; the better class of farmers are 
 alleged to have become generally impove- 
 rished, and to live in less comfort than they 
 used to do under the Hindoo and Moham- 
 medan dynasties ; while very many of the 
 ryots are hopelessly in debt.§ Impaired 
 fertility is the natural consequence of over- 
 cropping, and the native tenant has no 
 means of counteracting this; his poverty 
 being so great, that he cannot afford to 
 keep up a farming establishment of suffi- 
 cient strength, especially as regards cattle, 
 to admit of the due production of ma- 
 nure, or of those requirements which are 
 considered indispensable, in England, to 
 the cultivation of the commonest arable 
 land. II The native agriculturist, if he bor- 
 row from a native banker and capitalist, 
 pays, it is alleged, from fifty to seventy- 
 five per cent, interest.^ Usury thrives 
 by sucking the life-blood, already scanty, 
 of tillage and manufacture, and rivets the 
 fetters of that system of advances which 
 is truly described as the curse of India.** 
 
 The existence of the prevailing wretched- 
 ness above indicated, goes far to prove that 
 the Company, in opposing the settlement 
 of their fellow-countrymen, have not been 
 actuated by a disinterested solicitude for 
 the welfare of the natives. In fact, the fear 
 of an influx of Europeans was almost a 
 monomania with the Court of Directors ; and 
 every measure which could in any manner, 
 however indirectly, facilitate the antici- 
 pated irruption, met with opposition avow- 
 edly on that account. Thus, the chairman 
 and deputy-chairman of the Company, when 
 advocating the enforcement of rigid restric- 
 tions on the press in 1823, adverted espe- 
 cially to the possibility of its "affording 
 amusement or occupation to a class of ad- 
 venturers proceeding clandestinely to India, 
 to encourage whom would be a departure 
 from the policy hitherto observed."tt 
 
 Lord William Bentinck granted to Eng- 
 lishmen the privilege of holding lands in 
 the interior of India, contrary to the in- 
 port, 12th July, 1858 J p. 4. Another witness says, 
 the charge for money advances is from fifty to a hun- 
 dred percent. J "but when the lenders advance in 
 grain, they generally charge from one to two hun- 
 dred per cent., because they have to be repaid in 
 kind." — Mr. Mackenzie. Second Report, p. 83. 
 
 il Evidence of Mr. J. P. Wisp.— /iirf., p. 41. 
 
 *• Evidence of Mr. Fowler. — Third Report, p. 54. 
 , tt Pari. Papers, 4th May, 1858 ; p. 19.
 
 GOVERNMENT BY THE CROWN OR THE COMPANY. 
 
 33 
 
 structions of the Company ; and his reasons 
 for 80 doing are recorded in the minutes in 
 council, of the years 1829 and 1830. At 
 this period the question of settlement in 
 India excited a good deal of interest in 
 England ; and a clause was inserted in the 
 East India Charter Act of 1833, giving 
 permission to all British suhjects by birth, 
 to purchase land and reside in India ; and 
 an enactment, in conformity with this clause, 
 was passed by the local legislature in 1837. 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe was one of the lead- 
 ing advocates for a change of policy, as indis- 
 pensable to the continuance of the Anglo- 
 Indian empire ; but he held that this change 
 could never be eflfected until the govern- 
 ment of the Crown should be formally sub- 
 stituted for that of the Company. The 
 opinion is remarkable as coming from one 
 of the most distinguished servants of the 
 latter body — one who, trained in the close 
 preserve of the covenanted civU service, rose, 
 under the fostering care of Lord Wellesley, 
 from occupying a clerk's desk, through in- 
 termediate grades of office, to the highest 
 place in the council-chamber, and exercised, 
 in a most independent fashion, the supreme 
 authority provisionally entrusted to his care 
 in 1835. His views would lose much of 
 their force if conveyed in terms less full 
 and unequivocal than his own ; but, in read- 
 ing the following extracts, it is necessary to 
 remember that the word colonization has 
 here a very limited application, and that the 
 immigration required is not general; but 
 must, to be beneficial to either of the parties 
 concerned — the natives or the immigrants — 
 consist of the capitalist class ; in fact, of pre- 
 cisely those who find in overstocked Europe 
 no field for the development of their re- 
 sources, and who are deterred from the 
 colonies by the high rate of wages, which 
 constitute their chief attraction to the la- 
 bouring masses. 
 
 " It is impracticable, perhaps [he writes as 
 early as 1814], to suggest a remedy for the general 
 disaffection of our Indian subjects. Colonization 
 seems to be the only system which could give us a 
 chance of having any part of the population attached 
 to our government from a sense of common in- 
 terests. Colonization may have its attendant evils ; 
 but with reference to the consideration above-stated, 
 it would promise to give us. a hold in the country 
 which we do not at present possess. We might now 
 
 * Metcalfe Papert, pp. 144; 150; 164; 171. 
 It is, however, only fair to remind the reader, that 
 Lord Metcalfe is declared by his biographer, Mr. 
 Kaye, to have subsequently greatly modified his 
 opinions. Se«ing that government by the Crown 
 VOL. II. F 
 
 be swept away in a single whirlwind. We are 
 without root. The best-affected natives could 
 think of a change of government with indifference ; 
 and in the N.W. Provinces there is hardly a man 
 who would not hope for benefit from a change. 
 This disaffection, however, will most probably not 
 break out in any general manner as long as we pos- 
 sess a predominant power." In 1820, he declares — 
 " As to a general reform of our rule, that question 
 has always appeared to me as hopeless. Oar rulers 
 at home, and councillors abroad, are so bigoted as 
 to precedent, that I never dream of any change 
 unless it be a gradual declension from worse to 
 worse. Colonization, without being forced or inju- 
 diciously encouraged, should be admitted without 
 restraint. * * » I would never agree to the 
 present laws of exclusion with respect to Euro- 
 peans, which are unnatural and horrible." In 
 1836, he says — " The Europeans settled in India, 
 and not in the Company's service, and to these might 
 be added, generally, the East Indians of mixed 
 breed, will never be satisfied with the Company's 
 government : well or ill-founded, they will always 
 attach to it the notion of monopoly and exclusion ; 
 they will consider themselves comparatively dis- 
 countenanced and unfavoured, and will always look 
 with a desire to the substitution of a King's govern- 
 ment. For the contentment of this class, which for 
 the benefit of India and the security of our Indian 
 empire ought greatly to increase in numbers and 
 importance, the introduction of a King's govern- 
 ment is undoubtedly desirable.* * * It must be 
 doubted whether even the civil service will be able 
 to retain its exclusive privileges after the extensive 
 establishment of European settlers. * * * The 
 necessity of employing unfit men in highly important 
 offices, is peculiar to this service, and demands cor- 
 rection."* 
 
 The evidence laid before parliament, after 
 an interval of twenty-five years, forms a 
 singular counterpart to the above state- 
 ments. The persons examined speak from 
 long and intimate experience; and their 
 testimony, though varying in detail, coin- 
 cides for the most part in its general 
 bearing. They denounce the obstructive 
 policy pursued towards them; and the ma- 
 jority distinctly declare, that permission to 
 settle has not been availed of, because the 
 protection of life and property, common to 
 every other part of the British empire, is 
 not afforded in India to any but the actual 
 servants of government ; the interests of ail 
 other subjects, European and native, being 
 habitually disregarded. One witness alleges, 
 that, " at this present time" (May, 1858), 
 there are fewer Englishmen settled in the 
 interior of India than there were twenty 
 years ago, government servants excepted.f 
 
 would be, in fact, government by a parliamentary 
 majority ; he said, if that were applied to India, our 
 tenure would not be worth ten years' purchase. — 
 Papers, p. 165. 
 t Mr. G. Macnair. — Second Report, p. 2.
 
 34 
 
 OBSTRUCTIONS TO BRITISH SETTLEMENT. 
 
 Another gentleman gives a clear exposition 
 
 of similar convictions ; stating, that — 
 
 "The real serious impediment to the settlement 
 of Englishmen in India, is to be found in the policy 
 of the system under which our Indian possessions 
 have been hitherto, and, unfortunately, up to the 
 present day, are still governed ; — that policy which, 
 giving certain extensive and exclusive privileges to 
 a corporation established for trading purposes, and 
 gradually formed into a governing power, originally 
 shut out the spirit of enterprise, by excluding from 
 the country Englishmen not servants of the Com- 
 pany. Although the extreme severity of this 
 original policy has been somewhat modified and 
 gradually relaxed, its spirit has remained but 
 little changed ; and its effects have been to keep 
 the people of this country very ignorant of the 
 resources and great value of India, and of the 
 character, condition, and wants of the natives. 
 Moreover, it is a matter of notoriety, that there has 
 been, and is at the present time, a constant anta- 
 gonism between the official and non-official Anglo- 
 Indian communities ; and that exactly as the adven- 
 turesome Englishman, who is called an interloper, 
 with difficulty obtained his admission in the country, 
 so even now he maintains his position in a con- 
 tinuous but unequal struggle with the local gov- 
 ernment, which he, in turn, regards as an obstacle 
 between himself and the Crown and constitution to 
 which he owns allegiance, and looks for protection in 
 his own country. Then again, the departments of 
 administration, police, the judicial system, both civil 
 and criminal, are notoriously so wretchedly ineffi- 
 cient, oppressive, and corrupt, that they deter the 
 peaceful and industrious from living within their 
 influence, or risking their lives and property under 
 their operations. I believe that even the compara- 
 tively few gentlemen settled in the interior of the 
 country, would willingly withdraw, if they could do 
 so without a ruinous sacrifice of property ; for little 
 or no heed has been given to their complaints, nor 
 indeed of the natives ; while the evils which have 
 been pointed out for many years past are greatly on 
 the increase. The present constitution of the legis- 
 lative council has made matters worse than they 
 were before ; and that body has certainly not the 
 confidence either of Europeans or natives. With 
 the exception of two judges taken from the Supreme 
 Court of Calcutta, it is composed of salaried and 
 government officials, who have been such from the 
 age of twenty, who have really nothing at stake in 
 the country, and who are not likely to live under the 
 operation and influence of the laws which they pass ; 
 while those who are directly interested in the well- 
 being of the country, both Europeans and natives, 
 are entirely excluded from any voice in the laws by 
 which they are to be ruled and governed. • * » 
 At present, you have in India a series of anta- 
 gonisms which works most injuriously for all classes, 
 and completely prevents that union amongst the 
 governing people which appears to me to be essen- 
 tial to the well-being, not only of ourselves, but of 
 the millions of people our subjects, taken under our 
 care and protection avowedly for their own good, 
 and enlightenment, and advancement in civilisaticn. 
 At present there is an antagonism in the army, by 
 
 * Evidence of Mr. J. G. Waller.— Second Report, 
 pp. 169, 170. 
 
 t Evidence of'Mr. John Freeman. — First Report, 
 pp. U2j 119; 139. 
 
 ihe distinction of two services ; and a worse anta- 
 gonism between the Queen's courts and the Com- 
 pany's courts ; between the laws administered in the 
 presidency towns and in the interior ; between the 
 covenanted service, who have a monopoly of the 
 well-paid appointments, and the upper, or educated 
 portion of the uncovenanted service, who think 
 themselves most unjustly excluded from advance- 
 ment: and, finally, between almost every English- 
 man (I speak of these as facts, not as matters of 
 opinion) not in the service of the Compivtij,, and 
 the local government and covenanted service, who 
 not only represent but carry out the policy of the 
 East India Company, so as to shut out the direct 
 authority of the Crown, the intervention of parlia- 
 ment, and the salutary and most necessary influence 
 of public opinion in England. You cannot discon- 
 nect the European and the native. If you legislate 
 simply with the idea of what is suitable to the Eng- 
 lish, without referring to the native and redressing 
 the grievances of the native, there will be that un- 
 happy antagonism between them that will effectually 
 bar Europeans from going out to India."* 
 
 The exorbitant rate of interest (from 
 fifteen to eighteen per cent.) charged on 
 advances of money made to an indigo - 
 planter, silk producer, or any settler occu- 
 pied in developing the resources of the 
 country (though not to be compared with 
 that exacted from the native borrower), is 
 urged by " an English zemindar"t resi- 
 dent some twenty-five years in Bengal, as 
 another proof of the insecurity of property 
 in the mofussil, or country districts, com- 
 pared with that situated within the Cal- 
 cutta jurisdiction, where large sums can be 
 readily raised at from six to seven per cent, 
 interest. J He enumerates the grievances 
 already set forth in preceding sections, and 
 points to the successful cultivation exten- 
 sively carried on by European settlers in 
 Ceylon, as a consequence of the perfect 
 security and encouragment to capitalists, 
 afforded by the administration and regu- 
 lations of that island. § 
 
 Another witness declares that, in some 
 parts of India, the land-revenue system 
 actually excludes European capitalists. He 
 instances the Madras presidency, and some 
 portions of that of Bombay, where the 
 Ryotwarree settlement is in force, where 
 the government is the immediate landlord, 
 and is represented in its transactions with 
 its wretched tenants by the revenue police, 
 an ill-paid and rapacious army of some 
 60,000 men, whose character was pretty 
 well exposed in the Madras Torture Report. 
 The settlement makes no provision for the 
 
 X The fixed legal maximum of interest in Bengal 
 is twelve per cent, j other commissions bring it up to 
 eighteen per cent. — Evidence of Mr. J. P. Wise. 
 Second Report, p. 54. § Ibid., p. 113.
 
 SERVICE RENDERED BY BRITISH SETTLERS. 
 
 35 
 
 introduction of an intermediate class of 
 landlords; and the pauperised labourers 
 emigrate in tens of thousands, to the Mau- 
 ritius and elsewhere, leaving their own 
 waste lands, to obtain subsistence in better 
 governed countries. 
 
 In Bengal, both European and native 
 capital and skill find employment under 
 the permanent settlement, the value of 
 which the natives generally perfectly un- 
 derstand, and call th^ " Great Charter of 
 Bengal." Tlje same witness adds — " It is 
 invaluable to them and to us too; for it 
 has saved Bengal from insurrection."!" 
 
 This one great advantage possessed by 
 Bengal, cannot, however, compensate for 
 its other drawbacks; among which, the 
 British settlers especially dwell on the 
 lamentable deficiency of commercial roads, 
 and the contrast thereby oflFered to the 
 beautiful pleasure-drives for civilians and 
 their ladies, which surround the chief sta^ 
 tions. A settler engaged in growing rice, 
 sugar, tobacco, and vegetables, for the Cal- 
 cutta market, on an estate situated only 
 forty miles from the great English metro- 
 polis, describes the difficulty of transit as 
 so great, that the men who come to take 
 the sugar away are obliged to do so upon 
 bullocks' backs, each animal carrying about 
 two maunds (about 1^ cwt. English), and 
 treading warily along the lines separating 
 one rice-field from another, which are gene- 
 rally about a foot in breadth, somewhat ele- 
 vated above the field, acting also as ledges 
 to keep the water in the fields : but, adds 
 this witness, " some distance from there, 
 where there is a little bit of road, they 
 will take twenty or twenty-five maunds of 
 produce with a cart and a couple of 
 bullocks."t 
 
 Despite all discouragements, the British 
 settlers claim to have done good service to 
 their country and to India; and they 
 affirm, " that wherever Europeans have 
 been settled during the late convulsion, 
 those parts have been less disturbed."^ 
 Their enterprise has been imitated by the 
 
 * Evidence of Mr. Theobald. — First Report, pp. 
 61,62; 85. 
 
 t Evidence of Mr. J. Ereeman. — First Report, 
 p. 119. (See further testimony to the same effect — 
 FirstReport, pp. 114 ; 167. Second Report, pp. 31 ; 
 40; 52; 108. Third Report, pp. 64, 65.) 
 
 X Evidence of Mr. J. P. Wise. — Second Report, 
 p. 36. 
 
 § Evidence of Mr. Freeman. — FirstReport, p. 114. 
 
 II The " Nuddea Rivers" is the name given to the 
 network of channels which traverse the country be- 
 
 native merchants ; and many in Calcutta 
 have, during the last twenty years, be- 
 come large shippers of produce, and send 
 orders for manufactured goods direct to 
 England. § 
 
 Articles of great importance have been 
 principally discovered and worked by the 
 "interlopers." The coal-beds found by 
 them after years of research, now give 
 beneficial employment to several associa- 
 tions, including the Bengal Company, which 
 alone pays about £2,000 per month to the 
 railway, for the transit of coal from Ranee- 
 gunge to Calcutta. The supply furnished 
 by them has proved invaluable to the gov- 
 ernment during the mutiny ; and the fleets 
 of inland steamers belonging to the General 
 Steam Navigation and Ganges Companies, 
 have rendered vital service in the convey- 
 ance of the British troops, the naval bri- 
 gade, and military ammunition and stores. 
 Their efficiency would have been much 
 greater had the authorities heeded the 
 arguments previously addressed to them 
 regarding the want of a canal to Rajmahal, 
 or kept open one of the Nuddea rivers 
 from Nuddea to the Ganges. || 
 
 The British settlers were the first to es- 
 tablish direct steam communication between 
 Calcutta and Suez : through their instru- 
 mentality the transit through Egypt was 
 carried out, and the first steamer placed 
 on the Nile : they introduced the river 
 steam-tugs, used to facilitate the intricate 
 and dangerous navigation between Cal- 
 cutta and the pilot station ; and they estab- 
 lished the horse-carriages, by which Sir 
 Colin Campbell and hundreds of officers 
 and soldiers hastened to the seat of war. 
 Silk, and other valuable and easily-trans- 
 portable products, such as indigo, the hate- 
 ful drug opium, together with jute, hemp, 
 tobacco and linseed, have considerably 
 increased in quantity, and improved in 
 quality, under the influence of British 
 capital and energy. The settlers succeeded 
 in growing good tea before it was dis- 
 covered to be indigenous in so many places 
 
 tween the Ganges and the Hooghly. These chan- 
 nels are supplied partly from the Ganges and partly 
 from the drainage of the country, and are sometimes 
 all but dry. The general opinion is, that one of 
 them might be kept open for the country-boats and 
 for steamers all the year round, instead of five 
 months, if proper engineering skill were applied to 
 the task ; by which means a circuitous and even 
 dangerous route of five hundred. miles would be 
 avoided. — First Report. Evidence of Mr. W. Theo- 
 bald, p. 75.
 
 36 
 
 PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES OP INDIA. 
 
 in the Himalayas ; and were beginning the 
 cultivation so successfully in Assam and 
 Kumaon, that, in 1856, '700,0001bs. were 
 exported to England. The Neilgherry coffee 
 is alleged to have obtained an excellent 
 name in the London market, as that of 
 Tellicherry has done long ago. Beer has 
 been brewed on the Neilgherries, and sold 
 at 9rf. per gallon, which the soldiers pre- 
 ferred to the ordinary description, retailed 
 there at Is. and Is. 2d. per quart bottle.* 
 
 During the Russian war, there was an 
 export of grains and oil seeds (forming, 
 in 1856, a large item) from the interior 
 of India to England ; but it ended on the 
 conclusion of peace, because war prices, or 
 canal irrigation and carriage, were essential 
 conditions of remuneration. The same 
 thing occurred with wheat. At the com- 
 mencement of the war there was a first ex- 
 port of twenty quarters, which rose to 
 90,963 quarters in 1856, and fell with de- 
 clining prices to 30,429 quarters in 1857. 
 Rice is exported largely under any circum- 
 stances, because it is produced in great 
 abundance on the coast, and is not subject 
 to the cost of inland carriage. f This, and 
 much similar testimony, tends to corrobo- 
 rate the unqualified declaration previously 
 made by Colonel Cotton, that " India can 
 supply England fully, abundantly, cheaply 
 with its two essentials, flour and cotton ; 
 and nothing whatever prevents its doing so 
 but the want of public works."J 
 
 The evidence of British settlers is very 
 satisfactory regarding the possibility of cul- 
 tivating cotton of good quality to an almost 
 unlimited extent. One witness predicts, 
 that the first three or four large canals (for 
 irrigation as well as transit) made in India, 
 would drive the American cotton entirely 
 out of the market, from the much lower 
 cost of production in India. American 
 cotton costs 6d. per pound at the English 
 ports : Indian, of equal quality, might, it 
 is alleged, be delivered there from any part 
 of India at a cost of Hrf. per pound. § 
 
 Even supposing this representation to be 
 somewhat sanguine and highly-coloured, it 
 is most desirable that a vigorous efi'ort should 
 be made to restore the ancient staple pro- 
 duct of India, by making one grand experi- 
 ment — whether slave labour may not be 
 beaten out of the market by the cheapest 
 
 • Evidence of Captain Ouchterlony. — Third Re- 
 port, p. 4. 
 
 t Third Report.— Evidence of Mr. W. Balston, 
 pp. 64 ; 98. J Public Works, p. 29. 
 
 and most abundant supply of free labour 
 which could possibly be desired. In the 
 cultivation and manufacture of cotton, all 
 the requirements of England and of India 
 (national and individual) are combined : 
 capital, skill, and careful superintendence, 
 would find remunerative exercise on the 
 one side; and, on the other, large masses of 
 people, now half-starved, would be em- 
 ployed; and men, women, and even chil- 
 dren could work together in families^-an 
 arrangement always much desired in India. 
 
 Neither is there any reason why the 
 manufacture of the finer fabrics — of gold- 
 wrought and embroidered muslins — should 
 not be resumed as an article of export. 
 They are quite peculiar to India, and must 
 remain so. The temperature of the coun- 
 try ; the delicate touch of the small supple 
 native fingers ; the exquisite, artistic tact in 
 managing the gorgeous colouring: all these 
 points combine in producing effects which 
 have been strangely undervalued in Eng- 
 land. The barbaric pearl and gold, the 
 diamonds of Golconda, the emeralds and 
 pearls, have led us to overlook the incom- 
 parable delicacy of Indian manufactures. 
 
 Shawls are almost the only exceptional 
 article amid general neglect. The French, 
 always discriminating in such matters, 
 have shown more appreciation of the value 
 of native manipulation. Several factories, 
 called " filatures," have been for many years 
 established in their settlement at Pondi- 
 cherry, and where, properly organised and 
 superintended by practical men, the profit 
 yielded is stated at no less than thirty per 
 cent, per annum on the capital invested. 
 A parliamentary witness says, if three 
 times the amount could have been spun, it 
 would have found ready purchasers. 1| It is, 
 however, asserted, that the assessments are 
 not half as high in Pondicherry as in the 
 neighbouring British territory. 
 
 The point long doubtful, wtiether the 
 English constitution could ever bear per- 
 manent residence and active occupation in 
 India, appears to be solved by the concurrent 
 testimony of the planters, whose evidence be- 
 fore a committee of the House of Commons, 
 has been so largely quoted. Their stal- 
 wart frames and healthy appearance, after 
 twenty, and even thirty years' experience, 
 went far to confirm their statements, that 
 
 § Evidence of Mr. W. Balston. — Third Report, 
 p. 98. 
 
 II Evidence of Captain Ouchterlony. — Third Re- 
 port, pp. 13 ; 37.
 
 GOOD HEALTH OF BRITISH SETTLERS IN INDIA. 
 
 37 
 
 out-door employment in the more temperate 
 localities, was, even in India, favourable 
 rather than detrimental to health. It is 
 still an open question, how far their chil- 
 dren or grandchildren may thrive there ; 
 and to what extent early transplantation to 
 schools in the sanitaria afforded by the 
 Neilgherries and other hilly tracts, may 
 operate in preventing physical deterioration. 
 
 The chief attractions to " merchant ad- 
 venturers" in India, are as prominent now 
 as in the days when good Queen Bess 
 granted the first charter to her subjects ; 
 the field for capital and enterprise is quite 
 as wide, and even more promising. Mer- 
 chants, money-lenders, and government sti- 
 pendiaries, are the only wealthy natives at 
 present in India; and many of these — 
 some by fair and highly creditable means, 
 others by intrigue and usury — have be- 
 come possessed of fortunes which would 
 enable them to take rank with a London 
 millionaire. 
 
 India is, in truth, a mine of wealth ; and 
 if we are permitted to see the sword of war 
 permanently sheathed, it may be hoped 
 that we shall take a new view of things ; 
 especially, that the leaders of our large 
 manufacturing towns — Birmingham and 
 Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast — will 
 take up the question of good government 
 for India, and convince themselves, by dili- 
 gently comparing and sifting the evidence 
 poured forth from many different sources, 
 of the necessity for developing the re- 
 sources and elevating the condition of their 
 fellow-subjects in Hindoostan. Poverty, 
 sheer poverty, is the reason why the con- 
 sumption of our manufactures is so small ; 
 and its concomitants — the fear of extortion, 
 and personal insecurity, induce that ten- 
 dency to hoarding, which is alleged to 
 operate in causing the annual disappear- 
 ance of a considerable portion of the already 
 insuflScient silver currency. 
 
 This, and other minor evils, are effects, 
 not causes ; they are like the ailments which 
 inherent weakness produces : strengthen 
 the general frame, and they will disappear. 
 The temptation of profitable and secure in- 
 vestments, such as urgently-required public 
 works may be always made to offer by a 
 wise government, would speedily bring 
 forth the hoarded wealth (if there be 
 such) of India, and would assuredly attract 
 both European and native capital, which, 
 thus employed, might be as seed sown. 
 The British settlers, and some public- 
 
 spirited native merchants (such as the well- 
 known Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeeboy, of Bom- 
 bay, with others in each presidency), have 
 shown what individual effort can accomplish. 
 It is now for the government to follow their 
 example, and prepare for a rich harvest of 
 material and moral progress. 
 
 Annexation, and Infraction of the Indian 
 Laws of Inheritance. — The system of sub- 
 sidiary alliances, established by Lord Welles- 
 ley, in the teeth of many and varied difficul- 
 ties, has, without doubt, been the means of 
 quietly and effectively establishing the su- 
 premacy of England over the chief part of 
 the Indian peninsula. It has likewise 
 greatly conduced to the general tran- 
 quillity, by compelling the native govern- 
 ments to keep peace with one another. 
 It might have done much more than this, 
 had subsequent governors-general entered 
 into the large and generous policy of its 
 promoter, and viewed it as a protective 
 measure calculated to prolong the existence 
 of native states, and regulate the balance 
 of power. Lord Wellesley had no passion 
 for annexation ; he did not even say with 
 Clive, " to stop is dangerous, to recede is 
 ruin :"* on the contrary, he believed that 
 the time had arrived for building up a bar- 
 rier against further extension ; and for this 
 very purpose he bent every energy of his 
 mind to frame the system which has been 
 perverted by his successors, and warped by 
 circumstances, into a preliminary to absorp- 
 tion and extinction. 
 
 He desired to preserve the independence 
 of the Rajpoot principalities; and thus, 
 rather than by exterminating wars, to keep 
 in check the then alarmingly turbulent and 
 aggressive Mahratta powers. His plans were 
 perfected, and fairly in operation when he 
 quitted India. Unhappily, his whole policy 
 was, for a little while, misrepresented and 
 misunderstood. Its reversal was decreed, 
 and unswerving " non-intervention" was to 
 be substituted for protective and defensive 
 alliances. In theory, this principle seemed 
 just and practicable ; in action, it involved 
 positive breach of contract with the weaker 
 states, with whom, in our hour of peril, we 
 had formed treaties, and whom we were 
 pledged to protect against their hereditary 
 foes. 
 
 Mistaken notions of economy actuated 
 the authorities in England ; and, unfortu- 
 nately. Sir George Barlow, on whom the 
 
 • Metcalfe Papers, p. 5.
 
 38 SUBVERSION OF LORD WELLESLEY'S SUBSIDIARY SYSTEM. 
 
 charge of the supreme government de- 
 volved by the sudden death of Lord Corn- 
 wallis, was incapable of realising, much less 
 of forcibly deprecating, the evil of the 
 measures he was called upon to take. 
 Lord Lake, the commander-in-chief, felt 
 his honour so compromised by the public 
 breach of faith involved in the repudiation 
 of treaties which he had been mainly in- 
 strumental in obtaining, that he resigned, 
 in disgust, the diplomatic powers entrusted 
 to him.* 
 
 No less indignation was evinced by the 
 band of rising statesmen, whose minds had 
 been enlarged and strengthened by par- 
 ticipation in the views of the " great little 
 man," who, "from the fire of patriotism 
 which blazed in his own breast, emitted 
 sparks which animated the breasts of all 
 who came within the reach of his notice."t 
 One of these (Charles Metcalfe) drew up a 
 paper on the policy of Sir George Barlow, 
 of remarkable interest and ability. He 
 
 " The native powers of India understand the law 
 of nations on a broad scale, though they may not 
 adhere to it ; but they are not acquainted with the 
 nice quirks upon which our finished casuists would 
 draw up a paper to establish political rights. Our 
 name is high, but these acts must lower it ; and a 
 natural consequence is, that we shall not again be 
 trusted with confidence. 
 
 " Sir George Barlow, in some of his despatches, 
 distinctly states, that he contemplates, in the dis- 
 cord of the native powers, an additional source of 
 strength; and, if I am not mistaken, some of his 
 plans go directly, and are designed, to foment dis- 
 cord among those states. • • • Lord Welles- 
 ley's desire was to unite the tranquillity of all the 
 powers of India with our own. How fair, how 
 beautiful, how virtuous does this system seem ; 
 how tenfold fair, beautiful, and virtuous, when com- 
 pared with the other ugly, nasty, abominable one."J 
 
 All the members of the Wellesley school 
 imbibed the same. tone; and though they 
 differed widely on many points, and sub- 
 sequently became themselves distinctive 
 leaders, yet Elphinstone and Malcolm, 
 Adams and Jenkins, Tucker and Edmon- 
 stone, consistently maintained the rights of 
 native states, and regarded any disposition to 
 take advantage of their weakness or promote 
 strife, as " ugly, nasty, and abominable." 
 
 When the non-intervention system proved 
 absolutely impracticable, the authorities fell 
 back on that of subsidiary alliances ; but 
 instead of proceeding on the broad basis 
 laid down by Lord Wellesley, and organ- 
 
 • See Indian Umpire, vol. i., p. 406. 
 
 t Metcalfe Papere, p. 10, 
 
 X Ibid., pp. 6, 7. § Ibid., p. 178. 
 
 ising such relations of mutual protection 
 and subordination between the greater and 
 the minor states, as might be necessary for 
 the preservation of general tranquillity, a 
 system of minute and harassing inter- 
 ference was introduced into the affairs of 
 every petty state. "We established," writes 
 Sir Charles Metcalfe in 1830, when a 
 member of the supreme council, " a mili- 
 tary police throughout Central India, with a 
 view to maintain order in countries belong- 
 ing to foreign potentates."§ The arrange- 
 ments made were costly, clumsy, and in- 
 efficient; and, in the end, have worked 
 badly for all parties. 
 
 The British contingents, which have 
 now joined the rebel Bengal army, were, 
 for the most part, forced on the native 
 princes, and their general tendency has 
 been to foster the inherent weakness, 
 corruption, and extortion of the states 
 in which they have been established. 
 The benefit of exemption from external 
 strife, has been dearly purchased by in- 
 creased internal oppression ; the arm of 
 the despot being strengthened against his 
 subjects by the same cause which paralysed 
 it for foreign aggression. Then has arisen 
 the difficult question — how far we, as the 
 undoubted supreme power, were justified 
 in upholding notoriously incapable and 
 profligate dynasties, even while the cruel 
 wrongs of the people were unceasingly re- 
 ported by the British residents at the native 
 courts ? As is too frequently the case, the 
 same question has been viewed from dif- 
 ferent points of view at different times, and, 
 at each period, the decision arrived at has 
 run the risk of being partial and prejudiced. 
 
 In the time of Warren Hastings, Sir 
 John Shore, and Lord Wellesley, the in- 
 crease of territory was deprecated by the 
 East India Company and the British nation 
 in general, as equally unjust in principle 
 and mistaken in policy. The fact that 
 many of the Hindoo, and nearly all the Mo- 
 hammedan, rulers were usurpers of recent 
 date, ruling over newly-founded states, was 
 utterly ignored ; and their treacherous and 
 hostile proceedings against us, and each 
 other, were treated as fictitious, or at least 
 exaggerated. At length a powerful reac- 
 tion took place ; people grew accustomed to 
 the rapid augmentation of our Anglo-Indian 
 empire, and ceased to scrutinise the means 
 by which it was accomplished. The rights 
 of native princes, from being over-esti- 
 mated, became as unduly disregarded.
 
 ADVISABILITY OF MAINTAINING NATIVE STATES. 
 
 89 
 
 The system of annexation recently pur- 
 sued, which has set at nought the an- 
 cient Hindoo law regarding the succession 
 of adopted sons and female representatives, 
 is alleged to have been a special cause of 
 the revolt.* From time immemorial, the 
 adoption of heirs in default of natural and 
 legitimate issue, has been the common cus- 
 tom of the Hindoos. If a man have no son, 
 it is an imperative article in his religious 
 beUef that he should adopt one ; because it 
 is only through the ceremonies and offer- 
 ings of a son, that the soul of the father 
 can be released from Put — which seems to be 
 the Brahminical term for purgatory. The 
 adopted child succeeds to every hereditary 
 right, and is treated in every respect as if 
 lawfully begotten. Lord Metcalfe has ex- 
 pressed a very decided opinion on the sub- 
 ject. After pointing out the difference 
 between sovereign princes and jagheerdars 
 — between those in possession of hereditary 
 sovereignties in their own right, and those 
 who hold grants of land, or public revenue, 
 by gift from a sovereign or paramount 
 power — he adds, that Hindoo sovereign 
 princes have a right to adopt a successor, to 
 the exclusion of collateral heirs ; and that 
 the British government is bound to acknow- 
 ledge the adoption, provided that it be 
 regular, and not in violation of Hindoo 
 law. " The supposed reversionary right of 
 the paramount power," Lord Metcalfe de- 
 scribes " as having no real existence, except 
 in the case of the absolute want of heirs ; 
 and even then the right is only assumed in 
 virtue of power; for it would probably be 
 more consistent with right, that the people 
 of the state so situated should elect a sove- 
 reign for themselves.^t 
 
 Many of our leading statesmen have con- 
 curred not only in deprecating the use of 
 any measures of annexation which could 
 possibly be construed as harsh or unjust, 
 but also in viewing the end itself, namely, 
 the absorption of native states, as a positive 
 evil. Mountstuart Elphinstone, who has 
 probably had more political intercourse 
 with the highest class of natives than any 
 other individual now living, has always con- 
 tinued to entertain the same views which he 
 set forth as interpreter to Major-general 
 Wellesley,in the memorable conferences held 
 to negotiate the treaties of Suijee Anjen- 
 
 • Vide Rebellion in India ; by John Bruce Norton, 
 t Metcalfe Papers (written in 1837) ; p. 318. 
 I Supplementary Despatches of F. M. the Duke 
 . of Wellmgton : edited by the present Duke: vol. iii. 
 
 gaum and Deogaum, in 1803, with Sindia 
 and the rajah of Berar;t when he described 
 the British government as uniformly anxious 
 to promote the prosperity of its adherents, 
 the interests of such persons being regarded 
 as identified with its own. 
 
 Many years later, Mr. Elphiustone wrote — 
 " It appears to me to be our interest as 
 well as our duty, to use every means to 
 preserve the allied governments : it is also 
 our interest to keep up the number of in- 
 dependent powers : their territories afford a 
 refuge to all whose habits of war, intrigue, 
 or depredation, make them incapable of 
 remaining quiet in ours; and the contrast 
 of our government has a favourable effect 
 on our subjects, who, while they feel the 
 evils they are actually exposed to, are apt 
 to forget the greater ones from which they 
 have been delivered." 
 
 Colonel Wellesley, in 1800, declared, 
 that the extension of our territory and in- 
 fluence had been greater than our means. 
 "Wherever we spread ourselves," he said, "we 
 increase this evil. We throw out of employ- 
 ment and means of subsistence, aU who have 
 hitherto managed the revenue, commanded, 
 or served in the armies, or have plnndered 
 the country. These people become addi- 
 tional enemies, at the same time that, by 
 the extension of our territory, our means 
 of supporting our government and of de- 
 fending ourselves are proportionately de- 
 creased."§ 
 
 Marquis Wellesley, in 1842, wrote — " No 
 further extension of our territory is ever 
 desirable in India, even in the event of war 
 for conquest, if that could be justified or 
 were legal, as the law now wisely stands."]] 
 
 Lord Ellenborough (despite the annexa- 
 tion of Sinde) advised, that even "what 
 are called rightful occasions of appro- 
 priating the territories of native states," 
 should be avoided ; because he considered, 
 that the maintenance of those states, and 
 " the conviction that they were considered 
 permanent parts of the general government 
 of India, would materially strengthen our 
 authority. I feel satisfied, that I never 
 stood so strong with my own army as when 
 I was surrounded by native princes; they 
 like to see respect shown to their native 
 princes. These princes are sovereigns of 
 one-third of the population of Hindoostaii ; 
 
 § Wellington Despatches. Letter to Major Mun^o, 
 dated 20th August, 1800. 
 
 11 Letter from the Marquis Wellesley to Lord 
 Ellenborough, 4th July, 1842.
 
 40 
 
 DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON ANNEXATION QUESTION. 
 
 and with reference to the future condition 
 of the country, it becomes more important 
 to give them confidence that no systematic 
 attempt will be made to take advantage of 
 the failures of heirs to confiscate their pro- 
 perty, or to injure, in any respect, those 
 sovereigns in the position they at present 
 occupy." 
 
 Sir John Malcolm went further still, and 
 declared, that "the tranquillity, not to say 
 the security, of our vast Oriental dominions, 
 was involved in the preservation of the 
 native principalities, which are dependent 
 upon us for protection. These are also so 
 obviously at our mercy, so entirely within 
 our grasp, that besides the other and great 
 benefits which we derive from these alliances, 
 their co-existence with our rule is, of itself, 
 a source of political strength, the value of 
 which will never be known till it is lost. 
 * * * I am further convinced, that though 
 our revenue may increase, the permanence 
 of our power will be hazarded in proportion 
 as the territories of native princes and chiefs 
 fall under our direct rule." 
 
 Henry St. George Tucker likewise lifted 
 up his voice in warning, declaring, that the 
 annexation of a principality to our gigantic 
 empire, might become the source of weak- 
 ness, by impairing our moral influence over 
 our native subjects.* 
 
 These opinions so far prevailed, that down 
 to the viceroyalty of Lord Dalhousie, the 
 Hindoo custom of adoption was not only 
 sanctioned, but urged by the supreme gov- 
 ernment on native princes in the absence 
 of natural jeirs. The majority of Indian 
 dynasties have been maintained in this 
 manner. The famous Mahratta leaders, 
 Dowlut Rao Sindia of Gwalior, and Mul- 
 har Rao Holcar of Indore, both died child- 
 less : the latter adopted a son ; the former 
 left the choice of a successor to his favourite 
 wife, who exercised the right, and herself 
 filled the position of regent. f 
 
 On the death of the adopted prince, in 
 1843, his nearest relative, a boy of eight 
 years of age, was proclaimed maharajah. 
 The war which took place in the same year, 
 and which terminated in the capture of the 
 fortress of Gwalior by the British troops, 
 on the 4th of January, 1844, did not lead 
 
 • Several of the above opinions, with others of 
 similar tendency, will be found collected in a pam- 
 
 fihlet entitled The Native Statei of India : pub- 
 isbed by Saunders and Stanford, 6, Charing-cross : 
 1853. 
 t Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 427. 
 
 to the extinction of the principality, as it 
 would unquestionably have done under the 
 course of policy which subsequently pre- 
 vailed. The young maharajah was con- 
 firmed in the position, for which, as he 
 advanced in age, he showed himself well 
 qualified ; and his name, like that of his co- 
 temporary the rajah of Indore, now takes 
 high rank amid the faithful allies of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Lord EUenborough's opinions regarding 
 the maintenance of native states, were not, 
 however, shared by his zealous champion. 
 Sir Charles Napier, who expressed himself 
 on this point, as on most others, in very 
 strong terms. " Were I emperor of In- 
 dia," he said, when his views were most 
 matured, " no Indian prince should exist." 
 He would dethrone the Nizam, he would 
 seize Nepatil : in fact, he considered, that 
 without the abolition of the native sove- 
 reignties no great good could be effected, 
 and the Company's revenues must be always 
 in difficulty. { 
 
 Sir Charles was probably singular in his 
 desire to extend the British frontier inde- 
 finitely, and " make Moscowa and Pekin 
 shake;" but many persons, including Mr. 
 Thoby Prinsep and other leading India 
 House authorities, looked forward to the 
 extinction of the subsidiary and protected 
 states vrithin our boundary as desirable, 
 both in a poUtical and financial point of 
 view, especially in the latter. § 
 
 In India, the majority of the governing 
 "caste," aa Colonel Sykes called the civi- 
 lians, || were naturally disposed to favour ex- 
 tensions of territory which directly conduced 
 to the benefit of their body, and for the in- 
 direct consequences of which they were in 
 no manner held responsible. To them, the 
 lapse of a native state was the opening of a 
 new source of promotion, as it was to the di- 
 rectors in England of " patronage" — an ad- 
 vantage vague in sound, but very palpable 
 and lucrative in operation. No wonder that 
 the death of the " sick man" should have 
 been often anticipated by his impatient heirs 
 as a happy release, which it was excusable 
 and decidedly expedient to hasten. It was 
 but to place the sufi'erer or victim within 
 reach of the devouring waves of the Ganges, 
 
 X See review in the Times, May 25th, 1857, of 
 Sir W. Napier's Life of Sir C. Napier. 
 
 § See Mr. Frinsep's pamphlet on the Indian Ques- 
 tion in 1853. 
 
 II Third Report of Colonization Committee, 1S58; 
 p. 88.
 
 ANNEXATION POLICY OF LORD DALHOUSIE. 
 
 41 
 
 aad the result, according to Hindoo notions, 
 is paradise to one party, and pecuniary ad- 
 vantage, or at least relief, to the other. 
 The whirlpool of annexation has been hit 
 upon as offering advantages of a similar 
 kind ; namely, complete regeneration to the 
 native state subjected to its engulphing 
 influence, and increased revenue to the para- 
 mount power. Bengal civilians began to 
 study " annexation made easy," with the zeal 
 of our American cousins, aiid it was soon 
 deemed indispensable to hasten the process 
 by refusing to sanction further adoptions. 
 The opinions quoted in preceding pages 
 were treated as out of date, and the policy 
 founded on them was reversed. The ex- 
 perience of the past showed, that from the 
 days of Clive, all calculations founded on 
 increase of territorial revenue, had been 
 vitiated by more than proportionate in- 
 crease of expenditure. It might have also 
 taught, that the decay of native states 
 needed no stimulating, and that even if 
 their eventual extinction should be deemed 
 desirable, it would at least be well to take 
 care that the inclined plane by which we 
 were hastening their descent, should not be 
 placed at so sharp an angle as to bring 
 them down, like an avalanche, on our own 
 heads. These considerations were lost sight 
 of in the general desire felt "to extinguish 
 the native states which consume so large a 
 portion of the revenue of the country ;"* and 
 few paused to consider the peculiar rights 
 of native administrators, as such, or re- 
 membered that, in many cases, the profit 
 derived from the subsidy paid for military 
 contingents, was greater than any we were 
 likely to obtain from the entire revenue. 
 In fact, the entire revenue had repeatedly 
 proved insuflJcient to cover the cost of our 
 enormous governmental establishmeuts, civil 
 and military. 
 
 The expenditure consequent on the war 
 with, and annexation of, Siude,t was the sub- 
 ject of much parliamentary discussion, the 
 immense booty obtained by the army being 
 contrasted with the burden imposed upon 
 the public treasury and highly-taxed people' 
 of India. Still the lesson prominently set 
 forth therein was unheeded, or treated as 
 applicable only to projects of fbreiga ag- 
 
 * 3Iudern India : by Mr. Campbell, a civilian of 
 the Bengal service. 
 
 t Mr. St. George Tucker asserted, that the pro- 
 ceedings connected with the annexation of Sinde 
 were reprobated by every member of the Court of 
 Directors of the East India Company, " as characlcr- 
 
 VOL. II. G 
 
 grandisement, and having no relation to 
 questions of domestic policy. 
 
 The Marquis of Dalhousie expressed the 
 general sentiments of the Court of Directors, 
 as well as his own, in the following full 
 and clear exposition of the principles which 
 prompted the series of annexations made 
 under his administration : — " There may be 
 a conflict of opinion as to the advantage, or 
 to the propriety, of extending our already 
 vast possessions beyond their present limits. 
 No man can more sincerely deprecate than 
 I do any extension of the frontiers of our 
 territories, which can be avoided, or which 
 may not become indispensably necessary 
 from considerations of our own safety, and 
 of the maintenance of the tranquillity of 
 our provinces. But I cannot conceive it 
 possible for any one to dispute the policy of 
 taking advantage of every just opportunity 
 which presents itself for consolidating the 
 territories that already belong to us, by 
 taking possession of states which may lapse 
 in the midst of them ; for thus getting rid 
 of these petty intervening principalities, 
 which may be made a means of annoyance, 
 but which can never, I venture to think, 
 be a source of strength ; for adding to the 
 resources of the public treasury, and for 
 extending the uniform application of our 
 system of government to those whose best 
 interests, we beUeve, will be promoted 
 thereby." 
 
 Lord Dalhousie differed from Lord Met- 
 calfe and others above quoted, not less 
 with regard to the nature of the end in 
 view, than as to the means by which that end 
 might be lawfully obtained ; and he has re- 
 corded his " strong and deliberate opinion," 
 that "the British government, is bouud 
 not to put aside or to neglect such rightful 
 opportunities of acquiring territory or re- 
 venue, as may from time to time present 
 themselves, whether they arise from the 
 lapse of subordinate states by the failure of 
 all heirs of every description whatsoever, or 
 from the failure of heirs natural, when the 
 succession can be sustained only by the 
 sanction of government being given to 
 the ceremony of adoption, according to 
 Hindoo law." 
 
 It is not surprising that the process 
 
 ised by acts of the grossest injustice, highly inju- 
 rious to the national reputation :" and that the 
 acquisition of that country was " more iniquitous 
 than any which has ever stained the annals of our 
 Indian administration." — Memorials of Indian Gov- 
 enitnetit, pp. 351, 352.
 
 42 
 
 REPUDIATION OF SUCCESSION BY ADOPTION— 1848. 
 
 of absorption should have been rapid, when 
 the viceroy, who held the above opinions, 
 was essentially a practical man, gifted 
 with an " aptitude for business, unflagging 
 powers of labour, and clearness of intellect ;" 
 which even the most decided opponents of 
 his policy have applauded. In reviewing 
 the result of his eight years' administration. 
 Lord Dalhousie dwells, apparently without 
 the slightest misgiving, on the large in- 
 crease of the Biitish territories in the East 
 during that period; four kingdoms, and 
 various chiefships and separate tracts, having 
 been brought under the sway of the Queen 
 of England. Of these, the Puvjab was the 
 fruit of conquest * Pegu and Martaban 
 were likewise won by the sword in 1852 ; 
 and a population of 570,180 souls, spread 
 over an area of 32,250 square miles, was 
 thereby brought under the dominion of the 
 British Crown.f 
 
 The Raj or Principality of Sattara, was 
 the first state annexed by Lord Dalhousie, 
 to the exclusion of the claims of an adopted 
 son. There was only one precedent — and 
 that a partial one — for this measure : it 
 occurred under the administration of Lord 
 Auckland, in 1840, in the case of the little 
 state of Colaba, founded by the pirate Angria, 
 whose chief fort, Gheria, was taken by 
 Watson and CUve in 1756.^ Colaba was 
 dependent on the government of the Peishwa 
 at Poena; and, on the extinction of his 
 power, the British entered into a treaty 
 with, Ragojee Angria, the existing, chief, 
 guaranteeing the transmission of his terri- 
 tories in their integrity to his " successors." 
 With the sanction of the Bombay govern- 
 ment, Ragojee adopted a boy, who died soon 
 after him. Permission was asked for a fresh 
 adoption, but refused; and the territory 
 was treated as having escheated for want of 
 heirs male, although, it is alleged, there were 
 many members of the Angria family still in 
 existence, legally capable of succeeding to 
 the government. 
 
 Sattara was altogether a more important 
 case, both on account of the extent and 
 excellent government of the kingdom, and 
 because its extinction involved a distinct 
 repudiation of the practice of adoption 
 previously sanctioned by the British au- 
 thorities, and held by the Hindoos as in- 
 variably conferring on the adopted child 
 
 * Norton's Rebellion in India, p. 65. 
 
 t Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 456. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 468. Pari. Papers, 16th April, 1858.] 
 
 § See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 271. 
 
 every privilege of natural and legitimate 
 issue. § The fact was so generally recognised, 
 that there seems no reason to doubt that the 
 native princes, in signing subsidiary or 
 other treaties, considered that children by 
 adoption were included, as a matter of 
 course, under the head of legitimate heirs 
 and successors. The exception, if intended, 
 was suflBciently important to demand men- 
 tion. But the conduct of the government, 
 in repeated instances (such as those of the 
 Gwalior and Indore principalities, of Kotah 
 in 1828, Dutteah in 1840, Oorcha, Bans 
 warra, and Oodipoor, in 1842, and, several 
 years later, in Kerowlee),|| was calculated to 
 remove all doubt by evidencing its liberal 
 construction of the Hindoo law of succes- 
 sion. 
 
 Lord Auckland declared, in the case 
 of Oorcha, that he could not for a moment 
 admit the doctrine, that because the view of 
 policy upon which we might have formed 
 engagements with the native princes might 
 have been by circumstances materially al- 
 tered, we were therefore not to act scru- 
 pulously up to the terms and spirit of those 
 engagements; and again, when discussing 
 the question of the right of the widow of the 
 rajah of Kishenghur to adopt a son without 
 authority from her deceased husband, his 
 lordship rejected any reference to the " sup- 
 posed rights" which were suggested as de- 
 volving on the British government as the 
 paramount power, declaring that such ques- 
 tions must be decided exclusively with refer- 
 ence to the terms and spirit of the treaties 
 or engagements formed with the difierent 
 states ; and that no demand ought to be 
 brought forward than such as, in regard to 
 those engagements, should be scrupulously 
 consistent with good faith. 
 
 By this declaration Lord Auckland pub- 
 licly evinced his resolve to adhere to the 
 principle laid down by high authority forty 
 years before, under very critical circum- 
 stances. It was not an obedient depen- 
 dency, but the fortified border-land of a 
 warlike principality, that was at stake, 
 when Arthur Wellesley urged the governor- 
 general to abide by the strict rules of jus- 
 tice, however inconvenient and seemingly 
 inexpedient. On other points of the ques- 
 tion the brothers might take diflPerent views ; 
 on this they were sure to agree ; for they 
 
 II The social grounds on which the practice of 
 adoption is based, are well set forth by General 
 Briggs. See Ludlow's Lectures, vol. ii., p. 226 ; and 
 Native States, pp. 21 ; 23.
 
 ANNEXATION OF SATTARA— 1849. 
 
 43 
 
 were equally ready to " sacrifice GwaUor or 
 every other frontier in India ten times over, 
 in order to preserve our credit for scrupu- 
 lous good faith."* 
 
 The recent mode of dealing with Sattara 
 has not contributed to raise the British 
 name either for generosity or unflinching in- 
 tegrity. The deposition of that most able 
 ruler, Pertab Sing, on a charge of con- 
 spiracy against the supreme governmeni,t 
 was earnestly deprecated in England by 
 many eminent men, and excited great in- 
 dignation among his subjects. The secret 
 and hurried manner in which his seizure 
 and trial were conducted, increased the appa- 
 rent hardship of his sentence ; and an able 
 writer asserts his conviction that, at the 
 present time, not a native in India, nor five 
 persons in the world, believe in his guilt.J 
 He died in 1847, leaving an adopted son, 
 around whom the aflFections of the people 
 still cling.§ The remembrance of his misfor- 
 tunes has not passed away ; and one of the 
 mutineers, hung at Sattara in 1857, ad- 
 dressed the surrounding natives while he 
 was being pinioned, to the efi"ect that, as 
 tlie English had hurled the rajah from his 
 throne, so they ought to be driven out of the 
 country. II The deposition of Pertab Sing 
 was not, however, accompanied by any at- 
 tempt at annexation of territory ; the gov- 
 ernment, on the contrary, " having no views 
 of advantage and aggrandisement," resolved, 
 in the words of the new treaty (5th Sep- 
 tember, 1839), to invest the brother and next 
 in succession to the rajah with the sove- 
 reignty. -This brother (Appa Sahib) died 
 in 1848. He, also, in default of natural 
 issue, had adopted a son, whose recognition 
 as rajah was strongly urged by Sir George 
 Clerk, the governor of Bombay, on the 
 ground that the terms of the treaty, " seemed 
 to mean a sovereignty which should rot 
 lapse for want of heirs, so long as there was 
 any one who could succeed, according to 
 the usages of the people." "In a matter 
 such as this question of resumption of ter- 
 ritory, recovered by us, and restored to an 
 ancient dynasty,"1f he observes, "we are 
 morally bound to give some consideration 
 to the sense in which we induced or per- 
 mitted the other party to understand the 
 terms of a mutual agreement. Whatever 
 we intend in favour of an ally in perpetuity, 
 
 • Wellington Despatches, 17th March, 1804. 
 t See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 432. 
 X Ludlow's Lectures, yoL ii., p. 171. 
 § Ibid., p. 171. 
 
 when executing a treaty with him on that 
 basis, by that we ought to abide in our rela- 
 tions with his successors, until he proves 
 himself unworthy." 
 
 Sir G. Clerk further advocated the con- 
 tinuance of the independence of Sattara, 
 on account of its happy and prosperous 
 state. Mr. Frere, the British resident, said 
 that no claimant would venture to put for- 
 ward his own claim against the adopted sons 
 of either of the late rajahs ; but that there 
 were many who might have asserted their 
 claim but for the adoption, and who would 
 "be able to establish a very good prima 
 facie claim in any court of justice in India.-" 
 These arguments did not deter Lord Dal- 
 housie from making Sattara the first ex- 
 ample of his consolidation policy. "The 
 territories," he said, " lie in the very heart 
 of our own possessions. They are inter- 
 posed between the two military stations in 
 the presidency of Bombay, and are at least 
 calculated, in the hands of an independent 
 sovereign, to form an obstacle to safe com- 
 munication and combined military move- 
 ment. The district is fertile, and the re- 
 venues productive. The population, accus- 
 tomed for some time to regular and peaceful 
 government, are tranquil themselves, and 
 are prepared for the regular government 
 our possession of the territory would give." 
 With regard to the terms of the treaty, he 
 held that the words "heirs and successors" 
 must be read in their ordinary sense, and 
 could not be construed to secure to the 
 rajahs of Sattara any other than the succes- 
 sion of heirs natural : and the prosperity of 
 the state, he did not consider a reason for its 
 continued independence, unless this pros- 
 perity could be shown to arise from fixed 
 institutions, by which the disposition of the 
 sovereign would always be guarded, or com- 
 pelled into an observance of the rules of 
 good government. (This, of course, could 
 not be shown, such security being peculiar 
 to countries blessed with free institutions, 
 and utterly incompatible with any form of 
 despotism.) In conclusion, the governor- 
 general argued, that " we ought to regard 
 the territory of Sattara as lapse, and should 
 incorporate it at once with the British do- 
 minions in India."** 
 
 The Court of Directors were divided in 
 opinion on the subject : nine of them agreed 
 
 y Bombay Telegraph, 19th June, 1857. 
 *\ Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 419. 
 •• Minute by Lord Daihousie, 30th August, 
 1848.
 
 44 
 
 ANNEXATION OF SATTARA— 1849. 
 
 with, and five differed from, Lord Dalhousie.* 
 The dissentients were Messrs. Tucker, Shep- 
 herd, Melville, Major Oliphant, and General 
 Caulfield. Regarding the precedent estab- 
 lished in the case of Colaba, Mr. Tucker 
 said — 
 
 " I remonstrated against the annexation (I am 
 disposed to call it the confiscation) of Colaba, the 
 ancient seat of the Angria family, to which the allu- 
 sion has been made in the Bombay minutes ; and 
 far from having seen reason to modify or recall the 
 opinion recorded by me on that proceeding, I have 
 availed myself of every suitable occasion to enforce 
 my conviction, that a more mischievous policy could 
 not be pursued than that which would engross the 
 whole territory of India, and annihilate the small 
 remnant of the native aristocracy. There are per- 
 sons who fancy that landed possessions in India 
 cannot be successfully administered by native agency. 
 In disproof of this notion I would point to the Ram- 
 poor jaghire in Rohilcund, which was a perfect 
 garden when I saw it long ago, and which still re- 
 mains, I believe, in a state of the highest agricul- 
 tural prosperity. Nay, I would point to the princi- 
 pality of Sattara, which appears to have been most 
 successfully administered both by the ex-rajah, Per- 
 tab Sing, and his brother and successor, Appa Sahib, 
 who have done more for the improvement of the 
 I country than our government can pretend to have 
 done in any part of its territory ."f 
 
 This, and other energetic protests, are 
 said to have produced so strong an im- 
 pression, that a vote seemed likely to pass 
 in the Court of Proprietors, repudiating the 
 annexation of Sattara. The ma'ority of the 
 directors perceiving this, called for a ballot, 
 and so procured the confirmation of the 
 measure by the votes of some hundreds of 
 ladies and gentlemen, for the most part 
 utterly ignorant of the merits of the case. J 
 
 The provision made by the supreme gov- 
 ernment for the widows and adopted son,§ 
 was censured by the directors ; and Lord 
 Dalhousie writes, that although the Hon. 
 Court had declared " their desire to provide 
 liberally for the family, and their wish 
 that the ladies should retain jewels, fur- 
 
 niture, and other personal property suit- 
 able to their rank, they still objected that 
 the grant of so much property, which was 
 fairly at the disposal of the government, 
 was greatly in excess of what was re- 
 quired." || 
 
 The Kingdom of Nagpoor "became British 
 territory by simple lapse, in the absence 
 of all legal heirs;" for the government, 
 says Lord Dalhousie, " refused to bestow 
 the territory, in free gift, upon a stranger,^ 
 and wisely incorporated it with its own 
 dominions."** 
 
 Absorption was becoming a very familiar 
 process to the British functionaries, and the 
 addition of a population of about 4,650,000, 
 and an area of 76,432 square miles, ff ap- 
 peared to excite little attention or interest. 
 Parliamentary returns prove, however, that 
 the kingdom was not extinguished without 
 palpable signs of dissatisfaction, and even 
 some attempt at resistance on the part of 
 the native government. The ranees, or 
 queens, on the death of the rajah in Decem- 
 ber, 1853, requested leave to take advantage 
 of the Hindoo law, which vested in them, or 
 at least in the chief of them — the right of 
 adopting a son, and of exercising the powers 
 of the regency. They offered to adopt, ac- 
 cording to the pleasure of the supreme 
 government, any one of the rightful heirs, 
 who, they alleged, existed, and were en- 
 titled to succeed to the sovereignty ; " both 
 according to the customs of the family and 
 the Hindoo law, and also agreeably to the 
 practice in such cases pursued under the 
 treaties." The reply was a formal intima- 
 tion, that the orders issued by the gov- 
 ernment of India having been confirmed 
 by the Hon. Court of Directors, the prayer 
 of the ranees for the restitution of the 
 raj to the family could not be granted. 
 The maharanee, called the Banka Bye (a 
 
 • The question of the right of adoption, says Mr. 
 Sullivan, was treated by all the authorities at home 
 and abroad as if it had been an entirely new one, 
 and was decided in the negative ; whereas, it ap- 
 peared, by records which were dragged forth after 
 judgment was passed in the Sattara case, that the 
 question had been formally raised, and as formally 
 decided in favour of the right, twenty years before ; 
 and that this decision had been acted upon in no 
 less than fifteen instances in the interval.- — Pamphlet 
 on the Double Government, published by India 
 Reform Society ; p. 24. 
 
 t Lieutenant-general Briggs, in his evidence be- 
 fore the Cotton Committee appointed in 1848, men- 
 tioned having superintended the construction of a 
 road made entirely by natives for the rajah of Sat- 
 tara, thirty-six miles long, and eighteen feet wide, 
 
 with drains and small bridges for the whole dis- 
 tance. 
 
 X Sullivan's Double Government, p. 26. 
 
 § They were allowed to retain jewels, &c., to the 
 value of sixteen lacs, and landed property worth 
 20,000 rupees a-year. Pensions were also granted 
 (from the revenue) to the three ranees, of £45,000, 
 £30,000, and £25,000 respectively.— Pari. Papers 
 (Commons), 5th March, 1856; p. 10. 
 
 II Pari. Papers, &c., p. 10. 
 
 •[J Lord Dalhousie, in a minute dated 10th June, 
 1854, admits that lineal members of the Bhons- 
 lay family existed ; but adds, " they are all the pro- 
 geny of daughters." — Pari. Papers (Commons), 16th 
 June, 1856. 
 
 •• Minute, dated 28th February, 1856; p. 8. 
 
 tt Pari. Papers (Commons), 16th April, 1858.
 
 ANNEXATION OF NAGPOOR— 1853. 
 
 '15 
 
 very aged woman, of remarkable ability, 
 who had exercised the authority of regent 
 during the minority of her grandson, the 
 late rajah), and the younger ranees, were not 
 entirely unsupported in their endeavours for 
 the continuance of the state, or at least 
 for the obtainment of some concessions from 
 the paramount power. The commissioner, 
 and former resident, Mr. Mansel, repre- 
 sented the disastrous effect which the an- 
 nexation of Nagpoor was calculated to 
 produce upon certain influential classes. 
 The dependent chiefs, the agriculturists, 
 and the small shopkeepers would, he con- 
 sidered, "if not harshly agitated by new 
 measures," be easily reconciled to British 
 rule; but — 
 
 "The officers of the army, the courtiers, the 
 priesthood, the chief merchants and bankers who 
 had dealings with the rajah's treasury and house- 
 hold — all the aristocracy, in fact, of the country, see 
 in the operation of the system that British rule 
 involves, the gradual diminution of their exclusive 
 consequence, and the final extinction of their order."* 
 
 The extinction of the aristocracy was cal- 
 culated to aflFect the mass of the population 
 more directly than would at first seem 
 probable. Mr. Mansel truly says — 
 
 "The Indian native looks up to a monarchical 
 and aristocratic form of life ; all his ideas and feel- 
 ings are pervaded with respect for it. Its ceremonies 
 and state are an object of amusement and interest 
 to all, old and young; and all that part of the hap- 
 piness of the world which is produced by the grati- 
 fication of the senses, is largely maintained by the 
 existence of a court, its pageantry, its expenditure, 
 and communication with the people. Without such 
 a source of patronage of merit, literary and personal, 
 the action of life in native society as it is and must 
 long be, would be tame and depressing. • * • 
 It is the bitter cry on all sides, that our rule exhi- 
 bits no sympathy, especially for the native of rank, 
 and not even for other classes of natives. It is a 
 just, but an ungenerous, unloveable system that we 
 administer, and this tone is peculiarly felt in a 
 newly. acquired country. It may be that we can- 
 not re-create, but we may pause ere we destroy a 
 form of society already existing, and not necessarily 
 barren of many advantages. • • • Xhe main 
 energies of the public service in India are directed 
 to, or absorbed in, the collection of revenue and the 
 repressing of rural crime ; and the measures applied 
 to the education of the native people are of little 
 influence ; while many of our own measures — as in 
 the absorption of a native state (if we sweep clean 
 the family of the native prince and the nobility 
 gradually from the land) — are deeply depressing on 
 the national character and social system, 'f 
 
 * Pari. Papers (Commons) — Annexation of Be- 
 rar: No. 82; March 5lh, 1856; p. 4. 
 t Ibid., p. 6. 
 X Ibid., pp. 12, 13. 
 § The mode of appropriating the personal and here- 
 
 He therefore recommended, with a view 
 of reconciling the past with the future, in a 
 change of government from Oriental to 
 European hands, that the Nagpoor royal 
 family should be permitted to exercise the 
 right of adoption ; to enjoy the privileges 
 of titular chieftainship; and to retain pos- 
 session of the palace in the city of Nagpoor, 
 with a fixed income and a landed estate. 
 
 The reply to these recommendations was, 
 that the governor-general in council could 
 not conceal his surprise and dissatisfaction 
 at the advocacy of a policy diametrically 
 opposed to the declared views of the 
 supreme authority. The grounds on which 
 the British commissioner advocated the 
 creation of a titular principality, were 
 pronounced to be weak and untenable; 
 while all experience was alleged to be 
 opposed to the measure which he had 
 " most inopportunely forced" on the con- 
 sideration of government. The king of 
 Delhi, the nawab of Bengal, and the nawab- 
 nizam of the Carnatic, were cited as so 
 many examples of its impolicyr but " in all 
 these cases, however, some purpose of great 
 temporary expediency was served, or be- 
 lieved to be served, when the arrangement 
 was originally made ; some actual difficulty 
 was got over by the arrangement; and, 
 above all, the chiefs in question were exist- 
 ing things [?] before the arrangement." 
 In the present instance, however, the offi- 
 cial despatch declares there was no object 
 of even temporary expediency to serve; no 
 actual difficulty of any sort to be got over; 
 no one purpose, political or other, to be 
 promoted by the proposed measure. J 
 
 The provision suggested by Mr. Mansel 
 as suitable for the ranees in the event of his 
 proposition being rejected, was condemned 
 as extravagantly high ; the hereditary trea- 
 sure of the rajah, the governor-general con- 
 sidered, in accordance with the decision of 
 the Hon. Court in an analogous case (Sat- 
 tara), was "fairly at the disposal of the 
 government, and ought not to be given up 
 to be appropriated and squandered by the 
 ranees."^ 
 
 The money hoarded, having been accu- 
 mulated, it was alleged, out of the public 
 funds, was available to defray the arrears of 
 the palace establishments — a reasonable 
 
 ditary treasure of the late rajah, suggested by the 
 commissioner as likely to be approved by the ranees, 
 was the building a bridge over the Kumaon river; 
 and thus, in accordance with Hindoo custom, link- 
 ing the family name to a great and useful work.
 
 46 
 
 ANNEXATION OF NAGPOOR— 1853. 
 
 plea, which could not be urged in defence 
 of the same seizure of personal savings in 
 the case of Sattara. 
 
 This unqualified censure of the commis- 
 sioner was followed by his removal, a pro- 
 ceeding directly calciJated to inculcate the 
 suppression not only of opinions, but even of 
 facts, of an unpalatable kind. The half- 
 measure which he had suggested might 
 possibly have worked badly, as most half- 
 measures do ; but it was avowedly pro- 
 posed as a compromise, and as a means of 
 meeting difficulties, which the Calcutta 
 authorities saw fit to ignore. No notice 
 whatever was taken of Mr. Hansel's state- 
 ment, that in arguing with the people at 
 Nagpoor on the practice of putting the 
 members of the family of a deceased chief 
 on individual life pensions, upon the absorp- 
 tion of a state, they immediately (though 
 not before unsubservient to the execution 
 of orders from Calcutta for the extinction of 
 sovereign powers) fell back upon the law 
 and rights of the case, and contended that 
 the treaty gave what was now being arbi- 
 trarily taken away.* 
 
 Nothing, indeed, could be more arbi- 
 trary than the whole proceeding. A mili- 
 tary officer. Captain Elliot, was made offi- 
 ciating comnrissioner, and a large body of 
 troops was placed at his disposal to overawe 
 opposition, in the event of the royal family 
 or their late subjects evincing any disposi- 
 tion to resist the fulfilment of the orders of 
 the governor-general for the seizure of the 
 treasure, hereditary jewels, and even the 
 personal property and household efi"ects of 
 the deceased rajah, which were advertised 
 to be sold by public auction, to provide a 
 fund for the support of his family. 
 
 The ranees sent a vakeel, or ambassador, 
 to Calcutta, to intreat that a stop should be 
 put to the sale of efi'ects held as private 
 property for a century and a-half; "and, 
 further, for the cessation of the unjust, 
 oppressive, and humiliating treatment shown 
 bj' the commissioner, under the alleged 
 orders of government, towards the maha- 
 ranees and the other heirs and members of 
 the family of the late rajah, whose lives are 
 embittered and rendered burdensome by 
 the cruel conduct and indignities to which 
 they have been obliged to submit." 
 
 Repeated memorials were sent in by 
 
 the ranees, concerning " the disrespect and 
 
 contumely^' with which they were treated 
 
 by the acting commissioner, and also 
 
 • Pari. Paoers on Berar, p. 7. 
 
 regarding the manner in which the sales by 
 auction were conducted, and property sacri- 
 ficed ; particularly cattle and horses : a pair 
 of bullocks, for instance, estimated to be 
 worth 200 rupees, being sold for twenty. 
 
 The official return of the proceeds of the 
 rajah's live stock, tends to corroborate 
 the statement of the ranees. A hundred 
 camels only realised 3,138 rupees, and 182 
 bullocks only 2,018; elephants, horses, and 
 ponies in large numbers, sold at equally low 
 prices. The remonstrances of the ranees 
 were treated with contemptuous indifi'er- 
 ence. The government refused to recog- 
 nise their envoys, and would receive no 
 communications except through the official 
 whose refusal to forward their appeals was 
 the express reason of their having endea- 
 voured to reach the ear of the governor- 
 general by some other channel. 
 
 The removal of the property from the 
 palace was attended by considerable excite- 
 ment. The native officer employed by 
 the English government, was " hustled and 
 beaten" in the outer courtyard of the 
 palace. The sepoys on duty inside the 
 square, are described by Captain Elliot in 
 his rather singular account of the matter, 
 "as not afibrding that protection and assis- 
 tance they were bound to do; for, setting 
 aside Jumal-oo-deen's [the native officer's] 
 rank, position, and employment, he was 
 married, and somewhat lame." There was 
 great excitement in the city, as well as in 
 and about the palace, and great crowds had 
 assembled and were assembling. ' It was 
 doubtful to what extent opposition might 
 have been organised, for the aged maha- 
 ranee was asserted to have sent a mes- 
 sage to the British officer in command, 
 that if the removal of property were 
 attempted, she would set the palace on 
 fire. This threat, if made, was never exe- 
 cuted : reinforcements of troops were in- 
 troduced into the city, and the orders Oi 
 the government were quietly carried 
 through. The governor-general considered 
 that the " scandalous conduct" of the 
 sepoys and rifle guards on duty, ought to 
 have been punished by dismissal from the 
 service; but it had been already passed 
 over in silence, and so no martyrs were 
 made to the cause, and the aft'air passed 
 over as an ebullition of that " floating feel- 
 ing of national regret," which Mr. Mansel 
 had previously described as ready to dis- 
 charge itself in dangerous force upon any 
 objects within its range.
 
 ANNEXATION OF NAGPOOR, OR BERAR— 1854. 
 
 47 
 
 The maharanee denied having incited 
 or approved the resistance offered by her 
 people ; but the Calcutta authorities per- 
 sisted in considering that a plan of resis- 
 tance had been organised by her during the 
 night preceding the disturbances which 
 took place in the morning of the 11th of 
 October, 1854, and threatened to hold the 
 ranees generally responsible, in the event of 
 any repetition of such scenes as those which 
 had already brought down upon them the 
 displeasure of governmernt. 
 
 The ladies were, no doubt, extremely 
 alarmed by this intimation, which the offici- 
 ating commissioner conveyed to them, he 
 writes, in " most unmistakable language." 
 The sale of the chief part of the jewels and 
 heirlooms (estimated at from £500,000 to 
 £750,000 in value)* was carried on unop- 
 posed in the public bazaars ; a proceeding 
 which the then free press did not fail to 
 communicate to the general public, and to 
 comment on severely.f Of the money 
 hidden within the sacred precincts of the 
 zenana, 136 bags of silver rupees had been 
 surrendered ; but there was a further store 
 of gold mohurs, with the existence of 
 which the Banka Bye had herself ac- 
 quainted the British functionaries imme- 
 diately after the death of her grandson, 
 as a proof of her desire to conceal 
 nothing from them. When urged, she 
 expressed her readiness to surrender the 
 treasure ; but pleaded as a reason for 
 delay, the extreme, and as it speedily 
 proved, mortal sickness of Unpoora Bye, 
 the chief widow, in whose apartments the 
 treasure was hidden, and her great unwil- 
 lingness to permit its removal. The com- 
 missioner appears to have treated this plea as 
 a continuation of " the old system of delay 
 and passive resistance to all one's instruc- 
 tions and wishes." Nevertheless, he deemed 
 it objectionable " to use force ;" and " was 
 unwilling that Captain Crichton [the officer 
 in command] should go upstairs on this 
 occasion, or take any active part in this 
 matter," it being " better to avoid a scene :" 
 and, as an alternative, he advised '' writing 
 off the amount known to he buried, to the 
 debit of the ranees, deducting the same 
 from their annual allowance, and telling 
 them the same was at their disposal and in 
 their own possession."! 
 
 • Pari. Papers (Annexation of Berar), p. 9. 
 t Indian News, 2n(l April, 1855. 
 \ Letter from officiating commissioner, Capt. Elliot, 
 to government, 13th IJec, 1854. — Pari. Papers, p. 44. 
 
 The princesses would have been badly 
 off had this arrangement been carried out, 
 for the amount of hoarded treasure had 
 been exaggerated, as it almost invariably is 
 in such cases ; and although no doubt is 
 expressed that the formal surrender of 
 10,000 gold mohurs (made immediately 
 after the delivery of the governor-general's 
 threatening message) included the entire 
 hoard, yet double that sum was expected ; 
 the other half having, it is alleged, been 
 previously expended. 
 
 The maharanee excited the angry sus- 
 picions of the Calcutta government by 
 a despairing effort for the maintenance of 
 the state, with which she felt the honour of 
 her house indissolubly allied. It appeared, 
 that Major Ramsay, then resident at Ne- 
 paul, had, when occupying the same posi- 
 tion at the court of Nagpoor, been on very 
 bad terms with the deceased rajah. The 
 Banka Bye attributed the extinction of the 
 raj to his representations, and sent a 
 vakeel to him, in the hope of deprecating 
 his opposition, and obtaining his favourable 
 intervention. The errand of the vakeel 
 was misunderstood, and attributed to a 
 desire to communicate with the Nepaulese 
 sovereign on the subject of the annexation 
 of Nagpoor. Under this impression, the 
 governor-general in council declared, that 
 the ranees had no right whatever to com- 
 municate with native courts ; that it was 
 impossible to put .any other than an un- 
 favourable construction on their attempt to 
 do so : and the acting commissioner was 
 officially desired to acquaint them, that the 
 repetition of such an act would " certainly 
 lead to substantial proof of the displeasure 
 of government being manifested to them." 
 
 On the mistake being discovered, the 
 following minute was recorded by the gov- 
 ernor-general, and concurred in by the four 
 members of council whose names have 
 become lately familiar to the British pub- 
 lic. Its curt tone contrasts forcibly with 
 that adopted by the Marquis Wellesley, 
 and his great brother, in their arrange- 
 ments for the royal family of Mysoor : yet 
 the dynasty of Hyder Ali had been founded 
 on recent usurpation, and overthrown in 
 open fight; while that of Berar represented 
 a native power of 150 years' duration, and 
 long in peaceful alliance with the Company 
 as a protected state. The age and reputa- 
 tion of the Banka Bye, her former position 
 as regert, the remarkable influence exer- 
 cised by her during the late reign, and her
 
 48 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF BRITISH RESIDENTS AT NAGPOOR. 
 
 uniform adhesion to the British govern- 
 ment, — thescj together with the dying state 
 of Unpoora Bye, the eldest of the rajah's 
 widows, and the bereaved condition of them 
 all, might well have dictated a more respect- 
 ful consideration of their comphiints and 
 misapprehensions, than is apparent in the 
 brief but comprehensive account given by 
 the supreme goverumeut, of the groundless 
 charge which had been brought against 
 the princesses : — 
 
 " It now appears that the vakeel sent by 
 the ranees of Nagpoor to Nepaul, was in- 
 tended, not for the durbar, but for Major 
 Ramsay, the resident there. Major Ramsay, 
 when officiating resident at Nagpoor, was 
 compelled to bring the late rajah to order. 
 The rajah complained of him' to me, in 
 1848. The officiating resident was in the 
 right, and, of course, was supported. It 
 seems that these ladies now imagine that 
 Major Ramsay's supposed hostility has in- 
 fluenced me, and that his intercession, if 
 obtained, might personally move me. The 
 folly of these notions need not to be no- 
 ticed. The vakeel not having been sent to 
 the durbar, nothing more need be said 
 about the matter."* 
 
 The means used by Major Ramsay " to 
 bring the rajah to order," had been pre- 
 viously called in question, owing to certain 
 passages in the despatch which had occa- 
 sioned the supersession of Mr. Mansel. 
 These passages are given at length, in evi- 
 dence of the entirely opposite manner in 
 which successive British residents at Nag- 
 poor exercised the extraordinary powers en- 
 trusted to them ; interfering in everything, 
 or being absolutely nonentities (except as a 
 drain upon the fiuauces of the state they 
 were, barnacle-like, attached to), accord- 
 ing to their temper of mind and habit of 
 body. 
 
 " In my arguments," says Mr. Mansel, " with 
 natives upon the suhject of the expediency and pro- 
 priety of the British government dealing with the 
 Nagpoor case as a question of pure policy, I have 
 put to them the position, that we had all of us at 
 Nagpoor, for the last two years, found it impracti- 
 
 • Minute, dated November, 1854. Pari. Papers 
 (Annexation of Berar), p. 41. Signed — Dalhousie, 
 J. Dorin, J. Low, J. P. Grant, B. Peacock. 
 
 f Major Ramsay denies this; and, while bearing 
 testimony to the " high character" of Mr. Mansel, 
 says, that the policy adopted by the latter was 
 radically opposed to his own, for that he had pur- 
 sued the most rigid system of non-interference with 
 any of the details of the local government; whereas 
 Mr. Mansel appointed, or caused the appointment 
 of, several individuals to responsible offices in the 
 
 cable to carry on the government decently. I re- 
 marked that Major Wilkinson, after a long struggle, 
 succeeded in getting the rajah within his own in- 
 fluence, and, by his fine sagacity and perfect ex- 
 perience, had controlled him whenever he chose. 
 Colonel Speirs, from decaying health, was latterly 
 unable to put much check upon the rajah, though 
 his perfect knowledge of affairs of the day here, and 
 of Oriental courts in general, would otherwise have 
 been most valuable. Major Ramsayf pursued a 
 course of uncompromising interference, aiv* in a 
 state of almost chronic disease, attempted a per- 
 fect restoration to health. Mr. Davidson, as his 
 health grew worse, left the rajah to do as he liked ; 
 and under the argument, that it was better to work 
 by personal influence than by fear, he left the rajah 
 to do as he pleased, with something like the pretence 
 of an invalid physician — that his patient would die 
 with too much care, and required gentle treatment. 
 During my incumbency, I found the rajah so much 
 spoiled by the absolute indulgence of my prede- 
 cessor, that I was gradually diiven to adopt the 
 radical reform of Major Ramsay, or the extreme 
 conservatism of Mr. Davidson ; and in the struggle 
 which latterly ensued between myself and the rajah, 
 his end was undoubtedly hastened by vexation at 
 my insisting on his carrying out the reform in spirit 
 as well as to the letter. • • • The argument of 
 the natives, with whom I have frequently conferred 
 on this subject, is, that the British residents at Nag- 
 poor should participate in the blame charged to the 
 rajah by myself; for if the same system of advice 
 and check which was contemplated by the last 
 treaty, had been carried out from first to last, the 
 rajah would never have been tempted into the 
 habits of indolence and avarice that latterly made 
 him make his own court and the halls of justice a 
 broker's shop, for the disposal of oSicial favours and 
 the sale of justice. The answer to this is, that the 
 British government does its best; that it sends its 
 highest servants to a residency ; and if the principles 
 or abilities of the different incumbents vary, it is 
 only natural and incidental to any colonial system 
 in tlie world. The result, however, is, that the 
 management of the country gels into all kinds of 
 embarrassment, of death, judicial corruption, and 
 irresponsibility of ministers, when the readiest course 
 is to resume those sovereign powers that were dele- 
 gated on trust."J 
 
 Surely the foregoing statements of the 
 last " incumbent " of the Nagpoor resi- 
 dency, afford a clear exposition of the 
 mischievous effects of establishing, at the 
 courts of native princes, a powerful func- 
 tionary, whose office combines the duties of 
 a foreign ambassador with those of a domes- 
 tic counsellor, or rather dictator. If the 
 
 Nagpoor government, and set apart particular days 
 in tile week on which the heads of departments 
 waited upon him at the residency, and submitted 
 their reports and proceedings. — Letter of Major 
 Ramsay to government, 5th February, 1855 — Pari. 
 l'ap''rs, pp. 46 ; 53. 
 
 I Letter of Commissioner Mansel, 29th April, 
 1854 — Pari. Papers, p. 7. See Indian Empire, vol. 
 i., p. 4'20, for an account of the circumstances under 
 which the so-called delegation of sovereign powers 
 was made in the case alluded to.
 
 ANNEXATION OF ODEIPORE— 1853. 
 
 49 
 
 resident be an upright man, he can scarcely 
 fail to be distracted by the conflicting in- 
 terests of the paramount and dependent 
 states — the two masters whom he is bound 
 to serve ; and if of a sensitive disposition, 
 he cannot but feel the anomalous character 
 of his situation at the elbow of a dependent 
 sovereign, who must naturally regard him 
 as something between a schoolmaster and a 
 spy. No doubt there have been British 
 residents whose influence has been markedly 
 beneficial to native states ; not only for- 
 merly, when their position was better de- 
 fined, and, from circumstances, involved less 
 temptation to, or necessity for, interference 
 in the internal aff'airs of the state, but even 
 of late years. The general effect, however, 
 has been the deterioration and depression 
 painted with half unconscious satire by 
 Mr. Mansel, in the case of Nagpoor. 
 
 The circumstances attending the annexa- 
 tion of this state, have been dwelt on more 
 on account of the incidental revelations 
 which they involve of the practical working 
 of a pernicious system, than from any 
 special interest which attaches to the par- 
 ticular question so summarily decided by 
 Lord Dalhousie. No connected statement 
 of the case has been made public on be- 
 half of the princesses, notwithstanding the 
 spirited attempts made by the Banka Bye 
 to obtain a fair hearing. When the gov- 
 ernor-general refused to receive any com- 
 munication through her envoys, she sent 
 them to England, in the hope of obtain- 
 ing a reversal of the decision pronounced 
 at Calcutta. The vakeels complained of 
 the treatment which the ranees had met 
 with, especially o*" the strict surveillance 
 under which they were placed : their state- 
 ments were published in the newspapers, 
 and the new commissioner for Nagpoor 
 (Mr. Plowden) took up the matter in re- 
 sentment. Meantime, Unpoora Bye died 
 (14th Nov., 1855), her end being embittered, 
 and probably accelerated, by the same 
 mental distress which is acknowledged to 
 have hastened that of her husband. The 
 aged maharanee abandoned further opposi- 
 tion, and wrote to London to dismiss her 
 vakeels (2nd Dec, 1855), on the ground 
 that, instead of obeying her orders, and 
 laying her case before the authorities in 
 a supplicating way, so that her " honour 
 and humble dignity might be upheld," they 
 had displayed a great deal of imprudence, 
 and used calumnious expressions against 
 the British officers. She informed them, 
 
 VOL. II. H 
 
 with significant brevity, of the death of Un- 
 poora Bye; adding — " Well, what has hap- 
 pened, has happened." This letter, which 
 is alike indicative of the character of the 
 writer and of the dictation (direct or indi- 
 rect) under which it was written, closes the 
 series of papers, published by order of par- 
 liament, regarding the annexation of Berar. 
 
 The territory resumed from AH Morad, one 
 of the Ameers of Sinde, in 1852, comprised 
 an area of 5,412 square miles. The reason 
 of the resumption has been already stated.* 
 
 Odeipore is mentioned, in a Return 
 (called for by the House of Commons ia 
 April, 1858) "of the Territories and Tribu- 
 taries in India acquired since the 1st of 
 May, 1851," as having been annexed in 
 1853. The area comprises 2,306 square 
 miles, with a population of 133,748 per- 
 sons. This place must not be confounded 
 with the two Oodipoors (great and small) 
 in Rajast'hau, the absorption of which even 
 Lord Dalhousie would scarcely have ven- 
 tured on attempting. 
 
 The territory resumed from Toola Ram 
 Senaputtee, in Cachar, in 1853, comprises 
 2,160 acres of land ; but, unlike Odeipore, 
 has only the disproportionate population of 
 5,015. t 
 
 Hyderabad. — In 1853, the Nizam con- 
 cluded a new treaty with the Company, by 
 which he transferred to them one-third of 
 his country, to meet the expenses of the con- 
 tingent maintained by him, but disciplined 
 and commanded by British officers. The 
 resident. Major-general Eraser, when the 
 proposition for the cession of territory first 
 came under consideration in 1851, recom- 
 mended nothing less than the deposition of 
 the Nizam, and the assumption of sovereign 
 power by the Company for a definite num- 
 ber of years — a measure which he considered 
 justified by the weak character of the Ni- 
 zam, and the disorganised state of his ad- 
 ministration. This proposition was at once 
 rejected by Lord Dalhousie, who ably 
 argued, that the transfer of the administra- 
 tion to the British government would never 
 be consented to by the Nizam ; that to im- 
 pose it upon him without his consent, 
 would be a violation of treaties ; that the 
 Nizam was neither cruel, nor ambitious, 
 nor tyrannical ; that his maladministration 
 of his own kingdom did not materially affect 
 the security of British territory, or the in- 
 terests of British subjects; and that the 
 
 • See Indian Empire, T<il. i., p. '^ol. 
 
 t Purl. Paper (Commons), IGth April, 1858.
 
 50 
 
 THE NIZAM'S CONTINGENT AND SUBSIDIARY FORCES 
 
 British authorities were neither called on, 
 nor at liberty, to set aside an independent 
 native government because, in their opinion, 
 that government exercised its authority in 
 a manner injurious to its subjects.* " The 
 debt," Lord Dalhousie says, "which bur- 
 dens the Nizam has been produced by the 
 contingent. The monthly subsidy for which 
 the resident at Hyderabad maintains a per- 
 petual wrestle with the dewan [native chan- 
 cellor of the exchequer], and which trans- 
 forms the representative of the British 
 government, by turns, into an importunate 
 creditor and a bailiff in execution, is the 
 pay of the contingent." The governor- 
 general proceeds to expose the misinterpre- 
 tation of the article of the treaty of 1800 ; 
 which provided that the British army 
 should, in time of war, be reinforced by a 
 body of 15,000 of the Nizam's troops ; but 
 which had " been made to justify our requir- 
 ing the Nizam to uphold a force of about 
 5,000 infantry, 2,000 horse, and four field 
 batteries, officered by British officers, con- 
 trolled by the British resident, trained on 
 the British system, not in war only, but 
 permanently, at a very costly rate, and so 
 as to be available for the use of the Nizam 
 only when the representative of the Bri- 
 tish government has given his consent."t 
 
 The scale of expenditure on which the 
 contingent was maintained, was inordinate. 
 Lord Dalhousie, in a minute of the 25th of 
 September, 1848, declared — "I agree with 
 Colonel Low in thinking that we cause the 
 contingent to become a much heavier burden 
 on the Nizam's finances than it ought to 
 be. The staff, in my humble judgment, is 
 preposterously large. The pay and allow- 
 ances, and charges of various kinds, are far 
 higher than they ought to be." Still, 
 nothing was done to reduce this ruinous 
 waste of public funds; for in March, 1853, 
 another minute, by the same ready pen, 
 described the contingent as having no less 
 than five brigadiers, with brigade-majors, 
 attached to it, and a military secretary, 
 who drew the same salary as the adjutant- 
 
 • Pari. Papers, 26th July, 1864 ; p. 3. 
 
 t Minute by the governor-general, June, 1851. — 
 Pari. Papers— /6«(i., p. 100. 
 
 t Pari. Papers— Zii(/., pp. 4 ; 103. 
 
 § Minute by governor-general, 27th May, 1861. — 
 Pari. Papers— /6»(/., p. 32. |i Ibid., p. 34. 
 
 % The resident. Major-general Fraser, adds a re- 
 mark on Shorapoor, which illustrates the systematic 
 encroachment, manifested in so many ways, and ex- 
 cused by such various pretexts. The rajah of Sho- 
 rapoor, he says, " is neat his majority ; but, I pre- 
 
 general of the Bengal army. By the rules 
 of the force, the officers were promoted to 
 superior grades, and to higher pay, earlier 
 than they would have been in their own 
 service ; and, altogether, the expenses were 
 " unusually and unnecessarily heavy." J 
 
 The plan devised for compelling the pay- 
 ment, by the Nizam, of expenditure thus 
 recklessly incurred in the maintenance of a 
 contingent which no treaty bound him to 
 support, and which had existed on suffer- 
 ance from the time of the Mahratta war, 
 without any formal sanction on the part of 
 either government, is vaunted as extremely 
 liberal, apparently because it fell short of 
 total annexation. 
 
 The sum claimed was about seventy-five 
 lacs,§ or £750,000 (including interest at six 
 per cent.) ; to provide for the payment of 
 which, the supreme government demanded 
 the transfer of " districts to the value of not 
 less than thirty-five lacs per annum, so as 
 to provide for the payment of the principal 
 of the debt within three years, and further 
 to afford a margin, which should in each 
 year be applicable to meet any partial defi- 
 ciencies which might still occur in the 
 supply of monthly pay for the troops of the 
 contingent." II The resident pointed out, 
 as the districts of which the British gov- 
 ernment might most fitly and advanta- 
 geously demand possession, the Berar 
 Payeen Ghaut, the border districts from 
 thence down to Shorapoor,^ and the terri- 
 tory of the dooab, between the Kistnah 
 and the Toorabuddra; which, together, com- 
 prised the whole frontier of the Nizam's 
 kingdom along its northern and western 
 boundaries, and along its southern boun- 
 dary, as far as the junction of the above- 
 named rivers. 
 
 " The Berar Payeen Ghaut (he adds) is, without 
 exception, the richest and most fertile part of the 
 Nizam's country, and the Raichore dooab is the next 
 to it in this respect. These two districts hold out 
 great prospect of improvement in regard to revenue 
 and commerce, from an extended culture of the two 
 articles of cotton and opium. • • • The quan- 
 tity of opium now cultivated In Berar Payeen Ghaut, 
 
 sume, that when that district is given over to his 
 charge, measures will be taken by the supreme gov- 
 ernment for keeping it, for some years at least, sub- 
 ject to the control of a British officer. It is at pre- 
 sent in a favourable and improving state; but if 
 given up to the young rajahs exclusive and un- 
 controlled authority, it will quickly revert to the 
 same state of barbarism in which it was before." — 
 Pari. Papei's — Ibid., p. 14. Shorapoor is inhabited 
 by the Bedars, a warlike aboriginal tribe, whose 
 [ chief claims a descent of more than thirty centuries.
 
 CESSION OP TERRITORY DEMANDED FROM THE NIZAM— 1851. 51 
 
 as well as of cotton, might be greatly increased, and 
 the duty upon them would form, in itself, a very 
 productive source of revenue." 
 
 Captain Meadows Taylor likewise gave 
 an. extremely tempting account of the 
 same districts; he referred to the reported 
 existence of very valuable anicuts, and 
 described the Raichore district as well sup- 
 plied with tanks. 
 
 Temporary occupation, for the liquidation 
 of the outstanding debt, was all that was 
 to be immediately demanded ; but Lord 
 Dalhousie avowedly anticipated the proba- 
 bility of being compelled to retain these dis- 
 tricts permanently, for the regular payment 
 of the contingent. Major-general Eraser 
 entered more fully into the subject ; and his 
 statements show, in the clearest manner, the 
 irremediable disorder into which the pro- 
 posed step was calculated to plunge the 
 finances of Hyderabad. He writes (4th 
 February, 1851):— 
 
 " We are about to assume, in pursuance of a just 
 right to do so, which cannot be denied, the tempo- 
 rary management of a tract of country yielding from 
 thirty to forty lacs of rupees; and the Nizam, there- 
 fore, will have so much income less to meet those 
 demands, to which his whole and undivided revenue 
 has long been proved to be quite unequal. He has 
 been unable, for the last five years, to pay the con- 
 tingent, except by partial instalments only, although 
 he considers this the first and most important pay- 
 ment incumbent on his government to make ; and 
 it cannot, therefore, be expected that he should be 
 able to meet this essential claim upon him with his 
 financial means diminished to the extent above 
 mentioned. It is all but certain that he will not be 
 able to pay the contingent [brigadiers, brigade- 
 majors, mihtary secretaries, and a//] for any further 
 period than perhaps the next two months, and this, 
 probably, but in small proportion only. The ulti- 
 mate consequence, then, must be (and I see no rea- 
 son why this argument should not be set before him 
 in a plain and distinct light), that we should be un- 
 der the necessity of retaining, permanently, in our 
 possession the territory of which we are now about 
 to assume the temporary charge." 
 
 The Nizam felt the iron pale which sur- 
 rounded his kingdom closing in, and made 
 an attempt at resistance which astonished 
 the supreme authorities, and disconcerted, 
 or at least delayed, the execution of their 
 arrangements. Open resistance the gov- 
 ernor-general was prepared to overwhelm 
 by taking military possession of the speci- 
 fied districts. The Nizam was too prudent, 
 or too powerless, to offer any. Suraj-ool- 
 Moolk, the chief minister, appointed in 
 compliance with Lord Dalhousie's sugges- 
 tion, and pronounced by him to be the only 
 luan who seemed to possess the capacity to 
 
 grapple with the difiiculties of the state, 
 pointed out the certain ruin which the 
 proposed cession would involve. The dis- 
 tricts demanded, he said, afforded one-third 
 of the entire revenue ; another third would 
 be required for the regular monthly pay- 
 ment of the contingent, &c. : and only one- 
 third being left to carry on the entire 
 administration, both the Nizam and his 
 subjects would be reduced to distress for 
 the means of existence. 
 
 Arguments of this nature had been an- 
 ticipated, and would probably have made 
 little impression, had they not been fol- 
 lowed up by a distinct offer for the imme- 
 diate liquidation of arrears. The resident 
 had received no instructions how to act in 
 so unexpected a case, and he therefore 
 wrote word to Calcutta, that pending fur- 
 ther orders, he had judged it his duty to 
 consent to leave the question of the transfer 
 of the districts in temporary abeyance, the 
 Nizam having found means to take upon 
 himself the entire and immediate payment 
 of his debt, and to give " the best security 
 that could be offered for the future regtdar 
 payment of the contingent, short of the 
 actual transfer, to us, of part of his country 
 for this purpose."* 
 
 The first half of the debt was paid at 
 once; the second proved more diflBcult to 
 be raised in the precise manner required, 
 although the Nizam contributed thirty lacs 
 of rupees (£30,000) from his private funds. 
 Suraj-ool-Moolk requested that a favour- 
 able rate of exchange might be allowed 
 for the Nizam's bills, in consideration of 
 the interest paid by him direct to the 
 British government, of that exacted by 
 usurers on sums borrowed on the same 
 account, and especially because of the no- 
 torious embarrassments of the state. He 
 asked that the existing average rate of 
 exchange on the Company's bills should be 
 applied to the Nizam's, and that these 
 latter should be credited according to their 
 dates. In support of his first request, he 
 urged that it was the universal practice to 
 pay a debt at the current rate of exchange, 
 and not at the rate which prevailed when 
 the loan was made; adding, that it ought 
 to be borne in mind, that the present debt 
 had accumulated, in the course of seven 
 years, by comparatively small sums ; and the 
 whole of it was now required to be paid 
 within four months. "With regard to the 
 
 • Letter of Resident Fraser, 16th July, 1861. — 
 Pari. Papers (Nizam's Territory), p. 52.
 
 52 
 
 NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE NIZAM— 1852. 
 
 second point, he said — " If instead of hoon- 
 dees [bills], the Circar [state] paid the 
 amount of the debt to you in cash, and you 
 found it expedient to remit the money to 
 the residencies, you would have to pay 
 ready money to the soucars [bankers] for 
 the hoondees you procured for this purpose ; 
 and as I send you hoondees so purchased, 
 instead of the coin, I do not think I am 
 unreasonable in requesting that credit may 
 be given to this Circar [state] on the dntes 
 the hoondees are dehvered to you."* 
 
 But the resident would hear of no allow- 
 ance; no deductions in any way. The 
 financial difficulties of the Nizam were a 
 subject of regret; but it was not "equit- 
 able, that the loss of which Suraj-ool-Moolk 
 complained, should be lessened at the ex- 
 pense of the British government." 
 
 The 31st of October — the time specified 
 for the payment of the second and final 
 instalment — arrived. The Nizam, though 
 unable to raise the entire sum required, yet 
 managed to furnish a considerable portion 
 of it, and acted in such a manner as to 
 convince the resident that he was really 
 " exerting himself, in good faith, to liqui- 
 date the whole." The governor-general 
 records this, in a minute dated 3rd 
 January, 1852; yet, at the same time, he 
 was occupied in framing a treaty which 
 was to deprive the Nizam of the territory 
 he had made so strenuous an effort to re- 
 tain. Colonel Low was dispatched to 
 Hyderabad to conduct the negotiations; 
 "his judgment, firmness, and conciliatory 
 demeanour" being relied on to bring about 
 the issue desired by the supreme govern- 
 ment. The task was neither an easy nor 
 a pleasant one. 
 
 The proposals now made were, that the 
 Nizam should cede the frontier districts 
 in perpetuity, and receive, in return, a re- 
 ceipt in full for the portion of the instal- 
 ment he had failed to pay in October, and 
 likewise for the future subsistence of the 
 contingent, which the Company proposed 
 to reorganise in their own name, on a 
 reduced scale, transforming it from the 
 Nizam's force into one to be maintained for 
 him by the government. There was, more- 
 over, a subsidiary force, which the Company 
 were bound to maintain in perpetuity by 
 the treaty of 1800, within the state of 
 
 * Letter from Sooraj-ool-Moolk, 14th August, 
 1851.— Pari. Papers (Nizam's Territory), p. 70. 
 
 t For tlie origin and establishment of the subsi- 
 diary force, see Indian Empire, vol..i., pp. 373 ; 378. 
 
 H3''derabad ; the funds being provided by 
 the cession of the Nizam's share of the ter- 
 ritory acquired from Mysoor.f The gov- 
 ernment had need of these troops, and de- 
 sired to obtain, by a new treaty, the right of 
 employing the chief part of them elsewhere, 
 on the plea of there being no necessity for 
 them in Hyderabad ; the danger of external 
 foes which existed when the arrangement 
 was first made, and when the Mahrattas 
 were in the height of their power and turbu- 
 lence, having long since passed away. 
 
 It was true that, by this particular part 
 of the proposed arrangement, the Nizam 
 would be no loser; because the conti?igent, 
 and the large number of troops in his im- 
 mediate service, alone exceeded the ordi- 
 nary requirements of the state. Only, as 
 Lord Dalhousie wanted the services of the 
 subsidiary force elsewhere, and as the con- 
 tingent force, to a great extent, performed 
 its duties and supplied its place, it is evident 
 that there could be no excuse for appro- 
 priating the services of the former body 
 without contributing to the expenses of 
 the latter, which amounted to j630,000 a 
 month. J 
 
 This was never even contemplated ; and 
 the state of Hyderabad having been made to 
 furnish funds in perpetuity for a subsidiary 
 force, was now to be compelled to cede 
 territory for the support of another distinct 
 but very similar body of troops, and to 
 place the former at the service of the 
 British government without receiving any 
 compensation whatever. 
 
 It is true the Nizam was to be given the 
 option of disbanding the contingent ; but 
 then the immediate ruin of the country was 
 anticipated by the resident as so palpable 
 and certain a consequence of such a mea- 
 sure, that the idea was viewed as one of the 
 last the Nizam would entertain. Even 
 in the event of his choosing this hazardous 
 alternative, in a desperate endeavour to 
 relieve his finances from the incubus with 
 which they had been so long burdened, the 
 transfer of territory was still to be insisted 
 on, at least temporarily, for the payment of 
 arrears, " and for covering the future ex- 
 penses of the force during the time neces- 
 sary for its absorption, in the gradual 
 manner required by good faith to existing 
 personal interests. "§ 
 
 X Pari. Papers (Nizam's Territory), 26th July, 
 1854; p. 94. 
 
 § Despatch from directors, 2nd November, 1853. 
 — I'url. Papers — Ibiil., p. 8.
 
 DISCUSSION BETWEEN THE NIZAM AND COL. LOW— 1853. 
 
 53 
 
 " Beneficial as these proposals are, espe- 
 cially to the Nizam," writes Lord Dal- 
 housie, " it is anticipated that his highness 
 will be reluctant to assent to them :" and, 
 in the event of his reluctance amounting to 
 a positive refusal to sign the new treaty, 
 military possession was ordered to be taken 
 of the coveted districts. 
 
 The Nizam was, as had been anticipated, 
 incapable of appreciating the advantages 
 ! offered him : he saw no occasion for any new 
 treaty at all ; earnestly craved for time to 
 pay off the debt ; and promised to meet the 
 expenses of the contingent with regularity 
 for the future — a promise which, however, 
 there is reason to fear he lacked the means 
 of performing. At first, he seems to have 
 been inclined to stand at bay; and in the 
 opening conference with Colonel Low, he 
 took up the strong point of his case, and 
 put it very clearly. 
 
 " In the time of my father," said the 
 Nizam, " the Peishwa of Poona became 
 hostile both to the Company's ^"^ernment 
 and to this government, and Sir Henry 
 Russell (the resident) organised this con- 
 tingent, and sent it in different directions, 
 along with the Company's troops, to fight 
 the Mahratta people ; and this was all very 
 proper, and according to the treaty ; for 
 those Mahrattas were enemies of both 
 states ; and the Company's army and my 
 father's army conquered the ruler of 
 Poona, and you sent him off a prisoner 
 to Ilindoostan, and took the country of 
 Poona.* After that, there was no longer 
 any war ; so why was the contingent kept 
 up any longer than the war?" 
 
 Colonel Low was not prepared to meet 
 an argument which went at once to the 
 gist of the question ; and he made, as an 
 honest man could not help doing, a very 
 lame reply, excusing liimself on the plea, 
 that thirty-six years had elapsed since the 
 occurrence of the events alluded to by the 
 Nizam ; that he (the colonel) was not in 
 Hyderabad at the time; bat that he sup- 
 posed the reigning prince had considered 
 the maintenance of the contingent a good 
 arrangement, and therefore consented to 
 it. He proceeded to represent the neces- 
 sity of retaining this force to overawe the 
 Arabs, Rohillas, Seiks, and other plunderers, 
 and to enable the Nizam to collect his reve- 
 nues : adding, that the governor-general was 
 so much disposed to act liberally in the 
 matter, that he would probably aid in re- 
 
 • See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 419. 
 
 ducing the expenses of the contingent, if 
 that were desired. The Nizam here 
 abruptly terminated the conference. 
 
 A draft treaty was sent in, providing for 
 the required cession ; and the Nizam was 
 reminded, that he would thereby gain relief, 
 in future, from the heavy interest he had 
 been compelled to pay on money borrowed 
 for the maintenance of the contingent. 
 His reiterated reply was — "A change iu a 
 treaty, be it what it may, can never be an 
 advantage to a sovereign who prefers, as I 
 do, that there should not be any change at 
 all." He reluctantly consented to discuss 
 the subject again with the resident, and re- 
 ceived him at the second interview with a 
 flushed face and excited manner, which, at 
 first sight, resembled the effects of wine 
 or opium. Tiiis was not the case; for 
 the Nizam had never shown himself more 
 acute in argument, nor more fluent in con- 
 versation ; but he was very angry, and had 
 been sitting up nearly all night examining 
 the treaty with his chief nobles. " Two 
 acts," he said, " on the part of a sovereign 
 prince are always reckoned disgraceful : one 
 is, to give away, unnecessarily, any portion of 
 his hereditary territories; and the other is, 
 to disband troops who have been brave and 
 faithful iu his service. * * * Did I ever j 
 make war against the English government, 
 or intrigue against it? or do anything but 
 co-operate with it, and be obedient to its 
 wishes, that I should be so disgraced ?"t 
 Again and again he asked to be allowed to 
 pay the forty-six lacs of rupees then owing, 
 and provide security for future regularity ; 
 but the resident reminded him that similar 
 pledges had been repeatedly violated, and 
 urged him to accept the governor-general's 
 proposition, and apply the sum he spoke of 
 in lessening the heavy arrears of his own 
 troops and servants. The Nizam, in reply, 
 made what impartial readers may consider 
 a natural and sensible speech ; but which 
 the resident reported as illustrative of "his 
 highness's peculiar and strange character." 
 
 " Gentlemen like you," he said, " who 
 are sometimes in Europe, and at other times 
 in India ; sometimes employed in govern- 
 ment business, at other times soldiers ; 
 sometimes s-iilors, and at other times even 
 engaged in commerce (at least I have heard 
 that some great men of your tribe have 
 been merchants), you cannot understand 
 the nature of my feelings in this matter. 
 I am a sovereign prince, born to live and 
 t Pari. Papers (Nizam's Territory), p. 110. 
 
 J
 
 54 ANOMALOUS POSITION OP THE NIZAM'S CONTINGENT FORCE. 
 
 die in this kingdom, which has belonged to 
 my family for seven generations. You think 
 that I could be happy if I were to give up a 
 portion of my kingdom to your government 
 in perpetuity : it is totally impossible that I 
 could be happy ; I should feel that I was 
 disgraced. I have heard that one gentle- 
 man of your tribe considered that I ought 
 to be quite contented and happy if I were 
 put upon the same footing as Mohammed 
 Ghouse Khan [the Nawab of Arcot] ; to 
 have a pension paid to me like an old ser- 
 vant, and have nothing to do but to eat and 
 sleep and say my prayers. Wah !"* 
 
 Other remarks followed ; the Nizam went 
 over all the most disputed portions of 
 former negotiations, and said that the Com- 
 pany ought to give him territory instead of 
 taking any away. He complained bitterly 
 of the discreditable transactions connected 
 with the firm of Palmer & Co., by which 
 his father had sustained both territorial and 
 pecuniary lossjt and adverted sai'castically to 
 the high value the British power placed on 
 money. The second interview terminated 
 as unsatisfactorily as the first. A third 
 followed, at which the Nizam received the 
 resident with "something of sadness in his 
 expression of countenance," yet " with due 
 courtesy and politeness." But he soon grew 
 excited, and said angrily, " Suppose I were 
 to declare that I don't want the contingent 
 at all ?" In that case, he was told, some 
 years might elapse before the men could be 
 otherwise provided for, and the specified 
 districts would still he required to provide 
 for them in the interim. 
 
 The conversation came to a standstill, 
 and the resident broke silence by asking a 
 decided answer to the question — whether 
 the Nizam would consent to form a new 
 treaty ? "I could answer in a moment," 
 was the retort ; " but what is the use of 
 answering ? If you are determined to take 
 districts, you can take them without my 
 either making a new treaty, or giving any 
 answer at all." 
 
 Once more the discussion was adjourned. 
 The government had resolved, in case of 
 necessity, "to take possession of the dis- 
 tricts by physical force ;"J but a diflBculty 
 arose as to the troops to be employed. 
 There were, indeed, more than sufiBcieut for 
 the purpose already stationed within the 
 
 • An Arabic exclamation, indicative of anger and 
 surprise, and uttered with uncontrollable passion. — 
 Pari. Papers (Nizam's Territory), p. 120. 
 
 t Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 421. 
 
 limits of Hyderabad ; but the employment 
 of troops ostensibly organised for the 
 Nizam's service, in direct opposition to his 
 will, would, one of the members of gov- 
 ernment observed, be a measure of doubt- 
 ful propriety in the case of the subsidiary 
 force, but, beyond all doubt, wrong in the 
 case of the contiugent. The same minute 
 shows how completely native contingents 
 were viewed as identified with British 
 interests, and how little anticipation was 
 then entertained that a time was coming 
 when the majority would mutiny, murder 
 their officers, and fight to the death against 
 the united power of their own princes 
 and the British government : it also illus- 
 trates the anomalous condition of con- 
 tingent troops in general, on whom such 
 divided allegiance as is here described, must 
 necessarily have sat lightly; and who were 
 counted upon by the supreme government, 
 as being ready, at any moment, to march 
 against the person and the capital of their 
 ostensible master, to whom they had sworn 
 allegiance, and whose salt they ate. 
 
 " I am quite satisfied," writes Sir Frederick Currie, 
 " that the troops of the contingent would, at the 
 command of the resident and their officers, mtirch 
 against the other troops of the state, against Hydera- 
 bad, and against the person of the Nizam himself, if so 
 ordered, as readily as against any other parties, so 
 entirely have they been taught to consider them- 
 selves our soldiers ; but we must not, on that ac- 
 count, lose sight of the fact, that they are bona fide 
 the Nizam's troops, enlisted (by British officers, it is 
 true, but by British officers in the pay and service 
 of the Nizam) in his name, sworn to allegiance to 
 him, and obedience to his orders. It would be, to 
 my mind, the very height of anarchy to order these 
 troops to coerce their master in any way ; but more 
 especially so, to use them for the purpose of taking 
 violent possession of a part of that master's terri- 
 tories in order to provide for their own pay."§ 
 
 The government had therefore a special 
 reason for desiring to procure the consent 
 of the Nizam to their occupation of the 
 frontier districts ; beside which, the use of 
 the subsidiary troops for their own pur- 
 poses, could only be obtained by an article 
 framed to supersede the rule by which they 
 were " hampered" || in the treaty of 1800 j 
 and further, it was desirable to secure a legal 
 sanction for the continued maintenance of 
 the contingent. 
 
 At length a modification of the draft 
 treaty was agreed upon, chiefly through 
 
 I Resident's Letter.— Pari. Papers— /ii'd., p. 129. 
 § Minute by Sir F. Currie, 2nd April, 1853. 
 
 II Minute by Mr. Dorin, 1st June, 1853. — Pari. 
 Papers, p. 151.
 
 TRANSFER OF HALF THE NIZAM'S TERRITORY— 1853. 
 
 55 
 
 the mediation of Shums-ool-Omrah, the 
 uncle-in-law of the Nizam ; who was de- 
 scribed by the resident as having been 
 famed, throughout a long life, for truth- 
 fulness and general respectability of charac- 
 ter, and who evinced, at a very advanced 
 age, remarkable manliness and good sense. 
 The Nizam positively refused to sign away 
 any of his territory in perpetuity; but he 
 reluctantly consented to the temporary 
 transfer of the districts to British manage- 
 ment, on condition of regular accounts 
 being rendered to him, and the surplus 
 revenue being paid into his treasury, after 
 the liquidation of the old debt, and the 
 regular payment of the contingent, with 
 some other items, should have been pro- 
 vided for. 
 
 The governor-general had previously de- 
 clared, that "much consideration" was due 
 to the Nizam on account of the unnecessary 
 expense at which the contingent had been 
 maintained; and had dwelt forcibly on the 
 heavy pecuniary sacrifice the government 
 was willing to mii'ie by cancelling the old 
 debt. Why this benevolent intention was 
 not carried out, does not clearly appear. 
 The Nizam would have joyfully accepted 
 the boon, if assured that it involved no 
 latent responsibility ; but it never seems to 
 have been placed within his reach. Lord 
 Dalhousie, in his long minute on the sub- 
 ject of the advantages procured by the 
 treaty, says, "that in providing, beyond 
 risk, the means of regularly paying the con- 
 tingent, and of terminating all pecuniary 
 transactions and consequent causes of dis- 
 pute with the Nizam, the government of 
 India secured an all-important object ; to 
 obtain which, it was prepared not merely to 
 accept an assignment of districts only, but 
 further to cancel the fifty lacs of rupees due 
 to it." His lordship adds — " The govern- 
 ment may well be content with a treaty 
 which gives it what it sought without re- 
 quiring the sacrifice it was ready and willing 
 to make in return." 
 
 No doubt the new arrangement was an 
 
 * Pari. Papers, p. 40. 
 
 t Minute and despatch by gov.-general, pp. 8, 9. 
 
 I See Quarterly Review, August, 1858 ; article 
 on " British India," pp. 265, ,266. The writer (be- 
 lieved to be Mr. Layard) refers to the '" garbled" 
 Blue Book, from which the statement in the fore- 
 going pages has been framed, as affording some 
 insight into the manner in which Lord Dalhousie 
 bullied the Nizam into a surrender of his three 
 richest districts ; and speaks of a letter full of un- 
 worthy invective and sarcasm, in which the latter 
 is likened, by the former, "to the dust under his 
 
 extremely favourable one for the British 
 government, when viewed in the light of 
 temporary financial expediency. The benefit 
 to be derived by the prince, whom Lord 
 Dalhousie truly called our " old and staunch 
 ally," is by no means equally apparent.* 
 Yet it would seem to have been so to the 
 Calcutta council; for, in sending home to 
 the Court of Directors the documents from 
 which the preceding account has been ex- 
 clusively framed, and the precise words of 
 which have been, as far as possible, adhered 
 to, entire confidence is expressed in the 
 irrefragable proofs contained therein, " that 
 the conduct of the government of India 
 towards the Nizam, in respect of the con- 
 tingent and of all his other afi'airs, has 
 been characterised by unvarying good faith, 
 liberality, and forbearance; and by a sin- 
 cere desire to maintain the stability of the 
 state of Hyderabad, and to uphold the per- 
 sonal independence of his highness the 
 Nizam." 
 
 The directors evidently sympathised with 
 Lord Dalhousie's views of the course 
 prompted by such laudable motives, in- 
 cluding "a due regard for our own inter- 
 ests."t They rejoiced to find the Indian 
 government relieved " from the unbecoming 
 position of an importunate creditor;" and 
 presented their " cordial thanks to the gov- 
 ernor-general, and the ofiicers employed by 
 him, in negotiating so satisfactory a treaty." 
 
 The transfer was eflFected in 1853. Since 
 then, the annexation of Hyderabad has been 
 openly canvassed, and, probably, would 
 have been ere now completed, only the 
 turn of Oude came first, and then — the 
 mutiny. Fortunately for us, the Nizam 
 died in the interim; otherwise, "the mingled 
 exasperation and humiliation," which Lord 
 Dalhousie himself declares the proceedings 
 of the governor-general must have produced 
 in his mind, would perhaps have taken a 
 tangible form ; and, to our other difl&culties, 
 might have been added that of struggling' 
 with "one of the most dangerous and 
 fanatical Mussulman districts in India."} 
 
 feet." This sentence is not printed in the only letter 
 from the governor-general to the Nizam in the Pari. 
 Papers; which contains, however, the strange as- 
 sertion, that the efficient maintenance of the contin- 
 gent force was a duty imposed upon the government 
 of Hyderabad, by the stipulations of existing treaties 
 — a statement refuted by his lordship in repeated 
 minutes. The Nizam is also threatened with the 
 resentment of that great government " whose power 
 can crush you at its will ;" and an anticipation is 
 expressed, of the pain and anxiety which must be 
 caused to his highness by " the plain and peremptory
 
 56 
 
 ANNEXATION OF JHANSI— 1854, 
 
 The present Nizam was suffered to ascend 
 his hereditary tlirone in peace, and will, it 
 is to be hoped, reap the reward of his alle- 
 giance in the restoration of the assigned 
 districts, which a recent authority has de- 
 clared, " were filched from his father by a 
 series of manoeuvres as unjust and dis- 
 creditable as any that may be found in the 
 history of our administration of British 
 India."* 
 
 The Principality of Jhansi (a name with 
 which we have been of late painfully 
 familiar), annexed in 1854, added to our 
 dominions 2,532 square miles of territory, 
 peopled by 200,000 souls. The attendant 
 circumstances were peculiar. In 1804, a 
 treaty was concluded with Sheo Rao Bhao, 
 subahdar or viceroy of Jhansi, by Lord 
 Lake, under what the government truly 
 described as the " nominal" sanction of the 
 Peishwa. The adhesion of this chief was 
 then deemed of much importance, and his 
 influence had effect in inducing many 
 others to follow his example, and thus 
 facilitated our operations in Bundelcund. 
 In 1817, the Peishwa having ceded to us 
 all his rights, feudal, territorial, and pecu- 
 niary, in that province, a new treaty was 
 entered into, by which the governor- gen- 
 eral, " in consideration of the very respect- 
 able character" borne by the lately de- 
 ceased ruler, Sheo Rao Bhao, " and his 
 uniform and faithful attachment to the Bri- 
 tish government, and in deference to his 
 wish expressed before his death," consented 
 to confirm the principality of Jhansi, in 
 perpetuity, to his grandson Ram Chandra 
 Rao, his heirs and successors. f 
 
 The administration of Ram Chandra was 
 carried on so satisfactorily, that, iu 1832, 
 the title of maharajah was publicly con- 
 ferred on him, in lieu of that of subahdar, 
 by Lord William Bentinck, who was re- 
 turning by Jhansi to Calcutta, from a tour 
 of inspection in the Upper Provinces. The 
 little state was then well ordered. Its ruler 
 was a sensible, high-spirited young man ; 
 his aristocracy and army were composed of 
 two or three thousand persons, chiefly of 
 his own family and tribe; and his villages 
 and people had as good an appearance as 
 language" addiessed to him. Mr. Bright quoted 
 the sentence already given from the Quarterly Re- 
 view, in his place in parliament (June 24th, 1858) ; 
 adding — " Passages like these are left out of des- 
 patches when laid on the table of the House of 
 Commons. It would not do for the parliament, or 
 the Crown, or the people of England, to know that 
 their officer addressed language like this to a native 
 prince." It is further alleged, that when forced to 
 
 any in India. After the ceremony had 
 been performed in the presence of all orders 
 of his subjects, the maharajah approached 
 the governor-general in the attitude of sup- 
 plication, and craved yet another boon. 
 His subjects watched with deep interest the 
 bearing of their ruler, which, in their view, 
 implied unqualified devotion and allegiance ; 
 but they noticed (according to a tmtive 
 writer) the smile of surprise and derision 
 with which the ladies and officials in the 
 viceregal suite regarded the scene. Lord 
 William himself had a juster appreciation 
 of native character, but he naturally feared 
 some embarrassing request, and heard with 
 relief, that the boon desired was simply 
 permission to adopt the English ensign as 
 the flag of Jhansi. A uuion-jack was at 
 once placed in his hands, and forthwith 
 hoisted, by his order, from the highest tower 
 of his castle under a salute of one hundred 
 guns. The significance of the act thus grace- 
 fully carried through, was beyond misappre- 
 hension ; for the adoption of the flag of the 
 supreme power by a dependent chieftain, 
 was the expressive and well-known symbol 
 of loyalty and identity of interest. J 
 
 Upon the death of Ram Chandra in 1835, 
 without male heirs, the succession was con- 
 tinued in the line of Sheo Rao. Gunga- 
 dhur Rao, the son of Sheo, while yet a 
 young man, was suddenly carried off by 
 dysentery, on the 21st of November, 1853. 
 The day before his death, the maharajah 
 sent for the political agent of Bundelcund 
 (Mr. Ellis), and the officer in command 
 (Captain Martin), and delivered to them the 
 following khareeta, or testament, which he 
 caused to be read to them in his presence, 
 before all his court. 
 
 " [After compliments.] The manner in 
 which my ancestors were faithful to the 
 British government, previous to the estab- 
 lishment of its authority [in Bundelcund], 
 has become known even in Europe ; and it 
 is well known to the several agents here, 
 that I also have always acted in obedience 
 to the same authority. 
 
 " I am now very ill ; and it is a source of 
 great grief to me, that notwitii.standing all 
 my fidelity, and the favour conferred by 
 make the transfer in question, the Nizam had a 
 counter pecuniary claim, exceeding in demand that 
 urged against him j which claim, though of om 
 standing and repeatedly advanced. Lord Dalhousie 
 refused to discuss, until the coveted districts should 
 have been surrendered. 
 
 * Quarterly Review, p. 266. 
 
 t Pari. Papers (Jhansi), 27th July, 1855; pp. 1; 17. 
 
 \ Indophilus' Letters to the Times, p. 11.
 
 LAKSHMI BYE, THE RANEE OF JHANSI. 
 
 57 
 
 8uch a powerful government, the name of 
 my fathers will end with me ; and I have 
 therefore, with reference to the second 
 article of the treaty concluded with the 
 British government, adopted Damoodhur 
 Gungadhur Rao, commonly called Anund 
 Rao, a boy of five years 'old, my grandson 
 through my ' graudfaither.* I still hope 
 that, by the mercy of God, and the favour of 
 your government, I may recover my health; 
 and, as my age is not great", I may still have 
 children; and 'should this be the' case, I will 
 adopt such steps as may appear necessary. 
 Should I not survive, I trust that, in con- 
 sideration of the fidielity 'I'have evinced to- 
 wards government;- favour may be shown to 
 this child, and' that' my widow, during her 
 lifetime, may be 'considered the regent of the 
 state (Malika) and mother of this child, and 
 that she may hot be.molested in any way." 
 
 Lakshmi Bye addressed the governor- 
 general in favour of the adoptiou. She 
 argued, that the: second article of the treaty 
 was so peculiarly worded, as expressly to 
 state the right of succession in perpetuity, 
 either through warrisan (heirs of the body, 
 or collateral heirs) 'or Joh nasheenan (suc- 
 cessors in general) ; .which the widow inter- 
 preted as meaning, " that any party whom 
 the rajah adopted as his son, to perform 
 the funeral rites over his body necessary 
 to ensure beatitude in a future world, would 
 be acknowledged by the British government 
 as his lawful heir, through whom the name 
 aud interests of the family might be pre- 
 served." She likewise pleaded, that the fide- 
 lity evinced by thC' Jhansi chiefs in past 
 years, ought to be taken into consideration 
 in coming to a final decision on the fate of 
 the principality .f 
 
 Major Malcolm,' the political agent for 
 Gwalior, Bundelcund, aud Rewah, in for- 
 warding the above appeal, speaks of the 
 first point as an open question for the deci- 
 sion of government ; but with regard to the 
 latter plea, he says — " The Bye (princess or 
 lady) does not, I believe, in the slightest 
 degree overrate the fidelity and loyalty all 
 along evinced by . the. state of Jhansi, 
 under circumstances, of considerable temp- 
 tation, before our power had arrived at the 
 commanding position which it has since 
 atta'ned."! In a previous communication, 
 * This term Ls used to denominate cousins in tlie 
 third and fourth degrees, tracing their descent in the 
 male line to a common ancestor. — Jhansi Papers, 
 p. 8. 
 
 t Letters from the Ranee. — Pari. Papers, pp. 14; 
 
 24 
 
 the British agent wrote — " The widow of the 
 late Gungadhur Rao, in whose hands he 
 has expressed a wish that the government 
 should be placed during her lifetime, is a 
 woman highly respected and e.steemed, and, 
 I believe, fully capable of doing justice to 
 such a charge." Major Ellis, the political 
 assistant for Bundelcund, considered the 
 particular question of the right of adoption 
 in Jhansi as settled by the precedent es- 
 tablished in the case of Oorcha ; treaties of 
 alliance and friendship existing with both 
 states, and no difference being discernible 
 in the terms, which could justify the with- 
 holding the privilege of adoption from the 
 one after having allowed it to the other. 
 Moreover, he considered that the general 
 right of native states to make' adoptions, 
 had been clearly acknowledged and re- 
 corded by the directors. § 
 
 The governor-general, after having " care- 
 fully considered" the above statements, de- 
 cided that Jhansi, having "lapsed to the 
 British' government, should be retained by 
 it, in accordance equally with right and with 
 sound poUcy." Measures were immediately 
 taken for the transfer of the principality to 
 the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor 
 of the' North- Western Provinces. The na- 
 tive institutions were demohshed at a blow, 
 all the establishments of the rajah's gov- 
 ernment were superseded, and the regular 
 troops in the service of the state were im- 
 mediately paid up and discharged. || 
 
 The Gwalior contingent, and the 12th 
 Bengal native infantry, were the troops 
 chiefly employed by the British govern- 
 ment in carrying through these unpopular 
 measures ; but reinforcements were held in 
 readiness to overawe opposition. Employ- 
 ment such as this, on repeated occasions, 
 was not calculated to increase the attach- 
 ment of the sepoys to the foreign masters 
 whom they served as mercenaries, in wh&t 
 many of them considered the confisca- 
 tion of the rights and property of native 
 royalty. If they had any latent patriotism, 
 or any capacity for feeling it, nothing could 
 have been more calculated to arouse or im- 
 plant it than this ruthless system of absorp- 
 tion. Their sympathies would naturally be 
 enlisted in favour of Lakshmi Bye,who fierce, 
 relentless tigress as she has since appeared, 
 
 I Jhansi Papers, pp. 14; 24, 25. 
 
 § Major Ellis referred especially to a despatch 
 from the Court of Directors, dated 27th March, 1839 
 {No.9), for an explicit statement of their views on 
 the subject of adoption. — Jhansi Papers, p. 16. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 31. 
 
 VOL. II.
 
 58 EXTINCTION OP TITULAR NAWABSHIP OP THE CARNATIC. 
 
 WEB then venerated as a marvel of youth, 
 ability, and discretion. " This lady," said 
 Major Malcolm, "bears a very high cha- 
 racter, and is much respected by every one 
 in Jhansi ;" and he urged especially (in the 
 event of the annexation of the state), " that 
 in compliance with her husband's last re- 
 quest, all the state jewels and private funds, 
 and any balance remaining in the public 
 treasury, after closing the accounts of the 
 state, should also be considered as her pri- 
 vate property."* 
 
 The governor- general replied, in general 
 terms, that the property of the rajah would 
 belong by law to his adopted son; because, 
 the adoption, if legally made, was good for 
 the conveyance of private rights, though 
 not for the transfer of the principality. 
 Thus the ranee was not only deprived of 
 the regency, but was held to be cut off from 
 other claims by the very means her dying 
 husband had taken to ensure her future 
 position. The first part of her history 
 ends here. We have no account of the 
 manner in which she boj^e her disappoint- 
 ment; byt we know that she rose at the 
 first signal of the mutiny, and that her 
 name is now inseparably connected with 
 thoughts of massacre and war. Her sub- 
 sequent career does not, however, belong 
 to this introductory chapter. The supreme 
 council were by no means unanimous 
 regarding the seizure of Jhansi. Messrs. 
 Low and Halliday, while professing them- 
 selves qonvinced by Lord Dalhousie's rea- 
 soning on the legality of the annexation, 
 sta,ted, that they would have preferred the 
 pursuance of a similar course towards 
 Jhansi to that lately taken with regard to 
 Kerowlee. 
 
 Now Kerowlee was a Rajpoot princi- 
 pality, the annexation of which was only 
 prevented by the interference of the home 
 government, on a threatened motion of the 
 House of Commons. t 
 
 Indophilus (whose opinion on the subject 
 is especially interesting, on account of his 
 tendency towards the annexation policy in 
 particular, and generally in favour of the 
 Company) says, that Kerowlee had neither 
 been so well governed, nor had entered into 
 such an interesting relation with us, as 
 Jhansi: but its rajah was descended from 
 the Moon (Chandrabunsee) ; and some thou- 
 
 * Letter of political agent (Malcolm), IGth March, 
 1854.— Pari. Papers on Jhansi, p. 28. 
 
 t Quarterly Jievicw, July, 1858 ; article on " Bri- 
 I tish India," p. 269. 
 
 sands of half-civilised relations and retainers 
 were dependent for their social position 
 and subsistence upon the continuance of 
 the little state. He also died without chil- 
 dren; but the native institutions of the 
 state were suffered to continue, and the 
 ruling chief has remained faithful to us 
 during the insurrection. The larger Raj- 
 poot states of Jeypoor, Joudpoor, Bikaneer, 
 and others, have been also on our side. 
 "The case of their Brother of the Moon 
 was justly regarded by them as a test of 
 our intentions towards them, and they were 
 in some de^ee reassured by the result. 
 There can be no doubt (adds Indophilus) 
 that these small national states, which must 
 be dependent upon the central government, 
 and cannot, if treated with common fair- 
 ness, combine against it, are an important 
 element of the Indian system." 
 
 The Nawab of the Camatic died in 1855, 
 leaving no son. The claims of his paternal 
 uncle, Azim Jah (who had been regent), 
 were urged as entitling him, by Mohamme- 
 dan law, to succeed to the musnud; but the 
 decision was given against him, and the 
 title of nawab placed " in abeyance," on the 
 ground that the treaty hy which the musnud 
 of the Camatic had been conferred on the 
 nawab's predecessor, had been purely a 
 personal one, and that both he and his 
 family had disreputably abused the dignity 
 of their position, and the large share of the 
 pubhc revenue which had been allotted to 
 them. J 
 
 Mr. Norton, an English barrister of the 
 Madras bar, who had been present at the 
 installation of the deceased nawab, and had 
 resided at Madras throughout the whole of 
 his occupation of the musnud, says, he was 
 neither of bad parts nor of bad disposition ; 
 and had he been only moderately educated, 
 his presence at Madras might have entailed 
 great benefits upon the people, especially 
 the Mussulman population. The nawab 
 had been under the tutelage of the Com- 
 pany from his earliest infancy ; and instead 
 of superintending his moral and intellectual 
 training, they gave him over " to the offices 
 of panders and parasites, and left him to 
 sink, from sheer neglect, into the life of 
 sensuality and extravagance common to 
 Eastern princes." He died suddenly, while 
 still young; and Mr. Norton argues, that 
 
 \ Letters of Indophilus, p. 11. Minute of Gov- 
 ernor-general Dalhoiisie, 28th February, 18jG. Re- 
 turn to order of House of Lords ; printed 16th June, 
 1856 ; pp. 12, 13.
 
 ABOLITION OF TITULAR PRINCIPALITY OF TANJORE— 1855. 59 
 
 foolish and improvident as his conduct had 
 been, he had committed no oifences suffi- 
 ciently heinous to justify the penalty in- 
 flicted on the family; adding, "wc might 
 just as reasonably have refused to allow the 
 heirs of George IV. to succeed him, on 
 account of his irregular habits and extrava- 
 gance." 
 
 The same writer states, that Azim Jah, 
 the rejected claimant of the musnud, had 
 been ou several occasions officially recog- 
 nised, in writing, as the lawful heir.* 
 
 The titular Raj of Tanjore was abolished 
 by alleged right of lapse on the death of its 
 last rajah, Sevajee, in 1855. The resident, 
 Mr. Forbes, pleaded strongly in behalf of the 
 daughter of the deceased. He urged that 
 Tanjore was not a conquered country ; that 
 its acquisition had not cost the life of a 
 single soldier, nor the value of a single 
 rupee; and that during fifty years' posses- 
 sion, a revenue of no less than twenty crores, 
 or as many millions sterling, had been de- 
 rived from it by the British government. 
 After entreating favourable consideration for 
 the daughter of a line of princes who, when 
 their aid was needed, had always proved our 
 firm allies — he sets forth another and very 
 pertinent view of the case, declaring, that "it 
 is impossible to doubt that the now pros- 
 perous condition of the country would be 
 very greatly affected by the sudden with- 
 drawal of a circulation amounting to about 
 eleven lacs a-year. So great a diminution 
 of the expenditure within the province, must 
 certainly lead to a difficulty in realising the 
 revenue : it is a small tract of land from 
 which to raise fifty lacs a-year ; and it cannot 
 be a matter of indifference to the producers, 
 whether more than a fifth of the revenue be 
 spent among them or not." 
 
 Mr. Norton gives his personal testimony 
 with regard to the unnecessary and impolit'c 
 harshness with which the extinction of the 
 titular principality was accomplished. A 
 company of sepoys was marched suddenly 
 into the palace ; the whole of the property, 
 real and personal, was seized, and the Com- 
 pany's seals put upon all the jewels and 
 other valuables. The soldiery were disarmed, 
 and in the most offensive way. The private 
 estate of the rajah's mother, of the estimated 
 value of three lacs a-year, was sequestered, 
 and has remained so. The occupier of every 
 piece of laud in the district, which had at 
 any time belonged to a former rajah, was 
 
 • Norton's Rebellion in India, pp. 98 — 107. 
 t Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 392. 
 
 turned out of his possession, and ordered to 
 come before the commissioner to establish 
 a title to his satisfaction. The whole of the 
 people dependent upon the expenditure of 
 the raj revenue among them, were panic- 
 struck at the prospect of being thrown out 
 of employ ; and, in a week, Tanjore, from 
 the most contented place in our dominions, 
 was converted into a hotbed of sullen dis 
 affection. The people venerated the raj, 
 and were indignant at its suppression : the 
 very sepoys refused to receive their pensions. 
 
 According to Mr. Norton, the terms of 
 the treaty promised the succession to "heirs" 
 in general, and not exclusively to heirs 
 male; but he considers the prior claim to 
 be that of the senior widow, in preference to 
 the daughter ; and quotes a precedent in the 
 history of the Tanjore dynasty, and many 
 others in Hindoo history, including that of 
 Malcolm's favourite heroine, Ahalya Bye, 
 the exemplary queen of Indore.f 
 
 Kamachi Bye, the senior widow, intends 
 contesting her claims to the raj, in England. 
 She has filed a bill in the Supreme Court, 
 for the recovery of the personal private 
 estate of her late husband, and has ob- 
 tained an injunction against the Company, 
 to restrain them from parting with the 
 property.^ 
 
 Passing over some minor absorptions, we 
 arrive at the last and greatest of Lord 
 Dalhousie's annexations — one which, both 
 from its importance and special character, 
 requires to be entered into at some length. 
 
 Oude, or Ayodha, was famous in ancient 
 Hindoo lore as the kingdom of Dasa- 
 ratha, the father of Rama, the hero of the 
 famous epic the Ramayana. With the de- 
 tails of its fall as a Hindoo kingdom, and its 
 history as a province of the Mogul empire, 
 we are almost entirely unacquainted ; but 
 we know that it has retained its insti- 
 tutions to the present day, and that, in all 
 respects, the Hindoo element largely pre- 
 dominates throughout Oude. The ques- 
 tion of immediate interest is its connection 
 by treaties with the East India Company, 
 and the proceedings of its Mussulman rulers. 
 
 It has already been shown that their in- 
 dependence was founded on simple usurpa- 
 tion, having been obtained by taking ad- 
 vantage of the weakness of their rightful 
 sovereigns, the Moguls of Delhi. § 
 
 Sadut Khan, nick-named the " Persian 
 pedlar," the founder of the dynasty, was a 
 
 t Norton's Rebellion in India, pp. 107 — 118. 
 § Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 159.
 
 60 
 
 CONNEXION OP OUDE WITH E. I. COMPANY— 1738— 1782. 
 
 merchant of Khorasan, who, by diut of 
 abilitj' and intrigue, eveutuall}' procured 
 for himself the position of governor (or 
 Boubali, or nawab) of the province of Oude, 
 together with that of vizier, which he held 
 when Nadir Shah invaded India in 1738-'9. 
 The reigning emperor, Mohammed Shah, 
 was powerless iu the hands of his ambitious 
 servants ; their plots and peculations facili- 
 tated the progress of the invader ; and their 
 private quarrels incited the pillage and 
 massacre which desolated Delhi. Sadut 
 Khan was perpetually intriguing against 
 his wily rival, the Nizam-ool-Moolk (or 
 regulator of the state), " the old Deccaui 
 baboon," as the young courtiers called him ; 
 from whom the Nizams of the Deccan 
 (Hyderabad) descended. 
 
 The death of Sadut Khan is said to 
 have been indirectly caused by the Nizam.* 
 It occurred before Nadir Shah quitted 
 Delhi.-f His son and successor, Sufdur 
 Jung, was likewise able and unprincipled. 
 The third of the dynasty was Shuja Dow- 
 lah.f who succeeded, in 1756, to the na- 
 wabship, which the weakness, not the will, 
 of the Moguls of Delhi had suflfered to 
 become hereditary. The unfortunate em- 
 peror. Shah Alum, had indeed no worse 
 enemy than his nominal servant, but really 
 pitiless and grasping gaoler, the nawab- 
 vizier of Oude.§ It was Shuja Dowlah who 
 was conquered by the British troops in. the 
 battle of Buxar, in 1764; and with whom, 
 in 1773, Warren Hastings concluded the 
 infamous treaty of Benares, whereby the 
 districts of Allahabad and Corah were, in 
 defiance of the rights of Shah Alum, sold 
 to the nawab-vizier; and British forces were 
 hired out to the same rebellious subject, for 
 the express purpose of enabling him to 
 " annex" Rohilcuud, and " exterminate"l| 
 the Rohilla chiefs^ with whom we had no 
 shadow of quarrel. 
 
 Immediately after the defeat and mas- 
 sacre of the Rohillas on the bloody field of 
 Bareilly in 1774, Shuja Dowlah was seized 
 with mortal sickness, and died after many 
 
 • Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 166. \ Ibid., p 173. 
 
 J A memorandum on the Oude dynasty, drawn up 
 by Fletcher Hayes, assistant-resident at Lucknow, 
 is inserted in the Oude Blve Book of 1856. Shuja 
 Dowlah is there described " as the infamous son of 
 a still more infamous Persian pedlar," and as en- 
 joying " the extensive province of Oude as a reward 
 for a service of uncommon villanies." This and 
 other statements are quoted on the authority of 
 Ferishta, the famous Mohammedan annalist ; but 
 Mr. Hayes overlooks the fact, that Ferishta (or 
 Mahomed Kosim) was born about the yeai 1570 
 
 months of agony. The cause was said to 
 have been a wound inflicted by tlie daughter 
 of Hafiz Rehmet, the principal Rohilla chief, 
 who perished, sword in hand, at Bareilly. 
 The unhappy girl had been captured ; and 
 when the nawab strove to add to the mur- 
 der of the father the dishonour of his child, 
 she stabbed him, and was immediately 
 seized, and put to death. The wound in- 
 flicted by the unhappy girl was slight ; but 
 the dagger's point had been dipped in poi- 
 son, which slowly and surely did its work.^ 
 
 The next nawab, Asuf-ad-Dowlah, was a 
 weak and sensual youth, who had no 
 strength of character to enable him to re- 
 sist the evil counsels of unworthy favour- 
 ites. The subsidiary troops at first ob- 
 tained from the English for purposes of the 
 most direct aggression, became a heavy 
 drain on the resources of the misgoverned 
 country. Warren Hastings saw, iu his 
 indolent neighbour, an instrument for in- 
 creasing the dominions of the Company, 
 and refilling their treasury ; and then fol- 
 lowed new treaties, new loans, new cement- 
 ing of eternal friendships, and, lastly, the 
 shameless plunder of the begums of Oude, 
 which inflicted indelible disgrace alike on 
 the nawab and the governor-general.** 
 
 The Marquis Cornwallis, in this as in 
 other cases, took a very different view to 
 that acted on by his predecessor. He saw 
 the increasing disorganisation of Oude, and 
 remonstrated foicibly with its rulev; who 
 urged, in extenuation, the exactions of the 
 Company, amounting, within a period of 
 little more than nine years, to j62,300,000 
 sterling.tt The annual subsidy settled by 
 treaty, had been raised, on one pretext or 
 another, until it averaged eighty-four lacs per 
 annum ; and Warren Hastings himself ac.. 
 knowledged the "intolerable burden" which 
 was inflicted upon the revenue and authority 
 of the nawab-vizier, by the number, influ- 
 ence, and enormous amount of the salaries, 
 pensions, and emoluments of the Company's 
 service, civil and military ; which called 
 forth the envy and resentment of the whole 
 
 during the reign of the emperor Akher, and was the 
 cotemporary of the French traveller Bernier. It is 
 therefore not the Annals of Ferishta which Mr. 
 Hayes quotes from, but the continuation of them, 
 known as Dow's History of Hindooslan, a work 
 which, though honestly and ably written, occasion- 
 ally records rumours at the day as historical facts. 
 
 § Indian Empire, vol, i., p. 299. 
 
 II The word used in the treaty of Benares. — Vide 
 Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 329. 
 
 f Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 330. •* Ibid., p. 36$. 
 
 tt Despatch of directors, 8Ui April, 1789.
 
 CONNEXION OF THE E. I. COMPANY WITH OUDE— 1797. 
 
 61 
 
 country, by excluding the native servants 
 and adherents of the vizier from the rewards 
 of their services and attachment.* 
 
 Lord Coruwallis reduced the amount of 
 tribute to fifty lacs; checked the interfer- 
 ence, and curtailed the salaries and per- 
 quisites, of officials ; and insisted on the 
 disbandraent of the temporary brigade, 
 which had been subsidized by the vizier for 
 so long a time only as he should require its 
 services, but from the costly maintenance of 
 which he had afterwards in vain sought relief. 
 
 The measures of the governor-general 
 in favour of the Oude government were, 
 unhappily, not attended by any correspond- 
 ing internal reforms. Profligacy, inca- 
 pacity, and corruption at court ; tyranny, 
 extortion, and strife among the semi-inde- 
 pendent Hindoo chiefs ; neglect and abject 
 wretchedness among the mass, continued to 
 prevail up to the death of Asuf-ad-Dowlah 
 in 1797. 
 
 The succession was disputed between his 
 brother Sadut Ali, and his son Vizier Ali, 
 a youth of seventeen, of a disposition vio- 
 lent even to madness. The Calcutta gov- 
 ernment (of which Sir John Shore was then 
 at the head) at first decided in favour of 
 Vizier Ali ; but clear proof of his illegitimacy, 
 and consequent unfitness to succeed accord- 
 ing to Mussulman law, being adduced, the 
 decision was reversed in favour of Sadut Ali, 
 who entered into a new treaty with the 
 Company ; by which he consented to sur- 
 render the fortress of Allahabad, to increase 
 the annual subsidy, and to receive into his 
 service the additional troops deemed neces- 
 sary for the protection of Oude. 
 
 The Marquis Wellesley (then Lord Morn- 
 ington) became governor-general in 1798; 
 and his attention was at once drawn to the 
 notorious misgovernment of Oude. The 
 three brothers — the Marquis, Colonel Wel- 
 lesley (the future duke), and Henry Wel- 
 lesley (afterwards Lord Cowley) — discussed 
 the subject publicly and pri- ately ; and the 
 colonel drew up a memorandum on the 
 subject, which, in fact, anticipates all that 
 has since been said on the evils of subsidiary 
 troops. 
 
 " By the first treaty with the nabobs of Oude, the 
 Company were bound to assist the nabob with their 
 troops, on the condition of receiving payment for 
 their expenses. The adoption of this system of 
 
 • Quoted in Dacoitee in Excehis ; or, the Spolia- 
 tion of Oude, p. 28. London : Taylor. 
 
 t Memorandum on Oude. — Wellington Supple- 
 mentary Despatches ; edited by the present Duke. 
 London : Muiray,"1858. 
 
 alliance is always to be attributed to the weakness 
 of the state which receives the assistance, and the 
 remedy generally aggravates the evil. It was usu- 
 ally attended by a stipulation that the subsidy 
 should be paid in equal monthly instalments j and 
 as this subsidy was generally the whole, or nearly 
 the whole, disposable resource of the state, it was 
 not easy to produce it at the moments at which it 
 was stipulated. The tributary government was then 
 reduced to borrow at usurious interest, to grant tun- 
 caws upon the land for repayment, to take advances 
 from aumildars, to sell the office of aumildar, and to 
 adopt all the measures which it might be supposed 
 distress on the one hand, and avarice and extortion 
 on the other, could invent to procure the money ne- 
 cessary to provide for the payment of the stipulated 
 subsidies. 
 
 " As soon as this alliance has been formed, it has 
 invariably been discovered that the whole strength 
 of the tributary government consisted in the aid 
 afforded by its more powerful ally, or rather protec- 
 tor; and from that moment the respect, duty, and 
 loyalty of its subjects have been weakened, and it 
 has become more difficult to realise the resources of 
 the state. To this evil must be added those of the 
 same kind arising from oppression by aumildars, 
 who have paid largely for their situations, and must 
 remunerate themselves in the course of one year for 
 what they have advanced from those holding tun- 
 caws, and other claimants upon the soil on account 
 of loans to government ; and the result is, an in- 
 creasing deficiency in the regular resources of the 
 state. 
 
 " But these financial difficulties, created by weak- 
 ness and increased by oppression, and which are 
 attended by a long train of disorders throughout the 
 country, must attract the attention of the protecting 
 government, and then these last are obliged to in- 
 terfere in the internal administration, in order to 
 save the resources of the state, and to preclude the 
 necessity of employing the troops in quelling inter- 
 nal rebellion and disorder, which were intended to 
 resist the foreign enemy."! 
 
 Lord Wellesley was ambitious, and cer- 
 tainly desirous of augmenting, by all hon- 
 ourable means, the resources and extent of 
 the dominion committed to his charge. He 
 had, however, no shade of avarice in his 
 composition, for himself or for the Com- 
 pany he served : all his plans were on a 
 large scale — all his tendencies were magnifi- 
 cent and munificent. He saw that the 
 Company, by their ostensible system of non- 
 interference in the internal affairs of the 
 nawab's government, and by the actual 
 and almost inevitable exercise of authority 
 therein for the restraint of intolerable acts 
 of oppression and disorder, had created a 
 double government, which was giving rise 
 to the greatest extortion and confusion. 
 
 Successive governors-general had borne 
 testimony to the absence of law, order, and 
 justice tliroughout Oude, and had endea- 
 voured to introduce remedial measures ; 
 which, however, had all produced a directly 
 contrary effect to that for which they were 
 
 \
 
 62 
 
 LORD WELLESLEY'S TREATY WITH OUDE— 1801. 
 
 designed, by complicating the involvements 
 of the state, and increasing the extortions 
 practised on the people by the aumildars 
 and licentious native soldiery. These latter 
 had become so perfectly mutinous and un- 
 governable, that Sadut Ali required the 
 presence of British troops to secure him 
 against the anticipated treachery of his 
 own ; and declared that, in the day of battle, 
 he could not tell whether they would fight 
 for or against him. 
 
 The consideration of these circumstances 
 induced Lord Wellesley to frame a treaty, 
 concluded in 1801, by which the nawab 
 ceded one-half of his territories to the Com- 
 pany (including the districts now forming 
 part of the North-Western Provinces, under 
 the names of Rohilcund, Allahabad, Fur- 
 ruckabad, Mynpoorie, Etawa, Goruckpoor, 
 Azimghur, Cawnpoor, and Futtehpoor), in 
 return for a release from all arrears of sub- 
 sidy, and for all expenses to be hereafter 
 incurred in the protection of his country, 
 which the Company bound themselves to 
 defend in future, alike against foreign and 
 domestic foes. They distinctly promised 
 that no demand whatever should be made 
 upon his territory, whether on account of 
 military establishments ; in the assembling 
 of forces to repel the attack of a foreign 
 enemy; on account of the detachment at- 
 tached to the nawab's person; on account 
 of troops which might be occasionally 
 furnished for suppressing rebellions or dis- 
 orders in his territories ; nor on account of 
 failur;es in the resources of the Ceded Dis- 
 tricts', arising from unfavourable seasons, 
 the calamities of war, or any other cause 
 whatever. 
 
 The Company guaranteed to Sadut Ali, 
 his heirs and successors, the possession of 
 the reserved territories, together with the 
 exercise of authority therein; and the nawab 
 engaged to establish therein such a system 
 of administration (to be carried into effect 
 by his, own officers) as should be conducive 
 to the prosperity of his subjects, and cal- 
 culated to secure their lives and property. 
 He likewise bound himself to disband the 
 chief part of the native troops; which he 
 immediately did by reducing them from 
 80,000 to 30,000. The treaty of 1801 
 gave the nawab a certainty for an uncer- 
 tainty ; and restored to the remaining por- 
 tion of Oude something of the vigour of an 
 independent state. It would probably have 
 done much more than this, had the Com- 
 pany confirmed the appointment of Henry 
 
 Wellesley, by the governor-general, to super- 
 intend the working of the new arrange- 
 ments, and assist in initiating and carrying 
 out useful reforms. The ability, tact, and 
 courtesy which he had manifested in the 
 previous negotiations, had won the confi- 
 dence of Sadut Ali ; and, as the brother 
 of the governor-general, Henry Wellesley 
 might have exercised an influence bene- 
 ficial to both parties, similar to that which 
 contributed so largely to the tranquil settle- 
 ment of Mysoor, under the auspices of 
 Colonel Wellesley. But the directors would 
 not sanction such a breach of the privileges 
 of the covenanted service, and the appoint- 
 ment was cancelled. The p<ipers of the 
 late Lord Cowley, and the Wellesley MSS. 
 in the British Museum, abound w^ith evi- 
 dence of judicious reformatory measures 
 projected for Oude, but neutralised or set 
 aside by the home government. While Sadut 
 Ali Uved the treaty worked well, although 
 the manner in which he availed himself of 
 the stipulated services of British troops, 
 repeatedly made the Calcutta government 
 sensible of the responsibility they had as- 
 sumed, and the difficulty of reconciling the 
 fulfilment of their engagements to the ruler, 
 with a due regard to the rights and in- 
 terests of his subjects. 
 
 The nawab conducted his affairs with 
 much discretion and economy ; and, on his 
 death in 1814, he left fourteen millions 
 sterling in a treasury which was empty 
 when he entered on the government. 
 
 The partition of Oude was not, however, 
 accomplished without bloodshed. The Hin- 
 doo landowners in the ceded country — who 
 were, for the most part, feudal chieftains 
 of far older standing than any Mussulman 
 in India — resisted the proposed change, and 
 were with difficulty subdued.* The fact 
 was significant ; and it would have been 
 well had the subsequent annexators of Oude 
 remembered, that the danger to be appre- 
 hended lay with the feudal and semi-inde- 
 pendent chiefs, rather than with their sen- 
 sual and eflete suzerain. 
 
 SadutAliwas succeeded byGhazi-oo-deen, 
 who is described by one authority as " indo- 
 lent and debauched ;"t and, by another, as 
 bearing some resemblance to our James I.J 
 He lent the Company two millions of the 
 treasure accumulated by his predecessor, to 
 assist them in carrying on their wars with 
 
 * Indian Etnjiifc, vol. i., p. 386. 
 
 t Sleetnan's Jjurney through Ourff, vol. ii.,p. 192. 
 
 X lleber's Juurnal.
 
 LORD AMHERST'S LETTERS TO THE KING OF OUDE— 1825-'6. 
 
 63 
 
 Burmah and Nepaul ; aud they gave him, 
 ia return, a share of their conquests ; 
 namely, the Turaee* — a fertile, richly- 
 wooded, but unhealthy tract, which extends 
 along the foot of the Himalayas ; and sanc- 
 tioned his assumption of regal dignity. 
 
 The acceptance of a loan, under the cir- 
 cumstances, was unworthy of a great govern- 
 ment ; and the confirmation of Ghazi-oo- 
 deen's sovereignty was of doubtful policy. 
 Complaints of misgovernraent were rife, and 
 appear to have been supported by forcible 
 evidence. Bishop Heber, who travelled 
 through Oude in 1824-'5, gave a more 
 favourable account than other witnesses of 
 the condition of the country ; but his ob- 
 servations were necessarily cursory. He 
 reasoned with Ghazi-oo-deen on the duty 
 of attending to the condition of the people ; 
 and " the reply was, that he was power- 
 less, having lent to the British government 
 all the money which would have enabled 
 him to ease his subjects of their burdens." 
 Had the money remained in the Oude trea- 
 sury, it is highly improbable that it would 
 have benefited the people, except, indeed, 
 indirectly, through the reckless expenditure 
 of an unscrupulous minister, and a most un- 
 worthy set of favourites. Still, it is painful 
 to learn that English governors should have 
 exposed themselves to such a reproach, 
 or should have acknowledged a loan from a 
 dependent prince, in such a strain of ful- 
 some and profane flattery as that in which 
 Lord Amherst invokes the blessing of the 
 Almighty on " the Mine of Munificence ;" 
 and declares, that " the benefits and fruits 
 of our amity, which have existed from days 
 of yore, are impressed upon the heart of 
 every Englishman, both here aud in Europe, 
 as indelibly as if they had been engraven 
 on adamant ; nor will lapse of time, or 
 change of circumstance, efface from the 
 British nation so irrefragable a proof, so 
 irresistible an argument, of the fraternal 
 sentiments of your majesty ."t 
 
 Nevertheless, the internal management 
 of the " Mine of Munificence" was far from 
 satisfactory, and the resident was officially 
 reminded (July 22nd, 1825), that "by the 
 treaty of 1801, the British government is 
 clearly entitled, as well as morally obliged, 
 to satisfy itself by whatever means it may 
 
 • Ijidian Empire, vol. i., p. 413. 
 
 t Letters of Lord Amherst to the King of Oude, 
 October 14th, 182.5; and June 2:)rd, 182G. Quoted 
 in Ducuitce in JExcelsis; or, the Spoliation of Oude: 
 pp. 08—70. 
 
 deem necessary ; that the aid of its troops 
 is required in support of right and justice, 
 and not to eff'ectuate injustice and oppres- 
 sion." In conformity with these instruc- 
 tions, the resident, and the officers com- 
 manding troops employed in the king's 
 service, exercised a scrutiny which became 
 extremely distasteful; and the treaty was 
 violated by the increase of the native force 
 (which was available, unchallenged, for any 
 piu-pose, and aSbrded emolument and pa- 
 tronage to the native ministers and fa- 
 vourites), until, within the last few years 
 of the reign of Ghazi-oo-deen, it comprised 
 about sixty thousand men. 
 
 Nuseer-oo-deen, the sou of Ghazi, suc- 
 ceeded him on the musnud in 1827. This 
 is the "Eastern king" whose private life has 
 been gibbeted to deserved infamy, in a sort 
 of biographical romancej written by a 
 European adventurer, for some time mem- 
 ber of the royal household (as librarian or 
 portrait-painter.) Recollecting the scan- 
 dalous scenes revealed by contemporary 
 diaries and memoirs regarding our nomi- 
 nally Christian kings — the Merry Monarch, 
 and Nuseer's contemporary, the Fourth 
 George — we need not be too much sur- 
 prised by the mad vagaries and drunken 
 cruelties of the Moslem despot, who prided 
 himself on his adoption of certain English 
 habits and customs § — such as wearing broad- 
 cloth and a beaver hat under the burning 
 sun of Oude ; and usually terminated his 
 daily drinking bouts with his boon com- 
 panions, under the table, after the most ap- 
 proved English fashion. The favourite, 
 shortly before the death of Nuseer, was a 
 barber from Calcutta, who had come out to 
 India in the capacity of a cabin-boy, aud 
 from that became a river trader. Hair- 
 dressing, however, continued to be a lucra- 
 tive resource to him : the natural curls 
 of the governor-general were widely imi- 
 tated ; and when the barber went on his 
 other afi'airs to Lucknow, he was employed 
 iu his old vocation by the resident. The 
 king, delighted with the change produced 
 in the appearance of this powerful English 
 functionary, tried a similar experiment oa 
 his own lank locks, and was so gratified by 
 the result, that he appointed the lucky 
 coiffeur to a permanent post in his house- 
 
 t Private Life of an Eastern Kinft; by a member 
 of the household of his late majesty, Nuseer-oo-deen, 
 Kin;; of Oude. London, 18j.j. 
 
 § Nuseer substituted a chi.ir of gold and ivory for 
 the musnud, or cushion, of his uucesturs.
 
 64 
 
 DEATH OF NUSEER-00-DEEN, KING OF OUDE— 1837. 
 
 hold, with the style of Sofraz Khnn (the I 
 illustrious chief), and gave him a seat at 
 his table. The barber had a fund of low 
 humour : he amused the king by pander- 
 ing to his vitiated taste ; and soon made 
 himself indispensable. The existence of 
 Nuseer-oo-deen was embittered by a well- 
 grounded suspicion of treachery among his 
 own family and household : the fear of 
 poison was continually present with him ; 
 and he would touch no wine but that 
 placed before him by his new favourite, 
 who consequently added the office of wine- 
 merchant to his other lucrative monopolies. 
 The European papers learned something 
 of what was passing at the palace of Luck- 
 now, despite the care which the European 
 adventurers installed there, naturally took 
 to keep things quiet. The Calcutta Revietv, 
 and Affra Ukbar, published squibs and 
 pasquinades upon the "low menial" who 
 had ingratiated himself with the King of 
 Oude ; but the object of their jeers set 
 them at nought, and continued to ac- 
 cumulate wealth, and to retain his influ- 
 ence at court by ever-new inventions of 
 buffoonery and indecency, until the Euro- 
 pean members of the household threw up 
 their appointments iu uncontrollable dis- 
 gust ; and such scenes of open debauchery 
 disgraced the streets of Luckuow at mid- 
 day, that the resident, Colonel Low, was 
 compelled to interfere, and at length suc- 
 ceeded iu procuring the dismissal of the 
 barber.* 
 
 These and other statements of the anony- 
 mous memoir-writer, are quite compatible, 
 and, indeed, frequently correspond with the 
 entries iu the journal of Sir William 
 Sleeman, of accounts furnished by natives 
 of the character and habits of Nuseer-oo- 
 deen. 
 
 Both writers dwell much on the repeated 
 declaration of the king that he should be 
 poisoned; and Sir William states, that for 
 some time before his death, Nuseer wore con- 
 stantly round his neck a chain, to which was 
 attached the key of a small covered well in 
 the palace, whence he drew water. His death 
 was very sudden. It occurred shortly after 
 a glass of sherbet had been administered 
 to him by one of the women of his harem, 
 in the night of the 7th of July, 1837. 
 
 The question of succession was stormily 
 contested. The king had had several wives, 
 
 • The barber carried off £240,000.— PriVa^e Life 
 of an Eastern King, p. 'i'iO. 
 
 t Mrs. Park's Wanderings, vol. i., p. 87. 
 
 whose history forms a not very edifying 
 episode in Sir William Slceman's journal. 
 The most reputable one was a grand-daugh- 
 ter of the King of Delhi — a very beautiful 
 young woman, of exemplary character; who, 
 unable to endure the profligacy of the court, 
 quitted it soon after her marriage, and re- 
 tired into private life, on a small stipend 
 granted by her profligate husband.'' --¥hea 
 there was Mokuddera Ouleea, originally a 
 Miss Walters, the illegitimate daughter of a 
 half-pay officer of one of the regiments of Bri- 
 tish dragoons, by a Mrs. Whearty, a woman 
 of notoriously bad character, although the 
 daughter of one English merchant, and the 
 widow of another. She was married to 
 the king in 1827, and was seen by Mrs. 
 Park, in her visit to the zenana in 1828, 
 sitting silently on the same couch with 
 her successful rival, the beautiful Taj 
 Mahal.t 
 
 Mulika Zamanee (Queen of the Age) 
 entered the palace of Lucknow while Nu- 
 seer-oo-deen was only heir-apparent, in the 
 capacity of wet-nurse to his infant son, 
 Moonna Jan (by another wife called Afzul- 
 Mahal) ; and so fascinated the father, that, 
 to the astonishment of the whole court (in 
 whose eyes the new-comer appeared very 
 plain and very vulgar), he never rested until 
 she became his acknowledged wife. Her 
 former husband (a groom in the service of 
 one of the king's troopers, to whom she had 
 previously been faithless) presumed to ap- 
 proach the palace, and was immediately 
 thrown into prison ; but was eventually re- 
 leased, and died soon after the accession of 
 Nuseer. Her two children, a boy and girl, 
 were adopted by Nuseer; who, when he be- 
 came king, declared the boy, Kywan Jah, to 
 be his own son, and publicly treated him 
 as such. 
 
 When Viscount Combermere visited Luck- 
 now in 1827, in the course of his tour of 
 inspection as commander-in-chief, Kywan 
 Jah was sent, as heir-apparent, with a large 
 retinue and a military escort, to meet his 
 lordship and attend him from Cawnpoor. 
 Tiie king was, no doubt, desirous to pro- 
 pitiate his guest. He came outside the city 
 to welcome him, invited him to share the 
 royal howdah on the state elephant, and 
 escorted him to the palace in full proces- 
 sion, flinging, meantime, handfuls of coin 
 among the multitude who accompanied the 
 cavalcade. 
 
 The Orientals dearly love pageantry ; it 
 would seem as if it reconciled them to dcs-
 
 CONTESTED SUCCESSION TO THRONE OP OUDE— 1837. 
 
 65 
 
 potism : and the present occasion must have 
 been an interesting one ; for the externals 
 of royalty sat gracefully on the handsome 
 person of the sensual and extravagant 
 Nuseer-oo-deen ; and the British general, 
 besides being in the zenith of his fame as 
 the conqueror of Bhurtpoor (which had 
 successfully resisted the British troops under 
 Lord Lake), had a manly bearing, and a 
 rare gift of skilful horsemanship — befitting 
 the soldier pronounced by the great Duke 
 the best cavalry ofiBcer in the service — 
 united to an easy, genial courtesy of man- 
 ner, calculated to gain popularity every- 
 where, but especially in India. 
 
 Lord Combermere occupied the residency 
 for a week, during which time, a succession 
 of hunts, sports, and fetes took place, which 
 formed an era in the annals of Lucknow. 
 Nuseer-oo-deen was, in turn, sumptuously 
 entertained by the commander-in-chief; to 
 whom, on parting, he gave his own portrait, 
 set in magnificent diamonds. The Com- 
 pany appropriated the diamonds ; but the 
 picture remains in the possession of Lord 
 Combermere, and is an interesting relic of 
 the fallen dynasty of Oude. 
 
 Nuseer-oo-deen subsequently demanded 
 from the resident the formal recognition of 
 Kywan Jah, as his heir-apparent, by the Bri- 
 tish government. The resident demurred, on 
 the plea that the universal belief at Lucknow 
 was, that Kywan Jah was three years of age 
 when his mother was first introduced to his 
 majesty. But this had no effect : Nuseer- 
 oo-deen persisted in his demand ; and, to 
 remove the anticipated obstacle, he repudi- 
 ated Moonna Jan publicly and repeatedly.* 
 The consequence of his duplicity was, that 
 he was held to have left no legitimate son. 
 According to Sir William Sleeman (who, 
 during his situation as resident, had abun- 
 dant means of authentic information), the 
 general impression at Lucknow and all over 
 Oude was, that the British government 
 would take upon itself the management of 
 the country on the death of the king, who 
 himself " seemed rather pleased than other- 
 wise" at the thought of being the last of 
 his dynasty. He had repudiated his own 
 son, and was unwilling that any other 
 member of the family should fill his place. 
 The ministers, and the other public officers 
 and court favourites, who had made large 
 fortunes, were favourable to the anticipated 
 measure ; as it was understood by some, 
 that thereby they would be secured from 
 • Sleemnn's Otide, vol. ii., p. 40. 
 
 vol,. II. K 
 
 all scrutiny into their accounts, and en- 
 abled to retain all their accumulations.f 
 
 The reader — recollecting the custom in 
 Mussulman kingdoms, of a complete change 
 of officials at every accession, generally 
 accompanied by the spoliation of the 
 old ones — will understand this was likely to 
 prove no inconsiderable advantage. Lord 
 Auckland, the governor-general, had, how- 
 ever, no desire for the absorption of Oude, 
 but only that measures should be taken 
 for its better government. He decided that 
 the eldest uncle of the late king should 
 ascend the musnud, and that a new treaty 
 should be formed with him. 
 
 On the death of Nuseer-oo-deen, a Bri- 
 tish detachment was sent to escort the 
 chosen successor from his private dwelling 
 to the palace. He was an old man, had led 
 a secluded life, and was weakened by recent 
 illness. On arriving at his destination, he 
 was left to repose for a few hours in a 
 small secluded room, previous to the tedious 
 formalities of enthronement. But the suc- 
 cession was not destined to be carried with- 
 out opposition. The Padshah Begum (the 
 chief queen of Ghazi-oo-deen, and the 
 adoptive mother of Nuseer, with whom she 
 had been long at variance) asserted the 
 claims of her grandson, the disowned child 
 but rightful heir of the late ruler. She 
 made her way to the palace in the middle 
 of the night, on the plea of desiring to see 
 the dead body of the king — forced the gates 
 with her elephants, and carried in with her 
 the youth Moonna Jan, whom she suc- 
 ceeded in literally seating on the musnud; 
 while she herself took up her position in a 
 covered palanquin at the foot of the throne. 
 Amid the confusion, the sovereign selected 
 by the Company remained unnoticed, and ap- 
 parently unknown. His sons, grandsons, and 
 attendants were, however, discovered, and 
 very roughly treated ; nor did the resident 
 (Colonel Low) escape severe handling. On 
 learning what had occurred, he proceeded 
 to the palace with his assistants, and re- 
 monstrated with the begum on the folly of her 
 procedure; but his arguments wpre stopped 
 by the turbulence of her adherents, who 
 seized him by the neckcloth, dragged him 
 to the throne on which the boy sat, and 
 commanded him to present a complimentary 
 ofl"ering on pain of death. This he posi- 
 tively refused; and the begum's vakeel, 
 Mirza Ali, seeing the dangerous excitement 
 of her rabble followers, and dreading the 
 * t Sleeman's Chtde, vol. ii., p. io2.
 
 66 
 
 PALACE OF LUCKNOW ENTERED BY FORCE— 1837. 
 
 sure vengeance of the Company if the lives 
 of their servants were thus sacrificed, 
 laid hold of the resident and his compa- 
 nions, and shouted out, that by the eom- 
 maiul of the begum they were to be con- 
 ducted from her presence. Tiie resident 
 and his party, with difficulty and danger, 
 made their way to the south garden, where 
 Colonel Monteath had just brought in, and 
 drawn up, five companies in line. The 
 temper of the troops, generally, seemed 
 doubtful. At this crisis Colonel Roberts, 
 who commanded a brigade in the Oude ser- 
 vice, went in, and presented to Moonna 
 Jan his offering of gold mohurs ; and then 
 absconded, being seen no more until the 
 contest was decided. Captain Magness 
 drew up his men and guns on the left of 
 Colonel Monteath's, and was ordered to pre- 
 pare for action. He told the resident that 
 he did not feel quite sure of his men ; and a 
 line of British sepoys was made to cover his 
 rear.* 
 
 Meanwhile the begum began to think the 
 game in her own hands. The palace and 
 baraduree, or summer-house, were filled with 
 a motley crowd ; nautch-girls danced and 
 sang at one end of the long hall, in front of 
 the throne; and the populace within and 
 without enjoyed the tumult, and shouted 
 acclamation : every man who had a sword 
 or spear, a musket or matchlock, flourished 
 it in the air, amid a thousand torches. 
 Everything portended a popular insurrec- 
 tion. The begum saw this, and desired to 
 gain time, in the hope that the British 
 troops in the garden would be surrounded 
 and overwhelmed by the armed masses 
 w}\ich had begun to pour forth from the 
 city. Had this catastrophe occurred, the 
 British authorities would have borne the 
 blame for the deficiency of the subsidized 
 British troops, and for having indiscreetly 
 omitted to watch the proceedings of the 
 Padshah Begum, whose character was well 
 known. The fault, in the latter case, is 
 attributed to the negligence of the native 
 minister. 
 
 The resident was anxious to avoid a 
 collision ; yet convinced of the necessity for 
 prompt action : therefore, on receiving a 
 message from the begum, desiring him to 
 return to her presence, he refused, and bade 
 her and the boy surrender themselves im- 
 mediately; promising, in the event of com- 
 pliance, and of the evacuation of the palace 
 and city by her followers, that the past 
 • Sleeman's Oude, vol. ii., p. 162. 
 
 should be forgiven, and that the pension of 
 15,000 rupees a-mouth, accorded by the 
 late king, should be secured to her for life. 
 But in vain : the begum liad no thouj^ht of 
 surrendering herself; the tumult rapidly in- 
 creased; the rabble began to plunder the 
 palace ; several liouses in the city had 
 already been pillaged ; and the British officer 
 in command urged the resident to action, 
 lest his men should no longer have room 
 to use their arms. 
 
 The native commanders of the state 
 troops manifestly leant towards the begum. 
 One of them declared that "he was the 
 servant of the throne ; that the young king 
 was actually seated on it ; and that he would 
 support him there :" whereupon he also 
 presented his offering of gold mohurs. The 
 armed crowds grew monuntarily more 
 menacing : a ringleader attempted to seize 
 a British sepoy by the whiskers; and an 
 affray was with difficulty prevented. The 
 resident, taking out his watch, declared, 
 that unless the begum consented to his offer 
 within one quarter of an hour, the guns 
 should open on the throne-room. She per- 
 sisted in her purpose, encouraged by the 
 increasing numbers of her followers. The 
 stated time elapsed ; the threat of the resi- 
 dent was fulfilled; and, after a few rounds 
 of grape, a party of the 35th regiment, 
 under Major jMarshall, stormed the halls. 
 
 As soon as the guns opened, the begum 
 was carried by her attendants into an ad- 
 joining room ; and Moonna Jan concealed 
 himself in a recess under the throne. They 
 were, however, both captured, and carried 
 off to the residency. None of the British 
 troops were killed ; but one officer and two 
 or three sepoys were wounded. Many of 
 the insurgents perished ; from forty to fifty 
 men being left killed and wounded, when 
 their companions fled from the palace. 
 The loss would probably have been much 
 greater, had not the soldiers of the 35th, 
 on rushing through the narrow covered 
 passage, and up the steep flight of steps by 
 which they entered the throne-room, seen, 
 on emerging from the dim light, a body of 
 sepoys with fixed bayonets and muskets, 
 drawn up (as they imagined) behind the 
 throne. At these tiiey fired; a smash of 
 glass followed, and proved their first volley 
 to have been spent, on their own reflection, 
 in an immense mirror. This happy mistake 
 saved a needless waste of blood. No further 
 resistance was attempted ; order was gra- 
 dually restored ; and the sovereign selected
 
 ACCESSION OF MOHAMMED ALI SHAH. 
 
 67 
 
 by the Company was publicly crowned in 
 the course of the morning. 
 
 Strangely enough, the innocent and ill- 
 used Delhi princess, after years of seclusion, 
 was involved in the tumult, but escaped 
 injury by the zeal and presence of mind 
 of her female attendants. The- begum, on 
 her way from her own residence to the 
 palace, had passed that of the princess, whom 
 she summoned to accompany her. Perhaps 
 awed by her imperious mother-in-law — per- 
 haps desirous of looking once again on the 
 face of the man whose conduct had doomed 
 her to long, years of widowhood, the 
 princess obeyed, and appears to have been 
 a silent witness of the whole affair. When 
 the firing began, her two female bearers 
 carried her in her litter .to a small side- 
 room. One attendant had her arm shattered 
 by grapeshot; but the other tied some 
 clothes together, and let her mistress and 
 her wounded companion safely down, from a 
 lieight of about twenty-four feet, into a 
 courtyard, where some of the retinue of 
 the princess found and conveyed them 
 all three safely home. 
 
 The claim of Moouna Jan appears to 
 have been a rightful one, despite the formal 
 declaration of the late king, that he had 
 ceased to cohabit with the boy's mother for 
 two years before his birth. The decision 
 arrived at by the British government cannot, 
 however, be regretted ; for Moonna Jan was 
 said, even by the members of his own 
 family wlio asserted his legitimacy, to be of 
 ungovernable temper, and the worst possible 
 dispositions.* Both he and the begumf 
 were sent to the fort of Chunar, where 
 they ended their days as state prisoners. 
 
 The new king, Mohammed Ali Shah, 
 succeeded to an empty treasury and a dis- 
 organised government : he had the infir- 
 mities of age to contend with ; neverthe- 
 less, he displayed an amount of energy and 
 shrewdness very rare in his family. 
 
 A new treaty with Oude was alleged to 
 be necessary, because no penalty had been 
 attached, iu that of 1801, to the infraction 
 of the stipulation for reforms to be made 
 in the government. Another article had 
 
 • Sleeman's Oude, vol. ii., p. 170. 
 
 t The previous history of the begum appears to 
 have been very remarkable. Ghazi-oo-deen had 
 conceived a strong dislike to his son Nuseer, and 
 considered him utterly unfit to mount the throne. 
 The begum stanchly and successfully asserted his 
 rights, as her husband's lawful heir. When he, in 
 turn, conceived a violent aversion to his own child 
 Moonna Jan, she took her grandson under her pro- 
 
 been violated by the increase of the native 
 army greatly beyond the stated limit. Of 
 this latter infraction the British govern- 
 ment were well disposed to take advantage, 
 having, in fact, themselves violated the spirit, 
 if not the letter, of the treaty, by keeping 
 Oude very ill supplied with troops. Thus, 
 at the time of the death of Nuseer-oo-deen 
 (previous to the arrival of the five com- 
 panies under Colonel Monteath), the whole 
 of the British force in charge of Lucknow 
 and its million inhabitants, consisted of 
 two companies and a-half of sepoys under 
 native officers. One of the companies was 
 stationed at the treasury of the resident; 
 another constituted his honorary guafd; 
 and the remaining half company were in 
 charge of the gaol. All the sepoys stood 
 nobly to their posts during the long and 
 trying scene ; but no attempt ^fras made to 
 concentrate them for the purpose of arrest- 
 ing the tumultuous advance of the begum's 
 forces : collectively, they would have been 
 too few for the purpose ; and it was, more- 
 over, deemed unsafe to remove them from 
 their respective posts at such a time; J 
 
 Something more than tacit consent had 
 probably been given to the increase of the 
 native force of Oude ; which, in 1837, num- 
 bered about 68,000 men. By the new 
 treaty, Mohammed Ali was authorised to 
 increase his military establishment indefi- 
 nitely ; but bound to organise, as a part of 
 it, an auxiliary British force, and to provide 
 a yearly sum of sixteen lacs (£160,000) 
 for the maintenance of the same. The 
 concluding articles stipulated, that the king, 
 in concert with the resident, should take 
 into immediate and earnest consideration 
 the best means of remedying the existing 
 defects in the police, and in the judicial and 
 revenue administration of his dominions; 
 and set forth, that " if gross abd systematic 
 oppression, anarchy, and misrule should 
 hereafter at any time prevail within the 
 Oude dominions, such as seriously to en- 
 danger the pubhc tranquillity, the British 
 government reserves to itself the right of 
 appointing its own officers to the manage- 
 ment of whatsoever portions of the Oude 
 
 lection, armed her retainfers, and, after a contest 
 in which many lives were lost, succeeded in main- 
 taining her giound until the resident interfered, 
 and satisfied her by guaranteeing the personal 
 safety of the boy, for whose sake she eventually 
 sacrificed the independence of her latter years, and 
 died a prisoner of state. — Private Life of an Eastern 
 King, p. '20j. 
 
 } Sleeman's Oude, vol. ii., p. 168.
 
 68 
 
 LORD AUCKLAND'S TREATY WITH OUDE— 1837. 
 
 territory — either to a small or to a great 
 extent — in which such misrule as that above 
 alluded to may have occurred, for so long 
 a period as it may deem necessary ; the sur- 
 plus receipts in such case, after defraying 
 all charges, to be paid into the king's trea- 
 sury, and a true and faithful account ren- 
 dered to his majesty of the receipts and 
 expenditure of the territory so assumed." 
 In the event of the above measure becoming 
 necessary, a pledge was given for the main- 
 tenance, as far as possible, of the native 
 institutions and forms of administration 
 within the assumed territories, so as to faci- 
 Htate the restoration of those territories to 
 the sovereign of Oude when the proper 
 period for such restoration should arrive.* 
 
 The above treaty was executed at Luck- 
 now on the 11th of September, 1837, and 
 was ratified on the 18th of the same mouth 
 by the governor-general. It is necessary 
 that the manner in which the compliance 
 of Mohammed Shah was ensured, should 
 be clearly understood. The death of 
 Nuseer occurred at midnight, and the resi- 
 dent, as has been stated, iustantly sent off 
 one of his assistants to the house of Mo- 
 hammed Shah, with orders to conduct him 
 to the palace, after having secured his sig- 
 nature to a paper promising consent " to 
 any new treaty that the governor-general 
 might dictate." This was obtained. 
 
 Lord Auckland was rather shocked by 
 such undisguised dictation; and declared, 
 " he should have been better pleased if the 
 resident had not, in this moment of exi- 
 gency, accepted the unconditional engage- 
 ment of submissiveness which the new king 
 had signed. This document may be liable 
 to misconstruction; and it was not war- 
 ranted by anything contained in the in- 
 structions issued to Colonel Low."t 
 
 If Lord Auckland was startled by the 
 means taken to ensure the consent of the 
 king to any terms which might be required 
 from him, the resident was not less painfully 
 surprised by the draft treaty framed by the 
 governor-general in council. Colonel Low 
 wrote, that the concessions so unexpectedly 
 demanded, were " of a nature that would be 
 very grating to any native sovereign of re- 
 spectable character;" especially to the pre- 
 sent king, " who, to the best of my belief at 
 least, knows by experience how to manage a 
 country properly, and really wishes to govern 
 
 * Treaty between E. I. Company and King of 
 Oude: printed in Pari. Papers relating to Oude 
 (Commons), 20lh July, 1857 ; pp. 31—33. 
 
 with moderation and justice." The resident 
 especially deprecated the requisition for the 
 payment of a very large annual sum for the 
 maintenance of an army, which was not to 
 be under the command of the king, or even 
 at his own disposal — " a heavy payment, in 
 fact, which be must clearly perceive is more 
 for our own purposes and interests than for 
 his, or for the direct advantage of his sub- 
 jects." Colonel Low requested a recon- 
 sideration of the unfavourable opinion which 
 had been expressed regarding the prelimi- 
 nary pledge he had exacted from Moham- 
 med Ali, declaring, that so far from its being 
 superfluous, it was indispensable ; otherwise, 
 the"desired objectsof the Indian government 
 could never have been gained without some 
 forcible and most unpleasant exercise of 
 our power." In a significant postscript, he 
 asked whether, in the event of the present 
 king's death before the ratificatiou of the 
 treaty, he ought to take any, and, if so, 
 what, agreement from the next heir? adding, 
 that the residency surgeon lately in atten- 
 dance on Mohammed Shah, was decidedly of 
 opinion, that " any unusual excitement, or 
 vexation of mind, would be likely to 
 bring on apoplexy."J All this the resi- 
 dent stated in a public letter; but he 
 wrote another in the secret department, in 
 which he earnestly advised a revision of 
 the treaty ; urging, th;.t the formation of 
 the proposed auxiliary force would create 
 great discontent in Oude, and inflict a bur- 
 den which would necessarily be felt by all 
 classes ; and that it would be considered 
 "as distiuctly breaking our national faith 
 and recorded stipulations in the former 
 treaty. "§ 
 
 Lord Auckland persisted in his policy : 
 the resident was told that he had " misap- 
 prehended" the spirit of the treaty, which 
 the king was compelled to sign, literally at 
 the hazard of his life; for, on being made 
 1 acquainted with its terms, " the idea of such 
 t new rights being ordered in his time, so hurt 
 I the old man's feelings, that it had an imme- 
 diate effect on his disease;" producing an 
 attack of spasms, from which he did not 
 entirely recover for twenty-four hours. || 
 
 The authorities in England, to their honour 
 be it spoken, refused to sanction such a 
 shameless breach of faith as this repudiation 
 of the terms on which half Oude had been 
 annexed in 1801. They unanimously de- 
 
 t Pari. Papers, p. 13. % /iiii.,— pp. 14, 1 J. 
 
 § Ibid., p. 17. 
 
 II Letter of Resident, July 30, 1837.— Pari. Papers.
 
 HOME AUTHORITIES DISALLOW THE TREATY. 
 
 69 
 
 creed the abrogation of the recent treaty, 
 and desired that the king should be exone- 
 rated from the obligations to which his as- 
 sent had been so rehictantly given. No- 
 thing could be more thoroughly straightfor- 
 ward than the view taken by the directors. 
 They declared, that it would have been better 
 to have given the king a fair trial, without 
 any new treaty ; and condemned the pre- 
 liminary engagement as having been " ex- 
 torted from a prince from whom we had no 
 right to demand any condition on coming to 
 his lawful throne." The proposed auxiliary 
 force was pronounced inadmissible, on the 
 ground that the payment " would constitute 
 a demand upon the resources of Oude that 
 we are not entitled to make; for we are 
 already bound, by the treaty of 1801, to 
 defend at our own expense, that country 
 against internal and external enemies ; and 
 a large cession of territory was made to us 
 for that express purpose." 
 
 The sentiments expressed on this occa- 
 sion are directly opposed to those whicl. 
 animated the annexation policy, subse- 
 quently adopted. The directors conclude 
 their despatch with the following explicit 
 opinion : — " The preservation of the existing 
 states in India is a duty imposed upon us by 
 the obligations of public faith, as well as the 
 dictates of interest ; for we agree in the 
 opinionexpressed by Lieutenant-colonel Low, 
 in his letter of the 26th of September, 1836, 
 that the continued existence of such states 
 will afford the means of employment to re- 
 spectable natives, which they cannot at pre- 
 sent obtain in our service ; and, until such 
 means could be provided in our own pro- 
 vinces, the downfall of any of the native 
 states under our protection might, by depriv- 
 ing numerous influential natives of their ac- 
 customed employment, be attended . with 
 consequences most injurious to our interests. 
 Our policy should be to preserve, as long as 
 may be practicable, the existing native 
 dynasties ; and should the fall of them, or 
 of any one of them, from circumstances be- 
 yond our control, become inevitable, then 
 to introduce such a system of government 
 as may interfere in the least possible way 
 with the institutions of the people, and with 
 the employment of natives of rank under 
 proper superintendence, in the administra- 
 tion of the country."* 
 
 • Despatch, 10th April, 1838, from Secret Com- 
 mittee i p. 38. Signed by J. R. Carnac and J. L. 
 LuBliinglon. 
 
 •f Minute by Governor-general Auckland, dated 
 
 The directors left the governor-general 
 in council to choose the manner in which 
 to convey to the King of Oude the welcome 
 tidings of the annulment of a compact 
 which, they truly observed, he regarded as 
 inflicting not only a pecuniary penalty upon 
 his subjects, but a disgrace upon his crown 
 and personal dignity. They ^dvised, how- 
 ever, that it should rather proceed as an act 
 of grace from his lordship in council, "than 
 as the consequence of the receipt of a public 
 and unconditional instruction from Eng- 
 land." 
 
 Lord Auckland thereupon declared, that 
 the directors, like the resident, had much 
 misunderstood his measure ;t and his council 
 agreed with him in the hope that, by a re- 
 laxation of the terms of the treaty, the au- 
 thorities in England might be reconciled to a 
 measure which could not be cancelled with- 
 out the most serious inconvenience, and even 
 danger :J and when they found that the 
 Company were pledged to the British par- 
 liament for the annulment of -the treaty, 
 they persisted in urging the inexpediency of 
 making any communication to the King of 
 Oude on the subject. On the 15th of April, 
 1839, the directors reiterated their previ- 
 ous orders, and desired that no delay 
 should take place in announcing, in such 
 manner as the governor-general might think 
 fit, to the King of Oude, the disallowance 
 of the treaty of 11th of September, 1837, 
 and the restoration of our relations with the 
 state of Oude to the footing on which they 
 previously stood. 
 
 On the nth of July, 1839, they simply 
 reverted to their previous instructions, and 
 required their complete fulfilment. § Yet, 
 on the 8th of the same month, the governor- 
 general acquainted the King of Oude that, 
 after some months' correspondence with the 
 Court of Directors upon the subject of the 
 treaty, he was empowered to relieve his 
 majesty from the payment of the annual 
 sixteen lacs. His lordship expressed his 
 cordial sympathy with the liberal feelings 
 which dictated this renunciation of a sum, 
 the raising of which he had " sometimes 
 feared" might lead to " heavier exactions on 
 the people of Oude than they were well able, 
 in the present state of the country, to bear." 
 
 Then followed an exordium on the light- 
 ening of taxation, and the extension of 
 
 "Umritsir, 13th December, 1838." — Pari. Papers, 
 pp. 43—52. 
 
 X Minutes by Messrs. Morison and Bird, 28ih Jan- 
 uary, 1«39 ; pp. 52 i 57. § Pari. Papers, pp. 57—60.
 
 70 
 
 ACCESSION OP WAJID ALI, KING OF OUDE— 1847. 
 
 useful public works, which might be 
 effected with the aforesaid sixteen lacs ; and 
 a complacent reference to the fresh proof 
 thus afforded, "of the friendship with which 
 your majesty is regarded by me and by the 
 British nation." Not one word, not the 
 most distant hint of the abrogation of the 
 treaty ; nay, jpore — the newly-appointed re- 
 sident, Colonel Caulfield, was specially de- 
 sired " to abstain from encouraging discus- 
 sion as to the treaty of 1837," except as 
 regarded the reasons above quoted from the 
 letter of the governor-general, for releasing 
 the king from the pecuniary obligation of 
 maintaining an auxiliary force.* 
 
 The above statements are taken from the 
 returns laid before parliament on the mo- 
 tion of Sir Fitzroy Kelly; but it is confi- 
 dently alleged that the papers therein 
 published are, as in the case of the Nizam, 
 fragmentary and garbled ; especially that the 
 important letter written by Lord Auckland 
 to the King of Gudc is not a correct trans- 
 lation of the original, but a version adapted 
 to meet the ideas of the British public. f 
 
 No such aggravation is needed to en- 
 hance the effect of the duplicity exhibited 
 by the Indian government, in their sifted 
 and carefully pre|)ared records laid before 
 parliament, of the mode in which the 
 king was led to believe ■ that the treaty 
 which the Court of Directors had disavowed, 
 because it was essentially uujust and had 
 been obtained by unfair means, was really 
 in force, the pressure being temporarily 
 mitig;ated by the generous intervention and 
 paternal solicitude of the governor-general. 
 
 This is a painful specimen of Anglo- 
 Indian diplomacy. Still more painful is 
 it to find such a man as Lord Dalhousie 
 characterising tlie deliberate concealment 
 practised by his predecessor, as " an inad- 
 vertence." The treaty was never disallowed 
 in India — never even suppressed. The dis- 
 cussion regarding its public disallowance 
 
 • Deputy Secretary of Government to the Resi- 
 dent, 8th July, 1839.— Pari. Papers, p. 61. 
 
 t The letter published in thfe Pnrl. Papers, and the 
 Persian and English versions sent to the king: ill 
 three differed on important points. In Dacoitee in 
 Excelsis (written, according to the editor of Slee. 
 man's Oude, by Major Bird), a literal translation 
 of the Persian letter actually sent to the King of 
 Oude is given, which differs widely and essentially 
 from that above quoted from the Pari. Papers. In 
 the latter there is no sentence which could fairly 
 be rendered thus : — " From the period you as- 
 cended the throne, your majesty has, in compari- 
 son with times past, greatly improved the kingdom; 
 and 1 have, in consequence, been authorised bj the 
 
 seems to have fallen to the ground; the 
 directors, engrossed by the cares and excite- 
 ments of that monstrous compound of in- 
 justice, folly, and disaster — the Afghan 
 war — probably taking it for granted that 
 their reiterated injunctions regarding Oude 
 had been obeyed by Lord Auckland and his 
 council. 
 
 Mohammed Ali Shah died in 1842, in the 
 full belief that the treaty which so galled 
 and grieved him was in operative existence. 
 His son and successor, Arajud Ali, had no 
 reason for doubt on the subject : the British 
 functionaries around him spoke and wrote 
 of it as an accepted fact; and, in 1845, it 
 was included in a volume of treaties, pub- 
 lished in India by the authority of govern- 
 ment. No important change, for good or 
 for evil, appears to have taken place during 
 the five years' sway of Amjud Ali, who died 
 in February, 1847, and was succeeded by 
 Wajid Ali, the last of his dynasty. The 
 new king was not deficient in natural ability. 
 He had considerable poetical and musical 
 gifts; but these, precociously developed under 
 the enervating influences of the zenana, had 
 been fostered to the exclusion of the sterner 
 qualities indispensable to the wielder of a 
 despotic sceptre. 
 
 Notwithstanding the acknowledged and 
 often sharply-exercised supremacy of the 
 British government, the dynasty of Oude 
 still preserved, by virtue of Lord Welles- 
 ley's treaty of 1801 (that is to say, by the 
 portions of it not cancelled by that of 1837), 
 a degree of independence, and of exemption 
 from internal interference ; which, rightly 
 used by an upright, humane, and judicious 
 sovereign, might yet have raised fertile, beau- 
 tiful Oude to a state of prosperity which, 
 by affording incontestable proofs of its effi- 
 cient government, should leave no plea for its 
 annexation. Pubhc works, efficient courts 
 of justice, reduced rates of assessment — these 
 things can never be wholly misrepresented 
 
 Court of Directirs to inform you, that, if I think 
 it advisable, for the present, I jnay relieve your ma- 
 jesty frorti part of the clause of the treaty alluded 
 to, by which clause expense is laid upon your 
 majesty." The writer of Dacoitee in Excelsis, says 
 that the italicised words bear a different sense in the 
 autograph English letter, in which they run thus : — 
 I am directed to relieve yoti. The king pointed but 
 the non-agreement of the t\vo documc-nts, and the 
 governor-general forthwith issued an order, direct- 
 ing that the old custom of sending the original Eng- 
 lish letter as well as the Persian version, should be 
 discontinued. — (p. 92.) See also Oude, its Princes 
 and its Gnvernment Vindicated: by Moulvee Mus- 
 seehood-deen Khan IJahadoor ; p. 75.
 
 COLONEL SLEEMAN'S TOUR THROUGH OUDE— 1850. 
 
 71 
 
 or overlooked ; but such reforms were little 
 likely to be effected while Wajid Ali sat at 
 the helm. 
 
 In November, 1847, the governor- general. 
 Lord Hardinge, visited Lucknow, held a 
 conference with the king, and caused a 
 memorandum, previously drawn up, to be 
 specially read and explained to him. In i 
 this memorandum, Wajid Ali was enjoined 
 "to take timely measures for the reforma- 
 tion of abuses," and for. " the rescue of his 
 people from their presefat miserable condi- 
 tion." Failing this, the governor-general 
 stated, he would have no option but to act iu 
 the manner specified by the treaty of 1837 ; 
 which not only gave the British government 
 a right to interfere, but rendered it obli- 
 gatory on them to do so whenever such 
 interference should be needful to secure the 
 lives and property of the people of Onde 
 from oppression and flagrant neglect. If 
 the king, within the following two years, 
 should fail in "ch'icking and eradicating 
 the worst abuses," then the governor-general 
 would avail himself of the powers vested in 
 him by the aforesaid treaty.* 
 
 Two years and more passed, but the 
 king evinced undiminished aversion for the 
 duties of his position. His time and atten- 
 tion were devoted entirely to the pursuit of 
 personal gratifications, and he associated 
 with none but such as contributed to his 
 pleasures — women, singers, fiddlers, and 
 eunuchs ; and could, in fact, submit to the 
 restraints of no other society. He ceased 
 to receive the members of the royal family, 
 or the aristocracy; would read no reports 
 from his local oflBcers, civil or military — from 
 presidents of his fiscal and judicial courts, 
 or functionaries of any kind ; and appeared 
 to take no interest whatever in public affairs. 
 
 A change was made about this time in 
 the mode of collecting the land revenue (from 
 the ijara, or contract system, to the amanee, 
 or trust- management system) in many dis- 
 tricts ; but no favourable result was pro- 
 duced — the same rack-rent being exacted 
 under one as under the other; the same 
 
 * Sleeman'a Oxide, vol. ii., pp. 201 — 215. 
 
 t Letter from Lord Dalhousie to Colonel Slee- 
 man. — Journey through the Kingdom of Oude (Intro- 
 duction), vol. i., p. xviii. 
 
 I Dncoitee in Excelsis, p. lt)9. 
 
 § Writing to Mr. Elliot, secretary to government 
 in 1848, regarding the difficulty of getting dacoit 
 prisoners tried, Colonel Sleeman said that politi- 
 cal officers had little encouragement to undertake 
 such duties ; adding — " It is only a few choice spirits 
 that have entered upon the duty con atnore. Gen- 
 eral Nott prided himself upon doing nothing while 
 
 uncertainty continuing to exist in the 
 rate of the government demand; and the 
 same exactions and peculations on the part 
 of the native officials. 
 
 Colonel (afterwards Sir William) Sleeman 
 received the appointment of resident in 
 1849, and was authorised by Lord Dalhousie 
 to make a tour throughout Oude, and report 
 upon the general condition of the people. 
 The letter which communicates the informa- 
 tion of the appointment, shows that the gov- 
 ernor-general was bent on the assumption of 
 sovereign power over Oude, and the recon- 
 struction of the internal administration of 
 that " great, rich, and oppressed country ."t 
 The mission of Colonel Sleeman was evidently 
 designed to collect a mass of evidence which 
 should convince the home authorities of the 
 necessity for the "great changes" which 
 their representative had resolved upon ini- 
 tiating ; and in this sense the new resident 
 has been truly called " the emissary of a 
 foregone conclusion. "J Still, though not 
 unprejudiced^ Colonel Sleeman was an 
 honest and earnest man, weU calculated by 
 character and long training to extract truth, 
 and experienced in framing a plain, un- 
 varnished statement of facts. Forty years 
 of active Indian service had afforded him 
 opportunities of intercourse with the natives, 
 of which he had taken abundant advantage. 
 Active, methodical, and rigidly abstemious, 
 he had been invaluable in the very depart- 
 ments where his countrymen have usually 
 proved least able to grapple with tjie ener- 
 vating influences of climate, routine, and 
 red tape.§ His successful efforts in bringing 
 to justice, and almost eradicating the mur- 
 derous fraternity of the Thugs, || by dis- 
 persing the horrible obscurity in which 
 their midnight deeds of assassin iltion and 
 theft had been so long shrouded, breaking 
 up their gangs, and tracking them out in 
 detail, was altogether most masterly, and 
 conferred an incalculable amount of benefit 
 on the peaceable and industrious, but help- 
 less portion of the population. Colonel 
 Sleeman's character and career, however, 
 
 he was at Lucknow ; General Pollock did all he 
 could, but it was not much ; and Colonel Richmond 
 does nothing. There the Buduk dacoits. Thugs and 
 poisoners, remain without sentences, and will do so 
 till Richmond ^oes, unless you give him a fillip. 
 * * * Davidson was prevented from doing any 
 thing by technical difficulties; so that out of four 
 residents we have not got four days' work. — Jour- 
 net/ through the Kingdom of Oude (Introduction), 
 vol. i., p. xxviii. 
 
 II See Indian Emjnre, vol. i., p. 429 ; for an ac- 
 count of the Thugs, or Phansi-gars.
 
 72 PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE IN THE GOVERNMENT OF OUDE. 
 
 naturally tended to render him a severe 
 censor of incapacity, sensuality, and indo- 
 lence — the hesetting sins of the King of 
 Oude. Consequently, his correspondence 
 manifests a contemptuous aversion for the 
 habits and associates of Wajid Ali, scarcely 
 compatible with the diplomatic courtesy ex- 
 pected in the intercourse of a British func- 
 tionary with a national ally. Personal ac- 
 quaintance might have mitigated this feel- 
 ing ; but Colonel Sleeman does not seem to 
 have attempted to employ the influence 
 which his age, position, and knowledge of 
 the world might have given him with the 
 king, who was then a young man of about 
 five-and-twenty. " I have not," he says, 
 "urged his majesty to see and converse with 
 me, because I am persuaded that nothing 
 that I could say would induce him to alter 
 his mode of life, or to associate and com- 
 mune with any others than those who now 
 exclusively form his society."* 
 
 The tour of inspection was made during 
 three months of the cold season of 1850, in 
 defiance of the tacit opposition of the native 
 government, on whom the expenses, amount- 
 ing to £30,000, were charged. f The mode 
 of proceeding adopted to procure evidence 
 against the King of Oude, and the complete 
 setting aside of the authority of the native 
 government therein involved, may be ex- 
 cused by circumstances, but cannot be jus- 
 tified. A similar proceeding in any Anglo- 
 Indian province would unquestionably have 
 revealed a mass of crime and suffering, of 
 neglect and unredressed wrongs, of which 
 no conception could have been previously 
 formed. Under our system, however, the 
 evils from which the people labour, lie deep, 
 and resemble the complicated sufferings 
 ■which affect the physical frame in a high 
 state of civilisation, tinder native despotism, 
 the diseases of the body politic are com- 
 paratively few in number, and easily dis- 
 cernible, analogous to those common to man 
 in a more natural state. The employment 
 of torture, for instance, as a means of 
 extorting revenue, is a barbarism which 
 seems general among Asiatic governments; 
 
 * Pari. Papers relative to Oude. — Blue Book, 
 1856; p. 158. 
 
 t In the Jiep/y to the Charges against the King 
 of Oude, published in the name of Wajid Ali 
 Shah himself, the following passage occurs: — "When 
 Colonel Sleeman had, under pretence of change of 
 air for the benefit of his health, expressed a wish to 
 make a tour through the Oude dominion, although 
 such a tour was quite unusual, I provided him with 
 tenta and bullock-trains, and ordered my officers to 
 furoLsh him with men for clearing the road, provi- 
 
 and it has been, if indeed it be not still, 
 practised by our own native underlings, in 
 consequence of imperfect supervision and 
 excessive taxation. In Oude, this favourite 
 engine of despotism and oppression was, as 
 might have been expected, in full operation. 
 It ought, long years before, to have been 
 not simply inveighed against by residents in 
 communications to their own govemmeni, 
 but enacted against in treaties ; for, clearly, 
 when the British government guaranteed to 
 a despotic ruler the means of crushing do- 
 mestic rebellion, they became responsible 
 that their troops should not be instrumental 
 in perpetuating the infliction, on the inno- 
 cent, of cruelties which the laws of England 
 would not suffer to be perpetrated on the 
 person of the vilest criminal. 
 
 The supreme government are accused 
 of having contented themselves with in- 
 culcating rules of justice and mercy by 
 vague generalities, without any attempt to 
 take advantage of opportunities for initiating 
 reforms. Major Bird, formerly assistant- 
 resident at Lucknow, affirms that he has 
 now in his custody proposals framed by the 
 native government, with the assistance of 
 the resident, Colonel Richmond, in 1848, 
 for the introduction of the British system 
 of administration in the king's dominions, 
 to be tried in the first instance in such 
 portions of them as adjoined the British 
 territories. The scheme was submitted to 
 Mr. Thomason, the lieutenant-governor of 
 the North-Western Provinces, for correc- 
 tion, and was then forwarded to the gov- 
 ernor-general, by whom it was rejected ; the 
 secretary to government stating, that "if 
 his majesty the King of Oude would give 
 up the whole of his dominions, the East 
 India government would think of it ; but 
 that it was not worth while to take so 
 much trouble about a portion."J 
 
 Such a rebuff as this is quite indefensible. 
 Although the worthless ministers and fa- 
 vourites by whom the king was surrounded, 
 might have eventually neutrahsed any good 
 results from the proposed experiment, yet, 
 had the Calcutta authorities really felt the 
 
 eions and all other necessaries ; and although this 
 cost me lacs of rupees, still I never murmured nor 
 raised any objections." In Colonel Sleeman's very 
 first halt, he is described as having received peti- 
 tions, and wrote letters thereon to the native gov- 
 ernment, in defiance alike of treaties, of the ex- 
 press orders of the Court of Directors, and of the 
 rule of neutrality previously observed by successive 
 residents. — (Pp. 8 ; 13.) 
 
 J Dacoitee in Excelsis : or, the Spoliation of Oude, 
 p. 102. Taylor : London.
 
 REASONS FOR GOVERNING BUT NOT ANNEXING OUDE. 
 
 73 
 
 earnest solicitude expressed by them for the 
 people of Oude, they would have encouraged 
 any scheme calculated to lessen the disorgan- 
 isation of which they so loudly complained, 
 instead of waiting, as they appear to have 
 done, to take advantage of their own neglect. 
 
 It is not easy to decide how far the British 
 government deserves to share the disgrace 
 which rests on the profligate and indoleot 
 dynasty, of which Wajid AU was the last 
 representative, for the wretched condition 
 of Oude. Of the fact of its misgovemment 
 there seems no doubt ; for Colonel Sleeman 
 was a truthful and able man ; and the entries 
 in his Diary depict a state of the most bar- 
 barous anarchy. The people are described 
 as equally oppressed by the exactions of the 
 king's troops and collectors, and by the 
 gangs of robbers and lawless chieftains 
 who infested the whole territory, rendering 
 tenure so doubtful that no good dwellings 
 could be erected, and preventing more than 
 a very partial cultivation of the land, besides 
 perpetrating individual cruelties, torturings, 
 and murders almost beyond belief. 
 
 No immediate result followed the report 
 of the resident ; for the Burmese war of 
 1851-'2 occupied the attention of gov- 
 ernment, and gave Wajid AH Shah a re- 
 spite, of which he was too reckless or too 
 ill-advised to take advautage. Colonel 
 Sleeman, writing to Lord DalhoQsie in 
 September, 1852, declared — 
 
 " The longer the king reigns the more unfit he 
 becomes to reigo, and the more the administration 
 and the country deteriorates. The state must have 
 become bankrupt long ere this ; but the king, and 
 the knaves by whom he is governed, have discon- 
 tinued paying the stipends of all the members of the 
 royal family, Have those of his own father's family, 
 for the U«t three years ; and many of them are re- 
 duced to extreme distress, without the hope of ever 
 getting their stipends again, unless our government 
 interferes. The fenrales of the palaces of former 
 sovereigns vemtured to clamour for their subsistence, 
 and they were, without shame or mercy, driven into 
 the streets to starve, beg, or earn their bread by 
 their labour. • • » 'fhe king is surrounded by 
 eunucha, fiddlers, and poetasters worse than either ; 
 and the minister and his creatures, who are worse 
 than all. They appropriate at least one-half the re- 
 venues of the country to themselves, and employ 
 nothing [sic] but knaves of the very worst kind in 
 all the branches of the administration. • • • 
 The fiddlers have control over the administration 
 of civil justice ; the eunuchs over that of criminal 
 justice, public buildings, <S:c ; the minister has the 
 land revenue : and all are making large fortunes."' 
 
 In the beginning c^ 1853, the resident 
 
 • Sleeman's Oude, vol. ii., p. 369. 
 + Ibid. (Introduction), vol. i., p. xxii. 
 t Ibid., voL ii., p. 388. 
 VOL. II. L 
 
 writes to Sir James Weir Hogg, that the 
 King of Oude was becoming more and more 
 imbecile and craay; and had, on several 
 occasions during some recent religious 
 ceremonies, gone along the streets beating 
 a drum tied round his neck, to the great 
 scandal of his family, and the amusement 
 of his people. The minister, Ali Nukkee 
 Khan, is described as one of the cleverest, 
 most intriguing, and most unscrupulous 
 villains in India ;t who had obtained influ- 
 ence over his master by entire subservience 
 to his vices and follies, and by praising all 
 he did, however degrading to him as a man 
 and a sovereign. 
 
 Notwithstanding the king's utter inat- 
 tention to public affairs, and devotion to 
 drumming, dancing, and versifying, he 
 believed himself quite fit to reign; and 
 Colonel Sleeman considered that nothing 
 would ever induce Wajid Ali to abdicate, 
 even in favour of his own son, much less 
 consent to make over the conduct of the 
 administration, in perpetuity, to our gov- 
 ernment. The conclusion at which the 
 resident arrives is important : — 
 
 " If, therefore, our government does interfere, it 
 must be in the exercise of a right arising out of the 
 existing relations between the two states, or out of 
 our position as the paramount power in India. 
 These relations, under the treaty of 1837, give our 
 government the right to take upon itself the admin- 
 istration under present circumstances j and, indeed, 
 imposes upon our government the duty of taking 
 it : but, as I have already stated, neither these re- 
 lations, nor our position as the paramount power, 
 give us any right to annex or to confiscate the 
 territory of Oude. We may have a right to take 
 territory from the Nizam of Hyderabad, in payment 
 for the money he owes ua ; but Oude owes us no 
 money, and we have no right to take territory from 
 her. We have only the right to secure for the 
 suffering people that better government which their 
 sovereign pledged himself to secure for them, but 
 has failed to secure.f 
 
 The entire reliance manifested in the 
 above extracts, on the validity of the treaty 
 of 1837, is equally conspicuous in other 
 letters. It is repeatedly mentioned as giving 
 the government ample authority to assume 
 the whole administration ; but it is added — 
 " If we do this, we must, in order to stand 
 well with the rest of India, honestly and 
 distinctly disclaim all interested motives, 
 and appropriate the whole of the revenues 
 for the benefit of the people and royal 
 family of Oude;" for, "were we to take 
 advantage of the occasion to annex or con- 
 fiscate Oude, or any part of it, our good 
 name in India would inevitably suffer; and
 
 74 
 
 SIR WILLIAM SLEEMAN'S ANTI-ANNEXATION VIEWS— 1855. 
 
 that good name is more valuable to us than 
 a dozen Oudes." 
 
 On the annexation policy in general, the 
 resident commented in terms of severe 
 censure. " There is a school in India," he 
 says, "characterised by impatience at the 
 existence of any native states, and by strong 
 and often insane advocacy of their absorp- 
 tion — by honest means if possible ; but still 
 their absorption. There is no pretext, 
 however weak, that is not sufficient, in their 
 estimation, for the purpose ; and no war, 
 however cruel, that is not justifiable, if it 
 has only this object in view." Such views 
 he denounced as dangerous to our rule; 
 for the people of India, seeing that annexa- 
 tions and confiscations went on, and that 
 rewards and honorary distinctions were 
 given for them, and for the victories which 
 led to them, and foir little else, were too apt 
 to infer that they were systematic, and 
 encouraged and prescribed from home. 
 The native states he compared to break- 
 waters, which, when swept away, would 
 leave us to the mercy of our native army, 
 which might not always be under our 
 control.* 
 
 With such opinions, he watched with 
 deep anxiety the progress of the aggressive 
 and absorbing policy favoured by Lord 
 Dalhousie and his council, which, he con- 
 sidered, was tending to crush all the higher 
 and middle classes connected with the land, 
 and to excite general alarm in the native 
 mind. He began to fear the adoption of 
 some course towards Oude which would 
 involve a breach of faith ; but he does not 
 seem to have suspected the possibility of 
 any right of annexation being grounded on 
 the repudiation by the Calcutta govern- 
 ment, at the eleventh hour, of the treaty of 
 1837. 
 
 In a private letter (the latest of his corres- 
 pondence), he writes — " Lord Dalhousie and 
 I, have different views, I fear. If he wishes 
 anything done that I do not think right 
 and honest, I resign, and leave it to be done 
 by others. I desire a strict adherence to 
 solemn engagements with white faces or 
 black. We have no right to annex or con- 
 fiscate Oude; but we have a right, uuder 
 the treaty of 1837, to take the management 
 of it, but not to appropriate its revenues to 
 ourselves. To confiscate would be dis- 
 
 • Sleeman's Oude, vol. ii., p. 392. 
 t Written in 1854-'5. Published in the Timei, 
 November, 1857. 
 
 I See Oude Blue Book for 1856; pp. 12—46. 
 
 honest and dishonourable. To annex would 
 be to give the people a government almost 
 as bad as their own, if we put our screw 
 upon them."! 
 
 The last admission is a strange one from 
 the narrator of the Tour through Oude. 
 He was not spared to remonstrate, as he 
 certainly would have done, against the 
 adoption of measures he had denounced by 
 anticipation ; but he was spared the too 
 probable pain of remonstrating in vain. 
 In the summer of 1854 his health began to 
 fail. He went to the hills in the hope of 
 recruiting his strength and resuming his 
 labours. At last, warned by indications of 
 approaching paralysis, he resigned his office, 
 and embarked for England, but died on his 
 passage, on the 10th of February, 1856, at 
 the age of sixty -seven. Four days before, 
 his services had been recognised by his 
 nomination as a K.C.B., at the express re- 
 quest of Lord Dalhousie, who, despite their 
 difference in opinion, fully appreciated the 
 qualities of his able subordinate. The 
 mark of royal favour came in all respects 
 too late : it would have been better be- 
 stowed at the time when it had been richly 
 earned by the measures for the suppression 
 of Thuggee and Dacoitee, instead of being 
 connected with the ill-omened Tour which 
 preceded the annexation of Oude. 
 
 General Outram (Napier's old opponent) 
 was sent as officiating resident to Lucknow, 
 in December, 1854, and desired to furnish 
 a report with a view to determine whether 
 public affairs continued in the state de- 
 scribed from time to time by his predeces- 
 sor This he did, at considerable length, 
 in February, 1855 ;I and his conclusion was, 
 that matters were as bad, if not worse, than 
 Colonel Sleeman had described them ; and 
 that " the very culpable apathy and gross 
 misrule of the sovereign and his durbar," 
 rendered it incumbent on the supreme gov- 
 ernment to have recourse to the " extreme 
 measures" necessary for the welfare of the 
 five millions of people who were now op- 
 pressed by an effete and incapable dynasty. 
 Mnjor-general Outram added, that in 
 the absence of any personal experience in 
 the country, he was dependent for informa- 
 tion on the residency records, and on the 
 channels which supplied his predecessor. 
 It would seem that he (like Colonel Caul- 
 field) had been instructed to refrain from 
 any mention of the treaty of 1837; for his 
 report refers exclusively to that concluded in 
 1801 : but in a paper drawn up by Captain
 
 DISCUSSIONS REGARDING THE ANNEXATION OF OUDE. 
 
 75 
 
 Fletcher Hayes (assistant-resident), on the 
 " history of our connection with the Oude 
 government," the Calcutta authorities are 
 reminded, that in the absence of any inti- 
 mation of the annulment of the treaty 
 of 1837, all its articles (except that of 
 maintaining an auxiliary force, from which 
 the king had been relieved as an act of 
 grace) were considered by the court of 
 Lucknow as binding on the contracting 
 powers.* 
 
 The supreme authorities had placed 
 themselves in a difficult position : they 
 had pertinaciously stood between the 
 Court of Directors and the government of 
 Oude, and had taken upon themselves 
 the responsibility of maintaining the treaty 
 repudiated by the directors as unjust and 
 extortionate. But in 1855, the rapid march 
 of the annexation policy had left the land- 
 marks of 1837 so far behind, that it had 
 become desirable to set the contract of that 
 date aside, because its exactions and its 
 penalties, once denounced as unfair to the 
 king, would now, if enforced, limit and 
 cripple the plans of the governor-general. 
 The very instrument, obtained and retained 
 for aggressive purposes, in defiance of the 
 orders of the home authorities, was likely 
 to prove a weapon of defence in the hands 
 of the King of Oude, and to be rested upon 
 as the charter of the rights of the dynasty 
 and state. But the Red treaty palmed ofi^ 
 on Omichund, with the forged signature of 
 Admiral Watson, was not more easily set 
 aside by Clivef than the treaty with Oude 
 by the governor-general in council. In 
 each case, the right of the stronger prevailed 
 without a struggle, and left the weaker 
 party no power of appeal. Still the autho- 
 rities, in discussing the aflFairs of Oude, ab- 
 stained, as far as possible, from any mention 
 of the treaty of 1837, and evidently thought 
 the less said on the subject the better. 
 Thus, the governor-general, in his minute on 
 the measures to be adopted for the future 
 administration of Oude (extending over 
 forty-three folio pages), adverts to the treaty 
 of 1837, only in one short paragraph, iu 
 which he states that the instrument by 
 which the mutual relations of the British 
 and Oude governments were defined, was 
 the treaty of 1801. "A very general im- 
 
 • Oude Blue Book, p. 81. 
 t Indian Empire, vol. i., pp. 276 — 278. 
 I Minute by Lord Dalhousie, June 18th, 1855. — 
 Oude Blue Book, p. 149. 
 § Any reader who doubts the illegality of Lord 
 
 pression prevails that a subsequent re-ad- 
 justment of those relations was made by the 
 treaty concluded by Lord Auckland in 
 1837. But that treaty is null and void. It 
 was wholly disallowed by the Hon. Court 
 of Directors as soon as they received it." 
 
 In other paragraphs, repeated reference 
 is made to the warnings given by Lord 
 Hardinge to Wajid Ali, in 1847, of the de- 
 termination of the supreme government, in 
 the event of continued neglect, to interfere 
 for the protection of the people of Oude; 
 but the important fact is suppressed, that 
 the right of interference was explicitly stated 
 to rest, wholly and solely, "on the treaty 
 ratified in the year 1837."t 
 
 "It is to the treaty of 1801," said Lord 
 Dalhousie, "that we must exclusively look :"§ 
 and, accordingly, it was looked to, for the 
 express purpose of proving that it had been 
 violated by the King of Oude, and might, 
 therefore, be likewise declared null and 
 void. Yet Lord Dalhousie hesitated at 
 " resorting to so extreme a measure as the 
 annexation of the territory, and the aboli- 
 tion of the throne." The rulers of Oude, 
 he admitted, had been unwavering in their 
 adherence to the British power, and had 
 " aided us as best they could in our hour of 
 utmost need :" he therefore recommended 
 that the king should be suffered to retain 
 his title and rank, but should be required 
 to transfer the whole civil and military ad- 
 ministration into the hands of the E. I. 
 Company,in perpetuity, by whom the surplus 
 revenues were to be appropriated, a liberal 
 stipend being allowed for the maintenance 
 of the royal family. "The king's consent," 
 he added, " is indispensable to the transfer 
 of the whole, or of any part, of his sovereign 
 f ower to the government of the East India 
 Company. It would not be expedient or 
 right to extract this consent by means of 
 menace or compulsion." Lord Dalhousie, 
 therefore, advised that the king should be 
 requested to sign a treaty based on the fore- 
 going terms, and warned that, in the event 
 of refusal, the treaty of 1801 would be de- 
 clared at an end, and the British subsidiary 
 force entirely withdrawn. The proposal ap- 
 pears to have been made under the idea 
 that the very existence of the throne of 
 Oude depended so entirely on the presence 
 
 Dalhousie's conclusion, would do well to peruse the 
 able opinion of Dr. Travers Twiss, dated 24th 
 February, 1857, on the infraction of the law of 
 nations, committed by setting aside the treaty of 
 1837 : quoted in Dacdtee in Excelaii, pp. 192—199.
 
 76 
 
 MINUTES OF MEMBERS OF SUPREME COTJNCIL— 1855. 
 
 of a British force, that the king would ac- 
 cede to any conditions required from him. 
 But the other members of council unani- 
 mously deprecated the offering of the pro- 
 posed alternative, on the ground of the ter- 
 rible crisis of anarchy which would be the 
 probable consequence; and it was suggested 
 that, " if there should be in the king's council 
 but one person of courage and genius, 
 though it should be but a dancing-girl 
 (such as Indian annals show many), the king 
 might be led to elect disconnection rather 
 than abdication."* 
 
 Mr. Dorin minuted in favour of the entire 
 incorporation of Oude, and objected to con- 
 tinuing " to the most unkingly monarch of 
 Oude any portion of the royal position aud 
 dignity which, by nature and inclination, 
 he is incapable of sustaining;" yet he foresaw 
 that the king would never surrender his 
 kingdom except on compulsion. All Mr. 
 Dorin's sympathies were, he declared, with 
 the people of Oude, the " fine, manly race," 
 from whom we drew " almost the flower of 
 the Bengal army." 
 
 Mr. Grant agreed generally with Mr. 
 Dorin, but thought that the king might 
 be suffered to retain his title for his life- 
 time. Mr. Grant took strong views of the 
 rights and responsibilities of the British 
 government, both in its own right, and as 
 having " succeeded to the empire of the 
 Mogul ;" and he denied that the Oude rulers 
 had ever stood in the position of sovereign 
 princes. Major-general Low (who had held 
 the position of resident at Lucknow for 
 eleven years) minuted in favour of annexa- 
 tion, but desired to see more liberal provi- 
 sion made for the present king and his suc- 
 cessors than the other members of council 
 deemed necessary. He urged that the well- 
 known habits of Mohammedans of rank 
 afforded a guarantee for their income being 
 expended among the people from whom it 
 was levied, and not hoarded up, and sent off 
 to a distant country, according to the prac- 
 tice of most European gentlemen on reaching 
 the highest offices in the Indian service. 
 The character of the last five princes of 
 Oude, all of whom he had known personally, 
 had, he said, been much misrepresented : 
 they had sadly mismanaged their own affairs, 
 but they had constantly proved active and 
 
 • Minute by Mr. Grant.— Ourfe Blue Book, p. 218. 
 
 t Thia last portion of Major-general Low's minute 
 certainly does not accord with the account given 
 by Colonel Sleaman of his intercourse with Wajid 
 AH; but the colonel, though just and honourable 
 
 useful allies, having again and again for- 
 warded large supplies of grain and cattle to 
 our armies with an alacrity that could not 
 be exceeded by our own British chiefs of 
 prorinces, and having lent us large sums of 
 money when we were extremely in want u. 
 it, and oould not procure it elsewhere. As 
 individual princes, their intercourse with 
 our public functionaries had been regular, 
 attentive, courteous, and friendly .f 
 
 Mr. Peacock minuted in favour of the 
 assumption of sovereign power over Oude, 
 but desired that the surplus revenue might 
 bft-disposed of entirely for the benefit of the 
 people, and no pecuniary benefit be derived 
 by the East India Company. The sugges- 
 tion deserved more notice than it appears 
 to have received, seeing that "the benefit 
 oi the people" is declared by the directors 
 to have been " the sole motive, as well as 
 the sole justification," of the annexation.^ 
 Not one of the four members of coun- 
 cil . (not even Mr. Peacock, though an emi- 
 nent lawyer) took the slightest notice of 
 the treaty of 1837, or alluded to the fre- 
 quent references concerning it made by 
 their delegates at the court of Lucknow. 
 They spoke freely enough of treaties in 
 general, discussed the law of nations, and 
 quoted Vattel ; but the latest contract was 
 tabooed as dangerous ground. The governor- 
 general, in forwarding to the Court of 
 Directors the minutes and other papers 
 above quoted, alluded to his own approach- 
 ing departure, but offered to remain and 
 carry out the proposed measures regarding 
 Oude, if the directors considered that the 
 experience of eight years would enable him 
 to do so with greater authority than a 
 newly-appointed governor might probably 
 command. The task, he added, would 
 impose upon him very heavy additional 
 labour and anxiety ; the ripened fruit would 
 be gathered only by those who might come 
 after him.§ The simile is an unfortunate 
 one, if the fruit we are now gathering in 
 Oude is to be viewed as evidencing the cha- 
 racter of the tree which produced it. 
 
 The Court of Directors, in announcing 
 their decision on the subject, imitated 
 the reserve of their representatives; and 
 having the fear of Blue Book revelations, 
 and India Reform Society philippics before 
 
 in deed, was not conciliatory in manner; and his 
 ofBcial conimunication with the king 'would be 
 naturally affected by thia circumstance. 
 
 J Oude Blue Book, p. 234. 
 
 I Despatch dated July 3rd, \655.— Ibid:, p. 1.
 
 BRITISH TROOPS MARCH ON LUCKNOW— 1856. 
 
 T7 
 
 their eyes (but not of mutiny and insurrec- 
 tion), they ignored the chief difficulty, and 
 accepted Lord Dalhousie'a offer in the 
 most complimentary terms, leaving him 
 unfettered by any special instructions. 
 They suggested, however, that the offi- 
 ciating resident (Outram) should be in- 
 structed to ascertain whether the prospect 
 of declaring our connection with the Oude 
 government at an end, would be so alarm- 
 ing to the king as tp render his acceptance 
 of the proposed treaty a matter of virtual 
 necessity. If this could be relied on, the 
 alternative was to he offered; if not, the 
 directors authorised and enjoined the at^ 
 tKinment of the " indispensable result," in 
 such manner as the governorrgeneral in 
 council should see fit. Concerning the 
 appropriation of the surplus revenue, they 
 made no remark whatever.* 
 
 The idea of offering the king the with- 
 drawal of the subsidiary force as the alter- 
 native of abdication, was abandoned, and 
 measures were taken for the assumption of 
 the government of Oude, by issuing orders 
 for the assembling of such a military force 
 at Cawnpoor as, added to the troops can- 
 toned at that station, and to those already 
 in Oude, was considered sufficient to meet 
 every immediate contingency. The addi- 
 tional troops numbered about 13,000 men, 
 and were placed under the divisional com- 
 mand of (the late) Major-general Penny; 
 but constituted a distinct field force under 
 (the late) Colonel Wheeler, as brigadier. 
 In the meantime, the disorganisation of 
 Oude was clearly on the increase, and one 
 of its marked features was a rising spirit of 
 Moslem fanaticism. It happened that a 
 Mohammedan fast fell on the same day as 
 a Hindoo feast; and Ameer Ali, a rjoolvee, 
 or priest, of high repute, took advantage of 
 the circumstance to incite his co-religionists 
 to a fierce onslaught on the Hindoos. 
 Troops were ordered out to quell the dis- 
 turbances ; but Ameer Ali seized and con- 
 fined two of the officers, assembled 3,000 
 men, and declared his intention of destroy- 
 ing a certain Hindoo temple, and erecting a 
 mosque in its stead. At length the British 
 subsidiary force was employed by the king 
 against the moolvee. An affray ensued, in 
 
 * Dsapatch from the Court of Directors, dated 
 November 2l8t, 1855. Signed— E. Macnaghten, W. 
 H. Sykes, &c., &o., &o. — Oude Bhut Book, pp. 
 233—236. 
 
 t Dacuitee in Excehk, p. 140. 
 
 X Oude Blue Book, p. 280. 
 
 which a body of Patans fought with the 
 recklessness of fapaticism, and were cut 
 down, standing shoulder to shoulder round 
 their guns, by a party of Hindoo zemindars 
 and their retainers. In all, 200 Hindoos 
 and 300 Patans perished. This occurred 
 in November, 1855. About the same time 
 the Oude government became aware that 
 some great change was in agitation. They 
 asked the reason fojf the assembling of so 
 large. a force at Cawnpoor; and were, it is 
 alleged, solemnly assured tjiat it was in- 
 tended to keep in check the Nepaulese, 
 who were supposed to be meditating a 
 descent towards the district of Nanparah.f 
 The veil, however, was soon withdrawn. 
 On the 30th of January, 1856, General 
 Outram requested the attendance of Ali 
 Nukki Khan at the residency, and after in- 
 forming him of the contemplated changes, 
 "mentioned that, in order to prevent the 
 chance of a disturbance on the part of evil- 
 disposed persons, a strong brigade of troops 
 was directed to cross the Ganges, and march 
 on the capital."! 
 
 Having impressed the minister with the 
 futility of resistance, the resident pro- 
 ceeded to seek, or rather to insist upon, an 
 interview with the king. Remembering 
 the discussions which had taken place be^ 
 tween the Nizam of Hyderabad and Colonel 
 Low, the governorrgeneral was anxious 
 that General Outram should not be sur- 
 prised into indiscreet admissions; and 
 warned him, that it was " very probable" 
 that the king would refer to • the treaty 
 negotiated with his predecessor in the year 
 1837, of the entire abrogation of which the 
 court of Lucknow had never been informed. 
 " The effect of this reserve, and want of full 
 communication, is felt to he embarrassing 
 to-day. It is the more embarrassing that 
 the CHUcelled instrument was still included 
 in a volume of treaties which was published 
 in 1845, by the authority of government. 
 There is no better way of encountering this 
 difficulty than by meeting it full in the 
 face." This was to be done by informing 
 the king that the communication had been 
 inadvertently neglected ; and the resident 
 was authorised to state the regret felt by the 
 governor-general in council, that " any such 
 neglect should have taken place even inad- 
 vertently." Should the king observe, that 
 although the treaty of 1837 was annulled, 
 a similar measure, less stringent than that 
 now proposed, might be adopted, he was to 
 be told, that all subsequent experience had
 
 78 INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE KING AND GENERAL OUTRAM. 
 
 shown that the remedy then provided would 
 be wholly inadequate to remove the evils 
 and abuses which had long marked the con- 
 dition of Oude.* 
 
 Such were the arguments put by the 
 supreme government of India, into the 
 mouth of General Outram. They must 
 have been extremely unpalatable to a man 
 whose friendly feeling towards Indian 
 princes had been strengthened by personal 
 and friendly intercourse, and not frozen by 
 viceregal state, or neutralised by exclusive 
 attention to the immediate interests and 
 absorbing pecuniary anxieties of the East 
 India Company. But the resident had 
 swallowed a more bitter pill than this when 
 negotiating with the unfortunate Ameers of 
 Sinde, whom, in his own words, he had had 
 to warn against resistance to our requisi- 
 tions, as a measure that would bring down 
 upon them utter and merited destruction ; 
 while he firmly believed, that every life lost 
 in consequence of our aggressions, would be 
 chargeable upon us as a murder. f 
 
 In the present instance he was spared 
 the task of adding insult to injury. Neither 
 the king nor his minister attempted to 
 stand upon any abstract theory of justice, 
 or fought the ground, inch by inch, as 
 Mahratta diplomatists would have done — 
 throwing away no chance, but, amid defeat 
 and humiliation, making the best possible 
 terms for themselves. Wajid Ali Shah, on 
 the contrary, " unkingly" as he had been 
 described to be, and unfit to reign as he 
 certainly was, did not stoop to discussions 
 which he knew would avail him nothing, 
 but acted on the imperial axiom, " aut CcRsar 
 aut nullus." 
 
 When the resident proceeded, as pre- 
 arranged, to present to tlie king the draft 
 treaty now proposed, accompanied by a 
 letter from the governor-general urging its 
 acceptance, he found the pnlace courts 
 nearly deserted, and the guns which pro- 
 tected the inner gates dismounted from their 
 carriages. The guard of honour were drawn 
 up unarmed, and saluted him with their hands 
 only. The mere official report of the inter- 
 view is very interesting. The king received 
 the treaty with the deepest emotion, and 
 gave it to a confidential servant, Sahib- 
 oo-Dowlah, to read aloud; but the latter, 
 overcome by his feelings, was unable to 
 
 * Letter from secretary of government to Major- 
 general Outram, January 23rd, 1856. — Oude £iue 
 Book, p. 243. 
 
 t Outram's Commentary on Napier's Conquest of 
 
 proceed beyond the first few lines; on 
 which the king took the treaty into his own 
 hands, and silently read the document, in 
 which he was called upon to admit that he 
 and his predecessors had, by continual mal- 
 administration, violated the treaty of 1801 ; 
 and to make over the entire government of 
 Oude to the East India Company in per- 
 petuity, together with the free and exslusiYe 
 right to " the revenues thereof." In re- 
 turn for signing this humiliating abdication, 
 Wajid Ali was to retain and bequeath " to 
 the heirs male of his body born in lawful 
 wedlock" (not his heirs generally, accord- 
 ing to Mohammedan law), the style of a 
 sovereign prince, and a stipend of twelve 
 lacs per annum. 
 
 After carefully perusing every article, 
 the king exclaimed, in a passionate burst 
 of grief — "Treaties are necessary between 
 equals only ; who am I now, that the British 
 government should enter into treaties with 
 me?" Uncovering himself (the deepest token 
 of humiliation which a Mohammedan can 
 give), I he placed his turban in the hands of 
 the resident, declaring that, now his titles, 
 rank, and position were all gone, he would 
 not trouble government for any mainte- 
 nance, but would seek, in Europe, for that 
 redress which it was vain to look for in 
 India. 
 
 General Outram begged the king to re- 
 flect, that if he persisted in withholding his 
 signature, " he would have no security what- 
 ever for his future maintenance, or for that 
 of his family; that the very liberal provi- 
 sion devised by the British government 
 would inevitably be reconsidered and re- 
 duced; that his majesty would have no 
 guarantee for his future provision, and 
 would have no claim whatever on the gene- 
 rosity of the government." The prime 
 minister warmly supported the resident ; 
 but the king's brother exclaimed, that 
 there was no occasion for a treaty, as his 
 majesty was no longer in a position to be 
 one of the contracting powers. The king 
 reiterated his unalterable resolve not to 
 sign the treaty : the resident intimated that 
 no further delay than three days could be 
 permitted; and then, with the usual cere- 
 monies and honours, took his leave. 
 
 The government, in their anxiety to ob- 
 tain the king's signature, had empowered 
 
 Sinde, p. 439. See also Indian Empire, vol. i., 
 p. 451. 
 
 X May your father's head be uncovered ! is one of 
 the most oltter curses of the Mohammedans.
 
 ANNEXATION OP 0UDE-7th FEBRUARY, 1855. 
 
 79 
 
 the resident to increase the proffered stipend 
 of twelve lacs (£120,000) to fifteen, if their 
 object could be thus attained. But the 
 demeanour of Wajid Ali convinced General 
 Outram that the promise of double that 
 sum, or of any amount of money, would 
 have no effect ; and he therefore considered 
 it unworthy of the government he repre- 
 sented, to make any offer to raise the pro- 
 posed allowance by a lac or two per annum. 
 
 An attempt was made to gain the king's 
 consent through his mother, a lady re- 
 markable for good sense and intelligence,* 
 who exercised great influence over her son ; 
 and a yearly stipend of a lac of rupees 
 was offered her as the reward of success. 
 The reply of the queen-mother is not stated 
 in General Outram's account of the con- 
 ference, and the circumstance itself is only 
 incidentally mentioned ; but it is evident 
 that she rejected it, and ceased not to pro- 
 test against the proposed treaty, and to beg 
 that a further period might be allowed, 
 during which the king might be enabled to 
 show to the world, by the adoption of 
 vigorous reforms, how anxious and eager he 
 was to follow out the plans of the British 
 government. 
 
 The three days allowed for consideration 
 elapsed : the king persisted in his resolve ; 
 and the resident carried out his instruc- 
 tions by issuing a proclamation, previously 
 prepared at Calcutta, notifying the assump- 
 tion of the exclusive and permanent ad- 
 ministration of the territories of Oude by 
 the Hon. East India Company. 
 
 The king offered no opposition whatever 
 to the measures adopted by the British 
 government; but, in what the resident 
 called " a fit of petulance," he ordered all 
 his troops at the capital to be immediately 
 paid-up and dismissed. General Outram 
 thereupon informed the king, that it was 
 incumbent on him to retain the soldiery 
 until the arrangements of the new adminis- 
 tration should be completed; adding, that 
 should any disturbance take place, his 
 majesty would be held responsible, and 
 made answerable for the same. Upon the 
 receipt of this threat, Wajid AH Shah, 
 having resolved to give no pretext for a 
 quarrel, issued proclamations, desiring all 
 his people, civil and military, to obey the 
 orders issued by the British government ; to 
 become its faithful subjects; and on no 
 account to resort to resistance or rebellion. 
 
 • " Note of a Conference with the queen-mother, 
 by Qenerftl Outram."— Ourf# Blue Book, p. 286. 
 
 He expressed his determination of proceed- 
 ing at once to Calcutta, to bring his case to 
 the notice of thegovernor-general,andthence 
 to England, to intercede with the Queen ; 
 but he specially commanded that his sub- 
 jects should not attempt to follow him. 
 General Outram desired that this last para- 
 graph should be omitted. It originated, 
 he said, in the absurd idea impressed upon 
 the king by his flatterers, that a general 
 exodus of his people would follow his depar- 
 ture ; or else was introduced with the inten- 
 tion of exciting sympathy in Europe. "An- 
 other manoeuvre," he added, " has been had 
 recourse to, with the same object doubtless. 
 For two days past, a written declaration of 
 satisfaction with his majesty's rule has 
 been circulated for signature in the city, 
 where it may probably meet with con- 
 siderable success. Of course, most classes 
 at Lucknow will suffer, more or less, from 
 the deprivation of the national plunder 
 which is squandered at the capital."t 
 
 There is reason to believe that very gen- 
 eral dismay was caused at Lucknow by the 
 annexation of the kingdom. The breaking 
 up of a native government is always a 
 terrible crisis to the metropolis. In the 
 present instance, the amount of immediate 
 and individual suffering was unusually 
 large. The suddenness of the king's depo- 
 sition, and his refusal to sign the treaty, 
 aggravated the distress which the change 
 from native to European hands must have 
 occasioned, even had it happened as a so- 
 called lapse to the paramount power, in the 
 event of the sovereign's death without 
 heirs. As it was, the personal rights of the 
 deposed monarch were dealt with as sum- 
 marily as the inherited ones of the royal 
 family of Nagpoor had been. No ofiBcinl 
 account has been published of these pro- 
 ceedings ; but in the statement of the case 
 of the King of Oude, attributed to Major 
 Bird, the following assertions are made:^ 
 
 " Since the confiscation of the Oude territory, the 
 royal palaces, parks, gardens, menageries, plate, 
 jewellery, household furniture, stores, wardrobes, 
 carriages, rarities, and articles of vertu, together 
 with the royal museum and library, containing 
 200,000 volumes of rare books, and manuscripts of 
 immense value, have been sequestered. The king'a 
 most valuable stud of Arabian, Persian, and Eng- 
 lish horses, his fighting, riding, and baggage ele- 
 phants, his camels, dogs and cattle, have all been 
 sold by public auction at nominal prices. His 
 majesty's armoury, including the most rare and 
 beautifully worked arms of every description, has also 
 
 + Major-general Outram to secretary of govern- 
 ment, February 7lb. 1856.— Oi«/« Blue Book, p. 292.
 
 80 
 
 DIFFERENT SETTLEMENT OF MYSOOR AND OUDE. 
 
 been wiled, »nd iw contenu disposed of by sale or 
 otherwise. • • • The ladies of the royal house- 
 hold were, on the 23rd of August, 1856, forcibly 
 ejected from the royal palace of the Chuttar Mun- 
 lul, by officers who neitfeer respected Vherr persons 
 nor theit property, «od who thl<e« their effects into 
 the street,"* 
 
 It is to be hoped that the above «tate- 
 metit is ■exaggerated ; and if so, it is espe- 
 dfaWy to be regretted that the British public, 
 or their representatires, »re not furnished 
 with authentic infonoatioa on so interest- 
 ing and important a point as thie manner 
 in which the deposition of Wajid Ali Shah 
 was accotnphshed, and in what respects it 
 was calculated to raise tjr allay the ferment 
 of the mass of the aristocratic -and mianu- 
 facturi»g classes, the interests of the latter 
 being «losely associated with the former. 
 In the Reply to the Charges against the 
 King cf Oude (abeady quoted), Wajid AU 
 Shah asserts, that the usurpation trf his 
 dominion would tend to destroy the trade 
 in embroidi/Yed silk and cotton cloths. " It 
 is notorious, that three-fourths of the tich 
 embroidered (Aolhs of Benares are im^ported 
 to Ou<ie; the remainder, ooe-foujrth, being 
 sent to other countries. In Beogal aad 
 other provinces, people very seldoto nsc 
 these costly dresses." The reason implied, 
 rather than declared, by the king is pro- 
 bably the true one ; naxaely, that his sub- 
 jects Could afford to clothe themselres in 
 luxnarious apparel, whereas those of the 
 East India Gonapany co^d not ; and he 
 adds — " My territories hate not been strictly 
 measured with chains so as to tender it im- 
 possible for the agriculturist to derive « 
 profit, nor have I resumed the allowances 
 of any class of people."t 
 
 The testimony of the king regarding the 
 probsibte resists of his deposition, is, in 
 part, corroborated by that of aa eye-wit- 
 ness, who will hardly be accused of exagge- 
 rating theoase; and who, m speaking of the 
 many innooeut sufferers from the change of 
 government, includes in his list, " thousands 
 of citizsens who had previously found em- 
 ploy TD providing for the ordiaary wants of 
 the court and nobility. There were several 
 hundreds of manufacturers of hookah snakes. 
 
 tion of the demand for the articles which 
 they man«facfcured."J 
 
 Oude was taken possession of, very much 
 more as if it had been obtained by force of 
 arms tJum by diplomacy. Annexation on 
 a large scale, is in either case a hazardous 
 operation, requiring the greatest circum- 
 spectiou. Let any one turn to the Wel- 
 lesiey and Wellington despatches, or to 
 the Indian annak of that eventful period, 
 and see the extreme care which was taken in 
 the settlement of Mysoor— the forethought 
 in preparing conciliatory measures, and 
 meeting national prejudices; the liberal 
 consideration for individual interests — and 
 then peruse, in the parliamentary papers, the 
 snmmary manner in which the native in- 
 stitutions in Oude, without the least con- 
 sideration or examination, were to be rooted 
 up *sd superseded by a cut-and-dried system, 
 to be administered in the higher depart- 
 ments exclusively by Europeans. After 
 snch a comparison of preliminary measures, 
 the different results, in the case of Oude and 
 Mysoof, will be deemed amply accounted for. 
 It has been truly said of Lord Wellesley, in 
 a leading Indian journal, that " whatever 
 he was suffered to carry out to his preme- 
 ditated conclusion, fell into its place with 
 as few disadvantages to the political and 
 social state of Indian society, as a radical 
 operation could well be attended with." In 
 the settlement of MysooT, it is asserted, 
 "every idifiBculty was foreseen, and every 
 exigency met; and the dynasty of Tippoo 
 was plucked up, 'flung aside, and replaced 
 by a new arrangement, which fitted into its 
 place as if it had been there, untouched, from 
 the days of Vishnu." Regarding the occu- 
 pation of Oude, a very different picture is 
 drawn by the writer, who asserts, that its 
 annesation was carried T)ut in the most 
 reckless manner, and that most important 
 circuBsstaflDces connected with it were en- 
 tirely overlooked. " In Lord Dalhousie's 
 opinion, all that was necessary was simply 
 to march a »n>all body of troops to Lucknow, 
 and issue the fiat of annexation. This done, 
 everything, it was supposed, would go on in 
 an easy, plain-sailing manner. The inhabi- 
 
 The embroiderers in gold and silver thread tants might not be satisfied ; the zemindars 
 were also reckoned by hundreds. The j might grumble a little in their forts ; the 
 makers of rich dresses, fine tutbans, highly ; budmashes might frown and swagger in the 
 ofnamettid shoes, and many other sUbordi- ' bazaar; but what of that? The power of 
 nate tradfes, suffered severely from the cessa- the British was invincible."^ 
 
 • Dacoitee in Excehis, p. 145. bins, of the Bengal civil service, financial commis- 
 
 t Heply to Charges, ^c, p. 43. sioner for Oudh. London : Bentley, 1858 ; p. 70. 
 
 1 ikutiniei in Oudh; by Martin Richsord Gub- 1 % Bomhay AtheruiBum.
 
 ANNEXATION OF OUDE— 1856. 
 
 81 
 
 The minutes of the supreme council 
 certainly tend to corroborate the foregoing 
 opinion, by showing that the difficulties 
 and dangers attendant on the annexation of 
 Oude were very imperfectly appreciated. 
 The refusal of the king to sign the proffered 
 treaty (though previously deprecated by the 
 governor-general as an insurmountable ob- 
 stacle to direct absorption), seems to have 
 been welcomed when it actually occurred, 
 as an escape from an onerous engagement ; 
 and the submission of all classes — heredi- 
 tary chiefs, discarded officials, unemployed 
 tradespeople, and disbanded soldiery — was 
 looked for as a matter of course ; any con- 
 cessions made by the annexators being 
 vouchsafed as a matter of free grace, to be 
 received with gratitude, whether it regarded 
 the confirmation of an hereditary chicfdom, 
 or a year's salary on dismissal from office. 
 
 The king, Lord Dalhousie considered, by 
 refusing to enter into any new engagement 
 with the British government, had placed 
 himself in entire dependence upon its plea- 
 sure; and although it was desirable that 
 " all deference and respect, and every royal 
 honour, should be paid to his majesty Wajid 
 Ali Shah," during his lifetime, together 
 with a stipend of twelve lacs per annum, 
 yet no promise ought now to be given of 
 the continuance of the title, or of the pay- 
 ment of the same amount of money to his 
 lieirs. Messrs. Dorin, Grant, and Peacock 
 concurred in this opinion ; but Major- 
 general Low minuted against "the salary 
 of the heirs" of Wajid Ali being left to the 
 decision of a future government, the mem- 
 bers of which would very probably not suffi- 
 ciently bear in mind the claims of the Oude 
 family on the British government for com- 
 fortable income at least. The minute pro- 
 ceeded to state, that though, for many rea- 
 sons, it was to be regretted that the king had 
 not signed the treaty, yet, in a pecuniary 
 point of view, his refusal was advantageous. 
 To himself the loss had been great; and, as 
 he had issued all the orders and proclama- 
 tions that could be desired, and had done 
 his utmost to prevent all risk of strife at the 
 capital, by dismounting liis artillery, guns, 
 &c., it would be harsh, and not creditable 
 to a great paramount state, which would 
 " gain immense profit from the possession 
 of the Oude territories," if, in addition to 
 the punishment inflicted on the king, the 
 income intended for his direct male heirs 
 should also be curtailed. 
 
 Major-general Low was in a minority of 
 
 VOL. II. M 
 
 one, as Mr. Peacock had been regarding 
 the appropriation of the stu-plus revenue; 
 and their opinions, in neither case, appear 
 to have met with any consideration. The 
 claims of the various classes of the popu- 
 lation were treated in as summary and 
 arbitrary a manner as those of their sove- 
 reign ; and, owing to the peculiar constitu- 
 tion of Oude, the experiment was a much 
 more dangerous one in their case than in 
 his. The administration was to be con- 
 ducted, as nearly as possible, in accordance 
 with the system which the experience of 
 nearly seven j'ears had proved to be emi- 
 nently sui^cessful in the provinces beyond 
 the Sutlej ; that is to say, the measures 
 which had been matured, and gradually 
 carried through, in the conquered Punjab, 
 by the co-operation of some of the most 
 earnest and philanthropic men whom India 
 has ever seen, was now to be thrust upon 
 Oude, without any preliminary inquiry 
 into its adaptation. In the Punjab, the 
 Lawrences and their staff acted as a band 
 of pacificators on an errand of love and 
 mercy, rather than in the usual form of 
 a locust-cloud of collectors. Such men, 
 invested with considerable discretionary 
 power, could scarcely fail of success ; yet one 
 at least of them shrunk from enforcing the 
 orders of government, and left the Punjab, 
 because he could not bear to see the fallen 
 state of the old officials and nobility.* 
 
 In Oude, the newly-created offices, rather 
 than the men who were to fill them, occupy 
 the foreground of the picture. General 
 Outram was appointed chief commissioner, 
 with two special military assistants, a judi- 
 cial and financial commissioner, four com- 
 missioners of divisions, twelve deputy-com- 
 missioners of districts, eighteen assistant- 
 commissioners, and eighteen extra assis- 
 tants, to begin with. An inspector of gaols 
 was to be appointed as soon as the new ad- 
 ministration should be fairly established ; 
 and a promise was held out for the organisa- 
 tion of a department of public works, to aid 
 in developing the resources of the country. 
 
 The pay of the new functionaries was to 
 range from 3,500 rupees to 250 rupees a 
 month (say from £4,200 to £300 a-year.) 
 The number of native officials to be retained 
 was, as usual, miserably small, and their re- 
 muneration proportionately low. As a body, 
 they were of course great losers by the 
 revolution. 
 
 * Arthur Cocks, chief assistant to the resident. — 
 Ilaikes' Jicvolt in the North- West Provinces, p. 25.
 
 82 
 
 NATIVE FUNCTIONARIES SUPERSEDED BY EUROPEANS. 
 
 The king urged, as a special ground of 
 complaint, the manner in which " writers, 
 clerks, and other attaches" of departments 
 had been supplanted by strangers. " Is 
 it," he asks, " consistent with justice to de- 
 prive people of the soil of situations of this 
 nature, and bestow them on foreigners? 
 Foreigners have no claim to support from 
 the government of Oude, while natives of 
 the soil are left without means of procuring 
 their livelihood."* 
 
 Mr. Gubl)ins, the financial commissioner 
 for Oude, who was sent there at the period 
 of the annexation, speaks of the sufferings 
 of the nobility as having been aggravated 
 by the neglect of the British functionaries. 
 " The nobles had received large pensions 
 from the native government, the payment of 
 which, never regular, ceased with the intro- 
 duction of our rule. Government had made 
 liberal provision for their support; but be- 
 fore this could be obtained, it was necessary 
 to prepare careful lists of the grantees, and to 
 investigate their claims. It must be admit- 
 ted, that in effecting this there was undue 
 delay ; and that, for want of common means 
 of support, the gentry and nobility of the city 
 were brought to great straits and suffering. 
 We were informed that families which had 
 never before been outside the zunana, used 
 to go out at' night and beg their bread. "f 
 
 "When Sir Henry Lawrence came to 
 Lucknow, towards the close of March, 1857, 
 we are told that he applied himself to cause 
 the dispatch of the necessary documents, and 
 gave the sufferers assurance of early pay- 
 m'ent and kind consideration. But nearly 
 fourteen months had dragged slowly away 
 before iiis arrival ; and a smouldering mass 
 of disaffection had meanwhile accumulated, 
 which no single functionary, however good 
 and gifted, could keep from bursting into a 
 flame. 
 
 The discharged soldiery of the native 
 government, amounting to about 60,000 
 men, naturally regarded the new adminis- 
 tration with aversion and hostility. Service 
 was given to about 15,000 of them in newly- 
 formed local regiments, and some found 
 employment in the civil departments. The 
 large proportion, for whom no permanent 
 provision could be made, received small 
 jiensions or gratuities : for instance, those 
 who had served from twenty-five to thirty 
 years, received one-fourth of their emolu- 
 ments as pension ; and those who had served 
 
 * Reply to Charges, p. 43. 
 
 ■f Gubbins' Mutinies in Oiidh, p. 70. 
 
 from seven to fifteen years, received three 
 months' pay as a gratuity. Under seven 
 years' service, no gratuity whatever appears 
 to have been given to the unfortunates sud- 
 denly turned adrift for no fault of their 
 own. It was further decreed, that no person 
 whatever should be recommended for pension 
 or gratuity, who should decline employment 
 ofiTered to him under the British govern- 
 ment. J Of the late king's servants, civil and 
 military, many remained without any per- 
 manent provision; and not a few refused 
 employ — some because they lioped that the 
 native kingdom would be restored ; but 
 the majority of the soldiery, on account of 
 the severity of the British discipline. § 
 
 By far the greatest difficulties in which 
 the new government became involved, re- 
 garded the settlement of titles to land. Con- 
 sidering the long series of years during 
 which at least the temporar}' assumption of 
 the powers of administration had been con- 
 templated by the British government, it is 
 not a little surprising to find the governor- 
 general in council avowedly unprovided witii 
 " any information as to the extent and value 
 of rent-free holdings in Oude, or as to the 
 practice which may have prevailed under 
 the native government in respect of these 
 grants." Without waiting for any en- 
 lightenment on the subject, rules are laid 
 down " for the adjudication of claims of the 
 class under consideration ;" and, as might 
 have been reasonably expected, these rules 
 worked badly for all parties. 
 
 The despatch above quoted is very able, 
 but decidedly bureaucratic throughout : its 
 arbitrary provisions and minute details re- 
 mind one of the constitutions which the 
 Abbe Sieves kept in the pigeon-holes of 
 his writing-table, ready for any emergency. 
 No consideration was evinced therein for 
 the peculiar state of society in Oude, or 
 even for the prominent features portrayed 
 by Colonel Sleeman in his honest but cur- 
 sory investigation. The fact was, that 
 Oude, instead of the exclusively Mohamme- 
 dan kingdom, or the British dependency, 
 which it was represented to be, was really 
 a Hindoo confederacy, presided over by a 
 foreign dynasty. The most powerful class 
 were Rajpoot chiefs,- claiming descent from 
 the sun and the moon ; who laughed to 
 scorn the mushroom dynasty of Wajid Ali, 
 and regarded, with especial contempt, his 
 assumption of the kingly title. These men, 
 
 X Oude Bine Booh for 1856, p. 278. 
 § Gubbins' Mutinies in Oitdh, p. 69.
 
 THE TALOOKDARS OP OUDE. 
 
 83 
 
 united, might at any moment have compelled 
 the Mohammedan ruler to abdicate or govern 
 on just principles, had not co-operation for 
 such an object been rendered impracticable 
 by their own intestine strife. The state 
 of things among them resembled that which 
 brought and kept the Rajpoot princes 
 under partial subjection : the faggots bound 
 up together could not have been broken ; 
 but it was easy to deal' with them one by 
 one. Thus the suzerainty of the Mogul 
 emperor was established over llajast'han; 
 and thus, though somewhat more firmly, 
 because on a smaller scale, the power of the 
 usurping governors was fixed in Oiide. But 
 the great jungle barons were overawed 
 rather than subjugated ; and, in the time of 
 Colonel Sleeman, the officers of the native 
 government could uot examine into their 
 rent-rolls, or measure their lands, or make 
 any inquiry into the value of the estates, 
 except at the risk of open rebellion. They 
 had always a number of armed and brave 
 retainers, ready to support them in any 
 enterprise; and the amount was easily in- 
 creased ; for in India there is seldom any 
 lack of loose characters, ready to fight for 
 the sake of plunder alone.* 
 
 The talookdars were mostly the hereditary 
 representatives of Rajpoot clans; but some 
 were the heads of new families (Hindoo 
 or Mohammedan), sprung from govern- 
 ment officials, whose local authority had 
 enabled them to acquire a holding of this 
 description. The term " talookdar" means 
 holder of a talook, or collection of villages, 
 and, like that of zemindar (as used in Ben- 
 gal), implied no right of property in the 
 villages on behalf of which the talookdar 
 engaged to pay the state a certain sum, and 
 from which he realised a somewhat larger 
 one, which constituted his remuneration. 
 In fact, the property in the soil was actually 
 vested in the village communities; who 
 " are," says Mr. Gubbins, " the only pro- 
 prietors of the soil ; and they value this 
 right of property in the land above all 
 earthly treasure. "t 
 
 Over these talookdars there were govern- 
 ment officers (with whom they have often 
 been confounded), and who, under the title 
 of Nazims or Cliukladars, annually farmed 
 from government the revenues of large 
 tracts of country for a certain fixed pay- 
 ment; all that they could 'squeeze out in 
 
 • Sleeman's Oade, vol. ii., pp. 1, 2. 
 
 t Gubbins' Mulinies in Oudh, p. 61. 
 
 i Letter on Oudh and its Talookdars, p. 2. 
 
 excess being their own profit. "These 
 men, from the necessities of their position, 
 were," says Carre Tucker, " the greatest 
 tyrauts and oppressors imaginable. Backed 
 by artillery, and the armed force of gov- 
 ernment, it was their business to rack-rent 
 the country, extracting, within the year of 
 their lease, all that they possibly could ; 
 whilst landholders resisted their exactions 
 by force of arms. A constant war was 
 thus carried on, and the revenue payments 
 varied according to the relative strength of 
 the nazim and the landowners. To avoid 
 such contests, and obtain the privilege of 
 paying a fixed sum direct into the govern- 
 luent ti'easury, many of the talookdars 
 would bid for the farm of their owu part of 
 the country. Such men, while acting as 
 lord- lieutenants, would of course use their 
 delegated uuthority to consolidate their 
 influence over their own clan and tenantry, 
 and also to usurp rights over independent' 
 village communities." This system led to 
 the most cruel oppression ; but it was sup- 
 ported by the mmisters and courtiers of 
 the king at Lucknow, as leading to an 
 annual repetition of presents and bribes, 
 without which no candidate could hope to 
 obtain investiture as nazim or chukladar.J 
 
 The government, not content with abo- 
 lishing this manifest evil, attempted to re- 
 volutionise, at a stroke, the whole state of 
 society, by sweeping aside the entire class 
 of chiefs and barons, with the incidents of 
 their feudal tenure, and making the revenue 
 settlement with the village communities 
 and smaller holders. Hereditary rights, 
 unquestioned during successive genera- 
 tions, were confounded with those e.xer- 
 cised by the revenue farmers ex officio, and 
 the settlement officers were desired to deal 
 with the proprietary coparcenaries which 
 were believed to exist in Oude, and not to 
 suft'er the interposition of middlemen, such 
 as talookdars, farmers of the revenue, and 
 such like. The claims of these, if they had 
 any tenable ones, might be, it was added, 
 more conveniently considered at a future 
 period. 
 
 Nothing could be more disheartening to 
 the great landowners than this indefinite 
 adjournment of any consideration of their 
 claims ; which, in effect, acted like a decree 
 of confiscation, with a distant and very 
 slight chance of ultimate restitution. It 
 was quite evident that the motive of the 
 measure was expediency, aiul that the 
 government had, as stated by the Times,
 
 84 
 
 TALOOKDARS OF THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. 
 
 " a natural leaning in favour of the peas.int 
 cultivators, to the detriment of the war- 
 like and turbulent chiefs," whom it was 
 thought politic to put down ; and the plan 
 of ignoring their ancient possessions had 
 the additional advantage of bringing their 
 manorial dues, averaging from ten to twenty 
 per cent, on the village assessment, into 
 the public exchequer. 
 
 The summary settlement in Oude too 
 far resembled that which had been pre- 
 viously carried througli, with a high hand, 
 in the North- West Provinces, concerning 
 which much evidence has recently been 
 made public. Mr. H. S. Boulderson, a 
 Bengal civilian, engaged in establishing the 
 revenue settlement of 1844, declares, that 
 whether the talookdars in Oude experienced, 
 or only anticipated, the same dealings from 
 our government which the talookdars in the 
 North-West Provinces received, they must 
 have had a strong motive to dread our rule. 
 "The 'confiscation' which has been pro- 
 claimed against them — whether it really 
 means confiscation, or something else — could 
 not be more effectually destructive to what- 
 ever rights they possessed, than the dis- 
 graceful injustice by which the talookdars 
 of the North-West Provinces were extin- 
 guished." He asserts, that the settlement 
 involved an utter inversion of the rights 
 of property; and that the commissioners, 
 in dealing with what they termed "the 
 patent right of talookdaree," and which 
 even they acknowledged to be an here- 
 ditary right which had descended for cen- 
 turies, treated it as a privilege dependent 
 on the pleasure of government, and assumed 
 the authority of distributing at pleasure the 
 profits arising out of the limitation of their 
 own demand.* 
 
 The opinion of Sir William Sleeman has 
 been already quoted concerning the treat- 
 ment which the landed proprietors had re- 
 ceived in the half of Oude annexed by the 
 British government in 1801, and now in- 
 cluded in the North-West Provinces. By 
 his testimony, the measures, and the men 
 who enforced them, were equally obnoxious 
 to the native chiefs and talookdars ; being 
 resolved on favouring the village communi- 
 ties, to the exclusion of every kind of vested 
 interest between them and the state trea- 
 sury. Sir William states — 
 
 " In the matter of discourtesy to the native 
 
 * Minute on the Talookdaree cases, recorded on 
 2nd of April, 1844. Printed for private circulation 
 in June, 1858 s p. 19. 
 
 gentry, I can only say that Robert Martin Bird in- 
 sulted them whenever he had the opportunity of 
 doing so ; and that Mr. Thomason was too apt to 
 imitate him in this, as in other things. Of course 
 their example was followed by too many of their 
 followers and admirers. * • • It has always 
 struck me that Mr. Thomason, in his system, did all 
 he could to discourage the growth of a middle and 
 upper class on the land — the only kind of property 
 on which a good upper and middle class could be 
 sustained in the present state of society in India. 
 His village republics, and the ryotwar system of Sir 
 Thomas Munro at Madras, had precisely the same 
 tendency to subdivide minutely property in land, 
 and reduce all landholders to the common level of 
 impoverishment. » • • Mr. Thomason would 
 have forced his village republics upon any new 
 country or jungle that came under his charge, and 
 thereby rendered improvement impossible. • • • 
 He would have put the whole under our judicial 
 courts, and have thereby created a class of pettifog- 
 ging attornies, to swallow up all the surplus produce 
 of the land. • • • Mr. Thomason, I am told, 
 systematically set aside all the landed aristocracy of 
 the country as a set of middlemen, superfluous and 
 mischievous. The only part of India in which I 
 have seen a middle and higher class maintained 
 upon the land, is the moderately settled districts of 
 the Saugor and Nerbudda territories; and there 
 is no part of India where our government and 
 character are so much beloved and respected."f 
 
 Mr. Gubbins makes some very impor- 
 tant admissions regarding the revenue sys- 
 tem pursued in the North-West Provinces, 
 and that subsequently attempted in Oude. 
 " The pressure of the governmeii': demand 
 is, in many districts, greatly too iiigh. It 
 is too high in Alighur, in Myupoorie, in 
 Boolundshuhur, and throughout the greater 
 pift of Rohilcund. The principle on which 
 that settlement was made, was to claim, as 
 the share of government, two-thirds of the 
 nett rental. But the fraud and chicanery 
 opposed to our revenue officers, caused them 
 unwittingly to fix the demand at more 
 than this share. In Oude, after repeated 
 and most careful examination, I came un- 
 hesitatingly to the conclusion, that the gov- 
 ernment collector appropriated, if possible, 
 the entire rent, and never professed to 
 relinquish any part of it."t Of course, 
 under a system which grasped at the entire 
 rent of the so:!, there could be no landlord 
 class : a very short period of time would 
 suffice for their extinction ; and any so- 
 called proprietary rights must, in due 
 course, have also been annihilated. 
 
 No arguments iu favour of the village 
 system (excellent as this was in its place 
 and degree), coidd justify the suppression of 
 
 t Sleeman's Oude, vol. ii., p. 413. Letter to 
 Mr. Colvin, dated "Lucknow,28th December, 1853." 
 I Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh. p. 73.
 
 SEPOYS AFFECTED BY ANNEXATION OF OUDE. 
 
 83 
 
 every other co-existing institution. But 
 the projected change, even had it been un- 
 exceptionable ill its tendency, was altogether 
 too sudden : the village communities were 
 not strong enough to feel safe in occupying 
 the vantage-ground on which they were so 
 unexpectedly placed; and many of them 
 considered the rough-and-ready patriarchal 
 sway of their chiefs but ill-exchanged for 
 our harsh and unbending revenue system, 
 and tedious and expensive law processes. 
 Government erred grievously "in following 
 supposed political and financial expediency, 
 instead of ascertaining and maintaining 
 existing rights in possession ; and in sup- 
 posing, that in the course of a very hurried 
 assessment of revenue by officers, many of 
 whom were inexperienced, it was possible 
 to adjudicate properly difficult claims to 
 former rights.* Lord Dalhousie's succes- 
 sor admits it to be too true, "that unjust 
 decisions were come to by some of our local 
 officers, in investigating and judging the 
 titles of the landholders. "f The natural 
 consequence was, as stated by General 
 Outram, that the landholders, having been 
 "most unjustly treated under our settle- 
 ment operations," and "smarting, as they 
 were, under the loss of their lands," with 
 hardly a dozen exceptions, sided against us, 
 when they saw that "our rule was virtually 
 at an end, the whole country overrun, 
 and the capital in the hands of the rebel 
 soldiery ."J The yeomanry, whom we had 
 prematurely attempted to raise to inde- 
 pendence, followed the lead of their natural 
 chiefs. All this might, it is alleged, have 
 been prevented, had a fair and moderate 
 assessment been made with the talookdar, 
 wherever he had had clear possession for 
 the legal limit of twelve years, together 
 with a sub-settlement for the protection 
 of the village communities and cultiva- 
 tors. § 
 
 Very contradictory opinions are enter- 
 tained regarding the manner in which the 
 British sepoys were affected by the annexa- 
 tion of Oude. 
 
 Mr. Gubbins admits, that when the muti- 
 nies commenced in the Bengal army, the 
 talookdars inOude were discontented and ag- 
 grieved; numbers of discharged soldiers were 
 brooding over the recollection of their former 
 license; and the inhabitants of the cities 
 
 * Letter on Oudh and its laloukJiirs ; by H. 
 Carre Tucker : p. 5. 
 
 t Despatch dated 3lst March, 1858.— Pari. Papers 
 on Oude (Commons), 20th May, 18j3 ; p. 4. 
 
 generally were impoverished and distressed ; 
 but the sepoys, he says, had benefited by the 
 change of government, and were rejoicing 
 in the encouragement given to the village 
 communities at the expense of the talook- 
 dars. Thousands of sepoy families laid 
 complaints of usurpation before the revenue 
 officers, and " many hundreds of villages at 
 once passed into their hands from those of 
 the talooqdars ! Whatever the talooqdar 
 lost, the sepoy gained. No one had so 
 great cause for gratulation as he." 
 
 The sepoys, although an exceptional class, 
 had their own grievance, besides sharing in 
 the general distrust and aversion enter- 
 tained by the whole people at the idea of 
 being brought under the jurisdiction of our 
 civil courts ; as well as at the introduction 
 of the Company's opium monopoly, and the 
 abkaree, or excise, on the retail sale of all 
 spirituous liquors and intoxicating drugs, 
 the consumption of which was very large 
 throughout Oude, and especially among the 
 soldiery. 
 
 Under the native government, the Bri- 
 tish sepoys enjoyed special and preferential 
 advantages, their complaints being brought 
 to its notice by tiie intervention of the 
 resident. Each family made a point of 
 having some connection iu the British 
 army, and, through him, laid their case 
 before his commanding officer. The sepoy's 
 petition was countersigned by the English 
 colonel, and forwarded to the resident, by 
 whom it was submitted to the king. || This 
 privilege was not recognised or named in 
 any treaty or other engagement with the 
 sovereign of Oude, nor could its origin be 
 traced in any document recorded in the 
 resident's office ;^ but it was in full opera- 
 tion at the time of our occupation of 
 Oude ; and had been, for a long term of 
 years, the subject of continued discussion 
 between successive residents and the native 
 durbar. 
 
 Mr. Gubbins considers that the termina- 
 tion of this custom could not have produced 
 disaffection among the sepoys, because but 
 little redress was thereby procured by them. 
 " Some trifling alleviation of the injury 
 complained of, might be obtained ; but that 
 was all. That a sepoy plaintiff ever suc- 
 ceeded in wresting his village from the 
 grasp of the oppressor, by aid of the British 
 
 t Despatch dated 8th March, 1858.— Pari. Pa- 
 pers, p. 1. § Carre Tucker's Letter, p. 7. 
 II Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 64. 
 ^ Sleeman's Oude, vol. i., p. 289.
 
 86 
 
 SEPOY RIGHT OF APPEAL MUCPI ABUSED, 
 
 resident, I never heard ; if it ever occurred, 
 the cases must have been isolated and ex- 
 traordinary."* 
 
 The evidence of Sir W. Sleeman (whose 
 authority is very high on this subject, iu 
 his double cliaracter of officer and resident) 
 is directly opposed to that above cited. 
 He thought the privilege very important; 
 but desired its abolition because it had 
 been greatly abused, and caused intolerable 
 annoyance to the native government. The 
 military authorities, he said, desired its con- 
 tinuance ; for though tiie honest and liard- 
 woiking sepoys usually cared nothing about 
 it, a large class of the idle and unscrupu- 
 lous considered it as a lottery, in which 
 they might sometimes draw a prize, or ob- 
 tain leave of absence, as the same sepoy has 
 been known to do repeatedly for ten months 
 at a time, on the pretest of having a case 
 pending iu Oude. Consequently, they en- 
 deavoured to impress their superiors with 
 the idea, "that the fidelity of the whole 
 native army" depended upon the mainte- 
 nance and extension of this right of appeal. 
 And the privilege was gradually extended, 
 until it included all the regular, irregular, 
 and local corps paid by the British gov- 
 ernment, with the native officers and se- 
 poys of contingents employed in, and paid 
 by, native states, who were drafted into them 
 from the regular corps of our army up to a 
 certain time — the total number amounting 
 to between 50,000 and 60,000. At one 
 period, the special right of the sepoys 
 to t,lie resident's intervention extended to 
 their most distant relatives ; but at the ear- 
 nest entreaty of the native administnition, 
 it was restricted to their wives, fathers, 
 mothers, brothers, and sisters. " Iu con- 
 sequence, it became a common custom with 
 them to lend or sell their names to more 
 remote relations, or to persons not related 
 to them at all. A great many bad charac- 
 ters have, in this way, deprived men of lands 
 which their ancestors had held iu undis- 
 puted right of property for many genera- 
 tions or centuries ; for the court, to save 
 themselves from the importunity of the 
 residency, has often given orders for the 
 claimant being put in possession of the 
 lauds without due inquiry, or any inquiry 
 at all."t 
 
 The use or abuse of the privilege de- 
 pended chiefly on the character of the resi- 
 
 * Oubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 65. 
 
 t Sleeman's Oude, voL i., pp. 288—292. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 289. 
 
 dent ; and tliat it was occasionally shame- 
 fully abused, is a fact established, we are 
 told, by the residency records. 
 
 " If the resident happens to be an impatient, over- 
 bearing man, he will often frighten the durbar and 
 its courts, or local officers, into a hasty decision, by 
 which the rights of others are sacrificed for the native 
 officers and sepoys ; and if he be at the same time an 
 unscrupulous man, he will sometimes direct that the 
 sepoy shall be put in possession of what he claims, 
 in order to relieve himself from his importunity, or 
 from that of his commanding officer, without taking 
 the trouble to inform himself of the grounds on 
 which the claim is founded. Of all such errors there 
 are, unhappily, too many instances recorded in the 
 resident's office."| 
 
 Sir W. Sleeman adduces repeated in- 
 stances of sepoys being put in possession of 
 landed estates, to which they had no right- 
 ful claim, by the British government, at the 
 cost of many lives; aud quotes, as an illus- 
 tration of the notorious partiality with 
 which sepoy claims were treated, the case 
 of a shopkeeper at Lucknow, who pur- 
 chased a cavalry uniform, and by pretending 
 to be an invalid British trooper, procured 
 the signature of the brigadier commanding 
 the troops in Oude, to numerous petitions, 
 which were sent for adjustment to the 
 durbar through the resident. This pro- 
 cedure he continued for fifteen years; and, 
 to crown all, succeeded iu obtaining, by the 
 aid of government, forcible possession of a 
 landed estate, to which he had no manner 
 of right. Soon after, he sent in a petition 
 stating that he had been in turn ejected, 
 aud four of his relations killed by the dis- 
 possessed proprietor. Thereupon an in- 
 quiry took place, and the whole truth came 
 out. The King of Oude truly observed, 
 with regard to this atfair : — " If a person 
 known to thousands in the city of Lucknow 
 is able, for fifteen years, to carry on such a 
 trade successfully, how much more easy 
 must it be for people in the country, not 
 known to any in the city, to carry it on !"§ 
 On one occasion, no less than thirty lives 
 were lost in attempting to enforce an award 
 iu favour of a British sepoy. On another, 
 a sepoy came to the assistant-resident 
 (Captain Shakespear), clamouring for jus- 
 tice, and complaining that no notice of his 
 petition had beeu taken by the native gov- 
 ernment. On being questioned, he ad- 
 mitted that no less than forty persons had 
 been seized, and were iu prison, on liis re- 
 quisition. 
 
 § Letter of the King of Oude to the resident; 
 16th June, 1836. — Sleeman's Journey throu(/h Oude, 
 vol. i., p. 286.
 
 BRITISH SEPOYS RECRUITED FROM BYSWARA AND BANODA. 87 
 
 As to punisliing the sepoys for preferring 
 fraudulent claims, that was next to impos- 
 silile, both on account of the endless trouble 
 which it involved, and the difficulty, if not 
 impossibility, of procuring a conviction from 
 a court-martial composed of native officers ; 
 the only alternative being, to lay the case 
 before the governor-general. The natural 
 consequence was, that ±he sepoys became 
 most importunate, untruthful, and unscru- 
 pulous in stating the circumstances of 
 their claims, or the grounds of their com- 
 plaints.* 
 
 It is impossible to read the revelations of 
 Colonel Sleemau on this subject, without 
 feeling that the British authorities them- 
 selves aggravated the disorganisation in the 
 native administration, which was the sole 
 plea for annexation. At the same time, 
 it is no less clear, that the injustice perpe- 
 trated on behalf of the sepoys, was calcu- 
 lated to exercise a most injurious effect on 
 their morals and discipline. The unmerited 
 success often obtained by fraud and col- 
 lusion, was both a bad example and a cause 
 of disgust to the honest and scrupulous, on 
 whom the burthen of duties fell, while 
 their comrades were enjoying themselves in 
 their homes, on leave of absence, obtained 
 for the purpose of prosecuting unreasonable 
 or false claims. Of the honest petitioners, 
 few obtained what they believed to be 
 full justice ; and where one was satisfied, 
 four became discontented. Another cause 
 of disaffection arose when it was found 
 necessary to check the growing evil, by de- 
 creeing that the privilege of urging claims 
 through the resident should cease when 
 native officers and sepoys were transferred 
 from active service to the invalid establish- 
 ment. 
 
 Altogether, the result of making the se- 
 poys a privileged class (in this, as in so many 
 other ways), was equally disastrous to their 
 native and European superiors. Colonel 
 Sleeman says, that the British recruits 
 were procured chiefly from the Byswara 
 and Banoda divisions of Oude, whose in- 
 habitants vaunt the quality of the water 
 for tempering soldiers, as we talk of the 
 water of Damascus for tempering sword- 
 blades. " The air and water of JVIalwa," it 
 is popularly said, "may produce as good 
 trees and crops as those of Oude, but cannot 
 produce as good soldiers." They are de- 
 
 • Sleeman's Juurney through Oude, vol. i., p. 292. 
 
 t Ibid., vol. i., p. 289. 
 
 J See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 62. 
 
 scribed as never appearing so happy as 
 when fighting in earnest with swords, 
 spears, and matchlocks, and consequently 
 are not much calculated for peaceful citizens; 
 but the British sepoys who came home on 
 furlough to their families (as they were freely 
 permitted to do in time of peace, not only 
 to petition the native government, but also 
 ostensibly to visit their families, on reduced 
 pay and allowances), were the terror, even 
 in the midst of this warlike population, of 
 their non-privileged neighbours and co- 
 sharers in the land. 
 
 The partiality shown them did not pre- 
 vent "the diminished attachment felt by 
 the sepoys for their European officers" from 
 becoming an established fact; and officers, 
 when passing through Oude in their travels 
 or sporting excursions, have of late years 
 generally complained, that they received less 
 civility from villages in which British in- 
 valids or furlough sepoys were located, tl;an 
 from any others; and that if anywhere 
 treated with actual disrespect, such sepoys 
 were generally found to be either the per^ 
 petrators or instigators. f 
 
 The evidence collected in preceding pages, 
 seems to place beyond dispute, that the an- 
 nexation of Oude, if it did not help to light 
 the flames of mutiny, has fanned and fed them 
 by furnishing the mutineers with refuge 
 and co-operation in the territories which 
 were ever in close alliance with us when 
 they formed an independent kingdom ; but 
 which we, by assuming dominion. over them 
 on the sole plea of rescuing the inhabitants 
 from gross misgovernment, have changed 
 into a turbulent and insurrectionary pro- 
 vince. 
 
 The metamorphosis was not accomplislied 
 by the deposition of the dynasty of Wajid 
 Ali Shah. Indian princes generally, might, 
 and naturally would, view with alarm so 
 flagrant a violation of treatie.s, and of the 
 first principles of the law of nations; but 
 the Hindoos of Oude could have felt little 
 regret for the downfall of a government 
 essentially sectarian and unjust. The kings 
 of Oude, unlike the majority of Moham- 
 medans in India, were Slieiahs;J and so 
 bigoted and exclusive, that no Sheiah could 
 be sentenced to death at Lucknow for the 
 murder even of a Sonnite, much less for 
 that of a Hindoo. According to Colonel 
 Sleeman, it was not only the law, but the 
 everyday practice, that if a Hindoo mur- 
 dered a Hindoo, and consented to become a 
 Mussulman, he could not be executed for
 
 the crime, even though convicted and 
 sentenced.* 
 
 Under such a condition of things, it is at 
 least highly probable, that a rigidly impar- 
 tial and tolerant administration would have 
 been a welconu -hange to the Hindoo popu- 
 lation. That it iias proved the very reverse, 
 is accounted for by the aggressive measures 
 initiated by the new government, and the 
 inefficient means by which their enforce- 
 ment was attempted. 
 
 The latter evil was, to a certain extent, un- 
 avoidable. The Russian war deprived In- 
 dia of the European troops, which Lord Dal- 
 liousie deemed needful for the annexation 
 of Oude : but this does not account for the 
 grave mistake made in raising a contingent 
 of 12,000 men, for the maintenance of the 
 newly-annexed country, almost entirely from 
 the disbanded native army. These levies, 
 with half-a-dozen regular corps, formed the 
 whole army of occupation. 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence foresaw the danger ; 
 and in September, 1856, seven months be- 
 fore the commencement of the mutiny, 
 he urged, that some portion of the Oude 
 levies should change places with certain of 
 the Punjab regiments then stationed on the 
 Indus. Oude, he said, had long been the 
 Alsatia of India — the resort of the dissi- 
 pated and disaffected of every other state, 
 and especially of deserters from the British 
 ranks. It had been pronounced hazardous 
 tr employ the Seiks in the Punjab in 1849; 
 and the reason assigned for the different 
 policy now pursued in Oude was, that the 
 former kingdom had been conquered, and 
 the latter " fell in peace." Sir Henry 
 pointed out the fallacy of this argument, 
 and the materials for mischief which still 
 remained in Oude, which he described as 
 containing " 246 forts, besides innumerable 
 smaller strongholds, many of them sheltered 
 within thick jungles. In these forts are 
 476 guns. Forts and guns should all be in 
 the hands of government, or the forts 
 should be razed. Many a foolish fellow 
 has been urged on to his own ruin by 
 the possession of a paltry fort, and many 
 a paltry mud fort has repulsed British 
 
 tioops."t 
 
 Tlie warning was unheeded. The gov- 
 ernment, though right in their desire to 
 
 * Sleeman's Oude, vol. i., p. 135. 
 
 t Article on " Army Reform ;" by Sir H. Law- 
 rence. — Calcutta Kirietc for September, 1856. 
 
 J See Letter signed " Index," dated " Calcutta, De- 
 CLiiiber 9th, 1857."— 3Vnics, January loth, 1858. 
 
 protect and elevate the nliage communities, 
 were unjust in the sweeping and indiscrimi- 
 nating measures which they adopted in 
 favour of the villagers, and for the increase 
 in the public revenue, anticipated from the 
 setting aside of the feudal claims of the 
 so-called middlemen. Before attempting 
 to revolutionise the face of society, it would 
 have been only politic to provide uiTqtMs- 
 tionable means of overawing the opposition 
 which might naturally be expected from so 
 warlike, not to say turbulent, a class as the 
 Rajpoot chiefs. 
 
 Had men of the Lawrence school been 
 sent to superintend the " absorption" of 
 Oude, it is probable they might have seen 
 the danger, and suggested measures of con- 
 ciliation ; but, on the contrary, it is asserted, 
 that the European officials employed were 
 almost all young and inexperienced men, 
 and that their extreme opinions, and the 
 corruption of their native subordinates, 
 aggravated the unpopularity of the system 
 they came to administer. Personal quarrels 
 arose between the leading officers ; and the 
 result was a want of vigour and co-opera- 
 tion in their public proceedings.} 
 
 Meantime, the obtainment of Oude was 
 a matter of high-flown congratulation be- 
 tween the home and Indian authorities. 
 The Company have changed their opinion 
 since ;§ but, at the time, they accepted 
 the measure as lawful, expedient, and 
 very cleverly carried out. Far from being 
 disappointed at the want of enthusiasm 
 evinced by the people in not welcoming 
 their new rulers as deliverers, their passive 
 submission (in accordance with the procla- 
 mations of Wajid Ali Shah) called forth, 
 from the Court of Directors, an expres- 
 sion of " lively emotions of thankfulness 
 and pleasure," at the peaceable manner in 
 which " an expanse of territory embracing 
 an area of nearly 25,000 square miles, and 
 containing 5,000,000 inhabitants, has passed 
 from its native prince to the Queen of Eng- 
 land, without the expenditure of a drop of 
 blood, and almost without a murmur." || 
 
 Upon the assumption of the government 
 of Oude, a branch electric telegraph was 
 commenced to connect Cawnpoor and Luck- 
 now. In eighteen working days it was 
 completed, including the laying of a cablCj 
 
 § See Despatch of the Secret Committee of the 
 Court of Directors, 19th April, 1858.— Pari. Papers, 
 7th May, 1858; p. 4. 
 
 II Despatcli dated December, 1856. — Onde Blue 
 Bvuk for 1856; p. 288.
 
 FIRST TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGE FROM OUDE, 1st MARCH, 1856. 89 
 
 6,000 feet in length, across the Ganges. 
 On the morning of the 1st of March, Lord 
 Dalhousie (who on that day resigned his 
 oflBce) put to General Outram the signifi- 
 cant question — "la all quiet in Oude?" 
 The reply, " All is quiet in Oude," greeted 
 Lord Canning on his arrival in Calcutta. 
 
 On the previous day, a farewell letter had 
 been written to the King of Oude by the 
 retiring governor-general, expressing his 
 satisfaction that the friendship which had so 
 long existed between the Hon. East India 
 Company and the dynasty of Wajid Ali 
 Shah, should have daily become more firmly 
 established. " There is no doubt," he adds, 
 " that Lord Canning will, in the same 
 manner as I have done, strengthening and 
 confirming this friendship, bear in mind 
 and give due consideration to the treaties 
 and engagements which are to e&ist for 
 ever."* 
 
 It is difficu.lt to understand what diplo- 
 matic purpose was to be served by this 
 reference to the eternal duration of treaties 
 which had been declared null and void, and 
 engagements proffered by one party, which 
 the other had at all hazards persisted in 
 rejecting; or why Lord Palhouaie, so clear, 
 practical, and upright in his general cha- 
 racter, should seem to have acted so unlike 
 himself in all matters connected with what 
 may be termed his foreign policy. 
 
 It must not, however, be forgotten, that 
 that policy, in all its circumstances, was 
 sanctioned and approved, accepted and 
 rewarded, by the £ast India Company. 
 Lord Dalhousie's measures were consistent 
 throughout ; and he enjoyed the confidence 
 and support of the directors during the 
 whole eight years of his administration, in 
 a degree to which few, if any, of his prcde^ 
 cessors ever attained. It was the unquali- 
 fied approval of the home authorities that 
 rendered the annexation policy the promir 
 nent feature of a system which the people 
 of India, of every creed, clime, and tongue, 
 looked upon as framed for the express pur- 
 pose of extinguishing all native sovereignty 
 and rank. And, in fact, the measures 
 lately pursued are scarcely explicable on 
 any other ground. The democratic element 
 is, no doubt, greatly on the increase in 
 England ; yet our institutions and our pre- 
 judices are monarchical and aristocratic : 
 
 • Letter, vouched for as a true translation by 
 Robert Wilberforce Bird, and printed in a pam- 
 phlet entitled Case of the King of Oude ; by Mr. 
 John Davenport: August 27th, 18u6. 
 
 VOL. II. N 
 
 and nothing surprises our Eastern fellow- 
 subjects more, than the deference and 
 courtesy paid by all ranks in the United 
 Kingdom, to rajahs and nawabs, who, in 
 their hereditary principalities, had met — as 
 many of them aver — with little civility, and 
 less justice, at the hands of the representa- 
 tives of the East India Company. 
 
 Yet, it was not so much a system as a 
 want of system, which mainly conduced 
 to bring about the existing state of things. 
 The constant preponderance of e:(penditure 
 above income, and an ever-present sense of 
 precariousnesSj have been probably the chief 
 reasons why the energies of the Anglo- 
 Indian government have been, of late years, 
 most mischievously directed to degrading 
 kings, chiefs, nobles, gentry, priests, and 
 landowners of various degrees, to one dead 
 level of poverty — little above pauperism. 
 We have rolled, by sheer brute force, an 
 iron grinder over the face of Hindoo 
 society — crushed every lineament into a 
 disfigured mass — squeezed from it every 
 rupee that even torture could extract ; and 
 lavished the money, thus obtained, on a 
 small white oligarchy and an immense army 
 of mercenary troops, who were believed to 
 b'j ready, at any moment, to spread fire and 
 the sword wherever any opposition should 
 be offered to the will of the paramount 
 power, whose salt they ate. 
 
 We thought the sepoys would always 
 keep down the native chiefs, and, when 
 they were destroyed, the people ; and we did 
 not anticipate the swift approach of a time 
 when we should cry to the chiefs and peo- 
 ple to help us to extinguish the incendiary 
 flames of our own camp, and to wrench the 
 sword from the hands in which we had so 
 vauntingly placed it. 
 
 In our moment of peril, the defection 
 of the upper classes of Hindoostan was 
 "almost universal." But surely it is no 
 wonder that they should have shown so 
 little attachment to our rule, when it is 
 admitted, even by the covenanted civil 
 service, that they " have not much to thank 
 us for." 
 
 Throughout British India, several native 
 departments are declared to have been 
 " grossly underpaid," particularly the police 
 service, into which it has been found diffi- 
 cult to get natives of good family to enter 
 at all. In revenue offices, they were for- 
 merly better paid than at present. The 
 general result of our proceedings has been, 
 that at the time of the mutiny, " the nativg
 
 90 
 
 HEAVY EXPENDITURE CONSEQUENT ON POLYGAMY. 
 
 gentry were daily becoming more reduced, 
 were pinched by want of means, and were 
 therefore discontented."* 
 
 It is difficult to realise the full hardship 
 of their position. Here were men who would 
 have occupied, or at least have had the 
 chance of occupying, the highest positions 
 of th^ state under a native government, 
 and who were accustomed to look to the 
 service of the sovereign as the chief source 
 of honourable and lucrative employment, 
 left, frequently with no alternative but 
 starvation or the acceptance of a position 
 and a salary under foreign masters, that 
 their fathers would have thought suitable 
 only for their poorest retainers. Not one 
 of them, however ancient his lineage, how- 
 ever high his attainments, could hope to be 
 admitted within the charmed circle of the 
 covenanted civil service, as the equal of the 
 youngest writer, or even in the army, to 
 take rank with a new-fledged ensign. 
 
 The expenses of an Asiatic noble are 
 enormous. Polygamy is costly in its inci- 
 dentals ; and the head of a great family is 
 looked to, not only for the maintenance of 
 his own wives and children, in a style pro- 
 portionate to their birth, but also of those 
 of his predecessors. The misery which the 
 levelling policy produced, was severely felt by 
 the pensioners and dependents of the fallen 
 aristocracy, by the aged and the sick, by 
 women and children. And this latter fact 
 explains a marked feature in the present 
 rebellion; namely, the number of women 
 who have nlayed a leading part in the in- 
 surrection. The Ranee of Jhansi, and her 
 sister, with other Hindoo princesses of less 
 note, have evinced an amount of ability and 
 r«solve far beyond that of their country- 
 men; and the cause of disaflfection with 
 almost all of these, has been the setting 
 aside of their hereditary rights of succes- 
 sion and of adoption. They have viewed 
 the sudden refusal of the British govern- 
 ment to sanction what they had previously 
 encouraged, as a most faithless and arbitrary 
 procedure; and many chiefs, whose hosti- 
 lity is otherwise unaccountable, will pro- 
 bably, like the chief of Nargoond, prove to 
 have been incited to join the mutineers 
 .chiefly, if not exclusively, by this particular 
 grievance. 
 
 • Oubbins' Mutinies m Oudh, pp. 56, 57. 
 
 t Regulation xxxi., of 1803. 
 
 X For instance, in the alienation of a part of the 
 revenues of the post-office, and other public depart- 
 ments ; enacted in the case of certain noble families. 
 
 A branch of the annexation question, 
 in which the violation of rights of succes- 
 sion is also a prominent feature, yet re- 
 mains to be noticed — namely, the 
 
 Resumption of Rent-free Lands; whereby 
 serious disaffection has been produced in 
 the minds of a large class of dispossessed 
 proprietors. All rightful tenure of this kind 
 is described, in the regulations of the East 
 India Company, as based upon a well- 
 known provision "of the ancient law of 
 India, by which the ruling power is entitled 
 to a certain proportion of the annual pro- 
 duce of every beegah (acre) of land, except- 
 ing in cases in which that power shall have 
 made a temporary or permanent alienation 
 of its right to such proportion of the pro- 
 duce, or shall have agreed to receive, instead 
 of that proportion, a specific sum annually, 
 or for a term of years, or in perpetuity."t 
 
 Both Hindoo and Mohammedan sove- 
 reigns frequently made over part, or the 
 whole, of the public revenue of a village, or 
 even of a district, to one of their ofiicers; 
 they often assigned it in jaghire for the 
 maintenance of a certain number of troops, 
 or gratuitously for life, as a reward for 
 service done; and sometimes in perpetuity. 
 In the latter case, the alienation was more 
 complete than that practised in the United 
 Kingdom; J for here titles and estate 
 escheat to the state on the death of the last 
 legal representative of a family; but, among 
 the Hindoos, such lapse never, or most rarely 
 occurs, since all the males marry, in child- 
 hood generally, several wives ; and their law 
 vests rights of succession and adoption in 
 the widows of the deceased. These rights 
 were acknowledged equally by Hindoo and 
 Moslem rulers — by the Peishwa of Poona, 
 and the Nawab-vizier of Oude; the only 
 difference being, that in the event of adop? 
 tion, a larger nuzzurana, or tributary offer- 
 ing, was expected on accession, than if the 
 heir had been a son by birth : in other 
 words, the legacy duty was higher in the 
 one case than the other. 
 
 " Euam," or " gift," is the term commonly 
 given to all gratuitous grants, whether 
 temporary or in perpetuity — whether to 
 individuals, or for religious, charitable, or 
 educational purposes : but it is more strictly 
 applicable to endowments of the latter de- 
 scription ; in which case, the amount of 
 state-tribute transferred was frequently very 
 considerable, and always in perpetuity. 
 "A large proportion of the grants to indi- 
 viduals," Mountstuart Elphinstone writes.
 
 RESUMPTION COMMISSION APPOINTED IN BENGAL -1836. 
 
 91 
 
 " are also ia perpetuity, and are regarded as 
 among the most secure forms of private 
 property ; but the gradual increase of such 
 instances of liberality, combined with the 
 frequency of forged deeds of gift, some- 
 times induces the ruler to resume the grants 
 of his predecessors, and to burden them 
 with heavy taxes. When these are laid on 
 transfers by sales, or even by succession, 
 they are not thought unjust ; but total re- 
 sumption, or the permanent levy of a fixed 
 rate, is regarded as oppressive."* 
 
 During the early years of the Company's 
 rule, the perpetual enam tenures were sedu- 
 lously respected; but as the supreme govern- 
 ment grew richer in sovereignty, and poorer 
 in purse (for the increase of expenditure 
 always distanced that of revenue), the col- 
 lectors began to look with a covetous eye 
 on the freeholders. They argued, truly 
 enough, that a great many of the titles to 
 laud were fraudulent, or had been fraudu- 
 lently obtained ; and in such cases, where 
 grounds of suspicion existed, any govern- 
 ment would have been in duty bound to 
 make inquiry into the circumstances of the 
 original acquisition. 
 
 But instead of investigating certain cases, 
 a general inquiry was instituted into the 
 whole of them; the principle of which 
 was, to cast on every enamdar the burthen 
 of proving his right — a demand which, of 
 course, many of the ancient holders must 
 have found it impossible to fulfil. The lapse 
 of centuries, war, fire, or negligence might, 
 doubtless, have occasioned the destruction 
 of the deeds. Some of the oldest were, we 
 know, engraven on stone and copper, in long- 
 forgotten characters ; and few of the com- 
 missioners could question the witnesses in 
 the modern Bengalee or Hindoostani, much 
 less decipher Pali or Sanscrit. 
 
 A commission of inquiry was instituted 
 in Bengal in 1836, " to ascertain the grounds 
 on which claims to exemption from the 
 payment of revenue were founded, to confirm 
 those for which valid titles were produced, 
 and to bring under assessment those which 
 were held without authority ."f In theory, 
 this sounds moderate, if not just; in prac- 
 tice, it is said to have proved the very 
 reverse, and to have cast a blight over the 
 
 The expense of 
 
 whole of Lower Bengal. 
 
 * Quoted in evidence before Colonization Com- 
 mittee of House of Commons, of 1858. — Fourth Re- 
 port, published 28th July, 1858; p. 36. 
 
 t Statement of the East India Company. 
 
 I Fourth lleport of Colonization Committee, p. 47. 
 
 the commission was, of course, enormous; 
 and even in a pecuniary sense, the profit 
 reaped by government could not compensate 
 for the ruin and distress caused by proceed- 
 ings which are asserted to have been so 
 notoriously unjust, that " some distinguished 
 civil servants" refused to take any part in 
 them. J 
 
 Mr. Edmonstone, Mr. Tucker, and a few 
 of the ablest directors at the East India 
 House, protested, but in vain, against the 
 resumption laws, which were acted upon for 
 many years. The venerable Marquess 
 Wellesley, a few weeks before his decease 
 (July 30th, 1842), wrote earnestly to the 
 Earl of EUenborough (then governor-gen- 
 eral), as follows : — 
 
 " I am concerned to hear that some 
 inquiry has been commenced respecting 
 the validity of some of the tenures under 
 the permanent settlement of the land 
 revenue. This is a most vexatious, and, 
 surely, not a prudent measure. Here the 
 maxim of sound ancient wisdom applies 
 most forcibly — ' Quieta non movere.' We 
 ancient English settlers in Ireland have felt 
 too severely the hand of Strafford, in a 
 similar act of oppression, not to dread any 
 similar proceeding." 
 
 Strafford, however, never attempted any- 
 thing in Ireland that could be compared 
 with the sweeping confiscation which is de- 
 scribed as having been carried on in Ben- 
 gal, where " little respect was paid to the 
 principles of law, either as recognised in 
 England or in India;" and where, " it ia said, 
 one commissioner dispossessed, in a single 
 morning, no less than two hundred pro- 
 prietors."§ 
 
 In the Chittagong district, an insurrection 
 was nearly caused by " the wholesale sweep- 
 ing away of the rights of the whole popu- 
 lation ;" and in the Dacca district, the com- 
 mission likewise operated very injuriously. || 
 
 The general alarm and disaffection ex- 
 cited by these proceedings, so materially 
 affected the public tranquillity, that the 
 Court of Directors was at length compelled 
 to interfere, and the labours of the Bengal 
 commission were fortunately brought to a 
 close some years before the mutiny.^ 
 
 The enam commission appointed for the 
 Deccan, was no less harsh and summary ia 
 
 § Quarterly Retiew, 1858. — Article on " British 
 India ;" attributed to Mr. Layard : p. 257. 
 
 II See Second Report of Colonization Committee 
 of 1858; p. 60. 
 
 ^ Quarterly Review, 1858; p. 257.
 
 92 
 
 ENAM COMMISSION APPOINTED IN THE DECCAN— 1851. 
 
 its proceedings, the results of which are now 
 stated to afford the people their " first and 
 gravest cause of complaint against the gov- 
 ernment."* 
 
 Due investigation ought to have been 
 made in 1818, when the dominions of the 
 Peishwa first became British territory, into 
 the nature of the grants, whether hereditary 
 or for life; and also to discover whether, 
 as was highly probable, many fraudulent 
 claims might not have been established 
 under the weak and corrupt administration 
 of the last native ruler, Bajee Rao. All 
 this might have been done in perfect con- 
 formity with the assurance given by the 
 tranquilliser of the Deccan (Mountstuart 
 Elphinstone), that " all wuttuns and enams 
 (birthrights and rent-free lands), annual 
 stipends, religious and charitable establish- 
 ments, would be protected. The proprietors 
 were, however, warned that they would be 
 called upon to show their sunnuds (deeds of 
 grant), or otherwise prove their title."t 
 
 Instead of doing this, the government 
 suffered thirty years to elapse — thus giving 
 the proprietors something of a prescriptive 
 right to their holdings, however acquired ; 
 and the Court of Directors, as late as Sep- 
 tember, 18-t6, expressly declared, that the 
 principle on yrhich they acted, was to allow 
 enams (or perpetual alienations of public 
 revenue, as contradistinguished from surin- 
 jams, or temporary ones) to pass to heirs, 
 as of right, without need of the assent of 
 the paramount power, provided the adop- 
 tion, were regular according to Hindoo law.J 
 The rights of widows were likewise dis- 
 tinctly recognised, until the " absorption" 
 policy came into operation ; and then inves- 
 tigations into certain tenures were insti- 
 tuted, which paved the way for a general 
 enam commission for the whole Bombay 
 presidency ; by which all enamdars were 
 compelled to prove possession for a hundred 
 years, as an indispensable preliminary to 
 being confirmed in the right to transmit 
 their estates to lineal descendants — the 
 future claims of widows and adopted sons 
 being quietly ignored. 
 
 The commission was composed, not of 
 judicial officers, but of youths of the civil 
 service, and of captains and subalterns taken 
 from their regiments, and selected princi- 
 
 • Quarterly Review, p. 259. 
 
 t Proclamation of Mr. Elphinstone ; and instruc- 
 tions issued to collectors in 1818. 
 
 X Fourth Report of Colonization Comn.ittee, p. 35. 
 § IhiJ. 
 
 pally on account of their knowledge of the 
 Mahratta languages; while, at the head of 
 the commission, was placed a captain of 
 native infantry, thirty-five years of age.§ 
 
 These inexperienced youths were, besides, 
 naturally prejudiced in deciding upon cases 
 in which they represented at once the 
 plaintiff and the judge. The greater the in- 
 genuity they displayed in upsetting claims, 
 the greater their chance of future advance- 
 ment. Every title disallowed, was so much 
 revenue gained. Powers of search, such as 
 were exercised by the French revolutionary 
 committees, and by few others, were en- 
 trusted to them ; and their agents, accom- 
 panied by the police, might at any time of 
 the night or day, enter the houses of persons 
 in the receipt of alienated revenue, or ex- 
 amine and seize documents, without giving 
 either a receipt or list of those taken. 
 The decisions of previous authorities were 
 freely reversed ; and titles admitted by 
 Mr. Brown in 1847, were re-inquired into, 
 and disallowed by Captain Cowper in 
 1855.11 
 
 An appeal against a resumptive decree 
 might be laid before the privy council in 
 London ; and the rajah of Burdwan suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining the restoration of his 
 lands by this means.^ But to the poorer 
 class of ousted proprietors, a revised ver- 
 dict was unattainable. Few could afford 
 to risk from five to ten thousand pounds 
 in litigation against the East India Com- 
 pany. But, whatever their resources, it was 
 making the evils of absentee sovereignty- 
 ship most severely and unwisely felt, to re- 
 quire persons, whose families had occupied 
 Indian estates fifty to a hundred years and 
 upwards, to produce their title-deeds in 
 England ; and to make little or no allow- 
 ance for the various kinds of proof, which, 
 duly weighed, were really more trustworthy, 
 because less easily counterfeited, than any 
 written documents. 
 
 The commissioners on whom so onerous 
 a duty as the inquiry into rent-free tenures 
 was imposed, ought at least to have been 
 tried and approved men of high public 
 character, who would neither hurry over 
 cases by the score, nor suffer them to linger 
 on in needless and most harassing delays ; 
 as the actual functionaries are accused of 
 
 H Quarterly Review, p. 258. Stated on the autho- 
 rity of " Correspondence relating to the Scrutiny of 
 the revised Surinjara and Pension Lists." Printed 
 for government. Bombay, 1856. 
 
 51 Second Report of Colonization Committee, p. 9.
 
 REVENUE SETTLEMENT OF N. W. PROVINCES A FAILURE. 
 
 93 
 
 having done, according to their peculiar 
 propensities. Perhaps it would have been 
 better to have acted on altogether a different 
 system, and acknowledged the claim estab- 
 lished by many years of that undisturbed 
 possession which is everywhere popularly 
 looked upon as nine-tenths of the law; and, 
 while recognising all in the positions in 
 which we found them on the assumption of 
 sovereignty, to have claimed from all, either 
 a yearly subsidy or (in pursuance of the 
 practice of native sovereigns) a succession 
 duty. At least, we should thereby have 
 avoided the expense and odium incurred by 
 the institution of a tribunal, to which Lieu- 
 tenant-governor Halliday's description of 
 our criminal jurisdiction would seem to 
 apply — viz., that it was " a lottery, in which, 
 however, the best chances were with the 
 criminal." On the outbreak of the rebellion, 
 the resumption commission was brought 
 suddenly to a close; its introduction into 
 Guzerat (which had been previously con- 
 templated) was entirely abandoned, and 
 some of the confiscated estates were restored. 
 Bat the distrust inspired by past proceed- 
 ings will not easily be removed, especially 
 as the feeling of ill-usage is aggravated by 
 the fact, that in border villages belonging 
 jointly to the Company and to Indian 
 princes, the rent-free lands, on the side be- 
 longing to the former, have been resumed, 
 while those on the latter remain intact.* 
 
 In the North-West Provinces, the gov- 
 ernment avoided incurring the stigma of 
 allowing a prescriptive right of possession 
 and transmission to take root through their 
 neglect, by immediately making a very 
 summary settlement. The writings of 
 Sleeman, Raikes, Gubbins and others, to- 
 gether with the evidence brought before 
 the colonization committee, tend to prove 
 the now scarcely disputed fact, that the at- 
 tempted revenue settlement of the I'.orth- 
 West Provinces, and the sweeping away of 
 the proprietary class as middlemen, has 
 proved a failure. With few exceptions, 
 the ancient proprietors, dispossessed of 
 their estates by the revenue collectors, or 
 by sales under decrees of civil courts, have 
 taken advantage of the recent troubles to 
 return, and have been suffered, and even 
 encouraged, to do so by the ryots and small 
 tenants, to whom their dispossession would 
 have appeared most advantageous. f 
 
 • Quarterly Review, p. 259. t Ibid., n. 251. 
 
 X Minute on Talookdaree cases; by Mr. Boulueraon. 
 5 Quarterly Review (July, 1858), p. 260. 
 
 A number of cases of alleged indivi- 
 dual injustice towards the rajahs and talook- 
 dars, were collected, and stated, in circum- 
 stantial detail, in a minute laid before 
 Mr. Thomason (the lieutenant-governor of 
 Agra in 1844), by Mr. Boulderson, a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Revenue ; who eventu- 
 ally resigned his position, sooner than be 
 associated in proceedings which he believed 
 to be essentially unjust. His chief ground 
 of complaint was, that the board, instead of 
 instituting a preliminary inquiry into what 
 the rights of talookdars and other proprie- 
 tors really were, acted upon a priori argu- 
 ments of what they mnst be ; and never, in, 
 any one of the many hundred resumptions 
 made at their recommendation, deemed the 
 proofs on which the proceedings rested, 
 worthy of n moment's inquiry. 
 
 After reciting numerous instances of dis- 
 possession of proprietors who had held es- 
 tates for many years, and laid out a large 
 amount of capital in their improvement, 
 the writer adds ; — 
 
 " I have in vain endeavoured, hitherto, to rouse 
 the attention of my colleague and government to 
 this virtual abolition of all law. • • • The 
 respect of the native public I know to have been 
 shaken to an inexpressible degree : they can see 
 facts ; and are not blinded by the fallacious reason- 
 ings and misrepresentations with which the board 
 have clothed these subjects ; and they wonder with 
 amazement at the motives which can prompt the 
 British government to allow their own laws — all 
 laws which give security to property — to be thus 
 belied and set aside. All confidence in property or 
 its rights is shaken ; and the villany which has been 
 taught the people they will execute, and reward the 
 government tenfold into their own bosom."J 
 
 In a Preface, dated " London, 8th June, 
 1 858," Mr. Boulderson states, that his minute 
 " produced no effect in modifying or stay- 
 ing the proceedings" of the revenue board ; 
 and if " forwarded to England, as in due 
 official course it should have been, it must 
 have had as little effect upon the Hon. 
 Court of Directors." 
 
 Even in the Punjab, the system pursued 
 was a levelling one. Notwithstanding all 
 that the Lawrences and their disciples did 
 to mitigate its severity, and especially to 
 conciliate the more powerful and aggrieved 
 chiefs, the result is asserted to have been, 
 to a great extent, the same there as in 
 the Deccan : " the aristocracy and landed 
 gentry who have escaped destruction by the 
 settlement, have been ruined by the re- 
 sumption of alienated land."§ 
 
 Thus annexation and resumption, confis- 
 cation and absorption, have goue hand-in-
 
 94 
 
 KAKA ABBOTT AND JOHN BECHER IN HUZAKA. 
 
 hand, with a rapidity which would have been 
 dangerous even had the end in view and 
 the means of attainment been both unex- 
 ceptionable. However justly acquired, the 
 entire reorganisation of extensive, widely 
 scattered, and, above all, densely populated 
 territories, must always present difficulties 
 which abstract rules arbitrarily enforced can 
 never satisfactorily overcome. 
 
 The fifteen million inhabitants brought 
 by Lord Dalhousie under the immediate 
 government of the British Crown, were to 
 be, from the moment of annexation, ruled on 
 a totally different system : native institutions 
 and native administrators were expected to 
 give place, without a murmur, to the British 
 commissioner and his subordinates ; and the 
 newly absorbed territory, whatever its his- 
 tory, the character of its population, its 
 languages and customs, was to be " settled," 
 without any references to these important 
 antecedents, on the theory which found 
 favour with the Calcutta council for the time 
 being. 
 
 Many able officials, with much ready 
 money, and a thoroughly efficient army to 
 support them, were indispensable to carry 
 through such a system. In the Punjab, 
 these requisites were obtained at the ex- 
 pense of other provinces; and the picked 
 men sent there, were even then so few iu 
 number and so overworked, that they 
 scarcely had time for sleep or food. Their 
 private purse often supplied a public want. 
 Thus, James Abbott was sent by Sir 
 Henry Lawrence to settle the Huzara dis- 
 trict, which he did most effectually ; going 
 from valley to valley, gaining the confidence 
 of all the tribes, and administering justice 
 in the open air under the trees — looking, 
 with his long grey beard on his breast, and 
 his grey locks far down his shoulders, much 
 more like an ancient patriarch than a deputy- 
 commissioner. " Kaka," or " Uncle" Ab- 
 bott, as the children called him (in return 
 for the sweetmeats which he carried in 
 readiness for them), took leave of the people 
 in a very characteristic fashion, by inviting 
 the entire population to a feast on the 
 Nara hill, which lasted three nights and 
 days; and he left Huzara with only a 
 month's pay in his pocket, " having literally 
 spent all his substance on the people." His 
 successor, John Becher, ably fills his place, 
 " living in a house with twelve doors, and 
 
 • See the graphic description given by Colonel 
 Herbert Edwardes, of Sir Henry Lawrence's old 
 Staff in the Punjab, previous to annexation. — 
 
 all open to the people. * * * The re- 
 sult is, that the Huzara district, once famous 
 for turbulence, is now about the quietest, 
 happiest, and most loyal in the Punjab."* 
 Of course, Kaka Abbott and his successor, 
 much less their lamented head (Sir Henry 
 Lawrence), cannot be taken as average 
 specimens of their class. Such self-devo- 
 tion is the exception, not the rule : it would 
 be asking too mucli of human nature, to 
 expect the entire civil service to adopt what 
 Colonel Herbert Edwardes calls the Baha- 
 duree (summer-house) system of administra- 
 tion, and keep their cutcherries open, not 
 " from ten till four" by the regulation 
 clock, but all day, and at any hour of the 
 night that anybody chooses.f Neither 
 can chief commissioners be expected, or 
 even wished, to sacrifice their health as Sir 
 Henry Lawrence did in the Punjab, where, 
 amid all his anxieties for the welfare of the 
 mass, he preserved his peculiar character of 
 being pre-eminently the friend of the man 
 that was dowu; battling with government for 
 better terms for the deposed officials and 
 depressed aristocracy, and caring even for 
 thieves and convicts. He originated gaol 
 reform; abolished the "night-chain," and 
 other abominations ; introduced in-door 
 labour ; and himself superintended the new 
 measures — going from gaol to gaol, and 
 rising even at midnight to visit the pri- 
 soners' barracks. J 
 
 The manner iu which the Punjab was 
 settled is altogether exceptional : the men 
 employed certainly were ; so also was the 
 large discretionary power entrusted to them. 
 Elsewhere matters went on very differently. 
 The civil service could not furnish an effi- 
 cient magistracy for the old provinces, much 
 less for the new ; the public treasury could 
 not satisfy the urgent and long reite- 
 rated demand for public works, canals to 
 irrigate the land, roads to convey produce, 
 and avert the scourge of famine, even from 
 Bengal : how, then, could it spare ready 
 money to build court-houses and gaols in 
 its new possessions? 
 
