THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
LORD CLIVE AND THE NABOB OF BENGAL. INDIAN MUTINY. 
 (Frontispiece.'] 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 INDIAN MUTINY 
 
 (1857-58) 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 W. P. NIMMO, HAY, & MITCHELL 
 
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 TAGB 
 
 INTRODUCTION, ... . . 5 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PROPHECY, .... . , 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LOTUS-FLOWERS AND CHUPATTIES, '. . . , .21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GREASED CARTRIDGES, ...... 2J 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MASSACR2 AT MEERUT (SUNDAY, MAY IO, 1857), . . $1 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CARNAGE AND PLUNDER AT DELHI, ..... 40 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SIR HENRY LAWRENCE AT LUCKNOW, . . . q? 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NANA SAHIB AT CAWNPORE, . . . . . -59 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A PROSPECT OF THE MUTINOUS REGION IN JUNE, . ,, 76 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SIR JOHN LAWRENCE IN THE. PUNJAUB, . . . 92 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BEGINNING TO STEM THE TORRENT, . . . .98 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF DELHI, .....; 103 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAWNPORE RECAPTURED AND LUCKNOW RELIEVED, . . UO 
 
 M368339 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 WHAT AND HOW THEY HAD SUFFERED IN LUCKNOW, . 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE MUTINY AT DINAFOOR THE DEFENCE AND THE DISASTER AT 
 ARRAH, . . . . . , . 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE MUTINY AT AGRA, ...... 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE RECAPTURE OF DELHI, ..... 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 LUCKNOW RELIEVED BY SIR COLIN CAMPtELL, . . 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DISASTERS AT CAWNPORE REPELLED, ..... 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE ARMY OF OUDE, . . . .... 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LUCKNOW RECONQUERED, ...... 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 OTHER STRUGGLES IN MARCH, ... 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 STRUGGLING STILL IN APRIL, . . . , 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE IN MAY, . . . 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SIR HUGH ROSE AT CALPEE AND GWALIOR, . , . 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE TURN OF THE TREMENDOUS T1EE, ., , . 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END, .... 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE END, * L . . , , 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A MUTINY is an event of much deeper and wider signifi- 
 cance than a riot or a tumult. It always supposes, which 
 these do not, a plot and a plan, as well as leaders and 
 followers, mutually pledged to a particular line of insur- 
 rectionary action. On the other hand, a mutiny is on a 
 more limited scale than a rebellion, although, like the latter, 
 it is always put down ; and it is in this respect that a 
 revolt differs from both. With a revolt we generally asso- 
 ciate the idea of a successful issue to the hostile rising. 
 In very ancient times, ten tribes of Israel revolted from 
 allegiance to the royal house of David ; and certain colonies 
 in America revolted last century from Great Britain, under 
 the rule of the regal house of Brunswick. A mutiny is 
 commonly spoken of as an unsuccessful insurrection in the 
 army or navy. Mutineers are usually soldiers or sailors; 
 but a mutiny may arise wherever bodies of men are under, 
 special disciplinary restraint. Restrictive regulations fret 
 the mutinous spirit. Slaves have mutinied ; so have con- 
 victs ; and it would not be difficult to imagine a mutiny of 
 monks. In the ordinary sense of the term, however, there 
 is always a suggestion of sadness associated with mutiny. 
 It implies oppression, daring, defeat, with ever a gleam of 
 benefit secured in the remote issues of despair. Good 
 reasons can generally be discovered for a great mutiny in 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the oppressive arrangements of government, and in the 
 way in which these are carried out, or alleviations of them 
 neglected, by the immediate superiors of mutineers. Great 
 bravery, and intelligence of no mean degree, are required 
 to organise such a rising, while there must be considerable 
 force of character in those who can inspire men with con- 
 fidence in an enterprise which must always end in a cruel 
 demonstration of its hopelessness. The result of nearly 
 every one of the gloomy historical events of this sort has 
 been, and is bound always to be, a crushing overthrow in 
 the meantime, and an ultimate triumph of the principle 
 contended for. The leading mutineer has not unfrequently 
 been the martyr of his order, just as has often been the 
 advanced political agitator. Those were true martyrs who 
 suffered imprisonment and death for the principles of the 
 great Reform Bill, before it was passed in 1832; they 
 sacrificed liberty and dear life for privileges of much 
 narrower range than those we now regard as still in need 
 of large extension. Amid all the tumult to be told in the 
 stories of great mutinies we may descry here and there a 
 martyr mutineer,. and many a very dissimilar sort of char- 
 acter. 
 
 Wherever men are marshalled there may be a mutiny, 
 and this has been the case in all time, among all tribes 
 and nations. We meet with such insurrections at the very 
 beginning of history. It was a mutinous host which Moses 
 led out of Egypt into the wilderness of northern Arabia. 
 When that great leader and legislator " delayed to come 
 down out of the mount," Sinai, where he was in deep com- 
 munion with Jehovah about the people and the laws which 
 were to be most beneficial for them, they mutinied, and 
 willingly parted with their "golden earrings," that they 
 night be melted, and moulded into a "golden calf" a 
 
 very appropriate object of worship for them. And merci 
 
 * 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Jessly was the mutiny quelled. When all the sons of Levi 
 gathered round Moses against the mutineers, he said, " Put 
 every man his sword by his side ; go in and out from gate 
 to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his 
 brother, and every man his companion, and every man his 
 neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the 
 word of Moses, and there fell of the people that day about 
 three thousand men." Miriam and Aaron were appallingly 
 rebuked at another time for an attempt at heading a mutiny 
 against their brother. She was, as a punishment, made 
 " leprous, white as snow ; " and Aaron was compelled to 
 express a humiliating confession of folly. Three leaders 
 Korah, Dathan, and Abiram later on, with " two hundred 
 and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, 
 men of renown," rose up against Moses and Aaron, * and 
 said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the 
 congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is 
 among them ; wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves above 
 the congregation of the Lord ? " This is a genuine utter- 
 ance of the mutinous spirit. The result was frightful ; the 
 three leaders, and their wives, and their sons, and their 
 little children, were, we are told, engulfed by the earth, 
 which " opened her mouth and swallowed them up ; " and 
 they all "went down alive into the pit; and the earth 
 closed upon them : and they perished from among the 
 congregation." At another time, a scarcity of bread and 
 water raised a mutinous outcry, for indulging in which the 
 people were bitten by fiery serpents. The history of the 
 Hebrews is a long record of memorable mutinies ; and of 
 them, the most affecting, the one which touches the hearts 
 of sympathetic readers with the tenderest regrets, is that 
 one in which Absalom, a son of whom King David was 
 vainly proud, rose against his father, and broke the heart 
 of the good old warrior, statesman, musician, and poet 
 
INTROD UCTION. 
 
 one of the most remarkable and accomplished men of 
 ancient times. 
 
 Homer's Iliad opens with an account of a portentous 
 mutiny ; and on it and its results, the whole story of that 
 majestic poem hinges. The grievances which induced 
 Achilles, the principal hero of the Iliad, to shut himself up 
 in his tent, refusing to take any further part in the war, 
 was the forcible abduction,|by Agamemnon's orders, of his 
 beloved captive mistress, Briseis. But in.the course of that 
 angry disputation of heroes, which led to this iniquitous 
 show of a tyrant's impertinence, Achilles runs over a list of 
 grievances, of a nature similar to those which have times out 
 of number been regarded as good and sufficient reasons 
 for such military and naval insubordination. As translated 
 by the late Lord Derby, he with scornful glances, flung in 
 the teeth of Agamemnon, the following burning words at 
 the close of a bitter speech : 
 
 " With thee, O void of shame! with thee we sailed, 
 For Menelaus and for thee, ingrate, 
 Glory and fame on Trojan coasts to win 
 All this hast thou forgotten, or despised ; 
 And threat'nest now to wrest from me the prize 
 I laboured hard to win, and Greeks bestowed. 
 Nor does my portion ever equal thine, 
 When on some populous town our troops have made 
 Successful war; in the contentious fight 
 The largest portion of the toil is mine ; 
 But when the day of distribution comes, 
 Thine is the richest spoil ; while I, forsooth, 
 Must be too well content to bear on board 
 Some paltry prize for all my warlike toil. 
 To Phthia now I go ; so better far 
 To steer my homeward course, and leave thee here, 
 Dishonoured as thou art, nor like, I deem, 
 To fill thy coffers with the spoils of war." 
 
 lie did not go to Phthia; he went to his tent and sat in It 
 in sorrow and gloom ; and thus he took a 
 
INTR OD UCT10N. 
 
 " Vengeance deep and deadly; whence to Greece 
 Unnumbered ills arose ; which many a soul 
 Of mighty warriors to the viewless shades 
 Untimely sent ; they on the battle plain 
 Unburied lay, a prey to ravening dogs, 
 And carrion birds." 
 
 Achilles and his myrmidons held aloof from the gigantic 
 struggle, in which Europe and Asia are represented as 
 striving for the mastery in the control of the world's civili- 
 sation, till the Greeks were humbled to such a degree, that 
 Agamemnon was fain to advise them to take their flight 
 homewards. This counsel was opposed by the chiefs, and 
 an embassy was sent to the mighty malcontent, offering 
 him in addition to costly presents, the restoration of Briseis. 
 All in vain. Patroclus, however, his dearest friend, received, 
 after much entreaty, permission from him. to go into the field 
 with the myrmidons, and their horses and armour. Patro- 
 clus was slain ; and Achilles rose in wrath to recover the 
 body, disdaining drink or food, till the death of his friend 
 should be avenged. After wounding and slaying many 
 Trojans, he chased Hector three times round the walls of 
 Troy, then slew him, tied the dead body of the most 
 illustrious of the Trojans to his chariot, and dragged it on 
 the ground to the- ships of the Greeks. Before Troy was 
 taken, Achilles fell himself at the Scaean gate. Thus was 
 precipitated the death of the handsomest and bravest of all 
 the Greeks, by a complicated series of events, the links of 
 which were forged and knit to each other by a mutinous 
 line of conduct he felt compelled to pursue. 
 
 " But so had Jove decreed, 
 From that sad day when first in wordy war, 
 The mighty Agamemnon, king of men, 
 Confronted stood by Pelen's godlike son. " 
 
 The history of Rome, like the history of every military 
 power in ancient and modern times, supplies many records 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of historical mutinies mutinies, that is, of wide and far 
 reaching influence over the subsequent development of the 
 country's resources and institutions. The most memorable 
 incident of this nature was the Secessio Crustumerina, or 
 withdrawal to the Sacred Mount Mons Sacer. This event 
 took place in the year 493 B.C. The Roman plebeians, 
 obliged to shed their blood in the wars, and subject to the 
 most rigorous laws at home, had been reduced to the direst 
 poverty. During the continual wars their farms and fields 
 had been neglected by themselves, and were ravaged by 
 foreign enemies. The poverty thus induced had laid them 
 under the terrible necessity of borrowing money from the 
 wealthy patricians at an exorbitant rate of interest. An 
 insolvent debtor at Rome in those days, as at Athens, 
 previously to the wise and humane legislation of Solon, 
 could be by law deprived of freedom, and even of life ; not 
 only himself, but his children and grandchildren, might be 
 laid hold of as slaves, and thrown, like so much waste, into 
 the private dungeons of the nobles. The number of toil- 
 worn plebeians thus reduced to slavery, about five cen- 
 turies before the beginning of the Christian era, was as 
 dangerous to the state as it was multitudinous. Excluded 
 from all share in the administration of the republic, while 
 forced to fight hard battles in its service, the plebeians felt 
 more miserable during peace than in time of war; and 
 enjoyed more freedom on the field of battle, than they 
 could lay claim to on their own wretched fields and farms 
 at home when they happened to have any. Such a state 
 of things needed only one spark to kindle a fearful confla- 
 gration. 
 
 The story of Virginius tells of another withdrawal of the 
 plebs, in a spirit of self-defending rebellion, nearly fifty 
 years later. A father who preferred to snatch a knife from 
 a butcher's stall, and plunge it ia the breast of his daughter 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 Virginia, a lovely and modest maiden, to seeing her a toy 
 to gratify the lust of Appius Claudius, offers a strong temp- 
 tation to dwell upon his sorrows, and the appalling slaughter 
 of his child, which ranks Virginia with Jephthah's daughter 
 and Iphigenia. But a halt must be called to this enumera- 
 tion of mutinies in an introduction. History is full of them. 
 The Roman empire gradually became the victim of muti- 
 nous praetorians. In modern times the conduct of the 
 Turkish janizaries is an attractive study to one whose atten- 
 tion has been turned to the aspect of the restlessness and 
 resistance of men under restraint and oppression. Their 
 annihilation may be looked upon as a reverse mutiny. 
 The plot so effectually carried out by the Sultan Mahmood 
 for their total destruction, was one of the sternest retribu- 
 tions in history. Mahmood took years to mature his plan ; 
 and when the time came, he mowed down the janizaries, 
 who were cooped up in the narrow streets of Constantinople. 
 Grape-shot, muskets, and fire destroyed above 20,000 sedi- 
 tious soldiers in the month of June 1825. 
 
 There is on record a naval mutiny, which occurred in 
 a British fleet more than sixty years before the first pass- 
 ing of the Mutiny Act. Hume tells the interesting story 
 of it in his own lucid style. " When," he says, " James [I.] 
 deserted the Spanish alliance, and courted that of France, 
 he promised to furnish Lewis [XIII], who was entirely 
 destitute of naval force, with one ship of war, together 
 with seven armed vessels hired from the merchants. 
 These the French court pretended they would employ 
 against the Genoese, who being firm and useful allies 
 to the Spanish monarchy, were naturally regarded with 
 an evil eye, both by the king of France and of England. 
 When these vessels, by Charles's [I.] orders, arrived at 
 Dieppe, there arose a strong suspicion that they were 
 to serve against Rochelle. The sailors were inflamed 
 
1 2 INTROD VCTtON. 
 
 That race of men, who are at present both careless and 
 ignorant in all matters of religion, were at that time 
 only ignorant. They drew up a remonstrance to Pen- 
 nington, their commander, and signing all their names 
 in a circle, lest he should discover the ringleaders, they laid it 
 under his prayer-book. Pennington declared that he would 
 rather be hanged in England for disobedience, than fight 
 against his brother Protestants in France. The whole 
 squadron sailed immediately to the Downs. There they re- 
 ceived new orders from Buckingham, lord admiral, to return 
 to Dieppe. As the Duke knew that authority alone could 
 not suffice, he employed much art and many subtilties to 
 engage them to obedience ; and a rumour that was spread, 
 that peace had been concluded between the French king 
 and the Huguenots, assisted him in his purpose. When 
 they arrived at Dieppe, they found that they had been 
 deceived. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who commanded one 
 of the vessels, broke through and returned to England. 
 AH the officers and sailors of all the other ships, notwith- 
 standing great offers made them by the French, imme- 
 diately deserted. One gunner alone preferred duty towards 
 his king to the cause of religion ; and he was afterwards 
 killed in charging a cannon before Rochelle." We are not 
 told that any attempt was made to punish these mutineers. 
 Indeed, we may infer that they escaped scot free ; fcr 
 Hume adds: "The care which historians have taken to 
 record this frivolous event, proves with what pleasure the 
 news was received by the nation. The House of Commons, 
 when informed of these transactions, showed the same 
 attachment with the sailors for the Protestant religion." 
 This took place in the year 1625, and the Mutiny Act was 
 first passed in 1689. Before that year there did not exist 
 in Great Britain any power to try soldiers by court-martial, 
 and offenders against military discipline used to be handed 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 over to civil judges. A law was, however, then passed 
 conferring on regimental authorities the power to hold 
 courts-martial for the trial of mutiny, desertion, and other 
 offences of a military kind, and also for the punishment 
 of proved offenders. This extreme law, not easily under- 
 stood in our days, suspended the civil rights of a citizen, 
 and was therefore ordained to endure for only six months, 
 with a very probable expectation that it would not require 
 renewal. But six months mean less than a moment in the 
 history of a great country. At the end of the prescribed 
 time there was more need of the law than ever ; it was ac- 
 cordingly re-enacted, and has been, session of Parliament 
 after session, kept faithfully in action. There has been a 
 deeply interesting succession of mutiny bills, and many a 
 ministry they have endangered. By the authority they con- 
 fer, a degree of discipline has been maintained in the army, 
 without which every regiment might have been dissolved into 
 a rabble ; and the Houses of Parliament have been enabled 
 to exert a continual control over the military forces of the 
 empire. This has been effected by means of the annual ap- 
 propriation of money to warlike purposes. Many a tough 
 fight has there been in Parliament over the Mutiny Bill ; 
 but, as it stands, the provisions are such as keep a great 
 body of what might seem uncontrollable men in tolerable 
 order. Standing armies are not ancient institutions. The 
 paid soldier of our day is quite a modern invention, which 
 it is difficult to imagine back into the feudal or any other 
 phase of earlier civilisation. The plebs of old Rome, who 
 made up the rank and file of the omnipotent armies of that 
 peculiarly merciless agglomeration of cities and states, were 
 something very unlike the hired soldiers of our time. In- 
 deed, when one tries to compare or contrast the action of a 
 body of ancient Romans retiring to the Mons Sacer, and a 
 mutiny in a modern regiment, and to take into account the 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 respective results, he feels how almost impossible it is to 
 realise to the imagination the difference between an army 
 in the olden time and the gaudily-coated body of kindly 
 men, hired to kill, according to law, that he sees and meets 
 in this age of ours. To read the Mutiny Act, the control 
 of which is regarded by the British House of Commons as 
 one of its special and peculiar privileges, is to become aware 
 of more subjections to death than powder and balls can 
 effect, to which our fellow-citizens are exposed when they 
 enlist as soldiers. It is against law to raise or keep a stand- 
 ing army within the united kingdom of Great Britain and 
 Ireland in time of peace, unless it be with the consent of 
 Parliament. With that consent the law becomes a very stern 
 affair, as may be inferred from the following list of crimes 
 punishable with death which are enumerated in section 15 
 of the Act as passed for 1872. The section referred to 
 says : " If any person subject to this Act shall at any time 
 during the continuance of this Act begin, excite, cause, or 
 join in any mutiny or sedition in any forces belonging to 
 her Majesty's army, or her Majesty's royal marines, or 
 shall not use his utmost endeavours to suppress the same ; 
 or shall conspire with any other person to cause a mutiny, 
 or shall not, without delay, give information thereof to his 
 commanding officer ; or shall hold correspondence with or 
 give advice or intelligence to any rebel or enemy of her 
 Majesty, either by letters, messages, signs, or tokens, in 
 any manner or way whatsoever ; or shall treat or enter into 
 any terms with such rebel or enemy without her Majesty's 
 licence, or licence of the general or chief commander ; or 
 shall misbehave himself before the enemy ; or shall shame- 
 fully abandon or deliver up any garrison, fortress, post, or 
 guard committed to his charge, or which he shall have 
 been commanded to defend ; or shall compel the governor 
 or commanding officer of any garrison, fortress, or post, to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 deliver up to the enemy or to abandon the same ; or shall 
 speak words, or use any other means to induce such 
 governor or commanding officer, or others, to misbehave 
 before the enemy, or shamefully to abandon or deliver up 
 any garrison, fortress, post, or guard committed to their 
 respective charge, or which he or they shall be commanded 
 to defend ; or shall desert her Majesty's service ; or shall 
 leave his post before being regularly relieved ; or shall 
 sleep on his post ; or shall strike, or shall use or offer any 
 violence against his superior officer, being in the execution 
 of his office, or shall disobey any lawful command of his 
 superior officer ; or who being confined in a military prison 
 shall offer any violence against a visitor or other his superior 
 military officer, being in the execution of his office ; all 
 and every person and persons so offending in any of the 
 matters before mentioned, whether such offence be com- 
 mitted within this realm or in any other of her Majesty's 
 dominions, or in foreign parts, upon land or upon the sea, 
 shall suffer death, or penal servitude, or such other punish- 
 ment as by a court-martial shall be awarded : Provided 
 always, that any non-commissioned officer or soldier at- 
 tested for or in pay in any regiment or corps, who shall, 
 without having first obtained a regular discharge there- 
 from, enlist himself in her Majesty's army, may be deemed 
 to have deserted her Majesty's service, and shall be liable 
 to be punished accordingly." 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 January 1857 November 1858. 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 THE PROPHECY. 
 
 IT was in March 1856 that the 
 Marquis of Dalhousie's vice- 
 regal reign in India terminated. 
 That nobleman handed over 
 the reins of Government to 
 Viscount Canning, with a firm 
 conviction that there was a 
 bright and cheerful immediate 
 future for the country. He put 
 this conviction on record in a 
 report which he presented to 
 the Court of Directors of the 
 Honourable East India Com- 
 pany, the concluding words of 
 which are : " I trust that I am 
 guilty of no presumption in say- 
 ing that I shall leave the Indian 
 empire in peace without and 
 within." 
 
 In January 1857 the great 
 Indian mutiny broke out, the 
 wildest and widest rising of 
 soldiers in military revolt which 
 is recorded in history. 
 
 There had been several mu- 
 tinies before this culminating 
 one among the native troops of 
 the India Company's army. As 
 long ago as July 10, 1806, a 
 
 rather formidable one took place 
 at Vellore, a town in the Car- 
 natic, in the Madras presi- 
 dency, and a few miles west of 
 Madras. 
 
 At two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing of the day mentioned, the 
 European barracks in that towr 
 was a scene of confusion and 
 terror. It contained four com- 
 panies of the 6 9th Regiment, 
 and these were surrounded by 
 two battalions of Sepoys in the 
 Company's service, who poured 
 in upon the soldiers through 
 every door and window a heavy 
 fire of musketry. The sentries, 
 the soldiers at the main-guard, 
 and the sick in the hospital, 
 were massacred. The officers' 
 houses were ransacked, and all 
 their inmates murdered. 
 
 Help had to be sent for. 
 Colonel Gillespie arrived with 
 his i Qth Light Dragoons, and 
 attacked the Sepoys. Over Six 
 hundred of them were cut down 
 in the fight that ensued, and 
 two hundred were afterwards 
 ' B 
 
18 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 shot who had been dragged 
 from their hiding places. Of 
 the four European companies 
 164 men, besides officers, perish- 
 ed, and many British officers of 
 the Sepoys were murdered. 
 
 The reason for the outbreak 
 was never satisfactorily ascer- 
 tained. At least no reason was 
 found out which would seem to 
 a British intellect to be at all 
 adequate ; but judging from the 
 reasons we shall subsequently 
 have to take into account for 
 the great mutiny, it is perhaps 
 too much to expect any reason- 
 able proportion between the 
 cause of a bloody outbreak and 
 its frightful results among our 
 native Indian fellow-subjects. 
 
 All that ever came to light 
 as a probable cause of this out- 
 rage was that an attempt had 
 been made by the military autho- 
 rities at Madras to change the 
 shape of the Sepoy turban. It 
 was to be made something re- 
 sembling the helmet of the light 
 infantry of Europe, and this 
 would prevent the natives from 
 exhibiting on their foreheads the 
 marks of their various castes. 
 
 A more probable supposition, 
 and one which renders some 
 approach to a reasonable cause 
 of the mutiny, was that the sons 
 of Tippoo Saib, the deposed 
 ruler of Mysore, along with 
 many distinguished Moham- 
 medans, who had been deprived 
 of office in consequence of his 
 deposition, were at that time in 
 Vellore; and these influential 
 personages would, no doubt, 
 while using other arts to alienate 
 
 the native troops from the Com- 
 pany's service, arouse them to 
 this murderous mutiny by in- 
 flaming their suspicions regard- 
 ing any endeavour to tamper 
 with their religious usages. 
 
 Many cases of insubordina- 
 tion occurred between 1806 and 
 1857, but none of them was so 
 terrible as this one. 
 
 There have been numerous 
 theories propounded as to the 
 reasons for the latter mutiny. 
 One we mention only to dis- 
 miss, as something too bad. 
 It is that the Honourable East 
 India Company's agents were 
 the really active parties to 
 getting the affair up, in order 
 that that wealthy corporation 
 might get rid of a great many 
 very expensive pensioners, 
 native princes, and others, who 
 would be sure to join the 
 daring plot with a view to re- 
 cover their original estates and 
 power. Well, this would be 
 one way of making money, by 
 saving it. But, for the sake of 
 human nature, in the light of 
 the subsequent events, let us 
 dismiss the frightful thought 
 that such base means could be 
 thought of for an end so dis- 
 honest. 
 
 Another reason assigned seems 
 to deserve some attention. It 
 was a fact that the mutiny was 
 mainly among the troops of the 
 presidency of Bengal. The 
 Bombay and Madras armies did 
 not join in it to any extent, such 
 as would affect this reason as- 
 signed for the rising. Was there 
 any observable difference in the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 19 
 
 discipline or the characteristic 
 dispositions of these troops 
 which would account for the 
 disaffection of the Bengalese ? 
 
 Lord Melville thought there 
 was. He, as General Dundas, 
 had held a command during 
 the Punjaub war; and shortly 
 after the news of the mutiny 
 reached this country, he stated 
 in the House of Lords that 
 there were marked differences 
 in the disciplinary arrangements 
 of the Bengal army from the 
 others. In that army the native 
 * officers were, in nearly all cases, 
 selected by seniority, and not 
 by merit. They could not, there- 
 fore, rise from the ranks till 
 they began to feel themselves 
 getting old men; and in the 
 middle time of life a sense of 
 hopelessness cankered the minds 
 of the Sepoys. In the armies 
 of Bombay and Madras, on the 
 contrary, the sergeants were 
 selected for their intelligence 
 and activity. This difference 
 Lord Melville thought wellworth 
 consideration, when, in point of 
 fact, it had occurred that the 
 one army was mutinous and the 
 other two remained loyal. 
 
 He asserted besides that the 
 Bengal troops were notoriously 
 more prone to insubordination 
 than were the men of the other 
 two presidencies. He men- 
 tioned one instance at the siege 
 of Moultan, when the Bengal 
 Sepoys refused to dig in the 
 trenches, because their duty was 
 to fight and not to work ; and 
 another of three native Bengal 
 officers of the Engineers being 
 
 detected in an endeavour to 
 plunder and appropriate stores. 
 
 But the preliminary process 
 of preparation for the awful 
 event, which many people seem 
 to regard as having been the 
 most directly effective, was that 
 the Sepoys rose against the 
 British power, with a view to 
 the fulfilment of a prophecy. 
 And every reader of Oriental 
 literature, ancient and modern, 
 is aware of what a mighty and 
 resistless force an idea of this 
 sort is capable of becoming in 
 minds which are influenced by 
 the exciting as well as enervating 
 climate of the East. 
 
 The close of the year 1856 
 was the completion of a century 
 of British rule in India. It is 
 true enough that the East India 
 Company had been trading with 
 that country since about the 
 year 1600, but it was only in 
 the middle of the eighteenth 
 century that their commercial 
 relations with India had been 
 developed into political control 
 over large portions of it. The 
 year 1757 was a year stored 
 up, hoarded with care in the 
 traditions of Hindoos and Mo- 
 hammedans, especially of the 
 latter. It was a year to be 
 avenged, because it brought on 
 their forefathers a swift retribu- 
 tion. The Black Hole of Cal- 
 cutta had been crowded with 
 murderous intent the year before 
 by Suraj-u-Dowlah, Nawab of 
 Bengal, with 130 persons, while 
 it had room enough only for 
 little over thirty the number 
 who died from suffocation. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 This brought Robert Clive 
 from Madras with a small body 
 of troops. On February 4, 1 7 5 7, 
 he with 2000 men defeated the 
 army of the Nawab, numbering 
 20,000. Five days later he ob- 
 tained great concessions from 
 Suraj by treaty in the interest 
 of the Company, whose power 
 in Bengal had for a time been 
 utterly extinguished. The treaty 
 was only a blind for treachery; 
 but Suraj had met Clive, and 
 that was more than a realisation 
 of what happens when Greek 
 meets Greek. While the Ben- 
 gal potentate was craftily plot- 
 ting, the young- British officer 
 had matured an audacious plan. 
 He declared hostilities against 
 Suraj, who had 60,000, while he 
 could only muster 3000; and 
 with his 3000, at Plassey, nine- 
 teen days after he had arrived 
 at Calcutta, he utterly routed the 
 Nawab's 60,000, and sent him 
 fleeing, a miserable fugitive, to 
 die of despair in less than a week. 
 
 It was on that day, February 
 2 3> I 757> tnat British power 
 became supreme in Bengal. 
 
 That was a day to be remem- 
 bered. And it was. British 
 officers in India noted it, and 
 remembered it well. So, as has 
 been said above, did especially 
 the Mohammedans. The for- 
 mer would intend, no doubt, 
 at every mess-table, to toast 
 it with a bumper. The hun- 
 dredth anniversary of Plassey 
 was to be observed in great style 
 at home. The latter, with Shy- 
 lock-like expressiveness, wash- 
 ing their hands with invisible 
 
 soap, noiselessly laying the one 
 palm on the other, while they 
 flashed an Oriental resolve on 
 blood from their amber eyes, 
 did something more than in- 
 tend that on it a merciless cen- 
 tenary should be held. They 
 would, at whatever cost of blood 
 and treasure, expel from their 
 country the Nazarene intruders, 
 and restore the power of the 
 followers of the Prophet. 
 
 The prophecy was invented. 
 A paper, purporting to be of no 
 less a character than the scroll 
 of an ancient oracle, was put in 
 circulation among the people. 
 It was represented to contain a 
 prophecy made by a Punjaub 
 Fakeer in the twelfth century. 
 Seven hundred years ago, so 
 the people were informed, it 
 had been foretold that after 
 various dynasties of Moham- 
 medans had ruled for some 
 centuries, the Nazarenes, or 
 Christians, should hold power 
 in India for one hundred years ; 
 that the Nazarenes would then 
 be expelled ; that various events 
 foretold in the Koran would 
 then come to pass; and that 
 Islamism would become tri- 
 umphant accordingly. 
 
 This was the prophecy. It 
 was widely circulated. But its 
 authenticity can easily be dis- 
 missed if we read it as referring 
 directly to British Christians; 
 for no such people were known 
 even by name to any Fakeer of 
 India in the twelfth century. 
 But the wily prophecy-mongers 
 of the nineteenth century would 
 easily get over that difficulty by 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 asserting that Nazarenes, not 
 Britons, were referred to; and 
 the people they were duping 
 would need no such explana- 
 tion. It could not be made 
 more plain to them than it was 
 as they received it, a prediction 
 of the immediate end of British 
 power in India. 
 
 But this was to be a revival 
 
 of the Mohammedan power, and 
 yet the Hindoos joined in the 
 plot. True, but not strange. 
 It is the old story of a common 
 danger. Strange bedfellows are 
 admitted on such an occasion, 
 but some of them may take 
 their own several ways after a 
 night's restorative sleep has re- 
 adjusted their brains. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LOTUS-FLOWERS AND CHUPATTIES. 
 
 FROM about the middle of 1856, 
 indeed ever since the final ar- 
 rangements for the annexation 
 of Oude, which was regarded 
 by many as the crowning glory 
 of Lord Dalhousie's administra- 
 tion, two procedures, the one 
 among the military and the other 
 among civilians, might havebeen 
 taken note of; but they did not 
 arouse serious attention till after- 
 wards. The mutiny, being a 
 terrible fact, was felt to require 
 explanation, at which time they 
 were, with due after-wisdom, 
 discovered to have been pre- 
 monitory symptoms of some- 
 thing wrong in the feelings of a 
 certain portion of the natives. 
 
 The one mystery was the 
 delivering and passing-on of the 
 lotus-flower. It was nothing 
 uncommon ; in fact it was a com- 
 mon occurrence, for a man to 
 come to a cantonment with this 
 flower and cresent it to the chief 
 
 native officer of a regiment. The 
 flower was handed from soldier 
 to soldier in the regiment, each 
 man took it, looked at it, and 
 passed it on. But no one said 
 a word. The last man looked 
 at it and kept silence like all 
 the others ; and having nobody 
 then to give it to, he disap-' 
 peared, and took it to another 
 military station, where the lotus 
 re-enacted its proverbially silenc- 
 ing charm. Such is what might 
 have been observed among the 
 military under that oppressively 
 subdued state of the atmosphere 
 which prevailed before the earth- 
 quake cleared it. 
 
 Among the civilians this took 
 place about the same period. 
 A messenger would come to a 
 village, seek out the elder or 
 head man of the village, and 
 present him with six chupatties. 
 These w,ere small cakes of un- 
 leavened bread, about tw inches 
 
22 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 in diameter, made of Indian- 
 corn meal, and forming no part 
 of the Sepoys' diet. In making 
 the present to the elder the 
 messenger would say : " These 
 six cakes are sent to you ; you 
 will make six others, and send 
 them on to the next village." 
 The six cakes were accepted by 
 that official, and he punctually 
 sent forward the other six ac- 
 cording to directions apparently 
 imperative. 
 
 What all this meant it was 
 not easy for any one not in the 
 secret to understand. No one 
 would say, whether he knew 
 or not, which was the first vil- 
 lage from which the cakes issued. 
 Their earliest appearance was 
 in the north-west provinces 
 around Delhi. In some places 
 it was ascertained that the chu- 
 patties were to be kept till called 
 for, others being sent on in 
 place of those left. This being 
 kept till called for is the only 
 additional item which seems to 
 have been added to the know- 
 ledge of British officials. What 
 the whole thing may have meant 
 remained to them a secret and 
 a mystery. If it was a secret 
 correspondence being carried 
 on, it had a wide range through 
 that vast and thickly-populated 
 country from the Sutlej to 
 Patna. 
 
 The mutiny revealed the fact 
 that an extensive correspond- 
 ence of some sort must have 
 been carried on. It might have 
 been through the post-office, for 
 it is a well known fact that not 
 a single letter was opened by 
 
 way of suspecting anything 
 wrong on a large scale. But 
 arch-plotters never trust their 
 gravest secrets to any ordinary 
 means of communication. They 
 know not the hour when sus- 
 picion may dlight on it. There 
 was a wide-spread ferment. The 
 prophecy was enough to pro- 
 duce it. Some seemed only 
 more than usually excited, 
 others seemed to labour under 
 a mere general apprehension or 
 expectation; in some it was a 
 panic, but many were no doubt 
 affected deeply with disaffec- 
 tion and aware of the great con- 
 spiracy. 
 
 The following lew facts were 
 taken note of at the time and 
 put on record, as from the volu- 
 minous correspondence carried 
 on between India and all the 
 world at the time, every indica- 
 tion was. One evening earlj 
 in 1856 a Sepoy gave informa- 
 tion of the intention of the men 
 at Fort William at Calcutta to 
 riseagainsttheirofficersand seize 
 that stronghold. On another 
 occasion a fanatical Moham- 
 medan priest of high rank was 
 detected at Oude preaching war 
 against the infidels. A paper 
 was found on his person con- 
 taining a proclamation to the 
 people, inciting them to rebel- 
 lion. One day two Sepoys were 
 discovered attempting to sap 
 the fidelity of the guard at the 
 Calcutta mint. An English 
 surgeon at Lucknow got his 
 house burned down for putting 
 his lips to a bottle of medicine 
 before giving it to a Sepoy 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 patient. This was regarded as a 
 pollution ; a pundit was sent for 
 to exorcise the evil ; but would 
 they have dared to burn down 
 the doctor's house if public feel- 
 ing had not been dangerously 
 charged with explosive ele- 
 ments? A refusal to accept 
 furlough was significant, but as 
 a sign it was not read at the 
 time. The circumstances were. 
 The commander-in-chief gave 
 notice on March 6, 1856, that 
 the native army would receive 
 as usual the annual indulgence 
 of furlough from the ist of April 
 to a date specified. But four- 
 teen men of the 63d Native 
 Regiment, stationed at Soorie, 
 would not accept the leave of 
 
 absence, asserting that they 
 knew that none of the regiments 
 at Barrackpore intended to take 
 theirs. 
 
 Such were a few of the omens. 
 It is an old habit of the histo- 
 rian, witness Livy, to gather as 
 many of them as he can after 
 the battle is over and the book 
 about it is being written. It 
 may not be a very profitable 
 exercise. It lends no comfort 
 to mourners who have lost their 
 loved ones among the brave. 
 Indeed it seems only to gratify 
 a species of afterwit in human 
 nature. But there is such a 
 peculiarity in man, and books 
 are written and compiled, among 
 other things, to gratify it. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE GREASED CARTRIDGES. 
 
 THE Mohammedan holds the 
 pig in abhorrence, and the 
 Hindoo venerates the cow. It 
 is sacrilege in the religion of 
 the latter to touch with his lips 
 the animal he is taught to hold 
 sacred ; to do the same with the 
 rooting, cloven-footed grunter is 
 a defilement, and an abomina- 
 tion to the religious sense of 
 the former. The slaughter of 
 a cow in a Hindoo village is a 
 procedure to be carefully avoid- 
 ed. In large towns scrupulous 
 care has to be taken that the 
 natives learn as little about 
 
 slaughtering when it goes on as 
 possible. Killing a man may 
 induce fears of retribution from 
 men ; to kill a cow invokes the 
 wrath of the god they fear. If 
 the whole race of swine were 
 annihilated, the result would be 
 a religious joy to the Mussulman, 
 but his lips must not touch even 
 the fat of one of them. 
 
 The immediate occasion of 
 the great Indian mutiny was the 
 issuing of greased cartridges to 
 the Sepoys. 
 
 This fact is so well put in an 
 article in the Edinburgh Review, 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 No. 216 that it becomes a 
 duty to refer all readers who 
 desire to become acquainted 
 with an eloquent, comprehen- 
 sive, and clear discussion of the 
 whole question, to it. The rea- 
 son assigned for the mutiny by 
 this writer was amply attested by 
 subsequent events. He says : 
 "It is a marvel and a mystery 
 that so many years should have 
 passed away without an explo- 
 sion. At last a firebrand was 
 applied to what a single spark 
 might have ignited, and in the 
 course of a few weeks there was 
 a general conflagration. But a 
 conflagration which still bears 
 more marks of accident than of 
 deliberate conspiracy and in- 
 cendiarism. In a most unhappy 
 hour in an hour laden with a 
 concurrence of adverse circum- 
 stances the incident of the 
 greased cartridges occurred. It 
 found the Bengal army in a 
 season of profound peace, and 
 in a state of relaxed discipline. 
 It found the sepoys pondering 
 over the predictions and the 
 fables which had been so assi- 
 duously circulated in their lines 
 and their bazaars ; it found 
 them with imaginations inflamed 
 and fears excited by strange 
 stories of the designs of their 
 English masters ; it found them, 
 as they fancied, with their purity 
 of caste threatened, and their 
 religious distinctions invaded by 
 the proselytising and annexing 
 Englishmen. 
 
 " Still there was no palpable 
 evidence of this. Everything 
 was vague, intangible, obscure. 
 
 Credulous and simple-minded 
 as they were, many might have 
 retained a lingering confidence 
 in the good faith and the good 
 intentions of the British Govern- 
 ment ; had it not been suddenly 
 announced to them, just as they 
 were halting between two opi- 
 nions, that, in prosecution of 
 his long-cherished design to 
 break down the religion of 
 both the Mohammedan and 
 the Hindoo, the Feringhee had 
 determined to render their mili- 
 tary service the means of their 
 degradation, by compelling them 
 to apply their lips to a cartridge 
 saturated with animal grease 
 the fat of the swine being used 
 for the pollution of the one, and 
 the fat of the cow for the degra- 
 dation of the other. If the most 
 astute emissaries of evil who 
 could be employed for the cor- 
 ruption of the Bengal sepoy had 
 addressed themselves to the 
 task of inventing a lie for the 
 confirmation and support of all 
 his fears and superstitions, they 
 could have found nothing more 
 cunningly devised for their pur- 
 pose." 
 
 Dissatisfaction first exhibited 
 itself among the native troops 
 attached to the musketry-depot 
 at Dumdum, a few miles out of 
 Calcutta, about half-way be- 
 tween that city and Barrackpore. 
 It is a place where ordnance 
 and fire-arms are manufactured. 
 
 It was on February 7, 1857, 
 that the Governor-General com- 
 municated to the home Go- 
 vernment the facts connected 
 with this event. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 The sepoys stationed at that 
 Woolwich on a humble scale be- 
 lieved that the grease used in 
 the preparation of cartridges for 
 the recently-introduced Enfield 
 rifle was composed of the fat of 
 pigs and cows. They made no 
 secret of their suspicions. When 
 their complaints became known 
 at the proper quarters, inquiries 
 were sent to England for exact 
 particulars about the lubricating 
 substance used at the ball end 
 of the cartridge to facilitate its 
 movement through the barrel. 
 It was found that in the manu- 
 factory of them at Woolwich a 
 composition, formed of five parts 
 tallow, five parts stearine, and 
 one part wax was employed. 
 It contained, therefore, cow's 
 fat, but not the fat of pigs. 
 
 Pending this inquiry from 
 home, the men were for a time 
 appeased. The cartridges were 
 not sent out to India ready 
 greased for use, as the grease 
 would soon be absorbed by the 
 paper in so hot a country. 
 Cartridges without grease were 
 issued, and the Sepoys were 
 allowed to apply any lubricating 
 substance they chose. When the 
 ready-made cartridges already 
 in store were used up, no more 
 were to be obtained from Eng- 
 land. The bullets and the 
 paper should be sent separately, 
 and put together in India. 
 Experiments would be made 
 both at Woolwich and at Mee- 
 rut to produce some lubricating 
 substance free from the ingre- 
 dients which vexed the religious 
 feelings of the men. 
 
 A fact of great significance, 
 which should not be passed 
 over, was elicited during the in- 
 quiry consequent upon the Dum- 
 dum men's complaints. On the 
 22d January that is, just sixteen 
 days before the Governor-Gene- 
 ral despatched his report of the 
 first beginnings of a revolt, of 
 the issue of which he had not 
 the remotest conception at the 
 time a low caste Hindoo asked 
 a sepoy of the 26. Bengal Grena- 
 diers to give him a little water 
 from his bottle. The sepoy, 
 being a Brahmin, refused, as- 
 serting as his reason that the 
 touch of the applicant would 
 defile his bottle. The low-caste 
 retorted that the Brahmin need 
 not pride himself on his caste, 
 for he would soon lose it, as he 
 would ere long be required to 
 bite off the ends of cartridges 
 covered with the fat of pigs and 
 cows. The Brahmin, alarmed, 
 spread the report, and the native 
 troops became afraid, as it was 
 alleged, that when they went 
 home their friends would refuse 
 to eat with them. When this 
 became known to the British 
 officers, the native troops were 
 drawn up on parade, and en- 
 couraged to state the grounds 
 of their dissatisfaction. All the 
 native sergeants and corporals, 
 and two-thirds of all the privates, 
 at once stepped forward, express- 
 ed their abhorrence of having 
 to touch anything containing the 
 fat of cows and pigs, and sug- 
 gested the employment of wax 
 or oil for lubricating the cart- 
 ridges. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 The grumbling at Dumdum 
 and the soothing measures which 
 followed, were but as the gentle 
 letting out of the waters, the first 
 oozings of the destructive inun- 
 dation which was soon to ap- 
 pall the world. 
 
 The story of the mutiny leads 
 the summary -teller of it next 
 to the town of Barrackpore, a 
 suburban residence of the Go- 
 vernor-General, where he pos- 
 sesses a very fine mansion in 
 the midst of a splendid park, 
 about sixteen miles north of 
 Calcutta. The salubrity of the 
 air and the beauty of the Hoogly 
 at this place is, no doubt, the 
 reason of the selection of this 
 place for a vice-regal residence ; 
 and these facts, together with 
 the neighbourhood of vice-roy- 
 alty, have attracted numerous 
 European families to betake 
 themselves to this Oriental 
 Windsor, where they may air 
 themselves in the garden and 
 promenade attached to the Go- 
 vernor-General's magnificent 
 villa. 
 
 Six regiments of native in- 
 fantry, with a full complement 
 of officers, were before the 
 mutiny usually cantoned at Bar- 
 rackpore. The men were hutted 
 in commodious lines, and the 
 officers had their quarters in 
 bungalows or lodges. 
 
 It was here that the second 
 tottering step was taken in that 
 movement which was soon to 
 rush along with the strides of a 
 ruthless demon bent on destruc- 
 tion. The Sepoys at Barrack- 
 pore refused to bite off the ends 
 
 of their cartridges, on account 
 of the animal fat supposed to 
 be contained in the grease with 
 which the paper was lubricated. 
 General Hearsey held a special 
 court of inquiry at the place on 
 the 6th of February to ascertain 
 the reason why the men would 
 not perform this necessary pre- 
 liminary to the loading of a 
 rifle. Th e answers of the sepoys 
 were all pretty much to the same 
 effect. One was afraid that the 
 paper of the cartridge might 
 affect his caste, because it was 
 a new kind of paper which he 
 had never seen before, and it 
 was reported that it contained 
 fat. Besides, the paper was 
 stiff and like cloth, and it tore 
 differently from that formerly 
 used. Another objected to the 
 paper because it was tough, and 
 burned as if it contained grease. 
 He stated that great alarm had 
 been caused to the men on the 
 4th of February, when a piece 
 of cartridge paper was dipped 
 into water and afterwards burn- 
 ed. It made a fizzing noise, 
 and smelt as if there was grease 
 in it. Everybody, he said, was 
 dissatisfied with the paper be- 
 cause it was glazed, and had 
 the shine of wax-cloth. 
 
 A native captain frankly stated 
 that he himself had no objection 
 to the cartridge, but there was 
 a general report that the paper 
 contained fat. A lieutenant was 
 positive that there was grease 
 in it. He felt assured of it. It 
 differed from the paper which 
 had been always used for cart- 
 ridges. A sepoy had no objec- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 ticns to the paper at all, but his 
 comrades had, and that was 
 enough to make him refuse to 
 bite the end off the cartridge. 
 
 A lieutenant made a most 
 important statement He said 
 that on the 5th of the month he 
 joined a great crowd which was 
 assembled on the parade ground. 
 They told him they were deter- 
 mined to die for their religion. 
 If they could concert a plan 
 that evening, they would on the 
 next night plunder the station, 
 kill all the Europeans, and then 
 depart whither they pleased. 
 The number of men, he said, 
 was about 300 ; they belonged 
 to different regiments, and each 
 had his head tied up in a cloth 
 so that only a small part of his 
 face could be seen. 
 
 The matter seemed to those 
 who inquired into it a trifling 
 affair. They did not know that 
 these men, at the beginning of 
 February, had sent letters and 
 emissaries to the soldiers at 
 other stations, inviting them to 
 rise in revolt against the British. 
 
 A discussion about bits of 
 cartridge and items of grease 
 looked ridiculous. But at the 
 same time the ruling authorities 
 at Barrackpore saw clearly that 
 there was a sincere prejudice 
 to be humoured, if they did not 
 even guess that there was a wide 
 conspiracy to be met and put 
 down. They determined to 
 yield to the religious feelings of 
 the sepoys in this matter, so far 
 as the efficiency of the service 
 was not affected. 
 
 If the sepoys would not bite 
 
 off the end of the cartridge, 
 they might tear it off. A trial 
 was made, therefore, of this 
 mode of loading a rifle. Tear 
 off the end of the cartridge with 
 your left hand, was the instruc- 
 tion which resulted. The com- 
 mander-in-chief, finding this 
 method of loading sufficiently 
 practicable, consented to it both 
 for percussion muskets and for 
 rifles. He, like his subordi- 
 nates, had no wish to keep up 
 irritation by sticking to a mere 
 formalism in such a matter. 
 The Governor-General, by virtue 
 of his supreme command, 
 ordered the adoption of the 
 same system throughout India. 
 
 A bolder step was taken at 
 Berhampore, a town above a 
 hundred miles up the Ganges 
 from Calcutta, to which a por- 
 tion of the 34th Bengal infantry 
 was marched from Barrackpore 
 about the 24th of February. 
 The new comers were made 
 very heartily welcome by the 
 men of the iQth native infantry, 
 stationed there at the time ; and, 
 during the feasting which oc- 
 curred, they gossiped about the 
 greased cartridges, and Dumdum 
 and Barrackpore. These stories 
 excited those who heard them 
 very visibly. Fears and sus- 
 picions were aroused among the 
 men of the igth. They seemed 
 not to know what to believe. 
 They soon showed, by breaking 
 out into insubordination, that 
 they put no trust in the promises 
 of change made by the military 
 authorities. 
 
 Being ordered out, on the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 26th of February, for exercise 
 with blank cartridges, they re- 
 fused to receive the percussion 
 caps. This was to render firing 
 impossible ; and, of course, to 
 secure that there would be no 
 need for even tearing cartridges. 
 The cartridges were the lion in 
 the way. They alleged that 
 the cartridge paper was of two 
 kinds ; that they doubted the 
 qualities of one or both of them; 
 and that they believed there 
 was the fat of cows or pigs in 
 the grease employed. They 
 were acting from their fears, or 
 they were acting a part. There 
 was no ground for their asser- 
 tions. The cartridges offered 
 them were the very same in 
 kind as they had used for many 
 years, and had been made up 
 before a single Enfield rifle 
 had reached India. If their 
 fears and suspicions were honest, 
 this is only another illustration 
 of the danger of honest igno- 
 rance when the public mind 
 gets excited. 
 
 This was something more 
 serious than a complaint or a 
 petition. It required a prompt 
 manifestation of the power of 
 military authority. It was a 
 difficult position for the com- 
 manding officer ; and after the 
 issue, experienced military men, 
 acquainted with the natives 
 and their ways, differed in 
 opinion as to whether Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Mitchell took 
 the right course. But he had 
 to act according to his best 
 judgment. 
 
 Accordingly, Lieutenant-Col- 
 
 onel Mitchell, the command- 
 ing officer, ordered a detach- 
 ment of native cavalry and a 
 battery of native artillery the 
 only troops at Barrackpore, 
 besides the portion of the 34th 
 Bengal infantry, and the igth 
 native infantry, already re- 
 ferred to to be on parade 
 the following morning. But 
 between ten and eleven o'clock 
 at night the men of the iQth 
 broke open the armouries 
 circular brick buildings called 
 bells took possession of their 
 muskets and ammunition, and 
 carried them to their lines. 
 
 The next day the guns were 
 got ready ; and the officers pro- 
 ceeded to the parade ground. 
 But there they found the men 
 in undress, armed, formed in line, 
 and shouting. They threatened 
 to kill the officers if they came 
 near. The commander-in-chief 
 expostulated with them; he 
 pointed out the absurdity of 
 their suspicions ; he said their 
 present behaviour was unworthy 
 of the character they had ac- 
 quired; and commanded them 
 to give up their arms, and return 
 peaceably to their lines. The 
 native officers said the men 
 would refuse to do so, unless 
 the cavalry and artillery were 
 withdrawn. The colonel with- 
 drew them, and the mutineers 
 yielded. What in the circum- 
 stances could he do ? If he had 
 used force, he had only natives 
 to order to shoot down natives 
 a very difficult position, in- 
 deed, for an officer in such a 
 position. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 This affair had to be further 
 looked into. It could not end 
 here. News was sent of it to 
 the Calcutta authorities. They 
 could not venture to proceed to 
 punish the mutineers with so 
 few European troops at hand. 
 So they sent to Rangoon, in 
 Pegu, for her Majesty's 84th 
 foot. The message was sent 
 quietly, and the orders were 
 that the 84th should come up 
 to Calcutta quickly. This was 
 on the 4th of March. On the 
 2oth the regiment arrived. The 
 governor-general and Major- 
 General Hearsey then felt them- 
 selves strong enough to take a 
 very decided step. They re- 
 solved on the disbandment of 
 the native regiment which had 
 disregarded the orders of its 
 officers. 
 
 On the 3ist of March the 
 1 9th regiment of native infantry 
 was marched from Berhampore 
 to Barrackpore. There the men 
 were disarmed, paid off, march- 
 ed out of the cantonment, and 
 conveyed across the river in 
 steamers, placed for the pur- 
 pose. The regiment was punish- 
 ed by being annihilated. There 
 was no personal military punish- 
 ment inflicted on any of the 
 mutineers. But it was a pretty 
 severe retribution : the men 
 were left penniless and out of 
 occupation. 
 
 As to those of the 34th regi- 
 ment of Bengal infantiy, who 
 remained at Barrackpore, they 
 caused a good deal of vexation 
 and embarrassment to the Go- 
 vernment When they heard 
 
 of the disturbances at Berham- 
 pore, they became greatly ex- 
 cited. They attended to their 
 duties with sullen doggedness; 
 and meetings were held among 
 them by night, at which speeches 
 were made, sympathising with 
 the mutineers up the river. 
 
 When her Majesty's 84th 
 arrived at Calcutta, they became 
 more excited. They thought 
 something directly against them- 
 selves was intended. They 
 gave over whispering, began to 
 murmur, and even to express 
 openly their sympathy with the 
 mutineers at Berhampore. 
 
 When the igth were marched 
 from Berhampore to be dis- 
 banded, the conduct of the 34th 
 became audacious. They sent 
 a deputation, which met the 
 1 9th about eight miles from 
 Barrackpore, and proposed that 
 they should that very night kill 
 all their officers, march to 
 Barrackpore, join the 2d and 
 34th, fire the bungalows, sur- 
 prise and overwhelm the Euro- 
 peans, seize the guns, and then 
 march against Calcutta. The 
 1 9th were too repentant to listen 
 to these vengeful and daring 
 proposals. 
 
 On the 29th of March, a 
 sepoy of the 34th, armed with 
 a sword and loaded musket, 
 traversed the lines in a state of 
 wild intoxication, and called 
 upon his comrades to revolt, 
 declaring that he would shoot 
 the first European he met. 
 Lieutenant Baugh, adjutant ot 
 the corps, hearing of this, rode 
 hastily to the lines. The sepoy 
 
so 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 fired, but while missing the ad- 
 jutant, hit his horse. The 
 lieutenant fired his pistol, but 
 also missed. The sepoy then 
 attacked him with the sword he 
 was brandishing, wounded him 
 in the hand, brought him to the 
 ground, and tried to induce the 
 other soldiers to join in the 
 attack. While the men would 
 not join, they looked quietly on 
 without offering to assist the 
 officer so assailed by a drunken 
 sepoy. One of them, a native 
 jemadar or lieutenant, refused 
 to take the sepoy into custody, 
 and forbade his men to render 
 any assistance to the brother 
 officer who was being attacked, 
 and who narrowly escaped with 
 his life. This was a dark feature 
 in the transaction. There were 
 many hundred men looking 
 on. 
 
 Major-General Hearsey, on 
 hearing of this savage affair, 
 went at once to the parade- 
 ground, where, to his amaze- 
 ment, he saw the would-be 
 murderer walking up and down, 
 with a blood-smeared sword in 
 one hand and a loaded musket 
 in the other. He advanced 
 with some officers and men, and 
 secured the sepoy not without 
 considerable difficulty. By the 
 resolute bearing of the major- 
 general, the rest of the men 
 were induced to see that it was 
 their interest to return peaceably 
 to their lines. They did so 
 sullenly. 
 
 A court-martial was held on 
 the sepoy and the sympathising 
 j emadar. Th ey were both found 
 
 guilty, and were executed on 
 the 8th of April 
 
 Truly, the British power in 
 India was on a mine ready to 
 explode. 
 
 The execution of these two 
 men did not seem to produce 
 the effect desired. The 34th 
 still displayed a certain dogged 
 sullenness. The government 
 at Calcutta therefore resolved, 
 after mature consideration, to 
 disarm and disband such sepoys 
 among the 34th as were present 
 in the lines when Lieutenant 
 Baugh was wounded. The 
 whole of the disposable troops, 
 accordingly, in and around 
 Bombay, were marched to 
 Barrackpore on the 5th of May. 
 There they were drawn up in 
 two sides of a square next 
 morning, and about four hundred 
 sepoys of the 34th were halted 
 in front of the guns. 
 
 The order for disbandment 
 was read. General Hearsey 
 commanded them to pile arms. 
 He then gave the degrading 
 orders that they should strip off 
 the uniform they had disgraced. 
 Arrears were then paid ; and 
 the dishonoured sepoys were 
 dismissed, with their families 
 and baggage, to Chinsura, a 
 town a few miles higher up the 
 Hoogly. The grenadiers of the 
 84th, and a portion of the 
 cavalry, accompanied them, to 
 see that they settled at Chinsura, 
 and did not cross the river to 
 Chittagong, where three other 
 companies of the regiment, to 
 which they had recently belong- 
 ed were stationed. Four of the 
 
'IHE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 disgraced men were officers, and 
 one of them sobbed bitterly at 
 the loss and degradation he had 
 brought on himself. 
 
 Thus did these men of the 
 34th suffer for misleading the 
 1 9th to its annihilation. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MASSACRE AT MEERUT 
 
 (Sunday, May 10, 1857.) 
 
 THE tale of horrors now tran- 
 sports us to a region far distant 
 from Calcutta; At Umballah, 
 one of the towns of the Cis- 
 Sutlej territory, a report, rela- 
 tive to the grease in the cart- 
 ridges, led to about twenty 
 attempts at incendiarism. But 
 it was at Meerut, a town on the 
 small river Kalee Nuddee, 
 about equally distant from the 
 Ganges and the Jumna, and 
 nearly nine hundred miles from 
 Calcutta, that the Indian mutiny, 
 in its cruellest sense, began on 
 Sunday, May 10, 1857 a day 
 to be remembered. The troubles 
 commenced in the latter part 
 of the previous month. The 
 native corps at this important 
 military station had heard all 
 the rumours regarding the 
 greased cartridges. The military 
 authorities had received the 
 orders from Calcutta regarding 
 the newly-introduced mode of 
 adjusting the cartridges by tear- 
 ing off the end, instead of biting 
 it off. On the 23d of April, 
 Colonel Smyth, the English 
 commander of the 3d regiment 
 
 of native Bengal cavalry, caused 
 the havildar-major and officers' 
 orderly to come to his own 
 house, that he might show them 
 how to go through the new 
 exercise. The orderly fired off 
 a carabine under the new 
 system. At midnight his tent 
 was burned down. 
 
 Next morning, the troops 
 assembled on parade ; and the 
 havildar-major fired off one cart- 
 ridge to show them how the 
 thing was done. The men, 
 however, would not finger the 
 cartridges, although they were 
 the same as they had long been 
 using, and not the new ones at 
 all. An inquiry ensued, which 
 resulted in the sepoys expressing 
 regret for their obstinacy, and 
 promising- ready obedience in 
 the use of the cartridges, when- 
 ever they should be called upon 
 to do so. 
 
 A fallacious hope was now en- 
 tertained that all difficulties had 
 been smoothed away. Major- 
 General Hewett, who held the 
 unenviable position of being 
 the chief in command at Meerut 
 
32 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 on this awful occasion, wishing 
 to put an end to what seemed 
 only a stupid prejudice, and to 
 settle all doubts as to the spirit 
 of the men, ordered a parade of 
 the $d cavalry for the morning 
 of Wednesday the 6th of May. 
 On Tuesday evening cartridges 
 of the old sort were distributed 
 to the men ; but eighty-five of 
 the troopers positively refused 
 to receive them. This insub- 
 ordination could not be over- 
 looked. The men were tried 
 by court-martial, and were sen- 
 tenced to imprisonment with 
 hard labour for periods varying 
 from six to ten years. Major- 
 General Hewett proceeded on 
 Saturday to enforce this sen- 
 tence. The eighty-five muti- 
 neers, in the presence of the 
 European 6oth Rifle Regiment, 
 the 6th Dragoon Guards, a 
 troop of horse artillery, and the 
 native $d, nth, and i2th regi- 
 ments, were stripped of their 
 uniforms and accoutrements, 
 and were shackled with irons, 
 rivetted on by the armourers. 
 While this was being done, the 
 culprits looked reproachfully at 
 the other troopers, who, on their 
 part, appeared gloomy and 
 crest-fallen. The men were 
 marched off to the common 
 jail at Meerut, two miles dis- 
 tant from the cantonment, and 
 there they were left in the 
 hands of the police. A grave 
 mistake, as the disastrous result 
 proved. The native troops 
 returned to their lines furious, 
 and kept, some of them brood- 
 ing alone, others whispering 
 
 plots and plans, all the after- 
 noon and evening. It is not 
 improbable that that very night 
 emissaries were sent to Delhi, 
 forty miles distant, with news 
 and notes of their plans. 
 
 That Sunday dawned quietly, 
 like every other serene day of 
 rest ; and it remained unevent- 
 ful till the evening, when people 
 were proceeding to church at 
 Meerut, one of the largest and 
 finest Christian churches in In- 
 dia, when some of them passed 
 the mess-room of the 3d cav- 
 alry, and saw servants looking 
 anxiously towards the road lead- 
 ing to the native infantry lines. 
 They read evil in their looks 
 and their surroundings. Where 
 were the 3d native cavalry? 
 They were away on the work of 
 blood. The mutiny had indeed 
 broken out. 
 
 On that Sunday afternoon, 
 shortly before five o'clock, the 
 men of the 3d native cavalry, 
 and of the 2oth native infantry, 
 on a given signal, left their lines 
 and marched to the lines of the 
 nth native infantry. They 
 were all fully armed. The nth 
 hesitated for a little, but at last, 
 after much persuasion had been 
 used, and they had even been 
 fired upon by the 20th, they 
 joined the other two regiments ; 
 then these three corps pro- 
 ceeded to give vent to feelings 
 which had been long pent-up, 
 and which were little suspected 
 by their British officers. It was 
 an unfortunate thing that these 
 gentlemen Jiad been in the 
 habit of keeping so much aloof 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 from the sepoys, that they knew 
 next to nothing of feelings and 
 utterances which were wide- 
 spread and not particularly re- 
 strained. The three regiments set 
 themselves with a will to deeds 
 of violence and bloodshed. 
 
 The unfortunate Colonel Fin- 
 nis, of the nth native infantry, 
 the moment he heard of what 
 had happened, rode to the 
 parade ground. He harangued 
 the men, and did everything in 
 his power to induce them to 
 return to their duty. His own 
 men had been the last and 
 most hesitant of these mutineers 
 intent on murder. They would, 
 no doubt, listen regretfully to 
 the appeal of a colonel they 
 loved. But the 2oth had no 
 such compunctions ; they fired 
 a volley, and Colonel Finnis 
 fell riddled with bullets, the 
 first innocent victim of the 
 Indian mutiny. The first deaths 
 in this mutiny had been those 
 of the drunken sepoy and the 
 unfaithful jemadar, who were 
 executed at Barrackpore. They 
 were executed for conduct de- 
 serving death. Colonel Finnis 
 was murdered while discharging 
 his duty. 
 
 He had failed to stem the 
 torrent, now that the banks 
 were fairly burst. It is need- 
 less to attempt to speculate 
 upon what a resolute man of 
 resource might have done in 
 the circumstances. There have 
 been men who would have been 
 equal to such an occasion. 
 Virgil was not romancing when 
 he wrote : 
 
 " Veluti magno in populo quum saepe 
 
 coorta est 
 Seditio saevitque animis ignobile 
 
 vulgus; 
 Jamque faces et saxa volant ; furor 
 
 arma ministrant : 
 Turn pietate gravem ac meritis si 
 
 forte virum quern 
 Conspexere, silent, arrectisque auri- 
 
 bus adstant ; 
 Ipse regit dictis animos, et pectora 
 
 mulcet." 
 
 But there was no such hero on 
 that ground. The officers who 
 had come on the scene of con- 
 fusion felt it was a foolish risk 
 to remain there longer. They 
 saw they could effect no good, 
 and made their escape to the 
 lines of the artillery- and car- 
 bineers on the other side of the 
 encampment. 
 
 The nth joined the 2oth in 
 the work of destruction aftei 
 Colonel Finnis was shot. 
 
 Meantime the 3d cavalry 
 were ominously employed- 
 They were busy releasing their 
 eighty-five imprisoned comrades 
 from the common jail at 
 Meerut. This was very natural, 
 and did not need long time to 
 resolve upon. These men, 
 enraged at a punishment which 
 they, no doubt, thought was for 
 the sake of their religion, would 
 be expected to join in the 
 rising with blood boiling and 
 passions on fire. It was so. 
 The troopers went to the jail, 
 taking native smiths with them 
 to strike the manacles off the 
 limbs of the eighty-five who 
 had been sent there the day 
 before. They set them free, 
 and armed them. Then they 
 all together returned to the lines 
 c 
 
34 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 yelling ; and in a very short 
 time the three regiments were 
 gloating in fiendish exploits of 
 arson and murder. 
 
 It was not to be expected 
 that the 3d cavalry in the ex- 
 cited state of their feelings at 
 the time, after forcing open the 
 gates of Meerut jail, would 
 clobe them against other pri- 
 soners there, when they set 
 their eighty-five comrades free. 
 Nor .did they. They set at 
 liberty twelve hundred prisoners 
 besides, scum and dregs of 
 India, fit to enjoy the murder 
 and arson with demoniac relish. 
 And they did revel in it. 
 
 The sepoys and their jail-bird 
 allies set fire to nearly all the 
 bungalows of the native lines, 
 and to the government es- 
 tablishments near. They then 
 rushed on ; and, as they went, 
 they murdered every European 
 whose sad fate it was to come 
 their way, or be found out by 
 them. When they set fire to 
 the bungalows, they waited till 
 the flames drove out the in- 
 mates, and then they slaughtered 
 them as such assassins love to 
 slaughter. The sun set on 
 Meerut that night while rioters 
 were yelling and sufferers shriek- 
 ing, and lurid conflagrations 
 were making darkness hideous. 
 The rabble of the bazaar and 
 the most degraded portion of 
 the population now joined the 
 mutineers and their twelve 
 hundred companion felons, and 
 the horrors thickened. Flames 
 and smoke shot up on all 
 fides. Everywhere shouts and 
 
 curses, shrieks and lamenta- 
 tions. 
 
 A few details from correspond- 
 ents who had been in the midst 
 of this massacre will serve to 
 give individual interest to it 
 
 The wife of an officer of the 
 3d cavalry writes : " It was a 
 massacre a carnage ! Eliza 
 and I were driving to church, 
 when we saw the rioters pour- 
 ing into the road, armed with 
 clubs and swords. They warned 
 us back. We drove home furi- 
 ously. On the way we passed 
 a private of the carbineers un- 
 armed, and running for his life 
 from several men armed with 
 latthies, long sticks. We stopped 
 the carriage, and drew in the 
 poor Englishman. The men 
 continued to strike at him as 
 we took him in, but stopped 
 when we held out our arms and 
 screamed to them to desist ; 
 and we reached home safely. 
 On telling my husband, he 
 started off at once for the lines, 
 in uniform, but without waiting 
 for the horse, ordering it to be 
 be sent after him. When he 
 
 reached the gate he found 
 
 surrounded by three 
 
 of the 3d troopers, cutting at him 
 with their swords. My hus- 
 band shouted, ' What are you 
 doing? that's my friend;' and 
 they desisted. On seeing that 
 the gaol was broken open, 
 Henry determined to turn back, 
 and try to save the standards of 
 the 3d from the lines. The 
 roads were in uproar ! They 
 with difficulty charged through 
 crowds of infantry mutineers, 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 and bazaar men, armed and 
 firing. Henry saw a trooper 
 stabbing a woman as she drove 
 by in a carriage. He cut him 
 down with his sword. But the 
 woman, Mrs Courtenay, wife of 
 the hotel-keeper, was already 
 dead. That showed Henry that 
 a massacre of all Europeans was 
 purposed. Soon a ball whizzed 
 by Henry's ear, and, looking 
 back, he saw one of the troopers, 
 not in uniform, and with his 
 head muffled, fire at him again. 
 Henry shouted, ' Was that 
 meant for me?' 'Yes,' said 
 the man ; ' I will have your 
 blood ! ' Henry did not fire at 
 him. He believed the men 
 might mutiny from him were he 
 to do so. He only asked his 
 men, if they would see him 
 shot ? They vociferated ' No !' 
 and forced the assassin back 
 again and again, but would not 
 kill him. What an awful posi- 
 tion ! But I ! what a time had 
 I passed since he had gone to 
 his troop ! I had just hidden 
 the uniform of the carbineer we 
 had rescued, and dressed him 
 in a coat of Henry's, bidding 
 him sit with us. I fancied that 
 he alone might be the object of 
 possible attack. Crowds began 
 to hurry past our grounds, both 
 in the road and in the open 
 ground behind. They were 
 half in uniform and half with- 
 out. Many shots were being 
 fired, and the shouting was 
 awful. Bungalows began to 
 blaze around us, nearer and 
 nearer, till the frenzied mob 
 reached that next our own, 
 
 We saw a poor lady in the 
 verandah, a Mrs Chambers, 
 lately arrived. We bade the 
 servants bring her over the low 
 wall to us, but they were too 
 confused to attend to me at 
 first. The stables of that house 
 were first burnt. We heard the 
 shrieks of the horses. Then 
 came the mob to the house 
 itself with awful shouts and 
 curses. We heard the doors 
 broken in, and many, many 
 shots ; and at the moment my 
 servants said they had been to 
 bring away Mrs Chambers, but 
 had found her dead on the 
 ground, cut horribly, and she 
 on the eve of her confinement ! 
 Oh ! night of horrors ! 
 
 "They tell me shots were 
 fired at me; but I saw them 
 not. Oh, agony ! every house 
 in sight was blazing, nine or 
 ten I could see. At last a 
 few horsemen rode into the 
 compound. ' Come, come,' I 
 shouted, ' and save me ! ' And 
 poor Eliza joined. ' Fear no- 
 thing,' said the first man ; ' no 
 one shall harm you ! ' They 
 implored me to keep inside; 
 but, oh, how to do that when I 
 was watching for my husband ? 
 Alfred joined us first, safe, and 
 reporting Henry the same. And 
 then our cavalry guard kept 
 dashing through the compound, 
 forcing back parties who moved 
 in to fire the house. The 
 pistol shots rang on every 
 side; and now my husband 
 arrived in speechless agony 
 on our account, and made us 
 leave tlie house, fearing it might 
 
36 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 be surrounded. Wrapped in 
 the black stable blankets, to 
 hide our light dresses in the 
 glare of the flaming station, he 
 took us to hide under trees in 
 the garden ; but moved us after- 
 wards into a little temple that 
 stands in the grounds. We sat 
 there whispering for some hours, 
 listening to the noises, as crowds 
 came near or fell away. The 
 cavalry men wished us to remain 
 where we were, promising to 
 keep us unharmed ; but Henry 
 dared not venture our doing so, 
 and only waited till about dawn 
 to drive us away. The roads 
 appearing quieter, we hurried 
 off. All the stable servants had 
 fled, so Henry had much trouble 
 to find the harness, and himself 
 put it on the horse. Eliza and 
 I ventured to return to the 
 house to collect a few clothes 
 and secure our trinkets. There, 
 in darkness and fear, we left 
 our house, so loved and beauti- 
 ful. We drove off ; and, making 
 a wide circuit to avoid the 
 native infantry lines, we reached 
 the dragoon lines." 
 
 The Rev. J. F. Smythe, chap- 
 lain at the station, writes : " On 
 reaching church, I found bug- 
 gies and carriages driving away 
 in great confusion, and a body 
 of people running to me, and 
 pointing to a column of fire and 
 smoke in the direction of the 
 city. We abandoned, of course, 
 the thoughts of commencing 
 divine service. I may mention 
 that a guard of eight or ten 
 sepoys at the artillery depot, or 
 school of instruction three of 
 
 whom were killed shortly after 
 in resisting an officer, who 
 came with his party to take 
 their post saluted me in pass- 
 ing. I reached my house in 
 perfect safety. We went, just 
 after my return, into the western 
 verandah, and heard a shot in 
 the adjoining road, followed by 
 a cry and the galloping of a 
 horse with a buggy. This 
 proved to have been the murder 
 of Mr Phillips, veterinary sur- 
 geon of the $d light cavalry, 
 who was shot and mutilated by 
 five troopers. Dr Christie, the 
 surgeon of the same regiment, 
 who accompanied him in the 
 buggy, having been sadly dis- 
 figured and injured at the same 
 time. The inhabitants of the 
 Suddur Bazzar and city com- 
 mitted atrocities far greater than 
 those of the sepoys, as in the 
 case of Captain Macdonald's 
 wife, whom they pursued some 
 distance and frightfully muti- 
 lated, though her children were 
 saved by the ayahs ; and of 
 Mrs Chambers, wife of the 
 adjutant of the nth native 
 infantry, who was murdered in 
 her garden during Mr Cham- 
 bers's absence on duty, her 
 clothes having been set on fire 
 before she was, shot and cut to 
 pieces. The loss of property, 
 and, alas ! of life, has been 
 very dreadful. The part of 
 Meerut in which the insurrec- 
 tion principally raged is a miser- 
 able wilderness of ruined houses, 
 and some of the residents, as 
 was the case with Mrs and Mi 
 Greathed, the commissioner ot 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 the division, escaped miracul- 
 ously from the hands of their 
 pursuers, by hiding themselves 
 in the gardens and outhouses of 
 their burning bungalows." This 
 was a wonderful escape. Mr 
 Greathed's house, flat-roofed, 
 as it fortunately happened, was 
 one of the first attacked by the 
 mutineers. At the first alarm, 
 Mr and Mrs Greathed betook 
 themselves to the roof, where 
 the miscreant mutineers would 
 have found and destroyed them, 
 had the least hint been given 
 them by any one of the servants. 
 But the servants persisted in 
 asserting that . the family had 
 departed ; and the bloodthirsty 
 wretches, after searching every 
 room in the house, took their 
 departure. Mr Smythe con- 
 tinues : " Before the European 
 troops arrived on Sunday night 
 at the scene of action, the fol- 
 lowing were barbarously cut to 
 pieces : Mr V. Tredegar, in- 
 spector of schools ; Captain 
 Macdonald, of the 2oth native 
 infantry, and Mrs Macdonald ; 
 Captain Taylor, Mr Pattle, Mr 
 Henderson, all of the same 
 corps ; Colonel Finnis, com- 
 manding the nth native in- 
 fantry; and Mrs Chambers, 
 whose murderer was caught on 
 the 1 5th, -tried at once, and 
 hanged on a tree without further 
 delay, his body being afterwards 
 burned to ashes. In the 3d 
 light cavalry the following were 
 killed : Mr Phillips, veterin- 
 ary surgeon ; Mr and Mrs 
 Dawson; Mr M'Nabb, lately 
 joined; and a little girl of 
 
 the riding-master's, Mr Lang- 
 dale ; together with several sol- 
 diers of the artillery and 6oth 
 rifles, and women and children 
 of the military and general resi- 
 dents in the station. Among 
 other instances of frightful but- 
 chery was that of Sergeant 
 Law, his wife, and six children, 
 who were living beyond the 
 precincts of the cantonments. 
 The state in which the father 
 and three of the infants were 
 found defies description. The 
 mother and three other child- 
 ren, though grievously mangled, 
 crawled to the military hospital. 
 Mr Rotton and I have buried 
 thirty-one of the murdered, but 
 there are others whose bodies 
 have not as yet been brought 
 in." 
 
 These two quotations supply 
 more than enough of the hor- 
 rible details. 
 
 Mr Smythe in this letter 
 speaks of the barbarous work 
 which had been accomplished 
 before the European troops 
 arrived on Sunday morning. 
 There was a good deal of angry 
 discussion at the time as to 
 whether Major-General Hewett 
 had acted with sufficient promp- 
 titude and energy. He was 
 severely blamed by many. An 
 officer of the nth native in- 
 fantry, who narrowly escaped 
 being killed in his gallop to the 
 European cantonment, and who 
 accompanied her Majesty's 
 troops to the scene of devas- 
 tation, wrote afterwards with 
 reference to Major-General 
 Hewett's movements, which 
 
38 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 should have been a rush to the 
 rescue : " It took us a long 
 time, in my opinion, to get 
 ready ; and it was dark before 
 the carbineers were prepared to 
 start in a body." Well, dark- 
 ness sets in at that season of 
 the year in Meerut about seven 
 o'clock ; and the carnage had 
 commenced fully two hours 
 before. The officer continues : 
 "When the carbineers were 
 mounted, we rode off at a brisk 
 trot through clouds of suffocat- 
 ing dust and darkness, in an 
 easterly direction, and along a 
 narrow road, not advancing in 
 the direction of the conflagration, 
 but, on the contrary, leaving it 
 behind our right rear. In this 
 way we proceeded some two or 
 three miles, to my no small sur- 
 prise, when suddenly the halt 
 was sounded, and we faced 
 round, retracing our steps, and 
 verging off to our left. Ap- 
 proaching the conflagration, we 
 debouched on the left rear of 
 the native infantry lines, which, 
 of course, were all in a blaze. 
 Striking along behind these 
 lines, we turned them at the 
 western end, and wheeling up 
 to the left, came upon the nth 
 parade ground, where, at a little 
 distance, we found the horse 
 artillery and Her Majesty's 6oth 
 rifles. It appears that the three 
 regiments of mutineers had by 
 this time commenced dropping 
 off westward to the Delhi road, 
 for here some firing took place 
 between them and the rifles; 
 and presently the horse artillery 
 coming up to the front and un- 
 
 limbering, opened upon a copse 
 or wood in which they had 
 apparently found cover, with 
 heavy discharges of grape and 
 canister, which rattled among 
 the trees; and all was silent 
 again. The horse-artillery now 
 limbered up again and wheeled 
 round ; and here I joined them, 
 having lost the carbineers in 
 the darkness. By this time, 
 however, the moon arose. The 
 horse-artillery column, with the 
 rifles at its head, moving across 
 the parade-ground, we entered 
 the long street turning from the 
 southward behind the light 
 cavalry lines. There it was that 
 the extent and particulars of 
 the conflagration first became 
 visible ; and, passing the burn- 
 ing bungalow of the adjutant of 
 the nth native infantry, we 
 proceeded along the straight 
 road or street, flanked on both 
 sides with flaming and crashing 
 houses in all stages of combus- 
 tion and ruin ; the rifles occa- 
 sionally firing volleys as we pro- 
 ceeded. It was by this time 
 past ten o'clock ; and having 
 made the circuit of the lines, 
 we passed up the east of them, 
 and, joined by the carbineers 
 and rifles, bivouacked for the 
 night.;' 
 
 This whole passage is an im- 
 plied impeachment of a want 
 of promptitude on the part of 
 Major-General Hewett. An ex- 
 Governor-General of India spoke 
 of him with contempt as an 
 unknown man named Hewett. 
 But with such discussions there 
 is little concern in this succinct 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 account of the mutiny. Lord 
 Raglan was similarly found 
 fault with two or three years 
 before. There is nothing so 
 easily found fault with as fail- 
 ure. What we do know is that 
 the mutineers escaped from 
 Meerut to Delhi. We know 
 also that there were large maga- 
 zines at Meerut, which it would 
 have been culpable to leave 
 without being efficiently guard- 
 ed. Certain it is Major-Gen eral 
 Hewett did not win glory for 
 his name. Whether that could 
 have been helped or not is 
 a question usually as foolish as 
 it is superfluous. Individuals 
 make and control circumstances. 
 A man of the youth, vigour, and 
 genius of Clive would have acted 
 differently. Declining years cer- 
 tainly did not prevent this officer 
 from taking part in the opera- 
 tions, such as they were, of the 
 English troops at Meerut. Al- 
 though in his sixty-eighth year, 
 he slept on the ground among 
 the guns, like his men, on the 
 loth of May, and for fourteen 
 successive nights did the same ; 
 while for many following weeks 
 he never doffed his regimentals 
 except for change of apparel, 
 night or day. 
 
 As a relief to the darker shades 
 of the story so imperfectly told 
 above, the following quotation 
 from a letter written by Mr 
 Greathed, on the i6th of May, 
 will be read with sad satisfaction: 
 " Among all the villanies," he 
 wrote, "and horrors of which 
 we have been witn esses, some 
 pleasing traits of native charac- 
 
 ter have been brought to light. 
 All the Delhi fugitives have to 
 tell of some kind acts of protec- 
 tion and rough hospitality ; and 
 yesterday a fakir came in with 
 a European child he had picked 
 up in the Jumna. He had been 
 a good deal mauled on the way, 
 but he made good his point. 
 He refused any present, but ex- 
 pressed a hope that a well might 
 be made in his name, to com- 
 memorate the act. I pro- 
 mised to attend to his wishes ; 
 and Hamam Bhartee, of Dhu- 
 noura, will, I hope, long live in 
 the memory of man. The par- 
 ents have not been discovered, 
 but there are plenty of good 
 Samaritans." 
 
 The convent and school at 
 Sirdhana, a town in the Meerut 
 district, aroused the attention 
 and sympathies of the Europeans 
 at Meerut to a very high pitch. 
 About five days after the mutiny 
 broke out, news came into the 
 city that the inmates of that 
 institution were in great peril. 
 The postmaster at Meerut be- 
 haved with great bravery on the 
 reception of these evil tidings, 
 and thanks to his energy and 
 perseverance, and the assistance 
 he received from a few gentle- 
 men, the poor nuns were brought 
 to Meerut without any of them 
 being injured. 
 
 Meerut did not recover its 
 tranquillity for many days. The 
 men of the 3d, nth, and 2oth 
 regiments who remained faithful 
 and of the nth more than a 
 hundred did so were received 
 at the cantonment, and their pre- 
 
40 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 vious insubordination pardoned 
 on account of their subsequent 
 fidelity. There were, however, 
 many causes of uneasiness. In 
 Major- General Hewett's first 
 report of the disasters he wrote : 
 " Nearly the whole of the can- 
 tonment and Zillah police de- 
 serted." These police are refer- 
 red to by an officer familiar with 
 the district thus : " Round about 
 Meerut and Delhi there are two 
 or three peculiar castes or tribes 
 something similar to our gipsies, 
 only holding human life at less 
 value, and which in former years 
 gave constant trouble. Of late 
 years they have lived in more 
 peace and quietness, contenting 
 themselves with picking up 
 stray cattle, and things which 
 did not belong to them. They 
 have now, however, in the earli- 
 est occasion, broken out again, 
 
 and have been guilty of all kinds 
 of depredations. Skinner's 
 Horse was originally raised to 
 keep these people in order about 
 the time of Lord Lake ; such 
 men have hitherto been neces- 
 sary at Meerut, Delhi, and those 
 parts, as watchman ; everybody 
 was obliged to keep one, to 
 avoid being robbed to a cer- 
 tainty." 
 
 Thus, in addition to their 
 other troubles, the inhabit- 
 ants of Meerut were uncomfort- 
 ably aware, after the flight of 
 the mutineers to Delhi, that 
 gangs of desperadoes would be 
 likely to acquire fresh audacity 
 through the defection of the 
 native police, and that probably 
 delinquent members of that 
 force would be the most merci- 
 less of all the furies they had to 
 fear. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CARNAGE AND PLUNDER AT DELHI. 
 
 DURING the murdering and 
 arson at Meerut, the mutineers 
 of the three regiments started 
 off for Delhi. The infantry 
 made forced marches, the cav- 
 alry rode near them for sup- 
 port, and they arrived within 
 sight of the towers of the ancient 
 capital of the Patan and Mo- 
 gul empires after eight o'clock 
 on Monday morning, May n. 
 The deeds of darkness com- 
 
 mitted at Meerut after they left 
 that city were carried on by 
 the released felons, and others 
 worthy of such association. 
 
 It is remarkable that the 
 mutiny should have first assum- 
 ed its appalling proportions in 
 the region in which this city 
 stands. This was the hot-bed 
 of the fiendish plot. The first 
 outbreak may have been intend- 
 ed to take place in Delhi, and 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 41 
 
 was only precipitated by the 
 imprisoning of the eighty-five 
 horse soldiers at Meerut. For, 
 as the author of the article in 
 the Edinburgh Review, which 
 has been already referred to, 
 says : " If all the movements of 
 the revolt had been pre-arranged 
 there could have been no better 
 stroke of tactics than this. 
 Delhi is the chief city of Mo- 
 hammedan India the imperial 
 city the city of the Mogul ! It 
 had been the home of those 
 mighty emperors who had ruled 
 so long in Hindostan of Shir 
 Shah, of Akbar, and of Aurung- 
 zebe, and was still the residence 
 of their fallen successors, the 
 titular kings of Delhi, whom 
 fifty years ago our armies had 
 rescued from the grasp of the 
 Mahrattas. Beyond the palace 
 walls these remnants of royalty 
 had no power; they had no terri- 
 tory, no revenue, no authority. In 
 our eyes they were simply pen- 
 sioners and puppets. Virtually, 
 indeed, the Mogul was extinct, 
 but not so in the minds of the 
 people of India. Empty as was 
 the sovereignty of the Mogul, 
 it was still a living fact in the 
 minds of the Hindoos and Mo- 
 hammedans, especially in upper 
 India." 
 
 To obtain, then, possession 
 of this great centre of grand 
 associations, and, if possible, to 
 identify the living representative 
 of a line of native conquerors 
 with the mutiny, was an advan- 
 tage too obvious to need remark. 
 It was an immense advantage. 
 It gave the insurrectionary move- 
 
 ment a political significance, and 
 tended to impart to it the char- 
 acter of a national cause. That 
 the Mogul himself was stricken 
 in years, feeble, and incapable 
 of independent action, signified 
 nothing. He was a tool all the 
 more convenient on that ac- 
 count. His name was a tower 
 of strength. 
 
 Little is known of Delhi 
 before the beginning of the 
 eleventh century, when Mah- 
 moud of Ghiznee, a Tartar sov- 
 ereign who held sway among 
 the chieftains of Afghanistan, 
 invaded India. Mahmoud cap 
 tured that city. From that time 
 to the period of the British 
 power, the Mohammedans never 
 ceased to regard Delhi as the 
 chief of all Indian cities. It 
 was in the year 1193 A.D., that 
 it was selected as capital of the 
 Moslem sovereigns of India. 
 
 This far-famed capital is situ- 
 ated on the river Jumna, about 
 500 miles by road above the 
 junction of the Jumna with the 
 Ganges at Allahabad ; and 900 
 miles by road from Calcutta. 
 It is still a considerable place, 
 although not entitled to rank 
 with the great cities of the earth. 
 It is walled and fortified, and 
 at the time of the outbreak, 
 had a population of nearly 
 200,000. 
 
 Delhi has seven gates on the 
 land side, regarding the names 
 of which there is some discrep- 
 ancy, but the following may be 
 taken as the names most gene- 
 rally received : the Lahore, Aj- 
 meer, Turcoman, Cabul, Moree, 
 
42 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Cashmere, and Agra gates. 
 Along the river front there are 
 other four: the Rajghat, Ne- 
 gumbod, Lall, and Kaila gates. 
 A bridge of boats over the 
 Jumna connects Delhi with the 
 road to Meerut ; and the great 
 magazine which Lieutenant Wil- 
 loughby blew up, was between 
 the centre of the city and this 
 bridge. 
 
 The titular king of Delhi, 
 when the revolt broke out, was 
 but a pile of the very small dust 
 to which the grinding progress 
 of the ages had reduced the de- 
 scendants of the great Tamer- 
 lane the renowned Timour the 
 Tartar who laid the founda- 
 tion of the Mogul dynasty in 
 the year 1398. The grand- 
 father of this pensioned puppet 
 was the Emperor Shah Alum, 
 who, when old, blind, and feeble, 
 was rescued by General Lake 
 in September 1803, from a state 
 of miserable captivity into which 
 he had been thrown by the 
 Mahrattas. General Lake, upon 
 entering the fort of Delhi, which 
 was employed as an imperial 
 prison, found Shah Alum seated 
 under a small tattered canopy, 
 his person emaciated by indi- 
 gence and infirmity, his coun- 
 tenance disfigured by the loss 
 of his eyes, and bearing marks 
 of an extreme old age, joined 
 to a settled melancholy. 
 
 This miserable creature died 
 in 1806, and was succeeded in 
 the nominal sovereignty by his 
 eldest son, Akbar Shah, who 
 existed as a shadowy monarch 
 for thirty years. Upon his 
 
 death, the late king of Delhi, 
 his eldest son, named Meerza 
 Aboo Zuffur, entered upon the 
 enjoyment of the annual stipend 
 which had been assured to the 
 emperor Shah Alum and his 
 descendants at the surrender of 
 the kingdom in 1803. It was 
 thirteen and a half lacs of rupees, 
 equal to ^135,000. 
 
 Upon his accession to the 
 pension, which term expresses 
 all the practical regal honours 
 which were left him, this mon- 
 arch styled himself Mahomed 
 Suraj-oo-deen Shah Ghazee. 
 He has been described as nei- 
 ther better nor worse than the 
 average of his predecessors. 
 He was a true Oriental sensual- 
 ist, and in the ruined paradise 
 of Oriental sensualism, the great 
 palace of Delhi, the house ot 
 Tamerlane still revelled in un- 
 checked vileness. The royal 
 family consisting of many hun- 
 dreds idle, dissolute, shame- 
 less; too proud or too effemi- 
 nate for military service, lived 
 in entire dependence on the 
 king's allowance. For their 
 amusement were congregated 
 from all India the most marvel- 
 lous jugglers, the most cunning 
 bird tamers and snake charm- 
 ers, the most fascinating danc- 
 ing girls, the most skilled Per- 
 sian musicians. Nevertheless 
 he was great in the eyes of the 
 natives of Hindostan ; and the 
 wily far-seeing contrivers of the 
 murderous mutiny knew that 
 Delhi was still regarded by the 
 millions of India as their great 
 city 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 43 
 
 At the time of the arrival of 
 the mutineers from Meerut, the 
 city was garrisoned wholly by 
 native troops. They consisted 
 of the 38th, 54th, and 74th 
 Regiments of Native Infantry, 
 and a battery of native artillery. 
 The arsenal contained 900,000 
 cartridges, two complete siege 
 trains, a large number of field 
 guns, and 8000 or 10,000 mus- 
 kets. The powder magazine 
 stored not less than 10,000 
 barrels. 
 
 About fifteen miles from 
 Delhi, the high road between 
 that city and Meerut crosses a 
 suspension bridge over the Hin- 
 doun torrent. When the British 
 commandant, Brigadier-General 
 Graves, was warned of the ap- 
 proach of the mutinous sepoys, 
 his first idea was to advance and 
 cut away this bridge and defend 
 the river. But it was the hot 
 season of the year, and on that 
 account the river was easily 
 fordable. His position, there- 
 fore, on the other bank, might 
 be turned, and thus he would 
 be compelled to engage the 
 enemy in front and flank, even 
 if the native troops he com- 
 manded remained loyal, of 
 which he had no reason to be 
 over confident, and he had the 
 most disaffected city of India 
 in his rear. 
 
 There was no time to waste 
 over abortive plans. The three 
 regiments mentioned were im- 
 mediately paraded in service 
 order. The guns were loaded, 
 and all the preparations were 
 made for defence that could on 
 
 the instant be completed. The 
 brigadier harangued the troops, 
 appealing to their loyalty and 
 valour to prove themselves faith- 
 ful to the Government. His ad- 
 dress was received with cheers; 
 and as they marched out of the 
 lines, to all appearance true and 
 confident, a tumultuous array 
 appeared marching from the 
 Hindoun. 
 
 The men of the 54th native 
 infantry were vehement in their 
 protestations of loyalty, but 
 when they met a small number 
 of the 3d native cavalry, who 
 were ahead of the mutinous 
 rabble, they refused to fire on 
 them. At the Cashmere gate 
 the guard of the 38th native 
 infantry also refused to fire on 
 the mutineers, who entered the 
 city. Colonel Ripley and the 
 other English officers of the 
 54th, were left standing by them- 
 selves, while their men were 
 fraternising with the fiercely-ex- 
 cited rebels from Meerut. About 
 fifteen of the 3d light cavalry 
 immediately rode towards the 
 little group, discharging pistols 
 as they approached. Six Brit- 
 ish officers of the 54th soon fell 
 either killed or wounded : Col- 
 onel Ripley, Captains Smith 
 and Burrowes, Lieutenants Ed- 
 wardes, Waterfield, and Butler. 
 The colonel was the first victim; 
 he was frightfully mutilated by 
 the ferocious troopers, two of 
 whom he despatched with his 
 revolver before he fell disabled. 
 
 A party of the mutineers pro- 
 ceeded to the palace, where 
 communications were speedily 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 opened with the attendants of 
 the king. After a short parley 
 they were by that pensioner's 
 orders admitted within the gate. 
 The poor old man after some 
 time yielded to the clamour of 
 his family, and suffered himself 
 to be proclaimed Emperor of 
 Hindostan. This incident de- 
 cided the future of the ill-starred 
 descendant of Tamerlane. 
 
 In the palace the first person 
 who fell a sacrifice to the fury 
 of the soldiers was Captain 
 Douglas, commandant of the 
 guard of the king. The next 
 victims were the Rev. Mr Jen- 
 nings, English chaplain to the 
 residency, and his daughter, an 
 amiable young lady of nineteen, 
 who were seized while on their 
 way to seek the king's protec- 
 tion. They were hurried into 
 the titular presence, and when 
 the puppet sovereign was asked 
 by the troopers, "What shall 
 we do with them?" he is re- 
 ported to have replied, " What 
 you like ; I give them to you." 
 What they did had better not 
 be written. 
 
 The Goojurs marauders, 
 cattle lifters, brigands, or what- 
 ever else was convenient 
 of the villages around Delhi, 
 felt that a windfall had come 
 their way, and they rushed into 
 the city ready for action. The 
 sepoys meant massacre; the 
 rabble which followed in their 
 train were intent on plunder. 
 They did not confine their at- 
 tentions to the Europeans. The 
 rich native inhabitants had as 
 good stuff to plunder as the 
 
 Feringhees. Many shopkeepers 
 were murdered for merely ask- 
 ing payment for their goods. 
 Europeans and Christians were 
 butchered without mercy where- 
 ever they were found. To 
 obtain possession of the trea- 
 sure deposited in the Delhi 
 Bank was one of the first deli- 
 berate objects they settled down 
 to after their first rage for Chris- 
 tian blood was glutted. Mr 
 Beresford was the manager, and 
 his wife and five children fell 
 sacrifices to their barbarity by 
 having their throats severed and 
 mangled by broken glass. They 
 next plundered the Government 
 treasuries, destroyed the church, 
 demolished the premises of the 
 Delhi Gazette, throwing the 
 presses into the river, and melt- 
 ing the types into slugs. 
 
 A few Europeans with arms 
 took refuge in a mosque. The 
 agonies of burning thirst com- 
 pelled them to surrender. Call- 
 ing to the subahdar in charge 
 of a native guard before the 
 door, they begged for water, 
 and besought him that he would 
 pledge his oath to take them 
 alive to the king. The oath 
 was given, and they came forth 
 from their asylum. The muti- 
 neers placed water before them, 
 and said: "Lay down your 
 arms and then you get the 
 water." They could do no- 
 thing but obey. The soldiers 
 instantly surrounded them; they 
 gave no water, but seized the 
 whole party consisting of eight 
 gentlemen, eight ladies, and 
 eleven children marched them 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 off to the cattle-sheds, placed 
 them in a row, and shot them. 
 One lady intreated the murder- 
 ers to give her child some water 
 if they should kill herself. A 
 sepoy, in reply to the mother's 
 appeal, snatched the child out 
 of her arms, and dashed its 
 brains out on the pavement be- 
 fore her face. 
 
 The attention of Sir Theophi- 
 lus Metcalfe, the political agent 
 at Dehi, and of Lieutenant Will- 
 oughby, the officer in charge of 
 the ordnance stores, was directed 
 to the defences of the powder 
 magazine. The gates were 
 closed and barricaded. Con- 
 ductor Crow and Sergeant 
 Stewart were placed near one 
 gate, with lighted matches in 
 their hands, in command of two 
 six pounders, double charged 
 with grape shot, which they 
 had orders to fire if any at- 
 tempts were made to force the 
 gate from without. The princi- 
 pal gate of the magazine was 
 similarly defended by two guns. 
 There were other guns of large 
 calibre available for defence, all 
 double loaded with grape. It 
 seemed doubtful to Lieutenant 
 Willoughby whether to arm the 
 native artillerymen within the 
 magazine, for they were in a 
 state, not only of excitement, 
 but of insubordination, much 
 more inclined to aid the assail- 
 ants without than the defenders 
 within. The arming was effect- 
 ed as far as practicable, and a 
 train of gunpowder being laid 
 down from the magazine to a 
 distant spot, a little garrison of 
 
 nine Europeans awaited in sil- 
 ence the expected attack. It 
 was agreed that, on Lieutenant 
 Willoughby giving the order, 
 Conductor Buckley should raise 
 his hat as a signal to Conductor 
 Scully to fire the train and blo\\ 
 up the magazine with all its 
 contents. Some of the palace 
 guards came and demanded 
 possession of the magazine in 
 the name of the King of Delhi ! 
 Of this message no notice was 
 taken by the defenders; and 
 ladders were then brought from 
 the palace for the purpose of an 
 escalade. This decided the 
 course of the wavering native 
 artillerymen. With one accord 
 they all climbed up to the slop- 
 ing roof in the inside of the 
 magazine, and descended the 
 ladders to the outside. The 
 insurgents now appeared in 
 great numbers on the top of 
 the walls ; and the brisk fire 
 of grape shot, commenced by 
 the little band of Europeans, 
 wrought its havoc among the 
 enemy. Those nine kept 
 several hundred men at bay. 
 The stock of grape at hand was 
 at last exhausted, and no one 
 could run to the store-houses 
 for more without leaving the 
 mutineers freedom of entry by 
 leaping from the walls. Two 
 of the nine were wounded ; it 
 was impossible to hold out 
 longer; and Lieutenant Will- 
 oughby gave the signal, where- 
 upon Conductor Scully immedi- 
 ately fired the train. In a few 
 seconds a dull heavy report 
 boomed above the din of the 
 
46 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 city, and the shouts of its 
 maddened votaries of murder 
 and pillage. The ground vib- 
 rated, and a huge volume of 
 smoke, ascending in the air, 
 spread like a pall over the 
 palace of the Moguls, and an- 
 nounced, amid the groans and 
 shrieks of its mangled assailants, 
 that the great magazine of Delhi 
 had been blown in the air. All 
 who were not too much injured 
 made their way out of the sally- 
 port, to escape in the best 
 manner they could. How many 
 of the insurgents were killed 
 and wounded by the grape-shot 
 and the explosion was never 
 ascertained. Some British offi- 
 cers estimated it at more than a 
 thousand. It was at the time 
 hoped by the authorities that 
 the whole of the vast store of 
 ammunition had been blown 
 into the air, but subsequent 
 events showed that the destruc- 
 tion had not been so complete. 
 The Governor - General, when 
 informed of this achievement, 
 spoke of the noble and cool 
 soldiership of the gallant de- 
 fenders. Conductor Scully was 
 killed, but it was resolved by 
 the authorities to provide liber- 
 ally for his family, should it be 
 ascertained that they survived 
 him. The gallant Willoughby 
 escaped with his life, but he 
 was severely scorched. 
 
 In the city, while Major 
 Abbott, an officer of the 74th 
 native infantry, was being im- 
 portuned by a few of the native 
 officers who had remained faith- 
 ful, to fly for his life, and was 
 
 giving little heed to their urg- 
 ency, he heard shots whizzing 
 in the main-guard, and asked 
 what they meant. "The 38th are 
 shooting the European officers," 
 was the reply. He then ordered, 
 or rather implored, a hundred 
 of his men to rush with him to 
 the rescue. Their answer was : 
 " Sir, it is useless. They are all 
 killed by this time, and we shall 
 not save any one. We have 
 saved you, and we are happy ; 
 we will not allow you to go 
 back and be murdered." A 
 smile, through tears, greets the 
 record of an incident of this 
 nature in the doleful and woe- 
 ful tale of the Indian mutiny. 
 And there were many such inci- 
 dents. In every native regi- 
 ment a few faithful were found 
 among the cruelly faithless. As 
 to the major, some of his sepoys 
 formed a ring around him and 
 hurried him off along the road 
 leading to the cantonment, 
 about two miles out of the city. 
 He saw some carnages belonging 
 to officers of his own regiment 
 driving northward; and when 
 he inquired what this meant, 
 the men at the quarter-guard 
 said, with eager devotedness 
 looking out of every feature of 
 their countenances : " Sir, they 
 are leaving the cantonment; 
 pray, follow their example. We 
 have protected you so far ; but 
 it will be impossible for us to 
 do so much longer. Pray, fly 
 for your life." He did so, and 
 lived to write a very interesting 
 account of what he saw of the 
 mutiny at Delhi 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 To escape from being mur- 
 dered in the city was to rush 
 into the arms of indescribable 
 misery in the surrounding 
 country. Meerut was forty 
 miles distant in one direction, 
 and Kurnaul eighty miles in 
 another. The villagers were 
 afraid to harbour the fugitives. 
 
 Among the many who, ac- 
 cording to the arrangements of 
 Brigadier - General Graves, for 
 the safety of the women and 
 children, took refuge in the 
 Flagstaff Tower, a mile and 
 a half north of the Cashmere 
 gate, were two ladies. The 
 one was the wife of an officer 
 of the $8th regiment. An army 
 surgeon was the other's hus- 
 band. When evening was ap- 
 proaching the two ladies left the 
 city in a buggy. They had 
 been parted from their hus- 
 bands during the confusion, 
 and one of them had lost her 
 little child. Fearing the high 
 road, they took over the rugged 
 fields. They were sometimes 
 treated with respect by the 
 natives, at other times langu- 
 age was addressed to them unfit 
 for English ladies' ears. They 
 were occasionally robbed. The 
 velvet head-dress of one of them 
 was torn off for the value of the 
 bugles which it showed. Their 
 buggy-horse, and a jewel-box, 
 which had been brought away 
 in haste the only treasure they 
 had to count on as a means 
 of purchasing assistance were 
 taken from them. Their outer 
 clothing was not spared. 
 
 la the dead of night they 
 
 reached a village. Here the 
 surgeon, enfeebled by previous 
 sickness, with an ugly wound on 
 his jaw, managed to join them. 
 He needed them to help and 
 protect him instead of being a 
 defender. After fifteen hours of 
 agony, while hiding in fields 
 and huts, the three sallied forth 
 on Tuesday morning, to be speed- 
 ily stopped by six ruffians, who 
 robbed the ladies of more of 
 their apparel and it was scanty 
 enough now and only stopped 
 short of murdering them all, 
 when the officer's wife implored 
 mercy, in the plea that she was 
 searching for her husband and 
 child, both of whom she had 
 lost. All that night the two 
 ladies and the wounded man 
 dragged themselves onward 
 somewhither. In the morning 
 more of the ladies' scanty attire 
 purchased their lives from yell- 
 ing fiends. They crept on, ob- 
 taining occasionally a little food 
 and water from villagers, who 
 supplied these necessaries of life 
 at the imminent risk of their own 
 lives. It was terrible work to 
 roam over burning sands under 
 a scorching sun. They sat 
 down by a well-side, but had to 
 move on to escape insult from 
 brutes in the shape of men. 
 There are many such in all 
 countries. They met a party 
 of irregular horsemen, who had 
 not yet joined the mutiny, 
 and who, but for fear of the 
 rebels, would have befriended 
 them; but they had not the 
 courage of two English ladies, 
 nearly naked, who were help- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 ing along the husband of one 
 of them, with his under-jaw 
 shattered, and his health other- 
 wise very infirm. 
 
 During another night they 
 crawled forward till they reached 
 a Hindoo village. Here for 
 one whole day kindness was 
 accorded to them; but the 
 humane natives, fearing the se- 
 poys would burn their village, 
 were fain to beseech them to go 
 away. They had been five days 
 wandering, and yet they were 
 only ten miles from Delhi. They 
 received simple but kind assist- 
 ance in another friendly village, 
 but, again, the villagers dreaded 
 being found out, and got rid 
 of them. They sought shelter 
 under a bridge, where they had 
 to purchase freedom from the 
 presence and molestation of an 
 armed ruffian at the price of a 
 gold cross, which the wounded 
 surgeon, a devout Roman Cath- 
 olic, took from his bosom. On 
 Sunday, the first day of rest 
 after the outbreak at Meerut, 
 they sought the shelter of an out- 
 house containing twenty cows. 
 That day they learned that 
 Major Paterson, of the 54th 
 native regiment, was in the same 
 village. He sent a short message 
 to them, written with a burnt 
 stick on an old broken pan. 
 
 Shortly after, the husband of 
 the other lady, to their great 
 astonishment, entered the vill- 
 age, blistered from head to foot, 
 naked as he was, like a savage. 
 He had sent off their little boy 
 with friends towards Meerut, 
 and had seen the two ladies 
 
 start for Kurnaul. After being 
 robbed of his horse, he had 
 three bullets sent through his 
 hat, and orie through the skirt 
 of his coat. Ill and exhausted 
 he had run past the blazing 
 houses of the cantonment, and 
 had continued to urge himself 
 onwards till he sank down faint- 
 ing under a tree. Here a gang 
 of ruffians stripped him, robbed 
 him of everything, and endea- 
 voured to strangle him with a 
 sleeve of his own shirt. He 
 recovered from the partial chok- 
 ing, however, staggered on a 
 mile or two, rested for a short 
 time in a hut, and then walked 
 twelve miles to Alipore under a 
 broiling sun. Here he was re- 
 fused shelter, but received a 
 little bread and a few fragments 
 of clothing. He toiled on, 
 keeping by the ploughed fields 
 in fear of possible encounters 
 on the high roads. At one vil- 
 lage the herdsman gave him an 
 asylum for five days. It was on 
 the sixth day that he learned that 
 his wife and her travelling com- 
 panion were within a few miles 
 of him. Nearly worn out with 
 sickness and grief, on swollen 
 and blistered feet, he made his 
 way to where he found them in 
 the plight to which they had 
 been reduced. 
 
 These four continued to jour- 
 ney, grievously footsore with 
 thorns and sharp-cutting stones. 
 The officer's wife felt the sun's 
 heat beginning to affect her 
 brain, and was thankful to a 
 villager who gave her a wet 
 cloth to cover her temples. Mat- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 ters mended by and by, however; 
 they reached Kurnaul, then pro- 
 ceeded to Umballa, and at last 
 got to Simla, like beggars, but 
 with their lives. It was after- 
 wards found that the little boy 
 had been carried safely to Mee- 
 rut. 
 
 One other example will show 
 the difficulties encountered by an 
 officer who chose Meerut rather 
 than Kurnaul as his place of re- 
 fuge. A youth of nineteen, who 
 held a commission in one of the 
 native regiments in Delhi and 
 who was an ensign of the 54th 
 at the time of the outbreak, 
 writes as follows from Meerut. 
 The letter was addressed to a 
 sister, and is dated June i : 
 "Besides myself there is only 
 one other officer of my unfortu- 
 nate regiment out of those who 
 were left with it at the time of 
 the mutiny who has escaped to 
 this place ; and he, poor fellow, 
 is in hospital with a musket- 
 ball through his thigh Osborn, 
 our adjutant. But I am glad 
 to say there were three others 
 on leave for a month's shooting 
 in the jungles at the time of 
 the outbreak, and who have 
 consequently escaped. 
 
 "There were three native 
 corps at Delhi besides a battery 
 of six guns, and not a single 
 European soldier. It was about 
 ten o'clock on the morning of the 
 nth, that we first heard of some 
 mutineers having come over 
 from Meerut, and that our regi- 
 ment was ordered down to the 
 city, where they were to cut 
 them up. Of course* this time [ 
 
 we had not a doubt as to their 
 loyalty. Well, the whole regi- 
 ment, except my company and 
 our major's, the grenadiers 
 who were ordered to wait for 
 two guns and escort them at 
 once went off to the city, dis- 
 tant about two miles. On ar- 
 riving at the Cashmere gate, 
 which leads into a small forti- 
 fied bastion, called the main- 
 guard, from which there is an- 
 other egress to the city, they 
 were met by some troopers of 
 the 3d cavalry from Meerut, 
 who immediately charged down 
 upon them. Not the slightest 
 effort was made by our men to 
 save their officers, and they 
 were nearly all shot down at 
 the head of their companies by 
 these troopers. In fact, our 
 poor colonel was seen to be 
 bayoneted by one of the sepoys 
 after he had been cut down by 
 a trooper ; and then the fact of 
 neither a sepoy nor a trooper 
 having been killed, is enough 
 to convince one of their trea- 
 chery. Well, soon after our 
 two companies with the two 
 guns for whom we had had to 
 wait half-an hour also arrived ; 
 and on going through the Cash- 
 mere gate into the mainguard, 
 and thence into the city, where 
 all this had taken place, the 
 sepoys and mutineers all bolted, 
 being frightened at the sight of 
 the guns ; and before there was 
 time to open fire upon them, 
 they had all disappeared into 
 the streets. We then went back 
 to the mainguard, determined 
 to hold that against them till 
 
50 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 more reinforcements arrived 
 from cantonments, for which 
 we immediately sent In the 
 meantime we sent our parties 
 to bring in our poor fellows, 
 who were all seen lying about 
 in the mainguard. I myself 
 went out and brought in poor 
 Burrowes. It was a most heart- 
 rending sight, I assure you, to 
 see all our poor chaps, whom 
 we had seen and been with that 
 very morning talking and laugh- 
 ing together at our coffee-shop, 
 lying dead side "by side, and 
 some of them dreadfully muti- 
 lated. I had never before seen 
 a dead body, so you may ima- 
 gine what an awful sight it was 
 to me. The poor colonel was 
 the only one not killed outright ; 
 but he, poor man, was hacked 
 to pieces. We sent him back. 
 to cantonments, where he died 
 in the course of the day. At 
 last some companies of the 
 other regiments came up, and 
 we remained here the whole 
 day, expecting to be attacked 
 every minute. Lots of women 
 and people who had managed 
 to escape from the city, came 
 to us for shelter, little thinking 
 of the scene that was shortly to 
 be enacted among us. By-and- 
 by three of our officers, who 
 had escaped being killed by the 
 troopers, also came in, and from 
 them we learnt what I have told 
 you above. All this while we 
 saw fires blazing in the town, 
 and heard guns firing, which we 
 afterwards found out were the 
 guns of the magazine, which a 
 few Europeans had been defend- 
 
 ing against the whole host of 
 the insurgents, and which had 
 at last blown up. 
 