 Like Aurungzebe, in the Deccan, we 
 swept away existing institutions without 
 being prepared to replace them, and thereby 
 became the occasion of sufferings which 
 we had assumed the responsibility of pre- 
 venting. Thus, in territories under British 
 government, the want of proper places of 
 
 Quoted in Raikes' Revolt in the North-West Pro- 
 vinces, p. 25. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 29. t rbid., p. 34.
 
 NATIVE OFFICIALS CORKUPT BECAUSE UNDERPAID. 
 
 95 
 
 confinement is alleged to be so great, that 
 " prisoners of all classes are crammed toge- 
 ther into a dungeon so small, that, when 
 the sun goes down, they fight for the little 
 space upon which only a few can lie during 
 the weary night. Within one month, forty 
 die of disease, produced by neglect, want of 
 air, and filth. The rest, driven to despair, 
 attempt an escape ; twenty are shot down 
 dead. Such is a picture — and not an ima- 
 ginary picture — of the results of one of 
 the most recent cases of annexation !"* 
 
 Even supposing the above to be an ex- 
 treme, and, in its degree, an isolated case, 
 yet one such narrative, circulated among 
 the rebel ranks, would serve as a reason for 
 a general breaking open of gaols, and as an 
 incitement and excuse for any excesses on 
 the part of the convicts, to whom, it will be 
 remembered, some of the worst atrocities 
 committed during the rebellion are now 
 generally attributed. 
 
 In fact, the increase of territory, of late 
 years, has been (as the Duke of Wellington 
 predicted it would be) greatly in excess of 
 our resources. Annex we might, govern 
 we could not ; for, in the words of Prince 
 Metternich, we had not " the material."t 
 That is, we had not the material on which 
 alone we choose to rely. Native agency we 
 cannot indeed dispense with : we could not 
 hold India, or even Calcutta, a week with- 
 out it ; but we keep it down on the lowest 
 steps of the ladder so effectually, that men 
 of birth, talent, or susceptibility, will serve 
 us only when constrained by absolute 
 poverty. They shun the hopeless dead- 
 level which the service of their country is 
 now made to offer them. 
 
 Our predecessors in power acted upon a 
 totally different principle. Their title was 
 avowedly that of the sword ; yet they dele- 
 gated authority to the conquered race, with 
 a generosity which puts to shame our ex- 
 clusiveness and distrust ; the more so be- 
 cause it does not appear that their confi- 
 dence was ever betrayed. 
 
 Many of the ablest and most faithful 
 servants of the Great Moguls were Hin- 
 doos. The Moslem knew the prestige of 
 ancient lineage, and the value of native 
 ability and acquaintance with the resources 
 of the country too well, to let even bigotry 
 stand in the way of their employment. 
 
 • Quarterly Revtew (July, 1858), p. 273. 
 
 + Quoted by Mr. Layard, in a Lecture delivered 
 at St. James's Hall, Piccadilly, on bis return from 
 India, May llth, 1838. 
 
 The command of the imperial armies was 
 repeatedly intrusted to Rajpoot generals > 
 and the dewans (chancellors of the exche- 
 quer) were usually Brahmins : the famous 
 territorial arrangements of Akber are insepa- 
 rably associated with the name of Rajah 
 Todar Mul ; and probably, if we had availed 
 ourselves of the aid of native financiers, and 
 made it worth their while to serve us well, 
 our revenue settlements might have been 
 ere now satisfactorily arranged. If Hindoos 
 were found faithful to a Moslem govern- 
 ment, why should they not be so to a 
 Christian one, which has the peculiar ad- 
 vantage of being able to balance the two 
 great antagonistic races, by employing each, 
 so as to keep the other in check ? Of late, 
 we seem to have been trying to unite 
 them, by giving them a common cause 
 of complaint, and by marking the subor- 
 dinate position of native officials more 
 offensively than ever. They are accused 
 of corruption — so were the Europeans : 
 let the remedy employed in the latter 
 case be tried in the former, and the re- 
 sult will be probably the same. The 
 need of increased salary is much greater 
 in the case of the native official. Let 
 the government give him the means of 
 supporting himself and his family, and 
 add a prospect of promotion : it will then 
 be well served. 
 
 By the present system we proscribe the 
 higher class, and miserably underpay the 
 lower. The result is unsatisfactory to all 
 parties, even to the government ;■ which, 
 though it has become aware of the neces- 
 sity of paying Europeans with liberality, 
 still withholds from the native "the fair 
 day's wage for the fair day's work." Latr 
 terly, the Europeans may have beei; in some 
 cases overpaid ; but the general error seems 
 to have lain, in expecting too much from 
 them ; the amount of writing required by the 
 Company's system, being a heavy addition 
 to their labours, especially in the newly an- 
 nexed territories. The natural consequence 
 has been, that while a certain portion of the 
 civilians, with the late governor-general at 
 their head, lived most laboriously, and de- 
 voted themselves wholly to the duties be- 
 fore them ; others, less zealous, or less 
 capable, shrunk back in alarm at the pros- 
 pect before them, and, yielding to the in- 
 fluences of climate and of luxury, fell into 
 the hands of interested subordinates — signed 
 the papers presented by their clerks, and, in 
 the words of their severest censor, " amused
 
 96 
 
 FIRST SEPOY BATTALION ORGANISED BY CLIVE— 1737. 
 
 themselves, and kept a servant to wash 
 each separate toe."* 
 
 Under cover of their names, corruption 
 and extortion has been practised to an 
 almost incredible extent. Witness the ex- 
 posure of the proceedings of provincial 
 courts, published in 1849, by a Bengal 
 civilian, of twenty-one years' standing, 
 under the title of Revelations of an Orderly. 
 
 An attempt has been made to remedy the 
 insufficient number of civilians, by taking 
 military men from their regiments, and 
 employing them in diplomatic and adminis- 
 trative positions ; that is to say, the Indian 
 authorities have tried the Irishman's plan of 
 lengthening the blanket, by cutting off one 
 end and adding it to the other. 
 
 The injurious effect which this practice 
 is said to have exercised on the army, is 
 noticed in the succeeding section. 
 
 Tke Slate of the Indian Army, and the 
 alleged Causes of the Disorganisation and 
 Disaffection of the Bengal Sepoys, remain 
 to be considered. The origin of the native 
 army, and the various phases of its progress, 
 have been described in the earlier chapters 
 of this work. We have seen how the rest- 
 less Frenchman, Dupleix, raised native 
 levies, and disciplined them in the Euro- 
 pean fashion at Pondicherry ;t and how 
 these were called sepoys (from sipahi, Por- 
 tuguese for soldier), in contradistinction to 
 the topasses (or hat-wearers) ; that is to say, 
 to the natives of Portuguese descent, and the 
 Eurasians, or half-castes, of whom small 
 numbers, disciplined and dressed in the Eu- 
 ropean style, were entertained by the East 
 India Company, to guard their factories. Up 
 to this period, the policy of the Merchant 
 Adventurers had been essentially commercial 
 and defensive ; but the French early mani- 
 fested a political and aggressive spirit. 
 Dupleix read with remarkable accuracy the 
 signs of the times, and understood the op- 
 portunity for the aggrandisement of his 
 nation, offered by the rapidly increasing 
 disorganisation of the Mogul empire, and 
 the intestine strife which attended the as- 
 sertion of independence by usurping gov- 
 ernors and tributary princes. He began to 
 take part in the quarrels of neighbouring 
 potentates ; and the English levied a native 
 soldiery, and followed his example. 
 
 The first engagement of note in which the 
 
 * Sir Charles Napier. — Life and Opinions. 
 t See Indian Empire, vol. i., pp. 114; 258; 
 304; 633. 
 
 British sepoys took part, was at the capture 
 of Devicotta, in 1748, when they made 
 an orderly advance with a platoon of 
 Europeans, as a storming party, under 
 Robert Clive. Three years later, under the 
 same leader, a force of 200 Europeans and 
 300 sepoys, marched on, regardless of the 
 superstitions of their countrymen, amid 
 thunder and lightning, to besiege A^cot ; 
 and having succeeded in taking the pftCB, 
 they gallantly and successfully defended it 
 against an almost overwhelming native 
 force, supported by French auxiliaries. 
 
 The augmentation in the number of the 
 sepoys became very rapid in proportion to 
 that of the European troops. The expedi- 
 tion with which Clive and Watson sailed 
 from Madras in 1756, to recapture Calcutta 
 from Surajah Dowlah, consisted of 900 
 Europeans and 1,500 natives. 
 
 The total military force maintained by 
 the English and French on the Madras 
 coast was at this time nearly equal, each com- 
 prising about 2,000 Europeans and 10,000 
 natives. The British European force was 
 composed of H. M.'s 39th foot, with a small 
 detail of Royal Artillery attached to serve the 
 regimental field-pieces ; the Madras Euro, 
 pean regiment, and a strong company of 
 artillery. The sepoys were supplied with 
 arms and ammunition from the public 
 stores, but were clothed in the native 
 fashion, commanded by native ofiBcers, and 
 very rudely disciplined. 
 
 At the commencement of the year 1757, 
 Clive organised a battalion of sepoys, con- 
 sisting of some three or four hundred men, 
 carefully selected ; and he not only fur- 
 nished them with arms and ammunition, 
 but clothed, drilled, and disciplined them 
 like the Europeans, appointing a European 
 officer to command, and non-commissioned 
 officers to instruct them. Such was the 
 origin of the first regiment of Bengal native 
 infantry, called, from its equipment, the 
 " Lall Pultun," or " Red regiment" (pultun 
 being a corruption of the English term 
 " platoon," which latter is derived from the 
 French word " peloton.") It was placed 
 under the direction of Lieutenant Knox, 
 who proved a most admirable sepoy leader. 
 There was no difficulty in raising men for 
 this and other corps ; for during the per. 
 petually-recurring warfare which marked 
 the Mussulman occupation of Bengal, ad- 
 venturers had been accustomed to flock 
 thither from Bahar, Oude, the Dooab, Ro. 
 hilcund, and even from beyond the Indus;
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF THE NATIVE ARMY— 1757 to 1760. 
 
 97 
 
 engagiug themselves for particular services, 
 and being dismissed when these were per- 
 formed. It was from such men and their im- 
 mediate descendants that the British ranks 
 were filled. The majority were Mussulmans ; 
 but Patans, Ruhillas, a few Jats, some Raj- 
 poots, and even Brahmins were to be found in 
 the early corps raised in and about Calcutta.* 
 
 The Madras sepoys, and the newly-raised 
 Bengal battalion, amounting together to 
 2,100, formed two-thirds of the force with 
 which Clive took the field against Surajah 
 Dowlah at Plassy, in June, 1757. Of these, 
 six Europeans and sixteen Natives perished 
 in the so-called battle, against an army 
 estimated by the lowest calculation at 
 58,000 men.f Of course, not even Clive, 
 " the daring in war," would have been so 
 mad as to risk an engagement which he 
 might have safely avoided, with such an 
 overwhelming force; but he acted in reli- 
 ance on the contract previously made with 
 the nawab's ambitious relative and com- 
 mander-in-chief, Meer Jaffier, who had 
 promised to desert to the British with all 
 the troops under his orders at the com- 
 mencement of the action, on condition of 
 being recognised as Nawab of Bengal. The 
 compact was fulfilled ; and Meer Jaffier's 
 treachery was rewarded by his elevation to 
 the musnud, which the East India Com- 
 pany allowed him to occupy for some years. 
 Meanwhile, the cessions obtained through 
 him having greatly increased their terri- 
 torial and pecuniary resources, they began to 
 form a standing army for each of the three 
 presidencies, organising the natives into a 
 regular force, on the plan introduced by Clive. 
 
 The first instance on record of a Native 
 court-martial occurred in July, 1757. A 
 sepoy was accused of having connived at the 
 attempted escape of a Swiss who had de- 
 serted the British ranks, and acted as a spy 
 in the service of the French. The Swiss 
 was hanged. The sepoy was tried by a 
 court composed of the subahdars and jema- 
 dars (Native captains and lieutenants) of his 
 detachment, found guilty, and sentenced to 
 receive 500 lashes, and be dismissed from 
 the service — which was accordingly done. 
 
 The hostilities carried on ngainst the 
 French, subjected the East India Company's 
 troops to great hardships. TheEuropeanshad 
 
 * Jiis<; and Progress of the Bengal Army ; by 
 Captain Arthur Broome, Bengal Artillery ; 1850 : 
 vol. i., p. 93. 
 
 t See Indian Empire, " Table of Battles," vol. i., 
 pp. 400,461. 
 
 VOI,. II. o 
 
 been much injured in health and discipline 
 by repeated accessions of prize-money, and 
 by the habits of drinking and debauchery into 
 which they had fallen. Numbers died; and 
 the remainder had neither ability nor incli- 
 nation to endure long marches and exposure 
 to the climate. During an expedition in 
 pursuit of a detachment under M. Law, 
 they positively refused to proceed beyond 
 Patna : Major Eyre Coote declared that he 
 would advance with the sepoys alone; which, 
 they rejoined, was " the most desirable 
 event that could happen to them." Major 
 Coote marched on with the sepoys only; 
 but the French succeeded in effecting their 
 escape. The rficreants got drunk, and be- 
 haved in a very disorderly manner ; where- 
 upon thirty of the worst of them were 
 brought before a court-martial, and, by its 
 decree, publicly flogged for mutiny and in- 
 subordination. 
 
 The sentence was pronounced and exe- 
 cuted on the 28th of July, 1757. On the 
 following day, the sepoys, undeterred 
 by the penalty exacted from their Euro- 
 pean comrades, laid down their arms in 
 a body, and refused to proceed farther. 
 The Madrassees especially complained, that 
 although they had embarked only for service 
 in Calcutta, they had been taken on to 
 Chandernagore, Moorshedabad, and Patna ; 
 and that now they were again required to 
 advance, to remove still farther from their 
 families, and endure additional fatigues 
 and privations. They alleged that their 
 pay was in arrears, and that they had not 
 received the amount to which they were 
 entitled. Major Coote warned them of the 
 danger which would accrue from the want of 
 unanimity and discipline among a small force j 
 surrounded with enemies, and the hazard to 
 which, by laying down their arms, they ex- 
 posed the savings they had already accumu- 
 lated, and the large amount of prize-money 
 then due to them. These considerations 
 prevailed ; the men resumed their arms, 
 and marched at once with the artillery to 
 Bankipoor, the European infantry proceed- 
 ing thither by water. 
 
 When Clive first left India, in 1760, the 
 Bengal force consisted of one European 
 battalion of infantry and two companies of 
 artillery (1,000 men in all), and five Native 
 battalions (1,000 men in each.) The number 
 of European oflBcers was at the same time 
 increased : one captain as commandant, one 
 lieutenant and one ensign as staff, with 
 four sergeants, being allowed to each Native
 
 EUROPEAN AND NATIVE TROOPS MUTINY IN 1764. 
 
 battalion. There was likewise a Native 
 commandant, who took post in front ■with 
 the captain, and a Native arfjutant, who re- 
 mained in the rear with the sulwltems. 
 
 In 1764, very general disaflfection was 
 manifested throughout the army, in conae- 
 quence of the non-payment of a gratuity 
 promised by the nawab, Meer Jaffier. The 
 European battalion, which was, nnfortu- 
 nately, chiefly composed of foreigners 
 (Dutch, Germans, Hessians, and French), 
 when assembled under arms for a parade 
 on the 30th of January, refused to obey the 
 word of command, declaring, that until the 
 promised donation should be given, they 
 would not perform any further service. 
 The battalion marched off under the leader- 
 ship of an Englishman named Straw, de- 
 claring their intention of joining their com- 
 rades then stationed on the Caramnassa, 
 and with them proceeding to Calcutta, and 
 compelling the governor and coHncil to do 
 them justice. This appears to have been 
 really the design of the English mutineers ; 
 but the foreigners, who were double their 
 number, secretly intended to join Shuja 
 Dowlah, the nawab-vizier of Oude; and went 
 off with that intention. 
 
 The sepoys were at first inclined to follow 
 the example of the Europeans, whose cause 
 of coraplaiut they shared ; but the oflScers 
 succeeded in keeping them quiet in their 
 lines, until the Mogul horse (two troops of 
 which had been recently raised) spread 
 themselves among the Native battalions, and 
 induced about 600 sepoys to accompany the 
 treacherous foreigners. 
 
 The European oflBcers rode after the mu- 
 tineers, and induced their leader Straw, and 
 the greater part of them, to return. Pro- 
 baby they would have done so in a body 
 but for the influence exercised over them 
 by a sergeant named Delamarr, who had 
 been distinguished by intelligence and good 
 conduct in the previous campaign, but who 
 had a private grievance to avenge, having, 
 as he alleged, been promised a commission 
 on leaving the King's and entering the Com- 
 pany's service ; which promise had been 
 broken to him, though kept to others simi- 
 larly circumstanced. This man was born in 
 England of French parents, and spoke both 
 languages with equal facility ; on which ac- 
 count he was employed by the officers as a 
 medium of communication with the foreign 
 troops. As long as any of the officers re- 
 mained with the mutineers, he affected 
 fidelity; but when the last officer, Lieutenant 
 
 Eyre, was compelled to relinquish the hope 
 of reclaiming his men, by their threatening 
 to carry him off by force, Delamarr put 
 himself at the head of the party, and gave 
 out an order that any one who should 
 attempt to turn back, should be hanged on 
 the first tree. The order appears to have 
 had a contrary effect to that which it was 
 intended to produce ; for the Germans 
 thought the French were carrying the mat- 
 ter too far ; and they, with all but three of 
 the few remaining English, returned on the 
 following day, to the number of seventy, ac- 
 companied by several sepoys. 
 
 Thus the original deserters were dimin- 
 ished to little more than 250, of whom 157 
 were of the European battalion (almost all 
 Frenchmen), sixteen were of the European 
 cavalry, and about 100 were Natives, includ- 
 ing some of the Mogul horse. They pro- 
 ceeded to join the army of Shuja Dowlaii of 
 Oude ; aud some of them entered his service, 
 and that of other Indian potentates ; but the 
 majority enlisted in Sumroo's brigade.* 
 
 On the 12th of February (the day follow- 
 ing the mutiny), a dividend of the nawab's 
 donation was declared as about to be paid 
 to the army, in the proportion of forty 
 rupees to each European soldier, and six to 
 each sepoy. The sepoys were extremely in- 
 dignant at the rate of allotment : they 
 unanimously refused to receive the proffered 
 sum, and assembled under anus on the 
 13th of February, at nine in the forenoon. 
 The Europeans were very much excited; and 
 it became difficult " to restrain their vio- 
 lence, and prevent their falling upon the 
 sepoys, for presuming to follow the example 
 they themselves had afforded ."f 
 
 Suddenly the sepoys set up a shout, and 
 rushed down, in an irregular body, towards 
 the Europeans, who had been drawn up in 
 separate companies across the parade, with 
 the park of artillery on their left, and two 
 6-pounders on their right. 
 
 Captain Jennings, the officer in com- 
 mand, perceiving that the sepoys were 
 moving with shouldered arras, directed that 
 they should be suffered to pass through the 
 intervals of the battahon, if they would do 
 so quietly. Several officers urged resis- 
 tance ; but Captain Jennings felt that the 
 discharge of a single musket would be the 
 signal for a fearful struggle, which must 
 end either in the extermination of the 
 Europeans, or in the total dissolution of th« 
 
 * Indian Empire, vol. i., \>. 29'i. 
 
 t Broome's Boif/al Armt/, vol. i., p. 420.
 
 MUTINOUS SEPOYS BLOWN AWAY FROM GUNS— 1764. 
 
 99 
 
 Native force, on which the government were 
 deeply dependent. He rode along the 
 ranks, urging the men to be quiet; and 
 arrived at the right of the line just in time 
 to snatch the match out of the hand of a 
 subaltern of artillery, as he was putting it 
 to a 6-pounder, loaded with grape. 
 
 The result justified his decision. Two 
 corps (the late 2nd grenadiers and 8th 
 Native infantry) went off towards the Ca- 
 ramnassa river. The other two Native bat- 
 talions present (the late 1st and 8rd Native 
 infantry), remained behind — theone perfectly 
 steady, the other clamorous and excited. 
 The remaining three detached battalions all 
 exhibited signs of disaffection. Captain Jen- 
 nings, with the officers of the mutinous corps, 
 followed them, and induced every man of 
 them to return, by consenting to their own 
 stipulation, that their share of the donation 
 should be raised to half that of the correspond- 
 ing ranks of the European battalion. This 
 concession being made generally known, 
 tranquillity was at once re-established. 
 
 The question of the better adaptation of 
 the natives of India to serve as regular or 
 irregular cavalry, was discussed. The coun- 
 cil considered that a body of regular Native 
 cavalry might be raised on the European 
 system, under English officers. Major Car- 
 nac objected on the following grounds : — 
 " The Moguls," he said, " who are the only 
 good horsemen in the country, can never 
 be brought to submit to the ill-treatment 
 they receive from gentlemen wholly unac- 
 quainted with their language and customs. 
 We clearly see the ill effects of this among 
 our sepoys, and it will be much more so 
 among horsemen, who deem themselves of 
 a far superior class; nor have we a suffi- 
 ciency of officers for the purpose: I am 
 sorry to say, not a single one qualified to 
 afford a prospect of success to such a pro- 
 ject." These arguments prevailed. The 
 Mogul horse was increased, during the year 
 (1764), to 1,200 men each risallah (or troop) 
 under Native officers, with a few Europeans 
 to the whole. 
 
 The number of the Native infantry was 
 also rapidly on the increase ; but their posi- 
 tion and rights remained on a very indefinite 
 footing, when Major Hector Munro suc- 
 ceeded to the command of the Bengal army 
 in August, 1764. In the following month 
 a serious outbreak occurred. The oldest 
 corps in the service, then known as the 9th, 
 or Captain Galliez' battalion, but afterwards 
 . the 1st Native iiifautry, while stationed at 
 
 Manjee (near Chnpra), instigated by some 
 of then- Native officers, assembled on parade, 
 and declared themselves resolved to serve 
 no longer, as certain promises made to 
 them (apparently regarding the remainder 
 of the donation money) had been broken. 
 They retained their arms, and imprisoned 
 their European officers for a night; but 
 released them on the following morning. 
 
 There did not then exist, nor has there 
 since been framed, any law decreeing gra- 
 dations of punishment in a case which 
 clearly admits of many gradations of crime. 
 It has been left to the discretion of the 
 military authorities for the time being, to 
 punish what Sir Charles Napier calls 
 " passive, respectful mutinies," with sweep- 
 ing severity, or to let attempted desertion 
 to the enemy, and sanguinary treachery, 
 escape almost unpunished. 
 
 The present proceeding resembled the out- 
 break of spoilt children, rather than of con- 
 certed mutiny.* No intention to desert was 
 shown, much less to join the enemy. Suqh 
 conduct had been before met with perhaps 
 undue concessions. Major Munro now re- 
 solved to attempt stopping it by measures 
 of extreme severity. Accordingly he held 
 a general court-martial; and on receiving 
 its verdict for the execution of twenty-four 
 of the sepoys, he ordered it to be carried 
 out immediately. The sentence was, "to 
 be blown away from the guns" — the horri- 
 ble mode of inflicting capital punishment 
 so extensively practised of late. 
 
 Four grenadiers claimed the privilege of 
 being fastened to the right-hand guns. 
 They had always occupied the post of 
 honour in the field, they said; and Major 
 Munro admitted the force of th€'argument 
 by granting their request. The whole 
 army were much affected by the bearing of 
 the doomed men. " I am sure," says Cap- 
 tain Williams, who then belonged to the 
 Royal Marines employed in Bengal, and who 
 was an eye-witness of this touching episode, 
 " there was not a dry eye among the Marines, 
 although they had been long accustomed 
 to hard service, and two of them had ac- 
 tually been on the execution party which 
 shot Admiral Byng, in the year 1757."t 
 Yet Major Munro gave the signal, and the 
 explosion followed. When the loathsome 
 results became apparent — the mangled limbs 
 scattered far and wide, the strange burning 
 
 • Broome's Bengal Army, vol. i., p. 459. 
 t Captain Williams' Bengal Native In/antty, 
 p. 170.
 
 100 
 
 BENGAL ARMY REORGANISED BY CLIVE IN 1765. 
 
 smell, the fragments of human flesh, the 
 trickling streams' of blood, constituted a 
 scene almost intolerable to those who wit- 
 nessed it for the first time. The officers 
 commanding the sepoy battalions came for- 
 ward, and represented that their men would 
 not suflPer any further executions ; but 
 Major Munro persevered. The other con- 
 victed mutineers attempted no appeal to 
 their comrades, but met their deaths with 
 the utmost composure. 
 
 This was the first example, on a large 
 scale, of the infliction of the penalty of 
 death for mutiny. Heretofore there had 
 been no plan, and no bloodshed in the 
 numerous outbreaks. Subsequently they 
 assumed an increasingly systematic and 
 sanguinary character. 
 
 On the return of Clive to India in 1765 
 (as Lord Clive, Baron of Plassy), the Ben- 
 gal army was reorganised, and divided into 
 three brigades — respectively stationed at 
 Monghyr, Allahabad, and Bankipoor. Each 
 brigade consisted of one company of artil- 
 lery, one regiment of European infantry, 
 one rishllah, or troop, of Native cavalry, 
 and seven battalions of sepoys. 
 
 Each regiment of European infantry was 
 constituted of the following strength : — 
 
 1 Colonel commanding the whole Brigade. 
 
 1 Lieutenant-colonel commanding the Regiment. 
 1 Major. 3G Sergeants. 
 
 6 Captains. 36 Corporals. 
 
 1 Captain Lieutenant. 27 Drummers. 
 
 9 Lieutenants. 630 Privates. 
 
 18 Ensigns. 
 
 The artillery comprised four companies, 
 each of which contained — 
 1 Captain. 
 
 1 Captain Lieutenant. 
 1 First Lieutenant. 
 
 4 Corporals. 
 
 2 Drummers. 
 
 2 Fifers. 
 10 Bombardiers. 
 20 Gunners. 
 60 Matrosses. 
 
 1 Second Lieutenant. 
 
 3 Lieut. Fireworkers. 
 
 4 Sergeants. 
 
 Each risallah of Native cavalry con- 
 sisted of — 
 
 1 European Subaltern in command. 
 1 Sergeant-major. 
 4 Sergeants, 
 1 Risaldar. 
 
 3 Jemadars. 
 2 Naggers. 
 6 Duffadars. 
 100 Privates. 
 
 A Native battalion consisted of — 
 30 Jemadars. 
 1 Native Adjutant. 
 10 Trumpeters. 
 30 Tom-toms.* 
 80 Havildars. 
 50 Naike. 
 
 1 Captain. 
 
 2 Lieutenants. 
 
 2 Ensigns. 
 
 3 Sergeants. 
 3 Drummers. 
 1 Native Commandant. 
 
 10 Native Subahdars. 
 
 690 Sepoys. 
 
 * That is, Tom-tom (native drum) players, 
 t Broome's Bengal Army, vol. i., p. 540. 
 
 Captain Broome, from whom the above 
 details are derived, remarks, "that the pro- 
 portion of officers, except to the sepoy bat- 
 talions, was very much more liberal than in 
 the present day; and it is most important 
 to remember, that every officer on the list 
 was effective — all officers on other than regi- 
 mental employ, being immediately struck 
 off the roll of the corps ; although, as there 
 was but one roster for promotion in the 
 whole infantry, no loss in that respect was 
 sustained thereby. The artillery and engi- 
 neers rose in a separate body, and were fre- 
 quently transferred from one to the other."t 
 The pay of the sepoy was early fixed at 
 seven rupees per month in all stationary 
 situations, and eight rupees and a-half when 
 marching, or in the field ; exclusive of half 
 a rupee per month, allotted to the ofi"- 
 reckoning fund, for which they received one 
 coat, and nothing more, annually. From 
 that allowance they not only fed and 
 clothed themselves, but also erected canton- 
 ments in all stationary situations, at their 
 own expense, and remitted to their wives 
 and families, often to aged parents and more 
 distant relatives, a considerable proportion 
 of their pay ; in fact, so considerable, that 
 the authorities have been obliged to inter- 
 fere to check their extreme self-denial. J 
 
 In 1766, the mass of the British officers 
 of the Bengal army entered into a very 
 formidable confederacy against the govern- 
 ment, on account of the withdrawal of 
 certain extra allowances, known as " double 
 batta." The manner in which Lord Clive 
 then used the sepoys to coerce the Euro- 
 peans, has been already narrated. § 
 
 The first epoch in the history of the Ben- 
 gal army may be said to end with the final 
 departure of Clive (its founder) from India, 
 in 1767. Up to this time, no question 
 of caste appears to have been mooted, as 
 interfering with the requirements of military 
 duty, whether ordinary or incidental; but 
 as the numbers of the sepoys increased, and 
 the proportion of Hindoos began to exceed 
 that of Mussulmans, a gradual change took 
 place. A sea voyage is a forbidden thing 
 to a Brahminist ; it is a violation of his reli- 
 gious code, under any circumstances : he 
 must neglect the frequent ablutions which 
 his creed enjoins, and to which he has been 
 accustomed from childhood ; and if he do not 
 irrecoverably forfeit his caste, it must be by 
 enduring severe privations in regard to food 
 
 \ Williams' Bengal Native Infantry, p. 263. 
 § See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 306.
 
 MUTINIES IN 1782 and 1795. 
 
 101 
 
 while on board ship. The influence of the 
 officers, liowever, generally sufficed to over- 
 come the scruples of the men ; aud, in 
 1769, three Bengal battalions prepared to 
 return by sea from the Madras presidency 
 to Bengal. Two grenadier companies em- 
 barked for the purpose, aud are supposed to 
 have perished ; for the ship which they en- 
 tered was never heard of afterwards. This 
 event made a deep impression on the miuds 
 of the Hindoos, confirmed their supersti- 
 tious dread of the sea, and agi^ravated the 
 mingled fear and loathing, which few Eng- 
 lishmen, except when actually rounding 
 the "Cape of Storms," or becalmed in a 
 crowded vessel in the Red Sea, can under- 
 stand sufficiently to make allowance for. 
 
 In 1782, a mutiny occurred at Barrack- 
 poor, in consequence of the troops stationed 
 there being ordered to prepare for foreign 
 service, which it was rumoured would entail 
 a sea voyage. No violence was attempted ; 
 no turbulence was evinced ; the men quietly 
 combined, under their Native officers, in re- 
 fusing to obey the orders, which the govern- 
 ment had no means of enforcing. After 
 the lapse of several weeks, a general court- 
 martial was held. Two Native officers, and 
 one or two sepoys, were blown from the 
 guns. The whole of the four corps con- 
 cerned (then known as the 4th, 15th, 17th, 
 and 31st) were broken up, and the men 
 drafted into other battalions. 
 
 In 1787, Lord Cornwallis arrived in 
 India, as governor-general and commander- 
 in-chief. He earnestly desired to dissipate, 
 by gentle means, the prejudices which 
 marred the efficiency of the Native army ; 
 and he offered a bounty of ten rupees per 
 man, with other advantages, to such as 
 would volunteer for service on an expedition 
 to Sumatra. The required four companies 
 were obtained ; the promised bounty was 
 paid previous to embarkation ; every care 
 was taken to ensure abundant supplies of 
 food and water for sustenance and ablution ; 
 the detachment was conveyed on board a 
 regular Indiaman at the end of February ; 
 and was recalled in the following October. 
 Unfortunately the return voyage was tedi- 
 ous and boisterous : the resolute abstinence 
 of the Hindoos from all nutriment save dry 
 peas and rice, and the exposure consequent 
 on the refusal of the majority to quit the 
 deck night or day, on account of the num- 
 ber of sick below, occasioned many to be 
 afflicted with nyctalopia, or night-blindness; 
 and deaths were numerous. Notwithstand- 
 
 ing tliis, the care and tact of the officers, 
 and the praise and gratuities which awaited 
 the volunteers on relanding, appear to have 
 done much to reconcile them to the past 
 trial, and even to its repetition if need 
 were. 
 
 The government thought the difficulty 
 overcome, and were confirmed in their 
 opinion by the offers of proceeding by sea 
 made during the Mysoor war. In 1795, it 
 became desirable to send an expedition to 
 Malacca, whereupon a proposition was made 
 to the 15th battalion (a corps of very high 
 character), through its commanding officer. 
 Captain Ludovick Grant, to volunteer for 
 the purpose. The influence of the officers 
 apparently prevailed ; the men were re- 
 ported as willing to embark; but, at the 
 last moment, a determined mutiny broke 
 out, aud the 29th battalion was called out, 
 with its field -pieces, to disperse the muti- 
 neers. The colours of the 15th were burnt; 
 and the number ordered to be left a blank 
 in the list of Native corps.* Warned by this 
 occurrence, the government proceeded to 
 raise a " Marine battalion,"t consisting of 
 twelve companies of a hundred privates 
 each ; and it became generally understood, 
 if not indeed officially stated, that the 
 ordinary Bengal troops were not to be sent 
 on sea voyages. 
 
 A corps of Native militia was raised for 
 Calcutta and the adjacent districts, and 
 placed, in the first instance, under the town 
 major. It consisted of eighty companies of 
 ninety privates; but was subsequently aug- 
 mented to sixteen or more companies of one 
 hundred privates each. Captain Williams, 
 writing in 1816. says — "It is now com- 
 manded by an officer of any rank, who may 
 be favoured with the patronage of the gov- 
 ernor-general, with one other European 
 officer, who performs the duty of adjutant 
 to the corps."J Several local corps were 
 formed about the same time. 
 
 Some important changes were made in 
 the constitution of the Bengal army in 
 1796 ; one effect of which was to diminish 
 the authority and influence of the Native 
 officers. The stafi" appointment of Native 
 adjutants was abolished, and a European 
 adjutant was appointed to each battalion. 
 The principle of reginental rank and pro- 
 motion (to the rank of major, inclusive), was 
 
 * A regiment was raised in Bahar, in 1798, and 
 numbered the loth. 
 
 t Formed into the 20th, or Marine regiment, in 
 1801. X Bengal Native Infantry, p. 243.
 
 103 PROMOTION BY SENIORITY ESTABLISHED BY E. I. CY.— 1796. 
 
 adopted throughout the E. I. Company's 
 forces; and, contrary to the former ar- 
 rangement, the whole of the staff of the 
 goyernment and of the army, inclusive of a 
 heavy commissariat, with the numerous 
 officers on furlough in Europe, and those 
 employed with local corps, and even in 
 diplomatic situations, vrere thenceforth borne 
 on the strength as component parts of com- 
 panies and corps. Thus, even at this early 
 period, the complaint (so frequently reite- 
 rated since) is made by Captain Williams, 
 that the charge of companies often devolved 
 on subalterns utterly unqualified, by pro- 
 fessional or local acquirements, for a situa- 
 tion of such authority over men to whose 
 character, language, and habits they are 
 strangers.* 
 
 The rise, and gradual increase, of the 
 armies of the Madras and Bombay presi- 
 dencies, did not essentially differ from that 
 of the Bengal troops, excepting that the 
 total number of the former was much 
 smaller, and the proportion of Mohamme- 
 dans and high-caste Brahmins considerably 
 lower than in the latter. The three armies 
 were kept separate, each under its own 
 commander-in-chief. Many inconveniences 
 attend this division of the forces of one 
 ruling power.' It has been a barrier to the 
 centralisation which the bureaucratic spirit 
 of the Supreme government of Calcutta has 
 habitually fostered ; and attempts have been 
 made, more or less directly, for an amalga- 
 mation of the three armies. The Duke of 
 Welfrngtou thoroughly understood the bear- 
 ing of the question, and his decided opinion 
 probably contributed largely to the main- 
 tenance of the chief of the barriers which 
 have prevented the contagion of Bengal 
 mutiny from extending to Bombay and 
 Madras, and hindered the fraternisation 
 which we may reasonably suspect would 
 otherwise have been general, at least among 
 the Hindoos. The more united the British 
 are, tTie belter, no doubt ; but the more 
 distinct nationalities are kept up in India, 
 the safer for us : every ancient landmark 
 we remove, renders the danger of com- 
 bination agaiust us more imminent. 
 
 The Madras and Bombay sepoys, through- 
 out their career, have had, like those of Ben- 
 gal, occasional outbreaks of mutiny, the usual 
 cause being an attempt to send them on ex- 
 peditions which necessitated a sea voyage. 
 
 • Williams' Bengal Native Infantry, p. 253. 
 + Parliamentary evidence of Sir J. Malcolm in 
 1832. X Ibid. 
 
 Thus, in 1779, or 1780, a mutiny occurred 
 in the 9th Madras battalion when ordered 
 to embark for Bombay ; which, however, 
 was quelled by the presence of mind and 
 decision of the commandant. Captain Kelly. 
 A fatal result followed the issue of a similar 
 order for the embarkation of some com- 
 panies of a corps in the Northern Circars. 
 The men, on arriving at Vizagapatam (the 
 port where they were to take shipping), rose 
 upon their European officers, and shot all 
 save one or two, who escaped to the ship.f 
 
 One motive was strong enough to over- 
 come this rooted dislike to the sea ; and that 
 was, affection for the person, and confidence 
 in the skill and fortune, of their command- 
 ing officer. Throughout the Native forces, 
 the fact was ever manifest, that their dis- 
 cipline or insubordination, their fidelity or 
 faithlessness, depended materially on the 
 influence exercised by their European 
 leaders. Sir John Malcolm, in his various 
 writings, affords much evidence to this 
 effect. Among many other instances, he 
 cites that of a battalion of the 22nd Madras 
 regiment, then distinguished for the high 
 state of discipline to which they had been 
 brought by their commanding officer, Lieu- 
 tenant-colonel James Oram. In 1797, he 
 proposed to his corps, on parade, to volun- 
 teer for an expedition then preparing 
 against Manilla. " Will hr go with us ?" 
 was the question which went through the 
 ranks. " Yes !" "Will he stay with us?" 
 Again, "yes!" and the whole corps ex- 
 claimed, " To Europe, to Europe !" They 
 were ready to follow Colonel Oram any- 
 where — to the shores of the Atlantic as 
 cheerfully as to an island of the Eastern 
 Ocean. Such was the contagion of their 
 enthusiasm, that several sepoys, who were 
 missing from one of the battalions in garri- 
 son at Madras, were found to have deserted 
 to join the expedition. J 
 
 The personal character of Lord Lake 
 contributed greatly to the good service 
 rendered by the Bengal sepoys (both Hin- 
 doo and Mohammedan) in the arduous 
 Mahratta war of 1803-'4. He humoured 
 their prejudices, flattered their pride, and 
 praised their valour; sind they repaid him 
 by unbounded attachment to his person, 
 and the zealous fulfilment of their public 
 duty. Victorious or defeated, the sepoys 
 knew their efforts were equally sure of 
 appreciation by the commander-in-chief. 
 His conduct to the shattered corps of 
 Colonel Monson's detachment, after their
 
 MUTINIES OF 1806 (VELLORE), 1809, and 1825. 
 
 103 
 
 gallant but disastrous retreat before Holcar,* 
 was very remarkable. He formed thera 
 into a reserve, and promised them every 
 opportunity of signalising themselves. No 
 confidence was ever more merited. Through- 
 out the service that ensued, these corps 
 were uniformly distinguished. 
 
 Th« pay of the forces in the last centnry 
 was frequently heavily in arrears, and both 
 Europeans aud Natives were driven, by 
 actual want, to the vefge of mutiny. The 
 Bombay troops, in the early wars with 
 Mysoor, suffered greatly from this cause; 
 and yet none ever showed warmer de- 
 votion to the English. When, oti the 
 capture of Bednore, General Matthews 
 and his whole force surrendered to Tip- 
 poo, every inducement was offered to 
 tempt the sepoys to enter the sultan's ser- 
 vice ; but in vain. During the march, they 
 were carefully separated from the European 
 prisoners at ea- h place of encampment, 
 by a tank or other obstacle, supposed to be 
 insurmountable. It did not prove so, how- 
 ever ; for one of the captive ofiBcers subse- 
 quently declared, that not a night elapsed 
 but some of the sepoys contrived to elude 
 the vigilance of the guards by swimming 
 the tanks (frequently some miles in circum- 
 ference), or eluding the sentries ; bringing 
 with them such small sums as they could 
 save from the pittance allowed by the sul- 
 tan, for their own support, in return for 
 hard daily labour, to eke out the scanty 
 food of the Europeans. " We can live upon 
 anything," they said; "but you require 
 mutton and beef." At the peace of 1783, 
 1,500 of the released captives marched 500 
 miles to Madras, and there embarked on a 
 voyage of six or eight weeks, to rejoin the 
 army to which they belonged at Bombay .f 
 
 Similar manifestations of attachment were 
 given by the various Native troops of the 
 three presidencies ; their number, and pro- 
 portion to the Europeans, increasing with the 
 extension of the Anglo-Indian empire. In 
 1800, the total force comprised 22,832 Euro- 
 peans, and 115,300Natives of all denomina- 
 tions; the Europeans being chiefly Royal 
 troops belonging to the regulaT cavalry and 
 infantry regiments, which were sent to India 
 fot periods varying frt)m twelve to twenty 
 years. • As the requirements of government 
 augmented with every addition of territory, 
 the restrictions of caste became daily more 
 
 • Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 40O. 
 t Sir John Malcolm's Government of India. 
 London : John Murray, 1833; p. 210. 
 
 obnoxious ; and attempts, for the most part 
 very ill-judged, were made to break through 
 them. Certain regulations, trivial in them- 
 selves, excited the angry suspicions of the 
 sepoys, as to the latent intentions of govern- 
 ment ; and the sons of Tippoo Sultan (then 
 state-prisoners at Vellore), through their 
 partisans, fomented the disaffection, which 
 issued in the mutiny of 1806, in which thir- 
 teen European officers and eighty-two pri- 
 vates were killed, and ninety-two wounded. J 
 In 1809, another serious outbreak oc- 
 curred in the Madras presidency, in which 
 the Native troops played only a secondary 
 part, standing by their officers against the 
 government. The injudicious manner in 
 which Sir George Barlow had suppressed 
 an allowance known as "tent-contract," 
 previously made to Europeans in. command 
 of Native regiments, spread disaffection 
 throughout the Madras force. Auber, the 
 annalist of the East India Company, gives 
 very few particulars of this unsatisfactory 
 and discreditable affair; but he mentions 
 the remarkable fidelity displayed by Pur- 
 neah, the Dewan of Mysoor (chosen, and 
 earnestly supported, by Colonel Wellcsley, 
 after the conquest of that country.) The 
 field-officer in charge of the fortress of 
 Seringapatam, tried to corrupt Purneah, 
 and even held out a threat regarding his 
 property, and that belonging to the boy- 
 rajah in the fort. Tlie dignified rejoinder 
 was, that the British government was the 
 protector of the rajah and his minister ; and 
 that, let what would happen, he (Purneah) 
 would always remain faithful to his engage- 
 ments. § 
 
 A skirmish actually took place between 
 the mutineers and the king's troops. Lord 
 Minto (the governor-general) hastened to 
 Madras, and, by a mixture of firmness and 
 conciliation, restored order, having first 
 obtained the unconditional submission of all 
 concerned in the late proceedings; that is 
 to say, the great majority of the Madras 
 officers in the Company's service. 
 
 The refusal of the 47th Bengal regiment 
 to march from Barrackpoor in 1825, on the 
 expedition to Burmah, is fully accounted 
 for by the repugnance of the sepoys to 
 embarkation having been aggravated by the 
 insufficient arrangements made for them by 
 the commissariat department. The autho- 
 rities punished, in a most sanguinary mau- 
 
 X See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 407. 
 § Auber's British Power in India, voL ii., pp. 
 476. 477.
 
 104. 
 
 REGIMENTAL OFFICERS EMPLOYED AS CIVILIANS. 
 
 ner, conduct which their own negligence 
 had provoked.* 
 
 An important change was introduced 
 into the Native army, under the adminis- 
 tration of Lord William Beiitinck (who 
 was appointed commander-in-chief as well 
 as governor-general in 1833), by the abo- 
 lition of flogging, which had previously 
 been inflicted with extreme frequency and 
 severity. Sir Charles Napier subsequently 
 complained of this measure, on the ground 
 of its leaving no punishment available when 
 the army was before the enemy. The 
 limited authority vested in the officers, in- 
 creased the difficulty of maintaining disci- 
 pline, by making expulsion from the service 
 the sole punishment of offenders whodeserved 
 perhaps a day's hard labour. Sir Charles 
 adds — " But I have been in situations 
 where 1 could not turn them out, for they 
 would either starve or have their throats 
 cut ; so I did all my work by the provost- 
 martial." His favourite pupil, "the war- 
 bred Sir Colin Campbell," appears to have 
 been driven to the same alternative to 
 check looting. 
 
 The change which has come over the 
 habits of both military men and civi- 
 lians during the present century, has been 
 already shown. Europeans have gradually 
 ceased to take either wives or concubines 
 from among the natives: they have become, 
 in all points, more exclusive ; and as their 
 own number has increased, so also has their 
 regard for couventionalities, which, while 
 yet strangers in the land — few and feeble — 
 they had been content to leave in abeyance. 
 The eflect on Indian society, and especially 
 on the army, is evident. The intercourse 
 between the European and Native offi- 
 cers has become yearly less frequent and 
 less cordial. The acquisition of Native lan- 
 guages is neglected; or striven for, not 
 as a means of obtaining the confidence of 
 the sepoys, but simply as a stepping-stone 
 to distinction in the numerous civil posi- 
 tions which the rapid extension of territory, 
 the paucity of the civil service, and the re- 
 jection of Native agency, has thrown open to 
 their ambition. There is, inevitably, a great 
 deal of sheer drudgery in the ordiuary 
 routine of regimental duty; but it surely was 
 not wise to aggravate the distaste which its 
 
 • Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 424. Thornton's India, 
 vol. iv., p. 113. 
 
 t Times, 15th July, 1857. Letter from Bombay 
 correspondent. 
 
 \ Indophilus' ieiters to the Times, p. 15. 
 
 performance is calculated to produce, by 
 adopting a system which makes long con- 
 tinuance in a regiment a mark of incapacity. 
 
 The military and civil line of promotion 
 is, to a great extent, the same. An In- 
 dian military man is always supposed to 
 be fit for anything that off'ers. He can 
 be " an inspector of schools, an examiner in 
 political economy, an engineer, a surveyor, 
 an architect, an auditor, a commissary, a 
 resident, or a governor."t Political, judi- 
 cial, and scientific appointments are all open 
 to him; and the result, no doubt, is, that 
 Indian officers, in many instances, show a 
 versatility of talent unknown elsewhere. 
 
 But through teaching officers to look to 
 staff' appointments and civil employ for ad- 
 vancement, the military profession is de- 
 scribed as having fallen into a state of dis- 
 paragement. Officers who have not ac- 
 quitted themselves well in the civil service 
 are "remanded to their regiments," as if 
 they were penal corps ; and those who re- 
 main with their regiments, suffer under a 
 sense of disappointment and wounded self- 
 esteem, which makes it impossible for them 
 to have their heart in the work. J 
 
 The employment of the army to do the 
 civil work, was declared by Napier to be 
 " the great military evil of India ;" the offi- 
 cers occupying various diplomatic situations, 
 the sepoys acting as policemen, gaolers, and 
 being incessantly employed in detachments 
 for the escort of treasure from the local 
 treasuries, to the manifest injury of their 
 discipline. " Sir Thomas Munro," he adds, 
 "thought three officers were sufficient for 
 regiments. This is high authority; yet I 
 confess to thinking him wrong; or else, 
 which is very possible, the state of the 
 army and the style of the officer have 
 changed, not altogether better nor alto- 
 gether worse, but become different." 
 
 There is, probably, much truth in this 
 suggestion. The character of the Native 
 officers and sepoys, as well as that of the 
 Europeans, had changed since the days of 
 Munro, The Bengal army had grown, with 
 the Bengal presidency, into an exclusively 
 high-caste institution. The men were 
 chiefly Brahmins and Rajpoots, or Mussul- 
 mans — handsome, stately men, higher by the 
 head and shoulders than the MaJrassees or 
 Mahrattas; immeasurably higher in caste. 
 Great care was taken to avoid low-caste 
 recruits ; still more, outcasts and Christians. 
 In this respect, most exaggerated deference 
 was paid to religious prejudices which, in
 
 SIR CHARLES NAPIER MADE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF— 1849. 105 
 
 other points, were recklessly infringed. In 
 Bombay and Madras, no such distinctions 
 were made. Recruits were enlisted without 
 regard to caste ; and the result was, a mix- 
 ture much less adapted to combine for the 
 removal of common grievances. A Native 
 army, under foreign rule, can hardly have 
 been without these : but so flattering a 
 description was given of the Indian troops, 
 that, until their rejection of our service, and 
 subsequent deadly hostility, raised suspicions 
 of " a long-continued course of mismauage- 
 meut,"* little attention was paid to those who 
 suggested the necessity of radical reforms. 
 
 Yet Sir John Malcolm pointed out, aa 
 early as 1799, the injustice of a system which 
 allowed no Native soldier the most distant 
 prospect of rising to rank, distinction, or 
 affluence ; and this " extraordinary fact" he 
 believed to be " a subject of daily comment 
 among the Native troop8."t 
 
 The evil felt while the Indian army was 
 comparatively small, could not but increase 
 in severity in proportion to the augmenta- 
 tion of the sepoys, who, in 1851, amounted 
 to 240,121, out of 289,529 men; the re- 
 mainder being Europeans. Meanwhile, the 
 extinction of Indian states and of national 
 armies had been rapidly progressing. The 
 disbanded privates (at least such of them as 
 entered the British ranks) may have bene- 
 fited by the change ; regular pay and a retir- 
 ing pension compensating them for the pos- 
 sibility of promotion and the certainty of 
 laxer discipline, with license in the way of 
 loot (plunder.) But the officers were heavy 
 losers by the change. In treating of the 
 causes of the mutiny, Mr. Martin Gubbins 
 says, that in the Punjab, " the father may 
 have received 1,000 rupees per mensem, as 
 commandant of cavalry, under Runjeet 
 Sing ; the son draws a pay of eighty rupees 
 as sub-commander, in the service of the 
 British government. The diflFerence is pro- 
 bably thought by themselves to be too 
 great." In support of this guarded admis- 
 sion, he proceeds to adduce evidence of the 
 existence of the feeling suggested by him as 
 probable, by citing the reproachful exclama- 
 tion of a Seik risaldar, conspicuous for good 
 conduct during the insurrection — "My 
 father used to receive 500 rupees a-month 
 in command of a party of Runjeet Sing's 
 horse ; I receive but fifty."J 
 
 • Speech of Lord Ellenborough : Indian debate, 
 July 13th, 1857. The Duke of Argyll, and others, 
 said, that " there could be no douht there had been 
 some mismanagement." — Ibid., July 27th, 1808. 
 
 VOL. II. P 
 
 Sir Charles Napier returned to India, as 
 commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Indian 
 armies, on the 6th of May, 1849. He was 
 sent out for the express purpose of carrying 
 on the war in the Punjab ; but it had beeu 
 successfully terminated before his arrival. 
 He made a tour of inspection, and furnished 
 reports to government on the condition of 
 the troops ; which contained statements cal- 
 culated to excite grave anxiety, and prophe- 
 cies of evil which have been since fulfilled. 
 
 He pointed out excessive luxury among 
 the officers, and alienation from the Native 
 soldiery, as fostering the disaflFection occa- 
 sioned among the latter by sudden reduc- 
 tions of pay, accompanied by the increased 
 burthen of civil duties, consequent on the 
 rapid extension of territory. 
 
 It was, however, not until after positive 
 mutiny had been developed, that lie recog- 
 nised the full extent of the evils, which he 
 then searched out, and found to be sapping 
 the very foundation of the Indian army. 
 
 Writing to General Caulfield (one of his 
 few friends in the East India direction) in 
 November, 1849, he calls the sepoy "a 
 glorious soldier, not to be corrupted by 
 gold, or appalled by danger ;" and he adds — 
 " I would not be afraid to go into action 
 with Native troops, and without Europeans, 
 provided I had the training of them first."§ 
 
 In a report addressed to the governor- 
 general in the same month, the following 
 passage occurs : — 
 
 "I have heard that Lord Hardinge objected to 
 the assembling of the Indian troops, for fear they 
 should conspire. I confess I cannot see the weight 
 of such an opinion. I have never met with an In- 
 dian officer who held it, and I certainly do not hold 
 it myself; and few men have had more opportuni- 
 ties of judging of the armies of all three presidencies 
 than 1 have. Lord Hardinge saw but the Bengal 
 army, and that only as governor-general, and for a 
 short time; I have studied them for nearly eight 
 years, constantly at the head of Bengal and Bombay 
 sepoys, and I can see nothing to fear from them, 
 except when ill-used; and even then they are less 
 dangerous than British troops would be in similar 
 circumstances. I see no danger in their being 
 massed, and very great danger in their being spread 
 over a country as they now are : on the contrary, I 
 believe that, by concentrating the Indian army as I 
 propose, its spirit, its devotion, and its powers will 
 all be increased."!! 
 
 The above extract tends to confirm the 
 general belief, that the private opinion of 
 Lord Hardinge, regarding the condition of 
 
 t K aye's Life of Malcolm, vol i., p. 96. 
 
 I Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 98. 
 
 § Sir Charles Napier's Life, vol. iv., pp. 212, 213. 
 
 II Pari. Paper (Commons), 30th July, 1857.
 
 106 MUTINY TO BE TREATED IN DETAIL, WHEN PRACTICABLE. 
 
 the army, was less satisfactory than he 
 chose to avow in public. Lord Melville has 
 given conclusive evidence on the subject by 
 stating, from his personal acquaintance with 
 the ex-commander-in-cbief, that — " Enter- 
 taining the worst opinion privately. Lord 
 Hardinge never would express it publicly, 
 trying thereby to bolster up a bad system, 
 on the ground of the impolicy of making 
 public the slight thread by which we held 
 our tenure of that empire."* Napier, who 
 never kept back or qualified his views, soon 
 saw reason to declare, that " we were sitting 
 en a mine, and nobody could tell when it 
 might explode."t, The circumstances which 
 led him to this unsatisfactory conclusion 
 were these. After the annexation of the 
 Punjab, the extra allowauce formerly given 
 to the troops on service there, was sum- 
 marily withdrawn, on the ground thai the 
 country was no longer a foreign one. The 
 22nd Native infantry stationed at Rawul 
 Pindee refused the reduced pay. The 13th 
 regiment followed the example; and an 
 active correspondence took place between 
 these corps, and doubtless extended through 
 the Bengal army; for there are news-writers 
 in every regiment, who communicate all 
 intelligence to their comrades at head- 
 quarters.J 
 
 Colonel Benson, of the military board, 
 proposed to Lord Dalhonsie to disband the 
 two regiments; but the commander-in- 
 chief opposed the measure, as harsh and 
 impolitic. Many other regiments were, he 
 said, certainly involved : the government 
 could not disband an army; it was, there- 
 fore, best to treat the cases as isolated ones, 
 while that was possible ; for, he added, " if 
 we attempt to bully large bodies, they will 
 do the same by us, and a fight must eusue."§ 
 The governor-general concurred in this 
 opinion. The insubordination at Rawul 
 Pindee was repressed without bloodshed, 
 by the officer in command. Sir Colin 
 Campbell; and the matter was treated as 
 one of accidental restricted criminality, not 
 affecting the mass. 
 
 Sir Charles Napier visited Delhi, which 
 he considered the proper place for our great 
 magazines, and well fitted, from its central 
 position, to be the head-quarters of the 
 
 • Letter to General Sir William Gomm, July 15th, 
 1857.— Times, July 21st, 1857. t Ibid. 
 
 X Evidence of Colonel Greenhill. — Pari. Committee, 
 1832-'3. 
 
 § Sir Charles Napier's Xi/e, vol. iv., p. 227. 
 
 Il/iia., pp. 216; 269 1 427. 
 
 artillery — the best point from whence to 
 send forth troops and reinforcements. 
 Here, too, the spirit of mutiny manifested 
 itself; the 41st Native infantry refusing to 
 enter the Punjab without additional allow- 
 ances as heretofore ; and twenty-four other 
 regiments, then under orders for the same 
 province, were rumoured to be in league 
 with the 41st. The latter regiment was, 
 however, tranqnillised, and induced to 
 march, by what Sir William Napier terms 
 " dexterous management, and the obtaining 
 of furloughs, which had been unfairly and 
 recklessly withheld." 
 
 At Vizierabad the sepoys were very 
 sullen, and were heard to say they only 
 waited the arrival of the relieving regiments, 
 and would then act together. Soon after 
 this, the 66th, a relief regiment on the 
 march from Lucknow (800 miles from 
 Vizierabad), broke into open mutiny near 
 Amritsir, insulted their officers, and at- 
 tempted to seize the strong fortress of 
 Govindghur, which then contained about 
 £100,000 in specie. The 1st Native cavalry 
 were fortunately on the spot; and being 
 on their return to India, were not interested 
 in the extra-allowance question. They took 
 part with the Europeans ; and, dismounting, 
 seized the gates, which the strength and 
 daring of a single officer (Captain M'Donald) 
 had alone prevented from being closed, and 
 which the mutineers, with fixed bayonets, 
 vainly sought to hold. This occurred in 
 February, 1850. Lord Daihousie was not 
 taken by surprise. Writing to Sir Charles 
 Napier, he had declared himself " pre- 
 pared for discontent among the Native 
 troops, on coming into the Punjab under 
 diminished allowances ; and well satis- 
 fied to have got so far through without 
 violence." "The sepoy," he added, "has 
 been over-petted and overpaid of late, and 
 has been led on, by the government itself, 
 into the entertainment of an expectation, 
 and the manifestation of a feeling, which he 
 never held in former times." || 
 
 This was written before the affair at 
 Govindghur; and in the meantime, Sif 
 Charles had seen " strong ground to suppose 
 the mutmous spirit general in the Bengal 
 army."^ He believed that the Brahmins 
 
 *[f Two great explosions of ammunition have been 
 mentioned in connexion with the mutinous feeling 
 of the period ; one at Benares, of 3,000 barrels of 
 powder, in no less than thirty boats, which killed 
 upwards of 1,200 people: by the other, of 1,800 
 barrels, no life was lost.
 
 MUTINY AND DISBANDilENT OP 66th EEGIMENT— 1849. 
 
 107 
 
 were exerting their influence over the Hin- 
 doos most injuriously; and learned, with 
 alarm, a signiticant circumstance whicli had 
 occurred during the Seik war. Major 
 Neville Chamberlaine, hearing some sepoys 
 grumbling about a temporary hardship, 
 exclaimed, "Were I the general, I would 
 disband you all." A Brahmin havildar 
 replied, " If you did, we would all go to our 
 villages, and you should not get any more 
 to replace us." Napier viewed this remark 
 as the distinct promulgation of a principle 
 upon which the sepoys were even then pre- 
 pared to act. The Brahmins he believed to 
 be secretly nourishing the spirit of insubor- 
 dination; and unless a counterpoise could 
 be found to their influence, it would be 
 hazardous in the extreme to disband the 
 66th regiment, at the risk of inciting other 
 corps to declare, " They are martyrs for us ; 
 we, too, will refuse ;" and of producing a 
 bayonet struggle with caste for mastery. 
 "Nor was the stake for which the sepoy 
 contended a small one — exclusive of the 
 principle of an army dictating to the gov- 
 ernment: they struck for twelve rupees 
 instead of seven — nearly double ! When 
 those in the Punjab got twelve by meeting, 
 those in India Proper would not long have 
 served on seven."* 
 
 The remedy adopted by Napier, was to 
 replace the mutinous 66th with one of the 
 irregular Goorka battalions ;t and he ex- 
 pressed his intention of extensively following 
 up this plan, in the event of the disband- 
 ment of further regiments becoming neces- 
 sary. " I would if I could," he says, " have 
 25,000 of them ; which, added to our own 
 Europeans, would form an army of 50,000 
 men, and, well handled, would neutralise 
 any combination amongst the sepoys." 
 
 The Goorkas themselves he describes as 
 of small stature, with huge limbs, resem- 
 bling Attila's Huns ; " brave as meu can be, 
 but horrid little savages, accustomed to use 
 a weapon called a kookery, like a straightened 
 reaping-hook, with which they made three cuts 
 — one across the shoulders, the next across 
 the forehead, the third a ripping-up one." 
 
 The Nusseeree battalion, chosen to re- 
 place the 66th, welcomed, with frantic 
 shouts of joy, the proposal of entering the 
 regular army, and receiving seven rupees a 
 
 • Sir C. Napier's Life and Correspondence, vol. 
 iv., pp. 261, 262. 
 
 t See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 445. 
 
 j After Sir Charles left India, a minute was 
 drawn up by the Supreme Council, which stated. 
 
 month, instead of four rupees eight annas; 
 which sum, according to their commanding 
 oflicer, had been actually insuflBcient for 
 their support. What the European officers 
 of the 66th thought of the substitution does 
 not appear ; but Lord Dalhousie, while ap- 
 proving the disbandment of the mutineers, 
 disapproved of the introduction of the Goor- 
 kas. The commander-in-chief was at the 
 same time reprimanded for having, in 
 January, 1850 (pending a reference to the 
 Supreme government), suspended the opera- 
 tion of a regulation regarding compensation 
 for rations; which he considered, in the 
 critical state of affairs, likely to produce mu- 
 tiny. This regulation, says Sir W. Napier, 
 " affected the usual allowance to the sepoys 
 for purchasing their food, according to the 
 market prices of the countries in which they 
 served: it was recent; was but partially 
 known; was in itself unjust; and became 
 suddenly applicable at Vizierabad, where it 
 was entirely unknown." General Hearsey, 
 commander at Vizierabad, and Generals Gil- 
 bert and Colin Campbell, deprecated its en- 
 forcement as most impolitic, and calculated, in 
 the sullen temper of the sepoys, to produce a 
 mutiny; and, in fact, only twelve days elapsed 
 before the Govindghur outbreak occurred. 
 The amount of money involved in the tem- 
 porary suspension was only £\0; but even 
 had it been much greater, if a commander- 
 in-chief could not, in what he believed to 
 be a crisis, and what there is little doubt 
 really was one, be allowed to use his dis- 
 cretion on a subject so immediately within 
 his cognizance, he had, indeed, a heavy 
 weight of responsibility to bear, without any 
 commensurate authority. A less impetu- 
 ous spirit than that of the " fiery Napier," 
 would have felt no better thai^ a "huge 
 adjutant-general," when informed that he 
 " would not again be permitted, under any 
 circumstances, to issue orders which should 
 change the pay and allowances of the troops 
 in India, and thus practically to exercise 
 an authority which had been reserved, and 
 most properly reserved, for the Supreme 
 government alone."J 
 
 The general at once sent in his resigna- 
 tion (May 22nd, 1850) through Lord Fitz- 
 roy Somerset; stating the rebuke he had 
 received, and probably hoping that the 
 
 " that the ration and mutiny question, which led 
 to Sir Charles Napier's resignation, was not the real 
 cause for the reprimand; but the style of the 
 commander-in-chief's correspondence had become 
 offensive." — Zi/e, vol. iv., p. 411. 
 
 u
 
 108 
 
 CONDITION OF THE BENGAL NATIVE ARMY— 1850. 
 
 British commander-in-chief, the Duke of 
 Wellington, would urge its withdrawal. 
 The Duke, on the contrary, decided, after 
 examining the statements sent home by the 
 Calcutta authorities (which, judging by 
 subsequent events, were founded on a mis- 
 taken view of the temper of the troops), 
 that no sufiBcient reason had existed for the 
 suspension of the regulation, and that the 
 goveruor-general in council was right in 
 expressing his disapprobation of the act. 
 The resignation was consequently accepted ; 
 and Sir Charles's statements regarding the 
 condition of the army, were treated as the 
 prejudiced views of a disappoiuted man. 
 
 Yet the report addressed by him to the 
 Duke in June, while ignorant, and probably 
 not expectant, of the acceptance of his 
 resignation, contains assertions which ought 
 then to have been investigated, and which 
 are now of primary importance as regards 
 the causes of our sudden calamity, and the 
 system to be adopted for the prevention of 
 its recurrence. 
 
 " The Bengal Native army," Sir Charles writes, 
 " is said to have much fallen off from what it was 
 in former days. Of this I am not a judge ; but 
 I must say that it is a very noble army, and with 
 very few defects. The greatest, as faj: as I am 
 capable of judging, is a deficiency of discipline 
 among the European officers, especially those of the 
 higher ranks. I will gi?e your grace an instance. 
 
 " The important order issued by the governor-gen- 
 eral and the commander-in-chief, to prepare the 
 sepoys for a reduction in their pay, I ordered to be 
 read, and explained with care to every regiment. 
 With the eiception of three or four commanders of 
 regiments, none obeyed the order ; some gave it to 
 pay-sergeants to read, and others altogether ne- 
 glected to do so — such is the slackness of discipline 
 among officers of high rank, and on an occasion of 
 such vast importance. This want of discipline arises 
 from more than one cause : a little sharpness with 
 officers who disobey orders will soon correct much 
 of this; but much of it originates in the great de- 
 mand made upon the troops for civil duties, which 
 so breaks up whole regiments, that their command- 
 ing officers lose that zeal for the service which they 
 ought to feel, and so do the younger officers. The 
 demand also made for guards is ipimense. • • • 
 I cannot believe that the discipline of the Bengal 
 army will be restored till it is relieved from civil 
 duties, and those duties performed by police bat- 
 talions, as was intended by Lord Ellenborough. 
 
 " The next evil which I see in the Native army is, 
 that so many of the senior officers of regiments are 
 placed on the staff or in civil situations ; and very 
 old, worn-out officers command regiments : these 
 carry on their duties with the adjutant and some 
 favoured Native officer. Not above one or two 
 captains are with the regiment; and the subalterns 
 being all young, form a society among them- 
 selves, and neglect the Native officers altogether. 
 Nothing is therefore known as to what is passing in 
 a Native regiment. • • • The last, and most 
 
 important thing which I reckon injurious to the 
 Indian array, is the immense influence given to 
 '' caste ;" instead of being discouraged, it has been 
 encouraged in the Bengal army. In the Bombay 
 army it is discouraged, and that army is in better 
 order than the Bengal army. In this latter the 
 Brahmins have been leaders in every mutiny." • 
 
 The manner in which courts-martial were 
 conducted, excited his indignation through- 
 out his Indian career. Drunkenness aud 
 gambling were, in his eyes, unsoldieriy »ad 
 ungentlemaniy vices, aud he drew no dis- 
 tinction between the ofiScer and the private. 
 " Indian courts-martial are my plagues," 
 he writes ; " they are farces. If a private 
 is to be tried, the courts are sharp enough ; 
 but an officer is quite another thing." He 
 mentions a case of notorious drunkenness, 
 in which the accused was " honourably ac- 
 quitted;" and he adds — "Discipline is so 
 rapidly decaying, that in a few years my 
 belief is, no commander-in-chief will dare 
 to bring an officer to trial : the press will 
 put an end to all trials, except in law 
 courts. In courts-martial now, all is quib- 
 bling and disputes about wliat is legal ; the 
 members being all profoundly ignorant on 
 the subject : those who judge fairly, in a 
 military spirit, are afraid of being brought 
 up afterwards, and the trials end by an 
 acquittal in the face of all evidence !" 
 This state of things was not one in which 
 he was likely to acquiesce ; and in six 
 months he had to decide forty-six cases of 
 courts-martjal on officers (some for gam- 
 bling, some for drunkenness), in which only 
 two were honourably acquitted, and not 
 less than fourteen cashiered. In the cele- 
 brated address in which he took leave of 
 the officers of the Indian army (9th Decem- 
 ber, 1850), he blamed them severely for 
 getting into debt, and having to be brought 
 before the Court of Requests. " A vulgar 
 man," he wrote, " who enjoys a champagne 
 tiffin [luncheon], and swindles his servants, 
 may be a pleasant companion to those who 
 do not hold him in contempt as a vulgar 
 knave; but he is not a gentleman : his com- 
 mission makes him an officer, but he is not 
 a gentleman." 
 
 The luxury of the Indian system was, as 
 might be expected, severely criticised by a 
 warrior who is popularly said to have en- 
 tered on a campaign with a piece of soap 
 and a couple of towels, and dined oflF a 
 hunch of bread and a cup of water. Pre- 
 vious commanders-in-chief, when moving on 
 
 * Sir C. Napier to the Duke of Wellington, 15th 
 June, 1850.— Pari. Paper, August 6th, 1857.
 
 "OLD INDIANS," "MARTINETS," AND "FAST REGIMENTS"— 1850. 109 
 
 a military inspection, used, at the public 
 expense, eighty or ninety elephants, three 
 or four hundred camels, and nearly as many 
 bullocks, with all their attendants : they 
 had also 332 tent-pitchers, including fifty 
 men solely employed to carry glass doors 
 for a pavilion. This enormous establish- 
 ment was reduced by Napier to thirty ele- 
 phants, 334 camels, 222 tent-pitchers ; by 
 which a saving was effected for the treasury 
 of £750 a-month. " Canvas palaces," he 
 said, " were not necessary for a general on 
 military inspection, even admitting the 
 favourite idea of some ' old Indians' — that 
 pomp and show produce respect with Indian 
 people. But there is no truth in that no- 
 tion : the respect is paid to military strength ; 
 and the astute natives secretly deride the 
 ostentation of temporary authority."* 
 
 " Among the modern military changes," he snys, 
 " there is one which has been gradually introduced 
 in a number of regiments by gentlemen who are 
 usually called ' martinets' — not soldiers, only mar- 
 tinets. No soldier can now go up to his officer with- 
 out a non-commissioned officer gives him leave, and 
 accompanies him ! • * • This is a very dan- 
 gerous innovation : it is digging a ditch between the 
 officers and their men ! How are Company's officers 
 to study men's characters, when no man dare address 
 them but in full dress, and in presence of a non- 
 commissioned officer?"t 
 
 Sir Charles deplored "the caste and 
 luxury which pervaded the army," as calcu- 
 lated to diminish their influence equally 
 over European soldiers and Indiao sepoys. 
 
 " His [the soldier's] captain is no longer his friend 
 and chief: he receives him with upstart condescen- 
 sion J. is very dignified, and very insolent, nine 
 [times?] out of ten; and as often the private goes 
 away with disgust or contempt, instead of good, 
 respectful, comrade feelings. Then the soldier goes 
 daily to school, or to his library, now always at 
 hand ; while his dignified officer goes to the billiard- 
 room or the smoking-room ; or, strutting about with 
 
 * Life, vol. iv., p. 206. The ostentatious parade with 
 which the progresses of Indian functionarie ., both 
 civil and military, was usually attended, not only 
 aggravated, by contrast, the hardships endured by 
 their inferiors, but inflicted most cruel sufi'erings on 
 the natives of the countries through which they 
 passed, thousands being pressed for palanquin or 
 dooly (litter) bearers, and for porters of luggage, 
 and paid very poorly, and often very irregularly. 
 " The coolies, says bir C. Napier, " who are sum- 
 moned to carry i^he governor-general's baggage 
 when he moves, are assembled at, or rather driven 
 by force to, Simla from immense distances, and are 
 paid about twopence a-day, under circumstances of 
 great cruelty. Now, I happen to know, that from 
 the delays of offices, and without, perhaps, any tan- 
 gible act of knavery in any especial officer or indi- 
 vidual, some 8,000 or 10,000 coolies employed to 
 
 take Lord down into the plains when he left 
 
 India, were not paid this miserable pittance for three 
 
 a forage-cap on the side of an empty pate, and 
 clothed in a shooting-jacket, or other deformity of 
 dress, fancies himself a great character, because he 
 is fast, and belongs to a fast regiment — ». e., a regi- 
 ment unfit for service, commanded by the adjutant, 
 and having a mess in debt !"J 
 
 It is, of course, exclusively to the sepoys 
 that Sir Charles refers in the following pas- 
 sages, in which he upholds the necessity 
 for discipline and kindly intercourse being 
 maintained by the European oflScers : — 
 
 " They are admirable soldiers, and only give way 
 when badly led by brave but idle officers, who let 
 discipline and drill grow slack, and do not mix with 
 them: being ignorant themselves, they cannot teach 
 the sepoy. • * • I could do anjrthing I like 
 with these natives. Our officers generally do not 
 know how to deal with them. They have not, with 
 some exceptions, the natural turn and soldierlike 
 feelings necessary to deal with them. Well, it 
 matters little to me ; India and I will soon be sepa- 
 rate : I see the system will not last fifty years. The 
 moment these brave and able natives learn how to 
 combine, they wiU rush on us simultaneously, and 
 the game will be up. A bad commander-in-cbief 
 and a bad governor-general will clench the business.! 
 * • • I am disposed to beKeve, that we might, 
 with advantage, appoint natives to cadetships, dis- 
 cbarge all our Native officers on the pensions of their 
 present rank, and so give the natives common chance 
 of command with ourselves — before they take it ! 
 
 " Every European boy, aye, even sergeants, now 
 command all Native officers ! When the native saw 
 the English ensign live with him and cherish him, 
 and by daily communication was made aware of his 
 superior energy, strength, daring, and mental ac- 
 quirements, all went smooth. Now thin^ have 
 changed. The young cadet learns nothing: he 
 drinks, he lives exclusively with his own country- 
 men ; the older officers are on the staff, or on civil 
 employ, which they ought not to be ; and high-caste 
 — that is to say, mutiny — is encouraged. I have 
 just gotten this army through a very dangerous one; 
 and the Company had better take care what they 
 are at, or some great mischief will yet happen ! 
 
 "I think that Native ensigns, lieutenants, and 
 captains, aye, and commanders of corps too, will 
 assimilate with our officers, and, in course of time, 
 
 years!" It is scarcely possible to' believe that Eng- 
 lishmen could be either so ungenerous or so short- 
 sighted as wantonly to outrage the feelings of the 
 natives ; but, on this point, the testimony of various' 
 authorities is corroborated by the special correspondent 
 of the Times, whose sympathies naturally lay with 
 his countrj'men, and who would not, without strong 
 evidence, venture to bring such a heavy charge 
 against them. Seeing a native badly wounded on a 
 charpoy (movable bed), with a woman sitting beside 
 him in deep affliction, he asked for an explanation, 
 and was told that an officer " had been licking two 
 of his bearers, and had nearly murdered them." 
 Mr. Russell probably did not disguise his disgust on 
 this or other occasions j for he was often told, " Oh, 
 wait till you are another month in India, and you'll 
 think nothing of licking a nigger." — The Times, 
 June 17th, 1858. 
 
 t Life and Correspondence, vol. iv., p. 325. 
 
 X Ibid.,Mol. iv., pp. 306 ; 326. § Ibid., pp. 185; 212. 
 
 I
 
 no OPINIONS OF LORD MELVILLE, SIR C. CAMPBELL, & MAJOR JACOB. 
 
 gradually throw caste to the dogs, and be like our- 
 selret in all but colour. I have no belief in the 
 po>fer of caste resisting the Christian faith for any 
 great length of time, because reason is too strong 
 for nonsense in the long run ; and I believe if the 
 Indians were made officers, on the same footing as 
 ourselves, they would be perfectly faithful, and in 
 time become Christians : not that I want to convert 
 them ; but so it will be."* 
 
 So far from any idea being entertained 
 of elevating the Native officers according to 
 the plan propounded by the commander-in- 
 chief, their absolute extinction was discussed 
 in public journals and periodicals; a fact 
 which supplies a very clear reason for gene- 
 ral disaffection. 
 
 Sir Charles Napier, in the year in which 
 he died (1853), writes to his brother. Sir 
 William :— 
 
 "The Edinburgh article you mentioned 
 says, that if the Native officers were gradu- 
 ally gotten rid of, the operation would be 
 safe, though not economical or generous. 
 But however gradually it might be done, 
 800,000 armed men would at once see 
 that all their hopes of rising to be lieu- 
 tenants, captains, and majors, and when no 
 longer able to serve, the getting pensioii^ 
 would, for those ranks, be blasted for ever. 
 The writer would soon find his plan unsafe ; 
 it would end all Indian questions at once. 
 There is no sepoy in that great army but 
 expects to retire, in age, with a major's 
 pension, as certainly as eveiy ensign expects 
 to become a major or a colonel in our army. 
 There is but one thing to be done : give the 
 Native officers rank with our own, reducing 
 the number of ours. This may endanger ; 
 hut it will not do so more than the present 
 system does ; and my own opinion is pretty 
 well made up, that our power there is crum- 
 bling very fast."t 
 
 The above statements have heen given at 
 length, not simply because they were 
 formed by the oommander-in-chief of tlie 
 Indian army, but because they are the 
 grounds on which he based his assertion, 
 that the mutiny of the sepoys was " the 
 most formidable danger menacing oiu: Indian 
 empire." Certainly Sir William Napier has 
 done good service in his unreserved exposi- 
 tion of his brother's opinions ; and though 
 many individuals of high position and cha- 
 racter, may, with justice, complain of the 
 language applied to them, yet the sarcasms 
 
 • Letter written May Slst, 1860 ; published by 
 Lieutenapt-general Sir William Napier, in the 
 Timet of August 17th, 1857. 
 
 t Life ana Opinions, vol. iv., p. 383. 
 
 of the testy old general lose half their bit- 
 terness when viewed as the ebullitions of an 
 irascible temper, aggravated by extreme 
 and almost constant bodily pain. When 
 he descends to personalities, his own com- 
 parison describes him best — " a hedgehog, 
 fighting about nothing :" but his criticisms 
 on the discipline of the Indian army, its 
 commissariat, ordnance, and transport de- 
 partments, bear witness of an extraordinary, 
 amount of judgment and shrewdness. If, 
 as "Indophllus" asserts, "Sir Charles Napier 
 had not the gift of foresight beyond other 
 men," it is the more to be regretted that 
 other men, and especially Indian states- 
 men, should have allowed his assertions to 
 remain on record, neither confirmed nor re- 
 futed, until the mutinies of 1857 brought 
 them into general notice. 
 
 Sir Charles Napier was not quite alone in 
 his condemnation of the lax discipline of 
 the Bengal army. Viscount Melville, who 
 commanded the Punjab division of the 
 Bombay forces at the time of the mutiny 
 of the two Bengal regiments under Sir 
 Colin Campbell, in 1849, was astonished at 
 the irregularity which he witnessed in the 
 Bengal army. When questioned concern- 
 ing its condition, on his return to England 
 in 1850, he did not disguise his strong dis- 
 approbation ; upon which he was told that, 
 however true his opinion might be, it would 
 be imprudent to express it.{ 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell kept silence on the 
 same principle ; but now says, that if he 
 had uttered his feelings regarding the 
 sepoys ten years ago, he would have been 
 shot.§ 
 
 Major John Jacob wrote a pamphlet|| in 
 1854, in which he pointed out various de- 
 fects in the system ; but the home authori- 
 ties were evidently unwilling to listen to any 
 unpleasant information. The reports of 
 the commander-in-chief who succeeded Sir 
 Charles Napier, and of the governor-general, 
 were both exceedingly favourable ; but then 
 the efforts of both Sir William Gommf and 
 of Lord Dalhousie, seem to have been di- 
 rected exclusively to the furtherance of very 
 necessary measures for th| welfare of the 
 European troops. Indeed, in his lordship's 
 own summary of his administratiuu, the 
 condition of the immense mass of the Indian 
 army, amounting to nearly 300,000 men, is 
 
 J Speech in the House of Lords, July 15th, 1867. 
 
 § Times, 15th January, 1858. 
 
 II Native Troops of the Indian Army. 
 
 if Indian Empire, voL i., p. 637.
 
 ALLEGED SEPOY GRIEVANCES— FRANKING ABOLISHED. Ill 
 
 dismissed iu the following brief, and, if 
 accurate, very satisfactory sentence : — 
 
 "The position of the Native soldier in 
 India has long been such as to leave hardly 
 any circumstance of his position in need of 
 improvement."* 
 
 This statement is hardly consistent with 
 that made by the chairman of the East 
 India Company (Mr. R. D. Mangles) to the 
 cadets at Addiscombe, in June, 1857. He 
 adverted to the " marked alteration in the 
 tone and bearing of the younger officers of 
 the Indian army, towards the natives of all 
 ranks," as a fact which "all joined in la- 
 menting ;" and he added, that if the " es- 
 trangement of officers from men, and espe- 
 cially of English from Native officers, was 
 allowed to continue and grow, it was impos- 
 sible to calculate the fatal consequences that 
 might ensue."t 
 
 Here, at least, was one point in which the 
 treatment of the Native soldiery was sus- 
 ceptible of improvement. But there were 
 others in which the peculiar advantages 
 they had once enjoyed had sensibly dimin- 
 ished : their work had increased ; their pay, 
 at least in the matter of extra allowances, 
 had decreased. Sinde, for instance, was 
 just as unhealthy — just as far from the 
 homes of the sepoys; under British as 
 under Native government ; yet the premium 
 previously given for foreign service was 
 withdrawn on annexation. So also in the 
 Punjab, and elsewhere. 
 
 The orders for distant service came 
 round more rapidly as territory increased. 
 The sepoys became involved in debt by 
 change of station, and the Madras troops 
 could ill afford the travelling expenses of 
 their famihes, from whom they never wil- 
 lingly separate, and whose presence has 
 probably been a chief cause of their fidelity 
 during the crisis. One regiment, for in- 
 stance, has had, within the last few years, 
 to build houses and huts at three different 
 stations; and on their late return from 
 Burmah, the men had to pay sixty rupees 
 per cart, to bring their wives and children 
 from Burhampoor to Vellore, a distance of 
 700 miles. This is said to be a fair ave- 
 rage specimen of what is going on every- 
 where. " The result is, that the men are 
 deeply embarrassed. A sepoy on seven 
 
 • Minute, dated 28ta February, 1856 ; p. 41. 
 t See Daily News, July 13th, 1857, p.p. 26, 27. 
 X Norton's Rebellion in India. 
 § Letter signed " Caubulee." — Baily Newt, July 
 17th, 1857. 
 
 rupees a-month, who has to pay fifty or 
 sixty rupees for his wife's cart once iu eeery 
 two or three years, is unavoidably plunged 
 in debt. He must borrow at exorbitant in- 
 terest from the money-lender ; and before he 
 can reclaim the past, the ' route* comes for a 
 fresh march,to far-distant cantonments, and 
 hurries him into fre«h difficulties."^ 
 
 The Bengal sepoys do not carry their 
 families with them on a campaign, but 
 leave them in their native villages, visiting 
 them every year. The furloughs granted 
 for this purpose, have been diminished in 
 consequence of the growing necessities of 
 the service; and another infringement of 
 a prerogative, which their separation from 
 their wives and children rendered very 
 valuable, was committed by the withdrawal 
 of their privilege of franking letters to their 
 homes. Several late regulations regarding 
 the payment of pensions, and increasing 
 strictness on the part of the general in- 
 validing committee, are asserted to have 
 been viewed by the sepoys as involving 
 breach of faith on the part of the govern- 
 ment. They are said to have felt with the 
 old Scotchwoman, "I ken ye're cheating 
 me, but I dinna ken exactly hoo."§ Any 
 alteration in the rules of the retiring pen- 
 sion-list, was watched by the sepoy with 
 jealous care. The terms which secured to 
 him a fixed monthly stipend in the event of 
 becoming incapacitated for further duty after 
 a service of fifteen years, and which, if he 
 died in battle, or from sickness while on 
 foreign service, made some provision for his 
 family, could not of course be altered, even 
 slightly, without exciting alarm as to what 
 further changes might follow. The Bengal 
 sepoys were largely drawn from Oude; 
 and not from Oude generally, but from 
 certain limited districts. Naturally there 
 existed among them the feeling observable 
 in British soldiers born in the same county, 
 when associated in a regiment on foreign 
 service ; and possibly it was clanship, quite 
 as much as caste, which bound them together: 
 but whatever it was, a strong tie of union, and 
 consequent power of combination, existed 
 among them, which rendered them efficient 
 for good or evil. Sir John Malcolm had 
 given a memorable warning regarding them. 
 Neither the Hindoo nor the Mohammedan 
 soldier were, he said, revengeful, but both 
 were prone to acts of extreme violence ia 
 points where they deemed their honour 
 slighted. The absence of any fear of death 
 was common to them all. Such an inatru*
 
 112 OPPOSITE VIEWS— MALCOLM AND GENERAL ANSON. 
 
 ment as an army constituted of men like 
 these afforded, had need be managed with 
 care and wisdom, or our strength would 
 become our danger. The minds of the 
 sepoys were alive to every impulse, and 
 would all vibrate to the same touch. Kind- 
 ness, liberality, and justice would preserve 
 their attachment : besides thf&, Malcolm 
 adds, " we must attend to the most trifling 
 of their prejudices, and avoid rash inno- 
 vations ; but, above all, those that are 
 calculated to convey to their minds the 
 most distant alarm in points connected 
 with their usages or religion."* This 
 policy found little favour among the Euro- 
 peans in 1856. 
 
 The exclusive payment of the troops in 
 such an inconveniently heavy coin as the sil- 
 ver rupee (two-shilling) piece, obliges them 
 to resort frequently to money-changers; 
 and thus to lose a per-ceutage on their 
 small stipend. Unfortunately, the gover- 
 nor-general, whose practical ability might 
 have been so beneficially exercised in this 
 and other matters, appears to have listened j 
 to only one set of statements regarding the 
 Native army, and to have acted upon the 
 principle that the sepoy had been "over- 
 petted," and required sterner discipline. 
 
 General Anson, who succeeded Sir Wil- 
 liam Gomm in command of the army, took 
 the same view of the case, only a more exag- 
 gerated one. When the cartridge agitation 
 first commenced, he set at nought the 
 feelings of the sepoys, by declaring that 
 " he would never give in to their beastly 
 prejudices." This speech sufficiently reveals 
 the character of the commander-in-chief to 
 whom it could be even attributed with any 
 show of probability; and it certainly de- 
 serves a place among the immediate causes 
 of the mutiny. t The European officers 
 appear to have too generally adopted the 
 same tone, especially as regarded the Ben- 
 galees ; and it was commonly said, that 
 whereas the leading feeling with the Bom- 
 bay and Madras sepoys was the honour of 
 their regiment, that of the Bengal sepoy 
 was the pride of caste. But, in fact, all the 
 Hindoos, except the outcastes, maintain 
 more or less strongly, certain religious 
 prejudices which interfere with their effi- 
 ciency as soldiers ; especially their invariable 
 dislike to sea voyages, and to passing cer- 
 tain recognised boundaries. 
 
 • Malcolm on the Government of India, p. 219. 
 
 t Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 37. 
 
 j Sleeiran's Journey through Oude, vol. ii., p. 95. 
 
 The Afghan war was very unpopular for 
 this reason ; and the calamities and sore dis- 
 comfiture endured there, deepened the un- 
 favourable impression which it made upon 
 the whole Native army, and generally upon 
 the people of India. An insurrection in the 
 Saugor and Nerbudda districts broke out in 
 1842. The wild barons of the hills and 
 jungles swept down over the valleys and 
 cultivated plains ; yet the pillaged inhabi- 
 tants yielded little support to the officers of 
 the government, and would furnish no 
 information with regard to the movements 
 of the insurrectionists. Colonel Sleeman 
 was sent by Lord Ellenborough to inquire 
 into the cause of this inconsistency. He 
 assembled a party of about fifty of the low- 
 landers in his tent; and there, seated on 
 the carpet, each man freely spoke his mind. 
 Urarao Sing, a sturdy, honest farmer, spoke 
 of the conduct of the chiefs as quite natural. 
 The sudden withdrawal of the troops for 
 objects of distant conquest, and the tidings 
 of disaster and defeat, awakened their hopes 
 of regaining their former position, for they 
 thought the British raj at an end. Colonel 
 Sleeman said, that the farmers and cultiva- 
 tors of the disturbed districts, having been 
 more favoured, in regard to life and property, 
 than in any other part of India, ought to 
 have been stanch to their protectors : 
 " but," he added, "there are some men who 
 never can be satisfied ; give them what you 
 will, they will always be craving after 
 more." "True, sir," replied Umrao Sing, 
 with the utmost gravity, " there are some 
 people who can never be satisfied, give them 
 what you will ; give them the whole of 
 Hindoostan, and they will go off to Cabool 
 to take more."J 
 
 Hedayut Ali, a subahdar of the Bengal 
 Seik battalion, a man of excellent character, 
 whose father and grandfather had occupied 
 the highest positions attainable to natives in 
 the British service, has furnished some 
 important evidence on the causes of disaffec- 
 tion among the sepoys. He lays much 
 stress on the sufferings endured by the 
 sepoys in Afghanistan in 1838-'9, and the 
 violations of caste which they were com- 
 pelled to commit by the extreme cold, espe- 
 cially in the matter of eating without first 
 bathing, and of wearing sheepskin jackets ; 
 whereas no Hindoo, except of the lowest 
 caste, likes to touch the skin of a dead 
 animal. 
 
 The annexation of Oude is cited by this 
 witness as having, in addition to other real
 
 ARBITRARY REGULATIONS OF GENERAL ANSON— 1856. 
 
 113 
 
 or imaginary grievances, caused universal 
 disaffection throughout the army, which 
 from that time determined upon mutinying. 
 The grounds upon which this opinion is 
 based, are very clearly stated. On the 14th 
 of March, 1856, the King of Oude reached 
 Cawnpoor, on his way to Calcutta. Hedayut 
 All reached that city on the same day. He 
 remained there six days, and had frequent 
 interviews with the king's vakeels, courtiers, 
 and servants ; as did also the principal 
 people of Cawnpoor, and many of the Native 
 oflBcers and sepoys of the regiments stationed 
 there; all of whom were indignant at the 
 king's dispossession. The vakeel of Nana 
 Sahib was among the visitors, and took pains 
 to increase the excitement, by saying how 
 displeased and grieved his master was by the 
 conduct of the English. Shortly after, 
 Hedayut Ali proceeded to join his corps at 
 Lahore, and marched thence to Bengal. 
 On the way, he learnt that the Native in- 
 fantry at Barrackpoor were showing symp- 
 toms of mutiny ; and this, with other intelli- 
 gence, he, from time to time, communicated 
 to his commanding officer. 
 
 The King of Oude again visited Cawnpoor 
 in December, 1856, and stayed about a 
 fortnight ; during which time much mischief 
 is said to have been concocted. Meanwhile 
 the commander-in-chief and the governor- 
 general were initiating measures very dis- 
 pleasing to various classes of natives. The 
 Madras sepoys had shown, at Vellore, how 
 dangerous it was to interfere with the 
 marks on their foreheads, or the fashion of 
 their turbans. The Seiks and Mohamme- 
 dans are scarcely less susceptible on the 
 subject of their beards and monstachios. 
 Consequently, in the extensive enlistments 
 of these races, carried on after the annexa- 
 tion of the Punjab, a pledge was given that 
 no interference should be attempted in the 
 matter of hair-dressing. General Anson, 
 however, issued an order, directing the 
 Mohammedans to cut their beards after a 
 prescribed fashion. They refused, pleading 
 the condition of their enlistment. The 
 general insisted on their obeying the order, 
 or quitting the service ; and many of them, 
 sooner than suffer what, in their view, was 
 a disgrace, took their discharge, and went 
 to their homes. Sir Charles Napier under- 
 stood the native character far too well to 
 have so needlessly played the martinet, in- 
 dependently of the sympathy which he 
 would naturally have felt for the recusants, 
 by reason of having himself " a beard like a 
 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
 Cashmere goat." The discharged sepoys 
 " bitterly complained of the commanding 
 officers having broken faith with them ; and 
 several of them, who afterwards re-enlisted 
 in the same regiment as Hedayut Ali, 
 frequently spoke of the manner in which 
 they had been deprived of the benefit of 
 several years' service. But the crowning 
 act of innovation enacted by Lord Canning 
 and General Anson, was the general service 
 order of 1856, by which all recruits were to 
 be compelled to swear that they would go, 
 by sea or land, wherever their services were 
 required. The refusal of the 38th Bengal 
 infantry to march to Burmah, was severely 
 punished by Lord Dalhousie's sending the 
 regiment by land to Dacca, where the can- 
 tonments were very bad, and the loss of 
 life among the troops extremely heavy."* 
 He did riot, however, attempt to strike 
 such a blow as that now aimed at caste ; 
 for the unqualified aversion to the sea 
 entertained by the Bengal sepoys, would, it 
 was well known, prevent many from bring- 
 ing up their children to a profession which 
 they had learned to look upon as an here- 
 ditary means of obtaining an honourable 
 maintenance. They feared also for them- 
 selves. Hedayut Ali says — " When the 
 old sepoys heard of this order, they were 
 much frightened and displeased. ' Up to 
 this day, those men who went to Afghanis- 
 tan have not been readmitted to their 
 caste ; how are we to know where the Eng- 
 lish may force us to go? They will be 
 ordering us next to go to London.' Any 
 new order is looked upon with much sus- 
 picion by the Native army, and is much 
 canvassed in every regiment." 
 
 This latter remark is unquestionably a just 
 one ; the intercourse maintained throughout 
 the Bengal army, and the rapid and correct 
 transmission of intelligence, having been 
 one of the most marked features of the 
 mutinies. The following observations are 
 also painfully correct : — 
 
 " Of late years the sepoys have not confided in their 
 officers. • * * A native of Hindoostan seldom 
 opens his mind to his officer; he only says what he 
 thinks would please his officer. The sepoys reserve 
 their real opinion until they return to their lines 
 and to their comrades. • • • The government 
 must be aware, that when a soldier has once or twice 
 shown a disposition to mutiny, he is useless as a 
 soldier : one mutinous sepoy infects a whole com- 
 pany ; and gradually, one man after another, from 
 fear or sympathy, joins the mutineers. 
 
 " Many commanding officers, to my knowledge, 
 reported that regiments were all right, when they 
 
 • Norton't Rebellion in India, p. 21.
 
 114 
 
 EVILS OF THE SENIORITY SYSTEM— 185fi. 
 
 knew that there were discontent and bad feeling in 
 the ranks ; and, to my belief, for the sake of the 
 name of their respective regiments, concealed the 
 real state of their regiments, until at length the 
 seppys took to murdering their officers. • • • 
 Another reason (and, in my opinion, a very serious 
 one) why the army became mutinous and disaffected 
 is this. Promotion all %ent by seniority, and not, 
 as it ought, according to merit and proficiency. All 
 the old men, from length of service worth nothing 
 as commissioned or non-commissioned officers, re- 
 ceived promotion ; while younger men, in every way 
 fit, languished in their lines ; saying, ' What use is 
 there in us exerting ourselves j we cannot get pro- 
 motion until our turn comes, and that time can't 
 come until our heads are gray and our mouths 
 toothless.' For this reason, the sepoys for the most 
 part drew their pay, and were careless with regard 
 to their duty. The higher ranks of the Native army, 
 from old age alone, were quite incapacitated from 
 doing their duty, even had they the will to do it. 
 I state confidently, that the generality of Native 
 officers were an encumbrance to the state : instead 
 of commanding sepoys, the sepoys commanded 
 them ; and instead of the commissioned and non- 
 commissioned ranks preventing the men from muti- 
 nying, they rather persuaded them to do so."* 
 
 'I'he above opinion of a Native ofBcer 
 on the effect of the Bengal military system 
 upon his countrymen, reads like the echo 
 of that of Indophilus, regarding its opera- 
 tion on the Europeans. The arguments 
 urged in the two cases are so nearly iden- 
 tical, that it may well be asked whether 
 justice and, common sense do not prompt to 
 the same course of general legislation. 
 
 " Under a pure seniority system, an officer's pro- 
 motion goes on precisely in the same manner 
 whether he exerts himself or takes his ease ; and as 
 few love exertion for its own sake, the majority take 
 the^r ease. Under a system of selection according 
 to 'qualification and service, promotion is dependent 
 upon exertion, and the majority consequently exert 
 themselves. Those only who know the Bengal 
 army can form some estimate of the amount of idle- 
 ness and bad habit engendered by the seniority 
 system co-operating with the enervating influences 
 of the climate, which would be converted into active 
 interest in professional duty, by the substitution of a 
 well-considered system of promotion according to 
 qualification and good service."t 
 
 Lord MelvilleJ: had also urged, so far as he 
 was- allowed to do, the evils of the seniority 
 system. Other authorities, more or less di- 
 rectly, assert, that it was the defective charac- 
 ter, rather than tlie insufficient number, of 
 the officers left to do regimental duty as "the 
 refuse of the army," which weakened their 
 
 * Translated by Captain T. Rattray, from the 
 original Oordoo; and published in the Times, April 
 Ist, 1858. 
 
 t Letters of Indophilus, p. 1 8. 
 
 \ The directors are said to defend themselves for 
 neglecting Lord Melville's repraserilations, on the 
 ground that his " evidence was contradicted most 
 
 hold on their men. Brigadier-general Jacob 
 remarks, that " qualifications, not numbers, 
 are necessarj' for the leaders of the native 
 Indian soldiers ;" and his opinion is cor- 
 roborated by the fact, that the irregular 
 aud local force, which was officered entirely 
 by a few but picked men, was — allowing for 
 discrepancies of pay and dates of enlist- 
 ment — generally held to be in an equally, 
 if not more, efficient condition than the 
 regular regiments. 
 
 A well-informed, but not unprejudiced 
 witness says, that the conduct of irregular 
 regiments, which possess only three Euro- 
 pean officers, has always contrasted so 
 favourably with that of line regiments, 
 with their fourteen or fifteen, that the 
 natural conclusion one would arrive at is, 
 that the latter are over-officered. He also 
 deprecates the seniority system, by which 
 a sepoy who may enter the service at the 
 age of sixteen, cannot count on finding 
 himself a naik (corporal) before he attains 
 the age of thirty-six ; a havildar (sergeant) 
 before forty-five; a jemadar (lieutenant) 
 before fifty-four; or a subahdar (captain) 
 before sixty; while, "after fifty, most natives 
 are utterly useless."§ 
 
 The full complement of European officers 
 to each regular regiment is twenty-six ; but 
 of these half are geuerally absent, either on 
 service or on furlough. The commander 
 is usually a lieutenant-colonel; then there 
 is an adjutant, to superintend the drill; a 
 quartermaster, whose duty it is to look 
 after the clothing of the men ; and, lastly, 
 an interpreter. The necessity for this last 
 functionary lies at the root of our late sudden 
 calamity ; for the officers, if they had been 
 able and willing to hold close intercourse 
 with their men, and explain to them the 
 reasons for the various unpopular orders 
 recently issued, would, if they could not 
 remove disaffection, at least Lave become 
 acquainted with its existence. An infantry 
 regiment on the Bengal establishment com- 
 prises ten companies, each containing a 
 hundred privates, two native commissioned, 
 and twelve non-commissioned officers. 
 
 The great increase of the irregular regi- 
 ments has been in itself a source of jealousy 
 and heartburning to the regular troops, who 
 
 strongly, in every particular, by that of Sir Patrick 
 Grant, who assured us, that the Bengal army (of 
 which he had been long adjutant-general) was all 
 that it should be."— Letter, signed " H. C." — Daily 
 News, July 25th, 1857. 
 
 § Mutiny of the Bengal Army by one who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier; pp. 1 ; 7.
 
 ARBITRARY REGULATIONS OF 1856. 
 
 115 
 
 expected that their numbers would be 
 largely augmented on the recent annexa- 
 tions, and that extensive promotions would 
 take place. This expectation was wholly 
 disappointed. The enormous expenses of 
 the array rendered the comparative cheap- 
 ness of irregular troops an irresistible advan- 
 tage. According to the Army List for 1857, 
 the irregular and local force of Bengal num- 
 bered forty-two infantry, and twenty-seven 
 cavalry regiments; and the so-called contin> 
 gents of Native States, comprised sixteen of 
 cavalry and nineteen of infantry: in all, 
 ninety-four regiments ; the whole officered 
 by picked men from the twenty-four regi- 
 ments of the regular army. The relative 
 numbers of the three armies need not be 
 given here, as their proportions and distribu- 
 tion are immediately connected with the 
 history about to be entered on. The ques- 
 tion of the greased cartridges has been 
 already noticed under the head of " Caste ;" 
 and will frequently recur in the ensuing 
 narrative. 
 
 A Mohammedan Conspiracy, widely rami- 
 fied and deeply rooted, is urged by some 
 authorities as in itself the great motive 
 power of the late political convulsion; 
 others, on the contrary, r'eny its existence, 
 en the ground of no sufficient evidence 
 having been adduced thereof. 
 
 Dr. Alexander Duff, the eloquent Pres- 
 byterian preacher of Calcutta, writing in 
 August, 1857, says — " It is a long-con- 
 cocted Mohammedan conspiracy now come 
 to a head. The main object is the destruc- 
 tion of British power, and the reascendancy 
 of Mohammedan. Even the cartridge 
 affair was only a casual incident, of which 
 the conspirators adroitly took advantage."* 
 
 In his published Letters on the Indian 
 Rebellion, the Doctor throughout insists on 
 Mussulman intrigues as being continually 
 developed and exposed ; but he wrote in 
 a season of excitement, when rumours 
 abounded of dangers and atrocities, many 
 of which have happily proved unfounded, 
 but which naturally served to confirm his 
 preconceived opinion. The truth is terrible 
 enough; and for the sake of our national 
 honour, for the sake of human nature, and, 
 above all, for the sake of truth itself, we 
 
 •Speech of the Hon. A. Kinnaird, 11th June, 
 1857 : second edition ; p. 36. 
 
 t Proclamation issued by Prince Mirza Moham- 
 med Feroze Shah, 17th February, 1858. 
 
 t See Times, September 1st, IS.'^'' 
 
 should strive to strip this fearful episode of 
 the obscurity in which conflicting exagge- 
 rations have wrapped its origin and pro- 
 gress. Beyond question, the Mohammedan 
 princes of India have strong reason for 
 combining to restore the green flag of Islam 
 to its former supremacy in Hindoostan. If 
 an opportunity offered, it is at least highly 
 probable that the orthodox Sonnites of 
 Delhi, and the heterodox Sheiahs of Oude, 
 would be content to forget for a time the 
 rival claims of Caliphs and Imaums to 
 apostolic succession, and make common 
 cause against the power which treats both 
 with indifference. 
 
 The whole Mussulman body would of 
 necessity be drawn closer together by the 
 danger which threatened all alike. They 
 had still something to lose; that is, some- 
 thing to fight for. Submission had not 
 succeeded in preserving the independence 
 of Oude ; and even Hyderabad, much more 
 the titidar principality of Delhi, seemed 
 tottering to a close. Still the Mohamme- 
 dans were as a handful amid a heap; and 
 the chief point to solve was, whether the 
 recent innovations had sufficiently disgusted 
 the leading Hindoos to render them willing 
 to forget past usurpations, and join with 
 their former subjugators in attempting the 
 overthrow of the British raj. 
 
 Tippoo Sultan had made an effort of the 
 kind, but without success ; and it now ap- 
 pears, by his own proclamation, that Prince 
 Mirza Feroze Shah, on his return from a 
 pilgrimage to Mecca, "persuaded many at 
 Delhi to raise a religious war;" being in- 
 cited thereto by observing that " the Eng- 
 lish were in a bad and precarious state. "f 
 
 Great anxiety had been felt at Delhi, 
 throughout the period of Lord Dalhousie's 
 administration, regarding the manner in 
 which his annexation policy would be 
 brought to bear upon the family who, fallen 
 as they were, still represented, in the minds 
 of the Indian people, the mighty Mogul 
 emperors of old, and whose restoration to 
 power had been prayed for daily in the 
 mosques throughout India for nearly a 
 hundred years. J 
 
 In 1849, the heir-apparent died, and the 
 Indian government recommended the Court 
 of Directors to " terminate ♦he dynasty of 
 Tiraour whenever the reigning king should 
 die." The court consented ; but so reluc- 
 tantly, that the governor-general did not 
 care to avail himself of their permission, 
 and therefore recognised the grandson of
 
 116 PERSIAN WAR DEPRIVED INDIA OF EUROPEAN TROOPS— 1856. 
 
 the king as heir-apparent ; " but only on 
 condition tliat he should quit the palace in 
 Delhi, in order to reside in the palace at 
 the Kootub ; and that he should, as king, 
 receive the governor-general of India, at all 
 times, on terms of perfect equality." 
 
 These conditions show that something 
 of external pomp and circumstance .still 
 lingered around Delhi, of which the repre- 
 sentatives of the East India Company were 
 anxious to be rid, and the royal family as 
 anxious to retain. True, the power had 
 long vanished ; but even the tarnished 
 pageantry wis clung to, naturally enough, 
 by those who had no other birthright, and 
 no prospect of being able to win their way to 
 wealth and honour as warriors ; the profes- 
 sion of arms being the only one in which a 
 Mohammedan prin(ie of the blood could en- 
 gage without forfeiting caste. The sullateen 
 (plural for sultan) — as the various branches 
 of the family are termed — are probably a very 
 idle and dissolute race. It is in the nature 
 of things that ibey should have become so. 
 Certainly we never did anything to hinder 
 their debasement ; and have, while acting as 
 their political and pecuniary trustees, been 
 lamentably indifferent to their moral and 
 physical welfare. We never evinced the 
 slightest interest in them; and have no 
 right to wonder at their degradation. 
 
 With the downfall of the dynasty we had 
 no concern. In dealing generously with 
 Shah Alum, we acted with sound policy. 
 All India respected us for it. Even in 
 Leadenhall-street, sufiBcient memory of the 
 bygone feelings and events lingered in 1849, 
 to make the application of the new absorp- 
 tion laws seem peculiarly harsh in the case 
 of Delhi. The scruples of the Court of Direc- 
 tors induced Lord Dalhousie to draw back 
 his hand, at least as far as the titular sove- 
 reignty was concerned ; but his proposal for 
 its extinction having been once mooted, and 
 even sanctioned, it may be considered that the 
 sentence was rather deferred tlian reversed. 
 This, at least, was the public opinion. 
 It is a singular fact, that the same accounts 
 from India, which have been already quoted 
 as describing the unbroken tranquillity of 
 the entire peninsula at the close of 1856, 
 state that the palace of Delhi was " in a 
 ferment," owing to the recent death of the 
 heir-apparent from cholera, and the renewed 
 discussion regarding the succession. " We 
 have (it is added) no treaty, agreement, or 
 
 * Calcutta correspondent, November 8th, 1856. — 
 Ti7nss, December 9th, 1856. 
 
 stipulation with Delhi. The king's privi- 
 leges and pension were all granted as of 
 free grace ; and the former will probably be 
 withdrawn. The palace is a sink of iniquity ; 
 and the family, on the death of its present 
 head, will probably be compelled to move."* 
 The same paper contains the announce- 
 ment that the anticipated declaration of war 
 against Persia had appeared in a proclama- 
 tion published at Calcutta on the 1st of 
 November, 1856. The casus belli was the 
 breach of the treaty of 1853, by which the 
 Persian government promised to abstain 
 from all interference with Herat ; the inde- 
 pendence of that city, under its brave chief, 
 Esa Khan, being deemed essential to the 
 security of the British frontier. On the 
 pretence that Dost Mohammed had been 
 instigated to seize Candahar and advance 
 upon Herat, a Persian army crossed into 
 the Herat territory (which was declared to be 
 Persian soil), and laid siege to the city. 
 Under instructions from the home govern- 
 ment, a force was assembled at Bombay for 
 service in the Persian Gulf. The Times' 
 correspondent describes the departure of 
 the force, in three divisions, as taking place 
 in the middle of November. The first, con- 
 sisting of H.M.'s 64th regiment and the 
 20th Native infantry, embarked from Vin- 
 gorla in two steamers, each with its trans- 
 port in tow. The second, 'comprising a 
 European regiment, the 2nd Belooch cavalry, 
 and two squadrons of the 3rd cavalry, sailed 
 from Poorbuuder and Kurrachee. The third 
 embarked from Kurrachee a few days later, 
 and consisted of the 4th Rifles (a very strong 
 and well-appointed regimeut), two troops of 
 the Poona horse, a field battery, a troop of 
 horse artillery, a third-class siege-train, and 
 two companies of sappers and miners. The 
 rendezvous was fixed at Bunder Abbas, a 
 place near the entrance of the gulf, in the 
 occupation of our Arab ally, the Imaum of 
 Muscat. t 
 
 At the time the above facts were recorded, 
 no idea appears to have been entertained of 
 any connection existing between the Persian 
 war and the ferment in the palace of 
 Delhi. The declaration of war had been 
 long expected ; and, according to the Times' 
 correspondent, created little excitement at 
 Bombay. The Persians, who are nume- 
 rous there, as also in other large Indian 
 cities, relied on the promise of protection 
 given them, and remained quiescent. " Even 
 
 t Bombay correspondent, November 17th, 1856. — 
 Times, December 9th, 1856.
 
 REPORTS OF MOHAMMEDAN PLOTS— 1856. 
 
 117 
 
 the Mussulman population, who sympathise 
 with Persia," he adds, "sympathise still 
 more with Afghanistan ;* and the fact that 
 we are fighting with, and not against, Dost 
 Mohammed, is thoroughly understood. The 
 European public accepts the war with a 
 feeling of quiet resignation. The idea that 
 it is our destiny to advance — that we cannot 
 help ourselves, has obtained a control over 
 the public mind ; and every war breaks the 
 monotony of Indian life, which is the curse 
 of India, as of all aristocratic life." 
 
 It seems probable that the Persian war 
 materially, though indirectly, contributed 
 to break up the aristocratic monotony of 
 high-caste European life, by denuding India 
 of her most reliable troops. The number 
 sent, of men of all arms, to the Persian 
 Gulf, in November, 1856, amounted to 
 5,820, of whom 2,270 were Europeans. In 
 the following February a still larger force 
 was dispatched, under Brigadier-general 
 Havelock, consisting of 5,340 men, of 
 whom about 1,770 were Europeans; and 
 800 cavalry were subsequently dispatched 
 at an enormous cost. Thus the " army of 
 Persia" deprived India of about 12,000 
 men, of whom on&rthird were Europeans. 
 Lord Canning considered this force quite 
 sufficient for any operations which Major- 
 general Outram could undertake before the 
 hot season ; but, he adds, " it is certain 
 that very large reinforcements will be 
 needed before a second campaign, com- 
 mencing with the autumn of 1857, can be 
 entered upon." 
 
 Man proposes — God disposes. Long 
 before the autumn set in, an Indian cam- 
 paign had commenced, which, whether the 
 Persians had or had not withdrawn their 
 claims on Herat, must have equally relieved 
 the governor-general from the task of pro- 
 viding a third armament for the Persian 
 Gulf, "to include not less than six Euro- 
 pean regiments of infantry and one of 
 cavalry." The Persians were overcome, 
 and the independence of Herat was secured, 
 at a cost to Britain of about ^6500,000 in 
 money. f Meanwhile, intimations of Persian 
 intrigues were given to the authorities by 
 various persons, but set at nought as idle 
 
 * This assertion may be reasonably questioned, 
 since the Sheiahs of Oude looked up to the Shah of 
 Persia as the head of their sect. Mr. Ludlow says 
 that the Persian v/ar caused great excitement in 
 Northern India, where many of the Moslems were of 
 the SliL-iah sect ; and he adds, that one of his rela- 
 tives had himself, within the last two or three years, 
 read placards on the walls of Delhi, calling true 
 
 rumours. The trial of the King of Delhi fur- 
 nishes evidence that inducements to revolt 
 were held forth by the Shah of Persia, who 
 promised money and troops. His procla- 
 mation to that effect was posted over the 
 mosque gate, and was taken down by order 
 of Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, who, moreover, 
 was informed by John Everett, a Christian 
 risaldar very popular with the natives, that 
 he had been warned to fly, as the Persians 
 were coming, and the Mussulmans were 
 greatly excited. Sir T. Metcalfe thought 
 the information of no importance.^ A state- 
 ment of a Mohammedan plot was laid 
 before Mr. Colvin ; but he also suffered the 
 warning to pass unheeded, and did not even 
 report it to government. 
 
 At this very time Delhi was absolutely 
 devoid of European troops, yet strongly 
 fortified, and stored with the munitions of 
 war. Its palace-fort was still tenanted by 
 the representative of the rois faineants of 
 the East, whose persons had formerly been 
 fought for by opposing factions as a tower 
 of strength ; their compulsory signature 
 being used notoriously to legitimatise usur- 
 pation, and influence the populace. 
 
 Extreme insalubrity is given by Lord 
 Eilenborough as the reason why no Euro- 
 pean regiment had ever yet been stationed 
 there, sickness prevailing to such an extent, 
 that, after the rains, two-thirds of the 
 strength even of the Native troops were in 
 hospital. § Sanitary measures would pro- 
 bably have prevented, or greatly mitigated 
 this evil (as at Seringapatam); nor does it 
 appear that any cause but neglect existed 
 to render Delhi less habitable than of old. 
 
 Sir Charles Napier's prediction was one 
 which any chance traveller might have rea- 
 sonably made ; and there is, therefore, the 
 less excuse for the absence of obviously ne- 
 cessary precautions. " Men," he said, " of 
 all parts of Asia meet in Delhi ; and, some 
 day or other, much mischief will be hatched 
 within those city walls, and no European 
 troops at hand." II He knew also, and oflfi- 
 cially urged upon the governor-general, 
 " that the powder-magazine was defended 
 only by a guard of fifty natives, and the 
 gates so weak that a mob could push them 
 
 believers to the holy war in the name of the Shah of 
 Persia. — Lectures on British India, toI. ii., p. 219. 
 
 t Speech of Lord Claude Hamilton : Indian de- 
 bate, July ^Olh, 1857. 
 
 X Calcuttacorrespondent.— Times, March 29, 1858. 
 
 § Indian debate, July 13th, 1857. 
 
 II Letter to a lieutenant-colonel in the Bengal 
 artillery: published in the Times, 20th August, 1857.
 
 118 
 
 BRITISH RULE TO LAST A HUNDRED YEARS. 
 
 m; whereas the place ought to be garri- 
 soned by 12,000 picked men."* 
 
 The absence of a Europeau garrison in 
 Delhi is the most unpardonable of our blun- 
 ders; and — what does not always follow — 
 it is the one for which we 1 ? most dearly 
 paid, not in money only, but in the life- 
 blood of our best and bravest soldiers. One 
 cannot think of Nicholson and his gallant 
 companions without bitterly denouncing 
 the neglect which suffered Delhi to fall 
 defenceless at the feet of a few rebels, put 
 at once a sword and shield into their hands, 
 and gave them the ancient Mussulman 
 metropolis of India as a nucleus for every 
 aggrieved chief, every disaffected soldier, 
 every reckless adventurer, escaped convict, 
 pindarree, thug, dacoit, to rally round, for 
 the destruction of the British raj — at least 
 for a long carnival Of war and loot. The 
 very heroism of the troops who regained 
 Delhi embitters the recollection of the 
 neglect by which it was lost. Dulce et 
 decorum est pro patria mori! as one of 
 them (Captain Battye) said when mortally 
 wounded ; but, to their country, their very 
 devotion only renders it more painful that 
 the necessity for such sacrifices should 
 have been so culpably occasioned. This is, 
 however, anticipating events, the progress 
 of which will best evidence how far Persian 
 intrigues may have been connected with the 
 mutiny. At present, many assertions are 
 made, the tnith of which yet remains in 
 dispute. It would seem, however, that the 
 efforts of the King of Persia had been chiefly 
 directed to Delhi ; and that if communica- 
 tions were entered into with leading Mo- 
 hammedans in other parts of India, these 
 had not had time to ripen ; and, conse- 
 quently, when the mutinies broke forth, 
 heralded by incendiary fires in every British 
 camp, the conspirators must have been 
 
 taken by surprise almost as much as the 
 Europeans themselves. f 
 
 Shett NowmuU, "a native merchant of 
 Kurrachee, for many years favourably known 
 to government on account of his great in- 
 telligence, his extensive influence and coo* 
 nexions throughout the countries on our 
 western frontier, and his true attachment 
 to the British government," communicated, 
 to Mr. Freere, commissioner of Sinde, in 
 June, 1857, his reasons for believing that 
 " Persian influence was at the bottom of the 
 mutiny." He declared that cossids (mes- 
 sengers), nuder different disguises, withletters 
 secreted in the soles of their shoes or other- 
 wise, had, for the last two years, been regu- 
 larly passing between Delhi and the Persian 
 court, vi& Candahar ; that a great spread of 
 the, Sheiah tenets of Islamism had been 
 observable during the same period; and 
 also that a very perceptible decrease had 
 taken place in the rancour usually existing 
 between the Sheiahs and Sonnites. The 
 new cartridges had been used " through the 
 same influence," to excite the feelings of 
 the Hindoo portion of the army, and lead 
 them to mutiny. Dost Mohammed, he 
 said, thought more of Persia than of 
 England, for a very pertinent reason — 
 " Persia is on the Dost's head ; Peshawur is 
 under his feet :"J in other words, a man 
 placed between two fires, would especially 
 dread the more immediate one. 
 
 Prophecies of various kinds were current 
 — always are current, in India ; but when 
 the mutiny broke out, more heed was given 
 to them by the natives ; and the Europeans 
 also lent an ear, knowing that a pretended 
 prophecy might disguise an actual plot, and, 
 in more ways than one, work out its own 
 fulfilment. The alleged prediction which 
 limited the duration of the British raj to 
 a hundred years, was repeated far and wide ;§ 
 
 • Memoir on the Defence of India ; addressed by 
 Sir C. Napier to Lord Dalhousie. See Indian debate 
 of 23rd July, 1857. 
 
 t In the captured tent of the Shahzada com- 
 mander, after the rout of the Persians at Mohum- 
 rah, there was found a royal proclamation addressed 
 •^ to all the people of Heran ; but which also called 
 on " the Afghan tribes, and the inhabitants of that 
 country who are co-religionists of the Persians, and 
 who possess the same Koran and Kebla, and laws of 
 the prophet, to take part in the Jahdd." It expressly 
 invited the followers of Islam in India and Smde to 
 unite and wreak vergeance on the British for all the 
 injuries which the holy faith had suffered from them, 
 and not to withhold any sacrifice in the holy cause. 
 " The old and the young, the small and the great, 
 the wise and the ignorant, the ryot and the sepoy, 
 
 all without exception," are summoned by the Shah- 
 in-Shah to arise in defence of the orthodox faith of 
 the prophet ; and having girt up the waist of valour, 
 adorn their persons with arms and weapons ; and let 
 the UUema and preachers call on the people in the 
 mosques and public assemblies, and in the pulpits, to 
 join m a Jahdd, in the cause of Ood ; and thus shall 
 the Ohazis in the cause of faith have a just title to 
 the promises contained in the words of the prophet, 
 " Verily we are of those who fought in the cause of 
 God."— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine for 1857 : 
 article entitled " The Poorbeah Mutiny." 
 
 X Letter from H. B. B. Freere, commissioner of 
 Sinde, to Lord Elphinstone, governor of Bombay, 
 nth June, 1867.— Pari. Papers (253), 4th May, 
 1858; p. 48. 
 
 § Dr. A. Duff's Letter) ! London, 1868 j p. 26.
 
 RUSSIAN INTRIGUES AN ALLEGED CAUSE OF DISSAFFECTION. 1 19 
 
 and the Europeans in Calcutta and many 
 of the leading cities, iratched the approach 
 of the centenary of Plassy with a feverish 
 anxiety bordering on panic. 
 
 But prophecies such as these, are usually 
 the consequence or tlie sign, rather than the 
 cause, of popular tumults. In health we 
 can smile at language which, in sickness, 
 excites a fevered imagination to frenzy. 
 For years the natives had been allowed to 
 speculate on the future destiny, and com- 
 ment on the present policy, of their rulers, 
 without any restraiut whatever; now, every 
 third word seemed treason. Such of the 
 English functionaries as understood Indian 
 languages, began to examine the literature 
 of the day ; and were exceedingly puzzled to 
 decide what was, and what was not, written 
 with a sinister intent. 
 
 A Persian paper, for instance, was brought 
 to Mr. Freere about the commencement of 
 hostilities, which described the signs preced- 
 ing the day of judgment, in language strik- 
 ingly applicable to existing circumstances, 
 and calculated to unsettle and excite men's 
 minds, and prepare them for some sudden 
 disturbance ; but it read so like a free trans- 
 lation of a sermon by a popular English 
 preacher on the same subject, as to render 
 it difficult to decide how to act with regard 
 to it.* 
 
 The struggle which has taken place be- 
 tween the Christians and the Mussulmans, 
 in various distinct parts of Europe as well 
 as Asia, and which has been cotempora- 
 neous with the Indian mutiny, is viewed as 
 indicating a desire on the part of the pre- 
 sent representatives of Islam to regain some- 
 thing of their former dominaucy. The Indo- 
 Mohammedans are, however, very unlike 
 their co-religionists in other countries, and 
 the anti-idolatrous doctrines of their founder 
 have been so corrupted by intermixture of 
 the superstitious practices of modern Brah- 
 miuism, that it is not possible to judge 
 their feelings by any test applicable to 
 Mohammedans in general. 
 
 The English naturally viewed, with great 
 alarm, the fanatical outbreaks at Jaffa, 
 Marash, and Belgrade, and still more so the 
 alarming one at Jeddah; but the govern- 
 ment have wisely striven to repress the sus- 
 picious distrust and aversion manifested by 
 the Europeans to the Mohammedans as a 
 class, fearing to see them driven to revolt 
 by conduct equally unjust and impoliticf 
 
 • Letter from H. B. B. Freere.— ParL Papers 
 (233), 4th May, 1858; p. 48. 
 
 This possible source of mutiny has been as 
 yet but very partially explored, and th^ 
 present heat of prejudice and excitement 
 must be allowed to subside before any satis- 
 factory conclusion can be formed on the 
 subject. 
 
 Foreign intrigues are alleged to have been 
 practised against us, and attempts made to 
 undermine our position in India, in various 
 ways, by a Christian hs well as by a Mo- 
 hammedan power; by Russia as well as 
 Persia. It is difficult to say how far the 
 vague expectation of Russian invasion (which 
 certainly exists in India) has been occasioned 
 by exaggerated rumours, and perverted re- 
 ports gleaned from European journals, and 
 circulated by the native press durinp the 
 period of the Crimean war, or how much 
 of it may be attributed to the deliberate 
 machinations of Russia. 
 
 In England, both sources of danger were 
 equally disregarded; and, amid the misera- 
 ble inconsistencies which marked the war 
 from beginning to end, not the least was 
 the fact, that one of the arguments used to 
 reconcile the people to heavy additional tax- 
 ation, was the necessity of maintaining and 
 restoring effete and incapable Mohamme-> 
 dan Turkey, as a means of checking the in- 
 ordinate increase of the power of Russia, and 
 making the battle-field in the Crimea> rather 
 than on the frontier of our Indian empire. 
 The Russian government intimated, that to 
 roll back their European boundary would 
 but lead them to advance their Asiatic one; 
 and some years before the campaign of 1853, 
 their organ at St. Petersburg declared that, 
 in the event of war, the czar would dictate 
 the terms of peace at Calcutta. In the 
 teeth of this defiant warning, the British 
 ministry, accustomed to treat India as a sort 
 of peculiarly circumstanced colony, and to 
 neglect colonies as a matter of course, paid 
 no heed whatever to the strange excitement 
 manifested throughout India at the first 
 tidings of the Crimean conflict. No pains 
 were taken to ascertain the tone adopted by 
 the natives, or tq~g«ard against rumours cir- 
 culated and schemes set afoot by foreign emis- 
 saries, in a country where a passport system 
 would have been a common measure of pru- 
 dence. Ministers concentrated all their 
 energies on the conduct of the European 
 struggle (though not with any very satisfac- 
 tory result), and acted as if on th^ under- 
 standing that, " during the Russian w^r, the 
 
 t See letter of Lord Hobart — 2Yme«. PeQemb^r 
 3rd, 1867. 
 
 u
 
 120 
 
 RUSSIAN ROUBLES IN BAZAARS— 1857. 
 
 government had too much to do, to be ex- 
 pected to attend to India."* 
 
 The ill effects which the tidings of the 
 Russian and Persian wars were calculated 
 to produce in India, were aggravated by 
 the drain of European troops thereby occa- 
 sioned. The government demand for two 
 regiments of infantry for the Crimean war, 
 was earnestly deprecated by Lord Dalhousie. 
 
 "Ahhough the war with Russia," observes his 
 lordship, " does not directly affect our Indian do- 
 minions, yet it is unquestionably exercising at this 
 moment a most material influence upon the minds of 
 the people over whom we rule, and upon the feelings 
 of the nations by which we are surrounded ; and thus 
 it is tending indirectly to affect the strength and the 
 stability of our power. 
 
 " The authorities in England cannot, I think, be 
 aware of the exaggerated estimate of the power of 
 Russia which has been formed by the people of 
 India. I was myself unaware of it until the events 
 of the past year have forced it upon my convictions. 
 Letters from various parts of India have shown me, 
 that the present contest is regarded by them with 
 the deepest interest, and that its issue is by no 
 means considered so certain as we might desire. 
 However mortifying to our pride it may be to know 
 it, and however unaccountable such a belief may 
 appear in people living amidst the visible evidences 
 of our might, it is an unquestionable fact, that it is 
 widely beUeved in India, that Russia is pressing us 
 hard, and that she will be more thiin a match for us 
 at last. 
 
 "We know by our correspondence in the East, 
 that the King of Ava has declaredly been acting on 
 this feeling ; and that, influenced by it, he has been 
 delaying the dispatch of the mission which many 
 months ago he spoke of sending to Calcutta. • • • 
 " India is now in perfect tranquillity from end to 
 end. I entertain no apprehension whatever of dan- 
 ger or disturbance. We are perfectly secure so long 
 as we are strong, and are believed to be so : but if 
 European troops shall be now withdrawn from India 
 to Europe ; if countenance shall thus be given to 
 the belief already prevalent, that we have grappled 
 with an antagonist whose strength will prove equal 
 to overpower us ; if, by consenting to withdrawal, 
 we shall weaken that essential element of our 
 military strength, which has already been declared 
 to be no more than adequate for ordinary times ; 
 and if, further, we should be called upon to dispatch 
 an army to the Persian Gulf — an event which, 
 unlooked-for now, may any day be brought about 
 by the thraldom in which Persia is held, and by 
 the feeble and fickle character of the Shah ; then, 
 indeed, I shall no longer feel, and can no longer 
 express the same confidence as before, that the 
 security and stability of our position in the East will 
 remain unassailed. • • • In a country where 
 the entire English community is but a handful of 
 scattered strangers, I feel it to be a public duty to 
 record, that in my deliberate judgment, the Euro- 
 pean infantry force in India, ought in no case to 
 be weakened by a single man, so long as Eng- 
 
 • Speeches of Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Vernon Smith, 
 president of the India Board.— Indian debate, July 
 26th, 1857. 
 
 + Minute by the governor-general : 13th Septem- 
 
 land shall be engaged in her present struggle with 
 
 Russia."t 
 
 The regiments were nevertheless with- 
 drawn, and were not oven returned at the 
 close of the Russian war. Then came the 
 Persian ■ ar, and the requisition upon Lord 
 Canning, who complied less reluctantly 
 than Lord Dalhousie had done; but still 
 under protest. Lord Canning reminded 
 the home authorities, that, for all Indian 
 purposes, the strength of the army would 
 be equally reduced, whether the regiments 
 were sent to Persia or to the Crimea. He 
 spoke of the excitement which even a dis- 
 tant war raised in the minds of the natives, 
 and insisted on the necessity of an increase 
 of European troops, as necessary 'to the 
 safety of India during the continuance of 
 hostile operations against Persia.J 
 
 It is at least possible that the Russian 
 government should have retaliated on us 
 our invasion of its territory, by striving 
 to sow discord in India. The course of the 
 rebellion has afforded many incidents cal- 
 culated to produce a conviction of their 
 having done so : for instance, the assertion 
 of oue of the Delhi princes, that when the 
 mutineers marched on that city, the royal 
 family believed them to be the advanced 
 guard of the Russian army. Another far 
 more significant fact, which was communi- 
 cated to me on the authority of a naval 
 oflficer in a high position on the Indus, was 
 the extraordinary amount of silver roubles 
 seen in the bazaars in the North- West 
 Provinces, immediately before the mutiny, 
 and supposed to have passed to the tables of 
 the money-changers from the notoriously 
 well-filled pockets of Russian spies. The ex- 
 tent and mode in which this agency may 
 have been employed, will probably never be 
 revealed ; but it can hardly be doubted that 
 it is an active and recognised mode of ob- 
 
 taining the accurate and comprehensive 
 information possessed by the government 
 of St. Petersburg, regarding the condition of 
 the domestic and foreign affairs of every 
 other nation. Spies, in time of peace, may 
 easily become political incendiaries in time 
 of war, in countries hostile to the authority 
 which they serve. As to detecting them, 
 that is next to impossible : a charge of this 
 nature is always difficult to prove; but, 
 to an Englishman, the difficulty is insur- 
 
 ber, 1854.— Pari Papers, 12th February, 1858; pp. 
 7; 9. 
 
 J Minutes dated 7th and 8th February, 1857. — 
 Pari. Papers, 20lh July, 1857 ; pp. 8, 9.
 
 RUSSIAN SPIES AND POLITICAL DETECTIVES. 
 
 121 
 
 mountable. Clever thieves, clever forgers, 
 England has produced in abundance: un- 
 scrupulous politicians are not quite un- 
 known among us ; but our secret service 
 department has, on the whole, been singu- 
 larly free from subterranean and syste- 
 raatised "dirty work." The secret opening 
 of a letter is scouted at, in a political func- 
 tionary, as listening at a keyhole would be 
 in a private individual;' and, even while 
 quite uncertain as to the extent of the 
 mutiny in 1849, Sir Charles Napier would 
 not entertain the idea of examining the 
 correspondence of the sepoys, then passing 
 to an unusual extent through the govern- 
 ment post-offices. The Russian language 
 has probably many words which, like the 
 French owe fin, finesse, and others, have no 
 equivalent in English; nor has America — 
 sharp, shrewd, and slick as some of her 
 children are — annexed to the mother-tongue 
 any words which serve as fit exponents for 
 that peculiar branch of continental diplo- 
 macy which renders trained spies a regular 
 governmental department. We have no 
 political detectives among us. Our aristo- 
 cracy, whether of rank or letters, may 
 indeed be occasionally annoyed by the 
 indiscretion of caterers for the public press, 
 in the shape of newspaper reporters and 
 gossiping memoir writers ; but, at our tables, 
 the host speaks bis mind in the plainest 
 terms regarding the most powerful per- 
 sonages of the moment, without fearing 
 that one of his servants may be taking 
 notes behind his chair, which may procure 
 his exile or imprisonment ; and the hostess 
 is equally certain that none of her guests 
 will drive from her roof to lodge informa- 
 tion of some enthusiastic ebullition which 
 has escaped her lips, and for which neither 
 youth nor beauty, character nor station, 
 would save her from personal chastisement 
 under the orders of a Russian Usher of the 
 Black Rod. What we call grumbling in 
 Great Britain, folks abroad call treason; and 
 that is an offence for which Britons have so 
 little temptation, that they are slow to note 
 its existence, or provide against it even 
 when themselves exercising those despotic 
 powers which, if men dare not openly oppose, 
 they secretly strive against. To what extent 
 Russian emissaries have fomented Indian 
 disaffection, will probably never be proved : 
 the natives can, perhaps, give information on 
 the subject, if tiiey will; and if tliat evidence 
 be obtained, and thoroughly sifted, by men 
 possessing intimate acquaintance with the 
 
 VOL. II. R 
 
 Indian languages and character, united to 
 sound judgment, some light may yet be 
 thrown on a subject every branch of which 
 is most interesting as regards the past, most 
 important as regards the future. 
 
 No Englishman, except, under very pecu- 
 liar circumstances, would ever detect spies 
 amid a multitude of foreigners. I speak 
 strongly on this point, because, in China, 
 several Russians were pointed out to me by 
 the experienced Dr. Gutzlaff ; dressed in the 
 costume of the country, speaking the lan- 
 guage, adopting the habits of the people, 
 and appearing, to the casual observer, to all 
 intents native born. 
 
 It is notorious that a Captain Vikovitch 
 played a conspicuous part in inciting the 
 unjust and disastrous expedition to Af- 
 ghanistan against Dost Mohammed. This 
 and many other instances, leave little doubt 
 that Russia maintains, in Central Asia, 
 agents to watch and, if possible, influence 
 the proceedings of England, and probably 
 receives from some of the Greek or Arme- 
 nian merchants settled at Calcutta or 
 Bombay, accounts about the state finances, 
 the army, and affairs in general ; but, be- 
 sides this, disclosures are said to have been 
 made which prove that Russian emissaries, 
 under various guises, have been successfully 
 at work in inflaming the bigotry of the 
 Mussulman, and the prejudices of the 
 high-caste Hindoo.* It is possible, how- 
 ever, that information on this subject ob- 
 tained by the government, may, for obvious 
 reasons, be withheld from the public. 
 
 This introductory chapter has extended to 
 a greater length than the writer anticipated 
 at its commencement. His design was 
 simply to state the alleged causes of the 
 mutiny, as far as practicable, in the words of 
 those who were- their chief exponents, and 
 to refrain from mingling therewith his own 
 views. But the future welfare of India and 
 of England is so manifestly connected with 
 the policy now evolving from the crucible of 
 heated and conflicting public and party feel- 
 ing, that it is barely possible for any one 
 really interested in tlic result, to look on, and 
 describe the struggle, without revealing his 
 own convictions on points where right and 
 wrong, truth and fallacy, justice and oppres- 
 sion, are clearly at issue. 
 
 In the foregoing summary, some alleged 
 causes are noted which appear to l)e scarcely 
 compatible with one another. The iucom- 
 • Dr. Duff's Indian Heheltion, p. 93.
 
 122 
 
 NATIVE INDIAN ABMY AS LARGE AS EVEE— 1858. 
 
 patibility is perhaps less real than apparent. 
 "What we call British India, is, in fact, a 
 congeries of nations, differing in language, 
 creed, and customs, as do European states, 
 and with even less points of union, except- 
 ing only their involuntary association under 
 a foreign government. 
 
 It follows, that in striving to trace the 
 origin of wide-spread disaffection, and the 
 connection between seemingly distinct in- 
 surrectionary movements, we must be pre- 
 pared to find great variety of motive — 
 general, local, and temporary — affecting 
 scattered masses, and manifesting itself 
 sometimes in active hostility, sometimes in 
 sullen discontent. 
 
 Under a despotic government, with an 
 enormous army of native mercenaries, the 
 outbreak of rebe'.lion would naturally occur 
 among the soldiery. While they were con- 
 tented, the people would almost necessarily 
 remain in complete subjection ; but if the 
 soldiery had grievances, however slight 
 compared with those of the people, the two 
 classes would coalesce; the separate dis- 
 content of each party reacting upon the 
 other, the .irmy would initiate rebellion, 
 the people would maintain it. According 
 to Mr. Disraeli, this has actually been the 
 case ; the conduct of the Bengal troops, in 
 revolting, having been that of men " who 
 were not so much the avengers of profes- 
 sional grievances, as the exponents of gene- 
 ral discontent."* 
 
 It is difficult to u..derstand what the 
 reason can have been for keeping up such 
 an ' enormous Native army as a peace es- 
 tablishment. Soldiers were used to perform 
 police duties in the older provinces, where 
 war had been unknown for years, simply be- 
 cause there were not policemen to do them ; 
 and this confounding of civil and military 
 duties lies at the bottom of much misgov- 
 ernment, extortion, and unnecessary ex- 
 pense. The troops so variously engaged 
 were trained only for arms, yet employed 
 mainly in duties which officers and men 
 looked upon as derogatory to them as soldiers, 
 and which, in fact, they had no business 
 with at all. It was at once deteriorating 
 
 • Debate (Commons), July 28th, 1857. t Ihid. 
 
 \ The new recruits are, however, very different 
 men from the tall, well-formed Brahmin or Rajpoot 
 sepoyg of the old Bengal army. These were six feet 
 in height, and forty inches round the chest ; docile, 
 polite, doing credit to their ofBcers on parade, smart 
 at drill, neat and clean on duty. Already the re- 
 action hag commenced ; and Indian officers in gen- 
 eral appear disposed to recollect (what the best and 
 
 their efficiency, and putting power unneces- 
 sarily in their hands, to employ them in 
 functions which should have been, as a mere 
 matter of policy, kept perfectly distinct. 
 
 There is much justice in Lord John 
 Eussell's remark, that we have had alto- 
 gether too large an army, and that 50,000 
 Europeans, with I(X),06o Natives, would 
 be a much better security, as far as 
 force is concerned, than a Native army of 
 300,000.t 
 
 At this moment, the total amount of 
 troops in our service is scarcely less than 
 before the mutiny, so rapidly have new 
 corps replaced the old ones, and new sources 
 of supply become available to meet an 
 urgent demand. J 
 
 There is need of care, lest our new aux- 
 iliaries prove equally, if not more dangerous 
 than the old ones. There is more need 
 than ever of moderation, or rather of justice 
 and charity, being urged by the British 
 public on their countrymen in India, lest 
 we lose for ever our hold on the confidence 
 of its vast population. 
 
 It is most true that " the time is really 
 come for the people of England and for the 
 government of the country to meet the 
 manifestations of a spirit which would 
 render our rule in India not only a crime 
 but an impossibility, by an active and reso- 
 lute policy. Outrages on natives roust be 
 punished, unless we would willingly and 
 knowingly accept the hostility of India, 
 and, with our eyes open, justify the asser- 
 tions of the intriguers, who tell the people 
 that nothing will content us but their utter 
 extermination." 
 
 The growing alienation of the Europeans 
 from the natives has been already noticed 
 as a cause of disaffection; but since that 
 section was written, the free, fearless, gra- 
 phic representations of Mr. Kussell have 
 thrown new light on the subject, and shown 
 but too plainly a sufficient reason for " the 
 rift, bottomless and apparently causeless, 
 which, even before the mutiny, was ob- 
 served as separating the European from the 
 native, and increasing in breadth every day."§ 
 
 Unhappily, it is no new thing to be told 
 
 wisest of them have never forgotten), that " Pandy, 
 until he went mad in 1857, was a good orderly 
 soldier." " For myself," an officer writes in a recent 
 Indian journal, " I would rather serve with them 
 than wiih the dirty, unworthy, ungentlemanly 
 (Pandy was a gentleman) set of strange bedfellows 
 with whom misfortune has made us acquainted." — 
 Mr. Russell— 2Vwies, Nov. 8th, 1858. 
 § Ibid., October 20th, 1858.
 
 ILL-TREATMENT OF NATIVES— 1858. 
 
 123 
 
 that Englishmen in India are arrogant and 
 exclusive. la the last century, West Indian 
 proprietors and East Indian nabobs were 
 chosen by essayists, novelists, and play- 
 writers, as representing a peculiar class of 
 domestic tyrants, wealthy and assumptions ; 
 whose presence. Lord Macaulay said, raised 
 the price of everything in their neighbour- 
 hood, from a rotten borough to a rotten egg. 
 The habits they had acquired indicated the 
 life they had led; and ^11 who knew India, and 
 had the intelligence to form, and the moral 
 courage to express, an opinion on the sub- 
 ject, sorrowfully agreed with Bishop Heber 
 in deprecating the " foolish, surly, national 
 pride," of which he daily saw but too many 
 instances, and which he was convinced did us 
 much harm in India. " We are not guilty," 
 he said, "of wilful injustice or oppression; 
 but we shut out the natives from our society, 
 and a buUying, insolent manner is contin- 
 ually assumed in speaking to them." 
 
 Some went still further than this, and 
 echoed Lord Byron's emphatic warning,* of 
 the sure retribution that would attend us, if, 
 instead of striving to elevate India, by safe 
 and sure degrees, to our own height of free- 
 dom, we tried, with selfish blindness, to get 
 and keep her down beneath the iron heel of 
 despotism, using the energy our own dear- 
 bought freedom sustains in us, not to loosen, 
 but to rivet the chains of a feebler race, for 
 whose welfare we have made ourselves re- 
 sponsible before God and man. 
 
 Nothing can be more incompatible with 
 the dignity of our position, than the " vulgar 
 bahaudering" which disgusted Sir Charles 
 Napier in 1850. It appeared then as if 
 Mr. Thackeray's lash were needed to keep 
 within bounds the vagaries of the Anglo-In- 
 dian variety of the germs " Snob." Now the 
 evil seems to have passed dealing with by 
 such means ; it is the provost-marshal or 
 the police-magistrate, not the accomplished 
 satirist, who can alone cope with men whose 
 insolent cruelty needs corporeal rather than 
 mental discipline. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington always listened 
 with impatience to commendations of the 
 mere courage of ofiQcers. " Brave !" he 
 would say, " of course they are ; all English- 
 men are brave; but it is the spirit of the 
 
 • " Look to the East, where Ganges' swarthy race 
 Shall shake your tyrant empire to the base ; 
 Lo ! there rebellion rears her ghastly head, 
 And glares the Nemesis of native dead ; 
 Till Indus rolls a deep purpureal flood, 
 And claims his long arrear of Northern blood ; 
 
 gentleman that makes a British ofiBcer." 
 Yet, at this very time, when Englishmen and 
 Englishwomen have passed all former tradi- 
 tions of valour and steadfastness in extremest 
 peril, when once again India has proved, 
 in Canning's words, " fertile in heroes" — a 
 class, it would appear not inconsiderable in 
 number, are acting in such a manner as 
 to disgrace the British army, and even the 
 British nation, in the eyes of Europe, and to 
 render the restoration of peace in India as 
 difficult as they possibly can. 
 
 The excessive timidity of the Hindoos (of 
 which their reckless daring, or passive sub- 
 mission when hopeless, is the natural coun- 
 terpart) encourages, in coarse natures, the 
 very arrogance it disarms in higher ones. 
 The wretched manner in which our law- 
 courts are conducted, and the shilling ne- 
 cessary to procure the stamped paper on 
 which to draw up a petition to the court,t 
 operate, in the extreme poverty and depres- 
 sion of the sufferers, in deterring them from 
 bringing any formal complaint, even to 
 obtain justice for a ferocious assault ; and 
 so the " sahibs" (European gentlemen) ride 
 through the bazaars (markets), and lay 
 open the heads of natives with the butt of 
 their whips, just to clear the way ; or, when 
 summoned to court for debt, lay the lash 
 across the shoulders of the presumptuous 
 summonser in the open street, as an expres- 
 sion of opinion. A young gentleman in his 
 cups shoots one of his servants with his 
 revolver ; an officer kicks a servant down- 
 stairs because he has entered without leaving 
 his shoes outside the door ; and now, daily 
 at the mess-tables, " every man of the mute 
 white-turbaned file, who with crossed hands, 
 glistening eyes, and quick ears, stand mo- 
 tionless in attendance," hears the word 
 " nigger" used every time a native is named, 
 and knows well that it is an expression of 
 contempt. In India, the ears of Europeans 
 become familiarised with the term, which 
 soon ceases to excite surprise or disgust. 
 In England, it is felt to be painfully sig- 
 nificant of the state of opinion among those 
 who use it, and cannot be disassociated with 
 the idea of slaves and slave-drivers. It 
 seems the very last word whereby British 
 officers (even in the " griffin" stage) would 
 
 So may ye perish ! Pallas, when she gave 
 Your free-born rights, forbade ye to enslave." 
 
 The Curse of Minerva. 
 
 t The number of petitions rejected because not 
 
 written on stamped paper, is said to be enormous. 
 
 The fact has been repeatedly alluded to in parliament.
 
 124 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF MR. RUSSELL'S COMMUNICATIONS. 
 
 choose to denote the men they commanded, 
 or even the people among whom they lived, 
 and who, whatever their colour, are not 
 the less British subjects. But what is to be 
 said for the example given to the European 
 soldiery* by British officers, of Christian 
 parentage and education, one of whom 
 " takes his syce (native groom), because he 
 has put a wrong saddle on his horse, and 
 fastens him on a pole placed out in the full 
 sun of May?" — or by another, who " fastens 
 down his syce in the stin by heel-ropes and 
 foot-ropes, as if he were a horse, and spreads 
 grain before him in mockery ?" These in- 
 stances Mr. Russell gives publicly. Pri- 
 vately, he offers to send the editor of the 
 Times evidence of still greater significance. 
 
 It is a mockery to talk of equal laws, and 
 yet suffer such outrages as these to pass un- 
 punished. It is difficult to understand why 
 the senior regimental officers do not bring 
 the offenders to justice, unless, indeed, the 
 courts-martial are becoming, as Sir Charles 
 Napier prophesied, mere forms, and the 
 most undoubted offenders certain of " hon- 
 ourable acquittal." Some of the old offi- 
 cers are said to watch the state of affairs 
 with great dissatisfaction ; and Sir Frederick 
 Currie (the late chairman of the Court of 
 Directors), with Colonel Sykes and some 
 other leading men, have expressed their 
 opinions with a plainness which has exposed 
 them to the invectives of a certain portion of 
 the Anglo-Indian press. f 
 
 The plain speaking of Mr. Russell him- 
 self, is of the first importance to the best 
 interests of England and of India. No- 
 thing but the strongest and most genuine 
 love of justice and hatred of oppression, 
 could give him courage to write as he does, 
 circumstanced as he is. Among the deeds 
 of heroism he so eloquently chronicles, none 
 can surpass that which he is himself enact- 
 ing, in pleading even now for the rights of 
 the wretched and despised native popula- 
 tion, while living in the midst of the class 
 to whom that very wretchedness furnishes 
 food for cruel tyranny, or idle, heartless, 
 senseless jests. On this point, as indeed 
 some other leading features of the rebel- 
 lion, the public journals, with the Times 
 
 • The European soldiery are unhappily not slow 
 to follow the example. It is alleged, that very re- 
 cently a convoy, under a party of the 97th and 20th 
 regiments, were on thrir way to Lucknow. Dark- 
 ness fell upon them ; there were confusion and delay 
 on the road ; probably there were apathy, neglect, 
 and laziness on the part of the garrewana, or native 
 drivers, who are usually a most harmless, inoflfen- 
 
 at their head, and the fragmentary but 
 deeply interesting accounts of individual 
 sufferers, are almost the exclusive sources 
 of information. The government have, 
 it is tnie, furnished the House of Com- 
 mons with reams of Blue Books and 
 other parliamentary papers ; but not one of 
 these contains anything approaching a con- 
 nected statement of the view taken by the 
 home or Indian authorities of the cause, 
 origin, or progress of the mutiny, which has 
 now lasted fully eighteen months. Each 
 department appears to have sent in its own 
 papers, duly sifted, weeded, and garbled ; 
 but no person appears to have revised them 
 as a whole. The omissions of one set are 
 partially supplied by the admissions of 
 another ; decided assertions made in igno- 
 rance by one functionary, are qualified in the 
 next page by the statement of a colleague. 
 This is the case throughout the whole series 
 yet published, beginning with the various 
 and contradictory allegations made regarding 
 the greased cartridges. To enter into dis- 
 cussion on each point would be endless ; and 
 therefore, in subsequent pages, facts, so far 
 as they can be ascertained, will be simply 
 stated, with the authority on which they 
 rest ; the counter-statements being left un- 
 noticed, unless they happen to be of peculiar 
 importance or interest. 
 
 " That most vindictive, unchristian, and 
 cruel spirit which the dreadful contest and 
 the crimes of the mutineers have evoked," is 
 not, however, confined to the army and the 
 press ; it extends to the counting-house, and 
 even to the pulpit. " One reverend divine 
 has written a book, in which, forgetting 
 that the heart of man is deceitful and des- 
 perately wicked, he takes the cheerful view 
 that the Oriental nature is utterly diaboli- 
 cal and hopelessly depraved, as contradis- 
 tinguished from his own nature and that of 
 his fellows. * * * An excellent clergy- 
 man at Simla, recently took occasion, in his 
 sermon, to rebuke the disposition on the 
 part of certain of his hearers to ill-use the 
 natives; but generally, the voice from the 
 pulpit has been mute on this matter, or it 
 has called aloud, ' Go forth and spare 
 not.' "t 
 
 sive, and honest 'race. Some ruffians among the 
 soldiery took advantage of the obscurity to wreak 
 their brutal ferocity on the drivers, and pricked 
 them with their bayonets so severely that one man 
 died of his wound almost immediately, and the 
 others were removed to the hospital in litters. — Times, 
 Nov. 8th, 1858. f Ibid., Oct. 20lh, 1858. 
 
 t Ibid., November 8th, 1858.

 
 ;HE LOSDON PKOfTHTO AMD PUEinsniKO COIiEiJiy
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 JANUARY TO MAY, 1857. 
 
 At the commencement of 1857, the Indian 
 array, exclusive of the icontingents of Native 
 states, stood thus : — 
 
 Presidoncy. 
 
 Europeans. 
 
 Natives. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Bengal .... 
 Madras .... 
 Bombay 
 
 24,366 
 10,726 
 10,430 
 
 135,767 
 61,244 
 45,213 
 
 160,133 
 61,970 
 65,069 
 
 Grand Total . . . 
 
 45,522 
 
 232,224 
 
 277,172 
 
 The royal European troops included four 
 cavalry and twenty-two infantry regiments, 
 containing, in all, 24,263 men. The Euro- 
 peans in the service of the Company, con- 
 sisted of five horse brigades of artillery, 
 twelve battalions of foot, and nine cavalry 
 regiments. The Native cavalry was com- 
 posed of twenty-one regular, and thirty- 
 three irregular regiments; the Native in- 
 fantry, of 155 regular, and forty-five irregu- 
 lar regiments.* 
 
 The whole expense of the Indian army, 
 which, including the Native contingents 
 officered by us, mustered 315,520 men, was 
 returned at £9,802,235, of which £5,668,100 
 was calculated to be the cost of the 51,316 
 European soldiers, leaving £4,134,135 as 
 the sum total required for 263,204 natives. 
 
 The number of European troops was 
 actually less in 1857 than in 1835, whereas 
 the Native army had increased by 100,000 
 men. The disproportion was greatest in 
 the Bengal presidency. .In Bombay, the 
 relative strength of European to Native in- 
 fantry was as 1 to 94; in Madras, as 1 to 
 16^; and in Bengal, as 1 to 243-.t 
 
 The preponderance of Brahmins in the 
 Bengal army was very great, and the gov- 
 ernment had directed the enlistment of 
 200 Seiks in each regiment. But this order 
 had been only very partially obeyed. A 
 large proportion of the Madras troops are 
 low-caste Hindoos. In the Bombay regi- 
 ments a third are Brahmins, from one to two 
 Hundred men are Mussulmans, and the re- 
 mainder low-caste Hindoos, with a few Jews. 
 
 The number and strength of the Bengal 
 
 • Pnrl. Papers, April IStli, 1858 ; pp. 4, 5. 
 t Pari. Papers on the Mutinies, 1857 (No. 1), 
 p. 9. 
 
 army (European and Native) in January, 
 1857, are thus shown : — 
 
 Description 
 
 of 
 
 Troops. 
 
 Queen*8 Troops : — ■ 
 2 Regts. of Dragoons 
 15 ditto of Infantry 
 
 Company's Troops : — 
 
 Fingineers and Sappers 
 
 Artillery — Horse . . 
 
 „ Foot(Euro.) 
 
 „ (Nat.) 
 
 Cavalry — Regular . . 
 
 „ Irregular . 
 
 Infantry — Europeans . 
 
 „ Native Regr. 
 
 .. ,. Irreg. 
 
 Veterans 
 
 Medical Establish- 1 
 ment and Warrant > 
 Officers . . J 
 
 Total 
 
 European 
 OflBcers. 
 
 European 
 Non-Com., 
 and Rank 
 and File. 
 
 56 
 473 
 
 529 
 
 120 
 
 63 
 102 
 
 76 
 106 
 
 91 
 
 114 
 
 1,276 
 
 126 
 
 85 
 
 370 
 
 3,058 
 
 Native 
 Commissd., 
 Non-Com.. 
 and Rank 
 and File. 
 
 1,310 
 13,956 
 
 15,266 
 
 88 
 
 999 
 
 1,899 
 
 27 
 28 
 
 2,460 
 
 136 
 
 56 
 
 186 
 
 163 
 
 1,289 
 798 
 1,531 
 2,302 
 5,002 
 14,061 
 
 83,103 
 27,355 
 
 326 
 
 21,308 135,767 
 
 Grand Total 160,133 
 
 The distribution of the above force wag 
 as follows : — 
 
 Distfibution of Bengal -irmy. 
 
 Presidency Division, includ- "j 
 ing the garrison of Fort > 
 William ... I 
 
 Sonthal District 
 
 Dinapore Division , 
 
 Cawnpoor ditto 
 
 Oude Field Force . 
 
 Saugor District 
 
 Meerut Division 
 
 Station of Sirdarpoor 
 " of Rewah . 
 " ofKherwarrah . 
 
 Sirhind Division, 
 
 Lahore ditto . 
 
 Peshawur ditto, including 
 Sind Sagur District . 
 
 Punjab Irregular Force . 
 
 Troops in Pegu 
 
 Euro- 
 
 Natives. 
 
 
 
 1,221 
 
 14,639 
 
 41 
 
 3,365 
 
 1,174 
 
 t2,2.'>l 
 
 314 
 
 16,048 
 
 1,034 
 
 3,661 
 
 2.57 
 
 6,864 
 
 3,098 
 
 17,248 
 
 1 
 
 656 
 
 6 
 
 762 
 
 6 
 
 1,034- 
 
 4,930 
 
 12,849 
 
 4,198 
 
 15,964 
 
 4,794 
 
 20,129 
 
 68 
 
 9,049 
 
 1317 
 
 2,121 
 
 Total. 
 
 15,860 
 
 3,407 
 13,425 
 16,362 
 
 4,695 
 
 6,121 
 
 20,346 
 
 657 
 
 768 
 
 1,040 
 17,779 
 20,162 
 
 24,923 
 
 9,107 
 3,938* 
 
 The Native regiments in India are never 
 quartered in barracks, but in thatched huts ; 
 each of the ten companies which form a 
 regiment having its own line, in front of 
 which is a small circular building called 
 
 X The above statements were kindly furnished by 
 Captain Eastwick, deputy-chairman of the East 
 India Company.
 
 12G GOVERNMENT WARNED ABOUT GREASED CARTRIDGES— 1853. 
 
 " the Bells," in which the arms and ac- 
 coutrements are placed after having been 
 cleaned — the key being usually held by the 
 havildar (sergeant) on duty. The officers 
 reside in bungalows (also thatched, and very 
 inflammable), each situated in its own com- 
 pound ; and the powder-magazines and 
 depots of stores are, or rather were, exposed 
 without protection in the open plain. Each 
 cantonment resembled an extensive camp ; 
 and the principal stations (such as Meerut 
 and Cawnpoor) covered so large an area, 
 that they required almost as strong a force 
 to defend them as to occupy them; and" a 
 long time might elapse before what was 
 done in one part of them was known in 
 other parts.* The idea of combination to 
 mutiny, on any ground whatever, was evi- 
 dently the last thing the European officers 
 . suspected ; and the construction of the can- 
 tonments was on a par with the blind 
 security which marked the general arrange- 
 ments of the period. 
 
 In 1856, ihe authorities desired to place 
 an improved description of musket in the 
 hands of the sepoys ; that is to say, to sub- 
 stitute the Minie rifle for the old " Brown 
 Bess." Considering the nature of our posi- 
 tion in India, and the peaceful character of 
 the duties which the Native army was then 
 fulfilling, and which alone it seemed likely 
 to be required for, the policy of this mea- 
 sure may be doubted ; but of the suicidal 
 folly with which it was carried out, there 
 can scarcely be a second opinion. 
 
 In 1853, some rifle ammunition was sent 
 from England to India, and experiments 
 were directed to be tried, which induced 
 Major-general Tucker (then adjutant-gen- 
 eral) to recommend earnestly to govern- 
 ment, that " in the greasing composition 
 nothing should be used which could pos- 
 sibly ofiend the caste or religious prejudices 
 of the natives. "f 
 
 This warning did not prevent the autho- 
 rities, three years later, from committing 
 the double error of greasing cartridges in 
 the Dum Dum arsenal, eight miles from Cal- 
 cutta, after the English receipt, with a com- 
 pound chiefly made from tallow ; and of 
 issuing to the Native troops similarly pre- 
 pared cartridges, sent out direct from Eng- 
 land, but which ought, of course, only to 
 have been given to the European troops. 
 Not a single person connected with the 
 
 * Indophilus' Letlera to the Times, p. 12. 
 t Letter of Major-general Tucker to the Times, 
 1857. 
 
 store department cared to remember, that to 
 order the sepoys to tear with their teeth 
 paper smeared with tallow made of mixed 
 animal fat (a filthy composition, whether 
 the animal were clean or unclean, and 
 especially to men who never touch animal 
 food), would naturally excite the distrustful 
 suspicions of the Native soldiery — Moham- 
 medan, Hindoo, and even Seik ; f<Jr-the 
 Seik also considers the cow a sacred animal. 
 
 Such suspicions were unquestionably ex- 
 cited ; and though much latent disaffection 
 might have existed, it is clear that the car- 
 tridge affair was a grievance which gave the 
 more daring a pretext for rebellion, and a 
 rallying-cry, to which they well knew the 
 multitude would respond. J 
 
 The first persons who tioticed the ob- 
 noxious means used in preparing the ball 
 cartridges, were the Native workmen em- 
 ployed in the arsenal. A Clashie, or 
 Classie, attached to the rifle depot, asked a 
 sepoy of the 2nd grenadiers for water from 
 his lotah (or brass drinking-vessel.) The 
 sepoy refused, observing, he was not aware 
 of what caste the man was; whereupon 
 the Clashie rejoined, " You will soon lose 
 yoiur caste, as, ere long, you will have to 
 bite cartridges covered with the fat of pigs 
 and cows." Lieutenant Wright, the officer 
 to whom this circumstance was reported, 
 understood the feelings of the Hindoos too 
 well to neglect the warning. He entered 
 into conversation with the men ; and they 
 told him that the rumour of their intended 
 degradation had spread throughout ludia, 
 and that when they went home on furlough, 
 their friends would not eat with them. 
 Lieutenant Wright, " believing it to be the 
 case," assured them that the grease used 
 was composed of mutton fat and wax : to 
 which they replied, " It may be so, but our 
 friends will not believe it ; let us obtain the 
 ingredients from the bazaar, and make it up 
 ourselves ; we shall then know what is used, 
 and be able to assure our fellow-soldiers and 
 others that there is nothing in it prohibited 
 by our caste." Lieutenant Wright urged 
 the adoption of the measure suggested by 
 the meu. 
 
 Major Bontein, the officer in command at 
 Dum Dum, on receiving the above state- 
 ment, assembled all the Native portion of 
 the depot, and asked if they had any com- 
 plaint to make. At least two-thirds of the 
 
 X A good summary of the official proceeding 
 regarding the cartridges, is given in a pamphlet 
 by George Crawshay, Esq., mayor of Gateshead.
 
 INCENDIARY FIRES AND OPEN DISCONTENT- JANUARY, 1857. 127 
 
 detachment, including all the Native com- 
 missioned officers, immediately stepped to 
 the front, and very respectfully, but dis- 
 tinctly, repeated their previous complaint 
 and request. Major Bontein thought the 
 matter so serious, that he took immediate 
 steps to bring it before the commander-in- 
 chief. 
 
 Major-general Hearsey, the head of the 
 presidency division, in a letter dated " Bar- 
 rackpoor,* January 23rd, 1857," represented 
 to government the extreme diflficulty of 
 eradicating the notion which had taken hold 
 on the mind of the Native soldiery ; and 
 urged, as the only remedy, that, despite the 
 trouble and inconvenience with which the 
 arrangement would be attended, the sepoys 
 should be allowed to obtaia-from the bazaars 
 the ingredients necessary to prepare the 
 bullet-patches. 
 
 On the 29th, Colonel Abbott, the inspec- 
 tor-general of ordnance, being desired to in- 
 quire into the nature of the composition used 
 at the arsenal, found that it was supplied 
 by a contractor, and that "no extraordinary 
 precautions had been taken to insure the 
 absence of any objectionable fat." He adds — 
 " It is certainly to be regretted that ammu- 
 nition was not prepared expressly for the 
 practice depot without any grease at all ; 
 but the subject did not occur to me, and I 
 merely gave orders for the requisite number 
 of rounds."t 
 
 Of course, after this admission, no officer, 
 with any regard for truth, could state to 
 his men, that contaminating substances had 
 not been used in the preparation of the car- 
 tridges. Instead of withdrawing the cause 
 of contention at once and entirely, the gov- 
 ernment resolved that the sepoys at the 
 depots should be allowed to use any mixture 
 they might think fit; but that the question 
 of the state in which cartridges should be 
 issued under other circumstances, and 
 especially for service in the field, must 
 remain open for further consideration. 
 The concession was both tardy and insuffi- 
 cient. It was not communicated to the 
 sepoys at Dum Dum and Barrackpoor until 
 the 28th. In the meantime, several fires 
 occurred simultaneously at Barrackpoor and 
 Raneegunge, where a detachment from Bar- 
 rackpoor were stationed. The electric tele- 
 
 * Barrackpoor (or barrack-town) is situated on 
 the Hooghly, sixteen miles from Calcutta. The 
 governor.general has a residence here, commenced 
 on a magnificent scale by Lord Wellesley, and only 
 partially finished, but standing in a park of about 
 260 acres in extent, laid out with great taste and 
 
 graphbungalow at the latter place wasburned; 
 and Ensign Chamier, of the 34th regiment, 
 snatched an arrow, with a lighted match at- 
 tached thereto, from the thatch of his own 
 bungalow, and thus saved, or at least post- 
 poned, its destruction. The arrow was one 
 such as the Sonthals use, and suspicion fell 
 on the men of the 2nd grenadiers, who had 
 recently been serving in the Sonthal dis- 
 tricts. A thousand rupees were offered for 
 the conviction of the offenders, but without 
 result. On the 27th, the men had been 
 assembled on parade, and asked if they had 
 any grievance to complain of; upon which 
 a Native officer of the 34th stepped for-, 
 ward, and asked Colonel Wheeler whether 
 any orders had yet been received regarding 
 the new cartridges. The answer was, of 
 course, in the negative. To add to the 
 difficulties of the military authorities at the 
 depots, the officer in command of a wing of 
 her majesty's 53rd, stationed at Dum Dum, 
 received directions from Fort William (Cal- 
 cutta), to be ready to turn out at any mo- 
 ment, and to distribute to his men ten 
 rounds of balled ammunition, as a mutiny 
 had broken out at Barrackpoor among the 
 sepoys. General Hearsey represented the 
 ill-feeling which such rash precipitancy was 
 calculated to produce. He also pointed out 
 the influence which was probably exercised 
 by a Brahminical association, called the 
 Dhu'ma Sobha, formed at Calcutta for the 
 advocacy of ancient Hindoo customs, against 
 European innovations (especially the recent 
 abolition of the laws enforcing perpetual 
 widowhood.) This association he thought 
 had been instrumental in tampering with the 
 sepoys ; aud had circulated, if not initiated, 
 the idea, that the new ammunition was in 
 some way or other connected with a general 
 design of government for the destruction of 
 the caste of the whole Bengal army. Every- 
 thingconnected with the cartridges was viewed 
 with suspicion; and it was soon noticed that, 
 although served out ungreased, they had a 
 greasy look ; consequently, by obeying the 
 military regulation, "to bring the cartridge 
 to the mouth, holding it between the fore- 
 finger and thumb, with the ball in the hand, 
 and bite off the top elbow close to the 
 body," J they might still incur the forfeiture 
 of caste, in consequence of some polluting 
 care. Job Charnock is said to have built a bunga- 
 low here in 1689, before the site of Calcutta was 
 decided upon. Barrackpoor has been called the 
 Montpelier of Bengal. 
 
 t Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, 1857; p. 7. 
 
 i Ibid., p. 37.
 
 128 FATAIi INACTION OP GOVERNMENT IN JAN, & FEB., 1857. 
 
 iugredient in the paper itself. The new 
 cartridges were, in fact, made from paper 
 sent from England — much more highly 
 glazed than that previously used, and alto- 
 gether thinner and tougher ; for the bore of 
 the new rifle being far smaller than that of 
 the former musket, the old thick paper 
 would not contain the amount of powder 
 necessary to throw the bullet to its utmost 
 range, without being inconveniently long. 
 
 The officers vainly reasoned with the 
 men : the paper, they said, tore like waxed 
 cloth; and, when thrown in the fire, fizzed, so 
 tl^at there must be grease in it ; in short. 
 General Hearsey declared (February 8th), 
 that "their suspicions having been fairly 
 roused on the subject of cow and pig fat, it 
 WQuld be quite impossible to allay them."* 
 
 The excitement continued to increase, 
 ai)d information was privately given to the 
 officers, of meetings held at night in tt^e 
 sepoy lines, where plans of resistance to the 
 new cartridges, amounting to open and vio- 
 lent mutiny, were discussed. The four 
 regiments then at Barrackpoor were the 2nd 
 gj^enadiers, the 34th Native infantry, the 
 43rd light infantry, and the 70th Native in- 
 f^jntry. By information which has subse- 
 ,qijently transpired, the incipient mutiny 
 .appears to have been at this time confined to 
 the two former regiments. They thought 
 to induce their comrades to make com- 
 mon ca'ise with them, and then to rise 
 against the officers, burn or plunder the 
 bungalows, and proceed to Calcutta and seize 
 Fort William ; or, failing that, take pos- 
 session of the treasury. The man who 
 communicated this intelligence could not 
 be induced to divulge the names of the 
 j*ingleaders, nor could any proof of the 
 truth of his assertions be obtained. 
 
 General Hearsey understood the native 
 character well, and spoke the language with 
 rare facility. He caused the entire brigade 
 to be paraded on the 9th of February, and 
 reasoned with them on the folly of supposing 
 the British government inclined to attempt 
 their forcible conversion. " Christians of 
 the Book (Protestants)," he said, "admitted 
 no proselytes, sind baptized none, who did 
 not fully understand an4 believe in the 
 tenets therein inculcated." His arguments 
 proved successful in traaquiUisiug the troops 
 for the moment; bu,t the brigadier knew 
 
 • Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, 1 857; p. 20. 
 
 X The franking by the European officers, was in 
 itself calculated to impose some check on the trans- 
 ;iiluion of treasonable correspondence. 
 
 well that the lull was likely to be of brief 
 duration, and he wrote to government on 
 the 11th, urging that his previous proposal 
 of changing the cartridge paper, might at 
 once either be confirmed or rejected ; that 
 no further time should be lost in coming to 
 some decision ; for, he adds, " we are dwell- 
 ing on a mine ready for explosion." 
 
 On the 21st of February, Lieutenant- 
 colonel Hogge wrote from Meerut, to pro- 
 pose that the biting of the cartridge should 
 be altogether abolished, and that the men 
 should be instructed to twist off the end 
 with the right hand — a plan which would 
 "remove all objections from that class of 
 Hindoos who never touch animal food." 
 On the 2nd of March, Major Bontein wrote 
 from Dura Dum to the same effect ; but he 
 adds, that by his suggestion he did not " in 
 the least intend to consult the caprice of the 
 Native soldiers," and had no other motive 
 than increased efficiency. 
 
 Apparently this was the right way of 
 putting the case in the sight of the authori- 
 ties; for the governor-geueral in council, with 
 all due form, and without any undignified 
 haste, informed the commander-in-chief, at 
 Simla, of the proposed alteration; suggesting, 
 that if his excellency approved, new instruc- 
 tions should be given for the rifle practice, 
 in which no allusion should be made to 
 the biting of the cartridge, laid down in pre- 
 vious regulations. Pending the answer of 
 General Anson, private instructions were 
 sent to Dum Dum, to let the musketry prac- 
 tice there stop short of actually loading the 
 rifle. 
 
 While the European authorities discussed 
 matters among themselves, the sepoys did the 
 same, but arrived more rapidly at more im- 
 portant conclusions. It is not probable that 
 they viewed the cartridge as a solitary indir 
 cation of the feeling of government towards 
 them : the general service order of 1856 ; 
 the affront put on the Mohammedans in 
 the Punjab by General Anson in the same 
 year, by expelling them the service for re- 
 fusing to allow their beards to be cut; the 
 total withdrawal, when the penny postage 
 came into operation, of the privilege of 
 having their letters frauked| by their com- 
 manding officers ; the alterations in the 
 invaliding regulations ; — these and other 
 recent innovations were probably rankling 
 iu their minds. The regiments understood 
 one another; a certain power of combi- 
 nation existed, ready to be called into 
 action; and by reason of constant correspouT
 
 MUTINY OP 19th N. I. AT BARRACKPOOR— 26th FEB., 1857. 129 
 
 dence, the whole of the Bengal troops were 
 engaged ia an incipient conspiracy before 
 they well knew what they were conspiring 
 about. We left the poison full time to 
 work. The filthy cartridges prepared for 
 them did, we cannot now doubt, actually 
 contain the forbidden substance, which pri- 
 soners starving in a dungeon, and sepoys 
 on board ship, will perish sooner than touch ; 
 and yet, instead of manfully owning the 
 error, and atoning for it by changing the 
 paper, and, once for all, removing every 
 shadow of suspicion, we persisted in holding 
 it over their heads like a drawn sword, to be 
 let fall at any moment. So late as the 5th 
 of March (the government respite not 
 having then arrived), the sepoys at Dum 
 Dum were, notwithstanding their remon- 
 strances, employed in making cartridges of 
 the new, and as they believed greased, 
 paper; and Major Bontein was preparing 
 to enforce the regulations, and considering 
 how to deal with the prisoners he expected 
 to be obliged to make for disobedience of 
 orders.* 
 
 The first mutiny was not, however, des- 
 tined to occur at Dum Dum : it broke out 
 at Burhampoor on the Ganges, about 120 
 miles from Calcutta. The only troops then 
 at the station were the 19th Native in- 
 fantry, a detachment of Native cavalry, and 
 a battery of Native artillery. The 19th 
 and 34;th had been stationed together at 
 Lucknow for two years ; and the men were 
 of course personally acquainted. During 
 thejatter part of the month of February, 
 -two sepoy parties of the 34th regiment were 
 sent from Calcutta to Burhampoor. The 
 second came as the escort of some sick 
 Europeans on the 25th, and their communi- 
 cations regarding the proceedings at Bar- 
 rackpoor, so alarmed the 19th, that the 
 whole corps, Hindoos, Seiks, and Moham- 
 medans, resolved upon a general fast ; and 
 for three days, beginning with the 26th, 
 took only bhang, and other exciting drugs. 
 Of this excitement, their commanding officer, 
 Colonel Mitchell, was entirely ignorant. 
 The new muskets had arrived shortly be- 
 fore, and he had explained to the sepoys that 
 the necessary grease would be prepared 
 before them by the pay havildars. On the 
 26th of Februai;y, orders were given for the 
 
 • Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 38. 
 t Ibid., p. 2.73. 
 
 X Minute of March 27th, 1857.— Appendix, p. 50. 
 § This threat was denied by Colonel 'Mitchell, 
 but established on European as well as Native testi- 
 VOL. II. S 
 
 firing of fifteen rounds of blank cartridge per 
 man. The cartridges were then sent to the 
 bells of arms, and examined by the men. They 
 had previously been in the habit of making 
 all they used. Those now served out were of 
 two kinds ; one like the paper they had 
 been accustomed to, the other whiter and 
 thinner. The sepoys compared them in all 
 ways ; they burnt the paper, and laid 
 other portions in water. Still they saw, or 
 fancied they saw, a marked diff"erence. 
 They felt convinced that they were greased, 
 and refused to take the percussion-caps 
 served out for the intended practice ; saying, 
 " Why should we take the caps, as we won't 
 take the cartridges until the doubt about 
 them is cleared up?"t This occurred at 
 about four o'clock in the afternoon. The 
 incidents" which followed are best told in 
 the words of the petition subsequently 
 laid before government by the 19th regi- 
 ment, and which the governor-general in 
 council has pronounced to be, " upon the 
 whole, a fair account of what took place on 
 the occasion of the outbreak ; the main 
 points being borne out by the evidence at 
 the court of inquiry." J 
 
 " At half-past seven o'clock," the peti- 
 tioners state, " the colonel, accompanied by 
 the adjutant, came on parade, and very 
 angrily gave orders to us, saying, ' If you 
 will not take the cartridges I will take you to 
 Burmah, or to China, § where, through hard- 
 ship, you will all die. These cartridges were 
 left behind by the 7th Native infantry, and 
 I will serve them out to-morrow morning by 
 the hands of the officers commanding com- 
 panies.' He gave this order so angrily, 
 that we were convinced that the cartridges 
 were greased, otherwise he would not have 
 spoken so."|| 
 
 Colonel Mitchell sent an order to the 
 cavalry and artillery (whose lines were about 
 three miles from those of the infantry), to 
 assemble on parade, for the purpose of com- 
 pelling the sepoys to use the cartridges. 
 It would appear that the sepoys were right 
 in believing that the cartridges were to be 
 bitten, not torn. The news soon got wind; 
 and the same night, about a quarter to 
 eleven, shouts were heard in the lines ; some 
 persons cried fire, others that they were 
 surrounded by Europeans — that the guns 
 
 mony. It might easily have been uttered in the 
 excitement of so critical a moment, and forgotten 
 by the utterer, but not by those whose interests were 
 immediately affected by it. — Appendix, &c., p. 290. 
 II Appendix to Pari. Papers, pp. 278, 279.
 
 130 
 
 PETITION OF THE 19th AGAINST DISBANDMENT— 1857. 
 
 and cavalry had arrived. In the midst of 
 the din the alarm was sounded ; and the 
 sepoys, mad with fear, rushed to the bells 
 and seized their arms. 
 
 It is manifest they had no plan, and no 
 intention of attempting violence, or they 
 would not have refused to receive the per- 
 cussion-caps offered them that afternoon, nor 
 have remained passive while the 11th irre- 
 gular cavalry and guns were fetched to the 
 parade, which they reached by torchlight 
 between twelve and one. The armed sepoys 
 then ran out of their lines to the parade in 
 the greatest alarm. The colonel was much 
 excited, and said, that he and the officers 
 were prepared to do their duty, should the 
 men not yield obedience ; they (the officers) 
 were ready to die, and would die there. The 
 Native officers represented that the sepoys 
 really believed that the matter affected 
 their religion, and begged the colonel to 
 send away the cavalry and guns ; which was 
 accordingly done.* The sepoys lodged their 
 arms quietly, and returned to their lines. 
 The whole regiment appeared on parade the 
 next morning ; and, ou the 28th, there was 
 another parade. The cartridges which the 
 men had refused to fire, were publicly in- 
 spected ; and the two kinds were put up by 
 Colonel Mitchell, and forwarded for the 
 inspection of government, with an account 
 of what had taken place. Daily parades 
 took place, and the 19th again became as 
 steady and orderly as any men could be.f 
 
 T^ranquillity was restored, and might have 
 been maintained, had the government been 
 sufficiently generous or discreet to deal 
 gently with an offence which their own in- 
 discretion had provoked. The disbandment 
 of the regiment was summarily decided on, 
 without any correspondence with the com- 
 mander-in-chief, whose concurrence it ap- 
 peared was necessary to the simple alteration 
 of a clumsy mode of loading, which was goad- 
 ing the troops to mutiny, but was not neces- 
 sary to the enactment of a decree which sud- 
 denly reduced a thousand men, whose fault 
 must have varied very considerably in its cir- 
 cumstances, to the same utter poverty. Their 
 appeal made to government, through Colonel 
 Mitchell, was very touching. They said it 
 was hard, after so many years' service, to 
 lose their bread. Since the unfortunate 
 
 • It is highly improbable that, in the absence of 
 European soldiers, the Native corps would have 
 fired on their countrymen in such a case as this ; 
 yet the mode in which " the coercing force was 
 withdrawn," was pronounced by the governor in 
 
 night of the 26th of February, all their duties 
 had been carefully carried on, and (they 
 add) " so shall be ; as long as we live we will 
 faithfully obey all orders; wherever, in the 
 field of battle, we are ordered to go, there 
 shall we be found ; therefore, with every 
 respect, we now petition, that since this is a 
 religious question from which arose our 
 dread, and as religion is, by the order of 
 God, the first thing, we petition that, as we 
 have done formerly, we may be also allowed 
 to make up our own cartridges, and we will 
 obey whatever orders may be given to us, 
 and we will ever pray for you." 
 
 There is no mistaking the earnestness 
 with which the 19th, even in the moment 
 of reaction and reflection, dwell on the im- 
 mediate cause of their outbreak. The gov- 
 ernment, in acquainting the Court of Direc- 
 tors with the whole transaction, give the 
 same version, by saying that the regiment 
 had refused to take the cartridges, " in con- 
 sequence of the reports in circulation, that 
 the paper of which they were made was 
 greased with the fat of cows and pigs." 
 
 This despatch is dated 8th April, 1857. 
 On the same day, the directors were inditing 
 one expressive of their gratification at learn- 
 ing that the matter had been fully explained 
 to the men at Barrackpoor and Dum Dum, 
 and that they appeared perfectly satisfied 
 that no intention existed of interfering with 
 their caste. Of course by this time it was 
 pretty evident that the sepoys generally 
 were convinced of the direct opposite, and 
 viewed the 19th as a body of victims and 
 martyrs. 
 
 The penalty of disbandment found little 
 favour with any party. The idtra-discipli- 
 narians pronounced the punishment insuffi- 
 cient, for what the governor-general thought 
 fit to term "open and defiant mutiny;" 
 and moderate men considered it would have 
 been wiser to have accepted the offer of the 
 corps, and make it a general service regi- 
 ment, rather than send a thousand men to 
 their homes, to beg or plunder food for the 
 support of themselves and their families, 
 and to sow the seed of distrust and disaffec- 
 tion wherever they went. Besides, evidence 
 was adduced which proved beyond a doubt 
 that the 19th had been instigated to mutiny 
 by the representations of the 34th, who had 
 
 council as a special reason for declaring Colonel 
 Mitchell unfit for the command of a regiment. — 
 Appendix to Pari. Papers, p. 297. 
 
 t Letter of liieutenant-colonel Mitchell, March 
 3rd, 1857.— Appendix, p. 267.
 
 FIRST BLOOD SHED— BARRACKPOOR— 29th MARCH, 1857. 131 
 
 beeu long on the verge of an outbreak, and 
 were only kept back by the influence of 
 their officers. The government, knowing 
 this, resolved (Jn making the 19th the scape- 
 goat for the 34th and other regiments, whose 
 disaffection had been proved by incendiarism 
 and sullen murmurings, and ordei;ed the 
 disbandment to take place at Barrackpoor. 
 
 The Calcutta authorities were not quite 
 insensible to the danger pointed out by 
 Napier, of "attempting to bully large masses 
 of men." The sentence resolved on against 
 the 19th was -not made public until H.M.'s 
 84th regiment had been brought from 
 Rangoon. The 84th arrived at Calcutta on 
 the 20th of Maj-ch, and were immediately 
 conveyed to Chinsurah — a. station about 
 eight miles from Barrackpoor, whither the 
 19th were ordered to proceed. The arrival 
 of the Europeans increased the excitement 
 among the Native troops at Barrackpoor, 
 which was evidently the centre of disaffec- 
 tion. Two of the 2ud Native grenadiers 
 were taken up on a charge of endeavouring 
 to excite mutiny on the 11th of March, 
 found guilty, and sentenced to fourteen 
 years' hard labour. The sentence is memo- 
 rable, since General Anson thought fit to 
 write a minute on it from his far-distant 
 residence in the Himalayas — a mark of in- 
 terest which the disbaudiiig of entire regi- 
 ments had not elicited. Death would, he 
 considered, have been the proper penalty ; 
 but fourteen years of disgraceful labour 
 might be to some worse than death ; there- 
 fore he would not call for a revision of the 
 ■sentence. "The miserable fate which the 
 prisoners had brought upon themselves, 
 would," he added, "excite no pity in the 
 breast of any true soldier." * 
 
 Avowedly, in consequence of communica- 
 tions sent them by the 34th regiment, three 
 companies of the 63rd regiment at Sooree 
 refused to accept their furloughs, saying, 
 " If our brethren at Barrackpoor go, we will 
 go ; but we hear they are not going." After- 
 wards they expressed contrition for their 
 conduct, and were allowed to enjoy their 
 furloughs. The refusal occurred on the 28th 
 of Mprch. On the afternoon of Sunday, the 
 29th, the Native officers of the 34th regiment 
 at Barrackpoor reported that the men were 
 in a very excited state. Sergeant-major 
 Hewson proceeded to the lines, and found a 
 sepoy walking up and down in front of the 
 quarter-guard, and calling out to the men 
 of the brigade to join him in defending and 
 
 • Appendix to Pari. Papers, p. 86. f H'ti; p. 147. 
 
 dying for their religion and their caste. 
 This was Mungul Pandy, a man of previously 
 excellent character, who had beeu above 
 seven years in the service, but had lately 
 taken to the use of intoxicating preparations 
 of opium and bhang. Wliether he had 
 resorted to these stimulants, as the Indian 
 soldiery kre in the habit of doing, to nerve 
 himself for this special purpose, or whether 
 the habit itself had rendered him reckless of 
 consequences, does not appear ; but General 
 Hearsey speaks of the actuating motive 
 as "religious frenzy." "The Europeans," 
 Mungul Pandy said, alluding to a wing of . 
 her majesty's 53rd, detached from Dum 
 Dum, " had'come to slaughter the sepoys, or 
 else force them to bite the cartridges, and 
 become apostates;" and when the English 
 sergeant attempted to seize him, he called 
 out to the men who were thronging the 
 lines, in their undress and unarmed, fo 
 come and support him. " You incited me 
 to this," he cried; " and now, poltroons, 
 you will not join me." Taking aim at 
 Sergeant Hewson, he fired, but missed; upon 
 which the sergeant retreated, and called to 
 the guard to fall-in and load. Adjutant 
 Baugh, of the 34th, next rode up, calling out, 
 "Where is he? where is he?" Mungul 
 Pandy fired at the adjutant, and his liorse 
 fell wounded. The adjutant drew a pistol 
 from his holster and took aim, but failed ; 
 upon which he and the sergeant rushed on 
 Mungul Pandy, who wounded both with 
 his tulwar, or native sword. The other 
 sepoys began to hustle and surround the 
 two Europeans, but their lives were saved 
 by the courage and devotion of a Mo- 
 hammedan sepoy, named Sheik Phultoo, 
 who rushed forward unarmed, and inter- 
 cepted a blow directed at the adjutant ; and, 
 flinging his right arm round Mungul. Pandy 
 (the left being severely wounded), enabled 
 the Europeans to escape. A shot from the 
 direction of the quarter-guard was fired at 
 them, but without efl'ect. Tliere were about 
 400 men in the liues, looking on ; and Ad- 
 jutant Baugh, as he passed them maimed 
 and bleeding, said, "You cowardly set of- 
 rascals I You see an officer cut down be- 
 fore your eyes, and not a man of you ad- 
 vances to assist him." They made no re- 
 ply ; but ull turned their backs on the 
 speaker, and moved slowly and sullenly 
 away. The unpopularity of the ailjutantf 
 is alleged to have influenced the sepoys; 
 and, after he had left, they compelled 
 Sheik Phultoo to let Mungul Pandy go.
 
 132 
 
 DISBANDMENT OF 19th N. I.— 31st MARCH, 1857. 
 
 Licutenaiit-colouel Wheeler, the ofiBcer in 
 command of the regiment, came on parade 
 soon after, and ordered the quarter-guard to 
 secure the mutineer. The jemadar wlio 
 ought to have led them, sided with Mungul 
 Pandy ; and, coming up to the colonel, told 
 him that the men refused to obey the order. 
 A native standing by said, that the offender 
 being a Brahmin, nobody would hurt him. 
 Colonel Wheeler "considered it quite useless, 
 and a useless sacrifice of life, to order a 
 European oflBcer with the guard to seize 
 him, as he would no doubt have picked off 
 the European officer, without receiving any 
 assistance from the guard itself." The 
 colonel therefore left the spot, and re- 
 ported the matter to the brigadier. On 
 learning what had occurred. General Hear- 
 sey, with his two sons and Major Ross, 
 rode to the quarter-guard house, where 
 about ten or twelve men had turned out. 
 Mungul Pandy watched their approach, 
 and Captain Hearsey called out to his 
 father to be on his guard, for the mutineer 
 was taking aim at him. The general re- 
 plied, " If I fall, John, rush upon him, and 
 put him to death." In a moment Mungul 
 Pandy dropped on liis knee, turned the 
 muzzle of his musket to his own breast, 
 and pulled the trigger with his foot. The 
 bullet made a deep graze, ripping up the 
 muscles of the chest, shoulder, and neck. 
 He fell prostrate, with his clothes on fire, 
 was picked up shivering, convulsed, and 
 apparently dying, and was handcuffed and 
 conveyed to the hospital ; none of the sepoys 
 attempting further interference. 
 
 General Hearsey rode amongst the 43rd 
 and 31th Native regiments, and, while 
 blaming the latter for their conduct (which 
 appears to have been most outrageous), he 
 assured them that no person should be per- 
 mitted to interfere with their religious and 
 caste prejudices while he commanded them. 
 No attempt was made to arrest the jemadar 
 or the sepoys of the quarter-guard, probably 
 because General Hearsey feared to precipi- 
 tate a struggle for which he was not yet 
 prepared. The culprits must have known 
 the rules of British discipline too well to 
 expect to escape with impunity the conse- 
 quences of their mutinous and dastardly 
 conduct. That night, in the lines, a plan of 
 action was concocted ; and the 19th reci- 
 ment, on their arrival at Baraset (eight 
 miles from Barrackpoor) on the following 
 morning, found messengers waiting for them 
 from the 34th, who proposed to them to 
 
 rise that evening, kill their oflScers, and 
 march to Barrackpoor, wliere they would 
 find the 2iid and 34th in readiness to co- 
 operate with them in overpowering the 
 European force, and proceeding to surprise 
 and sack Calcutta. 
 
 The unfortunate 19th had already suffered 
 deeply for listening to suggestions from 
 Barrackpoor. They rejected the proposals 
 decidedly and at once ; but they did not be- 
 tray their tempters, who returned safely, 
 their errand unsuspected. 
 
 The disbandment took place on the fol- 
 lowing morning at Barrackpoor, in presence 
 of the available troops of all arms within 
 two days' march of that station. The gov- 
 ernment order having been read, the arms 
 were piled, and the colours deposited by the 
 sepoys, who evinced much sadness, but no 
 suUenness. The number of the regiment 
 was not to be effaced from the army list ; 
 and there were other slight concessions, 
 of which General Hearsey made the most in 
 addressing the men. They knew he pitied 
 them ; and as they left the ground, disgraced 
 and impoverished, they cheered him cor- 
 dially, and wished him long life — a wish 
 which he as cordially returned. Perhaps no 
 regiment in the Bengal army was more 
 sound at the core than the 19th. Lieute- 
 nant-colonel Macgregor, who had been sta- 
 tioned with them at Burhampoor for some 
 months, declared that he had never met 
 with a quieter or better-behaved regiment, 
 and described them as appearing very sorry 
 for the outbreak of the 26th of February. 
 They felt that they had been misled by the 
 34th ; and when their request to be suffered 
 to re-enlist was refused, they are said to have 
 begged, before leaving the ground, to be 
 allowed to resume their arms for one half- 
 hour, and brought face to face with the 
 34lh, on whom they promised to avenge the 
 quarrel of the government and their own. 
 
 Some alarm, says Mr. Mead, was enter- 
 tained lest they should plunder the villages 
 on their way up country, but they seem to 
 have conducted themselves peaceably. Many 
 got employment asdurwans(orgate-keepers), 
 and a few were entertained by magistrates, 
 for whom they have since done efficient ser- 
 vice in the capture of fugitive mutineers. 
 Hundreds died of cholera by the way-side, 
 and a large proportion went into the service 
 of the Nawab of Moorshedabad. It has not 
 been proved that any of them entered the 
 ranks of the rebel army.* 
 
 • Mead's Sepoy Revolt, p. 62.
 
 EXECUTION OF MUNGUL PANDY— APRIL 7Tn, 1858. 
 
 133 
 
 The order for the disbandment of the 
 19th was read on parade to every regiment 
 tliroughout India. If the change from 
 biting to tearing the cartridges had been 
 simultaneously announced, the army might 
 have been traiiquillised, and accepted the 
 fate of the 19th as a vicarious sacrifice for 
 the general benefit. Instead of this the 
 order of disbandment was read alone ; and 
 no mention whatever being made of the 
 cartridges, the natural conclusion was, that 
 the sepoys would be compelled to bite them 
 or be turned on the world after long years 
 of faithful service. The General Orders cer- 
 tainly contained an assertion, that " it had 
 been the unvarying rule of the government 
 of India to treat the religious feelings of 
 all its servants, of every creed, with careful 
 respect;" but, as it was notorious that a 
 flagrant breach of this rule had been 
 recently committed, and was, so far as the 
 sepoys could tell, to be determinedly per- 
 severed in, it followed that the assurance, 
 intended to tranquilhse them, utterly failed 
 in its effect ; and the only part of the address 
 which really impressed them, was the de- 
 clared intention of government never to 
 cease exacting the unhesitating obedience 
 the men had sworn to give. 
 
 The 19th being disposed of, the next 
 question was, how to deal with the 34th. 
 Never was prompt action more evidently 
 needed ; yet five weeks were allowed to 
 elapse, during which tokens of mutiny were 
 multiplying throughout India, without any 
 decision being arrived at regarding the 
 dastardly quarter-guard. Mungul Pandy 
 was tried, condemned, and hung, on the 7th 
 of April, in the presence of all the troops 
 then at Barrackpoor. He was much debili- 
 tated by his wound (which would probably 
 have proved mortal) : but he met his death 
 with perfect composure, and refused to make 
 any statement which could implicate his com-' 
 rades. The jemadar, who commanded the 
 guard of the 34th, was also tried and con- 
 demned to death, but the execution of the 
 sentence was delayed until the 21st of April, 
 owing to the time lost in corresponding 
 with the commander-in-chief at Simla; who 
 
 * A telegram was transmitted to Simla, on the 
 14th of April, strongly urging General Anson to 
 issue a special warrant to General Heairsey, for the 
 purpose of at once carrying out the sentence in 
 which the trial then pending was expected to issue. 
 On the 17th, the following telegram was sent to 
 General Hearsey, from Calcutta : — " The commander- 
 in-chief refuses to empower you to confirm sentences 
 of courts-martial on commissioned officers." On the 
 
 first declined, and then consented, to em- 
 power General Hearsey to confirm the sen- 
 tences of court-martials on Native commis- 
 sioned officers.* 
 
 It seemed as if government had resolved 
 to drop proceedings here. The remarks 
 appended to General Anson's confirmation 
 of the jemadar's sentence, were very like an 
 act of amnesty to the Barrackpoor troops in 
 general, and the 34th in particular. He 
 stated his trust that the crime of which 
 Mungul Pandy and the jemadar had been 
 guilty, would be viewed with horror by 
 every man in the army ; and he added, ia 
 evident allusion to the guard, that if there 
 were any "who had looked on with apathy 
 or passive encouragement," he hoped the 
 fate of their guilty comrades would " have a 
 beneficial effect upon their future conduct. "f 
 
 The Mohammedan orderly who had saved 
 the life of the adjutant and sergeant, was 
 promoted to the rank of havildar by Gen- 
 eral Hearsey, and given an Order of Merit 
 for his conduct. The divisional order to this 
 effect was issued on the 5th of April. The 
 general was reproved by the governor-general 
 in council, for having exceeded his authority 
 by this act, and also for having described 
 Mungul Pandy as stimulated by " religious 
 frenzy." J Lord Canning, in his own minute, 
 speaks of Mungul Pandy as " that fanatic ;" 
 but considered, that " however probable it 
 may' be that religious feelings influenced 
 him," it would have been better to have left 
 this feature of the case unnoticed. § 
 
 Early in April, a Native court-martial sen- 
 tenced a jemadar, of the 70th Native infantry, 
 to dismissal from the army (in which he had 
 served thirty-three years), in consequence of 
 his having incited other Native officers to 
 mutiny, as the only means of avoiding the 
 pollution of biting the new cartridges. The 
 commander-in-chief desired that the sen- 
 tence should be revised, as toa lenient ; but 
 the Native officers persisted in their decision, 
 which was eventually confirmed. 
 
 An event took place at the same time, 
 which showed that the temper of the distant 
 troops was mutinous and disaffected. The 
 48th infantry, a corps reputed to be one of the 
 
 20th, General Anson changed his mind, and sent 
 the desired warrant. — (See Appendix to Pari. Papers 
 on the Mutinies, 1857 ; pp. 104—107.) 
 
 t Ibid., p. 124. A sepoy was identified as having 
 struck the sergeant-major (when cut down by Mun- 
 gul Pandy) with the butt of his musket; but he 
 escaped punishment by desertion. — (p. 158. ) 
 
 X Divisional order, April 5th, 1857; p. 63. 
 
 § Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 63.
 
 134 
 
 INCIPIENT MUTINY IN OUDE— APRIL, 1857. 
 
 finest in the serrice, long commanded by 
 Sir H. M. Wheeler, the general in charge of 
 Cawnpoor, was at this time stationed at 
 Lucknow, under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Palmer. Dr. Wells, the 
 surgeon of the regiment, having occasion to 
 visit the medicine store at the hospital, and 
 being at the. time indisposed, drank a por- 
 tion of a carminative from a bottle contain- 
 ing a quantity, after which no high-caste Hin- 
 doo could partake of the remainder without 
 pollution. The Native apothecary in atten- 
 dance, saw and reported the act to the sick 
 sepoys, upon which they all refused to touch 
 any of the medicines prescribed for them. 
 Colonel Palmer assembled the Native oflQcers, 
 and, in their presence, rebuked the surgeon 
 for his heedlessness, and destroyed the bot- 
 tle which he had put to his mouth. The 
 men took their medicines as before ; but a 
 few nights after, the bungalow (thatched 
 house) in which Dr. Wells resided was 
 fired, and most of his property destroyed. 
 It was notorious that the incendiaries be- 
 longed to the 48th Native infantry; but 
 their comrades shielded them, and no proof 
 could be obtained against the individuals. 
 
 Not long after, the Native officers of the 
 regiment were reported to be intriguing 
 with Rookan-oo-Dowlsth and Mustapha Ali, 
 relatives of the King of Oude, residing 
 in Lucknow. The most absurd rumours 
 were circulated and believed in the city. 
 While the cartridges were to be used as'the 
 means of compelling the sepoys to lose 
 caste, other measures were, it was reported, 
 being taken to rob the non-military class of 
 theirs. Government was said to have sent 
 up cart-loads and boat-loads of bone-dust, 
 to mix with the otta (prepared flour) and 
 sweetmeats sold in the bazaars; and the 
 authorities vainly strove to disabuse the pub- 
 liq mind, which was kept in a perpetually-re- 
 curring panic. Money was repeatedly given, 
 t with directions tp purchase some of the 
 adulterated otta; but though the parties 
 always returned with the money in their 
 hands, stating their • inability to find the 
 shops where it was sold, it was evident that 
 
 * Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, pp. 86 ; 88. A sin- 
 gular instance of the extent of the gulf which sepa- 
 rates us from the aboriginal tribes, and the small 
 respect they feel for European civilisation, was 
 witnessed by Mr. Gubbins several years ago. A 
 report got abroad among the hill-men of the sani- 
 tarium at Simla, that orders had arrived from the 
 governor -general for the preparation of a certain 
 quantity of human fat, to be sent down to Calcutta ; 
 and that, for this purpose, the local authorities were 
 
 they were silenced, but not convinced of its 
 non-existence. Sir Henry Lawrence lis- 
 tened with_ patient attention to all these 
 rumours, and did what probably few other 
 men could have done to extract their venom. 
 But the yet unwithdrawn order for biting 
 the cartridges, afforded to the earnest a 
 reason, and to the intriguing a pretext, for 
 distrusting the government; and the four 
 first months of 1857 had given time for the 
 growth of seed, which could not afterwards 
 be prevented from producing baneful fruit. 
 There was a Hindoo subahdar of one of the 
 Oude local artillery batteries, named Dabee 
 Sing, an old and tried soldier. Mr. Gubbius 
 speaks of Sir Henry Lawrence as having been 
 closeted for hours at a time with this man, 
 who told him all the wild projects attributed 
 to the British government for the purpose 
 of procuring the annihilation of the reli- 
 gious and territorial rights of the people of 
 India. Among other things which Dabee 
 Sing gravely related, without expressing his 
 own opinion one way or the other, was a 
 plan for transporting to India the numerous 
 widows of the Europeans who had perished 
 in the Crimean campaign. The principal 
 zemindars of the country were to be com- 
 pelled to marry them ; and their children, 
 who would of course not be Hindoos, were 
 to be declared the heirs to the estates. Thus 
 the Hindoo proprietors of land were to be 
 supplanted !* 
 
 How far such reports as these might 
 really gain credence, or how far they might 
 be adopted as a means of expressing the 
 discontent excited by the recent annexation 
 and resumption measures, does not appear j 
 but throughout the Bengal army, the car- 
 tridges continued to be the rallying-cry for 
 discontent up to and beyond the end of 
 April. At Agra incendiary fires had been 
 frequent, and the sepoys had refused their 
 aid to subdue the flames : at Sealkote, letters 
 had been discovered from the Barrackpoor 
 sepoys, inciting their brethren at that dis- 
 tant station to revolt : at Umballah, the 
 discontent and distrust excited by the new 
 fire-arms, had been most marked. f The 
 
 engaged in entrapping the hill-men, killing and 
 boiling them down. Numbers of these men were 
 at this time employed in carrying the ladies' litters, 
 and in a variety of domestic duties which brought 
 them in daily contact with the Europeans. Yet the 
 panic spread, until numbers fled from the station 
 nor were they, Mr. Gubbins believes, ever thoroughly 
 convinced of the falsehood of the report. — (p. 87.) 
 
 t Mutiny of the Bengal Army : by one who has 
 served uader Sir Charles Napier ; p. 28. 
 
 -J
 
 DISUNION BETWEEN LORD CANNING AND GEN. ANSON. 135 
 
 Calcutta authorities were, nevertheless, so 
 blind to the imminence of the peril, that the 
 Oriental, which was supposed to be lying at 
 Madras, was twice telegraphed for to convey 
 the 84th back to Burraah ; and but for the 
 accident that sent her across to Rangoon, 
 the month of May would have found Cal- 
 cutta left as before, with only the wing of a 
 European regiment. Nothing was decided 
 upon with regard to the 34th, or the Bar- 
 rackpoor division in general, despite Briga- 
 dier He.irsey's warning (given two months 
 before, and confirmed by the very unsatis- 
 factory evidence adduced before the court- 
 martial] regarding the condition of the troops 
 stationed there. It has since transpired, 
 that an order, and a most needful one, for 
 the disbandment of the 34th, was actually 
 drafted immediately after the attack on 
 Lieutenant Baugh ; but it was withheld 
 until new outbreaks in various directions 
 heralded the shock for which the govern- 
 ment were forewarned, but not forearmed. 
 
 The home authorities shield themselves 
 from the charge of negligence, on the 
 ground that up to May, 1857, not "the 
 slightest indication of any disaffection among 
 the troops had been sent home."* " Indo- 
 philus," who has means of information pecu- 
 liar to a mau whose position enables him to 
 search the government records, and examine 
 the original papers unpublished and un- 
 garbled, says, that it cannot be ascertained, 
 by the most careful inquiry, that General 
 Anson ever made a single representation to 
 the directors.t or to any member of her 
 majesty's government, on the subject; but 
 that, on the contrary, assurances were given 
 of the satisfactory state of the Bengal army, 
 and especially of its continued fidelity, 
 which might well lull suspicion to sleep. 
 " It is hard," he adds, " to expect a govern- 
 ment to see better than with its own eyes. "J 
 The government might, perhaps, save the 
 nation many disasters, and themselves much 
 discredit, by condescending to look through 
 the eyes of those bystanders who pro- 
 verbially see more of the game than the 
 players. But in this instance they did not 
 heed the warnings of even their own servants. 
 
 * Speech of Mr. Vernon Smith. — India debate, 
 July ii7th, 1857. 
 
 t The chairman of the East India Company like- 
 wise declared in parliament, that not a single word 
 of notice had been received from General Anson on 
 the subject.- — (India debate, July 15th, 1857.) 
 
 \ Letters of Indophilus, p. 25. . 
 
 § ^ee'ante, p. 120. 
 
 II Napier's Life, vol. iv., p. 414. 
 
 Sir Charles Napier, Lord Melville, Sir John 
 Lawrence, and Colonel Jacob, all lifted up 
 their voices in vain; nay, Lord Dalhousie 
 himself remonstrated against the removal 
 of Europeans, in a manner which proved 
 his mistrust of the tone and temper of the 
 Native army.§ The Duke of Wellington 
 always watched Indian proceedings with an 
 anxious eye. His decision against Napier 
 was possibly prompted even less by the par- 
 tial statements laid before him, than by the 
 feeling that if the spirit of mutiny had been 
 roused in the Bengal army, it would need 
 all the influence of united authority for its 
 extinction. No commander-in-chief could 
 effect it excej^t with the full support and 
 cordial co-operation of the governor-general. 
 Such a state of things was impossible be- 
 tween Lord Dalhousie and General Napier. 
 "The suppression of mutiny," the Duke 
 wrote, in his memorandum on the proffered 
 resignation of Sir Charles Napier, " par- 
 ticularly if at all general or extended 
 to numbers, and the restoration of order 
 and subordination to authority and dis- 
 cipline among troops who have mutinied, ia 
 the most arduous and delicate duty upon 
 which an officer can be employed, and which 
 requires, in the person who undertakes it, 
 all the highest qualifications of an officer, 
 and moral qualities ; and he who should 
 undertake to perform the duty, should enjoy, 
 in a high degree, the respect and confidence 
 of the troops and of the government." || Sir 
 William Gomm, the successor to Napier ap- 
 pointed by the Duke (an active, kind- 
 hearted, and thoroughly gentlemanly man), 
 appears to have been popular both with the 
 government and the army, European and 
 Native, and mutiny certainly made no head 
 under him. It does not appear that Gen- 
 eral Anson enjoyed this advantage, either 
 with regard to the governments^ or the 
 Native troops ; but, with the latter, decidedly 
 the reverse. His appointment was a no- 
 torious instance of the principle of "taking 
 care of Dowb," at the expense of the best 
 interests of the country. It is true, that in 
 the civil position of " Clerk of the Ordnance," 
 he had been both active and efficient ; and to 
 
 % Great difference of opinion is alleged to have 
 existed between Lord Canning and General Anson ; 
 and the conduct of the latter, together with the tone 
 of the very few and brief communications published, 
 as having passed between Simla and Calcutta even 
 in the height of the crisis, tends to confirm this allega- 
 tion. Mr. Smith blamed Mr. Disraeli for alluding to 
 it ; but acknowledged the prevalence of the assertion 
 I "in private circles."— r«m«», June 30th, 1857.
 
 136 
 
 CHARACTER OF GENERAL ANSON— 1857. 
 
 a reputation for practical business habits, he 
 united tliat of a popular " man about town ;" 
 was a high authority on racing matters, and 
 a first-rate card-player; but he had never 
 commanded a regiment, and would certainly 
 not have been selected, at sixty years of 
 age, to take charge of the Indian array, had 
 he not been a member, not only of an 
 honoured and really honourable, but also of 
 a very influential family. In fact, he was a 
 person to be handsomely provided for. By 
 acts of commission and omission, he largely 
 contributed to bring the mutiny to a head ; 
 yet, strangely enough, those who have been 
 roost lavish of censure regarding Lord Can- 
 ning and his colleagues, have for the most 
 part passed over, in complete silence, the 
 notorious fact that General Anson remained 
 quietly in the Himalayas, in the healthiest 
 season of the year for Calcutta, without 
 taking the slightest share in tlie anxious 
 deliberations of the Supreme Council ; yet, 
 nevertheless, drew £6,000 a-year for being 
 a member thereof, in addition to his salary 
 of i£lO,000 as commander-in-chief. For 
 instance, "One who has served under Sir 
 Charles Napier," says — " The men who ruled 
 India in 1857, knew little of Asiatic cha- 
 racter. The two civilians [Messrs. Dorin and 
 Grant] had seen only tlint specimen of it 
 of which the educated Bengalee is a type: 
 the legal member [Mr. Peacock] and Lord 
 Canning had seen no more; and General 
 Low was a Madras officer :" but the very 
 name of . General Anson is significantly 
 omitted. ' The manner in which the council 
 treated the crisis through which they were 
 passing, proved, he adds, that they did not 
 comprehend it.* This was conspicuous in 
 the reproaches directed against Colonel 
 Wheeler for conversing with the sepoys, as 
 well as the natives generally, on the 
 subject of Christianity, and disseminating 
 tracts among tliem. No single complaint 
 was ever uttered by the sepoys on this head. 
 They were quite capable of distinguishing 
 the zeal of an individual from the supposed 
 forcible and fraudulent measure of the 
 greased cartridges, by which they believed 
 the government desired to compel them to 
 become apostates en masse. It was not 
 change of creed, but loss of caste they 
 dreaded; not tracts and arguments, but 
 greased cartridges, backed by the penalty of 
 disbandment courts-martial, and a park of 
 
 • Mutiny of Bengal Army, p. 59. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 58. 
 
 X Appendix to Papers on Mutinies, p. 212. 
 
 artillery. " Already, in their eyes, we were 
 on a par with their lowest caste : a Christian 
 was one who drank brandy and ate pork and 
 beef. Was not the idea that we wished to 
 reduce them, by trick, to the same degrading 
 position, sufficient to excite every deep- 
 seated prejudice against us?"t The military 
 writer of the above sentence, does not add 
 that Lord Canning and his council really 
 sought to conciliate the sepoys by every 
 measure short of the compromise of dignity, 
 which they unhappily considered to be in- 
 volved in withdrawing the cartridges (as they 
 ought to have done in January), and publicly 
 denouncing and punishing what the Supreme 
 Council did not hesitate to call, among them- 
 selves, "the very culpable conduct of the 
 Ordnance department, which had caused all 
 this excitement."! It is, however, highly 
 improbable that, had the council proposed 
 such a measure. General Anson would, at 
 any time during the first four months ol 
 1857, have sanctioned such a concession 
 to what he termed the " beastly preju- 
 dices," which, ever since he came to India, 
 he had been labouring to destroy ; forget- 
 ting that the Bengal army, whether wisely 
 or foolishly, had been established and main- 
 tained on the basis of toleration of caste 
 observances, and that that basis could not 
 be touched with impunity. He had been 
 for a short time in command at Madras, pre- 
 vious to his appointment as commander-in- 
 chief of the three Indian armies ; and it was 
 probably what he learned tiiere, that gave 
 rise to his strong anti-caste opinions. The 
 sepoys had enjoyed perfect toleration for 
 nearly a hundred years; but General Anson's 
 policy, from the first, indicated a resolve, 
 which the Anglo-Indian press earnestly 
 supported, to abandon the old policy. The 
 Bengal force had been, from its commence- 
 ment, an enormous local militia, enlisted for 
 service in India, and in India only ; special 
 regiments (of which there were six), or 
 volunteer corps, being employed on foreign 
 service, and rewarded by extra allowances. 
 In 18.56, government declared its in- 
 tention of radically altering the constitution 
 of the army, and issued an order that every 
 recruit should be enlisted for general service 
 wherever the state might require. There 
 can be no doubt, says Mr. Gubbins, spe.iking 
 of the General Service Order, " that the vast 
 change which it must of necessity make in 
 the position of the Bengal soldier, was not 
 duly weighed ; or, if weighed, provision was 
 certainly not made to meet the consequences
 
 ADJ.-GENERAL TUCKER ON GENERAL ANSON'S POLICY. 137 
 
 of the dissatisfaction which it would pro- 
 duce."* 
 
 Nearly at the same time another order 
 ■was published, which affected not merely 
 the prospects of recruits, but also the 
 dearest privilege of the existing Native 
 troops. LT^iider the old regulations the 
 sepoy might become invalided after fifteen 
 years' service, and retire to his home on 
 a monthly pension of four rupees. The 
 Bengallee, it must be remembered, was 
 never accompanied by his family when on 
 service, like the Madrassee; and so earnestly 
 was the power of returning home coveted, 
 that men starved themselves for months, 
 and became weak and emaciated for the 
 sake of retiring on this scanty pittance. In 
 former times, the evil had been met by 
 holding out inducements to longer service ; 
 an extra rupee per month being granted 
 after fifteen, and two rupees after twenty, 
 years' service. A further allowance, called 
 hutting-money, was granted to them by 
 Lord Hardinge; and an honourable dis- 
 tinction, accompanied by a valuable increase 
 of pay, was opened to the Native officers, by 
 the establishment of the " Order of British 
 India." Still the love of home proved too 
 strong ; and in pursuance of the new policy, 
 it was decided that a sepoy who was de- 
 clared unfit for foreign service, should no 
 longer be permitted to retire to his home on 
 an invalid pension, but should be retained 
 with the colours, and employed in ordinary 
 cantonment duty. This order was, as usual, 
 read out to each regiment on parade, and it 
 excited a murmur of general dissatisfaction 
 throughout the ranks. By these two mea- 
 sures the retired sepoy was transformed 
 into a local militiaman, and the former 
 militia became general service soldiers. f 
 The first me.isure was a direct blow at caste ; 
 the second was a manifest breach of the 
 terms of enlistment. There were also other 
 circumstances, indicative of a policy very 
 different to the genial kindly consideration 
 of old times. " General Anson," says the 
 late adjutant-general of the Bombay army 
 
 • Mutinies in Oudh, p. 94. 
 
 + The authority here relied on is Mr. Gubbins. 
 But it appears, that before the alterations in the 
 invaliding regulations referred to by him, as nearly 
 simultaneous with the general service order, strin- 
 gent rules had been given to the medical com- 
 mittees, which as early as 1854 had proved " a 
 fruitful source of discontent and disgust ;" native 
 officers of excellent character l)eing refu'sed promo- 
 tion, because " lame, worn-out, and unfit for fur- 
 ther service ;" yet kept for cantonment duty, while 
 VOL. H. T 
 
 (Major-general Tucker), " anxiously desired 
 to innovate; his predecessor had been 
 harshly charged with s\ipineness and apathy; 
 his own he designed should be a reign of a 
 very different description, and he attempted 
 to commence it with a curtailment of the 
 leave or furlough annually granted to the 
 sepoys — a very hasty and injudicious be- 
 ginning — and apparently so considered by 
 more than myself; for it was then nega- 
 tived, though I have since heard, that at a 
 later period, it was successfully advocated."]: 
 
 The above circumstances tend to ac- 
 count for the disbelief evidenced by the 
 sepoys in the protestations of govern- 
 ment, and the excitement created by the 
 unprecedented order to bite cartridges 
 made in the arsenal, instead of by them- 
 selves, as heretofore. Brigadier Hearsey 
 must have been well acquainted with the 
 general feeling, when he urged in January, 
 the immediate and total withdrawal of the 
 new cartridges ; the idea of forcible con- 
 version in connection with them, being so 
 rooted in the minds of the sepoys, that it 
 would be both " idle and unwise to attempt 
 its removal." 
 
 This idle and unwise attempt was, as we 
 have seen, continued through the mouths of 
 February, March, and April ; and in spite of 
 the mutiny of the 34th, and the disbaud- 
 ment of the 19th, the experiment of ex- 
 planatory words, and deeds of severe and 
 increasing coercion, was continued, until the 
 vigorous measures taken in May, issued not 
 in the disbandmeut, but in the revolt of the 
 entire Bengal army. 
 
 One feature connected with the prelimi- 
 nary stage of the mutinies remains to be 
 noticed ; namely, the circulation in Feb- 
 ruary of chupatties (small unleavened cakes) 
 through certain districts of the North- West 
 Provinces, and especially of the Saugor 
 territory. Major Erskine, the commissioner 
 for Saugor, made some enquiry regarding 
 the purport of this strange proceeding; but 
 could discover nothing, " beyond the fact of 
 the spread of the cakes, and the general 
 
 younger men were passed over their heads, instead 
 of being pensioned and suffered to retire and enjoy 
 their latter years in the bosom of their families. 
 " In my own regiment," a British officer writes to 
 the Times, " we have havildars (sergeants), of forty 
 years' service ; and the last muster roll I signed, the 
 strength of my company bore u])on it, I think, five 
 full privates of twenty years' service." — Times, July 
 2nd, 1857. Letter signed Sookhn Sunj. 
 
 j Major-general Tucker's Letter to the Time* 
 dated July 19lh, 1857. 
 
 \— '
 
 138 
 
 CIRCULATION OF THE CHUPATTIES. 
 
 belief that such distribution, passed on from 
 village to village, will prevent hail falling, 
 And keep away sickness. I also under- 
 stand," the major adds, " that this practice 
 is adopted by dyers, when their dye will not 
 clear properly ; and the impression is, that 
 these cakes originally came from Sciudia's, 
 or the Bhopal states."* 
 
 Certainly, there was no attempt at 
 secrecy ; the Native officials themselves 
 brought the chupatties to the European 
 magistrates for inspection; but either could 
 not, or would not, give any satisfactory ac- 
 count of the meaning of the transaction. 
 It appears, that each recipient of two cakes 
 was to make ten others, and transmit them 
 in couples to the chokeydars (constables) of 
 the nearest villages. It is asserted, that the 
 cakes were circulated among the heads of 
 villages not concerned in the mutiny, and 
 did not pass at all among the sepoys.f 
 
 Still, the circumstance was a suspicious 
 one, especially if there be any trutTi in the 
 allegation, that sugar was used as a signal 
 at the time of the Vellore mutiny. J The 
 notion of thus conveying a warning to be 
 in readiness for a preconcerted rising, is 
 one which would naturally present itself to 
 any people ; and we are told that, in China, 
 the " Feast of the Moon Loaves" is still 
 held, in commemoration of a similar device 
 in the conspiracy by which the Mongol 
 dynasty was overthrown 500 years ago.§ 
 At all events, it would have been only pru- 
 dent in the government to endeavour to 
 trace out the source of the movement, and 
 the intent of its originators. 
 
 It is difficult to frame a succinct narrative 
 of the events which occurred during the first 
 few days of May. The various accounts laid 
 before parliament are not only fragmentary, 
 but consist in great part of telegrams 
 founded on current rumours ; and those 
 narratives of individuals, published iu the 
 public journals, are, for the most part, 
 from the nature of the subject, trustworthy 
 only as regards transactions which occurred 
 in the immediate locality of the writers. The 
 official documents, however, disconnected 
 and unsatisfactory as they are, furnish a clue 
 to the inconsistency, indecision, and delay, 
 which characterised the proceedings of the 
 authorities ; namely, that the objects and 
 instructions of the commander-in-chief, were 
 
 • Letter, March 5th, 1857.— Pari. Papers, 
 t Edinburgh Review, October, 1857. J Ibid. 
 
 § Gabet and Hue's Travelt in Tartary in 1844, 
 chap. iiL 
 
 diametrically opposed to those of the gov- 
 ernor-general in council. They appear to 
 have acted, the one on an avowedly inno- 
 vating and coercive, the other on a pro- 
 fessedly conservative plan ; each issuing 
 orders which puzzled the Europeans, and 
 aggravated the distrust of the natives. 
 The officers were placed in a most painful 
 position ; they could not tell wMeb was 
 to« prevail, the Calcutta or the Simla 
 policy ; and, meanwhile, they did not know 
 what tone to adopt towards their men. 
 In a circular issued in May, by the gov- 
 ernor-general in council, their incertitude 
 is specially noticed in a paragraph, which 
 states that, " from communications lately 
 received by the government, it seems 
 that misapprehension regarding the car- 
 tridges is not confined to the Native 
 troops," but shared in by " some officers." 
 The communications referred to would 
 probably throw light on this critical perjod ; 
 and a handful of papers, uninteresting or 
 needlessly given in duplicate, might have 
 been left out of the Blue Books to make 
 room for them. But they might involve 
 unpleasant revelations, and are probably 
 purposely withheld. As it is, the series of 
 papers published on the subject, when care- 
 fully analysed, produce a painful conviction, 
 not only that the attitude assumed by both 
 civil aud militarv authorities, was calculated 
 to alarm the natives generally, and the 
 Bengal army in particular; but also that 
 the authorities themselves being aware of 
 this, have concurred in withholding from 
 the directors of the East India Company 
 and from parliament, the evidences of their 
 own disunion, vacillation, and inconsistency. 
 Otherwise, surely they would have felt it 
 necessary, and found it easy, to furnish the 
 British nation with a connected statement 
 of their measures and policy attested by the 
 needful documents, instead of sending home 
 a heterogeneous mass of papers, which, ex- 
 cept in the case of those specially moved 
 for by resolute members of parliament, re- 
 semble a heap of chaff in which some grains 
 of wheat have been left by mistake. 
 
 One of these grains is an official com- 
 munication, dated Simla, 4th of May, in 
 which General Anson, with an infatuation 
 which would be incredible except on his 
 own showing, takes the success of his sys- 
 tem for granted, and informs the Supreme 
 government, as a matter for congratula- 
 tion, that the practice of the Enfield rifle 
 has been commenced at the several mus-
 
 INCENDIARY FIRES AT UMBALLAH. 
 
 139 
 
 ketry depots, and that " the meu of all 
 grades have unhesitatingly and cheerfully 
 used the new cartridges."* In the com- 
 mander-in-chief's private circle " teaching 
 the sepoys to fire with the Enfield rifle" 
 was, however, spoken of as an "expensive 
 amusement"! to government, on account 
 of the incendiary fires by which the sepoys 
 gave vent to their feelings. In a circu- 
 lar issued in the middle of May, the gov- 
 ernor-general in council affirms, that " no 
 cartridges for the new musket, and no car- 
 tridges made of a new kind of paper, have 
 at any time been issued to any regiment of 
 the army."J The substitution of tearing 
 for biting, is referred to in the same paper 
 as having been generally carried out ; but 
 this was not the case; for unquestionably, 
 the first mutiny which occurred in Oude was 
 directly caused by an attempt to compel 
 a body of men, for the first time in their 
 lives, to bite suspected cartridges. 
 
 Oude. 7th N. Infantry disarmed. — On the 
 1st of May, there were about 2,200 Native 
 troops in Oude, and some 900 Europeans. 
 The entire force consisted of — H. M.'s 32nd 
 regiment; a troop of horse artillery; 7th 
 light cavalry; seven regiments of Native 
 infantry ; three field batteries of the Oude 
 irregular force ; three regiments of Oude 
 irregular infantry : and three regiments of 
 Oude police. 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence was, as has been 
 shown (page 88), fully aware of the dan- 
 gerous character of the force provided by 
 government for the maintenance of British 
 power in Oude. His endeavours to con- 
 ciliate the taiookdars by redressing some of 
 the most notorious cases of oppression, had 
 not been inefifectual ; and the reductions 
 made from the original rates of assessment 
 in certain districts, had afforded some mea- 
 sure of relief from our revenue screw. In 
 short, things seemed settling down quietly, 
 or at least the authorities thought so ; and 
 they welcomed the rapidity with which the 
 
 * Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 370. 
 
 t An officer o? rank, writing a semi-official letter 
 from Simla on the 28th of April, 1857, by com- 
 mand of General Anson, says, " It is an expensive 
 amusement teaching the sepoys to fire with the 
 Enfield rifle, at least as far as it has turned out at 
 Umballa. It has cost, I believe, the government by 
 two fires alone some 32,700 rupees, and I take the 
 liberty of doubting whether the old musket in the 
 hands of the sepoy was not quite as efficient an arm 
 as the new one is ever likely to prove." From March 
 26th to May 1st, fires occurred on fifteen different 
 evenings. "The 'new cartridges' were pointed out by 
 Commissioner Barnes as the sole cause which rendered 
 
 district treasuries were filled on the com- 
 mencement of the month, as a very favour- 
 able indication of the temper of the people. 
 The troops were far from being in a satis- 
 factory condition ; but the care with which 
 Sir Henry watched, met, and explained 
 away rumours calculated to incite them to 
 mutiny, preserved, and might have con- 
 tinued to preserve, at least their outward 
 allegiance, but for the suicidal folly com- 
 mitted in issuing an order to the 7th infantry, 
 which the men could not obey without 
 being, in the words of General Low, " guilty 
 of a heinous sin." They therefore refused, 
 " not from any feeling of disloyalty or dis- 
 affection towards the government or their 
 officers, but from an unfeigned and sincere 
 dread, owing to their belief in the late 
 rumours about the construction of these 
 cartridges, that the act of biting them 
 would involve a serious injury to their 
 caste and to their future respectability of 
 character."§ 
 
 The commanding officer, Captain Gray- 
 don, was absent in the hiUs, on sick leave; 
 and Lieutenant Watson was in charge, 
 when, on the 2nd of May, according to the 
 brief official account, || the 7th N. infantry, 
 stationed seven miles from the Lucknow 
 cantonments, " refused to bite the cartridge 
 when ordered by its own officers ; and, subse- 
 quently, by the brigadier,"1f on the ground 
 of a current rumour that the cartridges had 
 been tampered with.** In the afternoon of 
 the following day. Brigadier Gray reported 
 to Sir Henry Lawrence, at Lucknow, that 
 the regiment was in a very mutinous and 
 excited state. About the same time a letter 
 was placed in the hands of Sir Henry, in 
 which the men of the 7th infantry sought the 
 advice and co-operation of their " superiors" 
 or " elders" of the 48th, in< the matter of 
 the cartridges, and promised to follow their 
 instructions for either active or passive re- 
 sistance. This letter was originally delivered 
 to a Brahmin sepoy of the 48th, who com- 
 
 the musketry depot obnoxious to the incendiaries." 
 —May 7th, 157. Further Papers (P arl.), p. 24. 
 
 X Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies ; p. 340. 
 
 § Minute by Major-general Low. — Ibid., p. 211. 
 
 II The dates given above are taken from the offi- 
 cial letter written by the secretary of the chief com- 
 missioner (Sir H. Lawrence,) to the secretary to 
 government at Calcutta, on the 4th of May, lS57. 
 Mr. Gubbins, in his interesting account of the affair, 
 places it a week later : that is, dates the Smeute on 
 Sunday, the 10th, instead of the 3rd of May, and 
 other consecutive events accordingly. 
 
 f Appendix to P;irl. Papers on Mutinies, p. 209. 
 
 •• Gubbins' MutirUes in OuJh, p. 10.
 
 140 
 
 SIR H. LAWRENCE DISARMS 7th NATIVE INFANTRY. 
 
 municated its contents to two Native ofl&cers, 
 and the three laid it before the chief com- 
 missioner.* 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence ordered the brigadier 
 to parade the regiment, make every possible 
 explanation, and induce the sepoys to bite 
 the cartridge. One Native officer was nearly 
 prevailed on to obey the obnoxious orders ; 
 but several of the men called out to him 
 that, even if he did so, they would not. A 
 wing of 'H.M.'s 32nd regiment, and a strong 
 body of Native infaatry and cavalry, selected 
 from various corps, were ordered oat by 
 Sir Henry, and arrived at the lines of the 
 mutineers about nine o'clock in the even- 
 ing of the 3rd of May, the second Sunday — 
 memorable for panic and strife. But the 
 climax was not yet reached. The cup was 
 not yet full to overflowing. 
 
 Two oflacers (Captain Boileau and Lieu- 
 tenant Hardinge) unconnected with the 
 regimentjf and whose extraordinary and 
 most creditable influence is not accounted 
 for, succeeded, before the arrival of the 
 coercing force, in restoring order; and, 
 what was quite unparalleled, in inducing 
 the 7th to deliver up the writers of the 
 treasonable letter before named, and to pro- 
 mise the surrender of forty other ringleaders. 
 The approach of Sir Henry Lawrence and 
 bis stafl", with the European troops, renewed 
 the excitement which had nearly subsided. 
 The terrified sepoys watched the position 
 taken up by the European artillery and in- 
 fantry. It was bright moonlight, when an 
 artillery sergeant, by some mistake, lighted a 
 port-fire. The 7th thought an order for 
 their extermination had been given. About 
 120 men stood firm, but the great mass of 
 the regiment flung down their arms and fled. 
 A squadron of light cavalry (native) was 
 sent oflf to intercept the fugitives, and many 
 of them were brought back. Sir Henry 
 rode up to the remaining men, spoke calmly 
 to them, and bade them place on the ground 
 their muskets and accoutrements. The 
 order was unhesitatingly obeyed. The sepoys 
 laid down their pieces^ and took ofi" their 
 cross-belts with subdued exclamations of 
 good-will to the service, resting satisfied 
 with Sir Henry's assurance, that though 
 government would be asked to disband the 
 corps, those found guiltless might be re- 
 enlisted. J The disarmed men were directed 
 to recall the runaways, which they did ; and 
 
 * Mutiny of the Bengal Army : by one who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier; p. 30. 
 
 t Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 211. 
 
 by about noon on the following day (the 
 4th), the entire regiment had returned and 
 reoccupied its lines. 
 
 The views taken of the matter by the 
 members of the Supreme Council difl'ered 
 materially; nevertheless, they all agreed with 
 the governor-general in censuring the re-en- 
 listment proposed by Sir Henry Lawrence, 
 and in seeing " no reason, in the tardy con- 
 trition of the regiment, for hesitating to con- 
 firm the punishment of all who were guilty." 
 
 Mr. Dorin wrote a minute on the subject ; 
 which must sufiice to exempt him, as senior 
 member of council, from any portion of the 
 censure heaped on Lord Cauning for undue 
 " moderation." He pronounced disbaud- 
 ment an iusufiicient punisliment ; adding — 
 " The sooner this epidemic of mutiny is put 
 a stop to, the better." (The conclusion is 
 indisputable ; but it was formed some 
 months too late to be acted on.) " Mild 
 measures wont do it. A severe example is 
 wanted. » » • j would try the whole 
 of the men concerned, for mutiny, and 
 punish them with the utmost rigour of 
 military law. » * * My theory is, that 
 no corps mutinies that is well commanded. 
 If it should turn out that the ofiicers of the 
 7th have been negligent in their duty, I 
 would remand every one of them to theii 
 own regiments." This is a pretty compli- 
 ment to regimental oflTicers in general ; per- 
 haps some of them had their theory also, 
 aud held that no people rebel who are well 
 governed. If so, they might reasonably 
 inquire whether there were no means of 
 "remanding" a civilian of sixty years of 
 age, described as being "in all his habits a 
 very Sybarite ;" who " in no other country 
 but India, and in no other service but the 
 civil service, would have attained any but 
 the most subordinate position ;"§ but who, 
 nevertheless, in the event of any casualty 
 occurring to Lord Canning, would become, 
 by rule of seniority, the actual and despotic 
 sovereign of the Anglo-Indian empire. To 
 return to the case in point. Mr. Dorin con- 
 cluded his minute by declaring, that the 
 biting of the cartridge could only have 
 been an excuse for mutiny ; an assertion 
 which corroborates the opinion expressed 
 by the writer above quoted — that despite 
 Mr. Dorin's thirty-three years' service m 
 Calcutta (and he had never been fifty miles 
 beyoud it), he was " practically ignorant of 
 
 X Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 210. 
 § Mutiny in the Bengal Army : by one who hat 
 served under Sir Charles Napier ; p. 13.
 
 MINUTES OF CALCUTTA COUNCIL— MAY, 1857. 
 
 141 
 
 the manners, and customs, and peculiar 
 requirements of the people of India."* Gen- 
 eral Low, whose experience of native cha- 
 racter was second to that of no man in 
 India, frankly pointed out the order to bite 
 the cartridge as the cause, not the pretext, 
 of mutiny. Had the energy of the general 
 been equal to his judgment and integrity, a 
 much wiser course would probably have 
 long before been adopted by the council : 
 but fifty-seven years' service in India can 
 hardly be expected to ledve a man the phy- 
 sical strength needful to the lucid exposition 
 of his views, and to the maintenance and 
 vindication of his own ripened convictions 
 in antagonism to the prejudices of younger 
 colleagues. 
 
 Mr. Grant, a civilian, of thirty years' 
 standing, and a man of unquestioned talent, 
 agreed with General Low in attributing the 
 conduct of the men to an " unfeigned dread 
 of losing caste, engendered bj' the stories 
 regarding cartridges, which have been 
 xTunning like wildfire through the country 
 lately." Sepoys are, he added, very much 
 like children ; and "acts which, on the part of 
 European soldiers, would be proof of the 
 blackest disloyalty, may have a very dif- 
 ferent signification when done by these 
 credulous and inconsiderate, but generally 
 not ill-disposed beings." He concurred 
 with Mr. Dorin in censuring the officers ; 
 and considered that the mere fact of making 
 cartridge-biting a point, after it had been 
 purposely dropped from the authorised 
 system of drill, merely for " rifle practice, was 
 a presumption for any imaginable degree of 
 perverse management." Lord Canning 
 also seeras to have been puzzled on this 
 point ; for he remarks, that " it appears 
 that the revised instructions for the platoon 
 exercise, by which the biting o'" the car- 
 tridge is dispensed with, had not come into 
 operation at Luckuow." The mischief 
 would have been prevented had the govern- 
 ment publicly and entirely withdrawn, in- 
 stead of privately and. partially "dropped," 
 the obnoxious practice : but even as the 
 case stands, it is unaccountable that a sub- 
 altern, left in charge of a regiment, should, 
 on his own responsibility, have issued au 
 order manifestly provocative of mutiny, 
 without any apparent object whatever. In 
 the absence of any evidence to the contrary 
 
 • Mutiny of the Bengal Army ; by one who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier j p. 13. 
 t Mead's Sepoy Revolt, p. 21. 
 X Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 213. 
 
 it is much more probable that he acted on 
 orders emanating from Simla. 
 
 Whatever the cause of the emeute, Mr. 
 Grant (who has been satirically described 
 as belonging " to a family distinguished 
 for obstructive ability")t advised that the 
 same "calm, just, considerate, and dignified 
 course" which had been adopted in each of 
 the cases of the 19th and 34th Native 
 infantry, should be followed now ; and he 
 suggested "the dismissal of the bad men, 
 with the trial, by court-martial, of a few of 
 the worst men a month hence. "J 
 
 Fortunately for the lives of every Euro- 
 pean in India (not excepting that of Mr. 
 Grant), Sir Henry Lawrence was not the 
 inan to stand with folded arms, watching 
 the progress of a devouring flame, and wait- 
 ing orders regarding the most calm and 
 dignified course to be adopted for its ex- 
 tinction "a month hence." He poured 
 water on at once, and quenched the flames 
 so effectively, that Oude, the very centre of 
 combustion, did not again catch fire until 
 long after the "severe example," desired by 
 Mr. Dorin, had taken place in Meerut, and 
 set all India in a blaze. 
 
 The conduct of Sir Henry was so utterly 
 opposed to that of a model official, that 
 there can be little doubt he would have 
 received something worse thin the " severe 
 wigging"§ given to General Hearsey, for his 
 prompt reward of native fidelity, had not 
 one of those crises been at hand, which, 
 while they last, secure unchecked authority 
 to the men who have nerve and skill to 
 weather the storm. While the council were 
 deliberating. Sir Henry was acting. He 
 forthwith appointed a court of inquiry, to 
 investigate the cause, and attendant circum- 
 stances, of the so-called mutiny; and then, 
 instead of disbanding the regiment, accord- 
 ing to his first impulse, he dismissed all the 
 Native officers (with one or two exceptions) 
 and about fifteen sepoys, and forgave the 
 rest; re-arming about 200 (probably those 
 who stood firm, or were first to return to 
 their duty), and awaiting the orders of 
 government with regard to the others. He 
 promoted several whose good conduct had 
 been conspicuous. The Native officers and 
 sepoy who brought him the treasonable 
 letter from the 7th, were made the objects 
 of special favour; as was also a sepoy of the 
 
 § Mutiny of the Bengal Army; by one who haa 
 served under Sir Charles Napier ; p. 25. See also 
 ante, p. 133; and Lord Derby's speeches in the India 
 debates of December 3rd and 7th, 1857.
 
 142 
 
 7th N. I. DISARMED. 34th N. I. DISBANDED. 
 
 13th Native infantry, whose loyalty had been 
 evidenced by the surrender of two Lucknow 
 citizens, who had endeavoured to stir up 
 mutiny in the cantonments. A grand 
 durbar, or state reception, was held at the 
 chief commissioner's residence, in the Mu- 
 riaon cantonments (whither Sir Henry 
 had removed from the Lucknow residency, 
 on account of the heat). All the chief 
 civilians and military men were present, and 
 chairs were provided for the Native officers 
 of the troops in the cantonments, as also for 
 the leading people of Lucknow. Sir Henry 
 spoke ably and emphatically on the religious 
 toleration of the British government, and 
 appealed to the history of an entire century, 
 for evidence of the improbability of any 
 interference being now attempted. He re- 
 minded his hearers that Mussulman rulers 
 at Delhi had persecuted Hindoos ; and 
 Hindoo rulers, at Lahore, had persecuted 
 Mussulmans; but that the British had equally 
 protected both parties. Some evil-disposed 
 persons seeing only a few Europeans here 
 and there, imagined that, by circulating 
 false reports, the government miglit be easily 
 overthrown ; but the power which had sent 
 50,000 Europeans to fight against Russia, 
 could, in the space of three months, land 
 twice that number in India. Then calling 
 forth the natives who had given proof of fide- 
 lity, he bestowed on them khelats or dresses 
 of honour, swords, and purses of money ; and 
 cordially shaking hands with the recipients, 
 wished them long life to enjoy the honours 
 they had richly deserved. The tone taken 
 by Sir Henry was adopted by the other 
 Europeans. They mixed freely with the 
 Native officers ; and such as could under- 
 stand one another conversed together in 
 groups, on the momentous aflFairs of the 
 period. Sir Henry Lawrence gained time 
 by this judicious policy, and used it wisely 
 in preparing for the struggle which he had 
 delayed, but could not avert. 
 
 Disbandment of 34:th at Barrackpoor. — 
 It is now necessary to notice the course 
 adopted by the governor-general in council, 
 with regard to the 34th regiment — a course 
 which Mr. Grant, in a minute dated as late 
 as the 7th of May, applauded in the highest 
 terms, as having been " neither too hasty 
 
 • Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 
 213. 
 
 t This resolve, tardy as it was, is said to have 
 been hastened by telegraphic tidings of the emeute 
 in Oude on the 3rd. The government order was 
 dated the 4th of May; the punishment of the 34th 
 being of imperative necessity before the disaffection 
 
 nor too dilatory ;" adding, " it appears to 
 me, to have had the best effects, and to 
 have been generally approved by sensible 
 men."* There were, however, not a few 
 leading men in India who took a very 
 different view of the case, and quoted the 
 long-deferred decision regarding the 34th, 
 in illustration of the assertion of an In- 
 dian journal {Calcutta Englishman) ,^Xh2.t of 
 two stamps in the Calcutta post-office, re- 
 spectively marked " insufficient," and " too 
 late," one or both ought to have been im- 
 pressed upon every act of the Supreme 
 government. 
 
 Some five weeks after the memorable 
 Sunday afternoon on which 400 men of 
 the 34th Native infantry witnessed, with 
 more than, tacit approval, a murderous at- 
 tack on two of their European officers, the 
 government resolvedf on disbanding the 
 seven companies of that regiment present at 
 the time. The remaining three companies, 
 stationed at Chittagong, were in no way 
 implicated ; but had, on the contrary, prof- 
 fered assurances of continued allegiance, 
 and of regret for the misconduct of their 
 comrades.} On the 6th of May, at five in 
 the morning, in presence of all the troops 
 within two marches of the station, the seven 
 companies were paraded, and commanded 
 to pile their arms and strip off the uniform 
 they had disgraced. They obeyed ; the 
 payment of arrears was then commenced ; 
 and in about two hours the men, no longer 
 soldiers, were marched off to Pulta ghaut 
 for conveyance to Chinsurah. General 
 Hearsey, who gave so interesting an ac- 
 count of the disbandment of the 1 9th, ab- 
 stained from furnishing any particulars in 
 the case of the 34th ; but his very silence is 
 significant, and lends weight to a circum- 
 stance quoted by a military author, in evi- 
 dence of the bitter feelings of the latter corps. 
 The sepoys wore Kilmarnock caps, which, 
 having paid for themselves, they were 
 allowed to keep. Before crossing the river, 
 many of them were seen to take off their 
 caps, dash them on the ground, asd trample 
 them in the mud,§ as if in angry defiance 
 of their late masters. The order for their 
 disbandment was directed to be read on 
 parade, at the head of every regiment in 
 
 of the 7th irregular infantry could become publicly 
 known at Barrackpoor. Lord Derby commented on 
 the want of foresight and vigour evidenced by Lord 
 Canning's advisers in these proceedings. — Times, 
 Dec. 4th, 1857. 
 
 X Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 147. 
 I § Mutiny of the Bengal Army, p. 33.
 
 INCIPIENT MUTINY AT MEERUT— APRIL 23rd, 1857. 
 
 143 
 
 India, still unaccompanied by any assurance 
 of the withdrawal of the abhorred cartridsres. 
 
 We have now reached the end of the 
 " passive, respectful mutinies," which our 
 
 Either for this or some other reason. Sir own blind inconsistencies provoked and 
 Henry Lawrence would not allow the order ; fostered. The name of Meerut stands at 
 to be read to the troops in Oude, fearing j the head of a new series, the history of 
 
 that it would hasten rather than repress an 
 outbreak.* 
 
 which might be fitly written in characters 
 of blood. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MEERUT— 23KD APRIL TO lira MAY, 1857. 
 
 The cantonment of Meerut, two miles dis- 
 tant from the town, was divided into two 
 parts by a branch of the Calee Nuddee 
 river, and was chiefly remarkable for its 
 great extent, five miles long by two broad, 
 and for a fine parade-ground, four miles 
 long by one broad. It had a very large 
 bazaar, abounding in "budmashes" (lite- 
 rally, men of bad livelihood), near which 
 stood a gaol crowded with convicts. The road 
 to Delhi (thirty-two miles distant) lay close 
 to the Native lines. The troops stationed 
 here consisted of H.M.'s 6th dragoon guards 
 (carabineers); H.M.'s 60th rifles (one bat- 
 talion); a light field battery; a party of 
 horse artillery; 3rd Native light cavalry; 
 11th and 20th Native infantry; some sap- 
 pers and miners. The European troops 
 (exclusive of the sappers and miners), 
 amounted to 1,863 including 132 commis- 
 sioned officers. The Natives numbered 2,912, 
 including only 52 commissioned officers. f 
 
 The chief purpose of stationing an un- 
 usually large proportion of Europeans 
 here, was to keep in check the Native gar- 
 rison of Delhi ; but this very proportion 
 seems to have rendered the authorities 
 more than commonly indifferent to the feel- 
 ings of the sepoys, and to the dissatisfaction 
 which manifested itself in the form of deter- 
 mined disobedience to orders as early as 
 the 24th of April. The cause and pretext 
 (cause with the credulous, pretext with the 
 designing) was of course the cartridge, 
 which had by this time become the recog- 
 nised bete noir of the whole Bengal army. 
 
 * Mutint) of the Bengal Army : by one who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier ; p. 34. 
 
 t Pari. Paper.— (Commons), 9th February, 1858; 
 
 P- 3- 
 
 ♦ According to the East India Register and 
 Army List the colonel of the regiment, Colonel H. 
 Thomson was absent "on furlough." The East 
 
 The 3rd Native cavalry was a leading 
 regiment. It had been greatly valued by 
 Lord Lake, for service rendered at Delhi, 
 Laswaree, Deig, and Bhurtpoor; since then 
 Afghanistan, Ghuznee, Aliwal, aud Sobraon, 
 had been added to its list of battles. It con- 
 tained a large proportion of men of good 
 family and high-caste. The general weapon 
 was the sword; but fifteen in each troop 
 were taught to use fire-arms, and distin- 
 guished as carabineers or skirmishers. 
 There were a few bad characters among 
 the carabineers, but the majority were the 
 flower of a remarkably fine corps. To 
 these men their commanding officerj sud- 
 denly resolved to teach the mode of tearing 
 instead of biting the cartridges, in antici- 
 pation of the new kind coming out; and on 
 the afternoon of the 23rd, he issued an 
 order for a parade of all the skirmishers ou 
 the following morning. The order created 
 great excitement ; and an old Hindoo 
 havildar, named Heerah Sing, waited on 
 Captain Craigie, the captain of his troop, 
 and, in the name of his comrades, besought 
 that the skirmishers might be excused from 
 parade, because the name of the regimeut 
 would suffer in the estimation of other 
 corps, if tliey were to use the cartridges 
 during the present excitement on the sub- 
 ject. They did not threaten to refuse to 
 fire them, but only sued for delay, oaptain 
 Craigie reasoned with Heerah Sing on the 
 absurdity of being influenced by groundless 
 rumours ; but he knew that the feeling was 
 real, however unreasonable the cause ; and 
 
 India ltegiM.er date% his first appointment at 1798 ; 
 and, therefore, afler sixty years' service the veteran 
 officer may be supposed to have been warranted in 
 retiring from active service for the remain'1' " '<f his 
 life. In the Army List the name of the oUicer in 
 command is given as Colonel G. M. C. Smyth, and 
 the date of his first commission as 1819.
 
 144 
 
 MEERUT— NATIVE CAVALRY REFUSE CARTRIDGES. 
 
 it being then nearly ten o'clock, he wrote 
 a private note to the adjutaut of the 
 regiment, stating the request which had 
 been made to him, and urging comphance 
 with it, as, " if disregarded, the regiment 
 might immediately be in a state of mutiny." 
 Other officers had meanwhile reported on 
 the distress of the regiment, and the colonel 
 seemed inclined to put off the parade, when 
 the adjutant unluckily suggested, that if he 
 did so the men would say that he was afraid 
 of them. The fear of being accused of fear 
 decided the colonel on leaving his order un- 
 cancelled. In the course of the evening, 
 the house of the orderly (the hated favourite 
 of the colonel) was set on fire ; also an empty 
 horse hospital ; and the men kept aloof, in 
 evident disaffection. 
 
 Next morning, at daybreak, the skir- 
 mishers appeared on parade, and the fated 
 cartridges were brought forward in bundles. 
 The colonel harangued the men in bad 
 Hindustani, and endeavoured to explain 
 to them that the cartridges were to be used 
 by tearing, not biting; and assured the 
 troopers that if they obeyed, he would report 
 tliera to head-quarters, and make them 
 famous. But " there was no confidence 
 towards hira in their hearts, and his words 
 only mystified them." Heerah Sing, and 
 four other troopers, took the cartridges; 
 the other eighty-five refused them. The 
 colonel then dismissed the parade, and re- 
 ported what had occurred to General Hewitt. 
 A court of inquiry was held, and the disobe- 
 dient skirmishers were put off duty, and di- 
 rected toremain in theliues tillfurtherorders. 
 The European officers of the 3rd anxiously 
 waited instructions from the commander- 
 in-chief on the subject, anticipating, as an 
 extreme sentence, that, " the skirmishers 
 
 • Despatch, May 6th. — Appendix to the first 
 teries of Pari. Papers on the Mutinies, p. 373. This 
 is the only parliamentary document yet published 
 which contains any reference to the events preceding 
 the 9th of May. The above account is based on the 
 graphic and succinct narrative, evidently written, 
 though not signed, by the wife of Captain Craigie, 
 dated April 30th, and published in the Daily News 
 of 29th July, 1857. Mrs. Craigie adds— " General 
 (Hewitt), commanding here, was extremely angry 
 on learning the crisis which Colonel (Smyth) had 
 brought on, bitterly blaming his having ordered t^at 
 parade. * * * Of course, ordering the parade at 
 all, under the present excitement, was a lamentable 
 piece of indiscretion ; but even when that had been 
 done, the colonel might have extricated himself 
 without humiliation. Henry feels convinced that he 
 could have got the men to fire, or the parade might 
 have been turned into an explanation of the 
 new cartridge, without any firing being proposed. 
 
 might be dismissed without defence; in 
 which case, it was whispered that the whole 
 corps would mutiny, and be joined by the 
 other Native troops in the station." The 
 letter from which the above circumstances 
 are quoted, was written on the 30th of 
 April. The writer adds — " We are strongly 
 garrisoned by European troops here ; but 
 what a horrible idea that they should be 
 required to defend us !" 
 
 The 3rd of May came, and brought no 
 word from head-quarters, and the alarm 
 began to subside : but between the 3rd 
 and the 6th, orders on the subject must 
 have been sent ; for a despatch was written 
 from Simla on the latter day (from the 
 adjutant-general to the secretary of gov- 
 ernment), informing the authorities at Cal- 
 cutta that General Anson had directed the 
 trial, by a general court-martial, of eighty- 
 five men of the 3r(l cavalry, who had refused 
 to receive the cartridges tendered to them. 
 It further stated, that a squad of artillery 
 recruits (seventeen in number) having in 
 like manner refused " the carbine cartridges 
 ordered to be served out to them for use at 
 the drill," had been at once summarily dis- 
 missed by the officer commanding the artil- 
 lery at the station — a punishment which the 
 commander-in-chief censured as incommen- 
 surate to the offence.* No report of the 
 general court-martial has been made public 
 up to the present time (December, 1858. )t 
 
 In previous instances, the commander-in- 
 chief had vainly endeavoured to compel 
 Native courts-martial to adjudge penalties 
 commensurate with his notions of the hei- 
 nousness of sepoy offences : it is therefore 
 necessary that some explanation should be 
 given for the unaccountable severity of the 
 present sentence. la the first place, did 
 
 Henry, as a troop captain, had nothing to do be- 
 yond his own troop ; but thither he rode at day- 
 break on that fatal morning, and remained for 
 hours among his men, enjoining them to keep steady, 
 and withstand any impulse to join others in excite- 
 ment; bidding them do nothing without consulting 
 him, and assuring them that, though differing from 
 them in faith, he was one of them — their friend and 
 protector, as long as they were true to their duty ; 
 and the men felt that he spoke the truth. They 
 would have fired for him : they told him they 
 would, though unwillingly." 
 
 t It was held on the 6th, 7th, and 8th of May, and 
 the court was composed of six Mohammedan and 
 nine Native officers, and presided over by the deputy- 
 judge-advocate-general. For the latter piece of infor- 
 mation, I am indebted to the courtesy of Sir Arch- 
 dale Wilson, and for the former portion of the para 
 graph to that of Mr. Philip Melville, late head of thi 
 military department of the East India House.
 
 COURT-MARTIAL AT MEERUT— 6th, 7th, and 8th MAY, 1857. 145 
 
 the Native officers actually decree the en- 
 tire sentence of hard labour in irons ?* and 
 if so, under what amount of direct or indi- 
 rect coercion was it pronounced? Had the 
 court received any private intimation of the 
 decision at which they were expected to 
 arrive? In what terms did the judge sum 
 up the proceedings, and dictate or suggest 
 the sentence ; and had it or had it not been 
 previously suggested to him ? Sufficient 
 evidence has oozed out to prove that the 
 commander-in-chief gave very decided in- 
 structions on the conduct of the trial : the 
 British public have a clear right to know 
 precisely what they were, in order to ascer- 
 tain what degree of general mismanagement, 
 of individual crotchets in. the governors, 
 affecting the deepest religious convictions 
 of the governed, and of petty tyranny, may 
 be indulged in by future commanders-in- 
 chief, without driving an Indian army too 
 near the dizzy verge of mutiny. It appears, 
 that some days before the assemblage of the 
 court-martial, the European authorities 
 knew the decision which would be arrived at, 
 and anticipated its most natural result; for 
 Mr. Greathed, the commissioner of Meerut, 
 being called away to Alighur on political 
 business, returned to his post on the 9th (a 
 day earlier than he had at first intended), 
 
 • Since the above statement was written, some 
 additional information has been published by gov- 
 ernment on the Meerut proceedings, under the title 
 of Further I'apers relative to the Insurrection (not 
 mutiny, as heretofore styled by the authorities) in 
 the East Indies. The papers only occupy six pages, 
 ■ and conla'in the usual amount of repetition and 
 extraneous official matter. The proceedings of the 
 court of inquiry and of the three days' court-mar- 
 tial are still withheld, and the only new light on the 
 subject is afforded in a" Memorandum drawn up by 
 the judge-advocate-general of the army, of the cir- 
 cumstances which apparently led to the mutiny of 
 the Native army being precipitated." It is therein 
 stated, that "by the votes of fourteen out of the fifteen 
 Native officers who composed the court-martial, the 
 whole of the accused were convicted and sentenced 
 to imprisonment with hard labour for ten years 
 each. But the court solicited favourable considera- 
 tion for the prisoners, on account of the good 
 character which they had hitherto borne, as testified 
 to by their commanding officer j and on account of 
 their having been misled by vague reports regarding 
 the cartridges." Major-general Hewitt, however, 
 declared he could find nothing in the conduct of the 
 prisoners to warrant him in attending to the recom- 
 mendation of the court. " Their former good con- 
 duct has been blasted by present misbehaviour, and 
 their having allowed themselves to be influenced by 
 vague reports, instead of attending to the advice, 
 and obeying the orders of their European superiors, 
 is the gist of the offence for which they have been 
 condemned. • • • Some of them even had the 
 insolence to desire that firing parades might be 
 VOL. II. V 
 
 because "he knew that imprisonment would 
 follow the trial, and that an attempt to force 
 the gaol and to liberate the prisoners might 
 be expected. "t 
 
 A private letter from Meerut says, it was 
 understood that General Hewitt had been 
 desired to treat the skirmishers with the 
 "utmost severity." The trial was con- 
 ducted accordingly. " The prisoners were 
 charged with disobedience, which was un- 
 deniable, and which certainly demanded 
 punishment. A few tried to plead, with 
 little skill but considerable truth; but the 
 principle adopted towards them seemed in-, 
 difference to whatever they might have to 
 say, and the men felt themselves condemned 
 already in the minds of their court." They 
 were all found guilty, and sentenced to im- 
 prisonment in gaol and hard labour — eighty 
 for ten and five for six years, the very note- 
 worthy circumstance in the latter case being, 
 that the favoured five had served under in- 
 stead of above three years. Many of the 
 former must have been able to plead a long 
 term of faithful service ; but that, it seems, 
 was regarded as an aggravation, not an ex- 
 tenuation, of their fault. 
 
 General Hewitt had received orders to 
 carry out the sentence of the court-martial, 
 without waiting its confirmation by the 
 
 deferred till the agitation about cartridges among 
 the Native troops had come to a close. • • • 
 Even now, they attempt to justify so gross an 
 outrage upon discipline, by alleging that they had 
 doubts of the cartridges ; there has been no acknow- 
 ledgment of error, no expression of regret, no 
 pleading for mercy." This latter hinted aggrava- 
 tion is explained away by the testimony already 
 quoted regarding the conviction entertained by the 
 men, that nothing they could say would shake the 
 foregone conclusion of the court. They persevered in 
 asserting their belief that, by using the " new greased 
 cartridges" urged upon them, they would forfeit caste. 
 Major-general Hewitt declared, that to the majority 
 of the prisoners no portion of the sentence would be 
 remitted ; but that some of them being very young, 
 those who had not been above five years in the 
 service, would be set free at the expiration of five 
 instead of ten years. Not only was there no remis- 
 sion of the sentence, but a very cruel degradation 
 was superadded, by the painful and ignominious 
 fettering. Even General Anson, when informed of 
 the prisoners having been " put in irons on parade- 
 ground in the presence of their regiment, expressed 
 his regret at this unusual procedure." Notwith- 
 standing this qualification, it is evident that General 
 Hewitt acted in accordance with the spirit, if not the 
 letter, of his instructions. In the newly published 
 papers, there is much in confirmation, and nothing 
 in contradiction, of Mrs. Craigie's statement 
 
 t Letters written during the Siege of Delhi ; by 
 H. H. Greathed, Esq., late of the Bengal civil service, 
 and political agent of Delhi. Eiited by his widow. 
 Longman, 1858. — Introduction, p. xv.
 
 146 FETTERING OF THE EIGHTY-FIVE TROOPERS— 9th MAY, 18C7. 
 
 commander-in-chief, and arrangements were 
 made for its execution on the following 
 morning, in the presence of all the troops at 
 the station. A guard of European dragoons 
 and rifles was ordered to keep watch over 
 the prisoners during the night, and some 
 difficulty was experienced in calming the 
 excitement which the presence of the Euro- 
 peans created in the Native lines. At day- 
 break on the 9th of May, the troops 
 assembled for this most memorable punish- 
 ment parade. The "sunless and stormy" 
 atmosphere, described by an eye-witness, 
 bore but too close an analogy to the temper 
 of the sepoys. The scene must have dis- 
 tressed the British officers of the 3rd ; who, 
 if not absolutely blinded by prejudice, must 
 have felt for and with their men : but they 
 were compelled to refrain from offering the 
 slightest or most private and respectful 
 warning, at this fearful crisis, by the " severe 
 reprimand"* bestowed by the commander- 
 in-chief on Captain Craigie, for his timely 
 but neglected suggestions, given on the 
 night before the parade of the 24th of 
 April. After such a lesson, the subor- 
 dinate officers could only watch, iii silent 
 amazement, the incendiary proceedings of 
 their superiors. The uniform of the muti- 
 neers was stripped off, and the armourers' 
 and smiths' departments of the horse artil- 
 lery being in readiness, each man was 
 heavily ironed and shackled, preparatory to 
 being worked, for the allotted term of years, 
 in gangs on the roads. These ill-omened 
 proceedings occupied three long hours. 
 The victims to our inconsistent policy 
 showed the deepest sense of the degra- 
 dation inflicted on them. But resistance 
 would have been madness; the slightest 
 attempt would have produced an extermi- 
 nating fire from the guns manned by the 
 Europeans, and pointed at them. Some 
 clasped their hands together, and appealed 
 to General Hewitt for mercy; their com- 
 rades stood looking on in gloomy silence, 
 an order having been given that their offi- 
 
 * The above fact is taken from a short unpub- 
 lished paper, printed for private circulation, and 
 entitled, A Brief Account of the 3tutiny of the 
 3rd Light Cavalry ; by Colonel Smyth. It appears 
 that the colonel had, in the early part of April, 
 received intelligence from a friend, regarding the 
 feelings of a party of sepoys with whom he " had 
 fallen in." They spoke strongly in favour of the 
 disbanded 19th, and expressed themselves ready 
 to join in a general mutiny. This information 
 Colonel Smyth forwarded to General Anson about 
 the middle of April ; and, on the 23rd, he (Colonel 
 Smyth) ordered a parade, intending tO teach the men 
 
 cers only should attend on horseback. 
 When the fettering had been at length ac- 
 complished, the men were marched off the 
 field. As they passed the ranks of the 3rd 
 they shouted blessings on Captain Craigie, 
 and curses on their colonel, t and hurled 
 reproaches at the dismounted troopers, 
 for having suffered them to be thus de- 
 graded. J At length, when the military 
 authorities had done their work, they coolly 
 delivered over the mutineers to the civil 
 magistrate, to be lodged in the common gaol, 
 in company with some 1,200 convicts; the 
 whole to be left under the sole guard of 
 native burkandauz, or matchlockmen. 
 
 The sepoys returned to their lines appa- 
 rently completely cowed. The Europeans 
 were left masters of the situation ; and the 
 affair having gone off so quietly, the majority 
 were probably disposed to view more favour- 
 ably than ever, General Anson's resolve 
 to trample under foot the caste scruples of 
 the sepoys, and " never give in to their 
 beastly prejudices."§ The phrase, not a 
 very attractive one, has been quoted before ; 
 but it is necessary to repeat it, as the best 
 explanation of the commander-in-chief's 
 proceedings. Those about his person could, 
 it is said, furnish other traits, equally strik- 
 ing and characteristic. 
 
 The mutineers were, as we have seen, 
 marched off to prison ; the men returned to 
 their lines, and the Europeans to their bunga- 
 lows,' to take a siesta or a drive, to smoke or 
 play billiards, till dinner-time. The officers 
 of the 3rd had, however, a painful task as- 
 signed them — that of visiting the mutineers 
 in prison to inquire about their debts, and 
 arrange their affairs. The anxiety of the 
 captives about their destitute families was 
 most touching, and three of the officers re- 
 solved to set on foot a subscription to pro- 
 vide for the support of these innocent suf- 
 ferers. But nothing transpired within tht 
 prison to give the visitors any idea of an 
 intended revolt, or to lend weight to the ru- 
 mours abroad. This same evening. Colonel 
 
 to load without biting their cartridges, which he 
 thought they would be pleased to learn. The car- 
 tridges were to be distributed over-night. The men 
 refused to take them ; ai.d Colonel Smyth adds — 
 " One of my officers (Captain Craigie) wrote to the 
 adjutant in the strongest terms, urging me to put 
 off the parade, /or which he received a severe repri- 
 mand from the commander-in-chief." 
 
 t Testimony of an eye-witness. 
 
 J Mutiny (f the Bengal Armn : by one who has 
 served under Sir C. Najiier ; p. 35. See, also, let- 
 ter of correspondent to Calcutta Englishman. 
 
 § Cooper's Crisis in the Pun/ah; p. 37.
 
 MEERUT GAOL BROKEN OPEN— SUNDAY, MAY 10th, 1857. 147 
 
 Finnis, of the 11th Native infantry, was 
 seated at Colonel Custine's dinner table, 
 when a lady remarked that placards were 
 said to have been seen about the city, call- 
 ing upon all true Mussulmans to rise and 
 slaughter the English. " The threat," says 
 Mrs. Greathed, " was treated by us all with 
 indignant disbelief."* 
 
 If any of the party could have heard 
 what was then passing iu the widely scat- 
 tered Native lines, it might have spoiled 
 their sleep that night. As it was, no 
 one — not even the commissioner, who had 
 foreseen tlie probability of an attack on the 
 gaol — seems to have manifested any anxiety 
 regarding the temper of the Native soldiery, 
 or inquired the workings of their mind 
 upon an act calculated to fill them with 
 shame and sorrow for their comrades, and 
 with terror for themselves. The penalty of 
 disbandment for refusing to use the ab- 
 horred cartridges, was changed, by the act 
 of that morning, into the degrading punish- 
 ment of a common felon : the recusants were 
 doomed to labour for years, perhaps for life, 
 in irons, for the profit of their foreign mas- 
 ters, while their wives and children were 
 left to starve ! Was there no alternative 
 for them except the cruel one of forfeiture 
 of caste, of virtual excommunication, with 
 all its wretched consequences, its civil and 
 religious disabilities? Both Mohamme- 
 dans and Hindoos had, as has been shown, 
 recent grievances rankling in their breasts : 
 the present measure looked like part of a 
 system to prostrate them in the dust, if not to 
 wholly crush them; and when the hum- 
 bled 3rd looked at the empty huts of their 
 comrades, and thought of the crowded 
 gaol (which the excessive cleanliness asso- 
 ciated with high-caste renders specially 
 disgusting) and of their forlorn families, 
 no wonder their hearts sank within them. 
 Beneath the general depression, there were, 
 doubtless, under-currents ; and the sugges- 
 tions of the bolder or more intriguing, 
 would naturally gain ready hearing. There 
 must have beeu decided dissatisfaction ; but 
 there is no evidence to show that any plot 
 was formed on the night of the 9th ; it 
 rather appears^ that until late in the after- 
 noon of Sunday, the 10th, the troops re- 
 mained, as it were, paralysed, but ready to 
 
 * Greathed's Letters ; Introduction, p. xiv. 
 
 t Major-general Hewitt to adjutant-general of the 
 army, May 11th, 1857.— Further Papers on Muti- 
 nies (Commons), No. 3 ; p. 9. 
 
 X Letter of the Kev. J. C. Smyth, one of the chap- 
 lains at Meerut. — Times, June 30th, 1857. 
 
 be thrown into a state of panic by the most 
 trifling occurrence. In fact, their excessive 
 fear verged on despair: no report regard- 
 ing the hostile intentions of the government 
 was too absurd to be believed ; and fancy- 
 ing themselves driven into a corner, they 
 drugged themselves with bhang, and, to 
 the amazement of the Europeans, suddenly 
 changed their attitude of humble depreca- 
 tion, for one of reckless, pitiless, unreason- 
 ing ferocity. 
 
 The best authority on the subject (Gen- 
 eral Hewitt) considers, that " the outbreak 
 was not premeditated ; but the result of a 
 rumour that a party was parading to seize 
 their arms ; which was strengthened by the 
 fact of the 60th rifles parading for evening 
 service."t 
 
 The conclusion is evidently a just one; 
 for had there been any combination, how- 
 ever secret, or however superficial, the sepoys 
 would have waited till the Europeans were 
 either iu church, or in their beds. They 
 had no superiority of numbers to presume 
 upon; and the majority acted, beyond all 
 doubt, on an ungovernable influence of 
 rage and desperation. Shortly before six 
 o'clock P.M., a body of the 3rd cavalry 
 flung themselves on their horses, and gal- 
 loped oS" to the gaol, where they released 
 their comrades, and the other prisoners, 
 amounting in number to 1,200. Of course, 
 many of these latter played a leading part 
 in the outrages of that terrible night; but 
 some were so terrified by the madness of 
 their new associates, that they came and 
 voluntarily gave themselves up to the ma- 
 gistrates as soon as the first tumult had 
 subsided. The rescued "eighty-five" were 
 brought back in triumph to the Native 
 lines. They had had enough of prison dis- 
 cipline to rouse, not quench, their fiercest 
 passions. The degradation was fresh ; their 
 limbs were yet bruised and raw with the 
 fetters. They proceeded to the compound 
 of Captain Galloway, of the 3rd light cav- 
 alry, and compelled his blacksmith to re- 
 move their chains. J Then they went 
 among their comrades, calling aloud for 
 vengeance. The whole of the 3rd, except 
 Captain Craigie's troop of fifty men, joined 
 the mutineers : so did the 26th N. I. ; but 
 the 11th N.I. hung back, defended their 
 officers, and such of them as were stationed 
 on guard, remained at their posts. 
 
 The mass of the troops liad now crossed 
 the Rubicon, and knew that to recede or 
 hesitate would be to ensure the death of
 
 148 
 
 MUTINY AND MASSACRE AT MEERUT— MAY 10th, 1857. 
 
 rebels, or the life of galley-slaves. The 
 iiiflaramable bungalows, mostly thatched 
 with straw, were soon set on fire, including 
 General Hewitt's. Dense clouds of smoke 
 filled the hot night air, and volumes of 
 flame were seen sliooting up in columns to 
 heaven, or rolling in billows along the 
 ground. The bugle sounded the alarm ; 
 irregular discharges of musketry were heard 
 on eveiy side. The sepoys seemed to have 
 turned in a moment from obedient children 
 to infuriated madmen. The madness, too, 
 was fearfully contagious; the impetus was 
 irresistible. The 11th held out long, and 
 stood by their officers, while their colonel 
 reasoned with the mutineers. But, alas ! 
 the time was past for arguing the matter, 
 save with swords and guns. A sepoy of 
 the 20th Native infantry took aim at Colonel 
 Finnis : the example was instantly followed; 
 and the good and gallant officer fell dead 
 from his horse, amid a shower of bullets. 
 Ou this the 20th fired into the lltli; and the 
 latter corps being no longer able to remain 
 neutral,* reluctantly joined their country- 
 men, after having first placed their officers 
 in safety. Then incendiarism, practised in 
 detail at the musketry depots ever since the 
 hated cartridges were distributed, reached 
 its height, the mutineers being "assisted 
 by the population of the bazaar, the city, 
 and the neighbouring villages." It was 
 mutiny coupled with insurrection. The 
 sepoys had, however, no leaders, and their 
 movements were, to the last degree, irre- 
 gular an.d disconnected. Kill, kill ! was 
 the cry of a few desperate fanatics mad- 
 dened with bhang ; booty, booty ! was 
 the all-comprehensive object of the bud- 
 mashes of the city, and of the scum of the 
 vast following which ever attends a large 
 Indian cantonment, and which was now 
 suddenly let loose on the affrighted Euro- 
 pean families. The scene was terrible ; but 
 it resembled rather the raid of insurgent 
 villagers than the revolt of trained troops : 
 there was, in fact, no fighting at all, pro- 
 perly so called ; for the incensed 3rd cav- 
 alry mutineers (who, it must be remembered, 
 were Mohammedans of high family) were 
 anxious to reach Delhi, where they felt sure 
 of the sympathy of their co-religionists; 
 while the mass of the sepoys had joined the 
 mutiny because they could not remain neu- 
 tral; and the first flush of e.^citcment passed, 
 their great desire was to get out of the 
 reach of the European guns. Eight women 
 * General Uewilt's leltcr. 
 
 and seven or eight children perished; and 
 there were instances in which the dead 
 bodies were horribly slashed and cut by the 
 infuriated mob; but the highest official 
 account of European lives lost, including 
 officers and soldiers, does not reach forty. 
 
 The only considerable body of sepoys 
 who remained thoroughly staunch during 
 the night was Captain Craigie's troop of 
 cavalry; but it required not merely his re- 
 markable influence over his men, but con- 
 summate tact in using it, to prevent their 
 being carried away by the torrent. Never 
 was there a more conspicuous instance of 
 the value of that " faculty for managing 
 natives," spoken of by the Calcutta cor- 
 respondent of the Times as a " sixth sense, 
 which can neither be communicated nor 
 lcarnt."t Mrs. Craigie's account of the 
 aftair bears strong internal evidence of 
 truthfulness, and is corroborated by cotem- 
 porary official and private statements. 
 She was driving to church with another lady, 
 when, passing the mess of the 3rd rejjiment, 
 they saw the servants leaning over the 
 walls of the compound, all looking towards 
 the road from the Native infantry lines. 
 Several voices called out to the ladies to 
 return, for there was a mutiny of the Native 
 infantry, and a fight in the bazaar. Crowds 
 of armed men were now seen hurrying to- 
 wards the carriage. It- occupants drove 
 back in great alarm ; but soon overtaking 
 an English private running for his life from 
 several men (not sepoys) armed with lattees 
 (long sticks), they stopped the carriage, and 
 drew in the fugitive, his assailants continu- 
 ing to strike at him ; but the heroines held 
 out their arms and pleaded for him, and 
 were suffered to drive off in safety with tlie 
 rescued soldier. On reaching her own 
 bungalow, Mrs. Craigie found her husband 
 in entire ignorance of what was occurring. 
 He started off to the lines of the 3rd, and 
 found that the three first troops had disap- 
 peared ; but his own (the 4th), with the 5th 
 and 6th, were still there. Another of the 
 troop captains, whose name does not appear, 
 but who was senior in rank to Captain 
 Craigie, now joined him, and tlie two 
 officers asked the men if they could rely ou 
 them. The answer was an eager declara- 
 tion of fidelity. The men said they had 
 heard there was fighting at the gaol to re- 
 lease the prisoners; and clustering round 
 Captain Craigie, professed themselves ready 
 to do whatever he might order. The ofKccrs 
 t 'Times, June 15tli, 18o7.
 
 MASSACRE AND CONFLAGRATION AT MEERUT. 
 
 149 
 
 directed the troops to mount and follow 
 them. Meanwhile, a gentleman, whose 
 name is not stated, came up, and was 
 asked if he had any orders from the colonel. 
 The reply was, that "the colonel was flying 
 for his life, and had given no orders."* 
 The officers rode on with the three troops. 
 Captain Craigie, anxiously occupied with 
 his own men, discovered, after riding some 
 distance, that he was, alone with the 4tli 
 troop. He soon afterwards met the released 
 cavalry mutineers with their irons broken. 
 They were on their way to Delhi, and were 
 mounted and in uniform, their comrades 
 having given them their own equipments. 
 The fugitives recognised Captain Craigie, 
 shouted to him that they were free, and 
 poured forth blessings on him. " He was," 
 says his wife, " indeed their friend ; and had 
 he been listened to, these horrors might 
 never have happened." Captain Craigie, 
 seeing that it was too late to preserve the 
 gaol, turned back, to try and save the stan- 
 dards of the 3rd from the lines. The roads 
 were thronged with infantry mutineers and 
 bazaar men, armed and firing. A ladyt 
 was driving by in a carriage, when a trooper 
 came up with her and stabbed her. Captain 
 Craigie cut the assassin down with his 
 sword, but the victim was already dead. 
 Soon after this, a ball whizzed by his own 
 ear; and looking round, he stiw a trooper 
 out of uniform, with his head muffled, fire 
 at him again. "Was that meant for me?" 
 he shouted. " Yes 1" said the trooper, " I 
 will have your blood." 
 
 Captain Craigie's presence of mind did 
 not desert him ; he believed the men might 
 mutiny from him if he fired; and turning to 
 them, he asked if they would see him shot. 
 They vociferated " No !" and forced the 
 mutineer back again and again ; but would 
 neither kill nor seize him. A Christian 
 trumpeter urged the captain to save him- 
 self by riding faster, and he dashed on 
 to the lines ; but passing his own house by 
 the way, he asked who would go and defend 
 
 • "Tliis statement is partially incorrect, for the 
 colonel had directed Adjutant Clarke to order the 
 men to stand to their horses, to be ready to mount if 
 required." The order did not reach the men, and 
 would evidently have exercised very little effect if it 
 had ; but the former portion of the quotation in ques- 
 tion, is corroborated by Colonel Smyth's own words. 
 "Six officers," he states, "came into my compound 
 chased by infantry sepoys, and concealed themselves 
 in my house. I then went to inform the general 
 (Hewitt) of what was going on. I took my own 
 orderly and the field officers with me. 1 told them to 
 draw awords, as the road was getting crowded, and 
 
 his wife. The whole troop (at least all with 
 him) raised their hands. He said he only 
 wanted four men. " I, I, I," cried every 
 one ; so he sent the first four, and rode on 
 with the others to the lines, where he 
 found Major Richardson and two European 
 officers, with a few remaining men of the 
 other troops. The Native infantry were 
 flying across the parade-ground, pursued by 
 the European artillery. The officers, bid- 
 ding their men follow, galloped into the 
 open country, with three of the four regi- 
 mental standards ; and, on seeing them safe. 
 Captain Craigie, by the permission of Major 
 Richardson, returned to provide for the 
 safety of his wife. She, poor lady ! had 
 endured an interval of terrible anxiety; but, 
 like her husband, had retained perfect self- 
 possession. The rescued European was one 
 of the carabiuiers — a guard of whom had 
 been placed over the mutineers, and had 
 thereby become the objects of especial 
 hatred with the mob. She dressed him in 
 her husband's clothes, and then she and 
 her female companion watched the progress 
 of the incendiary crew, and seeing bungalow 
 after bungalow blazing round them, expected 
 that the lines of fire would close them iu. 
 At length the mob reached the next com- 
 pound, and set light to the stables. The 
 groans of the horses were fearful; but soon 
 the more terrible utterance of human agony 
 was heard through the din ; and Mrs. 
 Craigie, looking from the upper part of her 
 own dwelling, saw a lady (Mrs. Chambers) 
 in the verandah of the next house. At her 
 entreaty, the servants ran to try and bring 
 their unfortunate neighbour over the low 
 separating wall. But it was too late; the poor 
 victim (who had but newly arrived in India, 
 and was on the eve of her confinement) had 
 been already killed, and cut horribly. This 
 was fearful news for Mrs. Craigie and her 
 companions ; they soon saw men bringing 
 a burning log from the next compound, and 
 thought their own ordeal was at hand. 
 Crowds gathered round; but the name of 
 
 immediately galloped off as fast as I could, the 
 bazaar people striking at me with swords and sticks, 
 and shouting after me, which Mr. Rose, of the barrack 
 department, witnessed. I went first to Mr. Great- 
 hed's, the gate of whose compound was open ; but a 
 man ran to it to shut it, I suppose ; but I got in and 
 rode up to the house, and gave the information to 
 the servants, as I was informed Mr. Greathed was 
 out. I then went on to the general's, and heard he 
 had just left the house in his carriage." — Colonel 
 Smyth's Narrative. 
 
 t Mrs. Courtenay, wife of the hotel keeper at 
 Meerut.
 
 150 
 
 CAPTAIN CRAIGIE'S LOYAL TROOP OF CAVALRY. 
 
 Captain Craigie was frequently shouted in 
 deprecation of any assault ou his dwelling ; 
 and a fe-w of the Hindoo servants who re- 
 mained faithful, especially one Buctour, a 
 tent lascar, ran to and fro, trying to clear 
 the compound, and declaring that his mas- 
 ter was " the people's friend," and no one 
 should burn his house. 
 
 At this crisis the ladies saw the four 
 troopers sent to guard them riding in, and, 
 recognising the well-known uniform, though 
 not the wearers, hailed them at once as 
 deliverers. The troopers dismounted, and 
 rushed eagerly upstairs; Mrs. Craigie strove 
 to take their hands in her's, but they pros- 
 trated themselves before her, and touching 
 her feet with their foreheads, swore to pro- 
 tect her at the hazard of their lives ; 
 which they actually did. They implored 
 her to keep within shelter, and not expose 
 herself on the verandah. But anxiety for 
 her husband overpowered every other con- 
 sideration, and she could not be restrained 
 from gazing forth on the blazing canton- 
 ment in an agony of suspense, which pre- 
 vented her from heeding the blinding, suffo- 
 cating smoke, the parching heat, or even 
 the shots fired at herself, until at length the 
 brother of her young friend arrived in safety, 
 and was soon followed by Captain Craigie, 
 who having nobly performed his public 
 duty, now came to rescue his heroic wife. 
 Fearing that the house would be surrounded, 
 the officers wrapped dark stable-blaukets 
 round the light muslin dresses of the ladies, 
 to hide them from the glare of the flaming 
 station, and lessen the risk of fire, and con- 
 cealed them in a little thick-walled, single- 
 doored temple, which stood on the grounds. 
 There they remained several hours ; during 
 which time, a band of armed thieves broke 
 into the house ; but two of them were shot 
 (one by Buctour), and the others fled. 
 Cavalry troopers continued to join the 
 party, including one of the condemned 
 eighty-five, who offered to stay and defend 
 the Europeans; but Captain Craigie said 
 he must surrender him if he did; and, "after 
 a time, the boy disappeared." The other 
 troopers, to the number of about thirty, 
 entreated Captain Craigie 'not to take his 
 wife away, as they would protect her with 
 their hves ; but he dared not run the risk :* 
 and when the roads became quieter, he put- 
 to the horses (all the stable-servants having 
 
 • Captain Craigie's house, and another, were the 
 only ones left standing in the 3rd cavalry lines, 
 t Greathed's Letters, d. 291. 
 
 fled), aud hurried the ladies off to the artil- 
 lery lines, first allowing them to collect 
 together a few clothes and their trinkets. 
 The plate they could not get, the khitraut- 
 gar (Mohammedan steward) having run off 
 with the keys. He had, however, buried 
 the property in the first moments of alarm, 
 and he subsequently brought the whole intact 
 to his master. The troopers, gallantly as 
 they had behaved, " looked very blank"' at 
 the idea of proceeding to the European 
 lines. Instead of confidently expecting re- 
 ward, they "feared being made prisoners;" 
 and it was with the utmost difficulty that 
 they were induced to venture within reach 
 of the unreasoning fury of the British 
 force. It is needful to remember this; 
 for probably the excessive dread inspired by 
 our policy, has been, with the vast majority 
 of the Bengal army, the inciting cause of 
 mutiny. Our very inconsistencies and 
 vacillations have been ascribed by them to 
 some hidden motive. At the outset, the 
 only body of sepoys who kept together and 
 obeyed orders during this terrible night, 
 evidenced the most entire disbelief in the 
 gratitude or justice of the military autho- 
 rities, and ventured to remain in allegiance, 
 wholly in dependence on the individual 
 character of their captain. But for him, 
 they too would have joined the mutineers. 
 
 During the night, maay Europeans were 
 saved by the fidelity and daring of native 
 servants, at the risk of their own lives. The 
 commissioner (Mr. Greathed) and his wife 
 are among the number. On seeing the 
 mob approach their house, they took shelter 
 with two English ladies on the terrace roof; 
 ■hut the wood-work was soon set on fire, and 
 no alternative apparently remained but to de- 
 scend and surrender themselves, when Gho- 
 lab Khan, their head gardener, succeeded 
 in inciting the crowd to pillage a large 
 storehouse at some distance, he affecting to 
 share in the plunder. t Ladders were then 
 placed against the opposite wall by others 
 of the establishment, every member con- 
 tinuing faithful, and the whole party es- 
 caped off the roof (which, some few minutes 
 later, fell in with a fearful crash), and took 
 refuge in the garden. When day broke, 
 the rioters having left the place, Gholab 
 Khan brought a buggy, wherein the com- 
 missioner and his three companions pro- 
 ceeded in safety to the artillery school of 
 instruction, whither, ou the morning of the 
 11th, all the ladies of the cantonment, with 
 their children and servants, were taken by
 
 EUROPEANS MURDERED AT MEERUT— MAY 10th, 1857 
 
 151 
 
 their husbands without any military escort. 
 The school was a large, easily defensible en- 
 closure, with lines of barracks ; and here all 
 the civilians and such of the staff as were 
 not required outside took refuge, there 
 being no fort at Meerut. Captain and 
 Mrs. Macdonald (20th regiment) were both 
 slain ; but their ayah (nurse) seized the 
 children, and conveyed them to a place of 
 safety. 
 
 The following is the official list of the 
 Europeans killed at Meerut, not already 
 named. 3rd Light Cavalry — Lieutenant 
 McNabb (a youth of much promise, who 
 had only just joined his regiment, and was 
 returning home unarmed from the artillery 
 mess) ; Veterinary Surgeons Phillips* and 
 Dawson, Mrs. Dawson and children. 60th 
 Rifles — one corporal. 20th Native In- 
 fantry — Captain Taylor, Lieutenant Hen- 
 derson, Ensign Pattle, Mr. Tregear (in- 
 spector in the educational department). 
 A gunner, two Chelsea pensioners, a fife- 
 major of the 11th Native infantry, four 
 children, five men, and two women (whose 
 names were unknown), were all killed by the 
 released convicts or bazaar people. f 
 
 There was, as has been before stated, 
 no organised resistance ; and the general 
 opinion, pronounced almost without a dis- 
 sentient voice by the press of England and of 
 India, is, that the deficiency of the rebels in 
 leaders was more than counterbalanced 
 by the incapacity of the British authorities. 
 After making all reasonable allowance for 
 the suddenness of the shock, and the un- 
 preparedness of the officers in command 
 (although that is, in fact, rather an aggrava- 
 tion than an extenuation of their conduct), 
 it is not possible to account satisfactorily 
 either for the space of time occupied in 
 getting the troops, especially the dragoons, 
 under arms, or for the neglect of any at- 
 tempt to forestal the mutineers in their 
 undisguised plan of proceeding to Delhi, 
 which everybody knew was strongly forti- 
 fied, richly stored, and weakly garrisoned 
 by Native troops ; and the care of which was, 
 
 * This gentleman had calmly looked on during the 
 punishment parade of the previous day, and had ad- 
 vocated the adoption of the sternest measures to com- 
 pel the entire corps to use the new cartridges. He 
 was shot while driving his buggy, and, it is said, mu- 
 tilated by five troopers. — Letter of the Rev. J. C. 
 Smyth, chaplain at Meerut. — Times. The governor 
 of the gaol is said to have owed his life entirely to 
 the gratitude of certain of the mutineers, to whom he 
 had spoken kindly while under his charge. 
 
 t Supplement to Gazette, May 6th, 1858; p. 2262. 
 
 in fact, the one great reason for the main- 
 tenance of the costly and extensive Meerut 
 cantonment. To begin with the first count, 
 the 60th rifles were parading for evening 
 service when the tumult began. They, 
 therefore, ought to have been ready to 
 act at once against the gathering crowds ; 
 while the European dragoons, if too late 
 in mounting to save the gaol, should have 
 been sent off either to intercept the fugitives 
 or preoccupy the city.if Captain Craigie, 
 who had acted on his own responsibility in 
 proceeding with his troop to try and pre- 
 serve the gaol, met several of the released 
 prisoners, already on the road to Delhi, 
 at that early hour of the evening. Even 
 the 3rd cavalry do not appear to have gone 
 off together in any large body, but rather 
 in straggling parties ; and it appears that 
 they might have been cut ofi", or at least 
 dispersed in detail. The effort ought to 
 have been made at all hazards. There was 
 no fort in Meerut ; but the women and 
 children might surely have been gathered 
 together in the artillery school, under the 
 escort of European soldiers, at the first out- 
 break of the mutiny, while the 11th — who 
 long held back, and to the last protected the 
 families of their oflBcers — were yet obedient; 
 and while one portion of the force remained 
 to protect the cantonment, the cavalry and 
 guns might have overtaken the fugitives, 
 the greater number of whom were on foot. 
 
 Major-general Hewitt's own account of 
 the affair is the best proof of the utter 
 absence of any solicitude on his part, or, it 
 would appear, of any suggestion on the part 
 of those around him, for the preservation of 
 Delhi. In acquainting the adjutant-gene- 
 ral, in a letter dated May the 11th, with 
 the events of the preceding night, he never 
 even alludes to any plan of proceeding against 
 the mutineers, or anticipates any other 
 employment for the 1,863 European sol- 
 diers stationed at Meerut, than to take care 
 of the half-burned cantonments, and mount 
 guard over their wives and families, until 
 reinforcements should arrive to help them 
 
 X The last witness on the subject is Mr. Russell, 
 who, in October, 1858, examined Meerut in company 
 with Colonel Johnson of the artillery, an officer pre- 
 sent at the mutiny. Mr. Russell satisfied himself 
 that there was indeed just ground, admitting the 
 difficulty of the situation, and many embarrassing 
 circumstances, " to deplore the want of energy of 
 those who had ample means in their hands to punish 
 the murderers on the spot, and to, in all probability, 
 arrest or delay considerably the massacre and revolt 
 at Delhi."— r/mes, 29th Nov., 1858.
 
 152 
 
 APATHY AND INCAPACITY OF MEERUT AUTHORITIES. 
 
 hold their own, and assist in carrying out 
 drum-head courts-martial for the punisli- 
 ment of the insurgent villagers and bazaar 
 budraashes ; as to the civil law and civil 
 courts, they were swept away by the first 
 breath of the storm. 
 
 Many a gallant spirit must have chafed 
 and raged that night, asking, in bitterness 
 of spirit, the question generally uppermost 
 in the minds of British soldiers — " What will 
 they say of us in England?" But then — 
 and it is not the least strange point of the 
 case — we liear of no single soldier or 
 civilian offering to lead a party, or go, if 
 need were, alone, to Delhi, if only to warn 
 the defenceless families assembled there, of 
 the danger by which they were menaced. 
 
 The ride was nothing; some thirty-six 
 miles on a moonlight midsummer night : 
 the bullet of a mutineer might bring it to 
 a speedy close; but was that enough to deter 
 soldiers from endeavouring to perform their 
 duty to the state of which they were sworn 
 defenders, or Englishmen from endeavour- 
 ing to save a multitude of their country- 
 women from evils more terrible than death ? 
 As individuals even, they might surely have 
 done something, though perhaps not much, 
 clogged as they were in a peculiar manner by 
 the working of a system which, amid other 
 defects, makes a general of fifty-five a pheno- 
 menon in India.* The commanding officer 
 at Meerut was not a Napier or a Campbell, 
 gifted beyond his fellows with immunity 
 from the physical and mental inertia which 
 threescore years and ten usually bring in 
 their train. If General Hewitt had been 
 ever characterised by vigour and decision, 
 at least these qualities were not evidenced 
 at Meerut. It is painful to animadvert on 
 even the public conduct of a brave old 
 officer ; the more so, because the despatch 
 which evidences what he failed to do, is par- 
 ticularly straightforward and manly. He 
 states, without preface or apology, that "as 
 soon as the alarm was given, the artillery, 
 carabiniers, and (iOth rifics were got under 
 arms ; but by the time we reached the Native 
 infantry parade-ground, it was too dark to 
 act with efiiciency in that direction ; conse- 
 quently the troops retired to the north of 
 the nulhih" (small stream before alluded to), 
 " so as to cover the barracks and officers' 
 lines of the artillery, carabiniers, and 60th 
 rifles, which were, witli 
 
 one house, preserved, though the insurgents 
 — for I believe the mutineers had at that time 
 retired by the Alighur and Delhi roads — 
 burnt the vacant sapper and miner lines. 
 At break of day the force was dinded : one- 
 half on guard, and the other taken to patrol 
 the Native lines." Then follows a state- 
 ment of certain small parties of ihe 11th 
 and 20th Native infantry who remained 
 faithful, and of the fifty men of the 3rd 
 cavalry ; and the general adds — " Efficient 
 measures are being taken to secure the 
 treasure, amraiuiition, and barracks, and to 
 place the females and European inhabitants 
 in the greatest security obtainable. Nearly 
 the whole of the cantonment and ZUlah 
 police have deserted. "f 
 
 The delay which took place in bringing 
 the 6th dragoons into action is quite unac- 
 counted for. A medical officer, writing 
 from Meerut on the 12th of May, says, that 
 between five and six o'clock on the evening 
 of the previous day, while preparing for a 
 ride with Colonel Finnis, he heard a buzzing, 
 murmuring noise, such as was common in. 
 case of fire ; and shortly after, while putting 
 on his uniform, the havildar-major of the 
 11th rushed into the room, exclaiming, 
 " Fly ! sahib, the regiments are in open 
 mutiny ; Colonel Finnis has just been shot 
 in my arms. Ride to the European cavalry 
 lines and give the alarm." The doctor did 
 so ; galloped off to the house of the colonel 
 of the dragoon guards, which he had just 
 left, and then on to the barrack lines, where 
 Colonel Jones was engaged in ordering the 
 men to saddle, arm, and mount forthwith. 
 The remaining movements of the dragoons 
 are best told in the words of this eye- 
 witness, whose account is the only circum- 
 stantial one which has been made public, 
 regarding the proceedings of a corps which, 
 rightly used, might have saved Delhi, and 
 thousands of lives. 
 
 " It took us a long time, in my opinion, to get 
 ready, and it was dark before the dragoons were 
 ready to start in a body; while by tliis time flames 
 began to ascend in all directions from the lines, and 
 the officers' bunjalows of the 3rd cavalry and the 
 llth and 20th Native infantry; from public build- 
 ings, mess-houses, private residences, and, in fact, 
 every structure or thing that came witiiin the reach 
 of the torch, and the lury of the mutineers and of 
 the bazaar canaille. ' ' ' AVhen the carabi- 
 niers were mounted we rode ofT at a brisk trot. 
 
 tViA P'r/.f.r.tmn nf through clouds of sufTocating dust and darkness, in 
 uie exception ui ^^ easterlv direction, and along a narrow road ; not 
 
 1858. 
 
 Times. — Calcutta correspondent, June 15th, 
 
 t Pari. Papers on Mutinies (No. 3), 1857; p. 9. 
 
 advancing in the direction of the conflagration, 
 but, on the contrary, leaving it behind on our right 
 rear. In this way we proceeded for some two or
 
 MUTINEERS BIVOUAC ON THE ROAD TO DELHI. 
 
 153 
 
 three miles, to my no small surprise, when sud- 
 denly the ' halt' was sounded, and we faced about, 
 and, retracinj; our steps and verging off to our left, 
 debouched on the left rear of the Native infantry 
 lines, which were all in a blaze. " Skirting along 
 behind these lines we turned them at the western 
 end, and wheeling to the left, came upon the 11th 
 parade-ground, where, at a little distance, we found 
 the horse artillery and H. M.'s 60th rifles. It 
 appears that the three regiments of mutineers had 
 by this time commenced dropping off to the east- 
 ward and to the Delhi.road ; for here some firing 
 took place between them and the rifles ; and pre- 
 sently the horse artillery coming to the front 
 and unlimbering, opened upon a copse or wood 
 in which they bad apparently found cover, with 
 heavy discharges of grape and canister, which tore 
 and rattled among the trees, and all was silent 
 again. The horse artillery now limbered up and 
 wheeled round, and here I joined them, having lost 
 the dragoons in the darkness. By this time, how- 
 ever, the moon arose ; ' we blessed her useful light' 
 [so did the mutineers, no doubt] ; and the horse 
 artillery column, with rifles at its head, moving 
 across the parade-ground, we entered the long street, 
 turning from the southward behind the light cavalry 
 lines. It wao by this time past ten o'clock, and 
 having made the entire circuit of the lines, we passed 
 up to the eastward of them, and, joined by the 
 dragoons and rifles, bivouacked for the night."* 
 
 At daybreak the doctor proceeded to 
 visit the almost deserted hospital, where 
 a few patients, prostrate with small-pox, 
 alone remained. On his way he met a 
 dhooly, and, stopping the bearers, inquired 
 what they carried. They answered, "The 
 colonel sahib." It was the body of poor 
 Finais (with whom the inquirer had been 
 preparing to ride scarce twelve hours before) 
 which had just been found where he fell, 
 and. was being carried towards the church- 
 yard. No search had been made for him or 
 for any other of the fallen Europeans, who, 
 if not wholly killed by the insurgents, 
 must have perished in needless misery. 
 Colonel Smyth, on the following morning, 
 saw ten or twelve European dead bodies on 
 the Delhi-road, near the old gaol.f 
 
 The mutineers had abundant leisure to 
 initiate, with a success they could never have 
 anticipated, their first great step of syste- 
 matic hostility. They were not, however, 
 unanimous ia their views. Many of the 
 20th Native infantry were still loyal at 
 heart, and 120 of them turned back, and 
 presented themselves at Meerut, where the 
 influence of the officers and families whom 
 they had protected, procured them a favour- 
 
 • Times, June 29th, 1857. 
 t Brurf Account of the Mutiny, p. 6. 
 t Letter from an eye-witness of the seizure of 
 Delhi by the mutineers. — Times, July 14th, 1857. 
 § Letter to the Times, October, 1857. 
 VOL. II. X 
 
 able reception. Several of the 3rd cavalry 
 also appear to have returned and surrendered 
 themselves, and many of them were met 
 with, wandering about the country, longing, 
 but not daring, to return to their homes. 
 Meanwhile, the mass of the mutineers, 
 counselled by a few more daring spirits, 
 took care to cut off the telegraph communi- 
 cation between Meerut and Delhi, and to 
 post a guard of a hundred troopers at a 
 narrow suspension-bridge over the Hindun, 
 one of the two rivers between them and 
 Delhi ; but which then, in the height of the 
 hot season, was easily fordable. They knew 
 that there was no other obstacle, the country 
 being smooth as a bowling-green ; and they 
 took full advantage of the apathy of the 
 British, by bivouacking for a brief rest, 
 within six miles of the scene of their out- 
 rages; after which, they rose up and pur- 
 sued their way without the slightest inter- 
 ruption. Their arrival at Delhi will be 
 narrated in the following chapter. The 
 Meerut catastrophe is sufficiently impor- 
 tant to deserve what Nelson wished for — a 
 gazette to itself. 
 
 The general opinion of the Indian press 
 and public, declared it "certain that the 
 severe sentences on the mutineers of the 
 3rd cavalry was the immediate cause of 
 the Meerut massacre."J In England, the 
 same conclusion was naturally and almost 
 unavoidably arrived at. Colonel Sykes, ex- 
 chairman of the East India Company, and 
 also a high authority on the score of indi- 
 vidual character and experience, declared in 
 the most emphatic language, his " thorough 
 conviction, that but for the fatal punish- 
 ment of the eighty-five troopers at Meerut 
 to ten years' confinement in irons, with hard 
 labour as felons, for resisting the compulsory 
 use of the suspected cartridges, the first 
 instance in a hundred years, in Bengal, of 
 sepoys in combination imbruing their hands 
 iu the blood of their officers, would not have 
 occurred. In short, had the policy adopted 
 by Colonel Montresor in the contingent 
 force at Hyderabad iu 1806, in abrogating 
 a dangerous order upon his own responsi- 
 bility, been adopted at Meerut, we might 
 still have had a loyal Bengal army, as we 
 still have a loyal Madras army, although the 
 latter had, fifty-one years ago, revolted upon 
 religious grounds."^ 
 
 Again, in his place in the House of Com- 
 mons, Colonel Sykes said, that at the 
 moment of ironing the troopers on parade, 
 "an electric shock of sympathy went through
 
 154 COL. SYKES AND LORD ELLENBOROUGH ON THE OUTBREAK. 
 
 the whole army, and amongst their co-reli- 
 giouists in the contingents with native 
 powers. Up to that time there had been 
 doubts and alarms, but no common sym- 
 pathy or understanding. Then, however, 
 every sepoy in the Bengal army made the 
 case of the condemned his own."* 
 
 Lord Ellenborough contrasted the promp- 
 titude manifested by Sir Henry Lawrence in 
 Oude, with the shiftless incapacity displayed 
 at Meerut. At the latter place, the muti- 
 neers, he said, rose at 6 p.m., and it was not 
 until nightfall that H.M.'s carabiniers were 
 able to move. " How did it happen that 
 with a Queen's regiment of infantry, another 
 of cavalry, and an overwhelming force of 
 horse and foot artillery, the mutineers yet 
 escaped without injury to Delhi, and made 
 a march of thirty to forty miles?" Lord 
 Ellenborough spoke forcibly on the power 
 of individual character in influencing events 
 in India ; and, alluding to General Hewitt, 
 he declared that no governmen't was justi- 
 fied in placing in a most important position 
 a man of whom the troops knew nothing, 
 and with whose qualifications the gov- 
 ernment themselves were unacquainted. 
 " Where," he added, " was the commander- 
 in-chief upon this occasion ? Why was not 
 he in the midst of his troops ? He must 
 have been aware of all the difficulties which 
 were growing up. He must have known 
 the dangers by which he was beset. * * * 
 He, however, went to the hills, leaving the 
 dangers to which I refer behind him in the 
 plain. Such is not the conduct which a 
 man occupying the position of commander- 
 in-chief ought to have pursued." f 
 
 The leading reviews and magazines took 
 up the same tone ; and the writer of an able 
 and temperate article in one of them, gave a 
 question and reply, which contain, in few 
 words, the common-sense view of the mat- 
 ter. " Why was nothing done or attempted, 
 before the insurgents reached Delhi, to arrest 
 their murderous progress, and protect the 
 unfortunate residents in that city ? Why, 
 but that our leaders were unequal to their 
 duty, and that General Anson had. rushed 
 into a menacing display of authority, with- 
 out troubling himself to consider the means 
 or the persons by whom it was to be 
 sustained." J 
 
 In India, however, the Meerut authorities 
 were not wholly without apologists, and 
 even vindicators. Some intercepted sepoy 
 
 • Speech on proposed India Bill, Feb. 18tb, 1858. 
 t India Debate.— Tmes, 30lh June, 1857. 
 
 letters were said to show, that the en- 
 tire Bengal army had resolved on a simul- 
 taneous rising on the 15th of May ; conse- 
 quently, the blundering cruelties practised at 
 Meerut were supposed to have precipitated 
 the insurrectionary movement, and pre- 
 vented the intended co-operation of the 
 widely dispersed troops. The evidence in 
 favour of this supposition was little better 
 than rumour ; if there had been any of 
 weight, the authorities would have been 
 only too glad to publish it for the diminu- 
 tion of their own blame. But had such a 
 plot existed, its development at Meerut 
 would have been particularly unfortu- 
 nate ; for subsequent events showed, that 
 in most other stations, the officers in com- 
 mand (whether soldiers or civilians) were 
 ready to make public duty their paramount 
 consideration ; and proved, in many remark- 
 able instances, no less conspicuous for the 
 employment of their often slender resources 
 for the public good, than the Meerut 
 leaders had been for the misuse of their 
 almost unparalleled advantages. The wan- 
 tonly provoked catastrophe at Meerut was 
 fitly followed by an access of stupefaction, 
 which can alone account for the absence of 
 any effort to save Delhi. 
 
 The following is an extract from a sermon 
 preached on the occasion by Mr. Rotton, 
 one of the chaplains of the Meerut station ; 
 who was subsequently attached to the be- 
 sieging force sent against Delhi, where, 
 according to Mr. Greathed, he was "well 
 thought of," and " attentive to his duties. "§ 
 The tone indicates the view generally taken 
 of the recent outbreak ; for preaching 
 of so very decided a character would, if 
 not approved, scarcely be tolerated by any 
 congregation. 
 
 " Think awhile of our past position and 
 our brightening prospects. The mutiny 
 came upon us most unexpectedly. The 
 scene of its commencement was Meerut; 
 and the circumstances which led to its out- 
 break here, were doubtless arranged by 
 matchless wisdom and unbounded love. It 
 seems, if report speaks truly, that a diabo- 
 lical and deep-laid plot had been conceived, 
 and was hourly maturing in detail, for the 
 destruction of British supremacy in India." 
 On this mere rumour, Mr. Rotton pro- 
 ceeded to ground a description of the " un- 
 paralleled skill" with which " the Moham- 
 medan" had framed his alleged plot, and the 
 
 X K&ck'v/ood's Edinburc/h 3Iagazine for Sept., 1837. 
 § Greathed's Letters, p. 188.
 
 STATE OP OPINION AT MEERUT— MAY, 1857. 
 
 155 
 
 means adopted by Providence for its dis- 
 closure. " Hence, I say, He [the Almighty] 
 arranged every incident connected with the 
 mutiny of Native troops in this station 
 [including, of course, the attempted enforce- 
 ment of the polluting cartridges and the 
 three hours' fettering] ; and but for the 
 solemn and sad warning which we received 
 here, it is possible, yea, very probable, that 
 the enemy's plans would have arrived at 
 such maturity, that our destruction might 
 have been certain and complete. Such are 
 the con\'ictions of men of experience and 
 judgment in India. They look on the out- 
 break at Meerut as the salvation of India." 
 
 The above quotation is not a very encou- 
 raging one to lay before the religious portion 
 of the British public, now earnestly striving, 
 in an entirely opposite spirit, and with entirely 
 different weapons, for the spiritual and tem- 
 poral salvation of the people of India. But 
 it is well that the zealous and self-denying 
 supporters of missionary enterprise should 
 fully recognise the dangers and difficulties, 
 from within and without, which beset the 
 progi-ess of Christianity in India. Within 
 the pale, an insidious spirit of formality, 
 self-sufficiency, and belligerent intolerance 
 is at work, which is diametrically opposed to 
 the first principles of the gospel. The doc- 
 trine of a special Providence, for instance, as 
 illustrated above, can happily do little harm 
 to hearers accustomed from childhood to 
 test human teaching by the standard of 
 Holy Writ, and to rely on the assistance of 
 Divine wisdom to enable them to arrive at 
 a right judgment. " Christians of tlie 
 Book," as General Hearsey aptly translated 
 Protestants, may indeed well dispense 
 with any other light than that reflected 
 from their Bibles by the operation of the 
 Holy Spirit; but if we send missionaries to 
 India for the express purpose of expounding 
 the Scriptures, we ought to be most careful 
 that they be duly qualified for the work. 
 
 Such teachers should have, at least in 
 measure, the zeal of Peter and the love of 
 John united with the controversial power of 
 Paul. It is no simple task to disentangle 
 the subtle web of casuistry which modern 
 Brahminism has woven round the great 
 verities of their ancient faith, or to eradicate 
 from the affections of the people the rank 
 growth of impure idolatries, of superstitious 
 and sensual customs founded on allegories 
 originally more graceful and far more meta- 
 
 * Her jaghire was included in what is now the 
 Meerut district. See Indian F.mpirc, vol. i., p. 37.'!. 
 
 physical than those of Greece or Rome — and 
 to graft in place of them simple faith in the 
 Father of the spirits of all flesh, and in the 
 One Mediator between God and man. 
 
 With the Mohammedans the difficulties 
 are still greater. Their deep reverence for 
 the great Head of our church would seem, 
 at first sight, to facilitate their acceptance 
 of Christianity ; but it is not really so, for 
 they view themselves as the objects of a 
 further and fuller revelation than ours, which 
 it is their duty to guard and propagate. 
 Impressed with this conviction, they will 
 not, like the Brahmins, engage in argu- 
 ments, or view possible conversion to Chris- 
 tianity in any light than as a crime, which 
 if not repented of, must be punished with 
 death. Thus, and thus only, can the 
 plague of apostasy be stayed among them. 
 
 There is no surer obstacle to Moham- 
 medan conversion than an irreverent hand- 
 ling of the deepest mysteries of the Christian 
 faith. Yet the more rash and incompetent 
 the preacher, the more likely is he to " rush 
 in where angels fear to tread." An ex- 
 ample of this is quoted by Lord Hastings 
 in the diary kept by him, when making a 
 tour as governor-general in 1815. He went 
 to church at Meerut, in the handsome and 
 extensive structure, towards the recent erec- 
 tion of which the Begum Sumroo* (a Roman 
 Catholic by profession) had been the chief 
 contributor. "The tenor of the sermon 
 was," he says, " to impress upon us a strict 
 and defined repartition of functions be- 
 tween the different persons of the Trinity 
 — a line which we were assured would be 
 inviolably preserved from the indelicacy 
 which each must feel would attend the tres- 
 passing of the prerogatives of another."t 
 
 The impediments to making proselytes in 
 India will not, however, deter those from 
 making the attempt who act in obedience 
 to a Divine command, and in reliance on 
 Divine aid. Still in this, as in all similar 
 cases, we r^ust do our utmost before 
 venturing to expect a blessing on our 
 labours. An inexperienced and slenderly- 
 gifted ma.i, who would preach to empty 
 pews in England, is not likely to attract 
 hearers among a people whom he addresses 
 under all the drawbacks inseparable from 
 the position of a stranger and a foreigner, 
 who, unpractised in their language, and yet 
 more so in their modes of thought, comes 
 to tell his audience that they and their 
 
 ■)• Private, Journal of tlic M('rr/<tess of Jfaxtings >J 
 criitc;! hy the iMavihio'ness of liute ; vol. ii., p. :i2'J.
 
 156 
 
 DELHI BEFORE THE MUTINY— MAY, 1857. 
 
 fathers, and their venerated priesthood, have 
 long lain in ignorance and darkness. To a 
 preacher thus situated, it must be no small 
 advantage to be perfectly versed in the 
 antecedents of his hearers : he can hardly 
 know too much of their customs and pre- 
 judices, of their strength and their weak- 
 ness : his store of information cannot be too 
 great : he should, like Moses, be versed not 
 only in Israelitish history, but in all the 
 wisdom of the Egyptians. In fact, the 
 preliminary course of study requisite for an 
 Indian missionary is altogether an excep- 
 tional one. Controversy in Europe is usu- 
 ally exercised regarding minor points of 
 form, doctrine, and discipline. In India, 
 the first articles of our faith — the creation 
 of the world according to the Book of 
 Genesis, the incarnation of the Saviour 
 the very existence of the "Christ of his- 
 
 tory," are controverted points, before ad- 
 mitting the truth of which the Hindoos must 
 unlearn the lessons of a lifetime, and disown 
 traditions cherished for centuries as Divine 
 revelations. Alas! will it please God to raise 
 up the meek, holy scholars who, to human 
 judgment, seem alone capable of the task. 
 But we must not despair: India has had 
 already a Schwartz, Carey, and Martyn, a 
 Middleton and Heber. She has just lost an 
 excellent bishop (in Dr. Wilson, the late 
 venerable diocesan of Calcutta) ; and there 
 are probably many now living, clergymcu 
 and laymen, whose labours, though com- 
 paratively unknown, are working out greater 
 results than we dream of. Only when we 
 send labourers into the vineyard, let them 
 be our very best — clear-headed, large- 
 hearted, gentle, men : no bigots, no secta- 
 rians, no formalists, no shams. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DELHI— MAY 11th. 
 
 It would be very easy to write a full and 
 glowing account of the seizure of Delhi and 
 its terrible consequences, on the plan of 
 selecting the most probable and interesting 
 portions of the statements yet published, 
 and discarding the improbable and conflict- 
 ing ones ; but it is difficult to frame even a 
 brief narrative, grounded on authentic data, 
 while the trial of the King of Delhi, with all 
 the important evidence taken thereon, re- 
 mains, like the Meerut court-martial, a 
 sealed book to the general public, and the 
 most important points have to be searched 
 for bit by bit, through masses of Blue-Book 
 verbiage, or received on the testimony of 
 individuals, more or leas discriminating in 
 testing the accuracy of the intelligence they 
 communicated to their friends in England. 
 
 It is from private letters only that we de- 
 rive our information of the state of feeling 
 in Delhi immediately before the outbreak, 
 and of the excitement occasioned by the 
 cartridge question among its immense popu- 
 lation, l)ut especially among the three 
 Native regiments by which it was garrisoned. 
 The census of 181.6 states the population of 
 the city, exclusive of its suburbs, at 137,977 ; 
 of these, 71,530 were Hindoos, Of), 120 
 Mohammedans, and 327 Christians (chioily 
 
 Eurasians). Nowhere else in India was the 
 proportion of Mohammedans to be com- 
 pared with this : and although the British 
 government might view the ancient capital 
 of the Moguls as the shrine of buried grcat- 
 ucss, interesting only to the poet, the anti- 
 quarian, or the artist, many a poverty- 
 stricken Moslem noble, many a half-starved 
 Rajpoot chieftain or ousted zemindar, re- 
 membered that a Great Mogul yet lived 
 within the marble palaces of his ancestors, 
 surrounded by a numerous offspring. Brah- 
 mins and Rajpoots had fought for the 
 Moguls, and had filled the highest offices 
 of the state, from which Hindoos and Mo- 
 hammedans were alike excluded by the un- 
 generous policy of their present rulers. 
 Men suffering under existing grievances, 
 rarely think much of those of their prede- 
 cessors from opposite causes; and it is only 
 natural to suppose that there were many mal- 
 contents in India, who beheld the raj of the 
 Feringhee with intense bitterness, and were 
 well content to unite on commou ground as 
 natives, for the expulsion of tlie hated 
 foreigners, and then fight out their own 
 quarrels by themselves. Of course, the 
 great mass of the people, who earn a scanty 
 subsistence literally in the sweat of their
 
 DELHI— THE 10th OF MAY, 1857. 
 
 157 
 
 brow — Tvho depend on daily toil for daily 
 food, and who die by hundreds when any- 
 thing occurs to interrupt their monotonous, 
 resourceless industry — neither make, nor 
 willingly tnke part in revolutions; for it is 
 certain that, whichever side prevails, a mul- 
 titude of the lowest classes will be trodden 
 under foot by the combatants. Thus it was 
 in all cases ; but especially at Delhi, where 
 thousands of peaceful citizens, with helpless 
 families,had as good a rightto expect from the 
 British the benefits of a wise and strong ad- 
 ministration, and protection against the mu- 
 tinous spirit abroad amid the Bengal army, 
 as any member of the covenanted service. 
 The Indian population, could they but 
 find hearing, have a right to initiate rather 
 than echo the indignant question of their 
 fellow-subjects in England — why did govern- 
 ment "make Delhi a strong fortress, sur- 
 round it with new bastions, excavate a deep 
 ditch out of the granite rock, leave within it 
 a hundred thousand muskets, two parks of 
 the heaviest artillery in India, and powder 
 enough to blaze away at any enemy for a 
 year, and then place the whole in the sole 
 charge of three Native regiments?"* and 
 leave it there, while incendiary fires, in 
 different stations, were telling, week by 
 week and month by month, the spread of 
 disaffection. The circulation of the chupat- 
 ties has been compared to the Fiery Cross 
 transmitted b^ the Scottish Highlanders. 
 The burning bungalows at the musketry 
 depots ought to have afforded a far more 
 significant warning of what was going on, 
 written, as the information was, in charac- 
 ters of fire, which they who ran might read. 
 Letters dated almost simultaneously with 
 the execution of that fatal sentence on the 
 Meerut troopers (which was, in truth, the 
 death-warrant of every European massacred 
 in the following week), prove that some 
 at least of the Delhi officers were anxiously 
 watching the signs of the times. The three 
 Native regiments — the 38th, 54th, and 74th 
 Native infantry — consisted of about 3,500 
 men; there was also a company of Native 
 artillery, comprising about 160 men. The 
 Europeans numbered, in all, only fifty-two ; 
 of whom three commissioned officers and 
 two sergeants belonged to the artillery. t 
 They occupied the hottest cantonments in 
 
 • Times (leader), July 24th, 1857. 
 
 t The parliamentary return, from which these 
 statements are taken, pives sixty-five as the total 
 number of "sick of all ranks;" but whether this 
 heading is intended to include Europeans, or, as is 
 
 India ; the low rocky ridge on which modern 
 Delhi is built, reflecting the intense glare of 
 the fierce Indian sun, under which many 
 sank down in fever; while their comrades 
 had additional work to perform by day, with 
 volunteer duty as nurses by night. Still, 
 so far from being blinded by languor or 
 fatigue to the temper of the Native troops, 
 they noted it well ; and their correspondence 
 tells of a degree of excitement unparalleled 
 for many years ; of the disbanding of the 
 19th (the poor 19th, as those who know its 
 history still sorrowfully term it) ; and of the 
 unrenjoved persuasion of the sepoys, " that 
 ox fat and hogs' lard had been imposed upon 
 them in their cartridges." Where the offi- 
 cers could speak the language well, they 
 reasoned with their men for a time success- 
 fully ; but where, as in the majority of cases, 
 this free communication did not exist, and 
 "where the best speakers of native lan- 
 guages had been cjilled away by staff ap- 
 pointments or for civil service, leaving only 
 dumb novices, or even dumb elders behind 
 them," there mutiny most surely flourished. 
 So said these letters, written some forty- 
 eight hours before the outbreak. Want of 
 head and of moral union among the disaf- 
 fected, was, it was added, the only chance of 
 safety left to the Europeans : and so it 
 proved. J 
 
 These vagne apprehensions had, however, 
 no connection with Meerut. That station 
 was the last in all India to which the idea 
 of danger was attached, and it was the 
 special pomt d'appui for the Europeans at 
 Delhi. At what hour the telegraphic com- 
 munication was cut off between these posts, 
 does not appear ; but it is probable that the 
 absence of any intimation of the disturb- 
 ances, which commenced at Meerut as early 
 or earlier than five o'clock on Sunday, was 
 occasioned by the same miserable incapacity 
 which marked the whole conduct of the 
 authorities. The communication with Agra 
 was not cut off till nine o'clock; for at 
 that hour, intimation of what was occurring 
 was dispatched to that city, in the form of 
 a private message, by the postmaster's sister, 
 to prevent her aunt from starting for Meerut, 
 according to a previous engagement. § Un- 
 happily, no private emergency induced the 
 sending of a similar communication to Delhi. 
 
 most probable, only the native patients in hospital, 
 does not a; (lear. — Pari. Papers, February 9th, 
 1858 ; p. 3. 
 
 t See Daily News, July 28th, 1857. 
 
 § Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutinies, p. 175.
 
 158 
 
 DELHI— THE 11th OP MAY, 1857. 
 
 The mutineers, on their part, do not appear 
 to have sent on messengers ; and there is no 
 ground for believing that, at daybreak on 
 Monday, the 11th of May, any individual of 
 the vast population of the Mohammedan 
 capital and its suburbs had received the 
 slightest warning of the impending calamity. 
 The troops were paraded, in the cool of 
 the cjfrly morning, to hear the sentences 
 of the Barrackpoor courts-martial, which 
 were read here as elsewhere, without any 
 withdrawal of, or explanation regarding, the 
 cartridges. After parade, the garrison 
 guards were told-ofiF, and the officers and 
 men separated to perform their ordinary 
 course of duty. 
 
 The first alarm appears to have been 
 taken by Mr. Todd, of the telegraph office; 
 who, finding the communication with Mee- 
 rut interrupted, proceeded to the bridge of 
 boats across the Jumna, near one of the 
 seven gates of the city, and there met a party 
 of the 3rd cavalry, and was murdered by 
 them. His fate was not known until late in 
 the day. The European authorities do not 
 state the manner in which they first learned 
 the arrival of the Meerut mutineers in 
 Delhi ; but it would seem that a few of the 
 released troopers rode in at the river gate, 
 as the forerunners of the. disorganised bands 
 then on the road. At about eight o'clock 
 the resident. Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, pro- 
 ceeded to the Delhi magazine, for the pur- 
 pose of ordering two guns to be placed on 
 the bridge, to arrest the progress of the 
 mutineers. He found Lieutenant Wil- 
 loughby, and the other European and Native 
 members of the establishment, at their 
 post ; and on alighting from his buggy. Sir 
 Theophilus, with Lieutenants Willoughby 
 and Forrest, proceeded to a small bastion on 
 the river face, which commanded a full view 
 of the bridge, and there saw but too dis- 
 tinctly that the time for preoccupation was 
 over; the mutineers had already posted a 
 body of cavalry on the Delhi side, and were 
 marching on in open column. 
 
 The resident and the lieutenant immedi- 
 ately proceeded to ascertain whether the 
 river gate had been closed against the muti- 
 neers: this had been done, but to no pur- 
 pose, and Lieutenant Willoughby hurried 
 back to place the guns and howitzers in the 
 best possible positions for the defence of the 
 magazine. The nine Europeans* then re- 
 
 • Lieutenants Willoughby, Forrest, and Raynor ; 
 Conductors Buckley, Shaw, Scully, and Acting Sub- 
 Conductor Crow ; Sergeants Kdwayds and Stewart. 
 
 mained in quiet expectation of the worst, 
 which, when it came, they met with such 
 wise valour. 
 
 Meanwhile, it may be reasonably asked, 
 who was the chief officer ? and what orders 
 did he give ? The chief officer was Briga- 
 dier Graves ; and it would appear that after 
 parade he, like the other officers, went home 
 to breakfast. When he learned the ap- 
 proach of the mutineers does not appear ; 
 but the first authentic mention of his pre- 
 sence, describes him as having proceeded 
 with his staff to a circular brick building of 
 some strength, whence the daily gun was 
 fired, situated on an eminence near the 
 cantonment, and within a short distance of 
 the Moree and Cashmere gates. To this 
 building, called the Flagstaff tower, the 
 European women and civilians flocked for 
 safety on the first alarm, and found Brigadier 
 Graves watching from thence the movements 
 of the rebel force on the north and western 
 faces of the city. " He had," one of the partyf 
 writes, " no one to advise him, apparently ; 
 and 1 do not think any one present envied 
 him his post." In truth, it was no easy 
 task to know what to do for the defence of 
 a city seven miles in circumference, when 
 mutiny without met mutiny within. Pro- 
 bably the brigadier was anxiously looking 
 for reinforcements : indeed, one of the offi- 
 cers of the 38th, says — " What puzzled 
 us was the non-appearance of Europeans 
 from Meerut, in pursuit of the insur- 
 gents." An expectation of this kind alone 
 explains the absence of any plan for the re- 
 moval of the ladies and children to Kurnaul 
 or Meerut, instead of suffering them to re- 
 main in the tower from morning till evening, 
 although the obstacles against escape were 
 multiplying every hour. The length of 
 time occupied by the Delhi tragedy is not 
 its least painful feature. The massacre 
 was not a general one, but a series of mur- 
 ders, which might have been cut short at 
 any moment by the arrival of a regiment, 
 or even a troop of European cavalry; for 
 the rebels made no attempt to seize the 
 guns till nearly sunset; nor did any con- 
 siderable body of the Delhi troops join the 
 mutineers until after the disorderly flight 
 of the European officers and their families. 
 The total disorganisation was, perhaps, in- 
 evitable ; but the accounts of many of the 
 sufferers evidence the absence of any clear 
 
 t Mrs. Peile, the wife of a lieutenant in the 38th; 
 who had been very ill, and was about leaving Delhi 
 on sick leave. — Times, September 25th, 1857.
 
 MR. FRASER, CAPTAIN DOUGLAS, AND OTHERS KILLED. 159 
 
 understanding between Brigadier Graves 
 and the officers commanding Native corps. 
 
 To form a just idea of the events of 
 this miserable day, they must be detailed, 
 as far as possible, in the order of their 
 occurrence. The nest victim after Mr. 
 Todd, was the commissioner, Mr. Fraser; 
 and the only circumstantial account of his 
 death yet published, is given by a native 
 eye-witness, whose narrative, corroborated 
 in various essential points by the official 
 documents, serves to relieve what the 
 Journal des Debats terms their •' incom- 
 parable aridity." 
 
 Early in the morning of the 11th, a party 
 of Hindoos, bound for a well-known place of 
 Brahminical pilgrimage, started from Delhi 
 for Mussoorie. Shortly after crossing the 
 bridge of boats they met eighteen troopers, 
 who inquired their business. " Pilgrims 
 proceeding to Hurdwar," was the reply. 
 The troopers ordered them to turn back on 
 peril of their lives: they obeyed, and wit- 
 nessed the mutineers enter the city by the 
 Delhi gate, after killing a European (pro- 
 bably Mr. Todd) whom they met on the 
 bridge. The cavalry cantered in, uttering 
 protestations of good-will to the native 
 inhabitants, but death to the Europeans. 
 They appear to have found the gate open, and 
 to have ridden through without opposition ; 
 but it was closed after them. The cutwal, 
 or native magistrate, sent word to Mr. 
 Fraser, who immediately ordered the records 
 of his office to be removed from the palace ; 
 and getting into a buggy, with a double- 
 barrelled gun loaded, with two mounted 
 (native) orderlies, proceeded towards the 
 mutineers. They saw and advanced to 
 meet him, calling out to his escort — "Are you 
 for the Feringhee (the foreigner), or for the 
 faith?" "Deen, deen \" (the faith, the faith !) 
 was the reply. Mr. Fraser heard the omi- 
 nous Mohammedan war-cry once more 
 raised in Delhi ; and as the mutineers ap- 
 proached him, he fired twice, shooting one 
 man through the head, and wounding the 
 horse of another; then springing from his 
 buggy, he rushed in at the Lahore gate of 
 the palace, calling out to the subahdar on 
 duty to close it as he passed, which was 
 accordingly done. 
 
 A trooper now rode up, told the Meeriit 
 story, gained a hearing despite the efforts 
 of Mr. Fraser and Captain Douglas (the 
 commandant of the palace guards), and won 
 over the subahdar and company of the 38th 
 theu on guard at the palace gate. The 
 
 subahdar, being reproached by the Euro- 
 peans for treachery in holding a parley 
 with the mutineers, turned angrily on his 
 reprovers, and bade them seek safety in 
 flight, at the same time opening the gate 
 for the troopers. Mr. Fraser and Captain 
 Douglas ran towards the interior of the 
 palace, followed by the mutineers, one of 
 whom fired a pistol after the fugitives, which 
 took effect, for the commissioner staggered 
 and leant against a wall; whereupon another 
 trooper went up, and, with a sword, severed 
 his head from his body at a stroke. Cap- 
 tain Douglas was slain at the same time ; 
 and the assassins proceeding to the king's 
 hall of audience, found two other Europeans 
 (one of whom was probably Mr. Nixon, 
 Mr. Eraser's head-clerk), and killed them 
 there. The Rev. M. J. Jennings and his 
 daughter, who were living with Captain 
 Douglas over the Lahore gate of the palace, 
 are said to have perished at this time, <is also 
 their guest, a Miss Clifford. The mutineers 
 attempted to open a negotiation with the 
 king, who was, it must be remembered, with 
 his family, wholly at their mercy, in that 
 very palace where the eyes of his aged ances- 
 tor. Shah Alum, had been stabbed out by a 
 Mohammedan freebooter. What could a 
 pageant king, of above eighty years of age — 
 surrounded by a progeny born and reared 
 in an atmosphere of besotted sensuality, 
 which we had never made one single eflFort 
 to purify — do in such a case as this but 
 temporise? So far as the tale has yet been 
 told, the royal family, doubtless more from 
 fear and interest than any affection for the 
 British government, were extremely loth to 
 countenance the insurgents, and cordially 
 joined the Europeans in hoping for succour 
 from Meerut. The king wrote a letter to 
 Mr. Colvin, the lieutenant-governor at Agra, 
 informing him that the town and fort of 
 Delhi, and his own person, were in the 
 hands of the rebel troops of the place, 
 who, it was added, had opened the gates, and 
 joined about 100 mutineers from Meerut. 
 The fate of Mr. Fraser, of Ciipt!\in Douglas, 
 and of Miss Jennings, was also mentioned 
 in this letter ; and a telegram founded on it, 
 was sent from Agra to Calcutta on the 
 I4th.* The account thus given was one of 
 the earliest received by the Supreme gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The Delhi cantonment was two miles 
 from the city. At about ten o'clock, tidings 
 reached the lines of what liad taken place at 
 
 • Appendix to I'ail. Tapers on Mutinies, p. 178.
 
 160 
 
 MUTINY OF 54th REGIMENT— OFFICERS SHOT. 
 
 the palace, and the 54th regiment were 
 ordered down to the city. One of the 
 junior officers (a youth of nineteen, who 
 ■wrote his touching tale home to his sister) 
 says — " Of course, at this time, we had not 
 the slightest doubt as to its loyalty." 
 Happily for liim, his company and one 
 other were left to wait for two guns, with 
 which Major Paterson was to follow as 
 quickly as possible, the rest of the regiment 
 marching on at once. A lady already men- 
 tioned (Mrs. Peile), who was then living 
 close to the lines, watched the 54th pass 
 the house ; and she writes, that seeing 
 " their cheerful appearance, and yet deter- 
 mined look, we congratulated ourselves on 
 having such a brave set of fellows, as we 
 thought, to go forward and fight for us."* 
 
 Colonel Ripley, the commandant of the 
 regiment, led his men into the city without 
 letting them load, intending to charge the 
 mutineers with the bayonet. The 54th met 
 the rebels advancing towards the canton- 
 ment, in numbers nowhere stated on autho- 
 rity, and, in private accounts, very variously 
 from twenty to 150. The original invaders 
 liad been probably, by this time, reinforced 
 by straggling parties of their own mutinous 
 comrades, as also by the rabble of Deliii, 
 and by the lawle^ss Goojurs of the neigh- 
 bouring villages — a predatory and semi- 
 barbarous tribe, whose marauding propen- 
 sities were, even in peace, very imperfectly 
 kept in check by our defective system of 
 police ; and who, in disturbed times, were the 
 indiserimiuating enemy of every one who 
 had anything to lose, whether European, 
 Hindoo, or Mohammedan. The insurgents 
 came on, and met Colonel Ripley's force at 
 the English church, f near the Cashmere 
 gate. They advanced without hesitation, 
 calling out to the 54tli, that their quarrel 
 was not with them, but with their officers. 
 The 54th first delayed firing on the plea of 
 not being loaded; and, when they had 
 loaded, their shots whistled harmlessly over 
 the heads of the troopers. These galloping 
 up, took deliberate aim in the faces of the 
 Europeans, all of whom were unarmed ex- 
 cept Colonel Ripley, who shot two of his 
 assailants before he fell— hit by their pistols, 
 
 * Letter.— jTi'mes, Sentember 25th, 1857. 
 
 t The English church was erected at the cost of 
 £10,000, by LieutOKaiit-colonel Skinner. This officer, 
 one of tlie ablest commanders of irregular troojis 
 who ever served the K. I. CompaDy, was a hall- 
 caste, and recei\."d an hoiuirary lieutenant-coloi:i )- 
 ship from Lord Hastings in ISll, the motive being 
 partly the governor-general's characteristic sense of 
 
 and bayoneted by a sepoy of his own 
 corps. The countenances of the troopers 
 are described as wearing the expression of 
 maniacs ; one was a mere youth, rushing 
 about and flourishing his sword, and dis- 
 playing all the fury of a man under the 
 influence of bhang. J Captains Smith and 
 Burrowes, Lieutenants Edwards and Water- 
 field, were killed, and Lieutenant Butler 
 wounded. The Quartermaster -sergeant 
 also fell. Dr. Stewart, the garrison sur- 
 geon, liad a very narrow escape : "he tripped 
 on a stone, which saved him from a shot; 
 dodged behind a wall, and reached cauton- 
 meuts."§ 
 
 It was long before the guns to support 
 the 54th were ready ; for the Native 
 artillerymen, though neither disrespectful 
 nor disobedient, were manifestly unwilling 
 to take part against their countrymen. 
 At length Major Paterson, with the re- 
 maining two companies and two pieces of 
 artillery, passed through the Cashmere gate 
 into the city. The mutineers fled at ouce, 
 in wild disorder, through the streets. 
 Major Paterson then returned through the 
 Cashmere gate, and took up his position at 
 a small fortified bastion, called the Main- 
 guard, where he remained all day in 
 momentary expectation of being attacked. 
 The slaughtered Europeans were lying at a 
 little distance, and the sepoys who had re- 
 mained faithful brought in the bodies. " It 
 was a most heartrending sight," says the 
 young officer before quoted, " to see all our 
 poor chaps, whom we had seen and been 
 with that very morning, talking and laugh- 
 Tng together at our coffee-shop, lying dead, 
 side by side, and some of them dreadfully 
 mutilated." Colonel Ripley had been pre- 
 viously carried back to the cantonments, 
 and was found by two ladies (the wife of 
 Major Paterson and Mrs. Peile), lying on a 
 rude bed at the bells of arms. He pointed 
 to a frightful wound on his left shoulder, and 
 said that the men of his own regiment had 
 bayoneted him. Tiie colonel implored the 
 native doctor to give him a dose of opium to 
 deaden his sufferings, which, after some per- 
 suasion, was done; and the ladies, anxious 
 for the safety of tlieir children, returned to 
 
 justice, and partly, as the marquis himself says, the 
 fear of losing a most valuable public servant, by 
 subjecting him to be placed under the orders of 
 inexperienced European juniors. — Marquis of Has- 
 tings' Private Jimrnal, vol. i., p. 'l^o. 
 
 X Letter from an eye-witness. — Drlhi Gazelle, 
 published at Agra (after the seizure of Delhi). 
 
 § Private letter from an officer of the 38th.
 
 SUCCOUK, FROM MEERUT EXPECTED AT DELHI. 
 
 161 
 
 their homes. On their way, they met men 
 and women-servants, wandering about in 
 the greatest confusion and distress. The 
 servants begged them not to remain in the 
 lines, as it was understood that the bunga- 
 lows would be burned at night. The two 
 ladies, therefore, packed up such property 
 as they could in boxes, directed the natives 
 to hide it, and left the lines about two 
 o'clock, under the care of Lieutenant Peile, 
 ■who first sought out Colonel Ripley, placed 
 him in a dhooly, and rode by his side to the 
 Flagstafif tower, which the whole party 
 reached without encountering any moles- 
 tation. 
 
 The assembled Enropeans were grievously 
 disappointed by the non-arrival of succour 
 from Meerutj* and Surgeon Batson, of the 
 7th Native infantry, offered to attempt the 
 conveyance thither of a request for assis- 
 tance. Brigadier Graves accordingly wrote 
 a despatch to this effect ; and Mr. Bat- 
 son, leaving his wife and three daughters in 
 the tower, proceeded to his own house, 
 where he dyed his face, hands, and feet ; 
 and, assuming the garb of a fakir, went 
 through the city, intending to cross the 
 bridge of boats; but, finding the bridge 
 broken, he returned towards the canton- 
 ment, and tried to pass the Jumna at a 
 feriy near the powder-magazine. The 
 sowars, or troopers of the 3rd cavalry, had, 
 however, preceded him, attended by crowds 
 of Goojurs, who were plundering and firing 
 the houses. Mr. Batson despaired of being 
 able to reach Meerut, and rushed across 
 the parade-ground. Either the act be- 
 trayed him, or his disguise was seen through, 
 for the sepoys fired at him ; but he suc- 
 ceeded in getting as far as the garden near 
 the canal, where he was seized by some 
 villagers, and " deprived of every particle of 
 clothing." In this forlorn condition he 
 proceeded on the road to Kumaul, in hopes 
 of overtaking some officers and ladies who 
 had fled in that direction. Thus the only 
 effort to communicate with Meerut was 
 frustrated ; for no other appears to have 
 been attempted, even by the more promising 
 means of native agency. 
 
 Had it been successful, it is not probable 
 that the Meerut authorities would have 
 made any effort, or encountered any risk, 
 to remedy the evils their torpor had occa- 
 
 * " It was so inexplicable to us why troops from 
 Meerut did not arrive." — Lieutenant Gambier's Let- 
 ter. — Times, August 6th, 1857. 
 
 t The Chaplain's Narrative of Siege of Delhi, p. 6. 
 
 VOL. II. Y 
 
 sioned. A message that a few scattered hand- 
 fuls of men, women, and children were in 
 momentary danger of being murdered some 
 thirty-five miles off, would not have star- 
 tled them into compassion ; for the calamity 
 had been foreseen on the Sunday night. The 
 Rev, Mr. Rotton describes himself and his 
 wife as watching their children "reposing 
 in profound security beneath the paternal 
 roof" (a bungalow in the European lines); 
 gazing upon the shining moon, "and an- 
 ticipating what would befall our Christian 
 brethren in Delhi on the coming morn, 
 who, less happy than ourselves, had no 
 faithful and friendly European battalions 
 to shield them from the bloodthirsty rage 
 of the sepoys."f 
 
 Up till a late hour on Monday, the mass 
 of the Delhi sepoys remained ostensibly 
 true to their salt. On the departure of the 
 54th from the cantonment, the 74th moved 
 on to the artillery parade, where Captain dp 
 Teissier was posted with a portion of his 
 battery : the 38th were marched towards 
 the Flagstaff tower, and formed in line along 
 the high road. When Major Paterson took 
 up his position at the Mainguard, he directed 
 Captain Wallace to proceed to cantonments 
 to bring down the 74th Native infantry, 
 with two more guns. 
 
 Major Abbott, the commanding officer of 
 the 74th, had previously heard that the 
 men of the 54th had refused to act, and 
 that their officers were being murdered. 
 The intelligence reached him about eleven 
 o'clock. He says — " I instantly rode off to 
 the lines of my regiment, and got as many 
 as there were in the lines together. I fully 
 explained to them that it was a time to 
 show themselves honest ; and that as I in- 
 tended to go down to the Cashmere gate of 
 the city, I required good, honest men to 
 follow me, and called for volunteers. Every 
 man present stepped to the front, and being 
 ordered to load, they obeyed promptly, and 
 marched down in a spirited maurur. On 
 arriving at the Cashmere gate, we took 
 possession of the post, drawn up in readi- 
 ness to receive any attack that might be 
 made. Up to 3 p.m. no enemy appeared, 
 nor could we, during that period, get any 
 information of the insurgents. "J 
 
 The Meerut mutineers actually in Delhi 
 at this time, were evidently but few : it is 
 
 I Despatch from Major Abbott to government; 
 dated " Meerut, May 13th, 1857."— Further Par- 
 liamentary Papers on the Mutiny, No. 3 (Commons,) 
 1858; p. 10.
 
 162 
 
 DELHI ARSENAL FIRED BY LIEUT. WILLOUGHBY— 3 p.m. 
 
 impossible to tell in what numbers, or to 
 what extent, the 38tli and 54th had as yet 
 co-operated with them ; but the dregs of the 
 population of the city, suburbs, and villages, 
 were thronging the streets, and especially 
 around the magazine, the surrender of 
 which was demanded by a party of the 
 treacherous palace guards (the 38th), in the 
 name of the king. No reply was given, 
 wheretipon the mutineers brought scaling- 
 ladders from the palace, and placed them 
 against the walls. The conduct of the 
 native establishment had before this been 
 suspicious ; and a durwan, or doorkeeper, 
 named Kurreem Buksh, appeared to be 
 keeping up a communication with the 
 enemy, greatly to the annoyance of Lieu- 
 tenant Willoughby, who ordered Lieutenant 
 Forrest to shoot him should he again ap- 
 proach the gate. The escalade from with- 
 out was the signal for a similar movement 
 from within ; for the natives, having first 
 hidden the priming-pouches, deserted the 
 Europeans by climbing up the sloped sheds 
 on the inside of the magazine, and descend- 
 ing the ladders on the outside. The insur- 
 gents then gathered in crowds on the walls; 
 but the besieged kept up an incessant fire 
 of grape, which told well as long as a single 
 round remained. At length. Conductor 
 Buckley — who had been loading and firing 
 with the same steadiness as if on parade, 
 although the euemy were then some hun- 
 dreds in number, and kept up a continual 
 fire of musketry on the Europeans within 
 forty or fifty yards — received a ball in his 
 arm ; and Lieutenant Forrest, who had 
 been assisting him, was at the same time 
 struck by two balls in the left hand. Fur- 
 ther defence was hopeless. The idea of 
 betraying their trust by capitulation never 
 seems to have been entertained by the gal- 
 lant little baud. Conductor Scully had 
 volunteered to fire the trains which had 
 been laid hours before, in readiness to blow 
 up the magazine as soon as the last round 
 from the howitzers should be expended. 
 The moment had arrived. , Lieutenant 
 Willoughby gave the order; Conductor 
 Buckley, according to previous arrange 
 ment, raised his hat from his head, and 
 Conductor Scully instantly fired the trains, 
 and perished in the explosion, as did also 
 Sergeant Edwards. The other Europeans, 
 though all hurt, escaped from beneath the 
 smoking ruins, and retreated through the 
 sally-port ou the river face. It is probable 
 that many of the leading mutineers perished 
 
 here. "Lieutenant Willoughby estimated 
 the number killed to be little short of 1,00C 
 men."* The Hurdwar pilgrims before re- 
 ferred to, fix the same amount ; but a native 
 news-writer, in relating the same event, 
 speaks of about 500 persons being killed in 
 tlie different streets; adding — "The bullets 
 fell in the houses of people to such^a degree, 
 that some children picked up two pounds, 
 and some four pounds, from the yards of 
 their houses. "f 
 
 The Europeans at the tower, and those on 
 duty at the Mainguard, had listened to the 
 heavy firing at the magazine with great 
 anxiety. A little after three o'clock the 
 explosion was heard; but it was not very loud, 
 and they did not know whether it was the 
 result of accident or design. The 38th 
 Native infantry, on guard at the tower, 
 seized their arms, crying out, " Deen, 
 Been !" The Europeans seeing this ominous 
 movement, desired the sepoys to surrender 
 their weapons, which they actually did, and 
 the ladies assisted in passing the arms to 
 the top of the tower. At four o'clock, the 
 telegraphic communication to the north- 
 ward being still uninterrupted, the brigadier 
 dispatched the following message to Um- 
 ballah, the second of three sent here from 
 Delhi in the course of the day : — 
 
 " Telegram. — Cantonment in a state of siege. 
 Mutineers from Meerut, 3rd light cavalry, numbers 
 not known, said to be 150 men, cut off communica- 
 tion with Meerut ; taken possession of the bridge of 
 boats ; 54th N. I. sent against them, but would not 
 act. Several officers killed and wounded. City in a 
 state of considerable excitement. Troops sent down, 
 but nothing certain yet. Information will be for- 
 warded."J: 
 
 The brigadier, so far from having yet re- 
 solved on evacuating Delhi, desired to de- 
 fend the cantonments, and ordered Major 
 Abbott to send back two guns. The major's 
 reasons for not doing so, and the narrative 
 of his subsequent conduct and escape to 
 Meerut, may be best told in his own 
 words. Interesting particulars, on ofTicial 
 authority, regarding this memorable epoch, 
 are extremely rare, and claim quotation in 
 extenso, especially where, as in the present 
 instance, the writer has occupied a respon- 
 sible position in the affairs he describes. 
 
 " This order [for the return of the guns] 
 I was on the point of carrying out, when 
 
 * Major Abbott's despatch. — Further ParL 
 Papers (No. 3), p. 10. 
 
 t Lahore Chronicle: republished in Times, Sep- 
 tember 18lh, 1858. 
 
 J Further Papers, No. 3 (Commons), p. 5. The 
 first telegram from Delhi is not given.
 
 FLIGHT OF EUROPEANS FROM DELHI— MAY 11th, 1857. 
 
 163 
 
 Major Paterson told me, if I did he would 
 abandon the post, and entreated me not to 
 go. He was supported by the civil oflBcer, 
 a deputy-collector, who had charge of the 
 treasury, who said he had no confidence in 
 the 54th men who were on guard at the 
 treasury. Although I strongly objected to 
 this act of, as it were, disobeying orders, yet 
 as the deputy-collector begged for a delay 
 of only a quarter of an hour, I acceded to 
 his request. When the quarter of an hour 
 was up, I made preparations for leaving the 
 Mainguard, and was about to march out, 
 when the two guns I had sent back to can- 
 tonments, under Second-lieutenant Aislabie, 
 returned to the Mainguard with some men 
 of the 38th light infantry. I inquired why 
 they had come back, and was told, in reply, 
 by the drivers, that the gunners had de- 
 serted the guns, therefore they could not 
 go on. I inquired if any firing had taken 
 place in cantonments. My orderly replied, 
 he had heard several shots ; and said, ' Sir, 
 let us go up to cantonments immediately !' 
 I then ordered the men to form sections. 
 A jemadar said, 'Never mind sections, pray 
 go on, sir.' My orderly havildar then 
 called up, and said, 'Pray, sir, for God's 
 sake leave this place — pray be quick !' I 
 thought this referred to going up to the 
 relief of cantonments, and accordingly gave 
 the order to march. I had scarcely got a 
 hundred paces beyond the gate, when I 
 heard a brisk firing in the Mainguard. I 
 said, ' What is that ?' Some of the men 
 replied, ' The 38th men are shooting the 
 European officers.' I then ordered the men 
 with me, about a hundred, to return to 
 their assistance. The men said, ' Sir, it is 
 useless j they are all killed by this time, 
 and we shall not save any one. We have 
 saved you, and we shall not allow you to go 
 back and be murdered.' The men formed 
 round me, and hurried me along the road 
 on foot back to cantonments to our quarter- 
 guard. I waited here for some time, and 
 sent up to the saluting [Flagstaff] tower 
 to make inquiries as to what was going on, 
 and where the brigadier was ; but got no 
 reply." 
 
 To supply the hiatus in Major Abbott's 
 story, as to what was going on at the tower, 
 we must fall back on the statements of 
 private persons. 
 
 At about five o'clock, a cart, drawn by 
 bullocks, was seen approaching the building. 
 An attempt had been made to hide its con- 
 tents by throwing one or two woman's 
 
 gowns over them ; but an arm hanging stifif 
 and cold over the side of the cart, betrayed 
 its use as the hearse of the officers who had 
 been shot in tbe city. Happily, the ladies 
 in the tower had little time, amid the 
 momentarily increasing confusion, to dwell 
 on this painful incident. One poor girl 
 was anxiously enquiring of the officers who 
 were now flocking in from various parts, if 
 they knew anything of her step-brother. 
 Captain Burrowes ; but they shrank from 
 her, knowing that all the while his corpse 
 lay but a few hundred yards distant, at the 
 gate under the window of the tower, covered 
 over, like the bodies of his fallen comrades, 
 with some article of feminine apparel. The 
 men of Captain de Teissier's horse field bat- 
 tery were at length " persuaded to take part 
 with the mutineers, but only when pressed 
 round by them in overwhelming numbers, 
 and unable to extricate themselves from their 
 power."* The commandant had his horse 
 shot under him ; but he reached the tower 
 in safety, and there found his wife, with her 
 infant in her arms, watching in agony for 
 him. The insurgents then took possession 
 of two of the light guns. Major Patqrson, 
 and Ensign Elton of the 74th, came in about 
 the same time from the quarter-guard, and 
 said that the Europeans were being shot 
 down. On receiving this intelligence, the 
 brigadierf ordered a general retreat to Kur- 
 naul, a distance of about seventy miles. 
 Several ladies protested against quitting 
 Delhi until they should be rejoined by their 
 husbands, whom some of them had not 
 seen since the morning. Alas ! there was 
 already at least one widow among their 
 number.J But the night was closing in, 
 and Captain Tytler, of the 38th, urged im- 
 mediate departure, and went with Lieu- 
 tenant Peile to get the men of that regi- 
 ment together to accompany the Europeans. 
 Carriages of all descriptions were in waiting 
 at the foot of the tower; but, in some 
 cases, the native servants had proved fear- 
 ful or unfaithful; and the vehicles were 
 insufficient for the fugitives, so that wounded 
 men found themselves burdened with the 
 charge of women and children, with- 
 out any means of conveyance. Lieu- 
 tenant Peile, having Dr. Wood of the 38th 
 (who had been shot in the face), Mrs. Wood, 
 
 • Despatch from Lieutenant-governor Colvin, to 
 the governor-general in council, May 22nd, 1857. — 
 Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 312. 
 t Account by Lieut. Gambler, of the 38th N. L 
 t Account by Mrs. Peile.— 7\>nes, Sept. 25lh,1857.
 
 164 
 
 EVACUATION OF FLAGSTAFF TOWER— 6 p.m. 
 
 and his own wife and child to take care of, 
 and " not knowing how he was to get on," 
 sought counsel of the brigade-major, Cap- 
 tain Nicoll : the answer he received was, 
 "The best way you can."* 
 
 Another ladyf describes the general de- 
 parture from the tower as taking place 
 at about six o'clock ; and states — " We got 
 into Captain Nicoll's carriage [apparently 
 meaning herself, her husband and child], 
 and put in as many others as we could, and 
 drove one pair of horses for fifty miles." 
 A large number of Europeans, including 
 Brigadier Graves, started at the same 
 time, and some branched off to Meerut; 
 while the others pursued the Kurnaul road, 
 and arrived safely at Kurnaul on the follow- 
 ing morning. Here a fresh separation took 
 place, half the party, or about ten persons, 
 going on to UmbalJah at once, the remain- 
 ing ten following more slowly. The natives 
 were " so unwilling" to assist them, " that," 
 says the lady above quoted, " it was with the 
 greatest difficulty we managed to get on at 
 
 all; L [her husband] being obliged to 
 
 threaten to shoot any one who refused to 
 give us assistance." However, they did get 
 on, and started from Thunessir, a dawk 
 station on the Umballah road, at six o'clock 
 P.M. on Wednesday, "in a cart draum by 
 coolies," reaching Umballah about eight 
 o'clock on Thursday morning. J 
 
 It would be unreasonable to criticise the 
 measures of a man who saw the lives of his 
 wife and infant in imminent peril. Only 
 had the villagers been either cruel or vin- 
 dictive, a few bullets or lattees would have 
 quickly changed the aspect of affairs. The 
 disinclination of the villagers to aid the 
 Europeans, may possibly have some connec- 
 tion with the manner in which the English 
 had recently assumed supremacy over the 
 district of which Thunessir, or Thwanessur, 
 is the chief town. That territory contains 
 about a hundred villages, producing an an- 
 nual revenue of £7,600 sterling A moiety 
 is said to have " escheated to the British 
 government, by reason of the failure of 
 heirs in 1833 and in 1851," and the remain- 
 ing portions were soon afterwards confis- 
 cated, " in consequence of the failure of the 
 chiefs in their allegiance. "§ 
 
 Very few of the fugitives had the chance 
 
 • Account by Mrs. Peile.— Times, September 25th, 
 1857. 
 
 + Probably the wife of one of the law officers, 
 Mr. L. Berkeley, the principal Sudder Ameen, who 
 escaped to Kurnaul with his wife and infant. The 
 
 of carrying matters with such a high hand 
 as " L." and his companions. So far from 
 harnessing the natives to carts. Englishmen 
 and Englishwomen, cold, naked, and hungry, 
 were then in different villages, beseeching, 
 even on their knees, for food, clothing, and 
 shelter; literally begging — for they were 
 penniless — a morsel of unleavened bread and 
 a drop of water for their children, or a 
 refuge from the night-dews, and the far 
 more dreaded mutineers. The varied ad- 
 ventures of the scattered Europeans are 
 deeply interesting and suggestive. Many 
 an individual gained more experience of 
 native character between Delhi and their 
 haven of refuge in Umballah or Meerut, in 
 that third week of May, 1857, than they 
 would have obtained in a lifetime spent in 
 the ordinary routine of Indian life, than 
 which it is scarcely possible to conceive any- 
 thing more superficial and conventional, or 
 better calculated to foster arrogance and 
 self-indulgence. 
 
 The next in order of flight to the brigade- 
 major's party was Major Abbott, to whose 
 narrative we return, as affording another 
 link in the chain of events. After vainly 
 attempting to get any orders from Brigadier 
 Graves, his attention was directed to some 
 carriages going up the Kurnaul road, among 
 which he recognised his own, occupied by 
 his wife and daughters. The men of 
 his regiment, at the quarter- guard, assured 
 him that the officers and their families 
 were leaving the cantonment, and entreated 
 him to do the same. The major states — 
 " I yielded to their wishes, and told them, 
 ' Very well, I am off to Meerut. Bring the 
 colours, and let me see as many of you 
 at Meerut as are not inclined to become 
 traitors.' I then got up behind Captain 
 Hawkey, on his horse, and rode to the 
 guns, which were also proceeding in the 
 direction the carriages had taken, and so 
 rode on one of the waggons for about four 
 miles, when the drivers refused to go any 
 further, because, they said, ' we have left our 
 families behind, and there are no artillery- 
 men to serve the guns.' They then turned 
 their horses, and went back towards canton- 
 ments. I was picked up by Captain Wallace, 
 who also took Ensign Elton with him in the 
 buggy. 
 
 identification is of some interest, on account of an 
 incident mentioned in the text. 
 
 J Letter published in the 2'imes, July 17th, 1857. 
 
 § Thornton's Gazetteer, on the authority of Indian 
 Pol. Disp., 29lh July, 1835; and 10th Sept., 1851.
 
 ESCAPE OF MAJOR ABBOTT FROM DELHI TO MEERUT. 165 
 
 " Ensign Elton informed me, that he and 
 the rest of the officers of the 74th Na- 
 tive infantry were on the point of going 
 to march out with a detachment, when 
 he heard a shot, and, on looking round, 
 saw Captain Gordon down dead ; a second 
 shot, almost simultaneously, laid Lieutenant 
 Revely low; he (Elton) then resolved to do 
 something to save himself; and, making for 
 the bastion of the fort, jumped over the 
 parapet down into the ditch, ran up to the 
 counterscarp, and made across the country 
 to our lines, where he was received by our 
 men, and there took the direction the 
 rest had, mounted on a gun." The 
 party with Major Abbott went up the 
 Kurnaul road, until they came to the cross- 
 road leading to Meerut, via the Bhagput 
 Ghaut, which they took, and arrived at 
 Meerut about eight o'clock in the evening 
 of the 12th.* 
 
 Regarding the origin of the outbreak. 
 Major Abbott says — 
 
 " From all I could glean, there is not the slightest 
 doubt that this insurrection has been originated and 
 matured in the palace of the King of Delhi, and that 
 with his full knowledge and sanction, in the mad 
 attempt to establish himself in the sovereignty of 
 this country. It is well known that he has called 
 on the neighbouring states to co-operate with him 
 in thus trying to subvert the existing government. 
 The method he adopted appears to be to gain the 
 sympathy of the 38th light infantry, by spreading 
 the lying reports now going through the country, of 
 the government having it in contemplation to upset 
 their religion, and have them all forcibly inducted to 
 Christianity. 
 
 "The 38th light infantry, by insidious and false 
 arguments, quietly gained over the 54th and 74th 
 Native infantry, each being unacquainted with the 
 other's real sentiments. 1 am perfectly persuaded 
 that the 54th and 74th Native infantry were forced 
 to join the combination by threats that, on the one 
 hand, the 38th and 54th would annihilate the 74th 
 Native infantry if they refused, and vice versa, the 
 38th taking the lead. I am almost convinced that 
 had the 38th Native infantry men not been on guard 
 at the Cashmere gate, the results would have been 
 different. The men of the 74th Native infantry 
 would have shot every man who had the temerity to 
 assail the post. 
 
 "The post-office, electric telegraph, Delhi bank, 
 the Delhi Gazette press, every house in cantonments 
 and the lines, have been destroyed. Those who es- 
 caped the massacre fled with only what they had on 
 their backs, unprovided with any provisions for the 
 road, or money to purchase food. Every officer has 
 lost all he possessed, and not one of us has even 
 a change of clothes." 
 
 * Despatch dated May 13th, 1857.— Further 
 Pari. Papers on the Mutiny (No. 3), p. 10. 
 
 t In the letter from which the above facts are 
 taken, the writer says, " young Metcalfe had fled in 
 the morning." This is a mistake, for he was still 
 in Delhi, as will be shown in a subsequent page. 
 
 Major Abbott's opinion of the conduct of 
 the King of Delhi, does not appear justified 
 by any evidence yet published ; and his 
 censure of the 38th hardly accords with the 
 fact, that not one of the officers of that 
 corps were killed. 
 
 Lieutenant Gambler, writing from Mee- 
 rut on the 29th of May, says — 
 
 " Meer Mundoor Ali, and Sahye Sing [Native offi- 
 cers from Delhi], who came over for court-martial 
 on the mutineers, declare that nothing of this out- 
 break was known before it occurred, and that if we 
 two [himself and Colonel Knyvett] went to Delhi, 
 the men would flock to us. I also believe our lives 
 would be safe among the 38th, but the rascals would 
 not stand by us; and I make no doubt that the 
 garrison duty men, influenced by the example of 
 the 64th, would have committed any excess." 
 
 The fugitives who escaped in carriages or 
 carts, whether dragged by natives or quad- 
 rupeds, had probably little conception of 
 the sufferings endured by the footsore and 
 weary wanderers who had no such help on 
 their perilous journey. When the sepoys 
 at the Mainguard turned against their 
 officers, the latter strove to escape as Ensign 
 Elton describes himself to have done, 
 but were interrupted by the screams of 
 some ladies in the officers' quarters. The 
 Europeans ran back, and making a rope 
 with tiieir handkerchiefs, assisted their ter- 
 rified countrywomen to jump from the ram- 
 part into the ditch, and then with great 
 difficulty, and nearly half-an-hour's labour, 
 succeeded in euabling them to scramble up 
 the opposite side. During the whole time 
 not a shot was fired at them by the sepoys, 
 and tlie party succeeded in making their 
 way to a house on the banks of the river, 
 belonging to Sir T. Metcalfe, where they ob- 
 tained some food from the servants, who 
 had not seen their master since themorn- 
 ing.t Here they stayed until they be- 
 held the whole of the three cantonments on 
 fire, and saw " a regular battle raging in 
 that direction :"| they then, under cover of 
 nightfall, ran to the river, and made their 
 escape. The party then consisted of five 
 officers and of five ladies — namely, Lieute- 
 nant Forrest, his wife, and three daughters; 
 Lieutenant Procter, of the 38th ; Lieutenant 
 Vibart, of the 54th ; Lieutenant Wilson, of 
 the artillery; a Lieutenant Salkeld, of the 
 engineers ; and Mrs. Fraser, the wife of an 
 
 X This fact shows how far the sepoys were from 
 acting on any plan, much less having any recog- 
 nised leader ; in which case, burning the canton- 
 ments and fighting among themselves, after gelling 
 rid of their European masters, would have been 
 quite out of the question.
 
 166 ESCAPE OF COLONEL KNYVETT AND LIEUT. GAMBIER. 
 
 officer of the engineers, then absent on 
 duty.* This poor lady, though shot through 
 the shoulder at the time the Europeans 
 were fired on in the Mainguard, bore up 
 cheerfully, in the hope of finding her hus- 
 band at Meerut. At an early period of 
 their journey the party fell in with Major 
 Knyvett and Lieutenant Gambier, to the 
 latter of whom a peculiar interest attaches, 
 because, after escaping from Delhi, he re- 
 turned thither with the besieging force, and 
 received his death wound at the hands of the 
 mutineers. By his account, corroborated by 
 other testimony, it seems that at the time of 
 the evacuation of the Flagstaff tower, it was 
 generally supposed that a considerable body, 
 if not the greater portion, of the Native 
 troops would accompany the fugitives to 
 Meerut. They actually started for the pur- 
 pose ; but Lieutenant Gambier, who was in 
 the rear, says the sepoys were soon seen 
 streaming off by hundreds, till at length 
 he and Colonel Knyvett found themselves 
 alone with the colours of the 38th and 
 about 150 men, who refused to proceed 
 further, and, laying hold of the non-commis- 
 sioned officers with the colours, went to 
 their lines. The two Europeans followed 
 them, sounded the "assembly," and implored 
 them to fall in, but without effect ; and the 
 colonel, too grieved by the defection of his 
 regiment to be heedful of personal danger, 
 went in amongst them, and said, "If you 
 wish to shoot me, here I am ; you had better 
 do it." The men vehemently denied any 
 such intention, and then the two officers 
 dismounted, not knowing what they ought 
 to do. Lieutenant Gambier, who tells their 
 adventures with the simplicity which cha- 
 racterises the highest class of bravery, adds 
 — " I do not know whether we fully recog- 
 nised the extent of the evil, but we then 
 did not think of getting away. I had my 
 bed sent down to the quarter-guard ; and 
 my kit [kitmutgar] went for some dinner." 
 Wearied with fatigue and excitement he 
 fell asleep, and it was night before he 
 awoke. On looking round, he saw Lieute- 
 nants Peile and Addington (74th), and 
 Mr. McWhirter, collector of Paniput (who 
 was in ill-health, and had come on a visit 
 to Delhi), with Mr. Marshall, an auctioneer 
 and merchant, standing near him. The 
 sepoys urgently pressed the officers to 
 escape, offering shelter and concealment in 1 
 their huts. Firing was now commencing in ' 
 
 • Letter of officer of 54th (probably Lieutenant I 
 Vibart).— Times, July 23rd, 1857. ' ' 
 
 the lines, and Peile and Gambier, each 
 taking a colour, reached the door of the 
 quarter-guard; but the sepoys thronged 
 round and jerked the colours from the 
 hands of the officers. Lieutenant Gam- 
 bier, meeting Colonel Knyvett in the 
 doorway, said, "We must be off." The 
 colonel objected; but the lieutenant took 
 him by the wrist, pulled him ou>&id£, and 
 forced him away from the doomed regiment ; 
 on which the colonel loclied back with some- 
 thing of the bitter yearning with which a 
 sea-captain quits the sinking ship which has 
 been for years his home, his pride, and his 
 delight, the parting pang overpowering the 
 sense of danger, even though a frail boat 
 or a bare plank may offer the sole chance 
 of escape from imminent personal peril. 
 Neither the colonel nor his young com- 
 panion had any ladies to protect, other- 
 wise the feelings of husbands and fathers 
 might naturally have neutralised the in- 
 tense mortification and reluctance with 
 which they turned their backs on Delhi. 
 But though Mrs. Knyvett was safe at a dis- 
 tance, and the lieutenant was unmarried, 
 yet the latter had his colonel to support 
 and save. " We hurried on," he writes, 
 " tripping and stumbling, till we reached a 
 tree, under which we fell down exhausted. 
 I feared I should get the colonel no further ; 
 he had touched nothing all day, and the 
 sun had more or less affected him; but to 
 remain was death ; and after a few minutes' 
 rest, we again started forward. So we passed 
 all that dreadful night. The moon rose, and 
 the blaze of cantonments on fire made it 
 light as day, bringing out the colonel's scales 
 and my scabbard and white clothing in most 
 disadvantageous relief: as we lay, the colonel 
 used to spread his blue pocket-handkerchief 
 over my jacket, in order to conceal it as 
 much as possible." The elder officer was 
 unarmed and bareheaded ; he was, besides, 
 subject to the gout, an attack of which the 
 distress of mind and bodily fatigue he was 
 undergoing were well calculated to bring 
 on. In the morning, some Brahmins 
 coming to their work discovered the fugi- 
 tives hiding in the long jungle grass, and 
 after giving them some chupatties and 
 milk, led them to a ford over a branch of 
 the Jumna. They met on the road Mr. 
 Marshall, with whom they had parted in 
 the quarter-guard : he had wandered on 
 alone ; Mr. McWhirter having been, he 
 believed, drowned in attempting to cross 
 the canal cut at the back of the canton-
 
 ESCAPE OF THE DELHI FUGITIVES. 
 
 167 
 
 ments.* Soon afterwards the trio learned 
 from a villager that there were other Euro- 
 peans about a mile further on in the jungle. 
 On proceeding thither, they came up with 
 and joined Lieutenant Forrest's party, 
 wb'ch raised their number to thirteen. The 
 fording of the Jumna on the second night 
 of their toilsome march, was the greatest 
 obstacle they had to encounter. "The 
 water was so deep, that whereas a tall man 
 might just wade it, a short man must be 
 drowned." The ladies, however, got over, 
 supported by a native on one side, and a 
 European on the other. Some of them lost 
 their shoes in the river, and had to proceed 
 barefoot over " a country composed exclu- 
 sively of stubble-fields, thistles, and a low 
 thorny bush." The treatment they met with 
 was very varied : at one village they were 
 given food, and suffered to rest awhile; then 
 they were wilfully misled by their guides, 
 because they had no means of paying them ; 
 and had nearly recrossed the Jumna in 
 mistake for the Hindun, but were pre- 
 vented by the presence of mind of Lieu- 
 tenant Salkeld, in ascertaining the course 
 of the stream by throwing some weeds into 
 it. It was intensely cold on the river 
 bank, and the wind seemed to pierce 
 through the wet clothes of the fugitives 
 into their very bones. They laid down 
 side by side for a short time, silent, except 
 for the noise of their chattering teeth ; 
 and then, after an hour or two's pause 
 (for rest it could hardly be called), they 
 resumed their weary journey. Next they 
 encountered a party of Goojurs, who plun- 
 dered and well-nigh stripped them ; after 
 which they fell in with some humane 
 Brahmins, who brought them to a village 
 called Bhekia or Khekra,t gave them char- 
 poys to rest on, and chupatties and dholl (len- 
 til pottage) to eat. Crowds gathered round 
 the wanderers, " gaping in wonderment, and 
 cracking coarse jokes" at their condition and 
 chance of life. But the villagers, though 
 rough and boorish in manner, were kind in 
 act, until "a horrid hag" suddenly made her 
 way to the Europeans, and flinging up her 
 skinny arras, invoked the most fearful curses 
 on them, tilted up their charpoys one by one, 
 
 • Second Supplement to the London Gazette, 
 May 6th, 1858 ; p. 2241.' 
 
 t In the copies of this letter printed for private 
 circulation, from one of which the above statements 
 are taken, the name of the village is given as 
 Khekra ; in the abstract {lublished in the Times, 
 August eih, 1857, it is Bhekia. 
 
 I The faithful remnant of the 3rd did not, how- 
 
 and drove them away. A fakir proved more 
 compassionate, and hid them in his dwell- 
 ing; and here their number, though not their 
 strength, was increased by two sergeants' 
 wives and their babes. One of the latter 
 was a cause of serious inconvenience and even 
 danger; for at a time when the general safety 
 depended on concealment, the poor child 
 was incessantly on the point of compromis- 
 ing them, for it " roared all day, and howled 
 all night." On the Thursday after leaving 
 Delhi, a native volunteered to carry a letter 
 to Meerut, and one (written in French) was 
 accordingly entrusted to him. All Satur- 
 day they spent " grilling under some apolo- 
 gies for trees ;" but towards evening a mes- 
 sage arrived from a village named " Hur- 
 chundpoor," that one Francis Cohen, a 
 European zemindar, would gladly receive 
 and shelter them. With some diflBculty 
 they procured a hackery for the ladies, who 
 were by this time completely crippled, and, 
 escorted by about a dozen villagers, reached 
 Hurchundpoor in safety, where they re- 
 ceived the welcome greeting of " How d'ye 
 do? — go inside — sit down." The speaker, 
 Francis Cohen, though very like a native in 
 appearance and habits, was a German, about 
 eighty-five years of age, who had formerly 
 served under the Begum Sumroo. He 
 placed the upper story of his dwelling at 
 the disposal of the fugitives, sent skirts and 
 petticoats for the ladies, with pieces of staff 
 to cut into more, and provided the officers 
 with various kinds of native attire ; and once 
 again they " ate off plates and sat on chairs," 
 On Sunday, at sunset, while they were en- 
 joying rest, after such a week's work as none 
 of them had ever dreamed of enduring, the 
 news came that a party of sowars (Native 
 cavalry) were at the gate, sent by the King of 
 Delhi to conduct the Europeans as prisoners 
 to "the presence." The officers sprang 
 up, and were hastily resuming the portions 
 of their uniform which they still possessed, 
 when two Europeans rode into the courtyard, 
 announcing themselves as the leaders of 
 thirty troopers from Meerut, come in answer 
 to the letter sent thither by a native mes- 
 senger. 
 
 Of course, troopers of the 3rd cavalryj 
 
 ever, include Captain Craigie's entire troop. On his 
 return to the parade-ground with his men, he found, 
 as has been stated, Brevet-major Richardson with 
 part of his troop, and Captain and Lieutenant 
 Pairlie (brothers), with the remains of the 5th and 
 6th. Some hurried conversation ensued between 
 the officers, which was interrupted by their being 
 fired at. The mob of mutineers from the infantry
 
 168 
 
 KINDNESS OF KANEE OF BALGHUR. 
 
 were the last persons looked to for deliver- 
 ance : nevertheless, Lieutenant Gambler 
 adds — "These fine fellows had ridden all 
 day, first to Bhekia, and afterwards to Hur- 
 chundpoor, near forty miles, to our assis- 
 tance." Under this escort. Colonel Knyvett 
 and his companions succeeded in reaching 
 Meerut at about 10 p.m. — the eighth night 
 after leaving Delhi. The first question of 
 Mrs. Fraser was for her husband. An 
 officer, not knowing her, immediately com- 
 municated the fact of his death, the manner 
 of which will be hereafter shown. The rest 
 of the party were more fortunate, many 
 friends coming in by degrees, who had been 
 given up for lost. 
 
 All the officers of the 38th escaped ; 
 Lieutenant Peile and his wife encountered 
 extreme peril, aggravated for a time by 
 separation from each other, as well as from 
 their child. The carriages had nearly all 
 driven off from the Flagstaff tower, when 
 a gentleman, seeing that Mrs. Peile had 
 no conveyance, oflFered her a seat in his. 
 She accepted his offer for her little boy, 
 who reached Meerut some days before 
 his parents, and while they were supposed 
 to have perished. Then Mrs. Peile joined 
 Dr. Wood and his wife. The doctor had 
 been shot in tiie face, as is supposed by the 
 men of his own regiment (the 38th), and 
 his lower jaw was broken. The ladies with 
 him were the last to leave Delhi ; and they 
 had scarcely started, when some natives 
 came to them, and advised their turning 
 back, declaring that the officers and others 
 who had preceded them on the Kurnaul 
 road had all been murdered. They re- 
 turned accordingly to Delhi, and took re- 
 fuge in the Company's gardens, where they 
 found a gunner, who went to the hospital, 
 at their request, to fetch a native doctor. 
 Other natives brought a charpoy for the 
 
 lines were seen advancing, and the officers agreed 
 to start with the standards for the European lines. 
 Captain Craigie states, that owing to the deafening 
 uproar, the intense excitement, and the bewildering 
 confusion which prevailed, the advance sounded on 
 the trumpet was scarcely audible, and the greater 
 part of the still faithful troopers did not hear it, and 
 were consequently left behind. A few men who 
 were nearest the officers went with them to the 
 European lines ; and these, with some married 
 troopers who had gone to place their wives in 
 safety, with between twenty and thirty men of 
 different troops who rallied round Captain Craigie, 
 and assisted in defending his house and escorting 
 him to the European lines, formed the remnant 
 of the 3rd cavalry, which, with few exceptions, re- 
 mained staunch during the mutiny, doing good ser- 
 
 wounded European to lie on ; and in about 
 an hour a coolie arrived with some lint 
 and bandages from the hospital, accom- 
 panied by a message from the native doc- 
 tors, that they would gladly have come, but 
 that they were then starting in dhoolies by 
 command of the King of Delhi, to attend 
 on his wounded troops. A band of ma- 
 rauders discovered the trembling women 
 and their helpless companion ; carried off 
 their horses, and broke up their carriages. 
 Not daring to remain where they were, they 
 started at midnight in search of a village 
 near the artillery lines, where they were fed 
 and concealed by the head man of the 
 village — an aged Hindoo, who turned the 
 cattle out of a cow-shed to make room for 
 the distressed wayfarers. The next morn- 
 ing, the three started again on their travels ; 
 and after receiving great kindness at several 
 villages, and narrowly escaping death at 
 the hands of marauders, they at length 
 reached a village inhabited by " the ranee 
 of Balghur," probably a Rajpootni chief- 
 tainess, who received them in her house, 
 bade her servants cook rice and milk for 
 their dinner, and gave them leave to remain 
 aa lonp; as they pleased. In the morning, 
 however, she told them she could not pro- 
 tect them a second night, for her people 
 would rise against her. This was on the 
 18th, and the fugitives were as yet only 
 twenty-two miles from Delhi. Providen- 
 tially, on that very day Major Paterson and 
 Mr. Peile arrived separately at Balghur, 
 from whence they all started together that 
 evening. They met with some remarkable 
 instances of kindness on the road. In one 
 case, " the working men, seeing what diffi- 
 culty we had in getting the doctor along, 
 volunteered to carry him from village to 
 village, where they could be relieved of 
 their burden. This was a most kind offer, 
 
 vice on all occasions. They, and they only, of the 
 Meerut sepoys were permitted to retam their arms ; 
 even the 160 faithful men of the 11th N. I. being 
 disbanded, but taken into service by the magis- 
 trates. Major Smythe reported the state of the 
 regiment, 31st of May, 1857, as follows : — 
 
 Kemaining in camp . . 78 
 
 On furlough .... 83 
 On command .... 9 
 
 Dismissed the service . . 85 
 Invalided .... 7 
 
 Deserted .... 235 
 
 Total . . 497 
 The infant child of Captain and Mrs. Fraser was 
 separated from its parents, and perished from ex- 
 posure on the Kurnaul road. — London Oazettt.
 
 PLIGHT FROM DELHI— MAY, 1857. 
 
 169 
 
 and was most gladly accepted by us." At 
 length, Mrs. Peile, who had been robbed of 
 her bonnet and shawl at the onset of 
 their flight, began to feel her head affected ; 
 but a wet cloth bound round her temples 
 relieved her, and enabled her to prosecute 
 the remainder of the journey, which termi- 
 nated in a very different manner to its 
 commencement; for our staunch ally, the 
 rajah of Putteeala, on learning the vicinity 
 of Europeans in distress, sent forty horse- 
 men, well-mounted and gaily dressed, to 
 escort them into Kurnaul, where they 
 arrived on, the 20th. Mrs. Paterson and 
 licr two children had previously reached 
 Simla in safety. 
 
 Surgeon Batson likewise, after wandering 
 : twenty-five days among the topes (groves of 
 trees) and villages, eventually succeeded in 
 joining the force before Delhi. He was an 
 excellent linguist; but he vainly strove to 
 '■ pass as a Cashmere fakir. "No, no," said 
 \ the Hindoos, " your blue eyes betray you ; 
 you are surely a Feringhee." They were, 
 ! however, kind to him; but the Moham- 
 I medaus would have killed him, had he not 
 uttered " the most profound praises in be- 
 half of their prophet Mahomet," and begged 
 they would spare his life, " if they believed 
 that the Imaum Mendhee would come 
 to judge the world." The adjuration was 
 effective, and Surgeon Batson's term of life 
 was extended a little, and only a little, 
 longer. His wife and daughters were among 
 the more fortunate fugitives.* 
 
 The adventures of Sir T. Metcalfe have not 
 been circumstantially related be3'ond that 
 after leaving Lieutenant Willoughby, he was 
 attacked by the rabble ; but escaped from 
 them, when he concealed himself in the city; 
 and, after remaining there for three days, 
 eventually succeeded in making his way to 
 Hansi. Lieutenant Willoughby was less for- 
 tunate. He is supposed to have perished near 
 the Hindun river. Lieutenant Gambier 
 states — "There escaped with Willoughby, 
 Osborne, B , H , and A . Os- 
 borne's wound necessitated his being left in 
 a ditch : he ultimately reached this place ; 
 they have not." From the account given 
 by a native, it is believed that Lieutenant 
 
 • Surgeon H. S. Batson's Letter. — Ttmei, August 
 18th, 1867. 
 
 t Lieutenant Gambler's account. The mother of 
 Lieutenant Willoughby being left a widow with four 
 children, appealed to Sir Charles Najjier, on his 
 return to England after the conquest of Sinde, to 
 aid in providing for her sons ; and he, though a per- 
 fect stranger, interested himself in the case, and ob- 
 VOL. II. Z 
 
 Willoughby shot a Brahmin, on which the 
 villagers attacked and murdered him.f 
 
 Mr. Wagentreiber, of the Delhi Gazette, 
 fled with his wife and daughter, in his 
 buggy. They were attacked five times. 
 Mrs. Wagentreiber received some severe 
 blows from iron-bound lattees; as he did also, 
 besides a sword-cut on the arm. But the 
 ladies loaded, and he fired at their assail- 
 ants with so much effect, as to kill four, and 
 wound two others ; after which, the fugi- 
 tives succeeded in making good their way 
 to Kurnaul. J 
 
 Mrs. Leeson, the wife of the deputy-col- 
 lector, made her escape froui Delhi on the 
 morning of the 19th, after losing three 
 children in the massacre. § Two faithful 
 natives accompanied and protected her ; one 
 of them perished by the hands of the muti- 
 neers in attempting to pass the Ajmere 
 gate ; the other accompanied her in her 
 wanderings, till they reached the European 
 picket at Subzie Mundie. The poor lady, 
 who had nothing but a dirty piece of cloth 
 round her body, and another piece, folded 
 turban-fashion, on her head, on finding 
 herself again in safety, knelt down, and 
 thanked heaven for her deliverance. || 
 
 In the midst of all these tales of strife 
 and misery, it is well that an English offi- 
 cial has placed on record the following 
 statement of the himianity evinced by the 
 villagers generally. Mr. Greathed, the com- 
 missioner, writing from Meerut, in the 
 very height of the excitement, states — 
 " All the Delhi fugitives have to tell of 
 some kind acts of protection and rough 
 hospitality ; and yesterday a fakir came in 
 with a European child he had picked up' 
 on the Jumna. He had been a good deal 
 mauled on the way, but he made good 
 his point. He refused any present, but 
 expressed a hope that a well might he 
 made in his name, to commemorate the act. 
 I promised to attend to his wishes; and 
 Himam Bhartee, of Dhunoura, will, I hope, 
 long live in the memory of man. The 
 parents have not been discovered, but there 
 are plenty of good Samaritans." 
 
 The loyalty of the nawab of Kurnaul 
 largely contributed to the safety of the 
 
 tained Addiscombe cadetships for two of the young 
 men. Sir Charles, had he lived to see the career of 
 hia proteges, would have been richly rewarded for 
 his disinterested kindness. — United Service Oazette. 
 
 \ Lieut. Gambler's account. — Times, July 14, 1857. 
 
 § Second Supplement to the Lundon Gazette, 
 May 6th, 1858. 
 
 !| Ball's Indian Mutiny, pp. 100—107.
 
 170 
 
 THE SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF COLONEL RIPLEY. 
 
 fugitive Europeans, who chose the road to 
 Umballah instead of to Meerut. Mr. le 
 Bas, the Delhi judge, had a very interesting 
 interview with this chief. There was at the 
 time no European force in the neighbour- 
 hood of Kurnaul, to counteract the effect of 
 the unmolested retreat of the mutineers 
 from the head-quarters of the British artil- 
 lery at Meerut, followed by their unopposed 
 occupation of Delhi. Moreover, European 
 women and children were known to have 
 been left to perish there ; and cherished 
 wives and mothers, on whom crowds of 
 servants had waited from the moment they 
 set foot in India, were now seen ragged, 
 hungry, and footsore, begging their way to 
 the nearest stations. The chiefs, country- 
 people, and ryots doubted if they were awake 
 or dreaming; but if awake, then surely 
 the British raj had come to an end. At all 
 events, the Great Mogul was in Delhi, and 
 from Delhi the British had fled in the 
 wildest disorder; whereupon a native jour- 
 nalist thought fit to raise the following 
 lo Pean, which, like all similar effusions, 
 whether indited by Europeans or Asiatics, 
 is characterised by the most irreverent 
 bigotry : — 
 
 " Oh ! Lord the English have now seen 
 a specimen of Thy power ! 
 
 " To-day they were in a state of high 
 power; to-morrow they wrapped them- 
 selves in blood, and began to fly. Notwith- 
 standing that their forces were about three 
 lacs strong in India, they began to yield 
 up life like cowards. Forgetting their 
 palanquins and carriages, they fled to the 
 jungles without either boots or hats. 
 Leaving their houses, they asked shelter 
 from the meanest of men ; and, abandoning 
 their power, they fell into the hands of 
 marauders."* 
 
 The British cause was, in May, 1857, gen- 
 erally considered the losing one ; and even 
 those friendly to it, were for the most part 
 anxious, in native phraseology, " to keep 
 their feet in both stirrups." There were, 
 however, many brilliant exceptions — but for 
 which, the sceptre of Queen Victoria would 
 hardly now have much ■ authority in Nor- 
 thern India. The nawab of Kurnaul was 
 one of the first to identify liimself with 
 the British in the hour of their deepest 
 humiliation. 
 
 Soon after the arrival of Mr. le Bas, the 
 nawab came to him and said, " I have spent 
 
 * Parsee Reformer: quoted in Bumbay Telegraph. 
 — See Timet, August 3rd, 1807. , 
 
 a sleepless night in meditating on the state 
 of affairs. I have decided to throw in my 
 lot with your's. My sword, my purse, and 
 my followers are at your disposal." And 
 he redeemed his promise in many ways; 
 among others, by raising an efficient troop 
 of 100 horse, which he armed and equipped 
 on the model of the Punjab mounted police 
 corps. Mr. le Bas subsequently presented 
 the nawab with the favourite horse whose 
 speed had saved his master's life.f It is to 
 be hoped the British government will be 
 similarly mindful of the service rendered 
 by their faithful ally. 
 
 Many providential preservations have 
 been related : the painful task remains of 
 describing, as far as possible, the fate of 
 the Europeans who were unable to effect 
 their escape from Delhi. Among the victims 
 was Colonel Ripley. His dhooly-bearers 
 refused to carry him on with the first party 
 of Europeans; and Lieutenant Peile, his 
 former preserver, having left even his own 
 wife and child to try and save the regi- 
 mental colours, the wounded officer re- 
 mained at the mercy of the native bearers, 
 whose services are at the best of times little 
 to be depended on; for, being frequently 
 compulsory, they naturally take the first 
 opportunity of escaping to their homes. 
 They did not, however, give up the colonel 
 to the mutineers, but hid him near the ice- 
 pits at the cantonments. Here he remained 
 for some days, until he was found and killed 
 by a sepoy. This, at least, was the account 
 given to Surgeon Batson, during his wander- 
 ings among the juugles.f Colonel Ripley's 
 sufferings must have been fearful. His 
 isolation, and the state of utter helplessness 
 in which he awaited the violent death which 
 at length terminated his protracted an- 
 guish, renders him the subject of a quite 
 peculiar interest. The little that is nar- 
 rated of him conveys the idea of a thoroughly 
 brave man. He had need of all his natural 
 courage, and of the far higher strength im- 
 parted from Above, to enable him to resist 
 the temptation to suicide ; to which, later in 
 the rebellion, others yielded, under (so far as 
 human judgment can decide) much less 
 temptation. 
 
 The mutineers found it very difficult to 
 convince the king, and probably still more 
 so to convince themselves, that European 
 troops were not already marching on Delhi. 
 It is positively asserted, on European 
 
 t Raikes' Revolt in N. W. Provinces, pp. 91, 92. 
 X I'lmes, August 18th, 1857.
 
 EUROPEANS MASSACRED IN DELHI— MAY, 1858. 
 
 171 
 
 authority, that "the king sent a sowaree 
 camel* down to the Meerut road, to report 
 how near the British troops were to his 
 city. When the messenger returned, saying 
 there were certainly no European soldiers 
 within twenty miles of Delhi, the spirit 
 of mutiny could restrain itself no longer ."f 
 A native, writing to the vakeel of one of 
 the Rajpootana chiefs, says that it was at 
 ten at night two pultuns (regiments) arrived 
 from Meerut, and fired a royal salute of 
 twenty-one guns; but he adds, that "it 
 was not until the following day, about three 
 in the aftei'noon, that the empire was pro- 
 claimed under the King of Delhi, and the 
 imperial flag hoisted at the Cutwallee, or 
 chief police-station." But the authority 
 thus proclaimed, was at first at least almost 
 entirely nominal ; and later testimony tends 
 to confirm the statement of the native eye- 
 witness previously quoted; who, writing on 
 the 13th of May, says — " There is now no 
 ruler in the city, and no order. Everyone 
 has to defend his house. An attack was 
 made on the great banker, Mungnee Ram ; 
 but he had assembled so many defenders, 
 that after much fighting, the attack was un- 
 successful. Other bankers' establishments 
 were pillaged ; hundreds of wealthy men 
 have become beggars; hundreds of vaga- 
 bonds have become men of mark. When an 
 heir to the city arises, then the public mar- 
 ket will be reopened, and order be restored. 
 For these two days thousands have remained 
 fasting; such of the shops as are left un- 
 pillaged, being closed. * * * Hundreds of 
 corpses are lying under the magazine. The 
 burners of the dead wander about to recog- 
 nise the looked-for faces, and give them 
 funeral rites. * * * The mutineers 
 roam about the city, sacking it on every 
 side. The post is stopped. The electric 
 wires have been cut. There is not a Eu- 
 ropean face to be seen. Where have they 
 gone, and how many have been killed?" 
 This last question has been but imperfectly 
 answered. The following statement is com- 
 piled from the report furnished by the 
 magistrate of Delhi, and other government 
 returns : — 
 
 List of the European victims {not before named) who 
 perished on the 11th of Mjy, or at tome unknown 
 date, in Delhi. 
 
 Mr. Hutchinson, ofSciating magistrate and col- 
 lector, after going to cantonments for assistance, 
 
 * Meaning a trooper on a camel. 
 t Statement of Delhi deputy-collector. — ^Rot- 
 ton's Narrative of the Siege of Delhi, p. 12. 
 
 rejoined Mr. Fraser, and is believed to have been 
 killed at the Calcutta gate, on duty. 
 
 Mr. A. Oallotoay, joint magistrate and deputy- 
 collector, perished at the Cutchery, on duty. 
 
 The Rev, A. Hubbard, missionary. Mr. L. Sandys, 
 the head-master of the Delhi mission school, and 
 Mr. L. Cock, or Koehe, were killed at the school 
 or at the bank. 
 
 Mr. F. Taylor, principal of the Delhi college, 
 and Mr. R. Stewart, the second master, are thought 
 to have been in the magazine until the explosion, 
 and then to have taken refuge with Moolvee Bakir 
 Ali, who gave them up to the mutineers. 
 
 Mr. J. McNally, second clerk in the commis- 
 sioner's office, was killed on his way thither. Messrs. 
 Montreaux and Fleming, fifth and sixth clerks, 
 perished, but the particulars of their death are not 
 known. 
 
 Mr. Beresford, the manager of the Delhi bank, 
 would not quit his post, though warned by his ser- 
 vants ; he was murdered there with his wife and 
 three young children, and the money seized on by 
 the mob. Mr. Churcher, the deputy-manager, like- 
 wise perished. 
 
 Mr. Dalton, inspector of post-offices, and Mr. C. 
 Bayley, the deputy-postmaster, were cut down at 
 their post. 
 
 Sergeant Edwards, of the ordnance department, 
 perished at the magazine on duty; and Sergeant 
 Hoyle is supposed to have been killed on his way 
 thither. 
 
 Mr. T. Corbett, of the medical department, was on 
 a visit to Mr. McNally ; and he aiso perished on the 
 11th of May. 
 
 Mr. T. W. CoHins fled to the Cutchery, and was 
 killed there ; his wife and three children were mur- 
 dered in the college compound, but on what day ia 
 not known. 
 
 Mr. Staines, the head-clerk of the treasury office, 
 and two youths of the same name, were killed, the 
 former at the Cutchery, and the latter at Dcria- 
 gunge. 
 
 Mr. E. Staines, draftsman, railway department, 
 also fell in Delhi. 
 
 Mrs. Thompson, the widow of a Baptist mis- 
 sionary, with her two daughters, and a Mrs. Hunt, 
 were killed in the city. 
 
 Mr. 6. White, head-clerk of the political agency 
 office, was murdered in Delhi, but on what day is 
 not known. 
 
 Sergeant Dennis, of the canal department, with 
 his wife, his son, and Mrs. White, were killed at his 
 house on the canal banks. 
 
 Mr. J. Rennell, pensioner, his wife, two daughters 
 and his son-in-law, and Mr. G. Skinner, were mas- 
 sacred in the city, but the date of the latter crime 
 has not been ascertained. 
 
 Sergeant Foulan, of the public works' department, 
 and Mr. Thomas, agent of the Inland Transit Com- 
 pany, and an Italian showman and bis wife, named 
 Georselti, engaged in exhibiting wax-work figures, 
 were massacred near the Hindun river. 
 
 Three persons surnamed George — one a youth 
 who had received pay from the King of Delhi for 
 some service not known — were massacred in Delhi ; 
 as was also a Portuguese music-master, named 
 Perez, and a Mr. O'Brien. 
 
 Father Zacharias, a Roman Catholic priest, was 
 murdered in the city. 
 
 Mrs. {Major) Foster, and her sister, Mrs. Fuller, 
 endeavoured to escape, and got " into the city ditch"
 
 172 
 
 EUROPEANS MASSACRED IN DELHI— MAY, 1858. 
 
 (probably near the Mainguard). Mrs. Foster was I from ascertaining for himself the fate of Mrs. 
 
 unable to proceed any further, and her sister would 
 not leave her; they are supposed to have been 
 found and murdered there. Mrs. Hxckie (described 
 as a half-servant, probably a half-caste), in atten- 
 dance on Mrs. Foster, was killed in the city. 
 
 Chummum Lall, the native assistant-surgeon, was 
 one of the earliest victims of the outbreak. 
 
 Mr. Phillips, a pensioner, was killed in Delhi, 
 
 Morley aud his children. When the first 
 shock was over, he put on a petticoat and 
 veil belonging to the wife of the Hindoo, 
 and succeeded, accompanied by the latter, 
 iu reaching Kurnaul in six days. In the 
 course of the journey, he states himself to 
 
 but on what day is not known. A Mr. Clarke, a liar's seen "the body of a European woman 
 
 pensioner, occupied a two-story house in the Cash- 
 mere bazaar, with his wife and child, in conjunction 
 with a Mr. and Mrs. Morley, and their three chil- 
 dren, and was murdered there on the 11th. 
 
 In a letter signed " James Morley," and 
 published when the public excitement was 
 at its height, the following horrible par- 
 ticulars were related concerning the murder 
 of Mr. Clarke and his family. The Gazette 
 makes no mention of the circumstances; 
 but the statement is important, as one of the 
 exceptional ones made by a European eye- 
 witness, of massacre aggravated by wanton 
 cruelty. 
 
 Mr. Morley states, that after the blowing 
 up of the magazine, he crept from his hiding- 
 place in the city, and went to his own 
 house, near the door of which he found 
 a faithful old Hindoo [a dhoby, or washer- 
 man], sitting and crying bitterly. The 
 Hindoo said that a large crowd, armed with 
 •ticks, swords, and spears, had entered the 
 compound, pushed past Mr. Clarke, and 
 began to " loot" or break everything,. At 
 length one man went up to Mrs. Clarke, 
 " and touched her face, and spoke bad words 
 to her." The enraged husband called the 
 wretch by the most opprobrious epithet 
 which can be applied to a Mohammedan 
 (you pig !), and shot him dead; then, after 
 discharging the contents of the second bar- 
 rel into the body of another of the insur- 
 gents, he began fighting with the butt-end 
 of his gun. The old Hindoo, knowing that 
 the doom of both husband and wife was 
 now sealed, ran oflf in search of his own 
 mistress and her children ; but they were 
 already in the hands of the mob, who drove 
 off the dhoby with blows, and threatened to 
 kill him if he did not keep away. Morley 
 went into the house with his servant, and 
 found Mr. and Mrs. Clarke (she far advanced 
 in pregnancy) lying side by side, and 
 their little boy pinned to the wall, with a 
 pool of blood at his feet. Turning away 
 from this sickening sight, Morley rushed on 
 towards the bath-room, at the door of which 
 the old man stood wringing his hands. 
 The fear of seeing his own wife as he had 
 seen Mrs. Clarke, deterred him, he says, 
 
 lying shockingly mutilated by the road-side ; 
 and it made me sick to see a vulture come 
 flying along with a shrill cry. I saw 
 another body of one of our countrymen. 
 It was that of a lad about sixteen. He 
 had been evidently killed with the blow of 
 a stick. I buried him; but it was but a 
 shallow grave I could give him. I heard, 
 on the road, of a party of Europeans being 
 some distance ahead of me, and tried to 
 overtake them, but could not." It is rather 
 strange that the parties who preceded Mr. 
 Morley, should neither have seen nor heard 
 of the murdered man and woman ; and it is 
 still more strange, that this one European 
 should narrate horrors so far exceeding any 
 which the other fugitives encountered, or 
 heard of. Stories erf mutilation, together 
 with violation of the most abominable de- 
 scription, were certainly published in the 
 Indian and English papers of 1857; but 
 they were almost exclusively founded on 
 bazaar reports, or, what is much the same 
 thing, the accounts of the lowest class of 
 natives, who knew quite well, that the more 
 highly coloured the narrative, the more 
 attention it was likely to excite. Perhaps 
 reporters of a higher class were not uninflu- 
 enced by a similar desire to gratify the mor- 
 bid curiosity of the moment ; for the atro- 
 cities alleged to have been committed, were 
 such as only the most practised imagination 
 could conceive, or the most incarnate fiends 
 have perpetrated. It should be remembered, 
 that so far as indignities to Englishwomen 
 were concerned, the least aggravated of the 
 alleged offences would haije cost the high- 
 caste, or twice-born Hindoos, whether 
 Brahmin or Rajpoot, the irremediable for- 
 feiture of caste. Besides, the class of crime 
 is one utterly opposed to their character 
 and habits, and scarcely less so to that of 
 the Goojurs, who, in fact, had no passion 
 either of lust or revenge to indulge — nothing 
 but an absorbing love of loot, which might 
 tempt them to rob a lady of the cherished 
 wedding-ring, but not to defile the purity 
 of the sacred union it symbolised. With 
 the Mohammedans the case may be dif- 
 ferent: but whatever we may think of
 
 MASSACRE AT DELHI— 12th, 13th, AND 16th OF MAY, 1857. 173 
 
 the unwarrantable license given by the Ko- 
 ran, it may be doubted whether the scenes 
 recorded in the history of cities sacked in 
 European warfare by nominally Christian 
 conquerors, have not afforded sufficient evi- 
 dence of lust and rapine to explain why we 
 looked to hear of such things, almost as 
 necessary incidents, in a calamity like that 
 of Delhi. But happily for us, our foes were 
 not a united body of soldiers ; far from this, 
 the great mass of the sepoys, and even of the 
 escaped convicts, were a disorderly, panic- 
 struck crew; and it was only the long interval 
 of rest which elapsed wiiile the authorities 
 were making up their minds how to prepare 
 for action, that taught the sepoys the value 
 of the advantages which our superlative 
 folly had given them, and the importance 
 of their position in the eyes of their coun- 
 trymen throughout India. At first their 
 leading thought was, "let us eat and drink, 
 for to-morrow we die ;" and it was during 
 this phase of their career that they broke 
 I open the gaol, and released some 500 con- 
 I victs. Gradually a few of the more capable 
 of the mutineers began to think that there 
 was a chance for them, and that that chance 
 lay in the extirpation of " the seed of the 
 accursed Feringhee" from the land. Con- 
 scious of their own weakness, they natu- 
 rally adopted a cowardly and merciless, but 
 not vindictive or wantonly cruel policy. 
 The Europeans slain on the 11th of May, 
 or subsequently at an unknown date, have 
 been enumerated. The following is the — 
 
 List of the Delhi rictims killed on the \2th, \Zlh, 
 and I6lh of May. 
 
 Mr. T. Jones, of the collector's office, and Mr. T. 
 Leonard, of the magistrate's office, with his wife, and 
 two youths of the same, held out in the house which 
 they occupied together near the Moree gate, until 
 some time on the 12th, when they perished by the 
 hands of the insurgents. 
 
 A much larger party defended themselver until 
 the 13th, at Deriagunge, in a house belonging to 
 the rajah of Bullubghur, but rented by a Mr. 
 Aldwell. Here Mr. Nolan, one of the conductors of 
 the ordnance department, was killed on the 12th by 
 a grapeshot. On the 13th, a man named Azeezuljah 
 enticed the whole party from their retreat by saying 
 that the king had sent him to fetch them safely to 
 the palace. The Europeans, who were probably 
 holding out in hopes of succour from Meerut, were 
 deceived by the traitor, and were thus spared a 
 longer period of sickening suspense, with des- 
 pair as its climax. The official record states, that 
 Mr. A. G. Aldwell, son of the gentleman who 
 rented the house ; Mr. F. Davies, third clerk of the 
 commissioner's office ; Mr. T. Davies, hcad-clcrk of 
 the agency office, and Miss J. Davies; Mr. J. B. 
 Banley, another agency clerk, with his wife and 
 four of his family; Mr. Mackey, a Baptist mis- 
 
 sionary ; Mrs. Wilson, and her son ; Mrs, Nolan, 
 and her six children ; Mr. Settle, conductor of 
 ordnance ; Mrs. and Miss Settle ; Mrs. Crowe, and 
 her two daughters ; Sergeants Connor, Hoyle, and 
 Stewart, of the ordnance department, with a child 
 belonging to the last ; Mrs. Buckley, and her three 
 children; Mrs. Prince; Mrs. Riley, and her son; 
 Mrs. Ives, and Mrs. Foulan — were all slaughtered 
 on the 13th, in a bullock-shed near the house. 
 
 After this horrible butchery, no Eu- 
 ropeans were found in Delhi until the 16th; 
 and on that day, a party who had taken 
 refuge in the palace on the 11th, were 
 now delivered up to the insurgents, and 
 put to death. The native authority above 
 quoted, describes the victims as having 
 been tied to a tree and shot, after which 
 the bodies were burned. 
 
 Mr. E. Boberts, head-master of the Delhi col- 
 lege, and his son, together with Mrs. S. S. 
 Stewart, two Misses Stewart and their brother, are 
 said to have been massacred " at the instigation of 
 Zeenath Mahal." The two Misses Beresford; Mrs. 
 Shaw, and her two children ; Mrs. Glynn ; Mrs. 
 Scully ; Mrs. Edwards, and her three children ; 
 Mrs. Molloy, the wife of the band-master of 
 the 54th Native infantry, and her two sons; 
 Mr. J. Smith, head-clerk of the Delhi magazine; 
 Mrs. Corbett, and her child ; Mrs. E. P. Staines ; 
 the two Misses Hunt, and their young brother ; 
 Mrs. Cochrane : Mrs. and Miss Sheehan, govern- 
 ment pensioners ; Miss C. Staines, and Miss Louisa 
 Ryley — are recorded as having been murdered, with- 
 out any particulars being given of the attendant 
 circumstances.* 
 
 The above statements are taken from the Gazette. 
 A native gives the following somewhat different 
 account of particulars which ha describes himself 
 as having actually witnessed : — " On the third day, 
 the mutineers went back to the house [Mr. Aldwell's] 
 near the mosque, where some Europeans had taken 
 refuge. As they were without water, &c., for several 
 days, they called for a subahdar and five others, 
 and asked them to take their oaths that they would 
 give them water and take them alive to the king ; 
 he might kill them if he liked. On this oath the 
 Europeans came out : the mutineers placed Water 
 before them, and said, 'Lay down your arms, and 
 then you get water.' They gave over two guns, 
 all they had. The mutineers gave no water. They 
 seized eleven children (among them infants), eight 
 ladies, and eight gentlemen. They took them to 
 the cattle-sheds. One lady, who seemed more self- 
 possessed than the rest, observed that they were 
 not taking them to the palace ; they replied, they 
 were taking them via Derya Gunje. Deponent says 
 that he saw all this, and saw them placed in a row 
 and shot. One woman entreated them to give her 
 child water, though they might kill her. A sepoy 
 took her child and dashed it on the ground. i"he 
 people looked on in dismay, and feared for Delhi."! 
 
 An anonymous writer, who describes 
 
 * Second Supplement to the London Gazette, 
 May 6th, 1858. 
 
 t Statement made to deputy-commissioner Far- 
 rington, of JuUundur, by three servants of Kapor- 
 thella rajah. — Times, August 3rd, 1857.
 
 174 
 
 STATE OF DELHI IN MAY, 1857. 
 
 himself as having been in Delhi at the 
 outbreak, but who does uot state either 
 the time or the manner of his own escape, 
 writes — " Several Europeans, said to number 
 forty-eight, were taken to the palace, or 
 perhaps went there for protection. These 
 were taken care of by the King of Delhi ; 
 but the sowars of the 3rd cavalry, whose 
 thirst for European blood had not been 
 quenched, rested not till they were all given 
 up to them, when they murdered them 
 one by one in cold blood." The narrator 
 adds, that the troopers were said " to have 
 poiuted to their legs before they murdered 
 their victims, and called attention to the 
 marks of tiieir manacles, asking if they 
 were not justified in what they were doing."* 
 In a separate and evidently iucorrcct list, 
 published in the same Gazette as that from 
 which the above account has been framed, 
 several names are given in addition to, or in 
 mistake for, those already stated.f Among 
 others, a " Mrs. Morgan and her grand- 
 child" are said to have been among the vic- 
 tims of this most horrible butchery, in 
 which maid and matron, the grandame and 
 the babe, were alike mercilessly hewn 
 down. It must, however, be remembered, 
 that many put down ji^ the official records 
 as massacred at Delhi, were probably killed 
 after escaping from the city. 
 
 We have not, and probably never shall 
 have, any authentic statement of the number 
 of Eurasians who perished at this period, 
 nor of the amount of native life lost in the 
 struggle between the citizens of Delhi and 
 the ruthless insurgents. The mutineers, 
 it is said, " asked the king either to give 
 them two months^ pay, or their daily 
 rations. The king summoned all the 
 shroffs and mahajuns (bankers and money- 
 changers), telling them, if they did not 
 meet the demand of the mutineers they 
 would be murdered ; on which the shroffs 
 agreed to give them dhoU rotee for twenty 
 days ; adding, they could not afford more. 
 The mutineers replied — ' We have deter- 
 mined to die ; how can we eat dholl rotee 
 for the few days we have to live in 
 this world.' "\ The cavalry, consequently, 
 received one rupee, and the infantry four 
 annas a day. With every offensive weapon 
 
 • rimes, July 14th, 1857. 
 
 t The same persons are given under different 
 names : Koehe in one, is Cock in the other ; Aldwell 
 in one, is Aidwell in the other; with other mistakes 
 of a similar character. Compare page 2220 with 
 pages 2238 to 2241 of Gazelle, May 6lh, 1858. 
 
 Delhi was abundantly stocked. After the 
 escape of Lieutenant Willoughby and his 
 companions, the mutineers (according to 
 a native news-writer previously quoted), 
 " together with the low people of the city, 
 entered the magazine compound and began 
 to plunder weapons, accoutrements, gun- 
 caps, &c. The 'loot' continued for three 
 days ; each sepoy took three or four nraskets, 
 and as many swords and bayonets as he 
 could. The Glassies filled their houses with 
 fine blacksmiths' tools, weapons, and gun- 
 caps, which they sell by degrees at the rate 
 of two seers per rupee. In these successful 
 days, the highest price of a musket was eight 
 annas, or one shilling; however, the people 
 feared to buy .:: a fine English sword was 
 dear for four annas, and one anna was too 
 much for a good bayonet. Pouches and 
 belts were so common, that the owners 
 could uot get anything for this booty of 
 theirs."§ Lieutenant Willoughby and his 
 companions had succeeded in destroying 
 a portion of the stores in the Delhi ar- 
 senal; but abundance of shot and shell 
 remained behind, and the cantonments 
 afforded large stores of gunpowder. From 
 native testimony we further learn, ihat " the 
 Derya Gunje Bazaar was turned into an en- 
 campment for the mutineers. Shops were 
 plundered in the Cliandnee Chouk|( and 
 Diereeba Bazaar. The shops were shut for 
 five daj's. The king refused to go upon 
 the throne. The mutineers assured him 
 that a similar massacre had taken place up 
 to Peshawur and down to Calcutta. He 
 agreed, and commenced to give orders : went 
 through the city, and told the people to open 
 their shops. On the fifth day, notice was 
 given that if any one concealed a European 
 he would be destroyed. People disguised 
 many, and sent them off; but many were 
 killed that day, mostly by people of the 
 city. A tailor concealed no less than five 
 Europeans. * * * The mutineers say, 
 when the army approaches they will fight, 
 and that the Native troops with the array 
 are sure to join them. Many mutineers 
 who tried to get away with plunder were 
 robbed ; this has prevented many others 
 from leaving."^ 
 
 This latter statement accords with a 
 
 I Statement of Hurdwar pilgrims, before quoted. 
 § See Times, September 18lh, 1857. 
 
 II The principal street in Delhi. 
 
 % Statement made to deputy-commissioner Far- 
 rington, of Jullundur, by three servants of the rajah 
 of Kaporthella. — Times, August 3rd, 1857.
 
 FEROCITY OF ESCAPED CONVICTS— DELHI, MAY, 1857. 175 
 
 prominent feature in the character of the 
 Hindoos — namely, their strong attachment 
 to their native village. All experienced ma- 
 gistrates know, that however great a crime 
 a Hindoo may have committed, he will, 
 sooner or later, risk even death for the sake 
 of revisiting his early home. Their domestic 
 affections are likewise very powerful ; and, 
 undoubtedly, the combination against us 
 would have been far stronger, but for the 
 temporarily successful attempts of many, 
 and the unsuccessful attempts of many 
 more, to escape to their wives and children 
 from the vortex of destruction towards 
 which they had been impelled. Hundreds, 
 and probably thousands, remained in Delhi 
 because their sole chance of life lay in 
 combined resistance. The sepoys, as a body, 
 felt that they would be held answerable for 
 the slaughter at the "bullock-shed," and 
 for atrocities which, there is every reason 
 to believe, were never perpetrated by them ; 
 but which, in the words of an English officer, 
 "were committed by the scum of the earth, 
 that never comes forth but on such occa- 
 sions of murder and rapine, whose existence 
 most people are ignorant of."* 
 
 We know, however, that this scum exists 
 even in England ; the daily police reports 
 give us occasional glimpses of it : those whose 
 professional duties compel them to examine 
 the records of our penal settlements (Nor- 
 folk Island for instance), sec its most hideous 
 aspect ; while others who have witnessed the 
 class which appears with the barricades in 
 Paris, and disappears with them, can easily 
 imagine the bloody vengeance a mass of 
 released convicts would be likely to inflict 
 on their foreign masters. Many of the 
 sepoys, especially of the 3rd cavaliy, would 
 gladly have returned to their allegiance. 
 Captain Craigie received earnest solicitations 
 to this effect from men whom he knew to 
 have been completely carried away by the 
 current ; but it was too late : they were 
 taught to consider their doom sealed ; there 
 was for them no hope of escape, no mitiga- 
 tion of their sentence, the execution of 
 which might tarry, but would never be 
 voluntarily abandoned. A most horrible 
 epoch of crime and suffering, pillage, de- 
 struction, bloodshed and starvation, had 
 commenced for Delhi. The escaped Eu- 
 ropeans shuddered as they thought of the 
 probable fate of those they had left behind : 
 but far more torturing were the apprehen- 
 
 • Diary of an Officer in Calcutta. — Times, August 
 3rcl, 1857. ' 
 
 sions of the natives who had accompanied 
 the flight of their English mistresses and 
 foster-children, not simply at the risk of 
 their lives, but at the cost of forsaking their 
 own husbands and families. So soon as 
 they had seen the Europeans in safet_v, their 
 natural yearnings became irresistible, and 
 they persisted in returning to ascertain the 
 fate of their relatives. A lady who arrived 
 at Meerut on the evening of the 12th of 
 May, with her husband and children, having, 
 she writes, "come the whole distance with 
 our own poor horses, only stopping day or 
 night to bait for an hour or two here and 
 there," and had since learned that her 
 house had been burnt to the ground ; adds — 
 " Of all our poor servants we have not since 
 been able to hear a word ; four came with 
 us ; but of the rest we know nothing ; and I 
 have many fears as to what became of them, 
 as, if all had been right, I feel sure that 
 they would have followed us in some way, 
 several of them having been with us ever 
 since we came out. Our coachman and 
 children's ayah (nurse) set off to Delhi 
 three days ago, dressing themselves as beg- 
 gars, in order to make some inquiries about 
 their families. We begged them not to 
 enter Delhi, and they promised not to do 
 so. Should they do so they will be almost 
 sure to be killed ; they will return to us in 
 a few days we hope."t 
 
 This melancholy chapter can hardly have 
 a more soothing conclusion. The writer 
 depicts herself lodged in the artillery school 
 at Meerut, in a " centre strip" of a large 
 arched building partitioned off with mat- 
 ting. It is night — her husband and chil- 
 dren are in their beds, and the rain is pour- 
 ing down "in plenty of places; but that 
 is nothing." Afraid of being late for the 
 post the next day, she sits writing to Eng- 
 land ; and it is after mentioning very briefly 
 that she and her husband have " lost every- 
 thing they had," that she expresses, at much 
 greater length, her solicitude for the lives of 
 her faithful household. The host of admi- 
 rable letters written for home circles, but 
 generously published to gratify the earnest 
 longing of the British nation for Indian 
 intelligence, do not furnish a more charm- 
 ing picture of the quiet courage and cheer- 
 fulness, under circumstances of peril and 
 privation, which we proudly believe to cha- 
 racterise our countrywomen, than the one 
 thus unconsciously afforded. 
 
 t Letter from the wife of a Delhi officer. — Tiutfs 
 September 3rd, 1807.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 UMBALLAK— KURNAUL— MEERUT— FEROZPOOR.— MAY, 1857. 
 
 UuBAtLAB is a military station, fifty- five 
 miles north of Kurnaul, 120 miles N.N.W. 
 of Delhi, and 1,020 N.W. of Calcutta. The 
 district known by this name was formerly 
 in the possession of a Seik sirdar, but " has 
 escheated to the East India Company in 
 default of rightful heirs."* The large 
 •walled town of Umballah has a fort, under 
 the walls of which lies the encamping-ground 
 of the British troops. The actual force sta- 
 tioned here at the time of the outbreak, 
 was as follows : — 
 
 Two troops of artillery. Europeans — 12 commis- 
 sioned officers, 19 sergeants, 207 rank and file. 
 Native — 2 havildars, 54 rank and file, and 15 sick 
 of all ranks. 
 
 One regiment of H.M.'s dragoons, 9th lancers. 
 Europeant — 24 commissioned officers, 48 sergeants, 
 563 rank and file ; 27 sick of all ranks. 
 
 One regiment of Native light cavalry. Europeans 
 — 14 commissioned officers, 2 sergeants. Native — 
 11 commissioned officers, 25 havildars, 421 rank and 
 file ; 20 sick of all ranks. 
 
 The 6th and 60th regiments of Native infantry. 
 29 commissioned officers, 4 sergeants. Native — 
 40 commissioned officers, 117 havildars, 2,116 rank 
 and file J 43 sick of all ranks. Detachment of 
 irregular cavalry. [No European officer.] Native 
 — 3 commissioned officers, 1 havildar, and 89 rank 
 and file.t 
 
 Thus, at Umballah, there were, exclusive 
 of the sick, about 2,290 Europeans to 2,819 
 Natives. Here, as at Meerut, the strength 
 of the Europeans appears to have rendered 
 them indiflFerent to the mutinous feeling 
 exhibited in the conflagrations already 
 noticed as occurring in March, April, and 
 the opening days of May, 1857. The cause 
 of the disaffection was notorious, and was 
 nowhere more clearly evidenced than in the 
 immediate circle of the commander-in-chief. 
 The circumstances have not been made 
 public; and, as they are of importance, 
 they are given here in the words in which 
 they were communicated to the author. 
 
 " In the commencement of 1857, each regi- 
 ment of Native infantry received instruc- 
 tions to detach one smart officer, and a 
 party of sepoys, to the school of instruction, 
 for practice in the use of the Enfield rifle. 
 
 " The 36th Native infantry, at the time of 
 
 • Thornton's Gazetteer; and Prinsep's Zi/e of Run- 
 jeet Sing, p. 215. 
 
 the issue of these instructions, composed 
 part of the escort of the commanaer-in- 
 chief. The quota furnished by this corps 
 left General Anson's camp at Agra for the 
 school of musketry at Umballah, commanded 
 by a promising young oflScer, Lieutenant 
 A. W. Craigie, since dead of wounds re- 
 ceived in the encounter with the Joudpoor 
 legion. The commander-in-chief coutinued 
 his tour of inspection, and, after passing 
 through Bareilly, arrived at Umballah in 
 March. The detachment of the 36th came 
 out to meet their regiment on its marching 
 into the station ; but were repulsed by their 
 comrades, and by the Native officers of their 
 regiment, and declared 'Hookah panee 
 bund' (excommunicated), in consequence of 
 their having lost caste by the use of the 
 polluted cartridges at the school. The men 
 explained to their regiment that there was 
 nothing polluting in the cartridges, and 
 nothing which any Hindoo or Mussulman 
 could object to. The regiment was deaf to 
 their explanations, and treated them as 
 outcasts. The unhappy men then repaired 
 to their officer. Lieutenant Craigie, and 
 informed him of the fact. Wringing their 
 hands, and with tears in their eyes, they 
 described their miserable state. They said 
 that they were convinced of the purity of 
 the cartridges, but that they were ruiued 
 for ever, as their families would refuse to 
 receive them after what had happened in 
 the regiment. 
 
 " The circumstances were brought to the 
 notice of the officers commanding the depot, 
 who communicated with the officer com- 
 manding the 36th Native infantry. This 
 officer, assembling the Native officers, stated 
 to them the facts, as reported to him, and 
 censured them severely for permitting such 
 unwarrantable treatment to the men. The 
 Native officers replied, that there was no sub- 
 stance in the complaint, and that the re- 
 fusal to eat, or smoke the hookah, with the 
 men of the depot, bad been simply a jest I 
 Here, unfortunately, the matter was per- 
 mitted to rest ; and such was the prevailing 
 conviction in the minds of the natives oa 
 
 t Pari. Papers (Commons), 9th February, 1858 ; 
 pp. 4, 5.
 
 OUTBREAK OF MUTINY AT UMBALLAH— MAY 10th, 1857. 177 
 
 this question, that the unhappy detachment 
 of the 36th Native infantry attending the 
 school, were never acknowledged again by 
 the regiment." 
 
 It was after this memorable warning, and 
 in defiance of increasing incendiarism, that 
 General Anson persisted in enforcing the 
 use of the obnoxious cartridges. In fact, 
 he fairly launched the sepoys on the stream 
 of mutiny, and left them to drift on towards 
 the engulphing vortex at their own time 
 and discretion, while he went off "on a 
 shooting excursion among the hills,"* no 
 one knew exactly where; nor was the 
 point of much importance until it became 
 necessary to acquaint him of the massacres 
 of Meerut and Delhi, and of the rapidity 
 with which the Bengal army " was relieving 
 itself of the benefit of his command."t 
 
 It appears that the Umballah regiments 
 were with difficulty restrained from follow- 
 ing out the course taken at Meerut. No 
 official account has been published of the 
 Umballah emeute ; but private letters show 
 that the authorities acted with consider- 
 able energy and discretion. An officer of 
 the Lancers, writing on the 14th, gives the 
 following description of the scenes in which 
 he took part. 
 
 " Last Sunday, after we had returned from church 
 and just finished our breakfast, at about 10 A.M., 
 the alarm sounded for the regiment to turn out. 
 The men were lying in the barracks undressed, and 
 most of them asleep; but in an almost incredibly 
 short time they were all on parade, mounted, and 
 fully equipped ; the artillery were ready nearly as 
 soon. When on the parade-ground, we found that 
 the 60th Native infantry had mutinied, and turned 
 out with their arms ; but we could not go down, 
 because they had their officers prisoners, and threat- 
 ened to shoot them if we came down ; but that if 
 we did not they would return quietly. If our men 
 had had the chance to go in at them, they would 
 have made short work of them, they are so enraged 
 at having had so much night-work lately, in con- 
 sequence of the fires, which are all attributed to the 
 sepoys. They (i.e., our men) only get about two 
 rights a-week in bed. At twelve o'clock (noon) 
 we were turned out again in consequence of the 
 6th Native infantry having turned out; but we 
 were again disappointed. They appeared to think 
 us too attentive, and returned to their barracks. 
 For the last two nights the wives of married officers 
 are sent down to the canteen for better security. 
 An officer remains at the Mainguard all night, and 
 an artillery officer with the guns, which are loaded ; 
 and ammunition is served out every hour. Two 
 patrols go out every hour ; and all is alert. Yester- 
 day (May 13th), three companies of the 75th (H.M.) 
 inarched up from Kussowlce. They started at noon 
 
 • Mead's Sepoy Revolt, p. 73. 
 t The Bengal Mutiny. Blackwood's Edinburgh 
 Magazine, 1858 ; p. 387. 
 
 X Times, September 18th, 1857. 
 VOL. II. a A 
 
 on Tuesday, and arrived at about 2 p.m. on 
 Wednesday. The distance is forty-eight miles — a 
 wonderful march under an Indian sun, when the 
 thermometer was 92° to 94° in the shade : there was 
 not a single straggler." 
 
 A young civilian, attached to the Punjab 
 district, who also witnessed the incipient 
 mutiny at Umballah, and claims to have 
 been the first to convey the tidings of the 
 general revolt to the commander-in-chief, 
 thua narrates what he saw and did : — 
 
 "On Monday we received the painful news of 
 what was going on at Delhi. It was heartrending 
 to know that our countrymen and countrywomen 
 were actually being murdered at the very moment 
 we received the intelligence. The news came in by 
 electric telegraph. • • • Towards afternoon we 
 received another message, mentioning the names of 
 some of the unfortunates. 
 
 " On Tuesday came the news from Meerut, which 
 took longer in coming, as it had to come by post 
 instead of telegraph. But it was not a quiet night 
 that we passed at Umballah. We had intelligence, 
 which, thank God, turned out to be false, that on 
 this night all the natives were to rise. Though 
 three miles from cantonments, we were best off at 
 the civil lines, as we had only our treasury guard of 
 about fifty men of the 5th Native infantry to dread, 
 while we had 200 faithful Sikhs to back us up. We 
 patrolled the city all night, and the people in the 
 cantonments kept a sharp look-out. AH was quiet. 
 But it seemed to us, in our excitement, a quiet of ill 
 omen. 
 
 " On Monday, the commander-in-chief, who was 
 up at Simla, about ninety miles from; Umballah, 
 was written to, to send down troops at once from 
 the hills, where three regiments of Europeans are 
 stationed. 
 
 " On Tuesday, the first of the Delhi fugitives 
 came creeping in ; and on Wednesday evening there 
 came a letter from a small band of miserables, who 
 were collected at Kurnaul (eighty miles from Delhi, 
 whence they had escaped), asking for aid. This 
 letter, and another calling for immediate assistance 
 in Europeans, I volunteered to take up to the com- 
 mander-in-chief at Simla, and, after a hot ride 
 through the heat of the day, and the best part of 
 the night, I reached the commander-in-chief at 
 about half-past four in the morning of Thursday. 
 I turned him out of bed ; they held a council of war, 
 and at half-past ten, we were all riding back again. 
 On reaching the foot of the hills, I was knocked 
 up — the sun, and want of sleep for two nights, added 
 to a ride of 130 miles, having been too much for me. 
 By this time the last European had left the hills, 
 and on Sunday morning all were cantoned in 
 Umballah. I reached Umballah myself on Satur- 
 day."t 
 
 The first telegram referred to in the 
 above letter, has been given in the preceding 
 chapter ; the second is undated, and appears 
 to have been sent by the members of the 
 telegraph establishment on their private 
 responsibility, just before taking flight. 
 Secand {or third) Telegram/fom Delhi (May 1 Ith). 
 "We must leave office. All the bungalows are
 
 178 
 
 GENERAL ANSON'S RECANTATION— MAY 14th, 1857. 
 
 burning down by the sepoys from Meerut. They 
 
 came in this morning — we are off — dont 
 
 "To-d^.v Mr. C. Todd is dead, I think. He 
 went out this morning, and has not returned yet. 
 We heard that nine Europeans were killed. Good- 
 bye." 
 
 This intelligence was promptly conveyed 
 from the Umballah ofiBce to the neighbour- 
 ing station at Dehra, and was sent on from 
 thence by Major-general Sir Henry Bar- 
 nard, the oflBcer in command of the Sirhind 
 division, to the adjutant-general at Simla, 
 with the following comment thereon : — 
 
 " As Delhi has a large magazine, and only 
 Native troops in cantonments there, the in- 
 telligence may be of importance. * * * 
 Philloor, also, with a large magazine, has 
 only Native troops, who have been in a state 
 of disorganisation. As it is possible this 
 may be a combined movement, I have sent 
 private despatches to the officers in com- 
 mand in the hills, to hold their men ready 
 (quietly) to move at the shortest notice. I 
 have also sent on to Jullundur and Philloor; 
 and should the officer in command at Phil- 
 loor be under any apprehension, I have 
 authorised him to apply to Jullundur by 
 telegraph for assistance. * * * It may 
 be possible that the message is greatly ex- 
 aggerated ; but coming at the present crisis, 
 and from the authority of Europeans at- 
 tached to the telegraph, I have deemed 
 precaution desirable, and that his excel- 
 lency should be made acquainted with the 
 circumstances without delay. I send by 
 my aide-de-camp, Captain Barnard."* 
 
 Whether Captain Barnard or the young 
 civilian had the honour of first communi- 
 cating the above intelligence to General 
 Anson, does not appear ; but the adjutant- 
 general (Colonel Chester), on the 14th of 
 May, forwarded it to the secretary to the 
 government at Calcutta, with a very brief 
 notice of the state of affairs at Umballah, 
 and the measures initiated by the com- 
 mander-in-chief. 
 
 After recapitulating the Meerut and 
 Delhi intelligence, Colonel Chester adds — 
 
 " Circumstances have also taken place at Umbal- 
 lah which render it impossible to rely on the perfect 
 fidelity of the 5th and 60th regiments of N. I. His 
 excellency, therefore, has made the following ar- 
 rangements to meet the existing state of affairs :— 
 
 " The 75th foot marched yesterday from Kus- 
 Bowlee for Umballah, which place they will reach 
 
 • Further Papers on the Mutiny (No. 3), p. 6. 
 
 t Ihid., p. 5. 
 
 X Mead's Sepoy Revolt, p. 73. This assertion is 
 panially corroboiattil by a telegram dated " Cal. 
 cutta, May 26tl;, 1807," in which the Supreme gov. 
 
 to-morrow morning. The 1st European fusiliers 
 from Dugshaie have been ordered to follow the 
 75th foot with all practicable expedition. The 2nd 
 European fusiliers are held in readiness to move at 
 the shortest notice. The Sirmoor battalion has been 
 ordered from Dehra to Meerut. Two companies 
 of the 8th foot from Jullundur have been ordered to 
 proceed from Lahore to Govindghur. The officer 
 commanding at Ferozepoor has been ordered to 
 place a detachment of European troops in charge of 
 the magazine. 
 
 " General Anson, I am to add, is anxiously look- 
 ing for further intelligence, which will enable him 
 to decide on the advisability of his at once moving 
 down to Umballah."t 
 
 The above despatch took a long time in 
 reaching its destination; for it is asserted 
 that, for three weeks after the Meerut 
 mutiny, no direct intelligence of the move- 
 ments of the commander-in-chief was re- 
 ceived at Calcutta. I Before those three 
 weeks had elapsed. General Anson was 
 dead. The interval preceding his demise 
 must have been one of intense mental 
 suffering. His fatal misconception of the 
 temper of the Bengal army, ceased just at 
 the moment when the policy founded on it 
 was in full bearing. Sir John Lawrence,§ 
 and Lieutenant-governor Colvin, addressed 
 such cogent arguments to him on the sub- 
 ject, warding him that the irregulars would 
 foUow the example of the regular corps, 
 that the commander-in-chief followed up 
 the proclamation issued by him on the 
 14th of May (withdrawing the cartridges), 
 with another and far stronger one; in 
 which, after expressing his hope that the 
 former order would have calmed the pre- 
 vailing excitement, he confesses his mis- 
 take. The general order of the 19th con- 
 tains the following singular admissions : — 
 
 " He [General Anson] still perceives 
 that the very name of the new carti-idges 
 causes agitation; and he has been in- 
 formed, that some of those sepoys who 
 entertain the strongest attachment and 
 loyalty to government, and are ready at 
 any moment to obey its orders, would still 
 be apprehensive that their families would 
 not believe that they were not in some way 
 or other contaminated by its use. * * * 
 His excellency, therefore, has determined 
 that the new cartridge shall be discon- 
 tinued. He announces this to the Native 
 army, in the full confidence that all will 
 
 erniiient asks, whether, " notwithstanding the failure 
 of the dawk and telegraph, some means might not be 
 devised of communicating with the commander-in- 
 chief." — Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 320. 
 § Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 373.
 
 GENERAL ANSON DIES AT KURNAUL— MAY 27th, 1857. 
 
 179 
 
 now perform their duty free from anxiety 
 and care, and be prepared to stand and 
 shed the last drop of their blood, as they 
 have formerly done, by the side of the 
 British troops, and in defence of their 
 country." 
 
 This climax is simply absurd : the con- 
 test now unhappily commenced had none 
 of the elements of defensive warfare in 
 it, but involved the most revolting attri- 
 butes of civil strife. Mohammedans and 
 Hindoos, if true to their salt, were called 
 on to fight, in support of Christian supre- 
 macy, against their co-religionists — it might 
 be, against their own relatives. The gen- 
 eral order, however, need not be discussed : 
 before it could be promulgated, the process 
 of dissolution of the Bengal army was well- 
 nigh complete — the vitality, the coherence, 
 quite extinct. 
 
 General Anson, grievously as he had 
 erred, was both brave and energetic. His 
 energy and his ignorance, together with his 
 utter inexperience in military life, had com- 
 bined in producing the present state of 
 affairs. His fatal innovations were such 
 as Generals Hewitt and Wilson would 
 not have attempted ; but had he been at 
 Meerut on the 10th, the mutineers would 
 probably never have reached Delhi : as it 
 was, he no sooner learned the fate of the 
 city, than he earnestly desired -to press for- 
 ward for its immediate recapture. He 
 reached Umballah on the 15th of May. A 
 council of war was held, composed of five 
 members, none of whom lived to see the 
 capture of Delhi. Generals Anson and 
 Barnard, Brigadier Halifax, and Colonel 
 Mowatt, died of cholera ; Colonel Chester, 
 the adjutant, was killed in action. Anson 
 proposed to march on to Delhi at once, 
 without waiting for reinforcements. " The 
 guns might follow, he thought ; but it was 
 pointed out to him that there was no com- 
 missariat, no camels, not a day's allowance 
 of provisions for troops in the field ;" and, 
 i to crown the whole, not a single medicine- 
 chest available. 
 
 " We cannot move at present," General 
 Anson himself says, in an undated tele- 
 gram addressed to the governor-general, 
 
 * Neither the date of the despatch nor of the 
 receipt of this telegram is given in the Appendix to 
 Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 3"'\ 
 
 t Despatch to Major-general Hewitt.— Further 
 Papers (No. 3), pp. 19, 20. 
 
 I Times, 25th September, 1857. It is worthy of 
 remark, that on the 26th ult., the day previous to 
 General Anson's death, and again on the following 
 
 " for want of tents and carriage ; it would 
 destroy Europeans to march without both, 
 and we have no men to spare. I see the 
 risk of going to Delhi with such small 
 means as we have — perhaps 2,500 Euro- 
 peans ; for should they suffer any loss, it 
 would be serious, having nothing more to 
 depend upon in the North- West Provinces ; 
 but it must be done."* 
 
 On the 23rd, he writes from Umballah, 
 that he proposes advancing towards Delhi 
 from Kurnaul on the 1st of June, and hopes 
 to be joined by reinforcements (including 
 120 artillerymen, to work the small siege- 
 train already on the road from Loodiana) 
 from Meerut, under General Hewitt, at 
 Bhagput on the 5th. He adds — " It is 
 reported here that a detachment of the 
 mutineers, with two guns, are posted on 
 the Meerut side of the river. They should 
 be captured, and no mercy must be shown 
 to the mutineers."t 
 
 At half-past two on the morning of the 
 27th, General Anson died of cholera at 
 Kurnaul, J a few hours after his first 
 seizure, and was buried that same evening 
 at sunset. One of the Delhi fugitives who 
 was at Kurnaul at the time, says, " I do 
 not know why it was, but he was laid 
 in his grave without a military honoiu-." 
 Lieutenant-governor Colvin, in the telegram 
 reporting this intelligence to the Supreme 
 government, mentions that a copy of the 
 order withdrawing all new cartridges came 
 by the same express. Mr. Colvin adds — 
 " The issue of an immediate nomination to 
 the command-in-chief of the army proceed- 
 ing fast on Delhi, under General Anson's 
 orders, is solicited. Indian ability and ex- 
 perience will be very valuable; but time is 
 before all ; every hour is precious."§ 
 
 The government announcement of the 
 death of the commander-in-chief, declares 
 that, " in General Anson, the army has lost 
 a commander than whom none was ever more 
 earnest and indefatigable in labouring to 
 improve the condition, extend the comforts, 
 and increase the efiiciency of every branch 
 of the service committed to his charge." || 
 
 An official notice of the death of a leading 
 personage generally follows the ride of 
 
 day, when the event took place, there was a report 
 in the bazaars here that the general had died either 
 by assassination or a stroke of the sun, according to 
 different accounts. The notion had taken a strong 
 hold of the natives, and was generally entertained by 
 them. — Bengal Ilurkaru, June 5th. 
 
 § Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 363. 
 
 II Gen. Order, 6th June, 1857. — London Gazette.
 
 18u 
 
 ANTECEDENTS OP GENERAL ANSON. 
 
 tombstone inscriptious, and describes " not 
 what he was, but what he should have been." 
 Yet the praise, so far as tlie European 
 branch of the service is concerned, was pi-o- 
 bably not undeserved ; for, in reviewing the 
 various regiments, he is described by the 
 officers as having been keenly alive to their 
 discipline; and even as giving the example 
 of diligent application to the study of native 
 languages — a mark of no small energy in a 
 man who was some fifty-five years of age 
 when he first set foot in India. Whatever 
 progress he made in the native languages, it 
 is certain he manifested a most lamentable 
 ignorance of the native character ; and there 
 were probably few men in India in May, 
 1857, who, however well they individually 
 liked the commander-in-chief, did not agree 
 with Major-general Tucker, that " both the 
 results of his (General Anson's) command 
 and his antecedents, are in proof that a vast 
 weight of responsibility rests upon those 
 who appointed to this important command 
 a general so utterly inexperienced in practi- 
 cal military affairs. * * * I venture 
 to say," Major-general Tucker adds, " it 
 will be found, on inquiry, that he was quite 
 unequal to the occasion ; and painful as it 
 is to point to the weakness of one who 
 was talented, amiable, and gentlemanly, it 
 is yet due to the country, and to those 
 whose sons and daughters, and kith and 
 kin, are being sacrificed in India, to expose 
 the favouritism which in high places has led 
 to many such appointments."* 
 
 Major-general Tucker writes, it must be 
 recollected, as one whose past position under 
 General Anson, as adjutant-general, entitles 
 his opinion to consideration. The Indian 
 correspondence of the period confirms his 
 observations; but gives further, and certainly 
 exaggerated, views of the late commander-in- 
 chief's notorious unfitness. One writer, 
 apparently an Indian official of a certain 
 rank, asserts — " General Anson's death 
 saved him from assassination. He was 
 hated by the troops, and they burnt his 
 tents. He was quite unfitted for his post. 
 Horses and gaming appear to have been 
 his pursuits ; and, as a gentleman said, ' No 
 court pet flunky ought to come to India.' 
 Every one gave a sigh of relief when they 
 heard he was gone. Pat Grant is come 
 over from Madras, to head the army till 
 orders come from England. Henry Law- 
 rence (also a brigadier-general) has been 
 
 * Letter of Major-general Tucker to the editor of 
 the Times, July 19th, 1857. 
 
 named for the appointment, but he cannot 
 be spared from Oude."t 
 
 The term "court pet flunky" is not 
 fairly applicable to the officer in question; 
 but it is quoted here because expressions 
 such as these, emanating from one of the 
 masters of India, exercise an influence in the 
 native mind, the effect of which can hardly 
 be over-estimated. Englishmen at the din- 
 ner-table are not famed for diplomatic re- 
 serve: it follows that, through the servants in 
 attendance (as well as in many other ways), 
 the quick-witted natives are enabled to form 
 a pretty clear notion of the views of the 
 sahi// logne (literally master-people) regard- 
 ing their chief functionaries. Thus we 
 know, on the authority of Mr. Raikes, that 
 in February, 1857, a native journal had the 
 audacity to declare — "Now is the time for 
 India to rise, with a governor-general who 
 has liad no experience of public affairs in 
 this country, and a commauder-in-chirf who 
 has had no experience of war in any 
 country."! 
 
 This is nearly correct. General Anson 
 (son of the first Viscount Anson, and brother 
 of the first Earl of Lichfield) had been a 
 commissioned officer in the 3rd or Scots 
 fusilier guards, with which regiment he 
 served at the battle of Waterloo, in the 
 baggage guard, beiug then eighteen years of 
 age. Ten years later he was placed on half 
 pay as a lieutenant-colonel by brevet. 
 
 The Times describes his election to parlia- 
 ment, as member for Great Yarmouth, in 
 1818, and his acceptance of the Chiltern 
 Hundreds in 1853, on his departure for 
 Madras. The local rank of general was 
 conferred on him in 1855 ; and in December, 
 1856, he was nominated to the colonelcy of 
 the 55th regiment of foot. His occupation 
 as Clerk of the Ordnance (from 184^ to 
 1852) has been already adverted to ; and he 
 had previously filled the office of principal 
 Storekeeper of the Ordnance, under the 
 administration of Viscount Melbourne. 
 " He was by hereditai-y descent, and by 
 personal conviction, a liberal in politics, 
 and invariably sided with the whig leaders." 
 This sentence probably explains why her 
 majesty's ministers considered Colonel 
 Anson eligible for one of the most lucrative 
 appointments in their gift, despite the mani- 
 fest impropriety of confiding the charge of 
 a large army to an officer who had never 
 commanded a regiment ; and the conclud- 
 
 •)■ Daily News, August 5th, 1857. 
 \ Raikes, p. 173.
 
 INCOMPETENCY OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, 
 
 181 
 
 ing statement of the obituary, that Colonel 
 Anson " was a zealous patron of tlie turf,"* 
 shows why the far-away appointment was 
 eligible to a most popular man about 
 town. Only, had Sir Charles Napier's 
 words been deemed worth attention, the 
 government would have felt that a character 
 of an altogether diflFerent type was needed 
 to influence, by precept and example, Euro- 
 pean officers in India, where gentlemanly 
 vices (and especially gaming, and the plea- 
 sures of the table) are peculiarly seductive, 
 as enlivening the monotony of military 
 routine, in a most enervating climate, during 
 a period of profound peace. As to the 
 Native army, it is the less to be wondered 
 at that utter inexperience was not deemed 
 a disqualification for its command ; because 
 the authorities, if they thought of it at all, 
 viewed it as a huge, clumsy, old-fashioned, 
 but very safe machine, not quite fitted 
 for the requirements of the times, but alto- 
 gether too great an afiair to be meddled 
 with by persons entrusted with political 
 powers of certainly very precarious, and 
 possibly ephemeral, existence. 
 
 So the army was supplemented with 
 " irregular" corps, which in many points re- 
 sembled what the old regiments had been in, 
 and long after, the days of Clive. These addi- 
 tions complicated the working of the original 
 machine, the constructors of which had long 
 ago died, and, it would seem, their plans 
 with them ; for when the whole concern was 
 suddenly found to be dropping in pieces, the 
 chief engineer proved utterly incapable of 
 pointing out, much less of counteracting, 
 the cause of the mischief. 
 
 The Friend of India, the best known 
 of Indian journals, in a leader published on 
 
 • Times, July 14th, 1857. 
 
 t In the year 1857, the Times, in alluding to the 
 manner in which this sum had been diverted from 
 its original destination, remarked — " We should be 
 glad if the vidows and families of those persons 
 who have distinguished themselves in war, in diplo- 
 macy, or in administration, could be provided for 
 from some other fund ; for certainly the sum of 
 £1,200 a-year is no great amount for such a coun- 
 try as England to expend upon the relief of science 
 and literature in distress." To the widow of Mr. 
 Gilbert A'Beckett a pension of £100 per annum 
 was allotted, " in consideration of the literary merits 
 of her husband, also of the eminent public services 
 rendered by him in his capacity of a police magis- 
 trate in the metropolis, and of the destitute circum- 
 stances in which his widow and their children 
 are now placed." — (Times, July 9th, 1857). In this 
 case, it would appear that a conjunction of reasons 
 are deemed necessary to justify the pension of a 
 single hundred a-year to the widow of a distin- 
 guished litterateur. A pension of £70 to the widow 
 
 the 14th of May, 1857 (while General 
 Anson was yet alive), says — 
 
 " An army has often been likened to a machine ; and ■ 
 we wish the comparison were thoroughly accepted. 
 When your engine goes wrong, it is found needful 
 to have at hand a man who understands every portion 
 of it. Being able to place his hand on the defective 
 spot, he knows exactly what is required in the way of 
 reparation, and how to set about the work. But we 
 never, except by chance, have a capable engineer 
 in the person of the exalted official who has to 
 guide the vast and powerful mechanism that holds 
 the soil and collects the revenues of India. It is 
 hard to divine in most cases the cause of his appoint- 
 ment — harder still to justify the fact of it. It is a 
 miserable thing to say that the state gains by the 
 idleness of a commander-in-chief; and yet, in most 
 cases, all ranks of the community would join in 
 wishing that he would fold his bands, and only open 
 them to clutch what ought to be the recompense of 
 zeal, intellect, and energy." 
 
 It is asserted, that immediately before 
 his seizure. General Anson, finding that his 
 utter inexperience in warfare disqualified 
 him for conducting the attack on Delhi, had 
 formally communicated to General Barnard, 
 through the adjutant-general, the intention 
 to resign the command of the army. 
 
 One other circumstance remains to be 
 noticed, in illustration of the ill-advised 
 "favouritism" which Major-general Tucker 
 denounces as exercising so baneful an influ- 
 ence in India. About the same time, when 
 the " good-service pension" of £100 a-year 
 was meted out to the gallant Havelock, 
 an intimation appeared that the widow of 
 General Anson had, in additioB to the pen- 
 sion on account of her late husband's rank 
 in the service, been granted a stipend of 
 £200 a-year out of the annual sum of £1,200 
 granted by parliament, and known as the 
 " Literary Fund."t 
 
 of Hugh Millar, is likewise accorded on the double 
 ground of his eminent literary services and her 
 poverty. In 1858, a pension of £100 per annum was 
 allotted from the same fund to the widow of Douglas 
 Jerrold ; £60 per annum to each of the two Miss Lan- 
 ders,"in consideration of the eminent services of their 
 father, the late Mr. John Lander, who died from the 
 effects of the climate while exploring the river Niger, 
 and of the straitened circumstances in which they are 
 placed at his decease ;" £40 per annum to the 
 daughter of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd ; and 
 £50 to the aged widow of the late Dr. Dick, the 
 author of the Christian Philosopher and other admi- 
 rable works, " in consideration of the merits of her 
 late husband as a moral and theological writer, and 
 of the straitened circumstances in which she is now 
 placed." Then follows— £200 per annum to the 
 Hon. Isabella Elizabeth Annabella Anson, in con- 
 sideration of the services of her husband, the late 
 General the Hon. George Anson ; and £200 
 per annum to Dame Isabella Letilia Barnard, in 
 consideration of the services of her husband, the
 
 182 
 
 MUTINOUS OUTBREAK AT MEERUT. 
 
 It seems to be an inevitable necessity 
 that, save in some rare cases, the rank of 
 those who serve, rather than the value of 
 the service rendered, is to be the rule of 
 the reward. The East India Company have 
 been accused of carrying this principle to an 
 extreme, by their rigid adherence to the 
 seniority system ; but it would be hard to 
 bring against them any more direct in- 
 stance (so far as the Europeans are con- 
 cerned) of robbing poor Peter to pay rich 
 Paul than that above noticed. 
 
 The Indian crisis, however, for the mo- 
 ment, laid favouritism, patronage, and seni- 
 ority together on the shelf, and the ques- 
 tion was earnestly and eagerly discussed, 
 "Who is the fittest man to command the 
 forces?" The emergency was far greater than 
 that which had previously issued in the 
 sending out of General Napier ; but the 
 result was partially the same ; for as the war 
 was ended before Sir Charles reached the 
 scene sf action, so, in 1857, the news of the 
 recapture of Delhi greeted Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell on his arrival at Calcutta. The predic- 
 tion of Lieutenant-governor Colvin had, in 
 fact, been fulfilled — " Johu Lawrence and 
 his Sikhs had saved India."* 
 
 Pending the decision of the Calcutta gov- 
 ernment regarding the vacant position of 
 commander-iu-chief, the command devolved 
 on Major-general Barnard, who was himself 
 summoned, by a telegraph, from a sick bed 
 to receive the last instructions of General 
 Anson regarding the intended march on 
 Delhi. New delays are said to have arisen, 
 in consequence of the detention of Brigadier 
 Archdale Wilson, and the reinforcements 
 expected from Meerut, by the orders of Mr. 
 Greathed ; so that General Barnard, disap- 
 pointed of the artillery and gunners which 
 were to have joined the Delhi column ac- 
 cording to General Anson's arrangements, 
 was compelled to send elephants to Meerut 
 to bring on the troops from thence.f The 
 authorities at that unfortunate cantonment 
 had not yet recovered from the paralytic 
 panic which had seized them on the 10th. 
 In fact, they had had a new shock; for a fresh 
 mutiny had broken out among a body of 600 
 Native sappers and miners,who had beensent 
 
 late Major-general Sir H. W. Barnard, K.C.B. 
 {Timet, July 28th, 1858). In the two last-named 
 cases, the allusion to " straitened circumstances" is 
 omitted. Yet it is the only conceivable excuse 
 for placing these two ladies on the Literary Fund. 
 In the case of Mrs. Dick and others, it would 
 surely have been more gracious to have accorded 
 their slender pittances as a token of public respect 
 
 in from Roorkee to repair and strengthen 
 the Meerut station. They arrived on the 
 15th of May. On the 16th about 400 of 
 them rose in a body, and after murdering 
 their commandant (Captain Eraser), they 
 made off towards Delhi, but being pursued by 
 two squadrons of the carabineers, were over- 
 taken about six miles off, and forty-seven of 
 them slain. "Hie remainder continued their 
 flight. One of the carabineers was killed, 
 and two or three wounded, including Colonel 
 Hogge, an active and energetic officer, who 
 led the pursuit, and received a ball in his 
 thigh, which unfortunately laid him up at a 
 time when his services could be ill-spared. 
 The remaining two companies were disarmed, 
 and continued perfectly quiet. 
 
 Two days later, a sapper detachment, 
 about 300 strong, mutinied at Roorkee. A 
 company had been detached to join the 
 commander-in-chiefs column, and had got 
 half-way to Seharunpore, when tidings 
 reached it of the collision at Meerut, in 
 which Captain Eraser lost his life. It would 
 advance no farther, but marched back to 
 the cantonment at Roorkee, bringing the 
 European officers, and treating them per- 
 sonally with respect. When the men re- 
 turned. Lieutenants Drummond, Bingham, 
 and Fulford, had already left cantonments 
 at the earnest request of the Native officers, 
 and had been escorted to the college by 
 them ; and a body of old sepoys resolutely 
 resisted the attempts of a small party among 
 the men, who urged the massacre of the 
 Europeans. J 
 
 On the 13th, intelligence reached Meerut 
 that Sirdhana, formerly the chief place of 
 the Begum Sumroo's jaghire, had been de- 
 vastated by the villagers, and that the nuns 
 and children of the convent there were 
 actually in a state of siege. The postmaster 
 at Meerut, having female relations at Sird- 
 hana, asked for a small escort to go to their 
 relief. The authorities replied, that not a 
 single European soldier could be spared 
 from the station, but that four Native 
 troopers would be allowed to accompany 
 him. Even these he could nc-., get; but he 
 armed three or four of his office people, 
 started off at half-past four on the Thtirsday 
 
 to the merits of the departed, and not as a charitable 
 dole, their claim to which needed to be eked out by 
 poverty. 
 
 * Raikes' Revolt in the N. W. Provinces. 
 
 t See Memoir of General Barnaris Services .-"by 
 a near connexion. — Times, December 25th, 1857. 
 
 X Bombay correspondent : Daily News, July 15th, 
 1857.
 
 OUTBREAK OF THE MUTINY AT FEROZPOOR. 
 
 183 
 
 evening, and returned a little after seven, 
 with five females and girls. The nuns 
 would not abandon the children, but had 
 entreated him to try and send them some 
 help. The Rev. Mr. Smythe, who was at 
 Meerut at the time, says — " The postmaster 
 tried all he could to get a guard to escort 
 them to this station, but did not succeed ; 
 and yesterday morning (the 15th), having 
 given up the idea of procuring a guard from 
 the military authorities, he went round, and 
 by speaking to some gentlemen, got about 
 fifteen persons to volunteer their services to 
 go and rescue the poor nuns and children 
 from Sirdhana; and, I am happy to say, they 
 succeeded in their charitable errand without 
 any one having been injured."* 
 
 The authorities subsequently took care to 
 publish the rescue of the defenceless women 
 and children, but were discreetly silent 
 as to the individual gallantry by which it 
 had been accomplished. Neither did they 
 mention \n ofier made, according to the 
 Rev. Mr. Rotton, on the evening of the 
 mutiny, by an o£6cer of the carabineers, 
 to pursue the fugitives, but " declined by the 
 general commanding the Meerut division-^t 
 
 Mr. Raikes also, in describing the course 
 of events at Agra, records " the indignation 
 with which, on Thursday evening, we learned 
 that the mutineers, after firing the station, 
 murdering our countrymen, women, and 
 children, and breaking the gaol, had been 
 permitted to retire quietly on Delhi, taking 
 their barbers, water-carriers, bag and bag- 
 gage, just as if they had been on an ordinary 
 march :" and adds, " I now know that Major 
 Rosser, of H.M.'s 6th carabineers, asked 
 permission to follow them with cavalry and 
 guns. If he had been allowed to do so, it 
 is quite possible, and indeed probable, that 
 the mutiny, for the present at least, might 
 have been crushed. "f The Calcutta govern- 
 ment were not insensible of the supineness 
 indulged in at Meerut; for the governor- 
 
 • Letters of Rev. Mr. Smythe, dated 16th and 
 17th May, 1857. 
 
 t The Chaplain's Narrative of the Siege of Delhi, 
 p. 7. Mr. Rotton (whose book is far more moderate 
 in tone than might have been expected from the ex- 
 tract from his sermon given in Colonel Smythe's Nar- 
 rative, and quoted at p. 154) says, that "in truth, 
 our military authorities were paralysed. No one 
 knew what was best to do, and nothing accordingly 
 was done. The rebels had it all their own way." 
 Mr Rotton also adverts to the " one thing which 
 impressed every one— the delay in leading the troops 
 from the grand parade-ground to the scene of mutiny 
 and bloodshed. The native soldiery, and the fellows 
 of baser sort in the bazaars, had amplo time to corn- 
 
 general in council, in a telegram dated June 
 1st, 1857, entreated Mr. Colvin to endeavour 
 " to keep up communication with the south;" 
 adding, " this, like everything else, has been 
 culpably neglected at Meerut."§ 
 
 Ferozpoor. — The next outbreak after that 
 at Delhi, occurred at Ferozpoor, an im- 
 portant city, which long formed our fron- 
 tier station in the north-west, and which, 
 in May, 1857, contained an intrenched 
 magazine of the largest class, filled with 
 military stores scarcely inferior in amount 
 to those in the arsenal of Fort William. 
 Ferozpoor commands one high road from 
 Lahore to Delhi, as Umritsir does the other. 
 
 The troops stationed there consisted of 
 H.M.'s 61st foot, about 1,000 strong; two 
 companies of artillery, composed of a nearly 
 equal number of European Sj about 300 in 
 all ; the 10th Native light cavalry, under 
 500 men; and the 45th and 57th Native 
 infantry. Brigadier Innes|| assumed the 
 command at Ferozpoor on the 11th of 
 May; on the 12th, he learned the events 
 which had occurred at Meerut ; and, on the 
 following morning, he ordered a general 
 parade, with the view of ascertaining the 
 temper of the troops ; which, on reviewing 
 them, he thought "haughty." At noon, 
 information arrived of the occupation of 
 Delhi (seventy-three miles distant) by the 
 rebels. The intrenchments were at this 
 time held by a company of the 57th Native 
 infantry ; but a detachment of H.M.'s 61st, 
 under Major Redmond, was immediately 
 dispatched thither. The brigadier likewise 
 resolved " to move the Native troops out of 
 cantonments ;" and the European artillery, 
 with twelve guns, was ordered down, "to 
 overawe or destroy the two Native corps" — 
 that is, of infantry ; the cavalry being con- 
 sidered perfectly reliable, and entrusted with 
 the care of the new arsenal, its magazine, 
 and contents. The preliminary arrange- 
 ments were completed by five o'clock ; and 
 
 mit the greatest outrages in consequence of this 
 simple fact." — (p. 4.) It is, however, alleged that 
 General Hewitt cannot justly be held responsible 
 for this tardiness, because although he was general 
 of the Meerut division. Brigadier Wilson was in 
 command of the station ; and it is urged, that of the 
 proceedings of the latter officer during the memo- 
 rable night of the outbreak, not one word, good, 
 bad, or indifferent, is on record. 
 
 X Revolt in the N. W. Provinces, p. 13. 
 
 § Appendix to Papers on Mutiny, p. 355. 
 
 II Printed " James" in Further Papers on Mutiny 
 (No. 3, p. 8), by one of the unaccountable blunders 
 with which the Indian and Colonial Blue Books 
 abound.
 
 184 
 
 BRIGADIER INNES' CONDUCT AT FEROZPOOR. 
 
 the Native troops being assembled on the 
 parade-ground at that hour, the brigadier 
 formed them up in quarter-distance co- 
 lumns, addressed them, and ordered the two 
 regiments to move ofiF in contrary directions. 
 Both obeyed without hesitation ; but the 
 road the 45th were directed to take to 
 the place where they were to encamp, lay 
 close to the intrenched camp ; on reaching 
 which, the men broke into open mutiny, 
 loaded their muskets, and, heedless of the 
 entreaties of their officers, ran to the north- 
 west bastion of the magazine, and stood 
 still, apparently hesitating what to do 
 next. At this moment, scaling-ladders 
 were thrown out to them by the company 
 of the 57th, who had been left there to 
 avoid raising the suspicions of their com- 
 rades before tde parade. The 45th com- 
 menced climbing the parapet; and some 
 300 of them having succeeded in making 
 their way over, attacked a company of the 
 61st, whicli was hurriedly drawn up to 
 receive them. Major Redmond was wounded 
 in repulsing the mutineers, who made a 
 second attempt ; but, being again defeated, 
 broke up, and dispersed themselves through 
 the bazaars and cantonments. A body of 
 about 150 men continued to obey Colonel 
 Liptrap and their other officers, and en- 
 camped in the place pointed out to them ; 
 the rest were deaf to threats and entreaties. 
 Instead of acting on the oflFensive, and im- 
 mediately following the mutineers. Brigadier 
 Innes, according to his report, assumed an 
 exclusively defensive attitude. He desired 
 the Europeans to leave the cantonments, 
 and come into the barracks; and suffered 
 a portion of H.M.'s 61st to remain in their 
 lines, while the mutineers, having carried 
 their dead to the Mohammedan burying- 
 ground, returned in small bodies to the can- 
 tonments, and burned the church, Roman 
 Cathobc chapel, two vacant hospitals, the 
 mess-house of the 61st, and sixteen bunga- 
 lows. Two merchants (Messrs. Coates and 
 Hughes) positively refused to abandon 
 their houses, and, collecting their servants, 
 successfully defended themselves ; Mr. 
 Hughes' son, a mere boy, shooting one of the 
 assailants. The fact of there being " 20,000 
 barrels of gunpowder in the arsenal"* to 
 care for, is alleged in excuse for the sacri- 
 fice of the buildings. The next measure 
 
 * Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 13. 
 t Brigadier Innes' despatch, May 16th, 1857.- 
 Further Pari. Papers (No. 3), p. 7. 
 X Crisis in the Punjab, p. 13. 
 
 was still more extraordinary. Brigadier 
 Innes states — 
 
 " On hearing from Colonel Liptrap that the 45th 
 intended to seize their magazine on the morning of 
 the 14th, 1 determined to blow up the magazines 
 both of the 45th and 57th. • • • The blowing 
 up of the magazines so enraged the 45th, that they 
 immediately seized their colours, and marched off 
 towards Furreed Kote. On Colonel Liptrap re- 
 porting this, I desired him to march in with those 
 that stood faithful, and lay down their arms to the 
 61st; 133 of all ranks did so. Three troops of 
 the 10th light cavalry, under Majors Beatson and 
 Harvey, and two guns, I sent in pursuit of the 
 mutineers. 
 
 " Major Marsden, deputy-commissioner, having 
 volunteered his services, and from his knowledge of 
 the country, I entrusted to him the command of the 
 whole. He followed them for about twelve miles. 
 They dispersed in all directions, throwing away 
 their arms and colours into wells and other places. 
 A few were made prisoners, and the country-people 
 have since brought in several. 
 
 " The above occurrences took place on the 14th. 
 In the early part of the day, I acquainted Colonel 
 Darvall that I would receive such men of his regi- 
 ment as would come in and lay down their arms : 
 the light company, under Captain Salmon, and 
 owing to his exertions, almost to a man did so. 
 On laying down their arms, I permitted them to 
 return to their lines. It was immediately reported 
 that stragglers from the 45th had entered their 
 lines and threatened them, on which a company of 
 the 61st cleared their lines. Unfortunately, the 
 67th, seeing European troops in their lines, believed 
 that their light company were being made prisoners, 
 which caused a panic in the 57th, and prevented 
 their coming in to lay down their arms, which 
 Colonel Darvall reported they intended to have 
 done. On regaining confidence, several parties came 
 in under their officers; and in the evening Colonel 
 
 Darvall brought in of all ranks, with his colours, 
 
 and I required them to lay down their arms, which 
 they did without hesitation, but with a haughty air. 
 
 " I am unable to furnish present stales, but I 
 believe that, of the 57th, about 520 men are present, 
 and about half that number of the 45th. 
 
 " It is gratifying to state that tlie 25th Native light 
 cavalry have remained staunch, and have done good 
 service. The greatest credit is due to Major M'Don- 
 nell and his officers for keeping his regiment together, 
 for this corps must have the same ideas as the other 
 portions of the Native army. • • • The 10th 
 cavalry are constantly in the saddle." -f 
 
 Such is the account given, by the leading 
 authority, of an affair which occasioned his 
 " summary removal from the list of briga- 
 diers," and materially strengthened the 
 rebel cause. 
 
 Mr. Cooper remarks that, "on the 28th 
 of May, the remainder of the 45th were 
 turned ingloriously out of cantonments, 
 and escorted to the boundaries of the dis- 
 trict. They probably combated with no 
 diminished acrimony against us at Delhi, 
 from having been allowed to reach it alive, 
 without money and without food."J
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AGRA, ALIGHUR, MYNPOORIE, NEEMUCH, AND NUSSEERABAD.— MAY AND 
 
 JUNE, 1857. 
 
 Agra. — Nowhere could the tidings of the 
 rebellion be more calculated to excite alarm 
 than in the stately city of Agra — the rival of 
 Delhi in the palmy days of the Mogul 
 empire, and now the chief place in the 
 division of the British dominions known 
 as the N. W. Provinces. Agra is situated 
 on the banks of the Jumna, 139 miles 
 south-east of Delhi. 
 
 The troops in the station consisted of one 
 company of artillery (chiefly Europeans), 
 H.M.'s 3rd foot, the 44th and 67th regi- 
 ments of Native infantry, and a detachment 
 of irregular cavalry, consisting of thirty-seven 
 men, commanded by two Native officers. 
 Intelligence of the outbreak at Meerut was 
 published in Agra on the morning of the 
 11th of May ; but the newspaper announce- 
 ment was accompanied by a remark, on the 
 part of the editor, that, " in a station like 
 Meerut, with the 6th dragoons, 60th rifles, 
 and European artillery, it might be pre- 
 sumed that the mutineers had a very short 
 race of it."* It was not until three days 
 later that the Europeans at Agra became 
 acquainted with the extent of the calamity. 
 
 Lieutenant-governor Colvin was, happily, 
 a man of experience and discretion. While 
 the cloud was as yet no bigger than a 
 man's hand, he recognised the tempest it 
 portended ; and, slowly as the intelligence 
 reached Agra, he was more ready for the 
 worst than some who had had longer warn- 
 ing. On the 13th he dispatched a telegram 
 to Calcutta, suggesting that " the force re- 
 turning from the Persian gulf, or a con- 
 siderable portion of it, should be summoned 
 in straight to Calcutta, and thence sent up 
 the country." On the 14th, he wrote 
 urging that martial law should be pro- 
 claimed in the Meerut district ; which, as 
 we have seen, was done, and necessarily so, 
 for our civil and criminal courts, always de- 
 tested by the natives, were swept away by 
 the first blast of the storm ; and, a few days 
 later, Lieutenant-governor Colvin reported 
 that, " around Meerut, the state of license 
 
 • Mo/ussulite {extra); May llth, 1857. 
 t Despatch from Lieutenant-governor Colvin, May 
 22nd, 1857.— Appendix to Pari. Papers, p. 311. 
 VOL. II. 2 B 
 
 in the villages, caused by the absence of all 
 government, spread for about twenty or 
 twenty-five miles south, and about the same 
 limit, or somewhat more, north. Within 
 this belt, unchecked license reigned from 
 the Jumna to the Ganges. The absence of 
 any light cavalry, or efi'ective means of 
 scouring the country in this severely hot 
 weather, paralysed the attempts of the 
 Meerut force to maintain any regularity or 
 order beyond the immediate line of ita 
 pickets."t 
 
 The question of holding the various small 
 stations scattered throughout the disturbed 
 provinces, became early one of anxious 
 interest. They could be retained only at 
 imminent risk to the handful of Europeans 
 who were placed there; nevertheless, the 
 general good could scarcely be more eflec- 
 tively served, than by each man standing 
 to his post at all hazards, sooner than seem 
 to fly before the rebels. Every one who 
 knew the Asiatic character, concurred in 
 this opinion; and none stated it more 
 clearly than Lieutenant-governor Colvin. 
 His view of the conduct of the collector 
 of Goorgaon — a district, the chief place of 
 which (also named Goorgaon) is only eigh- 
 teen miles from Delhi — shows how stern a 
 sense he had of the duty of even civilians 
 under new and trying circumstances. In 
 describing the state of affairs in the North- 
 western Provinces, he writes : — 
 
 "On the evening of the 13th instant [May], Mr. 
 Ford, and his assistant, Mr. W. Clifford, having no 
 support beyond their police and a parly of the con- 
 tingent of the Jhujjur horse, whose tone and conduct 
 became rapidly menacing, thought that no good 
 object would be attained by their staying at Goor- 
 gaon. The lieutenant-governor regrets the determi- 
 nation to quit the station on Mr. Ford's part, because 
 he does not doubt that the best mode, especially in 
 India, of staying violent outbursts against authority 
 of this kind, is to remain at the post to the last, even 
 at the direct risk of life. 
 
 "Withdrawal from a post, except under immediate 
 attack and irresistible compulsion, at once destroys 
 all authority, which, in our civil administration, in 
 its strength is respected, if exercised only by a 
 Chupprassee ; while in the event of any general 
 resistance, accompanied by defection of our military 
 force, it has in truth no solid foundation to rest 
 upon : but the lieutenant-goTei'Dor has not thought
 
 186 
 
 AGEA AND THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES— MAY, 1857. 
 
 it necessary on this account, after such alarmingly 
 emergent circumstances as had occurred at Delhi, to 
 censure Mr. Ford for the course which he adopted. 
 
 " The introduction of general disorder into the 
 villages of the Ooorgaon district, soon communicated 
 itself to the northern portion of Muttra ; and the 
 isolated customs' patrol officers, whose duties render 
 them necessarily unpopular, fell back from their 
 posts with their men. This spread further the im- 
 pression of a cessation of all government, and was 
 naving a very injurious effect up to the very walls of 
 the important town of Muttra. 
 
 " This state of things has, however, greatly altered 
 for the better by the advance of an effective portion 
 of the Bhurtpoor troops, which has now taken up a 
 position on the Muttra and Goorgaon frontier." 
 
 The Jhujjur and Bhurtpoor troops men- 
 tioned in the foregoing paragraph, consisted 
 partly of a contingent or subsidiary force, 
 furnished by the chiefs of those territories 
 to the British government, and partly of 
 their own immediate retainers, who, being 
 a kind of feudal militia, were perfectly 
 trustworthy; whereas the former, whether 
 contingent or subsidiary, were essentially a 
 portion of the Bengal army, drawn from 
 the same sources, disciplined in the same 
 manner, and ofiBcered by Europeans — hav- 
 ing in all respects a fellow-feeling with the 
 Delhi mutineers. At first, a degree of con- 
 fidence was reposed in the fidelity of the 
 native contingents, which was neither war- 
 ranted by their antecedents, nor supported 
 by their subsequent conduct ; for they were 
 false to us, in defiance of the strenuous en- 
 deavours of the native princes, on whom 
 we had forced them under a mistaken view 
 of our own interests. Sindia, Holcar, the 
 rajah of Bhurtpoor, and other princes, 
 never wavered in their opinion of the disaf- 
 fection of the subsidiary troops, and gave 
 conspicuous and self-sacrificing tokens of 
 their personal fidelity, by placing their own 
 retainers at the disposal of the British. As 
 early as the 14th of May, Colvin received a 
 message from Sindia, that his body-guard 
 of 400 cavalry, and a battery of horse artil- 
 lery, would be ready to start from Gwalior 
 for Agra on the following evening. The 
 offer was gladly accepted. 
 
 On the 15th, the lieutenant-governor re- 
 viewed the troops stationed at Agra, having 
 previously ascertained, from undoubted au- 
 thority, that a deep and genuine conviction 
 had seized the mind of the sepoy army, that 
 tHe government was steadily bent on causing 
 a general forfeiture of caste by the compul- 
 sory handling of impure things. Privately, 
 and on parade, the men assured the lieute- 
 nant-governor, that " all they wanted to be 
 
 certain of," was the non-existence of the 
 suspected plot : he therefore addressed the 
 Supreme government by telegraph, urging 
 the immediate issue of a proclamation con- 
 taining a simple and direct assurance that i 
 no attempt whatever would be made against 
 the caste of the Native troops. He added — 
 "An inducement, too, is wanted for not 
 joining the mutineers, and for leaving 
 them. I am in the thick of it, and know 
 what is wanted. I earnestly beg this, to 
 strengthen me."* 
 
 On the 16th, the governor-general in 
 council sent a telegraphic reply, promising 
 that the desired proclamation should be 
 issued, and encouraging Colvin in the 
 course he was pursuing, by the following 
 cordial expression of approval : — " I thank 
 you sincerely for all you have so admirably 
 done, and for your stout heart."t 
 
 No proclamation, properly so called, ap- 
 pears to have been issued; but, according 
 to the inaccurate and hasty summary of 
 events sent to the Court of Directors from 
 Calcutta, "a circular was issued on the 
 29th, explaining that none of the new car- 
 tridges had been issued toNative regiments." 
 This statement was, as has been before 
 stated, in complete opposition to that of 
 General Anson, who had, some days before, 
 formally withdrawn the identical cartridges 
 which Lord Canning declared had never 
 been issued. To complicate the matter 
 still further, the same page of the Calcutta 
 intelligence which contains the notice of 
 the circular of the Supreme government, 
 states, also, as the latest intelligence from 
 Umritsir, that " the 59th N. I. do not 
 object to the new cartridges."} 
 
 The position of Colvin was most harass- 
 ing. He never received any communica- 
 tion whatever from General Anson — the 
 regular posts being stopped, and the general 
 not fertile in expedients for the conveyance 
 or obtainment of intelligence. A council of 
 war was held at the Agra government- 
 house on the 13th of May : and even at 
 this early period, Mr. Raikes describes the 
 lieutenant-governor as "exposed to that 
 rush of alarm, advice, suggestion, expostula- 
 tion, and threat, which went on increasing 
 for nearly two months, until he was driven 
 nearly broken-hearted into the fort." The 
 officers naturally urged advice with especial 
 earnestness on a civil governor, and " every 
 
 • Appendix to Perl. Papers on Mutiny, 1857 ; 
 p. 181. 
 
 t liiJ; p. 193. t Ibid., p. 301.
 
 MR. COLVIN'S PROCLAMATION— AGRA— MAY 25'ih, 1857. 187 
 
 man was anxious to do bis best^ but to do it 
 bis own way."* 
 
 Long experience of native cbaracter, how- 
 ever, bad given Mr. Colvin an insigbt into 
 the causes of the mutiny, which convinced 
 him of the paramount influence that panic, 
 and the feeling of being irremediably 
 compromised by the misconduct of others, 
 bad exercised, and were still exercising, in 
 the minds of the sepoys. In the excitement 
 of the crisis his policy was the subject of 
 sweeping censure ; but, eventually, measures 
 of a similar pendency were resorted to, 
 as the sole means of healing a breach 
 which he strove to narrow and close at its 
 commencement. With regard to the Euro- 
 peans, the attitude he advised and adopted 
 was most unflinching. The same feeUng 
 which induced him to blame the abandon- 
 ment of Goorgaon, led him to declare, a 
 week later, when the danger was fast in- 
 creasing — 
 
 " It Ls a vitally useful lesson to be learnt from the 
 experience of present events, that not one step should 
 be yielded in retreat, on an outbreak in India, which 
 can be avoided with any safety. Plunder and gene- 
 ral license immediately commence, and ail useful 
 tenure of the country is annihilated. It is not by 
 shutting ourselves in forts in India that our power 
 can be upheld ; and I will decidedly oppose myself to 
 any proposal for throwing the European force into 
 the fort except in the very last extremity."t 
 
 With regard to the Native army, he 
 believed one measure, and only one, re- 
 mained which might arrest the plague of 
 mutiny by afl'ording opportunity for repen- 
 tance before war a I'outrance should be de- 
 clared against the Europeans. Addressing 
 the governor-general by telegraph on the 
 24th of May, he writes ; — 
 
 "On the mode of dealing with the mutineers, I 
 would strenuously oppose general severity towards 
 all. Such a course would, as we are unanimously 
 convinced by a knowledge of the feeling of the 
 people, acquired among them from a variety of 
 sources, estrange the remainder of the army. Hope, 
 I am firmly convinced, should be held out to all 
 those who were not ringleaders or actively concerned 
 in murder and violence. Many are in the rebels' 
 ranks because they could not get away j many cer- 
 tainly thought we were tricking them out of their 
 caste; and this opinion is held, however unwisely, 
 by the mass of the population, and even by some of 
 the more intelligent classes. Never was delusion 
 more wide or deep. Many of the best soldiers in 
 the army — among others, of its most faithful section, 
 
 • Raikes' Revolt in the N.W. Provinces, p. 10. 
 
 t Mr. Colvin to the governor-general, May 22nd, 
 1857. — The first two sentences of the quotation 
 from Mr. Colvin's despatch to the governor-general, 
 arc qvioted from the Appendix to Pari. Papers on 
 
 the irregular cavalry — show a marked reluctance to 
 engage in a war against men whom they believe to 
 have been misled on the point of religious honour. 
 A tone of general menace would, I am persuaded, 
 be wrong. The commander-in-chief should, in mv 
 view, be authorised to act upon the above line of 
 policy ; and when means of escape are thus open to 
 those who can be admitted to mercy, the remnant 
 will be considered obstinate traitors even by their 
 own countrymen, who will have no hesitation in 
 siding against them." 
 
 On the following day, Mr. Colvin reported 
 to the governor-general that he had himself 
 taken the decisive step : — 
 
 " Impressed by the knowledge of the feelings of 
 the native population, as communicated in my mes- 
 sage of yesterday, and supported by the unanimous 
 opinion of all officers of experience here, that this 
 mutiny is not one to be put down by high-handed 
 authority; and thinking it essential at present to 
 give a favourable turn to the feelings of the sepoys 
 who have not yet entered against us, I have taken 
 the grave responsibility of issuing, on my own autho- 
 rity, the following proclamation. A weighty reason 
 with me has been the total dissolution of order, and 
 the loss of every means of control in many districts. 
 My latest letter from Meerut is now seven days old, 
 and not a single letter has reached me from the 
 commander-in-chief. 
 
 " Pkoclamation. 
 
 " Soldiers engaged in the late disturbances, who 
 are desirous of going to their own homes, and who 
 give up their arms at the nearest government civil 
 or military post, and retire quietly, shall be per- 
 mitted to do so unmolested. 
 
 " Many faithful soldiers have been driven into 
 resistance to government only because they were in 
 the ranks and could not escape from them, and 
 because they really thought their feelings of religion 
 and honour injured by the measures of government. 
 This feeling was wholly a mistake; but it acted on 
 men's minds. A proclamation of the governor- 
 general now issued is perfectly explicit, and will 
 remove all doubts on these points. 
 
 " Every evil-minded instigator in the disturbance, 
 and those guilty of heinous crimes against private 
 persons, shall be punished. All those who appear 
 in arms against the government after this notifica- 
 tion is known shall be treated as open enemies.''^ 
 
 The proclamation, according to Sir Charles 
 Trevelyan, "was universally approved at 
 Agra." He adds, that "its object was to 
 apply a solvent to reduce the compact mass 
 of rebellion to its elements, and to give to 
 the well-disposed an opportunity of return- 
 ing to their allegiance, leaving the guilty 
 remainder to their well-deserved fate."§ 
 
 The governor-general in council took a 
 different view of the subject; and a tele- 
 gram, dated May 26th, declared that the 
 
 Mutiny, p. 31S; the third, omitted in the Blue Book, 
 is given by '• Indophilus" in his Letter to the Times, 
 Dec. 25th, 1857. 
 
 X Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1857. 
 
 § Times, December 'iotli, 1807.
 
 188 
 
 THE RAJAH OF PUTTEEALA. 
 
 proclamation was disapproved, and that the 
 embarrassment in which it would place the 
 government and the commander-in-chief 
 •was very great. Everything was therefore 
 to be done to stop its operation. Mr. 
 Colvin protested against the repudiation of 
 the proclamation, and denied the justice of 
 the chief ground on which it was denounced 
 by the governor-general in council — namely, 
 that it offered means of escape to the men 
 who murdered their officers. Lord Canning 
 persisted in ordering its withdrawal, and 
 directed that the following proclamation 
 should be issued in its stead : — 
 
 " Every soldier of a regiment which, although it 
 has deserted its post, has not committed outrages, 
 will receive a free pardon and permission to proceed 
 to his home, if he immediately delivers up his arms 
 to the civil or military authority, and if no heinous 
 crime is shown to have been perpetrated by himself 
 personally. 
 
 "This offer of free and unconditional pardon 
 cannot be extended to those regiments which have 
 killed or wounded their officers or other persons, or 
 which have been concerned in the commission of 
 cruel outrages. 
 
 "The men of such regiments must submit them- 
 selves unconditionally to the authority and justice 
 of the government of India. 
 
 " Any proclamations offering pardon to soldiers 
 engaged in the late disturbances, which may have 
 been issued by local authorities previously to the 
 promulgation of the present proclamation, will there- 
 upon cease to have effect ; but all persons who may 
 have availed themselves of the offer made in such 
 proclamations, shall enjoy the benefit thereof."* 
 
 It was clearly impolitic to issue orders 
 and counter-orders which, to the natives, 
 would bear the semblance of vacillation 
 of purpose, if not of double-dealing. But 
 in the excitement of the period, it is 
 probable that nothing short of an explicit 
 ofl'er of amnesty to all who could not be 
 proved to have actually shed blood, or been 
 notorious ringleaders, would have sufficed 
 to arrest the course of mutiny. The gov- 
 ernment of India, true to the motto of 
 their policy, " insufficient or too late," could 
 not yet understand the urgency of the case, 
 and went so far as to blame the lieutenant- 
 governor for having taken upon himself the 
 responsibility of an important measure, 
 " without necessity for any extreme haste." 
 And this to a man who heard the "crash of 
 regiments" on every side. 
 
 Lord Elphinstone, the governor of Bom- 
 bay, dispatched a telegram to Lord Canning 
 on the 17th of May, proposing to send an 
 officer in a fast steamer, to overtake the 
 
 * Appendix to Pari. Papers on 
 pp. 334-5. 
 
 mail, which had left Bombay four days pre- 
 viously. The governor-general rejected the 
 oflPer as unnecessary, although it involved 
 the saving of twenty-eight days in the 
 appeal for reinforcements from England. 
 About the same time, intelligence reached 
 Agra that the treaty of peace was ratified 
 with Persia, and that three European regi- 
 ments, and a portion of the European artil- 
 lery, were to return to India immediately. 
 Mr. Colvin entreated that the troops, on 
 arriving at Calcutta, might be immediately 
 dispatched to the Upper -Provinces; but 
 the answer he received was, that many 
 weeks must elapse before the force could 
 reach India; in the meantime, a European 
 regiment had been called for from Madras, 
 and one from Pegu; but these were not 
 expected at Calcutta under a fortnight, and 
 not a single European could be spared until 
 then. In the event of being severely 
 pressed, Mr. Colvin was to apply to the 
 rajah of Putteeala, or to the rajah of Jheend, 
 for aid. The services of both these chiefs 
 had already been volunteered, and imme- 
 diately accepted and employed. 
 
 The rajah of Putteeala has been men- 
 tioned as sending cavalry to the rescue of 
 the fugitives from Delhi. His name will 
 recur frequently, in the course of the narra- 
 tive, as that of " a constant, honourable, and 
 invaluable ally." His principality is one of 
 the most important of those known as the 
 Seik protected states ; and its extent has 
 been recently increased by grants from the 
 British government, bestowed in reward of 
 his fidelity during the war with Lahore, on 
 condition of hia making and maintaining 
 in repair a military road, and abolishing 
 Suttee, infanticide, and slave-dealing in his 
 dominions. 
 
 The latest parliamentary return on the 
 subject states the area of Putteeala at 4,448 
 miles, and the population at 662,752 per- 
 sons. The territory is very fertile, and 
 exports large quantities of grain across the 
 Sutlej to Lahore and Umritsir. The chief 
 place, also named Putteeala (twenty miles 
 from Umballah), is a densely peopled and 
 compact town, with a small citadel, in 
 which the rajah, or, as he is more generally 
 called, the maharajah, resides. He is de- 
 scribed as " a man in the prime of life, of 
 some thirty-three or thirty-four yefirs of 
 age, of commanding stature and fine pre- 
 sence, inclining to obesity; a handsome 
 Mutiny 1857 • ^^^^ ^^^^' black flowing beard, moustache, 
 ' I and whiskers ; Grecian nose, and large dark
 
 MUTINY AT ALIGHUR— MAY 20th, 1857. 
 
 189 
 
 eyes of the almond shape, which is so much 
 admired by the Asiatics. His court is the 
 last which is left in the north-west of India, 
 and is maintained with Oriental magnifi- 
 cence. As a governor he is absolute in his 
 own dominions, which he rules vigorously 
 and energetically with his own hands."* 
 
 The position of Putteeala, the resources 
 and energy of its ruler, and the disaffection 
 of many of his subjects towards British 
 supremacy, rendered the question oi his 
 allegiance one of extreme importance. 
 His decision was immediate and unquali- 
 fied; and he assisted the British govern- 
 ment, not only with troops and supplies of 
 provision, but actually with a loan of money 
 to the amount of £210,000.t The Ura- 
 ballah cantonment was in so disorganised a 
 condition at the time of the general mutiny, 
 that, according to Mr. Raikes, it could 
 hardly have been preserved without the 
 help of the Putteeala rajah. When sum- 
 moned thither, he came clad in a suit of 
 mail, driving his own elephant, and spared 
 no exertion to prove his zeal. J 
 
 Jheend is another, but much smaller, 
 Cis-Sutlej state, part of which was annexed 
 on the failure of direct heirs; but the re- 
 mainder was suffered to pass into the 
 possession of a collateral heir in 1837. Its 
 limits were increased after the conclusion 
 of the war with Lahore, on the same 
 terms as those of Putteeala, and for the 
 same reason — namely, the good service 
 renJered by its rajah. Jheend comprises 
 an area of 376 square miles, and a popula- 
 tion of about 56,000 persons. The rajah 
 had an early opportunity of manifesting his 
 determined allegiance to the English. It 
 is said, that a deputation from Delhi sought 
 him while reviewing his troops in his chief 
 place, and that, on learning their errand, he 
 immediately ordered every man of the 
 messengers to be cut down.§ 
 
 These were the allies to whori Lord Can- 
 ning bade Mr. Colvin tuvn for the help ; and 
 to them, among other benefits, we owe the 
 aid of our first Seik levies. || 
 
 As the month of May wore on, affairs in 
 Agra began to assume a gloomier aspect. 
 The detachments of the Gwalior contingent, 
 sent as reinforcements, speedily betrayed 
 their sympathy with the mutineers against 
 
 • Times (Mr. Ruseell), 29th November, 1858. 
 t Ibid. 
 
 Raikes' RevMt in the N. W. Province), pp. 88, 89. 
 § Daily News, June 29th, 1857. 
 II Murray's Quarterly Review, 1868; p. 226, 
 
 whom they were expected to act, by asking 
 whether the flour supplied to their camp 
 was from the government stores. If so, 
 they would not touch it, having been in- 
 formed that cows' bones had been pulver- 
 ised and mixed with the otta sold in the 
 bazaars. If These indications of disaffection 
 were marked by the Europeans with great 
 uneasiness, the general feeling being, that 
 the Hindoos were completely under the 
 influence of the Mussulmans, who " were 
 all, or nearly all, thirsting for English 
 blood." And, indeed, the feeling against 
 them became so general and indiscrimi- 
 nating, that Mohammedan, in the North- 
 West Provinces, was viewed as only " another 
 word for a rebel."** The news from out- 
 stations gave additional cause for alarm and 
 distrust. 
 
 Alighur lies between Delhi and Agra, 
 about fifty-one miles to the north of the 
 latter city. The position was very impor- 
 tant, as it commanded the communications 
 up and down the country. It was garri- 
 soned by three or four companies of the 
 9th N. I., "the men of which behaved very 
 steadily and well; and, in this manner, 
 broke the shock of the insurrection for a 
 few days."tt On the 19th of May, a reli- 
 gious mendicant appeared in the lines, and 
 endeavoured to incite the men to mutiny. 
 Two of the sepoys whom he addressed, 
 seized and carried him before the com- 
 manding officer, who ordered a court-mar- 
 tial to be instantly assembled. The Native 
 officers found the prisoner guilty, and sen- 
 tenced him to death. On the following 
 morning the troops were assembled,, and 
 the offender brought out and hung, no 
 opposition or displeasure being evinced at 
 his fate; but before the men were marched 
 off the ground, the rifle company, which 
 had just been relieved from the outpost of 
 Bolundshuhur, made their appearance ; and 
 a Brahmin sepoy, stepping out from the 
 ranks, upbraided his comrades for having 
 betrayed a holy man, who came to save 
 them from disgrace in this world, and 
 eternal perdition in the next.JJ T!ie men 
 listened, debated, wavered, and finally broke 
 up with loud shouts, declaring their inten- 
 tion of joining their comrades at Delhi, 
 which they actually did; for it is stated, 
 
 5f Raikes' Revolt in N. W. Provinces, p. 14. 
 •* /5irf., pp. 53; 173. 
 
 tt Lieutenant-governor Colvin to governor-gen- 
 eral ; May 22nd, 1857.— Appendix, p. 313. 
 XX Mead's Sepoy Revolt, p. 148.
 
 190 
 
 MUTINY AT MYNPOORIE— MAY 22nd, 1857. 
 
 that the regimental number of the 9th was 
 found on the bodies of some of the most 
 daring opponents of the British army.* The 
 officers, and Europeans generally, were 
 neither injured nor insulted ; but, on their 
 departure, the treasury was seized, the gaol 
 broken open, and the bungalows burned. 
 The officials, both civil and military, re- 
 treated to Hattrass, a station about twenty 
 miles distant; but some persons fled in 
 different directions; and Mr. Raikes de- 
 scribes Lady Outram (the wife of General 
 Sir James Outram) as reaching Agra on 
 the 23rd, " foot-sore, from Alighur, having 
 fled part of the way without her shoes." 
 
 The fall of Alighur, recounted with all 
 imaginable exaggerations, became the imme- 
 diate topic of conversation in Agra. The 
 budmashes twisted their moustachios signi- 
 ficantlj' in the bazaars, and the Englishmen 
 handled their swords or revolvers. Mr. 
 Raikes mentions a singular exception to the 
 prevailing panic. The Church Missionary 
 College, he writes, "was about the last to 
 close, and the first to reopen, of all our 
 public institutions at Agra during the period 
 of the revolt. There Dr. French, the prin- 
 cipal, sat calmly, hundreds of young natives 
 at his feet, hanging on the lips which taught 
 them the simple lessons of the Bible. The 
 students at the government, and still more 
 the missionary schools, kept steadily to 
 their classes ; and when others doubted or 
 fled, they trusted implicitly to their teachers, 
 and openly espoused the Christian cause." 
 
 Their exemplary conduct did not excite 
 any special rancour against them on the part 
 of the insurgents ; on the contrary, it is as- 
 serted as "a curious fact, that at Agra, 
 Alighur, Mynpoorie, Futtehghur, and other 
 places, less danger was done to the churches 
 than to the private dwellings of the Eng- 
 lish."! This was also the case at Meerut. 
 Three companies of the 9th Native infantry, 
 stationed at Mynpoorie, mutinied there on 
 the 23rd of May. Mynpoorie is the chief 
 town of a district of the same name, ceded 
 by Dowlut Rao Sindia to the East India 
 Company, in 1803. The population are 
 chiefly Hindoos of high caste. One of the 
 Meerut mutineers (a Rajpoot, named Raj- 
 nath Sing) escaped to his native village. 
 The magistrate sent some police and a de- 
 tachment of the 9th to apprehend their coun- 
 tryman and co-religionist; instead of which, 
 
 • Mead's Sepoi/ licroll, p. 148. 
 t ]litikes' lievoU in Ihc JV. W. Provinces, pp. 15, 
 IG; \H. 
 
 they, as might have been expected, enabled 
 him to escape. The news of the mutiny at 
 Alighur reached Mynpoorie on the even- 
 ing of the 22nd, and created great excite- 
 ment, which, being reported to the magis- 
 trate, he immediately made arrangements 
 for sending the European females (sixteen 
 in number), with their children, to Agra, 
 seventy miles distant, which city they 
 reached in safety. 
 
 Being thus relieved from the ofiBce of 
 protecting a helpless crowd, the leading 
 Europeans prepared to lay down their lives in 
 defence of their public charge. Their pre- 
 sence of mind and moderation was crowned 
 with extraordinary success. The particu- 
 lars of the aSair are thus narrated by 
 Mr. J. Power, the magistrate of Myn- 
 poorie. After the departure of the women, 
 he writes — 
 
 "Mr. Cocks and I proceeded to the house of 
 Lieutenant Crawford, commanding the station, and 
 this officer agreed directly to take the detachment 
 out of the station and march them to Bhowgaon. 
 After leaving a small guard at the treasury and 
 quarter-guard, which I visited with him, Lieutenant 
 Crawford then left the station, and I then returned 
 to my house, where I found Dr. Watson [surgeon], 
 the Kev. Mr. Kellner, and Mr Cocks assembled. 
 
 " This was about four or five in the morning ; and 
 I' had not retired to rest more than ten minutes, 
 before Lieutenant Crawford galloped back to my 
 house, and infon^ned me that his men had broken 
 out into open mutiny, and, after refusing to obey 
 him, had fired at him with their muskets. 
 
 "Lieutenant Crawford stated he had then found 
 it useless to attempt commanding his men, and that 
 he had thought it best to hurry back to Mj-npoorie 
 to warn the station, and that he believed Lieutenant 
 de Kantzow was killed. Mr. Cocks and the Rev. 
 Mr. Kellner immediately decided on leaving, and 
 the former tried to induce me to leave also : as I 
 informed him that I did not desire to leave my post, 
 he honoured me by terming my conduct ' romantic,' 
 and immediately departed in company with the Rev. 
 Mr. Kellner. I then left my house, which I had no 
 means of defending, and which I was informed the 
 sepoys meant to attack, and proceeded to the large 
 bridge over the Eesun, on the grand uunk road. 
 My brother determined on accompanying me, and to 
 share my fate ; and I shall not be accused of favour- 
 itism, I hope, when I state that his coolness and 
 determination were of the greatest aid and comfort 
 to me throughout this trying occasion. 
 
 " On proceeding to the bridge, 1 was joined by 
 Dr. Watson, and shortly afterwards by Rao Bhowanee 
 Sing, the first cousin of the rajah of Mynpoorie, with 
 a small force of horse and foot; Sergeants Mitchell, 
 Scott, and Montgomery, of the road and canal 
 departments; and Mr. McGlone, clerk in the Myn- 
 poorie magistrate's office, also joined me at the bridge. 
 " I was, at this time, most doubtful of the fate of 
 Mr. de Kantzow, for I had not coincided in Lieu- 
 tenant Crawford's opinion that he had been killed, 
 Lieutenant Crawford not having seen him fall; and 
 on this account I was unwilling to leave the position
 
 GALLANT DEFENCE— MYNPOORIE— MAY 22nd, 1857. 
 
 191 
 
 I had taken, though strongly urged to do so. The 
 sepoys returned at this time to the station, having 
 utterly thrown off all control, dragging (as I after- 
 wards learnt) Lieuteriant de Kantzow with them. 
 They passed the dik bungalow, and fired a volley 
 into the house of Sergeant Montgomery (which was 
 close by), the inmates of which had fortunately left, 
 and they then searched the whole house over, with 
 the view of finding money; they also fired at Dr. 
 Watson's house, who had, as I have mentioned, 
 joined me; and they then proceeded to the rear- 
 guard, the magazine of which they broke open, 
 plundering it completely of its contents. 
 
 " Lieutenant de Kantzow informed me that the 
 rebels took the whole of the ammunition away, and 
 being unable to carry it themselves, they procured 
 two government camels for that purpose from the 
 lines ; each man must have supplied himself with 
 some 300 rounds or more ; and an immense quantity 
 of other government stores was taken by them 
 besides. Lieutenant de Kantzow informs me that 
 his life stood in the greatest danger at tJie rear-guard 
 at this time. The men fired at random, and muskets 
 were levelled at him, but dashed aside by some 
 better-disposed of the infuriated brutes, who re- 
 membered, perhaps, even in that moment of madness, 
 the kind and generous disposition of their brave 
 young officer. Lieutenant de Kantzow stood up 
 before his men ; he showed the utmost coolness and 
 presence of mind ; he urged them to reflect on the 
 lawlessness of their acts, and evinced the utmost 
 indiff'erence of his own life in his zeal to make the 
 sepoys return to their duty. The men turned from 
 the rear-guard to the Cutchery, dragging the lieu- 
 tenant with them. They were met at the treasury 
 by my gaol guard, who were prepared to oppose 
 them and fire on them; but Mr. de Kantzow pre- 
 vented them from firing, and his order has certawly 
 prevented an immense loss of life. 
 
 " A fearful scene here occurred ; the sepoys tried to 
 force open the iron gates of the treasury, and were 
 opposed by the gaol guard and some of the gaol 
 officials ; the latter rallied round Mr. de Kantzow, 
 and did their best to assist him ; but they, though 
 behaving excellently, were only a handful of twenty 
 or thirty (if so many), and poorly armed, against the 
 infuriated sepoys, who were well and completely 
 armed and in full force. 
 
 " It is impossible to describe, accurately, the con- 
 tinuation of the scene of the disturbance at the 
 treasury ; left by his superior officer, unaided by the 
 presence of any European, jostled with cruel and 
 insulting violence, buffeted by the hands of men 
 who had received innumerable kindnesses from him, 
 and who had obeyed him but a few hours before 
 . with crawling servility, Lieutenant de Kantzow stood 
 for three dreary hours against the rebels at the 
 imminent peril of life. 
 
 " It was not till long after he had thus been situ- 
 ated at the treasury, that I learnt of his being there. 
 I was anxious with all my heart to help him, but 
 was deterred from going by the urgent advice of 
 Rao Bhowanee Sing, who informed me that it was 
 impossible to face the sepoys with the small force at 
 my disposal ; and I received at this time a brief note 
 from Lieutenant de Kantzow himself, by a trust- 
 worthy emissary I sent to him, desiring me not to 
 come to the treasury, as the sepoys were getting 
 quieted, and that my presence would only make 
 matters worse, as the beasts were yelling for my 
 life. At this time, the most signal service was done 
 
 by Rao Bhowanee Sing, who went alone to the 
 rebels, volunteering to use his own influence and 
 persuasion to make them retire. It is unnecessary 
 to lengthen the account; Rao Bhowanee Sing suc- 
 ceeded ably in his efforts, drew off, and then accom- 
 panied the rebels to the lines ; where, after a space of 
 time, they broke open and looted the bells of arms, 
 the quarter-guard carrying off, it is supposed, 6,000 
 rupees in money, and all the arms, &c., they found 
 of use to them. 
 
 "I had retired, and the Europeans with mo, to 
 the rajah of Mynpoorie's fort, on the departure of 
 Rao Bhowanee Sing, according to his advice ; and 
 shortly after the sepoys left the treasury. Lieutenant 
 de Kantzow joined me, and I again took possession 
 of the Cutchery. I found, on my return, the whole 
 of the Malkhana looted, the sepoys having helped 
 themselves to swords, iron-bound sticks, &c., which 
 had accumulated during ages past. The staples of 
 the stout iroa doors of the treasury had alone given 
 way, but the doors themselves stood firm. 
 
 " My motives in taking up a position at the 
 bridge were, first, that I might keep the high road 
 open ; second, to keep the sepoys from proceeding 
 to the city, and the budmashes of the city from join- 
 ing the sepoys. The effect of the victory (if I may 
 use such a term) over the sepoys, trifling though it 
 may appear, has been of incalculable benefit. It has 
 restored confidence in the city and district, and 
 among the panic-stricken inhabitants; and I hope 
 the safety of the treasure, amounting to three lacs, 
 will prove an advantage in these troubled times to 
 government. • • • Rao Bhowanee Sing's con- 
 duct has been deserving in the extreme ; I believe 
 he has saved the station and our lives by his cool- 
 ness and tact, and has supported the ancient charac- 
 ter of his race for loyalty to the British government. 
 
 " During the insurrection of the sepoys, I was 
 joined by Dumber Sing, Risaldar, of the 2nd irregu- 
 lars — a fine old Rajpoot, who did me right good 
 service ; and by Pylad Sing, Duffadar, of the 8th 
 irregulars. These men guarded the gaol, which the 
 sepoys threatened to break into. Their conduct I 
 beg to bring to the special notice of his honour 
 the lieutenant-governor. These officers have since 
 raised for me a most excellent body of horse, com- 
 posed chiefly of irregulars, which I have placed 
 under the care of the Risaldar." 
 
 The magistrate concluded by stating, that 
 he and his companions had fortified the 
 office, and could " easily stand a siege 
 in it."* 
 
 Mr. Colvin was delighted by a spirit so 
 congenial to his own, and hastened to lay 
 the whole account before the governor- 
 general; who, besides sending Lieutenant 
 de Kantzow the thanks of government, wrote 
 him a private note, declaring that he (Lord 
 Canning) could not adequately describe the 
 admiration and respect with which he had 
 read the report of the magistrate of Myn- 
 poorie, concerning the " noble example of 
 courage, patience, good judgment, and 
 temper, exhibited by the young officer."t 
 
 • Letter of magistrate of Mynpoorie, May B5th, 
 1857. — Appendix, pp. 64, 55. 
 t Lord Canning, iune 7th, 1857.
 
 192 
 
 DEATH OF CAPTAIN FLETCHER HAYES— JUNE 1st, 1857. 
 
 Another detachment of the 9th Native 
 infantry, stationed at Etawah, likewise 
 mutinied and marched off to Delhi, after 
 plundering the treasury and burning the 
 bungalows. No blood was shed. Mr. 
 Hume, the magistrate, escaped in the dress 
 of a native woman. A chief, spoken of 
 as the Etawah or Elah rajah, took part with 
 the mutineers. The post between Agra 
 and Allahabad was by this means inter- 
 rupted; while the evacuation of Alighur 
 broke off the communication between 
 Meerut and Agra, and between the former 
 place and Cawnpoor. 
 
 Immediately before the outbreak at Ali- 
 ghur, 233 of the irregular Gwalior cavalry 
 were sent from Agra thither, under the 
 command of Lieutenant Cockburn. They 
 arrived just in time to assist in escorting 
 the Europeans to Hattrass. After ac- 
 complishing this, eighty of the Gwalior 
 horse broke into open mutiny, formed, and 
 rode round the camp, entreating their com- 
 rades to join them by every plea of temporal 
 and eternal interest; but finding their argu- 
 ment of no avail, they went off by them- 
 selves to Delhi. "With a party now reduced 
 to 123 men, and in a disturbed, if not abso- 
 lutely hostile, country. Lieutenant Cockburn 
 and his troopers contrived to do good ser- 
 vice. Hearing that a party of 500 men had 
 collected near Hattrass, and were plunder- 
 ing the neighbouring country, the lieute- 
 nant procured a curtained bullock-cart, such 
 as coloured women travel in up the country; 
 and having let down the curtains, and per- 
 suaded four of his troopers to enter it with 
 loaded- carbines, and go forward, he himself, 
 with twenty men, followed at a distance, 
 screened by the shade of some trees. The 
 plot succeeded. The marauders, on seeing 
 the cart, rushed forward to attack and 
 plunder the women whom they believed to 
 be concealed inside. The foremost of them 
 was shot dead ; and Lieutenant Cockburn's 
 party, on hearing the report, advanced in- 
 stantly on the insurgents, and rapidly 
 dispersed them — killing forty-eight, wound- 
 ing three, and taking ten prisoners; while 
 others, in the extremity of their fear, flung 
 themselves into wells, to avoid falling 
 into the hands of their pursuers.* 
 
 A subsequent expedition, attempted for 
 the purpose of attacking the Elah rajah, 
 and reopening the Alighur road, had a very 
 different termination. The expedition con- 
 
 • Friend of India ; quoted in Times, August 6th, 
 1857. 
 
 sisted of 200 men of the 2nd irregular 
 cavalry, under Captain Fletcher Hayes 
 (military secretary to Sir H. Lawrence), 
 who was accompanied by Captain Carey, of 
 the 17th N.I., and two other Europeans, 
 Adjutant Barber and Mr. Fayrer. The 
 detachment reached Bowgous on Saturday, 
 May 30th; and Captains Hayes and Carey, 
 leaving their men in charge of the adjutant, 
 proceeded, on the same evening, to Myn- 
 poorie, eight miles distant, to consult with 
 the magistrate (Power) on their proposed 
 movements, and remained there until the 
 following Monday. In the meantime, the 
 thanadar of Bowgous sent a message to 
 Captain Hayes regarding the disaffection of 
 the meu ; but he attributing it to annoy- 
 ance at long and frequent marches, paid 
 little heed to the warning, and started, 
 according to his previous intention, on 
 Monday morning, to join the men at the 
 appointed place. The two officers — Hayes 
 and Carey — " cantered along all merrily," 
 writes the survivor, " and after riding about 
 eleven miles, came in sight of the troopers 
 going quietly along a parallel road." The 
 officers crossed an intervening plain, to join 
 the men, who faced round, and halted at 
 their approach; but one or two of the Native 
 officers rode forward, and said, in an under 
 tone, "Fly, Sahibs, fly!" "Upon this," 
 Captain Carey states, " poor Hayes said to 
 me, as we wheeled round our horses, 'Well, 
 we must now fly for our lives ;' and away we 
 went, with the two troops after us like 
 demons yelling, and sending the bullets 
 from their carbines flying all round us." 
 Hayes was cut down from his saddle by one 
 blow from a Native officer; his Arab horse 
 dashed on riderless. Carey escaped unhurt. 
 He was chased for about two miles by two 
 horsemen ; and after they had relinquished 
 the pursuit, his own mare was unable to 
 proceed further, and he was saved by meet- 
 ing opportunely one of the troopers, who 
 appears to have lagged behind his comrades, 
 and who took the European up on his own 
 horse till they overtook Captaiu Hayes' 
 Arab, which Captain Carey mounted, and 
 reached Mynpoorie in safety. An old Seik 
 sirdar, with two followers, who had accom- 
 panied the expedition, and remained faithful 
 to the British, said that Barber and Fayrer 
 had been murdered ten minutes before the 
 f.rrival of the other two Europeans. A 
 sowar (trooper) stole behind young Fayrer 
 as he was drinking at a well, and with one 
 blow of his tulwar half severed the head
 
 MUTINY AT MUTTRA— MAY 30th, 1857. 
 
 193 
 
 from the body of his victim. Barber fled 
 up the road, several mutineers giving chase; 
 he shot one horse and two of the troopers, 
 when he was hit with a ball, and then cut 
 down. The three bodies were brought in to 
 the cantonment in the course of the evening: 
 the head of poor Hayes was frightfully 
 hacked about; his right hand cut off^, and 
 his left fearfully lacerated; his w.itch, ring, 
 boots, ail gone, and his clothes cut and 
 torn to pieces. The murderers made off for 
 Delhi. 
 
 The gallant band at Mynpoorie, un- 
 daunted by this terrible catastrophe, con- 
 tinued to maintain their position. The 
 Cutchery, or court-house, was a large 
 brick building, from tlie top of which they 
 were prepared to make a good fight if no 
 guns were brought by the enemy. Their 
 force consisted of 100 of the Gwalior horse, 
 under Major Raikes (the brother of the 
 judge at Agra), who raised cavalry and in- 
 fantry in all directions. At the commence- 
 ment of June the recruits numbered about 
 100 ; and the total defence was completed 
 by a few men of the 9th Native infantry, 
 who had remained true to their salt.* 
 
 Troops could not be spared from Agra for 
 the reoccupation of Alighur; but a party of 
 volunteers, headed by Captain Watson, and 
 accompanied by Mr. Cocks, of the civil 
 service,! proceeded thither, and succeeded in 
 making themselves literally " masters of the 
 situation," and in reopening the road be- 
 tween them and Agra. 
 
 The extremely " irregular" character of 
 the warfare carried on in the highways and 
 byeways of the North-West Provinces, may 
 be understood from tlie following extract 
 from a priviiie letter from the "Volunteers' 
 Camp, Alighur," dated June 5th, 1857 : — 
 
 " Some two nights ago we made a dnur (a foray or 
 raid) to the village of Khyr, where a Rao| had pos- 
 sessed himself of the place, and was defying British 
 authority. We fell upon the village, after travelling 
 all night, at about 8 A.M. ; surrounded it, and 
 one party entered and asked the Rao to surrender. 
 He at first refused ; hut, on being threatened and 
 told that his stronghold should be burst open, he 
 opened the doors, and was immediately taken 
 prisoner with thirteen of his adherents. The little 
 army he had assembled had dispersed early in the 
 morning, not expecting we should have been there 
 80 soon. We walked by the side of the prisoner 
 from the place where he was taken, to a mango tope 
 
 • Letter of Captain Carey, 17th Native infantry; 
 dated, "Mynpoorie, June 2nd, 1857." 
 
 t Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 298. 
 
 X The Bombay correspondent of the Times states 
 that this chief was Rao Bhossah Sing, of ,Burtowlee, 
 VOL. II. 2 c 
 
 out of the village, where he was tried. We reached 
 it in half-an-hour, when he was tried and hung for 
 rebellion. 
 
 " Last evening, again, we received information that 
 some 150 Goojurs had assembled eight or ten miles 
 from this to intercept the dawk. We were ordered 
 out at once in pursuit, and came upon them about 
 5 P.M. They got sight of us at a distance, and 
 took to their heels, and we after them. Several of 
 them were shot or cut down. We were then ordered 
 to fire their villages, which some of us did by 
 dismounting and applying our cigars to what was 
 combustible. We then returned to Alighur, and 
 have not the slightest idea what will be our next 
 move. The road is perfectly safe from Agra to 
 this."§ 
 
 While the volunteers were hanging real 
 or suspected rebels by drum-head courts- 
 martial, and setting villages on fire by the 
 aid of their cigars, Mr. Colvin was striving 
 to check the insurrectionary spirit fast 
 spreading through his government, by endea- 
 vouring to enlist the landholders on his side. 
 The Agra Gazette Extraordinary contained 
 a distinct pledge, the redemption of which 
 is now anxiously looked for by those who 
 have fulfilled the preliminary conditions. 
 There is no mistaking language so distinct 
 as this : — 
 
 " Whereas it has been ascertained that 
 in the districts of Meerut, and in and imme- 
 diately round Dellii, some short-sighted 
 rebels have dared to raise resistance to the 
 British government : it is hereby declared, 
 that every talookdar, zemindar, or other 
 owner of land, who may join in such 
 resistance, will forfeit all rights in landed 
 property, which will be confiscated, and 
 transferred in perpetnity to the faithful 
 talookdars and zemindars of the same quar- 
 ter, who may show by their acts of obedience 
 to the government, and exertions for the 
 maintenance of tranquillity, that they de- 
 serve reward and favour from the state." || 
 
 The close of May arrived, and the Native 
 troops at Agra (the 44th and 67th), although 
 they had been restrained from open mu- 
 tiny, had yet, by nightly fires and secret 
 meetings, given indications of decided dis- 
 affection. A company of one of these 
 regiments was sent from Agra to Muttra, a 
 distance of thirty-five miles, to relieve 
 another company on duty at that ancient 
 and once wealthy Hmdoo city. On the 
 30th, both companies, relieving and relieved, 
 
 and that the volunteers were led by Mr. Watson, 
 magistrate of Alighur, and Lieutenant Greathed. — 
 Times, July 15th, 1857. 
 
 § Titnes, Julv 14th, 1857. 
 
 II Quoted in 'Times, June 29th, 1857.
 
 194 
 
 MUTINY AT NUSSEERABAD— MAY 28th, 1857. 
 
 threw oflF their allegiance, plundered the [ men, but not injured, though they are 
 treasury, and marched to Delhi. This cir- I reported to have been fired at. The 30th 
 cumstance decided Mr. Colvin on the dis- [ Native infantry remained neutral, neither 
 
 armment of the 44th and 67th, which was 
 accomplished on the morning of the 31st, 
 and the men were dismissed to their homes 
 on two months' leave of absence. 
 
 Rajpootana, or Rajast'han. — While the 
 events just recorded disturbed the peace of 
 Agra and the N.W. Provinces from within, 
 dangers were arising in the neighbouring 
 territories of Rajpootana, or the Saugor 
 District (as the revenue officers term that 
 country), which threatened to bring an 
 overwhelming number of mutineers to bear 
 upon the scattered Europeans. 
 
 The stations of Nusseerabad (near Aj- 
 meer) and Neemuch, usually garrisoned from 
 Bombay, had been, at the beginning of the 
 year, drained of the infantry and guns of 
 the army of that presidency by the pressure 
 of the Persian war. There remained a 
 wing of the 1st Bombay light cavalry 
 (Lancers) cantoned at Nusseerabad ; but 
 that station received for infantry the 15th 
 Bengal Native regiment from Meerut, and 
 the 30th from Agra ; and for artillery, a 
 company of the 7th Bengal battalion. To 
 Neemuch, the 72nd Native infantry, and a 
 troop of Native horse artillery, were sent 
 from Agra, and a wing of the 1st Bengal 
 light cavalry from Mhow. Great excitement 
 had been caused at both stations by the 
 
 obeying orders nor joining the mutineers. 
 The aspect of aSairs seemed so alarming, 
 that the immediate evacuation of the 
 station was resolved on, and the ladies and 
 children were moved out while light re- 
 mained. The party retreated towards 
 Beavvur, halting half-way at midnight, to 
 rest and let stragglers assemble ; and here 
 the dead body of Colonel Penny was 
 brought in. The colonel had beeu too ill 
 on the previous night to give orders for the 
 retreat, and had apparently fallen oflF his 
 horse and died on the road from exhaus- 
 tion. The other fugitives reached Beawur 
 in safety. Eleven of the Lancers joined the 
 rebels ; the conduct of the remainder was 
 most exemplary. " Cantoned with two 
 mutinous regiments, the regiment has," 
 Captain Hardy reports, " been nightly on 
 duty for a fortnight past, and entirely 
 responsible for the safety of the canton- 
 ment. They have beeu constantly assailed 
 with abuse, with no other result than telling 
 their officers. They turned out in the 
 promptest way to attack the mutineers ; and 
 they marched out of camp, when ordered, 
 as they stood, leaving their families and 
 everything they had in the world behind 
 them. They are now without tents iu a 
 hot plain, and without any possibility of 
 
 tidings from Delhi and Meerut ; and at | being comfortable ; but up to this time all 
 
 half-past three in the afternoon of the 28th 
 of May, the 15th Native infantry, at Nus- 
 seerabad, broke into open mutiny by seizing 
 the guns of Captain Timbrell's battery, 
 while the horses of the troop, with the men, 
 
 has been most cheerfully borne, and all 
 duty correctly performed."* 
 
 The governor-general directed that the 
 Native officers who had most distinguished 
 themselves at Nusseerabad should be pro- 
 
 had gone to water. Captain Hardy, and moted, and liberal compensation " awarded 
 
 the other officers of the lancers, hastened 
 to their lines, and, in a few minutes, the 
 troopers were mounted, formed into open 
 column, and led against the mutineers, who 
 opened the guns upon their assailants. 
 
 for the loss of property abandoned in the 
 cantonment and subsequently destroyed, 
 when the lancers, in obedience to orders, 
 marched out to protect the families of the 
 European officers, leaving their own un- 
 
 Captain Spottiswoode was killed at the head guarded in cantonments." At night the 
 
 of his troop, after getting into the battery. 
 Cornet Newberry was also shot while in 
 the act of charging; and Captain Hardy 
 was wounded, with several officers. Other 
 charges were made, but without success, 
 until Colonel Penny ordered the troops 
 to desist, and form in readiness to act upon 
 the mutineers, in case they should leave 
 their lines and come into the plain. About 
 
 Nusseerabad lines were set on fire, and on 
 the following morning the rebels started for 
 the favourite rendezvous of Delhi. 
 
 The tidings of the revolt at Nusseerabad 
 turned the scale at Neemuch, where the 
 officers had been exerting themselves to the 
 uttermost to check the evident tendency of 
 tha men, by affecting a confidence which 
 they were far from feeling. Colonel Abbott 
 
 five o'clock the officers of the 15th Native slept every night in a tent in the lines of 
 infantry took refuge in the lines of the . Despatch from Captain Hardy to the Major of 
 Lancers, having been expelled by their own Brigade, Rajpootana field force, May 30th, 1SJ7.
 
 MUTINY AT NEEMUGH— JUNE 3rd, 1857. 
 
 195 
 
 his regiment, without a guard or sentry; 
 and, latterly, all officers did the same even 
 with their families. One wing of the 7th 
 regiment Gwalior contingent held the for- 
 tified square and treasury ; the other wing 
 was encamped close to, but outside, the 
 walls. Towards the close of May the 
 utmost pauic had prevailed in the Sudder 
 Bazaar; and, among the current reports, 
 was that of an intended attack on Nee- 
 much by a British force, which was a per- 
 version of a plan for the protection of 
 Jawud (a walled town, about twelve miles 
 from Neemuch), by the movement there of 
 the Kotah force, under Major Burton. 
 
 On the morning of the 2nd of June, 
 Colonel Abbott received information of the 
 state of feeling in the Native lines, and 
 warned Captain Lloyd, the superintendent, 
 that the outbreak could not be delayed 
 beyond a few hours. Captain Lloyd made 
 arrangements for securing a few of the 
 most valuable records, and for insuring a 
 line of retreat for fugitives by the Oodipoor 
 road, by means of a detachment of mounted 
 police. Meanwhile, Colonel Abbott assem- 
 bled the Native oflBcers, and, after some 
 discussion, induced them to swear (the 
 Mohammedans on the Koran, the Brah- 
 mins on Ganges-water) that they now 
 trusted each other (want of mutual confi- 
 dence having been previously believed to 
 exist), and would remain true to their salt. 
 The commanding officer was requested to 
 take an oath of faith in their good inten- 
 tions, which he did ; and the meeting was 
 thus concluded, apparently to the satisfac- 
 tion of all parties. That day, and the follow- 
 ing one, passed quietly; but, on the second 
 night, symptoms of mutiny were shown by 
 the Native artillerymen ; and at eleven 
 o'clock several of them rushed to the guns, 
 and, loading them, fired two off, evidently 
 as a preconcerted signal. The cavalry 
 rushed from their lines, and the 72nd fol- 
 lowed the example. The wing of the 7th 
 Gwalior regiment was marched inside on 
 the report of the guns, and rewards of 
 100, 300, and 500 rupees each were ofiered 
 to the sepoys, naiks, and havildars re- 
 spectively, on condition of their successfully 
 defending the fort and treasury. For 
 nearly three hours the garrison remained 
 firm, watching the mutineers thrusting 
 lighted torches, fastened to long poles, into 
 the thatch of the bungalows. At the expi- 
 ration of that time two more guns were 
 fired ; when an old Rajpoot, of fifty years' 
 
 standing in the service, ordered his men to 
 open the gates, desired the officers to save 
 themselves, and eventually caused them to 
 be escorted to a place of comparative safety. 
 Captain Macdonald and his companions 
 resisted, but were told, t jat if they did not 
 hasten to escape, they would assuredly be 
 massacred by the sepoys of other regiments, 
 and those of their own would be unable to 
 defend them. The manner of the flight 
 which ensued was not unlike that from 
 Delhi, only the number of the fugitives was 
 far smaller, and the road shorter and less 
 perilous. Mrs. Burton (the wife of the 
 commanding oflBcer of the Kotah force) 
 states, that having timely notice of the 
 mutiny, she quitted Neemuch immediately 
 before the outbreak, and took refuge at the 
 small fort of Jawud, which was under the 
 charge of her eldest son. The next morn- 
 ing fifteen officers, three ladies, and three 
 young children came to the gates, having 
 escaped on foot from Neemuch. An hour 
 later. Major Burton and two of his sons 
 arrived, having preceded the force under 
 his charge, consisting, according to Mrs. 
 Burton's account, of 1,500 men, who had 
 already marched " ninety miles in three 
 days," and, being quite exhausted, were left 
 to rest by their leader, while he proceeded 
 to Jawud, to provide for the safety of his 
 wife and other children. A report came 
 that the rebels were advancing to attack 
 Jawud, attended by a retinue of convicts re- 
 leased from the Neemuch gaol ; and Major 
 Burton, considering the fort utterly inca- 
 pable of resisting guns, abandoned it, and 
 marched oflF with the small garrison and 
 the Europeans who had taken refuge there, 
 to his own camp, sixteen miles distant. The 
 next morning the major advanced against 
 the mutineers; but they had learned his 
 intention, and were gone with the guns in 
 the direction of Agra. 
 
 The treasury had been sacked ; every 
 bungalow but one had been burned to the 
 ground ; and the native inhabitants had so 
 completely shared the misfortunes of the 
 Europeans, that Mrs. Burton writes — " The 
 shopkeepers have lost everything, so that 
 we have not the means of buying common 
 clothes."* 
 
 It does not appear that any massacre 
 took place, though this was at first asserted. 
 The carriage of Mrs. Walker, the wife of 
 an artillery officer, was fired into by 
 mounted troopers, but neither she nor her 
 • Letter published in the 31im«», Aujrust 7th, 1867.
 
 196 
 
 GENEROSITY OP RANA OF OODIPOOR— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 child are stated to have been injured. The 
 rana of Oodipoor dispatched a force of his 
 best troops against the mutineers, under 
 Captain Showers, the political agent for 
 Mewar; and behaved with princely gene- 
 rosity to the fugitives who took refuge in 
 his dominions. He sent escorts to meet 
 them ; gave up a palace at Oodipoor for 
 their reception ; supplied them with food 
 and clothing as long as they chose to stay ; 
 furnished them with escorts to the different 
 stations they desired to reach ; and even 
 visited them in person — a very unusual 
 compliment from the representative of a 
 most ancient and haughty Hindoro dynasty. 
 The chivalry of the Rajpoots was manifested 
 equally in the villages as in the capital 
 of Mewar. One of the fugitives. Dr. Mur- 
 ray, surgeon of the 72nd Native infantry, 
 has given a graphic account of his escape 
 with Dr. Gane to Kussaunda. It was a 
 bright moonlight night, and the distance 
 from Neemuch only five miles ; but the 
 ground was heavy ; and beside being wearied 
 with previous excitement, the two Euro- 
 peans were parched with thirst. They there- 
 fore awakened the villagers, and asked 
 to be taken to the head man, which was 
 immediately done ; and they found him in 
 a small fort, with some half-dozen com- 
 panions. He received the wanderers with 
 great courtesy; had a place cleared for 
 them in his own house ; set milk, chupat- 
 ties, dhol, rice, and mangoes before them ; 
 after partaking of which they lay down to 
 rest. About nine o'clock next morning, a 
 party of the Ist light cavalry, who were 
 scouring the country, arrived, and shouting 
 
 " Death to the Feringhees \" insisted on 
 their surrender. The two doctors thought 
 their case hopeless ; but the Rajpoots put 
 them in a dilapidated shed ou one of the 
 bastions, saying — " You have eaten with 
 us, and are our guests ; and now, if you 
 were our greatest enemy we would defend 
 you." The troopers threatened to attack 
 the village ; but the Rajpoots replied — 
 " Kussaunda belongs to the rana ; we are 
 his subjects ; and if you molest us he will 
 send 10,000 soldiers after you." Ou this, 
 the troopers went away much enraged, 
 threatening to return with the guns in the 
 evening, and blow the little fort to pieces. 
 The fugitives, fearing the rebels might keep 
 their word, did not await their threatened 
 return, but started afresh on their journey, 
 escorted by several Rajpoots. At a Bheel 
 village named Bheeliya Kegaon, situated in 
 the heart of the jungle, great hospitality 
 was evinced. On reaching Burra Sadree, 
 on the 5th of June, the adventurers found 
 the majority of the officers of the 7th 
 Gwalior contingent of the 1st cavalry and 
 artillery, assembled there in safety with 
 their wives and childreu. The party moved 
 from Burra Sadree to Doongla on the 7th, 
 and, on the 9th, were joined by the Ood'- 
 poor force under Captain Showers, who 
 was proceeding in pursuit of the mutineers. 
 The oflBcers (now "unattached" by the 
 mutiny of their men) accompanied the ex- 
 pedition, except a few who went with the 
 women and children to Oodipoor, where 
 they remained, from the 12th to the 22nd 
 of June, in perfect safety, until they were 
 able to rejoin their countrymen.* 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PUNJAB AND THE PESHAWUR VALLEY. -MAY, 1857. 
 
 Lahore. — A telegraphic message reached 
 the great political capital of the Punjab on 
 the morning of the 12th of May, conveying 
 an exaggerated account of the massacres 
 which had taken place at Meerut and 
 
 • The goTemment return published on May 6th, 
 1858, of all Europeans killeu during the rebellion, 
 gives the wife and three cliildren of Sergeant Supple 
 u having been " burnt to death in boxes." They 
 
 Delhi ; and declaring that, at the latter 
 place, every man, woman, and chUd, having 
 the appearance or dress of a Christian, 
 had beeu massacred. The troops stationed 
 at Lahore and at Meean-Meer (the large 
 
 appear to have been the only victims of the out- 
 break at Neemuch ; and it is therefore probable that 
 they had hidden themselves, and perished in the 
 general conflagration.
 
 LAHORE, THE CAPITAL OF THE PUNJAB. 
 
 197 
 
 military cantonment, five or six miles from 
 the city), are thus stated in the govern- 
 ment report : — 
 
 " H.M.'s 81st foot, 881 strong ; and 54 in hospital. 
 Two troops of horse arlillery,comprising — Europeans, 
 215 ; Natives, 56 ; and 11 in hospital. Four companies 
 of foot artillery — Europeans, 282; Natives, 143j 21 in 
 hospital. The 8th light cavalry- — Europeans, 16 j 
 Natives, 498; exclusive of five in hospital. The 16th 
 (grenadiers), 26th (light), and 49th Native infantry 
 regiment!! — European officers, 47; Natives, 3,176; 
 exclusive of" 121 in hospital. A detachment of 54 
 rank and file (Native infantry), with three Native 
 officers, posted at Googaira; and of 93, with seven 
 officers (one European and six Native), at Jutog."* 
 
 There do not appear to have been any 
 indications of disaffection exhibited at La- 
 hore, either by incendiary fires or night 
 meetings ; still the Europeans could not but 
 anxiously question the degree to which the 
 sepoys might be disposed to sympathise 
 with the cause of revolt. The city itself had 
 a population of 100,000 persons, of whom 
 a large proportion were hereditary soldiers — 
 Seiks and Mohammedans ; from the former 
 class the spirit of the Sing Guru, and " the 
 Baptism of the Sword," had not wholly 
 passed away; while many of the latter, sub- 
 jected first by the Seiks, and subsequently 
 by the British, would, it was believed, be only 
 too ready to follow the example of insur- 
 rection. The Persian treaty had been 
 scarcely ratified ; and the inflammatory pro- 
 clamation of the Shah, calling on all the 
 faithful to free the land from the yoke of 
 " the treacherous tribe of the British," was 
 yet fresh in the public mind.f 
 
 Sir John Lawrence, the chief commis- 
 sioner, vras absent at Rawul Pindec ; but it 
 was " the essence of the Punjab administra- 
 tion to have good subordinate oflBcers,"J 
 energetic in action, and not afraid of re- 
 sponsibility. 
 
 Immediately on receipt of the telegraphic 
 message of the 12th of May, Mr. Mont- 
 gomery, the judicial commissioner, assem- 
 bled in council the following gentlemen : — 
 
 Mr. D. M'Leod, the Financial Commissioner; 
 Colonel Macpherson, Military Secretary to the Chief 
 Commissioner ; Mr. A. Roberts, Commissioner of the 
 Lahore Division ; Colonel R. Lawrence, Comman- 
 dant of the Punjab Police ; Major Ommaney, Chief 
 Engineer of the Punjab; Captain Hutchinson, 
 Assistant Engineer. 
 
 All concurred in the necessity for promp'' 
 
 • Pari. Papers (Commons), February 9th, 1858 ; 
 p. 4. 
 
 t Oi«t« tn the Punjab ; by Frederick Cooper, Esq., 
 deputy-commissioner of Umritsir; p. xiii. 
 
 titude ; and Mr. Montgomery, accompanied 
 by Colonel Macpherson, proceeded at once 
 to Meean-Meer, to iufoim Brigadier Corbett 
 of the telegraphic intelligence, and devise 
 means of meeting the danger. His plan 
 was, to deprive the Native troops of their 
 ammunition and gun-caps, and to throw 
 additional Europeans into the fort; but this 
 intention was supplanted by the necessity 
 for more decisive measures, consequent on 
 the discovery made, during the day, by a 
 Seik non-commissioned ofiicer in the police 
 corps, of a conspiracy formed by the Meean- 
 Meer Native troops, " involving the safety of 
 the Lahore, fort, and the lives of all the 
 European residents in the cantonment and 
 the civil station of Anarkullee." 
 
 The statement of an actual conspiracy is 
 distinctly made both by Mr. Cooper and by 
 a gentleman writing from Lahore, whose 
 narrative forms the staple of the following 
 account. § According to the former autho- 
 rity, " intercepted correspondence" was the 
 channel by which the information recorded 
 by him was obtained ; but neither writer 
 gives any exact data on the subject. It is 
 possible, therefore, that the scheme which 
 they speak of as digested and approved, 
 amounted in reality to nothing beyond the 
 crude suggestions of one or two discon- 
 tented sepoys. In the absence, however, of 
 oflBcially recorded particulars, tlie anony- 
 mous narrative of one of the actors in the 
 proceedings at Lahore, is very interesting. 
 
 The fort itself, situated within the city 
 walls, was ordinarily garrisoned by one 
 company, a European regiment, one of foot 
 artillery, and a wing of one of the Native 
 regiments from Meean-Meer ; the chief ob- 
 ject of this force being to keep a check on 
 the city, and to guard the govei'nment 
 treasury. 
 
 During the former half of May, the 26th 
 Native infantry had furnished the wing on 
 guard, which was, in due course, to be re- 
 lieved, on the 15th of the month, by a wing 
 of the 49th Native infantry. It was ar- 
 ranged by the conspirators, that while the 
 wings of both regiments were in the fort 
 together, in the act of relief, the united 
 force, amounting to about 1,100 men (all 
 detachments sent on guard being made up 
 to their full strength), were to rush on their 
 officers, seize the gates, and take possession 
 
 J Letter of Times' correspondent, dated " Lahore, 
 May 28th." 
 
 § Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, January, 
 1858 : article entitled " Poorbeah Mutiny."
 
 198 NATIVE TROOPS DISARMED AT LAHORE— MAY 13th, 1857. 
 
 of the citadel, the magazine, and the trea- 
 sury. The small body of Europeans, not 
 above 150 in all, consisting of eighty of 
 H.M.'s 8Ist, and seventy of the artillery, 
 would, it was expected, be easily over- 
 whelmed ; and then an empty hospital close 
 by, in the deserted lines at Anarkullee, was 
 to be set on fire, as a signal to the rebels at 
 Meean-Meer, of the success of the opening 
 scene of the plot. The rise was expected to 
 become general in the cantonmeuts ; the 
 guns were to be seized, the central gaol 
 forced, its 2,000 prisoners liberated ; and the 
 triumph was to terminate in a promiscuous 
 massacre of Europeans. 
 
 Information subsequently obtained, is 
 alleged to have shown that the plot ex- 
 tended much beyond Lahore, and included 
 Ferozpoor, Phillour, JuUundur, and Um- 
 ritsir. 
 
 The officers of the Native regiments 
 were, in this, as in almost every instance, 
 slow to believe the unwelcome tidings. 
 Each one was disposed to repudiate, 
 on behalf of his own men, the charge of 
 complicity; :yet the brigadier resolved on 
 the bold and unprecedented step of disarm- 
 ing the whole of the Native troops in the 
 station. The following morning was fixed 
 for the time of the proposed coup d'etat, 
 and arrangements were made with anxious 
 secrecy. That evening (the 12th) a ball was 
 to be given by the station to the officers of 
 H.M.'s 81st regiment. The fear of afford- 
 ing any cause of suspicion to the sepoys, 
 prevented its being postponed. The Euro- 
 peans assembled according to previous ar- 
 rangements, and the dancing was carried 
 on with more spirit than gaiety. The 
 ladies could not but glance at the "piled 
 arms" in the corners of the rooms. Their 
 partners could not but watch the doors and 
 windows in readiness to seize each one his 
 ready weapon. But all continued quiet ; 
 and at two in the morning the party broke 
 up ; and after a few more anxious hours, the 
 gentlemen assembled on the parade-ground. 
 Civilians and soldiers — all were there. 
 The real point at issue was one on which 
 the lives of themselves, their wives and 
 children, depended ; but even the avowed 
 cause of the parade was an important and 
 an anxious one. The Europeans iiad long 
 viewed the sepoy army as the bulwark of 
 British power in India; and its continued 
 allegiance was confidently expected, as en- 
 sured by the mutual interest of the employers 
 and the employed. Now that a new light 
 
 was thrown on the subject, the officers 
 looked with strangely mingled feelings upon 
 the men they had trained and disciplined, 
 as they marched up and stood in order, 
 to hear the general order for the disband- 
 ment of a portion of the Native infantry 
 at Barrackpoor. 
 
 The order was read at the heads of the 
 several Native regiments : then, aS--Jf to 
 form a part of the brigade manoeuvres of the 
 day, the whole of the troops were counter- 
 marched, so as to face inwards — on one side 
 the Native regiments at quarter-column dis- 
 tance, and in front of them the 81st Queen's 
 (only five companies) in line, with the guns 
 along their rear. The crisis had arrived; 
 and Lieutenant Mocatta, adjutant of the 
 26th Native infantry, stepped forward, and 
 read an address to the sepoys, explaining 
 how the mutinous spirit, which had been so 
 unexpectedly found to pervade other regi- 
 ments, had determined the brigadier to 
 take prompt measures to prevent its spread 
 among those under his control — his object 
 being not so much the peace of the country, 
 which the British could themselves main- 
 tain, but rather the preservation of the good 
 nameof regiments whose colours told of many 
 glorious battle-fields. It was therefore de- 
 sirable to prevent the men from involving 
 themselves in a ruinous mutiny. The exor- 
 dium was sufficiently significant. While it 
 was being read, the 81st, according to a pre- 
 arrangement, formed into subdivisions, and 
 fell back between the guns ; so that when 
 the address ended with two short words — 
 " Pile arms" — the 16th grenadiers (to whom 
 the order was first given) found themselves 
 confronted, not by a thin line of European 
 soldiers, but by twelve guns loaded with 
 grape, and portfires burning. 
 
 The 16th wasnocommon regiment; its men 
 had been numbered among General Nott's 
 " noble sepoys" at Candahar and Ghuznee. 
 They had served with distinction in Cabool, 
 Maharajpoor, Moodkee, Ferozshuhur, So- 
 braon ; and, in evidence of their earlier ex- 
 ploits, had an embroidered star on their 
 colours, in memory of their presence at 
 Seringapatam ; and a royal tiger under a 
 banian tree, for Mysore. A slight hesita- 
 tion and delay were perceptible among their 
 ranks ; but the clear voice of Colonel Renny 
 ordering his men to load, with the ringing 
 response of each ramrod as it drove home 
 its ball-cartridge, denounced, with irresis- 
 tible force, the madness of resistance. The 
 waverers sullenly piled arms, as did also the
 
 LAHORE, UMRITSIR, AND GOVINDGHUR— MAY, 1857. 
 
 199 
 
 49th Native infantry and a portion of the 
 26th liglit infantry. The 8th cavalry un- 
 buckled and dropped their sabres. Thus, 
 to the unspeakable relief of the 600 Eu- 
 ropeans, the 2,500 soldiers stood disarmed, 
 and were marched off to their lines com- 
 paratively harmless. The troops no longer 
 to be trusted with arms, had been actively 
 employed in the conquest of the country. 
 The sepoys in the fort were dealt with in an 
 equally summary manner. Major Spencer, 
 who commanded the wing of the 26th light 
 infantry in the fort, was privately informed 
 that his men would be relieved on the 
 morning of the 14th, instead of on the 15th, 
 as before ordered. At daybreak on the 
 14th, three companies of the 81st, under 
 Colonel Smith, entered the fort, to the utter 
 dismay of the sepoys, who obeyed without 
 demur the order to lay down their arms, 
 and were speedily marched off to their own 
 lines at Meean-Meer. 
 
 The immediate danger being thus averted, 
 provision was made for the future in the 
 same masterly manner. Very happy was 
 Lahore, alike in its chief military and civil 
 authority ; and especially so in the cordial 
 co-operation of the soldier and the "poli- 
 tical." Brigadier Corbett is described as 
 a man to whom seven-and-thirty years of 
 Indian service had given ripe experience, yet 
 robbed of none of the mental and physical 
 vigour necessary to cope with unprecedented 
 difficulties. Responsibility, the bugbear of 
 so many Indian officials, had no terrors for 
 him ; and he devoted himself to the detail 
 of the great military movements which were 
 about to be made; while his coadjutor, Mont- 
 gomery, acting for the absent chief commis- 
 sioner, procured the stoppage of all sepoys' 
 letters passing through the post-offices, and 
 the removal of all treasure from the smaller 
 civil stations to places of greater security ; 
 having it immediately taken out of the charge 
 of Hindoostanee guards, and escorted by 
 Punjabee police. Montgomery urged on the 
 district officers (in a circular very like those 
 issued by General Wellesley, while engaged 
 in the pacification of Malabar in 1803), that 
 "no signs of alarm or excitement should 
 be exhibited, but that each functionary 
 should be prepared to act, and careful to 
 obtain the best information from every pos- 
 sible source." To Frederick Cooper, the 
 deputy-commissioner at Umritsir, he wrote 
 privately on the 12th of May, urging him to 
 keep the strictest watch on the sepoys sta- 
 tioned there (the 59th Native infantry, and 
 
 a company of foot artillery), as also on the 
 state of feeling among the population ; and 
 to take every possible precaution, "so as 
 to be ready in case of a row." 
 
 Umritsir was the holy city of the Seiks. 
 The adjacent fort of Govindghur was named 
 after their great general, judge, and priest, 
 Govind Sing. The Koh-i-Noor had been 
 deposited here previous to its seizure by 
 the British ; and the possession of the fort, 
 like that of the famous gem, was looked upon 
 as a talismanic pledge of power. The ques- 
 tion arose, whether the " Khalsa,"* shaken 
 in their confidence in the " Ikbal" (luck or 
 good fortune) of the English, might not be 
 induced to co-operate even with the hated 
 Mohammedan and despised Hindoo, for the 
 expulsion of the foreigners who had equally 
 humbled every native power ? Mr. Cooper 
 possessed much personal influence, which 
 he used in controlling the Seik and Mo- 
 hammedan leaders. Besides this, the harvest 
 in the Punjab had been singularly abundant; 
 and the Jat, or agricultural population, con- 
 tented themselves, had no sympathy with 
 the grievances of the " Poorbeahs," or East- 
 erns, as the Bengal sepoys were usually 
 called in Western India, on account of their 
 being raised chiefly from territory situated 
 to the east of the Ganges. In the evening 
 of the 14th, an express from Lahore brought 
 warning of the rumoured intention of the 
 disarmed regiments of Meean-Meer to fly 
 somewhere — possibly in the direction of 
 Ferozpoor; but more probably to attack 
 Govindghur, in reliance on the fraternal 
 feeling of the sepoy garrison. 
 
 Mr. Macnaghten, the assistant-commis- 
 sioner, volunteered to go midway on the 
 road to Lahore, and raise a band of villagers 
 to intercept the expected rebels. The 
 country-people responded with enthusiasm. 
 About midnight, Mr. Macnaghten, hearing 
 a great tramp, mustered his volunteers, and 
 formed a barricade across the road. The vil- 
 lagers suggested that the oxen and bullocks 
 should remain, because the Hindoos would 
 not cut through them ; but the experiment 
 was not tried ; for, happily, the new-comers 
 proved to be about eighty of H.M.'s 81st, 
 who had been sent off from Lahore, thirty 
 miles distant, on the previous morning, in 
 eklcas, or light native carts, drawn by ponies. 
 The safety of Phillour, the chief place in 
 the Jullundur or Traus-Sutlej division, was 
 
 * The Khalsa (literally, the elect or chosen), was 
 tlie proud title assumed by the Seiks on conquering 
 the Punjab.
 
 200 
 
 LOYALTY OF KAPORTHELLA BAJAH— MAY, 1857. 
 
 obtained by stationing a strong European 
 detachment within the fort, which had pre- 
 viously been wholly left in the bauds of 
 the natives ; not a single European sleep- 
 ing within its walls. The care of the civil 
 lines, and the peace of the town, was the 
 next important object; and the first con- 
 sideration of the ofiBcer iu charge (the 
 deputy-commissioner. Captain Farrington) 
 was, what course would be taken by Rajah 
 Rundheer Sing, whose territory lay be- 
 tween JuUundur and the river Beas. The 
 Kaporthella chief was one of the Seik 
 sirdars whose estates were partly confis- 
 cated by the English on the annexation 
 of the JuUuudur Doab in 1846. The pre- 
 sent rajah succeeded bis father in 1853, 
 and is described as a handsome young man 
 of about six-and-twenty, who, " with the 
 manly bearing and address of a Seik noble, 
 combines a general intelligence far beyond 
 his class, and a deep sympathy with Eng- 
 lish modes of life and thought." Captain 
 Farrington immediately sent to Kapor- 
 thella for assistance. The rajah had been 
 absent on a pilgrimage to Hurdwarj but 
 was on his return home, and reached Phil- 
 lour on the 11th of May, where his minister 
 met him with tidings of the telegraphic 
 intelligence, and, appeal for aid. This was 
 heartily given : the rajah marched straight 
 into JuUundur, placed his escort at the dis- 
 posal of the British, and furnished, besides, 
 about 500 men and two guns, which force 
 Captain Farrington distributed for the de- 
 fence ofithe treasury, gaol, and other public 
 buildings. 
 
 In the course of the first eventful week 
 of the mutiny, it became evident that the 
 Seiks and Jats of the Punjab, generally, 
 had no intention of making common cause 
 with the Bengal army. On the contrary, 
 they had old scores of their own, which 
 they hoped to have an opportunity of 
 wiping off. It is said they were specially 
 ■eager to- aid in the capture of Delhi, in 
 .consequence of the existence of a prophecy, 
 that they, in conjunction with the " topee 
 wallahs" (hat wearers) who should come over 
 the sea, would lay the head of the son of 
 the Delhi sovereign on the very same spot 
 where that of their Guru (spiritual chief) 
 had been exposed 180 years before, by 
 order of the emperor Aurupgzebe; and 
 this, as the course of the narrative will 
 show, they actually accomplished. 
 
 The Peskawur Valley was a point the 
 security of which was of extreme impor- 
 
 tance. The force stationed at Peshawur, 
 Nowshera, Murdaun, and the frontier 
 forts at the foot of the surrounding hills, 
 comprised nearly 14,000 men of all arms, 
 of whom less than a third were Europeans. 
 The exact proportions of the Native troops 
 in the Peshawur district have not been 
 stated ; but according to a valuable state 
 paper recently published by the Punjab 
 government, the total Native force then 
 serving in the Punjab and Delhi territory, 
 consisted of 24,000 Punjabees and 41,000 
 Hindoostanees.* 
 
 Of the artillery, twenty-four light field 
 guns were partially manned and driven by 
 Hindoostanees, and the eight guns of the 
 mountain-train battery entirely so. 
 
 Very early in the crisis, Rajah Sahib 
 Dyal, an old and faithful adherent of gov- 
 ernment, asked Cooper, of Umritsir, " how 
 matters looked at Peshawur ?" The reply 
 
 was satisfactory. "Otherwise ," said the 
 
 questioner ; and he took up the skirt cf his 
 mushn robe, and rolled it significantly up, 
 as if preparing for flight.f Nor were his 
 fears unreasonable. 
 
 The city of Peshawur is situated forty 
 miles from the Indus, and ten from the 
 mouth of the Khyber Pass, which is itself 
 formed and guarded by the central and 
 highest of the snow-capped mountains that 
 surround the fertile horse-shoe valley of 
 Peshawur. The predominating character- 
 istics of the city are Indian; yet many in- 
 dications exist there of Afghan life and man- 
 ners — such as the trees planted through- 
 out the streets ; the western fruits exposed 
 for sale ; the strict seclusion of the women ; 
 above all, the prevalence of the stern 
 aquiline Jewish physiognomy among the 
 population. The cantonments resembled 
 all other Indian ones, being only re- 
 markable for extent. The parade-ground 
 was sufficient for 6,000 soldiers. There 
 were the same white houses, each in its 
 own enclosure ; the same straight lines of 
 road ; the same red brick barracks for the 
 Europeans ; the same mud huts for the 
 Native troops.J Like Agra, Peshawur had 
 a fanatical Mohammedan population ; a 
 crowded bazaar, with its reckless, ruthless 
 mob ; and an additional danger existed in 
 the host of poor and plunder-loving tribes 
 
 • Quoted in Overland Indian Mail ; January 
 8th, 1859. 
 
 t Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 57. 
 
 X Article on " Peshawu,r," in f ruler's Magaiine ; 
 January, 1859.
 
 PRECAUTIONS FOR THE SECURITY OF ATTOCK. 
 
 201 
 
 who inhabited the surrounding hills, and, 
 in the event of a struggle, would assuredly 
 take part with the stronger. The wilds 
 and hilly fastnesses, wliich extend north 
 and south along our frontier for 800 miles, 
 were in the hands of some thirty or more 
 different tribes. The political manage- 
 ment of these rested with Colonel Nichol- 
 sen and Major Edwardes, under the super- 
 vision of Sir John Lawrence. 
 
 On the 13th of May, a court-martial met 
 at Pesliawur, consisting of General Reid, 
 Brigadier Cotton, Brigadier Neville Cham- 
 berlain, Colonel Edwardes, and Colonel 
 Nicholson, and resolved that the troops 
 in the hills should be concentrated in 
 Jhelum, the central point of the Punjab. 
 In accordance with this resolution, H.M.'s 
 27th foot from the hills at Nowshera, 
 H.M.'s 24th foot from Rawul Pindee, one 
 European troop of horse artillery from 
 Peshawur, the Guide corps from Murdaun, 
 16th irregalar cavalry from Rawul Pindee, 
 the native Kumaon battalion from the same 
 place, the 1st Punjab infantry from Bunnoo, 
 a wing of the 2nd Punjab cavalry from 
 Kohat, and half a company of sappers from ' 
 Attock, were ordered to concentrate at 
 Jhelum, for the purpose of forming a ' 
 movable column, in readiness to quell 
 mutiny wherever it might appear. 
 
 The danger which menaced the Punjab 
 was fully appreciated by Sir John Law- 
 rence; but without waiting to test the 
 temper of the Seiks, and even while con- 
 sidering (as he afterwards stated) that " no 
 man could hope, much less foresee, that 
 they would withstand the temptation of 
 avenging the loss of their national inde- 
 pendence,"* he nevertheless urged on the 
 commander-in-chief, in the earliest days of 
 the mutiny, the paramount necessity of 
 wresting Delhi from the hands of the 
 rebels, at any hazard and any sacrifice, 
 before the example of successful resistance 
 should become known in India — before re- 
 inforcements of mutineers should flock to 
 the imperial city, and thus teach its pre- 
 sent craven occupants the value of the 
 prestige they had so undeservedly obtained, 
 and of the advantages they at first evinced 
 so little capacity of using. 
 
 General Anson, on relinquishing his idea 
 of marching immediately on Delhi, seriously 
 
 * Letter from Sir J. Lawrence to Mr. Raikes. 
 — Revolt in the N. W. Provinces, p. 75. 
 
 t General Anson is said to have been the author of 
 a well-known Hand-book on Whist, by " Major A." 
 
 VOL. II. 2 D 
 
 discussed the advisability of fortifying Um- 
 ballah; and asked the advice of Sir John 
 Lawrence, whose reply, given in the lan- 
 guage of the whist table — with which the 
 commander-in-chief was notoriously more 
 conversant than with that of war, offensive 
 or defensivef — was simply this : " When in 
 doubt, win the trick. Clubs are trumps ; 
 not spades."J To render his advice prac- 
 ticable. Sir John Lawrence strained every 
 nerve in raising corps for reinforcements,, 
 and even parted with the famous Guide 
 corps; sending it, the Kumaon battalion, 
 and other portions of the movable column, 
 to join the army moving on Delhi, and 
 recruiting his own ranks as best he could. 
 
 The Peshawur residency, although deemed 
 unsafe for habitation, was, at this critical 
 period, richly stored. Twenty-five lacs of 
 rupees, or i6250,000, intended as a subsidy 
 for Dost Mohammed, had been most oppor- 
 tunely deposited there ; for, in the finan- 
 cial paralysis consequent on the crisis, this 
 money proved of the greatest service in 
 enabling the authorities to meet the heavy 
 commissariat expenses. § To retain it in 
 the residency was, however, only to offer a 
 strong temptation to the lowest classes of 
 the population; and it was therefore sent 
 for safety to the strong and famous old fort of 
 Attock, which commands the passage of the 
 Indus, whose waters wash its walls. The 
 fort was garrisoned by a wing of H.M.'s 
 27th foot; provisioned for a siege, and its 
 weak points strengthened. The communi- 
 cation between Attock and Peshawur (a 
 distance of forty miles) was protected by 
 sending the 55th Native infantry, and part 
 of the lOth irregular cavalry, from Nowshera, 
 ou the Attock road, across the Cabool river 
 to Murdaun, a station left vacant by the 
 departure of the Guides. The men sus- 
 pected that they had been sent there because 
 their loyalty was distrusted; and taunted 
 their colonel, Spottiswoode, with having 
 brought them to a prison. The colonel, 
 who firmly believed in the integrity of his 
 regiment, assured them to the contrary, 
 and promised to forward to head-quarters 
 any petition they might draw up. They 
 accordingly framed one; and the most pro- 
 minent grievance of which tbey complained, 
 was the breaking up in practice, though not 
 in name, of the invalid establishment || 
 
 J Cooper's Critis in the Punjab, p. 45. 
 § Ibid., p. 61. 
 
 II See Introductory Chapter to narrative of Mutiny, 
 p. 111.
 
 202 DISARMING AT PESHAWUR, MAY 21st.— HODSON'S HORSE. 
 
 Meanwhile, the 24th and 27th Native 
 infantry, at Peshawur, had held a midnight 
 meeting; and the 51st Native infantry, and 
 5th light cavalry, had likewise given evidence 
 of disaflFection. The 27th had Nicholson 
 for their colonel — the mighty man of war, 
 to whom the native chiefs now applied the 
 title once given to Runjeet Sing — the Lion 
 of the Punjab. Nicholson earnestly recom- 
 mended the disarming of the suspected regi- 
 ments; but Brigadier Cotton hesitated, until 
 Colonel Edwardes, arriving at the critical 
 moment at Peshawur, from Calcutta, stre- 
 nuously urged the adoption of the measure, 
 which was successfully carried through on 
 the morning of the 21st of May. The 
 fidelity of the 21st Native infantry was 
 deemed perfectly trustworthy; and sub- 
 sequent events proved it so. Among the 
 intercepted letters, there were none which 
 in any way compromised this regiment : on 
 the contrary, an old subahdar was found, in 
 reply to some mutinous proposition, to have 
 urged the sepoys to stand by their salt, as, 
 though the mutineers might have their way 
 for three months, after that the British 
 would be supreme again. The tone of the 
 other letters was diflFerent, though the 
 sentiments of the writers were often veiled 
 in allegorical expressions. " Pearls," or 
 white-faces, were quoted as low in the mar- 
 ket; "red wheat," or coloured faces, as 
 looking up. 
 
 Whenintelbgence reached Peshawur pon- 
 ceming the state of the 55th at Murdaun, 
 a European detachment was sent oflF thither 
 under Colonel Chute, who, on arriving 
 there, found a body of the 55th Native 
 infantry, consisting of about 120 men, 
 drawn up to receive him. This was the 
 faithful remnant of the 55th ; the rest of the 
 sepoys having broken up and taken to flight, 
 without attempting to injure their oflBcers. 
 Colonel Spottiswoode, in the first bitter- 
 ness of disappointment, committed suicide. 
 Colonel Nicholson, with atroop of horse artil- 
 lery, the 18th irregular cavalry, one hundred 
 Punjab infantry, and forty of his personal 
 escort, started off in pursuit of the muti- 
 neers, and captured 150 of them, with the 
 colours, and upwards of 200 stand of arms. 
 " Micholson was in the saddle twenty hours, 
 having gone over some seventy miles. The 
 terror of his name spread throughout the 
 valley, and gave additional emphasis to the 
 moral effect of the disarming policy." The 
 zemindars of Huzara, through which district 
 the mutineers strove to escape to Hindoostan, 
 
 brought most of them in to the government, 
 with their money all safe. Tiie conduct of 
 the Punjab infantry (the 5th) in this first en- 
 counter was very satisfactory ; it seemed 
 like a pledge of the fidelity of the whole 
 Punjab force. 
 
 The 10th irregular cavalry had refused to 
 act against tiie 55th. They were, con- 
 sequently, disarmed and disbanded. The 
 first person executed for mutiny at Peshawur 
 was a subahdar-major of the 51st Native 
 infantry, who was captured and hanged. 
 He boasted that he had been a rebel for 
 more than a year, and that the English 
 rule was at an end. Twelve men of the 
 same regiment were hanged two days after- 
 wards, in a row, on full parade of all the 
 troops; and, subsequently, the fearful 
 penalty of blowing away from guns was 
 inflicted upon forty of the 55th Native 
 infantry. 
 
 The number of mutineers caught, and 
 brought in by the hill trii)es, must have 
 been considerable ; but no official statement 
 has been published on the subject. The 
 peculiar tenets and practice of the Seiks, 
 were regarded as calculated to prevent 
 coalition between them and the frontier 
 Mohammedans. The two classes were 
 therefore eliminated from the disarmed 
 masses, and formed into a new corps. 
 A Patan regiment was also raised. Ten 
 men out of every European company were 
 at once instructed in gun drill, and the 
 Peshawur light horse sprang into existence, 
 mounted on horses from the 5th light 
 cavalry and the disbanded 10th irregulars. 
 
 Some of the officers employed in the labo- 
 rious and responsible labour of assembling 
 and drilling recruits, have become deservedly 
 famous, and their names are now household 
 words in the homes of England and her 
 colonies. Others have been less fortunate, 
 especially the members of the civil service, 
 many of whom, with John Lawrence and 
 Robert Montgomery for leaders, acted most 
 zealously as recruiting sergeants. The " Let- 
 ters" published since the death of Major 
 Hodson, throw considerable light on the 
 exploits of this officer and his gallant com- 
 rades. On the 19th of May he received 
 orders to raise and command a new regi- 
 ment, afterwards well known as Hodsou's 
 Horse ; which he was well fitted to do, from 
 the ability he had previously shown while 
 connected with the Guides. " On the 20th 
 of May, having been placed in charge of 
 the Intelligence Department, he started
 
 ADVANCE ON DELHI— GHAZI-U-DEEN NUGGUR-MAY 27th. 203 
 
 from Kiiruaul at nine in tlie evening, with 
 one led horse and an escort of Seik cavalry ; 
 arrived at Meerut about daybreak ; delivered 
 the commander-in-chief's despatches to 
 General Wilson ; had a bath, breakfast, and 
 two hours' sleep, and then rode back the 
 seventy-six miles, thirty miles of the dis- 
 tance lying through a hostile country."* 
 
 General van Cortlandt is another com- 
 mander of irregular troops, whose name will 
 
 frequently appear in the course of the nar- 
 rative. He was serving the British govern- 
 ment in a civil capacity at the time of the 
 outbreak, but was then called on to levy 
 recruits. The nucleus of his force con- 
 sisted of 300 Dogras (short built, sturdy 
 men), belonging to Rajah Jowahir Sing, 
 of Lahore. This number he increased to 
 1,000; and the Dogras did good service 
 under their veteran leader. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MARCH OF BRITISH FORCES, AND SIEGE OF DELHI.— MAY 27th TO 
 
 JUNE 24th, 1857. 
 
 AnvANCE ON Delhi. — The terrible turning- 
 point passed, and the fact proved that, in 
 the hands of Sir John Lawrence and his 
 lieutenants, the Punjab was not a source 
 of danger, but a mine of strength, affairs 
 at head-quarters assumed a new aspect: 
 and the arrival of the Seik reinforcements 
 was of invaluable assistance to the small 
 band of Europeans on whom alone reliance 
 could previously be placed, it having been 
 found necessary to disarm the 5th Native 
 infantry at Umballah on the morning of 
 May 29th, the day before General Barnard, 
 with the staff of the army, started from 
 Kurnaul for Delhi. The 60th Native in- 
 fantry were detached to Rohtuck, it being 
 considered too great a trial of fidelity to 
 employ this Hindoostanee corps in besieg- 
 ing their cou!itryraen and co-religionists. 
 
 Encounter at the Hindun. — The small 
 detachment of troops from Meerut, under 
 Brigadier Wilson, marched thence on the 
 27th of May, to join the main body, and, on 
 the morning of the 30th, encamped at* 
 Ghazi-u-deen Nuggur, a small but strongly 
 fortified position on the river Hindun, 
 about ten miles from Delhi. The troops 
 were weary with night marches, and en- 
 feebled by the intensity of the hot winds. 
 No one entertained any suspicion of the 
 vicinity of the enemy. At about four o'clock 
 in the afternoon, v.heii officers and men 
 were for the most part asleep, a picket of 
 
 * Twelve I'eais of a Soldier's Life in India, p. 7. 
 
 + Greathed's Letters, p. 6. 
 
 I The Chaplain's Narrative, p. 26. 
 
 irregulars, stationed beyond the suspension- 
 bridge, gave the alarm of an approaching 
 foe. The bugles sounded, and the Rifles 
 had scarcely formed before an ]8-pounder 
 shot burst into the British camp, and took 
 one leg from each of two native palkee- 
 bearers, who were sitting at the tent door 
 of the Carabineers' hospital. The attackina: 
 force consisted of a strong detachment of 
 mutineers from Delhi, who had succeeded 
 in bringing their heavy guns to bear on the 
 British camp before even their vicinity was 
 suspected. Two 18-pounders were speedily 
 opened to meet the hostile fire ; the Rifles 
 crossed the bridge, and were soon actively 
 engaged in front; while the horse artillery, 
 under Lieutenant-colonel Mackenzie,turned 
 the left flank of the enemy, who thereupon 
 commenced a retreat, leaving behind them 
 five guns (two of large calibre),t and carts 
 full of intrenching tools and sand-bags. 
 The long delay of the British had evidently 
 given time to the rebels to plan, but not to 
 execute, the occupation of a fortified position 
 on the Hindun. The numbers engaged 
 are but vaguely stated. The chaplain who 
 accompanied the expedition, speaks of 700 
 Englishmen attacking a force seven times 
 their number.J The loss on the British 
 side, in killed and wounded, did not exceed 
 forty-four men ; and was chiefly occasioned 
 by the explosion of a cart-full of ammunition 
 near the toll-bar, which a havildar of the 
 11th (a Meerut mutineer) fired into when 
 the rout began. He was instantly bayoneted. 
 Captain Andrews, of the Rifles, was killed
 
 204 
 
 THE GOORKAS— PANIC AT SIMLA— MAY, 1857. 
 
 while cheering his men to the charge ; and 
 a young lieutenant of the same regiment, 
 Napier by name, and of the true lion breed, 
 was shot in the leg. Amputation was per- 
 formed, and the sufferer sank slowly under 
 its effects ; exclaiming often, with bitter 
 tears, " I sliall never lead the Rifles again ! 
 I shall never lead the Rifles again !" 
 
 Captain Dickson had a narrow escape. 
 His horse ran away during the pursuit, and 
 carried him far ahead of his troop, into 
 the midst of the fugitives ; but he cut down 
 two sepoys, and returned unhurt. The 
 loss of life, on the part of the mutineers, 
 must have been very heavy. Some took 
 refuge in a village, which was burnt; many 
 were destroyed by the Carabineers; and 
 about fifty were found "concealed in a 
 ditch, not one of whom was permitted to 
 escape."* 
 
 The following day (Whit-Sunday) opened 
 with the burial of the slain. At noon a 
 second attack was made by the rebels, who 
 were defeated, driven out of two villages, 
 and forced to retire from ridge to ridge, 
 nntil they disappeared in the distance, in full 
 retreat to Delhi. They succeeded, however, 
 in carrying off their cannon, consisting of 
 two heavy pieces and five liglit guns, the re- 
 mains of Captain de Teissier's battery ; the 
 excessive heat and want of water hindering 
 the pursuit of the Rifles. The Europeau 
 loss, in killed and wounded, amounted to 
 twenty-four: of these, ten were sun-struck. f 
 The conduct of the Goorkas was consi- 
 dered extremely satisfactory. A false alarm 
 being given on the 3rd of June, they were 
 so delighted at the chance of getting a 
 fight, tliat "they threw somersaults and cut 
 capers." Mr. Greathed adds — " We feel 
 quite safe about the Goorkas ; their grog- 
 drinking propensities are a great bond with 
 the British soldier." 
 
 Notwithstanding the resemblance be- 
 tween the two races in the point which of 
 all other most mars the efficiency of the 
 British army, very strong doubts had been 
 entertained, previous to the march of the 
 force, regarding the fidelity of the hardy 
 little mountaineers. In fact, a general 
 pauic had been occasioned at Sin)la by a re- 
 port that the Nusseeree battalion stationed 
 at Jutog, seven miles off, were in open 
 mutiny, and had refused to march when 
 ordered down by the commander-in-chief. 
 
 • The Chaplain's Narrative, p. 27. 
 t Return, by Brigadier Wilson.— Further Pari. 
 Pipers, 18o7j pp. 119 to 121. 
 
 Simla, very shortly after its original oc- 
 cupation, became, to the leading Calcutta 
 functionaries, what the lovely valley of 
 Cashmere had been to the Great Moguls. 
 The civilians of highest rank in the East 
 India Company's service, with their wives 
 and families, resorted thither; several gov- 
 ernors-general almost lived there ; and 
 officers on leave of absence helped to make 
 up a population of a quite peculiar charac- 
 ter. The feeling of security had been, up 
 to May, 1857, general and uninterrupted; 
 ladies had travelled from Calcutta to Simla, 
 and, indeed, through all parts of India, 
 under an exclusively native escort, with- 
 out one thought of danger; but the news 
 from Meerut and Delhi broke with start- 
 ling force on the mind of a very weak and 
 very wealthy community, and led the resi- 
 dents to regard with anxiety every indica- 
 tion of the temper of the troops. Simla 
 was not a military station ; and the neigh- 
 bouring one of Jutog, seven miles distant, 
 was held by the Nusseeree battalion, con- 
 taining nearly 800 Goorkas and six Euro- 
 fiean officers. The 1st European Bengal 
 Fusiliers were cantoned at the sanitary sta- 
 tion of Dugshai (in Sirmoor; a Rajpoot hill- 
 state, adjoining Putteeala), sixteen miles 
 south of Simla; and H.M.'s 75th foot at 
 Kussowlie, another sanatarium, forty miles 
 distant : but the frightened population had 
 no reason to place confidence in any prompt 
 measures being adopted for their protection 
 in the event of an tmeute, after the inca- 
 pacity evinced at Meerut. The fidelity of 
 the Goorkas was the uppermost question 
 with them ; and it was not without cause 
 that they were at one moment convinced 
 that the sword was suspended over their de- 
 fenceless heads by something little stronger 
 than a hair. 
 
 The Nusseeree battalion, says an autho- 
 rity who may be supposed to know the 
 truth of what he affirms, " was distinctly 
 disaffected on the cartridge question." The 
 order for the entire battalion to march 
 down into the plains, was an tinprecedented 
 one ; a company having been, on all previ- 
 ous occasions, left to protect their families 
 during their absence. The precautions 
 adopted by the residents at Simla, were 
 indignantly denounced by the Goorkas as 
 evincing mistrust in them, especially the 
 removal of the Goorka guard from the gov- 
 ernment treasury, and the measures adopted 
 for its defence. They demanded, as an 
 evidence of confidence, that they should be
 
 CONDONATION OF MUTINY AMONG THE GOORKAS. 
 
 205 
 
 put on guard over and in the bank, in which | 
 lay some 80,000 Corapany's rupees. "The 
 critical state of affairs," Mr. Cooper states, 
 "may be judged not only from the audacity 
 of their demands, but the undisguised au- 
 dacity of their bearing. They demanded 
 to be shown the actual treasure ; and their 
 swarthy features lit up with glee unplea- i 
 sant to the eye of the bystander, when they 
 saw the shining pieces. One sepoy tossed I 
 back the flap of the coat of a gentleman I 
 present, and made a queer remark on the 
 revolver he saw worn underneath."* At 
 Kussowlie, just above Uraballah, a party of 
 Goorkas actually robbed the treasury, and 
 the rest broke into open bloodshed. Cap- 
 tain Blackall was about to order a party of 
 H.M.'s 75th to act against the Goorkas; 
 when Mr.Taylor,the assistant-commissioner, 
 represented to him, that the safety of the 
 helpless community of Simla depended on 
 the avoidance of an outbreak. Captain 
 Blackall acknowledged the force of the 
 argument, and contented himself with adopt- 
 ing purely defensive measures, although 
 actually surrounded by the Goorkas, and 
 taunted with such expressions as " Shot for 
 shot !" " Life for life !" In fact, the wise 
 counsel of Mr. Taylor, and the address 
 and temper evinced by Captain Blackall, 
 proved the means of preserving Simla from 
 being the scene of "horrors, in which, in 
 enormities, perhaps Cawnpoor would have 
 been outdone. "f The wisdom of the con- 
 ciliation policy practised at Kussowlie, was 
 not at first appreciated at Simla ; and the 
 replacement of the government treasury 
 under the charge of the Goorkas, was 
 viewed, naturally enough, as a perilous con- 
 fession of weakness. " The panic reached 
 its climax, and general and precipii;ate 
 flight commenced. Officers, in high em- 
 ploy, rushed into ladies' houses, shouting, 
 ' Fly for your lives ! the Goorkas are upon 
 ns !' Simla was in a state of consterna- 
 tion : shoals of half-crazed fugitives, timid 
 ladies, hopeless invalids, sickly children 
 hardly able to totter — whole families burst 
 forth, and poured helter-skelter down on 
 Dugshai and Kussowlie. Some ran down 
 steep khuds [ravines] and places marked 
 only by the foofprints of the mountain 
 herds, and remained all night. Never had 
 those stately pines looked down upon, or 
 those sullen glens and mossy retreats 
 
 • Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 103. 
 
 t /iirf., p. 104. J/iirf., p. 09. 
 
 f See page 107, ante. 
 
 echoed with, such a tumult and hubbub. 
 Ladies, who are now placidly pursuing or- 
 dinary domestic duties, wrote ofif perhaps 
 for the last time to their distracted hus- 
 bands in the plains : then, snatching up 
 their little ones, fled away, anywhere out of 
 the Simla world. Extraordinary feats were 
 performed; some walked thirty miles! 
 Some, alas I died from the efiects of exhaus- 
 tion and fear." The Mohammedan servants 
 exulted in the belief that the European raj 
 was about to close; and among the many 
 anecdotes current during the panic, was 
 one of a little boy being jeeringly told that 
 his mamma would soon be grinding gram 
 for the King of Delhi if 
 
 The news reached the commander-in- 
 chief (Anson) at the time when the scales 
 had just fallen from his eyes, and when the 
 massacres of Meerut and Delhi, and the 
 remonstrances of Sir John Lawrence and 
 Colvin, had convinced him of the miserable 
 error of his past proceedings. The plan of 
 coercing and disbanding regiments had 
 worse than failed with the Poorbeahs : it 
 was not likely to succeed with the Goorkas. 
 The Jutog troops were on the point, if not 
 in the act, of mutiny ; and, if not arrested, 
 their example of defection or rebellion might 
 be followed by the Kumaon and Sirmoor 
 battalions, and the 66th (Napier's corps) ;§ 
 and thus the resources of government would 
 be lessened, and its difficulties greatly in- 
 creased. In this strait, General Anson 
 selected Captain Briggs, superintendent of 
 roads, who possessed an intimate knowledge 
 of the habits, customs, and feelings of tiie 
 Goorkas, and desired him to hold commu- 
 nication with them, and secure their adher- 
 ence even at the price of wholesale condo- 
 nation of mutiny. This was actually done. 
 A free pardon was given to the regiment 
 generally, the only exception being a subah- 
 dar, named Chuuderbun, described by 
 Major Bagot as one of the best soldiers in 
 the corps, and who had been absent at tiie 
 time of the mutiny, but who had irretriev- 
 ably offended his comrades by stating that 
 they had no objection to use the new car- 
 tridges. Two men, " dismissed by order of 
 court-martial" for taunting the school of 
 musketry, " were restored to the service." 
 These extraordinary concessions proved as 
 successful as the opposite policy (com- 
 menced by the disbandment of the unfortu- 
 nate 19th N. I.) had been disastrous. The 
 advance on Delhi during the intense heat 
 was as trying to the Goorkas as to the
 
 206 
 
 BATTLE OP BADULEE-KE-SERAI-JUNE 8th, 1857. 
 
 Europeans. Yet they never showed any 
 symptoms of disaflfection. "The men," 
 says Captain Chester, writing on tlic 17th 
 of June, " liave marched double marches ; 
 from their small numbers, every man, in 
 addition, has been on daily duty. They 
 have suffered severely from fever and 
 cholera without a murmur." In fact, it 
 was deemed politic to dwell exclusively on 
 the bright side of the Gooika character. 
 The Simla panic was talked of as if there 
 had been no reasonable ground for any 
 apprehension whatever ; and the case being 
 now changed, the " savage little demons," 
 who had been conquered in a' recent war by 
 our " faithful Hindoostanec sepoys," became 
 recognised as the " gallant hardy moun- 
 taineers," whose inveterate hatred to the 
 " treacherous Poorbeahs" was alone a virtue 
 calculated to counterbalance every less de- 
 sirable cliaractcri>tic. More unscrupulous 
 auxiliaries in offensive warfare could scarcely 
 have been found ; no Pindarree of olden 
 times ever loved pillage better than a 
 modern Goorka, and probably none had so 
 keen a zest for the work of destruction. 
 No pen lias traced, or perhaps ever can 
 trace, even a sketch of the misery wliich 
 must liave been inflicted by the British 
 army, and its hasty heterogeneous assem- 
 blage of irregular troops — with its terrible 
 requirements of compulsory, and often un- 
 paid, always ill-paid, labour from man and 
 beast, and its other almost inevitable ac- 
 companiments of violence and pillage — on 
 the helpless population of India. It is only 
 an incidental remark here and there, which 
 affords a glimpse of the working of what are 
 termed military operations in a densely 
 populated country. Mr. Greathed, for in- 
 stance, mentions, that shortly after the 
 second encounter at Ghazi-u-deen, while 
 riding about the scene of action, he noticed 
 that" a party of our people were destroying 
 the village of Urthulla, to prevent the enemy 
 from getting under cover in it in case of 
 another attack. The elephants were engaged 
 in pushing down the walls. The poor inhabi- 
 tants are certainly to be pitied ; but the de- 
 struction is a necessity: they were uuluckily 
 Jats, who are for the most part our friends."* 
 No compensation aj)pears to have been 
 thought necessary in this case; if it liad 
 been, Mr. Greathed, as political agent 
 specially attached to the field force, would 
 hardly liave left so important a point un- 
 noticed. On the contrary, he speaks of the 
 * Grtathed's Leltcrs. p. 15. f Ibid., p. 24. 
 
 "baggage people" being employed "in 
 plundering the village of Urthulla" quite 
 as a matter of course, not at all requiring 
 the intervention of the provost-raarsha!, or 
 the sharp correctives the mention of which 
 are familiiir to the readers of the Indiau 
 despatches of General \^'ellesley. 
 
 On the night of the 5th June, Brigadier 
 Wilson and the Meerut force crossed the 
 Jumna at Bhagput by a bridge of boats, 
 "and slept like so many alligators on the 
 sand till dawn."t On Sunday, the 7th, 
 they joined the main body under Sir Henry 
 Barnard at Alipoor, ten miles from Delhi. 
 After the junction, the force in camp com- 
 prised about 600 cavalry, aud 2,400 in- 
 fantry, with twenty-two guns, besides the 
 siege-train. The details were as follows : — 
 
 Sixteen horse artillery guns (Europeans) ; six 
 horse battery guns (ditto) ; 9th Lancers ; two squad- 
 rons Carabineers; six companies 60th RiSes ; 75th 
 foot ; 1st Fusiliers ; six companies 2nd Fusiliers ; 
 head-quarters Sirnioor battalion ; and the portion 
 of the sappers and miners which had not yet 
 mutinied — about 150 in number. The siege-train 
 consisted of eight 18-pounder guns, four 8-inch 
 howitzers, four 8-inch mortars, and twelve 5j-inch 
 mortars j and had attached to it a weak company of 
 European artillery (4th of 6lh battalion), and 100 
 European artillery recruits. 
 
 At 2 A.M. on the 8th of June, the troops 
 marched from Alipoor to attack the enemy's 
 advanced intrenched position at Badulee-ke- 
 Serai, four miles from Delhi. The baggage 
 was left behind until the result of the attack 
 should be known, under the charge of a 
 i squadron of the Carabineers, a company of 
 I the Fusiliers, and the chief part of the con- 
 tingent of the rajah of Jlieend. The Serai 
 (or open building for the reception of 
 travellers) held by the mutineers, lay on 
 the right of the Trunk road, and was 
 defended by a sand-bag battery, erected on 
 a small natural elevation. The main as- 
 j sault was made in front just as the day 
 ' broke, and the lights in the enemy's camp 
 became visible. The flank attack was 
 delayexl by the difficulty experienced by 
 Brigadier Grant in getting his guns over 
 some watercourses, and the fire of the 
 enemy's heavy battery began to tell seriously 
 on the main body; the men fell fast: and 
 the staff offering a tempting mark, two 
 officers. Colonel Chester (the adjutant-gen- 
 eral) and Captain Russell, were mortally 
 wounded by the same shot, and several 
 horses were hit in the course of one or two 
 minutes. When Colonel Chester fell, with 
 his horse also mortally wounded under him, 
 Captain Barnard, the son of the general.
 
 BRITISH ARMY ENCAMP BEFORE DELHI— JUNE 8th, 1857. 207 
 
 raised the head of the wounded man, and 
 enabled him to see the nature of his injury ; 
 after which, knowing his case hopeless, he 
 bade young Barnard leave him, and expired. 
 The sufferings of Captain Russell were far 
 more protracted : his leg had been shot off 
 above the knee, and he lived for some hours 
 in great bodily agony. But his mind was 
 clear ; and he died praying, in the words of 
 the publican, " God be merciful to me a 
 sinner."* After these officers were shot, 
 the 75th were ordered to charge and take 
 the heavy battery. The corps, led by Bri- 
 gadier Showers and Colonel Herbert, accom- 
 plished this duty with the assistance of the 
 1st Fusiliers, and the insurgents fell back, 
 abandoning their camp and several guns. 
 The British pushed on in pursuit, clearing 
 many gardens until they reached the cross- 
 roads, one of which led to the city through 
 the Subzee Mundee (or vegetable market) 
 suburb, and the other to the cantonments. 
 Here the troops divided into two columns, 
 each of which marched on till they met on 
 either side of a ridge, on which stood the 
 Flagstaff tower, Hindoo Rao's house, and 
 a mosque midway between these two after- 
 vyards famous positions. The insurgents 
 had posted three guns at the Flagstaff tower, 
 and from thence a cannonade was opened on 
 the advancing force ; but the guns were soon 
 silenced by Sir Henry Barnard's column, 
 which proceeded along the crest of the 
 ridge, carrying all before it, until, on reach- 
 ing Hindoo Rao's house, a junction was 
 effected with Brigadier Wilson's column, 
 which had come by the Subzee Mundee 
 suburb, had been opposed on the way, and 
 had captured an 18-pounder gun. The ac- 
 tion terminated at about half-past nine. 
 
 The British camp was pitched on the 
 parade-ground, haviug its rear protected by 
 the canal, with tiie advantage of bridges on 
 either extreme, which the enemy had pre- 
 viously attempted to destroy with only par- 
 tial success. Several batteries were estab- 
 lished on the rjtige; but the nearest of them 
 was 1,200 yards, or upwards, from the walls ; 
 deficiency iu the number of troops, and cha- 
 racter of ordnance, rendering it unsafe to 
 approach nearer. t The main picket was 
 at Hindoo Rao's house, a building which 
 formerly belonged to a rich old Hindoo, 
 
 • The Chaplain's Narrative, p. 43. 
 
 t Campaign of the Delhi Army, by Major H. W. 
 Norman, deputy adjutant-generil ; p. 12. 
 
 X Letter from Lieutenant Hawes, of the Guide 
 corps. — Star, Sept 18th, 1857. 
 
 and had verandahs, outhouses, and every 
 other accommodation on a most extensive 
 scale. During the siege it is said to have 
 afforded "a sort of protection to 800 troops, 
 besides 200 or 300 coolies, servants, and 
 camp-followers of all kinds ;" and being 
 built in the strong native fashion, it with- 
 stood, in the most surprising manner, the 
 constant cannonading directed against it. J 
 The picket was commanded from the very 
 first by Major Reid, of the Sirmoor batta- 
 lion ; who never left his post even to come 
 into camp, from the time he assumed com- 
 mand of it till the 14th of September, the 
 day of the storming operatious, when he 
 was severely wounded. 
 
 The total loss on the side of the British, 
 in the action of the 8th of June, was 
 51 killed, 132 wounded, and two missing. 
 It has been asserted, that a thousand of the 
 mutineers who came out never returned to 
 Delhi. Their killed and wounded are sup- 
 posed to have amounted to three or four 
 hundred; and many took the opportunity 
 of decamping to their homes after or during 
 the battle. Thirteen guns were captured. 
 
 Major-general Reid, the provincial com- 
 mander-in-chief, arrived at Alipoor, from 
 Rawul Pindee, on the 8th of June, just as 
 the troops were marching. Unwell and 
 greatly fatigued by a rapid journey during 
 intense heat, he took no part in the action, 
 and never assumed command until after the 
 death of Sir Henry Barnard, though his 
 advice in matters of moment was freely 
 sought and given. 
 
 On the morning of the 9th of June, the 
 Guide corps — the first reinforcement sent 
 from the Punjab by Lawrence — reached 
 Delhi, under the command of Captain Daly. 
 It consisted of three troops of cavalry 
 and six companies of infantry, and had 
 marched from Murdaun, on the Peshawur 
 frontier, to Delhi, 580 miles in twenty-two 
 of the hottest days in the year; and though 
 the infantry were occasionally assisted with 
 camels or ponies on the line of road, tire 
 march was a surprising one even for cavalry. 
 The men showed extreme delight at finding 
 their old commandant. Lieutenant Hodson, 
 in camp; and, surrounding him with ex- 
 clamations of" Burra serai-wallah" (great in 
 battle), they seized his bridle, dress, hands, 
 and feet, and flung themselves down before 
 his horse, frantic with joy. It seems that 
 some unfortunate misunderstanding with 
 the authorities, concerning the regimental 
 accounts, iiad led to hi« removal from the
 
 208 
 
 MUTINIES AT HANSI, HISSAR, AND SIRSA. 
 
 corps two years before; and they rejoiced in 
 his restoration to them, as much as he did 
 in the prospect of a^ain leading " the dear 
 old Guides." He liad not long to wait 
 before hearing their well-known cheer as 
 they followed him to battle, though under 
 the immediate command of Captain Daly. 
 That same afternoon the mutineers marched 
 out of Delhi, and attacked the Hindoo Rao 
 picket. The Guides moved up to support 
 the position, and the insurgents were driveu 
 back into the city with considerable slaugh- 
 ter. Several lives were lost on the side 
 of the British, including that of Quintiu 
 Battye, the youthful commandant of the 
 Guides' cavalry — a popular and enthusiastic 
 soldier, to whose amiable qualities Hodsou 
 bears full testimony ; addmg, " The brave 
 boy died with a smile on his lip, and a 
 Latin quotation on his tongue."* 
 
 No correct estimate could be formed of 
 the strength of the force in Delhi. Besides 
 the mutinous garrison, the Meerut rebels, 
 and those who had flocked from Roorkee, 
 Alighur, Boolundshuhur,Muttra, Ferozpoor, 
 and Umballah, a strong reinforcement had 
 immediately preceded the besieging army — 
 namely, the Hurriana light infantry bat- 
 talion, and the 4th irregular cavalry, which 
 had mutinied at Hansi, Hissar, and Sirsa. 
 
 Hansi is a strong town, which, towards 
 the close of the last century, was the chief 
 place in the jaghire of the successful ad- 
 venturer, George Thomas. It is situated, 
 eighty-nine miles north-west of Delhi. 
 Hissar and Sirsa (two military stations of 
 minor importance) lie fifteen and forty-five 
 miles, respectively, further in the same 
 direction. The circumstances of the out- 
 break have not been officially related ; but, 
 from private sources, it appears to have 
 been sudden and unexpected. Mr. Taylor, 
 the assistant in charge of the government 
 cattle-farm at Hissar, was sitting playing 
 chess at noon on the 30th of May, with 
 another European in the civil service of the 
 Company, when a servant rushed into the 
 room, and announced the arrival of some 
 sowars from Delhi. The Native troops and 
 population seem to have risen immediately. 
 The majority of the Europeans sought and 
 found safety in flight. Mr. Taylor received 
 several wounds, but succeeded in effecting 
 his escape. Seven European men and 
 seven women, with fifteen cldidren and two 
 Eurasian women, are stated to have perished 
 iu the return furnished by the officiating 
 • See p. 118, ante. 
 
 commissioner of Hissar; but Mr. Taylor's 
 list, likewise published by authority, and 
 apparently grounded on more accurate data, 
 gives the total number at fourteen. The 
 magistrate, Mr. Wedderburn, and Lieu- 
 tenant Barwell, adjutant of the Hurriana 
 light cavalry, fell by the hands of the muti- 
 neers ; while Mrs. Wedderburn, her child, 
 and Mrs. Barwell, are thought to have been 
 murdered by the customs' peons. f 
 
 Tlie rajah of Putteeala acted in the most 
 noble manner towards the Hansi and 
 Hissar fugitives. He sent out troops to 
 search for them and cover their retreat ; 
 furnished them with every necessary, in the 
 way of money, food, and clothing ; and 
 desired that whatever they might call for 
 should be supplied gratis. The effect of 
 this conduct was most beneficial to the 
 British, and warrants the strong expression 
 used by Mr, Douglas Forsyth, deputy-com- 
 missioner of the Umballah and adjacent 
 districts — that " if it had not been for the 
 rajah of Putteeala, none of us in these Cis- 
 Sutlej States would now be alive." 
 
 At Hissar several lives are also alleged to 
 have been lost; but the official records are 
 silent on the subject. The mutineers, after 
 plundering the Hissar treasury, which con- 
 tained about a lac of rupees (£10,000), 
 marched off unopposed to Delhi. They 
 arrived there, as has been stated, before 
 General Barnard ; but had it been other- 
 wise, their entrance to the city could not 
 have been prevented, at least not by 
 means compatible with the rules adopted 
 for the conduct of the campaign by the 
 military commanders. Sir John, or Sir 
 Henry Lawrence, or Nicholson, or any 
 soldier or civilian acquainted with the 
 native character, and alive to the para- 
 mount importance of wresting Delhi from 
 the hands of the rebels in their first mo- 
 ment of weakness and utter incapacity, 
 would probably, had they been entrusted 
 with the direction of affairs, have marched 
 on the city at all hazards, trusting to promp- 
 titude and energy, free pardons and liberal 
 rewards, as the best mode of dealing with 
 a frightened, excited, unreasoning multi- 
 tude — without leaders, without a plan, 
 and evidently without confideuce in one 
 another. 
 
 The distressing and humiliating position 
 in which the British found themselves on 
 sitting down before Delhi, was indeed cal- 
 culated to teach " a terrible lesson on the 
 t London Gazette (2iid supplement), May 6th, 1858.
 
 PLAN OF STORMING DELHI FRUSTRATED— JUNE 13th, 1857. 209 
 
 evils of delfiy." Any advantage gained 
 thereby was, as ought to have been fore- 
 seen, more than counterbalanced by the 
 rapid growth of the enemy's resources.* 
 
 Before a siege-train could be procured, a 
 marked change had taken place in the 
 attitude of the mutineers. The name of 
 Delhi in revolt ofl'ercd to discontented ad- 
 venturers throughout India, and especially 
 to Mohammedans, an almost irresistible 
 attraction ; and while the British raised 
 regiments of doubtful or dangerous charac- 
 ter with toil, by dint of the most imremit- 
 ting energy, and at an enormous cost, 
 thousands flocked in at the open gates of 
 the city, and seized the weapons and 
 manned the guns left ready to their hand. 
 
 The long waited for siege-train, when it 
 arrived, proved quite insufficient for the 
 work required. " No one," as Mr.Greathed 
 naively remarks, " seems to have thought 
 that the guns at the disposal of the muti- 
 neers are 24-pounders, and that the 18- 
 pounders we brought with us were not 
 likely to silence them ; and it is for this 
 reason our approach to the town is rendered 
 so difficult. There was certainly an entire 
 miscalculation of the power of resistance 
 afforded to the rebels by their command of 
 the Delhi arsenal. "f 
 
 In fact, the British troops, instead of the 
 besiegers, became literally the besieged, and 
 were thankful for the shelter offered by the 
 ridge on which the advanced pickets stood, 
 and which enabled them to say — " Here we 
 are in camp, as secure against assaults as if 
 we were in Delhi, and the mutineers out- 
 side."J Even this was not always the 
 case; for at sunrise on the morning of the 
 12th of June, the most advanced picket, 
 that at the Flagstafl" tower, was fiercely 
 attacked, and nearly carried by surprise, by 
 a large body of mutineers who had con- 
 trived to approach unobserved under cover 
 of night, and conceal themselves in the 
 ravines in the compound or grounds at- 
 tached to Sir T. Metcalfe's late house, 
 situated between the Flagstaff tower and 
 the river. The picket was hard pressed ; 
 the two artillery guns were nearly taken ; 
 Captain Knox, and several of the 75th frot, 
 were killed : the enemy even descended the 
 camp side of the ridge; and three of the 
 rebels were killed in the sepoy lines, within 
 a short distance of the tents, before rein- 
 
 • Ilodson's Ticelce. Years in India, p. 198. 
 
 t Gicnthed's Letters, p. 18. 
 
 X I bid., p. uO. 
 
 vol,. II. 2 E 
 
 forcements could be brought up to support 
 the disputed position, and drive off the 
 insurgents. To prevent the recurrence of 
 a similar danger, a large picket was sent 
 to occupy Metcalfe's house — a precaution 
 which would have been taken earlier but for 
 the difficulty of providing relief, and which 
 threw up, as it were, a left flank to the British 
 defences, and rendered it almost impossible 
 for the enemy to pass round to attack the 
 camp on that side. The attempt upon the 
 Flagstaff tower had hardly been repulsed, 
 when other bodies of insurgents advanced 
 against Hindoo Rao's house, and through 
 the Subzee Mundee, into the gardens on the 
 right flank of the camp. The first of these 
 movements was inconsiderable; but sup- 
 ports of all arms had to be moved up to 
 oppose the second. Major Jacob led the 1st 
 Fusiliers against the rebels, and drove them 
 out of the gardens with much slaughter.^ 
 
 The manifest insufficiency of the British 
 force to besiege, much less blockade, 
 Delhi, led certain of the officers to desire to 
 attempt its capture by a coup-de-main; 
 and Sir Henry Barnard directed three 
 engineer officers (Wilberforce Greathed, 
 Chesney, and Maunsell), assisted by Hodson, 
 to form a project of attack, of which, when 
 laid before the general, he highly approved. (| 
 Two gates of the city were to be blown in by 
 powder-bags, by which means two columns 
 of the attacking force (com prising some 1,700 
 or 1,800 infantry) were to effect an entrance. 
 Early on the morning of the 13th of June, 
 corps were formed in readiness ; and the 
 Rifles had actually got within 400 or 500 
 yards of the city wall, unpcrceived by the 
 enemy, when they were recalled in conse- 
 quence of "the mistake of a superior officer 
 in delaying the withdrawal of the pickets, 
 without which the infantrv regiments were 
 mere skeletons." The abandonment of the 
 plan became inevitable, as daylight was fast 
 approaching, and it was felt that success 
 could not be anticipated except as the result 
 of surprise. !Major Norman pronounces the 
 accident which hindered the attempt, an in- 
 terposition of Providence on behalf of the 
 British ; and considers that defeat, or even 
 partial success, would have been ruin ; while 
 comi)lete success would not have achieved 
 the results subsequently obtained.^ Con- 
 siderable difference of opinion, however, pre- 
 vailed oil the subject. 
 
 § Xorman's Campaign of the Delhi Army, p. t3. 
 Il Hodson's Ttvelre Years in India, p. 20.3. 
 H Ibid., p. 14.
 
 210 
 
 SIEGE OF DELHI— ENGAGEMENT OF JUNE 19th, 1857. 
 
 Commissioner Greathed lamented the 
 failure of tlie scheme, l)elievinf; that an im- 
 pbrtunt opportunity had been lost through 
 " tiie obtusity of one individuiil."* It was, 
 liowever, .a phm which coidd not l)e re- 
 vived after havinj; once been abandoned; 
 fur the enemy, thongli not aware of the 
 near approach of the European troops at 
 the time, must, it was considered, have 
 subsequently heard of it by some channel 
 or other, and would be more on their guard 
 for the future. Moreover, General Barnard 
 probably repented of having sanctioned the 
 attempt ; for he is accused of having been 
 induced, by his Crimean experience, to over- 
 estimate the amount of resistance to be 
 expected within the walls, and to be " dis- 
 posed to treat the Pandies as Russians. "f 
 From this period almost daily sallies were 
 made from Delhi ; the British troops were 
 much harassed, and their losseg bore " a 
 sadly large proportion to their successes."]; 
 The rainy season was approaching ; the hos- 
 pitals were full ; some cases of cholera 
 had appeared in camp ; and while crip- 
 pled in all their operations by the defi- 
 ciency in the calibre and number of their 
 guns, and also of men to work them, the 
 British bad the mortification of seeing con- 
 stant reinforcements- arriving, like tribu- 
 tary streams, to feed the great reservoir of 
 revolt. The 60th Native infantry regiment 
 reached Delhi on the 13th of June, hav- 
 ing mutinied at Rohtuck. Colonel Seatcm 
 -'and the officers, though fired on by their 
 men, succeeded in gaining the British camp 
 in safety after a ride of fifty miles. Three 
 or four days later, the Nusseerabad bri- 
 gade joined the rebel garrison, bringing in 
 triumph the Jellalabad field battery, under 
 the charge of the fiimous company of artil- 
 lery which, by Lord EUenborough's decree, 
 was never to be separated from the guns it 
 had once served so gallantly. On the 19th 
 6f June, those very guns, decorated (also by 
 Lord EUenborough's order) with a mural 
 crown, were turned with fatal effect against 
 
 the Europeans. An hour before sunset, an 
 attack was made by a strong body of the 
 enemy, consisting chieHy of the Nusseerabad 
 mutineers, on the rear of the British. The 
 action continued some time after dark. The 
 firing on both sides then gradually ceased, 
 and the combatants quitted the field. Our 
 loss was twenty killed, and seventy-seven 
 wounded. Three officers fell, including 
 Major Yule, of the 9th Lancers. His body 
 was found covered with gashes, and four of 
 his men lay dead beside him. Captain 
 Daly, the gallant commandant of the Guide 
 corps, was badly wounded, and Lieu- 
 tenant Hodson was appointed to supply 
 his place. Brigadier Hope Grant, who 
 led the troops, had his horse shot under 
 him, and was only saved by the devotion of 
 two men of his own regiment, and two 
 orderly sowars of the 4th irregular cavalry. 
 A very serious accident occurred by reason 
 of the darkness, our own guns firing into 
 our own men.§ 
 
 At a council of war held on the 17th, it 
 had been formally resolved to wait for re- 
 inforcements, and, iu the interim, to " do 
 nothing but fire away long shots|| at the 
 distance of a mile, and repel the enemy's 
 attacks" — a mode of procedure which ex- 
 cited the intense disgust of the younger and 
 more enter|)rising officers, who exclaimed 
 with Hodson, " If only Sir Henry Law- 
 rence were in camp !" Hodson adds — " The 
 mismanagement of affairs is perfectly sick- 
 ening. Nothing the rebels can do will 
 equal the evils arising from incapacity and 
 indecision."^ 
 
 The action of the 19th exercised a de- 
 pressing influence on the British camp; 
 and it was currently reported, " that the 
 general conceived misgivings as to the wis- 
 dom of the force continuing before Delhi."*"' 
 On the 22nd, reinforcements from the Pun- 
 jab, amounting to about 850 men and five 
 guns, reached the British camp ; but the 
 ranks of the mutinous garrison were also 
 replenished by the arrival of bands of rebels 
 
 * Greathed's Letters, p. 44. The obtuse irdi- 
 ^iial in question is not named ; hut it was pro- 
 bably the brigadier on duty, who refused to withdraw 
 the pickets guarding the guns on the height on 
 any authority less than a written command from 
 General Barnard. Hodson speaks of him as"tlie 
 man who first lost Delhi, nnd has now, by folly, 
 prevented its being recaptured." — Rotton's Nar- 
 rative, p. 72. Hodson's Ttcelve Years nt India, 
 p. 208. 
 
 t Greathed's Letters, p. 92. 
 
 t Hodson's Twelve Years in India, p. 217. 
 
 § Ration's Narrative, p. 92. 
 
 II The round shot from the enemy's batteries occa- 
 sionally did much damage to the advanced pickets. 
 One, according to Mr. Rotton, was fired, on the 17th 
 of June, into Hindoo Rao's house, which killed En- 
 sign Wheatley, of the 54th N. I., as he lay asleep in 
 his own apartment, and, in its course, struck down 
 ei{;lit other men, of whom six died on the spot, and 
 tlie other two were mortally wounded. — Narrow 
 tive cf the Siege of Delhi, ]>. 86. 
 
 ^\ Hodson's Twelve Years in India, p. 216. 
 
 •* Rotton's Narrative, p. 92.
 
 CONTEST BEFORE DELHI-CENTENARY OF PLASSY— June 23, 1857. 211 
 
 from JuUundur and Phillour, composed of 
 the 6th light cavalry, the 3rH, 36tli, and 
 61st N.I., whicii regiments had mutinied 
 during the first week of June. 
 
 The 23rd of June being the centenary 
 of Plassy, was anxiously expected, both 
 within and without the walls of Delhi, on 
 account of an alleged prophecy of wide 
 circulation, that the British raj was to ex- 
 pire after a hundred years' existence. The 
 enemy issued forth in considerable force, 
 occupied the Subzee Mundee suburb, and 
 attacked the Hindoo Rao ridge. The 
 contest lasted eleven hours (from 6 p.m. to 
 5 A.M.) before the rebels were finally com- 
 pelled to retreat, Subzee Mundee being 
 carried by the Rifles, Goorkas, and Guides. 
 The British casualties were — one officer 
 (Lieutenant Jackson, of the Fusiliers) and 
 tliirty-eight men killed, and 118 wounded. 
 The mutineers were said to have lost 400 
 killed and 300 wounded. Among the in- 
 cidents of the battle talked over that night 
 in camp, the most popular was a grim 
 practical joke, enacted while the rebels 
 were being gradually driven out of the 
 Subzee Mundee suburb. A Poorbeah, 
 thinking all was over, put his head out of 
 the window of one of the houses, iu the 
 shade of which a few Europeans and Goor- 
 kas were restmg. Quick as thought, a 
 Goorka sprang up, seized the rebel by his 
 hair, and, with one sweep of his " kookery" 
 (crooked sword), took off his head.* From 
 this time an advanced picket was stationed 
 in Subzee Mundee, and maintained during 
 the rest of the siege ; consisting of 180 
 Europeans, posted between a serai on one 
 side, and a Hindoo temple on the other 
 side of the Great Trunk road, both of 
 which were strengthened and rendered 
 defensible by the engiueers. 
 
 The new adjutant-general. Colonel Ches- 
 ter's successor, reached the camp on the 
 24th of June, which the annalists of the 
 siege mark as a red-letter day for that 
 reason. Hodson writes — " Neville Cham- 
 berlain has arrived, and he ought to be 
 worth a thousand men to us;" but the 
 entry in his diary for that same day, records 
 
 * Hodson's Twelve Years in India, p. 215. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 216. 
 
 X Indian debate, June 29th, 1857. 
 
 § In the debate of June 23rd, Mr. Smith had in- 
 formed the house that the 19th N.I. had been dis- 
 banded on account of ita mutinous behaviour, but 
 there was no intention of disbanding any other por- 
 tion of the Native army. The Calcutta correspon- 
 dent of the Dimes (June 24th) likewise stated, "The 
 
 the arrival of t\ie following telegram from 
 Agra: — " Heavy firiug at Cawupoor; result 
 nut known."f 
 
 It is strange now to look back on the 
 deep gloom, the horrible uncertainty, which 
 overshadowed the prospects of the Euro- 
 peans in Northern India; and to contrast 
 it with the easy matter-of-course manuer 
 in which the authorities in London re- 
 ceived the startling intelligence of mutiny, 
 massacre, and the occupation of Delhi. 
 While Sir John Lawrence, the actual vice- 
 roy of Northern India, was using all means, 
 and running all hazards, to increase the 
 force before Delhi, and was urging the 
 maintenance of the siege, not simply as 
 the me'ans of preserving the power, but of 
 saving the lives of his widely-scattered 
 countrymen — Mr. Vernon Smith, the presi- 
 dent of the India Board, was assuring the 
 House of Commons that it was " notorious 
 that Delhi might be easily surrounded, so 
 that the place could be reduced by famine, 
 if not by force." For his own part, however, 
 Mr. Smith entertained no doubt that it 
 would be reduced by force immediately 
 that a man of the well-known vigour of his 
 gallant friend. General Anson, should ap- 
 pear before the walls. The mail had 
 brought advices, that an "ample force" 
 of infantry, cavalry, and artillery would 
 shortly be before the town. " Unfortu- 
 nately," Mr. Smith added, "I cannot 
 therefore apprise the house thit the fort 
 of Delhi has been razed to the ground; 
 but I hope that ample retribution has 
 been by this time inflicted on the muti- 
 neers." f 
 
 The next Indian mail brought tidings 
 calculated to convince even the most igno- 
 rant or indifferent, that the capture, 
 whether by storm or blockade, of a large, 
 strong, well-fortified, and abundantly sup- 
 plied city, with a river running beneath its 
 walls, was not an easy matter : other news 
 followed, which spread grief and fear 
 throughout the United Kingdom ; telling 
 the rapid spread of mutiny, in ita most ter- 
 rible form, throughout the entire Bengal 
 army.§ 
 
 sepoy army is not in revolt ; it does not even ap- 
 pear that it is discontented :" and this in utter con- 
 tempt of the warning of General Hearsay, and of 
 the vicinity to the seat of government of Bar- 
 rackpoor, where the " greased cartridges" had 
 already produced rampant mutiny, Difnifested in 
 the act of Mungul Pandy— the first of the Pan- 
 dies — and the more thaa t»eit approval of hia 
 comrades.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ROHILCUND, BAREILLY, MORADABAD, SEHARUXPOOR, SHAHJEHANPOOR, BUDAON, 
 AND ALMORA.— MAY 21st TO JUNE 3rd, 1857. 
 
 RoHiLCUND lies between Oude and the 
 Ganges, which river separates it from the 
 Dooab. The five military stations of this 
 province contained the following troops at 
 the time of the outbreak : — 
 
 Barktlly. — The 18th and 68lh N.I. — Europeans, 
 28; Natives, 2,317. The 8th irregular cavalry — 
 Europeans, 3 ; Natives, 547. The 6th company of 
 Bengal Native artillery — 4 Europeans, and 110 
 Natives. There ware, besides, 52 of all ranks in 
 hospital. 
 
 MoradabaD.— The 29th N.I. — Europeans, 16; 
 Natives, 1,078. Sick of all ranks in hospital, 43. 
 Detail of foot artillery — European, 1 ; Natives. 50. 
 
 Seharunpoor. — Detachment of N. I. — Euro- 
 peans, none ; Natives, 82. 
 
 Shahjehanpoor.— 28th N. I. — Europeans, 16 ; 
 Natives, 1,106. Sick of all ranks in hospital, 11. 
 Detail of foot artillery — Europeans, none; Na- 
 tives, 29. 
 
 Bi;daon. — Detachment of N.I. — Europeans,nQne; 
 Natives, 50. 
 
 The military arrangements for the Ku- 
 maon district, were under the charge of the 
 same officer (Brigadier Sibbald) as those of 
 Rohilcund ; and both Kumaon and Rohil- 
 cund were included in the Meerut division. 
 Almora, the chief place of Kumaon, was 
 memorable for having been the scene of the 
 decisive contest with the Goorkas in 1815. 
 
 Almora. — 66th N. I. (Goorkas) — Europeans, 
 48; Natives, 680. Sick of all ranks, 22. De- 
 tachment of Sirmoor battalion — Europeans, none ; 
 Natives, 28. Company of artillery — Europeans, 2 ; 
 Natives, 105. 
 
 The whole of the above troops, excepting 
 the Goorkas, rebelled in the course of a 
 few days. 
 
 Bareilly, the head-quarters of the Rohil- 
 cund division, is only 152 miles from Delhi ; 
 and the tidings of the assertion of Moham- 
 medan supremacy in the imperial city, 
 travelled fast, and created great excitement 
 among the Lluhillas generally. "A very 
 bad and uneasy feeling" was considered, by 
 Brigadier Sibbald, to be prevalent among 
 the Bareilly soldiery; but he attributed its 
 origin to distrust of the intentions of the 
 British goverumeut; and on the 21st of May, 
 he ordered a general parade of the troops in 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers, 1857 ; p. 64. 
 t Personal Adventures during the Indian Rehellion 
 in Hohilcund, Futtehghur, and Oude ; by William 
 
 the cantonments, and begged them to dismiss 
 from their minds the causeless dread that 
 prevailed among them. The sepoys appeared 
 much relieved by his assurances, and said 
 they " had commenced a new life." In 
 a despatch dated May 23rd, the brigadier 
 stated that the reports from Moradabad, 
 Shahjehanpoor, and Almora, were most 
 satisfactory, and that the conduct of the 
 8th irregular cavalry was " beyond praise."* 
 This last point was remarkable, inasmuch 
 as the regiment in question consisted chiefly 
 of Pataus taken from the ueighbourliood of 
 Delhi. With regard to Moradabad, it is 
 evident that the brigadier thought it best 
 to take a very lenient view of the outbreak 
 which had occurred there. A party of 
 the 29th N.I. had actually broken open 
 the gaol, and released a great nuEuber 
 of prisoners, including a notorious villain 
 named Nujjoo Khan, who was under sen- 
 tence of transportation for life (for having at- 
 tempted to murder a European magistrate), 
 and who subsequently became a rebel leader 
 of some note.f The brigadier does not 
 enter into particulars ; but lie urges, that " a 
 free pardou from the highest authorities" 
 should be extended to the troops in general ; 
 and he adds, that the 29th were " proving 
 their repentance for the outbreak of bad 
 men among them." The temper of the 
 population was, however, far less promising: 
 indeed, throughout Rohilcund, disorgani- 
 sation in the civil government seems to 
 have preceded mutiny in the cantonments. 
 Mr. Edwards, the magistrate and collector 
 of the Budaon district, says, that as early as 
 the 19th of May, the infection had " spread 
 from the tracts on the right bank of the 
 Ganges, which were by that time in open 
 rebellion. Bands of marauders sprang up, 
 as it were, by magic, aud commenced plun- 
 dering on the roads, and sacking and plun- 
 dering villages."* The officers and civilians 
 became alarmed, and sent their wives and 
 children to Nynee Tal, a sanitary station, 
 seventy miles distant, in the Kumaon 
 district. The sepoys remonstrated against 
 
 Edwards, judge of Benares, and late magistrate and 
 collector of Budaon, in Rohilcund ; p. 3. 
 X Ibid., p. 2.
 
 MUTINY AT BAREILLY— MAY 31st, 1857. 
 
 213 
 
 this evidence of distrust, but happily in vain. 
 In the 8th iiTegular cavalry, however, such 
 perfect reliance continued to be placed, that 
 their commandant, Captain Mackenzie, was 
 empowered to raise additional troops for 
 permanent service ; and the cavalry lines 
 were appointed as the place of rendezvous 
 in the event of an outbreak. 
 
 Nor was this confidence without founda- 
 tion. The corps, it is true, succumbed ; but 
 it is evident the men had no systematic 
 treachery in view, but were simply car- 
 ried away by what to them must have 
 been an irresistible impulse. At Bareilly 
 there yet remained a lineal descendant 
 of the brave but ilUfated Hafiz Rehmet, 
 the Rohilla ciiief who fell when Bri- 
 tish bayonets were hired out by Warren 
 Hastings, to enable Shnjah Dowlah, of 
 Oude, to "annex" a neighbouring country. 
 Khan Bahadoor Khan was a venerable- 
 looking man, of dignified manners, and 
 considerable ability — much respected by 
 both Europeans and natives. Being a 
 pensioner of government in his double 
 capacity as representative of the former 
 ruler of the country, and also as a retired 
 Principal Sudder Araeen (or native judge), 
 the old man was considered, by the com- 
 missioner and collector, as identified with 
 British interests; and he was daily closeted 
 with them as a counsellor in their anxious 
 discussions regarding the state of affairs.* 
 From subsequent events, he is believed to 
 have been instrumental in fomenting dis- 
 affection, rather than to have been carried 
 away by the torrent ; but no very conclu- 
 sive evidence has yet appeared on the 
 subject. On the 29th of May, some of 
 the Native officers reported to Colonel 
 Troup, the second in command, that whilst 
 bathing in the river, the men of the 
 18th and 68th N.I. had sworn to rise in 
 the middle of the day and massacre the 
 Europeans. Notice was immediately given 
 to Captain Mackenzie ; under whom the 
 irregular cavalry turned out with the. ut- 
 most promptitude, and appeared quite re- 
 solved to stand by the Europeans.! 
 
 No outbreak occurred during this or the 
 following day; but great numbers of the 
 45th mutineers, from Ferozpoor, passed 
 through Bareilly on both these days, and 
 spread alarm among the yet obedient troops, 
 
 • Mutiny of the Bengal Army, p. 198. 
 t Col. Troup's report. — FurlherParl.Popers, p. 138. 
 X Mohammed Nizam, a Native officer, was told by 
 Captain Mackenzie to go back and look after his 
 
 by assuring them that a large European 
 force, with artillery, had been concentrated 
 in the vicinity of the station, and that the 
 destruction of the whole of the Native regi- 
 ments had been resolved on by the " gora 
 loyue" (white people). The Native lines were 
 a scene of confusion throughout the night of 
 Saturday the 30th ; few of the men retired 
 to their own huts ; and the Europeans were 
 in a state of extreme anxiety, having re- 
 ceived warning of the determination at 
 which the irregular cavalry had arrived — of 
 remaining strictly neutral in the approach- 
 ing struggle, and neither raising their hands 
 against their countrymen nor the Euro- 
 peans. The confidence of some of the offi- 
 cers in their men was unbroken to the last. 
 For instance, at nine o'clock on the Sun- 
 day morning. Major Pearson, who was in 
 command of the 18th, called on Colonel 
 Troup, and assured him that his men were 
 all right. Two hours later a gun was fired 
 by the artillery, and immediately after- 
 wards the sepoys began firing ou the officers' 
 bungalows. Brigadier Sibbald mounted 
 his horse, and rode towards the cavalry 
 lines, but was met by a party of infantry, 
 who shot him in the chest : the brave 
 old soldier rode on till he reached the ap- 
 pointed rendezvous, and then dropped dead 
 from his horse. Ensign Tucker perished 
 while endeavouring to save the life of the 
 sei'geant-major. The chief part of the 
 Europeans, civil and military, reached the 
 cavalry lines in safety, and agreed to retire 
 on Nyuee Tai. The troopers were assem- 
 bled in readiness to join in the retreat, 
 when Captain Mackenzie came up, and 
 asked Colonel Troup's permission to com- 
 ply with the wishes of the men, who desired 
 " to have a crack at the mutineers." They 
 returned accordingly, and soon came in 
 sight of the rebels. The result may be 
 readily guessed. The sight of the green 
 flag — the symbol of their faith — sufficed to 
 turn the scale with the troopers ; and 
 when directed to charge upon their co- 
 religionists, they halted, began to murmur, 
 and ended by turning their horses' heads, 
 and ranging themselves around the same 
 banner. The officers (Captain Mackenzie 
 and Lieutenant Becher), with a faithful 
 remnant of their late regiment,^ were com- 
 pelled to rejoin the party proceeding to 
 
 three motherless hoys, who were left in the lines of 
 the mutineers. The old man grasped the hand of 
 his commander, and, looking up to heaven with tears 
 in his eyes, exclaimed, " No, I will go on with you.
 
 214 
 
 MUTINY AT SHAHJEHANPOOR— MAY 31s r, 1857. 
 
 Nyjiee Tal. Mr. Alexander, the commis- 
 sioner, had a very narrow escape. He was 
 ill and in bed, when the gun, the signal 
 for mutiny, was fired. His native servant 
 rushed in, and begged him to fly. The com- 
 missioner declared himself unable to ride, 
 but vras lifted on to his saddle in an almost 
 fainting state, by his attendant. The 
 horse took fright at the firing, and ran 
 away, happily taking the Nynee Tal road, 
 and thus saving the life of its rider. The 
 fate of those who did not succeed in effect- 
 ing their escape has not been fully ascer- 
 tained. Six officers — namely. Major Pear- 
 son, Captains Richardson and Hathorn, 
 Lieutenant Stewart, and Ensign Dyson, 
 at first believed to be concealed in a vil- 
 lage seven miles from Delhi — are stated, 
 in the Gazette of May 6th, 1858, as still 
 missing, and supposed to have been killed 
 by the villagers. Messrs. Robertson and 
 Raikes, judges of Bareilly; Dr. Hay, son- 
 in-law to the late Lieutenant-governor 
 Thomason; Mr.Wyatt, the deputy-collector ; 
 and Dr. Carl Buch, principal of the Bareilly 
 college, remained behind. They are alleged 
 to have been formally tried by the muti- 
 neers, who omitted none of the usual forms, 
 and made Khan Bahadoor Khan act as the 
 judge. A jury was sworn, witnesses were 
 examined, a conviction obtained, and sen- 
 tence of death passed with affected solem- 
 nity on the unfortunate gentlemen, who 
 •were then publicly hanged in front of the 
 gaol. To appreciate the force of this horri- 
 ble sarcasm, it must be remembered that 
 our administration of justice, both civil and 
 criminal, was detested by the natives ; and 
 that a Rohilcund magistrate had been, 
 for more than a year before the outbreak, 
 representing " the great abuse of the power 
 of the civil courts, and the reckless manner 
 in which they decreed the sale of rights 
 and interests connected with the soil, in 
 satisfaction of petty debts, and the danger- 
 ous dislocation of society which was in con- 
 sequence being produced."* Moreover, 
 one of the victims, Mr. Wyatt, had himself 
 published, anonymously, a book entitled 
 Revelations respecting the Police, Magis- 
 tracy, and Criminal Courts,^ which suffi- 
 ciently accounts for the deep-rooted ani- 
 mosity excited by our system, and which 
 naturally extended to its administrators. 
 
 and do my duty." The children did not perish, but 
 sufifered much from poverty and neglect. — Kaikes' 
 Revolt, p. 155. 
 
 • Edwards' Personal Adventures, p. 14. 
 
 Dr. Hansbrow, the medical officer in 
 charjje of the gaol, ascended to the roof of 
 that building, and attempted to resist the 
 insurgents, but was overpowered and put to 
 death. The prisoners, to the number of 
 about 4,000, were released. J The treasury 
 was plundered, the cantonments fired, and 
 many lives were lost in the contest for 
 booty, which ensued between the sepoys 
 and the population. 
 
 At Shahjehanpoor, a mutiny occurred 
 on the same Sunday, of which no official 
 account has ever been furnished ; for those 
 whose duty it would have been to report 
 the details to government, were themselves 
 among the victims. The 2Bth N.I. rose en 
 masse during the time of morning service, 
 and some of the men entered the church, 
 murdered the collector (Mr. Rieketts) and 
 Dr. Bowling, and wounded Ensign Spens. 
 Captain James, the officer in command of the 
 regiment, was killed while endeavouring to 
 recall his meu to a sense of duty : Captain 
 Salmon was wounded while running to the 
 parade-ground ; but he, with Ensign Spens 
 and twenty-six other persons, including eight 
 ladies and four children, made their escape 
 to Mohumdee, a station in Oude, where 
 their arrival caused great excitement among 
 the Native troops, and accelerated the 
 catastrophe in which they perished. 
 
 The account here given is derived from 
 a letter written by the assistant-commis- 
 sioner of Mohumdee, Captain Patrick Orr, 
 to his brother at Lucknow.§ Circumstan- 
 tial narratives of the Shahjehanpoor mutiny 
 were published in various Indian journals; 
 but they contradict one another in impor- 
 tant particulars, and are probably all equally 
 fictitious. 
 
 Budaon is about thirty miles from Ba- 
 reilly. In the afternoon of Sunday, the 
 31st, intelligence was received that crowds 
 of released convicts were thronging the 
 Bareilly road, and were already within eight 
 miles of Budaon ; and further, that a detach- 
 ment of the mutineers were in full march 
 thither, in the assurance of being joined 
 by the treasury guard in plundering and 
 burning the station. The magistrate, Mr. 
 Edwards, whose narrative has been, already 
 quoted, felt that the discontent • of the 
 population rendered it hopeless to attempt 
 to oppose the insurgents. Mr. Phillips, the 
 
 t Ostensibly by " Orderly Panchkooree Khan." 
 X Further Pari. Papers, 1857 ; p. 2. 
 § Gubbins' Mutiny in Oudh, p. 123 ; Reea' Siet/a 
 of LucknoiB, p. 48.
 
 MUTINY AT BUD AON— May 31st, 1857. 
 
 216 
 
 magistrate of Etah, was at this time at Bu- 
 daoD, having come thus far on his way to 
 Bareilly, whither he was proceeding to pro- 
 cure military aid to put down disturbances 
 in his own district. On learning what had 
 occiu-red, he mounted his horse, and with an 
 escort composed of a dozen horsemen (some 
 belonging to different regiments of irregu- 
 lar horse, others common police sowars), 
 dashed oft' at full gallop, in order to reach 
 the Ghauts across the Gauges before the 
 convicts or rebels could close the road, aud 
 prevent his return to Etah. Edwards was 
 sorely tempted to make his escape also. His 
 wife aiid child had previously found refuge 
 at Nyuee Tal ; but he considered it his duty 
 " to stick to the ship as long as she floated." 
 He remained the only European oflRcer in 
 charge of a district, containing a lawless 
 population of nearly 1,100 souls, with a Mo- 
 hammedan deputy-collector for his sole as- 
 sistant. " I went," he says, " into my room, 
 and prayed earnestly that God would protect 
 and guide me, and enable me to do my duty. 
 I then summoned my kotwal, and arranged 
 with him as best we could, for maintaining, 
 as long as possible, the peace of the town." 
 At ten at night, Mr. Donald, an indigo 
 planter, and his son; Mr. Gibson, a patrol 
 ill the customs department, temporarily on 
 duty in the district; and Mr. Stewart and 
 his wife and family (Eurasians), sought 
 protection in Mr. Edwards' house. By 
 congregating together, however, they rather 
 increased than diminished their mutual dan- 
 ger, by attracting attention, which was the 
 more to be deprecated, " as some of the 
 party were at feud with the people of the 
 district, in consequence of having pur- 
 chased estates, sold under harsh circum- 
 stances by decrees of our civil courts." 
 This statement is followed by others, which 
 deserve quotation in full, as illustrating the 
 gulf that opened at tlie feet of the govern- 
 ing race the moment the Bengal merce- 
 naries hoisted the standard of revolt. 
 
 "Tr. llic large number of the.«e sales during the 
 past twelve or filteen years, and the operation of 
 cur revenue system, which has had the result of 
 destroying the jientry of the country, and breaking 
 up the village coinniunities, I attribute solely the 
 disorganisation of this aud the neiglibouring dis- 
 tricts in lliese provinces. By fraud or chicanery, 
 a vast number of the estates of f:imilies of rank and 
 influence have been alienated, cither wholly or in 
 part, and have been purchased by new men, chieily 
 traders or f;<>vernnient officials, without character or 
 influence over their tenantry. • • • 'l'\^g very 
 first peo|)le who came in to me, imploring aid, were 
 of this new proprietary body, to whom I had a 
 
 right to look for vigorous and efficient efforts in the 
 maintenance of order. On the other hand, those who 
 really could control the vast masses of the rural 
 population, were interested in bringing about a state 
 of disturbance and general anarchy." 
 
 In adverting to the manufacture and distribution 
 of the chupatties in the North-Western Provinces, 
 Mr. Edwards .says — " I truly believe that the rural 
 population of all classes among whom these cakes 
 spread, were as ignorant as I was myself of their 
 real object ; but it was clear they were a secret 
 sign to be on the alert ; and the minds of the people 
 were, through them, kept watchful and excited. As 
 soon as the disturbances broke out at Meerut and 
 Delhi, the cakes explained themselves, and the 
 people at once perceived what was expected from 
 them. In Budaon, the mass of the population rose in a 
 body, and the entire district became a sceije of 
 anarchy and confusion. The ancient proprietary 
 body took the opportunity of murdering or expelling 
 the auction purchasers, and resumed possession of 
 their hereditary estates. * * • The rural classes 
 would never have joined in rebelling with the 
 sepoys, whom they hated, had not these causes of 
 discontent already existed. They evinced no sym- 
 pathy whatever about the cartridges, or flour said to 
 be made of human bones, and could not have been 
 acted on by any cry of their religion being in danger. 
 It is questions involving their rights and interests 
 in the soil, and hereditary holdings invariably termed 
 by them 'jan se azeez {dearer than life), which 
 Excite them to a dangerous degree."* 
 
 At six o'clock on Monday afternoon, the 
 company of the 68th N.I., on guard at 
 the treasury, broke into open mutiny, 
 released 300 prisoners confined in the gaol, 
 and seized the money entrusted to their 
 charge, amounting to about £15,000. The 
 smallness of the sum was a great disap- 
 pointment : they had expected to find 
 j£70,000 in the treasury ; and would have 
 done so, had not Mr. Edwards, anticipating 
 the outbreak, refused to receive the custo- 
 mary payments of the zemindars. Directly 
 after the rise of the guard, a party of the 
 Bareilly mutineers entered the station, and 
 tiie Native police threw away their badges 
 and fraternised with the rebels. The re- 
 leased convicts issued from the gaol, and 
 proceeded, hooting and yelling, to the ma- 
 gistrate's house. The Europeans heard 
 the ominous sounds; and mounting the 
 horses which had been standing saddled 
 all the day, rode for their lives. Mr. 
 Edwards and the two Donalds succeeded iu 
 forcing their way, revolver in hand, through 
 the crowd ; but Mr. Gibson was killed. 
 The others were subsequently protected by 
 Mooltan KhauT-a " fine powerful Patan, 
 between forty and fifty years of age," re- 
 lated to, and in the service of, a petty chief, 
 known as the nawab of Shumsabad, a place 
 
 • Edwards' Personal Adventure!, pp. 13 — 17.
 
 216 
 
 MUTINY AT MORADABAD— June 3rd, 1857. 
 
 near the Ganges. Mooltan Khan told the I Mr. Wilson had great influence with the 
 fugitives that their escape was impossible, , 29th N.I. ; his knowledge of the language 
 
 on account of the state of the country; and 
 he seemed inclined either to leave them to 
 their fate, or to allow the half-a-dozen 
 troopers appointed by the nawab to escort 
 the Europeans on their way, to dispose of 
 them summarily. Edwards saw that a 
 crisis had arrived ; and riding up to Mool- 
 tan Khan, he laid his hand on his shoulder, 
 saying, " Have you a family, aud little 
 children?" The Patan nodded. "Are 
 they not dependent on you for bread?" 
 " Yes," was the answer. " Well," rejoined 
 Edwards, " so have I ; and I am confident 
 you are not the man to take my life aud 
 destroy their means of support." Mooltan 
 Khan hesitated a moment, and then said, 
 " I will save your life if I can ; follow me." 
 He set off at a gallop, the three Europeans 
 after him ; and despite the remonstrances 
 of the troopers, who desired the death of 
 the fugitives, Mooltan Khan conveyed them 
 by a circuitous cross-country route, avoid- 
 ing the hostile villagers, and enabled them 
 to reach a place of temporary safety; that is 
 to say, a station not then submerged be- 
 neath the flood of mutiny. During Mr. 
 Edwards' wanderings, he was attended with 
 unwavering fidelity by an Afghan servant, 
 and by a Seik named Wuzeer Sing, who had 
 retired from the 29th regiment of N.I. in 
 April, 1857, to join a small band of native 
 Chri-'tians resident at Budaon, and had sub- you that if you eat your food there, you wash your 
 
 having enabled him both to harangue them 
 publicly, and converse familiarly with them 
 in their lines. To this cause, and the nerve 
 and moderation evinced by both officers 
 and civilians, may be attributed the absence 
 of the tragic excesses committed in other 
 stations. The regiment, and artillery de- 
 tachment, proceeded quietly to appropriate 
 the government treasure, the opium, and 
 all the plate-chests, and other valuable 
 property of private individuals, which had 
 been sent for security to the government 
 treasury. The Native police withdrew, and 
 hid themselves ; and the Europeans, with 
 their wives and children, quitted the station; 
 some proceeding to Meerut, others to Ny- 
 nee Tal. There were at Moradabad several 
 Native cflScers on leave from their regi- 
 ments, whose services had been previously 
 placed at the disposal of the local autho- 
 rities. They volunteered to escort the 
 Europeans to Meerut; the offer was ac- 
 cepted, and the promise fulfilled.* 
 
 The various mutinous regiments of Rohil- 
 cund united, and marched to Delhi, where 
 their co-operation was much desired, as we 
 learn from the following characteristic epis- 
 tle, intercepted at Haupper (near Meerut): — 
 
 " From the Officers of the Army at Delhi, to tha 
 Officers of the Bareilly and Moradabad Hegiments. — 
 If you are coming to help us, it is incumbent on 
 
 sequently been employed as an orderly 
 
 Moradabad. — News of the outbreak and 
 massacre at Bareilly reached Moradabad on 
 the 2nd of June, and a marked alteration 
 took place in the demeanour of the 29th 
 N.I., and in that of the population. The 
 treasury, containing 75,000 rupees, was 
 under the charge of the sepoys, who com- 
 menced plundering it on the 3rd of June. 
 The sepoys, disappointed by the smallness 
 of the booty, seized the treasurer, carried 
 him up to the guns, and threatened to blow 
 him away unless he disclosed where the 
 supposed remainder was hidden. Mr. Saun- 
 ders (the magistrate) and Mr. Wilson (the 
 judge) succeeded in rescuing their country- 
 man, but not without danger to themselves; ! Jumna in boats (the bridge being broken), 
 for a few of the mutineers put the percus- j and marching into one of the seven {jates of 
 sion-caps on their muskets, and took deli '' ' ' ' "~ '"'' 
 
 hands here, for here the fight is going on with the 
 English ; and by the goodness of God, even one de- 
 feat to us is ten to them, and our troops are assem- 
 bled here in large numbers. It is now necessary 
 for you to come here ; for large rewards will be con- 
 ferred by the king of kings, the centre of prosperity, 
 the King of Delhi. We are looking out most 
 anxiously for you, like fasters watchmg for the call 
 of the mezzin [the signal that the fast is ended]. 
 " Come, come for there is no rose 
 Without the spring of your presence. 
 The opening bud with drought 
 Is as an infant without milk."t 
 
 On the 1st of July, the longing eyes of 
 the rebel Delhi garrison were gladdened, 
 aud those of the besiegers mortified, by the 
 sight of the Rohilcund mutineers, who were 
 watched by friends and foes crossing the 
 
 berate aim at the retreating Europeans. 
 Some of the Native officers rushed forward, 
 and reminding the men that they had taken 
 an oath to refrain from bloodshedding, per- 
 nuded them to drop their weapons. 
 
 the city in military array, with.infantry, cav. 
 airy, artillery, and some hundred cart-loads 
 of treasure. 
 