 "Well, it must have been 
 about five o'clock in the after- 
 noon, when all of a sudden the 
 sepoys who were with us in the 
 mainguard, and on whom we 
 had been depending to defend 
 us in case of attack, began firing 
 upon us in every direction. A 
 most awful scene, as you may 
 imagine, then ensued; people 
 running in every possible way 
 to try and escape. I, as luck 
 would have it, with a few other 
 fellows ran up a kind of slope 
 that leads to the officers' quar- 
 ters, and thence, amid a storm 
 of bullets, to one of the embra- 
 sures of the bastion. It is per- 
 fectly miraculous how I escaped 
 being hit; no end of poor fel- 
 lows were knocked down all 
 about, and all too by their own 
 men : it is really awful to think 
 of it. However, on arriving at 
 the embrasure, all at once the 
 idea occurred to me of jump- 
 ing down into the ditch from 
 the rampart one would have 
 thought it madness at any other 
 time and so try and get out 
 by scaling the other side. But 
 just as I was in the act of doing 
 so, I heard screams from a lot 
 of unfortunate women, who were 
 in the officers' quarters, implor- 
 ing for help. I immediately, 
 with a few other fellows, who, 
 like me, were going to escape 
 the same way, ran back to them; 
 and, though the attempt ap- 
 peared hopeless, we determined 
 to see if we could not take them 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 with us. Some of them, poor 
 creatures, were wounded with 
 bullets; however, we made ropes 
 with handkerchiefs, and some 
 of us jumping down first into 
 the ditch, caught them as they 
 dropped to break the fall. Then 
 came the difficulty of dragging 
 them up the opposite bank; 
 however, by God's will we suc- 
 ceeded, after nearly half- an - 
 hour's labour, in getting them 
 up; and why no sepoys came 
 and shot every one of us while 
 getting across all this time, is a 
 perfect mystery. The murder- 
 ing was going on below all this 
 time, and nothing could have 
 been easier than for two or three 
 of them to come to the rampart 
 and shoot down every one of us. 
 However, we somehow got over; 
 and, expecting to be pursued 
 every minute, we bent our steps 
 to a house that was on the 
 banks of the river. This we 
 reached in safety; and, getting 
 something to eat and drink from 
 the servants, stopped there till 
 dark, and then, seeing the whole 
 of the three cantonments on fire, 
 and, as it were, a regular battle 
 raging in that direction, we ran 
 downtheriver side, and made the 
 best of our way along its banks 
 in another direction. . . . For 
 three days and nights we wan- 
 dered in the jungles, sometimes 
 fed and sometimes robbed by the 
 villagers, till at length, wearied 
 and footsore, with shreds of 
 clothes on our backs, we arrived 
 at a village where they put us 
 in a hut, and fed us for four 
 days, and, moreover, took a 
 
 note from us into Meerut, 
 whence an escort of cavalry was 
 sent out, and we were brought 
 safely in here. We started from 
 Delhi with five ladies and four 
 officers besides myself, but after- 
 wards in our wanderings fell in 
 with two sergeants' wives and 
 two little children, with two 
 more officers and a merchant; 
 so altogether, on coming into 
 Meerut, we were a body of 
 seventeen souls. Oh, great 
 Heaven, to think of the priva- 
 tions we endured, and the nar- 
 row escapes we had ! We used 
 to ford streams at night, and 
 then walk on slowly in our drip- 
 ping clothes, lying down to rest 
 every half-hour; for you must 
 remember that some of the 
 ladies were wounded, and all so 
 fatigued and worn out that they 
 could scarcely move. Of course, 
 had we been ourselves, we 
 would have made a dash for 
 Meerut at once, which is about 
 forty miles from Delhi, but, hav- 
 ing these unfortunate women 
 with us, what could we do ? ... 
 At one time, when we were 
 attacked by the villagers, and 
 robbed of everything we pos- 
 sessed, had we not had them 
 with us, we would have fought 
 for it, and sold our lives dearly, 
 instead of quietly giving up our 
 arms as we did; for, you must 
 know, we had a few blunt 
 swords among us, with one 
 double barrelled gun." 
 
 These are only two of the sto- 
 ries of hairbreadth escapes which 
 were told at the time by those 
 who had made them. They will 
 
52 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 do as average specimens, hav- 
 ing been selected for summaris- 
 ing almost at random. 
 
 Macaulay somewhere suggests 
 and outlines an epic to be called 
 the Wellingtoniad. If epics 
 still were read, and they would be 
 read if there were only Homers 
 inspired with the spirit of their 
 age to write them, a "Delhiad" 
 might be written not unworthy 
 to be read after the "Iliad." 
 For details of the sorrows, and 
 the perils, and the heroism, 
 which would supply materials 
 more than ample for such a pur- 
 pose, the readers of this outline 
 will turn to the histories of it 
 which have been written at great 
 length. 
 
 Much fault was found with 
 the authorities at the time for 
 not having Delhi in a better 
 
 state of defence. Brigadier- 
 General Graves was blamed for 
 inactivity, as, we have seen, was 
 also Major- General Hewett. 
 But it does not take great in- 
 sight or foresight to see that 
 something must have been 
 wrong, when at the close of 
 that Monday, May nth, not a 
 single individual of the European 
 inhabitants of Delhi, who had 
 all risen from bed in peace that 
 morning, had escaped death, 
 flight, or the necessity of keeping 
 in terrified concealment. British 
 rule in that city was overthrown 
 in a day. The natives were the 
 rulers. The king was restored 
 to his throne. We will leave 
 him there till eventful circum- 
 stances lead the line of the story 
 of the mutiny back to Delhi 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SIR HENRY LAWRENCE AT LUCKNOW. 
 
 A SHORT survey of the situ- 
 ation of affairs at one centre in 
 the North-West mutinous region, 
 will prepare for the account of 
 the treachery and atrocities at 
 Cawnpore, which will be given 
 in the next chapter. But a 
 word or two must be said first 
 of the state of feeling at Cal- 
 cutta in the meantime. At the 
 time of the mutiny this magnifi- 
 cent city, standing on the left 
 
 bank of the Hoogly, one of the 
 numerous streams by which the 
 Ganges finds an outlet to the 
 sea, the chief British city in 
 India, had no less than seventy 
 times as many natives as Eng- 
 lish. Out of more than four 
 hundred thousand inhabitants, 
 only six thousand were Eng- 
 lish. .Even including the pro- 
 geny of white fathers and native 
 mothers, the Eurasians as they 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 are called, the disparity was 
 enormous. 
 
 The ebullitions at Dumdum, 
 Barrackpore, and Berhampore 
 did not affect the inhabitants of 
 this great city. They looked 
 upon these transactions as only 
 very remotely concerning them. 
 When, however, about the middle 
 of May the appalling news about 
 Meerut and Delhi became 
 known, there spread among all 
 classes a vague apprehension of 
 hidden danger, a sort of unde- 
 fined alarm. Demonstrations 
 of loyalty were made by both 
 the Christian inhabitants and 
 the natives. The Calcutta 
 Trade Association held a meet- 
 ing on the 27th of May, and 
 agreed to a resolution stating 
 that they were prepared to 
 afford the Government every 
 assistance in their power, to- 
 wards the promotion of order 
 and the protection of the Chris- 
 tian community of Calcutta, 
 either by serving as special con- 
 stables or otherwise. The Free- 
 masons made a similar proffer of 
 services. The Armenians resi- 
 dent in the city met and de- 
 clared their apprehension for 
 the safety of Calcutta and its 
 inhabitants, and their sincere 
 loyalty to the British Govern- 
 ment. They also were willing 
 and ready to tender their united 
 services and co-operate with their 
 fellow-citizens, in maintaining 
 tranquillity. The French in- 
 habitants were forward to place 
 themselves at the disposal of 
 the Governor-General in case of 
 need. 
 
 But it is more interesting to 
 learn how the influential native 
 inhabitants comported them- 
 selves. There was a body of 
 Hindoo gentlemen at Calcutta, 
 called the British Indian Asso- 
 ciation. The managing com- 
 mittee held a meeting on the 
 22d of May, and framed an 
 address to the Government. 
 They said they had heard of 
 the ' atrocities at Meerut and 
 Delhi with great concern, and 
 viewed them with disgust and 
 horror; and expressed their 
 belief that the loyalty of the 
 Hindoos, and their confidence 
 in the power and good inten- 
 tions of the Government, would 
 be unimpaired by the detestable 
 efforts which had been made to 
 alienate the minds of the sepoys 
 and the people of the country 
 from their duty and allegiance 
 to the beneficent rule under 
 which they were placed. The 
 Mohammedans of Calcutta were 
 equally loyal in the sentiments 
 they expressed. They, too, de- 
 clared that as they had ever 
 lived in safety and comfort 
 under the British rule, and had 
 never been molested or inter- 
 fered with in religious matters, 
 they were determined, with 
 eagerness and sincerity, in case 
 of necessity, to serve the Gov- 
 ernment to the utmost of their 
 abilities and means. 
 
 Viscount Canning, in each 
 case, professed to believe in the 
 honesty and uprightness of these 
 natives. What else could he do 
 at that early stage of the mutiny? 
 His official replies conveyed in 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 pointed terms his conviction 
 that the disaffection among the 
 sepoys was only temporary and 
 local. 
 
 Before leaving Calcutta, men- 
 tion must be made here of an 
 inquiry which was made about 
 this time, into the conduct of 
 Colonel S. G. Wheler, connect- 
 ed with the disbanding of the 
 34th native regiment of infantry 
 at Barrackpore, an account of 
 which has already been given. 
 He was the colonel of that un- 
 fortunate regiment. Rumours 
 had reached Government that 
 this gentleman had been in the 
 habit of addressing his men on 
 religious subjects generally, and 
 especially, that he had used 
 language, indicating his expec- 
 tation and hope that they would 
 be converted to Christianity. 
 Colonel Wheler was requested 
 by Major-General Hearsey to 
 furnish some reply to these 
 rumours. He did so most 
 frankly. He admitted that for 
 twenty years and more, he had 
 been in the habit of speaking to 
 natives of all classes, sepoys 
 and others making, as he said, 
 no distinction, as there is no re- 
 spect of persons with God on 
 the subject of the Christian re- 
 ligion, in the highways, cities, 
 bazaars, and villages, but not in 
 the lines and regimental bazaars. 
 He had done this from a con- 
 viction that every converted 
 Christian is expected, or rather 
 commanded, by the Scriptures, 
 to make known the glad tidings 
 of salvation to his lost fellow- 
 creatures. He quoted from the 
 
 Epistle to the Romans, to prove 
 that a Christian must neces- 
 sarily be a better subject to any 
 state than a non - Christian. 
 Viscount Canning wished him 
 to be more explicit as to whether 
 he had held such conversations 
 with his own men of the 34th. 
 He replied, that it was his cus- 
 tom to address all natives, 
 whether sepoys or not. A good 
 deal of correspondence took 
 place in the matter. The colo- 
 nel showed good fight for his 
 faith, whatever might be 
 thought of his prudence. The 
 result was that the members of 
 the Supreme Council at Cal- 
 cutta, unanimously decided that 
 an officer holding Colonel 
 Wheler's views of duty, ought 
 not to remain in command of a 
 native regiment, especially at 
 such a critical period as that 
 was in India. 
 
 Leaving Calcutta, let us pro- 
 ceed at once away north-west to 
 Lucknow, the capital of Oude, 
 which is a British Indian pro- 
 vince, about three times the size 
 of Wales. Lucknow stands on 
 the right bank of the Goomtee, 
 a navigable river thence to its 
 confluence with the Ganges, be- 
 tween Benares and Ghazeepore. 
 The city is rather more than 
 fifty miles north-east of Cawn- 
 pore, and about a hundred and 
 thirty miles north by west of 
 Allahabad; and as Cawnpore 
 is on the right bank of the 
 Ganges, that sacred river inter- 
 venes between the two cities. 
 
 Oude was annexed to the 
 British power in 1856, when an 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 annual stipend of twelve lacs of 
 rupees ^120,000, a lac being 
 100,000 rupees, of about the 
 value of ;i 0,000 was settled 
 on the suspended king, who went 
 to live at Garden Reach, on the 
 outskirts of Calcutta. It will 
 be remembered that his mother, 
 the Dowager-Queen of Oude, 
 came to London the same year 
 with a numerous retinue, includ- 
 ing the king's brother and the 
 king's son, the former claiming 
 to be heir - presumptive to the 
 titular sovereignty, and the 
 other to be heir-apparent, and 
 all to no practical purpose. 
 
 When the mutiny broke out 
 at Meerut, Sir Henry Lawrence 
 held supreme sway at Lucknow 
 as resident, or chief commis- 
 sioner of the East India Com- 
 pany. He was a sagacious, 
 energetic, and noble -hearted 
 gentleman. His difficulties, too, 
 began with the vexatious cart- 
 ridge question. Towards the 
 close of April, it was found that 
 many of the recruits, or younger 
 men, of the 7th regiment of 
 Oude infantry evinced a reluct- 
 ance to bite the cartridges, the 
 new method of tearing, instead 
 of biting, by some oversight, 
 not having been shown to the 
 sepoys at Lucknow. The matter 
 was explained to the men, and 
 confidence seemed to be restored, 
 but a morbid feeling still re- 
 mained. On the ist of May, 
 when some of them showed 
 again symptoms of repugnancy 
 to the cartridges, a few of the 
 recruits were imprisoned in the 
 quarter-guard. Captain Watson 
 
 addressed his men next day, 
 pointing out the folly of these 
 youngsters, and exhorting them 
 all to behave more like true 
 soldiers. They listened with 
 respectful sullenness, and the 
 captain felt it his duty -to re- 
 port their dogged behaviour to 
 Brigadier Grey, who, accom- 
 panied by Captains Watson and 
 Barlow, at once went to the 
 lines, had the men drawn up in 
 regular order, and put the ques- 
 tion to each company separately, 
 whether they were willing to use 
 the same cartridges as had all 
 along been employed? They 
 all refused. The native officers 
 had declined before this taking 
 any steps to enforce obedience. 
 They declared that if they did 
 so, their lives would be in 
 danger from the men under 
 them. Brigadier Grey felt that 
 vigorous measures mustbe taken. 
 Next Sunday morning, the 3d 
 of May, the grenadier company, 
 the crack company of the regi- 
 ment, went through the lines, 
 threatening to kill some of the 
 European officers, and the threat 
 soon seemed a great deal too 
 near fulfilment But, after rather 
 humiliating entreaty by the 
 European and native officers, 
 the excitement of the men be- 
 came in some degree allayed. 
 While this was going on at the 
 station of Moosa Bagh, a mes- 
 senger was sent by the stimu- 
 lators of disaffection in the 7th 
 regiment to the cantonment of 
 Murreeoun with a letter incit- 
 ing the 48th native infantry to 
 join them in a mutinous rising. 
 
56 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Fortunately, there was one sub- 
 ad ar true to his duty, and he 
 brought the letter to Colonel 
 Palmer, the commandant of the 
 48th. Prompt measures were 
 at once taken. A considerable 
 force, with a field battery of 
 guns, was sent from the canton- 
 ment to the place where the in- 
 citing intriguers were posted. 
 They stood firm for a time, but 
 when they saw cannon pointed 
 at them, some of them fled at 
 their best speed, while others 
 gave up their arms quietly. The 
 cavalry pursued the fugitives, 
 and brought back some of them. 
 Thus the 7th Oude irregular 
 infantry regiment, about 1000 
 strong, was suddenly broken 
 up into three fragments, one 
 escaped, another captured, and 
 another disarmed. 
 
 Sunday seems to have been 
 a favourite day for these out- 
 breaks. The Rev. Mr Pole- 
 hampton, chaplain to the Eng- 
 lish residents at Lucknow, 
 writing about this mutinous 
 proceeding, from what he saw, 
 says, " Towards the end of the 
 prayers, a servant came into the 
 church, and spoke first to Major 
 Reid of the 48th, and then to 
 Mr Dashwood, of the same 
 regiment. They both went out, 
 and afterwards others were called 
 away. The ladies began to look 
 very uncomfortable ; one or two 
 others crossed over the aisle to 
 friends who were sitting on the 
 other side, so that altogether I 
 had not a very attentive con- 
 gregation." When it was found 
 that the officers had been called 
 
 out to join the force against the 
 mutineers, Mr Polehampton felt 
 very much inclined to ride down 
 and see what was going, " but," 
 he says, " as the Moosa Bagh is 
 seven miles from our house, and 
 as I should have left my wife all 
 alone, I stayed where I was. I 
 thought of what William III. 
 said when he was told that the 
 Bishop of Derry had been shot 
 at the ford at the battle of the 
 Boyne ' What took him there ? ' " 
 The course adopted by Sir 
 Henry Lawrence on this occasion 
 was skilfully adapted to Indian 
 understandings. It was of quite 
 an Oriental character. He held 
 a grand military durbar, or levee, 
 pending the receipt of instruc- 
 tions from Calcutta regarding 
 the disposal of the mutinous 
 regiment. He had advised that 
 it should be disbanded, with a 
 provision for the re-enlisting of 
 those who had not joined the 
 rebels. Four native soldiers, a 
 subadar,* a havildar-major, and 
 a sepoy of the 48th regiment, 
 along with a sepoy of the i3th, 
 who had proved themselves 
 faithful in a time of danger, were 
 to have their merits publicly 
 recognised, and to be rewarded. 
 As suitable to the occasion in 
 such circumstances, carpets were 
 laid on the lawn in front of the 
 residency, and chairs were ar- 
 ranged on three sides of a square 
 for some of the native officers 
 and sepoys, while upwards of 
 twenty European officials, mili- 
 
 * Subadar, captain ; jemadar, lieu- 
 tenant ; kavildar, sergeant ; naik, cor- 
 poral. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 57 
 
 tary and civil, occupied a large 
 verandah. Sir Henry opened 
 the proceedings with a vigorous 
 and pointed address in Hindo- 
 stani, in which he described in 
 the gorgeous language which 
 the natives need, the power and 
 wealth of Great Britain, and 
 dwelt on the freedom of con- 
 science which was every- 
 where respected in British India. 
 " Those among you," Sir Henry 
 said, "who have perused the 
 records of the past times well 
 know, that Alumghir in former 
 times, and Hyder AH in later 
 days, forcibly converted thou- 
 sands and thousands of Hin- 
 doos, desecrated their fanes, 
 and carried ruthless devastation 
 amongst the household gods. 
 Come to our times. Many here 
 well know that Runjeet Singh 
 never permitted his Moham- 
 medan subjects to call the pious 
 to prayer never allowed the 
 Afghan to sound from the lofty 
 minarets which adorn Lahore, 
 and which remain to this day a 
 monument to their munificent 
 founders. The year before last 
 a Hindoo could not have dared 
 to build a temple in Lucknow. 
 All this is changed. Who is 
 there that would dare now to 
 interfere with our Mohammedan 
 subjects ? " Sir Henry went on 
 to treat with scorn the reports 
 touching a meditated insult to 
 the faith or the castes of the 
 native soldiers. He adverted 
 to their gallant achievements 
 during the hundred years of 
 British rule ; and told them what 
 pain it gave him when he re- 
 
 flected that the disbandment of 
 such troops had been found 
 necessary at Barrackpore and 
 Berhampore. Then proceed- 
 ing to the business on hand, 
 the chief commissioner said : 
 " Now turn to these good and 
 faithful soldiers SubadarSewak 
 Tewaree, Havildar Heera Lall 
 Doobey, and Sipahi Ranuna 
 Doobey, of the 48th Native 
 Infantry, and Hossein Buksh, 
 of the 1 3th regiment who 
 have set to you all a good ex- 
 ample. The first three at once 
 arrested the bearer of a sedi- 
 tious letter, and brought the 
 whole circumstances to the 
 notice of superior authority. 
 You know well what the con- 
 sequences were, and what has 
 befallen the yth Oude Irregular 
 Infantry, more than fifty of 
 whom, sirdars and soldiers, are 
 now in confinement, and the 
 whole regiment awaits the deci- 
 sion of Government as to its 
 fate. Look at Hossein Buksh, 
 of the 1 3th, fine fellow as he is ! 
 Is he not a good and faithful 
 soldier ? Did he not seize three 
 villains, who are now in confine- 
 ment, and awaiting their doom ? 
 It is to reward such fidelity, 
 such acts and deeds as I have 
 mentioned, and of which you 
 are well aware, that I have called 
 you all together this day to 
 assure you that those who are 
 faithful and true to their salt 
 will always be amply rewarded 
 and well cared for; that the 
 great Government which we all 
 serve is prompt to reward, swift 
 to punish, vigilant and eager to 
 
58 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY 
 
 protect its faithful subjects, but 
 firm, determined, resolute, to 
 crush all who may have the 
 temerity to rouse its vengeance." 
 Sir Henry then, after some 
 earnest exhortation, said : " Ad- 
 vance, Subadar Sewak Tewaree; 
 come forward, havildar and se- 
 poys, and receive these splendid 
 gifts from the Government which 
 is proud to number you amongst 
 its soldiers. Accept these honor- 
 ary sabres ; you have won them 
 well ; long may you live to wear 
 them in honour ! Take these 
 sums of money for your families 
 and relatives ; wear these robes 
 of honour at your homes and 
 your festivals; and may the 
 bright example you have so 
 conspicuously set, find, as it 
 doubtless will, followers in every 
 regiment and company in the 
 army." The subadar and the 
 havildar were each presented 
 with a handsomely decorated 
 sword, a pair of elegant shawls, 
 a choogah, or cloak, and four 
 pieces of embroidered cloth; 
 and the two sepoys received 
 each a decorated sword, a tur- 
 ban, pieces of cloth, and three 
 hundred rupees in cash. Hos- 
 sein Buksh was made a naik, or 
 corporal. 
 
 By this demonstration, and 
 the general wisdom and firm- 
 ness of his policy, Sir Henry 
 Lawrence kept matters quiet at 
 Lucknow in the meantime. But 
 things looked very threatening. 
 On the 1 6th of May, he tele- 
 graphed to Calcutta : " Give me 
 plenary power in Oude; I will 
 not use it unnecessarily. I am 
 
 sending two troops of cavalry 
 to Allahabad. Send a com- 
 pany of Europeans into the fort 
 there. It will be good to raise 
 regiments of irregular horse, 
 under good officers." An an- 
 swer returned the same day: 
 " You have full military powers. 
 The Governor-General will sup- 
 port you in everything you 
 think necessary. It is impos- 
 sible to send a European to 
 Allahabad. Dinapoor must not 
 be weakened by a single man. 
 If you can raise any irregulars 
 that you can trust, do so at 
 once. Have you any good 
 officers to spare for this duty?" 
 
 In this manner information 
 and instructions were darting 
 through the telegraph-wire, be- 
 tween the great centres of mili- 
 tary force and Calcutta. Vis- 
 count Canning was anxious and 
 eager to send troops to where 
 they were wanted, but he and 
 the troops were baffled by the 
 tardiness of all modes of con- 
 veyance in India. 
 
 Before written instructions 
 came from Calcutta, regarding 
 the mutinous yth, Sir Henry 
 Lawrence had to take action 
 himself, entrusted as he now 
 was with plenary powers. He 
 held a court of inquiry, the re- 
 sult of which was, that two 
 subadars, a jemadar, and thirty- 
 four sepoys were committed to 
 prison; but he resolved not 
 to disband the regiment just 
 then. 
 
 A most absurd story came 
 out at the examination of some 
 of the mutineers. It seems that 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 59 
 
 a rumour, which had great in- 
 fluence over the conduct of 
 most of them, was to the effect 
 that, in consequence of the 
 Crimean war, there were a great 
 many widows in England, and 
 these were to be brought and 
 married to the rajahs in Oude \ 
 and their children, brought up 
 as Christians, were to inherit 
 all the estates ! 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence was 
 much more solicitous about 
 Cawnpore, Allahabad, and Ben- 
 ares, than about anything that 
 could happen at Lucknow. He 
 had taken every precaution 
 which could suggest itself to a 
 prudent governor. He armed 
 four posts for defence. At one 
 there were 400 men, and twenty 
 guns; at another, 100 Euro- 
 peans, and as many sepoys j in 
 another, was the chief store of 
 powder, well guarded ; while 
 130 Europeans, 200 sepoys, 
 and six guns guarded the treas- 
 ury. On the last two days of 
 May, however, there was serious 
 
 agitation at Lucknow, for a num- 
 ber of the native troops broke 
 out in mutiny. They were 
 somewhat formidable, consist- 
 ing as they did, of half the 48th 
 regiment, about half of the 
 yist, some few of the i3th, and 
 two troops of the 7th cavalry, 
 but they all fled to Seetapoor, 
 a town to the north of Luck- 
 now. Sir Henry, with two 
 companies of her Majesty's 32 d 
 regiment, 300 of the Oude 
 native cavalry, and four guns, 
 went in pursuit ; but the cavalry 
 were anything but zealous, and 
 the chief commissioner was vex- 
 ed to find that he could only 
 get within round shot of the 
 mutineers ; and he was annoyed 
 also at the inadequate result ot 
 the pursuit thirty prisoners. 
 In Lucknow, bungalows kept 
 being burned, and a few English 
 officers were shot. Still it was 
 towards other cities, especially 
 Cawnpore, that Sir Henry Law- 
 rence directed his most appre- 
 hensive glances. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NANA SAHIB AT CAWNPORE. 
 
 THE revolting treachery and 
 cruelty of the Nana Sahib at 
 Cawnpore secured for him the 
 unenviable notoriety of being 
 the arch-villain of the Indian 
 Mutiny. The unutterable 
 p.trocity of the massacres at that 
 
 city produced on the minds of 
 men in all countries, when they 
 became known, an indescrib- 
 able sense of utter astonishment 
 and dismay, just as the mystery 
 which, for many weeks, veiled 
 the fate of the hapless victims, 
 
GO 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 had heightened to an agonising 
 degree the terror of dismal fore- 
 bodings regarding them. The 
 troubles of May, the miseries of 
 June, and the horrors of July, 
 "will never, never be forgot." 
 
 Cavvnpore is a word of terror 
 to most English readers. It is 
 the name of a district and a city 
 in it the city lying in the 
 Doab, a delta between the 
 Jumna and the Ganges ; the 
 city on the right bank of the 
 Ganges, about two hundred 
 and seventy miles below Delhi, 
 and between six and seven 
 hundred miles by land from 
 Calcutta. 
 
 Nana Sahib is, or was 
 whether he is still alive or not, is 
 not known at the present time 
 the titular or honorary name 
 of Dhundu Punt, the adopted 
 son of Maharajah Bajee K.ao, 
 the last chief of the Mahrattas, 
 who dwelt at Bithoor, and died 
 in 1851. The Nana had a 
 quarrel with the East India 
 Company about a jaghire or 
 estate near the town, which he 
 thought he should have inherited 
 along with the rest of the vast 
 wealth of his adoptive father; 
 but to which it was held by the 
 Company's advisers that he had 
 no legal claim. This was consid- 
 ered at the time to be the germ 
 of the deadly hatred for the 
 British, which he had nursed in 
 his heart during the six years 
 from the death of the Peishwa 
 of Bithoor, till the outbreak of 
 the gigantic mutiny. 
 
 He cherished this grudge like 
 the consummate hypocrite he 
 
 proved himself to be. In the 
 meantime, he made a point of 
 receiving English visitors courte- 
 ously, and with a show of sur- 
 passing kindness. An English 
 traveller, who visited him, was 
 treated with an amount of atten- 
 tion which seemed to flatter 
 both him and the usages of his 
 native country. His rooms 
 were decked with English fur- 
 niture, arranged according to 
 the Indian ideas. He found a 
 chest of drawers and a toilet 
 table in his sitting-room ; a 
 piano, a card-table, tent-tables, 
 and camp-stools, as well as ele- 
 gant drawing-room tables and 
 chairs in the bed -room, which 
 showed also a costly clock be- 
 tween cheap Japan candlesticks; 
 good prints of Landseer, hung 
 among sixpenny plates of Well- 
 ington and Napoleon, sacred 
 prints, and prints of ballet-girls, 
 and winners of the Derby. 
 " This was all meant as princely 
 hospitality to an English guest, 
 whose pleasure in the midst of 
 it was considerably dashed when 
 he heard rumours to the effect 
 that two ladies of rank were 
 kept in a den not far from his 
 apartments, and treated like 
 wild beasts; and that a third, 
 a beautiful young creature, had 
 recently been bricked up in a 
 wall for no other fault than 
 attempting to escape. 
 
 The outbreaks at Meerut and 
 Delhi aroused attention to the 
 condition of Cawnpore, where 
 there were only native troops ; 
 while its store of ammunition was 
 great, the treasury &rge, and the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 61 
 
 British population considerable. 
 Sir Hugh Wheeler, who was in 
 command, passed troubled nights 
 and days amid rumours of im- 
 mediate outbreak, telegraphing 
 for British troops, which were 
 not to be had. He was anxious 
 about the numerous women and 
 children. Everything affect- 
 ing the safety of the civilians 
 and the probable loyalty or dis- 
 loyalty of the native troops 
 was left entirely to his discre- 
 tion. On the 2d of June only 
 ninety European troops had 
 reached him at the beginning 
 of the terrible miseries of that 
 month. Lawrence was becom- 
 ing weak at Lucknow, and Sir 
 Hugh had to send him fifty-two 
 of his highly cherished ninety 
 men. The population of Cawn- 
 pore was much excited on the 
 3d of June, and ominous reports 
 kept coming in from the sur- 
 rounding district. The tele- 
 graph wires were cut on all sides 
 of the city, and the dak-run- 
 ners, or running postmen, were 
 stopped. After this, for a time, 
 all remained mystery, for it was 
 only by stealthy means that 
 messages or letters could be 
 sent from or received in the 
 city. Matters remained so 
 throughout June. It was only 
 when escaped fugitives and 
 native messengers came steal- 
 ing into one or other of the 
 neighbouring towns, that the 
 stories of the intrenchment, 
 the boats, the ghat, the house 
 of slaughter, and the well, be- 
 came known in a few of their 
 horrifying details. 
 
 At the time of the rising the 
 European inhabitants of Cawn- 
 pore were numerous. They 
 consisted of not only the Com- 
 pany's military and civil officers 
 and their families, but of Euro- 
 pean merchants, missionaries, 
 engineers, pensioners, and a 
 great many others not easily 
 classed. There was among 
 them a false reliance on what 
 seemed a favourable feeling of 
 the native infantry towards 
 them, and none of them made 
 any immediate attempt to quit 
 the place. Sir Hugh Wheeler, 
 however, deemed it his duty ta 
 prepare for emergencies, the 
 approach of which he had 
 many good reasons to fear. 
 There was no such stronghold 
 in Cawnpore as the Flagstaff 
 Tower at Delhi, to which the 
 women and children might be 
 entrusted for temporary safety. 
 After securing a sufficient num 
 ber of boats to convey the 
 Europeans down the Ganges, 
 if danger should appear, Sir 
 Hugh formed a plan for protec- 
 tion in that intrenchment, o 
 which so much was subse- 
 quently heard. It was a squar' 
 plot of ground, measuring about 
 two hundred yards in each direc- 
 tion ; within it there were two 
 barrack hospitals, a few other 
 buildings, and a well; and it 
 stood distinct from the city, 
 about a quarter of a mile out ot 
 the Allahabad and Cawnpore 
 high road. A supply of rice, 
 grain, salt, sugar, tea, coffee, rum, 
 beer, and other necessaries of 
 life and refreshments, calculated 
 
62 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 at thirty days' consumption for a 
 thousand persons, was stored 
 within its trench and parapet of 
 earth-work. 
 
 The native soldiers were 
 hutted in the usual military 
 cantonment, and the few Eng- 
 lish soldiers were barracked in 
 the intrenchment. It was 
 determined that the English 
 officers should sleep at the can- 
 tonment to avoid the appear- 
 ance of distrust of the native 
 troops under their command \ 
 and that their wives and families, 
 and most of the civilians, should 
 repair at night to the intrench- 
 ment to be under the protec- 
 tion of the British soldiers. On 
 the first night of this arrange- 
 ment there was an immense 
 number of ladies and gentle- 
 men huddled inside of that ex- 
 temporised square. It was an 
 anxious occasion. The children 
 added greatly to the prevailing 
 distress. It rained heavily 
 through the night, during the 
 whole of which the men were 
 kept standing by their guns, ex- 
 pecting and awaiting an instant 
 attack. It did not come on, but 
 there they were in their wretched- 
 ness night after night enemies 
 within and without the camp, 
 treachery and distrust every- 
 where scarcely able to realise 
 the frightful changes which had 
 so suddenly overcast all the 
 pleasant repose and enjoyment 
 of life. 
 
 Every one had confidence in 
 Sir Hugh Wheeler. Colonel 
 Ewart, in the last letter received 
 from him by his friends in Eng- 
 
 land, wrote of the veteran com? 
 mander : " He is an excellent 
 officer, very determined, self- 
 possessed in the midst of 
 danger, fearless of responsi- 
 bility that terrible bugbear 
 that paralyses so many men in 
 command." Sir Hugh was both 
 beloved and trusted by them aD. 
 He ordered the Company's trea- 
 sure to be brought from the city 
 to the intrenchment. The col- 
 lector experienced considerable 
 difficulty in obeying this order 
 in part, and the aid of three or 
 four hundred men was obtained 
 from Nana Sahib to guard the 
 treasury and its contents true 
 to treachery to the last ! 
 
 It was on the 5th of June that 
 the dreaded crisis arrived. Sir 
 Hugh Wheeler had appealed in 
 vain to other quarters for addi- 
 tional British troops, but none 
 could be spared from anywhere, 
 and he was left to meet the 
 emergency manfully with such 
 measures as were at hand. 
 
 At two o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of that day, to be dated in 
 blood, after a vain attempt to 
 seduce the native infantry from 
 their allegiance, the 2d cavalry 
 rose in a body and gave a 
 great shout, mounted their 
 horses, set fire to the bunga- 
 low of the quarter-master-ser- 
 geant, and took possession of 
 thirty-six elephants in the com- 
 missariat cattle -yard. They 
 marched out of the lines, but 
 left a number of intriguers be- 
 hind to assail, only too success- 
 fully, the loyalty of the infantry, 
 of whom the ist regiment, 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY, 
 
 63 
 
 yielding to the temptation, 
 marched out of the lines about 
 three o'clock. They showed 
 on the occasion the lingering 
 affection which they entertained 
 for their British officers, who 
 had continued to sleep among 
 them. They prayed them, and, 
 indeed, compelled them to seek 
 personal safety within the in- 
 trenchment. About ten o'clock 
 in the forenoon the whole of the 
 native officers of the 53d and 
 56th infantry came to General 
 Wheeler and told him that they 
 iiad no longer any hold over 
 the fidelity of their men ; and, 
 while they were making this 
 ominous announcement, a bugle 
 was heard, and these two regi- 
 ments were seen marching off 
 to their mutinous comrades. 
 These officers left the intrench- 
 ment, with orders to organise a 
 few stragglers, who had not 
 joined the mutineers, but they 
 never returned. 
 
 Carts were at once sent to the 
 cantonment to bring away the 
 sick from the hospital, and such 
 muskets and other property as 
 might be useful. The hospital 
 arrangements in the intrench- 
 ment became accordingly very 
 much over-crowded, and many 
 of the people had to sleep in 
 the open air. All the civilians 
 were armed and appointed to 
 various posts, to do what they 
 could for the common good. 
 
 When the mutineers left the 
 cantonment, they marched to 
 Nawabgunge as their rallying 
 place. Nana Sahib came there 
 to meet them ; he placed him- 
 
 self at their head, and his first 
 order was that they should 
 march to the treasury, which 
 had been left in good faith by 
 Sir Hugh Wheeler under the 
 guard of his men. The arch- 
 traitor carried off a large amount 
 of government treasure on ele- 
 phants, which had only the other 
 day belonged to the govern- 
 ment. The rest he left to the 
 sepoys as their prize. Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler had issued orders that 
 the magazine was to be blown 
 up, as had been done at Delhi, if 
 it should be deemed necessary. 
 The mutinous sepoys secured 
 possession of it. After secur- 
 ing all papers and burning them, 
 the rebels destroyed the trea- 
 sury and the collector's office. 
 They all then marched to Kul- 
 lianpore, one stage on the road 
 to Delhi, leaving behind a few 
 troopers to set fire to as many 
 of the bungalows as they could 
 get the torch at. 
 
 Sir Henry Lawrence had sent 
 to Wheeler, a battery of the 
 Oude horse -artillery, in hope 
 that they would be steadfast 
 and helpful. It was a misfor- 
 tune. These men had been 
 taken within the intrenchment, 
 but finding them smitten with 
 the prevailing mania for mutiny, 
 Sir Hugh disarmed and dis- 
 missed them. They now went 
 to Nana Sahib, and, being fami- 
 liar with the intrenchment, laid 
 before that truculent leader of 
 the Cawnpore rebels a plan for 
 attacking it. There was much 
 ammunition and many guns left 
 in the cantonment. Thirty-five 
 
G4 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 boats, laden with shot and shell, 
 were lying in the canal near it. 
 All this was at once seized, the 
 information regarding it having 
 been supplied by the Oude ar- 
 tillery men. 
 
 The Nana released four hun- 
 dred prisoners in the town, order- 
 ed their fetters to be knocked 
 off, opened the door of the 
 armoury, and let every one who 
 was willing to follow him know 
 that he might arm himself with 
 gun, pistol, or sword, just as he 
 liked best. 
 
 The 6th of June dawned upon 
 an anxious scene within the in- 
 trenchment, crowded as it was 
 with men, women, and children, 
 nearly all the European inhabi- 
 tants of Cawnpore. The rebels 
 dragged six guns two of them 
 i8-pounders into position near 
 it, and opened fire about ten 
 o'clock in the forenoon. In- 
 stantly a bugle sounded within, 
 and every man, from the high- 
 est officers down to the drum- 
 mers and clerks, took up the 
 position assigned, armed, as 
 had been appointed for him. 
 There were nine hundred per- 
 sons hemmed within this miser- 
 able square, and barely a third 
 of them fighting men, while 
 considerably more than a third 
 were women and children, who 
 were to be fed and defended at 
 every hazard. The eight guns 
 within the intrenchment replied 
 vigorously to those without; and 
 all the men not employed at 
 the guns crouched down behind 
 the breast -work, with a hot 
 v/ind and scorching sun parch- 
 
 ing them, ready to defend the 
 place with musketry, if a nearer 
 attack should be made. 
 
 Next day it was observed 
 that the mutineers had brought 
 their guns nearer, and that they 
 had brought up more of them. 
 Many of the best of the defend- 
 ers were shot, and the walls and 
 verandahs of the two hospitals 
 kept being pierced, spreading 
 terror among their helpless in- 
 mates. There was but one well 
 within the intrenchment; and, 
 in the words of Mr Shepherd of 
 the commissariat department, to 
 whom we are indebted for most 
 of the information we possess re- 
 garding Cawnpore in those days 
 of agony: "It was as much as 
 giving a man's life-blood to go 
 and draw a bucket of water; 
 and while there was any water 
 remaining in the large jars, usu- 
 ally kept in the verandah for the 
 soldiers' use, nobody ventured 
 to the well ; but after the second 
 day the demand became so 
 great, that a bag of water was 
 with difficulty got for five rupees, 
 and a bucket for a rupee. Most 
 of the servants deserted, and it 
 therefore became a matter of 
 necessity for every person to 
 fetch his own water, which was 
 usually done during the night 
 when the enemy could not well 
 direct their shots/' There was 
 no place to shelter live cattle, 
 so that some of the animals were 
 let loose, when as many as could 
 well be kept in a fit state for food 
 had been slaughtered; Meat- 
 rations were thus exhausted in 
 a few days, excepting when A 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 65 
 
 stray bullock or cow was seized 
 at night by the commissariat 
 servants. In addition to the 
 difficulty of obtaining suitable 
 food, there was no getting the 
 cooking of it properly attended 
 to, as the native servants seized 
 upon every opportunity to es- 
 cape. Hogsheads of rum and 
 malt liquor were frequently burst 
 by cannon balls. The chief 
 articles of food for all were 
 chupatties and rice. 
 
 The rebels at first fired only 
 cannon; but after the burning 
 of the English church and other 
 buildings near the intrenchment, 
 they kept up an almost inces- 
 sant fire of musketry from be- 
 hind the ruined walls \ and any- 
 thing like a daring attempt of 
 Sir Hugh Wheeler and his brave 
 men to make an escape was im- 
 possible, when there were so 
 many helpless women and chil- 
 dren to be thought of. Illness, 
 heat, fright, want of room, and 
 want of proper food and care, 
 caused the release of many of 
 these hapless dependants within 
 the first week of the attack on 
 the intrenchment. The dead 
 bodies were thrown into a well 
 outside of it, to ward of the 
 engendering of disease by any 
 mode of burial within the stifl- 
 ing enclosure, and it was only 
 under a shower of shot and 
 shell that even this mockery of 
 the last sad office could be ren- 
 dered. "The distress was so 
 great," says Mr Shepherd, " that 
 none could offer a word of con- 
 solation to a friend, or attempt 
 *o administer to the wants of 
 
 each other. I have seen the 
 dead bodies of officers, and ten- 
 derly brought up young ladies 
 of rank colonels' and captains' 
 daughters put outside the ver- 
 andah amongst the rest, to await 
 the time when the fatigue party 
 usually went round to carry the 
 dead to the well ; for there was 
 scarcely room to shelter the liv- 
 ing." 
 
 It is said that, on the Qth of 
 June, Sir Hugh Wheeler sent a 
 message to Nana Sahib, de- 
 manding the reason for his thus 
 turning against the English 
 whom he had hitherto treated 
 kindly, and by whom he had 
 been held in esteem. The 
 Nana's only reply was from 
 the cannon's mouth. 
 
 A scene of horror was wit- 
 nessed on the 1 3th of June, 
 when the mutineers began to 
 fire red-hot shot, which set fire 
 to one of the hospitals, by ignit- 
 ing the thatch of its roof. The 
 wives and children of the com- 
 mon soldiers were accommo- 
 dated in the building as well 
 as the sick and the wounded. 
 Forty helpless wretches of the 
 latter class were burned to 
 death before any help could 
 be afforded them. The de- 
 fenders of the intrenchment 
 could not leave the frail pro- 
 tection of their earthen breast- 
 work, otherwise the assailants 
 would be free to leap over it 
 and carry on their bloody work 
 with musket and sword. Des- 
 pite, then, their eager wish to 
 rush to the assistance of the 
 shrieking sufferers, they had to 
 E 
 
66 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 endure the agony of leaving 
 them to the flames. Nearly all 
 the medicines and surgical in- 
 struments were destroyed. 
 
 The besiegers had increased 
 in numbers to about four thou- 
 sand. They drew closer to the 
 earthwork with their guns, and 
 their firing became more con- 
 tinuous; but the besieged had 
 not yet yielded an inch. This 
 calamity of fire, however, began 
 to tell upon them. There had 
 been before it a few hours of 
 shelter under a roof during the 
 day, but now every man who 
 could fight was obliged to re- 
 main permanently in the open 
 air, exposed to an Indian sun 
 at its fiercest season of the 
 year ; and no wonder that sun- 
 stroke prostrated many of them. 
 The women and children too, 
 in addition to all the other 
 discomforts, had the most of 
 their clothing destroyed by the 
 fire. 
 
 About this time the Nana got 
 other congenial work thrown on 
 his hands. Futteghur, a mili- 
 tary station higher up the 
 Ganges than Cawnpore, and 
 near Ferruckabad, contained the 
 loth regiment of Bengal Infan- 
 fantry, and a few other native 
 troops. On the 3d of June the 
 soldiers showed such mutinous 
 symptoms that the officers sta- 
 tioned there saw the necessity 
 of arranging to send off the 
 women and children to Cawn- 
 pore for safety not knowing 
 that the Europeans of that city 
 were in greater peril than them- 
 selves. Next day they took to 
 
 their boats in two parties. One 
 party, consisting of about forty, 
 sought refuge with a friendly 
 zemindar on the Oude side of 
 the river ; while the other party, 
 amounting to more than a 
 hundred and twenty persons, 
 proceeded down to Cawnpore. 
 It seems that these separated 
 again for some reason, for it 
 turned out that part of them 
 pursued their way down the 
 Ganges as far as Bithoor, while 
 others returned to Futteghur. 
 It is probable that the forty who 
 sought refuge with the friendly 
 zemindar also returned to 
 Futteghur, for it is not likely 
 that he would brave the wrath 
 of the sepoys in the state oi 
 matters which then prevailed. 
 From the i2th of June to the 
 1 8th there was a lull at the 
 station, but on the latter day 
 the mutiny burst out in cruel 
 earnest. The English defended 
 themselves as best they could. 
 The river was thought too low 
 to render a sail to Cawnpore 
 safe; but, after many were 
 killed, the remaining victims 
 took to their boats in the river 
 for a voyage, brimful of utter 
 misery. The rebels fired on 
 them as they rowed along in 
 their boats. One of the boats 
 went aground, and as a number 
 of the mutineers rowed up to- 
 wards it, the ladies jumped over- 
 board to escape capture. Many 
 had only a choice of deaths 
 by drowning or by being shot. 
 Some ' crept on shore, and 
 wandered about the fields to 
 escape detection. A few found 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 67 
 
 shelter under friendly roofs. 
 One boat load succeeded in 
 reaching Bithoor a second 
 batch of victims for the Nana 
 Sahib. He put every man, 
 woman, and child, of both the 
 parties, to death. One young 
 lady, as the native who told the 
 story says, the daughter of some 
 general, was not to meet her 
 death in silence. Addressing 
 the Nana, she said : " No king 
 ever committed such oppression 
 as you have, and in no religion 
 is there any order to kill women 
 and children. I do not know 
 what has happened to you. 
 Be well assured that, by this 
 slaughter, the English will not 
 become less ; whoever may re- 
 main will have an eye upon 
 you." But the Nana exhibited 
 Oriental listlessness. He paid 
 no attention to her prophetic 
 words. He ordered his execu- 
 tioners to fill her hands with 
 powder and kill her by the 
 explosion. 
 
 As to the occupants of the 
 intrenchment beleagured by 
 demons, both the hospitals got 
 so riddled with shot and so 
 damaged by fire as to afford 
 little or no shelter ; and yet the 
 greater portion of those who 
 could not fight preferred to re- 
 main in them rather than be 
 exposed to the blighting glare 
 of a scorching sun. Some made 
 holes for themselves behind the 
 earthen parapet; and whole 
 families, in their wretchedness, 
 were fain to shelter themselves 
 in such dens, glad to be covered 
 over with boxes, coats, and 
 
 whatever could be laid hands 
 on. Apoplexy found many an 
 underground victim among 
 them. The intrenchment be- 
 came loathsome on account of 
 this besides many other causes 
 which need not be mentioned, 
 the stench arising from the 
 dead bodies of horses that had 
 been shot and could not be 
 removed. 
 
 As the forlorn defenders be- 
 came weaker and weaker, op- 
 portunities presented themselves 
 to men of heroic soul to prove 
 the metal in which they were 
 cast. One day the sepoys 
 blew up an ammunition waggon 
 within the intrenchment, and 
 then it became a matter of 
 terrible import to protect the 
 other waggons from a similar 
 catastrophe. Lieutenant Dela- 
 fosse, a young officer of the 
 53d, ran forward, laid himself 
 under the exposed waggons, 
 picked up and threw aside the 
 burning fragments, and cov- 
 ered the flaming portions with 
 handfuls of earth all the time 
 subject to a cannonading from 
 a battery of six guns, aimed 
 purposely at the objects he was 
 heroically shielding. Not he 
 only. Two soldiers ran to the 
 lieutenant with buckets of water; 
 and, as the reward of their hero- 
 ism a reward seldom conferred 
 in such circumstances they all 
 three returned from the danger- 
 ous spot in safety after preserv- 
 ing the ammunition waggons 
 from the peril to which they 
 stood exposed. The following 
 simple record of deaths was 
 
G8 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 found in Cawnpore after it was 
 retaken by the British in a series 
 of operations to be described 
 subsequently. It is as harrow- 
 ing as it is hallowed : " Mamma 
 died, July 12 ; Alice died, July 
 9 ; George died, June 27; en- 
 tered the barracks, May 2 1 ; 
 cavalry left, June 5 ; first shot 
 fired, June 6 ; uncle Willie died, 
 June 1 8 ; aunt Lily died, June 
 17." It was evidently written 
 by a lady, who was numbered 
 with the dead before the fright- 
 ful tragedy ended its first act. 
 Requiescat in pace. 
 
 After thirty-three days of en- 
 forced resistance in the intrench- 
 ment,and eighteen days of siege, 
 the condition of the victims was 
 truly deplorable. They were 
 driven to the last extremity. A 
 daring sally might have been 
 successfully made by the brave 
 men who had so long held the 
 murderous crew outside at bay ; 
 but they could not leave the 
 women and children in such 
 perilous circumstances. They 
 were fathers as well as warriors 
 many of them ; and true British 
 hearts knew how to choose. 
 
 A parley was resolved on, to 
 see if no arrangement could be 
 come to by which they might 
 all escape with their lives. An 
 ayah, a native nurse, gave the 
 following account of it after- 
 wards. 
 
 Nana Sahib went to the in- 
 trenchment after overtures had 
 been made, and said : " Take 
 away all the women and children 
 to Allahabad, and if your men 
 want to fight, come back and 
 
 do so ; we will keep faith with 
 you." 
 
 General Wheeler replied : 
 "You take your solemn oath, 
 according to your custom, and 
 I will take an oath on my Bible, 
 and will leave the intrench- 
 ment." 
 
 The Nana: "Our oath .is, 
 that whoever we take by the 
 hand, and he relies on us, we 
 never deceive ; if we do, God 
 will judge and punish us." 
 
 The General then went inside 
 the intrenchment and consulted 
 with the soldiers. 
 
 They said: "There is no 
 reliance to be placed in the 
 natives ; they will deceive you." 
 
 A few said : " Trust them j it 
 is better to do so." 
 
 The General went outside 
 the intrenchment and gave 
 answer to the Nana : " I agree 
 to your terms ; see us away 
 as far at Futtehpoor, thence 
 we can get easily to Allaha- 
 bad." 
 
 The Nana's reply was : " No, 
 I will see you all safe to Allaha- 
 bad." 
 
 When the time had come for 
 investigation into this transac- 
 tion, and how it was brought 
 about, several accounts were 
 given on both these points, but 
 they all agreed in asserting that 
 a safe conduct was guaranteed 
 by the treacherous Nana, only 
 to be villainously disregarded. 
 So also that Sir H\igh Wheeler 
 was mortally wounded before 
 his companions in misery left 
 the intrenchment, under a solemn 
 pledge of safety, is generally ad- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 69 
 
 mitted, but the date of his death 
 is not generally known. 
 
 On the 27th of June, all who 
 remained of the doomed nine 
 hundred left the intrenchment 
 in which thay had encountered 
 so many woes. The Nana's 
 aim seems to have been to 
 grasp what remained of the 
 Company's treasure and am- 
 munition at Cawnpore, and to 
 get rid of the Europeans, so as 
 to obtain their wealth without 
 any more fighting. 
 
 Cannonading had ceased on 
 both sides on the evening of 
 the 24th, and, till the 27th, every- 
 thing was done as expeditiously 
 as possible to get ready for the 
 sail down the Ganges. The 
 imagination shrinks from trying 
 to figure to itself the circum- 
 stances in which these prepara- 
 tions were made. The unburied 
 bodies of beloved ones were to 
 be left unprotected in that un- 
 consecrated well ; the sick and 
 wounded were more ready to 
 die than be removed ; the hag- 
 gard women and children had 
 been enfeebled by sufferings of 
 every kind; the clothes of all 
 were worn, torn, and blood- 
 stained ; and not one of the 
 whole had a spark of confidence 
 in the wily traitor at whose 
 mercy they were now allowed 
 to drag themselves away in un- 
 utterable wretchedness. 
 
 Twenty boats, each with an 
 awning, were provided for the 
 funereal voyage ; and they were 
 obliged to leave behind them 
 three or four lacs of rupees 
 ^vhich had been brought within 
 
 the intrenchment. On the morn- 
 ing of the 27th, Nana Sahib 
 sent a number of elephants, 
 carts, and doolies, to convey 
 the women, children, sick, and 
 wounded, a distance of a mile 
 and a half to the river side. 
 The men who could walk pre- 
 ceded them on foot, sorely 
 oppressed with hunger, thirst, 
 fatigue, heat, grief, and anxiety. 
 The whole numbered only about 
 four hundred and fifty, one half 
 of the original nine hundred 
 having fallen victims to their 
 three weeks of privation and 
 suffering. 
 
 Those who reached the river 
 first took boat and set sail ; but 
 later comers were detained a 
 long time, and, while they were 
 still preparing to embark, they 
 were horrified at hearing the re- 
 port of guns. It was a masked 
 battery of three guns which had 
 begun to play on the wretches 
 who were now within the toils 
 of the heartless traitor, who, in 
 disregard of oaths and treaties, 
 had given orders for the slaugh- 
 ter in this manner of the heroes 
 and their hapless dependants, 
 whom he had found it so diffi- 
 cult to destroy in the intrench- 
 ment. Some of the boats took 
 fire ; volley after volley of mus- 
 ketry was directed against the 
 unhappy passengers, scores of 
 whom were shot dead in the 
 boats, while others had bullets 
 sent through them while they 
 were endeavouring to swim to 
 the banks, in the vain hope of 
 being in safety there. A few 
 boats were hastily rowed across 
 
70 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 the river, only to encounter a 
 body of the lyth native infan- 
 try who had just arrived from 
 Azimghur to aid in the bloody 
 work, for the performance of 
 which they had been summoned 
 thither. The murderers on both 
 banks waded into the river, 
 seized the boats within reach, 
 and put all the men still re- 
 maining alive to the sabre. 
 
 The women were spared for 
 a more horrible fate. Many of 
 them, poor things, were wound- 
 ed, some with two or three bul- 
 lets ; and they all in their agony 
 of woe, with the children, whose 
 condition defies description, 
 were taken ashore, and placed 
 in a building in Nana Sahib's 
 camp. 
 
 There is a gloomy interest of 
 attractive melancholy felt in fol- 
 lowing the vicissitudes of two 
 separate^boat parties. The gal- 
 lant Lieutenant Uelafosse, who 
 so promptly risked his life to 
 avert the blowing up of the 
 ammunition waggons in the in- 
 trench ment, has told us the 
 story of one of them, showing 
 how he was among the very 
 few who escaped with his life 
 from the massacre at Cawnpore. 
 He writes : "We had now one 
 boat crowded with wounded, 
 and having on board more than 
 she could carry. Two guns fol- 
 lowed us the whole of that day, 
 the infantry firing on us the 
 whole of that night. On the 
 second day, 28th June, a gun 
 was seen on the Cawnpore side, 
 which opened on us at Nujjub- 
 gurh, the infantry still following 
 
 us on both sides. On the morn- 
 ing of the third day the boat 
 was no longer serviceable; we 
 were aground on a sandbank, 
 and had not strength sufficient 
 to move her. Directly any of 
 us got into the water, we were 
 fired upon by thirty or forty 
 men at a time. There was 
 nothing left for us but to charge 
 and drive them away, and four- 
 teen of us were told off to do 
 what we could. Directly we 
 got on shore the insurgents re- 
 tired ; but, having followed them 
 up too far, we were cut off from 
 the river, and had to retire our- 
 selves, as we were being sur- 
 rounded. We could not make 
 for the river, we had to go down 
 parallel and come to the river 
 again a mile lower down, where 
 we saw a large force of men 
 right in front waiting for us, 
 and another lot on the oppo- 
 site bank, should we attempt to 
 cross the river. On the bank 
 of the river, just by the force in 
 front, was a temple. We fired a 
 volley, and made for the temple, 
 in which we took shelter, hav- 
 ing one man killed and one 
 wounded. From the door of 
 the temple we fired on every in- 
 surgent that happened to show 
 himself. Finding that they 
 could do nothing to us while 
 we remained inside, they heaped 
 wood all round and set it on 
 fire. When we could no longer 
 remain inside on account of 
 the smoke and heat, we threw 
 off what clothes we had, and, 
 each taking a musket, charged 
 through the fire. Seven of us 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 71 
 
 out of the twelve got into the 
 water, but before we had gone 
 far two poor fellows were shot. 
 There were only five of us left 
 now, and we had to swim whilst 
 the insurgents followed us along 
 both banks, wading and firing 
 as fast as they could. After we 
 had gone three miles down the 
 stream, one of our party, an 
 artilleryman, to rest himself be- 
 gan swimming on his back, and 
 not knowing in what direction 
 he was swimming, got on shore 
 and was killed. When we had 
 got down about six miles, firing 
 from both sides ceased; and 
 soon after we were hailed ,by 
 some natives on the Oude side, 
 who asked us to come on shore, 
 and said they would take us to 
 their rajah, who was friendly to 
 the English." This turned out 
 true ; and Lieutenant Delafosse, 
 with two or three companions, 
 were entertained in security and 
 comparative comfort through- 
 out the month of July, till an 
 opportunity occurred of joining 
 a British force. 
 
 The last that this world heard 
 of the brave old General Sir 
 Hugh Wheeler, after his fifty- 
 four years' service in India, was 
 that he and his daughter were 
 in another boat with a large 
 party who rowed many miles 
 down the Ganges till they got 
 upon a sandbank. The sepoys 
 ran along the shore and took 
 to boats after them, shooting 
 down their prey as soon as they 
 got within musket range, and 
 receiving many fatal shots in 
 return. A freshet in the river 
 
 released the boat from the sand- 
 bank, and to prevent the escape 
 of this party, Nana Sahib order- 
 ed three companies of the 3d 
 Oude Artillery to pursue the 
 boat and effect a complete cap- 
 ture. This was accomplished, 
 and the sixty gentlemen, twenty- 
 five ladies, three girls and a boy 
 it contained alive, fell into the 
 hands of their ruthless, relent- 
 less enemy. A native after^ 
 wards informed the commission 
 of inquiry, that a contest took 
 place on this occasion between 
 the Nana and some of the sol- 
 diers regarding the putting to 
 death of the aged general, many 
 of the sepoys wishing to pre- 
 serve his life. The result was 
 death in some cruel form or 
 other. The true story of this 
 boat's load of victims will never 
 be told. 
 
 Nana Sahib thought that the 
 time had now fully come for 
 him to declare himself the sov- 
 ereign of the restored Mahratta 
 kingdom. He held a great re 
 view, and caused it to be pro- 
 claimed by tuck of drum through- 
 out Cawnpore and the surround- 
 ing district, that he had entirely 
 conquered the British, and that 
 he was prepared to drive them 
 foot by foot from India. Dur- 
 ing the short hey-day of his ill- 
 got^en kingly power, the Nana 
 issued many crafty proclama- 
 tions, which had the influence 
 on the people he knew so well 
 how to exert. They are all of 
 a piece, and one will serve as a 
 specimen of the lies that lent 
 him a fleeting ascendancy. It 
 
72 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 is fraught with bare-faced fic- 
 tions, and reads thus : " A tra- 
 veller just arrived in Cawnpore 
 from Calcutta states that in the 
 first instance a council was held 
 to take into consideration the 
 means to be adopted to do away 
 with the religion of the Moham- 
 medans and Hindoos, by the 
 distribution of cartridges. The 
 council came to this resolution, 
 that as this matter was one of 
 religion the services of 7000 or 
 8000 European soldiers would 
 be necessary, as 50,000 Hin- 
 doos would have to be de- 
 stroyed, and the whole of the 
 people of Hindostan would be- 
 come Christians. A petition, 
 with the substance of this reso- 
 lution, was sent to Queen Vic- 
 toria, and it was approved. A 
 council was then held a second 
 time, in which English mer- 
 chants took a part, and it was 
 decided that, in order that no 
 evil should arise from mutiny, 
 large reinforcements should be 
 sent for. When the despatch 
 was received and read in Eng- 
 land, thousands of European 
 soldiers were embarked on ships 
 as speedily as possible, and sent 
 off to Hindostan. The news of 
 their being despatched reached 
 Calcutta. The English autho- 
 rities there ordered the issue of 
 the cartridges, for the real in- 
 tention was to Christianise the 
 army first, and this being effected, 
 the conversion of the people 
 would speedily follow. Pigs' 
 and cows' fat was mixed up 
 with the cartridges ; this became 
 known through one of the Ben- 
 
 galese who was employed in the 
 cartridge-making establishment 
 Of those through whose means 
 this was divulged one was killed, 
 and the rest imprisoned. While 
 in this country these councils 
 were being adopted, in England 
 the ambassador of the Sultan 
 of Roum Turkey sent news 
 to the Sultan that thousands ot 
 European soldiers were being 
 sent for the purpose of making 
 Christians of all the people of 
 Hindostan. Upon this the Sul- 
 tan issued a firman to the King 
 of Egypt to this effect: 'You 
 must deceive the Queen Vic- 
 toria, for this is not a time for 
 friendship, for my Vakeel writes 
 that thousands of European 
 soldiers have been despatched 
 for the purpose of making Chris- 
 tians of the army and people 
 at Hindostan. In this manner, 
 then, this must be checked. If 
 I should be remiss, then how 
 can I show my face to God? 
 and one day this may come 
 upon me also, for if the English 
 make Christians of all in Hin- 
 dostan, they will then fix their 
 designsuponmycountry.' When 
 the firman reached the King of 
 Egypt, he prepared and arranged 
 his troops before the arrival of 
 the English army at Alexandria, 
 for this is the route to India. 
 The instant the English army 
 arrived, the King of Egypt open- 
 ed guns upon them from all sides, 
 and destroyed and sunk their 
 ships, and not a single soldier 
 escaped. 
 
 " The English in Calcutta, after 
 the issue of the order for the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 73 
 
 cartridges, and when the mutiny 
 had become great, were in ex- 
 pectation of the arrival of the 
 army from London; but the 
 great God, in His omnipotence, 
 had beforehand put an end to 
 this. When the news of the 
 destruction of the army of Lon- 
 don became known, then the 
 Governor-General was plunged 
 in grief and sorrow, and beat 
 his head." 
 
 The women and children, 
 who were conveyed from the 
 boats into captivity, numbered 
 115. We shall pass over the 
 temptations held out to some 
 of the women and the elder 
 girls to enter the Nana's harem. 
 Death rather than dishonour was 
 the resolution of every one of 
 them. They refused the harem, 
 however, only to encounter the 
 sensual licence of the sepoys. 
 The horrors put on record 
 must not be rehearsed in these 
 pages. 
 
 The heroic conduct of Miss 
 Wheeler, a worthy daughter of 
 the brave Sir Hugh, is said to 
 have deterred the ruffians for a 
 time. Her story is differently 
 reported. One version of it is, 
 that she shot down five sepoys 
 in succession with a revolver, 
 and then threw herself into a 
 well to escape outrage. Another 
 is, that being taken to his hut 
 by a trooper of the 2d native 
 cavalry, she rose in the night, 
 secured the trooper's sword,, 
 killed him and three other men, 
 and then threw herself into a 
 well. Another says, that Miss 
 Wheeler cut off the heads of no 
 
 less thanfive men in the trooper's 
 hut. Whatever the facts may 
 have been, the rumours all agree 
 in ranking Miss Wheeler among 
 the bravest of the brave, styling 
 her, as has been done, the 
 " Judith of Cawnpore." 
 
 The women and children 
 were incarcerated in the out- 
 buildings of the medical depot, 
 which had been shortly before 
 occupied by Sir George Parker. 
 Here thirty other unhappy vic- 
 tims joined them. " It is not 
 easy to describe," says Mr 
 Shepherd, " but it may be ima- 
 gined, the misery of so many 
 helpless persons ; some wound- 
 ed, others sick, and all labouring 
 under the greatest agony of 
 heart for the loss of those so 
 dear to them, who had recently 
 been killed, perhaps before their 
 eyes ; cooped up night and day 
 in a small, low, pukha-roofed 
 house in the hottest season of 
 the year, without beds or pun- 
 kahs, for a whole fortnight, and 
 constantly reviled and insulted 
 by a set of brutish ruffians keep- 
 ing watch over them." He pro- 
 ceeds to tell that " certain spies, 
 whether real or imaginary, were 
 brought to the Nana as being 
 bearers of letters supposed to 
 have been written to the British 
 by the helpless females in their 
 captivity, and with these letters 
 some of the inhabitants of the 
 city were believed to be impli- 
 cated. It was therefore decreed 
 by Nana Sahib that the spies, 
 together with all the women 
 and children, as also the few 
 gentlemen whose lives had been 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 spared, should be put to death." 
 At length, on the i3th of July, 
 before quitting Cawnpore to 
 check, as he vainly hoped, the 
 advance of a British column, he 
 put the decree of blood into 
 execution. "The native spies 
 were first put to the sword, after 
 them the gentlemen, who were 
 brought from the outbuildings 
 in which they had been confined, 
 and shot with bullets. Then 
 the poor females were ordered 
 to come out, but neither threats 
 nor persuasions could induce 
 them to do so. They laid hold 
 of each other by dozens, and 
 clung so closely that it was im- 
 possible to separate or drag 
 them out of the building. The 
 troopers therefore brought mus- 
 kets, and after firing a great 
 many shots through the doors 
 and windows, rushed in with 
 swords and bayonets. Some of 
 the helpless creatures in their 
 agony fell down at the feet of 
 their murderers, and begged 
 them in the most pitiful manner 
 to spare their lives, but to no 
 purpose. The fearful deed was 
 done deliberately and, deter- 
 minedly, in the midst of the 
 most dreadful shrieks and cries 
 of the victims. From a little 
 before sunset till dark was occu- 
 pied in completing the dreadful 
 deed. The doors of the build- 
 ings were then blocked up for the 
 night, and the murderers went 
 to their homes. Next morning 
 it was found, on opening the 
 doors, that some ten or fifteen 
 females, with a few of the chil- 
 dren, had managed to escape 
 
 from death by hiding under the 
 murdered bodies of their fellow- 
 prisoners. A fresh command 
 was thereupon sent to murder 
 these also, but the survivors not 
 being able to bear the idea of 
 being cut down, rushed into the 
 compound, and seeing a well 
 there, threw themselves into it. 
 The dead bodies of those mur- 
 dered on the previous evening 
 were then ordered to be thrown 
 into the same well, and julluds 
 were appointed to drag them 
 away like dogs." 
 
 Poor Mr Shepherd had himself 
 a woeful experience. When the 
 victorious English column enter- 
 ed Cawnpore on the i;th of July, 
 he was a prisoner in the city, 
 having stolen out of the intrench- 
 ment to see and try if anything 
 could be done there for the re- 
 lief of the sufferers within, and 
 fallen into the cruel fangs of the 
 Nana's agents. Not till the 
 manacles had been struck from 
 his wasted limbs did he learn 
 the full bitterness of the cup 
 of woe he had to drain to the 
 dregs. " I am the only individual 
 saved," he wrote to a brother 
 stationed at Agra, " of all the 
 European and Christian com- 
 munity that inhabited this sta- 
 tion." This was nearly, but not 
 exactly, true. In the agony of 
 his grief he proceeds: "My poor 
 dear wife, my darling sweet child 
 Polly, poor dear Rebecca and 
 her children, and poor innocent 
 children .Emmeline and Martha, 
 as also Mrs Frost and poor Mrs 
 Osborne," all members of his 
 family, "were all most inrm- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 75 
 
 manly butchered by the cruel 
 insurgents on the day before 
 yesterday." 
 
 The account of how a small 
 band of heroes forced their way 
 to Cawnpore will be given subse- 
 quently. Here it may be remark- 
 ed that when they entered that 
 city they were horror-stricken. 
 An officer wrote : " I have seen 
 the fearful slaughter-house, and 
 I also saw one of the ist na- 
 tive infantry men, according to 
 order, wash up part of the blood 
 which stains the floor before 
 being hanged. There were 
 quantities of dresses clogged 
 thickly with blood ; children's 
 frocks, frills, and ladies' under- 
 clothing of all kinds ; boys' 
 trousers ; leaves of Bibles, and 
 of one book in particular which 
 seems to be strewed over the 
 whole place, called 'Preparation 
 for Death ;' broken daguerreo- 
 types ; hair, some nearly a yard 
 long ; bonnets, all bloody ; and 
 one or two shoes. I picked up 
 a bit of paper with the words 
 written on it ' Ned's hair, with 
 love/ and opened it and found 
 a little bit tied with ribbon. 
 The first troops that went in, I 
 believe, saw the bodies, with 
 their arms and legs sticking out 
 through the ground. They had 
 all been thrown into a well." 
 Other letters, written on the 
 
 occasion, give details of the 
 most revolting kind. For these 
 the reader must turn to the 
 fuller accounts* of the mutiny, 
 given in such books as Cham- 
 bers's " History of the Revolt 
 in India/' As to the sepoy 
 who was washing up a part ol 
 the blood before being hanged, 
 an explanation of this prelimi- 
 nary to execution will be found 
 in a private letter, written by 
 Brigadier Neill. He wrote: 
 "Whenever a rebel is caught, 
 he is immediately 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 high caste natives; they think, 
 by doing so, they doom their 
 souls to perdition. Let them 
 think so. My object is to inflict 
 a fearful punishment for a revolt- 
 ing, cowardly, barbarous deed, 
 and to strike terror into these 
 rebels. . . . The well of muti- 
 lated bodies, containing, alas ! 
 upwards of 200 women and 
 children, I have had decently 
 covered in and built up as one 
 grave/ 1 
 
76 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A PROSPECT OF THE MUTINOUS REGION IN JUNE. 
 
 THERE were no very serious tu- 
 mults connected with the mutiny 
 during the month of June in 
 the eastern divisions of Bengal. 
 Incipient symptoms of disaffec- 
 tion were checked before they 
 attained any perilous develop- 
 ment. Calcutta was indeed 
 thrown into a state of consider- 
 able agitation on the i3th of 
 that month by an apparently 
 well-grounded rumour that the se- 
 poys of Barrackpore and that city 
 had agreed to mutiny that night. 
 The civilians enrolled them- 
 selves as volunteers, or armed 
 special constables, and patrolled 
 the streets in the English parts 
 very vigilantly for two or three 
 nights. Military arrangements 
 as effective as were possible in 
 the circumstances were made. 
 It was discovered that the de- 
 posed King of Oude, residing in 
 a splendid mansion at Garden 
 Reach, in the suburbs, had been 
 engaged in some machinations 
 with a prince of the Delhi family 
 against the Europeans, and a 
 military force marched to his 
 house at four o'clock in the 
 morning of Monday the i5th, 
 surrounded the grounds, entered 
 the house, and seized the ex- 
 king and his prime minister, 
 together with a large quantity 
 of papers. A document was 
 found containing a sketch map 
 of Calcutta, and also a plan for 
 a general rising of the natives 
 
 on June 23d, the centenary day 
 of Clive's great victory at Plassy, 
 the murder of all the Feringhees, 
 and the establishment of a na- 
 tive dynasty on the ruins of that 
 of the East India Company. 
 This rendered prompt measures 
 necessary. All the native troops 
 in Calcutta, with the exception 
 of the Governor-General's body- 
 guard, were disarmed as a pre- 
 cautionary measure, although it 
 was intimated to them that they 
 would receive pay and perform 
 sentry duty as before, and that 
 their arms would be returned to 
 them as soon as public tranquil- 
 lity was restored. After this 
 the inhabitants of the capital 
 recovered their equanimity. 
 
 When the news of this fight 
 reached London, it alarmed the 
 relatives of the deposed king 
 fully as much as it had appalled 
 the most timid of the European 
 inhabitants of Calcutta. It will 
 be remembered that the queen- 
 mother of the deposed sovereign 
 and his son and his brother, 
 went to the British capital to 
 plead his case with Parliament 
 against the action of the Com- 
 pany in annexing Oude. They 
 never had the semblance of a 
 chance of gaining anything they 
 came for. On this occasion 
 they prepared a petition for the 
 House of Lords and a memorial 
 to Queen Victoria, asserting 
 that their royal relative " dis- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 77 
 
 dained to use the arm of the re- 
 bel and the traitor to maintain 
 the right he seeks to vindicate." 
 But facts were decidedly against 
 them, and both petition and 
 memorial came to nothing. 
 
 The most serious mutinous 
 event in the districts around the 
 Anglo-Indian capital occurred 
 at the Sonthal Pargunnahs, 
 where the 5th irregular cavalry 
 displayed symptoms which 
 would have become exceedingly 
 disastrous if they had not been 
 sternly repressed. On the i2th 
 of June, Lieutenant Sir Norman 
 R. Leslie, the adjutant of that 
 regiment; Major Macdonald, 
 and Assistant -Surge on Grant, 
 were sitting in Sir Norman's 
 compound at Rohnee in the 
 dusk of the evening, when they 
 were suddenly attacked by three 
 men, armed with swords. Major 
 Macdonald's head was laid open 
 by a blow, which left him insen- 
 sible for many hours ; Mr Grant 
 was severely wounded, and Sir 
 Norman Leslie was killed. The 
 murderers, who belonged to the 
 regiment, were seized, tried, and 
 speedily executed. The follow- 
 ing extract from a letter, written 
 by Major Macdonald, explains 
 how this was effected. He 
 writes : " Two days after [the 
 attack] my native officer said he 
 had found out the murderers, and 
 that they were three men of my 
 own regiment. I had them in 
 irons in a crack, held a drum- 
 head court-martial, convicted, 
 and sentenced them to be hang- 
 ed next morning. I took on 
 my own shoulders the respon- 
 
 sibility of hanging them first, 
 and asking leave to do so after- 
 wards. The day was an awful 
 one of suspense and anxiety. 
 One of the prisoners was of very 
 high caste and influence, and 
 this man I determined to treat 
 with the greatest ignominy, by 
 getting the lowest caste man to 
 hang him. To tell you the 
 truth, I never for a moment 
 expected to leave the hanging 
 scene alive, but I was deter- 
 mined to do my duty, and well 
 knew the effect that pluck and 
 decision had on the natives. 
 The regiment was drawn out; 
 wounded cruelly as I was, I had 
 to see everything done myself, 
 even to the adjusting of the 
 ropes, and saw them looped to 
 run easy. Two of the culprits 
 were paralysed with fear and 
 astonishment, never dreaming 
 that I should dare to hang them 
 without an order from Govern- 
 ment. The third said he would 
 not be hanged, and called on 
 the Prophet and on his com- 
 rades to rescue him. This was 
 an awful moment; an instant's 
 hesitation on my part, and pro- 
 bably I should have had a dozen 
 of balls through me, so I seized 
 a pistol, clapped it to the man's 
 ear, and said, with a look there 
 was no mistake about, ' Another 
 word out of your mouth, and 
 your brains shall be scattered 
 on the ground.' He trembled, 
 and held his tongue. The 
 elephant came up, he was put 
 on his back, the rope adjusted, 
 the elephant moved, and he was 
 left dangling. I then had the 
 
78 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 others up, and off in the same 
 way. And after some time, when 
 I had dismissed the men of the 
 regiment to their lines, and still 
 found my head on my shoulders, 
 I really could scarcely believe it." 
 
 These are the two most stir- 
 ring incidents that occurred dur- 
 ing the month of June, in what 
 have been called the eastern 
 divisions of Bengal ; or, in other 
 words, the region extending from 
 the Burmese frontier to the Doab. 
 
 In the western divisions the 
 troubles were more serious. The 
 districts of which Patna and 
 Dinapoor are the chief towns, 
 were thrown early in the month 
 into a state of great excitement 
 by the general spread of rum- 
 ours, traceable to the deserters 
 from Barrackpore, that the Gov- 
 ernment were taking active mea- 
 sures to force the people to 
 change their religion. 
 
 The most serious outbreak, 
 in consequence of this state of 
 feeling, occurred about the close 
 of the month at Patna. One 
 evening a large body of Moham- 
 medans assembled at the house 
 of one of their number, Peer AH 
 Khan, a bookseller, and pro- 
 ceeded thence to the Roman 
 Catholic church and mission- 
 house in the city, with two large 
 green flags, a drum beating, and 
 shouts of Ali, Ali ! The priest, 
 whom they intended to murder, 
 escaped. They then called on 
 the populace to join them. Dr 
 Lyell, principal assistant to the 
 opium agent, immediately pro- 
 ceeded to the focus of excite- 
 ment, accompanied by nine 
 
 Sikhs. Riding ahead of his at- 
 tendants, the doctor was shot by 
 the rioters, and his body was 
 mangled and mutilated before 
 the Sikhs came to the spot Re- 
 ceiving an accession of force, they 
 soon recovered the unfortunate 
 gentleman's body, killed some 
 of the insurgents, and put the 
 rest to flight. The fanatics, in 
 return, destroyed the property 
 of the Catholic mission ; but, 
 showing that it was really a re- 
 ligious frenzy which had seized 
 them, they were guilty of no 
 plundering. Not an article 
 was removed. 
 
 Thirty-six of the insurgents 
 were afterwards captured, tried, 
 and sixteen of them, including 
 Peer Ali Khan, who was believed 
 to be the murderer of Dr Lyell, 
 were condemned to death. Peer 
 Ali Khan was offered a reprieve 
 if he would divulge the nature 
 and tha branchings of the con- 
 spiracy, but nothing could be 
 extracted from him. It was 
 afterwards ascertained, however, 
 and this is what gives wide 
 significance to the murderous 
 incident that he had been in 
 secret communication with an 
 influential native at Cawnpore 
 ever since the annexation of 
 Oude, and that the details of 
 some comprehensive plot had 
 been arranged between them. 
 The plot had been in existence 
 for many months, and there 
 were men in Patna under regu- 
 lar pay to stir up the people to 
 fight for the King of Delhi. 
 Letters found in the arch-con- 
 spirator's house, after his execu 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 79 
 
 tion, disclosed that the conspir- 
 acy aimed at re-establishing 
 Mohammedan supremacy on the 
 rums of the British power. 
 
 At Tirhoot, Ghazeepore, and 
 Azimghur, there were weary 
 watchings, outbreaks, blood- 
 shed, and plundering; but the 
 events at Benares were more 
 serious than anything that oc- 
 curred eastward of that city 
 during the month of June j and 
 they would have been very much 
 more deplorable, as any one may 
 infer from a short statement of 
 the facts, if Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Neill had not reached Benares 
 on the 3d of June. He had 
 with him sixty men and three 
 European officers of the ist 
 Madras Fusil eers. Five com- 
 panies of that regiment were in 
 the rear, all having been des- 
 patched by Viscount Canning, 
 with the eager hope that they 
 would reach Cawnpore in time 
 to relieve Sir Hugh Wheeler 
 and his unfortunate companions. 
 At Benares Colonel Neill was 
 informed that the iyth Bengal 
 native infantry had mutinied 
 at Azimghur, and that the trea- 
 sure passing through that town 
 on its way from Goruckpore to 
 Benares had been plundered. 
 Neill resolved that the 37th 
 regiment of Bengal native 
 infantry, stationed at the 
 latter city, should at once be 
 disarmed. He appeared on 
 parade at five o'clock the same 
 afternoon, accompanied by a 
 strong reliable force. The 3 7 th, 
 suspecting what he intended to 
 do, rushed to the bells that 
 
 species of armoury which has 
 already been mentioned seized 
 and loaded their muskets, and 
 fired on the Europeans, several 
 of whom fell wounded, and 
 Brigadier Ponsonby, the com- 
 mandant at Benares, was dis- 
 abled by a sun-stroke. 
 
 Colonel Neill, assuming the 
 command, made a dash at the 
 native lines, opened an effective 
 fire, expelled the 37th, burned 
 their huts, and secured his own 
 men and guns in the barracks 
 for the night. Before going on 
 parade the next morning he 
 sent all the European families 
 to the mint for refuge; and 
 this continued to be their chief 
 place of residence during a 
 considerable portion of the 
 month. Additional European 
 troops arrived in a few days, 
 and the capture and execution 
 of the insurgents were pro- 
 ceeded with in that vigorous 
 fashion which prevailed wher- 
 ever Colonel Neill felt himself 
 constrained, for necessary rea- 
 sons, to assert the prerogatives 
 of stern, implacable penal jus- 
 tice. Acting along with Mr 
 Tucker, the commissioner, and 
 Mr Gibbins, the judge, he in- 
 stituted such proceedings as 
 were fitted to strike terror in 
 the hearts of the rebellious. 
 The Rev. Mr Kennedy, who 
 was resident in Benares at 
 the time, writes : " The gibbet 
 is, I must acknowledge, a stand- 
 ing institution among us at pre- 
 sent. There it stands, immedi- 
 ately in front of the flagstaff, 
 with three ropes always attached 
 
80 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 to it, so that three may be exe- 
 cuted at one time. Scarcely 
 a day passes without some 
 wretches being hurled into 
 eternity. It is horrible, very 
 horrible ! To think of it is 
 enough to make one's blood 
 run cold ; but such is the state 
 of things here, that even fine 
 delicate ladies may be heard 
 expressing their joy at the rigour 
 with which the miscreants are 
 treated. The swiftness with 
 which crime is followed by the 
 severest punishment strikes the 
 people with astonishment ; it is 
 so utterly foreign to our modes 
 of procedure, as known to 
 them. Hitherto the process 
 has been very slow, encumb- 
 ered with forms, and such cases 
 have always been carried to 
 the Supreme Court for final 
 decision ; but now the Com- 
 missioner of Benares may give 
 commissions to any he chooses 
 the city being under martial 
 law to try, decide, and execute 
 >on the spot, without any delay, 
 and without any reference." 
 
 An outbreak at Allahabad, in 
 the early part of June, excited 
 inexpressible astonishment ; it 
 was so utterly unexpected by 
 the authorities, who believed in 
 the protestations of loyalty ob- 
 trusively made by the troops. 
 There was indeed felt by all 
 the Europeans a vague unde- 
 fined uneasiness. The fort 
 was anxiously looked to as a 
 place of refuge when trouble 
 did come, but the trouble was 
 always looked for from with- 
 out from Benares, Lucknow, 
 
 or other places not from 
 
 within. 
 
 The 6th Bengal infantry, sta- 
 tioned at Allahabad at the time, 
 was one of the most trusted 
 regiments in the whole native 
 army. The sepoys of this corps 
 made effusive protestations of 
 faithfulness to their British rul- 
 ers. It was on the 5th of June 
 that Colonel Simpson received 
 instructions from Viscount Can- 
 ning to thank his men for their 
 loyalty ; and, on the same day, 
 news reached Allahabad of the 
 occurrences on the 4th at Ben- 
 ares, and of the probable arrival 
 of some of the mutineers from 
 that city. 
 
 The Europeans had betaken 
 themselves to the fort as a pre- 
 caution ; but matters looking 
 favourable, several families slept 
 outside that night. All remained 
 quiet till about nine o'clock 
 next evening, the 6th of June, 
 when, to the unbounded dis- 
 may of the officers, two guns, 
 which had been sent under the 
 command of Captain Harward, 
 to guard the bridge of boats 
 across the Ganges, in the direc- 
 tion of Benares, were seized, 
 and the captain had to run for 
 his life. In the cantonment 
 the officers were at mess, with 
 their confidence in what they 
 considered their trusty men, till 
 then mistaken, when the sepoys 
 sounded the alarm bugle, as if 
 to bring them on parade. Those 
 who rushed out were at once 
 fired at, and nearly all shot 
 dead ; and nine young ensigns, 
 mere boys, just beginning that 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 career in which boys see so 
 much that is glorious, were 
 bayoneted in the mess-room. 
 Captain Alexander, of the 3d 
 regiment of Oude irregular 
 artillery, when he heard of the 
 rising, hastened towards the 
 lines with a few of his men, 
 but he was caught in an ambush 
 by the sepoys and at once shot 
 down. The jail birds were then 
 set free by the mutineers, and 
 murder and devastation were 
 inaugurated in all directions. 
 Europeans were shot wherever 
 they happened to be seen ; wo- 
 men suffered worse than death, 
 and death to end with ; the tele- 
 graph wires were cut, the boats 
 on the river seized, the treasury 
 plundered, and the houses of 
 both wealthy natives and Euro- 
 peans indiscriminately pillaged. 
 
 Frightful details of cruelty 
 were perpetrated. A whole 
 family was roasted alive; per- 
 Fons were killed by inches ; the 
 ears, the nose, the fingers, and 
 the feet were successively cut off; 
 some were chopped to pieces ; 
 children were tossed on bayon- 
 ets before the eyes of mothers, 
 who were being violated, or 
 were just receiving the murder- 
 ous stroke which mercifully freed 
 them from life. 
 
 An incident is related of one 
 of the youthful officers, which 
 must be repeated here. An | 
 ensign, ^nly sixteen years of j 
 age, who was left for dead j 
 among the rest, escaped in the ! 
 darkness to a neighbouring ra- 
 vine. Here he found a stream, 
 the waters of which sustained 
 
 his life for four days and nights. 
 Although desperately wounded, 
 he contrived to raise himself 
 into a tree at night-time for pro- 
 tection from wild beasts. On 
 the fifth day he was discovered, 
 and dragged by the brutal in- 
 surgents before one of their 
 leaders. There he found an- 
 other prisoner, a Christian cate- 
 chist, formerly a Mohammedan, 
 whom the sepoys were endea- 
 vouring to terrify and torment 
 into the renunciation of Chris- 
 tianity. The firmness of the 
 native was giving way as he 
 knelt before his persecutors; but 
 the boy-officer, after anxiously 
 watching him for a short time, 
 said, " Oh, my friend, come 
 what may, do not deny the 
 Lord Jesus ! " Just at this mo- 
 ment the arrival of Colonel 
 Neill and the Madras Fusiliers 
 presently to be noticed at 
 Allahabad was announced. The 
 ruffians made off; the poor cate- 
 chist's life was saved; but the 
 gentle - spirited young ensign 
 sank under the wounds and pri- 
 vations he had endured. When 
 this incident became known 
 through the medium of the pub- 
 lic journals, the father of the 
 young officer, town -clerk of 
 Evesham, told how brief had 
 been the career thus cut short. 
 Arthur Marcus Hill Cheek had 
 left England so recently as the 
 2oth of March preceding, to 
 commence the life of a soldier. 
 He arrived in Calcutta in May, 
 was appointed to the 6th native 
 regiment, reached Allahabad 
 on the i Qth of the same month, 
 F 
 
82 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 and was shot down by his own 
 men eighteen days afterwards. 
 
 An agony of suspense was 
 suffered by the inmates of the 
 fort on the night of the 6th. 
 They thought that the alarm- 
 bugle meant the arrival of mu- 
 tineers from Benares. But the 
 reality soon startled them. For- 
 tunately Lieutenant Brayser 
 had the presence of mind and 
 the energy to disarm eighty se- 
 poys, who, under his command, 
 guarded the main gate of the 
 fort, whose muskets he found 
 loaded and capped. For twelve 
 days the Europeans in this 
 place of refuge were kept in 
 terror. Night and day bands 
 of marauders rushed from place 
 to place in the city, plundering 
 and burning as they rushed. 
 The civilians were organised as 
 volunteers; the male inhabitants 
 of the fort were glad to escape 
 from it in these ranks, for no 
 other change than to skirmish 
 and fight with the insurgents in 
 the streets. 
 
 Colonel Neill no sooner heard 
 of the occurrences at Allahabad 
 than he proceeded towards it. 
 The distance from Benares is 
 about seventy-five miles, but 
 leaving that city on the evening 
 of the Qth, he reached Allaha- 
 bad on the afternoon of the nth. 
 He found the neighbouring vil- 
 lages swarming with insurgents, 
 the bridge of boats partly broken 
 up, and in the hands of the mob, 
 and the fort almost completely 
 invested. But by careful man- 
 oeuvring, he succeeded in ob- 
 taining boats to cross to the 
 
 fort, with the one officer and 
 forty-three men of the Madras 
 Fusiliers, with whom he had set 
 out in advance. Assuming the 
 command at once, he arranged 
 for having the mutineers driven 
 out of the villages and the 
 bridge of boats recaptured the 
 following morning. In this he 
 succeeded, and thus secured a 
 safe road for the approach of 
 a detachment commanded by 
 Major Stephenson, who arrived 
 in the evening of that day. 
 Neill gained completely the up- 
 per hand, and proceeded by a 
 prompt, firm, and stern course 
 of action, to re-establish British 
 authority in Allahabad and the 
 neighbourhood. Two steam- 
 boat loads of women and chil- 
 dren were sent down the Ganges 
 to Calcutta ; and by the end ot 
 June tranquillity was restored. 
 Colonel Neill now planned the 
 best expedition he could arrange 
 for in the circumstances, to 
 march for the relief of Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler and the other belea- 
 guered Europeans at Cawnpore. 
 Meantime the process of se- 
 lecting salient incidents from 
 the thousands of exciting events 
 and thrilling adventures which 
 were daily occurring, leads one 
 to follow the course of events 
 back again into the turbulent 
 country of Oude. The 3th of 
 June 1 85 7, was a day of gloom 
 and evil omen at Lucknow. Sir 
 Henry Lawrence had continued 
 watchful, hopeful, and con- 
 stantly on the look-out for how lie 
 could be helpful to other cities 
 in this perturbed region. On 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 83 
 
 the evening of the 29th, how- 
 ever, he received information 
 that a rebel force, six or seven 
 thousand strong, was encamped 
 near the Kookra Canal, on the 
 Fyzabad road, eight miles dis- 
 tant from Lucknow. Determin- 
 ing at once to attack them, he 
 set out at six o'clock next morn- 
 ing with about six hundred men 
 and eleven guns. Misled by 
 his informants, probably design- 
 edly, Sir Henry fell into an am- 
 bush of considerable force near 
 Chinut Nothing daunted, this 
 brave soldier, taken at a disad- 
 vantage, struggled against supe- 
 rior numbers, confident of vic- 
 tory, till, just at the most criti- 
 cal moment, his Oude artillery- 
 men, proving themselves the 
 traitors they were, overturned 
 their six guns into ditches, cut 
 the traces of their horses, and 
 went over to their kindred rebels. 
 Lawrence saw that retreat was 
 inevitable. Completely out- 
 flanked, exposed to a terrible 
 fire on all sides, weakened by 
 the desertion of these artillery- 
 men, having few guns of any 
 use, and almost destitute of am- 
 munition, the retreat became a 
 disastrous rout. Under a scorch- 
 ing sun, and the scathing fire of 
 the mutineers, officers, and men 
 fell rapidly. Colonel Case, of 
 Her Majesty's 32d, being mor- 
 tally wounded, was succeeded 
 by Captain Steevens, who imme- 
 diately fell; his command was 
 assumed by Captain Mansfield, 
 who, although he escaped a sol- 
 dier's death that day, died soon 
 ?fter of cholera. 
 
 It took a hero of the finest 
 mould to look the difficulties in 
 the face which Lawrence had 
 now to encounter, and not quail 
 befoie them. They aroused 
 him to more determined efforts. 
 In Lucknow, for the defence of 
 the English, he had hitherto 
 garrisoned the Residency, the 
 fort of Muchee Bhowan, and 
 other posts. The disaster of 
 the 3oth of June so weakened 
 him, that he had not men left 
 to put in effective strength more 
 than one of these. He resolved 
 to blow up the Muchee Bhowan. 
 At midnight on the ist of July, 
 after the troops were removed, 
 240 barrels of gunpowder and 
 3,000,000 ball cartridges, were 
 sent into the air. 
 
 After that the Residency was 
 the only stronghold left to the 
 English ; and it became only 
 too apparent later that had Fort 
 Bhowan not been blown up, 
 scarcely a European would have 
 been spared to tell the tale of 
 subsequent miseries at Luck- 
 now. Six months' provision for 
 a thousand persons was col- 
 lected into the Residency ; and 
 all arrangements were made 
 which foresight and farsight 
 could suggest for a successful 
 defence. 
 
 But the last of the gallant, brave, 
 and whe chief- commissioner 
 with unlimited military authority 
 was at hand. A shell, sent by 
 the insurgents, penetrated into 
 his room on the ist of July; his 
 officers advised him to leave a 
 part of the Residency so dan- 
 gerously exposed, but he re- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 fused Next day another shell 
 entering the same room, and 
 bursting, wounded him mortally. 
 Sir Henry knew that his last 
 hour was approaching, and he 
 made such arrangements for the 
 protection of his people as 
 seemed to him wise and neces- 
 sary. He appointed Brigadier 
 Inglis his successor in military 
 matters, and Major Banks Chief- 
 Commissioner of Oude. 
 
 It was a heavy burden of 
 sorrow that had settled down 
 upon the Residency. One 
 thought possessed every heart, 
 and in the midst of innumerable 
 miseries, one case minimised 
 all the others during the two 
 days he survived after the fatal 
 blow from a splinter of a shell. 
 It was hushed on the 4th of 
 July, the day on which Sir Henry 
 Lawrence breathed his last; and 
 it would be an impertinence to 
 aim at depicting in words the 
 grief, deep and earnest, which 
 took possession of every breast 
 when this became known. 
 
 The following estimate of his 
 character and tribute to its 
 worth is from Fraser's Magazine, 
 No. 336 : " Every boy has read, 
 and many living men still re- 
 member, how the death of Nel- 
 son was felt by all as a deep 
 personal affliction. Sir Henry 
 Lawrence was less widely known, 
 and his deeds were in truth of 
 less magnitude than those of 
 the great sea-captain ; but never 
 probably was a public man 
 within the sphere of his reputa- 
 tion more ardently beloved. 
 Sir Henry Lawrence had that 
 
 rare and happy faculty which 
 a man in almost every other 
 respect unlike him, Sir Charles 
 Napier, is said also to have 
 possessed of attaching to him- 
 self every one with whom he 
 came in contact. He had that 
 gift, which is never acquired a 
 gracious, winning, noble man- 
 ner; rough and ready as he 
 was in the field, his manner in 
 private life had an indescribable 
 charm of frankness, grace, and 
 even courtly dignity. He had 
 that virtue which Englishmen 
 instinctively and characteristi- 
 cally love a lion-like courage. 
 He had that fault which Eng- 
 lishmen so readily forgive, and 
 when mixed with what are felt 
 to be its naturally concomitant 
 good qualities, they almost ad- 
 mire a hot and impetuous 
 temper; he had in overflowing 
 measure that God-like grace 
 which even the base revere and 
 the good acknowledge as the 
 crown of virtue the grace of 
 charity. No young officer ever 
 sat at Sir Henry's table without 
 learning to think more kindly 
 of the natives; no one, young 
 or old, man or woman, ever 
 heard Sir Henry speak of the 
 European soldier, or ever visited 
 the Lawrence Asylum, without 
 being excited to a nobler and 
 truer appreciation of the real 
 extent of his duty towards his 
 neighbour. He was one of the 
 few distinguished Anglo-Indians 
 who had attained to something 
 like an English reputation in 
 his lifetime. In a few years his 
 name will be familiar to every 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 85 
 
 reader of Indian history, but for 
 the present it is in India that 
 his memory will be most dearly 
 cherished; it is by Anglo-Indians 
 that any eulogy on him will be 
 best appreciated ; it is by them 
 that the institutions which he 
 founded and maintained will be 
 fostered as a monument to his 
 memory." 
 
 How, after this, Lucknow was 
 defended and delivered, will be 
 told in the proper place. 
 
 The mutiny of Fyzabad was 
 attended with great sufferings 
 and a sad loss of life. On the 
 7th of June Colonel Lennox 
 was informed that the insurgent 
 1 7th regiment of Bengal native 
 infantry was approaching that 
 station from Azimghur. He 
 resolved to advance to Surooj- 
 Khoond, a place about five 
 miles distant, to meet the muti- 
 neers, and repel them before 
 they reached Fyzabad. The 
 native troops under his com- 
 mand refused to go, but pro- 
 mised to fight in the cantonment 
 if it should become necessary. 
 But on the evening of the 8th 
 they showed their true colours, 
 by placing an armed guard over 
 their officers for the night, two 
 of whom, trying to escape, were 
 fired at, and brought back. The 
 men held a council of war, at 
 which the cavalry proposed to 
 kill the officers, but the repre- 
 sentatives of the 22d regiment 
 objected to this. The officers 
 were informed that they would 
 be allowed to leave, and might 
 take with them their private 
 jirms and property, but no public 
 
 property all that belonged to 
 the King of Oude. Colonel 
 Lennox, powerless to resist, 
 departed in a boat with his wife 
 and daughter, and after many 
 perils, owing to the friendly as- 
 sistance of Meer Mohammed 
 Hossein Khan, a noble and 
 considerate chieftain, they reach- 
 ed Calcutta with their lives. 
 The main body of the Fyzabad 
 officers were sent off by the 
 mutineers in four boats. They 
 were soon attacked by sepoys. 
 Lieutenants Currie and Parsons 
 were drowned while attempting 
 to escape by swimming. Eight 
 who reached the shore, in the 
 course of their flight, had to 
 cross a stream which took them 
 only up to the knees; here 
 Lieutenant Lindesay was liter- 
 ally cut to pieces ; and when the 
 remaining seven reached ,the 
 opposite bank, five were but- 
 chered at once, the two sur- 
 vivors ran for their lives, but 
 Lieutenant Cautley was speedily 
 overtaken and kifeed; and the 
 only one alive, Sergeant Busher, 
 outrunning his pursuers, reached 
 a Brahmin village, where a bowl 
 of sherbet was given him. After 
 a little rest he ran on again, but 
 finding that he was closely pur- 
 sued, the sergeant tried to hide 
 under some straw in a hut. He 
 was discovered, dragged out by 
 the hair of the head, exhibited 
 from village to village for the 
 rabble to jeer at and scoff, but by 
 a miracle he escaped, and reach- 
 ed Ghazeepore alive seventeen 
 days after he had sailed from 
 Fyzabad. The boat which con 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 tained the civilians and the 
 women and children suffered 
 terribly. Many lives were lost. 
 One of the most affecting inci- 
 dents of the mutiny was the 
 escape of Mrs Mill and her 
 children. In all the dreadful 
 hurry of departure, she became 
 separated from her husband, and 
 was the last Englishwoman left 
 in Fyzabad. How she escaped 
 and how she fared was more 
 than she herself could clearly 
 narrate ; for the whole appeared 
 afterwards as a dreadful dream, 
 in which every kind of misery 
 was confusedly mixed. During 
 two or three weeks she was 
 wandering up and down the 
 country, living in the jungle 
 when man refused her shelter, 
 and searching the fields for food 
 when none was obtainable else- 
 where. Her poor infant, eight 
 months old, died for want of its 
 proper nourishment; but the 
 other two children, seven and 
 three years old, survived all the 
 privations to which they were 
 exposed. On one occasion, 
 seeing some troopers approach- 
 ing, and being utterly hopeless, 
 she passionately besought them, 
 if their intentions were hostile, 
 to kill her children without tor- 
 turing them, and then to kill her. 
 The appeal reached the hearts 
 of the rude men ; they took her 
 to a village, and gave her a 
 little succour; and their convey- 
 ance to Goruckpore, where dan- 
 ger was over, was facilitated by 
 a friendly native. 
 
 At Sultanpore, on the Qth of 
 June, Colonel Fisher, Captain 
 
 Gubbins, and two other Euro- 
 peans, were murdered. The 
 mutinous sepoys urged Lieu- 
 tenant Tucker to escape, which 
 he did. In many other in- 
 stances they showed a special 
 affection for one or more of 
 their officers, and tried to save 
 them. 
 
 A very orderly mutiny, con- 
 ducted with the utmost quiet- 
 ness, took place at Persh/idee- 
 pore on the lothof June, /n the 
 ist regiment of Oude irregular 
 infantry. Here one of the tricks 
 of the intriguers was detected. 
 He caused ground bones to 
 be mixed with the attah (coarse 
 flour with which chupatties are 
 made), and then sent a rmioui 
 round the bazaar where it was 
 sold that the Government in- 
 tended by compelling the people 
 to eat this flour to take away 
 their caste. Captain Thom- 
 son detected and exposed this 
 calumny, and lived till the gih 
 day of June under the pleasant 
 delusion that he had scotched 
 the snake of mutiny. But on 
 that day a troop of the 3d Oudc 
 irregular cavalry arrived from 
 Pertabghur, and the news of 
 the rising at Sultanpore spread. 
 It proved infectious. Captain 
 Thomson rose on the morning 
 of the loth to find his regiment 
 all dressed a corps of respect- 
 ful mutineers. He knew there 
 were some good and faithful 
 men among them, and these he 
 tried to 'induce to accompany 
 him to Allahabad, but the pro- 
 spect of loot was too much for 
 even their loyalty; the temp- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 87 
 
 tation of treasure was more than 
 they could resist, so they all 
 joined in the spoliation, and 
 felt this a good reason for be- 
 lieving that their allegiance had 
 come to a natural close. At 
 four o'clock in the afternoon all 
 the Europeans left the station. 
 Not a shot was fired, nor an 
 angry word uttered. They were 
 escorted to the fort of Dharoo- 
 poor, which belonged to Rajah 
 Hunnewaut, a friendly chieftain, 
 who treated them courteously, 
 and after some days forwarded 
 them safely to Allahabad. This 
 particular mutiny comes in 
 as almost a pleasant variety, 
 amid the scenes of bloodshed 
 which have to be encountered 
 even when writing the barest 
 summary of that tale of woe and 
 agony which is vaguely styled 
 the Indian Mutiny. 
 
 The troops which broke out 
 in open mutiny at Lucknow on 
 the last two days of May, fled 
 towards Seetapoor, a town about 
 fifty miles due north of Luck- 
 now. What became of them 
 is not known ; but the native 
 troops stationed at Seetapoor 
 infantry and military police, 
 in all, about 3000 men showed 
 themselves in undisguised mu- 
 tiny on the 3d of June. They 
 began by plundering the trea- 
 sury. They set fire to the offi- 
 cers' bungalows, then attacked 
 and shot all of them who came 
 their way, and eagerly sought 
 them out for slaughter. The 
 surviving officers hurried to the 
 house of Mr Christian, the com- 
 missioner; and when all were 
 
 assembled, with the civilians, 
 the ladies, and the children, it 
 was at once resolved to quit the 
 burning bungalows and ruthless 
 soldiers, and seek refuge at Luck- 
 now. Some made their exit 
 without any preparation, among 
 whom was Lieutenant Burnes 
 of the loth Oude irregular in- 
 fantry roaming through jungles 
 for days, and aiding women and 
 children as best they could, 
 suffering all those miseries, which 
 have so often been depicted. 
 The great body of Europeans, 
 however, left the station in 
 buggies and other vehicles ; and 
 as the high roads were perilous, 
 the fugitives drove over hills, hol- 
 lows, and ploughed fields, where 
 perhaps vehicles had never been 
 driven before. Fortunately, 
 twenty troopers remained faith- 
 ful to them, and escorted them 
 all the way to Lucknow, which 
 place they reached on the 
 night of the third day, reft of 
 everything they possessed, like 
 many other fugitives in those 
 days. Many of the Europeans 
 did not succeed in quitting 
 Seetapoor in time, and among 
 these the work of death was 
 ruthlessly carried on. The pro- 
 fessedly faithful troopers were un- 
 willing or unable to check these 
 deeds of barbarity. 
 
 At almost every station in 
 ! Oude, where there was a native 
 regiment or a treasury in store, 
 scenes of murder and plunder 
 were exhibited. At Nynee Tal, 
 a healthy spot a few miles from 
 Almora, in Ruamon, and not far 
 from the Nepauleseborder,many 
 
88 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 refugees found a place of repose. 
 It became a second Simla dur- 
 ing the disturbances. Women 
 and children, whose lives were 
 not sacrificed, were hurried off 
 thither, and to one or two other 
 towns among the hills, to remain 
 there till days of peace returned, 
 or till means of safe conveyance 
 to Calcutta or Bombay could 
 be procured. Jung Bahadoor, 
 the Prime Minister of Nepaul, 
 but virtually its chief or king, 
 was friendly to the English, and 
 sent Goorkha regiments to de- 
 fend Nynee Tal, and protect 
 those who had sought refuge 
 there. About the middle of 
 June seven gentlemen, three 
 ladies, and five children, es- 
 caped from the Oude mutineers 
 into the jungle region of Ne- 
 paul, and Jung Bahadoor issued 
 orders whenever he heard of 
 them, to see that they were 
 treated with every kindness, 
 and that elephants and other 
 means of conveyance should 
 be supplied them for their safe 
 retreat to Goruckpore. 
 
 At Bareilly, in Rohilcund, the 
 native soldiers, on the 2gih of 
 May, concerted a plan of mutiny 
 while bathing in the river. The 
 morning of Sunday, the 3ist 
 Sunday again, observe ! usher- 
 ed in a day of bloodshed and 
 rapine. At eleven o'clock in 
 the forenoon the rattle of mus- 
 ketry, the roar of cannon, and 
 the howls and yells of the rabble, 
 were only too plain an announce- 
 ment that cavalry and infantry 
 were busy at their infernal 
 work. The only safety for 
 
 the Europeans, military as well 
 as civilian, lay in precipitate 
 flight. About twenty-five mili- 
 tary officers escaped, but there 
 was a large list of missing, many 
 of whom, it was afterwards ascer- 
 tained, had been brutally mas- 
 sacred. Captain Mackenzie, of 
 the 8th irregular cavalry, clung 
 to his troopers in the earnest 
 but vain hope that they would 
 remain faithful, but only nine- 
 teen of them did so, and they 
 escorted their officers all the 
 way to Nynee Tal. 
 
 This mutiny was headed by 
 a hoary-headed traitor, named 
 Khan Bahadoor Khan, who had 
 for many years been in receipt 
 of a double pension from the 
 East India Company. He 
 was the living representative of 
 one of the early Rohilla chiefs 
 of Rohilcund, and a retired 
 judge of one of the native courts 
 of justice. An old, venerable- 
 looking man, of insinuating man- 
 ners, Khan Bahadoor Khan was 
 thoroughly relied on by the civil 
 authorities at Bareilly. He was 
 loud in the protestation of his 
 indignation against the Delhi 
 mutineers, and yet he ordered 
 the murder of all Europeans who 
 unfortunately did not succeed in 
 making their escape. By his ord- 
 ers, as self-elected chief of Rohil- 
 cund, a search was made for all 
 who might still be hiding in Bar- 
 eilly, and Judge Robertson and 
 four or five other European 
 gentlemen were, after a mock 
 trial, hung in the Kotwal Square. 
 
 During the month of June 
 Bareilly remained entirely in 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 89 
 
 the hands of the mutineers. 
 Not an Englishman remained 
 alive in the place. 
 
 It would only be going over 
 the rehearsal of similar atroci- 
 ties to linger in Rohilcund and 
 relate what happened in Booda- 
 youn, Mooradabad, and Shah- 
 jehanpoor. At the last-named 
 military station the native troops 
 broke out in mutiny on Sunday 
 the 3ist of May. The 28th 
 regiment of infantry rose, sur- 
 rounded the Christian residents 
 when they were at church en- 
 gaged in divine worship, and 
 murdered nearly the whole of 
 them, including the Rev. Mr 
 M'Callum, in the sacred edifice 
 itself. The few who escaped 
 only rushed on an accumulation 
 of miseries before they encount- 
 ered a similar cruel fate. They 
 first sought shelter at Moham- 
 merah, in Oude ; after that they 
 came in the way of the 4ist 
 regiment, hot from the mutiny 
 at Seetapoor, who shot them 
 down, and sabred them without 
 distinction, leaving scarcely one 
 alive to tell the dismal tale to 
 English ears. 
 
 Nynee Tal was now over- 
 crowded with refugees from 
 Oude and Rohilcund. At the 
 end of June there were five 
 times as many women and 
 children as men among the 
 Europeans at that place ; and 
 the proceedings in the districts 
 around it were regarded anxi- 
 ously by many sorrowing hearts 
 and eager eyes. 
 
 Futtehpoor, in the Lower 
 poab, about mid-way between 
 
 Allahabad and Cawnpore, be- 
 came a perilous place for Euro- 
 pean residents after the news of 
 the outbreak at the former city 
 reached that small civil station 
 in the centre of a group of 
 Mohammedan villages. On the 
 9th of June the residents held a 
 council on their roof, and re- 
 solved to quit the station. A 
 few troopers befriended them; 
 and they succeeded, after many 
 perils and sufferings, in reaching 
 Banda, a town southward of the 
 Jumna. Not all of them, how- 
 ever. Mr Robert Tucker, the 
 judge, resisting entreaty, deter- 
 mined to remain at his post to 
 the last. He rode all over the 
 town, promising rewards to those 
 natives who would be faithful ; 
 he endeavoured to shame others 
 by his heroic bearing; he ap- 
 pealed to the gratitude and 
 good feeling of many of the 
 poorer natives, who had been 
 benefited by him in more peace- 
 ful times. But all in vain. The 
 jail was broken open, the prison- 
 ers liberated, and the treasury 
 plundered ; and Mr Tucker, fly- 
 ing to the roof of the court of 
 justice, there bravely defended 
 himself until a storm of bullets 
 ended the earthly career of a 
 noble Englishman. Robert 
 Tucker was one of the many 
 civil servants of whom the Hon- 
 ourable East India Company 
 had just cause to be proud. 
 
 Agra was kept in a state of 
 fearful excitement during this 
 month. Meerut remained in 
 the hands of the British, but 
 Major-General Hewett was su- 
 
00 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 perseded, and another com- 
 mander appointed in his place. 
 Daks were re-established be- 
 tween Meerut and Agra in the 
 one direction, and Meerut and 
 Kurnaul in the other. 
 
 Simla, during these various 
 operations, was a place to which, 
 like Nynee Tal, ladies and chil- 
 dren, military officers and civil- 
 ians, fled for refuge, generally 
 after being despoiled by the 
 mutineers. Throughout June 
 it was defended by the gentle- 
 men who had reached its shel- 
 ter, and by a few British troops. 
 The people of the bazaar, and 
 all the native servants, were dis- 
 armed. 
 
 Delhi continued to be the 
 centre towards which the atten- 
 tion of all India was directed 
 with absorbing anxiety. The 
 mutineers from every centre in 
 the disturbed region, either fled 
 thither after the bloody work in 
 theirrespective localities seemed 
 to be accomplished, or they 
 shaped the course they con- 
 tinued to pursue in dependence 
 on the military operations going 
 on there. All the British troops 
 that could be sent were hurried 
 off to join the ranks of the be- 
 siegers, who began their gigan- 
 tic labour of recovering for the 
 British the city of the Mogul 
 about the middle of June. 
 
 The region of Central India, 
 extending from Lower Bengal 
 to Rajpootana, and separating 
 Northern India from the South- 
 ern or peninsular portion of the 
 empire, was in a state of wild 
 disorder during this month. To 
 
 notice many of the incidents in 
 this wide area would be impos- 
 sible in such space as is at the 
 disposal of the writer of this 
 summary of the great revolt in 
 India, which has been recorded 
 for all ages of the world in deeds 
 of blood, which can never be 
 blotted from the memory of 
 mankind. Jhansi, in Bundel- 
 kund, was the scene of a fright- 
 ful outrage. Nearly all the 
 Europeans were at once put to 
 death. The native troops rose 
 on the afternoon of the 4th of 
 June, and shot at all the officers 
 in the cantonment. Many were 
 killed, and those who escaped 
 for the time, barricaded them- 
 selves in a fort as well as they 
 were able. 
 
 The place was too weak to 
 stand a siege for any length of 
 time. Musketry and sword cuts 
 for the besieged often met 
 their assailants hand to hand at 
 the gates brought down many 
 of the brave little garrison of 
 Europeans; and some of the 
 civilians who tried to escape dis- 
 guised as natives, were caught 
 by the mutineers and killed. 
 At last when many of the offi- 
 cers had fallen, and the scarcity 
 of ammunition and food dis- 
 heartened the survivors, Major 
 Skene accepted terms offered to 
 him on oath. The whole gar- 
 rison was to be spared if he 
 opened the gate and surrender- 
 ed. But the oath was merely a 
 blind of 'the most unhallowed 
 perjury. The bloodthirsty vil- 
 lains soon demonstrated its 
 value. They seized all, men, 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 91 
 
 women, and children, and bound 
 them in two rows of ropes, the 
 men in the one row, and the 
 women and children in the other. 
 The whole were then deliber- 
 ately put to death. The poor 
 ladies stood with their infants 
 in their arms, and their elder 
 children clinging to their gowns; 
 and, when the husbands and 
 fathers had been slaughtered, 
 then came the other half of the 
 tragedy. It is even said that 
 the innocent children were cut 
 in halves before their mothers' 
 eyes. One relief, and one only, 
 marked the scene; there was 
 not, so far as is known, torture 
 and violation of women as pre- 
 cursors of death. About thirty 
 officers military, civilian, and 
 non-commissioned nineteen 
 ladies, and twenty -three chil- 
 dren, all were killed. 
 
 It was afterwards ascertained 
 by Mr Thornton, the collector 
 of a district between Jhansi and 
 Cawnpore, that the mutinous 
 troops had originally no inten- 
 tion, beyond seizing the treasure 
 and sharing it, before they set 
 out for Delhi. The murder was 
 an afterthought, or rather a 
 suggestion from beyond their 
 own circle. A Bundelkund chief- 
 tain ess, the Ranee of Jhansi, 
 wished to regain power in the 
 district, and, to attain this end, 
 she bribed the sepoys and sow- 
 ars with large presents to take 
 the fort, and to put all the 
 Europeans to death. It was 
 thus a woman, a lady of rank, 
 who was mainly responsible for 
 the guilt of the murder of more 
 
 than forty European ladies and 
 their children. 
 
 One account which reached 
 the ears of officers at other sta- 
 tions was, that one of the vic- 
 tims, Major Skene, when he 
 became aware of the treachery 
 meditated by the perjured se- 
 poys and their instigators, kissed 
 his wife, shot her, and then shot 
 himself, to avert atrocities he 
 feared, which are worse than 
 death. 
 
 The disasters at Gwalior be- 
 gan on Sunday the i4th of June 
 on Sunday as usual at 
 nine o'clock in the evening. 
 The alarm was given at the 
 cantonment ; all rushed out of 
 their respective bungalows, and 
 each family found others in a 
 similar state of alarm. Shots 
 were heard; officers were gal- 
 loping or running past ; horses 
 were wildly rushing with empty 
 saddles ; and no one could give 
 a precise account of the details 
 of the outbreak. Then occurred 
 the sudden and mournful disrup- 
 tion of family ties; husbands be- 
 came separated from their wives; 
 ladies and children sought to 
 hide in gardens and 'grass, on 
 house-tops, and in huts. Then 
 arose flames from the burning 
 bungalows; and then came 
 bands of reckless sepoys hunt- 
 ing out the poor homeless Eng- 
 lish who were in hiding. Dr 
 Kirk, with his wife and child, hid 
 in the garden all night ; in the 
 morning they were discovered. 
 Mrs Kirk was robbed, without 
 being otherwise ill-treated, but 
 her husband was shot dead be- 
 
92 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 fore her eyes. After this miser- 
 able sight, Mrs Kirk begged the 
 murderers to put an end to her 
 also; but they replied, "No, 
 we have killed you already," 
 pointing to the dead body of 
 her husband. 
 
 The ladies .and children were 
 allowed to depart with little else 
 but their lives. Their sufferings 
 
 were fearful during five days oi 
 weary journeying. How they 
 bore up against hunger, thirst, 
 heat, illness, fatigue, and ac- 
 cumulated anxieties, they could 
 not tell. Many arrived at Agra 
 without shoes or stockings, and 
 all were beggared of their world- 
 ly possessions when they reach- 
 ed that city. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SIR JOHN LAWRENCE IN THE PUNJAUB. 
 
 THE Punjaub has scarcely been 
 mentioned yet in this compressed 
 narrative. The British took this 
 country of " five rivers," as the 
 word Punjaub is well known to 
 mean in Persian, in full sovereign- 
 ty in March 1849. Sir Henry 
 Lawrence distinguished himself 
 greatly as one of the first com- 
 missioners. His brother, Sir 
 John Lawrence, now Lord Law- 
 rence, was knighted for eminent 
 services while acting with Sir 
 Henry, and had succeeded him 
 as chief commissioner in the 
 Punjaub. 
 
 The capital of this country is 
 the famous city of Lahore. The 
 outbreak at Meerut, which oc- 
 curred on the loth of May, was 
 known there on the i2th. The 
 authorities had observed symp- 
 toms of restlessness among the 
 native troops, but this news re- 
 quired something more energetic 
 than observation of symptoms. 
 
 Sir John Lawrence being absent, 
 away at Rawul Pindee, a station 
 between Lahore and Peshawur, 
 had happily left behind him col- 
 leagues in power who knew 
 what to do. They held a coun- 
 cil of war, and resolved to de- 
 prive the native troops of am- 
 munition and percussion caps, 
 and to place more Europeans 
 within the fort. But a native 
 officer of the Sikh police re- 
 vealed to the authorities the 
 outlines of a conspiracy he had 
 discovered, and this led Briga- 
 dier Corbett, commandant of 
 the British military cantonment 
 for Lahore, which stood at 
 Meean Meer, six miles distant 
 from the capital, to determine 
 on the complete disarmament 
 of the native regiments. 
 
 There was a ball to be given 
 on the night of the i2th by 
 the officers at Meean Meer. It 
 was given, and while the jocund 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 dance was going on, prepara- 
 tions were being made for 
 another kind of entertainment. 
 Early on the morning of the 
 1 3th the whole of the troops, 
 native and European, were 
 ordered on parade, avowedly 
 to hear the Governor-General's 
 order relating to the affairs at 
 Barrackpore, but really that the 
 Europeans might disarm the 
 natives. After this reading, a 
 little manoeuvring was ordered, 
 whereby the whole of the native 
 infantry regiments the i6th, 
 26th, and 49th Bengal infantry, 
 and the 8th Bengal cavalry 
 were confronted by the guns and 
 by five companies of the Queen's 
 8 1 st. At a signal, the sepoys 
 were ordered to pile arms, and 
 the sowars to unbuckle sabres; 
 they hesitated, but grape shot 
 and port fires were ready ; they 
 knew it, and they yielded. Thus 
 were disarmed 2500 troops by 
 only 600 British soldiers. Mean- 
 while the fort was not forgotten. 
 Major Spencer, who commanded 
 the wing of the 26th stationed 
 there, had the men drawn up 
 on parade on the morning of 
 that same day. Three com- 
 panies of the Sist entered the 
 fort under Captain Smith, and 
 these 300 British, or thereabouts, 
 found it no difficult task to dis- 
 arm the 500 or 600 sepoys. This 
 done, the 8ist and the artillery 
 were quickly at such posts as they 
 might most usefully strengthen, 
 in the lines of the 8ist, on 
 the artillery parade ground, 
 and in an open space i>n the 
 centre of the cantonment, where 
 
 the brigadier and his staff slept 
 every night. The ladies and 
 children were accommodated in 
 the barracks, while the regi- 
 mental officers were ordered to 
 sleep in a certain selected house 
 in the lines of their own regi- 
 ments, regiments disarmed but 
 not disbanded, and professedly 
 disarmed only as a matter of 
 temporary expediency. 
 
 It is important to notice the 
 date of this restlessness at La- 
 hore, and its dependence on the 
 news from Meerut. In the east- 
 ern part of the Punjaub, from 
 the nth to the i4th of May, 
 were days of critical importance. 
 The centenary day of dive's 
 victory at Plassy was drawing 
 on, but it would seem from evi- 
 dence subsequently procured 
 that the i5th day of May was 
 the day fixed for a simultaneous 
 rising in rebellion of the Bengal 
 sepoys the " poorbeahs," as 
 they are called there. Did they 
 mean to have the work com- 
 pleted by the 23d and celebrate 
 it as the great day of another 
 kin d of victory ? Were eight days 
 considered a long enough time to 
 exterminate the British? Had 
 the plot succeeded,- the time 
 might have been sufficient. 
 There were, comparatively 
 speaking, not so many to kill, 
 and there were of willing murder- 
 ers a thousand for each victim. 
 But the outbreak at Meerut 
 seems to have been unseason- 
 able. It occurred before the 
 time agreed on five days be- 
 fore it and that is a serious 
 item of time in the maturing or 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 marring of a plot. Major-Gene- 
 ral Hewett's initial promptitude, 
 then inasmuch as it brought 
 the monster mutiny to birth be- 
 fore its due time, and thus ex- 
 posed its weakness with all its 
 ferocity to those whose life de- 
 pended on smothering it was 
 the accident which arrested the 
 combination of evil which was 
 intended by those who planned 
 the Titanic, or rather Satanic, 
 plot. Those five days probably 
 prevented the shedding of an 
 amount of European blood 
 which it would be frightful to 
 try to imagine. 
 
 Peshawur is the chief city of 
 the western division of the Pun- 
 jaub. On the 2ist of May, 
 news reached that capital that 
 the 55th Bengal native infantry 
 had mutinied at Murdan, one of 
 the military stations, on the 
 previous day; that they had their 
 officers under surveillance, al- 
 though they did not molest 
 them ; and that Colonel Spottis- 
 woode, their commander, had 
 committed suicide through grief 
 and mortification. It was at 
 once resolved to disarm the 
 native troops at Peshawur. This 
 was cleverly and successfully 
 accomplished on the 22d, very 
 much against the will and even 
 to the deep chagrin of many 
 British officers. There always 
 are people blind with their eyes 
 open who yet keep asserting 
 that they only can see. 
 
 The 24th, 27th, and $ist 
 regiments of native Bengal in- 
 fantry were on this occasion de- 
 prived of their arms, as were 
 
 also the 5th regiment of light 
 cavalry; and a subadar-major of 
 the 5ist was hanged in presence 
 of all his comrades and would-be 
 companion mutineers. 
 
 The disarming was effected 
 by confronting each regiment 
 with small parties of European 
 artillery and cavalry in such a 
 way as to prevent the regiments 
 from assisting one another. The 
 disarmed men were not allowed 
 to desert. Instant death was 
 the punishment of an attempt at 
 desertion. The Europeans and a 
 body of irregular troopers who 
 had no sympathy with the hitherto 
 petted sepoys of Bengal, kept a 
 vigilant watch over them. 
 
 When the disarming was thus 
 thoroughly accomplished, a re- 
 lieving force was at once sent 
 to Murdan. Arrived there, it 
 attacked the mutinous 55th, 
 killed or captured 200 of them, 
 and drove the rest away. 
 
 The misguided insurgents had 
 counted on sympathy and sup- 
 port from the Mohammedan 
 hill tribes. But these half- 
 trained mountaineers on the 
 Afghan border had come under 
 the spell of the powerful charac- 
 ter of the chivalrous Colonel 
 Edwardes, who had so greatly 
 distinguished himself in the Pun- 
 jaub war, and whose subsequent 
 admirable management of these 
 rough materials had added sig- 
 nally to his laurels. The hill- 
 men hated the Brahmins, and 
 held all 'traitors in contempt. 
 When, therefore, Colonel Ed- 
 wardes sent them against the 
 mutineers, the latter found good 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 95 
 
 reason to rue the day. The 
 sepoys were brought back to the 
 British cantonment in fives and 
 tens, and were instantly put to 
 death. No quarter was given 
 to men who had gloried in 
 being blind and deaf to justice 
 and mercy. The authorities in 
 the Punjaub, like Neill at Ben- 
 ares and Allahabad, believed 
 that mercy would be a mistake 
 and ultimately a cruelty to them, 
 as it was all through to all be- 
 sides. They shot, hanged, and 
 blew away from the guns with 
 appalling promptitude. 
 
 On one occasion a letter was 
 intercepted, revealing the fact 
 that three natives of high rank 
 giving names were to sit in 
 council on the morrow to decide 
 what to do against the British ; a 
 telegraphic message was sent off 
 to Sir John Lawrence for advice 
 how to act ; a message was re- 
 turned " Let a spy attend and 
 report." This was done, and a 
 plot discovered. Another ques- 
 tion brought back another tele- 
 gram "Hang them all three;" 
 and in a quarter of an hour the 
 hanging was completed. The 
 importance of retaining artillery 
 in European hands was strongly 
 felt at Peshawur ; to effect this, 
 after many guns had been sent 
 away to strengthen the moving 
 column, 1 60 European volun- 
 teers from the infantry were 
 quickly trained to the work, 
 and placed in charge of a horse 
 battery of six guns, half the 
 number on horseback and the 
 other half sitting on the guns 
 and waggons, all actively put 
 
 in training day after day to 
 learn their duties. Fearful work 
 the European gunners had some- 
 times to perform. Forty men 
 of the 55th regiment were 
 " blown from guns " in three 
 days. An officer present on 
 the occasion says : " Three sides 
 of a square were formed, ten 
 guns pointed outwards, the sen- 
 tence of the court read, a pri- 
 soner bound to each gun, the 
 signal given, and the salvo fired. 
 Such a scene 1 I hope never 
 again to witness human trunks, 
 heads, arms, legs, flying about 
 in all directions. All met 
 their fate with firmness but 
 two ; so to save time, they 
 were strapped to the ground 
 and their brains blown out with 
 musketry." 
 
 At Jullundur, Jelum, and 
 Sealkote, mutinies took place, 
 and blood was shed, and trea- 
 suries were plundered, much in 
 the same way as in the places 
 of which a slight account has 
 been given. When the mutin- 
 ous troubles began in the Pun- 
 jaub there were about twenty 
 regiments of the Bengal native 
 army in that country. These 
 regiments were at once and 
 everywhere distrusted by Sir 
 John Lawrence and his chief 
 officers. All the sepoys were 
 disarmed and the sowars dis- 
 mounted as soon as suspicious 
 symptoms appeared. Some regi- 
 ments remained at the stations 
 disarmed throughout the whole 
 of the summer and autumn. 
 Others mutinied before and 
 after the disarming, but very 
 
96 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 few of them lived to reach the 
 scene of rebel supremacy at 
 Delhi. Many of them set out 
 for the great centre of all the 
 disaffected, but on the way, at 
 one place or another, they were 
 killed or frightened out of their 
 attempt to join the fray by 
 Europeans, Sikhs, Punjaubees, 
 or hill-men. 
 
 How to respect the liberty of 
 the newspaper press at such a 
 time, and also keep it from be- 
 coming an instrument of mis- 
 chief by circulating untruths or 
 truths it were more judicious 
 not to publish, is always felt a 
 difficulty by rulers who know its 
 power for good or for evil. Sir 
 John Lawrence adopted a very 
 commendable course. He caused 
 the Lahore Chronicle to be made 
 the medium of conveying official 
 news of all that was occurring 
 in India. A rapid outline of 
 all reliable information was sup- 
 plied to the conductors of that 
 paper every day by the Govern- 
 ment Secretary. This summary 
 of the most important public 
 news was printed on small sheets 
 of paper, and despatched by 
 each day's post to all the stations 
 in the Punjaub. Thus people 
 were candidly told how events 
 proceeded, and false rumours 
 and sinister reports were much 
 less prevalent in the Punjaub 
 than in Bengal. Of course, the 
 high character of the Chief- 
 Commissioner was accepted by 
 the readers as a guarantee that 
 the news supplied in the epitome, 
 whether it was less or more, was 
 honestly come by and given 
 
 forth again. A chief who did 
 not command respect could not 
 have worked out a scheme, con- 
 trolling the almost unmanage- 
 able power of the press in such 
 a way and to such wise ends, as 
 this was done by Sir John Law- 
 rence. As the summer advanced 
 and daks were interrupted and 
 wires cut, the news became very 
 scanty ; and the English in the 
 Punjaub, aware that things were 
 going wrong at Delhi, Lucknow, 
 and Cawnpore, had little idea 
 of how far wrong matters had 
 gone. Events that happened at 
 Allahabad, for example, were 
 known in London sooner than 
 at Lahore. 
 
 Sinde, the country through 
 which the Indus flows in its 
 lower course, after the " five 
 rivers" have all found flowing 
 accommodation in one channel, 
 was affected only by insur- 
 gent proceedings, when the very 
 few incidents glanced at in the 
 foregoing pages were happening 
 north and east of it This was 
 owing partly to its great dis- 
 tance from the disturbed pro- 
 vinces of Hindostan, and partly 
 to the vicinity of the well-dis- 
 posed Bombay army. The ex- 
 cellent organisation of Jacob's 
 irregular horse also contributed 
 to keep Sinde in comparatively 
 good order. This corps was 
 much talked of in India. Colo- 
 nel, afterwards Brigadier, John 
 Jacob was the originative genius 
 who gave it form and substantial 
 influence. It consisted of two 
 regiments of about 800 men 
 each, carefully drilled, and armed 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 97 
 
 and equipped in the European 
 manner, yet having only five 
 European officers, the squadron 
 and troop commanders being 
 native officers. Brigadier Jacob 
 was proud of his two regiments, 
 and never missed an opportunity 
 of pointing out the superiority 
 of the system in the Bombay 
 army, according to which men 
 were enlisted irrespective of 
 caste, and where there were bet 
 termeans of rewardingindividual 
 merit. The brigadier would allow 
 no religious scruples to interfere 
 with the military efficiency of 
 his men. On one occasion, 
 during the Mohurrum or Mo- 
 hammedan religious festival in 
 1854, there was great uproar 
 and noise among 10,000 Mus- 
 sulmans assembled in and near 
 his camp of Jacobabad to cele- 
 brate their religious festival. 
 He issued a general order: "The 
 commanding officer has nothing 
 to do with religious ceremonies. 
 All men may worship God as 
 they please, and may act and 
 believe as they choose in matters 
 of religion, but no men have a 
 right to annoy their neighbours 
 or to neglect their duty, on pre- 
 tence of serving God. The 
 officers and men of the Sinde 
 Horse have the name of, and 
 are supposed to be, excellent 
 soldiers, and not mad fakeers. . . 
 He therefore now informs the 
 Sinde Irregular Horse that in 
 future no noisy processions, nor 
 any disorderly display whatever, 
 under pretence of religion or 
 anything else, shall ever be al- 
 lowed in, or in neighbourhood of, 
 
 any camp of the Sinde Irregular 
 Horse." 
 
 Nationally speaking, Jacob's 
 men were not Sindians at all. 
 They were drawn from other 
 countries of India, and were in 
 the ratio of three-fourths Mus- 
 sulmans to one-fourth Hindoos. 
 They remained faithful when the 
 mutiny began in the regions 
 farther east, though that was in 
 the teeth of numerous attempts 
 to seduce them by sepoys and 
 troopers of the Bengal army. 
 
 Still Sinde had a few troubles 
 during the year. At one time 
 a body of fanatical Moham- 
 medans would unfurl the green 
 flag, and call upon each other 
 to fight for the Prophet. At 
 another time gangs of robbers 
 and hill-men, of which India 
 has in all ages had an abundant 
 supply, would take advantage ol 
 the troubled state of public feel- 
 ing to rush forth on marauding 
 expeditions, caring much for 
 plunder and little for faith of 
 any kind. At another, alarms 
 would be given which induced 
 European ladies and families to 
 take refuge in the forts or other 
 defensive positions. At another, 
 regiments of the Bengal army 
 would try to tamper with the 
 fidelity of other troops in Sinde. 
 But of these varied incidents, 
 few were so serious in results as 
 to need record here. One, in- 
 teresting in many particulars, 
 arose out of the following cir 
 cumstance: When some of the 
 Sinde forces were sent to Persia, 
 the 6th Bengal irregular cavalry 
 arrived to supply their place 
 
98 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 These troopers, when the mutiny 
 was at least four months old, 
 endeavoured to form a plan with 
 some Beloochee Mohammedans 
 for the murder of the British 
 officers at the camp of Jacob- 
 abad. A particular hour of the 
 2ist of August was named for 
 this outrage, in which various 
 bands of Beloochees were in- 
 vited to assist. The plot was 
 revealed to Captain Merewether, 
 who immediately confided in 
 the two senior native officers of 
 the Sinde Irregular Horse. 
 Orders were issued that the day's 
 proceedings should be as usual, 
 but that the men should hold 
 themselves in readiness. Many 
 of the border chiefs afterwards 
 sent notice to Merewether of 
 
 what had been planned, an- 
 nouncing their own disapproval 
 of the conspiracy. At a given 
 hour the leading conspirator 
 was seized, and correspondence 
 found upon him tending to show 
 that the Bengal regiment, having 
 failed mother attempts to seduce 
 the Sinde troops from their alle- 
 giance, had determined to mur- 
 der the European officers as the 
 chief obstacles to their scheme. 
 The authorities at Jacobabad 
 wished Sir John Lawrence to 
 take this Bengal regiment off 
 their hands, but the experienced 
 chief of the Punjaub would not 
 have the dangerous present ; he 
 thought it less likely to mutiny 
 where it was than in a region 
 nearer to Delhi. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BEGINNING TO STEM THE TORRENT. 
 
 AT the outbreak of the mutiny, 
 just at the time when the ser- 
 vices of a military commander 
 were most needed in the troubled 
 provinces of the north-west, 
 General Anson, the commander- 
 in-chief, was not to be heard of. 
 At Calcutta he was supposed to 
 be somewhere between Simla 
 and Delhi, but daks and tele- 
 graphs had beeninterrupted,and 
 his movements were not known 
 where it was of urgent national 
 importance that they should be 
 under control. Viscount Can- 
 
 ning sent messages, in the hope 
 that some of them would reach ; 
 duplicate telegrams flying in dif- 
 ferent directions, flashed the 
 fearful news that British India 
 was in peril so long as Delhi 
 was not in British hands.- That 
 city must be delivered from 
 marauders and murderers, was 
 the tone of the Governor-Gene- 
 ral's adjurations, and all power 
 must be brought to bear upon 
 it with the greatest possible ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 Major-General Sir Henpr Bar- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 99 
 
 nard, military commander of the 
 Umballa district, received tele- 
 graphic news on the nth of 
 May regarding the outrages at 
 Meerut and Delhi. He knew 
 where to find the commander-in- 
 chief, and immediately sent off an 
 aide-de-camp to gallop to Simla, 
 seventy or eighty miles distant, 
 with this information to General 
 Anson. The commander-in- 
 chief at once hastened from the 
 hills, and hurried to Umballa, 
 the nearest military station on 
 the great highway of India, and 
 then began in earnest those ar- 
 rangements for the recovery of 
 Delhi, the nature and results of 
 which will be recorded in next 
 chapter. The stemming of the 
 torrent was begun. 
 
 The successful beginnings 
 were in India, and by means 
 at the disposal of the authori- 
 ties there. For it is not to be 
 forgotten, the crisis was passed 
 before a single .additional regi- 
 ment from England could reach 
 the scene of the mutiny. 
 
 There were warlike arma- 
 ments on the Indian seas at the 
 time the Meerut outbreak tapped 
 the great furnace of affliction, 
 but no one dreamed that there 
 was warfare for them in India 
 just then. One army was re- 
 turning from Persia, where it 
 had made the power of Britain 
 felt to a practical purpose ; an- 
 other was on its voyage to com- 
 mence hostilities in China. 
 What might have become of 
 British India, if these forces had 
 not been so near hand as they 
 were, is one of those vain specu- 
 
 lations which the imagination 
 shudders at and yet will indulge 
 in. 
 
 Three days after that fatal 
 Sunday at Meerut in other 
 words, on the i3th of May Mr 
 Calvin, lieutenant-governor of 
 the north-west provinces, tele- 
 graphed to Calcutta, suggesting 
 that the force returning from 
 Persia should be ordered round 
 to Calcutta, in order to be 
 sent up the country to strengthen 
 the few English regiments ; for 
 it was by them alone that the 
 mutiny could be suppressed. 
 Orders were at once sent by 
 telegraph, when it was available, 
 to Madras, Bombay, Pegu, Ran- 
 goon, and Moulmein, to hurry 
 on every British regiment under 
 the control of the authorities at 
 these governing centres to Cal- 
 cutta. On the 1 6th of May a 
 telegram was sent to Lord El- 
 phinstone at Bombay, requesting 
 him to send round to the Anglo- 
 Indian capital two of the Eng- 
 lish regiments about to return 
 from Persia. On the next day 
 Lord Harris telegraphed from 
 Madras to the Governor-General, 
 recommending that the army on 
 its way to China under Lord 
 Elgin and General Ashburnham 
 should be stopped, and rendered 
 immediately available for emer- 
 gencies in India. On the same 
 day Sir John Lawrence an- 
 nounced his intention of dis- 
 arming the Bengal sepoys in 
 thePunjaub, and of raising new 
 regiments in that country ; and 
 Mr Frere, commissioner of the 
 Sinde, was ordered by Lord 
 
100 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Elphinstone to send the ist 
 Bombay Europeans from Kur- 
 achee up the Indus to Moul- 
 tan, and thence to Ferozpore 
 on their way to Delhi. 
 
 Similar earnest efforts were 
 put forth, and prompt steps 
 taken during the month of June 
 to bring British troops to bear 
 upon the mutiny-stricken terri- 
 tories. Towards the close of 
 the month arrangement was 
 made to receive the aid of an 
 army of Nepaulese from Jung 
 Bahadoor. It was to advance 
 from Khatamandoo, the capital 
 of Nepaul, through Goruckpore 
 towards Oude. About twenty 
 regiments altogether, besides 
 artillery, arrived at Calcutta 
 during the following six or 
 seven months, irrespective of 
 any plans laid in England after 
 the terrible news of the mutiny 
 reached. 
 
 The Indian Government was 
 throughout the year 1857 very 
 deficient in cavalry. During a 
 long period of peace the stud es- 
 tablishments had been to a con- 
 siderable degree neglected ; and 
 when the dire emergency arose, 
 there were more soldiers able 
 and willing to ride than horses 
 to mount. This defective sup- 
 ply of horses affected the artil- 
 lery and baggage departments 
 also. When information of this 
 reached Australia the colonists 
 bestirred themselves to remedy 
 the defect. The whole of New 
 South Wales was divided into 
 eight districts, and committees 
 formed to ascertain how many 
 Worses available for cavalry 
 
 could be supplied by each dis- 
 trict. Colonel Robbins was 
 sent from Calcutta to make 
 purchases, and he succeeded 
 in obtaining several hundred 
 good strong horses, at prices 
 satisfactory to both the stock- 
 farmers and the Government. 
 The committees did good ser- 
 vice in bringing together willing 
 sellers and a ready buyer. 
 
 It was unfortunate that the 
 Viscount Canning was not a 
 popular Governor-General with 
 a great many Europeans uncon- 
 nected with the East India Com- 
 pany. They accused him of 
 favourmg the natives at the ex- 
 pense of the English. The 
 hatred of the latter for the 
 former was unbounded at tins 
 time, intensified by the cruelties 
 exercised by the mutineers and 
 the rabble of budmashes on 
 their unhappy victims. The 
 outcry raised against the vice- 
 roy complicated the miseries 
 of the time. It tended to para- 
 lyse action both in Calcutta 
 and in London. In the former 
 capital the Government had to 
 defend itself against both Euro- 
 peans and natives. 
 
 The missionaries of various 
 Christian denominations also, 
 with the best of motives, pur- 
 sued a course which did not 
 lighten the labours and anxieties 
 of the supreme council. In 
 September 1856 a number of 
 these gentlemen, in the Bengal 
 presidency, presented a memo- 
 rial, setting forth in strong terms 
 the deplorable condition of the 
 natives, enumerating a series 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 101 
 
 of abuses and defects in the 
 Indian Government, and recom- 
 mending the appointment of a 
 commission of inquiry, to com- 
 prise men of independent minds, 
 unbiassed by official or local 
 prejudices. The alleged abuses 
 bore relation to the police and 
 judicial systems, gang-robberies, 
 disputes about unsettled bound- 
 aries, the use of torture to ex- 
 tort confession, the zemindary 
 system, and many others. The 
 memorialists asserted that, if 
 remedies were not speedily ap- 
 plied to those abuses, the result 
 would be disastrous, as " the 
 discontent of the rural popula- 
 tion is daily increasing, and a 
 bitter feeling of hatred towards 
 their rulers is being engendered 
 in their minds." Mr Halliday, 
 Lieutenant- Governor of Ben- 
 gal, in reply to the memorial, 
 pointed out the single omission 
 of the missionaries to make any, 
 even the most brief mention of 
 the numerous measures under- 
 taken by the Governor to remove 
 the very evils complained of, 
 thereby exhibiting a one-sided 
 tendency inimical to the ends of 
 justice. He declined to accede 
 to the appointment of a com- 
 mission on these grounds : That, 
 without denying the existence of 
 great social evils, " the Govern- 
 ment is in possession of full 
 information regarding them ; 
 that measures are under consi- 
 deration, or in actual progress, 
 for applying remedies to such 
 of them as are remediable by 
 the direct executive or legisla- 
 tive action of the Government ; 
 
 while the cure of others must of 
 necessity be left to the more 
 tardy progress of national ad- 
 vancement in the scale of civil- 
 isation and social improvement." 
 He expressed his "absolute dis- 
 sent from the statement made, 
 doubtless in perfect good faith, 
 that the people exhibit a spirit of 
 sullen discontent on account of 
 the miseries ascribed to them, 
 and that there exists amongst 
 them that bitter hatred to the 
 Government which has filled the 
 memorialists, as they declare, 
 with alarm as well as sorrow." 
 The British-Indian Association, 
 consisting of planters, landed 
 proprietors, and others, sup- 
 ported the petition for the ap- 
 pointment of a commision, evi- 
 dently with the view of fighting 
 the missionaries with their own 
 weapons, by showing that the 
 missionaries were exciting the 
 natives to disaffection. Mr 
 Halliday declined to rouse up 
 these elements of discord. Vis- 
 count Canning and the supreme 
 council supported him, and the 
 court of directors approved of 
 the course pursued. All this 
 greatly added to the embar- 
 rassments of the Governor- 
 General. 
 
 But if whips had been cracked 
 at him thus far, there were scor- 
 pions yet in store. The bitter 
 pens of ready writers in the 
 newspapers were nibbed with 
 caustic to resent a check which 
 was placed upon a degree of 
 licence which they called liberty. 
 On the 1 3th of June the legisla- 
 tive council of Calcutta, on the 
 
102 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 motion of the Governor-General, 
 passed an act restricting the 
 liberty of the press in India for 
 one year. All printing-presses, 
 types, and printing -machinery 
 throughout British India were 
 by this act to be registered, and 
 were not to be used without a 
 licence from the Government. 
 A copy of every paper, sheet, or 
 book, was required to be sent to 
 the authorities immediately on 
 its being printed ; and the Gov- 
 ernment might prohibit the pub- 
 lication of the whole or any part 
 of it. In India it produced 
 great exasperation in some quar- 
 ters; but generally it was ob- 
 served with a reasonable amount 
 of respect. In London it was 
 the occasion of some violent 
 attacks being made against Lord 
 Canning, especially after a dis- 
 contented editor arrived there 
 from India, and brought with 
 him a petition signed by some 
 of the Europeans at Calcutta 
 who were not connected with 
 the Government; and which 
 prayed for the removal of Vis- 
 count Canning from the office 
 he held. 
 
 As to the line of policy adopt- 
 ed by the Home Government 
 to stem the torrent of mutiny, 
 on the 2 Qth of June, two days 
 after the first dreadful news 
 from Meerut reached London, 
 the court of directors of the 
 East India Company ordered 
 officers at home on furlough to 
 return to their regiments at 
 once; those on sick-leave also 
 to return so far as health would 
 permit They also made a 
 
 equisition to the Government 
 "or four full regiments of infantry 
 n addition to those that had 
 previously been ordered to pro- 
 ceed to India, in the ordinary 
 course of military movement. 
 The Government acquiesced. 
 On the 1 4th of July, after an- 
 other mail had arrived, making 
 known further and more terrible 
 disasters, the directors applied 
 for six more regiments of infan- 
 try, and eight companies of 
 royal artillery the men to be 
 sent from England, the horses 
 from the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and the guns and ammunition 
 to be provided in India. In two 
 days Government named the six 
 regiments. Steps were taken to 
 send out drafts to bring up the 
 whole of the Queen's regiments 
 in India to their full strength, 
 and also the European regiments 
 belonging to the Company. 
 
 These various additions to 
 the number of armed Europeans 
 in India amounted to about 
 24,000 men. 
 
 General Anson having died 
 of cholera at Kurnaul on the 
 27th of May, the Calcutta Gov- 
 ernment appointed Sir Patrick 
 Grant provisionally as comman- 
 der of the forces in India, the 
 permanent appointment to that 
 high office being retained in the 
 hands of the Government in 
 London. It was known in 
 London 6arly in July that Gen- 
 eral Anson was dead, and Sir 
 Colin Campbell was appointed 
 his successor. It was generally 
 felt that this was a wise selec- 
 tion. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 103 
 
 The news of General Anson's 
 death reached London on the 
 morning of Saturday the nth 
 of July; at two o'clock the same 
 day a cabinet council was held; 
 immediately after the council 
 an interview took place between 
 the Minister of War and Sir 
 Colin Campbell, at which the 
 latter was appointed Comman- 
 der-in-Chief for India ; being 
 asked how soon he would be 
 ready to take his departure, Sir 
 Colin replied, "To-morrow." 
 
 He left England on Sunday 
 evening, taking very little with 
 him but the clothes on his back ; 
 and availed himself of the quick- 
 est route to India. 
 
 The 24,000 men chosen for 
 India by the tniddle of July were 
 duly despatched ; and before the 
 end of the year, in consequence 
 of the organisation of further 
 plans, very nearly 40,000 
 men had been sent off to 
 take a part in quelling the mu- 
 tiny. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE SIEGE OF DELHI. 
 
 THE British authorities knew 
 well that if their position, and 
 the power they had acquired in 
 India, were to be retained, 
 Delhi must be retaken. The 
 insurgents were intimately aware 
 of this ; and accordingly they 
 flocked in bands to the rallying 
 city. 
 
 On the part of the British, 
 plans were laid and preparations 
 made from the very day that the 
 startling news spread that Delhi 
 was in the hands of rebellious 
 sepoys, and that the debauched, 
 dethroned descendant of Timour 
 the Tartar was enthroned again 
 in the palace of the Moguls. 
 But every soldier necessary for 
 forming a siege army had to be 
 brought from a distance. The 
 cantonment outside of the city 
 
 was wholly in the hands of the 
 rebels ; and the British force at 
 Meerut, under the command of 
 General Hewett, did nothing for 
 Delhi till it was set in motion 
 by orders from a distance. 
 
 Major-Gen eral Sir Henry Bar- 
 nard was the first to take the 
 active steps which led to the 
 organisation of the siege. As 
 mentioned above, he sent a 
 message to General Anson when- 
 ever he heard the ill-omened 
 news, which, reaching Barnard 
 at Umballa on the nth of May, 
 was communicated to Anson on 
 the 1 2th. He was aware of the 
 paucity of European regiments 
 in all the region eastward of 
 Delhi to Calcutta. Any avail- 
 able force to recover that city 
 must come, therefore, from Sir- 
 
104 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 hind and the Punjaub. The 
 regiments at the various hill 
 stations were summoned from 
 these healthy quarters to engage 
 in death-dealing work on the in- 
 sanitary plains; and orders were 
 sent to Lahore, which, we shall 
 see, were more than amply at- 
 tended to. 
 
 These arrangements were 
 made before General Anson 
 left Simla on the evening of the 
 1 4th ; and he arrived at Um- 
 balla on the i5th. Here he, 
 along with Sir Henry Bar- 
 nard, took strict account of the 
 forces they could reckon on for 
 instant effective work. The 
 Umballa magazines were nearly 
 empty of stores and ammunition, 
 and the commissariat was ill- 
 supplied with vehicles, as well 
 as beasts of draught or burden. 
 
 In these circumstances, it was 
 resolved to bring small detach- 
 ments from many different sta- 
 tions to Umballa, and to send 
 them off at once to form the nuc- 
 leus of a besieging army at Delhi. 
 This, accordingly, was done. 
 
 General Anson resolved to 
 leave Sir Henry Barnard at 
 Umballa, and head the siege 
 army himself. It was to consist 
 of three brigades two from 
 Umballa, and one from Meerut, 
 which was to form a junction 
 with the other two at Bhagput 
 on the 5th of June. After this 
 they were all to advance together 
 towards Delhi. 
 
 This scheme was put forth 
 by General Anson on the 23d 
 of May ; he left Umballa on the 
 4th, and reached Kurnaul on 
 
 the 25th, where he died the fol- 
 lowing day, carried off by cholera 
 in a few hours. Feeling the 
 hand of death upon him, he 
 hastily summoned Sir Henry 
 Barnard from Umballa, and his 
 last instructions were that the 
 Delhi force should be placed 
 under the command of that 
 officer. Viscount Canning, when 
 the news reached Calcutta, im- 
 mediately confirmed the appoint- 
 ment of Sir Henry to this trying 
 post ; but the appointment was 
 not communicated to the army 
 under his command for some 
 considerable time. Major-Gen- 
 eral Reed became provisional 
 commander at Anson's death by 
 seniority, and he came to the 
 headquarters of the siege army, 
 but did not seek to supersede 
 Sir Henry Barnard. He was 
 so thoroughly broken down in 
 health that he could not com- 
 mand in person. 
 
 Major-General Hewett organ- 
 ised a brigade at Meerut, ac- 
 cording to General Anson's 
 plan ; it set out on the evening 
 of the 27th of May, under the 
 command of Brigadier Archdale 
 Wilson, and reached Bhagput 
 on the morning of the 6th of 
 June, after fighting two severe 
 but successful battles with the 
 mutineers, who disputed the 
 passage of the river Hindoun 
 with him, doubtless anxious to 
 prevent a junction of the Mee- 
 rut force with the other two 
 brigades. 
 
 Sir Henry Barnard, advanc- 
 ing from Kurnaul, effected a 
 junction with Wilson on the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 105 
 
 6th ; and next day the united 
 force was reorganised at a point 
 so near Delhi that the troops 
 looked eager!/ forward to a 
 speedy encounter with the en- 
 emy. 
 
 Many of these soldiers had 
 marched great distances. The 
 Guides had performed a deter- 
 mined exploit in the marching 
 way, which proved how little they 
 shrank from fatigue and heat 
 when a post of duty and honour 
 was assigned to them. 
 
 This remarkable corps was 
 raised on the conclusion of the 
 Sutlej campaign, to act either 
 as regular troops or as guides 
 and spies, according as the exi- 
 gencies of the service might 
 require. The men were chosen 
 for their sagacity and intelli- 
 gence, as well as for their cour- 
 age and hardihood. They were 
 inhabitants of the Punjaub, but 
 belonged to no selected race or 
 creed ; for among them were to 
 be found mountaineers, bor- 
 derers, men of the plains, and 
 half-wild warriors. Among them 
 nearly all the dialects of North- 
 ern India were more or less 
 known, and they were as familiar 
 with hill fighting as with service 
 on the plains. They were often 
 employed as intelligencers, and to 
 reconnoitre an enemy's position. 
 They were the best of all troops 
 to act against the robber hill- 
 tribes, with whom India is so 
 much infested. Among the many 
 useful pieces of Indian service 
 effected by Sir Henry Lawrence 
 was the suggestion of this corps. 
 They were stationed at a remote 
 
 post in the Punjaub, not far 
 from the Afghan frontier, when 
 orders reached them to march 
 to Delhi, a distance of no less 
 than 750 miles. They accom- 
 plished the distance in twenty- 
 eight days, a really great achieve- 
 ment in the heat of an Indian 
 summer. 
 
 A gallant regiment of the or- 
 dinary service, the ist Bengal 
 European Fusileers, known in 
 old times as Lord Lake's " dear 
 old dirty shirts," accomplished 
 a march little less severe. The 
 various regiments, notwithstand- 
 ing their long marches and con- 
 stant exposure to the fierceness 
 of the heat, reached Delhi in 
 admirable health. The last four 
 miles of their approach to that 
 city was accomplished by con- 
 tinual fighting : the rebels dis- 
 puting their advance foot by 
 foot. 
 
 The rocky ridge which bounds 
 the north of Delhi was bristling 
 with cannon and bayonets. Sir 
 Henry Barnard made his dis- 
 positions, and advancingrapidly, 
 ascended this ridge, took the 
 enemy in flank, and soon com- 
 pelled them to abandon it, leav- 
 ing twenty-six guns, with am- 
 munition and camp equipage. 
 The besieging army then took 
 up that position before Delhi 
 which it never left, till, after 
 months of hard fighting, the city 
 was reconquered. 
 
 Two incidents occurred dur- 
 ing this preliminary struggle for 
 the ridge which greatly irritated 
 the siege army. The one was 
 that a cart which they captured, 
 
106 
 
 'THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 and which they supposed was 
 loaded with ammunition, was 
 found to be full of the mangled 
 limbs and trunks of murdered 
 Europeans ; and the other was 
 that two or three Europeans 
 were fighting with and for the 
 rebels soldiers of fortune pro- 
 bably, that is, men destitute of 
 both fortune and character, sell- 
 ing their services to the muti- 
 neers, who were not unwilling 
 to pay handsomely for such as- 
 sistance. The enraged soldiery 
 knew of no feelings of mercy for 
 such men, they regarded them 
 with a far more deadly hatred 
 than the sepoys were capable of 
 inspiring. 
 
 The British having effected a 
 permanent lodgment on the 
 ridge, had their camp pitched 
 behind it, on the old cantonment 
 The enemy made repeated sor- 
 ties from the various gates of 
 the city with the view of dislodg- 
 ing them, but were invariably 
 driven back. Not a day passed 
 without some such struggle. 
 
 On the i Qth of June it came 
 to the knowledge of Brigadier 
 Grant that the enemy intended 
 to attack the camp in the rear ; 
 and as the safety of the camp 
 had been placed under his keep- 
 ing, he made instant prepara- 
 tions to frustrate the insurgents. 
 These troops are believed to 
 have been augmentations of the 
 insurgent forces, consisting of 
 the 1 5th and 3oth native regi- 
 ments from Nuseerabad. The 
 brigadier advanced with six guns 
 and a squadron of lancers to 
 reconnoitre, and found the ene 
 
 my in position half a mile in rear 
 of the Ochterlony Gardens, north- 
 west of the camp. Troops quick- 
 ly arrived, and a rapid exchange 
 of fire began, the rebels being 
 strong in artillery as well as in- 
 fantry. Just as the dusk of the 
 evening came on, the enemy, by 
 a series of skilful and vigorous 
 attacks, aided by well -served 
 artillery, very nearly succeeded 
 in turning the flank of the Brit- 
 ish, and in capturing two guns; 
 but both these disasters were 
 frustrated. The dusk deepened 
 into darkness; but the brigadier 
 felt that it would not do to allow 
 the enemy to occupy that posi- 
 tion during the night. A charge 
 was made with great impetuosity 
 by horse and foot, with so much 
 success, that they were driven 
 back quite into the town. 
 
 Sir Henry Barnard kept a 
 vigilant watch over every move- 
 ment of the mutineers who sal- 
 lied forth from Delhi. On the 
 23d of June, the centenary of 
 the decisive battle at Plassy, he 
 saw a body of them come out 
 of the city, and as they were not 
 seen to return at night, he ex- 
 pected a masked attack. He 
 sent Guides and sappers to de- 
 molish two bridges which carried 
 the great road over the canal 
 westward of the camp, and by 
 which the enemy might attack 
 his camp in the rear. The de- 
 molition ' of the bridges was 
 warmly contested ; but in six 
 hours it was successfully accom- 
 plished. 
 
 A valuable convoy was expect- 
 ed from the Punjaub on 'that 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 107 
 
 day. Sir Henry Barnard sent 
 out an escort, which brought it 
 safely into the camp ; but scarce- 
 ly had he done this, when the 
 enemy emerged from the city 
 in vast force, and commenced 
 to attack the British on the right 
 side of their position. Here a 
 combat was maintained the 
 whole day; but at length the 
 mutineers were driven back into 
 the city. 
 
 It was afterwards ascertained 
 that, remembering the 23d of 
 June, the Indians in Delhi had 
 resolved to attempt to achieve 
 a signal victory over the British 
 on that day of evil memory to 
 them; and they were incited, 
 moreover, by the circumstance 
 that two festivals one Mussul- 
 man and the other Hindoo 
 happened to occur on that day. 
 If the rebels could have crossed 
 ihe canal they would have got 
 to the rear of the camp, and thus 
 might have accomplished their 
 object; but the demolition of 
 the bridges prevented this. As 
 it was, many officers were 
 brought away sunstruck and 
 powerless. The Guides fought 
 for fifteen hours uninterruptedly 
 with no food and only a little 
 water. At one o'clock, when 
 the enemy were strengthened by 
 large reinforcements from the 
 city, the Guides found themselves 
 without ammunition, and sent 
 back to the camp for more. 
 Great delay occurred, and they 
 were in imminent peril; but, 
 fortunately, a corps of Sikhs, 
 who had arrived at the camp 
 that morning, rushed forward at 
 
 a critical moment, and aided 
 them in driving back 1 the 
 enemy. 
 
 It was a fixed conclusion in 
 the minds of the British authori- 
 ties by this time, that Delhi was 
 not to be taken by a coup de 
 main, and Sir John Lawrence, 
 when he became aware of this, 
 acted with rare energy and judg- 
 ment. He sent reinforcements 
 down from the Punjaub as 
 rapidly as they could be col- 
 lected. He had lessened his 
 own danger by disbanding the 
 sepoys. He trusted his Sikhs, 
 Punjaubees, and Guides ; and 
 on that account he was able to 
 send Europeans and artillery to 
 Delhi. The reserve and dep6t 
 companies of the regiments 
 already serving before Delhi 
 were sent down from the hills 
 to join their companions. Ar- 
 tillery from Jullundur and La- 
 hore, Punjaub rifles and Pun 
 jaub light horse, followed the 
 Guides and Sikhs to the great 
 centre of action. 
 
 Fortunately, supplies were 
 plentiful; the country from 
 Delhi to the Sutlej was kept 
 pretty free from the enemy, and 
 the villagers were willing ven- 
 dors of commodities readily 
 bought and paid for by the be- 
 siegers. 
 
 On the ist of July, the muti- 
 neers turned out in great force 
 from the Ajmeer and Turcoman 
 gates, and assembled on the 
 plain outside. At sunset, five 
 or six thousand infantry ap- 
 proached the British lines, tak- 
 ing cover of the buildings as 
 
108 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 they passed. The extreme right 
 of the line was held by only 150 
 Punjaubees and Guides under 
 Captain Travers. Major Reid 
 sent him a message to reserve 
 his fire till the enemy approach- 
 ed nearer, and at the same time 
 sent another 1 50 men. Through- 
 out the whole night this little 
 band of 300 men resisted a large 
 force of infantry and artillery, 
 yielding not an inch. The 
 enemy with increased force 
 renewed the attack next morn- 
 ing at daybreak ; Major Reid 
 sent a few more of his gallant 
 men to help the 300. This 
 handful defended their position 
 for twenty-two hours continu- 
 ously, never flinching till the 
 enemy retired into the city. 
 During the first twenty-eight days 
 of the siege, Major Reid was 
 attacked twenty-four times in 
 the line of pickets and defence- 
 works over which his command 
 extended ; and his medley of 
 i roops Guides, Sikhs, Pun- 
 jaubees, and Goorkhas fought 
 loyally in a common cause, 
 never thinking of national or 
 religious differences. 
 
 The escapes made by indi- 
 viduals in these encounters were 
 more strange than fiction could 
 invent. Take one example. An 
 artillery officer in command of 
 two horse-artillery guns, on one 
 occasion was surprised by 120 
 of the enemy's cavalry ; he had 
 no support, and could not apply 
 his artillery because his guns 
 were limbered up. He fired 
 four barrels of his revolver and 
 killed two men ; he then knock- 
 
 ed a third off his horse by throw- 
 ing his empty pistol at him, 
 Two horsemen then charged 
 full tilt and rolled him and his 
 horse over. He got up, and 
 seeing a man on foot coming at 
 him fiercely, sword in hand, he 
 rushed at him, got inside his 
 sword, and hit him full in the 
 face with his fist At that 
 moment he was cut down from 
 behind, and was only saved 
 from being slaughtered by a 
 brother officer, who rode up, 
 shot one sowar and sabred an- 
 other, and carried him off, 
 bleeding, but safe. 
 
 On the 2d of July, five regi- 
 ments and a battery of artillery 
 of the Rohilcund mutineers 
 from Bareilly, Moradabad, and 
 Shahjehanpore, crossed the 
 Jumna and marched into Delhi 
 with bands playing and colours 
 flying. 
 
 On the 5th, Major-Gen eral 
 Sir Henry Barnard died. He 
 had borne much anxiety and 
 bodily suffering during the five 
 weeks of his command of the 
 Delhi field force. He had re- 
 ceived General Anson's sum- 
 mons to assume this responsi- 
 bility while he was confined to 
 bed with sickness. He was on 
 horseback all day on the 4th 
 under the fierce heat of the sun. 
 Early next morning he sent for 
 Colonel Baird Smith, and ex- 
 plained his views concerning 
 the mode in which he thought 
 the siege operations should be 
 carried on ; and in a few hours 
 he was at rest from all sickness 
 and anxiety. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 109 
 
 Brigadier Chamberlain now 
 assumed the main part of the 
 active direction of the siege, 
 Major-General Reed, invalid as 
 he was, taking the command of 
 the forces. 
 
 At this time another compli- 
 cation engaged the attention of 
 the army in front of Delhi. 
 There were two regiments of 
 Bengal irregular cavalry among 
 the troops in the siege army, 
 and there were a few " poor- 
 beahs" in the Punjaub regi- 
 ments. It became apparent by 
 degrees that these men were a 
 danger instead of a help to the 
 British. They had been care- 
 fully watched from the first. 
 Early in the month of July a 
 Brahmin subadar in a Punjaubee 
 regiment was detected inciting 
 his companions-in-arrns to mur- 
 der their officers, and to go over 
 to Delhi, saying it was God's 
 will the Feringhee rule should 
 cease. One of the Punjaubees 
 immediately informed the offi- 
 cers of what was going on, and 
 the would-be incendiary was 
 put to death that same evening. 
 The other poorbeahs in the 
 regiment were immediately paid 
 up and discharged from the 
 camp. 
 
 About the middle of the 
 month, the severity of the heat 
 was a little alleviated by rains ; 
 but sickness and other discom- 
 forts set hi. Many fell ill after 
 remaining for hours in damp 
 clothes; young officers lately 
 arrived from England, and not 
 yet acclimatised, were pros- 
 
 trated by sun-stroke, and a few 
 of them died of apoplexy. Still 
 the army was surprisingly healthy 
 for the season and the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Major-General Reed, utterly 
 broken down in health, gave up 
 even the nominal command he 
 had held since General Anson's 
 death. On the iyth of the 
 month, Brigadier Chamberlain 
 being wounded, Reed named 
 Brigadier Archdale Wilson his 
 successor. 
 
 The new commander wrote 
 urgently to Sir John Lawrence 
 for further assistance, at least 
 one more European regiment 
 and two more regiments oi 
 Sikhs. He said he might have 
 to raise the siege and retreat to 
 Kurnaul if these additional 
 forces did not speedily reach 
 him. Lawrence, redoubling 
 his exertions, sent 900 European 
 fusileers and 1600 Punjaubees 
 in reply. 
 
 To the end of July, the 
 struggles outside Delhi con- 
 tinued, but the frequency be- 
 came somewhat lessened. The 
 defence-works on the ridge had 
 been gradually strengthened. 
 As has been said, " It was not 
 yet really a siege, for the British 
 poured very few shot or shell 
 into the city or against the walls. 
 It was not an investment, for 
 the British could not send a 
 single regiment to the south- 
 west, south, or east of the city. 
 It was little more than a pro- 
 cess of waiting till further rein- 
 forcements could arrive." 
 
110 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAWNPORE RECAPTURED AND LUCKNOW RELIEVED. 
 
 SIR HENRY HAVELOCK com- 
 manded a division in the war with 
 Persia in 1857. After that war 
 was over, he came to Bombay, 
 but left immediately for Cal- 
 cutta. The wreck and perilous 
 adventures he experienced dur- 
 ing this voyage would have 
 been explained in a more su- 
 perstitious age as the vain in- 
 terposition of the enemy of man, 
 to cut off before he entered on 
 his career a great benefactor of 
 suffering men, women, and chil- 
 dren. 
 
 Havelock arrived at Calcutta 
 on the i yth of June in the same 
 steamer as Sir Patrick Grant, 
 and at once received the ap- 
 pointment of brigadier-general, 
 to command such a force as 
 could be hastily collected for 
 the relief of the Europeans at 
 Cawnpore and Lucknow. On 
 the ist of July, Havelock and 
 his staff arrived at Allahabad, 
 just a few hours after the first 
 relieving column had been sent 
 off from that city towards Cawn- 
 pore under Major-Gen eral Ren- 
 aud. An auxiliary force under 
 Captain Spurgin set off by 
 steamer up the Ganges on the 
 3d, partly with a view of con- 
 trolling the mutineers on the 
 banks, but partly also on ac- 
 count of the want of convenient 
 means of land conveyance. The 
 steamer was called the Brahma- 
 putra, and great interest was 
 
 taken in this voyage, as no 
 steamer had hitherto had much 
 success in sailing that portion of 
 the Ganges. A prime difficulty 
 in working her was the want of 
 coals. The engineers were ob- 
 liged to forage every day on 
 shore for wood. On the second 
 day of the trip, this fo r aging 
 had to be carried on under the 
 protection of half the force on 
 board against 500 insurgents on 
 the Oude bank, who were pro- 
 vided with a large piece of ord- 
 nance. The steamer never made 
 more than two miles an hour, 
 but this slowness was not en- 
 tirely due to the struggle 
 against the rapid stream and 
 other difficulties of navigation ; 
 it was partly owing to the neces- 
 sity of keeping time with the 
 columns which were fighting 
 their way onward on land. 
 
 Brigadier-General Havelock's 
 column set out from Allahabad 
 with all possible expedition. 
 Dismal news of some dreadful 
 calamity at Cawnpore quickened 
 his movements. Among the 
 troops he had collected was a 
 handful of volunteer cavalry, 
 twenty in number, which con- 
 sisted chiefly of officers who had 
 been left without command by 
 the mutiny of the native regi- 
 ments they had belonged to, 
 most of them having narrowly 
 escaped being massacred. This 
 score of men were just the sort 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 in 
 
 of cavalry required in a column, 
 proceeding on an enterprise 
 such as that one was devoted 
 to. 
 
 During the first nine days of 
 his march, Major Renaud had 
 every reason to be satisfied 
 with the progress he made. He 
 pacified the country, and pun- 
 ished the ringleaders of mutiny 
 wherever he went. On the icth 
 of July, however, he found him- 
 self rather awkwardly situated. 
 Cawnpore had fallen, the British 
 at that station had suffered the 
 miseries which have been re- 
 ferred to in a previous chapter, 
 and the mutineer force, thus 
 freed from occupation, pushed 
 down rapidly to the vicinity of 
 Futtehpore. They were 3500 
 men strong, and had twelve 
 guns. Renaud had only 820 
 men and two guns. 
 
 When Havelock heard of this, 
 he hastened on as quickly as 
 possible to join Renaud. He 
 overtook him during the night of 
 the nth and i2th, and the two 
 columns joined and formed that 
 admirable little army which was 
 destined to work those wonders 
 which made the wide world 
 admire Havelock's campaign. 
 
 The mutineers at Futtehpore 
 had not learned of the junction 
 of the two columns. They sup- 
 posed they had only Renaud's 
 small force to contend with; 
 and pushed forward two guns 
 and a force of infantry and 
 cavalry. Havelock was con- 
 strained to undeceive them 
 sooner than he could have 
 wished. He was anxious to 
 
 allow his worn-out soldiers a 
 few hours of the rest they were 
 so much in need of, but this 
 prudence and fore thought had to 
 give way before the formidable 
 work presented to them. The 
 main trunk-road was the only 
 tolerably easy approach to Fut- 
 tehpore : the fields on either 
 side of it were covered with 
 water to the depth of several 
 feet : there were along it many 
 enclosures of great strength, the 
 walls of which were high : and 
 in front of the city there were 
 numerous villages, hillocks, and 
 mango-groves, which were occu- 
 pied by the enemy in force. 
 
 Havelock placed his eight 
 guns on and near the main 
 road, protected by 100 riflemen; 
 the infantry came up at deploy- 
 ing distance, covered by rifle- 
 skirmishers; and the cavalry 
 moved forward on the flanks. 
 
 The struggle was over in ten 
 minutes. The Enfield rifle 
 settled the affair. The rebels saw 
 a fewriflemen approach, but they 
 had to learn the deadly power 
 of the weapon these riflemen 
 could handle with ease and skill. 
 When they learned this a panic 
 seized them, and they shrank 
 back in amazement. The En- 
 field rifle, against the ordinary 
 use of which they had rebelled, 
 shot terror and death at once. 
 
 The artillery having dashed 
 over the swamps, poured in upon 
 the terrified mutineers such a 
 fire as completed their discomfi- 
 ture in a few seconds. They 
 abandoned their guns. 
 
 Havelock advanced and drove 
 
112 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 the enemy before him at every 
 point, capturing their guns one 
 by one. The garden enclosures, 
 the barricades on the road, the 
 city wall, the streets of Futteh- 
 pore all were gained. 
 
 The rebels made a stand a 
 mile beyond the city, only to be 
 put to flight again. Thus the 
 conquering hero became master 
 of Futtehpore, and parked twelve 
 guns. 
 
 There was no time to rest. 
 The high road to Cawnpore 
 passes over a small stream called 
 Pandoo Nuddee about twenty 
 miles from that city. The enemy 
 resolved to dispute the passage 
 of the bridge at Aong, a village 
 four miles from it. They knew 
 this time what to expect from 
 the Enfield rifle. The struggle 
 was rather a severe one ; it was 
 harassing, because the thickly- 
 wooded country interfered with 
 the effect of the cannon and the 
 rifles ; but, after a time, the muti- 
 neers beat a hasty retreat through 
 the village, abandoning guns, 
 tents, ammunition, and other 
 materials of war. 
 
 The British troops needed rest 
 for a few hours, and refreshment. 
 The heat of the July sun was 
 fierce; but another struggle 
 awaited them, at the bridge, 
 which the enemy had not des- 
 troyed. They had placed two 
 guns on it, and Captain Maude 
 disposed his artillery so as to 
 bring a converging fire on these 
 two guns, while the Madras 
 Fusiliers picked off the gunners 
 with their Enfield rifles. When 
 the vigour of the cannonade on 
 
 the bridge was somewhat lessen- 
 ed by such means, the Madras 
 Fusiliers, commanded by Major 
 Renaud, rushed upon the bridge 
 and captured the guns an ex- 
 ploit in which the gallant major 
 was wounded. The mutineers 
 retreated precipitately, and thus 
 did Brigadier-General Havelock 
 and his heroic band achieve two 
 victories in one day. 
 
 Havelock disarmed and dis- 
 mounted the sowars of the i$th 
 irregular cavalry and the 3d 
 Oude irregulars. Like other 
 commanders at that critical time, 
 he found they were not to be 
 trusted. 
 
 The victorious band was now 
 approaching Cawnpore. Nana 
 Sahib, being a Maharatta, had 
 not acquired that absolute influ- 
 ence over the Hindoos, who 
 constituted a large proportion 
 of the mutineers, which he had 
 aimedatandhopedfor. The Mo- 
 hammedans favoured him more, 
 and influenced the Hindoo se- 
 poys in his favour. 
 
 When the Nana heard that 
 Renaud had started from Allah- 
 abad with his little band, he 
 gathered an army of sowars, se- 
 poys, Maharattas, artillery, and 
 miscellaneous rabble, to crush 
 any British force which might 
 make its appearance from Allah- 
 abad. The Maharatta chief- 
 tain did not know that Brigadier- 
 General Havelock had joined 
 Major Renaud, and he sent for- 
 ward such bodies of troops as 
 he believed would be quite suffi- 
 cient to check the advance of 
 the deliverers. But the success 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 113 
 
 which had attended the opera- 
 tions of the small brigade gave 
 the matter rather a serious as- 
 pect in the eyes of the arch- 
 traitor of Bithoor. So far as 
 has been ascertained, it would 
 seem that it was when he heard 
 of the passage of the Pandoo 
 Nuddee that Nana Sahib order- 
 ed the slaughter of all captives 
 still alive at Cawnpore. He 
 then headed an army, and took 
 up a position at Aherwa, a point 
 at which the road to the canton- 
 ment branches out from the main 
 trunk road to Cawnpore. Here 
 he commanded five villages, 
 with numerous entrenchments, 
 armed with seven guns; and he 
 had his infantry in the rear. 
 
 The position was too strong 
 to be taken at a rush. Have- 
 lock, therefore, who, with his 
 men, had marched sixteen miles 
 daring the night, resolved on a 
 flank movement on the enemy's 
 left. He gave his exhausted 
 troops two or three hours' rest 
 in a mango-grove during mid- 
 day of the 1 6th, until the dis- 
 tressing heat of the sun abated 
 a little. Havelock then wheeled 
 his force round to the left flank 
 of the enemy's position ; and a 
 struggle began in which the Brit- 
 ish infantry showed the qualities 
 of which a general is always most 
 proud. It was like a realisation 
 of a very old note of encourage- 
 ment : " Five of you shall chase 
 an hundred, and an hundred of 
 you shall put ten thousand to 
 flight." Villages were attacked 
 and captured by handfuis of 
 men so small that they them- 
 
 selves marvelled at the enemy 
 yielding so readily. Havelock 
 wrote regarding one exploit : 
 " The opportunity had arrived, 
 for which I had long anxiously 
 wa ited, of developing the prowess 
 of the ySth Highlanders. Three 
 guns of the enemy were strongly 
 posted behind a lofty hamlet, 
 well entrenched. I directed this 
 regiment to advance; and never 
 have I witnessed conduct more 
 admirable. They were led by 
 Colonel Hamilton, and followed 
 hiirr with surpassing steadiness 
 and gallantry under a heavy fire. 
 As they approached the village 
 they wheeled and charged with 
 the bayonet, the pipes sounding 
 the pibroch. Need I add that 
 the enemy fled, the village was 
 taken, and the guns captured." 
 
 The Nana was not yet routed. 
 He planted a 24-pounder on the 
 cantonment road, as a prepara- 
 tive to renew the attack. Have- 
 lock did not give him time, al- 
 though his artillery cattle were 
 so weak that they could not 
 drag the guns into position, but 
 cheered on his infantry to cap- 
 ture the 24-pounder; and they 
 rushed along the road, amid a 
 storm of grape-shot from the 
 enemy, never slackening till the 
 gun was in their possession. The 
 mutineers retreated, blew up the 
 magazine of Cawnpore, and 
 pushed on to Bithoor. 
 
 Cawnpore was once more in 
 the hands of the British. 
 
 The individual adventures and 
 escapades in such battles are 
 almost incredible, and are diffi- 
 cult for civilians to imagine. 
 
114 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Indeed, language, whether read 
 or written, is little more than a 
 symbol when it describes the 
 operations of the battle-field to 
 one who has never witnessed 
 them. But personal vicissitudes 
 give living interest to the record. 
 Take these two. A youth of 
 eighteen, who had joined the 
 volunteer cavalry, had been on 
 picket all the preceding night, 
 with no refreshment save biscuit 
 and water; he then marched 
 with the ; rest sixteen miles in 
 the forenoon; he stood sentry 
 for an hour with the enemy 
 hovering around him; then 
 fought during the whole after- 
 noon. He then lay down supper- 
 less to rest at nightfall, holding 
 his horse's bridle the while; then 
 mounted night-guard from nine 
 to eleven, and then had his mid- 
 night sleep broken by an alarm 
 from the enemy. It was on 
 this occasion too that Lieuten- 
 ant Marshman Havelock, son 
 of the general, to whom he acted 
 as aide-de-camp, performed a 
 perilous duty in such a way as 
 to earn for himself the Victoria 
 Cross a badge of honour estab- 
 lished in 1856 for acts of per- 
 sonal heroism. The general 
 thus narrated the incident in 
 one of his despatches : " The 
 64th regiment had been much 
 under artillery fire, from which 
 it had severely suffered. The 
 whole of the infantry were lying 
 down in line, when, perceiving 
 that the enemy had brought out 
 the last reserved gun, a 24- 
 pounder, and were rally ing round 
 it, I called up the regiment to 
 
 rise and advance. Without any 
 other word from me, Lieutenant 
 Havelock placed himself on his 
 horse in front of the centre of 
 the 64th, opposite the muzzle 
 of the gun. Major Stirling, 
 commanding the regiment, was 
 in front, dismounted; but the 
 lieutenant continued to move 
 steadily on in front of the regi- 
 ment at a foot pace on his horse. 
 The gun discharged shot until 
 the troops were within a short 
 distance, when it fired grape. 
 In went the corps, still led by 
 the lieutenant, who still steered 
 steadily on the gun's muzzle, 
 until it was mastered by a rush 
 of the 64th." 
 
 It was on the iyth of July 
 that Havelock entered Cawn- 
 pore and learned the tales of 
 horror of which a very defective 
 account has been given in a 
 previous chapter. His atten- 
 tion was, however, more en- 
 grossed with the living than 
 with the dead. He sent for- 
 ward part of his troops the same 
 afternoon, and they found that 
 the Nana had collected a force 
 of 4000 men on a plain in front 
 of Bithoor, which was diversified 
 by thickets and villages; had 
 two streams running through it 
 which were not fordable, and 
 could only be crossed by two 
 narrow bridges. 
 
 The enemy held both bridges. 
 When Havelock' s infantry as- 
 saulted this position they were 
 received with a heavy musketry 
 and rifle fire, but after an hour 
 of severe fighting they effected 
 a crossing, drove back the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 115 
 
 mutineers, captured their guns, 
 and chased them towards Soraj- 
 pore. Thus was Cawnpore re- 
 covered and the road cleared of 
 rebels between that city and 
 Allahabad, and the fame of 
 Havelock spread far and wide 
 throughout the surrounding dis- 
 tricts. 
 
 But there was Lucknow to be 
 thought of. The garrison of 
 Cawnpore was now beyond help 
 or harm, but at Lucknow there 
 was a group of suffering British 
 men, women, and children, and 
 the dreadful details witnessed 
 in the well and the slaughter- 
 house were sufficient to render 
 Havelock and his men eager to 
 get forward in the hope of ren- 
 dering effective help. 
 
 Havelock knew what he was 
 undertaking. It was desperate 
 work. His forces had been 
 reduced by the severe fighting 
 they had gone through, and sick- 
 ness had lent its evil aid to 
 weaken them. But Brigadier 
 Inglis and his companions were 
 not to be abandoned to a fate 
 cruel as Cawnpore without an 
 attempt, at least, to rescue 
 them. He had <"?nt to Allaha- 
 bad an urgent message to Briga- 
 dier-General Neill to come to 
 Cawnpore himself, if possible, 
 and to bring reinforcements 
 with him. It was not easy to 
 find the means, but Neill ven- 
 tured to draft off 227 soldiers 
 of the 84th foot from his little 
 force, and these he started off 
 on the 1 5th in the hopes that 
 they would reach Cawnpore on 
 fche 20th. He left next day 
 
 himselfthat was the day of 
 the decisive battle and when 
 he arrived at the recently re- 
 covered city, he assumed the 
 military command of it and its 
 neighbourhood, and assisted 
 Havelock in the preparations 
 necessary for crossing the Ganges 
 into Oude. 
 
 Major Renaud died of his 
 wound soon after the arrival of 
 Neill, who valued him highly as 
 a trusty officer. 
 
 Havelock began to cross the 
 Ganges on the 2oth. The river 
 at this place varies from 500 to 
 2000 yards in width ; there was 
 no bridge, and the stream is 
 usually very rapid. The steamer 
 Brahmaputra was had in effec- 
 tive requisition for taking the 
 troops across, and on the 23d 
 noo soldiers had crossed over 
 into Oude territory. The gene- 
 ral crossed the river himself on 
 the 25th, and joined his band 
 of 1500 men, supported by ten 
 guns. It was not very promis- 
 ing. 
 
 On the 29th, Havelock had 
 again two well-fought battles in 
 one day. At Onao he found 
 that the enemy had taken up a 
 strong position to dispute his 
 march to Lucknow. They were 
 posted in and behind the village, 
 the houses being loopholed and 
 defended by fifteen guns. He 
 ordered the 78th Highlanders 
 and the ist Fusiliers to drive 
 them out of their fastness. The 
 attack was made by these brave 
 soldiers, supported by two guns. 
 They encountered a hot fire 
 from the loopholed houses. A 
 
u6 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 party of the 84th foot advanced 
 to aid them, and then a deter- 
 mined struggle took place. The 
 village was set on fire, but still 
 the mutineers held out ; but at 
 length a passage was made, and 
 the enemy, drawn up in great 
 strength on an open plain, was 
 seen, attacked, routed, and their 
 guns captured. 
 
 After two or three hours' rest, 
 Havelock advanced from Onao 
 to Busherutgunje, a walled town, 
 with wet ditches, a gate defend- 
 ed by a round tower, four pieces 
 of cannon on and near the 
 tower, loopholed and strength- 
 ened buildings within the walls, 
 and a broad and deep lake be- 
 yond the town. Havelock again 
 sent the Highlanders and the 
 Fusiliers, under the cover of 
 guns, to capture the earthworks 
 and enter the town, while the 
 64th made a flank movement 
 on the left and cut off the com- 
 munication from the town, 
 which was by a bridge over the 
 lake. The place was soon cap- 
 tured by the infantry and the 
 guns, and the enemy again 
 routed. In a despatch, Have- 
 lock mentions the following in- 
 cident of this day's killing work. 
 After describing the brief but 
 desperate contest among the 
 loopholed houses, he says : 
 "Here some daring feats of 
 bravery were performed. Pri- 
 vate Patrick Cavanagh, of the 
 64th, was cut literally in pieces 
 by the enemy while setting an 
 example of distinguished gal- 
 lantry. Had he lived, I should 
 have deemed him worthy of the 
 
 Victoria Cross; it could never 
 have glittered on a more gallant 
 breast." This mode of noticing 
 the merit of private soldiers en- 
 deared Havelock to his troops. 
 Cavanagh had been the first to 
 leap over a wall from behind 
 which it was necessary to drive 
 the enemy; he found himself 
 confronted by at least a dozen 
 troopers, two or three of whom 
 he killed ; but he was cut to 
 pieces by the rest before his 
 comrades could come to his 
 aid. 
 
 On the 3ist of July, General 
 Havelock felt with agony that 
 he was not able to advance far- 
 ther on his glorious march of 
 mercy to the sufferers at Luck- 
 now. Nay, retreat was impera- 
 tive. The odds were so fear- 
 fully against him that to advance, 
 or even to remain w'here he was, 
 seemed to be courting destruc- 
 tion. He had no means of 
 crossing the river Sye, which lay 
 in his way, or the great canal, 
 for the bridges the enemy had 
 not destroyed were so guarded 
 that to force his way was impos- 
 sible. His ijjoo, a little band, 
 had been reduced, by fighting, 
 sun-stroke, and sickness, to 1 3 64; 
 and he saw no probability of 
 reaching Lucknow with more 
 than 600 capable men; and 
 then there would be two miles 
 of street fighting before the Re- 
 sidency qould be relieved. 
 
 When the order to retreat 
 was given, the men felt dis- 
 heartened, but they had faith 
 in their commander. They 
 marched back to Onao, and 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 117 
 
 then to Mungulwar, a place six 
 miles from the opposite bank of 
 the Ganges to Cawnpore, to 
 which city he sent his sick and 
 wounded, and there they were 
 committed to the faithful care 
 of General Neill. This ener- 
 getic and careful soldier sent 
 on a few dozens of men, which 
 raised Havelock's effective force 
 to 1400. 
 
 With these, Havelock again 
 marched as far as Busherut- 
 gunje, where they met the enemy 
 a second time. After a terrible 
 struggle the mutineers were 
 once more shelled out of the 
 town, and pursued by bayonets 
 and rifles through the whole of 
 the hamlets to a plain beyond. 
 Another victory for Havelock, 
 but one which did not cheer 
 him much. The enemy were 
 still between him and Lucknow. 
 
 On the morning of the 6th of 
 August, with another bitter pang 
 Havelock was forced to the 
 conclusion, that to reach Luck- 
 now and then force his way to 
 the Residency was wholly be- 
 yond the power of the force at 
 his command. He returned 
 again through Onao to his old 
 quarters at Mungulwar. He 
 telegraphed to the ccmrnander- 
 in-chief that he must give up 
 his fondly-cherished enterprise 
 till he received reinforcements, 
 adding, " I will remain till the 
 last moment in this station, 
 strengthening it, and hourly 
 improving my bridge accommo- 
 dation with Cawnpore, in the 
 hope that some error of the 
 enemy will enable me to strike 
 
 a blow against them, and give 
 the garrison an opportunity of 
 blowing up their works and cut- 
 ting their way out." 
 
 Early in the morning of the 
 nth, Havelock received infor- 
 mation that 4000 of the muti- 
 neers had advanced to Busher- 
 utgunje again. It did not suit 
 his views to have such a force 
 within a few hours' march of 
 Mungulwar. He set his column 
 in motion again ; his advanced 
 guard drove the outlying parties 
 of the rebels out of Onao, and 
 reaching the vicinity of Busher- 
 utgunje, he found the enemy in 
 far greater force than had been 
 reported. Havelock postponed 
 his attack on them till the fol- 
 lowing day. 
 
 On the 1 2th, the artillery was 
 brought into play, and the 
 Highlanders made a rush and 
 captured two gun batteries 
 without firing a shot. The 
 enemy's extreme left was turned, 
 and they were soon once more 
 in full retreat. But still they 
 commanded the road to Luck- 
 now. 
 
 The conqueror marched back 
 a third time, of course weaker 
 in men than when he advanced, 
 and this time he re-crossed the 
 Ganges to Cawnpore, there to 
 wait for a considerable increase 
 of strength before making an- 
 other attempt to relieve Luck- 
 now. 
 
 This retreat elated the muti- 
 neers. They had no doubt that 
 it was a concession to their 
 superiority, and an admission 
 that even the renowned Have- 
 
118 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 lock was overcome by them. 
 The general grieved over this 
 loss of prestige to the British 
 arms, but more for the appalling 
 danger to which Brigadier Ing] is 
 and his companions in cruel 
 captivity were exposed. 
 
 While Havelock was battling 
 and being baffled thus, in the 
 fond but as yet vain hope of 
 delivering those who were in 
 the heartless fowler's snare at 
 Lucknow, Nana Sahib had not 
 been idle. The miscreant had 
 been gathering together a mot- 
 ley assemblage of troops near 
 Bithoor for the purpose of con- 
 solidating the power he had 
 partly regained in that region. 
 He had had a month from the 
 middle of July to the middle of 
 August to busy himself in, and 
 in that time he had collected 
 three or four regiments of in- 
 fantry mutineers, troops of mu- 
 tinied cavalry regiments, and a 
 miscellaneous rabble of Maha- 
 rattas. 
 
 The Nana's evident intention 
 was to attack Neill with his weak- 
 ened force and at strongest it 
 was but very weak at Cawn- 
 pore. He re-occupied Bithoor 
 without difficulty, for Neill had 
 no troops to leave at that place ; 
 and he was planning an attack 
 on Cawnpore when Havelock 
 re-crossed the Ganges. 
 
 As soon as this general ar- 
 rived, General Neill and he 
 resolved to attack the Nana. 
 They would turn his left wing 
 and then march to Bithoor. 
 Neill, with a mere handful of 
 men, accomplished the first 
 
 part of the programme, and 
 drove the rebels with precipita- 
 tion from the vicinity of Cawn- 
 pore. Next day Havelock 
 marched for Bithoor with about 
 1300 men, nearly all the sol- 
 diers that he and Neill had 
 between them, and came up 
 with the enemy about noon. 
 They had established a very 
 strong position in the front of 
 Bithoor. Havelock said it was 
 the strongest he had ever seen. 
 They had two guns and an 
 earth redoubt in and near a 
 plantation of sugar and castor- 
 oil plants, entrenched quad- 
 rangles filled with troops, and 
 two villages with the houses 
 and walls loopholed. 
 
 Havelock sent his artillery 
 along the main road, while the 
 infantry advanced in two wings 
 on the right and left. After a 
 brief exchange of artillery fire, 
 the ;8th Highlanders and the 
 Madras Fusiliers made one of 
 their reckless and fearless rushes, 
 and it struck astonishment and 
 panic into the mutineers ; they 
 then burned a village, forced 
 their way through the sugar plan- 
 tation, took the redoubt, cap- 
 tured two guns, and drove the 
 enemy before them at every 
 point. They pursued the rebels 
 into and right through the town 
 of Bithoor. Worn out with 
 fatigue after marching and 
 fighting during a fiercely hot 
 day, the British bivouacked at 
 Bithoor that night ; and next 
 day, the i7th, they returned to 
 Cawnpore. 
 
 This was 'the last battle in 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 which Havelock was the indis- 
 putable chief. Between the 
 1 2th of July and the lyth of 
 August he had fought and won 
 ten battles. 
 
 The state of matters was 
 dreadful at the Residency in 
 Lucknow. Havelock received 
 at Cawnpore, on the 23d of 
 the month, a message which 
 Inglis had despatched on the 
 1 6th, the messenger having been 
 exposed to seven days of the 
 utmost peril in bringing it, in 
 which the terribly trying posi- 
 tion of the garrison is described. 
 There were 120 sick and 
 wounded ; 220 women, and 
 230 children ; a scarcity of 
 food and all the other neces- 
 saries of life ; disease and filth 
 everywhere ; officers doing lab- 
 ourers' work from morning till 
 night ; soldiers and civilians 
 exhausted with toil and grind- 
 ing anxiety ; the enemy attack- 
 ing them every day; forming 
 mines to blow up the feeble in- 
 trenchments ; and no means of 
 carriage, even if the garrison 
 were to succeed in escaping 
 from their loathsome prison- 
 house. 
 
 For the rest of this month 
 Havelock remained reluctantly 
 inactive at Cawnpore ; but, like 
 all brave men, he was hoping 
 against hope. He wrote to 
 Inglis, urging him to remain 
 firm, assuring him that aid would 
 come before the necessity of 
 surrender that last act of de- 
 spair ! 
 
 Another gallant soldier now 
 appears on the scene. Major- 
 
 General James Outram, after 
 bringing the war in Persia to a 
 successful issue, was appointed 
 by the Governor-General to the 
 military command of the Cawn- 
 pore and Dinapoor districts. 
 He arrived at Dinapoor to as- 
 sume his office on the i8th of 
 August. The rest of the month 
 he spent making the wisest and 
 most energetic arrangements in 
 his power to assist Havelock 
 and Neill, and then to join 
 them in liberating Inglis. 
 
 On the ist of September Sir 
 James Outram arrived at Allaha 
 bad. Reckoning up the vari 
 ous fragments of regiments, 
 which had by arrangement 
 arrived there, he found that 
 they amounted to between 1700 
 and 1 800 men. Leaving Allaha- 
 bad on the 5th, he reached Cawn- 
 pore on the iSth; and then 
 Outram, Havelock, and Neill 
 resolved more sternly and cheer- 
 fully than ever to prosecute the 
 noble work before them to a 
 successful issue. 
 
 Outram was superior in rank 
 as a military officer, and held a 
 higher command in that part of 
 India than Havelock. But he 
 was proud of the achievements 
 of a brother commander, and he 
 was determined that the crown- 
 ing glory of relieving Lucknow 
 should be his. 
 
 On the 1 6th, accordingly, Sir 
 James Outram issued the follow- 
 ing order : 
 
 " The important duty of first 
 relieving the garrison of Luck- 
 now has been intrusted to Major- 
 General Havelock, C.B. : and 
 
120 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Major-General Outram feels that 
 it is due to this distinguished 
 officer, and to the strenuous 
 and noble exertions which he 
 has already made to effect that 
 object, that to him should accrue 
 the honour of the achievement. 
 
 " Major- General Outram is 
 confident the great end for 
 which General Havelock and 
 his brave men have so long 
 and gloriously fought, will now, 
 under the blessing of Providence, 
 be accomplished. 
 
 "The Major-General, there- 
 fore, in gratitude for, and ad- 
 miration of, the brilliant deeds 
 in arms achieved by General 
 Havelock and his gallant troops, 
 will cheerfully waive his rank 
 on the occasion, and will ac- 
 company the force to Lucknow 
 in his civil capacity as chief- 
 commissioner of Oude, tender- 
 ing his military services to Gene- 
 ral Havelock as a volunteer. 
 
 "On the relief of Lucknow 
 the Major-General will resume 
 his position at the head of the 
 forces." 
 
 Outram sent a telegram to 
 Calcutta, inquiring whether, if 
 Lucknow should be recaptured, 
 it should be held at all hazards 
 as a matter of prestige. The 
 answer of Viscount Canning 
 was : " Save the garrison ; never 
 mind our prestige just now, pro- 
 vided you liberate Inglis ; we 
 will recover prestige afterwards. 
 I cannot just now send you any 
 more troops. Save the British 
 in the Residency, and act after- 
 wards as your strength will per- 
 mit." 
 
 Outram planned the new 
 operations in Oude, placed 
 Havelock at the head of them, 
 and did not omit to arrange for 
 Neill securing a share in the 
 glory. 
 
 On the i Qth of September 
 the British army again crossed 
 the Ganges this time by a 
 bridge of boats, laboriously con- 
 structed by Captain Crommelin. 
 The enemy had assembled near 
 the banks, but retired after a 
 mere show of resistance to 
 Mungulwar. The British came 
 up with them again on the 2ist, 
 and drove them from the posi- 
 tion they had taken up, Sir 
 James Outram, as a volunteer 
 under Havelock, leading one of 
 the charges. On the 23d the 
 triumphant column found them- 
 selves again in the presence of 
 the rebels, with their left posted 
 on the enclosure of the Alum 
 Bagh, so near Lucknow that 
 the firing in the city was dis- 
 tinctly heard. Here Havelock 
 ordered a volley of his loudest 
 guns, to announce to the be- 
 leaguered garrison that relief 
 was near. The British again 
 drove the enemy before them ; 
 and since they had been march- 
 ing three days under a deluge 
 of rain, irregularly fed, and 
 badly housed in villages, Have- 
 lock determined to pitch camp 
 and give his troops a whole 
 day's rest on the 24th. 
 
 At last the eventful 25th ot 
 September dawned, the day on 
 which the long beleaguered 
 garrison \vas to be gladdened 
 by the deliverance for which 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 121 
 
 they had yearned in agony, and 
 were often tempted to despair 
 of. It was a day of mighty 
 deeds of heroic valour. At one 
 point the palace of Kaiser, or 
 Kissurah Bagh, where two guns 
 were pushed, the fire of the 
 enemy was so tremendous that, 
 in the words of Havelock, " no- 
 thing could live under it." The 
 troops had to pass a bridge 
 partly under the withering blight 
 of this cannonade. When dark- 
 ness set in, it was proposed that 
 they should halt for the night 
 in and near the court of the 
 palace, but Havelock would not 
 hear of the Residency being left 
 another night in terror of the 
 enemy. He therefore ordered 
 his doughty Highlanders, and 
 trusty Sikhs, to take the lead in 
 the terrible ordeal of a street 
 fight through the spacious city 
 of Lucknow. It was a desper- 
 ate die to cast, the struggle was 
 fearful, but it ended in a glori- 
 ous victory. 
 
 That night, in the Residency 
 of Lucknow, Havelock and Out- 
 ram clasped hands with Inglis ; 
 and what brimming eyes from 
 bursting hearts were all around 
 them ! The sick and the wound- 
 ed, the broken-down and the 
 emaciated, military and civili- 
 ans, officers and soldiers, women 
 and children, who had spent a 
 day of agonised suspense, were 
 now in a dream of joy almost 
 delirious. They found it hard 
 to believe that their deliverance 
 had indeed been wrought. But 
 fc was joy overcast with grief for 
 
 the brave who had fallen. The 
 gallant Neill had fallen! He 
 had fought his good fight, he 
 had finished his course, and 
 there he was crowned with <a 
 glory which has never dimmed. 
 Going to India, a stripling six- 
 teen years of age, he had spent 
 thirty years of his life in India, 
 a true and trusted officer of the 
 East India Company. It is 
 pleasant to mention that the 
 Queen afterwards conferred on 
 this valiant general's widow a 
 title which she would have ac- 
 quired in due course had her 
 gallant soldier lived a few 
 weeks longer the title of Lady 
 Neill. 
 
 Havelock had to lament a 
 melancholy list of other brave 
 companions, no less than 10 
 officers of the 78th Highlanders 
 alone being among the killed 
 and wounded. Sir James Out- 
 ram, early in the day, received 
 a flesh wound in the arm ; but, 
 though faint from loss of blood, 
 he continued to the end of the 
 day unsubdued, sitting on his 
 horse till he dismounted at the 
 gate of the Residency. 
 
 On the evening of that event- 
 ful and auspicious 251)1 of Sep- 
 tember, Major- General Have- 
 lock, within the Residency at 
 Lucknow, gave back to Major- 
 General Sir James Outram the 
 position at the head of the 
 forces, which he had so gener- 
 ously intrusted to him. Some- 
 thing of what the besieged had 
 suffered, and how they bore 
 it, will be told in next chapter. 
 
122 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 WHAT AND HOW THEY HAD SUFFERED IN LUCKNOW. 
 
 WHAT the garrison suffered and 
 did during those three months 
 of imprisonment in the Resi- 
 dency was learned afterwards. 
 By the Residency is meant the 
 part of Lucknow which contain- 
 ed the offices and dwellings of 
 most of the English officials 
 an irregular quadrangle a few 
 hundred yards square, its north- 
 most side nearly parallel with 
 the Goomtee, the river on which 
 Lucknow stands, and the. north 
 corner near to an iron bridge, 
 which carried a road over the 
 river to the cantonment. Within 
 those enclosures were numerous 
 buildings for purposes military, 
 political, civil, or private. 
 
 Although the European resi- 
 dents had had ample oppor- 
 tunities of forecasting trials from 
 what was occurring daily through- 
 out Oude in other cities in their 
 own the conduct of the muti- 
 neers and the extensive prepara- 
 tions for coming events made 
 by Sir Henry Lawrence yet 
 after all, the actual calamity fell 
 suddenly upon them. The un- 
 fortunate result of the battle at 
 Chinut, and the ill-omened re- 
 treat, drove all the British into 
 the Residency, even those who 
 had lived in the native city 
 rushing in without preparation, 
 many leaving all their property 
 behind them. 
 
 Therebelsmarchedinto Luck- 
 now after the retreating troops 
 
 under Sir Henry Lawrence's 
 command, invested the Resi- 
 dency, set up a howitzer battery 
 in front of it, and loopholed 
 the walls of houses for mus- 
 ketry. 
 
 The confusion within for the 
 first few days was frightful ; new- 
 comers were looking about for 
 somewhere to lay or hide their 
 heads, and military men began 
 to turn everything upside down, 
 with a view of making the place 
 more defensible. 
 
 The siege began on the ist 
 of July, the day after the dis- 
 aster at Chinut. On the 2d, 
 the day on which Sir Henry 
 Lawrence was struck by the 
 fatal shell while he was resting 
 on a couch exhausted and 
 anxious, shells, balls, and bul- 
 lets were being fired into the 
 enclosure by ten thousand rebels. 
 When Sir Henry Lawrence's 
 body was returned to its kindred 
 dust on the 4th, there was neither 
 opportunity nor time for display; 
 no military honours marked that 
 funeral ; a hurried prayer was 
 read amid the booming of can- 
 non, and a few spadefuls of 
 earth speedily covered the mor- 
 tal remains of one whose name 
 is among the immortals. 
 
 The rebel artillery displayed 
 both ingenuity and vigour in 
 planting batteries in unlooked- 
 for positions, such as house-tops, 
 and other spots, to the fire from 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 123 
 
 which the garrison could not 
 respond ; but most of the deaths 
 were caused by musket-bullets, 
 there being many excellent 
 marksmen among the enemy. 
 Captain Anderson, who wrote 
 " A Personal Journal of the 
 Siege of Lucknow," says : " A 
 man could not show his nose 
 without hearing the whiz of bul- 
 lets close to his head. The 
 shot, too, came from every direc- 
 tion; and when a poor fellow 
 had nearly jerked his head off 
 his shoulders in making humble 
 salutations to passing bullets, 
 he would have his penance dis- 
 agreeably changed into a sud- 
 den and severe contortion of 
 the whole body to avoid a round 
 shot or shell. So soon as a 
 man left his post he had no 
 time for meditation; his only 
 plan was to proceed rapidly. 
 in fact, to walk slowly was in 
 some places very, very danger- 
 ous, and many a poor fellow was 
 shot who was too proud to run 
 past places where builets danced 
 on the walls like a handful of 
 peas in a frying-pan." 
 
 In the third week the be- 
 siegers began to fire at the 
 Brigade Mess, where the ladies 
 and children had mainly sought 
 refuge, and this distracted the 
 attention of officers and soldiers 
 from pressing duties at other 
 points. The insurgents received 
 large reinforcements, and they 
 kept firing all night, thus tiring 
 out the defenders, who were 
 afforded no rest, and were be- 
 wildered by vigorous attacks of 
 cannon and musketry on almost 
 
 every part of their widely- 
 exposed intrenchment. For it 
 must be admitted that in the 
 original preparations against a 
 siege, Sir Henry Lawrence had 
 been more influenced by con- 
 siderate feelings for the opinions 
 and prejudices of the natives, 
 than by the sterner resolves of a 
 soldier driven to bay. He might 
 have prevented the enemy from 
 converting many of the houses 
 around into strongholds from 
 which they rained death on the 
 English quarters with impunity, 
 as he had been urged to do by 
 the military officers under him. 
 Brigadier Inglis adverted to this 
 point subsequently in language 
 which has a shade and dash of 
 bitterness in it. He wrote a 
 report, in which he said : " When 
 the blockade commenced only 
 two of our batteries were com- 
 pleted, part of the defences were 
 yet in an unfinished condition, 
 and the buildings in the imme- 
 diate vicinity, which gave cover 
 to the enemy, were only very 
 partially cleared away. Indeed, 
 our heaviest losses have been 
 caused by the fire from the 
 enemy's sharpshooters, station- 
 ed in the adjoining mosques and 
 houses of the native nobility, to 
 the necessity of destroying which 
 the attention of Sir Henry had 
 been repeatedly drawn by the 
 staff of engineers, but his inva- 
 riable reply was : ' Spare the 
 holy places, and private property 
 too, as far as possible ;' and we 
 have consequently suffered se- 
 verely from our very tenderness 
 to the religious prejudices, 
 
124 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 respect to the rights of our rebel- 
 lious citizens and soldiery." 
 
 During these attacks every 
 one of the besieged who could 
 load a gun or handle a musket 
 was forward with his services. 
 Others helped to construct 
 stockades and barriers of earth, 
 and many of the sick and wound- 
 ed rose from their corners, stag- 
 gered away to the points most 
 fiercely attacked, and rendered 
 what aid they could, some drop- 
 ping dead in the attempt. The 
 enemy dug a mine to blow up 
 a redan battery which had been 
 constructed at the north part of 
 the enclosure by Captain Fulton 
 decidedly the most effective 
 battery in the whole place, but 
 while, from a miscalculation of 
 distance, they failed to silence 
 it, the explosion was followed 
 by a desperate struggle in the 
 glacis outside, in which the in- 
 surgents were mowed down by 
 grape-shot before they aban- 
 doned the attempt to enter the 
 quarter at that point. Every 
 attack was repelled with the 
 vigour of desperation. The 
 grape-shot poured forth by the 
 garrison worked terrible destruc- 
 tion among the assailants. 
 
 Brigadier Inglis sent out mes- 
 sengers repeatedly, but had 
 hitherto obtained not a word of 
 news from the world of India. 
 He was shut out from it, know- 
 ing nothing but his own crushing 
 cares and responsibilities ; and 
 now it was the fourth week of 
 the siege. But on the 23d of 
 the month a messenger, who had 
 marie his way through many 
 
 perils, brought news from Cawn- 
 pore about Havelock's victories 
 in the region of the Doab. 
 Inglis sent the messenger away 
 again immediately withan urgent 
 request to the gallant conqueror 
 to press on to Lucknow as 
 quickly as possible. The resi- 
 dents now began to count the 
 days which must elapse before 
 this hope would be realised. 
 On the 25th a letter from Colo- 
 nel Tytler at Cawnpore was 
 brought in safety the former 
 messenger having only reported 
 the scraps of news he had picked 
 up. It announced Havelock's 
 advance towards Lucknow, and 
 Inglis at once sent off to him a 
 plan of the city to aid his pro- 
 ceedings, offering the messenger 
 5000 rupees if he brought back 
 an answer. It was an anxious 
 period, and the readers of the 
 previous chapter know how 
 Havelock was baffled at that 
 very time. During it Major 
 Banks, whom Sir Henry Law- 
 rence had appointed civil com- 
 missioner when he named Bri- 
 gadier Inglis for the military 
 command, was shot dead while 
 reconnoitring from the top ot 
 an outhouse. He had served 
 the East India Company faith- 
 fully and with great ability for 
 thirty years, and was in high 
 repute both as a soldier and as 
 a linguist. His death was a 
 heavy loss to Brigadier Inglis, 
 who, now that there was no 
 civil commissioner, was under 
 the necessity of placing the 
 whole community under the 
 strict rules of a military garrison. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 i25 
 
 The tale of the non-combat- 
 ants during the month of July 
 is sad enough, but it is truly 
 heroic. The heat was excessive, 
 while cholera, dysentery, and 
 small-pox worked their wonted 
 havoc. The commissariat chief 
 took ill, and there was no one 
 who could promptly organise his 
 department on a sudden emer- 
 gency. The food and draught 
 bullocks roamed about the place, 
 and many of them tumbled into 
 the wells, or were shot. It was 
 terrible work to bury the killed 
 bullocks, to keep the air free 
 from the taint of their decaying 
 carcases. Some of the military 
 horses went mad from want of 
 water and proper food. Work- 
 ing hard in the trenches all day, 
 the officers had to busy them- 
 selves at night burying dead 
 bullocks and horses, for the men 
 could not be spared for this kind 
 of work, they were all employed 
 on sentry and other duties. The 
 stench from dead animals be- 
 came one of the greatest annoy- 
 ances to which the garrison was 
 exposed as the heat increased. 
 The vapours that followed a 
 fall of rain engendered fever, 
 cholera, dysentery, and diarrhoea. 
 In these circumstances, children 
 died rapidly, and the hospital- 
 rooms were always full. 
 
 The officers were put on half 
 rations early in July; and, as 
 the native servants had fled, 
 many of them robbing their 
 masters before they went, the 
 officers had to turn their hands 
 to cooking. The ladies suffer- 
 ed unnumbered privations and 
 
 inconveniences with heroic 
 patience. They swept tlv:ir 
 rooms, drew water from the 
 wells, washed their clothes, and 
 performed every menial house- 
 hold duty. Families were hud- 
 dled together, differences of 
 rank obliterated, and all privacy 
 destroyed. As to the sick and 
 the wounded, officers and men 
 were lying about in the hospital- 
 rooms covered with blood and 
 vermin ; while the wards being 
 kept closed and barricaded 
 against shot, the pestilential 
 atmosphere did as deadly work 
 as stray missiles could possibly 
 have accomplished. 
 
 There was another bitter tor- 
 ment. MrjRees, a Calcutta mer- 
 chant, who unfortunately got 
 shut up in the enclosure when 
 the troubles began, wrote a "Per- 
 sonal Narrative," in which, speak- 
 ing of the flies, he says : " They 
 daily increased to such an extent 
 that we at last began to feel life 
 irksome, more on their account 
 than from any other of our num- 
 erous troubles. In the day, 
 flies ; at night, mosquitoes. But 
 the latter were bearable, the 
 former intolerable. Lucknow 
 had always been noted for its 
 flies ; but at no time had they 
 been known to be so trouble- 
 some. The mass of putrid 
 matter that was allowed to ac- 
 cumulate, the rains, the commis- 
 sariat stores, the hospital, had 
 attracted these insects in incred- 
 ible numbers. The Egyptians 
 could not possibly have been 
 more molested than we were by 
 this pest. They swarmed in 
 
126 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 millions, and though we blew 
 daily some hundreds of thou- 
 sands into the air, this seemed 
 to make no diminution in their 
 numbers ; the ground was still 
 black with them, and the tables 
 were literally covered with those 
 cursed flies. We could not 
 sleep in the day on account of 
 them. We could scarcely eat. 
 Our beef, of which we got a 
 tolerably small quantity every 
 day, was usually studded with 
 them; and when I ate my miser- 
 able boiled lentil soup and un- 
 leavened bread, a number of 
 scamps flew into my mouth, or 
 tumbled into and floated about 
 in my plate." 
 
 It required all Brigadier Inglis's 
 energy and tact to keep up the 
 spirits of himself and his com- 
 panions when Havelock did not 
 arrive at the time they had 
 calculated upon. They ex- 
 pected him at the end of July, 
 but when the 2d of August pass- 
 ed and he did not come, their 
 hopes were cruelly dashed. 
 About the beginning of August 
 great numbers of fresh rebels 
 flocked into Lucknow. New 
 mines were begun, especially 
 one under the Brigade Mess, in 
 which many of the ladies and 
 children were sheltered, and it 
 required all the energy of the 
 officers to frustrate the designs 
 of their underground enemies. 
 Captain Fulton, an engineer 
 officer, laboured unremittingly, 
 and most skilfully, in baffling 
 the enemy's mining by his own 
 counter-mining. He organised 
 a body of sappers from among 
 
 the humbler members of the gar- 
 rison, and instructed every one 
 on sentry duty to be on the 
 alert for any sounds beneath 
 ground that might denote the 
 driving of galleries or mines. 
 Mining and counter-mining were 
 perpetual during the siege ; the 
 enemy constantly attempting to 
 blow up the defence works, and 
 the defenders anticipating this 
 by blowing up the enemy. 
 
 Not a messenger could be 
 found during the fifth week ot 
 the siege who would risk the 
 perils of carrying to Havelock 
 a letter so small that it went 
 into a quill. The offer of a 
 great reward was no inducement 
 to any one. The brigadier re- 
 doubled his offer, and during 
 the sixth week of the siege an 
 adventurous native started with 
 a small note to Havelock at 
 Cawnpore. The 1 5th of August 
 was a notable day: no burial 
 took place ! But a letter arrived 
 from Havelock announcing his 
 inability to bring succour at pre- 
 sent. This was always some- 
 thing; it aroused the energies of 
 all in the garrison to further ex- 
 ertions. But about this time the 
 Residency, the house in which 
 Sir Henry Lawrence had been 
 shot, was felt to be no longer 
 secure, so much had it been 
 shaken and shattered by shot 
 and shell ; and the inmates 
 were removed to other quarters, 
 an unspeakable increase of dis- 
 comfort. 
 
 On the 1 8th the insurgents 
 succeeded in exploding a mine 
 under the Sikh barracks, and 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 127 
 
 made a wreck of thirty feet of 
 the defence boundary. This 
 challenge was bravely accepted 
 all hands were at work in the 
 instant. Boxes, planks, doors, 
 beams, all available stop-gaps, 
 were brought, while muskets and 
 pistols scared the outsiders. Not 
 only so, but the fearless defend- 
 ers, after repelling the enemy, 
 made a sortie, and blew up 
 some of the buildings, which 
 had hitherto proved themselves 
 to be in dangerous proximity. 
 
 A brilliant sortie was made 
 on the 2oth, headed by Captain 
 M'Cabeand Lieutenant Browne. 
 They spiked two of the enemy's 
 guns, and also blew up a house 
 called Johannes House, \\hich 
 had been a perpetual source of 
 heavy annoyance to the garrison; 
 from it an African eunuch who 
 had belonged to the court of the 
 late King of Oude, kept up a 
 most fatal and accurate fire on 
 the enclosure, bringing down 
 more Europeans than any other 
 marksman in the enemy's em- 
 ployment. 
 
 A letter from Havelock in the 
 last week of August cheered up 
 the besieged very much, even 
 though the information that three 
 weeks more must elapse before 
 he could possibly reach them 
 was in itself no very cheering 
 news. 
 
 During August the women 
 and children, and the sick and 
 wounded, suffered, of course, 
 more terribly, as every kind of 
 peril and discomfort increased, 
 and every means of succour and 
 solace was rendered less effec- 
 
 tive. A few little " siege babies" 
 came into the world during this 
 stormy period, and, poor things, 
 their initiatory struggle for exist- 
 ence was exceptionally hard. 
 Food was becoming rapidly 
 scarce. There was fresh meat 
 as long as any healthy bullocks 
 remained alive; an immense 
 store of attah, the coarse meal 
 from which chupatties were 
 made, had been laid in by Sir 
 Henry Lawrence, but this was 
 nearly exhausted by the end of 
 August, and the women and 
 children were constantly em- 
 ployed grinding corn by means 
 of hand-mills. Tea and sugar 
 were quite used up, with the ex- 
 ception of a small store reserved 
 for the invalids. Tobacco was 
 all gone, and the soldiers, yearn- 
 ing for a pipe after a day's hard 
 work, took to smoking dried 
 leaves. There were still a few 
 casks of porter, but they were 
 guarded as a treasure for special 
 use. When an officer died, the 
 trifling comforts he might leave 
 were put up to auction. A 
 dozen of bottles of brandy left 
 by Sir Henry Lawrence were 
 about this time sold for 16 ; 
 a dozen of beer, ^7 ; the same 
 amount for a dozen of sherry ; 
 the same price for a ham ; for a 
 quart bottle of honey, 4 ; for 
 two small tins of preserved soup, 
 $ ; and 3 for a cake of 
 chocolate. 
 
 The early days of Sep- 
 tember ushered in the tenth 
 week of- this memorable and 
 melancholy drama. New mines 
 everywhere. Officers and men 
 
128 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINl r , 
 
 assiduously attended to their 
 " listening-galleries/' mines in 
 which they listened wakefully 
 for miners. On the 5th of the 
 month the enemy exploded two 
 mines near the niess-house, and 
 brought ladders with them to 
 effect an escalade. They seemed 
 determined to carry the place by 
 storm this time ; but the garri- 
 son, almost worn to death with 
 toil and weariness, rushed gal- 
 lantly to every spot in danger, 
 repelled them, and hastily recon- 
 structed such defence works as 
 had been destroyed, and repair- 
 ed those which were damaged. 
 Neither time nor place, when 
 active service would be required, 
 could be thought of in these 
 circumstances. The officers 
 especially could not count on a 
 single minute's peace. Captain 
 Anderson says : " In the midst 
 of all these miseries you would 
 hear the cry of ' turn out,' and 
 you had to seize your musket 
 and rush to your post. Then 
 there was a constant state of 
 anxiety as to whether we were 
 mined or not ; and we were not 
 quite sure, whilst we were at a 
 loophole, that we might not 
 suddenly see the ground open, 
 or observe the whole materials 
 of the house fly into the air by 
 the explosion of a mine. Shells 
 came smashing into our rooms 
 and dashed our property to 
 pieces ; then followed round- 
 shot, and down tumbled huge 
 pieces of masonry, while bits of 
 tvood and brick flew in all direc- 
 tions. I have seen beds literally 
 blown to atoms." 
 
 On the 1 4th of this month 
 Captain Fulton's head was com- 
 pletely blown off by a cannon- 
 ball. The loss of this able 
 engineer officer was much la- 
 mented by all, his kindness of 
 manner having rendered him 
 a general favourite. But to 
 Brigadier Inglis it was irrepar- 
 able, for Captain Fulton had 
 been one of his chief counsel- 
 lors in all his trials and diffi- 
 culties. This was the second 
 chief engineer he had lost. Ful- 
 ton had succeeded Major Ander- 
 son, a mostvaluable and intrepid 
 officer, who was also mourned 
 for by the whole garrison ; and 
 now Captain Anderson became 
 chief engineer. 
 
 The twelfth week of the siege, 
 the week before Havelock and 
 Neill relieved them, found the 
 beleaguered residents in great 
 despondency. There had been 
 many deaths, and harder work 
 than ever had, of course, to be 
 gone through by the survivors. 
 The look-out was never for a 
 moment neglected. At all 
 hours of the day and night, 
 officers found such shelter as 
 they could on the roofs of the 
 Residency and the post-office, 
 while they watched intently the 
 river, the hedges, the roads, and 
 the buildings in and around the 
 city. Every fact of any obvious im 
 portance was at once reported to 
 Brigadier Inglis, who immediate- 
 ly made such defensive or other 
 arrangements as the case might 
 seem to require. What harass- 
 ing days and sleepless nights 
 were thus apportioned to the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 129 
 
 defenders of Lucknow can easily 
 be supposed. 
 
 The enemy's batteries were 
 now more numerous and nearer 
 than ever ; the whole place was, 
 in fact, surrounded by batteries, 
 bristling with great guns and 
 mortars, some of which were 
 perpetually belching shot and 
 shell. 
 
 During the three weeks of 
 September the personal life 
 within the enclosure was miser- 
 able beyond the previous misery. 
 The men toiled and watched 
 while nearly overcome by heat 
 and noisome odours. When 
 they had a chance of getting a 
 sleep during the damp nights, 
 after the great heat of the day, 
 in the trenches for they had 
 neither tents nor change of 
 clothing they suffered terribly 
 in their limbs and bones. No 
 sanitary cleansing could be at- 
 tended to, for there was not a 
 hand for surplus labours, and 
 not a drain at their command. 
 At one time half the officers 
 were ill from disease, fatigue, 
 and insufficient diet. Poor 
 Lieutenant Graham's mental 
 firmness gave way under priva- 
 tion, grief, and wounds, and he 
 committed suicide. 
 
 The live stock, the rum, and 
 the porter were all getting very 
 low; tea, coffee, chocolate, and 
 sugar had long disappeared from 
 the rations. A bottle of brandy 
 was sold for 2 i, 125. paid 
 for a bottle of curagoa; 2 for a 
 small fowl ; and any price al- 
 most would have been paid for 
 sugar. Mr Rees sold hi" gold 
 
 watch to a companion who had 
 a little money to spare, and, 
 with the proceeds, bought, among 
 other things, cigars at 23. a 
 piece. Tobacco was sold at 43. 
 a leaf. Any of the officers or 
 civilians who had it in their 
 power were willing to give un- 
 heard of prices for a few of the 
 luxuries still remaining in private 
 hands, that they might possess 
 the means of, in some degree, 
 alleviating the sufferings of their 
 wives and children. 
 
 The clothing of all was worn 
 away and dirtied to the most 
 piteous condition. Many of the 
 officers had had theirs burnt 
 with their bungalows before the 
 siege began, and had not had 
 an opportunity of replacing 
 them in the city before they 
 were hemmed up in that direful 
 enclosure. Now all clothes were 
 worn away to rags. Scarcely 
 a vestige of military uniform was 
 to be seen in the place. Officers 
 worked and fought, dined and 
 slept in shirt, trousers and slip- 
 pers. One made a billiard table 
 cloth into a sort of coat; an- 
 other contrived a shirt out of a 
 piece of floor-cloth. When the 
 few remaining effects of one of 
 the deceased officers were sold, 
 4. were given for a new flannel 
 shirt, and 12 for five others 
 that had seen some wear. 
 
 On the 2ist a clever spy 
 brought to Brigadier Inglis a 
 note, from Havelock, to the 
 effect that Outram and he were 
 on the road from Cawnpore, and 
 expected to reach Lucknow in 
 three or four days. The 22d 
 i 
 
130 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 passed in suppressed hopes and 
 anxious fears, and on the 23d 
 musketry was heard on the 
 Cawnpore road, and much anxi- 
 ety was visible within the city. 
 Next day cannonading and 
 musketry were heard again. The 
 first movement which denoted 
 to the agonised prisoners within 
 the enclosure, that the arms of 
 their deliverers were being at- 
 tended with success, was multi- 
 tudes escaping out of the city 
 and over the bridge to the other 
 side of the river. Prodigious 
 agitation and alarm were observ- 
 able in the city that night 
 movements of men and horses, 
 everything in commotion. 
 
 At noon on the 25th, the day 
 of deliverance, the sounds told 
 the garrison plainly enough that 
 street fighting was going on. 
 The look-out could see the 
 smoke of musketry, but nothing 
 more. As the afternoon ad- 
 vanced, the sounds came nearer 
 and nearer ; later on was heard 
 the sharp crack of the rifles, 
 then the flash of the musketry 
 was gradually seen, and then the 
 well-known uniforms.* 
 
 * The Jersey Times, of December 
 10, 1857, contained what professed to 
 be an extract from a letter from M. de 
 Bannerol, a French physician in the 
 service of Mussur Rajah, dated October 
 8th, and published in Le Pays, a Paris 
 paper, giving an account of the feel- 
 ings of the Christian women shut up 
 within Lucknow just before their re- 
 lief. It went on to state how Jessie 
 Brown, a corporal's wife, cheered the 
 party in the depth of their terrors and 
 despair, by starting up and declaring 
 that, amidst the roar of the artillery, 
 she caught the faint sound of the 
 
 Outram and Havelock fought 
 their way through a continuous 
 line of streets to the Bailey 
 Guard entrance of the enclosure, 
 the troops suffering terribly as 
 they advanced. It was a grasp 
 eloquent as with the tongues of 
 angels, with which Inglis seized 
 the hands of his brother officers 
 and deliverers. 
 
 It was with a great shout- 
 wonderful whence the strength 
 for it came ! that the deliverers 
 were all welcomed by that gar- 
 rison just kept from entering 
 the hideous jaws of death in its 
 cruellest aspect. " The immense 
 enthusiasm," says Mr Rees, "with 
 which they were greeted defies 
 description. As their hurrah 
 and ours rang in my ears, I was 
 nigh bursting with joy. . . . 
 We felt not only happy beyond 
 imagination, and grateful to that 
 God of mercy who, by our noble 
 deliverers, Havelock and Out- 
 ram, and their gallant troops, 
 had thus snatched us from immi- 
 nent death; but we also felt 
 proud at the defence we had 
 made, and the success with 
 which, with such fearful odds to 
 
 slogan of the approaching Highland- 
 ers, particularly that of the Macgregor, 
 "the grandest of them a'!" The 
 soldiers intermitted firing to listen, 
 but could hear nothing of the kind, 
 and despair once more settled down 
 upon the party. After a little Interval 
 Jessie broke out once more with words 
 of hope, referring to the sound of the 
 Highland bagpipes, which the party at 
 length acknowledged they heard ; and 
 then, by one impulse, all fell on their 
 knees, "and nothing was heard but 
 the bursting sob and the voice of 
 prayer." 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 131 
 
 contend against, we had pre- 
 served, not only our own lives, 
 but the honour and lives of the 
 women and children intrusted 
 to our keeping. As our deliver- 
 ers poured in they continued to 
 greet us with hurrahs. . . . 
 We ran up to them, officers and 
 men, without distinction, and 
 shook them by the hands how 
 cordially, who can describe ? 
 The shrill notes of the High- 
 landers' bagpipes now pierced 
 our ears. Not the most beauti- 
 ful music ever was more wel- 
 come, more joy-bringing. And 
 these brave men themselves, 
 many of them bloody and ex- 
 hausted, forgot the loss of their 
 comrades, the pain of their 
 wounds, the fatigue of overcom- 
 ing the fearful obstacles they 
 had combated for our sakes, in 
 the pleasure of hs.vLig accom- 
 plished our relief." 
 