 * Further Pari. Papers, pp. 9—11. 
 t Daily News, August 17th, 1857. 
 Special (Correspondent. 
 
 Bombay
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OUDE, LUCKNOW, seetapoor, mohumdee, mullaon, bahraetch, gondah, 
 
 MULLAPOOR, FYZABAD, SALONE, AND DURIABAD.— MAY 16th to JULY 4th, 1857. 
 
 OtDE. — The efforts of Sir Henry Law- 
 rence were successful in preserving the 
 tranquillity of Oude up to the end of May. 
 In the meantime, he had taken precautions 
 ia anticipation of a calamity which he 
 considered nothing short of the speedy re- 
 capture of Delhi could avert. Ou the 16th 
 of May, he requested the Supreme govern- 
 ment, by telegraph, to entrust him with 
 plenary military power in Oude ; which was 
 immediately granted.* He was appointed 
 brigadier-general, and he lost not a moment 
 in entirely changing the disposition of 
 the troops. Arrangements for Lucknow, 
 he considered, might be satisfactorily made ; 
 but the unprotected condition of Allahabad, 
 Benares, and especially of Cawnpoor, filled 
 him with alarm ; and he wrote urgently to 
 the governor-general, entreating that no 
 expense might be spared in sending Euro- 
 peans to reinforce that place. At midnight 
 on the 20th, an application for aid was dis- 
 patched from thence to Lucknow (fifty miles 
 distant), and was answered by the imme- 
 diate dispatch of fifty men of H.M.'s 32nd, 
 and two squadrons of Native cavalry. The 
 cavalry were not needed at Cawnpoor; and 
 Captain Fletcher Hayes projected, and ob- 
 tained leave to attempt, the expedition 
 against the Etah rajah, the melancholy 
 result of which has been already related. 
 
 Lucknow itself needed every precaution 
 which Sir Henry Lawrence had the means 
 of taking. It extended along the right 
 bank of the Goomtee for four miles, and its 
 buildings covered an area of seven miles. 
 It contained, according to Mr. Kaikes, 
 200,000 fighting-men, and as many more 
 armed citizens. Sleeman estimated the 
 total population at 1,000,000 persons ;t 
 others have placed it at 1,200,000: but 
 no census had been attempted either by the 
 Native or European government. The rising 
 of the Lucknow people was anticipated by 
 the resident Europeans as a very probable 
 event, for the plain reason that, iu the words 
 of one of the annalists of the siege, " we 
 
 • Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 187. 
 t Raikes' Revolt, p. 104. Sleeman's Oude, vol. i., 
 p. 136. t Rees' Siege of Lucknow, p. 34. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 r 
 
 had done very little to merit their love, and 
 much to merit their detestation ;" and " the 
 people in general, and especially the poor, 
 were dissatisfied, because they were taxed 
 directly and indirectly in every way ."J The 
 mutiny of the Native troops was still more 
 confidently expected ; and Sir Henry Law- 
 rence was urged to prevent it by disarming 
 them : but he considered that this measure, 
 though practicable and even desirable had 
 the capital only required to be cared for, 
 might precipitate an outbreak at Cawnpoor 
 and at the out-stations of Oude, and there- 
 fore ought not to be adopted except in the 
 last extremity. In the distribution of the 
 forces, the chief object had been to station 
 the Europeans where they would suffer least 
 from exposure to the climate ; and the na- 
 tives had been entrusted with the sole charge 
 of several important positions. It became 
 necessary to make a new arrangement, and 
 likewise to reduce the number of stations, 
 that, in the event of an outbreak, the Euro- 
 peans might not be cut off in detail. " We 
 had eight posts," writes Sir H. Lawrence to 
 Sir Hugh Wheeler, on the 20th of May : "as 
 Sir C. Napier would say, we were like chips 
 in porridge. We have given up four posts, 
 and greatly strengthened three."& 
 
 Of these three, the Muchee Bhawn was 
 the one which was at the onset most rehed 
 on. This fort, which derives its name of 
 Muchee (fish) || from the device over the gate- 
 way, and Bhawn (Sanscrit for house), had 
 the appearance of a formidable and secure 
 stronghold, and was held by the natives to 
 be almost impregnable. It occupied a 
 commanding position with regard to the 
 town ; and advantage was taken of this by 
 planting cannon on its walls ; or where that 
 could not be done, supplying the deficiency 
 with "jingals," or immense blunderbusses 
 moving on pivots. All the magazine stores, 
 previously under the charge of sepoys, were 
 removed into the Muchee Bhawn, and a 
 company of Europeans placed on guard 
 there; supplies of wheat, and all sorts of 
 
 § Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 311. 
 II The order of the Fish was the highest and most 
 coveted distinction in the Mogul empire.
 
 218 PROCEEDINGS OF SIR H. LAWRENCE— LUCKNOW~MAY, 1857. 
 
 provisions, were laid in, and also very largely 
 into the Residency, which was the post 
 next in strength. At the treasury, within 
 the Residency compound, were stationed 
 130 Europeans, 200 Natives, and six guns : 
 the sepoys were allowed to remain on guard 
 at the treasury tent ; but the guns were so 
 disposed as to give the Europeans complete 
 command over the tent, in the event of an 
 attempt upon it. 
 
 A copy of the proclamation issued at 
 Agra, promising immunity from punish- 
 ment to all sepoys not concerned in the 
 murderous attacks upon Europeans, now 
 reached Lucknow. Sir Henry Lawrence 
 followed the example of Mr. Colvin, by 
 directing the judicial commissioner to pre- 
 pare, and issue throughout Oude, a notifi- 
 cation holding out still stronger assurances 
 of clemency. This policy was generally 
 approved at Lucknow, as it had been at 
 Agra, on the ground that it was just pos- 
 sible the dreaded combination of the Native 
 troops might be stopped by timely con- 
 ciliation.* 
 
 While a semblance of order was main- 
 tained among the troops, some hope re- 
 mained of averting the danger; and even 
 after the, outbreak, the necessity of stop- 
 ping the process of coalition and combina- 
 tion among the rebels was so manifest, 
 that, despite the fierce cry for vengeance 
 which speedily arose, some voices were still 
 raised in favour of a rule of action more 
 befitting a Christian people, than the adop- 
 tion of the Draconian principle, that death 
 w"s to be the indiscriminating punishment 
 of every grade of mutiny or insurrection. 
 For instance, a letter written from Simla 
 on the 23rd of June, descriptive of the tone 
 of feeling prevalent there, states that 
 " Lord William Hay, deputy-commissioner 
 up here, and Mr. Campbell, say if the 
 mutineers would now lay down their arms, 
 and promise to go to their homes, we 
 should be most thankful to grasp at the 
 proposal. "f If this opinion could be formed 
 by a person of such sound judgment and 
 intimate acquaintance with native character 
 as Lord William Hay, at the latter end of 
 June, much more might of course be urged 
 in favour of the view taken by Sir Henry 
 Lawrence before the explosion which took 
 place at Lucknow at the close of May. 
 
 The Moiiammedan festival of the " Eed," 
 or " New Moon," fell ou the 24th of May ; 
 
 * Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, jj. 43. 
 t Daily News, August 23rd, 1857. 
 
 and considerable apprehension was felt 
 during its celebration. On the preceding 
 evening, a telegram from General Wheeler 
 had stated it as almost certain that the 
 troops would rise that night at Cawnpoor ; 
 and it was believed that the example would 
 be immediately followed at Lucknow. In- 
 cendiarism had everywhere marked the first 
 movements of the mutineers at other sta- 
 tions; and, from the beginning of the month, 
 had shown itself at Lucknow. Placards, 
 inviting all true Hindoos and Mussulmans 
 to exterminate the Feringhees, were posted 
 up at night in several places. Reports that 
 the 71st regiment was in actual mutiny, 
 had more than once got about ; and, on one 
 occasion. Sir Henry Lawrence and the 
 military staff had been called down to the 
 lines in the middle of the day by an alarm 
 of the kind. 
 
 The Eed, however, passed off without 
 any disturbance. Still it was thought ad- 
 visable that the ladies and children should 
 leave cantonments, and take shelter in the 
 Residency and adjacent houses compre- 
 hended within the intrenchments, after- 
 wards so gallantly defended. Mr. Gub- 
 bins, the commissioner for Oude, had used 
 all possible precautions against the antici- 
 pated siege. His house, solidly built of 
 masonry, comprised two stories, and was 
 exposed on three sides to the city. Ma- 
 sonry parapets, pierced with loopholes, were 
 erected all around the roof; the veran- 
 dahs and doorways were similarly protected 
 with walls of masonry ; and strong doors, 
 cased with sheet-iron on the outside, were 
 fixed upon the entrances on the ground 
 floor. Mr. Gubbins commenced his fortifi- 
 cations at a time when few other Euro- 
 peans in Lucknow seriously contemplated 
 an attack on the Residency; and his prepara- 
 tions were not carrie'd on without exciting 
 the mirth of some of his neighbours ; J while 
 others imitated his example. 
 
 Throughout the whole month of May, 
 Sir Henry Lawrence is described as having 
 been " untiring in his exertions. He gene- 
 rally visited the Muchee Bhawn every 
 morning, and any other post that called for 
 his attention. From breakfast until dark 
 he was consulting with his military subor- 
 dinates, closeted with Native ofiBcers, or at 
 work with his pen."§ He was the mainspring 
 of the entire community. Military men 
 and civilians, covenanted and uncovenanted ; 
 
 J Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 27. 
 § Ibid., p. 4o.
 
 LUCKNOW— MUTINY OP 71st N.I.— MAY SOth. 
 
 219 
 
 merchants, tradespeople, servants, the Eura- 
 sians, and all the loyal natives, vied with each 
 other in loving and trusting Henry Law- 
 rence. The uncovenanted assistants, com- 
 prising clerks, copyists, &c., were embodied as 
 special constables, and cheerfully took night 
 duty; each man feeling that his services, if 
 well performed, however subordinate in 
 character, would not pass unnoticed or un- 
 rewarded. Rees says, "the uncovenanted, 
 particularly, had a kind friend in Sir 
 Henry ; and with the common soldier he 
 was equally, if not even more popular."* 
 The enthusiasm displayed when he removed 
 the head-quarters of his oflBce from canton- 
 ments into the Residency (31st May), was 
 very striking. The sight of his attenuated 
 but soldier-like form — the eyes already 
 sunken with sleeplessness, the forehead 
 furrowed with anxious thought, the soft 
 hair cut short on the head, the long wavy 
 beard descending to his breast — all the well- 
 known features of probabl)' the most gene- 
 rally beloved tnan in India — called forth a 
 perfect storm of acclamation. Loud "hur- 
 rahs !" and shouts of " Long life to Sir 
 Henry !" continued until he had passed 
 out of sight into the Residency, where 
 he was soon to receive his death-wound. 
 
 On the afternoon of Saturday, the 30th, 
 he wrote a private letter to Mr. Raikcs at 
 Agra, by the last regular post that left 
 Lucknow for nearly a year; in which he 
 observes — " If the commander-in-chief delay 
 much longer, he may have to recover Cawn- 
 poor, Lucknow, and Allahabad ; indeed, all 
 down to Calcutta. * * * While we 
 are intrenching two posts in the city, we 
 are virtually besieging four regiments (in a 
 quiet way) with 300 Europeans. Not very 
 pleasant diversion from my civil duties. I 
 am daily in the town, four miles off, for 
 some hours ; but reside in the cantonments, 
 guarded by the gentlemen we are besieg- 
 ing. * * * What I most fear are 
 risings in the districts, and the irregulars 
 getting tainted. "t 
 
 Both these evils were manifesting them- 
 selves at the time when ■ the above para- 
 graph was written. The disorganised con- 
 dition of the Doab districts was reacting 
 on the Oude border. Up to the 25th of 
 May, no overt act of insurrection occurred ; 
 but then several of the dispossessed talook- 
 dars began to resume possession of the 
 
 • Rees' Sie</e of Lucknow, p. 39. 
 
 t Raikes' Revolt in the N. W. Provinces, p. 22. 
 
 \ Ibid., p. 22. 
 
 villages from whence they had been ejected; 
 and the zemindars of Mulheeabad and its 
 neighbourhood, distant about eighteen miles 
 from Lucknow, evinced undisguised disaf- 
 fection. These people were the descendants 
 of Afreedees, who came from the Khyber 
 mountains, and are described as " greedy, 
 poor, and idle." They began assembling 
 in their villages, and threatened the local 
 treasury at Mulheeabad. To repress them, 
 a party of police, uuder Captain Weston, 
 was detached from Lucknow, with tem- 
 porary good effect. 
 
 Another interesting letter reached Mr. 
 Raikes by the same post, from his son-in- 
 law, Mr. Christian, an able and experienced 
 revenue ofHcer, who expressed a hope that 
 the eyes of government would now be 
 opened to the effect of the levelling policy, 
 by the state of affairs in the disturbed pro- 
 vinces, where they had hardly a single man 
 of influence to look to for help, all being 
 equal in their poverty. He added, however, 
 as far as Lucknow was concerned—" Sir 
 Henry Lawrence has arranged admirably; 
 and, come what will, we are prepared."^ 
 
 That is to say, about 930 Europeans held 
 themselves in readiness for the very possi- 
 ble contingency of a hand-to-hand struggle 
 with above 4,000 of their own trained 
 troops. 
 
 That same evening (30th May), the nine 
 o'clock gun gave the signal for mutiny to a 
 portion of the Native troops. A party of 
 the 71st N.I. had been removed from the 
 Muchee Bhawn a few days before, on 
 account of their suspected disaffection, and 
 were stationed in the city. It was not, 
 however, these men, but those of another 
 company of the same regiment in canton- 
 ments, who turned out and commenced 
 firing, while a body of about forty made 
 straight for the mess-house, ransacked, and 
 set it on fire. The officers everywhere were 
 on the alert, and left their messes upon the 
 first shot being fired. Sir Henry rode 
 at once to the European camp. Brigadier 
 Handscomb, a fine old soldier, advanced on 
 the lines of the 71st with a company of 
 H.M.'s 32nd. The word to " fix bayonets" 
 was given, and the Europeans could scarcely 
 be restrained from charging without orders. 
 The brigadier withheld tliem, saying, "You 
 might kill friends." Then bidding them 
 halt, he advanced alone, intending, despite 
 the darkness and confusion, to address the 
 mutineers; but was fired on, and fell from 
 his horse dead. The sepoys of the Tlst,
 
 220 FLIGHT AND PURSUIT OF MUTINEERS— MAY 30th, 1857. 
 
 becoming more bold, marched upon a body 
 of H.M.'s 32nd foot and four guns, posted 
 to the right of them in the European camp ; 
 but a volley of grape soon drove them back 
 into their lines. Lieutenant Grant, of the 
 71st N.I., was killed while on picket duty at 
 another part of the cantoiiments. The 
 subahdar on guard had concealed him under 
 a charpoy, or four-legged native bed, when 
 Some of the mutineers rushed in. The 
 sufjahdar told them that the lieutenant had 
 escaped; but a havildar of the same guard, 
 merciless in his intense bigotry, pointed to 
 the place of concealment,* and the un- 
 fortunate officer was immediately dragged 
 forthj.and pierced through by bayonets and 
 mu&ke^-baiis. 
 
 Tho'71st mutineers possessed themselves 
 both of the colours and treasure of their 
 regime^^t. The 13th N.I. were assembled 
 on their own parade, and detained there for 
 a consiqerable time by the exertions of 
 Major BVuere. Many of the men, however, 
 broke avray and forced open the magazitie. 
 The adjufant. Lieutenant Chambers, tried 
 to prevent^the plunder of the ammunition, 
 but was fired upon, and severely wounded 
 in the leg. Finding his men deserting him, 
 Major Bruete at length marched off a 
 remnant of the 13th with the colours, and 
 took post witb[about 200 men by the side 
 of H.M.'s 32nd. The treasure was very 
 gallantly saved by Lieutenant Loughnan, 
 assisted by the $eiks of the regiment. 
 
 While Major Bruere was thus performing 
 his public duty, his wife and children were 
 exposed to extreme danger. Mrs. Bruere 
 had returned to cantonments against orders, 
 and was in her bungalow when tiie mutiny 
 took place. Some faithful sepoys of her 
 husband's regiment, saved her by putting 
 her through a hole in the wall, which they 
 made while the mutineers were calling for 
 her. She and her little ones fled into the 
 open country, and after passing the night 
 ill an open ditch, succeeded next morning 
 in safely reaching the Residency. 
 
 The 48th N.I. likewise assembled on 
 their parade, under Colonel Palmer, who 
 proposed to march to the European camp ; 
 but this the men would not do ; and when 
 several of the officers proposed going thither 
 themselves to ascertain the state of affairs, 
 
 * Mutiny cf Bemjal Armtj: by one who served 
 under Sir ('harles Napier; p. 77. 
 
 t Gubbins says forty (p. 105) ; Sir Henry Lawrence 
 twenty-five, in his first telegraphic despatch of May 
 30th, 1857.— Appendix to Pari. Papers, p. 348. 
 
 the sepoys withheld them, saying that they 
 were sure to he killed. It is stated by 
 !Mr. Gnbl)ius, but without any explanation 
 of so strange a fact, that after it had 
 become evident that the 48th would not 
 act against the mutineers, the magazine 
 was opened, and ammunition served out to 
 them. He adds, that while engaged in this 
 duty. Lieutenant Ousely was struck down 
 by one of his men with a bludgeon, and 
 they then helped themselves. Finding that 
 numbers were deserting, and that the corps 
 would not face the mutineers. Colonel Pal- 
 mer proposed to march to the Residency in 
 the city ; but by the time he reached the 
 iron bridge, ouly fifty-seveu men remained 
 around the colours. 
 
 The lines of the 7th light cavalry were at 
 Moodkeepoor, about three miles from the 
 cantonments. Not above 150 troopers 
 were there when the mutiny broke out. 
 These were immediately called out by tiieir 
 officers ; when some twenty-fivef of them, 
 before line could be formed, dashed off at 
 full speed towards the cantonments; the 
 rest patrolled during the night, and drew 
 up, after daybreak, on the right of the 32nd 
 regiment. 
 
 While these movements were going on, 
 the bungalows in cantonments presented a 
 scene of general uproar and devastation. 
 Lieutenant Hardinge, with his irregular 
 cavalry, patrolled along the main street of 
 the cantonments, and was wounded in liis 
 unavailing efforts to stop the general plun- 
 der, which extended to the native bazaars. 
 The Residency bungalow, and a few others, 
 were the ouly ones in cantonments not 
 fired. 
 
 After daybreak, the 7th cavalry were 
 directed to move towards Moodkeepoor, 
 where the officers' houses and the troopers' 
 lines had been seized and fired by the muti- 
 neers. They found the post occupied by the 
 enemy in force. A horseman rode from the 
 rebel ranks and waved his sword before the 
 yet loyal cavalry, on which forty of them, as 
 if moved by an irresistible impulse, spurring 
 their horses, galloped across, and ranged 
 themselves on the side of the enemy. The 
 rest appear to have remained firm until 
 Sir Henry Lawrence arrived at Mood- 
 keepoor, about 4 A.Ai., with four guns and 
 two companies of H.M.'s 32nd. The muti- 
 neers amounted to about 1,000 men, chiefly 
 infantry, assembled in disorderly masses. 
 The guns opened upon them at the distance 
 of a mile with round shot, and, after a few
 
 INSURRECTION IN CITY OF LUCKNOW— MAY 31st, 1857 
 
 221 
 
 discharges, they broke up and fled pre- 
 cipitately. The guns followed slowly with 
 the infantry : the troopers might have over- 
 taken the fugitive crowds; but they liad 
 evidently no desire to do so, notwithstaudiug 
 the promise of 100 rupees for every mutineer 
 captured or slain ; and, after proceeding a 
 few miles further, the pursuit was abandoned. 
 Thirty prisoners were taken. The Euro- 
 peans were at first surprised by seeing 
 numbers of men and women running in all 
 directions, with bundles on their heads ; but 
 they soon discovered that these were vil- 
 lagers and camp-followers making oflf with 
 booty obtained in the cantonments during 
 the preceding night. Some of the plun- 
 derers were seized by Commissioner Gub- 
 bins, who, with his own orderly and three 
 of Fisher's horse, got detached from the rest 
 of the cavalry ; but what to do with his 
 prisoners the commissioner knew not ; for, 
 he adds, " we had not yet learnt to kill 
 in cold blood." Neither had the sepoys 
 learned to expect it : they would have been 
 more daring had they been more desperate. 
 Gubbins and his four native followers came 
 suddenly on six of the fugitives, and cap- 
 tured them in the following singular man- 
 ner. " Coming up with them, they threw 
 down their loaded muskets and drew their 
 swords, of which several had two. Threat- 
 ening them with our fire-arms, we called 
 upon them to throw down their arms, which 
 presently they did. One of them declared 
 himself to be a havildar; and I made him 
 pinion tightly his five comrades, using their 
 turbans and waistbands for the purpose. 
 One of the troopers then dismounted and 
 tied the havildar's arms. Three of the men 
 belonged to the 48th N.I., three to the 
 13th N.I., and one man was a Seik. One 
 of tlie prisoners wore three English shirts 
 over his native dress. The arms were 
 collected and laden on a couple of peasants 
 summoned from the village, and the six 
 prisoners were sent back in charge of i 
 single horseman." Mr. Gubl)ins rode on, 
 and, in bis own words, "gave chase" to two 
 or three more fugitives, and had nearly 
 overtaken them, when his orderly perceived 
 a number of sepoy heads behind a low wall, 
 at the entrance of a village they were 
 about to enter. This changed the aspect 
 of afl^airs ; and, amid a shower of bullets, the 
 commissioner turned his horse's head, and, 
 vyith his three followers, rode back with 
 all speed to the Residency bungalow in 
 cantonments, where he arrived about eleven 
 
 o'clock, Sir Henry Lawrence and the ar- 
 tillery having returned an hour before. 
 
 The trooper entrusted with tlie prisoners 
 brought them duly in, and he and his three 
 companions received the promised reward 
 of 600 rupees. While waiting for their 
 money in the house of Mr. Gubbins, they 
 talked with the servants on the state of 
 affairs. The three who belonged to Fisher's 
 horse, said, "We like our colonel [Fisher], 
 and will not allow him to be harmed ; but 
 if the whole army turns, we must turn 
 too !" The events of a few days showed 
 the significance of these words : the autho- 
 rity of the " Fouj ki Bheera," or general 
 will of the army, was to individuals, and 
 even to regiments, almost irresistible.* 
 
 In the afternoon of the 31st, an insurrec- 
 tion took place in a quarter of the city called 
 Hoseynabad, near the Dowlutkhana. An 
 Indian " budmash" is little less turbulent 
 than an Italian " bravo ;" and the class may 
 well be supposed to have abounded in a 
 city where every man engaged in the 
 ordinary business of life, wore his tulwar, or 
 short bent sword, and the poorest idler 
 in the streets swaggered along with his 
 shield of buffalo-hide and his matchlock 
 or pistols. It appeared that the city bud- 
 mashes, to the number of 6,000 men, had 
 crossed the river in the morning with the 
 intention of joining the mutineers in the 
 cantonments ; but their plans had been dis- 
 concerted by the promptitude with wliich 
 Sir Heury Lawrence had pursued and dis- 
 persed their intended allies. Finding the 
 mutineers gone, the budmashes returned to 
 the city, and commenced a disturbance, but 
 were put down by the efforts of the police, 
 assisted by a few faithful companies of 
 irregular infantry. Many of the insurgents 
 were killed, and several prisoners taken, 
 and, together with those previously cap- 
 tured, were lodged in the Muchee Bhawn, 
 to the number of forty. A court-martial 
 was assembled for their trial, and the 
 majority were executed by hanging, in- 
 cluding the six sepoys seized by Commis- 
 sioner Gubbins, the traitor who betrayed 
 Lieutenant Grant's hiding-place, and the 
 subahdar, who had a month before been 
 raised to that rank, and presented with a 
 dress of honour and a thousand rupees, as 
 a reward for his fidelity. The sentences 
 passed by the court were not, however, 
 all confirmed by Sir Henry Lawrence, for 
 " he inclined much to clemency. "f The 
 
 • Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 1 1 1. f Iliid , p. Ho.
 
 222 
 
 ALL OUDE IN REVOLT— JUNE 10th, 1857. 
 
 executions took place near the upper gate 
 of tlie Muchee Bhawii, at the crossing of 
 the four roads, one of which led directly 
 to the stone bridge. The gallows once 
 erected, became in Lucknow, as in so many 
 other British stations, a standing institu- 
 tion: the surrounding space was commanded 
 by the guns of the fort ; and more eflec- 
 tually to awe the people, an 18-pounder 
 gun was removed to the road outside, kept 
 constantly loaded with grape, and pointed 
 down the principal thoroughfare. 
 
 The advisal)ility of disarming the re- 
 mainder of the Native troops, was warmly 
 discussed at Lucknow. Ou the night of 
 the 30th of May, less than 500 men had 
 proved actively faithful; but in the course of 
 a short time, about 1,200 had gathered 
 round their colours, some of whom had 
 crept quietly back to their lines ; but the 
 greater number consisted of the detached 
 guards stationed at the Residency, and at 
 different parts of the city : and these, 
 although they had not taken part with the 
 mutineers, were believed to have been 
 withheld from doing so, rather bj' the fear 
 of the European infantry and guns, than 
 by any feeling of duty or attachment. But 
 Sir Henry Lawrence persisted in con- 
 sidering the question as he had already 
 done that of the holding of Lucknow itself, 
 primarily as regarded the maintenance of 
 British supremacy in Northern India. 
 Every disbanded regiment helped to swell 
 the tide of mutiny, to fill the ranks of the 
 Pelhi garrison, or, as might reasonably have 
 been expected, to form an army, such as 
 that which Sevajee and his successors had 
 formed, and led against the Mogul em- 
 perors. The want of leaders — a deficiency 
 which might at any moment have been 
 supplied — saved us from this imminent 
 danger until we had become strong enough 
 to grapple with it. There was another 
 reason against disarmament. It was a 
 measure which could be taken only in 
 stations which possessed a certain pro- 
 portion of British troops and artillery. No 
 such resource was available at the numerous 
 outposts, where a few British officers were 
 at the mercy of exclusively Native corps : 
 and such a manifestation of distrust could 
 scarcely fail to aggravate their disaffection, 
 and tempt them to commit the very crime 
 to which they were believed to be inclined. 
 The position of the officers was everywhere 
 exceedingly trying; for, according to a re- 
 gulation which appears to have been gen- 
 
 eral, they were directed to sleep in the 
 Native lines. The object was, of course, to 
 prevent or check conspiracy, and show con- 
 fidence in the sepoys ; but it may be doubted 
 whether this end was answered in a degree 
 at all commensurate with the anxiety occa- 
 sioned, and actual hazard incurred by the 
 measure. An officer (Lieutenant Farquhar) 
 of the 7th light cavalry, writing to his 
 mother, gives a description of the state of 
 feeling at the Lucknow camp, which is pro- 
 bably applicable to the majority of Euro- 
 pean officers under similar circumstances. 
 " The officers of each regiment had to sleep 
 together, armed to the teeth ; and two of 
 each regiment had to remain awake, taking 
 two hours at a time to watch their own 
 men. We kept these watches strictly ; and, 
 I believe, by these means saved our throats. 
 Every officer here has slept in his clothes 
 since the mutiny began."* At the gaol, 
 also. Captain Adolphe Orr, and three other 
 Europeans, slept nightly among the Native 
 police. t 
 
 On the 9th of June, Sir Henry Lawrence 
 became alarmingly ill, from sheer exhaus- 
 tion, aggravated bj' the depressing effect of 
 the rapid progress of mutiny throughout 
 the province. Dr. Fayrer, the Residency 
 surgeon, declared that at least forty-eight 
 hours of complete rest were required to 
 preserve his life ; and a provisional council 
 was formed, composed of Messrs. Gubbins 
 and Ommaney, Major Banks, Colonel In- 
 glis, and Major Anderson, the chief engineer. 
 By their decree the Native troops were 
 paraded, disarmed, and dispatched to their 
 homes, on leave of absence, until November. 
 The men demurred, and their commanders 
 likewise opposed the measure ; but the coun- 
 cil persevered, and all the sepoys were sent 
 away except 350, who had given recent 
 evidence of fidelity, and many of whom were 
 Seiks. All the 7th li^ht cavalry were sent 
 away, except the Native officers. The horses 
 were brought up, and picketed near the 
 Residency ; and the arms were brought in 
 by hundreds, and stored iu some of the 
 Residency buildings. 
 
 The first ten days of June had sufficed to 
 disorganise the whole of Oude. After that 
 time, the British authority was confined to 
 Lucknow and its immediate neighbourhood. 
 The people had everywhere continued or- 
 derly until the troops rose ; and when 
 the successive mutinies had occurred, the 
 
 • Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 442. 
 t Kees' Siepe of Lucknoio, p. 54.
 
 MUTINY AT SEETAPOOR— JUNE 3kd, 1857. 
 
 223 
 
 "refugees had, with few exceptions, ex- 
 perienced at their hands kindness and good 
 treatment."* 
 
 At Seetapoor, the head-quarters of the 
 Khyrabad division, of which Mr. G. J. 
 Christian was commissioner, the troops rose 
 on the 3rd of June. They consisted of the 
 41st N.I. (1,067 men, with sixteen European 
 officers), and a wing of irregular cavalry 
 (250 Natives, with a single European 
 officer). There were also the 9th ana 10th 
 regiments of Oude irregular infantry, and 
 the 2nd regiment of military police. The 
 commissioner distrusted the troops ; and, 
 anticipating an outbreak, collected the 
 civilians and their families at his house, 
 which he proposed to defend by the aid of a 
 strong guard of the regiment of military 
 police, then believed to be stanch. He 
 advised his military friends to send their 
 wives to him for safety. Only one of these 
 came. This lady, Mrs. Stewart, with rare 
 prudence, looked around her, and perceived 
 that the small river Sureyan flowed on 
 two sides of Mr. Christian's compound, 
 and that there was no means of reaching 
 the high road but through the military 
 cantonment ; whereu,pon she pronounced the 
 position unsafe, returned to her home, and 
 was one of the first party of refugees. 
 
 The officers generally did not distrust 
 their men. Colonel Birch had such entire 
 confidence in the 41st N.I., that when a 
 cry arose in their lines that the 10th irre- 
 gulars were plundering the treasury, he 
 called out the two most suspected compa- 
 nies, and led them to the scene of the 
 alleged disturbance. All there was found 
 to be quiet, and the order was given to 
 return, when a sepoy of the guard stepped 
 out of the ranks, and took deliberate aim lit 
 the colonel, who fell from his horse dead. 
 Lieutenant Smalley and the sergeant-major 
 were then killed. The adjutant. Lieute- 
 nant Graves, escaped wounded. The irre- 
 gulars were not long in following the 
 example of mutiny ; and in the massacre 
 which ensued, Captain Gowan and his wife, 
 Captain Dorin, Lieutenants Greene and 
 Bax,t Surgeon Hill, and Lieutenant Snell, 
 with his wife and child, perished. Mrs. 
 Greene escaped, as did also Mrs. Dorin. 
 The latter, after witnessing the murder 
 
 * Gubbins' Hutinies in Oudh, p. 143. 
 t Kees' Siege of Luchnow, p. 46. 
 X Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 122. 
 § Mr. Gubbins mentions receiving Mrs. Abthorp 
 and three children, and Mrs. and Miss Birch, into 
 
 of her husband, fled in the dress of a native, 
 in the company of Mr. Dudman (a clerk) 
 and his family, with several other East 
 Indians. The party were protected by a 
 neighbouring Zemindar for more than R 
 fortnight, and then sent on iu a native cart 
 to Lucknow, escorted by a few villagers. 
 Mrs. Dorin was received into the house 
 of Commissioner Gubbins; where, on the 
 20th of July, she was shot through the head 
 by a matchlock ball, which, entering bjr 
 a window, traversed two sets of apartments 
 before it reached that in which she was 
 standing. The fate of the Seetapoor civi- 
 lians is thus described by Mr. Gubbins, 
 whose information was derived from the lips 
 of the survivors. 
 
 "At the commencement of the outbreak, Mr. 
 Christian proceeded outside his bungalow, to put in 
 readiness the guard of military police, in whom he | 
 confided. The wretches immediately turned and fired 
 upon him. Flying back into the house, he alarmed the 
 assembled inmates, and the men, ladies, and children, 
 fled out of the bungalow on the side which faced the 
 river, pursued and fired upon by the roisci'eants of the 
 military police, and of other regiments which now 
 joined them. Some were «hot down before they 
 reached the stream : others were killed in it. A 
 few perished on the opposite bank. Two or three 
 only escaped — viz., Sir Mountatuart Jackson and 
 his two sisters, and Uttle Sophy Christian [a child 
 three years of age], who was Saved by Sergeant- 
 major Morton. There fell Mr. and Mrs. Christian 
 and child, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Thornhill and their 
 children, and several others. Those who escaped 
 br<^4 into two partdes. Lieutenant Burns, Sir 
 Mountstuart and Miss Madeline Jackso*), Sergeant- 
 major Morton, and little Sophy Christian, found 
 refuge, though an miwilling one, with Rajah Lonee 
 Sing, at his fort of Mithowlee. Mrs. Greene, Miss 
 Jackson, and Captain John Hearsey [of tlie military 
 police, who had been saved by them], fted northward, 
 and, after being joined by other refugees, found 
 shelter at Mutheearee, with the rajah of Dhoreyrah."^ 
 
 Mr. Gubbins gives no enumeration of 
 those who perished, nor of those (happily 
 far more numerous) who escaped ;§ neither 
 is any such list included ia the returns 
 published in the Gazette. 
 
 The main body of the Seetapoor fiigitires, 
 consisting of twelve officers, six ladies, and as 
 many children, with a number of the families 
 of civilians (about fifty in all),l| escorted by 
 thirty faithful sepoys of the 4ist, managed to 
 send news of their position to Lttcknow on 
 the morning of the 4th; and a party of volun- 
 teer and Seik cavalry, with every carriage, 
 
 his house, where they remained throughout the 
 siege — (p. 119). 
 
 II .See account given in the Times, August 29th, 
 1857, on the nuthority of one of the party, an officer 
 of the 41st N.I.
 
 224 
 
 MUTINY AT MOHUMDEE— JUNE 4th, 1857. 
 
 bugpy, and available conveyance, was im- 
 mediately sent otit to bring them in. The 
 sepoys were cordially received ; yet within 
 one fortnight, even these men could no 
 longer be trusted. A Christian drummer 
 overheard some mutinous discourse, and it 
 was thought best to tender them the option 
 of retiring to their homes. When this offer 
 was made, it was accepted by all without 
 exception ; and not a man remained with 
 Major Abthorp and the officers whose lives 
 they had before saved. 
 
 Mohumdee, the second station in the 
 Khyrabad division, was guarded by a com- 
 pany of the 9th Oude infantry. The arri- 
 val of the Shahjehanpoor refugees, on 
 Monday, June 1st, caused great excitement 
 among the sepoys; and when Captain 
 Patrick Orr questioned them separately re- 
 garding their intentions, " each one said 
 he could not answer for what some of 
 the bad characters might do," The reply 
 appeared so unsatisfactory, that the officer 
 immediately sent off his wife to Rajah Lonee 
 Sing, at Mithowlee. Still no outbreak 
 took place until the Thursday morning, 
 when a detachment of fifty men came in 
 from Seetapoor, sent by Mr. Christian, as 
 an escort for the Shahjehanpoor refugees. 
 These men declared that a company of their 
 tegiment had been destroyed by the Euro- 
 peans at Lucknow, and that they were re- 
 solved on taking vengeance. Captain Orr, 
 seeing the state of things, assembled the 
 Native officers, and desired to know what 
 they intended doing. After some discus- 
 sion, they decided on marching to Seeta- 
 poor, and proceeded to release the prisoners 
 from the gaol and to plunder the treasury, 
 in which they found about 110,000 rupees; 
 but they took a solemn oath to spare the 
 lives of the Europeans. In the course of 
 the afternoon, Mr. Thomason and Captain 
 Orr, with the Shahjehanpoor party, quitted 
 Mohumdee in company with tlie mutineers. 
 The names of the unfortunate Europeans 
 were — 
 
 Captains Sneyd, Lysaght, and Salmon ; Lieu- 
 tenants Kev, Robertson, Scott, Pitt, and Rullier- 
 ford ; Ensigns Spens, Johnston, and Scott ; Quar- 
 termaster-sergeant Grant ; band-master and one 
 drummer ; Lieutenant Shells, veteran establishment j 
 and Mr. Jenkins, of the civil service. Ladies — Mrs. 
 Scott, Miss Scott, Mrs. Lysaght, Mrs. Key, Mrs. 
 Bowling, Mrs. Sheils, Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Pereira, and 
 her four children. 
 
 A buggy and some baggage carts were 
 procured : the ladies were placed thereon ; 
 
 and, after five hours' travelling, they reached 
 Burwar, and there spent the night. Next 
 morning they marched towards Aurunga- 
 bad ; but after proceeding in that direc- 
 tion for about four miles, a halt was 
 sounded, and a trooper told the Europeans 
 to go ahead wherever they pleased. They 
 went on for some distance with all possible 
 expedition, but were at length overtaken by 
 a most bloodthirsty party of mutineers. 
 Captain Orr writes — "When within a mile 
 of Aurungabad, a sepoy rushed forward and 
 snatched Key's gun from him, and shot 
 down poor old Sheils, who was riding my 
 horse. Then the most infernal carnage 
 ever witnessed by man began. We all 
 collected under a tree close by, and took 
 the ladies down from the buggy. Shots 
 were fired from various directions, amid the 
 most hideous yells. The poor ladies all 
 joined in prayer, coolly and undauntedly 
 awaiting their fate. [The fourteen gentle- 
 men were murdered one by one; the 
 gentlewomen — they were truly such — as- 
 sembled together in one body, and were 
 shot down while kneeling and singing 
 a hymn].* I stopped for about three 
 minutes among them ; but, thinking of my 
 wife and child here, I endeavoured to 
 save my life for their sakes. I rushed out 
 towards the insurgents; and one of my 
 men, Goordhnn, of the 6th company, called 
 cut to me to throw down my pistol, and he 
 would save me. I did so; when he put 
 himself between me and the men, and 
 several others followed his example. In 
 about ten minutes more they completed 
 their hellish work. I was 300 yards off at 
 the utmost. Poor Lysaght was kneeling 
 out in the open ground, with his arms 
 folded across his chest; and though not 
 using his fire-arms, the cowardly wretches 
 would not go to the spot until they shot 
 him ; and then rushing up, they killed the 
 wounded and children, butchering them in 
 a most cruel way. With the exception of 
 the drummer-boy, every one was killed of 
 the above list; and, besides, poor good Tho- 
 mason and one or two clerks." 
 
 Captain Orr was sent, under a guard, to 
 Mithowlee, from whence he dispatched to 
 Lucknow the letter from which the above 
 particulars are extracted. t In a postscript 
 dated the 9th of June, he mentions having 
 
 • Mr.Rees quotes this touching particular from the 
 letter of Capt. Patrick to his brother Capt. Adolphe 
 Orr, which was shown him by the latter officer. 
 
 t Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 123.
 
 MUTINIES AT MULLA.ON, SECROKA, GONDAH, AND BAHRAETCH. 225 
 
 heard of the vicinity of Sir M. Jackson and 
 his companions; and Captain Orr and his 
 wife appear to have joined them, and, with 
 them, to have fallen into the hands of the 
 mutineers, who detained tiiera in protracted 
 captivity, the issue of wliich belongs to a 
 later period of the narrative. 
 
 At Mullaon, a party of the 41st N.I., and 
 the 4th Oude irregular infantry, became so 
 turbulent, that the deputy-commissioner 
 (Mr. Capper), perceiving mutiny impending, 
 rode away, and reached Lucknow in safety. 
 
 At Secrora — a military station in the 
 Bahraetch division of Oi-de, of which Mr. 
 Wingfield was commissioner — a mutiny 
 broke out, and the treasury was rifled ; but 
 all the Europeans escaped safely to Luck- 
 now, from whence a strong party of volun- 
 teer and Seik cavalry, with elephants and 
 dhoolies, were sent to bring in the ladies 
 and children, which was safely accom- 
 plished on the 9th of June. 
 
 At Gondah, where the milder course of 
 mutiny and plunder without massacre was 
 adopted, the commandant (Captain Miles), 
 and other officers of the 3rd Oude irregulars 
 stationed there, were obliged to fly, and 
 were, with Mr. Wingfield, protected for 
 several days by the rajah of Bulrarapoor, 
 and then escorted by his troops across the 
 Oude frontier into the Goruckpoor district, 
 where they were kindly received by the rajah 
 of Bansie, and enabled to reach Goruckpoor. 
 
 At Bahraetch itself, two civil servants were 
 stationed — Mr. Cunliff'e, deputy-commis- 
 sioner, and his assistant, Mr. Jordan, with 
 two companies of the 3rd irregular infantry, 
 under Lieutenant Longueville Clarke. 
 "When mutiny appeared, the three Euro- 
 peans rode off' to Nanpara, intending to 
 rest there, and proceed thence to the hills ; 
 but, on reaching that place, they were re- 
 fused admittance. The reason given was 
 connected with the be-duk-ilee, or disposses- 
 sion grievance, which had produced so much 
 disaffection throughout Oude, According 
 to the British view of the question as stated 
 by Mr. Gubbins, the rajah of Nanpara, 
 being a minor, had fallen under the tutelage 
 of a kinsman who had mismanaged the 
 estate and dissipated the property. He 
 had accordingly been removed by the au- 
 thorities, and a new agent appointed ; but 
 when the insurrection commenced, the old 
 administrator killed the government nomi- 
 nee, and resumed his former position. No 
 injury was done to the fugitives at Nanpara. 
 They retraced their steps to Bahraetch, 
 
 VOL. n. 3 G 
 
 and disguising themselves as natives, strove 
 to reach Lucknow, where Mr. Cunliffe ex- 
 pected to meet his affianced bride. Unfor- 
 tunately they rode to the chief ferry, that 
 of Byram Ghaut, which was guarded by the 
 Secrora mutineers, by whom the disguised 
 Europeans were discovered and put to death. 
 Such, at least, was the statement made by 
 several native witnesses, and which, Mr. 
 Gubbins affirms, was believed at Lucknow 
 by all except the betrothed girl, who hoped 
 against hope, throughout the weary siege, 
 that her lover yet survived. She might 
 well do so ; for during that terrible time, 
 many persons were asserted to be dead, and 
 details of the most revolting description 
 related regarding their sufferings, who after- 
 wards were discovered to be alive and 
 wholly uninjured, save by fear, fatigue, and 
 exposure to the weather. 
 
 Mr. Rees, who was connected by mar- 
 riage with poor Clarke, mentions three 
 different statements of the fate of the 
 Bahraetch fugitives. One was, that they 
 were " tried by the rebels for the murder 
 of Fuzil Ali, and shot." A military author, 
 who is a very graphic describer, but who 
 gives few and scanty references to his 
 sources of information, narrates the catas- 
 trophe with much precision. Lieutenant 
 Clarke had been especially active in the 
 apprehension of Fuzil Ali, a rebel chief 
 and notorious outlaw, well-known in the 
 annals of Oude. The irregular infantry 
 had assisted in the capture of the ban- 
 dit, who was tried and executed for 
 the murder of a Bengal civilian : but 
 when they mutinied, they sent word to the 
 17th N.I. (which regiment was in their 
 immediate vicinity), to know what should be 
 done with the murderer of the chieftain? 
 " Behead him," was the reply ; and the 
 unfortunate officer, and another European 
 with him, were immediately executed.* 
 
 Mr. Rees states, that the sword and 
 pistols of Lieutenant Clarke were taken to 
 his father, a well-known barrister of the 
 same name, at Calcutta, by an old nati,ve 
 dependent, who transmitted them in obe- 
 dience to the order of his late master. 
 
 At Mullapoor, the last station of the 
 Bahraetch division, there were no troops to 
 mutiny; but the complete disorganisation 
 of the district, compelled the officers there, 
 Mr. Gonne, of the civil service, and Captain 
 Hastings, to leave the place, and take 
 
 * Mutiny of Beni/al Army ; by one who served 
 under Sir Charles Napier ; p. 82.
 
 226 
 
 MUTINY AT PYZABAD— JUNE 8th, 1857. 
 
 refuge in a fort called Mutheearee, belong- 
 ing to the rajah of Dhoreyrah, a minor. 
 Three fugitives from Suetapoor (Captain 
 John Hearsay, Mrs. Greene, and Miss 
 Jackson), with two gentlemen (Messrs. 
 Brand and Carew), who had escaped at the 
 time of the destruction of the large sugar 
 factory at Rosa, near Shahjehanpoor, ac- 
 companied the MuUapoor officers ; but th& 
 disaffection of the rajah's people, soon com- 
 pelled the Europeans to quit Mutheearee. 
 Mrs. Greene, Miss Jackson, and Mr. Carew, 
 fell into the hands of the enemy, and no 
 certain information was obtained of their 
 fate;* the others escaped to Puddaha, in 
 the Nepaul hills, where Koolraj Sing re- 
 ceived them kindly, but could not shield 
 them from the deadly climate of the Terai, 
 under which all but Captain Hearsey sank ; 
 and he eventually joined Jung Bahadur's 
 camp at Goruckpoor. 
 
 The Fyzabad division comprised the 
 station of that name, and two others — Sul- 
 tanpoor and Salone. 
 
 At Fyzabad, so much anxiety had been 
 felt, that the commissioner, Colonel Gold- 
 ney, whose head-quarters and family were 
 at Sultanpoor, removed thence to the former 
 place on account of the importance of that 
 position, and the danger by which it was 
 menaced. The troops consisted of the 
 22nd N.I., under Colonel Lennox ; the 6th 
 Oude irregular infantry, under Colonel 
 O'Brien ; and a Native light field battery, 
 under Major Mill. 
 
 The cantonments were, as usual, at some 
 distance from the town, which had been 
 the seat of government for the nawabs of 
 Oude prcvioiis to the accession of Asuf ad 
 Powlah, in 1775 ; who removed to Luck- 
 now, then but a small village — the reason 
 assigned by Sleemau being, that the new 
 sovereign " disliked living near his mo- 
 ther."t About three miles distant are the 
 ruins of Ayodha, or Oude, the capital of the 
 ancient Hindoo kmgdom — a spot still re- 
 sorted to as a place of pilgrimage from all 
 pwts of India. 
 
 Shahgunje, a town twelve miles from 
 Fyzabad, with no fallen majestj' or legen- 
 dary fame to boast of, is, however, a name 
 far more familiar to English ears. It is the 
 chief place in the territories of Rajah Mauu 
 Sing, and is surrounded by a mud wall 
 thirty feet high and forty feet thick, and a 
 
 • Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 132. 
 
 t Sleenian's Journet/ throwjh Oude, p. 137. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 155 to 162. 
 
 ditch three miles round, containing some 
 six or seven feet of water. The wall, built 
 of the mud taken from the ditch, had 
 twenty-four bastions for guns. Horrible 
 tales were told of atrocities committed 
 within the fortress. Sleemau records the 
 current rumour regarding a disgraced court 
 favourite, named Gholab Sing, in the time 
 of Nuseer-oo-Deen ; who, having displeased 
 the wayward drunken monarch, was flogged, 
 and made to suffer severe torments by 
 hunger and thirst. The females of his 
 family were likewise cruelly ill-treated ; and 
 the British resident was compelled, in com- 
 mon humanity, to interfere; whereupon the 
 king, to rid himself of unwelcome impor- 
 tunities, and yet wreak his malice on his 
 victim, gave the latter into the custody of 
 his foe and rival. Rajah Dursun Sing, the 
 father of Mauu Sing, who took him in 
 to Shahgunje, and kept him 
 
 an 
 there 
 
 with snakes and 
 
 scorpions lor his 
 companions. 
 
 For the relief of the reader, it may be 
 well to add, that the wretched captive sur- 
 vived his confinement despite all its aggra- 
 vations, and, at the death of Nuseer-oo- 
 Deen, was released on the payment of four 
 lacs of rupees, and a promise of three lacs 
 more if restored to oflSce ; which actually 
 occurred. Gholab Sing was, in 1831, again 
 appointed to a place of trust at court, and 
 died peaceably at Luckuow in 1851, at 
 eighty years of age. j 
 
 This episode may be excused as an illus- 
 tration of life in Oude, shortly before the 
 British government took upon itself the 
 task of total reformation. The parentage 
 and personal antecedents of Maun Sing, 
 have a direct bearing on the present state 
 of Oude. In the introductory chapter, a 
 description has been given of the two op- 
 posite classes included under the general 
 name of talookdars : first, the ancient Raj- 
 poot chiefs, the representatives of clans 
 which had existed before Mohammed was 
 born; and who had been forced, or intrigued, 
 or persuaded into an acknowledgment of the 
 Oude nawabs as their suzerains : secondly, 
 the new men, who, as government officials, 
 had contrived, generally by fraud and op- 
 pression, to become farmers of the revenue, 
 and large landed proprietors. 
 
 The family of Mauu Sing had risen to 
 consequence by the latter process. Bukh- 
 tawar Sing, the founder of his family, was 
 9. trooper in the service of the East India 
 Company in the beginning of the uresent
 
 RAJAH MAUN SING, OF SHAHGUNJE— OUDE. 
 
 227 
 
 century. While still a very young man, 
 remarkably tall and handsome, he came 
 home on furlough, and attracted the atten- 
 tion of the nawab of Oude, Sadut Ali, 
 whom he attended on a sporting excursion. 
 He became one of the nawab's favourite 
 orderlies ; and having saved his sovereign's 
 life from the sword of an assassin, was 
 promoted to the command of a squadron. 
 He sent for his three brothers to court, and 
 they became orderlies one after the other, 
 and rose to high civil and military rank. 
 Being childless, he adopted Maun Sing, the 
 son of his brother Dursun Sing, who, next 
 to himself, was the most powerful subject 
 in Oude, and by far the wealthier, having 
 steadily followed the opportunities of add- 
 ing field to field and lac to lac, at the com- 
 mand of a very clever revenue contractor ; 
 with powerful friends at court, and quite un- 
 fettered by any notions of honour or huma- 
 nity. Sleeman, in his diary (December, 
 1849), describes Maun Sing as a small, 
 slight man; but shrewd, active, energetic, 
 and as unscrupulous as a man could be. 
 "Indeed," he adds, "old Bukhtawnr Sing 
 himself is the only member of the family 
 that was ever troubled with scruples of any 
 kind whatever. All his brothers and 
 nephews were bred up in the camp of an 
 Oude revenue collector — a school specially 
 adapted for training thoroughbred ruffians." 
 He proceeds to adduce the most startling 
 instances of treacherous rapacity, of murder 
 committed, and torture applied, to wrest 
 money or estates from the rightful proprie- 
 tors. The worst of these outrages were 
 committed in the name of the Oude govern- 
 ment; for whenever the court found the 
 biirons in any district grow refractory 
 under we<ik governors, they gave the con- 
 tract of it to Dursun Sing, as the only 
 officer who could reduce them to order ; 
 and thus he was enabled to carry out his 
 private ends in the king's name. In 1842, 
 under pretence of compelling the payment 
 of arrears of revenue in the districts of 
 Gondah and Bahraetch, he proceeded to seize 
 and plunder the lands of the great proprie- 
 tors one after the other, and put their 
 estates under the management of his own 
 officers. 
 
 The territory of the young rajah of Bul- 
 rampoor was seized in this manner during 
 his absence, the garrison of his little strong- 
 hold being taken by surprise. The rajah 
 fled to Nepaul, where the minister, his per- 
 sonal friend, gave him a small garden for an 
 
 asylum, near the village of Maharaj Gunje, 
 in the Nepaulese dominions. Knowing 
 the unscrupulous and enterprising character 
 of his foe, the rajah took advantage of the 
 rainy season to surround his abode with 
 a deep ditch; and thus, when Dursun Sing 
 marched against it, the rajah was enabled 
 to make his escape; whereupon Dursun 
 Sing's party took all the property they 
 could find, and plundered Maharaj Gunje. 
 The rajah (one of our few stanch friends 
 in Oude in the late disasters) was a dashing 
 sportsman, and in this capacity had won the 
 liking of one of his new neighbours, a sturdy 
 landholder, who, rallying his armed fol- 
 lowers, sorely harassed the retreat of the 
 invaders. The court of Nepaul took up 
 the matter, and demanded the dismissal of 
 Dursun Sing from oflBce, and the payment 
 of compensation in money. The governor- 
 general (Lord Ellenborough) seconded the 
 latter requisition, which was fulfilled ; and 
 the numerous enemies of the powerful 
 chief had nearly succeeded in inducing the 
 king to comply with the former also, the 
 three queens especially advocating a mea- 
 sure which would involve the confiscation 
 of the estates of the off'ender, and, conse- 
 quently, much profit and patronage to them- 
 selves. Bukhtawar Sing pleaded for his 
 brother; and the minister, Monowur cod 
 Dowlah,* advised levying a heavy fine on 
 Dursun Sing, and reinstating him in his 
 former position ; as, if he were crushed alto- 
 gether, no means would remain for con- 
 trolling the refractory and turbulent barons ; 
 the rest would all become unmanageable, 
 and pay no revenue whatever to the exche- 
 quer. The British resident admitted the 
 truth of the king's assertion, that Dursun 
 Sing " was a notorious and terrible tyrant ;" 
 but supported the counsel of the minister. 
 Dursun Sing was banished, and took refuge 
 in the British district of Goruckpoor; but, 
 before two months had expired, his recall 
 was rendered necessary, by the refusal of 
 the tenants and cultivators of his confis- 
 cated estates, to pay any other person biit 
 him ; and the Oude government were too 
 weak to coerce them. 
 
 Dursun Sing was recalled, presented to 
 the king (May 30th, 1844), and made 
 inspector-general of all Oude, with most 
 comprehensive orders " to make a settlement 
 of the land revenue at an increased rate ; to 
 
 * The nobleman of whose loyalty and bravery Mr. 
 Gubbins speaks so highly at the lime of the invest- 
 ment of Lucknow. — Oudh, pp. vi., and 40.
 
 228 
 
 HISTORY OF RAJAH MAUN SING. 
 
 cut down all the jungles, and bring all the 
 waste lands into tillage ; to seize all refrac- 
 tory barons, destroy all their forts, and seize 
 and send into store all the cannon mounted 
 upon them." Such duties, and others 
 scarcely less onerous, could of course only be 
 performed by a person entrusted with un- 
 limited powers. Armed with these, Dursun 
 Slug went heartily to work ; but he soon fell 
 ill, and retired to Fyzabad, where he died, 
 August 20th, leaving the barons of Oude in 
 possession of their forts, their cannon, and 
 their jungles, and bequeathing to his three 
 sons — Rama Deen, Rugbur Sing, and Maun 
 Sing — an immense accumulation of lands 
 and money to fight for. The determination 
 which his dependents exhibited of standing 
 by him during his exile, caiinot be exclu- 
 sively attributed to the fear he inspired. 
 Sleeman states, that " Diirsun Sing systema- 
 tically plundered and kept down the great 
 landhoidei"s throughout the districts under 
 his charge, but protected the cultivators, 
 and even the smaller landed proprietors, 
 whose estates could not be conveniently 
 added to his own."* In traversing the lands 
 in the vicinity of Shaligunje, in 1850, the 
 resident was particularly struck by the 
 " richness of the cultivation, and the con- 
 tented and prosperous appearance of the 
 peasantry, who came out to him from nu- 
 merous villages, in crowds, and expressed 
 their satisfaction at the security and comfort 
 they enjoyed under their present rulers." 
 " t)f the fraud and violence, abuse of power, 
 and collusion with local authorities, by 
 which Maun Sing and his father seized upon 
 the lands of so many hundreds of old pro- 
 prietors, there can be no doubt ; but to at- 
 tempt to make the family restore them now, 
 under such a government [Wajid AH was 
 then king], would create great disorder, 
 drive off all the better classes of cultivators, 
 and desolate the face of the country which 
 they have rendered so beautiful by au effi- 
 cient system of administration."t 
 
 Such testimony as this ought to have had 
 great weight with the gentlemen entrusted 
 with the settlement of Oude after its forcible 
 occupation by the British government. It 
 appears, on the contrary, that the noto- 
 riously unfit and inexperienced revenue offi- 
 cers, nominated hap-hazard in the multi- 
 plication of civil appointments consequent 
 on Lord Dalhousie's series of annexa- 
 tions, treated Maun Sing and his relatives 
 
 * Sleeman's Journey through Oude, vol. i., p 58. 
 t Ibid., pp. 150 and 186. 
 
 simply as usurping adventurers, without 
 any regard to their position under the late 
 dynasty, to the acknowledgment of that 
 position by the British authorities, or to 
 their characters as efficient administrators 
 of territories, in the possession of which 
 they had been legally, though not righ- 
 teously confirmed. It was, indeed, easy 
 to denounce Maun Sing as the oppressor 
 of the Lady Sogura, the impoverished and 
 imprisoned heiress of Muuneapoor ; and as 
 the murderer of his fellow-usurper, Hurpaul 
 Sing, whom he caused to be dispatched at 
 an interview to which he had enticed him, 
 by swearing by the holy Ganges, and the 
 head of Mahadeo, that he should suffer no 
 harm. J These and other such histories 
 (more or less exaggerated, but, unfortunately, 
 all possible and probable) might have been 
 taken in proof of Maun Sing's unworthiness 
 to retain the possessions he and his father 
 liad seized. Still, had these allegations been 
 susceptible of proof, even-handed justice 
 required that considerable allowance should 
 be made by the new rulers fur deeds of 
 oppression and extortion which had been 
 condoned, if not sanctioned, by the govern- 
 ment under which they were committed. 
 In the disorganised state of Oude, where 
 strife and bloodshed seemed essential condi- 
 tions of the life of ^he chieftains, there were 
 few whose tenure o. property was not com- 
 plicated by the incidents and consequences 
 of internecine hostility. There is no evidence 
 to show that the nenly-appointed revenue 
 officials attempted to lay down any satis- 
 factory principle on which to ground their 
 decisions; on the contrary, they appear to 
 have set about their work piece-meal, dis- 
 cussing such small points of detail as the 
 native " omlah" chose to bewilder them with, 
 and being far too ignorant of the history 
 and customs of the new province, or of its 
 actual condition, to be able to form a clear 
 opinion on the cases before them. The 
 " utter inversion of the rights of property," 
 which is alleged to have been involved in 
 the settlement of the North-West Provinces, 
 in 1844,§ could scarcely fail to recur in 
 Oude, where the settlement was made 
 utider the most unpropitious circumstances. 
 The cry for revision and reconsideration be- 
 came so urgent, and the injustice of the 
 proceedings so flagrant, that, as we have 
 seen. Sir Henry Lawrence was stopped on 
 his way to England on sick leave, when 
 
 I Sleeman's Journey through Oude, vol. i., p. 145. 
 I § Sec p. 84, ante.
 
 LADIES SENT FROM FYZABAD TO RAJAH MAtJN SING. 22*) 
 
 suffering under " a dozen different com- 
 plaints," and sent to Oude. Unhappily, 
 tlie opportunity for pacification there, 
 had been worse than lost. The landed pro- 
 prietary had been driven, by our revenue 
 and judicial system, into union on the 
 single point of hostility towards the British. 
 Among the talookdars, there were many 
 chiefs entirely opposed in character to Maun 
 Sing; but few had suffered such spoliation 
 as he had, inasmuch as few had so much 
 to lose. The dealings of government with 
 him have never been succinctly stated. 
 Mr. Russell (whose authorities in India are, 
 from the quite peculiar position in which 
 his talents and honesty have placed him, of 
 the very highest class) asserts that, in 1856, 
 Maun Sing was chased out of his estates by 
 a regiment of cavalry, for non-payment of 
 head-rent, or assessment to government. 
 When he fled, many original proprietors 
 came forward to claim portions of his es- 
 tates (comprising, in all, 761 villages), and 
 received them from the British administra- 
 tors.* From a passage in a despatch written 
 by Commissioner Wingfield, it appears that 
 Maun Sing was absolutely in distress for 
 money, and unable to borrow any, having 
 " lost every village at the summary settle- 
 
 ment."t 
 
 A man so situated was not unlikely to 
 turn rebel. The Supreme government and 
 the Lucknow authorities received intelli- 
 gence which they deemed conclusive ; and 
 in accordance with a telegram from Cal- 
 cutta, Maun Sing was arrested at Fyzabad 
 in May, and remained in confinement till 
 the beginning of June, when he sent for 
 Colonel Goldney, warned him that the 
 troops would rise, and offered, if released, 
 to give the Europeans shelter at Shahgunje. 
 Colonel Goldney appears to have rightly 
 appreciated the motives of his interlocutor, 
 which were simply a desire to be on the 
 stronger side — that of the British; to obtain 
 from them the best possible terms ; and, at 
 the same time, not to render himself unne- 
 cessarily obnoxious to his countrymen. 
 Maun Sing was neither the fiery Rajpoot of 
 Rajast'ban (so well and so truly portrayed by 
 Todd), nor the mild Hindoo of Bengal ; nor, 
 happily for us, was he a vengeful Mahratta 
 like Nana Sahib : he was a shrewd, wary 
 man, " wise in his generation," and made 
 
 • Times, ITlh January, 1859. 
 
 t Despatch to secretary to governnient, dated 
 July 14lli, 1857. — Pari. Papers on Mutinies (re- 
 garding Maun Sing), March 18th, 1858; p. 3. 
 
 himself "master of the situation," in a very 
 wriggling, serpent-like fashion. He had 
 no particular temptation to join either 
 paHy. The ancient barons of Oude de- 
 tested him and his family, as adventurers 
 and parvenus of the most unprincipled de- 
 scription, who had grown wealthy on their 
 spoils ; and Maun Sing, in accordance with 
 the proverb, that "the injurer never for- 
 gives," probably entertained a deeper aver- 
 sion and distrust towards them than towards 
 the English, by whom he had himself been 
 despoiled. The event justified the policy 
 adopted by Colonel Goldney in releasing the 
 chief, with permission to strengthen his fort 
 (which was greatly out of repair), and raise 
 levies : but these measures he had little time 
 to adopt ; for before many days had elapsed, 
 the expected mutiny took place, and was 
 conducted in a manner which proved that, 
 in the present instance, the sepoys were 
 acting on a settled plan. On the morning 
 of the 8th of June, intelligence was received 
 that a rebel force (the 17th N.I., with a 
 body of irregular cavalry and two guns 
 from Azimghur) were encamped at Begum 
 Gunje, ten miles from Fyzabad, and in- 
 tended marching into the station on the 
 following morning. The Europeans now 
 prepared for the worst. The civilians and 
 the non-commissioned officers sent their 
 families to Shahgunje ; to which place. 
 Captain J. Reid, Captain Alexander Orr, 
 and Mr. Bradford, followed them. Colonel 
 Goldney, though also filling a civil appoint- 
 ment, remained behind. He had every 
 confidence in the 22nd N.I., which he had 
 formerly commanded ; and he maintained a 
 most gallant bearing to the moment of his 
 death. Mrs. Lennox and her daughter 
 (Mrs. Morgan), with the wife and children 
 of Major Mill, reraaiued in cantonments; 
 in reliance on the solemn oath of the 
 Native officers of the 22ud, that no in- 
 jury should be done them. The Euro- 
 pean officers went to their respective posts ; 
 but soon found themselves prisoners, not 
 being allowed to move twelve paces with- 
 out being followed by a guard with fixed 
 bayonets. 
 
 A risaldar of cavalry took command of 
 the mutineers, and proceeded to release a 
 moolvee, who had been confined in the 
 quarter-guard, and in whose honour they 
 fired a salute. This man was a Moham- 
 medan of good family, who had traversed a 
 considerable part of Upper India, preaching 
 sedition. lie had been expelled from Agra
 
 230 EMBARKATION OF OFFICERS FROM FYZABAD— JUNE 9th, 1857. 
 
 — a measure which only helped to give him ! join his standard. The subahdar declared 
 the notoriety he sought. In April, he that Rajah Maun Sing had been ap- 
 
 appeared with several followers at Fyzabad, 
 where he circulated seditious papers, atid 
 openly advocated a religious war. The 
 police were ordered to arrest him ; but he 
 and his followers resisted with arms : the 
 military were called in, and several lives 
 were lost on the side of the moolvee, before 
 his capture was eflPected. He was tried. 
 
 pointed commander-in-chief in Oude : and 
 he concluded his communications by re- 
 marking — " You English have been a long 
 time in India, but you know little of us. 
 We have nothing to do with Wajid AH, or 
 any of his relations ; the kings of Lucknow 
 were made by you : the only ruler in India 
 empowered to give sunnuds, is the King of 
 
 and sentence of death would have been ' Delhi ; lie never made a King of Oude; 
 pronounced and executed upon him, but for j and it is from him only that we shall re- 
 some informality which delayed the pro- I ceive our orders. "f 
 
 ceedings. 
 
 Colonel Lennox remained in his bunga- 
 low all night with his wife and daughter, 
 under a strong sepoy guard. Two officers 
 strove to escape, but were fired at by the 
 cavalry patrols, and brought back into the 
 lines unhurt, where they were desired to 
 remain quietly until daybreak, when they 
 would be sent off, under an escort, to the 
 place of embarkation, placed in boats, and 
 dispatched down the Gogra river.* 
 
 The account, thus far, rests on official 
 information. Private letters state that the 
 mutineers held a council of war during the 
 nifi:ht, and that the irregular cavalry, who 
 were nearly all Mussulmans, proposed to 
 kill the officers; but the 22nd N.I. ob- 
 jected ; and it was ultimately decided that 
 the officers should be allowed to leave un- 
 ■ harmed, and to carry away all their private 
 arms and property, but no treasure, as that 
 belonged to the King of Oude. 
 
 An officer y. ho escaped, gives a different 
 account of the language held to him by a 
 subahdar of his own regiment : but both 
 statements may possibly be true, as the 
 sepoys may have been disposed in favour of 
 the Delhi or of the Oude family, according 
 to their birth and prejudices. The speech 
 of the subahdar was very remarkable. 
 Seeing his late superior about to depart, he 
 said — " As you are going away for ever, I 
 will tell you all about our plans. We halt 
 at Fyzabad five days, and march through 
 Duriabad upon Lucknow, where we expect 
 to be joined by the people of the city " 
 Proclamations, he added, had been re- 
 ceived from the King of Delhi, announcing 
 that he was again seated on the throne of 
 his fathers, and desired the whole army to 
 
 • Despatch of Colonel Lennox, July 1st, 1857. — 
 Further Parliamentary Papers on Mutinies (No. 4), 
 p. 46. See also letter dated August 1st: published 
 in Times, September 29th, 1857. 
 
 t Letter from on officer of one of the Fyzabad 
 
 The officers were allowed to depart at 
 daybreak on the morning of the 9th, and 
 were escorted to the river side, and directed 
 to enter four boats which had been pro- 
 vided by the insurgents, and proceed down 
 the river. Whilst still at the ghaut, or land- 
 ing-place, intelligence was brought to the 
 escort, that their comrades in cantonments 
 were plundering the treasure; whereupon 
 the whole party immediately hurried off 
 thither. The Europeans then entered the 
 boats; and, there being no boatmen, pro- 
 ceeded to man them themselves. Accord- 
 ing to the testimony of a survivor, the 
 four boats were filled in the following 
 manner : — • 
 
 First Boat. — Colonel Goldney ; Lieutenants Cur- 
 rie, Cautley, Ilitchie, Parsons ; Sergeants Matthews, 
 Edwards, Busher. 
 
 Second Boat. — Major Mill; Sergeant-major Hulme 
 and his wife ; Quartermaster-sergeant Kussel ; and 
 Bugler Williamson. 
 
 Third JSoaf.— Colonel O'Brien ; Captain Gordon ; 
 Lieutenants Anderson and Percivall ; and Surgeon 
 Collison. 
 
 Fourth Boat. — Lieutenants Thomas, Lindsay, and 
 English. 
 
 While dropping down the river, the 
 Europeans perceived a canoe following 
 them. It contained a sepoy of the 22nd 
 N.I., named Teg Ali Khau, who requested 
 to be suffered to accompany his officers. 
 He was taken in by Colonel Goldney ; and, 
 on approaching a village, he procured 
 rowers for two of the boats, and proved 
 himself, in the words of the credentials 
 subsequently given him by Colonel Lennox, 
 a " loyal and true man."J 
 
 Boats one and two distanced the others, 
 and passed Ayodha, where the third boat 
 was seen to put in. After proceeding 
 
 regiments. Quoted by Bombay Correspondent of 
 Daily News, August 17th, 1857. 
 
 t Long roll and certificate of character, dated 
 July 1st, 1857.— Further Pari. Papers on the Muti- 
 nies (No. 4), p. 63.
 
 FATE OF COLONEL GOLDNEY AND OFFICERS OF 22nd N.I. 231 
 
 about three miles further, Colonel Gold- 
 ney and Major Mill waited, in hopes of 
 being rejoined by their comrades ; but 
 spending two hours in vain, they resumed 
 their voyage down stream, and at length 
 reached a spot which they approached 
 without any idea of danger, apparently 
 not knowing that it was Begum Gunje, 
 the place where the 17th N.I. were en- 
 camped, and beneath which the current 
 of the Gogra swept past.* Here the fugi- 
 tives observed natives running along the 
 bank, and evidently giving notice of their 
 approach. From the various accounts of 
 the whole sad business, it seems that some 
 of the more sanguinary and desperate of 
 the Fyzabad mutineers, thwarted in their 
 purpose of themselves slaying and plunder- 
 ing the Europeans by the determined op- 
 position of the 22nd N.I., gave notice to 
 the rebels at Begum Gunje to intercept the 
 officers. Accordingly, just at the narrowest 
 part of the stream, a body of infantry and 
 cavalry were drawn up in readiness ; and, 
 as the boats approached, they were fired 
 into, and Matthews, who was rowing, was 
 killed. Colonel Goldney desired the offi- 
 cers to lay aside their arms, and try to 
 come to terms with the mutineers, who 
 entered some boats which lay along the 
 shore, and pushing off into the middle of the 
 stream, recommenced firing. Seeing this. 
 Colonel Goldney urged all around him to 
 jump into the water, and try to gain the 
 opposite bank ; he was, he said, "too old to 
 run," and there was no other prospect of 
 escape. His advice was followed. The 
 gallant veteran and the dead sergeant re- 
 mained alone; the other passengers, toge- 
 ther with all those in the second boat, 
 strove to swim to shore. Major Mill, 
 Lieutenants Currie and Parsons, were 
 drowned in the attempt. 
 
 The fortunes of the party in the first 
 boat arc described in a report by Ser- 
 geant Busher, who succeeded in effecting 
 his escape, as did also Teg Ali Khan. In 
 the course of Busher's wanderings, he met 
 with the officers who had embarked in the 
 fourth boat; but they escaped the rebel 
 force only to perish by the hands of in- 
 surgent villagers. i" Lieutenants Cautley, 
 
 • Gubbins' Mutinies in Oiidh, p. 135. 
 
 t Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 48. 
 
 X London Gazette (second supplement). May 6th, 
 1858. 
 
 § Mr. Gubbins, from whom the above statement re- 
 garding the fate of Col. Goldney is derived (p. 135), 
 does not give his authority. The government Gazette 
 
 Ritchie, and Bright, are thought to have 
 met a similar fate. J The remainder of the 
 Fyzabad fugitives, whose fate has not been 
 mentioned, escaped, excepting Colonel Gold- 
 ney, who was, it is alleged, brought to 
 land, and led to the mutineer camp. "I 
 am an old man," he said; "avIU you dis- 
 grace yourselves by my murder?" They 
 shot him down.§ 
 
 The gentlemen in the third boat put in 
 shore, and obtained a large boat and some 
 rowers. The natives were, however, so 
 terrified, that they would have run away, 
 had they not been compelled to embark " at 
 the point of the sword." The Europeans 
 exhausted with fatigue, fell asleep, and 
 when they awoke the boatmen had dis- 
 appeared. They had, however, by thi^ 
 time reached a village called Gola, near 
 which a native prince and French indigo 
 planter resided. The planter, " seeing the 
 whole country up around him," started 
 with the officers on the following morning for 
 Dinapoor, whither the whole party arrived 
 safely, under the escort of thirty armed 
 men, sent with them by the rajah. ' Mr. 
 CoUison, on whose authority the above de- 
 tails are given, says, that the ladies from 
 Fyzabad arrived at Dinapoor on June 
 29th, in a pitiful condition. They had 
 been robbed of everything at Goruckpoor, 
 whither they had been safely sent by 
 Maun Sing, and only escaped with their 
 lives. They had been imprisoned in a fort 
 on the river for a week, and almost 
 starved to death. || In the official notice of 
 the Fyzabad mutiny, it is expressly stated, 
 that no acts of violence were committed by 
 the troops on the occasion; on the con- 
 trarj', the majority, it is sajd, conducted 
 themselves respectfully towai'ds their offi- 
 cers to the last ; and even those requiring 
 money for travelling expenses, were supplied 
 with it by the mutineers. •[[ 
 
 The adventures of Colonel Lennox remain 
 to be told. After the officers had left, the 
 moulvee sent the native apothecary of the 
 dispensary to say, that he was sorry that 
 the colonel should be obliged to fly, as, 
 through his kindness, he had been well 
 cared-for while confined for three months 
 in the quarter-guard, and had been allowed 
 
 mentions tlie colonel's name among the list of the 
 missing, whose fate had not been ascertained. 
 
 II Letter from Assistant-.surgeon CoUiscm, dated 
 "Dinapoor, June 30tli." — Times, August 2yih, 1857. 
 
 % Despatch from Major-general Lloyd, dated 
 " Dinapoor, June 19, 1857."— Further Pari. Papers 
 (not numbered), p. 35.
 
 ?32 ADVENTURES OF COL. LENNOX AND HIS FAMILY— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 his hookah ; and that if the colonel 
 and his family would remain in canton- 
 ments for a few days, he would take care of 
 them. The suhahdar, Dliuleep Singr, on 
 the contrary, advised their immediate flight 
 before the arrival of the 17th N.I.; and as 
 the sepoys on guard at the bungalow were 
 becoming insolent and riotous, Colonel 
 Lennox judged it best to quit Fyzabad im- 
 mediately, which he did with his wife and 
 daughter, starting during the intense heat 
 of the afternoon. Two faithful sepoys ac- 
 companied them, and were happily on their 
 guard against the danger to be expected at 
 Begum Gunje. At Ayodha, however, they 
 encountered an unexpected difficulty, the 
 place being held by a rebel picket. They 
 were twice compelled to stop, under threats 
 of being fired upon ; but after being ques- 
 tioned, were suflered to proceed. At half- 
 past ten they passed the enemy's camp un- 
 seen ; but on rounding a sand-bauk, they 
 came upon another picket. By the advice of 
 the sepoys and boatmen, they went on shore, 
 and crept along the side of the bank for two 
 hours : at the expiration of that time they 
 re-entered the boat, which the native boat- 
 men had risked their lives to bring round. 
 Colonel Lennox and the ladies crossed the 
 river at midnight, and landed in the Go- 
 ruckpoor district. At sunrise on the follow- 
 ing morning, they started on foot for Go- 
 ruckpoor, with their khitmutgar (steward 
 or table attendant) and ayah (lady's maid), 
 and had walked about six miles, when 
 they reached a village, where, having pro- 
 cured a draught of milk, they prepared to 
 rest during the mid-day heat; but were 
 soon di' turbed by a horseman, armed to 
 the teeth, with a huge horse-pistol in his 
 hand, which he cocked and held to the 
 head of Colonel Lennox, desiring him to 
 proceed with his wife and daughter to the 
 camp of the 17th N.I., as he expected to 
 get a reward of 500 rupees for each of their 
 heads. The fugitives wearily retraced their 
 steps ; but had not gone above a mile 
 when a lad met them, whom the horse- 
 roan recognised, and whose appearance 
 made him strive to compel tlic ladies 
 to quicken their pace. The lad, how- 
 ever, prevailed on him to let them drink 
 some water and rest awhile, near a village ; 
 and during the interval he contrived to 
 
 * The adventures of Colonel Lennox and his 
 family, are given, as nearly as possihle, in the words 
 of the interesting ollicial statement, drawn up by 
 the coUmel himself, and dated July 1st, 1807. — 
 
 send a boy to call friends to their assis- 
 tance. It appeared that a nazim, named 
 Meer Mohammed Hussein Khan, and his 
 nephew, Mcer Melmdee, had a small fort 
 less than a mile distant (in the Amorah 
 district), from whence, on receiving intelli- 
 gence of the danger of the Europeans, 
 eight or ten men were dispatched to the 
 rescue. The horseman was disarmed, "and 
 obliged to accompany his late captives to 
 the residence of the nazim; but one of 
 the party sent to save them, seemed by no 
 means pleased with the task. He abused 
 Colonel Lennox; and, "looking to his 
 pistol and priming, swore he would shoot 
 those Englishmen who had come to take 
 away tiie caste of the natives and make 
 them Christians."* Meer Mohammed was 
 holding a council when the fugitives ar- 
 rived. They were ushered into his pre- 
 sence, and he bade them rest and take 
 some sherbet. One of his retainers hinted, 
 that a stable close by would be a suitable 
 abode for the dogs, who would be killed ere 
 long. The nazim rebuked him, and told 
 the Europeans not to fear, as they should 
 be protected in the fort until the road to 
 Goruckpoor was again open, so that the 
 station could be reached in safety. 
 
 On the day after their arrival, their host, 
 fearing that scouts of the 17th N.I. would 
 obtain news of the locality of the refugees, 
 desired them to assume native clothing ; 
 and dressing three of his own people in the 
 discarded European garments, he sent them 
 out at nine o'clock in the evening, under 
 an escort, to deceive his outposts and the 
 villagers. The disguised persons returned 
 at midnight, in their own dresses; and all, 
 except those in the secret, believed that the 
 Europeans had been sent away, instead of 
 being allowed to remain in a reed hut in 
 rear of the zenana, treated very kindly and 
 considerately, having plenty of food, and a 
 daily visit from the nazim. Clothing for 
 the ladies was supplied by the begum. On 
 the 18th of June, an alarm was given that an 
 enemy was approaching to attack the fort. 
 The ladies were immediately concealed in 
 the zenana, and Colonel Lennox hidden in 
 a dark-wood " godown," or caravan for the 
 transport of goods. The troopers proved 
 to be a party sent by the collector of Go- 
 ruckpoor for the refugees, who gratefully 
 
 Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), pp. 46 — 48. See also 
 the somewhat fuller account, also written by him, 
 and pul)lished in the London I'iiues, of September 
 29th, 1807.
 
 MUTINY AT SULTANPOOR— JUNE 9th, 1857. 
 
 233 
 
 took leave of " the considerate aud noble 
 nazim." They reached Goruckpoor in safety; 
 aud, on their way, met Sergeant Busher, who 
 had been also saved by Meer Melmdee's 
 adlierents. 
 
 Tlie nazim afterwards visited the muti- 
 neers at Fyzahad, to learn their plan, which 
 was to march to the attack of Lucknow, 
 aud then proceed to Delhi. They enquired 
 very minutely concerning certain Euro- 
 peans lie had harI)oured. The nazim de- 
 clared he had only fed and rested three 
 Europeans, aud then sent them on. To 
 this the mutineers rcjilied — "It is well; we 
 are glad you took care of the colonel and 
 his family." 
 
 Colonel Lenuox concludes his narrative 
 by earnestly recommending the nazim and 
 his nephew to the favour of the British 
 government. He had refrained from any 
 description of his own sufferings, or those 
 of his companions; but he evidently could 
 not acknowledge the gratitude due to a 
 fellow-creature, without making reverent 
 mention of the merciful Providence which 
 had supported, and eventually carried 
 him through, perils under which the majo- 
 rity of his fellow-officers had sunk, though 
 they were mostly young, strong, aud unen- 
 cumbered by the care of weak and defence- 
 less women. His party escaped without a 
 hair of their heads being injured. There is 
 something very impressive in the quiet dig- 
 nity with which Colonel Lennox declares — 
 " Throughout this severe trial, I have fouud 
 the promise fulfilled to me and to my 
 family, 'And as thy day, so shall thy 
 strength be.'"* 
 
 The last Europeans left at Fyzabad, 
 were the wife and children of Major 
 Mill. For some unexplained cause, Mrs. 
 ^liU had neither accompanied the civilians 
 to Shahgunje, nor her husband to the 
 boats. She is alleged to have lost the oppor- 
 tunity of leaving the station with Colonel 
 Lennox, from unwillingness to expose her 
 three young cliildreu to the sun ; but she 
 subsequently made lier way alone with them, 
 wandering about fur a fortnight, from vil- 
 lage to village, till she rcachcil (Joruckpoor, 
 where one of her little ones died of fatigue; 
 and where, after passing through an agony 
 of doubt, she learned at length the cer- 
 tainty of her widowhood. t 
 
 Sulta?ijjoo7: — This station was under tiie 
 
 • Further Par!. Papers (No. 4), p. 47. 
 t Gubbins' Mulinica in Oudh, p. VM>. 
 X Ibid., p. 138. 
 VOL. 11. 2 II 
 
 command of Colonel Fisher, au officer 
 whose genial nature and keen enjoyment 
 of field sports, had rendered him popular 
 alike with Europeans and Natives. His own 
 regiment (the 15th irregular horse) was 
 posted at Sultanpoor, together with the 8tii 
 Oude infantry, under Captain W. Smith, 
 and the 1st regiment of military police, 
 under Captain Bunbury. Individual popu- 
 larity could not, however, counteract gen- 
 eral disaffection ; and, even to its pos- 
 sessor, it brought dangers as well as advan- 
 tages; for while the sepoys of each regi- 
 ment were solicitous for, and did actually 
 preserve, the lives of many favourite officers 
 at the risk of their own, the worst disposed 
 of other corps were speciiilly anxious to 
 remove such commanders as might in- 
 fluence the more moderate to repentance, 
 and, at the same time, to compromise the 
 entire Bengal 'army by implication in the 
 commission of crimes which the majority 
 had in all probability never contemplated. 
 Colonel Fisher was not taken by surprise. 
 He anticipated the coming outbreak, and 
 sent off the ladies and children, on the 
 night of the 7th of June, towards Alla- 
 habad, under care of Dr. Corbyn and Lieu- 
 tenant Jenkyns. Three of the ladies (Mrs. 
 Golduey, Mrs. Block, and Mrs. Stroyan) 
 became separated from the rest, and were 
 taken to the neighbouring fort of Ametliie, 
 where they were protected by Rajah Bainie 
 Madhoo Sing ; i)y whom, the Oude commis- 
 sioner states, " they were very kindly treated. 
 Madhoo," he adds, " sent us in tiieir letters 
 to Lucknow; furnished them with such com- 
 forts as he could procure himself; took 
 charge of the articles which we wished to 
 send; and, after sheltering the ladies for some 
 days, forwarded them in safety to Allahabad. 
 The rest of the party, joined by Lieutenant 
 Grant, assistant-commissioner, found refuge 
 for some days with a neighbouring zemin- 
 dar, and were by him escorted in safety 
 to Allahabad."J This testimony is very 
 strongly in favour of a rajah, whose fort, 
 after being the sanctuary of Englishwomen 
 in their deepest need, was soon to be be- 
 sieged by the British commander-in-chief 
 in per.son, and its master driven into exile 
 and outlawry. The cause of this change is 
 alleged to have been one wliich those who 
 have watched the working of the centralisa- 
 tion system in India, will find little diffi- 
 culty iu understanding. It is not only 
 that the left hand does not know what the 
 right hand is doing, but that tlie head.
 
 234 
 
 BAINIE MADHOO, OF AMETHIE, PROTECTS FUGITIVES. 
 
 called by courtesy the Supreme govern- 1 
 ment, is generallj' ignorant of the move- : 
 ments of either, until its own initiative and 
 veto, exercised in an equally despotic and 
 vacillating manner by successive orders and 
 counter-orders, have issued in the hope- 
 less bewilderment of its own functionaries, 
 and the rebellion of its unfortunate sub- 
 jects. The history of Bainie Madhoo's 
 liostility is thus given by Mr. Russell. 
 "The rajah," he writes (in November, 1858, 
 from the British camp then advancing 
 against Amethie), "is a Rajpoot of ancient 
 family and large possessions. At the an- 
 nexation, or rather after it, when that most j 
 fatal and pernicious resettlement of Oude | 
 took place, in which our oflBcers played | 
 with estates and titles as if they were 
 footballs, wc took from the rajah a very 
 large portion of territory, and gave it to 
 rival claimants. The rajah, no doubt, was ' 
 incensed against us ; but still, when the ', 
 mutiny and revolt broke out, he received 
 the English refugees from Salone, and shel- 
 tered and forwarded them, men, women, ! 
 and children, in safety to Allahabad, j 
 While he was doing this, the government 
 was busy confiscating his property.* If I 
 am rightly informed, the authorities, with- 
 out any proof, took it for granted that the 
 rajah was a rebel, and' seized upon several 
 lacs of rupees which he had at Benares ; 
 and, to his applications for redress, he re- 
 ceived, in reply, a summons to come in and 
 surrender himself."t 
 
 -'Other causes were not wanting to aggra- 
 vate the natural aversion of the chief 
 towards the government by which he had 
 been so ill-treated ; and these will be men- 
 tioned in their due order. Meanwhile, 
 many intermediate events require to be 
 narrated. The troops at Sultanpoor rose 
 on the morning of the 9th of June, when 
 Colonel Fisher, in returning from the lines 
 of the military police, whom he had 
 harangued and endeavoured to reduce to 
 order, was shot in the back by one of 
 that regiment, and died in the arras of 
 Lieutenant C. Tucker. Captain Gibbings, 
 the second in command, was attacked 
 and killed by the troopers while on horse- 
 back beside the dhooly in which Fisher had 
 been placed. The men then shouted to 
 
 * Out of 223 villages, 119 were taken from him 
 on the second revision after annexation. (Russell). 
 — Times, Jan. 17th, 1858. 
 
 !• Times, December 21st, 1858. 
 
 I Gubbins' Mutinies in Otidh, p. 139. 
 
 Lieutenant Tucker to go ; and he rode off, 
 crossed the river, and found shelter in the 
 fort of Roostum Sah, at Deyrah, on the 
 banks of the Goomtee. Here he was 
 joined by the remainder of the Sultanpoor 
 officers, and was, with them, safely escorted 
 to Benares, by a party of natives sent from 
 that city by the commissioner, Henry Carre 
 Tucker. 
 
 Mr. Gubbins observes — " Roostum Sah 
 is a fine specimen of the best kind of 
 talooqdars in Oudh. Of old family, and 
 long settled at Deyrah, he resides there in 
 a fort very strongly situated in the ravines 
 of the Goomtee, and surrounded by a thick 
 jungle of large extent. It had never been 
 taken by the troops of the native govern- 
 rhent, which had more than once been re- 
 pulsed from before it. Roostum Sah de- 
 serves the more credit for his kind treat- 
 ment of the refugees, as he had suffered 
 unduly at the settlement, and had lost 
 many villages which he should have been 
 permitted to retain. I had seen him at 
 Fyzabad in January, 1857; and, after dis- 
 cussing his case with the deputy-commis- 
 sioner, Mr. W. A. Forbes, it had been set- 
 tled that fresh inquiries should be made 
 into the title of the villages which he 
 had lost; and orders had been issued ac- 
 cordingly."!: 
 
 Whatever were the orders issued in 
 Jiinuarv, they appear to have afforded no 
 immediate relief to the il'-used talookdar; 
 for, in the following June, when he received 
 and sheltered the European fugitives, he 
 was found to be supporting his family by 
 the sale of the jewels of his female rela- 
 tives. 
 
 Two young civilians^ were killed in 
 endeavouring to escape. They took refuge 
 with Yaseen Khan, zemindar of the town 
 of Sultanpoor. He is alleged to have re- 
 ceived them into his house, and then turned 
 them out and caused them to be shot down, 
 thereby perpetrating the only instance of 
 treachery attributed to a pettv zemindar of 
 Oude. II 
 
 Salone. — The mutiny here was conducted 
 without tumult or bloodshed. There were 
 no Europeans at this station, but only six 
 companies of the 1st Oude infantry, tmder 
 Captain Thompson. The cantonments were 
 
 § Mr. A. Block, C.S., and Mr. S. Stroyan, who 
 had been recently married to a girl of seventeen. 
 
 II Mutinies in Oudh, p. 140. |Mr. Gubbins does 
 not give his authority for this statement regarding 
 the conduct of Yaseen Khan.
 
 SALONE, PERSHADIPOOR, AND DURIABAD— JUNE 9 & 10, 1857. 235 
 
 at Pershadipoor. The conduct of the regi- 
 ment is described by its commanding officer 
 as continuing " most exemplary" up to June 
 9th, notwithstanding the trials to which 
 the men had been subjected, by the false 
 accounts of their friends and relatives in 
 diflferent disbanded and mutinous regi- 
 ments. On the afternoon of that day, a 
 sowar (trooper), who pretended to have 
 escaped from a body of mutineers, galloped 
 into the cantonments. lu the night, he re- 
 presented to the' sepoys, that in the event 
 of their remaining faithful, they would be 
 overpowered by the revolted regiments ; 
 and his arguments, added to the impression 
 already produced by the assertions of the 
 37th, 45th, and 57th N.I., that they had 
 been first disarmed and then fired on by 
 the Europeans, so wrought upon the minds 
 of the Pershadipoor troops, that they re- 
 solved on throwing off their allegiance.* 
 
 The large sum known to be in the trea- 
 sury, had probably its share in inciting 
 them to mutiny, which they did on the 
 morning of the 10th, by refusing to obey 
 their officers, and warning them to depart. 
 The Europeans knew that resistance was 
 hopeless, and rode off, a few sepoys accom- 
 panying Captain Thompson, and remaining 
 steadily with him ; while some native subor- 
 dinates attended the commissioner. Captain 
 Barrow. As the party passed through the 
 lines, several of the sepoys saluted them, but 
 none uttered any threat. Outside the sta- 
 tion, Lall Hunwunt Sing, talookdar of 
 Dharoopoor, was found drawn up with his 
 troopers, in accordance with a promise which 
 he had given to be ready with aid in case of 
 emergency. The whole of the refugees were 
 received into his fort, and remained there 
 nearly a fortnight, treated all the while 
 with the greatest kindness. They were 
 then conducted by their host an(' 500 of 
 his followers to the ferry over the Ganges, 
 opposite to Allahabad, and they reached 
 the fort in safety. The refugees desired to 
 give Hunwunt Sing somo token of their 
 gfratitude ; " but he would receive no pre- 
 sent for his hospitality." The financial 
 commissioner remarks — "The conduct of 
 this man is the more deserving, as he had lost 
 an undue number of villages ; and his case, 
 as well as that of Roostum Sah of Deyrali, 
 was one that called for reconsideration."! 
 
 • Despatch of Captain Thompson to secretary 
 of government, June 25th, 1857. — Further Pari. 
 Papers, p. 70. 
 
 t Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 141. 
 
 At Duriabad, a station and district of 
 the Lucknow division, the 5th Oude in- 
 fantry were quartered, under Captain 
 Hawes. There was a considerable amount 
 of treasure here (about three lacs), the re- 
 moval of which had been attempted in 
 May, but resisted by some of the sepoys. 
 On the 9th of June, Captain Hawes re- 
 newed the attempt. The treasure was 
 placed in carts, and the men marched off 
 cheering; but before they had proceeded 
 half a mile, a disturbance took place. The 
 disaffected men refused to convey the 
 treasure any further, fired on those who 
 opposed them, and succeeded in taking 
 back the loaded carts in triumph to the 
 station. The European residents fled im- 
 mediately. Captain Hawes, though re- 
 peatedly fired on, escaped unhurt, galloped 
 off across the country, was kindly received 
 by Ram Sing, zemindar of Suhee, and from 
 thence escaped to Lucknow. Lieutenants 
 Grant and Fullerton placed their wives and 
 children in a covered cart, and were walking 
 by the side of it, when they were overtaken 
 by a party of mutineers, and obliged to turn 
 back. On their way towards Duriabad, 
 messengers from cantonments met them, 
 with leave to go where they pleased, as the 
 regiment had no wish to do them harm. 
 A double rifle, which had been taken from 
 Lieutenant Grant, was restored to him ; 
 and the party reached the hospitable abode 
 of Ram Sing, and proceeded thence to 
 Lucknow without further molestation. Mr. 
 Benson (the deputy-commissioner) and his 
 wife took refuge with the talookdar of Hu- 
 raha ; were hospitably treated, and enabled 
 to reach Lucknow. 
 
 The mutiny of all the Oude stations has 
 now been told, except those of Cawnpoor 
 and Futtehghur: they have a distinctive 
 character; the massacre which followed 
 them by far surpassing any outbreak of 
 sepoy panic, ferocity, or fanaticism; and 
 being, in fact, an episode formed by the 
 ruthless, reckless vengeance of the wretch 
 whose name is hateful to everybody pos- 
 sessed of common humanity, whether Chris- 
 tian, Mohammedan, or Hindoo. 
 
 Lucknotv. — On the 11th of June, 1857, 
 the capital of Oude, and Cawnpoor, were 
 the only stations in the province still held 
 by tlie British. 
 
 On the following day, Sir Henry Law- 
 rence resumed his functions, and became as 
 indefatigable as ever. He "seemed almost 
 never to sleep. Often would he sallv out in
 
 236 
 
 MEASURES FOR DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 disguise, and visit the most frequented parts 
 of the native town, and make personal obser- 
 vations, and see how his orders were carried 
 out. He several times had a thin bedding 
 spread out near the guns at the Baillie 
 Guard gate, and retired there among the 
 artillerists ; not to sleep, but to plan and 
 meditate undisturbed. He appeared to be 
 ubiquitous, and to be seeu everywhere."* 
 
 The 12th of June was further marked by 
 the mutiny of the 3rd regiment of military 
 police, which furnished the mail guard, and 
 took most of the civil duties. The sepoys 
 abandoned their several posts, and marched 
 off on the road to Sultanpoor, plundering 
 several houses belonging to Europeans in 
 their way. They were pursued by a force 
 under Colonel Inglis. The police super- 
 intendent (Captain Weston) outstripped 
 the other Europeans, and endeavoured to 
 bring the natives back to obedience. They 
 treated him civilly, but refused \o listen to 
 his arguments, unless permitted to do so by 
 the chief they had elected. The permis- 
 sion was refused, and one of the mutineers 
 levelled his musket at Captain Weston. A 
 dozen arms were thrust forward to strike 
 down the weapon. " Who," said they, 
 "would kill such a brave man as this?" 
 The English officer rode back unharmed. t 
 When the Europeans came up with the 
 mutineers, they turned and fought, killing 
 two of the Seik troopers, and wounding 
 several other persons. Two Europeans died 
 of apoplexy. The loss, on the side of the 
 mutineers, was fifteen killed and fifteen 
 captured. On the return of the pursuers, 
 the deputy-commissioner, Mr. Martin, who 
 had formed one of the volunteer cavalry, 
 urged the execution of the prisoners; but 
 tne tacit pledge given by some of the 
 captors, who had held out their open hand 
 in token of quarter, was nobly redeemed by 
 Sir Henry Lawrence, and the prisoners 
 were released. Levies of horse, foot, artil- 
 lery, and police, were now raised. About 
 eighty pensioned sepoys were called in by 
 Sir Henry from the surrounding districts, 
 and no suspicion ever attached to any of 
 them during the siege. One, named 
 Ungud, a native of Oude, performed some 
 remarkable feats as a messenger. The 
 mingled justice and conciliation of Sir 
 Henry Lawrence's policy was markedly 
 instrumental in obtaining the native auxili- 
 aries, but for whom, Lucknow might have 
 
 • Rees' Siege of Lucknuw, p. 39. 
 t Ibid., p. 61. 
 
 been as Cawnpoor. A striking illustration 
 of this fact, is afforded by the circumstance 
 of some hundreds of Native artillerymen, 
 formerly in the service of the King of Oude 
 (who had refused to enter the service of the 
 British government on the annexation of 
 the country), now coming forward under 
 their chief, Meer Furzund Ali, as volunteers. 
 A number of them were enlisted ; and Mr. 
 Gubbins, who had sixteen of them in his 
 own fortified house, says they worked the 
 guns, under European supervision, during 
 the whole siege, in which several of them 
 were killed. He adds, that " the mutineers 
 no sooner learnt that Furzund Ali was on 
 our side, than they gutted his house, plun- 
 dering it of a large amount of valuable 
 property. Unless, therefore, some special 
 compensation has been granted to him, Fur- 
 zund Ali will not have gained much by his 
 loyalty ."J It seems strange that the " finan- 
 cial commissioner for Oude," writing in June, 
 1858, should not have been able to speak with 
 somewhat greater certainty on the subject. 
 
 Ramadeen, an old Brahmin, also a native 
 of Oude, was another helpful auxiliary. 
 He had been employed as an overseer of 
 roads; and when the disturbed state of the 
 districts interrupted his labours, he came in 
 to Lucknow with six of his brethren: they 
 worked as foot soldiers ; and no men ever 
 behaved better. By night they assisted in 
 constructing batteries ; by day they fought 
 whenever the enemy attacked. Ramadeen 
 and two of his men were killed ; the others 
 survived, and were pensioned by govern- 
 ment. There was a native architect named 
 Pirana, of whom 'Mr. Gubbins says — " He 
 was an excellent workman ; and. but for his 
 aid and that of Ramadeen, we could never 
 have completed the works which we put up. 
 Pirana used to work steadily under fire; and 
 I have seeu a brick, which he was about to 
 lay, knocked out of his hand by a bullet. "§ 
 Before the siege began, there was an excellent 
 native smith, named Golab, working in the 
 engineering department. Captain Fulton 
 gave him his option to go or stay. He 
 chose the latter; and manifested strong 
 personal attachment to his chief, following 
 him everywhere in the face of great 
 danger, and rendering invaluable service. 
 On the very day on which the relieving 
 force entered the Residency, he was killed 
 by a round shot. 
 
 Such are a few among a crowd of 
 
 X Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 166. 
 § Ibid., p. 167.
 
 DEFENSIVE PREPARATIONS IN LUCKNOW— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 237 
 
 instances of fidelity even unto death; indi- 
 vidual attachment being usually the actu- 
 ating motive. 
 
 Strenuous efforts were now made to 
 strengthen the Residency position, and to 
 throw up defences capable of resisting the 
 assault of artillery. The Residency itself 
 occupied the highest point of an elevated 
 and irregular plateau, sloping down sharply 
 towards the river. On the north side, a 
 strong battery for heavy guns, afterwards 
 called the Redan, was commenced on the 
 18th of June, by Captain Fulton. The 
 Cawnpoor battery — so called from its posi- 
 tion commanding the high road from that 
 station — had been begun some days earlier 
 by Lieutenant Anderson. 
 
 Among other precautions taken at this 
 period, was the arrest of certain Moham- 
 medans of high family, who it was supposed 
 might be compelled or persuaded to join the 
 rebel cause. One was Mustapha AH Khan, 
 the elder brother of the ex-king, who had 
 been a state prisoner at the time of our 
 occupation of Oude, and whose claims to 
 the succession had been set aside on the 
 plea of weak intellect. The other' captives 
 were two princes connected with the Delhi 
 family — Nawab Rookun-ood-Dowlah, one of 
 the surviving sons of the good old sovereign, 
 Sadut Ali Khan ; and the young rajah of 
 Toolseepoor (in the Terai), a very turbu- 
 lent character, who had previously been 
 under surveillance, and was suspected of 
 having caused the murder of his father. 
 
 On the 28th of June, Ali Reza Khan, 
 who had formerly been kotwal of Lucknow 
 under native rule, and had taken service 
 under the British government, reported the 
 existence of a large quantity of jewels in 
 the late king's treasury, in the palace called 
 the Kaiser Bagh ; which, if not removed, 
 would probably fall into the hands of the 
 mutineers, or be plundered by some party 
 or other. Major Banks was immediately 
 dispatched with a military force to secure 
 and bring in the treasure, which consisted 
 of a richly ornamented throne, crowns 
 thickly studded with gems, gold pieces from 
 Venice and Spain, and a variety of neck- 
 laces, armlets, rings, and native ornaments, 
 enclosed in cases so decayed with age, that 
 they fell to pieces when touched ; and the 
 place was literally strewed with pearls and 
 gold. The display was unfortunate; and 
 during the subsequent siege, the receptacle 
 in which these gewgaws were placed was 
 more than once broken into, and " looted." 
 
 The men of the 32nd regiment were sup- 
 posed to be the offenders. " Certainly they 
 got hold of a large quantity of the jewels, 
 and sold them freely to the natives of the 
 garrison."* Deprat, a French merchant, 
 who possessed some stores of wine, received 
 offers of valuable gems in exchange for a 
 dozen of brandy ; and Mr. Gubbins writes 
 — " I have myself seen diamonds and pearls 
 which had been so bought." There were 
 twenty-three lacs (£230,000) in the govern- 
 ment treasury ; and this sum was, in the 
 middle of June, buried in front of the Resi- 
 dency, as the safest place of deposit. 
 
 The circulating medium had always been 
 miserably insufficient for the wants of a 
 teeming population; and the neglect of 
 proper provision in that respect had been 
 one of the leading defects of the Com- 
 pany's government. In Oude, early in 
 the month of June, public securities fell to 
 so low an ebb, that government promissory 
 notes for a hundred rupees were offered for 
 sale at half that sum. Confidence was 
 partially restored by the authorities volun- 
 teering to buy as much as two lacs of paper 
 at any rate under sixty per cent. The 
 owners hesitated and wavered ; and the 
 only purchase actually made was effected 
 by the financial commissioner, on Sir Henry 
 Lawrence's private account, at seventy-five 
 per cent. But during the last half of the 
 month, the demand for gold increased 
 rapidly. ■ The mutinous sepoys at the out- 
 stations had possessed themselves of large 
 amounts of government treasure in silver, 
 which was very bulky to carry about, and 
 they exchanged it for gold at high rates, 
 wherever the latter could be procured. At 
 Lucknow all credit rapidly vanished. Not a 
 native merchant could negotiate a"hoon(lie," 
 or bill ; the government treasury was vainly 
 appealed to for aid ; and as there was no 
 longer any prospect of receiving money 
 from the out-stations, it was ordered that 
 the salaries of the government officials 
 should cease to be paid in full, and that 
 they should receive only such small present 
 allowance as might suffice for necessary 
 expenditure. 
 
 By this time the heat had become in- 
 tense, and the rains were anxiously looked 
 for. There had been several deaths from 
 cholera in the Muchee Bhawn, and both 
 cholera and small-pox had appeared in the 
 Residency, where Sir Henry himself lived, in 
 the midst of above a hundred ladies and 
 • Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 178.
 
 238 
 
 CHINHUT EXPEDITION— JUNE 30th, 1857. 
 
 capitulation 
 Nana Sahib, 
 were known 
 
 of 
 
 a 
 
 to 
 
 children. The Residency also contained the 
 sick, and women and children, of H.M.'s 
 32nd. " There are," Mrs. Harris states, " as 
 many as eight and nine ladies, with a dozen 
 children, in one room ; and the heat is 
 awful."* A heavy fall of rain on the 28th 
 of June was hailed as a great relief; but the 
 comfort thus afforded was counterbalanced 
 by tidings from Cawnpoor. 
 At the time of the 
 General Wheeler to the 
 large body of mutineers 
 be assemhled at Nawabgunje, twenty miles 
 from Lucknow, which city they imme- 
 diately marched towards. On the 29th of 
 June, an advance guard of 500 infantry 
 and 100 horse, was reported to Sir Henry 
 Lawrence as having arrived at Chinhut 
 (a town on the Fyzabad road, within eight 
 miles of the Residency), to collect supplies 
 for the force which was expected there 
 ou the following day. A body of cavalry 
 was sent out to reconnoitre the position and 
 numbers of the enemy, but returned with- 
 out having accomplished this object, hostile 
 pickets having been posted at a considerable 
 distance from the town. Our intelligence 
 was, perhaps unavoidably, as defective as 
 that of the enemy was accurate. On the 
 night of .the 29th of June (and not on the 
 30th, as the spies employed by Mr. Gub- 
 bins, who had charge of the intelligence 
 department, had declared would be the 
 case), the rebel army reached Chiuhut. In 
 utter ignorance of this fact, Sir Henry 
 jLawrence planned the expedition which 
 proved so disastrous. 
 
 Such, at least, is the statement made by 
 Mr. Rees, whose authority carries weight, 
 because he had access to, and permission to 
 use, the journal kept by the wife of Briga- 
 dier Inglis, the second in command ; and 
 probably gained his information from the 
 brigadier himself, as well as from other offi- 
 cers engaged in the undertaking. Mr. 
 Gubbins' account is less circumstantial, 
 and is naturally not unprejudiced, because, 
 owing to the unfortunate differences which 
 existed between him and the other leading 
 authorities, he was not even aware of the 
 expedition until its disastrous issue became 
 apparent. 
 
 * Mrs. Harris's Siepe of Lucknow, pp. 23 ; 54. 
 
 t Kaikes' Siei/e of Lucknow, p. 67. Mr. Gubbins 
 states, that upon his death-bed, Sir Henry referred 
 to the disaster at Chinhut; and said, that he liad 
 acted against his own judgment IVom tlie fear of 
 man, but did not mention the name of any indi- 
 vidual adviser. — Mutinies in Ouith, p. 199. 
 
 The force moved out at 6 a.m. on the 
 morning of the 30th, and consisted of about 
 350 Europeans, including a troop of volun- 
 teer cavalry, and about the same number of 
 natives, with ten guns and an 8- inch how- 
 itzer. Brigadier Inglis, in his despatch, 
 says that several reports had reached Sir 
 Henry Lawrence, on the previous evening, 
 that the rebel army, in no very considerable 
 numbers, intended marching on Lucknow 
 on the following morning; and Sir Henry 
 therefore determined to make a strong re- 
 connaissance in that direction, with a view, 
 if possible, of meeting the enemy at a dis- 
 advantage, either at their entrance into tiie 
 suburbs of the city, or at the bridge across 
 the Kookrail — a small stream intersecting 
 the Fyzabad road, about half-way between 
 Lucknow and Chinhut. Thus far the road 
 was metalled ; but beyond it was a newly 
 raised embankment, constructed of loose and 
 sandy soil, in which, every now and then, 
 gaps occurred, indicating the position of pro- 
 jected bridges. The troops halted at the 
 bridge, and Sir Henry, it is said, proposed 
 to draw up his little army in this position, 
 and await the coming of the enemy ; but he 
 " unfortunately listened to the advisers who 
 wished him to advance. "t Raikes adds, 
 there were rum-and-water and biscuits witli 
 the baggage; but no refreshment was served 
 out to the soldiers, although the Europeans 
 were suffering severely from the sun, which 
 was shining right in their faces ; and many 
 of them had been drinking freely overnight. 
 Brigadier Inglis does not enter into 
 particulars ; but only states that the troops, 
 misled by the reports of wayfarers (who 
 I asserted that there were few or no men 
 between Lucknow and Chinhut), J proceeded 
 somewhat further than liad been intended, 
 and suddenly fell in with the enemy, who 
 had up lo that time eluded the vigilance of 
 the advanced guard by concealing them- 
 selves behind a long line of mango groves, 
 in overwhelming numbers. Chinhut itself 
 was a large village, situated in a plain, on 
 the banks of a very extensive jheel, or lake, 
 close to which stands a castle, formerly 
 a favourite resort of the kings of Oude in 
 their sporting excursions. The camp of 
 the enemy lay to the left of Cliiuhut. The 
 
 \ Another of the annalists of the siege, observes, 
 that " Sir Henry was on the point of returning to 
 the city ; but, unfortunately, he was persuaded to 
 advance, as it was said the enemy could not be in 
 great number." — /><»/ by Day at Lucknow: by the 
 widow of (Jolonel Case, of H.M.'s 3'2nd ; p. '19. 
 London: Bentley, 1658.
 
 DISASTROUS RETREAT FROM CHIN HUT— JUNE 30th, 1857. 
 
 239 
 
 village of Ishmaelpoor, where the action 
 was really fought, lay to the left of the road 
 by which the British were advancing, and 
 was occupied by the enemy's sharpshooters. 
 The howitzer was placed in the middle of 
 the road, and fired with much effect ; but 
 the rebels, instead of retreating, only 
 changed their tactics, and were soon seen 
 advancing in two distinct masses of cavalry, 
 infantry, and artillery, evidently intending 
 to outflank the British on both sides. " The 
 European force and the howitzer, with the 
 Native infantry, held the foe in check for 
 some time : and had the six guns of the 
 Oude artillery been faithful, and the Scik 
 cavalry shown a better front, the day would 
 have been won in spite of an immense dis- 
 parity in numbers. But the Oude artillery- 
 men and drivers were traitors."* They 
 overturned the guns into ditches, cut the 
 traces of their horses, and abandoned them, 
 regardless of the remonstrances and ex- 
 ertions of their own officers, and of those of 
 Sir Henry Lawrence's stafi^, headed by the 
 brigadier-general in person, who himself 
 drew his sword upon these rebels. The 
 cavalry were now ordered to charge. The 
 European volunteers, few of whom had ever 
 seen a shot fired, instantly obeyed the order; 
 but the Seiks (numbering eighty sabres) 
 behaved shamefully. Only two of them 
 charged with the Europeans; the rest turned 
 their horses' heads and galloped back to 
 Lucknow. From behind the loopholed walls 
 of Ishmaelpoor, a deadly fire was poured forth 
 on the British. The 300 men of H.M.'s 
 32 nd were ordered to clear the village. 
 They advanced boldly under their gallant 
 leader. Colonel Case ; but he was struck 
 to the ground by a bullet ; whereupon the 
 men suddenly laid themselves down under 
 the shelter of a small undulation in the 
 field, but continued firing at the enemy 
 as fast as they could load their pieces. 
 
 The order for retreat was now given. 
 The European artillery limbered up and 
 went to the rear, and Sir Henry Lawrence 
 ordered Lieutenant Bonham to retire with 
 the howitzer. But tlie elephant which was 
 to have carried it was half maddened by 
 the fire; and while the gunners were striving 
 to attach the trail of the howitzer to its 
 carriage, the mutineers were pressing on. 
 A bullet struck Lieutenant Bonham, who 
 
 * Despatch of Brigadier Inglis. The Oude artil- 
 lerymen here mentioned, are not those recently 
 levied (see p. 236), but an old corps, the loyalty 
 of -which, according to Rees, there had been pre- 
 
 was carried off by his men, and put upon 
 a limber. The howitzer was abandoned; 
 the rebels seized it, and, in the course of 
 some -forty-eight hours, fired from it the 
 shot that killed Sir Henry Lawfence. The 
 retreat had become general, when Captain 
 Bassano, of the 32nd foot, who had been 
 searching for Colonel Case, discovered that 
 officer lying wounded, and oft'eied to bring 
 some of the men back to carry him away. 
 " Leave me to die here," was the reply ; " I 
 have no need of assistance. Your place 
 is at the head of your company."! The 
 enemy were at this time in rapid pursuit ; 
 the Europeans and the sepoy infantry kept 
 up a brisk fire as they retreated, and many 
 fell on both sides. Colonel Case was last 
 seen lying on the roadside with his eyes 
 wide open, and his sword firmly grasped, in 
 the" midst of the corpses of his brave com- 
 panions in arms. J Lieutenant Brackenbury 
 wasshot next; and Thompson, the adjutant, 
 was mortally wounded. Captain Bassano 
 was hit in the foot, but succeeded in safely 
 reaching the Residency, ,by the aid of a 
 sepoy of the 13th N.I., who carried the 
 wounded officer for a considerable distance 
 on his back. Major Bruere, also hurt, was 
 saved in a similar manner. There were no 
 dhoolies (litters) for the wounded. At the very 
 beginning of the action, several bearers had 
 been killed ; whereupon all the others fled 
 in dismay, leaving the dhyoliesin the hands 
 of the enemy. The water-carriers also had 
 run away ; and the European infantry were 
 so exhausted from thirst and fatigue, that 
 they could scarcely drag themselves along; 
 and only did so by the aid of the cavalry volun- 
 teers, each one of whom was encumbered 
 with two, three, and even four foot soldiers, 
 holding on by the hand of the officer, or by 
 his stirrup, or by the crupper or tail of his , 
 horse. The infantry laboured, moreover, 
 under another disadvantage. Their muskets 
 had been kept long loaded, and had become 
 so foul, that it was not possible to discharge 
 them. During the retreat, one of their 
 officers called upon a private by name, and 
 desired him to turn round and fire upon 
 the enemy. " I will do so, sir, if you wish," 
 said the man; "but its no use. I have 
 already snapped six caps, and the piece 
 won't go ofi'."§ Happily, the Native infantry 
 were better able to endure the heat, and 
 
 vious ground for suspecting. — Siege of Lucknow, 
 p. 53. 
 
 t Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 187. 
 
 X Rees' Siege, p. 72. § Gubbins' Mutinies, p. 180.
 
 240 NUMBERS ENGAGED, & LIVES LOST, AT CHINHUT— JUNE 30, 1857. 
 
 their weapons were in good order. They 
 are described as having " behaved, for the 
 most part, in the kindest manner to the 
 wounded Europeans ; taking up great num- 
 bers of them, and leaving their own 
 wounded uncared-for on the battle-field. 
 They had been suspected of being also 
 tainted with the general disaffection, and 
 were, therefore, anxious to regain tlie es- 
 teem and confidence of their European 
 ofiiiccrs. They gave, indeed, the most 
 striking proofs of their fidelity and loyalty 
 on that day, showering volleys of mus- 
 ketry and (native like) of abuse on their 
 assailants."* 
 
 On nearing the Kookrail bridge, a new 
 danger presented itself. The road in front 
 was seen to be occupied by a body of the 
 rebel cavalry. f The guns were unlim- 
 bered, with the intention of pouring in a 
 few rounds of grape on the enemy ; but 
 it was ascertained that not a single round 
 of ammunition remained. The preparatory 
 movement, however, produced the desired 
 effect; the enemy hesitated, and, when 
 charged by Captain Rattray and the hand- 
 ful of volunteers under his command, 
 abandoned their position, and, ceasing to 
 obstruct the road, contented themselves 
 with harassing the rear of the retreating 
 troops, whom they pursued even to the iron 
 bridge near the Residency. Sir Henry 
 Lawrence was seen in the most exposed 
 parts of the field, riding about, giving direc- 
 tions, or speaking words of encouragement 
 amidst a terrific fire of grape, round shot, 
 and musketry, which struck down men 
 at every step. While riding by his side. 
 Captain James was shot through the thigh. 
 Sir Henry remained untouched; but he 
 must have suflTered as only so good a man 
 could, in witnessing the scene around him. 
 Forgetful of himself, conscious only of the 
 danger and distress of the troops, at the 
 moment of the crisis near the Kookrail 
 bridge, when his little force appeared about 
 to be overwhelmed by the dead weight 
 of opposing numbers, he wrung his hands 
 in agony, and exclaimed, "My God. my 
 God ! and I brought them to this !" 
 
 Perhaps that bitter cry was heard and 
 
 * Rees' Siege of Lucknow, p. 78. 
 
 t According to Mr. Rees, the masses of rebel 
 cavalry by which the British were outflanked near 
 the Kookrail bridge, were " apparently commanded 
 by some European, who was seen waving his sword, 
 and attempting to make his men follow him and 
 dash at ours. He was a handsome-looking man, 
 well-built, fair, about twenty-five years of age, with 
 
 answered, uttered as it was by the lips of 
 one whose character for Christian excel- 
 lence stood unequalled among public men 
 in India. At least, the retreat of the 
 exhausted force from the Kookrail bridge 
 to Lucknow, under all the circumstances 
 of the case, is one of the most marvellous 
 incidents in the insurrection. On ap- 
 proaching the suburbs, the natives, men, 
 women, and children, rich and poor, cro~trded 
 round the weary and wounded fugitives, 
 bringing water in cool porous vessels, which 
 was thankfully accepted, and greedily swal- 
 lowed. 
 
 The news of the disaster had reached the 
 city as early as 9 a.m. ; a number of the 
 recrear*; Seik cavalry, and artillery drivers, 
 having crossed the iron bridge at that hour, 
 their horses covered with foam, and they 
 themselves terrified, but not one of them 
 wounded. The commissioner asked them 
 reproachfully why they had fled. They 
 replied only, that the enemy had surrounded 
 them. Half-an-hour later, a messenger 
 who had been sent to gain information; 
 returned to Lucknow, bearing Sir Henry 
 Lawrence's sword scabbard, and a mes- 
 sage that he was unhurt. Shortly after 
 the troops arrived ; and then, as the 
 wounded men lay faint and bleeding in 
 the porch of the Residency, the horrors of 
 war burst at once on the view of the 
 British at Lucknow. The banqueting-hall 
 was converted into an hospital ; and instead 
 of music and merriment, the wail of the 
 widow, shrieks wrung from brave strong 
 men by excruciating physical suffering, and 
 the dull death-rattle, were heard on every 
 side. The total loss, on the side of the 
 British, consisted of — Europeans, 112 killed, 
 and 44 wounded ; Natives — nearly 200 
 killed and missing : only eleven wounded 
 returned to the city. Besides the howitzer, 
 we lost three field-pieces, with almost all 
 the ammunition waggons of our native guns. 
 No estimate coidd be formed of the loss of 
 the enemy ; but the total number engaged 
 was calculated at 5,550 infantry, gOO cavalry, 
 and 160 artillery. J These were the regi- 
 ments which had mutinied at Fyzabad, 
 Seetapoor, Sultanpoor, Secrora, Gondah, 
 
 light mustachios, wearing the undress uniform of a 
 European cavalry officer, with a blue and gold- 
 laced cap on his head." Mr. Rees suggests the 
 possibility of this personage being " a Russian : one 
 suspected to be such had been seized by the autho- 
 rities, confined, and then released ;" — or " a renegade 
 Christian." — Siege of LiicktwtCf^f. 76. 
 J Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 189.
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF SIEGE OF LUCKNOW— JUNE 30th, 1857. 241 
 
 Salone, and Duriabad. The odds were 
 fearful ; and the cause for wonder is, not 
 that half the British band should have 
 perished, but that any portion of it should 
 have escaped. 
 
 It is probable that Sir Henry Lawrence 
 felt that the expedition had been a mistake, 
 even independently of the fatal miscalcula- 
 tion of the strength of the enemy, which 
 led him to advance to Chinhut. It had 
 been und^: . iken without due prepara- 
 tion, without any settled plan of action ; 
 neither had any reserve been provided in 
 the event of disaster. The European gar- 
 rison, consisting of little above 900 men, 
 was materially weakened by the result of 
 the contest ; and the easy victory gained 
 by the rebels, emboldened them, and ac- 
 celerated the besiegement of Lucknow. 
 
 The first effect of the return of the survi- 
 vors was to produce a death-like silence 
 throughout the city; but the stillness was 
 of brief duration. The foe followed close 
 on their heels, and the terrified ladies had 
 scarcely time to welcome back their rela- 
 tives, or, like poor Mrs. Case, to discover 
 their bereavement, before the whistling of 
 round shot was heard in the air. Mr. 
 Gubbins went to search for Sir Henry 
 Lawrence, and found him laying a howitzer 
 at the Water gate (so called frpm its 
 vicinity to the river Goomtee), to com- 
 mand the entrance to the Residency. 
 
 The siege of Lucknow had, in fact, com- 
 menced. The Europeans went on the ter- 
 races of their houses, and could see, through 
 their telescopes, masses of the enemy cross- 
 ing the Goomtee, at a Considerable distance 
 below the city (the guns on the Redan 
 commanding the iron bridge); while troopers 
 of the rebel cavalry were already galloping 
 about the streets. The gaol, nearly opposite 
 the Baillie Guard gate of the Residency, was 
 left unwatched. The prisoners, some of whom 
 on the previous day, and even on that very 
 morning, had been working at the batteries, 
 carrying beams and baskets of mud, were 
 soon seen making their escape, holding-on 
 by ropes (which they fastened on the barred 
 windows), and swinging themselves down the 
 high walls. In the course of the afternoon. 
 Sir Henry Lawrence dispatched a mes- 
 senger to Allahabad, with a brief notice of 
 what had occurred. " We have been be- 
 sieged," he states, " for four hours. Shall 
 likely be surrounded to-night. Enemy 
 very bold, and our Europeans very low. 
 * * * We shall be obliged to conceu- 
 
 voL. n 2 I 
 
 trate if we are able. We shall have to 
 abandon much supplies, and blow up much 
 powder ; unless we are relieved in fifteen or 
 twenty days, we shall hardly be able to 
 maintain our ground."* 
 
 At the opening of the siege, there was, 
 besides the two main posts at the Resi- 
 dency and the Muchee Bhawn, a third at 
 the Dowlutkhana, a spacious mausoleum 
 built in honour of a former King of Oude. 
 The 4th and 7th regiments of irregular 
 infantry, and four companies of the 1st 
 irregular infantry, had not accompanied the 
 force to Chinhut, but had remained at 
 their post, under Brigadier Gray. No 
 reliance had been placed on the fidelity of 
 these men, and the guns had been pre- 
 viously removed from their charge. No 
 surprise was therefore expressed when, on 
 witnessing the return of the defeated troops, 
 the sepoys at the Dowlutkhana broke 
 out into mutiny with loud shouts, and 
 commenced plundering the property of 
 their officers, whom, however, they did not 
 attempt to injure, but suffered to retire 
 quietly to the Muchee Bhawn. 
 
 The Imaumbara— a building appropriated 
 by Mohammedans of the Sheiah sect to 
 the yearly celebration of the Mohurrum, 
 a series of services- commemorative of the 
 sufferings of the Imaum Hussein — was at 
 this time filled with native police, who soon 
 followed the example set them by the 
 irregulars in joining the mutiny. The kot- 
 wal fled, and hid himself; but being dis- 
 covered by the enemy, was seized, and 
 eventually put to death. 
 
 The investment at once prevented the 
 continuance of communication by letter 
 between the Residency and the Muchee 
 Bhawn; at least the commissioner could 
 find no means of conveying despatches 
 from Sir Henry Lawrence to Colonel 
 Palmer, the commanding officer at the lat- 
 ter position ; but Colonel Palmer managed 
 to send intelligence to the Residency, 
 that he was ill supplied with food, and 
 even gun ammunition, shot, and shell. 
 The total force available for defence had, 
 moreover, been so reduced by the Chinhut 
 affair, that there was barely sufficient to 
 garrison the extended Residency position, 
 in which it was now resolved to concen- 
 trate the troops. Telegraphic communi- 
 cation had been previously established, 
 
 • Telegraphic despatch from commanding officer 
 at Allahabad, to governor-general, July 10th, 1857. 
 —Further Pari. Papers, 1857; p. 110.
 
 242 EVACUATION OP THE MUCHEE BHAWN— JULY 1st, 1857. 
 
 by Sir Henry Lawrence, between tlie two 
 posts; and, on the evening of the 1st of 
 July, he took this means of ordering the 
 evacuation of the Muchee Bhawn. Cap- 
 tain Fulton (of the engineers), another offi- 
 cer, and a civilian, Mr. G. H. Lawrence 
 (nephew of Sir Henry), ascended to the roof 
 to perform this hazardous service. The 
 machine was out of order, and had to be 
 taken down and repaired — the three Euro- 
 peans being all the time a mark for the 
 bullets of the enemy ; and having no other 
 shield than the ornamental balustrade, in the 
 Italian style, which surrounded the roof. 
 But they accomplished their work surely 
 and safely, each letter of- the telegram 
 being signalled in return by Colonel 
 Palmer. The words were few, but weighty. 
 " Spike the guns well, blow up the fort, 
 and retire at midnight." 
 
 Much anxiety was felt about the success 
 of the movement by those who knew what 
 was intended ; and those who did not, 
 were for the most part panic-struck by the 
 suddenness of the calamity which had be- 
 fallen them. The "omlah," or writers, 
 who resided in the city; the chuprassies,* or 
 civil orderlies, and the workpeople engaged 
 in the yet unfinished batteries, took to 
 flight ; and everything outside the intrench- 
 ments fell into the hands of the enemy. On 
 the first day of the siege, musketry alone 
 was fired by the rebel array ; but, on the 
 second, they had succeeded in placing their 
 cannon in position, and took aim with pre- 
 cision and effect. 
 
 The Residency was the chief point of 
 attack, both from its high position and as 
 the head-quarters of Sir Henry Lawrence. 
 Events proved that the rebels were per- 
 fectly acquainted with all the diflferent 
 apartments, their occupants, and uses, and 
 directed their fire accordingly. The build- 
 ing was very extensive, and solidly built, 
 with lofty rooms, fine verandahs, and spa- 
 cious porticoes. The tyekhana, or under- 
 ground rooms, designed to shelter the 
 families of British residents at Lucknow 
 from the heat of the sun, now served to 
 shield a helpless crowd of women and 
 children from a more deadly fire. Sky- 
 lights and cellar windows, contrived with 
 all care, made these chambers the most 
 commodious in the Residency, as well as 
 
 • Chuprassies — so called from the chuprass or 
 badge on their breasts, generally consisting of a 
 broad plate of brass hanging from a handsome 
 shoulder-belt. They are employed in carrying mes- 
 
 the only safe ones. Indeed, in every other 
 part, no building could have been less cal- 
 culated for purposes of defence. The 
 numberless lofty windows in its two upper 
 stories offered unopposed entrance to the 
 missiles of the foe. Colonel Palmer's 
 daughter, a girl of about seventeen, engaged 
 in marriage to a young officer, was sitting in 
 one of the higher rooms on the afternoon 
 of the 1st, when a round shot struck her, 
 and nearly carried off her leg. Amputation 
 was immediately had recourse to; but, on 
 the following day, the poor girl died, as did 
 every other patient on whom a similar opera- 
 tion was performed during the entire siege. f 
 Sir Henry Lawrence had a narrow escape at 
 nearly the same time. He occupied a room 
 on the first story of the most exposed angle 
 of the Residency. While engaged writing 
 with his secretary, Mr. Couper, an 8-inch 
 shell fell and burst close to both gen- 
 tlemen, but injured neither. The whole of 
 the staff entreated Sir Henry to leave the 
 Residency, or at least to choose a different 
 chamber; but he refused, observing that 
 another shell would certainly never be 
 pitched into that small room. He then 
 resumed his anxious round of duty, visiting 
 every post, however exposed its position, 
 however hot the fire directed against it ;J 
 and taking precautious to facilitate the 
 evacuation of the Muchee Bhawn, on which 
 fortress the enemy had already opened a 
 cannonade. Towards night, however, the 
 firing ceased ; and the enemy, believing the 
 ancient stronghold to be well-nigh impreg- 
 nable, had no idea of the necessity of 
 blockading its garrison. The ruse of Sir 
 Henry, in directing the batteries of the 
 Residency to open fire shortly after mid- 
 night, was therefore completely successful. 
 The guns of the Redan cleared the iron 
 bridge of all intruders. The arrangements 
 for the march had been admirably made by 
 Colonel Palmer, and were as ably carried 
 through by the subordinate officers, who 
 were furnished with written orders. The 
 force, comprising (according to Mr. Gub- 
 bins) 225 Europeans,§ moved out noiselessly 
 at midnight, carrying their treasure and 
 two or more 9-pounder guns with them, 
 and, in fifteen minutes, traversed the three- 
 quarters of a mile which separated the 
 Muchee Bhawn from the Residency, without 
 
 sages, and in general out-door work. — (Russell), 
 t Memoir of Rev. H. S. Polehampton ; p 337. 
 X Rees' Siege of Lucknow, p. 115. 
 § Further Pari. Papers, p. 75.
 
 DEATH OF SIR HENRY LAWRENCE— JULY 4th, 1857. 
 
 243 
 
 having had a shot fired at them.* The 
 train for the destruction of the fort had 
 been laid by Lieutenant Thomas, of the 
 Madras artillery : by his calculations the 
 explosion was to take place half-au-hour 
 after the departure of the garrison. Sir 
 Henry Lawrence and the officers stood 
 waiting the event. At the appointed time a 
 blaze of fire shot up to the sky, followed by 
 a loud report, which announced the de- 
 struction of 240 barrels of gunpowder, and 
 6,000,000 ball cartridges, together with the 
 complete dismantlement of the fortress. f 
 Many lacs of percussion-caps, and 250 
 boxes of small-arm ammunition, were sacri- 
 ficed at the same time, together with a 
 considerable amount of public stores, and 
 much private property. 
 
 Still the measure was, beyond all question, 
 a wise one ; and the spirits of the garrison 
 rose immediately at the accession of strength 
 gained by the safe arrival of their country- 
 men. Very different to this easy entrance 
 to the Residency, was the " Strait of Fire" 
 through which the next British reinforce- 
 ment had to run the gauntlet. Meanwhile 
 a heavy trial was at hand. After welcom- 
 ing the troops from the Muchee Bhawn, 
 Sir Henry retired to rest in the same small 
 chamber he had been vainly entreated to 
 leave. The next mornitig, at half-past eight, 
 he was sitting on liis bed, listening to some 
 papers read aloud by Captain Wilson, the 
 deputy assistant-commissary-general, when 
 another 8-inch shell entered by the window, 
 and, bursting in the room, a large piece 
 slightly injured Captain Wilson, but struck 
 Sir Henry with such force as nearly to 
 separate his left, leg from the thigh. He 
 was immediately brought over to the house 
 of Dr. Fayrer, the Residency surgeon ;J 
 which was less exposed to the enemy's fire : 
 but the removal aj^eared to be speedily 
 discovered by the lynx-eyed rebels, and 
 Fayrer's house became the target for their 
 marksmen. The nature of the wound, and 
 
 • One man, however, was left behind, dead drunk. 
 He remained during the explosion— was thrown into 
 the air — fell asleep again, and, on awaking next 
 morning, found himself amid a heap of deserted 
 ruins; whereupon he proceeded quietly to the Resi- 
 dency, taking with him a cart of ammunition, drawn 
 by two bullocks, and astonished the soldiers by call- 
 ing out, " Arrah I open your gates." Rees, who nar- 
 rates this anecdote, quotes the French proverb, 
 " 11 y'a un Dieu pour les ivrognes ;" and suggests, 
 that the serious injury to the adjacent houses, and 
 probable destruction of many of the rebels stationed 
 near the Muchee Bhawn, may account for so extra- 
 ordinary an escape. — Siege of Lxtcknow, p. 121. 
 
 the attenuated condition of the sufferer, 
 forbade any attempt at amputation ; but it 
 was necessary to. stay the bleeding by ap- 
 plying the tourniquet ; and the agony thus 
 occasioned was fearful to behold. The 
 chief persons of the garrison, civil and 
 military, stood round their gallant chief. 
 Heedless of the sound of the bullets striking 
 against the verandah, and of their own 
 imminent danger, they thought only of 
 the scene before them ; and, in the words 
 of one of them, found it "impossible to 
 avoid sobbing like a child."§ 
 
 Notwithstanding his extreme pain. Sir 
 Henry was perfectly sensible, and charac- 
 teristically unselfish. He appointed Briga- 
 dier Inglis to succeed him in command of 
 the troops, and Major Banks in the oflBce 
 of chief commissioner. He specially en- 
 joined those around him to be careful of 
 the ammunition ; and often repeated, " Save 
 the ladies." He earnestly entreated that 
 the aid of government should be solicited 
 for the Hill Asylums, established by him 
 for the education of the children of sol- 
 diers, and to the support of which, he had, 
 by the most systematic self-denial, contri- 
 buted at least £1,000 a-year from his 
 official income : he had no other. He 
 bade farewell to the gentlemen round him, 
 pointed out the worthlessness of human 
 distinctions, and recommended all to fix 
 their thoughts upon a better world. Then 
 turning to his nephew, who, he said, had 
 been as a son to him,|| he sent mes- 
 sages to his children, and to each of his 
 brothers and sisters, and tenderly alluded 
 to the beloved wife,iy dead some four years 
 before, who had so cordially seconded all 
 his schemes of public and private usefulness. 
 He lingered till eight o'clock in the morning 
 of the 4th, and then his paroxysms of anguish 
 terminated in a peaceful, painless death. 
 His last request was, that the inscription 
 upon his tomb should be simply this — 
 " Here lies Henry Lawrence, who tried to 
 
 t Brigadier Inglis'a despatch, Sept. 26th, 1857. 
 It is asserted, that the destruction thus occasioned 
 was much overrated. 
 
 X Brother to the volunteer of the same name, 
 killed with Captain Fletcher Hayes. See p. 193. 
 
 § Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 199. 
 
 II Mrs. Harris's Siege of Lucknow, p. 77. 
 
 ^ " The late Lady Lawrence shared all his be- 
 nevolence and all his genius. His article in the 
 Calcutta Review, on ' Woman in India,' is descrip- 
 tive of her character; and the large subscriptipn 
 that was raised for the Lawrence Asylum after 
 her death, was the best tribute to her worth." — 
 Friend of India, July, 1857.
 
 244 
 
 SIR HENRY LAWRENCE A. CHRISTIAN HERO. 
 
 do his duty. May the Lord have mercy 
 on his soul !"* 
 
 The words are verj' touching, when con- 
 sidered as the utterance of the man who 
 will go down to posterity as the pacificator 
 of the Punjab,t and to whose prudence, 
 energy, and foresight, despite the disaster 
 at Chinhut, the gallant survivors of the 
 Lucknow garrison consider their success 
 mainly attributable.]: Indeed (in the em- 
 phatic words of Brigadier Inglis), but for 
 the foresight and precautions of Henry 
 Lawrence, every European in Lucknow 
 might have slept in a bloody shroud. 
 
 Half-an-hour before Sir Henry's death, his 
 nephew was shot through the shoulder, in 
 the verandah. Mrs. Harris, the wife of the [ 
 Residency chaplain, writes in her diary — " I 
 have been nursing him to-day, poor fellow ! 
 It was so sad to see him lying there in the 
 room with his uncle's body; looking so pale, 
 and suffering." In the course of a few hours 
 it became necessary to remove the corpse ; 
 and one of the soldiers called in for the 
 purpose, lifting the sheet from the face, ; 
 bent over and kissed it reverently. No 
 military honours marked the funeral. A 
 hurried prayer was read amidst the booming 
 of cannon and the fire of musketry; and 
 the remains of the good and great man [ 
 were lowered into a pit, with several other 
 lowlier companions in arms. 
 
 The death of Sir Henry Lawrence was 
 kept secret for many days : he was even 
 
 * See descriptive letterpress, by Mr. Couper (Sir 
 Henry Lawrence's secretary), to Lieutenant Clifford 
 H. Meeham's charming Sketches of Lucknow. 
 
 t "What the memory of Tod is in Rajast'han — 
 what Macpherson was to the Khonds, Outram to the 
 Bheels, Napier to the Beloochees — that, and more, 
 was Henry Lawrence to the fierce and haughty 
 Seiks." — Westminster Review, October, 1858. 
 
 X See Gubbins, Rees, Polehampton, Case, &c. 
 
 § Brigadier Inglis's despatch, Sept.- 26th, 1857. 
 
 II There is not, I am sure, an Englishman in 
 India who does not regard the loss of Sir Henry 
 Lawrence, in the present circumstances of the 
 country, as one of the heaviest of public calamities. 
 There is not, I believe, a native of the provinces 
 where he has held authority, who will not remem- 
 ber his name as that of a friend and generous bene- 
 factor to the races of India." — [Lord Canning to the 
 Court of Directors, Sept. Sth, 1857]. Lord Stanley, 
 too, has borne high testimony to the rare merits of 
 Sir Henry Lawrence. At a meeting held to pro- 
 mote the endowment of the schools founded by him 
 for the education of soldiers' children at Kussowlie 
 and Mount Aboo— the"two elder daughters," whose 
 permanent establishment had been one main reason 
 for his prolonged abode in India — Lord Stanley 
 said — " Sir Henry Lawrence rose to eminence step 
 by step, not by favour of any man, certainW no' 
 
 reported to he recovering; but, at last, the 
 truth could no longer be concealed ; and 
 the tidings were " received throughout the 
 garrison with feelings of consternation only 
 second to the grief which was inspired in 
 the hearts of all, by the loss of a public 
 benefactor and a warm personal friend. "§ 
 
 A well-known Indian journal (the Friend 
 of India) writes — " The commissioner of 
 Oude died, not before he had breathed into 
 his little garrison somewhat of his own 
 heroic spirit. Great actions are contagious, 
 and gladly would they have died for him ; 
 but it was not so to be ; henceforth they 
 will live only for vengeance ." The English 
 at Lucknow happily understood the spirit of 
 their beloved cliief much better. They had 
 recognised in him a Christian, not an 
 Homeric hero; and the pursuit of ven- 
 geance, " the real divinity of the Iliad," 
 was, they well knew, utterly incompatible 
 with the forgiving spirit which Sir Henry 
 uniformly advocated as the very essence of 
 vital Christianity. In fact, his true voca- 
 tion was that of a lawgiver and an adminis- 
 trator, not a subjugator ; his talent lay in 
 preventing revolt, rather than in crushing it 
 with the iron heel of the destroyer. Lord 
 Cauningll showed considerable appreciation 
 of Sir Henry Lawrence, when he dwelt 
 on his loss as one whicij equally affected 
 the Europeans and natives. This was true 
 when it was written, in the very height of 
 the struggle ; but it is more striking now, 
 
 by subserviency cither to ruling authorities or to 
 popular ideas, but simply by the operation of that 
 natural law which in troubled times brings the 
 strongest mind, be it where it may, to the post of 
 highest command. I knew Sir H. Lawrence six 
 years ago. Travelling in the Punjab, I passed a 
 month in his camp, and it then seemed to me, as it 
 does now, that his personal character was far above 
 his career, eminent as that career has been. If he 
 had died a private and undistinguished person, the 
 impress of his mind would still have been left on all 
 those who came personally into contact with him. I 
 thought him, as far as 1 could judge, sagacious and 
 far-seeing in matters of policy; and I had daily op- 
 portunity of witnessing, even under all the disad- 
 vantages of a long and rapid journey, his constant 
 assiduity in the dispatch of business. But it w.is 
 not the intellectual qualities of the man which made 
 upon me the deepest impression. There was in him 
 a rare union of determined purpose, of moral as well 
 as physical courage, with a singular frankness and a 
 courtesy of demeanour which was something more 
 than we call courtesy; for it belonged not to man- 
 ners, but to mind — & courtesy shown equally to 
 Europeans and natives. Once know him, and you 
 could not imagine him giving utterance to any senti- 
 ment which was harsh, or petty, or self-seeking." — 
 Ti,nes, Feb. Sth, 1868.
 
 THE MILITARY STATION OF CAWJSTPOOR. 
 
 245 
 
 when every one capable of looking below 
 the surface, feels that the worst effect of 
 the mutiny is the breach which it has so 
 fearfully widened between the two races. 
 
 Avengers and subjugators have done their 
 work : we want peace-makers now ; but 
 where can we look for such an one as 
 Henry Lawrence ? 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 CAWNPOOR.— MAY 16th TO JUNE 27th, 1857. 
 
 Cawnpoor was selected by the East India 
 Company, in 1775, as the station of the 
 subsidiary troops, to be maintained for 
 the use of the government of Oude. In 
 1801, the district and city of the same name, 
 with other territory, amounting to half the 
 kingdom, was ceded to the Company, under 
 the circumstances already narrated.* 
 
 Cawnpoor is not a place of ancient historic 
 interest. The district had formerly an ill 
 name, as the abode of Thugs and Phansigars, 
 especially the western portion of it, where 
 great numbers of murderous bands were 
 said to have resided, ostensibly eugaged in 
 cultivating small spots of land, though, in 
 fact, supported by the more lucrative pro- 
 fession of Thuggee. t These gangs had, 
 however, been completely broken up, and 
 the district freed from their hateful ope- 
 rations. The city appears to be of modem 
 origin : there is no mention of it in the 
 Ayeen Akbery (drawn up by Abul Fazil, 
 towards the close of the 16th century) ; and 
 its name — half Mohammedan, half Hindoo 
 (Caivn, or Khan, lord; and poor, town), J 
 speaks its mixed character. The native 
 town contained, before the mutiny, about 
 59,000 inhabitants; and the population of 
 the cantonments, exclusive of the military, 
 is stated by Thornton at 49,975, giving a 
 total of 108,975. The cantonments extend, 
 in a semicircle, for nearly five miles along 
 the right bank of the Gauges; the bunga- 
 lows of the officers and residents being 
 situated in richly-planted compounds or 
 inclosures, and having the most productive 
 gardens in India ; grapes, peaches, man- 
 goes, shaddocks, plantains, melons, oranges, 
 limes, guavas, and custard apples, growing 
 there in perfection, together with most 
 
 • See Introductory Chapter, page 60. 
 f Sherwood on Phansigars. — Asiatic Researches, 
 vol. xiii., p. 290. 
 
 European vegetables. Assembly-rooms, a 
 theatre, and a race-course were early erected 
 by the Europeans; and, about eighteen 
 years ago, a church was raised by the joint 
 means of a private subscription and a gov- 
 ernment grant of money and land. 
 
 The most attractive feature in Cawnpoor 
 is its ghaut, or landing-place, the traffic 
 being very great. The Gauges, here a mile 
 broad, is navigable down to the sea a dis- 
 tance of above 1,000 miles, and upwards to 
 Sukertal, a distance of 300 miles. Nume- 
 rous and strange descriptions of vessels are 
 to be seen collected along the banks ; and 
 the craft, fastened to the shore, are so closely 
 packed that they appear like one mass, 
 and, from their thatched roofs and low 
 entrances, might easily pass for a floating 
 village. 
 
 Many an English lady, during the last 
 half century, has stood at the ghaut, with 
 her ayah and young children by her side, 
 watching the ferry-boat plying across the 
 stream, with its motley collection of pas- 
 sengers — travellers, merchants, and fakirs, 
 camels, bullocks, and horses all crowded 
 together; and may have turned away from 
 the stately Ganges with a sigh, perhaps, for 
 far-distant England, but still without so 
 much as a passing doubt of personal safety 
 in the luxurious abodes, where crowds of 
 natives waited in readiness to minister to 
 the comfort of the privileged " governing 
 race." The evidences of disaffection at 
 Barrack poor and elsewhere, appear to have 
 had little or no effect in awakening a sense 
 of danger ; and at the time when the Meerut 
 catastrophe became known at Cawnpoor, 
 the latter station was unusually thronged 
 with ladies, who had come thither for the 
 
 I Hamilton's Gazetteer. Thornton, however, states, 
 on the authnity of Tod, that Cawn is a corruption 
 of Kanh, a name of Crishna.
 
 246 
 
 CAWNPOOR— MAY 16th to 21st, 1857. 
 
 purpose of being present at the balls given 
 by the officers during the preceding month. 
 Tidings of the Meerut massacre were cir- 
 culated at Cawnpoor on the 16th of May, 
 and created a great sensation in the canton- 
 ments, where the greased cartridge question 
 had already been discussed. The officer in 
 command. Sir Hugh Massey Wheeler, was 
 one of the most experienced and popular 
 generals in the Company's service. He had 
 spent nearly fifty-four years in India as a 
 sepoy commander, and he had married an 
 Indian lady. He had led Bengal troops, 
 under Lord Lake, against their own coun- 
 trymen; and they had followed him to 
 Afghanistan, to oppose foreigners. In both 
 the Seik campaigns, "Wheeler and his sepoys 
 had been conspicuous : in the second, he 
 held a separate command. Lord Gough 
 had esteemed him highly as an active and 
 energetic officer, singularly fertile in re- 
 sources. His despatches prove that he was 
 fully alive to the probability of mutiny 
 among the troops, and took his precautions 
 accordingly ; but he had not calculated on 
 insurrection among the people, or on the 
 defalcation, much less the treachery, of a 
 neighbouring chief, in reliance on whose 
 good faith he prepared to meet, and hoped 
 to weather, the approaching storm. It 
 has been affirmed, and not without cause, 
 with respect to the proceedings at Cawnpoor, 
 that " if the dispossessed princes and people 
 of the land, farmers, villagers, and ryots, had 
 not made common cause with the sepoys, 
 there is every reason to believe that but a 
 portion of the force would have revolted : 
 the certainty exists, that not a single officer 
 would have been injured."* 
 
 The troops at Cawnpoor, at the time of 
 the outbreak at Meerut, consisted of — 
 
 The Ist, 53rd, and 56th 'S.l.— Europeans, 46; 
 Natives, 2,924. The second light cavalry regiment 
 — Europeans, 21 ; Natives, 526. Three companies 
 of artillery — Europeans, 88; Natives, 152. A de- 
 tachment of H.M. 84th foot (100 men), including 
 those in hospital.t 
 
 On the 16th of May^ an incendiary fire 
 occurred in the lines of the 1st N.I., and th« 
 artillery wtte moved up to the European 
 barracks. On the 18th, Sir Hugh Wheeler 
 telegraphed to Calcutta that considerable 
 excitement was visible at Cawnpoor. f The 
 
 • Mutiny of the Bengal Army ; by One who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier ; p. 126. 
 
 1- Parliamentary Return, February 9th, 1858 ; p. 3. 
 
 i Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny (1857), 
 p. 199. § Ihid., p. 202. 
 
 next day he was desired, by the Supreme 
 government, to begin immediately to make 
 all preparations for the accommodation of a 
 European force, and to let it be known that 
 he was doing so.§ This message led General 
 Wheeler to believe that considerable detach- 
 ments were on their road from Calcutta ; 
 and finding the agitation around him 
 rapidly increasing, he dispatched a requisi- 
 tion to Lucknow, for a company of H.M. 
 32nd to be stationed at Cawnpoor, pending 
 the arrival of the promised reinforcement. 
 
 On the night of the 20th, the cavalry sent 
 emissaries to the infantry lines, asking the 
 three regiments to stand by them, and 
 asserting that the Europeans were about to 
 take away their horses and accoutrements; in 
 fact, to disarm and disband them — a course 
 which the Europeans had no immediate op- 
 portunity of adopting, being few in num- 
 ber, and heavily encumbered with women 
 and children. A struggle seemed inevitable : 
 uproar and confusion prevailed through- 
 out the 81 st of May ; and General Wheeler 
 placed the guns in position, and prepared 
 for the worst. The men were addressed 
 and reasoned with, through the - medium 
 of the Native officers. They listened, 
 seemed convinced, and retired quietly to 
 their lines at about half-past seven. A 
 few hours later, fifty-five of ILM. 32nd, 
 and 240 Oude troopers, amved from Luck- 
 now. General Wheeler, after acquainting 
 the Supreme government with the above 
 particulars, adds — "This morning (22nd) 
 two guns, and about 300 men of all arms, 
 were brought in by the Maharajah of 
 Bithoor. Being Mahrattas, they are not 
 likely to coalesce with the others. Once the 
 Europeans from Calcutta arrived, I should 
 hope that all would be beyond danger. I 
 have the most cordial co-operation from 
 Mr. Hillersdon, the magistrate. At present 
 things appear quiet ; but it is impossible to 
 say what a moment may bring forth."|| 
 
 The temper of the reinforcement of 
 Oude irregulars was not deemed satisfac- 
 tory ; and after they had been some days 
 at Cawnpoor, they were dispatched on the 
 expedition which issued in their mutinying 
 and murdering Captain Hayes and two 
 other Europeans.^ Lieutenant Ashe was 
 sent by Sir Hugh Wheeler, a day or two 
 
 II Telegram, May 22nd.— Appendix, p. 310. 
 
 •(I Captain Hayes had a wife and five children at 
 Lucknow. Mrs. Barbor, who had been three months 
 married, was also there. — Polehampton's Letiert, 
 p. 274.
 
 DEFENCELESS STATE OF CAWNPOOR— MAY, 1857. 
 
 247 
 
 after tbe departure of the Oude irregulars, 
 to join them with a half-battery of Oude 
 horse artillery. A few marches from the 
 station he met some Seiks of the irregulars, 
 who had abandoned their mutinous com- 
 rades ; and they marched to Cawnpoor with 
 Lieutenant Ashe and the guns.* 
 
 The presence of the Mahrattas did not 
 exercise any beneficial eflfect. Rumours 
 were circulated that the polluting car- 
 tridges were to be served out on the 23rd, 
 and that the artillery were to act against all 
 who, refused them. Much excitement was 
 manifested ; and, on the 24th of May (the 
 Queen's birthday), it was deemed advisable 
 to omit the usual salute. 
 
 On the 27th, General Wheeler writes — 
 " All quiet ; but I feel by no means confi- 
 dent it will continue so. The civil and mili- 
 tary depending entirely upon me for advice 
 and assistance just now, I regret I cannot 
 find time at present to compile a detailed ac- 
 count of late occurrences in my division."t 
 
 On the 1 st of June, he ment ans that 
 Enfield rifle ammunition had been detained 
 in the Cawnpoor magazine, and would just 
 do for the Madras Fusiliers. J This cir- 
 cumstance would not escape the distrustful 
 and observant sepoys. 
 
 On the following day, two companies of 
 H.M. 84th arrived from Allahabad; but, 
 "vn the morning of the 3rd, General Wheeler, 
 having heard of the uneasiness which pre- 
 vailed at Lucknow, gave orders for one com- 
 pany of the 84th, made up to its full strength, 
 together with the company of the 32nd, to 
 march thither, retaining, for the defence of 
 Cawnpoor, 204 Europeans — consisting of 
 60 men of the 84th regiment, 15 of the 1st 
 Madras Fusiliers (armed with the Enfield 
 rifle), 70 H.M. 32nd, invalids and sick, and 
 ^9 artillerymen, with six guns.§ 
 
 The position now taken by Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler can only be accounted for in one 
 way. It is believed, that no oflBcer of his 
 known ability would have made the selec- 
 tion he did, except under the conviction 
 that the Native troops, though they might 
 desert, would not attack him.H 
 
 In this view of the case, it followed, 
 that in looking round the overgrown can- 
 tonments for a place of shelter for the resi- 
 dents, convenient quarters for a temporary 
 
 * These Seiks were immediately dismissed by 
 General Wheeler. — Further Pari. Papers (No. 7), 
 p. 130. 
 
 t Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1857; 
 p. 326. ]X Ibid., p. 3.51. 
 
 refuge were desired, rather than such as 
 would best stand a siege. Had the latter 
 necessity been contemplated, the magazine 
 would, in the absence of a fort, have been 
 best qualified for defence, being a very large 
 building, surrounded by a high masonry 
 wall, and well supplied with every muniment 
 of war. But then it was situated seveii 
 miles from the new native lines, close to the 
 gaol, and on the Delhi road. To have con- 
 centrated the Europeans there, would have 
 been to abandon all prospect of peaceable 
 disarmament, which Sir Hugh Wheeler 
 might have reasonably expected to accom- 
 plish by the aid of the European troops, 
 whose arrival he anxiously expected, part 
 of whom were stopped on the way by the 
 mutiny at Allahabad, and the remainder 
 are alleged to have been needlessly de- 
 layed at Calcutta by the tardy, shiftless 
 proceedings of the Supreme government. 
 He therefore fixed on two long barracks, 
 standing in the centre of an extensive 
 plain at the eastern end of the station; 
 and, unhappily, commanded on all sides. 
 The depot of the 32nd, consisting of the 
 sick, invalids, women and children of the 
 regiment, was already located in these two 
 buildings, which were single-storied, and 
 intended each for the accommodation of one 
 hundred men. One of them was thatched, 
 and both were surrounded by a flat-roofed 
 arcade or verandah ; the walls were of 
 brick, an inch and a-half in thickness ; a 
 well and the usual out-offices were attached 
 to the barracks. 
 
 The only defence attempted, or even 
 practicable, in the time and under the cir- 
 cumstances of the stiflfness of the soil from 
 drought and the scarcity of labour, was to 
 dig a trench, and throw up the' earth on 
 the outside so as to form a parapet, which 
 might have been five feet high, but was not 
 even bullet-proof at the crest. Open 
 spaces were likewise left for the guns, 
 which were thus entirely unprotected. It 
 will be easily understood what slight cover 
 an intrenchment of this kind would furnish 
 either for the barracks or for men in the 
 trenches; and there was plenty of cover 
 both for musketry and guns within a short 
 distance of the barracks, of which the muti- 
 neers soon availed themselves. 
 
 § Narrative of the Mutiny at Cawnpoor ; for- 
 »Yarded by governor-general to Court of Directors, 
 apparently as an official statement. — Further Pari. 
 Papers (No. 7), 1857; p. 129. 
 
 II Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 177.
 
 248 
 
 CASE OF THE NANA SAHIB OF BITHOOR. 
 
 It is evident that the aid by which Sir 
 Hugh and the English hoped to be enabled 
 to tide over the expected crisis, was looked 
 for from the chief, styled, in a foregoing 
 despatch, the Maharajah of Bithoor. It is 
 no small compliment to the native character, 
 that, however little it may have been praised 
 in words; in deeds, great reliance has been 
 placed on allies, whose fidelity has been 
 subjected to severe trials. In the present 
 instance, implicit trust was evinced in the 
 co-operation of one who notoriously con- 
 sidered himself an ill-used and aggrieved 
 person, and who had lavished large sums of 
 money in endeavouring to obtain, in Eng- 
 land, the reversal of what he, and probably 
 R large body of his countrymen, considered 
 to be the unjust decision of the Indian 
 government. 
 
 Dhoondia Rao Punt, commonly called 
 the Nana Sahib (the son of a Brahmin), was 
 adopted by the ex-Peishwa, Bajee Rao, in 
 1827, being then between two and three 
 years of age. Bajee Rao died in January, 
 1851 ; and Nana Rao claimed from the 
 British government the continuance of the 
 pension of £80,000 a-year, granted as the 
 condition of his adopted father's abdication 
 of the sovereignty of Poona in 1818. The 
 question here is not one of adoption ; for had 
 the Peishwa left issue of his own body, male 
 and legitimate, the terms of the treaty of 
 1818 would not have warranted a demand, 
 as of right, for the continuance of the sti- 
 pend, of which a singular combination of 
 circumstances had necessitated the conces- 
 sion. The treaty, framed by Sir John 
 Malcolm, stipulated for the surrender of the 
 person of Bajee Rao within twenty-four 
 hours, and for the formal surrender of all 
 political power to the British. 
 
 "The fourth article declares, that Bajee 
 Rao shall, on his voluntarily agreeing to 
 this arrangement, receive a liberal pension 
 from the Company's government, for the 
 support of Jiimseif and his family. The 
 amount of this pension will be fixed by the 
 governor- general; but Brigadier- general 
 Malcolm tiikes upon himself to engage that 
 it shall not be less than eight lacs of 
 rupees per annum."* 
 
 Malcolm was much blamed for having 
 named so large a sum as the minimum, and 
 the Company most reluctantly redeemed 
 the pledge he had given on their behalf: 
 
 • Kaye's Life of Malcolm, vol. ii., p. 254. 
 
 t Letter to Mr. Adam — Ibid., p. 258. 
 
 X Letter to Sir Thomas Munro — Ibid., p. 257. 
 
 but he maintained, that the stipend, 
 " though princely for the support of Bajee 
 Rao, his family, and numerous adherents, 
 was nothing for purposes of ambition ;" 
 and that if "he 1 nd been reduced to a 
 condition in point or" allowances, respecta- 
 bility, and liberty, that degraded him in his 
 own mind and that of others, he might 
 have asked himself, ' Where can I be 
 worse ?' "t 
 
 Again, Malcolm asserts, that the Peisliwa 
 was neither destitute of the means of pro- 
 tracting the contest, nor disposed to throw 
 himself unconditionally on the British gov- 
 ernment; and, after detailiug his position 
 and resources, he adds — " The article I pur- 
 chased was worth the price I paid ; I could 
 not get it cheaper."! On various grounds 
 he vindicates the policy of liberal dealing 
 with the dethroned prince — namely, o.n ac- 
 count of " our own dignity, considerations 
 for the feelings of Bajee Rao's adherents, 
 and for the prejudices of the natives of 
 India. We exist on impression ; and, on 
 occasions like this, where all are anxious 
 spectators, we must play our part well, or 
 we should be hissed.'' 
 
 In all the discussions regarding the 
 stipend, it is evident that it was regarded 
 simply as a life pension, and that the ques- 
 tion of its continuance to the family was 
 never entertained. But, nevertheless, the 
 Indian authorities of that day — Lord Has- 
 tings, Adam, Elphinstone, and, most of all, 
 Malcolm — would have been painfully sur- 
 prised, could they have supposed that, on 
 the death of the man known to them as 
 the " first Hindoo prince in India," a gov- 
 ernor-general would be found to declare 
 that " the Peishwa's family have no claim 
 upon the government, and that he would 
 by no means consent to any portion of the 
 public money being conferred on it." Yet 
 this decision Lord Dalhousie pronounced 
 without reference to the Court of Directors, 
 who had, some years before, in answer to 
 an application from the Peishwa on the 
 subject of his family, simply deferred the 
 consideration of the claim. 
 
 It is true that Bajee Rao had enjoyed 
 his princely stipend much longer than 
 could have been reasonably anticipated, 
 considering that he was a man of feeble 
 constitution and dissolute habits, far ad- 
 vanced in years at the time of his sur- 
 render. He made considerable savings, 
 and actually assisted the government with 
 the loan of six lacs, at the time of the
 
 NANA SAHIB AND THE PEISHWA'S FAMILY. 
 
 249 
 
 siege of Bliurtpoor, vhen the Cawnpoor 
 treasury was totally devoid of assets, and 
 the inarcli of tlie troops was delayed in 
 consequence. During liis life lie supported 
 a multitude of adherents; and, at one time, 
 liad no less than 8,000 armed followers at 
 Bithoor. Yet their conduct was so orderly, 
 that the magistrate of Cawnpoor reported, 
 that their presence had occasioned no per- 
 ceptible increase of crime or disorder in his 
 district. At the Peishwa's death, property 
 said to amount to £100,000,* went to his 
 adopted heir, and his wives and daughters 
 were left ju extreme distress ; the Peishwa 
 having confidently expected that some pro- 
 vision, more or less satisfactory, would 
 be made for them, if only in deference to 
 popular feeling. It was not, however, 
 poverty only to which these ladies were 
 reduced. The jaghire, or estate, granted to 
 the Peishwa, was specially conceded to pre- 
 serve the ex-royal family from coming un- 
 der British jurisdiction : its sequestration at 
 once rendered them liable to be dragged 
 before our law courts — an indignity which 
 natives of high rank have committed suicide 
 to escape. " There was," it is alleged, " proof 
 positive that their alarm on this liead was 
 no idle fear, as notices had already been 
 served upon some of them to appear before 
 the Supreme Court at Calcutta."t These 
 
 and tlie efforts they were disposed to make 
 in his behalf? The visitors' book bore the 
 names of iiundreds who had been sump- 
 tuously entertained at Bithoor for days, and 
 even weeks. Since the tidings of the fear- 
 ful crime with which his name has become 
 inseparably associated, many descriptions 
 of liis person and abode have been pub- 
 lished in the public journals. As to cha- 
 racter, all who knew him at Cawnpoor agree 
 in describing him as a person of decidedly 
 second-rate ability, only remarkable for the 
 consequence which his position as the re- 
 presentative of an honoured though fallen 
 dynasty gave him with the natives, and his 
 wealth and convivial disposition procured 
 with the Europeans. 
 
 A writer in the Illustrated Times, who 
 manifests considerable acquaintance with 
 Indian politics and society, says — 
 
 "I knew Nana Saliib intimately, and always 
 regarded him as one of tlie best and most hospitable 
 natives in the Upper Provinces, and certainly one of 
 the last men to have been guilty of the atrocities laid 
 to his charge. As in the case with many natives of 
 India, it may have been that Nana Sahib cultivated 
 the acquaintance and friendship of the sahibs solely 
 in the hope, that through their influence, direct and 
 indirect, his grievances would be redressed. But 
 the last time 1 saw Nana Sahib — it was in the cold 
 v\eather of 1851 ; and he called upon me twice 
 during my stay in Cawnpoor— he never once alluded 
 CO his grievances. His conversation at that time 
 
 grievances had not been borne in silence, (was directed to the Oude affair. The following 
 The wealth of the Nana secured him : questions, amongst others, I can remember he put 
 
 to me : — ' Why will not Lord JJalhousie pay a visit 
 to the King of Oude? Lord Hardinge did so.' 
 'Do'jou think Colonel Sleeman will persuade Lord 
 Dalhousie to seize the kingdom (of Oude) ? He 
 (Colonel Sleeman) has gone to the camp to do his 
 best.' 
 
 " So far as I could glean, Nana Sahib wished for 
 the annexation of Oude — albeit he expressed a very 
 decided opinion that, in the event of that measure 
 being i-esorted to, there would be a disturbance, and 
 perhaps a war." 
 
 plenty of counsellors and advocates. Among 
 the best known of these was one Azim 
 OoUah, who came to London ; made him- 
 self extremely conspicuous in the parks 
 and Belgraviau drawing-rooms, and ex- 
 tremely trLublesorae at the public offices; 
 lavished some thousands of his employer's 
 money in presents, with a view to gain a 
 favourable hearing in high quarters; and 
 eventually returned to Bithoor, to pour into 
 the Naua's ear his own exaggerated and 
 malicious version of his costly failure in 
 England. 
 
 Every guest who visited Bithoor heard 
 the Naua's grievances; and if of any rank, 
 was urged, on his or lier return to England, 
 to make an eflort for their redress. Who 
 could refuse so munificent a host as the 
 Nana is represented to have been ? and 
 liow many may have been tempted i,o over- 
 rate the very small influence they possessed, 
 
 ' llomcwnrd Mail, November 3()th, 18o7. 
 
 f Ibid. The Nana had been involved in several 
 unsuccessful law-suits ; for the younger adopted son 
 of the Peishwa (the Nana's nephew being a minor, 
 
 VOL. II. 2 K 
 
 Another visitor, an English officer, gives 
 an anecdote which is very characteristic of 
 the barrier that obstructs tiie social inter- 
 course of Europeans and natives. On the 
 way to Bithoor, the visitor praised the 
 equipage of his host, who rejoined — 
 
 " 'Not long ago, I had a carriage and horses very 
 superior to these. They cost me 20,000 rupees ; 
 but I had to burn the carriage and kill the horses.' 
 — 'Why so?' — 'The child of a certain sahib in 
 Cawnpoor was very sick, and the sahib and the 
 mem-sahii) were bringing the child to liithoor for a 
 change of air. I sent my big carriage for them. 
 
 the English law courts had slopped in as trustees for 
 his intciests. A full and authentic statement of the 
 case of the Peishwa's family, ought, ere now, to have 
 been published by government.
 
 250 
 
 CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE OP NANA SAHIB. 
 
 On the road the child died; and, of course, as a 
 dead body had been in the carriage, and as the 
 horses had drawn that dead body in that carriage, I 
 could never use them again.' (The reader must 
 understand that a native of any rank considers it a 
 disgrace to sell property). — ' But could you not have 
 given the horses to some friend — a Christian or a 
 Mussulman?' — 'No; had I done so, it might have 
 come to the knowledge of the sahib, and his feelings 
 would have been hurt at having occasioned me such 
 a loss.' Such was the maharajah, commonly known 
 as Nana Sahib. He appeared to be not a man of 
 ability, nor a fool." 
 
 In person, the Nana was well described 
 by one of his attendants as a tring admee 
 (tight man). Corpulent, and of the middle 
 height, with a complexion scarcely darker 
 than the olive-coloured Spaniard ; with 
 bright bead-like eyes, a round face, a 
 straight, well-cut nose, and sensual mouth 
 and chin; his appearance would probably 
 have been attractive to an ordinary observer, 
 but for the effect of the caste-mark on his 
 forehead. He spoke little English ; neither 
 is there any reason to suppose the British 
 government had ever made any effort to 
 influence Bajee Rao in the education of liis 
 adopted son, though brought up under 
 their auspices. The Nana knew but very 
 little English : but Azim Oollah was fluent 
 in that language ; and could speak, it is 
 said, some French and German. 
 
 In April, 1857, the Nana visited Luck- 
 now, " on pretence of seeing the sight? 
 there," accompanied by a numerous reti- 
 nue, of course including the notorious Azim 
 Oollah. Sir Henry Lawrence received him 
 kindly, and ordered the authorities of the 
 '^ity to show him every attention. The 
 Nana departed very suddenly; and this 
 circumstance, together with his arrogant 
 and presuming demeanour, excited the sus- 
 picions of Mr. Gubbins, who, after consult- 
 ing with Sir Henry Lawrence, wrote, with 
 his sanction, to convey to Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler their joint impressions of the 
 Mahratta chief. But the warning appears 
 to have been totally unheeded. It was 
 then believed that the Nana had a large 
 portion of his inherited wealth, amounting 
 to £500,000, vested in government securi- 
 ties ; and it was not known till his treachery 
 was consummated, that ever since the an- 
 nexation of Oude, he had been secretly and 
 gradually changing the disposition of his 
 property, till only £30,000 remained to be 
 
 * He is asserted to have been addressed, in corres- 
 pondence, as Maharajah Sree Nath Bahadur, and to 
 have been called Nena Sahib, in accordance with the 
 pet name given to him in the seraglio, being the first 
 
 sacrificed when he should think fit to throw 
 off his allegiance. Being wholly unsus- 
 pected, his arrangements were never no- 
 ticed; and despite his loudly trumpeted 
 wrongs, he had so much to lose, that no 
 one ever dreamt of his joining in revolt, 
 even at the instigation of the Mepliis- 
 topheles at his elbow. He continued to 
 live at his castellated palace at Bithoor, 
 a few miles N.W. of Cawnpoor; to keep six 
 mounted guns, and as many followers as 
 he chose. He gave sumptuous entertain- 
 ments ; made hunting parties for strangers 
 of distinction ; and was always ready to 
 lend his elephants, and, as we have seen, his 
 equipages also, for the use of the neigh- 
 bouring " sahibs and raem-sahibs." In 
 return, he was treated with much distinc- 
 tion, and styled the Maharajah — a title to 
 which he had no rightful claim, and which he 
 ought never to have been suffered to assume. 
 Even that of the Nana Sahib* is a term 
 too closely allied to Mahratta sovereignty, 
 to have been a judicious designation for an 
 avowed pretender to the inlieritance of the 
 last of the Peishwas. Nana is the Mah- 
 ratta term for " maternal grandfather;" but 
 recurs constantly in the annals of Maha- 
 rashta, in a similar sense to that in which 
 the designations of " Uncles of York," and 
 "Cousins of Lancaster," are applied in our 
 J history. t To names and traditions the 
 I English have never been inclined to attach 
 much importance ; and the present genera- 
 tion have far surpassed their predecessors 
 in contemptuous indifference to the influ- 
 ence which th^se things exercise on the 
 minds of the natives of India. 
 
 Among those who were most completely 
 deceived by the Nana's professions, was Mr. 
 Hillersdon, the magistrate and collector; 
 who, both in his public and private capacity, 
 had many opportunities of knowing him. 
 Ill one of the painfully interesting letters 
 which describe the crisis at Cawnpoor 
 (published, in deference to public feeling, 
 by the parties to whom they were addressed), 
 Mrs. Hillersdon writes : — 
 
 " There does not seem to be any immediate danger 
 here ; but should they mutiny, we should either 
 go into cantonments, or to a place called Bithoor, 
 about six miles from Cawnpoor, where the Peishwa's 
 successor resides. He is a great friend of Charles's, 
 and is a man of enormous wealth and influence ; and 
 
 sound he distinctly articulated. The point has been 
 already more discussed than it deserves. See Daily 
 News, September 25th, 1857. 
 
 f See Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas.
 
 INTRENCHMENTS AT CAWNPOOR— MAY 31st, 1857. 
 
 251 
 
 he has assured Charles that we shall all be quite 
 safe there. I myself would much prefer going to 
 the cantonments, to be with the other ladies, but 
 Charles thinks it would be better for me and our 
 precious children to be at Bithoor."* 
 
 A proposition was also entertained, of 
 sending other ladies there for safety ;t 
 but some reason, not specified, prevented 
 its being carried into execution. On the 
 21st of May, a report was circulated that 
 the Native troops would rise that night; 
 whereupon Mr. and Mrs. Hillersdon, with 
 their two children, abandoned their own 
 compound, which was four miles from can- 
 tonments, and took refuge with Colonel 
 Ewart, of the 1st N.I. The colonel went 
 at night (as all the officers were subse- 
 quently directed to do) to sleep in the 
 midst of his men, with the view of reassur- 
 ing them by trusting his life with them, 
 and also of aiding the well-disposed to hold 
 the turbulent in check. At the same 
 time, he declared that if his regiment muti- 
 nied, it might walk over his body, but 
 he would never leave it J Mr. Hillersdon 
 was soon afterwards called away ; and his 
 wife and Mrs. Ewart, with their children 
 and nurses, drove to the barracks, which had 
 been assigned as a rendezvous in case of 
 alarm. 
 
 For several days no change took place. 
 In the morning the ladies went to their own 
 houses ; in the evening they returned to the 
 " melancholy night quarters," graphically 
 described by Mrs. Ewart, in the letters 
 from whence the following passages are 
 extracted : — 
 
 "Oh! such 3 scene! Men, officer.'!, women and 
 children, beds and chairs, all minjfled together, 
 inside and outside the barracks. Some talking, 
 or even laughing; some frightened, some defiant, 
 others despairing ; three guns in front of our position, 
 and three behind, and a trench in course of forma- 
 tion all round. • • • Xhe general is busy now, 
 and he has spiked the guns he could not use yester- 
 day (26th May), and laid a train for blowing up the 
 magazine, should any outbreak occur." 
 
 After alluding to the reported advance of 
 the rebel force, Mrs. Ewart adds r — 
 
 " No outbreak is at present apprehended from 
 any of the troops here ; our danger lies now in 
 what may come from outside. The appearance of 
 successful insurgents amonj^st the regiments, would 
 be the signal to rise ; and all we could really depend 
 upon for defence, is our ijosition behind our guns, 
 and, the help of about 150 European soldiers, forty 
 
 * Times, October, 1857. 
 
 t Letter to the Times, written by Captain Mow- 
 bray Thomson: dated September 8th, 1858. 
 I Letter by Mrs. Ewart, dated May 27th, 1857. 
 
 railway people and merchants, and a few stragglers. 
 There are two regiments of Oude irregulars ; but I 
 am not inclined to put faith in them. There are also 
 some Mahrattas, with the rajah of Bithoor, who 
 have come to our assistance ; but I can scarcely feel 
 a comfort at their presence either. 
 
 " For ourselves, I need only say, that even should 
 our position be strong enough to hold out, there is 
 the dreadful exposure to the heat of May and June, 
 together with the privations and confinement of 
 besieged sufferers, to render it very unlikely that we 
 can survive the disasters which may fall upon us any 
 day, any hour. My dear little child is looking very 
 delicate ; my prayer is that she may be spared much 
 suffering. The bitterness of death has been tasted 
 by us many, many times, during the last fortnight; 
 and should the reality come, 1 hope we may find 
 strength to meet it with a truly Christian courage. 
 It is not hard to die oneself; but to see a dear child 
 suffer and perish — that is the hard, the bitter trial, 
 and the cup which I must dr-ink, should God not 
 deem it fit that it should pass from me. My com- 
 panion, Mrs. Hillersdon, is delightful : poor young 
 thing, she has such a gentle spirit, so unmurmuring, 
 so desirous to meet the trial rightly, so unselfish and 
 sweet in every way. Her husband is an excellent 
 man, and of course very much exposed to danger, 
 almost as much as mine. She has two children, and 
 we feel that our duty to our little ones demands 
 that we should exert ourselves to keep up health 
 and spirits as much as possible. There is a reverse 
 to this sad picture. Dfelhi may be retaken in a 
 short time. Aid may come to us, and all may 
 subside into tranquillity once more. • • • But 
 it is useless to speculate upon what may happen. 
 We can only take the present as it comes, and do its 
 duties and meet its trials in the best spirit we can 
 maintain. We are more cheerful, in spite of the 
 great anxiety and suspense; our family parly is 
 really a charming one, and we feel better able to 
 meet difficulties and dangers for being thus as- 
 sociated ; at the worst we know that we are in God's 
 hands, and He does not for an instant forsake us. 
 He will be with us in the valley of the shadow of 
 death also, and we need fear no evil. God bless 
 you !" 
 
 The tone of Colonel Ewart is very similar 
 to that of his admirable wife. He believed, 
 tliat unless Delhi were speedily recaptured, 
 little short of a miracle could keep the 
 Native troops at Cawnpoor quiet, or prevent 
 mutiny at other stations. General Wheeler 
 he describes as "an excellent officer; very 
 determined ; self-possessed in the midst of 
 danger; fearless of responsibility." He 
 mentions that an attempt was to be made 
 to bring the treasure, amounting to ten or 
 twelve lacsof rupees (£100,000 or£120,000), 
 into the intrenched camp on the following 
 day (June 1st). 
 
 In concluding his last letter. Colonel 
 Ewart specially recommends his wife and 
 infant to the protection of his sister, who 
 already had a boy of his under her care. 
 " If the troops," he writes, " should break 
 out here, it is not probable that I shall
 
 253 
 
 OUTBREAK AT CAWNPOOR— JUNE 6th, 1857. 
 
 survive it. My post, and that of my officers, 
 being with the colours of the regiment, in the 
 last extremity some or all of us must needs 
 be killed. If that should be my fate, you 
 and all my friends will know, I trust, that I 
 die in the execution of my duty. But I do 
 not think they will venture to attack the 
 intrenched position, which is held by the 
 European troops. So I hope in God that 
 my wife and child may be saved." 
 
 It appears from the narrative of Lieute- 
 nant Delafosse, that the Nana diil not 
 proffer, but was asked for assistance; where- 
 upon "he sent some 200 cavalry, 400 infan- 
 try, and two guns, which force had the 
 guarding of the treasury."* The Nana 
 either accompanied or followed his troops to 
 Cawnpoor, and took up his residence in a 
 house not far from that abandoned by the 
 collector. Lieutenant Thomson remarks — 
 " His visit was made at the request of the re- 
 sident magistrate ; and such was the confi- 
 dence placed in this infernal traitor, that the 
 whole of the treasure (upwards of .£100,000) 
 was placed under his protection ."f It ap- 
 pears, however, that General Wheeler did 
 make the attempt, mentioned by Colonel 
 Ewart as intended, for the removal of the 
 treasure, and that he failed on this and previ- 
 ous occasions, from the determined resolve of 
 the troops not to submit to what they chose 
 to caU a mark of distrust.^ A lac of rupees 
 
 * Times, October 15th, ISoT. 
 
 t Letter to the Times, dated September 8th, 1858. 
 
 X See Account of Nerput, opium gomashta, or 
 broker. — Further Pari. Papers, p. 51. 
 
 § Accounts of Nerput and of Mr. Shepherd. 
 
 II See Further Pari. Papers (No. 7), p. 130. The 
 various accounts of the Cawnpoor mutiny and mas- 
 sacre differ considerably, sometimes in material 
 points. The weightiest authorities are of course the 
 telegrams and despatches written by Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler, and the officers serving under him, to the 
 Calcutta and Lucknow governments. The next in 
 value are the testimonies of Lieutenants (now Cap- 
 tains) Thomson and Delafosse, published in letters of 
 various dates in the Times. Mrs. Murray, another 
 survivor (the widow of the band-sergeant of the 5Cth 
 N.L, who perished at Cawnpoor, as did also her 
 brother and two sons), has given a very circumstan- 
 tial version (see Times, September 3rd, 1858) of 
 what she saw and heard, which was ■' put into shape" 
 for her by a literary gentleman ; and is, Mr. Kussell 
 declares, " fiction foundtd on fact." Tliat it is not 
 Mrs. Murray's own inditing, is evident from the 
 stilted and highly coloured style. A sergeant's wife 
 would hardly talk of" Tartaric barbarity," or remark 
 that, on " the arrival of General Ilavelock, the 
 cowardly miscreants of Cawnjxior disappeared like 
 stars at dawn of day, and the Nana Sour [Nana the 
 pig] disappeared like a comet." In this case, as in 
 most others of mingled fact and fiction, tlie latter 
 predominates so largely as to neutralise the former: 
 
 was, however, obtained and carried away to 
 the intrenchraents, under the plea of meeting 
 the salaries of the troops and other current 
 expenses. § 
 
 On the morning of the 4th of June, Sir 
 Hugh Wheeler received information regard- 
 ing the 2nd cavalry and 1st and 56th N.I., 
 which induced him to order the European 
 officers thereof to discontinue sleeping in the 
 lines; but the 53rd N.I. being considered 
 loyal, the officers were to remain at night 
 with that corps. By this time the trenches 
 were finished, the guns in position, and pro- 
 visions for 1,000 persons, for twenty-five 
 days, were declared to be in store. 
 
 It appears, however, owing to carelessness 
 or knavery, that the quantity actually sup- 
 plied fell far short of the indents. At 
 2 A.M. on the 6th of June,|| the 2nd cavalry 
 rose together with a great shout, mounted 
 their horses, and set fire to the bungalow 
 of their quartermaster. The main body 
 then proceeded towards the commissariat 
 cattle-yard, and took possession of the gov- 
 ernment elephants, thirty-six in number; at 
 the same time setting fire to the cattle- 
 sergeant's dwelling. A few of the ring- 
 leaders went to the lines of the 1st N.L, 
 and persuaded the men — who, it is said, 
 " were mostly young recruits, the old hands 
 being away on leave or on command"^ — to 
 join in the mutiny. Either Colonel Ewart 
 
 and even independently of the internal evidence 
 of the account, the contradiction given by Lieu- 
 tenant Thomson to several of Mrs. Murray's most 
 positive assertions regarding matters which she 
 speaks of in the character of an eye-witness, quite 
 invalidates her authority. Then there is the clear 
 and connected account of Mr. Shepherd, an 
 uncovenanted servant of the Company, and pro- 
 bably an Eurasian. His testimony is of considerable 
 value as regards what he actually witnessed; but 
 the value of his statements is diminished by his 
 failing to separate information which he has ac- 
 quired from personal observation, from that which 
 lie has accepted on hearsay. (Further Pari. 
 Papers, No. 4; pp. 174 to 185). The same remark 
 applies to the story of Nerput, an ojiium go- 
 mashta, in the service of the E. \. Company, whose 
 deposition was received by Colonel Neill, and for- 
 warded by him to the Supreme government. (See 
 Further Pari. Papers (not numbered), pp. 51 to 53). 
 The diary of the " Nunna" nawab (a native of rank re- 
 siding in Cawnpoor), is another document transmitted 
 by llie governor-general for the perusal of tlie home 
 antliorities (Further Pari. Papers, No. 7; pp. 133 to 
 138) ; together with a " Narrative of the Mutiny at 
 Cawnpoor," drawn up apparently as an official 
 summary, and already largely quoted. {Hid., pp. 
 1-9 to loo). An Eurasian girl, supposed at first 
 to have perished, and one or two others, have like- 
 wisp fvirnishcd some additional particulars. 
 ^ Jlr. Shepherd's Account of tlie Outbreak.
 
 INTRENCHMENT SURROUNDED BY NANA AND THE REBELS. 253 
 
 and the other officers had persisted in 
 sleeping in their lines, or else they had 
 proceeded thither on the first sound of dis- 
 turbance ; for they were on the spot, and 
 were earnest in their endeavours to preserve 
 the allegiance of the regiment ; but to no 
 purpose : the men begged them to with- 
 draw, and finally forced them into the in- 
 treuchment as the sole means of escape.* 
 
 The insurgents marched to the treasury 
 and magazine, which the Nana's guards 
 never even made a pretence of defending. 
 They next entered the gaol, set the pri- 
 soners at liberty, and burnt all the adjacent 
 public offices and records. Then they 
 marched out to Kullianpoor, the first halt- 
 ing-place on the road to Delhi, where they 
 were joined before noon by the men of the 
 53rd and 56th N.I.; but their own officers 
 remained behind. 
 
 Mr. Shepherd says — 
 
 " The Native commissioned officers were then told 
 to take their position in the artillery hospital barrack, 
 opposite to us, on the east side, and to make an 
 intrenchment for themselves there, and endeavour 
 to draw back those of the sepoys and Native non- 
 commissioned officers, who, they said, were not 
 inclined to go, but were reluctantly compelled to 
 join. These officers went away, with one or two 
 exceptions, and we never heard any more about 
 them ; but I learnt afterwards that, fearing the 
 resentment of the sepoys, they took the straight way 
 to their homes, and never joined in the rebellion. 
 
 " Carts were sent at noon to bring in from the 
 sepoy lines the muskets, &c., of the men on leave, 
 and the baggage, &c., of the Christian drum- 
 mers, who, with their families, had all come to seek 
 protection in the intrenchment. The sick in hos- 
 pital were also brought in, and the two barracks 
 were very much crowded ; so much so, that the 
 drummers and their families, and native servants, 
 had to remain in the open air at night, and under 
 cover of the cook-house and other buildings during 
 the heat of the day. At five o'clock in the evening, 
 all the uncovenanted (myself and my brother 
 included) were mustered, and directed to arm them- 
 selves with muskets, of which there was a grea, heap. 
 This they did ; and after receiving a sufficient quan- 
 tity of ammunition, were told-off in different sections, 
 under the command of several officers, who in- 
 structed us as to what we should have to do when 
 occasion required it." 
 
 The Europeans breathed again; it seemed 
 as if the crisis were over. Probably they 
 considered that, in suffering the treasury to 
 be robbed, the Mahratta guards had sub- 
 mitted to an overpowering force. Lieu- 
 tenant Delafosse states only, that "ne.xt 
 morning, the 7th of June, a letter was re- 
 ceived from the rajah of Bithoor, who was 
 
 • Mr. Shepherd's Account of the Outbreak, p. 173. 
 t Uinry of Nerput, opium gomaslita. 
 I Statement of Lieutenant Thomson. 
 
 supposed to be on our side, saying he 
 meant to attack us." 
 
 This was the first intimation of the hos- 
 tility of the arch-traitor, who, it afterwards 
 appeared, had taken advantage of the revolt 
 to secure the lion's share of the govern- 
 ment treasure, and had sent emissaries 
 (probably the practised intriguer, Azim 
 OoUali) to the camp of the rebels, urging 
 them to return to Cawnpoor, destroy the 
 garrison there, and thus perform a necessary 
 act for their own security, and one which 
 would procure them honour and reward 
 from the King of Dellii. These arguments 
 prevailed ; the mutineers were lured back 
 to tiie dastardly and murderous work of 
 attacking their officers aud families, with 
 their veteran commander and his wife and 
 children hemmed in, as they knew them to 
 be, within that miserable earth-bank. These 
 men were fitting followers for the shameless 
 traitor who, on their return to Cawnpoor, 
 placed himself at their head, saying — " I 
 came in appearance to help the English; 
 but am at heart their mortal enemy."t 
 
 Directions had been given by General 
 Wheeler for the destruction of the maga- 
 zine in the event of an outbreak, and a 
 train had actually been laid for the pur- 
 pose ; but Nana Sahib's Mahrattas appear 
 to have prevented the execution of this plan 
 at the time of the mutiny; and after the 
 troops had left the station, it is probable that 
 its preservation was deemed advantageous. 
 The Nana appreciated its value, and told the 
 mutineers that the magazine was " well fur- 
 nished with guns of all calibre, and ammu- 
 nition enough to last a twelvemonth."! 
 
 At ten o'clock a.m., June 7th, the siege 
 commenced; the Nana having, with great 
 speed, brought into position two of his own 
 guns, and two heavy guns which he had 
 procured from the magazine. Before many 
 hours had elapsed, fourteen guns (three 
 2-i - pounders, two 18 - pounders, seven 
 9 -pounders, and two 6 -pounders) were 
 opened in a cannonade, which lasted 
 twenty-two days ; aud the equal to which, 
 jNIowbray Thomson truly remarks, is hardly 
 known in history. 
 
 At first the besieged replied briskly to 
 the fire of the rebels, but without any 
 signal success ; for there were only eight 
 9-pounders in the iutrenchments ; and the 
 dastardly foe did not approach within a thou- 
 sand yards of the barracks. On the second 
 day of the siege, the green flag was raised 
 in the city (a proceeding in which Azim
 
 254 
 
 CAWNPOOR INTRENCHMENT— JUNE 9th to 14th, 1857. 
 
 Oollah's handiwork is sufficiently evident), 
 and ai! true Mussulmans were directed to 
 rally round it; and those who hesitated 
 were tliren.tened, insulted, or fined. The 
 Nana's force augmented daily. With am- 
 munition and ordnance in abundance, a 
 full treasury, and the city hazaar in his 
 hands, he soon rendered the position of 
 the Europeans next to hopeless. An in- 
 cessant fire of musketry was poured into 
 the intrenchment from the nearest cover ; 
 guns of large calibre, drawing gradually 
 nearer and nearer, sent their shot and shell, 
 without intermission, against the brick 
 walls of the buildings. On the evening of 
 June 9th, the enemy succeeded, by means 
 of heated shells, in setting fire to the 
 thatched building, in which numbers of sick 
 women and wounded men were huddled 
 together. Many of these were burned 
 alive ; and the remainder sought such 
 shelter as could be afforded in the other 
 previously crowded barrack. The hospital 
 stores were almost totall)' destroyed ; the 
 sick and wounded perished in cruel agony ; 
 and, to crown tlie whole, the ammunition 
 was found to be running low, and the be- 
 sieged were compelled to slacken their fire 
 before the attack had lasted four days. There 
 was a nullah or ditch some distance in front 
 of the intrenchment, from which the enemy 
 pushed on a sap towards the barracks, and 
 by this means poured in a near and deadly 
 fire. On the west of the besieged, an 
 entirely new range of barracks had been in 
 the course of construction ; and behind the 
 unfinished walls the rebels posted their 
 matchlockmen, who, however, were dis- 
 lodged by repeated sallies; and at length 
 two of the barracks were held by pickets 
 from the garrison. But the strength of 
 the besieged was insufficient to prevent the 
 rebels from placing their sharpshooters on 
 other sides. Communicatiou between the 
 barracks became difficult; no one could 
 move out of cover for an instant without 
 becoming a mark for a score of muskets. 
 There was only one well in the iiitrench- 
 ments, which was at first protected by a 
 parapet ; but this was easily knocked down ; 
 and the enemy kept up such an incessant 
 tire upon the spot, both day and night, that 
 " soon, not a drop of water could be obtained 
 save at the risk of almost certain destruc- 
 tion."* This terrible difficulty diminished 
 after the third day, as the rebels made it a 
 
 • Statement sent by Supreme government to Court 
 of Directors. — Further I'ail. Papers (No. 7), p. 131. 
 
 practice to cease firing at dusk for about two 
 hours ; and at that time the crowd round 
 the well was very great. There was no place 
 to shelter the live cattle. Horses of private 
 gentlemen, as also those of the 3rd Oude 
 battery, were obliged to be let loose. A 
 few sheep and goals, as well as the bullocks 
 kept for commissariat purposes, were shot 
 oft", and in the course of five or six days no 
 meat was procurable for the Europeans. 
 They, however, occasionally managed to 
 get hold of a stray bullock or covs^ near the 
 intrenchment at night, which served for a 
 change; otherwise, dhoU and chupatties were 
 the common food of all. Several hogsheads 
 of rum and malt liquor were broken open by 
 the enemy's cannon ; but of these there was 
 a large quantity, and the loss was not felt.f 
 The half-destroyed walls of the bar- 
 racks, or a barricade formed by piling up 
 teats and casks, was the precarious but 
 only shelter that could be obtained; food 
 could not be carried from post to post 
 by day ; and the dead were removed at 
 night, and thrown into a dry well outside 
 the intrenchment, near the new unfinished 
 barracks. There was no time to think of 
 coffins or winding-sheets, let the age, sex, 
 or rank of the departed have been what it 
 might. The present agony of the wounded 
 and the dying, the imminent danger and 
 utter wretchedness of all, absorbed every mi- 
 nor consideration. The dead bodies of young 
 and old — of brave men, fair women, delicate 
 children — were laid outside the verandah in 
 the ruins, there to remain until the fatigue 
 party came round at nightfall to collect the 
 corpses. A corner comparatively safe from 
 gunshot was too precious to the living to be 
 spared for the senseless remains of those 
 who, we humbly hope, had passed away to a 
 better life, escaping immediate misery, and 
 the yet more terrible evil to come, which 
 was to crown the sufteriugs of that fearful 
 siege. Relief, under Colonel NeiU, was ex- 
 pected on the 14th of June, but none 
 arrived; and, on the evening of that day, 
 General Wheeler wrote to Lucknow, de- 
 scribing his position. " The whole Christian 
 population is with us in a temporary in- 
 trenchment, and our defence has been noble 
 and wonderful; our loss, heavy and cruel. 
 We want aid, aid, aid I If we had 200 
 men, we could punish the scoundrels, and 
 aid you."J 
 
 It would have been most hazardous at 
 
 t Mr. Shepherd's Accmint of the Outbreak. 
 X Gubbins' Mutinies in OuUh, p. 443.
 
 THE GALLANT DEFENCE OP CAWNPOOR— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 255 
 
 that time to have spared 200 Europeans 
 from Lucknow; but Sir Henry Lawrence, 
 writing to Mr. Tucker at Benares (June 
 16th), says — "I would risk the absence 
 of so large a portion of our small force, i 
 could I see the smallest prospect of its 
 being able to succour Sir Hugh Wheeler. 
 But no individual here cognizant of facts, 
 except Mr. Gubbins, thinks that we could 
 carry a single man across the river, as the 
 enemy holds all the boats, and completely 
 commands the river. May God Almighty 
 defend Cawnpoor, for no help can we afford. 
 * "* * 1 have sent the pith of this to 
 Colonel Neill, to urge him to relieve Cawn- 
 poor, if iu any way possible."* 
 
 On first learning news of the mutiny. Sir 
 Henry had directed Captain Evans, the 
 officer stationed at Onao (twelve miles from 
 Cawnpoor), to secure all the boats he could. 
 But the mutineers had forestalled us by 
 breaking up the bridge at Cawnpoor, and 
 securing the boats which had composed it, 
 as well as those at other ferries on the 
 further side of the stream. Captain Evans, 
 with the aid of a Native officer, named 
 Munsub Ali, and a party of mounted police, 
 maintained his position till near the end of 
 June, and patrolled the high road with 
 unceasing energy, heedless of personal risk, 
 as he well might be; for his wife and 
 two children were within that shot-riddled 
 earth-bank, hemmed in by thousands of 
 pitiless foes. 
 
 On the 18th of June, Captain Moore, of 
 H.M. 32nd foot, the officer second in 
 command, dispatched to Lucknow the fol- 
 lowing official acknowledgment of the refusal 
 of the entreaty for reinforcements : — 
 
 " Sir Hugh Wheeler regrets you cannot send him 
 the 200 men, as he helieves, with their assistance, we 
 could drive the insurgents from Cawnpoor, and cap- 
 ture their guns. 
 
 " Our troops, officers, and volunteers, have acted 
 most nobly; and on several occasions, a handful of men 
 have driven hundreds before them. Our loss has been 
 chiefly from the sun and their heavy guns. Our 
 rations will last a fortnight, and we are still well 
 supplied with ammunition. Our guns are service- 
 able. Report says that troops are advancing from 
 Allahabad ; and any assistance might save the 
 garrison. We, of course, are prepared to hold out 
 to the last. It is needless to mention the names of 
 those who have been killed or died. We trust in 
 God ; and if our exertions here assist your safety, it 
 will be a consolation to know that our friends 
 appreciate our devotion. Any news of relief will 
 cheer us." 
 
 There can be little doubt of the self- 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers, p. GG. 
 
 possession of an officer who could write so 
 calmly under the circumstances in which he 
 was placed. Captain Moore, young and 
 energetic, was Sir Hugh's right hand. It 
 was greatly owing to the determined atti- 
 tude assumed by him, that the mutineers 
 never ventured to attempt carrying by 
 storm the frail barrier wiiich interposed be- 
 tween them and their victims. Though 
 himself severely wounded, he opposed the 
 encroachment of the enemy with unceasing 
 vigilance. Wherever the danger was the 
 greatest, there was he, with his arm iu 
 a sling and a revolver in his belt, directing 
 and heading the defence. Scouts, with eye- 
 glasses, were stationed to watch every hostile 
 movement, and, by their reports, the be- 
 sieged directed an effective fire. The rebels 
 had possession of the first of the three un- 
 finished barracks ; and from thence they 
 often attempted to advance and overpower 
 the British picket iu the buildings nearest 
 the intrenchment. On these occasions. 
 Captain Moore, who was ever on the watch, 
 would collect a number of volunteers from 
 the intrenchment, and send them out, one 
 at a time, to reinforce their comrades ; the 
 space which each man had to traverse being 
 partly protected by carriages, bullock- 
 trains, and such like, arranged as halting- 
 places, between which jMoore and his fol- 
 lowers ran, exposed to a shower of bullets. 
 Twice this gallant officer, under cover of 
 night, led a party of Europeans, and spiked 
 the guns of the enemy. These, however, 
 were easily repaired or replaced by others 
 from the arsenal. 
 
 On the 21st of June, a very great mob, 
 including a number of Oude budmashes, 
 was seen collecting round the intrenchment. 
 The regular infantry corps are described as 
 never coming out to fight in full uniform. 
 This day, some few had on their jackets and 
 caps; but the majority were dressed like 
 recruits. For once, a systematic attack 
 was made, under a recognised leader. The 
 enemy brought forward huge bales of cotton, 
 and attempted to push these on, and thus 
 approach in two parties, under cover from 
 the ciiurch compound on the one side, and 
 the unfinished barracks on the other. But 
 the indefatigable Captain Moore had wit- 
 nessed the preparations, and was enabled to 
 counteract them ijy a very able distribution 
 of iiis small force. The rebel leader, " a 
 well-made, powerful man," fell at the onset ; 
 and the enemy dispersed, with 200 or 300 
 killed and wounded.
 
 256 SCENES IN THE CAWNPOOR INTRENCHMENT— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 The loss sustained by the British is not 
 recorded. Several men had fallen from 
 sun-stroke — a calamity of daily occurrence; 
 and all were nearly prostrated by fatigue. 
 At mid-day, when the action was over, one 
 of the ammunition waggons exploded; and 
 the rebels perceiving their advantage, di- 
 rected a heavy fire against the spot, to 
 hinder the Europeans from approaching to 
 prevent the flames from spreading to the 
 other waggons. In the midst of the can- 
 nonading, Lieutenant Delafosse approached 
 the burning mass, laid himself down be- 
 neath it, pulled away the loose splinters, 
 and flung earth on the flames. Two soldiers 
 brought him buckets of water, wliich he 
 threw around him; and, while the vessels 
 were being refilled from the drinking-water 
 of the men close by, he continued to throw 
 earth on the burning waggon, with six 
 cannon directed on the spot. The brave 
 officer and his men accomplished their ob- 
 ject, and escaped unhurt.* 
 
 Tlie prisoners in the trenches were not 
 the only sufferers. Besides several Eu- 
 ropeans captured in the city, and the majo- 
 rity of the Christians (whether Eurasians or 
 natives), many Hindoos and Mohamme- 
 dans suspected of aiding or serving the 
 British force, were put to death. A list was 
 made of all the bankers, who were mulct 
 of their wealth, and property of every de- 
 scription was plundered or wantonly de- 
 stroyed.f Any attempt to carry intelli- 
 gence or supplies to the besieged, was pun- 
 ished with death or mutilation ; and, indeed, 
 since the reoccnpation of Cawnpoor, about 
 twelve natives have proved, to the satisfac- 
 tion of government, their claim to a pen- 
 sion, on the ground of having suffered 
 mutilation of the hand or nose (and, in 
 some instances, of both), by order of the 
 Nana or his diabolical lieutenant, Azim 
 OoUah, for bringing supplies to the British 
 camp. J Sir Hugh Wheeler, in a letter 
 previously quoted, speaks of all the Chris- 
 tian population taking refuge in the in- 
 trenchment ; but this could not have been 
 
 • Mr. Shepherd's Account. Lieutenant Delafosse, 
 in his narrative {Times, October 15th, 1857), omits 
 all mention of this heroic and effective service. 
 
 t Statement forwarded by Supreme government 
 of India to Court of Directors. 
 
 I Russell.— rimes, February 24th, 1859. 
 
 § Statement forwarded by Supreme government 
 to Court of Directors. 
 
 II Mr. Shepherd, writing from memory, give^ the 
 following classiflcation of tlie besieged, whose 
 total number he places at 900. The European 
 
 possible, on account of the extremely limited 
 space. The official, or semi-official, account§ 
 states, that "there was a large number of 
 Europeans resident in cantonments, many of 
 whom were individuals connected with the 
 civil, railway, canal, and other departments. 
 There were, also, nearly the whole of the 
 soldiers' families of H.M. 32nd, which 
 was stationed at Lucknow. Tlie whole 
 number of the European population, there- 
 fore, in Cawnpoor — men, women, and chil- 
 dren — could not have amounted to less than 
 750 lives." The number of Eurasians, of 
 pensioners and natives attached to the 
 British, within the camp, is nowhere offi- 
 cially stated ;|) those who resided in the city, 
 or were excluded from the intreuchment for 
 want of space, were among the earliest of 
 the Nana's victims. 
 
 Lieutenant Delafosse has recorded some 
 terrible scenes, to which lie was an eye- 
 witness during the siege; his only consola- 
 tion under such distressing circumstances 
 being, that he had no relatives, especially 
 no female relatives, to grieve or tremble for. 
 He describes one poor woman, named White, 
 as walking in the trenches beside her hus- 
 band, carrying her twin infants. The party 
 was fired on, the father killed, and the mo- 
 ther's arms were both broken. The children 
 fell to the ground, one of them wounded ; and 
 the mother flung herself ou the ground beside 
 them. Again — an ayah, who had remained 
 with her mistress, was sitting, as she thought, 
 safely under the walls of the barrack, when 
 suddenly she was knocked over by a round 
 shot, and both her legs carried away. The 
 child, though hurled from her arms, was 
 taken up uninjured. 
 
 One poor lady was hit by a ball, which 
 entered the face near the nostril, and 
 passed through the palate and jaw. Her 
 daughter, also severely injured in the shoul- 
 der, forgetting her own suffering, was seen 
 striving to alleviate the greater agony en- 
 dured by her mother. They both died from 
 their wounds.^ Notwithstanding all this 
 misery, we are assured " there was not one 
 
 troops (already enumerated) he estimates at 210; 
 officers of the three Native infantry, cavalry, and 
 others, with the staff, KiO; merchants, writer.'!, and 
 others, about 100; drummers, about 40; women and 
 children of soldiers, about 160; women of writers, 
 merchants, and drummers, 120; ladies and children 
 of officers, 50; servants, cooks, and others, after a 
 great number had abscondid on hearing the enemy's 
 guns firing, 100 ; sick sepoys and Native officers 
 who remained with us, 20. 
 % Statement of Lieutenant Thomson.
 
 LAST LETTERS FROM CAWNPOOR— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 257 
 
 instance of dejection through cowardice. 
 The very children seemed inspired with 
 heroic patience, and our women behaved 
 witli a fortitude that only Englishwomen 
 could have shown."* The pangs of hunger 
 even were not wanting to complete the 
 misery of tlie besieged. " One poor woman, 
 who was in a wretched state, bordeiing on 
 starvation, was seen to go out of the protec- 
 tion of the trendies, with a child in each 
 hand, and stand where the fire was heaviest, 
 hoping that some bullet might relieve her 
 and her little ones from the troubles they 
 were enduring. But she was brought back, 
 poor thing ! to die a more tedious death 
 than she had intended. "f 
 
 The sufferings of the soldiers' wives and 
 children must have been fearful. After the 
 burning of the thatched barracks, many of 
 them had to remain in the trenches night 
 and day. 
 
 Up to the very last the besieged kept up 
 some communication with Lucknow, through 
 the fidelity and courage of native messen- 
 gers. Major Vibart, in a letter dated " Sun- 
 day night, 12 P.M., 21st June," writes — 
 
 "This evening, in three hours, upwards of thirty 
 shells were thrown into the intrenchment. This 
 has occurred daily for the last eight days : an idea 
 may be formed of our casualties, and how little pro- 
 tection the barracks afford to women. Any aid, to 
 be effective, must be immediate. In the event of 
 rain falling, our position would be untenable. Ac- 
 cording to telegraphic despatches received previous 
 to the outbreak, 1,000 Europeans were to have been 
 here on the 14th. This force may be on its way up. 
 Any assistance you can send mif>ht co-operate with 
 it. Nine-pounder ammunition, chiefly cartridges, is 
 required. Should the above force arrive, we can, in 
 return, insure the safety of Lncknow. • • • 
 We have lost about a third of our original number. 
 The enemy are strongest in artillery. They appear 
 not to have wore than 400 or 500 infantry. They 
 move their guns with great difficulty on account 
 of the unbroken bullocks. The infantry are great 
 cowards, and easily repulsed."| 
 
 This appears to have been the last offi- 
 cial letter received from Cawnpoor. It 
 was conveyed by means of messengers re- 
 tained by Mr. Gubbins, before the blockade 
 of Lucknow. The men, thirty in number, 
 were all " Passees" — a numerous class in 
 Oude, armed with bows and arrows. They 
 hire themselves out, sometimes singly, some- 
 times in parties, and have the character of 
 being very faithful servants to their em- 
 ployers, but otherwise arrant thieves. § The 
 Passees contrived to cross the Ganges at 
 
 • Statement of Lieutenant Thomson, 
 t Statement of Lieutenant Delafosse. 
 j Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 444. 
 VOL. II. 2 L 
 
 Cawnpoor, though the ferry was strictly 
 guarded by the enemy; and conveyed Sir 
 Henry Lawrence's despatches into Sir 
 Hugh Wheeler's camp, and returned with 
 his replies. II Mr. Gubbins states, that it 
 was understood that a private messenger 
 from Sir Hugh, had delivered to Sir Henry, 
 a day or two after the arrival of Major 
 Vibart's letter, a packet containing a me- 
 morandum of Sir Hugh's last wishes, written 
 when escape seemed hopeless.^ Still later, 
 a private letter from Lieut. -colonel Wiggins 
 to Colonel Halford, dated " Cawnpoor, 24th 
 June, 1857," after acknowledging the 
 receipt of the colonel's " most welcome letter 
 of the 21st," and the cleverness of the 
 bearer, proceeds to describe Nana Sahib's 
 attack as having "continued now for eigh- 
 teen days and nights." The condition of 
 misery experienced by the besieged, is de- 
 clared to be " utterly beyond description. 
 Death and mutilation, in all their forms of 
 horror, have been daily before us. The nume- 
 rical amount of casualties has been frightful. 
 Among our casualties from sickness," the 
 writer adds, " my poor dear wife and infant 
 have been numbered. The former sank on 
 the 12th, and the latter on the 19th. I am 
 writing this on the floor, and in the midst of 
 the greatest dirt, noise, and confusion." In 
 conclusion, he urges the immediate dispatch 
 of " deiuc cents soldats Britanniques."** 
 
 It is probable that the unvarying confi- 
 dence expressed by the beleaguered Eu- 
 ropeans at Cawnpoor, that 200 British sol- 
 diers would suffice to raise the siege, and 
 enable them to disperse thrice as many 
 thousand well-armed and well-supplied foes 
 by whom they were hemmed in, had some 
 effect in inducing Sir Henry Lawrence to 
 proceed on the disastrous Chinhut expedi- 
 tion. Early on the 28th of June, Colonel 
 Master (rth light cavalry) received a scrap of 
 paper from his son. Lieutenant Master, 53rd 
 N. I., conveyed through some private (native) 
 channel. The few lines it contained were 
 
 these : — 
 
 " Cawnpoor, June 25th, 8| P.M. 
 "We have held out now for twenty-one days, 
 under a tremendous fire. The rajah of Bithoor has 
 offered to forward us in safety to Allahabad, and the 
 general has accepted his terms. I am all right, 
 though twice wounded. Charlotte Newnham and 
 Bella Blair are dead. I'll write from Allahabad. 
 God bless you ! 
 
 " Your affectionate son, 
 
 " G. A. Master." 
 
 § Sleeman's Journey through Oude, vol. i., p. 25. 
 
 II Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 150. 
 
 f Ibid., p. 174. ■ Ibid., p. 446.
 
 258 
 
 CAWNPOOR INTRENCHMENT— JUNE 24th, 1857. 
 
 It was too true. Sir Hugh Wheeler, with 
 his brave and gentle companions, had in- 
 deed given themselves over into the hand of 
 their deadly foe. Sir Henry Lawrence at 
 once anticipated treachery ; and, judging 
 by the event, it would have been better to 
 have held out to the last extremity, and to 
 have starved within the trenches, or been 
 shot down or cut in pieces there, than to have 
 capitulated to such pitiless wretches as the 
 besiegers subsequently proved themselves 
 to be. At that time, however, no one had 
 any adequate conception of the ruthlessness 
 •of the monster with whom they had to do. 
 
 Mr. Shepherd mentions some interesting 
 particulars regarding the crisis of the siege, 
 in the Account already quoted. 
 
 "Many persons [he states] were exceedingly anxious 
 to get out of the intrenchment and go into the city, 
 thinking, from want of better information, that they 
 would be very secure there : in fact, several went out 
 quietly in the night under this impression, and, as I 
 afterwards learnt, were murdered by the rebels. 
 
 " Among others, my own family (consisting of 
 wife and a daughter, my infant daughter having 
 died from a musket-shot in the head on the 18lh), 
 two nieces. Misses Frost and Batavia, both of seven- 
 teen years of age, a sister, and her infant son, 
 a brother twenty-two years old, and two old ladies, 
 wished very much to leave, but could not do so on 
 account of our large number. It was therefore con- 
 sidered expedient that one should go and ascertain 
 how matters stood in the city. 
 
 " With this view 1 applied to the general, on the 
 24th of June, for permission to go, at the same time 
 offering to bring him all the current information 
 that I might collect in the city, asking, as a con- 
 dition, that on my return, if I should wish if, my 
 family might be allowed lo leave the intrenchment. 
 This my reqiiest was granted, as the general wished 
 very much to get such information, and for which 
 purpose he had previously sent out two or three 
 natives at different times, under promises of high 
 rewards, but who never returned. He at the same 
 time instructed me to try and negotiate with certain 
 influe-.tial parties in the city, so as to bring about a 
 rupture among the rebels, and cause them to leave 
 off annoying us, authorising me to offer a lac of 
 rupees as a reward, with handsome pensions for life, 
 to any person who would bring about such a thing. 
 This, I have every reason to think, could have been 
 carried out successfully, had it pleased God to take 
 me out unmolested ; but it was not so ordained (it 
 was merely a means, under God's providence, to save 
 me from sharing the fate of the rest) ; for as I came 
 out of the intrenchment disguised as a native cork, 
 and, passing through the new unfinished barracks, 
 had not gone very far when I was taken a prisoner, 
 and under custody of four sepoys and a couple of 
 sowars, all well armed, was escorted to the camp of 
 the Nana, and was ordered to be placed under a 
 
 * Shepherd's Brief Account of the Outbreak at 
 Catonpoor.— Further Pari. Papers (No. 4, 1857), 
 pp. 173 to 185. 
 
 t Gram is a coarse kind of grain, commonly used 
 for feeding horses. The word is given in the Blue 
 
 guard : here several questions were put to me con- 
 cerning our intrenchment (not by the Nana himself, 
 but by some of his people), to all of which I replied 
 as I was previously instructed by our general ; for I 
 had taken the precaution of asking him what I 
 should say in case I was taken. My answers were 
 not considered satisfactory, and I was confronted 
 with two women-servants who three days previously 
 had been caught in making their escape from the 
 intrenchment, and who gave a version of their own, 
 making it appear that the English were starving and 
 not able to hold out much longer, as their number 
 was greatly reduced. I, however, stood firm to what 
 I had first mentioned, and they did not know which 
 party to believe. However, they let us alone. I 
 was kept under custody up to the 12th of July, on 
 which date my trial took place, and 1 was sentenced 
 to three years' imprisonment in irons, with hard 
 labour, from which I was released by the European 
 troops on the morning of the 17th idem."' 
 
 It is not surprising that the unfortunate 
 besieged should have been anxious to escape 
 from their filthy prison at almost any hazard. 
 The effect of the intense heat was aggravated 
 by the stench arising from the dead bodies 
 of horses and other animals, which could 
 not be removed ; and the influx of flies 
 added to the loathsomeness of the scene. 
 Five or six men fell daily beneath sun- 
 stroke ; but women and children sickened 
 and died faster still in an atmosphere satu- 
 rated with pestilential vapours. 
 
 Shepherd says that, on the 24th of July, 
 "there were provisions yet left to keep the 
 people alive, on half rations, for tlie next 
 fifteen or twenty days. Of gramf we had 
 a large quantity, and it formed the principal 
 food of all the natives with us, which they 
 preferred to otta and dholl, as it gave them 
 no trouble as regards cooking; for a little 
 soaking in water was sufficient to make it 
 fit to eat; and many scrupulous Hindoos 
 lived the whole period entirely upon it." 
 
 James Stewart, a pensioner, formerly a 
 Christian drummer in the 56th N.I., says, 
 that he and the other drummers of the 
 three regiments were charged with the 
 removal of the dead, and received for their 
 subsistence gram and a glass of brandy 
 daily. " The only article of food was gram, 
 which was steeped in four buckets, and 
 placed in such a position that all could 
 help themselves." He also bears witness 
 to the " hourly encouragement" given to 
 the besieged by General Wheeler.J 
 
 Natives might exist where Europeans 
 would perish of inanition. This was the 
 
 Book (Further Papers, No. 4, p. 181), as "grain;" 
 a blunder which involves a material mis-statement 
 as regards the position of the besieged. 
 
 I Deposition of James Stewart. — Friend of India, 
 August 27th, 1857.
 
 CAPITULATION OF CAWNPOOR INTRENCHMENT— JUNE 36, 1857. 259 
 
 case here. Lieutenant Thomson asserts, of 
 his own knowledge, that " two persons died 
 of starvation ; a horse was greedily devoured, 
 and some of my men were glad to feed upon 
 a dog. Our daily supply of provisions, for 
 twenty-two days, consisted of half a pint of 
 pea-soup and two or three chupatties (or 
 cakes made of flour) ; these last being, toge- 
 ther, about the size of an Abernetby biscuit. 
 Upon this diet, which was served to all 
 without distinction — officers and privates, 
 civilians or soldiers — the garrison was re- 
 duced to a company of spectres long before 
 the period of capitulation ; and when this 
 took place there were only four days' rations, 
 at the above rate of supply, in stock." 
 
 Lieutenant Delafosse asserts, that the 
 besieged had been on half-rations some 
 days before the close of the siege.* 
 
 Thus, the morning of the 25th of June 
 found the besieged hopeless of timely relief, 
 enduring the most complicated and aggra- 
 vated sufferings in a building the walls of 
 which were honey-combed with shot and 
 shell, the doors knocked dowu or widely 
 breached, and the angles of the walls shat- 
 tered by incessant cannonading ; while a few 
 splintered rafters alone remained to show 
 where verandahs had once been. Such was 
 the state of affairs when Nana Sahib sent 
 a letter to General Wheeler, some accounts 
 say by an Eurasian prisoner named Jacobi, 
 the wife of a watchmaker; others, by an 
 aged widow named Greenaway, formerly 
 the proprietress of the Cawnpoor Press; who, 
 with her sons (merchants), had been seized 
 at their zemindaree at Nujuffgliur, sixteen 
 miles from Cawnpoor. t The proposal for 
 surrender was thus worded : — 
 
 "Ail soldiers and others unconnected 
 with the acts of Lord Dalhousie, who will 
 lay down their arms and give themselves up, 
 shall be spared and sent to Allahabad."! 
 
 General Wheeler consulted with his officers 
 how to act. He was liimself decidedly un- 
 willing to surrender, and the younger soldiers 
 advocated resistance to the last ; but Captain 
 Moore,§ whose fortitude (for it was a higher 
 quality than courage) was unquestioned, 
 
 • Times, October 15th, 1857. 
 
 t Shepherd's Account: Diary of the Nunna Na- 
 wab ; and summary of events published in Times, 
 Odober 15th, 1857. 
 
 X Statement sent by Supreme government to Court 
 of Directors. 
 
 § The wife of Captain Moore was with him in the 
 intrenchment. 
 
 II These and other important facts are enumerated 
 in Captain (formerly Lieutenant) Mowbray Thom- 
 
 and who was the very life-sinews of the be- 
 leaguered band, represented strongly the 
 state of the ladies and others maddened by 
 suffering ; reminded the general, that at 
 least half their small force had fallen in the 
 intrenchment ; and that out of fifty-nine 
 artillerymen, all but four or five had been 
 killed at their guns.|| These arguments 
 were irresistible; Sir Hugh reluctantly gave 
 way, and empowered Captain Moore to con- 
 sent to the proffered arrangement. The next 
 steps are not clear. According to one ac- 
 count, Mrs. Greenaway appears to have re- 
 turned to the Nana, and reported the suc- 
 cess of her mission ; whereupon she was again 
 sent to the intrenchment, accompanied by 
 Azim Oollah and another ringleader, styled 
 Jowlah Persaud. Colonel Ewart subse- 
 quently came to the camp of the Nana, ac- 
 companied by other Europeans.^ 
 
 It is probable, however, that the meeting 
 was not held within the intrenchment, but 
 in the unfinished barracks outside. Azim 
 Oollah, it is alleged, attempted to open the 
 conversation in English, but was prevented 
 from doing so by some of the Mussulman 
 troopers of the 2nd light cavalry, who ac- 
 companied him.** 
 
 The treaty, signed on the evening of the 
 26th, stipulated, " That the garrison should 
 give up their guns, ammunition, and trea- 
 sure ; should be allowed to carry their mus- 
 kets and sixty rounds of cartridges with 
 them ; that the Nana should provide carriage 
 for the sick, wounded, women and children, 
 to the river's bank, where boats should be in 
 readiness to convey all to Allahabad." A 
 committee of ofiicers and gentlemen went 
 to the ghaut to see whether the necessary 
 preparations were being made, and found 
 everything in readiness. ft The besieged 
 were eager to breathe purer air than that 
 of a prison which had become almost a 
 charnel-house. It appears that, after the 
 capitulation, they were allowed to walk 
 freely out of the intrenchment, and that 
 they strolled about the neighbourhood that 
 evening. JJ The thought of their approach- 
 ing deliverance must have been embittered 
 
 son's letter to the Times, dat«d Sept. 8th, 1858; 
 written in contradiction of the mis-statements put 
 forward in the name of Sergeant Murray's widow. 
 
 ff Statement of the Nunna Nawab. 
 
 •• Shepherd's Account. — Further Pari. Papers 
 (No. 4), p. 181. 
 
 tt Statement of Lieutenant Thomson. 
 
 \X Russell mentions this circumstance as having 
 been told him " by Sir John Inglis, on the authority 
 of the excellent chaplain, the Hev. Mr. Moore."
 
 260 
 
 FIRST CAWNPOOR MASSACRE— JUNE 27th, 1857. 
 
 by grief for those whom they expected to 
 leave behind in that terrible burying-place 
 the dry well. They little thought how soon 
 their own bleeding bodies would find a 
 similar destination. 
 
 Of those whose names have been men- 
 tioned in the course of the narrative, few, if 
 any, but must have lost some dear (riend or 
 relative. The son of the general (Lieute- 
 nant Godfrey Richard Wheeler, of the 1st 
 N.I.) had been killed by a round shot, while 
 lying wounded by his mother's side;* Mrs. 
 Ewart had seen her husband badly wounded, 
 and her friend (Mrs. Hiliersdon) sink, 
 with her child, of fever and exhaustion ; 
 Brigadier Jack had died of fever, and Sir 
 George Parker, Bart, (magistrate), of sun- 
 stroke. The total number of those who had 
 perished is not recorded ; but Lieutenant 
 Thomson states positively, " we lost 250 
 men in the intrenchment, principally by 
 shells;" and women and children fell by 
 this means, as well as by disease. Probably, 
 therefore, not half the number of Europeans 
 (750) who had entered the intrenchment, 
 left it on the fatal morning of the 27th of 
 June ; and of the number of half-castes and 
 natives who perished with and for the Eu- 
 ropeans, no estimate has been formed.f It 
 was about 8 a.m. when the British reached 
 the landing-place, situated a mile and a-half 
 from the station. Breakfast was laid out as 
 had been arranged, and the embarkation was 
 carried on without hindrance or hesitation. 
 The Europeans laid down their muskets, 
 and took off their coats. Some of the boats 
 (thirty in all) pushed off from the shore; and 
 the others were striving to get free from the 
 sand in which they had been purposely im- 
 bedded, when, at a prearranged signal, the 
 boatmen sprang into the water, leaving fire 
 in the thatches of the boats ; and two guns 
 before hidden, were run out and opened on 
 the Europeans. The men, says Lieutenant 
 Delafosse, jumped out of the boats; and, 
 instead of trying to free them from their 
 moorings, swam to the first boat they saw 
 loose. A remark in Lieutenant Thomson's 
 narrative shows that the attempt was un- 
 successfully made. He states — " When the 
 boat I first took shelter in was fired, I 
 jumped out, with the rest, into the water, 
 and tried to drag her off the sand-bank, but 
 to no purpose ; so I deserted her, and made 
 across the river to the Oude side, where I 
 
 * Memoir of Rev. H. S. Polehampton, p. 315. 
 t "It is reported that the persons who came out 
 that morning from the intrenchment, amounted to 
 
 saw two of our boats." A third boat got 
 safe over to the opposite side of the river; 
 but all three were met there by two field- 
 pieces, guarded by a number of cavalry and 
 infantry. One of these boats was early 
 swamped, and a round shot went through 
 the second of them before it had proceeded 
 a mile down the stream. The passengers were 
 then taken on board the third boat, which, 
 with a freight of fifty persons, continued 
 its way for five or six miles, followed, on 
 the Oude side, by about 2,000 mutineers 
 (infantry and cavalry), with two guns. 
 Captains Moore and Ashe (the leaders of 
 the defence), Lieutenant-colonel Wiggins, 
 and Lieutenants Burney, Glanville, Satch- 
 well, and Bassilico, were killed ; Major 
 Vibart, Captain Turner, Lieutenants Th(jm- 
 son, Fagan, Mainwaring, and a youth 
 named Henderson, were wounded. The 
 boat grounded about nightfall; but the 
 Europeans managed to get once more afloat, 
 and to distance their pursuers, who followed 
 along shore with torches and lighted arrows, 
 trying to set the boat on fire ; and so nearly 
 succeeding, that the Europeans were com- 
 pelled to throw overboard the thatched 
 covering which had shielded them from the 
 sun and rain. On the following day the 
 boat again grounded on a sand-bank at Nu- 
 juff'ghur; and here Captain Whiting, Lieu- 
 tenant Harrison, and several privates were 
 killed. Captain Turner was hit a second 
 time. Captain Seppings was wounded, as 
 was also his wife (the only female mentioned 
 as having accompanied this party), and 
 Lieutenants Daniel and Quin. A storm 
 came on, and drove the boat down stream, 
 until it again stuck at Soorajpoor, where, 
 at daylight on the Monday morning, the 
 fugitives were discovered and attacked by 
 the retainers of a hostile zemindar. Lieu- 
 tenants Thomson and Delafosse, with twelve 
 men, went on shore to drive back their 
 assailants, and thus enable their companions 
 to get off the boat. This they did most 
 effectually ; but, proceeding too far inland, 
 they were surrounded, and, being hotly 
 pressed, lost sight of the boat, and were 
 forced to take refuge in a small temple on 
 the river-bank. At the door of the temple one 
 of the party was killed : the remaining thir- 
 teen, after vainly attempting a parley, had 
 recourse to their firelocks, and several of 
 the enemy were soon killed or put hors de 
 
 450." — Shepherd's Account. How many Eurasians 
 or natives may have been included in the capitulation, 
 is matter of conjecture.
 
 EUROPEANS WHO ESCAPED FROM CAWNPOOR— JUNE, 1857. 261 
 
 combat. The rebels then brought a gun to 
 bear on the little stronghold ; but finding that 
 it made no impression, they had recourse 
 to heaping up firewood before the doorway. 
 Unfortunately the temple was round, so 
 that the party within could not prevent 
 their pushing the wood round to the front. 
 The fire, however, did not have the desired 
 effect ; handfuls of powder were therefore 
 thrown upon it; and the smoke thereby 
 produced nearly stifled the Europeans, who 
 determined to sally forth and make for the 
 river. On their charging out of the temple, 
 the enemy fled in all directions. Six of tlie 
 party (it is supposed because they could 
 not swim) ran into the crowd, and sold their 
 lives as dearly as they could; the remaining 
 seven threw themselves into the Ganges. 
 Two of these were shot ere long; a third, 
 resting himself by swimming on his back, 
 unwittingly approached too close to the 
 bank, and was cut up; and the other four 
 swam six miles down the river, three of them 
 being wounded, till at last the weary Euro- 
 peans were hailed by two or three sepoys 
 belonging to a friendly chief, who proved 
 to be Mahiirajah Deeg Beejah Sing, of Bys- 
 warrah in Oude. Exhausted by a three days' 
 fast, and conceiving, from the freedom from 
 pursuit that they had experienced during 
 the last half mile of their flight that they 
 were safe, the fugitives at once went to the 
 rajah, who protected and fed them from the 
 29th of June to the 28th of July, and ulti- 
 mately provided for their escort to the camp 
 of a detachment of Europeans proceeding 
 from Allahabad to Cawnpoor, to join the 
 force under the command of Brigadier-gen- 
 eral Havelock.* Lieutenant Thomson speaks 
 of the avidity with which he and his compa- 
 nions devoured the " capital meal of dhoU 
 and chupatties," given them by the friendly 
 rajah; and he remarks, that "to swim six 
 miles is a great feat to accomplish at 
 any time ; but, after a three days' fast, it 
 really must sound very like an impossibility. 
 Nevertheless it is true 1" 
 
 It appears that all the boats were brought 
 back to Cawnpoor : and of the passengers, 
 "many were killed at once; others, the 
 wives and children of the European officers 
 and soldiers, were placed as prisoners in a 
 house in the cantonments : some of these 
 were released from their sufi'erings by 
 
 • Statement sent by Supreme government, t Ibid. 
 X A Lieutenant Brown escaped from another boat, 
 but perished from exhaustion. 
 
 § Galliez' regiment. Introductory Chapter, p. 99. 
 
 death ; others were sufi"ered to remain alive 
 until the arrival of the force under General 
 Havelock sealed their death-warrant. "f 
 Among the persons who escaped from the 
 boats were James Stewart, pensioner, 56th 
 N.I., whose deposition has been already 
 quoted, and who, with his wife and a Mrs, 
 Lett, scrambled to shore from a foundering 
 boat, and contrived to find their way to 
 Allahabad. Mrs. Murray, a sergeant's wife, 
 also escaped. J 
 
 Concerning the actual massacre, much 
 interesting information has been sup- 
 plied by Myoor Tewarree, a sepoy of the 
 1st N.I., a man of considerable intelli- 
 gence and proved fidelity. When the 
 mutiny broke out at Cawnpoor, Myoor 
 Tewarree was with three companies of his ' 
 regiment at Banda. He had been in- 
 structed in the English language by Mr. 
 Duncan, a writer; and, on the outbreak 
 there, he concealed Mr. Duncan and his 
 wife in his hut, and thus saved their lives. 
 This act brought on him the suspicion of 
 his comrades; and when he marched with 
 them into Cawnpoor, he was seized by the 
 Nana, robbed of all he possessed, and im- 
 prisoned, with four other suspected sepoys, 
 in the same house with the Europeans. 
 
 He declares, that when the Nana's 
 treachery became apparent, the boat with 
 General Wheeler and his family on board, 
 cut its cable, and dropped down the river, 
 followed by two companies of infantry and 
 two guns. At some little distance from 
 Cawnpoor the boat grounded, was over- 
 taken, and fired on. The traitors " could 
 not manage the large gun, not knowing 
 how to work the elevating screw ;" but, 
 with the small gun, they fired grape tied 
 up in l>ags, and the infantry discharged 
 their muskets. The Europeans responded 
 with their rifles so effectually that they 
 drove off the sepoys, and the storm which 
 came on that night floated them off the 
 sand-bank. They had, however, proceeded 
 only a few miles before they were over- 
 taken by several boatsful of Oude infantry, 
 surrounded, and taken back captives to 
 Cawnpoor. Fifty gentlemen, twenty-five 
 ladies, a boy and three girls, were brought 
 on shore. The Nana ordered the " mem- 
 sahibs" to be separated from the sahibs, 
 and shot by the 1st N.I. But the " Gillies 
 Pultun,"§ the oldest legiraent in the ser- 
 vice, hardened as it had become in mutiny, 
 refused to take part iu the savage butchery. 
 The men said, " We will not shoot Wheeler
 
 263 
 
 FIRST MASSACRE AT CAWNPOOR— 27th JUNE, 1857. 
 
 Sahib, who has made the name of our 
 Pultun great, and whose son is our quarter- 
 master; neither will we shoot the otlier 
 gentlemen [sahib-logue] : put them in 
 prison." But the Oude sepoys said, " Put 
 them in prison ? No ; we will kill them 
 all." The male Europeans were then made 
 to sit on the ground, and two companies of 
 sepoys prepared to fire on them, when one 
 of the ladies (the wife of either the super- 
 intending surgeon or medical storekeeper) 
 rushed to her husband, and sitting down 
 beside him, placed her arm round his waist, 
 declaring, that if he must die, she would 
 die with him. The other ladies followed her 
 example ; and all sat down close to their hus- 
 bands, who said, " Go, go ;" and vainly strove 
 to drive their wives away. The Nana then 
 directed the sepoys to part them by force, 
 which was done; "but they could not pull 
 away the doctor's wife, who there remained. 
 Then, just as the sepoys were going to 
 fire, the padre [Moucrieff was dead] called 
 out to the Nana, and requested leave to 
 read prayers before they died. The Nana 
 granted it, and the padre's bonds were 
 loosed so far as to allow him to take a small 
 book from his pocket, from which he read ; 
 but at this time one of the sahibs, who was 
 shot in the arm and leg, kept crying out to 
 the sepoys, ' If you mean to kill us, why 
 don't you set about it; be quick, and get 
 the work done at once ; why delay ?' After 
 the padre read a few prayers, he shut the 
 book, and the sahibs shook hands all round. 
 •T'hen the sepoys fired. One sahib rolled 
 one way, and one another ; but they were 
 not dead, only wounded. Then they went 
 and finished them with their swords." 
 After this, the whole of the women and 
 children, including those taken out of the 
 other boats, to the number of 122, were 
 taken away to the house formerly used by 
 the Europeans as an hospital, and after- 
 wards inhabited by the Nana. 
 
 Myoor Tewarree was asked, "Were any 
 of the women dishonoured?" He replied, 
 " Nu, none that I am aware of, except in 
 the case of General Wheeler's younger 
 daughter ; and about her I am not certain. 
 When the rebels were taking the mem- 
 sahibs out of the boat, a sowar (cavalry 
 man) took her away with him to his house. 
 
 * Evidence taken at the Cawnpoor camp, Aupust 
 15th, 1857. — Friend of India, September 3rd, 1857. 
 
 t Shepherd slates, that a young lady, " reported to 
 be General Wheeler's daughter," had been seized by 
 a sowar, and killed four persons and herself: but 
 
 She went quietly; but at night she rose 
 and got hold of the sowar's sword. He was 
 asleep ; his wife, his son, and his mother- 
 in-law were sleeping in the house with him. 
 She killed them all with the sword, and 
 then she went and threw herself down the 
 well behind the house. In the morning, 
 when people came and found the dead in 
 the house, the cry was, 'Who has done this ?' 
 Then a neighbour said, that in the night he 
 had seen some one go a;id throw himself 
 into the well. They went and looked, and 
 there was Missee Baba, dead and swollen."* 
 That a young girl should kill two men 
 and two women with a sword, is so glaringly 
 improbable, that the wide circulation of this 
 story, and its repeated assertion as a fact,t 
 only proves the credulity with which all ru- 
 mours, however wild and improbable, are re- 
 ceived when they fall in with the prevailing 
 tone of the public mind. But the evidence 
 of another survivor and eye-witness of the 
 Cawnpoor massacre, corroborates the first 
 part of the story, as regards the seizure 
 of Miss Wheeler by a trooper. Towards the 
 end of the year 1858, a half-caste Christian, 
 named Fitchett, or Fitchrelt, presented him- 
 self to the local authorities at Meerut, as a 
 candidate for admission into the police levy. 
 The usual inquiries into his antecedents, led 
 to the discovery that, when the mutiny 
 broke out at Cawnpoor, he had been a 
 musician in the band of one of the native 
 regiments, and his life had been spared 
 in consequence of his proclaiming his 
 willingness to embrace Mohammedanism, 
 which he did by an easy process, almost 
 on the spot. He was enrolled in the rebel 
 force, and witnessed the second massacre — 
 that of the women and children — on the 
 16th of July; which cannot be narrated 
 until the events which precipitated, if they 
 did not cause it, have been told, and like- 
 wise the arrival of the Futtehghur fugitives, 
 to swell the list of the Nana's victims. 
 When the Nana fled to Futtehghur, Fitchett 
 accompanied him thither ; and he declares 
 that he frequently saw Miss Wheeler ; that 
 she travelled with a trooper who had taken 
 her from Cawnpoor ; and that he was shown 
 into the room where she was, and ordered 
 to read extracts from the English news- 
 papers, which the rebels received from 
 
 his giving this as a matter of fact, detracts from the 
 value of his general evidence, except regarding 
 matters which he actually witnessed ; and he was 
 a prisoner at the time of both the first and second 
 Cawnpoor massacres.
 
 FATE OF MISS "WHEELER. 
 
 263 
 
 Calcutta; he being employed by them for 
 the purpose of translating the news, in 
 which, particularly that relating to the pro- 
 gress of the war in China, they evinced 
 much interest. She had a horse with an 
 English side-saddle, which the trooper had 
 procured for her, and she rode close beside 
 him, with her face veiled, along the line 
 of march. When the British approached 
 Futtehghur, orders were sent to the sowar 
 to give Miss Wheeler up ; but he escaped 
 with her at night, and it is supposed she 
 went with him to Calpee. Mr. Russell, 
 writing in October, 1858, remarks — " It is 
 not at all improbable that the unfortunate 
 young lady may be still alive, moving about 
 with Tantia Topee, and may yet be res- 
 cued."* 
 
 Two other girls, British or Eurasian, 
 survived the Cawnpoor massacre. Georgiana 
 Anderson, aged thirteen, received a sword- 
 cut on the shoulder, but was rescued by 
 a native doctor. All her relatives at the 
 station were murdered. She lived among 
 the natives, kindly nursed and cared for, 
 during several weeks ; at the expiration of 
 which time she was sent safely into Cawn- 
 poor, then reoccupied by the British, and is 
 now living with her grandmother at Mon- 
 ghyr. The other girl, aged sixteen, was 
 less fortunate j and her name is withheld by 
 Mr. Russell, who instituted inquiries into 
 the truth of her story, as published in the 
 Times ; the results of which partly corrobo- 
 rated and partly confuted her statements. 
 " She is," he writes, " the daughter of a 
 clerk ; and is, I believe, an Eurasian, or has 
 some Eurasian blood in her veins. It would 
 be cruel to give her name, though the shame 
 is not her's. She was obliged to travel 
 about with a sowar ; and, to escape persecu- 
 tion, became a Mohammedan. "f 
 
 This is apparently the person whose 
 narrative was published by Dr. Knighton, 
 of the College, Ewell, Surrey. Her account 
 of her escape is, that after seeing Kirkpa- 
 trick (an Eurasian merchant of Cawnpoor) 
 and two little girls murdered in the boat, 
 on the deck of which she was standing, and 
 being herself rudely searched and robbed of 
 the money and jewels she had brought from 
 the barracks, she grew dizzy and fell down. 
 The mutineers flung her into the river; she 
 scrambled on shore, and crept along on her 
 hands and knees till she reached a tree 
 about half a mile inland. Soon, stealthy 
 steps approached the spot. They were 
 
 • Times, Dec. 8th, 1808. f Hid., Feb. 24th, 1859. 
 
 those of Miss Wheeler, who had also been 
 thrown into the river, the murderous sepoys 
 thinking that, being insensible, she would 
 sink to the bottom. In about an hour the 
 fugitives were surprised by a party of the 
 mutineers, and dragged off in different 
 directions. What became of Miss Wheeler 
 does not appear from this narrative, but the 
 other unfortunate was dragged along till 
 her clothes were almost entirely torn off; 
 aud her appeal for mercy to the troopers, 
 was answered by a declaration that she had 
 not long to live; but before being put to 
 death, she would be made to feel some por- 
 tion of the degradation their brethren felt 
 at Meerut, when ironed and disgraced before 
 the troops. After four hours' walking, she 
 arrived at a place very near Bithoor, where 
 some of the enemy were encamped. Here 
 she sank on the ground, overcome with 
 shame and exhaustion, while the heartless 
 sepoys gathered round with mockery and 
 reviling. An African eunuch, who had 
 just brought some despatches from Ahmed- 
 Oollah, the Moolvee of Fyzabad, to Nana 
 Sahib, interfered for her protection ; and, 
 throwing a chuddar, or large native veil 
 over her, had her conducted to a tent. She 
 saw no more of him till she went to Luck- 
 now, and was compelled to accompany the 
 rebels in their progress through the North- 
 West Provinces. She was at length re- 
 leased, and found her way to Calcutta, 
 where she is now living with her friends. 
 
 And here we may close the record of the 
 first Cawnpoor massacre, and turn to the 
 scarcely less painful examination of the 
 causes which delayed the arrival of forces 
 from Calcutta, to a period when the brave 
 defenders of Cawnpoor, heart-sick with hope 
 deferred, had surrendered to their trea- 
 cherous foe, with the bitter pang added 
 to their sufferings, that when (as they con- 
 curred in declaring) 200 Europeans might 
 have saved them, government had made 
 no effort to send troops with the speed be- 
 fitting an errand of life or death, but had 
 treated the agonising appeal for " aid, aid, 
 aid !" much in the same tone as that in 
 which ^Ir. Colvin had been reproved for 
 enacting, on his own responsibility, a mea- 
 sure which he thought might arrest, in its 
 early stage, the avalanche of mutiny and 
 massacre ; but which the governor-general 
 in council, taking a serenely distant view of 
 the matter, blamed as manifesting " un- 
 necessary haste." J 
 
 X See cage 188, ante.
 
 264 
 
 DELAY AT CALCUTTA LOST CAWNPOOR. 
 
 In Tain the leading men in the North- 
 Western Provinces had combined in re- 
 iterating in successive telegrams — " Time is 
 everything." " Spare no expense in sendirig 
 reinforcements to Allahabad and Cawnpoor." 
 The Supreme government moved with the 
 utmost dehberation, maintaining, to the 
 last possible moment, the position of dig- 
 nified incredulity with which tliey had 
 received the information of mutiny at Bar- 
 rackpoor in the early spring of 1857 ; treat- 
 ing the most reasonable alarm as " a ground- 
 less panic," and being beaten inch by incli 
 off the field of indolent security ; even the 
 capture and retention of Delhi by the rebels, 
 being insufficient to rouse them to the con- 
 viction of the imminent danger of the Eu- 
 ropeans at other stations, especially those 
 most richly stored and weakly defended. 
 The wretched incapacity manifested at 
 Meerut, was at length appreciated at Cal- 
 cutta, and General Hewitt was superseded. 
 Now, it is pretty generally admitted, that 
 had either of the Lawrences, Montfjomery 
 or Colvin, Herbert, Edwardes, or Nicholson 
 — anybody acquainted with the native cha- 
 racter, whether pro-native or anti-native 
 in their tone — been in authority at Meerut, 
 that cruel court-martial sentence would 
 never have been ratified ; and the presiding 
 oflBcer wonld not have written to a friend 
 that night — " The court is over, and those 
 fellows have got ten years a-piece. You 
 will hear of no more mutinies."* These 
 flippant words stand out in terrible contrast 
 to the cries for mercy uttered by English- 
 me 1 and Englishwomen, and refused on the 
 
 plea of the tyrannical sentence, the felon's 
 irons ; adjudged as the penalty of what they 
 deemed devotion to religious duty and main- 
 tenance of social rights, for both are united 
 in that much misapplied word— caste. 
 
 The Calcutta despatches prove that tlie 
 authorities there were not blind to the infa- 
 tuation which produced the Meerut out- 
 break, or the incapacity which prevented 
 its suppression. The "thirty troopers who 
 revolutionised India," became a bye-word ; 
 and the Meerut authorities were severely 
 censured for not instantly sending off a 
 portion of the European troops, if not 
 to maintain Delhi, at least to rescue their 
 countrywomen and the children. Yet the 
 Indian journals assert, that the blame at- 
 tached to the Meerut authorities for having 
 been so panic-struck by the effect of their 
 own act, that they folded their hands quietly, 
 while, as tliey had every reason to anticipate, 
 a most unequal struggle was taking place 
 within a three hours' ride of them — is equally 
 attributable to the Supreme government, not 
 only for leaving Delhi without so much as a 
 European company to close its gates, but 
 for not sending speedy reinforcements to 
 Cawnpoor, when, by a vigorous effort, 2,000 
 men might have been dispatched there in 
 time to raise the siege and to deliver the 
 whole beleaguered band, instead of being the 
 immediate cause of a massacre more terrible 
 than that already related. 
 
 From the facts enumerated in the follow- 
 ing chapter, the reader will judge how far 
 the Supreme government can be justly re- 
 probated for culpable delay. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CALCUTTA AND BAERACKPOOR.— MAY AND JUNE, 1857. 
 
 At Calcutta, the government on the one 
 side, and the European population and 
 press almost unanimously on the other, 
 took an opposite view of affairs. The gov- 
 ernor and council disbelieved in the ex- 
 
 • See a history of the Bengal Mutinies, dated 
 "Umballah, August, 1857," and introduced in the 
 Times, as the production of " a gentleman whose 
 acquirements, experience, and position, admirably 
 qualify him for the work of observation and re- 
 
 istence of any general disaffection either 
 among the troops or the people, which was 
 a natural opinion for the party responsible 
 for having caused, or at least not striven to 
 remove, the alleged discontent, to abide by 
 
 view."— Times, October 24th, 1857. This authority 
 remarks, that the Native officers who composed the 
 court-martial were as obedient as usual, but that 
 every one of them was said to have been murdered 
 during the outbreak.
 
 EUROPEAN TROOPS ASSEMBLED AT CALCUTTA— JUNE 10th, 1857. 265 
 
 as long as possible : the European citizens, 
 on the contrary, accepted General Hearsey's 
 conclusions to their fullest extent, and went 
 far beyond them, believing that an organised 
 conspiracy had been concocted by the Mo- 
 hammedans, And assented to by the Hindoos, 
 civil and military (or rather military and 
 civil), for the extermination of the British. 
 The one party exposed tlie fallacies of the 
 other; while both misinterpreted the signs 
 of the times, being far too prejudiced re- 
 garding the cause of the outbreak, to adopt 
 vigorous measures for its suppression at the 
 earliest possil)le moment, and with the 
 smallest possible waste of gold and silver 
 and of human life. 
 
 The public journals advocated the forma- 
 tion of volunteer corps ; and the Trades' 
 Association offered their services to gov- 
 ernment, either as special constables, or in 
 any other manner that might seem desirable 
 for " the preservation of order, and the 
 protection of the Christian community of 
 Calcutta." The Masonic fraternity, the 
 Americans, and French inhabitants of Cal- 
 cutta, the British Indian Association, with 
 all the leading Mohammedans and Hindoos, 
 followed the example ; but the proffered co- 
 operation was refused by government on the 
 ground of its being unnecessary, no general 
 disaffection having been evinced by the 
 Bengal sepoys. Writing on the 25th of 
 May, the governor-general in council avers, 
 that " the mischief caused by a passing and 
 groundless panic has been arrested ; and 
 there is every reason to hope that, in the 
 course of a few days, tranquillity and con- 
 fidence will be restored."* 
 
 Another body, the native Christians of 
 Krishnaghur, proffered their services, and 
 begged to be employed, themselves, their 
 carts and bullocks, in carrying stores to the 
 seat of war. Only those acquainted with 
 the miserable deficiencies of the Indian 
 commissariat, can understand the value or 
 full meaning of the offer; yet the volun- 
 teers were refused any public acknowledg- 
 ment of their loyalty by the governor-gen- 
 eral, on the ground that they had volun- 
 teered as Christians, not as subjects. f With 
 strange perversity, the Supreme government 
 trampled on caste with one foot, and on 
 Christianity with the other. For the needless, 
 heedless offence given to caste, concessions 
 
 * Pari. Papers on the Mutinies, 1857 (No. 2). 
 t Asserted by Lord Shaftesbury at Exeter Hall, 
 January 5th, 1858. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 M 
 
 were made by the governor-general as by the 
 commander-in-chief, long after the eleventh 
 hour, by a proclamation which, in each case, 
 " fell to the ground a blimted weapon." 
 On the 29th of May, the military secretary, 
 Colonel Birch, issued his first and only 
 proclamation to the army on the subject 
 of the greased cartridges. An officer, then 
 at Calcutta, who certainly cannot be ac- 
 cused of advocating undue regard to native 
 feelings or prejudices, says, had this state- 
 ment been published in January, it would 
 in all probability have been effective ; but 
 Colonel Birch and the government were 
 dumb at that time. Yet at the close of May, 
 " wheu every word falling from government 
 was liable to be misconstrued, a full and 
 complete explanation was offered regarding 
 the substitution of the Enfield rifle for 
 Brown Bess, and the whole question of the 
 greased cartridges ! J Alas, for that terrible 
 'Too late!' which attaches itself as the 
 motto of statesmen without prescience or 
 genius, of little men in great positions !"§ 
 
 Lord Canning certainly deserves credit 
 for the promptitude with which he acted on 
 the suggestions of Sir Henry Lawrence, 
 and all the leading functionaries in , the 
 North- West, of gathering together Euro- 
 pean troops with all speed from every possi- 
 ble quarter. Bombay, Madras, and Ceylon 
 were sent to for troops, and a steamer was 
 dispatched to the Straits of Sunda, to 
 intercept the Chinese expedition. In the 
 latter end of May, and the beginning of 
 June, reinforcements ' entered Calcutta in 
 rapid succession. The well-known 1st 
 Fusiliers hastened from Madras, the 64th 
 and 78th Highlanders from Persia, the 35th 
 from Moulmein ; a wing of the 37lh, and a 
 company of royal artillery, from Ceylou. 
 By the 10th of June, 3,400 men were at 
 the orders of the governor-general, inde- 
 pendent of H.M. 53rd in Port William, 
 800 strong; fiom 1,500 to 2,000 sailors, and 
 all the European inhabitants who had ten- 
 dered their services. 
 
 The conduct of the authorities was alto- 
 gether unaccountable. Instead of being 
 glad to notify the arrival of these rein- 
 forcements, and to strengthen the liands of 
 the well-disposed, confirm the allegiance of 
 the waverers, and overawe incipieut mutiny, 
 the European troops were, it is alleged by 
 
 t For government circular, see Appendix, p. 310. 
 § Mulintj of the Benyal Army ; by One who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier j p. 73.
 
 266 
 
 DELAY IN SENDING TROOPS TO CAWNPOOR— MAY, 1857. 
 
 the writer recently quoted, smuggled in 
 like coiUraliand goods. " For instance," 
 he adds, "if it were known that the Auck- 
 land, or some other war steamer, was 
 bringing troops, and the public were iu 
 consequence naturally on the tiptoe of ex- 
 citement respecting lier, orders would be 
 transmitted, that on the arrival of the 
 Auckland, the telegraph should announce 
 the Sarah Sands, or a similar nom-de- 
 guerre. The ship thus came up unnoticed ; 
 the troops generally landed in the dark, 
 and were smuggled into tlie fort."* 
 
 On the 24ih of May, the governor-gen- 
 eral informed Sir Henry Lawrence, in reply 
 to his urgent solicitations on behalf of 
 Cawnpoor, that it was impossible to place a 
 wing of Europeans there in less time than 
 twenty-five days.f Sir Henry was far from 
 being convinced of the impossibility of the 
 measure : moreover, lie was not silenced by 
 Lord Canning's explicit statement of what 
 could and could not be done ; and, on re- 
 ceiving it, he instantly sent off another 
 telegram in the following words: — 
 
 " I strongly advise that as many ekka 
 daks be laid as possible from Raueegunje 
 to Cawnpoor, to bring up European troops. 
 Spare no expense. "J 
 
 The director-general of post-offices at 
 Raueegunje, having probably been informed 
 of Sir Henry Lawrence's opinion, sent a 
 telegram to Calcutta on the same day 
 (May 26tli), in which he remarks — " Ekkas 
 are not, I think, adapted for, Europeans, 
 nor. do I think that time would be 
 gained. "§ 
 
 On the 2/ ch of May, the secretary to 
 government sent off two telegrams, each 
 dated 8.30 p.m. One of these conveyed 
 the thanks of the governor-general in 
 council to Sir Hugh Wheeler, for "his 
 very effective exertions," and assured him 
 " that no measures bad been neglected to 
 give bim aid." The other curtly informed 
 Sir Henry Lawrence — "Every horse and 
 carriage, bullock and cart, which could 
 be brought upon tlie road, has been col- 
 lected, and no means of increasing the 
 number will be neglected." || 
 
 The special point of the previous tele- 
 
 • " One who has served under Sir Charles 
 Napier," gives as his authority, " personal observa- 
 tion, the telegraphic reports, and the notice of the 
 circumstance by the hical press." — (p. 99). 
 
 t Telegram, May 24th, 1857. — Appendix to Pari. 
 Papers on Mutiny, p. 315. 
 
 X Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p».^22. 
 
 gram — namely, the ekkas — is slurred over ; 
 and it appears as if the Calcutta authorities 
 were not a little annoyed by the perpetual 
 jogs on the elbow of their subordinates in 
 the North-West, and were more inclined to 
 accept the dictum of the "post-master- 
 general," which accorded with their own 
 ideas of "possibility," than by strenuous 
 efforts to comply with the earnest appeals 
 of Sir Henry Lawrence and Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler. Yet Lord Canning, in his in- 
 structions to the army then only advancing 
 against Delhi, does not fail to enforce the 
 point so vainly pressed on him. " Time is 
 everything," he writes to the commander- 
 in-chief, " and I beg you to make short 
 work of Delhi." The commander-in-chief 
 might, with good reason, have retaliated 
 by entreating the governor-general to 
 strengthen his hands by making "short 
 work" of Cawnpoor. 
 
 A considerable portion of the public and 
 press of Calcutta were extremely dissatis- 
 fied at the proceedings of the governinent, 
 and severely censured the supineness to 
 which they deemed "the fate of Cawnpoor 
 attributable, notwithstanding the unexpected 
 detention of the Fusiliers at Allahabad. 
 
 The then acting editor of the Friend of 
 India, has written a small volume on the 
 mutiny, in which he thus states what was 
 probably the popular view of the ques- 
 tion : — 
 
 " A thousand English volunteer infantry, 400 
 cavalry, and 1,500 sailors, were at the disptJ^al of 
 government a week after the revolt became known. 
 * • • The waters of the Ganges do not rise 
 until the latter end of June; and it would have 
 been scarcely advisable to push troops up by that 
 route 80 long as there was a prospect that the 
 vessels might get aground. 
 
 " The railway and the road offered the greatest 
 facilities for the transit of men, guns and stores; 
 and both were in the best condition. The line was 
 opened to Kaneegunje, 120 miles from Calcutta; 
 and, up to that point, there was no difficulty in send- 
 ing a couple of regiments by a single train. Whilst 
 the volunteers were learning how to load and fire, 
 and the merchant seamen were b^ing instructed in 
 the use of artillery, government might have placed 
 on the road, from the terminus to Cawnpoor, a line 
 of stations for horses and bullocks, at intervals of 
 five miles, guarded, if necessary, by posts of armed 
 men ; the streets and the course of Calcutta cculd 
 
 This telegram is twice printed in the course of three 
 pages. The first time (p. 322), the word " ekas" (coun- 
 try cart) is given incorrectly; the second, it is printed 
 as "extra" — of course entirely altering the meaning. 
 The value of the Papers printed for Parliament is seri- 
 ously diminished by the frequency of these blunders. 
 § Ibid., p. 329. II Ibid., p. 324.
 
 VOLUNTEER GUARD ENROLLED— CALCUTTA, JUNE 14th 1857. 267 
 
 have supplied any number of horses. There were 
 1,600 sie}{e bullocks at Allahabad, and 600 at Cawn- 
 poor J carriages and commissariat stores of all kinds 
 might have been collected, for the use of a division, 
 wiih seven days' hard work ; and had government 
 only consented to do, just a fortnight beforehand, 
 what they were coerced to do on the 14th of June, 
 they might have had, on the first day of that month, 
 a force of 2,000 Europeans at Kaneegunje, fully 
 equipped with guns and stores, the infantry capable 
 of being pushed on at the rate of 120 miles a-day, 
 and the artillery, drawn by horses, elephants, and 
 bullocks, in turiis, following at a speed of two iiiles 
 an hour, day and night."* 
 
 The Friend of India avers, that a column 
 of 500 men might safely have left Calcutta, 
 and reached Cawnpoor, by the 8th of June 
 at latest ; and the guns, escorted by half a 
 wing of a European regiment, might have 
 joined them seven days afterwards. 
 
 The news from the North-West Pro- 
 vinces at length convinced the Calcutta 
 government, that if they desired to have 
 territory left to rule over, it was necessary 
 to adopt measures for its defence. The 
 Calcutta volunteers were given to under- 
 stand that their services would now be 
 accepted ; but, according to their own tes- 
 timony, the majority suffered a feeling of 
 pique, at the previous refusal, to outweigh 
 their sense of public duty ; aud, " in conse- 
 quence of the discouragement offered by 
 the government, only 800 were enrolled 
 in the Volunteer Guard, horse and foot; 
 whereas, had their first proposition been 
 accepted, the number would have amouuted 
 to between three and four thousand."t 
 
 On the following day, the unpopularity of 
 Lord Canning was brought to its climax by 
 the enactment of a law involving the re- 
 institution of the licensing system, and a 
 rigid censorship of the press (English anc" 
 native), for the ensuing twelve months. Tlie 
 reasons for this measure have been already 
 stated,! and need not be recapitulated here. 
 Greiit excitement was occasioned; and the 
 infraction of the liberty of the press — that is, 
 the European portion of it — was loudly de- 
 nounced. The English journiilists were, of 
 course, quite convinced of the necessity of 
 arresting the torrent of sedition poured 
 forth by the native papers ; but they could 
 not see the slightest necessity, notwith- 
 standing the imminent danger with which 
 they professed to believe Calcutta menaced, 
 for placing any check upon the abuse which 
 
 • Mead's Sepoy Jlcrolt, p. 84. 
 t Calcutta petition to the Ciueen, for the recall of 
 Lord Canning. 
 
 % Introductory Chapter, p. 22. 
 
 was daily poured forth on the government, 
 collectively and individually, nor on the 
 fierce invectives against the natives of India 
 generally, which the government foresaw 
 might goad the entire population into re- 
 bellion. The angry journalists expected to 
 find great sympathy in England ; but, on 
 the contrary, the necessity of the measure 
 was generally appreciated by both parlia- 
 ment and the press. 
 
 The Arms Act, passed at the same 
 time, was another and equally unreasonable 
 cause of dissatisfaction. The extreme anti- 
 native party in Calcutta had pressed for the 
 establishment of martial law, which the 
 government had wisely refused. It was 
 then urged that there had been an unusual 
 importation of arms into Calcutta, and that 
 purchases of these had been largely made 
 by natives. An act was therefore passed, 
 empowering the government to demand 
 from the inhabitants of any district a list 
 of the arras each man possessed, with a 
 view to the granting of a licence for the 
 retention of any reasonable amount. Lord 
 Grey, in vindicating the "impartial polic^y 
 of the Arms Act," intimated that "it had 
 been resorted to from sheer necessity, and 
 to prevent a trade which might, and there 
 was no doubt would, have been carried on be- 
 tween the natives and some bad Europeans, 
 had the latter been allowed to possess arms 
 to any extent." Lord Granville stated, that 
 a suggestion had been made to Lord Can- 
 ning that Christians should be exempted 
 from the Act; but he had most properly 
 felt that, since many of the native rajahs, 
 zemindars, and their retainers, had exposed 
 their lives and property in order to stand 
 by the cause of the government, any act 
 subjecting them to a disarmament from 
 which all Europeans and Christians were 
 expressly exempted, would have been a 
 most unwise and impolitic measure. In 
 the course of the same debate. Lord Ellen- 
 borough likened "our position in India to 
 that of the Normans in Saxon England," 
 and declared that the Anglo-Indians must, 
 for a time at least, " assume the appearance 
 of an armed militia." The comparison and 
 phraseology were altogether unfortunate. 
 The cases are totally dissimilar: and even 
 passing over the anomaly of a so-called 
 armed militia maintaining a military des- 
 potism over 180 millions of disaffected sub- 
 jects, the prospect thus opened is hardly a 
 pleasant one for the British merchants and 
 traders, who look to India for an increased
 
 268 
 
 RESTRICTION OP THE PRESS— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 outlet for their comraerce, and hope to find 
 their hands strengthened by receiving the 
 valuable products which she could so cheaply 
 and so plentifully supply, provided only her 
 rulers can manage to govern her peacefully, 
 and employ her revenues in developing her 
 resources, and irrigating her fertile plains 
 with the fair water of her noble rivers, 
 instead of deluging the land with blood and 
 tears. An important admission was, how- 
 ever, made by Lord EUenborough in speak- 
 ing of a provision of the Press Act, regarding 
 the suppression of any passage in a public 
 journal calculated " to weaken the friend- 
 ship of native princes towards us." After 
 bearing testimony to the important results 
 which had attended the fidelity of the 
 rajahs of Rewah and Gwalior, the ex- 
 govemor-general added, that if the Indian 
 uewspapers, " in the spirit which too much 
 animates persons in that country, had ex- 
 pressed a hope that, when our rule was 
 re-established, there would be further and 
 further • annexations, I assure you that 
 every part of Central India, chiefs as well 
 as subjects, would have been in arms 
 against us."* 
 
 The tone thus denounced had, however, 
 been taken by many journals, and it was most 
 necessary that Lord Canning should possess 
 some counteracting power. The Anglo- 
 Indian papers did not always originate in- 
 cendiary articles : they occasionally copied 
 articles issued by the London press, written 
 hastily on a very partial and prejudiced 
 view of the subject, and without regard to 
 the effect likely to result from their repro- 
 duction in India. It is a fact that the 
 Indian princes study European politics with 
 avidity, and watch their bearing on Eng- 
 land. Much more do they examine, through 
 the medium of their interpreters, the lan- 
 guage held regarding them in the English 
 papers, and the comments made thereon by 
 the local press. 
 
 The first despatches which conveyed to 
 England tidings of the Meerut and Delhi 
 catastrophe, narrated also the admirable 
 conduct of Sindia and Holcar, of the rajahs 
 of Bhurtpoor, Jheend, and Putteeala. An 
 Anglo-Indian correspondent of the Times, 
 mentioned the death of the ill-used Nizam.f 
 and the accession to the musnud of his son, 
 Afzool-ood-Dowla, a prince of thirty years 
 of age, " born to the purple of Hyderabad, 
 
 * Indian debate, as reported in Timet, December 
 8th, 1867. 
 
 t See Introductory Chapter, p. 65. 
 
 and proportionately dull, ignorant, and 
 sensual." 
 
 The Times, commenting on this informa- 
 tion, in evident ignorance of the vital im- 
 portance to the British government of the 
 policy which might be adopted by the 
 Hyderabad durbar, remarked — " The fact 
 seems to be, that we have arrived at that 
 point in our Indian career, when the total 
 subjection of the native element, and the 
 organisation of all that we have conquered, 
 becomes a matter of necessity. We have 
 gone 80 far in the conquest of the country, 
 that it is now necessary to complete the 
 task. * * * We would even hope that 
 the death of the Nizam may be the occasion 
 of the Deccan being brought more com- 
 pletely under British sovereignty. We 
 cannot now refuse our part or change 
 our destiny. To retain power in India, we 
 must sweep away every political establish- 
 ment and every social usage which may 
 prevent our influence from being universal 
 and complete."! 
 
 In the course of another mail or two, 
 when the extent of the danger became 
 better understood, a different tone was 
 adopted, as it was soon seen that the native 
 durbar — that is to say, the Nizam, under the 
 guidance of his able minister, Salar Jung, 
 and his venerable uncle, Shums-ool-Orarah,§ 
 had remained faithful to the British govern- 
 ment, in opposition to the desire of the 
 great mass of bis fanatical Mussulman sub- 
 jects. 
 
 From this and many similar circum- 
 stances, it seems evident that an impera- 
 tive sense of duty was Lord Canning's 
 motive in placing a teraporwry restriction 
 on the press. The censorship was enacted 
 only for a year, and expired then without 
 the slightest effort being made for its 
 renewal. Lords Elphinstone and Harris 
 earnestly seconded its imposition ; the Cal- 
 cutta council were unanimous regarding its 
 necessity : yet the great weight of censure 
 was poured put on the governor-general, 
 ' who, from being, " personally, extremely 
 popular," and praised as "a conscientious, 
 hard-working man, and no jobber (a wonder- 
 ful merit in that country),"|| became the 
 object of the most .sweeping and unqualified 
 animadversion. Lord Canning conducted 
 himself with much dignity, exercising the 
 censorship he had felt it necessary to 
 
 ^ J rimes, June 29th, 1857. § Ibid. 
 
 ' II Speech of the Earl of Ellenborough. — Times, 
 December 8th, 1857.
 
 FINANCIAL POLICY OF LORD DALHOUSIE. 
 
 269 
 
 assume, without anger and without fear, 
 although aware that a petition was being 
 framed in Calcutta-, addressed to the Queen, 
 soliciting his recall, which petition was 
 eventually sent to England by the hand 
 of Mr. Mead, the ex-editor of the Friend 
 of India — removed from that office on the 
 ground of his infractions of the conditions 
 of the Press Act. 
 
 Among the difficulties which beset the 
 Indian governrijent, not the least pressing 
 was that of finance. This was ever a weak 
 point. In the palmiest days of peace, the 
 revenue could never be made, by British 
 rulers, to meet the expenditure : in war, 
 no better expedient had presented itself 
 than to inflict on the helpless people of 
 India a debt similar to that with which 
 England is burdened. One of the ablest 
 and most eloquent of living statesmen, has 
 repeatedly drawn attentioa to the unjust 
 expedient to which successive governors- 
 general have resorted, to supply an ever-re- 
 curring deficit at the expense of those who 
 are not allowed to have any voice in the 
 levying or expenditure of money which 
 they and their children are heavUy taxed 
 to supply. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone denounced the Indian 
 debt as being " charged upon a country 
 whose revenues we are drawing in this coun- 
 try by virtue of the power of the sword." 
 But (he added) " apart from that, I say it 
 is most unjust tliat the executive govern- 
 ment should have, for any purpose of its 
 own, or for any purpose of the people 
 of England, the power of entailing these 
 tremendous charges upon the people of 
 India."* 
 
 • Times, April 27th, 1858. 
 
 t Report of Indian debate. — Times, July 7lh, 1858. 
 
 X A London journal, the Press, November 28th, 
 1857, has the following remarks: — "Lord Dalhousie's 
 measure sent down the whole public funds of India 
 from ninety-seven, at which they stood at the t'me, 
 to eighty at a stroke. Every existing fundholder 
 was therefore irretrievably compromised; and no 
 one was thereafter able to realise except at a sacrifice 
 of from seventeen to twenty per cent. It was not, 
 be it observed, the conversion of the five per cents, 
 into fours that the fundholders complained of; for 
 that, by raising the value of the four per cents, 
 to par, was a benefit to the old holders, while those 
 who accepted the conversion ha(} no reason to com- 
 plain, as they might, if they liked, have taken cash. 
 To the moneyed class in particular, the conversion 
 itself was a thing almost immaterial ; for, as mere 
 temporary holders, they cared comparatively little 
 about the rate of interest except in so far as it 
 affected the market price of their stock. It was 
 because the conversion — followed f 'most imme- 
 
 On a subsequent occasion, he adverted 
 indignantly to the twelve or fifteen mil- 
 lions sterling imposed as a permanent bur- 
 den on the people of India by the Afghan 
 war.f 
 
 The manner of effecting loans in India 
 does not appear to have been calculated 
 to lesson the dissatisfaction which the 
 wealthier natives could not but feel at 
 being denied any voice in their appropria- 
 tion. An important step taken by Lord 
 Dalhousie, is thus described in his famous 
 farewell minute. After stating several facts 
 which seemed " to promise well for the 
 financial prosperity of the country," his 
 lordship adds — 
 
 " A measure which was carried into effect in 
 1853-'54, was calculated to contribute further to that 
 end.. During those years the, five percent, debt of 
 India was entirely extinguished. Excepting the 
 payment of a comparatively small sum in cash, the 
 whole of the five per cent, debt was either converted 
 into a four per cent, debt, or replaced in the open 
 four per cent. loan. The saving of interest which 
 was effected "by this operation, amounted to upwards 
 of £300,000 per annum. 
 
 "At a later period, by a combination of many 
 unfavourable circumstances, which could not have 
 been anticipated, and which were not foreseen in 
 England any more than by us in India, the govern- 
 ment has again' been obliged to borrow at the high 
 rate of five per cent. But the operation of 1853-'54 
 was not the less politic or less successful in itself; 
 while the financial relief it afforded was timely and 
 effectual." 
 
 The Calcutta Chamber of Commerce took 
 a different view of the matter,J and main- 
 tained that the lenders were ill-used. The 
 government, instead of having a large sur- 
 plus available for the operation, were, they 
 asserted, obliged, not from any unforeseen 
 causes, but in the natural course of things 
 
 diately by the opening of a new five per cent, loan 
 at par — made this stock absolutely unsaleable, that 
 they with cause complained. It made it unsaleable, 
 at least, except at a rate of discount that was ruin to 
 them ; and the consequence has been to close the 
 pocket of the Indian capitalist to the government 
 ever since. The remedy which the Indian govern- 
 ment has endeavoured to apply — namely, that of 
 raising the amount of interest without providing for 
 the redemption of the stock that is thus depreciated 
 — only aggravates the evil which it is meant to cure. 
 Because, although the rate now offered be sufficient 
 in itself, it but the more assures the lender of the 
 fact, that his capital, if so invested, will be invested 
 beyond recall ; for if the Company can see no way 
 to relief but by constantly raising its interest, a five 
 per cent, loan must very soon be followed by a six 
 per cent., and a six per cent, by a seven per cent., 
 as its wants increase. And with each rise in the rate 
 of interest the stock of the old holders will fall in 
 market value, and be utterly unsaleable except at a 
 price far below the sum which the owner lent."
 
 270 FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES OF INDIAN GOVERNMENT— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 (financial difficulty being the chronic con- 
 dition of the Anglo-Indian government), im- 
 mediately to open a new loan at five 
 per cent. Money to the amount of four 
 millions was borrowed by government, be- 
 tween the conversion of the five per cent, 
 into a four per cent, debt in 1854, and the 
 close of 1856, chiefly at five per cent., but 
 partly at four-and-a-half per cent. 
 
 The four-and-a-half per cent, loan was 
 suppressed, and a five per cent, loan opened 
 in January, 1857 — a measure which gave 
 rise to much distrust, and seriously im- 
 peded the operations of the executive, when 
 the sudden emergency occasioned by the 
 revolt had to be met. 
 
 An ofBcer, describing to a friend in 
 England the state of aflairs in Calcutta, 
 12th of June, 1857, says— "The Com- 
 pany's paper is down very low ; the new 
 five per cent, loan few subscribe to, and the 
 four per cents, were yesterday at twenty 
 discount; and I see, by the newspaper, 
 that at Benares it was at forty-two dis- 
 count. We must have a new loan, and yon 
 must give us the money, I expect. Out of 
 the treasuries alone that have been robbed, 
 I should think nearly two millions of 
 money have been taken ; and then fancy 
 the expense of the transport of all these 
 Europeans."* 
 
 On the evening of the day on which the 
 Arras and Press Acts had been passed, 
 a message from Major-general Hearsey 
 reached Calcutta, desiring the aid of Euro- 
 pean troops to disarm the Native troops at 
 Barrackpoor, as he believed their fidelity 
 could not be relied on. The request was 
 immediately complied with ; and, on the 
 afternoon of Sunday, the 14tli, the sepoys 
 at Barrackpoor, and also all except the 
 hody-j;uard of the governor-general in 
 Fort William, Calcutta, and the neighbour- 
 liood, were quietly disarmed. The neces- 
 sity for this measure must have greatly 
 increased Lord Canning's perplexities. 
 Although " Pandyistn" had originated at 
 Barrackpoor, it was thought to have been 
 trodden out there, and the government 
 actually intended to dispatch troops from 
 thence to join the force against Delhi, 
 heedless of the opinion expressed by Lieu- 
 tenant-governor Colvin at Agra, and his 
 policy of "preserving the peace by not per- 
 mitting Native troops to meet and directly 
 fight their brethren."t It would have 
 
 * Diary of officer in C.-ilcutta. — Times, Au^. 3,1857. 
 t Appendix to Papers on Mutiny, p. 188. 
 
 been objectionable on the lowest ground 
 of expediencj', as a most dangerous experi- 
 ment, to send men to fight against their 
 countrymen, co-religionist.s, and, in many 
 cases, their own relations. Even sup- 
 posing them to have started for Delhi in all 
 good faith, it was not in human nature to 
 resist such combined temptations as those 
 which would have met them on the road, 
 or on reaching their destination. Sooner 
 or later they would, rather than have fired 
 on, have fraternised with their mutinous 
 comrades. There were excellent British 
 oflScers at Barrackpoor; and they were, 
 perhaps, disposed to overrate their own 
 influence with the men. Tlie accounts 
 sent to England by the Indian government, 
 do not clearly show what intimations were 
 made to the troops to induce tiicm to 
 volunteer to march against Delhi, and to 
 use the new rifle; but it would appear 
 that they were given to understand that, 
 by so doing, they would gain great credit, 
 and place themselves beyond suspicion. 
 For the off"er to march against Delhi, the 
 70th N.I. were thanked by the governor- 
 general in person; and it was subsequent 
 to this that they professed their readiness 
 to use the new cartridges. In an address 
 to government, dated June 5th, and for- 
 warded by the colonel (Kennedy) com- 
 manding the 70th N.I., the petitioners 
 aver — 
 
 " We have thought over the suhject ; and as we 
 are now going up country, we beg that the new 
 rifles, about which there has been so much said in 
 the army and all over the country, may be served 
 out to us. By using them in its service, we hope to 
 prove beyond a doubt our fidelity to government ; 
 and we will explain to all we meet, that there is 
 nothing objectionable in tliem.''J 
 
 The petition of the 70th N.I. to join the 
 force before Delhi, was read aloud, by Lord 
 Canning's order, at the head of vai-ious 
 Native corps, and the eff"ect it produced 
 was apparently beneficial. For instance, 
 the 63r(l N.I., at Berhampoor, expressed 
 themselves (in very English phraseology, 
 but with very un-English feeling) " pre- 
 pared and ready, with heart and hand, to 
 go wherever, and against whomsoever you 
 may ))lease to scud us, should it even be 
 against our own kinsmen."^ The governor- 
 general in council desired Major-general 
 Hearsey to thank the 63i'd N.l. publicly, 
 " for this soldier-like expression of their 
 
 I Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (not numbered), p. 46. 
 § Ibid., ]). 70.
 
 DISARMING OF BARRACKPOOR BRIGADE— JUNE 14th, 1857. 271 
 
 loyalty and attachment to the govern- 
 ment."* 
 
 Tlie offer may have been honestly made; 
 for the natives are the veriest children of 
 impulse , bat few who knew them would 
 doubt that the reaction would be sudden 
 and strong, and that mercenary troops so 
 peculiarly situated, would, when brought 
 face to face — father with son, brotiier witii 
 brother — lose all notion of being " true to 
 their salt" in the natural feelings of 
 humanity. The very expression of being 
 ready to oppose their own kinsmen, sug- 
 gests that the possibility of being placed iu 
 such a cruel position had already occurred 
 to them. 
 
 On the 9th of June, a Mussulman of the 
 70th N.I. came to Captain Greene, and the 
 following very remarkable conversation 
 ensued regarding the intended march from 
 Barrackpoor to Delhi : — 
 
 " ' Whatever you do,' said the sepoy, ' do not take 
 your lady with you.' I asked him, ' Why ?' He 
 said, ' Because the mind of the natives, kala adnii 
 (bhick men), was now in a state of inquietude, and it 
 would be better to let the lady remain here till 
 everytliing was settled in the country, as there was 
 no knowing what might happen.' On my asking 
 him if he had any reason to doubt the loyalty of the 
 regiment, he replied, ' Who can tell the hearts of a 
 thousand men ?' He said that he believed the 
 greater portion of the men of the regiment were 
 sound, and in favour of our rule ; but that a few evil 
 men might persuade a number of good men to do an 
 evil deed. 
 
 "I then asked Jiim the meaning of all this about 
 the cartridges. He said, ' That when first the report 
 was spread about, it was generally believed by the 
 men; but that subsequently it had been a well 
 understood thing that the cartridge question was 
 merely raised for the sake of exciting the men, with 
 a view of getting the whole army to mutiny, and 
 thereby upset the English government; that they 
 argued, that as we were turned out of Cabool, and 
 had never returned to that place, so, if once we were 
 entirely turned- out of India, our rule would cease, 
 and we should never return.' Such is the opinion 
 of a great bulk of the people. A Native officer also 
 warned me that it would be better not to take up 
 
 Mr. . He said that if I went he would sleep by 
 
 my bed, and protect me with his own life." 
 
 Captain Greene adds, that a Hindoo had 
 told him that the Mussulmans generally, in 
 all regiments, were in the habit of talking 
 to the effect that their " ' raj' was coming 
 round again. "f 
 
 It is evident, from the foregoing state- 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers, 1857{not numbered), p. 71. 
 
 t Ihid., p. 8. 
 
 \ Letter from Major-general Hearsey to his sister; 
 dated, " Barrackpoor, June 16th, lib!."— Daily 
 Hews, August 6lh, 1857. 
 
 ment, that a dangerous degree of excite- 
 ment existed among tlie Barrackpoor troops. 
 Matters were brought to an issue by a re- 
 port being made to Colonel Kennedy, that 
 a man of the 70th N.I. had been heard to 
 say, "Let us go beyond Pultah, and then 
 you will hear what we will do." General 
 Hearsey made inquiries, and convinced 
 himself that "some villains in the corps 
 were trying to incite the good men and 
 true to mutiny." He endeavoured to per- 
 suade the men to find out and deliver over 
 the offenders : they would not do this ; and 
 he resolved on disarming the entire brigade 
 of four regiments. J The officers of the 
 70th strenuously opposed the measure, 
 declaring that " the reported speech must 
 have been made by some budmash, and 
 that Colonel Kennedy, being new to the 
 regiment, did not and could not know the 
 real and devoted sentiments of the Native 
 officers and men with respect to their 
 feaUy."§ 
 
 The brigadier wisely persisted in a step 
 which must have been most painful to 
 him ; and he adds, what will readily be 
 believed, that he spoke " very, very kindly" 
 to tlie men at the time of the disarming. 
 Tlie officers of the 70th were deeply affected 
 by the grief evinced by their men. They 
 went to the lines on the following day, 
 and tried to comfort them, and induce 
 them to take food. They found that the 
 banyans (native dealers) had, in some in- 
 stances, refused to give further credit, 
 under the impression that the regiment 
 would soon be paid up, and discharged 
 altogether; while a large number were pre- 
 paring to desert, in consequence of a bazaar 
 report that handcuffs and manacles had 
 been sent for. Captain Greene pleaded 
 earnestly with Major-general Hearsey iu 
 favour of the regiment, which " had been 
 for nigh twenty-five years liis pride and his 
 home;" declaring, "all of us, black and white, 
 would be so thankful to you if you could 
 get us back our arms, and send us away 
 from this at once."|| 
 
 Of course the petition could not be 
 granted. The safety of such officers as 
 these was far too valuable to be thus 
 risked. Probably their noble confidence, 
 and that evinced by many others similarly 
 
 § Major-general Hearsey to secretary to govern- 
 ment, June 15th, 1857.— Further Pari. Papers (not 
 numbered), p. 6. 
 
 II Letters of Captain Greene to Major-general 
 Hearsey, June Hth and 15th, \%bl.—Ibid., pp. 6., 7.
 
 272 SERVICE RENDERED BY EUROPEAN OFFICERS OF NATIVE CORPS. 
 
 circumstanced, will be called sheer iufatua- 
 lion, and no allowance made for circum- 
 stances under which zeal might easily outrun 
 discretion. But let it be remembered it was 
 their own lives, nothing more, nothing less, 
 that they were so willing to hazard losing; 
 and the cause, which rendered them heed- 
 less of personal danger, was an absorbing 
 desire for the honour of their corps, the 
 welfare of their men, and the service of 
 their country. 
 
 And most effective has their devotion 
 been. No mere human wisdom, under 
 whatever specious name it may be disguised 
 — discretion, policy, expediency — could have 
 done what the fearless faith of these gallant 
 sepoy leaders did to break tlie first shock of 
 the mutiny, to stop a simultaneous rising, 
 to buy, when " time was everything," a few 
 weeks', days', hours' respite, at the cost of 
 their life-blood. It was extreme coercion 
 that lit the fires at Meerut and Delhi ; it 
 was extreme conciliation that saved Simla 
 and Lucknow. If some oflBcers carried 
 their confidence too far, and did not see 
 that the time for conciliatory measures 
 had for the moment passed, it must be 
 recollected that they could not know the 
 full extent of the secret influences brought 
 to bear on the minds of they- men ; far less 
 could they counteract the effect of panic 
 caused, in repeated instances, by the cruel 
 blundering of the highest local authorities, 
 where these happened to be incapacitated 
 for the exercise of sound judgment, by 
 infirmity of mind and body (as has been 
 shown at Meerut), or by the indiscrimi- 
 nating rashness of a hasty spirit (as is 
 alleged to have been the case at Benares). 
 
 The panic in the lines of the Barrackpoor 
 sepoys, on the evening of Sunday, the 14th, 
 was far outdone by that which seized on 
 the minds of the Calcutta population, in 
 anticipation of the possible consequences 
 of the measure which, after all, was so 
 peaceably accomplished. The fact of the 
 sepoys having allowed themselves to be 
 disarmed without resistance, could not be 
 denied ; but the newsmongers and alarmists 
 made amends for having no struggle to 
 narrate, by enlarging on the imminent 
 danger which had been averted. An order 
 had been given by the governor-general to 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (not numbered), 
 p. 52. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 59. 
 
 i See Dr. Duff's Letters on India, p. 37. 
 
 J Ibid., p. 2. Dr. Duff speaks very decidedly 
 
 search the lines, after the disarming should 
 have been accomplished,* for tulwars (na- 
 tive swords), or other weapons. Brigadier 
 Hearsey did so, and acquainted the gover- 
 nor-general with the fact of the order having 
 been obeyed. He makes no mention of 
 any Weapons having been found ; but only 
 adds — " All quiet. "t The description of 
 the condition of the troops on the following 
 day, has been shown ; as also the entreaty 
 of the officers of the 70th N.I., for the 
 re-arming of their regiment. Yet Dr. Duff, 
 writing to England, says, that "when, 
 after disarming, the sepoys' huts were 
 searched, they were found to be filled with 
 instruments of the most murderous descrip- 
 tion — huge knives of various shapes, two- 
 handed swords, poniards, and battle-axes; 
 many of the swords being serrated, and 
 evidently intended for the perpetration of 
 torturing cruelties on their European vic- 
 tims — cruelties over which, in their anticipa- 
 tion, these ruthless savages, while fed and 
 nurtured by the government, had doubtless 
 fondly gloated !"J Of course, the official 
 statements since laid before parliament, 
 prove all this to be idle rumour ; but it is 
 quoted here as showing what fables were 
 accepted as facts, and indorsed as such by 
 men of note in Calcutta. The Europeans, 
 moreover, believed themselves to have es- 
 caped, by a peculiar providence, a plot laid 
 for their destruction by some undetected 
 Mussulman Guy Fawkes. The maharajah of 
 Gwalior had been visiting Calcutta shortly 
 before the mutiny, and had invited the whole 
 European community to an exhibition of 
 fireworks, across the river, at the Botanic 
 Gardens. The entertainment was post- 
 poned on account of a violent storm ; and 
 it was afterwards alleged that a scheme had 
 been thereby thwarted, of seizing that 
 night on Fort William, and massacring the 
 Christian community. § New rumours of a 
 similar character were spread abroad iu 
 every direction. As at Simla, so at Cal- 
 cutta, nothing was too palpably alisurd to 
 be related and received as possible and 
 probable. True, the year 1857 will go 
 down to posterity as one of previously un- 
 paralleled crime and disaster. But it will 
 also take its place as a year of " canards." 
 The native tendency to. exaggeration and 
 
 on the subject. He states that some of the conspira- 
 tors underwent the penalty of death. It is .strange 
 that other writers have not mentioned so remarkable 
 and important event, if anything of the kind really 
 occurred.
 
 PANIC AT CALCUTTA— LORD AND LADY CANNING— JUNE 14ih. 273 
 
 high colouring was well known. Every 
 Englishman in India, every educated Euro- 
 pean, must have learned in childhood to 
 appreciate the story-telling propensities of 
 the Asiatics. The Arabian Nights are a 
 standing memorial of their powers of ima- 
 gination. In composition or in conversa- 
 tion, they adopt a florid, fervid style, natural 
 to them, but bewildering to Europeans in 
 general, and peculiarly distasteful to the 
 Anglo-Saxon mind. In the limited in- 
 tercourse between superior and inferior, 
 master and servant, the " sahibs" would cut 
 short the Oriental jargon very quickly ; 
 but when, in the fever of excitement, 
 domestic servants, khitmutgars or ayahs, a 
 favourite syce (groom) or some personal 
 attendant, came full of a bazaar report of 
 horrors perpetrated at stations hundreds of 
 miles off, they were listened to as if every 
 syllable had been Gospel truth ; and, through 
 similar channels, the newspaper columns 
 were filled with the most circumstantial 
 details of often imaginary, always exagge- 
 rated, atrocities. 
 
 Strange that the experience of a hundred 
 years had had so little eflfect in giving the 
 rulers of India an insight into native 
 character, and in enabling them to view the 
 real dangers and difficulties of their posi- 
 tion, unclouded by imaginary evils. But 
 no ! the tales of mutilation and violation 
 publicly told, and the still fouler horrors 
 privately whispered, though now for the 
 most part denounced and disowned, then 
 made many a brave man pale with alarm, 
 as he looked on his v.ife and children. 
 Fear is even more credulous than hope ; and 
 the majority, while under the bewildering 
 influence of excitement, probably believed in 
 the alleged abominations. It seems likely, 
 however, that some of the retailers of these 
 things must have had sufiicient experience 
 of the untrustworthiuess of the hearsay 
 evidence on which they rested, to under- 
 stand their true character. If so, and 
 if, indeed, they promulgated lies, knowing 
 or suspecting them to be such, they com- 
 mitted a deadly sin ; and on their heads 
 rests, in measure, the blood of every man 
 who, wild with terror, rushed from the pre- 
 
 • Mrs. Coopland, in the narrative of her Escape 
 from Gwalior, remarks — " We heard of the shocking 
 suicides of the commodore of the Mary and of 
 General Stalker. The reason we heard assigned 
 for this, both in the papers and by jjeople who ought 
 to know, is that the climate so upsets people's 
 nerves, as to render them unfit for any great ex- 
 citement or responsibility." — (p. 76.) The climate can 
 VOL. II. 2 N 
 
 sence of his fellow-creatures to the tribunal 
 of his God, or proved, in the presence 
 of assembled heathens, his disbelief in the 
 existence of an ever-present Saviour, by 
 destroying his wife or child. Several in- 
 stances of suicide occurred during the mu- 
 tiny.* Of wife or child-murder there are 
 few, if any, attested instances ; but it is 
 suffipieiitly terrible to know, that the thought 
 of escaping the endurance of snfl'ering by 
 the commission of sin, was deliberately 
 sanctioned, as will be shown by a subse- 
 quent chapter, even by ministers, or at 
 least by a minister, of the Christian religion. 
 
 It was well for England and for India, 
 that the governor-general was a man of 
 rare moral and physical courage. No 
 amount of energy could have compensated 
 for a want of self-reliance, which might 
 have placed him at the mercy of rash ad- 
 visers, and induced the adoption of coercive 
 measures likely to turn possible rebels 
 into real ones, instead of such as were calcu- 
 lated to reassure the timid and decide the 
 wavering, by the attitude of calm dignity 
 so important in a strong foreign govern- 
 ment. General Mansfield, tlien in Calcutta, 
 wrote home, that " the one calm head in 
 Calcutta was that upon Lord Canning's 
 shoulders."t The assertion seems, how- 
 ever, too sweeping. Certainly there was 
 another exception. The viceroy's wife was 
 as little susceptible of panic as her lord, and 
 continued to reside iu a palace guarded 
 by natives, and to drive about, attended by 
 a sepoy escort, with a gentle, fearless bear- 
 ing, which well befitted her position. 
 
 Lord Canning was much blamed for not 
 immediately exchanging his sepoy for a 
 European guard : but Earl Granville de- 
 fended him very happily, on grounds on 
 which the sepoy officers may equally base 
 their justification. " I think," said Lord 
 Granville, " that at a moment when great 
 panic existed in Calcutta, Lord Canning 
 was rash in intrusting himself to troops 
 whose fidelity might be suspected ; but it 
 was at a time when he felt, that as our 
 dominion in India depended upon the belief 
 in our self-confidence and courage, it was 
 of the greatest importance that the head of 
 
 hardly deserve the sole blame: suicide is usually 
 the termination of the lives of persons who have 
 habitually disregarded the revealed will of God, 
 by sensual indulgence, or what is commonly termed 
 the laws of nature — by long-continued mental effort, 
 to the neglect of their physical requirements. 
 
 t Staled by Earl Granville in India debate. — 
 Times, December 8th, 1857.
 
 274 
 
 ARREST OF KING OF OUDE— JUNE 15th, 1857. 
 
 the Europeans in that country should not 
 be thought to be deficient in those quali- 
 ties. And I am quite sure, that among 
 Englishmen even, too great an indifference 
 to personal danger is not likely very long 
 to tell against Lord Canning."* 
 
 It is probable that the governor-general 
 hoped, by retaining his sepoy guard, to 
 counteract in some degree the dangerous 
 tendency of the alarm manifested by his 
 countrymen. An officer " who witnessed 
 the living panorama of Calcutta on the 
 14th of June,"t has drawn a lively sketch 
 of the prevailing disorder and dismay. 
 
 He declares-^ 
 
 " It was all but universally credited that the Bar- 
 rackpoor brigade was in full march against Calcutta; 
 that the people in the suburbs had already risen ; 
 that the King of Oude, with his followers, were 
 plundering Garden-reach. Those highest in office 
 were the first to give the alarm. There were secre- 
 taries to government running over to members of 
 council, loading their pistols, barricading the doors, 
 sleeping on sofas ; members of council abandoning 
 their houses with their families, and taking refuge 
 on board ship : crowds of lesser celebrities, impelled 
 by these examples, having hastily collected their 
 valuables, were rushing to the fort, only too happy 
 to be permitted to sleep under the fort guns. 
 Horses, carriages, palanquins, vehicles of every sort 
 and kind, were put into requisition to convey panic- 
 stricken fugitives out of the reach of imaginary 
 cut-throats. In the suburbs, almost every house 
 belonging to the Christian population was aban- 
 doned. Half-a-dozen determined fanatics could 
 have burned down three parts of the town. A score 
 of London thieves would have made their fortunes 
 by plundering the houses in the neighbourhood of 
 Chowringhee (the patrician quarter of the city), 
 which had been abandoned by their inmates.''^ 
 
 The writer adds — " It must in fairness be 
 admitted, that whilst his advisers — tlie pa- 
 tricians of Leadenhall-street — were hiding 
 under sofas, and secreting themselves in 
 the holds of the vessels in port, Lord Can- 
 ning himself maintained a dignified atti- 
 tude." The admission is worth noting. 
 It is only to be regretted that other excep- 
 tions were not made ; for it is scarcely pos- 
 sible but that there were such. Only, to 
 
 • Stated by Earl Granville in India debate.— 
 Times, December 8th, 1857. 
 
 t See also similar statements published in Indian 
 correspondence of Times, Daily Newt, and other 
 papers of August, 1857. Dr. Duff says — " The panic 
 throughout Sunday night rose to an inconceivable 
 height With the exception of another couple, 
 Mrs. Duff and myself were the only British subjects 
 in Cornwallissquare on that night." — Letters, p. 24. 
 
 X Mutiny nf the Beiii/al Army : by One who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier ; p. 105. 
 
 § An officer employed on the expedition, remarks, 
 that the 37th wore " the small forage cap, fit only 
 
 have singled them out would have been to 
 stigmatise the unnamed. 
 
 At daybreak on the 15th of June, the King 
 of Oude, with Ali Nukki Khan, and other 
 leading adherents, were arrested, and lodged 
 as prisoners in Fort William. The official 
 intimation simply relates the fact, without 
 stating the reason of the arrest, or the 
 manner in which it was performed. Private 
 authorities state that it was accomplished ' 
 as a surprise. The force employed con- 
 sisted of 500 men of H.M. 37th foot (which 
 had arrived a few days before from Ceylon, 
 and had been present at the disarming at 
 Barrack poor), § and a company of the royal 
 artillery. Mr. Edmonstone, the foreign 
 secretary, then went forward to the resi- 
 dence of the ex-minister. He seemed 
 startled by the sight of the soldiers, but 
 surrendered himself to their custody without 
 a word of remonstrance. His house was 
 searched, and his papers secured. The 
 party then proceeded to arrest the king, 
 telling him that the governor-general had 
 reason to believe him connected with the 
 mutiny. Wajid Ali behaved on this occa- 
 sion, as on that of his deposition, with 
 much dignity. Taking off his jewelled 
 turban, and placing it before the foreign 
 secretary, he said — " If I have, by word, 
 by deed, or in any way whatever encouraged 
 the mutineers, I am worthy of any punish- 
 ment that can be devised i I am ready to 
 go wherever the governor-general thinks 
 fit." The apartments were then searched; 
 and, in the words of one of the officers 
 engaged, " the king, his prime minister, 
 and the whole batch, papers and all, were 
 seized."|| 
 
 The Calcutta population viewed this 
 measure, which was simply a precautionary 
 one, as undoubted evidence of a discovered 
 conspiracy. Dr. Duff, writing from Cal- 
 cutta, and deeply imbued with the fever 
 of the time (as from the nature of his rare 
 gift of popular eloquence he would be likely 
 to be), enters very fully into the subject.f 
 
 for the barrack-square in England, affording n 
 protection whatever from the sun. They had white 
 jackets on, I was glad to see; but even then, the 
 heat was so great that the cross-belt was wet 
 through from perspiration. Stocks of course." — 
 Times, August 3rd, 1857. 
 
 II Times— Ibid. 
 
 f rhese letters, addressed to Dr.Tweedie, Convener 
 of the Free Church of Scotland's Foreign Mission 
 Committee, were published in 1858, under the title 
 of The Indian lieheilion : its Causes and Results : 
 and " the views and opinions which they embody," 
 are described in the preface as •' the ripe result I'f
 
 SIR P. GRANT APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF— JUNE, 1857. 275 
 
 "On Monday morning," he writes, "the 
 ex-King of Oude and his treasonable crew 
 were arrested, and safely quartered in Fort 
 William. Since tlien various parties con- 
 nected with the Oude family, and other 
 influential Mohammedans, have been ar- 
 rested ; and on them have been found 
 several important documents, tending to 
 throw light on the desperate plans of trea- 
 son which have been seriously projected. 
 Among others has been found a map of 
 Calcutta, so sketched out as to divide the 
 whole of the town into sections. A general 
 rise was planned to take place on the 3rd 
 instant, the anniversary of the battle of 
 Plassey. The city was to be taken, and 
 the Feringhi Kaffirs [foreign infidels], or 
 British and other Christian inhabitants, to 
 be all massacred. Hereafter, parties who 
 swore on the Koran, and proved that they 
 had taken an active share in the butchery 
 and pillage of the Europeans, were to have 
 certain sections of the town allotted to 
 them for their own special benefit I" All 
 this, and much more of a similar sort. 
 Dr. Duff declares to have been " timeously 
 and providentially revealed." That is to 
 say, all this was firmly believed during the 
 panic ; but very little, if any, has been 
 established by subsequent examination, or 
 is now on record. 
 
 Time, the revealer of secrets, has brought 
 nothing to light to the disparagement of 
 the King of Oude. On the contrary, many 
 of the accusations brought against him 
 have been disproved. Impartial observers 
 assert, that " there is not a shadow of a 
 shade of evidence to connect him with the 
 rebellion."* Whether from his own con- 
 victions, or by the advice of the queen- 
 mother (a woman of unquestioned ability), 
 he appears to have steadily adhered to the 
 policy which alone admitted a prospect of 
 redress — that of submission under protest. 
 
 Mr. Russell, writing from Lucknow in 
 February, 1859, remarks — " It is now uni- 
 versally admitted, that it was owing to 
 his influence no outbreak took place at the 
 time of the annexation."* Up to the 
 period of the mutiny, and, indeed, to the | 
 present moment, he has firmly refused to 
 
 thirty years' observation." It is added, that the most 
 fastidious critic will lianliy require any apology for 
 the want of the author's revision ; because the letters 
 are " tense with the emotions, and all aflame with 
 the tidings of that terrible season." It is not, 
 however, a question of style, but of fact. Misstate- 
 ments like the one regarding the IJarrackpoor sepoys 
 and the King of Oude, with many other stories 
 
 accept any allowance from the British gov- 
 ernment. He may be our prisoner; he will 
 not be our pensioner : but has continued, 
 by the sale of his jewels, to support himself 
 and the royal family. The anomalous posi- 
 tion of the deposed king certainly did not 
 strengthen the British government during 
 the mutiny; and when Wajid Ali heard of 
 the fall of Cawnpoor, and the precarious 
 tenure of Lucknow, the magnificent capital 
 of his dynasty (held by a slender garrison 
 of the usurping race, against their own 
 revolted mercenaries), he might well feel 
 that the seizure of his misgoverned king- 
 dom had been followed by a speedy retri- 
 bution. In the hands of a native gov- 
 ernment, Oude would have been, as in 
 every previous war, a source of strength to 
 the British government ; now it threatened 
 to be like the " Spanish ulcer" of Napoleon 
 Buonaparte. If Wajid Ali yearned for 
 vengeance, he had it in no stinted measure, 
 though a prisoner. Vengeful, however, 
 none of his house appear to have been : 
 their vices were altogether of another 
 order. Perhaps he had himself benefited 
 by the sharp lessons of adversity; and while 
 becoming sensible of the folly of his past 
 career of sensuality and indolence, might 
 hope that the English would profit by the 
 same stern teaching, and learn the expe- 
 diency of being just. 
 
 On the 17th of June, Sir Patrick Grant, 
 the newly-appointed commander-in-chief, 
 arrived at Calcutta from Madras, and with 
 him Colonel Havelock, who had just re- 
 turned from Persia. Both were experienced 
 Indian officers. Sir Patrick Grant com- 
 menced his career in the Bengal army, and 
 had early distinguished himself by raising 
 the Hurrianah light infantry — a local bat- 
 talion, which he commanded for many 
 years : he subsequently married a daughter 
 of Lord Gough ; became adjutant-general; 
 and was from thence raised to the command 
 of the Madras army, being the first oflRcer 
 in the Company's service who had ever 
 attained that position. 
 
 Colonel (afterwards Sir Henry) Have- 
 lock was a Queen's officer, who had seen 
 service in Burraah and Afghanistan, in the 
 
 calculated to set the British mind " aflame" against 
 the natives, ought in justice to have been recanted. 
 Dr. Duff is a well-known and respected minister, of 
 unquestioned ability; and his errors cannot, m jus- 
 tice to the cause of truth, be passed unnoticed, even 
 though under the pressure of an important avoca- 
 tion : they mav have escaped his memory. 
 
 • Russell.— '7V»ie», March 28th, 1859. + Z*"^-
 
 276 ANTECEDENTS OF COL. (AFTERWARDS SIR HENRY) HAVELOCK. 
 
 Gwalior campaign of 1843, and the Sutlej 
 campaigns of 1845-'6; after which he hecame 
 quartermaster-general, and, subsequently, 
 adjutant-general of her Majesty's forces in 
 India. In 1829 he married the third 
 daughter of Dr. Marshman, the companion 
 of the apostolic Carey in founding the Bap- 
 tist Mission at Serampoor; and, in the fol- 
 lowing year, he openly joined that denomi- 
 nation of Christians, receiving public bap- 
 tism in the manner deemed by them most 
 scriptural. The step drew on him much 
 ridicule from those who, having never had 
 any deep religious convictions, could not 
 understand their paramount influence on a 
 loftier spirit. It was not, however, a mea- 
 sure likely to hinder his advancement in his 
 profession ; although, if it had been, Have- 
 lock was a brave and honest man, and much 
 too strongly convinced of the paramount im- 
 portance of things eternal, to have hazarded 
 them for any worldly advantage. At the 
 same time, it is certain he made uo sacri- 
 fice of things temporal by allying himself 
 with the once despised but afterwards power- 
 ful party, which exercised remarkable influ- 
 ence through the Friend of India, of which 
 paper Dr. Marshman was the proprietor. 
 As a boy, he is said to have been called 
 " old Phlos" by his playfellows at the 
 Charter-house, on account of his grave, 
 philosophic demeanour. In after years, he 
 delighted in expounding the Scriptures 
 to his men, and in warning them against 
 the besetting sins of a soldier's daily life, 
 drunkenness and its attendant vice. His 
 efforts were crowned with success. At 
 a critical moment during the campaign 
 in Burmah, Sir Archibald Campbell gave 
 an order to a particular corps, which could 
 not be carried out, owing to the number of 
 men unfitted for duty by intoxication. 
 The general was informed of the fact. 
 "Then," said he, "call out Havelock's 
 saints; they are never drunk, and he 
 is always ready."* 
 
 Again — when, in 1835, Havelock sought 
 the appointment of adjutant to the 13th 
 light infantry, opposition was made from 
 various quarters, on the ground that he was 
 
 • Rev. William Brock's Biographical Sketch of 
 Sir Henry Havelock, p. 3' 
 
 ^ Ibid., p. 45. t 76iV/., p. 121. 
 
 § Life of Sir Charles Napier: by Sir William 
 Napier. — Vol. iii., p. 410. 
 
 II Rev. W. Brock's Biographical Sketch of Sir 
 Henry Havelock, K.C.B.—p. 18. 
 
 f Letter to Mrs. Havelock j July 13th, 1857.— 
 Ibid., p. 163. 
 
 a fanatic and an enthusiast. Lord William 
 Bentinck examined the punishment roll 
 of the regiment; and finding that the men 
 of Havelock's company, and those who 
 joined them in their religious exercises, 
 were the most sober and the best-behaved 
 in the regiment, he gave Havelock the 
 solicited appointment; remarking, that he 
 "oiilv wished the whole regiment was 
 Baptist."t 
 
 Colonel Havelock's personal habits wiere 
 simple, even to austerity ; and to these, but 
 still more to his habitual trust in an over- 
 ruling Providence, may be attributed the 
 spring of energy which enabled him to de- 
 clare, on the morning of his sixty-second 
 birthday — " Nearly every hair on my head 
 and face is as grey as my first charger; 
 but my soul and mind are young and 
 fresh."J Military honours he coveted to 
 a degree which appears to have rendered 
 him comparatively insensible to the hor- 
 rors of war; and it is strange to con- 
 trast the irrepressible disgust with which 
 Sir Charles Napier chronicles the scenes of 
 slaughter through which he had cut his 
 way to fame and fortune, with the almost 
 unalloyed satisfaction which Havelock seems 
 to have found in a similar career. 
 
 These two veterans (each of whom at- 
 tained eminence after toiling up-hill, past 
 the mile-stones of threescore years) have 
 left on record widely different opinions. 
 Napier uniformly denounced war as " hellish 
 work."§ Havelock, "having no scruples 
 about the compatibility of war with Chris- 
 tianity,"|| prayed constantly, from his 
 school-days to advanced age, "to live to 
 command in a successful action."^ This 
 single sentence, which conveys the cherished 
 desire of a lifetime, is one of those utter- 
 ances that reveal, beyond all possibility 
 of error, the character, even the inner being, 
 of the writer. Lord Hardinge is said to 
 have pronounced Havelock, " every inch a 
 soldier, and every inch a Christian."** And 
 this praise was true in its degree; for Lord 
 Hardingett measured Havelock by his own 
 standard of Christianity ; and Havelock 
 himself steadily pursued what he believed 
 
 •• Brock's Havelock. — Preface. 
 
 1 1 Napier writes — " Hardinge is very religious ; he 
 had prayers on the field of battle ! 'I'hou shall not 
 kill, is the order ; and it seems strange, in the heat of 
 disobedience, to pray and make parade." — Life, vol. 
 iii., p. 368. It must, however, be remembered, that 
 to pray to be protected in battle, and to be led into 
 it, are totally different petitions.
 
 CHARACTER OF MAJOR-GENERAL HAVELOCK. 
 
 277 
 
 to be the path of duty. Still, that a Chris- 
 tian far advanced in yeais, should, after 
 lon^ experience of offensive warfare (the 
 Afghan campaign for instance), continue to 
 pray to be at the head of a battle, is start- 
 ling, and would be incomprehensible, had 
 we not daily evidence how apt men are (in 
 Archbishop Whateley's words) to let their 
 opinions or practices bend the rule by which 
 they measure them. 
 
 These comments would be superfluous 
 but for the extreme interest excited by the 
 closing passages of Havelock's life, on 
 which we are now entering, and which, 
 from their peculiar character, have thrown 
 an interest round the chief actor, scarcely 
 warranted by the relative importance of his 
 proceedings as compared witli those of other 
 Indian leaders, several of whom have been 
 strangely underrated.* It is frequently as- 
 serted that Havelock resembled the Puritans 
 of English history : his spare small figure, 
 and worn and thoughtful face, helps the com- 
 parison ; and it is asserted, in words of 
 more discriminating praise than those pre- 
 viously quoted, that "a more simple-minded, 
 upright, God-fearing soldier, was not among 
 Cromwell's Ironsides. "f But it must be 
 remembered that the Puritans fought for 
 civil and religious liberty, for themselves 
 and for their children ; and Havelock, em- 
 ployed in repeated foreign wars of conquest 
 and subjugation, might as well be compared 
 to the gallant Baptist missionaries, Knibb 
 and his coadjutors (who struggled so effi- 
 ciently, amid poverty, calumny, and cruel 
 persecution, for the anti-slavery cause in 
 the West Indies), as to an English Round- 
 head. 
 
 The arrival of Sir Patrick Grant may be 
 supposed to have removed from the gov- 
 ernor-general the chief responsibility of the 
 military measures now urgently required. 
 Tidings from Neil at Allahabad, told that 
 the course of mutiny, instead of being 
 arrested, was growing daily stronger; and 
 Sir Henry Lawrence continued to urge on 
 the governor-general the extreme peril of 
 the Cawnpoor garrison. When Grant and 
 Havelock reached Calcutta on the 17th of 
 June, there was yet time, by efforts such 
 as Warren Hastings or Marquis Wellesley 
 would have made, to have sent a force 
 
 which might have forestalled the capitu- 
 lation. The regular rate of dawk travelling 
 is eight miles an hour, night and day ; and 
 there was no good reason why the 508 
 miles between the railway terminus at 
 Raneegunje and Cawnpoor, should have 
 been such a stumblingblock. Had Sir 
 Henry Lawrence's suggestion of the ekkas 
 been adopted by Sir P. Grant immediately 
 on his arrival at Calcutta, Cawnpoor might 
 still have been saved, the troops might have 
 slept under cover the whole day, with their 
 arms and ammunition by their side, and 
 arrived fresh and strong at the scene of 
 action. It was no fear of their being cut 
 off in detail that prevented the attempt 
 being made ; for they went up the country 
 all through June, July, and August, in 
 parties of fourteen, twelve, and, on one 
 occasion, of eight men ;J yet not a single 
 detachment was ever cut off. Far different 
 was the energy displayed in Northern 
 India, where, as we have seen, the Guides 
 marched 750 miles, at the rate of twenty- 
 seven miles a-day, and went into actioa 
 immediately afterwards. 
 
 The supineuess of the Supreme govern- 
 ment regarding Cawnpoor, is by far the 
 most serious charge brought against them 
 by the press. The refusal of the co-operation 
 of the Goorkas is a branch of the same 
 subject ; but it is not difficult to conjecture 
 the motive of the Supreme government for 
 desiring to dispense with such dangerous 
 auxiliaries. The well-known Jung Baha- 
 door, the first minister and virtual ruler 
 of Nepaul, had, at the beginning of the 
 mutiny, offered to send a force to the 
 assistance of the English. The proposal 
 was accepted; and three thousand troops, 
 with Jung himself at their head, came 
 down from the hills in forced marches, 
 in the highest possible spirits at the thought 
 of paying off old scores on the sepoys, and 
 sharing the grog and loot of the English 
 soldiers. Second thoughts, or circum- 
 stances which have not been made public,§ 
 induced the Supreme government to alter 
 their determination with regard to the 
 Goorkas; and the force, after passing 
 through the Terai (the deadly jungle which 
 lies at the foot of their hills), were arrested 
 by a message of recall. They had expected 
 
 * One of Havelock's biographers declares, that he derous hosts of India." — Owen's Ilarehich, p. 195. 
 set forth to command " the avenging column," hav- f Wettminfiter Keriew, October, 1858. 
 ing "received his commission from the Lord of J Appendix to Pari. Papers, 1857 ; p. 350. 
 Hosts. He had by lone training been prepared § The original offer is said to have been accepted 
 
 for the 'strange work' of judgment against the mur- by an unauthorised functionary.
 
 278 AUXILIARY GOORKA TROOPS SENT FROM NEPAUL— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 to reach Oiide by the loth of June ; but on 
 learning that their services could be dis- 
 pensed witli, they started back to Khatman- 
 doo, the capital of Nepaul ; which they 
 reached, after suffering greatly from sickness 
 and fatigue. Scarcely had they returned, 
 before another summons arrived from Cal- 
 cutta, requesting that they should be again 
 sent to Oude, and the march was recom- 
 menced on the 29th of June. When they 
 at length reached British territory, much 
 reduced by death and disease, Lawrence 
 and Wheeler had been dead a fortnight. 
 