 What was felt on this day by 
 the othersex,the "Lady's Diary" 
 will tell us. She writes : " Never 
 shall I forget the moment till 
 the latest day I live. It was 
 mosj overpowering. We had 
 no idea they were so near, and 
 were breathing air in the por- 
 tico as usual at that hour, specu- 
 lating when they might be in, 
 not expecting they could reach 
 us for several days longer, when 
 suddenly, just at dark, we heard 
 a very sharp fire of musketry 
 close by, and then tremendous 
 cheering. An instant after, the 
 sound of bagpipes, then soldiers 
 running up the road, our com- 
 pound and verandah filled with 
 our deliverers, and all of us 
 
 shaking hands frantically and 
 exchanging fervent ' God bless 
 you's ' with the gallant men and 
 officers of the 7 8th Highlanders. 
 Sir James Outram and staff 
 were the next to come in, and 
 the state of joyful confusion and 
 excitement was beyond all de- 
 scription. The big, rough- 
 bearded soldiers were seizing 
 the little children out of our 
 arms, kissing them with tears 
 rolling down their cheeks, and 
 thanking God they had come in 
 time to save them from the fate 
 of those at Cawnpore. We were 
 all rushing about to give the 
 poor fellows drinks of water, for 
 they were perfectly exhausted ; 
 and tea was made down in the 
 Tye Khana, of which a large 
 party of tired, thirsty officers 
 partook without milk or sugar ; 
 we had nothing to give them to 
 eat. Every one's tongue seemed 
 going at once with so much to 
 ask and to tell, and the faces of 
 utter strangers beamed upon 
 each other like those of dearest 
 friends and brothers." 
 
 There was severe fighting to 
 be encountered on the 26th, for 
 some of the heroic little band 
 had been left in palatial build- 
 ings outside the enclosure, which 
 they succeeded in holding for 
 the night. Help must be 
 brought to them; the guns 
 which they guarded must be 
 brought in, and it was desirable, 
 if possible, to obtain firm posses- 
 sion of the palatial buildings in 
 which they had been set down. 
 All this was accomplished. Two 
 or three palaces were secured, 
 
132 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 and the position held by the 
 British became thrice as large 
 as was the area which Brigadier 
 Inglis had so gallantly defended. 
 
 Three or four miles before 
 they came to Lucknow, near 
 the new road from Cawnpore, 
 Havelock and Outram, as they 
 advanced, captured the Alum 
 Bagh, the " garden of the Lady 
 Alum, or the beauty of the 
 world." It was an important 
 outpost It comprised a palace, 
 a mosque, and a private temple, 
 these buildings being bounded 
 by a beautiful garden which was 
 itself in the middle of a park 
 which was surrounded by a 
 wall with corner towers. There 
 was in it ample space for a large 
 military force, and Havelock, as 
 he advanced, found the enemy 
 drawn up in considerable num- 
 bers within and without the Alum 
 Bagh ; and he captured it only 
 after a fierce contest. He left 
 there ammunition and baggage 
 as well as the sick and wounded, 
 with 300 men, and an array of 
 elephants, camels, camp fol- 
 lowers, and loaded carts, besides 
 four guns. He thought it would 
 be one of the strongholds of his 
 position, after he conquered 
 Lucknow, with which he could 
 communicate as he found it 
 necessary. 
 
 A very different state of things 
 emerged. The Alum Bagh be- 
 came completely isolated. Only 
 when by good chance a native 
 messenger succeeded in convey- 
 ing a brief letter which had been 
 concealed in a quill or in the 
 sole of his shoe did the residents 
 
 at the one enclosure hear from 
 those who were pent up in the 
 other. 
 
 This was only one grave re- 
 sult of the relief. The British 
 within the intrenchment at 
 Lucknow were as close prison- 
 ers as ever. Havelock's men 
 were very much exhausted after 
 the severe fighting they had en- 
 countered, and the larger por- 
 tion of the city he had acquired 
 as the result of their determined 
 courage and energy required 
 more work, wakefulness, and 
 watching than ever. He could 
 neither retain Lucknow as a 
 conqueror, nor could he bring 
 away those who, for four months, 
 had been exposed to all the 
 perils which had beset them. 
 Nor could he send the women 
 and children away to any place 
 of safety. He had no efficient 
 escort to spare. 
 
 The only relief that he seemed 
 to have brought was more men 
 to toil at the defence-works, 
 but they had also to be fed, and 
 the supplies had been left at 
 the Alum Bagh. Captivity and 
 short commons were still to be 
 the order of the day at Luck- 
 now. 
 
 How these difficulties were 
 solved will be told at the pro- 
 per time, when other lines of the 
 narrative have been brought up 
 to date. 
 
 One remarkable feature of 
 this siege must not be over- 
 looked. It is the presence all 
 through it of a few faithful 
 sepoys who had remained be- 
 hind when the three native 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 133 
 
 infantry regiments mutinied at 
 the cantonment on the 3oth of 
 May. These men remained 
 steadfast to the end, notwith- 
 standing scanty food, little and 
 broken sleep, harassing exer- 
 tion, and daily fighting. The 
 mutineers would often converse 
 with them over the palisades of 
 the intrenchment and tempt 
 them sorely to desert to the rebel 
 ranks, but they never flinched ; 
 from the 3oth of May to the 
 25th of September, they stood 
 resolutely devoted to duty 
 " true to their salt." Their con- 
 duct did not pass unappreciated. 
 In an order in council, in which 
 Viscount Canning says : " There 
 does not stand in the annals of 
 war an achievement more truly 
 heroic than the defence of the 
 Residency of Lucknow," he 
 makes marked reference to the 
 faithfulness of these devoted na- 
 tives. After enumerating other 
 well-earned rewards, he says : 
 " Every native commissioned 
 
 and non-commissioned officer 
 and soldier who has formed part 
 of the garrison shall receive the 
 Order of Merit, with the in- 
 crease of pay attached thereto, 
 and shall be permitted to count 
 three years of additional service. 
 The soldiers of the i3th, 48th, 
 and yist regiments native in- 
 fantry " the three regiments 
 which mutinied on the 3oth of 
 May " who have been part of 
 the garrison, shall be formed 
 into a regiment of the line, to 
 be called ' The Regiment of 
 Lucknow.'" Before this the 
 Governor-General had awarded 
 them, as well as various classes 
 of the Europeans who had en- 
 dured the imprisonment of the 
 Residency, six months' batta. 
 
 As to the faithful and firm, 
 tender and true defender of 
 Lucknow, he entered that hate- 
 ful city as a lieutenant-col- 
 onel, and left it as Major-Gen- 
 eral Sir John Eardley Wilmot 
 Inglis. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE MUTINY AT DINAPOOR THE DEFENCE AND THE 
 DISASTER AT ARRAH. 
 
 PATNA, in the province of Be- 
 har, between Bengal and Oude, 
 is a large and important city, 
 the centre of an industrious 
 region; while Dinapoor, ten 
 miles off, is the most extensive 
 military station between Bar- 
 
 rackpore and Allahabad. Major- 
 General Lloyd was military 
 commander at Dinapoor when 
 the mutinies began to trouble 
 all the regions round about, 
 and Mr Tayler was the civil 
 commissioner, and consequently 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 the chief authority at Patna. 
 About the middle of June the 
 district became much agitated 
 by news of disturbances in 
 other quarters ; the police force 
 was strengthened, the ghats or 
 landing - places watched, the 
 Company's treasure removed to 
 other stations, and places of 
 rendezvous agreed upon in cases 
 of emergency. The incident of 
 the fanatical bookseller, Peer 
 Ali Khan, and the murder of 
 Dr Lyell on the 3d of July, has 
 been already told. 
 
 The Europeans at Dinapoor 
 had a very anxious time of it. 
 The native troops made loud 
 professions of loyalty, but only 
 scanty faith was put in their 
 fidelity. 
 
 The barracks of the European 
 troops at Dinapoor was situ- 
 ated in a square of the town 
 inhabited by the natives ; far- 
 ther west were the native lines, 
 and still farther west was the 
 magazine in which percussion- 
 caps were stored. 
 
 Major-General Lloyd was an 
 infirm, irresolute old man. He 
 had been a gallant officer in his 
 day, but his conduct on this 
 occasion was the cause of many 
 regrets, bitterly enough express- 
 ed sometimes, that he, so ad- 
 vanced in years, should have 
 been left in command of a vast 
 military region. He was unable 
 to mount his horse without 
 assistance, and seemed afraid to 
 give any orders that would have 
 the effect of sending European 
 troops away from Dinapoor. 
 
 There were three regiments 
 
 of Bengal native infantry at that 
 city towards the close of July 
 the yth, the 8th, and the 4oth. 
 There were also the greater 
 portion of Her Majesty's loth 
 foot, two companies of the 37th 
 regiment, and two troops of 
 artillery. 
 
 Symptoms began to betray 
 themselves among the sepoys 
 which suggested that it was time 
 they were disarmed. The posi- 
 tion they occupied in relation 
 to Bengal, therefore, to Calcutta, 
 and to the troubled provinces 
 west of them, was itself sufficient 
 to suggest this precaution early. 
 The inhabitants of Calcutta had 
 already petitioned Government 
 to disarm the sepoys at Dina- 
 poor, and the officers of the 
 Queen's regiments at the sta- 
 tions all along advocated the 
 taking of this step. 
 
 But General Lloyd would not 
 hear of it ; he was proud of the 
 sepoys; he was prepared to 
 trust them to the last. Viscount 
 Canning, of course, placed reli- 
 ance on the general's great 
 experience, and left it to his 
 judgment to determine whether 
 disarming should take place, 
 and when it was to be accom- 
 plished. It is generally admitted 
 that had it been attempted at 
 the proper time there would 
 have been little difficulty ; but 
 it was not done in time, and 
 hence the incident of the mu- 
 tiny. 
 
 On the 25th of July Major- 
 General Lloyd was convinced 
 that it was time something 
 should be done. He did not 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY 
 
 135 
 
 offer to disarm the sepoys, but 
 he ordered the percussion-caps 
 to be removed from the maga- 
 zine. From the position of the 
 magazine the caps had to be 
 brought along the whole length 
 of the sepoy lines on their way 
 to the barracks of the British 
 troops. General Lloyd did just 
 anticipate that there might be 
 danger in the removal of them, 
 and he sent the loth regiment 
 and the artillery to the grand 
 square, to be in readiness to 
 advance upon the sepoy lines if 
 disturbance should occur. 
 
 Two vehicles went down to 
 the magazine under charge of 
 an officer ; the caps were placed 
 on them, and were drawn some 
 distance towards the British 
 lines, when some of the sepoys 
 shouted, "Kill the sahibs ; don't 
 let the caps be taken away!" 
 The caps were taken away, how- 
 ever, and were safely conveyed 
 to the officers' mess-room ; and 
 the native officers were com- 
 manded to go and order the 
 sepoys to give up the caps 
 already issued to them. 
 
 Some of the sepoys obeyed. 
 Others, seeing there was no 
 display of force to back the 
 order, fired their muskets, and 
 threatened to shoot the officers. 
 At the sound of these shots the 
 loth regiment, which had been 
 kept idle in the square or in 
 the barracks all forenoon, were 
 ordered to advance, and they 
 did so only to see the sepoys 
 scamper off as fast as their legs 
 could carry them. Three na- 
 tive regiments, with their arms 
 
 and accoutrements, ran away ! 
 There was no force to stop 
 them. They certainly took ex- 
 cellent advantage of very stupid 
 orders. 
 
 The English destroyed the 
 sepoy lines, but did not pursue 
 the mutineers. They received 
 no orders to do this; for Gene- 
 ral Lloyd seems to have feared 
 the danger of being left without 
 them. It is cruel to reflect bit- 
 terly on a venerable old man 
 whose past services were an 
 honour to him; but surely it 
 was a grievous oversight in his 
 superiors to leave him in pos- 
 session of a command he was 
 no longer fit for. 
 
 It was now time somebody was 
 doing something in a systematic 
 way, so a surgeon of the loth 
 seeing the sepoys threatening 
 their officers, brought his hos- 
 pital-guard to confront them, 
 and even some of his patients 
 got on the flat roof of the hos- 
 pital, and fired at the mutineers. 
 The surgeon then gallope'd off, 
 and brought all the ladies and 
 children to the barracks for 
 safety. 
 
 It became a question of con- 
 siderable importance where 
 had the mutineers fled to ? It 
 was soon discovered that they 
 had taken the direction of Arrah, 
 a town twenty-four miles distant 
 from Dinapoor, and separated 
 from it by the river Sone. This 
 was the chief town in the district 
 of Shahabad, and it was surround- 
 ed by a country which supplied 
 a large revenue to the East 
 India Company. The muti- 
 
136 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 neers might accordingly expect 
 that there would be some trea- 
 sure to loot there. There were 
 two influential men in the neigh- 
 bourhood, Baboo Koer Singh 
 and the Rajah of Doomraon, 
 whose countenance the muti- 
 neers might have some reason 
 to look for, and whose support 
 they possibly relied on. 
 
 As it was, a body of the 
 mutineers crossed the river Sone 
 at a point sixteen miles below 
 Dinapoor, on the morning of 
 the 26th, and advanced towards 
 Arrah. The local police ran 
 away. 
 
 The magistrate, and there- 
 fore chief authority at Arrah, 
 was Mr Wake, a man who 
 proved himself excellently qua- 
 lified to wield power in a peril- 
 ous time. Mr Boyle, an engi- 
 neer of the main trunk line, 
 had been expecting and making 
 provision against some such 
 emergency as now occurred. 
 He had selected a detached two- 
 storied house, about fifty feet 
 square, standing within the same 
 ground as the bungalow he in- 
 habited, and fortified it with 
 stones and timber, and kept a 
 store of provisions within it. 
 
 Mr Wake and the other Euro- 
 peans at Arrah now appreciated 
 the engineer's foresight. They 
 took up their abode in this 
 fortified house sixteen gentle- 
 men, all employed in various 
 civil duties in or near Arrah. 
 But while there was not strictly 
 a military man among them, 
 they were joined by fifty Sikhs 
 of Captain Rattray's police bat- 
 
 talion. Fortunately the ladies 
 and children had been sent away 
 to a place of safety. 
 
 The commissariat was attend- 
 ed to with as much promptitude 
 as possible, but it was not very 
 complete meat and grain suffi- 
 cient only to afford the Euro- 
 peans short allowance for a few 
 days, and a very scanty supply 
 of food for the Sikhs. Most of 
 the Europeans had, besides re- 
 volvers and hog-spears, a couple 
 of double-barrelled guns, or a 
 gun and a rifle, and they had 
 abundance of ammunition. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 
 27th nearly the whole of the 
 Dinapoor mutineers marched 
 into Arrah. As usual, they re- 
 leased the 400 prisoners who 
 were in jail, rushed to the col- 
 lectorate, and looted the trea- 
 sury of 80,000 rupees. They 
 next attacked the extemporised 
 fort, finding shelter behind trees 
 and adjacent buildings. 
 
 It was during this mutiny that 
 Baboo Koer Singh unmasked 
 himself. He boldly headed the 
 mutineers in his true colours. 
 He procured boats for them to 
 cross the Sone ; a plan for join- 
 ing the Oude insurgents after 
 the treasury at Arrah was plun- 
 dered has been traced to him ; 
 he attempted to bribe the Sikhs 
 in Mr Boyle's house to desert, 
 but these sturdy fellows were 
 stanch ; they remained true to 
 their salt. Koer Singh was un- 
 doubtedly in league with Nana 
 Sahib. 
 
 The insurgents brought up 
 two small guns on the 28th, but 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 137 
 
 a torrent of cannon and musket- 
 balls from the besieged fright- 
 ened the gunners. The rebels 
 then dragged one of the guns 
 up to the roof of Mr Boyle's 
 bungalow, about sixty yards from 
 the little fort ; but as Mr Wake 
 said in a despatch, their coward- 
 ice, ignorance, and want of 
 unanimity prevented the forti- 
 fication from being brought 
 down upon the ears of those it 
 defended. The besieged kept 
 pace with the besiegers in dis- 
 play of energy. Whenever a 
 new battery was seen, another 
 barricade was raised ; to render 
 a mine useless, a counter-mine 
 was run out. The Sikhs in the 
 building laboured as if they 
 liked it, and obviously gloried 
 in the part they were taking in 
 the gallant defence. When pro- 
 visions began to run low, they 
 made a sally one night and cap- 
 tured six sheep. 
 
 For seven days and nights 
 were these seventy men besieged 
 by 3000 bitter enemies. Nay, on 
 the last two days the assailants 
 even offered terms which were 
 rejected with contempt. 
 
 On the 2d of August the 
 rebels found occupation farther 
 west. They marched in that 
 direction to encounter Major 
 Vincent Eyre; and how they 
 fared will be told immediately. 
 
 Mr Wake and his companions, 
 thus relieved of the prowling 
 marauders, found, wonderful to 
 relate, that only one of their 
 number, a Sikh policeman, had 
 received a dangerous wound; 
 the rest had escaped with 
 
 scratches and bruises. The 
 Sikhs behaved valiantly, and 
 were proud of opportunities to 
 distinguish themselves. When, 
 during the siege, water ran 
 short, they dug a well under- 
 neath the house, continuing 
 laboriously to sink till they 
 came to a spring. When all 
 was happily over, they request- 
 ed that the well might be built 
 into a permanent one, as a me- 
 morial of the part they took in 
 the siege, and that the fortified 
 house should henceforth be 
 called Futtehgurh the Fortress 
 of Victory. Mr Boyle was only 
 too pleased to comply with these 
 manly requests. 
 
 The revolt one is rather 
 tempted to use a familiar word, 
 the bolt, for such it was at 
 Dinapoor occurred on Saturday 
 the 25th of July, and General 
 Lloyd made no effort till the 
 following Monday to look after 
 the sepoys. But on that day 
 he sent a party of the 27th foot 
 in the steamer Horungotta to 
 disperse the mutineers at Arrah, 
 and rescue the European com- 
 munity. But the steamer went 
 aground after three hours' sail- 
 ing. 
 
 The steamer Bombay arrived 
 at Dinapoor in her passage 
 down the Ganges, and General 
 Lloyd detained her for another 
 expedition. She was to set sail 
 towards Arrah with a number 
 of troops, steam up to where 
 the Horungotta was aground, 
 take in tow the detachment 
 from that steamer, and then 
 proceed up the river Sone to a 
 
138 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 landing-place as near to Arrah 
 as possible. 
 
 Early in the morning of Wed- 
 nesday the 2 Qth the Bombay 
 started, and after picking up the 
 stranded men, the whole dis- 
 embarked in the afternoon at 
 the Beharee Ghat, on the left 
 or west bank of the Sone. There 
 were 400 men in all, under the 
 command of Captain Dunbar, 
 and they marched to a nullah, 
 the channel of a torrent, which 
 had to be crossed by boats. 
 This caused considerable delay, 
 and when they resumed march, 
 it was along a rough road, and 
 under a bright moon. When 
 the evening was far advanced, 
 they reached a bridge about a 
 mile and a half from Arrah. 
 Captain Harrison, of the 37th, 
 suggested that a halt should be 
 made here until daylight, just 
 to avoid the risk of entering by 
 night a town which was in the 
 hands of an enemy. Captain 
 Dunbar anticipated little or no 
 danger; they marched in, and 
 passed through the outskirts of 
 Arrah an hour before midnight, 
 after the moon had set. 
 
 But the enemy knew they were 
 coming,and an ambush was await- 
 ing the arrival of the unsuspect- 
 ing Dunbar and the victims of his 
 want of foresight. A heavy fire 
 of musketry poured upon them 
 suddenly out of the black dark- 
 ness of a large tope of mango 
 trees. Mr Wake and his com- 
 panions heard the din, and at 
 once concluded that some cal- 
 amity had befallen British troops 
 sent for their relief. As has been 
 
 pithily recorded, "the sudden- 
 ness of the attack and the black- 
 ness of the night seem to have 
 overwhelmed the detachment ; 
 the men lost their officers, the 
 officers their men : some ran off 
 the road to fire into the tope, 
 others to obtain shelter; Dun- 
 bar fell dead, and Harrison had 
 to assume the command of men 
 whom at midnight, and in utter 
 darkness, he could not see. The 
 main body succeeded in re- 
 assembling in a field about four 
 hundred yards from the tope; 
 and there they remained until 
 daylight, being joined at various 
 periods of the night by stragglers, 
 some wounded and some unhurt, 
 and being fired at almost con- 
 tinually by the mutineers. It 
 was a wretched humiliating night 
 to the British. At daybreak they 
 counted heads, and then found 
 how severe had been their loss. 
 Captain Harrison at once col- 
 lected the survivors into a body 
 and marched them back ten or 
 eleven miles to the steamer. 
 By some mismanagement the 
 men had fasted for twenty-four 
 hours, so that they were too weak 
 to act as skirmishers ; they de- 
 fended themselves as long as 
 their ammunition lasted, but 
 kept in column, pursued the 
 whole way by a large body of 
 the enemy, who picked off the 
 poor fellows with fatal certainty. 
 Arrived at the banks of the 
 nullah, all organisation ceased; 
 the men rushed to the boats in dis- 
 order; some were run aground, 
 some drowned, some swam over, 
 some were shot by sepoys and 
 
"HE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 139 
 
 villagers on shore. How the 
 rest reached the steamer they 
 hardly knew, but this they did 
 know, that they had left many 
 of their wounded comrades 
 on shore, with the certain fate 
 of being butchered and mutil- 
 ated by the enemy. It was a 
 mournful boat-load that the Bom- 
 bay carried back to Dinapoor on 
 the evening of the 30th of July." 
 
 The list of dead and wounded 
 enumerated 290 out of a small 
 band of 415. Havelock won 
 half-a-dozen of his victories with 
 no greater a loss than this disas- 
 ter caused. 
 
 While this unfortunate expedi- 
 tion was working out its natural 
 results, Messrs Wake, Boyle, 
 and their companions, still held 
 out, till Major Vincent Eyre 
 caused that effectual diversion 
 in their favour which has already 
 been referred to. This able 
 officer had arrived at Ghazee- 
 pore on his sail up the Ganges 
 from Dinapoor to Allahabad, 
 with some guns, when he heard 
 on the 28th of July of the critical 
 position of the handful of Euro- 
 peans in the house at Arrah. 
 He applied to the authorities 
 at Ghazeepore for permission 
 to make an attempt to relieve 
 them. The permission was grant- 
 ed, and Major Eyre steamed 
 back to Buxar, and there he 
 met a detachment of the 5th 
 Fusiliers going up the Ganges. 
 Finding the officers and men 
 heartily willing to join him, he 
 left Buxar for Arrah with 160 
 men of Her Majesty's 5th Fusi- 
 liers, under Captain L/Estrange, 
 
 twelve mounted volunteers of the 
 railway department, and three 
 guns. 
 
 On the morning of the 3oth 
 of July, the day of the disaster 
 just mentioned, Major Eyre 
 commenced a series of opera- 
 tions some miles west of Arrah. 
 But for that unhappy advance 
 the night before, the muti- 
 neers might have become hem- 
 med in between Captain Dun- 
 bar's force and the brave little 
 band under the gallant major 
 who had so eagerly rushed to the 
 rescue. Hearing that the enemy 
 intended to destroy several 
 bridges on his way to Arrah, 
 Major Eyre pushed on towards 
 that town. On the ist of August 
 he found the bridge at Bullow- 
 tee just cut down, and hastily 
 constructed another. Over it he 
 marched on to Gujeratgunje, 
 there he bivouacked for the 
 night. At daybreak on the 2d 
 he started again, and soon came 
 in sight of the enemy. They 
 were nearly 2500 strong in mu- 
 tinous sepoys alone ; there were 
 with them Koer Singh and his 
 followers besides ; and they were 
 drawn up in great force in plant- 
 ations on either side of the road, 
 with inundated rice -fields in 
 front. Major Eyre boldly push- 
 ed on towards their centre, pene- 
 trated it, and marched to the 
 village of Beebeegunje. This baf- 
 fled the enemy's tactics, and they 
 hastily'set themselves to prevent 
 his passage over a bridge near 
 that village. They destroyed 
 the bridge, formed extensive 
 earth-works beyond the stream, 
 
140 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 and occupied the houses of the 
 village in great force. Major 
 Eyre determined to make a de- 
 tour to the right, and try to 
 cross about a mile higher up 
 the stream ; but the enemy fol- 
 lowed him quickly, and made a 
 fierce attack on his small force. 
 After an hour's hard fighting, 
 Major Eyre ordered Captain 
 L' Estrange to make a charge 
 with his infantry. Supported 
 by the skirmishers and the grape- 
 shot and shrapnel-shells of the 
 guns, the infantry advanced, 
 and sent the enemy panic-strick- 
 en in all directions. The major 
 then crossed the stream, and 
 marched through open country 
 to within four miles of Arrah, 
 when he suddenly came upon 
 an unfordable river. He lost 
 no time in setting about to get 
 a bridge thrown over it, obtain- 
 ing the aid of labourers employ- 
 ed on the East Indian line, which 
 was close at hand. 
 
 This was too much for Koer 
 Singh and the sepoys. Such 
 energy and perseverance fright- 
 ened them. It dismayed them 
 so much that they left Arrah 
 altogether, and retreated in vari- 
 ous directions. Koer Singh and 
 a large number of mutineers 
 betook themselves to Jugdis- 
 pore, twelve miles distant. 
 
 A reinforcement was sent from 
 Dinapoor to Arrah, which arrived 
 at the latter place on the 8th of 
 August. It consisted of 200 
 men of Her Majesty's loth regi- 
 ment of foot; and a party of 
 100 Sikhs arriving a day or two 
 afterwards, Major Eyre was en- 
 
 abled to lay plans for a march 
 to Jugdispore. The roads were 
 bad, and the rebels' post at that 
 place was strong, so caution was 
 needed. 
 
 On the afternocn of the nth 
 Major Eyre left Arrah with a 
 force consisting of 500 men, 
 marched eight miles, and en- 
 camped for the night on a bank 
 of the Gagur Nuddee. Next 
 day he had to make his way 
 over two miles of rice-fields 
 under water, a kind of roadway 
 along which it is peculiarly diffi- 
 cult to convey guns. At eleven 
 o'clock in the forenoon he ob- 
 served that some of the enemy 
 in the village of Narainpore were 
 preparing to resist his passage 
 of a river immediately beyond. 
 After some skirmishing, Major 
 Eyre opened a fire of grape 
 which roused a large body of 
 rebels who had been concealed 
 behind bushes. The detach- 
 ment of the loth, eager to emu- 
 late the previous heroism ot 
 their comrades of the 5th Fusi- 
 liers, and exasperated by their 
 loss under Captain Dunbar, 
 asked to be permitted to charge 
 the enemy at once ; Eyre con- 
 sented. Captain Patterson led 
 them on. They rushed with a 
 shout and a cheer, and the ene- 
 my gave way before a charge 
 which they found irresistible. 
 The other infantry came up and 
 assisted in dispersing the enemy 
 from another village, Dullaur, 
 beyond the river. This accom- 
 plished, Eyre marched a mile 
 and a half through thick jungle 
 to Jugdisoore, maintaining a 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 141 
 
 running fight the whole way. 
 There Koer Singh's stronghold 
 was but feebly defended ; Eyre 
 took possession of it early in 
 the afternoon, and with it large 
 stores of grain, ammunition, and 
 warlike material. The villagers 
 around Jugdispore immediately 
 sent in tokens of submission to 
 the conqueror. 
 
 Koer Singh fled with a few 
 followers to the Jutowrah jungle, 
 where he had another resid- 
 
 ence. Major Eyre sent Captain 
 L'Estrange after him with a de- 
 tachment, but when he reached 
 the place he found that all had 
 again dispersed, and the gallant 
 captain returned after destroy- 
 ing residences of Nana Sahib's 
 ally and his two brothers. 
 
 The Dinapoor mutineers, with 
 Koer Singh at their head, march- 
 ed towards the Jumna regions, 
 as if with the intention of joining 
 the insurgents in Bundelcund. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE MUTINY AT AGRA. 
 
 AGRA was the seat of government 
 of the North-West Provinces. 
 It, like Delhi, is situated on the 
 right bank of the Jumna, and lies 
 about 150 miles from that city, 
 while it is a little under 800 
 miles from Calcutta. Mr Col- 
 vin, the lieutenant-governor, had 
 a harassing time of it from the 
 very beginning of the mutinous 
 outbreaks. From the prominent 
 position of Agra in the troubled 
 region, the Calcutta authorities 
 naturally looked to him, whose 
 official residence was there, for 
 information about the mutinies ; 
 and he was as assiduously busy 
 collecting details, and sending 
 them to the Anglo-Indian capital 
 by telegraph, and by daks, as a 
 conscientious, able servant of the 
 Government possibly could be. 
 On the ist of June Mr Colvin 
 
 found it necessary to disarm the 
 44th and 6yth Bengal native in- 
 fantry, which had their quarters 
 at Agra, because two companies 
 of these regiments had mutinied 
 at another place, and also be- 
 cause the bulk of the men under 
 his own eye exhibited unmistak- 
 able signs of dissatisfaction. At 
 the end of the month the only 
 protection that was left for the 
 great and important city of 
 Agra was the 3d European 
 Fusiliers, a corps of volunteer 
 European cavalry, under Lieu- 
 tenant Greathed, and Captain 
 D'Oiley's field battery of six 
 guns. The numbers were weak. 
 The fusiliers counted about 
 600, and all the others a little 
 over 200. 
 
 A little previous to this time 
 the Kotah contingent of native 
 
142 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 troops, consisting of infantry, 
 cavalry, artillery, about 700 men 
 in all, had been brought up 
 from the south-west, and were 
 engaged in the region round 
 about Agra, collecting revenue, 
 burning disaffected villages, 
 capturing and hanging rebels 
 and mutineers. Till about the 
 beginning of July they were 
 looked upon as faithful and 
 loyal. But on the evening of 
 the 4th of July they were seen 
 in another light. Suddenly and 
 unexpectedly the cavalry por- 
 tion of this contingent broke 
 out in mutiny, fired at their 
 officers, killed the sergeant- 
 major, and then marched off, 
 followed by the infantry and 
 artillery all of them but a few 
 gunners who helped the British 
 to retain the two guns belong- 
 ing to the contingent. 
 
 Next morning, Sunday, July 
 5th, an army of mutineers, con- 
 sisting of about 4000 infantry and 
 1000 cavalry, with ten or twelve 
 guns, presented themselves at 
 a village close to Mr Colvin's 
 house, three miles from the 
 military cantonment, and four 
 miles from the fort of Agra. It 
 was at once resolved to go out 
 and fight them with the com- 
 paratively few British troops 
 who were at hand, and who 
 have been mentioned above, 
 leaving about 200 men of the 
 3d European Fusiliers to guard 
 the fort. This was all the more 
 necessary because evidences 
 were pretty ample that the 
 native citizens of Agra had 
 begun to think slightingly of 
 
 their British masters, and all 
 suspicion of fear or timidity 
 must be dispelled. 
 
 The opposing forces met at 
 noon. It augured badly that 
 the native women were seen in 
 the village loading the rifles and 
 musket^ and handing them to 
 the mutineers. Colonel Riddell 
 commanded the infantry of the 
 small British force, and the artil- 
 lery were under Captain D'Oiley. 
 
 When about 600 yards from 
 the enemy, the infantry were 
 ordered to lie down, to allow the 
 guns to do their work against 
 the village. For two hours an 
 exchange of artillery fire was 
 kept up extremely fierce ; 
 shrapnel shells, round shot, and 
 grape shot filling the air. A 
 tumbrel belonging to D'Oiley's 
 battery now blew up, disabling 
 one of the guns; the enemy's 
 cavalry took advantage of this 
 to gallop forward and charge, 
 but the 3d Europeans, jumping 
 up, let fly a volley, which effec- 
 tually deterred them. Most of 
 the officers and soldiers had 
 wished during these two hours 
 for a bolder course of action 
 a capture of the enemy's guns 
 by a direct charge of infantry. 
 Then followed rapid musketry 
 fire, and a chasing of the enemy 
 out of the village by most of the 
 infantry the rest guarding the 
 guns. Unfortunately, another 
 tumbrel blew up, disabling an- 
 other gun ; and, moreover, 
 D'Oiley had used up all the 
 ammunition which had been 
 supplied to him. Upon this, 
 the order was given for retreat 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 143 
 
 to the city ; and the retreat was 
 made, much to the n \ortification 
 of the troops, for the) 'had really 
 won a victory. The rebels, it 
 was afterwards known, were just 
 about to retreat when they saw 
 the retreat of the Briti *h ; their 
 infantry marched off towards 
 Muttra, but their cavalry and 
 one gun harassed the British 
 during their return to ti le city. 
 The artillery fire of the muti- 
 neers during the battle was 
 spoken of with admiration, even 
 by those who were every minute 
 suffering from it; the native artil- 
 lerymen had certainly become 
 most effective gunners. If the 
 cavalry had shown intelligence 
 and bravery similar to theirs, it 
 would have been very bad on 
 this occasion for the British, 
 who had one-fourth of their 
 small force killed or wounded. 
 The loss of Captain D'Oiley 
 seemed to his heart-broken fel- 
 low-countrymen irreparable. A 
 shot struck him while he was 
 managing his guns ; he stuck to 
 his post, however, sitting on the 
 carriage as he gave orders. At 
 last he fell, saying, "Ah ! they 
 have done for me now. Put a 
 stone on my grave, and say I 
 died at my guns." He died 
 next day. 
 
 The British returned to the 
 fort. Three or four thousand 
 prisoners got loose during the 
 day, and had begun to enjoy 
 the congenial sport of setting 
 fire to all the European dwell- 
 ings in the city. An officer of 
 the 3d Europeans wrote: "I 
 went out next morning. 'Twas 
 
 a dreadful sight indeed; Agra 
 was destroyed ; churches, col- 
 leges, dwelling-houses, barracks 
 everything burned." 
 
 But the British had to think 
 of the fort. All the native ser- 
 vants ran off. A military sur- 
 geon wrote that he had eleven 
 of these useful individuals at 
 his command in the morning, 
 but not one at night. The 
 officers drew and carried water 
 from the wells, and the ladies 
 turned their attention to cook- 
 ing, and keeping their apart- 
 ments clean. One lady wrote : 
 " We are living in a place they 
 call Palace Yard ; it is a square, 
 with a gallery round it, having 
 open arches ; every married 
 couple being allowed two arches, 
 It is no easy matter to keep our 
 arches clean and tidy. ; ' As to 
 calling the square Palace Yard, 
 the imprisoned Englishmen 
 seem to have tried as hard as 
 possible to imagine themselves 
 in London. A commissariat 
 officer wrote of the fort : " Here 
 we are all living in gun sheds 
 and casemates. The appear- 
 ance of the interior is amusing ; 
 and the streets are named. We 
 have Regent and Oxford Streets, 
 the Quadrant, Burlington and 
 Lowther Arcades, and Trafalgar 
 Square." 
 
 There they were, then; 500 
 fighting men, nearly 6000 alto- 
 gether military, civil, Eur- 
 asians, half castes all shut up 
 in that fort; and when were 
 they to get out ? an event to be 
 guessed at More than 2000 of 
 the number were children. Mr 
 
144 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Colvin saw, however, that pro- 
 vided the supply of food and 
 other necessaries was sufficient, 
 there was no such danger to 
 fear as beset Sir Hugh Wheeler 
 at Cawnpore, and Brigadier 
 Inglis at Lucknow. Agra fort 
 was extensive, and within its 
 walls were many large buildings. 
 The defences, too, were strong. 
 There were sixty guns of heavy 
 calibre mounted on the bastions; 
 thirteen large mortars were 
 placed in position; the powder 
 magazines also were wdl stored, 
 and were secure from accidental 
 explosion. Mr Colvin and his 
 military advisers improved the 
 external defences by levelling 
 many of the houses in the city 
 which approached too near to 
 the fort. 
 
 Still, with all their sense of 
 security, the inmates of that 
 strong fort had enough to do to 
 keep up their spirits. Many of 
 them had lost heavily. On the 
 day and night of the 5th of July 
 property had been destroyed in 
 the city to an enormous amount, 
 and most of this belonged to 
 persons who had now to think 
 only of how their lives were to 
 be spared. All was gone. The 
 large shops which had abounded 
 with the most costly articles of 
 necessity and luxury were de- 
 molished, and their imprisoned 
 proprietors were, for aught they 
 knew, penniless. 
 
 The state of affairs at the fort 
 throughout July and August 
 might be said to consist of no great 
 danger from without, but with 
 innumerable discomforts within. 
 
 Mr Colvin sent repeated mes- 
 sages for a relieving force, but 
 there was none to be had. Oc- 
 casional sallies were made from 
 the fort to punish isolated bodies 
 of the rebels, but the European 
 troops were too few to effect 
 much benefit by sallies. One 
 exploit was worthy of ranking 
 with the mighty deeds of Have- 
 lock and his band. Mr Colvin 
 requested Colonel Cotton to 
 organise a small force for the pur- 
 pose of driving some mutineers 
 from Allygurh, fifty-five miles to 
 the north of Agra. Maj or Mont- 
 gomery set forth with about 300 
 men all told, sixty-one of them 
 being artillery, and reached Hat- 
 trass, thirty-four miles on his way, 
 on the 2ist of July. There he 
 learned that 6000 mutineers, 
 under Ghose Mahomed Khan, 
 a lieutenant of the King of Delhi, 
 were prepared to resist him at 
 Allygurh ; he marched to Sarsnee 
 on the 23d, rested for the night 
 in an indigo factory and other 
 buildings, and advanced the 
 following day to Allygurh. 
 There ensued a sharp conflict 
 of two hours' duration in gar- 
 dens and enclosures outside the 
 town; it ended in the defeat 
 and dispersion of the enemy, 
 who left 300 dead on the field. 
 The battle was a gallant affair, 
 worthy of ranking with those of 
 Havelock ; for Montgomery 
 contended against twenty times 
 his own number, and more- 
 over, many of the troops among 
 the enemy were Ghazees, or 
 fanatic Mussulmans, who en- 
 gaged fiercely in hand-to-hand 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 145 
 
 contests with some of his troops. 
 This detachment of men was 
 too small to enable him to enter 
 and re-occupy Allygurh. He 
 was obliged to leave that place 
 in the hands of the rebels, and 
 to return to Hattrass ; but hav- 
 ing replenished his stock of 
 ammunition and supplies, he 
 advanced again to Allygurh, 
 held it for several days, and left 
 a detachment there when he 
 took his departure for Agra. 
 
 Almost every other city and 
 military station in that part of 
 India was in the hands of 
 the mutineers during July and 
 August. 
 
 The mutinies, or attempts at 
 mutiny, during these months in 
 the Orissa and Nagpoor districts 
 of south-western Bengal, were of 
 slight importance. The Madras 
 presidency remained almost en- 
 tirely at peace. There were 
 discontents and occasional plot- 
 tings, but no formidable resist- 
 ance of the British power. The 
 presidency of Bombay was affect- 
 ed only in a trifling degree com- 
 pared with the storms that shook 
 Bengal and the north-west pro- 
 vinces. The Parsees, a wealthy 
 and powerful native community 
 in the city of Bombay, were 
 faithful to the Government, and 
 strengthened the hands of Lord 
 Elphinstone greatly. These de- 
 scendants of the Persians, many 
 of whom are merchants, ship- 
 owners, and bankers, may always 
 be distinguished from the other 
 natives of India by the termina- 
 tion " jee " to their names. The 
 property in the island on which 
 
 the city of Bombay stands is 
 chiefly in their hands. They 
 presented a loyal address to 
 Lord Elphinstone, and their con- 
 duct was worthy of the senti- 
 ments it expressed. The domi- 
 nions of the Nizam, the large 
 and important country of Hy- 
 derabad, were anxiously watch- 
 ed by the heads of all the three 
 presidencies. It is certain that 
 if that potentate had joined the 
 rebels, Southern India would 
 have blazed up in insurrection. 
 But he remained loyal; and 
 Salar Jung, his chief minister, 
 supported him steadfastly in all 
 the measures that were taken 
 to keep and to put down dis- 
 turbance when the turbulent 
 Mussulmans of Hyderabad were 
 set in tumultuous excitement by 
 the news of the triumph of the 
 rebels at Delhi. The Maharajah 
 Scindia, under circumstances of 
 great difficulty and peril, man- 
 aged to maintain the peace at 
 Gwalior, the country north of 
 the Bombay presidency. He 
 retained native troops, but dis- 
 countenanced their tendencies 
 to rise against the British. The 
 Gwalior contingent, but for 
 Scindia's tact and judgment, 
 would have marched to Agra in 
 a body, and greatly imperilled 
 the " raj," or rule, of the British 
 there. He kept these trouble- 
 some troops near him during 
 the months of July and August 
 Holkar's Mahratta territory, with 
 Indore for its chief city, was 
 similarly managed. On the ist 
 of July a portion of the contin- 
 gent kept by this chief rose 
 
146 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 against the British at Indore, 
 against his wish and without 
 his privity, but he succeeded in 
 quelling the mutinous spirit 
 among them. 
 
 The state of India in that 
 'wide range of country north of 
 the Bombay presidency during 
 July and August may be summed 
 
 up by saying that the native 
 chieftains were, for the most 
 part, faithful, even when their 
 troops revolted ; and the British 
 residents were frequently driven 
 from station to station, and the 
 British influence was as low as 
 it well could be without being 
 quite annihilated. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE RECAPTURE OF DELHI. 
 
 GENERAL WILSON knew that 
 he could not take Delhi by 
 assault with the force at his 
 disposal in the first half of 
 August, and he was looking 
 anxiously for reinforcements 
 from the Punjaub. They were 
 due about this time, with Briga- 
 dier-General Nicholson at their 
 head. This soldier, who attain- 
 ed his high rank at an unusually 
 early age, had already acquired 
 a wide reputation for daring and 
 energy. He had up in the 
 Punjaub struck terror into 
 the mountaineers, and swept 
 away bands of rebels in front, 
 and on either side of him, in 
 the region between the Chenab 
 and the Sutlej. He arrived 
 before Delhi with a few com- 
 panions on the 8th of August ; 
 but the bulk of his column did 
 not reach that city till the i4th. 
 It consisted of about 1 100 Euro- 
 peans, and 1400 Punjaub troops. 
 Nicholson brought a few guns 
 
 with him, but before beginning 
 siege operations it was neces- 
 sary to await the arrival of a 
 siege-train which Sir John Law- 
 rence had caused to be collected 
 at Ferozpore. 
 
 For ten days after the arrival 
 of Nicholson little was done on 
 either side except a skirmish at 
 Rohtuk, which had some influ- 
 ence in pacifying the district 
 round the siege camp. It was 
 this. About the time of Nichol- 
 son's arrival General Wilson de- 
 spatched Lieutenant Hodson to 
 watch a party of the enemy who 
 had moved out from Delhi on 
 the Rohtuk road, and to afford 
 support, if it should be needed, 
 either to Soneeput or to the 
 Jheend rajah, who remained 
 faithful to his alliance with the 
 British. Hodson started on the 
 night of the T4th of August with 
 230 of " Hodson's Horse," irre- 
 gular cavalry named after him- 
 self, 190 Guide cavalry, and a 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 117 
 
 few Jheend cavalry. The ent * 
 my were known to have passed 
 through Samplah, on the way 
 to Rohtuk, and Hodson resolved 
 to anticipate them by a flank 
 movement. On the 1 5th, at the 
 village of Khurkowdeh, he cap- 
 tured a large number of muti- 
 neer cavalry, by a stratagem at 
 once bold and ingenious. On 
 the 1 6th the enemy marched to 
 Rohtuk, and Hodson in pursuit 
 of them. On the i;th skir- 
 mishes took place near Rohtuk 
 itself; but on the i8th Hodson 
 succeeded in drawing forth the 
 main body of rebels, who suf- 
 fered a speedy and complete 
 defeat. They were not simply 
 mutineers from Delhi ; they 
 comprised many depredatory 
 bodies that greatly troubled such 
 of the petty rajahs as wished to 
 remain faithful to, or in alliance 
 with, the British. Lieutenant 
 Hodson dispersed them; and 
 thus, as was said above, aided 
 in pacifying the surrounding 
 district. 
 
 Wilson held his own before 
 Delhi, waiting for the siege-train, 
 and Nicholson was on the alert 
 for any service he could ren- 
 der. An opportunity soon pre- 
 sented itself. A force of the 
 enemy left Delhi and made to- 
 wards Bahadoorghur, a town 
 about twenty miles due west, 
 with the obvious intention either 
 of attacking the siege camp in 
 the rear, or of intercepting the 
 siege-train which was on its way 
 from Ferozpore. The expedition 
 from Delhi amounted to 7000 
 men. General Wilson entrusted 
 
 Brigadier Nicholson with a 
 column to frustrate its design, 
 whatever that might be. Nichol- 
 son started at daybreak on the 
 25th of August, and in his march 
 passed through two difficult 
 swamps, waded a sheet of water 
 three feet deep, and came up 
 with the enemy about five 
 o'clock in the afternoon. They 
 were posted in a position two 
 miles in length, extending from 
 the town of Nujuffghur to a 
 bridge over a jheel, or water- 
 course, named after the town. 
 The rebels had thirteen guns, of 
 which four were in a strong 
 position at an old serai, or 
 travellers' bungalow, on their 
 left centre, the point which 
 Brigadier Nicholson resolved, 
 after a brief reconnaissance, to 
 attack. After firing a few rounds 
 from his guns, he reminded his 
 men of what a bayonet charge 
 meant in the British army, and 
 then ordered them to advance. 
 The infantry did advance to a 
 purpose, driving the rebels out 
 of the serai with tremendous 
 impetuosity. Nicholson then, 
 by a flank movement, drove the 
 enemy entirely from the field, 
 and captured thirteen guns. 
 While this was being done, 
 Lieutenant Lumsden advanced 
 to Nujuffghur, and cleared it of 
 the enemy, during which opera- 
 tion that brave officer was 
 killed. Nicholson returned to 
 the camp next day, having 
 captured all the guns and am- 
 munition of the rebels; and, 
 what was of more consequence, 
 having frustrated whatever de- 
 
14G 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 sign the expedition set out 
 with. 
 
 The Delhi insurgents, know- 
 ing that the siege camp was 
 weakened by the departure of 
 the force under Nicholson they 
 were nearly always well inform- 
 ed of the proceedings of the be- 
 siegers resolved to attack the 
 camp in its weakened state; but 
 as soon as they made their 
 appearance, General Wilson 
 strengthened his pickets, and 
 the affair never became serious. 
 They attempted little more than 
 a series of skirmishing attacks 
 during the 1 Uer days of August. 
 
 With the arrival of September 
 new and important features in 
 the circumstances of the siege 
 presented themselves. It was 
 apparent that within Delhi there 
 was no able officer possessing 
 unity of command, while with 
 the besiegers prospects were 
 brightening. The siege-train 
 arrived early in the month. It 
 consisted of thirty pieces of 
 heavy artillery guns, howitzers, 
 and mortars of large calibre. 
 It had required all Sir John 
 Lawrence's skill, influence, and 
 energy, both to obtain this train, 
 and to secure and forward men 
 to Ferozpore to escort it, as well 
 as all the necessary animals, 
 carriages, food, camp-equipages, 
 and fodder. But he succeeded. 
 About the same time a battalion 
 arrived from Kurachee, raising 
 the siege army to about 9000 
 men of all arms. It included 
 Europeans, Goorkhas, Sikhs, 
 Punjaubees, Beloochees, and 
 mountaineers from the Afghan 
 
 frontier, but the Oudian and 
 Hindustani element was almost 
 entirely excluded from it. 
 
 General Wilson felt that the 
 time had now arrived for com- 
 mencing the operations of a 
 regular siege, which, as every 
 one knows, depend more on 
 engineers and artillerymen than 
 on infantry and cavalry. By the 
 labour of successive days and 
 nights, breasting batteries were 
 constructed, on which forty-four 
 pieces of heavy ordnance bristled. 
 There were also guns of lighter 
 weight and smaller calibre at 
 various positions. 
 
 It was on the i ith of Septem- 
 ber that the British siege-guns 
 opened their systematic fire on 
 the north of Delhi. On that 
 day the nine 24-pounders in 
 Major Campbell's No. 2 Battery 
 brought down huge pieces of 
 the wall near the Cashmere 
 Bastion. The guns on that bas- 
 tion attempted feebly to reply, 
 but were soon knocked over, 
 and the bastion itself was ren- 
 dered untenable. Next day No. 
 2 Battery opened its fire ; and 
 day and night thereafter till the 
 morning of the 1 4th, with scarcely 
 an interval of silence, upwards of 
 forty pieces of heavy ordnance 
 belched forth slaughter and ruin 
 on the devoted city. The enemy 
 replied with spirit. 
 
 The 1 4th of September was 
 a day not soon to be forgotten 
 by the soldiers of the siege army, 
 nor by the rebels within the 
 walls of the city of the great 
 Mogul. It was the day fixed 
 for the final assault All ar- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 rangements had been made. 
 At four o'clock in the morning 
 the different columns marched 
 from the camp to the places re- 
 spectively assigned them. 
 
 The perilous honour of taking 
 the lead was conferred on Briga- 
 dier Nicholson. When he gave 
 the signal the Rifles rushed to 
 the front with a cheer, and skir- 
 mished along through the low 
 jungle, which extended to within 
 fifty yards of the ditch. Then 
 he led the first column, and 
 Brigadier Jones the second, 
 from behind the Koodseebagh, 
 steadily towards the breached 
 portions of the wall. As soon 
 as they emerged into the open 
 ground, the enemy's bullets pelt- 
 ed them like hail in front and 
 flank. Officers and men were 
 falling fast on the glacis, and 
 for several minutes it was im- 
 possible to get the ladders 
 placed for a descent into the 
 ditch and an ascent of the 
 escarp. This difficulty was 
 speedily overcome, however, 
 and then the fierce struggle 
 began. The British bayonet 
 was irresistible. Through and 
 over all obstacles the troops 
 dashed into the city. Then 
 they fought their way, inch by 
 inch, capturing battery and bas- 
 tion, from the Cabool Gate on 
 to the Lahore Gate. Here the 
 desperate resistance of the rebels 
 checked the impetuous rush of 
 the British troops. Many were 
 the attacks on the Lahore Gate ; 
 and in one of them, when the 
 troops were advancing along a 
 narrow lane which was being 
 
 swept by the enemy's grape- 
 shot and musketry, a bullet 
 ended the onward career of the 
 gallant Nicholson. 
 
 While this was going on the 
 third column was directing its 
 operations against the Cashmere 
 Gate, through which it had been 
 arranged they were to rush after 
 an explosion-party had blown it 
 in. The advanced exploders con- 
 sisted of Lieutenant Home, an 
 engineer officer, Sergeants Smith 
 and Carmichael, and a few na- 
 tive sappers with the powder- 
 bags. The firing party consist- 
 ed of Lieutenant Salkeld, Cor- 
 poral Burgess, and a few native 
 sappers. These two divisions 
 of the explosion-party on their 
 way towards the gate encoun- 
 tered a heavy fire of musketry 
 from both flanks, and from a 
 wicket in the gate itself. Ser- 
 geant Carmichael and a native 
 sapper named Madhoo were 
 killed while laying the bags, but 
 Lieutenant Home only received 
 a blow from a stone thrown up 
 by a bullet. The advanced 
 party then slipped down into 
 the ditch to make room for the 
 firing-party \ and in the language 
 of Colonel Baird Smith, " Lieu- 
 tenant Salkeld, while endeavour- 
 ing to fire the charge, was shot 
 through the arm and leg, and 
 handed over the slow match to 
 Corporal Burgess, who fell mor- 
 tally wounded just as he had 
 successfully accomplished the 
 onerous duty. Havildar Tilluh 
 Singh, of the Sikhs, was wound- 
 ed, and Ramloll Sepoy of the 
 same corps, was killed during 
 
150 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 this part of the operation. The 
 demolition being most success- 
 ful, Lieutenant Home, happily 
 not wounded, caused Bugler 
 Hawthorne to sound the regi- 
 mental call of the 52d, as the 
 signal for the advancing co- 
 lumns. Fearing that amid the 
 noise of the assault the sounds 
 might not be heard, he had the 
 call repeated three times, when 
 the troops advanced and carried 
 the gateway with complete suc- 
 cess." Sergeant Smith, when 
 he saw Burgess falling, ran for- 
 ward to fire the train, but seeing 
 it had been lighted, he had just 
 time to throw himself in the 
 ditch before the explosion took 
 place. 
 
 Colonel Campbell, now that 
 the gate was open to him, march- 
 ed boldly towards the Jumma 
 Musjid, in the centre of the city, 
 which he wished to capture. 
 He did not effect this. After a 
 gallant struggle for it, Colonel 
 Campbell fell back on the Eng- 
 lish church, near the Cashmere 
 Gate, where he had the support 
 of the reserve, and before night- 
 fall he had made his position in 
 and near the church so strong 
 that the enemy could not dis- 
 lodge him. The reserve column 
 under Brigadier Lingfield did 
 its work bravely in taking pos- 
 session of the various captured 
 posts, such as the Cashmere 
 Gate. A portion of the siege 
 army, placed under the com- 
 mand of Major Reid for a series 
 of operations in the western 
 suburbs of the city, was not so 
 fortunate as the others, but the 
 
 result of the day's fighting was 
 that British authority was par 
 dally restored in Delhi after it 
 had been suspended for eighteen 
 weeks. The loss that day was 
 very large a total of 1135 kill- 
 ed and wounded. The British 
 were in command of a strip of 
 ground and buildings just within 
 the northern wall. Next day 
 they dragged several mortars 
 into position at various points 
 between the Cashmere and the 
 Cabool Gates, to shell the heart 
 of the city and the imperial 
 palace. They also set up bat- 
 teries, and put several houses 
 in such a state as would serve 
 them either for attack or de- 
 fence. The enemy meanwhile 
 kept up a vigorous fire upon 
 the positions of the British, and 
 skirmishing went on at all the 
 advanced posts. Position after 
 position was gained each suc- 
 cessive day. The magazine was 
 captured on the lyth, and on 
 the 1 8th the British had secured 
 a firm hold of every position 
 behind a straight line extending 
 from the magazine to the Cabool 
 Gate. And- then the bold ad- 
 vance southward was made with 
 conquering tread. 
 
 The Delhi bank was captured 
 under a shower of bullets from 
 almost every house-top and win- 
 dow. The mortars were brought 
 out from the magazine, placed 
 in commanding position, and 
 shelled the palace and the quar- 
 ters of the town occupied by the 
 enemy. A large and strong 
 camp outside the Delhi Gate 
 was evacuated in precipitate 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 151 
 
 haste by the rebels, and was at 
 once taken possession of by 
 Lieutenant Hodson. Through 
 that gate the cavalry galloped, 
 and rode into the JummaMusjid, 
 of which they took possession, 
 being speedily supported by 
 infantry and guns. Meantime 
 the imperial palace was being 
 attacked. A column advanced, 
 placed powder-bags against the 
 gate, blew it in, and entered, to 
 find that the enormous building 
 was deserted by all save a few 
 fanatics and numerous wounded 
 sepoys. 
 
 Thus ended the siege of Delhi 
 in its capture. Captain Nor- 
 man concluding a report of it, 
 says : " Called on at the hottest 
 season of the year to take the field, 
 imperfectly equipped, and with 
 the extent of difficulties to be 
 faced very imperfectly known, 
 all felt that a crisis had arrived, 
 to meet which every man's 
 cheerful, willing, and heartfelt 
 energies must be put forth to 
 the utmost ; and how well this 
 was done those who were with 
 the army know, and can never 
 forget. For the first five weeks 
 every effort was required, not 
 indeed to take Delhi, but even 
 to hold our own position ; and 
 day after day, for hours together, 
 every soldier was under arms 
 under a burning sun, and con- 
 stantly exposed to fire. Not- 
 withstanding the daily casualties 
 in action, the numerous deaths 
 by cholera, the discouraging 
 reports relative to the fickLIty 
 of some of the native portions 
 of our own force, the distressing 
 
 accounts from all parts of the 
 country, the constant arrival of 
 large reinforcements of muti- 
 neers, and the apparent impos- 
 sibility of aid ever reaching in 
 sufficient strength to enable us 
 to take the place the courage 
 and confidence of the army 
 never flagged. And besides 
 enduring a constant and often 
 deadly cannonade for more than 
 three months in thirty different 
 combats, our troops invariably 
 were successful, always against 
 long odds, and often opposed 
 to ten times their number, who 
 had all the advantages of ground 
 and superior artillery." 
 
 The loss of men in killed and 
 wounded during the entire siege 
 was 3807 ; 1 68 horses were 
 killed, and 378 wounded. 
 
 In an address issued to the 
 siege army before the final as- 
 sault, General Wilson had said 
 that he need hardly remind the 
 troops of the cruel murders 
 committed on their officers and 
 comrades, as well as their wives 
 and children, to move them in 
 the deadly struggle. No quarter 
 should be given to the muti- 
 neers ; at the same time, for the 
 sake of humanity and the hon- 
 our of the country they belonged 
 to, he called on them to spare 
 all women and children that 
 might come in their way. The 
 rule thus laid down was strictly 
 adhered to. When the women 
 and children were spared, it 
 seemed more than the natives 
 had looked for; but it must be 
 owned that as to the men, the 
 British soldiers took very little 
 
152 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 pains to discriminate between 
 mutineers and the comparatively 
 guiltless. Many a dark-skinned 
 inhabitant of Delhi, against 
 whom no charge of complicity 
 tfith the bloodthirsty mutineers 
 2ould have been proved, fell 
 ander the ruthless bayonet. 
 
 Delhi contained also at the 
 time an enormous amount of 
 miscellaneous wealth the loot 
 which the mutineers had gather- 
 ed during the sack of other 
 towns and stations. The British 
 soldiers observed reasonably 
 well the rules of the army 
 concerning prizes and prize- 
 money, but their Punjaubee 
 and Goorkha allies, more ac- 
 customed to Asiatic notions of 
 warfare, revelled in the un- 
 bridled freedom which their 
 position among the conquerors 
 conferred on them in the cir- 
 cumstances. There was also in 
 the city a large store of various 
 beverages ; and as temperance is 
 not as stern a virtue in the British 
 soldiers as bravery, the scenes 
 of drunkenness that ensued may 
 be left to the reader's imagination. 
 
 When the imperial palace was 
 entered by the conquerors, they 
 found it empty. The fact is, 
 that when all hope of holding 
 Delhi against the besiegers had 
 vanished, the aged puppet of a 
 king, and nearly all the mem- 
 bers and retainers of the once 
 imperial family, took to flight. 
 Captain Hodson was told off to 
 capture the fugitives. He soon 
 learned that among the crush 
 at the exodus of the less warlike 
 inhabitants, when the British 
 
 began to make headway, the 
 king and his family, with a large 
 force, had left the city by the 
 Ajmeer Gate, and had gone to 
 Kootub, a suburban palace 
 about nine miles from Delhi. 
 A detachment could not be 
 spared to pursue them. The 
 royal fugitive, however, sent 
 messengers, among them Zeenat 
 Mahal, a favourite begum, with 
 ridiculous offers, as if he had 
 still the power to dictate, 
 or even suggest terms. These 
 were all rejected. It was, 
 nevertheless, desirable to have 
 the king's person in safe custody ; 
 and Captain Hodson received 
 permission to promise the guilty 
 old sovereign his life, and ex- 
 emption from immediate per- 
 sonal indignity, if he would 
 surrender. Hodson knew that 
 he would require to proceed on 
 this mission with the utmost 
 circumspection. He set off 
 with fifty of his own irregular 
 troopers to Humayoon's tomb, 
 about three miles from Kootub. 
 Here he concealed himself and 
 his men among some old build- 
 ings, and sent up his message 
 to the palace. After two hours 
 of anxious suspense, he received 
 word from the king that he 
 would deliver himself up to 
 Captain Hodson only, and that 
 on condition that he would 
 repeat with his own lips the 
 pledge of the Government for 
 his safety. The captain went 
 out into the middle of the road 
 in front of the gateway of the 
 tomb, and said he was ready to 
 renew the promise, and receive 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 153 
 
 his captives. After a time, a 
 procession began to arrive from 
 the palace. Threats and pro- 
 mises were both necessary to 
 bring matters to a bearing; but 
 they were sufficient. The king, 
 his begum, Zeenat Mahal, and 
 her son, Jumma Bakht, were 
 escorted to Delhi. It was a 
 ride during which Captain Hod- 
 son and his horse might have 
 been annihilated. There were 
 thousands of the king's retainers 
 in the procession, any one of 
 whom could have shot down the 
 captain. But he rode along 
 close to the side of the imperial 
 palanquins, cool and undaunted, 
 and no one harmed him. Fol- 
 lowers and bystanders slunk 
 away as the cavalcade neared 
 the city. The captain rode on 
 a few paces, and ordered the 
 Lahore Gate to be opened. 
 " Who have you there in the 
 palanquin?" asked the officer 
 on duty. " Only the King of 
 Delhi," was the laconic, signifi- 
 cant reply. Other members of 
 the royal family were secured 
 next day by the energetic cav- 
 alry captain, and sent to Delhi. 
 
 As to the principal heroes of 
 the siege, the Queen, in No- 
 vember, raised the artillery 
 officer who had brought it 
 to a successful issue, to the 
 rank of a baronet, and made 
 him a Knight Commander of 
 the Bath. The East India 
 Company, too, conferred on 
 Major -General Sir Archdale 
 Wilson, K.C.B., a pension of 
 1000 a year. He had served 
 in India as an artillery officer 
 
 nearly forty years. Whathonours 
 might have been conferred on 
 Brigadier Nicholson, if his life 
 had been spared, it is useless to 
 attempt to surmise. His death, 
 in that tortuous lane leading to 
 the Lahore Gate, was deplored 
 throughout the Indian army. 
 He had not attained his thirty- 
 fifth year when he was struck 
 down. No greater tribute to 
 his worth as a soldier could be 
 mentioned than the fact, that 
 Sir John Lawrence had the most 
 unbounded confidence in the 
 young brigadier's military genius, 
 which induced him to entrust to 
 his command a column destined 
 to fight the rebels all the way 
 from the Punjaub to Delhi ; 
 and that the seniors who were 
 thus superseded felt that the 
 duty was entrusted to a soldier 
 equal to its demands. The 
 Queen granted the posthumous 
 dignity of a Commander of the 
 Bath upon Brigadier-General 
 John Nicholson ; and as he was 
 unmarried, the East India Com- 
 pany departed from their general 
 rule, and bestowed a special 
 grant of .500 a year on his 
 widowed mother, who had, in 
 earlier years, lost another son 
 in the Company's service. 
 
 After being struck down at 
 the Cashmere Gate, Lieutenant 
 Salkeld lingered in great pain, till 
 he died on the loth of October, 
 in his twenty-eighth year. He 
 was decorated with the Victoria 
 Cross. The same decoration 
 was, with all the honours, con- 
 ferred on Lieutenant Duncan 
 Home. But he died before his 
 
154 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 brother officer Salkeld, notwith- 
 standing his almost miraculous 
 escape at the Cashmere Gate. 
 He was killed on the ist of 
 October, while engaged in an 
 expedition in pursuit of fleeing 
 rebels. Sergeant Smith, and 
 
 Bugler Hawthorne also, received 
 the much-coveted distinction of 
 the Victoria Cross. It was 
 honourably won also by Ser- 
 geant Carmichael and Corporal 
 Burgess; but they both died 
 pierced with bullets. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 LUCKNOW RELIEVED BY SIR COLIN CAMPBELL, 
 
 A FEW words are necessary 
 about Agra before proceeding 
 to outline the story of the rescue 
 of Lucknow one of the most 
 important events which occurred 
 during the stamping out of the 
 mu tinies of India. John Russell 
 Colvin, the lieutenant-governor 
 of the north-west provinces, 
 died on the gth of September, 
 while hemmed within the walls 
 of the fort of Agra. He suc- 
 cumbed to sickness, brought on 
 mainly by the intense anxieties 
 caused by the position the 
 mutinies had placed him in. 
 He had seen much political 
 service in India; and, as the 
 Governor-General said in a grace- 
 ful acknowledgment of his 
 merits, he left " a name which 
 not friends alone, but all who 
 were associated with him in the 
 duties of government, and all 
 who may follow him in his path, 
 will delight to honour." 
 
 Colonel Fraser succeeded him 
 as chief commissioner of Agra. 
 When Delhi fell, Colonel Fraser 
 
 watched with anxiety the course 
 followed by several bands of 
 mutineers thus left free to seek 
 opportunities for depredation in 
 other directions. Early in 
 October it was known that an 
 attack on Agra was meditated by 
 the rebels. Colonel Greathed 
 arrived at Akrabad, one day's 
 march from Allygurh, on his 
 way to Cawnpore, with a column 
 3000 strong, which had been 
 organised at Delhi, after the 
 capture of that city, for the 
 relief of the oppressed British 
 cities and stations in the troubled 
 surrounding region. It was re- 
 solved, on the 6th of October, 
 by Colonel Fraser, to obtain 
 the help of Greathed at Agra, 
 That energetic officer consented 
 to turn aside and lend his aid ; 
 and after marching forty-four 
 miles in twenty-eight hours a 
 marvellous achievement in the 
 climate he reached the parade 
 ground of Agra on the mrrning 
 of the loth. His troops, worn 
 out with the fatigue of theii 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 155 
 
 forced march, barely enjoyed 
 three hours' rest, when they had 
 to engage the rebels, who sud- 
 denly attacked them in their 
 camp. Greathed made a rapid 
 movement to the right, out- 
 flanked the enemy, and captured 
 three guns on that side. In 
 other directions he was equally 
 successful, capturing guns and 
 standards. The mutineers re- 
 treated, and Greathed followed 
 them up to a village three miles 
 off, on the Gwalior road. The 
 enemy were utterly routed, 
 losing twelve guns, and the 
 whole of their tents, ammunition, 
 baggage, and vehicles of every 
 description. Agra was relieved. 
 
 Sir James Outram, in the en- 
 closure at Lucknow, was com- 
 mander of the British forces, 
 and the chief personal represen- 
 tative of British power through- 
 out the province of Oude. For 
 the time these were but nominal 
 functions, for, in point of fact, 
 his command extended to little 
 more than the few acres of the 
 Residency and the Alum Bagh. 
 
 The enemy renewed hostili- 
 ties upon the enclosure. They 
 kept up persistent firing daily, 
 they broke down the bridges 
 over the canals and streams 
 which separated the Alum Bagh 
 from the Residency, and they 
 pounced upon every one they 
 saw attempting to leave the 
 intrenchment. 
 
 The British, on their part, 
 made frequent sorties to capture 
 guns, blow up buildings, and 
 dislodge troublesome groups of 
 assailants. Six days after the 
 
 arrival of Outram and Havelock, 
 some of the garrison made a 
 sally to capture two guns on the 
 Cawnpore road, and discovered 
 a private of the Madras Euro- 
 peans in a dry well, where he 
 had been hiding himself for 
 several days. He had managed 
 to support life on some tea 
 leaves and a few biscuits he had 
 in his pocket, and had not 
 dared to utter a sound so long 
 as he heard only the enemy all 
 round his well. There was in 
 it besides himself the ghastly 
 dead body of a sepoy, and this 
 unburied corruption rendered 
 the atmosphere so offensive and 
 pestilential that the companion 
 of the dead enemy was fain to 
 creep out at night in the hope 
 of breathing a little fresh air. 
 The sound of friendly voices 
 revived some hope ; he shouted 
 as loud as he could in his ex- 
 hausted condition, and so black 
 and filthy was his appearance 
 that his countrymen, who were 
 in ecstasies of delight at saving 
 him, had all but shot him as a 
 mutinous sepoy. 
 
 Outram could neither send 
 aid to the Alum Bagh nor re- 
 ceive aid from it. Things began 
 to look very gloomy ; breakfast 
 was chupatties and boiled peas, 
 and it was not uncommon to 
 rise from the form of procedure 
 called dining with the pangs of 
 hunger only faintly appeased. 
 A very old flannel shirt, worn 
 and soiled, which had belonged 
 to poor Captain Fulton, was 
 put up to auction, and ran up 
 in price till an officer, eager to 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 appear less tattered than he was, 
 paid ^4, i os. sterling for it 
 
 The British within the enclos- 
 ure could learn little of what 
 was going on in the city. They 
 did pick up, however, that the 
 rebels had bethought themselves 
 of a regular government. They 
 set up a boy eight or ten years 
 of age, a natural son of the de- 
 posed King of Oude, as a sort 
 of tributary prince of the King 
 of Delhi. He was a name 
 merely, and the real power was 
 vested in a minister and council 
 of state the latter being made 
 up out of the principal servants 
 of the deposed king, the chief- 
 tains and landed proprietors, or 
 thalookdars of Oude, and the 
 self-elected leaders of the mu- 
 tinous sepoys. The army was 
 duly officered with all the grades, 
 from general down to corporal 
 and drummer. 
 
 The prisoners in the enclosure 
 learned also that a small body 
 of Europeans, including Sir 
 Mountstuart Jackson and his 
 sister, were in the hands of the 
 rebels in one of the palaces of 
 Lucknow. They had been taken 
 during their flight from Seeta- 
 pore, and it was said that a 
 terrible fate was overhanging 
 them. 
 
 Resources were very low in 
 the Residency when November 
 set in, but there was a gleam of 
 hope. Sir John Inglis was in 
 command of his old area in the 
 intrenchment, Sir Henry Have- 
 lock had assumed the command 
 of the palatial additions, and 
 Sir James Outram was com- 
 
 mander-in-chief. There were 
 now more men for what labour 
 was to be performed ; sanitary 
 improvements were carried out, 
 the hospitals were put in a more 
 tolerable condition ; there was 
 no need now for overcrowding ; 
 the cool weather had brought 
 improved health; improvements 
 were observable in all respects 
 except two fpod and raiment. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell and his 
 movements had been dimly 
 heard of once or twice. But 
 the news was now to be made 
 agreeably definite., 
 
 On the Qth of November Mr 
 Cavanagh, who, before these 
 levelling times of trouble, had' 
 been a clerk to a civil officer in 
 Lucknow, what was called an 
 uncovenanted servant of the 
 Company, made a most adven- 
 turous and perilous journey on 
 foot to a place far beyond the 
 Alum Bagh in order to com- 
 municate in person with Sir 
 Colin Campbell, whose approach 
 toLucknowhad been announced 
 by a spy. Mr Cavanagh sup- 
 plied Sir Colin with full details 
 of what was going on within the 
 Residency, and was ready to 
 act as a guide through the laby- 
 rinthine streets of the city when 
 an opportunity of rendering such 
 a service might present itself. 
 As an immediate result of this 
 bolcL expedition, in the success 
 of which at the outset no one 
 believed, a system of semaphore 
 telegraphy was established which 
 let Sir James Outram know that 
 Mr Cavanagh had succeeded in 
 his daring exploit, and that Sil 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 157 
 
 Colin Campbell had arrived at 
 the Alum Bagh on the nth. 
 
 All was now energetic ar- 
 rangement at the enclosure to 
 co-work with the cornmander-in- 
 chief as he advanced. Strong 
 parties issued out day after 
 day to clear some of the streets 
 by blowing up batteries and 
 houses with the view of lessen- 
 ing ttye amount of resistance 
 which they knew their deliverers 
 would have to encounter. 
 
 The position of the little party 
 imprisoned in the Alum Bagh 
 was very trying. Much sickness 
 arose within the place owing to 
 the deficiency of space and 
 fresh air ; and although success- 
 ful attempts were occasionally 
 made by the chiefs at the Resid- 
 ency to send them food in the 
 intervals, provisions were very 
 scanty. The men were, how- 
 ever, hopeful and resolute ; they 
 were prepared to endure and 
 fight to the last, or till aid 
 arrived. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell had left 
 Calcutta on the 28th of Oct.ber, 
 travelling like a courier, making 
 narrow escapes from capture by 
 rebels on the way, and had 
 reached Cawnpore on the 3d of 
 November, as quiet an arrival 
 as ever entered the gates of the 
 city ; not a gleam of the glitter 
 or a shred of the trappings that 
 usually incommode a com- 
 mander-in-chief in India was in 
 attendance on one of the most 
 illustrious of them. 
 
 Remaining at Cawnpore no 
 longer than was necessary to 
 organise the various forces he 
 
 had sent on before him, Sir 
 Colin crossed the Ganges on 
 the 9th of November and joined 
 Hope Grant's column the same 
 day at the camp Buntara, six 
 miles short of Alum Bagh. It 
 may be mentioned in passing 
 that this was the column which 
 Colonel Greathed had at first 
 command eJ. in the Doab, and 
 which so valorously delivered 
 Agra from its state of siege. 
 Hope Grant was now in com- 
 mand of it, according to some 
 rule of seniority, not at all as 
 any slight on the gallant Great- 
 hed. At Buntara the com- 
 mander-in-chief waited till next 
 morning, when he started with 
 a force of about 2700 infantry, 
 and 700 cavalry and artillery, 
 which he had collected with a 
 great deal of trouble. 
 
 Sir Colin advanced from this 
 place, blew up a troublesome 
 small fort c n the way, and en- 
 camped for the night outside 
 the Alum Bagh. He had re- 
 solved to avoid as much as pos- 
 sible the waste of life in street 
 fighting. To carry out this pur- 
 pose, his plan was to enter the 
 city by an eastern suburb where 
 there were many palaces and 
 mosques, but few of the deep 
 narrow lanes which had proved 
 so fatal to Havelock's force. 
 The tactics for the next few 
 days were, accordingly, to con- 
 sist of a series of partial sieges, 
 each directed against a particu- 
 lar stronghold, and each capture 
 to form a base of operations for 
 attacks on other posts nearer 
 the heart of the city, until at 
 
158 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 length the Residency should be 
 reached. It will be remembered 
 that street fighting was avoided 
 in Paris by the French Govern- 
 ment when it was wresting that 
 city in 1871 from the Commun- 
 ists by a method similar in prin- 
 ciple to this. Instead of rushing 
 at barricades in the streets, the 
 loyal troops made their way 
 through the walls of the houses. 
 After changing the garrison 
 at Alum Bagh, giving a little 
 rest to his troops, and receiving 
 an addition of 650 men from 
 Cawnpore, Sir Colin Campbell 
 commenced his siege operations 
 on the morning of the 1 4th with 
 a force of about 4000 men. 
 That day he secured the Dil Koo- 
 sha Heart's Delight Park, 
 and the Martiniere College for 
 half-caste children. When night 
 came, the commander-in-chief 
 was free to congratulate himself 
 on having secured the eastern- 
 most buildings of Lucknow, and 
 having brought with him four- 
 teen days' provisions for his 
 own troops and an equal pro- 
 portion for the troops in the 
 enclosure. The i5th was spent 
 in completing arrangements and 
 exchanging messages and sig- 
 nals with Outram and Havelock. 
 On the 1 6th he crossed the 
 canal and advanced to the Se- 
 cunder Bagh, a high-walled en- 
 closure of strong masonry about 
 1 20 yards square, loopholed on 
 all sides for musketry, and held 
 in great force by the enemy. 
 After a determined struggle of 
 two hours, this valuable strong- 
 hold was in possession of the 
 
 besiegers. No less than 2000 
 of the enemy fell at this storm- 
 ing, than which, said Sir Colin, 
 " there never was a bolder feat 
 of arms." 
 
 Captain Peel's naval siege- 
 train won distinguished honours 
 at this reconquering of Lucknow. 
 Early in the month of August 
 Lord Elgin had come to Cal- 
 cutta, and placed at the disposal 
 of Lord Canning two war- 
 steamers, the Shannon and the 
 Pearl; and from among the 
 resources of these steamers this 
 splendid naval brigade was 
 organised. It consisted of 400 
 seamen, and no less than ten 
 68-pounders, and was put under 
 the command of Captain Peel, 
 who had won distinguished 
 honour by his management of 
 a naval battery in the Crimea 
 during the siege of Sebastopol. 
 
 After the Secunder Bagh was 
 secured, the naval siege-train 
 again went to the front, and 
 advanced towards the Shah Nu- 
 jeef, a domed mosque with a 
 garden, which the enemy had 
 converted into a formidable 
 stronghold. After a heavy can- 
 nonade of three hours, and an 
 obstinate defence, during which 
 an increasing fire was kept up 
 from the mosque and the de- 
 fences in the garden, Sir Colin 
 ordered the place to be stormed; 
 and stormed it was intrepidly 
 by the 93d Highlanders, a bat- 
 talion of detachments, and the 
 Naval Brigade. The com- 
 mander-in-chief remarked in a 
 despatch: "Captain Peel led 
 up his heavy guns with extra- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY, 
 
 159 
 
 ordinary gallantry to within a 
 few yards of the building, to 
 batter the massive stone walls. 
 The withering fire of the High- 
 landers effectually covered the 
 Naval Brigade from great loss ; 
 but it was an action almost un- 
 exampled in war. Captain Peel 
 behaved very much as if he had 
 been laying the Shannon along- 
 side an enemy's frigate." 
 
 Meantime Havelock and his 
 brave men were working valor- 
 ously for the deliverance which 
 was thus approaching them 
 straight through the walls of the 
 strongholds of their ruthless 
 enemies. It had been agreed 
 by signal and secret message, 
 that as soon as Sir Colin should 
 reach Secunder Bagh the outer 
 wall of the advance garden of 
 the Fureed Buksh, Havelock's 
 most eastern post, should be 
 blown down by mines previously 
 prepared. The mines were ex- 
 ploded ; the walls demolished ; 
 the works beyond were shelled 
 by mortars : then the infantry 
 dashed through and captured 
 several buildings which had 
 been marked out by previous 
 arrangement. 
 
 On the i yth a large structure 
 called the Mess House, defend- 
 ed by a ditch twelve feet broad, 
 with a loopholed mud-wall be- 
 yond the ditch, and scarped with 
 masonry, was stormed after sev- 
 eral hours of cannonading. No 
 sooner was this done than the 
 victorious troops pressed for- 
 ward eagerly, and lined a wall 
 that separated the Mess House 
 from the Motee Mehal the 
 
 Pearl Palace. This was a wide 
 enclosure containing many build- 
 ings ; and here the enemy made 
 a last desperate stand for an 
 hour. But all in vain. The 
 besieging troops, aided by the 
 sappers, broke an opening 
 through the wall, and rushed 
 onwards carrying all before them 
 until they reached that part of 
 the city which had been com- 
 manded by Havelock for seven 
 or eight weeks. 
 
 The loss in killed and wound- 
 ed was severe, but less so than 
 that which Outram and Have- 
 lock suffered in September. 
 There were in all during Sir 
 Colin's advance to the Resi- 
 dency, with the collateral strug- 
 gles to which it gave rise, 122 
 killed and 345 wounded 33 of 
 the wounded and 10 of the 
 killed being officers. The loss 
 of the enemy was between 3000 
 and 4000 men. 
 
 It was now the turn of Outram, 
 Havelock, and Inglis to grasp 
 with fervour the hand of Sir 
 Colin Campbell, who had receiv- 
 ed a slight wound, but nothing to 
 check his activity for an hour. 
 It is superfluous to remark that 
 those whose deliverance had 
 been so valorously wrought were 
 overjoyed. Their lives were 
 saved ; and when the commis- 
 sariat of the new-comers had 
 time to make proper arrange- 
 ments, and the old inmates had 
 uttered their prudent maxims 
 about the necessity of eating 
 and drinking quietly at such a 
 time, then what luxuries were 
 enjoyed ! wheaten bread, fresh 
 
ICO 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 butter, oranges, and letters and 
 tewspapers from home ! 
 
 This jubilation, however, 
 could not be allowed to last 
 very long. An announcement 
 was made almost immediately 
 on Sir Colin's arrival, that every 
 European was to leave Lucknow 
 and retire to Cawnpore. This 
 was disappointing to those who 
 had fondly hoped that comfort 
 was to follow immediately upon 
 their deliverance after such long 
 and indescribable miseries. But 
 the rigorous exigencies of war 
 were inexorable. The enemy 
 still numbered 50,000 righting 
 men in and near Lucknow. 
 
 Sir Colin issued an order, 
 therefore, that all were to depart 
 quickly. The sick and wounded 
 were to be removed directly to 
 the Dil Koosha, a distance of four 
 miles in a straight line, but of 
 five or six if it were necessary to 
 take a circuitous route to avoid 
 the enemy. The women and 
 children were to follow the 
 same route next day, and the 
 bulk of the soldiers were to 
 leave when all else had been 
 provided for. The ordnance 
 stores and the Company's trea- 
 sure twenty-three lacs of rupees, 
 preserved safely through all the 
 trying scenes of these six months 
 were to be removed to the 
 Dil Koosha about the same time 
 as the non-combatants, an oper- 
 ation which required peculiar 
 vigilance and caution. 
 
 That was a memorable exodus, 
 never to be forgotten by those 
 who made it. Many delicate 
 ladies, unprovided with vehicles 
 
 or horses, had to walk these five 
 or six miles of very rough 
 ground, and exposed to, among 
 other alarms, the fire of the 
 enemy's musketry. Lady Inglis 
 behaved on this occasion in a 
 manner worthy of the helpmeet 
 of her gallant husband. A dooly 
 or hospital-litter was set apart 
 for her accommodation, but she 
 refused it in order that the sick 
 and wounded might be better 
 attended to. Mr Rees, in his 
 " Personal Narrative," gives the 
 following interesting extract from 
 a letter written by this lady re- 
 garding the exodus. She wrote : 
 " The road was quite safe except 
 in those places where it was 
 overlooked by the enemy's posi- 
 tion, and where we had to run. 
 One poor woman was wounded 
 at one of those places. We ar- 
 rived at Secunder Bagh about 
 six, and found every one assem- 
 bled there, awaiting an escort of 
 doolies to carry us on. When 
 I tell you that upwards ot 2000 
 men had been hastily buried 
 there the day before, you can 
 fancy what a place it was. . . . 
 We were regaled with tea and 
 plenty of milk, and bread and 
 butter luxuries we had not en- 
 joyed since the commencement 
 of our troubles. At ten o'clock 
 we recommenced our journey; 
 most of the ladies were in palan- 
 quins, but we had a covered 
 cart drawn by two obstinate 
 bullocks. We had a force of 
 infantry and cavalry with us, 
 but had not proceeded half-a- 
 mile when the column was 
 halted, and an order sent back 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 161 
 
 for reinforcements ; some noise 
 was heard, and it was believed 
 we might be attacked. How- 
 ever, it proved a false alarm, 
 and after two disagreeable and 
 rather anxious hours, we arrived 
 safely at the Dil Koosha, and 
 were quartered in tents pitched 
 for our reception." 
 
 Sir James Outram so planned 
 the military movement in this 
 evacuation that each corps and 
 regiment, each detachment and 
 picket, marched silently out in 
 the dead of night without excit- 
 ing the suspicion of the myriads 
 of enemies around. So cleverly 
 was it managed without the 
 loss of one man that the enemy 
 continued to fire into the enclos- 
 ure long after the British had 
 left it. One of the officers wrote : 
 " An anxious night indeed that 
 was ! We left at twelve o'clock, 
 having withdrawn all our guns 
 from position, so that if the 
 scoundrels had only come on we 
 should have had to fight every 
 inch of our way while retiring. 
 . . . Out we went while the 
 enemy's guns still pounded the 
 old wall, and while the bullets 
 still whistled over the buildings; 
 and, after a six miles' walk in 
 ankle-deep sand, we were halted 
 in a field and told to make our- 
 selves comfortable for the night." 
 
 The fate of the few English 
 prisoners at Lucknow was sad. 
 When the whole of the residents 
 within the enclosure were found 
 to have balked them, a few of 
 the enraged rebels rushed to the 
 Kaiser Bagh, where the unhappy 
 victims were confined, tied Sir 
 
 Mountstuart Jackson, Mr Orr, 
 Mr Barnes, and Sergeant Martin 
 to guns, and blew them away. 
 The ladies, it was said, were 
 spared at the intercession of one 
 of the begums of Oude. 
 
 Havelock, the gallant soldier, 
 the devout Christian, died on 
 the 25th of November at the 
 Dil Koosha. He had shared 
 the duties of Outram in that 
 "Heart's Delight" during the 
 two previous days ; but stricken 
 down with dysentery, brought 
 on by anxious care and exces- 
 sive fatigue, he expired next 
 day. Great and universal was 
 the grief throughout the camp 
 when the rumour of this irrepar- 
 able bereavement spread. He 
 had seen a great deal of service 
 during his forty- two years of 
 military life. When the news 
 reached home all classes of his 
 fellow-countrymen mourned his 
 death, as it was felt to be a 
 bereavement of mankind wher- 
 ever, in the wide world, the 
 name was heard of this noble 
 soldier, at once pious, daring, 
 and skilful. His widow re- 
 ceived a pension of ^1000 a 
 year from the House of Com- 
 mons; and the public afterwards 
 made provision for his daughters 
 by voluntary subscription very 
 voluntary. 
 
 When Sir Colin Campbell 
 abandoned Lucknow, taking 
 Hope Grant's division with him 
 to Cawnpore, he left Sir James 
 Outram with 3000 or 4000 men 
 to hold the Alum Bagh, furnish- 
 ing them with as large a supply 
 of provisions and stores as could 
 L 
 
162 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 be spared. All those who, from 
 sex, age, or sickness, could 
 render no active service at 
 Cawnpore, were sent under an 
 escort to Allahabad, starting on 
 the $d of December ; and they 
 ultimately reached Calcutta by 
 steamers down the Ganges not 
 fewer than 2000 in number. 
 
 When this interesting band, 
 who had passed through vicissi- 
 tudes so appalling, were ap- 
 proaching Calcutta, Viscount 
 Canning, with a humane noble- 
 ness, entirely characteristic of 
 all his conduct during his most 
 tormented viceroyalty, issued a 
 notification, in which he said : 
 " No one will wish to obtrude 
 upon those who are under be- 
 reavement or sickness, any show 
 of ceremony which shall impose 
 
 fatigue or pain. The best wel- 
 come which can be tendered 
 upon such an occasion is one 
 which breaks in as little as pos- 
 sible upon privacy and rest But 
 the rescue of these sufferers is a 
 victory beyond all price ; and, 
 in testimony of the public joy 
 with which it is hailed, and the 
 administration with which their 
 heroic endurance and courage 
 is viewed," he ordered that a 
 royal salute should be fired from 
 the ramparts of Fort William as 
 soon as each steamer arrived ; 
 that all ships of war in the river 
 should be dressed in honour of 
 the day ; that officers should be 
 appointed to conduct the pas- 
 sengers on shore, and that the 
 state-barges of the Governor- 
 General should be in attendance. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DISASTERS AT CAWNPORE REPELLED. 
 
 WHEN Sir Colin Campbell set 
 out from Cawnpore to relieve 
 Lucknow, he left General Wind- 
 ham, the Crimean " hero of the 
 Redan," in command, not so 
 much, as was thought, to fight, 
 as to keep open a safe communi- 
 cation between Lucknow and 
 Allahabad by Cawnpore. But 
 by some unexplained means, 
 communication between Gene- 
 ral Windham and the com- 
 mander-in-chief got deranged. 
 Messages were sent by the 
 
 former, but they did not reach 
 the latter. Whether the mes- 
 sengers were stopped by the 
 way was not made clear; but 
 probably this is the explanation. 
 At all events, Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell remained in ignorance of 
 the fact that the Gwalior muti- 
 neers were approaching Cawn- 
 pore, while General Windham 
 was left in perplexity, receiving 
 no replies to the letters he sent, 
 asking for instructions from his 
 chief, who knew nothing of the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 163 
 
 Troubles at Cawnpore until the 
 27th of November. Sir Colin 
 was at the Alum Bagh that day, 
 along with the escaped from 
 Lucknow, and was surprised to 
 hear very heavy artillery firing 
 in the direction of Cawnpore. 
 Leaving Sir James Outram in 
 command of part of the force at 
 the Alum Bagh, and placing the 
 rest under the immediate com- 
 mand of General Hope Grant, 
 the commander-in-chief resumed 
 his march at nine o'clock in 
 the morning of the 28th, and 
 reached Cawnpore late that 
 day. 
 
 He found that General Wind- 
 ham had known about the 
 middle of the month that muti- 
 neers from Gwalior, Indore, and 
 various other quarters, 20,000 
 strong, were within thirty miles of 
 Cawnpore by the Calpee road. 
 A week later they were within 
 twenty miles. As the troops at 
 Windham's command were only 
 2000, that general had to con- 
 sider how he was to manage to 
 maintain his position. He was 
 in an intrenched fort, which 
 commanded the bridge of boats 
 on the Ganges ; but as the city 
 of Cawnpore lay between him 
 and the Calpee road, he left 
 some of the troops in this in- 
 trenchment which, by the way, 
 was at a considerable distance 
 from the one formerly occupied 
 by Sir Hugh Wheeler and his 
 companions in misfortune and 
 formed with the remainder a 
 new camp, close to the canal, 
 westward of the city, at a point 
 whera he believed he would be 
 
 able to watch the mutineers and 
 rebels, and frustrate their de- 
 signs. 
 
 On the 26th, having learned 
 that they continued to approach 
 Cawnpore, General Windham 
 started at three o'clock in the 
 morning with 1200 infantry to 
 meet them, and he marched 
 eight or nine miles to Bhowsee, 
 near the Pandoo Nuddee, leav- 
 ing his camp equipage and 
 baggage near Cawnpore. He 
 found the enemy strongly posted 
 on the opposite side of the dry 
 bed of the Pandoo Nuddee. The 
 enemy opened a heavy fire of 
 artillery, but the British troops 
 carried the position with a rush, 
 and cleared a village half-a-mile 
 in the rear of the enemy, who 
 hastily took to flight. But 
 Windham now became aware, 
 for the first time, that he had 
 engaged with only the advanced 
 column of the enemy, and that 
 the main force was close at hand. 
 This rendered his position very 
 grave, and he retired to protect 
 the city, carnp, cantonment, in- 
 trenchment, and bridge of boats. 
 He encamped for the night in 
 the Jewee Plain, on the Calpee 
 side of Cawnpore, with the city 
 between him and his intrenched 
 fort. Here disaster assailed him. 
 About noon next day, when his 
 men were preparing for a camp 
 dinner, the enemy opened a 
 tremendous cannonade on them 
 from behind a thick cover of 
 trees and brushwood. How 
 they got so near without General 
 Windham knowing has not been 
 exDlained. This attack con- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 tinued for five hours, chiefly 
 near the point of junction of the 
 Delhi and Calpee roads, and on 
 three sides of the camp. Gene- 
 ral Windham, distracted by this 
 complication, hastened to see 
 what was doing on the fourth 
 side, towards the city, and, to 
 his dismay, he ascertained that 
 the mutineers had turned his 
 flanks, got into the city, and 
 were beginning to attack the 
 intrenched fort near the bridge 
 of boats. Retreat was at once 
 resolved on; and the retreat 
 became a rush, a hasty scamper 
 to the intrenchment, in the 
 hopes of saving it, leaving a 
 large store of tents, saddlery, 
 harness, camp -equipage, and 
 private property. This booty 
 the enemy at once seized upon, 
 appropriated what was available, 
 and burned the rest. A bonfire 
 of 500 British tents lighted up 
 the neighbourhood that night. 
 
 It was a bitterly mortifying 
 day's work for General Windham 
 and his men. General Windham 
 consulted with his superior 
 officers, and it was resolved to 
 defer operations till next day. 
 They would have made a night 
 attack if they could have ob- 
 tained reliable information re- 
 garding the position of the 
 enemy's artillery, but as they 
 could not get that information, 
 they agreed, as has been said, 
 to await next day. The arrange- 
 ments made in the meantime 
 were specially intended to pro- 
 tect the intrenchment and the 
 bridge of boats, so important 
 in relation to Sir Colin Camp- 
 
 bell's position at the time, and 
 his operations inOude generally. 
 On the morning of the 28th, 
 there was a severe struggle. The 
 Gwalior mutineers were now 
 joined by another force under 
 that audacious miscreant Nana 
 Sahib, and a third under his 
 brother, Bhola Sahib. The posi- 
 tion of the British was entirely 
 defensive, and they were sorely 
 pressed. The fierce struggle 
 lasted all day. Prodigies of 
 valour were displayed by the 
 devoted little band who were 
 struggling against utter annihil- 
 ation by crowds ; but the day's 
 work terminated in galling de- 
 feat and the irreparable loss of 
 many lives which could ill be 
 spared, a result which intensified 
 the humiliation of the previous 
 day. 
 
 That night the mutineers rev- 
 elled in the city as conquerors. 
 More than 10,000 rounds of 
 Enfield cartridges, the mess- 
 plate of four Queen's regiments, 
 paymasters' chests, and a large 
 amount of miscellaneous pro- 
 perty, fell into their hands ; and 
 on the morning of the 2Qth they 
 began to bombard the intrench- 
 ment and the bridge of boats. 
 Had they succeeded in breaking 
 the bridge of boats, what might 
 not have been the fate of the re- 
 fugees from Lucknow! How near 
 they were to worse than they 
 had yet encountered ! But Sir 
 Colin Campbell was now in 
 Cawnpore. All that day did 
 the dependent band from Luck- 
 nowapproach the bridge, against 
 which the enemy was keeping 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 165 
 
 up a continuous fire. To pro- 
 tect this helpless convoy was 
 the first duty, and, accordingly, 
 leaving the enemy in possession 
 of the city and everything west 
 of it, the commander-in-chief 
 despatched Hope Grant with a 
 column to keep the road open 
 from Cawnpore through Futteh- 
 poor to Allahabad, while he 
 himself employed all his other 
 troops keeping the mutineers, 
 bolder than ever, at bay. 
 
 When the convoy left Cawn- 
 pore, and was fairly on its march 
 for Allahabad, matters were 
 soon brought to a different 
 bearing at the former city. Sir 
 Colin Campbell resolved on the 
 5th of December to attack on 
 the following day the strong 
 position taken up by the enemy, 
 who numbered about 25,000 
 men, having forty pieces of artil- 
 lery. 
 
 On the morning of the 6th, 
 Sir Colin began offensive opera- 
 tions, and that day he inflicted 
 on the rebels a defeat which 
 was only equalled by the sur- 
 prise with which it came upon 
 them. He cut their forces in 
 two and completely routed them, 
 pursuing them fourteen miles 
 
 along the Calpee road. The 
 four infantry brigades en- 
 gaged in this day's work were 
 headed by Brigadiers Greathed, 
 Adrian Hope, Walpole, and 
 Inglis. Where was General 
 Windham? His position was 
 explained in the following pass- 
 age in Sir Colin Campbell's 
 despatch : "Owing to his know- 
 ledge of the ground, I requested 
 Major-General Windham to re- 
 main in command of the in- 
 trenchment, the fire of which 
 was a very important feature in 
 the operations of the 6th of 
 December, although I felt and 
 explained to General Windham 
 that it was a command hardly 
 worthy of his rank." There is 
 a good deal to be read between 
 the lines here. 
 
 The mutineers were so thor- 
 oughly worsted on the 6th that 
 their plans seemed all scattered 
 like themselves. Some marched 
 off in one direction, others in 
 another ; and Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell prepared for further opera- 
 tions. He had obtained a firm 
 footing at Cawnpore as a centre 
 from which he and his officers 
 might operate in various direc- 
 tions. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE ARMY OF OUDE. 
 
 THE year 1858 entered, and 
 -with it the unexpected display 
 
 of military organisation among 
 the revolted sepoys. The mutiny 
 
166 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 had extended to almost every 
 native regiment in the Bengal 
 army. When the old year gave 
 place to the new, it was esti- 
 mated that 23,000 British troops 
 had landed at Calcutta since the 
 mutiny began, besides others 
 put on shore at Bombay, Mad- 
 ras, and Kurachee, and had 
 advanced into the upper pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 When the vehicles returned 
 from Allahabad, in which those 
 who escaped from Lucknow had 
 been conveyed thither, Sir Colin 
 Campbell prepared to move his 
 head - quarters to Ferruckabad 
 and Fort Futtehghur, near 
 which places many insurgent 
 chieftains required his prompt 
 attention. On the 3d of Janu- 
 ary the commander - in - chief 
 reached Futtehghur, which the 
 enemy had held for six months. 
 But they did not wait to test his 
 quality as a queller of rebellion ; 
 they retreated so precipitately 
 that they omitted to destroy a 
 large amount of stores. Sir Colin 
 secured property belonging to 
 the gun and clothing depart- 
 ments, which were of great 
 service to him, and sent a con- 
 siderable quantity of grain to 
 Cawnpore to lighten the labour 
 of the commissariat for the sup- 
 ply of Sir James Outram at the 
 Alum Bagh. 
 
 He punished the Nawab of 
 Ferruckabad severely, for he had 
 been one of the most ferocious 
 leaders of the insurgents. He 
 wrote : ' ; The destruction of the 
 Nawab's palace is in process. 
 I think it right that not a, stone 
 
 should be left unturned in all 
 the residences of the rebellious 
 chiefs. They are far more guilty 
 than their misguided followers." 
 
 Sir James Outram had been 
 left at the Alum Bagh with a 
 picked force of 3000 or 4000 
 men. While some of his troops 
 were away convoying a supply 
 of provisions from Cawnpore, 
 the enemy, knowing this, resolv- 
 ed to attack him in his weakened 
 state on the i2th of January. 
 He fathomed their intentions, 
 and prepared to defend his posi- 
 tion. At sunrise on the day 
 named, 30,000 of them formed 
 a wide semicircle in front and 
 flank of the Alum Bagh. Outram 
 sent out his troops in two bri- 
 gades to engage this immense 
 host, and then a fierce battle 
 commenced. The main body 
 of the rebels bore with all 
 their might against the two bri- 
 gades ; a body of them assaulted 
 the fort of Jelalabad, while a 
 third, by a detour, reached the 
 Alum Bagh itself. The struggle 
 lasted from sunrise till four 
 o'clock in the afternoon, when 
 the enemy, foiled at every point, 
 withdrew to the city or to their 
 original position in the gardens 
 and villages. 
 
 Four days later they made 
 another attack ; if, with smaller 
 numbers, also with greater bold- 
 ness. The result was the same 
 as before utter defeat and 
 terrible loss. 
 
 The Nepaulese leader, Jung 
 Bahadoor, with Brigadier M'Gre- 
 gor, as British representative, 
 entered Goruckpore on the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 1G7 
 
 6th of January, and, in the 
 name of the British Govern- 
 ment, took possession of that 
 city, which -had been almost en- 
 tirely in the hands of the rebels 
 for many months. Mahomed 
 Hussein had set up a trumpery 
 government there, and elected 
 himself Nazim. This show was 
 soon obliterated. Many of his 
 adherents were executed. Those 
 who were not hanged were con- 
 demned to do sweeper's work 
 within the church, jail, and other 
 buildings, irrespective of their 
 scruples about caste or creed. 
 Several rebellious leaders be- 
 tween Goruckpore and the 
 Oude frontier were captured, 
 and the district was thus greatly 
 pacified. 
 
 During the month of January 
 the movements of Nana Sahib, 
 Koer Singh, and Mohammed 
 Khan, of Bareilly, were veiled 
 in much obscurity; although 
 the evidence of their influence 
 in urging the sepoys and rebels 
 to continue the ill-omened 
 struggle against the British rule 
 was most obvious. A price had 
 been placed upon the head of 
 each of the three perfidious mis- 
 creants. 
 
 After finishing the work for 
 which he set out, for the details 
 of which the reader will have to 
 consult some larger work on the 
 Indian mutiny than the present 
 outline, Sir Colin Campbell re- 
 turned to Cawnpore on the 4th 
 of February. Viscount Canning 
 came to Allahabad, where the 
 commander-in-chief met him on 
 the 8th, and no doubt they 
 
 agreed on an extensive scheme 
 of war policy. 
 
 On the nth, the largest army 
 which had yet been arrayed 
 against the mutineers began to 
 cross the Ganges from Cawnpore 
 into Oude. After crossing, the 
 " army of Oude" was distributed 
 at certain places on the line of 
 route between Cawnpore and 
 Lucknow. On the last day of 
 the month the commander-in- 
 chief crossed the river and took 
 command of the forces, which 
 were destined to besiege, and 
 finally to capture the great city 
 of Lucknow, which had been 
 the scene of so much misery to 
 the British, and the centre of 
 many a subtle plot by the native 
 leaders. Sir James Outram had 
 prepared detailed plans of every- 
 thing relating to it and its de- 
 fences as far as he could ascer- 
 tain. 
 
 It seems that the enemy 
 hoped to foil the vast scheme 
 which the commander-in-chief 
 had planned out for himself, by 
 another attack on the Alum 
 Bagh. On the morning of the 
 2ist of February, when the 
 movements of the army of Oude 
 were very observable, 20,000 of 
 them again attacked this strong- 
 hold. They threatened the 
 whole length and front of it, and 
 the picket and fort at Jelalabad. 
 But they received a severe check 
 when they came within range of 
 the grape-shot which Sir James 
 Outram had prepared for them. 
 The Alum Bagh was weak in 
 cavalry at the time, for again an 
 escort had been sent to protect 
 
108 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 a large convoy which was on its 
 way from Cawnpore. But Sir 
 James Outram detached 250 
 cavalry and two field-pieces, 
 under Captain Barrow, to the 
 rear of Jelalabad, where they 
 came upon 2000 of the enemy's 
 cavalry, and 5000 infantry. 
 These Barrow's small force kept 
 so effectually at bay that their 
 intended scheme of attack was 
 quite frustrated. The attack on 
 Outram's left flank was made by 
 no fewer than 5000 cavalry and 
 8000 infantry. These were met 
 by 120 men of the military train 
 and four field-guns, under Cap- 
 tain Robertson, and were com- 
 pletely routed. In the whole 
 affair there were only nine men 
 of the British wounded, and 
 none were killed. The enemy 
 hastened back after this signal 
 defeat by a mere handful of men, 
 to strengthen the defences at 
 Lucknow. 
 
 The strong Goorkha force, 
 under Jung Bahadoor, and an 
 effective column of miscellane- 
 ous troops, under Brigadier 
 Franks, a most energetic British 
 officer, greatly improved the 
 condition of the country between 
 Oude and Lower Bengal. These 
 two able allies advanced to the 
 centre of Oude duringthe month 
 of February. 
 
 During this month the com- 
 mander-in-chief had once more 
 to provide for the safety of a 
 party of non-combatants who 
 were being removed from the 
 scenes of struggle and slaughter. 
 It was a convoy from Agra, 
 consisting of a large number of 
 
 ladies and 140 children, who, 
 under the protection of the 30! 
 Bengal Europeans, some irregu- 
 lar horse, and two guns, had left 
 Agra on the nth of February, 
 and came to Cawnpore to be 
 forwarded to Allahabad. On 
 the way, the convoy, as instruct- 
 ed kept a narrow watch for any 
 indications of the presence of 
 Nana Sahib, who was reported 
 to be in movement somewhere 
 in their route. But they accom- 
 plished their journey safely. 
 
 The trial of the King of Delhi 
 was being carried on in the 
 meantime, being conducted in 
 the celebrated imperial chamber 
 of the Dewani Khas, in that city, 
 where in former ages the Mogul 
 power had been displayed with all 
 the grandeurandgorgeousnessof 
 the East. It commenced on the 
 27th of January, when the aged 
 monarch, the last of a long line 
 of Indian potentates, many of 
 them illustrious, appeared as a 
 culprit before a tribunal of Brit- 
 ish officers. The president was 
 Colonel Dawes, and Major Har- 
 riott officiated as prosecutor. 
 The king appeared infirm as he 
 tottered into the chamber, sup- 
 ported on the one side by his 
 favourite son, Jumma Bukht, 
 and on the other by a confiden- 
 tial servant He sat coiled up 
 on a cushion at the left of the 
 president, and appeared, it is 
 said, a picture of helpless imbe- 
 cility, which, in the circum- 
 stances, would have awakened 
 only a sense of sincere commis- 
 eration. The prosecutor made 
 no attempt at forensic display. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 1C9 
 
 He addressed the judgesin a con- 
 cise, explanatory manner ; and 
 announced that the trial was 
 merely to ascertain whether the 
 king was guilty or not guilty. 
 At all events no capital sentence 
 was to be passed upon him, be- 
 cause his life had been guaran- 
 teed to him by Sir Archdale Wil- 
 son, through Captain Hodson. 
 When the hoary culprit was 
 asked, through an interpreter, 
 whether he was guilty or not 
 guilty, he affected at first to be 
 ignorant of the charges against 
 him ; but, after considerable 
 delay, he pleaded not guilty. 
 
 The sittings of the court 
 spread over many weeks. The 
 evidence produced was of a very 
 varied character, all tending to 
 show that he had taken part in 
 inciting the mutiny, and had 
 also encouraged the atrocities 
 of the mutineers. It was proved 
 also that so long ago as the 
 summer of 1856 he had been in 
 correspondence with the Shah 
 of Persia, touching the over- 
 turning of the British rule in 
 India, just at the time when the 
 Persians made that advance 
 towards Herat, which led to 
 their own humiliation in the 
 recent Persian war. 
 
 During the trial the king dis- 
 played that mingled silliness 
 and cunning, which all who knew 
 him sufficiently to judge him 
 
 fairly, regarded as displaying a 
 great deal of his character. 
 Sometimes he would coil him- 
 self up on his cushion, and seem 
 unconcerned in all that was 
 going on lost in his own reve- 
 ries. He seemed to pay no at- 
 tention till something would all 
 at once strike him. On one 
 occasion he had to be roused 
 out of sleep to answer a ques- 
 tion put by the court. He 
 would occasionally start up and 
 make an exclamation denying 
 the averment of a witness. 
 Once, when his intrigues with 
 Persia were being referred to, 
 he asked whether the Persians 
 and the Russians were the same 
 people. He several times declar- 
 ed his entire innocence. One of 
 his amusements was to twist and 
 untwist a scarf round his head. 
 
 The guilt of the performer of 
 these inane antics was suffi- 
 ciently proved, and he was sen- 
 tenced to transportation for 
 what remained of his wretched 
 life. The Andaman Islands 
 rendered since so unhappily 
 notorious by the foul assassina- 
 tion of Lord Mayo, a succes- 
 sor of Viscount Canning were 
 named as the probable place of 
 his destination either there or 
 some other part that might be 
 selected. He was ultimately 
 sent to Tongu, in Pegu, and 
 died in 1862. 
 
170 
 
 7ZT.fi: INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 LUCKNOW RECONQUERED. 
 
 SIR COLIN CAMPBELL left his 
 camp at Buntara, within a few 
 miles of Lucknow, on the 2d of 
 March, and diverging from the 
 road to the Alum Bagh, took 
 that which passed near the Jela- 
 laba fort, towards the eastern 
 margin of the city. He ad- 
 vanced with a portion of his 
 army to the Dil Koosha, his 
 object being to form a camp 
 just beyond the reach of the 
 enemy's guns, and to protect 
 his siege-train as it gradually 
 arrived, to protect also the vast 
 host of elephants, camels, oxen, 
 horses, camp-followers, and 
 vehicles, which were a portion 
 of the besieging army. Under 
 a heavy and well-sustained fire 
 of the insurgents, this advance 
 force secured that day the Dil 
 Koosha and the Mahomed 
 Bagh a base for further opera- 
 tions. Here Sir Colin placed 
 heavy guns to oppose the 
 enemy's artillery. He then sent 
 for the rest of his troops and 
 the siege artillery, and the next 
 day was spent in bringing for- 
 ward guns and bodies of troops 
 into positions to be occupied 
 when the regular siege began. 
 The 4th was similarly spent, 
 making the arrangements neces- 
 sary to render the siege success- 
 ful. It was ascertained from 
 the spies and otherwise that 
 many of the inhabitants, terrified 
 at the formidable preparations 
 
 they saw going on, began to flee 
 from the city on the opposite 
 side, and that the authorities 
 were endeavouring to check the 
 flight, wishing to compel them 
 to fight for their property and 
 their lives within the city itself. 
 
 On the 5th General Franks 
 joined the commander-in-chief, 
 after having fought his way 
 across the half of the province 
 of Oude. He was punctual to 
 time. Jung Bahadoor did not 
 arrive at the specified time. 
 This disturbed the plans of the 
 commander-in-chief, and also 
 his equanimity. 
 
 The engineers were busy in 
 the meantime collecting the 
 casks, fascines of faggots, ropes, 
 and timbers requisite for a bridge 
 across the Goomtee, the spot 
 selected for which was near 
 head-quarters, where the river 
 was about forty yards wide. 
 The portion of the army which 
 was to cross and operate against 
 the city from the left bank of 
 the Goomtee was put under the 
 command of Sir James Outram. 
 It was the most important com- 
 mand next to that of Sir Colin 
 himself. Sir James effected his 
 crossing safely on the 6th, and 
 encamped securely at night after 
 a little skirmishing. The com- 
 mander-in-chief deferred all i 
 active operations till 'this force 
 had got into fighting order on 
 the other side of the river. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 171 
 
 On the yth Sir James Outram 
 was attacked in great force by 
 the enemy, but he chased them 
 away with his cavalry, and main- 
 tained the advantageous ground 
 he had secured. Sir Colin 
 Campbell made a careful recon- 
 naissance on the 8th, and as the 
 result he instructed Outram to 
 arrange his batteries during the 
 night for an attack next day on 
 the Chukkur Walla Kothee, the 
 key ot the enemy's position. 
 On the morning of the Qth this 
 attack was splendidly made, and 
 after desperate fighting and the 
 taking of two villages, Outram 
 advanced and began to fire on 
 the lines of the Kaiser Bagh de- 
 fences. Sir Colin Campbell, 
 on the same day, commenced a 
 heavy fire of mortars and guns 
 from the Dil Koosha against 
 the Martini&re College, which 
 was stormed by the troops under 
 Sir Edward Lugard after the 
 cannonading had done the work 
 for which it was intended. In 
 this successful attack Outram's 
 enfilade fire from across the 
 river distracted the besieged 
 very much. The building and 
 the whole enclosure round it 
 were captured with very little 
 bloodshed, the enemy escaping 
 from the walls and trenches 
 without courting a hand-to-hand 
 contest. The sight of the ter- 
 rible bayonets threw them into 
 more trepidation than even the 
 visitations from howitzers and 
 mortars. 
 
 Thus the capture of the exte- 
 rior line of defence was accom- 
 plished, and with very little loss. 
 
 The second or middle line 
 was attacked on the nth. The 
 attack began by shelling and 
 breaching a block of palaces 
 known as the Begum Kothee. 
 The bombardment was long and 
 severe, but when the chief engi- 
 neer, Brigadier Napier, about 
 four in the afternoon, announced 
 to General Lugard that the 
 breaches were practicable, Lu- 
 gard at once made arrangements 
 for storming it. The assault was 
 one of a desperate character, 
 and was characterised by Sir 
 Colin Campbell as the sternest 
 struggle which occurred during 
 the siege, but it was successful. 
 The whole block of buildings 
 was secured, and the enemy 
 suffered heavily. 
 
 Outram, in the meantime, 
 had obtained possession of the 
 iron bridge leading over the 
 river from the cantonment to 
 the city, and he swept away the 
 enemy from every part of the 
 left bank of the river between 
 that bridge and the Padishah 
 Bagh, gaining thus a position 
 to enfilade the central and inner 
 lines of defence established by 
 the enemy among the palaces. 
 
 On the afternoon of the nth 
 Jung Bahadoor appeared at the 
 Dil Koosha, when Sir Colin 
 Campbell met him for the first 
 time. A tasteful canopy was 
 prepared in front of Sir Colin's 
 mess-tent, under which the greet- 
 ings, compliments, and speeches 
 took place. The meeting was, 
 however, brought to a rather 
 abrupt termination when Cap- 
 tain Hope Johnstone, one of 
 
172 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 the officers of the chief of the 
 staff, entered and announced 
 that the Begum Kothee was 
 taken. Sir Colin at once broke 
 through all ceremony, express- 
 ing a soldier's pleasure at the 
 welcome news. Sir Colin, who 
 had been forced to make all his 
 arrangements for the siege as if 
 no reliance could be placed on 
 this ally, found employment for 
 him next day in attacking the 
 suburbs on the left bank of the 
 canal. 
 
 When the officers of the staff 
 visited the Begum Kothee on 
 the morning of the i2th, they 
 were astonished at the strength 
 the enemy had given it. It 
 might have been held against 
 the double of General Lugard's 
 force but for the abject terror 
 of the bayonet felt by the native 
 soldiers. As to its appearance 
 in other respects, that is not a 
 pleasant subject to read graphic 
 descriptions of, but it is in har- 
 mony with the " pomp and cir- 
 cumstance of war." Dr Russell, 
 the famous Times correspon- 
 dent, was among those who 
 hastened to the Begum Kothee 
 as a spectator on the morning 
 of the 1 2th, and he wrote: "I 
 saw one of the fanatics, a fine 
 old sepoy, with a grizzled mous- 
 tache, lying dead in the court, 
 a sword-cut across his temple, a 
 bayonet-thrust through his neck, 
 his thigh broken by a bullet, 
 and his stomach slashed open, 
 in a desperate attempt to escape. 
 There had been five or six of 
 these fellows altogether, and 
 they had either been surprised 
 
 and unable to escape, or had 
 shut themselves up in despera- 
 tion in a small room, one of 
 many looking out on the court. 
 At first attempts were made to 
 start them by throwing in live 
 shell. A bag of gunpowder was 
 more successful, and out they 
 charged, and with the exception 
 of one man, were shot and 
 bayoneted on the spot. The 
 man who got away did so by a 
 desperate leap through a win- 
 dow amid a shower of bullets 
 and many bayonet- thrusts. Such 
 are the common incidents of 
 this war. From court to court 
 of the huge pile of buildings we 
 wandered through the same 
 scenes dead sepoys, blood- 
 splashed gardens, groups of 
 eager Highlanders, looking out 
 for the enemy's loop-holes; more 
 eager groups of plunderers 
 searching the dead, many of 
 whom lay heaped on the top of 
 each other amid the ruins ot 
 rooms brought down upon them 
 by our cannon-shot. Two of 
 these were veritable chambers 
 of horrors. It must be remem- 
 bered that the sepoys and match- 
 lockmen wear cotton clothes, 
 many at this time of the year 
 wearing thickly-quilted tunics; 
 and in each room there are a 
 number of resafs, or quilted 
 cotton coverlets, which serve as 
 beds and quilts for the natives. 
 The explosion of powder sets 
 fire to this cotton very readily, 
 and it may be easily conceived 
 how horrible are the conse- 
 quences where a number of 
 these sepoys and Nujeebs get 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 173 
 
 into a place whence there is no 
 escape, and where they fall in 
 heaps by our shot. The matches 
 of the men and the discharges 
 of their guns set fire to their 
 cotton clothing ; it is fed by the 
 very fat of the dead bodies ; the 
 smell is pungent, and overpower- 
 ing, and nauseous to a degree. 
 I looked in at two such rooms, 
 where, through the dense smoke, 
 I could see piles of bodies, and 
 I was obliged to own that the 
 horrors of the hospital at Sebas- 
 topol were far exceeded by what 
 I witnessed. Upwards of 300 
 dead were found in the courts 
 of the palace, and if we put the 
 wounded carried off at 700, we 
 may reckon that the capture of 
 the place cost the enemy 1000 
 men at least The rooms of 
 tne building round the numer- 
 ous courts were for the most 
 part small and dark, compared 
 with the great size of the corri- 
 dors and garden enclosures. 
 The state-saloon, fitted up for 
 durbars and entertainments, once 
 possessed some claims to mag- 
 nificence, which were, however, 
 now lying under our feet in the 
 shape of lustres, mirrors, pier- 
 glasses, gilt tables, damask, silk 
 and satin, embroidered frag- 
 ments of furniture, and marble 
 tables, over which one made his 
 way from place to place with 
 difficulty. The camp-followers 
 were busily engaged in selecting 
 and carrying away such articles 
 as attracted their fancy shawls, 
 tesais, cushions, umbrellas, 
 swords, matchlocks, tom-toms 
 or drums, pictures, looking- 
 
 glasses, trumpets ; but the more 
 valuable plunder disappeared 
 last night. It will be long 
 before a begum can live here 
 in state again." 
 
 From the Begum Kothee pro- 
 gress was next made towards 
 the Emanbarra, a large building 
 situated between it and the 
 Kaiser Bagh, not by open as- 
 sault, but by sapping through 
 a mass of intermediate build- 
 ings. This was so successfully 
 accomplished that on the i4th 
 the building was bombarded by 
 heavy guns and mortars, and 
 taken. This was no sooner 
 done than a body of Sikhs, 
 pressing forward in pursuit of 
 the fleeing rebels, entered the 
 Kaiser Bagh, without a single 
 gun being fired from it. Thus 
 easily was the third or inner 
 line of defence turned. Before 
 night, that part of the city with 
 which Sir Colin Campbell and 
 Sir James Outram had been only 
 too familiar in November, was 
 occupied by troops of thearmyof 
 Oude. The i4th was a Sunday 
 a day on which many of the 
 greatest reverses had fallen upon 
 the British, as well as the most 
 signal victories been achieved 
 during this gigantic mutiny. 
 
 On the morning of the i5th 
 Sir Colin Campbell felt that 
 he had practically reconquered 
 Lucknow. The rapid progress 
 of the besiegers had paralysed 
 the defenders. It was the tak- 
 ing of the Kothee Begum that 
 astonished the insurgents; the 
 easy capture of the Kaiser Bagh 
 surprised the leaders of the 
 
171 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 British. When this great palace 
 fell into the hands of its captors, 
 a scene followed, the description 
 of which has been so forcibly 
 condensed in " Chambers's His- 
 tory of the Revolt in India," a 
 book to which the readers of 
 this outline are much indebted, 
 that it is here presented. "A 
 soldier," says this authority, 
 " loses all his heroism when the 
 hour for prize and plunder 
 arrives. Those, whether officers 
 or spectators, who have de- 
 scribed the scene which was 
 presented when these Lucknow 
 palaces were conquered, tell 
 plainly of a period of wild 
 licence and absorbing greed. 
 On the one hand, there were 
 palaces containing vast stores 
 of Oriental and European luxu- 
 ries ; on the other, there were 
 bands of armed men, brave and 
 faithful, but at the same time 
 poor and unlettered, who sud- 
 denly found themselves masters 
 of all these splendours, with 
 very little check or supervision 
 on the part of their officers. At 
 first, in a spirit of triumphant 
 revenge, costly articles were 
 broken which were too large to 
 be carried away ; glass chande- 
 liers were hurled to the ground, 
 mirrors shattered into countless 
 fragments, statues mutilated and 
 overturned, pictures stabbed and 
 torn, doors of costly wood torn 
 from their hinges. But when this 
 destruction had been wreaked, 
 and when the troops had forced 
 their way through courts and 
 corridors strewn with sepoys' 
 brass lotas or drinking vessels, 
 
 charpoys, clothing, belts, am- 
 munition, muskets, matchlocks, 
 swords, pistols, chupatties, and 
 other evidence of precipitate 
 flight when this had all occur- 
 red, then did the love of plunder 
 seize hold of the men. The 
 Kaiser Bagh had been so quick- 
 ly conquered, that the subaltern 
 officers had not yet received 
 instructions how to control the 
 movement of the troops in this 
 matter. Sikhs, Highlanders, 
 English, were soon busily en- 
 gaged. In one splendid saloon 
 might be seen a party of Sikhs 
 melting down gold and silver 
 lace for the sake of the precious 
 metals ; in another, a quantity 
 of shawls, lace, pearls, and em- 
 broidery of gold and silver was 
 being divided equally between 
 a group of soldiers. In a sort 
 of treasure-room, apparently be- 
 longing to some high personage, 
 a few men of two British regi- 
 ments found caskets and boxes 
 containing diamonds, emeralds, 
 rubies, pearls, opals, and other 
 gems, made into necklaces, 
 bracelets, earrings, girdles, etc., 
 together with gold - mounted 
 pistols, jewel - hilted swords, 
 saddle-cloths covered with gold 
 and pearls, gold-handled riding 
 canes, jewelled cups of agate 
 and jade, japanned boxes filled 
 with crystal and jade vessels. 
 And as it appeared that every 
 one felt himself permitted, or 
 at least enabled to retain what- 
 ever he could capture, the camp- 
 followers rushed in and seized 
 all the soldiers had left. Coolies, 
 syces,khitmutgars,dooly-bearers, 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 175 
 
 and grass-cutters were seen run- 
 ning hither and thither, laden 
 with costly clothing, swords, 
 firelocks, brass pots, and other 
 articles larger in bulk than the 
 actual soldiers could readily 
 have disposed of. It was a 
 saturnalia, during which it is 
 believed that some of the troops 
 appropriated enough treasure, 
 if converted into its value in 
 money, to render them inde- 
 pendent of labour for the rest 
 of their lives. But each man 
 kept, in whole or in part, his 
 own secret." 
 
 Sir James Outram advanced 
 on the 1 6th towards the Resi- 
 dency. He marched right 
 through the city, not only to 
 the iron bridge near the Resi- 
 dency, but to the stone bridge 
 near the Muchee Bhowan, in 
 order to check the enemy's 
 retreat an enterprise requiring 
 all of even his courage and 
 boldness, for ithe buildings he 
 had successively to conquer 
 and enter were very numerous. 
 When he reached the Residency, 
 however, which he scarcely 
 knew, for hardly a building 
 remained standing, he learned 
 that the houses and palaces on 
 the line between the iron and 
 the stone bridges were occupied 
 by the enemy in considerable 
 force. Here, again, hard fight- 
 ing commenced, but with the 
 result which had attended all 
 the operations of this siege. 
 
 On the same day the enemy 
 made an unexpected attack on 
 the Alum Bagh, which had been 
 left in charge of a small force. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell requested 
 Jung Bahadoor to advance to 
 their rescue. The Nepaulese 
 chieftain performed this service 
 in a soldier-like manner, captur- 
 ing the post from which the 
 attack was made, and putting 
 the rebels to flight. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell was un- 
 doubtedly the master of Luck- 
 now on the iyth. Small knots 
 of the enemy were still fortified 
 in isolated buildings, but these 
 were easily captured. And now 
 an imperative duty was promptly 
 attended to. The camp-fol- 
 lowers were not to be allowed 
 to plunder the shops and private 
 houses in the city. Sir Colin did 
 not wish the citizens to look upon 
 him as an enemy. He encour- 
 aged them to return to their 
 homes and occupations. He 
 placed pickets of soldiers in 
 some of the streets to protect 
 them from violence, and com- 
 pelled camp-followers to give 
 up plunder they had appropri- 
 ated; and issued the following 
 general order : " It having been 
 understood that several small 
 pieces of ordnance captured in 
 the city have been appropriated 
 by individuals, all persons hav- 
 ing such in their possession are 
 directed at once to make them 
 over to the commissary of ord- 
 nance in charge of the park. 
 
 " It is reported to the com- 
 mander-in-chief that the Sikhs 
 and other native soldiers are 
 plundering in a most outrageous 
 manner, and refuse to give up 
 their plunder to the guards told 
 off for the express purpose of 
 
170 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 checking such proceedings. His 
 Excellency desires that strong 
 parties under the command of 
 European officers be immedi- 
 ately sent out from each native 
 regiment to put a stop to these 
 excesses. 
 
 " Commanding officers of 
 native regiments are called upon 
 to use their best endeavours to 
 restore order, and are held re- 
 sponsible that all their men who 
 are not on duty remain in camp, 
 and that those who are on duty 
 do not quit their posts. 
 
 "All native soldiers not on 
 duty are to be confined in camp 
 till further orders, and all who 
 may now be on duty in the city 
 are to be relieved and sent back 
 to the camp. 
 
 " All commanding officers 
 are enjoined to use their best 
 endeavours to prevent their fol- 
 lowers quitting the camp." 
 
 On the 1 7th also, Mrs Orr 
 and Miss Jackson the former 
 the wife of Mr Orr and the lat- 
 ter the sister of Sir Mount- 
 stuart Jackson, who, it will be 
 remembered, were put to death 
 on the 22d of November, when 
 the Residency was evacuated 
 by the British were delivered 
 from a cruel bondage. It was 
 said the begum had interceded 
 for the ladies, but during the 
 subsequent four months their 
 fate remained a mystery. On 
 that auspicious iyth of Novem- 
 ber, " Captain M'Neil and Lieu- 
 tenant Bogle, both attached to 
 the Goorkha force, while explor- 
 ing some deserted streets in the 
 suburbs, were accosted by a 
 
 native, who asked their protec- 
 tion for his house and property. 
 The man sought to purchase 
 this protection by a revelation 
 concerning certain English 
 ladies, who, he declared, were 
 in confinement in a place known 
 to him. Almost immediately 
 another native brought a note 
 from Mrs Orr and Miss Jack- 
 son, begging earnestly for suc- 
 cour. M'Neil and Bogle in- 
 stantly obtained a guard of fifty 
 Goorkhas, and, guided by the 
 natives, went on their errand of 
 mercy. After walking through 
 half a mile of narrow streets, 
 doubtful of an ambush at every 
 turning, they came to a house 
 occupied by one Meer Wajeed 
 Ali, who held, or had held, some 
 office under the court. After a 
 little parleying, M'Neil and 
 Bogle were led to an obscure 
 apartment, where were seated 
 two ladies in Oriental costume. 
 These were the prisoners who 
 had long been excluded from 
 every one of their own country, 
 and who were overwhelmed with 
 tearful joy at this happy deliver- 
 ance. It was not known whether 
 this Meer Wajeed Ali was en- 
 deavouring to buy off safety for 
 himself by betraying a trust re- 
 posed in him, but the two Eng- 
 lish officers deemed it best to 
 lose no time in securing their 
 countrywomen's safety, whether 
 he were a double-dealer or not. 
 They procured a palanquin, put 
 the ladies into it, and marched 
 off with their living treasure, 
 proud enough of their after- 
 noon's work When these pool 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 177 
 
 ladies told their sad tale of woe, 
 with countenances on which 
 marks of deep suffering were 
 expressed, it became known 
 that, though not exposed to any 
 actual barbarities or atrocities, 
 like so many of their country- 
 women in other parts of India, 
 their lives had been made very 
 miserable by the unfeeling con- 
 duct of their jailers, who were 
 permitted to use gross and in- 
 sulting language in their pre- 
 sence, and to harrow them with 
 recitals of what Europeans were 
 and had been suffering. They 
 had had food in moderate suffi- 
 ciency, but of other sources of 
 solace they were almost wholly 
 bereft. It was fully believed 
 that they would not have been 
 restored alive had the jailer 
 obeyed the orders issued to him 
 by the Moulvie," a fanatical 
 chieftain who had risen high in 
 the esteem of the Begum of 
 Oude, who acted during the re- 
 bellious occupation of Lucknow 
 as regent in the name of the son 
 of the ex-king, who had been 
 set at the head of the insurrec- 
 tion in that province. 
 
 A combined movement was 
 organised on the ipth against 
 the Moosa Bagh, the last posi- 
 tion held by the insurgents on 
 the line of the Goomtee. Some 
 said the begum was there, or, 
 at least, the Moulvie. Sir James 
 Outram moved forward directly 
 against the place, Hope Grant 
 cannonaded it from the left 
 bank of the river, while Brig- 
 adier Campbell, approaching on 
 the remote side from the Alum 
 
 Bagh, prevented retreat in that 
 direction. Among the intrench 
 ed insurgents discord reigned. 
 The begum reproached the 
 thalookdars, or landholders, with 
 disloyalty to her, they in their 
 turn reproached the sepoys ; the 
 Moulvie was suspected of a 
 plan of his own to secure for 
 himself the throne of Oude. As 
 soon, therefore, as they learned 
 that the British were approach- 
 ing, they all did their best to 
 escape, and did escape more 
 successfully than was agreeable 
 to Sir Colin Campbell. 
 
 The Moulvie, who had lived 
 in adulterous intimacy with the 
 begum, who had possessed 
 great influence in Lucknow dur- 
 ing the temporary suppression 
 of British power, and whose 
 prestige was not yet extinguish- 
 ed, held still a stronghold in the 
 very heart of the city. From 
 this he was dislodged by Sir 
 Edward Lugard on the 2ist, 
 and Sir Colin Campbell was at 
 length enabled to expedite the 
 return to their homes and occu- 
 pations of such natives, as had 
 not been so intimately mixed up 
 with the rebellion as to require 
 very different measures regard- 
 ing them. 
 
 This was the last of the com- 
 plicated operations of the siege 
 of Lucknow, which had lasted 
 from the 2d to the 2ist of 
 March. 
 
 The losses suffered by the 
 British were small, all things 
 considered. Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell was careful of the lives of 
 his men. His tactics all through 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 the siege had been to allow 
 shells and balls to do as much 
 of the deadly work as possible. 
 During the entire series of opera- 
 tions, there were 19 officers 
 killed and 48 wounded. The 
 whole of the brigadiers and 
 generals escaped untouched. 
 The killed and wounded among 
 the troops generally amounted 
 to 1 100. The enemy's loss was 
 supposed to be about 4000. 
 One of the deaths most regretted 
 was that of Major Hodson, of 
 " Hodson's Horse," the captor 
 of the King of Delhi. He fell 
 on the day of the capture of the 
 Begum Kothee. Having no 
 special duty on that day, he rode 
 over and joined in the storm- 
 ing attack, and while assisting 
 in clearing the courtyards and 
 buildings, near the palace of 
 lurking rebels, the gallant Hod- 
 son was shot by a sepoy. His 
 own irregular troopers cried 
 over him like children. When 
 he was buried behind the Mar- 
 tini&re College, Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell and his staff attended the 
 funeral, at which the tender- 
 hearted commander - in - chief 
 made no attempt to conceal his 
 emotions. 
 
 It will be an appropriate con- 
 clusion to this chapter to quote 
 two ot the proclamations by 
 which the populace of Lucknow 
 were maddened into the deadly 
 hatred of the British which un- 
 doubtedly prevailed among them. 
 These were found after Sir 
 Colin Campbell had had time 
 to gather information regarding 
 the proceedings of the rebels 
 
 since the month of November. 
 The first, addressed to Moham 
 medans, reads thus : 
 
 "God says in the Koran: 
 ' Do not enter into the friend- 
 ship of Jews and Christians; 
 those who are their friends are 
 of them, that is, the friends of 
 Christians are Christians, the 
 friends of Jews are Jews. God 
 never shows His way to in- 
 fidels.' By this it is evident that 
 to befriend Christians is irreli- 
 gious. Those who are their 
 friends are not Mohammedans ; 
 therefore, all the Mohammedan 
 fraternity should with all their 
 hearts be deadly enemies to the 
 Christians, and never befriend 
 them in any way, otherwise all 
 will lose their religion and be- 
 come infidels. 
 
 " Some people, weak in faith 
 and worldly, think that if they 
 offend the Christians, they will 
 fall their victims when their rule 
 is re-established. God says of 
 these people: 'Look in the 
 hearts of these unbelievers, who 
 are anxious to seek the friend- 
 ship of Christians through fear 
 of receiving injury,' to remove 
 their doubts and assure their 
 wavering mind. It is also said 
 that 'God will shortly give us 
 victory, or will do something 
 by which our enemies will be 
 ashamed of themselves/ The 
 Mussulmans should, therefore, 
 always hope, and never believe 
 that the Christians will be victo- 
 rious and injure them; but, on 
 the contrary, should hope to 
 gain the victory, and destroy all 
 Christians. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 179 
 
 " If all the Mohammedans 
 join and remain firm to their 
 faith, they would, no doubt, 
 gain victory over the Christians, 
 because God says that the vic- 
 tory is due to the faithful from 
 Him; but if they become 
 cowards, and infirm to their 
 religion, and do not sacrifice 
 their private interest for the 
 public good, the Europeans will 
 be victorious, and, having sub- 
 dued the Mohammedans, they 
 will disarm, hang, shoot, or blow 
 them away, seize upon their 
 women and children, disgrace, 
 dishonour, and christianise them, 
 dig up their houses, and carry 
 off their property; they will also 
 burn sacred and religious books, 
 destroy the musjids, and efface 
 the name of Islam from the 
 world. 
 
 " If the Mohammedans have 
 any shame, they should all join 
 and prepare to kill the Chris- 
 tians, without minding any one 
 who says to the contrary; they 
 should also know that no one 
 dies before his time, and when 
 the time comes, nothing can 
 save them. Thousands of men 
 are carried off by cholera and 
 other pestilence; but it is not 
 known whether they die in their 
 senses, and be faithful to their 
 own religion. 
 
 " To be killed in a war against 
 Christians is proof of obtaining 
 martyrdom. All good Moham- 
 medans pray for such a death ; 
 therefore, every one should 
 sacrifice his life for such a re- 
 ward. Every one is to die 
 assuredly, and those Moham- 
 
 medans who would spare them- 
 selves now, will be sorry on 
 their death for their neglect 
 
 " As it is the duty of all men 
 and women to oppose, kill, and 
 expel the Europeans for deeds 
 committed by them at Delhi, 
 Jhujur, Rewaree, and the Doab, 
 all the Mohammedans should 
 discharge their duty with a 
 willing heart; if they neglect, 
 and the Europeans overpower 
 them, they will be disarmed, 
 hung, and treated like the in- 
 habitants of other unfortunate 
 countries, and will have nothing 
 but regret and sorrow for their 
 lot. Wherefore, this notice is 
 given to warn the public." 
 
 Another proclamation, ad-' 
 dressed principally to zemin- 
 dars and Hindoos in general, 
 but to Mohammedans also, 
 was couched in the following 
 terms : 
 
 " All the Hindoos and Moham- 
 medans know that man loves 
 four things most: i. His re- 
 ligion and caste ; 2. his honour; 
 3. his own and his kinsman's 
 lives ; 4. his property. All 
 these four are well protected 
 under native rulers; no one in- 
 terferes with any one's religion; 
 every one enjoys his respecta- 
 bility according to his caste and 
 wealth. All the respectable 
 people Syad, Shaikh, Mogul, 
 and Patan, among the Moham- 
 medans; and Brahmins, Cha- 
 trees, Bys, Kaeths, among the 
 Hindoos are respected accord- 
 ing to their castes. No low- 
 caste people like chumars, 
 dhanook, and parsees, can be 
 
180 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 equal to and address them 
 disrespectfully. No one's life 
 or property is taken unless for 
 some heinous crime. 
 
 " The British are quite against 
 these four things. They want 
 to spoil every one's caste, and 
 wish both the Mohammedans 
 and Hindoos to become Chris- 
 tians. Thousands have turned 
 renegades, and many will become 
 so yet; both the nobles and low 
 caste are equal in their eyes; 
 they disgrace the nobles in the 
 presence of the ignoble ; they 
 arrest or summon to their courts 
 the gentry, nawabs, and rajahs, 
 at the instance of a chumar, 
 and disgrace them; wherever 
 they go they hang the respect- 
 able people, kill their women 
 and children; their troops dis- 
 honour the women, and dig up 
 and carry off their property. 
 They do not kill the mahajuns, 
 but dishonour their women, and 
 carry off their money. They 
 disarm the people wherever they 
 go; and when the people are 
 disarmed, they hang, shoot, or 
 blow them away. 
 
 " In some places, they de- 
 ceive the landholders by pro- 
 mising them remittance oi 
 revenue, or lessen the amount 
 of their lease; their object is, 
 that when their government is 
 settled, and every one becomes 
 their subject, they can readily, 
 according to their wish, hang, 
 disgrace, or christianise them. 
 Some of the foolish landholders 
 have been deceived; but those 
 who are wise and careful, do 
 not fall into their snares. 
 
 " Therefore, all Hindoos and 
 Mohammedans, who wish to 
 save their religion, honour, life, 
 and property, are warned to join 
 the Government forces, and not 
 to be deceived by the British. 
 The low-caste servants should 
 also know that the office of 
 watchmen is their hereditary 
 right; but the British appoint 
 others in their posts, and 
 deprive them of their rights. 
 They should, therefore, kill and 
 plunder the British and their 
 followers, and annoy them by 
 committing robbery and thefts 
 in their camp." 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 OTHER STRUGGLES IN MARCH. 
 
 DURING the month of March 
 many mutinous events occurred 
 in other districts ; all of pale 
 importance,- no doubt, under the 
 
 shadow of the final recapture of the heroic struggles of the I ri 
 
 Lucknow, but each exhibiting 
 the state of feeling among the 
 natives, the fluctuation of for- 
 tune among the rebels, rnd 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 181 
 
 tish amid appalling difficul- 
 ties. 
 
 The Azimghur district, nearly 
 north of that of Benares, was 
 the scene of a vexatious rising of 
 the sort. On the 2ist of the 
 month a conflict took place at 
 Atrowlia, twenty-five miles from 
 Azimghur, between a body of mu- 
 tineers and a small force under 
 Colonel Millman, of Her Ma- 
 jesty's 37th regiment, command- 
 ant of the Azimghur field force. 
 While the colonel was in camp 
 at Koelsa, Mr Davis, a magis- 
 trate, informed him that there 
 was a considerable body of 
 mutineers in the neighbourhood 
 of Atrowlia. The colonel im- 
 mediately proceeded towards 
 the place with infantry, cavalry, 
 and gunners, to the number of 
 260 ; and at daybreak on the 
 22d he came upon the enemy 
 posted in several topes of mango 
 trees. They were chiefly sepoys 
 from Dinapoor, who had fol- 
 lowed Koer Singh. He speed- 
 ily discomfited the rebels, and 
 put them to flight. 
 
 This was but the beginning 
 6'f the matter, however. While 
 his men halted in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and were preparing 
 breakfast, Colonel Millman was 
 suddenly informed that the in- 
 surgents were advancing in great 
 force. He immediately set for- 
 ward with some skirmishers to 
 reconnoitre, and found that the 
 unwelcome news was true. The 
 rebels were strongly posted, in 
 the midst of topes of trees and 
 sugar-canes, behind a mud-wall. 
 Millman sent back at once for his 
 
 troops ; but when they arrived 
 he found it would serve no good 
 purpose to engage the enemy, 
 who were increasing rapidly 
 every hour. The colonel retired 
 slowly from Atrowlia to his 
 camp at Koelsa, closely followed 
 by the enemy, who kept firing 
 at a distance, and endeavoured 
 to turn his flank. He made 
 one dash with his cavalry, but 
 to no purpose; and when the 
 rumour spread through the camp 
 that the approaching force num- 
 bered no fewer than 5000, a 
 panic was created among the 
 camp-followers. Many of the 
 drivers left their carts, and all 
 the cooks ran away. 
 
 This was more perplexing 
 than may be supposed ; soldiers 
 could not be spared ior the 
 duties discharged by these 
 people. Besides, Colonel Mill- 
 man knew that the camp was 
 untenable in 'case of a night 
 attack, especially when ade- 
 quate supplies would not be 
 served up to his men. He there- 
 fore at once retreated to Azim- 
 ghur, abandoning a portion of 
 his tents and baggage, which 
 the insurgents secured. 
 
 This was a serious reverse. It 
 paralysed the exertions of the 
 few British officers and troops 
 in the district, and the rebels 
 vaunted abroad their triumph, 
 the rumour of which spread 
 among the natives with astonish- 
 ing rapidity. Azimghur was in 
 imminent danger, for it seemed 
 as if this discomfiture had left it 
 and the country around in the 
 power of Koer Singh and his 
 
182 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 associates. The British in the 
 city intrenched themselves in a 
 jail, which was surrounded with 
 a deep ditch, where they were 
 besieged by the rebels, who had 
 all the rest of the city in their 
 hands. A messenger was sent 
 to Benares on the 26th to an- 
 nounce the catastrophe which 
 had occurred ; but all that the 
 British authorities there could 
 do meantime, was to send fifty 
 dragoons in carts, drawn by 
 bullocks, and pushed by coolies. 
 A telegraphic message was at 
 the same time sent from Benares 
 to Allahabad, in response to 
 which a wing of Her Majesty's 
 1 3th foot and the depot of the 
 2d regiment were ordered off 
 for service at Benares, or at 
 Azimghur, as the need might be 
 felt. 
 
 A rumour that Koer Singh 
 meant to attack Ghazeepore or 
 Benares, on his way from Azim- 
 ghur to Arrah, created great un- 
 easiness at these stations. It 
 will be seen by-and-by how 
 Sir Colin Campbell had to deal 
 with this district 
 
 A most fortunate victory was 
 won at Goruckpore early in 
 March. A force of 12,000 in- 
 surgents, led by such influential 
 chiefs as Nazim Mahomed Hus- 
 sein, Rajah Dabie Buksh of 
 Gonda, the Rajah of Churdah, 
 and Mehndee Ali Hussein, 
 mounted on elephants, attacked 
 on the 5th of the month about 
 200 men of the naval brigade, 
 under Captain Sotheby j 200 
 Bengal yeomanry cavalry, 900 
 Goorkhas, a few Sikhs about 
 
 1300 men in all and two guns, 
 under Colonel Rowcroft. The 
 motley little garrison proved 
 stanch, and not only repulsed 
 the attack, but chased the enemy 
 for seven miles, nearly to their 
 camp at Bilwa, and captured 
 eight guns as well as a great 
 deal of ammunition. 
 
 This victory was indeed fortun- 
 ate, for Colonel Rowcroft learn- 
 ed afterwards that many thou- 
 sands of villagers on the banks 
 of the Gogra were ready to rise 
 in rebellion if the attack suc- 
 ceeded. 
 
 It was mentioned in the last 
 chapter that the Governor-Gene- 
 ral had come to Allahabad. 
 While he was there an affair oc- 
 curred which caused him and 
 others considerable uneasiness. 
 Some rebels had assembled in 
 the district, at a place called 
 Suraon, between Allahabad and 
 Gopeegunje; and two companies 
 of Her Majesty's 54th regi- 
 ment, 100 Sikhs, a few Madras 
 cavalry, were sent to dislodge 
 them. Owing to want of cor- 
 rect information concerning the 
 position and strength of the 
 enemy, and insufficient know- 
 ledge of the locality, the force 
 came suddenly to a place sur- 
 rounded by a jungle, in which a 
 large body of the rebels was 
 concealed, who, to the astonish- 
 ment of the magistrates of the 
 district, possessed six pieces of 
 artillery. They were not dis- 
 lodged; on the contrary, tiiey 
 opened a fire, which compelled 
 the British force to retreat. In 
 what way or from what source 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 183 
 
 they had gained possession of 
 these six pieces of artillery could 
 not be accounted for. 
 
 Tne operations of Sir Hugh 
 Rose in Central India that 
 region south of the Jumna in 
 which Mahrattas and Bundelas 
 were strong during the month 
 of March were very important. 
 This distinguished officer of the 
 Bombay army kept gradually 
 working his way north to Jhansi, 
 defeating rebels everywhere as 
 he advanced. On the 4th of 
 March,he telegraphed to Bombay 
 the following news, from his 
 camp at Peeplia . " Yesterday, 
 the troops under my command 
 forced the pass of Mudenpore, 
 after a short, but very vigorous, 
 resistance. The troops, British 
 and native, behaved gallantly. 
 The pass is extremely strong, 
 and the enemy suffered severely. 
 They numbered about 4000 or 
 5000 Pathans and Bundelas, 
 and 600 or 700 sepoys of the 
 52d and other regiments. I 
 sent Major Orr in pursuit ; and 
 he cut up fifty or sixty rebels, of 
 whom a large proportion were 
 sepoys. The enemy are scat- 
 tered in every direction. They 
 have abandoned the little for- 
 tress of Seraj, a fort or arsenal, 
 which is the property of the 
 Rajah of Shaguhr, in which I 
 shall have a small force to keep 
 up my communication with the 
 Saugor. I am now in com- 
 munication with my first brig- 
 ade, under Brigadier Stuart, at 
 Chendaree; and this gives me 
 command of the whole country 
 up to Jhansi, with the exception 
 
 of two or three forts which I 
 can take." 
 
 The pass of Mudenpore is in 
 the line of hills which sepa- 
 rated the British district of 
 Saugor from the small state of 
 Shaguhr. After abandoning the 
 fort of Seraj a place where 
 they manufactured, in a rude 
 way, powder, shot, shell, car- 
 riages, and tents the enemy 
 precipitately fled from the town 
 and fort of Murrowra, with a 
 triple line of defences, the town 
 and fort of Multhone, the pass 
 of Goonah, the pass and town 
 of Hurat, and the fort of Cornel 
 Gurh. So that the capture of 
 the pass of Mudenpore pro- 
 duced advantages far greater 
 than those Sir Hugh Rose was 
 aware of, when he sent his 
 telegram of the 4th. 
 
 The Rajah of Shaguhr hav- 
 ing joined the insurgents, Sir 
 Hugh Rose occupied that 
 hitherto independent district 
 He had to be constantly on the 
 alert. Balla Sahib, brother of 
 the Nana, was at this time at 
 the head of an army of rabble, 
 and was levying contributions 
 in various parts of Bundelcund. 
 This rebel exacted seven lacs of 
 rupees from the Rajah of Chu- 
 anpore; he destroyed Chur- 
 karee by fire, because the 
 rajah of that town resisted a 
 similar demand, and Mr Carne, 
 the British resident there, nar- 
 rowly escaped being taken by 
 him, while the rajah was com- 
 pelled to take refuge in his fort 
 
 Brigadier Stuart was, in the 
 meantime, engaged in clearing 
 
184 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 out various rebel haunts in the 
 districts lying to the south of 
 Jhansi. He left his camp, near 
 the Chendaree Fort, on the 6th, 
 and marched six or eight miles, 
 through a thick jungle, to 
 Khookwasas, a fort near which 
 a large body of rebels was as- 
 sembled. Here he found that 
 they had barricaded the road, 
 and lined the hills on either 
 side with men armed with 
 matchlocks; but his engineers 
 soon cleared the barricades, 
 and a small party of the 86th 
 regiment rushed up the hills, 
 and made short work of the 
 matchlockmen. They dislodg- 
 ed them at once. Shortly after- 
 wards, however, he came on the 
 chief body of the rebels, posted 
 behind the wall of an enclosure, 
 about a mile beyond the fort. 
 The 86th dashed forward and 
 cleared them out of that posi- 
 tion, Captain Keating and Lieu- 
 tenant Lewis climbing to the 
 top of it before any of their 
 men, and jumping down into it 
 first. On the iyth, Stuart cap- 
 tured the fort itself, a strong 
 rampart of sandstone, flanked 
 by circular towers, and crown- 
 ing a hill of considerable height. 
 Captain Keating was severely 
 wounded whilst foremost again 
 of the storming party. The 
 escape of the enemy was pro- 
 voking. It was almost entirely 
 owing to the fact of a letter ar- 
 riving too late. The brigadier 
 received a message on the even- 
 ing of the 1 6th, informing him 
 that Captain Abbott was within 
 available distance, with a con- 
 
 siderable body of irregular cav- 
 alry ; he despatched a letter at 
 once to Abbott, requesting him 
 to hasten forward and invest 
 the north side of the fort. But 
 this letter did not reach the 
 captain in time; and, conse- 
 quently, the rebels made their 
 escape northwards. Eight iron 
 guns and two of brass were 
 taken, these being all that were 
 in the stronghold. This left 
 the inhabitants of the town free 
 to resume their peaceful avoca- 
 tions. And they seemed far 
 from being sorry that the rebels 
 were put beyond reach ol 
 troubling them. 
 
 Sir Hugh Rose, having had 
 his advance to Jhansi greatly 
 facilitated by these successes of 
 Brigadier Stuart, marched on 
 with the second brigade, and 
 reached that blood-stained city 
 on the 2 1 sk He telegraphed 
 to Bombay the following ac- 
 count of his operations, from 
 the 2oth to the 25th of the 
 month : " On the 20th, my cav- 
 alry invested as much as pos- 
 sible the fort and town of Jhansi. 
 The next day, the rest of my 
 force arrived. The rebels have 
 fortified the walls of the town, 
 and, shutting themselves up in 
 the town and fort, have not de- 
 fended the advanced position 
 of Jhansi. The Ranee has left 
 her palace in the town, and has 
 gone into the fort. The rebel 
 garrison numbers 1500 sepoys, 
 of whom 500 are cavalry, and 
 10,000 Bundelas, with thirty or 
 forty cannon. The position is 
 strong; but I have occupied 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 1P5 
 
 two good positions, one a 
 breaching, the other a flanking 
 one. I have been delayed Dy 
 want of a plan of Jhansi, and 
 consequently have been obliged 
 to make long and repeated re- 
 connaissances. I opened a 
 
 flanking fire, vertical and hori- 
 zontal, yesterday the 25th 
 and hope to open a breaching 
 fire to-morrow, or, at latest, the 
 next day." As we shall see, a 
 successful assault was made on 
 the town in April. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 STRUGGLING STILL IN APRIL. 
 
 SIR COLIN CAMPBELL'S war 
 policy, after the fall of Lucknow, 
 was to crush the scattered mu- 
 tineers in detail before they 
 succeeded in recombining ; and 
 with this view he almost imme- 
 diately broke up the army of 
 Oude into divisions. The com- 
 mander-in-chief remained in 
 Lucknow until the middle of 
 April, organising plans of oper- 
 ations for his brigadiers. In the 
 second week of the month 
 he took a gallop to Allahabad 
 a perilous ride in the cir- 
 cumstances and had an inter- 
 view with Viscount Canning, the 
 result of which was the depar- 
 ture of Sir Colin himself, as well 
 as his generals, for active service 
 in districts distant from Luck- 
 now. 
 
 Sir James Outram was trans- 
 ferred from the chief-commis- 
 sionership of Oude to the su- 
 preme council at Calcutta. 
 
 Sir Edward Lugard was or- 
 dered to look after Koer Singh, 
 and the region infested by his 
 
 circuitous movements. He left 
 Lucknow with a strong column, 
 and reached Jounpoor on the 
 9th of April, near to which city 
 next day he encountered and 
 put to flight a body of rebels 
 under Gholab Hossein, one of 
 their leaders. When Lugard 
 left Jounpoor for Azimghur, a 
 large rebel force, getting into his 
 rear, attempted to re-enter the 
 former city. This caused him 
 to arrange for dispersing these 
 rebels before proceeding farther. 
 He did so, a service during 
 which Lieutenant Charles Have- 
 lock, a nephew of the illustrious 
 general, was killed. This brave 
 young officer had been adjutant 
 of the 1 2th Bengal native irre- 
 gular cavalry when the mutiny 
 first broke out, and was thrown 
 out of employment when that 
 regiment joined the revolt He 
 went as a volunteer with his 
 uncle, and was for nine months 
 more or less engaged in the 
 operations in and around Luck- 
 now. When Lugard was ap- 
 
186 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 pointed to the column at present 
 under notice, young Havelock 
 accompanied him, holding a 
 command in a Goorkha bat- 
 talion, and he was shot from a 
 hut in an obscure village, while 
 the -rebels who had got into 
 Lugard's rear were being dis- 
 persed. 
 
 The column being again put 
 on the march, reached Azimghur 
 on the 1 5th, where a portion of 
 Koer Singh's main army was 
 encountered at the bridge of 
 boats which crossed the small 
 river Tons at that city. They 
 were defeated and dispersed only 
 after a determined struggle. When 
 the battle at the bridge was over, 
 Sir Edward Lugard discovered 
 the full import of its significance. 
 He had been fighting merely 
 with the rear-guard of Koer 
 Singh's army. That traitor, with 
 the main body of his force, 
 proving too quick for his pur- 
 suers, quitted Azimghur on one 
 side as Lugard was entering it 
 on the other. It was extremely 
 desirable, however, that he 
 should not be allowed to go off 
 in this manner, free to work 
 mischief elsewhere ; so on the 
 1 6th Brigadier Douglas was sent 
 in pursuit of him with two regi- 
 ments and some cavalry and 
 artillery, while Lugard himself 
 encamped for a while at Azim- 
 ghur. 
 
 When Koer Singh reached a 
 point at which he thought he 
 should be able to cross the 
 Ganges in the district of Shah- 
 abad, where Arrah was situated, 
 he separated from some of the 
 
 other native chieftains. He had 
 with him 2000 sepoys and a 
 multitude of rabble. Brigadier 
 Douglas pursued them with very 
 rapid forced marches 200 miles 
 in five days of great heat came 
 up with them at Bansdeh, and 
 drove them to Beyriah, Koer 
 Singh himself being wounded. 
 The rebels at last reached Jug- 
 dispore, the hereditary domain 
 of their wounded chief. 
 
 The town of Arrah was at that 
 time occupied by 150 of Her 
 Majesty's 35th foot, 150 Sikhs, 
 and 50 seamen of the Naval 
 Brigade all under the com- 
 mand of Captain Le Grand. 
 This officer, a little over confi- 
 dently, sallied forth from Arrah 
 to prevent Koer Singh's force 
 reaching Jugdispore, or to dis- 
 turb their rest there. He found 
 them, to the number of 2000, 
 posted in a jungle, but dispirited 
 and without guns. Le Grand's 
 small force attacked them at 
 daylight on the 23d, and the 
 result was a discomfiture of Brit- 
 ish troops, as mortifying if not 
 as disastrous as that which had 
 been formerly inflicted by Koer 
 Singh. * 
 
 After some ineffectual firing 
 of howitzers, a bugle sounding 
 retreat was heard, upon which 
 Le Grand's force abandoned 
 guns and elephants, and fled 
 towards Arrah, followed closely 
 by the enemy, shooting and cut- 
 ting them down. Two-thirds 
 of the men of the 35th were 
 killed .or wounded, and among 
 the former was the unfortunate 
 Le Grand himself. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 187 
 
 This disaster near Jugdispore 
 hastened the movements of 
 Brigadier Douglas. He crossed 
 the Ganges on the 25th at 
 Seenaghat, and pushed on the 
 84th foot and two guns towards 
 Jugdispore. But it was not 
 until May that that nest of 
 rebels was cleared out. 
 
 Leaving Sir Edward Lugard's 
 column at this stage of one 
 branch of its operations, the 
 command to which Sir Hope 
 Grant was appointed is to be 
 noticed. He was appointed to 
 a column or brigade for opera- 
 tions within the province of 
 Oude, Lugard's being directed 
 eastward of that. 
 
 This column consisted of Her 
 Majesty's 38th foot, a battalion 
 of the Rifle Brigade, a regiment 
 of Sikhs, Her .Majesty's gth Lan- 
 cers Hope Grant's own regi- 
 ment a small body of reliable 
 native cavalry, two troops of 
 horse artillery, and a small siege 
 and mortar train. The Moulvie 
 of Fyzabad, whose influence had 
 reached such a height in Luck- 
 now, had collected a force near 
 Baree, about thirty miles north 
 of Lucknow ; and the Begum of 
 Oude had fled, with several 
 cart-loads of treasure, to Bitow- 
 lie, the domain of a rebel named 
 Gorhuccus Singh. Sir Hope 
 Grant was appointed to capture, 
 intercept, or defeat the rebels in 
 the service of these leaders. He 
 left Lucknow on the nth of 
 April, with Brigadier Horsford 
 as his second in command. 
 
 Moving circumspectly through 
 a district in which the people 
 
 were far from loyal to the British 
 Government, Hope Grant ap- 
 proached near Baree. Here 
 the Moulvie's cavalry got into 
 the rear, and attempted to cut 
 off his baggage train, which was 
 necessarily a very long one, and 
 it was as much as the rear-guard 
 could do to repel this attack 
 and protect the baggage train. 
 But they did it. 
 
 Turning eastward, Sir Hope 
 Grant marched towards the Go- 
 gra, in the hope of intercepting 
 the Begum of Oude. In this he 
 did not succeed. He obtained 
 information that the begum was 
 retreating northward with one 
 large force, and the Moulvie 
 westward with another, but did 
 not catch either of these evasive 
 personages. 
 
 Bareilly, on the Rohilcund 
 side of Oude, was a nest of 
 rebels, which Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell resolved must be conquered 
 as Delhi and Lucknow had 
 been. Two columns were told 
 off for this important service 
 one to advance north-west from 
 Lucknow, and the other south- 
 east from Roorkee. 
 
 Brigadier Jones was appoint- 
 ed to the latter column, and on 
 the 1 5th of April he marched 
 from Roorkee with a force of 
 3000 good troops, strengthened 
 by eight heavy and six light 
 guns. On the iyth he crossed 
 the Ganges at Nagul, knowing 
 that Bareilly was more easily 
 reached from the other side of 
 the river, and he arrived at 
 Mooradabad very opportunely, 
 after an encounter by the way 
 
188 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 with an insurgent force near 
 Nuggena, whose guns he cap- 
 tured, and also six elephants. 
 
 What rendered Jones' arrival 
 opportune was that Feroze 
 Shah, one of the princes of 
 Delhi, in league with the Bareilly 
 mutineers, marched on the 2ist 
 of April to Mooradabad, and 
 demanded money and supplies. 
 Mooradabad was not so deeply 
 steeped in rebellion as Bareilly. 
 The demand was refused, and 
 fighting and pillage were the 
 consequences. While the plun- 
 dering was at its hottest on the 
 26th, Brigadier Jones entered 
 the city, put a stop to it, drove 
 out the rebels, captured many 
 insurgent chiefs, and re-estab- 
 lished the confidence of the 
 people in the power of the 
 British Government. 
 
 General Walpole was appoint- 
 ed to the command of the 
 column which was to proceed 
 against Bareilly from Lucknow, 
 with Brigadier Adrian Hope as 
 the head of his infantry. Leav- 
 ing the capital of (Dude for this 
 march which was confessedly 
 a very oppressive one, daylight 
 being requisite to guide the 
 troops through numberless lurk- 
 ing dangers, and the sun accord- 
 ingly shining above them like a 
 ball of fire Walpole came on 
 the 1 4th of June to Fort Rho- 
 damow, about fifty miles from 
 Lucknow. It seemed no great 
 place, a group of houses enclosed 
 by a high mud-wall, loopholed 
 for musketry, provided with irre- 
 gular bastions at the angles, and 
 having two gates. Walpole had 
 
 heard while marching through 
 the jungle towards Rohilcund 
 that 1 500 insurgents had thrown 
 themselves into this fort, but 
 the number turned out to be 
 much smaller. He certainly did 
 not, as the result showed, attach 
 sufficient importance to the 
 capability of those who used it 
 as a stronghold. It would ap- 
 pear that he made no very 
 careful reconnaissance, and it is 
 certain that the attack on it was 
 made with infantry without a 
 previous application of artillery. 
 The 42d Highlanders and the 
 4th Punjaub infantry were sent 
 forward to take the fort, but as 
 they approached it they were 
 received with a fire of musketry 
 from a concealed enemy as un- 
 expected as it was fierce and 
 galling, which effectually check- 
 ed the advance of the assailants. 
 The gallant Brigadier Adrian 
 Hope was killed at the head of 
 his Highlanders. 
 
 The enemy being hidden be- 
 hind the loopholed wall, the 
 British troops could not fire 
 effectively in reply. Everything 
 that was done seemed only to 
 cause more confusion. The 
 supports sent up came too late, 
 or went to the wrong place, and 
 the troops were compelled to 
 retire in a state of exasperation, 
 amid yells of triumph from be- 
 hind the wall. 
 
 Only then it was that the 
 heavy guns were brought up to 
 accomplish what they ought to 
 have been placed for at first; 
 they breached the wall, but the 
 Indians had quietly evacuated 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 189 
 
 the fort during the night, having 
 suffered scarcely any loss. 
 
 During this mortifying dis- 
 aster Quarter-master Sergeant 
 Simpson, of the 42 d, displayed 
 the reckless boldness which 
 characterises a military hero in 
 such circumstances. When the 
 infantry had been recalled from 
 the attack, he heard that two 
 officers of his regiment had been 
 left behind, dead or wounded, 
 in the ditch outside the wall. 
 He rushed back, seized the 
 body of Captain Bromley, and 
 brought it away amid a torrent 
 of bullets; back again, he 
 brought away in his arms the 
 body of Captain Douglas under 
 a similar fire of musketry, and 
 did not cease until he had 
 brought seven bodies thus out 
 of the ditch. The men of the 
 42 d could not forgive General 
 Walpole for what they regarded 
 as a deep personal injury inflict- 
 ed on them by this order to 
 attack before the guns had been 
 brought into play. It was not 
 like an order given by a general 
 who had observed Sir Colin 
 Campbell's method of proce- 
 dure before Lucknow. 
 
 Sir Colin had his own thoughts 
 when the news of the untoward 
 event reached him. He paid in 
 a despatch a marked compliment 
 to Adrian Hope, saying : " The 
 death of this most distinguished 
 and gallant officer causes the 
 deepest grief to the commander- 
 in-chief. Still young in years, 
 he had risen to high command ; 
 and by his undaunted courage, 
 combined as it was with extreme 
 
 kindness and charm of manner, 
 had secured the confidence of 
 his brigade in no ordinary de- 
 gree." Viscount Canning, in a 
 like spirit, officially notified that 
 "no more mournful duty has 
 fallen upon the Governor-Gene- 
 ral in the course of the present 
 contest than that of recording 
 the death of this distinguished 
 young commander." 
 
 General Walpole pursued his 
 march for seven or eight days 
 without encountering the enemy, 
 till on the 22d he had a success- 
 ful encounter with a large body 
 of the enemy at Sirsa. He at- 
 tacked them so vigorously with 
 his cavalry and artillery that 
 their camp was captured, and 
 they were driven over the river 
 Ramgunga so precipitately that 
 they had no opportunity of de- 
 stroying the bridge of boats by 
 which they passed. Thisachieve- 
 ment enabled Walpole to carry 
 his heavy guns safely over the 
 river on the 23d. 
 
 A few days later, Sir Colin 
 Campbell and his column joined 
 him at Tingree, near the Ram- 
 gunga ; and, after short repose, 
 a few hours' march brought the 
 united columns to Jelalabad, 
 one of the many places of that 
 name in India. 
 
 The Moulvie of Fyzabad, it 
 was ascertained, had intended 
 to make a stand at this fort; 
 but he abandoned it for a larger 
 stronghold at Shahjehanpoor, 
 at which place Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell and General Walpole ar- 
 rived on the last day of the 
 month, only to learn that the 
 
190 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 watchful and energetic Moulvie 
 had again eluded their grasp. 
 Shahjehanpoor, however, was 
 regained after it had been eleven 
 months in the hands of the 
 rebels. But what was very pro- 
 voking, it was learned here 
 that the Moulvie had retreated 
 towards Oude, a wily move on 
 his part, for his presence there 
 was the thing least desired by 
 the commander-in-chief. Nana 
 Sahib also had quitted Shahje- 
 hanpoor a few days before the 
 British arrived, and before he 
 left, had given orders that all 
 the government buildings be de- 
 stroyed in order to deprive the 
 British of shelter when they ar- 
 rived. The order was duly 
 attended to, and there being few 
 roofed buildings left, the troops 
 had to encamp under a tope of 
 trees, with earth intrenchments 
 thrown up round their encamp- 
 ment. 
 
 Captain Sir William Peel, the 
 spirited and gallant commander 
 of the Naval Brigade, died at 
 Cawnpore after Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell's force had left that city. 
 After being wounded at Luck- 
 now, he was carried thither on 
 a litter, and gradually became 
 so much better as to be able to 
 walk about a little with the aid 
 of a stick; but he was seized 
 with smallpox, which proved 
 fatal to a system at once ardent 
 and debilitated. 
 
 In the upper Doab, numerous 
 rebel chieftains, each at the head 
 of a small force, kept the British 
 commanders constantly on the 
 alert. Brigadier Seaton had the 
 
 district round Futtehghur en- 
 trusted to his care, and on the 
 evening of the 6th of April he 
 left the city of Futtehghur with 
 1400 men, infantry, cavalry, 
 mounted police, and artillery, 
 to disperse a body of rebels re- 
 garding whom he had received 
 information. After marching all 
 night, he came up with them at 
 seven o'clock in the morning at 
 a place called Kankur. There 
 were among the rebels many 
 troopers well mounted and 
 armed, although the large force 
 was not at all effectively organ- 
 ised. After the artillery had 
 been brought into play on both 
 sides, and a sharp fire from the 
 Enfield rifles of the British, Her 
 Majesty's 82d foot rushed for- 
 ward, entered the village, and 
 worked such havoc as made the 
 rebels flee in terror, leaving 
 arms, ammunition, and stores. 
 They left also important papers 
 and correspondence which were 
 of great use to the British au- 
 thorities as throwing light upon 
 the proceedings of the muti- 
 neers. 
 
 " One of the few pleasant 
 scenes of the month at Delhi," 
 says an authority already quoted, 
 " was the awarding of honour 
 and profit to a native who had 
 befriended Europeans in the 
 hour of greatest need. Ten 
 months before, when mutiny was 
 still new and terrible, the native 
 troops at Bhurtpore rose in re- 
 volt, and compelled the Euro- 
 peans in the neighbourhood to 
 flee for their lives. The poor 
 fugitives, thirty-two in number, 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 191 
 
 chiefly women and children, 
 roamed from place to place, 
 uncertain where they might j 
 sleep in peace. One day they 
 arrived at the village of Ma- 
 honah. Here they met with 
 Hidayut Ali, the captain of a 
 regiment of irregular cavalry, 
 which had mutinied at Mozuffer- 
 nugger ; he was on furlough at 
 his native place, and did not join 
 his mutinous companions. He 
 received the fugitives with kind- 
 ness and courtesy, fed them 
 liberally, gave them a comfort- 
 able house, renewed their toil- 
 worn garments, posted village 
 sentries to give notice of the ap- 
 proach of any mutineers, disre- 
 garded a rebuke sent to him by 
 the insurgents at Delhi, formed 
 the villagers into an escort, and 
 finally placed the thirty -two 
 fugitives in a position which 
 enabled them to reach Agra in 
 safety. This noble conduct was 
 not forgotten. In April, the 
 commissioner held a grand dur- 
 bar at Delhi, made a compli- 
 mentary speech to Hidayut Ali, 
 presented him with a sword 
 valued at 1000 rupees, and an- 
 nounced that the Government 
 intended to bestow upon him 
 the jaghire or revenues of his 
 native village." 
 
 Returning to Sir Hugh Rose 
 before Jhansi on the ist of 
 April, his force encountered an 
 army of the enemy outside the 
 walls of that blood-stained city, 
 and inflicted on them an unmis- 
 takable defeat. They were com- 
 manded by Tanteea Topee, a 
 Mahratta chieftain, and a rela- 
 
 tive of Nana Sahib, who had 
 marched thither to relieve his 
 fellow-rebels who were shut up 
 within the city. Sir Hugh told 
 off from the besiegers a force 
 which he thought sufficient to 
 cope with this new arrival, which 
 contained two regiments of the 
 Gwalior contingent. The rebels 
 fought with the fury of despera- 
 tion, but Sir Hugh turned their 
 flank with artillery and cavalry, 
 broke them up, and put them to 
 flight. He pursued them to the 
 river Betwa, and captured all 
 their guns and ammunition. 
 During the pursuit, the rebels 
 set fire to the jungle, but, 
 nothing daunted or dismayed, 
 the British cavalry and horse 
 artillery galloped through the 
 flames, keeping close to the 
 heels of the enemy fleeing in 
 terror. That day's work cost 
 Tanteea Topee 1500 men. 
 
 The Ranee had relied on the 
 arrival of this chieftain, but the 
 battle of Betwa dashed this 
 hope. Sir Hugh Rose lost no 
 time. Re-arranging his forces, 
 the assault on the city was made 
 at once. The infantry of Her 
 Majesty's 86th and the Bombay 
 25th regiments soon gained the 
 walls some by breach and 
 others by ladders. Lieutenant 
 Dartnell of the 86th was fore- 
 most in the assault, and he nar- 
 rowly escaped being cut to 
 pieces when he entered the city. 
 This was the attack of Sir Hugh's 
 left. The right also entered 
 the city and joined their com- 
 panions near the Ranee's palace. 
 But that princess had fled dur- 
 
192 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 ing the night. There was a ter- 
 rible slaughter; 3000 rebels 
 were slain, including many of 
 the townspeople who favoured 
 them. The British loss was not 
 great, owing to the suddenness 
 of the evacuation. Jhansi was 
 comparatively easily taken, for 
 it was really a place of great 
 strength. Sir Hugh Rose tele- 
 graphed : " Jhansi is not a 
 fort, but its strength makes it a 
 fortress ; it could not have been 
 breached; it could only have 
 been taken by mining and blow- 
 ing up one bastion after an- 
 other." 
 
 Sir Hugh moved from Jhansi 
 after this signal defeat of the 
 rebels, and advanced towards 
 Calpee, on the road from that 
 city to Cawnpore, where Tan- 
 teea Topee was making strenu- 
 ous exertions to retain hold in 
 the region. He had been joined 
 by the Ranee and some other 
 rebel leaders ; and they had at 
 their command 7000 men and 
 four guns, and were desper- 
 ately resolved at all hazards 
 to prevent the march of the 
 British column to Calpee. The 
 result was not arrived at till 
 May. 
 
 Southward of Bombay, there 
 was trouble in the small Mah- 
 ratta state of Satara. The com- 
 
 mand er-in-chief and the artillery 
 commandant of the recently 
 deposed rajah were detected 
 in treasonable correspondence 
 with Nana Sahib. One of them, 
 when sentenced to be hanged, 
 influenced by his high -caste 
 notions, begged to be blown 
 away from a gun, as a death 
 more worthy of a nobleman. 
 This was refused ; but before 
 his execution he made a confes- 
 sion which afforded the authori- 
 ties a clue to further conspiracies, 
 which were duly nipped in the 
 bud. 
 
 At Kolapore two native offi- 
 cers were blown away from the 
 guns, after being convicted as 
 mutineers. This occurrence ex- 
 cited a great deal of remark at 
 the time. These very men had 
 sat in courts-partial at which 
 numbers of their brother muti- 
 neers had been condemned tc 
 the same mode of execution ; 
 and it was one of these a man 
 they had sentenced to death, 
 but who escaped by making a 
 confession which implicated 
 them who was the principal 
 witness against them. Stranger 
 than this, many others had met 
 their doom, aware of the guilt of 
 their judges, who, by making a 
 similar confession, might, per- 
 haps, have been spared. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 193 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE IN MAY. 
 
 BRIGADIER DOUGLAS arrived at j 
 Arrah on the ist of May, and 
 became convinced that he had 
 not a force sufficient to cope 
 effectually with Koer Singh. Sir 
 Ed ward Lugard, therefore, having 
 left a few troops to guard Azim- \ 
 ghur, arrived in the neighbour- 
 hood of Jugdispore on the 8th, 
 and came in sight of some of 
 the rebels. Sir Edward Lugard 
 next day was preparing for en- 
 campment a little to the west of 
 Jugdispore, when he observed a 
 large body of rebels forming 
 outside the jungle, and moving 
 in the direction of Arrah. An- 
 other body of them, more 
 numerous than the former, be- 
 gan to fire at the newly-selected 
 camp, before the British could 
 get their baggage up, or their 
 tents fixed. There was no time 
 now for arranging the camp, so, 
 dividing his force into three 
 columns, Sir Edward Lugard 
 attacked Jugdispore from three 
 points at once, and took it with- 
 out much trouble, the rebels 
 making only a slight resistance. 
 They retired, however, to Lut- 
 warpore, in the jungle, taking 
 with them two guns they had 
 captured from the British during 
 the previous month. 
 
 It was low rumoured that 
 Koer Singh had died of his 
 wounds; and that the rebels 
 under his brother, Ummer 
 Singh, were ill-supplied and in 
 
 great confusion. Ritbhunghur 
 Singh, a nephew of theirs, gave 
 himself up to the British, hoping 
 that he would procure forgive- 
 ness by proving that, in earlier 
 months, he had befriended cer- 
 tain Europeans at a time of 
 great peril. 
 
 On the loth, after destroying 
 all the fortifications of Jugdis- 
 pore and the buildings which 
 had belonged to Koer Singh, 
 Sir Edward Lugard followed the 
 rebels into the jungle. He sent 
 Colonel Corfield with a force in 
 one direction towards Lutwar- 
 pore, while he, marching through 
 a bed of jungle in another 
 direction, attacked them on a 
 side which they thought needed 
 no protection. Lugard and 
 Corfield were everywhere suc- 
 cessful, notwithstanding that it 
 was an instance of that prosaic 
 kind of wars which bring more 
 fatigue than glory. 
 
 Though chastised and hewn 
 asunder, the rebels showed a 
 snaky power of recombining; 
 and they continued to harass the 
 neighbourhood as freebooters, if 
 not by formidable military pro- 
 jects. Practically, therefore, Sir 
 Edward Lugard broke down the 
 military organisation of the 
 rebels in that part of India. 
 
 In the Goruckpore district, 
 somewhat farther north, Maho- 
 med Hussein with 4000 men 
 attacked the Rajah of Bansee, 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 one of the chiefs who had re- 
 mained faithful to the British 
 Government. The rajah fled 
 to a stronghold in the neigh- 
 bouring jungle, while his enemies 
 plundered his palace, and sacked 
 the town of Bansee. 
 
 Mr Wingfield, the commis- 
 sioner of Goruckpore, came to 
 the rescue. He immediately 
 marched to the stronghold with 
 250 Europeans and some guns, 
 and found the rajah besieged 
 there. The rebels did not wait 
 to see what Mr Wingfield would 
 do. As soon as they heard he 
 was there, they fled with all 
 their might, notwithstanding the 
 immense superiority of their 
 force in numbers. 
 
 About Allahabad insubordina- 
 tion took shapes which might 
 not unfitly be characterised 
 as impudent. They seemed 
 to be meant to show how de- 
 fiant the rebels could be to the 
 Governor-General and his staff, 
 who still remained in that city. 
 Incendiarism was vexatiously 
 frequent. On the 24th of May 
 a new range of barracks was set 
 on fire, and six of the bungalows 
 were completely destroyed. One 
 poor invalid soldier was burned 
 to death, and many others were 
 severely injured. The road 
 from Allahabad to Cawnpore 
 was scarcely passable without 
 an escort. The British were 
 strong in a few places ; but small 
 bodies of the rebels were scat- 
 tered all over the country their 
 knowledge of which enabled 
 them to baffle their pursuers. 
 The opposition to the British 
 
 rule had assumed that guerrilla 
 character which is very harass- 
 ing, and particularly difficult to 
 cope with. Flies and mosquitoes 
 are a torture to heroes whose 
 hearts beat high for the tiger- 
 hunt. 
 
 On the 2d of May the Rohil- 
 cund field force started from 
 Shahjehanpore to commence 
 operations against Bareilly. Sir 
 Colin Campbell assumed the 
 command in person, leaving 
 behind him a small force for the 
 defence of Shahjehanpore. On 
 the 3d he reached Futtehgunje, 
 where it had been arranged that 
 General Penny should join him 
 with a column. The general 
 had unfortunately been killed in 
 a struggle with the mutineers 
 during his march to this rendez- 
 vous j but his column was there 
 under Colonel H. R. Jones, who 
 is to be distinguished from 
 Brigadier John Jones, com- 
 mander of the force which came 
 from Roorkee. 
 
 Proceeding on his march, Sir 
 Colin Campbell reached Fureed- 
 pore on the 4th only one day's 
 journey from Bareilly. Here he 
 learned that Nana Sahib, and 
 the Delhi prince, Feroze Shah, 
 had fled from the city; and was 
 informed that Mahomed Khan 
 still remained at the head of the 
 rebels. On the latter point, 
 however, and regarding the 
 number of the enemy's forces, 
 he could obtain no reliable in- 
 formation. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 
 5th, Sir Colin left his camping 
 ground at Fureedpore, and ad- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 195 
 
 vanced towards Bareilly, to the 
 entrance of which the only 
 obstacle was a stream with 
 rather steep banks. The rebels, 
 as the British approached, fired 
 some shots from a battery at 
 the entrance to Bareilly, having 
 made scarcely any attempt to 
 fortify the stream that crossed 
 the high road, or the bridge 
 across the stream. Advancing 
 through a suburb on one side of 
 the city, Sir Colin ordered the 
 42 d and 79th regiments and a 
 Sikh regiment, to explore a 
 ruined mass of one -storied 
 houses. Dr Russell described 
 what followed in the columns 
 of the Times : "As soon as the 
 Sikhs got into the houses," he 
 wrote, "they were exposed to 
 a heavy fire from a large 
 body of matchlockmen con- 
 cealed around them. They 
 either retired of their own ac- 
 cord, or were ordered to do 
 so; at all events, they fell 
 back with rapidity and dis- 
 order upon the advancing High- 
 landers. And now occurred 
 a most extraordinary scene. 
 Among the matchlockmen, who, 
 to the number of 700 or 800, 
 were lying behind the walls 
 of the houses, was a body 
 of Ghazees, or Mussulman 
 fanatics, who, like the Roman 
 Decii, devote their lives with 
 solemn oaths to their country or 
 their faith. Uttering loud cries, 
 * Bismillah, Allah, deen, deen !' 
 130 of these fanatics, sword 
 in hand, with small circular 
 bucklers on the left arm, and 
 green cummerbungs, rushed out 
 
 after the Sikhs, and dashed at 
 the left of the right wing of the 
 Highlanders. With bodies bent 
 and heads low, waving their 
 tulwars with a circular motion 
 in the air, they came on with 
 astonishing rapidity. At first 
 they were mistaken for Sikhs, 
 whose passage had already some- 
 what disordered our ranks. For- 
 tunately, Sir Colin Campbell was 
 close up with the 42d; his keen, 
 quick eye detected the case at 
 once. * Steady, men, steady! 
 close up the ranks. Bayonet 
 them as they come on.' It was 
 just in time; for these madmen, 
 furious with bang, were already 
 among us, and a body of them 
 sweeping around the left of the 
 right wing, got into the rear of 
 the regiment. The struggle was 
 sanguinary, but short. Three 
 of them dashed so suddenly 
 at Colonel Cameron that they 
 pulled him off his horse ere 
 he could defend himself. His 
 sword fell out of its sheath; and 
 he would have been hacked to 
 pieces in another moment but 
 for the gallant promptitude of 
 Colour-Sergeant Gardiner, who, 
 stepping out of the ranks, drove 
 his bayonet through two of them 
 in the twinkling of an eye. The 
 third was shot by one of the 
 42d. Brigadier Walpole had a 
 similar escape. He was seized 
 by two or three of the Ghazees, 
 who sought to pull him off his 
 horse, while others cut at him 
 with their tulwars. He received 
 two cuts on the hand; but he 
 was delivered from the enemy 
 by the quick bayonets of the 
 
196 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 42 d. In a few minutes the 
 dead bodies of 133 of these 
 Ghazees, and some 18 or 20 
 wounded men of ours, were all 
 the tokens left of the struggle." 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell resolved 
 to bivouac on the plain, and 
 not try to take Bareilly that 
 day. Next morning, it was dis- 
 covered that many of the lead- 
 ing rebels, and a large body of 
 their followers, had left the 
 place. On the yth, the British 
 forces entered Bareilly, and 
 took complete possession of it. 
 A large quantity of artillery, 
 most of it recently manufactured 
 by the natives themselves, fell 
 into the hands of the victors, 
 together with a great store of 
 shell, shot, and powder, also of 
 native manufacturing, but no 
 prisoners worth taking. 
 
 Thus was Bareilly taken; and 
 it was not deemed necessary to 
 keep the Rohilcund field force 
 any longer in its collected form. 
 The commander -in -chief left 
 General Walpole in command 
 of Rohilcund and Kuamon. 
 
 There was no glare of military 
 glory about this campaign, to 
 make it the wonderment and 
 talk of the whole world. For it 
 is literally true that Sir Colin 
 Campbell was, at the time, the 
 cynosure of tlie eyes and ears 
 of no more limited an audience 
 at the time. But it was a most 
 trying campaign. The ball of 
 scathing fire in the heavens 
 shot fierce and deadly strokes 
 upon the soldiery; and the 
 veteran general's skill was dis- 
 played in a supreme degree in 
 
 using every available means for 
 the sheltering of the troops he 
 cared for, as a father cherishes 
 his children, from this unap- 
 peasable potentate. But he 
 himself, as has been said, " bore 
 heat and fatigue in a manner 
 that astonished his subordinates; 
 he got through an amount of 
 work which knocked up his aides- 
 de-camp ; and was always ready 
 to advise or command, as if rest 
 and food were contingencies 
 that he cared not about. The 
 natives, when any of them 
 sought for and obtained an in- 
 terview with him, were often 
 a good deal surprised to see 
 the commander of the mighty 
 British army in shirt sleeves 
 and a pith hat; but the keen 
 eye and the cool manner of the 
 old soldier, told that he had all 
 his wits about him, and was 
 none the worse from the ab- 
 sence of glitter and personal 
 adornment." 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell had left, 
 as was mentioned, a small force 
 at Shahjehanpore on the 2d, 
 when he proceeded on his 
 march towards Bareilly. The 
 command ^of the place was 
 entrusted to Colonel Hall, who 
 was attacked immediately by a 
 large body of insurgents from 
 Mohumdee in Oude. Hall, 
 seeing it would be vain to meet 
 such overwhelming odds in the 
 open field, retired into the jail 
 with his handful of troops, and. 
 prepared for a resolute defence. 
 The rebels seized the old fort, 
 plundered the town, put many 
 of the principal inhabitants to 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 197 
 
 death, and established patrols 
 on the bank of the river. 
 They were computed at little less 
 than 8000, and had twelve guns. 
 Against this multitude of assail- 
 ants, Hall held his position for 
 eight days and nights, sustain- 
 ing a continuous bombardment, 
 and never for an instant thought 
 of yielding. It was the yth of 
 the month before the com- 
 mander-in-chief heard of how 
 badly this brave officer was 
 beset. He at once despatched 
 Brigadier Jones with a column 
 from Bareilly, with discretionary 
 power to attack the rebels at 
 Mohumdee, after relieving Hall, 
 if he should think it feasible. 
 Jones reached Shahjehanpore 
 on the i ith, and put the cowardly 
 assailants he encountered to 
 flight. But he soon found that 
 he had been engaged with only 
 a fragment of the large body of 
 rebels who had worked such 
 mischief in the town. On the 
 1 5th, he was again attacked 
 with fury, the assailants being 
 headed by the Moulvie of 
 Fyzabad, the Shahzada, or prince 
 of Delhi, already referred to, 
 and, as was reported, the Nana 
 Sahib. The struggle continued 
 the whole day, and was severely 
 trying to the resources and 
 activity of the brigadier. 
 
 News of this reached Sir 
 Colin Campbell when he was 
 at Futtehgunje, on his way 
 from Bareilly to a more central 
 station. The commander -in- 
 chief immediately hastened 
 towards Shahjehanpore, where 
 he arrived on the i8th. He 
 
 was anxious to give his march- 
 worn men a little rest during 
 the heat of the day; but a 
 cavalry detachment, sent out to 
 reconnoitre, came in sight of a 
 small mud-fort, mounted with 
 four guns. The guns fired on 
 the cavalry, a body of rebel 
 troopers at once appeared, and 
 this brought Sir Colin Campbell 
 and his force into the field. 
 There was some smart cavalry 
 and artillery skirmishing, and 
 the result was that the enemy 
 were driven off to a distance. 
 But it was not satisfactory; 
 again it was only a portion of 
 the main body that had been 
 encountered, the rest being 8000 
 or 10,000 strong at Mohumdee. 
 Sir Colin Campbell, finding him- 
 self weak in cavalry, suspended 
 operations for a few days. 
 
 During this very undecisive 
 battle, a round shot passed so 
 close to the commander-in- 
 chief as to place him in very 
 imminent danger. This led to 
 a strong desire among the 
 soldiers, that he who was so 
 careful o.f his men's lives, would 
 display a little more care for 
 his own. 
 
 Brigadier Coke had been com- 
 missioned to sweep the country 
 round by way of Boodayoon to 
 Mooradabadj but he joined Sir 
 Colin Campbell on the 22d, 
 and preparations were immedi- 
 ately made to advance upon 
 Mohumdee. The advance was 
 made to find that the Moulvie 
 and other leaders had again 
 eluded the grasp of their pur- 
 suers. They had evacuated the 
 
198 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 strong fort of the place, destroy- 
 ing the defence works a pro- 
 ceeding which seemed to in- 
 dicate that they did not intend 
 to come back. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell proceeded 
 to Futtehghur as a central 
 station, from which he could 
 conveniently watch the progress 
 of events. 
 
 Three other incidents of this 
 period of the mutiny shall be 
 quoted : . 
 
 " In many parts of the Doab 
 *here was ample reason for 
 British officers feeling great un- 
 easiness at the danger which 
 still surrounded them in the 
 north-western provinces wher- 
 ever they were undefended by 
 troops. The murder of Major 
 Waterfield was a case in point. 
 About the middle of May the 
 major and Captain Fanshawe 
 were travelling towards Ally- 
 gurh vt'd Agra. In the middle 
 of the night, near Ferozabad, 
 a band of 150 rebels surrounded 
 the vehicle, shot the driver, and 
 attacked the travellers. The 
 two officers used their revolvers 
 as quickly as they could, but 
 the unfortunate Waterfield re- 
 ceived two shots, one in the 
 head and one through the chest, 
 besides a sword-cut across the 
 body. He fell dead on the 
 spot. Fanshawe's escape was 
 most extraordinary. The rebels 
 got him out of the carriage, and 
 surrounded him, but they press- 
 ed together so closely that each 
 prevented his neighbour from 
 striking. Fanshawe quickly 
 drew his sword, and swung it 
 
 right and left so vigorously that 
 he forced a passage for himself 
 through the cowardly crew; 
 some pursued him, but a severe 
 sword-cut to one of them de- 
 terred the rest. The captain 
 ran on at great speed, climbed 
 up a tree, and there remained 
 till the danger was over. His 
 courage and promptness saved 
 him from any further injury 
 than a slight wound in the hand. 
 Poor Waterfield's remains, when 
 sought for some time afterwards, 
 were found lying among the 
 embers of the burned vehicle ; 
 but they were carried into Agra, 
 and interred with military hon- 
 ours. The native driver was 
 found dead, with the head nearly 
 severed from the body/' 
 
 The next incident was the 
 disarming the province of Gu- 
 jerat, lying between Rajpootana 
 and Bombay. 
 
 " This critical and important 
 operation was carried out during 
 May. Sir Richmond Shake- 
 speare, who held a military as 
 well as a political position in 
 that province, managed the 
 enterprise so firmly and skilfully 
 that village after village was 
 disarmed, and rendered so far 
 powerless for mischief. Many 
 unruly chieftains regarded this 
 affair as very unpalatable. It 
 was a work of great peril, for 
 the turbulent natives were out 
 of all proportion more numer- 
 ous than any troops Sir Rich- 
 mond could command, but he 
 brought to bear that wonderful 
 influence which many English- 
 men possessed over the natives 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 199 
 
 influence showing the pre- 
 dominance of moral over phy- 
 sical power. The native so- 
 vereign, the Guicowar, had 
 all along been faithful and 
 friendly to the British ; he trust- 
 ed Sir Richmond Shakespeare 
 as fully as Scindia " the Maha- 
 rajah of Gwalior " trusted Sir 
 Robert Hamilton, and gave an 
 eager assent to the disarming of 
 his somewhat turbulent subjects. 
 The Nizam, the Guicowar, 
 Scindia, and Holkar" one of 
 the Mahratta princes "all re- 
 mained true to the British alli- 
 ance during the hour of trouble ; 
 if they had failed us, the diffi- 
 culties of reconquest would have 
 been immensely increased, if 
 not insuperable." 
 
 The third is a very pleasant in- 
 cident, and it gives prominence 
 to a venerable name which most 
 readers have heard before. 
 
 " One of the minor events of 
 Bombay city at this period was 
 the conferring ol a baronetcy 
 on a native gentleman, the high- 
 
 minded liberal Jamsetjee Jejee- 
 bh oy. He had long before been 
 knighted, but his continued and 
 valuable assistance to the Go- 
 vernment through all trials and 
 difficulties now won for him 
 further honour. The Parsee 
 merchant became Sir Jamsetjee 
 Jejeebhoy, Bart. perhaps the 
 most remarkable among ba- 
 ronets, race and creed consider- 
 ed. Whatever he did was done 
 in princely style. In order that 
 his new hereditary dignity might 
 not be shamed by any paucity 
 of wealth on the part of his de- 
 scendants, he at once invested 
 25 lacs of rupees in the Bombay 
 four per cents., to entail an in- 
 come of ; 1 0,000 a year on the 
 holder of the baronetcy. A large 
 mansion at Mazagon was for a 
 like purpose entailed ; and the 
 old merchant-prince felt a con- 
 siderable pride in thinking that 
 Bombay might possibly, for cen- 
 turies to come, count among its 
 inhabitants a Sir Jamsetjee 
 Jejeebhoy." 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SIR HUGH ROSE AT CALPEE AND GWALIOR. 
 
 MANY of the events to be re- 
 corded in this chapter occurred 
 also during the month oi May, 
 but they were of so signal im- 
 portance that the exploits of Sir 
 Hugh Rose, a general whose 
 fame darted rather unexpectedly 
 
 on the British public, claim ,1 
 separate and continuous re- 
 hearsal. 
 
 After the defeat of the rebels 
 at Jhansi, Sir Hugh Rose march- 
 ed with the greater part of his 
 two brigades towards Calpee, a 
 
200 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 town on the right bank of the 
 Jumna, and on the line of road 
 from Jhansi to Cawnpore. The 
 rest of his troops, under Majors 
 Orr and Gall, were engaging the 
 surrounding region of rebels, 
 capturing their forts, scattering 
 bodies of them, and keeping 
 others quiet by such demonstra- 
 tions. 
 
 When May arrived, Sir Hugh 
 felt that he needed the services 
 of Gall and Orr with himself and 
 the main forces, and he requested 
 General Whitlock to look after 
 the districts they had been re- 
 ducing to order. While still on 
 his march towards Calpee he 
 heard on the gth of May that 
 Tanteea Topee and the Ranee 
 of Jhansi intended to dispute 
 his advance at a place called 
 Koonch, and that they had with 
 them a considerable force of 
 infantry and cavalry. They did 
 so, but the British drove them 
 from their in trenchment, entered 
 the town, inflicted severe chas- 
 tisement upon them, captured 
 their guns, and pursued them 
 to a considerable distance. 
 
 All this was done under a 
 sun burning with a heat quite 
 frightful. Sir Hugh Rose was 
 three times disabled by it that 
 day struck down by the sun 
 but on each occasion he rallied, 
 and was able to get on horse- 
 back again. He caused buckets 
 of cold water to be dashed on 
 him, and in the consequent 
 plashing condition resumed his 
 saddle. Thirteen of his brave 
 overworked soldiers were killed 
 by sunstroke. 
 
 Nothing daunted, however, 
 Sir Hugh Rose and his generals 
 fought and manoeuvred their 
 way along, till on the 5th they 
 were about six miles from Cal- 
 pee. There were several skir- 
 mishes of rather a severe nature 
 the next day or two, in which 
 the rebels were led by a nephew 
 of Nana Sahib ; and it was not 
 till the 1 8th that Sir Hugh was 
 able to begin shelling the earth- 
 works which had been thrown 
 up in front of Calpee. On the 
 2oth the rebels came out of the 
 town and showed fight with 
 more spirit than they had hither- 
 to displayed ; they indeed per- 
 severed with something like 
 determination, but they were 
 driven in again. 
 
 General Maxwell had aston- 
 ished the rebels in Calpee by 
 appearing on the other side of 
 the Jumna to assist in bombard- 
 ing them, but on the 2ist a por- 
 tion of his column crossed the 
 Jumna and joined the main 
 body of the forces with Rose. 
 Maxwell still kept up a fire from 
 across the river, and the enemy 
 having no artillery to reply effec- 
 tively to it, resolved to make 
 a vigorous attack on Rose's 
 camp. Accordingly, on the 
 22d, they issued from the town 
 and attacked the British. They 
 pressed hard upon Rose's right, 
 but a bayonet charge from the 
 reserve corps repelled the assail- 
 ants in that direction. Then 
 an advance of the whole of 
 the line put them completely 
 to rout. About noon on the 
 22d, Sir Hugh Rose and his 
 
1HE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 201 
 
 gallant, much-enduring columns 
 made a victorious march into 
 Calpee. The rebels fled panic- 
 stricken. 
 
 It was found to be a place of 
 more importance than it had 
 been taken for. During the 
 mutiny the insurgents had erect- 
 ed it into a strong arsenal ; and 
 no wonder they had thought of 
 making a stand at it Fifteen 
 guns were kept in the fort, and 
 twenty - four standards were 
 found. In a subterranean maga- 
 zine there were discovered 
 10,000 Ibs. of English powder, 
 in barrels; 9000 Ibs. of shot 
 and empty shells; a quantity of 
 8-inch filled shrapnel shells ; 
 siege and ball ammunition ; in- 
 trenching tools of all kinds; 
 tents, new and old; boxes of 
 new flint and percussion mus- 
 kets; and ordnance stores of all 
 kinds, with several lacs of ru- 
 pees. There were also three 
 or four cannon foundries in the 
 town. 
 
 Calpee was indeed taken; 
 arid, it being secure, Sir Hugh 
 Rose naturally thought that the 
 arduous labours of his Central 
 India field force were, for a 
 time at least, ended, and that 
 his exhausted troops might be 
 allowed a rest. He issued to 
 them a glowing address accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 But the rebels had not been 
 seeking rest ; for it was on the 
 very day on which Sir Hugh 
 issued this address the ist of 
 June that they captured Gwa- 
 lior and put Scindia to flight. 
 An immediate resumption of 
 
 active operations by the Central 
 India field force was therefore a 
 very stern necessity. 
 
 It seems that Tanteea Topee, 
 a leader worthy of a better 
 cause, as the Moulvie of Fyza- 
 bad also was acknowledged to 
 be, had preceded his troops, 
 and tampered with the troops 
 of the Maharajah of Gwalior. 
 Scindia, hearing of the approach 
 of his enemies, for he had re- 
 mained uncorruptibly faithful to 
 the British, sent an urgent mes- 
 sage to Agra for aid ; but before 
 help had reached him, matters 
 arrived at a crisis, and he fled 
 to that city for protection. 
 Although only twenty-three years 
 of age, he had been for five 
 years Maharajah in his own right, 
 and during that time he had 
 won the respect of the British 
 authorities. He had an inde- 
 pendent army of his own, con- 
 sisting chiefly of Mahrattas, a 
 Hindoo race, who had no strong 
 sympathy with the Hindustanis ; 
 but the Gwalior contingent was 
 also kept up by him, according 
 to a treaty with the East India 
 Company, and it consisted 
 mainly of Hindustanis and 
 Oudians, who were strongly in 
 sympathy with the rebels, to 
 whom they went over in a body 
 in the earlier months of the 
 mutiny. Scindia had hitherto 
 contrived, by a prudently firm 
 course of policy, to ward off any 
 active hostility on the part of 
 the contingent. He neither 
 sanctioned its proceedings nor 
 provoked its enmity. He had 
 sundry reasons for suspecting 
 
202 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 the loyalty of his own Mahratta 
 troops, but he dissembled his 
 suspicions, so that the approach 
 of the rebels, with some of the 
 regiments of the revolted Gwalior 
 contingent among them was a 
 formidable visitation to his 
 capital. 
 
 If his own troops had con- 
 tinued faithful, Scindia had both 
 courage and skill enough to 
 give a good account of himself 
 to his enemies; but treachery 
 anticipated a struggle, the issue 
 of which would certainly have 
 been open to doubt. Scindia's 
 body-guard remained faithful, 
 but the bulk of his infantry de- 
 serted their sovereign at the 
 instigation of his enemies ; or, 
 rather, under the seductive 
 charm of Tanteea Topee's solici- 
 tations. 
 
 When the rebels came within 
 three miles of Gwalior, Scindia 
 met them with his troops well 
 disposed, but his right and left 
 divisions remained idle, while 
 the centre division, comprising 
 the body-guard and some other 
 troops were engaged. At a 
 signal agreed upon, these divi- 
 sions went over to the enemy. 
 The body-guard fought heroic- 
 ally till half of their number fell, 
 and the rest had to flee. Scindia, 
 attended by a few faithful troops, 
 reached Agra two days after 
 this discomfiture. Most of the 
 members of his family fled to 
 Seepree, while his courtiers 
 sought refuge in all directions. 
 
 The rebels, nominally led by 
 Rao Sahib, a nephew of the 
 Nana, but really by Tanteea To- 
 
 pee and the Ranee of Jhansi, en- 
 tered Gwalior and endeavoured 
 to establish a regular government 
 The Ranee, it should be men- 
 tioned here, was a princess 
 whom even her enemies did 
 not despise. The only occur- 
 rence which exposed her to 
 contempt, was her instigation of 
 the slaughter of the English at 
 Jhansi in June the year before. 
 Throughout the whole struggle 
 after that cruelty she bore her- 
 self like a heroine ; she proved 
 herself a genuine Amazon, lead- 
 ing and fighting fearlessly, and 
 exhorting her troops to contend 
 to the bitter end against the 
 hated Feringhees. 
 
 In the government which the 
 rebels set up at Gwalior, Nana 
 Sahib was elected Peishwa, or 
 head of all the Mahratta princes; 
 and his nephew, Rao Sahib, 
 was set up as chief of Gwalior. 
 Ram Rao Gobind, who had long 
 before been discharged from 
 Scindia's service for dishonesty, 
 became prime minister; and the 
 property of the principal inhabi- 
 tants was sequestrated for their 
 friendliness towards Maharajah 
 Scindia and the British. The 
 rebels seized the immense trea- 
 sure they found in the palace, 
 and paid their troops out of it ; 
 they alsp declared a formal con- 
 fiscation of all the royal pro- 
 perty. They plundered and 
 burned the civil stations, liber- 
 ating such prisoners as they 
 thought might be useful to 
 them. Among these were four 
 petty Mahratta chieftains, whom 
 they adorned with insignia and 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY, 
 
 203 
 
 dresses of honour, on condition 
 that they would raise forces in 
 their respective localities. 
 
 When the news spread that 
 Gwalior, the strongest and most 
 important city in Central India, 
 was in the hands of the rebels, 
 the British authorities became 
 keenly aware that the situation 
 was a critical one, summoning 
 the exercise of prudence, prompt- 
 ness, skill, and courage. Sir 
 Hugh Rose was at once looked 
 to as the man who had all these 
 very necessary requisites. He 
 might fairly have claimed ex- 
 emption from the grave respon- 
 sibility thus imposed upon him. 
 Exhausted as he was in mind 
 and body by six months of har- 
 assing warfare, his brain fevered 
 by repeated attacks of sunstroke, 
 the justice and even expediency 
 of his claim might have been 
 prudently recognised, and the 
 certificate of sick-leave which he 
 was contemplatingbeen granted. 
 But the startling news from 
 Gwalior, he felt, entered a prior 
 claim, and he lost no time. 
 
 Entrusting the safe keeping 
 of Calpee to General Whitlock, 
 Sir Hugh at once organised two 
 brigades to march westward to 
 Gwalior. The first of these he 
 placed under the command 
 of Brigadier C. S. Stuart, of 
 the Bengal army ; the second, 
 under Brigadier R. Napier, of 
 the Bengal Engineers. Arrange- 
 ments were made for the co- 
 operation of a third brigade from 
 Seepree, under Brigadier Smith. 
 
 The two brigades were pressed 
 forward as quickly as possible, 
 
 and Sir Hugh was on the 1 6th of 
 June reconnoitring the position 
 taken up by the enemy that was 
 on the tenth day after leaving 
 Calpee. The fort was one of 
 the strongest in India, requiring 
 1 5,000 men to man it, and the 
 town was situated along the 
 eastern base of the rock from 
 which it frowned. Rumour as- 
 signed to the enemy a force of 
 17,000 men in arms, but Sir 
 Hugh Rose had no certain in- 
 formation regarding their num- 
 bers. 
 
 The almost impregnable fort, 
 the Lashkar camp, the Moorar 
 cantonment, the city, and a 
 semicircular belt of hills, had to 
 be reconnoitred, sufficiently, at 
 all events, to determine at what 
 point to commence the attack. 
 The city, it was found, had only 
 a few troops, and the canton- 
 ment at Moorar was attacked 
 suddenly. The cavalry and guns 
 having been placed on each flank, 
 Her Majesty's 86th regiment of 
 infantry led the assault ; and no 
 sooner did the rebels find them- 
 selves attacked at this point than 
 they poured out a well-directed 
 fire of musketry and field-guns. 
 This, however, was speedily 
 silenced, and they were fain to 
 make a precipitate retreat, being 
 driven through the whole length 
 of the cantonment, and chased 
 over a wide expanse of country. 
 There was some terrible fighting 
 during this chase, Lieutenant 
 Neave falling mortally wounded 
 while rushing on at the head of 
 a company of the yist High- 
 landers ; but the cantonment of 
 
204 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Moorar was secured, and Sir I 
 Hugh Rose encamped in it that 
 night the night between the 
 1 6th and lyth of June. 
 
 But the city and the fort were 
 Still in the hands of the enemy. 
 It was a favourite Indian idea 
 that this fortress was impreg- 
 nable; and, fortunately for the 
 British, the rebels had done 
 little to strengthen it. They 
 disposed their forces instead so 
 as to guard the roads from See- 
 pree and other places, and it 
 was for this field service that the 
 Ranee of Jhansi, clad in mail, 
 like the true Amazon she was, 
 reserved herself. 
 
 Brigadier Smith had to obtain 
 command of the semicircular 
 belt of hills to the south of the 
 city, before he could reach 
 Gwalior from Seepree. His bri- 
 gade had a long and severely 
 trying march before they reached 
 the scene of conflict. He had 
 to cross the hills before he 
 reached the Lashkar camping- 
 ground. There was a defile 
 defended by three or four guns 
 on a neighbouring hill, through 
 which his column had to pass 
 on the 1 7th, and in it some 
 heavy fighting took place that 
 day, in which the most distin- 
 guished person who fell was the 
 Ranee of Jhansi, fighting bravely 
 to the last. Trying to escape 
 over a canal which separated 
 the Lashkar camp from the 
 Phool Bagh parade, she fell 
 with her horse, and was cut 
 down by a hussar; she still strug- 
 gled, however, to get across the 
 canal, but a bullet struck her 
 
 on the breast, and the Amazon 
 struggled no more. She was a 
 valiant, dangerous enemy, but 
 that hussar would scarcely glory 
 in the sword-cut he inflicted on 
 a queen beside her fallen horse. 
 It is an amiable weakness of men 
 not to like killing women, not 
 even to hang them when they are 
 justly sent to the scaffold. But 
 it was fair fighting to kill the 
 Ranee of Jhansi. The soldier 
 who fired the fatal bullet would 
 not know he had done it. It is 
 said that some of her faithful 
 followers hastily buried the dead 
 body to save it from desecration 
 by the Feringhees. Had it 
 fallen into their hands, the 
 Ranee would have been buried 
 as became a queen. 
 
 When night came Brigadier 
 Smith had secured the defile, 
 the road, and the adjoining hills; 
 while the enemy occupied the 
 hills on the other side of the 
 canal. The brigadier secured 
 these hills also on the i8th, after 
 a terrible struggle. He drove 
 the enemy from them, notwith- 
 standing that they were led with 
 terrible energy by Tanteea To- 
 pee. Sir Hugh Rose helped to 
 this result. Leaving only a 
 sufficient number of troops to 
 guard his camp at Moorar, he 
 joined Smith by a flank move- 
 ment of twelve miles, and bivou- 
 acked that night in the rear of 
 his position. 
 
 Next day the enemy, who 
 still occupied some of the heights 
 nearest Gwalior, as well as the 
 fortress, poured forth a scathing 
 fire of shot, shell, and shrapnel 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 205 
 
 Still Sir Hugh Rose resolved to 
 capture the city by storm. The 
 sappers conveyed guns across 
 the canal under the hot fire of 
 the hills and the fort; the infan- 
 try rushed up with reckless dar- 
 ing to the enemy's guns on the 
 hill sides, and captured them. 
 The heights were thus gained, and 
 the rebels panic-stricken, losing 
 all heart on account of these 
 repeated failures, began to flee 
 in confusion. Then the British 
 cavalry scoured the plains in all 
 directions, cutting down the 
 terrified fugitives in large num- 
 bers; and by four o'clock in 
 the afternoon of the iQth Sir 
 Hugh Rose was master of 
 Gwalior. 
 
 The arrangements for the se- 
 curity of the city were not diffi- 
 cult ; the inhabitants gladly aid- 
 ed the conquerors in restoring 
 order, the rebels having treated 
 them during their occupation of 
 the place with relentless cruelty. 
 
 The conquest of the impreg- 
 nable fortress was now a matter 
 of easy achievement ; but it was 
 not effected without the greatly- 
 lamented death of a gallant offi- 
 cer, Lieutenant Arthur Rose of 
 the 25th Bombay native infantry. 
 He paid by his death the penalty 
 of reducing the seizure of the 
 bold fortress, which for ages had 
 been the boast of India for its 
 unconquerable strength, to some- 
 thing like a grim joke. While 
 Lieutenant Rose was on duty 
 on the 2oth, guarding the police 
 station at Gwalior, a shot or two 
 were unexpectedly fired from the 
 fort He seemed to regard this 
 
 as an impertinence, and what 
 followed shall be quoted from 
 Chambers's " History." " Rose 
 proposed to a brother officer, 
 Lieutenant Waller, the daring 
 project of capturing it with the 
 handful of men at their joint 
 disposal, urging that, though the 
 risk would be great, the honour 
 would be proportionally great if 
 the attempt succeeded. Off they 
 started, taking with them a black- 
 smith. This man, with his lusty 
 arm and heavy hammer, broke 
 into the outermost or lowermost 
 of the many gates that guarded 
 the ascent of the rock on which 
 the fort was situated ; then an- 
 other and another, until all the 
 six gates were broken into and 
 entered by the little band of assail- 
 ants. It is hardly to be expected 
 that if the gates were really 
 strong and securely fastened, 
 they could have been burst open 
 in this way ; but the confusion 
 resulting from the fighting had 
 probably caused some of the 
 defensive arrangements to be 
 neglected. At various points 
 on the ascent the assailants were 
 fired at by the few rebels in the 
 place, and near the top a des- 
 perate hand-to-hand fight took 
 place, during which the numbers 
 were thinned on both sides. 
 While Rose was encouraging his 
 men in their hot work, a musket 
 was fired at him from behind a 
 wall, the bullet striking him on the 
 right of the spine, passed through 
 his body. The man who had 
 fired the fatal shot, a Bareilly 
 mutineer, then rushed out and 
 cut him across the knee and the 
 
200 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 wrist with a sword. Waller 
 came up and despatched this 
 fellow, but too late to save the 
 life of his poor friend Rose." 
 
 It is difficult to believe that 
 Sir Colin Campbell would have 
 approved of this exploit, for it 
 would seem that he disapproved 
 of self-imposed risks, even when 
 they led to deeds of heroism. 
 Dr Russell of the Times wrote, 
 that Sir Colin did not admire that 
 exploit of Lieutenant Marsham 
 Havelock's which won him the 
 Victoria Cross at the battle of 
 Cawnpore on the i6th of July 
 the year before, holding that the 
 brave youth should simply have 
 delivered his message as an aide- 
 de-camp, instead of moving 
 steadily on in front of a regi- 
 ment opposite the muzzle of a 
 gun at foot pace on his horse till 
 the 2 4-pound er was seized and 
 silenced : the officers on duty 
 should have been left to win or 
 miss the honour. Brigadier 
 Stuart, however, on this occasion 
 thought differently. In a gen- 
 eral order on the 2ist he wrote: 
 " Brigadier Stuart has received 
 with the deepest regret a report 
 of the death of Lieutenant Rose, 
 25th Bombay native infantry, 
 who was mortally wounded yes- 
 terday on entering the fort of 
 Gwalior, on duty with his men. 
 The brigadier feels assured that 
 the whole brigade unite with him 
 in deploring the early death of 
 this gallant officer, whose many 
 qualities none who knew him 
 could fail to appreciate." This 
 order was written in the same 
 spirit as conferred on Lieu- 
 
 tenant Havelock the Victoria 
 Cross ; but still it would seem 
 that the responsible commander 
 was the right man to determine 
 in what manner the impregnable 
 fortress of Gwalior should have 
 been taken, easy as the capture 
 seemed. 
 
 Scindia was restored to his 
 throne on the 2oth with as much 
 Oriental pomp as could be com- 
 manded in the circumstances ; 
 the citizens, who lined the 
 streets, expressing their joy at 
 seeing him again. Sir Colin 
 Campbell officially congratu- 
 lated Sir Hugh Rose on his 
 great achievement, adverting to 
 the many other brilliant services 
 of his campaign in Central India, 
 and thanking the troops for their 
 glorious deeds. Viscount Can- 
 ning also issued a proclamation, 
 which, in addition to thanking 
 the gallant general of the Bom- 
 bay army, was intended to en- 
 courage other native princes, 
 besides the Maharajah of Gwa- 
 lior, in a course of fidelity to 
 the British Government, as that 
 government had shown in this 
 case that it was able to maintain 
 them on their thrones when their 
 good faith merited such a mani- 
 festation of its power. He con- 
 cluded by directing that a royal 
 salute should be fired at every 
 principal station in India in 
 honour of the auspicious event. 
 
 Tanteea Topee had carried 
 away with him the crown jewels 
 and an immense amount of 
 treasure belonging to Scindia, 
 and the British authorities 
 watched with some anxiety the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 207 
 
 progress of this valiant and dan- 
 gerous rebel leader. 
 
 Sir Hugh Rose issued another 
 glowing address to the army of 
 Central India, and retired to 
 Bombay to recruit his shattered 
 health. Referring to the bravery 
 of every one in the campaign, he 
 remarked in this farewell address: 
 "Not a man in these forces 
 enjoyed his natural strength or 
 health ; and an Indian sun, and 
 months of marching and broken 
 rest, had told on the strongest ; 
 but the moment they were told 
 to take Gwalior for their Queen 
 and country, they thought of 
 
 nothing but victory." The bril- 
 liant campaign in which Sir Hugh 
 Rose came into foremost notice, 
 a rival on the roll of fame worthy 
 of Havelock, lasted from the 
 i2th of January 1858 to the 2Oth 
 of June. His operations, like 
 those of that lamented general 
 in his short campaign, were 
 numerous and uniformly suc- 
 cessful. It is to be remembered, 
 however, when the comparative 
 merits of the two distinguished 
 generals are mentioned, that 
 Havelock, from first to last, had 
 immensely smaller forces at his 
 command. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE TURN OF THE TREMENDOUS TIDE. 
 
 EARLY in the month of June the 
 authorities at Lucknow learned 
 that a body of rebels, estimated 
 at 17,000 or 18,000 strong, un- 
 der the command of Gorhuccus 
 Singh, had crossed the river 
 Gogra, and taken up a position 
 at Ramnuggur Dhumaree, in the 
 north-east region of Oude. Sir 
 Hope Grant, who was chief mili- 
 tary commissioner of the pro- 
 vince, set out himself to look for 
 this troublesome crowd. Leav- 
 ing Lucknow a little before mid- 
 night on the 1 2th, he arrived 
 near Nawabgunje, where 16,000 
 rebels had assembled, having 
 several guns. By daylight next 
 day he crossed a ford protected 
 
 by horse-artillery and a battery, 
 and approaching nearer the 
 town, got into the jungle district. 
 The rebels attempted to sur- 
 round Grant's force, and began 
 to pick off his men by repeated 
 volleys of musketry. But the 
 general sent a troop of horse- 
 artillery to the front, Johnson's 
 battery and two squadrons of 
 horse defended the left, while a 
 larger body of cavalry engaged 
 on the right with the rebels who 
 were attempting to capture Sir 
 Hope Grant's baggage. On this 
 occasion the insurgents were un- 
 mistakable fanatics. Their bold- 
 ness put General Grant's sagacity 
 to a severe test. A fierce struggle 
 
208 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 ensued ; there was great slaugh- 
 ter of the rebels, followed by a 
 complete victory. Nearly 600 
 of the enemy were slain, and 
 the wounded were proportion- 
 ately more numerous; while the 
 list of killed and wounded on the 
 British side numbered about 100. 
 
 It was not a decisive victory, 
 however, for the main body of 
 the rebels escaped, as very usu- 
 ally happened in these struggles. 
 Most of them in this case were 
 Ghazees or Mohammedan fan- 
 atics, and these were far more 
 difficult to deal with than mutin- 
 ous sepoys. Two of them in the 
 midst of a shower of grape brought 
 forward each a green standard 
 which they planted in the ground 
 beside the guns, and rallied their 
 men. The Begum of Oude was 
 supposed to be with them. 
 
 On the 1 5th of June the en- 
 ergetic Moulvie of Fyzabad, 
 Ahmedullah Shah, made his 
 last appearance before men. 
 After being driven from place 
 to place by various columns 
 and detachments of the British, 
 this ubiquitous leader arrived at 
 Powayne, about sixteen miles 
 north-east of Shahj ehanpore,with 
 a considerable body of horse 
 and some guns. Juggernath 
 Singh, the Rajah of Powayne, 
 had merited the vengeance of 
 the Moulvie by sheltering two 
 native servants of the East 
 India Company, and was now 
 to be punished for this unlocked 
 for display of generosity. A 
 skirmish began, which lasted 
 three hours, and during which 
 the Moulvie was brought down 
 
 by a shot. His head was at 
 once severed from his body, 
 and head and trunk were sent 
 by the rajah to Mr Gilbert 
 Money, the commissioner at 
 Shahj ehanpore. Mr Money had 
 several reasons for not showing 
 any gush of gratitude for the 
 gory gift. He was glad enough, 
 and so was every individual 
 loyal to British interests glad, 
 that this formidable enemy 
 would work no more of his 
 ponderous mischief; but then 
 the Rajah of Powayne was by 
 no means an unquestionably 
 clean-handed person. He had 
 long been an object of suspicion, 
 on account of his unfeeling con- 
 duct towards some unhappy 
 fugitives in one of the early 
 stages of the mutiny a fact 
 which rendered his sheltering of 
 the two native servants of the 
 Company an unlooked-for dis- 
 play of generosity. Besides, the 
 British cause was now obviously 
 on the winning side ; and was 
 this alacrity in forwarding a 
 bleeding head and trunk not a 
 treacherous coward's acknow- 
 ledgment of that undeniable 
 fact ? Further, a large reward 
 had been offered by the Govern- 
 ment for the capture of the 
 Moulvie. All things taken into 
 account, some of the British 
 authorities began to question 
 whether this reward should be 
 paid for the severed head and 
 trunk. Was it not meant to be 
 paid only for the living man? 
 These questions were all waived, 
 however, and the reward was 
 paid to the Rajah of Powayne. 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 209 
 
 The corps of volunteer cav- 
 alry, which had enlisted under 
 Havelock, continued in exist- 
 ence up to about this time. Itwas 
 clear evidence that the authori- 
 ties considered that the pacifi- 
 cation of Oude was progressing 
 satisfactorily, that the Governor- 
 General now felt he could afford 
 to disband the officers and 
 gentlemen who almost wholly 
 composed that crack regiment, 
 which had rendered such eminent 
 services at a time when Euro- 
 pean troops, from their extreme 
 rarity, were valued as doubly 
 precious. In a notification 
 issued at Calcutta, Viscount 
 Canning, after mentioning some 
 of the arrangements connected 
 with the disbanding, spoke of 
 the services of the corps as fol- 
 lows : " The volunteer cavalry 
 took a prominent part in all the 
 successes which marked the ad- 
 vance of the late Major-General 
 Sir Henry Havelock from Allah- 
 abad to Lucknow; and on 
 every occasion of its employ- 
 ment against the rebels whether 
 on the advance to Lucknow, or 
 as part of the force with which 
 Major-General Sir James Out- 
 ram held Alum Bagh this 
 corps has greatly distinguished 
 itself by its gallantry in action, 
 and by its fortitude and endur- 
 ance under great exposure and 
 fatigue. The Governor-General 
 offers to Major Barrow, who 
 ably commanded the volunteer 
 cavalry, and boldly led them in 
 all the operations in which they 
 were engaged, his most cordial 
 acknowledgments for his very 
 
 valuable services ; and to Cap- 
 tain Lynch, and all the officers 
 and men who composed this 
 corps, his lordship tenders his 
 best thanks for the eminent good 
 conduct and exemplary courage 
 which they displayed during the 
 whole time that the corps was 
 embodied." 
 
 Sir James Outram on the 
 same occasion wrote one of his 
 hearty manly letters, and he had 
 special means of observing and 
 appreciating the exertions of the 
 volunteer cavalry, every man of 
 which must have been gratified 
 when the following warm and 
 genial epistle was read : 
 
 " My dear Barrow, We are 
 about to separate, perhaps for 
 ever ; but, believe me, I shall 
 ever retain you in affectionate 
 remembrance, and ever speak 
 with that intense admiration 
 which I feel for the glorious 
 volunteers whom you have com- 
 manded with such distinction. 
 It would afford me great plea- 
 sure to shake every one of them 
 by the hand, and tell them how 
 warmly I feel towards them. 
 But this is impossible; my 
 pressing duties will not allow 
 me even to write a few farewell 
 lines to each of your officers ; 
 but I trust to your communicat- 
 ing to them individually my 
 affectionate adieu and sincer- 
 est wishes for their prosper- 
 ity. May God bless you and 
 them." 
 
 This disbandment was a visi- 
 ble evidence that that storm was 
 o 
 
210 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 beginning to calm, but there 
 were still the dying gusts to 
 breast. 
 
 Viscount Canning was still 
 at Allahabad, and Sir Colin 
 Campbell had returned to Fut- 
 tehghur after his participation in 
 the reconquest and pacification 
 of Rohilcund. It was desirable 
 in the highest degree that the 
 Governor-General and the com- 
 mander-in-chief should confer 
 personally on the military ar- 
 rangements that were neces- 
 sary in the altered situation of 
 affairs. For now that the tide 
 had decidedly turned, masterly 
 circumspection was necessary 
 for the avoidance of disastrous 
 inundations. But the British 
 forces were so scattered that 
 during the first week of June 
 no soldiers could be spared to 
 escort their commander-in-chief 
 from Futtehghur to Allahabad. 
 The rebels were always well 
 informed regarding important 
 movements of their British 
 masters ; and they would have 
 hazarded a great deal to capture 
 such a prize as the commander- 
 in-chief. Sir Colin had pluck 
 enough for anything dictated 
 by reason, but pruden.ce and 
 every political consideration 
 forbade his travelling through 
 the Doab without an escort. 
 
 At Futtehghur he caused a 
 search to be made in the ba- 
 zaars of the town, and also at Fur- 
 ruckabad, for sulphur, with the 
 view of seizing it for the Govern- 
 ment. The rebels still possess- 
 ed many guns ; there was plenty 
 of iron for making cannon-balls : 
 
 there was also the charcoal and 
 saltpetre necessary for the manu- 
 facture of gunpowder, but sul- 
 phur was an imported article in 
 India, and without it powder 
 could not be made. It was 
 desirable, therefore, to secure 
 it so as to render the fire-arms 
 of the rebels useless. It was 
 known also that percussion-caps 
 were becoming scarce among 
 them, from the fact that the less 
 effective matchlock was now 
 commonly in use. 
 
 A circumstance occurred in 
 Sinde during the month of June 
 well worthy of being remember- 
 ed, as showing the significance of 
 one class of the difficulties which 
 the governing authorities had 
 to contend with during the mu- 
 tiny, and even while it was being 
 suppressed. It showed one of 
 the possible inundations which 
 had to be carefully provided 
 against during the reflux of the 
 great tide. 
 
 Mr Frere and General Jacob, 
 as respectively the civil and 
 the military commissioners of 
 that country, had acted with 
 such prudence and energy as 
 kept it well in subjection to the 
 British authorities. But it hap- 
 pened during the month that Mr 
 Frere had to steer a course be- 
 tween the dangers arising from 
 the pugnacity of a fanatical 
 Mohammedan and a zealous 
 Christian missionary, which put 
 his wisdom to a trying test. 
 The Mohammedan, a man of 
 respectable character, came to 
 him while he was at Hyderabad, 
 and complained of an inscrip- 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 211 
 
 tion exhibited on the inner wall 
 of an open-fronted shop belong- 
 ing to the Christian mission. 
 The inscription was made up 
 of two quotations from the 
 Koran, and an argument to dis- 
 prove the divine authority of 
 Mahomet himself, drawn from 
 the Koran, It was written in 
 the Sindhi and Arabic languages 
 by the Rev. Mr Matchett, and 
 the Rev. Mr Cell had it hung 
 up conspicuously in the mission 
 shop where Bibles were for sale 
 or distribution. The com- 
 plainer, whose name was Gho- 
 lam Ali, had lately returned 
 from a pilgrimage to Mecca, 
 and he stated to Mr Frere that 
 the inscription was offensive, 
 and was felt to be very irritating 
 by his co-religionists, the more 
 so when it was visible to all 
 passers in the main bazaar of 
 the city. Mr Frere read it, and 
 ordered it to be removed. He 
 knew the delicate nature of this 
 order, as will be seen in the 
 following explanation of his 
 conduct, which he forwarded to 
 Lord Elphinstone at Bombay. 
 " I am willing to be judged," 
 he wrote, "by any one who 
 has any acquaintance with the 
 ordinary feelings of a bigoted 
 
 Mohammedan population as to 
 the probable effect of such a 
 placard on them. I feel con- 
 fident that any such unpre- 
 judiced person would agree with 
 me that there was much danger 
 of its causing an outbreak of 
 fanatical violence ; and holding 
 that opinion, I cannot think 
 that I should have been justified 
 in allowing it to remain. It is 
 quite possible it might never 
 have caused any breach of the 
 peace, but I do not think the 
 present a time to try any un- 
 necessary experiments as to how 
 much a fanatical native popula- 
 tion will or will not bear in the 
 way of provocation." 
 