 Jung Bahadoor is said to have expressed 
 his indignation very decidedly ; and in writ- 
 ing to his friend Mr. Hodgson, late of the 
 Bengal civil service, he concluded his narra- 
 tive of the affair by exclaiming — "You see 
 how I am treated. How do you expect to 
 keep India with such rulers as these?"* 
 
 Still, as has been stated. Lord Canning 
 may have had good reason for desiring the 
 recall of the Goorkas ; and the very fact of 
 being subsequently compelled to avail him- 
 self of their services, would account for his 
 silence regarding the apparent incertitude 
 of his previous policy. Tiie fact, pointed 
 out by Lord Dalhousie, that the Nepaulese 
 government always armed and made hostile 
 preparations when war broke out in Europe, 
 and the strong suspicions entertained of an 
 intimate understanding existing between 
 the courts of Russia and Nepaul, were argu- 
 ments calculated to increase tiie repugnance 
 any civilised government must have felt in 
 accepting the aid of a horde of half-civilised 
 mountaineers, whose fidelity in the case of 
 a reverse would be extremely doubtful, and 
 who, in the event of success, would unques- 
 tionably prove a scourge to the unoffending 
 agriculturists, whom the British government 
 was bound to protect. The consideration of 
 this point, therefoie, only strengthens the 
 conclusion, that want of energy in relieving 
 Cawnpoor, is by far the most important 
 of the errors attributed to the Supreme 
 government during the crisis. The mea- 
 sures recommended liy the Lawiencesf for 
 the rapid collection of troops at Calcutta, 
 had been taken ; but the good to be derived 
 therefrom was neutralised l)y their appa- 
 rently unjustifiable detention in Bengal. It 
 is further asserted by Mr. Mead (who, at 
 the time of which he writes, edited the 
 
 • Mead's Stpoy Revolt, p. 89. 
 
 t Sir Henry begged Lord Canning, on the 'Jlth 
 of May, to get " ail tiie Goorlias from tlie hills ;" 
 but probably he referred to those 'jnder our own 
 
 Friend of India), that a question of military 
 etiquette was another impediment to the 
 dispatch of relief for the protracted agony 
 then being endured in the Cawnpoor 
 trenches. "The fiery Neil," it is asserted, 
 " having quelled mutiny at Benares, and 
 punished it at Allahabad, chafed impa- 
 tiently till a force of men, properly equipped, 
 could be got together for the relief of Cawn- 
 poor; but he was not allowed, in this in- 
 stance, to follow the impulse of his daring 
 nature. Colonel Havelock had arrived in 
 Calcutta ; and the rules of the service would 
 not allow a junior officer to be at the liead 
 of an enterprise, however fit he might be to 
 carry it to a successful conclusion. Time 
 was lost to enable Colonel Havelock to join 
 at Allahabad."! There is nothing in Have- 
 lock's published letters to show, that on 
 arriving at Calcutta, he himself, or indeed 
 any one round him, felt the intense anxiety 
 which the telegrams of Lawrence and 
 Wheeler were calculated to excite. He 
 writes under date, "Calcutta, Sunday, June 
 21st," to Mrs. Havelock (then, happily for 
 all parlies, far from the scene of strife, edu- 
 cating her younger children " under the 
 shadow of the Drachenfels"), that he had 
 been reappointed brigadier-general, and 
 had been recommended by Sir P. Grant for 
 an "important command; the object for 
 which is to relieve Cawnpoor, where Sir 
 Hugh W'heeler is threatened; and support 
 Lucknow, where Sir Henry Lawrence is 
 somewhat pressed."^ 
 
 An officer of great promise. Captain 
 Stuart Beatson, came to Calcutta about the 
 same time as Sir Patrick Grant. Beatson 
 had been sent to Persia, on the outbreak of 
 the war, to raise a regiment of Arab horse ; 
 but on the conclusion of peace he returned 
 to India, and found that his own regiment, 
 the 1st cavalry, had mutinied. Being thus 
 at liberty, he made inquiry, and saw reason 
 to believe that a corps of Eurasian hoise 
 might be raised on the spot; and he accord- 
 ingly framed a scheme, by which each man 
 was to receive forty rupees (£4) per men- 
 sem, nett pay ; horse, arms, and accoutre- 
 ments being furnished by government. 
 The scheme was rejected, and Captain 
 Beatson was informed that " the govern- 
 ment had no need of his services." One 
 month later, when the want of cavalry was 
 
 rule, not to the Nepaulese. — Appendix to Pari. 
 Papers, p. 315. 
 
 I Ibid., p. 141. 
 
 § Brock's Havelock, p. 141.
 
 H AVELOCK LEAVES CALCUTTA FOR CAWN POOR— JUNE 23, 1857. 279 
 
 nn acknowledged grievance, and the price 
 of horses had risen enormously, the autho- 
 rities were compelled to raise a corps on the 
 basis of one hundred rupees per mensem 
 for each trooper, who was not the less sup- 
 plied with horse, arms, accoutrements, and 
 camp equipage.* 
 
 That Captain Beatson was an officer of 
 ability and character, is proved by his being 
 selected by Brigadier-general Havelock for 
 the highest position in his gift, that of adju- 
 tant-general. The government having at 
 length issued their tardy orders, Havelock 
 
 and Beatson quitted Calcutta on the 23rd 
 of June, leaving the entire population in 
 a relapse of panic — that day being the cen- 
 tenary of Plassy; and there being a pro- 
 phecy which the Mohammedans were as- 
 serted to have, resolved on verifying — that 
 the raj of the East India Company would 
 then expire. As on a previous occasion, the 
 day passed quietly; and both Europeans 
 and natives having mutually anticipated 
 violence, were, the Friend of India states, 
 equally " rejoiced at finding their necks 
 sound on the following morning." 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AZIMGHUR, BENARES, JAUNPOOR, AND ALLAHABAD.— MAY AND JUNE, 1867. 
 
 It is necessary to return tothe northward, and 
 follow the course of mutiny in what General 
 Havelock, in the letter lately quoted, terms 
 the "disturbed provinces" — a very gentle 
 phrase, inasmuch as the whole country to 
 which he refers was at that time in a state 
 of total disorganisation, the officers of gov- 
 ernment holding out in hourly peril of their 
 lives, or hiding, with their wives and babea, 
 among the villagers or in the jungle; the 
 native farmers and peasantry themselves 
 pillaged and harassed by mutineers and 
 dacoits ; strife and oppression characterising 
 the present state of things, with famine and 
 pestilence brooding over the future. 
 
 Azimghur is the chief place of a district 
 in the province of Allahabad, about fifty- 
 six miles north-east of Benares. The head- 
 quarters and eight companies of the 17th 
 N.I. were stationed here. There were no 
 European soldiers. The commandant. Ma- 
 jor B'.irroughs, was an experienced officer, 
 proud of his regiment, but quite aware of 
 the trial to which its fidelity would be 
 expojed, and sedulously watchful to remove 
 every temptation. Up to the 18th of May, 
 the most favourable opinion was entertained 
 of the 17th N.I. ; and the judge of Azim- 
 ghur, Mr. Astell, writing to its command- 
 
 * Mutiny of the Bengal Army ; by One who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier; (). 109. 
 
 f Report of Major Burroughs' Return of regi- 
 ments which have mutinied. — Pari. Papers (Com- 
 mons), loth March, 1859; p. 25. 
 
 ing officer, congratulated him on the great 
 love and respect entertained for him per- 
 sonally.f Many sepoys, of variouf" regi- 
 ments, were in the Azimghur district. The 
 17th N.I. had been quartered with the 19th 
 and 34th at Lucknow, in 1855 ; and when 
 the latter regiments were disbanded (at 
 Berhampoor and Barrackpoor), Major Bur- 
 roughs, fearing the consequence of the re- 
 newal of intercourse between them and his 
 own men, issued an order forbidding stran- 
 gers to visit the lines without special per- 
 mission. But as communication outside 
 the cantonment could not be prevented, 
 the major addressed his regiment, on the 
 20lh of May, in forcible language. He 
 spoke of his thirty years' connection with 
 that corps ; reminded the men that many 
 of them had been enlisted by him during 
 the twelve years he had filled the position 
 of adjutant ; and declared that they knew 
 he had never misled or refused to listen 
 to them. Unfortunately (considering the 
 critical position of affairs), he concluded his 
 address by requiring them to be ready to use 
 the new cartridge — by tearing it, however, 
 with their hands, not biting it with their 
 teeth. 
 
 Previous to tins parade, and, indeed, im- 
 mediately after the reception of the Meerut 
 intelligence, such measures as were prac- 
 ticable had been taken for the defence of 
 the treasury (which contained £70,000), 
 and for the protection of the ladies and
 
 280 
 
 MUTINY AT AZIMGHUR— JUNE Srd, 1857. 
 
 children. The Cutcherrv and public oflBces 
 had been piirtially enclosed by a breast- 
 work, and " the post guns, under a select 
 guard, had been placed at the treasury for 
 its defence." On the 1st of June, two 
 warnings were secretly and separately 
 given, by a sepoy and a pay havildar, that 
 the grenadiers were arming with the intent 
 of attacking the treasury. The adjutant 
 rode down to the lines, found all quiet, and 
 the report was disbelieved. At sunset on 
 the 3rd, the treasure was marched off 
 towards Benares, by two companies of the 
 17th, and eighty of the 13th irregular 
 cavalry, under Lieutenant Palliser, sent to 
 Azimghur for that purpose.* It does not 
 seem to have occurred to the officers that the 
 measure was likely to produce excitement 
 or dissatisfaction. According to the state- 
 ment of one of these (Lieutenant Constable, 
 17th N.I.), they were all at mess, and had 
 the ladies with them, when nine o'clock 
 struck, and two muskets were fired on pa- 
 rade, evidently as a signal; then," whirr went 
 the drums — all knew that the regiment was 
 in revolt." The Europeans rushed from the 
 mess-room to the Cutcherry, placed the 
 ladies on the top of it, and directed the 
 gunners to prepare for service. The reply 
 was an unqualified refusal to fire them- 
 selvcf, or let any one fire on their country- 
 men. The mutineers approached with 
 deafening shouts. The officers went to 
 meet them. There was an interval of in- 
 tense anxiety ; but it was soon over. The 
 men " behaved with romantic courtesy. 
 They formed a square round their officers, 
 and said they not only would not touch, 
 but would protect them, only that there 
 were some of the mutineers who had 
 sworn the death of particular officers; 
 therefore they begged the whole party to 
 take to their carriages, and be off at once. 
 ' But how are we to get to our carriages,' 
 said the Europeans, ' seeing that they are 
 scattered all through the station?' 'Ah! 
 we will fetch them,' replied the sepoys. 
 And so they did ; and gave the party an 
 escort for ten miles out of the station, on 
 the road to Ghazipoor,"t which place (forty 
 miles from Azimghur) the fugitives reached 
 quite unmolested. The only blood shed was 
 
 • Report of Brigadier J. Christie.— Pari. Papers 
 (Commons), 15th March, 1859; p. 25. 
 
 t Statement of Lieutenant Constable. — Times, 
 August 6th, 1857. 
 
 X Rev. M. A. Sherring's Indian Church during 
 the Great Rebellion, p. 283. 
 
 that of Quartermaster Hutchinson, who was 
 deliberately shot down by a sepoy. 
 
 The doors of the gaol were opened, and 
 about 800 prisoners let loose to plunder 
 the deserted European dwellings, and then 
 to band themselves together as dacoits, and 
 infest the country districts. The gaol and 
 treasury guards, and the Native artillery- 
 men with the two guns, went off with the 
 17th N.I., in pursuit of the treasure escort, 
 which was soon overtaken. The two com- 
 panies of the 17th immediately fraternised 
 with the mutineers, who seized the treasure. 
 The Irregulars would not act against their 
 countrymen, neither would they join them, 
 despite the temptation of sharing the plun- 
 der: on the contrary, they rallied round their 
 officers, and brought them safely to Benares. 
 There were in Azimghur, as in almost every 
 other scene of mutiny, Eurasians and native 
 Christians who were left at the mercy of the 
 mutineers ; while the Europeans, especially 
 of the higher class, having carriages and 
 horses, money and influence, with a nume- 
 rous retinue of servants, were able to effect 
 their escape. No English missionary was 
 stationed here ; but there was a flourishing ■ 
 school under the charge of Timothy Luther, 
 a native Christian of experience, ability, 
 and piety. Mr. Tucker took great interest 
 both in the school and schoolmaster; and it 
 is said that, after the mutiny, he and his 
 family were brought away from Azimghur, 
 where the)' had lain concealed, " by an 
 escort kindly dispatched from Beuares."J 
 A temporarily successful attempt was made, 
 by a private person, for the reoccupation and 
 maiutenauce of the station. Mr. Venables, 
 a wealthy indigo-planter (one of the Euro- 
 pean " interlopers" for whom the East India 
 Company had small respect), possessed a 
 large estate at Doorie Ghaut, twenty-two 
 miles on the Goruckpoor side of Azimghur. 
 He had, from the nature of his occupation, 
 great influence with the respectable and in- 
 dustrious portion of the agricultural com- 
 munity, who had all to lose, and nothing to 
 gain, from an irruption of revolted mer- 
 cenaries and escaped convicts. The natives 
 cheerfully rallied round him : he procured 
 arms for their use', marched at their head, 
 and reoccupied Azimghur, which the mu- 
 tineers had already deserted. A detach- 
 ment of one hundred men of the 65th 
 N.I., and fifty of the 12th irregular 
 cavalry, were sent to support him ; 'and 
 with these he held his position for some 
 weeks, as a flood-gate against the waves of
 
 BENARES IN MAY, 1857.— COMMISSIONER H. C. TUCKER. 281 
 
 mutiny ; collecting the revenue, and main- 
 taining a certain degree of order. 
 
 Benares — the famous seat of Brahminical 
 lore, the holy city of the Hindoos, dear 
 to them as Mecca to the Moslem — occupies 
 an elevated position on a curve of the 
 Ganges, 460 miles from Calcutta, and 
 eighty-three from Allahabad. Its ancient 
 name was Casi, or " the splendid," which it 
 still retains. It was also called Varanashi, 
 from two streams. Vara and Nashi ; so 
 termed in Sanscrit : the Mohammedans pro- 
 nounced tlie word " Benares," a corruption 
 followed by the English. Benares is full of 
 structures, which are as finger-posts, mark- 
 ing the various phases of Indian history. 
 They stand peculiarly secure ; for the 
 Hindoos assert that no earthquake is ever 
 felt within the limits of the hallowed city. 
 The temple to Siva tells of the palmy 
 days of Brahminism ; the ruins of a once 
 world-famous observatory, attest the devo- 
 tion to science of Rajah Jey Sing, of 
 Jeypoor; and the mosque built by Aurung- 
 aebe, on the spot where a Hindoo temple 
 had been razed to the ground by his orders, 
 remains in evidence of the only persecutor 
 of his dynasty, and the ruler whose united 
 ambition and bigotry increased the super- 
 structure of his empire, but irreparably 
 injured its foundation. 
 
 A few miles distant stands a more inter- 
 esting, and probably more ancient, monu- 
 ment than even Siva's temple. It is the 
 Sara Nath — a solid mass of masonry, from 
 forty to fifty feet in diameter, originally 
 shaped like a bee-hive, and supposed to 
 be a Buddhistic structure. Then there 
 is the public college for Hindoo literature, 
 instituted during the residency of the easy, 
 kind-hearted scholar, Jonathan Duncan 
 (the " Brahminised Englishman," as Mac- 
 kintosh called him), afterwards governor 
 of Bombay. Teachers of Hindoo and 
 Mohammedan law and literature abound. 
 The former trust habitually for their 
 support to the voluntary contributions of 
 pilgrims of rank, and to stipends allowed 
 them by different Hindoo and Mahratta 
 princes. They do not impart religious 
 instruction for money, owing to the prevail- 
 ing idea that the Vedas, their sacred books, 
 would be profaned i)y being used for the 
 obtainraent of pecuniary advantage. 
 
 The population of Benares was estimated 
 at about 300,000, of whom four-fifths were 
 Hindoos. It included a considerable number 
 of ex-royal families and disinherit( d jaghire- 
 
 voi,. II. 2 o 
 
 dars. Altogether, the city seemed as well 
 calculated to be a hotbed of disaffection for 
 the Hindoos, as Delhi had proved for the 
 Mohammedans. If a fear of conversion 
 to Christiauity had been a deep-rooted, 
 popular feeling, it would surely have found 
 "expression here. The commissioner, Henry 
 Carre Tucker, was a man who desired the 
 promulgation of the Gospel above every 
 other object in life. The Benares citizens 
 knew this well ; but they also knew that his 
 views were incompatible with the further- 
 ance of any project for the forcible or fraudu- 
 lent violation of caste. He was one of those 
 whose daily life bore witness to a pure 
 and self-denying creed"; and refuted, better 
 than volumes of proclamations could have 
 done, the assertions of Nana' Sahib and his 
 followers, that the so-called Christians were 
 cow- killing, pig-eating infidels, without re- 
 ligion themselves, and with no respect for 
 that of others. In his public capacity, Mr. 
 Tucker had been singularly just, patient, 
 and painstaking; and his private character, 
 in its peacefulness, its unimpeachable mo- 
 rality, and its abounding charity, peculiarly 
 fitted him for authority in a city the sanc- 
 tity of which was jealously watched by the 
 Hindoos. When the mutiny broke out, he 
 found his reward in the power of usefulness, 
 insured to him by his hold on the respect 
 and affections of the people : and it is 
 worthy of remark, that while so many civi- 
 lians perished revolver in hand, the very 
 man who " had never fired a shot in his life, 
 and had not a weapon of any kind in the 
 house,"* escaped with his female relatives 
 and young children uninjured. 
 
 In May, 1857, there were at Benares the 
 37th N.I., an irregular cavalry regiment of 
 Seiks from Loodiana, and about thirty 
 European artillerymen. Some excitement 
 was manifested in the lines of the 37th, on 
 learning what had occurred at Meerut and 
 Delhi; but this apparently subsided. Mr. 
 Tucker, however, urged on the government 
 the necessity of having " a nucleus of Eu- 
 ropeans" at Benares, and 150 of H.M. 10th 
 foot were sent thither from Dinapoor. 
 On the 23rd of May, the commissioner re- 
 ported to the Supreme government — " Every 
 thing perfectly quiet, both in the lines and 
 city of Benares, and in the whole Benares 
 division ; and likely, with God's blessing, to 
 continue so. I am quite easy and con- 
 fident."t The position of affairs continued 
 
 * Times, August 18th, 1857. 
 
 t Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 314.
 
 282 
 
 COLONEL NEIL REACHES BENARES— JUNE 3rd, 1857. 
 
 equally satisfactory until the 3rd of June, 
 when Colonel Neil arrived with a detach- 
 ment of the 1st Madras Fusiliers. Sixty 
 men of that regiment, with three officers, 
 had reached Benares on the previous day, 
 and four companies were on the road. 
 Colonel Neil was a man of extraordinary 
 energy and determination ; but these pre- 
 dominant qualities naturally inclined him 
 to act on general conclusions, with little re- 
 gard for the peculiarities of the case in point, 
 or for any opinion that differed from his 
 own. Such, at least, is the impression which 
 a review of the public documents regarding 
 his brief career in North-Western India, is 
 calculated to produce; and if the evidence of 
 his coadjutors may be trusted, " the fiery 
 Neil," despite his courage, his honesty, and, 
 above all, his anxiety for the besieged at 
 Cawnpoor, was instrumental in lighting 
 flames which he was compelled to stay and 
 extinguish at the cost of leaving Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler and his companions to perish. The 
 charge is a very serious one. ■ It is brought 
 by Major-general Lloyd, not as a personal 
 attack, but indirectly against " the inilitary 
 authorities at Benares ;' for proceedings 
 which " caused the instant revolt of the 6th 
 regiment at Allahabad, on the 6th of June, 
 and at Fyzabad on the 8th of June."* 
 The responsibility of that policy is declared 
 by Colonel Neil himself to have been his 
 own, he having taken his measures not only 
 without consulting the civil authorities, but 
 by overruling the judgment of the officer 
 commanding at the station, Brigadier Pon- 
 sonby.f In fact, from the very outset, 
 Colonel Neil (a Madras officer) manifested 
 a defiant distrust of every regiment of the 
 Bengal army, and evinced very little desire 
 to protect the unoflFending agricultural popu- 
 lation of the districts through which he 
 passed, from the aggressions of his soldiers 
 and camp-followers. In former wars, it had 
 been the proudest boast of our generals, that 
 the villagers never fled from British troops, 
 but were eager to bring them supplies, 
 being assured of protection and lil)eral pay- 
 ment. Colonel Wiiks, in contrasting the 
 campaigns conducted by Mohammedan 
 conquerors, with those of Cornwallis, Lake, 
 and Wellesley, dwells forcibly on the miseiy 
 inflicted by the former, and reveided by the 
 existence of the well-known phrase IFulsa, 
 which signified the departure of the entire 
 
 * Letter from Major-general Lloyd to his brother, 
 the Kev. A. J. Lloyd, Sept 3rd, 1857.— J5aiVy Neat, 
 October 30th, 1857. 
 
 population of a village, or even of a district ; 
 chihlren, the aged and the sick, being home 
 off to take shelter in the nearest woods or 
 jungles, braving hunger and wild beasts 
 sooner than the presence of an armed force. 
 Great loss of life invariably attended these 
 migrations, which were especially frequent 
 in Mysoor in tiie days of Hyder Ali. The 
 Indian despatches of General Wellesley 
 testify, in almost every dozen pages, to the 
 unceasing forethought with which he strove 
 to maintain a good understanding with the 
 population : and any one who will compare 
 the manner in which his troops were fed 
 and sheltered, with the suffering endured in 
 the campaign of 1857, before the arrival of 
 Sir Colin Campbell, will understand that 
 the indiscriminate burning of villages, and 
 the pillaging of "niggers," was the most 
 costly amusement Europeans in India could 
 indulge in. 
 
 Colonel Neil commenced the expedition 
 with what the newspapers called an " ex- 
 ample oi zubberdustee — the phrase for small 
 tyrannies." The term, however, is not 
 fairly applicable to an act which was, in the 
 best sense of the word, expedient, though 
 it seems to have been accompanied with 
 needless discourtesy. While he was pre- 
 paring to enter the railway with a detach- 
 ment of Miidras Fusiliers, intending to pro- 
 ceed from Calcutta to Raneegunge, one of 
 the officials said that the train was .ilready 
 behind time, and if the men could not be 
 got into the carriages in two or three 
 minutes, they would be left behind. Colonel 
 Neil, without making any reply, ordered a 
 file of men to take his informant into 
 custody. " The man shouted for assistance; 
 and the stokers, guards, and station-master 
 crowdt ! round to see what was the matter, 
 and vtre each in turn stuck up against the 
 wall, with a couple of bearded red-coats 
 standing sentry over them. The colonel 
 next took possession of the engine ; and 
 by this series of strong measures, delayed 
 the departure of the train until the whole 
 of his men were safely stowed away in the 
 carriages." The Friend of India related 
 this instance of martial law with warm 
 approbation ; adding — "We would back that 
 servant of the Company as being eqtial to 
 an emergency."}: Of the details of Neil's 
 I march little has been related. He has 
 I been frequently compared to " an avenging 
 
 t Colonel Neil to Adjutant- general. — Pari. Papers, 
 ' p. 57. 
 j X Mead' Sepoy Revolt, p. 125.
 
 CONFLICTING STATEMENTS OF NEIL AND PONSONBY. 
 
 283 
 
 iingel ;" and his track was marked by 
 desolation; for Havelock's force, in its sub- 
 sequent ailvance, found the line of road 
 almost deserted by the villagers, who had 
 dismantled their dwellings,* and fled with 
 their little property. Colonel Neil readied 
 Benares, as has been stated, on the 3rd of 
 June. He had intended starting with a 
 detachment for Cawnpoor on the following 
 afternoon ; but shortly before the appointed 
 time, intelligence was received from Lieu- 
 tenant Palliser, of the outbreak which liad 
 taken place at Azimghur; and, as usual, the 
 affair was greatly exaggerated, four officers 
 being described as killed. f Brigadier Pon- 
 sonby consulted with Colonel Neil regarding 
 the state of tlie Native troops at Benares. 
 The Seiks, and the 13th Native cavalry, 
 were beli< >ed to be stanch, but doubts 
 were entertained of llie 37tli N.I. ; and the 
 l)rigadier proposed that, on the following 
 morning, their muskets should be taken 
 away, leaving them their side-arms. The 
 colonel urged immediate disarmament : the 
 brigadier gave way ; and the two officers 
 parted to make the necessary arrangements. 
 At 5 P.M., Neil was on the ground with 
 150 of H.M. 10th, and three officers; sixty 
 of the Madras Fusiliers, and three officers; 
 lliree guns and thirty men. At this time 
 no intimation had been received by any 
 officer, of the corps being disposed to mu- 
 tiny : on the contrary, Lieutenant-colonel 
 Spottiswoode, the commanding officer of 
 the 13th, declares that liis European non- 
 commissioned staff, "observed nothing 
 doubtful in the conduct of the men ;" but 
 tliat, '"up to the very last moment, every man 
 was most obedient and civil to all au- 
 thorities."J The brig;idier came on parade 
 at the appointed hour; but Neil observed, 
 that " he appeared far from well, and 
 perfectly unable to act with energy, or 
 the vigour required on the emergency."§ 
 The account given by the colonel of the 
 ensuing proceedings is too long for quota- 
 tion, and too general and confused to 
 afford materials for a summary of facts. 
 With regard to his assuming the lead, he 
 says he did so after the firing commenced, 
 by desire of the brigadier, who " was on liis 
 back on the ground, seemingly struck by a 
 stroke of tiie sun, and declared himself 
 
 * Journal of an English Officer vi Iiulia ; by 
 Major Noilh, GOtti Rifles; p. 1^. 
 
 t Appendix to I'arl. Papers, 1857; p. 372. 
 
 i Parliamcnlaiy Ketuni of regiments which have 
 mutuiied (loth March, 1859); p. '28. 
 
 quite unfit for anything. "|| Between the 
 incapacity of one commander, and the 
 vigour of the other, the sepoys were driven 
 wild with panic, and the European officers 
 nearly killed by the hands of tlieir own 
 countrymen. Brigadier Ponsonby's pri- 
 vate letter recounting the affair, was pub- 
 lished by his friends in the Times, in vin- 
 dication of that officer's " foresight and 
 judgment." He does not mention having 
 consulted with Neil at all ; but speaks of 
 " Colonel Gordon, my second in command," 
 as having advised the immediate disarma- 
 ment of the 37th foot; to which the bri- 
 gadier adds — " After some discussion, I 
 agreed. AVe had no time (it being be- 
 tween 4 and 5 p.m.) to lose, and but little 
 arrangement could be made (fortunately)." 
 There is no explanation given why the 
 h<aste and disorder which characterised the 
 proceedings should be termed fortunate. 
 The personal feelings of the military autho- 
 rities towards one another could not be so 
 called. Ponsonby expressly asserts that he 
 conducted the entire disarmament; and takes 
 credit for the panic inspired " by the sud- 
 denness of our attack." " Something very 
 like a coup de soleil" obliged him, he says, 
 " to make over the command to the next 
 senior officer, but not until everything was 
 quiet."1f This statement is, of course, in 
 direct opposition to Neil's assertion, that, 
 during the crisis, the brigadier was " on his 
 back," utterly prostrate in mind and body. 
 A perusal of the official' reports of the 
 various subordinate officers, and of the pri- 
 vate Indian correspondence of the time, 
 concerning this single case, would well re- 
 pav any reader desirous of obtaining an 
 insight into the actual working of our 
 military system in India in 1857. Inci- 
 dental revelations are unwittinglv made, 
 which, though of no interest to the general 
 reader, are invaluable to those whose duty 
 it is to provide, as fur as may be, against 
 the recurrence of so awful a calamity as 
 the mutiny of the Bengal army. There are 
 oilier accounts of the affair — a private and 
 circumstantial, but clear one, by Ensign 
 Tweedie, who was dangerously wounded on 
 the occasion ; and an official one by Lieu- 
 tenant-colonel Spottiswoode. Young Twee- 
 die has no leaning to the sepoys; but as the 
 
 § Lieutenant-colonel Neil to Adjutant-general, 
 June Gth, 1837. — Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 57. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 57. 
 
 % Letter from Brigadier Ponsonby ; Henares, 
 June IMfh, 1857 — Times, August 18th, 1857.
 
 284 
 
 MUTINY AT BENARES— JUNE 4th, 1857. 
 
 Meerut authorities considered that their 
 blunder had beeu the salvation of India, so 
 he thought that, " although the sepoys might 
 have been quietly disbanded, the mistake 
 that provoked the row was a most fortunate 
 one." The disarming, he believes, " might 
 have been effected in perfect peace and 
 quietness, had it beeu gone about in a less 
 abrupt and threatening manner." The 
 37th were drawn up in front of their lines, 
 with the cannon pointed at them. The 
 Europeans were posted within musket 
 range, and the Seiks and irregular cavalry 
 within sight. The 37th, seeing themselves 
 hemmed in with musketry and artillery, 
 naturally suspected that they were to be 
 blown to pieces ; and all the assurances of 
 their officers proved insufficient to keep 
 them composed. They were ordered to put 
 their muskets into the little stone buildings 
 called kotes, or bells. The majority of 
 their number obeyed at once, and European 
 soldiers were then marched towards the 
 bells of arras, with the view of securing 
 them from any attempt which the sepoys 
 might make to recover them. This move- 
 ment accelerated the crisis. Ensign Twee- 
 die states — 
 
 " The sepoys were beforehand with the Europeans, 
 and, making a sudden rush at the bells of arms, re- 
 covered their muskets, and fired at once upon their 
 own officers and upon the adTancinp Europeans, re- 
 tiring at the same time within their lines, and thence 
 keeping up a brisk fire upon the Europeans. Up to 
 this time, however, no officer had been hit. The 
 sepoys of the 37th ensconced themselves for the 
 most part behind their huts, some of them behind 
 the bells of arms. The majority of their officers 
 had fallen back at once upon the European column. 
 Major Barrett, however, indignant at the way in 
 which what he believed to be good sepoys had been 
 dealt with, resolved, as he told them, to share their 
 fate, and, along with the European sergeant-major, 
 remained exposed to the fire opened from the half- 
 battery, as also from the European musketry upon 
 the huts. But the sepoys' worst blood was up, and 
 several of their number fired upon him, others 
 attacking him with their fixed bayonets. He was 
 compelled to flee for his life, and a guard of faithful 
 sepoys (principally of the grenadier company) having 
 formed round his person, conducted him in safelv to 
 his bungalow in the cantonments. The sergeaul- 
 m.ijor also was saved by the same faithful escort. 
 In the meantime. Captain Guise, of the 13th Inef<u- 
 lars, was only leaving his bungalow, and rashly 
 attempted to reach the parade-ground, where his 
 troop was drawn up, by riding through the lines of 
 the 37th N.I. His chest was positively riddled with 
 bullets in the attempt. Of course, his death was 
 instantaneous. 
 
 "The sepoys still kept up a smart fire upon the 
 scanty Europeans, who were labouring under the 
 great disadvantage of baring to deal with an enemy 
 eflectually secured behind their huts from obser- 
 
 vation. The officers of the 37th were posted with 
 the European musketry, and were exposed, of course, 
 to a smart fire. Several privates were knocked 
 over within five yards of me, and yet not a single 
 officer got touched. For about twenty minutes we 
 remained under this fire. But our brave fellows 
 began to drop off rather fast, and accordingly it was 
 resolved to charge the huts. As a preliminary to 
 this, a party was dispatched to set them on five ; 
 and in the meantime, we officers of the 37th retired, 
 and took our place beside the Seiks, who, we 
 understood, were to take part in the charge. They 
 form an irregular corps, and have only two officers 
 attached to them — viz., a commandant (Colonel 
 Gordon) and an adjutant. As both of these were 
 mounted, there was need of our services in the ranks. 
 " Here I remained for about ten minutes, in the 
 momentary expectation of the chai-ge being ordered. 
 The brigade-major. Captain Dodgson, then galloped 
 across the parade-gronnd, and, placing himself at 
 the head of the irregular cavalry, informed them 
 that their commandant. Captain Guise, had been 
 killed, and that he had been sent by Brigadier 
 Ponsonby to supply his place. They flashed their 
 swords in reply, giving vent, at the same time, to a 
 low murmur, which struck me as somewhat equivocal. 
 Captain Dodgson had scarce ceased addressing them 
 when one of their number fired upon him with 
 a pistol. The bullet only grazed the elbow of his 
 sword arm, just at that point where the ulnar nerve 
 passing over a process of bone is so easily irritated 
 as to have gained for that piece of bone the common 
 name of ' funny-bone.' The consequence was com- 
 plete paralysis of the hand and arm ; his sword 
 dropped powerless across his saddle, and the rascal 
 who had fired the shot rushed upon him to cut him 
 down, but another of the troop interfered to rescue 
 him, and, being well mounted, he succeeded in 
 esca))ing from the melee."* 
 
 These particulars are very striking, nar- 
 rated as they are by a youth evidently 
 possessed of unusual powers of observa- 
 tion, and on whose niind a scene so novel 
 and exciting would naturally make a 
 lively impression. One point, however, he 
 has possibly mistaken; for an officer of 
 the 13th, writing to inform the widow 
 of Captain Guise of her bereavement, 
 says — " Your dear husband was at his 
 post, as he ever was ; and, at the head 
 of his regiment, he entered vigorously on 
 the work of cutting up the rebels. His 
 horse being fleeter than those of lus men, 
 he got in advance, and was only followed 
 by Mix Bund Khan, an Afghan. Your 
 hu.sband followed a 37th rebel closely, 
 and came up with him in the Sudder 
 Bazaar, where tlie miscreant turned round, 
 and fired his musket." The writer pro- 
 ceeds to say that the horse was wounded, 
 and fell; that Captain Guise vainly strove 
 to reach the sepoy with his sword, being 
 
 • Ensign Tweedie'a Letter. — Times, August 25th, 
 1857.
 
 COL, SPOTTISWOODE'S ACCOUNT OF BENARES MUTINY. 
 
 285 
 
 entangled with the trappings of the fallen 
 horse ; that his follower " did his best to 
 get at the man, but, owing to the nar- 
 row position they were in, he could not 
 manage it ;" and the mutineer found time to 
 reload his musket, and shoot the officer 
 through the heart. The Afghan trooper 
 attempted to follow the perpetrators of 
 the foul deed; but, owing to the intri- 
 cacies of the place, they quickly escaped. 
 " More than one sepoy came up before the 
 deed of death was completed, and they are 
 also implicated, perhaps, in the murder."* 
 The statement of the unfortunate officer's 
 liaving got iu advance cf his men in attack- 
 ing the 37'th, rests on the authority of 
 a brother officer, and would be received 
 without hesitation, but for strong contra- 
 dictory evidence. The remaining portion 
 of the narrative is highly improbable. 
 Captain Guise would hardly have been so 
 rash as to follow a single rebel into 
 the Sudder Bazaar, leaving the regiment 
 which he commanded to mutiny in his ab- 
 sence. Besides, Ensi^ Tweedie's assertion 
 of the captain's chest being riddled with 
 bullets, is confirmed by the official record 
 of casualties, which describes the body as 
 bearing the marks of "gunshot wounds 
 in head, chest, abdomen, and both arms ; 
 and two very deep sabre-cuts on left side 
 of the head." 
 
 Colonel Neil's statement is most positive. 
 He asserts that Captain Guise " was killed 
 before reaching parade, by the men of the 
 37th N.I."t The circumstance is of some 
 importance, because the death or absence 
 of their leader had evident influence with 
 the irregular cavalry : moreover, the rela- 
 tives of Captain Guise have publicly repu- 
 diated a statement which they consider 
 calculated to injure his reputation. 
 
 When Guise felj. Brigadier Ponsonby 
 directed Captain Dodgson to assume com- 
 mand of the 13th. J He was, as has been 
 shown, immediately fired on by a trooper, 
 and the others then broke into revolt. At 
 the same moment, the Seiks, who had 
 been watching the Europeans as they 
 knelt and fired into the 37th, suddenly 
 dashed forward, and rushed madly on the 
 guns. A corporal of H.M. 10th Writes 
 home — " The Seik regiment turned on the 
 artillery ; but you never saw such a sight in 
 
 • Extract of letter published in the Times, Sep- 
 Umber 3rd, 1857 ; by Mr. W. V. Guise, brother to 
 the deceased officer. 
 
 t Colonel Neil's despatch, June 6th, 1857. t I^'^- 
 
 your life : they were mowed down, and got 
 several rounds of grapeshot into them 
 when out of our range. "§ In a very short 
 space of time, the whole body of the muti- 
 neers, 37th foot, 13th cavalry, and Loo- 
 diana Seiks, were dispersed with great 
 slaughter. 
 
 A civilian (Mr. Spencer) who was pre- 
 sent, says — " The sum total was, that the 
 37th were utterly smashed, and the Seiks 
 and cavalry frightened out of their wits." 
 He adds — "Many of the officers are furious, 
 and say we have been shedding inno- 
 cent blood; and the whole thiug was a 
 blunder."|| 
 
 Major-general Lloyd asserts, in the most 
 unqualified terms, " that though the men 
 of the 37th had lodged their arms in their 
 bells of arms, they were fired on with grape 
 and musketry ; the Seiks present, and most 
 of the 13th irregular cavalry, joined them 
 in resisting the attack, and it was every- 
 where stigmatised as 'Peringhee ka Dag- 
 hah."'f 
 
 Colonel Spottiswoode offers evidence to 
 the same eflfect, in his narrative of his own 
 proceedings during the emeule. Writing 
 on the lldi of March, 1858, he states — 
 
 "Up to this moment I am still not convinced that 
 the 414 sepoys that stood on parade, and near 40Q 
 on detached duty on the afternoon of the 4th June, 
 1857, were all mutinous, or were not well-disposid 
 towards government ; and from what 1 have since 
 heard from the men that are with the regiment now, 
 that the evil-dispoted did not amount to 150; for 
 when I called on the men to lodge their arms in 
 their bells of arms, I commenced with the grenadiers j 
 and so readily were my orders attended to, that in a 
 very short time I had got down as far as No. 6 
 company, and was talking to one man who appeared 
 to be in a very mutinous mood ; so much so, that 1 
 was just debating in my own mind whether I should 
 shoot him, as I was quite close, and had my pistol 
 in my pocket : I was disturbed by some of the men, 
 for there were two or three voices calling out, ' Our 
 officers are deceiving usj they want us to give up 
 our arm.., that the Europeans who are coming up 
 may shoot us down.' I called out, ' It is false ;' and 
 I appealed to the Native officers, who have known 
 me for upwards of thirty-three years, whether I ever 
 deceived any man in the regiment; when many 
 a voice replied, 'Never; you have always been 
 a good father to us.' However, I saw ihe men were 
 getting very excited at the approach of the Eu- 
 ropeans, when I told them to keep quiet, and 1 
 would stop tlieir advance ; I galloped forward, and 
 made signs to the party not to advance, calling out, 
 ' Don't come on.' jPancying they had halted, I went 
 
 § Letter published in the Times, Sept 11th, 1857. 
 II Ibid., August 10th, 1857. 
 
 f Extract of a letter from Major-general Lloyd. — 
 Dailt/ News, Oct. 30lh, 1857.
 
 286 
 
 THE MINT AT BENAEES— JUNE 4th, 1857. 
 
 back to the lirns, and had only just got among 
 my men, when I heard one soUlary shot, followed 
 immediately by two others in succession ; those three 
 were fired from the 37th lines, and from No. 2 
 company, and, as I afterwards heard, were fired 
 by the pay havddar of 2nd company : immediately 
 a rush was made at the bells of arms, which were 
 opened by this man ; a general fire commenced ; 
 while I and all my officers were in the lines among 
 our men, without receiving any insult or moles- 
 tation ; indeed, many of the officers were sur- 
 rounded and [irotecled by the men of their respec- 
 tive compai:ii.3, among whom the grenadiers were 
 conspicuous." 
 
 Colonel Spottiswoode proceeds to state 
 that, after the firing commenced, he suc- 
 ceeded iu joining the guns and European 
 detachment ; aud seeing there was no 
 chance of clearing the lines by tlie present 
 proceedings, he offered to fire them, which 
 duty he performed by order of Brigadier 
 Ponsouby, who, on his return, lie found in- 
 capacitated by a sun-stroke. Spottiswoode 
 then proceeded, with a party of Europeans, 
 to scour the cantonments, and to bring in 
 all the women and children to the Old 
 Mint, a large building previously chosen 
 for the purpose. No sign of mutiny 
 was made by the Sciks on guard at the 
 treasury. While Coloud Spottiswoode was 
 gathering in the civilians and ladies, he 
 had occasion to pass the regimental pay- 
 master's office, where fourteen of his own 
 men were ou duty. They immediately 
 rushed to him, and begged that he would 
 enable them to protect the treasure com- 
 mitted to their charge. The colonel spoke 
 a few words of encouragement, and pro- 
 ceeded on his immediate duty, which, 
 having satisfactorily accomplished, he re- 
 turned to the paymaster's compound, and 
 there found the men in a state of extreme 
 alarm and confusion ; for they had been 
 joined in the interim by a party of 
 fugitives belonging to the 37th N.I., who 
 had been burnt out of their lines, "and 
 who seemed to thiuk that our object was to 
 destroy indiscriminately every sepoy we 
 could come across." The result of a long 
 conversation with these men, convinced the 
 colonel that the majority of the men were 
 entirely ignorant of the intentions of the 
 turbulent characters, who were only a very 
 small minority ; and he declares, that even 
 those who contrived to join Colonel Neil 
 and the guns, expressed the same opinion 
 as his own fugitive men, of surprise at the 
 fire being opened on men who had sur- 
 rendered their arms ; saying — " You drove 
 away all the good men who were anxious 
 
 to join their officers, but could not in con- 
 sequence of the very heavy fire that was 
 opened, and they only ran away for slielter." 
 A further circumstance adduced by Colonel 
 Spottiswoode is, that a compan_v of the 
 37th, then on duty at the fort of Chumir, 
 fifteen miles distant, remained there per- 
 fectly stanch for six months, at the expira- 
 tion of which time they returned to head- 
 quarters.* After the Benares affair, a 
 party of the men who remained with their 
 officers were sent, under their tried friend 
 Major Barrett, to join their comrades at 
 Chuuar. 
 
 The Europeans resident at Benares, of 
 course, spent the night in great alarm, as 
 there seemed every probability that the 
 sepoys might return and blockade them. 
 One of the party at the Mint says — 
 
 "We slept on the roof — ladies, children, ayas, 
 and punkah coolies; officers lying down dressed, 
 and their wives sitting up by them fanning them ; 
 gentlemen in the most fearless dishabilU, sleeping 
 surrounded by ladies. In the compound nr enclosure 
 below there is a little handful of Europeans — 
 perhaps 150 altogether; others are at the barracks 
 half a mile off. There is a large collection of car- 
 riages and horses ; little bedsteads all over tne place ; 
 and two circular quick-hedges, with flower-gardens 
 inside, are falling victims to the sheep and goats 
 which have been brought in to provision the place; 
 add to this a heap of more beer-boxes than your 
 English imagination can take in, and throw over all 
 the stjong black and white of a full moonlight, and 
 you have the Mint as it looked when the English of 
 Benares had sought refuge in it."t 
 
 This writer adds, that there was " a pic- 
 nicky, gipsified look about the whole affair," 
 which rendered it difficult to realise the fact, 
 that "the lives of the small congregation 
 were upon the toss-up of the next events." 
 Another witness says — " The choice of 
 a sleeping-place lay between an awfully 
 heated room and the roof. The commis- 
 sioner slept with his family in a room, on 
 shakedowns, with other families sleeping 
 round them; and there, from night to night, 
 they continued to sleep."t The terrible 
 characteristics of war were, however, not 
 long wanting, for the wounded and dying 
 were soon brought in; and, from the win- 
 dow, the sight that greeted the eye was 
 "a row of gallowses, ou which the ener- 
 getic colonel was hanging mutineer after 
 
 • Parliamentary Return regarding regiments which 
 have mutinied: March laih, 18d9; p. 30. 
 
 f Times, August lOtli, 1857. 
 
 I Letter of the Rev. James Kennedy. — Times, 
 August 8th, 1857.
 
 SERVICES OF NATIVES OF RANK AT BENARES— JUNE, 1857. 287 
 
 mutineer, as they were brought in."* Be- 
 sides the casualties already noted, the assist- 
 ant-surgeon and two men of H.M. 10th had 
 been killed, and two ensigns and nine pri- 
 vates wounded. Young Tweedie was fetched 
 from his bungalow in cantonments at two 
 iu the morning. He had dragged himself 
 thither after being severely wounded, a 
 bullet having gone clear through his 
 shoulder and back ; two others passing 
 harmlessly through his forage-cap, and three 
 through his trowsers, of which one only 
 inflicted any injury, and that but slightly 
 grazing the thigh. f 
 
 Towards daybreak on the morning of the 
 5th, when the wearied crowd huddled 
 together at the Mint were falling asleep 
 from sheer exhaustion, they were aroused 
 by the news, "The magistrate has just 
 been sent for — the city is rising." The 
 kotwal had sent to ask aid : but the answer 
 was, "Do your best; we cannot spare a 
 man :"J and he appears to have succeeded 
 marvellously well in subduing the riots. 
 The nominal rajah of Benares was the 
 representative of the family reduced by 
 Warren Hastings to the condition of sti- 
 pendiaries, when, after taking possession of 
 the city, the governor-general found himself 
 in such imminent danger, that he was glad 
 to fly by night to the fortress of Cliunar.§ 
 The present rajah, on leaving Benares, 
 took refuge in Ramnagur — the fort and 
 palace where Cheyte Sing, the lasl prince 
 de facto, had been assaulted and slain in 
 1781. The Europeans at the Missionary 
 College, II being afraid to attempt reaching 
 the Mint, fled to Ramnagur, where they 
 were kindly received and sent on, under 
 the e.scort of the rajah's sepoy guard, to 
 Chunar.^ All the natives of rank then in 
 Benares appear to have been true to us ; 
 but one of them is mentioned by the judge 
 (Mr. Frederick Gubbins) as having rendered 
 essential service. Rajah Soorut Sing, a 
 
 • Letter from a clergyman, dated " Bangalore, 
 July 4th."— TiHies, August 25th, 1857 The rev- 
 erend gentleman, in another part of his communica- 
 tion, reverts to the "scores and scores of prisoners" 
 whom the " indefatigable Colonel Neil" wjis hang- 
 ing ; and is anxious about the state of feeling in 
 England, " lest there should be any squeamishness 
 about the punishment in store for the brutal and 
 diabolical mutineers." 
 
 t Ensign Tweedie's Letter [Times, August 25lh, 
 1857) ; and Rev. James Kennedy's Letter. — Times, 
 August 8th, 1857. 
 
 X Kennedy's Letter. — Ibid. 
 
 § See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 361. 
 
 11 There were eleven European missionary families 
 
 Seik chieftain, under "a slight surveil- 
 lance" at the time of the outbreak, went 
 to the Seik guard stationed at the Mint, 
 and, by his example and influence, pre- 
 vented the men from rising against the 
 civilians and ladies collected there, and 
 seizing the treasure — amounting to about 
 £60,000. A writer who enters very fully 
 into the conduct of Mr. Gtibhins at this 
 crisis, and appears to possess private and 
 direct information thereon, says, that the 
 rajah's interference was most opportune ; 
 for " already the Seiks began to feel that 
 they at least were capable of avenging 
 their comrades; when Soorut Sing, going 
 amongst them, pointed out to them that 
 the attack must at all events have been 
 unpremeditated, or the civilians would not 
 have placed themselves and their families 
 in their power."** The same authority pays 
 a high and deserved tribute to the fidelity 
 of the rajah of Benares; and likewise to 
 that of another Hindoo, Rao Deo Narrain 
 Sing, who, in addition to "great wealth 
 and immense influence," possessed "strong 
 sense and ability of no common order." 
 " After the mutiny, the Rao and the Seik 
 sii-dar, Soorut Sing, actually lived in the 
 same hotise with Mr. Gubbins. The former 
 procured for us excellent spies, first-rate 
 information, and placed all his resources 
 (and they were great) at the service of our 
 government." The rajah, "although not 
 so personally active as the Rao, was equally 
 liberal with his resources, which were even 
 greater ; and never, in our darkest hour, did 
 he liang back from assisting us." The 
 name of Mr. Gubbins was, it is said, a 
 proverb for "swift stern justice :"tt ^I'l'l '^ 
 that phrase is intended to bear the signifi- 
 cation commonly attached to it by Euro- 
 peans in India in the year of grace 1857, 
 it seems certainly fortunate that there were 
 some natives of influence to reason with 
 their countrymen against the panic which a 
 
 in Benares — six attached to the Church of England 
 Mission, two to the London Mission, and three to 
 the Baptist Mission. The aggregate property of these 
 establishments amounted to upwards of £20,000. — • 
 Sherring's Indian Church, p. 251. 
 
 U Letter from the chief missionary in charge of 
 the Kenares College.— Times, August 6th, 1857. 
 
 •* Mutiny of the Bengal Army ; by One who has 
 served under Sir C. Napier; p. 90. The Europeans 
 afterwards subscribed £100 to present Soorut Sirg 
 with a set of fire-arms. — Statements of Mr. Jdhn 
 Gubbins, on the authority of his brother at Benares. 
 — Times, September 2nd, 1857. 
 
 tt Rev. James Kennedy. — Times, August 2Ut, 
 1857.
 
 288 
 
 VILLAGE-BURNING IN INDIA— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 newly erected row of gibbets (three sepa- 
 rate gibbets, with three ropes to each)* <*as 
 calculated to produce. The people of Be- 
 nares are described, iu the correspondence 
 of the period, as " petrified with fear of our 
 soldiers being let loose on them." Martial 
 law was speedily proclaimed ; and on the 
 29th of June, the Rev. James Kennedy 
 writes — "Scarcely a day passed without some 
 poor wretches being hurled into eternity. 
 Such is the state of things here, that even 
 fine delicate ladies may be heard expressing 
 their joy at the vigour with which the mis- 
 creants are dealt with."t The number of 
 sepoys killed on the night of the 4th has 
 not been estimated, J neither is there any 
 record of the number of natives executed 
 on the scaffold, or destroyed by the far 
 more barbarous process of burning down 
 villages, in which the sick and aged must 
 often have fallen victims, or escaped to 
 perish, in utter destitution, by more lin- 
 gering pangs. The dread of the European 
 soldiers, which seized on the people in 
 consequence of the occurrences of the 4th 
 of June, was viewed as most salutary ; and 
 the writer last quoted (a clergyman), re- 
 marks, that the natives "think them, the 
 European soldiers, demons in human form; 
 and to this opinion our safety is in a 
 degree traceable." 
 
 The Europeans at Benares were reinforced 
 by detachments of the 78th Highlanders, a 
 regiment which, from the strangeness of its 
 costume, created great excitement among 
 the natives. 
 
 On the 22nd of June, a report was re- 
 ceived that a body of mutineers were en- 
 camped about thirty miles from the city. 
 On the evening of the 26th, a force con- 
 sisting of 200 of the 78th Highlanders, the 
 Loodiana regiment, and thirty troopers of the 
 13th, were sent from Benares in search of 
 them. One of the party, in narrating the 
 expedition, writes — " The rascals, of course, 
 fled for life on the approach of the gallant 
 Highlanders. You will, however, be grati- 
 fied to learn, that twenty-four of the rebels 
 were cut up by the cavalry and infantry, 
 twenty-three caught and hung on the spot, 
 twenty villages razed to the ground, and 
 from forty to fifty villagers flogged, in order 
 to cool their thieving propensities. A few 
 days before the detachment left, the magis- 
 
 • Times, August 21st, 1857. t I^'^- 
 
 X The clergyman, whose letter, dated "Bangalore, 
 
 July 4th," has been recently quoted, states, on the 
 
 authority of an officer engaged in the Benares affair, 
 
 trate offered a reward of 1,000 rupees for 
 the head or person of the leader of the 
 rebels, who is well known to the natives." 
 
 The villagers did not betray the rebel 
 leader. Indeed, it is remarkable how rarely, 
 iu the case of either Europeans or na- 
 tives, they ever earned " blood- money," even 
 though habitually wretchedly poor, and 
 now almost starving, in consequence of the 
 desolation wrought by the government and 
 insurgent forces. The leader was, neverthe- 
 less, captured by the troops, and "hung up 
 on a tree, to keep nine others company that 
 had been hung there the same morning." 
 The Europeans returned to camp "in high 
 spirits. "§ The newly arrived soldiers, how- 
 ever, who had not been accustomed to such 
 warfare, had not had their houses burned, 
 and were accustomed to view their lives as 
 held on a precarious tenure, did not set about 
 the task of destruction with quite such un- 
 alloyed satisfaction as is displayed in the 
 correspondence of the civil amateurs. There 
 is a lengthy, but most graphic, account of 
 the early experience of a Highlander, which 
 will not bear condensing or abstracting. 
 Perhaps with the exception of Mowbray 
 Thomson's Story of Cawnpoor, nothing more 
 touching in its simplicity has been written 
 regarding any scene of the mutiny. 
 
 Few can read the Highlander's narrative 
 without remembering that he and his de- 
 tachment ought (if all concerned had done 
 their duty) to have been already at Cawn- 
 poor, instead of starting, on the very even- 
 ing of that fatal 27th of June, on such an 
 expedition as he describes. 
 
 The hanging and the flogging, the blood- 
 money and the burning villages; the old 
 man "trying to trail out a bed" from his 
 cottage, at the risk of perishing in the 
 flames; the group of young children stand- 
 ing in the midst of a little courtyard, the 
 decrepit man and aged woman, the young 
 mother iu a hot fever, with a babe " five or 
 six hours old," wrapped in her bosom ; all 
 waiting together till the fire should consume 
 them, and end their hopeless, helpless 
 misery — these and other cases (of which 
 there must have been hundreds unrecorded), 
 are surely enough to quench the thirst: for 
 vengeance in any human breast, or at least 
 to prove the necessity of striving to mitigate, 
 not increase, the miseries of intestine strife; 
 
 that 100 of the Madras Fusiliers, under Colonel Neil, 
 killed 650 of the mutineers.— 2Vme», August 25th, 
 1857. 
 § Letter dated " Benares, June 29th, 1857."
 
 A HIGHLANDER'S DESCRIPTION OF VILLAGE-BURNING. 
 
 289 
 
 remembering ever, that even without the 
 cruel aggravation of village-buriiiug, every 
 outcast sepoy was punished mauy times 
 over in his starving family. 
 
 " We arrived at Benares on the 25tli of June, a 
 distance of 421 miles, in eiglit days and nine nights. 
 On the evening of the 27th of June, there were 240 
 of the 78lh (I was one of them), 100 of the 
 Seiks, and 30 of the sowars — that is, Native cavalry 
 — went cut of Benares in carls, except the horse- 
 men. At 3 o'clock P.M., next day, we were divided 
 in three lots to scour the country. The division I 
 was in went to a village, which was deserted. AV'e 
 Bet fire to it and burned it to the ground. We were 
 coming back, when a gentleman came to us, and 
 said, that a village over about two miles was full of 
 them, and they were drawn up to give us battle. 
 We marched, or rather ran to them ; we got within 
 300 yards of them, when they ran. We fired after 
 them, and shot eight of them. We were going to 
 the village, when a man came running out to us, and 
 up with his hand and saluted our officer. We 
 shouted, that he was a sepoy, and to seize him. He 
 was taken, and about twelve more. We came back 
 to the carts on the road, and an old man came to us, 
 anil wanted to be paid for the village we had burned. 
 We had r magistrate with us, who found he had 
 been harbouring the villains and giving them arms 
 and food. Five minutes settled it; the sepoy and 
 the man that wanted money were taken to the road- 
 side, and hanged to a branch of a tree. AV'e lay on 
 the road all night beside- the two men hanging. 
 Next morning, we got up and marched some miles 
 through the fields, the rain pouring down in tor- 
 rents. We came to another village, set tire to it, 
 and came back to the road. During tliis time the 
 other divisions were not idle. Tliey had done as 
 much as us. When we came back, the water was 
 running in at our necks, and coming out at our 
 heels. There were about eighty prisoners ; six were 
 hung that day, and about sixty of them flogged. 
 After tliat, the magistrate said that there was a 
 Holdar that he would gi\e 2,000 rupees to get, dead 
 or alive. We slept on the road that night, and the 
 six men hinging beside us. At 5 o'clock P.M. the 
 bugle sounded ' fall-in.' The rain came down in 
 torrents." We fell-in, and off we marched, up to the 
 knees in clay and water. We can:e to a village and 
 set it on fire. The sun came out, and we got dry ; 
 but we soon got wet again with sweat. We came to 
 a large village, and it was full of people. We took 
 about 200 of lliem out, and set lire to it. I went 
 in, and it was all in flames. I saw an old man 
 trying to trail out a bed. He was not able to walk, 
 far less to carry out the cot. I ordered him out of 
 the village, and pointed to the Haints, and told him, 
 as well as 1 could, that if he did not he would be 
 burned. I took the cot, and dragged him out. 1 
 came round a corner of a street or lane, and could 
 see nothing but smoke and flames. 1 stood for a 
 moment to think which way I sliould go. Just as I 
 was looking round, 1 saw the flames bursting out of 
 the walls of a house, and, to my surprise, observed a 
 little boy, about four years old, looking out at the 
 door. 1 pointed the way out to the old man, and 
 told him if he did not go I would shoot hirn. I then 
 rushed to the house I saw the little boy at. The 
 door was by that time in flames. I thought not of 
 myself, but of the poor helpless child. 1 rushed in ; 
 
 VOL. II. 2 P 
 
 and after I got in, there was a sort of square, and all 
 round this were houses, and they were all in flames; 
 and instead of seeing the helpless child, I beheld six 
 children from eight to two years old, an old dotal 
 woman, an old man, not able to walk without help, 
 and a young woman, about twenty years old, with a 
 child wrapped up in her bosom. I am sure the child 
 was not above five or six hours old. The mother 
 was in a hot fever. I stood and looked ; but looking 
 at that time would not do. I tried to get the little 
 boys to go away, but they would not. 1 took the 
 infant ; the mother would have it ; so I gave it back. 
 I then took the woman and her infant in my arms to 
 carry her and her babe out. The children led the 
 old woman and old man. I took the lead, knowing 
 they would follow. I came to a place that it was 
 impossible to see whereabouts I was, for the flames. 
 I dashed through, and called on the others to follow. 
 After a hard struggle, 1 got them all safe out, but 
 that was all. Even coming through the fire, part of 
 their clothes, that did not cover half of their body, 
 was burned. I set them down in the field, and 
 went in at another place. I saW' nothing but flames 
 all round. A little further I saw a poor old woman 
 trying to come out. She could not walk; she only 
 could creep on her hands and feet. 1 went up to 
 her, and told her I would carry her out; but no, 
 she would not allow me to do it; but, when I saw 
 it was no use to trifle with her, I took her up in my 
 arms and carried her out. I went in at the other 
 end, and came across a woman about twenty-two 
 years old. She was sitting over a man that, to all 
 appearance, would not see the day out. She was 
 wetting his lips with some siste. The fire was com- 
 ing fast, and the others all round were in flames. 
 Not far from this I saw four women. I ran up to 
 them, and asked them to come and help the sick 
 man and woman out; but they thought they had 
 enough to do ; and so they had, poor things ; but, to 
 save the woman and the dying man, I drew my 
 bayonet, and told them if they did not I would kill 
 them. They came, carried them out, and laid them 
 under a tree. I left them. To look on, any one 
 would have said that the flames were in the clouds. 
 When I went to the other side of the village, there 
 were about 140 women and about sixty children, 
 all crying and lamenting what had been done. The 
 old woman of that small family I took out, came to 
 me, and I thought she would have kissed the ground 
 I stood on. I offered them some biscuit I had for 
 my day's rations ; but they would not take it ; it 
 would break their caste, they said. The assembly 
 sounded, and back I went with as many blessings as 
 they could pour out on anything nearest their heart. 
 Out of the prisoners that were taken, the man for 
 w hom the 2,000 rupees were offered was taken by us 
 for nothing. We hanged ten of them on the spot, 
 and flogged a great many — about sixty. We burned 
 another village that night. Oh, if you had seen the 
 ten raiuch round the grove, and seen them looking 
 the same as if nothing was going to happen to 
 them! There was one of them fell; the rope broke, 
 and down he came. He rose up, and looked all 
 around; he w.is hung up again. After they were 
 hanged, all the others were taken round to see them. 
 Then we came marching back to the cart.«. Left 
 Benares on the Gth of July, or rather the night of 
 the 5th. We had to turn out and lie with our belts 
 on. On the Gth we, numbering 180, went out 
 against 2,000. We came up close to them ; they 
 were drawn up in three lines ; it looked too many
 
 290 
 
 MUTINY OF SEIKS AT JAUNPOOR— JUNE 5th, 1857. 
 
 for us; but on we dashed, and in a short time they j 
 began to run. We set file to a large village that 
 was full of them j we surrounded it, and as they [ 
 came rushing out of the flames, shot them. We took 
 eighteen of them prisoners ; they were all tied to- 
 gether, and we fired a volley at them and shot them 
 on the spot. We came home that night, after 
 marching twenty miles, and fighting nearly thirty to 
 one. In this country, we are told that we had 
 killed 500 of them : our loss was one man and one 
 horse killed, and one mau and one horse wounded." 
 
 The news of the disarmed 37th having 
 been fired into by the European artillery, 
 told as it probably was with e.xnggeratioii, 
 and without mention of the mutinous con- 
 duct of a portion of the regiment, spread 
 rapidly among the Native troops at the 
 neighbouring stations, and placed a new 
 ■weapon in the hands of the plotting and 
 discontented, by rendering it more easy for 
 them to persuade their well-disposed but 
 credulous comrades, that the breach be- 
 tween them and the English could never 
 be healed, and that their disbandment and 
 probable destruction was only a quotion of 
 time and opportunity. At Allahabad the 
 effect was sudden and terrible, and likewise 
 at the intermediate post of Jaunpoor. 
 
 Jaunpoor is the chief place of a district of 
 the same name, acquired by the East India 
 Company in 1775. It stands on the banks 
 of the river Gooretee, 35 miles north-west 
 from Benares, and 55 miles north-east from 
 Allahabad. There is a large stone fort here, 
 which has been used for a prison. The can- 
 tonment, situated at the eavt of the town, 
 was on the 5tli of June, 1857, held by a 
 detachment of the Loodiana Seiks from 
 Allahabad, 169 in number, with a single 
 European cfiSeer, Lieutenant !Mara. 
 
 As Brigadier Gordon declared of the re- 
 giment at Benares, so with the detachment 
 at Jaunpoor; the loyalty of the men had 
 " never been suspected by any one, civil or 
 .military."* The officer in command at Be- 
 nares (Glasse), declares th;it the European 
 guns were turned on the Loodiana corps, 
 without its having given one token of mu- 
 tiny; that the lives of several officers were in 
 the power of the men, and nothing would 
 have been easier than to shoot them, had 
 the regiment been actuated by a mutinous 
 spirit; but that with the exception of one 
 
 man, who fired at Colonel Gordon, and 
 whose shot was received in the arm by a 
 faithful havildar (ChurSing, who risked his 
 life in the defence of his officer), no such 
 attempt whs made. It will be evident, he 
 adds, that after grape had once been poured 
 into the regiment, it would be almost excus- 
 able if some men, though conscious of the 
 innocence and rectitude of their own inten- 
 tions, should be hurried into the belief 
 that the government, conceiving the whole 
 native race actuated by the same spirit of 
 treachery, had resolved to deal the same 
 punishment to all.f 
 
 There is reason to believe, that the sole 
 and simple motive of the imeute at Jaun- 
 poor, was a conviction that the British had 
 betrayed, at Benares, their resolve to exter- 
 minate the entire Bengal army at the first 
 convenient opportunity, without distinction 
 of race or creed — regular or irregular, Hin- 
 doo or Mohammedan, Seik or Poorbeah. 
 A similar report had nearly occasioned a 
 Goorka mutiny at Simla, and was coun- 
 teracted with extreme difficulty. It is pos- 
 sible, that had a true and timely account of 
 what had taken place at Benares been re- 
 ceived at Jaunpoor, Lieutenant Mara would 
 have been enabled to explain away, at least 
 to some extent, the exaggerated accounts 
 which were sure to find circulation in the 
 native lines. No such warning was given. A 
 bazaar report reached the residents, on the 
 4th of June, that the troops iit Aziiiigliur 
 had mutinied on the previous evening. On 
 the following morning there was no post fiom 
 Benares; and about eight o'clock, three Euro- 
 peans rode ill from the Bubcha factory, two 
 miles and a-half from Jaunpoor, stating 
 that the factory had been attacked by a 
 party of the 37th mutineers, and that they 
 had made their escape through a shower of 
 bullets. Mr. Caesar, the head-master of the 
 Mission school,! said to Lieutenant Mara, 
 " The 37th are upon us." The officer re- 
 plied, " What have we to fear from tlie 37th ; 
 our own men will keep them off."& The 
 Europeans and Eurasians assembled toge- 
 ther in the Cutcherry, and the Seiks were 
 placed under arms, awaiting the arrival of 
 the mutineers; until, about noon, news ar- 
 rived, that after plundering and burning 
 
 • Return of regiments which have mutinied, p. 33. majority of the people of Jaunpoor were Moham- 
 t Ibid., p. 32. I meiians; and the conversions are always more rare 
 
 X The Church Missionary Society had a station at among then; than among the Hindoos, notwith- 
 Jaunpoor, under the superintendence of the llev. standing the barrier of caste. 
 
 C. Reuther. They sui)porled a church and live § Letter from a gentleman in charge of the Mis- 
 achooU, with about 600 scholars in all. The tionarv College at Benares.— IVmes, Aug. 6th, 1867.
 
 JAUNPOOR FUGITIVES PROTECTED BY HINGUN LALL. 
 
 291 
 
 the Bubclia factory, they had gone along 
 the Liicknow road. The Europeans did not 
 quit the Cutclierry ; but being reheved from 
 immediate apprehension, they ordered din- 
 ner, and made otlier arrangements. " About 
 lialf-past two," Mr. Csesar writes, " Lieu- 
 tenant Mara, myself, and some others, were 
 in the verandah, when, as I was giving 
 orders to a servant, a shot was fired, and on 
 looking round, I saw that poor Mara had 
 been sliot through the chest." Tliere is no 
 European testimony on the subject, but the 
 deed is assumed to have been done by one 
 of Mara's own men. Mr. Caesar continues 
 — "We ran inside the building; and just 
 within the doorway, Mara fell on tlie ground. 
 Other shots being fired into the rooms, we 
 retired into the joint magistrate's Cutcherry, 
 and barricaded the doors : we did this with 
 litlle hopes of escaping from the mutineers. 
 They were about 140 in number; while the 
 gentlemen in the room (for some were 
 absent) were only nine or ten. We fully 
 expected a rush to be made into the apart- 
 ment, and all of us to be killed. The hour 
 of death seemed to have arrived. The 
 greater part of us were kneeling or crouch- 
 ing down, and some few were engaged in 
 jirayer." 
 
 The mutineers were not, however, blood- 
 tliirsty. Tliey soon ceased firing, and began 
 j)lun(lering the treasury, which contained 
 j£26,000 ; and when the Europeans ventured 
 to fetch the lieutenant from the outer 
 room, and to look forth, they saw the plun- 
 derers walking off with bags of money on 
 their slioulders. Two of the planters sad- 
 dled their own horses and fled. The rest of 
 the party prepared to depart together. 
 Lieutenant Mara was still living, and was 
 carried some distance on a charpoy. Mr. 
 CcEsar, who gives a circumstantial account 
 of their flight, does not mention when the 
 unfortunate officer was abandoned to liis 
 fate; but it uppears tliat, being considered 
 mortally woiinded, they left liim on the 
 road ; ibr Mr. Spencer, a civilian, writing 
 from Benares a few days later, says — " They 
 li'fc poor O'Mara* dying, and got into their 
 carriages and drove away."+ This is not, 
 however, quite correct ; for the party (or at 
 least most of them) left the Cutcherry on 
 foot; Mrs. Mara, the wife of the fallen officer, 
 liaving difficulty in moving on with any 
 rapidity on account of her stoutness. The 
 
 * The name is variously spelt, but is given in the 
 Eaat India liegister as " Patrick Mara." 
 
 t Lntter published in Times, August 10th, 1857. 
 
 corpse of Mr. Cuppage, the joint magistrate, 
 lay at the gate. The fugitives hurried on, 
 and were passing the doctor's house, when 
 his carriage was brought out, apparently 
 without orders, by faithful native servants. 
 Five ladies, eight children, an ayah, the 
 coachman, with Messrs. Reuther and Caesar 
 (the latter, revolver in hand), found room 
 therein, and proceeded towards Gliazipoor. 
 There were also three gentlemen on horse- 
 back, and two on foot; but while stopping 
 to drink water by the road-side, Mrs. Mara's 
 carriage overtook the party, the native 
 coachman having brought it unbidden ; and 
 all the fugitives were thus enabled to pro- 
 ceed with ease. They crossed the Goomtee 
 at the ferry, with their horses and carriages, 
 observed, but not molested, by a crowd of 
 natives, one of whom asked a European for 
 his watch, saying that he might as well give 
 it him, as he would soon lose it. But this 
 seems to have been a vulgar jest, such as all 
 raobs delight in, and no insult was offered 
 to the women or children. It would be 
 superfluous to narrate in detail the adven- 
 tures of the fugitives. Mrs. Mara died of 
 apoplexy; the others safely reached Karrakut, 
 a large town on the left bank of the Goomtee. 
 Here Hingun Lall, a Hindoo of some rank 
 and influence, and of most noble nature, 
 invited them to his house. " He stated," 
 says Mr. Caesar, " that he had a ievi armed 
 men, and that the enemy should cut his 
 throat first, before they reached us." His 
 hospitality was gratefully accepted, and a 
 " sumptuous repast" was in preparation for 
 the weary guests, wheu the clashing of wea- 
 pons was heard, and " the Lalia," as he is 
 termed, placed the ladies and children in an 
 inner room, and bade the men prepare for 
 defence. But although the town was three 
 times plundered by distinct bodies of the 
 enemy, the Lalla'a house was not attacked. 
 The mutineers knew that to attempt to 
 dras the refusrees from so time-honoured a 
 sanctuai-y as the dwelling of a Rajpoot, 
 would have been to draw on themselves the 
 vengeance of the majority of the Oude 
 chiefs, wiio were as yet neutral. The Eu- 
 ropeans, therefore, remained unharmed. 
 On the evening of the 8th, a letter was 
 brought them, addressed to " Any Europeans 
 hiding at Karrakut." It came from Mr. 
 Tucker, the Benares commissioner, who 
 was as remarkable for his efforts to preserve 
 the lives of his countrymen, as some of his 
 coadjutors were to avenge their deaths. 
 He offered rewards for the heads of living
 
 292 ALLAHABAD— IMPORTANT FORTRESS, ARSENAL AND TREASURY. 
 
 friends rather than for those of dead foes ; 
 and his policy was decidedly the more suc- 
 cessful of the two; for the villagers gene- 
 rally proved willing to hazard the vengeance 
 of the hostile forces by saving life, but 
 could rarely, if ever, be induced by threats 
 or promises to earn blood-money. 
 
 An escort of twelve volunteers, and as 
 many of the 13th irregular cavalry, arrived 
 on the following day ; and, before night, the 
 rescued party joined the Benares commu- 
 nity in the Mint. Four persons (either 
 Europeans or East Indians), left behind at 
 Jaunpoor, are said to have perished. These 
 were Mr. and Mrs. Thriepland, the deputy- 
 magistrate and his wife, who, after hiding 
 themselves during the night of the outbreak 
 in the house of one of the native police, 
 were discovered and slaiightered by the 
 irregular cavalry ; a pensioned sergeant 
 named Bignold ; and a Mr. Davis, formerly 
 an indigo-planter's assistant, supposed to 
 have been put to death by the villagers.* 
 
 " A life pension of 100 rupees (£10) per 
 mensem," was granted by government to 
 Hingun Lall, with the honorary title of 
 deputy-magistrate ; with permission, as the 
 Lalla was an old man, to commute the 
 pension to a life jaghire, to be extended to a 
 second life on easy terms.f 
 
 Allahabad is built on a spot which pos- 
 sesses rare natural advantages for the pur- 
 poses of commerce and defence, and has 
 been, from a very early period, the site of 
 a strongly fortified city. The ancient Pali- 
 bothra is said to have formerly stood here ; 
 and the Brahmins still attach importance 
 to the place, on account of the Prayaga, 
 or sacred confluence of three most holy 
 streams, which unite at Allahabad — namely, 
 the Ganges, Jumna, and Sreeswati. By 
 bathitig at one favoured spot, the pilgrim 
 is supposed to receive the same benefit 
 that he would have derived from separate 
 immersion in each stream ; and this is no 
 mere saving of trouble, inasmuch as the 
 Sreeswati is elsewhere inaccessible to mortal 
 touch, a)id everywhere invisible to mortal 
 sight : but the Hindoos assert that it joins 
 the other rivers by a subterranean channel. 
 Devotees come here and wait, in boats, the 
 precise period of the moon when, according 
 to their creed, ablutions, duly performed, 
 will wash from their souls the defilement of 
 
 • Mr. Cesar's Narrative. Vide Sherring's Indian 
 Church, pp. 267 to 276. 
 t Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1857 (No. 7), p. 118. 
 X Lieutenant-colonel Simpson's account of the 
 
 sin; and the hopelessly sick, or extremely 
 aged, come hither also, and, fastening three 
 vessels of water round their bodies, calmly 
 step into the water and quit this life, passing 
 by what they believe to be a divinely ap- 
 pointed road, into the world beyond the 
 grave. The emperor Akber, who patro- 
 nised all religions, and practised none, was 
 popular with both Mohammedans and Hin- 
 doos. He built the modern Allahabad (the 
 city of God), intending it as a stronghold to 
 overawe the surrounding countries. The 
 lofty and extensive fort stands on a tongue 
 of land washed on one side by the Ganges, 
 on the other by the Jumna, and completely 
 commands the navigation of both rivers. 
 As a British station, it occupies a position 
 of peculiar importance. It is the first in 
 the Upper Provinces, all to the eastward 
 being called down-country. It is situated 
 on the Grand Trunk road, 498 miles from 
 Calcutta, 1,151 from Madras, 831 from Bom- 
 bay, and 74 from Benares. Add to these 
 advantages a richly stored arsenal, and a 
 treasury containing j6190,000 ; J and it may 
 be easily understood that its security ought 
 to have been a primary consideration : yet, 
 at the time of the Meerut outbreak, there was 
 not a European soldier in Allahabad. The 
 fort, and extensive cantonments some four 
 miles distant, wer^i occupied by the 6th 
 N.I., a battery of Native artillery, and 
 five companies of the Seik regiment of 
 Ferozpoor, under Lieutenant Brasyer, an 
 officer of remarkable nerve and tact. 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence early pressed 
 on the government the importance of 
 strengthening Allahabad with Europeans ;§ 
 and seventy-four invalid artillerymen were 
 consequently detached from Chunar, and 
 arrived at Allahabad in the latter part of 
 May. Two troops of the 3rd Oude irregular 
 cavalry were sent by Sir H. Lawrence for the 
 further protection of the fort.|| Several de- 
 tachments of H.M. 84th marched through 
 Allahabad between the time of the arrival of 
 the Chunar artillerymen and the outbreak 
 of the mutiny ; and the officer in command 
 of the station liad discretionary orders to 
 detain them if he deemed their presence 
 needful; but there was nothing in the 
 manner of the Native troops to occasion 
 any doubt of their fidelity, or justify the 
 detention of the Europeans. On the 
 
 Mutiny at Allahabad.— See Timet, August 26th, 
 18J7. 
 
 § Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, p. 187. 
 
 II Ibid.
 
 MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD— JUNE 6th, 1857. 
 
 293 
 
 contrary, remarkable tranquillity prevailed ; 
 and there is no record of incendiary fires 
 or midnight meetings, such as usnally pre- 
 ceded mutiny. Two men, who attempted to 
 tamper with the 6th N.I., were delivered 
 up to the authorities, and the entire regi- 
 ment volunteered to march against Delhi. 
 The governor-general in council issued a 
 general order, thanking the 6th for their 
 loyalty, and directed that " the tender of 
 their services should be placed on the 
 records of government, and read at the 
 head of every regiment and company of the 
 Bengal army, at a parade ordered for the 
 purpose."* The order reached Allahabad, 
 by telegraph, on the afternoon of the 4th 
 of June. It was received with enthusiasm 
 both by officers and men, and a parade was 
 ordered, and carried through apparently to 
 the satisfaction of all parties. But this 
 state of things was of brief duration. On 
 the 5th of June, ominous messages came to 
 Colonel Simpson (the commandant at the 
 fort), of external dangers. Sir Henry Law- 
 rence desired that the civilians should retire 
 within the fort for the present ; and Sir 
 Hugh Wheeler likewise sent word from 
 Cawnpoor, " to man the fort with every 
 available European, and make a good stand." 
 Then came the tidings of what had occurred 
 at Benares; the Europeans learning that 
 the sepoys, instead of quietly surrendering 
 their arms, had resisted and fled, and were 
 reported to be marching against Allahabad ; 
 while the native version of the story was 
 — that the 37th, after being disarmed, bad 
 been faithlessly massacred by the Euro- 
 peans. There was a certain foundation of 
 fact for both these statements. The well- 
 disposed sepoys, who were the majority, 
 had (as is stated by the best authority) 
 quietly obeyed the order for disarmament : 
 the turbulent minority had resisted; and 
 their revolt, precipitated, if not caused, by 
 ■what the European officers call the mistake 
 of one commander, and the incapacity of 
 another (di;?ablcd by a sun -stroke), involved 
 many loyai sepoys in the mutiny. It does 
 not appear that the officers and men at Al- 
 lahabad had any explanation, or arrived at 
 any mutual understanding, with regard to 
 the proceedings at Benares; ouly it was 
 taken for granted by the former, that the 
 latter would be ready to fight, as foes, the 
 countrymen whom they had, until then, re- 
 garded as comrades in arms, identified with 
 them in feeling atid in interest. 
 * Appendix to Pari. Papers on the Mutiny, p. 361. 
 
 On the night of the 5th (Friday), nearly 
 all the Europeans slept in the fort; and 
 the civilians, covenanted and uncovenanted, 
 formed themselves into a volunteer com- 
 pany about a hundred strong. Two guns, 
 and two companies of the 6th N.I., were 
 ordered down to the bridge of boats, which 
 crosses the Jumna beneath the fort, in 
 order to be ready to play upon the Benares 
 insurgents ; the guns of the fort were at 
 the same time pointed on to the Benares 
 road. Captain Alexander, with two squad- 
 rons of Oude cavalry, was posted iu the 
 Alopee Bagh — a large encamping-ground, 
 under the walls of the fort, which com- 
 manded all the roads to the station. The 
 main body of the 6th remained in their 
 lines, in readiness to move anywhere at the 
 shortest notice. 
 
 Saturday evening came, and the Euro- 
 peans were relieved by the non-arrival of 
 the mutineers. Colonel Simpson and the 
 chief part of the officers sat together at 
 mess at nine o'clock; and the volunteers 
 who were to keep watch during the night 
 were lying down to rest, and wait their sum- 
 mons. The volunteers were all safe in the 
 fort; but there were two officers, less prudent 
 or less fortunate, outside the gates. Cap- 
 tain Birch, the fort-adjutant (a married man 
 with a family), had preferred remaining in 
 his own bungalow; and Lieutenant Innes, 
 the executive engineer, lay sick in his, having 
 resigned his appointment on the previous 
 day from ill-health. There were, besides, 
 some Europeans and many Eurasians, mer- 
 chants' clerks, and such like, in their own 
 dwellings. None of them seem to have 
 entertained any suspicion of what was going 
 on in the lines of the 6th N.I., to which 
 several Benares mutineers had found their 
 way, and succeeded in inducing the 6th to 
 join the mutiny. A Mohammedan, who 
 acted, or affected to act, as an agent of the 
 king of Delhi, was very active in heightening 
 the panic and excitement. He is generally 
 supposed to have been a Moolvce, or Moslem 
 teacher; but some said he was a Native 
 officer; others, that he was a weaver by 
 trade. As the "Moolvce of Allahabad" he 
 subsequently contrived to obtain notoriety. 
 
 The discussions in the lines of the 6th 
 N.I. were brought to an issue by a bugler 
 rushing on parade, and sounding an alarm. 
 Colonel Simpson had just quitted the mess, 
 and was walking to the fort, when he heard 
 the signal. Ordering his horse, he mounted, 
 and galloped to the parade, where he
 
 294 
 
 OFFICERS MASSACRED AT ALLAHABAD— JUNE 6th, 1857. 
 
 "found the officers trying to fall-in their 
 men." The colonel li.id previously ordered 
 the two guns to be brought from the bridge 
 of boats to the fort, under the charge of au 
 artillery officer (Lieutenant Harward) and a 
 Native guard. Instead of obeying the order, 
 the men had insisted on taking them to 
 cantonments. Harward sought the assis- 
 tance of Lieutenant Alexander, who sprang 
 on his horse, and, hastily ordering his men 
 to follow him, rode up to the mutineers, 
 "and, rushing on the guns, was killed on 
 the spot."* Harward was likewise fired 
 on ; and, seeing that resistance was hope- 
 less, he galloped into the fort, where he 
 found tlie civilians assembled on the ram- 
 parts, listening to what they believed to be 
 the attack of the Benares mutineers. One 
 of the civilians writes — "The firing grew 
 heavier, and we all thought that the insur- 
 gents had entered the station, and were 
 being beaten off by the regiment, so steady 
 was the musketry — regular file firing. On, 
 ou it continued, volley after volley. 'Oh !' 
 we all said, ' those gallant sepoys are beat- 
 ing off the rebels ;' for the firing grew 
 fainter in the distance, as if they were 
 driving a force out of the station. But 
 before Iqng the sad truth was known. "f 
 
 First, Lieutenant Harward rode in, and 
 told what he witnessed. Colonel Simpson 
 arrived shortly after, and narrated the open 
 mutiny of the regiment and the firing 
 on the officers, of whom Captain Phinkett, 
 .Lieutenants Stewart and Haines, Ensigns 
 Pringle and !Munro, and two sergeants, 
 were slaughtered on parade. The colonel 
 himself had had a narrow escape. A havil- 
 dar and some sepoys surrounded and hur- 
 ried him off the field. He rode to the 
 treasury, with the view of saving its con- 
 tents, but was at once fired on by the 
 sentry, and afterwards " received a regular 
 volley from the guard of thirty men on one 
 side, with another volley from a night picket 
 of thirty m.cn on the other. A guard of 
 poor Alexander's Irregulars stood iinssive." 
 Tlie colonel adds — " I g;dhiped past the 
 mess-hoTise, where the guard was drawn 
 out at the gate and fired at me. Here my 
 horse got seriously wounded, and nearly fell ; 
 
 * Lieutenant-colonel Simpson's account. — Times, 
 August 26th, 1857. 
 
 t Letter of Allahabad civilian. — Times, August 
 2oth, 1857. 
 
 X Lieutenant-colonel Simpson's account. 
 
 § The "Allahabad civilian" speaks of nine; but the 
 official returns name eight — Ensigns Cheek, Codd, 
 Way, Beaumont, Bailifl', Scott, and two Smiths. — 
 
 but I managed to spur him to the fort (two 
 miles) without further impediment. Tiiere 
 the horse died .shortly after of three musket- 
 shot wounds. On reaching the fort I im- 
 mediately disarmed the guards of the 6th 
 regiment on duty and turned them out, 
 leaving the Seik regiment to hold it, the 
 only Euro])ean troops being seventy-four 
 invalid artillery, got from Chunar. The 
 Madras European regiment began to pour 
 in a few days after, and the command de- 
 [ volved on the lieutenant-colonel [Neil] of 
 that corps. "J 
 
 No mention is made by Colonel Simpson 
 of the horrible scone which is alleged to have 
 taken place in the mess-room, after he and 
 the senior officers had left it. Eight un- 
 posted ensigus,§ mere boys fresh from 
 England, and doing duty with the 6th N.I., 
 were bayoneted there; and three of the 
 officers Avho escaped heard their cries as 
 they passed. II 
 
 AVhen the poor youths were left for dead, 
 one of them, said to be Eusign Cheek (a 
 son of the town-clerk of Evesham in 
 Worcestershire), although se»'erely injured, 
 contrived to escape in the darkness to 
 a neighbouring ravine, where he concealed 
 himself for several days and nights, taking 
 refuge from the heat of the sun by day, atid 
 wild beasts by night, amid the branches of 
 a tree, and supporting life solely by the 
 water of a neigh ijouring stream. On the 
 night of the mutiny, no Europeans dared 
 stir out of the fort to rescue those outsjde, 
 or bring in the wounded. Their own posi- 
 tion was extremely critical ; the personal 
 influence of Lieutenant Brasyer with the 
 Seiks, being chiefly instrumental in preserv- 
 ing their fidelity.^ The temptation of 
 plunder was very great, and the work of 
 destruction was carried on with temporary 
 impunity. The treasury was looted, the 
 gaol thrown open, and reckless bands of 
 convicts were poured forth on the canton- 
 ments and city. Captain Birch and Lieu- 
 tenant Innes, who iiad intended passing 
 the night in the same bungalow, fied 
 together towards the Ganges, and are 
 supposed to have been murdered by the 
 mutineers or insurgents. Lieutenant Hicks 
 
 Supplement to the Lamlun Gazette, May 6th, 
 1858. 
 
 I| Letter of Allahabad civilian. — Times, August 
 25th, 1857. 
 
 ^ Mr. Hay, an American missionary, in Allahabad 
 at the time of the mutiny, and who was personally 
 acquainted with Lieuteniint Brasyer, says that he 
 "rose from the ranks." — Times, September, 1857.
 
 ENSIGN CHEEK AND GOPINATH NUNDY. 
 
 295 
 
 aud two young ensigns, left with the guns 
 when Lieutenant Harward went to seek the 
 aid of Captain Alexander, were not injured 
 by the sepoys. Tliey did not venture to 
 take the direct road to the fort ; but plunged 
 into the Ganges, and, after some time, pre- 
 sented themselves at the gate in safety, 
 having fii st blackened their bodies with mud, 
 iu default of any other covering. Eleven 
 European men (uncovenanted servants, rail- 
 way inspectors, and others), three women, 
 and four children, are mentioned in the 
 Gazette as having perished. No list of the 
 Eurasians or natives murdered is given ; but 
 six drummers (Christians) of the 6th N.I. 
 are stated as having been killed, it was 
 supposed on the night of the mutiny, 
 " whilst attempting to bury the murdered 
 officers."* The 6th N.I. quitted the city 
 on the morning after the imeutt ; but the 
 Moolvee had still a considerable host around 
 his standard ; and the European garrison, 
 though reinforced by successive detach- 
 ments of the Madras Fusiliers, had, during 
 the first days after the mutiny, quite enougli 
 to do to hold their own within the fort, 
 against the internal dangers of drunkenness 
 and insubordination. Consequently, no 
 efforts seem to have been made, and no 
 rewards offered, for the missing Europeans ; 
 and the brave young ensign remained in his 
 tree, with his undressed wounds, sinking 
 with hunger and exhaustion, and listening 
 anxiously, through four live-long days aud 
 nights, for the sound of friendly voices. 
 On the fifth day he was discovered by the 
 rebels, and taken to a serai, or sleeping-place 
 for travellers, where he found Conductor 
 Coleman aud his family in confinement, 
 and also a well-known native preacher 
 named Gopinath, who bad escaped with his 
 wife and family from Futtehpore. When 
 the poor youth was brought in, he nearly 
 fainted. Gopinath gave bira some gruel, 
 and afterwards water, to allay his burning 
 thirst. The agiuiy of his wounds being 
 increased by lying on the hard boards, 
 Gopinath prevailed on the daroga who had 
 charge of the prisoners, to give Ensign 
 Cheek a charpoy to lie on. Tliis was done, 
 and tlie sufferer related to his native friend 
 all he had undergone, and bade him, if he 
 escaped, write to his mother in England, 
 
 * Supplement to London Gazette, May 6th, 1808. 
 
 t Tlie Huthnrity relied on regarding Ensign 
 Cheek, is the Narrative of Gopinath Nundy, and of 
 the Kev. J. Owen, of the American Board of Mis- 
 sions, a society which has expended a considerable 
 
 and to his aunt at Bancoorah. At length 
 the daroga, jealous of the intercourse be- 
 tween the captives, placed Gopinath in the 
 stocks, separating him from the others, aud 
 even from his own family. A body of 
 armed Mohammedans came in and tried to 
 tempt or terrify him into a recantation. 
 His wife clung to him, and was dragged 
 away by the hair of her head, receiving a 
 severe blow on the forehead during the 
 struggle. The ensign, who lay watching 
 the scene, heard the offer of immediate 
 release made to the native, on condition of 
 apostasy, and, mastering his anguish and 
 his weakness, called out, iu a loud voice, 
 " Padre, padre, be firm ; do not give way." 
 Tlie prisoners remained some days longer 
 in hourly expectation of death. At length 
 the Moolvee himself visited them. But 
 they all held their faith ; and at length, the 
 approach of Lieutenant Brasyer, with a 
 detachment of Seiks, put the fanatics to 
 flight. The conductor and the catechist, 
 with their families, were brought safely 
 into the fort. The ensign survived just 
 loug enough to be restored to his country- 
 men. Before sunset on the same day 
 {17th June), the spirit that had not yet 
 spent seventeen summers on earth, entered 
 into rest with something of the halo of 
 martyrdom upon it.f 
 
 It was well that Colonel Neil had arrived 
 at Allahabad ; for martial law had been 
 proclaimed there immediately after the 
 mutiny; aud the system adopted by indi- 
 vidual Europeans, of treating disturbed dis- 
 tricts with the license of a conquering army 
 in an enemy's country, had fostered evils 
 which were totally subversive of all disci- 
 pline. 
 
 Among the documents sent to England 
 by the governor-general in council, in 
 proof of the spirit of turbulent and indiscri- 
 minate vengeance which it had been found 
 necessary to check, is an extract from a 
 letter, communicating the strange and humi- 
 liating fact, that it was needful to restrain 
 British functionaries from the indiscrimi- 
 nate destruction, not only of innocent men, 
 but even of " aged women and children ;" 
 and this before the occurrence of the 
 second, or tlie publication of the first, mas- 
 sacre at Cawnpoor. The name of the 
 
 sum of money in Allahabad. Another account, 
 more graphic, but less autlientic, was published — as 
 an extract of a letter from an officer in the ser- 
 vice of the Company — in the I'imes, of September 
 7th, 1857.
 
 296 
 
 ALLAHABAD— MISCONDUCT OF EUROPEANS AND SEIKS. 
 
 writer of the letter, and of the persons [ 
 therein mentioned, are all withheld by 
 govern me lit ; and the quotation begins 
 abruptly. j 
 
 " has adopted a policy of burning villages, 
 
 which is, in my opinion, the most suicidal and 
 mischievous that can be devised; it prevents the 
 possibility of order being restored ; the aged, women 
 and children, are sacrificed, as well as those guilty 
 of rebellion. Cultivation is impossible ; a famine is 
 consequently almost certain. The sternest measures 
 are doubtless necessary, and every possible endeavour 
 should be made to apprehend and punish those 
 actually engaged in plunder or rebellion; but here 
 there seems to be no discrimination. A railway 
 officer, whose report you will probably see, did ex- 
 cellent service, and seems to have behaved very 
 gallantly when sent with a small guard to restore 
 the railway where it might have been injured ; but, 
 iii accordance with the custom, as he met with 
 opposition from some plunderers and mutineers, he 
 burnt ten villages, which he found deserted. The 
 Trunk road now passes through a desert ; the inhabi- 
 tants have fled to a distance uf four or five miles; 
 and it seems to me to be obviously the proper policy 
 to encoursige all peaceable persons to return, not to | 
 destroy the villages and render the return of the 
 people impossible. Some five p;;r8ons have been 
 invested with tlie powers of life and death in the 
 station of Allahabad ; each sits separately, and there 
 are also courts-martial in the fort. 
 
 " You will do the state service if you can check 
 the indiscriminate burning of villages, and secure 
 the hanging of the influential off'enders, instead of 
 those who cannot pay the police for their safely."* 
 
 In a subsequent letter, written probably 
 by the same person, but evidently by a 
 civilian of rank, the following passage 
 occurs:— "You have no conception of the 
 dangers and difficulties created by lawless 
 and reckless Europeans here. One of them 
 cocked his pistol -it Lieutenant Brasyer in 
 the fort. The ruffian was as likely as not to 
 have pulled the trigger; and, in that case, 
 as Lieutenant Brasyer himself observed to 
 me, his Seiks would have slain every Euro- 
 pean in the fort. Tiiis was before Colonel 
 Neil took the command : if it had liappened 
 iu his time, the probability is that the 
 offender would have been tried and 
 hanged."t 
 
 An Allahabad "civil servant" — one of 
 the five persons already mentioned as in- 
 vested with powers of life and death, and 
 who speaks of himself as having been 
 subsequently appointed by the commis- 
 
 • Letter, dated July 6th, 1857.— Pari. Papers 
 (Commons), February 4th, 1857. Moved for by 
 Henry D.Seymour. Showing the proceedings "taken 
 for the punishment of those who have been guilty 
 of mutiny, desertion, and rebellion" in India ; and 
 the reason why the country generally was not put 
 under martial law "after the mutinies" — a measure, 
 
 sioner, Mr. Chester, as " the political agent 
 with the force," which, from tiie date of his 
 letter (June 28tlj) must have been Neil's — 
 gives the following account of the proceed- 
 ings after the arrival of the Fusiliers, be- 
 fore, and after, the arrival of their colonel. 
 He writes — 
 
 "We dared not leave the fort; for who knows 
 what the Seiks would have done if it had been left 
 empty ? However, let us not breathe one word of 
 suspicion against them, for they behaved splendidly, 
 though they are regular devils. We lived on in 
 this way till the Madras Fusiliers came up, and then 
 our fun began. We ' volunteers' were parted off 
 into divisions, three in number; and your humble 
 servant was promoted to the command of one, the 
 ' flagstaff division,' with thirty railroad men under 
 his command, right good stout fellows, every one of 
 whom had been plundered, and were consequently 
 as bloodthirsty as any demons need be. We sallied 
 forth several times with the Seiks into the city, and 
 had several skirmishes in the streets, when we spared 
 no one. We had several volleys poured into us ; 
 but their firing was so wild that their bullets passed 
 over and around us harmlessly. The ' flagstaff' was 
 always to the front ; and they were so daring and 
 reckless, that ' the flagstaff boys' became a byword in 
 the fort. Every rascality that was performed was put 
 down to them ; and, in the end, the volunteers got a 
 bad name for plundering. The Seiks were great 
 hands at it, and, in spite of all precaution, brought 
 a great amount of property into the fort Such 
 scenes of drunkenness 1 never beheld. Seiks were 
 to be seen drunk on duty on the ramparts, unable 
 to hold their muskets. No one could blame them, 
 for they are such jolly, jovial fellows, so different 
 from other sepojs. 
 
 " When wt could once get out of the fort we were 
 all over the place, cutting down all natives who 
 showed any signs of opposition ; we enjoyed these 
 trips very much, so pleasant it was to get out of that 
 horrid fort for a few hours. One trip 1 enjoyed 
 amazingly : we got on board a steamer with a gun, 
 while the Seiks and Fusiliers marched to the city; 
 we steamed up, throwing shot right and left, till 
 we got up to the had places, when we went on shore 
 and peppered away with our guns, my old double- 
 barrel that I brought out bringing down several 
 niggers, so thirsty for vengeance was I. We fired 
 the places right and left, and the flames shot up to 
 the heavens as they spread, fanned by the breeze, 
 showing that the day of vengeance had fallen on the 
 treacherous villains."! 
 
 The luckless British residents (not to 
 speak of the native shopkeepers) were 
 most shamefully treated by their defenders. 
 What tlie city thieves and sepoys left, was 
 looted by the Eiiropeans and Seiks, who 
 apparently could recognise no difference 
 
 the non-adoption of which is stated by the governor- 
 general in council, to have "been made a matter 
 of complaint against the Indian govenimenl."^— p. 2. 
 
 t Letter dated '-Allahabad, July 22nd, 1857."— 
 Ibid., p. 23. 
 
 X Letter of Allahabad civilian, dated, June 28lh, 
 1857. — Times, August 25ih, 1S57.
 
 COLONEL NEIL AT ALLAHABAD— JUNE 11th, 1857. 
 
 297 
 
 between friend and foe in this respect. 
 The work of destruction was carried on 
 with impunity under the very walls of the 
 fort. Costly furniture, of no value to the 
 plunderers, was smashed to pieces for the 
 mere love of mischief. These did for 
 private, what the enemy had done for public, 
 property. Drunkenness was all but uni- 
 versal, and riot reigned supreme. 
 
 The Rev. J. Owen, a clergyman who had 
 resided many years in Allahabad, and had 
 been the founder of the establishment sup- 
 ported in that city by the American Board 
 of Missions — writes in his journal on the 
 10th of June — 
 
 " Our affairs in the fort are just now in a very 
 bad way. A day or two since, some Europeans went 
 out with a body of Seiks to the godowns, near the 
 steamer ghaut, where large quantities of stores are 
 lying. The Europeans began to plunder. The 
 Seiks, ever ready for anything of the kind, seeing 
 this, instantly followed the example. The thing has 
 gone on from bad to worse, until it is now quite im- 
 possible to restrain the Seiks, untamed savages as 
 they are. 
 
 " The day before yesterday, a poor man came to 
 me, saying that he had had nothing to eat that day, 
 and had been working hard as a volunteer in the 
 militia. The colonel (Simpson) happened to be 
 passing at the time. I took the man to him, telling 
 him that the poor fellow was working hard, and 
 willing to work, in defence of the fortj but that he 
 and his wife were starving. The colonel went with 
 me at once to the commissariat ; and there, notwith- 
 standing many objections on the ground of for- 
 mality, assisted me in getting for him a loaf of 
 bread. • • • One of the commissariat officers 
 told me yesterday morning, that he did not know 
 how those widows and children who came in on 
 Monday night, could be supplied with rations, for 
 they were not fighting-men ! Everything is as 
 badly managed as can be ; indeed, there seems to 
 be no management at all."' 
 
 The arrival of Colonel Neil changed the 
 aspect of afifairs. He had rapidly, though 
 with much difficulty, made his way from 
 Benares, which he left on the evening 
 of the 9th, reaching Allahabad on the 
 afternoon of the 11th, with an officer and 
 forty-three of the Madras Fusiliers. The 
 line of road was deserted; the terrified 
 villagers had departed in the old " Wulsa" 
 style; scarcely any horses could be pro- 
 cured; and coolies, to assist in dragging 
 the dawk carriages, were with difficulty ob- 
 tained. Colonel Neil (always ready to 
 give praise where he deemed it due) says — 
 " Had it not been for the assistance ren- 
 
 • Sherer's Indian Cliurch, p. 214. 
 
 t Despatch from Colonel Neil to government, 
 June 14th, 1857. — Further Pari. Papers relative to 
 the Mutinies, 1857 (not numbered), p. 60. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 Q 
 
 dered by the magistrate at Mirzapoor (Mr. 
 S. G. Tucker), we should have been obliged 
 to have marched on and left our baggage. 
 We found the country between this [Alla- 
 habad] and Mirzapoor infested with bands 
 of plunderers, the villages deserted, and 
 none of the authorities remaining. Major 
 Stephenson, who left Benares the same 
 evening with a hundred Fusiliers by 
 bullock-van, experienced the same difficul- 
 ties. Many of the soldiers have been laid 
 up in consequence of the exposure and 
 fatigue; four have died suddenly. "f The 
 officer who accompanied Colonel Neil, says 
 they accomplished " upwards of seventy 
 miles in two nights, by the aid of a lot of 
 natives pushing our men along in light 
 four-wheeled carriages."! 
 
 Colonel Neil had probably received no 
 adequate information of the state of Alla- 
 habad. The telegraphic communication 
 between that place and Benares had been 
 completely cut oflf. The " lightning dawk" 
 had been speedily destroyed by the muti- 
 neers ; and at a later stage they had an addi- 
 tional incentive to its destruction, some of 
 the more ingenious among them having 
 discovered that the hollow iron posts which 
 supported the wires, would make a good 
 substitute for guns,§ and the wire, cut up in 
 pieces, could be fired instead of lead. In 
 fact, the whole of the proceedings which 
 followed the Allahabad mutiny, were by 
 far the most systematic of any until 
 then taken by the rebels. Colonel 
 Neil found the fort itself nearly blockaded; 
 and the bridge of boats over the Ganges 
 was in the hands of the mob in the 
 village of Daragunje, and partly broken. 
 " 1 was fortunate," he states, " to bribe 
 some natives to bring a boat over to 
 the left bank of the Ganges, in which I 
 embarked part of my men : the people of 
 the fort having by this time seen us, sent 
 over boats some way down. By these 
 means we all got into the fort, almost com- 
 pletely exhausted from over-long nights' 
 march|| and the intense heat." The men 
 might rest; but for the colonel, it would 
 seem, there was important work to do, which 
 admitted not of an hour's delay. As- 
 suming the command (superseding Colonel 
 Simpson), he assembled his staflF and held a 
 council of war, at which he determined to 
 
 t Letter dated " Allahabad, June 23rd."— Ti'mej, 
 August 26th, 1857. 
 
 § Colonel Neil's despatch, June 17th, 1857.— Fur- 
 ther Pari. Papers, p. 67. || Sic in orig.
 
 298 EJECTMENT OP SEIKS FROM ALLAHABAD FORT— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 attack Daragunje next mormng. He then 
 paraded the volunteers, addressed them in 
 very plain language regarding their " recent 
 disgraceful acts of robbery and drinking," 
 and threatened to turn the next trans- 
 gressor out of the fort. On the following 
 morning, sixty Fusiliers, three hundred 
 Seiks, and thirty cavalry, marched out 
 under his own command. " I opened fire," 
 Colonel Neil writes, " with several round 
 shots, on those parts of Daragunje occu- 
 pied by the worst description of natives; 
 attacked the place with detachments of 
 Fusiliers and Seiks, drove the enemy out 
 with considerable loss, burnt part of the 
 village, and took possession of a repaired 
 bridge, placing a company of Seiks at 
 its head for its protection."* Thus he 
 reopened the .communication across the 
 Ganges. 
 
 On the 12th, Major Stephenson's de- 
 tachment arrived. On the 13th, Colonel 
 Neil attacked the insurgents in the village 
 of Kydgunge, on the left bank of the 
 Jumna, and drove them out with loss. 
 A few days later he sent a steamer with a 
 howitzer to clear the river, some dis- 
 tance up the country — an expedition which, 
 he says, "did much execution." Before, 
 however, he could act with any efficiency 
 against the mutineers, he had found it 
 necessary to reorganise the Allahabad gar 
 rison. On the 14th, he writes — " I have 
 now 270 Fusiliers in high health and 
 spirits, but suffering from the intense heat." 
 Yet 01 that day, he adds, " I could do little 
 or nothing." He accomplished, however, 
 important work within the fort, by checking, 
 with an energy like that of Clive, the pre- 
 vailing debauchery and insubordination. 
 From his first arrival he had "observed 
 great drinking among the Seiks, and the 
 Europeans of all classes;" and he soon 
 learned the lawlessness which had pro- 
 ceeded even to the extent of the open 
 plunder of the godowns belonging to tiie 
 Steam Navigation Company, and of the 
 stores of private merchants; the Seiks 
 bringing quantities of fermented liquor, 
 spirit, and wine into the fort, and selling 
 their " loot" at four annas, or sixpence the 
 bottle all round, beer or brandy, sherry or 
 champagne. Colonel Neil did not share 
 the previously quoted opinion of one of the 
 civilians of the hanging committee, regard- 
 
 * Despatch from Colonel Neil to government, 
 .June 17th, 1857.— Further Pari. Papers, p. 46. 
 
 t.Despatches of Colonel Neil, Allahabad, June 14th, 
 
 ing the "jolly Seiks;" on the contrary, he 
 thought their devilry dangerous to friends 
 as well as to foes; and was extremely 
 anxious at the idea of their continuing in 
 the same range of barracks with the Fusi- 
 liers. They had been, he said, " coaxed into 
 loyalty ; they h<id become overbearing, and 
 knew their power;" and he felt obliged to 
 temporise with them, by directing the com- 
 missariat to purchase all the liquor they 
 had to sell. He further sent down the 
 only two carts he had, to empty what re- 
 mained in the godowns into the commis- 
 sariat stores, and to destroy all that euuld 
 be otherwise obtained. The next move 
 was a more difficult one — namely, to get 
 the Seiks out of the fort. They were very 
 unwilling to go ; and, at one time, it seemed 
 likely to be a question of forcible ejection — • 
 " it was a very near thing indeed." The 
 influence of Captain Brasyer (who. Colonel 
 Neil says, " alone has kept the regiment 
 together and all right here") again pre- 
 vailed, and the Seiks took up their position 
 outside the fort, and were consoled for 
 being forbidden to loot European pro- 
 perty, by constant employment on forays 
 against suspected villages, the prospect of 
 plunder being their spring of action.f 
 Even after their ejection, it was no easy 
 matter to keep them from the fort, and pre- 
 vent the re-establishment of the boon com- 
 panionship, which was so manifestly dete- 
 riorating the morality and discipline of 
 both parties. The colonel declared that 
 the Seiks had been running in and out 
 like cats; he had blocked up some of 
 their ways, but there were still too many 
 sallyports : and, in writing to government, 
 he states — " There is no engineer officer 
 here; there ought to be; and one should 
 be sent sharp."^ 
 
 Colonel Neil now resolved on forwarding 
 the majority of the women and children to 
 Calcutta. The fort was still crowded, not- 
 withstanding the expulsion of the Seiks; 
 and in a state of extreme filth, the native 
 low-caste servants having fled. On the 
 15th and 17th of June, he sent down, by 
 two steamers, fifty women and forty-six 
 children, "all the wives, children, widows, 
 or orphans of persons (several ladies and gen- 
 tlemen) who have been plundered of all 
 they had, and barely escaped with their 
 lives." Seventeen men accompanied the 
 
 17th, and 19th, 1857.— Further Papers for 1857 (not 
 numbered), pp. 46, 48, and 60. 
 
 X Colonel Neil's despatch, June 17th, 1857 ; p. 61.
 
 NO PREPARATION AT ALLAHABAD TO RELIEVE CAWNPOOR. 299 
 
 party, the crews of the steamers (Moham- 
 medans) being suspected. The voyage was 
 safely accomplished, and was attended by 
 an interesting circumstance. One of the 
 persons selected to take charge of the 
 Englishwomen and their cliildren, and who 
 performed the office M'ith great ability and 
 tenderness, was a Hindoo convert, named 
 Shamacharum Mukerjea, by birth a Brah- 
 min of high-caste. He had be'jn baptized 
 in early youth by Scotch missionaries, and 
 had from that time pursued, with rare de- 
 termination of purpose, a most difficult 
 course. He worked his passage to Eng- 
 land' on board a sailing ship; landed with a 
 single letter of introduction from Dr. Duff; 
 got into an engineering establishment, for 
 the sake of learning that business ; bore 
 up, amid all the discouragements that await 
 an alien with a dark skin and an empty 
 purse; endured the chilling winds and 
 dense fogs of an uncongenial climate, rising 
 at six, and going regularly to his work, 
 till, his object being accomplished, he 
 was enabled to return to India, where 
 he was fortunate in procuring an appoint- 
 ment.* 
 
 To return to Allahabad. On the 17th of 
 June, Neil writes — " The Moolvee has fled, 
 and two of his men of rank were slain on 
 the 15th." One of the insurgent leaders was 
 captured, and brought before Captain Bras- 
 yer. He was a young man, magnificently 
 dressed, and said to be a nephew to the 
 Moolvee. Some questions were put to him, 
 and he was ordered into confinement. The 
 Seiks were about to take him away, when, 
 suddenly, by a violent eflfort, he freed his 
 hands, which had been fastened at his back, 
 seized a sword, and made a thrust at one of 
 his captors. Captain Brasyer sprang for- 
 ward, wrested the weapon from his hand, 
 and flung him on the ground ; and " the 
 enraged Seiks, while the chief was pros- 
 trate, placed their heels on his head, and 
 literally crushed out his brains, and the 
 body was thrown outside the gates."t 
 Colonel Neil mentions, that "some Chris- 
 tian children" had been " sent in" at this 
 date ; but he does not say by whom. 
 
 On the 19th of June, he states — " Two 
 hundred bullocks, with drivers, were brought 
 
 * Missionary Slcelches in Northern India ; by 
 Mrs. Weitbreeht ; p. 97. 
 
 t Rev. Mr. Hay's account of Allahabad Mutiny. 
 
 Times, Septeml)er, 1R57. 
 
 X Telegram from Allahabad to Calcutta. — Ap- 
 pendix to Pari. Papers, p. 327. 
 
 in here yesterday : this is all our public car- 
 riage at present. Our commissariat officer 
 is away ; and that department is, in conse- 
 quence, inefficient." There was an utter 
 absence of ordinary stores : the commonest 
 articles of food could with difficulty be ob- 
 tained, and great scarcity of medicine was 
 felt here and at Benares. No information 
 is given regarding the 1,600 siege-train 
 bullocks, which, on the 28th of the pre- 
 vious month, the commissariat officer at 
 Allahabad was ready, " if allowed, to give 
 for the immediate conveyance of Euro- 
 peans from the river Sone to Cawnpoor."J 
 In fact, the state of things at Allahabad, as 
 incidentally described in the public des- 
 patches and private correspondence of the 
 period, is most discreditable to those re- 
 sponsible for it. From the middle of May 
 to the 6th of June, the local authorities 
 were totally tin molested. At least, they 
 might have laid in supplies to the fort, and 
 prepared in every possible way for the speedy 
 and easy conveyance of a few hundred 
 British troops, the short distance of 120 
 miles. Cawnpoor was only thus far off; and 
 this fact makes it more terrible to think 
 of the three weeks' maintenance of the 
 intrenchments, from the 6th to the 27th of 
 June, and the yet more exhausting agony 
 endured by the bereaved women and chil- 
 dren, from the 27th of June to the 16th of 
 July. Their condition could not have been 
 known to their countrymen without some 
 immediate effort being made for their re- 
 lief; and it could scarcely have remained un- 
 knovvn had our system of intelligence been 
 less generally defective. There were some 
 marked exceptions ; but at Allahabad they 
 had no system at all. Setting apart Colonel 
 Neil, Captain Brasyer, the magistrate (Mr. 
 Court), and a few others, whose influence 
 may be traced, the majority of the Europeans 
 seem to have concentrated their energies on 
 indiscriminate slaughter. The preservation 
 of their countrymen in scattered stations, and 
 even of British dominion in India; the con- 
 ciliation and protection of the agricultural 
 classes, as a means of facilitating the ad- 
 vance of the relieving force; the inducing 
 the villagers and itinerant traders of all 
 sorts, especially grain merchants, to come 
 forward fearlessly to our aid, certain of pay- 
 ment and reward for the various services 
 they had it in their power to render, and, 
 above all, of being shielded from the exac- 
 tions of Seiks and Goorkas, or even lawless 
 Europeans ; — these, it is to be feared, were
 
 300 THE DIFFICULTIES AND CHARACTER OF COLONEL NEIL. 
 
 considerations quite beyond the ordinary 
 class of volunteers. An able military leader 
 anywhere, but specially in India, must needs 
 be also a statesman and financier. Neil's 
 occupation of a separate command was too 
 brief to show to what extent he might have 
 possessed these qualities; and his eager 
 panegyrists have praised his " vigour," and 
 boasted of the panic it inspired among the 
 natives, in a manner which is calculated to 
 detract undeservedly from his fame, when, 
 the thirst for vengeance being assuaged, 
 posterity shall learn to look calmly on the 
 Indian mutiny of 1857, and weigh the deeds 
 of the chief actors with a steadier hand than 
 contemporary judges are likely to possess. 
 Then it may, perhaps, be deemed that Neil's 
 best services were not those which earned 
 him temporary popularity; and that his ad- 
 mirers may be glad to palliate the " village- 
 burning" and " unlimited hanging" system 
 pursued by him before the capitulation of 
 Cawnpoor, as having been, perhaps, a mis- 
 taken policy, adopted in the hope of terrify- 
 ing the wavering into submission, and so 
 bringing the war to a speedy close. The 
 very reverse was the case. The worst mas- 
 sacres occurred after the firing into the 
 disarmed troops at Benares ; and, strange 
 to say/ a similar cruel blunder is de- 
 clared by Captain Thomson, in his Story 
 of Caumpoor, to have driven the 53rd N.I. 
 into rebellion. He declares, most positively, 
 that the men were quietly cooking their 
 
 • Since the publication of the chapter containing 
 the account of the siege and first massacre of Cawn- 
 poor, Captain Thomson has issued a most interest- 
 ing work on the subject, reiterating his previous 
 statements, with important additional particulars. 
 The 2nd cavalry were, he says, the first to rise. 
 The old subahdar-major of the regiment defended 
 the colours and treasure in the quarter-guard as 
 long as he could, and was found, in the morning, 
 lying beside the empty regimental chest, weltering 
 in his blood. He recovered, however, but was 
 killed by a shell while defending the intrenchmenU 
 -" An hour or two after the flight of the cavalry, 
 the Ist N.I. also bolted, leaving their officers un- 
 touched upon the parade-ground. The 56th N.I. 
 followed the next morning. The 63rd remained, 
 till, by some error of the general, they were fired 
 into. I am at an utter loss to account for this pro- 
 ceeding. The men were peacefully occupied in 
 their lines, cooking ; no signs of mutiny had ap- 
 peared amongst their ranks ; they had refused all 
 the solicitations of the deserters to accompany them, 
 and seemed quite steadfast, when Ashe's battery 
 opened upon them by Sir Hugh Wheeler's com- 
 mand, and they were literally driven from us by 
 9-pounders. The only signal that had preceded 
 this step was the calling into the intrenchments 
 of the Native officers of the regiment. The whole 
 
 food in their lines, when General Wheeler 
 (of whom he speaks as a once admirable, but 
 worn-out, commander), under theinfluence of 
 some extraordinary misconception, gave the 
 fatal order to Lieutenant Ashe, of the artil- 
 lery, which caused the 53rd to lie dispersed 
 anddriven from the station with 9-pounders.* 
 These facts must be borne in mind ; because 
 the "esprit de corps," evinced by the muti- 
 neers, is to some extent explained by the fact, 
 that several of the revolted regiments as- 
 serted, at different periods, each one its own 
 special grievance, and urged it, too, upon the 
 consideration of their own ofiicers, wheu, 
 as will be seen iu subsequent chapters, the 
 fortune of war brought tiiem into com- 
 munication. Tlie difficulties with which 
 Colonel Neil had to contend at Allahabad, 
 have been very insufficiently appreciated. 
 Disease, drunkenness, and insubordination 
 among the Europeans and Seiks, were more 
 dangerous foes than the Moolvee and his 
 rabble host, though stated to amount to 
 three or four thousand. Cholera appeared 
 among the Fusiliers ou the evening of 
 the 18th, when several men came into 
 hospital with the disease in its worst torm. 
 Before midnight eight men were buried, 
 and twenty more died during the following 
 day.t All the cholera patients were carried 
 to the Masonic lodge, a short distance 
 from the fort, which had been converted into 
 an hospital ; but the want of comforts for 
 the sick was painfully felt. " The barracks," 
 
 of them cast in their lot with us, besides 150 
 privates, most of them belonging to the grena- 
 dier company. The detachment of the 53rd, posted 
 at the treasury, held their ground against the 
 rebels about four hours. We could hear their 
 musketry in the distance, but were not allowed to 
 attempt their relief. The faithful little band that 
 had joined our desperate fortunes was ordered to 
 occupy the military hospital, about 600 yards to the 
 east of our position, and they held it for nine days ; 
 when, in consequence of its being set on fire, they 
 were compelled to evacuate. They applied for ad- 
 mission to the intrenchments, but were told that we 
 had not food sufficient to allow of an increase to our 
 number." They were, consequently, dismissed to 
 care for their own safety as they best could ; Major 
 Hillersden giving each man a few rupees, and a 
 certificate of fidelity. — Story of Cawnpoor: by Cap- 
 tain Mowbray Thomson ; pp. 39, 40. 
 
 t The American missionary, Owen, notes in his 
 diary, June 19th, the deaths of three ladies on that 
 day — named Hodgson, Purser, and Williams— of 
 cholera; adding, " I predicted that the filth aHowed 
 to accumulate about the doors and in the drains, 
 would breed disease of some kind. The authori- 
 ties have now commenced the work of cleansing 
 and sprinkling them with lime." — Sherer's Indian 
 Church, p. 226.
 
 THE CHOLERA AT ALLAHABAD— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 301 
 
 the colonel writes, " are in bad order, fol- 
 lowers of any description being almost un- 
 procurable ; there are but few punkahs, and 
 no tatties ;* the men have, therefore, not the 
 proper advantages of barrack accommoda- 
 tion for this hot season. I regret to add, 
 that the supply of medicines here has failed ; 
 there appears to have been little or none 
 kept in Allahabad ; and our detachments 
 only brought up sufficient for the march."t 
 On the 19th, Rewrites — " I hope no time 
 will be lost in sending up here an efficient 
 commissariat department; such should be 
 here. We are most badly off in that respect ; 
 and the want of bread, &c., for the Euro- 
 peans, may no doubt increase the dis- 
 ease."J On the 22nd, he announces, by 
 telegram, the decrease of cholera, and the 
 arrival of the head-quarters of H.M. 84th, 
 and 240 more of the Fusiliers; adding — 
 " Davidson, of commissariat, arrived ; now 
 hope to get something done. Endeavouring 
 to equip, with carriage and provisions, 400 
 Europeans, with two guns, to push ou 
 towards Cawnpoor."§ Two days later, it 
 was discovered that there were but sixteen 
 dhoolies, or litters, available (although a con- 
 siderable number of these was a primary 
 requisite for the projected expedition), and 
 that all materials fur making others were 
 wanting, as well as workmen : a supply 
 was therefore telegraphed for, and ordered 
 by government, the order being given at 
 Calcutta, on the day of the capitulation of 
 Cawnpoor. 
 
 An officer of the Fusiliers writes to Eng- 
 land on the 23rd — " He (the colonel) is 
 now hard at work getting his force together 
 to move on to the assistance of Cawnpoor 
 and Lucknow, both places being in the 
 greatest danger, for all the sepoys that 
 have run away are now gathering around 
 Lucknow. Our reports concerning that 
 city and Cawnpoor are most gloomy; but 
 reports in this country and at ..his time are 
 always against us. You can have no idea 
 of the awful weather, and of our sufferings 
 from the heat ; we sit with wet clothes over 
 our heads, but the deaths from sun-stroke 
 continue large : tliat dreadful scourge cho- 
 lera has also broken out, and we have lost 
 already seventy fighting-men. We buried 
 twenty, three nights ago, at one funeral ; 
 and the shrieks of the dying were some- 
 
 • Tatties, thatched screens wetted to cool the air. 
 t Further Pari. Papers relative to the Mutinies, 
 1857 (not numbered), p. 48. 
 
 i Ibid., p. 59. § Ibid., p. 32. 
 
 thing awful : two poor ladies who were 
 living over the hospital died, I believe, from 
 fright. We have now got about 400 men 
 outside the fort, and the disease is certainly 
 on the decline. Up to to-day we have had 
 little to eat ; indeed, I would not have fed 
 a dog with my yesterday's breakfast ; but 
 our mess and the head-quarters arrived 
 yesterday, and our fare was much better 
 to-day. All the village people ran away ; 
 and any one who had worked for the Euro- 
 peans, these murderers killed ; so if the 
 population was to a man against us, we 
 should stand but a bad chance. A poor 
 baker was found with both his hands cut 
 off, and liis nose slit, because he had sent 
 in bread to us."|| 
 
 The extreme hatred evinced for the Eng- 
 lish, must have been aggravated by the 
 policy planned by Neil, and carried through 
 by his subordinates without the slightest 
 discrimination. This was to "completely 
 destroy all the villages close to, and forming 
 the suburbs of, the city ;" and to make a 
 severe example by " laying the city under 
 the heaviest possible contribution, to save it 
 from destruction also." He expected great 
 service from the gentlemen of the railway 
 engineers, who formed the volunteer corps 
 already alluded to ; as these, with the faithful 
 Native troopers, would enable him to strike 
 a few blows against the zemindars and 
 parties of insurgents he could not otherwise 
 reach.1[ The leader of the volunteers, the 
 "civilian" already quoted, undertook the 
 mission with vengeful zest. He writes — 
 "Every day we have had expeditions to 
 burn and destroy disaffected villages, and 
 we have taken our revenge. I have been 
 appointed chief of a commission for the trial 
 of all natives charged with offences against 
 government and persons; day by day we 
 have strung up eight and ten men. We 
 have the power of life and death in our 
 hands, and I assure you we spare not. A 
 very summary trial is all that takes place ; 
 the condemned culprit is placed under a 
 tree with a rope round his neck, on the top 
 of a carriage ; and, when it is pulled away, 
 off he swings."** 
 
 One of the " rank and file" volunteers, a 
 railway official, has also furnished an ac- 
 count of the proceedings of the corps; which 
 entirely agrees with that of its -leader. 
 
 II Letter published in the Times, August 26lh, 
 1857. 
 ^ Colonel Neil's despatch, June 17th, 1857. 
 •• Letter of Allahabad civilian, Jane 28th, 1857.
 
 302 PROCEEDINGS OF CAPT. ERASER— MESSRS. CHAPMAN & MOORE. 
 
 After relating the outbreak of cholera, he 
 proceeds to state — 
 
 "Colonel Neil immediately ordered all us civilians 
 out of the fort. Stern and harsh as the order 
 appeared, I verily believe that it was our salvation. 
 The night we were turned out we slept on the ground 
 on the glacis of the fort, under the shelter of the 
 guns, all the males taking their turn as sentries to 
 guard the women and children. Every native that 
 appeared in sight was shot down without question, 
 and in the morning Colonel Neil sent out parties of 
 his regiment, although the poor fellows could hardly 
 walk from fatigue and exhaustion, and burned all 
 the villages near where the ruins of our bungalows 
 stood, and hung every native they could catch, on the 
 trees that lined the road. Another party of soldiers 
 penetrated into the native city and set fire to it, 
 whilst volley after volley of grape and canister was 
 poured into the fugitives as they fled from their 
 burning houses. In a few hours, such was the terror 
 inspired, that it was deemed safe for us to go up to 
 the station. Of course we never go out unarmed ; 
 and all men (natives) we employ are provided with 
 a pass. Any man found without one, is strung up 
 by the neck to the nearest tree."* 
 
 The civilians were, perhaps, naturally 
 more inveterate and indiscri ruinating in their 
 vengeance than the military; having suffered 
 greater destruction of property ; but both 
 combined to scourge the wretched pea- 
 santry. The official and private letters of 
 the time have l)een largely and literally 
 quoted in evidence of facts which would 
 hardly be believed on other authority than 
 that of the chief actors. The reiuforce- 
 meuts of Fusiliers marked their way, from 
 Benares to Allahabad, in blood and flame, 
 not following the regular track, for that was 
 almost deserted; but making rfour*, or forays, 
 in the direction of suspected villages. Cap- 
 tain Eraser's detachment was joined by two 
 civilians — Mr. Chapman aud Mr. Moore, 
 the magistrate of Mirzapoor. The troops 
 were out some four or five days; leaving 
 Benares on the 13th, and retching Allaha- 
 bad on the 19th of June. The account is 
 too long for insertion ; but it begins and 
 ends with "burning villages" — a process to 
 which civilians in general (being almost all of 
 them, in some way or other, connected with 
 the collection of the revenue) would probably 
 not have been so partial, had they been 
 fundholders instead of stipendiaries. Two 
 villages near Gopeegunje were first visited 
 with destruction. Their inhabitants were 
 accused of iiaving plundered grain. Captain 
 Eraser and a party of Fusiliers proceeded 
 thither, called on the priiicipid persons to 
 appear, and, finding they had escaped, set 
 
 * Letter of railway official, Allahabad, June 23rd. 
 — Daily News, August 2oih, 1857. 
 
 fire to the houses. Next came the turn 
 of three zemindars, accused of having pro- 
 claimed themselves rajahs, and of plunder- 
 ing. Lieutenant Palliscr, who, with eighty 
 of the 13th irregular cavalry, had joined 
 Fraser near Gopeegunje, went, witli fifty of 
 his men and Messrs. Chapman and Moore, 
 to a village three miles otT. They captured 
 the zemindars, brought tliera into camp, 
 tried them by court-martial, and hanged 
 them before eight o'clock the same even- 
 ing. At daybreak on the 16th, Fraser, 
 with a hundred Fusiliers and the eighty 
 Irregulars, marched in pursuit of "a mau 
 named Bulour Sing, who, with 1,200 fol- 
 lowers, was reported to be in a village five 
 miles from the Grand Trunk road." For 
 the leader of 180 men to endeavour to 
 apprehend the leader of 1,200 men, would 
 seem somewhat rash ; but Belour Sing did 
 not abide the struggle; he fled, leaving 
 his house and village, named Dobaar, to 
 be burned by the Europeans. Everything 
 was found to have been carried off except 
 some grain and a small quantity of gun- 
 powder. A reward of 200 rupees was 
 offered by Mr. Chapman for the capture 
 of the chief. 
 
 There was one gratifying incident in this 
 expedition. A zemindar came to the camp 
 one evening with a Native officer. The 
 latter, who was ii. command of twelve 
 sepoys, said that he and his companions 
 had succeeded in preserving some govern- 
 ment treasure, amounting to 12,000 rupees, 
 although they had been attacked by dacoits, 
 and the village burned. Captain Fraser 
 proceeded to the spot, about a mile off the 
 road between Baroad and Sydabad, and 
 I there found the faithful sepoys at their 
 ! post. 
 
 I There were a few more court-martial 
 sentences, a village burned by the Fusiliers, 
 and two by the irregular cavalry, before 
 the series of murderous raids were brought 
 to a conclusion by the arrival of the party, 
 all unharmed, at Allahabad. t This sort of 
 service may be spirited work for amateurs ; 
 but it is doubtful whether it does not 
 materially injure the discipline, which is 
 the soul of efficiency in a regular army. 
 Shortly afterwards, as will be shown, Pal- 
 liser's Irregulars, to his rage and disgust, 
 refused to (oilow him in fair fight. 
 
 On the 30th of June, Neil states (in a 
 private letter), that, for want of food and 
 
 + Captain Frascr's despatch, Allahabad, June 19lh, 
 1857. — Further Papers, 1857 (not numbered), p. 47.
 
 THE RANEE OF JHANSI— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 303 
 
 carriage, he had been unable to send a 
 single man to relieve Cawnpoor; for the 
 awful heat rendered it certain death to 
 have moved troops without, or with only 
 a few, tents. Besides, he adds — " I could 
 not leave this, the most important for- 
 tress in India, insecure. To cover all, 
 cholera has attacked us with fearful viru- 
 lence. Within three days there were 121 
 cases in the Fusiliers alone, and fifty-seven 
 deaths. I was so exhausted for a few days, 
 I was obliged to lie down constantly, and 
 only able to get up when the attacks were 
 going on, and then I was obliged to sit 
 down on the batteries to give my orders 
 and directions." 
 
 On the afternoon of the same day, a 
 column marched for Cawnpoor, under the 
 direetioa of Major Beaaud, " a gallant and 
 
 most intelligent -officer,"* " brave even to 
 rashness. "t It consisted of 400 Euro- 
 peans, 300 Seiks, 100 irregular cavalry, 
 under Palliser, and two guns, uuder Lieu- 
 tenant Harwood. 
 
 The first day's march was extremely 
 trying, for the troops had to encounter a 
 hot wind, "like the breath of a furnace." 
 They had, besides, hot work to do, for " some 
 villages were fired ; and any native found in 
 arms, who could not prove his asserted in- 
 nocence, was summarily hanged, such being 
 the instructions under which we acted."J 
 On the 4th of July, the march was arrested 
 by a brief message from Sir Henry Law- 
 rence — " Halt where you now stand ; or, if 
 necessary, fall back."§ The reason was, 
 that Cawnpoor had capitulated, and all the 
 besieged were supposed to have perished. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JHANSI, NOWGONG, CHUTTERPOOR, LOOASSEE, CHIRKAREE, KUBRAI, ADJYGHUR, 
 BANDA, FUTTEHPOOR, HUMEERPOOR, JALOUN, OORAI, AND SUMPTER.— MAY AND 
 
 JUNE, 1857. 
 
 Another district iu the Cawnpoor (mili- 
 tary) division was destined to take the 
 second rank, amid the dreary scenes of 
 mutiny, in connection with a treacherous, 
 pitiless massacre, perpetrated at the insti- 
 gation of an angry and ambitious woman, 
 upon all the Europeans placed by the flood 
 of revolt within her reach. 
 
 The annexation of Jhansi, and the con- 
 tempt with which the lately reigning family 
 were treated, have been showxi iu the in- 
 troductory chapter. The independence of 
 the little principality was gone beyond re- 
 demption, if English supremacy continued; 
 «hdi when the Ranee heard that the vast 
 mercenary army of the Feringliees had re- 
 volted, she resolved to cast iu her lot with 
 them in a war of extermination. In the 
 prime of life (some years under thirty), 
 exceedingly beautiful, vigorous in mind and 
 body, Lakshmi Bye had all the pride of the 
 famous Rajpoot prince,|| who — 
 
 " rather than be less, 
 Cared not to be at all." 
 
 • Mutiny of the Bengal Army : by One who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier; p. 122. 
 
 t Journal of Major North, 60lh Riflesj p. 26. 
 
 She was a heathen : the forgiveness of in- 
 juries was no article in her creed j and 
 believing herself deeply injured by the 
 infraction of the Hindoo laws of adoption 
 and inheritance, she threw aside every con- 
 sideration of tenderness for sex or age, and 
 committed herself to a deadly struggle with 
 the Supreme government, by an act, for 
 which, as she must have well known, her 
 own life would, in all human probability, 
 pay the forfeit. Her relatives (that is, her 
 father and sister) fought for and with her; 
 but there is no proof that she had any able 
 counsellor, but rather that she was herself 
 the originator of the entire proceeding* 
 which made Jhansi an important episode in 
 the war, from the time when the Ranee 
 flung down the gauntlet by a reckless, 
 ruthless massacre of men, women, and 
 children of the hated usurping race, till the 
 moment when she fell " lifeless from her 
 white war-horse, by the side of her dead 
 sister. 
 
 Nowhere was the overweening confidence 
 
 X Ibid., p. 28. 
 
 § Ibid., p. 37. 
 
 The Rana Umra, the opponent of the Emperor 
 Jehangeer, — '^'od's Rajatt'han, vol. i., p. 367.
 
 304 
 
 MUTINY AT JHANSI— JUNE 4th, 1857. 
 
 of the English more remarkable than at 
 Jhansi, which, as the residence of a Native 
 court, had attained some importance for 
 its trade and manufactures. The former 
 rajah had paid great attention to the 
 regulation of its streets and bazaars, 
 which were remarkably clean and orderly.* 
 Sleeman estimated its population at 60,000t 
 — a very large number in proportion to the 
 size of the place, and the state of which it 
 was the capital. Jhansi town is situated 
 among tanks and groves of fine timber 
 trees, and is surrounded by a good wall. 
 The palace was itself a fortress, built on 
 a rock overlooking the town ; and the im- 
 posing appearance of this lofty mass of 
 stone, surmounted by a huge round tower, 
 was justified by the number of cannon it 
 possessed, said to amount to some thirty or 
 forty pieces. The government had had 
 repeated warning of the bitter discontent 
 which the annexation of any state, however 
 small, caused in the capital, by drying up 
 the main source of income of the citizens, 
 who depended for a livelihood on the ex- 
 penditure of the court ; yet Jhansi was left, 
 fort and all. without a single European 
 soldier. 
 
 Jhansi lies on the route from Agra to 
 Saugor, 142 miles south of the former, 130 
 north of the latter, and 245 west of Alla- 
 habad. The troops in the station con- 
 sisted of — 
 
 Detail of Foot Artillery — Europeans, none ; Na- 
 tivei, 27. Wing of the 12th ifl.l.— Europeans, 6; 
 Natives, 522. Head-quarters and wing of 14th 
 Irregular Cavalry — Europeans, 5 ; Natives, 332. 
 
 In all — 11 Europeans to 881 Natives. 
 
 In the spring of the year the cartridge 
 question had been the pretext, or the cause, 
 of excitement and disaffection ; but the in- 
 fantry at Jhansi and at Nowgong (the 
 nearest military station), are asserted 
 " to have become ashamed at the mention 
 of it;" and the burning of empty bunga- 
 lows had ceased some time before the out- 
 break of the mutiny.]: Captain Dunlop, the 
 officer in command of the station, had uo 
 distrust of the troops; and the commis- 
 sioner, Captain Skene, and the deputy- 
 commissioner. Captain Gordon, concurred, 
 up to the last, in ridiculing the precautions 
 taken at Nowgong. Such, at least, is the 
 
 • Thornton's Gazetteer. 
 
 t Sleeman's Rambles and Reeollections, vol. i., 
 p. 282. 
 
 t Captain Scot, 12th N.I., to deputy-adjutant- 
 general.— Pari. Papers on Mutinies (No. 4), p. 121. 
 
 statement of the case by Captain Scot, of 
 the 12th N.I., then on duty at the latter 
 station. § Unfortunately, he writes from 
 memory only ; for the documents which 
 would have shown, beyond the possibility 
 of doubt, the state of affairs at Jhansi and 
 Nowgong, were destroyed, with the other 
 records, in the conflagration which took place 
 at both places ; and the accounts sent to 
 Cawnpoor met a similar fate. 
 
 Captam Scot, however, states from his 
 own knowledge, that some days before the 
 mutiny occurred. Captain Dunlop sent over 
 to Major Kirke, the officer in command at 
 Nowgong, letters from Skene and Gordon, 
 declaring that they had learned, from sepa- 
 rate sources, that one Luckmun Rao (the 
 servant of the Ranee of Jhansi) was doing 
 his best to induce the 12th N.I. to mutiny; 
 but whether with or without the authority 
 of the Ranee, had not been ascertained. 
 Subsequent letters spoke of spies, or agents 
 of sedition, finding their way to the Native 
 lines, and being strongly opposed by some 
 of the more loyal aud zealous sepoys. 
 Of the fidelity of the Irregulars no sus- 
 picion appears to have been entertained ; 
 and, indeed, both at Jhansi and Nowgong, 
 the infantry revolted first, though " the 
 cavalry were the most bloodthirsty" after- 
 wards. 
 
 The only European testimony on record 
 regarding the mutiny, is a brief and scarcely 
 legible note from Captain Dunlop. Con- 
 cerning the massacre which ensued, there 
 is none ; for no European witness survived 
 to tell the tale. The note runs thus : — 
 " To the Officer commanding at Nowgong. 
 
 " Jhansi, June 4th, 1857 ; 4 P.M. 
 " Sir, — The artillery and infantry have broken 
 into mutiny, and- have entered the Star Fort. No 
 one has been hurt as yet. Look out for stragglers. 
 " Yours, &c., 
 
 "J. DtJNLOP." 
 
 This communication reached Major Kirke, 
 by express, at eleven o'clock on the following 
 day. 
 
 On the 10th, a letter in English came 
 from Tewarry Hossein, the tehsildar of 
 Mowraneepoor (thirty miles from Nowgong), 
 stating that he had heard of the murder 
 of every European at Jhansi, and had 
 received a perwaiinah, to the effect that the 
 Ranee was seated on the gadi (Hindoo 
 
 5 See despatch last quoted ; and a long letter 
 published in the Times, September 11th, 1857; not 
 signed, but evidently written by Captain Scot, to the 
 wife of Lieutenant Ryves, acquainting her with that 
 officer's escape to Gwalior and Agra.
 
 DEFENCE OP THE PALACE-FORT— JHANSI, 1857. 
 
 305 
 
 throne), and that he was to carry on busi- 
 ness as hitherto. He added, that he meant 
 to leave the place at once ; and he did so. 
 The same afternoon, the mails that had 
 been sent towards Jhansi on the 5th and 
 subsequent days, were brought back in one 
 bag, the runners having feared to enter the 
 station.* 
 
 Many weeks elapsed before any authentic 
 statements could, be obtained of the pro- 
 ceedings at Jhansi, after the transmission 
 of Captain Dunlop's note. At length Cap- 
 tain Scot ascertained and communicated to 
 government the following account, which he 
 obtained from three natives, one of whom 
 was with the Europeans during the whole of 
 the outbreak. The evidence was given by 
 the three witnesses separately at Nowgong, 
 Mahoba, and Banda ; and agreed so nearly 
 as to be received as trustworthy. 
 
 Only one company (7th) of the 12th 
 N.I. mutinied on the 4th of June. Headed 
 by a hayildar, named Goor Bux, the men 
 marched into the Star fort. This was a 
 small building, where the guns and trea- 
 sure were kept, close to the infantry guns. 
 
 Captain Dunlop paraded the rest of the 
 12th N.I., with the cavalry; and they all said 
 they would stand by him. Disarming them, 
 of course, was out of the question. Captain 
 Dunlop was an energetic officer, and had 
 been reported, by General Wheeler, a few 
 days before, as " a man for the present 
 crisis." Seeing that all continued quiet, he 
 employed himself, on the 6th of June, in 
 preparing shells at the quarter-guard of the 
 12th N.I. He then posted some letters; 
 and in returning from the office, with En- 
 sign Taylor, crossed or approached the 
 parade. Here he and his companion were 
 shot dead by some of the 12th. The poor 
 ensign had only arrived at Jhansi a few 
 days before, having made great haste to 
 rejoin his regiment, when the mutiny be- 
 gan. Lieutenant Campbell, 15th N.I., 
 serving with the 14th Irregulars, escaped to 
 the palace-fort, where Lieutenant Burgess, 
 of the revenue survey department, with 
 
 * Further Par). Papers, 1857 (No. 4), p. 125. 
 
 t Statement of Commissioner Erskine. — London 
 Gazette, May 6th, 1867 ; p. 2248. 
 
 X In the East India Army List for 1858, Lieute- 
 nant Ryves is mentioned as having been killed on 
 the 6th at Jiiansi; but this must be an error. He 
 quitted Jhansi, with a detachment, two or three days 
 before the mutiny ; and although he may have re- 
 turned there, he certainly reached both Gwalior and 
 Agra some time later. — Officer's Letters, in Times, 
 September 3rd and 11th, 1857. 
 VOL. II. 2 R 
 
 several English and Eurasian subordinates, 
 had been for "some time residing. On 
 the evening of the 4th of June, they were 
 joined by Captain Skene, his wife and two 
 children; Lieutenant Gordon, Dr. M'Egan, 
 his wife and sister ; Lieutenant Powys, his 
 wife and child ; Mrs. G. Browne, her sister 
 and child ; and the English and Eurasian 
 employes in the Civil and Canal depart- 
 ments, and Salt excise. Lieutenant G. 
 Browne, the deputy-commissioner, fled to 
 Oorai, with Ensign Browne and Lieutenant 
 Lamb.t Lieutenant RyvesJ and another 
 European, named McKellar, escaped to 
 Gwalior. Lieutenant Turnbull took refuge 
 in a tree, but was discovered and shot down. 
 Whether the Europeans in the fort held any 
 communication with the Ranee is not known; 
 but they are stated to have remained unmo- 
 lested tiU the 7th of June, and to have been 
 employed, during the interval, in endeavour- 
 ing to get provisions and ammunition into 
 the fort (though with very partial success), 
 and in piling stones against the 'gates to 
 prevent their being opened. Unhappily 
 there were traitors within, as well as rebels 
 without. Lieutenant Powys was found by 
 Captain Burgess, lying bleeding from a 
 wound in the neck. He survived just long 
 enough to point out the four assassins who 
 had attacked him. These were Mussulmans 
 employed in the revenue survey ; they were 
 immediately put to death. § When attacked, 
 the Europeans are said to have made great 
 havoc among the besiegers with rifles and 
 guns ; but to have themselves lost only one 
 of their number, Captain Gordon, who was 
 shot through the head while leaning over the 
 parapet, pulling up a bucket which a syce 
 in the lower enclosure had filled with wheat. 
 The little garrison appears to have been 
 totally unprovisioned for a siege. The let- 
 ters written by Dunlop to Kirke, before 
 the partial mutiny on the 4th, prove this ; 
 and afterwards, it was probably as much as 
 the officers could do to obtain supplies for 
 the party within the walls. Attempts were 
 vainly made to send word to Nagode and 
 
 § This is the account given by the native with the 
 Europeans in the fort ; but according to the state- 
 ment of another native in the city at the time, the 
 immediate incentive to the murder of Lieutenant 
 Powys was, that that officer seeing Captain Burgess' 
 khitmutgar (table-attendant) attempting to pull 
 down the stpnes that secured the gates, shot him ; 
 whereupon, the brother of the fallen man cut down 
 the officer with his tulwar, and was instantly put 
 to death by Lieutenant Burgess. — Further Pari. 
 Papers, 1857 (No. 4), p. 133.
 
 306 
 
 THE MASSACRE AT JHANSI— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 to Gwalior for help : some of the clerks 
 tried to escape in native clothes, letting 
 themselves clown by ropes ; but they were 
 caught anrl killed. 
 
 Kala Khan, risahlar of the 14th cavalry, 
 was active in the assault. Ahmed Hossein, 
 the tehsildar of Jhansi, likewise took a lead- 
 ing part, in connection with the adherents 
 of the Ranee. The men employed in the 
 Salt excise joined in the attack. The Euro- 
 peans felt that the struggle was hopeless, 
 and the Hindoos and Mohammedans are 
 alleged to have induced them to surrender, 
 by swearing that their lives should be 
 spared. Captain Skene opened the gates, 
 and marched out.* The traitors instantly 
 threw their vows to the wind ; and, sepa- 
 rating tlie men from the women, tied the 
 former in a row .by ropes, took the whole 
 party into a gardra in or near the citj', and 
 there beheaded them all except John 
 Newton, the quartermaster of the 12th N.I. 
 (a very dark half-caste), his wife, and four 
 little children. This family was spared Ijy 
 the rebels, and carried off by them when 
 they were driven from Jhansi. Lieute- 
 nant Powys is thoTight to have died in the 
 fort. He could not walk out with the rest 
 of the party. His wife was torn from him, 
 
 and fell in the jjeneral massacre. 
 
 The 
 
 men died first," writes (Japtain Scot; 
 "Burgess taking the lead, his elbows tied 
 behind his back, and a prayer-book in 
 his hands. What a sad end for so kind- 
 hearted and unselfish a man ! But to die 
 confessing the faith is a noble death. Tlie 
 rest died in the same way. They tried 
 hard to get the women and children saved." 
 But it was in vain. Tlic Ranee does not 
 appear to have been appealed to; but it 
 is too probable that it was by the orders of 
 this ambitious and childless widow — disin- 
 lierited herself, and prohibited from exer- 
 cising the right of adoption — that the ruth- 
 less deed was consummated. The women, 
 we are told, " stood with their babes in tiieir 
 arms, and the older children holding their 
 gowns. They had to see the men killed ;" 
 but there was every reason to believe " they 
 were spared any violence save death. "t 
 
 The care bestowed by Caj)tain Scot, 
 in his official capacity, in sifting and collect- 
 ing evidence from every available source, 
 would, under any circumstances, be very 
 commendable ; but is specially satisfactory, 
 
 * The day on which the sunonder was made, ap- 
 pears to have been the 8th of June. 
 
 t Captain Scot's Letter.— 7Vmc4', Sept. 11th, 1857. 
 
 as refuting the painful story which went the 
 round of the English and Indian journals 
 at the time, with regard to the fate of 
 Captain Skene and his young wife. Their 
 friends may be sure they joined with their 
 fellow-Christians in " confessing the faith ;" 
 and were probably better prepared to meet 
 death by the sword, than many of their coun- 
 trymen might be to struggle with the great 
 adversary ou tlicir beds in England. But 
 the long interval which elapsed before the 
 particulars above related were ascertained, 
 gave room for the wildest rumours. Cap- 
 tain Scot's account was not published until 
 August. In the meantime, the following 
 extract from a letter, said to have been 
 written from India to a relative of the 
 maligned officer, was published far and 
 wide : — 
 
 "Frank Gordon, Alio Skene, his wife, and a few 
 peons, managed to get into a small round tower 
 when the disturbance began ; the children and all 
 the rest were in other parts of the fort — altogether, 
 sixty. Gordon had a regular battery of guns, also 
 revolvers ; and he and Skene picked olf the rebels 
 as fast ns they could tire, Mrs. Skene loatling for 
 them. The peons say they never missed once ; nnd 
 before it was all over they killed thirty-seven, lie- 
 sides many wounded. The rebels, after Ijutchering 
 all in the fort, brought ladders against the tower, 
 and commenced swarming up. Frank Gordon was 
 shot through the forehead, and killed at once. 
 Skene then saw it was no use going on any more, 
 so he kissed his wife, shot her, and then himself." 
 
 Information subsequently obtained, re- 
 garding the massacre, tended to confirm the 
 evidence adduced against the Ranee. Mr. 
 Thornton, the deputy-collector, writing on 
 the 18th of August, states it as the general 
 impression, that the mutineers, after killing 
 their own officers and plundering the trea- 
 sury (which contained about jt45,000), were 
 going otf ; and it was wholly at the instigation 
 of the Jhansi princess, with a view to her 
 obtainiug possession of the district, that 
 they, together with other armed men fur- 
 nished by the Ranee, attacked the fort. 
 He adds, that they induced the Europeans 
 to surrender, by solemnly swearing to allow 
 them to depart unmolested ; notwithstand- 
 ing which, " they allowed them to be 
 massacred by the Ranee's people in their 
 presence, in a most cruel and brutal manner, 
 liaving no regard to sex or age. For this act, 
 the mutineers are said to have received from 
 her 35,000 rupees in cash, two elephants, 
 and five horses. The Ranee has now raised 
 a body of about 14,000 men, and has twenty 
 guns, which had been kept concealed by the 
 former Jhansi chief, by being buried within
 
 STATE OF AFFAIRS AT NOWGONG— MAY AND JUNE, 1857. 307 
 
 the fort, and of -which nothing was known 
 to our officers. I am not certain whether 
 she intends to make any resistance in case 
 our troops come to this quarter; but none 
 of the other native chiefs in Bundelcund 
 have as yet turned against our govern- 
 ment."* 
 
 Leaving the Ranee to possess, for a brief 
 space, the blood-stained gadi of Jhansi, we 
 follow the stream of revolt in the sister- 
 station of 
 
 Noivffonff. — The troops stationed here 
 were almost the counterpart of tiiose at 
 Jhansi; but happily there was no vin- 
 dictive princess at Nowgong to urge them 
 on to imbrue their hands in the blood 
 of their officers, or their helpless families. 
 The troops consisted of — 
 
 A company of Aftillery — Europeans, 2; Natives, 
 105. Head-qunrters and right wing of 12th N.I. 
 — Europeans, 6 ; Natives, 604. Left wing of the 
 14lh Irregular Cavalry — Europeans, 1 ; Natives, 
 273.t 
 
 In all — nine Europeans to 982 Natives. 
 
 The first symptoms of disaffection were 
 manifested by the burning of empty bun- 
 galows, which commenced on the 23rd of 
 April, and was evidently the work of 
 incendiaries, though the guilty persons 
 could not be discovered. The excitement 
 subsided, and matters went on quietly 
 until the 23rd of May, up to which time 
 the Europeans were very imperfectly in- 
 formed of the fatal events which had oc- 
 curred in other stations. On that day, the 
 risaldar in command of the cavjihy, in- 
 formed Major Kirke that his corps had 
 learned, by letter from Delhi, the murder of 
 every Christian in that city. He appeared 
 to wonder at the little the Europeans knew 
 of the proceedings in Delhi, while he and 
 his companions were so well-informed on the 
 subject. On the same day, Major Kirke's 
 orderly, a sepoy of the 12th N.I., rushed 
 into the major's house, and told him that 
 he had just got away from a party of twenty 
 or so Poorbeahs and Boondelas, who had 
 asked him to point out the officers' mess- 
 house. They seemed to be disappointed 
 in the non-appearance of an accomplice to 
 guide them. The orderly said he had made 
 an excuse and got away from them. Major 
 Kirke, with his adjutant, his son, and one or 
 two armed sepoys, went to the spot in- 
 dicated, after having caused it to be sur- 
 rounded by sowars (under the command of 
 
 • Further Tarl. Papers (No. 4), p. 169. 
 t Pari. Keturn, 9th February, 1858; p. 3. 
 
 the risaldar before mentioned), that no 
 person might escape. Only three men were 
 captured : one ran off; and rather than stop, 
 or make a reply, beyond saying he was a 
 sepoy, let himself be fired at three times : 
 the two others found a hiding-place in a 
 hollow tree, till the party had passed, and 
 then darted off towards the artillery lines, 
 which were afterwards vainly searched for 
 the fugitives. The risaldar was believed to 
 have connived at their escape ; and he en- 
 deavoured to persuade the Europeans that 
 the orderly's story was altogether a fabri- 
 cation; but Major Kirke considered that the 
 sepoy had made up a story to put the officers 
 on their guard, not choosing to reveal the 
 actual circumstances. From that night the 
 Irregulars, both officers and men, behaved 
 in a most unsatisfactory manner ; the former 
 with the " freezing politeness which Mo- 
 hammedans well know how to assume ;" the 
 latter doing duty in a gay, careless fashion, 
 as much as to say, "It will soon be at an 
 end — we are merely amusing ourselves 
 obeying orders;" while even the sick in 
 the hospital were insolent to the doctors, 
 until a few days before the mutiny, wiieu 
 the ill-feelinc; either subsided or was dis- 
 guised. The 12th N.I. were most sus- 
 pected ; but the officers slept nightly in 
 their lines; and in the first few days of 
 June, mutual confidence appeared restored. 
 Tiie Europeans, relieved by the altered tone 
 of the sowars, considered that the news of 
 the massacre of the Christians at Delhi, had 
 possibly roused a fanatical feeling, which 
 had subsequently given place to a con- 
 viction " that their pay and earthly prospects 
 were not to be despised. "J This was 
 deemed the case with the risaldar, who had 
 been specially distrusted. He was a grey- 
 headed man, of delicate constitution, and 
 his rank and pay were important con- 
 siderations ; and he evinced much distress 
 on hearing the state of affairs at Jhansi, 
 as communicated in Captain Dunlop's letter, 
 received at 11 a.m. on the 5th of June. 
 The Europeans reminded him that no word 
 had come of the Irregulars mutinying; but 
 he said he much feared they would do so, 
 as they had very few officers, European or 
 Native, and most of the men were very 
 young. Before the Jhansi news reached 
 Nowgong, four out of five companies of the 
 wing of the 12th N.I. (following the ex- 
 ample of the 70th N.I.) had volunteered 
 
 t Report of Captain Scot.— Further Papers, 1857 
 (No. 4), p. 122.
 
 308 
 
 MUTINY AT NOWGONG— JUNE 5th, 1857. 
 
 to serve against the mutineers. Major 
 Kirke, on the reception of Captain Dunlop's 
 letter, ordered a parade; and after addressing 
 the 12th on the subject of their offer, and 
 promising to communicate this evidence of 
 their loyalty to government, he proceeded 
 to announce to the troops the news of 
 partial mutiny just received. "The right 
 wing, 12th N.I., when asked if they would 
 stand by the colours, rushed forward to 
 them as one man, and were enthusiastic in 
 their expressions of fidelity. The artillery 
 company embraced their guns with- ex- 
 pressions of devotion. The men of the 
 14th said at once they would be true to 
 the government. They expressed no enthu- 
 siasm."* 
 
 The oflBcers were much gratified by the 
 conduct of the men, especially of the ar- 
 tillery. Some few days previously, four 
 of their company had been seized on an 
 accusation of mutiny, and sent off as 
 prisoners to Chutterpoor. On the same 
 evening (June 1st), Major Kirke had the 
 whole of the guns of the battery brought in 
 front of the quarter-guard of the 12th N.I., 
 and the same precaution was continued 
 every night. The artillery company had 
 "been cheerful and well-disposed" until 
 then; but they are described as feeling 
 "affronted and humiliated by this mea- 
 sure." 
 
 Early on the 5th, before the parade, 
 forty of the 14th Irregulars, under a Native 
 officer, had .been dispatched to LuUutpoor, 
 and a similar party to Jhansi. The latter 
 marched to within ten miles of that place; 
 and then, on learning the mutiny of the 
 infantry, turned back. The first tidings 
 regarding the fate of Captain Dunlop and 
 Ensign Taylor, were brought by the shep- 
 herd of the left wing mess. "The 12th 
 men, at Nowgong, seemed horrified at the 
 news :" most certainly (Captain Scot adds) 
 "they were sincerely so ;" but the bazaar 
 people were very anxious to send away 
 their women and children, which Major 
 Kirke would not allow them to do. For 
 some time the Europeans had been looking 
 round them for the means of escape ; and 
 the government camels, only eight in num- 
 ber, had been called for and examined. 
 Murmurs immediately arose that the camels 
 had been sent for to remove the treasure, 
 and that it was actually being drawn 
 
 • Report of Captain Scot.— Further Pari. Papers, 
 1857 (No. 4), p. 124. 
 t lOiil., p. 125. 
 
 out in small sums, with the intention of 
 placing the whole under the charge of 
 " the Gurowlee rajah. "t The treasure was 
 felt to be "the danger all along." The 
 12th continued to manifest good-will, 
 attachment, and respect to their officers ; 
 and the senior survivor of these (Captain 
 Scot) gives the greater number credit for 
 sincerity, considering that they mutinied 
 under intimidation, and from an infatuated 
 feeling that mutiny was a matter of destiny, 
 Benares Brahmins having predicted it. 
 
 All continued quiet till sunset on the 
 10th of June. The officers had for some 
 time dined at 4 o'clock, with the view of 
 going early to the lines to prevent mischief. 
 On the evening in question, some had left 
 the mess-room ; but others remained discuss- 
 ing the engrossing topic of public and 
 private interest. Dr. Mawe (assistant-sur- 
 geon) urged on Captain Scot the advisability 
 of abandoning the station, because it " was 
 impossible that the men at Nowgong would 
 stand fast after their brothers at Jhansi 
 had rebelled, and were still so near." 
 
 As if in confirmation of this opinion, 
 several musket-shots were heard. Lieu- 
 tenant Townsend, of the artillery, and Lieu- 
 tenant Ewart, mounted their horses, and 
 galloped straight to the lines, arriving just 
 in time to see the guns in the hands of the 
 mutineers. Mrs. Mawe, Lieutenant Franks, 
 Mr. Smalley, and other Europeans, had wit- 
 nessed the outbreak. It occurred at the 
 moment when the six artillery guns were as 
 usual brought to the 12th N.I. brigade, and 
 preparations were being made for relieving 
 guard. "A tall, dare-devil Seik" walked 
 forward, followed by two others. Loading 
 his piece, he took deliberate aim at the 
 havildar-major, a brave and faithful officer, 
 and shot him dead. The three Seiks then 
 rushed on the guns. The artillery sergeant 
 made some attempt to defend them, but 
 none of the gunners stood by him ; and 
 when the European officers tried to rally 
 their men, and induce them to follow them 
 in making a dash at the guns, no one 
 would move : all were panic-stricken or 
 mutinous. Major Kirke, finding that about 
 100 men had assembled at the mess-house, 
 strove to induce them to march with him 
 ugainst the mutineers ; and when compelled 
 to relinquish this idea, he insisted on holding 
 the mess-house. The arguments of the 
 officers on the utter hopelessness of such a 
 proceeding, were effectively seconded by 
 the appearance of a 9-pouuder, brought by
 
 RANEE OP CHUTTERPOOR PROTECTS NOWGONG FUGITIVES. 309 
 
 the rebels to expedite the retreat of the 
 Feriughees, not one of -whom were injured. 
 The sepoys with Major Kirke showed 
 strong attachment to his person; and several 
 Native oflScers, with eighty-seven non-com- 
 missioned ofiBcers and men of the 12th, 
 one artilleryman, and about twenty band- 
 men and their families, accompanied the 
 Europeans in their flight. Besides these, 
 there were others who would gladly have 
 shared the perils of the fugitives, had they 
 been able to escape with them. One 
 " noble old man," an invalided subahdar of 
 fifty years' service, had willingly remained 
 with ins company, and had done everything 
 that lay in his power to avert a mutiny. 
 When the news arrived of the outbreak at 
 Jhansi, he stood beside the guns with spikes 
 and a hammer, ready to render them use- 
 less in the event of immediate revolt. 
 Sirdar Khan, a pay havildar, and a private, 
 Seeta Ram (steward of the stores), excited 
 the wrath of the mutineers by their deter- 
 mined loyalty, and would have been killed 
 but that the guns could not be worked 
 without them. Sirdar Khan was taken 
 from Nowgong, tied on a charpoy, by the 
 rebels ; and as those guns were subse- 
 quently captured at Futtehpoor, it is pro- 
 bable that he perished on that occasion — 
 one of the many innocent victims during 
 this fatal epoch. 
 
 None of the English officers* at Now- 
 gong had any female relatives to protect 
 — whether from being unmarried, or from 
 having sent their wives away, does not 
 appear; but the sergeants, bandmaster, 
 clerks, and others, had their families with 
 them ; so that, altogether, there were forty 
 women and children to be cared for. The 
 number of the male Europeans is not stated 
 by Captain Scot, but it was probably con- 
 siderably less than that of their helpless 
 companions. At daybreak on the following 
 morning, by means of a scanty supply of 
 horse and camel conveyances, the party 
 reached Chuttcrpoor, the capital of a small 
 Hindoo state of the same name, happily 
 not included in our recent annexations. 
 The experience of the Nowgong officials, 
 contrasts forcibly with that of their ill-fated 
 neighbours at Jhansi. Chutterpoor was 
 governed by the mother of the young heir; 
 
 * Major ICiike and his son, Scot, Townsend, 
 Jackson, KeminRton, Ewart, Franks, and Barber. 
 
 t Letter written by Mrs. ^iawe.Star, Oct. 29, 1857. 
 
 X Tiie 12tli N.I. obtained in the magazines at 
 Nowgong and Jhansi, 1,225 lbs. of gunpowder for 
 
 and although the mutineers sent threatening 
 messages to the regent, forbidding her 
 to shelter the Europeans, yet the " Ranee, 
 ruling for her son, did not mind them," 
 but showed the fugitives much kindness, and 
 allotted for their use the handsome serai 
 builtby the late rajah for the accommodation 
 of travellers. Before the mutiny, she had 
 sent word to Major Kirke, that her guns and 
 treasury were at liis service whenever he 
 might require them ; and lie now borrowed 
 a thousand rupees from her, there being 
 very little money among the party. t Some 
 of her chief officers being Mohamme- 
 dans, were displeased at this, and said that 
 the troops had risen for "deen" (the faith), 
 and that the Ranee did wrong in taking 
 part with the Feringhees ; but she was 
 firm : and when, during the night, some 
 sepoys coming to join their officers, caused 
 an alarm that the rebels were approaching, 
 a large force turned out to oppose them. 
 Captain Scot remarks — " I mention this to 
 show that the Ranee was determined to 
 defend us." On the 12th of June, Major 
 Kirke sent two officers back to Nowgong, 
 to obtain some mess-stores. The mutineers 
 were gone, the government treasury had 
 been plundered of 1,21,494 rupees, the 
 artillery magazine was quite empty, and 
 the magazine of the 12th N.I. had been 
 blown up. J All the thatched hungalows 
 had been burned, but the artillery and 
 cavalry lines were uninjured ; and although 
 an attempt had been made to fire the lines 
 of the 12th N.I., little harm had been done, 
 the huts being tiled. Hundreds of villagers 
 were busy stripping the roofs of the public 
 buildings, and carrying off the timber; and 
 although a guard from Chutterpoor had 
 been sent to protect the station, the men 
 contented themselves with watching over 
 some grain in the Sudder bazaar, and did not 
 seem to think it worth while to prevent the 
 plunder of the wood-work, which Captain 
 Scot says they might easily have done ; " for 
 Lieutenant Townsend and myself cleared 
 the station by firing a few shots so as not 
 to hurt any one." He adds, however, that 
 " the official incharge thought our rule was 
 over, and the station his Ranee's for the 
 future ; and my orders were listened to, but 
 not carried out." Before leaving Nowgong, 
 
 musketry, besides some barrels of coarse powder 
 for cannon; 360,000 i)ercussion-caps; 130,000 
 balled-cartridges, 20,000 blank cartridges, and 
 about 10,000 carbine balled-cartridges; left by the 
 6th light cavalry.— Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 13i.
 
 310 
 
 FAITHFUL Bt/TIDELCUND CHIEFS. 
 
 the two officers made provision for the 
 necessities of a dying sepoy, whom they 
 found in one of the hospitals; and for an 
 old bedridden woman, the grandmother of 
 a sepoy musician, who had gone otf with 
 the rebels. They then proceeded to " the 
 Logassee rajah's, nine miles off;" and there 
 found Major Kirke. He had started with 
 the other Europeans from Chutterpoor ; but 
 suddenly losing his senses,* had imagined 
 the sepoys wanted to murder liim; quitted 
 the party without giving any warning, and 
 fled alone by night to Logassee — the chief 
 place of another small Bundelcund state, 
 on the route from Calpee to Juhbulpoor. 
 In 1808, the then rajah, a chief of ancient 
 Boondela lineage, had been confirmed in 
 possession of his little fort and territory of 
 twenty- nine square miles in extent, on con- 
 dition of obedieuce to the British govern- 
 ment. The present rajah treated the fugi- 
 tives " most kindly," and they passed the 
 night under his protection ; yet the major 
 could not be soothed, but persisted in ima- 
 gining all sorts of horrible deeds were being 
 meditated by his host. The three officers 
 left Logassee on the following morning, 
 under a guard furnished by another Bimdel- 
 cund chjeftainess, the Ranee of Nyagong. 
 
 Meantime, the Europeans and sepoys 
 had marched on to Mahoba, where they 
 arrived on the 15th, expecting to overtake 
 Major Kirke. The sepoys expressed great 
 dissatisfaction at his prolonged absence, mur- 
 .'muring that all their officers intended leav- 
 ing them gradually, and declaring that they 
 would not proceed till they had found their 
 major. A pressing letter was addressed to 
 him on the subject ;t and it appears to have 
 reached him ; for he and his two com- 
 panions joined the party at Mahoba on the 
 16th, bringing with them a cartload of 
 wine, tea, aud other supplies from Nowgong. 
 The sepoys welcomed their officers most 
 joyfully. They had been distressed by a 
 report of their having been murdered ; and 
 " were actually weeping" with suspense and 
 sorrow when the major arrived. The origi- 
 nal destination of the party had been Alla- 
 habad ; but news of the disturbances at 
 Banda and Humeerpoor induced a change 
 of route; and, on the evening of the 17th, 
 
 • Captain Scot says, Major Kirke's " health had 
 been failing; and now, from want of tea, and wine, 
 and beer, lie was quite gone." — Times, September 
 llth, 1857. 
 
 t Statement of Sergeant Kirchoff. — Further Pari. 
 Papers on Mutiny, 1857 (not numbered), p. 77. 
 
 they proceeded towards Kallinger and Mir- 
 zapoor. Mr. Game, the deputy-collector of 
 Mahoba, accompanied the fugitives, making 
 arrangements with the rajah of Chirkaree 
 (another Bundelcund dependent state, under 
 the rule of a Rajpoot family) for the charge 
 of the Mahoba district, and obtaining from 
 the rajah a sum of money for the expenses 
 of the journey. A heavy demand was soon 
 made on this fund. At mid-day on the 
 18th, during a halt under some trees, at 
 a little distance from a pass between two 
 hills, through which the road lay, a message 
 was received from a man called Pran Sing, 
 the leader of a party of dacoits, demanding 
 1,000 rupees as the price of escorting the 
 fugitives in safety to Kallinger. At first, 
 a refusal was resolved on ; but the Native 
 officers and men urged the payment of the 
 money ; and, as they had been most obe- 
 dient and anxious to please, the Europeans 
 let them have their own way in the matter. 
 " The men accordingly paid down 300 
 rupees to the head of the party, and applied 
 to the officers for 400 rupees, to make up 
 the advance agreed on. It was given them, 
 and the whole paid to Pran Sing," to whom 
 300 more were pi'omised on reaching Kal- 
 linger. 
 
 The next morning, before daybreak, as 
 the Europeans were prepar'ng to move on 
 without Pran Sing (who hau not appeared), 
 the camp was fired into from a tree between 
 it and the pass. The sepoys began to fire 
 wildly in return ; and the treacherous -da- 
 coits commenced in earnest. "The major 
 now came to his senses, and was himself, 
 from being a child who spoke of a mango, 
 or something to eat and drink, as if it were 
 his life." He went among the sepoys, 
 striving to induce them to force the pass; 
 hut they were utterly disheartened, and 
 complained that their guns could not carry 
 so far; while the matchlockmen were pick- 
 ing them off from the hills. Lieutenant 
 Townsend fell, shot through the heart ; and 
 the party retreated towards Mahoba, leaving 
 their buggies and carts in the hands of the 
 robbers. Some of the Europeans fled on 
 horseback; others on foot. Dr. Mawe and 
 Mr. Smalley, the band-sergeant, walked 
 from daylight till past noon, keeping up 
 with the main body. The sepoys remained 
 close to Major Kirke, who, as soon as the 
 excitement of the skirmish had subsided, 
 relapsed into imbecility; and, on reaching 
 the outskirts of a village three miles from 
 Mahoba, fell from his horse, and expired
 
 FLIGHT FROM NOWGONG— FAITHFUL SEPOYS OF 12th N.I. 811 
 
 shortly after. Several others perished, but 
 the major only was buried ; the sepoys, true 
 to the last, digging his grave with their 
 bayonets, under a tree near the spot where 
 he fell. A sergeant (Raite), overcome with 
 tlie effects of previous drunkenness, would 
 proceed no further, but went into a deserted 
 toll-house on the road-side to sleep, and 
 was left behind. Sergeant-major Lucas, a 
 very large, heavy man, was suddenly struck 
 by the sun. He fell; then rose; staggered 
 a few paces — fell again, and never stirred 
 more. Mrs. Langdale, the wife of a 
 writer, was lost ou the road; she had 
 great difficulty in walking, being ex- 
 tremely stout : at last. Captain Scot says, 
 " her husband left her, and she died or 
 was killed." Captain Scot himself was at 
 one time in the rear, and lost sight of the 
 main body. He sent on Lieutenant Ewart, 
 who was with him, to the front ; but Ewart 
 became delirious from the sun, and told the 
 corps that the captain was close to them, 
 when he was, in reality, miles behind. The 
 column, therefore, pushed on, leaving Scot, 
 hampered with women and children, to 
 follow as best he could. He had brought 
 away Lieutenant Townscnd's horse, as well 
 as his own ; and by this means he was 
 enabled to convey his helpless companions. 
 In his oflBcial report, he scarcely refers to 
 his own doings; but, writing privately to 
 England, he says — " My work that day was 
 terrible. I had to try to lug along two fat 
 old women, while I carried three children 
 on my horse, and tried to keep back the 
 sepoys who were with me. The senior 
 havildar got more and more savage, and 
 wanted me to leave the children and the 
 women ; but I would not ; and, thank God, 
 they did not leave us. I came at last to 
 Mr. Smalley, sitting beside his wife. She 
 seemed dead, but it was doubtful ; so I took 
 her up before me, and gave a boy (one 
 of the three children before mentioned) to 
 my writer, who had got hold of my horse. 
 It was a most arduous task to keep the 
 utterly inert body on the horse, as I placed 
 her as women ride ; but after a while she 
 seemed dead. I held a consultation about 
 it, and we left the body. I then got on foot. 
 I was lame from an awful kick of a horse, 
 and had only a strip of cloth on one foot ; 
 
 • Letter dated June 24th. — Times, September 
 11th, 1857. 
 
 t Letler from cominissioner of Allahabad, July 
 4th. — Further Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1867 (not 
 numbered), p. 130. 
 
 but poor Smalley was worse off, and he got 
 on my horse, and Mrs. Tierney behind ; her 
 two children each got a seat on the two 
 horses ; and thus I reached the main body."* 
 
 The sepoys had halted at a well, waiting 
 for the arrival of Captain Scot, now their 
 senior officer. At three o'clock the party 
 entered Kubrai (a Small town in Jalouh), 
 twenty-four miles from Banda, where a 
 "Nana Sahib" had usurped authority; this 
 being supposed to be a title assumed by an 
 agent of the Nana of Bithoor. The tacit 
 ill-will shown in several villages through 
 which the fugitives had passed, led the 
 sepoys to request their officers to deliver 
 up their arms, and to suffer theftiselves 
 to be escorted as prisoners. This they 
 did; and the sepoys described themselves 
 as rebels, and bade the townspeople 
 bring food for the captives, and forage for 
 the horses, on pain of incurring the dis- 
 pleasure of the King of Delhi, by whose 
 order the Europeans were being taken to 
 the nawab of Banda. The townspeople 
 assented, and brought chupatties and sweet- 
 meats for the Europeans, who sat on the 
 ground surrounded by hundreds of natives. 
 "Not one said an uncivil word. Some," 
 Captain Scot writes, "said our rule had 
 been very just; some expressed sorrow; 
 some, it struck me, did their utmost to get 
 a few of us killed for the amusement of the 
 city." When it grew dark the crowd dis- 
 persed ; and the sepoys, being alone with 
 the Europeans, told them that the trick 
 of their pretended hostility had been dis- 
 covered ; that the Christian drummers had 
 been seized and taken into the town by a 
 rebel moonshee and a Mohammedan officer ; 
 and that, as the whole country was against 
 the Europeans, it would be better for them 
 to separate and shift for themselves. They 
 spoke " sadly and respectfully." Their plan 
 was adopted ; certificates of loyalty were 
 given to the whole of the eighty-seven 
 sepoys, and they all made their way to 
 Allahabad, thirty-five of them meeting Mr. 
 Corregan (superintendent of roads) with a 
 party escaping from Futtehpoor, and escort- 
 ing them to Allahabad. t 
 
 The original Nowgong fugitives had 
 considerably diminished before reaching 
 Kubrai. Mr. Came had quitted them, 
 and sought and found refuge with the 
 rajah of Chirkaree. A writer, named 
 Johnson, preferred remaining to take his 
 chance at Kubrai; and the Mrs. Tierney, 
 before mentioned, was also left behind with
 
 312 NAWAB OF BANDA WELCOMES NOWGONG FUGITIVES. 
 
 her two children. "She was," Captain 
 Scot remarks, " the wife of some sergeant 
 that she had deserted for our sergeant- 
 major :" " she had no chance of her life 
 with us ; and I had good hopes she would 
 not be injured at Kubrai." Mrs. Tierney 
 made her way to Mutoun, a large place be- 
 tween Kubrai and Banda. Sergeant Raite 
 did the. same. Mr. Langdale and another 
 writer, named Johnson, also proceeded 
 thither, and were protected, and most 
 kindly treated, by an influeutial zemindar. 
 
 The other Europeans resumed their 
 flight, in accordance with the advice of the 
 sepoys. There were eleven adults and two 
 children, and only nine horses. A Ser- 
 geant Kirchoff, who had been employed 
 in the Canal department, under Lieu- 
 tenant Powys, had joined them at Mahoba, 
 with his wife, on foot ; aud their arrival in- 
 creased the difiSculties of the journey. Ou 
 the following morning, while moving along 
 the Banda road, the villagers came out, 
 armed with long bamboos, and attacked the 
 fugitives. Captain Scot was bringing up 
 the rear, with Lieutenant Ewart; and they 
 turned, and fired their pistols at the yelling 
 mob, but without effect. At last two troopers 
 and some armed foot joined the rabble, and 
 Mrs. Kirchoflf fell from the horse on which 
 she had been placed. Her husband "seemed 
 quite unable to put her on again ;" and Cap- 
 tain Scot, feeling that they could not desert 
 her, strove to dismount and fight on foot, 
 being unable to do anything on horseback, 
 hampered as he was with Mr. Smalley be- 
 hind him, and "little Lottie," a girl of two 
 years old, in his arms. He had just taken 
 the poor child from her parents. Dr. and 
 Mrs. Mawe, who were riding together on 
 one horse, and scarcely able to support 
 themselves. His intention of dismount- 
 ing was frustrated. His horse, a runaway 
 by habit, being pierced by a spear flung by 
 one of the assailants, galloped oS" at full 
 speed, with the weapon sticking in its right 
 hock, and stopped only on reaching a water- 
 course it could not leap. Lieutenant Franks 
 soon came up : a loose horse had attacked 
 him and his mare, and, after chasing him 
 round the combatants, had compelled him 
 to gallop ofi'. Lieutenant Remington had 
 followed. The four took counsel, and, be- 
 lieving that their late companions had 
 perished or escaped in another direction, 
 they went sadly on their way. Little 
 Lottie was safe; her preserver had thrown 
 away bis pistol in order to hold her fast. 
 
 As they proceeded, they continued to 
 find " the villagers in the British territory 
 most hostile," with one exception — that of 
 a very poor man, named Ferukh Khan, 
 who sheltered and fed them. At noon on 
 Sunday, the 21st, while lying under some 
 trees, they became aware of the vicinity of 
 a concourse of armed men. Captain Scot 
 snatched up the child, but, knowing that 
 his horse was worn out, made no attempt at 
 escape. The other Europeans had mounted, 
 and got off a few yards : he entreated them 
 to ride away, but they returned to share 
 his fate. They were all taken to a village, 
 where. Captain Scot says, "one old rascal 
 looked at me maliciously, and made a back- 
 ing movement with his hand against his 
 throat, as a suggestion of what we deserved, 
 and what we should get." On reaching 
 Banda, they fully expected to be put to 
 death, having " only a very faint hope that 
 God might spare them." They went 
 through thousands of zealous Mohamme- 
 dans to the uawab's palace; and then, to 
 their inexpressible relief, were " pulled in- 
 side the gate," and assured they were safe. 
 
 The rest of the party were at first more 
 fortunate than had been anticipated, for they 
 succeeded in driving off the villagers, aud 
 escaping uninjured. Lieutenant Jackson 
 shot the man who speared Captain Scot's 
 horse ; and Mrs. Kirchofl['s horse having 
 run ofi", he took her up behind him, 
 and rode away, followed by the other Eu- 
 ropeans; she sitting astride, and being tied 
 to him, from the 20th to the 24th, when 
 they reached Adjyghur. The fatigue must 
 have been excessive, for they went forty 
 miles one day.* By the 21st they had 
 crossed the river Cane, five miles below 
 Banda, and were resting near a nullah in 
 that neighboiirhood, when, being threatened 
 by some villagers, they remounted and re- 
 sumed their flight. Dr. and Mrs. Mawe 
 were left behind : they fell together from 
 their horse ; and Sergeant Kirchofl', who 
 had been previously holding it while they 
 mounted, let the bridle go, having to attend 
 to his own wife. Lieutenant Barber soon 
 afterwards fell from his horse as if shot, and 
 was left by the way, dead or dying. Lieu- 
 tenant Ewart was struck by the sun on the 
 22ud, and lay senseless on the ground. He 
 was '•■ the most fearless of men ;"t and even 
 in their extreme peril .nnd exhaustion, his 
 companions made an effort to save hira. 
 
 • Captain Scot. — I'imes, September llth, 18d7. 
 f Ibid.
 
 ADJYGHUR, A NATIVE STATE OF BUNDELCUND. 
 
 313 
 
 Harvey Kirke (the son of the late major) 
 went to a village for some water, but came 
 back with a hooting rabble at his heels, and 
 the Europeans Avere compelled to leave their 
 brave comrade to breathe his last among 
 foes. Shortly after this they alighted at a 
 village to rest ; but Lieutenant Jackson 
 having observed something suspicious in the 
 manner of the natives, passed the word 
 to mount and ride off. Kirchoff, after 
 helping his wife to her seat behind Lieu- 
 tenant Jackson, and lifting a little child of 
 Mr. Smalley's into the arms of Harvey 
 Kirke (who had taken charge of it), went to 
 loose Bis own horse ; but before he was well 
 in his saddle, several blows from lattees, or 
 long sticks, caused him to fall to the ground. 
 The other three adults escaped, and entered 
 a village in the Adjyghur territory ; but the 
 child died on the road. 
 
 Adjyghur, — is a dependent native state, 
 with an area of 340 square miles; bounded on 
 the north by the native state of Chirkaree 
 and the British district of Banda ; on the 
 south ani east by the native state of Pun- 
 nah; and on the west by Chutterpoor. The 
 inauguration of British supremacy, about 
 half a century before, had been attended by 
 one of the terrible tragedies characteristic 
 of the proud Rajpoot race. The fort of 
 Adjyghur was surrendered in February, 
 1809, by Luchmun Sing Dowa, to the Bri- 
 tish, on condition of receiving an equivalent 
 in lands in the plain. In the following 
 June, Luchmun Sing proceeded to Calcutta, 
 without giving notice of his intention to 
 the Britisii authorities at Adjyghur: they 
 distrusted him, and resolved on imprisoning 
 in the fort his female relatives, whom he had 
 left at Tirowni, in the immediate vicinity. 
 The father-in-law of the chief, being directed 
 to make arrangements for removing the 
 ladies, entered their dwelling, and fastened 
 the door after him. A considerable time 
 elapsed, yet he did not return. At length, 
 no sound of life being heard, an entrance 
 was effected by the roof, and all the inmates 
 of the house — women, children, and the old 
 man himself, were found with their throats 
 cut. Not a cry or groan had been heard 
 by the listeners outside, who were keeping 
 watch to prevent the possibility of escape. 
 The members of the heroic household, mis- 
 led by an erroneous creed, had sacrificed 
 themselves with one acccord to preserve 
 inviolate the honour of their house and 
 their personal purity. After this catas- 
 trophe, Luchmun Sing was pronounced a 
 
 VOL. II. 2 s 
 
 usurper, and Adjyghur, after being overrun 
 by British troops, was made over to a chief 
 named Bukht Khan (who claimed to be 
 its legitimate rajah), on condition of the 
 payment to the E. I. Company of au 
 annual tribute of 7,750 rupees.* 
 
 Probably the three Nowgong fugitives 
 had little acquaintance with the antecedents 
 of their nation in Adjygliur. At all events 
 they were kindly received there ; and after 
 resting some days, were sent on to Nagode, 
 which they reached on the 29th of June. 
 At this place they found Kirchoff, who, 
 after being plundered by the villagers, had 
 been suffered to depart, and had reached 
 another village in Adjyghur, where he had 
 been well treated, and sent on immediately. 
 
 It remains only to notice the fate of Dr. 
 and Mrs. Mawe. Their horse having gal- 
 loped off, they sat down on the ground, 
 expecting to be killed. Dr. Mawe was 
 quite prepared for death, having previously 
 taken leave of his wife, and communi- 
 cated to her his last wishes respecting their 
 "four little girls in Ireland." Some na- 
 tives came up and plundered them; and 
 shortly after this. Dr. Mawe died. He had 
 lost his hat, and had suffered fearfully in 
 the head in consequence, until his wife 
 found a sepoy's cap on the ground, and 
 gave it him (being herself bareheaded all 
 the time) : but he retained his senses ; and 
 his last words were, " Poor Lottie ! I am 
 glad to know she is safe with Scot." The 
 new-made widow, scarcely knowing what 
 she did, bound his head and face in her 
 dress — "for there was no earth to bury 
 him;" and then went to the nullah, and 
 sat down in the water on a stone, to cool 
 her burning feet. Some more natives 
 came up, and searched her for money. 
 She got away from them (with her wed- 
 ding-ring hidden in her hair), and walked 
 barefooted three miles to a village, where 
 she remained that night, and was sent 
 to the nawab of Banda on the follow- 
 ing morning, there to be greeted by the 
 child who had been almost miraculously 
 preserved. t Captain Scot remarks, regard- 
 ing the baby-heroine of his tale — " How that 
 child, two years old, lived, I know not; 
 angels must have had their wings over it. 
 On the 19th and 20th, its head was for 
 hours bare to the sun. On the 22nd, I 
 made a rag into a sort of turban. She, 
 
 •Thornton's Gazetteer; ani Asiatic Annual Re- 
 gister, for 1809. 
 
 t Narrative of 5Irs. Mawe.
 
 314 
 
 HOSPITALITY OF NAWAB AND BEGUM OF BANDA. 
 
 aged three years in mind, during her ride, 
 was as healthy as any child in England. 
 She felt more horrified than Leonora after 
 her ride with William, and could not endure 
 my approach after her mother came."* 
 
 The begum of Banda had sent for the 
 child immediately on her arrival, and pro- 
 vided English clothes and other neces- 
 saries for her use ; making her a present of 
 twenty rupees. She extended her kindness 
 to Mrs. Mawc, who remained a fortnight at 
 Bauda, and to whom the begum gave, at 
 their parting interview, a pair of earrings, 
 on a little silver plate. Mrs. Mawe and 
 her child went to Calcutta, and thence to 
 England. 
 
 Thus ends the history of the escape from 
 Nowgong, in the course of which many 
 Europeans perished ; but not one of them 
 by the hands of the sepoys. The only blood 
 shed by the Nowgong mutineers, was that 
 of a Christian drummer named George 
 Dick, an African. 
 
 Banda, — is a British district in Bundel- 
 cund, bounded by Futtehpoor on the north, 
 and Humeerpoor on the west. The nawab, 
 who protected the Nowgong fugitives, was 
 a merely nominal prince, residing at Banda 
 (the chief place of the district), in a hand- 
 some and strong palace, with an income of 
 £40,000 ayear, guaranteed to the family 
 by the East India Company in 1812; and 
 njaintaining a force of between four and five 
 hundred men, comprising infantry, cavalry, 
 and artillery, dressed and equipped in imi- 
 tation of the British troops. The canton- 
 ments of the latter were situated on the 
 east bank of the river Cane, or Keyn, and 
 were occupied in June, 1857, by about 250 
 of the 1st N.I.t 
 
 The information published regarding the 
 outbreak here, is very defective- The notices 
 scattered through the Blue Books, are few 
 and conflicting; and the Banda uliicials do 
 not appear to have, either in their public or 
 private capacity, furnished evidence regard- 
 ing the reason of their sudden evacuation 
 
 • Letter of Captain Scot. — Times, September 
 11th, 1857. 
 
 t Letter of Major Ellis, from Nagode. The Nag- 
 poor commissioner, in separate despatches (June 
 and September), asserts that it was two companies of 
 the oOth, at Banda, who " mutinied, and plundered 
 the treasure ;" but this seems altogether a mistake. 
 — Further Pari. Papers (not numbered), p. 11 ; and 
 Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 272. The Parlia- 
 mentary Return (House of Commons, February 9lh, 
 1858), which gives the number and description of 
 troops at each station at the time of the mutiny at 
 
 of the station. The summary of events 
 dispatched to England by the Supreme 
 government, states, that " the civilians and 
 officers were forced to quit the station on 
 the 14th, the two companies of the 1st 
 N.I. having taken possession of the treasury. 
 All had arrived at Nagode. By the latest 
 accounts, the party of the 1st N.I. appear 
 to be still in charge of the treasure."! 
 
 On the 16th, the fugitives — civilians, offi- 
 cers, and ladies — reached Nagode in safety ; 
 and the nawab of Banda was written to by 
 Major Ellis, the Nagode commissioner, and 
 urged to exert himself to the utmost in 
 recovering all plundered property beloiiging 
 to either government or private persons. § 
 On the 22nd of June, Major Ellis writes 
 to the secretary of government at Calcutta, 
 declaring that he " cannot get any intelli- 
 gence from Banda ;" but that, according to 
 bazaar reports, only two bungalows had 
 been burnt there, and that the treasure 
 was still all safe ; " the two companies of 
 the 1st regiment of N.I. standing sentry 
 over it in the lines." On the strength of this 
 " bazaar report," he urges that the nawab 
 of Banda " should be warned th.it he will 
 be held responsible for it [the treasure], as 
 well as for his conduct in having ordered 
 the Banda officers out of his house, though 
 they do all speak well of him."i| 
 
 It appears, however, that the nawab 
 needed every encouragement that could be 
 held out to induce him to continue in the 
 loyal course he had hitherto held, consider- 
 ing that no European troops could be sent 
 to his assistance, and that the feelings of 
 the Banda population and of the Beondelas 
 in general, were fiercely hostile to the British. 
 The story of the sepoys guarding the trea- 
 sure, seems doubtful : so also is the fate of 
 the joint magistrate, Mr. Cockerell, who is 
 declared, in one official document, to have 
 been killed at a place called Kirlace;*t[ and 
 in another, to have come into Banda the 
 morning after the other residents had left, 
 and to have been murdered by the troopers 
 
 Meerut, does not specify the regiments to which 
 they belonged.' 
 
 I Further Pari. Papers on the Mutiny, 1857 (not 
 numbered), p. 2. 
 
 § Letter of Major Ellis, June 16th, 185T.— Ibid., 
 p. 10. 
 
 II Further Pari. Papers relative to the Mutinies, 
 1857 (not numbered), p. 54. 
 
 5J Ibid., p. 106. Kirlace is evidently a Blue-Book 
 blunder : possibly the same town is intended as the 
 "Kirwee" of the London Gazette, May 6th, 1858; 
 where Mr. Cockerell is said to have been stationed.
 
 ALLEGED MASSACRE AT BANDA— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 315 
 
 and armed followers of the nawab, Ali 
 Bahadur, at the gateway of the palace, 
 where 'the corpse, stripped of its clothing, 
 was exposed in the most ignominious man- 
 ner, and then dragged away by the sweepers, 
 and thrown into a ditch on the nawab's 
 parade-ground. Several Europeans in the 
 uawab's service — namely. Captain St. George 
 Benjamin and his wife; a Mr. Bruce, with 
 his mother; and a Mr. Lloyd, with two or 
 three of his children — are alleged to have 
 been " killed on the nawab's parade-ground, 
 by his followers and other rebels."* 
 
 It is very strange that Captain Scot and his 
 companions, who were taken to the nawab's 
 palace on the 21st of June, and remained 
 there several weeks, most kindly treated,t 
 should not have heard, or having heard, 
 should not have communicated to govern- 
 ment the fate of Cockerell and the other 
 Europeans. Thus much^ however, is certain 
 — that the nawab preserved the lives of the 
 Nowgoug fugitives, in opposition to the 
 feelings of the Banda population, and to 
 that of his own retainers, who had probably 
 viewed with jealousy the English persons 
 employed by him. The experiences of a 
 member of an Oriental household, as given 
 in the Life of an Eastern King, illustrate 
 the jealous feelings with which the natives 
 regard such interlopers; and in times of 
 tumult, these foreign favourites would na- 
 turally be the first victims of popular ven- 
 geance. Yet Captain Scot, writing to 
 government from Nagode on the 28th of 
 July, and from Rewah on the 16th of 
 August, mentions the request he had made 
 to the nawab of Banda, to send parties to 
 Mutoun in search of Sergeant Raite, Mrs. 
 Tieruey and her two children, and the 
 writers Langdale and Johnson, with some 
 native Christians, who had been protected 
 by a friendly zemindar, and to bring them 
 thence to Banda and advance them money. | 
 This arrangement he would hardly have 
 made, had he not considered the nawab 
 both able and willing to protect the fugi- 
 tives. Be this as it may, a long inter- 
 val elapsed from the time Captain Scot 
 and the other Europeans quitted the 
 nawab, before any certain intelligence was 
 heard from Banda; and the government 
 
 reports ceased to give any information 
 under that head. 
 
 Futtehpoor, — a British district, named 
 from its chief place, is divided from the 
 Banda district by the Jumna, and is 
 bounded on the east by Allahabad, and on 
 the north-west by Cawnpoor. It; was taken 
 by the East India Company from the 
 nawab of Oude, by the treaty of 1801. 
 At the time of the outbreak, Futtehpoor 
 was a large and thriving town, with a 
 population of between 15,000 and 16,000 
 persons. A considerable proportion of 
 these were Mussulmans, and the district 
 furnished many cavalry recruits. The resi- 
 dents consisted of the judge, the magis- 
 trate, and collector; the assistant-magistrate, 
 the opium agent, salt agent, the doctor, and 
 three or four gentlemen connected with the 
 railway. The deputy-magistrate was a 
 Mohammedan, named HikmutOollah Khan; 
 and there were the usual number of ill-paid 
 native underlings. There was a flourishing 
 mission here ; the number of converts was 
 on the increase vi^ the villages ; but, accord, 
 ing to Gopinath Nuudy (the fellow-cap- 
 tive of Ensign Check), " the townspeople, 
 especially the Mohammedans, often raised 
 objections as at other places." Hikmut 
 evinced a special animosity towards the 
 mission, and instigated several attempts to 
 retard its progress. One of these was the 
 circulation of a report, that the Christians 
 had resolved upon the destruction of c.iste 
 throughout the town, by polluting the 
 wells with cartloads of the pulverised bones 
 of pigs and cows. Some of the oflScials told 
 the magistrate of the report ; but he laughed 
 at them, and told them that the Christian 
 religion did not allow of compulsory con- 
 version, and that its teachers could not be 
 guilty of inch an act.§ 
 
 This incident tends to account for the 
 excitement manifested by the Futtehpoor 
 population, and the excessive alarm evinced 
 by the Europeans, on hearing of the Meerut 
 catastrophe. The troops at the station were 
 a detachment of fifty men of the 6th, under 
 Native officers : the head-quarters of the 
 regiment was, as will be remembered, ut 
 Allahabad; and considerable reliance was 
 placed in its loyalty. It w^ a popular 
 
 • Report furnished by F. O. Mayne, deputy-col- 
 lector of Banda. — London Oazette, May 6ln, 1857; 
 p. 2231. 
 
 t " Captain Scot and party were all well at Banda 
 on 29th ultimo ; he writes in terms of great praise 
 of the nawab'a kindness to them."— Political as- 
 
 sistant of Nagode to government : " Nagode, July 
 8th, 1857,"— Further Pari. Papers, p. 111. 
 
 X Further Pari. Papers on the Mutiny, 1857 
 (No. 4), pp. 131 ; 166. 
 
 § Narrative of Qopinath Nundy. — Sharer's Xnditn 
 Church, p. 187.
 
 316 
 
 INSURRECTION AT PUTTEHPOOR— JUNE 10th, 1857. 
 
 outbreak that was dreaded^ 4»tid for this 
 reason, the European ladies and children 
 were sent to Allahabad, and the native 
 Christians were advised, as early as the 24th 
 of May, to send their families to some safer 
 place. Futtehpoor lies on the high road 
 between Allahabad and Cawnpoor, and is 
 1 only forty miles from the latter. The 
 j heavy firing heard in that direction on the 
 ; 5th of June, confirmed the fears of the 
 ! residents ; and in expectation of an attack 
 I from a body of mutineers (2nd cavalry and 
 ■ 56th N.I.), said to be on their way to Cawn- 
 1 poor, the Europeans assembled on the roof of 
 the magistrate's house, as the most defensible 
 position at their command. The rebels 
 arrived, and made an attempt on the trea- 
 sury ; but being repulsed by the 6th N.I. 
 detachment, went on to Cawnpoor. On 
 I Sunday, the 7tli, news arrived of the mutiny 
 j at Allahabad, upcn which the Futtehpoor 
 detachment marched off to Cawnpoor in 
 I the most orderly manner. The Europeans, 
 who were ten in number, hearing a rumour 
 of the approach of a body of rebels and re- 
 leased convicts from Allahabad, resolved on 
 quitting the station ; and on the evening of 
 the 9th of June, nine of them mounted their 
 horses, and rode off, accompanied by four 
 faithful sowars. The tenth remained behind. 
 This was the judge, Robert Tucker, the bro- 
 ther of the Benares commissioner, and of 
 "Charlie Tucker," of the irregular cavalry 
 — the young soldier who, when bullets were 
 falling round him at Sultanpoor, had held 
 the wounded Fisher in his arms, cut out the 
 fatal ball, aud only complied with the 
 entreaties of his men to ride off, when, after 
 the lapse of half-an-hour, he saw his brave 
 colonel past the reach of human sympathy 
 or cruelty. Charlie Lived to return to his 
 young wife ;* the Futtehpoor judge died at 
 his post. After the other Europeans were 
 gone, he rode fearlessly about the streets, 
 endeavouring to stem the tide of insurrec- 
 tion, by promising rewards to such natives 
 as should render good service and be true 
 to the government. The circumstances of 
 bis death are only known from native report. 
 One of his last remarks is said to have been, 
 "I am going to put myself at the head of 
 my brave legionaries;" meaning the police 
 guard, on which he relied to keep off the 
 
 * Mrs. Tucker's Letter.— Timej!, August 18th, 1857. 
 t Sharer's Indian Church, p. 183. 
 X Report of officiating magistrate of Futtehpoor 
 (W. J. Piobyn).— London Gazette, May 6th, 1858. 
 § Times, August 18th, 1857. 
 
 enemy. According to one account, he sent 
 for Hikmut, who, accompanied by the police 
 guard, and bearing the green flag (the 
 emblem of Mohammedanism), entered the 
 Cutcherry compound, and called upon the 
 judge to abjure Christianity and become a 
 Mussulman. This Mr. Tucker, of course, 
 refused; and when they advanced towards 
 him, he fired on them with sucli deadly 
 precision, that fourteen or sixteen fell before 
 he was overpowered and slain. t 
 
 Another account (an official one, but 
 resting equally on native report) says, that 
 the gaol was broken open, and the treasury 
 plundered, at about 9 a.m. on the 10th, and 
 an attack was made on Mr. Tucker in the 
 afternoon, by a number of fanatical Moham- 
 medans, headed by one Seyed Alohammed 
 n ossein. Mr. Tucker took refuge on the 
 roof of his Cutcherry, and was able for 
 some time to keep off his assailants : they, 
 however, eventually set fire to the buihling, 
 and, under cover of the smoke, succeeded 
 in mounting the roof and dispatching their 
 victim. J 
 
 The Times, in commenting on " the 
 chivalrous sense of duty" which actuated 
 Mr. Tucker, spoke of him as one of the 
 most generous and high-minded of the 
 Company's servants ; adding, that " it had 
 been his custom, for years, personally to 
 administer to the wants of the poor natives 
 — the sick, the blind, and the leper; and 
 many of those who were fed by his bounty, 
 will have cause to mourn him who has died 
 the death of a hero, animated by the firm 
 courage of a Christian."§ 
 
 The other Europeans reached Banda in 
 safety; whence, after much fatigue and 
 many hair-breadth escapes, they proceeded 
 to Kalliuger, thence to Nagode, thence to 
 Mirzapoor, and thence to Allahabad, which 
 they reached in twenty-two days; having 
 traversed a distance of upwards of three 
 hundred miles. 
 
 Humeerpoor, — is the chief place of a 
 British district of the same name, divided 
 from Etawa, Cawnpoor, and Futtehpoor, by 
 the river Jumna, and bounded on the east 
 by Banda, on the south by the native states 
 of Chirkaree and Chutterpoor, and on the 
 west by the British districts of Jhansi and 
 Jaloun. The town of Humeerpoor lies on 
 the route from Banda to Cawnpoor ; thirty- 
 six miles from the former, and thirty-nine 
 from the latter. The only troops at the 
 station were a detachment of the 56th 
 N.I., under Native officers. Mr. Loyd, the
 
 MUTINY AT HUMEERPOOR— JUNE 14th, 1857. 
 
 317 
 
 magistrate, distrusted the fidelity of the 
 sepoys of the treasure-guard ; and " enter- 
 tained a numerous additional police ; care- 
 fully guarded the ghauts ; impounded the 
 boats on the Jumna; gave strict orders for the 
 apprehension of fugitive rebel sepoys ; and 
 got assistance in men and guns from the 
 neighbouring Bundelcund chiefs." After 
 the outbreak at Cawnpoor and Jhansi, the 
 position of affairs at Humeerpoor became 
 very critical ; but the magistrate continued 
 to rely on the 330 Boondela auxiliaries, as 
 affording the means of "overcoming the 
 sepoys and all disaffected men."* 
 
 On the 14th of June, Lieutenant Raikes 
 and Ensign Browne sought shelter here. 
 They had been sent from Cawnpoor by 
 General Wheeler, with two companies of 
 the 56th N.I., to reinforce Oorai, a place 
 about eighty miles distant. On the fourth 
 day of their march, the troops hearing that 
 their regiment had mutinied, did the same, 
 and the officers rode off towards Calpee. 
 Before reaching this place they had been 
 robbed by villagers of their weapons and 
 rings. At Humeerpoor they had little 
 time to rest; for, within three hours of 
 tliitir arrival, the sepoys and the Boondelas 
 fraternised; plundered the treasury, broke 
 open the gaol, and were seen approaching 
 the bungalow where the two officers, with 
 Mr. Loyd and his assistant, Duncan Grant, 
 had assembled. The four Europeans 
 entered a boat moored under the house, 
 and succeeded in crossing the Jumna in 
 safety, though under a heavy fire of mus- 
 ketry and matchlocks. On reaching the 
 opposite shore they fell in with some 
 natives, who plundered them of 300 rupees : 
 after this, they feared to approach the vil- 
 lages, and remained in the jungle, support- 
 ing life on a few chupatties they had with 
 them. Ensign Browne, in a p'ivate letter 
 to England, states, that for an entire day 
 and night they failed in procuring a drop of 
 water. He adds — " Towards evening, poor 
 Raikes began to lose his senses ; and, to 
 cut the sad talc short, we had, when all 
 hope was gone, to leave the poor fellow, 
 and he must have died a pitiable death. 
 After much exertion, we succeeded in get- 
 ting to the river, and I cannot describe our 
 
 * Further Pari. Papers (No. 7), p. 20S. 
 
 + A subahdar of the 2nd N.I. (Bombay) was 
 mainly instrumental in saving Ensign Browne. 
 
 X Letter dated " Cawnpoor, July 24th." — Times, 
 September 2l8t, 1857. This officer is evidently the 
 same person as the one who was at first supposed to 
 
 joy and thankfulness in getting water. Next 
 day, I left Loyd and Grant, and swam 
 down the river three or four miles ; and 
 from the time I parted with them, on the 
 15th of June, until I joined the English 
 army at Futtehpoor on the 13th of July, I 
 wandered about from village to village in 
 native clothes, and for several days without 
 shoes and stockings. f I am thankful to 
 say that I did not forget my God, but 
 prayed fervently for you all and myself."{ 
 
 Messrs. Loyd and Grant are believed to 
 have fallen into the hands of the sepoys, 
 and been murdered by them. Several 
 other Europeans who were unable to escape 
 from Humeerpoor, perished there, including 
 Mr. Murray, a landholder or zemindar; 
 two clerks, Messrs. Crawford and Banter, 
 with the wife of the latter ; and a pensioner, 
 named Anderson, with his wife and four 
 children. The same feature which had dis- 
 tinguished the conduct of the mutineers at 
 Delhi, was conspicuous here. They did 
 not divide the government treasure among 
 themselves, and depart each man to his home, 
 or seek safety in obscurity ; but they kept 
 guard over the money, until, on the 20th of 
 June, a troop of rebel cavalry and a com- 
 pany of infantry were sent by the Nana to 
 assist in its removal. They considered 
 themselves bound to abide by the general 
 will of the army, as expressed by just any 
 one who might be enabled by circum- 
 stances, whether of position or ability, to 
 become its exponent. The cause to which 
 they had devoted themselves was vague 
 and intangible in the extreme; but their 
 very devotion, together with the power of 
 combination, which was a marked portion 
 of the sepoy character, rendered them 
 dangerous, even though generally without 
 artillery, with few and second-rate gunners, 
 separated from their European officers, and 
 with no native leaders possessing the prestige 
 which follows success. 
 
 Oorai, — is a small town in Jaloun, on the 
 route from Calpee to Jhansi. Jaloun itself 
 is one of our comparatively recent annexa- 
 tions. In 1806, a treaty was made with its 
 Mahratta ruler. Nana Govind Rao, inde- 
 pendently of the authority of the Peishwa, 
 and territory was received by the British 
 
 have escaped from the Nana. (See Note to p. 261). 
 Mowbray Thomson says, that Ensign Browne joined 
 the volunteers on the arrival of Havelock ; shared 
 all the battles of the first advance to Lucknow, came 
 back to Cawnpoor, and there died of cholera.— 
 Story of Cawnpoor, p. 227.
 
 318 
 
 INSURRECTION THROUGHOUT THE JALOUN DISTRICT. 
 
 goTcrnment from Jaloun. In 1817, a new 
 treaty was made with the Nana, acknow- 
 ledgiug him the hereditary ruler of the 
 lands then in his actual possession.* In 
 1832, adoption by the widow of the chief 
 was sanctioned, " because it was agreeable 
 to the people."t In 1838, the British gov- 
 ernment tliought fit to take the manage- 
 ment of affairs into their own hands. Tiie 
 army of the state was disbanded, and a 
 " legion" formed, with two European officers 
 as commanding officer and adjutant. It 
 appears that the British authorities never 
 seriously contemplated surrendering the 
 sceptre to the heir whom they had acknow- 
 ledged ; but any difficulty on this score 
 was removed by his death. "The infant 
 chief did not live to the period wlien the 
 propriety of committing the administration 
 of the country to his charge could become, 
 a subject of discussion."t In 1840, Jaloun 
 was declared to have " lapsed, as a matter 
 of course, to the East ludia Company as 
 paramount lord;"§ the feehngs of the 
 jjopulation at the extincliou of their small 
 remains of nationality being quite disre- 
 garded. As soon aa the news of the revolt 
 at Jhansi reached Jaloun, the example was 
 followed ; and the towns of Jaloun, Calpee, 
 and Oorai, rose against the Europeans — not, 
 however, imitating the ruthless extermina- 
 tion perpetrated at Jhansi, but quietly 
 expelling the obnoxious rulers. 
 
 At the end of May, 1857, there were in 
 Oorai two companies of the 53rd N.I., under 
 Captain Alexander: these were to be reheved, 
 in due course, by two companies of the 56th 
 N.I., which left Cawnpoor for the purpose 
 on the 2nd of June. The deputy-commis- 
 sioner of Jaloun, Lieutenant G. Browne, had 
 previously received a private letter from 
 Cawnpoor, warning him that the loyalty of 
 the 56th was considered doubtful, and that 
 the men ought not to be trusted with the 
 care of the treasury if it could possibly be 
 avoided. He immediately addressed a re- 
 monstrance to General Wheeler regarding 
 the dispatch of suspected troops to guard 
 a large treasury ; but, receiving no answer, 
 
 • Treaties with Native Powers, p. 40j. 
 
 t Note by J. P. Grant. — Vide Pari. Papers on 
 Jhansi, July 27tli, 1855. 
 
 X Thornton's Gazetteer : article " Jaloun." 
 
 § Ibid. 
 
 II Lieutenant Browne, writing from Jaloun, Sep- 
 tember 21st, 1857, says — "Lieutenant Tomkinson's 
 fate is unknown." — Further Pari. Papers (No. 7), 
 p. 154. Captain Thomson, writing in June, 1859, 
 states, on the authority of a Gwalior artilleryman 
 
 he sent oflF every rupee he could spare, 
 amounting to j652,000, to Gwalior on the 
 4th of June, under the escort of Lieutenant 
 Tomkinsou and a company of the 53rd N.I. 
 The mission was faithfully performed, and 
 the money delivered over to a guard sent 
 from Gwalior to receive it. Lieutenant 
 Tomkinson, hearing of the mutiny at Cawn- 
 poor, wished to proceed to Gwalior with 
 his men ; but this the Gwalior authorities 
 would not permit. He commenced re- 
 tracing his steps ; his company became mu- 
 tinous, and demanded to be led to Cawn- 
 poor. This he, of course, would not con- 
 sent to ; and the sepoys then told him he 
 must not stay with them, as they could not 
 answer for his life. Lieutenant Tomkinson 
 rode off and left them. His fate was long 
 uncertain ; but his name does not appear 
 in the list of casualties in the Army List 
 or Gazelle; and he probably, like many 
 other fugitives supposed to be killed, was 
 found, when tranquillity was partially 
 restored, to be aliv£ in concealment. || 
 
 Ou the 6th of June, news of a partial 
 mutiny among the Jhansi troops reached 
 Oorai, and Lieutenant BrOTme sent to ask 
 assistance from Captain Cosserat, who was 
 in command of two companies of the grena- 
 dier regiment belonging to the Gwalior 
 contingent, stationed at Ory.i, in the Etawa 
 district. 
 
 Captain Cosserat arrived next morning by 
 meaus of forced marches. The men were 
 suflFering from heat and fatigue ; it was 
 therefore resolved that they should rest 
 until the following evening, and then pro- 
 ceed to Jhansi, where the Europe.ins were 
 supposed to be still holding out with a por- 
 tion of the Native troops. On the 8th of 
 June, a force arrived from the Sumpter 
 rajah, to whom Lieutenant Browne states 
 that he had written (in his own words), 
 " to send me in all his guns, some infantry 
 and cavalry, to go with me to the relief of 
 Jhansi."t 
 
 Sumpter, — is a small native state in Bun- 
 delcund, placed under British protection by a 
 treaty made in 1817. It is 175 square miles 
 
 who had been taken prisoner, that Lieutenant Tom- 
 kinson, when his men mutinied, " put spurs to his 
 horse and rode as far as Jaloun, where he was kept 
 in safety by a Thakoor, from June to November." 
 In the latter month he was seized and put to death 
 by the mutinous Gwalior contingent. — Story of 
 Cawnpoor, p. 119. 
 
 ^ Despatch fx-om deputy-commissioner of Jaloun, 
 September 21st, 1857. — Pari. Papers relative to 
 the Mutinies, 1858 (No. 7), p. 151.
 
 MUTINY AT OORAI AND CALPEE— JUNE 10th and 12th, 1857. 319 
 
 iu extent, with a population of 28,000. The 
 entire revenue, in 1837, was estimated at 
 j645,000 ; and its ruler cannot, therefore, 
 have been supposed to maintain a very large 
 force ; nevertheless he obeyed the commis- 
 sioner's bidding, by at once placing a field 
 gun, 150 infantry, and sixty or seventy horse, 
 at his disposal. On the afternoon of the 
 8th, Captain Cosserat started for Jhansi, 
 with his own and the Sumpter troops, leav- 
 ing Lieutenant Browne to follow at night. 
 It was not deemed safe either to take the 
 53rd men to Jhansi, or to leave them at 
 Oorai; and Captain Alexander offered to 
 lead them to Calpee, where the deputy-col- 
 lector, Sheo Pershaud, was striving, with 
 very inelBcient means, to keep down insur- 
 rection. Captain Alexander had not left 
 the Oorai gate before the 53rd threw off 
 their allegiance, but did not offer to harm 
 the Europeans or plunder the treasury. The 
 official account* is not explicit; but it appears 
 that the men escorted Captain Alexander 
 and his wife to Calpee, and then marched 
 off to join the mutineers at Cawnpoor, and 
 assist in blockading the wretched mud wall, 
 inside which the mother and sisters of Mrs. 
 Alexander (Mrs. Browne atid her daughters) 
 were cooped up with their fellow-sufferers. 
 Captain and Mrs. Alexander remained at 
 Caipec until the 13th, and rejoined Captain 
 Cosserat's party on the loth. They had 
 some difficulty in effecting their escape ; for 
 the fort guard, and the whole of the police 
 at Calpee, mutinied on the 12th. Sheo 
 Pershaud held his ground some days longer. 
 Writing to Lieutenant B.owne, he declares 
 — " Under your instructions, I had kept 
 my post till the danger pressed very hard. 
 On the night of the 18th of June, when I 
 heard that the jaghiredar and the mutinous 
 troops would arrive early in the morning, I 
 was obliged to leave Calpee, leaving all my 
 property, which, I am sorry to say, has all 
 been ])lundered ; my tables, chairs, almyrahs 
 {?), and all English furniture, were broken 
 to pieces ; my buggy and palkee gharry 
 taken away ; my valuable library, which you 
 had seen, was destroyed ; in fact, nothing 
 was left beyond a suit of clothes, with which 
 
 • Mowbray Thomson says, the Native officers 
 declared that they had assumed the entire com- 
 mand ; but it was not their intention to injure their 
 old friends. " They provided Alexander and hia 
 wife with a camel, and advised them to make their 
 way to Agra, which they did." — Story of Cuwnpoor. 
 Captain 'Ihomson, as an officer of the 53rd, would 
 be interested in acquiring accurate information re- 
 
 I escaped. The chief, the sepoys, the towns- 
 people, and my own police, plundered me, 
 and did all the mischief they could ; the 
 rebels had offered a reward of 500 rupees 
 for my apprehension, but the Great God 
 saved me."t 
 
 The jaghiredar mentioned by Sheo Per- 
 shaud, is styled by Lieutenant Browne, the 
 chief of Goorserai — a town between Hu- 
 raeerpoor and Jhansi. The news of the 
 massacre at the latter place did not reach 
 Oorai until after the departure of Captain 
 Cosserat ; and an express was immediately 
 sent off to request that officer to return 
 forthwith ; but this he could not do, having 
 in the interim received peremptory orders 
 to proceed to Etawa. Lieutenant Browne 
 resolved on quitting Oorai. He therefore 
 wrote to the Goorserai chief (who held high 
 testimonials from various civil and military 
 officers), to come over to Oorai, and assist 
 in keeping order there, and also in Calpee, 
 Koonch, and other places in the Jaloun 
 district and neighbourhood, till British re- 
 inforcements should arrive. Authority for 
 this purpose was delegated in a paper dic- 
 tated by Browne to a native official; but 
 the clerk is said to have wilfully misrepre- 
 sented the extent of power to be conveyed ; 
 and the deputy-commissioner, being igno- 
 rant of the language, signed a letter consti- 
 tuting the Goorserai chief ruler of the 
 Jaloun district. On discovering the trick 
 or error. Lieutenant Browne at once re- 
 pudiated the sanction he had unwittingly 
 given, but had no means of coercing the 
 chief, t All the police and custom-house 
 chuprassees had risen on hearing of the 
 Jhansi massacre ; and Lieutenants Browne 
 and Lamb quitted Oorai on the 10th of 
 June, intending to proceed to Gwalior. On 
 the way they received news of the mutiny 
 at that place, and turned their steps towards 
 Etawa ; but, before arriving there, tidings 
 met them of the mutiny of the grenadiers, 
 and the abandonment of the station by 
 the Europeans. They therefore started off 
 towards Agra, where they arrived in safety 
 on the 20th, overtaking the Etawa fugi- 
 tives, together with an equestrian company 
 
 garding the mutiny of the different companies, and 
 the fate of their officers. His account of the Oorai out- 
 break resembles that of the deputy-commissioner's in 
 its general features, but differs widely in particulars. 
 
 t Letter from Moonshee Sheo Pershaud, August 
 26th, 1857.— Pari. Papers (No. 7), p. 151. 
 
 I Letter from deputy-commissioner Browne. — 
 Ibid., p. 165.
 
 320 
 
 THE NAWABS OP FURRUCKABAD. 
 
 belonging to a Monsieur Jourdain, and 
 other stragglers. 
 
 On the 14th, a body of mutineers from 
 Jhansi came over to pillage Oorai, and mur- 
 dered two Europeans who fell into their 
 hands — Mr. Hemming, an assistant-sur- 
 geon ; and Mr. Double, Lieutenant Browne's 
 clerk. The former is said to have been 
 trying to escape in native clothes, and was 
 killed by a sepoy of the 12th N.I., while 
 drinking at a well near the cutcherry. 
 Messrs. Passano and GriflBths, deputy-col- 
 lectors, fell into the hands of the rebels, 
 but saved their lives by becoming Moham- 
 medans ; after which, they were allowed to 
 
 depart. A female relative of Passano's 
 (either his mother or sister) was killed ; but 
 whether she nobly cliose martyrdom rather 
 than apostasy, or, like the majority of the 
 victims, had no alternative offered, is not 
 stated.* 
 
 Mrs. Hemming and her family appear 
 to have escaped to Calpee, from which 
 place they were sent on to Cawnpoor, after 
 its recapture by the English, escorted by 500 
 of the Sumpter troops. The rajah was 
 himself faithful to us; and his troops being 
 a feudal militia, not a subsidiary force, 
 were under his control, and proved per- 
 fectly trustworthy. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FUTTEHQHUR AND FURRUCKABAD.— MAY AND JUNE, 1857. 
 
 FuTTEHGHUR is a military station on the 
 Ganges, in the Furruckabad district; three 
 miles from the city from which the district 
 takes its name. Mohammed Khan Ban- 
 gash, a Patan noble, founded this city, 
 which he named in honour of the reigning 
 emperor, Feroksheer. Ferok, or Faruck, 
 signifies happy; and abad, town. "The 
 happy" was an epithet not in any sense 
 applicable to the ill-fated patron of Mr. 
 Hamilton and the E. I. Company ;t but the 
 towu merited the appellation, being hand- 
 some, healthy, and cleanly; well supplied 
 with provisions by reason of its position in 
 the midst of a fertile and well-cultivated 
 country, and possessing great commercial 
 advantages from its situation within two or 
 three miles of the Ganges, which is navigable 
 thence upwards for 200 miles, and down- 
 wards to the sea. Its nawabs are accused 
 of having thought more of war than trade ; 
 yet Furruckabad became the emporium, for 
 this part of India, of all commodities from 
 Delhi, Cashmere, Bengal, and Surat;J and 
 as late as 1824, it had a mint, and the 
 Furruckabad rupees circulated extensively 
 through the North- West Provinces. 
 
 • Letters from commissioner of Saugor ; deputy- 
 commissioner of Jaloun ; and Sheo Perehaud. — Fur- 
 ther Pari. Papers (No. 7), pp. 150—156. 
 
 t See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 239. 
 
 X'^^^Sen\.\\a\e):'sBeschreibungionSinduitan.\o\.\.. 
 
 In 1802, according to Mr. Thornton, 
 " the Company assumed actual possession of 
 Furruckabad, liquidating the claims of the 
 tributary Patan nawab by a fixed monthly 
 stipend of 9,000 rupees; in addition to 
 which, an annual sum of nearly 180,000 
 rupees was bestowed, in pensions and chari- 
 table allowances to his dependents." The 
 fact was, that under the Wellesley adminis- 
 tration, native princes were so liberally 
 provided for, and so courteously treated, 
 that neither they nor their dependents felt 
 the sting of poverty, much less the deep 
 humiliation which has been their lot since 
 the new system of annexation came into 
 fashion, with its curt official notifications, 
 its confiscation of personal property, and 
 its exposure to sale of " the dresses and 
 wardrobes" of disinherited princesses, "like 
 a bankrupt's stock in the haberdashers' 
 shops of Calcutta — a thing likely to incense 
 and horrify the people of India who wit- 
 nessed it."§ Under the old system, the 
 nawabs of Furruckabad (although Patan 
 turbulence was proverbial) seem to have 
 submitted quietly to their foreign rulers, 
 and to have found consolation for the loss of 
 
 p. 139. Quoted in Thornton's Gazetteer: article, 
 •' Furruckabad." 
 
 § Speech of Mr. Bright — House of Commons' 
 debate on second reading of the India Bill, June 
 2-1 th, 185S.
 
 BLUE BOOKS ON INDIA. 
 
 331 
 
 power ill the enjoyment of titular rank and 
 great wealth. Of tlieir recent proceedings 
 little is on record, the Supreme government 
 having become profoundly indifFereut to 
 the character and condition of dependent 
 princes, unless, as in the case of Oude, their 
 shortcomings could bo construed as afford- 
 ing a reason for the .ippropriation of their 
 kingdoms. A native prince might be, if it 
 pleased Providence to work a miracle in his 
 behalf, a paragon of sense and discretion; 
 or he might be, as there was every reason to 
 expect, a besotted sensualist. In the latter 
 case, it was usually deemed expedient to 
 reduce him, with his family and dependents, 
 to obscure poverty : in the former, virtue was 
 'eft to 1)0 its own reward ; for the ancient 
 policy, of " India for the E. I. Company," 
 like the modern graft of " India for the 
 English oligarchy," was one which rendered 
 natives of rank liable to many degrees of 
 punishment, but debarred them from all 
 hope of honours or rewards, civil or militaV}'. 
 When the mutiny broke out, the position of 
 the nawab of Furruckabad was, to the Euro- 
 peans at Euttehghur, somewhat like that of 
 Nana Sahib, of Bithoor, to the unfortunate 
 people at Cawnpoor. It does not, however, 
 seem that the nawab was viewed as a person 
 likely to become of importance, either as a 
 friend or an enemy. Of his proceedings 
 prior to, and during the meeting at Futteh- 
 ghur, we know very little : indeed, the only 
 circumstantial account published by govern- 
 ment regarding the events at that station, 
 is given in the form of an anonymous and 
 rather lengthy paper drawn up by one of 
 the surviving Europeans. The writer, from 
 internal evidence, must have been Mr. Jones, 
 the younger of two brothers, engaged as 
 planters and merchants. His interesting 
 narrative, after being widely circulated 
 by the London and Indian journals, was 
 published in a Blue Book for 1857; and 
 republished in another Blue Book for 1858, 
 with a little variety in the form of type, 
 and ill the names of persons and places. 
 The latter circumstance will not surprise 
 any one accustomed to examine parliamen- 
 tary papers ; for, whereas editors and com- 
 pilers in general, endeavour to attain, even 
 on Indian subjects, some degree of unifor- 
 mity and correctness ; our public docu- 
 ments, instead of being an, authority 
 on these points, abound in glaring blunders. 
 Were the Indian Bine Books to be indexed, 
 the process, besides its direct advantages, 
 would probably induce some improvement 
 
 VOL. II. 2 T 
 
 in the arrangement of their contents. If 
 important papers must needs be withheld 
 or garbled, at least unimportant ones, 
 and duplicates, might be weeded out, and 
 the public spared the expense of needless 
 repetition. The nation is greatly indebted 
 to private individuals, for the frank fearless- 
 ness with which they liavc published the 
 letters of their relatives and friends. Witli- 
 out this aid, the chronicles of the mutiny 
 would have been wearisome and ])ainful in 
 the extreme ; with it, they arc deeply inter- 
 esting and full of variety. Besides, these 
 private letters bear astamp of authority which 
 cannot be conceded to anonymous composi- 
 tions. They are not such; for though un- 
 signed, there arc few of any importance 
 which cannot, with a little care and the aid 
 of the East India Directonj, be traced to 
 their true source. Perhaps some apology 
 is due for the manner in which the names, 
 both of the writers and the persons alluded 
 to, have been sought for and applied, instead 
 of Ijeing left in blank, as in the newspapers. 
 But this identification seems to the author 
 indispensable to a correct appreciation of 
 the evidence thus afforded. It is not enough 
 that he should understand the position of 
 the witness : it appears to him needful 
 that the reader should possess a similar 
 advantage, and be able to make due allow- 
 ance for the bias of the commander of 
 European or of Native troops ; the cove- 
 nanted or uncovenanted civilian; the planter 
 or the railway employe ; and for that of the 
 wives and daughters of these various per- 
 sons ; for, in many instances, a lady's pen, as 
 at Mcerut, has given the first and best 
 account of an eventful epoch. 
 
 To return to Futtchghur. The troops 
 stationed there consisted of — 
 
 The lOlh 'N-l.—Enrnpeatis, 16; Kativcs, 1,1 f;9. 
 Detail of Native Artillery — no Europeans ; Na- 
 tives, 28. 
 
 There were, therefore, sixteen European 
 officers to 1,197 Natives. 
 
 The news of the Meerut mutiny arrived 
 on the 16th of May; and from that time 
 alarm and excitement prevailed. The 
 wife of Lieutenant Monckton, of the 
 Bengal engineers, wrote to England, on 
 that day, a letter intended to prepare 
 her friends for the worst, and which could 
 hardly fail to reconcile them to the myste- 
 rious dispensation of Providence, in ordain- 
 ing the perfection, through suffering, of 
 one already so exemplary. Anticipating
 
 322 
 
 PUTTEHGHUR BEFORE THE MUTINY. 
 
 culmly (like Mrs. Ewart of Cawnpoor) the 
 speedy and violent death whieh awjvited 
 lier, her husband and child, Mrs. Monckton 
 writes — 
 
 "We cannot say, 'Pray for us.' Ere you get 
 this, we shall bo delivereil one way or another. 
 Should we be cut to pieces, you have, my precious 
 parents, the knowledge that we go to Jesus, and can 
 picture us happier and holier than in this distant 
 land ; thercfori,-, why should you grieve for us ? 
 You know not what may befall us here ; but there 
 you know all is joy and peace, and we shall not be 
 lost, but be gone before you ; and should our lives 
 be spared, I trust we may live more as the children 
 of the Most High, and think less about hedging 
 ourselves in with the comforts which may vanish in 
 a moment. • • • Good-bye, my own dear 
 parents, sisters, and friends. The Lord reigns ! He 
 sitteth above the water-flood. We are in the hollow 
 of His hand, and nothing can harm us. The body 
 may become a prey, but the souls that He has re- 
 deemed never can." 
 
 A few days later, she desciibes the terror 
 excited by the report of the breaking open 
 of another gaol besides that of Meerut, and 
 tlie enlargement of many murderers. 
 
 " We went to church ; very few people were there, 
 and fear seemed written on every face — it was most 
 noticeable ; everybody felt that death was staring 
 them in the face, and every countenance was pale. 
 Mr. Fisher [the Company's chaplain] preached on 
 the text, ' AVhat time I am afraid, I will trust in 
 thee. * * * We are quite prepared for the 
 worst; and feel that to depart and be with Christ, 
 is far better. The flesh a little revolts from 
 cold-blooded assassination ; but God can make it 
 bear up." 
 
 On the 1st of June, she wrote home 
 some last words, which well deserve a place 
 in the history of a great national epoch, as 
 illustrating the spirit of grateful, loving 
 trust in which our Christian country- 
 women awaited death, even though the in- 
 ventions and gross exaggerations current 
 at the time, must have led them to antici- 
 pate that their passage through "the dark 
 valley" would be attended by every pos- 
 sible aggravation which could render it 
 terrible to feminine purity, as well as to 
 the tendevest feelings of a wife and a 
 mother. 
 
 " I often wish our dear Mary was now in Eng- 
 land; but God can take care of her too, or He will 
 save her from troubles to come by removing her to 
 
 • Edwards' Jiebelliuti in Rohikund, Fitttehghur, 
 and Oude, p. 67. 
 
 t Sherer's Indian Jtchellion, p. 138. 
 
 t The American Hoard of Missions had a very 
 important station at Futtehghur. The self-sup- 
 porting Orphan Asylum, established at the time of 
 the famine in 1837, had a tent and carpet factory, 
 and also a weaving department, in Avhich cloth was 
 
 Himself. * * * I am so thankful I came out to 
 India, to be a comfort to my beloved John, and a 
 companion to one who has so given his heart to the 
 Lord." 
 
 On the 3rd of June, information was 
 received that the Native troops at Shahje- 
 hanpoor and Eareilly had mutinied, and 
 that a body of the Oude mutineers, consist- 
 ing of an infantry and cavalry corps, were 
 marching to Futtehghur. Mr. Probyn, the 
 collector, states, that Colonel Smith and the 
 officers had disregarded his advice to provi- 
 sion the fort, and garrison it with pensioners, 
 and others to be depended on.* Ishuree 
 Dass, a native preacher, connected with the 
 American Mission, likewise remarks, that 
 it was believed, that " had the majority of 
 the old Native officers, who retired on pen- 
 sion only a few weeks before, been there, 
 half the regiment at least would have gone 
 into the fort with the Europeans. The 
 recruits were the ones who were constantly 
 on, the point of breaking out, and were only 
 kept down by the elder sepoys. So sure 
 was the commanding officer of the fidelity 
 of these men, that only two or three days 
 before the regiment mutinied, he told us 
 there was no occasion for fear, and that wc 
 might make our minds at ease."t This is 
 quite contrary to the testimony of ]SIr. 
 Jones, who asserts, that "the 10th were 
 known to be mutinously disposed ; for they 
 had given out, that as soon as another corps 
 arrived, they would rise and murder all the 
 Europeans, only sparing their own officers." 
 Mrs. Freeman, the wife of one of the four 
 missionaries stationed by the zealous and 
 munificent American Presbyterians at Fut- 
 tehghur,f writes home, that " no one placed 
 the least confidence in the 10th ; for the 
 men had told Colonel Smith that they 
 would not fight against their ' bhai logue^ 
 (brethren) if they came, but they would 
 not turn against their own officers." This 
 lady adds — " Some of our catechists were 
 once Mussulmans; and whenever they 
 have gone to the city for the last two or 
 three weeks, they have been treated with 
 taunting and insolence. The native Chris- 
 tians think, that should they, the insurgents, 
 come here, and our regiment join them, 
 
 woven in European looms. A church had been 
 erected in 1856, at the cost of £1,000. The Mis- 
 sion high-school had 250 pupils; there were also 
 two orphan schools (for boys and girls), and seven 
 bazaar schools, in connection with the Mission. Ten 
 village schools, supported by Dhuleep Sing, were 
 likewise under the management of the mis- 
 sionaries.
 
 FLIGHT OF EUROPEANS FROM FUTTEHGHUR— JUNE 4th, 1857. 323 
 
 our little churcb and ourselves will be the 
 first attacked ; but we are in God's hand, 
 and we know that He reigns. * * * Pie 
 may suffer our bodies to be slain ; and if He 
 does, we know He has wise reasons for it. 
 I sometimes think our deaths would do 
 more good than we would do in all our 
 lives ; if so, His will be done."* 
 
 On the night of the 4th of June, the 
 whole of the European population, except- 
 ing the officers of the 10th, with the women 
 and children (in all, 166 persons), resolved 
 on leaving Futtehghur. By land they were 
 surrounded by mutinous stations ; but the 
 Ganges was still open, and they hoped to 
 escape to Cawnpoor. They started in boats 
 at 1 A.M., and were unmolested during that 
 day and the following night. The next 
 morning they were joined by four officers 
 of the 10th, who reported that the regiment 
 had mutinied, seized the treasure, abused 
 the colonel, and fired on one or two of their 
 officers ; and that there was little chance of 
 any of those who had remained behind 
 having escaped. t 
 
 This intelligence was untrue. The fact 
 was. that an attempt had been made by the 
 convicts to break out of the gaol : some of 
 them had succeeded, had fired a portion of 
 the station, and advanced towards the 
 cantonment. The four officers, hearing 
 the tumult, and trusting to report for the 
 cause, fled by the river. Had they re- 
 mained, they would have seen their own 
 men turning out willingly, and beating 
 back the newly escaped criminals, killing 
 several, and securing the others. J Soon after 
 being joined by the officers, the fugitives 
 were fired on by some villagers, and one of 
 the party was slightly wounded. The next 
 day they were told that a body of Oude 
 mutineers was crossing one of the ghauts, 
 a few miles below. The mau at the ferry 
 denied this. A consultation was held as to 
 
 • Sherer's Indian Jiebellion, p. 128. 
 
 t Statement of Mr. Jones. — Further Pari. Papers 
 on Mutiny, 1858 (No. 7), p. 138. 
 
 X Mutiny of the Bengal Army ; by One who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier; p. 155. This 
 writer speaks of three officers having fled from Fut- 
 tehghur, deceived by a false report. Jones says 
 there were four ; but the names of the officers are 
 not given by either authority. 
 
 § See p. 216. 
 
 II There would appear to have been two officers 
 of the name of Vibart in the 2nd Cavalry. The 
 JSast India Reyitter, and the London Gazette 
 (p. 2216), state that Captain and Brevet-major 
 Edward Vibart was killed at Cawnpoor on the 
 27th of June ; but, at another page (2235), the 
 
 what should be done; and, as the party was 
 very large, it was agreed that it would be 
 safer to separate. Hurdeo Buksh, an old 
 Rajpoot zemindar of influence and remark- 
 able intelligence, had previously offered to 
 receive and protect Mr. Probyn (the col- 
 lector), and any of his friends, in his fort of 
 Dhurumpoor, about ten miles from Futteh- 
 ghur. Mr. Probyn, with his wife and chil- 
 dren ; two out of the four officers ; Mr. 
 Thornhill, the judge; Mr. Fisher, Mr. 
 Jones and his brother, and other Euro- 
 peans, with their wives and families, to the 
 number of forty, resolved on seeking shel- 
 ter with Hurdeo Buksh; the remaining 
 126 persons went on downwards towards 
 Cawnpoor, where they arrived on the 12th 
 of June. Their fate will be told on resum- 
 ing the narrative of events at that station. 
 
 Mr. Probyn and his companions proceeded 
 towards Dhurumpoor ; but learning, on the 
 way, that the 10th N.I., far from having 
 mutinied, had quelled a riot, the collector 
 and the two officers rode to Futtehghur, 
 leaving the rest of the party to finish the 
 journey to Dhurumpoor. 
 
 On the morning of the 9th of June, 
 the Budaon§ fugitives, Mr. Edwards, and 
 the Messrs. Donald, reached Furruckabad. 
 There they were told all was as yet quiet, 
 the regiment still standing; but that the 
 station had been deserted by the civilians, 
 with the exception of Probyn, who was still 
 at his post. Thither Edwards and his 
 companions proceeded, and found the col- 
 lector, who told them that he himself 
 placed no dependence on the 10th ; but 
 that Colonel Smith was \e.rj sanguine 
 regarding the fidelity of the regiment; 
 and Major Vibart|| (of the 2nd light 
 cavalry), who had commanded the party 
 employed in quelling the gaol outbreak, 
 was of the same opinion. Edwards and 
 his companions were most desirous of 
 
 Gazette gives Captain Vibart, 2nd Cavalry, as mur- 
 dered at Cawnpoor on the 15th of July. Mowbray 
 Thomson assert'?, that Major Vibart was the last 
 officer in the Cawnpoor intrenchment ; and that 
 some of the 2nd Cavalry mutineers " insisted on 
 carrying out the property which belonged to him. 
 They loaded a bullock-cart with boxes, and escorted 
 the major's wife and family down to the boats with 
 the most profuse demorstrations of respect." — Story 
 of Cawnpoor, p. 165. Mr. Edwards speaks of Major 
 Vibart, of the 2nd Cavalry, as having called upon him 
 at Futtehghur on the 9th of June ; adding, that this 
 officer, " when on his way to join his own regiment at 
 Cawnpoor, had volunteered to remain with Colonel 
 Smith, who gladly availed himself of the offer." Jones 
 names Capt. Vibart as one of the Futtehghur garrison.
 
 324 
 
 MUTINY AT PUTTEHGHUR-JUNE 18th, 1857. 
 
 proceeding down to Cawnpoor by boat ; but 
 the news of the mutiny at that station, 
 reached them just in time to save them 
 from flinging themselves into the power of 
 Nana Sahib and Azim Oollah. On the 10th 
 of June they crossed the Ganges with Mr. 
 Probyn, and joined the refugees at Dhu- 
 rurapoor. All these persons, including the 
 judge, were extremely dissatisfied with their 
 position. The crowded fort was scarcely 
 tolerable during the intense heat; and the 
 defences were so dilapidated, as to render it 
 hopeless to expect to hold them against any 
 organised attack of the mutineers. The 
 conduct of the 10th N.I., in the matter of 
 the gaol outbreak, determined the Europeans 
 on returning in a body to Futtehghur, not- 
 withstanding the remonstrances of Mr. 
 Probyn, who, with his wife and four chil- 
 dren, resolved upon remaining under the 
 protection of Hurdeo Buksh — a decision 
 which the party leaving considered one of 
 extreme foolhardiness. Edwards hesitated, 
 but eventually resolved on remaining at 
 Dhurumpoor. 
 
 For some days after the return of 
 the Europeans to Futtehghur, all went 
 well. The 10th N.I. gave a fresh instance 
 of fidelity by handing to Colonel Smith a 
 letter written by the subahdar of the 41st 
 N.I., announcing the march of that muti- 
 nous corps from Seetapoor, to a position 
 a few miles on the opposite side of the 
 river, and requesting the 10th N.I. to rise, 
 murder their officers, and seize the treasure. 
 The answer asserted to have been given 
 was, that the 10th had resolved on being 
 true to their salt, and would certainly op- 
 pose the mutineers if they persisted in 
 advancing. The 10th cheerfully obeyed 
 their officers in breaking up the bridge of 
 boats, and sinking all other boats at the 
 different ghauts, to prevent the mutineers 
 from crossing to Futtehghur.* They suc- 
 ceeded, nevertheless, in eflfecting a passage 
 at dawn of day on the 18th of June, and 
 entered the city walls unopposed. A com- 
 pany of the lOth, and the artillerymen 
 with the two guns, stationed on the parade 
 guarding the treasure, are said to have 
 marched to the nawab, placed him on the 
 "gadi" (cushion of sovereignty), laid the 
 colours at his feet, aud fired a royal salute 
 of twenty-one guns.t Their next pro- 
 ceedings are not known. It is uncertain 
 
 * Account by Mr. Jones. — Pafl. Tapers (No. 7), 
 1>. 138. 
 
 1 /tW., p. 130. Xlbid. 
 
 what reply the nawab made them ; but ap- 
 parently not a satisfoctory one; for the 
 sepoys returned to the parade-ground, sa- 
 luted their colours, shared the treasure 
 among themselves, divided into two parties, 
 and left Futtehghur, after breaking open the 
 gaol, and releasing the prisoners. All this 
 time the Europeans remained unmolested in 
 the fort, where they always slept from the 
 first period of alarm. The few sepoys on 
 guard there, remained obedient to orders 
 until the seizure of the treasure, and then 
 departed quietly, one or two returning at 
 intervals to fetch their lotahs and other 
 articles left behind in the fort. A European 
 officer quitted Futtehghur with the muti- 
 neers, trusting to them for safe-conduct to 
 some distant station : at least this seems the 
 meaning of the statement made by Mr. Jones, 
 and published by government without ex- 
 planation or comment. After mentioning 
 the breaking-up of the regiment, he adds, 
 that " the Poorbealis crossed over at once 
 to Oude, with intention to make for their 
 homes, accompanied by Captain Bigncll. 
 We afterwards learnt that this body had 
 been plundered by the villagers, Jiud Cap- 
 tain Bignell killed : others went ofl" l)y twos 
 and threes to their homes ; and those who 
 remained were killed by the 41st, because 
 they were not allowed a share in the public 
 money. Thus this regiment was com- 
 pletely disorganised and destroyed.":}: 
 
 The Europeans knew not how to .act : some 
 suggested entering the boats; but the river 
 was very low; an.l it was decided to hold 
 the fort, and prepare for attack. They 
 numbered, m all, upwards of a hundred ; 
 but of these only thirty-three were able- 
 bodied men. A O-pouuder, loaded with 
 grape, was mounted over the gateway; aud, 
 in the course of the next few day-, they suc- 
 ceeded in bringing six more guns into posi- 
 tion. The godowus were searched for ammu- 
 nition for the guns and muskets, and a few 
 (muster) round shot and shells were found, 
 together with six boxes of ball cartridge, 
 and an equal quantity of blank. The latter 
 was broken up and used for the guns ; while 
 nuts, screws, hammer-heads, and such like, 
 were collected, to serve as grape and round. 
 The ladies, women and children, were placed 
 in the house of Major Robertson (the head 
 of the gun-carriage agency), iuside the 
 walls, where they were coi"Daratively safe. 
 On the 28th of June, the 41st N.I. opened 
 two guns on tiie fort; and, taking up a 
 position behind trees, bushes, and any cover
 
 MASSACRE AT SINGHEE RAMPORE— JULY 4th, 1857. 
 
 32S 
 
 available, commenced a heavy fire of mus- 
 ketry. 
 
 For four days the enemy's guns and 
 muskets played on in this manner, doing 
 little direct injury to the defences or per- 
 sons of the besieged, but exhausting their 
 strength and ammunition. Colonel Smitli, 
 who was an unerring marksman, killed 
 ntirabers of the mutineers, with a pea 
 rifle, from his post on the wall, which he 
 never left. Major Vibart was described 
 as being the real commandant of the fort, 
 going about, amid the thickest of the fire, 
 directing and encouraging all.* On the 
 fifth day the assailants changed their mode 
 of attack : a company of riflemen posted 
 themselves on the tops of the houses in 
 an adjacent village ; and others found 
 shelter in a small outhouse, about seventy 
 or eighty yards from the fort. They loop- 
 holed the walls, and kept up a harassing 
 fire from them, which rendered the garrison 
 guns useless, as the men dared not lift 
 their heads to' fire. Mr. Jones (the elder) 
 was shot while covering Conductor Ahern 
 (the best gunner in the garrison) with his 
 rifle. Colonel Thomas Tudor Tucker (8th 
 light cavalry, then employed in the clothing 
 agency) was killed on the same spot a day 
 later; and Ahern himself was shot through 
 the head while laying a gun.f Mr. Thorn- 
 hili had been incapacitated for military 
 action from the beginning of the siege, 
 having been severely wounded in the hand 
 and arm by the discharge of his musket, in 
 the act of loading it. While the garrison 
 had been weakened by casualties and 
 fatigue, the rebel ranks had been strength- 
 ened by an influx of Patans from Mhow 
 and elsewhere. Among these was Mooltan 
 Khan, the preserver of Mr. Edwards in his 
 flight from Budaon.J The assailants suc- 
 ceeded in springing a mine, and consider- 
 ably injuring one of the bastions. Two 
 attempts were made to enter by the breach. 
 The second storming party was led by 
 Mooltan Khau. He was shot dead on the 
 top of the breach, by Mr. Fisher ; and his 
 followers fell back. The enemy commenced 
 another mine, and brought a gun to bear 
 upon the bungalow containing the women 
 and children. 
 
 The besieged felt further defence to be 
 hopeless. The river had risen considerably 
 
 • Edwards' Personal Adventures, p. 81. 
 
 t A native messenger, dispatched by Mr. Edwards 
 to Futtehghur, who succeeded in communicatinj; 
 with Mr. Thornhill, said that Mrs. Ahern had 
 
 by the rains, and they had three boats in 
 readiness. Therefore, about 2 a.m., July 
 4th, tliey evacuated the fort, having first 
 spiked the guns and destroyed their re- 
 maining ammunition. No sooner had tlicy 
 passed the walls than the sepoys caught 
 sight of them, and shouting that the Ferin- 
 ghees were running away, followed them 
 for about a mile along the banks, firing at 
 random and without eff"cct. The fugitives 
 had not proceeded far before they found 
 one of the boats too large and heavy for 
 their management. It was therefore aban- 
 doned, and the passengers distributed be- 
 tween the other two. The delay thus oc- 
 casioned enabled the sepoys to come up 
 with them; but they escaped again, and 
 proceeded as far as a place called Singhcc 
 Rampore. Here they were fired on by the 
 villagers : one boat, with Colonel Smith on 
 board, passed on safely; but the other 
 grounded on a sand-bank, and could not be 
 moved. About half-an-hour was spent in 
 fruitless efforts : at the expiration of that 
 time, two boats, apparently empty, were 
 seen coming down the stream. They 
 proved to be filled with sepoys, wlio opened 
 a heavy fire on the Europeans. Mr. 
 Churcher, senior, was shot through the 
 chest; Major Robertson, Mr. Fisher, and 
 Mr. Jones were wounded. The sepoys 
 came alongside, and strove to board the 
 stranded boat; some of them succeeded. 
 " Major Robertson, seeing no hope, begged 
 the ladies to come into the water, rather 
 than to fall into their hands." Mr. Jones 
 swam on after the other boat, giving a 
 parting look to his late companions. Lieu- 
 tenant Fitzgerald sat still in the boat — a 
 loaded musket, with the bayonet fixed, iu 
 his hand ; his wife and child by his side. 
 Mr. Churcher, senior, lay near them 
 weltering in his blood. The others had all 
 got into the water. Major and Mrs. 
 Robertson, with their child and Miss 
 Thompson, were standing close to each 
 other beside the boat ; Lieutenant Simpson 
 and Mr. Churcher, junior, .at a little dis- 
 tance ; Mr. Fisher, who had been shot 
 through the thigh, held his son (a beautiful 
 boy of eight or nine years old) in one arm, 
 atui with the other was striving to support 
 his wife, who could not stand against the 
 current, her dress acting like a sail and 
 
 avenged her husband's death, by killing many of 
 the mutineers with a riHe from the bastion where she 
 stood, until she was herself shot down. — Edwards' 
 Personal Adventures, p. 81. t See p. 21C.
 
 .32G rUTTEHGHUR FUGITIVES SHELTERED BY HURDEO BUKSH. 
 
 throwing her down. Major Pliillot, Ensign 
 Eckford, and a few others, Mr. Jones did 
 not see, but supposes tlicm to have been 
 killed. After about au hour's swimming 
 ho reached the other boat, which had 
 also been fired on, and Colonel Goldie's 
 youngest daughter, a Mr. Rohan, and a 
 native boatman, had been killed, and several 
 others wounded. The voyage was con- 
 tinued that night, without further moles- 
 tation. Early the next morning a Euro- 
 pean voice was heard from the shore, hailing 
 the boat. It was Mr. Fisher, who was 
 lifted on board, delirious with mental and 
 bodily suffering; raving about his wife 
 and child, Avho had been drowned in his 
 arms. In the evening the party reached 
 a village in the territories of Hurdeo 
 ]5uksh — opposite Koosoomkhorc, in Oude. 
 Tlie inhabitants came out, with offers of 
 assistance and protection. After some 
 hesitation, from fear of treachery, the 
 hungry and weary passengers came on 
 shore, and fed thankfully on the cbupattics 
 and buffaloes' milk brought them by the 
 herdsmen. A poor Brahmin took Jones 
 with liim to his home, and gave him food 
 and a charpoy, or native bed, to rest on. 
 In the -course of two or three hours, a 
 message came from Colonel Smith, saying 
 the boat was about to start. The wounded 
 man was, however, unequal to any further 
 exertion, and he persisted in staying with 
 the friendly thakoor native. The Europeans 
 were unwilling to leave their countryman 
 behind, and sent again and again to beg 
 him to join them. At last they started, and 
 nothing more was heard of the boat for 1 
 several days, till the manjee, or head man, 
 who took her down, returned, and gave out 
 that Nana Sahib had fired upon them at 
 Cawupoor, and all on board had perished. 
 
 The herdsmen, in their dread of the pro- 
 bable consequence of harbouring a Euro- 
 pean, hid the fugitive so closely, that Hurdeo 
 Buksli was himself many days in ignorance 
 of the fact that Jones was in his territory ; 
 but as soon as he became acquainted with 
 it, he took care to provide him with food 
 and clothing. In the meantime the poor 
 young man had suffered terribly from his 
 wound, which threatened to mortify. In 
 liis extremity, he thought of the parable of 
 Lazarus. A little puppy came frequently 
 to the shed when he was at his meals, to 
 pick up any crumbs that might fall: he 
 induced it to lick the wound night and 
 morning; the inflammation diminished im- 
 
 mediately, and the hurt was nearly healed 
 before the fugitive ventured forth to join his 
 countrymen.* He thought himself the sole 
 survivor from the boats ; but this was not 
 the case ; Major Roijertson, after having 
 had his wife washed out of his arms, swam 
 away with his boy on his shoulder. The 
 child appears to have perished, but the 
 fatiier found refuge in a village, about four 
 miles from that in which Jones lay hidden. 
 Mr. Churcher, junior, had likewise escaped, 
 and was concealed in an " aheer," or herds- 
 men's village, at a considerable distance 
 from the places in which his countrymen 
 were. Mrs. Jones (the widow of the gen- 
 tleman killed during the siege) and her 
 daughter, Mrs. Fitzgerald, and a single 
 lady, whose name is not given, had been 
 taken from the boat, and given over to the 
 nawab, who held them in captivity. None 
 of the Europeans sheltered by fiieudly 
 natives, were permitted to see, or commu- 
 nicate with, each other, except the Probyn 
 family and ^Ir. Edwards, who refused to 
 separate, even though urged to do so, as ;■ 
 means of increasing their small chance of 
 escape. The record of their adventures 
 affords much insight into the condition 
 of Oude and the feeling of the people. 
 The loyalty of Hurdeo Buksh was greatly 
 strengthened by his personal attachment 
 to Probyn, who, he .said, had invariably 
 treated him as a gentleman. Of Mr. 
 Christian (of Seetapoor), he also spoke in 
 terms, of respect; but the ill-paid, ifEedy, 
 grasping "omlahs," who were introduced in 
 such shoals in Oude immediately after the 
 annexation, had proved the curse of the 
 country, and, in his plain-spoken phrase, 
 had made the British rule " to stink in the 
 nostrils of the people." The person of tlie 
 chief accorded well with the manly inde- 
 pendence of his character. Mr. Russell 
 has since described him as a very tall, well- 
 built man, about thirty years of age ; stand- 
 ing upwards of six feet high, with square 
 broad shoulders ; regular features, very re- 
 soli'.te in their expression ; and dignified 
 and graceful manners. 
 
 A body of the 10th N.I., 250 in number, 
 actually crossed the Ganges during the 
 time their comrades were besieging the 
 Futtehghur fort; and it was said that a 
 large number of mutineers would follow, to 
 attack Dhurumpoor, put the Europeans to 
 death, and seize some lacs of government 
 treasure, which, according to a false, but 
 • Edwards' Personal Adventures, p. 138.
 
 HIDDEN ORDNANCE OP OUDE TALOOKDARS— JULY, 1857. 327 
 
 very generally believed report, had been 
 placed there for safety. The defensive 
 Ijreparation made by Hurdeo Bulssh, initi- 
 ated his guests into some of the secrets of 
 Rajpoot diplomacy. While sitting in an 
 inner room, anxious to avoid notice (their 
 unpopularity being at its height, as they were 
 viewed as the cause of the expected attack), 
 they heard a knocking and digging at one 
 of the outer walls in their immediate vicinity, 
 which continued for many hours. The 
 noise suddenly ceased ; and when suffered 
 to leave their chamber in the evening, they 
 were surprised to see that a fine 18-pounder 
 gun had been dug from tlie place where 
 it had lain concealed since the proclamation 
 issued in the preceding year by the Luck- 
 now authorities, requiring the talookdars of 
 Oude to surrender all their ordnance. A 
 24-pounder was simultaneously produced 
 from a field ; and the wheels and other por- 
 tions of the carriages were fished up from 
 Avells. Four other guns, of different sizes, 
 were brought in from the chief villages 
 in the neighbou-hood; and all six were 
 mounted and in position in the courtyard, 
 ready for service, by nightfall. It was said 
 that more could be produced if need were. 
 Messengers were dispatched in aU haste, 
 in different directions, to summon the chief's 
 adherents ; and in an incredibly short space 
 of time, nearly 1,000 people, all armed with 
 some weapon or another, had assembled at 
 the fort, for its defence. Hurdeo Buksh 
 now told the Europeans that they must 
 leave him and proceed to a small village 
 across the Ramgunga, three miles off, where 
 some connections of his own would receive 
 and conceal them. Then, if the mutineers 
 really came, they might be shown the inte- 
 rior of the fort, in proof that there were no 
 Europeans there. Edwards, in reply, went 
 up to him, and seizing his right hand, said 
 they would go, if he would pledge his 
 honour as a Rajpoot for their safety. He 
 did so heartily ; saying, " My blood shall be 
 shed before a hair of your heads is touched. 
 After I am gone, of course ray power is at 
 an end; I can help you no longer." In 
 well-founded reliance on this assurance, 
 the party started. A few weeks before, no 
 European official went on a journey without 
 a numerous body-guard of attendant natives 
 to precede and follow him. Now, fortunate 
 indeed were those whose gentleness in 
 prosperity had attached to them so much 
 as one tried follower in adversity. Towards 
 midnight, the fugitives quitted Dhurum- 
 
 poor, Probyn carrying three guns and 
 ammunition, his wife one child, his servant 
 another, Edwards the baby, and the faithful 
 Wuzeer Sing the fourth child, and a gun. 
 They reached the village of Kussowrah, and 
 were very civilly received by " the Thakoors," 
 who were uncles of Hurdeo Buksh, but of 
 inferior rank, as their mother had never 
 been married to their father. 
 
 The Thakoors had been great sufferers 
 from the revenue arrangements consequent 
 on annexation. One of them, named Kus- 
 suree, declared, that " he had paid a thou- 
 sand rupees in petitions alone, not one 
 of which ever reached Christian [the com- 
 missioner]; notwithstanding which, he had 
 lost the villages farmed by him and his 
 ancestors for many generations, and had 
 been assessed so highly for those he had 
 left, that he had only been able to pay 
 his rent the preceding year by the sale of 
 some of his family jewels, and a mare 
 he highly valued; and this year, he said, lie 
 would no doubt have been a defaulter, and 
 been sold up, had not the rebellion fortu- 
 nately occurred."* 
 
 The hiding-place of the Europeans was 
 a cattle-pen. The first intelligence they 
 received was cheering. The sepoys who 
 had threatened Dhurumpoor, had turned off, 
 when within a short distance of that place, 
 towards Lucknow. They had with them ! 
 three lacs of treasure, which they had con- 
 trived to remove from Futtehghur without 
 the knowledge of their comrades, who were 
 deceived by their story that they were only 
 going to Dhurumpoor, and would return the 
 next day. Hurdeo's adherents desired to 
 attack and plunder this party; but he 
 wisely forbade them, because, as he subse- 
 quently told the Europeans, he "feared 
 tliat if once his people got the taste of 
 plunder, he would never after be able to 
 restrain them." The sepoys accordingly 
 passed through his estate without molesta- 
 tion ; but as soon as they crossed his border, 
 they were attacked by the villagers of the 
 next talooka, plundered, and destroyed. 
 Edwards, who makes this statement, throws 
 further light on the fate of Captain Bignell, 
 by remarking, that " they were accompa- 
 nied by an officer of the 10th N.I., whom 
 they had promised to convey safely into 
 Lucknow; and, on being attacked by the 
 villagers, they desired this officer to leave 
 them, as they said it was on his account 
 they were attacked. This he was forced to 
 • Edwards' Personal Adventures, p. 167,
 
 328 
 
 RUNJPOORA, THE PLACE OP AFFLICTION. 
 
 do; atid, after wandering about for some 
 time, as wc afterwards learned, he received 
 a sun-stroke while crossing a stream, and 
 was carried in a dying state into a village, 
 where he shortly after expired." The 
 wretchedness of the fugitives at Kussowrah 
 was increased by intense anxiety regarding 
 Futtehghur. While sitting, one afternoon, 
 listening to the firing, a note was brought 
 them from the judge (R.Thornhill), written 
 in haste and depression, describing the 
 worn-out state of the garrison, and imploring 
 Probyn to induce Hurdeo Buksh to go to 
 their' aid. The messenger who brought the 
 note had eluded the besiegers by dropping 
 from the wall of the fort into the Gauges, 
 and swimming across. The retainers of 
 the rajah, although willing to peril their 
 lives in defence of the refugees under the 
 protectioa of their chief, or in repelling any 
 attack oa Dhurumpoor, were determined 
 not to cross the Ganges, or provoke a 
 contest with the mutineers ; and the mes- 
 senger returned to Futtehghur with this sad 
 reply. At the same time,^ Probyn advised 
 Thornhill to endeavour to get the assis- 
 tance of a body of men in Furruckabad, 
 called " Sadhs"— a fighting class of reli- 
 gionists, who were supposed to be very 
 hostile to the sepoys. After the evacua- 
 tion of Futtehghur, the two subahdars 
 in command of the 41st, appear to have 
 made a mere puppet of the nawab of Fur- 
 ruckabad, and to have compelled him to 
 issue what orders they pleased. A message 
 was sent, in the name of the nawab, to 
 Hurdeo Buksh, informing him that the 
 English rule was at an eud, and demanding 
 from him an advance of a lac of rupees, as 
 his contribution towards the expenses of the 
 new raj, or, in lieu of it, the heads of the 
 two collectors, Probyn and Edwards. Seve- 
 ral days elapsed, during which the fugitives 
 were kept in constant alarm, by rumours of 
 detachments being on the march to Kus- 
 sowrah, for their apprehension. At length 
 Hurdeo came to them by night; and, 
 though qui-te resolved on opposing to the 
 death any attempt which might be made 
 to seize them, he said he had been obliged 
 to treat with the nawab, in the hope of 
 gaining time ; as, so soon as the rains 
 sliould fall, the Ramgunga and Ganges 
 would rise in flood, and the whole country 
 be inundated, so that " Dhurumpoor and 
 Kussowrah would become islands sur- 
 ro\inded with water for miles; he might 
 then defy the sepoys, as it would be impos- 
 
 sible for them to bring guns agaiust him, 
 and they would not dare to move without 
 artillery." In the meantime his own posi- 
 tion was extremely critical, and fully justi- 
 fied his anxiety about his family ; for the 
 mutineers threatened, if he did not immedi- 
 ately surrender the Europeans, to take very 
 complete revenge both on himself and his 
 people. Speedy succour could not be ex- 
 pected ; the most important stations looked 
 for it in vain. The hearts of the fugitives 
 sank within them, as, pent up iu the cow- 
 house, they heard from Hurdeo Buksh, 
 " that N;ma Sahib had assumed command 
 of the mutineers at Cawnpoor, where the 
 English had been so completely destroyed, 
 that not a dog remained in the cantonment ; 
 that Agra was besieged ; that the troops at 
 Delhi had been beaten back, and were in a 
 state of siege on the top of a hill near there ; 
 that the troops in Oude had also mutinied, 
 and Lucknow was closely invested." 
 
 It was highly probable that the rebels, 
 and especially some of the escaped convicts, 
 to whom Probyn and Edwards had been 
 obnoxious in their capacity of magistrates, 
 would immediately come and search Kus- 
 sowrah. Near the village there was a tract 
 of jungle, many miles in extent, in the 
 midst of which was a hamlet of some four 
 or five houses, inhabited by a few herds- 
 men,* and called by the fitting name of 
 Ruvjpoora, the place of affliction. This 
 village, during the rainy season, became a 
 complete island of about a hundred yards 
 square. The only pasturage, on suffi- 
 ciently high land to escape being sub- 
 merged, was about three miles distant, and 
 both cattle and aheers proceeded to-and- 
 fro by swimming — a mode of progression 
 which habit appeared to have made as 
 natural to them as walking on dry land to 
 ordinary herds and herdsmen. To Runj- 
 poora the party proceeded, after some 
 discussion regarding the advisability of 
 separating, as a means of escaping observa- 
 tion. The Thakoors offered to take charge 
 of the children, promising to do their 
 utmost for them ; and urged that, by part- 
 ing, the lives of all might be saved ; but 
 that if, unhappily, "the children did 
 perish, their loss might be repaired— their 
 l)arents might have a second family; but 
 they could never get second lives, if they 
 
 • Edwards mentions a singular fact with regard 
 to this little community. On Sundays, tlie aliceis 
 would on no account part with the milk of their 
 cattle, but always used it themselves.— (p. llC.)
 
 THE MASSACRE AT FURRUCKABAD— JULY, 1857. 
 
 329 
 
 once lost those they had/' This argument 
 failed to induce the mother to leave 
 her children ; and Probyn would not part 
 from her. Edwards endeavoured to per- 
 suade his follower, Wuzeer Sing, to pro- 
 vide for his own safety ; but he persisted in 
 his fidelity; and Edwards himself would 
 not desert the Probyns, especially his 
 "poor little friend the baby," who sank, 
 day by day, for want of proper nourish- 
 ment, until one night its protector missing 
 the accustomed sound of the heavy breath- 
 ing, started up, and found it dead by the 
 side of its mother, who had fallen into the 
 deep sleep of exhaustion ; believing that 
 lier efforts had procured the infant an inter- 
 val of relief. Edwards and Wuzeer Sing 
 went out, and with difiiculty found a dry spot 
 under some trees, in which to dig a grave ; 
 and there the bereaved parents came and 
 laid the little body, feeling, even in the first 
 freshness of their grief, " grateful that their 
 infant's death had been natural, and not 
 by the hands of assassins." Another of 
 their children, a beautiful and healthy 
 girl, drooped rapidly under the privations 
 endured at Runjpoora, and died in conse- 
 quence, after the fugitives, at the end of a 
 fortnight, quitted that place, and returned 
 to Kussowrah. During their stay at Runj- 
 poora, Edwards induced a native, named 
 Rohna, to take a letter from him to his 
 wife at Nynee Tal. By means of a little 
 bit of loose lead, left in the stump of a 
 pencil, he contrived to write a few words 
 on a piece of paper about an inch square, 
 which he steeped in milk, and left to dry 
 in the sun. A crow pounced on it, and 
 carried it oflf. Edwards was in despair, 
 for he had no more paper, and no ricans of 
 getting any; but the watchful Vv'uzecr 
 Sing had followed the bird, and after a 
 chase of about an hour, saw the note drop, 
 and picked it up uninjured. The mes- 
 senger carried it safely, reached Nynee Tal 
 on the 2rth of July, and brought back an 
 answer. The lady and the child, Rohna 
 said, were both well ; but when he reached 
 the house, the " Mem Sahib" was dressed in 
 black. On receiving the letter, she went 
 away and put on a white dress. During 
 the interval of Rohna's absence, the fugitives 
 passed through many phases of hope and 
 fear. One day they distinctly heard a mili- 
 tary band playing English airs in Futtch- 
 gliur; the wind carrying the sound across 
 the water, and reminding them of the near 
 proximity of foes who were thirsting for 
 
 VOL. II. 2 u 
 
 their blood. Another morning (Edwards 
 thought the 23rd of July, but had by that 
 time become confused in his reckoning), 
 they were startled by the firing of heavy 
 guns in Furruckabad. The sound con- 
 tinued at irregular intervals for about an 
 hour, when it entirely ceased. The Euro- 
 peans listened with joy, for they had heard 
 from a poor Brahmin (who had shown great 
 compassion for their sufferings, depriving 
 his own family of milk, to give it to Probyn's 
 children), that the victorious advance of the 
 British troops, and the terrible vengeance 
 taken by them, had excited the greatest 
 alarm at Furruckabad; they therefore 
 believed that the firing was that of their 
 countrymen, and that deliverance was at 
 hand. Seeta Ram, the Brahmin, went for 
 them to the city, and returned with the sad 
 tidings that the sounds they had listened to 
 so cheerfully, "had been caused by the 
 blowing away from guns, and the shooting 
 down with grape, under the orders of the 
 nawab, of the poor ladies already mentioned 
 as having been saved from the boat, and 
 brought back to Futtehghur ; and of many 
 native Christians." The number was at 
 first stated at sixty-five or seventy persons ; 
 but afterwards at twenty-two. The Nana's 
 soldiers, infuriated by their defeat, had 
 been the chief instigators of this atrocity, 
 Mrs. Jones's little daughter, of about 
 nine years old, had, Seeta Ram said, re- 
 mained untouched after several discharges 
 of grape, and a sepoy rushed up and cut 
 her in pieces with his sword. 
 
 On the 2nd of August, the Europeans, 
 while concealed in the cattle-pen at Kus- 
 sowrah — which they looked upon as a palace 
 compared with Runjpoora — saw a tall, 
 emaciated looking figure approach them, 
 dripping with water, and naked, except a 
 piece of cloth wrapped round his waist. This 
 was Mr. Jones, who, in consequence of tlic 
 improved prospects of the British, had been 
 at length permitted by his protectors to join 
 his countrymen. He was very weak, and 
 burst into tears at hearing the sound of 
 his own language. The danger was, how- 
 ever, far from being past. The first shock 
 of the mutiny was, indeed, over l)y this 
 time ; but the insurrection in Oude Mas 
 only commencing. On the 22nd of August, 
 llurdeo Buksh, who usually visited the 
 fugitives in the dead of night, came to tell 
 them that he had received a copy of a 
 proclamation, issued by the subahdars in 
 command of the mutineers at. Delhi and
 
 330 
 
 PROGRESS OF REVOLT IN OUDE— AUGUST, 1857. 
 
 Lucknow, to all the chief landowners in 
 Oude. In this document, they expressed 
 their surprise and sorrow that, although 
 the army had risen in defence of their 
 religion and for the common good, the 
 landowners had not co-operated with 
 the soldiers, or given them the aid they 
 counted on when they rose. In conse- 
 quence of this backwardness, the army 
 now found themselves unable to conteud 
 successfully against the British. The 
 subahdars, therefore, thought it right to 
 warn all the chief men of influence and 
 rank in Oude, that it was the intention of 
 the British, as soon as they had destroyed 
 the army, to collect all the high-caste men 
 and sweepers in the province at one enor- 
 mous feast, and raake them all eat together. 
 The subahdars, consequently, deemed it their 
 duty to give the chiefs fair warning of 
 the intentions of the British government, 
 and to entreat them, for the sake of their 
 common faith, to aid the army with their 
 forces, and to rise and exterminate the 
 infidels, and avoid so fearful a catastrophe 
 as the loss of their caste. 
 
 Hurdeo Buksh remarked to Edwaids — 
 "You and I know that this is all non- 
 sense and folly, but the proclamation is a 
 highly dangerous and inflammable docu- 
 ment; for its contents are implicitly 
 believed by the common people, who are, 
 consequently, much exasperated against 
 the English." His own people were, he 
 added, particularly excited by orders issued 
 by the nawab and subahdar in Futtehghur, 
 to prevent their crossing the Ganges, or 
 getting any supplies from Furruckabad, of 
 salt, sugar, or other necessaries usually 
 procured from thence. Besides this, the 
 inundation was daily diminishing; and 
 when the waters subsided, the power of the 
 Rao to protect the fugitives would be at an 
 end. They had sent repeated letters by 
 Seeta Ram to General Havelock (who 
 was an old friend of Edwards'), without 
 obtaining any reply : at length they re- 
 ceived one, advising them to stay where 
 they were, and watch events, as the rebels 
 infested all the roads, and rendered tra- 
 velling highly dangerous — almost impossible. 
 The fugitives believed the hazard of remain- 
 ing where they were, greater than that of 
 attempting to join the British camp, since 
 Hurdeo Buksh could with difficulty restrain 
 his subjects. He had already ofl'ered to send 
 the Europeans by land, " Teehuu teehun ;" 
 that is, from friend's house to friend's 
 
 house — all pledged to secrecy. One of 
 the chiefs who had promised safe-conduct 
 through his territory, was Jussah Sing, one 
 of the most notorious insurrectionary leaders. 
 Hurdeo Buksh admitted that Nana Sahib 
 had taken refuge with him ; but said 
 that there need be no fear of treachery, 
 for a Rajpoot was never known to break 
 his word to a fellow-chief The refugees, 
 however, preferred the Giinges route, and 
 started on Sunday, August 30th, under 
 an escort of eleven matchloekmen, with 
 eight rowers — the party being commanded 
 by the brother-in-law of Hurdeo Buksh, 
 Thakoor Pirthee Pal Sing ; the chief 
 known in the subsequent Oude campaign, 
 as "Pretty Poll Sing." Hurdeo Buksh 
 himself, with the Thakoors and other lead- 
 ing men of the village, came dowu to the 
 boat, which was ostensibly intended to 
 convey the female relatives of Pirthee Pal, 
 on a visit to a different branch of the family 
 at Tirrowah Pulleah, a lonely place on the 
 Oude side of the Ganges, belonging to a 
 talookdar named Dhunna Sing. After 
 remaining two hours waiting for Major 
 Robertson and Mr. Churcher, who at length 
 resolved on remaining in their hiding- 
 places — Edwards, Probyn, his wife, and the 
 two surviving children, started on their 
 perilous enterprise. Hurdeo Buksh had 
 taken every possible precaution, at con- 
 siderable risk to himself All the boats at 
 the ferries, both on the Gauges and Ram- 
 gunga, within the limits of his domain, had 
 been seized the night before, for the sake 
 of cutting off communication with Fur- 
 ruckabad ; and, to secure the fidelity of the 
 boatmen, he had taken their families into 
 custody, with the intention of retaining 
 them until the Europeans should have 
 safely reached their destination. There 
 were 150 miles of river-way to be accom- 
 plished. For the first twenty down the 
 Ramgunga the risk was small, the in- 
 fluence of Hurdeo Buksh predominating 
 thus far. For the last thirty, until the 
 river joins the Ganges, the danger was 
 great. Messengers, however, were waiting 
 at stated places along the bank, to give 
 information to the voyagers. At one point 
 they were nearly wrecked, coming on a 
 rapid, with an abrupt fall of almost four 
 feet. The stream, notwithstanding the 
 swiftness of its current, was so shallow, 
 that the boat stuck in the middle, and, for 
 ten minutes, remained as it were on an in- 
 clined plane, the water roaring and surging
 
 PIRTHEE PAL AND DHUNNA SING. 
 
 331 
 
 round; while the fugitives, closely packed 
 in the small covered space allotted to 
 them, dared not make any effort for fear 
 of discovery. 
 
 At length this difficulty "was surmounted, 
 and, at sunset, they floated out into the 
 Ganges, there about a mile broad. The 
 majestic river was still in flood, and carried 
 the boat swiftly along to a ferry near a 
 large village, where the stream narrowed 
 considerably. 
 
 For a long series of years before the 
 mutiny, fleets had been passing up and 
 down the Ganges without intermission ; 
 but not a single boat (except those at the 
 ferries) had been seen by the villagers since 
 the ariMval of the ill-fated crew from 
 Futtchghur. The sight of the present 
 vessel, with the armed men on the roof 
 and deck, attracted the attention of the 
 people collected with the intention of 
 crossing the river ; and the guards, as they 
 approached, got their cartridge-boxes and 
 powder-horns ready for action. 
 
 In reply to a challenge from shore, 
 Pirthee Pal stated that he was taking his 
 family down to Tirrowah PuUeah, and could 
 not stop. A voice cried, "You have Fe- 
 ringhees concealed in that boat ; come 
 ashore at once." " Feringhees on board 1" 
 said the Thakoor ; " I wish we had, and we 
 should soon dispose of them and get their 
 plunder." " Stop, and come ashore," was 
 repeated ; but, by this, the boat had floated 
 past, and at nightfall anchored safely at a 
 desolate place, from which the stronghold 
 of Dhunna Sing lay about a mile and a-half 
 distant inland. After an anxious interval 
 of two or three hours, Dhunna Sing (in ac- 
 cordance with the arrangement made with 
 liis sworn friend Hurdeo Buksh) came on 
 board with a few followers. Tiie hearts of 
 the weary fugitives rose at his appearance. 
 They knew him to be possessed of consi- 
 derable influence on both sides of the river 
 as far as Cawnpoor; and when they saw 
 the white-headed old chief, and noticed his 
 wiry and athletic frame, his frank and self- 
 possessed manner, they felt him to be " the 
 right sort of man" for the work in hand. 
 His men, in answer to repeated challenges 
 from either bank, replied that the boat 
 belonged to Dhunna Sing, who was taking 
 his family to bathe at a celebrated ghaut 
 near Cawnpoor. When this explanation 
 failed to satisfy the inquirers, and a peremp- 
 tory summons was given to stop and pull 
 ashore, the chief himself came forward, and 
 
 the very sound of his powerful and pecu- 
 liarly harsh voice stopped further question- 
 ing. The Mehndee ghaut, the principal 
 ferry between Oude and the Futtehghur 
 side of the river, was a great place of resort 
 for the rebels. As the fugitives approached 
 the dreaded spot, the moon became over- 
 clouded, the rowers shipped their oars, and 
 the boat glided rapidly past unnoticed in 
 the timely darkness. Again and again 
 they grounded : once they remained an 
 hour on a sand-bank, at a crisis when 
 moments were precious, it being most im- 
 portant to pass certain dangerous localities 
 before morning. This they failed to ac- 
 complish ; and at broad daylight they found 
 themselves approaching a place where a body 
 of the enemy were said to be posted, and 
 which they had calculated on passing during 
 the night. To their great relief, they found 
 the place deserted. After proceeding some 
 miles further, the current carried them close 
 on shore, and brought them in contact with 
 a considerable body of people, some bathing, 
 some sitting on the bank. Dhunna Sing 
 was immediately recognised ; and the natives 
 earnestly warned him not to proceed much 
 further down the river, as he would in that 
 case inevitably fall into the hands of the 
 " gora logue," who were in force at Bithoor, 
 and would kill all in the boat. The 
 chief, whose tact had been previously 
 evinced in escaping the solicitations of his 
 personal friends to come on shore or re- 
 ceive them into his boat, affected great 
 alarm at the intelligence. Probyu and 
 Edwards caught up the children, placed 
 their hands over their mouths, to prevent 
 the utterance of a word which might yet be 
 fatal, and listened in breathless anxiety while 
 Dhunna Sing, coolly giving a side-glance 
 at them as they lay crouched inside the 
 covering, inquired of the natives where the 
 British were posted ; and, on being told, re- 
 marked that he could avoid that point by 
 crossing to the Oude side of the stream ; 
 and Ciilled to the rowers to give way. 
 The order was instantly obeyed ; the boat 
 shot rapidly on till it reached Bithoor, 
 which the fugitives believed to be occupied 
 by the British troops. They were happily 
 iindeceived in time. A native hailed them 
 from the bank, and, in reply to the ques- 
 tions of Dhunna Sing, stated that he was a 
 sepoy in the service of the son and suc- 
 cessor of Jussah Sing, who had died about a 
 fortnight previously of wounds received in 
 action. When Bithoor was occupied l)y
 
 332 
 
 SINDIA AND HOLCAR— GWALiOR AND INDORE. 
 
 the Feringhees, the Nana had fled in all 
 haste. That place being uow evacuated by 
 its ciiptors, he had sent a party (including 
 the speaker) to search for the property he 
 liad left behind, and bring it to him at 
 Futtehpoor Chowrassee, where he was in 
 hiding, a few miles oflf. Several hundred 
 armed men were seen congregated in and 
 around the buildings; yet the sole boat 
 which had appeared for nearly two months 
 on the river, did not seem to attract the 
 attention of the rebels ; at least, they made 
 no effort to question the passengers. The 
 three Europeans were accustomed to look 
 to a special providence for succour during 
 their prolonged trial ; and they considered 
 this iustauce of preservation as "truly 
 
 miraculous." About three hours later (that 
 is, at 2 P.M., 31st August) they stepped on 
 shore at the Cawnpoor ghaut, where a 
 picket of H.M. 84th was stationed. With 
 eager joy the soldiers welcomed Probyn 
 and Edwai'ds — insisted on carrying the 
 children, and tenderly waited on their 
 almost exhausted countrywoman, leading 
 her to the tent of the magistrate (Sherer), 
 past the slaughter-house where every other 
 Enghshwoman who had escaped from 
 Futtehghur and reached Cawnpoor alive, 
 had perished horribly. 
 
 In following this remarkable series of 
 adventures during three months spent in 
 the jungles of Oude, the course of the nar- 
 rative has been anticipated. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GWALIOR AND INDORE.— MAY, JUNE, AND JULY, 1857. 
 
 The origin and progress of the Mah- 
 ratta States of Gwalior and Indore have 
 been already related; tneir nistory being 
 closely interwoven with that of British 
 India. In past times, Sindia and Holcar 
 were honoured as brave foes ; but the 
 present representatives of these warriors 
 have earned for themselves the nobler dis- 
 tinction of stanch friends, bold and true in 
 the darkest hour of peril and temptation. 
 
 Before the outbreak, Sindia had given 
 indications of inheriting something of the 
 warlike spirit of his ancestors ;* and all the 
 Europeans conversant with the affairs of 
 the principality, spoke of the prime minister, 
 Dinkur Rao, as a man of rare ability and 
 integrity. To him we certainly, in great 
 measure, owe the prompt and unwavering 
 fealty displayed by the Gwalior durbar. 
 On the first evil tidings from Meerut, the 
 maharajah hastened to place his body-guard 
 at the service of Lieutenant-governor Col- 
 vin. The Gwalior contingent was, of course, 
 entirely under British control ; for the reader 
 will remember, that this force was in reality 
 part and parcel of the Bengal army. The 
 young rajah had not the slightest control 
 
 • " On one occasion, wlien his then newly raised 
 artillery hesitated to fire u]>on a body of the old 
 levies who had refused to disband, Sindia juuiiied 
 
 over the troops enlisted in his name, and 
 paid out of his coffers. The men had not 
 even the usual ties of mercenary troops ; but, 
 while they received the money of one master, 
 they obeyed the orders of another. They 
 had been employed by Lord Ellenborough 
 to coerce the native government in 1843 — 
 a proceeding not calculated to increase their 
 respect for either of the parties at variance, 
 or to elevate their own principles of action. 
 Sindia had never placed the slightest re- 
 liance on their loyalty ; but had plainly told 
 the British resident at his court (M.ajor 
 Macpherson), that these troops would follow 
 the example of their brethren at Meerut 
 and Delhi. Aware of the danger, the 
 maharajah exerted himself strenuously to 
 avert it. The name he bore would have 
 been a rallyiug-cry for the Hindoos, far 
 more exciting than that of the Nana of 
 Bithoor ; and the mutineers waited anxiously 
 for some turn of affairs which might enlist 
 Sindia and Holcar on the side of revolt. 
 It was the bond of nationality, of creed and 
 caste, which, at the commencement of the 
 mutiny, gave them influence with the Bengal 
 army. This lasted until it became evident 
 
 off his horse, seized a lighted portfire from the hand 
 of a gunner, and himself discharged the first gun." 
 — Bombay correspondent : Times, August 1st, 1857.
 
 DINKUE, EAO, THE MINISTER OF SINDIA. 
 
 333 
 
 that, for good or for evil, the chiefs had 
 cast ill their lot with the British govern- 
 meat : then the troops set them at defiance, 
 and fraternised with the great mass of their 
 fellows. But the stanchness of the young 
 Mahratta princes, and the energy, tact, and 
 vigilance of their native advisers, kept back 
 many thousand men from joining the revolt 
 during the first epoch of panic and massacre, 
 when their co-operation might have involved 
 the loss of the North-Western Provinces, 
 and of the mass of Europeans stationed 
 there. Sindia's contingent numbered about 
 10,000 — artillery, cavalry, and infantry. 
 The men were of great stature, and ad- 
 mirably disciplined ; the cavalry were well 
 mounted, the artillery thoroughly trained. 
 lu fact, the Native contingents (and espe- 
 cially that of Gwalior) were the most in- 
 flammatory of the numerous combustibles 
 which the Supreme government had laid 
 ready for ignition, within easy comuuinica- 
 tion of each other, throughout India. Gwa- 
 lior and Indore had not yet been annexed : 
 their reigning princes were both adopted 
 heirs — the ancient law having been suffered 
 to remain in force, though somewhat 
 under protest; and these, with a few other 
 surviving states, acted as boundaries to 
 revolt and insurrection. But the current 
 was too strong to be turned backwards by 
 such obstacles : for the time, at least, it had 
 strength to surmount what it could not 
 destroy, and both Sindia and Holcar shared 
 the perils which they had vainly striven to 
 avert. 
 
 Detached portions of the contingent 
 had mutinied at Hattrass, Ncemucb, and 
 Nusseerabad, at the end of May and begin- 
 ning of June ;* but the main body, at Gwa- 
 lior, continued apparently firm up to a later 
 period. Several of the English officers 
 expressed strong confidence in their men. 
 The native government understood tliem 
 better; and felt that, unless Delhi woe 
 speedily recaptured, the spread of the mutiny 
 was only a question of time. Dinkur Rao 
 appreciated aright the feeling of the contin- 
 gent, and likewise that of the small force 
 maintained by the state on its own .iccouut. 
 Both, he knew, sympathised with the 
 sepoys, and differed from each other only 
 in the superior attachment of the latter to 
 the person of their sovereign. The troops 
 on whom the maharajah could alone rely, 
 
 were the Mahrattas and the Gwalior Hin- 
 doos. The complicated circumstances of 
 his position were well set forth by the 
 Friend of India, an authority which has 
 never been accused of favouring native 
 courts, or making undue allowance for 
 their difficulties. The chief danger which 
 menaced Sindia, arose, according to this 
 journal, from the current of public opinion, 
 which became almost irresistible under 
 the excitement of the period, and which 
 "poiiited distinctly to the downfall of the 
 British empire, and the necessity of adopt- 
 ing measures in time for the aggrandise- 
 ment of Gwalior." The position of affairs 
 was understood by very few of even the 
 European residents; and "the first view in 
 India, we believe, and certainly the view in 
 England, was, that Sindia had only to de- 
 clare for or against us," and "either hunt 
 down or aid the mutineers."t As it was, 
 he took so decided and uncompromising a 
 position on the British side, that his life 
 was in jeopardy, and he was actually driven 
 from his capital by troops in lus own pay ; 
 but, before this happened, he had succeeded 
 in gaining a long interval of quiet, and hud 
 saved Agra by protracting the inevitable 
 struggle until the Supreme government 
 were fully forewarned and forearmed. The 
 Friend of India admits, that the native 
 court displayed "striking ability" and 
 " really keen sense," " acting on a definite 
 policy, and not on the vague, half childish 
 impulses we are sometimes apt to ascribe to 
 all ruling Asiatics ;" adding, that the pro- 
 ceedings of the Mahratta durbar augur 
 well for " the success of that policy of confi- 
 dence which must be the key to any suc- 
 cessful policy of the future." British 
 functionaries, competent judges both from 
 position and ability, have expressed them- 
 selves in yet stronger language regarding 
 the important service rendered by the ma- 
 harajah and his minister. Of the latter, 
 Colonel Grove Somerset, who served in the 
 Gwalior contingent for several years, speaks 
 most highly; declaring, "I look upon 
 Dinkur Rao as a gentleman, an honest and 
 faithful man, and my friend. "J It is re- 
 markable how generally the most expe- 
 rienced servants, l)oth of the Crown and of 
 the E. I. Company, have concurred in bear- 
 ing testimony to the ability and integ- 
 rity which they had witnessed in native 
 
 • See pages 193 and 195. | Colonel Grove Somerset, to whom the aullior 
 
 t Overland Friend of India,'Ho\ein\ier 22nd, 1858. gratefully acknowledges himself indebted for mucli 
 X Letter dated November 15th, 1858; written by | valuable information regarding Gwalior.
 
 334 
 
 MAJOR MACPHERSON AND BRIGADIER RAMSAY. 
 
 courts. General Lowe, the " anti-annexa- 
 tion" member of tlie Supreme Council, 
 holds the same language in the present 
 epoch, when, in Mr. Disraeli's words, the rule 
 is "to destroy nationality;"* as, of old. 
 General Wellesley held, under the wiser 
 and more honourable system of respecting 
 it. The latter authority was little given to 
 eiithusiiism in feeling, or warmth of expres- 
 sion ; yet his despatches afford declarations 
 of esteem and friendship for Purneah, the 
 dewan of Mysoor, such as few European 
 ministers elicited from his iron pen ; aud 
 in describing to Sir John Malcolm the 
 character of the wiliest of the continental 
 diplomatists with whom his wonderful 
 career had lirought him in connection, he 
 compared the famous Frenchman to their 
 old Mahratta acquaintance, Sindia's am- 
 bassador at the famous conferences which 
 preceded the treaty of Surjee Anjengaura, 
 in 1803; remarking, that Talleyrand was 
 "like Eitel Punt — only not so clever." 
 
 The present m.iharajali, the representa- 
 tive and heir, by adoption, of the Sindia of 
 half a century ago, is more fortunate than 
 liis predecessor; for Diukur Rao appears to 
 unite the tact of Eitel Pnnt with the 
 judgment and integrity of Purneah. 
 
 The officer in command at Gwalior, in 
 May, 1857, was Brigadier Ramsay. On 
 the 30th of that month, he reported to 
 govsrnment the circumstances which had 
 occurred during the four previous days. 
 On the 2Gth instant, the men of the con- 
 tingent had insulted Diiikur R;io on his 
 entry into cantonments, and had given him 
 so much reason to apprehend personal vio- 
 lence at their hands, that he returned to 
 the Lushkur (the part of the town in which 
 Sindia resided) on horseback, instead of 
 tlie carriage in which he had come, and by 
 a bye-road, to avoid observation. The 
 reason of this strong feeling against the 
 dewan was, the searching inquiries insti- 
 tuted by him to discover the originators or 
 propagators of a report current in Gwalior, 
 as in most other stations at that period, of 
 the arrival at the bazaar of a large quan- 
 tity of otta, which was being sold at a very 
 low price, v.itli the view of destroying the 
 caste of the purchasers by means of the 
 
 • India debate.— T/hk^s, July 28th, 1857. 
 
 t Brigadier Ramsay's despatch, dated " Gwalior, 
 May 30lh. 1857."— Further I'arl. I'apers on the 
 Mutinies, 1858 (No. (>), p. 152. 
 
 J Mrs. Coopland's Escape from Gwalior, p. 107. 
 
 § Brigadier Ramsay's despatch.— P. Papers,]). 153. 
 
 bone-dust secretly mixed with the flour. 
 The exposure of the false and malicious 
 character of this rumour, had rendered 
 Dinkur Rao extremely unpopular. On the 
 morning of the 2rth, the maharajah urged 
 that all the ladies in the station should be 
 sent to the Residency for protection, as he 
 had reason to believe that the contingent 
 was altogether wrong and mutinous, and 
 that the men had sworn on the Ganges- 
 water and the Koran to stand by each 
 other. In the event of the outbreak which 
 he considered imminent, he advised the 
 officers at once to mount their horses and 
 ride ofl'. The political agent. Major Mac- 
 pherson, entirely concurred with Sindia, 
 and moved that evening from icantonmcnts 
 into the Residency, taking the ladies with 
 him ; from thence they were sent on, at 
 the earnest request of Sindia, into the 
 palace, for greater security. The party 
 consisted of thirteen ladies, four sergeants' 
 wives (almost all with one or two chil- 
 dren), the political agent, and the chaplain, 
 Mr. Coopland. A telegraphic message was 
 immediately dispatched by !Major Mac- 
 pherson, informing Lieutenant-governor 
 Colvin of what had occurred, and request- 
 ing the immediate return of the maha- 
 rajah's body-guard, to assist in escorting 
 the ladies to Agra. A copy of this mes- 
 sage was scut by the political agent to the 
 brigadier, whereupon the latter neutralised 
 its effect by dispatching another ; in wliich 
 he states — " I took on myself to report to 
 Mr. Colvin, that we [the European officers] 
 had slept in the lines the previous night, 
 that all was quiet, and confidence in- 
 creasing ; and that I considered Siudia was 
 disposed to enhance his own services at the 
 expense of the contingent. "f 
 
 The immediate effect of the brigadier's 
 message was a telegram from Agra, de- 
 siring that the ladies should not be sent 
 thither till the mutiny really broke out at 
 Gwalior. The result was, that when the 
 crisis came, the unmarried officers rode off 
 and escaped; the married cues stayed to 
 protect their wives, and were massacred. J 
 In the evening of the 28th, IMrs, Meade 
 and Mrs. Murray, "in opposition to the 
 most urgent solicitations of Major Mac- 
 plicrson, returned to cantonments ;"§ and 
 the other ladies followed their example 
 on the 30th, at the brigadier's express 
 desire. There were about £6,000 in 
 the treasury ; and the brigadier, instead 
 of sending this sum to the Residency or
 
 STATE OF GWALIOR— MAY, 1857. 
 
 335 
 
 the palace for security, aud thus removing 
 one incitement to revolt, contented him- 
 self by increasing the guard of the 4th 
 regiment over it, with a view, he says, to 
 lead the men to think that he feared dan- 
 ger from without, and not from witliin. 
 Although thus thwarted, the native govern- 
 ment and the political agent continued to 
 exert themselves strenuously to keep down 
 mutiny, bearing quietly the odium un- 
 justly raised against them, and hoping for 
 nothing more than that their anticipations 
 of evil might prove unfounded. The news 
 of the mutiny of the detachments, in con- 
 cert with the other troops at various sta- 
 tions, increased the difficulty of retaining 
 the main body in allegiance; the bearing 
 of the native population expressed ill-will ; 
 and even the servants became insolent iu 
 their demeanour. This last circumstance, 
 however, rests on the testimony of Mrs. 
 Coopland, the wife of the chaplain of the 
 station; a witness whose strong prejudice 
 against the natives, evinced in her observa- 
 tions on them before the mutiny, tends to 
 invalidate the credit due to her otherwise 
 keen perceptions. The maharajah, the lady 
 admits, " in some way prevented the women 
 from being killed at Gwalior" — a service 
 which, if it did not inspire gratitude, might 
 have prevented the publication of an un- 
 
 courteous comment upon his "limp 
 
 cold 
 
 hand, just like all natives ;"* and apos- 
 trophes in connection with the name of the 
 man who had saved the writer's life, re- 
 
 * Mrs. Conpland's Escape from Gwalior, p. S3. 
 
 t Mrs. Coopland speaks of Calcutta as " the 
 capital of a country called the Queen's penal settle- 
 ment for paupers" (p. 14) ; and of India as " Scot- 
 land's grave-yard." Then she relates the efforts of 
 herself and her husband at scolding their attendants 
 in Hindustani ; and how, not being sufficiently fluent 
 in that language, they had recourse to English, 
 which, they " had been told, natives disliked more, 
 as they did not know who'., it meant." Lest any of 
 her readers should find themselves at a similar dis- 
 advantage, Mrs. Coopland ;;d;!>i, that " the most 
 opprobrious cpithet.s in Hindustani, are ' khala sour,' 
 ■ hurrumzadu,' and ' mourgeu' (black pig, infidel, 
 and fowl"). — (p. 19). To Sindia she took a strong 
 dislike, on first arriving at his capital, for the fol- 
 lowing reason :—" Unfortunately, the rajah was a 
 Hindoo, therefore the cow being sacred in his eyes, 
 wo were not allowed any beef except it was brought 
 occasionally from Agra. * • * I wish the rajah 
 bad known what a grudge I owed him for this 
 troublesome prejudice." (p. 48). Mr. Coopland's 
 letters to England suggest sanguinary and im- 
 practicable measures for the suppression of the 
 mutiny. They afford evidence of the conflicting 
 opinions of the Europeans at Gwalior, and the man- 
 ner in which, while one party endeavoured to con- 
 ciliate the sepoys, another, including the Agra press, 
 
 garding the impossibility of finding out the 
 motives of a "doubly-dyed traitorous Mah- 
 ratta." The unreasoning antipathy to all 
 natives, entertained by both Mr. and Mrs. 
 Coopland, t rendered their position infinitely 
 worse than that of the Europeans in gen- 
 eral, cither at Gwalior or elsewhere; for 
 while these latter trusted implicitly (and 
 were justified bj' events iu so trusting), 
 that their own household would, if they 
 could not serve, certainly not injure them; 
 the Cooplands believed every Indian their 
 sworn foe, and anticipated treachery even 
 from their ayah and punkah coolies. The 
 chaplain, Mrs. Coopland writes, " seldom 
 undressed at night; aud I had a dress 
 always ready to escape in. My husband's 
 rifle was kept loaded (I learnt to load aud 
 fire it), as we were determined not to die 
 without a struggle."! 
 
 According to this authority, rifle-shooting 
 was, even before the mutiny, a favourite 
 accomplishment among a portion of the 
 European ladies in India. Scarce as tigers 
 are becoming in the more populous parts 
 of the country, Mrs. Coopland "knew some 
 ladies who had shot them ;" and she makes 
 disdainful mention of women who " faint at 
 the sight of blood, and are terrified at a 
 harmless cow." There may be some e.x- 
 aggeratiou in this ; but if the ladies at 
 Gwalior were really preparing to defend 
 themselves, as early as the middle of May, 
 with loaded pistols,.?, the measure was sure 
 to be reported, by the native servants, to 
 adopted a tone calculated to alarm and infuriate 
 them. Writing from Gwalior, May 16th, Mr. 
 Coopland declares the Meerut and Delhi outbreak 
 to be a divine " punishment upon all the weak 
 tampering with idolatry, and flattering vile super- 
 stition [not killing beef in a Hindoo state, for in- 
 stance]. Of course we are alarmed here. There 
 are only about twenty English officers, with their 
 wives and children, in the station, and about 5,000 
 Native troojis ; so that we are entirely at their 
 mercy. • * • Instead of remaining to have cur 
 throats cut, we ought to have gone to ."Vgra long 
 ago, or towards Bombay : all the European regi- 
 ments should have been drawn together ; and every 
 Native recjimetit that shoxced the least sign of dis- 
 affection, at once destroyed, or at least driven away : 
 for, as a leading article in the Agra paper of this 
 morning observes, what N.itive regiment can now bo 
 trusted ? I would leave for Bombay at once, but it 
 would'be death to be exposed even for an hour to 
 the sun." Sooner, therefore, than encounter the heat 
 of the journey, the chaplain remained at Gwalior to 
 meet the death he unticipated at the hands of those 
 whom he had prejudged as "the brutal, treacherous, 
 Native soldiers." — (p. 85.) % Ibid., -p. Ill 
 
 5 Captain Campbell, we are told, ;before starting 
 with the reinforcement to Agra, " gave hU wife a 
 brace of loaded pistols." — Ibid., p. 88.
 
 386 
 
 MUTINY AT LULLUTPOOR— JUNE 12th, 1857. 
 
 the troops, and was not calculated to in- bouring chief whom he had known for 
 
 crease the chance of escape for the women 
 in the event of a mutiny. 
 
 LuUutpoor. — The mutiny in the contin- 
 gent, which immediately preceded that at 
 
 years. The two Europeans, accompanied 
 by several faithful sepoys, proceeded to 
 Mussoorah (a small fort, four miles from 
 LuUutpoor), and there found the rajali. 
 
 Gwalior, occurred at LuUutpoor, a military who, at their request, sent off a party of 
 post, where the head-quarters and right horsemen to bring away from the station 
 wing of the 6th infantry were stationed, i Deputy-commissioner Gordon, Lieutenant 
 
 the left wing being at the fort of Aseer- 
 ghur. On the morning of the 12th of 
 June, forty-five troopers arrived from Now- 
 gong. They belonged to the 12tirirregular 
 cavalry, the regiment which had been con- 
 
 Gordon (6th infantry), his wife and chil- 
 dren; the quartermaster-sergeant and his 
 wife, and a Salt patrol. The rescue was 
 quietly efFected, and the fugitives were 
 kindly received at Baupore. Yet it was 
 
 spicuous at Jhansi for its ferocity. The subsequently discovered that the rajah had 
 detachment had been sent for, for the re- 1 been tampering with the men for some 
 
 inforcement of LuUutpoor, by order of 
 Captain Skene, immediately before the 
 outbreak at Jhansi ; but the news of the 
 
 time before they mutinied. He was de- 
 ceived in the amount of money in the 
 treasury, believing that it contained three 
 
 massacre at that place, and the conduct of | lacs, instead of only 20,000 rupees. Buksh 
 
 the 12th, had reached LuUutpoor, where, BuUie, the rajah of Shahghur, like the 
 
 however, all remained quiet until the very | rajah of Baupore and many other chiefs, 
 
 moment of revolt. Dr. O'Brien, the regi- j protected fugitives, but still joined in the 
 
 mental surgeon, remarks, regarding the i revolt. Of the former, Dr. O'Brien, who 
 
 mutiny of the 6th, on the night of the ! was first sheltered and afterwards impri- 
 
 12th of June — i soned by him, says, "I know the rajah of 
 
 , , , , . „ . , , Shahghur was a long time wavering :" he 
 
 "It ■was rather a sudden affau-, and unexpected „ «„ ^ i. ,.„„;n„4.; _ „ -i i„i 
 
 I,,, ™„ p„„.„- o 1 u A A J T „i I was a weak, vaci latin sr man, easilv led 
 
 by me. Captain bale, who commanded, and 1 and i , J, i i , *' , . , -•V. 
 
 the sepoys, parted good friends. They told us tliey I astray ; but, had he or the r.ijah of Bau- 
 
 were the servants of the king [of Delhi], and that 
 we might go : we saluted each other, and parted. 
 The native sergeant-major, Ungud Sookool, was a 
 man of vast influence in the regiment — in fact, he 
 
 pore had such a man as Dinkur Rao to 
 advise them, they would not have rebelled ; 
 neither would they have done so, had 
 
 commanded it; and, had he been loyal, the regiment hlecman been at baugor. f 
 would not have mutinied. On the march of the j At Aseerghur, great fears were enter- 
 right wing from LuUutpoor, the Boondelas thought , tained that the left wing of the 6th would 
 they would catch them crossing the bridge, pour a i foUg,^ ^^e example set at LuUutpoor, and, 
 volley into them, and get hold of the treasure ; but ■ ■ ^-i e l ^ ^ i i. ^.i. • 
 
 Ungud Sookool was too wide awake: he threw out 1 seizing on the fortress entrusted to their 
 
 skirmishers on each side of the bridge, and swept charge, give dangerous assistance to the 
 the nullah. The mutineers had to fight their way rebel cause, by the prestige attached to the 
 from LuUutpoor to the Betwa river, which they did possession of the famous old fortress. 
 
 ni good style, inflicting severe loss on the Boon- Vr -i ti • i uv 4.„ <• a i_ j 
 
 delas. The wing was not more than 300 strong, as i H^ippUy, the inhabitants of Aseerghur, and 
 a portion of the men were on leave ; the Boondelas ot the neighbouring country, were well 
 were in thousands. After they crossed the Betwa j affected towards the British government; 
 they were in the Jhansi territory, and the filing ' ^nd the commandant. Colonel le Mesurier, 
 
 rrr;in?y,'i'''?r-^'°",i?^^"f,'TrK'°r' considered, that by embodyiug for tern- 
 and Laipee, they fell in with a lot ot Christian i '. ■, nr^ , -.^^ ^ .- .-, 
 
 porary service 100 to 150 active men, the 
 safety of the fortress might be secured 
 until reinforcements of Bombay troops 
 should arrive. At the same time, he ex- 
 erted every effort to prevent the men from 
 hearing of the various mutinies taking 
 place among the scattered portions of the 
 
 prisoners, whom they liberated and caused to be 
 escorted to some place of safety. So that, on the 
 whole, they behaved well to the Christians. Had 
 one Native officer remained firm, three-fourths of 
 the corps would have remained with him."* 
 
 Dr. O'Brien states, that but for the pre- 
 sence of the cavalry detachment, he. should 
 
 have remained at LuUutpoor until the 1 contingent. The sepoys remained obedient 
 morning; as it was, he prevailed on Cap- j and orderly throughout June; but early in 
 tain Sale to join him in seeking the pro- j July, the determined attitude assumed by 
 tection of the rajah of Baupore, a neigh- the mutinous contingent, seriously alarmed 
 
 • T„».„. (•-„.- n n'D • ocu t\ . v. locc the colonel, who felt that his men could not 
 
 •Letter Irom Dr. OBrien, 28th October, 1858. , ..j^^i.,. ■ ^ j u 
 
 Communicated by Colonel Grove Somerset. "^ expected to hght against, and would 
 
 t Ibid. 1 probably fraternise with, their own kindred.
 
 MUTINY AT GWALIOR— SUNDAY, JULY 14th, 1857. 
 
 337 
 
 He therefore induced the entire left wing 
 to evacuate the fort, on the plea of heing 
 encamped in readiness to join the field 
 force then daily expected at Aseerghur. 
 The men murmured, but obeyed ; and at 
 suurise on the 6th of July, the regiment 
 paraded and marched out in a quiet and 
 orderly manner; immediately after which, a 
 party of eighty-five men, who had been 
 quietly got together a day or two previ- 
 ously, and warned to be in readiness, were 
 marched into the fortress ; and in another 
 hour, the regimental guards were relieved, 
 and joined their comrades at the encamping- 
 ground. I 
 
 To return to Gwalior, where the British 
 continued to manifest an implicit confi- 
 dence in the contingent, which Siiidia de- 
 clared to be " incomprehensible." The 
 time, he said, for reasoning wiih, or profess- 
 ing confidence in, the sepoys was past, and 
 any attempt to do either would be as- 
 cril)ed to false motives. Again and again 
 he reiterated a formal warning, that the 
 contingent troops had ceased entirely to be 
 servants to the British government. The 
 treasure from Oorai* was brought in by 
 a party of the 2nd (contingent) infantry on 
 the I2th of June, and Major Maepher- 
 son sent it at once to the treasury of the 
 maharajah, as the sole chance for its pre- 
 servation. 
 
 On the 13th, a wing of the 2nd infantry 
 was ordered to proceed to the Persa and 
 Seekurvvaree districts, near the Chnmbul. 
 The commanding officer (Major Blake) was 
 compelled to report that the men had re- 
 fused to march ; but he hoped they would 
 yet obey. The 14th fell on a Sunday; and 
 several of the Europeans, who were never 
 to see another sunrise, left their homes 
 early, to witness the funeral of an officer's 
 child, the. little son of Captain Murray. 
 !Major Blake and his lady, Major Sherriff, 
 and Captain Hawkins, were among those 
 who, after the funeral, attended church 
 and partook of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 It must have been a solemn and deeply 
 afl'ecting service to all who took part in it; 
 but to none more so than to Captain 
 Hawkins, an excellent and very popular 
 officer of twenty-five years' standing, then 
 in command of the artillery of the Gwalior 
 
 * See ante, p. 318. 
 
 t Mrs. Blake's Escape from Gwalior. Printed 
 for private circulation. 
 I Ibid. 
 
 § " Notes of events at Gwalior, from the 11th of 
 VOL. II. 2 X 
 
 contingent. He was one of those who had 
 upheld the trustworthiness of the con- 
 tingent, or at least of his own men, in 
 opposition to the maharajah, the resident, 
 and Dinkur Rao; but he had other causes 
 of anxiety. His wife had joined him from 
 Seepree (the nearest station), in the middle 
 of the preceding week, with her four 
 children : a fifth had been born an hour after 
 her arrival ; and from the effects of hurry 
 and excitement, the life of the mother was 
 almost despaired of on that Sunday morn- 
 ing. Mrs. Blake, in a painfully interest- 
 ing account of what she witnessed,t remarks 
 — " The sepoys were, as usual, most re- 
 spectful as we passed, both in going and re- 
 turning to the burial-ground." In the 
 afternoon, an tinoccupied bungalow, in the 
 very centre of the cantonments (the pro- 
 perty of a native), was discovered to be on 
 fire. A few minutes later flames burst forth 
 from the mess-house, which was about 
 eighty or ninety yards from the formerbuild- 
 ing; and botli were soon totally destroyed. 
 The mess bath-house also caught fire, and 
 was burned; andCaptain Stewart's bungalow 
 was only saved by the exertions of the sepoys. 
 These fires caused alarm and mistrust among 
 some of the ladies and officers ; but others, 
 again, so entirely rejected the idea of danger 
 or treachery, that fears were allayed, and 
 no plans made for the escape of either women 
 or officers in case of an outbreak. J In the 
 evening, shortly before nine o'clock, a report 
 was brought up from the lines, that the 
 Native artillery had turned out and loaded 
 their guns. Captains Hawkins and Stewart 
 hastened to the lines, and found their nien 
 preparing for action. When asked the 
 meaning of their conduct, they replied 
 they had been told tlicy were about to 
 be iittacked, and had heard " that the Euro- 
 peans were upon them." It was no time for 
 discussion; and the officers were glad to do 
 what they could to quiet the men, and in- 
 duce them to disperse ; after which. Captains 
 Hawkins and Stewart proceeded to the 
 brigadier's to report the circumstance. § 
 While sitting with him, some sepoys 
 rushed in, exclaiming that the troops were 
 in actual revolt. The alarm was sounded ; 
 and the officers, leaving the brigadier, 
 returned to their lines. Most of the 
 
 May i" published in the Mofussilite newspaper, 
 August 19th. These notes are evidently extracted 
 from a journal kept by one of the Gwalior com- 
 munity ; but the name and position of the writer 
 are carefully withlicld.
 
 8S8 DEATH OP MAJOR BLAKE— GWALIOR, JUNE 1.4th, 1857. 
 
 Europeans had retired to rest, and were 
 awakened hy tlieir servants. Bugles were 
 heard sounding an alarm ; voices cried, " To 
 arms ! to arms ! the Feringhees are come." 
 Major Blake rose immediately, dressed, took 
 a hasty leave of his wife, and galloped to 
 the lines. On arriving at the quarter-gnard 
 of his regiment, he was shot through the 
 chest, and fell with his charger. Lieutenant 
 Pierson, the adjutant of the 2nd infantry, 
 was the next officer on the ground. He had 
 been roused by the intelligence that the 
 ■whole of the troops had mutinied, and were 
 lining the main roads of the cantonments, 
 with the intention of shooting down all the 
 Europeans who should approach them. It 
 must have been a hard trial to leave a young 
 wife alone to meet death or worse, and to 
 go, as it were, in search of danger in another 
 quarter; and the j'oung officer rode gloomily 
 away, to join the mutinous body he had 
 till now proudly called his regiment. " 1 
 knew what I had to expect," he writes; 
 "and yet it was my duty to go and do my 
 best; so I went away from my home, which 
 I never saw again." He had not proceeded 
 fur on the road before he met Dr. 
 Mackellar and Lieutenant Ryves, who had 
 just escaped from Jhansi ; and the three 
 Europeans " were regularly hustled down 
 to parade by crowds of sepoys." Four 
 volleys of musketry were fired at tliem ; and 
 a ball, during the last one, shot Pierson's 
 horse through the heart. The animal fell; 
 the rider extricated himself with difficulty, 
 expecting a bayonet in his back every 
 moment. Wrenching his leg from beneath 
 the dead horse, and leaving his boot be- 
 hind, he went on parade, and there saw 
 Major Blake lying mortally wounded. He 
 knelt beside the dying man, unfastened his 
 coat, placed his head on his shoulder, and 
 tried to make him speak. Mnckellar and 
 Ryves stood by; and though the Europeans 
 were surrounded by hundreds of mutineers 
 during their attendance on the major, no 
 attempt was made to injure them : indeed, 
 the men of the 2nd Foot professed great 
 sorrow for what had occurred, declared 
 vehemently that the 4th Foot had done the 
 deed, and seemed anxious to save their 
 commander, if it were yet possible. But it 
 was too late: the brave, kind heart that 
 could not harbour suspicion or distrust, had 
 nearly ceased to beat ; consciousness was 
 quite over; and his poor widow, when she 
 learnt the manner of her bereavement, 
 comforted herself by reflecting, that since 
 
 her husbiind had lived " to fear the grave as 
 little as his bed," "she might look upon his 
 end as more of a translation than death, so 
 rapid must have been the exchange from 
 earth to heaven." 
 
 Some of the sepoys made an attempt to 
 carry away the body of the dead or dying 
 officer to the hospital ; and, by their advice, 
 the other three Europeans endeavoured to 
 make their escape. The Jhansi fugitives 
 rode off towards Agra ; but Pierson, being on 
 foot, could not accompany them. Three 
 sepoys saw his position, and, catching hold of 
 him, said they would try and save him. They 
 tluew off his hat, tore off his trowsers and 
 remaining boot, rolled him in a horsecloth, 
 and, while two carried the mimimy-like 
 burden, the third walked in front, and by 
 dint of energy and resolution, by knocking 
 up one rebel's musket, and declaring it was 
 one of their wives they were carrying, they 
 bore their burden safely past all the sentries, 
 and crossed the river. Then they wished 
 him to start for Agra, assuring him that 
 the chances were ten to one that his wife 
 had been killed by that time; but he was 
 firm in refusing to attempt to escape with- 
 out her; and^ after much persuasion, tlie 
 sepoys were induced to take him down the 
 banks of the river (the opposite side of 
 which was lined with guards to arrest 
 fugitives), until they arrived opposite the 
 house Pierson had so lately left. Then one 
 of the sepoys said, " Now I will go and i)ring 
 your wife, if she is alive." He did go, and, 
 in twenty minutes, husband and wife met 
 again. The house had been robbed by the 
 jepoy guard : the money left with a faith- 
 ful native seivimt for her use, had been 
 taken from him, and the watch and chain 
 snatched from her hand ; but she whs 
 personally uninjured, though terrified and 
 unable to walk. The three sepoys " be- 
 haved splendidly." The horsecloth, in which 
 they had before swathed the lieutenant, was 
 now tied "bag-fashion on to a musket," 
 with the lady in it; and placing the but 
 and muzzle on their shoulders, they carried 
 her thus seven miles to the Residency, 
 her husband walking barefoot by their side 
 all the way. Three other European • fugi- 
 tives had reached the same place just before 
 Lieutenant and Mrs. Pierson ; and having 
 procured an elephant, they all mounted 
 on it, and started afresh, with the intention 
 of seeking protection with the maharajah 
 in the Lushkur, which was about five 
 or six miles from the Mora, or British
 
 FUTURE POLICY OF THE GWALIOR DURBAR— JUNE, 1857 
 
 339 
 
 cHutoiiments. They haJ not proceeded above 
 half a mile, before they met nearly a dozen 
 carriages, the horses at full gallop, attended 
 by an escort of Siudia's body-guard. The 
 party consisted of Major Macpherson and 
 his sister, Mrs. Innes (whose husband was at 
 Lucknow), Brigatlier Ramsay, Captain and 
 Mis. Meade and child. Captain and Mrs. 
 Murray and two cliildren, the Piersons, 
 and seventeen otlier persons, of whom the 
 majority were women and chihiren. Some 
 of them had escaped with great difficulty 
 from the cantonments. Brigadier Ramsay 
 and Captains Meade and Murray, finding 
 it useless to attempt going to the lines, 
 fled directly to Siudia with their families, 
 under the escort of a havildar and some 
 faithful sepoys. 
 