 Mr Frere explained to Mr 
 Gell, while requesting him to 
 remove the inscription, that 
 however well meant, it might 
 produce more harm than good. 
 He averted a possible outbreak 
 of Mohammedan zeal, but he 
 provoked aviolent outcry against 
 himself by the missionaries and 
 their supporters, who appealed 
 against his decision to the Go- 
 vernm ent of Bombay, and in their 
 narrative charged him with in- 
 sulting Christianity and encour- 
 aging Mohammedanism. But 
 the affair took no further shape 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 
 
 THERE was a gradual process of 
 pacification during the autumn 
 of 1858. 
 
 One agreeable circumstance 
 occurred about the beginning of 
 this period the return to Cal- 
 
212 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 cutta of the lamented Captain 
 Peel's Naval Brigade in the ripe 
 blossom of the renown they had 
 acquired by their pluck, success, 
 and excellent behaviour in all 
 respects. The heroic Peel had 
 been a universal favourite, and 
 the brigade was a reflex of 
 himself. When they returned 
 down the Ganges to Calcutta 
 the residents of that city gave 
 them a splendid public recep- 
 tion and a grand dinner, at 
 which, among other distinguish- 
 ed guests, Sir James Outram was 
 present. He, in his own grace- 
 ful and complimentary way, told 
 the assembly appropriately of 
 hjs own experience in connec- 
 tion with the services of the 
 brigade at Lucknow in the 
 memorable days of the previous 
 winter. Addressing the brigade, 
 he said : *' Almost the first white 
 faces I saw, when the lamented 
 Havelock and I rushed out of 
 our prison to greet Sir Colin at 
 the head of our deliverers, were 
 the hearty, jolly, smiling faces 
 of some of you Shannon men, 
 who were pounding away with 
 two big guns at the palace ; and 
 I then, for the first time in my 
 life, had the opportunity of see- 
 ing and admiring the coolness 
 of British sailors under fire. 
 There you were, working in the 
 open plains, without cover, or 
 screen, or rampart of any kind, 
 your guns within musket range 
 of the enemy, as coolly as if you 
 were practising at the Woolwich 
 target. And that it was a hot 
 fire you were exposed to was 
 proved by three of the small 
 
 staff that accompanied us being 
 knocked over by musket balls 
 in passing to the rear of those 
 guns, consequently farther from 
 the enemy than yourselves." 
 
 The province of Bengal was, 
 during the autumn, exempt from 
 actual mutiny; regular govern- 
 ment was maintained, and 
 peaceful industry returned to 
 its regular channels very little 
 disturbed by mutineers or 
 rebels. 
 
 As to Behar, situated between 
 Bengal and Oude, Sir Edward 
 Lugard having resigned his 
 command on account of shat- 
 tered health, Brigadier Douglas 
 succeeded him. He had a 
 good deal to do in the way of 
 dealing in detail with trouble- 
 some chieftains and stray bodies 
 of rebels. Captain Rattray, 
 with his Sikhs, had been left at 
 Jugdispore, whence he made 
 frequent excursions to dislodge 
 small bodies of rebels, and to 
 chastise rebellious leaders. On 
 the i ;th of July he had an 
 affair of this latter sort on hand, 
 which he describes in the follow- 
 ing pithy telegram to Allahabad: 
 " Sangram Singh," he telegraph- 
 ed, "having committed some 
 murders in the neighbourhood 
 of Rotas, and the road being 
 completely closed by him, I 
 sent out a party of eight picked 
 men from my regiment, with 
 orders to kill or bring in San- 
 gram Singh. This party suc- 
 ceeded most signally. They 
 disguised themselves as mutin- 
 ous sepoys, brought in Sangram 
 Singh last night, and killed his 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 213 
 
 brother, his sons, nephew, and 
 grandsons, amounting in all to 
 nine persons bringing in their 
 heads. At this capture all the 
 people of the south of the dis- 
 trict are much rejoiced. The 
 hills for the present are clear of 
 rebels." 
 
 In the province of Oude, Mr 
 Montgomery, the chief com- 
 missioner, was feeling his way 
 gradually towards a re-estab- 
 lishment of the power of the 
 British. General Hope Grant 
 was his military coadjutor. 
 
 On the 1 5th of July the gene- 
 ral left Lucknow for Fyzabad 
 to chastise a large body of rebels 
 who were setting up the author- 
 ity of the begum in that city. 
 It was thought also that he 
 might on the way relieve Maun 
 Singh, a powerful landowner, 
 or thalookdar, who was besieged 
 in his fort at Shahgunje by 
 several thousand rebels. Maun 
 Singh was a cunning time-server, 
 whose conduct had aroused the 
 suspicion of the British authori- 
 ties on many former occasions ; 
 but it was desirable to secure 
 his friendship, otherwise his hos- 
 tility was certain, for he was too 
 powerful a thalookdar to be al- 
 lowed to remain neutral. Be- 
 sides, the rebels just then assail- 
 ing his fort had been aroused to 
 this display of enmity by his 
 refusal to act openly against the 
 British. He had applied to Mr 
 Montgomery for aid, and the 
 conclusion come to, all things 
 considered, was that aid might 
 as well be granted. 
 
 The principal rebel leaders 
 
 about the middle of the month, 
 were the Begum of Oude and her 
 favourite Mummoo Khan, and 
 six or seven besides, more than 
 the half of whom were with the 
 begum at Chowka-Ghat beyond 
 the Gogra. Nana Sahib was, 
 as usual, hiding somewhere 
 the British authorities could not 
 learn where. It was supposed 
 that he was near the northern 
 frontier of Oude; and it was 
 believed that both he and the 
 begum were aware that their 
 funds had begun to run short ; 
 and without funds it was vain to 
 hope that they could keep their 
 forces together. 
 
 The advance of General 
 Hope Grant towards Fyzabad 
 alarmed the army which was 
 besieging Maun Singh. It broke 
 up and took to flight, showing 
 how little cohesion there re- 
 mained amongst them, for their 
 numbers were ten times as large 
 as those of the advancing Brit- 
 ish. 
 
 On the 2 pth the general en- 
 tered Fyzabad, and, hearing that 
 a large body of rebels were es- 
 caping across the Gogra, a mile 
 or two farther up the river, he 
 pushed on with his cavalry and 
 horse-artillery, but was only in 
 time to send a few round shot 
 into their rear. Grant's undis- 
 puted occupation of Fyzabad 
 exercised a great influence in 
 the way of pacifying the pro- 
 vince, notwithstanding the es- 
 cape of the rebels. Fyzabad 
 was a powerful centre of Mo- 
 hammedan influence; and it 
 was very near the ancient but 
 
214 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 decayed city of Ayodha, or 
 Oude, one of the most sacred 
 of the Hindoo cities. 
 
 At this time Hurdeo Buksh, 
 a powerful zemindar of Oude, 
 organised a small force of his 
 retainers, which, with two guns, 
 he employed in fighting against 
 some of his neighbours who 
 were hostile to the British in- 
 terests. Instances of such con- 
 duct began to increase gradji- 
 ally, and they were the most 
 effective agencies for producing 
 a gradual pacification of Oude. 
 
 Mr Cavanagh, whose plucky 
 adventure in making his way to 
 Sir Colin Campbell's camp from 
 Lucknow will be remembered, 
 turns up again in the district of 
 Oude, between Lucknow and 
 the Rohilcund frontier. He 
 had been appointed chief civil 
 commissioner of the Muhiabad 
 district, and he arranged with 
 Captain Dawson and Lieutenant 
 French to defend his district as 
 well as could be done with the 
 aid of a few native police and 
 troopers. On the 3oth of July 
 a body of 1500 rebels attacked 
 a small out-station, which was 
 defended by only about seventy 
 men, who held out gallantly till 
 Cavanagh and French arrived. 
 One bold charge put the 1500 
 rebels to flight, and the district 
 was soon pacified. Mr Cavan- 
 agh won over a good many of 
 the zemindars more by tact than 
 by force of arms. He threatened 
 them with punishments which 
 it is doubtful if he could have 
 carried out, if they assisted the 
 rebels ; promised to help them 
 
 if the others molested them, and 
 by such means induced them to 
 combine for the maintenance 
 of 400 matchlockmen, at their 
 own expense, in the British 
 cause. 
 
 After the capture of Gwalior 
 by Sir Hugh Rose, the rebels 
 made a hasty flight in a north- 
 westerly direction across the 
 river Chumbul into Rajpootana, 
 where a victory was gained over 
 them by General Napier, who 
 was immediately sent after them 
 by Sir Hugh. After that, it 
 seems, they separated into two 
 or three sections, the most im- 
 portant of which was headed 
 by Tanteea Topee and Rac 
 Sahib. They comprised some 
 of the best of the mutinied 
 troops, and had in their pos- 
 session that large amount of 
 Scindia's property which has 
 already been referred to. To 
 these General Roberts devoted 
 his especial and watchful atten- 
 tion. His Rajpootana field 
 force was, however, by no 
 means a large one, as detach- 
 ments had been separated from 
 it for service in various quarters. 
 
 The rebels he meant to hunt 
 down made their appearance at 
 a point more than 100 miles 
 north-west of Gwalior, threaten- 
 ing Jeypore. Roberts was at 
 Nusserabad, and he at once 
 marched to check them. He 
 reached Jeypore on the 26. of 
 July, and there learned that 
 they amounted to 10,000 men. 
 Tanteea Topee had Scindia's 
 crown jewels with him, estimated 
 at ;i ,000,000 sterling, and the 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 215 
 
 treasure, which was ,2,000,000 
 in value. Being mostly in 
 silver, the latter was of enor- 
 mous weight ; and Tanteea had 
 been trying to get it exchanged 
 for gold. The rate he had 
 offered was silver valued at 50 
 shillings for a gold mohur, 
 worth only 30 shillings a dis- 
 count of two-fifths, terms which 
 would have tempted most money- 
 changers in reasonably peaceful 
 times. 
 
 After many minor encounters, 
 and endless marching and 
 counter - marching, it seemed 
 that the only route the rebels 
 seemed to give themselves was 
 to march wherever they might 
 capture a stronghold which 
 would serve as a citadel ; while 
 Roberts was severely put to it, 
 endeavouring to intercept them 
 in their progress. 
 
 On the pth of July they took 
 possession of Tonk, a town 
 nearly due east of Nusserabad, 
 and about a third of the dis- 
 tance between that station and 
 Gwalior. They plundered the 
 town, captured three brass guns 
 and a quantity of ammunition, 
 besieging the Nawab in a neigh- 
 bouring fort. Hearing of this, 
 General Roberts sent on Major 
 Holmes with a detachment, and 
 the enemy took a hasty depart- 
 ure when they became aware of 
 this fact. Roberts was disap- 
 pointed at not being allowed to 
 come up with them at Tonk. 
 Sending all his sick and wound- 
 ed on the ist of August to 
 Nusserabad, he continued the 
 pursuit, Holmes still in advance 
 
 of him, towards the south as 
 rapidly as the swampy condi- 
 tion of the fields and roads 
 would allow him. 
 
 It was considered so import- 
 ant to catch these Gwalior 
 mutineers that the Bombay 
 Government, which had control 
 of the operations in Raj poo- 
 tana, sent out small expedition- 
 ary forces from several places, 
 as probable opportunities seem- 
 ed to offer themselves for the 
 interception of the mutineers. 
 
 It was fortunate that, by this 
 time, the Government could 
 rely on the fidelity of many of 
 the native rajahs, whose junc- 
 tion with the rebels would have 
 complicated the state of affairs 
 terribly. Tanteea Topee sound- 
 ed successively the Rajahs of 
 Jeypore, Kotah, and Ulwar, all 
 of them native princes of Raj- 
 pootana; but they all refused 
 to give him countenance. This 
 caused the rebel leader to make 
 strangely circuitous marches 
 from one rajah's state to that 
 of another; but wherever the 
 rebels went, General Roberts 
 followed them ; and he came up 
 with a body of them neai Sun- 
 ganeer, where they occupied a 
 line on the opposite side of the 
 river Rotasery. Roberts was 
 again disappointed of his prize, 
 for no sooner had he routed 
 them, which was done speedily, 
 than the rebels fled with such 
 speed that he had no means of 
 overtaking them. 
 
 At length, however, on the 
 1 4th of August, having been 
 strengthened by the return of 
 
216 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 Major Holmes and his detach- 
 ment, General Roberts over- 
 took them at Kattara, a village 
 near the Nathdwara hills. They 
 had taken up an excellent posi- 
 tion on a line of these rocky 
 eminences, on the crest of 
 which they planted four guns, 
 and worked them like skilled 
 artillerymen. Roberts, advanc- 
 ing through a defile, caused his 
 horse-artillery to beat off the 
 enemy till he got his infantry 
 formed into line. Making a 
 rush up the hill-side, the infantry 
 saw that the rebels were labour- 
 ing to carry away two guns with 
 a small escort. A volley soon 
 put them to flight, leaving the 
 guns behind them. The rebels 
 escaped in different directions, 
 and their camp, covered with 
 arms and accoutrements, fell 
 into the hands of the victors. 
 The cavalry and horse-artillery 
 followed the fugitives for ten 
 miles, cutting them down in 
 great numbers. All the guns 
 which they had brought from 
 Tonk, four elephants, a number 
 of camels, and a large supply of 
 ammunition, were captured; and 
 the loss of the British was 
 surprisingly small. General 
 Roberts, however, did not suc- 
 ceed in capturing the treasure 
 which Tanteea Topee was 
 known to carry about with him. 
 It was borne on the backs of 
 elephants, and so well were those 
 elephants guarded, both during 
 battle and in flight, that the 
 British never succeeded in cap- 
 turing them. 
 After the victory at Kattara, 
 
 General Roberts left the pursuit 
 of Tanteea Topee for a time to 
 Brigadier Parkes, who started 
 from Neemuch on the nth 
 with a miscellaneous force, in- 
 cluding, among others, the J2d 
 Highlanders; but the rebel 
 leader, by amazing quickness of 
 movement, still kept eluding 
 his pursuers. He crossed the 
 Chumbul near Sagoodar on the 
 2oth, and arrived at Julra Pat- 
 teen, a town on the main road 
 from Agra to Indore, which he 
 plundered of some treasure and 
 many guns. He was now in 
 another territory, and General 
 Michel, with the Malwah field 
 torce, started from Mhow in 
 pursuit of him. At Rajgurh he 
 was joined by Man Singh, an- 
 other rebel, who had in the 
 meantime raised his standard 
 in Scindia's territory, and been 
 driven out of it. There was 
 something like a race between 
 Tanteea Topee and General 
 Michel, which would reach Beora 
 first. This was a station on the 
 Bhopal and Seronj road, which 
 would give the holder a power- 
 ful command over the whole 
 district, especially as it was one 
 of the stations by which tele- 
 graphic communication was 
 kept up between Calcutta and 
 Bombay. The British general 
 came up with the rebel leader 
 on the 1 5th of September, be- 
 fore he reached Beora. It was 
 not Tanteea Topee's policy to 
 engage in an open field-fight. 
 There was a running series of 
 skirmishes; but when he saw 
 that defeat was imminent, he 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 217 
 
 thought more of his elephants 
 loaded with treasure than his 
 guns; and abandoning the lat- 
 ter, he escaped with Scindia's 
 enormously valuable property 
 again, having lost in this run- 
 ning scramble 300 men, twenty- 
 
 seven guns, a train of draught 
 bullocks, and a large quantity 
 of ammunition. This spoil 
 General Michel took posses- 
 sion of, his loss having been 
 only one man killed and three 
 wounded. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 THE military operations carried 
 on by the British authorities 
 had at length been reduced to 
 the breaking up of desperate 
 bands of lawless marauders, and 
 hunting down their leaders. 
 During the months of October 
 and November the disturbances 
 were pretty well limited to two 
 regions Oude, with portions of 
 the neighbouring provinces of 
 RohilcundandBehar; andMal- 
 wah, with portions of Bundel- 
 cund, and the Nerbudda pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 In the former region the mov- 
 ing and guiding spirit was the 
 begum. This princess and the 
 Ranee of Jhansi are worthy to 
 be ranked and indeed may, 
 perhaps, be in the traditions of 
 distant ages of the future in 
 their country with Boadicea, 
 the ancient British queen, espe- 
 cially in her ruthless, relentless, 
 and at the same time hopeless, 
 aspiration to see the foreign 
 intruders on her native soil an- 
 nihilated. There are no such 
 
 cruelties on record against the 
 begum as there are against the 
 Ranee ; and she was therefore 
 regarded, even by those who 
 were hunting her down as de- 
 terminedly as she plotted for 
 their destruction, with a certain 
 meed of respect. A gallant 
 soldier always entertains this 
 feeling towards a " foeman 
 worthy of his steel;" how much 
 more so towards a patriotic 
 princess ? 
 
 It was rumoured in the British 
 camps at the time, that the be- 
 gum, exasperated at the defeat 
 to which the troops led by her 
 generals were uniformly exposed, 
 sent to each of these worthies 
 a pair of women's ankle orna- 
 ments, called bangles, jeeringly 
 requesting them to wear these 
 trinkets, since they could not 
 vanquish the Feringhees, and 
 drive them from the land. These, 
 it was said, had the effect of 
 arousing some of her officers to 
 ineffectual attempts to respect 
 her wishes, but how utterly fu- 
 
218 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 tile these efforts proved was 
 seen in the result of her heroic 
 struggles. 
 
 If the began lost battles, it 
 was not because she was afraid 
 to carry on open warfare. Very 
 different was the conduct of 
 the despicable miscreant, Nana 
 Sahib. He was afraid to expose 
 his wretched life to the risks of 
 such an ordeal. Hiding in 
 jungles, he endeavoured to keep 
 his contemptible existence a 
 secret from the British. And 
 he has done so ever since, not- 
 withstanding the untold redup- 
 lications of Argus, which have 
 been on the look-out for him 
 ever since. If any considerable 
 number of Indians have known 
 anything about him for the last 
 period of nearly two decades, 
 they have been faithful to him 
 in a degree for which Occidentals 
 do not usually give Orientals 
 credit, and they deserve almost 
 some of the kind of praise which 
 has been bestowed on the trusty 
 Highlandmen who knew the 
 hidings of Prince Charles Ed- 
 ward Stuart, and braved death 
 and danger rather than betray 
 him. It was thought, in the 
 year 1875, that the skulking 
 Nana had been unearthed at 
 last, but he was not. 
 
 There were no extensive mili- 
 tary operations in Oude during 
 the month of October. Sir 
 Colin Campbell was, however, 
 as vigilant as ever. He was 
 waiting for the cessation of the 
 autumnal rains, and collecting 
 several columns, with the view 
 of hemming in the rebels. That 
 
 they would soon be ultimately 
 crushed, there was now no room 
 to doubt. There were few of 
 the skilled sepoys of the Bengal 
 mutinied regiments left among 
 them. The stem arbitrament 
 of war and privations innumer- 
 able had removed most of them 
 from the scenes of cruel strife 
 which they had inaugurated. 
 Their places were now filled 
 by a rabble of undisciplined 
 ruffians, who, eager enough for 
 lawlessness and loot, were pig- 
 mies on the field of battle. 
 
 Sir Colin began personally 
 to carry out his well-conceived 
 plan of operations in November. 
 He would compel the rebels to 
 fight or to flee out of the pro- 
 vince of Oude. If they accepted 
 the former alternative, the result 
 was not doubtful. If they fled, 
 it would not be by the Ganges, 
 nor into Rohilcund in the one 
 direction, nor into Behar in the 
 other. The only outlet for them 
 left open was over the frontier 
 of Nepaul, where they might 
 hide as long as they were allowed, 
 but where they would no longer 
 be of any military account as 
 rebels. 
 
 At the dead of night between 
 the ist and 2d of November, 
 the resolute commander-in-chief 
 left Allahabad, with carefully 
 selected troops, crossed the 
 Ganges, and once more entered 
 the province of Oude. The first 
 thing he did was to issue a pro- 
 clamation in which the character 
 of the man sternly tender and 
 mercifully inflexible was unmis- 
 takably reflected, It read thus ; 
 
THE INDTAN MUTINY. 
 
 219 
 
 " The commander - in - chief 
 proclaims to the people of Oude 
 that, under the order of the 
 Right Hon. the Governor-Gene- 
 ral, he comes to enforce the 
 law. In order to effect this 
 without danger to life and pro- 
 perty, resistance must cease on 
 the part of the people. 
 
 "The most exact discipline 
 will be preserved in the camps 
 and on the march; and when 
 there is no resistance, houses 
 and crops will be spared, and 
 no plundering allowed in the 
 towns and villages. But wher- 
 ever there is resistance, or even 
 a single shot fired against the 
 troops, the inhabitants must ex- 
 pect to incur the fate they have 
 brought upon themselves. Their 
 houses will be plundered, and 
 their villages burned. 
 
 " This proclamation includes 
 all ranks of people, from the 
 thalookdars to the poorest ryots. 
 The commander-in-chief invites 
 all the well-disposed to remain 
 in their towns and villages, 
 where they will be sure of his 
 protection against all violence." 
 
 Mr Montgomery, the chief- 
 commissioner of Oude, had a 
 few days earlier issued a procla- 
 mation for the disarming of all 
 persons of all ranks, threatening 
 every individual who should 
 disobey, with fine and imprison- 
 ment. The Queen's proclama- 
 tion also was read at the same 
 time at every station, large or 
 small, in British India. This 
 emanation of royal clemency- 
 will be referred to immedi- 
 ately 
 
 It was hoped, and with good 
 reason, as the result proved, 
 that these three proclamations 
 would conduce to the pacifica- 
 tion which would be as beneficial 
 to the troubled province as it 
 was earnestly desired by those 
 who had the power to effect it 
 by the strongest arm of the law 
 the army. 
 
 While Sir Colin Campbell 
 advanced towards the centre of 
 Oude by Pertabghur, a column 
 was approaching fromSeetapore, 
 Hope Grant from Salone, and 
 General RowcroftfromFyzabad. 
 The begum and her supporters 
 were thus so hemmed in, that 
 they began to bethink them- 
 selves of surrender in terms of 
 the proclamation of Queen Vic- 
 toria, now the Empress of 
 India. 
 
 One of the first to surrender 
 was the Rajah Lall Madhoo 
 Singh, a chieftain of great influ- 
 ence, who could not be charged 
 with having stained his hands 
 in any deeds of cruelty. 
 
 Ummer Singh, and his con- 
 federates also in the Jugdispore 
 district, began to see that their 
 position had become desperate. 
 Sir H. Havelock, son of the 
 deceased general, and Colonel 
 Turner, pressed upon them so 
 closely that they could not fail 
 to see that their final discomfi- 
 ture was certain. The gracious 
 proclamation of the empress 
 was an open refuge to them also 
 if they chose to avail themselves 
 of it. Indeed, their case had 
 been rendered peculiarly hope- 
 less by the annihilation of one 
 
210 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 of the refuges which they had 
 known well how to turn to ac- 
 count at need. The Jugdispore 
 jungle, twenty- three miles in 
 length and four miles broad, 
 was cut down an effective dis- 
 play of offensive and defensive 
 military tactics which was begun 
 in November by Messrs Burn, 
 railway contractors. Oude was 
 entirely reduced to subjection 
 to the British in the beginning 
 of the year 1859. 
 
 In the Malwah region Gen- 
 eral Michel inflicted a severe 
 defeat on Tanteea Topee at 
 Sindwah on the iQth of Octo- 
 ber; and another on the 23d of 
 the same month near Multhone. 
 In this latter encounter the 
 British general literally cut the 
 fugitive rebel leader's army in 
 two; and it is considered pro- 
 bable that if he had pursued the 
 larger section of it instead of the 
 smaller, as he did, Tanteea 
 Topee might have been captur- 
 ed earlier than he was. After 
 this that remarkable man was 
 hunted like a beast of prey. 
 His enemies gave him no rest. 
 During November he made some 
 extraordinary marches in the 
 country immediately to the 
 south of the river Nerbudda. 
 He was known to have lost 
 nearly all his guns and military 
 stores; and his followers, though 
 loaded with encumbering wealth 
 of silver, were footsore and de- 
 sponding. His companion lead- 
 ers then began to think of the 
 Queen's proclamation; and the 
 Nawab of Banda, the most in- 
 fluential among them, was the 
 
 first to seek General Michel with 
 the view of availing himself of 
 the deliverance it afforded. Tan- 
 teea Topee was subsequently 
 taken, tried by court-martial, 
 and hanged. 
 
 As in all great conflagrations, 
 there was much stamping-out 
 required at the close of the In- 
 dian mutiny, after the flames at 
 the principal centres had been 
 brought under control. Robber 
 bands survived the guerrilla war- 
 fare which set in after regular 
 military organisation by the 
 rebels had been rendered im- 
 possible. But the story of the 
 mutiny rounds off into an effec- 
 tive close in November almost 
 as effective as if the muse of 
 history had turned fictionist for 
 the occasion. Minor results of 
 the tale of horrors were indeed 
 visible to a later date; but in 
 that month a change in the gov- 
 ernment of India was proclaim- 
 ed throughout the length and 
 breadth of the empire; the Brit- 
 ish army had become so largely 
 augmented in the country, as 
 to render the prospects of the 
 mutineers hopeless; the rebel 
 leaders had begun to tender 
 their submission under terms of 
 the royal proclamation; the 
 skilled mutinous sepoys had 
 been, to a large extent, removed 
 from the scenes of strife by 
 battle and privation; the military 
 operations had become little 
 more than the chasing of lawless 
 marauders ; and the armed men 
 still at large were mostly dupes 
 of designing leaders, or rather 
 ruffians whose watchwords wer$ 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 221 
 
 pay and plunder, rather than 
 patriotism and nationality. 
 
 The event which rounds off 
 the story of the Indian mutiny 
 was one of the most significant 
 occurrences in history. It was 
 the demise of the great East 
 India Company. That mutiny 
 was the end of many things. 
 When reading or recording to 
 take only one example, but it is 
 one fraught with many materials 
 for reflection the trial of the 
 King of Delhi, and the sentence 
 passed on the senile felon, it is 
 next to impossible to help feel- 
 ing that the judge on the occa- 
 sion was the last representative of 
 the East India Company ; and 
 that he was condemning the last 
 great Mogul, and heir of the 
 house of Timour the Tartar 
 of Tamerlane the magnificent 
 to be transported across the 
 seas. 
 
 The bill in the British Parlia- 
 ment which decreed the cessa- 
 tion of the functions of the 
 mightiest and most extraordin- 
 ary commercial power the world 
 has ever seen, received the royal 
 assent, and became an Act of 
 Parliament on August 2, 1858. 
 The last special general court 
 of the Company was held in 
 London on the ist of Septem- 
 ber; and the immediate purpose 
 of it was to grant a pension to 
 Sir John Lawrence. This was 
 done, and was followed by an 
 earnest tender of thanks by the 
 East 'India Company generally, 
 to its servants of every rank and 
 capacity, at home and in India. 
 It had been provided by a clause 
 
 in the Act that the court of 
 directors should elect seven 
 members to the new council of 
 India. They did so; and the 
 Government nominated eight 
 the greatest name in the latter 
 list being that of Sir John Laird 
 Muir Lawrence, who was ex- 
 pected to return to England, 
 and for whom a place at the 
 council board was kept vacant. 
 The ist of November 1858 
 was a day to be remembered in 
 India. On that day it was made 
 known throughout the length 
 and breadth of the empire that 
 the governing power of the 
 country had been transferred 
 from the East India Company 
 to Queen Victoria. On that 
 day a royal proclamation was 
 issued, which has been regarded 
 by many as the Magna Charta 
 of native liberty in India. This 
 proclamation was read, with all 
 the accompaniments of cere- 
 monial splendour that were con- 
 ceived necessary to give dignity 
 and force to it in the eyes of the 
 natives, at Calcutta, Bombay, 
 Madras, Lahore, Kurachee, 
 Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Nag- 
 poor, Mysore, Rangoon, and 
 other great cities } as well as at 
 every British station, large or 
 small, where it was read to the 
 accompaniment of such military 
 honours as the place could afford. 
 The proclamation was translated 
 into most of the languages and 
 many of the dialects of India. 
 In whatever tongue, it was 
 printed in tens of thousands, 
 and distributed wherever natives 
 were wont to congregate most. 
 
222 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 It came upon the stage of af- 
 fairs as a grand and, as it proved, 
 a startling effect. A new thing 
 had happened under the sun, 
 and interest in the mutiny paled 
 before it. It was the wonder 
 and the talk of the village, the 
 bazaar, the temple, the bunga- 
 low, the exchange, the barracks, 
 and the palace. Its purport 
 was this : Queen Victoria is now 
 Empress of India ! There was 
 something in this the natives 
 could understand. They never 
 had understood the relations 
 borne by the Company to the 
 crown and nation of England. 
 As has been said, " They were 
 familiar with some such name 
 as 'Koompanee;' but whether 
 this Koompanee was a king, a 
 queen, a viceroy, a minister, a 
 council, a parliament, was a 
 question left in a state of 
 doubt." 
 
 The shape it took to their 
 minds was that Queen Victoria 
 was Empress. Whether this 
 corresponded with a rigorous 
 interpretation of the Act of 
 Parliament by which Her Ma- 
 jesty came into this new.relation- 
 ship is not a question of any 
 consequence in reference to the 
 pacification which was thus aus- 
 piciously crowned. It had been 
 rendered possible by victories 
 on the field of battle ; it became 
 a fact and was blazoned abroad 
 by the proclamation, which 
 added pomp to the power by 
 which the mutineers had been 
 compelled to yield to an extent 
 which only required this sound 
 of the benign voice of mercy to 
 
 induce them to yield altogether. 
 The purport of the proclamation 
 was : The Queen being now 
 virtually Empress of India, 
 the Governor-General was her 
 viceroy; the native princes 
 might rely on the observance 
 by Her Majesty of all treaties 
 made with them by the Com- 
 pany ; she desired no encroach- 
 ment on, or annexation of, the 
 territories of those princes ; she 
 would not interfere with the 
 religion of the natives, or coun- 
 tenance any favouritism in mat- 
 ters of faith ; neither creed nor 
 caste should be a bar to em- 
 ployment in Her Majesty's 
 service; the ancient legal ten- 
 ures and forms of India would, 
 as far as possible, be adhered 
 to ; and all mutineers and 
 rebels, except those whose 
 hands were stained with blood 
 shed in actual murder, were 
 assured of a full and gracious 
 pardon when they laid down 
 their arms. 
 
 The spectacle at the reading 
 of the proclamation at Bombay 
 was the most imposing the 
 natives of India had ever wit- 
 nessed. The ceremony was 
 indeed rendered as similar to it 
 as possible in all the other cities 
 where the proclamation was 
 read. But at Bombay the gover- 
 nor, Lord Elphinstone, and all the 
 chief civilians were present ; the 
 military officers and the troops, 
 the clergy of all the various 
 Christian denominations ; the 
 merchants, ship - owners, and 
 traders ; the Mohammedans, 
 Hindoos, Mahrattas, Parsees 
 
THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 223 
 
 all were represented in the 
 throng which listened to the 
 proclamation, read first in Eng- 
 lish and then in Mahratta. 
 
 The shouting, the music of 
 military bands, the firing of 
 guns, the waving of flags, the 
 illumination of the city at night, 
 the fireworks in the public 
 squares, the blue lights and 
 manning of ships, the banquets 
 of the wealthy, and the revelry 
 of the people all the various 
 noises and displays and de- 
 grees of endurance by which 
 human nature labours to give 
 utterance to feelings which can- 
 not otherwise be expressed, were 
 produced in Bombay on that 
 memorable day. 
 
 Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy out- 
 did all his fellow citizens in the 
 munificence of his rejoicings 
 and the magnificence of his dis- 
 play. Parsees and Christians 
 vied with each other. What 
 is wonderful, Christians them- 
 selves were at one. Catholics 
 and Protestants were for one 
 day, in one xespect, at least, 
 in harmony. Protestant and 
 Catholic churches, Moham- 
 medan mosques, Hindoo pa- 
 godas, and Parsee temples, 
 were alike lighted up on that 
 auspicious night. 
 
 At Calcutta the proclamation 
 was received with similar fer- 
 vour. This is more wonderful 
 than every one will see at a 
 glance. The inhabitants of the 
 Anglo-Indian capital have always 
 been a community very difficult 
 to please. They are like the 
 inhabitants of most capitals 
 
 where pens are not clogged and 
 speech gagged. The proclama- 
 tion, however, had the excep- 
 tional good fortune of being 
 approved of by this fastidious 
 population. 
 
 The Europeans consented to 
 lay aside minor considerations 
 of mutual hostility to do honour 
 to the great principles involved 
 in the proclamation. The na- 
 tives here also joined in the 
 demonstrations which fitly ac- 
 companied a ceremony of vital 
 importance to nearly a score of 
 millions of their countrymen. 
 At a public meeting held early 
 in the month, an influential Hin- 
 doo, Baboo Ramgopal Ghose, 
 said, among other things: "If 
 I had power and influence, I 
 would proclaim through the 
 length and breadth of the land 
 from the Himalayas to Cape 
 Comorin, from the Bramapootra 
 to the Bay of Cambay that 
 never were the natives more 
 grievously mistaken, than they 
 have been in adopting the notion 
 foisted in them by designing and 
 ambitious men that their re- 
 ligion was at stake; for that 
 notion I believe to have beun 
 at the root of the late rebel- 
 lion." 
 
 These words are an appro- 
 priate conclusion to this account 
 of the great mutiny in India, 
 which has been sketched in brief 
 outline in the preceding pages, 
 from the first display of insub- 
 ordination in the beginning of 
 1857, to the issue of the royal 
 proclamation in the month of 
 November 1858. The writer, 
 
224: 
 
 THE INDIAN MUTINY. 
 
 or rather summarise!, has not 
 presumed to offer any reflections 
 similar to those he did not hesi- 
 tate to express when telling the 
 story of other mutinies in this 
 volume, beyond such reflection 
 as is always implied in the use 
 of epithets. Nor will he now, 
 great as the temptation is. The 
 mutiny overflowed with both 
 the romance and the wretched- 
 ness of war ; the conduct of the 
 conquerors for bravery was such 
 as will never find its proportion- 
 ate counterpart in the records 
 of the most expressive language. 
 But the Titanic struggle bristled 
 also with grave and solemn 
 warnings to the conquering race. 
 Let no reader of the story of 
 the Indian Mutiny in larger 
 or in less detail, forget for a 
 moment that there is a point of 
 view from which it is regarded 
 by the relatives and descendants 
 of the mutinous sepoys, and 
 which is the patriotic poles 
 asunder from that of the country- 
 men of Sir Henry Havelock, 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell, Sir Hugh 
 Rose, and their heroic compan- 
 ions. To the natives of India 
 it is perfectly natural that Nana 
 Sahib, the Moulvie of Fyzabad, 
 the Ranee of Jhansi, the Begum 
 of Oude, and all their heroic 
 companions, should appear, not 
 as mutineers, but as patriots 
 and martyrs in the holiest of 
 causes. If the natives of India 
 had a terrible lesson read to 
 them in their crushing defeat, 
 not less impressive was the 
 lesson written in the blood 
 of innocent children, helpless 
 women, and the bravest of 
 soldiers which was unfolded 
 to the eyes, understandings, and 
 hearts of their conquerors. It 
 would well become them now 
 to bear themselves towards 
 the subject-people more than 
 they have in the past, in the 
 spirit of doing as they would 
 be done by : a spirit which was 
 not, and is not, universally 
 characteristic of the conduct of 
 Englishmen in the East. 
 
 KMP OF THE INDIAN MUTIIJV. 
 
CAST UP BY THE SEA. MUTINY OF THE ' BOUNTY.' 
 (Frontispiece.) 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GOOD SHIP BOUNTY 
 
 AND HER MUTINEERS 
 
 AND 
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 W. P. NIMMO, HAY, & MITCHELL. 
 
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE GOOD SHIP BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE 
 
 OFF TO OTAHEITE, ....... I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY, ..... 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN PURSUIT OF THE MUTINEERS, ..... 5^ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COURT-MARTIAL, ....... 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PITCAIRN ISLAND, ....... 73 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NORFOLK ISLAND, ....... 85 
 
 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 MUTINY IN THE 42D REGIMENT (THE ROYAL HIGHLAND REGIMENT, 
 
 OR BLACK WATCH), MAY 1743, ..... 95 
 
 MUTINY IN THE 78TH REGIMENT, SEAFORTH'S HIGHLANDERS (NOW 
 THE 72D REGIMENT, DUKE OF ALBANY'S OWN HIGHLANDERS), 
 
 SEPTEMBER 1778, . . . . . . .Ill 
 
 MUTINY IN THE OLD 76TH REGIMENT (MACDONALD's HIGHLANDERS), 
 
 MARCH 1779, ....... 122 
 
 MUTINY OF DETACHMENTS OF THE 42D AND 7IST REGIMENTS 
 
 (ROYAL HIGHLAND AND FRASER'S HIGHLANDERS), APRIL 1779, 127 
 
 MUTINY OF THE 77TH REGIMENT (ATHOLE HIGHLANDERS), JANU- 
 ARY 1783, . . . 142 
 
 MUTINY OF BREADALBANE FENCIBLES, DECEMBER 1794, . . 149 
 
 MUTINY OF THE GRANT FENCIBLES, JUNE 1795, . . .156 
 
THE GOOD SHIP BOUNTY AND HER 
 MUTINEERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OFF TO OTAHEITE. 
 
 THIS is one of the saddest and 
 most eventful stories of mercan- 
 tile enterprise. It resulted from 
 an attempt to find cheap food 
 for slaves in the days when good 
 King George III. was a leading 
 controller of the destinies of 
 Great Britain. How much it 
 will tell to the advantage of that 
 golden, olden time, is an infer- 
 ence which must be left to the 
 discernment of the readers of it. 
 We cannot now greatly admire 
 a good many of the doings of 
 those times. 
 
 In the year of grace 1787, 
 seventeen years after Captain 
 Cook returned from his first 
 voyage, the London merchants 
 and planters " interested in the 
 West Indian possessions," as Sir 
 John Barrow writes, or, as people 
 in our day would say, the slave- 
 holders in the capital of Eng- 
 land, represented to George III. 
 that the bread-fruit tree of Ota- 
 heite was an article which would 
 constitute cheap enough and 
 
 good enough food for their hu- 
 man property in the West Indies. 
 His Majesty, after hearing what 
 they had to say, thought so too, 
 and graciously ordered means 
 to be taken for the procuring of 
 this benefit, supposed to be es- 
 sential for the good of the in- 
 habitants of those islands. A 
 vessel was purchased and put 
 into ship-shape for this benevo- 
 lent object at Deptford, a royal 
 dockyard about a mile west of 
 Greenwich, which had been 
 established by Henry VIII. in 
 the fourth year of his reign. Sir 
 Joseph Banks, renowned for his 
 ignorance of Greek and his great 
 learning in botany " Here is 
 Banks," said some of his fellow- 
 students at Oxford, "but he 
 knows nothing of Greek " 
 made all the arrangements for 
 the procuring and transhipment 
 of the economical plants. Mr 
 Banks had been one of the 
 naturalists who sailed under 
 Captain Cook from Plymouth 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Sound in August 1768. An ac- 
 count of his life, a most instruc- 
 tive one, must be looked for else- 
 where, but he may be mentioned 
 here as one of those students 
 who learn to look out of them- 
 selves, a most desirable accom- 
 plishment, not taught by Oxford 
 tutors in those days, nor by 
 very many tutors of any name 
 in these days of ours. But Mr 
 Banks had taught himself a sin- 
 gularly useful lesson, which one 
 of the wishes of the compiler of 
 this book is to teach his readers 
 many of them, he trusts, 
 youthful, beginning to learn the 
 lessons of life. Banks took to 
 a subject, and he worked it out. 
 This kind of undertaking keeps 
 men well and wisely employed. 
 In literary life, as in all other 
 kinds of life, a speciality is the 
 thing to be desired and attained. 
 A man who can do all things can, 
 as a rule, do little or nothing 
 worth being remembered. The 
 following quotation from the 
 " Penny Cyclopaedia," one of 
 the best books of the kind ever 
 published, but, like all books of 
 its sort, apt to get a good deal 
 out of date, is full of the in- 
 structions a great many people 
 of the thinking and talking order 
 need. The quotation is : " Sir 
 Everard Home, in theHunterian 
 Oration delivered in the theatre 
 of the College of Surgeons, Feb- 
 ruary 14, 1822, informs us that 
 the lirst part of young Banks's 
 education was under a private 
 tutor; at nine years of age he 
 was sent to Harrow School, and 
 was removed when thirteen to 
 
 Eton. He is described, in a 
 letter from his tutor, as being 
 well-disposed and good-temper- 
 ed, but so immoderately fond of 
 play that his attention could not 
 be fixed to study. When four- 
 teen his tutor had, for the first 
 time, the satisfaction of finding 
 him reading during his hours of 
 leisure. This sudden turn he, 
 at a later time, explained to Sir 
 Everard Home. One fine sum- 
 mer evening he had bathed in 
 the river as usual, with other 
 boys, but having stayed a long 
 time in the water, he found 
 when he came to dress himself 
 that all his companions were 
 gone : he was walking leisurely 
 along a lane, the sides of which 
 were richly enamelled with flow- 
 ers; he stopped, and looking 
 round, involuntarily exclaimed, 
 * How beautiful ! ' After some 
 reflection, he said to himself, 
 ' It is surely more natural that I 
 should betaughttoknowall these 
 productions of Nature, in prefer- 
 ence to Greek and Latin; but 
 the latter is my father's com- 
 mand, and it is my duty to obey 
 him. I will, however, make 
 myself acquainted with all these 
 different plants for my own 
 pleasure and gratification/ He 
 began immediately to teach him- 
 self botany; and, for want of 
 more able tutors, submitted to 
 be instructed by the women 
 employed in culling simples, as 
 it is termed, to supply the drug- 
 gists' and apothecaries' shops, 
 paying sixpence for every mate- 
 rial piece of information. While 
 at home for the ensuing holidays, 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 he found in his mother's dress- 
 ing-room, to his inexpressible 
 delight, a book in which all the 
 plants he had met with were not 
 only described, but represented 
 by engravings. This, which 
 proved to be 'Gerard's Herbal,' 
 although one of the boards was 
 lost and several of the leaves 
 torn out, he carried with him 
 to school. He left Eton School 
 in his eighteenth year, and was 
 entered a gentleman-commoner 
 at Christ Church (Oxford) in 
 December 1760, just before he 
 was eighteen. His love of bot- 
 any, which commenced at school, 
 increased at the University, and 
 then his mind warmly embraced 
 all the other branches of natural 
 history. His ardour for the 
 acquirement of botanical know- 
 ledge was so great that, finding 
 no lectures were given on that 
 subject, he applied to Dr Sib- 
 thorpe, the botanical professor, 
 for permission to procure a 
 proper person, whose remunera- 
 tion was to fall entirely upon 
 the students who formed his 
 class. This arrangement was 
 acceded to, and a sufficient 
 number of students having set 
 down their names, he went to 
 Cambridge and brought back 
 with him Mr Israel Lyons, a 
 botanist and astronomer. This 
 gentleman, many years after, 
 procured, through Mr Banks's 
 interest, the appointment of as- 
 tronomer to the voyage towards 
 the North Pole, under Captain 
 Phipps, afterwards Lord Mul- 
 grave. Mr Banks soon made 
 himself known in the University, 
 
 by his superior knowledge in 
 natural history. * He once told 
 me in conversation,' says Sir 
 Everard Home, 'that when he 
 first went to Oxford, if he hap- 
 pened to come into any party 
 of students in which they were 
 discussing questions respecting 
 Greek authors, some of them 
 would call out (a manifestation 
 of the wisdom of such students 
 already referred to), 'Here is 
 Banks, but he knows nothing of 
 Greek.' To this rebuke he 
 made no reply, but said to him- 
 self, ' I will very soon excel you 
 all in another kind of knowledge, 
 in my mind of infinitely greater 
 importance;' and not long after, 
 when any of them wanted to 
 clear up a point of natural his 
 tory, they said, ' We must go to 
 Banks.' " 
 
 Now this bit of Cyclopaedia 
 writing is a very good picture 
 in its way, and sets us on in 
 our story of the Mutiny of the 
 Bounty with a vivid enough 
 sense of the man who made the 
 arrangements necessary for sup- 
 plying the holders of slaves in 
 the West Indian islands with 
 cheap food for their slaves, above 
 a hundred years ago. The ship 
 was named 'The Bounty' by 
 him ; and he recommended to 
 the command of her Lieutenant 
 Bligh, a Cornishman, who had 
 sailed with Captain Cook. She 
 was of burden about 2 50 tons,and 
 the following was the establish- 
 ment of men she sailed with 
 under Lieutenant Bligh : James 
 Fryer, master ; Thomas Led- 
 ward, acting surgeon; David 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Nelson, botanist; William Peck- 
 over, gunner; William Cole, 
 boatswain ; William Purcell, car- 
 penter ; William Elphinstone, 
 master's mate ; Thomas Hay- 
 ward, John Hallet, midshipmen ; 
 John Norton, Peter Lenkletter, 
 quarter-masters ; Lawrence Le- 
 bogue, sailmaker; John Smith, 
 Thomas Hall, cooks ; George 
 Simpson, quarter-master's mate; 
 Robert Tinkler, a boy ; Robert 
 Lamb, butcher; Mr Samuel, 
 clerk; Fletcher Christian, mas- 
 ter's mate ; Peter Heywood, 
 Edward Young, George Stewart, 
 midshipmen; Charles Churchill, 
 master-at-arms; John Mills, gun- 
 ner's mate ; James Morrison, 
 boatswain's mate ; Thomas Bur- 
 kitt, Matthew Quintal, John 
 Sumner, John Millward, Wil- 
 liam M'Koy, Henry Hillbrant, 
 Michael Byrne, William Mus- 
 prat, Alexander Smith, John 
 Williams, Thomas Ellison, Isaac 
 Martin, Richard Skinner, Mat- 
 thew Thompson, able seamen; 
 William Brown, gardener; Jo- 
 seph Coleman, armourer; Char- 
 les Norman, carpenter's mate ; 
 Thomas M'Intosh, carpenter's 
 crew. David Nelson, who had 
 served as botanist in Captain 
 Cook's last expedition, and Wil- 
 liam Brown, his assistant, were 
 recommended by Sir Joseph 
 Banks as skilful and careful 
 men, who could be safely trusted 
 with the management of the 
 bread-fruit plants which were to 
 be carried to the West Indies, 
 and others which were to be 
 brought to England for his Ma- 
 jesty's garden at Kew. A de- 
 
 scription of the bread-fruit plant 
 given by that doughty old com- 
 mander, William Dampier, to- 
 wards the close of the seventeenth 
 century, may be repeated here. 
 He describes it thus: "The 
 bread-fruit, as we call it, grows 
 on a large tree, as big and high 
 as our largest apple-trees ; it 
 hath a spreading head, full of 
 branches and dark leaves. The 
 fruit grows on the boughs like 
 apples ; it is as big as a penny 
 loaf, when wheat is at five shil- 
 lings the bushel ; it is of a round 
 shape, and hath a thick, tough 
 rind. When the fruit is ripe, it 
 is yellow and soft, and the taste 
 is sweet and pleasant. The na- 
 tives of Guam use it for bread. 
 They gather it, when full grown, 
 while it is green and hard ; then 
 they bake it in an oven, which 
 scorcheth the rind and makes it 
 black ; but they scrape off the 
 outside black crust, and there 
 remains a tender, thin crust; 
 and the inside is soft, tender, 
 and white, like the crumb of a 
 penny loaf. There is neither 
 seed nor stone in the inside, but 
 all is of a pure substance like 
 bread. It must be eaten new ; 
 for if it is kept above twenty- 
 four hours, it grows harsh and 
 choaky, but is very pleasant be- 
 fore it is too stale. This fruit 
 lasts in season eight months in 
 the year, during which the na- 
 tives eat no other sort of food 
 of bread kind. I did never see 
 of this fruit anywhere but here. 
 The natives told us that there 
 is plenty of this fruit growing on 
 the rest of the Ladrone Islands ; 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HEP MUTINEERS. 
 
 and I did never hear of it any- 
 where else." This tropical tree 
 can be kept alive by artificial 
 heat in England, but with diffi- 
 culty. The natives of the Mol- 
 ucca Islands use its leaves as 
 tablecloths. It is valuable for 
 many other purposes, good 
 cloths, for example, being manu- 
 factured from its inner bark.* 
 
 It was, then, to secure for 
 other climes, in which it could 
 not grow, such a plant of renown 
 that an event occurred which 
 interested the British public 
 deeply at the time it took place, 
 and which has human interest 
 abundantly sufficient to render 
 a narrative of it still attractive. 
 
 The Bounty cleared out from 
 Spithead in dull December. It 
 was on the 23d day of that 
 month, in the year 1787. Three 
 days after it sailed, a gale began 
 to blow from the east, which 
 continued three days, and which 
 greatly damaged the ship. The 
 square-yards, it was reported, and 
 spars out of the starboard main 
 chains, were broken by one sea. 
 Another stove all the boats. 
 Casks of beer which had been 
 lashed on the deck, were washed 
 overboard; and great was the 
 toil to secure the boats from 
 being all of them swept into the 
 sea. A great deal of the bread 
 on board was so damaged as to 
 be rendered uneatable. The sea 
 
 * For a full scientific account of 
 the bread-fruit tree, see Botanical 
 Magazine, vol. lv., pp. 2869-2871. 
 It is from the able pen of Sir W. 
 Hooker, and is illustrated with three 
 plates. 
 
 stove in the stern of the Bounty, 
 and filled her cabin with brine. 
 She had to touch at some avail- 
 able place, and Bligh put in at 
 Teneriffe on the 5th of January, 
 thirteen days after he had sailed. 
 It is a dreary kind of work this 
 weathering and finding one's 
 way out of a merciless storm at 
 sea, but it has to be done. The 
 cold, the care, and the doubt, 
 the firm sternly possessed look 
 of the captain and his subordi- 
 nates, as well as the willing, 
 weary labour of the hands undei 
 them, are not easily forgotten by 
 any grateful human being who 
 has ever felt his life, fortune, and 
 the prospects of his family de- 
 pendent on their knowledge and 
 nerve. At Teneriffe, the Bounty 
 was put to rights, " refitted and 
 refreshed," as Sir John Barrow 
 says, and she sailed again, after 
 five days' detention. 
 
 " I now," says Captain Bligh, 
 in that interesting narrative of 
 his, which all who tell the won- 
 derful tale of the adventures of 
 him, and the mutineers he failed 
 to control, simply repeat, with 
 slight attempts at variation, 
 " I now divided the people into 
 three watches, and gave the 
 charge of the third watch to Mr 
 Fletcher Christian, one of the 
 mates. I have always consi- 
 dered this a desirable regulation 
 when circumstances will admit 
 of it, and I am persuaded that 
 unbroken rest not only contri. 
 butes much towards the health 
 of the ship's company, but en- 
 ables them more readily to exert 
 themselves in cases of sudden 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 emergency." It is not easy, by 
 sea or land, for people who have 
 to toil to get " unbroken rest ; " 
 and Captain Bligh was in very 
 needful self-defence telling his 
 own story, but we must proceed 
 along with him. He was eager 
 to sail away to Otaheite with as 
 little delay as wind and weather 
 would allow ; but the late storm 
 had seriously diminished his 
 supply 01" provisions. So all 
 hands were put under a deduc- 
 tion of a third of the bread they 
 had bargained for. As a pre- 
 caution for their health in the 
 circumstances, Captain Bligh 
 resolved to purify the water they 
 drank, through filtering stones 
 he had procured at Teneriffe. 
 " I now," says he, " made the 
 ship's company acquainted with 
 the object of the voyage, and 
 gave assurances of the certainty 
 of promotion to every one whose 
 endeavours should merit it." 
 "Nothing indeed," Sir John Bar- 
 row remarks, " seemed to be ne- 
 glected on the part of the com- 
 mander to make his officers and 
 men comfortable and happy. 
 He was himself a thorough-bred 
 sailor, and availed himself of 
 every possible means of preserv- 
 ing the health of his crew. Con- 
 tinued rain and a close atmo- 
 sphere had covered everything 
 in the ship with mildew. She 
 was therefore aired below with 
 fires, and frequently sprinkled 
 with vinegar, and every interval 
 of dry weather was taken ad- 
 vantage of to open all the hatch- 
 ways, and clean the ship, and 
 to have all the people's wet 
 
 things washed and dried. With 
 these precautions to secure 
 health, they passed the hazy and 
 sultry atmosphere of the low 
 latitudes without a single com- 
 plaint." 
 
 On Sunday, the 2d of March, 
 Captain Bligh observes : "After 
 seeing that every person was 
 clean, divine service was per- 
 formed, according to my usual 
 custom. On this day I gave to 
 Mr Fletcher Christian, whom I 
 had before desired to take charge 
 of the third watch, a written 
 order to act as lieutenant." 
 
 Having reached as far as the 
 latitude of 36 south, on the gth 
 of March, " the change of tem- 
 perature/' he reports, "began 
 now to be sensibly felt, there 
 being a variation in the ther- 
 mometer since yesterday of 
 eight degrees. That the people 
 might not surfer from their own 
 negligence, I gave orders for 
 their light tropical clothing to 
 be put by, and made them dress 
 in a manner more suited to a 
 cold climate. I had provided 
 for this before I left England, 
 by giving directions for such 
 clothes to be purchased as would 
 be found necessary. On this 
 day, on a complaint of the mas- 
 ter, I found it necessary to 
 punish Matthew Quintal, one of 
 the seamen, with two dozen 
 lashes, for insolence and mutin- 
 ous behaviour. Before this I 
 had not had occasion to punish 
 any person on board." Bligh 
 did not yield to the temptation 
 which New Year's Harbour, in 
 Staten Island, near Cape Horn, 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 offered a sea-worn captain to 
 seek temporary rest from his 
 tossings. His men were in good 
 health, and he determined to 
 defer delay until he reached 
 Otaheite, in a rough way about 
 a hundred degrees farther west, 
 and nearly forty degrees north 
 a considerable distance to 
 think of in laying aside all 
 thoughts of refreshment. But 
 the risk was safe under a com- 
 mander like Captain Bligh. In 
 defence of the memory of others, 
 there will be occasion to criti- 
 cise his conduct before the story 
 of this mutiny is all told ; but 
 thus far he had taken such care 
 of the health of his ship's com- 
 pany as to render any stay in a 
 cold, inhospitable region near 
 Tierra del Fuego undesirable. 
 They encountered terrible wea- 
 ther off Cape Horn. A constant 
 fire on board day and night was 
 found necessary to mollify the be- 
 numbing influence of the wind, 
 hail, and sleet ; and one of the 
 watch had constantly to keep dry- 
 'jig the wet clothes of the men 
 who could get a chance of un- 
 dressing. This state of things in 
 the Southern Ocean lasted for 
 nine days. The ship began to 
 exhibit the natural results of such 
 tearing, wearing, stormy weather. 
 It required constant pumping. 
 The decks became leaky ; and 
 Captain Bligh allotted the great 
 cabin to those who had wet 
 berths. There they hung their 
 hammocks in circumstances very 
 discouraging for either keeping 
 awake or going to sleep. They 
 vere being driven back by the 
 
 storm every day; and to persist 
 in attempting a passage by this 
 route, the route which had been 
 prescribed by government, be- 
 gan to seem hopeless. At that 
 season of the year, and in such 
 weather, the Society Islands were 
 difficult to reach with the means 
 of navigation Captain Bligh, or 
 any other captain, had at com- 
 mand in the last quarter of the 
 eighteenth century. After strug- 
 gling for thirty days in a tem- 
 pestuous ocean, the plucky, 
 proud, and, it is to be feared, 
 overbearing commander of the 
 Bounty, resolved to turn right 
 round about, and bear away 
 eastward towards the Cape of 
 Good Hope, daringly and almost 
 despairingly, in a reverse direc- 
 tion, across the South Atlantic. 
 When the helm was put thus 
 a-weather, the captain tells us, 
 every person on board re- 
 joiced. 
 
 They arrived at the Cape on 
 the 23d of May, and, having 
 remained there thirty-eight days 
 to refit the ship, replenish pro- 
 visions, and refresh the crew, 
 they sailed again on the ist of 
 July, and anchored in Adven- 
 ture Bay, in Van Diemen's Land 
 (the island now called Tasma- 
 nia), on the 2oth August. Here, 
 we are told, they remained, 
 taking in wood and water, till 
 the 4th September, and on the 
 evening of the 25th October 
 they saw Otaheite, and the next 
 day came to anchor in Matavai 
 Bay, after a distance which the 
 ship had run over, by the log, 
 since leaving England, of 27,086 
 
8 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 miles, being on an average 108 
 miles each twenty-four hours. 
 
 The people inquired after 
 Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, 
 and others of their former 
 friends. "There appeared," says 
 Bligh, "among the natives in 
 general, great goodwill towards 
 us, and they seemed to be much 
 rejoiced at our arrival. The 
 whole day we experienced no 
 instance of dishonesty ; and we 
 were so much crowded that I 
 could not undertake to remove 
 to a more proper station, with- 
 out danger of disobliging our 
 visitors by desiring them to leave 
 the ship." 
 
 Otoo, the chief of the district, 
 on hearing of the arrival of the 
 Bounty, sent a small pig and a 
 young plantain tree as tokens 
 of friendship, worth noticing as 
 characteristic of the country and 
 the times. Provisions were now 
 plenteous not all made up of 
 the small pig and the young 
 plantain tree but, however 
 supplied, every man on board 
 had "as much as he could 
 consume" a great deal too 
 much, as would seem to less 
 accomplished writers. Captain 
 Bligh went on shore with the 
 chief, Poeeno, and passed 
 through a shady walk, the 
 shadows being thrown by bread- 
 fruit trees. Poeeno's wife and 
 sister were busy dyeing a bit of 
 cloth red. They requested, 
 with Otaheitan politeness, the 
 captain to sit down on a mat, 
 and offered him refreshments. 
 Some neighbours called to con- 
 ''i-ntulate him on the fact of his 
 
 arrival at their island, and, as is 
 duly reported, behaved with 
 great decorum and attention. 
 On taking leave, says Bligh, 
 "the ladies (for they deserve 
 to be called such from their 
 natural and unaffected manners, 
 and elegance of deportment) 
 got up, and taking some of their 
 finest cloth and a mat, clothed 
 me in the Otaheitan fashion, 
 and then said, ' We will go with 
 you to your boat;' and, each 
 taking me by the hand, amidst 
 a great crowd, led me to the 
 water side, and then took their 
 leave." In this day's walk, he 
 had the satisfaction of seeing 
 that the island had been bene- 
 fited by the former visits of 
 Captain Cook. Two shaddocks 
 were brought to him, a fruit 
 which they had not till Cook 
 introduced it; and among the 
 articles which they brought off 
 to the ship and offered for sale, 
 were capsicums, pumpkins, and 
 two young goats. 
 
 David Nelson, the botanist, 
 and William Brown, his assist- 
 ant, were sent out to look for 
 young bread-fruit plants. They 
 round them in abundance, and 
 the natives made no objection 
 to their gathering as many as 
 they liked. Nelson found two 
 fine shaddock trees which he 
 had planted in 1777; they were 
 loaded with fruit, which was not 
 quite ripe. Presents were given 
 to Otoo, the chief of Matavai, 
 who had, since Cook's visit, 
 changed his name to Tinah. 
 He was complimented on his 
 former kindness to the great 
 
THE BOUNTY 4ND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 voyager. King George III. had 
 sent out these valuable gifts to 
 him ; and "Will you not, Tinah," 
 said King George's emissary, 
 "send something toKingGeorge 
 in return? " " Yes," said Tinah, 
 "I will send him anything I 
 have" a promise he would 
 have been sure to break, if it 
 had been exacted to the full. 
 He mentioned the bread-fruit 
 tree as one of the things he 
 possessed. This was just what 
 Bligh was trying to lead the 
 chief up to mention; and he 
 remarked that King George 
 would like the bread-fruit tree 
 very much. So it was promised 
 that a great many plants of it 
 should be put on board the 
 Bounty. 
 
 Hitherto the theftuous Ota- 
 heitans had behaved with rea- 
 sonable honesty during their 
 visits to the ship, which they 
 constantly came to in crowds. 
 But one day the gudgeon of the 
 rudder belonging to the large 
 cutter was drawn out and stolen, 
 an event which the man sta- 
 tioned to take care of her should 
 have been wide enough awake 
 to have prevented. This and 
 some other petty thefts, owing 
 mainly to the man's negligence, 
 tended rather to interrupt the 
 good terms on which Captain 
 Bligh stood with the chiefs. 
 "I thought," he says, "it would 
 have a good effect to punish 
 the boat-keeper in their pre- 
 sence; and accordingly I or- 
 dered him a dozen lashes. All 
 who attended the punishment 
 interceded very earnestly to get 
 
 it mitigated. The women showed 
 great sympathy, and that degree 
 of feeling," writes the gallant 
 captain, " which characterises 
 the amiable part of their sex." 
 The longer they remained on the 
 islands, our bread-fruit seekers 
 liked the islanders and their con- 
 duct the better. 
 
 An Otaheitan Dido. 
 
 A very interesting picture of 
 Otaheitan society as it was expe- 
 rienced by the first English voy- 
 agers to the island, is furnished 
 by the following narrative, by 
 Sir John Barrow, who, though 
 himself not a sailor, was yet one 
 of the best writers on seafaring 
 subjects. It is about one of 
 King George III.'s renowned 
 navigators, Samuel Wallis, a 
 painstaking, sensible, and vera- 
 cious seaman, who was the first 
 to bring down the fabulous sta- 
 ture of the Patagonians to its 
 veritable height; and was the first 
 English commander who visited 
 Otaheite. It was he who recom- 
 mended Otaheite as the station 
 for observing the transit of Ven us, 
 in 1769. The first communica- 
 tion (writes our authority), which 
 Wallis had with these people 
 was unfortunately of a hostile 
 nature. Having approached 
 with his ship close to the shore, 
 the usual symbol of peace and 
 friendship, a branch of the plan- 
 tain tree, was held up by a 
 native in one of the numerous 
 canoes that surrounded the 
 ship. Great numbers, on being 
 invited, crowded on board the 
 stranger ship ; but one of them 
 
10 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 being butted on the haunches 
 by a goat, and turning hastily 
 round, perceiving it rearing on 
 its hind legs ready to repeat the 
 blow, was so terrified at the 
 appearance of this strange ani- 
 mal, so different from any he 
 had ever seen, that, in the mo- 
 ment of terror, he jumped over- 
 board, and all the rest followed 
 his example with the utmost 
 precipitation. 
 
 This little incident, however, 
 produced no mischief; but as 
 the boats were sounding in the 
 bay, and several canoes crowd- 
 inground them, Wallis suspected 
 the islanders had a design to 
 attack them ; and on this mere 
 suspicion, ordered the boats by 
 signal to come on board, " and 
 at the same time," he says, " to 
 intimidate the Indians, I fired 
 a nine-pounder over their heads." 
 This, as might have been ima- 
 gined, startled the islanders, 
 but did not prevent them from 
 attempting immediately to cut 
 off the cutter, as she was stand- 
 ing towards the ship. Several 
 stones were thrown into this 
 boat, on which the commanding 
 officer fired a musket loaded 
 with buck-shot, at the man who 
 threw the first stone, and wound- 
 ed him on the shoulder. 
 
 Finding no good anchorage 
 at this place, the ship proceeded 
 to another part of the island, 
 where, on one of the boats being 
 assailed by the Indians in two 
 or three canoes, with their clubs 
 and paddles in their hands, "Our 
 people," says the commander, 
 " being much pressed, were ob- 
 
 liged to fire, by which one of 
 the assailants was killed, and 
 another much wounded." This 
 unlucky rencontre did not, how- 
 ever, prevent, as soon as the 
 ship was moored, a great num- 
 ber of canoes from coming off 
 the next morning, with jiogs, 
 fowls, and fruit. A brisk traffic 
 soon commenced, our people 
 exchanging knives, nails, and 
 trinkets, for more substantial 
 articles of food, of which they 
 were in want. Among the 
 canoes that came out last were 
 some double ones of very large 
 size, with twelve or fifteen stout 
 men in each ; and it was ob- 
 served that they had little on 
 board, except a quantity of 
 round pebble stones. Other 
 canoes came off along with 
 them, having only women on 
 board ; and while these females 
 were assiduously practising their 
 allurements, by attitudes that 
 could not be misunderstood, 
 with the view, as it would seem, 
 to distract the attention of the 
 crew, the large double canoes 
 closed round the ship ; and as 
 these advanced, some of the 
 men began singing, some blow- 
 ing conches, and others playing 
 on flutes. One of them with a 
 person sitting under a canopy, 
 approached the ship so close, 
 as to allow this person to hand 
 up a bunch of red and yellow 
 feathers, making signs it was for 
 the captain. He then put off 
 to a little distance, and, on 
 holding up the branch of a 
 cocoa-nut tree, there was a uni- 
 versal shout from all the canoes. 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 11 
 
 which at the same moment 
 moved towards the ship, and a 
 shower of stones was poured 
 into her on every side. The 
 guard was now ordered to fire, 
 and two of the quarter-deck 
 guns, loaded with small shot, 
 were fired among them at the 
 same time, which created great 
 terror and confusion, and caused 
 them to retreat to a short dis- 
 tance. In a few minutes, how- 
 ever, they renewed the attack. 
 The great guns were now or- 
 dered to be discharged among 
 them, and also into a mass of 
 canoes that were putting off 
 from the shore. It is stated 
 that, at this time, there could 
 not be less than three hundred 
 canoes about the ship, having 
 on board at least two thousand 
 men. Again they dispersed ; 
 but, having soon collected into 
 something like order, they hoist- 
 ed white streamers, and pulled 
 towards the ship's stern, when 
 they again began to throw stones 
 with great force and dexterity, 
 by the help of slings, each of 
 the stones weighing about two 
 pounds ; and many of them 
 wounded the people on board. 
 At length a shot hit the canoe 
 that apparently had the chief 
 on board, and cut it asunder. 
 This was no sooner observed 
 by the 'rest, than they all dis- 
 persed in such haste, that in 
 half-an-hour there was not a 
 single canoe to be seen; and 
 all the people who had crowded 
 the shore fled over the hills 
 with the utmost precipitation. 
 What was to happen on the 
 
 following day was matter of con- 
 jecture ; but this point was soon 
 decided. 
 
 "The white man landed need the 
 
 rest be told ? 
 
 The new world stretch'd its dusk 
 hand to the old." 
 
 Lieutenant Furneaux, on the 
 next morning, landed, without 
 opposition, close to a fine river 
 that fell into the bay, stuck 
 up a staff on which was hoisted 
 a pendant, turned a turf, and 
 by this process took possession 
 of the island in the name of his 
 Majesty, and called it King 
 George the Third's Island. Just 
 as he was embarking, an old 
 man, to whom the lieutenant 
 had given a few trifles, brought 
 some green boughs, which he 
 threw down at the foot of the 
 staff, then, retiring, brought 
 about a dozen of his country- 
 men, who approached the staff 
 in a supplicating posture, then 
 retired and brought two live 
 hogs, which they laid down at 
 the foot of the staff, and then 
 began to dance. After this 
 ceremony, the hogs were put 
 into a canoe, and the old man 
 carried them on board, handing 
 up several green plantain leaves, 
 and uttering a sentence on the 
 delivery of each. Some pre- 
 sents were offered him in return; 
 but he would accept of none. 
 
 Concluding that peace was 
 now established, and that no 
 further] attack would be made, 
 the boats were sent on shore 
 the following day to get water. 
 While the casks were filling, 
 several natives were perceived 
 
12 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 coming from behind the hills 
 and through the woods, and at 
 the same time a multitude of 
 canoes from behind a projecting 
 point of the bay. As these were 
 discovered to be laden with 
 stones, and were making towards 
 the ship, it was concluded their 
 intention was to try their fortune 
 in a second grand attack. " As 
 to shorten the contest would 
 certainly lessen the mischief, I 
 determined," says Captain Wal- 
 lis, " to make this action deci- 
 sive, and put an end to hostilities 
 at once." Accordingly a tre- 
 mendous fire was opened at 
 once on all the groups of canoes, 
 which had the effect of imme- 
 diately dispersing them. The 
 fire was then directed into the 
 wood, to drive out the islanders 
 who had assembled in large 
 numbers, on which they all fled 
 to the hill, where the women 
 and children had seated them- 
 selves. Here they collected to 
 the amount of several thousands, 
 imagining themselves at that 
 distance to be perfectly safe. 
 The captain, however, ordered 
 four shot to be fired over them, 
 but two of the balls having 
 fallen close to a tree where a 
 number of them were sitting, 
 they were so struck with terror 
 and consternation, that in less 
 than two minutes, not a creature 
 was to be seen. The coast 
 being cleared, the boats were 
 manned and armed, and all 
 the carpenters with their axes 
 were sent on shore, with direc- 
 tions to destroy every canoe 
 they could find ; and we are 
 
 told this service was effectually 
 performed, and that more than 
 fifty canoes, many of which were 
 sixty feet long and three broad, 
 and lashed together, were cut 
 to pieces. 
 
 This act of severity must have 
 been cruelly felt by these poor 
 people, who without iron or any 
 kind of tools, but such as stones, 
 shells, teeth, and bones supplied 
 to them, musthave spent months, 
 and probably years, in the con- 
 struction of one of these extra- 
 ordinary double boats. 
 
 Such was the inauspicious 
 commencement of our acquaint- 
 ance with the natives of Ota- 
 heite. Their determined hos- 
 tility and perseverance in an 
 unequal combat could only have 
 arisen from one of two motives, 
 either from an opinion that a 
 ship of such magnitude as they 
 had never before beheld, could 
 only be come to their coast to 
 take their country from them; 
 or an irresistible temptation to 
 endeavour, at all hazards, to 
 possess themselves of so valu- 
 able a prize. Be that as it may, 
 the dread inspired by the effects 
 of the cannon, and perhaps a 
 conviction of the truth of what 
 had been explained to them, 
 that the " strangers wanted only 
 provisions and water," had the 
 effect of 'allaying all jealousy; 
 for from the day of the last 
 action, the most friendly and 
 uninterrupted intercourse was 
 established, and continued to 
 the day of the Dolphin's de- 
 parture ; and provisions of all 
 kinds hogs, dogs, fruit, and 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 13 
 
 vegetables were supplied in 
 the greatest abundance, in ex- 
 change for pieces of iron, nails, 
 and trinkets. 
 
 As a proof of the readiness of 
 these simple people to forgive 
 injuries, a poor woman, accom- 
 panied by a young man bearing 
 a branch of the plantain tree, 
 and another man with two hogs, 
 approached the gunner, whom 
 Captain Wallis had appointed 
 to regulate the market, and, 
 looking round on the strangers 
 with great attention, fixing her 
 eyes sometimes on one and 
 sometimes on another, at length 
 burst into tears. It appeared 
 that her husband and three of 
 her sons had been killed in the 
 attack on the ship. Whilst this 
 was under explanation, the poor 
 creature was so affected, as to 
 require the support of the two 
 young men, who, from their 
 weeping, were probably two 
 more of her sons. When some- 
 what composed, she ordered the 
 two hogs to be delivered to the 
 gunner, and gave him her hand 
 in token of friendship, but would 
 accept nothing in return. 
 
 Captain Wallis was now so 
 well satisfied that there was 
 nothing further to apprehend 
 from the hostility of the natives, 
 that he sent a party up the 
 country to cut wood, who were 
 treated with great kindness and 
 hof pitality by all they met ; and 
 the ship was visited by persons 
 of both sexes, who, by their 
 dress and behaviour, appeared 
 to be of a superior rank. Among 
 others was a tall lady about five- 
 
 and-forty years of age, of a pleas- 
 ing countenance and majestic 
 deportment She was under no 
 restraint, either from diffidence 
 or fear, and conducted herself 
 with that easy freedom which 
 generally distinguishes conscious 
 superiority and habitual com- 
 mand. She accepted some 
 small present which the captain 
 gave her with a good grace and 
 much pleasure ; and having ob- 
 served that he was weak and 
 suffering from ill health, she 
 pointed to the shore, which he 
 understood to be an invitation, 
 and made signs that he would 
 go thither the next morning. 
 His visit to this lady displays 
 so much character and good 
 feeling, that it will best be 
 described in the captain's own 
 words : 
 
 "The next morning I went 
 on shore for the first time, and 
 my princess (or rather queen, 
 for such by her authority she 
 appeared to be) soon after came 
 to me, followed by many of her 
 attendants. As she perceived 
 that my disorder had left me 
 very weak, she ordered her 
 people to take me in their arms, 
 and carry me not only over the 
 river, but all the way to her 
 house; and observing that some 
 of the people who were with me, 
 particularly the first lieutenant 
 and purser, had also been sick, 
 she caused them also to be 
 carried in the same manner, and 
 a guard, which I had ordered 
 out upon the occasion, followed. 
 In our way, a vast multitude 
 crowded about us; but upon 
 
14 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 her waving her hand, without 
 speaking a word, they withdrew, 
 and left us a free passage. When 
 we approached near her house, 
 a great number of both sexes 
 came out to meet her. These 
 she presented to me, after hav- 
 ing intimated by signs that they 
 were her relations ; and, taking 
 hold of my hand, she made them 
 kiss it 
 
 " We then entered the house, 
 which covered a piece of ground 
 327 feet long, and 42 feet broad. 
 It consisted of a roof thatched 
 with palm leaves, and raised 
 upon thirty-nine pillars on each 
 side, and fourteen in the middle. 
 The ridge of the thatch, on the 
 inside, was thirty feet high, and 
 the sides of the house, to the 
 edge of the roof, were twelve 
 feet high; all below the roof 
 being open. As soon as we 
 entered the house, she made us 
 sit down, and then, calling four 
 young girls, she assisted them to 
 take off my shoes, draw down 
 my stockings, and pull off my 
 coat; and then directed them 
 to smooth down the skin, and 
 gently chafe it with their hands. 
 The same operation was also 
 performed on the first lieutenant 
 and the purser, but upon none 
 of those who appeared to be in 
 health. While this was doing, 
 our surgeon, who had walked 
 till he was very warm, took off 
 his wig to cool and refresh him- 
 self. A sudden exclamation of 
 one of the Indians who saw it, 
 drew the attention of the rest ; 
 and in a moment every eye was 
 fixed upon the prodigy, and 
 
 every operation was suspended. 
 The whole assembly stood some 
 time motionless in silent aston- 
 ishment, which could not have 
 been more strongly expressed 
 if they had discovered that our 
 friend's limbs had been screwed 
 on to the trunk. In a short 
 time, however, the young women 
 who were chafing us resumed 
 their employment; and having 
 continued about half-an-hour, 
 they dressed us again ; but in 
 this they were, as may easily 
 be imagined, very awkward. I 
 found great benefit, however, 
 from the chafing, and so did the 
 lieuvenant and the purser. 
 
 " After a little time our gener- 
 ous benefactress ordered some 
 bales of Indian cloth to be 
 brought out, with which she 
 clothed me, and all that were 
 with me, according to the fashion 
 of the country. At first I de- 
 clined the acceptance of this 
 favour ; but being unwilling not 
 to seem pleased with what was 
 intended to please me, I acqui- 
 esced. When we went away, 
 she ordered a very large sow, 
 big with young, to be taken 
 down to the boat, and accom- 
 panied us thither herself. She 
 had given directions to her 
 people to carry me, as they had 
 done when I came ; but as I 
 chose rather to walk, she took 
 me by the arm, and whenever 
 we came to a plash of water or 
 dirt, she lifted me over with as 
 little trouble as it would have 
 cost me to have lifted over a 
 child, if I had been well." 
 
 The following morning Cap- 
 
THE BOUNTY AND flER MUTINEERS. 15 
 
 tain Wallis sent her a present 
 by the gunner, who found her 
 in the midst of an entertainment 
 given to at least a thousand 
 people. The messes were put 
 into shells of cocoa-nuts, and 
 the shells into wooden trays, 
 like those used by our butchers, 
 and she distributed them with 
 her own hands to the guests, 
 who were seated in rows in the 
 open air, round the great house. 
 When this was done, she sat 
 down herself upon a place some- 
 what elevated above the rest, 
 and two women, placing them- 
 selves one on each side of her, 
 fed her, she opening her mouth 
 as they brought their hands up 
 with the food. From this time 
 provisions were sent to market 
 in the greatest abundance. The 
 queen frequently visited the cap- 
 tain on board, and always with 
 a present; but she never con- 
 descended to barter, nor would 
 she accept of any return. 
 
 One day, after visiting her at 
 her house, the captain at parting 
 made her comprehend by signs 
 that he intended to quit the 
 island in seven days : she im- 
 mediately understood his mean- 
 ing, and by similar signs ex- 
 pressed her wish that he should 
 stay twenty days; that he should 
 go with her a couple of days' 
 journey into the country, stay 
 there a few days, return with 
 plenty of hogs and poultry, and 
 then go away ; but on persisting 
 in his first intention she burst 
 into tears, and it was not with- 
 out great difficulty that she 
 could DC pacified. The next 
 
 time that she went on board, 
 Captain Wallis ordered a good 
 dinner for her entertainment, 
 and those chiefs who were of 
 her party ; but the queen would 
 neither eat nor drink. As she 
 was going over the ship's side, 
 she asked, by signs, whether he 
 still persisted in leaving the 
 island at the time he had fixed, 
 and on receiving an answer in 
 the affirmative, she expressed 
 her regret by a flood of tears ; 
 and as soon as her passion sub- 
 sided, she told the captain that 
 she would come on board again 
 the following day. 
 
 Accordingly, the next day she 
 again visited the ship twice, 
 bringing each time large pre- 
 sents of hogs, fowls, and fruits. 
 The captain, after expressing 
 his sense of her kindness and 
 bounty, announced his intention 
 of sailing the following morning. 
 This, as usual, threw her into 
 tears, and, after recovering her- 
 self, she made anxious inquiry 
 when he should return ; he said, 
 in fifty days, with which she 
 seemed to be satisfied. " She 
 stayed on board," says Captain 
 Wallis, "till night, and it was 
 then with the greatest difficulty 
 that she could be prevailed upon 
 to go on shore. When she was 
 told that the boat was ready, 
 she threw herself down upon the 
 arm-chest, and wept a long time, 
 with an excess of passion that 
 could not be pacified; at last, 
 however, with the greatest re- 
 luctance, she was prevailed upon 
 to go into the boat, and was 
 followed by her attendants/ 
 
16 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 The next day, while the ship 
 was unmooring, the whole beach 
 was covered with the inhabi- 
 tants. The queen came down, 
 and, having ordered a double 
 canoe to be launched, was rowed 
 off by her own people, follow- 
 ed by fifteen or sixteen other 
 canoes. She soon made her 
 appearance on board ; but, not 
 being able to speak, she sat 
 down and gave vent to her pas- 
 sion by weeping. Shortly after, 
 a breeze springing up, the ship 
 made sail; and finding it now 
 necessary to return into her 
 canoe, " she embraced us all," 
 says Captain Wallis, " in the 
 most affectionate manner, and 
 with many tears ; all her attend- 
 ants also expressed great sorrow 
 at our departure. In a few 
 minutes she came into the bow 
 of her canoe, where she sat 
 weeping with inconsolable sor- 
 row. I gave her many things 
 which I thought would be of 
 great use to her, and some for 
 ornament : she silently accepted 
 of all, but took little notice of 
 anything. About ten o'clock 
 we had got without the reef, and 
 a fresh breeze springing up, our 
 Indian friends, and particularly 
 the queen, once more bade us 
 farewell, with such tenderness 
 of affection and grief, as filled 
 both my heart and my eyes." 
 
 This Otaheitan lady did not 
 sink under her sorrows. Far 
 fewer ladies do than romancers 
 have made the wide world to 
 believe. Virgil's account of the 
 conduct of Miserrima Dido is, 
 like his hits at that wonderful 
 
 old infidel, Mezentius contemp- 
 tor deum a good way off from 
 the kind of male and female 
 human beings we have to meet 
 in these last days, a people 
 who are neither Otaheitans nor 
 Romans. Let the readers of 
 this story find out all about 
 our Miserrima Dtdo, and not 
 believe in her burning herself. 
 Let them rather believe that, as 
 Sir John Barrow tells us, while 
 " the tender passion had cer- 
 tainly caught hold of one or 
 both of these worthies, and if 
 her majesty's language had been 
 as well understood by Captain 
 Wallis, as that of Dido was by 
 ^Eneas, when pressing him to 
 stay with her, there is no doubt 
 it would have been found not 
 less pathetic : 
 
 "Nee te noster amor, nee te data 
 
 dextera quondam, 
 Nee moritura tenet crudeli funere 
 Dido?" 
 
 This lady did not sink, like the 
 "miserrima Dido," under her 
 griefs ; on the contrary, we find 
 her in full activity and anima- 
 tion, and equally generous to 
 Captain Cook and his party, 
 under the name of Oberea, who, 
 it now appeared, was no queen, 
 but whose husband they discov- 
 ered was uncle to the young 
 king, then a minor, but from 
 whom she was separated. She 
 soon evinced a partiality for 
 Mr Banks, though not quite so 
 strong as that for Wallis ; but it 
 appears to have been mutual, 
 until an unlucky discovery took 
 place, that she had, at her com- 
 mand, a stout, strong -boned 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 17 
 
 cavaliereservente; added to which, 
 a theft, rather of an amusing 
 nature, contributed for a time 
 to create a coolness, and some- 
 what to disturb the good under- 
 standing that had subsisted be- 
 tween them. It happened that 
 a party, consisting of Cook, 
 Banks, Solander, and three or 
 four others, were benighted at 
 a distance from the anchorage. 
 Mr Banks, says Captain Cook, 
 thought himself fortunate in be- 
 ing offered a place by Oberea, 
 in her own canoe, and wishing 
 his friends a good-night, took 
 his leave. He went to rest early, 
 according to the custom of the 
 country; and taking off his 
 clothes, as was his constant prac- 
 tice, the nights being hot, Obe- 
 rea kindly insisted upon taking 
 them into her own custody, for 
 otherwise, she said, they would 
 certainly be stolen. Mr Banks 
 having, as he thought, so good 
 a safeguard, resigned himself to 
 sleep with all imaginable tran- 
 quillity; but awakening about 
 eleven o'clock, and wanting to 
 get up, he searched for his 
 clothes where he had seen them 
 carefully deposited by Oberea 
 when he lay down to sleep, and 
 perceived, to his sorrow and 
 surprise, that they were missing. 
 He immediately awakened Obe- 
 rea, who, starting up and hear- 
 ing his complaint, ordered lights, 
 and prepared in great haste to 
 recover what had been lost. 
 Tootahah (the regent) slept in 
 the next canoe, and, being soon 
 alarmed, he came to them, and 
 set out with Oberea in search 
 
 of the thief. Mr Banks was 
 not in a condition to go with 
 them, as of his apparel scarcely 
 anything was left him but his 
 breeches. In about half-an- 
 hour, his two noble friends re- 
 turned, but without having ob- 
 tained any intelligence of his 
 clothes, or of the thief. Where 
 Cook and Solander had disposed 
 of themselves, he did not know; 
 but hearing music, which was 
 sure to bring a crowd together, 
 in which there was a chance of 
 his associates being found, he 
 rose, and made the best of his 
 way towards it, and joined his 
 party, as Cook says, " more than 
 half naked, and toldus his melan- 
 choly story." 
 
 It was some consolation to 
 find that his friends were fellow- 
 sufferers, Cook having lost his 
 stockings, which had been stolen 
 from under his head, though he 
 had never been asleep, and his 
 associates their jackets. At 
 daybreak Oberea brought to 
 Mr Banks some of the native 
 clothes; " so that when he came 
 to us," says Cook, " he made a 
 most motley appearance, half 
 Indian and half English." Such 
 an adventure must have been 
 highly amusing to him who was 
 the object of it, when the incon- 
 venience had been removed, as 
 every one will admit who knew 
 the late venerable President oi 
 the Royal Society. He never 
 doubted, however, that Oberea 
 was privy to the theft ; and there 
 was strong suspicion of her hav- 
 ing some of the articles in her 
 custody. Being aware that this 
 
18 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 feeling existed, she absented 
 herself for some time; and when 
 she again appeared, she said a 
 favourite of hers had taken them 
 away, whom she had beaten and 
 dismissed; "but she seemed 
 conscious," says Cook, "that she 
 had no right to be believed ; she 
 discovered the strongest signs of 
 fear, yet she surmounted it with 
 astonishing resolution, and was 
 very pressing to be allowed to 
 sleep with her attendants in Mr 
 Banks's tent: in this, however, she 
 was not gratified." Sir Joseph 
 might have thought that, if he 
 complied with her request, the 
 other articles of his dress might 
 be in danger of following what 
 was already stolen. 
 
 This may do for an account 
 of the upper society of the folk, 
 with whom those young men had 
 to do. Let us, however, get on 
 with our story. The natives 
 did not make themselves dis- 
 agreeable. Every house offered 
 a kind reception. The Ota- 
 heitans proved themselves free 
 equally from forwardness and 
 from formality, and there was 
 a candour and sincerity about 
 them, which was quite delight- 
 ful. When they offered refresh- 
 ments, if these were not accept- 
 ed, the simple natives did not 
 offer them a second time. They 
 had not the least idea of any 
 ceremonious refusal. Would 
 they not have suited J. J. Rous- 
 seau ! " Having one day," says 
 the self-defending Bligh, "ex- 
 posed myself too much in the 
 sun, I was taken ill, on which all 
 the powerful people, both men 
 
 and women, collected round me, 
 offering their assistance. For 
 this short illness I was made 
 ample amends by the pleasure 
 I received from the attention 
 and appearance of affection in 
 these kind people." 
 
 On the 9th December, the 
 surgeon of the Bounty died from 
 the effects of intemperance and 
 indolence. This unfortunate 
 man is represented to have been 
 in a constant state of intoxica- 
 tion, and was so averse from 
 any kind of exercise, that he 
 never could be prevailed on to 
 take half-a-dozen turns upon the 
 deck at a time in the whole 
 course of the voyage. Cap- 
 tain Bligh had obtained per- 
 mission to bury him on shore ; 
 and on going with the chief 
 Tinah to the spot intended for 
 his burial-place, " I found," says 
 he, "the natives had already 
 begun to dig his grave." Tinah 
 asked if they were doing it right? 
 "There," says he, "the sun rises, 
 and there it sets." Whether the 
 idea of making the grave east 
 and west is their own, or whether 
 they learnt it from the Spaniards, 
 who buried the captain of their 
 ship on the island in 1774, there 
 was no means of ascertaining ; 
 but it was certain they had no 
 intimation of that kind from any- 
 body belonging to the Bounty. 
 When the funeral took place, 
 the chiefs and many of the na- 
 tives attended the ceremony, 
 and showed great attention dur- 
 ing the service. Many of the 
 principal natives attended divine 
 service on Sundays, and behaved 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 19 
 
 \yith great decency. Some of 
 the women at one time betrayed 
 an inclination to laugh at the 
 general responses ; but the cap- 
 tain says, on looking at them, 
 they appeared much ashamed. 
 
 The delightful border of low 
 land, of the breadth of about 
 three miles, between the sea- 
 coast and the foot of the hills, 
 which consisted of a country 
 well covered with bread-fruit 
 and cocoa trees, was strewed 
 with houses in which were 
 swarms of children playing 
 about. " It is delightful," Bligh 
 observes, "to see the swarms 
 of little children that are every- 
 where to be seen employed at 
 their several amusements; some 
 flying kites, some swinging in 
 ropes suspended from the 
 boughs of trees, others walking 
 on stilts, some wrestling, and 
 others playing all manner of 
 antic tricks, such as are com- 
 mon to boys in England. The 
 little girls have also their 
 amusements, consisting gene- 
 rally of heivahs or dances." On 
 an evening, just before sunset, 
 the whole beach abreast the 
 ship is described as being like 
 a parade, crowded with men, 
 women, and children, who go 
 
 on with their sports and amuse- 
 ments till nearly dark, when 
 every one peaceably returns to 
 his home. At such times, we 
 are told, from three to four 
 hundred people are assembled 
 together, and all happily di- 
 verted, good - humoured, and 
 affectionate to one another, 
 without a single quarrel having 
 ever happened to disturb the 
 harmony that existed among 
 these amiable people. Both 
 boys and girls are said to be 
 handsome and very sprightly. 
 
 It did not appear that much 
 pains were taken in their plan- 
 tations, except those of the ava 
 and the cloth-plant; many of 
 the latter are fenced with stone, 
 and surrounded with a ditch. 
 In fact, Nature had done so 
 much for them, that they have 
 no great occasion to use exer- 
 tion in obtaining a sufficient 
 supply of either food or rab 
 ment. Yet when Bligh com. 
 menced taking up the bread- 
 fruit plants, he derived much 
 assistance from the natives in 
 collecting and pruning them, 
 which they understood per- 
 fectly well. The behaviour of 
 these people on all occasions 
 was highly deserving of praise. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MUTINY OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 ONE morning, at the relief of the 
 vatch, the small cutter was miss- 
 ing. The ship's company were 
 
 immediately mustered, when it 
 appeared that three men were 
 absent. They had taken with 
 
20 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 them eight stand of arms and 
 ammunition ; but what their 
 plan was, or which way they 
 had gone, no one on board 
 seemed to have the least know- 
 ledge. Information being given 
 of the route they had taken, the 
 master was despatched to search 
 for the cutter, and one of the 
 chiefs went with him ; but before 
 they had got half-way, they met 
 the boat with five of the natives, 
 who were bringing her back to 
 the ship. For this service they 
 were handsomelyrewarded. The 
 chiefs promised to use every 
 possible means to detect and 
 bring back the deserters, which, 
 in a few days, some of the 
 islanders had so far accom- 
 plished as to seize and bind 
 them, but let them loose again 
 on a promise that they would 
 return to their ship, which they 
 did not exactly fulfil, but gave 
 themselves up soon after on a 
 search being made for them. 
 
 A few days after this, a much 
 more serious occurrence hap- 
 pened, that was calculated to 
 give to the commander great 
 concern. The wind had blown 
 fresh in the night, and at day- 
 light it was discovered that the 
 cable, by which the ship rode, 
 had been cut near the water's 
 edge, in such a manner that 
 only one strand remained whole. 
 While they were securing the 
 ship, Tinah came on board; 
 and though there was no reason 
 whatever to suppose otherwise 
 than that he was perfectly inno- 
 cent of the transaction, never- 
 theless, says the commander, 
 
 " I spoke to him in a very 
 peremptory manner, and in- 
 sisted upon his discovering and 
 bringing to me the offender. 
 He promised to use his utmost 
 endeavours to discover the 
 guilty person. The next morn- 
 ing he and his wife came to me, 
 and assured me that they had 
 made the strictest inquiries 
 without success. This was not 
 at all satisfactory, and I be- 
 haved towards them with great 
 coolness, at which they were 
 very much distressed ; and the 
 lady at length gave vent to her 
 sorrow by tears. I could no 
 longer keep up the appearance 
 of mistrusting them ; but I ear- 
 nestly recommended to them, as 
 they valued the King of Eng- 
 land's friendship, that they would 
 exert their utmost endeavours 
 to find out the offenders, which 
 they faithfully promised to do." 
 
 Bligh seems from this time to 
 have begun to suspect the loyalty 
 of his men. He set up in his own 
 mind the theory that their pur- 
 pose was to remain in Otaheite, 
 among its pleasant society at 
 least, he wrote so in his defence. 
 He writes, however, that he did 
 not entertain any thought of the 
 kind, nor did the possibility of 
 it enter into his ideas. This, 
 in consideration of all that 
 happened afterwards, looks very 
 much like an after-thought. 
 
 The Bounty arrived October 
 26th, 1788, and remained till- 
 the 4th of April 1789 a length 
 of time which would require to 
 be economically accounted for 
 in days like ours. Bligh says, 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 21 
 
 dating March 3ist, "To-day, 
 all the plants were on board, 
 being in seven hundred and 
 seventy-four pots, thirty-nine 
 tubs, and twenty-four boxes. 
 The number of bread-fruit 
 plants was one thousand and 
 fifteen, besides which we had 
 collected a number of other 
 plants : the Avee, which is one 
 of the finest flavoured fruits in 
 the world ; the Ayyah, which is 
 not so rich, but of a fine flavour 
 and very refreshing; the Rattah, 
 not much unlike a chestnut, 
 which grows on a large tree in 
 great quantities ; they are singly 
 in large pods, from one to two 
 inches broad, and may be eaten 
 raw or boiled in the same man- 
 ner as Windsor beans, and so 
 dressed are equally good; the 
 Orai-ab, which is a very superior 
 kind of plantain. All these I 
 was particularly recommended 
 to collect by my worthy friend, 
 Sir Joseph Banks." 
 
 Sir John Barrow goes on to 
 relate another incident, to show 
 the grief these poor people ex- 
 hibited when losing a friend. 
 He says that while these active 
 preparations for departure were 
 going on, the good chief Tinah, 
 on bringing a present for King 
 George, could not refrain from 
 shedding tears. During the re- 
 mainder of their stay, there 
 appeared among the natives an 
 evident degree of sorrow that 
 they were soon to leave them, 
 which they showed by a more 
 than usual degree of kindness 
 and attention. The above- 
 mentioned excellent chief, with 
 
 his wife, brothers, and sister, 
 requested to remain on board 
 for the night previous to the 
 sailing of the Bounty. The ship 
 was crowded with the natives, 
 and she was loaded with pre- 
 sents of cocoa-nuts, plantains, 
 bread-fruits, hogs, and goats. 
 Contrary to what had been the 
 usual practice, there was this 
 evening no dancing or mirth on 
 the beach, such as they had long 
 been accustomed to; but all 
 was silent. 
 
 At sunset, the boat returned 
 from landing Tinah and his 
 wife, and the ship made sail, 
 bidding farewell to Otaheite, 
 where, Bligh observes, " for 
 twenty- three weeks we had 
 been treated with the utmost 
 affection and regard, which 
 seemed to increase in propor- 
 tion to our stay. That we were 
 not insensible to their kindness, 
 the events that followed more 
 than sufficiently prove; for to 
 the friendly and endearing be- 
 haviour of these people may be 
 ascribed the motives for that 
 event which effected the ruin 
 of an expedition that there was 
 every reason to hope would 
 have been completed in the 
 most fortunate manner." 
 
 The morning after their de- 
 parture, they got sight of Hua- 
 heine, and a double canoe soon 
 coming alongside, containing 
 ten natives ; among them was a 
 young man who recollected 
 Captain Bligh, and called him 
 by name, having known him 
 when there in the year 1780, 
 with Captain Cook in the Re- 
 
22 THE BO UNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 solution. Several other canoes 
 arrived with hogs, yams, and 
 other provisions, which they 
 purchased. This person con- 
 firmed the account that had 
 already been received of Omai, 
 and said, that of all the animals 
 which had been left with Omai, 
 the mare only remained alive ; 
 that the seeds and plants had 
 been all destroyed, except one 
 tree, but of what kind that was 
 he could not satisfactorily ex- 
 plain. A few days after sailing 
 from this island, the weather 
 became squally, and a thick 
 body of black clouds collected 
 in the east. A water-spout was 
 in a short time seen at no great 
 distance from the ship, which 
 appeared to great advantage 
 from the darkness of the clouds 
 behind it. The upper part is 
 described as being about two 
 feet in diameter, and the lower 
 about eight inches. It advanced 
 rapidly towards the ship, when 
 it was deemed expedient to alter 
 the course, and to take in all 
 the sails, except the foresail ; 
 soon after which it passed within 
 ten yards of the stern, making 
 a rustling noise, but without 
 their feeling the least effect from 
 its being so near. The rate at 
 which it travelled was judged to 
 be about ten miles per hour, 
 going towards the west, in the 
 direction of the wind ; and in a 
 quarter of an hour after passing 
 the ship it dispersed As they 
 passed several low islands, the 
 natives of one of them came out 
 in their canoes, and it was 
 observed that they all spoke the 
 
 language of Otaheite. Presents 
 of iron, beads, and a looking- 
 glass, were given to them ; but 
 it was observed that the chief, 
 on leaving the ship, took pos- 
 session of everything that had 
 been distributed. One of them 
 showed some signs of dissatis- 
 faction, but after a little alterca- 
 tion, they joined noses and were 
 reconciled. 
 
 The Bounty anchored at Ana- 
 mooka on the 23d April ; and 
 an old lame man, named Tepa, 
 whom Bligh had known here in 
 1777, and immediately recol- 
 lected, came on board along 
 with others from different islands 
 in the vicinity. This man hav- 
 ing formerly been accustomed 
 to the English manner of speak- 
 ing their language, the com- 
 mander found he could converse 
 with him tolerably well. He 
 told him that the cattle which 
 had been left at Tongataboo 
 had all bred, and that the old 
 ones were yet living. Being 
 desirous of seeing the ship, he 
 and his companions were taken 
 below, and the bread-fruit and 
 other plants were shown to 
 them, on seeing which they were 
 greatly surprised. 
 
 "I landed," says Bligh, "in 
 order to procure some bread-fruit 
 plants, to supply the place of 
 one that was dead, and two or 
 three others that were a little 
 sickly. I walked to the west 
 part of the bay, where some 
 plants and seeds had been sown 
 by Captain Cook ; and had the 
 satisfaction to see, in a planta- 
 tion close by, about twenty fine 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 23 
 
 pine-apple plants, but no fruit, 
 this not being the proper season. 
 They told me that they had 
 eaten many of them, that they 
 were very fine and large, and 
 that at Tongataboo there were 
 great numbers." 
 
 Numerous were the marks of 
 mourning with which these 
 people disfigured themselves ; 
 such as bloody temples, their 
 heads deprived of most of their 
 hair; and, what was worse, 
 almost all of them with the loss 
 of some of their fingers. Several 
 fine boys, not above six years 
 of age, had lost both their little 
 fingers ; and some of the men 
 had parted with the middle fin- 
 ger of the right hand. 
 
 A brisk trade soon began to 
 be carried on for yams. Some 
 plantains and bread-fruit were 
 likewise brought on board, but 
 no hogs. Some of the sailing 
 canoes which arrived in the 
 course of the day, were large 
 enough to contain not less than 
 ninety passengers. From these 
 the officers and crew purchased 
 hogs, dogs, fowls, and shaddocks; 
 yams very fine and large one 
 of them actually weighed above 
 forty-five pounds. The crowd 
 of natives had become so great 
 the next day, Sunday 26th, 
 that it became impossible to do 
 anything. The watering party 
 were therefore ordered to go 
 on board, and it was determined 
 to sail. The ship was accord- 
 ingly unmoored and got under 
 way. A grapnel, however, 
 had been stolen ; and Bligh 
 informed the chiefs that were 
 
 still on board, that unless it was 
 returned, they must remain in 
 the ship; at which they were sur- 
 prised and not a little alarmed. 
 "I detained them," he says, 
 " till sunset, when their uneasi- 
 ness increased to such a degree 
 that they began to beat them- 
 selves about the face and eyes, 
 and some of them cried bitterly. 
 As this distress was more than 
 the grapnel was worth, I could 
 not think of detaining them 
 longer, and called their canoes 
 alongside. I told them that 
 they were at liberty to go, and 
 made each of them a present of 
 a hatchet, a saw, with some 
 knives, gimlets, and nails. This 
 unexpected present, and the 
 sudden change in their situation, 
 affected them not less with joy 
 than they had before been with 
 apprehension. They were un- 
 bounded in their acknowledg- 
 ments ; and I have little doubt 
 but that we parted better friends 
 than if the affair had never hap- 
 pened." 
 
 From this island the ship 
 stood to the northward all night, 
 with light winds; and on the 
 next day, the 27th, at noon, 
 they were between the islands 
 Tofoa and Kotoo. 
 
 "Thus far," says Bligh, "the 
 voyage had advanced in a course 
 of uninterrupted prosperity, and 
 had been attended with many 
 circumstances equally pleasing 
 and satisfactory. A very differ- 
 ent scene was now to be ex- 
 perienced. A conspiracy had 
 been formed, which was to ren- 
 der all our past labour produc- 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 tive only of extreme misery and 
 distress. The means had been 
 concerted and prepared with so 
 much secrecy and circumspec- 
 tion, that no one circumstance 
 appeared to occasion the small- 
 est suspicion of the impending 
 calamity, the result of an act of 
 piracy the most consummate 
 and atrocious that was probably 
 ever committed." 
 
 How far Bligh was justified 
 in ascribing the calamity to a 
 conspiracy, will be seen here- 
 after. We now proceed to give 
 in detail the facts of the muti- 
 nous proceedings, as stated by 
 Captain Bligh in his narrative. 
 
 " In the morning of the 28th 
 April," he reports, "the north- 
 westmost of the Friendly Islands, 
 called Tofoa, bearing north-east, 
 I was steering to the westward 
 with a ship in the most perfect 
 order, all my plants in the most 
 perfect condition, all my men and 
 officers in good health ; and, in 
 short, everything to flatter and 
 ensure my most sanguine expec- 
 tations. On leaving the deck, 
 I gave directions for the course 
 to be steered during the night. 
 The master had the first watch; 
 the gunner the middle watch ; 
 and Mr Christian the morning 
 watch. This was the turn of 
 duty for the night. 
 
 "Just before sun-rising, on 
 Tuesday the 28th, while I was 
 yet asleep, Mr Christian, officer 
 of the watch, Charles Churchill, 
 ship's corporal, John Mills, 
 gunner's mate, and Thomas 
 Burkitt, seaman, came into my 
 cabir, and seizing me, tied my 
 
 hands with a cord behind my 
 back, threatening me with in- 
 stant death if I spoke or made 
 the least noise. I called, how- 
 ever, as loud as I could, in hopes 
 of assistance ; but they had 
 already secured the officers who 
 were not of their party, by 
 placing sentinels at their doors. 
 There were three men at my 
 cabin door besides the four 
 within. Christian had only a 
 cutlass in his hand, the others 
 had muskets and bayonets. I 
 was hauled out of bed, and 
 forced on deck in my shirt, 
 suffering great pain from the 
 tightness with which they had 
 tied my hands. I demanded 
 the reason of such violence, but 
 received no other answer than 
 abuse for not holding my tongue. 
 The master, the gunner, Mr 
 Elphinstone, the master's mate, 
 and Nelson, were kept confined 
 below; and the fore-hatchway 
 was guarded by sentinels. The 
 boatswain and carpenter, and 
 also Mr Samuel, the clerk, were 
 allowed to come upon deck, 
 where they saw me standing abaft 
 the mizzen-mast, with my hands 
 tied behind my back, under a 
 guard with Christian at their 
 head. The boatswain was order- 
 ed to hoist the launch out, with 
 a threat, if he did not do it in- 
 stantly, to take care of himself. 
 When the boat was out, Mr 
 Hayward, and Mr Hallet, two of 
 the midshipmen, and Mr Samuel 
 were ordered into it. I de- 
 manded what their intention 
 was in giving this order, and 
 endeavoured to persuade the 
 
THE JIOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 25 
 
 people near me not to persist in 
 such acts of violence ; but it was 
 to no effect 'Hold your tongue, 
 sir, or you are dead this instant,' 
 was constantly repeated tome." 
 
 The master by this time had 
 sent to request that he might 
 come on deck, which was per- 
 mitted ; but he was soon ordered 
 back again to his cabin. 
 
 " I continued my endeavours 
 to turn the tide of affairs, when 
 Christian changed the cutlass 
 which he had in his hand, for a 
 bayonet that was brought to him, 
 and, holding me with a strong 
 gripe by the cord that tied my 
 hands, he threatened, with many 
 oaths, to kill me immediately, if 
 I would not be quiet. 
 
 " The boatswain and seamen 
 who were to go in the boat, 
 were allowed to collect twine, 
 canvas, lines, sails, cordage, an 
 eight-and-twenty gallon cask of 
 water ; and Mr Samuel got one 
 hundred and fifty pounds of 
 bread, with a small quantity of 
 rum and wine, also a quadrant 
 and compass ; but he was for- 
 bidden, on pain of death, to 
 touch either map, ephemeris, 
 book of astronomical observa- 
 tions, sextant, time-keeper, or 
 any of my surveys or drawings. 
 
 "The mutineers having forced 
 those of the seamen whom they 
 meant to get rid of into the 
 boat, Christian directed a dram 
 to be served to each of his own 
 crew. I then unhappily saw 
 that nothing could be done to 
 effect the recovery of the ship : 
 there was no one to assist me, 
 and every endeavour on my 
 
 part was answered with threats 
 of death. 
 
 "The officers were next called 
 upon deck, and forced over the 
 side into the boat, while I was 
 kept apart from every one, 
 abaft the mizzen-mast; Christian, 
 armed with a bayonet, holding 
 me by the bandage that secured 
 my hands. The guard round 
 me had their pieces cocked; 
 but on my daring the ungrate- 
 ful wretches to fire, they un- 
 cocked them. 
 
 "Isaac Martin, one of the 
 guard over me, I saw, had an 
 inclination to assist me, and, 
 as he fed me with shaddock, 
 my lips being quite parched, 
 we explained our wishes to each 
 other by our looks; but this 
 being observed, Martin was re- 
 moved from me. He then at- 
 tempted to leave the ship, for 
 which purpose he got into the 
 boat; but with many threats 
 they obliged him to return. 
 
 "The armourer, Joseph Cole- 
 man, and two of the carpenters, 
 M'Intosh and Norman, were 
 also kept contrary to their in- 
 clination; and they begged of 
 me, after I was astern in the 
 boat, to remember that they de- 
 clared they had no hand in the 
 transaction. Michael Byrne, I 
 am told, likewise wanted to 
 leave the ship. 
 
 "To Mr Samuel, the clerk, I am 
 indebted for securing my jour- 
 nals and commission, with some 
 material ship papers. This he 
 did with great resolution, though 
 guarded and strictly watched. 
 He attempted to save the time- 
 
26 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 keeper, and a box with my 
 surveys, drawings, and remarks 
 for fifteen years past, which 
 were numerous, when he was 
 hurried away. 
 
 "It appeared to me that 
 Christian was some time in 
 doubt whether he should keep 
 the carpenter or his mates. At 
 length he determined on the 
 latter, and the carpenter was 
 ordered into the boat. He was 
 permitted but not without some 
 opposition, to take his tool- 
 chest. 
 
 (/ Much altercation took place 
 among the mutinous crew during 
 the whole business : some swore, 
 others laughed at the helpless 
 condition of the boat, being 
 very deep, and so little room 
 for those that were in her. As 
 for Christian, he seemed as if 
 meditating destruction on him- 
 self and every one else. 
 
 " I asked for arms, but they 
 laughed at me; four cutlasses, 
 however, were thrown into the 
 boat after we were veered 
 astern. I was forced over the 
 side when they untied my hands. 
 A few pieces of junk were thrown 
 at us, and some clothes. We 
 were at length cast adrift in the 
 open ocean. 
 
 " Christian, the chief of the 
 mutineers, is," says Captain 
 Bligh, "of a respectable family in 
 the north of England. This was 
 the third voyage he had made 
 with me ; and as I found it 
 necessary to keep my ship's 
 company at three watches, I 
 had given him an order to take 
 charge of the third, his abilities 
 
 being thoroughly equal to the 
 task; and by this means the 
 master and gunner were not i 
 watch and watch. 
 
 " Heywood is also of a re 
 spectable family in the north 
 of England,* and a young man 
 of abilities as well as Christian. 
 These two had been objects of 
 my particular regard and atten- 
 tion, and I had taken great 
 pains to instruct them, having 
 entertained hopes that, as pro- 
 fessional men, they would have 
 become a credit to their country. 
 
 "Young was well recom- 
 mended, and had the look of 
 an able, stout seaman ; he, how- 
 ever, fell short of what his ap- 
 pearance promised. 
 
 "Stewart was a young man 
 of creditable parents in the 
 Orkneys ; at which place, on 
 the return of the Resolution 
 from the South Seas, in 1780, 
 we received so many civilities, 
 that, on that account only, I 
 should gladly have taken him 
 with me : but, independent of 
 this recommendation, he was a 
 seaman, and had always borne 
 a good character. 
 
 "Notwithstanding the rough- 
 ness with which I was treated, 
 the remembrance of past kind- 
 nesses produced some signs of 
 remorse in Christian. When 
 they were forcing me out of the 
 ship, I asked him if this treat- 
 ment was a proper return for 
 the many instances he had re- 
 ceived of my friendship? He 
 
 * He was born in the Isle of Man, 
 his father being Deemster of Man, and 
 seneschal to the Duke of AthoL 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTTNEERS. 27 
 
 appeared disturbed at my ques- 
 tion, and answered with much 
 emotion, 'That Captain Bligh 
 that is the thing; I am in 
 hell, I am in hell ! ' 
 
 "It will very naturally be 
 asked, what could be the reason 
 for such a revolt? In answer 
 to which I can only conjecture 
 that the mutineers had flattered 
 themselves with the hopes of a 
 more happy life among the Ota- 
 heitans than they could possibly 
 enjoy in England; and this, 
 joined to some female connec- 
 tions, most probably occasioned 
 the whole transaction. The 
 ship, indeed, while within our 
 sight, steered to the W.N.W., 
 but I considered this only as a 
 feint; for when we were sent 
 away, ' Huzza, for Otaheite ! ' 
 was frequently heard among the 
 mutineers. 
 
 " The women of Otaheite are 
 handsome, mild and cheerful in 
 their manners and conversation, 
 possessed of great sensibility, 
 and have sufficient delicacy to 
 make them admired and be- 
 loved. The chiefs were so much 
 attached to our people, that 
 they rather encouraged their 
 stay among them than other- 
 wise, and even made them 
 promises of large possessions. 
 Under these and many other 
 attendant circumstances, equally 
 desirable, it is now perhaps not 
 so much to be wondered at, 
 though scarcely possible to have 
 been foreseen, that a set of 
 sailors, most of them void of 
 connections, should be led away; 
 especially when, in addition to 
 
 such powerful inducements, they 
 imagined it in their power to 
 fix themselves in the midst of 
 plenty, on one of the finest 
 islands in the world, where they 
 need not labour, and where the 
 allurements of dissipation are 
 beyond anything that can be 
 conceived. 
 
 " Desertions have happened, 
 more or less, from most of the 
 ships that have been at the 
 Society Islands ; but it has 
 always been in the commander's 
 power to make their chiefs re- 
 turn their people : the know- 
 ledge, therefore, that it was 
 unsafe to desert, perhaps first 
 led mine to consider with what 
 ease so small a ship might be 
 surprised, and that so favour- 
 able an opportunity would never 
 offer to them again. 
 