 On hearing of the outbreak, Major Mac- 
 pherson had hastened to join the maharajah, 
 and found him at his palace, the Phoolbagh, 
 surrounded by his troops under arms. The 
 brigadier and officers, with several ladies 
 and children, had already arrived ; and they 
 believed that all Icfi behind iu cantonments 
 must have perished. Patrols of [jicked men 
 of Sindia's troops were, however, sent to 
 search for fugitives. The maharajah and 
 the dewau considered it perfectly clear, from 
 the attitude of the rebels and tlie feeling of 
 the durbar troops, that the Europeans could 
 not be protected in Gwalior. Carriages, 
 palanquins, and an escort of the body-guard, 
 had therefore been prepared to convey them 
 to the Chumbul, or, if necessary, to Agra. 
 
 TheD followed an anxious discussion on 
 the policy to be adopted by Sindia. The 
 rebels were known to expect, that in the 
 event of his refusing to enrol and lead them 
 against the rich and weakly garrisoned fort 
 of Agra, he would gladly purchase their 
 departure with a large sum of money. 
 Failing this, they threatened to bombard 
 Gvialior, in whicli case it was probable that 
 the nialiarajah's troops would coalesce with 
 thexn; and, with their artillery and magazine, 
 the nominal sovereign would be entirely at 
 their mercy. It was evident that, under 
 these complicated difficulties, the simplest 
 course for the Gwalior court was to get rid 
 of the mutinous contingent at once, and at 
 any rate ; but the arguments of Major 
 Macpherson were successfully directed to 
 inducing Siudia to act for the benefit of 
 I he Supreme government, and rely on its 
 ationgth and generosity to uphold and 
 reward him for any temporary sacrifice or 
 peril to his more immediate interests. The 
 
 part which he was to play was diflicult and 
 dangerous, as double-dealing always is, how- 
 ever good the olyect iu view. It was to 
 hold the contingent in check until Agia 
 could be reinforced, or Delhi should fall. 
 To this end it was deemed indispensable 
 that Sindia should give no decided answer 
 to the rebel deputations, by which (as was 
 foreseen) he was subsequently besieged, but 
 should lead them to believe that he was at 
 heart one with them, and only waited a 
 good oj)portunity of throwing off his alle- 
 giance to the British. 
 
 Sindia and Dinkiir Rao were assured, 
 that whatever the outer Anglo-Indian world 
 might think of their conduct, the governor- 
 general, understanding its true bearing, 
 would approve any concessions that might 
 be necessary for the all- important object — 
 the detention of the contingent. This ques- 
 tion being decided, the Europeans quitted 
 Gwalior. On reaching Ilingonah, a village 
 twelve miles from the Cliumbul, thej' found 
 a band of iiOO Ghazis, drawn up under a 
 Mohammedan named Jehangeer Khan, who 
 had once been a havildar iu the contin- 
 gent. Leaving the Briiish service, he en- 
 tered that of Sindia, and became one of his 
 favourite captains ; but the mutiny suddenly 
 transformed him into a Ghazi leader of the 
 highest pretensions to sanctity. Tiie word 
 must have sounded ouiinous of evd to 
 such of the Europeans as had any ac- 
 quaintance with the history of the ^loham- 
 medan conquest of India. The present 
 " holy warriors," chiefly rebels from the 
 British and Sindia's ranks, being novices, 
 seem to have been irresolute as to their 
 plan of action. The leader, after some 
 preliminary discussion, approached Major 
 JNIacpherson, arrayed in green ; and, while 
 fingering his beads, mingled his prayers 
 with protestations of the absence of any 
 intention on his part of injuring the Eu- 
 ropeans. But the listeners were incre- 
 dulous ; for the captain ot the body-guard 
 pointed out to them a body of plunderers 
 in evident concert with the Ghazis assembled 
 in the ravines on the way to the river. Hap- 
 pily, Dinkur Rao, knowing the road, had 
 foreseen that some difficulty might occur at 
 this point; and in obedience to his sum- 
 mons, Thakoor Biddeo Sing, chief of the 
 Dnndowteeah Brahmins — a robusi, and war- 
 like tribe — arrived at midnight, with a strong 
 body of followers, just as the resident was 
 preparing to abandon the carriages, and 
 start the ladies and children on horseback,
 
 840 
 
 GOOD SERVICES OF RANA OF DHOLPOOR— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 by a bridle-path, towards Rajghaut, lower 
 down the Chunibul. Buldeo Sing reminded 
 the resident of a visit he had once paid 
 them, and of his intercession with the de- 
 wan, regarding some tanks and wells for the 
 people. "We have not forgotten this," he 
 said, "and will defend you with our lives." 
 He set one-half of his men to watch Je- 
 hangeer Khau, and, with the other, escorted 
 the Europeans to the river, avoiding a band 
 of mutineers stationed in one of the roads, 
 by turning out of the usual path. It was 
 well for the fugitives they had so stanch an 
 escort ; for the body-guard and the Paegah 
 (or household) horse, alarmed at the pros- 
 pect of being brought in contact with their 
 mutinous brethren, refused to enter the 
 ravines, and, deaf to all remonstrance, turned 
 back to Gwaiior The Europeans crossed 
 the Chumbul by the aid of Buldeo Sing; 
 and, on the opposite shore, the elephants 
 and escort of the rana of Dliolpoor were in 
 readiness, in compliance with a requisition 
 sent by Major Macpherson in the course of 
 the previous day's march. 
 
 Dholpoor, — is the capital of a small sub- 
 sidiary state of the same name, 1,626 square 
 miles in extent, with a population of about 
 550,000 persons, chiefly Jats. The prince 
 (also a Jat) is the representative of that 
 rana of Gohud, the breach of faith with 
 whom, in 1805, excited the indignation of 
 Lord Lake.* 
 
 The reigning prince showed the fugitives 
 every kindness; and, guarded by his troops, 
 the remainder of the journey, although 
 through a veiy disturbed country, was safely 
 performed, and Agra reached on the 17th. 
 Major Macpherson had received a slight 
 sun-stroke in crossing the Chumbul ; which, 
 together with the anxieties of the time, 
 occasioned a severe illness : owing to this, 
 his early reports were very brief. He never- 
 theless maintained an active correspondence 
 with Gwaiior, through various channels, in- 
 cluding an almost daily missive to and from 
 Dinknr Rao, written in Persian cipher. 
 The Dholpoor durbar also regularly com- 
 municated to Major Macpherson the news 
 sent by their vakeel at Gwaiior; and thus 
 the Agra community, during their pro- 
 tracted season of anxiety, had the consola- 
 tion of uninterrupted and reliable informa- 
 tion regarding the chief danger by which 
 they were menaced. 
 
 On Friday, the 19th of June, a party of 
 women and children (all of whom were 
 • See vol. i., p. 404. 
 
 supposed to have been massacred) arrived 
 from Gwaiior, consisting of Mistresses Blake, 
 Campbell, Raikes, Proctor, Kiik, Coopland, 
 some sergeants' wives, and other European 
 women, with their little ones. 
 
 The journey had been disastrous and 
 wearisome in the extreme : several had even 
 been widowed by th.e way. At tiie outbrealc, 
 Dr. and Mrs. Kirk, Mr. and Mrs. Coopland, 
 and Mrs. Raikes, had taken refuge witk 
 Mrs. Blake. They listened in terror to the 
 firing, which lasted ahout three-quarters of 
 an hour; and, when it ended, were told by 
 the sepoys on duty to go and hide themselves 
 in the garden. They did so, and spent 
 many hours sitting on the ground, under 
 some citron trees, amid the glare of burning 
 bungalows, the flames and smoke sweeping 
 over them in clouds. The worst of the 
 rebels, joined by the budmashes of the 
 town, and maddened by hhang and ex- 
 citement, smashed the windows and the 
 china, burst through doors, forced open 
 boxes, smashed scores of bottles of beer, 
 brandy, and wine ; and, by drinking the 
 contents, stimulated themselves afresh to 
 the deadly work of pillage and destruction. 
 Mirza, the kitmutgar of Mrs. Blake, took 
 his post beside his unhappy mistress. The 
 sentry, who was also faithful, came to tell 
 her that "the sahib was shot;" and she 
 would fain have remained to meet her fate 
 where she was, for " the bitterness of death 
 seemed past;" but the two natives dragged 
 her away to Mirza's hut, which was with 
 those of the other servants at the end of the 
 compound. Dr. and Mrs. Kirk, with Mrs. 
 Raikes, her nurse and baby, had taken 
 refuge elsewhere ; but Mr. Coopland and his 
 wife accompanied Mrs. Blake. They re- 
 mained in a little inner room, while the 
 rabble brought carts into the garden, and 
 filled them with plunder. The greater num- 
 ber then went oft"; but a few came down 
 to rob the servants of the kitchen utensils 
 and other property, and to search for Ferin- 
 ghees. Mirza induced them to leave the 
 place, under pretence of pointing out the 
 hiding-place of some Europeans; and, upon 
 returning to the refugees, he hurried them 
 away, before the insurgents could return, 
 to the mud hut of another of Mrs. Blake's 
 faithful servants. Here they were joined 
 by Mrs. Raikes, who had been previously 
 concealed in the stable, with her ayah and 
 infant ; and they all lay crouched on the 
 ground till about six in the morning, when 
 a party of sepoys came back to search for
 
 WOMEN AND CHILDREN ESCAPE FROM GWALIOR— JUNE, 1837. 311 
 
 officers. Hearing the wailing of the baby, 
 they called to the ayah, who was near the 
 door of the hut, to liand them any property 
 that was inside, and show them the child. 
 Slie was compelled to ol)ey ; and a general 
 shout arose — " Feringhee ke baba" (it is 
 the child of the foreigner) ; followed by a 
 piercing shriek from the mother. The sepoys 
 did not rush in, for they expected to find 
 the missing officers in the hut, armed with 
 the dreaded " revolver," carried by most 
 Europeans; but they began to untile the 
 roof, and fire on the wretched group 
 crouched down in a dark corner. Mrs. Coop- 
 land had snatched up a log of wood " as 
 some means of defence,"* but dropped it 
 at the first shot; and her husband ex- 
 claimed, " Let us rush out, and not die 
 like rats in a liole."t The terrified women 
 threw themse'ves upon the mercy of 
 tiie sepoys, exclaiming with clasped hands, 
 " Mut niaro, mut maro" (do not kill us). 
 " No," was the reply ; " we will not kill the 
 mem-sahibs, only the sahib." The ladies 
 surrounded the chaplain, and begged for 
 his life ; but in vain : they were dragged 
 away ; and he fled, pursued by the sepoys, 
 who slaughtered him near the cantonments ; 
 but not before he had killed two of them 
 with his rifle. J A young sepoy of the 
 4th Foot approached the terrified ladies, 
 and told them to give up any jewels they 
 had. The lives of women, he said, were 
 not wanted ; but they must obey orders ; for 
 the rule of tlu Feringhee was over, and the 
 rajah would soon be in cantonments. Then 
 he thrust them into a sweeper's hut, and left 
 them. They lay down; and the stillness 
 of their grief and terror was such, that IMrs. 
 Cuopland says, a little mouse crept out and 
 looked at them witli its bright eyes, and 
 was not afraid. Presently Mrs. Campbell 
 rushed in with Iier hair dishevelled, and in 
 a native dress. She had been alone in her 
 compound all night, and was lialf distracted 
 with fear. Next came Mrs. Kirk, the 
 widow of the superintending surgeon of 
 the Gwalior contingent, who had just been 
 killed in her presence. The wretches had 
 torn off her bracelets so roughly, that her 
 wrists were bruised and swollen — even her 
 wedding-ring was gone ; but her child, a 
 
 * Mrs. Cooi)l.Tid'.-i Kacnpc from Gwalior, p. 125. 
 
 t Mrs. Blake's Nayralivi', p. 4. 
 
 J So, at least, Mrs. Coopland was afterwards 
 assured by several natives. — Escape, Sfc, p. 120. 
 
 § Mrs. Gilbert, the wife of an absent contingent 
 ifficer, had been staving with Lieutenant Proctor: 
 
 boy of four years old, was safe in her arras. 
 He had been spared by the sepoys, who, 
 deceived by his long curls, had exclaimed 
 one to another — "Don't kill the little one; 
 it is a ' missie baba'" (a girl). A crowd of 
 natives gradually gathered round the hut, 
 and made their comments on the poor 
 women. The beauty of Mrs. Campbell, 
 once known as the " Rose of Gibraltar," 
 was conspicuous even at this moment; and 
 the gazers observed how well her feet 
 looked in Indian slippers. Mrs. Blake, 
 they remarked, was dying already. At 
 length some of the 2nd infantry came in, 
 and carried the miserable party to their lines. 
 On arriving there, several of the men said 
 to Mrs. Blake, in a faltering voice, "We will 
 take you to the sahib." A dead charger lay 
 on the road near the quarter-guard ; the 
 poor lady sickened at the sight. The sepoys 
 placed her on a charpoy, and gave her some 
 water. When she recovered, a subahdar of 
 her late husband's regiment bent on one 
 knee before her, saying the colours were 
 gone. All sense of danger was lost in grief; 
 and she exclaimed — " It is your own faults ; 
 where is he? and why did you kill him?" 
 The subahdar replied, that the major had 
 fallen by the hands of the 4th Foot, and 
 that his own men had buried him : the 
 latter statement was certainly true. At 
 this moment, Mrs. Gilbert and her child ar- 
 rived, with Mrs. Proctor: Lieutenant Proc- 
 tor had been killed almost in their sight. § 
 They were followed by some of the grena- 
 diers, and carried off' to their lines. The 
 men of the 2nd told Mrs. Blake they would 
 order her carriage to take her where she 
 pleased. It was a landau, calculated to hold 
 only two persons ; and the horses had been 
 harnessed since the previous night, ready 
 for flight. The five ladies, a nurse, two ser- 
 geants' wives, and some children got in, with 
 Mirza as driver. The sepoys put beer, cam- 
 phor-water, and plain water into the car- 
 riage ; and two of them escorted Mrs. Blake 
 half-way to the Lushkur, protesting their re- 
 gret for the loss of the sahib, and offering her 
 money, which, however, she did not r.eed, 
 having her purse and rings of value with her. 
 On reaching the palace of the maharajali, the 
 party were desired to hurry on at once to 
 
 her state of health rendered flight almo.st Impossible. 
 Her host and hostess (although ihey had planned lo 
 escape on horseback) would not abandon her; and 
 the party lay concealed through the night ; but being 
 discovered in the morning, the lieutenant was taken 
 away and murdered.
 
 342 
 
 THE FLIGHT FROM GWALIOR— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 Agra, and were provided with bullock-carts 
 for the purpose. The journey lasted three 
 Jays, and the disaflFection of the villagers 
 rendered it perilous. Mrs. Gilbert, Mrs. 
 Proctor, and Mrs. Quick, a sergeant's wife, 
 joined them on the road ; and their number 
 was further increased by a European belong- 
 ing to the Telegraph Company, with his wife 
 (an Eurasian) and her baby. This man, 
 instead of a support, was an additional bur- 
 den, on account of his excessive cowardice. 
 But for the vigilance and tact of the native, 
 who even Mrs. Coopland calls "the ever- 
 faithful Mirza," the journey could scarcely 
 have been accomplished; but heiiroclaiuicd 
 everywhere that the ladies were under the 
 protection of Siiulia, who would punish any 
 injiiry done to them. They halted for the 
 night at a large village near the Ciiumbul 
 river : the natives gathered round them, and, 
 looking at the ladies in succession, remarked 
 that they were not worth a pice (a farthing) 
 each, except Mrs. Campbell, who was de- 
 clared to be "hurra kubsoorut" (very 
 handsome), and worth an anna (about three 
 half-pence). Mirza had procured for his 
 helpless charges, chudders, or large white 
 veils, such as the natives use to wrap round 
 their heads and the upper part of their 
 persons. Mrs. Campbell strove to conceal 
 her face in the one she wore ; but the vil- 
 lagers drew it aside, saying, "We will look 
 at you." At another time the party were 
 pursued by some troopers, and Miraa almost 
 despaired of escape. He made tlie women 
 quit the carts and sit on the ground, bidding 
 them pretend to sleep. They did so, and 
 five sowars soon overtook them, and, on 
 seeing the carts drawn up, stopped and dis- 
 mounted. Mirza met the troopers; and 
 Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Campbell, "who were 
 well acquainted with Hindustani, heard him 
 pleading piteously for mercy. "See how tired 
 they are," he said ; " they have had no rest. 
 Let them sleep to-night; you can kill them 
 to-morrow : only let them sleep now." The 
 men went away a little distance; but as it 
 grew darker (for it was evening), they crept 
 nearer again, and began loading their match- 
 locks, and unsheathing their tulwars. Mirza 
 asked the ladies for any ornaments or money 
 they had about them, with which to propi- 
 tiate the sowars. Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. 
 Kirk had been already robbed. Mrs. Coop- 
 land had left her purse and jewels in Gwa- 
 lior; but she drew her wedding-ring from 
 her finger, and, tied it round her waist. 
 Mrs. Blake took off all her rings and other 
 
 ornaments, and gave them, with her money, 
 to Mirza, who handed them to the troopers. 
 The small amount of booty was a disap- 
 pointment, and they pointed a loaded pistol 
 at his breast, and made him swear that 
 there was nothing withheld. Mrs. Camp- 
 bell came forward, and offered them j640 
 to take a note from her to Captain Camp- 
 bell at Agra. They hesitated ; but at last 
 refused, saying it was a plot to be rid of 
 them, and to betray tlieni into the hands of 
 the authorities: they did not, however, fur- 
 ther molest the fugitives, who proceeded 
 safely to Dholjioor, the chief town on the 
 route between Agra and Gwalior, thirty- 
 four miles south of the former, and thirty- 
 seven miles north of the latter town. 
 
 Althcugh the raiia hiin>elf proved a most 
 valuable ally, the feeling of his subjects was 
 strongly hostile to the British ; and the party 
 of European women, in passing through the 
 town of Dholpoor, which extends on either 
 side of the river Chumbul, could not but ob- 
 serve the angry manner in which they were 
 regarded. They crossed the river in a ruc'tj 
 boat, scarcely better than a raft, and were 
 compelled to leave the ca,rts behind ; but 
 soon after reaching the further bank, a 
 trooper on a camel rode up, and gave Mrs. 
 Campbell a note. It was addressed to Sindia ; 
 and had been written by Captain Campbell 
 in the greatest distre^'j of miud, under the 
 belief that all in Gwalior, not of Major 
 Macpherson's party, had perished. He 
 begged that the slain in Gwalior might be 
 decently interred, especially his own wife. 
 This she herself read. The trooper ofl'ered 
 to take her to Captain Campbell, who had 
 come a few miles out of Agra, and was at 
 the dak bungalow at Munnia, resolved, at 
 any hazard, to learn his wife's fate. Mrs. 
 Campbell would not, however, leave her 
 companions, who depended much on her, 
 from her knowledge of the native language, 
 and her helpful, hopeful spirit, happily not 
 bowed by recent bereavement like that of 
 Mrs. Blake. Taking a pin, she pricked on 
 the back of her husband's note — " We are 
 here, more than a dozen women and children; 
 send us help :" and the trooper returned to 
 Captain Campbell with the welcome missive. 
 Encouraged by the prospect of speedy aid, 
 the poor women resumed their journey on 
 foot : some of them had neither shoes nor 
 stockings, and a birth and a death were 
 hourly expected. Mrs. Quick, the sergeant's 
 wife, was excessively corj)ulent, as Euro- 
 peans are apt to become in India. One
 
 FATE OP ARTILLERY OFFICERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. 
 
 343 
 
 cart, a small frail one, had broken down 
 under her before reaching the river, and slie 
 had toiled along slowly on foot, until room 
 had been made for her in another. The 
 intense heat of the walk on the sands 
 of the Churabul accelerated her end ; she 
 fell down in a fit of apoplexy, amid a group 
 of natives, who crowded round, laughing «t 
 her immense size, and mocking her. She 
 died in about a quarter of an hour, and her 
 companions were compelled to leave the 
 body, entreating the natives to bury her.* 
 It was a sad death for one of " the most 
 gentle and kind-hearted creatures that ever 
 existed. "t The rest of the party reached 
 Munnia in safety, where tliey found Cap- 
 tain Campbell; and halted for a few hours, 
 on account of Mrs. Gilbert, who gave birth 
 to a child. She and the infant were placed 
 on a charpoy, and carried to Agra, which 
 city the weary band reached at six o'clock on 
 the Friday morning, when they separated to 
 take up their abode with difterent friends, 
 or in the house appointed for the reception 
 of the Gwalior refugees, where Major Mac- 
 pherson and Mrs. lanes resided. Mirza 
 continued in faithful attendance on his mis- 
 tress until her departure for England. For 
 his reward, "government gave him only 
 £25, though he had lost more than that 
 at Gwalior.J 
 
 The artillery officers and their families 
 were supposed to have perished ; but, hap- 
 pily, some even of tliese had escaped. 
 Captain Stewart had been wounded on the 
 night of the outbreak by the infantry muti- 
 neers, but had been carried away, con- 
 cealed, and attended to till morning, by a 
 faithful servant, his bearer. Captain Haw- 
 kins might have escaped with his four elder 
 children; but he could neither leave nor 
 remove his wife and her infant, of three days 
 old. The artillerymen offered to conceal 
 them in the battery; and Captain Hawkins 
 sent a message desiring his wife and Mrs. 
 Stewart to come to the lines. Mrs. Hawkins 
 was carried thither on a bed by some men 
 of the artillery, accompanied by her nurse 
 with the infant; and a large party of ser- 
 vants followed with the four other children. 
 Mrs. Stewart set off in her carriage with her 
 children, and was iu much grief; for her 
 husband's horse had just dashed into the 
 compound without a rider, and she had 
 learned that his master was lying concealed, 
 and badly wounded. The party remained 
 
 * Mrs. Coopland's Escape from Gwaliur, p. 142. 
 -f Testimony of Lieut.-colont:l ijomerset Grove. 
 
 in safety during the Sunday night; but, on 
 the following morning, the infantry muti- 
 neers discovered that some Europeans were 
 hidden in the battery; and rushing into 
 the sort of yard where they were, fired a 
 volley, and then laid about them with their 
 tulwars. Captain Hawkins stood beside his 
 wife, holding her hand, when he and Mrs. 
 Stewart (who was clinging to his arm) were 
 killed by the same bullet. The nurse was 
 shot, and the infant in her arms is sup- 
 posed to have been killed by the fall. Two 
 boys, the children of Mrs. Stewart and 
 Mrs. Hawkins, were slain by a talwar; 
 but Mrs. Hawkins, with her three other 
 children and little Charlotte Stewart, a 
 girl of six years old, were not injured. 
 
 The sepoys, from their furious onslaught, 
 evidently expected to find several officers 
 assembled; otiierwise, they would have 
 taken care to spare the women and 
 children, according to the rule ob- 
 served throughout the Gwalior mutiny; for 
 although there were no less than six ladies 
 and eight children in the cantonments 
 at the time, without any male relatives 
 to assist their flight (their husbands and 
 fathers being on duty elsewhere), they all 
 escaped. Mrs. Ferris was one of these. 
 She, Mrs. Hennessy, and Mrs. Christison, 
 heard the alarm bugle while undressing for 
 the night, and fled to Sindia's palace with- 
 out shoes or bonnets. Their only protector 
 was young Hennessy, a brave lad of seven- 
 teen, who had several children (including 
 his own sister) to care for. All the party 
 joined the political agent safely; but Major 
 Ferris, who was iu command at one of the 
 out-stations, in trying to come into Gwa- 
 lior with another young ofiicer, was stopped 
 by the villagers, dragged from his gharry, 
 and so severely flogged that he died in con- 
 sequence. His companion was similarly 
 treated ; but he made his way to Agra, 
 and, after a long illness, eventually re- 
 covered. § 
 
 It is beyond a doubt, that generally, 
 throughout the insurrection, womanhood 
 and infancy found in sex and weakness 
 their best defence ; the mass of widows and 
 orphans who have escaped untouched by 
 fire or the sword, or fouler wrong, affords 
 strong proof of this ; and the fact is the 
 more remarkable, when it is remembered 
 ' that the maddened multitude had little 
 prospect for the future, save the alternatives 
 
 X Mi». Coopland's Escape from Gicaliar, p. 247 
 § Ibid., p. 156.
 
 344 
 
 INDORE AND MHOW— JULY 1st, 1857. 
 
 of starvation or a halter, and that a lead- ' 
 ing class of the insurgents at most of 
 the stations were released convicts, many 
 of whom were actually under sentence of 
 death. 
 
 Captain Stewart is said to have been shot 
 by the mutineers on the Monday morning. 
 After learning from his faithful servant the 
 death of hjs wife, he said he no longer 
 cared to live. The bearer concentrated his 
 devotion on his master's orphan, and assisted 
 her in escaping to Agra with Mrs. Hawkins 
 and her three children. That this poor 
 lady should have survived the frightful ex- 
 citement and fatigue she underwent, is one 
 of the marvels of the time. In her night 
 attire, prostrate and helpless, she had 
 witnessed the massacre of her kind and 
 brave husband, her two children, her 
 nurse, and friend, with the additional 
 anguish of feeling herself the cause of 
 hindering their flight on the previous 
 evening. The danger of her surviving 
 children compelled her to wrestle with both 
 grief and weakness. She was acquainted 
 with Colonel Filose, who liv^ with his 
 brother in the Lushkur, and held the com- 
 mand of the rajah's personal troops ; and 
 to him she wrote, asking for assistance. 
 These brothers were descended from the 
 well-known French officer of the same 
 name — one of the successful continental 
 adventurers who trained the Mahiatta 
 troops of former times, and rendered them 
 so dangerous to British power, until the 
 ground was cut from under their feet by 
 Marquis Wellesley's system of subsidiary 
 alliances. Colonel Filose sent a bullock- 
 cart fo- Mrs. Hawkins; and after staying 
 two nights in the cavalry lines, the sepoys 
 procured some clothes for her and her ehil- 
 drenj and they started for Agra, acconi- 
 pairted by little Charlotte Stewart and the 
 faitliful bearer. On the 22ud of June, the 
 fugitives reached their destination, after en- 
 countering some perils and extreme fatigue. 
 Besides the females already named, a 
 Mrs. Burrows was killed at Gwalior. She 
 was the widow of a commissary of ord- 
 nance, who had risen from the ranks, and 
 saved a great deal of money. He died a 
 short time before the mutiny, and his 
 widow buried his hoards. The sepoys, 
 
 * Mrs. Coopland's Escape from Qwalior, p. 155. 
 + Reportof Dr. Christison,Gwalio/, 4th July, 1858. 
 J See Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 391. 
 § The returns qcioted regarding the mutinous 
 regiments, give only those of the Bengal army, not 
 
 aware of this, commanded Mrs. Burrows to 
 jioint out the hidden treasure, and shot her 
 because she refused to reveal the secret.* 
 
 In all, twenty Europeans perished at 
 Gwalior, including five sergeants, a cor- 
 poral, and a drummer. The bodies (escei)t 
 that of Major Blake, which was imme- 
 diately interred in the grave-yard by the 
 men of his own corps) were buried by order 
 of the maharajah. None of them had been 
 stripped or mutilated.f 
 
 Indore and Mhow. — The city which gives 
 its name to the state was built in 1T67, by 
 the good and gifted princess, Ahalva Bye, 
 the widow of Mulliar Rao Holcar.J The 
 palace of the maharajah, and the British 
 Residency, are at Indore; but the principal 
 British force for this part of India is can- 
 toned thirteen miles to the south-west of 
 Indore, and a mile and a-half from the 
 town of Mhow. The troops in the Mhow 
 cantonments. May, 1857, consisted of — 
 
 Onecnnipanyot Artillery — Europeans, ^\ ; Natives, 
 98. Right wing of the 1st Light Cavahy— -Euro- 
 peans, 13; Natives, 282. The 23rd N.i.— £t«»- 
 pcans, 16 J Natives, 1,179. 
 
 Holcar's troops, the number and pay- 
 ment of which were regulated by treaty, 
 consisted of about 642 artillerymen, 3,820 
 cavalry, and 3,145 infantry', including the 
 contingent of horse, which he was bound to 
 furnish to the Supreme government. He like- 
 wise contributed annually to the mainte- 
 nance of the MalwaBheel corps; and a further 
 sum to the Malwa contingent, supported at 
 the expense of the various dependent princes 
 and chiefs of Malwa, but nevertheless a part 
 of the Bengal array, with which all the con- 
 tingent and subsidiary troops soon proved 
 their identity of feeling. Of the troops on 
 duty at Indore there is no official record ;§ 
 but, from private accounts, there were, 
 on tlie 1st of July, a regiment of Bhopal 
 contingent cavalry, three companies of 
 Bhopal contingent infantry, with two guns; 
 two companies of the Malwa Bheel corps, 
 and a body of Holcar's troops, infantry and 
 cavalry, with three guns. 
 
 Bhopal itself is. a native dependent state 
 of Malwa, bounded on the south-west by 
 the territories of Holcar and Sindia. The 
 reigning family are Patans^ but the great 
 
 the contingent and subsidiary troops. Neither is 
 there any circumstantial account in the Blue Books 
 regarding the revolt at Indore ; though there are 
 three separate ones, by Major Cooper, Captains 
 Hungerford and Brooks, of that at Mhow.
 
 HOLCAR, THE MAHARAJAH OP INDORE. 
 
 345 
 
 mass of the population are Hindoos. The 
 contingent, the principal station of which 
 was at Sehore (twenty miles from the capi- 
 tal), consisted, in all, of about 800 men, 
 including forty-eight artillerymen and four 
 European officers. 
 
 Holcar, like Sindia, early recognised the 
 little reliance which could be placed on the 
 Bengal or contingent regiments either at 
 Mhow or Indore, or even on the troops in his 
 own service. Of his personal fidelity no ap- 
 prehension was entertained by those who 
 knew him thoroughly ; but his youth and 
 inexperience, his energy of mind and body, 
 his popularity, the name he bore, and the 
 traditions of his race, were temptations 
 which sound judgment and high principle 
 could alone resist. He had been from boy- 
 hood of an adventurous turn, and loved to 
 spend whole days in the saddle, examining 
 every part of his dominions ; and to ramble 
 about his capital at night, incognito, like 
 Haroun ul Raschid; gaining information, 
 without any intermediary, of the condition 
 and temper of his subjects. The resident. 
 Sir Robert Hamilton, had filled his arduous 
 and delicate position with rare at)ility ; and 
 the strong aflfection which subsisted between 
 him and the young prince, was no less hon- 
 ourable to them personally than conducive 
 to the welfare of Indore. Unhappily, Sir 
 Robert was in England at the time of the 
 Meerut outbreak. Holcar wrote imme- 
 diately, urging his return ; and bestirred 
 himself in every possible way to prevent re- 
 volt, taking his stand in the most unequivo- 
 cal manner on the side of the British. 
 
 In the middle of May, incendiary fires* 
 gave evidence of disaffection ; but the e»- 
 citement subsided ; and the Europeans, both 
 at Indore and Mhow, were hopeful that 
 their isolated position, and the zeal and 
 ability of the native government, might 
 preserve the troops from the contagion of 
 mutiny. Colonel Piatt, of the 23rd N.I., 
 had been upwards of thirty years in 
 that regiment ; and, in the previous year, 
 when an opportunity occurred for his join- 
 ing a European corps, the men had united 
 in entreating him not to leave them. The j 
 news of the mutiny at Neemuch on the 
 3r(l of June, again unsettled the troops at 
 
 • Appendix to Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1857 ; 
 p. 321. 
 
 ■j- Return of regiments which mutinied (Com- 
 mons), March 15th, 1859; p. 6. 
 
 X Letter of Omeid Sing, a leading native func- 
 tionary, dated " Indore Palace, July 8th, 1857," 
 VOL. II 2 Y 
 
 Mhow; but the colonel exerted himself 
 strenuously to restore tranquillity, and 
 with some success. On the 16th, the offi- 
 cers were ordered to sleep in turn in the 
 lines, " more to reassure the men than 
 from apprehension of their mutinying. "f 
 This measure, though generally adopted 
 during the crisis, seems to have involved 
 the exposure of the lives of the officers to a 
 degree of danger not warranted by the 
 amount of benefit likely to be obtained. 
 In cases where they volunteered sleeping in 
 the lines, the offer showed a degree of confi- 
 dence in the men, which was in itself pre- 
 sumptive evidence of the influence thev 
 were capable of exercising: but where they 
 did not volunteer, it was unreasonable to 
 exact from them service certainly perilous, 
 and probably unavailing. 
 
 It appears that about 200 of Holcar's 
 infantry, and three guns, which had been 
 for some time stationed at or near the 
 Residency, in compliance with the express 
 request of Colonel Duraud,^ suddenly broke 
 into mutiny at eight o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of the 1st of July, and, attended by a 
 rabble from the city, fired on the Residency. 
 A messenger was immediately dispatched 
 from thence to Mhow, with a request for 
 aid. The majority of the troops were evi- 
 dently as much taken by surprise as the 
 Europeans themselves : an outbreak had no 
 doubt been regarded by both parties as 
 probable ; but a few determined malcon- 
 tents brought matters unexpectedly to an 
 issue. A lady (probably Mrs. Durand) who 
 was at the Residency, remarks, that on the 
 first firing of the rebel guns, the various 
 irregular troops seemed panic-sti ickcn ; and 
 that " neither the Native officers nor the 
 Europeans had any influence over these 
 men; and (though on our side) they \\cio 
 wholly unmanageable for any defensive 
 operations."^ The testimony of their 
 officer in command (Major Travers) is to 
 the same effect. The number of the muti- 
 neers was so insignificant, that he pre- 
 pared to charge them with a few troopers, 
 in the hope of eapturing the guns and 
 cutting up the infantr/. " My only 
 cavalry at the moment available, were," 
 he writes, " a few aitva}* kept saddled 
 
 and evidently addressed to Sir Robert Hamifton, 
 although his name is withheld. — Time', Aug. 25th, 
 1857. 
 
 § Letter dated " Mhow, August 5th, 1857 ;" pub- 
 lished in Times, September 26th, 1857, as written 
 " by the worthy daughter and wife of soldiers,"
 
 346 FLIGHT OF EUROPEANS FROM INDORE— JULY 1st, 1857. 
 
 in the square of the stable-yard: the 
 others being in the Mahidpoor* cavalry 
 lines, were in a measure cut oflF, and re- 
 quired time to saddle and come round. 
 The Mahidpoor infantry were neutral, and 
 our own (Bhopal) nearly in as bad a 
 state."t Placing himself at the head of 
 about twenty troopers, the major led the 
 way, but found that only six or seven of these 
 were following him. The rebels were quite 
 undecided how to act ; the gunners threw 
 themselves behind the guns; but Major 
 Travers felt that to persist in advanciug 
 would be madness : he therefore withdrew, 
 escaping unhurt himself, though his horse 
 was wounded in three places. The enemy 
 then moved their guns to a more conve- 
 nient position for attacking the Residency ; 
 but a subahdar, named Seo Lai, and the 
 gunners attached to two of the British 
 guns, behaved nobly, and repulsed the as- 
 sailants, disabling one of their 9-pouuders. 
 
 The rest of Major Travers' cavalry then 
 
 came up, asking to be led to the charge; 
 
 but he could find no bugler, neither could 
 
 he get the meu in proper order. " They 
 
 seemed," he considered, " uncertain whom 
 
 to trust ; and to lead them on as they then 
 
 were would have been destruction." The 
 
 whole of the infantry, except the Bheels, 
 
 who were posted inside the Residency and 
 
 in the verandah, were tacitly, and, at last, 
 
 openly mutinous, at first refusing to load, 
 
 and finally threatening to shoot their 
 
 ofBcers. At the expiration of an hour and 
 
 a-half from the commencement of the 
 
 mutiny, the evacuation of the Residency 
 
 was resolved upon. It might probably have 
 
 been held for some hours; but the large 
 
 proportion of women and children among 
 
 the Europeans, was a strong argument 
 
 for retreat, before the frenzy and numbers 
 
 of tKe mob should increase and render flight 
 
 impraclicable. Besides, the cavalry were 
 
 anxious to depart. The acting resident, 
 
 therefore, g;ave the order ; and he, with Mrs. 
 
 Durand, Captain and Mrs. Shakspear and 
 
 child, Mrs. Button, and nearly all the 
 
 other Europeaos (about thirty-two persons), 
 
 quitted ludore— the ladies and children on 
 
 the ammunition waggons; the gentlemen 
 
 on an elephant, aud some horses brought 
 
 by their servants. The escort consisted of 
 
 • Mahidpoor, or Mehidpjjre, the town from which 
 the head-quarters of the Malwa contingent take 
 their name, is situated in one of the outlying pos- 
 sessions of Indore, <in the right bank of the river 
 f^cppro, fifly-tliree miles from the ca'iital. 
 
 nearly 300 of the Bheel corps, a few of the 
 Bhopal infantry, and about 200 of the 
 cavalry, under Major Travers, bringing 
 up the rear. The Europeans retreated 
 slowly over the plain, looking back upon the 
 smoke and flame of burning bunr'alows. 
 They reached Bhopal in safety, and took 
 refuge with the begum in the fort ; but they 
 did not make any long stay there, as she 
 plainly told them that their presence was a 
 source of weakness to her, and endangered 
 the tranquillity of the state. The fugitives 
 therefore recommenced their travels; but, 
 before the close of the month, the advance 
 of a British column, and the firmness and 
 tact of the native government, enabled 
 them to return to Indore. 
 
 A few Europeans, and the mass of 
 Eurasians and native Christians connected 
 with the post-office, telegraph, and various 
 departments, fell victims to the first fury of 
 the mob. 
 
 Mhow. — A pencil note from Colonel 
 Durand reached Colonel Piatt at half-past 
 10 A.M. (July 1st), with inteUigeuce of the 
 attack on the ludore Residency. No pre- 
 cautionary measures had (Captain Hunger- 
 ford states in his official report J) been taken 
 until that very morning; when, at his ear- 
 nest request. Colonel Piatt allowed him to 
 occupy, with his artillery, the fort at Mhow j 
 the only place where Europeans could find 
 refuge in the event of mutiny. In compli- 
 ance with Colonel Durand's desire, the 
 battery, under the command of Captain 
 Hungerford, was at once sent ofi" towards 
 Indore; but after proceeding about half, 
 way on the road thither, its advance was 
 arrested by a sownr bearing a note from 
 Major Travers, with tidings of the evacuatiou 
 of Indore. Captain Hungerford marched 
 back to Mhow. In the meantime, a troop 
 of the 1st cavalry, under Captain Brooks 
 and another officer, was directed to pro- 
 ceed on the Bombay road, and recover the 
 guns belonging to Holcar, which had passed 
 unheeded through the cantonment about 
 two hours before, and which were now sup- 
 posed to have been sent on by the mutineers 
 to occupy the passe? and obstruct the ad- 
 vance of a movable column of troops, daily 
 expected for the reinforcement of the Bri- 
 tish in Malwa. Some few of the troopers 
 
 + Letter dated " Sehorc, July 4th, 1857;" pub- 
 lished in Times, October oth, 1857. Not signed, 
 thougli evidently written, by Major Travers. 
 
 X Dated ■' Mhow, Julv 4th."— Further Pari. Papers 
 on Mutiny, 1857 (No. 4), p. 120.
 
 THE MUTINY AT MHOW— JULY 1st, 1857. 
 
 347 
 
 demui-red, and lagged behind; but after- 
 wards followed well. On nearing the guns, 
 the cavalry charged and captured them, but 
 did not attempt to disarm the artillerymen 
 (about twenty-five in number), until they 
 were reinforced by two flank companies of 
 the 23rd N.I., under Captain Trower and 
 Lieutenant Westmacott ; after which the 
 gunners were disarmed, and the guns 
 brought back to cantonments. There was 
 no loss in either killed or wounded on the 
 side of the British, nor does Captain Brooks 
 state what he did with the disarmed troop- 
 ers ; but, from private accounts, it appears 
 that some, at least, were slain. The result 
 of the expedition was calculated to increase 
 the confidence reposed in the Native troops ; 
 and it appears to have done so; for the 
 ofBcer who accompanied Captain Brooks, 
 states, that after consultation among them- 
 selves,* it was agreed that the European 
 officers should all sleep in their lines ; and 
 Brooks himself remarks, that the ladies had 
 resorted to the fort wholly from an appre- 
 liension of an attack from the Indore muti- 
 neers ; in expectation of which, the sepoys 
 were bidden to hold themselves in readiness 
 to turn out at a moment's notice, and were 
 allowed to sleep each man with his arms 
 beside him. t Anofiicerof the23rdj (proba- 
 bly Captain Trower) bears contrary evidence 
 with regard to the infantry ; declaring that, 
 on the return of the men witii the guns, he 
 noticed their sulkiness. When proceeding 
 to the lines, to see the ammunition lodged, 
 the men told him they had an order to keep 
 forty rounds in their pouch. This he re- 
 solutely overruled ; and although he was 
 obeyed, it was with evident dissatisfaction. 
 While the officers were at dinner, a light 
 was seen on the roof of the mess- 
 house. It was put out at once by the cook. 
 Soon afterwards, another roof was seen to 
 be alight. The witness, whose account 
 has. been just quoted, went up and extin- 
 guished it with his cap, with the assistance 
 of a sepoy of the guard attached to his 
 own house. Then he returned to tal)le; 
 and the officers were about to separate, 
 when one of them remarked, " Tlie re- 
 port is, the regiment will rise at ten." It 
 then wanted but a few minutes of that 
 hour; and, before the clock struck, shots 
 were heard in the cavalry lines, and a voice 
 exclaimed that the cantonment was attacked 
 
 • Letter published in the Times, August 20th, 
 1857; by an officer of the 1st cavalry, 
 t Captain Brooks to the Deputy Adjutant-general, 
 
 in the rear by the Bheels. The officers 
 hurried to their companies, but soon dis- 
 covered the true state of the case; and, 
 being fired on, were glad to escape to the 
 fort. Private letters throw light on the 
 matter, which, in the public reports, seems 
 purposely withheld. The companilbn of 
 Captain Brooks in the morning's expedition 
 of the 1st cavalry, says that he and Captain 
 Brooks, on their triumphant return to can- 
 tonments, after seeing their horses in readi- 
 ness for an emergency, had had their tent 
 pitched two or three yards in front of the 
 main-guard, and had lain down side by 
 side in the same bed at half-past nine. 
 Before they had time to fall asleep, they 
 were roused by a small bungalow close by 
 having caught fire. It was extinguished ; 
 but the troopers stood together, talking 
 angrily about the men killed that morning. 
 The witness last quoted, describes with much 
 force the vengeful feehug by which the 
 rebels were actuated, and the manner in 
 which his appeal for help was responded to 
 by some noble-hearted natives, who saved 
 his life at the hazard of their own, and then 
 fled from the Europeans, fiUed with either 
 fear or aversion. 
 
 "The adjutant, Lieutenant Martin, was in the 
 centre of all the men, talking to them. I joined 
 him, and observed one man in my troop, a villain ; 
 he liad his carbine, and began to cavil with Martin 
 about some men Brooks and I had killed in the 
 morning. I, feeling sleepy, said to Martin, ' I'll 
 turn in ;' but, good God ! 1 had hardly turned my 
 back and got to Brooks' side, when an awful shriek 
 arose from the men, and the bullets whizzed around 
 us in torrents. The man I had observed lifted his 
 carbine first, and fired either at myself or Martin. 
 I leaped out of my tent, and saw Martin rushing 
 across the parade-ground, the wretches shrieking 
 after him. I reached him, and Brooks followed. 
 We felt our last moment was come, but we ran for 
 it. I led, and only screamed 'To the fort!' a mile 
 off. The men kept following us, and the bullets 
 fell thick. Having got across the parade-ground, 
 about 500 or 600 yards, we came to the hill with 
 the church at the top, and, when at the top, Martin 
 caught hold of me, exclaiming, ' For God's sake, 
 stop!' I caught hold of his arm, and said, 'Only 
 keep up, and follow ;' but at this moment I felt I 
 was done. AVe parted, as I thought, only to meet in 
 death. But, thank God! I rushed on and reached 
 a bungalow about a quarter of a mile from the fort. 
 By this lime the infantry had all risen ; and, as I ran, 
 the ground was torn up with bullets, and they fell 
 thick around me. Their lines were in a direct line 
 between the fort and ours, so that we, poor fellows, 
 had to run the gauntlet of both fires. I felt, 
 when I got to the bungalow, quite sick and done. 
 
 July 5th, 1857.— Further Pari. Papers on the Mu- 
 tiny, 1857 (not numbered), p. 133. 
 X Letter published in the Times, Aug. 19th, 1857.
 
 848 
 
 HOLCAR'S FEARLESS INTEGRITY— JULY, 1857. 
 
 Wonderful Providencel I sawtwo natiTes.and rushed 
 up to them, and simply took their hands, hardly 
 able to speak, and said, ' Save me !' They did. To 
 them I owe my life. At the moment the infantry 
 were coming screaming around. They hid me in a. 
 small house. Oh, those moments ! for I could not 
 trust the man, and felt sure he would give me up. 
 Some sepoys can--*, but did not find me. At last 
 there was a lull. I opened the door and ran for the 
 fort, my nigger friend having wrapped me in his 
 own clothing to disguise me. Can I ever make you 
 feel the deep thankfuln.^ss that was in roy heart as 
 I ran across the open plain, up the hill, to the fort ? 
 The artillerymen were manning the wsils, and the 
 gentry's call was never more thankfully received ; 
 and I cried ' Friend, friend !' and found' myself safe, 
 safe inside. My native friend had escorted me 
 safely ; but when I turned, as soon as I recovered, 
 he was gone, and I have never seen him since."* 
 
 Major Harris was the only officer killed 
 while endeavouring to escape. Colonel Piatt 
 was in the fort when the officers arrived one 
 by one, breathless and exhausted. The men 
 ou duty at the fort gate were immediately 
 disarmed and turned out by the artillery ; 
 and four guns of the horse battery were 
 made ready to proceed to the lines. The 
 colonel would not wait for them ; but, de- 
 siring Captaiu Fagan to attend him, rode off 
 to the lines. All night the return of the 
 two officers was anxiously expected in the 
 fort; but the next morning, their bodies, 
 and those of their horses, were found on the 
 parade-ground, riddled with bullets. It is 
 supposed they were shot down by a volley 
 while Colonel Piatt was addressing the men, 
 before the guns under Captain Hungerford 
 could come up. Their death was speedily 
 avenged. Grape and canister were poured 
 into the lines : many rebels were killed ; the 
 rest fled in wild confusion to Indore. Dr. 
 Thornton, of the 1st light cavalry, had 
 hidden himself in a drain, from whence he 
 emerged on the appearance of the artillery. 
 Strong proofs were given, at Mhow, of the 
 fascination with which the cause of the 
 mutineers was invested in sepoy eyes. For 
 iinsUnce— two men of the 23rd N.I., who 
 were out with Lieutenant Simpson on 
 picket duty, escorted hira safely to the fort 
 on the morning after the outbreak ; yet, 
 although Major Cooper promised to reward 
 their fidelity by promotion to the rank of 
 havildar, they subsequently deserted and 
 joiner' their comrades. The policy adopted 
 at Mhow was not calculated to diminish the 
 
 • Times, August 20th, 1857. 
 
 t Report of Captain Hungerford ; Mhow, July 
 4th, 1857.— Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 121. 
 
 t Major Cooper's despatch ; Mhow, July 9lh, 
 1857.-/iiy., p. 45. . ; . 
 
 growing unpopularity of the British cause 
 in Malwa. 
 
 Captain Hungerford, the commandant of 
 the fort, hastily concluded that, because the 
 Indore Residency had been attacked by 
 Holcar's troops, the maharajah himself 
 must needs be our enemy. Therefore, 
 while the life of the prince and of his minis- 
 ters were in extreme jeopardy, on account 
 of their uncompromising adherence to the 
 British cause. Captain Hungerford com- 
 menced the system so recklessly pursued nt 
 Allahabad, of punishing the innocent with 
 the guilty, by proclaiming martial law, and 
 sending for the guns, supported by flanking 
 parties of officers, to destroy the villages 
 surrounding Mhow,t without the slightest 
 reference to the native government, whose 
 revenues and authority were thus cruelly 
 injured at the very moment when it was 
 most important to strengthen both. But 
 Holcar's straightforward and fearless policy 
 placed his integrity beyond a doubt. After 
 having made a noble stand at Indore, he 
 sent a vakeel to Mhow, desiring to forward 
 thither British treasure to the amount of 
 £120,000, which he had partly saved from, 
 and partly recovered after, the outbreak, 
 together with notes of his own, to the value 
 of about £245,000. Still, it was not until 
 the Europeans learned the detention of the 
 expected Bombay column by mutiny on the 
 road, that they duly appreciated the value 
 of Holcar's friendship, inasmuch as on 
 him alone depended their preservation from 
 being blockaded " in a weak fort, utterly 
 untenable against an enemy with guns 
 for any length of time, with only a hand- 
 ful of Europeans in the midst of a 
 country risen all around. "J Another 
 officer of the 23rd, writing with the free- 
 dom of private correspondence, describes 
 the fort as a mere " store-place for spare 
 guns," dependent for water on b well 
 outside. The state of the little garrison 
 he speaks of as deplorable. The twenty- 
 one officers released from regular duty by 
 the mutiny of their men, formed themselves 
 into a volunteer corps, and relieved the 
 artillerymen of their night-watching, snatch- 
 ing sleep and food at intervals ; the ladies, 
 "huddled together" in the fort, found 
 employment in sewing bags of powder for 
 the guns ; and showed themselves ready 
 to do anything in their power to help 
 the common cause, even to keeping watch 
 on the bastions. The writer proceeds to 
 describe the gallows erected outside the fort
 
 INTERVIEW OF HOLCAR WITH THE REBELS— JULY, 1857. 349 
 
 gates ; and gives expression to the general 
 feeling of the Europeans, by declaring — 
 " Mercy is a word we have scratched out of 
 our memories; in fact, mercy to them is 
 death to us." These words were written 
 on the 6th of July, iu a station where no 
 woman or child, and only three males, had 
 been injured by the hands of the muti- 
 neers, and where some remarkable evi- 
 dence had been afforded of generosity and 
 fidelity on the part of the sepoys.* The 
 first Cawnpoor massacre was tlien not 
 known ; the second was perpetrated ten 
 days later — long after the English had 
 taken vengeance for their motto, and re- 
 solved on ignoring every suggestion of 
 mercy as incompatible with their own 
 safety. Women and children would have 
 had a very different prospect of safety and 
 good treatment at the hands of the rebels, 
 had they been viewed as hostages, or any 
 offer of amnesty held out in connexion with 
 them : but in too many of the scattered 
 stations, the first phase was blind security ; 
 the second, unreasoning panic; the third, 
 martial law, or, in other words, indiscrimi- 
 nate slaughter. 
 
 The tone adopted at Mhow complicated 
 the difiiculties of Holcar, who found him- 
 self between two fires. Early on the morn- 
 ing of the 2nd of July, the mutineers from 
 Mhow arrived at Indore, and fraternised 
 with their brethren. For two days the 
 utmost riot and disorder prevailed. The 
 rebels strove to intimidate the maharajah, 
 and demanded from him the heads of some 
 Europeans, or Eurasians and native Chris- 
 tians, who had taken refuge in the palace, 
 together with those of his advisers who 
 were considered most in the interest of the 
 Kafirs (infidels) — namely, Omeid Sing, Ram 
 Chundra, Khooman, and Gunish. This he 
 indignantly refused. On the 4th, the mu- 
 tineers and the rabble growing bolder, 
 commenced a general plunder of Indore. 
 The maharajah seems, up to this time, to 
 have remained quietly watching the pro- 
 gress of events, which he was powerless to 
 control ; but now, finding that no British 
 reinforcement came to his aid, and that his 
 peaceful subjects were being trampled on 
 by armed ruffians, he mounted his horse, 
 and, with a very few stanch followers, rode 
 to the rebel camp. Tlie scene which en- 
 sued reads like an extract from the graphic 
 
 • Letter of an officer of Ist cavalry; already 
 quoted. — Times, August 20th, 1857. 
 
 pages of the Mahratta historian. Grant 
 Duff. The young chief addressed his eager 
 listeners with force and dignity. With re- 
 gard to the refugees in his palace, and his 
 unpopular retainers, he declared that — 
 alive, he would protect them ; dead, he 
 would not even surrender their bodies. 
 The troops had previously set his orders at 
 nought by attacking the British, on the 
 ground that religion was the cause of the 
 mutiny, and they would not act against 
 their brethren. Holcar now bade them, 
 in the name of religion, cease from plun- 
 dering Indore, or he would take arms 
 against them, and die discharging his 
 duty as a ruler. The rebels changed 
 their ground — reminded the young chief ot 
 his famous ancestor, Jeswunt Rao Holcar, 
 and urged him to lay the spear on his 
 shoulder, and lead them to Delhi ; for the 
 star of the British in the Eiist had set, 
 owing to their pride and faitlilessness. As 
 an irresistible motive, the spokesman added, 
 that his highness must not prove himself a 
 coward. Holcar was superior to the taunt, 
 and brave enough to bear the imputation 
 of cowardice from his own troops. He re- 
 plied, with singular tact aud courage, that 
 he had not inherited tlie strength of his 
 forefathers ; moreover, he did not think 
 rapine and the murder of women aud chil- 
 dren a part of any religion, and lie was no 
 fit companion for those who did. (In fact, 
 the majority of his hearers knew that these 
 crimes were utterly opposed to tlie spirit 
 of the Brahrainical creed ; and Sevajee, the 
 founder of the Mahratta empire, had de- 
 creed that, even in war, cows, cultivators, 
 and women were never to be molested). f 
 
 Holcar returned to his palace ; the plun- 
 dering of the city ceased ; aud the ring- 
 leaders, and the mass of the mutineers, 
 with some guns and treasure, marched off to 
 Delhi. The maharajah succeeded in res- 
 cuing a portion of the treasure, and, iu .ic- 
 cordance with his previous intimation, sent 
 it, and all over which he had any control, 
 with the Christian refugees, over to the fort 
 at Mhow, under a strong escort. Omeid 
 Sing, from whose graphic narrative, dated 
 "Indore palace, July 8th, 1857," and evi- 
 dently addressed to Sir R. Hamilton, J the 
 particulars of Holcar's conduct are chiefly 
 obtained — states that, on the previous even- 
 ing, a letter had been received at the palace 
 
 + Indian Empire, vol. i., p. 148. 
 X Times,, August 2ath, 1857. 
 
 J
 
 350 
 
 NATIVE STATES OF AMJHERRA AND JABOOAH. 
 
 from Captain Elliot,* alleging that Lieu- 
 tcuant Hutchinson (the Bheel agent) and 
 his wife (the daughter of Sir Robert Hamil- 
 ton) had fled from Bhopawur in disguise, and 
 were in captivity at Amjherra. A portion 
 of Holcar's troops had remained with him ; 
 and although, of these, many were dis- 
 affected, and all more or less compromised, 
 he immediately sent a considerable detach- 
 ment of picked men, comprising 300 foot, 
 200 horse, and two guns, to attack Am- 
 jherra, and release the Europeans. In 
 conclusion, Omcid Sing entreated Sir R. 
 Hamilton to return with all speed j de- 
 claring that his presence would be equal to 
 five regiments. " Pray do come out soon, 
 or Malwa is gone. Should I survive this 
 row, I will write again ; but there re- 1 
 mains very little hope : his highncss's 
 troops arc completely disorganised and 
 disaffcctcd."t i 
 
 Blwpaiimr, — is a town in Amjherra, a' 
 petty Rajpoot state iu Malwa; the rajah of 
 which maintained 1,000 infantry on his own 
 behalf, and paid a subsidy to the Sujjrcme 
 government, in the form of au annual con- 
 tribution, towards the maintenance of the 
 Malwa Bheel corps, which, as has been 
 said, was only a local name for a portion 
 of the Bengal army, snaintained at the 
 expense of the princes and chiefs of Malwa, 
 but wholly it)depende)it of their control. 
 On the 2nd of July, tidings reached Bho- 
 pawur of the attack on the Indore Resi- 
 dency by Holcar's troops; and it was 
 asserted, that the maharajah had himself 
 joined in the revolt. The effect of the in- 
 telligence on the petty chiefs around was 
 immediate ; and the few Europeans located 
 at Bhopawur and its vicinity, learned, with 
 alarm, that the station was menaced by an 
 attack from the Amjherra troops. The de- 
 tachment of the Bheel corps stationed at 
 Bhopawur, consisting of about 200 men, 
 seemed firm ; and Lieutenant Hutchinson 
 and the medical officer (Dr. Chisholm), 
 
 • The Captain Elliot referred to, is probably the 
 person mentioned by Mr. Ciimming, the brother of 
 the Gordon Cumniing of lion-hunting notoriety, as 
 having been staying with him at Maunpoor (four- 
 teen miles from Mhow, and twenty-eight from In- 
 dore) at the time of the mutiny. "Elliot, of the 
 Thu<.'gce department, and his wife, had," he writes, 
 been staying with hiiu for some time; " but they went 
 to Indore on the morning of the 1st of July, in- 
 tending to return in the evening;" and, of course, 
 on learning ■< ! . had occurred, took refuge with the 
 other Eurojjcans in the fort. Mr. Camming, how- 
 ever, although the only European functionary at 
 
 after cousidting together, resolved to make 
 a stand at the lines. In the middle of the 
 night, an express arrived from Dhar (a 
 Rajpoot principality adjoining Amjherra), 
 with the news that some ^Mohammedan 
 troops there had revolted, and were march- 
 ing iu force on Bhopawur. At this time 
 only about thirty Bhecls remained in the 
 lines ; the others had stolen away from fear ; 
 and those who liad not deserted, were evi- 
 dently little disposed to brave a struggle 
 with the expected enemy. Had they been 
 alone, the two Europeans might have been 
 disposed to wait the event; but there were 
 women and children to be protected. 
 Therefore, after disguising themselves in 
 native clothing, and directing their ser- 
 vants to speak of them as I'arsec mer- 
 chants and their families going to Baroda, 
 they commenced their flight : Mrs. Stock- 
 ley (the wife of the colonel of the Bhccl 
 regiment), her ayah, and her fom- children, 
 in one cart; Lieutenant and Mrs. lltitchin- 
 sou, their ayah and l)aby, in another; with 
 Dr. Chisholm on horseback, started for 
 Jabooah, attended by several servants. J 
 
 Juhooah, — is a small subsidiary native 
 state, bcLwecn Indore and Amjherra. The 
 reigning family claim descent from the 
 Rahtore princes of Joudpoor; but the 
 population (returned at 132,10-i persons) 
 consists chiefly of a civilised class of Bheels. 
 The fugitives dispatched a horseman to the 
 yom:g rajah, asking for au escort to meet 
 them ; but had scarcely arrivc<l within his 
 territoiy, before they learned that a party 
 of trooj)s from Amjherra were at their 
 heels. The timely arrival of a hundred 
 Bhecls from Jabooah changed the aspect of 
 affairs. After halting for awhile at a vil- 
 lage, where the head man gave up his own 
 dinner to them, they started afresh, and 
 proceeded some distance to the house of a 
 liquor vendor, where they passed the night. 
 Early in the morning. Lieutenant Hutchin- 
 son overheard the Bheels talking amon^ 
 
 Jlaunjjoor, resolved on making an effort to retain 
 his position, and assembled round him a motley 
 force of " road police, armed with carbines; Bheels, 
 with bows; and Bundclcund men, with long match- 
 locks (some 200 men in all), and a few sowars." 
 Willi these auxilinries he held his ground. — Times, 
 September 2nd, 1GJ7. 
 
 t Letter of Omeid Sing. — Times, August 25th, 
 1857. The letter is evidently not a translation, but 
 written in colloquial English, wilh a suilicient ad- 
 mixture of Indian turns of thought and expression 
 to attest the extraction of the writer. 
 
 t Letter of Dr. Chisholm.— ri'mes, Sept. 2nd, 1857.
 
 THE MUTINY AT AUGUR— JULY 4th, 1857. 
 
 351 
 
 themselves in a most murderous strain. 
 He sprang up, and roused his companions, 
 saying it was time to start. The journey 
 was resumed, and terminated safely at 
 Jabooah early on the 5th of July.* 
 
 The rajah, a good-looking youth of 
 sixteen, received the Europeans very kindly. 
 In consequence of his minority, the man- 
 agement of affairs rested in the hands of 
 his grandmother ; and she, in the true 
 spirit of a Rajpootni, exerted herself in 
 every possible way for the safety and com- 
 fort of her way-worn guests. " To protect 
 us," Dr. Chisholm writes, " was as much as 
 she could do ; for there were a number of 
 Arabs and men of that class in the employ 
 of the chief; and these fanatics loudly de- 
 manded our surrender, that they might put 
 us to death. The family themselves are 
 Rajpoots, and had fortunately a number of 
 Rajpoot retainers about them. To these 
 they assigned our protection ; and faitli- 
 fully did they execute their trust. Not a 
 Mussulman sepoy was allowed to approach 
 our quarters in the palace."t 
 
 On tlie 8th of July, a messenger arrived 
 with a communication from Holcar, who 
 had dispatched an expedition against Ja- 
 booah, under the impression that the Euro- 
 peans were forcibly detained there ; but on 
 discovering the true state of the case, the 
 expedition was recalled, and an escort sent, 
 which reached its destination on the 10th ; 
 and, on the 12th, the fugitives quitted 
 their kind protectors. Lieutenant Hutchin- 
 son had received a letter from Holcar, 
 entreating him to repair to Indore forth- 
 with, that the kingdom might be preserved 
 during the absence of Sir R. Hamilton. 
 Hutchinson writes — " I had such implicit 
 faith in Holcar's friendsliip, that I did not 
 liesitate to place myself and family under 
 the protection of his troops, for the purpose 
 of proceeding to Indore, to assume charge 
 of the agency during the absence of Colonel 
 Duraud ; and, by my presence and advice, to 
 assure and guide Holcar through the crisis." 
 Repeated warnings from the Europeans at 
 Mhow, induced Lieutenant Hutchinson to 
 relinquish the idea of residing at Indore ; 
 and he wrote to the maharajah, explaining 
 that the excited state of the Native troops, 
 who had not yet absolutely revolted, ren- 
 
 • Letter of Lieutenant A. B. E. Hutchinson, 
 Blieel agent, and political assistant at Bhopawur.^ 
 Times, September 10th, 1857. 
 
 t Letter of Dr. Chisholm ; published in the Times, 
 September 2na, 1857. 
 
 dered the presence of a European inad- 
 visable, as it was the best policy to ward 
 off, as far ae possible, a second outbreak, 
 until the arrival of British reinforcements. 
 He, however, came to Mhow, and assumed 
 charge of the agency, and the people ap- 
 peared reassured by his presence. 
 
 On the 30th of July, the long-expected 
 column reached Mhow ; and Colonel Du- 
 rand, who accompanied it, resumed his 
 duties as acting resident (without, however, 
 venturing to join Holcar at Indore), until 
 Sir Robert Hamilton returned from Eng- 
 land — to the joy of the maharajah, and 
 the great advantage of the British com- 
 missariat. 
 
 Augur, — is a large town in the dominions 
 of Siiidia, about thirty-six miles from 
 Oojein. The 5th infantry regiment, Gw.-ilior 
 contingent, commanded by Captain Carter, 
 Avas stationed here, together with a field 
 battery, and some of the Gwalior cavalry. 
 Besides the officers on duty, three others, 
 namely. Major Macpherson (not the Gwalior 
 resident), Captain Ryall, and Dr. Sillifaut, 
 had taken refuge at Augur, when expelled 
 from Seepree by the mutiny of the 3rd 
 regiment of the Gwalior contingent on the 
 18th of June. 
 
 The outbreak at Augur was very sudden. 
 Shortly before it took place. Captain Carter 
 had obtained 1,353 rupees, and a promise 
 of 500 more, to enable the men to rebuild 
 their huts, which had been for the most 
 part washed down by the first fall of rain 
 (thirty-six hours in duration). He had 
 been earnest in encouraging them to work 
 hard, and restore their habitations before 
 the next downpouring, and they had 
 laboured with industry and cheerfulness. 
 Up to 9 P.M., July 3rd, the men were 
 reported "loyal and obedient as ever;" but, 
 after that time, much excitement prevailed 
 in the lines. It appears that Captain Carter 
 had applied to the Gwalior authorities for 
 pay for the men. The orderlies sent on 
 this errand, on reaching Gwalior, were 
 taunted by the mutineers with wearing the 
 British uniform. The answer returned is 
 not on record ; but a mounted orderly from 
 Gwalior arrived, with directions to withhold 
 the pay of the 5th infantry. The news 
 created great dissatisfaction, which was 
 reported to Captain Carter on the evening 
 of the 3rd ; and, soon after daybreak on 
 the following morning, his native orderlies 
 brought word that the men were running 
 to and fro, as if bewildered. Springing
 
 362 
 
 BOURBON COMMUNITY AT ECHAWUR, IN BHOPAL. 
 
 from his bed, Captain Carter called to the 
 adjutacit, Lieutenant O'Dowda, to dress and 
 accompany him to the parade. The horse 
 of the adjutant stood ready saddled : he 
 mounted it, and galloped alone to tlie lines, 
 which he had scarcely entered before he was 
 shot down; at the same time, the havildar- 
 major and the pay havildar, both of whom 
 were known to be thoroughly stauch to the 
 British, were killed. 
 
 While the liorse of Captain Carter was 
 being saddled, a report was brought him 
 that a large body of cavalry and infantry 
 mutineers was advancing on the parade- 
 ground. Believing this to be true, he 
 mounted and rode over to the house of 
 Captain le Marchand, the artillery officer, 
 to request him to take charge of two guns 
 of the Mahidpoor contingent, in position 
 at the quarter- guard. Then he proceeded 
 towards the lines ; and, on the way, met a 
 European sergeant, who said that the regi- 
 ment was in open mutiny, and had warned 
 him away. Still the captain pressed on till 
 stopped by four sepoys, who with raised 
 hands implored him to return, or he would 
 be shot. Lieutenant Macdougal also came 
 up : he had seen the men of the different 
 companies loading their arras; they iiad not 
 been insolent, but had quietly warned him 
 away. It was evidently useless to persist 
 further, and the officers turned back, and 
 prepared for flight. Dr. and Mrs. James 
 had already quitted the station. Their 
 horses stood saddled for a morning ride, and 
 they mounted and rode off. Tlieir fate was 
 long uncertain ; but the most reliable ac- 
 count describes them as having been mur- 
 dered at a village about eight miles from 
 Augur. The other Europeans were more 
 fortunate, at least those whose position gave 
 them means of escape ; but the sergeants, 
 half-caste clerks, and others, were sacrificed, 
 as was too commonly the case, to tlie fury 
 •of the rabble. The party who escaped 
 comprised twenty persons, of whom the 
 majority were women and children. The 
 wives and infants of two absent officers 
 — Captains Burlton and Harrison, of the 
 2nd cavalry — were among those who most 
 required protection. Dr. Wilson, the me- 
 dical officer in charge of the station, had a 
 double-seated curricle with fast horses: in 
 this he placed the two ladies, each of 
 whom had a baby in her arms ; one of these 
 was just twelve days old. The servants 
 threw in some blankets and bedding while 
 the horses were being harnessed ; hut not a 
 
 single native, either sepoy or servant, would 
 accompany the fugitives. The departure 
 was most hurried ; for the sight of two 
 burning bungalows, and the sounds of pil- 
 lage and destruction, warned the Europeans 
 of the necessity for instant flight. A bul- 
 lock-cart was procured for the remainder 
 of the ladies and children ; the gentlemen 
 mounted their horses ; and the fugitives 
 set forth on their journey, ignorant of the 
 road, with nothing but the clothes they 
 wore ; and those of the scantiest description ; 
 for some persons were in night-dresses, 
 bare-footed and bare-legged, as they had 
 risen from their beds.* Ou the 14th, the 
 whole party reached the British station 
 of Hooshungabad in safety ;t and Mrs. Har- 
 rison had the relief of meeting there her 
 husband, the officer second in command of 
 the 2nd cavalry, Gwalior contingent, who 
 was supposed to have perished. 
 
 The journey had its remarkable incidents, 
 not the least interesting of which was the 
 kind reception given to the wayfarers at 
 Echawur — a town in the Bhopal territory, 
 twelve miles south of Sehore. The governor, 
 John de Silva, commonly known as Jan 
 Sahib, wore the dress of a Mussulman ; but 
 was a Portuguese by birth, and a Christian 
 by creed. His grateful guests pronounced 
 him a Christian by practice also, for he 
 manifested every care for their wants, and 
 treated them with a respectful sympathy, 
 which was very soothing after the con- 
 temptuous indifference evinced by the na- 
 tives, who had shown no pity for their dis- 
 tressing position, but had regarded them 
 as " despicable Feringbees, whose reign was 
 over." Dr. Wilson draws a pleasant picture 
 of Jan Sahib, and the little community over 
 which he presided, in h. very patriarchal 
 fashion. Several old Frenchmen (Bourbons) 
 resided at Echawur, who had emigrated in 
 the days of the revolution. Some of these 
 had served under the British government, 
 and were among its pensionaries ; but all had 
 adopted Mussulman names. There was an 
 intelligent young man, named Nicholas 
 Reilly, who called himself an Irishman, 
 having been born of Irish parents at Cawn- 
 poor. He, with a number of other Chris- 
 tians, had taken service under tiie begum, 
 Doolan Sahib, the jaghiredar or ruler of 
 the Echawur district, who was herself a 
 Christian, but was absent at the time, having 
 been summoned to Bhopal by the reigning 
 
 * Account by Dr. Wilson, dated July IGth, 18157. 
 t Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), 1857; p. 15.
 
 REVOLT OF Isr CAVALRY, G.C., AT ALIGHUR— JULY Bed, 1857. 353 
 
 begum. Notwithstanding his foreign ex- 
 traction, Jan Sahib was a popular governor. 
 " Easy and affable in manner, deeply versed 
 in the knowledge of drugs and disease, he 
 commanded the respect of all around him 
 as a man of wonderful attainments. He 
 exhibited with honest pride his medicine 
 chest, which contained phials of calomel, 
 jalajj, essence of cinnamon, and oil of lemon- 
 grass, with which he successfully m'uistered 
 to the wauts of thousands."* Dr. Wilson 
 adds, that every member of the little band 
 would " long cherish in grateful recollection 
 the worthy governor of Echawur." Perhaps 
 some of them learned a lesson in the art of 
 ruling, which they might hope to profit by 
 in happier times. 
 
 Alighur, — The 1st cavalry of the Gwalior 
 contingent joined the mutiny, as if impelled 
 by some irresistible fascination. At mid- 
 day on the 3rd of July, the Native officers 
 waited on their commander. Captain Wil- 
 liam Alexander, and, with tears and lamen- 
 tations, told him that the regiment must be 
 broken up ; for they had received an order 
 
 from the King of Delhi, and letters threat- 
 ening the most terrible vengeance on their 
 families in the event of their not abandon- 
 ing the service of the British; therefore 
 Captain Alexander and his countrymen 
 must start at once for Agra. Resistance 
 was futile; Captain Alexander, Lieutenant 
 Cockburn, and Dr. Christison, mounted 
 their horses ; while the whole of the men 
 crowded round them, and insisted on shaking 
 hands. The regimental banker had disap- 
 peared, and the servants of the officers were 
 in distress for money, as the bunneahs 
 (traders) would not let them follow their 
 masters without first paying their bazaar 
 debts ; whereupon a Native officer brought 
 out a bag of rupees, and gave some to all 
 the servants. A non-commissioned officer, 
 and twenty sowars, assisted in lading the 
 baggage; and the Europeans started, at- 
 tended by a regular escort, and "accom- 
 panied for some distance by Native officers 
 and men, all clinging to them, and crying 
 bitterly." They reached Agra, with their 
 baggage, on the following day.f 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 TERRITORIES OF THE NIZAM, AURUNOABAD, AND HYDERABAD.— MAY TO AUGUST. 
 AGRA.-JUNE TO SEPTEMBER. SAUGOR: THE PUNJAB, JULLUNDUR, JHELUM, 
 IHILLOUR, UMRITSIR, AND SEALKOTE.— JUNE AND JULY, 1867. 
 
 The recent history of Hyderabad formed 
 an important feature in the introductory 
 chapter, regarding the causes of the mutiny. 
 Had the proud prince, from whom the three 
 finest districts in his territory were wre; ted 
 in 1853, for the maintenance of a British 
 contingent, lived to see the mutiny of 1857, 
 he might have been sorely tempted to listen 
 to the passionate entreaties of liis fanatical 
 and disaffected subjects, to hoist the green 
 flag of Mohammed, and write in blood and 
 flame a refutation of one of the most inex- 
 cusable insults ever offered by a British 
 governor-general in council to an old and 
 faithful ally — " Remember you are but as 
 
 • The Bombay Times gives this narrative at 
 length. The Friend of India, in commenting 
 thereon, remarks, " that it is eminently instruc- 
 tive ; and will go far to disprove the assertion, 
 that the revolt in Hindoostan was caused solely 
 by a discontented soldiery." — August 27th, 1857; 
 p. 817. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 z 
 
 the dust under my feet."t But the Nizam 
 slept with his fathers when the sword on 
 which the E. I. Company relied was turned 
 against them, as it were, by an unseen hand, 
 and the despised native princes, after being 
 trodden under foot, were appealed to with 
 eager respect as honourable and powerful 
 allies. Happily for all parties, two excellent 
 advisers were beside the young Nizam when 
 the crisis came; and he had the good sense 
 to listen to their counsels, and turn a ^eaf 
 : ear to the popular clamour. One of these 
 I was the venerable Shums-ool-Omrah ;§ the 
 other the dewan, Salar Jung. 
 
 The troops stationed at Aurungabad were 
 
 t Manuscript account by Captain W. Alexander. 
 
 j The actual words of the despatch sent to Hyder- 
 abad J which were suppressed in the Blue-Book ver- 
 sion prepared for parliament. See Introductory 
 Chapter, p. 65 ; and Mr. Bright's speech in the 
 House of Commons, June 24th, 1858, 
 
 § See Introductory Chapter, p. 56.
 
 354 
 
 AURUNGABAD— STATE OF THE NIZAM'S CONTINGENT. 
 
 the 1st regiment of irregular cavalry of the 
 Nizam's contingent, and the 2nd infantry, 
 which corps had only recently arrived there. 
 The oflScer in command of the cavalry. Cap- 
 tain Abbott, had seen' no symptom of dis- 
 affection ; but, on subsequent inquiry, it 
 appeared that rumours were abroad of the 
 intention of government to send the regi- 
 ment to join a column which was to be 
 composed almost exclusively of Europeans. 
 Captain Abbott, in ignorance of these re- 
 ports, intimated, early on the morning of the 
 12th of June, his intention of coming to the 
 lines in the afternoon to look at the horses. 
 The men concluded the intended examina- 
 tion to be preparatory to a march ; and, at 
 mid-day, while Captain Abbott was presiding 
 over a court of inquiry at the mess-house, a 
 non-commissioned officer and his brother 
 (Seiks) came and informed him that the 
 men were in a state of mutiny ; that they 
 declared they had been enlisted for service 
 in the Deccan, and would not march beyond 
 it; and that many, both Mussulmans and 
 Hindoos, had taken an oath not to fight 
 against their padshah, or emperor, meaning 
 the son of the old King of Delhi, who had 
 been set up by the mutineers. It was fur- 
 ther intimated, that if Captain Abbott, Lieu- 
 tenant Dowker, and the senior risaldar, pro- 
 ceeded to the lines that afternoon for the 
 purpose of giving marching orders, they 
 would be shot. The three officers went on 
 parade, and assured the cavalry that they 
 were not aware of any intention on the part 
 of government such as" they suspected.* 
 
 The resident at Hyderabad (Davidson), 
 when informed of these proceedings, ap- 
 proved of them, as at present no succour 
 could be sent to Aurungabad ; and desired 
 Captain Abbott to assemble the 1st cavalry, 
 and assure the men from him, — 
 
 "Both in his capacity as British resident, and 
 as their old friend and brother^Dtiicer, that he is 
 gatisfied that their present conduct arises from the 
 pernicious counsels of bad and designing men. 
 
 "That the government have no intention to call 
 for their services to act against the King of Delhi, 
 who is himself a supplicant for the protection of the 
 
 • Captain Abbott's Report, dated " Aurungabad, 
 June 13th, 1857."— Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (not 
 numbered), pp. 83 — 85. 
 
 t Despatch of Major Briggs, secretary to resident; 
 June 16th, 1851.— Ibid., pp. 85, 86. 
 
 X Despatch of secretary to government (Colonel 
 Birch), June 29th, \851.— Ibid., p. 86. 
 
 § Captain Abbott's Report. — Ibid., p. 86. 
 
 II Some of them had already started. One of 
 these, the wife of an officer of the 2nd infantry, 
 
 British government ; but, wherever their services 
 are required, it will be necessary for the regiment 
 to obey. 
 
 " The resident trusts that by the early return of 
 the corps to fidelity, he will be able to induce gov- 
 ernment to overlook their present proceedings ; but, 
 at the same time, to point out the ruin and disgrace 
 that a persistence in their present conduct must 
 inevitably have. 
 
 " You will be pleased to mention that the resi- 
 dent had hoped to be able proudly to point out to 
 government, that every corps in the contingent was 
 stanch and loyal. The 3rd cavalry are now in the 
 field against the mutineers ; the 2nd are in charge 
 of the Residency ; and the whole corps have volun- 
 teered to march to suppress the revolt of l)elhi."t 
 
 Of this strangely-worded and compromis- 
 ing message to the mutineers, the governor- 
 general in council approved, excepting the 
 intimation that, in the event of future goi>d 
 conduct, their past proceedings would be 
 overlooked :J but this was, iu fact, the only 
 portion which was likely to make any im- 
 pression on the sepoys; for although the 
 King of Delhi might be, and actually was, 
 a supplicant, yet he was publicly spoken 
 of as a rebel and a leader of rebels ; not as 
 an old man in his dotage, who had fallen 
 on evil times, and become the puppet ot a 
 revolutionary array. 
 
 The resident's assertion regarding the 
 loyalty of the rest of the Hyderabad con- 
 tingent, was likely to provoke diseussiou ; 
 for one of the reports, mentioned by Cap- 
 tain Abbott as circulated and credited by 
 his men, was, that the 3rd cavalry had 
 been entrapped into the service on which 
 they had been sent, and intended to desert : 
 moreover, that one of their most influential 
 Native officers had already done so.§ The 
 men of the 2nd infantry showed no sym- 
 pathy with the cavalry, but remained per- 
 fectly quiet. 
 
 On the 13th of June, a report was spread 
 by a syce that the infantry and guns had 
 been ordered out against the cavalry; and 
 so much excitement was thereby caused, 
 that, on the Sunday afternoon, the ladies 
 and children were sent off to Ahmed nug- 
 gur,|| sixty-eight miles to the north-east, 
 under the charge of Captain Mayne ; and a 
 
 gave a very interesting, account of her flight, which 
 was published in the leading London journals. On 
 the night of the 12th June, it was rfporttd that the 
 cavalry were arming, and intended to murder the 
 officers of the 2nd infantry. The lady in question, 
 with her children, was entrusted by her husband to 
 the care of Booran Bucksh (a trooper of jhe 3rd 
 Hyderabad cavalry), in whose zeal and integ- 
 rity of character they had perfect confidence. 
 lie pitied the distress of the European officer, niiU
 
 AURUNGABAD— 1st CONTINGENT CAVALRY DISARMED. 355 
 
 request was made to tlie commander-in- 
 chief of the Bombay army, to march the 
 movable column assembling at Malligaum 
 for the reinforcement of Indore, upon Au- 
 rungabad. In the course of the same 
 evening another explanation took place 
 between the European officers and the 
 troopers, which induced Captain Abbott to 
 believe that the regiment would now, as a 
 body, become quiet and orderly : he there- 
 fore wrote to countermnnrl the assistance 
 he had requested from Ahmednuggur, as the 
 1st cavalry did not need coercion. But the 
 resident had, with equal rapidity, changed 
 his view of the case; and declared himself, 
 on the 19th of June, "determined to admit 
 of no compromise with these men,"* who 
 were, however, to be temporised with till the 
 arrival of the British force. The question of 
 how the European officers were to main- 
 tain tranquillity in the interim, and keep 
 their own heads on their shoulders, with- 
 out making concessions which should tie 
 their hands afterwards, was passed over 
 in silence. 
 
 After the usual amount of ordering and 
 counter-ordering, the column, under General 
 Woodburn, marched for Aurungabad. A 
 civiliau who accompanied the force, " be- 
 cause none of the oflBcers knew tlie road," 
 describes the line of march : — 14th dra- 
 goons first, then the general and his staff; 
 then the 28th N.I., and a battery under Cap- 
 tain Woolcombe ; the rear brought up by 
 a pontoon train, and some twenty elephants 
 and tiiC baggage — the whole extending 
 about two miles in length. 
 
 The cavalcade entered Aurungabad on 
 the morning of the 24th of June. Captain 
 Abbott and the officers came out to meet 
 the troops, said that affairs were in a very 
 unsatisfactory state, and urged that the 
 general sliould march at once on the cavalry 
 iutrenchments, and surprise them. The 
 civilian before quoted, who was an eye-wit- 
 ness to these proceedings, says — " The gene- 
 ral consented to do so at last." On reaching 
 
 bade him be under no apprehension for the safety 
 of his family, or for that of his guest (the wife of 
 an absent Eiiro))ean, to whom IJooran Bucksh was 
 greatly attached), for every provision was made for 
 their retreat. And so it proved. When the alarm, 
 happily a false one, was given on the night of the 
 12th of June, and the officer proceeded to his dan- 
 gerous post between the infantry and cavalry lines, 
 the faithful trooper placed the ladies and children 
 in a country cart, ana covering the open front and 
 back with sheets, in the manner practised by the 
 natives, armed himself and rode by their sitie for 
 •everal days, till they reached Ahmednuggur, striving. 
 
 the cavalry lines the bugles were sounded, 
 and the men ordered to fall-in on foot. 
 The guns were loaded with canister, and 
 drawn up within thirty yards of the troopers. 
 General Woodburn, with his aide-de-camp, 
 Macdonald; the deputy-adjutant-general, 
 Coley; Captain Mayne, of the Hyderabad 
 contingent; Captain Abbott and the civilian, 
 rode up to the ranks; and Abbott began to 
 harangue the men on their conduct, and its 
 coming punishment, when a jemadar ex- 
 claimed — "It is not good; it is all false !" 
 Abbott drew his pistol, and would have shot 
 the speaker ; but the general turning round, 
 quietly desired him not to fire upon his 
 own men, whereupon the officer put up his 
 pistol and continued his address. The je- 
 madar again interrupted him — " It is not 
 true; it is all false. Brothers, prime and 
 fire !" Pistols were drawti forth by several 
 of the men in front of the ranks, and, 
 had they been fired, the six Europeans, 
 standing not five yards from the troopers, 
 must have fallen. But the event showed 
 the propriety of General Woodburn's pro- 
 hibition to Abbott. The foremost troopers, 
 without firing a shot, rushed to their horses, 
 and proceeded to saddle them; while the 
 Europeans rode back behind the guns. 
 Captain Woolcombe had dismounted, and 
 was pointirg a gun at the panic-stricken 
 multitude; the portfire was lighted; and 
 " one word only," it is said, " was wanted 
 to blow every aoul of tl,em to the four 
 winds." Woolcombe asiced impatiently, 
 "May I fire, sir?" and the civilian, who 
 reports the scene, blames the general for 
 not giving the instant assent.f which would 
 have been a sentence of extcriuiuation 
 against the very men -vho had spared the 
 Europeans not two minutes before. An offi- 
 cer present, in describing the same circum- 
 stance, remarks, that "the general could 
 not give the order to fire, as he feared to 
 knock over the good men with the bad ;" 
 and Captain Al)i)ott, in his report, stales, 
 that " every endeavour was made to stop 
 
 "by the most vigilant attention and kindness, to 
 lessen the discomforts of the road." The ladies 
 entreated him to take some money, if only in re- 
 payment of the expenses of the journey; but he 
 persisted in refusing, on the ground that it would 
 disgrace him to accept money under the circum- 
 stances ; and that he only desired that his name 
 might he good among the English. After his re- 
 turn his dwelling was burned to the ground by 
 some of his countrymen, in revenge for his devo- 
 tion to the Feringhee. 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers, 1857; ]). 82. 
 
 ■j- Letter in tlie Tinier, .\ugust il2nd, 1857.
 
 356 
 
 HYDERABAD— S ALAR JUNG AND THE ARAB GUARDS. 
 
 the men, and induce them to remain and 
 hear what was to be said to tliem. With 
 great difficulty a large portion of the men 
 were separated, and ordered to fall back in 
 the rear of the force; The rest dispersed 
 among the lines, refusing to return, though 
 frequently called upon to do so. They 
 mounted their horses, upon which General 
 Woodburn ordered the guns to open on them. 
 They all then immediately fled, and were 
 pursued by the dragoons. The whole of 
 the bad men were among them."* The 
 officer whose testimony- (published anony- 
 mously in the Times) has been given as 
 showing the reason why the general pre- 
 vented the wholesale butchery of a mass of 
 men, who, mutinous or not mutinous, had 
 been diplomatised with, in a manner not 
 much in accordance with British straight- 
 forwardness, up to the very moment when 
 the guns of the column could be brought 
 to bear on them — thus describes the pro- 
 ceedings which followed the flight and pur- 
 suit of the mutineers : — 
 
 "Two of our companies afterwards went all 
 through the lines, and we fully expected a slight 
 struggle there ; but they were not game j and such 
 as did not run away gave themselves up quickly. 
 We took their standards. These mutineers are, 
 without exception, the finest body of men I have 
 seen in India — immense fellows, of sixteen or seven- 
 teen stone each, and scarcely one of them under 
 five feet ten inches. We have already disposed of a 
 goodly number of the ninety-four prisoners we took 
 in the first haul of the net. One has been hung, 
 four shot, one blown from a gun — a frightful sight 
 indeed ! his head ascended about twenty yards into 
 the air, and his arms were thrown about eighty 
 yards in either direction. I was astonished to see 
 how coolly they received intelligence that they were 
 to suffer death. The man who was blown away 
 only said, 'that witnesses against him would have 
 to answer for this in the next world;' and begged 
 of them not to tie him to the guns, as he would not 
 flinch at all. The fellow who was hung said, that 
 ' having washed his hands of life, he had washed 
 away all his sins, and the sooner he went to para- 
 dise the better.' We have yet plenty of this work 
 before us." 
 
 Of the prisoners taken in this affair, two 
 were blown from guns; seven shot by the 
 dragoons ; four cut down in the charge ; 
 several hung; between thirty and forty 
 transported ; one hundred disbanded and 
 turned out of the station ; and some fifty or 
 sixty others flogged and otherwise punished. 
 
 Hyderabad. — While the events just re- 
 corded were taking place at Aurungabad, 
 affairs at Hyderabad were in a most critical 
 
 • Captain Abbott's Report, June 24th, 1857. — 
 Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (not numbered), p. 87. 
 
 state. The Moolvees, or Mohammedan 
 priests, scarcely disguised their exultation 
 at hearing the news from Meerut and 
 Delhi (which happily did not reach the city 
 for nearly a month after the perpetration of 
 the massacres) ; and the fakirs, or religious 
 mendicants, went among the lower orders of 
 the people, using the most inflammatory 
 language. The fidelity of the resident's 
 escort, consisting of two companies of Native 
 infantry, 200 troopers, and five guns, was 
 strongly suspected, as also that of the troops 
 in the Secunderabad cantonments ; hut hap- 
 pily the Arab guards stood firm on the side 
 of order. A member of the European com- 
 munity at Hyderabad, who has given a well- 
 digested accountofthe able and fearless man- 
 ner in which the native government breasted 
 the storm — remarks, that the fidelity of the 
 Arabs might be partly accounted for by 
 the regular payment they received from 
 Salar Jung ; and further, by their being, as a 
 class, wealthy and avaricious, acting as the 
 soucars or bankers of the city, and there- 
 fore naturally disinclined to take part in a 
 struggle in which, win who might, they were 
 sure to lose. At an early period, the Arab 
 jemadars assured the resident of their 
 resiolve to stand by the government ; and 
 they had repeated opportunities of proving 
 their sincerity. There were, however, dis- 
 orderly bands of Deccanees, Rohillas, and 
 Afghans in the city, whose voice was ever 
 for war ; and it was impossible to foresee 
 how long even the watchful and resolute 
 sway of Salar Jung would suffice to keep 
 down disafiection. On Friday, the 12th 
 of June, an attempt was made in one of the 
 chief mosques to raise the cry for a Jehad, or 
 holy war. The Moolvee (Akbar All) was 
 interrupted by a voice demanding the ex- 
 termination of the infidels : a second speaker 
 took the same tone ; and but for the timely 
 arrival of the Arabs sent by the minister, 
 an immediate outbreak would probably 
 have occurred. The preachers of sedition 
 escaped, for it was impossible to detect 
 them amid an assemblage of 5,000 persons. 
 Placards were thenceforth daily stuck up 
 in the mosques, and Salar Jung became 
 the object of popular hatred and virulent 
 abuse. Unmoved, he tore down the placards; 
 placed Arab guards at all the gates and 
 mosques; warned unruly characters; watched 
 suspected men ; summoned Seiks and others, 
 whom he could trust, to the city ; and 
 broke up all tumultuous assemblies. The 
 British functionaries zealously co-operated
 
 HYDERABAD— THE NIZAM AND SALAR JUNG— JULY, 1857. 
 
 357 
 
 with the native minister. General Cotton, 
 and the indefatigable police magistrate. 
 Captain Webb, were incessantly on the 
 alert ; the post-office was watched, fakirs 
 were deported, suspicious characters im- 
 prisoned, newsmakers flogged, and every 
 means taken to prevent mischief entering 
 the cantonments from without. But there 
 were counteracting influences at work — the 
 Wahabees were busily inciting the sepoys 
 to revolt ; and rumours gained ground in 
 the city, that they would not stand the 
 strain much longer. On the 20th of 
 June, the intelligence of the disturbajices 
 at Aurungabad arrived, and caused great 
 excitement in the city and cantonments. 
 Five days later, the false but generally be- 
 lieved report that Delhi had fallen, gave 
 rise to a different feeling. The writer 
 already quoted, whose statements supply 
 the deficiency of oSicial records, observes — 
 
 " The effect upon the masses of the people was 
 very marked. We then saw that Delhi was every- 
 thing ; it was a narr.-;, a cause, a locality, a something 
 tangible to fight for. Many, even of the better 
 classes, scarcely knew Cawnpoor, Lahore, Allaha- 
 bad, &c., byname; but all knew Delhi. Our de- 
 feats and successes elsewhere were moonshine ; at 
 Delhi they were of overwhelming importance : with 
 Delhi we held India; without it we were conquered. 
 In a few days the real truth was known — Delhi had 
 not fallen, and every native raised his head again 
 higher than ever. Rumours of further mutinies and 
 massacres, of further misfortunes, created intense 
 satisfaction here, and evidently the heaving was be- 
 ginning to look uncomfortable once more."* 
 
 On the 12th of July, thirteen of the Au- 
 rungabad mutineers were apprehended and 
 handed over to the resident. On the 17th 
 (Friday), a band of Rohillas, headed by a 
 jemadar, named Toora Baz Khan, and a 
 Moolvee, burst into the Begum bazaar, and 
 proceeded to attack the Re.sidency, calling 
 out for the release of the Aurungabad 
 prisoners, and the looting of the treasury. 
 The Residency and bazaar are divided 
 from the city by the Moossi river. The 
 former, planned and executed by Major 
 Oliphant in 1831, is a superb pile of build- 
 ing, built of squared granite stone, and far 
 better calculated to stand a siege than that 
 at Luckuow. Its occupants were not taken 
 by surprise : guns were posted in readiness ; 
 and when the turbulent mob commenced 
 breaking down the garden gates, the horse 
 artillery opened at 300 yards' distance with 
 double charges of canister. When the 
 
 * Letter dated "Hyderabad, Deccan, October 12th, 
 1961."— Times, December 3rd, 1857. 
 
 smoke dispersed, the assailants were found 
 to have disappeared likewise. The greater 
 part had fled out of reach ; the rest had 
 broken into a neighbouring liouse for 
 shelter. The night came on, and " watch 
 was set to hinder their escape, but in vain : 
 they dug through a wall, and fled." Toora 
 Baz Khan was eventually captured through 
 the exertions of Salar Jung ; but the Moolvee 
 remained at large, and was supposed to be 
 concealed by some influential city noble 
 The failure of the attempted emeute was 
 very serviceable to the British cause. The 
 Aurungabad mutineers were tried, trans- 
 ported, and sent off with all speed to Ma- 
 sulipatam. There were still difficulties to 
 be met by the Hyderabad government, 
 caused by the progress of the rebellion in 
 Central India; the long interval which 
 elapsed before the capture of Delhi ; and 
 especially the celebration of the Mohur- 
 rum (ending on the 31st of August), at 
 which time Mohammedan bigotry attains 
 its highest pitch. But the preparations 
 made to meet the danger, sufficed to avert 
 it : no disturbance took place ; the native 
 authorities were stanch in this trying, 
 tempting hour, as they ever had been ; and 
 in opposition to the clamorous popular 
 voice, the court of Hyderabad continued, 
 throughout the mutiny, the most valuable 
 ally of the Calcutta government. The peril 
 is past now (at least people think so) ; and 
 many Indian, and some few English, voices 
 are asking — What is to be done for tlie 
 Nizam ? Are the " temporarily assumed" 
 districts to be restored to him ? And 
 by what honours and rewards is the 
 Crown of England to show its gratitude 
 to the venerable Shums-ool-Omrah, and 
 the able and ixnflinching Salar Jung? 
 English infirmity and incapacity are shelved 
 with a retiring pension from Indian 
 revenues : Indian annuities and British 
 honours are showered abundantly on men 
 who have not seldom made the mischief 
 they have the credit of mending: but is 
 there no provision in our system, our new 
 system of national government and national 
 responsibility, for fitly rewarding native 
 statesmen, who have served us ably, heartily, 
 successfully, in the severest trial we have 
 ever had in India? If not, our present, 
 and ostensibly reformed, plan must needs 
 have for its main-spring the same short- 
 sighted selfishness which was the radical 
 defect in the policy of the old E. I. Com- 
 pany ; a policy that has borne the fruit of
 
 35B AGRA— SERVICES OF LALA JOTEE PERSAUD 
 
 bankruptcy and disgrace, an empty treasury, 
 and a heavy iiatioual debt tied round the 
 necks of a people whose consent was never 
 asked for its imposition ; incurred, too, not 
 in improving the country, but in making 
 war, and supporting enormous bands of mer- 
 cenaries, whose revolt has brought the sway 
 of " their honourable masters" to a speedy 
 conclusion, and deluged India with English 
 and native blood. These are the results of 
 governing on the principle of India for the 
 E.I. Company. It remains to be proved 
 whether the British parliament is aware of 
 the necessity of a change in practice as well 
 as in theory — in performance as well as in 
 promise — in things as well as in names. 
 
 Agra. — The mutinies detailed in preced- 
 ing pages, rendered our tenure of the 
 capital of the North- West Provinces very 
 precarious. The men of the two regiments 
 (44th and 67th N.I.) disarmed at the close 
 of May, had, happily for all parties, quietly 
 availed themselves of permission to return 
 to their homes ; but the Neemuch muti- 
 neers took up a position on the high-road 
 to Agra, and threatened to attack the city. 
 
 At first sight, few places would have 
 appeared better capable of resisting a siege 
 than the stately fort, rebuilt by Akber in 
 1570, and long considered- impregnable. It 
 stands on the right bank of the river 
 Jumna; and the high, red sandstone walls, 
 deep ditch, and drawbridge, form, in their 
 massive strength, a countei'part of the mag- 
 nificence within the fort, which contains 
 the palace, with its gilded cupolas, and rich 
 tracery of gold and blue enamel — on which 
 Akber lavished millions ; the Motee Musjid, 
 or Pearl Mosque, of pure white marble ; the 
 arsenal, and other public buildings. The 
 iicting commander-in-chief, Sir Patrick 
 Grant, as late as the 25th of July, took the 
 popular view of the strength of tha fort of 
 Agra, and appears to have imperfectly 
 appreciated the danger to be apprehended 
 in the event of a siege by the Gwalior con- 
 tingent. "We may lose," he writes from 
 Calcutta, " perhaps have lost, the country 
 round Agra; but it would be hard to con- 
 vince me, that any number of mutineers and 
 insurgents that can possibly be congregated 
 before the place, can ever succeed in captur- 
 ing the fort of Agra — a strong and regular 
 
 • Memorandum by Sir Patrick Grant, the acting 
 commander-in-chief. — Further Pari. Papers, 1857 
 <No. 4), p. 18. 
 
 t Quuiterly Review, Octobrr, 1858. 
 
 fortification, thoroughly armed with heavy 
 guns of siege-calibre; manned by a Euro- 
 pean garrison of at least 1,000 men, includ- 
 ing the volunteers; and with a principal 
 arsenal, thoionghiy supplied with every 
 munition of war, within the walls. If the 
 authorities have neglected to collect and 
 store provisions, the garrison may be starved 
 into sul)mission, of course; but otherwise, 
 the fort of Agra is perfectly safe."* 
 
 The lieutenant-governor did not take so 
 sanguine a view of affairs. The fort he 
 described as an old native one, with some 
 weak points aljout it. The European bat- 
 tery was not well manned ; it was deficient 
 both in officers and men, but possessed 
 an excellent commander in Captain d'Oyly. 
 Provisions for six months had been secured, 
 through the intervention of a famous com- 
 missariat contractor, Lala Jotee Persaud, 
 The British commissariat officer — being, it is 
 said, very inefficiently supported, if not ab- 
 solutely contravened, by the Agra magis- 
 trate, in his efTorts to purchase stores of 
 grain from the disaflfected dealers — was in 
 despair ; when recourse was had to the Lala, 
 whose previous most important services in 
 the Sutlcj campaign had been requited by 
 an action for embezzlement. Happily for 
 us, he had been acquitted, and the money 
 due to him rejiaid at last. Perhaps, as 
 a writer in the Quarterly Review suggests, 
 " he forgot our ingratitude in our justice."t 
 The fact of his being an extensive proprietor 
 of government paper, doubtless tended to 
 make him desirous of the maintenance, or 
 rather resturatiun, of British rule: but it is 
 certain that he stood almost alone, loyal 
 and friendly, in the midst of a disaffected 
 population ; never wavered even when our 
 fortunes and exchequer were at the lowest, 
 and continued to inform the authorities of 
 the intelligence he received by means of the 
 regular communication kept up by him, on 
 his private account, with Delhi and Gwalior,J 
 at a time when Agra was the one remain- 
 ing stronghold of the North-West Pro- 
 vinces, and stood " surrounded, as it were, 
 by a perfect sea of mutiny."§ 
 
 The lieutenant-governor resisted its en- 
 croachments to the uttermost, while him- 
 self dying by slow degrees, from the effects 
 of unremitting anxiety and fatigue. His 
 position was as cruel a oue as that which 
 
 X Letter of one of the Agra garrison. — Times, 
 April 4th, 1857. 
 
 § See communication already quoted, made by Ura- 
 ballah correspondent to the Times, Oct. 26lh, 1857.
 
 AFFAIRS AT AGRA-JUNE, 1857. 
 
 359 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence then held at Luck- 
 now. The cry of help arose on all sides 
 from subordinate stations, and he had 
 none to give. Very different was the situa- 
 tion of Sir John Lawrence in the Punjab. 
 When the cartridge mutiny commenced, he 
 found himself with twelve European regi- 
 ments, and an untainted local army, in the 
 midst of a population of 13,000,000, quite 
 indifferent to nice questions of caste ; while 
 Mr Colvin had three European regiments 
 wherewith to meet the revolt of a trained and 
 numerous army, and the passive, and often 
 active, hostility of 40,000,000 of people, who 
 had, for years, been complaining of the 
 oppressive nature of our taxation, and " dis- 
 liked, for very sufficient reason, our system 
 of civil procedure."* The faults of which 
 Mr. Colvin was accused, were those of " over- 
 governing" and undue clemency. The for- 
 mer might have been forgiven ; but the 
 latter was the most unpardonable sin a 
 European could commit in the sigiit of his 
 countrymen duripj^ their first paroxysms of 
 rage and terror. 
 
 Raikes writes — ''The fine frame of Mr. 
 Colvin was sinking under the ravages of 
 disease, yet he persisted in attending to 
 every detail of business. 'While he acknow- 
 ledged to me, that the load of responsibility, 
 the agony caused by the suffering and dan- 
 gers of his officers at every station in Upper 
 India, was too much for human endurance, 
 he resolutely watched every detail of public 
 business. Even now, if I wanted a sword 
 or a pistol from the magazine, Mr. Colvin's 
 counter-signature was necessary. "f It is 
 possible, that the reason of this may have 
 been the lieutenant-governor's desire to 
 exercise some check on the village-burning 
 expeditions ; the impolicy, as well as cruelty 
 of which he must have appreciated ; and 
 likewise of the means adopted at this period 
 for the obtaiument of revenue. Mr. Colvin 
 never confounded ferocity with vigour. 
 He saw clearly that we were " not in a posi- 
 tion to refuse to receive submission from, 
 and accord pardon to, the large section of 
 sepoys who had but followed their leaders;" 
 and he knew that " the confident European 
 cry, that Delhi should be taken forthwith, 
 and not one of them should escape, was, in 
 fact, but ignorance and folly. A division j 
 among the mutineers, and the partial sub- 
 mission of the least guilty, was, of all things. 
 
 most to be desired. "J But he was in a very 
 small minority ; and he could do Httle to 
 counteract the system of indiscriminate 
 vengeance pursued by the Europeans, 
 wherever they were in sufficient numbers to 
 attempt it, notwithstanding its evident 
 tendency to diminish the chances of escape 
 for the European fugitives. Yet he never 
 ceased to feel, and to avow his sense of, the 
 responsibility incurred by the government 
 towards the people, over whom it had as- 
 sumed the rights of sovereignty. " He 
 could not bear to give up station after 
 station to anarchy, neither could he quietly 
 see his trusted friends and officers butchered 
 like sheep. The struggle consumed him. 
 ' The wrath of God is upon us,' he ex- 
 claimed, ' if we retire into the fort.' " 
 During the night of the 23rd of June, the 
 gaol guard, which formed the protecting 
 force of the large central prison, deserted 
 with their arms. A guard from the 3rd 
 European regiment supplied their place. 
 On the 25th, a fire occurred within the 
 gaol, by which some workshops were de- 
 stroyed, and the large ranges of separate 
 cells endangered. The prisoners confined 
 in them were removed, during the confia 
 gration, to a distant part of the precincts, and 
 the flames were subdued. After this, arrange- 
 ments were made for the release of minor 
 offenders ; but there still remained 3,500 
 convicts to be guarded ; and, to increase 
 the danger, the gaol was in the immediate 
 vicinity of the civil lines, where the higher 
 functionaries, with their wives and children, 
 held their ground np to the end of June, 
 being unwilling to exchange their spacious 
 and sumptuously furnished houses for the 
 close quarters within the fort. Day after 
 day fugitives came pouring in, reporting 
 the mutiny of regiments or detachments 
 previously considered sound. The gradual 
 defection of the Gwalior contingent was es- 
 pecially .ilarming. On the morning of the 
 3rd of July, the officers of the 2nd cavalry, 
 Gwalior contingent — Captain Burlton, Adju- 
 tant Salmond, and the regimental surgeon, 
 rode in from Sansee, a station some forty 
 miles distant, where the sepoys had quietly 
 told the Europeans they must go, but that 
 no insult or injury would be offered them.§ 
 The Ncemucli mutineers had been for some 
 time approaching Agra; and as they drew 
 nearer, the Europeans, in expectation of 
 
 • Raikes" Revolt in the N. W. Provinces, f Ibid. § Letter of Lieutenant Salmond.— rime«, Septem- 
 } Letter from Umballah.— Time*, Oct. 26th, 1857. : ber 1st, 1857.
 
 860 
 
 MUTINY OP KOTAH CONTINGENT— JULY 4th, 1857. 
 
 an attack, for the most part retired within ] 
 the walls. Colonel Eraser, the second in 
 command (Brigadier Polwhele being the | 
 first), declared the Candaharee Bagh — a 
 palace in the civil lines, where the volunteers 
 kept watch — no longer tenable; and took up 
 his position in a small house, under the walls 
 of the fort. Mr. Raikes, and several other 
 civilians, persevered in sleeping at the Can- 
 daharee Bagh as late as the night of the 3rd 
 of July. Raikes, being himself restless 
 from fever, watched the sleepers around. 
 
 " There lay the member for Agra (Harington), 
 of the legislative council of India — half dressed, a 
 sword by his bedside, a gun in the corner, and a 
 revolver under his pillow. Those gaunt, unshaven, 
 weary-looking men by his side, are the judges of the 
 Sudder Court. For six weeks they have been 
 watching the rising flood of revolt, which had now 
 risen more than breast-high. Will they ever sleep 
 under a roof of their own again ?" 
 
 The Kotah contingent — 700 men in all ; 
 cavalry, infantry, and a battery of six guns — 
 showed no signs of mutiny up to the 4th of 
 July. The men had, for the previous 
 month, been employed "in collecting re- 
 venue for us, burning disaffected villages, 
 and hanging mutineers and rebels;"* and 
 their co-operation was relied on against the 
 rebel force, posted twenty-two miles off, and 
 believed to consist of the 72nd N.I., 7th 
 infantry, Gwalior contingent, three troops 
 of lit Bengal light cavalry, the cavalry of 
 the united Malwa contingent (who had 
 mutinied at Mahidpoor), and a battery of 
 Native horse artillery. It was expected 
 that the enemy, being so strong in cavalry, 
 would send their troopers to plunder and 
 bum the cantonments; and notwithstand- 
 ing the result of a similar attempt at Luck- 
 now, the military authorities resolved on 
 marching forth that evening to attack the 
 mutineers. The main body of the Kotah 
 contingent was ordered to take its station 
 half-way between government house in 
 the city, and the European barracks. The 
 cavalry no sooner reached their encamp- 
 ment, than they fired on their officers, and 
 killed their sergeant-major; the infantry and 
 artillery fled in confusion, to join the Nee- 
 
 * Letter of an officer of the 3rd Europeans. — 
 3Vme«, September 2nd, 1857. 
 
 + The Bengal civilian, who describes himself as 
 having "joined the Kotah contingent, as political 
 agent, in the districts of Muttra, Agra and Alighur," 
 states, that at the beginning of June, a Moham- 
 medan, named Sefula Khan, " brought into the Agra 
 district a lot of wild-looking men from Kerowlee, aS 
 he said, to help D [l)aniells, assistant under- 
 
 much mutineers ; all but two faithful Native 
 gunners, who spiked the guns they could not 
 defend. A detachment of forty men, under 
 a subahdar, on guard at the government 
 house, remained at their post, and rescued 
 the political agent attached to the Kotah 
 contingent, who describes himself as having 
 fallen into the hands of some Kerowlee 
 natives, previously employed by one of the 
 subordinate European officials in raising 
 revenue and "plundering villages;" but who 
 were now as ready to kill a Feringhee as a 
 Hindoo, and to pillage British bungalows 
 as native habitations.f 
 
 The 3rd Europeans were ordered to bring 
 back the guns of the Kotah contingent. 
 They went out for the purpose; and re- 
 turned safely, with six guns, having been 
 absent about two hours, exposed to drench- 
 ing rain. It was then nine o'clock, and 
 the intended night march was abandoned ; 
 but on the following morning (Sunday, 
 July 5th), a force, consisting of 650 of the 
 3rd Europeans, a battery commanded by 
 Captain d'Oyly, and 200 militia volun- 
 teers (composed of officers of mutinied regi- 
 ments, civilians, merchants, and writers), 
 set forth, under the command of Brigadier 
 Polwhele and Colonel Riddell. There 
 seems to be no second opinion regarding 
 this expedition. It ought never to have 
 been attempted, inasmuch as the hazard of 
 losing the fort of Agra, was a much greater 
 evil than the chance of dispersing the Nee- 
 much mutineers could counterbalance : yet 
 the peril was incurred, and grievous loss 
 sustained ; and, after all, the dearly bought 
 victory was turned into an ignominious 
 retreat, because the military authorities 
 neglected the ordinary precaution of pro- 
 viding the force with spare ammunition. 
 
 The troops marched from cantonments to 
 meet an enemy estimated as beinj; ten 
 times their number, leaving three comp;i- 
 nies of the 3rd Europeans in the fort for its 
 only garrison. After passing through the 
 village of Sliahgunge, just outside the civil 
 lines, they advanced on the road to Futteh- 
 poor Sikree, until, between two and three 
 o'clock in the afternoon, they reached a 
 
 commissioner of revenue for the Agra division ?] 
 to get in his revenfle — about 500 men in all, regular 
 cowards, but good fellows to iihmder viUngfrs, &c."— 
 Tinies, October 9th, 1857. It is to be regretted 
 that the &c. is not explained. After the revelations 
 of the torture commission, it is important to know 
 what means of obtaining revenue, besides plunder- 
 ing villages, are sanctioned by European magistrate; 
 in cases of difficulty.
 
 THE BATTLE OP AGRA— JULY 5th, 1857. 
 
 361 
 
 village named Sussia, immediately in the 
 rear of which, the mutineers were strongly 
 posted. The British force formed into line, 
 with three guns oa each flank — the 3rd 
 Europeans in the middle, the mounted 
 militia in the rear. The infantry were 
 ordered to lie down while the artillery 
 opened on the village, at about 600 yards' 
 distance. The mutineers fought irregu- 
 larly, but with unusual determination ; and 
 a rifle company of the 72nd N.l. inflicted 
 severe loss on the British, who had two 
 tumbrils blown up, and a gun dismounted. 
 An attempt was made by the rebel cavalry 
 to surround the British, .ind seize the bag- 
 gage and ammunition ; but the volunteer 
 horse beat them ofl^. The village was then 
 stormed in two columns, and carried at tiie 
 point of the bayonet. SoLie resistance was 
 made ; and the women of the village were 
 seen loading the muskets, aud handing 
 them to the men to fire.* 
 
 Lieutenant Salmond, who was acting as 
 aide-de-camp to Colonel Riddell, seeing the 
 enemy retreating in confusion, galloped 
 back from the village to the brigadier, to 
 carry him the welcome intelligence, and 
 was ordered instantly to bring up the guns. 
 The lieutenant obeyed ; " but, alas ! not a 
 round of ammunition remained." The in- 
 formation sounded like the death-warrant 
 of the Europeans. "I certainly thought," 
 writes Lieutenant Salmond, " that not a 
 man would ref.ch Agra alive."t Another 
 officer writes — " One thing is certain; if their 
 cavalry had had one grain of pluck, they 
 might have cut us up almost to a man."| 
 But it happened that the rebels themselves 
 lalioured under a disadvantage in regard to 
 shot, and actually fired pice (farthings) at 
 the close of the action, which lasted less 
 than two hours. The Europeans burned 
 the village, formed in line, and retreated, 
 with some of their best officers severely 
 or mortally wounded, and their arai>'u- 
 nition exhausted. One vigorous charge 
 from the rebel cavalry would have carried 
 the day; the Europeans would have been 
 crushed by the sheer force of ovei'.i'lirlming 
 numbers; and then, even sufpos.i^ tlie 
 rebels not to have at once besieged Agi a, 
 how long, after such a disaster, would 
 Sindia and Dinknr Rao have been able to 
 restrain the Gwalior contingent from bring- 
 
 * The testimony of an eye-witness, a young officer 
 of the 3rd Kuropeans. — Times, Sept. 2nd, 1857. 
 + Letter. — Times, September 1st, 1857. 
 t Times, September 2nd, 1857.| 
 VOL. II. 3 A 
 
 ing against the fort the siege-train which, 
 humanly speaking, seemed alone needful 
 to secure its downfall? Happily no charge 
 was made : the enemy had no leaders, and 
 fought in the old desultory Mahratta 
 fashion, hanging on the flanks and rear of 
 the retreating force, but neglecting every 
 opportunity of striking a decisive blow. 
 The Europeans were chased into Agra by 
 the rebels, with a 6-pounder gun (prol)ably 
 the only one left that the mutineers could 
 move about, or iiad ammunition for), and 
 harassed by cavalry. The British loss was 
 terrible. The casualties amounted to 141; 
 more than one man in six : and of these, 
 forty-nine were killed or mortally wounded. 
 Captain d'Oyly was among the latter, and 
 his death was a calamity to the garrison. 
 His horse was shot under him at the com- 
 mencement of the action; but he was him- 
 self unhurt till some time later, when, while 
 stooping down to assist in extricating the 
 wheel of a gun, he was struck by a grape- 
 shot in the side. Supporting himself on a 
 tumbril, he continued to give orders tid ha 
 sank, exhausted by pain and weakness, ex- 
 claiming as he fell, "Ah! they have done 
 for me now : put a stone over my grave, 
 and say I died fighting my guns." He 
 was, however, carried back to the fort, and 
 lingered until the following evening. Lieu- 
 tenant Lambe, another artillery officer, lan- 
 guished a whole month, and then died of 
 his wounds. 
 
 The loss of the enemy was estimated as 
 exceeding 500; but had it been many 
 times greater, the effect of this ill-judged 
 expedition could not have been otherwise 
 than injurious to the British cause. On 
 the 4th of July, an attack of illness had 
 deprived the Europeans of the lieutenant- 
 governor's supervision ;§ and, after the bat- 
 tle, panic prevailed in Agra, both within and 
 without the fort. A party of the residents 
 had watched,from the Flagstaff" — an elevated 
 position at one of the gates of the fort — the 
 retreat of their countrymen, pursued by 
 the rebels. The alarm was given ; aud the 
 Europeans not already within the walls, 
 rushed in. The retreating troops hurried 
 through the city ; the men on guard at the 
 gaol, fled with them into the fort ; the gates 
 were closed in all haste ; and, on every side, 
 the cry was heard in Agra — " The rule of the 
 
 § " Mr. Colvin has been, for the last tw.i days, 
 totally unfit [ted] for any public duty, by an attack of 
 his head." — Official report of Civil Commissioner 
 Muir, Agra, July 6th.
 
 362 AGRA— EUROPEANS SHUT UP IN THE FORT— JULY Sth, 1857. 
 
 Feringhee is over !" The budmashes rose 
 to fraternise with the rebels ; the prisoners 
 were set free ; and the frantic mob began to 
 pillage and burn tlie cantonments, and 
 hunt all Christians to the death. It does 
 not appear that the persecution was on 
 account of religion, as such, but because the 
 interests of the native Christians were viewed 
 as identified with their instructors. The 
 Agra authorities, acting for Mr. Colvin, had 
 refused them admission into the fort ; and 
 at " the last hour, when the wounded and 
 the troops were returning from the field 
 of battle, and entering the fort, the poor 
 Christian families were standing before the 
 gates, imploring the guards to let them in; 
 but in vain." However; Mr. French and 
 Mr. Schneider took advantage of tlie en- 
 trance of the troops to bring in the women 
 and children, to the number of about 240. 
 The men were afterwards also suffered to 
 come in, on the understanding that they 
 should make themselves useful as servants, 
 gunners, and in any way which might be 
 required. They were so harshly treated, 
 that one of the missionaries "thought, that 
 should they turn rebels, it would be no 
 very great wonder."* Another declares, 
 that " the policy of the Europeans was, for 
 a time, such as to force them to become 
 rebels, if they could have been forced. But 
 they could not. They were stanch men 
 and true. They were more — they showed 
 their fellow-Christians, bearing the name of 
 Englishmen or Scotchmen, that they were 
 men of principle. They showed them how 
 they could endure persecution. "f 
 
 The native Christians proved o. great 
 assistance to the Europeans : the men did 
 a good work on their entrance, by saving 
 medical stores from a house nearly a mile 
 from the fort; by carrying sick and wounded, 
 and taking service wherever they found 
 it ; for, in the hasty closing of the gates, 
 the mass of the native servants liad been 
 left outside ; and though many of them 
 would willingly have cast in their lot with 
 their masters.J they dared not approach, 
 because " the soldiers shot at every black face 
 that came in sight. "§ No escort was sent 
 out to scour the city and rescue Europeans^ 
 
 * Rev. J. L. Scott, of the American Board of Mis- 
 sions. — Sherring'a Indian Church, p. 95. 
 
 t Rev. J. Parsons, Baptist missionary. — Ibid., 
 p. 88. 
 
 X Mr. Raikes saya the servant* generally were 
 well-conducted. " One of my own old favourites 
 behaved ill amongst about fifty :" the rest were de- 
 
 Eurasians, or natives actually in the service 
 of government. The list of persons killed 
 is suggestive of either selfishness or in- 
 capacity on the part of the authorities; for 
 the victims did not perish in a general mas- 
 sacre by mutineers, but were killed in one's, 
 two's, or three's in the city, on the 5th and 
 6th of July, by the revolted city guard, the 
 budmashes, and released convicts; and 
 although the murders were committed 
 within sight and hearing of a stronghold 
 garrisoned by an entire European regiment, 
 not a shot was fired — not a blow struck in 
 defence of these thirty British subjects. 
 
 The names are thus giveu in the London 
 Gazette : — 
 
 Christie Leveret. 
 
 Alexander Derridon, from Alighur, with his wife 
 and three children. 
 
 B. A. Piaggio, clerk in the civil auditor's office. 
 J. Hawkins. 
 
 Louis Maxwell, a government pensioner. 
 Zachariaa Parsick, clerk in the secretariat, and 
 his mother. 
 
 John Anthony, clerk in the secretariat. 
 
 J. Lamborne, and his daughter. 
 
 H. Hare, and his son, government clerks 
 
 J. Dansclrae, junior. 
 
 Mrs. Nowlan. 
 
 Mrs. Mathias, burnt to death. 
 
 C. K. Thorton, assistant patrol. 
 
 Major John Jacob, late of Sindia's service. 
 
 F. C. Hubbard, professor at the Agra college, 
 and brother to the clergyman killed at Delhi. 
 
 T. Delisle, drummer, 9th N.L 
 
 G. Turvy, bandmaster. 
 J. Allen, pensioner. 
 
 Mr. Gray's mother-in-law. 
 R. Dennis, compositor, Mofussilite press. 
 Mrs. Dennis. 
 
 Peter, a catechist, and two other native Christians, 
 living at the Kuttra church. 
 
 The day following the battle was one of 
 great excitement, it being generally expected 
 that the mutineers would take up their 
 position in Agra ; instead of which, they 
 marched off", on the very night of the battle, 
 to Muttra, from whence they sent a depu- 
 tation to Gwalior, conjuring the contin- 
 gent to join them in attacking the fort. 
 But the policy of Dinkur Rao prevented 
 the proposed co-operation; and, on the 
 18th of July, the Neemuch rebels started 
 for Delhi. It was known that they had 
 little or no ammunition, and scarcely any 
 
 voted and faithful. — RevoU in the N. W. Provinces, 
 p. 64. 
 
 § Letter of civilian attached to Kotah contin- 
 gent.— jf'mie.s October 9th, 1857. Mrs. Coopland 
 says, the soldiers fired at every black face that 
 shewed itself within rangi;, and even threw two 
 shells into the city. — Escape from Gwalior, p. 183.
 
 STATE OF AGRA— JULY, 1857. 
 
 363 
 
 money. Their departure was a great relief 
 to the motley crowd assembled within the 
 fort. A body of troops was sent out to make 
 a demonstration iu the city ; rows of gibbets 
 were erected, and many natives hanged. 
 
 The relatives or friends of the sufferers 
 were at first allowed to take away the 
 bodies : the permission was rescinded be- 
 cause they were carried round the walls, 
 decked with garlands of flowers, and reve- 
 renced as the relics of martyrs. 
 
 Apprehensions were expressed by many 
 persons regarding the consequences of the 
 compression of so large and heterogeneous 
 a multitude within the fort, at the worst 
 season of the year; but the excellent ar- 
 rangements made by Mr. Colviii,*prevented 
 much of the suffering which must otherwise 
 have arisen. The want of bread was 
 severely felt at Lucknow : women and chil- 
 dren, the sick and the wounded, grew to 
 loathe the sight of chupatties. But at Agra, 
 after the battle, the first objects seen " en- 
 tering the gates, when the panic-stricken 
 authorities ventiu-ed to open them wide 
 enough to admit a mouse, were carts of 
 bread, that the Lala [Jotee Pei-saud] had 
 baked at his own house in the city, for the 
 troops and people who were shut up."t 
 
 The death, by cholera, of Captain Burlton, 
 of the Gwalior contingent, on the 12th of 
 July, excited considerable alarm ; but there 
 were not many fatal cases or much disease ; 
 and for the next four months, the life of 
 the Europeans in Agra, though strange and 
 startling at first, became wearisome from 
 its monotony. Mr. Raikes writes — 
 
 " A\Tiatever remained unscathed, from Meerut to 
 Allahabad, either of Englishmen or of their works, 
 was conglomerated here. Here were the remnants 
 of the record of survey and revenue settlement — that 
 great work on which heaps of money, and the best 
 energies of our best men, had been lavished for a 
 quarter of a century. Here were the only muni- 
 
 • Mr. E. A. Reade, the senior member of the 
 Gudder Board of Revenue, assisted Mr. Colvin in 
 many ways, especially in framing measures for the 
 relief of the local government from its financial 
 embarrassments. At the request of Mr. Colvin, Mr. 
 Rende commenced negotiations for a loan of five 
 lacs of rupees with the principal merchants and 
 bankers of Agra, purposely excepting from the 
 number Jotee Persaud, who was pouring provisions 
 into the fort, and had agreed to take a large amount 
 of the cost in supply-bills. Unhappily, Mr. Colvin 
 was induced to alter his plans, and orders were 
 given to levy a compulsory loan of twenty lacs. 
 Mr. Reade's protest was disregarded ; the merchants 
 were summoned, and made to sign an engagement 
 to the desired effect. Several of them left the city 
 in disgust, and not a rupee was realised by the pro- 
 
 tions of war, the only instruments of art or materials 
 of science, which remained to us. In huts hastily 
 prepared, among the galleries and gateways of the 
 old palace of the emperors, a motley crowd as 
 sembled. Matted screens were set up along the 
 marble corridors which, in Akber's time, were hung 
 with the silks of Persia and the brocades of Be- 
 nares. J Under this shade, not only was every part 
 of our British isles represented, but we had also 
 unwilling delegates from many parts of Europe and 
 America. Nuns from the banks of the Garonne 
 and the Loire, priests from Sicily and Rome, mis- 
 sionaries from Ohio and Basle, mixed with rope- 
 dancers from Paris and pedlars from Armenia. 
 Besides these, we had Calcutta Baboos and Parsee 
 merchants. Although all the Christians'alike were 
 driven by the mutinous legions into the fort, the 
 circumstances of the multitude were as various as 
 their races. There were men who had endured more 
 than all the afflictions of Job, who had lost liki him 
 not only their sons, daughters, and everything they 
 possessed, but who also mourned over the fate of 
 wife, mother, and sister ! Reserved, silent, solitary 
 among the crowd, they longed either to live alone 
 with their grief, or to quench the fire within by 
 some hurried act of vengeance or despair. Some 
 few there were, on the other hand, who secretly re- 
 joiced in the troubles of the Christian race, who 
 fattened on their spoil, and waited only to betray 
 them if opportunity should offer. The mass had 
 lost their property : the householder his houses, the 
 merchant his money, the shopkeeper his stores. 
 Part, however, was saved : you could buy millinery 
 or perfimiery, but not cheese, beer, wine, nor 
 tobacco. In short., we had to rough it at Agra, to 
 bear discomfort and privation ; but as the bazaars 
 soon opened, and generally remained open, we had 
 no real hardships to undergo. If our army retired 
 from before the walU of Delhi, or if the Owalior 
 contingent, with their artillery and siege-train, 
 made up their minds to attack us, as was constantly 
 threatened, then we might be subjected to a siege. 
 
 The advance of the Gwalior contingent 
 was, of course, the one great danger that 
 menaced Agra. Major Macpherson main- 
 tained, as has been stated, an incessant 
 correspondence with the Gwalior durbar; 
 his sister, Mrs. lunes, acting as his secre- 
 tary, and striving to keep down, by minis- 
 tering to the comfort of those arotind 
 her (especially the Gwalior fugitives), her 
 
 ceeding. The opposition offered to it by Mr. Reade, 
 subsequently induced the citizens of Agra to listen 
 to him, and enter into transactions which enabled 
 the auth'orities to meet the expenditure of the sv^- 
 sequent months. 
 
 t Letter from " one of the late garrison at Agra." 
 — Times, April 4th, 1858. 
 
 X As if to heighten the contrast between Oriental 
 barbarism and European civilisation, the unwilling 
 tenants of Akber's marble halls, decorated the 
 narrow limits allotted them according to their pecu- 
 liar ideas. Dr. Chrislison, for instance (a surgeon 
 attached to the 1st cavalry), " having a taste for 
 pictures," adorned the apartment of nis sick wife 
 with a portrait of Madeleine Smith, cut out of the 
 Illustrated News (Mrs. Coopland ; p, 210), as a re- 
 freshing and edifying subject of contemplation.
 
 r 
 
 364 
 
 VILLAGES BURNED NEAR AGRA— JULY, 1857. 
 
 cruel anxiety regarding the position of her 
 husband, Lieutenant Innes, at Luck now. 
 Mrs. Blake, and other widowed ladies, for- 
 getting their private griefs, devoted them- 
 selves to nursing the sick and wounded. 
 
 The report of the battle of July 5th, 
 furnished to the Supreme government, was 
 probably much less detailed and explicit 
 than that given here by the aid of private 
 letters ; but its immediate consequence was 
 the supersession of Brigadier Polwhele by 
 Lieutenant-colonel Cotton of the 69th N.I., 
 passing over the head of a senior oflScer 
 (Lieutenant-colonel Fraser, of the engi- 
 neers).* Mr. Drummond was removed from 
 the magistracy to a judgeship, and Mr. Phil- 
 lips made magistrate in his stead. The new 
 brigadier, as his sobriquet of " Gun-cotton" 
 denoted, was a man of considerable energy, 
 and a sense of duty sufficiently strong to 
 lead him to incur responsibility and un- 
 popularity, in controlling, by stringent 
 measures (including flogging), the excesses 
 of the militiamen and volunteers. It is 
 no wonder that these auxiliaries should 
 have been disorderly : the only marvel is, 
 that the regular troops did not become 
 utterly disorganised by the species of war- 
 fare in which they were employed. The offi- 
 cial records throw little light on this sub- 
 ject ; and again it becomes necessary to 
 seek elsewhere the missing links in the 
 narrative. Mrs. Coopland relates the man- 
 ner in which she and otherjadies sat on 
 the towers of Agra, "watching the sun 
 set, and the flames rising from the villages 
 round Agra, which our troops burnt. One 
 village which they destroyed in this way 
 was not gained without a sharp fight -with 
 the villagers, who off'ered resistance : sixty 
 villagers were slain, amongst whom were two 
 women, accidentally killed, who were loading 
 guns, and otherwise assisting their party." 
 In the extensive destruction of villages 
 which took place at this time, it cannot of 
 course be expected that the women could 
 escape uninjured. There is no reason to 
 believe they did so, even before the fate of 
 the Cawnpoor and Futtehghur fugitives was 
 known : after that, the vengeance of the 
 soldiers spared neither sex nor age. One 
 of the garrison, writing from Agra on the 
 22nd of August, says — 
 
 "A force was dispatched, some days ago, against 
 an insurgent Jhat village across the Jumna, and 
 abgut twenty miles from this. It consisted of eighty 
 men of the 3rd Europeans, two guns, and thirty 
 mounted militia (Europeans and East Indians), 
 under Captain Pond. They stormed the village, and 
 killed at least 400 men : 313 dead bodies were 
 counted in the btreets, besides those killed by the 
 guns in front of the village, and sabred by the 
 cavalry in the field when trying to escape. It is 
 significant that none of the enemy were merely 
 wounded, and not a prisoner was taken. Our men 
 fought like savages, and spared none ; but crying 
 out, "Remember our women at Cawnpoor!" they 
 shot and bayoneted without mercy. After they had 
 slain every man they could find, I lament to say they 
 did what infuriated soldiers too frequently do when 
 they take cities by assault — they ravished the women. 
 The officers were unable to control their men ; and 
 till the village was set on fire, these scenes were 
 repeated.f 
 
 Perhaps if Mrs. Coopland and her friends 
 could have seen all this somewhat closer, 
 instead of havitig only a bird's-eye view of 
 the flames, they would have preferred re- 
 maining in their dull quarters, where they 
 " forgot the days, except when the Baptists 
 held their meetings every Wednesdays and 
 Fridays in a place in our square." The 
 gaieties which are described as taking place 
 in other parts of the fort — the balls and 
 musical parties, the gay weddings, brides in 
 veils and lace dresses, officers in full regi- 
 mentals, and the ladies in gay attire, 
 scarcely, however, afforded a stronger con- 
 trast to the sufferings of the villagers, 
 than to the precarious position of the 
 merry-makers themselves, who must have 
 felt very much as if they were dancing 
 beside a yawning grave ; the officers having 
 arranged, that in the event of a siege 
 and an unsuccessful defence, they would 
 all blow themselves up in the powder- 
 magazine. J This witness, however, gives . 
 only one side of the picture, or rather a 
 highly coloured view of one of its many 
 sides. Her knowledge could be but very 
 superficial regarding the proceedings of 
 the 4,289 persons§ who, on the 25th of 
 August, 1837, occupied the fort. There 
 were men tlicre — Major Macpherson, Mr. 
 Raikes, and Mr. Reade, among others — 
 capable of 'looking beyond the provoca- 
 tions of the moment, and incapable of 
 viewing, without anxiety and grief, the 
 increasing alienation fast ripening into 
 
 * Despatch of Lieutenant-governor Colvin, August § Of these, including the European regiment 
 6th, 1867. — Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (No. 4), and the artillery, 1,065 were male adult Europeans, 
 p. 142. 443 Eurasians, 267 native Christians, and the re- 
 
 t Morning Star, October 29th, 1857. maining 2,614, women and non-adults of the afore- 
 
 j Mrs. Cooplnnd's Escape from Gwalior, p. 215. I said classes.
 
 SAUGOR— THE FAITHFUL 31st N.I.-JULY, 1857. 
 
 365 
 
 hatred between the two races. None felt 
 this more painfully than the lieutenant- 
 governor. The last letter sent by him to 
 England affords a melancholy insight into 
 his position and feelings. " My authority," 
 he writes, " is now confined to a few miles 
 near this fort. The city is quiet, and gives 
 supplies. Collection of revenue quite sus- 
 pended. The bankers will give small sums 
 at very high rates in loan. I send my 
 affectionate regards to all my old friends. 
 I cannot shut my eyes to what is probably 
 before me. If I have erred in any step, 
 hard has been my position ; and you will all 
 bear lightly on my memory, and help my 
 family* as far as you can. Let Trevelyan 
 see this." 
 
 These are the words of a broken-hearted, 
 disappointed man. And such John Colvin 
 was. Worn and weary, he sank into the 
 grave on the 9th of September, at the 
 age of fifty. The Supreme government 
 lamented the loss it sustained in his 
 "ripe experience, high ability, and untiring 
 energy ;"t and the personal friend he valued 
 most. Sir Cliarles Trevelyan, the present 
 governor of Madras, responded to his last 
 touching message, by laying before the 
 European public a sketch of his life and 
 labours, drawn up in the very spirit of ten- 
 derness and discrimination. J But, after all, 
 the system of government established in 
 the North- West Provinces, was far too 
 radically wrong to work well, even under so 
 upright and industrious a man as John 
 Colvin : and evidence is wanting to show 
 how far he struggled against the evils he 
 must have daily witnessed ; or that lie was 
 willing, like Henry Lawrence in the Punjab, 
 to be set aside, sooner than be instrumental 
 in perpetrating injustice or oppression. 
 
 Sauffor, — the chief place of an extensive 
 tract, known as the Saugor and Nerbudda 
 territories, was held in May, 1857, by the 
 31st and 42nd N. I., the 3rd irregular cavalry, 
 and a company of artillery. The officer in 
 command. Brigadier Sage, considering all 
 the Native troops disaffected, removed from 
 cantonments on the 29th of June, with the 
 European ollicers, into the fort — a ruinous 
 
 * Mrs. Colvin was at Geneva, with her younger 
 children. An elder son, Elliott, attended his father's 
 death-bed. 
 
 t Government notification; Fort William, Sep- 
 tember 19th, 1857. 
 
 J See Timfs, December 25th, 1857. Thewell-known 
 signature of " Indnphilus" is affixed to the article. 
 
 old building, the walls of which would, it 
 was expected, "fall from concussion of 
 guns,"§ in the event of attack. The garri- 
 son, after this decisive move, is thus stated by 
 the brigadier : — " Sixty-eight artillerymen, 
 fifteen conductors and sergeants, the ofiicera 
 of the 31st and 42nd, and civilians, drum- 
 mers, sergeants, &c. ; seventy-six in all: 
 including sick, 131." Besides these, there 
 were 159 women anad children : giving a 
 total of 290 persons. II When the Native 
 troops were left to themselves, the 41st, 
 and all but sixty of the 3rd cavalry, hoisted 
 the green flag, and began to loot the canton- 
 ments, and burn the bungalows and bazaar. 
 The 31st opposed them, and sent to the 
 brigadier for assistance, which he refused. 
 The conduct of the brigadier was considered 
 to require explanation, and the commander- 
 in-chief called for a " full detail of all the 
 circumstances connected with his quitting 
 cantonments, and of the suljsequent pro- 
 ceedings at Saugor."^ Tlie order was 
 obeyed in a report, which is naturally a vin- 
 dication against censure, rather than ati 
 unbiassed narrative of events. The gist 
 of the matter is given in the following 
 quotation from the account written ou 
 the spur of the moment by the brigadier, 
 for the information of his friends in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 "The 31st sent to me for guns, but it suited not 
 my policy to give them. I sent them sixty troopers 
 to assist them, and then they were rather over- 
 matched, as the 42nd had drilled the spike out of 
 an old 12- pounder the artillery officer left behind, and 
 this they fired ten or eleven times with balls made by 
 blacksmiths. Night [July 7th] closed the combat, 
 with a message 1 sent them that victory would come 
 with the morning! With the morning the battle 
 recommenced, and the 42nd and mutinous cavalry 
 were beaten out of the cantonments by one-half 
 their numbers, expecting the Europeans would be 
 upon them. They left their colours, magazine, and 
 baggage, and are now flying over the country. All 
 the public cattle they had stolen has been re- 
 captured ; they are without tents or shelter, and the 
 rain has been pouring down a deluge all day." 
 
 The official report ends with the brigadier's 
 declaration of " having saved all his officers, 
 and made the good men drive out the mu- 
 tineers." He does not, however, mention 
 that the appeal of the 31st for help was nut 
 
 § Telegram from Colonel Neil, Allahabad, 11th 
 July, 1857. 
 
 11 Quoted from a diary extending from June 28th 
 to July 16th, 1857, dated " Saugor," and evidently 
 written by Brigadier Sage. — Times, Sept. 2nd, 1857. 
 
 *\ Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (not numbered), 
 p. 111.
 
 366 
 
 THE PUNJAB— JULLUNDUR AND PHILLOUR— JUNE, 1857. 
 
 wholly in vain; for the deputy commissioner 
 (Captain Piiickney), Lieutenant Hamilton, 
 Mr. Bell, collector of customs, three 
 patrols, and a large body of police, went to 
 their assistance. The telegram from the 
 Benares commissioner, which conveyed this 
 additional intelligence to Calcutta, added 
 — "The mutineers were completely routed; 
 many killed and wounded, and several 
 taken prisoners. The 31st N.I. retook the 
 large signal gun, and six commissariat ele- 
 phants, and gave them up to the authori- 
 ties. Next day the mutineers were chased, 
 and there is not a man of them left in 
 Saugor. Well done 31st! Tliis is worth 
 all the volunteering in the world."* I 
 
 The 31st was, after all, a fortunate regi- 
 ment in not being dispersed at the cannon's ] 
 mouth, through the misconduct of a muti- 
 nous minority, or driven into revolt by the 
 cry, " The Europeans are on us 1" Forty- 
 six men joined the rebels ; while above 800 
 continued " to behave in an exemplary 
 manner." The mutineers marched into the 
 Dooab, en route for Delhi : and thus ended 
 the Saugor outbreak. 
 
 TTie Punjab. — While the events just nar- 
 rated were occurring in Northern and Cen- 
 tral India, several portions of the Bengal 
 army, stationed in the Punjab, broke into 
 mutiny. 
 
 JiiUundur, and the neighbouring station 
 of Phillom-,^ were held, in the beginning of 
 June, by II. M. 8th regiment, with some 
 .•artillery and a strong native brigade, com- 
 posed of the 6th light cavalry, aud the 
 36th N.I. and 61st N.I. Incendiary fires 
 had given warning of di.saflFection, and the 
 Brigadier (General Johnstone) was urged 
 by the civilians to take advantage of the 
 presence of a European regiment, and dis- 
 arm the natives. His own officers, on the 
 contrary, interceded on behalf of the men : 
 and the brigadier, who is described as a 
 most amiable, zealous, and brave, but vacil- 
 lating man, hesitated ; took the treasure 
 from the native guard ; restored it again ; 
 declined to comply with the wishes of gov- 
 ernment that it should be placed under the 
 Europeans ; settled to disarm the sepoys on 
 the 7tli, and then postponed tlie execution 
 of the painful measure until the following 
 morning. During the intervening night 
 the cavalry galloped into the lines of the 
 infantry, crying that the Europeans and 
 
 * H. C. Tucker, Esq., to the goveriior-Keneral. — 
 Further Fad. Papers, 1857 (not numbered), p. 115. 
 
 artillery were upon them. The two infantry 
 regiments rose, burnt several bungalows, 
 wounded some officers, made a feeble at- 
 tempt on the guns, and went off to Phillour. 
 The only European killed was Lieutenant 
 Bagshaw, the adjutant of the 36th, who, 
 while apparently (as he said before he died) 
 almost successful in restoring order, was 
 mortally wounded by a 6th cavalry trooper. J 
 The mutineers made for the Sutlcj river, a 
 distance of thirty miles; and reached Fliil- 
 lour on the morning of the 9th of June. 
 The 3rd N.I. were stationed there. A 
 company had gone on duty to Delhi, aud 
 150 were absent ou furlough. The fort 
 was garrisoned l)y 100 men of H.M. 8th 
 Foot. The officer in command, Lieutenant- 
 coloneJ Butler, had entered the service of 
 the E. I. Company in 1820, and had never 
 been out of India from tiiat time. The 
 telegraph wires were cut, and no informa- 
 tion was received of the approach of the 
 mutineers until they were close at hand. 
 The ladies and children were hurried from 
 the cantonments into the fort, and the 
 colonel, and other officers of the 3rd, en- 
 deavoured to induce the sepoys to rally 
 round them : but in vnin. So soon as a few 
 men were got together here and there, tiie 
 rest went back to the lines ; and the Euro- 
 peans, seeing the case to be hopeless, joined 
 their families iu the fort, retiring slowly 
 and on foot. Colonel Butler writes — " Our 
 men had always said, ' Happen what would, 
 not one of us should he hurt while they 
 lived.' This is all I can say for my mien : 
 they kept their word ; for had they liked, 
 they could have murdered every man, 
 woman, and child, before I got them out of 
 the cantonments." About eighty Hiudoos- 
 tanees of the 3rd remained iu their lines, 
 as did also seventy-five Seiks: the remainder 
 of the regiment joined the mutineers, and 
 marched off to endeavour to cross the river 
 higher up. Their passage was opposed by 
 Mr. G. H. Rickctts, the civil . officer of 
 Loodiana; who, on receiving intelligence of 
 what had occurred (not direct from Julhin- 
 dur, but by telegraph from Umballah), 
 cut down the bridge over the Sutlej, and 
 went to intercept the rebels with three 
 companies of the 4th Seik regiment, and 
 a small force (two guns, a hundred foot, 
 and fifty troopers) furnished b}^ the Nabha 
 rajah, a neighbouring chief. Mr. Ricketts 
 acted in direct opposition to tiie proverb, 
 
 t See ante, p. 200. 
 
 } Cooper's C'lUis in the Punjab, p. 84.
 
 SANGUINARY STRUGGLE AT JHELUM— JULY 7th, 1857. 
 
 367 
 
 which recommends a bridge of gold to be 
 made for a flying enemy : but he considered 
 it certain that the mutineers would be hotly 
 pursued by a force froin JuUundur, and 
 thought to catch the rebels between two 
 fires, and ensure their complete destruc- 
 tion. The pursuit, however, was not com- 
 menced until about seven o'clock on the 
 morning of the 8th : and when the brigadier 
 reached the Sutlej, he found that the mu- 
 tineers had beaten the force opposed to 
 them, spent thirty hours in crossing the 
 river in three boats, raised some tumults in 
 the outskirts of Loodiana, released the in- 
 mates of the gaol, and marched on. The 
 pursuit was recommenced, but without 
 effect, for natives can always outstrip Eu- 
 ropeans. A well-informed writer remarks 
 — " It is singular that, instead of doing all 
 the damage they might have done, or ap- 
 proaching the great cantonment of Umbal- 
 lah (then held by a small party in the 
 church), they did not even plunder or offer 
 violence to any man ; but, making tre- 
 mendous maixhes, they quietly travelled 
 by the most unfrequented cross-country 
 route to Delhi, where they have since espe- 
 cially distinguished themselves. In defence 
 they were much too strong for any force 
 that could have intercepted them ; and, 
 indeed, they went so swiftly and quietly that 
 their route was hardly Tioticed. Thus were 
 four regiments added to the Delhi force."* 
 Brigadier Johnstone was fiercely censured, 
 by the Anglo-Indian press, for tardiness in 
 pursuing the mutineers. He asked for an 
 inquiry into his conduct ; and the result, as 
 stated by Lord Hardinge, in answer to the 
 question of Lord Panmure in the House of 
 Lords, was, that the brigadier was "fully 
 and honourably acquitted of all the accusa- 
 tions l)rought against him."t 
 
 Jhelum. — The 14th N.I. were quartered 
 alone at Jhelum, at the commencement of 
 July. No overt act of mutiny had been 
 committed ; and Colonel Gerrard, and the 
 other European officers, had confidence in 
 their men : but the chief commissioner. 
 Major Browne, was convinced of the ad- 
 visability of disarming the regiment ; and, 
 in accordance with his requisition, a detach- 
 
 • Letter from Umballah, August, 1857. — Times, 
 26th October, 1857. 
 
 t Mr. Cooper, in his Crisit in the Punjab, gives a 
 letter written by Brigadier Johnstone to the editor 
 of the Lahore Chronicle, explaining why the pursuit 
 of the mutineers could not have been undertaken 
 earlier, or carried on with greater speed. — pp. 94 
 to 97. 
 
 ment of -250 of H.M. 24th, under Colonel 
 EUice, three horse artillery guns, and some 
 irregular Mooltan horse, marched from 
 Rawul Pindee. It is alleged that the true 
 object of the expedition had been withheld 
 from Colonel Ellice, his only orders being 
 — " When you get to Jhelum, half-way to 
 Lahore, telegraph your arrival."} 
 
 The Jhelum authorities hoped that Eu- 
 ropeans would arrive before dayi)re.ik on the 
 7th of July, and take the 14th N.I. by suf- 
 prise; instead of which, the sun was up, 
 and the regiment, fully armed, on parade, 
 when the British column was seen ap- 
 proaching. A shout of rage and terror rose 
 from the ranks; the men fired wildly on 
 their officers, but without effect, and then 
 fled to their barracks ; a strong party taking 
 possession of the quarter-guard, round the 
 roof of which was aloopholed parapet, which 
 commanded the entire line. According to 
 Mr. Cooper, the sepoys had been informed 
 of the arrangements of the authorities, and 
 had resolved on resistance. Hence it was 
 that " every inch of way had to be fought 
 by the Europeans ; and the mutineers, fully 
 armed, had to be bayoneted (like rabbits 
 from their burrows) out of their huts, from 
 which they were firing with telling effect on 
 the men in the open space, through loop- 
 holes obviously of long preparation."§ 
 
 Another authority, an officer of the 24th, 
 who, though not actually present, had from 
 his position equal, if not superior, opportu- 
 nities of obtaining authentic information, 
 makes no mention of any evidence of hostile 
 preparation on the part of the sepoys. 
 Whatever their previous intentions may 
 have been, they evidently broke up in panic, 
 and rushed pell-mell to any cover from the 
 European guns. The work of clearing the 
 lines involved a desperate and protracted 
 struggle. The Mooltan cavalry showed 
 much determination ; the Seiks|| in the 14th 
 likewise fought on the side of the Euro- 
 peans, in conjunction with the police, under 
 Lieutenants Battye and Macdonald. Colonel 
 Ellice himself led a charge on the quarter- 
 guard, and carried the place, though with 
 considerable loss:l he was twice severely 
 wounded, and had his horse shot under him. 
 
 J Letter dated " Murree, July IZik"— Times, 
 September 3rd, 1837. 
 
 § Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 126. 
 
 II Mr. Cooper says, that during the early ^art of 
 the engagement, the Seirks were " eliminated from 
 the 14lh N.I. 
 
 11 Captain Spring, of the Uth N.L, was among 
 those who were mortally wounded at Jhelum.
 
 868 
 
 RAWUL PINDEE AND SEALKOTE— JULY, 1857. 
 
 Driveafrom the cantonments, the mutineers I mere, and situated on the left bank of the 
 took refuge in an adjacent walled village. ' Chenab river, sixtj'-three miles from La- 
 The outworks were soon taken ; but the j hore — was one of the places where detach- 
 sepoys defended themselves with dosprra- ments from different native regiments were 
 tion. Three guns were brought against sent to practise firing with the Eufield ride 
 them; yet they are described as fighting "like and the greased cartridge. 
 
 fiends, disputing every inch of ground" — 
 "with halters round their necks"* — "like 
 stags at bay."t 
 
 At length the Europeans desisted from 
 attempting to clear the village. The sepoys, 
 at the commencement of the action, were 
 702 in number : the three companies of the 
 84th comprised only 247 men ; of the latter, 
 seventy-six were killed or wounded : the 
 others were exhausted with twelve hours' 
 fighting, twelve hours' marching, twenty 
 hours under arras, and thirteen of these 
 without food. Captain Macpherson (the 
 senior officer, not wounded) determined on 
 bivouacking on the bare ground for the 
 night, under the impression that the mu- 
 tineers would disperse quietly in the dark- 
 ness ; which they did. The next morning 
 150 dead bodies were counted on the field, 
 and thirty were brought in the day after. 
 The police dispatched numbers on islands; 
 and 116 were executed by shooting, hanging, 
 and blowing from guns.j The officer of the 
 24th Europeans (before quoted), speaks of 
 "the satisfaction" afforded by shooting forty- 
 eight sepoys one evening, and blowing 
 twenty-five away from the cannon's mouth 
 next morning. The government offered a 
 reward of thirty rupees (about £3) for 
 every fugitive sepoy. § 
 
 Raivul Pindee. — The remaining com- 
 panies of the 21th Europeans, stationed at 
 Rawul Pindee, were ordered to disarm 
 the 58th N.I. on the 7th of July. The 
 Europeans took up their position on either 
 side of the horse artillery, and the sepoys 
 were directed to surrender their arms. 
 They heard the order — paused for a mo- 
 ment, looked at the guns, and turned 
 to fly. An officer of the 24th says — " Our 
 men were with the greatest difficulty pre- 
 vented by the officers from firing, as also 
 the artillery. Had we fired, we should have 
 done so right into a body of staff officers, 
 who were between us." Happily their vio- 
 lence was restrained, and the sepoys were 
 induced to give up their weapons quietly. || 
 Sealkote, — a town bordering on Cash- 
 
 • Letter by an officer of tVie 24tli Europeans. — 
 Times, Sept. 19lli, 1857. 
 
 + Cooper's Crisis in the Pvnjab, p. 127. 
 t Ibid., p. 127. 
 
 At the time of the Meerut outbreak, Seal- 
 kote was one of the largest military stations 
 in the Punjab; but on the formation of 
 the moveable column, H.M. 52nd light in- 
 fantry, the European artillery, the 35th N.I., 
 and a wing of the 9th irregular cavalry, were 
 detached ; leaving oidy the 4Gth N.I. and a 
 portion of the 9th irregular cavalry. Tlie 
 brigadier (Brind) in command of the sta- 
 tion was an experienced officer, and had 
 seen much service as a sepoy leader. He 
 remonstrated strongly against the total 
 removal of the European troops, and urged 
 that at least 250 should be left behind. 
 In reply, he was requested to disarm the 
 Native troops. This he refused to do, 
 alleging that they would not mutiny unless 
 driven to it; and, in concert with his 
 officers, the brigadier maintained an attitude 
 of confidence towards the sepoys. The 
 authorities evinced*similar reliance by the 
 withdrawal of the European force, notwith- 
 standing the vicinity of Maharajah Goolab 
 Sing of Cashmere, and the fact that that 
 powerful chief had been recently severely 
 censured by the Lahore government for his 
 conduct towards his nephew. Rajah Jawahir 
 Sing : and the result justified the trust re- 
 posed in these native allies; for both uncle 
 and nephew proved active and faithful 
 auxiliaries. With regard to the sepoys, 
 a decided advantage was gained in point of 
 time; but it was purchased with valuable 
 lives. 
 
 The Sealkote residents were far from 
 sharing the feeling of the officers towards 
 the sepoys. Many Europeans sought re- 
 fuge at Lahore: the remainder wore "a 
 hopefully tiypocritical aspect,"^ which but 
 thinly veiled aversion and distrust. Al- 
 though " the band played as usual, and 
 society partook of its evening recreation," 
 undisturbed by insolence or incendiarism; 
 the tacit truce was but the result of a tem- 
 porising policy, while each party watched 
 the movements of the other. As early as 
 May, a vague fear was known to have pos- 
 sessed the minds of the sepoys regarding 
 
 § Times, September 19lh, 1857. 
 II Letter dated " Camp, Gujerat, July 15lh." — 
 Times, Siptember lOtfi, 1857. 
 
 % CooiH-r's Crisis m the Puvjah, p. 136.
 
 MUTINY AT SEALKOTE-JULY Oth, 1857. 
 
 36'J 
 
 certain orders, alleged to have been issued 
 from London, to ruin their caste. A pio- 
 pusitiou had been actually entertained to 
 massacre a large party assembled at the 
 house of the brigadier; but the discussion 
 was postponed, until it should be shown 
 whether government really intended to 
 enforce the biting of the filthy cartridges.* 
 Up to the date of the Jlielum mutiny, no 
 overt act of disaffection had been cuni- 
 raitted ; and on the evening of the 8th of 
 July, Dr. James Graham, the superintend- 
 ing surgeon, begged a friend with wliom he 
 was dining, who had expressed himself 
 doubtfully regarding the sepoys, "not to 
 let his fears get the better of his senses." 
 The desperate resistance offered at Jhelu.71, 
 on the 7th of July, by the 14th N.I., was 
 not then generally known at Sealkote ; 
 for althougli the distance between the 
 stations was only seventy miles, the com- 
 munication was interrupted, in consequence 
 of the authorities having broken down the 
 bridges across two intervening rivers, the 
 Jhelum and the Chenab, and seized all the 
 ferry-boats. t Still some of the leading 
 Europeans knew what had occurred. Mr. 
 Monckton and family, and the joint assis- 
 tant-commissioners, Mr. Jones and Lieu- 
 tenant M'Mahou, who were living toge- 
 ther ia Mr. Monckton's house, in the civil 
 lines, situated between the fort and the 
 cantonments — "fearing what was coming, 
 sent for the chaplain of the station (Mr. 
 Boj'le), and made him stay the night." 
 Mr. Jones, in his account of the outbreak, 
 adverts to the expected effect of the Jhelum 
 news, as his chief cause for immediate 
 alarm; but does not state the channel 
 through which the intelligence reached him. 
 Mr. Boyle describes himself as having 
 accepted an ordinary invitation to break- 
 fast and dinner, and says that he was not 
 informed of the special reason until eight 
 o'clock in the evening, when he rose to de- 
 part, arid was told that he must not return 
 to cantonments. He asked, "Why ?" The 
 reply was, " The brigadier has bound ns to 
 secrecy." He was, however, told of the 
 news from Jhelum, upon which he broke 
 into fierce invectives against " those brutal 
 devils I" (the sepoys), and against the 
 brigadier, for haviug "miraculously niain- 
 
 • Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 134. 
 
 t Letter of Mr. Jones, Sealkote, July 13tli. — 
 Times, Sept. 2nd, 1857. 
 
 J Letter not signed, but evidently written by the 
 Rev. Mr. Boyle, dated from the fort, Sealkote, July 
 
 VOL. II. 8 B 
 
 taiued confidence" in them; adding, "I 
 now assert, and if he and I live, shall 
 repeat it, that he alone will be responsible 
 for all the blood that, in my opinion, will 
 be shed to-morrow." The brigadier had 
 no opportunity of vindicating himself from 
 this charge; for he was in his grave (and 
 Mr. Boyle probably read the service over 
 him) before these words were penned. Mr. 
 Boyle states, that after "thinking and 
 cooling down as became his clerical charac- 
 ter," he asked (with an adjuration which it is 
 more reverent to omit), "Are the women and 
 children to be butchered r* Are the valuable 
 lives of God's creatures to be lost — lost 
 without one word of caution? Must in) 
 hint be given? Cannot they be brought 
 away in the night to the fort?" Notwith- 
 standing this vehement expression of sym- 
 pathy,' Mr. Boyle neither gave the "one 
 word of cautiou" he thought so important, 
 nor returned to share the peril of " the 
 women and children ;" but spent the night 
 a mile and a-half from cantonments, in 
 a house guarded by thirty-five men of 
 the new Seik levies, and thirty of the 
 mounted police. J In the meantime, meet- 
 ings were being held in the lines, probably 
 to discuss the Jhelum affair, and certainly 
 to canvass the grievances of the 33rd and 
 35th N.I., which regiments had been 
 disarmed by General Nicholson. One or 
 two of the 9th cavalry troopers, who had 
 obtained lea"e of alisence from the move- 
 able column at Umritsir, brought reports 
 from thence, which are said to have been 
 the proximate cause of the Sealkote mu- 
 tiny. § 
 
 Captain John H. Balmain, of the 9th 
 cavalry, a thoroughly brave and self-pos- 
 sessed officer, learned, before daybreak, the 
 prevailing excitement. He rode down in- 
 stantly to his troop, and was warned by the 
 Hindoos to return to his house, and re- 
 main there, or he would certainly be 
 killed. The Mussulmans were then sad- 
 dling their horses; and a party of them 
 mounted and galloped off to the infan- 
 try lines, where they shouted " Deen 1" 
 cursed the " Feringhee Kaffirs 1" flashed off 
 their pistols, and "intentionally commit- 
 ting themselves, committed the best-inten- 
 tioned others." || Balmain galloped to the 
 
 14th; and letter from Mr. Jones. — Times, Septem- 
 ber 2nd, 1857. 
 
 § Cooper's Crisis in the Puftjab, p. 137. 
 
 II "Their powers of locomotion alone achieved more 
 than the mrst elabur^ite persuasion." — Jbtd., p. 138.
 
 370 BRIGADIER BRIND AND OTHERS KILLED AT SEALKOTE. 
 
 compouud of the brigadier, aud found him 
 witli Mr. Chambers (tlie magistrate) and Ad- 
 jutant Montgomery, who were endeavouring 
 to induce him to fly with them to the fort. At 
 length he reluctantly assented, aud the Euro- 
 peans rode off, pursued by a party of cavalry. 
 The gallant old brigadier could not be 
 induced to retreat with undignified haste; 
 and had nearly fallen into the hands of the 
 mutineers, when Balmain, who, with Mont- 
 gomery, was far in front, called out to his 
 companion, '' Stop, aud make a stand, or 
 the brigrtdier is lost !" They both turned, 
 and waited for him ; but it was too late ; he 
 was already mortally wounded. They suc- 
 ceeded, however, in bringing him safely to 
 the fort, where he died on the 10th ; and 
 they themselves escaped without injury. 
 The cavalry were, throughout the affair, far 
 more murderous than the infantry : the 
 hitter must have fired intentionally over 
 the heads of most of the oflBcers who rode 
 into their lines, or none of them could have 
 escaped. Besides the brigadier, six Euro- 
 pe;tiis were killed by the sowars, and several 
 i.«rtives. Captain Bishop, of the 46th N.I. , 
 left cantonments in his curricle, with his 
 wife and children, aud had actually reached 
 the walls of the fort, when the carriage was 
 surrounded by a party of troopers, who 
 fired into it. Seeing .himself the object of 
 attack, he jumped out, and was shot. The 
 horses started off at full speed, and upset 
 the carriage ; but the mutineers did not 
 attempt to injure the poor lady or her 
 children, and tiiey were taken into the fort. 
 Dr. John Colin Graham, medical store- 
 keeper, perished in a similar manner: he 
 was deliberately shot in his own carriage, 
 in the presence of his wife and another 
 lady (Mrs. Gray) and her children. The 
 ladies begged for mercy ; and the troopers 
 told them they had no intention of hurting 
 them, but only the sahib logue (gentlemen). 
 Mrs. Graham drove back to cantonments 
 in the hope of obtaining surgical aid ; but 
 her devotion was iu vain : the doctor ex- 
 pired at the medical depot in about an 
 hour. 
 
 The case of the Hunter family was a 
 peculiar one. On the night of the 7th, 
 Mrs. Hunter had a dream of murder, which, 
 though easily accounted for at an isolated 
 
 * The French sisters of charity, established at 
 Sealkote, are said to have been warned by the 
 natives to fly on the evening before the mutiny. 
 They did not, however, quit their position until the 
 outbreak, and then escaped to the fort with tbeir 
 
 station in the Punjab in the autumn of 
 1857, so impressed her, that she persuaded 
 her husband, a missionary of the church of 
 Scotland, to seek safety in flight. A warn- 
 ing received iu the course of the following 
 day,* confirmed their resolve, and they 
 left their own house, with their child, and 
 passed the night with the Rev. Mr. Hill, at 
 liis bungalow in the Vizierabud road. When 
 the mutiny broke out, instead of starting . 
 along that road, they adhered to their 
 original plan of proceeding to Lahore, 
 and for tliis purpose had to pass through 
 Sealkote. On arriving in front of the gaol, 
 they found a party of forty troopers engaged 
 iu releasing the prisoners. The carriage 
 was immediately surrounded ; a trooper 
 shot at Mr. Hunter, and he and his wife 
 were hit by the same ball ; and they were 
 both, with their child, dragged out and 
 massacred by the cutcherry and gaol chu- 
 prassies.f 
 
 Mrs. Hunter was the only female killed 
 at Sealkote. A Patau, named Hoonunt 
 Khan, attached to the magistrate's office, 
 was the principal instigator of her murder; 
 and a reward of 1,000 rupees was vainly 
 offered for his apprehension. It is sup- 
 posed that the poor lady " had offended the 
 fanatical Mohammedans by establishing a 
 small female school — a crime, in their eyes, 
 deserving death. "J 
 
 Dr. James Graham had scarcely quitted 
 cantonments, with his daughter, in his 
 buggy, before he was shot in the head by 
 a sowar, and fell dead in the arms of the 
 poor girl. She was taken to the cavalry 
 guard, and there found Colonel and Mrs. 
 Lome Campbell, surrounded by a few 
 faithful troopers, by whom the three Eu- 
 ropeans were safely escorted to the fort. 
 There were some remarkable escapes. Lieu- 
 tenant Prinsep, 9th cavalry, a brave lad of 
 seventeen, galloped down to the lines, and 
 supported his superior officer (probably 
 Balmain) in trying to keep their troop 
 faithful. But it was in vain : their own men 
 entreated them to quit, as they could not 
 protect them. Both officers escaped; but 
 the younger was holly pursued by six 
 troopers, whom he found drawn up on either 
 side of the road, half-way between the fort 
 and cantonments. He was fired at, hit on 
 
 pupils unharmed, after having protected them at 
 every hazard. — Cmirrur de Lyons. Quoted in 
 I'inies, September 23rd, 1857. 
 
 t London Gazette, May 6th, 1858 ; p. 2245. 
 
 t Sherring's Indian Church, p. 326.
 
 MUTINY AT SEALKOTE— JULY 9th, 1857. 
 
 371 
 
 tlie sword-arm, and nearly overpowered ; 
 but he contrived to escape, and eluded fur- 
 ther ambush by striking across country and 
 making his way to Vizierahad, which he 
 reached at 11 a.m., having started from 
 Sealkote at half-past four, and ridden thirty 
 miles.* 
 
 Captain Saunders, Dr. Butler of tlie 9th 
 cavahy, and Mr. Gari'ad, tlie veteiiiiary 
 surgeon of the regiment, with tlie wives 
 and children of the two former gentlemen, 
 and two native nurses, spent thirteen hours 
 crouched in an out-building. The whole 
 house was pillaged in their hearing, fired at, 
 and riddled with shot. A faithful chokedar, 
 or watchman, brought them food, and con- 
 trived to mislead the party of 46th sepoys, 
 who, at the instigation of a cavalry trooper, 
 had come to search for concealed officers. 
 One plunderer looked in at the grating of 
 their hiding-place. Dr. Butler shot him 
 through the head. He fell with a single 
 groan, but never spoke, or the male Eu- 
 ropeans would have been massacred. The 
 danger was so imminent, that Mrs. Butler's 
 infant in arms was sent away with its nurse, 
 in hopes Cliat, if the rest perished, the little 
 one might be carried to the fort. Mrs. 
 Saunders took her baby in her lap, and 
 disposed her other three children behind her 
 in a row, so that haply one bullet might kill 
 all at once. At length, at seven o'clock in 
 the evening, the faithful chokedar told them 
 they might proceed to the fort, which they 
 reached in safety. 
 
 Three officers of the 46th N.I. came in 
 about the same time, whose fate had also 
 occasioned much anxiety. Captain Caul- 
 field had been out on picket duty the night 
 preceding the rise; and, on retnining in the 
 morning, be observed a body of troopers 
 riding down to the infantry lines. His own 
 men became uncontrollable, and, instead of 
 following him on parade, rushed after the 
 sowars. Captain Caulfield galloped to his 
 bungalow, roused his wife, placed her in 
 a buggy, in charge of a sepoy (Maharaj 
 Missur), aud bade him take her to the fort. 
 Then, despite her arguments and solicita- 
 tions, the officer rode to the lines, where the 
 grenadier company seized and forced him 
 into a hut, declaring that he would be killed 
 by some of the sepoys if seen during tlie first 
 excitement. Soon after this. Colonel Farqu- 
 harson (in comiLand of the regiment) and 
 the sergeant-major were brought in. The 
 
 • Letter of Lieutenant Prinsep, dated " Gonrjan- 
 walla, July 14lh, 1887."— 2Vme«, Sept. Ist, 1857. 
 
 ' men were respectful and attentive. Nearly 
 the whole corps gathered round the officers, 
 said tliat the raj of the Feringhee was over, 
 and proffered the colonel and captain, re- 
 spectively, 2,000 and 1,000 rupees a-month 
 if they would retain their positions, pro- 
 mising that their health should be cared for, 
 and they should go to the hills in the 
 hot weather.f Although these propositions 
 were rejected, the officers were not the less 
 carefully protected. 
 
 The party at Mr. Monckton's, guarded 
 by a Seik escort, reached the fort un- 
 molested. The danger, however, did not 
 end here; for the crowded, miserable build- 
 ing was ill-fitted to resist the force which the 
 mutineers could bring to bear against it; for 
 a signal-gun, left in the station, had fallen 
 into their hands. They mounted it ou a 
 carriage drawn by sixteen bullocks, and 
 fired it at noon as if nothing had oc- 
 curred. 
 
 The Europeans meanwhile were not idle. 
 There was a terrible preponderance of 
 women and children ; but some of the foot 
 police corps, and 300 new Seik levie.-*, were 
 stanch. Without staying to break their 
 fast, the garrison la})oured, under a burning 
 sun, to throw up au earthwork on the ap- 
 proach to the gate, to prevent its being 
 blown open ; served out muskets and ammu- 
 nition, and manned the bastions. Then, 
 mounting the ramparts, they watched the 
 movements of the enemy. Detachments of 
 infantry and cavalry were seen round the 
 gaol, engaged in releasing 350 ruffians, who 
 immediately set to work plundering and 
 murdering; commencing their work by 
 destroying the Cutcherry, with all the docu- 
 ments stored therein. The sepoys plundered 
 the treasury of 14,000 rupees, and divided 
 among themselves 35,000 more, which had 
 been left in their charge. The market- 
 place and town were then burned down ; 
 two large magazines blown up (far more 
 completely than the gallant Lieutenant 
 Willoughby had done at Delhi); after which 
 the plunder of the houses commenced. 
 About four in the afternoon, the mutineers, 
 to the inexpressible relief of the Europeans, 
 got together all the horses, buggies, and 
 carriages they could find — laded them with 
 plunder, and, with bugles sounding and 
 banners flying, moved leisurely off for 
 Delhi, marching about nine miles that night, 
 towai'ds the Ravee river. 
 
 t Letter of Mrs. Caulfield.— 7Vi;<m. October 24lh, 
 1807. Letter of civilian. — 7hite; iSepl. 22iid, 1847.
 
 372 NICHOLSON DEFEATS SEALKOTE MUTINEERS— JULY 12th. 
 
 Their triumph was brief. The command 
 of the moveable column at Umritsir was in 
 the hands of an officer young in year.s, but 
 old in experience. John Nicholson* was 
 one of three Irish brothers sent to India by 
 their uncle, Sir James Weir Hugg. He 
 served as an ensign in the Afghan war, 
 and was with Colonel Palmer at Ghuznee, 
 at the time of the discreditable capitulation 
 of the fortress ; on which occasion he sur- 
 rendered his sword with bitter tears. 
 
 In the Sutlej and Punjab campaigns he 
 served with distinction ; and afterw ards ex- 
 erted himself so successfully in the settle- 
 ment, or rather administrative subjugation, 
 of the country, that Lord Dalhousie called 
 him "a tower of strength." The Seiks 
 applied to him the name formerly given to 
 Rutijeet Sing — "the lion of the Punjab:" 
 but except in their mutual ability for war, 
 no similarity existed between the little 
 shrivelled old Seik (pitted by small-pox, and 
 blind in one eye, the other gleaiuiug like a 
 basilisk) and the young Irishman, whose 
 stature and bearing have been described as 
 " fit for an army or a people to behold ;" 
 but who in private life was gentle and most 
 kind, "unselfish, earnest, plain, and true. "f 
 The high praise has been claimed for hiui of 
 being a favourite pupil of Sir Henry Law- 
 rence, and worthy of his master : yet in 
 tracing his later career, there is evidence of 
 the prompt and pitiless policy of Sir John ; 
 but little, if any, of I he horror of indis- 
 criminate ^laughter which chariicti-rised Sir 
 Henry. j 
 
 In the crisis of 1857, such a leader as 
 Nicholson was invaluable; and none ques- 
 tioned the benefit to be derived liy the 
 government from his rapid prouiotiou, when 
 he became a brigadier-general and a C.B. 
 at five-and-thirty. His influence with the 
 Seiks was almost unbounded. In the Bengal 
 army be had no confidence, and carried the 
 disarming policy to the uttermost. On the 
 8th of July, the exemplary 59th N.I. 
 were disarmed by him, as a precautionary 
 measure, but with deep regret. On hear- 
 ing of the Sealkote mutiny, he disarmed 
 tlie wing of the 9th light cavalry; and 
 mounting such riders as he could on the 
 
 * One of the three brothers perished at the 
 Khjber Pass; the th'id is still in tiie Indian army. 
 
 t Epitaph on his grave in India. 
 
 J Nicholson'* despatch ; Goordaspoor, July 19th, 
 1857.— Further Pari. Papers, 1858 (No. 6), p. S3. 
 
 § Letter from a civilian of rank, who accompanied 
 the ex])edition. — Star, Septemher, 17th 1857. Pro- 
 bably Mr. Robf ris, ll;e comini.ssioiier at Lahore j 
 
 vacant liorses, he marched off with H.M. 
 52nd light infantry, a troop of horse ar- 
 tillery, three guns, some Punjab infantry, a 
 company of a police battalion, and two newly 
 raised risallahs, to iLitercept the Sealkote 
 muti[ieers. The station of Goordaspoor is 
 forty-one miles from Umritsir: the distance 
 was accomplished in a forced march of 
 twenty hours,| though not without con- 
 siderable loss from exhaustion, apoplexy, 
 and sun-stroke. On reaching Goordaspoor 
 the column halted, and obtained, by means 
 of reconnoitring parties, intelligence of the 
 movemcni, of the rebels, who were suffered 
 to approach the Ravee, and commence 
 crossing at the Trimmoo ferry. The river, 
 never before known to have been fordable 
 at this time of the year, was rapidly swelling, 
 and proved a powerful auxiliary to the 
 British, who came upon the mutineers at 
 mid-day on the 12th. After a very brief 
 attempt at resistance, they broke and fled 
 in confusion, throwing away arms, uniform, 
 accoutrements, booty — everything which 
 could impede their escape. The enemy 
 left 120 corpses on the ground; and as 
 many more were swept away by the river. 
 The want of cavalry, the depth of the water 
 in the ford, and the fatigue of the Euro- 
 peans, checked the pursuit ; and about 300 
 of the rebels took post on an island in the 
 middle of the river, where they remained 
 hemmed in by the rising flood (in what 
 manner subsisting does not appear) until 
 the 16th, when Nicholson, having pro- 
 cured boats, advanced against them. The 
 mutineers had retained the 12-pounder gun 
 taken by them from Sealkote, and it was 
 now turned against the English by the khan- 
 samah (house-steward) of the late Brigadier 
 IJrind ; who appears to have been the only 
 man among tliem capable of managing it. 
 A few resolute mutineers " died manfully at 
 the guu ;" the rest gave up all thoughts of 
 resistance, and flung themselves into the 
 water, where they were drowned, or shot 
 " like mud-laiks, on sand-banks and small 
 islands. "§ The-few immediately taken were 
 put to death. Scarcely any would have es- 
 caped but for the want of cavalry on the part 
 of the British : at it was, the neighbouring 
 
 for in a letter from that place, dated July 17th, 
 written by a lady residing with Mr. Montgomery, 
 the judical commissioner, mention is made of a de- 
 scription given of the expedition by Mr. Robert*, 
 who " liked the excitement of his fiist and brief 
 campaign, better than listening to appials." — Morn- 
 ing Advertiser, Sept. 2nd, 1857. Mr. KoberU' pre- 
 sence and assistance is noted bv Ncliolson.
 
 FALL OP CAWNPOOR DISBELIEVED— JULY 2>}d, 1857. 
 
 Bf3 
 
 villages were burned, and numbers hunted 
 to death. A large proportion of the plun- 
 dered property was recovered ; and fines 
 were levied on the natives on account of 
 the remainder. 
 
 About 600 sepoys were seized in Cash- 
 mere; and detachments of tlie new levies 
 were sent there to take them from the 
 native government. In one day seventy- 
 eight of these were received and shot,* the 
 Native officers being reserved for execution 
 at Sealkote, whither two commissioners 
 were sent from Lahore, to investigate the 
 circumstances of tlie mutiny. The com- 
 manders of the foot and liorse police were 
 convicted of having betrayed their trust. 
 They were Seiks; and grave apprehensions 
 were entertained regarding the effect of 
 their trial, conviction, and execution, ou 
 the minds of their countrymen. The Eu- 
 ropean officers looked on tlie faces of the 
 Seik levies assembled round the gallows, 
 with an anxiety which increased when the 
 ropes broke, and an order had to be given 
 to the guard to shoot the half lifeless bodies. 
 
 It was, however, obeyed ; and the brief ex- 
 citement havitig passed over, the Europeans 
 and Seiks returned to the ordinary work of 
 hanging, shooting, and (logging Hindoos- 
 tanees with entire unanimity. 
 
 A civilian, writing from Sealkote, July 
 23rd, states — " Lots of servants who went 
 away with the mutineers, have been pun- 
 ished. In one day we had to flog 125 men ; 
 forty lashes each. We have some to hang 
 every day, from one to six in number. I 
 shall be very glad when all this shooting 
 and hanging is over; it sets people's minds 
 more or less against us, and keeps us all in 
 a state of excitement." In fact, there 
 were various evidences of disaffection, 
 each of which was watched with fear and 
 trembling, as the possible precursor of a 
 general rising among the Seiks. At Seal- 
 kote, as throughout the Punjab, affairs were 
 in a most critical state; and the event 
 desired by every European in India, as in- 
 dispensable to the establishment of tranquil- 
 lity — namely, the capture of Delhi — seemed 
 further off in July than it had done in May. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 ALLAH.^BAD; SUCCESSFUL ADVANCE OF HAVELOCK'S COLUMN; MASSACRE OF 
 \\'OMEN AND CHILDREN AT CAWNPOOR j FLIGHT OF THE NANA, AND REOCCU- 
 PATION OF CAWNPOOR. 
 
 On the 2nd of July, a message from Sir 
 Henry Lawrence to Brigadier Havelock 
 reached Allahabad, to the effect, that there 
 was every reason to believe, that on the 
 28th of June, at 10 p.m., the Cawnpoor 
 force had been entirely destroyed by trea- 
 chery. Sir Henry added — " You must not 
 now move wiih less than 1,000 Europeans. 
 The Nana will probably join the rebels at 
 Lucknow; but we can stand them all for 
 months. Civil or other officers, of tact and 
 temper, ought to join each regiment."t 
 
 Havelock aiid Neil expressed their de- 
 cided disbelief of the fall of Cawnpoor; 
 and the latter declared himself confident 
 that " Wheeler still held out," and that 
 Kenaud's forcej was " strong enough for 
 anything that could be brought against 
 
 * Time:, September 22Qd, 1857. 
 
 t Further Pari. Papers, 1857 ; p. 97. 
 
 X Sec previous page, 303. 
 
 it ;" and even if Cawnpoor were in the 
 hands of the rebels, ought to move on 
 steadily to Futtelipoor, to be there overtaken 
 by the general. 
 
 Sir Patrick Grant, the acting comman- 
 der-in-chief, sent a telegram from 'Calcutta, 
 roundly asserting, that "the report about 
 the fall of Cawnpoor is a fabrication, and 
 therefore to push on thither."§ Thus the in- 
 formation and Counsels of Sir Henry Law- 
 rence, when Cawnpoor had fallen, were as 
 little regarded as his solicitations for speedy 
 help had heen before the capitulation. The 
 fact of its fidl was confirmed by Cossids, 
 employed in carrying letters from Lucknow 
 to Allahabad ; who witnessed the evacua- 
 tion. Prom the tone of Brigadier-general 
 Havelock's telegram to Calcutta, || it is 
 
 § Jaiirniil of Maj ir North, 60lh Rifle.s ; p. 38. 
 II Dated Jnly 3id. 1857 —Further Pari. Paperi 
 (not numbered), 1IS57 ; p. 98.
 
 874 HAVELOCK STARTS FOR CAWNPOOR— JULY 7th, 1857. 
 
 evident that he gave to the Cossids the 
 credence which he had refused to Sir Henry 
 Lawrence ; but it is surprising that the in- 
 completeness of the massacre was not ascer- 
 tained from the alleged eye-witnesses, and 
 that overtures were nut made for the rescue 
 of the women. 
 
 Colonel Neil, previous to his abrupt 
 supersession in the command by Brigadier 
 Havelock, liad made arrangements for the 
 departure of the column on the 4th of July, 
 and for the immediate dispatch of a small 
 vessel up the Ganges, with provisions and 
 stores. The steamer Berhampootra left on 
 the 3rd, with Lieutenant Spurgin and a 
 hundred of the Ist Fusiliers on board, two 
 guns, and twelve artillerymen. The first 
 proceedings of the party were not satisfac- 
 tory. They had no coals, and were com- 
 pelled to forage for fuel every day. It 
 appears the lieutenant viewed Oude as 
 altogether an enemy's country ; and, on 
 this presumption, opened fire on the village 
 of a loyal zemindar, who had protected and 
 entertained fugitive Europeans.* The ze- 
 mindar's people armed and followed the 
 steamer, firing upon it from the banks, but 
 without efi"cct, except that of bringing on 
 themselves a more telling volley. Apolo- 
 gies were afterwards made to the zemindar 
 from Allahabad. 
 
 Some differences regarding the guns and 
 artillerymen to be left behind for the secu- 
 rity of Allahabad, arose between Neil and 
 Havelock,t and appear to have delayed the 
 departure of the main force, which took 
 place at. 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the 7th of July. 
 It consisted of about 1,100 men, of whom 
 800 were English, 150 Seiks, and 80 of 
 the 13th irregular horse, with six guns. 
 The rains had set in some time before, and 
 had been incessant during the two days 
 precedin_g the march, so that the tents and 
 baggage were completely soaked, and the 
 draught bullocks were greatly overladen. 
 On the morning of the 4th the weather 
 had cleared a little, but darkened as the day 
 advanced, and the rain fell heavily as the 
 force moved off; few in its number of fight- 
 ing-men, but long and straggling, even on 
 the present occasion, from the followers and 
 baggage inseparable from an Indian army. 
 The first two miles of the march lay through 
 the densely populated city of Allahabad. 
 The inhabitants lined the streets, and looked 
 down from the house-tops in gloomy, 
 
 • Journal of Major North, p. 30. 
 
 t Further Pari. Papers, 1857 ; p. 108. 
 
 silent crowds ; and it was remarked by a 
 European who has written a graphic narra- 
 tive of the expedition, that the Hindoos 
 appeared to be either indifferent or appre- 
 hensive ; but wherever a Mohammedan was 
 seen, there was a scowl on his brow. J 
 
 That night the troops camped in a snipe 
 swamp, with the rain still pouring down on 
 them. For the three following days, they 
 proceeded by regular marches through a 
 desolated country ; the charred remains of 
 villages, and dead bodies hanging by fours 
 and fives on the trees by the road-side, 
 giving evidence of the zeal of the precursors 
 of the avenging column. General Havelock, 
 not foreseeing how long and costly an opera- 
 tion the subjugation of the revolted pro- 
 vinces would prove, declared that Major 
 Renaud had " everywhere pacificated the 
 country by punishing the ringleaders in mu- 
 tiny and rebellion, wherever they had fallen 
 into his hands." Unfortunately, the insur- 
 rection in Oude was but commencing. The 
 ringleaders of the mutiny were little likely 
 to be caught at this stage of proceedings 
 by an English force in defenceless villages; 
 and the peasants executed by Major Renaud 
 were chiefly accused of having helped, or 
 not hindered, the destruction of the tele- 
 graphic communication in their vicinity, 
 or been fuund guilty of possessing (through 
 the exertions of the booty-hunting Seiks) 
 some article of English apparel, or a coin or 
 two, of more value than it was supposed 
 they could have honestly obtained. 
 
 On the 10th of July, General Havelock 
 learned that the rebels had dispatched a 
 formidable force, said to consist of 1,500 
 infantry and artillery, 500 cavalry, 1,.!»00 
 armed insurgents (in all, 3,500 men), and 
 twelve iron and brass guns, to the vicinity 
 of Futtehpoor, within five miles of which 
 place Major Renaud expected to arrive on 
 the morning of the 12th. The Grand 
 Trunk road offered facilities for rapid pro- 
 gress. The wet weather hh.d given place to 
 intense heat. The general advanced by 
 forced marches, until, by moonlight on the 
 night of the 11th, he overtook Major 
 Renaud, and the united forces marched 
 on together to a fihe open plain, about four 
 miles from Futtehpoor. The main body 
 had marched twenty-four miles ; Renaud's 
 men nineteen; and the hope was for 
 breakfast rather than a fight. " Men and 
 officers," writes a member of the force, 
 
 X Letter dated "Oude side of the Ganges, July 
 26tli." — Saturday Review, Sept, 1857.
 
 EASY TRIUMPH AT FUTTEHPOOR— JULY 12th, 1857. 
 
 375 
 
 " bad lighted their pipes ; and a cluster 
 of us were assisting at the manufacture 
 of a brew of tea ; when one, who had 
 been eraploving himself with his field-glass, 
 drew the attention of liis neighbours to our 
 small party of volunteer horse [sent on 
 under Quartermaster- general Tytler, to re- 
 connoitre in advance], who were returning 
 before their time." A moment afterwards, 
 a large body of cavalry, in white, emerged 
 from the distant trees on the edgeoftlie 
 plain, in pursuit of the Europeans, followed 
 by infantry and artillery. The British ranks 
 fell in ; and the enemy perceived, with dis- 
 may, that the junction of the forces had been 
 accomplished, and that, instead of sur- 
 prising a detachment, they had burst upon 
 a prepared army, comprising 1,400 British 
 bayonets and eight guns, besides 600 
 native auxiliaries.* 
 
 " In ten minutes the affair was decided ;t 
 for in that sliort time our Enfield rifles and 
 cannon had taken all conceit of fight 
 out of the mutineers." The Enfield rifles 
 were th^^roughly effective at more than 300 
 yards' distance; while the smooth-bored 
 musket, with which alone the rebels were 
 armed, was comparatively useless. J Re- 
 sistance was futile ; they broke and fled, 
 and the British artillery and skirmishers 
 pushed on in pursuit, leaving the re- 
 serve columns far in the rear, owing to 
 the impediments of the ground. On 
 reaching Futtehpoor, the entrance of the 
 main street was blocked up by a barri- 
 cade of carts and baggage, which was so 
 firmly and advantageously placed, that it 
 was at first supposed to be a defence pur- 
 posely raised by the foe, and artillery was 
 brought to bear ou it ; but it was soon dis- 
 covered to be a mass of baggage, which had 
 been jammed up between the houses in a 
 hasty attempt to carry it away. The only 
 casualty among the Europeans occurred at 
 this juncture. A ■wounded bullock broke 
 loose, and, rushiiig wikily forwards, flung 
 Major North into the air, and afterwards 
 tossed a Highlander, who rushed to the 
 
 • 1st Madras Fusiliers, 316; H.M. 64th, 435 ; 
 78th Highlanders, 284; H.M. 84th, 190; Koyal 
 Artillery, from Ceylon, 76; Bengal Artillery, 22; 
 Volunteer Cavalry, 20. — Despatch of Havelock, July 
 12th. — London Gazette, October 9th, 1857. 
 
 t General Havelock to his wife, July 15th, 1857. 
 It was in writing to his wife, on the 12th of July, 
 that Havelock used the expression already referred 
 to (see previous page, 2TG). " One of the prayers 
 oft repeated throughout my life, since my school- 
 days, has been answered, and I have lived to com- 
 
 assistance of the officer. In the midst of 
 the heap were found two new 6-pounder8, 
 with limbers and ammunition complete, 
 besides large stores of gun and musket 
 ammunition ; and a little beyond, two tum- 
 brils of treasure, "one of which fell into 
 the hands of those astute plunderers the 
 Seiks, and was no more seen."§ The " loot" 
 realised by both Europeans and natives, 
 was various and considerable. Of the hos- 
 tile force the cavalry alone fought well. 
 They were regular troopers, mounted on 
 regular horses, but armed and equipped 
 after the native fashion ; and, in conse- 
 quence of this alteration, they moved about 
 the field with a rapidity of which they would 
 have been incapable had they been weighed 
 down by the weapons and accoutrements 
 required l)y the Bengal system. It appears 
 that they hoped to induce the Native cavalry 
 to join them, and kept hanging about the 
 flanks of the British force. At one time, a 
 party of them having approached closely. 
 General Havelock exclaimed, " I should 
 like to see the irregulars draw blood ;" upon 
 which Lieutenant Palliser, calling to the 
 13th to follow him, dashed forward to the 
 charge, accompanied by three of the volun- 
 teer cavalry. About a dozen sowars (chiefly 
 oflficers) galloped after their leader ; the rest 
 followed him slowly. One of the volunteers 
 (a civilian) says that, for the moment, he 
 fully expected that the irregulars would 
 join tbe rebel party, consisting of about 
 thirty of the 2nd cavalry, and abandon him 
 and his three companions to their fate. 
 Just then Palliser was unseated by his 
 horse swerving suddenly. The mutineers 
 tried to get at him ; but " his Native officers 
 closed round to save him," and "fought 
 like good men and true." The main body 
 of rebel cavalry advanced to support the 
 detachment, and the Europeans and irregu- 
 lars retreated at full speed. Nujeeb Khan, 
 a risaldar, who had been chiefly instru- 
 mental iu saving Palliser, was left dead on 
 the field, with six other sowars. || The 
 irregular cavalry were disbanded some days 
 
 mand in a successful action." In the same letter 
 he states, that he addressed the troops thus : — 
 "There's some of you have beheld me fighting; 
 DOW try upon yourselves what you have seen in 
 me."— Brock's Havelock, pp. 162, 163. 
 
 X Vide Nicholson's despatch. — Pari. Papers 
 (No. 6), p. 54. His style of narrating an easy 
 triumph contrasts forcibly with that of Havelock. 
 
 § Article in Saturday lietiew, Sept., 1857. 
 
 II Letter of civilian, dated " Camp, Kullianpoor, 
 July 15th."— Times, Sept. 29th, 1SS7.
 
 376 
 
 AONG AND PANDOO NUDDEE— JULY 14th and 15th, 1857. 
 
 later. Two other natives were killed in the 
 course of the action, and three or four 
 wounded. Twelve British soldiers died from 
 sun-stroke. No prisoners were taken. 
 The loss of the rebels was estimated at 
 atiout 150 in killed and wounded.* It was 
 prohably greater ; for, in the words of Gen- 
 eral Havelock, " the enemy's fire scarcely 
 reached us ; ours, for four hours, allowed 
 him no repDse.^'f 
 
 The rebels, on evacuating Futtehpoor, left 
 behind them twelve guns, whith tlie victors 
 gladly appropriated, and then gave way to 
 exhaustion. Men and officers threw them- 
 selves down wherever a morsel of shade was 
 to be found from the fierce rays of the mid- 
 day sun, and went off into a deep sleep. 
 After a short rest, grog and biscuit were 
 served out. Then " the town was sacked 
 by the Europeans, Sykeses (as the soldiers 
 call the Seiks), and camp-followers; some 
 of the principal houses were blown up, and 
 thatched houses burnt. "J 
 
 The following order was issued : — 
 
 " O. O. — July 13th —General Havelock thanks his 
 soldiers for their arduous exertions of yesterday, 
 which produced, in four hours, the strange result 
 of a real army being driven from a strong position, 
 eleven guns captured, and their whole force scattered i 
 to the winds, without the loss of a British soldier. 
 To what is^this astonishing effect to he attributed ? 
 To the fire of British artillery, exceeding in rapidity 
 and precision all that the brigadier-general has ever 
 witnessed in his not short career, or to the power of 
 the Enfield rifle in British hands, and to British 
 pluck — that good quality which has survived the 
 revolution of the hour, and gained in intensity from 
 the crisis j and to the blessing of Almighty God, and 
 tit the most righteous cause of humanity, truth, and 
 good government in India. "§ 
 
 On the 14th, the force marched fourteen 
 miles to Kullianpoor. On the 15tli they 
 .■started afresh ; and after proceeding about 
 five miles, found the rebeln in position 
 at a village named Aong, with two 
 guns. Here, also, an easy victory was 
 obtained by the British artillery and rifle- 
 men, aided by the liandlul of volunteer 
 horse. The waiit of cavalry was again se- 
 verely felt. The rebel troopers made an 
 attack on the baggage, and would have cut 
 it up, but for the gallantry of the hospital 
 sergeant of the 78th, who, collecting all the 
 invalids and stragglers in the rear, formed u 
 small rallying square of aliout a hundred 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 24. 
 + Despatch o!' General Havelock, Futtehpoor, 
 July 12th.— Further Pari. Papers, p. 137. 
 
 \ Letter of volunteer. — Times, Sept. 29th, 1857. 
 5 Furllier Pari. Papers, 1857 ; i>. 132. 
 
 men, and received the mutineers with such 
 a fire of musketry, that they rode off dis- 
 comfited, leaving many dead behind them. 
 After capturing the guns and driving off 
 the foe, the force halted to breathe and 
 drink water, and then marched on three 
 miles further, to the Pandoo Nuddee, a 
 river spanned by a masonry bridge of three 
 arches, which was said to be mined. The 
 enemy had formed a second iutrenchmeut 
 on the further side of the river; and as 
 soon as the foremost of the British column 
 emerged from among the mango groves, 
 through which their road had lain, a couple 
 of 24-pounder shot, accurately thrown, fell 
 ill their midst, wounding men and gun- 
 bullocks. The British artillery advanced with 
 all speed ; the guns rapidly unlimbered and 
 opened fire. The effect was instantaneous. 
 The first discharge of shrapnel bullets 
 smashed the sponge-staffs of the enemy, so 
 that they could no longer fire their guns ; 
 and they turned and fled, leaving the bridge 
 and the guns in the hands of the British. 
 It was generally remarked that the muti- 
 neers fought more closely and fiercely than 
 at Futtehpoor, and that a competent leader 
 would have rendered them formidable. 
 Two Europeans (a Highlander and a bomba- 
 dier) were killed, and twenty-five wounded. 
 Major Renaud mortally. (He sank rapidly 
 after the amputation of the left leg above 
 the knee, but was brave and cheerful to the 
 last). It was fortunate that the British had 
 passed on si rapidly ; for the enemy had 
 attempted to destroy the bridge, and had 
 failed for want of time. The explosion of 
 their mine had thrown down the parapet 
 walls, but left the arches uninjured. 
 
 Five guns had been taken during the day. 
 The tired troops bivouacked on the spot 
 from which they had last fired. That night 
 a rumour spread through the camp, that 
 the Nana himself, with the whole of the 
 Cawnpoor mutineers, estimated at 4,000 in- 
 fantry and 500 horse, had formed an in- 
 trenchnient at the village of Aherwa, at the 
 fork of the Grand Trunk road, about four 
 miles from Cawnpoor, where one branch 
 runs on to cantonments, and the main line 
 continues to Delhi. The intilligence was 
 true; and the general, finding that the mu- 
 tineers were stationed, with heavy guns, so 
 as to command the road and sweep it 
 with a flanking fire, resolved to make a 
 detour, and attack them from an unguarded 
 point. For this purpose a most trying 
 march was undertaken. The distance to be
 
 ENGAGEMENT NEAR CAWNPOOR— JULY 16th. 1857. 
 
 377 
 
 accomplished wag about twenty- two miles. 
 Fourteen were traversed iu the morning cf 
 the 16th of July; then the troops halted, 
 took food and rest. At 2 p.m. the march 
 was recommenced. The men were fully 
 armed and accoutred, each one carrying sixty 
 rounds of ball ammunition. Just before 
 starting a supply of porter was issued, " and 
 the pernicious effects of this heavy drink 
 were too speedily manifested."* The 
 scorching glare of the mid-day sun was 
 iutolerable : at every step a man reeled out 
 of the ranks, and threw himself fainting by 
 the side of the road; the calls for water 
 were incessant along the line. At length 
 the point for the flank movement was 
 reached ; the column turned off into the 
 fields; and the overworked, ill-fed cattle 
 toiled heavily over the freshly ploughed 
 ground for about half a mile, wheu the 
 British came in sight of the enemy, and 
 were greeted by a fierce fire from their 
 guns, the range of which was happily too 
 high, or heavy loss must have been sufi'ered 
 by the infantry, as yet unsupported by their 
 own batteries. The 1,400 British bayonets, 
 on which Havelock had relied at Futtehpoor, 
 were greatly diminished; besides many 
 deaths, there were " cartloads" disabled by 
 sore feet and sun-strokes.t 
 
 The Seik regiment had not yet come up, 
 so that it was estimated that there could not 
 be more than 900 men of all sorts brought 
 to bear against above five times that num- 
 ber.J There was no opportunity for the 
 guns and artillery to carry everything be- 
 fore them as on previous occasions ; and 
 after a few rounds, at different ranges, fired 
 by our cannon, it was found that those of 
 the enemy were so well sheltered by the 
 walls and houses of the series of small vil- 
 lages in which they were posted, that there 
 was little chance of stopping, by this means, 
 their continuous discharge. The British 
 infantry lay prostrate to avoid the unceasing 
 volleys poured upon them by the rebels, 
 whose bands were playing, <.s if in derision, 
 the favourite British airs ; and the soldiers 
 ground their teeth with rage, as " Cheer 
 boys, cheer 1" was heard ia the intervals of 
 the firing. 
 
 The clear, peculiar-toned voice of Have- 
 lock gave the order to the 78th to take the 
 foremost village. "The Highlanders, led 
 by Colonel Hamilton [an eye-witness writes], 
 
 • Major North's Journal, p. 60. 
 t Letter from one of the volunteer cavalry. — 
 Times, Sept. 29th 1857. 
 VOL. II. 3 c 
 
 rose, fired one rolling volley as they ad- 
 vanced, and then moved forward with sloped 
 arms and measured tread, like a wall; the 
 rear rank locked up as if on parade, until 
 within a hundred yards or so of the village, 
 when the word was given to charge." The 
 pipes sounded the pibroch, and the men 
 burst forward " like an eager pack of houuds 
 racing in to the kill, and in au instant they 
 were over the mound and into the village. 
 There was not a shot fired or a shout 
 uttered, for tJie men were very fierce, and 
 the slaughter was proportionate. 'I've just 
 got three of 'em out of one house, sir,' said 
 a 78th man, with a grin, to me, as I met 
 him at a turn of the village."§ 
 
 The enemy's skirmishers, driven from the 
 village, were hunted out of the plantation 
 by the Madras Fusiliers; but notwith- 
 standing these advantages, the event of the 
 battle was still far from being decided. 
 The want of cavalry disabled the British 
 from protecting their rear ; and the enemy, 
 strong iu this arm, and skilful iu its use, 
 enveloped our flanks in the form of a cres- 
 cent, showing such unusual resolve, that 
 the best narrator of the contest declares, 
 "if there had only been a head to guide 
 them, we must have fought hard for our 
 bare lives." || Wanting this, they were 
 driven from one position after another: 
 still their fire, though diminished, was not 
 silenced ; and, iu the lengthening shadows 
 of evening, their line seemed to grow more 
 dense, while their drums and trumpets 
 sounded the advance in quick repetition. 
 A feeling of depression and uncertainty 
 gained ground among the British ; they 
 were again exposed to the fire of the 
 enemy, and those in front lay dowu to avoid 
 it. Deceived by the waning light, Major 
 Stephenson was leading on the Madras 
 Fusiliers, in close column, to a point where 
 a round shot, or discharge of grape, would 
 have involved the noble regiment in destruc- 
 tion, wheu Major North, who was prostrate 
 ou a narrow ridge of earth with the High- 
 landers, sprang to his feet, and, rushing 
 across the plain, gave a hurried wurning to 
 Major Stephenson, who deployed his regi- 
 ment into hne, and lay down beside the 
 78th. 
 
 At this moment.Havelock appeared riding 
 a hack, his own horse having just been shot 
 under him, and gave the order for the line 
 
 X Major North's Journal, p. 67. 
 
 § Article in Saturday lievieu;, Sept., 18i>7. 
 
 '• Ibi^.
 
 378 
 
 BEOCCUPATION OF CAWNPOOB^-JULY 17th, 1857. 
 
 to advance. When the word "forward" 
 was given, the space between the hostile 
 lines was so inconsiderable that a general 
 mSUe seemed inevitable. The exploit which 
 turned the scale in favour of the British, 
 was performed by the 64th. The enemy 
 had only one battery left, but they were 
 using it with eflFect. 
 
 A civilian, one of the gallant score of 
 volunteer cavalry, was with the infantry 
 when Havelock addressed them thus: — 
 
 " Get up, my lads, and take those 
 
 guns." " Up we got with a cheer ; it was 
 more like a howl ; and charged up, giving 
 them a volley at eighty yards, and ran in."* 
 The enemy fled across the plain, carrying 
 off two horse artillery guns. The British 
 collected their wounded, and, as night set 
 in, formed up and bivouacked on the plain, 
 just beyond the grand parade-ground of 
 Cawnpoor. The total casualties, including 
 natives, were 108. Those of the enemy were 
 estimated at 250. Among the Europeans, 
 the 64th were the chief sufferers, having 
 three officers, one sergeant, one corporal, 
 and thirty privates wounded. One officer 
 (Captain Currie, of the 84th), five soldiers, 
 and a sepoy, were killed or mortally wounded. 
 " Hungry, thirsty, and cold, the troops had 
 nothing but dirty ditch-water to drink ; but 
 it was like nectar."t Their fast was of 
 twenty-one hours' duration: from noon 
 on the 16th of July, till 9 a.m. on the 
 following morning, not a man of the force 
 had any refreshment. J No wonder that 
 disease overtook them speedily. Cholera 
 and dysentery attacked the column. One 
 of the ablest officers, Captain Beatson, bore 
 up, by sheer " pluck," through the Cawn- 
 poor engagements, and bivouacked with the 
 troops at night, sinking only when the 
 place was reoccupied. But surely a sadder 
 reoccupation was never eflfected. Frightful as 
 had been the fatigues borne by the troops on 
 the march from Allahabad, their efforts had 
 been too late to redeem the expedition from 
 the censure of " insufficient, and too late." 
 On the road, the column had learned that 
 the majority of the women and children of 
 the Cawnpoor and Futtehghur garrisons 
 were yet alive ; and " the thought of releasing 
 them from their cruel bondage, had been a 
 matter of happy speculation throughout the 
 camp." But they never strove to ransom, 
 and were too late to rescue, these innocent 
 victims, or even to avenge their deaths on 
 
 • Times, Sept. 29th, 1857. t J^bid. 
 
 i Major North's Journal, p. 88. 
 
 the Nana Sahib and his fiend-like coun- 
 sellor, Azim Oollah. These great crimi- 
 nals fled, proclaiming their departure by an 
 act of policy and defiance. At daybreak, 
 while the troops were craving food of any 
 description, and waiting for the baggage 
 to come up, preparatory to encamping; 
 as they "lay idly looking towards the 
 belt of trees and houses across the parade- 
 ground," a huge pillar of smoke rose 
 slowly in the air, followed by a loud 
 report. The Nana had blown up the 
 grand magazine and arsenal at Cawn- 
 poor, before retreating to his own palace- 
 fort of Bithoor, only nine miles dis- 
 tant. Next came the tidings of the 
 final massacre. In the course of the 
 morning the troops marched into canton- 
 ments, and looked with amazement on the 
 mud wall so wonderfully defended, and, 
 with grief and horror unspeakable, on the 
 evidences of the closing scene of the most 
 terrible tragedy of modern times. One 
 account, and only one, out of the multitude 
 written on the subject, affords an adequate 
 idea of the depth and variety of wretched- 
 ness endured by the Englishwomen ; and 
 that is Mowbray Thomson's Story of 
 Cawnpoor.^ It was sad enough to think 
 of the innocent victims, as they were de- 
 picted in the graceful "In Memoriam," 
 which attracted so many gazers, in the 
 Royal Academy Exhibition of 1858: but 
 had the picture truly represented the per- 
 sons and surrounding circumstances of the 
 200 women and children at the moment of 
 the slaughter, it would have been turned from 
 with horror and loathing. Except, perhaps, 
 under the hatches of a slave-stealing clipper, 
 during the " middle passage," human nature 
 has rarely borne up against such intense, 
 accumulated, and protracted suffering as 
 was endured by the English at Cawnpoor. 
 Let it be remembered, that when the gar- 
 rison and resident population, including 
 750 Europeans, were blockaded in the 
 intrenchment, very few had secured a single 
 change of raiment ; some were only par- 
 tially dressed ; and, in the beginning of 
 the defence, " all were like a band of sea- 
 farers who had taken to a raft to escape 
 from a burning ship." 
 
 The thermometer ranged from 120° to 
 130° Fahrenheit; and once or twice mus- 
 kets went off untouched, either from- the 
 sun exploding the caps, or from the fiery 
 
 § Published since the issue of the account of the 
 1 siege, given at pages 247 — 263.
 
 THE HEROIC GARRISON OF CAWNPOOR. 
 
 879 
 
 heat of the metal. "Across the plain, the 
 mirage, which only makes its appearance 
 in extremely hot seasons, painted its fantas- 
 tic scenes :" sometimes forest trees, some- 
 times a wide expanse of water, mocked the 
 sufferers huddled together in that place 
 of torment. "Not even a pini of water 
 for washing was to be had from the com- 
 mencement to the close of the siege." It 
 was at the cost of many lives that a little 
 was obtained to appease the maddening 
 cravings of thirst, or to prepare the half- 
 pint of split peas and flour* — the daily 
 rationsf that afforded the porridge on which 
 strong men and delicate women supported 
 existence ; varied, indeed, at rare intervals, 
 by horse or dog broth, the animals being 
 obtained in some of the sallies of the gar- 
 rison, or having strayed within reach. J 
 
 The destruction of the thatched bun- 
 galow, besides the other suffering it occa- 
 sioned, drove 200 women and children into 
 the trenches for shelter, where they passed 
 twelve days and nights on the bare ground. 
 Idiotcy and madness were not wanting to 
 increase the horrors of the scene — " the 
 old babbling with confirmed imbecility; the 
 young raving, in not a few cases, with wild 
 mania :"§ the heart-sickness of hope deferred 
 producing the first form of insanity, as 
 surely as physical suffering the latter. "At 
 all times of the day and night," eager ears 
 were listening for the sound of the hourly 
 expected relieving force from Calcutta; and 
 
 • The drawing of water from the single well within 
 the intrenchment (the other just beyond it, but 
 under cover of the guns, being dry, and used as a 
 burying-place), was, it will be remembered, a service 
 of imminent danger ; for the creaking of the tackle 
 immediately drew down a shower of grape on the 
 spot, even in the dead of night. The gall?nt John 
 M'Killop, of the civil service, styled himself the 
 Captain of the Well ; and the piteous cries of the 
 children for water never met his ear in vain. After 
 many hair-breadth escapes, he was killed by a grape- 
 shot wound in the groin. His last words were an 
 earnest entreaty that somebody would go and draw 
 water for a lady to whom he had promised it. — 
 Story of Caicnpoor, p. 87. 
 
 + As long as provisions lasted, " the youngest re- 
 cruit had the same rations as the old general ; no 
 distinctions were made between civilians and mili- 
 tary men ; and there was not a solitary instance in 
 wliich an individual had lost sight of the common 
 necessity, and sacrificed it to self-interest, by hoard- 
 ing supplies." — Ibid., p. 32. 
 
 t " Captain Halliday, who had come from the 
 pucka barrack to the main-guard, to visit Captain 
 Jenkins, was shot dead while returning, carrying 
 back soup made of horse-flesh, for his wife." — Ibid., 
 p. 85. 
 
 § The Rev. Mr. Haycock (sent out by the Tro- 
 pagation of the Gospel Society) used to bring 
 
 even to the last, each one would remind his 
 neighbour, that " the governor- general had 
 promised to send reinforcements promptly." 
 When the intrenchment was evacuated, 
 some of the women had gowns, some had 
 not; few had shoes, and fewer stockings: 
 for the guns had been injured by the 
 enemy's shot, and the canister could not be 
 driven home : " consequently," Mowbray 
 Thomson writes, " the women gave us their 
 stockings, and we charged these with the 
 contents of the shot-cases." Scarcely any 
 of the men had shirts ; these had all gone 
 to bandage the wounded, or, it may be, 
 to afford swaddling-clothes for the three 
 or four children born during the siege. || 
 Yet if, in its details, Cawnpoor forms the 
 darkest page in the mutiny of 1857, there 
 is a sense in which it is the brightest of 
 our triumphs. The survivor who has so 
 touchingly depicted the scenes he wit- 
 nessed, declares that, " in looking back 
 upon the horrible straits to which the 
 women were driven, the maintenance of 
 modesty and delicate feeling by them to 
 the last, is one of the greatest marvels 
 of the heartrending memories of those 
 twenty-one days." Never was the spirit of 
 Englishmen, women,^ and children, more 
 terribly tested ; never did it shine forth in 
 purer brightness. With a few inconsider- 
 able exceptions, the garrison** evinced a 
 patient fortitude, which could hardly have 
 been derived from any meaner source of 
 
 his aged mother, every evening, into the verandah, 
 for a short relief from the fetid atmosphere within 
 the barrack walls. She was shot ; and the sight of 
 her agony so affected her son, that he died a raving 
 maniac. — Ibid., p. 105. 
 
 II Mrs. Darby, the wife of a surgeon who died at 
 Lucknow, was one of those wretched mothers. She 
 perished at the time of the embarkation. 
 
 ^ Among many heroines, Thomson distinguishes 
 Mrs. Fraser, the wife of an officer of the 27th N.I., 
 who escaped from Delhi to Cawnpoor by travelling 
 dak. Tlie native driver, who had taken her up 
 in the precincts of the city, brought her faithfully to 
 the end of her hazardous journey of 266 miles. 
 " During the horrors of the siege, she won the admi- 
 ration of all by her indefatigable attentions to the 
 wounded. Neither danger nor fatigue seemed to 
 have suspended her ministry of mercy. Even on 
 the fatal morning of embarkation, although she had 
 escaped to the boats with scarcely any clothing 
 upon her, in the thickest of the deadly volleys 
 poured on us from the banks, she appeared alike 
 indifferent to danger and her own scanty covering, 
 while with perfect equanimity and unperturbed for- 
 titude, she was entirely occupied in the attempt to 
 soothe and relieve the agonised sufferers around 
 her. She was recaptured in the boats, and is said 
 to have died of fever." — Slori/ of Cawnpoor, p. 28. 
 •* Eurasians and natives nil behaved gallantly.
 
 380 
 
 THE NANA'S PROCLAMATIONS— JUNE AND JULY, 1857. 
 
 strength and comfort, than the assured 
 hope of another and a better life. There is 
 no record of fierce invective against natives, 
 or even sepoys ; no project of suicide, to 
 detract from the uncompromising, un- 
 doubting tone of Christian confidence. 
 Nothing in the world could have given peace 
 under such circumstances, and nothing in 
 the world could take it away : not the cer- 
 tain misery of the present, not the Ipcra- 
 ing horrors of the future, not the cruelty 
 of fiend-like foes, not the broken promises 
 of dilatory friends, who, after General 
 Wheeler's agonising cry for "help! help! 
 help I" left the garrison to sicken with 
 hope deferred. Tliey did not die in des- 
 pair, as they must have done had their 
 trust been on an arm of flesh. Prolonged 
 life on earth, amid scenes of blood and ven- 
 geance, with mutilated frames or shattered 
 nerves, and the memory of the fearful past 
 — its bereavements and its complicated 
 miseries — would have been a doubtful boon 
 to the majority of the scantily clad, half- 
 starved crowd, who, at the time of the 
 capitulation, begrimed with powder, and 
 covered with dirt, dragged their emaciated 
 limbs, or waded with tlieir yet feebler com- 
 panions .through the water to boats, where 
 already charcoal was hidden in the hatches 
 for their destruction. 
 
 Thus far (to the commencement of the 
 first massacre) the account of Mowbray 
 Thomson supplies authentic details regard- 
 ing his fellow-sufferers. After his escape, 
 he joined the force under General Have- 
 lock, and made inquiries regarding the 
 fate of the women and children. Official 
 investigation was also instituted into the 
 circumstances connected with the mutiny, 
 and into the proceedings of the Nana. The 
 ■witnesses were about fifty in number, in- 
 cluding natives of various positions, con- 
 nected with Cawnpoor; and from their 
 testimony, carefully compared and sifted, 
 important evidence was obtained. 
 
 No trace of any conspiracy was detected 
 before the 22nd of May, 1837; and then 
 Bala Sahib, the brother of the Nana, and 
 Azim OoUah, used the sensual, indolent, 
 apathetic Nana as their instrument. Various 
 proclamations were issued, some of which 
 show that Azim Oollah had learned, during 
 his residence in London, to distinguish 
 between the Crown and people of England, 
 and the East India Company. During the 
 siege, a document was read in the bazaars, 
 and distributed among the people, inform- 
 
 ing them that a traveller, just arrived in 
 Cawnpoor from Calcutta, had stated, that a 
 council had been held there for the pur- 
 pose of considering the best means of 
 abolishing the Mussulman and Hindoo 
 systems of religion. That the enforcement 
 of polluted cartridges upon the army was 
 resolved on ; it being considered that it 
 would be easy to Christianise the people 
 afterwards. A petition was sent to Queen 
 Victoria, requesting that many thousands 
 of English soldiers might be dispatched to 
 India, to put down the resistance which it 
 was foreseen would be made to the car- 
 tridges ; and it was estimated that 50,000 
 natives would have to be destroyed before 
 India could be Christianised. The peti- 
 tion was granted ; and the authorities at 
 Calcutta, pending the arrival of reinforce- 
 ments, began to issue the cartridges. The 
 secret of the materials used in their pre- 
 paration was divulged through the natives 
 employed in the manufacture ; and of these 
 men, one was killed, and the rest impri- 
 soned. Then followed an account of the 
 manner in which the vakeel of the Sultan 
 of Roum (Constantinople) had sent news 
 from the court of England to his master, 
 and of a firman issued by the sultan to the 
 King of Egypt ; the result of which was, 
 that when the army of Loudon arrived at 
 Alexandria, the ships were fired on, sunk, 
 and destroyed, and not a soldier escaped.* 
 All this, which to English ears sounds like 
 the veriest rigmarole, was cleverly con- 
 cocted for its lying purpose. After the fall 
 of Cawnpoor, the Nana informed the people, 
 that as by the Divine blessing and the good 
 fortune of the emperor, the "yellow-faced 
 and narrow-minded English had been sent 
 to the infernal regions," it was incumbent 
 on both ryots and landed proprietors to 
 render cheerful obedience to the new gov- 
 ernment. A few days later (July 1st), 
 another proclamation was issued, and read 
 in every street and lane of the city, to 
 the effect, that regiments of cavalry, in- 
 fantry, and batteries, had been dispatched 
 to Futtehpoor, to resist the advance of a 
 European force. 
 
 The tidings of the second defeat of the 
 rebels, struck tenor into the camp at 
 Cawnpoor; the more so, as Bala Sahib 
 had been severely wounded in tli« right 
 shoulder. Azim Oollah persuaded tlie 
 Nana that the British forces were advancing 
 for the sake of rescuing the women and 
 • Pari. Papers, 1857 (No. 4), p. 60.
 
 FINAL MASSACRE AT CAWNPOOR— JULY 15th and 16th, 1857. 381 
 
 children ; and that if these were killed, the 
 expedition would be abandoned* (as had 
 been the case at Jhansi). A hurried coun- 
 cil was held by a numerous assemblage, 
 including a large number 6f persons who, 
 by loans of money and otherwise, had com- 
 mitted themselves to the rebel cause, which 
 they intended to desert. These persons 
 considered that all hope of escaping punish- 
 ment would be lost if any victims were 
 allowed to escape and give evidence regard- 
 ing the blood already shed. Mrs. Green- 
 way, and other old residents, were espe- 
 cially obnoxious on this account; and the 
 fears of the compromised persons were 
 quickened by the discovery of an attempt 
 made by one of the unfortunate ladies to 
 communicate with the approaching force. 
 Their complete destruction was at length 
 decreed. 
 
 The number of the wretched company of 
 women and children about to be sacrificed, 
 has not been exactly ascertained. Mowl)ray 
 Thomson estimates it at 210, of whom 163 
 were survivors from the Cawnpoor garrison, 
 and forty-seven from that of Futtehghur; 
 but according to one of the most trust- 
 worthy witnesses (Myoor Tewarree),t only 
 122 were saved on the 27th of June; and 
 other authorities place the number much 
 lower. 
 
 A native of influence in Cawnpoor, who 
 is also a government official, has related a 
 strange circumstance regarding the first 
 massacre. He states, that during its per- 
 petration at the ghaut, a sowar of the 2nd 
 cavalry reported to the Nana, then at the 
 Sevada Kothee, that his enemies, their wives 
 and children, were exterminated. Some one 
 present remarked, that the statement was 
 true ; for an infant of a year old had been 
 seen floating down the stream. On hear- 
 ing this, the Nana replied that there was 
 no necessity for the destruction of women 
 and children ; and directed the sowar to 
 return and stay their slaughter. He was 
 obeyed ; and the poor creatures were parted 
 from their husbands and made prisoners. 
 Tlie fact of the indiscriminate massacre 
 having been stayed by an order from the 
 Nana, is confirmed by several witnesses. 
 
 When the Futtehghur fugitives arrived, 
 
 • Thomscn's Story of Cawnpoor, p. 213. 
 
 t See p. 262, ante. 
 
 X " All accounts agree in the statement, that the 
 f^ted, honoured guest of the London season of 
 1854, was the prime instigator in the most foul 
 and bloody massacre of 1857." — Thomson's Story 
 of Caumpoor, p. 213. 
 
 the men were at once separated and shot, ex- 
 cept four, who were reserved for some inex- 
 plicable reason ; these were Mr. Thornhill, 
 magistrate and collector of Futtehghur; 
 Colonel Smith, 10th N.I.; and Brigadier 
 Goldie. The fourth person was not identi- 
 fied. They were sent, with the women and 
 children, to the Sevada Kothee (sometimes 
 called Salvador House), which was an en- 
 closed residence, with a courtyard in the 
 centre. It had been originally built for, 
 and used as, a zenana, though afterwards 
 occupied by a native clerk, and comprised 
 two principal rooms, each twenty feet long. 
 The captives were cruelly neglected as re- 
 garded food and clothing; and a list of them, 
 found in the house of a native doctor after 
 the reoGcupation of the place, shows that a 
 number died from their wounds, and from 
 cholera, which broke out in their midst. 
 At half-past four on the afternoon of the 
 15th of July, a message was i)rought to the 
 four Englishmen, that a Native officer of 
 the mutineers desired to see them at a cer- 
 tain place. They proceeded quietly along 
 the road towards the spot indicated, were 
 followed, attacked, and cut down near the 
 Assembly-rooms. Azira OoUahJ found it 
 more difficult to procure the murder of the 
 women and children. The cavalry refused 
 to incur the defilement; the infantry shrank 
 from the task : and at length, the 6th 
 N.I., sepoys on guard at the Sevada 
 Kothee, were compelled, by the threat of 
 being exterminated by artillery, to enter 
 the house and fire on the helpless crowd 
 within. Immediately before the entrance 
 of the sepoys, at about 6 p.m.,§ the Chris- 
 tian drummers of the 6th N.I., who had 
 been confined with the Europeans, were 
 removed to a shed or stable, fifteen paces 
 ofi"; and from whence they could see some- 
 thing, and hear much, of the tragedy 
 enacted in the Sevada Kothee. The 
 sepoys fired II once wildly at the ceiling, 
 and then rushed out, refusing to have 
 anything more to do with such devilish 
 work. The order to the guard for the 
 massacre of the prisoners, is said to have 
 been conveyed to them by a slave-girl, 
 called the Begum, who had been sent 
 to attend on the prisoners. Her mistress, 
 
 § The wives of drummers, and native children 
 from three to ten years of age, were spared by the 
 mutineers throughout the siege and massacre. 
 
 11 One of the sepoys, named Diddie, being re- 
 
 firoached by the drummers for firing on the Eng- 
 Ishwomen, said, " his own family had been killed; 
 be did not care."
 
 382 DEAD AND LIVING THROWN INTO THE WELL— JULY 16th & 17th. 
 
 Adla, a professed courtesan, had lived with 
 the Nana from 1850, and is reported to 
 have obtained from him the jewels belong- 
 ing to the Peishwa's widows, valued at 
 £50,000. Whether the slave-girl had any 
 cause of enmity against the poor ladies, 
 does not appear; but, in the native evi- 
 dence, her name frequently recurs as in- 
 strumental in their destruction. When 
 the sepoys of the 6th N.I. refused to obey 
 the order, she fetched five men armed with 
 swords. The witnesses did not agree re- 
 garding these murderers. Some said that 
 tliey belonged to the Nana's guard, and 
 that the Begum's lover, one Sirdar Khan, 
 was among the number; but Fitchett,* 
 whose account is the most consistent of 
 any, declared that, of the five men, two 
 were butchers, and two villagers. One of 
 the butchers he described as a tall, stout, 
 dark man, much pockmarked, with a small 
 beard ; and he noticed the short, stout figure, 
 and hairy hands of the fifth man (a belai- 
 tee). From his position he could see the 
 murderers enter the Sevada Kothee at sun- 
 set, and the lady nearest the doorway cut 
 down. He saw nothing more of what 
 was passing within; but heard "fearful 
 shrieks;" and soon the belaitee came out 
 with his bloody sword broken; went into 
 the compound of the hotel in which the 
 Nana was then residing, for another sword ; 
 came back with it; broke that also, and 
 fetched a third. In about half-an-hour, 
 the executioners quitted a scene the re- 
 membrance of which might well make life 
 and death terrible to them. The work was 
 not completed. Incessant groans were 
 heard by the drummers during the night, 
 and the butchery had to be consummated 
 on the following morning ; the avenging 
 (alas ! not the rescuing) force being then 
 within twenty miles of Cawnpoor. The 
 end of this great crime is thus told by 
 Fitchett :— 
 
 " At about eight o'clock the next morning, the 
 sweepers living in the compound (I think there 
 ■were three or four), were ordered to throw the 
 bodies into a dry well near the house. The bodies 
 were dragged out, most of them by the hair of 
 their head ; those whose clothes were worth taking 
 were stripped. Some of the women were alive ; I 
 cannot say how many ; but three could speak. They 
 prayed that, for the sake of God, an end might be 
 put to their sufferings. I remarked one very stout 
 woman, a half-caste, who was severely wounded in 
 both arms, who entreated to be killed. She and 
 
 • Seep. 262,atite. f Evidence,taken Oct. 10,1868. 
 t Story of Cawnpoor, p. 213. 
 
 two or three others were placed against the bank 
 of the cut by which bullocks go down in drawing 
 water from the well ; the dead bod'es were first 
 thrown down. Application was made to the Nana 
 about those who were alive ; three children were 
 alive. I do not know what orders came, but I saw 
 one of the children thrown in alive. I believe the 
 other children and women who were alive, were 
 then thrown in. I know that I am on my oath ; 
 but I swear that 1 saw all this. I was about 110 
 paces from the well ; there was a great crowd look- 
 ing on ; they were standing along the walls of the 
 compound — principally city people and villagers, 
 but there were also sepoys there. The children 
 that were still alive were fair, apparently Europeans ; 
 the eldest I think must have been six or seven. It 
 was the youngest thrown in by one of the sweepers. 
 The children were running round the well: where 
 else could they go to ? and there was none to save 
 them."t 
 
 The only ray of comfort which, humanly 
 speaking, breaks the gloom of this black 
 deed, is, that searching investigation has 
 proved that the women suffered no violation, 
 the children no torture, at the hands of 
 their unrelenting foes. On these points, 
 the testimony of many witnesses, subjected 
 to sharp cross-examination, is conclusive. 
 
 Mowbray Thomson accounts for the im- 
 munity of the women from the most inde- 
 fensible of the outrages perpetrated by vic- 
 torious troops even in nominally Christian 
 countries, by a suggestion which happily is 
 not applicable to the other Indian sta- 
 tions, in which no attempt was made by 
 either sepoys or villagers on the honour of 
 defenceless Englishwomen. " Fidelity," he 
 writes, " requires that I should allege what 
 appears to me the only reason of their being 
 thus spared. When the siege had ter- 
 minated, such was the loathsome condition 
 into which, from long destitution and ex- 
 posure, the fairest and youngest of our 
 women had sunk, that not a sepoy would 
 have polluted himself with their touch."J 
 Some of the officers, and many of the sol- 
 diers, visited the Sevada Kothee on the 
 morning of the ] 7th of July. Major North 
 was one of the number. The floor of the 
 inner room was ankle-deep in blood, § and 
 the plaster on the walls was scored with 
 sword-cuts — " not high up, as if men had 
 fought ; but low down, and about tlie corners, 
 where the poor crouchiug creatures had 
 been cut to pieces." [j Loug tresses of hair, 
 fragments of women's apparel, children's 
 little shoes and toys, were lying about in 
 terrible confusion. Two scraps of paper, 
 written on with a pencil, w ere found. One, 
 
 § Major North's Journal, p 76. 
 
 II Saturday Heview, September, 1857.
 
 THE MORAL OF CAWNPOOR. 
 
 383 
 
 by Miss Caroline Lindsay, contained a record 
 of the date of the deaths of the writer's 
 mother (Mrs. G. Lindsay), brother, sister, 
 uncle and aunt (Major and Mrs. Lindsay). 
 The other bore no signature, and named no 
 individual, but briefly noted the progress of 
 the siege and surrender. 
 
 A Bible, which bore on the fly-leaf the in- 
 scription, " For darling mamma — from her 
 affectionate daughter, Isabella Blair ;"* and 
 a Prayer-book, sprinkled with blood at the 
 Litany, terminate the list of the few books and 
 papers with writing found in the slaughter- 
 house ; and in none of these was there one 
 cry for vengeance, or reproach for neglect. 
 There was no inscription of any kind on the 
 walls at the first entrance of the Europeans ; 
 but soon, " Avenge us I" and other sentences 
 were scribbled about on the Sevada Kothee 
 and the bai-rack within the intrenchmeuts, 
 most of which were vulgar, slandering for- 
 geries, wrong in their dates,t and utterly 
 at variance with the feelings of the sufferers, 
 as described by one of the two surviving 
 ' ofiScers of the garrison. 
 
 The moral of Cawnpoor, as deduced by 
 him, was this — "If nearly two hundred 
 milhons are to be held in subjection by a 
 few thousand Englishmen, the day is past 
 when it could be done by mere physical 
 force."J 
 
 Major North, too, coming fresh from the 
 gory chamber and the choked-up well, 
 where the mangled limbs of his country- 
 women protruded in ghastly disorder, de- 
 clared — " The blood of those innocents cries 
 
 • Mrs. Blair, daughter of the late General Ken- 
 nedy, resided at Cawnpoor. Her husband, a cavalry 
 officer, was believed to have perished at the Khyber 
 Pasi ; but as no precise account of his death had 
 ever been received, she persisted in hoping he might 
 yet be alive in captivity among the Afghans. Her 
 sister (Dr. Newnham's wife) died in the trenches; 
 her elder daughter, Isabella, by fever; and the 
 younger and herself are supposed to have been 
 brought back to endure the second captivity and its 
 sad close. — Thomson's Story of Catvnpoor, p. 120. 
 
 t For instance, on the wall of one of the barracks, 
 was written — " Countrymen and women, remember 
 the 15th of July, 1857! Your wives and families 
 are here, misary ! and at the disposal of savages, 
 who have ravished both young and old. Oh! my 
 child ! my child ! Countrymen, revenge !" — Times 
 (Russell), March 29th, 1858. 
 
 X Thomson's Story of Cawnpoor, p. 124. 
 
 § Major North's Journal, p. 92. 
 
 II The Bombay Telegraph and Courier published 
 this tale among many similar ones. Had it been 
 founded on fact, Major North, who was serving with 
 the Highlanders, would hardly have omitted to 
 mention so striking an incident. The well was 
 covered over, undisturbed. It would have been a 
 
 out from the earth, in reprobation of a 
 system which, from its slothfulness, led to 
 this catastrophe." § An apocryphal anec- 
 dote went the round of the English and 
 Anglo-Indian papers — of the Highlanders 
 finding the head of one of General 
 Wheeler's daughters ; dividing the hair 
 among them, and swearing that, for every 
 hair they held between their fingers, a mu- 
 tineer should die. II 
 
 A much nobler tribute to the memory of 
 the dead, was really paid by twenty men of 
 H.M. 32nd, who, marching through Cawn- 
 poor in the subsequent November, raised a 
 stone tablet to the slaughtered women of 
 the regiment, in the form of a Maltese 
 cross within a circle of stone. In the 
 quadrants of the circle are inscribed, in red 
 letters, and in the old English character — 
 " I believe in the Resurrection of the 
 Dead." 
 
 The Nana, it was thought, intended to 
 defend himself in his palace-fortress at 
 Bithoor (nine miles from Cawnpoor). He 
 was alleged to have forty-five guns and 
 5,000 armed followers at his command. 
 Havelock did not march against Bithoor 
 till the 19th, and then found (as might 
 have been expected) the place evacuated. 
 The Nana and his counsellors were hardly 
 likely to brave a siege when they could escape 
 unmolested. The soldiery, unable to wreak 
 their vengeance on the great criminals, 
 gave vent to their passions in the sack of 
 Cawnpoor. With fiend-like cunning, Azim 
 Oollah had left spirits, wine, and beer in 
 
 fresh desecration to have dragged forth to light 
 the stripped and mangled bodies. A Miss Wheeler 
 was probably fixed on as the heroine of the tale, 
 because of the popular name she bore. Mowbray 
 Thomson has touchingly described the sudden 
 misery which overwhelmed this family. Just before 
 the mutiny, he saw the old general on the parade- 
 ground. He was small, spare, and very grey, with 
 a quick intelligent eye, and a miUtary bearing ; and, 
 at seventy-four years of age, still a first-rate eques- 
 trian : his son and daughter rode beside him, and 
 were surrounded by Scotch deerhounds, for the 
 party were going jackal hunting. A few weeks 
 later, and the scene had changed to the close pesti- 
 lential barrack. Young Wheeler was sitting upon 
 a sofa, fainting from a wound he had received in the 
 trenches; his sister was fanning him, when a round 
 shot entered the doorway, and left him a headless 
 trunk ; while one sister at his feet, the father, mother, 
 and another sister in difierent parts of the same 
 room, were witnesses of the appalling spectacle. 
 Thomson saw the general, his lady and daughters, 
 walk down to the boats: but of their fate th»re is 
 no authentic information, except that already men- 
 tioned regarding the daughter, alleged to have been 
 rescued by a trooper, (bee p. 263, ante).
 
 384 
 
 LOOTING AT BITHOOR— JULY 19th, 1857. 
 
 abundance in all directions : the soldiers, 
 half-starved, but too excited to care for 
 food, drank eagerly ; and then — the scenes 
 which followed may well be passed over in 
 silence. The provocation was terrible. The 
 English and Anglo-Indian journals, for the 
 most part, refrained from giving any esti- 
 mate of the numbers slain at Cawnpoor 
 by the avenging force ; but some of them 
 talked loosely of 10,000 of the inhabitants* 
 having been massacred ; and the conti- 
 nental journalsf took up the statement of 
 that number of men, women, and children 
 tiaving perished, as if it had been authen- 
 ticated, overlooking the fact that the popu- 
 lation were panic-struck by the approach of 
 the British; on being assured of which, 
 " every man that had a hand in the rebellion 
 took to his heels." From noon till mid- 
 night, nothing but immense mobs were seen 
 rushing away as fast as possible towards the 
 west. Some went to Lucknow ; others to 
 Delhi ; while many hid themselves in the 
 neighbouring villages. J The booty captured 
 was very considerable, especially at Bithoor. 
 A large portion of the Naua's plate was 
 found in the wells around the palace : gold 
 dishes, some of them as much as two feet 
 in diameter; silver jugs, spittoons of both 
 gold and silver, were fished up, and proved 
 glorious prizes for somebody. The Seiks had 
 the credit of carrying oflF Bajee Rao's state 
 sword, which, in consequence of its mag- 
 nificent setting with jewels, was valued at 
 :£30,000. " One ruby, of great size and bril- 
 liancy, cut with sharp edges, is said to have 
 been carried by the Nana about his person, 
 intending to use it for suicide, as its acute 
 points would, if swallowed, cut through 
 the vitals. After his flight he sold it for 
 10,000 rupees."§ 
 
 To stop the intoxication among the 
 troops, Havelock followed the example 
 of Neil at Allahabad, and ordered "all 
 the beer, wine, spirits, and every drink- 
 able thing, to be purchased by the com- 
 missariat : it will then," he remarks, " be 
 guarded by a few men. If it remained at 
 Cawnpoor, it would require half my force 
 to keep it from being drunk up by the other 
 half. I should not have a soldier in camp. 
 While I was winning a victory on the 16th, 
 some of my men were pillaging the commis- 
 sariat on the line of march." || 
 
 • For instance, Scinde KosseiJ, Aug. 18th, 1857. 
 t For instance, Milan Gazette, November, 1857. 
 i Shepherd's A'arrati'tie: Parl.Paper8{No.4),p. 184. 
 § Thomson's Story of Caictipoor, pp. 49, 50. 
 
 The easy and repeated triumphs ob- 
 tained over the Nana's forces, induced 
 Havelock to form an inadequate idea of 
 the difiBculties yet to be encountered. 
 In a general order, dated July 20th, he 
 informed the troops, that Lucknow was iu 
 peril, Agra besieged (which was happily 
 not the case), and Delhi still the focus of 
 mutiny and rebellion : then he added — 
 " Three cities have to be saved, two strong 
 places to be disblockaded. Your general 
 is confident that he can effect all these 
 things, and restore this part of India to 
 tranquillity, if you only second him with 
 your efforts, and if your discipline is equal 
 to your valour." 
 
 Havelock appears to have anticipated 
 being permanently entrusted with the ma- 
 nagement of the Oude campaign, in conse- 
 quence of the death of Sir Henry Lawrence. 
 Before that calamity became kuown in 
 Calcutta, an order had been dispatched, 
 constituting Sir Henry a major-general, T[ 
 and desiring that the command should be 
 placed iu his hands so soon as the relief of 
 Lucknow should set him at liberty. His 
 death left the command indefinitely with 
 Havelock, who wrote a most pressing 
 requisition to General Neil to send 300 
 Europeans to occupy Cawnpoor, and thereby 
 place the column at liberty to advance on 
 Lucknow. Neil (just made a brigadier- 
 general) received the request on the 15th 
 of July, and forthwith dispatched above 
 200 of H.M. 84th, with orders to march 
 twenty-five miles a-night, and reach Cawn- 
 poor in five days. On the following day he 
 started himself, overtook the men, and, 
 with them, joined Havelock on the morn- 
 ing of the 20th. 
 
 A man of strong feelings, yet a stern 
 disciplinarian, Neil was scarcely more in- 
 furiated by the sight of the loathsome evi- 
 deuces of the tragedy of the 16th, than by 
 the excesses of the troops, which could not 
 but have a moral and physical reaction. 
 General Havelock crossed the Gauges on 
 the 24th of July. On the following day, 
 Neil writes to Csilcutta regarding the mea- 
 sures he had taken to stop plundering and 
 restore tranquillity; and suggests, among 
 other means of supplying the want of cavalry, 
 that all horses, private property of deceased 
 ofScers, be taken by government at a 
 
 II Despatch, Cawnpoor, July 18th. — Further Pari. 
 Papers (not numbered), 1857; p. 143. 
 
 ^[ Telegram from governor-general, July 12th, 
 1857.— /6irf., p. 115.
 
 NEIL MAKES BRAHMINS CLEAN UP BLOOD— JULY, 1857. 
 
 386 
 
 fair valuation, for mounting dragoons and 
 horsing batteries. " A stringent government 
 order should be issued on this head to all 
 forces, particularly to General Havelock, 
 where there is that disposition to plunder; 
 also a government order, stringent against 
 plundering also."* In a private letter of 
 the same period, he writes — 
 
 " Since I arrived here I have been hard at work 
 to get order re-established. I have now put a stop 
 to the plundering I found going on, by reorganising 
 a police. I am also collecting all the property of 
 the deceased, and trying to trace if any have sur- 
 vived ; but as yet have not succeeded in finding 
 one. I find the officers' servants behaved shame- 
 fully, and were in the plot — all but the lowest caste 
 ones. They deserted their masters, and plundered 
 them. Whenever a rebel is caught he is imme- 
 diately tried, and unless he can prove a defence, he 
 is sentenced to be hanged at once ; but the chief 
 rebels or ringleaders I make first clean up a certain 
 portion of the pool of blood, still two inches deep, 
 in the shed where the fearful murder and mutilation 
 of women and children took place. To touch blood 
 is most abhorrent to the high-caste natives ; they 
 think, by doing so, they doom their souls to perdi- 
 tion. Let them think so. My object is tu inflict a 
 fearful punishment for a revolting, cowardly, bar- 
 barous deed, and to strike terror into these rebels. 
 The first 1 caught was a subahdar, or Native officer, 
 a high-caste Brahmin, who tried to resist my order 
 to clean up the very blood he had helped to shed ; 
 but I made the provost-martial do his duty, and a 
 few lashes soon made the miscreant accomplish his 
 task When done, he was taken out and imme- 
 diately hanged, and, after death, buried in a ditch 
 at the road-side. No one who has witnessed the 
 scenes of murder, mutilation, and massacre, can 
 ever listen to the word * mercy,' as applied to these 
 fiends. The well of mutilated bodies — alas! con- 
 taining upwards of 200 women and children — I 
 have had decently covered in, and built up as one 
 large grave."! 
 
 It does not appear oa what authority 
 the assertion regarding the native servants 
 was based, Neil was not then sure that 
 
 any European had escaped, and could 
 not have received any direct informa- 
 tion. Afterwards, one of the survivors de- 
 clared, that " a large number of the na- 
 tives shared with us our sharp and bitter 
 troubles." Some were killed in the in- 
 trenchment ; several outlived the siege, and 
 died at the time of embarkation ; two or 
 three escaped at the time of the capitula- 
 tion; and a few faithful ayahs{ remained 
 with the ladies and children, and are he- 
 lieved to have been flung with them into 
 the well, which, however, from its size, 
 could not have held nearly 200 bodies. 
 
 The brigadier's proceeding with regard 
 to the " pool of blood," occasioiied some 
 discussion. Could he have compelled the 
 Nana, Azim Oollah, or any well-known 
 and proved instigator or perpetrator of the 
 crime, to perform this loathsome act, it 
 might have altered the case. As it was, the 
 perdition of the soul, supposed to have been 
 occasioned thereby according to the creed 
 of the Hindoos, did not touch the equally, 
 if not more, guilty Mohammedans. But it 
 is well known that modern Brahminism 
 attaches importance to the violation of 
 caste, rather as involving excommuuication 
 in this world, than perdition in the next; 
 and the manner in which many even of the 
 mutineers declared that the Nana Sahib 
 had brought a curse on the cause by the 
 Cawnpoor atrocity, proves that they could 
 appreciate, as well as a European, between 
 the punishment due to those who shed inno- 
 cent blood, and the entirely external and 
 compulsory act of cleansing the polluted 
 earth. Again — since the rallying-cry for 
 rebellion had been the preservation of caste, 
 was it wise to do anything which should 
 lend weight to that plea? 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 OPERATIONS, IN OUDE, OF MOVEABLE COLUMN UNDER GENERAL HAVELOCK i 
 LUCKNOW AND CAWNPOOR.— JULY AND AUGUST, 18S7. 
 
 The Ganges was crossed by the moveable 
 column, unopposed by any foe. The opera- 
 tion is describeil as difficult and tedious; 
 and it wotild have been still more so, but 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers fNo. 4), p. 18. 
 
 t Ayr Observer, September, 1857. 
 
 I The ayahs are mentioned in a list of the Cawn- 
 
 VOL. II. 3 o 
 
 for the ability of Colonel Eraser Tytler 
 (assistant quartermaster-general), and the 
 foresight of Neil, iu providing a small 
 steamer to keep open the river communica- 
 
 poor and Futtehghur captives, found, after the re- 
 occupation of Cawnpoor, in the house of a native 
 doctor, who had utt«;nded ihem in the Sevada Kulbe*.
 
 386 MAJOR BANKS AND MR. OMMANEY KILLED-JULY, 1857. 
 
 tion. Still Havelock was sanguine of sue- j 
 cess — brilliant, rapid, and uninterrupted 
 success, in Oude, A^ra, and Delhi. Sir 
 Patrick Grant, on the 25th of July, ac- 
 quainted the governor-general with the 
 contents of a telegraphic message he had 
 just received, in which General Havelock 
 expressed a confident hope that Lucknow 
 would soon be in his hands; and requested 
 early orders whether he should reniain in 
 Oude, and tlioroughly reconquer and paci- 
 ficate the province, or recross the Ganges, 
 march on Agra, join the force there, and 
 " assist in the reduction of Delhi." 
 
 On the same day the Lucknow garrison 
 received a letter from Colonel Tytler, to llie 
 effect that the general's force was suflicient 
 to defeat the enemy ; that the troops were 
 then crossing the river, and hoped to be in 
 Lucknow in five or six days, the distance 
 between Cawnpoor and Lucknow being 
 somewhat above fifty miles. The letter 
 was conveyed by Ungud, a pensioned sepoy, 
 who stole in through the besieging force at 
 midnight, and poured forth tidings of the 
 outer world to the eager ears of the Eu- 
 ropeans. Mr. Gubbins describes the en- 
 trance of Ungud into the low room on the 
 ground-floor, with a single light carefully 
 screened on the further side, lest it should 
 attract the bullets of the enemy ; the anxious 
 faces of the men ; the indistinct forms of 
 women in their night attire, listening in 
 breathless silence to the promise of spee<ly 
 rescue for themselves, followed by tidings 
 of the final Cawnpoor massacre. Ungud 
 also told them that the risaldar of 
 Fisher's Horse, the first rebel commander 
 of the force besieging Lucknow, had been 
 killed by a rifle-ball while reconnoitring 
 from a loophole; that an infantry subah- 
 dar, named Ghuiuunda Sing, was their 
 present leader; that a boy of eleven or 
 twelve years of age, a member of the 
 Oude royal family, had been proclaimed 
 king ; his mother, the Begum, being regent ; 
 while some authority was still exercised by 
 the Moulvee, who had accompanied the 
 mutineers from Fyzabad. After a day's rest, 
 Ungud again set forth on his perilous enter- 
 prise, bearing despatches and plans of Luck- 
 now, and of the roads leading to it, from Bri- 
 gadier Inglis, for General Havelock, towhora 
 the garrison now looked for speedy rescue. 
 The tidings of the Cawnpoor massacre, 
 terrible as they were, relieved the minds of 
 the garrison from that worst fear, which the 
 false or grossly exaggerated accounts of the 
 
 Meerut and Delhi mutinies had inspired. 
 The men ceased to discuss the propriety of 
 killing the women and children, to prevent 
 their falling into the hands of the enemy — 
 a practice which, in the case of Hindoos 
 and Mohammedans, had been denounced 
 by the British as barbarous and heathenish 
 in the extreme. Nevdheless, Mr. Gubbins 
 relates, that an officer who resided in his 
 house during the siege, offered, in the event 
 of the enemy taking Lucknow by storm, to 
 shoot Mrs. Gubbins; and required a similar 
 pledge on behalf of his own wife. Mr. 
 Gubbins replied, that '' the necessity liad 
 not arisen ; and there was, therefore, then 
 no need to provide for it." He adds, in the 
 manly, honest tone that characterises his 
 narrative — " and besides, I could not do it."* 
 Mr. PolehamptQiL asserts that Colonel 
 Inglis asked him, whether Mrs. Inglis would 
 be justified in killing her own children,ratlier 
 than let them be murdered by the muti- 
 neers? He replied, " No ; for the children 
 could but be killed." M«jor Banks asked 
 him, "as a clergyman," for advice what to 
 do, if it were certain that the women would 
 be captured, and treated as they were 
 alleged to have been at Delhi and Meerut. 
 The answer was, that in that case, he (Mr. 
 Polehampton) would shoot his wife.f 
 
 Neither the chaplain nor the commis- 
 sioner lived to see the issue of the siege. 
 The former was wounded while attending 
 the sick in the hospital (which he had 
 done zealously and kindly), and eventually 
 died of cholera. The latter received a 
 bullet through the temples, while reconnoi- 
 tring the enemy from a loophole of Mr. 
 Gubbins' house, on the 21st of July. Mr. 
 Ommaney, the judicial commissioner, had 
 been previously killed by a cannon-ball, 
 which hit him as he sat in his chair, after 
 passing over the body of Sergeant-major 
 Watson, who was lying down, and who, 
 though not touched by the ball, died at the 
 same moment. J 
 
 The first sally made by the garrison was 
 against Johannes' house, so called from 
 having been the property of a merchant of 
 that name. From a loopholed turret near 
 the roof, the double-barrelled rifle of an 
 African eunuch, formerly in the service of 
 the King of Oude, commanded the Cawn- 
 poor battery; and the bullets swept down 
 the main street, frequently entering the 
 
 • Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 349. 
 
 t Memoir of tlie Rev. H. S. folelianiiilon ; p. 271. 
 
 i Rees' Lucknow, p. 128.
 
 MINES AND COUNTER-MINES— LUCKNOW, 1857. 
 
 3S7 
 
 windows of the hospital. The eunuch's aim 
 was so sure, that the soldiers called him 
 Bob the Nailer. A sally was made on the 
 7th of July, and the house was entered by 
 blasting open a little doorway. A number 
 of the enemy were found asleep, and 
 bayoneted. The rifleman himself, seated 
 at his elevated post, and engaged in return- 
 ing the fire specially directed by the garri- 
 son to divert his attention, was unconscious 
 of the approach of the British up to the 
 moment in which he was surrounded and 
 slain. 
 
 Through inadvertence the house was left 
 standing, and was speedily reoccupied by 
 sharpshooters. Six weeks later it was un- 
 dermined by Captain Fulton, and seventy or 
 eighty rebels were killed by the explosion ; 
 after which the captain sallied forth, and 
 drove the insurgents from several of the 
 adjacent buildings, which were then de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 The besiegers, although for the most 
 part cowardly and unskilful, proved them- 
 selves able and persevering in the construc- 
 tion of mines ; and had not the Lucknow 
 garrison contained engineers remarkable 
 for skill and courage, the repeated attempts 
 of the enemy could hardly have been in- 
 effectual. Captain Fulton was a host in 
 himself. He organised a small body of 
 miners, comprising a few Curnishmen (the 
 32nd was raised in Cornwall) and some 
 Seiks. One of the officers has sketched 
 with his pencil, and another with his pen,* 
 the gallant Fulton, in the perilous position 
 and cramped attitude in which he passed 
 whole hours, lying at the end of a narrow 
 subterranean passage, during the stifling 
 heat of an Indian July, listening to the 
 enemy's miner coming nearer and nearer, 
 until his pickaxe actually pierced the gal- 
 lery, and exposed the disconcerted workman 
 to the view and ready pistol of the solitary 
 sentinel. 
 
 The first, and most serious general attack, 
 was made by the rebels on the 20th of July. 
 They sprang a mine, intending to destroy a 
 battery constructed by Captain Fulton, 
 
 • Lieutenant Mecham and Mr. Couper. Vide 
 Sketches of Lucknow, already quoted. "It was not 
 a very easy matter," Mr. Couper writes, " for an 
 unpractised hand to reach the end of a mine in 
 a dark night. The shaft itself was generally not 
 less than »,welve feet deep, and the usual means 
 of descent was a rope. On reaching the bottom, 
 the neophyte crawled on his hands and knees 
 till the narrowing of the passage compelled him 
 to abandon that mode of progression, and wriggle 
 
 called the Redan, which commanded the 
 whole of the river side, and the buildings 
 on the opposite bank. The enemy had 
 miscalculated the distance, but the smoke 
 hindered their seeing their failure; and, on 
 hearing the loud explosion, they concluded 
 that a breach had been effected, and, with 
 fixed bayonets, advanced to the attack. 
 Hundreds were shot down; but still, after 
 discoverin;; their mistake, they were un- 
 willing to retreat; and one of their officers, 
 waving his sword, on the point of which he 
 had placed his cap, shouted — " Come on, 
 my braves I" Again they advanced ; but 
 their leader being killed, and terrible gaps 
 made in their ranks, they retreated in con- 
 fusion, under a deadly fire from the British 
 guns and muskets. Similar assaults were 
 made on various points; but happily the 
 weakest were avoided, because supposed to 
 be undermined. Two lesser posts, almost 
 entirely defended by non-military men, 
 were fiercely assaulted by a body of sepoys 
 and matchlockmen, led by a fanatic dressed 
 in green, carrying the Moslem flag in his 
 hands, and shouting " Deen I deen !" He 
 was shot, and fell into the ditch: fifty or sixty 
 of his followers were likewise killed ; and, 
 after some hours' hard fighting, the survi- 
 vors retired, carrying off their flag, and 
 nearly all their dead. 
 
 The affair commenced at nine o'clock in 
 the morning, and the firing did not cease 
 till four o'clock in the evening. The rebels 
 then sent a flag of truce, and begged leave 
 to remove the slain and wounded, whom 
 they had not been able to bear away. This 
 permission was readily granted. The loss 
 of the enemy was estimated to exceed 1,000 
 men. The Europeans had four killed and 
 twelve wounded, and about ten natives 
 killed and wounded. The sanitary arrange- 
 ments at this time are said to have been 
 much neglected. Mr. Rees refers to causes 
 of effluvia to which it is not pleasant to 
 advert, but which must have fearfully 
 aggravated the sufferings of the besieged, 
 and contributed to produce that plague of 
 flies, which was generally complained of as 
 
 on, worm fashion, as best he could. Then, having 
 arrived at the end, he composed himself to listen, 
 and would probably hear some noise, such as 
 a cock scratching the earth or the chopping of 
 wood, which to his inexperienced and bewildered 
 ear would sound suspicious; then he would hastily 
 wriggle out of the mine to report his observations, 
 much to the disgust of a more practised hand, who 
 pf course was immediately sent down, to return with 
 the iuformatiua that there was nothing going on,"
 
 888 
 
 THE BREAD-WANT DURING THE SIEGE OF LUCKNOW. 
 
 far exceeding the suflFerings inflicted by the 
 mosquitoes at night, or anything which 
 could be conceived as arising from appa- 
 rently 80 minor an evil. "They swarmed 
 in millions," Rees declares. " Our beef," 
 he adds, " of which we get a tolerably small 
 quantity every other day, is usually studded 
 with them ; and while I eat my miserable 
 dall and rofi (boiled lentil soup and un- 
 leavened bread), a number of scamps fly 
 into my mouth, or tumble into the plate." 
 
 The want of bread was severely felt. 
 The flour, kneaded with water, made into 
 thin cakes by clapping between the hands 
 6f the native servants, and then baked on 
 iron plates over the fire, proved unwhole- 
 some, and the sick and children grew to 
 loathe the sight of the chupatties. The 
 native bakers had all fled at the commence- 
 ment of the siege ; but Mr. Gubbins con- 
 fesses himself unable to explain why, when 
 yeast, and printed instructions for bread- 
 making were procurable, no woman of 
 the 220 within the intrenchment could be 
 found capable of acquiring the knowledge of 
 so rudimentary an operation in cookery. 
 Ignorance was not, however, the sole cause of 
 the deficiency ; for it is added, that " the men 
 were too much engaged in sterner duties ; 
 and to 'have baked for the whole inmates of 
 each garrison, would have been too severe a 
 labour for the ladies." Or the ladies'-maids 
 either, it would appear; for Mr. Gubbins 
 speaks of " our English maid, Chivers, pre- 
 siding at the tea-table,"* when she might 
 have saved some valuable lives ^y presiding 
 at the flour-tub, and teaching herself first, 
 and then the soldiers' wives and native ser- 
 vants, how to prepare digestible bread. If 
 Cobbett had lived to hear of the bread- 
 want in Agra, what a homily he would 
 have preached on the defective training, and 
 consequent domestic incapacity, of English- 
 women, especially of soldiers' wives. 
 
 By the end of July, the strength of the 
 garrison had materially diminished. In 
 the 32nd regiment alone, the loss was 170, 
 by death or wounds. One great deliverance 
 had marked this month, the danger itself 
 being overlooked till it was past. A quan- 
 tity of " bhoosa" (chopped straw for bul- 
 locks' fodder) had been left in an open 
 space of ground before the hospital battery. 
 A few yards distant there was a large under- 
 ground powder-magazine. The enemy suc- 
 ceeded in setting tlie fodder on fire unob- 
 served ; and the flames must have heated 
 • Gubbins' MuUnie$ in Oudh, pp. 206, 206. 
 
 the ground, ignited the gunpowder, and 
 blown up the garrison, but for a heavy 
 shower of rain (July 7th), which fell in time 
 to prevent a conflagration. The fire smoul- 
 dered for a whole week. Had it onc« 
 blazed forth, the British could scarcely have 
 extingnished it ; as, from its exposed posi- 
 tion, every person who had approached the 
 spot would have been killed by the rebel 
 sharpshooters f 
 
 August arrived. On the 5th the firing 
 of cannon was heard in the city. The 
 besieged believing that the British troops 
 were come, shook hands with one another 
 in extreme delight, and rushed to the 
 tops of the houses, heedless of danger, to 
 catch the first glimpse of their deliverers. 
 The short-lived joy gave place to bitter dis- 
 appointment. The rebels perceived the 
 mistake ; and either from Johannes' house, 
 or at the Baillie guard, where they had 
 taken up a position so near the intrench- 
 ment as to be easily heard, taunted the 
 Europeans, telling them the cannonade was 
 a grand salute, fired at various points, in 
 honour of the Oude prince whom they had 
 proclaimed king. 
 
 Ou the 15th, Ungud returned with a 
 note from Colonel Tytler. to Mr. Gubbius, 
 dated " Mungulwar, August 4th." It ran 
 thus : — 
 
 " We march to-morrow morning for Lucknow, 
 having been reinforced. We shall push on as 
 speedily as possible. We hope to reach you in 
 four days at furthest. You must aid us in every 
 way, even to cutting your way out, if we can^ force 
 our way in. We are only a small force." 
 
 Brigadier Inglis, and the leading autho- 
 rities, were scarcely less disconcerted by 
 the misappreciatiou of their position, which 
 the communication revealed, than by the 
 information given by Ungud, that subse- 
 quent to its date the force had advanced 
 towards Lucknow, won two easy victories 
 at OonaO and Busserut Gunj, and then 
 retired for some unknown reason. A letter 
 was sent by the brigadier to Geueral Have- 
 luck, of which the following is an ex- 
 tract : — 
 
 " It <s quite impossible, with my weak and 
 shattered force, that I can leave my defences. You 
 must bear in mind how I am hampered; that I 
 have upwards of 120 sick and wounded, and at 
 least 220 women, and about 230 children, and 
 no carriage of any description ; besides sacrificing 
 twenty-three lacs of treasure, and about thirty guns 
 of sorts. * • * If you hope to save this force, 
 no time must be lost in pushing forward. We ar« 
 
 t Rees' Siege of Lucknow, p. 129,
 
 HAVELOCK'S FIRST CAMPAIGN IN OUDE— JULY 29th, 1857. 389 
 
 daily being attacked by the enemy, who are within 
 a few yards of our defences. Their mines have 
 already weakened our post. • • • My strength 
 now in Europeans is 350, and about 300 natives, 
 and the men are dreadfully harassed ; and owing 
 to part of the Residency having been brought down 
 by round shot, many are without shelter. Our na- 
 tive force having been assured, on Colonel Tytler's 
 authority, of your near approach some twenty-five 
 days ago, are naturally losing confidence ; and if 
 they leave us, I don't see how the defences are to 
 be manned." 
 
 Ungud's iafovmation was correct in the 
 mail), although the victories at Oonao and 
 Busserut Gunj were not so easily gaineci, 
 at least not so cheaply purchased, as he 
 represented. The facts were these. Gene- 
 ral Havelock, on crossing the Ganges, en- 
 camped at the fortified village of Mungul- 
 war, six miles from Caw n poor ; and on the 
 29th of July he marched thence for Luck- 
 now. Nothing could have been less pro- 
 mising than the starting of men already 
 struggling under the collapse consequent 
 on fierce excitement, amid torrents of rain, 
 to wade knee-deep through swampy plains, 
 without tents, scantily fed, fever-struck by 
 the sun by day, smitten with deadly sick- 
 ness by the moon at night, yet expected to 
 force the5r way through mud-walled vil- 
 lages inhabited by a warlike population, 
 whose hostility there was reason to anti- 
 cipate.* General Havelock set forth in 
 ignorance (whether culpable or otherwise is 
 a distinct question) of the dangers and diffi- 
 culties to be encountered. The talookdars 
 of Gude had as yet, for the most part, 
 remained neutral ; many of them had shel- 
 tered and protected European fugitives; 
 but causes of hostility were not wanting : 
 the forcible deposition of Wajid Ali with- 
 out the concurrence, asked or given, of his 
 subjects, was an ostensible ground of dis- 
 affection : our law, revenue, and govern- 
 meutal proceedings ; our exactions and our 
 omissions, especially our unfulfilled pro- 
 mises, had given many influential chiefs 
 deep personal offence; while the peasants, 
 alarmed by the village-burning system, 
 were quite ready to defeiid their hearths 
 and homes, as they had been accustomed 
 to do when banded together to resist ex- 
 cessive taxation under native rule. It 
 would have been politic, and moreover just, 
 
 • A non-commissioned officer of the 84th writes, 
 that" during the passage of the river it rained almoit 
 incessantly ; and my party, which was the last, had 
 no shelter; for on a march like ours, no tents are 
 brought, so some of the men had to wander about 
 •U night in the raia without a roof to shelter them ; 
 
 in a general entering a country under such 
 circumstances, to have issued a manifesto 
 to the people at large, stating the object 
 of the expedition, asking their co-operation, 
 and promising protection to families, and 
 fair remuneration for any service they 
 might be able to render. Instead of this. 
 General Havelock started as if entering an 
 enemy's country, and met the opposition 
 he had taken no pains to deprecate. 
 
 The troops had not advanced above three 
 or four miles from Mungulwar, when they 
 came upon a fortified village called Oonao. 
 Here a small force, chiefly villagers, de- 
 fended themselves with desperation, after 
 their three guns were captured. The 
 Europeans were engaged in firing a par- 
 ticular enclosure, as the only way of dis- 
 lodging its defenders, when the field- 
 engineer of the force, who had ridden 
 round to the front to reconnoitre, galloped 
 back, with the information that a very 
 large force of infantry, cavalry, and guns, 
 was rapidly advancing, from the other side, 
 upon Oonao; whereupon the work in the 
 village was left half done, for the Seiks to 
 finish; while the column regained the 
 main road, and beheld 6,000 men, with 
 their guns in advance, at a distance of 
 about 1,500 yards. An artillery officer 
 describes himself as looking forward at the 
 vast masses of infantry and cavalry with 
 which the plain swarmed in front, and then 
 backward at the small, thin line of men, 
 struggling on knee-deep in .swamp : yet in 
 that line none quailed for fear; only a 
 groan ran along it — "Oh, that we had 
 cavalry to cut the dogs up !"t 
 
 The English artillerymen had happily 
 the sun at their backs, and they opened 
 on the rebel infantry with effect; while 
 the Enfield rifles rapidly emptied the sad- 
 dles of the cavalry. The enemy wavered, 
 then turned, and fled pell-mell to a vii- 
 lage across the plain, leaving the English 
 masters of the field. It was past 2 p.m., 
 and the victors stopped three hours to cook 
 and eat. After this, they marched eight 
 miles to Busserut Gunj, a large walled 
 village, surrounded by swamps, where three 
 guns had been placed in position. These 
 were soon silenced by the fire of the British 
 
 the consequence was, that a good irany took the 
 cramps ana died." — Timet, September 29th, 1857. 
 
 t Letter published in Saturday Review, Novem- 
 ber, 1857. Evidently written by the same pen that 
 ably described the march from Allahabad to Cawn- 
 poor — previously quoted.
 
 390 
 
 OONAO AND BUSSERUT GUNJ— JULY 29Te, 1857. 
 
 artillery ; and the sepoys, after a feeble 
 Hefeiice, were driven out of the village ; the 
 Nana Sahib, it was afterwards said, being 
 with them, and the first to fly : but 
 the matchlockmea fought desperately, and 
 house after house had to be separately 
 stormed before Busserut Gunj was eva- 
 cuated. One villager occupied a little 
 mud fort (which was almost the first post 
 carried), and he contrived to hide himself, 
 and thus escape the fate of his comrades, 
 who had been all bayoneted. When the 
 main body had passed on, the villager, in- 
 stead of continuing to lie concealed, emerged 
 from his lurking-place, and plied his soli- 
 tary matchlock with effect against the guns, 
 the baggage, the elephants, or anything 
 that came within range. The rear-guard, 
 struck with his contempt of death, desired 
 to spare him, and called to him to desist; 
 but he would not; and then a party of 
 Seiks lit a fire round the fort, and shot him 
 through the head, as he leant over the 
 parapet to take a Inst aim at his foes.* 
 
 The English troops lost twelve killed 
 and seventy-six wounded during the day. 
 The loss of the enemy was calculated to 
 have been 500 at Oouao alone. Twenty- 
 one guns were captured, including two 
 complete 9-pouuders, quite new from the 
 Cossipnor foundry. An important victory 
 had been gained ; and the officers and 
 soldiers, notwithstanding the discomfort 
 which surrounded them as they encamped 
 that night on the causeway beyond the 
 village, congratulated themselves on being 
 within a forced march and a- half of Luck- 
 now. The next morning an order for a 
 retrograde movement was issued. General 
 Havelock gave no explanation of the 
 grounds of a measure at once unpopular, 
 and totally at variance with the sanguine 
 hopes he had so lately expressed. The 
 occupation of nearly all the available car- 
 riage for the wounded and the sick, and 
 the question of how to provide for casual- 
 ties in the event of another action, was sup- 
 posed to be a main cause of the retreat. 
 Neither officers nor men appear to have 
 recognised the necessity for this humili- 
 ating step; on the contrary, one of the 
 general's aides-de-camp notes in his jour- 
 nal, that the very idea of a retrograde 
 movement filled the force with consterna- 
 tion, aud the order drew forth the first 
 
 • Saturday Review, November, 1857. 
 
 t Major North's Juwnal, p. 112. 
 
 J Saturday Keview, November, 1857. 
 
 murmurs he had heard; adding, the "almost 
 universal feeling in our little band, is one 
 of indignation at not being led forward. "f 
 Another officer (an auonymous but able 
 writer, and a keen observer), after balancing 
 the difficulties on both sides, thinks the 
 advance should have been persisted in. 
 He argues, that by following close upon 
 the heels of the beaten foe, the English 
 might have calculated on meeting with but 
 slight opposition at the only dangerous 
 place ou the road — the Buunee bridge, 
 twelve miles from Busserut Gunj ; and from 
 thence to Lucknow the joad was clear. 
 At the city itself there would probably have 
 been a sharp fight; but it was known that 
 the guns of the advancing force could 
 be placed in such a position as would 
 enable them, in conjunction with the guns 
 of the Residency, to shell the city. The 
 troops were most anxious to make the 
 attempt. " If," it was argued, " the force 
 be now considered too small to effect its 
 object, why was not that considered and 
 decided on the other side of the river?" 
 Having once crossed the Ganges, caution 
 was out of place; aud Dantou's motto, 
 " L'audace, I'audace, toujours I'audace," was 
 the best rule of action in so desperate an 
 undertaking-^ 
 
 Certainly our power in India was, as it 
 ever had been, ba^ed on opinion; and the 
 retreat at this crisis being viewed by the 
 rebels as a sign of weakness, more than 
 counterbalauced the effect of the previous 
 victories. On returning to Mungulwar, 
 the general began to strengthen that posw 
 tion, so as to make it an intrenched camp ; 
 and there the troops remained, waiting for 
 reinforcements. At this unpropitious mo- 
 ment, a manifesto was issued, explaining 
 why the British had *!ntered tiie country in 
 arms, and deprecating hostility on the part 
 of the Oude population. It was too late; 
 the protestations were not believed, and 
 only tended to confirm the waverers in the 
 idea that the English were now striving to 
 gain by diplomacy, what they had failed in 
 obtaining by force. The rebel ranks were 
 strengthened by many chiefs of note imme- 
 diately after the first retreat of Havelock. 
 
 It may be imagined that the " fiery 
 Neil" chafed at the news; but when Have- 
 lock applied to him fur reinforcements, re- 
 quiring a battery, two 24-pounders, and 
 i,00() European infantry, he sent him half 
 a battery and the two guns fully equipped, 
 with about 150 infantry, leaving himself
 
 HAVELOCK'S SECOND ADVANCE AND RETREAT IN OUDE. 
 
 391 
 
 with 250 available men to liold Cavrnpoor, 
 aud take care of about as many sick sent 
 back from Mungulwar. Writing to Eng- 
 land, in evident disapproval of the retreat of 
 Havelock, and his requirement of another 
 full regiment, Neil remarks — 
 
 " If he waits for that, he must wait reinforcements 
 from Calcutta, and a long delay, during which time 
 Lucknow may share the fate which befel Cawn- 
 poor. The rebels, flushed with victory, will return 
 on this, reoccupy Cawnpoor, and I have no troops 
 to keep them out. I must be starved out. The 
 influence, too, on Agra may be most disastrous ; but 
 I hope General Havelock, who has been so success- 
 ful, will now advance again and relieve Lucknow."* 
 
 The general made a second attempt. 
 Starting afresh on the 4th of August, he 
 found Oonao unoccupied, and bivouacked 
 there that night. Next morning the 
 troops marched on Busserut Gunj, with the 
 intention of proceeding from thence to 
 Nawab Gunj, a place five miles further on 
 the road to Lucknow, said to be held in 
 great force by the enemy. But Busserut 
 Gunj proved to be reoccupied by guns and 
 matchlockmen ; and although the village 
 was cleared, and the rebels driven from an 
 adjacent plain (where large tents, especially 
 a pretentious one, striped red and white, 
 bespoke the presence of recognised leaders), 
 the state of affairs was so unpromising, that 
 a consultation was held on the propriety of 
 retreating ; and, this time, the force almost 
 unanimously acknowledged its necessity. 
 
 On the 6th of August, the British lost 
 two killed and twenty-three wounded ; the 
 enemy had 300 casualties. Still, Colonel 
 Tytler, whose despatches are succinct and 
 explicit, writes to the commander-in-chief — 
 
 " The whole transaction was most unsatisfactory, 
 only two small iron guns (formerly captured by us, 
 and destro)ed, in our ideas) being taken. It be- 
 came painfully evident to all that we could never 
 reach I,ucknow : we had three strong positions to 
 force, defended by fifty guns and 30,000 men. One 
 night and a day iiad cost us, in sick and wounded, 
 104 Europeans, and a fourth of our gun ammuni- 
 tion : this does not include our killed and deadf — 
 some ten men. We had 1,010 effective Europeans, 
 and could, consequently, parade 900 or so ; the men 
 are cowed by the numbers opposed to them, and 
 the endless fighting. Every village is held against 
 us, the zemindars having risen to oppose us ; all the 
 men killed yesterday were zemindars." 
 
 The artillery officer recently quoted, ex- 
 presses similar opinions ; only that, writ- 
 ing in the freedom of private correspon- 
 dence, he explains circumstances to which 
 
 • j4yr Observer, September, 1857. 
 t Thus in I'arl. Paper. 
 
 the quartermaster-general could not allude. 
 After showing the diflference between the 
 present and former expedition, and tiie 
 manner in which the people now openly 
 espoused the cause of the mutineers, he 
 described the troops as being disheartened 
 by sickness, exposui'e, and unremitting 
 fatigue, and also "by a late order, contain- 
 ing an insinuation against the courage of 
 an unnamed portion of the force," which 
 had, " as a matter of course, been taken to 
 itself by each individual regiment, and 
 created a feeling of universal dissatisfac- 
 tion."J 
 
 So the troops marched back to Mungul- 
 war, and remained for three or four days 
 inactive. A letter written by General Have- 
 lock on the 9th of August, shows how com- 
 pletely his sanguine anticipations had fallen 
 to the ground. " Things are in a most 
 perilous state," he tells his wife. " If we 
 succeed in restoring anything, it will be by 
 God's especial and extraordinary mercy." 
 "I must now write as one whom you may 
 see no more, for the chances of war are 
 heavy at this crisis." "Thank God for 
 my hope in the Saviour. We shall meet in 
 heaven."§ 
 
 At length it was resolved to recross the 
 Ganges. A place was chosen for the 
 embarkation of the force, where the river 
 was much narrower than opposite Cawn- 
 poor ; but, to reach this spot, a succession of 
 swamps and creeks had to be crossed. 
 Causeways were thrown across the swamps, 
 and bridges of boats over the creeks, 
 with all speed, the engineers working 
 maufully. On the 11th, the necessary 
 preparations being completed, and the 
 commissariat stores sent over in advance, 
 the troops hoped to enjoy, that night, " the 
 slielter of a tent, or the comfort of a bed," 
 luxuries from which they had parted on 
 entering Oude. 
 
 But a further delay arose. At 3 p.m. 
 the bugle sounded, and orders were given 
 for a third advance. The reason was, that 
 the general had received .false information 
 that the enemy had come to Oonao with 
 the intention of attacking the Europeans 
 while crossing the river. About 200 men 
 were left to guard the bridge; the re- 
 mainder, which could not have greatly 
 exceeded 800, stai-ted " with their arms in 
 their hands, and their clothes on their 
 backs; not another thing." On reaching 
 
 X Saturday Review, November, 1867. 
 § Brock's Ilutelvck, p. 189.
 
 392 HAVELOCK'S THIRD FIGHT AT BUSSERUT GUNJ— AUG. 12, 1857. 
 
 Oonao, tliere was not a soul to be seen ; 
 but correct intelligence came in, to the effect 
 that the enemy, under the impression that 
 the general had crossed the Ganges two 
 days before, had encamped, with 4,000 
 infantry and 500 cavalry, one horse battery, 
 and some native guns, in front of Busserut 
 Gunj. That night the tired and hungry 
 men bivouacked on the swampy plain ; and 
 the next morniug they arose at dawn, wet 
 with a heavy shower that had faDen in the 
 night, to attack the foe a third time at 
 nearly the same place, but more strongly 
 posted than on previous occasions. "The 
 hostile artillery was well manned. " In five 
 minutes after we came into action," says an 
 artillery officer, " every man at the gun I 
 was laying, was wounded with grape, ex- 
 cept the sergeant and myself; and four of 
 our gun cattle were knocked over by round 
 shot."* Owing to the deep and wide 
 morasses which defended the front of the 
 enemy, there was difficulty and delay in 
 bringing the British guns to bear on the 
 opposing batteries. Eventually one of these 
 was taken in flank, and both were silenced, 
 partly by some "lucky shrapnel," but 
 mainly by one of the magnificent charges of 
 the Highlanders, who rushed on the guns, 
 captured two, and turned them against the 
 flying foe. The others were carried off by 
 the enemy. The exhausted victors were 
 quite incapable of pursuit. They had lost 
 five killed, and thirty wounded. The 
 casualties on the other side were estimated 
 mtSOO. 
 
 After halting to take breath, the Euro- 
 peans returned to Oonao, " where they 
 cooked food ;" and thence, in the cool of 
 the evening, back to Mungulwar. Ou 
 the following day the Ganges was crossed, 
 and Havelock rejoined NeU, with the rem- 
 nants of his shattered forces. The " vic- 
 tories" he had gained, read well in his 
 despatches : but what were the facts ? He 
 had thrice driven the enemy from the same 
 ground ; had captured the same cannon 
 over and over again : but he had retreated 
 three times ; and, being finally defeated in 
 the sole olgect of the campnign, had re- 
 turned to Cawnpoor with the loss of a 
 fourth of his men. The estimate of native 
 casualties was very uncertaiu : but even if 
 
 • Saturday JlevietD, November, 1857. 
 + Friend of India — the proprietor of the journal 
 Mr. Marshman) beinf; the general's brother-in-law. 
 t Major North's Journal, p. 120. 
 I Frund of India, SepU 10th, 1857. 
 
 these were reckoned by thousands, the 
 rebel ranks were being constantly recruited. 
 There was scarcely a second opinion on the 
 subject throughout India. The operations 
 in Oude were declared, even by an authority! 
 strongly favourable to General Havelock, 
 to have been " complete failures," and very 
 costly ones ; for the troops had been ex- 
 posed, from the 20th of July to the 13th of 
 August, without tents, and had made a 
 three weeks' campaign of what was expected 
 to have been but an advance of a few days. 
 Major North declares, that what was en- 
 dured in marching from Allahabad to 
 Caw n poor, was light in comparison to the 
 sufferings encountered in the advances and 
 retreats in Oude.^ 
 
 On returning to Cawnpoor, a great 
 difference was observable in the place, 
 tlirungh the exertions of Neil. He had 
 felt the necessity of conciliating the shop- 
 keepers ; and every morning, at daybreak, 
 he went among them, and endeavoured to 
 reassure them regarding the expected ad- 
 vance of the mutineers, whose appearance, 
 in overwhelming numbers, was daily ex- 
 pected. Another measure of his has been 
 much discussed. Captain Bruce, the 
 superintendent of police, in searching 
 the house of a nawab said to be engaged 
 in besieging Lucknow, found that his 
 female relatives had been left behind, and 
 immediately seized them; giving them 
 at the same time to understand, that 
 they would alone be protected so long 
 as any English women or children who 
 might fall into the hands of the Oude 
 rebels should be uninjured. § In ex- 
 tenuation of this and other harsh mea- 
 sures, it mtist be remembered that Neil 
 was in a most arduous and critical posi- 
 tion. The departure of the moveable 
 column had encouraged the mutineers to 
 reassemble at Bithoor. With his small 
 force, aided by the little steamer Berham- 
 pootra, Neil repeatedly dispersed them ; 
 but it was to no purpose: they returned 
 again immediately ; for their numbers and 
 their desperate case left them no alterna- 
 tive but armed rebellion. 
 
 The motley horde at the town of Bithoor, 
 consisted of some of the 2nd and 4th cav- 
 alry, portions of Nana Sahib's followers, and 
 of the rebel infantry from Saugor: num- 
 bering, in all, 4,000 men with two guns, 
 Havelock marched against them on the 
 16th of August, took the guns, and drove 
 them off; but could not attempt pursuit,
 
 ENGAGEMENT AT BITHOOR— AUGUST 12th, 1857. 
 
 393 
 
 not only from the want of cavalry, but also 
 from the exhausted conditioa of his own 
 troops. The loss of the enemy was esti- 
 mated at 250 killed and wounded ; the 
 British had eight rank and file killed, and 
 forty-one wounded :* twelve died from 
 8un-stroke,t and many others from cholera 
 and the eflfects of exposure and fatigue. 
 
 On this occasion, the ill effect of march- 
 ing Englishmen in India by day instead of 
 by night, was particularly manifest. The 
 men came into action so fagged with the 
 heavy road and hot sun, that even the 
 excitement of fighting scarcely sustained 
 them. Strangely enough, the sepoys were 
 equally exhausted ; for a Hindoo fast, which 
 had fallen on the previous day, had been 
 strictly kept by them, and scores Avere 
 bayoneted as they lay fainting on the 
 ground; while others, having fled beyond 
 the reach of the guns, flung themselves 
 down, incapable of further movement. 
 
 The Europeans were surrounded by de- 
 pressing circumstances. It was about forty 
 days since they quitted Allahabad in high 
 health and spirits : during that time they had 
 been engaged with the enemy, on an ave- 
 rage, every fourth day. Changed in appear- 
 ance, no less than diminished in numbers, 
 were they now. " It was really pitiable," 
 the anonymous chronicler of the proceed- 
 ings writes, " to see the regiments marching 
 back from Bithoor. The 78th left Allaha- 
 bad over 300 strong ; it is now reduced to 
 less than 100 fighting-men. The 64th, 
 that started a few months ago for Persia 
 1,000 strong, is now reduced to the size of 
 two companies, and the rest in propor- 
 tion."J 
 
 The troops with which General Have- 
 lock had, on the 23rd of July, talked 
 of " relieving Lucknow, and reconquering 
 and pacificating Oude," were, on the 15th 
 of August, described by him as in process 
 of "absorption by disease;" and by Neil, 
 as " much used up ; imperative they should 
 be rested and not exposed ; not equal to a 
 few miles' march :" "total, seventeen oflBcers 
 and 466 men, non-efl"ective." On the 
 23rd of August, Havelock telegraphed to 
 Calcutta, that unless immediate reinforce- 
 ments could be sent, he must abandon 
 Cawnpoor, and fall back on Allahabad. § 
 There is no record in the public papers of 
 
 • Brigadier-general Havelock's despatch, August 
 17th, l8ol.— London Gazette, Nov. 24lh, 1857. 
 
 t Neil's telegram to commander-in-chief. — Pari. 
 Papers (No. 4), p. 102. 
 
 VOL. II. 3 B 
 
 this date, to show in what manner Havelock 
 fulfilled those duties regarding the food, 
 shelter, and appointments of the troops, the 
 details of which fill so many hundreds of 
 pages in the " Wellington Despatches," 
 and explain why Colonel Wellesley con- 
 ducted the guerilla warfare which suc- 
 ceeded the capture of Seringapatam with 
 such complete success, amid the jungles 
 and fortified villages of Malabar, and the 
 trackless forests of Wynaad. Havelock 
 commanded men admirably in the field ; 
 but what were his commissariat arrange- 
 ments? Did he, or did he not, habitually 
 overrate his resources and his victories, 
 and expose the men to fatigues and hard- 
 ships which, by greater vigilance and 
 judgment, might have been avoided or 
 mitigated? The Life, published by his 
 brother-in-law, Mr. Marohman, explained 
 how far Havelock struggled against the 
 force of circumstances ; and what his rea- 
 sons were for acts which at the time were 
 inexplicable, especially that strongly com- 
 meuted oh by the Indian press, of changing 
 the quarters of the troops after the Bithoor 
 affair of the 16th, from the comparatively 
 dry and comfortable houses in canton- 
 ments, to tents pitched upon a swampy flat. 
 The first night of the alteration the rain 
 fell in torrents ; and though the tents 
 were good and did not leak, the absence 
 of drainage covered the ground with a 
 carpet of mud. "During the day, the 
 soldiers were allowed to go to the stables 
 for some protection ; but at night they 
 were compelled to sleep on the wet ground : 
 and what with wet feet and wet clothes, 
 the consequences may be imagined." They 
 were subsequently " permitted to remain 
 in the stables ;" but these were built on a 
 dead flat, with swamps of mud between 
 each range, so that the men made paths 
 of bricks, in order to reach their quar- 
 ters dryshod. The Friend of India, after 
 stating these and other circumstances, 
 adds, "but General Havelock is a most 
 energetic ofiicer."|| No one will deny 
 this ; yet, if the other assertions of the 
 editor be correct, the general lacked quali- 
 fications indispensable in the person en- 
 trusted with the care of such costly and 
 perishable articles as European troops. 
 Under the circumstances, it is not sur- 
 
 J Artillery officer. — Saturday lieview, November, 
 1857. 
 § Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (No. 4), p. 113, 
 II Friend of India, September 10th, 1857.
 
 394 GENERAL HAVELOCK, MAJOR STIRLING, AND H.M. 64th. 
 
 prising that, on the 20th of August, he 
 should have been compelled to inform the 
 commander-in-chief, that the troops "had 
 been assailed in the most awful way by 
 cholera, and were reduced to 700 in the 
 field." Two officers died that day of 
 cholera.* 
 
 In another respect, the conduct of Have- 
 lock was injudicious. His tendency to 
 favouritism gave rise to much angry dis- 
 cussion in the force. He praised the High- 
 landers in general orders, despatches, and 
 telegrams, in the most glowing terms; and 
 well he miglit: but the services of other 
 portions of the column, of the Fusiliers, 
 and especially of the 64th, were acknow- 
 ledged in a much less gratifying manner. 
 After adverting to the conquest of Cawn- 
 poor by Lord Lake, in 1803, and making 
 the extraordinary assertion that the Nana 
 was the nephew of a man whose "life 
 was, by a too indulgent government, spared 
 in 1817;" the general order complimented 
 the Highlanders on a charge equal to 
 that by which Assaye was won ; and con- 
 cluded with the following paragraph : — 
 
 " Sixty-fourth ! you have put to silence the jibes 
 of your enemies throughout India. Your fire was 
 reserved until you saw the colour of your enemy's 
 mustachios — this gave us the victory." 
 
 Probably the gallant 64th would rather 
 have dispensed with the praise, richly as 
 they had earned it, than have been humi- 
 liated by the suggestion that their recent 
 bravery had been necessary to silence jibes, 
 which, to notice, was to envenom. 
 
 The allusion to Lord Lake was unfortu- 
 nate, for it drew attention to the contrast 
 between the rare and slight notice taken in 
 that general's despatches, of the services 
 rendered by his beloved son and aide- 
 de-camp, Major Lake ; and the persistence 
 with which General Havelock " begged 
 specially to commend his aide-de-camp. 
 Lieutenant Havelock, 10th Foot, to the pro- 
 tection and favour of his excellency the 
 commander-in-chief." 
 
 The death of Captain Beatson enabled 
 Havelock to gratify his parental affection 
 by nominating his son to the post of assist- 
 ant adjutant-general, the talents evinced 
 •11 the action of the 16th of July being 
 mentioned in justification of the appoint- 
 inent,t and reiterated in a subsequent des- 
 
 patch, J as the ground for a recommenda- 
 tion for the Victoria medal. On the latter 
 occasion, the brigadier-general described his 
 son as having led the 64th to the capture 
 of the last hostile gun, the commanding 
 officer being in front, dismounted. "When 
 this despatch returned to India, in the 
 columns of the London Gazette, both Have- 
 lock and Stirling were dead ; the latter 
 having fallen at the head of his men, in the 
 act of spiking a hostile gun. Lieutenant- 
 colonel Bingham, who had succeeded to 
 the command of the 64th, addressed the 
 commander-in-chief (Sir Colin Campbell) 
 on the subject, declaring, that " the despatch 
 was so worded, as to make it appear that 
 the late Major Stirling, who afterwards be- 
 came a lieutenant-colonel, was not properly 
 leading his regiment;" whereas the officers 
 maintained, that he had acted, " as he did on 
 all such occasions, most nobly and gallantly, 
 and that he was on foot at the time, because, 
 in consequence of a shell bursting, his horse 
 had become unrideable. In short, it was 
 very painful to the regiment, that the 
 memory and reputation of their late gallant 
 commanding officer should have been so un- 
 fairly tampered with."§ Sir Colin Campbell 
 recognised the importance of the case as a 
 dangerous precedent; and, after drawing 
 the attention of the Duke of Cambridge to 
 the foregoing circumstances, he added — 
 
 " I confess to have a strong feeling of sympathy 
 with the officers of the 64th regiment; and it would 
 be a matter of great satisfaction to me, if you would 
 have the goodness to move his royal highness to 
 give a gracious expression towards the memory of 
 the late Lieut«nant-colonel Stirling, for the benefit 
 of the 64th regiment. This instance is one of many 
 in which, since the institution of the Victoria Cross, 
 advantage has been taken by young aides-de-camp 
 and other staff officers to place themselves in pro- 
 minent situations for the purpose of attracting atten- 
 tion. To them life is of little value, as compared 
 with the gain of public honour; but they do not 
 reflect, and the generals to whom they belong also 
 do not reflect, on the cruel injustice thus done to 
 gallant officers, who,' besides the excitement of the 
 moment of action, have all the responsibility atten- 
 dant on this situation. We know that the private 
 soldier expects to be led by his regimental officers, 
 whom he knows and recognises as the leaders to 
 whom he is bound to look in the moments of the 
 greatest trial and danger, and that he is utterly re- 
 gardless of the accidental presence of an aide-de- 
 camp or other staff officer, who is an absolute 
 stranger to him. There is another point, also, 
 having a great importance. By such despatches as 
 the one above alluded to, it is made to appear to 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 107. 
 T Brigadier-general Havelock, July 20th, 1857. — 
 Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 14. 
 
 \ August 18th, 1857.— /Ji(i., p. 103. 
 § Sir Colin Campbell to the Duke of Cambridge, 
 ' March 30th, 1858.— Pari. Papers, Juue 8lh, 1858.
 
 SIR COLIN CAMPBELL ARRIVES AT CALCUTTA— AUG. 13th, 1857. 395 
 
 the world, that a regiment would have proved 
 wanting in courage, except for an accirlenlal cir- 
 cumstance. Such a reflection is most galling to a 
 regiment of British soldiers — indeed almost intole- 
 rable; and the fact is remembered against it by all 
 the other corps in her majesty's service. Soldiers 
 feel such things most keenly. I would, therefore, 
 again beg leave to dwell on the injustice sometimes 
 done by general officers when they give a public 
 preference to those attached to them over old 
 officers, who are charged with the most difficult and 
 responsible duties. — I have, &c. 
 
 " C. Campbell, Commander-in-chief. 
 "The Adjutant-general, Horse-Guards, London." 
 
 The Duke of Cambridge responded to 
 Sir Colin's appeal, by declaring that — 
 
 " H.R.H. enters fully into the feelings of Lieu- 
 tenant colonel Bingham, who has, in vindication of 
 the character of his late commanding officer and of 
 the 64th regiment, so honourably appealed to your 
 gense of justice; and he has much gratification in 
 now recording his entire satisfaction with the whole 
 conduct of Lieutenant-colonel Stirling, and of the 
 excellent regiment which he commanded with so 
 much credit to himself and advantage to the 
 •ervice."* 
 
 In this painful affair, no blame could of 
 course attach to young Havelock, who was 
 popular with the troops, and is mentioned 
 in the private correspondence of the period, 
 as a brave soldier of the Charles O'Malley 
 stamp. He would have made a first-rate 
 commander of irregular corps; and that is 
 no light praise. 
 
 That the officers of the 64th were justi- 
 fied in considering the despatch in question 
 calculated to mislead the public regard- 
 ing the services of Major Stirling, is evi- 
 dent from the manner in which tlie pas- 
 sage was quoted by the chancellor of the 
 exchequer, when proposing to extend the 
 annuity of £1,000 a-year settled upon 
 the general with his baronetcy, to his next 
 heir, Lieutenant Havelock. The chancel- 
 lor spoke of the lieutenant as taking the 
 lead on account of the death of Major 
 Stirling; whereas the major was unhurt 
 on that occasion, but fell at Cawnpoor 
 four weary months later. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CALCUITA; ARRIVAL OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL FROM ENGLAND, AND REINFORCE- 
 MENTS FROM THE COLONIES; REVOLT IN BEHAR, PATNA, AND DINAPOOR; RELIEF 
 OF ARRAH; THE VENGEANCE-CRY; GOVERNMENT INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING 
 MUTINEERS; KOLAPOOR AND SATl'ARA; BERHAMPOOR, ROHNEE, AND BHAU- 
 GULP'OOR.— JULY TO OCTOBER, 1857. 
 
 The incident just narrated, has brought 
 Sir Colin Campbell somewhat abruptly be- 
 fore the reader, or rather brought him 
 back again ;J for Sir Colin was a veteran 
 Indian as well as Peninsular campaigner. 
 Decisive intelligence of the character of 
 the sepoy mutir -"ached England on the 
 27th oif June, acd created extraijrdinary 
 excitement, among all classes through- 
 out the United Kingdom. Hundreds of 
 voices trembled as they uttered, "Who 
 can tell what horrors are being enacted 
 even now?" And these fears were realised ; 
 for that -.baneful 27th of June witnessed 
 the first Cawnpoor massacre. Troops could 
 not be dispatched at a day's notice, nor 
 (for the most part) officers either; but 
 twenty-four hours sufficed for the prepara- 
 tions of the hardy Scot, to whom the gov- 
 
 • Dated " Horse-Guards, May 17th, 1858." 
 t Indian debate. — Times, February 8th, 1858. 
 j See Introductory Chapter, p. 104. 
 
 eminent and the nation appealed with one 
 accord in the emergency. It is singular how 
 many distinguished men have returned from 
 India in disgrace or in disgust, and gone 
 out again amid the most enthusiastic admi- 
 ration of qualities which had been previ- 
 ously ignored. Sir Colin was one of 
 these. He had held the command on the 
 Punjab frontier after its conquest, and had 
 differed on material points from Sir John 
 Lawrence, regarding the military opera- 
 tions to be conducted there. "A guerilla 
 war, carried on by civilians," was his espe- 
 cial aversion ; and when Lord Dalhousie, on 
 being referred to regarding some point in 
 dispute, decided in favour of the Punjab 
 authorities, and expressed himself in "suffi- 
 ciently cutting terms" with respect to Sir 
 Colin, the latter resigned his position, and 
 returned to England. His sword had no 
 time to rust in its sheath. In the Crimea 
 he did good service ; but it was as a general
 
 398 
 
 PERSON AND CHARACTER OP SIR COLIN CAMPBELL. 
 
 of division only.* He was passed over, in 
 a marked manner, until the Indian storm 
 burst forth ; and then, because the govern- 
 ment needed a good man for the office of 
 commander-in-chief, even more than a good 
 office for a " Dowb," and knew of no one 
 who united warlike and oligarchical quali- 
 fications, the latter were dispensed with, 
 and Colin Campbell returned to India, 
 to cope with the greatest perils that ever 
 menaced British India. Had the charac- 
 ter of the new commander-in-chief been 
 thoroughly appreciated by the public in 
 1857, it is possible that his popularity 
 would have been for the time much dimi- 
 nished. He was not rabid against sepoys; 
 he knew them well; had never thought 
 them free from the vices and defects com- 
 mon to a host of mercenaries ; and did not 
 now view them as demons. His character 
 as a commander was misunderstood ; for 
 being, in all that concerned himself, hardy 
 and energetic, brave to excess where liis 
 own life was concerned — it was said in 
 England, that he was "too rash to be en- 
 trusted with the command of an array."t 
 In India, the very opposite was asserted : 
 it was feared that he would be too chary of 
 the health and life of the troops ; and that 
 (in the words attributed to Lord Dal- 
 housie) he would " carry caution to the 
 verge of something else."J 
 
 A glance at the person of the weather- 
 beaten soldier, was calculated to moderate 
 these extreme views of his character. The 
 organ of caution might be strongly de- 
 veloped underneath the gray cuils ; but no 
 evidence of indecision, or want of self- 
 reliance, could be found there, nor any 
 weakness traced in the spare and compact 
 figure, in the broad and vigorous fore- 
 head, seamed with many a furrow; in the 
 kindly but keen blue e3-e, glancing from 
 beneath the shaggy eyebrow ; or the well- 
 cut mouth, screened by a short moustache, 
 the only hair suffered to remain on his 
 face, even unditjirn Indian sun.§ 
 
 Sir Colin landed at Calcutta on the 13th 
 of August, 1857, when things were at their 
 very worst. Oude in arms ; Rohilcund re- 
 volted ; the Doab in the hands of the 
 enemy ; Central India in confusion ; one 
 
 • See an able, though not unprejudiced, sum- 
 mary of Sir Colin CumpheWs Campaign, by " A 
 disabled Officer;" dated " Dublin, July isllj, 1858."— 
 2'imet, August 5th, 1858. 
 
 + Speech of Lieutenant-colonel Alison. — Times, 
 i»Iay 28th, 1858. 
 
 X Timet, August dth, 1657. 
 
 great magazine captured; the gun manu- 
 factory lost at Puttehghur; communication 
 with the Punjab cut off; the force at Delhi 
 (the last accounts of which were dated the 
 18th of July, and had come by Bombay) 
 " struggling to hold a position of observa- 
 tion, not siege," before Delhi; Lucknow 
 blockaded; Agra threatened by the Gwalior 
 contingent; Cawnpoor again in danger 
 from foes without and pestilence within. 
 Yet all this seems to have failed to rouse 
 the Calcutta authorities to energetic action. 
 A writer who had ample means of knowing 
 the facts of the case, asserts, that when the 
 new commander-in-chief arrived in Calcutta, 
 everything was deficient, and had to be pro- 
 vided. "The first arrivals from England 
 would, ere long, be coming in, and for their 
 equipment nothing was in readiness ; means 
 of transport there were hardly any ; horses 
 for cavalry or artillery there were none ; 
 Enfield rifle ammunition was deficient; 
 flour even was running out; guns, gun- 
 carriages, and harness, for the field bat- 
 teries, were either unfit for active service, 
 or did not exist. Great and immediate 
 were the efforts now made to supply these 
 various wants. Horses were purchased at 
 an immense price (£80 for each trooper, 
 on an average) ; those of the 8th Madras 
 light cavalry who had refused to embark 
 for service in Bengal, were taken from 
 them and sent up to Calcutta ; rifle-balls 
 were manufactured at Calcutta, at Madras, 
 and sent for overland from England; flour 
 was ordered to be procured, with the least 
 possible delay, from the Cape ; field guns 
 were cast at the foundry at Cossipoor ; 
 gun-carriages and harness made up with all 
 possible has'ic; the commissariat depart- 
 ments stimulated to a degree of activity 
 hitherto not even dreamt of. * * * 
 The whole military machine was set agoing 
 with a high steam pressure. "|| 
 
 The great error of the Calcutta authori- 
 ties, and the one which was most inex- 
 cusable, inasmuch as they had refused to 
 listen to the suggestions and entreaties of 
 Sir H. Lawrence on the subject, regarded 
 the transit of troops. Sir Patrick Grant 
 had initiated certain arrangements ; Sir 
 Colin developed a system by which 200 men 
 
 § Russell.— Times, June 4th, 1858. 
 
 II Lord Clyde's Ctimpaign in India. Understood 
 to be written by Lieutenant-colonel Alison, the 
 elder of the two brothers (tlie only sons ol Sir Archi- 
 bald Alison) who went out, the one as military 
 secretary, the other as aide-de-camp, to Sir Colin. — 
 Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, October, 1858.
 
 AID FROM THE COLONIES— ELGIN, PEEL, AND OUTRAM. 
 
 397 
 
 a-day were regularly forwarded along the 
 Great Trunk road to Allaliabad (500 miles 
 distant), in covered carts drawn by bul- 
 locks, which were relieved at regular stages ; 
 the men, on arriving at each halting-place, 
 finding their meals prepared for them, as if 
 they had been travelling on an English 
 railway; while the road was kept clear 
 of the rebels by small columns of in- 
 fantry and artillery moving along it at 
 irregular intervals. Until the end of Octo- 
 ber, the commander-in-chief remained at 
 Calcutta, ceaselessly employed in the pre- 
 parations on which his subsequent successes 
 were based. 
 
 The first succour came, as has been 
 already shown, from the colonies. The 
 wide-spread power of England, and the 
 ready response given in each province within 
 reach to the cry for help, materially con- 
 tributed to save the mother-country her 
 Indian empire. The colonial governors be- 
 haved with admirable decision. Sir Henry 
 Ward instantly forwarded to Calcutta 
 almost every British soldier in Ceylon ; and 
 the reinforcement was most opportune, 
 although it consisted only of a few compa- 
 nies of H.M. 37th, with a small proportion 
 of artillery. Lord Elphinstone (whose ener- 
 getic and successful administration of the 
 Bombay government has received the im- 
 perfect appreciation which commonly at- 
 tends the policy of those who study to pre- 
 vent, rather than to quell revolt), upon his 
 own responsibility, sent vessels to the Mau- 
 ritius and the Cape for troops. Sir James 
 Higginson unhesitatingly surrendered the 
 garrison of his island, consisting of the 5th 
 Fasiliers, the 4th and 33rd regiments ; and 
 Sir George Grey answered the appeal by 
 forwarding four seasoned regiments to India. 
 In fact, every horse and man av.iilable at 
 the moment were dispatched from the Cape 
 to the transports which were waiting for 
 them. The colonists seconded the governor 
 with hearty zeal. In order that every 
 soldier might be spared for India, the in- 
 habitants of Cape Town and its vicinity 
 cheerfully took upon themselves all the 
 duties of the garrison ; and as the demand 
 for horses was especially urgent, the studs 
 of private stables (including that of the gov- 
 ernor himself) were freely yielded for the 
 service of the expedition, without any such 
 enhancement of price as the occasion would 
 naturally bring about.* 
 
 The diversion of the Chinese expedition 
 • Times, October 20th, 1857. 
 
 from Hong Kong to China, was the fruit of 
 Lord Elgin's clear view of the manner 
 in which one duty might be overbalanced 
 by another, and of his moral courage in 
 risking the success of his own mission, foi 
 the sake of affording efficient co-operation 
 to the Indian government. 
 
 The unexpected arrival of 1,700 troops 
 was a joyful surprise for the people of 
 Calcutta; and the society of Lord Elgin 
 for a month, must have been welcome to 
 the harassed governor-general ; for they 
 had been friends from boyhood. 
 
 The Shannon, moreover, brought, in the 
 person of its captain, a first-rate artillery 
 officer. The commander of the naval bri- 
 gade in the Crimea, was sadly wanted in a 
 country whose abundant rivers could not 
 boast a single gun-boat. William Peel was 
 the very man for the emergency. At tbree- 
 and-thirty he had attained a reputation 
 which would have gladdened the father 
 whose career of statesmanship had been 
 so suddenly closed, and which had been 
 as a spring of new life to his widowed 
 mother. Circumstances had developed his 
 peculiar gifts, especially the " mechanical 
 aptitude"t indispensable to a sailor. He 
 had also the unflagging energy, the dogged 
 persistence needful in that most onerous 
 position — the command of marines. 
 
 Scarcely had his vessel cast anchor in the 
 Ganges, before he commenced organising a 
 naval brigade ; and on the 18th of August, 
 the government were able to announce that 
 Captain Peel, with 400 seamen and ten 68- 
 pounders, had left Calcutta for Allahabad. 
 
 The timely close of the Persian expe 
 dition has been already noticed. It wa: 
 in many points important, but especiallj 
 as it placed at the disposal of govern- 
 ment the services of an able commander, 
 thoroughly acquainted with Indian aflFairs. 
 This was Sir James Outram, who, it will 
 be remembered, had taken a prominent part 
 in the annexation of Oude as chief commis- 
 sioner. In 1857 he had returned to Eng- 
 land, "bowed down by sickness and continual 
 pain, which almost deprived him of sleep ;" 
 but, at the outbreak of the Persian war, 
 he accepted the command of the expedi- 
 tion, and, at its successful close, returned 
 to India, where he arrived on the 1st of 
 August, and was nominated to the united 
 command of the troops in the Diuapoor and 
 Cawnpoor divisions, and reappointed chief 
 commissioner in Oude. It was intended 
 t Russell.— rimes, December Slat, 1858.
 
 398 GENERAL LLOYD, OF DINAPOOR— MR. TAYLER, OF PATNA. 
 
 that lie should at once proceed to Cawn- 
 poor with reinforcements, and march thence 
 to the relief of Luckuow; but a fresh 
 delay arose, in consequence of the out- 
 break of mutiny and insurrection in the 
 province of Behar. 
 
 Patna, the chief city, contains upwards of 
 300,000 inhabitants, a large proportion of 
 whom are Mussulmans. It is situated on 
 the Ganges, which river separates the 
 Patna district from those of Sarun, Tir- 
 hoot, and Monghyr, The small civil sta- 
 tions of Gya, fifty miles to the south, 
 Chupra, forty miles to the north, and 
 Arrah, thirty-five miles to the west, of 
 Patna, were, in June, 1857, under the con- 
 trol of the commissioner, Mr. William 
 Tayler, whose conduct, as a commissioner 
 of revenue, had led his colleagues to inti- 
 mate, that unless it were changed, they 
 could not continue to work with him. He 
 was still more unpopular with the natives, 
 having, in the matter of raising funds for 
 an industrial institution at Patna, "ex- 
 cited much dissatisfaction and scandal in 
 his division." His proceedings were being 
 inquired into at the time of the mutiny. 
 At such a crisis, the lieutenant-governor 
 naturally desired to avoid a change in the 
 head executive office of the district, and 
 trusted that the iutelligence, energy, 
 and local knowledge of the commissioner, 
 might, under the close supervision prac- 
 ticable by means of the electric tele- 
 graph, be made useful to the public. Tlie 
 military station of Dinnpoor, ten miles to 
 the westward of Patna, was garrisoned by 
 H.M. 10th Foot, the 7th, 8th, and 40th 
 N.I., one company of European, and one of 
 Native artillery. Major-general Lloyd, the 
 officer in command of the station, has been 
 already mentioned. He had seen fifty- 
 three years' service ; and though of course 
 an old man, had been chosen, as lately as 
 1854, for the suppression of the Sonthal 
 insurrection; and his conduct on that occa- 
 sion had given entire satisfaction to Lord 
 Dalhousie. He was liable to attacks of 
 gout, which at times unfitted him for field 
 service. Still, it will lie seen, when the 
 subject is reviewed with the calmness 
 which is rarely evinced in discussing re- 
 cent events, whether the major-geueral, 
 notwithstanding his seventy years and his 
 " gouty feet," does not deserve credit 
 for the policy with which he so long kept 
 back the Native regiments under his com- 
 man^. from open mutiny, and for the 
 
 arrangements which were (as he avers) 
 rendered unsuccessful by the incapacity 
 and selfish terror of those who should have 
 carried them out. 
 
 Unfortunately, the military and civil 
 authorities acted on different plans. Con- 
 ciliation was the motto of the major-gen- 
 eral; "unlimited hanging," of the com- 
 missioner. The latter found a zealous co- 
 adjutor in Major Holmes, who commanded 
 the 12ih irregular cavalry at Segowlie, 
 about a hundred miles distant. A detach- 
 ment of the 12th had been located at 
 Patna, and constant intercourse was main- 
 tained between that city and Segowlie. 
 Marked contempt was evinced by the com- 
 missioner and the major for superior autho- 
 rity. Major Holmes took upon himself, in 
 the middle of June, to declare a large tract 
 of country under martial law, and wrote to 
 the magistrates of the various districts, ac- 
 quainting them with his determination, 
 and desiring to proclaim a reward of fifty 
 rupees for the capture of every rebel sepoy, 
 or for information which might lead to the 
 conviction of any persons guilty of speak- 
 ing seditious words against the government. 
 All petty rajahs were to be informed, that 
 for concealing any sedition or any rebels, 
 they would be punished as principals. The 
 style of this communication was as extra- 
 ordinary as the matter. The letter to Mr. 
 McDonuel, of Sarun, dated " Segowlie, 
 June 19th," began as follows : — " As a 
 single clear head is better than a dozen 
 confused ones in these times, and as military 
 law is better than civil in a turbulent coun- 
 try, I have assumed absolute military control 
 from Goruckpoor to Patna, and have placed 
 under absolute military rule all that coun- 
 try including the districts of Sarun, Chum- 
 parun, and Tirhoot." 
 
 The magistrates appealed to Mr. Halliday, 
 the lieuteuant-goveruor of Bengal, for in- 
 structions how to act with regard to Major 
 Holmes ; and were informed, in reply, that 
 his proceeding was to be repudiated as 
 wholly illegal and unauthorised, nothing 
 whatever having occurred in Behar to jus- 
 tify the proclamation of martial law. An 
 explanation was required from Mr. Tayler, 
 as to his reasons for not informing the 
 lieutenant-governor of what had occurred; 
 to which he answered, that although he 
 knew Major Holmes had acted illegally, 
 he had intentionally avoided noticing it; 
 feeling that, " however the formalities of 
 civilised society might be yiolated, the
 
 DR. LYELL KILLED AT PATNA— JULY 3rd, 1857; ' 
 
 399 
 
 essentials of all society, life, property, and 
 order, were most effectually preserved by 
 the military despotism thus established, and 
 that the end fully justified the means."* 
 
 Mr. Tayler was following out, at Patna, 
 a course of policy identical with that at- 
 tempted by Major Holmes on the Segowlie 
 frontier; and, by "constant arrests, and an 
 unceasing use of hemp," was gaining great 
 credit " from the planters and mercantile 
 communitj' — even from the fettered press 
 of India. "t But while private correspon- 
 dence and public journals furnihhed full 
 accounts of these vigorous steps, the orders 
 and inquiries of the lieutenant-governor 
 were utterly disregarded. At length lie 
 learned, from private sources, that, on the 
 21st of June, Mr. Tavlcr had caused the 
 four leading members of the Wahabee sect 
 of Mohammedans in Patna to be arrested, 
 and had taken steps to disarm the city. 
 When compelled to account for his conduct, 
 the commissioner admitted, that the only 
 evidence against the prisoners " was that of 
 an untrustworthy informer, who produced 
 letters to substantiate his charge, of which 
 one only was genuine; and that his state- 
 ments regarding the distribution of money, 
 the entertainment of fighting-men, and 
 other preparations of revolt, proved incor- 
 rect from subsequent discoveries." He had, 
 however, deemed it " politic to detain the 
 principal Wahabee gentlemen, as hostages 
 tor the good behaviour of the sect, which is 
 said to be numerous, and peculiarly formi- 
 dable from its organisation, and to be ready 
 to merge all its differences with other Mo- 
 hammedans, to join iu a crusade against 
 the Christians."! ' ) " 
 
 In consequence of the order for disarming^ 
 a large amount of weapons was produced ; 
 but, in the search subsequently instituted, 
 " few, if any, were found," and none in the 
 houses of the Wahabees. A reign of terror 
 had commenced for the natives ; a scaffold 
 was erected on the parade ; " all inhabitants 
 were warned to remain at home after nine at 
 night;" and many loyal subjects were arrested 
 iu their own homes at midnight, on the 
 
 * Government Narrative of Events. — Further Pari. 
 Papers, 1857 (No. 5), p. 20. 
 
 f Mutiny of the lienyal Anny : by One who has 
 served under Sir Charles Napier; p. 177. 
 
 J Further Pari. Papers (No. 5), p. 3. 
 
 § Ibid., p. 24. 
 
 II Among the letters found in the house of Peer 
 aU, was one written by him, in which he says, " I 
 require the assistance of your prayers to obtain my 
 end ; if not, I value not life." On the same sheet of 
 
 accusation of some revengeful servant 6t 
 treacherous relative. Mr. Tayler brushed 
 aside all forms of law as if they had been 
 so many cobwebs, and used the despotic 
 powers he had assumed, in such a manner 
 as to irritate the whole of the native popula- 
 tion, and engender a dangerous feeling of 
 insecurity among the respectable portion of 
 the inhal)itant8.§ At length, on the 3rd of 
 July, an emeute took place. At about eight 
 o'clock in the evening, 200 men, with flags, 
 music, and guns, broke into the premises of 
 the Roman Catholic Mission, and destroyed 
 some property, but stole nothing, and in- 
 jured no one. Dr. Lyell, assistant to the 
 o|)ium agent, with nine Seiks, proceeded to 
 the spot: he was on horseback ; and, having 
 distanced his support, rode alone to the 
 mob, and was shot. Captain Rattray, with 
 a detachment of Seiks, soon arrived, and 
 the rabble dispersed. Thirty men, said 
 to be concerned iu the outbreak, were 
 arrested and tried by the commissioner 
 and the magistrate, Mr. Lowis (who was 
 subsequently removed from office by Mr. 
 Tayler, for not seconding with sufficient 
 energy his anti-native proceedings). Four- 
 teen of the prisoners, including Peer AH, a 
 Mussulman bookseller|| (who is said to have 
 shot Dr. Lyell), were condemned to death, 
 and executed the same day ; the remaining 
 sixteen were sentenced to ten years' im- 
 prisonment. The mode in which convic- 
 tions were obtained may be understood 
 from the following circumstance: — A police 
 jemadar, named Waris Ali, had been ar- 
 rested on suspicion during the night of 
 the 23rd of June. He begged earnestly 
 for life, and asked if he could do anything 
 to obtain it. The reply and commentary 
 made by Mr. Tayler, were as follows: — 
 "I told him — 'I will make a bargain with 
 you ; give me three lives, and I will give 
 you yours.' He then told me all the 
 names that I already knew ; t)nt could dis- 
 close nothing further, at. least with any 
 proof in support. He was evidently not 
 sufficiently clever to be Ali Kurrcem's con- 
 federate."1f And, on the 6th of July, 
 
 paper, another hand had written— "The state of 
 affairs at Patna is as follows. Some respectable 
 parties of the city are in prison, and the subjects 
 are all weary and disgusted with the tyranny and 
 oppression exercised by government, whom they all 
 curse. May God hear the prayers of the oppressed 
 very soon." — Appendix to Pari. Papers (No. 6), 
 p. 21. The house of Peer Ali was razed to the 
 ground, by the commissioner's order. 
 f Further Pari. Papers (No. 6), p. 16.
 
 400 
 
 KOOER SING, THE OCTOGENARIAN RAJPOOT CHIEF. 
 
 Waris Ali was hanged. Mr. Tayler was not 
 to be thus foiled. He had made up his mind 
 that some wealthy person must liave been 
 concerned iu the conspiracy, and that an 
 example was required from the influential 
 classes. The destined victim was Lootf Ali 
 Khan, the richest banker in Patna, who 
 chanced to be at the time at law with his 
 nephew, Velayut Ali Khan. The nephew 
 appears to have played into the hands of 
 Mr. Tayler, and Lootf Ali was arrested 
 by the order of the commissioner, and com- 
 mitted for trial on the ground of having 
 knowingly harboured a deserter named Mo- 
 habet Ali, who was the nephew of one of his 
 servants. The case was tried by the ses- 
 sions judge, Mr. R. N. Farquharson, and 
 the prisoner was acquitted ; but the conduct 
 of Mr. Tayler was so extraordinary, that 
 Mr. Farquharson laid the entire case before 
 the lieutenant-governor, and, at the same 
 time, "transmitted several private letters, 
 sent him by the commissioner; in which, 
 witli a very indecent disregard of ordinary 
 propriety, Mr. Tayler had continued, during 
 the trial, to endeavour to influence the 
 mind of the judge, and almost to urge him 
 TO condemn the prisoner." Mr. Farqu- 
 harson further mentioned — 
 
 " Reports being current that some of the men, 
 punished as being concerned in the city outbreak, 
 were convicted by the commission presided over by 
 Mr. Tayler, on evidence less reliable than that 
 ■which he had rejected in Lootf Ali's case. The 
 judge was not in the least cognizant of what the 
 evidence was, but considered it his duty to report 
 the common opinion on the subject, for the govern- 
 ment to take such steps as might be thought fit 
 to test the truth of statements damaging to the 
 civil service, and to the European character at 
 large."* 
 
 Of course, a functionary whose "con- 
 stant, indelicate, and illegal interference"t 
 with the course of justice was always on the 
 side of severity, would be sure to alienate the 
 minds of the zemindars from the govern- 
 ment. Mr. Tayler was not the person to 
 confirm the wavering allegiance of Rajpoot 
 nobles. Among those who had sufi'ered 
 deeply from our revenue proceedings, was 
 Kooer Sing — a chief whose "honourable 
 and straightforward character"! stood high 
 even among Europeans ; but who, although 
 between eighty and ninety years of age, was 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (No. 6), p. 18, 
 t Ihid., p. 24. 
 
 t Mr. Tayler. Letter dated July 23rd, 1857.— 
 Appendix to Pari. Papers (No. 5), p. 142. 
 § Mr. Wake expressed a similar opinion. 
 
 an object of suspicion on account of the 
 influence he exercised as the head of an 
 ancient family ; from his personal ability ; 
 and from " his peculiar position as the 
 ruined owner of vast estates, who would be- 
 come supreme in the district on the occur- 
 rence of disorder, but who, as long as law 
 and order prevailed, could barely find the 
 means to pay the interest of his debts." 
 
 Therefore, Alonzo Money, the Behar 
 magistrate, suggested the adoption of a con- 
 ciliatory policy with regard to Kooer Sing, 
 and, indeed, to the people generally. " One 
 or two executions" might, he writes, " strike 
 terror and do good ;" but "the daily repeti- 
 tion of such scenes (where the people are 
 against us) only hardens and aggravates;" 
 and he added, that if " one of the influential 
 zemindars, like Kooer Sing, be suspected 
 and pushed hard, he may very probably 
 prefer rebellion to hanging; and his example 
 would be contagious. "§ 
 
 Mr. Tayler could not appreciate this 
 reasoning ; and though he repeatedly men- 
 tions the aged chief in terms of respect, 
 most unusual with him, he nevertheless sent 
 a Mussulman agent to the palace of Kooer 
 Sing, at Jugdespoor, near Arrah, to intimate 
 the suspicions entertained of his loyalty, 
 and to bid him repair in person to Patna, to 
 give an account of himself. "The native 
 agent was at the same time directed to 
 scrutinise everything connected with and 
 about Kooer Sing, and to submit a con- 
 fidential report regarding it to the com- 
 missioner." An ordinary proprietor, in the 
 midst of his tenantry, might have been 
 successfully treated in this manner; but 
 the present zemindar chanced to be a Raj- 
 poot, in the heart of his clan ; and the gov- 
 ernment agent came back as wise as he 
 went. Kooer Sing received him lying 
 on a bed, and pleaded age and infirmity in 
 reply to the commissioner's summons, but 
 pledged himself to repair to Patna as soon 
 as his health would permit, and the Brah- 
 mins could find a propitious day for the 
 journey. From other sources the govern- 
 ment were told, that he had declared he 
 would not go to Patna, and would resist if 
 sent for. The secret inquiry made on his 
 estate did not elicit information as to any 
 preparations having been made for revolt ; 
 " nor did there appear to be reason to sup- 
 pose that his people were particularly dis- 
 aff'ected. It was well known that they 
 would follow him as their feudal chieftain, 
 in the event of his raising the standard of
 
 SEPOYS AT DINAPOOR SUBORDINATE UNTIL JULY aSra. 4t)l 
 
 j-ebellioD ; but beyond this nothing was 
 ascertained. "* 
 
 Leaving the Patna commissioner and 
 Major Holmes to pursue tlieir conrse of 
 *' haufjiiig right and left/'f by reason of the 
 powers of life and death extended to them 
 and tv^elve other j)ersoiis in Behar, or its 
 immediate vicinity, between the 17th of 
 June and the lOtli of July ;J it is necessary 
 <() turn to Dinapoor, where Major-general 
 Lloyd was maintaining order by the opposite 
 system of confidence and conciliation. For 
 iniiny weeks lie was successful. The ill- 
 coiiduoted disarming at Be«ares, the news 
 t)f which caused instant revolt at Allahabad 
 and Fyaabad, created great excitement at 
 Dinapoor on the 7th of June ; and Major- 
 general Lloyd asserts, that had it not been 
 for the influence and exertions of their Eu- 
 ropean officers, the three native regiments 
 would have deserted with their arms that 
 4iight. His conviction was, that the sepoys, 
 Iteing on the watch for the slightest evidence 
 of an attempt to disarm them, would have 
 fled with their weapons on the approach of 
 the guns and Europeans; and their disper- 
 sion, armed or unarmed, was deprecated 
 by him, on the ground that it would be fol- 
 lowed by the disorganisation of the sur- 
 rouiidiug country, and would necessitate 
 the detciition of troops whose presence was 
 needful to save the garrisons of Lucknow 
 and Cawnn»oor. Still, viewing an outbreak 
 as a probable contingency, he made arrange- 
 ments to meet it with the officers of the sta- 
 tion and functionaries of tli€ surrownding 
 districts, and the boats on the Soane river 
 •were ordered to be collected on the further 
 l)ank, in readiness to be destroyed or sunk 
 in the event of mutiny, so as to hinder 
 the crossing of the rebels. 
 
 The course taken ceitainiy gained time. 
 The native regiments, especially the 40th, 
 behaved well throughout the remainder of 
 the trying month of June, and u^ to the 
 25tli of July. The question of di.sarraing 
 them was publicly canvassed; for the mer- 
 cantile community of Calcutta were largely 
 interested iu the indi^o-produciug district 
 of Tirhoot, of which Patna and Dinapoor 
 were the two chief stations ; and a revolt at 
 this period, while the plant was still uncut, 
 would haveruined many capitalists. With the 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers (No. 5), p. 38. 
 t TiiiifS, August 19th, 1857. 
 i Further I'arl. Papers (No. o), p. 10. 
 § General Lloyd's Letter. — Daily Neici, October 
 30th, 1857. 
 
 VOL. II. 3 F 
 
 government, also, the tranquillity of Behar 
 was a financial question ; for at Patna aloite 
 (a city of eight miles in extent), the opium ! 
 godowns were valued at £3,000,000 ; and 
 at (ihazipoor there was nearly £2,000,00(J i 
 of the same property, besides one af the 
 largest government studs in India. The 
 5th Fusiliers, 800 strong, arrived at Cal- 
 cutta, from the Mauritius, o» the 5th of 
 July, and were dispatched by a steamer, on 
 the i2th, up the Gauges. It was calculated 
 that they would be off Dinapoor about the 
 22ni! ; and the European planters, interested 
 in tlie indigo trade, petitioned Lord Canning 
 to order the Fusiliers to disembark and 
 disarm the native regiments, in conjunction 
 with H.M. 10th Foot. Lord Canning re- 
 fused, and persisted in leaving General 
 Lloyd free to disarm the sepoys, or not, as 
 he thought fit. General Lloyd, encompassed 
 by difficulties; with nothing left him but a 
 choice of evils; harassed by the railing of 
 the Europeans, yet uitwilling to see the 
 troops whom he had so long commanded, 
 pass through the now hackneyed phases of 
 panic, revolt, and dispersion or extermina- 
 tion — resolved, in an evil moment, on a half 
 measure, wliicli excited the fear of the sepoys 
 without allaying that of the Europeans. 
 This was to suffer the sepoys to retain their 
 muskets, Imt to render them useless by 
 taking away the percussion-caps from the 
 native magaeiihe, leaving fifteen caps per 
 man. Accordingly, on the morning of the 
 25th of Jidy, two bullock-carts weie sent 
 for the caps, and were loaded without oppo- 
 sition ; but while passing the native lines, 
 on the way to tlie European portion of the 
 cantonment, tlic 7th and 8lh regiments 
 canght sij;lit of the carts, and rushed for- 
 ward to seize them. Tlie officers went 
 among the men, and the carts were suffered 
 to proceed. "The 40th N.I. made a decided 
 (iemonstra'tion towards the cause of order 
 and discipline, being ready to oppose aay 
 attempt to rescue the cap8."§ 
 
 The withdrawal of the remaining caps 
 was immediately resolved on. The Native 
 officers were ordered to collect theai, it 
 being considered that the men would feel 
 it quite madness to attempt resistance. 
 But panic is a form of madness; and the , 
 example of scores of regiments should have 
 shown that resistance might be exjiected 
 under certain circumstances, although even 
 temporary success might l)e hopeless. The 
 7th and 8th N.I., when asked for their 
 caps, rose in open mutiny : " the 40lh did
 
 403 
 
 MUTINY AT DINAPOOR— JULY 25th, 1857. 
 
 not at first join ; but being fired on by men 
 of the 10th, from the roof of the European 
 hospital, they went off and joined the muti- 
 neers."* General Lloyd whs suffering from 
 an attack of gout. He had no horse at hand. 
 He had previously given full instructions 
 for the attack and pursuit of the sepoys by 
 the guns and H.M. 10th, and liad received 
 from the colonel of that regiment a promise 
 not to *' be caught napping." Therefore, 
 believing that he could do nothing further 
 regarding the land operations, the general 
 went on board a steamer which had arrived 
 at Dinapoor that morning, and proceeded 
 in it along the rear of the native lines; for 
 the river being only some 200 yards dis- 
 tant from the right of the advancing column 
 ■of guns and Europeans, General Lloyd " ex- 
 pected to get some shots at the sepoys ' u 
 shore, or escaping by the river." 
 
 The guns, notwithstanding the arrange- 
 Tnent that the bullocks were to be kept 
 ready for harnessing, were tardy in approach- 
 ing the native lines. At length they opened 
 at a long range on a body of mutineers 
 assembled near the N.I. magazines. H.M. 
 10th and 37tii fired, "also, at impossible 
 distances ; and the whole of the three regi- 
 ments fled en masse: even the sick in tiie 
 hospitals went."t Severnl boats, laden with 
 fugitives, were run down and sunk by the 
 steamer ; but the majority of the rebels 
 escaped ; for they fled across the swampy 
 fields, behind the magazines, across a full 
 nujlah ; l)eyond which the Europeans, under 
 Colonels Fenwick and Huyshe, found pur- 
 suit impracticable. The troops "burnt 
 down some villages and the native ba2aar,"J 
 did some work in the shape of " loot," and 
 then returned to their quarters. General 
 Lloyd, believing he saw some sepoys further 
 up the shore, pursued them in the steamer, 
 but found only unarmed villagers, on whom, 
 lie adds, "of course 1 did not fire." This 
 last sentence is important, for it accounts 
 for tlie general's unpopularity with the 
 anti-native faction. To understand the diffi- 
 culties of t he case, it must be noticed, that the 
 narrow strip of land on which the Dinapoor 
 cantonment stands, bounded on the north 
 siile by the Ganges, and on the south by 
 H deep muddy nullah ^ud bay, was it this 
 time a perfect swamp, by reason of the heavy 
 
 • Gen. Lloyd's Letter.— DoiYy Netc$. Oct. 30, 1857. 
 
 t Ibid. See also the general's despatches, in 
 Furlher Pail. Papers, 1857 (No. 4) 
 
 J Letter of Lieutenant Robertson, 7th N. L — 
 Timet, Seiitember 22ad, 1857. 
 
 rains of ihe preceding month. The main 
 body of the sepoys having crossed the 
 swamp ami nullah, took up their position 
 on the road from Patna, vid I'hoolwaree, 
 towards Airah, with the road to Gya open 
 in their rear. Fearing tli:it P^itna might 
 be attacked, the general sent off a detach- 
 ment thither, retaining only 500 men and 
 four guns at Dinapoor. Cavalry he had 
 none. The road between Dinapnor and 
 Arrah was hardly practicable for European 
 soldiers, and impassable for guns; only a 
 small party could have been spared that 
 evening for the reinforcement of Arrah; 
 aud it was hoped, that even should the mu- 
 tineers resolve on attacking that place, the 
 boats on the Soane wauld he destroyed by 
 the person entrusted with that duty (a Mr. 
 Pahlen, of the railway works), in time to 
 hinder their crossing the river. But, by a 
 seeming fatality, every arrangement at Diua- 
 poi)r was contravened by the incapacity of 
 individuals, or the force of circumstances. 
 The age and physical infirmities of tlie 
 general have beeu harshly dwelt on; but 
 his manly and succinct account of the whole 
 afifair is his best vindication from the blame 
 heaped upon him, the chief part of which he 
 shows would have been more justly bestowed 
 on his apathetic or incapable coadjutors 
 and subordinates. When the time came 
 for action, Pahlen thought only of his own 
 safety, and fled, leaving the mutineers the 
 means of crossing to the Arrah side of the 
 river. The day after the mutiny (Sunday, 
 the 26th), a detachment of riflemen were seut 
 oflFin a troop-boat attached to a steamer, up 
 the Soane, to be landed at a point nine 
 miles from Arrah ; hut the water was not 
 deep enough, aud the steamer returned in 
 the evening without having eft'ected any- 
 thing. The next day a second attempt was 
 made ; but the Horurigotta, alter three 
 hours' steaming, grounded on a sand-hank, 
 and could not he got oft". There w;is no 
 other steamer available till the following 
 evening, when the Bombay arrived ; and the 
 general determined on sending her and the 
 flat attached, with 250 men, to the head- 
 quarters of the 10th Foot, to go and pick 
 up the stranded flat (which had 250 men 
 on board), and tow botli to the appointed 
 spot. The expedition was to start on the 
 next morning, commanded by Colonel Fen- 
 wick. When the time came, tlie commiMider 
 of the steamer had changed his mind, and 
 said he could not tow two flats ; couse- 
 queutly the party had to he reduced by
 
 DISASTROUS ATTEMPT TO RELTEVE ARllAH— JULY 29rH, 1857. 405 
 
 n hundred men of the 10th Foot. Colonel 
 Fenwick refused to accompany the dimi- 
 nished force, which now consisted of 410 
 men, of whom seventy were Seiks; and sent 
 Captain Dunl)ar in his stead — an officer, 
 General Lloyd writes, "of whose unfit- 
 ness for sucli a command I suspect Colonel 
 Fenwick may have been unaware." The 
 party landed at 7 P.M., without "getting 
 their dinners, or even a drop of grog," 
 although they had three days' provisions 
 on board. A few harmless shots were fired 
 by some sepoys guarding the boats at the 
 gliaut, and then the Europeans marched 
 on unmolested to a bridge about a mile 
 and a-half from Arrah. Here they halted 
 for half-an-hour ; and the second in com- 
 mand (Ca|itain Harrison), and some volun- 
 teers who had accompanied the expedition, 
 urged Captain Dunbar to remain there 
 for tlie niglit, as tlieir movements were being 
 watched by native horsemen ; and, in the 
 dim light of a setting moon, nothing was 
 more prol)able than an ambuscade. But 
 Captain Dunbar, having heard from the 
 magistrate (Wake) tliat it was improbable 
 any opposition would be ofl'ered, thought 
 it preferable to move on — the want of food 
 for the men being probably a reason 
 against delay. A volunteer who accompa- 
 nied the expedition (Macdonell, magistrate 
 of Chupra), states that, up to this time, the 
 troops had thrown out Seik skirmishers as 
 tliey advanced : but now they marched 
 on in a body; Dunbar, Macdonell, Lieu- 
 tenant Ingilby, 7th N.I., who had volun- 
 teeied, and was in command of the Seiks, 
 with aijout twenty of the latter, being some 
 200 yards in advance of the column. 
 After proceeding to within half a mile of 
 Arrah, they entered a tope, or thick grove 
 of trees, and were nearly thiough it, when 
 a volley of musketry flasiied like liglit- 
 uing along the line; and another and 
 another, in quick succession, showed the 
 troops that they were surrounded. Cap- 
 tain Dunbar was among the first to fall ; 
 then there was much desultory firing from 
 among the trees — as many of thfe Eu- 
 ropeans l)eing killed l)y one another as 
 by the enemy. At length, with great 
 difficulty, the officers succeeded in re- 
 forming the men in a field some 400 yards 
 from tiie tope; and here they remained till 
 morning, the rebels firing into them, and 
 
 • Captain Harrison's Keport; Dinapoor, July 31st. 
 — London Giizette, November 24lli, 1857. 
 
 t See a simple and intelligible narrative of the 
 
 the men, in defiance of orders, returning 
 the fire, by which means they revealed 
 their e.\act position, and wasted shot which 
 could he ill spared. 
 
 Next morning the panic still prevailed : 
 the men were only half a mile from Arrah ; 
 yet, instead of proceeding thither, thev 
 started back for the steamer, a distance (l)y 
 the road they took) of twelve miles.* The 
 mutineers, emboldened by the manifest 
 exhaustion and insubordination of the Eu- 
 ropeans, followed them with a sharp run- 
 ning fire, taking advantage of every tree 
 and inequality of ground, and inflicting 
 severe loss, which would have been still 
 lieavier had not the rebels been short of 
 ammunition. There were no dhoolies for 
 the wounded, who trailed along their in- 
 jured limbs, or were left to perish; for the 
 only doctor who accompanied the party 
 was himself hit, and incapacitated for his 
 duties; but the Seiks obtained a bed 
 in a village, and carried some officers 
 on it. On leaching the ghaut, the Euro- 
 peans became perfectly uncontrollable. L» 
 defiance of commands and entreaties, they 
 rushed into the boats, threw arms and ac- 
 coutrements into the water, and exposed 
 themselves as a mark to the rebels, who 
 sunk two bo;it>^, and set fire to a third. 
 Officers and privates stripped to the skin, 
 and sprang into the water. Three officers 
 and sixty-three men, all wounded, were 
 :\mong those who reached the steamer: 
 I sevt-n officers and 184 men were left 
 ! for dead. A French volunteer (apparently 
 connected with the railway), who hail re- 
 monstrated against the retreat, gave valu- 
 able assistance at the time of embarkation, 
 though himself hit and lamed ; managing, 
 " through his good manners towards the 
 people [that is, the villagers]," to obtain 
 a boat, and get sixty of the wounded safely 
 on board ; after which, writes one of the 
 party, " our Frenchman remained behind, 
 forgetting himself to save more lives. He 
 was the last of all who swam across the 
 river, and happily he saved his life. As 
 soon as he came on board, he washed our 
 wounds and our faces all roun<l, and pio- 
 cured us a most welcome drop of nmi."t 
 
 When the steamer regained Dinapoor, 
 she anchored opposite the hospital, and the 
 spectators learned at once the extent of the 
 disaster. No blame could in justice attach 
 
 expedition, by a private soldier: published in the 
 Slur (IJecember 2nd, 1H57) ; a journal remarkable 
 lor the variety and accuracy of its Indian intelligence.
 
 404 DEFENCE OF AllIlAH— JULY 2Gth TO AUGUST 2.xd, 1857 
 
 to General Lloyd; but populur claraour 
 fixed on liiin as a scapegoat ; and the Cal- 
 cutta Phfgnix iiiseiteil the fuUowing state- 
 ment, without expianatiou or comment : — 
 
 " A scene of a most painful character took place 
 at Dinapoor, on the arririil there ol tlie reninaiU of 
 tlie forces sent a);ainsl Anah. As aoon as llie 
 news of the repulse anil consequent loss spread 
 anring the «oinen of' the lOth regiment, they 
 rushed ill a h»)dy t& the bungalow of General 
 Llojd, ai.d would ha»e literally torn him to pieces, 
 hud' he not succeeded in barricading his bungalow." 
 
 Mejin while, the Arrah residents held 
 their ground manfully ; resistance having 
 been rendered possible by the foresight 
 and energy of Mr. Boyle, the district engi- 
 u.eeE of the railway company, who, some 
 week* hefore the Dinapoor mutiny, had 
 foititied a sm;ill detaehed two-story hoiwe, 
 «ith a flat roof, previously used for billiard 
 phiviiig, which stood in the compound with 
 Ids tnain dwellittg-house, and provisioned it 
 with meal, corn, biscuit, water, wine, and 
 V)eer. On the evening of the ^oth of July, 
 an express from Dinapoor announced that 
 a disturbance was appiehended. Subse- 
 Haeiit messengers were sent, but inter- 
 cepted by the Dinapoor mutineers, who 
 crossed ttie Soaiie the next day at a point 
 ti^bt utiles from Arrah, and, on the Mon- 
 day morning, marched into that place aud 
 released 400 piisoners. They were joined 
 by a large number* of Kooer Sing's people; 
 aud the combined force took possession of 
 the government treasury, containing 85,000 
 rupees ; after which they charged the bun- 
 galow, where Mr. Boyle, Mr. Wake (the 
 magistrate), and his assistant, Mr. Colvin, 
 Mr. Littledale, the judge, and some sub- 
 (jflicii'.ls aud railway men, including a Mo- 
 hammedan and several Eurasians (si.xteen 
 in all), with fifty Seiks, had taUen up 
 their position. There were uo women or 
 children to be considered, aud tlie be- 
 sieged were resolved to defend themselves 
 to the last. Most of the Europeans, besides 
 revolvers and hog-spears, had two double- 
 barrelled gnus, or a gun and a rifle, with 
 abundance of ammunition; and, providen- 
 tially, a large surplus, from which, when the 
 Seiks' supplies began to run short, they 
 made some thousand cartridges. The mu- 
 tineers, astonished at the vigour with which 
 
 * Mr. Boyle says there were .^OOO mutineers, and 
 as many dependents of Kooer iSing ; hut this seems 
 scarcely possihle. Letter dated " JJinapocn-, August 
 15th."— I'lmes, October 6lh, 1857. 
 
 + Letter of Indophilus. — 2'imes, October 24th, 
 
 their !»sawlt was repelled, changed their 
 tactics ; and, from the trees with whicb tbe 
 compound was filled, from tiie out-build- 
 ings, and from Mr. Boyle's dwelling-house, 
 they opened a galling fire on the buugalow- 
 fort. Two small cannon were brought to 
 bear on it, and shifted daily, according to 
 what seemed the weakest points; being 
 fired as frequently as shot could be pre- 
 pared, with which the mutineers were at 
 first unprovided. Every endeavour was 
 made to induce the Seiks to abandon the 
 Europeans; but to the nightly treacherous 
 harangues, the answer agreed on was in- 
 variably given by a volley of bulKts, 
 directed, at the first pause, towards the 
 speaker's hiding-place. The Seiks never 
 wavered for an instant in loyalty or in dis- 
 cipline, and their untiring labour met and 
 prevented every threatened disaster. Water 
 began to run short ; a well of eighteen feet 
 by four was dug in less than twelve hours. 
 The rebels raised a barrieade on the top of 
 Mr. Boyle's house ; that of the bungalow- 
 fort grew in the same proportio.n. A shot 
 shook a weak place in tlie defences; it was 
 made twice as strong as before. The re- 
 bels were found to be mining; a eounter- 
 raine was quickly executed. The besieged 
 began to feel the want of animal food; and 
 making a sally at night, brought in four 
 sheep. In fact, they accomplished thing» 
 which, had they not succeeded, it would 
 have been deemed madness to attempt, and 
 which could not have succeeded but for the 
 ignorance and disunion of the erTemy, 
 whose plans, if only one of them had been 
 energetically carried out, must have over- 
 powered the little fort. They tried to 
 smoke out the Europeans by burning large 
 quantities of chillies (red pepper) to wind- 
 ward ;t they drove the horses of the be- 
 sieged, including ]Mr. Boyle's Arab, up to 
 the building, and left the carcasses, together 
 with the dead bodies of several sepoys, to 
 putrefy within fifty yards of it. The wors-t 
 trial the garrison endured during the seven 
 days' siege, was on Thursday, the 30th, 
 when they beard the sudden and heavy 
 volleys fired at Dunbar's force ; and as the 
 sound grew fainter, guessed that their 
 counrymeu had fallen into an ambush, and 
 that they themselves had lost their best 
 and almost only hope of succour. But 
 help came from an unlooked-for quarter. 
 Major Vincent Eyre, an artillery (.tticcr of 
 repute, on his way to Allahabad, landed iit 
 Gliazipoor (where the 6ath N.l. bad bec.i
 
 RELIEF OF ARRAH— Mil. BOYLE'S REWARD. 
 
 405 
 
 quietly disarmed on the 10th of July) 
 «<u the 28lh of July, and there leirned 
 the state of affairs at Arrah. Taking 
 it for gr;iiited that a relieving foice woulil 
 1)6 sent fiom Dinapoor, he prevailed upon 
 the nutiiorities to allow him to make 
 >m attempt at co-operation from Bnxar, for 
 \.'liicii place lie started with only sixty 
 juen ; but., on anivuig there on the 30th of 
 July, lie found a steamer and flat, with 150 
 of tin; 5th Fusiliers on board. Major Eyre 
 •wrote from thence to inform General Lloyd 
 of his intention to march on Arrah; but 
 the Dinapoor detachment had started on 
 the previous day; co-operation was tliere- 
 f.ire impossible, and ought to have been 
 }ieedless. 
 
 On the evening of the 1st of August, 
 Eyre marched from Buxar with little more 
 than 200 men, two guns, and a 24-pounder 
 liowilzer. On reaching Shahpoor, a village 
 eighteen miles from Buxar, he learned the 
 news of Dunbar's disaster. He pushed on 
 determinedly, yet with all caution, under 
 ciiver of skirmishers armed with the dreaded 
 Enfield rifle, until, on arriving at a place 
 called Beebee Gunj, the rebels attempted 
 to obstruct his passage, but were dispersed 
 by a general charge of the European in- 
 fantry, leaving the road to Arrah clear. 
 The siege was raised forthwith, and the 
 station ahandoncd by the enemy. On 
 ( xaiiiiiiation, a hostile mine was discovered 
 to have been just completed, and the gun- 
 powder lay ready for tiie explosion; but it 
 ■was a clumsy attempt, and would hardly 
 ha\e succeeded, (or the powder was bad, 
 and another stroke of the pick would have 
 broken into the C(juiiter-mine. Only one of 
 the besieged (a Seilv) had been badly hurt: 
 of Major Eyre's force, two men had been 
 killed, and sixteen wounded. The part acted 
 by Kooer Sing is not clear. Probably he 
 was carried away by the torrent, and feeling 
 himself compromised, preferred (in Mr. 
 Money's words) "rebellion to hanging;" 
 death in open fight, rather than by the rope. 
 Terms were offered to the garrison, not in 
 his name, but in that of the rebel leader, 
 a subahriar of the 8th N.I. It is stated by 
 Major Eyre, that Kooer Sing fled with the 
 defeated mutineers, to save his family,* 
 which makes it probable that the chief's 
 revolt was unpremeditated, otherwise lie 
 would have taken a previous opportunity 
 
 • Pari. Papers, 1857 (No. 4), p. 76. 
 t A donation of 1,000 rupees was also given by 
 governnifciit to a railway emplvye, named Victor, for 
 
 of placing his women in safety, according 
 to the iuvarial)le rules of Rajpoot honour. 
 It is remarkable how little we know of the 
 other side of the Indian mutiny: the blind- 
 ing effect of our ignorance of the native lan- 
 guage and character, is apparent in erery 
 jiage of the despatches, especially in the 
 way in which rebel leaders of note are 
 spoken of. " Put a price on their heads — 
 confiscate their estates" — was the sentence 
 indiscriminately pronounced on all real 
 and many alleged rebels. The first direction 
 was useless, even in the case of such a crea- 
 ture as the Nana ; the second, while it gave 
 little relief to a government which never 
 yet gained increase of territorial revenue 
 without more than proportionate increase of 
 governmental expenditure, created a swarm 
 of enemies; for our system of confiscation, 
 unlike that of the Hindoos and Mohamme- 
 dans — not content with levelling an ancient 
 family with the dust, in punishment for 
 the offences of its chief— exlinguisiies the 
 mortgages with the estates, and ruins t!ie 
 tenants as well as the landholder. 
 
 Thus the government, in munificently 
 rewarding Mr. Boyle, by conferring on hiiii 
 a ja^hire of j61,000 a- year, and settling 
 i6500 a-year on his heirs for ever, destroyed 
 the merit of the act by carving this im- 
 perial gift out of the property, not of Kooer 
 Sing, but of his creditors f 
 
 Kooer Sing's palace at Jugdespoor was 
 said to be held by 3,000 men, of whom half 
 were sepoys. Major Eyre, reinforced by 
 200 of the 10th from Dinapoor, marched 
 from Arrah on the 1 1th of August ; drove 
 the enemy from an intrenched position at 
 the village of Dulloor, back through the 
 dense jungle extending from thence to 
 Jugdespoor, and entered the palace almost 
 uno])poaed. Six men wounded formed the 
 total loss of the British; the enemy's casu- 
 alties were estimated at 300. On tin* 
 occasion, the 10th were as ungovernable 
 from finy as their comrades had before been 
 from panic. ^lajor Eyre had previuu.Nly 
 adopted the village-burning system ; nor 
 did he neglect the present opportunity 
 of following out the same incendiary policy 
 on a larger scale. He states, apparently 
 without any fear of censure, tlis»t after 
 pillaging the palace, win re " much pro- 
 miscuous (iroperty fell into onr hand.i," 
 he destroyed the town, and blew up the 
 
 his conduct at Arrah. Probalily this was tlie French- 
 man whose good offices arc so gratefully noticed in 
 the account of a private soldier, quoted at p 40^
 
 406 MAJOR EYRE REPROVED FOR BURNING HINDOO TEMPLE. 
 
 pnlace and prindpal buildings around it, 
 including a new Hindoo temple, on which 
 Kooer Sing had recently lavislietl large 
 >ums ; the reason for the latter Hct 
 being, that the Brahmins had instigated 
 the chief to rebel. At the time this de- 
 struction was committed, Kooer Sing had 
 fled, the sepoys had dispersed, and the 
 surrounding country was quite quiet. 
 Kooer Sing had another palace at Jutow- 
 rah, some little distance from Jugdespoor; 
 which was destroyed by a detachment sent 
 by Eyre for the purpose; as were also 
 the residences of Oomar Sing and Dliyal 
 Sing, the two brothers of the old chief.* 
 
 The above facts are stated in the ac- 
 counts published in the London Gazette: 
 there were probably other and fuller ones ; 
 for a letter dated " Dinapoor, August 18th," 
 speaks of an official des|)etch, which de- 
 clared that "the behaviour of the men of the 
 10th was beyond all praise, and that they 
 fought like demons." The writer adds — 
 
 " Our men served the sepoys after their fashion 
 towards our unfortunate men at Arrah, for tliey 
 hung up the wounded and the bodies of tlie killed 
 upon trees along the road, a mile and a-half, and 
 then proceeded on towards the palace of the rajah, 
 where they found about fifty more of the scoundrels 
 concealed, the whole of whom were shot down by 
 the 10th men, who hung the bodies of the 6epo\s 
 with their own blue shirts over the walls, and left 
 them to wither in the sun. In this palace (if it 
 could be called one), two boxes of rupees were 
 found, each containing about 4,000. The whole 
 were divided amon^ the men, who afterwards burnt 
 the palace to the giound, as well as all the vDlages 
 in its vicinity, and killed a number of the people 
 belonging to Kooer Sing."t 
 
 Whether private as well as public ac- 
 counts reached head-quarters, is matter 
 for conjecture; but the commander-in- 
 chief, after praising the judgment evinced 
 in the military movements of the major, 
 expressed, in a short but significant para- 
 graph, his regret at having " to disapprove 
 of the destruction of the Hindoo temple at 
 Jugdespoor by Major Eyre, under a mis- 
 taken view of the duties of a commander 
 lit this present crisis." 
 
 Lord Canning and his council were 
 already alarmed at the thirst for ven- 
 geance manifested by individual officers, the 
 soldiers of a few regiments, and especially 
 by certain civilians and planters. Some 
 of the latter, like Venables of Azinighur 
 (the " terrific severity"! of whose policy was 
 
 • .Mujor F.yre, August 14th. — Londun Gazette, 
 Oi-ci-iiilicr 4th, 1857. 
 f Tiiurs, October 7lh, 1857. 
 
 admitted by his warmest admirer*), coold 
 yet plead that their presence preserved 
 a whole district from disorganisation ; and 
 that the new ropes to hang rebels, aa 
 largely indented for, were used at tlie bid- 
 ding of men who were imperilling their 
 own necks l>y remaining at their posts, and 
 upholding the authority of their govern- 
 ment, when officials of weaker nerve had 
 mounted their horses and ridden off for 
 dear life, abandoning public and private 
 property, and leaving the peaceably dis- 
 posed at the mercy of the insurgents. A 
 mistake was at first made in accepting the- 
 lavish shedding of native blood as a 
 guarantee for vigorous and decisive action. 
 Mr. Tayler, the Patna commissioner, had a 
 reputation of this kind, which he might 
 have retained, had he been less publicly 
 and severely tested. On the 23rd of July, 
 his special coadjutor (Major Holmes) was 
 murdered at Scgowlie. The major and his 
 wife (the brave Lady Sale's daughter) were 
 driving out in the evening. About two miles 
 from the lines, six 12tii Irregulars seized 
 the reins of the horses, and beheaded both 
 the major and Mrs. Holmes : then, pro- 
 ceeding to the house of the assistant- 
 Sttrgeoii, they killed him, with his wife and 
 one of their children; and Mr. Bennet, 
 the postmaster. The '•egiment then rose, 
 and after the nsunl cotirse of plundering 
 and burning, quitted the station. 
 
 Mr. Tayler is fmther stated to have 
 been influenced by the tidings from Hnza- 
 reebagh,§ where two companies of the 
 8th N.I. mutinied (July 2&th), robbed the 
 treasury of cash, government paper, and 
 hank notes, to the amount of 74,000 
 rupees; and released all the prisoners, 
 both in the penitentiary and district gaol, 
 to the number of BOO. The Europeans 
 fled uninjured in one direction, and the 
 sepoys in another. || 
 
 Notwitlistanding these outbreaks, the 
 majority of the stations in the Patna divi- 
 siou were tranquil ; and it was with sur- 
 prise that the officials at Chupra, Mozufler- 
 poor, and Cliumpurun, received from the 
 commissioner an order to abandon iheu- 
 respective posts, leaving treastiry, gaol, and 
 district to their fate; Mr. Taykr's object 
 being to concentrate the strength of the 
 province at Dinapoor and Patna. The 
 order was unconditional ; and when, under 
 
 I See Titiies, October 16th, 1857. 
 
 § Mutiny of the heinjal Army; p. 177, 
 
 II Further Pari. Fapers (No. 4), p. u''
 
 REMOVAL OP MR. TAYLER, PATNA COMMISSIONER. 
 
 407 
 
 a sense of the li-umiliiition involved in 
 obedience to it, the judge of Behar remon- 
 strated, it was reiterated in a still more 
 positive form. The magistrate of Mozuffer- 
 poor (near which station " a large number 
 of available English settlers" resided) like- 
 wise tried to convince Mr. Tayler of its 
 impropriety; but failing, returned at once 
 to his station, in direct disobedience of the 
 order, and was rewarded hy finding the 
 government treasure (j69O,0O0) still safe, the 
 Native guards having defended it against 
 sixteen of Major Holmes' Irregulars, who 
 had been beaten off from the gaol, treasury, 
 and town, by the guards and inhabitants. 
 
 Chupra was threatened hy a strong party 
 of the 12th Irregulars. There were, how- 
 ever, " forty-five European soldiers and a 
 hundred Seiks, with Shergotty and its little 
 garrison close at hand ;" and but for the 
 commissioner's peremptory order, the officers 
 would hardly have fled as they did, with a 
 precipitation "apparently injudicious and 
 pusillanimous." The ill effects of their 
 flight were averted by the loyalty and 
 spirit of a Mohammedan gentleman, whose 
 good- will was previously doubted, named 
 Cazi Ramzau Ali. He assumed the com- 
 mand on the departure of the English; kept 
 everything tranquil, and held cutcherry in 
 the accustomed manner; and when, their 
 recall being repudiated, the civilians returned 
 with ali speed to their post, he (lelivered 
 over to them the station, courts of justice, 
 prisons, prisoners and all, in perfect order. 
 
 At the civil station of Gyn, the troops 
 consisted of forty of H.M. 84th, and 116 
 Seiks. The residents, in obedience to Mr. 
 Tayler's order, quitted the station on the 
 morning of the 31st of July, abandoning their 
 houses, property, the government stores, 
 and money, to the amount of £70,000. 
 They hud proceeded about three miles on the 
 road to Patna, when Mr. Alonzo Money,* 
 the collector, and Mr. Hollings, an opium 
 agent, having had some conversation on the 
 subject, resolved on returning to Gya. No 
 
 • In the course of an Indian debate (see Times, 
 February 9tli, lfio7)— for which both Lords and 
 Commons had " crammed" somewhat hurriedly, 
 studying newspapers and Red pamphlets, rather than 
 Blue liuciks — the Earl of Derby laudt-d '-the splen- 
 did act of insubordination" performed by Alonzo 
 Money, in maintaining Gya in opposition to " the 
 orders of his superiors." His lordship, in the same 
 speech, mentions " Commissioner Tayler, of Arrah," 
 with praise, for having taken " a more enlarged view 
 of affairs than the governnunt itself." The opinion 
 thus pronounced rests upou a palpable inisconcep- 
 
 one chose to accompany them; but they 
 found all quiet — the native police doing 
 duty at the gaol and treasury as when they 
 left, and the respectable inhabitants ready 
 to welcome their return. The reported 
 advance of Kooer Sing, and the position of 
 Gya, on the direct route from Hazareebagh 
 to the north-west, induced Mr. Money 
 again to quit the station (August 5tli), 
 bearing with him the treasure, which was 
 safely forwarded to Calcutta by the aid of 
 a detachment of the 64th Foot. 
 
 The commissioner was pronounced to 
 have issued an order, under the influence of 
 a panic, as discreditable as it had proved 
 disastrous. He was instantly removed, and 
 Mr. Farquharson, the judge, directed to fill 
 his place until Mr. Samuells could arrive to 
 take the duties of officiating commissioner. 
 At this time matters were very gloomy 
 in Behar. Mr. Tayler's "ill-judged and 
 faint-hearted order"t had spread alarm in 
 every direction. The relief of Arrah was 
 not known at the time of his supersession ; 
 and, in fact, he had counselled Major Eyre 
 "to retire, and abandou the gallant gar- 
 rison to their fate."J 
 
 In the city of Patna great uneasiness 
 existed ; but the removal of the com- 
 missioner was viewed with satisfaction by 
 nearly every respectable and well-disposed 
 resident in that city.§ Tlie restrictive and 
 coercive measures enforced hy him were 
 abandoned by Mr. Farquharson, from a 
 conviction of their impolicy and inutility ; 
 the parade was freed from the ugly gallows ; 
 and the political prisoners were released, 
 " l)ecause there was literally nothing against 
 them." Still, so much intrigue and party 
 spirit had been engendered among the 
 natives of Patna and its neighbourhood, 
 including the principal Native officers, that 
 the lieutevant-governor, not satisfied with 
 securing in Mr. Samuells " the best man 
 available to restore order and confidence 
 among the people," felt it important 
 that he should have a respectable and 
 
 lion of the point at issue. Mr. Tayler was commis- 
 •ioner, not of Arrah, but of Patna, of which Arrah is 
 but a district ; and he was the authority disobeyed 
 by Mr. Money, and other subordinate officials, whose 
 conduct was praised and rewarded by Lieutenant, 
 governor Hallidav, and the Supreme governmenU 
 
 t See Indophiius' (Sir C. Trevelyan) able com- 
 menU on Mr. Ta) lei's order and its consequences.— 
 Times, October 2'4th, 1807. 
 
 X " Narrative of Events," by goTernment of Ben- 
 g»l. — Further Pari. Papers, 1657; p. 77. 
 
 § Ibid., p. 7e
 
 408 
 
 APPOINTMENT OP MOONSIIEE AMEER ALL 
 
 trustworthy native subordinate, uuconnected 
 with the IuchI disputes, to assist him in the 
 crisis. The appointment of Mr. Samuells 
 liiinseir was only temporary, for he was an 
 officiating judge in the Suddcr Court; and 
 lie recommended thut government should 
 take advantage of tjje services of Moonsliee 
 Ameer All, a member of a highly respect- 
 able fHniily in the Patna district; a vakeel 
 of the Sudder Court, in large and lucrative 
 practice; and for many years confidentially 
 employed by the government as their 
 v;ikecl in resumption suits before the spa- 
 cial commissioner. 
 
 Accordingly, Ameer AH was, on the 5th 
 of August, appointed special assistant to 
 the commisiiioner of Patna. The salary of 
 700 rui>ees | er mensem, wliich was the 
 highest that the lieutenant-governor had 
 power to assign him, was avowedly a very 
 imperfect compensation for the loss of 
 practice he would undergo during his tem- 
 porary absence from the Sudder Court ; 
 but he was gratified by the- title of Khan 
 Bahadoor, and was also, in order to give 
 him a position and consideration in the 
 division, appointed a deputy magistrate in 
 all the districts of the Patua division. 
 
 " The nomination was received with a 
 shout of indignation from those who are 
 called the Calcutta public:"* nevertheless, 
 it answered all the desired objects; aud 
 through the Moonshee's infiuence aud ex- 
 ertions, the Mohurrum (a festival which 
 always dangerously stimulates the bigotry 
 and belligerence of the Mussulmans) passed 
 of more quietly than it had ever been 
 known to do in Patna, and that without 
 any coercion of the people, or display of 
 military force. Much apprehension was 
 entertained regarding " the chance of a 
 collision between the European soldiery 
 and the townspeople; but every means 
 were taken to prevent it by closing all 
 spirit-shops witliin reach, aud by constantly 
 ascertaining the presence of the men by 
 roU-call."t 
 
 Another good result of the Moonshee's 
 brief but avowedly successful tenure of 
 office was, that it mitigated the alarm 
 excited in the minds of the Mohammedan 
 community by the violent tone a<lopted 
 towards them by the majority of Anglo- 
 Indian journals. At all the stations passed 
 
 * Duke of Argyll. — Indian debate, February 10th, 
 1S6S. 
 
 t " Narrative of Events," by government of Ben- 
 gal.— Further Pari. Tapers (No. o). p. 50. 
 
 by Mr. Samuells on his way up the river, 
 from Calcutta to Patna, he found the Mo- 
 hammedans " in dread, lest the government 
 should issue an edict of proscription such 
 as the Calcutta papers advocated ;" for 
 the natives " not unfairly argued, that under 
 the present licensing system, when the gov- 
 ernment allows wiitings of tiiis kind, which 
 are manifestly in violation of the conditions 
 of the license, to continue unchecked, it 
 must be supposed to view them without 
 displeasure." 
 
 The remarks of the commissioner were 
 corroborated i>y the lieutenant-governor. 
 The latter, in adverting to the violent cen- 
 sute heaped by the press on the appoint- 
 ment t f a native and a Mohammedan to a 
 post for which those very circumstances 
 helped to qualify him, observed — ■ 
 
 " To persons of any sense and knovledga of 
 affairs it cannot be needful to offer any refutation 
 of objections so founded. They come from a class 
 of persons who have made themselves ridiculous in 
 the present day by supposing and suggesting, that 
 both in regard to civil and military operations, we 
 can, and ought to, act in future by European agency 
 alone, without reposing any trust or confidence on 
 native aid — a thing impossible, even if it were de- 
 sirable ; and who are ignorant or forgetful, that ever, 
 in the midst of all the infamous treachery, cowardice, 
 and cruelty by which so many of our Indian fellow- 
 subjecU have disgraced their name and nation, there 
 have been not a few signal instances of courage, 
 fidelity, and humanity, on the part of both Moham- 
 medans and Hindoos; and thut on more than one 
 occasion, natives of both religions have remained to 
 lace danger in defending stations and posiiions 
 unoccupied or abandoned by Europeans, and have 
 evinced a loyalty and constancy in the service of the 
 British government, which it would be as impolitic 
 as ungrateful to overlook or to undervalue-''^ 
 
 Mr. Samuells, after remarking that the 
 Knglish papers had, for many years past, 
 formed the source to which the native news- 
 writers looked for intelligence, adduced, 
 from his personal knowledge, evidence 
 in support of his assertion, that " since 
 the revolt commenced, the greatest anxiety 
 had been manifested to learn what the 
 English papers said ; and every one for- 
 tunate enough to get hold of an English 
 paper, is called upon to translate it for th« 
 edification of large circles of listeners, who 
 again retailed the news and comments of 
 tlic journals in their villages."§ 
 
 Let any reader turn over a file of the 
 Times, during the first few months of the 
 
 \ " Narrative of Events." — Further Pari. Papert 
 (No. 5), p. 25. 
 
 § Desiiatch of Mr. Samuells.— Further ParL 
 Papers, 1858 (No. 7), p. 101.
 
 n 
 
 LORD SHAFTESBURY, AND LADY CANNING'S ALLEGED LETTER. 409 
 
 mutiny, and judge the effect its Indian 
 articles were likely to produce, serving, as 
 they did, as texts for the leaders of the 
 Friend of India, a journal which abated little 
 of its personal hostility to the leading offi- 
 cials after the departure of Mr. Mead, 
 and increased, rather than diminished, in 
 yiolence against the natives. 
 
 " There are no measures," it asserted, 
 "which the government of India can adopt, 
 provided they be of the extremest severity, 
 which will not be cordially supported at 
 home." And in support of this doctrine, 
 the Friend especially dwelt on the cry for 
 vengeance uttered in England, " at a time 
 when the Cawnpoor massacre was still dis- 
 believed." " The humanitarians" had, it 
 declared, disappeared :* and " the only man 
 in England who ventured to object to ven- 
 geance, was stoned off the platform." 
 
 The latter assertion needs no refutation 
 to English readers : the former was one of 
 those perverted truths which do more 
 mischief than direct falsehoods. Certain 
 intelligence regarding Cawnpoor bad not 
 been received ; but such circumstantial 
 accounts were current, of fiend-like crimes 
 perpetrated by natives ou the persons of 
 English women and children, that the story 
 of Cawnpoor, when truly told, was less 
 painful, and incomparably less disgusting. 
 
 The credulity displayed in England 
 almost rivalled that of the Calcutta com- 
 munity; but it was more excusable, in- 
 asmuch as certain high authorities in Eng- 
 land, being misled themselves, gave the sanc- 
 tion of popular name and high social rank, to 
 reports which, without this support, would 
 have neutralised their own venom by their 
 inconsistency and want of corroboration. 
 
 No one contributed more to inflame the 
 passions of the masses, and drown the 
 remonstrances of better-regulated minds, 
 than a nobleman, whose zeal for religion, 
 and active sympathies for the wretched 
 of his own land, gave him wide-spread 
 influence. Lord Shaftesbury took the very 
 gloomiest view of the native character ; and 
 when the first excitement was over, and 
 most persons began to feel that even a sepoy 
 might be painted too black ; the earl stated, 
 at a public meeting in October, 1857, that 
 he had himself seen a letter from the highest 
 lady in India, describing how, " day by day, 
 ladies were coming into Calcutta, their ears 
 aud their noses cut off", and their eyes put 
 
 • Friend of India, October 15th, 1857. 
 + Timet, November 2nd, 1857. 
 VOL. II. 3 G 
 
 out;" and "that children of the tenderest 
 years have been reserved to be put to 
 death, under circumstances of the most 
 exquisite torture, &c., &c."t 
 
 For a long time no one ventured to doubt 
 that Lord Shaftesbury had actually seen 
 this most appalling statement in the hand- 
 writing of Lady Canning. At length, when 
 crowds of widows and orphans returned 
 to England unmutilated, and for the most 
 part without the slightest wound or bruise 
 from a native hand; and wheu English- 
 women were sufi'ered to go out to India, as 
 many as forty-three in one ship, J and some 
 of them as brides — people began to question 
 how far their credulity had been imposed 
 upon. 
 
 The weathercock on the top of Printing- 
 house Square, veered round from the 
 vengeance point about Christmas, 1857; 
 and early in February, letters found place 
 in the columns of the Jlmes, from " Lovers 
 of Truth," and "Lovers of Accuracy," 
 questioning the assertions made at various 
 public meetings, and calling upon Lord 
 Shaftesbury to reiterate or retract that 
 volunteered by him three months previously. 
 His lordship gave a prompt and manly 
 reply. He owned to having been wholly 
 in error regarding the alleged letter; said 
 that, in the heat of speaking, he. might 
 have used the words, " I saw," instead of " I 
 heard of;" and that when the speech was 
 brought to him for correction, before being 
 issued in a separate form, he corrected it 
 hastily, to " I heard," instead of " I heard 
 of."§ What is this but a version of the 
 story of the Three Black Crows? — only, 
 unhappily, the blunder, fabrication, or hoax, 
 whichever it may • have been, was not a 
 harmless jest. The explanation came too 
 late to blunt the edge of the swords it had 
 sharpened ; too late to prevent England 
 from disgracing herself in the eyes of con- 
 tinental Europe, by the excess of her rage. 
 
 Some few statesmen, like Sir John 
 Pakington, strpve to allay the popular 
 ferment, by suggesting, that even if the 
 sepoys had committed the crimes attributed 
 to them, " our hands were not clean." India 
 had not been well governed : and he spoke 
 with fearless rectitude of the existence — 
 
 " Of official proof, tliftt in collecting the revenue of 
 India, there had been practined, in the name of Eng- 
 land — he would not say by the authority, but he 
 feared not without the knowledge of Englishmen — 
 
 I Daily Neici, November 5th, 1857. 
 S Timet, October 2ud and 4th, 1867.
 
 410 
 
 THE VENGEANCE-CRY OF THE "TIMES." 
 
 there had been practised tortures little less horrible 
 than those which we now deplored. This must be 
 borne in mind in the day of reckoning."* 
 
 But such reasoning was little heeded ; for 
 the war-whoop uttered by the Times had 
 found 80 loud an echo, that Mr. Disraeli 
 declared, he had heard and read things of 
 late, which made him suppose that the 
 religious opinions of the people of England 
 had undergone some sudden change, and 
 that they were about to forsake the worship 
 of Him whose name they bear, for that of 
 Moloch. He protested against " meeting 
 atrocity with atrocity," and taking Nana 
 Sahib as a model for the conduct of the 
 British soldier. t 
 
 This language hardly seems too strong, 
 when such stanzas as the Liberavimus 
 Animam of Punch were copied at full 
 length in the London journals, declared by 
 the Friend of India to be " worth five bat- 
 talions," and published in the columns of 
 that journal, at the Mission Press at Seram- 
 poor, with every trick of type, capital let- 
 ters, and italics, to attract attention. The 
 rhythm would be lost in the translation ; but 
 the spirit is too terribly earnest not to aflFect 
 a native auditory. The threat of " A ven- 
 geance — aye, darker than war ever knew," 
 for instance, is suflBciently intelligible; so 
 is the sentiment of the following verses : — 
 
 " Who pules about mercy ? That word may be said 
 When steel, red and sated, perforce must retire, 
 And for every soft hair of each dearly loTed head, 
 A cord has dispatched a foul fiend to hell-fire. 
 
 ******* 
 
 " But woe to the hell-hounds ! Their enemies know 
 
 Who hath said to the soldiers that fight in His 
 
 name, 
 
 Thy foot shall be dipped in the blood of the foe, 
 
 And the tongue of thy dogs shall be dipped in 
 
 the same.' " 
 
 The poet (for no ordinary rhymer wrote 
 these fierce lines) also spoke of " a world" 
 
 which would — 
 
 " Behold with acclaim, 
 That hecatomb slain in the face of the sun." 
 
 But this idea was soon negatived by the 
 indignation expressed by the leading con- 
 tinental journals, at " the spirit of revenge 
 which they assume to be rampant in British 
 hearts." These are the words of the Times, 
 whiph, as early as October, 1857, began to 
 modify its language, and oflfer a clumsy vin- 
 dication of its vengeance-cry; asserting, that 
 thr British, whose opinions it was supposed 
 
 • Right Hon. Sir J. S. Pakington's speech at 
 Worcester, OcLober, 1857. 
 
 i Mr. Disraeli. — Tunes, October Ist, 1807. • 
 
 to represent, " are not a cruel people ; and, 
 " as conquerors and colonists, we are not 
 jealous of our imperial rights :" in proof of 
 which, it cited " associations organised for 
 the express purpose of maintaining the 
 claims of aborigines against British settlers;" 
 which associations had never before been 
 adverted to in the journal, except in the 
 language of censure or contempt. 
 
 The fabrication of the Highlanders di- 
 viding Miss Wheeler's hair>J is alluded 
 to in the first of these verses. The con- 
 cluding scriptural quotation is taken fronn 
 a Psalm, which contains a prophecy con- 
 cerning " the people who delight in war," 
 which the Times, or Friend of India, would 
 not care to quote. As to puling about 
 mercy, the tendency of the moment was in 
 an opposite direction ; not " maudlin numa- 
 nity"§ or sympathy (at least, not for nfttive 
 suffering) was in fashion, but rather maud- 
 lin ferocity. The Friend gave its readcAp, 
 Indian and English, some verses quoted 
 from the Daily News ; remarking, that the 
 " Martin F. Tupper who would cover India , 
 with ' groves of gibbets,' is the man who, 
 as the author of Proverbial Philosophy, sees 
 his wri' iigs on every lady's work-table;" 
 adding, that " the almost feminine weak- 
 ness which renders those writings unread- 
 able by men, does but intensify his pre- 
 sent expression of opinion." The opinion, 
 heralded in a manner so uncomplimentary 
 to the author and his lady admirers, was to 
 
 " Hang every Pariah hound. 
 And hunt them down to death in all the hills and 
 cities round." 
 
 The " Hamans of high caste" were to have 
 lofty gibbets ; the Baal priests to bo 
 bound with " fetters hard and fast ;" and 
 as to Delhi — that imperial city, whose 
 miserable inhabitants an apathetic govern- 
 ment had suffered to fall into the hands of 
 a horde of rebellious mercenaries — its fate, 
 if Mr. Tupper had had tlie ordering of 
 affairs, would have been as follows ; — 
 
 " But — Delhi ? — Yes, terrific be its utter sack and 
 
 rout: 
 Our vengeance is indelible — when Delhi is wiped 
 
 out. 
 And only so ; one stone upon another shall not 
 
 stand, 
 For England swears to set her mark upon that 
 
 traitor land ! 
 Her mark, the hand of justice, the Cross — a cross 
 
 of flame, &c."{| 
 
 t See page 383. § Times, August 8th, 1857. 
 
 II Friend of India, October 22nd, 1857. JJaily 
 News, Sept. 2nU, 1837..
 
 ABUSE OP POWERS BY PENAL COMMISSIONERS— JULY, 1857. 411 
 
 The Friend of India agreed with Mr. 
 M. F. Tupper, that Delhi should be " wiped 
 out," not simply for the sake of vengeance, 
 but as a proclamation to the whole of the 
 East, that England " will not tolerate the 
 existence even of a city which can advance 
 an ancestral or traditionary claim, to be 
 the seat of any other dynasty."* With re- 
 gard to the general conduct of the war, the 
 Calcutta correspondent of the limes quoted 
 the following sentences from the Friend, as 
 being "understood to represent the universal 
 idea of the course to be followed :" — 
 
 " 1. That in districts under martial law, and 
 during actual warfare, the loss of life and pro- 
 perty should be regulated by military necessities 
 alone. 
 
 "2. That every mutineer who has taken up arms, 
 or quitted his ranks, should die. 
 
 " 3. That every rebel who has taken up arms 
 should die. 
 
 " 4. That in every village where a European has 
 been murdered, a telegraph cut, or a dak stolen, a 
 swift tribunal should exercise summary justice. 
 
 " 5. That every village in which a European fugi- 
 tive liaa been insulted or refused aid, should be 
 heavily fined." 
 
 The writer added — "It is believed the 
 government measure will fall short of this 
 as regards the villagers, but not as regards 
 the mutineers."t 
 
 The early government measures had sanc- 
 tioned greater severities than these, in the 
 hanging commissions, freely granted to any 
 and every European. The Times even- 
 tually admitted this ; declaring that, " by its 
 two acts on the subject, the Indian legis- 
 lature made every indigo-planter in the 
 country virtually a military officer;" and 
 the governor-general soon found reason to 
 regret the abuse of the " etiormous powers" 
 confided to many unfit persons, of punishing 
 real or alleged rebels " by death, transporta- 
 tion, or imprisonment, and by forfeitur3 of 
 all property and effects. "J 
 
 Before the close of July, the government 
 became convinced — 
 
 " That the powers above referred to had been, in 
 some casts, unjustly and reclilessly used ; that the in- 
 discriminate hanging, not only of persons of aH shades 
 of guilt, hut of those whose guilt was at the least 
 very doubtful, and the general burning and plunder 
 of villages, whereljy the innocent as well as the 
 guilty, without regard to age or sex, were indis- 
 criminately punished, and, in some instances, sacri- 
 ficed, had deeply exasperated large communities not 
 
 * Friend of India, October 8th, 1857. 
 
 t Times, November 30th, 1857. 
 
 j Governor-general in council, Dec. 11th, 1957. 
 
 § Ibid., Dec. 24th.— Pari. Papers, Feb., 1858. 
 
 otherwise hostile to the government; that the cessa- 
 tion of agriculture, a^d consequent famine, were im- 
 pending; that there were sepcys passing through 
 the country, some on leave, others who had gone to 
 their homes after the breaking up of their regiments, 
 having taken no part in the mutiny, but having done 
 their utmost to prevent it; others who had risked 
 their lives in saving their European officers from the 
 sanguinary fury of their comrades; and that all of 
 these men, in the temper that at that time generally 
 prevailed among the English otScers and residents 
 throughout the country, and still unhappily prevails 
 in some quarters, were liable to he involved in one 
 common penalty ; and, lastly, that the proceedings 
 of the officers of goveruinpnt, had given colour to 
 the rumour, which was industriously spread, and 
 credulously received, in all parts of the country, 
 that the government meditated a general blooily 
 prosecution of Mohammedans and Hindoos, in re- 
 venge for the crimes of the sepoys, and only waited 
 for the arrival of European troops to put this 
 design into execution."§ 
 
 Allahabad and its vicinity was the locality 
 where the greatest excesses were committed ; 
 and, in July, there appeared many indica- 
 tions of the outbreak of a servile war. Mr. 
 Moore, magistrate of Mirzapoor, had been 
 " particularly active in burning down what 
 he considered disaffected villages ;" and 
 " he had been warned, that if he persisted in 
 such extreme measures against the natives, 
 they would at last turn in self-defence."!] 
 
 He did persist^ — caused zemindars to be 
 hung before their own doors, and went on 
 shedding blood like water, until, on the 
 4th of July, a zemindar, named Jorye Sing, 
 with several of his followers, surprised Mr. 
 Moore and two planters, named Jones and 
 Kemp, while bathing at Parlay indigo fac- 
 tory, and put them to death. They cut oflf 
 Moore's head, and carried it away. That 
 evening Lieutenant-colonel Pott, with fifty 
 faithful 47th N.I. sepoys, "scoured the 
 country, and burnt some villages,"** but 
 failed to capture Jorye Sing or his asso- 
 ciates. An officer who accompanied the 
 expedition, has described the conduct of the 
 civilian who accompanied it as the acting 
 magistrate. 
 
 " When villagers were brought in as prisoners, 
 in order that ihey might be questioned, he would 
 commence conversation by walking up to them 
 as they squatted on the ground, and kicking their 
 naked bodies with his heavy riding-boots. At 
 another time he would, with his fist, strike the 
 unresisting wretches in the face; and these gentle 
 persuasives failing, he would have them tied up to a 
 tree, and whipped with a stick or piece of rope, 
 
 II Letter from European officer, dated " Allahabad, 
 July 16th, 1851."— Star, September 3rd, 1857. 
 f See p. 302. 
 •• Further Pari. Papers, 1857; p. 129.
 
 412 LORD CANNING'S " CLEMENCY " INSTRUCTIONS— JULY 31, 1857. 
 
 until they would give the information he required. 
 This appeared to me very like the old mode of 
 putting "people to torture to extract evidence."* 
 
 On the 11th of July, application was made 
 from Allahabad, for rockets of all sizes, to 
 clear villages with.f Whether the request 
 was granted or refused, does not appear; but 
 the government found it imperative to take 
 speedy measures to " impress civil officers 
 invested with power under the penal acts 
 of 1857, with a more just sense of their 
 duties and responsibilities ; to save innocent 
 men from shameful death, and innocent 
 families from the destruction of home and 
 property ; to prevent the fields from re- 
 maining untilled, and the crops unsown; and 
 to assure the people generally that, notwith- 
 standing all that has passed, justice — and 
 not vengeance — is the policy of the British 
 government." With this view, detailed in- 
 structions were drawn up by the governor- 
 general in council, on the 31st of July, 
 forbidding civilians from punishing any 
 unarmed man as a mere deserter, and pro- 
 hibiting the indiscriminate burniug of vil- 
 lages. Several commissions were with- 
 drawn, including those held by Messrs. 
 Irvine, Palmer, and Sandys, at Allahabad. J 
 As a further check on the vindictive spirit 
 displayed 'in that city, Mr. Grant was sent 
 thither, on the 28th of August, as lieu- 
 tenant-governor of the Central Provinces. 
 A loud outcry was raised against these pro- 
 ceedings; and "clemency" Canning, and 
 " anti-hangman" Grant, were very un- 
 popular. The latter was compelled to de- 
 fend himself, officially, against a wholly un- 
 founded charge of having released 150Cawn- 
 poor rebels imprisoned by General Neil.§ 
 
 Before long, even the Times admitted, that 
 " the indiscriminate slaughter of the sepoys 
 might perhaps have led to the revolt of the 
 Bombay and Madras armies." || 
 
 Indeed, circumstances occurred in the 
 Bombay presidency, on the very day on 
 wliich the " clemency" instructions were 
 dated, calculated to create great doubt as 
 to the soundness of the Bombay army. 
 
 Kolapoor is a native state, bounded on 
 the north and north-east by Sattara; on 
 the east and south by the British collecto- 
 rate of Belgaum ; and on tlie west by Sawuut 
 Warree and the British collectorate of Rut- 
 
 • Letter of officer.—- S<or, September 23rd, 1857. 
 t Further Pari. Papers, 1857; p. 114. 
 1 Friend of [ttdiu, Aiiffust 27th, 1857. 
 j The Times' leader (Oct. •l^i\\, 1837) which con- 
 tains this and other unfounded charges against Mr. 
 
 nagherry. In 1844, the management of this 
 state was forcibly assumed by the British 
 government, the queen-mother set aside 
 on the plea of misgovernment, and affairs 
 carried on in the name of the young rajah, 
 "whose authority (Mr. Thornton writes in 
 the last edition of his Gazetteer) remains in 
 abeyance." The family of the rajah, whose 
 rights were thus summarily dealt with, trace 
 their descent from Sevajee, the founder of 
 the Mahratta empire: the inhabitants of 
 the state are chiefly Mahrattas and Ramoo- 
 sees, the class in which Sevajee found his 
 best and stanchest adherents. 
 
 On the 31st of July, the 27th Bombay 
 N.I. (a regiment mainly raised in the tur- 
 bulent native state of Sawunt Warree, in 
 1844) was quartered at Kolapoor. The 
 mutiny commenced as many others had 
 done. At nigiit, just as the officers were 
 separating after mess — some to play bil- 
 liards, some going quietly home to bed — 
 tiie Native officers rushed in a body to their 
 commander. Major Rolland, to tell him 
 there was a partial mutiny in the regiment. 
 The Kolapoor irregular infantry, and a 
 portion of the 27th N.I., remained faithful; 
 but when the officers tried to form them 
 into line to oppose the mutineers, each 
 man looked at his fellow with distrust; and 
 ill the darkness, the heavy rain, noise and 
 confusion, the Europeans carried off the 
 ladies and children to the Residency, about 
 two miles from the native lines, and left the 
 rebels to loot the native bazaar, rob the 
 quarter-guard of 50,000 rupees, and pilli«ge 
 the store-room of all the available ammuui- 
 tion. The next morning 140 men were 
 found to have absconded. Three young 
 officers, the eldest of whom (Lieutenant 
 Norris) was only twenty-four, were also 
 missing. It appears that they had fled to 
 the jungle, thinking the whole regiment 
 had risen ; and were overtaken and killed 
 by the mutineers on the 2iid of August. 
 In the course of the first day after the mu- 
 tiny, seventy-four rebels were captured, but 
 could not be brought to trial, on account of 
 the critical state of the regiment, until the 
 arrival of European troops. News of the 
 rising had beeu telegraphed to Sattara ; 
 and Lieutenant Kerr, the adjutant of the 
 South Mahratta Horse, instantly started for 
 
 Grant, is followed by an article on the " extreme 
 facility" of lying, as a contrivance for creating facts 
 — or what are as gocid as facts for the time — with- 
 out the smallest difficulty. 
 II Times, February 6th, 1858.
 
 KOLAPOOR MUTINY— BOMBAY PRESIDENCY— JULY 31st, 1857. 413 
 
 Kolapoor with fifty troopers, reaching his 
 destination on the morning of the 3rd, 
 having ridden seventy-six miles in tvrenty- 
 four hours, and not lost a single man or 
 horse by the way, although they had swam 
 three deep and rapid rivers, usually deemed 
 impracticable in the rains.* Kolapoor was 
 saved. European reinforcements were sent 
 from Bombay and Poonah. The regiment 
 was disarmed, and courts-martial held ; the 
 result of which was^ that sixty-three sepoys 
 were executed, sixty-six transported for life, 
 eighteen sentenced to imprisonment, four 
 reprieved and admitted as evidence, and 
 fourteen acquitted.f 
 
 The Kolapoor mutiny caused great ex- 
 citement at Sattara. The annexation of 
 that state has been already narrated. Per- 
 haps no Indian prince was ever worse treated 
 by the East India Company, than the good 
 and able ruler deposed by them in 1839.1 
 The people felt his wrongs deeply, and the 
 lapse of years had failed to reconcile them 
 to British rule. The testimony of Lord 
 Elphinstone is decisive on this point: — 
 
 " The annexation of Sattara was far from being 
 popular among the people of that province. The 
 upper classes, eipecially, regarded the introduction 
 of British rule with dislike ; and all classes of Mah- 
 rattas looked with regret upon the extinction of the 
 liTie of the great freebooter, who delivered them 
 from the Mohammedan yoke, and laid the founda- 
 tion of that wide-spread confederacy which has been 
 called the Mahratta Empire."§ 
 
 In the course of the mutiny, the British 
 had been repeatedly taunted with their ill- 
 treatment of the rajah of Sattara; and fears 
 were entertained that an attempt might be 
 made to restore the state to independence, 
 under a representative of the House of 
 Sevajee. The widows of the last two rajahs, 
 with their adopted sons, had been permitted 
 to occupy the royal palaces, and to keep up 
 as much state as their limited means would 
 allow. Mr. Rose, the chief civil officer in 
 Sattara, saw reason to believe that a plot 
 was being formed " for the restoratio.i to 
 the gadi of the adopted son of the elder 
 branch;" II and, as the speediest mode of 
 counteraction, he caused the two Ranees 
 and their sons to be seized by night, re- 
 moved them to Butcher's Island,!^ and re- 
 
 • Letter from officer of 27th N.l.—Dailt/ Netoe, 
 November 3rd, 1857. 
 
 t Pari. Papers regarding regiments which have 
 mutinied j p. 70. 
 
 X See vol. i., p. 432. 
 
 S Minute by Lord Elphinstone, August 18th, 
 1859.— ionrfon Oatette, October 7th, 1859. 
 
 solved on their detention as state prisoners 
 (although there was no accusation of con- 
 nivance on their part) until tranquillity 
 should be restored. The fragmentary in- 
 formation furnished in the official or other 
 gazettes and journals, does not afford the 
 means of framing a connected account of 
 proceedings at Sattara; but it is certain 
 that a number of lives were taken at various 
 times, as the penalty for conspiring to 
 restore the native raj. A singular circum- 
 stance was connected with oue of these 
 executions. On the 8th of September 
 eighteen men were brought out to die, of 
 whom five were to suffer death by hanging, 
 seven to be shot, and six to be blown away 
 from guns. One of the guns, to which a 
 native was fastened, could not be fired, 
 although primed and loaded twice : there- 
 fore, after some delay, the wretched man 
 was unbound, and shot by a file of the 3rd 
 Europeans.** Throughout the mutiny, 
 Lord Elphinstone was warmly supported by 
 the governor-general of Portuguese India 
 — the Viscount de Torres Novas. In per- 
 mitting the British troops to land at Ooa, 
 in the monsoon of 1857, he acted in opposi- 
 tion to his council, and in violation of the 
 Portuguese laws. His conduct was, how- 
 ever, approved in Portugal, and a bill of 
 indemnity passed, absolving him from any 
 penalties he had thereby incurred. ft 
 
 After the mutiny at Kolapoor, symptoms 
 of disaffection were noticed in several por- 
 tions of the Bombay army ; and ou the 13tli 
 of September, the men of the 21st N.I. were 
 disarmed at Kurrachee. 
 
 The mode of dealing with the disarmed 
 sepoys was fiercely discussed in the closing 
 months of the year 1857. It was a difficult 
 question ; for several regiments (like the 
 governor-general's body-guard at Calcutta, 
 after the Dinapoor affair) had been deprived 
 of their arms, under the most positive assur- 
 ances that the measure was purely a tempo- 
 rary precaution. The ultra-vengeance party 
 showed special rancour against these men, 
 and recommended, that " every disarmed 
 sepoy should be put in irons, and made to 
 work on the roads."J J Another suggestion 
 was, to send them to Saugor Island (a 
 
 II Minute by Lord Elphinstone, August 18th, 
 1859.— io/iion Gazette, October 7th, 1859. 
 
 ^ An islet in the Bombay Harbour. 
 
 ♦• Friend of India, October Ist, 1857. 
 
 ft Minute by Lord Elphinstone. 
 
 XX Englishman. Quoted in Friend of India, Octo- 
 ber Ist, 1857.
 
 414 
 
 MISCONDUCT OP H.M. 10th AT DINAPOOR. 
 
 barren island at the mouth of the Hooghly), 
 and let them shoot tigers with greased 
 cartridges, until they volunteered to serve 
 in China; and several regiments were even- 
 tually sent thither, although foreign service 
 was expressly excluded by the terms of 
 enlistment. The wild and exaggerated 
 expressions used by newspaper correspon- 
 dents, would probably have produced little 
 effect on educated Europeans, who incline, 
 'more or less, to Mr. Russell's view of those 
 " curious exponents of diseased ideas, called 
 newspapers ;" but the sepoys looked to 
 them for information of the intentions of 
 the Feringhee : and the otherwise inex- 
 plicable mutiny of disarmed regiments, is 
 accounted for by their belief that, as their 
 ruin was resolved on, they had better die 
 at once in open revolt. Except for the 
 sake of those dependent on him (and they 
 are always numerous, for celibacy is scarcely 
 known in India ; and our government 
 makes no provision for the aged, the desti- 
 tute, or the incurably sick), the sepoy, 
 whether Hindoo or Mussulman, has little 
 fear of death : the creeds of both teach 
 them too much, and too little, to leave room 
 for the mystery which shrouds the Dark 
 Valley in the mind of civilised infidels (if 
 such there be), or the fears which make it 
 terrible even to Christians. The only point 
 on which the mutineers were sensitive, was 
 as to the mode of execution. The sepoys 
 had a half aristocratic, half superstitious 
 shrinking from the halter, or the barbarous 
 and disgusting process of blowing from guns. 
 The Times exulted over this weakness, and 
 declared that there were " few persons who 
 would not think a simple extermination of 
 the sepoys on the field of battle rather a 
 tame conclusion of the affair." In the 
 same leading article, an assertion was made 
 (which needs no other contradiction than 
 the public speeches reported in its own 
 columns), that " ladies and gentlemen, 
 preachers of all persuasions, and speakers of 
 all platforms — every tongue, every pen, de- 
 mands the destruction of 70,000 sepoys;" 
 condemning " all who are ever so remotely 
 compromised in these crimes, as fallen be- 
 low the level of humanity — degraded to a 
 low class of brutes, fit only to be knocked 
 on the head, or crushed under the foot."* 
 
 Times, October 21st, 1857. 
 t Ibid., October 24th, 1857. 
 t Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 39. 
 S Daitt/ News, October 16lh, 1857. 
 II The Europeans tried for murder were even- 
 
 The journalist out-Tuppered Tapper; for 
 the latter made an exception in favour of 
 the " Abdiels of our guard," the faithful 
 few who had resisted "the will of the 
 army," and, amid general defection, stood 
 firmly by their officers. The Times made 
 no such exceptions, but defended, as " wild 
 justice,"t an onslaught on them by British 
 soldiers, which had been publicly de- 
 nounced by the highest military authority- 
 as " cold-blooded murder." 
 
 The outrage in question was committed 
 at Dinapoor,;^after General Lloyd had been 
 removed from the divisional command, 
 and threatened with a trial by court-mar- 
 tial, " for his conduct connected with the 
 mutiny of the troops."J His disgrace de- 
 prived the natives (whether citizens or 
 sepoys) of a friend ; and the 10th became 
 daily more drunken and insubordinate. 
 About a hundred of the unfortunate 
 40th N.I. had remained stanch, and re- 
 fused to accompany their mutinous com- 
 panions. The men of the 10th, on their 
 return from the Jugdespoor expedition 
 (which, with its slaughter, burnings, and 
 plunder, was not calculated to improve 
 their discipline), went to the place where 
 the faithful sepoys were encamped, dragged 
 them into the barrack yard, and com- 
 menced slaughtering them with bullets and 
 bayonets. At the sound of the firing, the 
 whole station turned out in alarm : the 
 authorities hastened to the spot, and be- 
 held a scene which one of the witnesses 
 describes as not easily to be forgotten. 
 "Wounded sepoys, dead and dying; one 
 sepoy had five bayonet thrusts ; one shot 
 just in the centre of the forehead ; another's 
 mouth shattered by shot : all groaning 
 pitifully in their agonies."§ Before the 
 massacre could be stayed, five victims had 
 been killed and twelve wounded, including 
 a woman. The affair would probably have 
 been hushed up, had not Sir James Out- 
 ram arrived at Dinapoor (August 17th) 
 while the court of inquest was sitting. [| 
 He issued a general order, expressing " the 
 utmost horror and indignation" at the con- 
 duct of the men of the 10th, and left a hun- 
 dred men of the 5th Fusiliers " to perform 
 the town duties, which could not safely be 
 entrusted to the 10th regiment, under the 
 
 tually acquitted, in default of lepal evidence. Sir 
 Colin Campbell approved the finding of the court, 
 but blamed the " iiaste and carelessness" with which 
 it had been drawn up. — Times, December 2nd, 
 1857.
 
 ASSASSINATION OF SIR NORMAN LESLIE— JUNE 12th, 1857. 415 
 
 lax discipline and exasperated feelings it 
 displays towards natives of all classes."* 
 Neither was General Outram satisfied with 
 the conduct of the Dinapoor functionaries, 
 who, influenced by causeless alarm, had re- 
 called the 90th regiment, which had passed 
 up the river four days before, on its way to 
 Cawnpoor. The panic was occasioned by 
 the defection of the 5th irregular cavalry at 
 Bhaugulpoor; and that defection had itself 
 originated, or been hastened, by a similar 
 cause. The steamer and flat, with General 
 Outram on board, anchored off' Bhaugul- 
 poor on the 15th of August; and a report 
 was spread by two mutinous sowars, that 
 the 5th cavalry would be surprised and 
 disarmed in the night. Therefore the men 
 mounted and fled, leaving all their pro- 
 perty, except the horses, which were their 
 own, behind them. Half of the Native 
 officers remained stanch. The head-quar- 
 ters of the regiment had been recently 
 changed from Rohnee to Bhaugulpoor, in 
 consequence of an event which occurred 
 at the former place on the 12th of June. 
 
 There were then no troops except the 5th 
 irregular cavalry at Rohnee, and no suspi- 
 cion was entertained of their disloyalty. 
 The three European officers. Major Mac- 
 donald, Sir Norman Leslie (the adjutant), 
 and Dr. Grant, were taking tea in the 
 verandah of the major's bungalow, when a 
 rush of feet was heard, and three men, with 
 drawn swords, sprang »ipon the Europeans. 
 Macdonald, starting from his chair, seized it 
 by the arms, and after receiving three sword- 
 cuts on the head in quick succession, and 
 finding himself as "neatly scalped as any 
 Red Indian could do it,"t he contrived to 
 give " an ugly poke" to his opponent, 
 " which appeared to disconcert him, and he jit 
 once bolted, followed by the others." Tlie 
 doctor was severely wounded; but the adju- 
 tant was covered with gashes. The first 
 tlirust, which he received sitting in his 
 chair, "cut clean through his back into his 
 chest, so that he breathed through the 
 wound in the lungs." But he was quite 
 sensible; and when his companions, with 
 their own wounds scarcely stanched, bent 
 over him, he exclaimed, " It is very hard 
 to die in this manner. My poor wife and 
 children ! what will become of them I" He 
 then "applied himself to make his peace 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 1.53. 
 t Letter by Major Macdonald. — Further Pari. 
 Papers (not numbered), 1857 ; p. 23. 
 I Ibid.— Daily News, August 5lh, 1857. 
 
 with God, and breathed his last in about 
 half-an-hour."J The struggle was brief 
 and silent. The major did not call for 
 help, believing that the assassins were men 
 of his own regiment, and would be seconded 
 by other mutineers. But he failed in recog- 
 nising them ; and the doctor thought that 
 they were not troopers. The Native officers 
 concurred in endeavouring to trace the 
 criminals, and three 5th men were seized, 
 two of whom "were found with bloody 
 clothes;" and the third "confessed that he 
 had done for Leslie ;" and this was evidence 
 enough. The major had them iroued, held 
 a drum-head court-martial, and sentenced 
 them to be hanged the next morning. 
 It is strange that neither the major nor 
 the doctor could verify the convicts. One 
 of them was "of very high caste and in- 
 fluence," and a low-caste man was chosen 
 to hang him. The other two were recruits. 
 The regiment was drawn out, and the major 
 stood by with his loaded pistol in his hand, 
 while an elephant was brought up. One 
 of the doomed men mounted this novel 
 scaffold, and the noose was slipped over his 
 throat. The animal was then driven off. 
 Three times the process was repeated ; after 
 which the corpses were left dangling, and 
 the men retired quietly to their lines, leav- 
 ing the major scarcely able to believe that 
 his head was still on his shoulders. § 
 
 Altogether, this affair forms one of the 
 strangest episodes in the whole mutiny. 
 It seems doubtful whether the men who 
 were executed for the crime were the actual 
 perpetrators. The surrender of the cri- 
 minals was demanded, as needful for the 
 honour, probably for the existence, of tlie 
 corps ; and the character of both Hindoos 
 and Mohammedans, renders it easy to be- 
 lieve that three men might be chosen by 
 lot, or tempted by the pledge of provision 
 for their families, to die, for the sake of 
 preserving their comrades. " It was boasted 
 at the time, that one of the assassins was 
 hung by his own fatlier, in order to show 
 the loyalty of the regiment." || 
 
 The writer (an American missionary from 
 Allahabad) who mentions this uunatural 
 proceeding, adds, that it was " only a blind," 
 and that the regiment was biding its time. 
 But this supposition does not account for 
 the neglect of a tempting opportunity of 
 
 § Extract of a letter written by Major Macdonald. 
 — Times, September lOlh, 1857. 
 
 ll Statement of Rev. Mr. Hay.— Times, Septem- 
 ber, 1857.
 
 416 THE 5th I.C. DISARMED AT BERHAMPOOR— AUGUST 1st, 1857. 
 
 revolt ; and it is more probable that the 
 eveutual defection of the 5th cavalry was 
 (as Major Macdonald asserted) occasioned 
 by sheer panic. Not that it was to be 
 expected that this or any other corps could 
 be safely employed in hostile operations 
 against their own countrymen and co- 
 religionists, at the bidding of a foreign 
 master. They might, in an extreme case, 
 have stood on the defensive ; but that they 
 should take an offensive part in such a 
 struggle, was opposed to all natural feeling, 
 all conventional usage. That fathers should 
 hang their own sons, and brothers fight 
 against brothers, was rather more than the 
 sternest military code could exact. 
 
 Certainly the 5th I.C. had no desire 
 to imbrue their hands in the blood of their 
 office..., for, instead of taking the lives of 
 the wounded and defenceless Europeans, 
 they sat up all night after the assault, 
 watching round them, and were, for the 
 two subsequent mouths, obedient and loyal. 
 The major had perfect coufideucs in them ; 
 and, notwithstanding the pain he suffered 
 from the injury he had received iu the 
 head, and the danger of fever he would not 
 delegate his duties to other hands, declaring 
 he would stay and die, rather than trust any 
 strange officer with the men.* At his 
 suggestion, the head-quarters were removed 
 from Rohnee, which was an isolated posi- 
 tion, surrounded by nullahs, to Bhaugul- 
 poor. After the mutiny at that place, the 
 detachments at Rohnee and Doomkee ab- 
 sconded also; aud thus another efficient 
 cavalry regiment was added to the hostile 
 ranks. It is quite possible that the 5th 
 Irregulars were alarmed by the treatment 
 of other regiments, and especially by the 
 seizure of the horses of the 11th Irregulars 
 at Berhampoor. 
 
 Berhampoor had been, it will be remem- 
 bered, the scene of the first mutiny. f At 
 the end of July it was held by the 11th 
 cavalry and the 63rd N.I. These troops 
 could hardly be expected to resist the ex- 
 ample of mutiny, after it had come so near 
 to them at Dinapoor. Therefore Colonel 
 Campbell, C.B., the officer in command of 
 H.M. 90th, being sent with his regiment 
 up the Ganges, was directed to disembark 
 
 • Further Pari. Papers (not numbered), 1857 ; 
 p. 23. 
 
 t See page 129. 
 
 X Colonel Campbell's Letter.— jf\m«»,0ctoberl5th, 
 1857. 
 
 at Berhampoor quietly and expeditiously, 
 and to disarm the Native troops, including 
 some artillery. He landed, under heavy 
 rain, on the 1st of August, and had paraded 
 and disarmed the infantry before the cav- 
 alry reached the ground. They came from 
 a distance of five miles, and expected to 
 meet only a detachment of H.M. 35th. 
 Colonel Campbell, who had been but a few 
 days in India, looked with admiration at 
 the troopers, and afterwards declared that, 
 as regarded riders, horses, and equipments, 
 he had never seen their equal. They 
 were splendid men, but savage beyond 
 expression, and with swords like razors. J 
 They might well be savage at being com- 
 pelled to surrender their valuable horses 
 and arras, which, being irregular troops, 
 were their own property ; aud this without 
 any compensation, simply on the ground 
 that they might not be tempted to revolt. 
 Colonel Campbell says — " They had no 
 idea that their fine horses would be taken 
 from them ; if they had thought so they 
 would have gone off in a body." Some of 
 them put their feet in their stirrups to re- 
 mount; but the colonel seeing this, ad- 
 vanced a line of skirmishers, and cut off 
 their retreat. § "They told the sepoys 
 afterwards," he writes, " that they were 
 cowards to give up their arms, and that 
 if they had waited until they came up, 
 they would have fought us ; but that my 
 men were so placed, they could not escape. 
 When ordered to disarm, they obeyed ; but 
 some broke their swords ; others 4hrew 
 their pouches into the air; and when their 
 horses were led from the field, they pulled 
 off their loug jack-boots and spurs, aud 
 pitched them away."|| Colonel Campbell 
 accomplished his painful task with much 
 tact; made allowance for the excitement of 
 the troopers; and, "of course, treated 
 them as a regiment having committed no 
 crime." 
 
 The 90th left Berhampoor on the 3rd 
 of August, aud arrived off Dinapoor on the 
 12th. They passed on up the river; but 
 the Dinapoor authorities, on hearing of the 
 defection of the 5th Irregulars, had recalled 
 them in the fit of panic already mentioned. 
 They also detained the 5th Fusiliers. 
 General Outram learned this on his own 
 
 § Letter by " Instructor of Musketry j" present 
 with the 90th at Berhampoor. — Daily News, October 
 24th, 1857. 
 
 II Colonel Campbell's Letter. — Times, October 15th, 
 1857.
 
 OUTRAM LEAVES IIAVELOCK TO COMMAND LUCKNOVV FORCE. 417 
 
 upward journey, and, anxious to avoid any 
 delay in relieving Lucknow, and to prevent 
 the disease which he foresaw would be 
 engendered by needlessly detaining the 
 troops on board crowded boats during 
 intensely hot weather, he sent his private 
 secretary and aide-de-camp (Messrs. Money 
 and Sitwell) on foot, at ten o'clock at 
 night, from where the steamer had an- 
 chored, to the city of Patna, a distance of 
 seven or eight miles, to dispatch an express 
 to forbid the detention of the reiiifoice- 
 ments. But it was too late ; the 90th had 
 received their recall, and the consequences 
 foreseen by General Oiitram took place. 
 Owing to mismanagement at Calcutta, the 
 troops had already had " a perfectly mise- 
 rable voyage; black biscuit, and stinking 
 meat" for food ; no place to lie on but the 
 hare deck, exposed to the weather night and 
 
 day, and almost eaten up with sandflies and 
 mosquitoes. They had left Dinapoor five 
 days, and had reached Buxar, a distance of 
 about 120 miles, when they were suddenlv 
 recalled. The troops could not understand 
 the reason of this vacillation,* which was 
 much censured by the press, and ascribed to 
 the very man who had striven to prevent it. 
 Before the 90th revisited Dinapoor, cholera 
 and fever had broken out; a doctor and 
 three men were dead ; and it was needful 
 to land the men, cleanse the vessels, and 
 add some comforts for the sick before the 
 voyage could be resumed. They started 
 again in four days, and reached Allnha!)ad 
 on the 4th of September, after losing nearly 
 thirty men coming up the Ganges. " The 
 voyage," writes one of the party, " would 
 have been very delightful if we had had 
 proper accommodation." 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 REINFORCEMENT OF LUCKNOW BY OUTRAM AND HAVELOCK.— SEPTEMBER, 1857. 
 
 The original plan of General Outram was 
 to collect a force of about 1,000 infantry 
 and eight guns at Benares, and march from 
 thence, by tlie direct route, to L\icknow, a 
 distance of about 150 miles; thereby turn- 
 ing, or taking in the rear, the numerous 
 nullahs between Lucknow and Cawnpoor. 
 The force under General Havelock was to 
 cross the Ganges at Futtehpoor, and the 
 river Saye at Bareilly, and join General 
 Outram (with his assistance) beyond the 
 latter place. This arrangement was ren- 
 dered impracticable by the reduced num- 
 bers and miserable condition of the troops 
 under General Havelock, who, so far from 
 being able to advance alone even part of 
 the way towards Lucknow, was anticipating 
 (August 21st) the necessity of abandoning 
 Cawnpoor, and falling back on Allahabad. 
 Therefore General Outram had no resource 
 but to hasten on with all speed to Cawnpoor. 
 As Neil, when about to start from Alla- 
 habad, had bteii unexpectedly superseded 
 by Havelock, so now Havelock would liave 
 
 • " Instructor of Mu.«ketry." — Daily Xews, Octo- 
 ber 24lh. t Ruesell.— Times, June 7ili, 1888 
 VOL. J I. 3 H 
 
 been superseded by Outram, but that " the 
 modern Bayard" thought it would be, in his 
 own soldier-like phrase, "unfair to assume 
 the command" under the circumstances. 
 He therefore telegraphed to General Have- 
 lock, that he intended to accompany the 
 expedition in his civil capacity, as chief 
 commissioner of Oude, and offered his 
 military services as a volunteer; adding — 
 " To you shall be left the glory of relieving 
 Lucknow, for which you have already so 
 nobly strnggled." Havelock, it is said, 
 "was not a demonstrative man; and, in 
 his reply to that communication, he did not 
 allude in the least to the generous act 
 which left him so much glory. "t How- 
 ever, in announcing to the troops his con- 
 tinuance in the command, he of course 
 mentioned the reason in grateful terms ; 
 and the whole Anglo-Indian army, with 
 Sir Colin Campbell for their spokesman, 
 were enthusiastic in their admiration of an 
 act of self-sacrifice and generosity, " on a 
 point, of all others, dear to a real soldier."^ 
 
 J General Orders of C<iinmander-in-chief [ Cul- 
 cutla, September 28lh, 1857.
 
 418 
 
 PERSON AND CHARACTER OF SIR JAMES OUTRAM. 
 
 General Outram might abnegate the honour 
 of leading the relieving force, but the merit 
 was none the less his. There was, in effect, 
 no other man in India so fitted for tlie 
 task : he was thoroughly acquainted with 
 Liicknow and the whole surrounding coun- 
 try ; and the troops knew well that such 
 knowledge, possessed by such a leader, was 
 ill itself a guarantee against their being 
 exposed to needless or fruitless danger. 
 An artillery officer has drawn a life-like 
 sketch of the noble soldier, who "served 
 when he might have commanded ;" as " a 
 short, strongly-built man ; black-haired, 
 with a keen twinkling eye, and a cheerful 
 bright smile, and a kind word for all ; 
 dressed in a blue frock-coat, and everlast- 
 ingly, puffing away at a cheroot; quiet in 
 manner ; cool, unwavering, determined — 
 one whom neither the hottest and most 
 deadly fire, the gravest responsibility, or 
 the most perilous and critical juncture, can 
 excite or flurry."* 
 
 It was quite true that Sir James Outram 
 had a kind word for all, especially those 
 who needed it most; and in September, 
 1857, a more wretched and friendless class 
 than the sepoys could hardly be found 
 under the sun. For them he raised his 
 powerful voice, recommending government 
 to institute tribunals for the trial of such 
 as might surrender, and had not been 
 guilty of murder. He said, in a letter to 
 Mr. J. P. Grant — " It is high time to show 
 we do not propose to wage war to the knife 
 and to extermination against all Hindoos, 
 or against all aepoys because they are 
 scpoys."-t 
 
 The reinforcements under Sir James 
 Outram, comprising about 1,400 bayonets, 
 marched from Allahabad to Cawnpoor with- 
 out obstruction; but Sir James Outram 
 learning, while on the road, that a party 
 of insurgents from Oude, with four guns, 
 had crossed the Ganges into the Doab, dis- 
 patched Major Eyre to clear the country, 
 at the head of a well-chosen " party, con- 
 sisting of 100 of H.M. Fusiliers, 50 of 
 H.M. 64th regiment, mounted on elephants, 
 with two guns, and completely equipped 
 with tents, two days' cooked provisions, 
 and supplies for three more."J This was 
 the way to organise victory. The troops, 
 including forty of the 12th irregular 
 cavalry, under Captain Johnson, came upon 
 the enemy, not fasting and footsore, shiver- 
 
 • Lt Majendie's Up among the Pandie$, p. 159. 
 t Rusself.— riWs, June 7'th, 1858. 
 
 ing with ague, or parched with fever, as 
 Havelock's force had done repeatedly ; 
 but fresh and strong. They marched by 
 moonlight; and, at daybreak on the 11th 
 of September, overtook the insurgents, who 
 fled precipitately to their boats, flung their 
 guns into the river, and strove to escape ; 
 but were nearly all killed by the fire of the 
 guns and musketry poured into tiie crowded 
 vessels from the bank above. The rebels 
 blew up one boat on its being boarded, 
 and thereby killed one, and wounded five, 
 Europeans, and as many natives. No other 
 casualties occurred. 
 
 Sir James Outram reached Cawnpoor on 
 the 15th of September. The head-quarters, 
 and the greater part of H.M. 64tli, were 
 left, under Lieutenant-colonel Wiistwi, at 
 Cawnpoor, to garrison the strong intrench- 
 ment which had been thrown up upon the 
 bank of the river; and, on the 19th of 
 September, the rest of the army crossed 
 the Ganges by the bridge of boats, con- 
 structed by Major Crommelin, of the engi- 
 neers. The force was as follows : — 
 
 European Infantry, 2,388; European Volunteer 
 Cavalry, 109; European Artillery, 282; Seik In- 
 fantry, 341 ; Native Irregular Cavalry, 59. Total 
 Europeans, 2,779 ; Natives, 400. In all, 3,179. 
 
 These were divided into two brigades — 
 the one under General Neil ; the other 
 under Colonel Hamilton, of the 78th. Sir 
 James Outram took, or rather shared, the 
 command of the volunteer cavalry with 
 Captain Barrow. 
 
 The passage of the river was accom- 
 plished almost unopposed ; but the troops, 
 on reaching Mungulwar on the 21st of Sep- 
 tember, found the rebels in position, with 
 six guns. They were speedily driven 
 thence by the infantry and Major Olphert's 
 battery, and fled, hotly pursued by Out- 
 ram ami the volunteer cavalry, through 
 Oonao, to a spot between that village and 
 Busserut Gunj. Here two guns were 
 abandoned by the large retreating force to 
 a hundred horsemen. With these guns, and 
 a third before taken, a standard of the 1st 
 N.I., and some camel-loads of ammunition, 
 the volunteers rejoined the main body. 
 The rapid movements of the Europeans 
 prevented the foe from defending or de- 
 stroying the three-arched bridge which 
 crosses the river Saye at the village 
 of Bunnee, the very point the dread of 
 
 X General Outram's de«patch, September 11th, 
 1867.— Further Par'. Papers (No. 4), p. 229.
 
 OUTRAM OVERRULED BY HAVELOCK— SEPT. 25th, 1857. 
 
 419 
 
 which had led to Havelock's first ill-omened 
 retreat. The force reached the bridge on 
 the 22nd, at the close of a fifteen miles' 
 march under torrents of rain, and halted 
 on the Lucknow side. On the 23rd, after 
 advancing ten miles, they found the rebels 
 strongly piosted in one of the spacious 
 country residences of the ex-king of Oude. 
 
 The Alumbagh, or World's Garden (a 
 summer residence of the late queen- 
 mother), consisted of a very fine strong 
 mansion, a mosque close by, an Imaum- 
 barrah for the celebration of the Mohurrum, 
 and various other buildings, situated in the 
 midst of pleasure-grounds, walled in with 
 stone bastions at the angles. The masses 
 of rebel infantry and cavalry were sup- 
 ported by six guns, two of which opened 
 on the British volunteer cavalry and 
 Olphert's horse battery ; but were speedily 
 silenced ; and, after an attempt at a stand 
 in the inner enclosed garden, were driven 
 out in confusion, and pursued by a portion 
 of the force, with Outram at their head, as 
 far as the Cliarbagh (four gardens) bridge, 
 across the canal, which forms the southern 
 boundary of Lucknow. But guns from the 
 city were sent out to support the enemy, 
 and the victors were glad to fall back 
 on the Alumbagh, pitch tents, and obtain 
 a day's rest 
 
 O'J the 25th, at 8 a.m., the troops 
 marched for Lucknow, leaving the sick and 
 wounded with the baggage and tents at the 
 Alumbagh, under a guard of 250 infantry 
 and guns. 
 
 Tlie Charbagh bridge, injured, though 
 not cut through, defended by a battery of 
 four guns, with the houses close behind it 
 loopholed and full of riflemen and mus- 
 keteers, was carried with heavy loss. From 
 this point, the direct road to the European 
 fortifications traversed a densely populated 
 portion of the city, the distance being 
 rather less than two miles. It was believed 
 that this road had been cut through and 
 strongly barricaded in several places. In- 
 stead, therefore, of attempting to force an 
 entrance thereby, General Outram, who 
 had at this time taken the command of 
 the first brigade, led the troops, by a cir- 
 cuitous by-road, towards the Residency, 
 leaving the 78th Highlanders to hold the 
 entrance of the main street while the 
 baggage passed. The main body pressed 
 on, and encountered littre opposition till 
 
 • Havelock's despatch, Sept. 30th, 1857. — London 
 Gazette. 
 
 they reached the gate of the Kaiserbagh 
 (King's Garden) palace, from whence four 
 guns opened fire, and volleys of musketry 
 were poured forth from an .ndjacent build- 
 ing — the mess-house of the 32nd. Two 
 heavy guns, directed by Major Eyre against 
 the Kaiserbagh battery, twice temporarily 
 silenced it during a brief halt made there, 
 in consequence of a message from the 78th 
 Highlanders, reporting that they were hard 
 pressed; for, being impeded by the litters 
 and baggage, they had become entangled 
 in the narrow streets, and were in danger 
 of being cut off in detail. 
 
 Darkness was coming on ; and Outram 
 suggested to Havelock to halt within the 
 courts of the palace of Pureed Buksh for 
 the night, so as to afford the rear-guard 
 and the wounded the opportunity of closing 
 up.* But, unhappily, Outram had delegated 
 his authority to Havelock until the rein- 
 forcement should be effected ; and "that gal- 
 lant officer was of opinion that he ought to 
 hasten to the Residency, and that he would 
 be exposed to severer loss if he halted. "f 
 
 Major North also states, that " the oppor- 
 tunity to rest, though at first acceptable to 
 the wearied soldiers, soon became irksome, 
 so great was their eagerness to reach our 
 desired goal, the Baillie guard." The 
 men murmured at being exposed to the 
 enemy's fire ; and "young Havelock, nephew 
 to the general, unable to resist the ex- 
 citement of the moment, suddenly ex- 
 claimed, ' For God's sake, let us go on, 
 sir!' "J whereupon the order was given to 
 resume the advance. Outram had been 
 previously wounded by a musket-ball, but 
 he tied a handkerchief round his arm to 
 stay the bleeding; and when entreated to 
 dismount and have the hurt properly dressed, 
 replied, " Not till we reach the Residency." 
 On hearing the decision given in opposition 
 to his counsel, at the prompting of an im- 
 petuous youth,§ Outram placed himself at 
 the head of the column, and was the first 
 man to enter the intrenchraents. The con- 
 sequences of Havelock's ill-advised resolve 
 are thus described by a writer recently 
 quoted : — " The advance was pressed with 
 such haste, that the enemy became em- 
 boldened by the appearance of precipitation. 
 They returned to the houses overlooking the 
 streets, and to the Kaiserbagh. When our 
 rear-guard appeared they were met by a 
 heavy fire ; our baggage-guard was charged 
 
 t Russell.— ?\me», June 7th, 1S58. 
 
 j Major North's Journal, p. 199. § Ihid.
 
 420 
 
 REINFORCEMENT OF LUCKNOW— SEPT. 25th, 1857. 
 
 i)y cavalry from the open ground ; our 
 dhoolies were burnt ; the wounded and sick 
 were massacred — sattve qui pent — a panic — 
 a rush to the Residency took place. We 
 lost a 9-poun<ler gun, hackeries, and bag- 
 gage; seventy-seven wounded and sick met 
 a cruel death, and sixty-one men of the 
 rear-guard were killed ; making a total of 
 138 casualties."* 
 
 The actual entrance to the Baillie guard 
 is well told by a " civilian," who had volun- 
 teered to accompany the force. After 
 describing the manner in which the troops 
 hurried pell-mell through the ilkirainated 
 streets, with " sheets of fire shooting out 
 from the houses;" and passed under the walls 
 of the KaiserbHgh while the natives hurled 
 down stones and bricks, and even spat on 
 the heads of the Europeans ; he proceeds — 
 
 " Suddenly we found ourselves opposite to a larpe 
 gateway, with folding doors, completely riddled 
 with round shot and musket-balls, the entrance to 
 a large enclosure. At the side of this was a small 
 doorway, half-blocked up by a small mud wall, and 
 the Europeans and SeiKs were struggling to get 
 through while the bullets were whistling about 
 them. I could not think what was up, and why we 
 shculd be going in there j but after forcing my way 
 up to the door, and getting my head and shoulders 
 over the wall, I found myself being pulled over by 
 a great unwashed, hairy creature, who set me on my 
 legs, and patted me on my back ; and to my astonish- 
 ment I found myself in the long-looked-for Baillie 
 guard. What an entry compared with the one we 
 had promised ourselves ! We expected to march in 
 with colours flying and bands playing, and to be 
 met by a starving garrison, crying with joy ; ladies 
 waving handkerchiefs on all sides, and every ex- 
 pression of happiness; but instead of that, we 
 entered as a disorganised army, like so many sheep, 
 finding the whole of the garrison at their posts, as 
 they always remained, and a few stray oflicers and 
 men only at the gate to meet us."t 
 
 The great unwashed, hairy creature, who 
 lielped to pull the " civilian" in, and then 
 })atted him on the back, was probably 
 " burly Jack Aitken," wiio with a band of 
 sepoys of the 13th N.I., held the Baillie 
 guard during the entire siege. A sad 
 mistake was made here by the 78th, who 
 seeing the sepoys, and not knowing that 
 they were within the precincts of the garri- 
 
 • Russell.— 2Vm«», June 7th, 1857. 
 
 t Letter of " civilian."— 2\»ie«, Feb. 1st, 1858. 
 
 i Kees' Lucknow, p. 243. The Quarterly JReview 
 (Murray's) also states this fact: — "It is but too 
 true that several faithful soldiers were bayoneted 
 at their guns, in the Baillie guard battery, by the 
 infuriated soldiers of the 78th, who confounded 
 them with other natives." — April, 1858. 
 
 § Journal, p. 200. Major North does not further 
 state the manner of Neil's death. The statement In 
 the text is the one given iu the private correspondence 
 
 son, bayoneted three of the 13th N.I. 
 The poor fellows made no resistance. " One 
 of them waved his hand, and crying ' Kooch 
 purwani (never mind) ; it is all for the good 
 cause ; welcome friends !' fell and ex- 
 pired."J 
 
 These men were fit comrades for Henry 
 Lawrence. God grant them to be fellow- 
 workers with him in the life beyond the 
 grave ! It was the day of days for an 
 heroic death. Many a man, during the 
 eleven hours which elapsed between the 
 departure of the column from the Alumbagh 
 to the entrance of the main body in the 
 Residency, clieerfully gave up liis life for 
 his friends. The reinforcement of Lucknow 
 stands out in strong relief, as one of the 
 most interesting features in the history of 
 the mutiny ; not because it cost more lives 
 than all Havelock's other engagements put 
 together ; but on account of the noble 
 spirit which impelled the troops to spend 
 their blood freely for a worthy end. They 
 sought neither vengeance, glory, nor lout ; 
 but to rescue a crowd of women and chil- 
 dren from the hands of cruel foes. Hus- 
 bands, fathers, brothers, uncles were among 
 the breathless, eager host that swept 
 through the fire-lit streets. The archway 
 leading into the Khas Biizaar is now called 
 "Neil's gate," for he fell thfre; but his lifclos 
 body was carried into the Residency. M^ijor 
 North, whose horse had just been struck by 
 a bullet, was trying to push forward the 
 dhoolie of a friend (Captain Johnson, 5th 
 Fusiliers) svho was wounded to the death ; 
 when General Neil, turning round on his 
 horse, said, " I shall see the rear of my 
 brigade forward ; it is getting dark."§ lie 
 passed on under the arch, and was shot 
 through the head. His men fired a volley 
 against the wall from which the fatal bullet 
 issued, hoping that some of their shots might 
 enter the loopholes and avenge them for 
 the loss of their leader ; and then pressed 
 forward, their numbers diminishing beneath 
 the iron hail, and their progress im- 
 peded by the bodies of the dying and 
 the dead. At length they reached the 
 
 of the time, and also in the Memoir of HareUick, 
 by the Rev. William Brock, who had access to that 
 general's private letters. Nevertheless, Rees affirms, 
 that General Neil had "actually arrived within our 
 intrenchmenls, when he heard that some of our 
 heavy guns were in jeopardy. He galloped out 
 a^'ain j but scarcely had he done so, when a bullet 
 struck him on the head, and he fell. Our guns 
 were, however, saved by the intrepidity of our 
 Madras regiment and Highlanders." — Sieyt; of Luck- 
 now, p. 238.
 
 DR. HOME AND HIS GALLANT COMPANIONS— SEPT. 2Gth, 1857. 421 
 
 Residency, and were received with a burst 
 of eager, grateful welcome, which for a time 
 banished every feeling but that of uncon- 
 trollable deii.;lit. 
 
 Most musical were the notes of the bag- 
 pipe to every European ear in Lucknow; 
 most gladdening the loud hurrah which 
 echoed and re-echoed from the various 
 distinct garrisons within the defences. 
 " From every pit, trench, and battery — 
 from beliind the sand-bags piled on shattered 
 houses — from every post still held by a few 
 gallant spirits, rose cheer on cheer — even 
 from the hospital."* Officers and men, 
 friends and strangers, shook hands indis- 
 criminately ; but when the soldiers saw their 
 countrywomen pouring forth to meet them 
 with their babes in their arras, and looked 
 upon the fair young faces flushed with 
 excitement, yet attenuated by the perils 
 and privation of an eighty-eight days' siege ; 
 the big, rough-bearded men, who hjid never 
 quailed before the foe, sobbed with emotion 
 as they seized and kissed the children, and 
 passed them from one to another to be 
 caressed in turn, exclaiming, "Thank God, 
 this is better than Cawnpoorl" "God 
 bless you!" "We thought to have found 
 only your bones."t Afterwards, the first 
 burst of enthusiasm being over, they mourn- 
 fully turned aside to speak among them- 
 selves of the heavy loss they had suffered, 
 and to inquire the names of the numerous 
 comrades who had fallen by the way. 
 
 A large number of the wounded, with 
 the rear-guard of H.M. 90th, under 
 Colonel Campbell, had been left in dhoolies 
 in the walled passage in front of the Motee 
 Munzil palace. Nothing could be done to 
 rescue them on the night of the 25th, 
 although General Havelock's son was among 
 the number, having been badly wounded 
 in the arm. There was a path through 
 the palaces skirting the river, screened, in 
 all but two places, from the enemy's fire ; 
 and on the morning of the 26th, Mr. 
 J. B. Thornhill, a young civilian whose wife 
 was cousin to Lieutenant Havelock, volun- 
 teered to guide the escort sent out by 
 Sir James Outram, who had now assumed 
 the command. Unhappily, Thornhill be- 
 came confused, and, in returning to the 
 Residency, missed his way, and led the 
 
 • Dimy of a Staff Officer. Quoted in Gubbins' 
 Mutinies in Ouilh, p. 300. 
 
 t Diary of Mrs. Harris, p. 120. Gubbins' Oud/i, 
 p. 161. Ue«8' iSie^e uf Lucknow, p. 224. 
 
 J Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 323. 
 
 dhoolie-bearers and their escort through 
 the very gate where General Neil liad 
 fallen, into the streets of the city. Many 
 bearers were killed ; but a few of the 
 litters were carried safely through the fire, 
 including that of Lieutenant Havelock. 
 Thornhill reached the Residency mortally 
 injured. The majority of the wounded 
 officers and men were massacred in the fatal 
 spot now known as " Dhoolie Square. "J 
 
 The memory of a gallant exploit relieves 
 the gloom of this painful transaction. Nine 
 unwounded men of the escort, including 
 Dr. A. C- Home, of the 90th regiment, 
 together with five wounded officers and 
 men, being cut off from advance or re- 
 treat by the enemy, took refuge in a 
 small building which formed one side of 
 Neil's gateway, and there defended them- 
 selves during the whole day of the 26th 
 and the succeeding night, though sur- 
 rounded by large bodies of the enemy, 
 and almost hopeless of relief. Private 
 McManus (5th Fusiliers) killed numbers 
 of the foe , and the dead bodies outside the 
 doorway, formed in themselves an impe- 
 diment to the enemy's making a rush on 
 the little garrison. Private Ryan, of the 
 Madras Fusiliers, could not be prevented 
 from attempting to rescue his officer, Cap- 
 tain Arnold, who was lying wounded in a 
 dhoolie at some distance. McManus, 
 though hurt in the foot, joined Ryan; their 
 companions removed the barricade; and 
 the two heroes rushed forth, dasheil into 
 the square under a heavy musketry fire, 
 dragged Captain Arnold out of his litter, 
 and carried him into the house. They es- 
 caped unhurt; but Arnold was shot through 
 the thigh while in their arms. Another sally 
 was made, and a disabled soldier brought 
 in. He also was mortally wounded, while his 
 bearers remained uninjured. Private HdIIo- 
 well, of the 78th, was an efficient member 
 of the brave band. The assailants showed 
 themselves only at intervals, when they 
 would come forward as if resolved to storm 
 the place ; but Ilollowell repeatedly killed 
 the foremost man, and the rest fell back. 
 At length he had an opportunity of taking 
 aim at their leader, an old man dressed in 
 white, with a red cummerbund (or waist- 
 band), who died on the spot; after which 
 the inaurgent.s went away, and left the Euro- 
 peans un interval of quiet. Tliey looked 
 forth on the deserted street, and seeing seve- 
 ral of the headless trunks of their coun- 
 trymen, were strengthened in their resolve
 
 422 
 
 THE LIFE OP AN ARMY SURGEON. 
 
 of holding out to the liist gasp. Soon the 
 enemy reappeared, and, advancing under 
 cover of a screen on wheels, scrambled 
 on the roof of the building in which the 
 Europeans had taken refuge, and attempted 
 to set it on fire with lighted straw. The be- 
 sieged, seizing the three most helpless of their 
 wounded, rushed into the square, and took 
 refuge in a shed on the opposite side, filled 
 with dead and dying sepoys. The enemy 
 dug holes in the roof, and fired down on 
 the Europeans, who, snatching up two pots 
 of water, broke through a mud wall, and 
 fled across a courtyard back into the build- 
 ing tliey had originally occupied. " At this 
 time," says Dr. Home, " hope was gone." 
 Including himself, six men remained capable 
 of using arms, and three more of standing 
 sentry. Of the wounded, sonie were deli- 
 rious; while others were on the eve of be- 
 coming so from the horrors of their position. 
 The dead bodies of sepoys, and of a horse 
 killed that morning, hemmed them in: 
 above their heads, on the roof, they heard 
 the footsteps of the foe pacing backwards and 
 forwards; and, worse than all, the moans 
 of their unhappy countrymen, perishing 
 in the half-burnt dhoolies, were distinctly 
 audible. The night closed in, and the 
 enemy ceased firing. The Europeans had 
 now only seven rounds left for six men. 
 Death stared them in the face. Were they 
 to perish by fire, by the sword, or by starva- 
 tion ? Almost worn out, the nine men 
 capable of keeping watch were told-off in 
 three reliefs, and the others fell asleep — 
 starting up at every noise, from terrible 
 dreams to a more terrible reality. At 
 2 A.M. they heard the sound of heavy 
 firing; and, with a sudden revulsion of 
 feeling, such as shipwrecked men on a raft 
 feel at sight of a vessel, they roused them- 
 selves and shouted, " Europeans ! Euro- 
 peans \" But the volleys ceased ; the hopes 
 of the listeners expired also; and the few 
 still strong to suffer, resigned themselves 
 to their fate ; for they could not carry away 
 the wounded, and would not leave them. 
 Time passed on. Shortly after daybreak, 
 distant firing was again heard. But it made 
 no impression on the heart-sick party till the 
 approaching sound grew so distinct, that a 
 quick ear cau{;ht the sharp " ping" of the 
 Enfield ride ; and Ryan sprang up, shouting, 
 "Oh, boys! them's our own chaps." Then 
 all joined in a loud cheer, and began to take 
 aim at the loopholes from which the enemy 
 were firing on the advancing deliverers. 
 
 In three minutes, Captain IMoorsom and 
 his party (who had come to rescue the guns 
 left at the Motee Munzil) were in sight ; and 
 by his good management, the besieged, 
 with their wounded and their dead, reached 
 the Residency. Mr. Gubbins states that 
 McManus, Ryan, and Hollowell were pre- 
 sented with the Victoria medal by General 
 Outram ; but he does not mention their re- 
 ceiving any more substantial reward. Tne 
 services of Dr. Home were eventually ac- 
 knowledged by the home government in a 
 similar manner.* It is not often that medi- 
 cal officers receive this kind of decoration. 
 Yet no cla«s of men are more useful in their 
 vocation. None do harder duty and bear 
 greater privations, with fewer prizes to 
 stimulate and more blanks to depress their 
 energies, than our army and navy surgeons. 
 Theirs is a noble calling, and needs a brave 
 heart, a clear head, and a skilful hand. 
 The soldier has indeed his trials in the 
 perils of the battle-field, the exhausting 
 marches, the dreary night-watches. But the 
 life of the army surgeon is spent among the 
 sick and the dying, fighting inch l)y inch a 
 battle in which he is perpetually worsted ; 
 constantly seeing the black side of war, 
 while others look on its pageants and its 
 prizes; braving death, not in a whirl of 
 excitement, with flags flyina: and trumpets 
 sounding, but following in t'.ie rear with the 
 muffled drum and the dead-cart — striving 
 to rescue a yet living though mutilated 
 form from human or carrion foes, or to save 
 a few victims prostrated by pestilence — 
 snatching them like brands from the fire, at 
 the risk of perishing unheeded in the effort. 
 The unflinching courage with which Dr. 
 Home stood by the wounded during the 
 day and night of the 26th of September, 
 forms one of the noblest records in the 
 history of the Indian mutiny. Yet probably 
 he, and many others of liis fraternity, could 
 tell of days and nights spent in a crowded 
 hospital, amidst sights and sounds as horri- 
 ble; or in the streets of a fever-stricken 
 city; or in those worst dens, where vice 
 and disease combine to make a hell on 
 earth. Who would not rather meet the 
 noisy terrors of cannon and the sword, than 
 inhale, for days and weeks together, the 
 poisonous vapours of a pest-house? Cer- 
 tainly, war medals and prize-money are not 
 fit rewards for men whose lives are devoted 
 to the alleviation of human suffering; 
 and their virtue (as far as the British 
 • London Gazette, June 18th, 1858.
 
 DEATH OP CAPTAIN FULTON— SEPT. 14th, 1857. 
 
 423 
 
 government is concerned) is left pretty much 
 to be its own reward. 
 
 General Outram, once established in 
 Lucknow, was in a position to estimate the 
 condition and resources of the garrison. 
 The original defenders numbered 1,692 per- 
 sons ; of whom 927 were Europeans, and 765 
 Natives. Before the 25th of September, 350 
 Europeans had been killed, and the number 
 of natives was diminished by 363 deaths 
 and desertions. There remained, including 
 sick and wounded, 577 Europeans, and 
 402 Natives. The reinforcement had been 
 eflfected at a cost to the relieving force, of 
 119 killed, 339 wounded, and 11 missing : in 
 all, 535, including Colonel Bazely (Bengal 
 artillery), killed at his guns ; Colonel 
 Campbell,* of H.M. 90th, mortally, and 
 Lieutenant-colonel Tytler severely, wounded. 
 This loss, together with the detention of 
 250 eflFective men at the Alumbagh, took 
 away all reasonable prospect of carrying oflf 
 the women and children, the sick and 
 wounded, from Lucknow; for the total 
 number of these was no less than 1,500. 
 Want of carriage alone rendered the trans- 
 port through five miles of disputed suburb 
 an impossibility. There were two alterna- 
 tives — the one to strengthen the exhausted 
 garrison with 300 men, and retire with the 
 remainder of the infantry on the Alumbagh ; 
 the other (on which Outram resolved), to 
 stay at Lucknow, and institute a vigorous 
 defence.f Costly as the reinforcement had 
 been, it had saved the garrison, though 
 not in the sense of entire rescue or 
 raising the siege. Since the failure of 
 Havelock's attempts to reach them in 
 August, the position of the besieged had 
 become far more critical. They had lost 
 defenders whose skill, general character, or 
 tact, had exercised a peculiar influence on 
 the community. Major Bruere, a very 
 popular officer of the 13th N.L, had fallen, 
 aud been carried to his grave by his faithful 
 
 • Colonel Campbell suffered amputation, and 
 lingered until the 12th of November, when he died. 
 Mrs. Case relates an anecdote, simple in itself, but 
 interesting as illustrating the straitened circum- 
 stances and self-denial of the brigadier and his good 
 wife. "A white fowl had been brought to Mrs. 
 Inglis fi)r sale j but she thought the price, five 
 rupees (ten shillings), was much too high. How- 
 ever, Colonel Inglis bought it: its legs were secured, 
 and it constantly hopped about before our door. 
 Mrs. Inglis thought it was too bad that it should 
 be eating our rice, and was just going to order it to 
 be killed and cooked for dinner, when little Johnny 
 (Inglis) comes running into the room — 'Mamma, 
 Mamma, the white fowl has laid an egg!' This 
 
 sepoys — a rare honour for a commander of 
 Native troops at this epoch. Captain Rad- 
 cliffe, the leader of the volunteer cavalry at 
 Chinhut, lay mortally wounded ; and Lieu- 
 tenant Graham (4th light cavalry) had 
 committed suicide. Deprat, a French mer- 
 chant, who had served as a Chasseur 
 d'Afrique in Algeria, was shot in the face by 
 a musket-ball. The enemy specially hated 
 him ; for Azim Oollah, on the part of the 
 Nana, had made the Frenchman offers which 
 he had indignantly rejected. But all these 
 losses were light in comparison with one 
 which took place on the 14th of September, 
 and is described as an irreparable calamity, 
 the news of which "was received by all 
 classes of the community with a degree 
 of grief second only to that caused by the 
 death of Sir Henry Lawrence."J Captain 
 George Fulton, while visiting Mr. Gubbins' 
 battery to examine the enemy's movements, 
 was killed by a caunon-ball, which, entering 
 by an embrasure, carried away the back 
 part of his head. He had a painless death 
 and an honoured grave; but he left a 
 widow and a large family. After his loss, 
 the mining of the enemy was prosecuted 
 with better chance of success; and Sir 
 James Outram, on obtaining access to 
 the exterior of the iutrenchments, found 
 that six mines had been completed in 
 the most artistic manner (one of them from 
 a distance of 200 feet, under the principal 
 defensive works of the garrison), which 
 were ready for loading, and the firing of 
 which would have placed the garrison 
 entirely at their mercy. The delay of 
 another day, therefore, might have sealed 
 their fate.& 
 
 The chief drawback from the value of 
 the reinforcement, was the fact that the new- 
 comers had brought no provisions or stores 
 with them ; no clothes of any kind but 
 those they wore ; no grain; but gun-buUocks 
 only. The number of patients in hospital 
 
 saved its life. Colonel Campbell was very fond of 
 an egg ; it was the only thing he could take well. 
 The white fowl, from this notable day, laid an egg 
 daily till Colonel Campbell died; after which it 
 never laid another. We have brought the fowl 
 away, and maybe it will some day be in England." 
 — Day by Day at Lucknow, p. 73. 
 
 t Outram's despatch; Lucknow, September 30th, 
 1857.— ionJon Gazette, February 17th, 1858. 
 
 J Gubbins; p. 28y. Hees;p. 211. The "covenanted 
 civilian" and the " interloper" are quite agreed on 
 this point : and on other matters, their valuable 
 books, while often differing as regards opinions, 
 concur in almost all material facts. 
 
 § Uutram's despatch, September 30th, 1857.
 
 42t 
 
 VARIETIES OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY AT LUCKNOW. 
 
 was raised from 130 to 627 ; and the supply 
 of bedding and medical stores was insuffi- 
 cient to meet the unexpected demand. No 
 servants, except the cooks of the regiment, 
 had been allowed to accompany the force ; 
 and the discomfort of the first few days was 
 excessive. The auctions of deceased officers' 
 property were most exciting affairs ; and a 
 brush and comb, or a piece of soap, were 
 objects of active competition. Flannel 
 shirts were especially coveted. A very old 
 one of poor Captain Fulton's, which had 
 seen service in all the mines about the 
 place, and was covered with mud and dirt, 
 sold for £4 10«. Brandy fetched £2 10*. 
 a bottle before the end of the blockade. A 
 handsome new uniform weut for twelve 
 rupees. Beer and sherry were alike pur- 
 chased at j67 per dozen. Tobacco was almost 
 unattainable. Cigars were worth 5s. a-piece : 
 but both men and officers smoked the dried 
 leaves of the Neem tree and of several 
 shrubs. Opium, and occasionally other 
 articles, the Seiks obtained through Native 
 deserters from the garrison, with whom they 
 maintained a stealthy intercourse. A month 
 before the arrival of the reinforcements, the 
 original troops had been put on half meat 
 rations; namely, twelve ounces for each man, 
 and six ounces for each woman. The rum 
 was soon exhausted, and no spirits or malt 
 liquors were served out. When the stores 
 of tea and coffee failed, roasted grain was 
 used as a substitute. It must not, however, 
 be supposed that all in Lucknow endured 
 equal hardships. " It was known," says 
 Mr. Gubbins, " that there were some fami- 
 lies where bottled beer and porter were 
 daily enjoyed, as well as some other rare 
 comforts."* The table d'hSte in his own 
 establishment was certainly not on a 
 starvation scale. The bottled beer was 
 reserved for the sick and the " nursing 
 ladies," of whom there were four among Mr. 
 Gubbins' guests. The general allowance 
 was a glass of Sauterne at luncheon ; and, at 
 dinner, "one glass of sherry, and two of 
 champagne or of claret, were served to the 
 gentlemen, and less to the ladies." The 
 rneat-ratious were stewed with spices and 
 vegetables, being rarely eatable as plain 
 boiled or roast; and two rice puddings, made 
 with milk and eggs, were daily placed on 
 table. Tea, with sugar and milk, was dis- 
 tributed thrice a day. This bill of fare was 
 varied occasionally by preserved salmon, and 
 
 • Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 261. 
 t Ibid., p. 205. 
 
 sometimes by a plum or jam pudding, the ap- 
 pearance of uhich " always caused great ex- 
 citement at t.'ie dinner-table ;" and such was 
 the demand lor these delicacies, that there 
 was " often none left for the lady of the 
 house, who helped them."t Happy were the 
 individuals who found refuge iu Gubbins' 
 house, whether nursing mothers or wounded 
 officers, like Major Vincent Eyre : happy 
 even those from other garrisons invited to 
 share the Sauterne, salmon, rolly-poUy pud- 
 dings, and tea with milk and sugar in it. 
 Their good fortune contrasted strongly with 
 the utter wretchedness endured in other 
 posts, where ladies " had to gather their 
 own sticks, light their own fire, knead and 
 make their own chupatties, and cook with 
 their own hands any other food which 
 formed their njeal."{ 
 
 " We often leave off dinner as hungry as 
 when we began," writes Mrs. Harris, the 
 wife of the excellent chaplain, who was in 
 the house of Dr. Fayrer, where Sir James 
 Outram and his staff had taken up their 
 al^ode. " Nothing for breakfast this morn- 
 ing," she notes in her journal, " but 
 chupatties and boiled peas :" and, oa 
 the following day, there is the entry — 
 " Our store of wine and beer is come to 
 an eud."§ 
 
 The establishment of the commander of 
 the garrison (Brigadier Inglis) had few 
 luxuries. One of his guests (the widow of 
 Colonel Case) remarks, in her diary, on 
 the 3rd of August — " Mrs. Inglis weighs 
 out everything for our daily consumption 
 with her own hands; and so good is her 
 management, that she is always able to 
 give a little arrowroot or sugar to a sick 
 child, and has, two or three times, suc- 
 ceeded in making little puddings for inva- 
 lids, with but a very limited quantity of 
 sugar." Moreover, the brigadier's wife 
 never weut empty-handed to the soldiers' 
 wives. Her own table was scantily furnished ; 
 and " a fruit pie for dinner," is noted, on 
 the 15th of November, as " a thing we 
 have not had for four months ; and the 
 poor children enjoyed it greatly." The 
 sugar was reserved for the children ; but 
 Mrs. Case being unable to drink her tea 
 without it, took one cup at breakfast, and 
 " got a bit of sugar for it," until the 28th 
 of September, when the poor lady sorrow- 
 fully writes — " I gave up taking sugar 
 to-day; and we are using our last piece 
 
 X Gubbina' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 206. 
 § Mrs. Harris's Diary, p. 134.
 
 OUTRAM'S PROCLEDINGS AT LUCKNOW— SEPTEMBER, 1857. 425 
 
 of soap."* At a very early period of the 
 siege, both officers aud men had given up 
 using while sliirts, jackets, or caps, and 
 dyed their linen, not exactly the famous 
 Isabella colour, but a peculiar reddish-slate, 
 formed by a mixture of black and red ink. 
 Some surprise was at one time expressed 
 as to how a sufficiency had been obtained, 
 until it was discovered that the public 
 offices had been robbed of almost all their 
 stores. 
 
 The soldiers of the relieving force suffered 
 more than others from hunger. The cold 
 night-work, and the absence of the accus- 
 tomed stimulants, quickened their appe- 
 tites ; and, not satisfied with their rations, 
 they would constantly run into the kitchens^ 
 when baking was in progress, seize a chu- 
 patty, and leave a rupee in its place.f 
 
 Sir James Outram's first act was to 
 extend the position — a measure which was 
 needful for the accommodation of the in- 
 creased garrison, and also to keep the 
 enemy at greater distance. The so-called 
 defences (which deserved that name only in 
 comparison with the Cawnpoor mud-hank) 
 were little more than a number of buildings 
 of various kinds, scatten-d over a large 
 garden; but, unhappily, so far were they 
 from being enciicleii by a stout brick wall, 
 that there were numerous points where a 
 dozen men abreast might have entered with 
 less effort tha'i would be needed to cross 
 an ordinary fence in England. The only 
 thing which kept out the mntiueers, 
 was the belief that these places were 
 mined. Therefore, in their repeated at- 
 tacks, they chose spots where ladders were 
 necessary. J 
 
 There was much advantage attendant 
 un the location of the British troops in 
 the palaces of Tehree Kothee, Chuttur 
 Mnnzil, and Pureed Buksh, which ex- 
 tend along the river, from the Residency 
 nearly to the Kaiserbagli. Two of the 
 palaces had bren evacuated by the enemy ; 
 the third, the Tehree Kothee, or House of 
 the Stars, althongli the nearest to the 
 European intrenchment, was occupied, till 
 the 27th of September, by some sepoys and 
 other armed men, who were then bayoneted 
 
 • Day by Day at Lucknnw, pp. 130, 213. 
 
 t Mrs. Inglis's Journal, p. 24. Mis. Case, p. 268. 
 
 J Gubbins' Mutinies in Oudh, p. 348. 
 
 § Maun Sing was offered "a perpetual jaghire, 
 secured on land, of £25,000 per annum," if he re- 
 mained faithful and rendered active aid. A like 
 oHer was made to liajah Nawab Ali, of Muhunia- 
 
 voi,. H. 3 I 
 
 or shot by the British. Between this 
 building and the Pureed Buksh was the 
 General's House, so called from being the 
 residence of the King of Oude's brother, 
 absent with the queen-mother in England. 
 This was forcibly taken possession of, and a 
 large number of ladies aud female servants 
 were made prisoners, with two sons of the 
 general. The women of inferior rank were 
 set at liberty ; the others were domiciled 
 with the family of Mr. Gubbins' native 
 butler. Considerable plunder was obtained 
 in the palaces ; but it was chiefly in the 
 shape of jewels and native arms, rare china 
 and embroidered clothes ; though some few 
 prizes of tea, grain, and tobacco were 
 carried off in triumph by the soldiers. 
 
 At this juncture the conduct of Maun 
 Sing W41S a serious cause of uneasiness. 
 He was still playing the game of fast- 
 aud-loose already described, waiting evi- 
 dently to see which side was the stronger; 
 but, on the whole, inclining to the British, 
 and willing to throw in his lot with theirs, 
 provided he should receive a heavy and 
 specific consideration for his services. 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence, aware of the power 
 of this chief and his family, had commenced 
 negotiations which would probably have 
 insured his early and cordial co-opera- 
 tion ; but at Sir Henry's death (July 4th), 
 those negotiations§ fell to the ground ; and it 
 was not until the 12th of September that 
 Lord Canning, in a strangc-ly indited 
 message, empowered General (Jutram to 
 assure Maun Sing, that if he continued 
 to give effective proof of his fidelity and 
 good-will, his position in Oude should 
 be at least as good as it was before the 
 annexation ; while the proprietors in Oude, 
 who had deserted the British government, 
 would lose their possessions. Here is a 
 plain announcement of the policy the Cal- 
 cutta government intended to pursue to- 
 wards the talookdars of Oude. This was 
 published in the Indian Blue Books lor 
 1857 ;|| but could hardly have been rend 
 by either Lords or Commons, otherwise »o 
 much surprise would not have been ex- 
 pressed at Lord Canning's confiscating pro- 
 clamation in 1858. But the Oude barons 
 
 bad, and to Rajah Goorbux Sing, of Raninugger 
 Dhumeyree; with many others. " Tiieir replies were 
 generally evjisive, promising generally well, but com- 
 plaining that they now neither possessed followers 
 nor guns with which they could assist us." — Gub- 
 bins' Mutiniet in Oudh, p. 169. 
 
 U Further Pari. Papers (No. 4), p. 232.
 
 426 
 
 CONDUCT OF MAUN SING. 
 
 may be inclined to exclaim, "All's well 
 that ends well;" since the announcement 
 of the governor-general's matured scheme 
 of wholesale confiscation, has served them 
 better than any clement half- measure on 
 his part could have done. If King John 
 had been less despotic, Magna Charta might 
 not have been signed at Ruiinymede. If 
 Lord Canning had not laid the axe at the 
 root of all proprietary rights, the barons of 
 Oude would hardly iiave heard from the 
 lips of the Indian viceroy, an admission, 
 even "under conditions," of their previously 
 unrecogiiiised claims. 
 
 To return to the narrative. The pro- 
 mise to Maun Sing was as vague as the 
 denunciation aganist the mass of the 
 great proprietary body of Oude for "de- 
 serting" — not actively opposing, but de- 
 serting — the government, was clear and 
 definite. It is impossible to judge to 
 what extent this letter may have affected 
 Mehndi Hossein, of Goruckpoor, and other 
 chiefs, wlio, though politically compro- 
 mised, had yet a claim on the British 
 government, as the protectors of fugitive 
 Europeans. The blockade of the Lucknow 
 Residency was resolutely carried on, not- 
 withstanding the strengthened and ex- 
 tended position of its defenders ; and it 
 is a significant fact, that the ranks of 
 the besiegers were frequently augmented 
 
 during nearly three months after the arrival 
 of Outram and Havelock. 
 
 Maun Sing was supposed to have some 
 10,000 men under his orders. None of 
 these were known to aid the other insur- 
 gents, but appeared to maintain an armed 
 neutrality. When snl)sequently called to 
 account for his proceedings, their leader 
 said that he never intended to have gone to 
 Lucknow had not the widow of his late 
 uncle, Buktawur Sing, fallen into the hands 
 of the rebels. He found an opportunity of 
 rescuing her in the confusion of the re- 
 inforcement of the British garrison, and 
 had made arrangements to move back wiili 
 his troops forty miles, when he suddenly 
 learned that the British had attacked the 
 palace, and were about to disgrace the 
 seraglio of the King of Oude. He at once 
 marched to protect the ladies, for he liad 
 eaten the king's sidt. In reply, Maun 
 Sing was informed that the British never 
 injured helpless women and children ; and 
 was desired at once to withdraw Ids ad- 
 herents from Lucknow, and communicate 
 with General Outram ; but no reward 
 was offered in the event of obedience. 
 The result may be easily guessed. After 
 long hesitation. Maun Sing, from a doubtful 
 firiend, became a secret foe, and was be- 
 lieved to have assumed a place among the 
 rebel leaders. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AFFAIRS IN THE PUNJAB; BATTLE OF NUJUFGHUR; CAPTURE OF DELHI; 
 SURRENDER OF THE KING. 
 
 On the 28th of September, 1857, the fol- 
 lowing intelligence was published by the 
 Foreign Office, London, regarding the 
 capital of the Punjab : — 
 
 " The 26th N.I. mutinied at Lahore on the 
 30th of July, and murdered the commanding oflScer, 
 Major Spencer; but the mutineers were totally 
 destroyed." 
 
 There was nothing remarkable in the an- 
 nouncement. " Cut up," " accounted for," 
 and " totally destroyed," were understood to 
 be convertible terms, and expressed the or- 
 dinary mode of dealing with mutinous regi- 
 ments before the Calcutta instructions of 
 
 the 31st of July came into force; and after 
 that period, where, from distance or inter- 
 rupted communication, the governor-gene- 
 ral's authority was practically in abeyance. 
 The instructions themselves affected only 
 the dealings of civilians in the matter of 
 runaway sepoys and village-burning. The 
 Calcutta government did not attempt to 
 interfere with the military authorities in 
 these matters. 
 
 The exterminator of the 26th N.I. was 
 Mr. Frederick Cooper, the deputy-commis- 
 sioner of Umritsir. His proceedings, fully 
 and frankly told, were entirely approved by 
 the governor-general. Sir John Lawrence,
 
 MR. COOPER PURSUES 26th N.I.— 31st JULY, 1857. 
 
 427 
 
 Mr. (now Sir R.) Montgomery, and the 
 Anglo-Indian press. Mr. Cooper evidently 
 considered that he had acted in an exem- 
 plary manner, and that his conduct deserved 
 the praise it met with, as prompt, spirited, 
 and thorougii. Impressed with this convic- 
 tion, he wrote a book, which is invaluable as 
 affording an insight into the state of feeling, 
 or, to speak more charitably, frenzy, which 
 characterised this terrible epoch. The fol- 
 lowing details, so far as they regard Mr. 
 Cooper, are given on his own authority, and, 
 as nearly as possible, in his own words : 
 certainly no others could be found more 
 graphic and explicit. Mr. Montgomery, 
 indeed, praises Mr. Cooper's actions, but 
 blames his description of them. ► The gen- 
 eral public will probably reverse this cen- 
 sure, and think the utter absence of what 
 in polite language is termed "diplomatic 
 reserve," the redeeming feature of the 
 narrative. 
 
 It will be remembered, that on the 13th 
 of May, all the Native troops at Lahore, 
 amounting to about 3,800, had been dis- 
 armed as a precautionary measure. Five 
 months elapsed, during which the Seik 
 levies, and about 400 Europeans, kept 
 watch night and day over the sepoys, who 
 exhibited "great sullenness."* Whether 
 they had formed any scheme for a general 
 attempt to escape from their unpleasant 
 position, is not known :t but on the 30th 
 of July, some commolion was observed in 
 the ranks of the 26th N.I., stationed, under 
 surveillance, at Meean Meer ; which British 
 officers affirm to have been the result of a 
 mere panic — the immediate cause being a 
 dust-storm :{ and this is not improbable, 
 because the natives of India are affected by 
 the accidents of climate to an extent few 
 Europeans can conceive. § There is no cir- 
 cumstantial account of the assassination of 
 the commanding officer (Major Spencer), 
 the sergeant-major, and the native havildar. 
 Mr. Cooper writes — " It is feared that the 
 ardour of the Seik levies, in firing when the 
 first outbreak occurred, precipitated the 
 murders, and frightened all [the 26th N.I.] 
 — good, bad, or indifferently disposed — to 
 
 * Letter in vindication of Mr. Cooper; by Sir R. 
 Montgomery; written on learning " that the punish- 
 ment inflicted on the 26th N.I., has been seriously 
 impugned in the House of Commons ;" dated 
 " Lahore, 29th April, 1859."— Pari. Paper, 29th 
 July, 1859. In reading this letter, it must be re- 
 membered that the writer was himself gravely com- 
 promised. 
 
 flight." It is, he adds, "concurrently ad- 
 mitted, that a fanatic, named Prakash Sing, 
 rushed out of his hut, brandishing a 
 sword, and bawling out to his comrades 
 to rise and kill the Feringhees, and selected 
 as his own victim the kind-hearted major."|| 
 Sir R. Montgomery states that the Seiks 
 had not reached the lines of the regiment 
 when the murders were coramitted,1f in 
 which he considers the whole body con- 
 cerned : but he admits, that " subsequent 
 inquiries seemed to point to a particular 
 man, as having dealt a fatal blow to Major 
 Spencer."** On witnessing the fall of the 
 major, the 26th took to flight, under cover 
 of the dust-storm, which was still raging. 
 A few stragglers remained, and perished in 
 the lines when these were furiously can- 
 nonaded by the Seiks and Europeans, to 
 the alarm of the residents in the station. 
 No one at Meean Meer knew what road the 
 mutineers had taken, and they were pursued 
 in a wrong direction. But news reached 
 Umritsir the next day, that tliey were trying 
 to skirt the left bank of the Ravee, and 
 had met with unexpected opposition from 
 the Tehsildar, with a body of police, at a 
 ghaut twenty-six miles distant. Mr. Cooper, 
 with about eighty or ninety horsemen, at 
 once started from Umritsir in pursuit. An 
 abstract of his proceedings is given in small 
 type, to economise space. 
 
 " So cool was the day, that no horses were 
 knocked up, and the troopers reached their destina- 
 tion without accident The villagers were assem- 
 bled on the bank, flushed with their easy triumph 
 over the mutineers, of whom some 150 had been 
 shot, mobbed backwards into the river, and drowned 
 inevitably; too weakened and famished as they 
 must have been after their forty miles' flight, to 
 battle with the flood. The main body had fled 
 upwards, and swam over on pieces of wood, or 
 floated to an island about a mile ofi' from the shore, 
 where they might be descried crouching like a brood 
 of wild fowl." Two boats were dispatched laden with 
 troopers, the Hindoostanees being carefully excluded, 
 lest their presence should lead to accidental escapes 
 among the mutineers. The boats reached the island 
 in about twenty minutes. "The sun was setlinij 
 in golden splendour; and as the doomed men, with 
 joined palms, crowded down to the shore on the 
 approach of the boats, one .side of which bristled 
 with about sixty muskets, besides sundry revolvers 
 and pistols — their long shadows were flung far 
 
 t Cooper, p. 152. J Star, March 11th, 1851). 
 
 § At Lucknow, an eclipse of the sun afforded the 
 Europeans a respite from the fire of the besiej;ers. 
 While it lasted, no native would shoulder a musket. 
 They viewed the phenomena with consternation, 
 and considered that it foreboded famine. 
 
 11 Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 153. 
 
 ^ Montgomery's Letter; p. 2. •• Ibid.
 
 428 
 
 THE BASTION AND WELL OF UJNALLA— 1857. 
 
 athwart the gleaming waters. In utter despair, 
 forty or fifty dashed into the stream ; and the sowars 
 being on the point of tailing pot-shots at the heads 
 of the swimmers, orders were given not to fiie." 
 The mutineers, taking this for an indication of 
 humane intentions on the part of Mr. Cooper, at 
 once surrendered themselves. "They evidently 
 were possessed of a sudden and insane idea that 
 they were going to he tried by court-martial, after 
 some luxurious refreshment. In consequence of 
 which, thirty-six stalwart sepoys submitted to be 
 bound bv a' single man, and stocked like slaves 
 into a hold into one of the two boats emptied for 
 the purpose." By midnight, 282 sepoys of all ranks 
 were safely lodged in the police-station. Ti en- 
 were, also, "numbers of camp-followers, who were 
 left to be taken care of by the villagers." A 
 drizzling rain came on, and it was found necessary 
 to delay the execution until morning. A reinforce- 
 ment of Seiks, with a large sujjply of rope, arrived, 
 and enabled the commissioner to dismiss the portion 
 of his force which he feared might prove refractory. 
 "'I'lie 1st of August was the anniversary of the 
 great Mohammedan sacrificial festival of the Bukra 
 Ked. A capital excuse was thus afforded to permit 
 the Hindoostanee Mussulman horsemen to return 
 to celebrate it at Umritsir ; while the single Chris- 
 tian, unembarrassed by their presence, and aided by 
 the faithful Seiks, might perform a ceremonial 
 sacrifice of a different nature." Trees were scarce, 
 and the numbers of the prisoners too great for 
 hanging : they were therefore pinioned, tied toge- 
 ther, and brought out ten at a time to be shot. On 
 learning their fate, they were filled with astonish- 
 ment and rage. " One of the executioners swooned 
 away," and interrupted the "ceremonial sacrifice," 
 presided'over by "the single Christian:" but the 
 proceedings were soon resumed ; and after 237 
 sepoys had been put to death, a native official 
 announced to the "solitary Anglo-Saxon magis- 
 trate," that the remainder refused to come out of 
 the bastion. Mr. Cooper proceeded thither. " The 
 doors were opened, and, behold ! they were nearly 
 all dead ! Unconsciously, the tragedy of Holwell's 
 Black Hole had been re-enacted. * » * Forty- 
 five bodies, dead from fright, exhaustion, fatigue, 
 heat, and partial suffocation, were dragged into 
 li}{ht." The whole of the corpses were flung by the 
 village sweepers into a deep dry well, within 100 
 yarils of the police-station ; and Mr. Cooper 
 triumphantly remarks, "There is a well at Cawn- 
 poor; but there is also one at Ujnalla!" And he 
 appends the demi-official letters of Sir John Law- 
 rence and Mr. Montgomery, in proof of their 
 cordial approbation of the whole transaction. The 
 former of these was merely a general congratulation 
 on a successful enterprise ; the latter is at greater 
 length, and contains the following paragraphs : — 
 " My DEAR Cooper, Sunday: 9 a.m. 
 
 " All honour to you for what you have done; 
 and right well you did it. There was no hesitation, 
 or delay, or drawing hack. It will be a feather Ln 
 your cap as long as you live. ***** 
 
 " The other three regiments here [at Lahore] were 
 very shaky yesterday ; but I hardly think they will 
 now go. I wish they would, as they are a nuisance; 
 and not a man would escape if they do."* 
 
 It is startling to know that one of the 
 leading advocates for the propagation of 
 • Crisii in the Punjab, p. 168. f I>>i<i-< P- 164. 
 
 Christianity in India, shonld regard the 
 above transaction as a feather in a man's 
 cap. Still more, that the revolt and ex- 
 termination of three other regiments, should 
 have been anticipated by him as a desirable 
 mode of getting rid of " a nuisance," and 
 winning, perhaps, a blood-red feather for 
 another cap. Mr. Cooper has compared 
 the Black Hole of Calcutta and the Well of 
 Cawnpoor with the Bastion and the Well of 
 Ujnalla: and the comparison is so far 
 correct, that the leading characteristic of 
 the three massacres (Snrajah Dowlah's, 
 Nana Sahib's, and the Anglo-Saxon magis- 
 trate's) was an utter recklessness of human 
 suffering. The wretched captives of the 
 Nana were preserved as long as was con- 
 sistent with the safety of their gaolers. 
 When it was seen that they were not 
 sufficiently valuable, as hostages, to he 
 worth the risk and trouble of preservine, 
 they were put out of the way in haste — 
 cruelly, clumsily. The sole extenuation for 
 such deeds, is their being perpetrated by 
 persons whose own lives are at stake. 
 
 But the severest censure parsed upon 
 Surajah Dowlah, was for the cold-blooded 
 indifference he displayed towards the survi- 
 vors of the Calcutta prison. It seems, from 
 Mr. Cooper's account, that there were sur- 
 vivors in the Ujnalla bastion tragedy ; but 
 of their fate no special mention is made. 
 A severely wounded sepoy was reprieved 
 for Queen's evidence. Every other prisoner 
 was put to death: and it is said, that 
 " within forty-eight hours of the date of 
 the crime, there fell by the law nearly 500 
 men." What crime? what law? the reader 
 may ask, demanded the extermination 
 of a helpless multitude, described by the 
 very bffst authority as unarmed and panic- 
 stricken, famisiiing with hunger, and ex- 
 hausted with fatigue? Mr. Cooper answers 
 — "The crime «as mutiny; and had there 
 even been uo murders to darken the memory 
 of these men, the law was exact. The pun- 
 ishment was death. "t Concerning the re- 
 prieved sepoy, Mr. Montgomery wrote — 
 
 " Get out of the wounded man all you can, and 
 send him to Lahore, that he may himself proclaim 
 what has been done. The people will not other- 
 wise believe it." He adds — " There will he some 
 stragglers: have them all picked up; and any you 
 get, send us now. You have had slaughter enough. 
 We want a few for the troops here, and also for 
 evidence." 
 
 The request was complied with. The 
 sepoy, when sufficiently recovered, was seut.
 
 EXTERMINATION OF SEPOYS— FEROZPOOR AND PESHAWUR. 
 
 429 
 
 with foi'ty-one others subsequently cap- 
 tured, to Lahore, where ihey all suffered 
 death by being blown away from the can- 
 uon's mouth. Thus, iu the emphatic words 
 of Mr. Cooper, " the 26th were both ac- 
 counted for and disposed of." 
 
 The terror inspired by the mode in which 
 disarmed regiments were dealt with, and 
 the "confiscation" by government of horses 
 which were the private property of troopers 
 dismounted as a matter of precaution, 
 caused so much excitement as to precipitate 
 other corps into revolt, and thus gave the 
 desired plea for getting rid of " the nui- 
 sance" of their existence. Mr. Montgomery, 
 on his own showing, contemplated the ex- 
 termination of the 3,000 remaining sepoys 
 at Lahore as a desirable event ; and there is 
 no reason to suppose the feeling was not 
 general in the Punjab. 
 
 Ferozpoor. — On the 19th of August, a 
 portion of the disarmed and dismounted 
 10th light cavalry broke into revolt. Mr. 
 Cooper considers it just possible that the 
 news had reached them that their horses 
 were to be taken away.* They rushed 
 forth at the dinner-hour of the European 
 troops, jumped on all available horses bare- 
 backed, and seized the guns, overpowering 
 the gallant resistance of the artillery guard. 
 Private Molony was mortally wounded — in 
 fact, nearly hacked to pieces by the muti- 
 neers, who had managed to procure and 
 secrete swords, pistols, and spears. A 
 party of the 61st and of the artillery came 
 up, and recaptured ,the guns before the 
 mutineers could fire. An interval of great 
 confusion ensued. The Europeans were 
 Jiurrying to the fort; while the rebels 
 " were bent more on flight than aught 
 else ;"t and their escape was favoured by 
 the mismanagement of " a gun, placed 
 originally to command a bridge leading 
 from the barracks to the Native infantry. 
 It was fired into the rows of cavalry horses; 
 and while it hardly disturbed the muti- 
 neers, it killed and wounded thirty-two 
 horses. "J Veterinary Surgeon Nelson was 
 killed while endeavouring to escape to the 
 foit. Mr. Cooper does not mention the 
 number of the 10th cavalry who muti- 
 nied; but the revolt is officially stated to 
 have been confined to a portion of the 
 regiment. § 
 
 • Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 172. 
 t Ibid., p. 174. \ Ibid, p. 173. 
 
 § Pari. Keturn regarding regiments which have 
 mutinied ; p. 8. 
 
 Peshawur. — A fanatic of high family, 
 named Seyed Ameer, who had recently 
 returned from Mecca, was known to have 
 been striving to excite the Afghans of 
 the Khyber Pass to a " holy war." The 
 wise and steady rule of Dost Mohammed, 
 although the chief was old and ill, suf- 
 ficed to maintain the tranquillity of this 
 dangerous frontier. Seyed Ameer failed 
 with the native tribes ; but his letters 
 and messages to the Peshawur troops 
 caused so much excitement, that on the 
 28tb of August, General Cotton deemed 
 it necessary to institute a fresh search 
 for weapons in the lines of the disarmed 
 regiments. 
 
 A considerable amount of arms was dis- 
 covered; and the 51st N.I., exasperated 
 " by -the taunts of the newly-raised Afreedee 
 regiments, who were carrying out the 
 search, rushed upon the piled arms of the 
 18th Punjab infantry," and, in their mad- 
 ness, attempted resistance. The tlnee 
 European officers were overpowered by 
 numbers, and driven into a tank, but not 
 injured. General Cotton (gun Cotton) was 
 in readiness for the emergency. The in- 
 discriminate flight of the mutineers bad 
 scarcely begun before there opened on the 
 unarmed masses a "fusilade, which com- 
 menced on the parade-ground at Peshawur, 
 and ended at Jumrood. * * * Every civil 
 officer turned out with his 'posse comitatus' 
 of levies or police; and in a quarter of an 
 hour the whole country was covered with 
 the chase ;"|| which Mr. Cooper descrii)es 
 as having been " long, keen, and close. 
 Standing crops were beat up, ravines probed 
 as if for pheasants and hares ; and with great 
 success."^ On the following day, 700 of 
 the 51st N.I. "lay dead in three deep 
 trenches."** 
 
 The pursuit commenced at noon, and 
 Colonel Cooper, of the 51st N.I., died from 
 the heat. A large proportion of the fugitives 
 were taken prisoners, and tried by drum- 
 head court-martial. Neither extreme youth, 
 nor peculiar sufferings, nor any other 
 extenuating circumstance, was held to offer 
 grounds for the non-infliction of capital 
 punishment. Truly enough has it been 
 said, that "severity and distrust have been 
 the rule in the Punjab." 
 
 Cooper mentions the following incident 
 
 II Ccilonel Edwardes' Report. — Pari. Papers on the 
 muliiij in the Punja'i); published April, 1859; p. 77. 
 51 Cooper's Crisis m the Punjab, p. 177. 
 ** Colonel Ktiwardes' Keport, p. 78.
 
 430 
 
 DEATH OP SIR H. BARNARD -DELHI, JULY 5th, 1857. 
 
 connected with this sanguinary trans- 
 action : — 
 
 " One sepoy literally died two deaths, and the 
 first time was buried. When tlie fatal volley was dis- 
 charfjed he fell with the others, and feij»ned death ; 
 his body was flung rather high up in the chasm, 
 and covered over wilh lime. He mana};ed to crawl 
 out at dark and escape to the hills; but was caught 
 and brought in. He pleaded previous demise, but 
 ineffectually ; and this time he moulders with the 
 forms of his mutinous comrades." — (page 178). 
 
 In August, 1857, Sir John Lawrence 
 was, to all intents and purposes, a dictator 
 in Northern India. His policy was, from 
 first to last, daring, desperate, determined. 
 The speedy capture of Delhi was his watcii- 
 word : to relinqnisli the attempt, would be 
 to sacrifice the life of every Euri)|)eaii in 
 Northern India. While his ri^lit hand 
 laboured efficiently for the extinction of the 
 portion of the Bengal army within his 
 reach, his left was employed in raising 
 another Native force, as costly, and pos- 
 sibly more dangerous. lu the month of 
 August, a growing sense of the precarious 
 character of Scik and (Joorka loyalty pre- 
 vailed ; and though the public despatches 
 maintained the confident tone which ap- 
 peared expedient, even high functionaries, 
 civil and military, could not always conceal 
 their distrust of the new auxiliaries, who 
 dealt death so relentlessly for the lust of 
 gold and revenge, but whose weapons 
 might be turned — who could say how soon? 
 — against the Europeans. "The capture of 
 Delhi had become the turning-point of our 
 fate," Mr. Cooper writes. " Every day had 
 become fraught with dmiger : even ourp7-es- 
 iiye was waning. SeiUs had come back to 
 the Punjab, and declared they were fighting 
 our battles. One old Seik had thought 
 it just as likely they might be fighting 
 against us in a year hence I Peshawur 
 was waxing more feverish every day. Six 
 per cent, government paper was twenty-five 
 per cent, discount. Lahore and Umritsir 
 were equally excited."* The blood lavishly 
 poured forth in the Punjab had produced 
 a deep pause of terror and suspense. But 
 the probability of a strong and terrible 
 reaction was too evident to be overlooked ; 
 atid in the meantime, the army of observa- 
 tion, stationed before Delhi, was dwindling 
 away, and being reinforced fiom the Pun- 
 jab, until the very last troops that could be 
 scraped together were seat off under the 
 command of Brigadier-general Nicholson, 
 • Cooper's Crisis in the Punjab, p. 190. 
 
 an officer whos" age and rank forbade his 
 taking the leatl, although the troops would 
 have joyfully hailed him as their chief. 
 
 Delhi. — The proceedings of the force 
 before Delhi have been detailed up to nearly 
 the close of June.f On the 1st and 2nd 
 of July, the Rohilcund mutineers arrived at 
 Delhi, marching across tiie bridge of boats, 
 within full view of the spectators from the 
 British camp posted on the ridge. The 
 Jhansi rebels, the Neemnch brigade, the 
 Kotah contingent,- and other smaller re- 
 inforcements poured into the city, until, by 
 the middle of August, the enemy were 
 believed to number at least 30,(K)0 men. 
 Their free access to the left side of the 
 Jumna was ensured by the aforesaid bridge 
 of boats, which was under the close fire of 
 their ordnance in the Sclimghur, or Selim's 
 fort, and fully 2,500 yards from the nearest 
 British gun. So that while the British 
 were near enough to see the flags flying, 
 and cart-loads of treasure carried into Delhi, 
 and to hear the rebt-l bands play "Rule 
 Britannia," our artillery could not check the 
 triumph of the foe by so much as a single 
 effective volley. 
 
 On the 5th of July, Sir Henry Barnard 
 was attacked by cholera, and died in the 
 course of the day. His want of experience 
 in Indian warfare had told against him as a 
 commander; and his brief tenure of power 
 hardly gave opportunity for a fair judgment 
 to be formed of his military capacity; but 
 his character as a high-minded, true- 
 hearted gentleman, was beyond all ques- 
 tion. " Tell them at home," he said, 
 "that I die happy." Theu his mind wau- 
 diTed : and his last words were, " Strengthen 
 tlie right \" — evidently thinking the British 
 position attacked. The gun-carriage which 
 served for his hearse was followed by 
 many gallant officers, who sympathised 
 with the bitter grief with which Captain 
 Barnard declared, as he stood by the 
 open grave — " I have lost the very best of 
 parents, and the most intimate and endear- 
 ing of fiiends." General Reid assumed 
 the command ; but resigned it from ill- 
 health on the 17th of July, and retired to 
 Umballah, accompanied by Colonels Con- 
 greve and Curzou. 
 
 General Archdale Wilson was his suc- 
 cessor. He had been thirty-eight years in 
 the service of the E. I. Company ; and it is 
 a curious fact, that most of the guns em- 
 ployed on either side, both in attacking 
 t See page 211.
 
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL ARCHDALE WILSON. 
 
 431 
 
 and defending Delhi, had been cast by him 
 when holding the appointment of super- 
 intendent of the Calcutta foundry. He 
 was one of the twelve sons of a clergy- 
 man. When he took command of the 
 Delhi field force, he was fifty-five years 
 of age; and is described as "a tall 
 soldierly-looking man, with a small brow, 
 quick eye, and large feeble mouth."* 
 His antecedents as the brigadier com- 
 manding the Meerut station on the 11 th 
 of May, were unfavourable. He was distin- 
 guished neither for brilliant ability nor 
 fertility of resource : not a general whose 
 name, like Nicholson's, would, under any 
 circumstances, have struck terror into the 
 rebel camp, and inspired confidence in his 
 own ; not a strategist, like Campbell ; not 
 &preux Chevalier, like Outram ; not an en- 
 thusiast, brave and true (though vacillating 
 and egotistical), like Havelock; not a disci- 
 plinarian like Neil ; not a leader such as 
 Sir Hugh Rose afterwards proved to be; 
 but just a slow, cautious, pains-taking artil- 
 lery officer, whose leading characteristic 
 was an exaggerated estimate of the impor- 
 tance of his own arm of the service. 
 
 It was afierwards said of him, that he 
 was born to take Delhi. It would have 
 been more honourable, though less advan- 
 tageous to him in other points, had it been 
 written in his horoscope, that he should 
 save the imperial city by forestalling 
 "the thirty troopers who revolutionised 
 India, 't ^^^^ ^^ "'J account of his proceed- 
 ings in the Meerut crisis has yet been 
 laid before the public, it is not easy to 
 determine the extent to which he is respon- 
 sible for " the cardinal errors and fatal 
 incapacities which pre-eminently marked 
 the conduct of the authorities in command 
 of the Meerut division, at a period when 
 errors and incapacity were by no means 
 unfrequently conspicuous."! Little infor- 
 mation has, even after the lapse of two 
 years, transpired regarding that fatal night, 
 when tyrannical incapacity on one side, and 
 fear and rage on the other, with panic [i.e., 
 temporary insanity) on both, opened the 
 flood-gates for the ocean of blood and tears 
 wliich has since desolated India. The 
 latest writer on the sul)ject, who visited 
 Meerut, and made all possible inquiries on 
 the spot, remarks, that "every one talks of 
 the incapacity of the aged veteran, on 
 
 • Russell's Diary, vol i., p. 192. 
 t Strangely eiiou'rh, there is a saying of Mustapha 
 Khan's, current in India, ihot " if fortv sabres sliouUl 
 
 whom the whole affair produced the effect 
 of a hideous night-mare;" and lie adds, 
 " what was Sir Archdale Wilson, of Delhi, 
 doing ?"§ 
 
 In the freedom of the mess-table, officers 
 are alleged to assert, that General Hewitt 
 requested the then Colonel Wilson to act 
 for the best; and that he (not from any 
 want of personal bravery, but from sheer 
 bewilderment) did nothing, and would 
 sanction nothing; but shared the surprise 
 which was the prevalent feeling among the 
 Meerut Europeans on the morning of the 
 12th of May, at finding their heads re- 
 mained on their shoulders — that is, in a 
 literal sense; for, in a figurative one, they 
 had certainly either lost tliem, or had none 
 to lose. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive why Wilson was 
 trusted to head the Delhi force; but, besides 
 the little choice left by the conventionali- 
 ties of our military system, it is possible 
 that Sir John Lawrence (who, directly or 
 indirectly, must at such a moment have 
 had a voice in the matter), knowing the 
 jealous and impetuous spirit which pervaded 
 the camp, was decided by similar considera- 
 tions to those which induce both branches 
 of the church militant, Romish and Protes- 
 tant, to choose safe second-rate men for 
 popes and archbishops. So far as is known, 
 there was only one first-rate general, both 
 safe and brilliant, in Northern India — 
 namely, Nicholson ; and he could not then 
 be spared from the Punjab. 
 
 The first view taken by the new com- 
 mander was not a cheerful one. The per- 
 sonal honours and advantages consequent 
 on the capture of Delhi, daszling as they 
 were in perspective, did not blind him to 
 the perils and difficulties massed together 
 in the foreground. 
 
 Tlirte days before General Reid's resig- 
 nation, the mutineers had sallied forth in 
 great force, and attacked the batteries on 
 the Hindoo Rao ridge. They were driven 
 back with a loss estimated at 1,000 men. 
 The British had fifteen killed and nearly 
 200 wounded. Brigadier Chamberlaiu 
 received a wound, which it was said would 
 keep him " on his back for six weeks at 
 least." The want of his services was not 
 so sensibly felt as might have been ex- 
 pected from his reputation. His youth 
 and energy, which had conduced to his 
 
 come u agree together, they might bestow a king- 
 dom " — Sii/ar ul Mutakherin, vol. ii., p. 41S. 
 
 t Kusseil's Diary, vol. ii , p. 2.'>6. § Ihid., p. 257.
 
 432 
 
 CONDITION OF DELHI FIELD FORCE— JULY, 1857. 
 
 success as asahreur and leader of irregulars, 
 led liim to act with an impetuosity which 
 was not suited to the present phase of the 
 siege. It is asserted by a keen observer, 
 that " ill two or three actions after his 
 arrival, we lost, by pushing too far, more 
 men than formerly, and many more than 
 we could spare, and by leading an advance 
 party under the walls of Delhi, where they 
 were mowed down by the enemy's grape."* 
 Hodson, who had so joyously hailed the 
 brigadier's arrival in carap,t admits that 
 lie erred in " too great hardihood and ex- 
 posure in the field, and a sometimes too 
 injudicious indifference to his own life or 
 that of his men." Thus, on the 14th, 
 " seeing a hesitation among the troops he 
 led, who did not like the look of a wall 
 lined with Pandies, and stopped short, 
 instead of going up to it ; he leaped his 
 horse clean over the wall into the midst of 
 them, and dared the men to follow, which 
 they did ; but he got a ball in his shoulder." J 
 A great oversight is . stated to have 
 occurred on this occasion. § The enemy 
 brought out, and abandoned, six guns, 
 which the English neglected to seize, and 
 suffered the rebels to recover. || Altogether, 
 the results of the engagement were far from 
 satisfactory, and assisted in producing the 
 depression manifest in Brigndier Wilson's 
 letter to Sir John Lawrence, of the 18th of 
 July, which was written in French for 
 more security. Colonel Baird Smith, 
 chief officer of engineers (styled, in the 
 
 • Letter from Umhallah. — Times, October 26th, 
 1857. 
 
 t See page 211. 
 
 X Hodson's Twelve Years in India, p. 335. 
 
 4 Another engagement took place on the I9ih of 
 July, in which, according to Hodson, great loss had 
 nearly been incurred through the incapacity of the 
 officer in command — "a fine old gentleman, who 
 might sit for a portrait of Falstaff, so fat and jnlly is 
 he; Colonel Jones, of the 60th Rifies." Hodson's 
 vanity, which, notwithstanding his disclaimers, was 
 a conspicuous feature in his character, renders him 
 a doubtful authority, as he is apt to praise himself 
 at the expense of other people; but he distinctly 
 asserts, that Colonel Jones, having driven the enemy 
 back into Delhi, found himself in turn pursued, 
 and gave an order to retreat "in a heap:" but 
 when Hodson remonstrated on the cruel loss which 
 would thereby be incurred, he received, in reply, 
 carte blanche to act as he saw best, and suc- 
 ceeded in drawing off the men in order, under the 
 protection of the guns. (Twelve Years in Inilia, 
 p.- 238). The conduct of Colonel Jones on the day 
 of the storming of Delhi, tends to invalidate this 
 disparaging testimony. 
 
 II Kotton's Siege of Delhi, p. 183. 
 
 ^ Further Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1857 ; p. 63. 
 
 letter, " I'officier de Genie en chef"), the 
 brigadier says, "agreed with him that an 
 asxault would be dangerous and disastrous." 
 There were before Delhi, 2,200 English, 
 and 1,500 Punjabees, constantly besieged 
 and daily attacked by a "numberless" foe; 
 and Sir John Lawrence was urged to send 
 forthwith to Delhi a complete English regi- 
 ment, and two of Seiks and Punjabees. 
 The request was supported by the declara- 
 tion — " If I am not very quickly reinforced, 
 I shall be compelled to retire to Kurnaul."^ 
 This was the turning-point in the war. 
 Then it was that Sir John Lawrence 
 put forth all his strength. His powerful 
 intellect comprehended the whole danger: 
 his moral courage was equal to the occasion. 
 The men about him were for the most part 
 of his own school — the John Lawrence, 
 as distinguished from the Henry Lawrence 
 school; the main-spring of the one system 
 being fear; of the other, love. Sir Henry's 
 exercise of authority had been always patri- 
 archal, paternal. He could not, and he 
 would not, bend to conventional notions of 
 government. His public, like his private 
 life, was ever grand, simple, and consistent. 
 The word " Christian" is too hackneyed to 
 be applied to such a man. In all humility, 
 it may be said that he was Christ-like — 
 specially so in " the love of the people of 
 the country, with which he inspired" his 
 coadjutors and subordinates.** After all, 
 the tender reverence in which his memory 
 is uniformly held by Anglo-Indians,tt speaks 
 
 •* Raike>' Revolt in the North-West Provinces, 
 p. 33. 
 
 tt Any one who has had occasion to examine the 
 piles of books, pamphlets, and newspapers, filled 
 with Indian intelligence, published in the eventful 
 yeHrs 1857 and 1858, must have been struck not 
 simply with the frequent recurrence of the name of 
 Henry Lawrence, but with the halo which surrounds 
 it. No one seems to have known without loving him ; 
 and none name without ])raising him. Men who 
 differ in every other i)oint under the sun of India, 
 and whose anti-native feelings would alone appear 
 sufficient to inca])acitate them from in any degree 
 appreciating Henry Lawrence, speak of him with a 
 reverent tenilernrss as honourable to them as to 
 him. For instance, Fiederick Cooper, in a few grace- 
 ful, touching lines, dedicates his book on the Punjab 
 (of all books in the world!), not to the living Sir 
 John, but to the memory of Sir Henry, though he 
 knew nothing more of him " than was patent to the 
 world — the example he set." The dedication of 
 Hodson's Letters is another stone added to the same 
 cairn. But perhaps the most striking testimony i» 
 that borne by Mr. Russell, who, after hearing the 
 varied opinions of men who had known Sir H.-iirv 
 long and intimately, and many of whom must Imve 
 been frequently ojiposid to him, was "led to tl ink
 
 CONCENTRATION OF EUROPEAN TROOPS IN THE PUNJAB— 1857. 433 
 
 strongly for the sound judgment and right i-are powers were always cramped by his 
 feeling which lie at the bottom of English^ subordinate position. The clever, resolute, 
 hearts, even when placed in the trying, and unscrupulous policy of Lord Dalhousie 
 position of a " superior race " — even when was in perpetual opposition to Sir Henry's 
 
 lashed to fury by a terrible, unexpected, 
 and most painful check — the more humili- 
 ating, because none but the ignorant, the 
 apathetic, or the blindly prejudiced could 
 consider it wholly undesery.ed. The delibe- 
 rate persuasion of Henry Lawrence, ex- 
 pressed to Robert Montgomery as the 
 result of long and varied experience, was, 
 that, "on the whole, the people were 
 happier under native government than 
 under our own."* The writer who records 
 this memorable speech, excuses himself from 
 entering upon the causes of the revolt ; but 
 this brief sentence comprehends them all. 
 Our civilisation and our Christianity have 
 failed ; and why ? Because the civilisation, 
 real, to a certain extent, in England, has 
 been but as a varnish in India : and as 
 to our Christianity — that, to be effective, 
 must begin at home. When English 
 clergymen and laymen in India concur in 
 showing forth, in their daily lives, a desire to 
 follove in the footsteps of their Divine 
 Master, and become, like him, " holy, 
 harmless, undefiled," they may reasonably 
 expect the attention of the heathen to be 
 drawn to the means which have wrought so 
 miraculous a change. Until then, our so- 
 called enlightenment must fail to make us 
 the " lights of the world" we aspire to 
 be ; and our skin-deep civilisation can serve 
 but to disguise the true character of the 
 material beneath the glaze. Besides, if 
 our standing as individual Christians were 
 ever so high, it is the beneficence of our 
 government which must be the test of our 
 merits as rulers with the mass of the people. 
 It is a mockery to teach the Bible in our 
 schools, unless, as rulers, we harmonise our 
 example with our precepts ; and, not in cant 
 or in enthusiasm, but in sober reliance 
 on the Divine blessing, endeavour for the 
 future "to do justice, to love mercy, and 
 walk humbly with our God." It would be 
 infidelity to doubt that an administration 
 conducted on these principles must suc- 
 ceed, even in the lowest and most worldly 
 point of view. 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence did great things in 
 the Punjab as a peace-maker; but his 
 
 that no such exemplar of a truly good man can be 
 found in the ranks of the servants of any Christian 
 Btate in the latter ages of the world." These grave 
 and thoughtful words have peculiar force as coming 
 voi .II. 3 k 
 
 principles of action ; and he had no resource 
 but to quit the Punjab. Sir John remained. 
 Supported by a heavy expenditure of money, 
 and backed by European troops assembled 
 together from all parts of India, he subju- 
 gated the turbulent chiefs. A rough-and- 
 ready administrative system, widely different 
 from that under which the North-West 
 Provinces writhed, was initiated ; and Sir 
 John Lawrence, himself a picked man, sur- 
 rounded by picked men, succeeded in estab- 
 lishing a despotism, which will probably 
 last so long as the present men, or others 
 equally efficient, are found to man the 
 life-boat which alone has a chance of living 
 in such a stormy sea. 
 
 In one sense it is quite true, that in the 
 Punjab John Lawrence found the means of 
 regaining Delhi. But it is no less true, 
 that Lucknow, Allahabad, Benares, Cawn- 
 poor, and Dinapoor, had been almost de- 
 nuded of European troops, for the sake of 
 concentration in the new province, from 
 whence they could not be spared even 
 when needed for the accomplishment of 
 a newer annexation — that of Oude, Lord 
 Dalhousie was always hampered by a 
 deficiency of the troops necessary to the 
 success of his aggressive policy ; and this 
 paucity has pressed with double force 
 on his successor. Bitter experience has 
 proved the value of the friendship of the 
 sovereigns of Oude in all our former wars ; 
 of the subsidies with which they reple- 
 nished our treasuries ; the men whom they 
 sent to fill our ranks — never false to us till 
 we were false to Oude ; for false, and nothing 
 less, were the whole of those " suppressed 
 treaty" proceedings which led to the down- 
 fall of Wajid Ali. His misgovernment, 
 his incapacity, have nothing to do with the 
 question. He was a faithful ally ; and bad 
 as his rule was, the people preferred it 
 to ours. We took no pains to reconcile 
 them to the change, and no precautions to 
 overawe the disaffection our revenue pro- 
 ceedings excited. t 
 
 Could Sir John Lawrence have been 
 spared from the Punjab, and sent at once 
 to Oude with a band of the sternest aud 
 
 from the brilliant pen of the Times' special corres- 
 pondent. — Diary, vol. ii., p. 139. 
 
 • Russell's Diary in India, vol. ii., p. 414. 
 
 t See Introductory Chapter, p. 88.
 
 434 NEGOTIATIONS WITH KING OF DELHI DURING THE SIEGE. 
 
 shrewdest men iu both services, aud a 
 strong military force, he would probably 
 (had Providence been pleased to permit it) 
 have accomplished a successful usurpation. 
 Sir Henry Lawrence, with a body of bis 
 picked men, without any troops at all, and 
 the smallest possible amount of red-tapists, 
 might have carried through a bloodless 
 annexation, by conciliating, as he only 
 could, the good-will of chiefs and people. 
 Ijut the opportunity was lost, either 
 tI;rough the wilful blindness or the pro- 
 crastination which are the besetting sins 
 of the present Indian administration. The 
 annexation or usurpation of Oude (the 
 terms are synonymous) has proved a clumsy 
 failure ; while the conquest of the Punjab 
 has been a success, though costly, and 
 it may be, temporary : but the abilities of 
 both the Lawrences — the fear inspired by 
 the one, and the love by the other — had beeu 
 brought to bear iu the latter case. Sir John 
 has proved himself to possess the strong 
 nerve, the indomitable energy, the master- 
 policy needful to constitute a subjugator. 
 The sharpest sword ever fashioned in 
 Damascus is not more superior to the 
 weapons which our officers irreverently 
 term "regulation spits," than it is inferior 
 in power to the iron sceptre wielded by his 
 strong right hand. Of his conduct at 
 this crisis but few particulars are known. 
 Some of his letters, or half-a-dozeu pages 
 indited by a worshipping Boswell (not an 
 ordinary biographer who sees through spec- 
 tacles or writes with reservations), would be 
 invaluable. But at present there is nothing 
 of the kind available. The reports on the 
 administration of the Punjab are valuable 
 in their way ; but besides the inevitable 
 drawback, that the writers naturally put 
 their own acts in the most favourable 
 light, and that all facts are, to a great 
 extent, at the mercy of the describer — it 
 happens that the official records pass over, 
 without attempting to explain, several of the 
 most important features of the epoch. In 
 
 • Greathed's Letters, pp. 205—217. 
 
 t Uodson, as head of the intelligence department, 
 appears to have encouraged the leading men In the 
 city in making these applications, for the sake of 
 compromising them with their party. His Me7noirs 
 contain only general laudation of the extent of the 
 information he obtained ; but not how he obtained 
 it. Mr. Coopes, however, is more explicit, and gives 
 a full description of the manner in which Moonshee 
 Rujub Ali "diplomatised, under the guidance of 
 the accomplished Hodson." A Hakeem, or Moham- 
 medan of eminence, was selected for the experiment ; 
 
 one much canvassed question regarding the 
 Delhi royal family, uucertainty still prevails. 
 It appears that, during the brief tenure of 
 command by General Reid, the miserable 
 king, in his anxiety to escape from the 
 tyranny of the sepoys who pretended to be 
 fighting for his throne, proposed, through 
 native agency, to open one of the gates of 
 his palace (which led through the town 
 wall, and thence into the palace) to our 
 troops, on the sole condition that the 
 British general should guarantee his life 
 and his pension. Brigadier Chamberlain 
 suggested that the king should make the 
 offer in person, aud that his power to per- 
 form it should be clearly established ; and 
 General Reid requested the opinion of Sir 
 John Lawrence on the proposition. The 
 reply was sent by telegraph ; and it was to 
 the effect that, if the king could prove he had 
 no share in the murder of any European, 
 his life and pension might be guaranteed, 
 on condition of his placing the British in 
 possession of the city ; in which, however, 
 he could not be suffered to remain. Sir 
 John Lawrence concluded by stating — "I 
 have no idea what' orders government has 
 given ; but those are my views.'' He then 
 addressed Lord Canning on the subject, 
 urging that the speedy occupation of Delhi, 
 with the smallest possible loss, was suffi- 
 cientlj' important to render the proposed 
 arrangement with the king desirable, pro- 
 vided he really possessed the means of 
 executing his part of the contract. This 
 power he did not possess, being literally 
 a helpless puppet in the hands of the 
 sepoys, just as his immediate ancestors had 
 been in the grasp of the Mahrattas, Rohillas, 
 and other successful adventurers or ruliug 
 factions. Consequently, the repeated over- 
 tures made by the king, by his favourite 
 queen, Zeenat Mahal (whom Mr. Greathed 
 speaks of as " a great political personage"), 
 by the princes, and chief persons in 
 the city, were rejected* or temporised 
 with by Hodson's spies.f The interrupted 
 
 and a letter was ■written, couched in terms which, 
 if it fell into the bands of the sepoys, would 
 " infallibly lead them to infer the treachery of the 
 Hakeem j but if it reached the Hakeem, might in- 
 duce him to betray hij companions." This letter 
 specially invited the friends of the king to negotiate 
 on his behalf, and "net to suffer the lamp of 
 Hindoostan [i.e., the King of Delhi] to be ex- 
 tinguished, but to communicate in person, or by 
 writing, with the British camp." This letter was 
 received by the Hakeem ; and the suspicions of the 
 sepoys being roused against him by the destructiou
 
 STATE OF AFFAIRS IN " PANDEMONIUM"- JULY, 1857. 435 
 
 communication between Calcutta and North- 
 Western India, combined probably with 
 the dilatoriness and procrastination which 
 characterised the Supreme government, 
 prevented Sir John Lawrence from re- 
 ceiving any inst-uctions regarding the 
 policy to be pursued towards the King 
 of Delhi until the 6th of September. In 
 the meanwhile, Sir John had steadily urged 
 that the siege must be maintained at all 
 costs, and that the troops must " hang on 
 to their noses" before Delhi. It is asserted 
 that he " was urging the assault with the 
 utmost importunity on the reluctant Gene- 
 ral Wilson," when he received a telegram 
 from Calcutta, addressed to Madras, Bom- 
 bay, Agra, and Mr. Greathed at Delhi ; 
 ■which ran as follows : — 
 
 " Calcutta, August iOth, 2.10 P.M. 
 " Rumours have more than once reached this 
 government, that overtures have been made by the 
 King of Delhi to the officer commanding the troops 
 there, and that these overtures may be possibly 
 renewed upon the basis of the restoration of the 
 king to the position which he held before the mutiny 
 of Meerut and Delhi. The governor-general wishes 
 it to be understood that any concession to the king, 
 of which the king's restoration to his former position 
 should be the basis, is one to which the government, 
 as at present advised, cannot for a moment give its 
 consent. Should any negotiation of this sort be 
 contemplated, a full report of all the circumstances 
 aiust be submitted to the governor-general in coun- 
 cil before the government is committed to any- 
 thing."* 
 
 The instructions bore the Calcutta post- 
 mark before referred to — insufficient and too 
 late. They were nothing more than the 
 expressions of a general policy on the part 
 of a government "as at present advised;" 
 in other words, having no specific know- 
 ledge of the actual state of affairs. Yet on 
 them Lord Granville subsequently founded 
 an eulogium on the governor-general, at 
 the expense of the chief commissioner of 
 the Punjab, by stating that "even Sir John 
 Lawrence was willing to make terras with 
 the king ; but Lord Canning, a civilian, had 
 the courage to take upon himself the re- 
 sponsibility of absolutely refusing these 
 propositions."f The dates prove that Lord 
 Canning had no more to do with the 
 "absolute refusal" given to the king in 
 July, than Lord Granville himself; and 
 
 of a powder-magazine, with which ho was accused 
 of being connected, they searched his house, found 
 Ruiub All's letter, became furious against the Hakeem, 
 and burnt his house to the ground. lie fled to 
 the palace, and was supported by the king. "Great 
 divisions," Mr. Cooper adds, "were the result of 
 
 had little better information regarding the 
 exigencies of affairs at Delhi than Mr. 
 Vernon Smith. If the viceroy had had an 
 opportunity of regaining Delhi through the 
 efforts of the old king, without bloodshed, 
 as early as the 5th of July, and had rejected 
 it; then, indeed, the life and money need- 
 lessly wasted in consequence of that refusal, 
 would have been a serious charge against 
 him. It is possible he might have refused 
 to sanction any such negotiations, or at least 
 delayed and doubted to a degree which 
 would have been equivalent to a refusal ; 
 for the Delhi force constantly complained 
 that their labours and p isition were not 
 understood at Calcutta. The commissioner 
 (H. H. Greathed) speaks very plainly on 
 the subject; remarking, that the difficulty 
 in taking Delhi must be a sore point with 
 Lord Canning, for by it would be measured 
 the extent of the mistake of leaving Delhi 
 and its magazine in the hands of Native 
 troops, when a spirit of mutiny was known 
 to be abrojid. Mr. Greathed received the 
 message of the 20th of August on the 5th 
 of September, and evidently thought it 
 unimportant. He remarks, that "it had 
 been telegraphed to Cawnpoor, then by 
 cossid through Agra. It was only to warn 
 me against receiving any advances from the 
 palace people. "J 
 
 The months of July and August, as spent 
 by the force before Delhi, were marked by 
 few events. The engineers were employed 
 in improving and extending the position of 
 the troops, especially by clearing away the 
 old buildings, walls, and gardens in the 
 Subzee Mundee suburb ; and the attacks of 
 the mutineers grew feebler. They were 
 evidently much disheartened, and fought 
 with gradually decaying energy. § 
 
 Of the state of affairs in " Pandemo- 
 nium" (as Delhi was called in camp), 
 information was obtained through various 
 persons. One of the Native officers of the 
 Guides entered the city in disguise ; and 
 after remaining there four days, returned to 
 camp. The mutineers and tradespeople 
 were at open' strife. "The 9th N.I. had 
 already decamped, and thousands would 
 follow if they dared." || 
 
 The following account of a durbar, held 
 
 this adroit piece of tactics." — Crisis in the Punjab, 
 p. 207. 
 
 * Pari. Papers, 1857 (No. 4), p. 106. 
 
 t Times, October 5lh, 1858. 
 
 X Grealhed's Letters, p. 250. 
 
 \Twelve Years in India, p. 242. |i Ihid., p. 219.
 
 436 
 
 WILSON'S ORDER RESPECTING CAMP-FOLLOWERS. 
 
 on the 7th of July, is given by Mr. Greathed, 
 on the authority of an eye-witness : — 
 
 " Each speaker adduced some story of the fero- 
 city and cruelty of the English. One said a council 
 of war had been held to discuss the propriety of 
 putting every Hindoostanee soldier in the camp to 
 death ; another, that our misdeeds were drawing 
 down the displeasure of Providence, as many of our 
 chief people in Calcutta and London are dying of 
 disease, and two commanders-in-chief had been 
 driven to commit suicide ; a third, from Loodiana, 
 said the Hakeem (chief authority) at Loodiana 
 (Hicketts) had gained the appellation of Kikkus 
 (vernacular for demon), on account of his cruelty. 
 At last the king gave a great sigh, and said, ' What- 
 ever happens, happens by the will of God:' and the 
 durbar broke up."* 
 
 Mr. Cooper also gives accounts, furnished 
 hy spies, regarding the internal condition 
 of Delhi ; and quotes their letters, ex- 
 pressing their hope that actual rebels, and 
 all who had shed blood or been plundering, 
 would be severely punished ; but that the 
 government would compassionate the king, 
 the nobles, and the citizens of Delhi, who 
 were innocent and helpless. f 
 
 An officer serving before Delhi, writes, 
 that the mutineers "have not attempted to 
 capitulate, because they know that nothing 
 but death will satisfy English soldiers :" 
 and he adds — " Nought else shall they have 
 at our hands."! 
 
 Another officer, serving in the Punjab, 
 states — " Part of my old regiment that muti- 
 nied and went to Delhi the other day, left 
 it again, and gave themselves up. This is 
 the only regiment that has done so. I 
 don't know what has been done with them. 
 For my part, I would destroy them all."§ 
 
 A third officer, writing from Meerut, 
 applauds the justice of the Highlanders and 
 others, who, in passing through Cavvnpoor, 
 liad killed every native they could find.|| 
 A fourth, writing from the Delhi camp, 
 has " every reason to believe, that when our 
 troops enter Delhi, a fearful massacre of the 
 inhabitants will take place. The officers, as 
 a body, will do nothing to check it."1f 
 
 The exasperation manifested by the 
 Europeans against the natives generally, 
 materially increased the fatigues and perils 
 of the force before Delhi. Sir John Law- 
 
 • Greathed's Letters, p. 102. t Crisis, ^c, p. 211. 
 
 X Times, October 24th, 1857. § Ibid. 
 
 II Ibid. A Captain (McMuUin ?) in the 23rd N.I., 
 writing from Mhow, after describing the village- 
 burning, and the "fiendish delight" with which, in 
 his magisterial capacity, he had officiated as " hang- 
 man ;" adds, that if matters were left in his hands, 
 " every Mohammedan should be strung up for his 
 faith."— DaiVy Ae«7s, Sept. 11th, 1857. 
 
 rence declared that the Europeans were 
 perishing for the want of natives to assist 
 them in the day-work ; that is, minor 
 duties performed in the sun.** It was 
 absolutely necessary to check the excesses 
 of the soldiery, especially as regarded their 
 conduct towards the camp-followers; and 
 Brigadier Wilson published a general order 
 on the subject, wliich the Friend of India 
 holds up to admiration, as a marked con- 
 trast to that issued by Sir James Outram 
 upon a similar subject. " It had come to 
 the knowledge of Brigadier Wilson, that 
 numbers of camp-followers had been bayo- 
 neted and shot by European soldiers. He 
 pointed out that a continuance of such reck-, 
 less conduct would cause the array to dege- 
 nerate into an undisciplined rabble ;"tf and 
 dwelt on the great inconvenience which 
 would result from the desertion of the 
 camp by the natives, some of whom, 
 alarmed by the fate of their companions, 
 had "thought it prudent to decamp."JJ 
 Certainly, Sir James Outram would have 
 held different language, and would have 
 found many voices to echo his sentiments; 
 for even at this period, occurrences were 
 not wanting to show the nobler side of the 
 native character, or the appreciation it re- 
 ceived. For instance: among many Eng- 
 lishwomen and children, brought to the 
 Delhi camp as helpless fugitives, was a 
 Mrs. Nunn, the wife of a European in 
 the customs' department. When the mu- 
 tiny broke out at Goorgaon, her husband 
 was absent; but the people of the neigh- 
 bouring village carried her off with her 
 children, and fed, clothed, and concealed 
 the helpless family for three months, 
 regardless of the threats of the muti- 
 neers, or the offered bribe of a hundred 
 rupees for her surrender ; until, at the 
 expiration of that time, an opportunity 
 occurred for bringing her safely into camp. 
 The officer at whose picket the party 
 appeared, said that " the woman spoke most 
 gratefully of their kindness and devotion ; 
 and her little boy seemed to have the 
 greatest affection for the grey-headed old 
 man on whose shoulder he was perched."§§ 
 
 % Letter from Delhi camp, August 11th, 1857. — 
 Times. October 1st, 1857. 
 
 ** Telegram from Sir John Lawrence during the 
 crisis of the siege. Quoted by Times' Lahore corres- 
 pondent. — Times, June 19th, 1858. 
 
 tt Friend of India, September 10th, 1857. 
 
 It Kotton'sSiVye of Delhi, p. 171. 
 
 §§ Letter of Officer ; Delhi, August 9th, 1857.— 
 Times, October 3rd, 1857.
 
 NICHOLSON AND LAST REINFORCEMENTS REACH DELHL 437 
 
 Another iiicideut which created some 
 sensation in the camp, was the capture of 
 a female leader, a Mohammedan, who led 
 a sortie out of Delhi. Mr. Greathed 
 compares her to " Joan of Arc." Hodsou 
 says she sallied forth on horseback, and 
 "fought against us like a fiend ;" and by 
 his advice. General "Wilson, who had at 
 first released her, caused her to be recap- 
 tured and sent to Umballah.* As the 
 month of August advanced, both officers 
 and men began to exhibit signs of extreme 
 weariness at "the waiting race"t ii which 
 they had been so long engaged. The 
 monotonous and fatiguing character of 
 their duties was increasingly felt, and told 
 in the hospital lists; yet so little injury 
 was inflicted by the constant firing of shot 
 and shell by the rebel garrison, that the 
 meanest follower in the British camp did 
 not turn from his work at hearing the 
 balls rattling along the protecting ridge, 
 well knowing the enemy could not pass 
 it.J " We are," Mr. Greathed writes, " as 
 secure against assaults as if we were in 
 Delhi, and the mutineers outside." There 
 were ponj'-races, cricket, and quoits in the 
 lines; and the ofiBcers kept up their spirits 
 by " genial, jolly mess dinners," where mirth 
 was promoted by " very good Moselle," but 
 regulated by th'e presence of a clergyman; 
 which, Mr. Greathed states, was working 
 
 a reform, inasmuch as " Colonel , 
 
 whenever he forgot himself and used the 
 word 'damnable,' corrected it with that 
 of 'devilish;' the effect being to give two 
 'wrons -' instead of one."§ The state of 
 affairs was unsatisfactory to the bolder 
 spirits in camp. If " the prince of free 
 lances" may be accepted as their spokes- 
 man. General Wilson was losing the con- 
 fidence of the force as regarded his judg 
 ment, and liad become nervous and alarmed, 
 and over-anxious even about trifles. In fact, 
 after Wilson had exercised the chief com- 
 mand for above a month, his young subor- 
 dinate writes of him as "an old gentleman 
 who meant well,|| but would probably break 
 down like others of his class, who, though 
 personally brave as lions, had not big 
 hearts or heads enough for circumstances 
 
 * Neither public nor private records (so far as the 
 author is aware) afford any statement of the fate of 
 this dauntless woman. 
 
 t Hudson's Twelve Years in India, p. 259. 
 
 I Greathed's Letters, p. 50. § Ibid., p. 176. 
 
 II Hodson's I'lcetve Years in India, p. 270. 
 ^ Ibid., p. 254. 
 
 I of serious responsibility."^ After all (he 
 adds, in allusion to the retreat of Havelock, 
 which was keenly felt at Delhi), " Nicholson 
 is the general after my heart."** 
 
 On the 8th of August, Brigadier-general 
 Nicholson reached the camp, as the pre- 
 cursor of 4,000 troops sent to Delhi by 
 Sir John Lawrence. The hilarity of the 
 mess-table was considerably diminished by 
 the stern and taciturn bearing of the new- 
 comer ;+t but the tone of the army was 
 raised : and to the Seiks espcciall}', the 
 presence of "Nikkul Seyn" was at once 
 a check to insubordination, and a stimulus 
 to zeal. 
 
 The first considerable success obtained 
 over the enemy, was achieved by him at 
 Nujufghur: but shortly before this event, 
 Hodson had given them a smart check 
 by one of his daring expeditions. 
 
 The great advantage enjoyed by the 
 British force, was its uninterrupted com- 
 munication with the Punjab. This the 
 mutineers never tried to cut off (although 
 they had abundance of men and ammunition 
 wherewith to make the attempt without 
 endangering their hold on Delhi) until 
 the 14th of August, on which day a body 
 of troops, chiefl.y cavalry, left the city by 
 the Nujufghur road, with the object, it was 
 presumed, of interrupting oar coramunica- 
 tions with Umballah and the Punjab, or 
 of attacking Jheend, the rajah of which 
 principality was a stanch and zealous 
 British ally. Lieutenant Hodson was sent 
 to watch them, and, as far as possible, to 
 frustrate their intentions. His party con- 
 sisted of 233 of his own newly raised corps, 
 called Hodson's. Horse, and nicknamed 
 " the Flamingoes," on account of the scarlet 
 turbans aud sashes tied over the right 
 shoulder, which enlivened their khakee 
 (dust-coloured) tunics; 103 of the Guide 
 cavalry, twenty-five Jheend horse, and six 
 European officers. This little force had 
 several skirmishes with scattered bands of 
 the enemy, and came off" victorious. Not- 
 withstanding the flooded state of the coun- 
 try, they proceeded to Rohtuck, and, after 
 procuring its evacuation, returned to camp 
 on the 22nd of August. 
 
 ** Hodson's Tu-elve Years in India, p. 275. 
 
 tt " General Nicholson was at dinner; he is a fine, 
 imposing-looking man, who never speaks if he can 
 help it, which is a great gift for a public man. But 
 if we had all been as solemn and taciturn during 
 the last two months, I do not think we should have 
 survived." — Greathed's Letters, p. 179.
 
 438 NICHOLSON'S VICTORY AT NUJUFGHUR— AUGUST 25th, 1857. 
 
 On the 24th, a large force of the enemy, 
 ■with eighteen guns, left Delhi with tlie 
 avo«'ed intention of intercepting a siege- 
 train known to be in progress from Feroz- 
 poor, with a very slender escort. At day- 
 break on the following morning, Brigadier- 
 general Nicholson started in pursuit, with 
 a brigade composed of 1,000 European 
 and 2,000 Native troops, and sixteen 
 horse artillery guns, under the command 
 of Major Tombs, one of the bravest and 
 most skilful officers in the army. After 
 marching from daybreak till 5 o'clock p.m., 
 a distance of eighteen miles, crossing "two 
 difficult swamps,"* and an extensive sheet 
 of water three feet deep, the general came 
 upon the enemy, in a position stretching 
 from the bridge over the Nujufghur 
 canal, to the town of Nujufghur itself, an 
 extent of a mile and three-quarters, or 
 two miles. A very brief reconnaissance 
 was all that the waning light permitted ; 
 but a plan of attack, hastily formed and 
 executed, was completely successful, and 
 the rebels were soon in full retreat over 
 the bridge. The victory was thought to 
 be wholly accomplished, with scarcely any 
 numerical loss to the British : the whole of 
 the enemy's guns (thirteen) had been cap- 
 tured, and the town of Nujufghur cleared 
 by Lieutenant Lumsden and the 1st Punjab 
 infantry, when it was discovered that a few 
 men had concealed themselves in the little 
 village of Nuglee, a few hundred yards 
 in rear of the British line. Lieutenant 
 Lumsden was sent to drive them out ; but 
 the sepoys, finding themselves surrounded, 
 resolved to sell their lives dearly, and 
 killed the lieutenant and several of the 
 Punjabees ; so that Nicholson was obliged 
 to send H.M. 61st to overpower this hand- 
 ful of desperate men; which, after all, the 
 61st failed to effect. The place "was not 
 taken, but was evacuated by its defenders 
 during the night. "f The British cisualties, 
 chiefly incurred in the ineffectual attacks on 
 Nuglee, comprised nearly a hundred killed 
 and woundttd. The baggage had been left 
 on the road ; ard the troops were obliged, 
 after fourteen hours' marching and fight- 
 ing, to bivouac on the field without food 
 or covering of any kind. J They bore 
 these hardships with cheerfulness, encou- 
 raged by the presence of an able leader, 
 
 • The words are those of Nicholson's despatch ; 
 and he is chary in the use of adjectives. — London 
 UazcUe, Nov. 2-Uh, 1857. 
 
 t Norman's Campaign of ihe Delhi Army, p. 32. 
 
 and also by the acquisition of " loot" 
 in the shape of rupees, of which one man 
 was said to have obtained 900 (£90). § 
 The bridge was mined and l)lown up ; 
 such of the captured waggons and tumbrils 
 as could not be carried away were destroyed, 
 and, soon after sunrise, the troops set forth 
 on their return to the camp, which they 
 reached the same evening. The object of 
 the expedition was accomplished : the de- 
 feated mutineers returned to Delhi, and 
 abandoned the idea of intercepting the 
 communication or liarassing the rear of the 
 British force. During the absence of Gene- 
 ral Nicholson, the insurgents came out of 
 the city in great force; but after suffering, 
 severely from the British artillery, they re- 
 tired without making any serious attack. 
 The total British casualties were only eight 
 killed and thirteen wounded. 
 
 By the 6th of September, all reinforcements 
 that could possibly be expected, together 
 with the siege-train, had arrived. The 
 number of effective rank and file, of all 
 arms — artillery, sappers, cavalry, and in- 
 fantry — was 8,748; and there were 2,977 
 in hospital. The strength of the British 
 troops was — artillery', 580 ; cavalry,. 443 ; 
 infantry, 2,294. 
 
 The European corps were mere skele- 
 tons, the strongest only having 409 effec- 
 tive rank and file; while the 52nd light 
 infantry, which, three weeks before, had 
 arrived with fully 600 rank and file, had 
 now only 242 men out of hospital. || The 
 necessity for a speedy assault had become 
 indisputable. 
 
 The Cashmere contingent of 2,200 men 
 and four guns (assembled by Gholab Sing, 
 but sent on, after his death on the 2nd of 
 August, by his successor, Rungbeer Sing) ; 
 had also reached Delhi; and several hundred 
 men of the Jheend rajah's contingent, whicii 
 had previously been most effectively em- 
 ployed in maintaining our communication 
 with Kurnaul, were called in, under the com- 
 mand of the rajah in person, at his particular 
 request, to take part in the storm of Delhi. 
 
 To understand the nature of the opera- 
 tions now commenced, it is necessary to 
 bear in mind the peculiar character of the 
 place to be stormed, and tlie numbers and 
 position of the attacking force. In the case 
 of Delhi, all the ordinary conditions of a 
 
 t Nicholson's despatch, Aug. 2Sth. — London Ga- 
 zette, November 2Uh, 1857. 
 
 § .\ccount published in l'i?»es, Nov. 7ih, 1857. 
 II Norman'8 Campaiyn of the Velhi Army, p. 3Z.
 
 LIEUT.-COLONEL BAIRD SMITH ON DELHI DEFENCES. 
 
 439 
 
 siege were reversed. The garrison greatly 
 outnumbered their assailants — could receive 
 reinforcements and supplies — could come 
 and go at pleasure. The defences were 
 seven miles in circumference, and extended 
 over an area of three square miles. They 
 were modernised forms of those which ex- 
 isted whea the city fell before Lord Lake's 
 army in 1803, and were more formidable to 
 an unprofessional eye than, to that of a 
 scientific engineer. The proportion of be- 
 sieged to besiegers, the magnitude of the 
 arsenal inside, and the impossibility of 
 complete investment, constituted the real 
 strength of the place.* Its weakness lay 
 iu the want of unanimity in its defenders, 
 and in the absence of an able and recognised 
 commander — in the angry feeling with which 
 the unfortunate inhabits.nts regarded the 
 mutinous rabble, whose presence inflicted 
 on them so many miseries, and ruined the 
 trade in gold and silver tissues and brocades, 
 in jewellery, miniature-painting, and the 
 engraving of gems, for which the ancient 
 capital of the Moguls enjoyed a European 
 celebrity up to the black-letter day, the 11th 
 of May, 18o7. It has been said that the at- 
 tack on Delhi resembles that on Sebastopol, 
 rather than those on Seringapatam and 
 Bhurtpoor ; but there is little ground for 
 comparison in any of these instances. 
 There were no Europeans in Delhi, skilled 
 in military tactics, and backed by the re- 
 sources of a powerful empire, as at Sebas- 
 topol — no Tippoo Sultan defending his for- 
 tress in person to the death, supported by 
 loyal veterans trained under Hyder Ali,t as 
 at Seringapatam — no daring, resolute leader 
 like the Jat rajah, who, in 1804, successfully 
 defended his castle of Bhurtpoor against 
 the British, and four times repulsed them 
 from the battlements, in which the besieged 
 chieftain declared his every hope was bound 
 up. J The old King of Delhi, who had in- 
 herited the scholarly, but not the warlike, 
 tendencies of his race, and had a heavy 
 burden of years and sickness to bear in 
 addition to the anxieties of his position, 
 was incapable of feeling or inspiring this 
 kind of resolve ; and if any of his harem- 
 bred sons and grandsons had evinced capa- 
 city for wielding eitlier the sword or the 
 sceptre, it would have been most marvel- 
 lous. There are conditions under which 
 
 • Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1858 (No. 6), p. 220. 
 
 t See vol. i., p. 380. 
 
 J Ibid., p. 401. 
 
 § Coopers Crisis in I he Punjab, p. 213. 
 
 the vigorous development of mind and 
 body is next to impossible : the palace- 
 prison of Delhi combined all these. 
 
 The unremitting communications made 
 by the king to the British, confirm his 
 assertion, that his connexion with the muti- 
 neers was, on his part, always hateful and 
 involuntary. Hodson's spies described the 
 last of the Moguls as appearing before tl?e 
 durbar tearing his beard, snatching the 
 turban from his hoary head, aud invoking 
 vengeance on the authors of his wretched- 
 ness. § One of the princes, Mirza Mogul, 
 was tried by court-martial in September, 
 for favouring the British ;|| another, Mirza 
 Hadjee, had drawn upon himself much 
 angry suspicion by concealing Christians. 
 The queen, Zeenat Mahal, had always 
 been unpopular for her eflbrts to save 
 European life.^ 
 
 The disorganisation and disunion of the 
 rebels more than counterbalanced their 
 numbers; and the back-door of retreat open 
 to them, probably served the British cause 
 better than the power of complete invest- 
 ment could have done. Had the ma3s of 
 sepoys in Delhi been once impressed with 
 the conviction that their death was inevit- 
 able, they would probably have tu-rned aud 
 fought with desperation, as the handful of 
 mutineers did at Nujufghur. As it was, 
 the bridge of boats was left intact by our 
 batteries ; but whether from accident or 
 policy, does not appear. 
 
 The leading features of the defences, and 
 of the ground occupied by the force, are thus 
 succinctly described by Colonel Baird Smith, 
 the chief engineer of the Delhi field force : — 
 
 "The eastern face of the city rests on the Jumna; 
 and during the season of the year when our opera- 
 tions were carried on, the stream may be described 
 as washing the base of the walls. All access to a 
 besieger on the riyer-front is, therefore, impractica- 
 ble. The defences here consist of an irregular wall, 
 with occasional bastions and towers j and about 
 one-half of the length of the river-face is occupied 
 by the palace of the King of Delhi, and its out- 
 work — the old Mogul fort of Selimghur. 
 
 " The river may be described as the chord of a 
 rough arc, formed by the remaining defences of the 
 place. These consist of a succession of bastioned 
 fronts, the connecting curtain being very long, and 
 the outworks limited to one crownwork at the 
 Ajmeer gate and Martello towers, mounting a single 
 gun at such points as require some additional flank- 
 ing fire to that given by the bastions themselves. 
 The bastions are small, mounting generally three 
 
 II Further Pari. Papers, 1857 (No. 4), p. 197. 
 
 51 See Sherer's Indian Church during the Great 
 liebcllion (p. 61), for further in.'ormation regarding 
 the unfortunate prince, Mirza Hadjee.
 
 440 TWO PRACTICABLE BREACHES EFFECTED— DELHI, SEPT., 1857. 
 
 guns in each face, two in each flank, and one in 
 embrasure at the salient. They are provided with 
 masonry parapets, about 12 feet in thicltness, and 
 have n relief of about 16 feet above the plane of 
 site. The curtain consists of a simple masonry 
 wall or rampart, IG feet in height, 11 feet thick at 
 top, and 14 or 15 at bottom. This main wall carries 
 a parapet loopholed for musketry, 8 feet in height, 
 and 3 feet in thickness. The whole of the land 
 front is covered by a berm of variable width, rang- 
 ing from 16 to 30 feet, and having a scarp wall 8 
 feet high ; exterior to this is a dry ditch of about 
 25 feet in height, and from 16 to 20 feet in depth. 
 The counterscarp is simply an earthern slope, easy 
 to descend. The glacis is a very short one, extend- 
 ing only 50 or 60 yards from the counterscarp : 
 using general terms, it covers from the besieger's 
 view from half to one-third of the height of the 
 walls of the place. * * * * 
 
 " The ground occupied by the besieging force ex- 
 ercised a most important influence on the plan and 
 progress of the works of attack. On the we.stern 
 side of Delhi, there appear the last outlying spurs of 
 the Aravelli Mountains, represented here by a low 
 ridge, which disappears at its intersection with the 
 Jumna, about two miles above the place. The 
 drainage from the eastern slope of the ridge finds its 
 way to the river along the northern and north- 
 western falls of the city, and has formed there a 
 succession of parallel or connected ravines of con- 
 siderable depth. By taking advantage of these 
 hollow ways, admirable cover was obtained for the 
 troops, and the labour of the siege most materially 
 reduced. The whole of the exterior of the place 
 presents an extraordinary mass of old buildings of 
 all kinds, of thick brushwood, and occasional clumps 
 of forest trees, giving great facilities for cover, 
 which, during the siege operations at least, proved 
 to be, on the whole, more favourable to us than to 
 the enemy."* 
 
 The plan of attack formed by Colonel 
 Baird Smith, provided for a concentrated, 
 rapid, and vigorous assault on the front of 
 the plftce, included between the Water, or 
 Moree, and Cashmere bastions ; arrange- 
 ments being made, at the same time, for 
 silencing all important flanking fire, whe- 
 ther of artillery or musketry, that could be 
 brought to bear on the lines of advance to 
 be taken by the assaulting columns. The 
 exposed right flank of the trenches was 
 shielded from sorties. The left was secured 
 by being rested on the river, and by the 
 occupation of the Koodsee Bagh — a beau- 
 tiful garden, full of orange and lemon trees ; 
 surrounded on three sides with a high wall, 
 and ending with a terrace beside the river. 
 This strong post, only 250 yards from the 
 city wall, was taken possession of by the 
 British without opposition ; as was also 
 Ludlow Castle (formerly the residence of 
 the unfortunate commissioner, Mr. Fraser). 
 
 * Lieut-colonel Baird Smith's report ; Septem- 
 ber Vlih, \S51.~London Gazette, Dec. loth, 1857. 
 t Hodson's Twelve i'ears in India, pp. 284, 287. 
 
 The best information procural)le,indicated 
 that, on the front of attack, the fire of from 
 twenty-five to thirty pieces might have to 
 be subdued. To effect this, fifty-four siege 
 guns were available, and were formed into 
 various batteries, one of which commanded 
 the only route open to the sorties of the 
 enemy, and prevented any material injury 
 being sustained from this source. 
 
 The mutineers beheld the operations 
 carried on against them with astonishment 
 and alarm. Hudson writes — " The sepoys 
 in Delhi are in hourly expectation of 
 our attack ; the cavalry keep their horses 
 saddled night and day, ready to bolt at a 
 moment's notice — so say the news-letters. 
 I suspect that the moment we make an 
 attack in earnest, the rebel force will dis- 
 appear. • * * There is, at present, nothing 
 to lead .one to suppose that the enemy have 
 any intention of fighting it out in the city 
 after we have entered the breach. All, I 
 fancy, who can, will be off as soon as we 
 are within the walls." On the 13th of Sep- 
 tember, he speaks of the rebels as " fast 
 evacuating Delhi."t 
 
 The time for a decisive struggle at length 
 arrived. On the night of the 13th, Cap- 
 tain Taylor, the second engineer officer (on 
 whom, in consequence of the wound from 
 wliich Baird Smith was suffering, much 
 extra duty devolved), with Lieutenants 
 Medley and Lang, Greathed and Home, 
 stole down and examined the two breaches 
 near the Cashmere and Water bastions; 
 and both being reported practicable, orders 
 were at once issued for the assault to 
 be made at daybreak on the following 
 morning. 
 
 Tiie order issued by Major-general Wil- 
 son for the regulation of the conduct of the 
 troops during the assault, if not vigorous, 
 was at least pitiless. " British pluck and 
 determination" would, the major-general 
 felt assured, carry everything before 
 them; and the bloodthirsty and murderous 
 mutineers would be driven headlong out of 
 their stronghold, or be exterminated. He 
 considered it hardly needful to remind the 
 force (and, in truth, it was worse than 
 needless) of " the cruel murders committed 
 on their officers and comrades, as well as 
 their wives and children ;" but he called 
 upon them, notwithstanding this, to spare 
 all women and children that might come in 
 their way. 
 
 This peculiar phrase requires some ex- 
 planation, which is given by Mr. Cooper,
 
 WILSON'S GENERAL ORDER REGARDING STORM OP DELHI. 441 
 
 who has the knack of telliug just what the 
 general public want to know, and officials, 
 civil and military, carefully withhold. 
 He states that, early in September, " the 
 awful miseries of warfare, and the ghastly 
 destitution of anarchy, were fully felt by the 
 population, shopkeepers, and retail trades- 
 men of Delhi ;" and they sought, at the 
 hands of the British array, protection for 
 their wives and children. No less than 
 " 2,500 women and children tried to leave, 
 and about 600 carts blocked up the main 
 streets ; but all egress was prevented."* 
 From this it would appear that the towns- 
 people were anxious to separate from the 
 sepoy rabble, and not compromise them- 
 selves by flying in the same direction. 
 General Wilson had, however, no idea of 
 dealing with the unarmed population as 
 defenceless British subjects. His quali- 
 fied compassion for the wretched women 
 and children who, having been prevented 
 from leaving the city, might come in 
 the way of the soldiers, did not extend to 
 their equally unfortunate husbands and 
 fathers. Not one suggestion of mercy was 
 made for age or youth. The license for 
 slaughter was as large as could well be 
 desired : the amount of life destroyed 
 would proportionably increase the glory 
 of the triumph ; but the " loot" was 
 another question altogether, and could 
 by no means be left to the discretion 
 of the soldiery. The subjoined paragraph 
 is important, because it was naturally 
 construed by the troops as affording a 
 guarantee that the booty taken in Delhi 
 would be divided among them ; and much 
 dissatisfaction was expressed at the non- 
 performance of a promise which, directly 
 or indirectly, ought never to have been 
 made. 
 
 "It is to be explained to every regiment that 
 indiscriminate plunder will not be allowed; that 
 prize.agents have been appointed, by whom all 
 captured property will be collected and sold, to be 
 divided, according to the rules and regulations on 
 this head, fairly among all men engaged ; and that 
 any man found, guilty of having concealed captured 
 property will be made to restore it, and will forfeit 
 
 all claims to the general prize ; he will also be likely 
 to be made over to the provost-marshal, to be sum- 
 marily dealt with." 
 
 In the course of the order, a prohibition 
 against " straggling" during the assault 
 was thrice repeated ; and, like most reitera- 
 tions, appears to have produced very little 
 effect. Happily, the actual conduct of the 
 assault was placed by Wilson in the hands 
 of "that most brilliant officer, Brigadier- 
 general Nicholson,"t whose excellent ar- 
 rangements "elicited the admiration of all."t 
 The troops were divided into five columns : 
 the first four, destined to attack as many 
 different points, were respectively com- 
 manded by Nicholson, Brigadier Jones, Colo- 
 nel Campbell, and Major Reid ; the fifth — 
 a column of reserve — by Brigadier Long- 
 field. There were 1,000 men in the first 
 column ; 850 in the second ; 950 in the 
 third ; 860 in the fourth (besides the Cash- 
 mere contingent, strength not known) ; 
 and 1,300 in the reserve. 
 
 In the dark but clear dawn of morning 
 the columns assembled, marching with 
 quiet measured tramp, the scaling-ladders 
 in front, and the batteries firing with re- 
 doubled fury to cover the advance; while the 
 answering shells, rockets, and round shot, 
 as they burst, or hissed, or rushed over the 
 heads of the troops, lit up the atmosphere 
 with lurid flashe8.§ The men watched iij 
 breathless silence for the signal for the 
 general rush. It was to be given by Nichol- 
 son ; and many an anxious eye was turned 
 on him. The Europeans felt confidence in 
 the leadership of a man of first-rate ability 
 and proved success in Indian warfare — one, 
 too, who was known to be singularly just 
 and discriminating in officially recognising 
 the merits of his subordinates. The natives 
 equally admired his prowess and his luck 
 (nujeeb) ; and the Seiks, who considered 
 him peculiarly their own, were as proud of 
 him as the Greeks of Achilles. His com- 
 manding presence has been already men- 
 tioned : even in ordinary society, the phy- 
 sical and mental vigour evidenced in every 
 feature of his- face, in every limb of his 
 
 • Criiis in the Funjab, p. 212. Mr. Cooper had 
 the best means of obtaining both official and private 
 information ; and although the philanthropist may 
 condemn the tone of his book, the historian must 
 gratefully acknowledge the clear and comprehensive 
 manner in which he states facts, according to his 
 view of them, without arranging and garbling them 
 to suit the public eye, or to shield himself from 
 the displeasure of his superiors. There are two 
 other books regarding the Delhi campaign ^fre- 
 VOL. II. 3 L 
 
 quently quoted in preceding pages), which possess 
 worth and interest of the same kind ; but the merit 
 in these cases rests with the editors rather than the 
 authors ; for had either Commissioner Greathed or 
 Captain Hodson survived, their "Letters" would 
 probably not have been published. 
 
 t Brigadier-general Wilson's despatch, 22nd Sept., 
 l8ol.— London Gazette, Dec. 15th, 1857. 
 
 : Pari. Papers on Mutiny, 1858 (No. 6), p. 219. 
 
 § Medley's Year'i Campaigning in India, p. 104.
 
 442 DELHI STORMED— CASHMERE GATE BLOWN IN— SEPT. 14. 185: 
 
 body, attracted more attention than his 
 umisually massive but liarmonious propor- 
 tions.* He was scarcely five-and-thirty 
 years of age, but he looked older; and 
 though his large beard still retained its 
 glossy blackness, his curls had turned grey. 
 Such was the man who led the troops 
 against Delhi on the 14th of September. 
 He rode forth in the strength and prime of 
 manhood : a few hours later he was brought 
 back in a litter, his whole frame quivering 
 in mortal agony. 
 
 It was not, however, until the fortune of 
 the day was decided, that Nicholson fell : 
 the critical opening of the storm was con- 
 ducted by him. He gave the word, " For- 
 ward !" and the Rifles dashed to the front 
 ■with a cheer, skirmishing through the low 
 jungle in front of the breacli, so as to cover 
 the advance of the first and second columns. 
 Both officers and men fell fast under the 
 bullets of the enemy wliile the ladders were 
 being let down into the ditch to mount the 
 escarp ; but when this was accomplished 
 the breaches were carried with ease, for the 
 mutineers fled in confusion before the 
 British bayonet. 
 
 Meanwhile, the third column effected an 
 entrance by the Cashmere gate. At the 
 head marched an explosion party, com- 
 posed of Lieutenants Salkeld and Home, 
 Sergeants Smith and Carraichael, Cor- 
 poral Burgess, and Bugler Hawthorne, with 
 fourteen Native sappers and miners of the 
 old Bengal army, and ten Puujabees. 
 Covered by the fire of the Rifles, the 
 advanced party safely reached the outer 
 barrier-gate, which they found open and 
 unguarded. Home, Smith, Carmichael, 
 Havildar Madhoo, and another Native 
 sapper, passed over the partially destroyed 
 drawbridge, and succeeded in placing 
 powder-bags at the foot of the double gate. 
 The enemy, on recovering their first as- 
 tonishment at the audacity of the procedure, 
 poured forth volley after volley through the 
 open wicket. Carmichael was killed, and 
 Madhoo wounded; but the powder was laid, 
 and the four survivors sprang into the ditch ; 
 while the firing party, under Lieutenant 
 Salkeld, proceeded to perform its perilous 
 duty. Salkeld was mortally wounded 
 while endeavouring to fire the charge, and 
 
 • Brigadier-general Nicholson was six feet two 
 inches in height. 
 
 t The Victoria medal was bestowed by General 
 Wilson on Home, Salkeld, Smith, and Hawthorne. 
 Salkeld died in the tourse of a few days; Home 
 
 fell, handing the slow-match to Burgess, 
 who succeeded in setting the train on 
 fire, but was shot dead immediately after- 
 wards. Havildar Tiluk Sing was wounded ; 
 and another Hindoo, whose name is given 
 in the report as Ram Heth, was killed. 
 Thus the most popular exploit of the 
 day was performed by Europeans, Seiks, 
 and Bengal sepoys, fighting, suffering, and 
 dying side by side. Colonel Baird Smith 
 names no less than six natives, as having 
 shown the most determined bravery and 
 coolness throughout the whole operation ; 
 and praises " the remarkable courage shown 
 by the Native officers and men in assist- 
 ing their wounded European comrades." 
 While the train was being lit. Bugler 
 Hawthorne, under a heavy fire, had carried 
 the wounded Salkeld from the bridge 
 into the ditch, and bound up his wounds : 
 lie then sounded the regimental call of 
 the 52nd three times.f The troops scram- 
 bled across the fallen gates and over the 
 bodies of a score of mutineers killed in the 
 explosion, and gained the ramparts in time 
 to echo the cheers of the two columns 
 which had stormed the breaches in the 
 Cashmere and Water bastions. 
 
 Unhappily, tlie fourth column had failed 
 in performing its allotted task of clearing 
 the Kishen Gunj suburb and carrying the 
 Lahore gate. The Jummoo contingent com- 
 menced the attack ; suffered heavily, and 
 were driven back before the artillery arrived. 
 Major Reid moved down with the Goorkas 
 to renew the attack, but fell wounded in 
 the head by the heavy fire opened by the 
 enemy from the bridge over the canal, from 
 walls and loopholed buildings. Captain 
 McBarnet was killed. Lieutenant Sheb- 
 beare, with a few Guides and some Euro- 
 peans, took possession of a mosque, and 
 strove to re-form the troops and charge the 
 enemy's position. Lieutenant Murray, of 
 the Guides, was killed while gallantly 
 seconding Lieutenant Shebbeare, who was 
 himself struck by two balls; and Sergeant 
 Dunleary, of the Fusiliers, was likewise 
 slain while exhibiting conspicuous gal- 
 lantry.J Major Reid and the senior engi- 
 neer, both severely wounded, were the only 
 officers well acquainted with the localities 
 of the place. § Between the want of a 
 
 was killed on the 1st of October, by the accidental 
 explosion of a mine at Malaghur. 
 
 X Captain Mutev's lleport, Sept. 17th, 1857. — 
 Lundon Gazette, Dec. loth, 1857. 
 
 § Medley's Year's Campaigning in InSia, p. 110.
 
 NICHOLSON MORTALLY WOUNDED— SEPT. 14th, 1857. 
 
 4i3 
 
 competent leader and the panic of the 
 troops, the result was, that after losing a 
 great number of men and four guns, they 
 were " completely defeated, and fell back to 
 camp."* 
 
 Tliis failure impeded the advance, and 
 embarrassed the proceedings of the other 
 columns, by leaving the enemy in trium- 
 phant possession of the Lahore gate. Gen- 
 eral Nicholson proceeded thither, clearing 
 the ramparts as he advanced. The road lay 
 through a narrow lane, down which the 
 rebels poured volleys of grape and musketry. 
 The Europeans recoiled before the deadly 
 fire; and Nicholson, in endeavouring to 
 cheer them on, and induce them, by his 
 example, to renew the advance, offered a too 
 easy mark to the foe. He fell, shot through 
 the body, the ball entering his right side, 
 and coming out under the left armpit. He 
 was carried off with some difficulty ; and his 
 favourite orderly, au Afghan, named Khajah 
 Khan, who had stormed the breach with 
 liim, writes — " The general then desired to 
 be laid iu the shade; and said, 'I will re- 
 main here till Delhi is taken.'" But there 
 were several anxious days to be spent before 
 the capture was accomplished. The troops 
 who hung back from Nicholson, would 
 not follow any one else; and Captain 
 Brookes, who, succeeded to the command, 
 relinquished the attempt to force them 
 forward, and fell back on the Cabool gate, 
 where he was joined by the column under 
 Brigadier Jones. Meanwhile, the third 
 column endeavoured, by Nicholson's orders, 
 to advance upon and occupy the Jumma 
 Musjid, that " chastest, grandest, and 
 noblest temple ever erected by those great 
 architects the Mohammedans ;"t but, on 
 examination, tlie gate was found to be too 
 strong to be blown open without powder- 
 bags or artillery. Colonel Campbell had 
 neither, in consequence of the fall of Sal- 
 keld and the impracticability of bringing 
 guns over the broken bridge at the Cash- 
 mere gate. The colonel, himself wounded, 
 retired to the Cabool gate. The church and 
 other structures were taken possession of 
 by the troops ; when General Wilson rode 
 into Delhi, map in hand, and established 
 his head-quarters in a strong building, 
 called Secander's, or Skiuner's House, from 
 the famous Eurasian leader of irregular 
 
 * Norman's Cimpdir/n of the Delhi Artny, p. 41. 
 t Russell.— yVrnf-s, Sept. 3rd, 1858. 
 X Medley's Year's Camjuiiymn,/ in India, p. 113. 
 § See an able account cf the capture of Delhi, by 
 
 cavalry, by whom it was erected. When 
 the first tumult had subsided, much un- 
 satisfactory information was obtained re- 
 garding the number of casualties, the con- 
 dition of the remaining force, and the 
 strength of the enemy's positions. 
 
 The portion of Delhi ou which the as- 
 sault was commenced, contained large quan- 
 tities of wine and spirits (the produce of a 
 long line of road on which those articles 
 are the main staple of European com- 
 merce). Tlie temptation to intoxication, 
 to which the troops readily succumbed, 
 was thought to be the result of deep 
 strategy on the part of the mutineers; but 
 of this there is no proof. The straggling 
 and looting deprecated by General Wilson 
 was extensively carried on : " men of dif- 
 ferent columns and regiments got mixed 
 up together, shops and houses were broken 
 open and completely gutted, and stores of 
 beer, champagne, and brandy were found, 
 and quickly appropriated."} Another eye- 
 witness says, that "the army became dis- 
 organised to a degree which was highly 
 dangerous when the battle was half won."§ 
 And he further remarks, that it seems " as 
 if the only common bond which unites the 
 various races fighting under our standard, 
 is the common love of liquor." The newly 
 arrived Cashmere auxiliaries were not 
 wanting in this essential part of good fel- 
 lowship and bad discipline. " In their 
 drinking and plundering propensities, and 
 somewhat impaired discipline, the)' hardly 
 differ from the Europeans, whom they 
 allege to be their models in these particu- 
 lars." Mr. Grcathed, the Delhi commis- 
 sioner, declared that the Seiks had " no 
 points of resemblance with Pandies, but took 
 their lots of rum like true Christians." || 
 Certainly, if the love of strong drink is a 
 proof of orthodox belief, Europeans, Seiks, 
 Goorkas, Afghans, and Cashmerians, evi- 
 denced theirs in strong contrast to the 
 heathenish sobriety of the Hindoo muti- 
 neers. Usually, the fire-water of civilisa- 
 tion has been its most efficient weapon for 
 the destruction of nations. On this occa- 
 sion the two-edged weapon wounded the 
 hand that wielded it. The disorganisa- 
 tion produced by drunkenness rendered our 
 loss heavy and our progress slow, and 
 augmented, if it did not originate, the 
 
 a civilian (evidently not Grcathed, Saunders, or 
 Metcalfe); dated -'Delhi, Sept. 26lh, 18o~i."— Timet, 
 December, 1857. 
 
 II Greathed's Letters, p. 176.
 
 414 
 
 STATE OF JlKiiiSlI ARMY— SEPT. 15th, 1857. 
 
 unexpected determination with which the 
 mutineers, and especially some parties of 
 armed fanatics, defended houses in tlie 
 streets, after suffering the breaches to be 
 made and won with but feeble opposition. 
 Hodson asserts, that tlie troops were 
 "utterly demoralised by hard work and 
 hard drink." " For the first time in my 
 life," he adds, " I have had to see English 
 soldiers refuse repeatedly to follow their 
 officers. Greville,* Jacol),t Nicholson, J 
 and Speke were all sacrificed to this."§ 
 
 A fourth eye-witness described the Eng- 
 lish army, on Tuesday, the loth, as still 
 "drowned in pleasure;'' and remarks — 
 "With all my love for the array, I must 
 confess, the conduct of professed Christians, 
 on this occasion, was one of the most 
 humiliating facts connected with the siege. 
 How the enemy must have gloried at that 
 moment in our shame 1"|| Had the tac- 
 tician, Tantia Topee, or that clever fiend, 
 Azim Oollah j the gallant octogenarian, 
 Kooer Sing, or the resolute Ranee of 
 Jhansi, been in Delhi, to take advantage of 
 the suicidal excesses of the army, the whole 
 field force might have been overwhelmed by 
 the sheer weight of numbers. As it was, 
 above a fourth part of the assailants had 
 fallen in obtaining a fourth part of the city. 
 The total casualties, European and Native, 
 of the 14.th, were l,145.1f The list in- 
 cluded the best known and most popular 
 men in camp. Nicholson and his younger 
 brother (a lieutenant in the 2nd Punjab 
 cavalry) lay side by side in the hospital ; 
 Major Reid had been struck down at the 
 head of the Goorkas ; Major Tombs, of 
 the horse artillery, had been liit, with 
 twenty-four out of the fifty men he was 
 leading at the time. Captain llosser, of the 
 Carabineers, the gallant officer who begged 
 to be allowed to pursue the fugitive muti- 
 neers from Meerut on the 11th of May, 
 was mortally wounded. The engineers, 
 European and Native, had behaved nobly, 
 and suffered heavily. Brigadier-general 
 Chamberlain, though not sufficiently re- 
 covered to take part in the storm, had, on 
 learning the repulse of the fourth column, 
 
 * Captain S. Greville, 1st Fusiliers. 
 + Major G. O. Jacob, 1st Fusiliers. 
 
 I Lieutenant E. Speke, 65lh N.I., attached to 
 Isl Fusiliers. 
 
 § Hodson's Ttcclve Years in India, p. 296. 
 
 II llotton's Siege of Delhi, p. 303. 
 
 •1 Tile casualties were — i^;/roy)Crt?!S killed, 8 officers 
 and 102 rank and file; wounded, 52 officers, 510 
 rank and file. Natives killed, 103; wounded, 310. 
 
 and the prostrate condition of its brave 
 leader, hastened to the Hindoo Rao ridge, 
 and performed essential service in restor- 
 ing the troops to order, and superintend- 
 ing the reoccupation of the position. 
 
 All things considered, it is not surprising 
 that General Wilson should have felt him- 
 self in a very precarious position on the 
 morning following the storming of the 
 breaches. A day-by-day chronicler of the 
 siege declares, that the general " talked of 
 withdrawing from the walls of Delhi to the 
 camp again, until he should be reinforced ;" 
 but was overruled by the advice of men 
 whose responsibility was less, and their 
 hopes stronger than his.** The chief ad- 
 viser referred to was undoubtedly Nichol- 
 son. The report circulated among the 
 officers was, that on hearing of the proposed 
 evacuation of Delhi, Nicholson declared he 
 hoped to have strength enough to blow out 
 the general's brains if he gave such an 
 order. Happily the contingency did not 
 arise; and General Wilson took an impor- 
 tant step for the restoration of discipline, 
 by the destruction of all the wine and 
 beer found in the merchants' godowus, not 
 leaving any (the chaplain to the force 
 asserts) even for the use of the sick and 
 wounded. ft 
 
 While the main body of the troops were 
 being reorganised, the artillery were slowly 
 but surely gaining ground ; though less 
 by the actual havoc they committed on the 
 admirably built structures in wliich the 
 enemy made a last stand (for it is said that 
 our mortar batteries were neither strong 
 enough, nor sufficiently numerous to do 
 effectually such extensive work),JJ than by 
 the terror they inspired. A shrewd ob- 
 server writes, on the 2Gth of September — 
 " I do not think that the enemy were 
 actually forced out by our shells. I was 
 surprised to find how little damage was 
 done by them. The walls of the palace 
 are almost intact ; so are by far the greater 
 portion of the buildings inside; and it is 
 quite clear that the chances were yet very 
 much in favour of such as chose quietly 
 to sit in them."§§ 
 
 Missing, 10 Europeans. Lieutenant Gambicr, who 
 escaped with Colonel Knyvett from Delhi, joined 
 the force a few days before the storm, and was 
 mortally wounded in the struggle. — Campaign of 
 tlie Delhi Army. p. 40. 
 
 •• llotton's Siege of Delhi, p. 303. 
 
 tt Ibid, p. 304. 
 
 %l Article on the capture of Delhi — Times. Decem- 
 ber 2nd, 1S57. "§§ Il/icl.
 
 REBELS EVACUATE DELHI— SEPT. 20tii, 1837. 
 
 445 
 
 The courage "to sit still" was the last 
 quality the sepoys were likely to evince 
 while a prospect of unmolested retreat re- 
 mained open to them. The suburb of 
 Kishen Gunj, so resolutely held on the 
 14th, was voluntarily abandoned the very 
 next day, seven guns being left in position. 
 The mutineers fled in disorderly crowds, 
 the cavalry being the first to disappear. 
 As the enemy retreated, tlie British ad- 
 vanced, but with a tardiness which was 
 officially attributed to " the usual license 
 which iiivarialjly accompanies an assault of 
 a large city."* 
 
 The Lahore gate was taken possession ot 
 on the 20th ; and, about the same time, the 
 camp of a large body of mutineers outside 
 the Delhi gate was also occupied. Cap- 
 tain Ilodson and some cavalry entered 
 the camp, and secured quantities of cloth- 
 ing, ammunition, and plunder of various 
 descriptions ; the late proprietors having 
 evidently fled with precipitation. A num- 
 ber of wouiuled and sick sepoys had been 
 left behind, and were all killed by Ilodsou's 
 Horse. t 
 
 It was now suspected that the king and 
 liis family had fli:d ; and Colonel John 
 Jones, with a body of troops (including 
 some of the 60th Rifles and Engineers), 
 marched against the palace, wiiich a])peared 
 deserted, save that occasionally a musket- 
 shot was fired from over the gateway at the 
 British troops stationed at the liead of the 
 Chandnee Chouk, or chief street. The 
 gate was blown in (Lieutenant Home being 
 the person to light the fusee), and the sole 
 defenders were found to be two or three 
 men, who are called, in the official report, 
 fanatics; but wiio were more probably de- 
 voted adherents of the king, wlio sacrificed 
 their lives in concealing his retreat. Tiiey 
 were immediately bayoneted, as were also 
 a number of wounded sepoys ;biind lying 
 on beds in the marble balcony of the Publio 
 Hall of Audience. An officer of engineers 
 (not Home), in a letter published in the 
 Times, writes — " I saw one man (sepoy) 
 have both hands cut off" with a tulwar; shot 
 in the body ; two bayonet wounds in the 
 
 * DeBpatch of Adjutant - general Chamberlain, 
 Sept. 18th, IS51. —Luiiilon Gazette. 
 
 t Norman'.s Campaiyti, of the Delhi Army, p. 45. 
 
 I Kotton's ^ie<je of Delhi, p. 31G. 
 
 § In a letter (lateU October '^Hril, Ilodson au- 
 thorises sonic person, whose name is left in blank, to 
 " contradict the story about the rupees;" which, he 
 says. '• was born in Delhi, and was partly the cause 
 of General Wilson's bad behaviour to me." The 
 
 chest ; and he still lived till a rifleman blew 
 his brains out. I did not feel the least dis- 
 gusted, or ashamed of directing, or seeing 
 such things done, when I reflected on what 
 those very wretches perhaps had done." 
 This work being accomplished. Colonel 
 Jones (Hodson's Falstaff') seated himself oti 
 the throne, and drank the liealth of Queen 
 Victoria, to which toast the troops responded 
 with rounds of cheers. J 
 
 Repeated attempts at negotiation were 
 made on behalf of the king, who separated 
 himself from the sepoys and adult princes ; 
 and, with Zecnat Mahal, her son (a lad of 
 fifteen), and a body of his immediate re- 
 tainers, betook himself to the mausoleum of 
 his ancestor, the good Emperor Humayun. 
 The walls of tliis strncttire are of red 
 stone, inlaid with marble; the large dome is 
 entirely of marble. In the interior is a 
 large circular apartment, in the middle of 
 which stands a wiiite marble sarcophagus, 
 containing the remains of Humayun ; and 
 around are smallei" chambers, occupied by 
 the bodies of his relatives and favourite 
 nobles. Like most structures raised by a 
 race of men "who built like giants, and 
 finished their work like jewellers," the 
 tomb was capable of being used for pur- 
 poses of defence. The mausoleum itself 
 rises from the centre of a platform 200 feet 
 square, supported on every side by arcades, 
 and ascended by four great flights of stone 
 steps. 
 
 The queen induced the king to take up 
 this isolated position as a preliminary step 
 to surrender, in reliance on a distinct pledge 
 of personal safety, which Hodson states he 
 sent, to withdraw the king from the rebels, 
 and from the stronghold (the Kootub !Minar) 
 which he had reached. The account of the 
 circumstances connected with the surrender 
 of the king, rests on the same authority ; and 
 that must be received with caution, inas- 
 much as it conveys grave implications on 
 General Wilson ; with whom the dashing 
 leader of irregulars had about this time a 
 mistinderstanding on a point aff"ecting his 
 honour. ij 
 
 The "backbiting," of which Captain 
 
 mouey in question, amounting to £GO.(i()0, was 
 brought to Hodson by his men, the niglit before 
 he was starting on some minor service wliich de- 
 tained him three or four days, and lie locked up 
 the money in the reginieiital chest for safety. On 
 his return, he found that "a story had been cir- 
 culated by the native who had disgorged the coin, 
 that I had kept the money for myself! Of course, 
 ' the very day 1 returned, it was, with heaps of oilier
 
 446 KING, QUEEN, AND PRINCE SURRENDER— SEPT. 21st, 1857. 
 
 Hodson complains as impeding the per- 
 formance of his duties, whether real or 
 imaginary, would inevitably bias his judg- 
 ment of the actions of the persons viewed 
 as enemies. Of these, General Wilson wiis 
 the head: the other names are left blank. 
 
 According to Ilodson's account, it would 
 seem that he, and he only, in all the carap, 
 saw the importance of securing the persons 
 of the king, queen, and prince. He dwells 
 on the incentive to combination the war- 
 like men of the north-west would have had 
 " in the person of the sacred and ' heaven- 
 born' monarch, dethroned, wandering, and 
 homeless."* This is quite true : the history 
 of India teems with evidence of the devo- 
 tion of Rajpoot chieftains to unfortunate 
 Mogul princes. Moreover, in consequence 
 of the intermarriage (not concubinage) of 
 the imperial house with those of the lead- 
 ing princes of Rajpootana, the best blood of 
 those ancient families flowed in the veins 
 of the "wandering and homeless" Moham- 
 med Bahadur Shah. " General Wilson," 
 Hodson asserts, " refused to send troops in 
 pursuit of him [the king] : and to avoid 
 greater calamities, I then, and not till 
 then, asked and obtained permission to 
 ofler him his wretched life, on the ground, 
 and solely on the ground, that there 
 ■was no other way of getting him into our 
 possession. The people were gathering 
 round him. His name would have been a 
 tocsin which would have raised the whole of 
 Hiiidoostan."f It was expedient " to secure 
 ourselves from further mischief, at the 
 simple cost of sparing the life of an old man 
 of ninety." General Wilson " at last gave 
 
 things, made over to the agents." — Twelve Years 
 in India, p. 340. The name of tlie native who " dis- 
 gorged" the coin is not giten ; neither are the cir- 
 cumstances told under which such an immense sum 
 was obtained from a single individual. But the 
 subject of " loot" was an unpleasant one to Hodson. 
 He complains of a report, at Simla, of his having 
 sent some "magnificent diamonds" to his wife; 
 whereas, the only ones he had obtained were set in a 
 brooch he had bought from a trooper, a month 
 before Delhi was taken (p. 336). One way or other, 
 he had, however, been making money with a 
 rapidity w hich deserved " the character given of 
 him, as the most wide-awake man in the army" 
 (p. 342). An anecdote recorded by his brother, in 
 support of this assertion, also corroborates his com- 
 parison of the "cajitain of free lances" to a border 
 chieftain j for it brings to mind the inseparable 
 accompaniments of border warfare, freebooting, or 
 cattle-lifting, which men who live by the sword, 
 gain wealth by, at the expense, direct or indirect, 
 of utter destitution to the wretched peasantry who 
 live by the plough or by their herds and flocks. 
 
 orders to Captain Hodson to promise the 
 king's life, and freedom from personal in- 
 dignity, and make what other terras lie 
 could :"t and thereupon Hodson rode to 
 the tomb with fifty sowars, accompanied by 
 the one-eyed Rujub Ali, and another Mo- 
 hammedan. These two entered the build- 
 ing ; and after two hours' discussion with 
 Zeenat Mahal (who insisted on the life of 
 her father being included in the govern- 
 ment guarantee ; which was done), the king, 
 queen, and prince came out of the tomb, 
 and surrendered themselves. The reader 
 may probably expect that the British officer 
 who received them (a man of sume note, and, 
 moreover, the son of one minister of the 
 gospel, and the brother of another, who 
 presents him to the public as a specimen 
 of a sixth-form Rugbeian, and " a Christian 
 soldier of our own day")§ would have 
 been moved with compassion for the mise- 
 rable family. The noble-hearted Arnold, or 
 sturdy Tom Brown and his schoolfellows, 
 would have had some reverence even for 
 a great name, and much pity for " the 
 very old and infirm" || man whose mis- 
 fortune it was to bear it : but Hodson 
 had no weakness of this kind. A very 
 difl'erent feeling acted as a drawback on 
 his satisfaction : he dared not enjoy the 
 triumph of slaying the last of the Mo- 
 guls, and was obliged to encounter " the 
 obloquy"^ of having spared his life. He 
 intimates, that his plighted word, as the re- 
 presentative of General Wilson, would not 
 have sufficed to insure the safety of the 
 royal prisoner. " The orders I received 
 were such, that I did not dare to act on 
 
 The story is as follows : — In an expedition under- 
 taken in October, Brigadier Showers had captured, 
 at various ])laces, much properly in coin, and great 
 quantities of cattle. On one occasion upwards of 
 1,700 head of cattle had been taken. The brigadier 
 was going to leave them behind, when Hodson 
 offered to buy them at two rupees a-head. He did 
 so j sent them under an escort of his ow n troopers 
 to Delhi, " where they arrived safely, and were of 
 course sold at a large profit." Shortly afterwards 
 he invested part of the proceeds in a house at Um- 
 ballah, which hap))ened to be then put up for a 
 forced sale at a great depreciation (p. 342). A 
 great many " cow-houses" in England, Ireland, and 
 Scotland, have sprung up since the old Indian 
 pagoda-tree has been forced into bearing by the 
 torrents of blood spilt in 1857; but the owners 
 are not Henry Lawrences, or Colin Campbells, ox 
 Outranis. 
 
 • llodson's Twelve years in India, p. 304. 
 
 t IIjkI.. p. .315. X Ibid., p. 305. 
 
 § See Preface to Twelve Years in India. 
 
 II Ibtd., p. 316. H Ibid., p. 324.
 
 PRINCES PURSUED BY HODSON AND MACDOWELL— SEPT., 1857. 447 
 
 the dictates of my own judgment, to the 
 extent of killing him, when he had given 
 himself up ; btit had he attempted either a 
 flight or a rescue, I should have shot him 
 down like a dog."* The king was utterly 
 exhausted : flight was out of the question. 
 On being brought out in his palkee, Hod- 
 son demanded his arms; and when the king 
 hesitated, he was told, "very emphatically, 
 that if any attempt were made at a rescue, 
 he would be shot down like a dog."t As 
 tlie conditions of surrender included no 
 mention of such a contingency, the latter 
 threat of Hodson's cannot be justified, 
 though it may be excused on the plea of 
 "expediency." It was a breach of faith; 
 and, indeed, Hodson's whole behaviour was 
 inconsistent with the pledge of protection 
 against personal indignity given to the king. 
 He might at least have left General Wilson 
 to receive the costly weapons which the 
 wearer had never used, and which were, in 
 fact, state ornaments — a part of the re- 
 galia. But Hudson (to quote his own 
 words) considered, that " I and ray party 
 [the fifty sowars] had a right to all we found 
 ou the king and princes :"J and desiring 
 " to wear a sword taken from the last of 
 the House of Timur, which had been girt 
 round the waists of the greatest of his pre- 
 decessors,"^ he made sure of the coveted 
 property, by standing by the palkees with a 
 drawn sword in his hand, until his mandate 
 to " stand and deliver" had been obeyed, 
 first by the king and then by the young 
 prince, Jumma Bukht. When this was 
 over, and other valuable pi'operty secured, 
 the captives were carried to Delhi, and 
 delivered up to the civil officer, Mr. 
 Saunders, wlio swore, "by Jove!" that 
 Hodson ought to be made commander-in- 
 chief forthwith. II General Wilson would 
 not sanction Hodson's wholesale appropria- 
 tion of the spoil, but requested him " to 
 select for himself, from the royal arms, 
 what he chose." He took two magnificent 
 swords — one bearing the name of Nadir 
 Shah ; the other with the seal of the Em- 
 peror Jehangeer engraved upon it : the lat- 
 ter he intended to present to the Queen. 
 
 The truthfulness which is the recognised 
 characteristic of our Royal Lady, would 
 
 * Twelve Years in India, p. 324. 
 t Ibid., p. 306. X Ibid., p. 327. 
 
 i Ibid., p. 329. II Ibid., p. 307. 
 
 % Ibid., p. 329. •• Ibid., p. 322. 
 
 tt Letter of engineer officer. — Times, November 
 19lh, 1857. U Twelve Years, ^;., p. 300. 
 
 have made such a present most distasteful, 
 had she known the circumstances connected 
 with its attainment. Hodson, however, ex- 
 pected to get the Victoria medal in re- 
 turn.^ Other honours he looked forward 
 to from government. In fact, he plainly 
 stated, that hi.s services " entitled him to 
 have anything"** the authorities could give 
 him. 
 
 Three other princes — namely, Mirza Mo- 
 ghul (the person said to have been tried by 
 a sepoy court-martial), and his sou Aboo 
 Bukker, a youth of about twenty years of 
 age,tt with a brother of Mirza Moghul's, 
 whose name is variously given — on hearing 
 of the king's surrender, followed his ex- 
 ample, by proceeding to the tomb of Huma- 
 yun, hoping to make terms for their lives. 
 On hearing this, Hodson " set to woirk to 
 get hold of th!!m."JJ He states — 
 
 " It was with the greatest difficulty that the 
 general was persuaded to allow them to be inter- 
 fered with, till even poor Nicholson roused himself 
 to urge that the pursuit should be attempted. The 
 general at length yielded a reluctant consent; add- 
 ing, ' But don't let me be bothered with them.' I 
 assured him that it was nothing but his own order 
 which ' bothered' him with the king, as I would 
 much rather have brought him dead than living." 
 
 Having obtained the necessary sanction, 
 Captain§§ Hodson and Lieutenant Mac- 
 dowell,|||| with 100 picked men, rode to thf; 
 tomb, and sent in liujub Ali and a cousin ot 
 the princes (" purchased for the purpose, by 
 the promise of his life"),^1[ to " say that the 
 princes must give themselves up uncon- 
 ditionally, or take the cc isequences."*** 
 There were about 3,000 Mussulman fol- 
 lowers iu the tomb, and as many more 
 in the adjacent suburb, all armed. Two 
 hours were passed in discussion before the 
 princes were induced to throw themselves 
 on the mercy of the British. This determi- 
 nation was taken in opposition to the 
 entreaties of the majority of their adhe- 
 rents, who rent the air with shouts, and 
 begged to be led against the two Europeans 
 and the party of Seik cavalry, whom they 
 detested with an hereditary and fanatical 
 bitterness. At length the three princes 
 came out, in a covered vehicle called a 
 " Ruth," drawn by bullocks; used by Indian 
 
 §§ He became captain by the death of Major 
 Jacob, mortally wounded on the 14th of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 nil Mortally wounded at Shumsabad, January Slst, 
 18o8. ^f I'welve Yean in India, p. 310. 
 
 ••• Ibid., p. 301.
 
 448 SURRENDER AND FATE OF THREE DELHI PRINCES— SEPT., 1857. 
 
 ladies in travelling. The princes evinced 
 no trepidation ; but, bowing to Hodson, re- 
 marked tliat, of course, their conduct would 
 be investigated in the proper court.* He 
 returned their salute, and directed the 
 driver to proceed to Delhi. The people 
 prepared to follow the princes, but were 
 prevented, and induced to surrender their 
 arms quietly. This measure occupied some 
 time: when it was accomplished, Hodson 
 followed his captives, and overtook them 
 about a mile from Delhi, or five miles 
 from the tomb. 
 
 A mob had collected round the vehicle, 
 and seemed disposed to turn on the guard. 
 Hodson galloped among them, saying that 
 the prisoners " were the butchers who had 
 murdered and brutally used women and 
 children." Tiie fierce shouts of the hun- 
 dred Seik troopers, armed to the teeth, 
 efl'ectuallj' seconded this denunciation, and 
 the crowd moved off slowly and sullenly. 
 Hodson then surrounded the ruth with his 
 troopers ; desired the princes to get out ; 
 seized their arms; made them " strip and 
 get into the cart : he then shot them with 
 liis own hand."t 
 
 After gathering up the weapons, orna- 
 ments, and garments of the princes, Hodson 
 rode into the city, and caused the dead 
 bodies to be exposed in front of the police- 
 court (until, " for sauitarj' reasons, they 
 were removed"), J on the very spot where the 
 head of the famous Seik Gooroo, Teg Baha- 
 door, had been placed, by order of Aurung- 
 zebe, 200 years before. The Seiks gloried 
 in the coincidence. Hodson gloried, also, 
 in having made " the las* of tks House of 
 Timur cat dirt."§ Certainly, in that dirt 
 the bitterness of dchch was mingled; 
 whereas that which the captor swallowed 
 ■with such zest, was gilt with what looked like 
 glory, and sweetened with loot. Months 
 afterwards, when the newspapers from 
 England and the continent reached India 
 — when one of his countrymen spoke 
 of the worse mark than a bar sinister, 
 which heralds rivet to the shield of tlie 
 knight who slays his prisoiier;|| and when 
 the French, speaking of him in the kn- 
 
 * Medley's Year's Campaigning, p. 141. 
 + Macdowell's account. Twelve Years, 4'e., p. 315. 
 t Ttcelie Years in India, p. 302. 
 § Ibid., p. 279. 
 
 II Star, November ^Tlh, 1857. 
 ^ See Colonel Seaton's Letter. Twelve Years 
 in India, p. 317. 
 
 •• Twelve Years in India, p. 316. 
 
 tt Captain Hodson's biographer gives no account 
 
 guage applicable to an executioner wLo 
 looked sharply after his perquisites, as- 
 serted that he stripped the princes "pour 
 ne pas gater le bulin"^, — he changed his 
 tone, and instead of confidently anticipating 
 all conceivable honours, declared himself 
 quite indifferent to clamour,** having made 
 up his mind at the time to be abused. The 
 same disappointment which befel him in 
 regard to the king's property, recurred in 
 the case of the princes. The general would 
 not allow him to appropriate the spoil :tt 
 and he states that he gave up (to the general 
 stock of prize property) " all except some of 
 the personal arms of the princes, which were 
 botli intrinsically and historically valuable. 
 It is not, however, correct that he surren- 
 dered all ; for his letters to his wife re- 
 peatedly advert to " the turquoise armlet 
 and signet-rings of the rascally princes 
 whom I shot;" which he sent to her by the 
 hands of Colonel Seaton, in September.Jf 
 
 There can be no doubt that, by prevent- 
 ing the king and queen from remaining at 
 large, Hodson did good service ; but he 
 greatly exaggerated his own merit, by 
 passing over the fact, that the king and 
 queen were anxious to place themselves 
 under British protection, on a bare pledge 
 of security for life, and exemption from 
 personal indignity. The three princes also 
 rejected opportunities of escape, and volun- 
 tarily surrendered themselves, in the ex- 
 pectation (which Hodson at least, by a 
 bow, encouraged them in entertaining) that 
 their conduct would be fully and faiily in- 
 vestigated. What direct or indirect as- 
 surances were made to them by their cousin 
 and the Moolvee, is not told ; but it is not 
 commonly reasonable to suppose that, except 
 on some clear understanding, they would 
 have been so infatuated as to separate 
 willingly from 6,000 armed and zealous ad- 
 herents, and give themselves up to two 
 Englishmen, backed only by a hundred of 
 their notorious enemies. General Wilson, 
 in his despatches, mentions the surrender of 
 certain members of the royal family, and the 
 escape of others, with the utmost brevity. 
 
 It appears that a large number of royal 
 
 of the booty, but it must have been considerable. 
 The correspondence of the period mentions ele- 
 phants, horses, camels, carriages filled with royal 
 pioperty, and "lots of stores," as taken possession 
 of by Hodson and his "Horse." 
 
 J J 2'welve Years in India, p. 323. Colonel Seaton 
 was at first appointed prize-agent, but resigned the 
 oliice in consequence of differences with General 
 Wilson.
 
 MR. MONTGOMERY'S APPROVAL OF CAPTAIN HODSON. 
 
 449 
 
 prisoners were captured by, or surrendered 
 to, a column under Brigadier Showers, at 
 Humayun's tomb, on the 28th of Septem- 
 ber. Hodsou remarks, that seven sons and 
 grandsons of the king were made over to the 
 "young civilian [query, Metcslfe], sent to 
 carry on political duties, and take charge of 
 the different members and hangers-on of the 
 royal family." They all escaped in less than 
 two hours. Some were retaken, brought to 
 Delhi, summarily tried, hung, and flun^ 
 into the Jumna ; others made good their 
 flight, including Prince Feroze Shah, who 
 has since proved so troublesome an enemy. 
 What Sir John Lawrence thought of the 
 management of affairs did not appear ; 
 but he was spoken of as " no friendly judge" 
 of Captain Hodson, who, however, received 
 the following note from Mr. Montgomery ; 
 which resembles, in its general tone, that 
 in which the same authority (then chief 
 commissioner in Oude) congratulated Mr. 
 Cooper on the proceedings connected with 
 the Ujnalla Bastion and Well : — 
 
 " My dear Hodson, 
 
 " All honour to you (and to your ' Horse') 
 for catching the king and slaying his sons. I hope 
 you will bag many more ! — In haste, ever yoiirs, 
 
 " R. Montgomery." 
 
 The pecnliar terras used in the Pun- 
 jab, grated harshly on English ears. Mr. 
 Russell, who rarely quoted any words with- 
 out providing for their correct interpreta- 
 tion by the uninitiated, explains, that to 
 " make a good bag," meant to kill a great 
 many natives ; and says, that " potting a 
 Pandy," or slaying a mutineer, " described 
 one of the purest enjoyments of which Chris- 
 tians are or ought to be capable."* In this 
 enjoyment the Delhi force were stinted, not 
 by any fault on the part of their com- 
 mander, but by the perversity of the " Pau- 
 dies," who would not stop to be killed, 
 but fled, it was supposed, to Muttra, 
 intending to cross the Juran«i at that point. 
 On this head, the general's information 
 
 • Times, November 15th, 1858. 
 
 t See a Letter in the Tiynes (Xov. 27th, 1857), 
 announced as the production of "an officer in the 
 61st, who commanded the [storming] party which 
 took the palace, and afterwards had the custody of 
 the old king ;" with orders " to shoot him" rather 
 than suffer him to be carried off. This witness 
 Bays — " We daily find hidden in the houses, 
 sepoys who are unable to escape, from sickness or 
 wounds : these are all put to death on the spot. On 
 •,he 24th, I caught a fine tall sowar, or trooper, of 
 Bime light cavalry regiment; dragged him out into 
 the street, and shot him dead. * • * We have 
 plundered all the shops, and all the valuables are 
 VOL. II. 3 M 
 
 was, he admitted, " very defective ;" but 
 their destination (if they liad yet recovered 
 from their panic sufficiently to have decided 
 the point) was the less important, because 
 the state of the conquering force forbade any 
 idea of immediate pursuit. The sepoys left 
 behind were chiefly wounded or panic- 
 stricken wretches, hiding al)out in holes and 
 cornersjt who, when found, entreated the 
 " Sahib-logue" to shoot them at once, and 
 not cut them up with cold steel. J Still Delhi 
 was rich in materials for "making a good 
 bag." To carry on Mr. Montgomery's simile, 
 there were plenty of battues, only not of the 
 favourite description of game — not phea- 
 sants, but barn-door fowls, which, however, 
 had the advantage of having cost the sports- 
 men nothing in rearing, and were better 
 worth plucking. § Women and children were 
 to be spared. A gentleman, whose letters, 
 published in the Bombay Telegraph, after- 
 wards went the round of the Indian and Eng- 
 lish papers — remarks, that " the general's 
 hookum regarding the women and children, 
 was a mistake," as they were " not human 
 beings, but fiends, or, at best, wild beasts, 
 deserving only the death of dogs." He 
 then describes the state of affairs on the 
 21st of September : — 
 
 " The city is completely deserted by all the muti- 
 neers ; and, in fact, there are few natives of any 
 sort to be found, excepting those of our army. All 
 the city people found within the walls when our 
 troops entered were bayoneted on the spot; and the 
 number was considerable, as you may suppose, 
 when I tell you that in some houses forty and fifty 
 persons were hiding. These were not mutineers, 
 but residents of the city, who trusted to our well- 
 known mild rule for pardon. I am glad to say they 
 were disappointed." 
 
 Another writer remarks — " For two days 
 the city was given up to the soldiery; and 
 who shall tell in how many obscure corners 
 the injured husband, son, or brother, took 
 his blood for blood !"|| The allusion here 
 is probably intended to apply solely to 
 injured Europeans; but those who hold 
 
 being collected and sold for prize. Our vengeance 
 cannot be appeased." 
 
 % Daily News, November 16th, 1857. 
 
 § The plunder appropriated, in addition to that 
 made over to the prize-agent, must have been very 
 large. One witness remarks — " It is supposed the 
 kities will go to England with upwards of £1,000 
 each, though General Wilson has issued an order 
 that the prizes shall be all put together and divided. 
 Most of our men [6lh Carabineers] are worth 
 upwards of a hundred rupees." — Times, November 
 21st, 1857. 
 
 II Mutiny of Bengal Army; by One who DM 
 served under Sir Charles Napier ; p. 214,,
 
 450 
 
 LIFE AND MONEY SPENT IN BESIEGING DELHI. 
 
 that " every medal has two sides/' and 
 wish to see both, will remember liow un- 
 UCcountably heavy our loss was on the first 
 day of the assault, and how greatly it 
 exceeded the first calculations officially 
 rendered ; the excess being from the num- 
 ber of Europeans slain in houses and sheds, 
 which they entered in direct disobedience 
 to the general's significant prohibition 
 against " straggling.'^ The number of men 
 of the 61st regiment found "in holes and 
 corners," is said to have been appalling.* 
 
 The total European loss in killed, wounded, and 
 missing, from May 30th to September 20th, is thus 
 officially stated by Major Norman : — 
 
 Europeans. Natives. Total. 
 
 Killed 572 440 1,012 
 
 Wounded .... 1,566 1,229 2,795 
 
 Missing 13 17 30 
 
 Total .... 2,151 1,686 3,837 
 
 Of the total number, 2,163 were killed, wounded, 
 and missing, prior to the 8th of September; 327 be- 
 tween that date and the morning of the storm ; 1,170 
 on the 14th ; and 177 from that day to the 20th.t 
 
 Of the number of men who died from 
 disease, or retired on sick leave, uo ac- 
 count was given at the time, nor was 
 any detail published of the expenses in- 
 curred before Delhi. The means of meet- 
 ing them were found by Sir John Law- 
 rence, " who supplied the military chest of 
 the army before Delhi with ^200,000 ; and 
 contrived to borrow, from native chiefs and 
 capitalists, a sum of j64J 0,000 more." J 
 
 It is not likely that the number of natives, 
 whether sepoys or city people, who were 
 slaughtered at Delhi, will ever be even 
 approximately estimated. The Indians are 
 not good accountants, and will probably be 
 very inaccurate in this point of their record. 
 But the capture of tlie city will, in all pro- 
 bability, find its historian, as the previous 
 ones have done; and then some light will 
 be thrown on the sufferings of the 69,738 
 men, and the 68,239 women, who inhabited 
 Delhi before the siege. Meanwhile, we may 
 rest assured, that " no such scene has been 
 witnessed in the city of Shah Jehan since 
 
 * Star, November 21st, 1857. 
 
 + Campaign of the Delhi Army, pp. 62, 53. 
 
 \ Editorial article on services of Sir J. Lawrence. 
 -Times, April 26th, 1857. 
 
 § Bombay correspondent. — Tetnes, November 16th, 
 1857. The writer is not borne out by facta in 
 the contrast he draws between the " righteous 
 vengeance of the British general" and " the san- 
 guinary caprice of the Persian tyrant." Nadir 
 Shah, under circumstances of extraordinary provo- 
 cation, withdrew the protection he at first extended 
 
 the day that Nadir Shah, seated in the 
 little mosque in the Chandnee Chouk, 
 directed and superintended the massacre 
 of its inhabitants. "•§ 
 
 If an answer could be obtained to the 
 question of how many women and children 
 died of sheer destitution in consequence of 
 the siege, or escaped starvation or dis- 
 honour by jumping into wells, rivers, or 
 some other mode of suicide — where is the 
 Englishman who would make the inquiry? 
 That the European soldiers, maddened as 
 they were with the thirst for vengeance, 
 and utterly insubordinate through drunk- 
 enness, really refrained from molesting 
 the women, is what many may hope;, but 
 few who have had any experience of mili- 
 tary life, in the barrack or the camp, will 
 credit. But granting that the Europeans 
 separated the worship of Moloch from 
 that of Chemos ; is it conceivable that 
 the Seiks, Goorkas, and Afghans con- 
 curred in "exhibiting equal self-control in 
 this single respect? If so, the taking of 
 Delhi has a distinct characteristic; for never 
 before, in the annals of war, did the in- 
 quirer fail to find " lust hard by hate." The 
 truth is, that the history of the capture of 
 Delhi has found no chronicler except as re- 
 gards the exclusively military proceedings, 
 which Colonel Baird Smith and Captain 
 Norman have given with a fulness and pre- 
 cision not often found in official documents. 
 It is not very likely that a completely satis- 
 factory narrative will be given. Those 
 who know the facts, must needs be, for the 
 most part, men whose position compels 
 them to write in the tomb-stone style, and 
 describe things "not as they were, but as 
 they should have been ;" or else to be alto- 
 gether silent. The " Letters" of the com- 
 missioner, Mr. Greathed, afford information 
 of unquestionable authenticity; but, unfor- 
 tunately, stop short at the crisis. || 
 
 Writing on one occasion, he remarks, 
 with truth, that the gradual occupation of 
 the town would contribute much more to its 
 effectual ruin than if it had been taken 
 
 to the citizens ; but renewed it, and stopped the 
 slaughter, at the intercession of the Emperor Mo- 
 hammed. — (See vol. i. of this work, p. 165). 
 
 II Mr. Rotton's Narrative of the Siege of Delhi is 
 a useful book ; and would have been still more so, 
 had the writer habitually stated his authority for 
 facts which he could only know by report. The 
 test of " Who told you ?" — so frequently applied 
 in conversation — ought never to be forgotten by 
 those who take upon themselves the labours of an 
 annalist.
 
 COMMISSIONER GREA.THED DIES OF CHOLERA— SEPT. 19th, 1857. 451 
 
 possession of at one blow. The whole 
 population were being driven out, and had 
 little chance of seeing their property again. 
 He describes himself and his elder brother, 
 Colonel Edward Greathed, in a European 
 shop at the Cabool gate, which the troops 
 were diligently looting. The commissioner 
 took a wine-glass, to replace one which he 
 had broken shortly before (belonging to an 
 officer), and saw some chandeliers, to which 
 he thought he had some right; but being 
 " a poor plunderer," he let them alone. 
 The instincts of a gentleman were too strong 
 in the Delhi commissioner to permit him to 
 share the general eagerness for " loot :" 
 this, at least, is the construction most 
 readers will put upon the above sentence, 
 which occurs in a confidential letter to his 
 wife. Two days later, he writes — 
 
 "If the king wishes to have the lives of his 
 family and his own spared, he had better surrender 
 tile palace, and I should be glad to save that slaughter. 
 Great numbers of women have thrown themselves 
 on our mercy, and have been safely passed on. 
 One meets mournful processions of these unfortu- 
 nates, many of them evidently quite unaccustomed 
 to walk, with children, and sometimes old men."* 
 
 The very day after these kindly and com- 
 passionate words were written, the hand 
 that penned them lay cold in death. The 
 whole army was appalled at hearing that 
 the strongest and healthiest man in camp 
 had been struck down by cholera. He was 
 in the prime of life (just forty) ; active in 
 his habits, moderate in his opinions, and 
 on good terms with all parties. Had he 
 lived, the treatment of the royal family 
 would probably have been less distressing 
 to them, and more honourable to us; and 
 as he had no personal cause for bitter feel- 
 ing against the people of Delhi, the powers 
 of life and death might have been more 
 safely deposited in. his hands than in those 
 of Sir T. Metcalfe, the young subordinate 
 on whom they devolved, and who, though 
 popular with the Europeans as a dashing 
 free-lance, was the very last person who 
 ought to have been thus trusted. The more 
 80, since his inexperience, or want of judg- 
 ment, had been manifested before the 
 mutiny. t Under the circumstances, it is 
 not surprising that a high-spirited young 
 mau who had been three days hiding about 
 
 • Greathed's Letters, p. 285. 
 t See Introductory Chapter, p. 117. 
 J Speech of Captain Eastwick, deputy-chairman 
 of the East India Companv ; August 25th, 1858. 
 % Times, February 6th, 1858. 
 
 the city, and had endured the misery and 
 humiliation of a perilous and wearisome 
 esciipe, should, on re-entering Delhi, em- 
 powered to exact " vengeance" for public 
 wrongs, have acted under the evident in- 
 centive of personal and private grievances. 
 
 It was right to resort to Sir T. Metcalfe 
 as a witness, but not also as a judge. It is 
 contrary to English ideas of justice, that a 
 man should be suffered to carry out iiis 
 notions of retribution by hanging as many 
 victims as he pleases on the beams and 
 angles of his ruined mansion. 
 
 The fierce anger entertained by the Euro- 
 peans in general against the natives, was 
 warrant for severity ; and the terrible office 
 to be performed at Delhi, ought never to 
 have been entrusted to an official of whom 
 it could even be reported as possible, that 
 he had said, that whenever he grew weary 
 of his task, he went to look at his house 
 to be invigorated. His energy never ap- 
 peared to flag ; and the natives soon learned 
 to fear his name almost as much as their 
 fathers had loved that of his uncle, the 
 good and great Sir Charles Metcalfe. 
 
 Sir John Lawrence, notwithstanding the 
 Draconian severity of his code, is stated, on 
 good authority, to have been from the first 
 "the opponent of blind, indiscriminate 
 vengeance, and the strong advocate of an 
 amnesty, to include all except the mur- 
 derers in cold blood of our countrymen and 
 countrywomen." And when, "after the 
 capture of Delhi, he was placed in charge 
 of the districts of Delhi and Meerut, liis 
 first act was to put a stop to civilians 
 hanging from their own will and pleasure, 
 and estai)lish a judicial commission to try 
 all offenders. "J 
 
 The fact, however, remains. Lord Ellen- 
 borough, the ex-governor-general of India, 
 who has never been accused of an exag- 
 gerated horror of bloodshedding, and who 
 deems our position in India analogous to 
 that of the Normans in Saxon England — 
 declared in parliament, on the 16th of 
 February, 1858, "that, with the exception 
 of a few days, since the capture of Delhi, 
 there have been five or six executions every 
 day. It is quite impossible to hope to re- 
 establish civil government in that country, 
 if the ordinary proceeding of law is to be 
 the infliction of death."§ 
 
 But so it was; and day after day, week 
 after week, month after month, the hanging 
 went on ; and the two large gallows in the 
 middle of the Chandnee Chouk (the Regent-
 
 452 
 
 SIR T. METCALFE'S PROCEEDINGS IN DELHI. 
 
 street, or rather Boulevards, of Delhi), with 
 their ghastly burdens, contrasted strangely 
 with the life and gaiety around them ; 
 with the English soldiers in their scarlet 
 uniform or khakee undress ; the Seik and 
 Afghan irregular cavalry, on their prancing, 
 well-groomed, gaily-saddled horses — the 
 riders wearing small red turbans spangled 
 with gold, their dark-blue tunics turned up 
 with red; red cummerbunds, light-yellow 
 trowsers, large top-boots,* and arms sharp 
 for use, bright for ornament ; Goorkas 
 " dressed up to the ugliness of demons," 
 in black worsted head-gear (described as a 
 frightful compromise between a Glengarry 
 cap and a turban)f and woollen coats ;J 
 English ladies and children on elephants, 
 and Englishmen on camels, horses, and 
 ponies. A visitor — one of the many 
 who poured into Delhi after the cap- 
 ture — notices as a characteristic feature 
 of the scene, a prize-agent in a very 
 pretty carriage, with servants in hand- 
 some livery, and his children after them, 
 mounted on an elephant. § The same 
 witness adds — " I saw Sir Theophilns Met- 
 calfe the other day ; he is held in great 
 dread here by the natives, and is every day 
 trying and hanging all he can catch." 
 
 Mrs. Coopland, the widow of the clergy- 
 man killed at Gwalior in June, relates the 
 following anecdote in illustration of " this 
 wholesome dread." She was the guest of 
 the Mrs. Garstin referred to, and tlierefore 
 had means of knowing the fact. 
 
 " One day a native jeweller came to offer his 
 wares for sale to Mrg. Oarstin, who, thinking he 
 charjjed too much, said, ' I will send you to Met- 
 calfe Sahib;' on which the man bolted in such a 
 hurry that he left his treasures behind, and never 
 again showed his face. 
 
 The account given by this lively lady, of 
 what she saw and did in Delhi, throws light 
 
 *. Mrs. Coopland's Escape from Gwalior, p. 65. 
 
 + Kussell. 
 
 i Letter from Delhi ofiRcer. — Times, October 1st, 
 1857. 
 
 § Letter from Delhi. — Times, January, 1858. 
 
 II Mrs. Coopland's Escape from Gicalior, p. 273. 
 
 *I A day of humiliation had been observed in India 
 (as also in England) on account of the mutiny. 
 Tlie prayer framed by Bishop M'ilson was character- 
 ised by humility ; so also were those he wrote for the 
 use of faniiiies j in which he deprecated the Divine 
 wrath — acknowledging that it was due both for the 
 sins of the present masters of India, and also of those 
 who had gone before them in the land. He died at 
 Calcutta, February 2nd, 1858; and although an octo- 
 genarian, remained to the last as active as if he had 
 numbered but fifty years. In tone he is described 
 
 on several points which the authorities would 
 have preferred leaving in darkness. The 
 most popular amusements in the city were 
 looting, and going to look at the old king 
 and his family — much as country people in 
 England used to go to the Tower of London, 
 fifty years .ago, to look at the lions. But the 
 Delhi lion was extremely old ; had neither 
 teeth nor claws; was ill fed, and kept in 
 a dirty cage — circumstances not very hon- 
 ourable to the humanity of his keepers. 
 
 The leading Europeans occupied the dif- 
 ferent portions of the palace, and their 
 wives soon flocked to Delhi to join them. 
 The royal apartments, the royal wardrobe, 
 even to articles of daily use, were appro- 
 priated by the conquerors; while the king, 
 queen, and prince were thrust into the 
 upper part of a half-ruined gateway, with 
 a British sentinel at the door, prepared to 
 defeat any attempt at rescue which this 
 treatment might provoke, by shooting the 
 aged captive. 
 
 The reverend chronicler of the siege 
 gives no account of the treatment of the 
 royal family; but he calls upon his readers 
 to admire " the piety of General Wilson, 
 in suggesting that our successes should be 
 celebrated on Sunday, September 27th, 
 in a puhlic manner, by a general thanks- 
 giving." Mr. Rotton and his colleague, 
 having no " episcopal functions," made 
 some slight alterations in the morning 
 service, and indited certain additions, as 
 unlike those which the venerable Bishop of 
 Calcutta^ would have framed, as could well 
 be conceived ; in the course of winch, 
 certain (alleged) special providences were 
 enumerated with a presumption which 
 must have been painful to many present, 
 notwithstanding that, in every other re- 
 spect, " the rubrics and calendars were re- 
 ligiously observed."** Had the sun stood 
 
 as having been decidedly evangelical. Though 
 deeply respected, he is said not to have been 
 popular; but popularity was little courted by a man 
 w ho " stood up in the pulpit in Burmah, and roundly 
 taxed the Europeans with their concubinage ; and 
 never hesitated one moment to reprehend any one, 
 whatever his official or social rank."^See Letter of 
 Calcutta correspondent: 2Vwes, February 15tli, 1858. 
 In pecuniary matters he was liberal to the la.st degree. 
 The " blameless purity" of his life, his great learning 
 and fearless character, probably gave rise to the 
 complaint, that his keen intellect was "sometimes a 
 little sardonic," and drew criticism on minor eccen- 
 tricities which would else have passed unnoticed. 
 Generous in death as in life, he left his splendid 
 library, by will, to the Calcutta public. 
 •• Kotton's Sicffe of Delhi, p. 325.
 
 MRS. HODSON'S VISIT TO THE ROYAL FAMILY. 
 
 453 
 
 still in its course for General Wilson as for 
 .Tosliua, a more specific acknowledgment 
 could hardly have been offered, than that 
 in which a body of protestants (professedly 
 fallible, whether clergy or laity) presumed 
 to recognise, in the unusually healthy 
 season, a miraculous interposition on their 
 behalf, and to thank the Most High "for 
 the regulation of that season in such extra- 
 ordinary manner as to favour Thy servants 
 composing the army, which stood for so 
 many months before Delhi ;" also " for 
 every triumph upon every occasion, and in 
 every engagement, against the mutineers 
 since we took the field."* 
 
 Apart from these extraordinary interpola- 
 tions, there must have been something de- 
 cidedly novel and exciting, something to 
 talk about afterwards, in hearing the Church 
 of England service performed on a Sunday 
 morning in the king's private council-cham- 
 ber — the far-famed " Dewani Khas" — and 
 looking round on the numerous inscrip- 
 tions, inlaid in jewels, including the Persian 
 couplet, translated and adopted by Moore — 
 
 " And, oh ! if there be an Elysium on earth. 
 It is this, it is this." 
 
 The train of thought likely to be excited 
 might border upon profanity ; but then 
 what a lesson on the precarious tenure of 
 human greatness might not the congrega- 
 tion receive from their afternoon's drive 
 through the desolate streets, especially if 
 they improved the occasion by looking in 
 upon the late master of the Dewani Khas. 
 
 Several visitors have placed their obser- 
 vations on record : those of Mrs. Hodson 
 (the captain's wife) were published in the 
 Times and other papers. f She describes 
 herself as being accompanied by Mr. Saun- 
 ders (the civil commissioner) and his lady; 
 and as yiassing through a small low door, 
 guarded by a British sentry, into a room 
 divided in two by a grass matting; in one 
 half of which a woman was "cooking some 
 atrocious compound ; in the other, on a 
 native bedstead (that is, a frame of bamboo 
 on four legs, with grass ropes strung across 
 it)," lay the King of Delhi. The writer 
 proceeds to state — 
 
 "No other article of furniture whatever was in 
 the room. I am almost ashamed to say that a feel- 
 ing of pity mingled with my disgust, at .seeing a 
 man, recently lord of an imperial city almost un- 
 
 • Ration's Siege of Delhi, p. 325. 
 
 f Tliis account, sent to the 'rimes hy the Rev. S, 
 H. Hodson, is not given in the memoir of his 
 brother, which he subsequently published. The 
 
 paralleled for riches and magnificence, confined in 
 a low, close, dirty room, which the lowest slave in 
 his household would scarcely have occupied, in the 
 very palace where he had reigned su|)reme, with 
 power of life and death, untrammelled by any law, 
 within the precincts of a royal residence as large as 
 a considerable-sized town ; streets, galleries, towers, 
 mosques, forts, and gardens ; a private and a public 
 hall of justice, and innumerable courts, passages, 
 and staircases." 
 
 The name of his visitor being announced, 
 "the old man raised his head, looked at 
 her, and muttered something she could not 
 understand; which, perhaps, was as well; 
 since the unheard sentence was more likely 
 to have been a curse than a blessing. Mrs. 
 Hodson might surely have gratified her 
 curiosity without intruding herself on the 
 king as the wife of the man who had slain 
 his unarmed sons, and threatened to shoot 
 him like a dog in the eveutof an attempted 
 rescue. After leaving him, the party en- 
 tered "a smaller, darker, dirtier room than 
 the first," inhabited by some eight or ten 
 women, who crowded round a common 
 charpo}^ on which sat Zeenat Mahal. It 
 seems probable that the fallen queen, who 
 was known to be an able and courageous 
 woman, thought her visitor a far more 
 important personage than she really was, 
 and suppressed her feelings for the sake of 
 her only child ; but she held a high tone 
 nevertheless, and said, that if the life of the 
 king and of her son had not been promised 
 by the government, the king was preparing 
 a great army which would have annihilated 
 the British. Then she motioned to Mrs. 
 Hodson to sit down upon her bed (there 
 being no other resting-place). But this 
 courtesy, Mrs. Hodson states, she "de- 
 clined, as it looked so dirty ;" and she adds — 
 "Mr. Saunders was much amused at my 
 refusal, and told me it would have been 
 more than my life was worth, six months 
 before, to have done so." 
 
 Probably, had the high-born wife of the 
 governor-general, or Lady Outram (the 
 noble mate of the Bayard of India), or the 
 true, tender-hearted partner of the toils 
 and perils of Brigadier Inglis at Lucknow, 
 or hundreds of other Englishwomen, been 
 asked by an imprisoned lady to sit beside 
 her on her wretched pallet, they would in- 
 stantly have complied; and, moreover, would 
 have taken care to provide (if need were, 
 out of their private purse) a clean coverlet 
 
 reason is evident ; the object of the biographer being, 
 to vindicate his brother's conduct towards the king 
 and princes, and to refrain from giving details 
 likely to excite sympathy for their sufferings.
 
 454 GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S ORDERS REGARDING THE KING. 
 
 for the future. If Zeenat Malial felt the 
 mortificiitioii attributed to her, she had not 
 long to wait before " the whirligig of time 
 brought in its revenges." Widowhood is an 
 overwhelming calamity in Oriental life; 
 and the fallen queen must have started 
 when she learnt (as she was sure to do, cir- 
 cumstantially, by native report) that Captain 
 Hodson, while searching about for sepoys, 
 or, in his own words, trying to "make a 
 good bag,"* had been shot in a dark room 
 full of fugitives, and had died in conse- 
 quence, after many hours of intense agony. f 
 When he prophesied on the 12th of March, 
 1858, regarding the King of Delhi, that 
 ♦'the old rascal will not trouble us long," 
 he little thought that his own course was 
 within a month of its termination ; while 
 the king had still years of life to endure. 
 
 To return to Delhi. Zeenat Mahal was 
 not fortunate in the sight-seers who came 
 to gaze on her misery ; and being deprived 
 of any other protection, she used her 
 woman's weapon — the tongue — to rid her- 
 self of at least one of them. This one was 
 Mrs. Coopland ; who, after going about 
 Delhi looking for loot, and having had very 
 little success, pronounced it disgraceful to 
 England that the old king had not been 
 shot, and the city razed to the ground. 
 Her interview with the king and prince 
 (who, she says, hioked about fourteen years 
 of age), and with the queen (who was 
 "dressed in a black cotton gown"), is told 
 with unusual brevity; but it appears that the 
 latter glanced at the mourning garb of her 
 visitor, and asked what had become of her 
 "sahib" (husbaTid) in so contemptuous a 
 manner, that Mrs. Coopland bade her be 
 silent, and abruptly quitted the room, leav- 
 ing Zeenat Mahal mistress of the field.* 
 
 The following extract from a letter, 
 dated " Delhi Palace, November 16th," sup- 
 plies some deficiencies in the descriptions of 
 Mrs. Hodson and Mrs. Coopland ; and is 
 written by a less prejudiced observer : — 
 
 " Desolate Delhi ! It has only as yet a handful of 
 inhabitants in its great street, the Cliandnee Chouk, 
 ■who are all Hindoos, I believe. Many miserable 
 ■wretches prowl through the camps outside the city, 
 begging for admission at the various gates, but 
 none are admitted whose respectability cannot be 
 vouched for. • • • We have seen the captive 
 king and royal family ; they are in ruinous little 
 rooms in one of the gates of the palace. The old 
 king looks very frail, and has a blank, fixed eye, as 
 of one on whom life is fast closing. He certainly 
 
 • Hodson's Twelve Years in India, p. 330. 
 
 t Ihid., p. 370. 
 
 j Mrs. Coopland's Escape from Gwalior, p. 277. 
 
 is too old to be responsible for anything that has 
 been done. • • • Xhe youngest son we saw, 
 looking like fifteen (they say eighteen); bold and 
 coarse to look at. He is the oidy cliild of tlie queen. 
 With her some of our ladies have had a long inter- 
 view : they found her seated on a common charpny 
 (bedstead), dressed in white cotton clothes, with few 
 and very trifling ornaments ; all her grand things 
 having been taken from her. She is described as 
 short and stout, above thirty years of age, with a 
 round, animated face, not at all pretty, but having 
 very pretty little plump hands; she was cutting 
 betel-nut to eat with her pawn. She professes the 
 utmost horror of the 3rd cavalry, to whom she traces 
 all her misfortunes. She says the king was helpless 
 to control them; and that when their arrival had 
 placed Delhi in rebellion against us, they were as 
 ready to rob her as anyone else. She sa)s the mu- 
 tineers did roh the palace, and that all her jewels 
 were only saved hy being buried. Some of the 
 women told them fthe English ladies] they had had 
 English women and children in the palace after the 
 massacre, in hope of preserving them, but that the 
 mutineers demanded them, and.could not he resisted. 
 Heaven knows if the royal family be clean in heart 
 and hand or not. • • • If they are, as they say, 
 innocent of any share in the rel)ellion, they are 
 victims indeed. I trust all examinations may be 
 judiciously and fairly conducted."§ 
 
 There is no reason to suppose that the 
 Calcutta government were aware of the 
 petty degradations to which the Dellii 
 family were subjected. On the contrary, 
 the orders of the governor-general explicitly 
 directed an opposite course of procedure. 
 Provided no promise of life had been given 
 to the king, he was to be brought to trial; 
 and if found guilty, the sentence was to be 
 carried out witiiout reference to Calcutta. 
 But in the event of his life having been 
 guaranteed, one or two officers were to 
 be appointed specially to take charge of 
 him; and he was "to be exposed to no 
 indignity or needless hardship." || 
 
 III fact, the impression entertained at 
 Calcutta and in England was, that the royal 
 family were treated with undue considera- 
 tion ; and this view of the case was fostered 
 by certain journals. The Friend of India 
 called " the attention of the government 
 of India to the state of things existing in 
 the city of Delhi ;" and declared that the 
 prince, Jumma Bukht, was in the habit 
 of riding through the city ''on an elephant, 
 with two British officers behind him, to do 
 him honour." With an evident misgiving 
 as to the credit likely to attach to an asser- 
 tion issuing from sucli a prejudiced autho- 
 rity, tlie editor adds — " The statement 
 appears so incredible, that it may be set 
 
 § Times, December, 1858. 
 
 II Secretary of government to General WiUoni 
 Calcutta, October 10th, 1857.
 
 MR. LAYARD'S VISIT TO INDIA. 
 
 455 
 
 aside as a mere newspaper report ; but we 
 entreat the government to believe that it is 
 one which we would not pul)lish without 
 such information as produces absolute cer- 
 tainty." 
 
 The Lahore Chronicle went a little far- 
 ther: described the king as surrounded 
 with the insignia of royalty ; attended upon 
 by a large retinue; and stated, that he 
 coolly insulted the British officers who 
 visited him ; — all of which would probably 
 have passed unnoticed, had not the editor 
 
 thought fit to point out Mr. O and 
 
 Colonel H^ — as delinquents, on whose 
 heads to pour forth the " universal feeling 
 of indignation and disgust" which had been 
 "created in all Christian classes in the 
 country." 
 
 Mr. Ommaney was one of the civil 
 functionaries in Delhi. Colonel Hogge, 
 the other gentleman denounced by the 
 initial letter of his name, was a remarkably 
 skilful and popular officer, whose services 
 during the siege and storm, as director of 
 the artillery depot, had been warmly com- 
 mended in official despatches and private 
 correspondence.* He at once addressed the 
 editor of tlie Lahore Chronicle, and, in few 
 and plain words, explained the circumstances 
 which had led to the charge of " lackeying 
 the king's son about the streets of Delhi." 
 Colonel Hogge stated that he visited the 
 king with the commissioner and several 
 officers of rank; that Jumma Bukht, appa- 
 rently a youth of fifteen or sixteen years of 
 age, had asked " if he might be permitted 
 to go out occasionally for an airing, along 
 with any gentleman who would take him ;" 
 and as Colonel Hogge was in the habit of 
 going out every evening on an elephant, 
 tiie commissioner inquired if he would mind 
 occasioually calling for the prince. An 
 officer was present, who held high official 
 rank in the army,' but neither he nor any 
 of the others could see any objection to the 
 performance of an act of ordinary humanity ; 
 and the colonel twice took the lad, for a 
 change from the close stifling atmosphere of 
 his prison-chamber, into the air. The first 
 time, having nothing but a pad on the ele- 
 phant, the colonel put his companion in 
 front, to prevent him from slipping off and 
 
 • Brigadier-general Wilson bears strong testimony 
 to the voluntary service rendered by " that excel- 
 lent officer, I/ieutenant-colonel Hogge" (despatch, 
 September 2'2nd, 1857). And Greathed, in writing 
 to his wife, speaks of the formidable appearance of 
 the ordnance park, and dwells on the exertions and 
 
 trying to escape : the second time he placed 
 him behind; without, however, consideriug 
 the point of any importance. 
 
 The letter concluded with the following 
 remarks regarding Jumma Bukht: — "I 
 found him a very intelligent lad. He gave 
 me a good deal of information about the 
 mutineers, their leaders, and tjieir plans; 
 and had I remained longer at Delhi, I should 
 probably have taken him out oftener ; but 
 having returned to Meerut on the 26th of 
 October, I had no further opportunity ."f 
 
 People in England were greatly puzzled 
 by the conflicting accounts received from 
 India, especially from Delhi, regarding the 
 condition of the royal family, and the cases 
 of mutilation and torture alleged against 
 the sepoys; not one of which had been 
 proved, notwithstanding the efforts to iden- 
 tify and provide for any such victims, made 
 by the committee entrusted with the enor- 
 mous sums raised throughout the British 
 empire, and liberally augmented by contri- 
 butions from the four quarters of the globe, 
 on behalf of the European sufferers by the 
 Indian mutiny. 
 
 Mr. Layard, M.P. for Aylesbury, whose 
 Eastern experience had rendered him incre- 
 dulous of newspaper horrors, resolved to 
 judge for himself. He visited Delhi; and 
 on his return to England, gave, at a public 
 meeting iu May, 1858, the following descrip- 
 tion of his interview with the king : — 
 
 " I saw that broken-down old man — not in a 
 room, but in a miserable hole of his palace — lying 
 on a bedstead, with nothing to cover him but a 
 miserable tattered coverlet. As I beheld him, some 
 remembrance of his former greatness seemed to 
 arise in his mind. He rose with difficulty from his 
 couch; showed me his arms, which were eaten into 
 by disease and by flies — partly from want of water; 
 and he said, in a lamentable voice, that he had not 
 enough to eat ! Is that a way in which, as Chris- 
 tians, we ought to treat a king? I saw his women 
 too, all huddled up in a corner with their children; 
 and I was told that all that was allowed for their 
 support was 16s. a-day! Is not that punishment 
 enough for one that has occupied a throne?" 
 
 Of course, a torrent of invective was 
 poured upon Mr. Layard by the anti-native 
 party, both in England and in India; and 
 every possible motive alleged for his con- 
 duct except the dictates of conscience and 
 humanity. Moreover, he stated that, while 
 
 precautions taken to ensure efficiency ; adding, that 
 Colonel Hogge was the life of his department: every 
 one worked cheerfully under him. — Letters, p. 251. 
 + Times, December 29th, 1857. The Lahort 
 Chronicle is quoted at length in the Star, Decem- 
 ber 29th, 1857.
 
 456 
 
 MR. RUSSELL'S VISIT TO THE KING OF DELHI. 
 
 in India, he had tried to find a case of 
 mutilation, but witliout the slightest suc- 
 cess ; and he believed the horrible and re- 
 volting cruelties ascribed to the natives to 
 be utterly untrue ; and asserted, that they 
 " had never, even in a solitary instance, 
 been authenticated."* 
 
 Mr. Russell, the special correspondent of 
 the Times, who followed Mr. Layard to 
 India (leaving London at the close of De- 
 cember, 1857), confirmed his statements, to 
 a considerable extent,t as regarded the un- 
 founded assertions made with regard to 
 native atrocities, and likewise with respect 
 to the king, who, in June, 1858, was still 
 shut up in the same dreary prison, and 
 clothed in " garments scnnty and foul." 
 Mr. Russell's interview with the old king 
 took place while the latter was suflfering, or 
 rather just rallying, after a violent attack of 
 vomiting. The privacy which would be 
 allowed a condemned murderer in England, 
 would have been deemed " maudlin senti- 
 mentality" in the present case ; but the 
 commissioner (Mr. Saunders) and his com- 
 panions waited in an open court outside, 
 till the sickness of the king abated. Then, 
 while he yet gasped for breath, they entered 
 the dingy, dark passage, which contained 
 no article of furniture " but a charpoy, such 
 as those used by the poorest Indians. The 
 old man cowered on the floor on his crossed 
 legs, with his back against a mat, which 
 was suspended from doorway to doorway, so 
 as to form a passage about twelve feet wide 
 by twenty-four in length." Mr. Russell's 
 picture of the king takes it character, in no 
 small degree, from the surrounding circum- 
 stances of dirt and degradation. He pro- 
 bably did not see quite as clearly as Mr. 
 Layard had done, the disgrace reflected on 
 bis custodians by the abject misery to which 
 the aged king was subjected. The reason 
 is obvious. Mr. Russell went in company 
 with his host the commissioner, and other 
 leading authorities, all of whom were anxious 
 to secure the good word of the man who 
 had the ear of Europe turned to him, and 
 the Times for a speaking-trumpet. Nor is it 
 wonderful that the frank hospitality of "the 
 ruddy, comely English gentleman" — "the 
 excellent commissioner," Mr. Saunders, 
 
 • Speech at St. James's Hall, May lllh, 1858. 
 
 t Mr. Kussell, after leferring to Mr. Layard's 
 speeches and lectures, which " have been received 
 with a shower of dirty dish-clouts from the well- 
 furnished Billingsgate repertoire of the convict 
 Cleon of Calcutta" — states, " there are many of his 
 
 and the ready courtesy of" the fair English- 
 woman," his wife, should have thrown a 
 little dust even in the keen-sighted, honest 
 eyes of the correspondent. The portrait of 
 the king is, however, a veritable Russell ; 
 but painfully, not pleasantly, life-like — 
 
 "The forehead is very broad indeed, and comes 
 out sharply over the brows ; but it recedes at once 
 into an ignoble Thersites-like skull; in the eyes 
 were only visible the weakness of extreme old age 
 — the dim, hazy, filmy light which seems about to 
 guide to the great darkness; the nose, a noble 
 Judaic aquiline, was deprived of dignity and power 
 hy the loose-lipped, nerveless, quivering and gasp- 
 ing mouth, filled with a flacid tongue; but from 
 chin and upper lip, there streamed a venerable, long, 
 wavy, intermingling moustache and beard of white, 
 which again all but retrieved his aspect. His hands 
 and feet were delicate and fine, his garments scanty 
 and foul. Recalling youth to that decrepit frame, 
 restoring its freshness to that sunken cheek, one 
 might see the king glowing with all the beauty of 
 the warrior David; but as he sat before us, I was 
 only reminded of the poorest form of the Israelitish 
 type, as exhibited in decay and penurious greed ia 
 its poorest haunts among us."J 
 
 In one respect, at least, the king retained 
 and exhibited the characteristic of iiis race. 
 "The Great Moguls were their own lau- 
 reates ;" and Shah Alum, the blind emperor, 
 uttered, from the depths of his misery and 
 humiliation,sentiraeuts second only in pathos 
 to those of David, when he, too, lay humbled 
 in the dust. " The tempest of misfortune," 
 Shah Alum declared, " has risen and over- 
 whelmed me. It has scattered my glory to 
 the winds, and dispersed my throne in the 
 air." But, he added, " while I am sunk in 
 an abyss of darkness, let me be comforted 
 with the assurance, that out of this afQictioii 
 I shall yet arise, purified by misfortune, 
 and illuminated by the mercy of tiie Al- 
 mighty." The descendant of Shah Alum 
 (the present Mohammed Bahadur Shah) 
 solaced himself in a similar manner; and 
 notwithstanding his physical and mental 
 decrepitude, had, only a day or two before 
 Mr. Russell's visit, " composed some neat 
 lines on the wall of his prison, by the aid 
 of a burnt stick." The pride of race still 
 lingered in ""the dim, wandering-eyed, 
 dreamy old man;" and "when Brigadier 
 Stisted asked him how it was he had not 
 saved the lives of our women, he made an 
 
 ' facts' {apparently alluding to cruelties committed 
 by Europeans upon natives] which we know to be 
 true: as the colonel [a Bengal officer, whose name 
 is withheld] said, ' I know far worse than anything 
 he has said.'" — Diary in India, vol. ii., p. 124. 
 I Ibid., p. 61.
 
 POSITION OF KING OF DELHI BEFORE THE MUTINY. 
 
 457 
 
 impatient gesture with his hand, as if com- 
 manding silence ; and said, ' I know notliing 
 of it. I had nothing to say to it.'" Jumma 
 Bukht betrayed the same feeling. He rose 
 from the charpoy at the sound of European 
 voices, and salaamed respectfully; but the 
 commissioner, hearing that he was ill, 
 bade him lie down again ; and, with another 
 salaam, he threw himself on his back with 
 a sigh, and drew the coverlet of the bed 
 over his face, as if to relieve himself from 
 an unwelcome gaze. 
 
 Mr. Russell was not a servant of the 
 E. I. Company; and although he studiously 
 refrained from censuring individuals, he 
 spoke freely of the meanness and injus- 
 tice with which the king had been treated 
 before the mutiny. In fact, no unpre- 
 judiced person could look back on the 
 rise and progress of British power in India, 
 without seeing that our recent charges 
 against the King of Delhi could not, by the 
 law of nations, entitle us to set aside the 
 counter-charges of him who never once 
 abandoned his claim as emperor of India, 
 and lord paramount of every other power, the 
 Company included. In the first instance, the 
 Merchant Adventurers kotooed and salaamed 
 to his ancestors for permission to build a 
 warehouse or two ; and then they repeated 
 the process for leave to fortify their factories, 
 and defend their goods from the maraud- 
 ing incursions of the Mahrattas — those dis- 
 turbers of the peaceful subjects of the Great 
 Mogul. That a body of humble traders, so 
 very humble as their protestations, carefully 
 preserved in Leadenhall-street, show them 
 to have been, should covet sovereign power 
 even for the sake of its accompaniment of 
 territorial revenue, was quite out of the 
 question ; and this attitude of deprecation 
 grew so fixed, that despite the pride of 
 individual governors-general, the Company 
 maintained to the last a most anomalous 
 position with regard to native sovereigns, 
 and especially towards the King of Delhi. 
 In England this was not understood, simply 
 because India was never viewed as a national 
 question, or thought of at all by the British 
 government, except in connexion with the 
 Company's dividends and patronage; and 
 
 • Russell's Letter.— Times, August 20th, 1858. 
 In a History of the Indian Mutiny, by Mr. Charles 
 Ball, which comprises a valuable collection of the 
 chief official and private documents published 
 during the crisis, the quotation from Mr. Russell, 
 given in the text, is thus commented on ; — " Surely 
 if we contrast this abject submisaioa within the 
 
 VOL.11. 3 N 
 
 it was only when some new financial crisis 
 arose, that a vague misgiving was enter- 
 tained as to the probable mismanagement 
 of the sovereign power, as the cause of the 
 unsatisfactory state of the revenue. Mr. 
 Russell truly asserts, that — 
 
 " There were probably not five thousand people, 
 unconnected with India, in the country from which 
 India was governed, who, two years ago, had ever 
 heard of the King of Delhi as a living man ; or who 
 knew that even then, in the extreme of his decrepi- 
 tude, and in utter prostration of his race, the de- 
 scendant of Akhbar had fenced himself round with 
 such remnants of dignities, that the governor-general 
 of India could not approach him as an equal, and 
 that the British officers at Delhi were obliged to 
 observe, in their intercourse with him, all the out- 
 ward marks of respect which a sovereign had a 
 right to demand from his servants. • • • Qur 
 representative, with ' bated breath and whispering 
 humbleness' — aye, with bare feet and bowed head, 
 came into the presence of our puppet king. More 
 than that — the English captain of the palace guard, 
 if summoned to the presence of the king, as he fre- 
 quently was, had not only to uncover his feet, but 
 was not permitted to have an umbrella carried over 
 his head, or to bear one in his own hand, while 
 proceeding through the courtyards — a privilege per- 
 mitted to every officer of the royal staff. This was 
 the case in the time of the last resident, up to the 
 moment of the revolt, and in the time of the last 
 captain of the guard, up to the time of his assassi- 
 nation !"• 
 
 Facts like these, once published in Eng- 
 land, altered the tone of public feeling; 
 but, long before they became generally 
 known, the fate of the King of Delhi had 
 been decided, and he was spoken of as 
 having reaped the reward of disloyalty and 
 ingratitude. In the earlier sections of this 
 work, abundant historical evidence will be 
 found, to show that no member of the House 
 of Timur ever owed the E. I. Company 
 either fealty as sovereigns, or gratitude a's 
 benefactors. These obligations were on 
 the side of the Merchant Adventurers, 
 who never did more than pay back to the 
 Moguls, with a grudging hand, a very small 
 and constantly diminishing proportion of 
 the revenues of certain districts, the whole 
 of which had been originally assigned by 
 Lor'd Wellesley for the support of the House 
 of Timur; which the Company affected to 
 hold, purely by right of an imperial decree. 
 A summary of our dealings with the Delhi 
 
 walls of the palace, with the haughty and irritating 
 assumption of superiority that pervaded European 
 society without those walls, proclaiming hourly a 
 living lie to the astute people of India, we have 
 little cause to feel surprise at the consequences of 
 our own conduct, characterised as it had been by 
 duplicity and arrogance." — (Vol. ii., p. 379).
 
 45S 
 
 E. I. COMPANY AND THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 family, drawn up by Mr. Russell, is too 
 important to be omitted here; for, besides 
 the strong facts and the nervous style, 
 there is additional weight attached to it, 
 as being written in Delhi by the special 
 correspondent of the Times, in 1858. 
 
 "To talk of ingratitude on the part of one who 
 saw that all the dominions of his ancestors had 
 gradually been taken from him, by force or other- 
 wise, till he was left with an empty title, a more 
 empty exchequer, and a palace full of penniless 
 princesses and princes of his own blood, is perfectly 
 preposterous. Was he to be grateful to the Com- 
 pany for the condition in which he found himself? 
 Was he to bless them for ever, because Polyphemus, 
 in the shape of the British government, snatched 
 poor blind Shah Alum from the hands of the Mah- 
 rattas, and then devoured him piecemeal ? * • * 
 The position of the king was one of the most in- 
 tolerable misery long ere the revolt broke out. His 
 palace was in reality a house of bondage ; he knew 
 that the few wretched prerogatives which were left 
 him, as if in mockery of the departed power they 
 represented, would be taken away from his succes- 
 sors ; that they would be deprived even of the 
 right to live in their own palace, and would be 
 exiled to some place outside the walls. We denied 
 permission to his royal relatives to enter our ser- 
 vice ; we condemned them to a degrading existence, 
 in poverty and debt, inside the purlieus of their 
 palace, and then we reproached them with their 
 laziness and sensuality. We shut the gates of mili- 
 tary preferment upon them ; we closed upon them 
 the paths of every pursuit ; we took from them 
 every object of honourable ambition : and then our 
 papers and our mess-rooms teemed with invectives 
 against the lazy, slothful, and sensuous princes of 
 his house. Better die a hundred deaths than drag 
 on such a contemptible, degrading existence."* 
 
 "Within the walls of this palace there was a 
 population of more than 5,000 souls, of which no 
 less than 3,000 were of the blood-royal, and de- 
 scendants of Timour-lung. • • • The king 
 seldom stirred out of late years, or went bdyond the 
 palace walls ; but inside their precincts he was sub- 
 jected to constant annoyance from his numerous 
 relatives : the Great Mogul Olivers were always 
 ' asking for more.' • » • They Were in a state 
 of such poverty, that some of these royal families 
 were in want of their meals ; and their numbers 
 had increased far beyond the provision made for 
 them."t 
 
 Every word of the fresh, glowing sum- 
 mary of Mr. Russell will be valuable in the 
 sight of those who have the honesty and the 
 courage to face the truth. The responsibility 
 for righteous dealing with the still-existing 
 princes of India, and the vast population in 
 general, still rests on the British nation. 
 If the strong, warm, public heart be per- 
 manently interested in behalf of India, 
 great benefit may arise from the connexion ; 
 
 • Russell's Diary, vol. ii., p. 61. 
 
 t Russell's Letter.— 2\mes, August 20lh, 1858. 
 
 X Keats' Isabella. 
 
 but, if not — if India sink into a purely finan- 
 cial or party question, the patronage in the 
 hands of an oligarchy will be far more dan- 
 gerous to the constitution of the governing 
 country, than it ever could have been in that 
 of a middle-class mercantile body ; and the 
 consequences to the governed will be worse, 
 inasmuch as the wilful ignorance, the neg- 
 lect and procrastination which were the 
 conspicuous failings of the Company's ad- 
 ministration, are the very ones of which 
 the colonial department of the state has 
 been most generally accused. The men of 
 the bureau, and the men of the ledger, 
 have much the same temptations to guard 
 against, only that the thirst for power pre- 
 dominates in one case, and for pelf in the 
 other. Patronage combines both. The dan- 
 ger is great that the ministers of the Crown 
 still follow the well-worn track of the old 
 directors, who wrote excellent despatches — 
 calm, moderate, and didactic — with oi»& 
 hand, while with the other — 
 
 " Half ignorant, they turn'd an easy wheel, 
 That set sharp racks at work, to pinch and peel."! 
 
 This was literally true in some parts of 
 India, as was proved by the revelations of 
 the torture committee, and figuratively so 
 in the proceedings connected with the ex- 
 tinction of several native states, of which 
 Mr. Russell's account of the dealings of 
 the E. I. Company with the Mogul dynasty, 
 may serve as an illustration : — 
 
 " When Lord Lake received the emperor after 
 the battle of Delhi, he could not be less generous 
 than the Mahrattas ; and accordingly, all the terri- 
 tories and revenues which had been assigned by 
 them for his support, were continued by the British 
 to Shah Alum. His stipend of 60,000 rupees per 
 mensem, and presents of 70,000 rupees per annum, 
 making altogether less than £80,000 per annum, 
 were in 1806, in compliance with promises made in 
 1805 by the East India Company, raised to 
 £102,960 a-yearj and, in 1809, to a lac a-month, or 
 £120,000 a-year. But Akhbar Shah complained of 
 the smallness of this allowance for himself, his 
 family, and his state and dependents ; and, in 1830, 
 he sent an agent to England to lay his case before 
 the authorities, whereupon the Court of Directors 
 offered an addition of £30,000 per annum, on con- 
 dition that the Mogul ' abandoned every claim, of 
 every description, he might be at any time supposed to 
 possess against th^m.' The control of this £30,000 
 extra was to be taken out of the king's hands. He 
 refused to accept the augmentation on such terms, 
 alleging that he had a right, according to treaty, to 
 expect a decent maintenance for himself and his 
 family ; and the money was never given, the grant 
 being annulled in 1840 by the directors, in conse- 
 quence of his refusing to comply with the conditions 
 annexed to its acceptance. The present ex-king 
 adopted the objections of his father ; and thus, since
 
 DEATH OF NICHOLSON—SEPTEMBER 23rd, 1857. 
 
 459 
 
 1830, when the East India Company offered to buy 
 up some visionary claims for £30,000 per annum, 
 admitting that the sum then given to the king was 
 too small — the state of Delhi, a mere pageantry, has 
 been carried on with increasing debt and poverty 
 and difficulty. But more than this. While they 
 were weak and grateful, the Hon. East India Com- 
 pany presented nuzzurs, or offerings, to the king, 
 the queen, and the heir, as is the custom of feuda- 
 tories in India. In 1822 they began to take slices 
 off this little lump of pudding. In 1822 the com- 
 mander-in-chiefs nuzzur was stopped. In 1827, 
 the resident's offering, on the part of the British 
 government, was suspended. In 1836, the nuzzurs 
 usual on the part of British officers were cur- 
 tailed ; next the queen's nuzzurs were cut off; and, 
 in lieu of those acknowledgments of a degrading 
 nature, the king, although claiming the same sove- 
 reign rights, and asserting his pretensions as lord in 
 capite of the lands which once formed his dominions, 
 received the sum of £1,000 per annum. The king 
 was not permitted to go beyond the environs of 
 Delhi; the princes were refused salutes, or were 
 not allowed to quit Delhi unless they abstained 
 from travelling as members of the royal family, and 
 were content to give up all marks of distinction. 
 And yet these rules were lud down at a time when 
 the royal or imperial family were our good friends, 
 and when we were actually keeping up absurd and 
 ridiculous forms, which rendered our contempt and 
 neglect of others more galling and more apparent. 
 We did all this, and yet stiffered the occupant of 
 the powerless throne to believe that he was lord of 
 the world, master of the universe, and of the Hon. 
 East India Company, king of India and of the 
 infidels, the superior of the governor-general, and 
 proprietor of the soil from sea to sea."* 
 
 The statements of a succession of wit- 
 nesses, regarding the petty personal indig- 
 nities to which the King of Delhi was sub- 
 jected for many months, have occasioned the 
 mention of circumstances not properly be- 
 longing to this chapter, which was in- 
 tended to end with the complete occupa- 
 tion of the city. 
 
 The capture of Delhi was a splendid 
 achievement : the mass of the army, officers 
 and men, were not responsible for the 
 causes which produced the fearful struggle ; 
 and there is no drawback on the admiration 
 due to the dauntless resolve with which 
 they held their ground during so many 
 weary months. The triumph was great: 
 but even the shouts of victory had a melan- 
 choly sound to those who looked on wrecks 
 of regiments (the gallant 60th Rifles,t 
 
 * Russell's Letter.— Ti'mcs, August 20th, 1858. 
 
 t The corps most prominently engaged before 
 Delhi, were the 60th Killes, Sirmoor battalion, and 
 Guides. The Kifies commenced with 440 of all 
 ranks ; a few days before the storm they received a 
 reinforcement of nearly 200 men ; their total casu- 
 alties were 389. The Sirmoor battalion commenced 
 450 strong, and once was joined by a draft of 90 
 men. Its total casualties amounted to 319. The 
 
 for instance), and thought of the strong 
 healthy frames, the genial, hopeful hearts 
 that never would return to gladden English 
 homes. In looking back over the des- 
 patches and letters written from Delhi 
 during the first days of its reoccupation, 
 it seems as if public and private grief for 
 the fallen, found a focus in the person of 
 Nicholson, who, struck down in the heat of 
 battle, continued for several days, in the 
 intervals of agony, to direct the conduct of 
 military operations. 
 
 General Wilson bore cordial testimony 
 to the extraordinary services and popularity 
 of his comparatively youthful subordinate; 
 and in communicating to government the 
 success of the assault, he stated, that "during 
 the advance. Brigadier-general Nicholson, 
 to the grief of myself and the whole army, 
 was dangerously wounded." It was the 
 simple truth : the whole army felt like one 
 man for him "who was confessedly, ac- 
 cording to the testimony of every Indian 
 tongue, the first soldier in India."{ After 
 all, there was a better tie than the love 
 of liquor or of loot between the Europeans 
 and Seiks — their mutual appreciation of 
 a great leader: and assuredly it was a 
 humanising feeling, that made knit brows 
 relax, and proud lips quiver, according as 
 the answer to the oft-repeated inquiry — 
 "Is Nicholson better?" — was cheering or 
 the reverse. On the 23rd, hope was ex- 
 tinguished : " and with a grief unfeigned 
 and deep, and stern, and worthy of the 
 man, the news was whispered — ' Nicholson 
 is dead.' "§ His faithful Seik orderly says, 
 that the general expressed himself " greatly 
 delighted" at having survived to witness the 
 complete occupation of Delhi. He further 
 adds, that when the spirit of the Sahib had 
 taken its flight from this transitory world. 
 General Chamberlain, and some Englisli 
 gentlemen, came and cut each a lock of 
 hair from his head. "At sunrise, several 
 of the horse artillery came and took the 
 general's coffin, and placed it on a bier 
 behind the horses, and carried it once more 
 towards the Cashmere gate. They made 
 him a grave by the two roads by which the 
 
 Guides (cavalry and infantry) commenced with 
 about 550, and the casualties were 303. The artil-. 
 lery had 365 casualties; the engineers, 293: two- 
 thirds of the engineer officers were among the 
 killed and wounded. — Norman's Cumpaign, p. 47. 
 