 " The secrecy of this mutiny 
 is beyond all conception. Thir- 
 teen of the party, who were with 
 me, had always lived forward 
 among the seamen ; yet neither 
 they, nor the messmates of Chris- 
 tian, Stewart, Heywood, and 
 Young, had ever observed any 
 circumstance that made them in 
 the least suspect what was going 
 on. To such a close-planned act 
 of villany, my mind being en- 
 tirely free from any suspicion, it 
 is not wonderful that I fell a sac- 
 rifice. Perhaps, if there had been 
 marines on board, a sentinel at 
 my cabin door might have pre- 
 vented it ; for I slept with the 
 door always open, that the offi- 
 cers of the watch might have ac- 
 cess to me on all occasions, the 
 possibility of such a conspiracy 
 
28 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 being ever the furthest from 
 my thoughts. Had the mutiny 
 been occasioned by any griev- 
 ances, either real or imaginary, 
 I must have discovered symp- 
 toms of their discontent, which 
 would have put me on my guard; 
 but the case was far otherwise. 
 Christian, in particular, I was on 
 the most friendly terms with: 
 that very day he was engaged to 
 have dined with me; and the 
 preceding night he excused 
 himself from supping with me, 
 on pretence of being unwell, 
 for which I felt concerned, 
 having no suspicions of his 
 integrity and honour." 
 
 This is the story Captain 
 Bligh told when he returned, 
 the observed of all observers, 
 from one of the most perilous 
 and distressing voyages over 
 nearly four thousand miles of 
 wide, wild ocean, in an open 
 boat. The London slaveholders 
 would have their eye on him; 
 and this, at that time, was a 
 motive for another effort, bor- 
 dering, in point of deter- 
 mined energy, upon that one 
 by which he overtook the four 
 thousand miles. Whether he 
 himself wrote his narrative or 
 not, is one of those questions 
 which no man need ever attempt 
 to put, much less to answer ; but 
 certain it is that the story is 
 skilfully told as against the 
 miserable mutineers. In again 
 telling their story now, we have a 
 deep sympathy with them. More 
 sinned against than sinning, 
 young Christian seems to have 
 been; and the results, as we 
 
 shall find, were not those which 
 could have issued from the 
 instincts of persons liberally 
 described by Captain Bligh as 
 wretches and scoundrels. 
 
 Captain Bligh's story, how- 
 ever, obtained implicit credit 
 in those wise old days in which 
 slaveholders in London and 
 elsewhere made large fortunes. 
 He never had been a man re- 
 nowned for suavity of manners 
 or mildness of temper, but was 
 always considered, and justly 
 too, an excellent seaman. "We 
 all know," it was said in the 
 United Service Journal for April 
 1831, "that mutiny can arise 
 but from one of these two 
 sources excessive folly or ex- 
 cessive tyranny ; therefore, as it 
 is admitted that Bligh was no 
 idiot, the inference is obvious." 
 
 "Not only," continues the 
 writer, "was the narrative which 
 he published proved to be false 
 in many material bearings, by 
 evidence before a court-martial, 
 Lut every act of his public life 
 after this event from his 
 successive command of the 
 Director, the Glatton, and the 
 Warrior, to his disgraceful ex- 
 pulsion from New South Wales 
 was stamped with an in- 
 solence, an inhumanity, and 
 coarseness, .which fully devel- 
 oped his character." 
 
 There is no intention, in 
 narrating this eventful history 
 (writes SirJohnBarrow),to accuse 
 or defend either the character or 
 the conduct of the late Admiral 
 Bligh ; it is well known his 
 te.npsr was irritable in the ex- 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 29 
 
 treme ; but the circumstance of 
 his having been the friend of 
 Captain Cook, with whom he 
 sailed as his master, of his 
 ever afterwards being patronised 
 by Sir Joseph Banks of the 
 Admiralty promoting him to the 
 rank of commander, appointing 
 him immediately to the Provi- 
 dence, to proceed on the same 
 expedition to Otaheite, and of 
 his returning in a very short 
 time to England with complete 
 success, and recommending all 
 his officers for promotion on 
 account of their exemplary con- 
 duct, of his holding several 
 subsequent employments in the 
 service, of his having com- 
 manded ships of the line in 
 the battles of Copenhagen and 
 Camperdown, and risen to the 
 rank of a flag-officer; these may 
 perhaps be considered to speak 
 something in his favour, and be 
 allowed to stand as some proof 
 that, with all his failings, he had 
 his merits. That he was a man 
 of coarse habits, and entertained 
 very mistaken notions with re- 
 gard to discipline, is quite true ; 
 yet he had many redeeming 
 qualities. 
 
 The same writer further says, 
 "We know that the officers 
 fared in every way worse than 
 the men, and that even young 
 Heywood was kept at the mast- 
 head no less than eight hours 
 at one spell, in the worst weather 
 which they encountered off 
 Cape Horn." 
 
 Young Heywood in his de- 
 fence, said, " Captain Bligh, in 
 his narrative, acknowledges that 
 
 he had left some friends on 
 board the Bounty, and no part 
 of my conduct could have in- 
 duced him to believe that I 
 ought not to be reckoned of the 
 number. Indeed, from his at- 
 tention to, and very kind treat- 
 ment of me, personally, I should 
 have been a monster of depra- 
 vity to have betrayed him. The 
 idea alone is sufficient to dis- 
 turb a mind where humanity and 
 gratitude have, I hope, ever been 
 noticed as its characteristic fea- 
 tures." Bligh, too, declared in 
 a letter to Heywood's uncle, 
 after accusing him of ingratitude, 
 that " he never once had an 
 angry word from me during the 
 whole course of the voyage, as 
 his conduct always gave me 
 much pleasure and satisfaction." 
 
 A manuscript journal, kept 
 by Morrison, the boatswain's 
 mate, who was tried and con- 
 victed as one of the mutineers, 
 but received the king's pardon, 
 shows the conduct of Bligh in a 
 very unfavourable point of view. 
 This Morrison was a person 
 from talent and education far 
 above the situation he held in 
 the Bounty ; he had previously 
 served in the navy as mid- 
 shipman, and after his pardon, 
 was appointed gunner of the 
 Blenheim, in which he perished 
 with Sir Thomas Trowbridge. 
 In comparing this journal with 
 other documents, the dates and 
 transactions appear to be cor- 
 rectly stated. 
 
 The seeds of discord in the 
 Bounty seem to have been 
 sown at a very early period oi 
 
30 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 the voyage. The duties of 
 commander and purser were 
 united in the person of Bligh ; 
 and it would seem that this 
 proved the cause of very serious 
 discontent among the officers 
 and crew ; of the mischief aris- 
 ing out of this union, the fol- 
 lowing statement of Morrison 
 may serve as a specimen. At 
 Teneriffe, Bligh ordered the 
 cheese to be hoisted up and 
 exposed to the air ; which was 
 no sooner done, than he pre- 
 tended to miss a certain quan- 
 tity, and declared that it had 
 been stolen. The cooper, Henry 
 Hillbrant, informed him that 
 the cask in question had been 
 opened by the orders of Mr 
 Samuel, who acted also as 
 steward, and the cheese sent on 
 shore to his own house, previous 
 to the Bounty leaving the river 
 on her way to Portsmouth. 
 Bligh, without making any fur- 
 ther inquiry, immediately order- 
 ed the allowance of that article 
 to be stopped, both from officers 
 and men, until the deficiency 
 should be made good, and told 
 the cooper, he would give him 
 a good flogging, if he said 
 another word on the subject. 
 Again, on approaching the equa- 
 tor, some decayed pumpkins, 
 purchased at Teneriffe, were 
 ordered to be issued to the 
 crew, at the rate of one pound 
 of pumpkin to two pounds of 
 biscuit. The reluctance of the 
 men to accept the proposed 
 substitute, on such terms, being 
 reported, Bligh flew upon deck 
 in a violent rage, turned the 
 
 hands up, and ordered the first 
 man on the list of each mess to 
 be called by name, at the same 
 time saying, " I'll see who will 
 dare to refuse the pumpkin, or 
 anything else I may order to be 
 served out ;" to which he added, 
 " I'll make you eat grass, or any- 
 thing you can catch, before I 
 have done with you." When 
 a representation was made to 
 him in a quiet and orderly 
 manner, he called the crew aft, 
 told them that everything rela- 
 tive to the provisions was trans- 
 acted by his orders ; that it was 
 therefore needless for them to 
 complain, as they would get no 
 redress, he being the fittest 
 judge of what was right or wrong, 
 and that he would flog the first 
 man who should dare attempt 
 to make any complaint in future. 
 To this imperious menace they 
 bowed in silence, and not an 
 other murmur was heard from 
 them during the remainder of 
 the voyage to Otaheite, it being 
 their determination to seek legal, 
 redress on the Bounty's return 
 to England. 
 
 On arriving at Matavai Bay, 
 in Otaheite, Bligh is accused of 
 taking the officers' hogs and 
 bread-fruit, and serving them to 
 the ship's company ; and when 
 the master remonstrated with 
 him on the subject, he replied 
 that he would convince him that 
 everything became his as soon 
 as it was brought on board ; 
 that " he would take nine-tenths 
 .of every man's property, and 
 let him see who dared to say 
 anything to the contrary." 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 31 
 
 Morrison then says, " The 
 object of our visit to the Society 
 Islands being at length accom- 
 plished, we weighed on the 4th 
 April 1789. Every one seemed 
 in high spirits, and began to 
 talk of home, as though they 
 had just left Jamaica instead of 
 Otaheite, so far onward did 
 their flattering fancies waft them. 
 On the 23d we anchored off 
 Annamooka, the inhabitants of 
 which island were very rude, 
 and attempted to take the casks 
 and axes from the parties sent 
 to fill water and cut wood. A 
 musket pointed at them pro- 
 duced no other effect than a 
 return of the compliment, by 
 poising their clubs or spears 
 with menacing looks ; and as it 
 was Bligh's orders that no per- 
 son should affront them on any 
 occasion, they were emboldened 
 by meeting with no check to 
 their insolence. They at length 
 became so troublesome, that 
 Mr Christian who commanded 
 the watering party, found it 
 difficult to carry on his duty ; 
 but on acquainting Lieutenant 
 Bligh with their behaviour, he re- 
 ceived a volley of abuse. To this 
 he replied in a respectful manner, 
 * The arms are of no effect, sir, 
 while your orders prohibit their 
 use.' " This happened but three 
 days before the mutiny. 
 
 That sad catastrophe, if the 
 writer of the journal be correct, 
 was hastened, if not brought 
 about, by the following circum- 
 stances, of which Bligh takes no 
 notice. "In the afternoon of 
 the 27th, Captain Bligh came 
 
 upon deck, and missing some 
 of the cocoa-nuts which had 
 been piled up between the guns, 
 said they had been stolen, and 
 could not have been taken away 
 without the knowledge of the 
 officers, all of whom were sent 
 for and questioned on the sub- 
 ject. On their declaring that 
 they had not seen any of the 
 people touch them, he ex- 
 claimed, ' Then you must have 
 taken them yourselves;' and 
 he proceeded to inquire of them 
 separately how many they had 
 purchased. On coming to Mr 
 Christian, that gentleman an- 
 swered, ' I do not know, sir; but 
 I hope you do not think me so 
 mean as to be guilty of stealing 
 yours/ Mr Bligh replied, ' I'll 
 sweat you for it ; I'll make you 
 jump overboard before you get 
 through Endeavour Straits.' " 
 
 It is difficult to believe, says 
 Sir John Barrow, that an officer 
 could condescend to make use 
 of such language; it is to be 
 feared, however, that there is 
 sufficient ground for the truth 
 of these statements. Mr Fryer 
 being asked, "What do you 
 suppose to be Mr Christian's 
 meaning when he said he" had 
 been in hell for a fortnight?" 
 answered, "From the frequent 
 quarrels they had had, and the 
 abuse he had received from 
 Mr Bligh." " Had there been 
 any very recent quarrel ? " "The 
 day before, Mr Bligh challenged 
 all the young gentlemen and 
 people with stealing his cocoa- 
 nuts." It was on the evening 
 of this day that Captain Bligh, 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 according to his printed narra- 
 tive, says, Christian was to have 
 supped with him, but excused 
 himself on account of being un- 
 well ; and that he was invited 
 to dine with him on the day of 
 the mutiny. 
 
 Every one of these circum- 
 stances, and many others which 
 might be stated from Mr Morri- 
 son's journal, are omitted in 
 Bligh's published narrative. 
 
 In so early a part of the 
 voyage as their arrival in Ad- 
 venture Bay, Bligh found fault 
 with his officers, and put the 
 carpenter into confinement. 
 Again, at Matavai Bay, on the 
 5th December, he says, "I 
 ordered the carpenter to cut a 
 large stone that was brought off 
 by one of the natives, request- 
 ing me to get it made fit for 
 them to grind their hatchets on; 
 but to my astonishment he re- 
 fused, in direct terms, to com- 
 ply, saying, ' I will not cut the 
 stone, for it will spoil my chisel ; 
 and though there may be law 
 to take away my clothes, there 
 is none to take away my tools.' 
 This man having before shown 
 his mutinous and insolent be- 
 haviour, I was under the neces- 
 sity of confining him to his 
 cabin." 
 
 On the 5th January three 
 men deserted in the cutter, on 
 which occasion Bligh says, 
 "Had the mate of the watch 
 been awake, no trouble of this 
 kind would have happened. I 
 have therefore disrated and 
 turned him before the mast; 
 such neglectful and worthless 
 
 petty-officers, I believe, never 
 were in a ship as are in this. 
 No orders for a few hours to- 
 gether are obeyed by them, 
 and their conduct in general 
 is so bad, that no confidence 
 or trust can be reposed in them ; 
 in short, they have driven me 
 to everything but corporal pun- 
 ishment, and that must follow 
 if they do not improve." 
 
 By Morrison's journal it 
 would appear that "corporal 
 punishment" was not long de- 
 layed ; for, on the very day, he 
 says, the midshipman was put 
 in irons, and confined from the 
 5th January to the 23d March 
 eleven weeks ! 
 
 On the 1 7th January, orders 
 being given to clear out the 
 sail-room and air the sails, many 
 of them were found much mil- 
 dewed and rotten in many 
 places; on which he observes, 
 " If I had any officers to super- 
 sede the master and boatswain, 
 or was capable of doing with- 
 out them, considering them as 
 common seamen, they should 
 no longer occupy their respec- 
 tive stations; scarcely any ne- 
 glect of duty can equal the 
 criminality of this." 
 
 On the 24th January the 
 three deserters were brought 
 back and flogged, then put in 
 irons for further punishment. 
 " As this affair," he says, " was 
 solely caused by the neglect of 
 the officers who had the watch, 
 I was induced to give them all 
 a lecture on the occasion, and 
 endeavour to show them that, 
 however exempt they were at 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 33 
 
 present from the like punish- 
 ment, yet they were equally 
 subject, by the articles of war, 
 to a condign one." 
 
 On the 7th March, a native 
 Otaheitan, whom Bligh had 
 confined in irons, contrived to 
 break the lock of the bilboa- 
 bolt and make his escape. " I 
 had given," says Bligh, "a 
 written order, that the mate of 
 the watch was to be answerable 
 for the prisoners, and to visit 
 and see that they were safe in 
 his watch; but I have such a 
 neglectful set about me, that I 
 believe nothing but condign 
 punishment can alter their con- 
 duct. Verbal orders, in the 
 course of a month, were so for- 
 gotten, that they would impu- 
 dently assert no such thing or 
 directions were given; and I 
 have been at last under the 
 necessity to trouble myself with 
 writing what, by decent young 
 officers, would be complied with 
 as the common rules of the 
 service. Mr Stewart was the 
 mate of the watch." 
 
 These extracts show the terms 
 on which Bligh was with his 
 officers. That Christian was 
 the sole author of the mutiny 
 appears still more strongly from 
 the following passage in Morri- 
 son's journal: "When Mr Bligh 
 found he must go into the boat, 
 he begged of Mr Christian to 
 desist, saying, 'I'll pawn my 
 honour, I'll give my bond, Mr 
 Christian, never to think of 
 this, if you'll desist/ and urged 
 his wife and family ; to which 
 Mr Christian replied, 'No, Cap- 
 
 tain Bligh, if you had any hon- 
 our, things had not come to 
 this ; and if you had any regard 
 for your wife and family, you 
 should have thought on them 
 before, and not behaved so 
 much like a villain/ The boat- 
 swain also tried to pacify Mr 
 Christian, to whom he replied, 
 ' It is too late ; I have been in 
 hell for this fortnight past, and 
 am determined to bear it no 
 longer; and you know, Mr 
 Cole, that I have been used 
 like a dog all the voyage.'" 
 
 It is pretty evident, therefore, 
 that the mutiny was not, as Bligh 
 in his narrative states it to have 
 been, the result of a conspiracy. 
 To those who care to read the 
 minutes of the court-martial, it 
 will be seen that the affair was 
 planned and executed between 
 four and eight o'clock, on the 
 morning of the 28th April, when 
 Christian had the watch upon 
 deck; that Christian, unable 
 longer to bear abusive and in- 
 sulting language, had meditated 
 his own escape from the ship 
 the day before, choosing to trust 
 himself to fate, rather than sub- 
 mit to the constant upbraiding 
 to which he had been subject. 
 
 Bligh invited Christian to sup 
 with him the same evening, evi- 
 dently wishing to renew their 
 friendly intercourse ; and happy 
 would it have been for all par- 
 ties had he accepted the invita- 
 tion. While on this lovely night 
 Bligh and his master were con- 
 gratulating themselves on the 
 pleasing prospect of fine weather 
 and a full moon, to light them 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 through Endeavour's dangerous 
 Straits, Christian was, in all 
 probability, brooding over his 
 wrongs, and meditating on the 
 daring act he was to perpetrate 
 the following morning. 
 
 By the journal of Morrison, 
 the following is an account of 
 the transaction, as given by 
 Christian himself. 
 
 He said : " Finding himself 
 much hurt by the treatment he 
 had received from Lieutenant 
 Bligh, he had determined to 
 quit the ship the preceding 
 evening, and had informed the 
 boatswain, carpenter, and two 
 midshipmen (Stewart and Hay- 
 ward) of his intention to do so ; 
 that by them he was supplied 
 with part of a roasted pig, some 
 nails, beads, and other articles 
 of trade, which he put into a 
 bag that was given him by the 
 last-named gentleman ; that he 
 put this bag into the clue of Ro- 
 bert Tinkler's hammock, where 
 it was discovered by that young 
 gentleman when going to bed 
 at night ; but the business was 
 smothered, and passed off with- 
 out any further notice. He said 
 he had fastened some staves to 
 a stout plank, with which he in- 
 tended to make his escape; but 
 finding he could not effect it dur- 
 ing the first and middle watches, 
 as the ship had no way through 
 the water, and the people were all 
 moving about, he laid down to 
 rest about half-past three in the 
 morning ; that when Mr Stewart 
 called him to relieve the deck 
 at four o'clock, he had but just 
 fallen asleep, and was much out 
 
 of order ; upon observing which, 
 Mr Stewart strenuously advised 
 him to abandon his intention ; 
 that as soon as he had taken 
 charge of the deck, he saw Mr 
 Hay ward, the mate of his watch, 
 lie down on the arm-chest to 
 take a nap ; and finding that 
 Mr Hallet, the other midship- 
 man, did not make his appear- 
 ance, he suddenly formed the 
 resolution of seizing the ship. 
 Disclosing his intention to Mat- 
 thew Quintal and Isaac Martin, 
 both of whom had been flogged 
 by Lieutenant Bligh, they called 
 up Charles Churchill, who had 
 also tasted the cat, and Matthew 
 Thompson, both of whom readi- 
 ly joined in the plot. That 
 Alexander Smith (alias John 
 Adams), John Williams, and 
 William M'Koy, evinced equal 
 willingness, and went with 
 Churchill to the armourer, of 
 whom they obtained the keys of 
 the arm-chest, under pretence 
 of wanting a musket to fire at a 
 shark, then alongside; that find- 
 ing Mr Hallet asleep on an arm- 
 chest in the main-hatchway, they 
 roused and sent him on deck. 
 Charles Norman, unconscious 
 of their proceedings, had, in the 
 meantime, awaked Mr Jf ay- 
 ward, and directed his attention 
 to the shark, whose movements 
 he was watching at the moment 
 that Mr Christian and his con- 
 federates came up the fore- 
 hatchway, after having placed 
 arms in the hands of several 
 men who were not aware of their 
 design. One man, Matthew 
 Thompson, was left in charge 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 35 
 
 of the chest, and he served out 
 arms to Thomas Burkitt and 
 Robert Lamb. Mr Christian 
 said he then proceeded to secure 
 Lieutenant Bligh, the master, 
 gunner, and botanist." 
 
 "When Mr Christian," ob- 
 serves Morrison, in his journal, 
 "related the above circum- 
 stances, I recollected having 
 seen him fasten some staves to 
 a plank lying on the larboard 
 gangway, as also having heard 
 the boatswain say to the carpen- 
 ter, 'It will not do to-night.' 
 I likewise remember that Mr 
 Christian had visited the fore- 
 cockpit several times that even- 
 ing, although he had very sel- 
 dom, if ever, frequented the 
 warrant-officers' cabins before." 
 
 If this be a correct statement, 
 it removes every doubt of Chris- 
 tian being the sole instigator of 
 the mutiny, and establishes the 
 conclusion that it was suddenly 
 conceived by a hot-headed young 
 man, in a state of great excite- 
 ment of mind, caused by the 
 frequent abusing and insulting 1 
 language of his commanding 
 officer. Waking out of a short 
 half-hour's disturbed sleep, rind- 
 ing the two mates of the watch, 
 Hayvyard and Hallet, asleep, the 
 opportunity tempting, and the 
 ship completely in his power, he 
 darted down the fore-hatchway, 
 got possession of the keys of the 
 arm-chest, and made the hazard- 
 ous ex^. iriment of arming such of 
 the men as he thought he could 
 trust, and effected his purpose. 
 
 There is a passage in Captain 
 Beechey's account of Pitcairn 
 
 Island, which, if correct, would 
 cast a stain on the memory of 
 the unfortunate Stewart he 
 who, if there was one innocent 
 man in the ship (says Sir John 
 Barrow), was that man. Captain 
 Beechey says (speaking of Chris- 
 tian), "His plan, strange as it 
 must appear for a young officer 
 to adopt who was fairly advanced 
 in an honourable profession, was 
 to set himself adrift upon a raft, 
 and make his way to the island 
 (Tofoa) then in sight. As quick 
 in the execution as in the design, 
 the raft was soon constructed, 
 various useful articles were got 
 together, and he was on the point 
 of launching it, when a young 
 officer, who afterwards perished 
 in the Pandora, to whom Chris- 
 tian communicated his intention, 
 recommended him, rather than 
 risk his life on so hazardous an 
 expedition, to endeavour to take 
 possession of the ship, which he 
 thought would not be very diffi- 
 cult, as many of the ship's com- 
 pany were not well-disposed 
 towards the commander, and 
 would all be very glad to return 
 to Otaheite, and reside among 
 their friends in that island. This 
 daring proposition is even more 
 extraordinary than the premedi- 
 tated scheme of his companion." 
 Captain Beechey, desirous of 
 being correct in his statement, 
 sent his chapter on Pitcairn 
 Island for any observations the 
 subsequent Captain Heywood 
 might have to make on what 
 was said therein regarding the 
 mutiny. Captain Heywood re- 
 turned the following reply : 
 
36 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 " $th April 
 
 "Dear Sir, I have perused 
 the account you received from 
 Adams of the mutiny in the 
 Bounty, which does indeed differ 
 very materially from a foot-note 
 in Marshall's 'Naval Biography/ 
 by the editor, to whom I ver- 
 bally detailed the facts, which 
 are strictly true. 
 
 " That Christian informed the 
 boatswain and the carpenter, 
 Messrs Hayward and Stewart, 
 of his determination to leave the 
 ship upon a raft, on the night 
 preceding the mutiny, is cer- 
 tain ; but that any one of them 
 (Stewart in particular) should 
 have * recommended, rather 
 than risk his life on so hazardous 
 an expedition, that he should 
 try the expedient of taking the 
 ship from the captain,' etc., is 
 entirely at variance with the 
 whole character and conduct of 
 the latter, both before and after 
 the mutiny ; as well as with the 
 assurance of Christian himself, 
 the very night he quitted Taheite, 
 that the idea of attempting to 
 take the ship had never entered 
 his distracted mind until the 
 moment he relieved the deck, 
 and found his mate and midship- 
 man asleep. 
 
 " At that last interview with 
 Christian, he also communicated 
 to me, for the satisfaction of his 
 relations, other circumstances 
 connected with that unfortunate 
 disaster, which, after their deaths, 
 may or may not be laid before 
 the public. And although they 
 can implicate none but himself, 
 either living or dead, they may 
 
 extenuate but will contain not 
 a word of his in defence of the 
 crime he committed against the 
 laws of his country. I am, etc. 
 "P. HEYWOOD." 
 
 Captain Beechey stated only 
 what he had heard from old 
 Adams, who was not always 
 correct in the information he 
 gave to the visitors of his island; 
 but this part of his statement 
 gave great pain to Heywood, 
 who adverted to it on his death- 
 bed, wishing, out of regard for 
 Stewart's memory and his sur- 
 viving friends, that it should be 
 publicly contradicted. The 
 temptations, therefore, which it 
 was supposed Otaheite held out 
 to the deluded men of the 
 Bounty had no more share in 
 the transaction, than the sup- 
 posed conspiracy. Bligh is the 
 only person who has said it was 
 so. 
 
 If, however, the recollection 
 of the " sunny isle " and its 
 " smiling women " had really 
 tempted the men to mutiny, 
 Bligh would himself not have 
 been very free from blame, for 
 having allowed them to remain 
 for six whole months among this 
 voluptuous and fascinating peo- 
 ple. The service was carried on 
 in those days in a very different 
 spirit from that which regulates 
 its movements now, otherwise 
 the Bounty would never have 
 passed six whole months at one 
 island stowing away the fruit. 
 As far as the mutiny of his" 
 people was concerned, we must 
 wholly discard the idea thrown 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 37 
 
 out by Bligh that the seductions 
 of Otaheite had any share in 
 producing it It could not have 
 escaped a person of Christian's 
 sagacity, that certain interro- 
 gatories would unquestionably 
 be put by the natives of Ota- 
 heite, on finding the ship return 
 so soon, without her commander, 
 without the bread-fruit plants, 
 and with only about half her 
 crew. At subsequent periods, 
 he twice visited that island. 
 His object was to find a place 
 of concealment, where he might 
 pass the remainder of his days, 
 unheard of and unknown one 
 of the many strange sort of 
 wishes which will happen to 
 men who mean what they are 
 doing. 
 
 Christian had intended to 
 send away Bligh and his asso- 
 ciates in the cutter, and ordered 
 that it should be hoisted out for 
 that purpose, which was done 
 a small boat, that could hold 
 but eight or ten men at the 
 most. But the remonstrances 
 of the master, boatswain, and 
 carpenter prevailed on him to 
 allow them the launch, into 
 which nineteen persons were 
 thrust, whose weight, together 
 with that of a few articles they 
 were permitted to take, brought 
 down the boat so near to the 
 water as to endanger her sink- 
 ing with but a moderate swell 
 of the sea. 
 
 The first consideration of 
 Bligh and his eighteen unfor- 
 tunate companions, on being 
 cast adrift in their open boat, 
 was their resources. The quan- 
 
 tity of provisions thrown at 
 them was one hundred and 
 fifty pounds of bread, sixteen 
 pieces of pork, each weighing 
 two pounds ; six quarts of rum, 
 six bottles of wine, with twenty- 
 eight gallons of water, and four 
 empty barricoes. Being so near 
 to the island of Tofoa, they 
 resolved to seek a supply of 
 bread-fruit and water there, so 
 as to preserve, if possible, that 
 poor stock entire; but after 
 rowing along the coast, they 
 discovered only some cocoa-nut 
 trees on the top of high preci- 
 pices, from which, with much 
 danger, they succeeded in ob- 
 taining about twenty nuts. The 
 second day they made excur- 
 sions into the island, but without 
 success. They met a few natives, 
 who came down with them to the 
 cove where the boat was lying. 
 They made inquiries after the 
 ship, and Bligh said the ship 
 had overset and sunk, and 
 that they only were saved. The 
 story was certainly indiscreet, 
 as putting the people in posses- 
 sion of their defenceless situa- 
 tion ; however, they brought in 
 small quantities of bread-fruit, 
 plantains, and cocoa-nuts, but 
 little or no water could be pro- 
 cured. These supplies, scanty 
 as they were, served to keep up 
 the spirits of the men, and they 
 all determined to do their best. 
 The numbers of the natives 
 having so much increased as to 
 line the whole beach, they be- 
 gan knocking stones together, 
 which was known to be the 
 preparatory signal for an attack 
 
38 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 With some difficulty, on account 
 of 'the surf, Bligh's men suc- 
 ceeded in getting the things 
 that were on shore into the 
 boat. John Norton, quarter- 
 master, was casting off the 
 stern-fast, and the natives im- 
 mediately rushed upon this poor 
 man, and actually stoned him 
 to death. A volley of stones 
 was also discharged at the boat, 
 and every one in it was more or 
 less hurt. This induced the 
 unfortunate fugitives to push 
 out to sea with all the speed 
 they were able to give to the 
 launch ; but several canoes, 
 filled with stones, followed close 
 after them and renewed the 
 attack ; against which the only 
 return the men in the boat 
 could make, was with the stones 
 of the assailants that lodged in 
 her. The only expedient left was 
 to tempt the enemy to desist 
 from the pursuit, by throwing 
 overboard some clothes, which 
 induced the canoes to stop and 
 pick them up ; and, night com- 
 ing on, the natives returned to 
 the shore. 
 
 The men now entreated Bligh 
 to take a homeward route; and 
 on being told that no hope of 
 relief could be entertained till 
 they reached Timor, a distance 
 of full twelve hundred leagues, 
 they all readily agreed to be 
 content with an allowance, 
 which, on a calculation of their 
 resources, he informed them 
 would not exceed one ounce of 
 bread and a quarter of a pint of 
 water per day. It was about 
 eight o'clock at night on the 
 
 2d May, when they bore away 
 under a reefed lug-foresail ; and 
 having divided the people into 
 watches, " and got the boat into 
 a little order," says that brave 
 commander, " we returned 
 thanks to God for our miracu- 
 lous preservation ; and, in full 
 confidence of His gracious sup- 
 port, I found my mind more at 
 ease than it had been for some 
 time past." 
 
 At daybreak on the 3d, the 
 forlorn and almost hopeless 
 navigators saw with alarm the 
 sun to rise fiery and red a 
 sure indication of a severe gale 
 of wind ; and, accordingly, at 
 eight o'clock it blew a violent 
 storm, and the sea ran so high 
 that the sail was becalmed when 
 between seas, and too much to 
 have set when on the top of 
 the sea; yet they could not 
 venture to take it in, as they 
 were in imminent danger, the 
 sea curling over the stern, and 
 obliging them to bale with all 
 their might. 
 
 The bread being in bags, was 
 in danger of being spoiled by 
 the wet. It was determined, 
 therefore, that all superfluous 
 clothes, with some rope and 
 spare sails, should be thrown 
 overboard. The carpenter's tool- 
 chest was cleared, and the tools 
 stowed in the bottom of the 
 boat, and the bread was se- 
 cured in the chest. A tea- 
 spoonful of rum was served out 
 to each person, with a quarter 
 of a bread-fruit for dinner, Bligh 
 having determined to make their 
 small stock of provisions last 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 39 
 
 eight weeks, let the daily pro- 
 portion be ever so small. 
 
 The sea continuing to run 
 higher, the fatigue of baling 
 became very great. The men 
 were constantly wet, the night 
 very cold, and at daylight their 
 limbs were so benumbed, that 
 they could scarcely find the use 
 of them. At this time a tea- 
 spoonful of rum served out to 
 each person was found of great 
 benefit to all. Five small cocoa- 
 nuts were distributed for dinner, 
 and in the evening a few broken 
 pieces of bread-fruit were served 
 for supper, after which prayers 
 were performed. 
 
 On the night of the 4th and 
 morning of the 5th, the gale had 
 abated ; the first step to be 
 taken was to examine the state 
 of the bread, a great part of 
 which was found to be damaged 
 and rotten. The boat was now 
 running among islands, but, 
 after their reception at Tofoa, 
 they did not venture to land. 
 On the 6th, they still continued 
 to see islands at a distance; 
 and this day, for the first time, 
 they hooked a fish, to their 
 great joy; "but," says Bligh, 
 " we were miserably disappoint- 
 ed by its being lost in trying to 
 get it into the boat." In the 
 evening, each person had an 
 ounce of the damaged bread, 
 and a quarter of a pint of water 
 for supper. 
 
 Captain Bligh observes, "It 
 will readily be supposed our 
 lodgings were very miserable 
 and confined for want of room ;" 
 but he endeavoured to remedy 
 
 the latter defect by putting 
 themselves at watch and watch ; 
 so that one-half always sat up, 
 while the other lay down on 
 the boat's bottom, or upon a 
 chest, but with nothing to cover 
 them except the heavens. Their 
 limbs, he says, were dreadfully 
 cramped, for they could not 
 stretch them out; and the 
 nights were so cold, and they 
 were so constantly wet, that, 
 after a few hours' sleep, they 
 were scarcely able to move. At 
 dawn of day on the yth, being 
 very wet and cold, he says, " I 
 served a spoonful of rum and 
 a morsel of bread for breakfast." 
 On the 8th, the allowance 
 issued was an ounce and a half 
 of pork, a tea-spoonful of rum, 
 half a pint of cocoa-nut milk, 
 and an ounce of bread. The 
 rum was of the greatest service. 
 " Hitherto," the commander 
 says, " I had issued the allow- 
 ance by guess ; but I now 
 made a pair of scales with two 
 cocoa-nut shells ; and having 
 accidentally some pistol-balls in 
 the boat, twenty-five of which 
 weighed one pound or sixteen 
 ounces, I adopted one of these 
 balls as the proportion of weight 
 that each person should receive 
 of bread at the times I served 
 it. I also amused all hands 
 with describing the situations 
 of New Guinea and New Hol- 
 land, and gave them every in- 
 formation in my power, that in 
 case any accident should happen 
 to me, those who survived might 
 have some idea of what they 
 were about, and be able to find 
 
40 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 their way to Timor, which at 
 present they knew nothing of 
 more than the name, and some 
 not even that. At night I 
 served a quarter of a pint of 
 water and half an ounce of 
 bread for supper." 
 
 On the morning of the gth, 
 a quarter of a pint of cocoa-nut 
 milk and some of the decayed 
 bread were served for break- 
 fast; and for dinner, the kernels 
 of four cocoa-nuts, with the re- 
 mainder of the rotten bread, 
 which, he says, was eatable only 
 by such distressed people as 
 themselves. A storm of thunder 
 and lightning gave them about 
 twenty gallons of water. "Being 
 miserably wet and cold, I served 
 to the people a tea-spoonful of 
 rum each, to enable them to 
 bear with their distressing situ- 
 ation." 
 
 The following day (the loth) 
 brought no relief, except that of 
 its light The allowance now 
 served regularly to each person 
 was one twenty-fifth part of a 
 pound of bread and a quarter 
 of a pint of water, at eight in 
 the morning, at noon, and at 
 sunset. To-day was added about 
 half an ounce of pork for dinner, 
 which, though any moderate 
 person would have considered 
 only as a mouthful, was divided 
 into three or four. 
 
 The morning of the nth did 
 not improve. " At daybreak 1 
 served to every person a tea- 
 spoonful of rum, our limbs being 
 so much cramped that we could 
 scarcely move them." In the 
 evening of the i2th, it still 
 
 rained hard, and we again ex- 
 perienced a dreadful night. At 
 length the day came, and show- 
 ed a miserable set of beings, 
 full of wants, without anything 
 to relieve them. Some com- 
 plained of great pain in their 
 bowels, and every one of having 
 almost lost the use of his limbs. 
 The little sleep we got was in 
 no way refreshing, as we were 
 constantly covered with the sea 
 and rain. The shipping of seas 
 and constant baling continued ; 
 and the men were shivering with 
 wet and cold, yet the com- 
 mander says he was under the 
 necessity of informing them that 
 he could no longer afford them 
 the comfort they had derived 
 from the tea-spoonful of rum. 
 
 On the 1 3th and i4th the 
 stormy weather and heavy sea 
 continued unabated; and on 
 these days they saw distant 
 land, and passed several islands. 
 The sight of these islands served 
 only to increase the misery of 
 their situation. 
 
 The whole day and night of 
 the 1 5th were still rainy; the 
 latter was dark, not a star to be 
 seen by which the steerage 
 could be directed, and the sea 
 was continually breaking over 
 the boat. On the next day 
 there was issued for dinner an 
 ounce of salt pork, in addition 
 to their miserable allowance of 
 one twenty-fifth part of a pound 
 of bread. The night was again 
 truly horrible, with storms of 
 thunder, lightning, and rain; 
 not a star visible, so that the 
 steerage was quite uncertain. 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 41 
 
 On the morning of the 1 7th, 
 at dawn of day, " I found," says 
 the commander, " every person 
 complaining, and some of them 
 solicited extra allowance, which 
 I positively refused. Our situ- 
 ation was miserable; always 
 wet, and suffering extreme cold 
 in the night, without the least 
 shelter from the weather. The 
 little rum we had was of the 
 greatest service : when our nights 
 were particularly distressing, I 
 generally served a tea-spoonful 
 or two to each person, and it 
 was always joyful tidings when 
 they heard of my intentions. 
 The night was again a dark and 
 dismal one, the sea constantly 
 breaking over us, and nothing 
 but the wind and waves to 
 direct our steerage. It was my 
 intention, if possible, to make 
 the coast of New Holland to 
 the southward of Endeavour 
 Straits, being sensible that it 
 was necessary to preserve such 
 a situation as would make a 
 southerly wind a fair one." 
 
 On the 1 8th the rain abated, 
 when the men all stripped, and 
 wung their clothes through the 
 sea-water, from which, the com- 
 mander says, they derived much 
 warmth and refreshment; but 
 every one complained of violent 
 pains in their bones. At night 
 the heavy rain recommenced, 
 with severe lightning, which 
 obliged them to keep baling 
 without intermission. The same 
 weather continued through the 
 iQth and aoth. 
 
 "During the whole of the 
 afternoon of the 2ist we were," 
 
 he reported, "so covered with 
 rain and salt water, that we 
 could scarcely see. We suffered 
 extreme cold, and every one 
 dreaded the approach of night. 
 Sleep, though we longed for it, 
 afforded no comfort; for my 
 own part, I almost lived without 
 it. On the 22d, our situation 
 was extremely calamitous. We 
 were obliged to take the course 
 of the sea, running right before 
 it, and watching with the ut- 
 most care, as the least error in 
 the helm would in a moment 
 have been our destruction. 
 
 " On the evening of the 24th, 
 the wind moderated, and the 
 weather looked much better, 
 which rejoiced all hands, so 
 that they ate their scanty allow- 
 ance with satisfaction. The 
 night also was fair, but being al- 
 ways wet with the sea, we suffered 
 much from the cold. I had the 
 pleasure to see a fine morning 
 produce some cheerful coun- 
 tenances ; and for the first time 
 during the last fifteen days, we 
 experienced comfort from the 
 warmth of the sun. We stripped 
 and hung up our clothes to dry, 
 which were by this time become 
 so threadbare, that they could 
 not keep out either wet or cold. 
 In the afternoon we had many 
 birds about us which are never 
 seen far from land, such as 
 boobies and noddies." 
 
 On the 25th about noon, 
 some noddies came so near to 
 the boat, that one of them was 
 caught by the hand. This bird 
 was about the size of a small 
 pigeon. " I divided it," says 
 
42 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Bligh, "with its entrails, into 
 eighteen portions, and by a well 
 known method at sea, of ' Who 
 shall have thisT it was distri- 
 buted with the allowance of 
 bread and water for dinner, and 
 eaten up, bones and all, with 
 salt water for sauce. In the 
 evening, several boobies flying 
 very near to us, we had the 
 good fortune to catch one of 
 them. This bird is as large as 
 a duck. They are the most 
 presumptive proof of being near 
 land of any sea-fowl we are 
 acquainted with. I directed 
 the bird to be killed for supper, 
 and the blood to be given to 
 three of the people who were 
 the most distressed for want of 
 food 
 
 " On the next day," he says, 
 " the 26th, we caught another 
 booby. The people were over- 
 joyed at this addition to their 
 dinner, which was distributed 
 in the same manner as on the 
 preceding evening; giving the 
 blood to those who were the 
 most in want of food. To make 
 the bread a little savoury, most 
 of the men frequently dipped it 
 in salt water; but I generally 
 broke mine into small pieces, 
 and ate it in my allowance of 
 water, out of a cocoa-nut 
 shell." 
 
 The weather was now serene, 
 which, nevertheless, was not 
 without its inconveniences ; for, 
 it appears, they began to feel 
 distress of a different kind from 
 that which they had hitherto 
 been accustomed to suffer. The 
 heat of the sun was so power- 
 
 ful, that several of the people 
 were seized with languor and 
 faintness. But the little cir- 
 cumstance of catching two 
 boobies in the evening, trifling 
 as it may appear, had the effect 
 of raising their spirits. The 
 stomachs of these birds con- 
 tained several flying-fish and 
 small cuttle-fish, all of which 
 were carefully saved to be di- 
 vided for dinner the next day ; 
 which were accordingly divided, 
 with their entrails and the con- 
 tents of their maws, into eighteen 
 portions ; and, as the prize was 
 a very valuable one, it was dis- 
 tributed as before by calling out, 
 "Who shall have this r 
 
 At one in the morning of the 
 28th, the person at the helm 
 heard the sound of breakers. 
 It was the " barrier reef" which 
 runs along the eastern coast of 
 New Holland, through which it 
 now became the anxious object 
 to discover a passage: Bligh 
 says this was now become ab- 
 solutely necessary, without a 
 moment's loss of time. The 
 sea broke furiously over the 
 reef in every part; within, the 
 water was so smooth and calm, 
 that every man already antici- 
 pated the heartfelt satisfaction 
 he was about to receive, as soon 
 as he should have passed the 
 barrier. At length a break in 
 the reef was discovered, a 
 quarter of a mile in width ; and 
 through this the boat rapidly 
 passed with a strong stream 
 running to the westward, and 
 came immediately into smooth 
 water, and all the past hard- 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 43 
 
 ships seemed at once to be for- 
 gotten. 
 
 They now returned thanks to 
 God for His generous protection, 
 and took their miserable allow- 
 ance of the twenty-fifth part of 
 a pound of bread, and a quarter 
 of a pint of water, for dinner. 
 
 The coast now began to show 
 itself very distinctly, and in the 
 evening they landed on the 
 sandy point of an island, when 
 it was soon discovered there 
 were oysters on the rocks, it 
 being low water. The party 
 sent out to reconnoitre returned 
 highly rejoiced at having found 
 plenty of oysters and fresh 
 water. By help of a small 
 magnifying -glass, a fire was 
 made; and among the things 
 that had been thrown into the 
 boat was a tinder-box and 
 a piece of brimstone, so 
 that in future they had the 
 ready means of making a fire. 
 One of the men, too, had been 
 so provident as to bring away 
 with him from the ship a copper 
 pot; and thus, with a mixture 
 of oysters, bread, and pork, a 
 stew was made, of which each 
 person received a full pint. 
 
 " This day (29th May) being," 
 says Bligh, " the anniversary of 
 the restoration of King Charles 
 II., and the name not being 
 inapplicable to our present 
 situation (for we were restored 
 to fresh life and strength), I 
 named this 'Restoration Island/ 
 for I thought it probable that 
 Captain Cook might not have 
 taken notice of it." 
 
 With oysters and palm-tops 
 
 stewed together, the people now 
 made excellent meals, without 
 consuming any of their bread. 
 In the morning of the 3oth, he 
 says he saw a visible alteration 
 in the men for the better, and 
 sent them away to gather 
 oysters, in order to carry a 
 stock of them to sea ; for he 
 determined to put off again 
 that evening. They also pro- 
 cured fresh water, and filled all 
 their vessels, to the amount of 
 nearly sixty gallons. On ex- 
 amining the bread, it was found 
 there still remained about thirty- 
 eight days' allowance. They 
 now proceeded to the north- 
 ward, having the continent on 
 their left, and several islands 
 and reefs on their right. 
 
 On the 3ist they landed on 
 one of these islands, to which 
 was given the name of " Sun- 
 day." " I sent out two parties," 
 says Bligh, "one to the north- 
 ward and the other to the south- 
 ward, to seek for supplies, and 
 others I ordered to stay by the 
 boat. On this occasion fatigue 
 and weakness so far got the 
 better of their sense of duty, 
 that some of the people ex- 
 pressed their discontent at hav- 
 ing worked harder than their 
 companions, and declared that 
 they would rather be without 
 their dinner than go in search 
 of it One person, in particular, 
 went so far as to tell me, with a 
 mutinous look, that he was as 
 good a man as myself. It was 
 not possible for one to judge 
 where this might have an end, 
 if not stopped in time ; to pre- 
 
44 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 vent, therefore, such disputes 
 in future, I determined either to 
 preserve my command or die in 
 the attempt ; and, seizing a cut- 
 lass, I ordered him to lay hold 
 of another and defend himself; 
 on which he called out that I 
 was going to kill him, and im- 
 mediately made concessions. I 
 did not allow this to interfere 
 further with the harmony of the 
 boat's crew, and everything soon 
 became quiet" 
 
 On this island they obtained 
 oysters, and clams, and dog- 
 fish; also a small bean, which 
 Nelson, the botanist, pronounced 
 to be a species of dolichos. On 
 the ist of June they stopped in 
 the midst of some sandy islands, 
 such as are known by the name 
 of keys, where they procured a 
 few clams and beans. Here 
 Nelson was taken very ill with 
 a violent heat in his bowels, a 
 loss of sight, great thirst, and 
 an inability to walk. A little 
 wine, which had carefully been 
 saved, with some pieces of bread 
 soaked in it, was given to him 
 in small quantities, and he soon 
 began to recover. The boat- 
 swain and carpenter were also 
 ill, and complained of headache 
 and sickness of the stomach. 
 In fact, there were few without 
 complaints. 
 
 A party was sent out by night 
 to catch birds ; they returned 
 with only twelve noddies, but it 
 is stated that had it not been 
 for the folly and obstinacy of 
 one of the party, who separated 
 from the others and disturbed 
 the birds, a great many more 
 
 might have been taken. The 
 offender was Robert Lamb, who 
 acknowledged, when he got to 
 Java, that he had that night 
 eaten nine raw birds after he 
 separated from his two com- 
 panions. 
 
 On the 3d of June, after pass- 
 ing several keys and islands, and 
 doubling Cape York, the north- 
 easternmost point of New Hol- 
 land, at eight in the evening, the 
 little boat and her brave crew 
 once more launched into the 
 open ocean. 
 
 On the 5th a booby was 
 caught by the hand, the blood 
 of which was divided between 
 three of the men who were 
 weakest, and the bird kept for 
 next day's dinner; and on the 
 evening of the 6th the allowance 
 for supper was recommenced, 
 according to a promise made 
 when it had been discontinued. 
 On the 7th, after a miserably 
 wet and cold night, nothing 
 more could be afforded than the 
 usual allowance for breakfast; 
 but at dinner each person had 
 the luxury of an ounce of dried 
 clams, which consumed all that 
 remained. Mr Ledward, the 
 surgeon, and Lawrence Lebogue, 
 an old hardy seaman, appeared 
 to be giving way very fast. No 
 other assistance could be given 
 to them than a tea-spoonful or 
 two of wine, and that had to be 
 carefully saved for such a melan- 
 choly occasion. 
 
 On the 8th the weather was 
 more moderate, and a small 
 dolphin was caught, which gave 
 about two ounces to each man. 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 45 
 
 The surgeon and Lebogue still 
 continued very ill, and the only 
 relief that could be afforded 
 them was a small quantity of 
 wine, and encouraging them with 
 the hope that a very few days 
 more, at the rate they were then 
 sailing, would bring them to 
 Timor. 
 
 "In the morning of the loth, 
 there was a visible alteration for 
 the worse/' says Bligh, "in many 
 of the people, which gave me 
 great apprehensions. An ex- 
 treme weakness, swelled legs, 
 hollow and ghastly countenances, 
 a more than common inclination 
 to sleep, with an apparent de- 
 bility of understanding, seemed 
 to me the melancholy presages 
 of an approaching dissolution. 
 The surgeon and Lebogue, in 
 particular, were most miserable 
 objects : I occasionally gave 
 them a few tea-spoonfuls of wine 
 out of the little that remained, 
 which greatly assisted them." 
 
 On the nth Bligh announced 
 to his wretched companions that 
 he had no doubt they had now 
 passed the meridian of the eastern 
 part of Timor, a piece of intel- 
 ligence that diffused universal 
 joy and satisfaction. At three 
 in the morning of the following 
 day, Timor was discovered at 
 the distance only of two leagues 
 from the shore. 
 
 On Sunday the i4th they 
 came safely to anchor in Cou- 
 pang Bay, where they were re- 
 ceived with every mark of kind- 
 ness, hospitality, and humanity. 
 The houses of the principal 
 people w*re thrown open for 
 
 their reception. The poor suf- 
 ferers when landed were scarcely 
 able to walk: their condition 
 was deplorable. 
 
 Having recruited their strength 
 by a residence of two months 
 among the friendly inhabitants 
 of Coupang, they proceeded to 
 the westward on the 20th August 
 in a small schooner, which was 
 purchased and armed for the 
 purpose, and arrived on the ist 
 October in Batavia Road, where 
 Captain Bligh embarked in a 
 Dutch packet, and was landed 
 on the Isle of Wight on the i4th 
 March 1790. The rest of the 
 people had passages provided 
 for them in ships of the Dutch 
 East India Company, then about 
 to sail for Europe. All of them, 
 however, did not survive to reach 
 England. Nelson, the botanist, 
 died at Coupang; Elphinstone, 
 master's mate, Peter Linkletter 
 and Thomas Hall, seamen, died 
 at Batavia; Robert Lamb, sea- 
 man, died on the passage; and 
 Ledward, the surgeon, was left 
 behind, and not afterwards heard 
 of. These six, with John Norton, 
 who was stoned to death, left 
 twelve of the nineteen, forced 
 by the mutineers into the launch, 
 to survive the difficulties and 
 dangers of this unparalleled 
 voyage, and to revisit their 
 native country. 
 
 Bligh says, "Thus happily 
 ended, through the assistance of 
 Divine Providence, without ac- 
 cident, a voyage of the most 
 extraordinary nature that ever 
 happened in the world, let it be 
 taken either in its extent, dura- 
 
16 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 tion, or the want of any neces- 
 sary of life." 
 
 Sir John Barrow adds, " It is 
 impossible to read this extraor- 
 dinary and unparalleled voyage, 
 without bestowing the meed of 
 unqualified praise on the able 
 and judicious conduct of its 
 commander, who is in every re- 
 spect, as far as this extraordinary 
 enterprise is concerned, fully 
 entitled to rank with Parry, 
 Franklin, and Richardson. Few 
 men, indeed, were ever placed 
 for so long a period in a more 
 trying, distressing, and perilous 
 situation than he was, and it 
 may safely be pronounced that 
 through his discreet management 
 of the men and their scanty re- 
 sources, and his ability as a 
 thorough seaman, eighteen souls 
 were saved from imminent and 
 otherwise inevitable destruction, 
 It was not alone the dangers of 
 the sea, in an open boat crowded 
 with people, that he had to com- 
 bat, though they required the 
 most consummate nautical skill 
 to be enabled to contend suc- 
 cessfully against them ; but the 
 unfortunate situation to which 
 the party were exposed, rendered 
 him subject to the almost daily 
 murmuring and caprice of people 
 less conscious than himself of 
 their real danger. From the ex- 
 perience they had acquired at 
 Tofoa of the savage disposition 
 of the people against the defence- 
 less boat's crew, a lesson was 
 learned how little was to be 
 trusted, even to the mildest of 
 uncivilised people, when a con- 
 scious superiority was in their 
 
 hands. A striking proof of this 
 was experienced in the unpro- 
 voked attack made by those 
 amiable people, the Otaheitans, 
 on Captain Wallis's ship, of 
 whose power they had formed 
 no just conception ; but having 
 once experienced the full force 
 of it, on no future occasion was 
 any attempt made to repeat 
 the attack. Captain Bligh, fully 
 aware of his own weakness, 
 deemed it expedient, therefore, 
 to resist all desires and tempta- 
 tions to land at any of those 
 islands among which they passed 
 in the course of the voyage, 
 well knowing how little could 
 be trusted to the forbearance of 
 savages, unarmed and wholly 
 defenceless as his party were. 
 
 But the circumstance of being 
 tantalised with the appearance 
 of land, clothed with perennial 
 verdure, whose approach was 
 forbidden to men chilled with 
 wet and cold, and nearly perish- 
 ing with hunger, was by no 
 means the most difficult against 
 which the commander had to 
 struggle. " It was not the least 
 of my distresses," he observes, 
 " to be constantly assailed with 
 the melancholy demands of my 
 people for an increase of allow- 
 ance, which it grieved me to 
 refuse." He well knew that to 
 reason with men reduced to the 
 last stage of famine, yet denied 
 the use of provisions within 
 their reach, and with the powei 
 to seize upon them in their own 
 hands, would be to no purpose. 
 Something more must be done 
 to ensure even the possibility of 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 47 
 
 saving them from the effect of 
 their own imprudence. The 
 first thing he set about, there- 
 fore, was to ascertain the exact 
 state of their provisions, which 
 were found to amount to the 
 ordinary consumption of five 
 days, but which were to be 
 spun out so as to last fifty days. 
 This was at once distinctly 
 stated to the men, and an 
 agreement entered into, and a 
 solemn promise made by all, 
 that the settled allowance should 
 never be deviated from, as they 
 were made clearly to understand 
 that on the strict observance of 
 this agreement rested the only 
 hope of their safety; and this 
 was explained and made so 
 evident to every man, at the 
 time it was concluded, that they 
 unanimously agreed to it ; and 
 by reminding them of this com- 
 pact, whenever they became 
 clamorous for more, and show- 
 ing a firm determination not to 
 swerve from it, Captain Bligh 
 succeeded in resisting all their 
 solicitations. 
 
 This rigid adherence to the 
 compact in doling out their 
 miserable pittance, the con- 
 stant exposure to wet, the im- 
 minent peril of being swallowed 
 up by the ocean, their cramped 
 and confined position, and the 
 unceasing reflection on their 
 miserable and melancholy situa- 
 tion all these difficulties and 
 sufferings make it not less than 
 miraculous that this voyage, it- 
 self a miracle, should have been 
 completed, not only without the 
 loss of a man from sickness, but 
 
 with so little loss of health. 
 " With respect to the preserva- 
 tion of our health," says the 
 commander, " during the course 
 of sixteen days of heavy and 
 almost continual rain, I would 
 recommend to every one in a 
 similar situation the method we 
 practised of dipping their clothes 
 in salt-water, and to wring them 
 out as often as they become 
 soaked with rain: it was the 
 only resource we had, and I 
 believe was of the greatest 
 service to us, for it felt more 
 like a change oi dry clothes 
 than could well be imagined. 
 We had occasion to do this so 
 often, that at length all our 
 clothes were wrung to pieces." 
 
 But the great art of all was to 
 divert their attention from the 
 almost hopeless situation in 
 which they were placed, and to 
 prevent despondency from tak- 
 ing possession of their minds; 
 and in order to assist in effect- 
 ing this, some employment was 
 devised for them : among other 
 things, a log-line an object of 
 interest to all was measured 
 and marked ; and the men were 
 practised in counting seconds 
 correctly, that the distance run 
 on each day might be ascer- 
 tained with a nearer approach 
 to accuracy than by mere guess- 
 ing. These little operations 
 afforded them a temporary 
 amusement ; and the log being 
 daily and hourly hove, gave 
 them also some employment, 
 and diverted their thoughts for 
 the moment from their melan- 
 choly situation. Then, ever? 
 
48 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 noon, when the sun was out, or 
 at other times before or after 
 noon, and also at night when 
 the stars appeared, Captain 
 Bligh never neglected to take 
 observations for the latitude, 
 and to work the day's work for 
 ascertaining the boat's place. 
 The anxiety of the people to 
 hear how they had proceeded, 
 what progress had been made, 
 and whereabouts they were on 
 the wide ocean, also contributed 
 for the time to drive away 
 gloomy thoughts that but too 
 frequently would intrude them- 
 selves. These observations were 
 rigidly attended to, and some- 
 times made under the most 
 difficult circumstances the sea 
 breaking over the observer, and 
 the boat pitching and rolling so 
 much, that he was obliged to 
 be " propped up " while taking 
 them. In this way, with now 
 and then a little interrupted 
 sleep, about a thousand long 
 and anxious hours were con- 
 sumed in pain and peril, and a 
 space of sea passed over equal 
 to four thousand five hundred 
 miles, being at the rate of four 
 and one-fifth miles an hour, or 
 one hundred miles a day. 
 Bligh mentions, in his printed 
 narrative, the mutinous conduct 
 of a person to whom he gave a 
 cutlass to defend himself. This 
 affair, as stated in his original 
 manuscript journal, wears a far 
 more serious aspect. " The 
 carpenter (Purcell) began to 
 be insolent to a high degree, 
 and at last told me, with a 
 mutinous aspect, he was as 
 
 good a man as I was. I did 
 not just now see where this was 
 to end : I therefore determined 
 to strike a final blow at it, and 
 either to preserve my command 
 or die in the attempt ; and, tak- 
 ing hold of a cutlass, I ordered 
 the rascal to take hold of another 
 and defend himself, when he 
 called out that I was going to 
 kill him, and began to make 
 concessions. I was now only 
 assisted by Mr Nelson ; and 
 the master (Fryer) very deliber- 
 ately called out to the boat- 
 swain to put me under an 
 arrest, and was stirring up a 
 great disturbance, when I de- 
 clared, if he interfered when I 
 was in the execution of my 
 duty to preserve order and 
 regularity, and that in conse- 
 quence any tumult arose, I 
 would certainly put him to 
 death the first man. This had 
 a proper effect on this man, and 
 he now assured me that, on the 
 contrary, I might rely on him to 
 support my orders and direc- 
 tions for the future. This is 
 the outline of a tumult that 
 lasted about a quarter of an 
 hour ;" and he adds, " I was 
 told that the master and car- 
 penter, at the last place, were 
 endeavouring to procure alter- 
 cations, 'and were the principal 
 cause of their murmuring there." 
 This carpenter he brought to a 
 court-martial on their arrival in 
 England, on various charges, of 
 which he was found guilty in 
 part, and reprimanded. Purcell 
 was said to be afterwards in a 
 mad-house. 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 49 
 
 On another occasion, when a 
 stew of oysters was distributed 
 Among the people, Bligh ob- 
 serves (in the MS. journal), 
 "In the distribution of it, the 
 voraciousness of some and the 
 moderation of others were very 
 discernible. The master began 
 to be dissatisfied the first, be- 
 cause it was not made into a 
 larger quantity by the addition 
 of water, and showed a turbu- 
 lent disposition, until I laid my 
 commands on him to be silent." 
 Again, on his refusing bread to 
 the men, because they were col- 
 lecting oysters, he says, " This 
 occasioned some murmuring 
 with the master and carpenter, 
 the former of whom endeavoured 
 to prove the propriety of such 
 an expenditure, and was trouble- 
 somely ignorant, tending to 
 create disorder among those, 
 if any were weak enough to 
 listen to him." 
 
 This conduct of the master 
 and the carpenter, if we accept 
 the commander's account of it 
 as accurate, and not unduly 
 biassed, was enough to provoke 
 a less irritable person. He 
 mentions, both in the narrative 
 and the original journal, other 
 instances of like provocation. 
 But what makes one chary at 
 repeating the story with acces- 
 sories which aroused the British 
 Lion at the time of Bligh's re- 
 turn, and set it raging and roar- 
 ing after the mutineers, is that 
 gentleman's treatment of the 
 conduct, character, and good 
 name of Midshipman Heywood, 
 who lived through it all, and a 
 
 sentence of death besides, to be 
 subsequently honoured and re- 
 spected as Captain Peter Hey- 
 wood. "To the kindness of 
 Mrs Heywood," says Sir John 
 Barrow in his preface, "the 
 relict of the late Captain Peter 
 Heywood, the editor is indebted 
 for those beautiful and affec- 
 tionate letters, written by a be- 
 loved sister to an unfortunate 
 brother, while a prisoner under 
 sentence of death. . . . Those 
 letters also from the brother to 
 his deeply afflicted family, will 
 be read with peculiar interest." 
 We now, as a sort of crucial test 
 of Bligh's conduct towards his 
 ofncers, and of the accuracy of 
 his statements when he returned, 
 resume the story as it affects 
 him and Heywood, presenting 
 a variety of correspondence. 
 Bligh speaks in his narrative of 
 Heywood only as one of those 
 left in the ship ; he does not 
 charge him with taking any 
 active part in the mutiny ; there 
 is every reason, indeed, to be- 
 lieve that Bligh did not, and 
 indeed could not, see him on 
 the deck on that occasion : in 
 point of fact, he never was with- 
 in thirty feet of Captain Bligh, 
 and the booms were between 
 them. About the end of March 
 1790, two months subsequent 
 to the death of a most beloved 
 and lamented husband, Mrs 
 Heywood received the afflict- 
 ing information, but by report 
 only, of a mutiny having taken 
 place on board the Bounty. In 
 that ship Mrs Heywood's son 
 had been serving as midship- 
 
50 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS, 
 
 man, who, when he left his 
 home, in August 1787, was 
 under fifteen years of age, a 
 boy deservedly admired and 
 beloved by all who knew him, 
 and to his own family almost 
 an object of adoration, for his 
 superior understanding and the 
 amiable qualities of his disposi- 
 tion. In a state of mind little 
 short of distraction, on hearing 
 this fatal intelligence, which was 
 at the same time aggravated by 
 every circumstance of guilt, his 
 mother addressed a letter to 
 Captain Bligh, strongly expres- 
 sive of the misery she must 
 necessarily feel on such an 
 occasion. The following is 
 Bligh's reply : 
 
 ' *" London, April 2 , 1790. 
 "MADAM, I received your 
 letter this day, and feel for you 
 very much, being perfectly sen- 
 sible of the extreme distress 
 you must suffer from the con- 
 duct of your son Peter. His 
 baseness is beyond all description; 
 but I hope you will endeavour 
 to prevent the loss of him, heavy 
 as the misfortune is, from afflict- 
 ing you too severely. I imagine 
 he is, with the rest of the muti- 
 neers, returned to Otaheite. 
 
 " I am, Madam, 
 " (Signed) WM. BLIGH." 
 
 Colonel Holwell, the uncle 
 of young Heywood, had pre- 
 viously addressed Bligh on the 
 same subject, to whom he re- 
 turned the following answer : 
 
 " 26//J March 1790. 
 "SiR, I have just this in- 
 
 stant received your letter. With 
 much concern I inform you that 
 your nephew, Peter Heywood, 
 is among the mutineers. His 
 ingratitude to me is of the blackest 
 dye, for I was a father to him in 
 every respect, and he never once 
 had an angry word from me 
 through the whole course of the 
 voyage, as his conduct always 
 gave me much pleasure and 
 satisfaction. I very much re- 
 gret that so much baseness formed 
 the character of a young man I 
 had a real regard for, and it 
 will give me much pleasure to 
 hear that his friends can bear the 
 loss of him without much concern. 
 
 " I am, Sir, etc., 
 "(Signed) WM. BLIGH." 
 
 The only way of accounting 
 for this ferocity of sentiment 
 (says Sir John Barrow) towards 
 a youth, who had in point of 
 fact no concern in the mutiny, 
 is by a reference to certain 
 points of evidence given by 
 Hayward, Hallet, and Purcell, 
 on the court-martial, each point 
 wholly unsupported. Those in 
 the boat would, no doubt, during 
 their long passage, often discuss 
 the conduct of their messmates 
 left in the Bounty, and the un- 
 supported evidence given by 
 these 'three was' well calculated 
 to create in Bligh's mind a pre- 
 judice against young Heywood; 
 yet, if so, it affords but a poor 
 excuse for harrowing up the *- 
 feelings of near and dear reja- 
 tives. 
 
 As a contrast to these un- 
 gracious letters, it is a great 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 51 
 
 relief to peruse the correspond- 
 ence that took place between 
 this unfortunate young officer 
 and his dreadfully afflicted 
 family. The letters of his sister, 
 Nessy Heywood, exhibit so 
 lively and ardent affection for 
 her beloved brother, and are so 
 nobly answered by the suffering 
 youth, that no apology seems to 
 be required for their introduc- 
 tion. After a state of long sus- 
 pense, this young lady thus ad- 
 dresses her brother : 
 
 "Isle of Man, 
 " In a situation of mind only 
 rendered supportable by the 
 long and painful state of misery 
 and suspense we have suffered 
 on his account, how shall I 
 address my dear, my fondly- 
 beloved brother? how describe 
 the anguish we have felt at the 
 idea of this long and painful 
 separation, rendered still more 
 distressing by the terrible cir- 
 cumstances attending it ? Oh ! 
 my ever dearest boy, when I 
 look back to that dreadful 
 moment which brought us the 
 fatal intelligence that you had 
 remained in the Bounty after 
 Mr Bligh had quitted her, and 
 were looked upon by him as a 
 mutineer ! when I contrast that 
 day of horror with my present 
 hopes of again beholding you, 
 such as my most sanguine 
 wishes could expect, I know 
 not which is the most predomi- 
 nant sensation pity, compas- 
 sion, and terror for your suffer- 
 ings, or joy and satisfaction at 
 the prospect of their being near 
 
 a termination, and of once more 
 embracing the dearest object of 
 our affections. 
 
 " I will not ask you, my be- 
 loved brother, whether you are 
 innocent of the dreadful crime 
 of mutiny, if the transactions of 
 that day were as Mr Bligh has 
 represented them; such is my 
 conviction of your worth and 
 honour, that I will, without 
 hesitation, stake my life on your 
 innocence. If, on the contrary, 
 you were concerned in such a 
 conspiracy against your com- 
 mander, I shall be as firmly 
 persuaded his conduct was the 
 occasion of it ; but, alas ! could 
 any occasion justify so atrocious 
 an attempt to destroy a number 
 of our fellow-creatures ? No, my 
 ever dearest brother, nothing 
 but conviction from your own 
 mouth can possibly persuade 
 me, that you would commit an 
 action in the smallest degree 
 inconsistent with honour and 
 duty; and the circumstance of 
 your having swam off to the 
 Pandora on her arrival at Ota- 
 heite (which filled us with joy 
 to which no words can do jus- 
 tice), is sufficient to convince 
 all who know you, that you cer- 
 tainly stayed behind either by 
 force or from views of preserva- 
 tion. 
 
 " How strange does it seem 
 to me that I am now engaged 
 in the delightful task of writing 
 to you ! Alas ! my beloved 
 brother, two years ago I never 
 expected again to enjoy such a 
 felicity, and even yet I am in 
 the most painful uncertainty 
 
52 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 whether you are alive. Gracious 
 God, grant that we may be 
 at length blessed by your re- 
 turn ! but, alas ! the Pandora's 
 people have been long expected, 
 and are not even yet arrived. 
 Should any accident have hap- 
 pened, after all the miseries you 
 have already suffered, the poor 
 gleam of hope with which we 
 have been lately indulged, will 
 render our situation ten thou- 
 sand times more insupportable 
 than if time had inured us to 
 your loss. I send this to the 
 care of Mr Hayward of Hack- 
 ney, father to the young gentle- 
 man you so often mention in 
 your letters when you were on 
 board the Bounty, and who 
 went out as third lieutenant in 
 the Pandora a circumstance 
 which gave us infinite satisfac- 
 tion, as you would, on entering 
 the Pandora, meet your old 
 friend. On discovering old Mr 
 Hayward's residence, I wrote to 
 him, as I hoped he would give 
 me some information respecting 
 the time of your arrival, and in 
 return he sent me a most friendly 
 letter, and has promised this shall 
 be given you when you reach Eng- 
 land, as I well know how great 
 your anxiety must be to hear of 
 us, and how much satisfaction 
 it will give you to have a letter 
 immediately on your return. 
 Let me conjure you, my dearest 
 Peter, to write to us the very 
 first moment do not lose a 
 post 'tis of no consequence 
 how short your letter may be, 
 if it only informs us you are 
 welL I need not tell you that 
 
 you are the first and dearest 
 obj ect of our affections. Think, 
 then, my adored boy, of the 
 anxiety we must feel on your 
 account : for my own part, I 
 can know no real joy or happi- 
 ness independent of you ; and 
 if any misfortune should now 
 deprive us of you, my hopes of 
 felicity are fled for ever. 
 
 "We are at present making 
 all possible interest with every 
 friend and connection we have, 
 to ensure you a sufficient sup- 
 port and protection at your ap- 
 proaching trial ; for a trial you 
 must unavoidably undergo, in 
 order to convince the world of 
 that innocence, which those 
 who know you will not for a 
 moment doubt ; but, alas ! while 
 circumstances are against you, 
 the generality of mankind will 
 judge severely. Bligh's repie- 
 sentations to the Admiralty, are, 
 I am told, very unfavourable, 
 and hitherto the tide of public 
 opinion has been greatly in his 
 favour. My mamma is at pre- 
 sent well, considering the dis- 
 tress she has suffered since you 
 left us ; for, my dearest brother, 
 we have experienced a compli- 
 cated scene of misery from a 
 variety of causes, which, how- 
 ever, when compared with the 
 sorrow we felt on your account, 
 was trifling and insignificant ; 
 that misfortune made all others 
 light ; and to see you once more 
 returned, and safely restored to 
 us, will be the summit of all 
 earthly happiness. 
 
 " Farewell, my most beloved 
 brother ! God grant this may 
 
AND HER 
 
 soon be put into your hands ! 
 Perhaps at this moment you are 
 arrived in England, and I may 
 soon have the dear delight of 
 again beholding you. My mam- 
 ma, brothers, and sisters, join 
 with me in every sentiment of 
 love and tenderness. Write to 
 us immediately, my ever-loved 
 Peter, and may the Almighty 
 preserve you until you bless 
 with your presence your fondly 
 affectionate family, and pojti- 
 cularly your unalterably faithful 
 friend and sister. 
 
 "NESSY HEYWOOD." 
 
 The gleam of joy which this 
 unhappy family derived from 
 the circumstance, which had 
 been related to them, of young 
 Heywood's swimming off to the 
 Pandora, was dissipated by a 
 letter from himself to his mother, 
 soon after his arrival in Eng- 
 land, in which he says : " The 
 question, my dear mother, in 
 one of your letters, concerning 
 my swimming off to the Pan- 
 dora, is one falsity among the 
 too many, in which I have often 
 thought of undeceiving you, 
 and as frequently forgot. The 
 story \yas this : On the morn- 
 ing she arrived, accompanied 
 by two of my friends (natives), 
 I was going up the mountains, 
 and having got about a hundred 
 yards from my own house, 
 another of my friends (for I was 
 a universal favourite among those 
 Indians, and perfectly conver- 
 sant in their language) came 
 running after me, and informed 
 me there was a ship coming. I 
 
 immediately ascended a rising 
 ground, and saw, with inde- 
 scribable joy, a ship lying-to off 
 Hapiano ; it was just after day- 
 light, and thinking Culeman 
 might not be awake, and there- 
 fore ignorant of this pleasing 
 news, I sent one of my servants 
 to inform him of it, upon which 
 he immediately went off in a 
 single canoe. There was a 
 fresh breeze, and the ship work- 
 ing into the bay ; he no sooner 
 got alongside than the rippling 
 capsized the canoe, and he be- 
 ing obliged to let go the tow- 
 rope to get her righted, went 
 astern, and was picked up the 
 next tack, and taken on board 
 the Pandora, he being the first 
 person. I, along with my mess- 
 mate Stewart, was then standing 
 upon the beach with a double 
 canoe, manned with twelve pad- 
 dles ready for launching; and 
 just as she made her last tack 
 into her berth (for we did not 
 think it requisite to go off 
 sooner), we put off and got 
 alongside just as they streamed 
 tha buoy ; and being dressed 
 in the country manner, tanned 
 as brown as themselves, and I 
 tattooed like them in the most 
 curious manner, I do not in the 
 least wonder at their taking us 
 for natives. I was tattooed, 
 not to gratify my own desire, 
 but theirs ; for it was my con- 
 stant endeavour to acquiesce in 
 any little custom which I thought 
 would be agreeable to them, 
 though painful in the process, 
 provided I gained by it their 
 friendship and esteem, which 
 
54 ' THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 you may suppose is no incon- 
 siderable object in an island 
 where the natives are so nume- 
 rous. The more a man or 
 woman there is tattooed, the 
 more they are respected ; and a 
 person having none of these 
 marks is looked upon as bear- 
 ing an unworthy badge of dis- 
 grace, and considered as a mere 
 outcast of society." 
 
 Among the many anxious 
 friends and family connections 
 of the Heywoods was Commo- 
 dore Pasley, to whom this affec- 
 tionate young lady addressed 
 herself on the melancholy occa- 
 sion ; and the following is the 
 reply she received from this 
 officer : 
 
 " Sheerness, June 8, 1792. 
 " Would to God, my dearest 
 Nessy, that I could rejoice with 
 you on the early prospect of 
 your brother's arrival in Eng- 
 land. One division of the Pan- 
 dora's people has arrived, and 
 now on board the Vengeance 
 (my ship). Captain Edwards, 
 with the remainder, and all the 
 prisoners late of the Bounty, in 
 number ten (four having been 
 drowned on the loss of that 
 ship), are daily expected. They 
 have been most rigorously and 
 closely confined since taken, 
 and will continue so, no doubt, 
 till Bligh's arrival. You have 
 no chance of seeing him, for no 
 bail can be offered. Your in- 
 telligence of his swimming off 
 on the Pandora's arrival is not 
 founded ; a man of the name of 
 Coleman swam off ere she an- 
 
 chored your brother and Mr 
 Stewart the next day. This last 
 youth, when the Pandora was 
 lost, refused to allow his irons 
 to be taken off to save his life. 
 " I cannot conceal it from 
 you, my dearest Nessy, neither 
 is it proper I should, your bro- 
 ther appears by all accounts to 
 be the greatest culprit of all, 
 Christian alone excepted. Every 
 exertion, you may rest assured, 
 I shall use to save his life ; but 
 on trial I have no hope of his 
 not being condemned. Three 
 of the ten who are expected are 
 mentioned in Bligh's narrative 
 as men detained against their 
 inclination. Would to God your 
 brother had been one of that 
 number ! I will not distress you 
 more by enlarging on this sub- 
 ject; as intelligence arises on 
 their arrival, you shall be made 
 acquainted. Adieu ! my dearest 
 Nessy. Present my affectionate 
 remembrances to your mother 
 and sisters, and believe me al- 
 ways, with the warmest affection, 
 your uncle, THOS. PASLEY." 
 
 How unlike is this from the 
 letter of Bligh ! While it frankly 
 apprises this amiable lady of 
 the real truth of the case, with- 
 out disguise, as it was then un- 
 derstood to be from Bligh's re- 
 presentations, it assures her of 
 his best exertions to save her 
 brother's life. Every reader of 
 sensibility will sympathise in the 
 feeling displayed in her reply : 
 
 "Isle of Man, 
 " 22d June 1792. 
 " Harassed by the most tor- 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 55 
 
 luring suspense, and miserably 
 wretched as I have been, my 
 dearest uncle, since the receipt 
 of your last, conceive, if it is 
 possible, the heartfelt joy and 
 satisfaction we experienced yes- 
 terday morning, when, on the 
 arrival of the packet, the de- 
 lightful letter from our beloved 
 Peter (a copy of which I send 
 you enclosed) was brought to 
 us. Surely, my excellent friend, 
 you will agree with me in think- 
 ing there could not be a stronger 
 proof of his innocence and worth, 
 and that it must prejudice every 
 person who reads it most power- 
 fully in his favour. Such a letter 
 in less distressful circumstances 
 than those in which he writes, 
 would, I am persuaded, reflect 
 honour on the pen of a person 
 much older than my poor bro- 
 ther. But when we consider 
 his extreme youth, (only sixteen 
 at the time of the mutiny, and 
 now but nineteen), his forti- 
 tude, patience, and manly re- 
 signation, under the pressure 
 of sufferings and misfortunes 
 almost unheard of and scarcely 
 to be supported at any age, 
 without the assistance of that 
 which seems to be my dear 
 brother's greatest comfort a 
 quiet conscience, and a thorough 
 conviction of his own inno- 
 cence ; when I add, at the 
 same time, with real pleasure 
 and satisfaction, that his relation 
 corresponds in many particu- 
 lars with the accounts we have 
 hitherto heard of the fatal mu- 
 tiny; and when I also add, with 
 inconceivable pride and delight, 
 
 that my beloved Peter was never 
 known to breathe a syllable in- 
 consistent with truth and hon- 
 our; when these circumstances, 
 my dear uncle, are all united, 
 what man on earth can doubt 
 of the innocence which could 
 dictate such a letter ? In short, 
 let it speak for him : the perusal 
 of his artless and pathetic story 
 will, I am persuaded, be a 
 stronger recommendation in his 
 favour than anything I can 
 urge.* 
 
 "I need not tire your patience, 
 my ever-loved uncle, by dwell- 
 ing longer on this subject (the 
 dearest and most interesting on 
 earth to my heart) ; let me con- 
 jure you only, my kind friend, 
 to read it, and consider the 
 innocence and defenceless situa- 
 tion of its unfortunate author, 
 which calls for, and I am sure 
 deserves, all the pity and assist- 
 ance his friends can afford him, 
 and which, I am sure also, the 
 goodness and benevolence ot 
 your heart, will prompt you to 
 exert in his behalf. It is per- 
 fectly unnecessary for me to add, 
 after the anxiety I feel, and 
 cannot but express, that no 
 benefit conferred upon myself, 
 will be acknowledged with half 
 the gratitude I must ever feel, 
 for the smallest instance of 
 kindness shown to my beloved 
 Peter. Farewell, my dearest 
 uncle. With the firmest reliance 
 on your kind and generous 
 promises, I am, ever with the 
 
 * This interesting letter is given in 
 the following chapter, to which il 
 appropriately belongs. 
 
56 THE BQUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 truest gratitude and sincerity, 
 your most affectionate niece, 
 "NESSY HEYWOOD." 
 
 This correspondence is not 
 quoted with the view of making 
 a vain appeal to the proofs it 
 gives of kindly affections, as 
 evidence against such crimina- 
 lity as was shown by taking an 
 active part in the mutiny of the 
 Bounty. Kindly affections and 
 the greatest criminality of any 
 kind, are quite compatible in 
 the same person. The letters, 
 however, awaken our sympa- 
 thies towards the memory of 
 young Hey wood ; they show 
 
 clearly that he was not the un- 
 grateful wretch his captain re- 
 presented him as being; and 
 they argue that out of such 
 materials, Bligh might have 
 succeeded in producing some- 
 thing better than a mutiny 
 in a word, that a great propor- 
 tion of the blame of the whole 
 dark affair, must be laid to 
 his account, and to that of 
 the system of naval command, 
 from which captains took their 
 tone, and trained their tempers 
 in those days. The next chap- 
 ter introduces us to another 
 specimen of a naval captain of 
 the period. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN PURSUIT OF THE MUTINEERS. 
 
 BLIGH was the hero of the hour 
 in England, after his sufferings 
 and his bravery and daring in 
 the open boat became known. 
 There was a cry of indignation 
 against Fletcher Christian and 
 his associates. Bligh was pro- 
 moted by the Admiralty to the 
 rank of Commander, and sent 
 out a second time to secure the 
 bread-fruit tree as cheap food 
 for the slaves in the West Indies, 
 and he secured and transported 
 all the plants he was sent for. 
 
 Government resolved to bring 
 condign punishment down upon 
 every one of the mutineers. 
 Preparatory to this for it was 
 
 desirable to catch them first 
 the frigate Pandora, of twenty- 
 four guns, and one hundred 
 and sixty men, was despatched 
 under the command of Captain 
 Edward Edwards, with orders 
 to proceed direct to Otaheite, 
 and secure the mutineers, if 
 they were there ; if not, to visit 
 the different groups of the 
 Society and Friendly Islands, 
 and others in the neighbouring 
 regions of the Pacific, and use 
 his best endeavours to se ; ze as 
 many of the delinquents as he 
 could discover, and bring them 
 home in chains. The captain 
 succeeded so far as to take 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 57 
 
 fourteen of the mutineers, ten 
 of whom he brought to England, 
 the other four being drowned 
 when the Pandora was wrecked. 
 
 Mr George Hamilton, the 
 surgeon, published an account 
 of this voyage, in a small rather 
 unreadable volume, and rather 
 void of information. Captain 
 Edwards' report to the Admir- 
 alty is a very unsatisfactory 
 production as vague as it is 
 unsatisfactory in all other re- 
 spects. A journal kept by 
 James Morrison, formerly boat- 
 swain's mate in the Bounty, and 
 a circumstantial letter written by 
 Peter Hey wood to his mother, 
 are our most reliable sources of 
 information. 
 
 The Pandora anchored in 
 Matavai Bay on the 23d March 
 1791. Captain Edwards, in his 
 narrative, states that Joseph 
 Coleman, the armourer of the 
 Bounty, attempted to come on 
 board before the Pandora had 
 anchored ; that on reaching the 
 ship, he began to make inquiries 
 of him after the Bounty and her 
 people, and that he seemed to 
 be ready to give him any in- 
 formation that was required; 
 that the next who came on board, 
 just after the ship had anchored, 
 were Mr Peter Heywood and 
 Mr Stewart, before any boat had 
 been sent on shore ; that they 
 were brought down to his cabin, 
 when, after some conversation, 
 Heywood asked if Mr Hay ward 
 (midshipman of the Bounty, but 
 now lieutenant of the Pandora) 
 was on board, as he had heard 
 that he was; that Lieutenant 
 
 Hayward, whom he sent for, 
 treated Heywood with a sort of 
 o ntemptuous look, and began 
 to enter into conversation with 
 him respecting the Bounty ; but 
 Edwards ordered him to desist, 
 and called in the sentinel to take 
 the prisoners into safe custody, 
 and to put them in irons ; that 
 other four mutineers soon made 
 their appearance ; and that from 
 them and some of the natives, 
 he learned that the rest of the 
 Bounty's people had built a 
 schooner, with which they had 
 sailed the day before from Mat- 
 avai Bay to the N.W. part of the 
 island. He despatched two lieu- 
 tenants with the pinnace and 
 launch to intercept her, but they 
 failed. The schooner subse- 
 quently returned to PaparrS, 
 where the same two lieutenants, 
 Corner and Hayward, found her, 
 but the mutineers had fled to the 
 mountains. In two days, how- 
 ever, they came down again, and 
 Captain Edwards drew up his 
 men to receive them, called on 
 them to lay down their arms and 
 to go on one side, with which 
 summons the mutineers com- 
 plying, they were seized and 
 brought prisoners to the ship. 
 
 The following are the names 
 of the prisoners on board the 
 Pandora: Peter Heywood and 
 George Stewart, midshipmen ; 
 James Morrison, boatswain's 
 mate; Charles Norman, carpen- 
 ter's mate; Thomas M'Intosh, of 
 the carpenter's crew; Joseph 
 Coleman, armourer ; Richard 
 Skinner, Thomas Ellison, Henry 
 Hillbrant, Thomas Burkitt, John 
 
&8 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Millward, John Sumner, William 
 Muspratt, Richard Bryan, sea- 
 men, in all, fourteen. Captain 
 Edwards had a round-house 
 built on the after-part of the 
 quarterdeck for the mutineers, 
 whom he calls pirates. While 
 the Pandora lay to, the prison- 
 ers' wives visited her daily, and 
 brought their children, who were 
 allowed to be carried to their 
 unhappy fathers. The wives 
 brought their husbands also 
 ample supplies of every delicacy 
 the country afforded. What a 
 parting ! These poor women and 
 children, what became of them 
 afterwards? Of their fidelity and 
 attachment an instance is afford- 
 ed in the touching story which 
 is told in the first Missionary 
 Voyage of the Duff, of the poor 
 wife of George Stewart. It is this : 
 " The history of Peggy Stew- 
 art marks a tenderness of heart 
 that never will be heard without 
 emotion. She was daughter of 
 a chief, and taken for his wife 
 by Mr Stewart, one of the un- 
 happy mutineers. They had 
 lived with the old chief in the 
 most tender state of endearment ; 
 a beautiful little girl had been 
 the fruit of their union, and was 
 at the breast when the Pandora 
 arrived, seized the criminals, 
 and secured them in irons on 
 board the ship. Frantic with 
 grief, the unhappy Peggy (for 
 so he had named her) flew with | 
 her infant in a canoe to the arms j 
 of her husband. The interview ! 
 was so affecting and afflicting, 
 that the officers on board were 
 overwhelmed with anguish ; and ] 
 
 Stewart himself, unable to beai 
 the heart-rending scene, begged 
 she might not be admitted again 
 on board. She was separated 
 from him by violence, and con- 
 veyed on shore in a state of 
 despair and grief too big for 
 utterance. Withheld from him, 
 and forbidden to come any more 
 on board, she sunk into the 
 deepest dejection ; it preyed on 
 her vitals ; she lost all relish for 
 food and life, rejoiced no more, 
 pined under a rapid decay of 
 two months, and fell a victim to 
 her feelings, dying literally of a 
 broken heart. Her child is yet 
 alive, and the tender object of 
 our care, having been brought 
 up by a sister, who nursed it as 
 her own, and has discharged all 
 the duties of an affectionate 
 mother to the orphan infant." 
 
 It. does not appear that Hey- 
 wood formed any matrimonial 
 engagement in Otaheite. 
 
 All the mutineers in the island 
 having been secured, the Pan- 
 dora proceeded to search for 
 those who had left in the Bounty. 
 It should be mentioned that 
 Churchill and Thompson, two of 
 the mutineers, had met violent 
 deaths before the arrival of Cap- 
 tain Edwards. Thompson shot 
 Churchill, for which the natives 
 stoned him to death. His skull 
 was brought on board the Pan- 
 dora. 
 
 Captain Edwards had no clue 
 to guide him as to the route 
 taken by the Bounty; but he 
 learned from different people and 
 from journals kept on board 
 that ship, which were found in 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 59 
 
 the chests of the mutineers at 
 Otaheite, the proceedings of 
 Christian and his associates, 
 after Bligh and his companions 
 had been turned adrift in the 
 launch. From these it appears 
 that the pirates proceeded in 
 the first instance to the island 
 of Toobouai, in lat 20 13' S., 
 long. 149 35' W., where they 
 anchored on the 25th May 1789. 
 At this island it seems they in- 
 tended to form a settlement; 
 but the opposition of the natives, 
 the want of many necessary 
 materials, and quarrels among 
 themselves, determined them 
 to go to Otaheite to procure 
 what might be required to effect 
 their purpose, provided they 
 should agree to prosecute their 
 original intention. They accord- 
 ingly sailed from Toobouai 
 about the latter end of the 
 month, and arrived at Otaheite 
 on the 6th June. The Otoo, 
 or reigning sovereign, and other 
 principal natives, were very in- 
 quisitive and anxious to know 
 what had become of Captain 
 Bligh and the rest of the crew, 
 and also what had been done 
 with the bread - fruit plants. 
 They were told they had most 
 unexpectedly fallen in with Cap- 
 tain Cook at an island he had 
 just discovered, called Why- 
 tootakee, where he intended to 
 form a settlement and where 
 the plants had been landed ; 
 and that Captain Bligh and the 
 others were stopping there to 
 assist Captain Cook ; that he 
 had appointed Mr Christian 
 commander of the Bounty, and 
 
 that he had been sent for a sup- 
 ply of hogs, goats, fowls, bread- 
 fruit, and other articles. This 
 story imposed on the islanders. 
 The things wanted were speedily 
 supplied, as well as eight men, 
 nine women, and seven boys 
 besides whom they took with 
 them. They left Otaheite on 
 the 1 9th of June, and arrived a 
 second time at Toobouai on 
 the 26th. They could not agree 
 among themselves about settling 
 here, and they sailed from Too- 
 bouai on the 1 5th, and arrived 
 once more at Matavai Bay on 
 the 20th September 1789. 
 Here the sixteen mutineers 
 already accounted for were put 
 on shore at their own request, 
 the remaining nine resolving to 
 abide by the Bounty, which 
 sailed finally from Otaheite on 
 the night of the 2ist September. 
 They took with them seven 
 Otaheite men and twelve women. 
 On the 8th of May 1791, the 
 Pandora left Otaheite. She 
 called at numerous islands, but 
 met with none of the men she 
 was in search of. After a fruit- 
 less cruise of three months, the 
 Pandora arrived, on the 29th 
 August, at the coast of New 
 Holland, and came close to 
 that dangerous reef of coral 
 rocks, called the "Barrier Reef," 
 which runs along the greater 
 part of the eastern coast, at a 
 considerable distance from it. 
 The boat had been sent out to 
 look for an opening which was 
 not difficult to find, but during 
 the night the Pandora drifted 
 past it. Next day she struck 
 
60 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 upon the reef. The leak increas- 
 ed so fast that all hands were 
 turned to the pumps, and to 
 bale at the hatchways. In little 
 more than an hour and a half 
 after she struck, there were 
 eight feet and a half of water in 
 the hold. During the night two 
 of the pumps were rendered 
 useless ; one of them, however, 
 was repaired, and kept wearily 
 baling and pumping in the vain 
 hope of keeping the ship afloat. 
 Seeing that their efforts were 
 hopeless, the captain and officers 
 resolved to take to the four boats, 
 which, with careful hands in 
 them, were kept astern of the 
 ship. 
 
 About half-past six in the 
 morning the hold was full, and 
 the water was between decks, 
 and it also washed in at the 
 upper-deck ports, and there were 
 strong indications that the ship 
 was on the very point of sinking ; 
 they began to leap overboard 
 and take to the boats, and, before 
 everybody could get out of her, 
 she actually sunk. 
 
 On subsequently mustering 
 the people that were saved, it 
 was found that eighty-nine of the 
 ship's company, and ten of the 
 mutineer prisoners answered 
 their names ; but thirty-one of 
 the ship's company and four 
 mutineers were lost with the 
 ship. The mutineers had a 
 sorry time of it during the pre- 
 liminaries of this shipwreck. 
 Three of them, Coleman, Nor- 
 man, and M'Intosh, were let 
 out of irons, and sent to work 
 at the pumps. The others 
 
 begged to be allowed a chance 
 of helping to save their own 
 lives as well as the lives of their 
 fellow voyagers. The answer 
 to their prayer was two addi- 
 tional sentinels placed over 
 them, with orders to shoot any 
 who should attempt to get free 
 from their chains. " Seeing no 
 prospect of escape," Lieutenant 
 Corner tells us, "they betook 
 themselves to prayer, and pre- 
 pared to meet their fate, every- 
 one expecting that the ship 
 would soon go to pieces." 
 When the ship was actually 
 sinking, and every effort was 
 being made for the preservation 
 of the crew, no notice was taken 
 of the prisoners, although Cap- 
 tain Edwards was entreated by 
 Mr Heywood to have mercy 
 upon them, when he passed 
 over their prison, to make his 
 own escape, the ship then lying 
 on her broadside, with the lar- 
 board bow completely under 
 water. Fortunately the master- 
 at-arms, either by accident or 
 design, when slipping from the 
 roof of the round-house in which 
 they were imprisoned into the 
 sea, let the keys of the irons fall 
 through the scuttle or entrance, 
 which he had just before opened, 
 and thus enabled them to com- 
 mence their own liberation, in 
 which they were generously as- 
 sisted, at the imminent risk ot 
 his own life, by William Moul- 
 ter, a boatswain's mate, who 
 clung to the coamings, and pull- 
 ed the long bars through the 
 shackles, saying he would set 
 them free, or go to the bottom 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 61 
 
 with them. Scarcely was this 
 effected, when the ship went 
 down, leaving nothing visible 
 but the top-mast cross-trees. 
 The master-at-arms and all the 
 sentinels sunk to rise no more. 
 The cries of them and the other 
 drowning men were awful in the 
 extreme ; and more than half an 
 hour had elapsed before the 
 survivors could be taken up by 
 the boats. Among the former 
 were Mr Stewart, John Sumner, 
 Richard Skinner, and Henry 
 Hillbrant, the whole of whom 
 perished with their hands still 
 in manacles. 
 
 On this melancholy occa- 
 sion, Mr Heywood was the last 
 person but three who escaped 
 from the prison, into which the 
 water had already found its way 
 through the bulk-head scuttles. 
 Jumping overboard, he seized a 
 plank, and was swimming to- 
 wards a small sandy key, about 
 three miles distant, when a boat 
 picked him up, and conveyed 
 him thither in a state of nudity. 
 James Morrison followed his 
 young companion's example ; 
 and, although handcuffed, he 
 managed to keep afloat until a 
 boat came to his assistance. 
 
 The conduct of Captain Ed- 
 wards on this occasion does not 
 argue much for his humanity. 
 
 On the sandy key which for- 
 tunately presented itself, they 
 hauled up the boats, to repair 
 those that were damaged, and 
 to stretch canvas round the 
 gunwales, the better to prevent 
 the sea from breaking into them. 
 The heat of the sun and the 
 
 reflection from the sand tortur- 
 ed the wretches who had just 
 escaped from a grave in the 
 sea; and the salt water they 
 had taken in while swimming, 
 created an excruciating thirst. 
 One of the seamen, Connell, 
 went mad from the salt water 
 he drank. 
 
 The crew and the prisoners 
 were distributed among the four 
 boats, which sailed away among 
 the islands and near the shore, 
 where they now and then stop- 
 ped to pick up a few oysters, 
 and procure a little fresh water. 
 On the 2d September, they 
 passed the N.W. point of New 
 Holland, and launched into the 
 Indian Ocean, with a voyage of 
 about a thousand miles before 
 them. Captain Edwards had 
 four boats ; poor Bligh had only 
 one, when he sailed in circum- 
 stances somewhat similar, and 
 even a great deal worse. 
 
 On the 1 3th, they saw the 
 island of Timor, and the next 
 morning landed and got some 
 water, and a few small fish from 
 the natives ; and, on the night 
 of the 1 5th, anchored opposite 
 the fort of Coupang. Nothing 
 could exceed the kindness and 
 hospitality of the governor and 
 other Dutch officers of this 
 settlement, in affording every 
 possible assistance and relief in 
 their distressed condition. Hav- 
 ing remained here three weeks, 
 they embarked, on the 6th Octo- 
 ber, on board the Rembang 
 Dutch Indiaman, and on the 
 3oth anchored at Samarang, 
 where they were agreeably sur- 
 
62 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 prised to find their little tender, 
 which they had so long given up 
 for lost. On the 7th November 
 they arrived at Batavia, where 
 Captain Edwards agreed with 
 the Dutch East India Company, 
 to divide the whole of the ship's 
 company and prisoners among 
 four of their ships proceeding 
 to Europe. The latter the cap- 
 tain took with him in the 
 Vreedenburgh; but, finding his 
 Majesty's ship Gorgon at the 
 Cape, he transhipped himself 
 and prisoners, and proceeded 
 in her to Spithead, where he 
 arrived on the iQth June 1792. 
 Captain Edwards, in his nar- 
 rative, never mentions the pri- 
 soners from the day he leaves 
 them bound in chains in that 
 " Pandora's Box," which he 
 built for them. He does not 
 seem to have been a man of 
 much sympathetic feeling; and 
 he was subsequently pronounced 
 by public opinion to have exer- 
 cised an undue degree of sev- 
 erity towards the prisoners, 
 most of whom, it is to be re- 
 membered, had surrendered 
 themselves, thus giving him the 
 least possible amount of trouble 
 to capture them. The follow- 
 ing letter from Peter Heywood 
 to his mother will be read with 
 very deep interest at this stage 
 of the story of "The Bounty 
 and Her Mutineers." 
 
 "Batavia, 
 
 " November 25, 1791. 
 " My ever - honoured and 
 dearest mother, At length the 
 time has arrived when you are 
 
 once more to hear from your ill- 
 fated son, whose conduct at the 
 capture of that ship, in which it 
 was my fortune to embark, has, 
 I fear, from what has since 
 happened to me, been grossly 
 misrepresented to you by Lieu- 
 tenant Bligh, who, by not know- 
 ing the real cause of my remain- 
 ing on board, naturally suspected 
 me, unhappily for me, to be a 
 coadjutor in the mutiny; but I 
 never, to my knowledge, whilst 
 under his command, behaved 
 myself in a manner unbecoming 
 the station I occupied, nor so 
 much as even entertained a 
 thought derogatory to his hon- 
 our, so as to give him the least 
 grounds for entertaining an 
 opinion of me so ungenerous 
 and undeserved; for I flatter 
 myself he cannot give a char- 
 acter of my conduct, whilst I 
 was under his tuition, that could 
 merit the slightest scrutiny. Oh ! 
 my dearest mother, I hope you 
 have not so easily credited such 
 an account of me : do but let 
 me vindicate my conduct, and 
 declare to you the true cause of 
 my remaining in the ship, and 
 you will then see how little I 
 deserve censure, and how I 
 have been injured by so gross 
 an aspersion. I shall then give 
 you a shbrt and cursory account 
 of what has happened to me 
 since ; but I am afraid to say a 
 hundredth part of what I have 
 got in store, for I am not allowed 
 the use of writing materials, if 
 known ; so that this is done by 
 stealth ; but if it should ever 
 come to your hands, it will, I 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 63 
 
 hope, have the desired effect of 
 removing your uneasiness on 
 my account, when I assure you, 
 before the face of God, of my 
 innocence of what is laid to my 
 charge. How I came to remain 
 on board was thus : 
 
 " The morning the ship was 
 taken, it being my watch below, 
 happening to awake just after 
 daylight, and looking out of my 
 hammock, I saw a man sitting 
 upon the arm-chest in the main 
 hatch-way, with a drawn cutlass 
 in his hand, the reason of which 
 I could not divine; so I got 
 out of bed, and inquired of 
 him what was the cause of it. 
 He told me that Mr Christian, 
 assisted by some of the ship's 
 company, had seized the captain 
 and put him in confinement; 
 had taken the command of the 
 ship, and meant to carry Bligh 
 home a prisoner, in order to 
 try him by court-martial, for his 
 long tyrannical and oppressive 
 conduct to his people. I was 
 quite thunderstruck ; and hurry- 
 ing into my berth again, told 
 one of my messmates, whom I 
 awakened out of his sleep, what 
 had happened. Then, dressing 
 myself, I went up the fore-hatch- 
 way, and saw what he had told 
 me was but too true ; and again 
 I asked some of the people who 
 were under arms, what was going 
 to be done with the captain, 
 who was then on the larboard 
 side of the quarter-deck, with 
 his hands tied behind his back, 
 and Mr Christian alongside of 
 him with a pistol and drawn 
 bayonet. I now heard a very 
 
 different story, and that the 
 captain was to be sent ashore 
 to Tofoa in the launch, and that 
 those who would not join Mr 
 Christian, might either accom- 
 pany the captain, or would be 
 taken in arms to Otaheite and 
 left there. The relation of two 
 stories so different, left me un- 
 able to judge which could be 
 the true one ; but seeing them 
 hoisting the boats out, it seemed 
 to prove the latter. 
 
 " In this trying situation, 
 young and inexperienced as I 
 was, and without an adviser 
 (every person being as it were 
 infatuated, and not knowing 
 what to do), I remained for a 
 while a silent spectator of what 
 was going on; and after revolv- 
 ing the matter in my mind, I 
 determined to choose what I 
 thought the lesser of two evils, 
 and stay by the ship ; for I had 
 no doubt that those who went 
 on shore in the launch would 
 be put to death by the savage 
 natives, whereas the Otaheitans 
 being a humane and generous 
 race, one might have a hope of 
 being kindly received, and re- 
 main there until the arrival of 
 some ship, which seemed, to 
 silly me, the most consistent 
 with reason and rectitude. 
 
 "While this resolution pos- 
 sessed my mind, at the same time 
 lending my assistance to hoist out 
 the boats, the hurry and con- 
 fusion affairs were in, and think- 
 ing my intentions just, I never 
 thought of going to Mr Bligh 
 for advice ; besides, what con- 
 firmed me in it was my seeing 
 
64 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 two experienced officers, when 
 ordered into the boat by Mr 
 Christian, desire his permission 
 to remain in the ship, one of 
 whom (my own messmate, Mr 
 Hayward), and I being assisting 
 to clear the launch of yams, he 
 asked me what I intended to 
 do? I told him, to remain in 
 the ship. Now this answer, I 
 imagine, he has told Mr Bligh 
 I made to him ; from which, to- 
 gether with my not speaking to 
 him that morning, his suspicions 
 of me have arisen, construing 
 my conduct into what is foreign 
 to my nature. 
 
 "Thus, my dearest mother, 
 it was all owing to my youth 
 and unadvised inexperience, but 
 has been interpreted into villainy 
 and disregard of my country's 
 laws, the ill effects of which I 
 at present, and still am to, labour 
 under for some months longer. 
 And now, after what I have as- 
 serted, I may still once more 
 retrieve my injured reputation, 
 be again reinstated in the affec- 
 tion and favour of the most 
 tender of mothers, and be still 
 considered as her ever dutiful 
 son. 
 
 "I was not undeceived in 
 my erroneous decision until too 
 late, which was after the captain 
 was in the launch ; for, while I 
 was talking to the master-at- 
 arms, one of the ringleaders in 
 the affair, my other messmate 
 whom I had left in his hammock 
 in the berth, Mr Stewart, came 
 up to me, and asked me if I 
 was not going in the launch? 
 I replied, No upon which he 
 
 told me not to think of such a 
 thing as remaining behind, but 
 take his advice, and go down 
 below with him to get a few 
 necessary things, and make 
 haste to go with him into the 
 launch; adding that, by remain- 
 ing in the ship, I should incur 
 an equal share of guilt with the 
 mutineers themselves. I reluct- 
 antly followed his advice I say 
 reluctantly, because I knew no 
 better, and was foolish; and the 
 boat swimming very deep in the 
 water the land being very far 
 distant the thoughts of being 
 sacrificed by the natives and 
 the self-consciousness of my 
 first intention being just; all 
 these considerations almost 
 staggered my resolution. How- 
 ever, I preferred my compan- 
 ion's judgment to my own, and 
 we both jumped down the main- 
 hatchway to prepare ourselves 
 for the boat; but no sooner 
 were we in the berth, than 
 the master-at-arms ordered the 
 sentry to keep us both in the 
 berth till he should receive 
 orders to release us. We desir- 
 ed the master-at-arms to acquaint 
 Mr Bligh of our intention, which 
 we had reason to think he never 
 did, nor were we permitted to 
 come on deck until the launch 
 was a long way astern. I now, 
 when too late, saw my error. 
 
 " At the latter end of May, 
 we got to an island to the south- 
 ward of Taheitd, called Tooboui, 
 where they intended to make a 
 settlement ; but, finding no 
 stock there of any kind, they 
 agreed to go to TaheitS, and, 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 65 
 
 after procuring hogs and fowls, 
 to return to Tooboui and re- 
 main. So, on the 6th June, we 
 arrived at TaheitS, where I was 
 in hopes I might find an oppor- 
 tunity of running away, and re- 
 maining on shore ; but I could 
 not effect it, as there was always 
 too good a look-out kept to pre- 
 vent any such steps being taken. 
 And, besides, they had all sworn 
 that, should any one make his 
 escape, they would force the 
 natives to restore him, and 
 would then shoot him as an ex- 
 ample to the rest ; well know- 
 ing, that any one, by remain- 
 ing there, might be the means 
 (should a ship arrive) of dis- 
 covering their intended place 
 of abode. Finding it therefore 
 impracticable, I saw no other 
 alternative but to rest as con- 
 tent as possible, and return to 
 Tooboui, and there wait till the 
 masts of the Bounty should be 
 taken out, and then take the 
 boat which might carry me to 
 TaheitS, and disable those re- 
 maining from pursuit. But Pro- 
 vidence so ordered it, that we 
 had no occasion to try our 
 fortune at such a hazard ; for, 
 upon returning there and re- 
 maining till the latter end of 
 August, at which time a fort 
 was almost built, but nothing 
 could be effected; and as the 
 natives could not be brought to 
 friendly terms, and with whom 
 we had many skirmishes, and 
 narrow escapes from being cut 
 off by them, and, what was still 
 worse, internal broils and dis- 
 content these things determin- 
 
 ed part of the people to leave 
 the island, and go to Taheit^, 
 which was carried by a majority 
 of votes. 
 
 " This being carried into exe- 
 cution on the 22d September, 
 and having anchored in Matavai 
 Bay, the next morning my mess- 
 mate, Mr Stewart, and I went 
 on shore to the house of an old 
 landed proprietor, our former 
 friend ; and, being now set free 
 from a lawless crew, determined 
 to remain as much apart from 
 them as possible, and wait 
 patiently for the arrival of a 
 ship. Fourteen more of the 
 Bounty's people came likewise 
 on shore, and Mr Christian and 
 eight men went away with the 
 ship, but God knows whither. 
 Whilst we remained here, we 
 were treated by our kind and 
 friendly natives with a gener- 
 osity and humanity almost un- 
 paralleled, and such as we 
 could hardly have expected 
 from the most civilised people. 
 
 "To be brief having remain- 
 ed here till the latter end of 
 March 1791, on the 26th of 
 that month, His Majesty's ship 
 Pandora arrived, and had 
 scarcely anchored, when my 
 messmate and I went on board 
 and made ourselves known; 
 and having learned from one of 
 the natives who had been off in 
 a canoe, that our former mess- 
 mate, Mr Hayward, now pro- 
 moted to the rank of lieutenant, 
 was on board, we asked for him, 
 supposing he might prove the 
 assertion of our innocence. 
 But he (like all worldlings when 
 
66 
 
 THE BOUNTY A AD HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 raised a little in life) received us 
 very coolly, and pretended ig- 
 norance of our affairs ; yet, for- 
 merly, he and I were bound in 
 brotherly love and friendship. 
 Appearances being so much 
 against us, we were ordered to 
 be put in irons, and looked 
 upon oh, infernal words ! as 
 piratical villains. A rebuff so 
 severe as this \\as to a person 
 unused to troubles, would per- 
 haps have been insupportable ; 
 but to me, who had now been 
 long inured to the frowns of 
 fortune, and feeling myself sup- 
 ported by an inward conscious- 
 ness of not deserving it, it was 
 received with the greatest com- 
 posure, and a full determination 
 to bear it with patience. 
 
 " My sufferings, however, I 
 have not power to describe ; 
 but though they are great, yet I 
 thank God for enabling me to 
 bear them without repining. \ 
 endeavour to qualify my afflic- 
 tion with these three considera- 
 tions : first, my innocence not 
 deserving them; secondly, that 
 they cannot last long; and, 
 thirdly, that the change may be 
 for the better. The first im- 
 proves my hopes ; the second, 
 my patience ; and the third, my 
 courage. I am young in years, 
 but old in what the world calls 
 adversity ; and it has had such 
 an effect, as to make me con- 
 sider it the most beneficial inci- 
 dent that could have occurred 
 at my age. It has made me 
 acquainted with three things 
 which are little known, and as 
 little believed, by any but those 
 
 who have felt their effects : first, 
 the villainy and censoriousness 
 of mankind ; secondly, the futil- 
 ity of all human hopes; and, 
 thirdly, the happiness of being 
 content in whatever station it 
 may please Providence to place 
 rne. In short, it has made me 
 more of a philosopher than 
 many years of a life spent in 
 ease and pleasure would have 
 done. 
 
 " As they will no doubt pro- 
 ceed to the greatest lengths 
 against me, I being the only 
 surviving officer, and they most 
 inclined to believe a prior story, 
 all that can be said to confute 
 it will probably be looked upon 
 as mere falsity and invention. 
 Should that be my unhappy 
 case, and they resolved upon 
 my destruction as an example 
 to futurity, may God enable me 
 to bear my fate with the forti- 
 tude of a man, conscious that 
 misfortune, not any misconduct, 
 is the cause, and that the Al- 
 mighty can attest my innocence. 
 Yet why should I despond ? I 
 have, I hope, still a friend in 
 that Providence which hath pre- 
 served me amid many greater 
 dangers, and upon whom alone 
 I now depend for safety. God 
 will always protect those who 
 deserve it. These are the sole 
 considerations which have en- 
 abled me to make myself easy 
 and content under my past mis- 
 fortunes. 
 
 " Twelve more of the people 
 who were at Otaheit^ having 
 delivered themselves up, there 
 was a sort of a prison built on 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 67 
 
 the after -part of the quarter- 
 deck, into which we were all 
 put in close confinement, with 
 both legs and both hands in 
 irons, and were treated with 
 great rigour, not being allowed 
 ever to get out of this den ; and, 
 being obliged to eat, drink, 
 sleep, and obey the calls of 
 nature here, you may form some 
 idea of the disagreeable situa- 
 tion I must have been in, unable 
 as I was to help myself (being 
 deprived of the use of both my 
 legs and hands), but by no means 
 adequate to the reality. 
 
 "On the 9th May we left 
 Otaheit6, and proceeded to the 
 Friendly Islands, and, about 
 the beginning of August, got in 
 among the reefs of New Hol- 
 land, to endeavour to discover 
 a passage through them : but 
 it was not effected; for the 
 Pandora, ever unlucky, and as 
 if devoted by Heaven to de- 
 struction, was driven by a cur- 
 rent upon the patch of a reef, 
 and on which, there being a 
 heavy surf, she was soon almost 
 bulged to pieces ; but having 
 thrown all the guns on one side 
 overboard, and the tide flowing 
 at the same time, she beat over 
 the reef into a bason, and 
 brought up in fourteen or fif- 
 teen fathoms; but she was so 
 much damaged while on the 
 reef, that, imagining she would 
 go to pieces every moment, we 
 had contrived to wrench our- 
 selves out of our irons, and ap- 
 plied to the captain to have 
 mercy on us, and suffer us to 
 take our chance for the preserva- 
 
 tion of our lives ; but it was all 
 in vain he was even so inhu- 
 man as to order us all to be put 
 in irons again, though the ship 
 was expected to go down every 
 moment, being scarcely able to 
 keep her under with all the 
 pumps at work. 
 
 " In this miserable situation, 
 with an expected death before 
 our eyes, without the least hope 
 of relief, and in the most trying 
 state of suspense, we spent the 
 night, the ship being by the 
 hand of Providence kept up till 
 the morning. The boats by 
 this time had all been prepared; 
 and as the captain and officers 
 were coming upon the poop or 
 roof of our prison, to abandon 
 the ship, the water being then 
 up to the combings of the 
 hatchways, we again implored 
 his mercy ; upon which he sent 
 the corporal and an armourei 
 down to let some of us out ot 
 irons ; but three only were 
 suffered to go up, and the 
 scuttle being then clapped on, 
 and the master-at-arms upon it, 
 the armourer had only time to 
 let two persons out of irons, the 
 rest, except three, letting them- 
 selves out : two of these three 
 went down with them on their 
 hands, and the third was picked 
 up. She now began to heel 
 over to port so very much, that, 
 the master-at-arms sliding over- 
 board, and leaving the scuttle 
 vacant, we all tried to get up, 
 and I was the last out but three. 
 The water was then pouring in 
 at the bulk-head scuttles ; yet I 
 succeeded in getting out, arid 
 
68 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 was scarcely in the sea when I 
 could see nothing above it but 
 the cross -trees, and nothing 
 around me but a scene of the 
 greatest distress. I took a 
 plank (being stark naked) and 
 swam towards an island about 
 three miles off, but was picked 
 up on my passage by one of the 
 boats. When we got ashore to 
 the small sandy key, we found 
 there were thirty -four men 
 drowned, four of whom were 
 prisoners, and among these was 
 my unfortunate messmate, Mr 
 Stewart : ten of us, and eighty- 
 nine of the Pandora's crew were 
 saved. 
 