 } Russell.— y'm/cs, August 20th, 1S58. 
 
 § Report from Lieutenant-colonel H.B.Edwardes, 
 March 23rd, 1858.— Pari. Papers on the Punjab, 
 April 14th, 1809.
 
 460 
 
 BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT DELHI- SEPTEMBER, 1857. 
 
 assault was made. Brigadier Chamberlain, 
 and some other distinguished officers, and 
 also Mr. Saunders, the commissioner, came 
 and did reverence to the body, and, having 
 taken up the coffin, placed it in the grave." 
 It is easy to understand the admiration 
 with which Nicholson was regarded by the 
 Europeans as a master in the art of war, 
 and by the natives for his personal prowess. 
 The warlike Seiks were especially devoted 
 to him ; and one of them, standing at the 
 grave, bewailed the loss of a leader, " the 
 tramp of whose war-horse was heard a mile 
 off." There is less apparent cause for 
 the strong affection with which this stern, 
 silent man unconsciously inspired his 
 seniors iu age and rank, his equals and 
 rivals, and, most of all, his inferiors 
 and subordinates. His despatches exhibit 
 him as a man of few words; hearty and 
 discriminating iu his praise ; moderate, but 
 equally discriminating, in his censure: in 
 all cases xmselfish, unpretending, and 
 "thorough." But of his private life, his 
 opinions and feelings, little is known. 
 Unlike the chief civilian connected with 
 the Delhi force, the chief warrior died 
 unmarried. No widow remained to gather 
 up, with loving hand, his letters and other 
 memorials; but he has left brothers and 
 friends: and one of the latter, Herbert 
 Edwardes, could not better employ his 
 graceful, ready pen, than by giving to 
 England a memoir of the man whom he 
 ha|S always delighted to honour. Meantime 
 the body of John Nicholson rests surrounded 
 by a host of his companions-in-arms, and 
 near that of Greathed, who, it will be re- 
 membered, perished in the fierce grip of 
 cholera, while the bullet did its slow work 
 on the iron frame of the warrior. 
 
 At this time, also, heaps upon heaps of 
 nameless native dead had to be disposed 
 of; and the first permission given to the 
 wre.tched inhabitants to return to the city, 
 was conditional on their performing this 
 most needful service. Again, Delhi seemed 
 destined to become one vast burying-place. 
 The interment of the fallen Europeans was 
 conducted with all honour; their wives and 
 children were sure of protection and main- 
 tenance ; while the bodies of the vanquished 
 natives were huddled out of sight, and 
 their families left to starve. Some proud 
 Indians, in their despair, followed the 
 Rajpoot custom ; and sooner than suffer 
 their wives or daughters to fall into the 
 hands of the fierce soldiery, killed them 
 
 with their own hands. What a strange 
 thrill must have passed through the stout 
 heart of Brigadier Inglis, and others at 
 Lucknow, who had contemplated a similar 
 proceeding, when they learned, that but a 
 few days before that joyful 25th of Sep- 
 tember (when a shout of welcome hailed 
 Outram and Havelock's arrival in the Resi- 
 dency, and when, in the words of Mrs. 
 Inglis' touching letter to her mother, 
 " darling John kissed me, and said, I thank 
 God for his mercies"), many husbands and 
 fathers in Delhi had, in their wretchedness, 
 slain their wives, and fled with them " any- 
 where — anywhere out of the world 1" An 
 engineer officer, writing from Delhi on the 
 23rd of September, gives a terrible instance 
 of this procedure. He is not in the least a 
 humanitarian ; but, on the contrary, one 
 of those who rejoiced in the increased 
 severity of the conquerors, which he illus- 
 trates in the following manner : — " Two 
 of our Native sappers were murdered in 
 the city ; so we went out, and hunted up 
 about fifty or sixty men — thorough rascals ; 
 and our men have been shooting them ever 
 since. I saw twenty-four knocked over, 
 all tied together against the walls." This 
 witness does not mention what the sappers 
 were doing when they were killed ; but his 
 silence is significant, when viewed in con- 
 nection with the following observation : — 
 
 " I have given up ^Talking about the back streets 
 of Delhi, as yesterday an officer and myself bad 
 taken a party of twenty men out patrolling, and je 
 found fourteen women with their throats cut from 
 ear to ear by their own husbands, and laid out in 
 their shawls. We caught a man there who said he 
 saw them killed, for fear they should fall into our 
 hands; and showed us their husbands, who had 
 done the best thing they could afterwards, and 
 killed themselves."* 
 
 It matters nothing now to the thousands 
 who perished at Delhi, whether their bodies 
 are decaying in coffins or in pits, burnt by 
 fire, and scattered to the four winds of 
 heaven, or dissolving in the sacred waters 
 of the Ganges. They have passed into 
 a world in which, according to Divine 
 revelation, there is no such thing as caste; 
 and must all appear before a judge who 
 is no respecter of persons — at a tribunal 
 where the mighty and the mean, generals 
 and covenanted civilians, " Pandies" and 
 " niggers," will have to account for the 
 deeds done iu the flesh. For them, as for 
 ourselves, we can but pray that all may 
 find the mercy which all will need. 
 • Timet, November 19th, 1867.
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 
 BELIEF OP AGRA ; RESCUE OF LUCKNOW GARRISON ; EVACUATION OF LUCKNOWj 
 WINDHAM BESIEGED AT CAWNPOOR, AND RELIEVED BY SLR COLIN CAMPBELL.— 
 SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER, 1857. 
 
 The public mind in England and in India 
 fastened on three points of absorbing 
 interest in the Mutiny, to which all others 
 were regarded as incomparably inferior — 
 namely, Delhi, for its political importance ; 
 Cawnpoor ; and Lucknow, for the sake of the 
 European communities imprisoned there. 
 The consequence of this concentration has 
 been, that the details of the events con- 
 nected with these three sieges, have been 
 poured forth with the freedom which the 
 certainty of a large and eager audience 
 was calculated to produce : and the infor- 
 mation afforded on these heads has been 
 so discussed and sifted, that the harvest of 
 knowledge, but yesterday cut down by the 
 sickle of the journalist, is to-day fit for the 
 storehouse of the historian. This is the 
 case, also, in regard to the outbreaks at the 
 various stations. The actors have, for the 
 most part, furnished accounts of what they 
 did and suffered in their own persons : 
 and, after making due allowance for pre- 
 judice and inadvertence, there remains a 
 most valuable mass of evidence ; the ar- 
 rangement and condensation of which, 
 in the foregoing pages, have involved 
 an expenditure of time and labour which 
 only those who have attempted a similar 
 piece of literary mosaic can appreciate. 
 But while our information as regards the 
 Mutiny is thus abundant, that respecting 
 the Insurrection generally, and especially 
 the tedious, harassing war in Oude, is far 
 more scanty. The voluminous records of 
 the commissioners of various districts (now 
 at the India House), must, at least to some 
 extent, be made public, and many Des- 
 patches and Memoirs be rendered available, 
 before anything like a satisfactory or com- 
 prehensive account can be written, without 
 the strongest probability, that the assertions 
 of to-day will be contradicted by the reve- 
 lations of to-morrow. 
 
 The author of this work hai, therefore, 
 deemed it best to devote the chief part of 
 his limited space to the History of the 
 Mutiny, noting briefly the leading facts 
 connected with the Insurrection. 
 
 Relief of Agra. — Shortly after the cap- 
 ture of Delhi, the liealth of General Wilson 
 broke down, and he resigned the command 
 of the force, and went to the hills. Before 
 his departure, he dispatched 2,650 troops, 
 under Colonel Greathed (including 750 
 Europeans), in pursuit of a body of rebels, 
 stated at 5,000 strong, who had proceeded to 
 Muttra. They crossed the Jumna, and then 
 marched right across theDoab towards Oude, 
 which they succeeded in reaching ; the at- 
 tempt to intercept them proving unsuccess- 
 ful. The British force quitted Delhi on the 
 24th of September, but made little progress 
 for many days, being occupied in burning 
 neighbouring villages (the inhabitants of 
 which were accused of harbouring sepoys), 
 and in seizing suspected chiefs. A stand 
 was made on the 28th of September at Bo- 
 lundshuhur, by a body of the 12th N.I., 
 14th irregular cavalry, aud a rabble of 
 burkandauzes and chupprassies, with some 
 insurgent Mohammedans. They were dis- 
 persed, with the loss, it was said, of 300 
 men : the British casualties were, six (rank 
 and file) killed, and forty-five wounded (in- 
 eluding camp-followers). The fort of Ma- 
 laghur (seven miles from Bolundshuhur) 
 was precipitately abandoned by its owner, 
 Wullydad Khan, on the approach of the 
 British ; and a halt was made there, because 
 the number of sick and wounded already 
 exceeded the means of carriage, which was 
 sent for to Meerut, whither the patients 
 were conveyed. The defences of Malaghur 
 were destroyed on the 2nd of October, and 
 the column moved off to Alighur, of which 
 city they took possession witiiout losing a 
 life ; as also of a village called Akrabad, 
 fourteen miles further, where the cavalry 
 (of whom about 500 were comprised in 
 the column) surprised, and slew, two Raj- 
 poot chiels of some note — twin-brothers, 
 named Mungul and Mytaub Sing — with 
 about a hundred of their adherents. After 
 destroying the village. Colonel Greathed 
 resumed his march, in compliance with 
 urgent requisitions from Agra to hasten to 
 the protection of that city, which was
 
 462 MUTINEERS ATTACK AGRA BY SURPRISE— OCT. 10th, 1857. 
 
 threatened by the Mhow and Indore muti- 
 neers, who, after vainly endeavouring to in- 
 duce Sindia to become their leader, had 
 quitted Gwalior in disgust; and would have 
 attacked Agra some time before the capture 
 of Delhi, but for the difficulties thrown in 
 their way by tlie Maharajah and Diukur 
 Rao. The chief part of the contingent 
 still lingered at Gwalior, under the im- 
 pression that Sindia would be compelled, 
 or induced, to raise the standard of re- 
 bellion : his own household troops were 
 scarcely less clamorous against the British ; 
 and the influence of the Mhow and Indore 
 mutiueers was so powerful, that the Maha- 
 rajah, dreading that they would return, and 
 either seize on him or oblige him to flee to 
 Agra, took the bold measure of sweeping 
 the boats, in a single night, from both 
 banks of the Chumbul, and thus cut off the 
 communicatiou between the declared rebels 
 and the waverers. The fall of Delhi ren- 
 dered the former desperate ; and the Mhow 
 and Indore mutineers, reinforced by several 
 bodies of fugitives from Delhi, seized seven 
 guns from our faithful ally, the Rana of 
 Dholpoor, and prepared to attack Agra. 
 
 On the morning of the 9th of October, a 
 vidette of militia cavalry, which had been 
 sent out to reconnoitre, was driven in by 
 the enemy's horse, and pursued to within 
 two or three miles of cantonments. This 
 occurrence, proving the proximity of the 
 enemy, was at once communicated to Colonel 
 Greathed, and the column hurried on to 
 Agra, and entered the city (after a forced 
 march of forty-four miles in twenty-eight 
 hours) early in the morning of the 10th 
 of October, crossing the bridge of boats, 
 and passing under the fort, from whence 
 the entire European community issued 
 forth to witness the welcome spectacle. 
 Mr. Raikes was standing at the Delhi gate, 
 watching the troops as they slowly and 
 wearily marched past, when a lady by his 
 side, pointing to a body of " worn, sun-dried 
 skeletons," dressed in the khakee, or dust- 
 colonred Seik irregular uniform — exclaimed 
 — "Those dreadful-looking men must be 
 Afghans I" Although the soldiers whose 
 appearance elicited this uncomplimentary 
 remark, were within three yards of him, 
 Raikes did not discover that they were 
 Englishmen until he noticed a short clay 
 
 • Baikes' Revolt in the N. W. Provinces, p. 70. 
 + Letter from civilian, dated October IClh, 1857. 
 —Times, December 2nd, 1857. 
 
 pipe in the mouth of nearly the last man.* 
 Such was the unrecognisable condition of 
 the survivors of II. M. 8th Foot. 
 
 It was eight o'clock when the tired troops 
 encamped on the parade-ground. The 
 mutineers, it was said, had threatened to 
 cross the Kharee, a small river ten miles dis- 
 tant ; but liad failed in doing so, and were 
 " making off on hearing of the approach of 
 the column."! Notwithstanding what had 
 occurred on the previous day, no vidette 
 was sent out to see if the road was clear; 
 and without taking the slightest precau- 
 tion against surprise, the greater portion of 
 the officers dispersed to see their friends in 
 the fort, while the men bivouacked on the 
 cantonment parade-ground, awaiting the 
 gradual arrival of their tents and baggage. 
 
 At half-past ten o'clock, while breakfast 
 was in every man's mouth, a big gun was 
 heard — and another, and another, and many 
 more. People started. Surely it must be 
 a salute; though rather irregular." The 
 fact was, that the enemy had quietly 
 marched in, cannon and all; and the call 
 to arms in the British camp was given after 
 the first hostile discharge of artillery had 
 knocked over several men and guns. 
 Here, an officer was hit while in the act of 
 washing himself; there, a soldier as he lay 
 asleep. An eye-witness describes "the 
 scene of wild confusion which ensued;" 
 declaring, " that there was no command, 
 and no anything ; and camp-followers and 
 horses fled in all directions." 
 
 The despatches of Colonels Cotton and 
 Greathed confirm this assertion. The for- 
 mer states, that when he hastened to the 
 camp and took command, he "found that 
 the enemy, completely hidden by the high 
 standing crops, had opened a heavy fire 
 from a strong battery in the centre, sup- 
 ported by several guns on each flank, aud 
 were sweeping our position with a powerful 
 cross-fire." Colonel Cotton remarks, that 
 Colonel Greathed was apparently not aware 
 of his being on the field. | lu fact, the only 
 point of which the rival commanding officers 
 were mutually aware, was the presence 
 of an enemy. Happily, the British troops, 
 both European and Native, exhibited re- 
 markable readiness in preparing to repel 
 the unexpected attack, without waiting for 
 absent officers. Colonel Greathed states, 
 
 X Lieutenant-colonel H. Cotton's despatch j Agra, 
 October 13th, 1857. — London Gazette, December 
 15th, 1857.
 
 ATTACK UPON AGRA— OCTOBER 10th, 185/ 
 
 463 
 
 that when, on hearing the hostile guns, he 
 galloped to the front, which he reached 
 three minutes after the assembly had 
 sounded — he found the artillfery already in 
 action; the 9th Lancers in their saddles 
 (in every variety of undress ; some in jackets, 
 but more in shirt-sleeves), formed up into 
 squadrons; and the whole of the troops, 
 without exception, drawn up on their re- 
 spective alarm-posts, as if for parade.* 
 
 Had the enemy pushed in without giving 
 the British troops time to form, the advan- 
 tage on their side would have been great; 
 but, native like, they waited to see the 
 effect of their big guns. The delay was 
 fatal to them. It was not until our artillery 
 was at work, that the rebel cavalry charged 
 right into the parade. They took a detached 
 and disabled gun for a moment, and were 
 so completely intermingled with the British, 
 that the gunners could not fire on them. 
 " But," writes a civilian who had galloped 
 to the scene of action, "the tired Seiks, 
 sitting on the ground, formed square with 
 the utmost coolness, and fired well into 
 them. The Lancers were ready, and charged 
 at them as the Lancers can charge. They 
 [the rebels] were broken and defeated ; yet 
 some of them did actually sweep right round 
 the camp and cantonments, and created 
 such a panic among the general population 
 as scarce was seen — every one riding over 
 every one else in the most indiscriminate 
 manner : in fact, there never was, and never 
 will be, so complete a surprise. But by 
 this time commanding officers had come 
 on the field, and every arm was in action. 
 Our artillery fought nobly — in fact, all did; 
 and though it was some time before we 
 could find exactly where we were, and 
 where the enemy was (and they attacked 
 on three sides at once), eventually they were 
 repulsed, and began to retreat."t The 
 rebels at first retired in some order-, but 
 before they had proceeded far they aban- 
 doned three guns, and their retreat became 
 a flight. Led by " Gun Cotton," the tired 
 column continued the pursuit until the 
 
 • Lieutenant-colonel Greathed's despatch ; Agra, 
 Oct. 13th, 1857.— Xo?!rfo» Gazette, Dec. 15th, 1857. 
 
 f Times, December 2nd, 1857. 
 
 X Norman's Campaign of the Delhi Army, p. 63. 
 
 § Letter from Agra. — Daili/ News, Nov. 30, 1857. 
 
 II Raikes' Reiott in the N. W. Provinces, p. 72. 
 The efforts of several ladies at various stations, 
 especially of Miss Tucker at Benares, appear to 
 have contributed to the spiritual, no less than 
 the physical, well-being of the patients. Several 
 interesting narratives are given in a little book. 
 
 rebel camp, which was within five miles of 
 the city, was reached, the guns (thirteen 
 in all) and baggage seized, and the Mhow 
 and Indore brigades completely dispersed, 
 excepting the fugitive cavalry. After a tea 
 miles' chase, the victorious troops returned 
 to Agra, having exhibited an amount of 
 readiness, nerve, and persistence, unsur- 
 passed in any of the brilliant episodes of 
 the Indian Mutiny. 
 
 It is said that the surprise was on both 
 sides, the mutineers having made the attack 
 in ignorance of the arrival of the moveable 
 column ; but it is highly improbable that 
 the native population round Agra, aggrieved 
 as they had been by the village-burning 
 system, would have allowed the insurgents 
 to remain in ignorance of this event. The 
 fact that, "for the first time in the history 
 of beleaguered Agra, all the newsmongers 
 were of one accord," is itself an indication 
 of some latent motive. At all events, the 
 peasantry were cruelly punished for their 
 alleged disloyalty; for the troops are officially 
 stated to have fired all the villages " which 
 had allowed the rebels to pass without 
 sending word to Agra."J 
 
 The total casualties on our side, were 
 eleven killed, fifty-six wounded, and two 
 missing ; the loss of horses was very severe, 
 amounting to sixty-nine killed and wounded. 
 No less than 2,000 natives were stated to 
 have perished. § That evening, the Motee 
 Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, the most grace- 
 ful building in India, received the sick and 
 wounded. Mrs. Raikes and other ladie.i 
 divided themselves into watches, attending 
 night and day, at stated intervals, for several 
 weeks; and never, during the whole time, 
 was a word uttered by a soldier which could 
 shock the ears of their gentle nurses. || 
 
 All immediate cause of anxiety regarding 
 Agra being now removed, the column quitted 
 that city on the 15th of October. On the 
 18th, Brigadier Hope Grant, C.B., of H.M. 
 9th Lancers, joined the force, and assumed 
 the command. A halt was made at Myn- 
 poorie ; the abandoned fort blown up ; the 
 
 entitled The British Soldier in India (Dalton, 28, 
 Cockspur-street, 1860) ; especially one regarding 
 Campbell, a private of the 93rd Highlanders, whose 
 attachment to the Coolie who nursed him with 
 unwearying care, is touchingly told. The first 
 thing he (lid on rising from his sick bed, was to go 
 to the bazaar, purchase materials for a suit of 
 clothes (including a very smart turban) for his friend, 
 and have them made by a native tailor, under his 
 own inspection. Then he purchased a pair of white 
 kid gloves, as a Christmas gift for Miss Tucker.
 
 464 
 
 CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE OF TANTIA TOPEE. 
 
 rajah's property seized; and j625,00O, left 
 in the government treasury when the out- 
 break took place, were recovered and carried 
 away. On the 26th, the troops reached 
 Cawnpoor, and there halted, awaiting the 
 orders of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 Meanwhile Si' Colin Campbell had com- 
 pleted his onerous labours at Calcutta. The 
 difiSculties he had to contend with there, 
 were of a nature peculiarly trying to a 
 person of his active, resolute habit of mind. 
 His first trial arose from the dilatoriaess 
 of the authorities in Leadenhall-street ; 
 through which, at the very height of the 
 crisis, while the British public spoke of the 
 commander-in-chief as having been sent 
 out " under circumstances which made him 
 Tcry nearly a dictator," he was actually ex- 
 cluded from the Calcutta council for a 
 fortnight, waiting the reception of the 
 necessary forms; and when these arrived, 
 and he was at length sworn in, he found 
 himself only one of a council by no means 
 inclined to espouse his views; but, on the 
 contrary, opposed to many of them, and 
 specially to the rapidity and vigour of his 
 military arrangements, and to his con- 
 viction of the necessity of concentrating 
 the troops in large bodies upon the most 
 important points, even though such con- 
 centration might involve great immediate 
 local sacrifices. There was another diffi- 
 culty, the existence of which is clearly 
 traceable in Sir Coliu's despatches and 
 general orders — namely, the relaxation of 
 discipline among the European officers, 
 which had arisen from the practical dissolu- 
 tion of anything like a central authority; 
 the natural result being, that the com- 
 manders of garrisons and detached forts, 
 became accustomed to reason upon, instead 
 of to obey, an order; and disobeyed it 
 altogether, if, in their opinion, and looking 
 to the state of affairs around them, its 
 execution was inexpedient. The loose reins 
 were, however, gathered up by the new 
 commander-in-chief with quiet determi- 
 nation; and at length, the most weari- 
 some portion of his task being accom- 
 plished, he quitted Calcutta on the 27th 
 of October, and travelled, day and night, 
 by horse d&k to the seat of war. Between 
 the Soane river and Benares, he narrowly 
 escaped falling into the hands of a body of 
 the mutinous 32nd N.I., who were cross- 
 ing the road at the very moment he came 
 up. On the 1st of November he reached 
 Allahabad; and, on the 2nd, he arrived 
 
 at Futtehpoor (half-way to Cawnpoor), just 
 as a body of British troops, consisting 
 of H.M. 53rd Foot, 93rd Foot, the Naval 
 Brigade, under Captain Peel, and a company 
 of Royal Engineers, had defeated at Kudjwa, 
 twenty miles distant, a considerable force, 
 composed of the Dinapoor mutineers. The 
 action had been severe, and the victory for 
 some time doubtful.* 
 
 The mutineers had retreated to Calpee, 
 on the Jumna, to join a body of the Nana's 
 adherents, commanded by Tantia Topee, 
 whose name then, for the first time, took a 
 prominent position in the accounts of our 
 spies. Azira Oollah had been paramount 
 while treachery and massacre were viewed 
 as the means of elevating the Nana to a 
 throne; but now that military ability was 
 needful, the authority devolved on Tantia 
 Topee, a Brahmin, born at Ahmednuggur, 
 who had been from boyhood in the imme- 
 diate service of the Nana. To the moment 
 of his death he persisted in denying having 
 borne any part in the Cawnpoor massacre ; 
 and the probability is, that he spoke the 
 truth ; for his fearless, unyielding dis- 
 position rendered him indifferent to pleasing 
 or displeasing the Europeans. As a Brah- 
 min, the slaughter of women and children 
 must have been utterly repugnant to his prin- 
 ciples ; and his study of the old predatory 
 system of Mahratta warfare, would show him 
 that such crimes were denounced by the 
 greatest men of his nation. The zeal and 
 fidelity which he evinced in the service of 
 his hateful master, were extraordinary. 
 
 Tantia Topee was nearly fifty years of age ; 
 five feet six inches in height; stout, and well 
 made, with an intelligent face and a large 
 head, of great breadth from ear to ear. His 
 piercing black eyes were surmounted by 
 sharply-arched, grey eyebrows ; and the 
 hair, with which his head was abundantly 
 covered — as well as that of his beardj mous- 
 tache, and whiskers, was of the same colour. 
 His look and bearing gave promise of 
 prompt action^ and dogged fixity of purpose. 
 The mutineers rallied round him with a 
 confidence they never evinced in any other 
 leader; and it was under his banner that 
 the Gwalior contingent placed themselves 
 when, on the 13th of October, they broke 
 away from Sindia, and, after destroying 
 and defacing their late cantonments, quitted 
 Gwalior, burning and wasting the country 
 
 * Lord Clyde't Campaign ; by Lieutenant-colonel 
 Alison.— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magatine, Octo- 
 ber, 1888.
 
 SIR COLIN CAMPBELL AT THE ALUMBAGH— NOV. 12th, 1857. 46S 
 
 ns they went, to revenge themselves on the 
 Maharajah, whom tliey denounced as the 
 great enemy and betrayer of their cause. 
 They did not reach Calpee until nearly the 
 end of November : but the prospect of their 
 earlier arrival greatly increased the diffi- 
 culties of the commander-in-chief, whose 
 whole force, of all arms, did not exceed 
 4,200 men ; and who had to choose between 
 the rescue of the Luckiiow garrison from 
 the grasp of a strongly posted rebel army, 
 numl)ering at leaNt 60,000, and the safety 
 of the intrenched camp at Cawnpoor, which 
 covered the boat-bridge across the Ganges, 
 and commanded the line of communication 
 with Allaiiabad. At the same time, the re- 
 ports from the Punjab were not satisfactory ; 
 an uneasy feeling was officially spoken of, 
 wiiich was privately explained as meaning, 
 that the wild tribes round Mooltan had 
 risen and interrupted, if not cut off, our 
 communication with Lahore. 
 
 The position of Sindia, from being difficult, 
 was fast becoming one of personal peril ; 
 the example of the Gwalior contingent 
 going off in defiance, with a siege-train and 
 abundant munitions of war, being almost 
 irresistible to his household troops. Outrara 
 wrote from Lucknow (October 28th), ex- 
 pressing his anxiety "to prevent the force 
 being hurried from Cawnpoor to the Alum- 
 bagh ;" declaring, that it was obviously to 
 the advantage of the state that the Owalior 
 rebels, then said to be preparing to cross 
 into the Doab, should be first effectually 
 destroyed, and that the relief of Lucknow 
 should be a secondary consideration. The 
 post at the Alunibagh had been strength- 
 ened and supplied with food ; but of the 
 Lucknow garrison, Outram could only say — 
 " We can manage to screw on, if absolutely 
 necessary, till near the end of November, 
 on further reduced rations. Only the 
 longer we remain, the less physical strength 
 we shall have to aid our friends with when 
 they do advance, and the fewer guns shall 
 we be able to move out in co-operation." 
 This letter was unfortunate in its effect on 
 Sir Colin Campbell ; for he, knowing of old 
 the cheerful and unselfish spirit of Outram, 
 concluded the relief of Lucknow a matter 
 of more pressing necessity than was actually 
 the case ; for, as Outram afterwards avowed, 
 he was much deceived as to the quantity of 
 grain in store (which greatly exceeded the 
 estimated amount). He added, however — 
 "There was no doubt the few remaining 
 gun-bullocks would not suffice ; and I was \ 
 
 vni.. II. 3 o 
 
 fully prepared to eke out the time by eating 
 up our starving horses."* Sir Colin could 
 not entertain the idea of exposing the brave 
 garrison to this extremity : their speedy 
 rescue was clearly a paramount duty. On 
 the 9th of November he quitted Cawnpoor, 
 and, by a forced march of forty miles, joined 
 the troops then assembling near the Bun- 
 nee bridge. On the 11th, he reviewed his 
 small force in the centre of a vast plain, 
 surrounded by woods. There were H.M. 
 8th, 53rd, 75th, and 93rd regiments ; the 
 Highlanders (93rd) being 800 strong — 
 veterans, experienced, but not wasted, by 
 the Crimean campaign, and enthusiasti- 
 cally attached to their Scottish leader. 
 There were the 2nd and 4th Punjab in- 
 fantry, a small party of Native sappers 
 and miners, H.M. 9th Lancers, detachments 
 of Seik cavalry, and a squadron of Hodson's 
 Horse, under the command of Lieutenant 
 Gough. Captain Peel and his " blue- 
 jackets" were an invaluable addition to 
 the artillery. By great exertions, a small 
 siege-train, principally manned by the 
 sailors of Peel's Naval Brigade, had been 
 prepared, and commissariat arrangements 
 made, to overcome the difficulties under 
 which Havelock had succumbed. 
 
 Ou the following morning the force 
 started, and that same evening encamped 
 at the Alumbagh ; not, however, without 
 some opposition on the part of the enemy, 
 who came forth from the neighbouring fort 
 of Jellahabad, and attacked, with horse, 
 foot, and guns, the head of the column as 
 it approached the British post. The assail- 
 ants were quickly driven back, with the 
 loss of two field-pieces, taken in a brilliant 
 charge by Gough's squadron. On the 13th, 
 Sir Colin destroyed the fort of Jellahabad, 
 and communicated with Outram by means 
 of a semaphore telegraph, erected at the 
 Residency and the Alumbagh; while the 
 natives watched the working of the long 
 arms of the machine in Lucknow, and 
 vainly fired volleys of musketry against its 
 many-coloured flags. 
 
 It is said that Sir Colin originally pro- 
 posed to cross the Gooiutee, move up its 
 left bank, opposite the Residency, and, 
 under cover of his heavy guns, throw up a 
 bridge, and withdraw the garrison. But 
 Outram pointed out so many local difficul- 
 ties in this route, that Sir Colin abandoned 
 it, and adopted, instead, that suggested by 
 
 • LeHer, 27th July, 1858.— Russell's Diary, vol, 
 ii., p. 418.
 
 '1C6 ADVANCE FROM THE ALUMBAOIl TO LUCKNOVV— NOV. 14tu, ISoT. 
 
 Outram ; which was, to make a flank march 
 across countrr, and advance by tlie Dil- 
 koosha, Martiniere, and the line of palaces, 
 upon the Residency. 
 
 A brave and able European guide, per- 
 fectly acquainted with the locality, and the 
 I dative position of besieged and besiegers, 
 had joined the camp at Bunnee; and the 
 information ol)tained from him was very 
 important at this crisis. 
 
 A faithful Hindoo, named Canoujee Lai, 
 was the destined hearer of the despHtches 
 from the Residency, as well as of plans of 
 the city, and various directions calculated 
 to facilitate the advance; when an uncove- 
 nanted civilian, named Kavauagh, who had 
 boen acting as assistant field-engineer, 
 volunteered to accompany the native mes- 
 senger. Colonel R. Napier,chiefof Sir James 
 Outram'a staflp, communicated the offer to 
 the general. He hesitated to sanction so 
 perilous an attempt; but at last yielded 
 his consent. Kavanagh went home to his 
 wife and children, and parted from them 
 at seven o'clock in the evening of the 9th 
 of November, leaving his wife under the 
 impression that he was going on duty for 
 tlie night to the mines. Half-an-hour 
 later he presented himself to Sir James and 
 liis staff, disguised as a budmash — that is, 
 one of the ordinary mutineers of the city, 
 with sword and shield, native-made shoes, 
 tight trowsers, a yellow silk koortah (or 
 jacket) over a tight-fitting white muslin 
 shirt, a yellow-coloured chintz sheet thrown 
 lound his shoulders, a cream-coloured 
 turban, and a white waistband. His face, 
 throat, and hands were coloured with lamp- 
 black dipped in oil, no better material 
 being obtainable. This, the most important 
 ))art (if the disguise, was the least satisfac- 
 tory ; but Kavauagh trusted for success to 
 the darkness of the nijjht, to his conver- 
 Kance with the native language, and, most 
 of all, to the courage and tact of Canoujee 
 Lai, to shield him from notice ; and the 
 «'vent justified his confidence in his com- 
 ))anion. The two men passed through the 
 ])rincipal street of the city, and found it 
 dark, dreary, and deserted by the best 
 jiart of its inhabitants. They had to ford 
 the Goonitee, and to wade through one of 
 the large jheels or swamps common in 
 Oudc ; »u(\, in so doing, the colour was 
 nearly washed off the hands of Kavanagh. 
 The enemy were strongly posted round the 
 Alumbagh ; therefore Canoujee induced his 
 companion to proceed to the camp at Bun- 
 
 nee ; and Kavanagh, although his feet were 
 sore and bleeding with the hard, tight 
 native shoes, consented to do so. About 
 four o'clock in the morning of the 10th of 
 November they reached a British outpost, 
 and were speedily ushered into the presence 
 of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 Sir Colin fully appreciated the worth of 
 a service at once brilliant and useful: and 
 there is something characteristic in th»- 
 cordial praise with which he mentions, in 
 consecutive paragraphs of a despatch to 
 Calcutta, the gallantry of the uncovenanted 
 civilian, and that of a young nobleman 
 (Lord Seymour), also a volunteer, who 
 accompanied the force during the operations 
 for the relief of Luckuow. Mr. Kavanagh 
 received from government a present of 
 j62,000 in money, and admission into the 
 regular civil service of India. 
 
 The march from the Alumbagh com- 
 menced at nine o'clock on the morning of the 
 14th, the men having three days' food in their 
 havresacks. An expected reinforcement of 
 600 or 700 men (including portions of 
 H.M. 23rd and 82nd regiments) joined the 
 rear-guard after the advance had begun ; 
 raising the total force to about 4,000 men, 
 including 700 cavalry. The route taken 
 surprised the enemy j and no opposition was 
 made until the British advanced guard 
 approached the wall of the Dilkoosha park, 
 when a smart fire of matchlocks was opened, 
 and a considerable body of skirmishers fired, 
 under cover of a grove of old trees inside 
 the park ; their white dresses, and the bright 
 flash of their musketry, being conspicuuu* 
 as they glided from trunk to trunk. After 
 a running fight of about two hours, in 
 which our loss was very inconsiderable, 
 the enemy was driven down the hill to the 
 Martiniere college, across the garden and 
 park of the Martiniere, and far beyond tlie 
 canal. The Dilkoosha and the Martiniere 
 were occupied by the British troops; a bridge 
 over the canal was seized, and a lodguieni 
 effected in a part of the suburb on the 
 other side. The troops bivouacked for the 
 night without tents, with their arms by 
 their sides. The advance was to have been 
 resumed on the following day; but the 
 necessity of waiting for provisions and 
 small-arm ammunition from the Alumbngh, 
 which, by a misapprehciisiou of orders, liad 
 not arrived in time, caused twenty-four 
 hours' delay ; and it was not till early on 
 the 16th that the army was again iu 
 motion. The Martiniere and Dilkoosha
 
 CAPTURE OF THE SECUNDERBAGH— NOVEMBER 16th, 1857. 467 
 
 were still to be held ; and the consequent 
 deduction of troops, left Sir Colin only 
 3,000 bayonets wberewith to cut his way 
 through tbe 60,000 besiegers of the Resi- 
 dency. The first point of attack was 
 tlie Secunderbagh — an extensive building, 
 situated in a garden of 120 yards square, 
 surrounded by a high wall of solid masonry, 
 loopholed all round, and strongly gar- 
 risoned ; while opposite to it was a village, 
 at a distance of about 100 yards, also loop- 
 holed and filled with men. The British 
 force approached the Secunderbagh by a 
 lane, or narrow defile, through a wood ; 
 and the enemy was evidently again taken 
 by surprise. So hazardous did the move- 
 ment appear, that "a staff officer remarked 
 to his right-hand comrade — ' If these fellows 
 allow one of us to get out of this cul-de- 
 sac alive, they dcNcrve every one of them 
 to be hanged.' "* But the natives did 
 not recognise their opportunity until too 
 late. The guns were pushed rapidly for- 
 ward, and the troops passed at a gallop, 
 through a cross-fiie, between the village 
 and the Secunderbagh. With great labour 
 and peril. Captains Blount and Travers 
 brought their artillery to bear on the 
 inclosure; and, at the end of about an 
 hour and a-half, the building was carried 
 by storm, by portions of the 53rd, 93rd, the 
 4tli Punj.ib infantry, and a battalion of 
 detachments under Major Barnston. The 
 garrison had no means of escape ; the only 
 gate being held by the conquerors. Many 
 sepoys fought to the last ; but some begged 
 for mercy. None was shown :t not a man 
 escaped, and five or six women are said to 
 have been killed. J The slauj^hter was- ter- 
 rific: it was carried on by the officers with 
 revolvers, by the Seiks and Highlanders 
 witli muskets and swords, until sunset, when 
 more than 2,000 native corpses lay, in 
 weltering heaps, in that vast charuel-house.§ 
 When an entrance to the Secunderbagh 
 had been effected. Captain Peel went to 
 the front witli his naval siege-train, and ad- 
 vanced towards the Sliah Nujtef — a domed 
 mosque, with a parapet at the top, inclosed 
 in a loopholed wall, with an entrance 
 covered by a regular work in masonry. 
 A iieavy cannonade was commenced, and 
 
 • Colonel Alison. — Blackwood, Uctober, 1858. 
 
 t Gubbins, p. 397. 
 
 J Times, April 13th, 1857. 
 
 § Sir Culin Campbell himself states, in his des- 
 patch (Nov. 18th, 1857), that above 2,000 of the 
 •nemy werf rairied out dead. 
 
 maintained by the British for three hours; 
 but at the end of that time, it was manifest 
 that we were losing, not gaining ground. 
 "The men," Colonel Alison writes, "were 
 falling fast ; eveu Peel's usually bright face 
 became grave and anxious. Sir Colin sat. 
 on his white horse, exposed to the yh<ili- 
 storm of shot; looking iuteutly on the Shah 
 Nujeef, which was wreathed in columns of 
 smoke from the burning buildings in its 
 front, but sparkled all over with the bright 
 flash of small arms." 
 
 The heavy artillery proved insufficient to 
 the task : the place, if carried at all, must, 
 it was evident, be won by the aid of the 
 bayonet. The attempt could no longer 
 be delayed : the troops could advance no 
 further — could not even hold their present 
 position much longer, unless the fire of the 
 Shah Nujeef were subdued; and retreat 
 through the narrow lane could only be 
 effected with gresit difficulty, at a risk of 
 fearful loss, little short of extermination. 
 
 There was no alternative, and the assault 
 was made. Sir Colin, not contented with 
 directing the movement, himself took the 
 lead — a fact which he passes over in his 
 despatch ; giving the merit of the victory 
 eventually gained, exclusively to others. lu 
 this reserve he showed much judgment ; for 
 his habit of taking himself and his staff 
 into the thickest of the fight, was, in prin- 
 ciple, his weak point as a commander-in. 
 chief; yet, in practice, it became au element 
 of success. 
 
 The seeming contradiction between his 
 extreme economy of the lives of others, and 
 readiness to imperil iiis own, was very con- 
 spicuous in the early operations in Oude. 
 Whde voung oflBcers wrote home to their 
 parents to be of good cheer, for Sir Colin 
 " never expended a man where a bullet 
 wotdd serve his turn;" the more experienced 
 watched, with unceasing anxiety, the manner 
 in which, when men and not bullets were 
 needed to do the work, the life which was 
 incomparably of most value was instantly 
 placed in jeopardy. For glory or loot the 
 old Highlander cared little, if at all: lie 
 was free from any love of killing for its o« n 
 sake ill but he hud no ordinary amount 
 of that daring which " turns danger to 
 
 II In 1839, when Sir Colin Campbell was sent to 
 Hull to assist in quelling the disturbances amoiix 
 the colliers, Sir Charles Napier remarked, that he 
 was precisely the characterneeded: "a hardy soldier, 
 but gentle and just;" adding — " I want not bulli.-8 
 to join the civilians' cry for muraering tbe people to
 
 468 
 
 ATTACK ON THE SHAH NUJEEP-NOVEMBER 16th, 1857. 
 
 delight." He was never egotistical, and 
 rarely selfish; but when peril was to be en- 
 countered, then he seized the lion's share, 
 and eagerly took his place in front of his 
 troops — a mark for the foe. Tiiat lie should 
 have escaped safe in life and limb is mar- 
 vellous. It is, however, possible that he may 
 have considered the hazard he encountered, 
 justified by its effect on the troops. 
 
 " The Shah Nujeef [he writes] waa stormed in the 
 boldest manner by the 93rd Highlanders, under 
 Brigadier Hope, supported b} a battalion of detach- 
 ments under Major Barnston, who was, I regret to 
 ■ay, severely wounded ; Captain Peel leading up his 
 heavy guns, with extraordinary gallantry, within a 
 few yards of the building, to batter the massive 
 (tone walls. The withering fire of the Highlanders 
 etlectually covered the Naval Brigade from great 
 loss; but it was an action almost unexampled in 
 war. Captain Peel behaved very much as if he 
 had been laying the Shannon alongside an enemy's 
 frigate."* 
 
 Only Sir Colin^ knowledge of the weak- 
 ness of Native troops without European 
 guidance — or, to use his own comparison, of 
 the ineflSciency of the bamboo spear 'with- 
 out the steel tip, could have justified liim in 
 an attempt to storm such a place as the Shah 
 Nujeef. Just as a practised chess-player 
 will overwhelm a novice with a stroke which 
 he could not venture upon with a more 
 equal adversary ; so Sir Colin, accustomed 
 to Indian warfare, knew that the danger of 
 burling his troops against those stone walls, 
 was worth risking for the sake of the 
 advantage which might be gained by the 
 British, could they succeed iu inspiring the 
 enemy with the madness of panic. 
 
 These anticipations were realised : the 
 natives succumbed at the very moment when 
 the victory was theirs ; but they lacked 
 intelligence to see, and nerve to grasp it. 
 The struggle was long and severe, as the 
 following particulars will show. They are 
 gathered partly from private sources, but 
 chiefly from Colonel Alison's graphic nar- 
 rative ; the authorship of which is evidenced 
 by the omission of any notice of the service 
 rendered, and the wounds received, by him- 
 self and his younger brother. When the 
 artillery failed. Sir Colin collected the 93rd 
 around him, and told them that he had not 
 intended to liave employed them again that 
 
 make an example. One may be required — so much 
 the worse; but let not soldiers seek occasion for it, 
 as almost all the civil gentlemen seem to do : let us 
 avoid that as we would sin and death." — Zife of 
 Xupier. 
 
 • Despatch, Nov. 18tli, 1857.— iomfon Gazette, 
 January 16th, 1858. 
 
 day; but that the Shah Nnjeef must be 
 taken by them with the bayonet; and he 
 would go with them himself. 
 
 The Highlanders were ready, quite ready, 
 to follow Colin Campbell to the death ; and 
 not they only : the whole of the troops 
 recognised the calm courage of the leader 
 who never exposed a roan of them to any 
 needless peril or fatigue : they knew he 
 had counted the cost, and were willing to 
 share with him a danger as great as that 
 to which the six hundred rode at Balaklava. 
 The object to be gained was incomparably 
 greater. The lives at stake were not merely 
 those of soldiers, who might well be ready 
 to die sword in hand : it was to rescue 
 women and children that Sir Coliu now 
 led the desperate assault. 
 
 At the word of command, the royal ar- 
 tillery (Middleton's battery) dashed forward 
 with loud cheers, the drivers waving their 
 whips, the gunners their caps, as they 
 galloped past Peel's guns ; and, in the 
 teeth of a deadly fire, uiilimbered, and 
 poured in round after round of grape. 
 Peel worked his pieces with redoubled 
 energy ; and under cover of this iron storm, 
 the 93rd " rolled on in one vast wave." 
 The commander-in-chief rode first with his 
 sword drawn, his form as upright, his eye 
 as keen, as when he led the stormers at St. 
 Sebastian in 1812. His staff crowded round 
 him. The men fell fast; but the column 
 continued to advance without a check till 
 it reached the foot of the loopholed wall, 
 which was uenrly twenty feet high. There 
 was no breach, and the assailants had no 
 scaling-ladders. Two of Peel's guns were 
 brought to bear within a few yards of the 
 waif; and, covered by the fusiUndo of the 
 infantry, the sailors shot fast and strong: 
 but though the masonry fell off in flakes, 
 it left the mass behind, perpendicular, and 
 inaccessible as ever. The muskets of the 
 garrison did great execution ; the officers 
 on hor.Neliiick were nearly all wounded or 
 dismounted. Sir Colin was not touched 
 at this time, but had been slightly wounded 
 earlier iu the day, by a ball which reached 
 him after passing through the head of a 
 93rd grenadier. The elder of the Ali^on.s, 
 while riding a little in advance of Sir 
 Colin, in the hope of shielding iiim, was 
 struck in the elbow and wrist by two balls, 
 fired from a wall-piece, which shattered 
 his left arm to pieces. The younger, whose 
 sword had been shivered to pieces in his 
 hand while he rode up with the storming
 
 1.UCKN0W RESIDENCY RELIEVED BY CAMPBELL—NOV., 1857. 469 
 
 party to the Secuiiderbagh, had a second 
 narrow escape. He was struck from his 
 horse by n ball in the breast, which glanced 
 off roiitid his ribs, and came out at his 
 back, instead of passing through his heart. ] 
 The remiiiniiig members of the staff — Baird, 
 Metcalfe, and Foster, with the two gallant 
 volunteers, Lord Seymourand Mr. Kavanagh, 
 who were actively employed in conveying 
 Sir Colin's orders, and searching along the 
 wall for somq breach at which the men 
 might enter — all had their horses hit in 
 two or three places. Brigadier Hope (whose 
 "towering form and gentle smile" were 
 eagerly watched by the Highlanders) and 
 his aide-de-camp were rolling on the ground i 
 at the same moment. 
 
 Sir Colin's brow grew anxious and care- 
 worn. By his orders the dead and wounded 
 were carried to the rear, and some rocket- i 
 frames brought up, and thrown with ad- ' 
 mirable precision into the interior of the 
 building. Under cover of this movement I 
 the guns were drawn off; and no one, not 
 Sir Colm himself, anticipated the degree of 
 alarm produced on the garrison by the fiery 
 projectiles. As the last throw of a despe- 
 rate game, Adrian Hope, collecting some 
 fifty men, stole cautiously through the 
 jungle, and reached, unperceived, a portion 
 of the wall, where he had noticed a narrow 
 fissure. Up this a single man was, with 
 some difficulty, pushed : he saw no one 
 on the inside; and was quickly followed 
 by Hope, Ogilvy,* Allgood,t and others. 
 These pushing on, to their astonishment, 
 found themselves almost unopposed, and, 
 gaining the gate, threw it open for their 
 comrades, who entered in time to see the 
 white dresses of the last of the garrison 
 before they disappeared at the back of the 
 fortress, being soon hidden in the rolling 
 smoke and the dense shadows of night. 
 The destruction caused by the rockets, and 
 the unexpected appearance of some of the 
 British within the walls, had produced the 
 evacuation of the fortress. 
 
 The day's operations were thus brought 
 to a successful close. Once again the men 
 bivouacked under the canopy of heaven. 
 No tents had been brought, and no camp- 
 fires could be lighted. Before the morning 
 dawned, the bells of the city rang out loud 
 and clear; the beating of many drums was 
 heard ; and in expectation of an impend- 
 ing attack, the British ranks were formed. 
 
 • Attached to the Madras sappers. 
 t AMiRtsnt tjuartermatter-general. 
 
 None such was, however, attempted; and 
 preparations were made for the expulsion 
 of the enemy from the buildings which 
 intervened between the Shah Nujeef and 
 the Residency. Outram, on his part, was 
 not idle. He blew up the enemy's works 
 near him; brought artillery to bear upon a 
 building, known to the Europeans as the 
 Mess-house of the 32nd regiment, but 
 which, under the native rule, was called the 
 Koorsheyd Munzil, or Happy Palace ; made 
 vigorous sorties, and opened a heavy fire 
 on the Tara Kohtee and the Kaiserbagh, 
 from his heavy guns, howitzers, and mor- 
 tars. By the afternoon the communication 
 was open ; and although the road was ex- 
 posed to the rausket-shot of the enemy, 
 Outram and Havelork ran the gauntlet, 
 and rode forth to meet- their deliverer. A 
 long glad shout rang forth from the troops 
 as they watched the evident satisfaction 
 with which Sir Colin received the hearty 
 thanks and congratulations of Outram. J 
 Mansfield, Hope Grant, Adrian Hope, Peel, 
 Greathed, Ewart, Norman, Hope John- 
 stone, Baird (Sir David), Anson, Gough, 
 the Alisons, and scores of other officers 
 were individually welcomed ; and the de- 
 fending and relieving force shook hands in 
 a tumult of joyous excitement. The gain 
 was great, but the cost heavy. The total 
 British casualties were 122 killed, and 414 
 wounded. 
 
 The relief of the Residency was speedily 
 followed by its evacuation ; for Sir Colin 
 knew that his presence was imperatively 
 needed at Cawnpoor. He had resolved on 
 seeing the women and children placed in 
 safety ; and, if possible, without subjecting 
 them to the chance of a stray shot. Sir 
 James Outram thought that if the Kaiser- 
 bagh were destroyed, two strong brigades 
 of 600 men would suffice to hold the city. 
 Sir Colin considered, that to leave another 
 small garrison in Luck now, would be " to 
 repeat a military error;" and resolved ou 
 placing a strong movable division at the 
 Alumbagh, as the best means of holding 
 the city in check, and overawing the sur- 
 rounding country. The Residency was, he 
 said, a false po.>>ition, and could not be 
 reached without severe loss on the part of 
 a relieving army : he further avowed his 
 opinion, ttiat the annexation of Oude was 
 an impolitic measure, and unpopular with 
 all classes. § 
 
 X Rees' Siege of Lucknow, p. 326. 
 § Gubbins' ilutinies in Oudh, p. 411.
 
 470 
 
 BRITISH EVACUATE LUCKNOW— NOV. 22nd, 1857. 
 
 The order for withdrawal was given by 
 Sir Ci)Iiii immediately after liis arrival at 
 the Resiliency ; and everything whs done 
 to disguise from the enemy the prepara- 
 tions which were being made for the evacu- 
 ation of the position so long and resolutely 
 defended. Tlie Kaiserbagh was bombarded 
 on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of Novem- 
 ber; and the rebels, in momentary ex- 
 pectation of the storming of the three 
 breaches made in the walls, never dreamed 
 of wiiat was taking place within the Resi- 
 dency compound. 
 
 On the night of the 19th, the women 
 and children, the sick and wounded, the 
 state prisoners, the king's treasure and 
 jewels, £240,000 in money, and all the 
 guns worth taking away, were safely trans- 
 ferred from the Residency to the camp of 
 Sir Colin Campbell at the Dilkoosha, with- 
 out exciting the notice of the enemy. The 
 removal was attended with extreme anxiety 
 to the commander-in-chief; who, moreover, 
 then ascertained that his movements had 
 been needlessly hastened by the unfortu- 
 nate mistake regarding the quantity of 
 grain remaining m store, which was proved 
 by the amount left behind for want of 
 means of carriage. The proceedings, at 
 this crisis, excited great interest in Eng- 
 land, and every little detail was seized and 
 dwelt on in the newspapers. Many of the 
 alleged incidents were wholly fictitious. 
 The anecdote related by Mr. Rees, and 
 alluded to by other writers,* regarding the 
 surprise witii which Sir Colin beheld the 
 dainties set before him at " Gubbins' 
 house ;" and his alleged inquiry, " why 
 they had not been given to the starving 
 garrison?" — had its origin in Lucknow; 
 which was not the case with the tale re- 
 garding the Scotchwoman, who was alleged 
 to have been the first to communicate to 
 the Lucknow gaiTison the approach of the 
 relieving force ; she hearing the pibroch of 
 the Highlanders playing the "Campbells 
 are coming," when dull lowland ears conld 
 detect nothing but the accustomed roar of 
 cannon. The " Jessie Brown" storyf — for 
 
 • See Captain Goode's (64th regiment) Letter, 
 published in the Times, January 15th, 1858. 
 
 t It was originally a little romance, written by a 
 French governess at Jersey, for the use of her pupils j 
 which found its way into a Paris paper; thence 
 \o the Jersey I'inies ; thence to the London Times 
 (December 12th, 1857); and afterwards appeared in 
 nearly all the journals of the United Kingdom. 
 
 J rimes, April 13th, 1857. Mr. Kussell adaed, 
 that " in order to make a proper effect, most of the 
 
 such was the name of the fictitious heroine- 
 like the writing on the Cawnpoor slaughter- 
 house, carried its own refutation with it ; 
 but the report regarding Sir Colin had 
 more probability. It was inconect ; for 
 he never visited Gubbins' house, much 
 less dined there. His life was, however, 
 one tinvarying protest against luxury; and 
 Mrs. Inglis, in describing him to her friends 
 in England, remarks — " Sir Colin is much 
 liked : he is living now exactly as a private 
 soldier; takes his rations, and lies down 
 whenever he can, to rest." The insight 
 wliich the different narratives of the siege 
 afford into the strangely varied phases of 
 life in Lucknow (so opposite to the mo- 
 notonous uniformity of misery endured at 
 Cawnpoor, where every vestige of conveu- 
 tionality had perished), renders it easy to 
 understand Mr. Russell's account of the 
 embarrassing ingredient which the care of 
 so many ladies and children (not to men- 
 tion ladies' maids) formed in the calcula- 
 tions of the commander-in-chief. '"He 
 was in a fever at the various small delays 
 which they considered necessaiy ; and, 
 courteous as he is to women, he for ouce 
 was obliged to be 'a little stern' when he 
 found the dear creatures a little unreason- 
 able." The prolonged discussion regarding 
 the amount of luggag3 to he taken, and 
 the pleading for " these few little clothes- 
 tiunks," must have been trying to the 
 courteous, kindly old bachelor, whose own 
 notions of necessaries and comforts were 
 almost Spartan in simplicity: but he "sus- 
 tained his position with unflinching forti- 
 tude ; till at length, when he thought he had 
 seen the last of them out of the place, two 
 young ladies came trippingly in, whisked 
 about the Residency for a short time, and 
 then, with nods and smiles, departed, 
 saying, graciously, ' We'll be back again 
 presently.' ' No, ladies, no ; you'll be 
 good enough to do nothing of tlie kind,' 
 exclaimed he : ' you have been here quite 
 long enough, I am sure; and I have had 
 quite enough trouble in getting you out 
 of it.' "t 
 
 ladies came out in their best gowns and bonnets. 
 Whether ' Betty gave the cheek' a little touch of 
 red or not, I cannot say ; but I am assured the arrtiy 
 of fashion, though somewhat behind the 8ea>on, 
 owing to 'he difficulty of communicating with the 
 Calcutta modistes, was very creditable.' Captain 
 Goode states, concerning the evacuation of the Kr- 
 sidency — "The ladies had to walk out; and I went 
 to see them, expecting to find them looking very 
 miserable. Instead ol that, they looked quite well,
 
 DEATH OP SIR HENRY HAVELOCK-NOV. 21st, 1857. 
 
 .171 
 
 The retirement of the garrison com- 
 menced at midnight on the 22nd, under 
 cover of Sir Colin's outposts : then these 
 were quietly withdrawn; the pickets fell 
 back through the supports ; the supports 
 glided away between the intervals of the 
 reserve; the reserve, including the com- 
 mander-in-chief, silently defiled into the 
 lane ; while the enemy, seeing the lights 
 and fires still burning, and no particular 
 change in the general aspect of the place, 
 thought the Residency still occupied, and 
 kept up the usual desultory nigiit-firing of 
 matchlocks and musketry. 
 
 Ou the morning of the 23rd, with the 
 last straggler* safe within his camp. Sir 
 Colin issued a general order, in which he 
 expressed his gratitude to the force under 
 his command, in the manner of a man who 
 draws his breath freely after a tedious, 
 perilous adventure. With regard to the 
 arduous duty performed by the troops. Sir 
 Colin used these remarkable words : — 
 
 " From the morning of the 16th, till last night, 
 tlie wliole force has been one outlying picket, never 
 out of fire, and covering an immense extent of 
 ground, to permit the garrison to retire scathless 
 and in safety, covered by the whole of the relieving 
 force. » • • The movement of retreat of last 
 night, by which the final rescue of the garrison was 
 effected, was a model of discipline and exactness. 
 The consequence was, that the enemy was completely 
 deceived, and 4.he force reUred by a narrow tortuous 
 lane — the only line of retreat open in the face of 
 60,000 enemies — without molestation."')' 
 
 The arrival at the Dilkoosha was clouded 
 by the death of Sir Heniy Havelock, who 
 had borne that designation only four days, 
 having learnt from Sir Colin the news of 
 his uomitiation as a Knight Commander of 
 the Bath. The honours and wealth in 
 store for his family he could hardly have 
 
 dressed up ^ith white kid gloves; and made me feel 
 quite ashamed of my dirty appearance, as I had 
 been sleeping on the ground, in the dirt, for several 
 nights." — Times, January loth, 1857. 
 
 * Captain Waterman was left behind asleep. He 
 woke two hours after the departure of the garrison, 
 and, terrified at his position, ran on and on tlirough 
 the darkness of night, till, breatliless and exhausted, 
 he at length overtook the rear-guard. The shock 
 affected his intellect for some time. — Rees, p. 347. 
 t Sir Colin Campbell's despatch, 23r(l Nov., 1857. 
 \ When the news of Havelock's death reached 
 England, many verses were written in honour of his 
 lemory. One of his biographers declared — 
 "Ihe heralds have made search, and found his 
 lineage of the best: 
 He stands amid the sons of God, a son uf 
 God confess'd !" 
 
 Itev. W. Brock's Havelock, p. 273. 
 .' unch also made gome strong assertions ; but 
 
 anticipated, much less the extraordinary, 
 though ephemeral, enthusiasm felt for him 
 in England — ephemeral, that is, in its ex- 
 aggeration; for, beyond all question, its 
 object was a good and gallant man, and 
 will doubtless be esteemed as such, when 
 the reaction caused by indiscriminate lauda- 
 tion shall have passed away. , His career 
 had been an arduous one; and he sank 
 quickly, but gently, at the last; his com- 
 plaint (dysentery) being aggravated by the 
 " bread-want," so severely felt at Lucknow. 
 Mr. Gubbins, who went to the general's 
 tent the day before his death, approached 
 the dhoolie in which he lay, and found 
 young Havelock seated on the -ground be- 
 side his father, with one arm powerless, in 
 a sling, and with the other supplying the 
 wants of the dying man, who would allow 
 no one to render him any attendance but 
 his son. Sir Henry expired on the 24th; 
 and his remains were carried to the Alum- 
 bagh, and there interred. J 
 
 The whole force — women and children, 
 sick and wounded, treasure and baggage — 
 reached the Alumbagh witluiut molesta- 
 tion ; and, on the 27th, Sir Colin, leaving 
 4,000 men with General Outram, started 
 for Cawnpiior with about 3,000 men, 
 and the women, children, and treasure 
 rescued from Lucknow. He took with 
 him the wounded uf both forces. In all, 
 2,000 helpless persons had to be borne 
 alung by troops only one-third more nu- 
 merous. Bunuee bridge was safely reached 
 the same evening ; the general encamped a 
 little bevond it, and there heard heavy 
 firing in the direction of Cawnpoor. No 
 news had been received from that place for 
 several days, and it was evidently necessary 
 to press forward as quickly as possible. 
 
 they were limited in their scope to this present 
 life J and ended with the following line — 
 
 " Dead, he keeps the realm he saved !" 
 Mr. Russell (who left England in December) was 
 surprised at finding, that" amonghis fellow-travellers, 
 the [Anglo] Indians on board did not, as a general 
 rule, exhibit much enthusiasm about Havelock." 
 Still greater was his astonishment at visiting the 
 grave at the Alumhagh, and finding it in the un- 
 clean garden-ground, used as a halting-place by the 
 drivers of sheep and oxen along the Cawnpoor 
 road. The letter H, rudely carved on a tree, marked 
 the spot ; and at the fool of it was a trench, about 
 six feet long and three broad, which was filled with 
 mud. The ground had " apparently fallen in, as if 
 the wood or brick which had been used to protect 
 the coffin, had become decayed." Such was the 
 condition of Havelock's grave, November 28th, 1858. 
 — Russell's Diary in India in the Year 186S-'9) 
 vol. ii., p. 336.
 
 472 GEN. WINDHAM AND THE G^ALIOR CONTINGENT— NOV. 20, l»r»,. 
 
 Eiirly on the following morning, the troops, I the intrenchment."§ The difficulty lay in 
 
 convoy and all, were again in motion. 
 Shortly after the march was resumed, two 
 or three notes were successively brought to 
 Sir Culin — first announcing that Cawnpoor 
 had been attacked ; secondly, that General 
 Windham, the officer in command, was 
 hard pressed ; and thirdly, that be had 
 been obliged to fall back from outside the 
 city into his intrenchment. 
 
 Cawnpoor. — General Windham (an officer 
 well known in connection with one of the 
 most conspicuous features in the Crimean 
 war — the attack on the Redan) had re- 
 ceived intelligence of the advance of the 
 Gwalior contingent, and had asked, and 
 obtained leave, about the 14th of Novem- 
 ber, to be allowed to detain detachments 
 instead of forwarding them to Lucknow, 
 by which means his garrison was increased, 
 until, on the 26th of November, it numbered 
 1,700 effective men. Among the officers 
 was Captain Mowbray Thomson, one of 
 the four survivors of the first Cawnpoor 
 massacre. His exertions mainly contributed 
 to the timely construction of the fort 
 erected there ; which, after all, was but " an 
 indifferent teie-de-pont, covering the bridge 
 which was thrown at that point over the 
 Ganges."* An eye-witness writes—" But 
 for his working hand-to-hand with his men 
 and artificers, from day dawn to dark, day 
 by day, as though he had a frame of iron, 
 nerves of steel, and an indomitable will, the 
 most important works would have remained 
 unfinished -vhen the late fearful storm broke 
 upon u»."t Captain Thomson's knowledge 
 of native character, and his kindly disposi- 
 tion, gave him great influence with the 
 natives, 4,000 of whom were constantly 
 employed; the digging being done by the 
 men, who received twopence a-day for 
 lal)ouring from sunrise to sunset; the 
 women and childuen, iwho carried away 
 tlie earth in their hands, earning each a 
 penny. J 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell's instructions to 
 General Windham were, " not to move out 
 to attack, unless compelled to do so by 
 circumstances, to save the bombardment of 
 
 * Defence of Cawnpoor in November, 1857; by 
 Colonel Adye, C.B. ; p. 3. 
 
 t Letter dated " Cawnpoor, December Vth." — 
 Times, January 28[h, 1858. 
 
 I Thomson's Story of Cawnpoor, p. 221. 
 § Colonel Adye's Defence of Cawnpoor. 
 
 II Sir Colin, in conversing with Mr. Russell at 
 Cawnpoor, " laid the greatest stress on the all- 
 importance of handling soldiers judiciously when 
 
 deciding what circumstances would warrant 
 a movement which at Lucknow and at 
 Agra had produced such disastrous results. 
 General Windham considered that it would 
 be better to r»in the risk of meeting, rather 
 than of waiting, the approach of the con- 
 joined force of the Nairn's troops and the 
 Gwalior contingent. He was quite new to 
 Indian warfare : he must have heard how 
 easily Havelock had driven the Nana from 
 his positions at Cawnpoor and at Bithoor ; 
 but he does not appear to have understood, 
 that the Gwalior contingent, a compact and 
 disciplined force, possessed of a siege-train, 
 and the knowledge needful for its use, 
 formed a new element iu the rebel cause ; 
 and neither he nor any other person, at 
 this time, suspected the ability of Tantia 
 Topee, or his manner of handling the Nana's 
 beaten and dispirited troops. Moreover, 
 the English force was composed of detach- 
 ments which had never before acted together 
 in the field ; and some of them (just airived 
 from England) had been engaged, under 
 Windham, in two unsuccesslul attacks 
 against the Redan — a circumstance winch 
 Sir Colin himself subsequently alluded to, 
 in reference to the second series of disasters 
 at Cawnpoor. II 
 
 On the morning of the 26tli of Novem- 
 ber, Windham set forth with 1,200 infantry, 
 100 sowars, and eight guns, in the hope of 
 repelling 20,000 men with 40 guns. After 
 marching eight or nine miles, he came upon 
 the advanced guard of the eiremy, drawn 
 up in the dry bed of the Pandoo Nuddee. 
 Falling upon them without a moment's 
 hesitation, he carried their position at the 
 first rush, and chased them through a vil- 
 lage half a mile in the rear; but soon the 
 main body of the rebels was seen advanc- 
 ing in such strength, that Windham gave 
 the order for retreat ; and, closely followed, 
 but not attacked, by the enemy, fell back 
 upon Cawnpoor, and encamped for the night 
 in a plain outside the city.^ 
 
 The next morning, the enemy, led by 
 Tantia Topee, suddenly surrounded and as- 
 saulted the force. Windham considering, 
 
 they are taken under 6re for the first time. 'It may 
 take years to make infantry which has once re- 
 ceived a severe check, feel confidence in itself again ; 
 indeed, it will never be done, perhnps, except by the 
 most careful handling. It is slill longer before 
 cavalry, once beaten, recover the dash and enterprise 
 which constitute so much of their merit. '" — Duiry, 
 vol. i., p. 20C. 
 
 % General Windham's despatch, Nov. 30th, 1857.
 
 BRIGADIER WILSON KILLED AT CAWNPOOR— NOV. 28th, i857. 473 
 
 it would appear, that he had only na- 
 tives to contend with, and quite unversed 
 in the Mahratta tactics which his opponent 
 had studied so zealously, left his flank ex- 
 posed, and made no provision for the safety 
 of his camp. At the end of five hours' 
 fighting in front, he proceeded, in person, 
 to ascertain the state of things in the in- 
 trenchments, and found that the enemy had 
 turned our flank, penetrated into the town, 
 and attacked the new fort. An order was 
 given for a general retirement within the 
 outer intrenchment. A panic ensued ; the 
 camp-followers fled ; and the advanced camp, 
 with much equipage and baggage, fell into 
 the liands of the enemy. In the hurried- 
 flight, a 24-pouuder was overturned and 
 abandoned in one of the narrow streets iu 
 the city. Colonel Adye and Captain Aus- 
 tin crept out at midnight with a hundred 
 men, and brought it in. 
 
 Still desirous of not entirely shutting 
 himself up within the intrenchments, the 
 general made arrangements for holding the 
 broken and wooded ground between the 
 town and the Ganges, where the church 
 and assembly-rooms stood. These build- 
 ings contained nearly all the field-stores 
 and luggMge of the commander-in-chief's 
 army ; which, with unaccountable impru- 
 dence, Windham had neglected to remove 
 within the works during the night of the 
 27th. Ou the following morning the enemy 
 occupied the town, erected batteries iu front 
 of it, and carried on the attack with such 
 vigour, that, before the close of the day, the 
 garrison had everywhere fallen back into 
 the intrenchments ; leaving the commissa- 
 riat stores, including 500 tents, 11,000 
 rounds of Enfield cartridges, a large quan- 
 tity of saddlery and harness, and similar 
 camp requisites (for the manufacture of 
 which Cawnpoof is famous), with officers' 
 and soldiers' baggage, and private property 
 valued at j£50,000, in the hands of the 
 rebels. There had been much determined 
 courage evinced during the day ; but its 
 results were marred by the want of effective 
 combination. The Rifle Brigade lung held 
 its ground most bravely ; but the palm 
 of sufleriiig and of during on tlisit calamitous 
 day, is generally accorded to H.M. 64th. 
 
 The guns from the centre battery of 
 the enemy were committing fearful havoc 
 amongst Brigadier Carthew's brigade. Per- 
 ceiving this, the colonel of the 64th, Briga- 
 dier Wilson, headed a successful charge on 
 the battery; but being unsupported, the 
 
 VOL. II. 3 f 
 
 advantage, dearly gained, was soon lost. It 
 appears that the movement was made with* 
 out the order of the general commanding} 
 for Windham, in his despatch, speaks of Bri- 
 gadier Wilson, as having " thought proper, 
 prompted by zeal for the service, to lead 
 his regiment against four guns, placed in 
 front of Brigadier Carthew." The regi- 
 ment (H.M. 64th) was represented by only 
 fourteen officers and 160 men ; but detach- 
 ments of H.M. 34th and 82iid, raised the 
 number associated in the attack to 300. 
 The chief loss fell on the 64th : seven 
 oflicers were killed, and two wounded ; while 
 of the men, eighteen were killed, and fiftefeu 
 wounded. Brave old Brigadier Wilson 
 (whose horse, wounded in two places, carried 
 him with difficulty over the rough ground) 
 was pushing on with all possible speed to 
 the front, shouting, " Now, boys, you have 
 them !" when he was struck down, mortally 
 wounded. The men carried him to -the 
 rear, while he continued to urge them to 
 maintain the honour of the corps. Major 
 Stirling then took command of the 64th, and 
 was killed in the act of spiking a gun ; as 
 was also Captain M'Crea, a very promising 
 officer, who was surrounded and cut to pieces 
 while spiking the enemy's fourth gun.* 
 
 It is said that the charge was not only 
 unsupported, but that the British guns 
 opened fire on the 64th ;t and Brigadier 
 Carthew mentions the fact of his own troops 
 firing in the dark into each other, as one 
 of the causes which rendered his position 
 untenable, and obliged him to retire with- 
 out permission, and without waiting for the 
 reinforcements which, in compliance with 
 his request, General Windham was then 
 bringing to his aid — a precipitancy cen- 
 sured by the commander-in-chief.J 
 
 The retirement of Brigadier Carthew was 
 but a part of the circle of misfortune which 
 seemed to be again closing round a British 
 garrison in Cawnpoor. The total losses, 
 during the three days, had exceeded 300 
 men ; and, worse than all, the heavy plunge 
 of round shot into the Ganges, near the 
 bridge of boats, showed that the enemy 
 understood the importance of endeavouring 
 to intercept the communication with tlie 
 force then on the road from Liicknow. The 
 vexed and weary garrison looked forward 
 
 • Letter from officer attached to the 64th — Times, 
 January 16th, 1858. 
 
 t Letter from a civilian, dated " Cawnpoor, Nov. 
 28th."— 2Vmes, January 16th, 185S. 
 
 X Sir Colin Campbell's despatch, Dec. 9th, 1857.
 
 474 CAWNPOOR RELIEVED BY SIR C. CAMPBELL— NOV. 28th, 1857. 
 
 anxiously to what the next morning, or even 
 the coming night, might produce, when the 
 clatter of a few horsemen was suddenly 
 heard as they passed over the hridge, and 
 ascended, at a rapid pace, the road which 
 led to the fort. The soldiers on the ramparts 
 joyfully announced the arrival of the fore- 
 runners of the relieving force. The parapet 
 WHS soon crowded ; and when the foremost 
 rider, an old man with grey hair, was 
 recognised as tlie commander-in-chief (he 
 having ridden on, with his staff, in advance 
 of the column), cheer after cheer greeted 
 his arrival J till the enemy, surprised at the 
 commotion, for a few minutes ceased firing. 
 
 The warmth of the reception was gratify- 
 ing ; hut the position in which Sir Colin 
 found himself, was one of complicated peril 
 and difficulty. The unauthorised retire- 
 ment of Brigadier Carthew occurred imme- 
 diately after Sir Colin's arrival in the fort, 
 and left the town in the hands of the enemy, 
 who took possession of it during the night, 
 and were allowed to retain it, because the 
 entire force was engaged in the protection 
 of the families and the wounded. The 
 passage of the river occupied thirty hours, 
 and was effected with perfect safety ; the 
 fire of Uie Naval Brigade (superintended by 
 Peel), and of all the field batteries, as well 
 as the guns from the intrenchmeut, having 
 succeeded in silencing the rebels, who then 
 proceeded to the assembly-rooms and ad- 
 joining houses, appropriated what they 
 could of the property stored therein, and 
 made a bonfire of the remaining commis- 
 sariat field-stores and baggage of the troops 
 returning from Lucknow, 
 
 Sir Colin's mortification at being com- 
 pelled to stand as it were with his hands 
 tied, and witness the conflagration, must 
 have been extreme. He had laboured 
 strenuously, while at Calcutta, to make full 
 provision for the troops, and now the work 
 had to be done again in his absence. His 
 telegram to Lord Canning, reveals his fear 
 of the procrastination which had already 
 aggiavated his difficulties ; and he entreats 
 his lordship "to give the most urgent orders 
 for tiie transmission of great-coats, &c., to 
 supply the deficiency occasioned by the 
 destruction of all the clothing of the eight 
 or ten regiments here and at Lucknow."* 
 
 Cool-headed as Sir Colin was when the 
 safety of others was concerned, the High- 
 land blood was apt to tingle in his fingers, 
 
 • Telegram, dated " Cawnpoor, December 2hd, 
 1867." 
 
 even when holding the pen ; and the caution 
 of the commander o\'«^ruling the daring 
 of the man, is conspicuous in the following 
 paragraphs of one of his most interesting 
 despatches : — 
 
 " I am obliged to submit -to the hostile occupation 
 of Cawnpoor, until the actual dispatch of all my 
 incumbrances towards Allahabad has been effected. 
 
 " However disagreeable this may be, and aUhough 
 it may tend to give confidence to the enemy, it is 
 precisely one of those cases in which no risk must 
 be run. I trust when the time has arrived for me 
 to act with due regard to these considerations, to 
 see the speedy evacuation of his present position by 
 the enemy."-!- 
 
 On the night of the 3rd of December, 
 Sir Colin got rid of his " incumbrances" — 
 all the families, and half the wounded, being 
 finally dispatched from the camp ; and, in 
 the course of the two following days, his 
 arrangements were completed for consign- 
 ing the remainder of the wounded to places 
 of safety. Meantime the enemy had vainly 
 striven to destroy the floating bridge by 
 fire-boats, and had been defeated in an 
 attack on the British pickets. 
 
 On the morning of the 6th, Sir Colin, 
 with a force composed of 5,000 infantry, 
 600 cavalry, and 35 guns, issued from 
 the intrenchments, to combat 25,000 men, 
 with 40 guns ; divided into two distinct 
 bodies — that of the Nana Sahib, under 
 the command of Tantia Topee and Bala 
 Sahib, the Nana's brother, having its 
 line of retreat on Bithoor ; and that of the 
 Gwalior contingent, whose retreat lay 
 towards Calpee. Sir Colin's plan was to 
 throw himself on the right of the foe, which 
 " was both tactically the weakest, and 
 strategically the most important, point to 
 gain;" defeat it before it could be rein- 
 forced from the centre ; " seize the camp of 
 the Gwalior contingent, and establish him- 
 self, a cheval, upon their line of retreat; 
 thus at once striking at his enemy's com- 
 munications, whilst he preserved his own. "J 
 
 The plan was admirable, and success- 
 fully executed. The struggle was protracted 
 through the day ; but it terminated in the 
 complete defeat and dispersion of the 
 enemy, and the capture of thirty-two of 
 their guns, with only ninety-nine casualties 
 on the part of the victors. The battle was 
 full of remarkable particulars ; hut Sir 
 Colin specially called the notice of the 
 governor-general to the " incalculable ser- 
 vice" rendered by " Captain Peel and his 
 
 t Despatch, December 2nd, 1857. 
 
 X Lieut.-colonel Alison. — Blackwood, Oct., 1858.
 
 BRITISH REOCCUPATION OF CAWNPOOR— DEC. 6th, 1857. 
 
 475 
 
 gallant sailors," in clearing the front with 
 their guns: addiog, that "on this occasion 
 there was the sight beheld of 24-pounder 
 guns advancing with the first line of skir- 
 mishers." The rout was complete, and was 
 most vigorously carried out. Sir Colin led 
 the pursuit of the Gwalior contingent ; and 
 Colonel Alison, in his graphic description 
 of the engagement, and of the condition of 
 the abandoned camp (which proved that the 
 onslaught had been unexpected), writes — 
 
 " For fourteen miles the caTalry and horse artil- 
 lery rode at the gallop ; at every step ammunition- 
 waggons and baggage-carts fell into our hands; 
 every body of infantry presenting any appearance 
 of consistency was ridden down and dispersed ; the 
 slaughter was great ; till at last, despairing of effect- 
 ing their retreat by the road, the rebels, disbanding 
 and throwing away their arms and accoutrements, 
 dispersed over the country on each side, and flying 
 into the jungle and the cultivation, shrouded them- 
 selves in its thick cover from the red sabres and 
 lances of the horsemen. • • * So complete was 
 the surprise, that, in the abandoned camp, the chupat- 
 ties were found heating upon the fires ; the bollocks 
 
 stood tied beside the hackeries; the sick and wounded 
 were lying in hospitals; the smith left his forge, 
 and the surgeon his ward, to fly from the avenging 
 bayonets. Every tent was found exactly as its late 
 occupants had sprung from it. Many arose too late, 
 for the conquerors spared none that (Jay ; neither 
 the sick man in his weakness, nor the strong man 
 in his strength."* 
 
 The triumphant reoccupation of Cawn- 
 poor was the last salient point in the 
 eventful year 1857. Sir Colin was anxious 
 to proceed against Futtelighur, but was 
 compelled to wait until the return of the 
 bullock-waggons aitd camels employed in 
 the transport of the women and children to 
 Allahabad, should afford him means of 
 transport to the array. Meantime, the 
 remains of the Gwalior contingent reas- 
 sembled at Caipee ; and Tantia Topee, 
 with wonderful energy and perseverance, 
 betook himself to the oft-repeated task, of 
 gathering together the Nana's rabble re- 
 tainers, who seemed to have been scattered 
 to the four winds of heaven. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 REOCCUPATION OF FUTTEHGHUR; SIEGE AND REOCCUPATION OF LUCKNOW.— 
 JANUARY, FEBRUARY, AND MARCH, 1858. 
 
 The object which the commander-in-chief 
 deemed most important, was the re-estab- 
 lishment of communication with Delhi and 
 Agra, by the reduction and reoccupation 
 of the Central Doab. A great concentric 
 movement was therefore made, by sweeping, 
 with several columns, the rebel masses from 
 all sides of the Doab upon Futtehgliur, and 
 thrusting them from thence across the 
 Ganges, into Oude and Rohilcund. Colonel 
 Seaton, with 1,900 men, marched from Delhi 
 by the Grand Trunk road, through the 
 Upper Doab, in the middle of December, 
 and, after defeating a large rebel force at 
 Gungeeree and Puttialee, took possession 
 of Myupoorie, after encountering and con- 
 quering ^Tej Sing, the rajah, outside the 
 wails. The position was important; Myn- 
 poorie being close to the junction of the 
 Agra and Delhi roads with tliat to Cawn- 
 • Black wood, October, 1858. 
 
 poor. Brigadier Walpole, with 2,000 men, 
 swept through the Lower Doab, in the 
 direction of Caipee and the Jumna, by 
 Akbarpoor and Etawah, and joined Seaton 
 at Bewur, near Myupoorie, whence the 
 combined force proceeded to Futtehghur. 
 
 Upon this point, Sir Colin, at the head 
 of the main body (about 5,000 strong), 
 likewise advanced, quitting Cawnpoor on 
 the 24th of December, and clearing the 
 country on his flanks as he advanced. 
 Apart from any immediate military object, 
 he considered it necessary, for the re-estab- 
 lishment of authoiity, that the march of 
 the troops should be deliberate ;t and, in a 
 military point of view, the execution of his 
 plan required, not haste, but precision, and 
 completeness of execution. Precision is 
 not easily obtained from Indian troops j 
 but Sir Colin, with the assistance of 
 t Six C. Campbell's despatch, January 6lh, 1868.
 
 476 BRITISH REOCCUPATION OP FUTTEHGHUR— JAN. 2nd, 1858. 
 
 General Mansfield, secured it in an unpre- 
 cedented degree, by exertions of which it 
 Would be impossible to calculate either the 
 amount or the value. Sir Colin had no 
 intention of marching to Futtehghnr, or 
 provoking an encounter with the nawab of 
 Furruckabad's troops, until the columns 
 under Seaton and Walpole should have 
 joined the main body : but on reaching 
 the iron suspension-bridge across the Kalee 
 Nuddee (Black River) on the 1st of 
 January, 1858, he found a party of the 
 euemy actively employed in endeavouring 
 to destroy the bridge. In this they failed : 
 the damage done was repaired in a few 
 hours ; and, on the following day, the troops 
 were preparing to cross it, when the nawab's 
 force, consisting of about four battalions 
 of regular infantry (41st N.I.), a large 
 body of cavalry, and eight guns, appeared 
 to obstruct the passage of the river. An 
 engagement followed, in which the British, 
 without losing a life, defeated the enemy, 
 captured eight guns (several of which had 
 never been fired, having come up too late), 
 and slaughtered great numbers of sf^poys; 
 the cavalry, under Hope Grant, pursuing 
 the fugitives for five or six miles, spearing 
 and cutting them down at every step, till 
 tliey found refuge in their camp close to 
 Futtehghnr fort. Pressing on the next 
 day, Sir Colin found the carap and fort, as 
 well as the town of Furruckabad, abandoned. 
 Tiie enemy had fled in such haste across 
 the Ganges, that they had not even cut the 
 boat-bridge in their rear, or destroyed the 
 gun-carriage manufactory, or set fire to 
 the great stores of seasoned wood which it 
 contained ; and thus property to the amount 
 of j6100,000 was saved to government. A 
 rebel chief, named Najir Khan, had at- 
 tempted to make a stand in Furruckabad ; 
 but he was given up, with some guns which 
 he had seized, by the inhabitants them- 
 selves, under the threat of the destrucliou 
 of the town. " He was executed," Colonel 
 Alison writes, "on the 4th, with some 
 
 * Mr. Power was afterwards suspended for 
 "seTerity. and other causes." — Times, July 7th, 1858. 
 
 + Mr. Russell, writingat Futtehghur in May, 1858, 
 states — " In this very place we hung a relative of the 
 nawab of Furruckabad, under circumstances of most 
 disgusting indignity, whilst a chaplain stood by 
 among the spectators. It is actually true that the 
 n.iserable man entertained one or two officers of a 
 British regiment in his p.-ilace the day before his 
 death, and that he believed his statements with 
 respect to his innocence were received ; but in a 
 tVw hours after he had acted as host to a colonel in 
 
 circumstances of needless cruelty, having 
 been forced to eat hog's flesh, and flogged 
 severely first — deeds unworthy of a great 
 and victorious people." The newly re- 
 instated magistrate, Mr. Power,* appears to 
 have been the person responsible for this 
 barbarity ; and Mr. Raikea mentions, that 
 two nawabs of Furruckaijadf were hung 
 on the 26th of January, by Mr. Power's 
 order, for being implicated in the murder* 
 and robberies of tlie British at Futtehghur. 
 Who these two men were, does not appear; 
 for magistrates were not, at this time, very 
 particular about establishing the identity 
 of the men they hung : but the real nawab 
 escaped, and eventually obtained a more 
 formal trial, and more lenient sentence. 
 His deserted palace was found to be full of 
 luxurious appliances ; mirrors, chandeliers, 
 pictures, books, were, in abundance : no 
 human beings remained there, except two 
 or three old women in the zenana; but 
 cats, parrots, and pet dogs roamed through 
 the spacious rooms, clamorous for food. 
 Round the family mausoleum, starving ani- 
 mals wandered — always, till then, cherished 
 for their rare beauty ; an elepliant had 
 broken loose, and helped himself to food ; 
 but seven beautiful horses, less fortunate, 
 were tightly fastened, and stood pawing 
 the ground, and looking piteously for some 
 one to give them the grain, ready steeped 
 for their use, which stood within sight, 
 but out of reach. 
 
 The reoccupation ■ of Futtehghur being 
 accomplished. Sir Colin desired to follow 
 up his advantage by the immediate invasion 
 of Rohilcund, and the destruction of the 
 rebel government established by Khan 
 Bahadoor Khan at Bareilly. He wished 
 to secure every step as he advanced — to 
 leave nothing behind him ; but steadily 
 (iressing on, to roll back the rebel force ou 
 one point, and destroy it there. Lord 
 Canning was oi' ;i different opinion ; and, 
 by the imperative orders of the governor- 
 general iu couQcil, the commander-in-chief 
 
 our army, he was pounced upon by the civil power, 
 and hanged in a way which excited the displeasure 
 of every one who savy it, and particularly of Sir 
 William Peel. All these kinds i)f vindictive, un- 
 christian, Indian torture, such as sewing Moham- 
 medans in pig-skins, smearing them with pork-fat 
 before execution, and burning their bodies, and 
 forcing Hindoos to defile themselves, are disgrace- 
 ful, and ultimately recoil on ourselves. Tliey art 
 spiritual and mental tortures to which we have nr 
 right to resort, and which we dare not perpetrat# 
 in the face of Europe." — Diary, vol. ii., p. 43.
 
 SIR COLIN CAMPBELL OVERRULED BY LORD CANNING. 
 
 477 
 
 (recognised as the first strategist in the 
 British army) was compelled to renounce his 
 matured plan ; and, instead of proceediug 
 to reduce Rohilcund, for which his force 
 was fully adequate, was obliged to attempt 
 the subjugation of Oude, for which it was 
 wholly insufficient, in consequence of the 
 strong detachments necessarily posted' at 
 numerous important stations, especially at 
 Cawnpoor and Futtehghur. This inter- 
 ference oame at a most unlucky moment; 
 for "the army waa concentrated, and in the 
 highest spirits ; the weather cool, and 
 admirably suited for militairy operations ; 
 the hot months coming on, wlien movement 
 is death."* Sir Colin behaved admirably. 
 Instead of quarrelling with Lord Can- 
 ning (as Sir Charles Napier had done with 
 Lord Dalhousie), he gave way ; remarking, 
 that " the governor-general has absolute 
 control over, and command of, the army in 
 the field, so far as the direction of the cam- 
 paign and .the points of operation are con- 
 cerued."f The general at once altered his 
 arrangements, and commenced concen- 
 trating his resources in men, stores, and 
 guns, on Cawnpoor ; while he continued at 
 Futtelipoor — a position which, by threaten- 
 ing alike Bareilly and Lucknow, gave no 
 indication of his intentions. Here he re- 
 mained for nearly a mouth, to the astonish- 
 ment of his own troops ; bearing, with quiet 
 dignity, the abuse of the Indian press, for 
 a delay which was forced upon him in 
 entire opposition to his own judgment.* 
 Friends and foes were equally ignorant of 
 his intentions; and, by various feints, he 
 kept the great mass of the Ruhilcund troops 
 on the watch for his expected movements. 
 The rebels heard that he had personally ex- 
 amined the broken bridge over the Rani- 
 gunga river; and soon after this, 5,000 of the 
 Rohilcund troops, with five guns, crossed 
 the Ganges twelve miles above Futtehghur, 
 and seized upon Shumsabad, a village in 
 which British autliority had been re-estab- 
 lished. On the 27th of January, Brigadier 
 Hope marched out against them, drove 
 tliem from Shumsabad, captured their cainp 
 and four of their guns, and pursued them 
 for nine miles. 
 
 On the 4th of February, Sir Colin's pre- 
 parations were sufficiently advanced to ren- 
 
 • Colonel Alison. — Blackwood, October, 1858. 
 
 t Russell's Diary, vol. L, p. 211. 
 
 I The general order issued by Sir Colin Campbell 
 *t the close of the campaign of I857-'8, contained a 
 reference to the plan of operations, as having b<;eri ex- 
 
 der him indifferent to further concealment ; 
 he therefore proceeded to Cawnpoor, and 
 from thence paid a short visit to the gover- 
 nor-general, who was then at Allahabad. On 
 returning to Cawnpoor, Sir Colin expressed 
 himself ready to march on Lucknow. But 
 Lord Canning again interposed an obstacle. 
 Jung Bahadoor, at the head of 9,000 
 Goorkas, was on his way to join the army ; 
 and would, it was considered, feel slighted 
 if the attack on Lucknow were made with- 
 out him. Sir Colin, who had by this time 
 made ample provision for doing his own 
 work in his own way, bore this new impe- 
 diment with manifest impatience ; until at 
 length, wearied by the repeated delays of 
 the Goorkas (caused by their bad organisa- 
 tion, and deficient arrangements regard- 
 ing transport, food, and ammunition), he 
 obtained from Lord Canning an unwilling 
 assent (given in very vague terms) to start 
 without waiting for these auxiliaries. To- 
 wards the end of February the move com- 
 menced, and the army was seen massing 
 itself all along the road between Calpee 
 and Bunnee, like a snake gathering up fold 
 after fold, in readiness for a spring. The 
 enemy at Lucknow watched with afi'right 
 the strength of the force which they saw 
 gathering with such slow, sure, almost 
 mechanical action. Huzrut Mahal, the 
 Begum of Oude, with prayers and tears, 
 besought the chiefs to drive Outram from 
 the Alumbagh before the main army should 
 join him. On one occasion, when indig- 
 nantly haranguing the durbar, she sud- 
 denly tore the veil from her beautiful 
 face, and denounced her astonished hearers 
 for their indifference to the wrongs and 
 suff"erings of their countrywomen. Re- 
 peated, but wholly unsuccessful, attempts 
 were made on the Alumbagh ; and in one 
 of these (25th of February), the Begum 
 appeared in the field, mounted on an ele- 
 phant. But her efl'orts were all in vain: 
 iier short, uneasy term of power was well- 
 nigh over ; and she was to be driven forth, 
 a hunted fugitive, from her native city : she 
 had little to hope from the chances of war; 
 for Colin Campbell, with 20,000 men and 
 180 guns, was advancing, with the avowed 
 resolve of crushing all opposition with artil- 
 lery. " No matter how long it may take," 
 
 clusively framed by Lord Canning. This order was 
 commented on in parliament by the Earl of Ellen- 
 borough, Sir James Graham and others, aa proving 
 the extent to which the plans of the commander-in- 
 Luief bad been overruled by the governor-genentl.
 
 478 
 
 THE CONQUEST OF LUCKNOW— MARCH 16th, 1858. 
 
 he said ; " I am determined to have no 
 street fighting. I'll not have my men shot 
 down from houses." 
 
 The progress of the siege has been mi- 
 nutely described by Mr. Russell, in whom Sir 
 Coliu placed entire confidence. The "cor- 
 respondent" reached the camp shortly before 
 the march commenced ; and even he was un- 
 able to find words in which to bring before 
 the " mind's eye a train of baggage animals, 
 twenty-five miles long ; a string of 16,000 
 cameU; a siege-train park, covering a square 
 of 400 by 400 yards, with 12,000 oxen at- 
 tached to it ; and a following of 60,000 
 non-combatants." The baggage of the 
 commander-in-chief was contained in a 
 couple of small portmanteaux, and he lived 
 in a subaltern's tent. The chief of the 
 staff was, it is said, equally moderate in his 
 personal requirements ; and it is easy to 
 understand, that Sir Colin and General 
 Mansfield, overwhelmed by the mass of 
 baggage indispensable to the efficiency of 
 the healthy men, and the care of the sick 
 and wounded, were anxious to set the 
 officers an example of abstaining from need- 
 lessly increasing the burden. 
 
 The army, though large and well ap- 
 pointed^ was of course not sufficient for the 
 investment of a city twenty miles in cir- 
 cumference ; but Sir Colin considered that 
 by operating from both sides of the Goom- 
 tee, it would be possible to enfilade many 
 of the enemy's new works, and to close the 
 great avenues of supply against the town. 
 Sir James Oiitram, who had been with- 
 drawn from the Alumbagh, was directed 
 to cross the river, advance up the left 
 bank, and turn the first line of the works, 
 formed by the rampart running along the 
 canal and abutting on the river, which he 
 crossed by means of bridges of casks, pre- 
 viously constructed, and ready in the engi- 
 neers' park. A column under Brigadier 
 Franks, which had previously done good 
 service in its march across Oude, finished 
 its separate labours by freeing the banks 
 of the Goomtee (February 19th) from a 
 considerable body of mutineers, and from 
 a still larger number of insurgents led by 
 Nazim Mehndie Hossein, the chief who, with 
 his uncle, Mohammed Hossein, had once 
 protected British fugitives; but had since 
 joined the flower of the Oude aristocracy in 
 rallying round the standard of the Begum, 
 when her cause was desperate. The assault 
 on Lucknow commenced on the 2nd of 
 March ; the river was bridged over on the 
 
 5th; and, on the 16th, the city was com- 
 pletely in the possession of the British.* 
 
 The points where the fiercest struggles 
 took place were not the same as on 
 former occasions. The Secunderbagh and 
 the Shah Nujeef were easily gained ; but, 
 here and there, a few men died at their 
 posts with a resolve which, in an English- 
 man, would have been called heroic, but 
 which, in a native enemy, was called folly, 
 fanaticism, or worse. The Chuckerwallah, 
 or Yellow bungalow (a building occupying au 
 important position on the race-cour.se), was 
 evacuated by the enemy ; but some sepoys 
 remained behind, aud^ defended themselves 
 so desperately, that their assailants, after 
 losing several men in kiUed and wounded 
 (including Lieutenant Anderson, an officer 
 of the Seiks), withdrew, and, by order of 
 General Outram, brought heavy artillery to 
 bear upon the house ; which, having had the 
 desired effect, the Seiks rushed in, and 
 slaughtered all but one of the defenders. 
 He, faint and feeble with many wounds, was 
 brought out with loud yells, and delibe- 
 rately tortured. A British officer who saw 
 the whole scene, has described it with fear- 
 ful minuteness. Mr. Russell's account rests 
 on the authority of another eye-witness. 
 The Seiks, assisted by some Englishmen, 
 first seized their victim by the legs, and 
 strove to tear him in two. Failing in this, 
 they dragged him along, stabbing him in 
 the face with their bayonets as they went, 
 till they reached a tire of small sticks, 
 " improvised for the purpose ;" over ffliicb 
 they held him, and deliberately burnt him 
 to death. Those who can endure to 
 follow these details further, will find them 
 in Lieutenant Majendie's book. His con- 
 clusion is, that the saddest part of the 
 scene was the fact, that "in this nine- 
 teenth century, with its boasted civilisa- 
 tion and humanity, a human being should 
 lie roasting and consuming to death, while 
 Englishmen and Seiks, gathered in little 
 knots around, looked calmly on."t 
 
 The Kaiserbagh, and a palace in its 
 immediate vicinity, named the Begum's 
 Kothee, were the buildings in and around 
 which the chief force of the enemy was 
 concentrated. The attack on the Begum's 
 
 • It was said that Sir Colin telegraphed to the 
 governor-general — " I am in Luck now." Sir Charles 
 Napier, on conquering Sinde, used a single word, 
 with two true meanings — " Pcccavt." 
 
 t Lieutenant Majendie's Up among the Panditt, 
 pp. 180—188.
 
 PLUNDER OF THE KAISERBAGH— MARCH 14th, 1858 
 
 479 
 
 palace was made oa the 11th of March. 
 The order, written by General Mansfield, 
 under Sir Colin's direction, was, as usual, 
 " cold and precise, and exact as a bit of 
 Euclid." Every conceivable contingency 
 was foreseen and provided for; arrange- 
 ments being especially made for feeding the 
 troops. But, for once. Sir Colin was not 
 there to superintend the assault. A tele- 
 gram had announced the approach of Jung 
 Bahadur, and his official reception was 
 deemed indispensable. The Jung (Mr. 
 Russell remarks) did not possess " the 
 politeness of princes," and was one hour 
 beyond the time he had appointed ; and 
 Sir Colin, in full uniform, paced up and 
 down the state-tent fitted up for the occa- 
 sion, and listened to the heavy, rolling fire 
 of musketry which announced the com- 
 mencement of the assault, "as a hunter 
 does to the distant cry of the hounds." 
 His patience was almost exhausted, when 
 Jung Bahadur, his two half-brothers, and 
 a staff of Goorkas, made their appearance, 
 all richly attired "in a kind of compromise 
 between European and Asiatic uniform." 
 
 The Jung had not been lolig seated 
 before a commotion was heard among the 
 dense crowd of spectators. Hope John- 
 stone, clad in a hodden gray tunic, and 
 covered with dust, strode up the line of the 
 Highlanders, and gfn,ve his message from 
 General Mansfield, that the Begum Kothee 
 was taken with very little loss to the British, 
 while that of the enemy was estimated at 
 500. In the course of the evening. Maun 
 Sing, who had not yet resolved to cast in 
 his lot with the British, visited the Jung in 
 the Goorka camp, and is said to have made 
 an attempt to vindicate his conduct; but 
 his harangue was cut short with the ex- 
 
 * Times, June 4th, 1858. 
 
 t The property taken during the day of legalised 
 plunder must have been enormous ; and also that 
 accumulated by individuals after the appointment 
 of prize-agents. Mr. Russell speaks of the " bar- 
 gains" bought by officers on the spot, from soldiers 
 hot from plunder. A silver casket, full of gems, was 
 offt-red to him and another officer for two gold 
 moliurs and a bottle of rum : unfortunately they 
 could not accept the proposal, for in India no 
 gentleman carries money in his pocket; and the 
 soldier would not hear of delay. " Shure its not 
 safe," he said, " to have any but reddy money trans- 
 actions these times." However, seeing the disap- 
 pointment of the would-be purchasers, he left 
 them a nose-ring, and a butterfly with opal and 
 diamond wings, for a keepsake. Subsequently a 
 jeweller bought the prize for £7,500. This inci- 
 dent adds force to the statement made by Mr. 
 Russell, concerning " certain email caskets in battered 
 
 clamation — "Oh! don't make excuses. Had 
 I not visited London, it is likely I should 
 have been on the other side myself." 
 Maun Sing did not, however, venture within 
 reach of the British authorities,* but soon 
 fell back on his own fortress of Shahguiije. 
 
 That night, thousands of sepoys fled 
 from the city. The bombardment of the 
 Kaiserbagh was brought to a close on the 
 14th, by its unexpected evacuation. The 
 garrison had, apparently, been panic-struck, 
 and fled, leaving some princesses of the 
 Onde faaily in the zenana. Sir Colin, on 
 hearing this, immediately took measures 
 for their protection. Two or three of 
 them, together with one of the Oude 
 princes (a deaf, and dumb youth, twenty 
 years of age), had been killed by a discharge 
 of musketry when the doors were forced 
 in; but the others were gradually calmed 
 by the assurances of the British ofiBcers 
 sent to escort them to a place of safety. 
 One of the ladies, when leaving the room, 
 pointed out to Captain Johnstoi>e a box 
 which stood beside her, as containing 
 jewels valued at £100,000. He hid the 
 box, fulfilled his mission, and returned to 
 the zenana. It was on fire ; and the box 
 was gone. That day the Kaiserbagh wa8 
 given up to plunder, and this was one of the 
 prizes. There must have been many for- 
 tunes found there. The Seiks and Goor- 
 kas were by far the best looters. The 
 British soldiery did not understand the 
 business, and sold the rich jewels which fell 
 into their hands for very trifling sums of 
 ready money, and rum ; under the influ- 
 ence of which, they devoted themselves to 
 the gratuitous destruction of everything 
 not immediately convertible into money .t 
 
 The plunder which was accumulated by 
 
 unifoqn cases, which contain estates in Scotland and 
 Ireland, and snug fishing and shooting-boxes in 
 every game-haunted or salmon-frequented angle of 
 the world." Some officers chose to loot for them- 
 selves ; and two are named as having been killed 
 while so doing. The occupation, even when suc- 
 cessful, was apt to thin the ranks : a few carbons of 
 crystal were found to necessitate leave of absence, 
 on account of severe domestic affliction, among the 
 officers; and the rupees and gold mohurs hanging 
 heavily round the waists of the soldiers, acted 
 injuriously on the liver. The process of looting 
 has been described by the same graphic writer 
 from whom the foregoing accounts have been 
 taken. The " banditti of H.M. — — regiment" are 
 depicted with their faces black with powder, cross- 
 belts specked with blood, and coats stuffed out with 
 all manner of valuables. They smashed the fowling- 
 piecei and piStols, to get at the gold mountings and 
 the stones set in the stocks. They burned in a fiie,
 
 480 
 
 DEATH OP SIR WILLIAM PEEL— APRIL 27th, 1858. 
 
 the prize-agents, was estimated, on the 5th 
 of April, as worth £600,000.* Fresh dis- 
 coveries were subsequently made; and a 
 few weeks later, the amount reached a 
 million and a quarter.f 
 
 The total loss of the force under Sir Colin, 
 from the 2iid to the 26th of March, was 127 
 killed and 505 wounded. Captain Hodson 
 was one of the.sixteen British officers killed 
 or mortally wounded. He was not with his 
 regiment, but was serving as a volunteer, 
 and assisting in a searcli for concealed 
 sepoys, when he received his death-wound. 
 The surgeon of his regiment, who had the 
 account from the lips of the dying man, 
 states that Hodson " said to his orderly, ' I 
 wonder if any of the rascals are in there !' 
 He turned the angle of the passage, and 
 looked into a dark room, which was full of 
 sepoys ; a shot was Rred from inside ; he 
 staggered back some paces, and then fell. 
 A ptrty of Highlanders, hearing who had 
 been hit, rushed into the room, and bayo- 
 neted every one of the enemy."J This, 
 however, the Highlanders would certainly 
 have done, whether an oflBcer had been 
 touched or not. 
 
 Among the wounded was Ca[jtain Peel. 
 He had not long before received news of his 
 having been made a K.C.B. ; and his own 
 pleasure in receiving the distinction was 
 heightened by the cordial congratulations of 
 his comrades, and the proud joy of the sailors. 
 He was shot through the thigh while placing 
 his guns before the Dilkoosha. The wound, 
 though dangerous, was not mortal ; and 
 when the army quitted Lucknow, Peel, who 
 was then slowly rallying, was placed in a 
 litter obtained from the hospital ; and in 
 this manner is supposed to have contracted 
 small-pox, of which he died, April 27th, 1858. 
 His loss was felt as a public and private 
 calamity. In him had fallen the foremost 
 naval officer of the day — a leader who com- 
 bined the rare gifts of inspiring his men 
 with confidence iu his judgment, and un- 
 
 vhich they made in the centre of the court, brocades 
 and embroidered shawls, for the sake of the inwrought 
 gold and silver. China, glass, and jade, they dashed 
 to pieces in pure wantonness; pictures they -ipped 
 ip or tossed on the flames. After alluding to " many 
 a diamond, emerald, and delicate pearl," as having 
 made their way to England, the "special corres- 
 pondent" adds — "It is just as well that the fair 
 wearers (though jewellery, after all, has a deadening 
 effect on the sensitiveness of the feminine con- 
 science) saw not how the glittering baubles were 
 won, or the scenes in which the treasure was trove." 
 — Tintri, May Slst, 1858 • and Diary, vol. i., p. 331. 
 
 bounded attachment to his person. There 
 was no drawback on the character of the 
 gallant sailor. He was a cordial friend and 
 a chivalrous foe. Though the son of a 
 prime minister, he had fought his way, step 
 by step, to the position which he had 
 achieved, while yet but thirty-four years of 
 age; and it was truly said of him, that 
 " there were not many men among the 
 humblest soldiers of fortune, who would 
 have cared to incur risks similar to those 
 which he seemed to court, day after day, as 
 the normal occupation of his life."§ He 
 had hoped to share in the capture of Delhi ; 
 and his detention on the road was a severe 
 disappointment; still he never murmured, 
 but imperilled his life just as freely in every 
 obscure skirmish as at Lucknow. 
 
 The loss of the enemy was but vaguely 
 estimated. Upwards of 3,000 bodies were 
 buried by the conquerors ; but the rebel 
 leaders all escaped. The Begum held out 
 after Lucknow proper was taken, in a large 
 palace called the Moosabagh, situated on 
 the right bank of the Goomtee. General 
 Outram was dispatched to assault the place, 
 while Brigadier Campbell was sent to cut 
 off her retreat on the south of the Moosa- 
 bagh. The Begum made overtures for 
 terms of surrender; but failing to obtain 
 them, she hastened to escape from the 
 troops sent to intercept or pursue her, and 
 fled to Bitowlie with her son, BLrjis Kudder, 
 her chief counsellor, Mummoo Khan, and 
 a large body of adherents. The Moolvee 
 also fied, with a considerable following, iu a 
 different direction — a heavy price being 
 placed on his head. 
 
 An interesting episode in the reoccupa- 
 tion of Lucknow, was formed by the rescue 
 of the three survivors of the Seetapoor 
 fugitives. The party who found shelter in 
 the fort of Lonee Sing, rajah of Mithowlee, 
 in Junell (including Sir Mountstuart Jack- 
 son and his sister; Captain Orr, his wife 
 and daughter ; Sergeant Morton and little 
 
 • Timet, May 31st, 1858. 
 
 t Star, June 17th, 1858. 
 
 j Hodson's Twelve Veart, p. 370. 
 
 § Times, June 5th, 1858. The writer of the pre- 
 sent work once asked Captain Peel, whether the 
 story told of his having leaped from the foreyard of 
 H.M.S. Blenheim, on the voyage from China, wa« 
 correct; and if so, why he did it? The reply was, 
 simply to try the experiment. It must be re- 
 membered, that this occurred before his Crimean 
 and Indian caD)paign8 had taught him grave lesaoaa 
 of the value of life. 
 
 U Ante, p. 223.
 
 JUNG BAHADUR AND THE GOORKAS. 
 
 481 
 
 Sophy Christian), though harshly used, 
 were still kept by the rajah, safe in life 
 and honour, until the 20th of October. 
 He then surrendered them, in compliance 
 with the imperative demand of the Oude 
 durbar; and they were taken to Lueknow, 
 and imprisoned in the Kaiserbagh. There 
 they learned, that on the day of the 
 entrance of the relieving force into "the 
 Residency, nineteen prisoners, Europeans 
 and others* (including Sir M. Jackson's 
 younger sister, Georgiana), had been mas- 
 sacred by order of the Moolvee of Luck- 
 now — a person concerning whose identify 
 much confusion has arisen from mistakes 
 regarding his name.f At the time of the 
 mutiny at Fyzabad he was under sentence 
 of death for sedition, and he afterwards 
 rose to be a leader of some eminence, by 
 dint of courage and military ability. His 
 tenets as a Sunni, or Sonnite, were opposed 
 to those of the royal family of Oude, and 
 of their chief adherents ; and lie became 
 the head of a rival faction at Lueknow. 
 Huzrut Mahal had no desire to embark in 
 s. jehad, or holy war, against the English : 
 her one aim was the restoration of the 
 kingdom to her husband, or, failing that, 
 to her son, Birjis Rudder. Her minister, 
 Mumnioo Khan, repeatedly requested the 
 captive officers to inform Sir James Outram 
 that the durbar was willing to release the 
 prisoners, and to allow the garrison to 
 leave the city immolested, should the 
 British consent to abandon Oude entirely. 
 The refusal of the ofKcers to communicate 
 this proposition gave great offence ; but 
 similar negotiations were attempted through 
 Maun Sing. Sir James Outram appear-s 
 to have been instructed by the governor- 
 general to offer money, and nothing else, 
 for the ransom of the prisoners ; and this 
 was of course useless, when the rebel chiefs 
 
 • The native Christian community of Lueknow 
 formed a gunj, or quarter of the city, containing 
 perhaps SOO persons. Most of these, fearing ill- 
 treatment from the rebel Mohammedans, concealed 
 themselves during the siege; but it does not a])pear 
 they were searched for or pers>?cuted by the Be- 
 gum's government ; and it is to her credit, that on 
 learning the evacuation of the Residency, she set 
 at liberty 200 prisoners, most of whom had been 
 in the service of the English. 
 
 t Captain Reid, a Fyzabad official, calls him 
 Sikunder Shah ; Captain Hutchinson says he was 
 known as Ahmed AH Shah. — Hutchinson's Muti- 
 nies in Oude, p. 34. 
 
 X Some medicine, procured for her use from a 
 native doctor, was wrapped in the torn page of an 
 English Bible; and contained Isaiah li., 12, 13, 14. 
 
 VOL. ir. y Q 
 
 _ — 
 
 knew that their own lives were considered 
 forfeited, and, in fact, that blood-money 
 was offered for their heads. On the 16th of 
 November, the male captives were separated 
 from the ladies ; led forth, and shot by order 
 of the Moolvee, by a party of the 71st 
 N.I. Sophy Christian did not long survive 
 the loss of her kind protector. Sergeant Mor- 
 ton : she sank on the 24th. J But the two 
 ladies were not quite forsaken. A native 
 official, named Wajid Alee, attached to the 
 household of one of the princesses, had 
 befriended the prisoners as far as he dared, 
 without bringing on his own large family 
 the wrath of the Moolvee ; and he, together 
 with Anunt Ram, the vakeel of Maun Sing, 
 contrived a plan whereby Mrs. Orr's little 
 daughter was rescued by a kind and brave 
 native woman, who carried her in safety to 
 Miiun Sing's city residence, and thence 
 to the Alumbagh. Wajid Alee persuaded 
 Munimoo Khan that the health of the cap- 
 tives was affected by their residence in the 
 Kaiserbagh, and succeeded in gaining 
 leave to remove them to a house near one 
 of the main roads, from whence they were 
 rescued, on the 19th of March, by Captains 
 McNeil and Bogle, and fifty Goorkas — 
 all volunteers. § At the same time, some 
 other Christians, Eurasians, and descendants 
 of Europeans, were saved, as well as the 
 whole family of Wajid Alee. 
 
 Jung Bahadur and his troops had taken 
 part in the concluding o])erations of the 
 siege, and borne their full share in the 
 sack 11 of Lueknow. When it became 
 indispensable that further outrages should 
 be stopped, and the respectable inhabitants 
 induced to return to the city,^ a message 
 was opportunely received from Lord Can- 
 ning, requesting the Nepaulese chief to go 
 down with his forces to Allahabad. As at 
 this time stringent orders were issued for 
 
 § See Captain G. Hutchinson's Official Narrative 
 of Mutinies in Oude, for fuller details. 
 
 II Mr. Russell observes — " We hear, with regret, 
 that the women are sometimes ill-used, and Hindoos 
 commit suicide when they are dishonoured." He 
 further speaks of the city as having been a place of 
 terror, on account of " the license inevitable after 
 the storm of a large town." — Diary ; and Letter to 
 the Tones, May 6lh, 1858. 
 
 51 When the insulting manner in which the right 
 of search was exercised, and other offensive pro- 
 ceedings were stopped, the respectable inhabitants 
 began to return. Mr. Russell observes — '' Thousands 
 of citizens are returning ; but tens of thousands 
 will never return ; for the court, the nawabs, and 
 rajahs who maintained them are gone foi ever, and 
 their palaces are desolate."
 
 482 OPPOSITE VIEWS OF CANNING AND OUTRA>i— OUDE, 1858. 
 
 the suppression of plunder and outrage, 
 enforced by the iutroductiou of an hourly 
 loll-call, by the prohibition, to even 
 British soldiers, of wearing side-arras, ex- 
 cept on guard or duty, and the erection of 
 triangles for the summary punishment of 
 obstinate offenders — the Goorkas were quite 
 willing to commence their return to their 
 native bills. Ti>ey quitted Lucknow on the 
 2Gth of March, and mustered 8,500 men, 
 of whom there were 2,000 sick. Their 
 b:iggage, carried in 4,500 carts, extended 
 over, sixteen miles; and, besides elephants 
 and camels, they had no less than 10,000 
 bullocks : in fact, their whole force was a 
 mere baggage guard. Their homeward 
 journey was very slow, and tlie transit 
 proved a heavy drain on the British com- 
 missariat and treasury. Eventually, Sir 
 Colin Campbell was obliged to detach a 
 British column to enable the Goorka force 
 to pursue its way to Nepaul. Jung Baha- 
 dur liad formed high expectations of the 
 reward to which he was personally entitled, 
 in the form of territorial concessions. The 
 British government postponed the con- 
 sideration of that question ; l)ut, in the 
 interim, made the chief a Knight Grand 
 Cross of the Bath — a step which, it was 
 suggested,* might be accounted for on the 
 supposition, that these old, quasi-ecclesias- 
 tical orders were considered proper subjects 
 for strong practical jokes. 
 
 To return to Lucknow. The reoccupa- 
 tiou of the city was scarcely commenced, 
 before Sir James Outram received the 
 orders of Lord Canning to issue a procla- 
 mation, which declared the whole territory 
 of Oude confiscated, excepting only the 
 estates of seven or eight small chiefs. 
 Mr. Russell describes the alarm which 
 this document created in camp; and de- 
 clares that be did not hear one voice 
 raised in its defence; even those who were 
 habitually silent, opening their mouths to 
 condemn the policy wliich was certain to 
 perpetuate the rebellion in Oude.f 
 
 General Outrara was not the man to 
 retain office at the cost of carrying out a 
 policy which lie deemed unjust and im- 
 
 • The Times, July 7th, l.t58. 
 
 t Russell's Diary, vol. i , p. 306. 
 
 X Lord Canninjj's despiiich, dated " Allahabad, 
 March 31st, 1858." § Ibid. 
 
 II Mr. Georf;e Campbell, financial commissioner 
 for Oude, arrived on the 27lh of March, preceding 
 Mr. Monli^omery by a few days. "General Outram 
 and Mr. Campbell did not at all agree in the policy 
 which should be adopted towards the rebellious 
 
 politic. Perhaps he had seen cause to 
 change his opinion regarding the annexation 
 of Oude: but whetiier or no, it is certain 
 that he who, in 1855, as resident at Luck- 
 now, had carried through the forcible depo- 
 sition of Wajid Ali; now, in 1858, as com- 
 missioner of the revolted British province, 
 felt himself bound to consider the position 
 of the rebel chiefs in a very different light 
 to that in which the Calcutta government 
 thought fit to view them. Lord Canning 
 made some concessions ; but the same fatal 
 dread of seeming weak, which had pre- 
 vented the timely withdrawal of the greased 
 cartridges, induced him now to believe, that 
 in the present crisis, " any proclamation 
 put forth in Oude, in a liberal and for- 
 giving spirit, would be open to miscon- 
 struction, and subject to perversion."J 
 
 Some startling statements and admissions 
 were made in the course of the correspon- 
 dence between the governor-general and the 
 commissioner. General Outram declared 
 that, before the mutiny, the landowners had 
 been most unjustly treated under our settle- 
 ment; and Lord Canning, in his guarded 
 reply, was compelled to admit his fear that 
 it was " too true, that unjust decisions were 
 come to by some of our local officers in 
 investigating and judging the titles of the 
 landowners."§ 
 
 Lord Canning evidently desired to do 
 in Oude, what Lord Dalhousie had done in 
 the Punjab. As Henry Lawrence and his 
 school were made to give way, in the latter 
 province, to John Lawrence and Robert 
 Montgomery ; so now Outram was super- 
 seded by Montgomery and a staff, williug 
 to carry out the policy which every man 
 (civil and military) in the British camp in 
 Oude, in March, 1858, concurred in view- 
 ing as "too harsh and despotic."|| The 
 few days in which General Outrara exer- 
 cised power were, however, beneficially 
 employed. lie issued the proclamation 
 with a rider, the intended effect of which 
 was to induce the Oude talookdars to read 
 and run to, and not from us :1[ and he 
 is likewise said to have used his personal 
 influeuce, based on long and courteous 
 
 native chiefs and others. The former is for a lai^ge, 
 and generous, and ^'eiieral amnesty, except in the 
 cases of actual murderers ; the latter is for the moat 
 vigorous prosecution and punishment." — Russell's 
 Diary, vol. i., p. 363. Mr. Campbell is known as the 
 author of a work advocating the extinction of nati i 
 Indian dynasties ; the annexation of territory ; ar.J 
 the diminution of pensions. 
 % Times, May 6ih, 1858.
 
 OUDE PROCLAMATION REPUDIATED IN ENGLAND. 
 
 483 
 
 intercourse with the leading men, to con- 
 vince them that they would find tiie bark 
 of the governor-general worse than his bite. 
 This assurance, though contrary to the long 
 experience of landed proprietors in annexed 
 or conquered provinces, was fulfilled iu the 
 way which Outram probably anticipated. 
 The confiscation proclamation created great 
 excitement in England : the annexation of 
 Oude was inquired into, and generally, 
 publicly and officially, denounced as an in- 
 justice ; and Lord Canning was compelled 
 to adopt (at least in measure) the very 
 policy which Outram had sacrificed himself 
 to promote. And not he alone ; for, by a 
 strange coincidence, Lord Ellenborough, 
 who was at the time president of the 
 India Board, breaking through the forms and 
 delays of official life, wrote out to India a 
 despatch, containing so strong and uncom- 
 promising a repudiation of Lord Canning's 
 policy, that the document was immediately 
 taken up as a party question, and Lord 
 Ellenborough resigned his position sooner 
 than compromise his colleagues. Certainly, 
 nothing in his term of office " became him 
 like the leaving it." It was alleged at the 
 time, that Lord Canning's proceeding in- 
 volved no greater injustice than had been 
 practised towards the landowners after the 
 annexation of Sinde and the Punjab. But 
 the system carried out in these two cases 
 was totally different. In Sinde one of the 
 
 first acts of Sir Charles Napier (supported 
 by Lord Ellenborough), immediately after 
 completing the conquest, was to proclaim 
 the inviolability of private property, and 
 secure the landowners in their estates ; a 
 measure which greatly facilitated the rapid 
 and firm establishment of British power in 
 the province. In the Punjab (as Mr. 
 Baillie stated in parliament — detailing 
 facts already mentioned iu this work), Lord 
 Dalhousie supported the confiscating policy 
 of Sir John Lawrence, in opposition to that 
 of Sir Henry, who resigned his position. 
 The unpopularity of the spoliation system, 
 necessitated the concentration of British 
 troops in the Punjab, and thereby afforded 
 Jjoth the opportunity and temptation for 
 ;fL mutiny of the Native army. Circum- 
 etauces favoured the warlike talookdar's of 
 Oude, and enabled them, individually, to 
 "obtain better terms than could have been 
 expected by persons acquainted with the 
 history of British India. Still, many who 
 have been compromised by our original 
 injustice, are beyond the pale of our tardy 
 generosity. Some of the bravest and best 
 chiefs have fallen victims to their uncom- 
 promising fidelity to the Begum of Oude; 
 and a parvenu and time-server like Maun 
 Sing, paj's state visits to the governor- 
 general; while Rajpoot chiefs, like Bainie 
 Madhoo and Nirput Sing, are hunted to 
 death in the jungle like wild beasts. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF GENERALS ROSE, ROBERTS, AND WHITLOCK ; CAPTURE OF JHANSI, 
 KOTAH, BANDA, KOONCH, AND CALPEE; FALL AND RECONQUEST OF GWALIOR; 
 RANEE OF JHANSI KILLED; AZIMGHUR AND JUGDESPOOR; DEATH OF KOOER 
 SING; GENERAL WALPOLE AT ROYEA; BRIGADIER HOPE KILLED; SIR COLIN 
 CAMPBELL'S CAMPAIGN; GENERAL PENNY KILLED; BATTLE OF BAREILLY, AND 
 REOCCUPATION OF ROHILCUND JANUARY TO JUNE, 1858. 
 
 While the operations already narrated 
 were being carried on by the force under 
 the immediate command of Sir Colin 
 Campbell, a series of important movements 
 were performed, under his directions, by 
 two efficient columns furnished from Bom- 
 bay, under Generals Rose and Roberts, for 
 the reduction of Central India ; in co- 
 operation with a brigade sent from Madi-as, 
 
 under General Whitlock. The proceedings 
 of the Central India field force, under 
 Sir Hugh Rose (consisting of two brigades; 
 together, above 5,000 strong), were marked 
 by skill, vif;our, and perseverance, and 
 attended with unvarying success. Unfor- 
 tunately, limited space precludes their being 
 detailed in these pages; bnt Sir Hugh's 
 clear and powerfully written despatches
 
 484 
 
 SIR HUGH ROSE AND SIR ROBERT HAMILTON— 1858. 
 
 !ire before the public* Sir Robert 
 Hanjiltou, the resident at ludore, whose 
 absence in England at the time of the 
 mutiny was so bitterly regretted by 
 Holcar, hurried back to his post,t and 
 became an invaluable coadjutor to Rose; 
 the cordial assistance of the young Maha- 
 rajah, enabling him to effect commissariat 
 arrangements which would otherwise have 
 been impossible. 
 
 Ralghur (twenty-four miles from Saugor), 
 one of the old hill-forts of Central Injiia, 
 was bombarded by Rose on the 26th and 
 27th of January, i858; and before daylight 
 on the morning of the 28th, the chief part 
 of the garrison were discovered to have 
 escaped, letting themselves down by ropes 
 from- the rocks. A rebel leader, named 
 Mohammed Fazil Khan, who had assumed 
 the title of prince at Mundesore, with 
 another nawab and 200 rebels, were 
 hat)ged over the principal gate of the fort. J 
 Leaving Ratghur in charge of the troops of 
 the Ranee of Bhopal, the British marched on 
 towards Saugor, and once only encountered 
 opposition ; when, on the 30th, they carried, 
 after an obstinate defence, a strong village 
 twelve miles from Ratghur, called in the 
 despatches, Barodia. A gallant young 
 ciiptain of engineers, Glastonbury Neville, 
 wlio had served with distinction before 
 Sebastopol, was killed by a chance round 
 shot while acting as aide-de-camp to the 
 general. 
 
 Saugor fort, in which upwards of 150 
 women and children had been shut up 
 since June.P was reached and relieved, with- 
 out opposition, on the 3rd of February. 
 The strong hill-fort of Garracotta, south- 
 east of Saugor, held by a numerous body 
 of Bengal Native infantry, was abandoned 
 without a blow ; and large supplies of wheat 
 and grain, sulphur and saltpetre, with four 
 cart-loads of ammunition, were found stored 
 therein. 
 
 Jhansi, the richest Hindoo city, and most 
 important fortress in Central India, was 
 the next point of attack. Since the mas- 
 sacre in June, the Ranee had remained in 
 undisturbed possession of the little princi- 
 pality; and the people were fully prepared 
 to support her desperate struggle for the 
 
 • See London Gazettes, 1858, 1859. 
 
 t The measures adopted, under British direction, 
 for the suppression of mutiny in Indore, cannot here 
 lie detailed. The rajoh of Amjherra was put to 
 dtath,.as were also 200 men of the Khopal contingent. 
 Mr. Layard declares (on the authority of an eye- 
 
 rights of the adopted heir and the main 
 teuance of a native government. 
 
 The difficulty of obtaining supplies, 
 delayed the advance of Sir Hugh Rose. 
 He had reason to anticipate resistance at 
 the passes on the road to Jhansi ; and 
 the forts of Tal Behut and Chanderee 
 (which, notwithstanding the fidelity and 
 courage of the rajah of Punnah, had fallen 
 into the power of the enemy) would, it was 
 said, be defended by the rajah of Ban pore 
 — a chief who, after having been dis- 
 tinguished as the protector of English 
 fugitives,!! had at length been unwillingly 
 eugulphed in the vortex of rebellion ; 
 and proved, in the words of General 
 Rose, an "enterprising and courageous" 
 enemy. By a series of masterly move- 
 ments, Sir Hugh, with the second of his 
 two brigades, made a feint at the Narut 
 Pass, defended by the rajah of Banpore ; 
 and a real attack on the pass of Munde- 
 sore, held by the rajah of Shalighur, and 
 forced his way, without losing a single 
 life. Chaijderee was captured on the 17th 
 of March, by the first brigade, under Briga- 
 dier Stuart, with the loss of two killed. 
 On the 23rd of March, Sir Hugh com- 
 menced operations against Jhansi. The 
 fort is built of granite, and stands on 
 a rock, within the cit", which is four 
 miles and a-half in circumference, and 
 is surrounded by a wall from six to 
 twelve feet thick — varying in height from 
 eighteen to thirty feet. Seven " flying 
 camps of cavalry" were established, as an 
 investing force, round Jhansi, and every 
 precaution was taken to blockade the city. 
 Before Sir Hugh's arrival, the cavalry 
 pickets sent on by him, had overtaken and 
 sabred about a hundred men, who were en- 
 deavouring to enter Jhansi, having been sent 
 for by the Ranee to assist in the defence. 
 On the first day of the siege, the shells of the 
 assailants set on fire long rows of hayricks 
 in the south of the city, and caused an 
 extensive conflagration; but the garrison 
 repaired their defences, reopened fire from 
 batteries and guns repeatedly shut up, and 
 struggled to the last with dauntless resolve 
 against an overwhelming force. "The 
 women," Sir Hugh writes, " were seen 
 
 witness, whose account was corroborated by state- 
 ments in the Indian papers), that the execution of 
 the mutineers was performed " in a manner r^— 
 pugnant to humanity." — Timet, i^ugust 25th, 1858. 
 J Telegram from Sir K. Hamilton ; 3rd Feb , 1858, 
 § See p. 336. |i See p. 314.
 
 TAKTIA topee defeated, and JHANSI captured— 1858. 485 
 
 workiug in the batteries, and carrying am- 
 munition. The garden battery was fought 
 under tlie black flag of the fakirs. Every- 
 thing indicated a general and determined 
 resistance." 
 
 The Ranee had reason to know that 
 efforts were being made for her relief; and 
 Sir Robert Hamilton had Hkewise been in- 
 formed, from time to time, that Tantia Topee 
 and the rajah of Banpore were engaged 
 in organising a force, called the " arnij' 
 of the Peishwa," estimated at 20,000 men 
 and twenty guns. On the 31st of March, 
 the enemy crossed the river Betwa, took up 
 a position in rear of the British camp, and 
 lit an immense bonfire, as a signal to Jliansi 
 of their arrival, which was welcomed by 
 salutes from all the batteries of the fort and 
 city, and shouts of joy from their defenders. 
 
 Notwithstanding the numerical weakness 
 of his force,* as compared with that under 
 Tantia Topee, Sir Hugh resolved on hazard- 
 ing a general action, without relaxing either 
 the siege or the investment. He therefore 
 drew up his force across the road from the 
 Betwa — a movement which was effected 
 with silence and regularity, although not 
 accomplished until long after dark. That 
 night the hostile bodies slept on their 
 arms, opposite each other. Next morning, 
 before daybreak, Tantia Topee advanced 
 against the British, but was defeated, 
 pursued for nine miles, and driven (31st 
 of March) across the Betwa, with the loss 
 of 1,500 men, eighteen guns, and large 
 quantities of stores and ammunition. 
 
 The dispersion of the auxiliary force, and 
 the slaughter effected by the Shrapnel 
 shells and Enfield rifles of the besiegers, de- 
 stroyed the last hopes of the Ranee. Her 
 garrison was diminishing at the rate of 
 sixty or seventy persons a day. It is said 
 that she made overtures for terms of sur- 
 render, and that the two messengers sent 
 to treat on her behalf, were hanged. t 
 
 After the victory at the Betwa, Sir Hugh 
 
 • " Artillery — three siege guns, 16 light field guns ; 
 14th Light Dragoons, 243 rank and file ; Hydiabad 
 cavalry, 207 sabres; H.M. 86th, 208 rank and file; 
 3rd Bombay European regiment, 226 rank and file ; 
 24th Bombay N I., 298 rank and file: and 25th 
 Bombay N.I."— Rose's despatch, April 30th, 1858. 
 
 t Time$, August 25lh, 1858. 
 
 X In, the quarters of the body-guard were found 
 many standards, including the silk union-jack, given 
 by Lord W. Bentinck to the rajah of Jhansi. 
 
 § " A Velaitec, after an unsuccessful endeavour to 
 blow himself and his wife up, attempted to hew her 
 in pieces, so that she might not fall into our hands." 
 The Friend of India (June 10th, 1858), after re- 
 
 gave his troops a day's rest. The fire from 
 the fort was no longer serious, for the best 
 guns of the Ranee had been disabled, and 
 her ablest artillerymen killed. A practical 
 breach had been effected in the city wall ; 
 and, on the 3rd of April, the palace and 
 chief part of the town of Jhansi were taken 
 by storm. There was some desperate hand- 
 to-hand combats, especially at the palace. 
 In one instance, some forty troopers, part 
 of the Ranee's body-guard, maintained their 
 post at the royal stables, fighting to the 
 last, and struggling even when dying on 
 the ground, to strike again. J The last 
 men who held the palace set fire to trains 
 of gunpowder, and perished in the explo- 
 sion, which, though only partially suc- 
 cessful, cau^ed the death of many men of 
 H.M. 86th regiment. 
 
 The Ranee and a large part of the garri- 
 son evacuated the fort during the night. 
 She was pnrsued, and nearly overtaken. 
 Lieutenant Bowker, with a party of cavalry, 
 followed her to Bundere, twenty-one miles 
 from Jhansi ; and there saw a tent, in 
 which was spread an unfinished breakfast. 
 Pressing on, he came in sight of the Ranee, 
 who was escaping on a grey horse, with four 
 attendants : but at this point he was severely 
 wounded, and compelled to relinquish the 
 pursuit ; while she was joined by an escort, 
 sent to her aid by the vigilant Tantia Topee. 
 
 On the 4th of April, the fort and re- 
 mainder of the city were taken possession of 
 by the troops, who, maddened by the recol- 
 lection of the massacre committed there, 
 and by the determined resistance^ of the 
 people, committed fearful slaughter. No 
 less than 5,000 persons are stated to have 
 perished at Jhansi, or to have been cut 
 down by the " flying camps." Some flung 
 themselves down wells, or otherwise com- 
 mitted suicide ; having first slain their 
 women, sooner than trust them to the 
 mercy of the conquerors. Yet the British 
 soldiers are stated to have shown kindness 
 
 cording this and other striking instances in which 
 death was chosen rather than surrender, remarks, 
 that it is impossible not to perceive, from the 
 despatches of Sir Hugh Ko.se, " that other influences 
 than bang, a love of plunder, and a dread of death, 
 must have instigated so determined a resistance." 
 The reason was sufficientlyclear: the people of Jhansi 
 fought for their queen and the independence of their 
 country. Even after the city had fallen. Sir Hugh 
 declared, that "the high descent of the Ranee, her 
 unbounded liberality to her troops and retainers, 
 and her fortitude, which no reverses could shake, 
 rendered her an influential and dangerous adver- 
 sary."— Despatch, April 30lh, 1858,
 
 48G KOTAH CAPTURED BY ROBERTS— BANDA BY TVHITLOCK. 
 
 to the desolate and famishing mothers and 
 children, and to have been seen sharing 
 their rations with them. Sir Hugh also 
 gave orders that the starving families should 
 be fed from tlie prize grain. The British 
 casualties were thirty-eight killed, and 215 
 wounded. The plunder obtained in the 
 fort and town is said to have been very 
 great. A large number of executions took 
 place daily, after the reoccupation of Jhansi. 
 Among the captives tried and executed 
 under the orders of Sir Robert Hamilton, 
 was the father of the Ranee. 
 
 Kotah. — While General Rose was occu- 
 pied in the capture of Jhansi, General 
 Roberts was employed in wresting Kotah, 
 the capital of a small Rajpoot . principality 
 of the same name, from the hands of the 
 Kotah contingent — a force which had joined 
 the revolt, and murdered the political agent 
 (Major Burton) and his two sons, in October, 
 1857. The rajah was faithful to us. The 
 mui-der of the three Europeans had been per- 
 petrated against his will ; and he recovered, 
 and buried, the bodies of the victims. 
 The head of the major had been cut off, 
 and fired from a gun. The rajah re- 
 mained besieged by the rebels in his palace- 
 fort, situated on the eastern bank of the 
 Chumbul, until the 27th of March, when 
 the British force crossed the river, joined 
 him at the fort, and from thence bombarded 
 the town. At noon on the 30th, three 
 columns, each of 500 men (72nd High- 
 landers, H.M. 95th, 83rd, and 10th and 
 12th Bombay N.I), entered the town through 
 a gate blown in by the engineers, and, 
 spreading right and left, carried the walls, 
 turned the barricades in the streets, and 
 quickly, and with slight loss, took possession 
 of the whole place. The British loss was 
 sixteen killed and forty-four wounded. The 
 casualties were chiefly occasioned by trains 
 of gunpowder laid in various directions.* 
 
 Of the mutineers, about 400 were killed. 
 Some thre,w themselves over the walls, and 
 were dashed to pieces ; many were taken 
 prisoners, and subsequently executed ; but 
 the mass escaped, carrying with them much 
 treasure, and their proceedings consider- 
 ably embarrassed Sir Hugh Rose, who, 
 leaving a garrison at Jhansi, marched 
 upon Calpee, the great stronghold and 
 
 • Five infernal machines (consisting of forty 
 matchlock barrrla fixed on frames, moveable on 
 wheels) were found at the ends of the streets ; but it 
 does not appear that these came into operation. — 
 Koberts' despatch, April 8th, 1858. 
 
 arsenal of the mutineers— held by tlie Rac 
 Sahib. t Tantia Topee and the Ranee of 
 Jhansi had again assembled their scattered 
 troops, and strove to bar the advance of the 
 British to Calpee, by intrenching them- 
 selves at the intervening town of Kooneh. 
 Sir Hugh carried the intrenchments by a 
 flank movement ; drove the enemy out of 
 the maze of woods, temples, and walled 
 gardens into Kooneh, with his artillery; 
 then cleared the town, and pursued the 
 flying foe, with horse artillery and cavalry, 
 for more than eiglit miles; when the vic- 
 tors, utterly exhausted by heat, thirst, and 
 fatigue, could go no further. A great part 
 of the troops were Europeans, and they 
 had been n)arching or fighting for sixteen 
 hours. The sun was 115° in the shade 
 Sir Hugh Rose (a powerful, active man 
 of about fifty years of age) fell fainting 
 from his horse four times; but cold water 
 being poured over hina, and restoratives ad- 
 ministered, he was able to remount aud 
 resume the command he so well knew how 
 to use. Only five men were killed, and 
 twenty-six wounded in action ; but forty- 
 six men fell under sun-stroke. J 
 
 S/iorapoor. — While Rose and Roberts 
 were eugaged in the operations above de- 
 scribed, the Madras division, under Whitlock, 
 had been delayed in its advance by the ne- 
 cessity of sending a detachment to Shora- 
 poor,§ a small native state, where consider- 
 able disaffection had been manifested. The 
 rajah, a young man who, during his mino- 
 rity, had been under British tutelage, was 
 compelled to dismantle his forts, dismiss 
 his armed retainers, aud surrender himself 
 a prisoner. He was tried, and condemned 
 to be transported. To a Hindoo, under 
 such circumstances, death was the sole 
 alternative from dishonour; and the rajah, 
 seizing his opportunity, blew out his brains 
 with the revolver of the British officer who 
 was conveying him in irons to the place 
 of deportation. His fate made a deep im- 
 pression in Shorapoor, where his family 
 had ruled for thirty generations. || Gene- 
 ral Whitlock, when able to resume his 
 march, moved on Calpee, by way of Chir- 
 karee, Punnah, and Bauda; of which last 
 place he took possession on the 19th of 
 April, after having fought a pitched battle, 
 
 t The adopted son of the second adopted son of 
 the last Pci^hwa, Bajee Itao. 
 
 X Despatch of Sir H. Rose, May 24th, 1868. 
 
 § See p. 50. 
 
 II Times, Oci. 7th, 1858.
 
 TANTIA TOPEE'S INTRIGUES AT GWALIOR— MAY, 1858. 
 
 487 
 
 outside the town, with the mutineers and 
 insurgents, who had the nawab in their 
 power. General Wliitlock drove them oflf 
 the field, and pursued them with horse 
 artillery and cavalry; capturing four guns, 
 and killing 500 men. 
 
 Calpee. — The nawab and his beaten 
 troops joined the Ranee of Jhansi at Calpee, 
 which it was expected would be stoutly 
 defended by the Gwalior mutineers, in ac- 
 cordance with the urgent representations 
 of the Ranee, who, while at Koonch, had 
 charged them, in an intercepted communi- 
 cation, " to hold to the last Calpee, their 
 only arsenal." But in vain. The place, 
 though surrounded by a labyrinth of ravines, 
 was extremely weak in its fortifications ; 
 and the natives have little confidence in 
 any means of defence but strong walls. 
 Therefore when, on the 23rd, the British 
 troops advanced in concentrated force* on 
 the city, the rebels fired a few iuefiectual 
 shots and fled, and their leaders were 
 compelled to accompany them ; leaving Sir 
 ■Hugh Rose master of the place, with all 
 its stores, including fifty guns, and large 
 quantities of ammunition. 
 
 With the capture of Calpee, the labours 
 of the Central India field force seemed to 
 have come to an end ; and Sir Hugh an- 
 nounced, in general orders, his own retire- 
 ment to recruit his health, and the intended 
 breakiiig-up of the division. In a spirited 
 farewell address, he praised the energy which 
 had upheld tliemen throughout a campaign, 
 during which tliey had traversed more than 
 a thousand miles ; had crossed rivers, forced 
 iiiouiitain passes, fought pitched battles, 
 and captured fortresses : but still more 
 highly he lauded tlie discipline, to which he 
 attributed the unchecked successes of their 
 march from the western shores of India to 
 the waters of the Jumna. Sir Hugh orga- 
 nised flying columns, to move from the main 
 hotly of the force, previous to lis general 
 dispersion ; but, either from necessity or 
 from inadvertence, from the exhaustion of 
 tlie men, or the non-appreciation of the 
 emergency, the reinforcement of Gwalior 
 was delayed, notwithstanding the urgent 
 entreaties of Sindia, and the anxiety of 
 
 • The Camel corps, organised by the commander- 
 in-chief for the purpose of dispersing any body of 
 the enemy assembling in the Doab, was ordered to 
 cross the Jumna, and taken to Calpee by Sir Hugh 
 Hose, who, finding his force daily diminishing from 
 sicl^ness, fatigue, and intense beat, seized on all 
 available troops to strengthen bis bands, at the 
 
 the commander-in-chief; and thereby gave 
 Tantia Topee an advantage, of which the 
 Mahratta availed himself to play his master- 
 strpke of skill and audacity. 
 
 Gwalior. — After the defeat at Kootjch, 
 Tantia disappeared. It was subsequently 
 discovered that he had gone to Gwalior, 
 and concealed himself in the bazaar, where 
 he organised a plot for the deposition of 
 Sindia, and carried the news of his success 
 to the Calpee fugitives, who had assembled 
 at Gopalpoor, on the road to Gwalior; upon 
 wliich place they now advanced, sending 
 assurances to Sindia and the Baiza Bye,t 
 that they were coming with no hostile in- 
 tentions, but only to get supplies and money, 
 and go to the Deccan ; that opposition was 
 useless, for the troops aud people of Gwa- 
 lior were against the British ; and they (the 
 rebels) had received from the city 200 let- 
 ters of invitation and assurance. Neitiier 
 Sindia nor Dinkur Rao, nor the two chief- 
 officers of the army, knew anything of the 
 visit of Tantia Topee — a concealment rai- 
 dered postiible by the general sympathy felt 
 for the rebel cause, which was daily more 
 evident. The zeal and ability of Dinkur 
 Rao, and the dauntless bravery of the 
 Maharajah — who declared that he had 
 never worn bangles {i.e., been a slave), and 
 would not submit to be diptated to by 
 rebels — failed to stem the torrent of di»- 
 afiection. The Rao and the Ranee took a 
 very bold tone in addressing their followers, 
 declaring that they expected no opposition; 
 but adding — " If there should be any, you 
 may fly if you please. We shall die." 
 At this crisis, an unfortunate difference of 
 opinion is said to have arisen between 
 Siudia and his minister. The latter was in 
 favour of an exclusively defensive policy, 
 pending the arrival of British reinforce- 
 ments ; the former, deceived by certain ring- 
 leaders in the confidence of Tantia Topee, 
 was led to believe that he might safely 
 attack the rebels (who were reported to be 
 dispirited and disorganised) at the head 
 of Jiis own houseliold troops. The councils 
 of the Dewan, however, prevailed up to 
 midnight on the 31st of May : but after he 
 had quitted the palace, the Maharajah was 
 
 risk of incurring blame for absorbing, in one opera- 
 tion, the means intended for the accomplishment of 
 purposes of less obvious and urgent importance. 
 
 t The grandmother of Sindia by adojjtion, known 
 by her title of the Baiza Bye, was a person of 
 considerable ability and influence in the Gwalior 
 state.
 
 488 
 
 SINDIA DRIVEN FROM GWALIOR. 
 
 prevailed upou to give orders for an instant 
 march against the advancing enemy. Ac- 
 cordingly, the troops were assembled ; and 
 at daybreak (June 1st), without the know- 
 ledge of Dinkur Rao, Sindia led 8,000 men 
 and 24 guns to Burragaon, eight miles from 
 Gwalior. There he found, and attacked, 
 the rebels; but the action had scarcely com- 
 menced, before his 'army melted like a 
 snow-ball iu the sun ; some quitting the 
 field, others fraternising with the foe ; 
 while very many went off to eat water- 
 melons in the bed of the Morar. Sindia 
 strove to induce his body-guard to fight, 
 and about sixty of these were killed and 
 wounded. He then ascended an adjacent 
 hill, and saw his whole force marching 
 homewards ; whereupon he galloped straight 
 to the Phoolbagh with about fifteen at- 
 tendants, changed his dress, remounted, 
 and rode towards Agra. The Dewan, on 
 hearing of the Maharajah's flight, made 
 arrangements for the escape of the Baiza 
 Bye and other ladies ; after which he has- 
 tened to overtake Sindia, and, with him, 
 reached Dholpoor in safety before midnight. 
 The Baiza Bye and the Ranees pro- 
 ceeded to the fort of Nurwar, thirty miles 
 off, except one of them named the " Gujja 
 Raja," the mother of the Maharanee. Be- 
 lieving that Sindia was beleaguered at tbe 
 Phoolbagh, she seized a sword, mounted 
 her horse, and rode to the palace, summon- 
 ing all to his aid, until she found that he 
 was really gone. Then she followed the 
 other ladies to Nurwar, where about 600 of 
 Sindia's o.d irregular horse had assembled 
 for their protection. The rebels earnestly 
 entreated the Baiza Bye to return and take 
 charge of Gwalior; but she made them 
 no reply, and immediately forwarded their 
 communications to Sir Robert Hamilton. 
 
 The rebel leaders entered the city in 
 triumph, and declared the Nana its ruler 
 as Peishwa, or chief of the Mahralta con- 
 federacy, which they hoped to restore to its 
 former importance. The treasury of Sindia, 
 and his jewels,' fell into their hands ; six 
 months' pay was distributed among the 
 troop*, and every effort made to conciliate the 
 citizens. But little preparation was made 
 for the defence of the fort ; and it is probable 
 that both Tantia and the Ranee concurred 
 in resolving to abide by the old Mahratta 
 tactics, and avoid shutting themselves up 
 
 * Letter from Bombay correspondent. — Timet, 
 August 3rd, 18o8. 
 
 t or the 9dth alone, fotu' officers and eighty-five 
 
 within walls. Therefore they disposed 
 their forces so as to observe and hold the 
 roads leading upon the city from Indoorkee, 
 Seepree, and the north ; the necessary 
 arrangements being effected mainly " under 
 the direction and personal supervision ot 
 the Ranee, who, clad in military attire, 
 and attended by a picked and well-armed 
 escort, was constantly in the saddle, ubiqui- 
 tous aucl untiring."* Such was the em- 
 ployment of this extraordinary woman on 
 the anniversary of the Jhansi massacre. 
 Her own career was fast hastening to its 
 close. When the news of the fall of Gwalior 
 reached General Rose, he resumed the com- 
 mand he had just quitted ; requested the 
 Maharajah to join him from Agra, and the 
 Baiza Bye and the Maharanee from Nur- 
 war, and made instant preparations for 
 marching against the rebels. General Whit- 
 lock took charge of Calpee : a portion of 
 General Roberts' Rajpootana force, under 
 Brigadier Smith, and the troops of the Hy- 
 derabad contingent (who had just received 
 leave to return home), were ordered to aid iu 
 besieging Gwalior ; while Colonel Riddell, 
 with a light field battery, and reinforcemeuts 
 of cavalry and infantry, was dispatched from 
 Agra by order of Sir Colin Campbell. The 
 different columns were moved forward with 
 the greatest celerity ; the plan ot attack 
 being, to invest the city as much as its 
 great extent would allow, and then assault 
 the weakest side — the investing troops 
 cutting off the escape of the rebels. Gene- 
 ral Rose anticipated that a successful attack 
 on the enemy, outside or iiiside the city, 
 would be followed, as at Calpee, by the 
 easy capture of the fort. And so it proved. 
 The Mora cantonments (so named from the 
 stream on which they stand), four miles 
 from the Lushkur, or city, were carried by 
 storm on the 16th of June. The assault 
 was made under the direction of General 
 Rose, by two lines commanded by Briga- 
 diers Stuart and Napier; and the muti- 
 neers were taken by surprise by the fierce 
 onslaught made, although the sun was 
 already high in the heavens, by troops 
 wearied by a long night march, during the 
 season when exposure to the heat was 
 deemed fatal to Europeans. On the 17th, 
 Brigadier Smith, with H.M. Quthf and the 
 10th Bombay N.I., a squadron of the 8th 
 Hussars, two divisions of horse artillery, 
 
 men were disabled by sunstroke, acting on Irames 
 weakened by hunger, extreme fatigue, and exjjosucv 
 in driving the mutineers trum the hills.
 
 GWALIOR RECAPTURED— RANEE OF JHANSI KILLED. 
 
 489 
 
 and a troop of the Ist Lancers, drove the 
 enemy from the heights above the plain 
 which lies before Gwalior, near the Phool- 
 bagh palace. The Hussars subsequently 
 descended to the plain, and made a bril- 
 liant charge through the enemy's camp; 
 of which Sir Hugh Rose writes — " One 
 most important result was, the death of 
 the Ranee of Jhansi, who, although a lady, 
 was the bravest and best military leader 
 of the rebels." No English eye marked 
 lier fall. The Hussars, unconscious of the 
 advantage they had gained, and scarcely 
 able to sit on their saddles from heat and 
 fatigue, were, for the moment, incapable of 
 further exertion, and retired, supported by 
 a timely reinforcement. Then, it is said, 
 the remnant of the faithful body-guard 
 (many of whom had perished at Jhansi) 
 gathered around the lifeless forms of the 
 Ranee and her sister, who, dressed in male 
 attire, and riding at the head of their 
 squadrons, had fallen ;:ogether, killed either 
 by part of a shell, or, as is more probable, 
 by balls from the revolvers with which the 
 Hussars were armed. A funeral pyre was 
 raised, and the remains of the two young 
 and beautiful women were burnt, according 
 to the custom of the Hindoos.* 
 
 The general attack on Gwalior was made 
 ou the 18th, under Sir Hugh Rose in 
 person. The Lushkur was carried with 
 ease ; and Brigadier Smith captured the 
 Phoolbagh, killing numbers of the enemy, 
 and seizing their gnus. The fort was 
 evacuated in the night. 
 
 Brigadier-general Napier pursued the re- 
 treating foe with much vigour; captured 
 twenty-five pieces of cannon; and, after 
 slaying many hundred men, " totally dis- 
 persed the enemy, with only one casualty on 
 his own side." "Total dispersion" was, how- 
 ever, a part of Tantia Topee's system. The 
 men fled iu small numbers, or singly, and 
 reunited at a given point. 
 
 On the 20th of June, the Maharajah re- 
 entered his capital; and the population of 
 
 • The above account is derived from the public 
 papers of the period. Since then, a servant of the 
 Kanee's, present at the time of her death, has fur- 
 nished other and different particulars. The second 
 lady (who, all statements concur in declaring never 
 left the Kanee's side) is said not to have been her 
 sister, but a Brahmin concubine of the late rajah's. 
 When the Hussars surprised the camp, the ladies 
 were seatfd togetner, drinking sherbet. They 
 mounted and fled but the horse of the Ranee re- 
 fused ti) leap the canal, and she received a shot in 
 the side, and a sabre-cut on the head ; but still rode 
 
 VOL. H. 3 B 
 
 the half-empty, half-closedLushkur, shouted 
 congratulations as their prince passed, es- 
 corted by Sir Hugh Rose, Sir Robert 
 Hamilton, Major Macpherson, and squad- 
 rons of Hussars and Lancers. The cere- 
 monial was interrupted by a singular mani- 
 festation of fanaticism. Thirteen men (four 
 contingent sepoys and nine Velaitees), with 
 two women and a child, after proceeding 
 some miles from Gwalior towards Agra, 
 deliberately returned to die in the vacated 
 fort. They fired, from the guns on the 
 ramparts, four or five shots at the troops 
 drawn out to receive the prince, and one 
 ball struck immediately in front of Siudia 
 and Major Macpherson. Lieutenants Rose 
 and Waller were sent, with some Native 
 troops and police, to destroy these desperate 
 men, who had taken post upon a bastion, a 
 gun of which commanded the line of ap- 
 proach. The gun burst at the third dis- 
 charge, and the attacking party advanced. 
 The fanatics slew the women and child, and 
 then perished, fighting to the last — killing 
 or wounding ten of their assailants, includ- 
 ing Lieutenant Rose, a very promising 
 young officer, who died in consequence. 
 On reaching the Phoolbagh, Sindia expressed 
 himself warmly grateful for the exertions of 
 the gallant troops, in procuring his speedy 
 restoration to Gwalior. Still, it is to be 
 regretted that the safe policy of Sir Colin 
 Campbell had not been adopted by the 
 governor-general (under whose orders Sir 
 Hugh Rose acted, in consequence of Sir 
 Colin's absence in Rohilcund) ; and that 
 the urgent entreaty of Sindia for British 
 troops had not been complied with, and 
 the reinforcement of his capital made to 
 precede the captui-e of Jhansi, Kotah, and 
 other places — a measure which, among other 
 advantages, would have saved the Maha- 
 rajah his humiliating flight from his capital, 
 and preserved his money and jewels from 
 the hands of the Rao and Tantia Topee.f 
 
 On the 29th of June, Sir Hugh Rose 
 resigned his command, and retired to 
 
 till she ffU dead from her saddle, and was sur- 
 rounded and burnt. The Brahminee had also re- 
 ceived a long sabre-cut in front, of which she 
 quickly died. 
 
 t The total amount of property stolen or de- 
 stroyed, belonging to the Maharajah, was estimated 
 at fifty lacs. The Kesidency, and the dwellings of 
 Dinkur Rao, as well as those of Sindia's chief 
 officers, Bulwunt Rao and Mohurghur (neither of 
 whom had been permitted to accompany the Maha- 
 rajah on his ill-fated expedition), were ezpreuly 
 given up to plunder by the rebel chiefs.
 
 490 
 
 KOOER SING AND THE INSURRECTION IN BEHAR. 
 
 Poonah, to seek the rest which his health 
 imperatively needed; and the forces that 
 had co-operated in achieving the series of 
 extraordinary successes, which had been 
 crowned by the reconquest of Gwalior, were 
 dispersed over various stations, pending the 
 return of the cool season. 
 
 It is now necessary to revert to the 
 operations carried on by Sir Colin Campbell 
 and bis lieutenants, in other parts of the. 
 great seat of war. Behar, the oldest Bri- 
 tish province, was remarkable for its deep- 
 rooted hostility to British rule — a feeling 
 which writers who differed on most other 
 matters, agreed in attributing to resump- 
 tions, commissions of inquiry, and interfer- 
 ence with the tenure of land.* Kooer Sing, 
 of Jugdespoor, was a remarkable example 
 of the hereditary chief of a powerful clan, 
 driven into rebellion by the force of circum- 
 stances; — au old man, unstained with the 
 blood of women or children, yet chased 
 from the home of his ancestors — his palace 
 sacked, his villages burned; even the 
 stately temple he ha<l erected for divine 
 worship, razed to the ground ; and he 
 hunted as a criminal beyond the pale of 
 mercy, with a price upon his head. The 
 sum, speedily raised from 10,000 to 25,000 
 rupees, showed the importance attached to 
 his capture : but the offer had no other 
 result than that of bringing hate and dis- 
 credit on those who offered the blood-money. 
 The starving ryots would not have betrayed 
 the grey hairs of the brave octogenarian for 
 all his confiscated estates ; and, to the last, 
 they favoured his repeated e>capes,at the cost 
 of being rendered homeless and desolate by 
 the swift vengeance of the British troops. 
 The extent of the influence exercised (con- 
 sciously and unconsciously) by this single 
 chief, may be understood by the panic his 
 name occasioned at the seat of government; 
 where, according to the Times, one of his 
 latest achievements created so much alarm, 
 as to give rise to the question — "What if 
 Kooer Sing, who has feudal suzerainty 
 over a fifth of the sepoy army, should make 
 a dash southward, surprise Raneeguuge, 
 
 * The Friend of India (December 2^nd, 1858) 
 remarks, that during the whdle " terrible rebellion," 
 the effect of resumption, and of perpetual interference 
 with tenure, has been severely felt. "It was the 
 hope of regaininj; their lands which armed the 
 aristocracy of the North. West against our rule. 
 It was the hope of restoring the old possessors of 
 the soil which, in so many districts, stirred the 
 peasantry to revolt. It was the deep-sealed dis- 
 content created by resuniptions iu Jiehar, which 
 
 seize the railway, and march npnn Cal- 
 cutta?"t Apart from exaggerations like this, 
 the name of Kooer Sing was used wherever 
 Bengal troops still remained loyal, as an in- 
 citement to revolt. In Assam, one night in 
 September, 1857, a Hindoo rajah was ar- 
 rested, with his mother and family, and his 
 treasure seized, for alleged conspiracy; and 
 all the troops in the district, except a few 
 Goorkas, were said to be in the interest of 
 Kooer Sing. In Berar, and the adjacent 
 country, his influence was undeniable; 
 especially in the Saugor and Nerbudda 
 territories. At Jubbulpoor, where the 52nd 
 N.I. was stationed, great excitement was 
 observed among the troops towards the close 
 of the religious festival, known as the Mo- 
 hurrum. A reinforcement of guns, Euro- 
 peans, and Madras sepoys, was detached on 
 the 7th of September, from a small moveable 
 column organised from the Nagpoor force, 
 for service iu the Saugor and Nerbudda 
 territories. On the 15th, an aged Gond 
 rajah, named Shunkur Shah, who traced his 
 descent through sixty generations, was, with 
 his son and thirteen other persons, arrested, 
 and thrown iuto the military prison in the 
 cantonments. It does not appear that any 
 correspondence was found, but only several 
 papers " of a rebellious tendency ;" one of 
 which was placed on record by the deputy- 
 commissioner, Mr. Clerk. It was a prayer, 
 invoking the goddess Devi to listen to the 
 cry of religion, to shut the mouth of slan- 
 derers, devour the backbiters, trample down 
 the sinners, and — exterminate the British. 
 
 This invocation (written on the back of 
 a government proclamation) was found in 
 a silk bag, in which the rajah kept his 
 fan, beside the bed whereon he was lying 
 when arrested. I The rajah and his son 
 were speedily tried, and condemned to be 
 blown away fi'om guns. An unsuccessful 
 attempt was made for their rescue during 
 the night of the 16th; but precautions had 
 been taken; and the disappointed sepoys 
 ga\e vent to their e.xcited feelings by set- 
 ting fire to some unoccupied bungalows. 
 On the 18lh the execution took place. 
 
 rendered the movement of Kooer Sing possible, and 
 made that fine province, for months, the seat of a 
 guerilla war. It is the hate created by the Enam 
 commission, which renders the arrival of Tantia 
 Topee in the Utccan. with a couple of thousand 
 ragamuffins at his heels, a danger to be averted at 
 any cost." 
 
 + Timet, June 14th, 1858. 
 
 J Pari. I'apers on the Mutiniis in the East Indies, 
 1808 (So. 7J ; p. 2SS.
 
 EXECUTION OF GOND RAJAH AND HIS SON— SEPT. 18th, 1857. 491 
 
 British officers and Native troops (rendered; "a fox not to be trusted;" and treated his 
 powerless by the position of the artillery) request for grape for his guns with con- 
 tempt. f Nevertheless, the rajah, ably sup- 
 ported by the political agent (Lieutenant 
 Osborne), and by Lieutenant-colonel Hinde 
 (who commanded the Rewah contingent), 
 refused to suffer the rebel force to traverse 
 his country — posted troops at the moun- 
 tain passes, and assumed so resolute an 
 attitude, that Kooer Sing abandoned the 
 attempt, and fell back on Banda. For six 
 months longer the power of Kooer Sing 
 and his clan was unbroken. In March, 1858, 
 Guruckpoor was reoccupiod by the rebels, 
 
 looked on in silence, ai the old man, 
 with his snow-white hair, iron fetters, and 
 haughty bearing, took his place in front of 
 the gun that was to annihilate him, praying 
 aloud that his surviving children might be 
 spared to avenge him ; and his son echoed 
 tlie vengeful petition. The signal was given; 
 then the well-known muffled report followed, 
 with its usual horrible consequences. Tl'3 
 natives were suffered to gather together the 
 gory, half-burnt remains, on behalf of the 
 Ranee; while the European officers, ac- 
 cording to the testimony of one of them, | and Azimghur threatened. Colonel Mil- 
 looked on with a smile of gratified revenge man, the officer in command at Azimghur, 
 
 on their lips.* 
 
 Such a scene as that just described, could 
 hardly fail in producing a speedy result on 
 the already compromised 52nd. That night 
 the regiment mutinied and left the place, 
 with the exception of one Native officer 
 and ten men. They carried off Lieu- 
 tenant Macgrcgor, and offered to surren- 
 der him in exchange for the ten faithful 
 sepoys. This could not, of course, be done ; 
 ami no attempt was made for his deliver- 
 ance, except an offer of money, which was 
 instantly rejected. The mutineers had a 
 skirmish with the Kamptee column on the 
 27th of September, in a jungle about 
 twenty-five miles from Jubbulpoor, and re- 
 treated, leaving behind them the mangled 
 corpse of Lieutenant Macgrcgor. Lieute- 
 nants Barton and Cockburn, who were 
 stationed with a company of the 52nd at 
 Salemabad, had been previously suffered to 
 return to Jubbulpoor uninjured, the men 
 even bidding them farewell with tears in 
 their eyes. The 52nd went to Nagode, and 
 were there joined by the 50t,h, who had 
 mutinied on the I5th of September. The 
 Europeans fled ; the rebelx took possession 
 of the treasure, and placed tliemselves 
 under the orders of Kooer Sing, who, it 
 was expected, would march from Nagode 
 into Upper India, tlimugh Rewah, a native 
 state, the young rajah of which was re- 
 lated to the old Behar chief; and, it was 
 supposed, would iieither have the will nor 
 the courage to offer any serious oppo- 
 sition. His situation had been a very 
 painful one at the outbreak. Tlie muti- 
 neers burnt his villages ; and the British 
 authorities at Allahabad, pronounced him 
 
 * Letter of officpr of 52nd N.I. — Daily Kewt, 
 November 'ird, 18J7. 
 
 ■f Pari. Tupiis on Muuny (1807); p. 112. 
 
 repeated the error so frequently committed 
 during the war, by quitting his own iu- 
 trenchments to attack the advanced guard 
 of the enemy. An engagement took place 
 at the village of Atrowlee, twenty miles 
 from Azimghur. The hostile troops came 
 up in overwhelming numbers, and the 
 British fled to their intrenchments, aban- 
 doning their guns and baggage. The Raj- 
 poot chief followed up his advantage, and 
 took possession of the town of Azimghur. 
 The next day (March 26th), a sortie was 
 made from the intrenchment, under Colonel 
 Dames, on the town. Tlie assailants were 
 repulsed, one officer being killed (Captaiu 
 Bedford), and eleven men of H.M. 37th 
 killed or disabled. Sir Colin had foreseen 
 the danger to which Azimghur would be 
 exposed, and had detached a force for 
 its relief, under Sir Edward Lugard, from 
 Luckuow on the 20th of March ; but Kooer 
 Sing, by destroying a bridge over the 
 Goomtee at Sultanpoor, impeded the ad- 
 vance of the Column, which did not reach 
 its destination until the loth of April. In 
 the meantime, Lord Mark Kerr, with 500 
 men, hastened from Benares, and, on the 
 6th of April, succeeded in joining the troops 
 in the intrenchment, after a sharp conflict 
 with the force posted to intercept his en- 
 trance. On the 13tli of April, Kooer Sing, 
 with some of his adherents, quitted Azim- 
 ghur ; and, on the 15th, the remainder of 
 the enemy were expelled from the city, and 
 pursued for several miles. One of the two 
 bves lost by the victors on this occasion, 
 was that of Mr. Venables, the planter, 
 whose courage had been generally admired ; 
 whoic " terrific severity" had been much 
 applauded by the vengeance party ; and 
 for whose head the mutineers had offered 
 500 rupees. Happily he did not fall into
 
 492 
 
 FRESH DISASTER AT ARRAH— DEATH OF KOOER SING. 
 
 tlieir hands, but died of his wounds, among 
 Ilia own countrymen. 
 
 Kooer Sinj; retreated towards his here- 
 ditary posscssionb at Jugdespoor, hotly pur- 
 sued hy Brigadier Douglas on the east, 
 !u>d Colonel Cumberlege on the west, in the 
 hope of closing upon him in the angle 
 formed by the confluence of the Gogra and 
 the Ganges. Brigadier Douglas overtook 
 Kooer Sing at Bansdeh, a town midway 
 between Ghaeipoor and Chupra, and routed 
 the rebel force, capturing a gun and four 
 elephants. Kooer Sing himself was said to 
 have been severely wounded in the thigh ; 
 but he succeeded, through the devoted 
 fidelity of the peasantry, in escaping from 
 the two regiments of Aladras cavalry, with 
 which Colonel Cumberlege strove to inter- 
 cept him ; and crossed the Ganges in boats, 
 which were in readiness on the river, just 
 in time to escape steamers sent witli troops 
 from Diuapoor and Ghazipoor, directly it 
 was known that he had eluded his pursuers. 
 Brigadier Douglas, on reaching the bank, 
 fired a few rounds from his guns at the 
 rearmost boats, and sunk one of them. It 
 was asserted by the natives, after the cam- 
 paign was over,* that the old chief was 
 shot in the arm while crossing the Ganges, 
 and that he had himself amputated the 
 shattered limb. He reached Jugdespoor 
 on the 20th or 21st of April, where he 
 was joined by his brother, Umeer Sing, 
 and several thousand armed villagers. 
 On the night of the 22nd, part of the 
 Arrah garrison, in an evil hour, moved out 
 to seek and attack the old chief, as he lay 
 dying in his native jungles. Captain Le 
 
 • The disaffection of the people is repeatedly 
 mentioned in the military despatches of the period. 
 For instance. Sir Edward Lugard complains of" the 
 extremely scanty information procurable, every soul 
 in the district heing apparently against us." — Friend 
 of India, December 22nd, 1858. 
 
 t A Tery remarkable appeal was made by Khan 
 Bahadoot Khan, on behalf of the Mussulmans, for 
 the cordial co-operation of the Hindoos. He asserted 
 that the English were the enemies of both classes ; 
 that they had attempted to make the sepoys forfeit 
 caste by biting suet-greased cartridges ; and caused 
 those who refused to do so to be blown away from 
 guns. But the point most strongly urged, was the 
 recent systematic annexation. " The English," Khan 
 Bahadoor writes, "have made it a standing rule, 
 that when a rajah dies without leaving any male 
 issue by his married wife, to confiscate his territory, 
 and they do not allow his adopted son to inherit it; 
 although we learn from the Shastras, thnt there are 
 ten kinds of sons entitled to share in the property 
 of a deceased Hindoo. Hence, it is obvious that 
 luch laws of the English are intended to deprive 
 
 Grand was killed ; the detachment repulsed 
 with the loss of both their guns ; and the 
 casualties amounted to 130 out of 300 men. 
 The bad news of this disaster — the second 
 connected with the name of Arrah — was 
 counterbalanced by the tidings of the death 
 of Kooer Sing. A guerilla war was, how- 
 ever, maintained by Umeer Sing and others 
 of the family, which long prevented the 
 restoration of tranquillity in Behar. 
 
 Rohilcund Campaign. — After the reoccu- 
 pation of Lucknow, the chief rebel strong- 
 hold was Bareilly (the capital of Rohil- 
 cund, the province adjacent' to Dude), in 
 which Khan Bahadoor Khan had established 
 his authority. The defeated Oude rebels 
 flocked thither; and, strangely enough, 
 British troops now advanced to conquer, 
 on their own account, the territory which 
 they had once gained as mercenaries for 
 the viiier of Oude, by the defeat and death 
 of the ancettor of Khan Bahadoor. The 
 chief was old, and his faculties were said to 
 be enfeebled by the use of opium ; but his 
 proclamations and orders showed consider- 
 able sagacity. t One of his directions proved, 
 that the description of warfare at this time 
 generally adopted by the enemy, was the 
 result of policy, not fear or indecision. 
 " Do not," he said, " attempt to meet the 
 regular columns of the infidels, because 
 they are superior to you in discipline, and 
 have l)ig guns; but watch their movement* ; 
 guard all the ghauts on the rivers ; inter- 
 cept their communications ; stop their sup- 
 plies ; cut up their daks and posts ; and 
 keep constantly hanging about their camps : 
 give them no rest."J 
 
 the native rajahs of their territory and property. 
 They have already seized the territories of Nagpoor 
 and Lucknow." — Times, March 24th, 1848. The 
 Indian view of the treatment of native princes and 
 aristocracy, put forth by an avowed enemy, as a 
 means of instigating rebellion, is identical with that 
 expressed in equally plain terms by many English 
 writers. In a recent number of one of our most 
 popular periodicals, the statement is made, that " it 
 has been for many years our system to curtail the 
 dominion, and to depress the influence, of the 
 ])rince3 and chiefs of India. The aristocracy of the 
 country have gone down beneath the chariot- 
 wheels of the great Juggernauth which we have 
 driven over them. Not only have we annexed 
 and absorbed all the territory on which we could by 
 any pretext lay an appropriating hand; but, after 
 annexation and absorption, we have gone ruthlessly 
 to work to destroy the local nobility. Our wholi 
 system has tended to this result." — Blackuiood'i 
 Mdyazirie for April, 1860; p. 610. 
 
 X Itussell's Diary, vol. i., p. 276. Hyder Ali adopted 
 the same policy. See vol. i. {Indian Empire), p. 355.
 
 WALPOLE AT ROYEA— ADRIAN HOPE KILLED— APRIL, 15th, 1858. 493 
 
 The struggle with a numerous enemy re- 
 solved on following this system, was neces- 
 sarily tedious and harassing, and required 
 an incessant watchfulness in even minor 
 operations; the slightest intermission being 
 followed by disastrous consequences. Sir 
 Colin and General Mansfield — men whose 
 minds and bodies were models of sustained, 
 disciplined power — maintained admirable 
 order and accuracy in all their proceedings ; 
 but officers in detached commands were oc- 
 casionally betrayed into acts of fatal rashness. 
 
 Sir Colin, after amply providing for the 
 tenure of Lucknow, divided his force into 
 columns, which were ordered to proceed 
 by different routes converging on Bareilly. 
 On the 9th of April, General Walpole, at 
 the head of about 5,000 men of all arms, 
 marched from Lucknow for the purpose of 
 clearing the left bank of the Ganges, and 
 securing the passage of the Ramgunga at 
 Aligunj, in anticipation of the arrival of the 
 division under the commander-in-chief. On 
 the 15th, General Walpole reached a jungle 
 fort, named Royea, near the village of 
 Rhodamow. 
 
 Nirput Sing, the Rajpoot owner of the 
 fort, was an old man and a cripple. He 
 had as yet shown no hostility to the Bri- 
 tish ; but, according to the reports of our 
 spies, he had just received a letter from 
 tlie Begum, and had resolved on espousing 
 her cause. On receiving the summons of 
 General Walpole, he " did not come in, or 
 send any satisfactory reply."* 
 
 The attack on the fort was immediately 
 commenced. General Walpole states, that 
 he " sent forward some infantry iu ex- 
 tended order, to enable the place to be 
 reconnoitred, when a heavy fire was im- 
 mediately opened upon them, and an occa- 
 sional gun." The consequence was, tb it 
 the attempted examination was abandoned; 
 and notwithstanding Sir Colin's prohibi- 
 tion of any attack on fortified places ex- 
 cept with heavy artillery, part of the 42ud 
 Highlanders and 4th Punjab regiment were 
 suffered to attempt to storm the fort. It 
 is said that they had nearly succeeded, and 
 were desperately clambering up the walls, 
 helping each other by hand and leg and fire- 
 lock, when the general sent to desire them to 
 retreat ; and Brigadier Hope, while engaged 
 
 • General Walpole's despatch, April 16th, 1858. — 
 Loudon Gazette, July 17th, 18J8. 
 
 t Russell's Diary in India, vol. i., p. 393. 
 i Russell.— rimes, June 17th, 1858. 
 j Walpole's despatch, April 15th, 1858. 
 
 in restoring order and getting the men 
 together to retire, was mortall}' wounded by 
 a musket-ball, fired by a man posted in a 
 high tree inside the walls. The brigadier 
 said to his aide-de-camp, as he fell, " They 
 have done for me : remember me to my 
 friends;" and died in a few seconds. As 
 many men were lost in the retreat as 
 in the advance. Lieutenant Willoughby, 
 the brother to the officer who took a 
 prominent part in firing the small-arm 
 magazine at Delhi, was killed at the head 
 of the Seiks; and the 42ad left Lieute- 
 nants Douglas and Bramley behind, mor- 
 tally wounded. Sergeant Simpson rushed 
 back, and recovered both the bodies ; and 
 two men, in striving to rescue others of 
 their comrades, were killed by the fire from 
 the fort; which the triumphant garrison 
 (whose numbers were stated, or guessed, at 
 from 300 to 1,500) poured forth unceasingly, 
 amid shouts and yells of victory. In this 
 miserable business, above a hundred casual- 
 ties occurred ; forty-two Highlanders and 
 forty-six Sei'ns were killed or wounded. The 
 fallen leaders were all popular men, espe- 
 cially Adrian Hope ; and the officers of the 
 42nd and 93rd, " themselves in a state of 
 furious wrath, and discontented with their 
 general," declared, " the fury of the men was 
 so great, that they were afraid of mutiny, or 
 worse, when poor Hope was buried !"t The 
 " worse" than mutiny, here alluded to, is 
 elsewhere explained as meaning personal 
 threats against Walpole, for having need- 
 lessly sacrificed many lives.J Altogether, 
 this first procedure against the mud forts 
 of the chiefs of Oude, was extremely dis- 
 couraging. 
 
 After the withdrawal of the storming 
 party, preparations were made for investing 
 the place, which was nothing more than a 
 wall enclosing some houses, with loopholes 
 for musketry, some irregular bastions at the 
 angles, and two gates, both on the same face 
 of the work. The enemy disappeared during 
 the night; and in the morning the British 
 marched in. " A few bodies which seemed 
 to have been overlooked, aud three large 
 funeral fires, with the remains of the bodies 
 smouldering,"§ afforded all the evidence 
 that could be obtained as to the loss of life 
 OB the part of the enemy. Only five guns 
 were found iu the fort; but the track of 
 wheels was followed to a deep well, down 
 which other guns were supposed to have 
 been thrown. 
 
 On the 22nd of April, General Walpole
 
 494 ROHILCUND CAMPAIGN— BATTLE OF BAREILLY— MAY 5th, 1858. 
 
 had a successful encounter with a body of 
 Rohilcuiid rebels at Sirsa; and, on the 27th, 
 he reached Tingree. Here the united 
 force, under the commander-in-chief, crossed 
 the Ramgunga by the bridge of boats 
 which Walpole's victory had prevented the 
 enemy from destroying, and British troops 
 set foot in Rohilcuiid for the first time 
 since the mutiny. Sir Colin was anxious to 
 conciliate the country-people by just and con- 
 siderate dealings. The most stringent orders 
 were issued against plundering; and it was 
 no unusual thing to see the veteran general, 
 with the flat of his sword, or a cudgel, 
 personally chastising the thievish camp-fol- 
 lowers. At Jellalabad (the first halt made 
 in Rohilcund) there was an old mud fort, 
 which had been hastily abandoned by the 
 enemy. A native official, who had acted as 
 tehsildar (deputy-collector) to the Company, 
 came in and surrendered himself, on the 
 assurance of an officer (Captain Carey) that 
 his life should be spared. Mr. Money, the 
 civil officer with the force, seized the roan, 
 and ordered him to be hanged, which was 
 accordingly done j the tehsildar meeting his 
 fate " with calmness and even dignity ;" but 
 declaring, with his last breath, that he had 
 been snared by the false promise of a British 
 officer. " Sir Colin was extremely indig- 
 nant at the transaction, which he charac- 
 terised in the severest way ;"* and spoke to 
 Mr. Money in a sharp and decided tone, 
 calculated to prevent such occurrences iu 
 the camp for the future. 
 
 The force reachsd Sliahjehanpoor on the 
 30th of April, and found it recently evacu- 
 ated by the Nana, who had gone to Bareilly 
 to join Khan Bahadoor, the Begum of 
 Oude, and Prince Feroze Shah of Delhi. 
 The Moolvee of Fyzabad had proceeded to 
 Mohumdee. Shahjehanpoorwas half empty ; 
 and the church, the English cantonments, 
 and stations had been destroyed by the 
 mutineers. On the 2nd of May, Sir Colin 
 marched thence upon Bareilly, through an 
 almost abandoned countr)', where the fields 
 but too often bore no promise of a second 
 crop. A few very old and very miserable 
 people were alone seen in the villages ; the 
 houses were all fastened up, bolted, pad- 
 locked, and deserted — a mortifying sight to 
 a commander, whc sufi"ered no plunder and 
 
 • Ru«sell.— Time*, June 17th, 1858. D/ary, vol. i., 
 p. 398. " Lord Canning subsequently approved of 
 Mr. Money's act, as he proved the man was a 
 ringleader in rebelLion." — IbiJ., p. 399. 
 
 t Despatch of Adjutant-general, May 6th, 1858. 
 
 no injury, that he could prevent, to be done 
 to the unarmed natives ; but a certain con- 
 sequence of the conduct of the so-called 
 "avenging columns," sent forth at an early 
 stage of the war, when few distinctions were 
 made between the innocent and the guilty. 
 While Sir Colin marched from the north. 
 Brigadier John Jones came south from Mo- 
 radabad ; and a third force, under Colonel 
 H. Richmond Jones (lately commanded by 
 General Penny), advanced from the west, to 
 concentrate on what was now viewed as 
 the metropolis of the revolt. General Penny 
 was a good soldier and a careful leader; 
 but, blinded by false intelligence, he, " for 
 the sake of sparing his troops, neglected 
 some common military precautions, "f and 
 fell while leading a loosely-ordered night 
 march through Budaon, at a village called 
 Kukrowlee, from whence grape and mus- 
 ketry were suddenly fired by an ambushed 
 enemy. Penny, whose bridle-hand was 
 probably disabled, seems to have been car- 
 ried by -his frightened horse into the midst 
 of a party of Ghazis hidden in a ditch, by 
 whom he was killed, and several other 
 officers and men were wounded. The village 
 was shelled, and carried by the bayonet, 
 and the dead body of the general was found 
 stripped and covered with wounds. 
 
 Bareilly. — On the 5th of May, the united 
 force advanced upon Bareilly ; and an out- 
 lying suburb, two miles from the city, was 
 attacked by some Seik companies, followed 
 by the 42nd and 79th regiments. The 
 Seiks pressed forward to explore a ruined 
 mass of one-storied houses in front of the 
 British lines ; but finding themselves ex- 
 posed to a heavy fire of musketry from 700 
 or 800 concealed matchlockmen, they fell 
 back in disorder on the advancing High- 
 landers, closely followed by a body of Ghazis 
 — grey-bearded, elderly men, who, sword in 
 hand, with small round bucklers on the left 
 arm, and green cummerbunds, rushed out 
 with bodies bent and heads low, waving 
 their tulwars with a circular motion iu the 
 air, and uttering their war-cry — " Bismillah 
 Allah ! deen, deeu \" (Glory to Allah ! 
 the faith, the faith !) At first, the fana- 
 tics were mistaken for Seiks, whose passage 
 had already disturbed the British ranks. 
 But Sir Coliu was close beside the 42nd, 
 and had just time to say, " Steady, men, 
 steady ! Close up the ranks. Bayonet them 
 as they come." A short but sanguinary 
 struggle ensued. Colonel Cameron was 
 pulled ofif his horse, and only saved by the
 
 BATTLE OP BAREILLY— DESPERATION OP GHAZIS— MAY, 1858. 495 
 
 prompt courage of Sergeant Gardiner. 
 Brigadier Walpole was also seized by two 
 or three GLazis, and received two cuts 
 on the hand ; but he was rescued by the 
 quick bayonets of the 42nd ; and, in a few 
 minutes, the dead bodies of the devoted 
 band (133 iu number), and some eighteen 
 or twenty wounded on the British side, 
 were all the tokens left of the struggle.* 
 
 While the Ghazis were making their 
 fierce onslaught in front, the hostile 
 cavalry swept among the sick and camp- 
 followers in the rear, and seemed as if 
 they intended to make a dash at the 
 baggage, but were soon driven off by the 
 fire of the British guns. The movement 
 had, however, created a panic among the 
 camel-drivers and bazaar people ; and 
 elephants, bullocks, camels, and horses 
 rushed wildly across the plain. Mr. Rus- 
 sell, Sir David Baird, and Captain Alison 
 scrambled out of their dhoolies on to their 
 horses, and rode oflp, very scantily clad, to 
 the shelter of the guns, hotly pursued by the 
 sowars, by whom " the special correspon- 
 denf't was nearly surrounded, but rescued 
 through the devotion of his native servants. 
 
 • Sir Colin himself had a narrow escape. As he 
 was riding from one company to another, his eye 
 caught that of a Ghazi, who lay, tulwar in hand, 
 feigning death, just before him. Guessing the ruse, 
 he called to a soldier, " Bayonet that man." The 
 Highlander made a thrust at him ; but his weapon 
 would not enter the thick cotton quilting of the 
 Ghazi's tunic; and the impostor was just springing 
 to his feet, when a Seik, with " a whistling stroke 
 of his sabre, cut off the Ghazi's head » ith one blow, 
 as if it had been the bulb of a poppy!" — Russell's 
 Diary in India, vol. ii., p. 14. 
 
 t Mr. Russell was lame from the kick of a horse; 
 Sir Ltavid Baird was ill of a fever; and Captain 
 Alison sufiVriiig from small-pox. At this time Sir 
 Colin had no staff: he had " used-up" more than one 
 set of officers completely; and Captain Hope John- 
 stone alone remained with General Mansfield. — 
 Timet, July 6th, 1858. 
 
 X Despatch of Sir C. Campbell, May 8th, 1858.— 
 London Gazette, July 28th, 1858. Sir Colin's ap- 
 proval was greatly valued, because of the conscien- 
 tiousness with which it was given. He never 
 courted popularity by lavish praise; and the manner 
 in which he abstained from recommending officers 
 for the Victoria medal, was often discussed as a 
 grievance in his camp. It is probable that the 
 spirit of the order seemed to him injudicious, as 
 tempting men to seek for distinct'on by a single 
 daring act, rather than by steady perseverance in 
 ordinary duty. In his own breast, physical courage 
 was an instinct which required repression rather 
 than encouia};ement ; and he sedulously checked 
 every approach to fool-hardiness in both officers 
 ■nd men. At this time, moreover, there was a 
 irieat tendency to vuljjarise the decoration by its too 
 hasty and indiscrimiiiate bestowal. Uiie man was 
 
 The enemy abandoned the suburbs ; but 
 it was believed they were concentrating 
 upon some point in the city; and Sir 
 Colin, not deeming it advisable to expose 
 troops, exhausted with thirst and intense 
 heat, to the fatigue and hazard of a series 
 of street fights, secured the cantonments 
 and advanced posts, and bivouacked for the 
 night on the tentless plain. 
 
 Brigadier John Jones arrived with his 
 column from Moradabad (which city the 
 rebels evacuated at his approach), and took 
 up his position on the north side of 
 Bareilly, just as the conflict in the suburbs 
 terminated. The commander-in-chief, when 
 he advanced into the cantoument on the 
 following morning, heard the welcome 
 sound of the brigadier's guns; and declared 
 that " this officer had obeyed his instruc- 
 tions with great judgment and spirit; de- 
 feated a portion of the enemy on the 5th 
 instant, taking three guns; and finding 
 himself resisted on his approach to the 
 town on the 6th, took three more which 
 were in position against him ; entered the 
 town, and took three advanced positions 
 without delay."! On the morning of the 7th, 
 
 alleged to have received it for running his sword 
 through the body of a dying Ghazi, who stood at 
 bay in a patch of jungle. Another was recom- 
 mended for it by his comrades, because he " was 
 the sergeant who served out the grog." — Times, 
 April 2nd, 1859. Among many instances of the 
 unsatisfactory manner in which the Victoria Cross 
 was given and withheld, may be cited the case of 
 Major Anderson (25th N.I.), the assistant-commis- 
 sioner of Lucknow, and one of the annalists of the 
 siege. This officer maintained his own house, as an 
 outpost, from the 30th of June till the 22nd of 
 November, 1857. Until the relief in September, he, 
 with only ten men of H.M. 32nd, and ten volun- 
 teers held a sand-bag breastwork four-and-a-half 
 feet high, from which a 9 and an 18-pounder gun 
 had been withdrawn, as artillerymen could not load 
 them, on account of the deadly fire from the adja- 
 cent houses. General Outram, on his arrival, 
 erected a battery on the spot, where Major (then 
 Captain) Anderson continued till the end of the 
 siege. The men were relieved every week. He 
 remained there nearly five months, employed, day 
 and night, in the defence ; and having, besides, to 
 chop wood, cook, wash his own clothes, and dig in 
 the outworks; and all this in a building on which 
 nine guns of different sizes were constantly playing. 
 A desperate attempt was made by the enemy to 
 escalade this outpost; but was most gallantly re- 
 pulsed. Brigadier Inglis, in his memorable despatch, 
 and the various chronicles of the siege, have borne 
 testimony to the patient, unflinching zeal of Major 
 Anderson; yet when an opportunity occurred for 
 conferring on him an honourable distinction, his 
 services were left unnoticed. The occasion was 
 this. The pillars of the verandah of his hjuse 
 were shot away, and a civilian (Mr. Capper) wa*
 
 496 
 
 TRANQUILLISATION OF ROHILCUND— JUNE, 1858. 
 
 the town was finally reduced, with trifling ' 
 loss to the victors, except by sun-stroke, 
 under which many more fell than by the 
 tulwars of the Ghazis, of whom detached 
 bodies remained in the houses, and fought, 
 to the last. The completeness with which 
 the concentration of the columns was accom- ! 
 plished, excited much admiration for the 
 commander-in-chief's power of organisa- 
 tion. All parties concurred in lauding the 
 masterly manner in which the three 
 columns were brought to bear on a great 
 city, which, though without walls, was be- 
 lieved to be filled by thousands of men, 
 who, hopeless of victory, only desired to 
 die in a hand-to-hand struggle with the 
 infidel. A powerful and well-organised 
 force was needed to crush these dangerous 
 foes, with little loss of the lives Sir Colin 
 was so chary of imperilling. He succeeded 
 in convincing Khan Bahadoor of the fruit- 
 lessness of protracting the struggle ; and 
 the consequence was, that he and the other 
 rebel leaders fled, leaving the city to fall 
 an easy prize into the hands of the 
 British. 
 
 The great political advantage gained by 
 the reoccupation of Bareilly, was enhanced 
 by the precautions taken by the com- 
 mander-in-chief to check plunder (for 
 which there was comparatively but little 
 opportunity, as the fugitives had removed 
 all available property), and by the procla- 
 
 mation of an amnesty to all but notorious 
 rebels — a measure which was only common 
 justice to the people of Rohilcund ; who 
 had been left, ever since the outbreak of 
 the mutiny, entirely in the hands of the 
 'recognised representative and legitimate 
 descendant of their former rulers. 
 
 The chief events of this important cam- 
 paign have now been narrated. At its 
 close, the rebels had ceased to possess a 
 single city or fortified town. The British 
 flag had been replanted on the towers of 
 Delhi, Lucknow, Cawnpoor, Bareilly, and 
 numerous less important places, by dint of 
 extraordinary eff'orts, which had been at- 
 tended with no less extraordinary success. 
 Mutinous troops, rebel princes, and re- 
 volted citizens, had been overcome by men 
 fij;hting on a foreign soil, with frames tried 
 by an uncongenial climate, and liable to be 
 prostrated, amid the din of battle, by sun- 
 stroke, fever, and pestilence. Compassed 
 about by danger and discouragement, they 
 had steadily held on their course — plodding 
 wearily through sandy plains ; wading 
 through swamps, or groping among dense 
 jungles often filled with ambushed foes; 
 fighting battles and besieging cities, as it 
 were, incidentally; until, in June, 1858, 
 when no more pitched battles remained to 
 be fought, nor cities to be besieged, the 
 victors might well retire to rest in their 
 cantonments for a short season. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 CAMPAIGN IN OUDE; FATE OF LEADING REBELS; MOOLVEE OF LUCKNOW; LALL 
 MADHOO SING, OF AMETHIE; BAINIE MADHOO, RANA OF SHUNKERPOOR ; DABEE 
 BUX, RAJAH OF GONDA; NIRPUT SING, OF ROYEA; TANTIA TOPEE ; MAUN SING ; 
 MEHNDIE HOSSEIN; FEROZE SHAH, PRINCE OF DELHI; BEGUM OF OUDE, AND 
 BIRJIS KUDDER; NAWABS OF FURRUCKABAD, BANDA, AND JHUJJUR; RAJAHS OF 
 MITHOWLEE AND BULLUBGHUR; TRIAL, SENTENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION OP 
 THE KING OF DELHI; SURRENDER OF KHAN BAHADOOR KHAN; PENAL SETTLE- 
 MENT FOR SEPOYS, FORMED AT THE ANDAMANS; TERMINATION OF THE RULE 
 OF THE E. I. COMPANY; PROCLAMATION OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF QUEEN VIC- 
 TORIA, NOV., 1858; CONCLUSION. 
 
 The course of action adopted by Sir Colin 
 Campbell, in July, 1858, for the reduction 
 of Oude, was similar to that which he had 
 
 completely buried under the ruins. Major Anderson, 
 ■with three other persons, immediately set to work to 
 rescue the entombed man; and after labouring for 
 \hree-quarter8 of an hour, under a heavy fire of round 
 •hot and lEu^ketry, succeeded in getting him out 
 
 followed in the Doab, after the battle of 
 Cawnpoor. By never committing the troops 
 to a forward movement until they could be 
 
 alive. A corporal who shared the perilous enterprise, 
 received the Victoria medal as a reward. The major, 
 who commanded and cooperated with him, remained 
 undecorated. Of course, a case like this can only 
 be accounted for as occurring through inadvertence.
 
 PATE OF REBEL LEADERS— BAINIE MADHOO. 
 
 497 
 
 supported on every side, he converted a 
 march into a thorough process of occu- 
 pation ; and, at the beginning of tlie year 
 1859, was able to report to the governor- 
 general, that there was " no longer even 
 a vestige of rebellion in Oude."* 
 
 The campaign was wearisome to the 
 troops; but at its close, nothing remained 
 for them to do, except to continue the 
 pursuit of the few insurgent leaders who 
 seemed resolved never to l)e taken alive. 
 This small number included the noblest, 
 bravest, and ablest of the rebels — such as 
 the Begum of Oude, with a small band of 
 devoted Rajpoots; Prince Feroze Shah, of 
 Delhi; and Khan Bahadoor Khan : it like- 
 wise comprehended the Nana, and his 
 hateful associate, Azim OoUah; both of 
 whom were of course beyond the pale 
 of mercy. Their cruel treachery at Cawn- 
 poor was denounced by the Begum, and 
 Prince Feroze Shah, as having brouglit 
 a curse on the native cause. Yet the oflPer 
 of i615,000 failed to induce the people 
 to betray the Nana ; and when, at the close 
 of 1858, his fortunes were utterly desperate, 
 a hill chief, named the rajah of Churda, 
 sheltered him and his family for weeks in 
 his jungle fort, and, on the approach of the 
 British troops, fled with him into the 
 Terai, the atmosphere of which was pesti- 
 lential to natives, and fatal to Europeans. 
 
 There were, however, exceptional cases, in 
 whicl) rebel chiefs lell through the treachery 
 of two or three compromised individuals. 
 The first of these betrayals was that of 
 the Moolvee of Lucknow or Fyzabad, 
 for whose apprehension jB5,000 and a 
 free pardoii was offered. On the 15th of 
 June, he arrived before Powayue, a small 
 town, sixteen miles noiih of Shalijelianpoor. 
 The rajah of the place was, it is said, ex- 
 tremely anxious to improve his positiou 
 with the British, which he had reason to 
 
 • Lord Clyde's despatch of January 7th, 1859. 
 
 t Russell.— rt'm««, February lltli, 1859. 
 
 i At page 233 ; where a mistake has been made in 
 the name of the rajah, arising from the confusion 
 which existed in the accounts sent home to Eng- 
 land at the time the erroneous paragraph was 
 published. Lall Madhoo Sing is the name of the 
 Rajah of Amethie ; Bainie Madhoo Sing, that of the 
 Rana of Shunkerpoor. 
 
 § One of the causes which are said to have strength- 
 ened ■ ""e resolve of Bainie Madhoo, is as follows : — 
 " A ki.isman and great friend of his resided, at the 
 time of the outbreak, on his estates between Alla- 
 habad and Futtchpoor. The commissioner (Chester), 
 aware of hii character, wrote to him to say ihat he 
 was to remain in his house, and five us such aid as 
 VOL. II. 3 8 
 
 fear was a dangerous one ; therefore he 
 caused the Moolvee to be shot while en- 
 gaged in a parley; delivered over the dead 
 body to the nearest British magistrate, and 
 received the blood-money. f 
 
 Among the chief leaders who surrendered 
 themselves to the commander-in-chief, was 
 the head of a powerful Rajpoot clan — Lall 
 Madhoo Sing, of Amethie. Sir Colin (or 
 rather Lord Clyde, for he had by this time 
 been made a peer, in acknowledgment of 
 the public service rendered by the relief of 
 Lucknow) appeared before the fort of 
 Amethie on the 11th of November, 1858; 
 but hostile operations were stayed by the 
 submission of the rajah, whose antecedents 
 have been already related, | and who pro- 
 tested against the decree for the dis- 
 armament of his followers and surrender of 
 his arms ; urging, with truth, that his fort 
 had sheltered English men, women, and 
 children when in danger; and his arms, 
 which were very few, had been used for 
 the same purpose. He likewise complained 
 boldly of the seizure of his property at 
 Benares, and the refusal of aU redress or 
 explanation of the matter. 
 
 Bainie Madhoo, the Rana of Shunkerpoor 
 (another Rajpoot of similar rank to Lall 
 Madhoo Sing, and whose son had married 
 the daughter of Kooer Sing), abandoned 
 his fort on the approach of Lord Clyde 
 (November 15th), and marched oflp, with 
 his adliereuts, treasure, guns, women, and 
 baggage, to join the Begum of- Oude and 
 Birjis Kudder, who was, he said, his lawful 
 sovereign, and must be obeyed as such. 
 He proved his sincerity at heavy cost ; for 
 though offered his life, his lands, the re- 
 dress of injuries, the full investigation of 
 grievances — he rejected all, and became a 
 homeless wanderer in the Terai, for the 
 sake of the Begum and her sod, to whom 
 he had sworn fealty. § 
 
 he could render. He did so : he provided coolies, 
 transport, and stores for our troops. Some Sikhs 
 quarrelled with his villagers; and in the fight, it is 
 said, a few men lost their lives. The zemindar was 
 called in to Futtehpoor, and he and his elder son 
 were hanged. The second son fled to Bainie Madhoo 
 for protection, and was assured that he would never 
 be abandoned. Out of the 223 villages on Bainie 
 Madhoo's estates, 1 19 were taken from him on the 
 second revision, after annexation ; but, as he was 
 assured that any complaints of unjust treatment in 
 former days, would be considered in the event of 
 his submission, it must be supposed he had some 
 strong personal feeling at work [to account] for the 
 extraordinary animosity he has displayed against 
 us."— Russell : Time; January 17lh, 1859.
 
 498 FATE OF DABEE BUX, NIRPUT SING, AND TANTIA TOPEE. 
 
 Dabee Bux, Rajah of Gondah, was another 
 of the most determined rebels. A natiye 
 chief predicated of him and of Baiuie Mad- 
 hoo, tliat they would not surrender — the lat- 
 ter because lie had promised not to desert 
 Bii jis Kudder (a;id he never broke his word) ; 
 the fornier because he was fond of fighting, 
 and had done uotliing else all his life.* 
 
 Nirput Sing, of Royea, a Rajpoot chief of 
 inconsiderable rank before the mutiny,raised 
 himself to eminence by the unilincbing re- 
 solve with which he stood aloof from pro- 
 oclaojiationsand amnesties; partly, perhaps, 
 because they were so vaguely worded, and 
 so tampered with,t as to inspire little confi- 
 dence in the iutentibns of the British 
 government for the better administration of 
 India. It was currently reported of him, 
 that he had vowed (alluding to his crippled 
 condition), " that as God had taken some of 
 his members, he would give the rest to his 
 country.''^ 
 
 Tantia Topee held out, fighting as he 
 fled, and flying as he fought,§ until the 
 7th of April, 1859, when he was captured 
 while asleep in the Parone jungles, ten 
 miles from Seepree, by the treachery of 
 Maun Sing ; heavily ironed, tried by court- 
 martial, and hanged. His bearing was calm 
 and fearless to the last : he wanted no trial, he 
 said, being well aware that he had nothing 
 but death to expect from the British gov- 
 ernment. He asked only that his end 
 might be speedy, and that his captive family 
 might not be made to sufi'er for transactions 
 in which they had had no share. 
 
 * Since the above page wag written, the prediction 
 has been verified. In November, 1859, Jung Baha. 
 dur marched his forces into the Terai, and en- 
 countered Bainie Madhoo, who, with 1,200 men, 
 withstood the Goorkas, but was killed with half his 
 followers. The death of the Gondah Bajah, and the 
 surrender of the Gondah Ranee, with eighty.nine 
 followers, have been officially reported. Also the 
 deaths of Bala Rao, of Cawnijoor; General Khoda 
 Buksh, Hurdeo Purshaud, Chuckladar of Khyrabad, 
 and many others. — Timet, JaViuary 21st, 1860. 
 
 ■f Certain leading civilians, although "old, valued, 
 and distinguished public servants, evinced their 
 repugnance to the amnesty in a most inexcusable 
 manner. Mr. Russell gives a case in point. " It 
 will be credited with difficulty, that a very dis- 
 tinguished officer of the government, whose rank in 
 the councils of tha Indian empire is of the very 
 highest, actually suggested to one of the officers 
 charged with the pacification of Oude, that he should 
 not send the proclamation till he had battered down 
 the forts of the chiefs j and yet he did so. Had ;> 
 military officer so far contravened the orders of his 
 (uperior, nothing could save him from disgrate and 
 the loss of his commission. A more disgraceful 
 luggeition oould scarcely have bsen made to a man 
 
 Maun Sing himself had been driven, 
 many months earlier, from his pretended 
 neutrality by Melindie Hussein, who had 
 summoned him, in the name of the Begum 
 of Oude, to join her cause in person, at the 
 head of his retainers; and not receiving a 
 satisfactory answer, had besieged him in 
 his fort of Shaligunj ; whereupon the in- 
 triguer had been compelled to seek aid 
 from the British, and decisively join the 
 cause vvTiich, by that time (July, 1858), was 
 beyond question the stronger. This chief 
 and his brother, Rugber Sing, have played 
 a winning game, in a manner quite consis- 
 tent with the account of their previous 
 lives, given by Colonel Sleeman. Mehudie 
 Hussein, "a fine, tall, portly man, with 
 very agreeable face;" his uncle, Meer 
 Dost Ali, and several other of the Oude 
 leaders, surrendered themselves into the 
 hands of the commander-in-chief in Jan- 
 uary, 1859, encouraged by the conciliatory 
 tone the government had gradually beei» 
 induced to assume. " I was twenty-five 
 years in the service of the King of Oude," 
 said Mehndie Hussein as he entered the 
 British camp; evidently implying that he 
 could not, as a man of honour, help fighting 
 in the cause of one lie had served so lung. 
 Lord Clyde behaved with frank courtesy to 
 the fallen chiefs ; invited thera to be seated ; 
 and expressed his hope that they would 
 now settle down as good subjects of the 
 British Crown. " I have been fifty years a 
 soldier," he said ; " and I have seen enough 
 of war to rejoice when it is at an end." 
 
 of honour; one more ruinous to our reputation, 
 more hurtful to our faith, certainly could not be 
 imagined." — Times, December 2l6t, 1858. 
 
 X Russell.— rimes, February lllh, 1858. Nirput 
 Sing is said to have been slain at the same time as 
 Bainie Madhoo. 
 
 § Mr. Russell, December 4th, 1858, wrote — " Oui 
 very remarkable friend, Tantia Topee, is too 
 troublesome and clever an enemy to be admired. 
 Since last June he has kept Central India in a fever. 
 He has sacked stations, plundered treasuries, emptied 
 arsenals, collected armies, lost them ; fought battles, 
 lost them ; taken guns from native princes, lost 
 them ; taken more, lost them : then his motions 
 have been like forked lightning; for weeks he has 
 marched thirty and fprty miles a-day. He has 
 crossed the Nerbudda to and fro ; he has marched 
 between our columns, behind them, and before 
 them. Ariel was not more subtle, aided by the 
 best stage mechanism. Up mountains, over rivers, 
 through ravines and valleys, amid swamps, on he 
 goes, backwards and forwards, and sideways ancl 
 zig-zag ways — now falling upon a post-cart, and 
 carrymg off the Bombay mails — now looting a vil- 
 lage> headed and turned, yet evasive as Proteus." — 
 Xmu; January 17th, 1859.
 
 BEGUM OF OUDE— FEROZE SHAH— NANA SAHIB— AZIM OOLLAH. 499 
 
 Other .well-known Oude chiefs, including 
 Pirthee Pal Slug,* had previously thrown 
 themselves on the mercy of the government, 
 and were, in several instances, treated with 
 less severity than might have been ex- 
 pected. When the vengeance fever subsided, 
 the Europeans began to draw distinctions 
 between the insurgent leaders, and to admit, 
 and even praise, the courage and steadfast- 
 ness with which certain of them endured 
 prolonged suffering. This change of feeling 
 is very marked in the case of Prince Feroze 
 Shah, of Delhi: his military daring, hair- 
 breadth escapes, and skilful horsemanship, 
 are spoken of with admiration ; and even 
 Anglo-Indian journals (the Delhi Gazette, 
 for instance) plead his cause, urging his 
 reported intercession on behalf of the Euro- 
 pean ladies and children massacred at Delhi 
 by the mutinous sepoys of the East India 
 Company. Few persons, now, but would 
 regret to hear that the prince had perished 
 either by jutigle fever or the hands of the 
 executioner. A still stronger interest at- 
 taches to the Begum of Oude ; of wliom it 
 bas been said, that she, " like all th'; women 
 who have turned up in the iusurrection, has 
 shown more sense and uerve than all her 
 generals together."t 
 
 The fate of the Nana and Azim OoUah 
 is still a matter of uncertainty. It is said 
 they are buth dead of jungle fever; but 
 nothing short of the identification of the 
 bodies, will quench the desire for their cap- 
 ture clierished by the British public. 
 
 No estimate has been attempted of the 
 number of insurgents who have perished by 
 the civil sword ; indeed, there are no records 
 from which a trustworthy approximation 
 could be framed. It is a subject on which 
 few but those personally interested possess 
 even limited information; and they, of 
 course, are silent as the grave. 
 
 In the middle of the year 1858, Mr. 
 Russell wrote — " Up to this time, there 
 has certainly been no lack of work for the 
 executioner. Rajahs, nawabs, zemindars, 
 have beeij^ 'strung up' or 'polished off' 
 
 • See p. 330, ante. t Times, Nov. 29lh, 1858. 
 
 J lluBsell's Diary, vol. i., p. 214. — 2'imes, July 
 19th, 1858; January 17lh, 1859. An Umballah 
 civilian boasted to Mr. Russell, that he had hanged 
 fifty-four men in a few hours for plundering a village ; 
 enjoyed the work, and regretted that he had not liad 
 'more of it." — Diary, vol. ii., p. 82. 
 
 § Friend of India, November 18th, 1858. 
 
 II See account of proceedings of Kenaud, when he 
 moved from Allahabad in advance of Havelock's 
 force : p. 374, ante ; and Russell, ii., 402. 
 
 f For instance, Colonel Bourchier, of the Bengal 
 
 weekly, and men of less note daily." The 
 conquests of the Great Moguls were marked 
 by pyramids of heads, piled up like cannon- 
 balls ; our path may be traced by topes 
 full of rotting corpses — not the remains of 
 enemies slain in war; but the victims of 
 " the special commissioners, who, halter in 
 hand, followed in the wake of our armies," 
 with excited passions, and " armed with 
 absolute and irresponsible power."J 
 
 At the close of the year 1858, their pro- 
 ceedings were denounced even in Calcutta, 
 and they themselves became " the objects 
 of incessant attack. Some of them, it is 
 said, spilt blood like water. Many were 
 inattentive to the rules of evidence. One 
 stated, on a requisition made by govern- 
 ment, that he had sentenced ' about' 800, 
 but had kept no exact account."^ The 
 excesses of civiliaus cannot, however, throw 
 into the shade those committed by military 
 leaders ; some of the most notorious of wliich 
 were perpetrated before the fearful provoca- 
 tion given at Cawnpoor;|| while others were 
 prevented by the humanity of civilians at- 
 tached to the forces.^ 
 
 The sentence of government on certain 
 influential leaders, whose names have been 
 mentioned in previous chapters, remains to 
 be stated. The Nawab of Furruckabad came 
 voluntarily to head-quarters. A price of 
 £10,000 had been set upon his person ; and 
 he was expressly shut out, by proclamation, 
 from all favour and amnesty, on accountof his 
 being deemed, in some measure, responsible 
 for the massacre of women and children at 
 Futtehghur. On being reminded by the 
 commissioner. Major Barrow, of the posi- 
 tion in which he stood ; the nawab replied — 
 " The best proof I can give that I do not 
 consider myself guilty is, that I come here 
 to take my trial, though you have already 
 pronounced me guilty, and I have to prove 
 my innocence." In this, however, he failed, 
 notwithstanding the strongly favourable tes- 
 timony of two Ciiristian ladies (mother and 
 daughter), the wives of British officers ; who 
 had been known to the nawab in former 
 
 artillery, blamed Mr. Sapte, the civil officer with his 
 column, for not calling on him to punish the town 
 of Khoorja, on account of a headless skeleton found 
 outside that place, near Alighur; which Colonel 
 Bourchier took to be that of a European female, 
 and Mr. Sapte that of a sepoy. The case gave 
 rise to some discussion ; and Mr. Sapte asked — 
 " Even had the skeleton been that of a European, 
 would it have been just to have shelled the town, 
 and indiscriminately killed men, women, and chil. 
 dren, the innocent and the guilty? An officer pro- 
 uosed Ihia"— Friend vf India, Nov. 11th, 1858.
 
 600 
 
 NAWAB OF FURRUCKABAD— KHAN BAHADOOR KHAN. 
 
 times, and were received in his zenana at ' 
 the outbreak. The special commission as- 
 sembled for his trial at Furruckabad, found 
 him guilty of being " accessory after the 
 fact," to the raurdt-r of the Europeans, and \ 
 sentenced liim to be hanged ; but the gov- | 
 ernor-general commuted the sentence to 
 banishment from India for life, because the 
 nawab had surrendered on the faith of the 
 written assurance of ]Major Barrow, that 
 he would be pardoned, if not personally 
 concerned in the murder of English people. 
 The life of the nawab was therefore spared : 
 he was allowed to take leave of his children, 
 but not of his wife ; was heavily fettered, 
 lifted into a covered cart, and jElOO* given 
 to him, wherewith to provide for his future 
 subsistence when he should arrive at Mecca, 
 his self-chosen place of exile. 
 
 The life of the Nawab of Banda was 
 spared by government, and a pension of 
 4,000 rupees per annum allotted for his 
 subsistence. The Rajahs of Banpore and 
 Shahghur surrendered and were directed 
 to reside at Lahore under official control. 
 The Rajah of Mithowlee, a sick, old man, 
 has been transported to the Andamans. 
 
 The Nawab qf Jhujjur,^ and the Rajah of 
 Bullubyhur, were both executed at Delhi, 
 although they pleaded that they had aided 
 tlie fugitive Europeans as far as they could, 
 but had i)een powerless to resist the sepoys. 
 
 Khan Bahadoor Khan, of Bareilly, held 
 out iu the Terai until the close of 1859; and 
 then, hemmed in by the Goorkas on one 
 s^ide, and the British forces on the other, 
 Vvas captured by Jung Bahadur. The 
 Khan is described as au old man, with a 
 long white beard, bent double with rheu- 
 matic fever. His life is considered forfeited 
 by his alleged complicity iu the Bareilly 
 murders, but his sentence is not yet pro- 
 nounced. Mummoo Khan surrendered him- 
 self, having been previously dismissed the 
 service of the Begum, "for want of courage 
 and devotion"! Oomar Siny (the brother 
 of Kooer Sing) has surrendered ; so also has 
 
 * The forfeited pension of the nawab exceeded 
 £10,000 per annum, besides accidental stipends 
 acti'uing to him by lapses, as well as several houses, 
 gardens, jat;hire8, villaf{es, and lands, which were 
 granted or secured to the family, in consideration of 
 the cession of the province of Furruckabad to the 
 Company in 1802.— Kussell: Times, Aug. 20th, 1858. 
 
 t '1 he Nawab of Jhujjur was hanged on the 23rd 
 of September, 1857. A visitor, then staying in 
 Ijplhi, enters in her diary, that her host, "Captain 
 Gurstiii, went to see the execution, and said the 
 uttwab was a long time dying. The provost-mar. 
 
 Jowallah Persaud, one of the Nana's chief 
 loaders. At the close of the year 1839, the 
 Begum and Feroze Shah were the only 
 leaders of any note still at liberty. The 
 prince was believed to liave escaped into 
 Bundelcund, with a very small following. 
 The Begum had less than 1,500 adherents, 
 " half-armed, half-fed, and without artil- 
 lery."§ 
 
 Into the history of British India, in the 
 year 1859, the writer does not attempt to 
 enter. The date of his conclusion is a 
 twelvemonth earlier. He has narrated the 
 rise and progress of the Mogul Empire and 
 of the East India Company ; and his task 
 now terminates with the expatriation of 
 the last of the Moguls in a convict ship to a . 
 semi-Chinese prison, and the extinctionof the 
 sovereignty of the Merchant Adventurers. 
 The two events were nearly simultaneous. 
 
 After a protracted captivity, the King of 
 Delhi was brought to trial. The guarantee 
 given by Hodson for life and honourable 
 treatment, was regarded just so far as to save 
 an octogenarian from the hands of the exe- 
 cutioner : how he survived the humiliation, 
 terror, grief, hardships, insufficient food, 
 and filth, of which Mr. Layard and others 
 were eye-witnesses, is extraordinary. The 
 trial was conducted by Major Harriott, of 
 the 3rd Native ca>alry — the deputy judge 
 advocate-general, whose proceedings in 
 connection with the Meerut outbreak 
 have been noticed. || The European offi- 
 cers, who desired to give testimony in favour 
 of their men, had been then peremptorily 
 silenced ; and evidence, exculpatory of the 
 King of Delhi, was now received in a 
 manner which convinced his servants th.it, 
 to offer it, would be to peril their own 
 lives, without benefiting their aged master. 
 Major Harriott announced, at the onset, his 
 intention of leaving " no stone unturned" 
 to present the evidence against the prisoner 
 in its strongest light; and he kept his word. 
 
 Important statements — such as that no- 
 ticed in the Friend of India (Oct. 8th, 
 
 ahal who performed this revolting duty, had put to 
 death between 400 and 500 wretches since the 
 siege, and was now thinking of resigning his office. 
 The soldiers, inured to sights of horror, and 
 inveterate against the sepoys, were said to have 
 bribed the executioner to keep them a long time 
 hanging, as they liked to see the criminals dance a 
 'Pandies' hornpipe,' as they termed the dying 
 struggles of the wretches." — Mrs. Coopiand, p. 268. 
 
 J Times, January 14th, 1860. 
 
 I Times, January 30th, 1860. 
 
 U See pages 144 and 2&4, ante.
 
 TRIAL, AND TRANSPORTATION OF THE KING OP DELHI. 
 
 501 
 
 1857), that the prisoner had endeavoured 
 to interfere on behalf of the Cawnpoor cap- 
 tives, and had " suggested to Nana Sahib, 
 that be should treat them well" — were not 
 inquired into : and the wretched king, pros- 
 trate in extreme weakness, was, for twenty- 
 one days, compelled to attend the court,being 
 occasionally roused by his gaolers from the 
 stupor natural to extreme age, to listen to 
 the charges brought against him. Among 
 the witnesses was his late confidential 
 physician, whose " life was guaranteed, on 
 the condition of his answering, satisfactorily, 
 such questions as might be put to him."* 
 
 The king's brief defence was, that he had 
 been perfectly helpless in the hands of the 
 mutineers ; that he had opposed them as 
 long as he was able, by closing the gate- 
 way under the palace windows ; by giving 
 warning to tfie European commandant of 
 the palace guards ; and by sending an ex- 
 press to the lieutenant-governor at Agra,t 
 stating what had occurred : all of which he 
 was admitted to have done. 
 
 With regard to the European massacre, 
 lie declared that he had thrice interfered to 
 prevent it at the hazard of his own life, 
 which, together with that of Zeenat Mahal, 
 was threatened by the sepoys ; and that he 
 never gave his sanction to the slaughter. 
 Of the greater part of the mass of orders 
 and proclamations brought in evidence 
 against him, he declared he had no recol- 
 lection whatever. In conclusion, he re- 
 minded the court of his refusal to accom- 
 pany the sepoys, and voluntary surrender. 
 
 Major Harriott commented on the evi- 
 dence, in an address of three hours' dura- 
 tion ; in the course of which he adduced 
 much irrelevant matter ; drew some de- 
 ductions, which were evidently foregone 
 conclusions regarding the cause of the 
 mutiny ; and endeavoured, at considerable 
 length, to demonstrate, that neither " Mus- 
 sulman nor Hindoo had any honest objec- 
 tion to the use of the greased cartridges" — 
 an assertion intended to vindicate his own 
 conduct at Meerut. 
 
 The court found the king guilty, as a 
 " false traitor" and a rebel to the British 
 government ; and as an accessory to the 
 massacre. Sir John Lawrence concurred 
 in the finding of the court ; and suggested, 
 that " the prisoner be transported beyond 
 
 • Sir John Lawrence's letter to governor-gi-neral, 
 April '29lh, 1858. t See page 159, ante. 
 
 I Major Harriott quitted India bhortly afterwards, 
 •nd died suddenly at Southampton, on landing 
 
 the seas as a felon, and be kept in some 
 island or settlement, where he will be 
 entirely isolated from all other Moham- 
 medans."! He refuted Major Harriott's 
 assumptions respecting pretexts and causes 
 of disaffection ; declaring, that the cartridge 
 question had been the proximate cause of 
 the mutiny, and nothing else; that the 
 Native army did really believe that a sinis- 
 ter, but systematic, attempt was about to 
 be made on their caste ; and he accounted 
 for "the bitter mistrust" evinced at Meerut, 
 by the fact, that the cartridges which the 
 3rd cavalry refused to accept, were enveloped 
 in paper of a different colour to that pre- 
 viously used. 
 
 A diflficulty arose, as to where to send the 
 old king. The Andaman Islands were pre- 
 occupied ; for when the Draconian policy of 
 death for every degree of miitiny gave place 
 to a more discriminating system, trans- 
 portation was substituted in the case of 
 the less guilty offenders ; and a penal settle- 
 ment for sepoys was formed on those islands. 
 
 The propriety of isolating the king from 
 any Indian community being much insisted 
 on, British Kaffraria was proposed for his 
 place of exile ; but the Cape colonists (who 
 had resolutely refused to receive European 
 convicts) declined to admit even an Indian 
 state prisoner. At length, a station in 
 Burmah, named Tonghoo, 300 miles inland 
 from Rangoon (represented as a most deso- 
 late and forlorn district), was selected ; and 
 the king, on the 4tli of December, 1858, 
 with Zeenat Mahal, Jurama Buklit and his 
 half-brother Shah Abbas (a mere child), 
 with some of the ladies of the zenana, em- 
 barked in H.M. steamship Mec/eera. The 
 destination of the captives was kept secret 
 until after their de])arture. 
 
 The general impression at Calcutta ap- 
 pears to have been, that the Great Mogul 
 had been very cleverly dealt with. The 
 Calcutta correspondent of the Times (not 
 Mr. Russell), after describing the manner 
 in which the king was carried on board, 
 remarked — " Two hundred years ago, the 
 agents of the East India Company stood 
 before this man's ancestor, then the abso- 
 lute ruler of 100,000,000 of people, with 
 folded hands, begging permission to exist 
 at a single town upon the coast. As the 
 natives say, it was the foothold granted to a 
 
 from the E. I. mail.packet, in March, 1859. It 
 was stated in the newspapers that £30,000 were 
 found in his baggage ; and that he left property to 
 a nephew to the amount of £100,000.
 
 502 SOVEREIGNTY OF QUEEN VICTORIA PROCLAIMED— NOV. 1, 185f». 
 
 giant." But the same storm which drove 
 the last of the Moguls from Delhi, to die in 
 exile, destroyed the power of the giant 
 whose sovereignty had been founded on the 
 ruins of the Mogul empire. Tlie simulta- 
 neous increase of debt and revenue; the 
 repeated financial crises ; the undeveloped 
 resources of India; the feeble commerce; 
 the absence of suitable means of traffic and 
 communication; and the abject misery of 
 the mass of the people, had long been com- 
 mented on in England, as proofs of ill- 
 government. The defection of the Bengal 
 army, followed by the insurrection of whole 
 provinces, bringing great monetary diflB- 
 culty upon the government, and destitution 
 (to the extent of absolute starvation in very 
 many cases) upon the agricultural population, 
 decided the question. The "double gov- 
 ernment" of the Crown and the Company 
 had failed, and the entire administration 
 was therefore assumed by the nation. On 
 the 1st of November, 1858, a royal pro- 
 clamation, issued throughout British India, 
 declared the sovereignty of Queen Victoria. 
 
 The decree for the transfer of power from 
 the Company to the Crown, was passed by ' 
 the British parliament, August 2ud, 1858, 
 under the title of an " Act for the better 
 government of India." 
 
 It was therein provided, that a principal 
 secretary of state, with under-secret«ries, 
 should be appointed, and their salaries paid 
 out of the revenues of India. A " Council of 
 India" was likewise established, consisting of 
 fifteen members, with salaries of £1,200 per 
 annum, to he paid out of the Indian revenues. 
 
 Seven of the members were to be nomi- 
 nated by the Court of Directors of the E. I. 
 Company, from their own body ; and the 
 remaining eiglit by the Crown. It was de- 
 
 » Times, November 29th, 1858. — The author 
 regrets that limited space precludes the quotation, 
 at full length, of a proclamation issued by the 
 Begum of Oude, with the object of counter- 
 acting the effect of the amnesty proffered, on 
 certain conditions, by the Queen of England, on 
 assuming the sovereignty of India. The Begum 
 asked, what there was in the supersession of the 
 power of the K. I. Company by that of the Crown, 
 which could benefit the people of Hindoostan, 
 seeing that " the laws of the Company, the settle- 
 ment [of land] of the Company, the English ser- 
 vants of the Company, the governor-general, and 
 the judicial administration of the Ci.nipan\, are all 
 unchanged?" She commented on the ill-treat- 
 ment which native princes — Hindoo and Moham- 
 medan — had met with ; dwelt especially on the 
 violation of treaties involved iu the annexation of 
 
 claredindispensablethatthe major partof the 
 council (nine at least) should have -served or 
 resided ten years in India, and should not 
 have left that country more than ten years 
 preceding the date of their a|)pointment. 
 
 Every member was to " hold his office 
 during good behaviour;" with the provision, 
 that it should be lawful for the Crown to 
 remove any one from his office upon an 
 address of both houses of parliament. No 
 member was to be capable of sittitig or 
 voting in parliament. The secretary of 
 state might or might not consult the council 
 on any proposed measure; and he might act 
 in opposition to the expressed wishes of the 
 council, recording his reasons for so acting. 
 The members, also, were to be at liberty to 
 record their opinions. 
 
 By this act the E. I. Company remained 
 an incorporated body, without duties or 
 rights, excepting the receipt of dividends, 
 due from time to time, on the capital stock 
 of the proprietors. 
 
 The difficulties and dangers inseparable 
 from a foreign rule, have been fearfully 
 aggravated by the rebellion. It is easier to 
 conceive the means of meeting the addi- 
 tional monetary embarrassments caused 
 thereby, than of bridging over the deep 
 broad gulf wliich separates the Europeans 
 and the natives. Tlie royal proclamations 
 and the conditional offersof amnesty promise 
 well ; but Indian statesmen concur in con- 
 sidering that these documents produce very 
 little effect on the people at large, and are, 
 at best, viewed as applying to the circum- 
 stances of the present moment, and convey- 
 ing no guarantee for the future. There is 
 much said of radical reforms, and initiation 
 of measures ; but the men, the departments, 
 the detail, are the same.* And iu India, 
 
 Oude; warned the people against being deluded by 
 a proclamation, couched in such vague terms, that 
 "everytiiing was written, and nothing was written" 
 in it ; and declared, in bitter despair, " No one 
 has ever seen in a dream that the English forgave 
 an offence." With regard to Christianity, the 
 Begum seized on its most mysterious and compli. 
 cated doctrine, and asserted — " That religion is 
 true which acknowledges one God, and knows no 
 other. When there are three gods in a religion, 
 neither Mussulmans nor Hindoos — nay, not even 
 Jews, Sun-worshippers, or Fire-worshippers, can 
 believe it true." Then followed an attempt to 
 prove that interference with the religion and caste 
 of the people of Hindoostan had originated the 
 lebellion. Altogether, the document deserves care- 
 ful perusal, as a summary of native grievances, re«J 
 and alleged.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 503 
 
 where the power entrusted always greatly 
 exceeds the responsibility imposed, the 
 character of the official must materially 
 affect tlie working of the measures he is 
 appointed to carry out. The well-earned 
 reputation of Lord Clyde for justice and 
 mercy, has done more towards the pacifica- 
 tion of Oude, than even his consummate 
 military combinations have effected for its 
 subjugation : proclamations and amnesties 
 have been effective in his mouth, because 
 the chiefs had faith in the truthful, fearless 
 veteran— a master of strategy, but no diplo- 
 miitist. 
 
 In the discussions regarding India, the 
 real question at issue appears to be this: — 
 On what principle is the future government 
 to be based ? Are we simply to do what is 
 right, or what seems expedient? If the 
 former, we may confidently ask the Divine 
 blessing on our efforts for the moral and 
 material welfare of the people of India; and 
 we may strive, by a steady course of kind 
 and righteous dealing, to win their alienated 
 affections for ourselves as individuals, and 
 their respect and interest for the religion 
 which inculcates justice, mercy, and humi- 
 lity, as equally indispensable to national as 
 to individual Christianity. The adoption 
 question* is still open, and is viewed by the 
 native princes as a touchstone of our future 
 policy. The recognition of the ancient 
 Hindoo law of adoption, not as a favour, 
 
 * Oue of the latest tragedies in the mutiny is said 
 to have been the direct consequence of the denial 
 of the right of adoption to Baha Sahib, chief of 
 Nurgoond, a little place in the Southern Mahratta 
 country, which had been in the possession of the 
 same family for 200 years. Baba Sahib being 
 childless, urged that he should be allowed to adopt 
 an heir, in accordance with a treaty made with hi6 
 ancestor in 1820; but his request was peremptorily 
 rejected. He joined the rebels as late as June, 
 1838 ; and Mr. Hanson, the political agent, who 
 proceeded to the district to restore order, was killed, 
 with all his escort. Nurgoond was subsequently 
 captured, and the chief was hanged. — Bombayl'imes. 
 
 t The annexation policy, though denounced in 
 England by the highest authorities, is still clung to 
 by the Indian government. Dhar is a case in pohit. 
 This little principality was held by the Puar or 
 Powar family until the year of the mutinies. In 
 May, 1857, the last ruler, Jeswunt Rao Powar, a 
 young and energetic man, was seized with cholera, 
 and died, after having, in the intervals of agony, 
 adopted his brother, Bala Sahib, as his heir, and 
 entreated that the government would sanction his 
 succession. The political agent declared, that the 
 deceased prince " had secured the esteem and 
 respect of the people and chiefs of Western Malwa, 
 as well as the approbation of successive residents 
 and agents;" and urged the granting of his last 
 request. It was granted ; and Bala Sahib, a boy of 
 
 but as a right, would be received by every 
 one of our Indian allies with unqualified 
 pleasure.f 
 
 If, however, the "iron-roller" system is 
 to be resumed, and we are to keep our 
 footing — if we can — on the necks of the 
 people, it is high time to count the cost of 
 our past experiments, and estimate our 
 future outlay. 
 
 Long before the late rebellion, the exist- 
 ence of a standing army, which swallowed up 
 nearly half the net revenue, had been a 
 chronic source of Indian deficit. The 
 main part of that force — that is, nearly the 
 whole of the Bengal sepoys, who were sup- 
 posed to secure our military tenure of the 
 country — revolted; and of these, at least 
 40,000 have perished. The amount of life 
 sacrificed is not usually much considered by 
 politicians : the native soldiers and citizens 
 who perished, cost the state pothing ; and 
 by the revolt of the chiefs, pensions were 
 forfeited, and estates confiscated ; but every 
 European killed, was a hundred pounds 
 lost ; and the new levies raised to replace 
 the mutineers, were extremely costly in tlieir 
 details. The army, European and Na- 
 tive, is now larger than ever; and few will 
 deny, that the hastily enlisted Seiks and 
 Goorkas, gorged with blood and plunder, 
 are less easily disciplined as mercenaries, 
 and more to be dreaded as foes, than 
 their predecessors, the ill-fated Poorbeahs. 
 
 twelve years of age, was proclaimed rajah. On the 
 2nd of July, the 23rd N.I. mutinied ; and the con- 
 tagion soon spread to Mhow, which was only thirty 
 miles distant The Dhar troops revolted against 
 the boy-prince, and seized the city fortress, which 
 they were compelled to surrender to Brigadier 
 Stuart, November, 1857. The Bengal government 
 directed that the principality should be immediately 
 attached ; and announced to the young prince, that 
 "he must never hope to see it restored to his 
 hands." The Court of Directors condemned the 
 injustice of this proceeding; and declared, June 22nd, 
 1858 — "We do not perceive how we could con- 
 sistently punish this, or any other weak state, for its 
 inability to control its troops, when k was patent to 
 the whole world that the more powerful states of 
 Gwalior and Indore, and even the British govern- 
 ment itself, were unable to control theirs. The 
 reinstatement of the native ruler was therefore 
 decreed ; but the Bengal authorities quietly ignored 
 the command (as they had done many previous 
 ones), leaving the directors either to conclude that 
 it had been obeyed, or to satisfy their consciences 
 with having made a well-sounding but unmeaning 
 protest against an act of glaring injustice. How. 
 ever, as in March, 1859, the order for the restora- 
 tion of Dhar was repeated by the secretary of state 
 for India (Lord Stanley), it may be concluded it 
 will be ultimately obeyed. — FarL Papers 00 Dhu, 
 April 8tb, 1859.
 
 504 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The native officers are equally numerous, 
 powerful, and ill-paid, as at the commence- 
 ment of the year 1857. Altogether, the 
 revolt is calculated to have increased the 
 Indian debt by forty million sterling ; this 
 sum raising the total to one hundred mil- 
 lion, spent by the E. I. Company almost 
 exclusively in getting and keeping mili- 
 tary possession of the country. Their 
 stewardship is condemned by the fact of 
 the millstone they have hung round the 
 necks of the people. They, as foreigners, 
 have resorted, without scruple, to the selfish 
 expedient of modem times, whereby one 
 generation relieves itself from the conse- 
 quences of its own extravagance or mis- 
 manjagement, at the expense of posterity. 
 As individuals, the directors and servants 
 of the Compauy have prospered, their sala- 
 ries and pensions have been secured as a first 
 charge upou the revenues of India, uncon- 
 nected with the public welfare or adversity ; 
 war, famine, pestilence, or abject want 
 might decimate the governed, without 
 affecting the incomes of the governors. 
 
 The case is different with the English nation 
 at large; for its commerce is seriously im- 
 peded by every cause which checks the 
 demand for British manufactures. 
 
 The poverty of the Indian masse •< is ad- 
 mitted to be the result of misgovernmeut, 
 ill-regulated taxation, and undeveloped re- 
 sources. But the evil is not irremediable. 
 The debt with which the E. I. Company has 
 burdened the empire is oppressive, not on 
 account of its intrinsic weight, but because 
 of the paralysed condition, the unnatural 
 depression of the labouring community. 
 Under a wise and fostering administration, 
 every one of the extensive countries we call 
 provinces, could furnish its needful share of 
 revenue with ease. A general and radical 
 reform in our financial and administrative 
 system, speedily initiated, and firmly carried 
 through, is the only conceivable means by 
 which the Crown and Parliament can be 
 expected to grapple successfully with diffi- 
 culties under which, in a less aggravated 
 degree, the East India Company have suc- 
 cumbed. 
 
 TBE £ND.
 
 INDEX 
 
 VOL. II. OF THE "INDIAN EMPIRE.' 
 
 AtboU (Jamet), deputy-commissioner of 
 
 the Huzara district, 96. 
 Alikarry, spirit and opium tax, 24. 
 Adjyghur, Hindoo principality, 313. 
 
 Adoption (right and rite), 39 ; right re- 
 pudiated by Lord Dalhousie, 42; pre- 
 viously admitted by E. I. Company, 57 ; 
 question of its public recognition by the 
 Crown, 503. 
 
 Adye {Lieutenant-colonel), account of 
 second siege of Cawnpoor, 472. 
 
 Agra, 134, 185 — 188; mutiny, 360; 
 battle, 361 ; reinforced by British, 462 ; 
 attacked by Gwalidr coiitingent, 462 ; 
 Motee Musjid, 463. 
 
 Ailten {Capiain John), defence of Baillie 
 Guard, Lucknow, 420. 
 
 Alexander [Major -general), on the opium 
 trade, 26. 
 
 Alexander [Captain Wi'.'.'am), 319. 
 
 AH Morad, Ameer of Sinde, 49. 
 
 AH Nuktee Khan, minister of Kihg of 
 Oude, 73, 275. 
 
 Aliglmr, 189; mutiny, 353, 461. 
 
 Alison [Lieutenant -colonel), account of 
 relief of Lucknow, 467 ; wounded, 468. 
 
 Alison [Major), wounded, 468. 
 
 Allahabad, general disaffection of Zemin- 
 dars, 5 ; account of city, 292 ; fort, 29.1 ; 
 proceedings of Col. Neil, 297, 374. 
 
 Almora, capital of Kumacsn, 212. 
 
 Atumbagh, description of, 419 ; engage- 
 ment there, 465 ; Outram takes uy 
 position, 472 ; attacked by rebels, 477. 
 
 Amanee, revenue system, 71. 
 
 Ameer AH [Moonahee), appftintment at 
 Patna, 408. 
 
 Amelhie [Fort of). British fugitives pro- 
 tected there, 233 ; surrendered to Lord 
 Clive, by Lall Madhoo Sing, 497. 
 
 Amherst [Lord), dealings with Oude, 63. 
 
 Amjherra, native state, 350 ; eiecution of 
 rajah, 484. 
 
 Anderson [Lieut. R. P.), defence of Lack- 
 now outpost, 495. 
 
 Annexation and infraction of Indian laws 
 of inheritance, 37, 503. 
 
 Anson [General), 112; his innovations, 
 128; conduct, 131, 133, 135, 138, 154, 
 177; death, 178; career, 181. 
 
 Anson [Hon. Mrs.), 181. 
 
 Aong, engagement at, 376. 
 
 Amis An', passed by Lord Canning, 267. 
 
 Arrah, 398 ; Europeans besieged, 402 ; 
 attempted relief by Captain Dunbar, 
 403 ; successful attempt of Major Eyie, 
 405 : s<?cond British disaster, 492. 
 
 Aseerghur [Fort of). 336. 
 
 Assam, arrest of rajah. 490. 
 
 Asylums [Lawrence), 2 13. 
 
 Atheism [spread of), in India, 13. 
 
 Atruwlee, seized by Kooer Sing, 491. 
 
 Atlock [Fort of), hi-ld by British, 201. 
 
 Angur. mutiny, 351. 
 
 Aurungabad. 3.^3, 355. 
 
 Ayodha. 220, 230, 232. 
 4zim Oollah visits London, 249; insti- 
 gates the massacres at Cawnpoor ^HO, 
 381, 464 ; reported death, 499. 
 
 Vol. II. 
 
 Azimghur, 279, 491 ; mutiny, 280; occu- 
 pation by Kooer Sing, and recapture 
 by British, 491. 
 
 Bahar, or Behar, disaffection caused by 
 resumptions of land, 490 ; long-con- 
 tinued insurrection, 492. 
 
 Bahraetch, mutiny, 225. 
 
 Bainie Madhoo, Rana of Shunkerpoor 
 [see Note to p. 497] ; evacuation of 
 fort, 497; defeat and death in the Terai, 
 498. 
 
 Balghur [Ranee of), 17d. 
 
 Ralmain [Captain J. H). 369. 
 
 Banda [Nawob), protects European fugi- 
 tives, 312; kindness of Begum, 314; 
 massacre of Europeans by mutineers, 
 315; city captured by Whitlock, 486; 
 fate of the Nawab, 500. 
 
 Banks [Major), death at Lucknow, 3fi6. 
 
 Banpore [Rajah of), 336, 484. 
 
 Banyans, native dealers, 271. 
 
 Bareilly, mutiny,212 — 214 ; rebel govern- 
 ment established by Khan Bahadoor 
 Khan, 470; capture and reoccupation 
 by Sir Colin Campbell, 495. 
 
 Barnard [Sir Henry), 178, 203 ; dies of 
 cholera, before Delhi, 430. 
 
 Bttrodia, capture of, 484. 
 
 Barrackfioor, 127; partial tnutiny and 
 first bloodshed by Mungul Pandy, 131, 
 142; disarming of brigade, 271. 
 
 /ir7///fs— Ghazi-u-Deen Nuggur, 203, 
 Badulee-ke-Serai, 206 ; Chinhut, 239 ; 
 near Agra, 361 ; Ravee, 372 ; Futteh- 
 poor, 374 ; Aong and Pandoo Nuddee, 
 376; near Cawnpoor, 377; Oonao, 389; 
 Busserut Gunj, 389 ; near Anah, 403 ; 
 Lucknow (garrison reinforced), 418; 
 Nujufghur, 438 ; Delhi, 442 ; Bolund- 
 huhur, 461 ; Agra, 462 ; Alumbagh, 
 65 ; Lucknow (garrison relieved), 467 ; 
 Cawnpoor, 473, 475 ; Lucknow (city 
 regained by Sir Colin Campbell), 480 ; 
 Betwa, 485 ; Jhansi, 485 ; Koonch, 
 486 ; Banda, 486 ; AtroWlee, 491 ; Jug- 
 despoor, 492; Royea, 493; Bareilly. 494. 
 
 Batlye [Lieut. Qnintin), of the Guides, 
 killed at the siege of Delhi, 208 
 
 Beadon, Secretary to Government, 23. 
 
 Beatson [Captain Stitart) offer to raise 
 cavalry corps, 278 ; deatli, 394. 
 
 Bfdars, aboriginal tribe, 50. 
 
 BeecAer [John), conduct in Huzara, 94. 
 
 Be-duk-ilec, dispossession grievance, 225. 
 
 Benares, 15, 281; mutiny, 284; titular 
 rajah, 287. 
 
 Bengal army, 108 — 110; condition in 
 18.-) 7, 126; in 18.'S8, 503. 
 
 Iteiilinck [Lord Wi/Ham), 5G, 104. 
 
 Betwa river, battle near, 485. 
 
 Bhaugutpoor, defection of 5th I.C, 415. 
 
 Bhfipal, native slate, 344 ; Ranee of, 481. 
 
 Bhopal coniinypnt, 341, 484. 
 
 Bhoi^awur, in MaKva, 350. 
 
 Bhurlpoor [Rajah of), 186, 268. 
 
 Bignell [Captain, \Oth N.I.), death, 327. 
 
 Bird [Robert Martin), conduct to na- 
 tives, 84. 
 
 St 
 
 Bird [Major R. W.), 72, 89. 
 
 Bithoor, residence of Nana Sahib, 24yt 
 evacuated by him, 384, 392. 
 
 Blair family, sufferings at Cawnpoor, 38S. 
 
 Blaie [Major), 337 ; killed at Gwalior, 
 338 ; escape of Mrs. Blake, 338. 
 
 Blowing from guns, in 1764, 99 ; in 1857, 
 491. 
 
 Blue books — garbled despatches, 55 ; care- 
 less compilation, 321. 
 
 Bolundshukur, engagement, 461. 
 
 Bombay army, 27th N.I., 412, 413 ; co- 
 lumns under Rose and Roberts, 483; 
 24th and 25th N.I. ,485; 10th and 12th 
 N.I., 486. 
 
 Boulderson [H. S.), on revenue settle- 
 ment in N.W. Provinces, 84, 93. 
 
 Bourdillon on land-tenures in Madras, 5. 
 
 Boyle [Mr.), besieged in dwelling-house 
 at Arrah, 404 ; government reward, 405. 
 
 Brahmins [Modem), 9. 
 
 Brasyer [Lieutenant), 294 ; influence 
 over the Seiks at Allahabad, 298. 
 
 Brind [Brigadier), 368 ; killed at Seal- 
 kote, 370. 
 
 British residents at Nagpoor, 48 ; at 
 Lucknow, 71. 
 
 Bruere [Major), 220 ; saved by sepoy at 
 Chinhut, 239 ; killed at Lucknow, 423. 
 
 Budaon, mutiny and bloodshed, 214. 
 
 Buist (i)r.), 'editor of Bombay Times, 20. 
 
 Buldeo Sing [Thakoor), 339. 
 
 Bulrampoor [Rajah of). 225, 227. 
 
 Burhampoor, or Berhnmpoor, 129,270 
 cavalry disarmecj, 416. 
 
 Burton [Major), 195 ; killed with his son* 
 at Kotah, 486. 
 
 Busserut Gunj, 389 ; Havelock's first en- 
 gagement with rebels, 390 ; second en. 
 gagement, 391 ; third engagement, 392. 
 
 Byron's [Lord) warning, 123. 
 
 Calcutta, enrolment of volunteers, 267 ; 
 panic, 272— 2"4, 279. 
 
 Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, 269. 
 
 Calpee, mutiny, 329, 464 ; arrival of Gwa- 
 lior contingent, 465, 475, 486 ; expul- 
 sion, and B.'itish reoccupation, 487. 
 
 Campbell [Lord Clyde), 104, 107, 394; 
 sent from England as commander-in- 
 chief, 395 ; person and character-, 396 ; 
 ctertions at Calcutta. 397, 497 ; nar- 
 row escape from mutineers, 4*) 4 ; ad- 
 vance on Lucknow, 406 ; woumied, 
 467 ; relief of Lu4'know garrison, 469 ; 
 evacuation of the Residency, 4 70; 
 General Order signed at the Dilkoosli.i, 
 471 ; timely arrival at 6awnpoor, 474 ; 
 second march on Lucknow, 477; tele- 
 gram reporting capture of the city. 
 478 ; Rohilcimd campaign, 492 ; narrow 
 escape at Bareilly, 495 ; Oude cam- 
 paign, 496 ; just and kind treatment ol 
 native chiefs, 502. 
 
 Campbell [Lord), on judicial incompe- 
 tency in India, 7. 
 
 Campbell (George), opinions expressed in 
 Modem India, 41 ; financial cummit^ 
 sioner for Oude, 482.
 
 11 
 
 INDBX TO VOL. n. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Campbell (Colonel), at the head of H.M. 
 90th, disarms sepoys at Borhamjioor, 
 416 ; death at Lucknow, 425. 
 Canning ( Viscount), commencement of 
 " administration, 1, 23; differences with 
 General Anson, 135 ; fatal delay in 
 relieving Cawnpoor, 267 ; restriction 
 of the press, 268 ; calmness during 
 Calcutta panic, 273 ; Earl Granville's 
 vindication, 273; checks indiscriminate 
 vengeance of civilians. 412 ; differences 
 with Sir Colin Campbell, 477 ; dif- 
 ferences with Sir James Outram, 482. 
 Canning (Vitcountess), gentle courage, 
 273 ; alleged letter on sepoy atrocities, 
 409. 
 Canoujee Lai, Lucknow messenger, 466. 
 Cape of Good Hope — troops sent thence 
 
 to India, 397. 
 t^amatic, extinction of titular Qawabship, 
 
 by Lord Dalhousie, 58. 
 Cart hew (Brigadier), at Cawnpoor, i73. 
 Cartridges (greased), 126, 128, 139; re- 
 fused at Meerut, 144 ; opinion of 
 Major Harriott refuted by Sir John 
 Lawrence, 501. 
 Case (Colonel), killed at Chinhut, 239. 
 Cashmere, Maharajah Goolab Sing, 368 , 
 
 succeeded by Rungbeer Sing, 438. 
 Cashmere contingent, 438, 442. 
 Caste, 16; high-caste, low-caste, and oat- 
 caste, 17 ; sepoys mutiny on account 
 of, 100, 112, 501. 
 Causes o/ the mutiny (alleged), 1 — 124; 
 precarious, inconsistent, and heavily - 
 burdened tenure of land, 2 — 6 ; ad- 
 ministratiou of justice tedious, costly, 
 and uncertain, 6 ; exclusion of natives 
 from honours and emoluments, 9 ; 
 ignorance of Indian languages by 
 British functionaries, and aversion 
 evinced to natives, 10 ; missionary 
 operations, 12 ; caste, 16 ; free press, 
 18 ; opium monopoly, 25 ; neglect of 
 public works, 26 ; repression of British 
 enterprise, 31 ; annexation, 37 — 90 ; 
 resumption of rent-free lands, 90 — 93 ; 
 rights of widows set aside, 92 ; dis- 
 organisation and grievances of Bengal 
 sepoys, 96; Mohammedan conspiracy, 
 115; Persian war, 116; Russian in- 
 trigues, 119. 
 Caumpoor, 126, 211; account of, 245; 
 intrenchment, 247 ; garrison, 247 ; 
 mntiny, 252 ; siege, 252 ; appeals 
 for aid, 254, 257 ; capitulation, 259 ; 
 embarkation and first massacre, 260 ; 
 intelligence disbelieved at Calcutta, 
 373 ; victorious advance of Havelock, 
 377 ; flight of the Nana, and second 
 massacre, 378 ; heroism of the sufferers, 
 379 ; children bom during siege, 379 ; 
 Sana's proclamations, 380 ; Sevada 
 Kothee, or Salvador House, 381 ; the 
 well, 383; British reoccupation of the 
 city, 382 ; measures of Neil, 383 ; con- 
 struction of defences, 472 ; Windham 
 attacked by Gwalior contingent, 473. 
 Central Indian field force, 483 — 490. 
 Ceylon, troops thence sent to India, 397. 
 Chamberlain (Neville), 211, 431, 444. 
 Chandereefort, capture by British, 484. 
 Cheek (Ensign), sufferings and death at 
 
 Allahabad, 291. 
 Chester (Adjutant-general), killed, 206. 
 Chinese expedition, troops diverted to 
 
 assistance of Indian government, 397. 
 Chinhut, disastrous etpedition, 238. 
 Chirkaree (Rajah of). 310. 
 Cholera, at Allahabad, 301. 
 Chuckladar, revenue farmer, 83. 
 CAupatties, circulation of, 137. 
 
 Chupra, station in Bahar, 398, 406. 
 
 Chuprassies, messengers, 242. 
 
 Chutterpoor (Ranee of), protects Euro- 
 peans, 309. 
 
 Clerk (Sir G.), Governor of Bombay, 42. 
 
 Clive (Lord), organises sepoy force. 97. 
 
 Colaba, or Kolaba, annexation of, 42, 44. 
 
 Colvin (John), 185, 359 ; death, 365. 
 
 Combermere CViscount) , &t Lucknow, 65. 
 
 Cooper^s (Frederick) Crisis in the Pun- 
 jab, 427 ; his own account of the ex- 
 termination of the 26th N.I. , 427—429. 
 
 Coopland's (Mrs.) escape from Gwalior, 
 335 ; visit to Queen of Delhi, 454. 
 
 Corhett (Brigadier), at Lahore, 199. 
 
 Cortlandt ( General Van), 203. 
 
 Cotton, productic!! of, in India, 36. 
 
 Cotton (Lieut. -col. H.), 69th N.I., pro- 
 ceedings at Agra, 364, 463. 
 
 Cotton (Lieut. -col. F. C), chief engineer 
 at Madras, on the neglect of public 
 works, 27. 
 
 Courts-martial, 108; Meerut, 144,264; 
 Dinapore, 414. 
 
 Craigie (Captain), 3rd N.C., 143—150; 
 account of Meerut outbreak by his 
 wife, 149. 
 
 Cumberlege (Colonel), pursuit of Kooer 
 Sing, 492. 
 
 Currency, insufficient, 24. 
 
 Currie (Sir Frederick), opinions, 124. 
 
 Dacca muslin, 32. 
 
 Dalhousie (Marquis of), furtherance of 
 public works, 28 ; opinions and policy, 
 41; dealings with Oude, 75; unqua- 
 lified approval of E. I. Company, 89 ; 
 financial measures, 269. 
 Davidson (Mr.), Hyderabad resident, 354. 
 Debt (Indian), 269, 503. 
 Deeg Beejah Sing, Rajah of Byswarrah, 
 protects Cawnpoor fugitives, 261. 
 
 Delafosse (Lieutenant), gallantry at Cawn- 
 poor, 256; escapes massacre, 261. 
 
 Delhi, 106, 117; mutiny and massacre, 
 156—175; siege, 206—211, 216, 357, 
 430 ; proceedings within the city, 436 ; 
 • state of British camp, 437 ; storm, 442 ; 
 blowing in of the Cashmere gate, 442 ; 
 failure in carrying the Lahore gate, 
 443 ; drunkenness and looting, 444 ; 
 loss of life, 444 ; complete occupation 
 of the city, 445, 450 ; church of Eng- 
 land service in the Dewani Khas, 453 ; 
 suicide of natives, 460 ; number of 
 native women who perished, 450, 460. 
 
 Delhi campaign (works written on), 441. 
 
 Delhi (King of), acquaints Mr. Colvin 
 with proceedings of mutineers, 159 ; 
 negotiations during siege, 431, 439; 
 takes refuge in Humayun's tomb, 445 ; 
 surrender, 447 ; miserable captivity, 
 452 — 457 ; trial, 500 ; sentence aad 
 deportation, 501. 
 
 Delhi (Queen of), Zeenat Mahal, 434, 
 439, 445 ; character and appearance, 
 453; transportation, 501. 
 
 Delhi royal family, disaffection caused by 
 proposed suppression of titular sove- 
 reignty, 115; surrender and fate of 
 princes, 448 ; Jumma Bukht, 455. 
 
 Deprat, (M.), at Lucknow, 237. 423. 
 
 Derby (Earl of), Indian debate, 407. 
 
 Dhar, Rajpoot princijmlity, 350 ; annexa- 
 tion by Lord Canning, 503 ; order for 
 its restoration by E. I. Company ig- 
 nored by Indian government, but 
 reiterated by Lord Stanley, 503. 
 
 Dholpoor (Rana of), 342, 462. 
 
 Dhoreyrah (Rajah of), 223, 226. 
 
 Dhunna Sing, old Rajpoot chief, assists 
 in saving Budaou fugitives, 331. 
 
 Dhurma Sobha, Brahminical association, 
 at Calcutta, 127. 
 
 Dinapoor, 398, 401 ; mutiny, 402 ; court- 
 martial on soldiers of H.M lOtli, 414. 
 
 Dinkur Rao, Gwalior minister, 339, 4S7. 
 
 Disraeli, on the vengeance-cry, 410. 
 
 Dogras, under Van Cortlandt, 203. 
 
 Dorin, (J.), 76 ; minute on mutiny, 1 10. 
 
 Dorin (Captain and Mrs.), 223. 
 
 Dost Mohammed, of Cabool, 118, 42i». 
 
 Douglas (Brigadier), in Behar, 492. 
 
 D'Oyly (Captain), 358 ; death, 3(il. 
 
 Dudman, and party, protected by iiativea 
 of Oude, 223. 
 
 Duff (Dr.), statements of, 116, 275. 
 
 Dugshai sanatorium, 204. 
 
 Durn Dum arsenal, 126. 
 
 Dunbar (Captain), killed in attempting 
 to relieve Arrah, 403. 
 
 Durand (Col.), flight from Indore, 345. 
 
 Duriabad, mutiny, 235. 
 
 East hidia Company, summary of deal* 
 ings with Great Moguls, 457 — 459; 
 extinction of sovereignty, 502. 
 
 Eastwick (Captain), E. I. director, 125. 
 
 Echaumr, French community, 352, 353. 
 
 Editors of Indian newspapers, 20. 
 
 Edmonstone (Mr.), opinions, 38. 
 
 Bdwardes (Colonel Herbert), 94. 
 
 Edwards ( William), 2 1 2 ; adventures with 
 the Probyn family in Oude, 323, 
 
 Bed (Mohammedan festival), 218. 
 
 Eitel Punt, Mahratta statesman, 9. 
 
 Elgin (Earl of), visit to Calcutta, 397. 
 
 Ellenborough (Earl qf), anti-educational 
 views, 14 ; conduct regarding the press, 
 20, 39, 154 ; opinions on British posi. 
 tion in India, 267 ; blames sanguinary 
 policy pursued at Delhi, 451 ; repu- 
 diates Lord Canning's confiscating pro. 
 clamation, 483. 
 
 Elphinstone (Lord), governor of Bombay. 
 20, 188, 268, 397. 
 
 Enam, 90 ; commissions, 91—93, 490. 
 
 Etawah, or Elah (Rajah of), 192. 
 
 European officers of Native regiments, 
 272; compelled to sleep in the lines 
 of suspected regiments. 345. 
 
 Bwart (Colonel and Mrs.), 250 ; letters 
 from Cawnpoor, 251, 2.i9 ; fate, 260. 
 
 Eyre (Major Vincent), relief of Arrah ; 
 rebuked by Sir Colin Campbell for de- 
 stroying Hindoo temple, 405. 
 
 Famints, caused by governmental neglect, 
 27 ; pecuniary loss in Guntoor, 28. 
 
 Farquharson (R. N.), sessions judge, 400; 
 honourable conduct at Patna, 407. 
 
 Feroze Shah, Prince of Delhi, 449, 497 ( 
 ability and courage, 499, 500, 501. 
 
 Ferozpoor, 183; mutiny, 429. 494. 
 
 Finance, Lord Dalhousie's measures, 269 ; 
 difficulties of Lord Canning, 270 ; 
 arrangements at Agra, 303 ; loans 
 raised by Sir J. Lawrence for Delhi 
 campaign, 450. 
 
 Finnis (Col.), killed at Meerut, 152. 
 
 Fisher (Colonel), 15th l.C, 221; cha- 
 racter, 233; shot at Sultanpoor, 234. 
 
 Fitchett, a half-caste, his adventures, and 
 account of massacre of women and 
 children at Cawnpoor, 263, 382 
 
 Flour, production in India, 30. 
 
 Forsyth (Douglas), L'mballah commis- 
 sioner, 208. 
 
 Fovj ki Beera, will of the army, 221._ 
 
 Franks (Brigadier), column under, 478. 
 
 Fraser (Commissioner), killed, 159. 
 
 French NuTis rescued at Sirdhana, 182; 
 Sistersof Charity saved at Sealkote, 370. 
 
 French volunteer services during Arrah 
 expedition, 403 ; reward, 405.
 
 INDEX TO VOL. II. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Frere (Sinde Comrnisiioner), 118. 
 
 Friend of India, threatened withdrawal 
 of licence, 22, 454 ; cause of rcTolt in 
 North-West Provinces and Behar, 490. 
 
 PuUon {Captain George), of the engineers, 
 242, 387 ; killed at Lucknow, 423. 
 
 Furructabad, 320; Nawab of, 328, 500; 
 massacre, 329 ; occupation by British, 
 47G; two nawabs hung, 476. 
 
 Futtehghur, 320 ; mutiny, 324 ; massacre, 
 47.'*; reoccupied by British, 476. 
 
 Futtehpoor, 315; insurrection, 316; vic- 
 tory of Havelock near, 373 ;. camp of 
 Sir' Colin Campbell, 477. 
 
 Fyzabad, 226; mutiny, 229; flight and 
 massacre of Europeans, 231. 
 
 Garracotta, hill-fort, 484. 
 Ghaiit. at battle of Bareilly, 4-94. 
 Gladttone, on the Indian debt, 269. 
 Goldney {Colonel), 226; death, 231. 
 Gomm {Sir William), 110, 135. 
 Gondah, mutiny, 225 ; fate of Rajah and 
 
 Ranee, 498. 
 Goorgaon, station aoandoned, 18S. 
 Goorkat, 107, 204, 206; auxiliaries from 
 N:paBl, under J<uig Bahadur, 477; 
 their retvm. laden with loot, 482. 
 Goorgerai Chief, proceedings of, 319. 
 Gopeegunge, village-burning near, 302. 
 Gora togue, white people, 213. 
 Goructpoor, village-burning near, 491. 
 Graham (Dr. Jame»), and Br. John Colin 
 
 Graham, killed at Sealkote, 370. 
 Gram, a coarse grain', 258. , 
 Grant (Brigadier Hope), 210, 463. 
 Grant {J. P.), 76, 141 ; made Lieutenant- 
 governor of Central Provinces, 412. 
 >on< {Sir Patrick), 115, 275, 373. 
 Graves (Brigadier), at Delhi, 161. 
 Greathed (H. H.), 145 ; account of occu- 
 pation of Delhi, 450; death, 451. 
 Great Moguls, 456 ; literary accomplish- 
 ments of the dynasty, 456 ; verses by 
 the blind Shah Alum, and by the ex- 
 king Mohammed Bahadur Shah, 456 ; 
 treatment by E. I. Company, 458. 
 Grey (Sir George), governor of S. Africa, 
 zealous aid to Indian government, 397. 
 Grove {Colonel Somerset), late of the 
 Gwalior contingent, 333 ; information 
 communicated by him, 337, 343. 
 Gubliins (F.), Benares judge, 287. 
 Gubbins (Martin), 82 ; opinion on revenue 
 system, 84 ; conduct at Lucknow, 218, 
 123 ; " Gubbins' House," 424 ; alleged 
 reproof of Sir Colin Campbell, 470. 
 Guide corps, 201 ; march to Delhi, 207. 
 Guise (Capl.), killed at Benares, 284. 
 Gwalior, 40, 332 ; mutiny of contingent, 
 337, escape or massacre of Europeans, 
 338 ; Sindia and his minister detain 
 contingent, S.W ; the Baiza Bye, 487 ; 
 her courage and steadfastness, 488 ; 
 advance of Maharajah, to meet rebels, 
 487; flight of Sindia and his family, 
 488; ocrupation by rebel leaders, 488 ; 
 ciiptiue of city by Rose, and restoration 
 oi Sindia, 489. 
 Gxialior contingent, 333; mutiny, 337, 
 351, 462; besiege Cawnpoor, 473; 
 Jefeated by Sir Colin Campbell, 475 ; 
 reassemble at Calpee, 475 ; driven 
 thence by Sir Hugh Rose, 487. 
 Gga, civil station in Behar, 398, 407. 
 
 Hallidag (Lieutenant -governor of Bengal), 
 advocates police reform, 6 ; repudiates 
 proceedings of Major Holmes, 398 ; 
 removes Mr. Tnylur from Patna, 107 ; 
 censures impolitic tone of Anglo-Indian 
 press regarding natives, 408. 
 
 Hamilton (Sir Robert), 345, 351 ; return 
 
 to Indore, 4«4. 
 Handscomb (Brigadier), killed, 219: 
 " Hanging Commissioners," 296, 499. 
 Hansi, Hurriana battalion mutiny, 209. 
 Hardinge (Lord), 71, 105. 
 Harriott {Major), deputy jndge-advo- 
 cate-general — presides at Meerut court- 
 martial, 144, 264; presides at trial of 
 the King of Delhi, 500; death and 
 great wealth, 501. 
 Harris {Lard), governor of Madras, 22 ; 
 
 on censorship of the press, 268. 
 Harris {Major), killed at Mhow, 348. 
 Hattrass, mutiny, 192, 
 Havelock (Sir Henry), 275 ; appearance 
 and character, 279 ; advance upon 
 Cawnpoor, 374 ; Futtehpooc, 375 ; 
 General Order after thebattle, 376; san- 
 guine anticipations of relieving Luck- 
 now, 384 ; disastrous campaign in Oude, 
 390, 392 ; retreat to Cawnpoor, 392 ; 
 reverses. 393, 417; reinforcement of 
 Lucknow, 419; made a K.C.B., 471 i 
 death at the Dilkoosha, 471 ; grave at 
 the Alunibagh, 471. 
 Hawkins ( Captain ), 337 ; killed with bis 
 
 children at Gwalior, 343. 
 Hay (Lord IVitUam), 218. 
 Hay, American missionary, 415. 
 Hayes {Capt. Fletcher), 60; death, 192; 
 
 wife and family at Lucknow, 246. 
 Hazareebaugh, mutiny, 406. 
 Hearsey {Maj.-gen.), 127 ; timely warn- 
 ing regarding greased cartridges, 127, 
 128 ; promptitude at Barrackpoor, 132 ; 
 reproved by Lord Canning, 141 ; dis- 
 arms Barrackpoor brigade, 271. 
 Hearsey (Captain John), adventures, 226. 
 Heber {Bishop), 63, 123. 
 Hedayut AH, on causes of mutiny, 112. 
 Herat, independence guaranteed, 117. 
 Hewitt {Maj..gen.), at Meerut, 151. 
 Higginsan {Sir James), Mauritius, 397. 
 Hdlersdon (Mr. and Mrs.), 250, 260. 
 Himam Bhartee of Dhunonra, 169. 
 Hingun Lall protects fugitives, 292. 
 Hissar, mutiny and massacre, 208. 
 Habart {Lord), letter to Times, 119. 
 Hodson (Captain), 202 ; character, 446 ; 
 obtains surrender of King and Queen 
 of Delhi, 447 ; kills the princes, 448 ; 
 Mrs. Hodson's visit to the Queen, 453 ; 
 Captain Hodson shot by a sepoy, 480. 
 Hodson's Horse, 202 ; nicknamed the 
 
 Flamingoes, 437. 
 Hogge (Colonel), humanity to Prince 
 
 Jumma Bukht, 455. 
 Holcar, Maharajah of Indore, 40, 186, 
 
 345; fearless integrity, 348. 
 Holmes (Major), proclaims martial law 
 at Segowlie, 398 ; excessive severities, 
 401 ; killed by mutineers, 406. 
 Home (Z>r,A. C), defence of the wounded 
 
 in the city of Lucknow, 421. 
 Hoondees, bills of exchange, 52. 
 Hope (Brigadier Adrian), 468, 469; 
 
 killed at Royea, 493. 
 Humeerpoor, 316 ; mutiny, 317. 
 Hunwunt Sing {Lall), talookdar of Dha- 
 
 roopoor, his noble conduct, 235. 
 Hurdeo Buksh, of Dhurumpoor, 323; 
 
 character and appearance, 326. 
 Hutchinson (Lieut.). Bheel agent, 350. 
 Huzara district, 202. 
 Hyderabad, 49; transfer of territory, 
 55 ; Times advocates annexation, 268 ; 
 eteadtiastness of Salar Jung and Shums- 
 ool-Omrah, 268, 353; death of Nizam, 
 353; hii successor, 353 ; mutiny, 355 ; 
 disturbances in the city, 356. 
 Hyderabad contingent, 354, 488. 
 
 Ijara, contract revenue system, 71. 
 
 Ikbal, or Ekhal, luck, 199. 
 
 Incendiary fires ^Tccei^ mutiny, 139,218. 
 
 India, condition of, in 1856, 1. 
 
 Indian army, organisation, 96, 100; first 
 native court-martial, 96; pay of sepoys, 
 100; abolition of flogging, 104 ; Bengal 
 army, 108 — 110; sepoy grievances. 111 
 — 115; native army, 125; statistics in 
 1857, 126 ; extermination or dispersion 
 in 1857; rapid reconstruction, and pre- 
 carious condition, 502. 
 
 Indian princes, study European politics 
 and journals, 368. 
 
 Indore, 344 ; mutiny, 345. 
 
 Inglis {Brigadier John), 238 ; Mra. Inglis 
 at Lucknow, 424,' 461, 470. 
 
 Innes {Brigadier), at Ferozpoor, 183. 
 
 Interest on money, rate of, 34. 
 
 Intoxication among British troops, 384. 
 
 Invaliding regulations for sepoys, 137. 
 
 Jabooah, 350; rajah of, 351; princess- 
 regent protects Europeans, 351. 
 
 Jackson (Sir Motmtstuart, and hissisterCf. 
 223 ; their fate, 480. 
 
 Jacob {Major J.), on native army, 110. 
 
 Jalonn, annexation, 317 ; mutiny, 318. 
 
 Jaunpoor, mutiny, 290 — 292. 
 
 Jhansi, annexation, 56 ; Ranee Lakshmi 
 Bye, 57 ; peculiar hardship of her case, 
 68; mutiny, 304; maseacre, 305 ; Ranee 
 besieged by Rose, 483 ; palace carried by 
 storm, 484 ; flight of Ranee, and execu- 
 tion of her father, 485 ; Ranee slain at 
 Gwalior, 489. 
 
 Jheend, Cis-Sutlej state, services of the 
 Rajah, 188, 437, 438. 
 
 Jhelum, mutiny, 367. 
 
 Jhujjur (Nawab of), executed, 500. 
 
 Johnstone {Capt. Hope), at Lucknow, 479. 
 
 Jones (Col. J.), 60th Rifles, 432, 445,491. 
 
 Jones (Colonel R. H.), 494. 
 
 Jones {Mr.), account of Futtehghur mu- 
 tiny and massacre, 321. 
 
 Jowalla Persaud, 259, 500. 
 
 Jubbulpoor, execution of Gond rajah and 
 his son, 490 ; mutiny, 491. 
 
 Jugdespoor, palace and temple destroyed 
 by Major Eyre, 406 ; British detach- 
 ment defeated there, 492. 
 
 Jullundur, mutiny, 366. 
 
 Jung Bahadur, Nepaulese minister, 277 ; 
 march in command of Goorka auxi- 
 liaries, 477; arrival at Luckn<)w, 4 79; 
 return to Nepaul, 482; made a K.C.b., 
 482 ; defeats rebels in the Terai, 498, 
 
 Jutog, hill-station, panic, 204, 
 
 Kaiserbagh palace, Lucknow, 237, 479. 
 Kantzow {Lieutenant de), 9th N.I., 190. 
 Kaporthella (Rajah of), 200. 
 KavanagK, adventure from Lucknow, 466 ; 
 
 reward from government, 466. 
 Kerr (Lieut.), saves Kolapoor, 412. 
 Kerr (Lord Mark), at Azinighur, 491. 
 Khalsa, elect or chosen, 199. 
 Khan Bahadoor Khan, of Ba'eilly, 213; 
 
 revolt, 476 ; able instructions to rebel 
 
 troops, 492 ; evacuates Bareilly, 4?ii ; 
 
 silrrender, 500. 
 Khyr, 193 ; defeat and execution of Rao 
 
 Bhossa Sing, 193. 
 Kinnaird {Hon. A.), on Indian police, 6. 
 Kirke{Major), 12th N.I., 307; death, all. 
 Knyvett (Cot.), escape from UcUii, 166. 
 Kolapoor, mutiny, 412. 
 ; Kooer iSfini^, of J ugdcspoor, high character 
 
 and great age, 400 ; revolt, 404 ; pulaca 
 d^■.^troycd by Major Eyre, 4U6 ; inllu- 
 I ence as a leader, 490 ; death, 4U2. 
 Koonch, victory of Su Hugh Rose, 486.
 
 INDEX TO VOL. II. OP THE " INDIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 ffotah {Rajah of). 486. 
 
 Koiah contingent^ 3uO; mutiny, 360, 430 ; 
 
 mutineers expelled front Kotah, 486. 
 Krtahuagur (uative Cbiistiaus of), 265. 
 Kubrai, town in Jalouii, 311. 
 Kudjwa L-ngageiuent, 464. 
 ICuniaon ilistrict, 212. 
 h'urnaul {Nawab of), his services,-' 169. 
 h'wisowiie sanatarium, 204. 
 
 Laho'-e, Rajah Jowahir Sing, 203 ; mutiny 
 atul cxteimination of 26th N.I., 426. 
 
 Lake (Lord), treatment of sepoys, 103. 
 
 I^ala Jutee Persaud, Agra contractor, 
 358 ; great services, 3Q3. 
 
 Lall Madhoo Sing (Rajah of Amethie), 
 233. (See Note to page 497) ; surren- 
 der of fort to Lord Cl^de, 497, 
 
 Land-revenue, 4 — 6, 32. 
 
 Land-tenure, 2 — 6. 
 
 Lawrence Asylums, 243, 244. 
 
 Lawrence {G. H.), at Lucknow, 242. 
 
 Lawrence {Sir HenTy), warning regarding 
 Oude, 88 ; conduct in the Punjab, 94 ; 
 in Oude, 139, 141, 217; person, 219; 
 221, 228; Chinhut expedition, 238; 
 narrow escape, 242 ; death, 243 ; Lady 
 Lawrence, 243; character, 244; sug- 
 gestions to Lord Canning for relief of 
 Cavvnpoor, disregarded, 266 ; 373 ; love 
 and reverence shown to his memory, 
 throughout India, 432. 
 
 Lawrence {Sir John), 197. 201 ; advice 
 to General Anson, 201 ; a dictator in 
 Northern India, 430, 434 ; conduct at 
 Delhi, 451 ; opinion regarding the 
 cause of the mutiny, 501. 
 
 Layard (M.P. for Aylesbury), 55 ; visit 
 to captive King of Delhi, 455. 
 
 Lennoj: {Cut.), escrape with his family, 
 from l-'yzabad, 231. 
 
 Lealie {Sir N.), assassination of, 415, 
 
 Lloyd {Major-general), 282 ; conduct at 
 Dinapoor, 398, 402, 404 ; removal 
 trotn divisional command, 414. 
 
 Logasaee, 310; rajah of, 310. 
 
 Loot, at Delhi, 45 1,452; at Lucknow, 479. 
 
 Low {Colonel), mission to Hyderabad, 53; 
 opinions on the mutiny, 140. 
 
 i/UcXrnow, population, 217; mutiny, 219, 
 235 ; natives engaged in defence of the 
 Residency, 236 ; preparations for siege, 
 237 ; Cavvnpoor battery, 237 ; public 
 securities, 237 ; Chinhut expedition, 
 238; commencement of siege, 241; 
 mutiny of sepoys and native police at 
 Dowlutkhana and Imaumbara, 241; Re- 
 sidency, 242; Sir H. Lawrence killed, 
 243; reported advance ofHavelock, 386; 
 mines and counter-mines, 387; bread- 
 want, 388 ; Outram's plans of advance j 
 overruled by Havelock, 417,419; rush to j 
 the U'aiUie Guard, 420 ; massacre in the 
 dhoolies, 421; resources of garrison, 423 
 424, 465; Sir Colin Campbell reaches 
 the Alumbagh, 465 ; captures Dilkoosha 
 and Martiniere, 466, Secunderabagh 
 and SliuU Nujcef, 4G7; relief of garrison, < 
 4o9 ; bombardment of Kaiserbagli, 470; } 
 evacuiition of the Residency, 471 ; Jes>ie \ 
 Brown story. 470 ; Sii" Colin Campbell j 
 and ihti Lucknow ladies, 470; his i 
 second advance on Lucknow, 4 78 ; cap- t 
 ture of the Chuckerwalluh, or YeUow ! 
 l^ungalow, 4 78 ; begum Kuthee t^iken, | 
 478; Itvaiscrbagh evacuated, 479; re- 
 uccupjition of city, 480; proclamation, 
 ibnuid by order of Lord Canning, modi- 
 tied by Outrain, 482. 
 
 Loyard ^Sw Kdwurd), 491, 492. 
 
 LuUutpoor, mutiny, 336. 
 
 Uu^hinyton {IJenrg), uppointmeuts, 6. 
 
 I^ytton {SirB. Bulwer), on the mutiny, 2. 
 Macaulay {Lord), *' on nabobs," 123. 
 
 Macdonald {Major)^ Rohnee. outbreak, 
 415, and Hhaugulpoor mutiny, 416. 
 
 Macgregor {Lieutenant), carried off and 
 killed by 52nd N.I., 491. 
 
 M'Killop {John), death at Cawnppor, 379. 
 
 Macnaghten, {Mr.), at Umritsir, 199. 
 
 Maepherson {Major), Gwalior resident, 
 332 ; escape to Agra, 339 ; co-opera- 
 trdn with Sindia and Dinkur B^o, 
 362 ; return to Gwalior, 488. 
 
 Madras^ misery of ryots, 15 ; columji 
 under Generid Whitjock, 483 ; capture 
 of Banda, 486. 
 
 Magna Charta of Bengal, 35. 
 
 Mahidpoor, or Mehidpore, 346. 
 
 Majendie {Lieutenant), account of bar- 
 barities committed at the taking of 
 the Yellow Bungalow, Lucknow., 478. 
 
 Malaghur fort^ defences destroyed, 461. 
 
 Malcolm {Sir John), 40, 105. 
 
 Malwa Bheel corps, 350. 
 
 Malua contingent, 344; mutiny, 360. 
 
 Mansel, Nag|ioor commissioner, 45. 
 
 Manjsfeld (. General), 476, 478, 493. 
 
 Manufactures {Native), 32 ; calico, 32. 
 
 Mara {Lieutenant and Mrs.)y death, 29L 
 
 Marshman {Dr.), proprietor of Priend of 
 India, 276. 
 
 Massacre of Europeans — Meerut, 148 
 151 ; Delhi, 172—174; Bareilly, 213 ; 
 Shahjehanpoor, 214; Budaon, 215- 
 Seetapoor, 223 ; near Aurungabad, 224 j 
 Bahraetch, 225 ; Cawnpoor, 260—263 ; 
 Allahabad, 294, 295; Jhansi, 305. 306; 
 Futtehghur and Singhee Rampore, 
 325; Funuckabad, 329; Gwalior, 338 
 —344; Indore, 346; Agra, 362; Seal- 
 kote, 370; Cawnpoor (malp portion of 
 the Futtehghur fugitives). 326; Sevada 
 Kothee, Cawn]»oor, 381 ; (of surviving 
 women and children from Futtehghur 
 and the Cawnpoor intrenchment), 382; 
 Lucknow, 481. 
 
 Mofin Sing {Rajah), 226 ; family history, 
 227; character and piisition, 229; con- 
 duct during siege of Lucknow, 425, 481 ; 
 capture of Tantia Topee, 498. 
 
 Mead, (//.), 5, 21 ; superseded as editor of 
 Friend of India, 22. 269. 
 
 Meean-Meery sepoys disarmed, 196. 
 
 Meer Furznnd Alt and his artillerymen, 
 their fidelity at Lucknow, 236. 
 
 Mecr Mvhndte Hussein, or Hossein, pro- 
 tects the Lennox family, 232, 426 ; a 
 rebel leader, 478; surrenders to Lord 
 Clyde on terms offered by ro^al procla- 
 mation, 498. 
 
 Meer Mohammed Hussein Khan {Nazim), 
 protects Europeans in his fort near 
 Goruckpoor, 232. 
 
 Meerut, 126, 143; native cavalry refuse 
 cartridges, 144; court-majtial, 145; 
 mutiny, 147 ; 155, 183, 431. 
 
 Melville {Viscount), on sepoy mutiny, 
 106; Indian command, 110, 114. 
 
 Metcalfe {Sir Charles, afterwards Lord), 
 removes re&lrictions on press, IS ; 
 opinions on British settlers, 33 ; on 
 intercourse with Native princes, 38. 
 
 Metcalfe {Sir Theophilus), \\1 , 159; 
 rtight from Delhi, 169 ; return, 451. 
 
 Mhow,'S\\; mutiny, 347. 
 
 Mill Uhe historian), 12. 
 
 Mill {Major and Mrs.), Fyzabad, 233. 
 
 Mirza Mohammed Shah, one ot Delhi 
 princes, 115. 
 
 MtSL'ionary operations, 155; American' 
 Boaid of Miaaioui — Futtehghm" station, 
 322. I 
 
 Mithowlee {R^ah Lonce Sing, of), 223, 
 
 224, 4^0 ; GiuTender, trial, and sen- 
 tence, 500. 
 
 Mofussil (country), community, 6. 
 
 Mohumdee, mutiny, massacre 224, 494. 
 
 Monckion {Lieut and Mrs.), 321 ; letters, 
 fronj Futtehghur, 322; perish in -^e. 
 Singhee Rampore massacre, 325. 
 
 Money {Alonzo), Behar magistrate, ^\iO, 
 407 ; reproved by Sir C. Campbell, 494. 
 
 Montgomery {Sir Sfibert), 197 ; cod- 
 gr^tulatory letter to Cooper, on ex- 
 termination of 26th N.I.. 429; to Hod- 
 son, on *' catching the king and olay^ 
 ing his sons," 449; supersedes Sir J, 
 Outram at Lucknow, 482. 
 
 J\foolian, revoltof neighbouring tribea,465. 
 
 Mooltee of Allahabad. 293, 299. 
 
 Moolvee of Aurungabad, 356. 
 
 Afoolvee {Ahm^d Oollah), of Fyzabad ot 
 Lucknow, 229, 263, 386, 480, 494^ 
 death, 497. 
 
 Moore (magis^trate of Mirzapnor), 302; 
 village-burning. 302; assassination, 411. 
 
 I^oore {Capt.), bravery at Cawnpoor, 255,_ 
 259 ; shot at time of embarkation, 260» 
 
 Moradabad., mutiny, 216. 
 
 Moznffetyoor, station bcavely held, 407. 
 
 Muchee Bhawn, 217; evacuation, 242. 
 
 Mullaon, station abandoned, 225. 
 
 Mullapoor, station abandoned, 225. 
 
 Munnnoo Khan, the Begum of Oude'lt 
 minister, 480 ; dismissed by her, sur- 
 renders to British government, 480, 
 
 Mundesore {Pass of), forced by Rose. 484. 
 
 Mungul and Mytqub Sing, Rajpoot 
 chiefs and twin-brothers killed, 461. 
 
 Mungulwar encampment, 3li3, 418. 
 
 Munro {Major Hector), 99. 
 
 Munro {Sir T.), 8 ; Ryotwar system, 84. 
 
 Murray {Mrs.), wife of sergeant, asser-. 
 tions regarding siegQof Qawnpoor, 252. 
 
 Mutilations (alleged), of Europeans, 409. 
 
 Mutiny oi Europeans (1/57), 97; sepoys. 
 (1757), 97; Europeans and sepoys. 
 (1764), 98; sepoys, (1764). 99; Eu-. 
 ropeans (1766), 100 ; sepoys (I7»2 and, 
 1795), 101; (1849), 107; mutinies of; 
 l857-'58. (See Meerut* Delhi, Luck' 
 7WW, Cawnpoor, &c.) 
 
 Mutira {City of), mutiny, 193. 
 
 Afynpoorie, mutiny, 190; gallant defence 
 of the station by Lieut, de Kantzotr 
 and Rao Uhowanee Sing, hrst cousin to. 
 the Rajah, 191 ; taken possession of bj; 
 British. 475. 
 
 Mynpoorie — Tej Sir^g {Rajah of), 191, 
 defeated by Col. Seaton, 475. 
 
 Nagode, 314; mutiny, 491. 
 
 Nagpoor, or Berar, annexation, 44; treat'. 
 ment of the Ranees, 46. 
 
 Nfijir Khan, revolt and barbarous execu- 
 tion, at Fi^ttehghur, 476. 
 
 Nana Sahib, 246; history, 248; appear- 
 ance, 250; besieges English in Cawnpoor 
 intrenchment, 253 ; three massacres, 
 of Europeans, 260, 381, 382; evacu- 
 ates Cawnpoor, 378; prodamatiooa. 
 iaaued by him, 380.; famous ruby, 384 g 
 alleged death in the Terai, 499. 
 
 Nanpara, native state, 225. 
 
 Xapier \,Sir Charles), opinions, 11 ; de- 
 finition of economy in India, 26, 40, 
 
 104 ; appointed commander-in-chief,, 
 
 105 i resignation. 107, 124, 276. 
 Naitve Chrmttaus at Krishnagur, 265 ; a^ 
 
 Agra, 362 ; at Lucknow, 481. 
 Natives, fidelity of. 150, 213, 340, 362. &<^. 
 Native v£ict2ls underpaid, 95. 
 Natives, ill-treatment of, 122—124. 
 Naval Brigade, 461, 165, 475. 
 Nazint, revenue farmerj 83,
 
 INDEX TO VOL. II. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE.' 
 
 JVeemnch mutiny, 194. 
 
 Neemuck brigade, 430. 
 
 Neil. 282 j at Benares, 283 ; at AUahabai, 
 297 — .S03 ; at Cawnpoor, 385 ; makes 
 Bralimins clean up blood, 385 ; shot at 
 Lucknow, 420. 
 
 ^epanl, Goorka auxiliaries from, 277. 
 
 ifeville {Glastonbury). Captain of en, 
 gineers, killed at Barodia, 484. 
 
 ihchotson {Brigadier-geoieral John), 202 ; 
 cliniacter and appearance, 372, 437 ; 
 directs storming of P.elhi, 441; wounded. 
 443; death, 459. 
 Wirput Sing, expelled from Fort Royea, 
 493 ; slain in the Terai, 498. 
 
 ]yizam of Hyderabad (late), 49; con- 
 tingent and subsidiary force, 50; his 
 opinion of the E. I, Company,54 ; death, 
 268 ; accessipn of Afzool-ood-DowIah, 
 268. 
 
 Norlh-WesUm Province^ landowners. in, 
 3 ; revenue settlem.ent, 93 ; disaffection 
 caused by resumption of land, 490. 
 
 Norton's Rebellion in India,, 5.8. 
 
 Nowgong, mutiny, 307. 
 
 Nujufghur, victory o( Hic'io'son, 438. 
 
 Nnrgoond (Rajah of), refused permission 
 to adopt a successor; revolt, capture, 
 and execution. 503. 
 
 Nmseerabad. mutiny, 194 ; Nussee^bad 
 brigade reach Delhi, 210. 
 
 Nusseeree baitaiign, Gporkas, 204.. 
 
 Nyagong (Ranee of ), Bundelcund, 310, 
 
 Nynee Tal, sanitary station, 212. 
 
 O'Brien (Dr.), acco.unt of the mutiny at 
 LuUutpoor, 330. 
 
 Odeipore, anneiatipn of st,ate, 49. 
 
 Qmlah, or native writers, 242. 
 
 Ommaneg (Mr. ), kiljed at Lucknow, 380. 
 
 Oodipoor (Ranaof), kindness tp fugitiye 
 English, 196. 
 
 Oonao. fortified village, engagement, 389. 
 
 Oorai, 317; mutiny, 319. 
 
 Opium, 24 ; government monopoly, and 
 opium shops, 25 ; store at Patna and 
 Ghazipoor, 401. 
 
 Oram (Colonel James), 102. 
 
 Order of British India, 137. 
 
 Order of the Fish lMogul),.2\7. 
 
 Osborne (LietU.), Rewah agent, 491. 
 
 Oude, or Ayodha, 59 ; sketch of successive 
 rulers, 59 — 73 ; cession of half Oude ip 
 1801, G2 ; contested succession, 65; 
 suppressed treaty of 1837, 68; conduct 
 of queen-mother, 79 ; annexation of 
 kingdom, and confiscation of property, 
 79; mutinies and massacre, 217; pro- 
 gress of revolt, 330; operations of Sir 
 Colin Campbell, 496 ; restoration of 
 trancpiillity. (See Luctnow). 
 
 Oude {Wajid Alt, King of), deposition, 
 81 ; arrest at Calcutta, 274 ; submission 
 under protest, 275. 
 
 Oude (Begum of), an(} Prince Birjis 
 Kudder, 386, 425, 477 ; flight from 
 Lucknow, 480, 4B1, 494; character, 
 499. 
 
 Oulram (General Sir James), Resident at 
 Lucknow, 74 ; return frpm Persian ex- 
 pedition, 397 ; appointed commissioner 
 of Oude, 397 ; gi-ncrnl oider at Dina- 
 poor, 414; anxiety for relief of Luck- 
 now, 417; generosity to Hjivclock, 
 417 ; person and chiiructer, 418 ; urges 
 iidoption of more humane policy towards 
 sepoys, 418; wounded in reinforcing 
 Lucknow, 419 ; proceedings there, 425, 
 465 ; resigns commissionership of Oude, 
 rather than carry out Lord Canning's 
 confiscating measures, 482. 
 Outram (Lady), flight from Alighur, 190. 
 
 Pakington (Sir John), on Indian mis- 
 government, and use of torture as a 
 means of collecting revenue, 409. 
 
 Pandoo Nuddee river, bridge carried by 
 HaveJock, 376. 
 
 Pandy (Mungul), vio\xnis Adjutant Baugh, 
 131; attempted suicide, 1^2; execu- 
 tion, 133. 
 
 Passees of Oude, 257. 
 
 Patna, 398 ; disturbances, 399. 
 
 Peacock, legal member of council, 76. 
 
 Peel (Sir William), arrival at Calcutta, 
 397 ; success at Kudjwa. 464 ; gallantry 
 at Lucknow, 467 ; at Cawnpoor, 475 ; 
 wounded at recapture of Lucknow, 480 ; 
 death ajid character. 480. 
 
 Peishwa (Bajee Root, his family, 249. 
 
 Penny, (Col.), died in the flight fi-om 
 NuSseerabad, 194. 
 
 Penny (General), shot at Kukrowlee, 494. 
 
 Per^hadipoor, mutiny, 235. 
 
 Persian war, 116. 
 
 Pes/iawur, 200, 429. 
 
 Peshawur light horse, 202. 
 
 Phillnur, 199 ; mutiny, 366. 
 
 Pierson (Lieutenant and Mrs.), saved by 
 sepoys at Gwalior, 338. 
 
 Pirthee Pal Sing, 330. 
 
 Platt (Col. 2lst N.I.), at Mhow, 345. 
 
 Pondicherry, French trade, 36. 
 
 Poorbeahs, 199, 503. 
 
 Population, adult male European, 21. 
 
 Portuguese governor -generalt Viscpnnt 
 de Torres Novas, zealous co-operation 
 with Bombay government, 413. 
 
 Power (Joh^), magistrate of My^poone, 
 190 ;, suspension, 476. 
 
 frets, 18 ; ppinjpns pf Lord W. Bentinck 
 pn free press, ] 8 ; Munro,. Metc«dfe, 
 and Lord Elphinstone, 19 ; Auclcland, 
 Ellenborough, and Napier, 20 ; censor- 
 ship re-instituted by governor-general 
 in council, with approval of Lords 
 Harris and Elphinstone, 22, 268 ; edi. 
 tor of Friend of India superseded, 269 : 
 statements of Friend of India and 
 hahore Chronicle, 455, 
 
 Prize-money, and '* loot,"- — Sinde, 41; 
 Cawnpoor and Bithoor, 384 ; Nujuf- 
 ghur, 438 ; Delhi, 441, 449 ; Lucknow, 
 480 ; Jhansi, 486. [A very large amount 
 was likewise obtained at' Banda, and 
 other places}. 
 
 Proclatnations — of Colvin at Agra, 187, 
 218; H. Lawrence, in Oude, 218; 
 mutineers at Delhi, 329 ; Nana Sahib 
 at Cawnpoor, 380 ; Lord Canning, re- 
 garding Oude, 482; Khan Bahadoor 
 Khan, at Bareilly, 492 ; Queen Vic- 
 toria, 502 ; Begura of Oude, 502. 
 
 Punjab, mijitaiy strei gth in Europeans, 
 at the time of the outbreak, 433 ; 
 policy pursued to landowners, 487. 
 
 Punnah {Rajah of), courage and fidelity, 
 392, 484. 
 
 Pumeah (Devon ofMysoor), 103. 
 
 Putteala (Rajah of), 188, important ser- 
 vices, 208. 
 
 Raikes, (G. D), killed at Bareilly, 214. 
 Raikes, (Charles). Judge at Agra, 360. 
 Rajpuotana. or RpjaaV han, 194. 
 Ramsay (Brigadier), at Gwalior, 334. 
 Ramtiny (Mt^or), British resident at 
 
 Nagpoor and Nepaul, 47, 48. 
 Ramzaa AH (Cnzi). maintains order at 
 
 Chupra station, 407. 
 Rao Sahib, or Bala Kuo, 380, 486, 498. 
 Ralghur fort, taken by Sir H. Ro.se, 484. 
 Ravee river, Sealkote mutineers.' overtaken 
 
 and almo?t exterminated by Nicholson, 
 
 371. 
 
 Rawul Pindee, 1 06 ; sepoys disarmed, 368. 
 
 Reade (E. A.), arrangements at Agra, 363. 
 
 Regimetits (European, Royal) — 6th Dra.. 
 goon Guards (Carabineers), 143, 183, 
 206 ; 9th Dragoons (Lancers), 176, 206. 
 463. 465; 3rd Foot, 184; 4th Foot, 
 397 ; 5th Fusiliers, 397, 401 ; 8th Foot. 
 366, 462, 435; 10th Foot, 281, 398,. 
 401, 402, 404, 414; 23rd Foot, 466; 
 24th Foot, 201 ; 27th Foot, 201 ; 32nd 
 Foot, 140, 217, 237, 246, 387; 33r4 
 Foot, 397 ; 34th Foot, 473 ; 35lh Foot, 
 265 ; 37th Foot, 265, 397, 402 ; 42n<t 
 Highlanders, 493, 494 ; 52nd Light 
 infantry, 368 ; 53rd Foot, 265,464, 465i 
 60th Rifles, 143, 459; 61st Foot, 18,3, 
 438, 450; 64th Foot, 393. 418, 4^3-^. 
 7'2nd Highlanders, 486 ; 75th Foot, 206^ 
 465 ; 78th Highlanders, 265, 288, 420; 
 79th Highlanders, 494 ; 81st Foot, 197, 
 199; 82nd Foot, 466, 473; 84th Foot,. 
 246, 368, 407 ; 86th Foot, 485 ; 90tli 
 Foot. 415, 421; 93rd Foot, 464,465, 
 468, 493 ; 95th Foot, 486, 488. 
 
 Regiments (European), E.I.C. — 1st Ben- 
 gal Fusiliers, 2U4, 206 ; 2nd Bengal Fu- 
 siliersi 206; 1st Maaras Fusiliers, 247^ 
 265, 282; 3rd Bombjiy regiment, 485. 
 
 Regiment8(Nalive),Zii ; dress and appear- 
 ance of Seiks, Afghans, and Gtiorkas, 
 452; l.st Bengal Light Cavalry, 344,360; 
 2nd Light Cavalry, 246, 252 ; 3rd Light 
 Cavalry, 143, 147, 167, 175; 3rd Irre- 
 gfular Cavalry, 365 ; 4th Irregular Ca-. 
 valry, 208; 5th Light Cavalry, 202, 4 15; 
 5th Irregular Cavalry, 415; 6th Lighb 
 Cavalry, 211, 366; 7th Light Cavalry, 
 220; 8th Irregular Cavalry, 212; 9th 
 Irregular Cavalry, 368; 10th Ligh.; 
 Cavalry, 183, 184. 429; lOth Irregnla.; 
 Cavalry, 201,. 202; llth Irregular Ca- 
 valry, 416; 12th Irregular Cavalry, 
 280, 398, 406, 418; I3th Irregular 
 Cavalry, 280, 283, 302, 374, 375; 14tb 
 Irregular Cavalry, 304, 461 ; 15th Ir- 
 regular Cavali'y, 233; 16th Irregular 
 Cavalry, 201 ; i8th Irregular Cavalry, 
 202. 
 
 1st N.I„ 246. 252, 314; 2nd N.I. mu- 
 tinied at Ahmedabad, Sept. 15th, 1857; 
 3rd N.I.. 366; 4th N.I. [disirmed] ; 
 5tb N.I., 176,203; 6th N.I., 282, 293, 
 316. 381 ; 7th N.I., 139, 398, 401 ; 
 8th, N..I., 398, 401, 406; 9th N.I., 
 189, 190, 435; 10th N.I., 321; llth 
 N.I.. 143, 147; 12th N.I., 304, 307, 
 309, 461 ; 13th N.I., 220, 420, 423; 
 I4th N.I., 367; 15th NLv 194 ; 16th 
 N. I., Grenadiers, 198: 17th N.I., 225, 
 229, 232, 279; 18th N.I., 212; 19th, 
 N.I., 129. 132, 157; 20th N.I., 143. 
 147, 153; 21st N.I. [intact], 202, 413- 
 22nd N.I., 226, 231 ; 23rd N.I., 341. 
 24th N.I. [disarmed at Peshawufj-, 
 25th N.l. [mutinied]; 26th N.I., 197. 
 426; 28th N.I., 213, 214, 355.; 29th, 
 N.I., 212, 216; 30th N.L, 194; 31st 
 N.I., 365; 32nd N.I., 464; 33rd N.L, 
 369; 34th N. I., 132, 142; 35th N.I.,. 
 368; 36th N.I., 177, 211, .366; 37th 
 N.l., 235,281—286; 38th N.l., 157; 
 39th N.I,, [disarmed at .Iheluni]; 40th 
 N.I.,398,401,414;41st N.I., 223,324, 
 365, 476; 42nd Light Infantry, 365; 
 43id N.I., 183; 44th N.I., 185, 193, 
 358; 45tb N.L, 183, 213, 235; 46th 
 N.L, 3C8; 47th N.L, 411 [did not 
 mutinv]; 48th N.I., 220; 49th N.L, 
 107, 197; 50th N.I., 314, 491; 51st 
 N.L, 202, 429: 52nd N.L. 490, 491; 
 53rd N.L, 216, 252, 300, 318; 54th 
 N.l., 157. 160; 55th N.I., 201, 202j
 
 Tl 
 
 INDEX TO VOL. II. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 66th N.I. 246, 252. 300. 316; 57th 
 N.I, 183. 235i 58th N.I., 368; 59th 
 N.I.. 186. 199. 372; 60th N.I., 176. 
 203. 210; 61st N.I.. 211, 366; 62nd 
 N.I. [disarmed at Mooftanl: 63rd N.I., 
 270, 416; 64th N.I. [disarmed at 
 Peshawur], May, 185?i65lhN.I.,404; 
 66th N.I. (oH), 107; (Goorka), 212; 
 67th N.I., 183, 193,358; 68th N.I., 
 213. 215; 69th N.I. [mutinied at 
 Mooltan. August, 31st 1858]; 70th 
 N.I.. 270; 71st N.I., 218, 219. 481; 
 72nd N.I.. 194, 360; 73rd N.I.. [two 
 companies mutinied at Daccal ; 74th 
 N.I., 157.194. 
 
 Guide Corps, 201, 277, 459. 
 
 1st Punjab Infantry. 201; 2ad Punjab 
 Infantry, 465 ; 4lh Punjab Infantry. 
 405 ; 5th Punjab Infantry, 201. 
 
 Ut Oude Infantry, 234, 241. 3rd Oude 
 Irregular Cavalry, 292; 4 th Oude Irre- 
 gular Infantry, 225, 241 ; 5th Oude 
 Irregular Infantry, 235 ; 6th Oude Irre- 
 gular Infantry, 226; 7th Oude Irre- 
 gular Infantry, 241 ; 8th Oude Irre- 
 gular Infantry, 233; 9th Oude Irre- 
 gular Infantry, 223, 224 ; 10th Oude 
 Irregular Infantry, 223. 
 
 lOth Bombay N.I., 486; 12th Bombay 
 N.I., 486: 21st Bombay N.I., 413 ^ 
 27th Bombay N.I., 412. 
 
 Bee»' (L. E. R), Narrative of Lucknow 
 siege, 238, 423. 
 
 Reid (Major-general), at Delhi, 207, 430. 
 
 Reid (Major), Sirmoor battalion, 207, 444. 
 
 Jteligion, 155; "Day of humiliation" in 
 £ngland and India, 452. 
 
 Benaud (Major), 303 ; march of " aveng- 
 ing columns" from Allahabad to Cawn- 
 poor, 374 ; death, 376. 
 
 Raidentt {British), at Nagpoor, described 
 by Mr. Mansel, 48 ; at Lucknow, de- 
 scribed by Colonel Sleeman, 71. 
 
 Jtentmplion of rent-free lands, 90. 
 
 Rewah (Rajah o/"), 491. 
 
 tiewah contingent, 268, 491. 
 
 Revenue system, 215. 
 
 R/iodamow, engagement near, 493. 
 
 Ripley (Colonel). 160; death, 170. 
 
 Road), government neglect of, 29. 
 
 Robertson, Judge, killed at Bareilly, 214. 
 
 Rackets, iot clearing villages, 412; effect 
 at the Shah Nujecf, at Lucknow, 469. 
 
 Bo/iilcund, 212 ; Sir C. Campbell's cam- 
 paign. 492. 
 
 Rohnee, disturbances there, 415. 
 
 Mose ( General Sir Hugh), despatches re- 
 garding campaign in Central India, 
 483; captureof jfhansi, 484; sun-stroke 
 at Koonch, 486 ; occupation of Calpee, 
 487 ; capture of Gwalior, 488 ; resig- 
 nation, 490. 
 
 Rosser (Catitain), refused leave to pur- 
 sue Meerut mutineers, 183; mortally 
 wound«d at Delhi, 444. 
 
 Kotton (Rev. J. E W.), sermon at Meerut, 
 154; account of siege of Delhi, 183, 453. 
 
 Royea, Fort of Nirput Sing. 493. 
 
 Russell (Lord John), on native army, 122. 
 
 Russell (W. J.), 2V;»««' special corre- 
 spondent, 124.151,229; visit to captive 
 King of Delhi. 456 ; at Bareilly, 495. 
 
 Russian intrigues,, 121. 
 
 Sadhs of Furruckabad, 328. 
 
 Salaries of Europeans and natives, 31. 
 
 Salkeld (Lieut.), kUted at Delhi. 442. 
 
 Salone, mutiny, 234 
 
 Salt monopoly, 31. 
 
 Samuells (Mr.), Patna commissioner, 408. 
 
 Santee, mutiny, 359. 
 
 Satlara (annexation of), 42 ; disturb- 
 
 ances, 413; arrest of titular rajah and 
 family, 413. 
 Saugor, partial mutiny, 365 ; fort relieved 
 
 by Sir Hugh Rose, 484. 
 Scott (Captain), 304; adventures with 
 
 "little Lottie," 312,314. 
 Sealkote, 134, 368; mutiny, 369. 
 Sealon (Colonel), appointed prize agent 
 at Delhi, 448 ; march, from Delhi. 475. 
 Secrora. mutiny, 225. 
 Seepree, mutiny, 351. 
 Seetapoor, mutiny and massacre, 222. 
 Segawliev mutiny, 406. 
 Sehore, in Bhopal, 345. 
 Seiks, or Sikhs, 201 ; mutiny of, 285, 
 290; at AUahabad, 296; at Delhi, 
 443. 
 Sepoys (Bengal), affected by annexation 
 of Oude, 85—87 ; character, 1 1 1, 122 ; 
 fidelity of company of 3rd cavalry at 
 Meerut, 149, 153 ; mode of dealing with 
 disarmed regiments, 413 ; outrage upoik 
 faithful 40th N. I., 414; gallant death 
 of I3th N.I. sepoys at Luckaow. 420. 
 [The instances of individual fidelity 
 are too numerous for reference]. 
 Serai, lodging for travellers, 206. 
 Seymour (Lord), gallantry as a volunteei 
 
 at the relief of Lucknow, 466, 469. 
 Shaftesbury ( Earl of), mistake regarding 
 sepoy atrocities, and Lady Canning, 
 409. 
 Shahgbur {Rajah of), 336, 484, 500. 
 Shahgwije, residence at Maun Sing, 226. 
 Shahjehanpooi, mutiny and massacre, 214; 
 
 reoccupation by British, 494. 
 Sheiahs. Mohammedan sect, 87, 115, 118. 
 SA<7..VCT-ii, government clerk. 252; account 
 
 of siege of Cawnpoor, 252, 253. 258. 
 Shorapoor, 50 ; capture and suicide of 
 
 the young rajah, 486. 
 Shore's ( Han. Frederick) Notes on Indian 
 
 Affrnrs, 19. 
 Shunkur Shah, Gond rajah and his son 
 
 blown from guns, 490. 
 Shumsahad (Nawah qf), 215, 477. 
 Sibbald (Brigadier), shot at Bareilly, 213. 
 Sieges — Delhi, 206—2 1 1 , 430 — 452 ; 
 Lucknow Residency, by rebels, 241 — 
 545 ; reinforcement, 4 20 ; Lucknow city, 
 by Sir Colin Campbell, 465 ;. Cawnpoor, 
 251 — 259, 379; second siege, 473; 
 Arrah, 404; Jhansi, 414—486 ; Kotah ; 
 Gwalior, 488; Royea, 493; Bareilly 
 495. 
 Simla, 204 ; panic, 205. 
 Smde annexation of, 40 ; landowners 
 
 conciliated by Napier, 483. 
 Sindia, 40, 186 ; character. 332, 339 ; 
 detention of the mutinous contingent, 
 462 ; march from Gwahor to oppose 
 advancing rebels, 487 ; abandonment 
 by his household troops, and Hight to 
 Agra, 488 ; restoration to Gwalior, 489. 
 Sirdkana, escape of French nuns, 182. 
 Sirmoor battalion, 206, 459. 
 Skene (Captain and Mrs.), killed at 
 
 Jhansi, 306. 
 Sleeman (Sir William), on land-tenure 
 in Oude and N. W. Provinces, 4 ; tour 
 through Oude, 71; character and 
 career, 71 ; anti-annexation views, 74. 
 Smith (Colonel Baird), description of 
 
 Delhi fortifications, 439. 
 Smith ( Vernon, Mr. ), on the mutiny, 211. 
 Smyth (Colonel), 3rd N.C., 144, 146. 
 Society (Christian VemacularEducalion), 
 
 establishment of, 14. 
 Sonnites, or Snnnis, 115, 118. 
 Son<Afl/«, insurrection, 15. 
 Soorvt Sing (Rajah), at Benares, 287. 
 Soucars, native bankers. 52, 
 
 Spottiswoode (Lieul.-Col. H.), 55th N.I., 
 201 ; suicide, 202. 
 
 Spottisicoode. (Lt.-Col A.C.), 37th N.I., 
 account of Benares mutiny. 285. 
 
 Stalker (General), suicide, 273. 
 
 Stanley's (Lord) dascription of Sir H. 
 Lawrence.. 244. 
 
 Stirling (Major), of H.M. 64th regiment, 
 394 ; shot at Cawnpoor, 473. 
 
 Stores obtained by rehejs at Nowgong 
 and Jhansi, 309. 
 
 Subzee Mundee, Delhi suburb, 207. 211. 
 
 Subsidiary system of Lord Wellesley, 38. 
 
 Sudder Ameen, native judge, 213. 
 
 Suicide, 273; contemplated by besieged 
 Europeans at Lucknow. 386 ; com- 
 mitted by natives at Delhi. 4^9. 
 
 SuHanp^or, 233 ; mutiny. 234, 
 
 Sumpter, 318 ; rajah of. 320i 
 
 Supreme government — delay in relieving 
 Cawnpoor, 264 ; inattention ^ recom- 
 mendations of Sir H. Lawrence, and 
 appeals of Sir Hugh Wheeler, 266 ; 
 orders regarding negotiations with 
 Delhi, 434 ; orders against harsh treat- 
 ment of captive king, disobeyed by 
 Delhi functionaries, 454. 
 
 Sykes {Colonel), E. Kdirectoc, opinions^ 
 40, 124, 153. 
 
 Tal Behuifort, 484. 
 
 Talookdars of Oude, description of dass, 
 83, 226 ; generosity and Ul-treatmeot 
 of Hunwunt Sing and Roostum Sab, 
 234 : Sirmoor battalion, 235, 389, 425. 
 Tanjore, abolition of titular principality, 
 59 ; appeal of Kamachi Bye, 59. 
 
 Tantia Topee, appearance and character^ 
 464, 472, 475, 485 : successful plot for 
 the sei2ure of Gwalior 487, 488 ; ex- 
 ploits in Central India, capture, txial^ 
 and execution. 498. 
 
 Tatties, thatch screens, 301. 
 
 Tayler ( William). 398 ; proceedings, as. 
 commissioner, at Patna, 398, 4(i6 ; order 
 for abaiulonment of out-stations, 406 ;. 
 removal from office, 407. 
 
 Telegraph (electric), 88. 
 
 Thackeray, ( W.M.). wanted in India, 123. 
 
 Thomason, Lieutenant-governor of North- 
 West Provinces, 72; conduct described 
 by Sleeman, 84. 
 
 Thomson's (Lieutenant Mowbray), escape- 
 frora the first of Nana Sahib's mas- 
 sacres, 260; Story of Cawnpoor, 300, 
 378,472. 
 
 Thunessir, or Thwanessur — annexation 
 of principality, 164. 
 
 Thmes, advocacy of vengeance, 410. 
 
 Tomb of Humayum at Delhi, 445. 
 
 Tombs (Major), at Delhi, 438. 
 
 Toolseepoor (Rajah of). 237. 
 
 7^r^»re, used as a means of collecting 
 British revenue, 409. 
 
 Travers (Major), at Indore, 315. 
 
 Treasuries, arsenals, and magazines, plun- 
 dered, 270; at Delhi, 1 74;Goorga'in,t86; 
 Aliglmr, 190 i Mynpoorie, 191 ; Etawa, 
 192; Muttra, 193; Nusseerabad, 194; 
 Neemuch, 195; Hansi, 208; Hissar, 
 208; Bareilly, 214; Shahjehanpoor, 
 214; Budaon, 215; Moradabad, 216; 
 Seetapoor, 223 ; Mohumdee, 224 ; Mul. 
 laon, Secrora, Gondah, Bahraetch, and 
 MuUapoor, 225 ; Fyzabad, 230 ; SaUjne, 
 235 ; Duciabad; 235 ; Cawnpoo- 252, 
 253; Azimghur, 280; Jaunpooi', rfl j 
 Allahabad, 292, 294; Jhansi, 306; 
 Nowgong, 308, 309; Banda, 314 ; Fut- 
 tehpoor, 314; Humeerpoor, 317 ; Fut- 
 tebghur, 324; Mhow (partial plunder 
 and recovery by Holcar), 348; Agrx
 
 INDEX TO VOL. II. OF THB " INDIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Ti{ 
 
 362; Jullundur, 366; Sealkote, 371; 
 Arrah, 404 ; Hazareebagh, 406 ; Ko- 
 lapoor, 412 ; Nagode, 491. 
 
 Trevelyan {Sir Charles) — Letters of In- 
 dopliilus to the Times, 2, 21 ; on Lieu- 
 tenant-governor Colvin, 365. 4t)7. 
 
 Ticker {Major-general), opinions on mu- 
 tiny, 126, 137, 180. 
 
 Tucker, {Lieut. C), at Sultanpoor, 316. 
 
 Tucker (H. St. G.), E.I. director, opinion 
 regarding tenure of land, 3; Memorials 
 of Indian GovemmerA, i. 
 
 Tucker {H. C], 15; Benares commis- 
 sioner, 281, 291 I Miss Tucker's exer- 
 tions for sick European soldiers, 463. 
 
 Tucker {Hodert), Judge, killed at Futteb- 
 poor, 3i 6. 
 
 Ticker (ST. Georye), Mirzapoor magis- 
 trate, 297. 
 
 rucker (Col. T. T.), killed at Futtehghur, 
 325. 
 
 Tapper {M. F.), on Indian policy, 410. 
 
 TweeddaU {Marquie qf), minute oa 
 education when governor of Madras. 
 13. 
 
 TVnM {Dr. 7Var«r>), on illegal suppres- 
 sion of Oude Treaty of 1837. 75. 
 
 Tyekhana, underground rooms, 242. 
 
 I^ler (Colonel Praser), 375, 38*. 
 
 fjjualla (Bastion and Well of), narrative 
 
 by Mr. Cooper, 428. 
 VmtaUaA, 134, 176, 367. 
 
 Ummer or Oomar Sing (brother to Koeer 
 Sing), 406, 492 ; surrender, 500. 
 
 Umritsir, holy city of the Seiks, 199. 
 
 Ungud, exploits as messenger from the 
 Lucknow Residency, 236, 386. 
 
 Venables, 280; killed at Azimghur, 
 491. 
 
 Vengeance, takes by Europeans, 295 ; 
 parliamentary paper thereon, 296 ; san- 
 guinary proceedings neai* Allahabad, 
 302; near Agra, 359; measures ad- 
 vocated by Times and Friend of India, 
 409 — 41 1 ; excesses of civilians checked 
 by Lorcl Canning, 412; excesses of 
 British soldiery, 436 ; of oflScers, 499 ; 
 boast of Umballah civilian, 499. 
 
 Victoria Cross, 394, 495. 
 
 Village-buming, described by a High- 
 lander, 289; suicidal policy 296, 301, 
 302, 389s destruction of Holcar's vil- 
 iages, 348 ; of Tillages near Agra, 364. 
 411. 
 
 Wahabeet, at Patna, 399. 
 
 Wajid Mi Shah, ex-kin« of Oude, 73? 
 arrested at Calcutta, 274 ; quite uncon- 
 nected with the rebellion, 275. 
 
 Xv^ake, magistrate at Arrah, 403. 
 
 Walpole (Brigadier), 475 ; disastrous 
 repulse before Royea Fort, 493. 
 
 Ward (Sir Henry), governor of Ceylon, 
 prom|>t co-operation, 397. j 
 
 Wellesley (Marqnis), Indian policy, 38 
 39 ; dealings with Oude, 61. 
 
 Wellesley (Henry), afterwards Lord 
 Cowley, conduct in India, 62. 
 
 Wellington (Dukt of), views, when 
 Colonel W.elle8ley, regarding Oude, 
 61> 123< opinions expressed in 1850, 
 on suppression of mutiny, 135. 
 
 Wheeler (Colonel), 127, 132; efforts for 
 conversion of sepoys. 136. 
 
 Wheeler (Sir Hugh Massey), 246. 251 i 
 besieged in Cawnpoor intrenchment, 
 253 ; letter to Sir H. Lawrence, 254 ; 
 one of his daughters carried off by a 
 trooper, 263 ; fate of the family, 383 ; 
 story of Highlanders finding Miss 
 Wheeler's hair, 383. 
 
 WAktock(General), commander of Madraa 
 brigade. 483 ; capture of Banda, 486. 
 
 WiWmgh^ (Lieui,), fires Delhi maga- 
 zine, 158; death, 169. 
 
 Wilton (Bishop of Calcutta), character 
 and death, 452. 
 
 Wilson (GenenU Sir Archdale), person 
 and character, 430, 437 ; order for 
 assault of Delhi, 440, 441, 461. 
 
 WiUon (Col.), of U.M. e4lh, killed at 
 
 Cawnpoor, 473. 
 Windham (General), at Cawnpoor, 472. 
 Wood (Sir Charles), Indian policy, 13. 
 Wyait, author of Revelations of an Or* 
 
 derly. 96; kUled at BareUly, 214. 
 ZuUerduslee, petty tyranny, 282.
 
 BARON CLYDE 
 O.B. 1863
 
 VISCOUNT CANNING 
 O.B. 1862
 
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 Titular King of Delhi 
 
 Born 1773-ProcIaimed Rebel King of Delhi. May 11th 1857 
 
 Dethroned and Captured September 20th 1857 
 
 From a Miniature painted on ivory by the portrait painter to the King of Delhi 
 
 A beautiful specimen of native art
 
 GENERAL SIR HENRY HAVELOCK, K.C.B.
 
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