 "When a survey was made 
 of what provisions had been 
 saved, they were found to con- 
 sist of two or three bags of 
 bread, two or three beakers of 
 water, and a little wine ; so we 
 subsisted three days upon two 
 wine-glasses of water and two 
 ounces of bread per day. On 
 the ist September we left the 
 island, and on the i6th arrived 
 at Coupang in the island of 
 Timor, having been on short 
 allowance eighteen days. We 
 were put in confinement in the 
 castle, where we remained till 
 October, and on the 5th of that 
 month were sent on board a 
 Dutch ship bound for Batavia. 
 
 " Though I have been eight 
 months in close confinement in 
 a hot climate, I have kept my 
 health in a most surprising man- 
 ner, without the least indisposi- 
 tion, and am still perfectly well 
 
 in every respect, in mind as 
 well as body; but without a 
 friend, and only a shirt and a 
 pair of trousers to put on, and 
 carry me home. Yet, with all 
 this, I have a contented mind, 
 entirely resigned to the will of 
 Providence, which conduct 
 alone enables me to soar above 
 the reach of unhappiness." 
 
 Even after they were taken 
 ashore at Batavia, the treatment 
 of these unfortunate prisoners 
 was almost as bad as it had 
 been on board the Pandora. 
 They were imprisoned in the 
 castle, closely confined in irons, 
 and miserably fed. The hard- 
 ships they endured in their 
 passage to England in a Dutch 
 ship were very severe, sleeping, 
 as they had to sleep, for seven- 
 teen months, on hard boards, 
 or wet canvas, always on short 
 allowance, and without any 
 clothes but what charity sup- 
 plied, and practical charity on 
 board ship has, at all times, 
 very limited scope; in those 
 days and circumstances, its 
 scope could not be but very 
 limited. Heywood had, how- 
 ever, during his imprisonment 
 in Batavia, learned to make 
 straw hats; and, having finished 
 some with both hands in fetters, 
 he sold them for half-a-crown 
 a-piece. With the money thus 
 acquired, he procured a suit of 
 coarse clothes, in which, appar- 
 ently with a light and cheer- 
 ful heart, he arrived at Ports- 
 mouth. 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COURT-MARTIAL. 
 
 THE ten prisoners reached this 
 country in June, but the court- 
 martial did not meet to try them 
 till 1 2th September 1792. The 
 president was Vice-Admiral 
 Lord Hood. The members of 
 court were Captains Sir Andrew 
 Snape Hamond, Bart, John 
 Colpoys, Sir George Montagu, 
 Sir Roger Curtis, John Bakely, 
 Sir Andrew Snape Douglas, 
 John Thomas Duckworth, John 
 Nicholson Inglefield, John 
 Knight, Albemarle Bertie, Rich- 
 ard Goodwin Reats. The trial 
 took up six days. The witnesses 
 examined were Fryer, the master 
 of the Bounty; Peckover, the 
 gunner; Purcell, the carpenter; 
 Hay ward and Hallet, now lieu- 
 tenants ; Captain Edwards, and 
 Lieutenant Corner. The wit- 
 nesses all except Hayward and 
 Hallet seemed to give straight- 
 forward evidence with a kindly 
 feeling towards the prisoners. 
 It came out during cross-ex- 
 amination, that in the hurry and 
 excitement of the moment when 
 Bligh and his companions were 
 being put in the open boat, an 
 expectation arose that Fryer 
 would make an attempt before 
 leaving to recover the Bounty 
 from Christian. He admitted 
 if he had ventured on this trial 
 of daring and pluck, Heywood 
 and Morrison would have been 
 the first he would have taken 
 into counsel, and that he would 
 
 have relied on them with con- 
 fidence. Hayward does not 
 come well out of the trial. It 
 is never to be forgotten that at 
 all trials criminal trials and 
 the trials of life the witnesses 
 are on their trial too. As they 
 act truthfully and sympathetic- 
 ally, or the reverse, so are they 
 judged of outside and afterwards 
 by a wider or more limited 
 public. Mr Hay ward's evidence 
 does not leave on the mind of 
 one who has the patience to 
 read it through, a desire to know 
 any more about him. He seem- 
 ed determined to do his best to 
 secure a conviction, especially 
 against his former bosom friend 
 Heywood. This was of a piece 
 with his conduct on board the 
 Pandora in Matavai Bay, when 
 Heywood gave himself up. 
 Hallet again was the only one 
 who saw Heywood laughing 
 when Captain Bligh, with his 
 hands tied behind him, made 
 an earnest appeal to the latter. 
 This was one of the points for 
 which Heywood was condemn- 
 ed to death. Subsequently 
 Hallet expressed deep regret 
 for almost putting the neck of 
 an old friend into the noose. 
 He became convinced either 
 that he did not see anybody 
 laughing, or that it must have 
 been somebody other than Hey- 
 wood. This young gentleman 
 read an eloquent defence, and 
 
70 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 cross-examined the witnesses 
 with skill and to the point. His 
 mother had retained Erskine, 
 then at the height of his fame, 
 as counsel for the defence, but 
 Heywood requested her to drop 
 this expensive engagement, as 
 it really would be of no avail 
 in a trial by court-martial. Mr 
 Aaron Graham, who had been 
 secretary to the different admir- 
 als on the Newfoundland sta- 
 tions for twelve years, and was 
 subsequently highly respected 
 as a public magistrate in Lon- 
 don, rendered Heywood valu- 
 able assistance in the get-up and 
 management of his case. Mor- 
 rison also, and the others who 
 could say anything for them- 
 selves, read defences and cross- 
 examined the witnesses. Elli- 
 son, Millward, and Burkitt, who 
 had been obtrusively active at 
 every stage of the mutiny, had 
 little to offer either in defence 
 or in exculpation of the charge 
 against them. On the sixth 
 day, that is the i8th of Sep- 
 tember, sentence was given : 
 "That the charges had been 
 proved against the said Peter 
 Heywood, James Morrison, 
 Thomas Ellison, Thomas Bur- 
 kitt, John Millward, and William 
 Muspratt ; and did adjudge 
 them, and each of them, to 
 suffer death, by being hanged 
 by the neck, on board such of 
 His Majesty's ship or ships of 
 war, and at such time or times, 
 and at such place or places, as 
 the commissioners for executing 
 the office of Lord High Admiral 
 of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 
 etc., or any three of them, for 
 the time being, should, in writ- 
 ing, under their hands, direct; 
 but the Court, in consideration 
 of various circumstances, did 
 humbly and most earnestly re- 
 commend the said Peter Hey- 
 wood and James Morrison to 
 His Majesty's mercy ; and the 
 Court further agreed, that the 
 charges had not been proved 
 against the said Charles Nor- 
 man, Joseph Coleman, Thomas 
 M'Intosh, and Michael Byrne, 
 and did adjudge them, and each 
 of them, to be acquitted." 
 
 A very common feeling pre- 
 vailed that Heywood and Morri- 
 son had been hardly dealt with, 
 in having the sentence of death 
 passed upon them, tempered 
 though it was with a recom- 
 mendation to the king's mercy. 
 The court, however, had no dis- 
 cretionary power. They were 
 bound to record either a sen- 
 tence of death or a full acquittal. 
 The case was a mutiny aggra- 
 vated by the piratical seizure of 
 a king's ship. 
 
 The four points which told 
 against Heywood were (i.) 
 That he assisted in hoisting out 
 the launch; (2.) That he was 
 seen by the carpenter resting 
 his hand upon a cutlass; (3.) 
 That on being called to by Lieu- 
 tenant Bligh, he laughed; (4.) 
 That he remained in the Bounty, 
 instead of accompanying Bligh 
 in the launch. On these mater- 
 ial parts of the evidence against 
 him he drew up a very clear 
 and manly memorandum, and 
 got it transmitted to the Earl o' 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 71 
 
 Chatham, then First Lord of the 
 Admiralty. Friends outside, 
 especially Heywood's uncle, 
 Commodore Pasley, and Mr 
 Graham, were indefatigable in 
 their exertions to procure a 
 pardon for the two men re- 
 commended to mercy especi- 
 ally for Heywood. The final 
 result was, that on the 24th 
 October, the king's warrant was 
 despatched from the Admiralty, 
 granting a full and free pardon 
 to Heywood and Morrison, a 
 respite for Muspratt, which was 
 followed by a pardon ; and for 
 carrying the sentence of Ellison, 
 Burkitt, and Mill ward in to execu- 
 tion, which was done on the 
 29th, on board his Majesty's 
 ship Brunswick, in Portsmouth 
 harbour. On this melancholy 
 occasion, Captain Hamond re- 
 ports that "the criminals be- 
 haved with great penitence and 
 decorum, acknowledged the jus- 
 tice of their sentence for the 
 crime of which they had been 
 found guilty, and exhorted their 
 fellow-sailors to take warning 
 by their untimely fate, and what- 
 ever might be their hardships, 
 never to forget their obedience 
 to their officers, as a duty they 
 owed to their king and country." 
 The captain adds, "A party 
 from each ship in the harbour, 
 and at Spithead, attended the 
 execution, and, from the reports 
 I have received, the example 
 seems to have made a great 
 impression upon the minds of 
 all the ships' companies pre- 
 sent." 
 
 When the king's full and free 
 
 pardon had been read to Hey- 
 wood by Captain Montagu, with 
 a suitable admonition and con- 
 gratulation, he addressed that 
 officer in the following terms : 
 "Sir, when the sentence of 
 the law was passed upon me, I 
 received it, I trust, as became a 
 man ; and if it had been carried 
 into execution, I should have 
 met my fate, I hope, in a manner 
 becoming a Christian. Your 
 admonition cannot fail to make 
 a lasting impression on my mind. 
 I receive with gratitude my sove- 
 reign's mercy, for which my 
 future life shall be faithfully 
 devoted to his service." Hey- 
 wood's future career was in no 
 way prejudiced by the misfor- 
 tunes of his early life. Lord 
 Hood, who presided at the trial, 
 earnestly recommended him to 
 embark again as midshipman 
 without delay, offering to take 
 him into his own ship, the Vic- 
 tory. Commodore Pasley re- 
 spectfully declined this offer on 
 Heywood's behalf. He went 
 first on board his uncle's ship, 
 the Bellerophon. He was sub- 
 sequently appointed lieutenant 
 to La Nymph, and was actively 
 employed in Lord Bridpon's 
 action off L'Orient, when three 
 French ships were taken. As 
 captain of the Leopard, Hey- 
 wood made extensive surveys of 
 the north-east and east coasts 
 of Ceylon, and also of the coasts 
 of India and the Eastern Islands. 
 He was subsequently employed 
 in important diplomatic services 
 in South America. On his re- 
 turn, he served first in the North 
 
72 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 Sea Fleet, and afterward in the 
 Channel Squadron. His last 
 appointment was to the Medi- 
 terranean Fleet under Viscount 
 Exmouth. At the conclusion 
 of the war, when the naval ar- 
 maments were reduced, Captain 
 Heywood retired into private 
 life. The remaining years of 
 his honourable life were spent 
 in endeavours to further the in- 
 terests of the navy, which kept 
 him in constant communication 
 with the hydrographical depart- 
 ment of the Admiralty. " Dur- 
 ing his latter years," writes Lady 
 Belcher, " Captain Heywood 
 laboured under a fatal heart 
 disease, which he bore with 
 Christian calmness and thank- 
 fulness for the many blessings 
 he had enjoyed, averring that, 
 notwithstanding the sufferings 
 and anxieties which had attend- 
 ed his early career, he would 
 willingly pass through his life 
 again, with all its trials and 
 vicissitudes." He died on the 
 loth of February 1831. 
 
 After his release, Morrison 
 served in several ships. When 
 Admiral Sir Thomas Trowbridge 
 was sent out in the Blenheim 
 as commander-in-chief on the 
 Indian station, he was appointed 
 gunner on board the flag-ship. 
 
 A last word about Captain 
 Bligh, in the language of Lady 
 Belcher : " He was afterwards 
 employed in active service, and 
 on the occasion of the remark- 
 able mutiny at the Nore, was 
 ordered to negotiate among the 
 seamen, with the view of bring- 
 ing them to a sense of their 
 
 duty ; on which occasion he 
 acted with great intrepidity. In 
 the two famous actions of Cape 
 St Vincent and Camperdown, 
 Captain Bligh commanded the 
 Glatton, and also at the battle of 
 Copenhagen. On the latter oc- 
 casion, Lord Nelson sent for him, 
 and thanked him for his admir- 
 able support during the action. 
 " In 1805, he was appointed 
 governor of New South Wales, 
 and there his oppressive, arbi- 
 trary conduct raised against him 
 a host of enemies. He had 
 been instructed by the home 
 government to restrain within 
 certain limits the importation of 
 spirits into the colony ; and 
 many men might have intro- 
 duced this unpalatable reform 
 without creating such hostile and 
 dangerous opposition. Bligh, 
 however, had no tact, no spirit 
 of conciliation, and, in conse- 
 quence, he was the cause of a 
 military mutiny. In January 
 1808, the New South Wales 
 corps, commanded by Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel G. Johnstone, de- 
 posed Governor Bligh, and 
 placed him on board a ship 
 proceeding to England. On 
 his arrival, the public were not 
 surprised to hear he had been 
 sent away in so summary a 
 manner; but the Government 
 were, of course, compelled to 
 order a court-martial on Colonel 
 Johnstone, who came to Eng- 
 land with several officers for his 
 trial. It was held in Chelsea 
 Hospital, and lasted thirteen 
 days. Colonel Johnstone was 
 convicted of mutiny, and cash- 
 
THE BOUNIY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 73 
 
 iered, but allowed to return to 
 the colony, and no executions 
 took place. 
 
 " Captain Bligh then retired 
 into private life, where he ap- 
 pears to have displayed more 
 amiability of character than in 
 any public capacity, as he was 
 beloved by his family and friends. 
 He attained the rank of vice- 
 admiral of the blue, and died in 
 London at the age of sixty-five." 
 
 There are mutineers and men 
 
 who have a faculty for provoking 
 mutinies. Captain Bligh seems 
 to have had the latter peculiarity 
 in a large state of development. 
 That such men do exist, and 
 that their specialty finds ready 
 scope when they are put in 
 offices of trust and authority, is 
 a fact which should never be 
 overlooked when the circum- 
 stances of any riot, tumult, re- 
 volt, rebellion, or mutiny are 
 being inquired into. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FITCAIRN ISLAND. 
 
 TWENTY years had gone by, 
 when a new interest was aroused 
 in the matter of the Bounty and 
 her mutineers, which has by 
 various circumstances been kept 
 fresh to the present day. Flet- 
 cher Christian and his fugitive 
 associates had for that period 
 ceased to occupy the general 
 public mind. The subject had 
 been dismissed on the assump- 
 tion that the Bounty and those 
 on board had gone to the bot- 
 tom of the sea, or that the 
 mutineers had met the retribu- 
 tion supposed to be justly due 
 to their criminal conduct at the 
 hands of one or other of the 
 groups of savage islanders. An 
 American trading vessel, how- 
 ever, made an accidental dis- 
 covery, which was as interesting 
 as it was wholly unexpected. 
 
 The first intimation of this ex 
 traordinary discovery was trans- 
 mitted by Sir Sydney Smith 
 from Rio de Janeiro, and was 
 received at the Admiralty on 
 May 14, 1809. It was con- 
 veyed to Sir Sidney Smith from 
 Valparaiso by Lieutenant Fitz- 
 maurice, and ran thus : " Cap- 
 tain Folger, of the American 
 ship Topaz, of Boston, relates 
 that on landing on Pitcairn 
 Island, in lat. 25 2' S., long. 
 130 W., he found there an 
 Englishman, of the name of 
 Alexander Smith, the only per- 
 son remaining of nine that es- 
 caped in his Majesty's late 
 ship Bounty, Captain W. Bligh. 
 Smith relates that, after putting 
 Captain Bligh in the boat, 
 Christian, the leader of the 
 mutiny, took command of the 
 
74 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 ship and went to Otaheite, 
 where great part of the crew 
 left her, except Christian, Smith, 
 and seven others, who each took 
 wives, and six Otaheitan men- 
 servants, and shortly after ar- 
 rived at said island (Pitcairn), 
 where they ran the ship on 
 shore, and broke her up. This 
 event took place in the year 
 1790. 
 
 " About four years after their 
 arrival (a great jealousy exist- 
 ing), the Otaheitans secretly re- 
 volted, and killed every English- 
 man except himself, whom they 
 severely wounded in the neck 
 with a pistol-ball. The same 
 night, the widows of the de- 
 ceased Englishmen arose and 
 put to death the whole of the 
 Otaheitans, leaving Smith the 
 only man alive upon the island, 
 with eight or nine women and 
 several small children. On his 
 recovery he applied himself to 
 tilling the ground, so that it 
 now produces plenty of yams, 
 cocoa-nuts, bananas, and plan- 
 tains ; hogs and poultry in 
 abundance. There are now 
 some grown-up men and women, 
 children of the mutineers, on 
 the island, the whole population 
 amounting to about thirty-five, 
 who acknowledge Smith as father 
 and commander of them all : 
 they all speak English, and have 
 been educated by him (as Cap- 
 tain Folger represents) in a re- 
 ligious and moral way. 
 
 "The second mate of the 
 Topaz asserts that Christian, 
 the ringleader, became insane 
 shortly after their arrival on the 
 
 sland,and threw himself off the 
 rocks into the sea ; another died 
 of a fever before the massacre 
 of the remaining six took place. 
 The island is badly supplied 
 with water, sufficient only for 
 the present inhabitants, and no 
 anchorage. 
 
 " Smith gave to Captain Fol- 
 r a chronometer made by 
 Kendall, which was taken from 
 him by the governor of Juan 
 Fernandez. 
 
 " Extracted from the log-book 
 of the Topaz, 2Qth Sept. 1808. 
 " (Signed) WM. FITZMAURICE, 
 
 "Lieut. 
 "Valparaiso, Oct. 10, 1808." 
 
 This narrative stated two facts 
 that established its general 
 authenticity, the name of Alex- 
 ander Smith, who was one of 
 the mutineers, and the name of 
 the maker of the chronometer 
 with which the Bounty was actu- 
 ally supplied. The war which 
 was raging in Europe at that 
 time, was too engrossing to leave 
 the British government any time 
 to take the measures which this 
 well authenticated information 
 would seem to have demanded. 
 Nothing further was heard of 
 Smith and his family till the 
 latter part of 1814, when a letter 
 was transmitted by Rear-Admir- 
 al Hotham, then cruising off the 
 coast of America, from Mr Fol- 
 ger himself, to the same effect 
 as the preceding extract from 
 his log, but dated March 1813. 
 
 In 1814 the British govern- 
 ment had two frigates cruising 
 in the Pacific the Briton, com- 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 75 
 
 manded by Sir Thomas Staines, 
 and the Tagus, by Captain 
 Pipon. The following letter 
 from Sir Thomas Staines was 
 received at the Admiralty early 
 in the year 1815. 
 
 "Briton, Valparaiso, 
 "iStti October 1814. 
 "I have the honour to inform 
 you that on my passage from 
 the Marquesas Islands to this 
 port, on the morning of the iyth 
 of September, I fell in with an 
 island where none is laid down 
 in the Admiralty or other charts, 
 according to the several chrono- 
 meters of the Briton and the 
 Tagus. I therefore hove to, until 
 daylight, and then closed to ascer- 
 tain whether it was inhabited, 
 which I soon discovered it to 
 be, and to my great astonish- 
 ment, found that every indi- 
 vidual on the island (forty in 
 number) spoke very good Eng- 
 lish. They proved to be the 
 descendants of the deluded crew 
 of the Bounty, who, from Ota- 
 heite, proceeded to the above- 
 mentioned island, where the 
 ship was burned. 
 
 "Christian appeared to have 
 been the leader and sole cause 
 of the mutiny in that ship. A 
 venerable old man, named John 
 Adams, is the only surviving 
 Englishman of those who last 
 quitted Otaheite in her, and 
 whose exemplary conduct, and 
 fatherly care of the whole of the 
 little colony, could not but com- 
 mand admiration. The pious 
 manner in which all those born 
 on the island have been reared, 
 
 the correct sense of religion 
 which has been instilled into 
 their young minds by this old 
 man, has given him the pre-em- 
 inence over the whole of them, 
 to whom they look up as the 
 father of one and the whole 
 family. 
 
 " A son of Christian was the 
 first born on the island, now 
 about twenty-five years of age, 
 named Thursday October Chris- 
 tian: the elder Christian fell a 
 sacrifice to the jealousy of an 
 Otaheitan man, within three or 
 four years after their arrival on 
 the island. The mutineers were 
 accompanied thither by six Ota- 
 heitan men and twelve women ; 
 the former were all swept away 
 by desperate contentions be- 
 tween them and the Englishmen, 
 and five of the latter died at 
 different periods, leaving at pre- 
 sent only one man (Adams) and 
 seven women of the original 
 settlers. 
 
 "The island must undoubt- 
 edly be that called Pitcairn, al- 
 though erroneously laid down 
 in the charts. We had the alti- 
 tude of the meridian sun close 
 to it, which gave us 25 4' S. 
 latitude, and 130 25' W. longi- 
 tude, by the chronometers of 
 the Briton and Tagus. 
 
 "It produces in abundance 
 yams, plantains, hogs, goats, 
 and fowls; but the coast affords 
 no shelter for a ship or vessel 
 of any description ; neither could 
 a ship water there without great 
 difficulty. 
 
 "I cannot, however, refrain 
 from offering my opinion, that 
 
76 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 it is well worthy the attention 
 of our laudable religious so- 
 cieties, particularly that for pro- 
 pagating the Christian religion, 
 the whole of the inhabitants 
 speaking the Otaheitan tongue 
 as well as English. 
 
 " During the whole time they 
 .nave been on the island, only 
 one ship has ever communicat- 
 ed with them, which took place 
 about six years since ; and this 
 was the American ship Topaz, 
 of Boston, Matthew Folger, 
 master. 
 
 "The island is completely 
 iron-bound with rocky shores, 
 and the landing in boats must 
 be at all times difficult, although 
 the island may be safely ap- 
 proached wiihin a small distance 
 by a ship. 
 
 "(Signed) T. STAINES." 
 
 Such is the first account of 
 this peculiar little colony, which 
 may be regarded as official, 
 being direct from an English 
 officer who wrote from his own 
 observation. 
 
 Captain Pipon writes, if the 
 discovery of a new island, as 
 they at first thought the Pitcairn 
 was, awakened their curiosity, 
 it was still more excited when 
 they ran in for land the next 
 morning, on perceiving a few 
 huts, neatly built, amidst planta- 
 tions laid out apparently with 
 something like order and regu- 
 larity; and these appearances 
 confirmed them more than ever 
 that it could not be Pitcairn's 
 Island, because that was de- 
 scribed by navigators to be un- 
 
 inhabited. Presently they ob- 
 served a few natives coming 
 down a steep descent with their 
 canoes on their shoulders ; and 
 in a few minutes perceived one 
 of those little vessels darting 
 through a heavy surf, and pad- 
 dling off towards the ships ; but 
 their astonishment was extreme 
 when, on coming alongside, they 
 were hailed in the English Ian 
 guage with, " Won't you heave 
 us a rope now ? " 
 
 The first young man that 
 sprung, with extraordinary alac- 
 rity, up the side, and stood be- 
 fore them on the deck, said, in 
 reply to the question, "Who 
 are you?" that his name was 
 Thursday October Christian, 
 son of the late Fletcher Chris- 
 tian by an Otaheitan mother; 
 that he was the first born on the 
 island, and that he was so called 
 because he was brought into the 
 world on a Thursday in Octo- 
 ber. Singularly strange as all 
 this was to Sir Thomas Staines 
 and Captain Pipon, this youth 
 soon satisfied them that he was 
 no other than the person he re- 
 presented himself to be, and 
 that he was fully acquainted 
 with the whole history of the 
 Bounty ; and, in short, that the 
 island Before them was the re- 
 treat of the mutineers of that 
 ship. Young Christian was, at 
 this time, about twenty-four 
 years of age, a fine tall youth, 
 full six feet high, with dark, al- 
 most black, hair, and a counte- 
 nance open and extremely in- 
 teresting. As he wore no 
 clothes except a piece of clod 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 round his loins, and a straw 
 hat, ornamented with black 
 cock's feathers, his fine figure 
 and well-shaped muscular limbs 
 were displayed to great advan- 
 tage, and attracted general ad- 
 miration. His body was much 
 tanned by exposure to the 
 weather, and his countenance 
 had a brownish cast, unmixed, 
 however, with that tinge of red 
 so common among the natives 
 of the Pacific islands. 
 
 " Added to a great share of 
 good humour, we were glad to 
 trace," says Captain Pipon, "in 
 his benevolent countenance, all 
 the features of an honest English 
 face." His manner of speaking 
 English was exceedingly pleas- 
 ing, and correct both in grammar 
 and pronunciation. His com- 
 panion was a handsome youth, 
 seventeen or eighteen years of 
 age, named George Young, the 
 son of Young the midshipman. 
 When Sir Thomas Staines took 
 the youths below, and gave 
 them something to eat, his sur- 
 prise and interest were deeply 
 excited when they both rose up, 
 and one of them, placing his 
 hands together in a posture of 
 devotion, said grace in the words 
 well known to an Englishman, 
 " For what we are going to re- 
 ceive, the Lord make us truly 
 thankful." 
 
 So many things new to them, 
 the size of the ship and of the 
 guns, indeed everything around 
 them, seemed to astonish the 
 youths Observing a cow, they 
 were at first somewhat alarmed, 
 and expressed a doubt whether 
 
 it was a huge goat or a horned 
 hog, these being the only two 
 species of quadrupeds they had 
 ever seen. A little dog amused 
 them much. "Oh! what a 
 pretty little thing it is !" exclaim- 
 ed Young. "I know it is a dog, 
 for I have heard of such an 
 animal." These young men re- 
 ferred the two captains to an 
 old man on shore, whose name, 
 they said, was John Adams, the 
 only surviving Englishman that 
 came away in the Bounty, at 
 which time he was called Alex- 
 ander Smith. This information 
 induced the two captains to go 
 on shore. Old Adams, having 
 ascertained that the two officers 
 alone had landed, and without 
 arms, concluded they had no 
 intention to take him prisoner, 
 and ventured to come down to 
 the beach, from whence he con- 
 ducted them to his house. He 
 was accompanied by his wife, a 
 very old woman, and nearly 
 blind. It seems they were both 
 atfirst considerably alarmed; the 
 sight of the king's uniform, after 
 so many years, having no doubt 
 brought fresh to the recollection 
 of Adams the conspicuous part 
 he had acted in the mutiny of 
 the Bounty. Sir Thomas Staines, 
 however, set his mind at ease on 
 this main score. Adams pre- 
 tended that he had no great 
 share in the mutiny, that he was 
 sick in bed when it broke out, 
 and that when he got on deck 
 he was compelled to take hold 
 of a musket. He expressed 
 himself ready and seemed de- 
 sirous to return to England in 
 
78 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 one of the ships ; but the tears 
 of the women, and apparent 
 deep grief of the young men, 
 put this altogether out of the 
 question. The two captains 
 learned from Adams, alias 
 Smith, that Fletcher Christian, 
 after landing on this island the 
 hogs, goats, and poultry, which 
 had been brought from Otaheite, 
 ordered the Bounty to be set on 
 fire, with a view, no doubt, of 
 preventing any escape from the 
 island ; and also, of removing 
 an object which, if seen, might 
 be the means of betraying his 
 retreat. He seems to have lived 
 a most miserable life for the 
 short time he was spared in Pit- 
 cairn Island. Sullen and mor- 
 ose, he committed many acts of 
 wanton oppression; and this 
 led to his fate he was shot by 
 an Otaheitan while digging in 
 his field, about eleven months 
 after they had settled on the 
 island, and his death was only 
 the commencement of feuds and 
 assassinations, which ended in 
 the total destruction of the whole 
 party, except Adams and Young. 
 By the account of the former, 
 the settlers from this time be- 
 came divided into two parties, 
 and their grievances and quar- 
 rels proceeded to such a height, 
 that each took every opportunity 
 of putting the other to death. 
 Old John Adams was himself 
 shot through the neck ; but the 
 ball having entered the fleshy 
 part only, he was enabled to 
 make his escape, and avoid the 
 fury of his assailants. The im- 
 mediate cause of Christian's 
 
 murder was his having forcibly 
 seized on the wife of one of the 
 Otaheitan men, which so exas- 
 perated the rest, that they not 
 only sought the life of the 
 offender, but of others also, 
 who might, as they thought, be 
 disposed to pursue the same 
 course. 
 
 This interesting little colony 
 was now found to contain about 
 forty-six persons, mostly grown- 
 up young people, with a few 
 infants. The young men, all 
 born on the island, were finely 
 formed, athletic and handsome ; 
 their countenances open and 
 pleasing, indicating much bene- 
 volence and goodness of heart : 
 but the young women particu- 
 larly were objects of attraction, 
 being tall, robust, and beauti- 
 fully formed, their faces beaming 
 with smiles, and indicating un- 
 ruffled good humour: while 
 their manners and demeanour 
 exhibited a commendable degree 
 of modesty and bashfulness. 
 Their teeth were beautifully 
 white, and perfectly regular, 
 without a single exception ; and 
 all of them had the marked 
 expression of English features, 
 minus the clear red and white 
 skin, they being fine brunettes. 
 Adams, assured Sir Thomas 
 Staines and Captain Pipon, that 
 not one instance of debauchery 
 or immoral conduct had occur- 
 red on the island. The prin- 
 ciples of morality and religion 
 he had taught them, had hitherto 
 controlled their conduct. The 
 young women, with great sim- 
 plicity, told Captain Pipon that 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 79 
 
 they were not married, and that 
 their father, as they called 
 Adams, had told them it was 
 right they should wait with 
 patience, till they had acquired 
 sufficient property to bring up 
 a young family, before they 
 thought of marrying ; and that 
 they always followed his advice, 
 because they knew it to be 
 good. 
 
 It appeared that, from the 
 time when Adams was left alone 
 on the island, tbe sole survivor 
 of all the males fchat had landed 
 from the Bounty, European and 
 Otaheitan, the greatest harmony 
 had prevailed in their little 
 society; they all declared that 
 no serious quarrels ever occurred 
 among them, though a few hasty 
 words might now and then be 
 uttered, but, to make use of 
 their own expression, they were 
 only quarrels of the mouth. 
 Adams assured his visitors that 
 they were all strictly honest in 
 all their dealings, lending or ex- 
 changing their various articles 
 of live stock or produce with 
 each other, in the most friendly 
 manner; and if any little dis- 
 pute occurred, he never found 
 any difficulty to rectify the mis- 
 take or misunderstanding that 
 might have caused it, to the 
 satisfaction of both parties. 
 
 The young girls, although 
 they had only the example of 
 their Otaheitan mothers to fol- 
 low in their dress, were modestly 
 clothed, having generally a piece 
 of cloth of their own manufac- 
 ture, reaching from the waist to 
 the knees, and a mantle, or 
 
 something of that nature, thrown 
 loosely over the shoulders, and 
 hanging sometimes as low as the 
 ankles : this mantle, however, 
 was frequently thrown aside, 
 being used rather as a shelter 
 for their bodies from the heat 
 of the sun, or the severity of the 
 weather, than for the sake of 
 attaching any idea of immodesty 
 to the upper part of the person 
 being uncovered ; and it is not 
 possible, says Captain Pipon, to 
 behold finer forms than are 
 exhibited by this partial expo- 
 sure. He observes, " It was 
 pleasing to see the good taste 
 and quickness with which they 
 form little shades or parasols of 
 green leaves, to place over the 
 head or bonnets, to keep the 
 sun from their eyes. A young 
 girl made one of these in my 
 presence, with such neatness 
 and alacrity, as to satisfy me 
 that a fashionable dressmaker of 
 London would be delighted with 
 the simplicity and elegant taste 
 of these untaught females." The 
 same young girl, he says, accom- 
 panied them to the boat, carry- 
 ing on her shoulders, as a pre- 
 sent, a large basket of yams, 
 "over such roads and down 
 such precipices, as were scarcely 
 passable by any creatures except 
 goats, and over which we could 
 scarcely scramble with the help 
 of our hands. Yet with this 
 load on her shoulders, she skip- 
 ped from rock to rock like a 
 young roe." 
 
 Having supplied Adams and 
 his family with some tools, 
 kettles, and other articles, the 
 
80 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 two officers took leave of them. 
 Their interesting report of the 
 infant colony, produced as little 
 effect on the government as 
 that of Folger; and nothing 
 more was heard of it, for twelve 
 years nearly, when in 1825, 
 Captain Beechey, in the Blos- 
 som, bound on a voyage of dis- 
 covery, paid a visit to Pitcairn 
 Island. Some whale -fishing 
 ship, however, had touched there 
 in the meantime, and left on 
 the island a person of the name 
 of John Buffet. In this man, 
 they very fortunately found an 
 able and willing schoolmaster: 
 he had belonged to a ship which 
 visited the island, and was so 
 attracted by the behaviour of the 
 people, being himself naturally 
 of a devout and serious turn of 
 mind, that he resolved to remain 
 among them ; and, in addition 
 to the instruction of the children, 
 took upon himself the duty of 
 clergyman, and became the 
 oracle of the community. 
 
 On the approach of the Blos- 
 som towards the island, a boat 
 was observed, under all sail, 
 hastening towards the ship, 
 which they considered to be the 
 boat of some whaler, but were 
 soon agreeably undeceived by 
 the singular appearance of her 
 crew, which consisted of old 
 Adams and many of the young 
 men belonging to the island. 
 They did not venture at once 
 to lay hold of the ship till they 
 had first inquired if they might 
 come on board ; and on permis- 
 sion being granted, they sprung 
 up the side, and shook every 
 
 officer by the hand with undis- 
 guised feelings of gratification. 
 The activity of the young men, 
 ten in number, outstripped that 
 of old Adams, who was in his 
 sixty-fifth year, and somewhat 
 corpulent. He was dressed in 
 a sailor's shirt and trousers, and 
 a low-crowned hat, which he 
 held in his hand until desired 
 to put it on. He still retained 
 his sailor's manners, doffing his 
 hat and smoothing down his 
 bald forehead whenever he was 
 addressed by the officers of the 
 Blossom. The young men 
 were tall, robust, and healthy, 
 with good-natured countenances 
 and a simplicity of manner, and 
 a fear of doing something that 
 might be wrong, which at once 
 prevented the possibility of 
 giving offence. Their dresses 
 were whimsical enough; some 
 had long coats without trousers, 
 and others trousers without coats, 
 and others again waistcoats with- 
 out either. None of them had 
 either shoes or stockings, and 
 there were only two hats among 
 them, " neither of which," Cap- 
 tain Beechey says, " seemed 
 likely to hang long together." 
 
 Captain Beechey procured 
 from Adams a great many de- 
 tails regarding the broils and 
 disputes which led to the de- 
 struction and death of all his 
 guilty companions of the Bounty ; 
 but space need not be taken up 
 here with many of them. One 
 of the mutineers, M'Koy, it 
 appears, had formerly been em- 
 ployed in a Scotch distillery, 
 and, being much addicted to 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 81 
 
 ardent spirits, set about making 
 experiments on the tee-root, 
 (Dracaena terminalis), and at 
 length unfortunately succeeded 
 in producing an intoxicating 
 liquor. This success induced 
 his companion Quintal to turn 
 his kettle into a still. The con- 
 sequence was, that these two 
 men were in a constant state 
 of drunkenness, particularly 
 M'Koy, on whom, it seems, it 
 had the effect of producing fits 
 of delirium ; and in one of these 
 he threw himself from a cliff, 
 and was killed on the spot. 
 Captain Beechey says, "The 
 melancholy fate of this man 
 created so forcible an impression 
 on the remaining few, that they 
 resolved never again to touch 
 spirits ; and Adams has, I be- 
 lieve, to this day kept his vow." 
 After many bloody scenes, 
 Adams and Young were left the 
 sole survivors out of the fifteen 
 males that had landed upon the 
 island. Young was a man of 
 some education, and of a ser- 
 ious turn of mind ; and it would 
 have been wonderful, after the 
 many dreadful scenes at which 
 they had assisted, if the solitude 
 and tranquillity that ensued had 
 not disposed them to repent- 
 ance. They had a Bible and a 
 Prayer-Book, which were found 
 in the Bounty, and they read 
 the Church Service regularly 
 every Sunday. They now re- 
 solved to have morning and 
 evening family prayers, and 
 to instruct the children, who 
 amounted to nineteen, many of 
 them between the ages of seven 
 
 and nine years. Young, how- 
 ever, was not long suffered to 
 survive his repentance. An 
 asthmatic complaint terminated 
 his existence. 
 
 Another peculiarity in Adams' 
 account of the ultimate fate of 
 the mutineers on this occasion, 
 is worthy of notice. Like his 
 account of where he was on the 
 morning of the mutiny, it does 
 not impress one with a convic- 
 tion of the infallible accuracy of 
 the statements of this patriarch. 
 His sincere repentance, and 
 subsequent excellent conduct, 
 however, renders one indispos- 
 ed to take further notice of his 
 inaccuracies, than is necessary 
 to give a fair sense of what he 
 said. He told two different 
 stories with regard to the con- 
 duct of Christian. To Sir 
 Thomas Staines and Captain 
 Pipon, he represented this ill- 
 fated young man as never happy, 
 after the rash and criminal step 
 he had taken, and that he was 
 always sullen and morose, and 
 committed so many acts of 
 cruelty, as to incur the hatred 
 and detestation of his associates 
 in crime. Whereas he told 
 Captain Beechey, that Christian 
 was always cheerful; that his 
 example was of the greatest ser- 
 vice in exciting his companions 
 to labour ; that he was naturally 
 of a happy, ingenuous disposi- 
 tion, and won the good opinion 
 and respect of all who served 
 under him' which cannot be 
 better exemplified, he says, than 
 by his maintaining, under cir- 
 cumstances of great perplexity, 
 F 
 
82 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 the respect and regard of all 
 who were associated with him 
 up to the hour of his death. 
 The truth of the matter appears 
 to be that Christian, so far from 
 being cheerful, was, on the con- 
 trary, always uneasy in his mind 
 about his own safety, and this 
 is proved by his having selected 
 a cave at the extremity of the 
 high ridge of craggy hills that 
 runs across the island, as his in- 
 tended place of refuge, in the 
 event of any ship of war dis- 
 covering the retreat of the mu- 
 tineers, in which cave he resolv- 
 ed to sell his life as dearly as he 
 could. In this recess he always 
 kept a store of provisions, and 
 near it erected a small hut, well 
 concealed by trees, which served 
 the purpose of a watch-house. 
 "So difficult," says Captain 
 Beechey, " was the approach to 
 this cave, that even if a party 
 were successful in crossing the 
 sidge, he might have bid de- 
 fiance, as long as his ammuni- 
 tion lasted, to any force." 
 
 The Blossom was the first 
 ship of war that Adams had 
 been on, since the mutiny. It 
 was several hours before the 
 ship approached the shore, and 
 the boats put off before she 
 came to an anchor. 
 
 On account of the rocks and 
 formidable breakers, the party 
 who went on shore were landed 
 by the young men, two at a 
 time, in their whale-boat. " The 
 difficulty of landing," says Cap- 
 tain Beechey, "was more than 
 repaid by the friendly reception 
 we met with on the beach from 
 
 Hannah Young, a very interest- 
 ing young woman, the daughter 
 of Adams. In her eagerness to 
 greet her father, she had outrun 
 her female companions, for 
 whose delay she thought it 
 necessary, in the first place, to 
 apologise, by saying they had 
 all been over the hill in com- 
 pany with John Buffet, to 
 look at the ship, and were not 
 yet returned. It appeared that 
 John Buffet, who had been a 
 seafaring man, had ascertained 
 that the ship was a man-of-war, 
 and, without knowing exactly 
 why, became so alarmed and 
 there was good reason for his 
 alarm, for any of these captains 
 might have made Adams a pri- 
 soner for the safety of the old 
 man, that he either could not or 
 would not answer any of the inter- 
 rogatories which were put to him. 
 This mysterious silence set all 
 the party in tears, as they feared 
 he had discovered something 
 adverse to their patriarch. At 
 length his obduracy yielded to 
 their entreaties; but before he 
 explained the cause of his con 
 duct, the boats were seen to put 
 off from the ship, and Hannah 
 immediately hurried to the 
 beach to kiss the old man's 
 cheek, which she did with a 
 fervency demonstrative of the 
 warmest affections. 
 
 Captain Beechey, after de- 
 scribing many of the manners 
 and customs of the island, goes 
 on to tell that during their stay, 
 they dined sometimes with one 
 person, sometimes with another, 
 their meals being always th<; 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 83 
 
 same, and consisting of baked 
 pig, yams, and taro, and some- 
 times sweet potatoes. Goats 
 were numerous on the island; 
 but neither their flesh nor their 
 milk was relished by the natives. 
 Yams constituted their principal 
 food, either boiled, baked, or 
 mixed with cocoa-nut, made 
 into cakes, and eaten with mo- 
 lasses extracted from the tee- 
 root. Taro-root is no bad sub- 
 stitute for bread ; and bananas, 
 plaintains, and appoi, are whole- 
 some and nutritive fruits. The 
 common beverage was water; 
 but they made tea from the tee- 
 plant, flavoured with ginger, and 
 sweetened with the juice of the 
 sugar-cane. They but seldom 
 killed a pig, living mostly on 
 fruit and vegetables. With this 
 simple diet, early rising, and 
 taking a great deal of exercise, 
 they were subject to few diseases. 
 The young children were 
 punctual in their attendance at 
 school, and were instructed by 
 John Buffet in reading, writing, 
 and arithmetic; to which were 
 added precepts of religion and 
 morality, drawn chiefly from the 
 Bible and Prayer-Book. They 
 seldom indulged in jokes or 
 other kinds of levity; and 
 Beechey says, they were so ac- 
 customed to take what was said 
 in its literal meaning, that irony 
 was always considered a false- 
 hood in spite of explanation; 
 and that they could not see the 
 propriety of uttering what was 
 not strictly true, for any purpose 
 whatever. The Sabbath was 
 wholly devoted to the church 
 
 service, to prayer, reading, and 
 serious meditation ; no work of 
 any kind was done on that day, 
 not even cooking, which was pre- 
 pared on the preceding evening. 
 " I attended," says Beechey, 
 " their church on this day, and 
 found the service well conduct- 
 ed ; the prayers were read by 
 Adams, and the lessons by 
 Buffet, the service being pre- 
 ceded by hymns. The greatest 
 devotion was apparent in every 
 individual ; and in the children 
 there was a seriousness unknown 
 in the younger part of our com- 
 munities at home. In the 
 course of the Litany, they pray- 
 ed for their sovereign and all 
 the royal family with much ap- 
 parent loyalty and sincerity. 
 Some family prayers, which 
 were thought appropriate to 
 their own particular case, were 
 added to the usual service ; and 
 Adams, fearful of leaving out 
 any essential part, read in addi- 
 tion all those prayers which are 
 intended only as substitutes for 
 others. A sermon followed, 
 which was very well delivered 
 by Buffet; and lest any part 
 of it should be forgotten or 
 escape attention, it was read 
 three times. The whole con- 
 cluded with hymns, which were 
 first sung by the grown people, 
 and afterwards by the children. 
 The service thus performed was 
 very long; but the neat and 
 cleanly appearance of the con- 
 gregation, the devotion that 
 animated every countenance, 
 and the innocence and simplic- 
 ity of the little children, pre- 
 
84 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 vented the attendance from 
 becoming wearisome. In about 
 half an hour afterwards we again 
 assembled to prayers, and at 
 sunset service was repeated j so 
 that, with their morning and 
 evening prayers, they may be 
 said to have church five times 
 on a Sunday." 
 
 Dancing was not encouraged 
 among them. With consider- 
 able difficulty, after much en- 
 treaty, Captain Beechey and 
 his friends prevailed on three 
 grown-up ladies to perform the 
 Otaheitan dance, which consist- 
 ed of little more than shuffling 
 their feet, sliding past each 
 other, and snapping their 
 thumbs. They appeared to 
 have little taste for music, 
 either vocal or instrumental. 
 Adams told Captain Beechey 
 one day, that it would add 
 much to his happiness, if the 
 captain would read the marriage 
 ceremony over him and his wife. 
 He had always had an idea of 
 having this done when a proper 
 opportunity should offer. It 
 was done accordingly the follow- 
 ing day, and the event was duly 
 noted in a register by John 
 Buffet. The marriages of the 
 young people had all been offi- 
 ciated at by Adams himself, who 
 made use of a ring on such 
 occasions, which had united 
 every couple on the island since 
 its first settlement. 
 
 In consequence of a repre- 
 sentation, made by Captain 
 Beechey when there, of the 
 distressed state of this little 
 society, with regard to the want 
 
 of certain necessary articles, 
 His Majesty's Government sent 
 out to Valparaiso, to be con- 
 veyed from thence for their use, 
 a proportion for sixty persons of 
 the following articles : sailors' 
 blue jackets and trousers, flan- 
 nel waistcoats, pairs of stock- 
 ings and shoes, women's dresses, 
 spades, mattocks, shovels, pick- 
 axes, trowels, rakes; all of which 
 were taken in His Majesty's 
 ship Seringapatam, commanded 
 by Captain the Hon. William 
 Waldegrave, who arrived there 
 in March 1830. 
 
 The ship had scarcely an- 
 chored when George Young was 
 alongside in his canoe, which he 
 guided by a paddle ; and soon 
 after Thursday October Chris- 
 tian, in a jolly-boat, with several 
 others, who, having come on 
 board, were invited to breakfast, 
 and one of them said grace as 
 usual both before and after it. 
 The captain, the chaplain, and 
 some other officers accompanied 
 these natives on shore, and hav- 
 ing reached the summit of the 
 first level or plain, which is 
 surrounded by a grove or screen 
 of cocoa-nut trees, they found 
 the wives and mothers as- 
 sembled to receive them. " I 
 have brought you a clergyman," 
 says the captain. " God bless 
 you," issued from every mouth ; 
 " but is he come to stay with 
 us ? " " No." " You bad man, 
 why not ? " "I cannot spare 
 him, he is the chaplain of my 
 ship ; but I have brought you 
 clothes and other articles, which 
 King George has sent you." 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 85 
 
 " But," says Kitty Quintal, " we 
 want food for our souls." 
 
 " Our reception," says Cap- 
 tain Waldegrave, " was most 
 cordial, particularly that of Mr 
 Watson, the chaplain ; and the 
 meeting of the wives and hus- 
 bands most affecting, exchang- 
 ing expressions of joy that could 
 not have been exceeded had 
 they just returned from a long 
 absence. The men sprang up 
 to the trees, throwing down 
 cocoa-nuts, the husks of which 
 were torn off by others with 
 their teeth, and offering us the 
 milk. As soon as we had rested 
 ourselves, they took us to their 
 
 cottages, where we dined and 
 slept." 
 
 Captain Waldegrave, like all 
 former visitors, bore ample testi- 
 mony to the kind dispositions 
 and active benevolence of these 
 simple islanders. A remarkable 
 proof of these amiable feelings he 
 noted in the care that was taken 
 of the surviving widows of the 
 Otaheitan men who had been 
 slain on the island, who were 
 helpless and would have been 
 destitute but for the humane 
 consideration of the young 
 people who supported them, 
 and treated them with every 
 attention. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NORFOLK ISLAND. 
 
 A FEW years after John Buffet 
 settled on Pitcairn Island, an- 
 other English sailor took up his 
 abode in the colony. His name 
 was John Evans, and he was 
 the son of a coachmaker in 
 Long Acre, London. He was 
 a worthy and well educated 
 man. Both he and Buffet mar- 
 ried, and thus two names were 
 added to the roll of surnames. 
 
 In the year 1828 a third sea- 
 faring man chose Pitcairn Island 
 as his home. His arrival was 
 an event destined to affect the 
 annals of the island. He was 
 no passing sailor who took a 
 fancy to the place and asked 
 
 leave to stop there on his vo> 
 age. For years he had enter- 
 tained a desire to settle among 
 the primitive inhabitants, who 
 had been much talked and writ- 
 ten about ever since Captain 
 Folger's discovery had been 
 made public. Having arrived 
 at the island after many diffi- 
 culties, he was heartily wel- 
 comed, and married Sarah, 
 the granddaughter of Fletcher 
 Christian. The name of this 
 man, destined to be the suc- 
 cessor of John Adams in the 
 patriarchate, was George Hunn 
 Nobbs. 
 John Adams died on the 
 
86 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 of March 1829, aged sixty- 
 five. He had lived on Pitcairn 
 Island since he was twenty-four, 
 the only protector of a number 
 of helpless human beings. The 
 perfect harmony and content- 
 ment in which they lived to- 
 gether, the innocency and 
 simplicity of their manners, 
 their conjugal and parental 
 affections, their religious and 
 virtuous conduct, are all to be 
 ascribed to the instructions and 
 exemplary life of this remarkable 
 man. He passed away in the 
 presence of his family and 
 affectionate flock. Adams no- 
 minated Mr Nobbs as his 
 successor in the pastorate. This 
 gentleman possessing some 
 knowledge of medicine and 
 surgery besides a competent 
 knowledge of the truths of 
 religion, entered with zeal upon 
 the many duties for the discharge 
 of which his acquirements gave 
 him a vocation. 
 
 In 1790 the island was first 
 settled by fifteen men and 
 twelve women, making a total 
 of twenty-seven. Of these were 
 remaining in 1800, one man 
 and five women, with nineteen 
 children, the eldest nine years 
 of age, making in the whole 
 twenty-five. In 1808, Mr Fol- 
 ger makes the population 
 amount to thirty-five, being an 
 increase of ten in eight years. 
 In 1814, six years afterwards, 
 Sir Thomas Staines states the 
 adult population at forty, which 
 must be a mistake, as fourteen 
 years before, nineteen of the 
 twenty-five then existing were 
 
 children. In 1825, Captain 
 Beechey states the whole popu- 
 lation at sixty-six, of whom 
 thirty-six were males, and thirty 
 females. In 1830, the colony 
 consisted of eighty-seven per- 
 sons. A long drought that 
 year, and a bad season for their 
 plantations, gave rise to fears of 
 famine overtaking them. A 
 possible failure of water supply 
 had long been a subject of grave 
 consideration ; and the drought 
 of this year led to the taking of 
 a very serious step. The Brit- 
 ish government proposed to the 
 islanders that they should emi- 
 grate to Otaheite. The queen 
 of that island, Pomar, seconded 
 this suggestion with great zeal. 
 The Pitcairners were divided in 
 opinion. A party headed by 
 Mr Nobbs were much opposed 
 to the movement. Notwith-' 
 standing they all sailed for Ota- 
 heite in March. A rich tract 
 of land was assigned them by 
 Queen Pomar, and the Ota- 
 heitans assisted them in collect- 
 ing wood and constructing 
 houses. The climate, however, 
 did not suit them, an epidemic 
 seized them, and Thursday 
 October Christian, the firstborn 
 of Pitcairn Island, fell a victim 
 to k. Besides, the morals of 
 their neVv neighbours did not 
 suit their simple, austere mode 
 of life. So they resolved to 
 return to their own old island 
 home. Indeed, the Buffet family 
 and some others did not re- 
 main in Otaheite till the gene- 
 ral re-emigration. They had 
 come there in a government 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 87 
 
 vessel. In September 1831, 
 an American brig brought away 
 all the families and landed them 
 again at Pitcairn. This was 
 done at their own expense, and 
 greatly to Queen PomarS's regret. 
 They restored their plantations, 
 repaired their houses, and Pit- 
 cairn village soon resumed its 
 former aspect of cleanliness and 
 comfort. 
 
 In 1832 a man named Joshua 
 Hill came to the island, pretend- 
 ing to be a commissioner sent by 
 Government to look after the 
 inhabitants for their good. He 
 talked of great powers entrusted 
 to him, and was received into 
 the house of John Buffet with 
 delight. He wrought a deal of 
 mischief among the families. 
 He assumed the functions of 
 judge, sentenced to the lash and 
 to banishment, kept Mr Nobbs 
 in continual fear of his life, till at 
 last, after anxious correspond- 
 ence with the home government, 
 this impostor was in 1838 re- 
 moved by orders of Government, 
 and left at Valparaiso. 
 
 Many ships of war touched at 
 the island in the course of suc- 
 ceeding years; but as yet no 
 British Admiral had paid a visit 
 to it. But Rear-Admiral Fair- 
 fax Moresby was on the Pacific 
 station in 1851, and he being 
 known to have taken a special 
 interest in the Pitcairn people, 
 was invited to visit the island by 
 a pleasant little note signed by 
 fourteen of the female inhabi- 
 tants. The frank invitation was 
 cordially accepted; and this 
 visit was an era to the people. 
 
 Admiral Moresby arrived in his 
 ship, the Portland, in August 
 1852; and like every other 
 visitor, he was quite fascinated 
 with the persons and manners 
 of the inhabitants. He took a 
 special interest in Mr Nobbs 
 and his family. He got that 
 gentleman to confess himself the 
 unacknowledged son of a mar- 
 quis by an unfortunate daughter 
 of an Irish baronet. Admiral 
 Moresby procured a passage for 
 him to London, where he was 
 ordained a deacon, in August 
 1852, by the late Bishop Blom- 
 field, and a priest in November. 
 The Society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel put him on its 
 list, at a salary of ^"50 a year; 
 and he was introduced to a 
 great many distinguished people. 
 Mr Nobbs was presented to 
 Queen Victoria, who received 
 him most graciously, and gave 
 him portraits of herself and the 
 Royal family. - He returned to 
 Pitcairn in May 1853. 
 
 The colony had now increas- 
 ed to such an extent, that their 
 beloved little island began to 
 feel too small, or rather not fer- 
 tile enough for them. Admiral 
 Moresby . wrote, the year Mr 
 Nobbs returned, to the Admir- 
 alty, saying, that the time had 
 arrived when measures should 
 be taken for their future wel- 
 fare. Government at that time 
 abandoned Norfolk Island as a 
 convict station ; and it seemed 
 a very available home for the 
 straitened inhabitants of the 
 " small Rock in the West." Re- 
 ports regarding Norfolk Island 
 
88 
 
 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 with a view to their removal 
 to it, were duly presented to 
 Government. They were, of 
 course, all in the highest degree 
 favourable to the project. No 
 place could suit the Pitcairners 
 so admirably as that abandon- 
 ed convict station. Admiral 
 Moresby was requested by what 
 was termed the Pitcairn Fund 
 Committee to sound them on 
 the subject. This committee 
 consisted of some influential 
 patrons of the islanders, who 
 collected funds for their benefit, 
 and looked after their interests 
 generally. Admiral Moresby 
 found the Pitcairners favourable 
 to the removal. In reply to a 
 communication by him, the 
 chief magistrate and councillors 
 resolved : " It is very evident 
 that the time is not far distant, 
 when Pitcairn Island will be 
 altogether inadequate to the 
 rapidly increasing population, 
 and the inhabitants do unani- 
 mously agree in soliciting the 
 aid of the British Government 
 in transferring them to Norfolk 
 Island, or some other appro- 
 priate place." They expressed 
 a desire and hope that wherever 
 they were taken to, they might 
 be allowed to live in a seclusion 
 similar to that they had enjoyed 
 on Pitcairn Island. Govern- 
 ment entrusted the removal of 
 them to Sir William Denison, 
 K.C.B., Governor-General of 
 New South Wales, and he sent 
 Captain Freemantle, R.N., com- 
 manding the Juno, to see the 
 thing done. Norfolk Island 
 was their destination of course 
 
 Captain Freemantle reached 
 the little island in 1855 ; and 
 was rather surprised to find the 
 people anything but desirous 
 for the change of residence. 
 Many of them had painful mem- 
 ories of their Otaheite escapade 
 twenty-five years ago. Captain 
 Freemantle was in earnest in 
 his mission. He believed it was 
 for the good of the people ; and 
 he overcame all scruples and 
 objections. As a man-of-war 
 could not be spared from the 
 station, an emigrant ship, the 
 Morayshire, was commissioned 
 to transfer the islanders to their 
 new home, an undertaking 
 which Lieutenant Gregorie of 
 the Juno was appointed to 
 superintend. When he arrived 
 at Pitcairn, he found that he 
 had the work of persuading to 
 do over again. And no won- 
 der ! It was a depressing change 
 for them, poor things. Kind, 
 tender hearts like theirs required 
 much persuasion before they 
 could consent to leave their 
 happy homes, and the graves of 
 those they loved so well their 
 father, John Adams, and the 
 parents, brothers, sisters, and 
 children, who bound them to 
 Pitcairn, as well as quickened 
 their sense of relationship to that 
 other home beyond their graves. 
 A few enterprising spirits 
 seconded Lieutenant Gregorie's 
 eloquence, and he eventually 
 succeeded in bringing every 
 soul away. After a passage of 
 five weeks, the Pitcairners ar- 
 rived at Norfolk Island, on 
 Sunday, 8th June 1856. 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 89 
 
 Mr Nobbs enters in his diary 
 under this date : " Cloudy wea- 
 ther, close in with Norfolk 
 Island; very much disappoint- 
 ed with its appearance from the 
 present point of view, which is 
 directly off the settlement, and 
 presents a succession of hillocks 
 and shallow ravines covered 
 with short brown grass, but 
 scarcely a tree to be seen. 
 Every face wore an expression 
 of disappointment, having been 
 accustomed to hear the island 
 so highly extolled. No doubt 
 other parts have a better appear- 
 ance, but this side certainly 
 bears no comparison with our 
 Rock in the West. 
 
 "At ten A.M., left with my 
 family, and some others, in the 
 ship's lifeboat. It blew fresh, 
 and we were nearly two hours 
 rowing to shore. The wind 
 being off the land during our 
 passage, several squalls of rain 
 occurred, and the boat leaking 
 badly, we were thoroughly 
 drenched, the women and 
 children presenting a most 
 forlorn appearance. Being con- 
 ducted by Mr Stewart to his 
 residence, I deposited my wife 
 there, and then returned to the 
 pier. On my way thither, I 
 went into the large building 
 where our people were congre- 
 gating, and seeing they were 
 beginning to feel comfortable, 
 I returned to the landing- 
 place. One of the Government 
 prisoners doing duty as a 
 constable to prevent any one 
 intruding into the precincts of 
 the large building (formerly the 
 
 soldiers' barracks), where oui 
 people were assembling seeing 
 how thoroughly drenched I was, 
 gave me so pressing an invita- 
 tion to go to his dwelling, which 
 was adjacent, and change my 
 clothes, that I did not refuse 
 his offer. He supplied me with 
 a decent suit, and, moreover, 
 brought me a mug of hot tea, 
 and some excellent bread and 
 butter. All this was done so 
 respectfully, and with such good 
 grace, that I forgot that this 
 man was a twice convicted 
 prisoner." 
 
 Mrs Nobbs, writing three 
 months after their arrival at 
 Norfolk Island, expresses pretty 
 fairly the impressions which 
 generally prevailed. "We ar- 
 rived," she says, " amid squalls 
 of rain, which thoroughly drench- 
 ed us; but Captain Denham, who 
 was here, had fires prepared and 
 tea ready for us, so that we soon 
 got as comfortable as we could 
 possibly be in, to us, such a 
 bewildering place. Everything 
 was so strange; the immense 
 houses, the herd 1 * of cattle graz- 
 ing, and in the distance the 
 gigantic Norfolk pines, filled us 
 for a moment with amazement. 
 I was conducted by Mr Stewart 
 to the Government House, and 
 seated by a good fire in the 
 drawing-room (I have learned 
 that name since), which was the 
 first fire I had ever seen in a 
 dwelling-house, and an excellent 
 addition to my previous ideas of 
 domestic comfort. 
 
 "The island is not to be 
 compared for fertility to the one 
 
90 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 we left ; but being much larger, 
 there is more room for our 
 children to branch out upon; 
 but I think there are few would 
 not return (and I one of the 
 number), if an opportunity offer- 
 ed. My husband is much 
 annoyed at these expressions of 
 our feelings, and declares that 
 he will never leave Norfolk 
 Island. He is positive that the 
 land is a good land, and that 
 before twelve months we shall 
 be of his opinion. Well, I hope 
 this may be the case ; but bad 
 or good, so long as he makes it 
 his home, of course it will be 
 mine; and seeing him so con- 
 tented and confident, has for 
 certain a good effect upon us 
 all. . . . 
 
 " The place is not nearly so 
 well wooded and watered as 
 we thought to have found it, 
 and to a community like this, 
 who, although at Pitcairn they 
 were sometimes straitened in 
 the staple articles of food, had 
 generally something of an in- 
 ferior kind to fall back upon, 
 the prospect that in two months 
 from this they will be without 
 bread, flour, or any one thing 
 that will answer for a substitute, 
 is not very encouraging. The 
 island, for spontaneous fertility, 
 is not to be compared with 
 the spot we have left, but I 
 am sure the land is a good 
 land, and will provide all we 
 need, when we get the means of 
 planting. " 
 
 The Bishop of New Zealand, 
 Dr Selwyn, accompanied by 
 Mrs Selwyn, and the Rev. Mr 
 
 Patteson, paid a visit to the 
 new inhabitants of Norfolk Is- 
 land in less than a month after 
 they arrived. Mrs Selwyn re- 
 mained with them, while the 
 Bishop and Mr Patteson pur- 
 sued their missionary voyage 
 among the islands of Melanesia. 
 He returned in September, and 
 held a confirmation, which Mrs 
 Selwyn had assisted actively in 
 preparing for during his three 
 months' absence. On this occa- 
 sion, Mr Nobbs relates, " Aftei 
 the departure of the congrega- 
 tion, the Bishop, Mr Patteson, 
 and myself, with old Arthur 
 Quintal, were for some time 
 employed in placing stools in 
 front of the chancel, for the 
 accommodation of those about 
 to be confirmed. At half-past 
 three, the afternoon service was 
 commenced. The candidates 
 were first called by name, and 
 arranged on the before-men- 
 tioned stools, the women on the 
 right-hand range or tier, the 
 men on the left. . . . The 
 men were arrayed in good 
 black or blue coats, with white 
 pantaloons, and shoes and 
 stockings. The women wore 
 loose white frocks or tunics, 
 and instead of bonnets, which 
 many do^ wear on Sunday, was 
 substituted a snowy white hand- 
 kerchief doubled triangularly, 
 without any attempt at adorn- 
 ment, simply placed on the 
 head, and tied with a half-knot 
 under the chin. . . . The 
 confirmation began by ten per- 
 sons standing up in parallel 
 rows of five each, without step- 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 91 
 
 ping from the place where they 
 had been seated, when, having 
 listened attentively to the pre- 
 face and questions put by the 
 Bishop, they, with becoming 
 earnestness, severally answered, 
 'I do.' By a motion of the 
 Bishop's hand they resumed 
 their seats, and ten others rose, 
 and so on in like order until all 
 had been questioned and re- 
 sponded. They then in similar 
 order came up to the front of 
 the altar, and kneeling, received 
 the imposition of hands. I am 
 sure it would have gratified our 
 many friends could they have 
 been present, and seen parents 
 kneeling by the side of their 
 children. Many of these were 
 also parents, and in one instance, 
 a great-grandmother was ac- 
 companied by grand-daughters, 
 three of whom had families of 
 their own. . . . Before the 
 conclusion, it became nearly 
 dark in the church, and the 
 Bishop was obliged to repair to 
 the outer door to distinguish 
 the names of the persons on 
 the certificates of confirmation. 
 The Bishop himself delivered 
 them, first taking such person 
 by the hand, and using the 
 Christian name of each, asked 
 God's blessing on them. And 
 then the members of the various 
 families returned to their re- 
 spective homes well pleased and 
 edified.;' 
 
 It will be remembered that 
 the Rev. Mr Patteson referred 
 to here, was subsequently or- 
 dained Bishop of Melanesia, 
 which was erected into a see 
 
 separate from New Zealand; 
 and that he was murdered by 
 savages, while faithfully and 
 lovingly discharging the onerous 
 duties of his sacred office. 
 
 In the month of November 
 1858, that is after living about 
 two years and a half on Norfolk 
 Island, two families of the name 
 of Young returned to Pitcairn 
 Island. The following extract 
 is from a letter written by Sir 
 W. Denison to Admiral Mores- 
 by, in which he refers to this 
 event as well as other interest- 
 ing topics. He says "I had 
 a rough passage of eight days 
 to the island. ... I found 
 that the great proportion of the 
 people were well satisfied with 
 their position and prospects. 
 Thirty-three of the men had as- 
 sociated themselves, and by 
 clubbing their means, had pur- 
 chased two boats and whaling 
 gear from an American whaler. 
 They had then gone energetic- 
 ally into the business of bay 
 whaling, and had killed whales 
 enough to supply fourteen tons 
 of oil, which at present prices 
 may be worth nearly .500. 
 Some have already 
 commenced to manufacture 
 dripstones, which sell well in 
 the adjacent colonies ; some 
 have commenced the manu- 
 facture of soap; others are 
 looking forward to a profitable 
 trade in oranges and lemons; 
 in fact, as regards the men, I 
 am satisfied with their progress. 
 I wish I could say the same 
 with regard to the women; they, 
 with one or two exceptions, do 
 
92 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 not appear to me nearly so 
 civilised as the men. They 
 approach nearer the Tahitian 
 type ; and, as we must look to 
 the women to give the first tone 
 to the children, I should wish 
 to see a great improvement in 
 manner, appearance, and infor- 
 mation. I trust, however, that 
 Mr Rossiter's presence will do 
 a great deal for them. Hither- 
 to, the school has been but 
 a trifling advantage, but now 
 that Mr Rossiter has taken 
 it in hand, I have a right to 
 expect a great change for the 
 better. . . . 
 
 " I found that two families 
 had gone back to Pi f cairn Island, 
 vnd I heard that three more were 
 contemplating a similar move. 
 At a general meeting of the 
 people, I spoke strongly to 
 them, pointing out to them the 
 folly, nay, the sin, which they 
 were committing, in throwing 
 aside for themselves as well as 
 for their children the means of 
 living which had been provided 
 for them, and I warned them 
 that I should not in any way 
 countenance or assist them in 
 removing; that I should put a 
 condition of residence in the 
 grant of land which I was pre- 
 pared to make to them, and 
 should prohibit any alienation 
 of this land to any but inhabi- 
 tants of the island. I felt the 
 more bound to do this, as I 
 found that the magistrates and 
 Mr Nobbs had, in the case of 
 the people who had left, been 
 weak enough to agree to pay to 
 the captain of a schooner a sum 
 
 of ;6oo as the passage money of 
 sixty adults to Pitcairn, and had 
 given him bills for ^300 on 
 their agent at Sydney, which he 
 claimed when only sixteen went 
 down, instead of sixty. This 
 money, I may observe, was the 
 value of the wool and hides 
 sold, and was the property of 
 the Government. I have now 
 taken the management of the 
 public funds out of the hands 
 of the magistrates, and given it 
 to the storekeeper, who is only 
 to act as far as regards drawing 
 bills upon the wool, etc., by my 
 directions. 
 
 " The island is now marked 
 off in fifty-acre allotments, and 
 I propose to send down the 
 deeds of grant when I have 
 settled the form and conditions, 
 and arranged a simple system 
 of registration, and forms of 
 sale, mortgage, etc. . . . 
 
 " I look forward to the time 
 when Norfolk Island will be- 
 come the St Michael's of New 
 Zealand, Tasmania, and Mel- 
 bourne. Lemons are indigen- 
 ous, and form the best stock on 
 which the orange can be grafted. 
 I have sent down several of the 
 best descriptions of orange, 
 and shall supply them wkh 
 shaddock and other fruits of 
 the same kind. Mr Rossiter 
 is, I am glad to find, a good 
 gardener." 
 
 Sir W. Denison adds, "I 
 have given Mr Nobbs ,50 per 
 annum put of the revenue of the 
 island, in addition to the $0 
 which he receives from the 
 Society for the Propagation of 
 
THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 93 
 
 the Gospel He is fairly entitled 
 to this." 
 
 These extracts give a suffi- 
 cient glimpse of the affairs of 
 the descendants of the mu- 
 tineers of the Bounty, in the 
 new home which Government 
 chose for them and took them 
 to. They have now, some- 
 how or other, ceased to impress 
 the reader of the continuation 
 of their story as the very simple, 
 primitive, pure, and incompar- 
 able family they were pictured 
 as being by all who visited them 
 at Pitcairn. They are out a 
 little wider in the world now; 
 Buffet, Evans, Nobbs, and Ros- 
 siter are imported influences, 
 and their notions, aims, and 
 means of carrying them out, are 
 both more ample and very 
 different from those of old John 
 Adams. Mr Rossiter received 
 a good income as schoolmaster 
 and storekeeper, and proved 
 himself very useful. He was a 
 conscientious, industrious man, 
 and a rather stern disciplin- 
 arian. 
 
 The establishing of a Mission 
 College on Norfolk Island, was 
 an occasion of trouble and 
 anxiety to its imported inhabi- 
 tants. They were afraid that a 
 body of semi-converted natives 
 of the Melanesian islands settled 
 amqjng them, would damage 
 morality and hinder social pro- 
 gress. But their principal ob- 
 jection to the project was based 
 on a belief that there had been 
 conferred on them by the Brit- 
 ish Government an indefeasible 
 right and title to the whole of 
 
 Norfolk Island. They consid- 
 ered that it was theirs and 
 everything it contained. They 
 were unwilling to admit a pre- 
 cedent for alienation, fearing 
 that it might deprive their 
 posterity of a guaranteed inher- 
 itance. It was, they maintained, 
 upon the condition of unqualified 
 cession that they consented to 
 leave Pitcairn Island. This 
 was, however, discovered to be 
 a false impression, and after con- 
 siderable delay and a good deal 
 of plucky correspondence with 
 Government, the Melanesian 
 Mission College was sanctioned 
 in 1866. Bishop Patteson paid 
 ^3 an acre for a thousand acres 
 of land ; this ^3000 was care- 
 fully invested, and the accruing 
 interest is applied annually to 
 paying the pastor and chief 
 magistrate of the descendants of 
 the mutineers of the Bounty, 
 and also to the cost of medicines, 
 flags, and other necessary and 
 showy matters. In no way can 
 the founding of this college be 
 regarded as other than beneficial 
 to the Norfolk Islanders. Their 
 home acquires reputation by it, 
 and if there is an importation of 
 semi-civilised natives, there is 
 also the introduction of highly 
 educated gentlemen to look 
 after them. This is the won- 
 derful ultimate result of a rash 
 and foolish mutiny. The home 
 of their descendants, formerly 
 the compulsory abode of out- 
 casts, is now the " Holy Isle " 
 of the Pacific Ocean, the seat 
 of the Melanesian Mission 
 College. 
 
94 THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS. 
 
 LAST OF THE BOUNTY. 
 
 The following paragraph cut 
 from a newspaper in 1874 pre- 
 sents a vivid idea of the hardi- 
 hood and intelligence of the excel- 
 lent people to whom it is a regret 
 to say good-bye here at the close 
 of our repetition of their story. 
 
 " On the voyage from Sydney 
 the Pearl stayed a day at Nor- 
 folk Island, which is a territory 
 within the jurisdiction of Sir 
 Hercules Robinson, as Gover- 
 nor of New South Wales. A 
 very good story is told of the 
 simple-minded, hardy descend- 
 ants of the mutineers of the 
 Bounty. The landing-place is 
 an open roadstead. When 
 Commodore Stirling visited the 
 island in the Clio last year, a 
 gale of wind was blowing, and 
 the sea was running so high 
 that it was impossible to land. 
 After standing off and on for 
 some time, the Clio was about 
 to make sail for Sydney, the 
 weather showing no signs of 
 
 moderating, when a boat was 
 observed to put off from the 
 shore. Something serious is 
 the matter, thought all on board, 
 or the islanders would not ven- 
 ture out in such a sea. The ship 
 lay to, but the boat's crew had 
 to toil all through the night 
 before reaching her. When they 
 gained the deck, Commodore Stir- 
 ling said, with some solicitude in 
 his manner, ' / am glad to see 
 you. I hope nothing has gone 
 wrong; but anything in the way 
 of medicines or supplies I have is 
 at your service. 1 ' We are all 
 well, thank you,' answered the 
 courageous boatmen, ' but there 
 is one thing we would like have 
 you a copy of " Lothair" T 
 Two French gentlemen fought 
 with swords in a Parisian book- 
 shop for the right to purchase 
 the last copy of the first edition 
 of ' Le Diable Boiteux,' but it 
 does not often fall to the lot of 
 a modern author to produce a 
 book for the possession of which 
 people will risk their lives." 
 
 END OF THE BOUNTY AND HER MUTINEERS 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 MUTINY IN THE 420 REGIMENT 
 
 (THE ROYAL HIGHLAND REGIMENT, OR BLACK WATCH) 
 
 May 1743. 
 
 THE Forty-Second, or Royal 
 Highland, Regiment was the 
 first, as it has continued to be 
 the foremost, of the regiments 
 which in their heroic services to 
 the House of Hanover on the 
 British throne, have reflected 
 unfading glory on their race, 
 and on the highlands and islands 
 of Scotland. The roll on which 
 its martial deeds of undying re- 
 nown are emblazoned is one of 
 the most dazzling among the 
 honoured records of modern 
 warfare. The origin of the first 
 of the Highland regiments is in- 
 teresting. 
 
 The leading circumstances 
 which led to its formation are 
 easily recounted. The majority 
 of the Highland clans continued 
 faithful to the direct line of the 
 Stuart dynasty, after the Revolu- 
 tion of 1688 had led the royal 
 train off at a siding. It took 
 them three years to intimate 
 their submission to the govern- 
 ment of William III.; and that 
 submission was only a hollow 
 affair after all the time it took 
 
 in shaping. In 1715 they took 
 arms against the House of 
 Hanover, under the enthusiastic 
 Earl of Mar, with results disas- 
 trous to the Highlanders. After 
 an attempt made by the Spanish 
 in 1719, to embroil Scotland 
 again in a civil war proved itself 
 fruitless, the country enjoyed 
 comparative quiet for twenty- 
 five years, during which period 
 roads were made in the High 
 lands, and various measures 
 were adopted to improve the 
 condition of the clans. 
 
 Some Highlanders were taken 
 into the service of the Crown 
 and armed as early as 1725, 
 when Marshall Wade was ap- 
 pointed Commander-in- Chief 
 in Scotland; and in 1729 
 the Government took mea- 
 sures for the embodying of a 
 number of loyal Highlanders, 
 who should be constituted a 
 regular domestic military force, 
 employed to keep order in the 
 mountain districts, for which 
 they were in every respect better 
 qualified than soldiers from the 
 
96 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Lowlands, bix companies were 
 accordingly formed, and were 
 employed, in 1730, enforcing 
 the Disarming Act, overawing 
 the disaffected, preventing re- 
 prisals and plunders between 
 the rival clans, and putting a 
 check upon the depredations 
 made by the mountaineers on 
 their peaceable neighbours of 
 the plains. The officers were 
 generally selected from among 
 the Campbells, Grants, Mun- 
 roes, and other chief families 
 which had embraced the princi- 
 ples of the Revolution; but 
 many of the men were from 
 clan Athole, Perthshire, and 
 other districts where loyalty to 
 the dethroned dynasty was still 
 ? controlling sentiment. 
 
 Many of the men in the ranks 
 were cadets of gentlemen's 
 families, sons of gentlemen 
 farmers, and tacksmen, immedi- 
 ately or more remotely con- 
 nected with the leading families. 
 They were generally of a higher 
 grade in society than that from 
 which the British soldier was 
 raised in those days, or at any 
 time since ; they were, in a word, 
 men who felt themselves respon- 
 sible for their conduct to high- 
 minded and honourable rela- 
 tions, as well as to a country 
 for which they cherished a fondly 
 devoted affection. 
 
 These six companies were 
 called the Freicudan Dhu, or 
 Black Watch, from the colour of 
 their dress, which consisted so 
 much of the black, green, and 
 blue tartan, that it gave them a 
 dark and sombre appearance in 
 
 comparison with the bright uni- 
 form of the regular Seidaran 
 Dearag, or Red Soldiers. 
 
 The companies continued 
 to discharge with faithfulness 
 and efficiency their duties as a 
 domestic watch till 1739. In 
 that year, on the breaking out 
 of war with Spain, King George 
 II. resolved to incorporate the 
 six companies of the Black 
 Watch into a regiment of the 
 line, to be augmented to ten 
 companies, that he might pos- 
 sess the advantage of a Highland 
 corps in the coming struggle. 
 Accordingly a warrant to this 
 effect was issued to Colonel 
 John, Earl of Crawford and 
 Lindsay, under date October 25, 
 
 1739. After some progress had 
 been made in recruiting, the 
 men were assembled in May 
 
 1740, and embodied into a regi- 
 ment in a field between Tay- 
 bridge and Aberfeldy, in the 
 county of Perth, under the title 
 of the "Highland Regiment," 
 but the corps still retained the 
 country name of the Black 
 Watch. They remained for 
 about fifteen months on the 
 banks of the Tay and of the 
 Lyon. 
 
 Colonel the Earl of Craw- 
 ford was removed in December 
 of the same year, from the Black 
 Watch to the Second, or Scots, 
 troop of Grenadier Life Guards; 
 and Brigadier-General Lord Sem- 
 pill was appointed colonel of the 
 Highlanders. 
 
 In the winter of 1741 the 
 regiment resumed the duties 
 formerly performed by the six 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 97 
 
 companies in the Highlands; 
 these it continued to discharge 
 during 1742, the year in which 
 King George II. sent an army 
 to Flanders to support the 
 House of Austria against the 
 Elector of Bavaria and the King 
 of France. 
 
 The Highland Regiment hav- 
 ing been selected to reinforce 
 the army in Flanders, was 
 assembled at Perth in March 
 1743, preparatory for a march 
 to London. 
 
 Jfuch an order took the men 
 by surprise, and awakened suspi- 
 cion as well as astonishment. 
 They had not expected it ; and 
 were not slow to express their 
 feelings and opinions, nor were 
 they low in their tones. Not 
 the men only. The regimenting 
 of this body of Highlanders had 
 been looked upon by many 
 gentlemen of public spirit as a 
 very significant experiment. It 
 was a question of national im- 
 portance. A firm and right 
 step had been taken towards 
 the final inclusion of the clans 
 into the nation. A nation is an 
 organised unity. Solongasthese 
 Highland families remained 
 irresponsive to its throbs and 
 pulses, they were only instru- 
 ments of trouble and danger. 
 They were like a foreign body 
 jammed too closely against the 
 sensitive organisation of the 
 country ; and the engrafting of 
 them on to its stem was to be 
 greatly facilitated by enlisting 
 their best and bravest in the 
 ranks of the nation's defenders. 
 
 The proposal to send the 
 
 Highland Regiment out of Scot- 
 land, or, indeed, away from the 
 Highlands, therefore, aroused 
 the indignation of many of those 
 who understood best the ele- 
 ments of which it was com- 
 posed. Lord President Forbes, 
 in a special manner, disapprov- 
 ed of and opposed the measure ; 
 and no one knew the character 
 of the corps better than he, or 
 was more fully alive to the 
 necessity of the duty they were 
 performing its nature, and their 
 capability of discharging it 
 faithfully. This was 1743. 
 How ominously soon did 1745 
 follow upon the march of the 
 Black Watch to the south of 
 England ! 
 
 Lord President Forbes wrote 
 a letter to General Clayton, who 
 had succeeded Marshal Wade 
 in the commandership-in-chief 
 of Scotland, of which the follow- 
 ing is an extract, and explains 
 sufficiently the unmistakable 
 sentiments of his lordship on 
 the subject. He writes : "When 
 I first heard of the orders given 
 to the Highland Regiment to 
 march southwards, it gave me 
 no sort of concern. I sup- 
 posed the intention was only to 
 see them ; but, as I have been 
 lately assured that they are 
 destined for foreign service, I 
 cannot dissemble my uneasi- 
 ness at a resolution that may, 
 in my apprehension, be attended 
 with very bad consequences; 
 nor can I prevail with myself 
 not to communicate to you my 
 thoughts on this subject, how- 
 ever late they may come." Hi? 
 G 
 
98 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 lordship goes on to state what 
 he fears will be the conse- 
 quences to be expected from 
 the removal of this regiment. 
 "I must," he continues, "put 
 you in mind that the present 
 system for securing the peace 
 of the Highlands, which is the 
 best I ever heard of, is by 
 regular troops stationed from 
 Inverness to Fort William, along 
 the chain of lakes which, in a 
 manner, divides the Highlands, 
 to command the obedience of 
 the inhabitants of both sides, 
 and, by a body of disciplined 
 Highlanders, wearing the dress, 
 and speaking the language of 
 the country, to execute such 
 orders as require expedition, 
 and for which neither the dress 
 nor the manners of other troops 
 are proper. These Highlanders 
 now regimented were at first 
 independent companies ; and 
 though their dress, language, 
 and manners, qualified them 
 for securing the lower country 
 from depredations, yet that was 
 not the sole use of them. The 
 same qualities fitted them for 
 every expedition that required 
 secrecy and despatch. They 
 served for all purposes of hussars 
 or light horse, in a country 
 whose mountains and bogs 
 render cavalry useless ; and, if 
 properly disposed over the 
 Highlands, nothing that was 
 commonlyreported and believed 
 by the Highlanders could be 
 a secret to their commanders, 
 because of their intimacy with 
 the people, and the sameness 
 of language." 
 
 There are other considera- 
 tions besides those presented 
 thus by the great patriot of his 
 time. He views the Govern- 
 ment measure for sending this 
 regiment abroad mainly from 
 the point of view of the suit- 
 ableness of the men to a very 
 necessary service. But how 
 did the proposal affect the 
 men's estimate of that Govern- 
 ment, whose orders they had 
 come under an oath to obey? 
 Obedience has its limits, and 
 the sense of duty is only a re- 
 sponse to certain acknowledged 
 claims. The men disputed the 
 right of the Government to lay 
 on them the command conveyed 
 by this marching order. There 
 are grounds for believing that, 
 when they were regimented, 
 the measure was represented to 
 them as nothing more than a 
 change of name and of officers, 
 which implied the very sub- 
 stantial advantage of more 
 regular pay, if the duties were 
 to be more definitely regulated. 
 Under this arrangement they 
 distinctly understood that they 
 were to continue to be em- 
 ployed, as formerly, in watching 
 the country a sort of armed 
 police, obeying officers who 
 received orders from the central 
 Government, instead of from any 
 local power. When they showed 
 astonishment and expressed sur- 
 prise at orders to march to 
 England, they were falsely told, 
 that it was only that they might 
 have an opportunity of showing 
 themselves to the king, who had 
 never seen a Highland regi- 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 99 
 
 ment This explanation satis- 
 fied the soldiers so far. It was 
 a sop to their vanity; but no 
 motive more dangerous and 
 more self-defeating exists in the 
 heart of man than his vanity, 
 and the passionate impulses to 
 which it often leads. In the 
 case in point, the very vanity 
 which lightened the steps of the 
 Highlanders during their march 
 to London, laid a dead weight 
 on their hearts when the speci- 
 ous lie which deceived, and, as 
 they thought, befooled them, 
 was detected. 
 
 It is true enough that the 
 king had never seen a Highland 
 regiment. His Majesty had 
 never seen a Highland soldier ; 
 and he expressed a desire to 
 see one. Three privates, re- 
 markable for their athletic figure 
 and good looks, were fixed upon 
 and sent to London for his 
 Majesty's gratification and in- 
 spection a short time before the 
 regiment marched. These were 
 Gregor M'Gregor, commonly 
 called Gregor the Beautiful; 
 John Campbell, son of Duncan 
 Campbell, of the family of Dun- 
 caves, Perthshire; and John 
 Grant, of Strathspey, of the 
 family of Ballindalloch. Poor 
 Mr Grant fell sick, and died at 
 Aberfeldy. The others, it was 
 reported at the time, were pre- 
 sented by their Lieutenant- 
 Colonel, Sir Robert Munro, to 
 the king, and performed the 
 broadsword exercise and that 
 of the Lochaber axe, before his 
 Majesty, the Duke of Cumber- 
 land, Marshal Wade, and a 
 
 number of general officers 
 assembled for the purpose, in 
 the Great Gallery at St James's. 
 The exhibition was gratify- 
 ing to all concerned. It was 
 said that these two individual 
 show-specimens of a High- 
 land regiment displayed so 
 much dexterity and skill in the 
 management of their weapons, 
 that the king expressed himself 
 perfectly satisfied with it and 
 them. Humiliating stage-play ! 
 Had those two Highlanders sus- 
 pected the treachery in train 
 for themselves and their free- 
 born comrades, for the giving 
 effect to which this exhibition 
 was but the opening prelude to 
 " play in " their brethren, it is 
 to be hoped they would have 
 preferred taking the place of 
 the brothers M'Pherson, who 
 were subsequently murdered as 
 mutineers on Tower Hill. The 
 humiliation had a lower deep. 
 Each of the two got a gratuity 
 of a guinea, for showing him- 
 self off to be so clever ; and 
 they each gave his guinea 
 to the porter at the palace 
 gate as they passed out. They 
 were not to be paid for being 
 accomplished Highlandmen. 
 They forgave the king for 
 mistaking their character, and 
 the consideration due to 
 them in their own beloved 
 country. 
 
 The departure of the Black 
 Watch from the country, which 
 was doomed to miss it sorely 
 very soon, was thus formally 
 announced by the Caledonian 
 Mercury : " On Wednesday last, 
 
100 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Lord Sempill's regiment of 
 Highlanders began their march 
 for England in order to be re- 
 viewed by his Majesty. They 
 are certainly the finest regiment 
 in the service, being tall, well- 
 made men, and very stout." 
 The word " stout " here has its 
 older meaning, still common in 
 Scotland, of healthy, strong, 
 vigorous. 
 
 Their march through the 
 English counties supplied a 
 feast of wonderment to the eyes 
 of all who looked at them. A 
 Highlander in full garb was a 
 strange object to an English- 
 man. A gentlemanly, tastefully- 
 dressed, and gracefully - man- 
 nered gorilla would not be more 
 vacantly stared at in the crush 
 of a crammed drawing-room, 
 where all the expensive trains 
 of fine society get crumpled 
 into wisps, while so many ani- 
 mated clothes -pegs are bust- 
 ling to get as near him as is 
 consistent or inconsistent with 
 sangfroid, in the circumstances. 
 The stories current in England 
 at the time of the ferocious 
 savagery of the Highlanders, 
 and the frightful conflicts of 
 their clans, were wild enough to 
 have awakened expectations of 
 a few full-dressed rehearsals, as 
 these specimens of unabolished 
 barbarism made their way 
 through the counties. In Mar- 
 chant's " History of the Rebel- 
 lion " (Lond. 1746), we read of a 
 gentleman in Derby expressing 
 his astonishment " to see these 
 savages, from the officer to the 
 commonest man, at their several 
 
 meals, first stand up and pull 
 off their bonnets, and then lift 
 up their eyes in a most solemn 
 and devout manner, and mutter 
 something in their own gibberish, 
 by way, I suppose, of saying 
 grace, as if they had been so 
 many Christians ! " When Gor- 
 don of Glenbucket, whom Lord 
 President Forbes, who knew 
 him intimately, described as " a 
 good-natured, humane man," 
 marched up his followers to 
 join the rebel army in England, 
 it was gravely questioned, 
 whether they killed their pris- 
 oners and sucked their blood, 
 to whet their appetite for war, 
 after the manner of other 
 savages ? " 
 
 It is never easy to imagine 
 one's self living in the atmosphere 
 of the absurd notions of an 
 earlier age. In that day the 
 monstrous tales which the good 
 people of England believed 
 regarding their neighbours on 
 the Scottish mountains would 
 have created many a hearty 
 laugh, and a good deal of pity 
 in the Highland clachans, if they 
 could have been translated into 
 Gaelic. 
 
 Nobody was eaten during the 
 march, and great was the 
 astonishment of the beholders 
 of the orderly conduct and fine 
 martial appearance of this regi- 
 ment of Highland gentlemen. 
 During the journey great good 
 humour prevailed in the ranks, 
 heightened as it doubtless was 
 by the unbounded hospitality 
 and friendly feeling which they 
 experienced in the country and 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS, lol 
 
 die towns through which their 
 route lay. 
 
 The regiment reached the 
 neighbourhood of London in 
 two divisions. The former 
 arrived on the 29th, and the 
 latter on the 3oth of April. In 
 a fortnight, that is, on the i4th 
 of May, the whole body was 
 reviewed on Finchley Common 
 by Marshal Wade, who, from 
 his influential residence in Scot- 
 land for a time as commander- 
 in- chief, was intimately ac- 
 quainted with many of the 
 officers and soldiers, and knew 
 well the nature of the corps. 
 This was the first mistake of the 
 government, and it caused grave 
 misgivings in the minds of many 
 of these honest, hearty, straight- 
 forward sons of the mountains, 
 who expected to be reviewed in 
 the presence of his Majesty, who 
 seems never to have been made 
 aware of, or did not think it 
 worth his royal while to remem- 
 ber, the fact that the bait with 
 which his instruments had wiled 
 away the Black Watch from the 
 Highlands to London, was the 
 assurance that the king, who 
 had never seen one, was anxious 
 to look at a Highland regiment. 
 The two show specimens seem 
 to have been quite enough for 
 royal inspection, and in this 
 King George II. was less wise 
 in his generation than was the 
 man in Greek fable, who, having 
 a house to sell, and wishing 
 bidders to form some adequate 
 idea of its commodious apart- 
 ments and all the conveniences 
 it offered, took a stone or 
 
 two of it to the market for in- 
 spection. In fact, the king and 
 the Duke of Cumberland had 
 set sail from Greenwich for the 
 Continent on the 3oth of April, 
 the day on which the second 
 detachment of the regiment 
 reached the neighbourhood of 
 London ; and being driven back 
 to Sheerness the same night, he 
 remained there wind - bound 
 until the ist of May, when he 
 again set sail, arriving next 
 evening at Helvoetsluys, whence 
 his Majesty proceeded on the 
 following morning to Hanover. 
 The Highlanders were not in any 
 of his thoughts, unless it might 
 happen to occur to him to 
 wonder at what rate they would 
 sell their lives when they arrived 
 in Flanders, as had been 
 planned before the regiment 
 was formed. 
 
 In the interval between their 
 arrival and the review, the men 
 had time to reflect on the king's 
 conduct. So had others, when 
 they learned the disappointment 
 of the corps, which, notwith- 
 standing Highland reserve, 
 would be freely spoken of; for 
 an indignant Highlandman is no 
 inscrutable Sphinx. His Eng- 
 lish may be bad, but he makes 
 his meaning good. 
 
 Besides, immense crowds of 
 people from London and all the 
 country round, flocked to see 
 the strangers, whose dress and 
 language were two new things, 
 each of them an object of 
 wonder. The favourable reports 
 which had flown on before them 
 of their appearance and be- 
 
102 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 haviour on the march, excited, 
 however, a great deal more 
 interest than either their dress 
 or their language, or both. 
 These were innocent reasons 
 for obtrusive curiosity. 
 
 But the state of the country, 
 two years before the Rebellion 
 of 1745, is not to be forgotten. 
 King George's throne was not 
 as stable as the Grampians at 
 the time ; and there were thou- 
 sands of men belonging to all 
 grades of society in London and 
 the region round about, as well 
 as over all England and Scot- 
 land, who grudged this accession 
 of strength to the hated House 
 of Hanover. Many, therefore, 
 who resorted to the quarters of 
 the Highlanders, had objects in 
 view other than the gratification 
 of a fussy curiosity. Insidious 
 and effectual whispers were 
 made into ears which had been 
 quickened considerably by the 
 king's departure. Malicious 
 falsehoods were not withheld 
 they never are in times of politi- 
 cal fever. The Highlanders 
 were told that it was an ill-con- 
 cealed fact that the Government 
 intended to transport them to 
 the American plantations. They 
 were to be kept for life in those 
 realms of the most degrading 
 banishment to penal servitude, 
 which has blotted by its re- 
 cords the bloody story of Eng- 
 lish criminal law. The pretext 
 for bringing them to London 
 was really too flimsy, as they 
 might easily perceive. To be 
 reviewed by the king and the 
 Prince of Wales, and his Ma- 
 
 jesty had embarked for Hanover 
 before they arrived ! He sailed 
 on the day of their arrival. In 
 fact, the real object and undis- 
 guisable intention of the order 
 for them to leave the Highlands 
 was to get so many faithful 
 Jacobites, who were known to 
 be disaffected to the House of 
 Hanover, and of a rebellious 
 spirit towards it, out of Great 
 Britain altogether. 
 
 The Highlanders began to 
 think they had been entrapped 
 into the snare so feasibly de- 
 scribed. The mere surmise of 
 their being the victims of such 
 a crafty and cowardly device, 
 caused the indignation which 
 is never slow to kindle in 
 a Highland man's breast to 
 burn dangerously. They were 
 strangers in a foreign land, at 
 home they were gentlemen; 
 and the feeling that the sacred 
 laws of hospitality had been 
 deliberately violated added to 
 their rage at treatment which, 
 real a- it was, they had difficulty 
 in believing that the representa- 
 tions of it made to them were 
 true. And when their confid- 
 ence is shaken, there is no race 
 so unreasoningly suspicious as 
 the Highlanders. This is only 
 the counterpart in their spirit to 
 the fact, that in those whom 
 they know they repose perfect 
 confidence; if they are their 
 superiors, it takes the form of 
 implicit, respectful obedience. 
 A stranger may obtain their 
 trust, but it is after he proves 
 that he merits it ; and if once it 
 is given, it is unreserved and 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 103 
 
 constant. Every officer had 
 occasion to observe, in such 
 transactions as the settlement 
 of accounts with his men, how 
 minute and strict, even punc- 
 tilious, they were in every little 
 matter; but after the matter 
 was arranged, there was no more 
 thought of scrutiny, his word or 
 nod was as good as his written 
 bond. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that the 
 men felt on this ill-omened 
 occasion, they behaved with 
 moderation and firmness, a fact 
 to be frequently observed when 
 men of an impulsive fiery dis- 
 position are placed in a pre- 
 dicament similar to that of the 
 Black Watch in this emergency. 
 They believed themselves to be 
 deceived and meanly betrayed, 
 but they proceeded to no im- 
 mediate measures of violence. 
 Their anxious thought was how 
 they could best get back to 
 their own mountains of freedom 
 and straightforward dealing. 
 They believed their officers to 
 have become like themselves 
 the dupes of a cruel deception 
 and to them they imputed none 
 of the blame. The incendiaries 
 who had aroused them to a 
 sense of their actual situation 
 favoured this view of the ques- 
 tion. They were hostile, not 
 to the gentlemen in command 
 of the regiment, but to the 
 government; and the spirit of 
 discontent and disaffection they 
 sought to stir up, was evoked 
 by accusing the Government of 
 a breach of faith. The means 
 they employed aiming at this 
 
 end were successful to an extent, 
 which the subsequent story of 
 the mutiny will tell. 
 
 It was not in the interest of 
 the enemies of the Government 
 to keep the affair a secret. It 
 was freely talked about. The 
 publications of the day, both 
 those which were opposed to 
 the House of Hanover and 
 those which advocated its cause, 
 discussed it without reserve. 
 Numerous pamphlets appeared, 
 in which the conduct of the 
 Government and of the High- 
 landers were canvassed as 
 candidly as restrictions on the 
 press at the time would permit. 
 One in particular is selected by 
 Colonel David Stewart in the 
 account of the affair which he 
 gives in his "Sketches of the 
 Highlanders of Scotland, with 
 Details of the Military Service 
 of the Highland Regiments," a 
 standard work on the subject, 
 as showing considerable know- 
 ledge of the affair, and con- 
 taining a fair statement of the 
 facts of the case. It appeared 
 immediately after the mutiny. 
 The author having alluded to 
 the purpose for which these 
 independent companies had 
 been at first embodied, and 
 having described their figure 
 and dress, and the effect pro- 
 duced in England by the novelty 
 of both, proceeds thus to state 
 the cause and circumstances of 
 the mutiny : 
 
 " From their first formation 
 they had always considered them- 
 selves as destined to serve ex- 
 clusively in Scotland, or rather 
 
104 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 in the Highlands ;* and a special 
 compact was made, allowing the 
 men to retain their ancient 
 national garb. From their ori- 
 gin and local attachments they 
 seemed destined for this special 
 service. Besides, in the disci- 
 pline to which they were at first 
 subjected under their natural 
 chiefs and superiors, there was 
 much affinity with their ancient 
 usages. So that their service 
 
 * A remark made by Major Grose 
 in his "Military Antiquities," maybe 
 quoted here as confirming this state- 
 ment of the anonymous pamphleteer. 
 Treating of the formation of the High- 
 land Regiment, and subsequent en- 
 listment and desertion, while detailing 
 the previous circumstances which led 
 to it, he observes: "Among other 
 inducements to enlist, thus improperly 
 held forth, it is said the men were 
 assured they should not go out of their 
 own country. Under the faith of this 
 promise, many respectable farmers' 
 and tacksmen's sons entered them- 
 selves as privates in the corps who 
 would not otherwise have thought of 
 enlisting." After narrating various 
 circumstances of the mutiny, the Major 
 concludes : "This transaction shows 
 the danger and even cruelty of making 
 promises to recruits, under anything 
 less than the greatest certainty that 
 they will be faithfully observed ; the 
 contrary has more than once produced 
 the most dangerous mutinies, and that 
 even among the Highland regiments, 
 whose education tends to make them 
 more regular and subordinate than 
 either the English or Irish ; and if 
 the causes of almost every mutiny that 
 has happened were diligently and dis- 
 passionately inquired into and weighed, 
 it will be found that nine-tenths out of 
 ten of the soldiers, however wrong and 
 unjustifiable in that mode of seeking 
 redress, have had great reason of com- 
 plaint, generally of some breach of 
 positive promise made them at enlist- 
 ing." 
 
 seemed merely that of a clan 
 sanctioned by legal authority. 
 These and other considerations 
 sanctioned them in the belief 
 that their duty was of a defined 
 and specific nature, and that 
 they were never to be amalga- 
 mated with the regular dispos- 
 able force of the country. As 
 they were deeply impressed with 
 this belief, it was quite natural 
 that they should regard with 
 great jealousy and distrust any 
 indication of a wish to change 
 the system. Accordingly, when 
 the design of marching them in- 
 to England was first intimated 
 to their officers, the men were 
 not shy in protesting against 
 this unexpected measure. By 
 conciliating language, however, 
 they were prevailed upon to 
 commence and continue their 
 march without reluctance. It 
 was even rumoured in some 
 foreign gazettes, that they had 
 mutinied on the borders, killed 
 many of their officers, carried 
 off their colours, and returned 
 to their native mountains. This 
 account, though glaringly false, 
 was repeated from time to time 
 in those journals, and was neither 
 noticed nor contradicted in those 
 of England, though such an 
 occasion ought not to have 
 been neglected for giving a can- 
 did and full explanation to the 
 Highlanders, which might have 
 prevented much subsequent dis- 
 quietude. 
 
 "On their march through 
 the northern counties of Eng- 
 land, they were everywhere re- 
 ceived with hospitality. They 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 105 
 
 appeared in the highest spirits, 
 and it was imagined that their 
 attachment to home was so 
 much abated that they would 
 feel no reluctance to the change. 
 As they approached the metro- 
 polis, however, and were ex- 
 posed to the taunts of the true- 
 bred English clowns, they be- 
 came more gloomy and sullen. 
 Animated even to the lowest 
 private with the feelings of 
 gentlemen, they could ill brook 
 the rudeness of boors, nor could 
 they patiently submit to affronts 
 in a country to which they had 
 been called by invitation of their 
 sovereign. 
 
 " A still deeper cause of dis- 
 content preyed upon their minds. 
 A rumour had reached them on 
 their march, that they were to 
 be embarked for the plantations. 
 The fate of the marines, the 
 invalids, and other regiments 
 which had been sent to these 
 colonies, seemed to mark out 
 this service as at once the most 
 perilous and the most degrading 
 to which British soldiers could 
 be exposed, with no enemy to 
 encounter worthy of their cour- 
 age. There was another con- 
 sideration which made it peculi- 
 arly odious to the Highlanders. 
 By the Act of Parliament of the 
 eleventh of George I., transporta- 
 tion to the colonies was de- 
 nounced against the Highland 
 rebels, etc., as the greatest 
 punishment that could be in- 
 flicted upon them except death ; 
 and when they heard that they 
 were to be sent there, the galling 
 suspicion naturally arose in their 
 
 minds, that 'after being used 
 as rods to scourge their own 
 countrymen, they were to be 
 thrown into the fire/ These 
 apprehensions they kept secret 
 even from their own officers; 
 and the care with which they 
 dissembled them is the best 
 evidence of the deep impres- 
 sion which they had made. 
 Amidst all their jealousies and 
 fears, however, they looked for- 
 ward with considerable expecta- 
 tion to the review, when they 
 were to come under the im- 
 mediate observation of his 
 Majesty, or some of the royal 
 family. On the i4th of May 
 they were reviewed by Marshal 
 Wade, and many persons of 
 distinction, who were highly 
 delighted with the promptitude 
 and alacrity with which they 
 went through their military ex- 
 ercises, and gave a very favour- 
 able report of them, where it 
 was likely to operate most to 
 their advantage. 
 
 "From that moment, how- 
 ever, all their thoughts were 
 bent on the means of returning 
 to their own country, and on 
 this wild and romantic march 
 they accordingly set out a few 
 days after. Under pretence of 
 preparing for the review, they 
 had been enabled to provide 
 themselves unsuspectedly with 
 some necessary articles, and, 
 confiding in their capabilities of 
 enduring privations and fatigue, 
 they imagined that they should 
 have great advantages ever any 
 troops that might be sent in 
 pursuit of them. It was on the 
 
106 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 night between Tuesday and 
 Wednesday after the review, 
 that they assembled on a com- 
 mon near Highgate, and com- 
 menced their march to the 
 north. They kept as nearly as 
 possible between the two great 
 roads, passing from wood to 
 wood in such a manner that it 
 was not well known which way 
 theymoved. Orders were issued 
 by the Lords-Justices to the 
 commanding officers of the 
 forces stationed in the counties 
 between them and Scotland, 
 and an advertisement was pub- 
 lished by the Secretary at War, 
 exhorting the civil officers to 
 be vigilant in their endeavours 
 to discover their route. It was 
 not, however, till about eight 
 o'clock in the evening of Thurs- 
 day i Qth May, that any certain 
 intelligence of them was obtain- 
 ed, and they had then proceeded 
 as far as Northampton, and were 
 supposed to be shaping their 
 course towards Nottinghamshire. 
 General Blakeney, who com- 
 manded at Northampton, im- 
 mediately despatched Captain 
 Ball of General Wade's regi- 
 ment of horse, an officer well 
 acquainted with that part of the 
 country, to search after them. 
 They had now entered Lady 
 Wood, between Brig Stock and 
 Dean Thorpe, about four miles 
 from Oundle, when they were 
 discovered. Captain Ball was 
 joined in the evening by the 
 general himself, and about nine 
 all the troops were drawn up in 
 order near the wood where the 
 Highlanders lay. Seeing them- 
 
 selves in this situation, and un- 
 willing to aggravate their offence 
 by the crime of shedding the 
 blood of his Majesty's troops, 
 they sent one of their guides to 
 inform the general that he might, 
 without fear, send an officer to 
 treat of the terms on which they 
 should be expected to surrender. 
 Captain Ball was accordingly 
 delegated, and, on coming to a 
 conference, the captain demand- 
 ed that they should instantly 
 lay down their arms, and sur- 
 render as prisoners at discretion. 
 This they positively refused, de- 
 claring that they would rather 
 be cut to pieces than submit, 
 unless the general would send 
 them a written promise signed 
 by his own hand, that their arms 
 should not be taken from them, 
 and that they should have a free 
 pardon. Upon this the captain 
 delivered the conditions pro- 
 posed by General Blakeney, 
 viz., that if they would peace- 
 ably lay down their arms and 
 surrender themselves prisoners, 
 the most favourable report 
 should be made of them to the 
 Lords-Justices. When they 
 again protested that they would 
 be cut in pieces rather than sur- 
 render, except on the condition 
 of retaining their arms, and re- 
 ceiving at free pardon, 'Hither- 
 to,' exclaimed the captain, 'I 
 have been your friend, and am 
 still anxious to do all I can to 
 save you ; but, if you continue 
 obstinate an hour longer, sur- 
 rounded as you are by the 
 king's forces, not a man of you 
 shall be left alive; and, for my 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 107 
 
 own part, I assure you that I 
 shall give quarter to none.' 
 
 " The captain then demanded 
 that two of their number should 
 be ordered to conduct him out 
 of the wood. Two brothers 
 were accordingly ordered to 
 accompany him. Finding that 
 they were inclined to submit, 
 he promised them both a free 
 pardon, and taking one of them 
 along with him, he sent back 
 the other to endeavour by 
 every means to overcome the 
 obstinacy of the rest. He soon 
 returned with thirteen more. 
 Having marched these to a 
 short distance from the wood, 
 the captain again sent one of 
 them back to his comrades to 
 inform them how many had 
 submitted, and in a short time 
 seventeen more followed the 
 example. These were all march- 
 ed away with their arms (the 
 powder being blown out of their 
 pans), and when they came 
 before the general they laid 
 down their arms. On returning 
 to the wood they found the 
 whole body disposed to submit 
 to the general's troops. 
 
 " While this was doing in the 
 country," says the intelligent 
 writer to whom we are indebted 
 for the foregoing facts, "there 
 was nothing but the flight of 
 the Highlanders talked of in 
 town. The wiser sort blamed 
 it, but some of their hot-headed 
 countrymen were for comparing 
 it to the retreat of the 10,000 
 Greeks through Persia; by 
 which, for the honour of the 
 ancient kingdom of Scotland, 
 
 Corporal M'Pherson was erect- 
 ed into a Xenophon. But, 
 amongst these idle dreams, the 
 most injurious were those that 
 reflected on their officers ; and, 
 by a strange kind of innuendo, 
 would have fixed the crime oi 
 these people's desertion upon 
 those who did their duty and 
 stayed here. 
 
 " As to the rest of the regi- 
 ment, they were ordered im- 
 mediately to Kent, whither they 
 marched very cheerfully, and 
 were from thence transported 
 to Flanders, and are by this time 
 with the army, where, I dare- 
 say, it will quickly appear they 
 were not afraid of fighting the 
 French. In King William's 
 war, there was a Highland regi- 
 ment that, to avoid going to 
 Flanders, had formed a design 
 of flying into the mountains. 
 This was discovered before they 
 could put it into execution -, 
 and General M'Kay, who then 
 commanded in Scotland, caused 
 them to be immediately sur- 
 rounded and disarmed, and 
 afterwards shipped them for 
 Holland. 
 
 "When they came to the 
 confederate army, they behaved 
 very briskly upon all occasions; 
 but, as pickthanks are never 
 wanting in courts, some wise 
 people were pleased to tell 
 King William that the High- 
 landers drank King James's 
 health, a report which was 
 probably very true. The king, 
 whose good sense taught him to 
 despise such dirty informations, 
 asked General Talmash, who 
 
108 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 was near him, how they behaved 
 in the field ? * As well as any 
 troops in the army,' answered 
 the general like a soldier and a 
 man of honour. * Why, then/ 
 replied the king, ' if they fight 
 for me, let them drink my 
 father's health as often as they 
 please/ On the road, and even 
 after they entered London, they 
 kept up their spirits, and march- 
 ed very cheerfully; nor did they 
 show any marks of terror when 
 they were brought into the 
 Tower." 
 
 Another pamphlet of the day, 
 while detailing a short examina- 
 tion of two of the deserters, 
 shows the feelings by which 
 they were influenced, their 
 suspicions of some attempt to 
 entrap them, and the horror they 
 felt of the country to which 
 they believed they were to be 
 sent, and to avoid which they 
 had set out on their daring 
 return towards the mountains of 
 their Highland home. 
 
 Private George Grant being 
 asked several questions, answer- 
 ed to them in order through 
 an interpreter. The answers 
 were these : 
 
 " I am neither Whig* nor 
 Papist, but I will serve the king 
 
 * The term "Whig" was not 
 applied by the Highlanders in a 
 political sense. It extended generally 
 to the neighbours on the plains ; and 
 especially to the Covenanters. Ac- 
 cording to Mrs Grant, in her "Supersti- 
 tions of the Highlanders," this term 
 "was by no means appropriated to 
 political differences. It might perhaps 
 mean, in a confined sense, the adher- 
 ents of King William, by far the 
 
 for all that. I am not afraid ; 
 I never saw the man I was 
 afraid of. 
 
 * I will not be cheated, noi 
 do anything by trick. 
 
 " I will not be transported to 
 the plantations, like a thief and 
 a rogue. 
 
 " They told me I was to be 
 sent out to work with black 
 slaves : that was not my bar- 
 gain, and I won't be cheated." 
 
 Could answers be more 
 manly? And what language 
 could more scathingly expose 
 the villainy of a Government 
 which would lay snares to entrap 
 brave men like this with what 
 they had not bargained for. The 
 more any one reads of mutinies 
 in the army and the navy in 
 these days of some degree of 
 respect for the rights of in- 
 dividual men, the more he is 
 amazed that there have been so 
 few such risings among the 
 heroes of the army and navy. 
 
 John Stewart, of Captain 
 Campbell's company, being inter- 
 rogated, answered thus : 
 
 " I did not desert ; I only 
 wanted to go back to my own 
 country, because they abused 
 
 greatest caitiff in Highland delin- 
 quency. But it meant more ; it was 
 used to designate a character made 
 up of negatives, who had neither ear 
 for music nor taste for poetry, no 
 pride of ancestry, no heart for attach- 
 ment, no soul for honour ; one who 
 merely studied comfort and conveni- 
 ency, and was more anxious for the 
 absence of positive evil, than the pre- 
 sence of relative good. A Whig, in 
 short, was all that Highlanders 
 cordially hated a cold, selfish, for- 
 mal character." 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 109 
 
 me, and said I was to be trans- 
 ported. 
 
 " I had no leader or com- 
 mander ; we had not one man 
 over the rest. 
 
 " We were all determined 
 not to be tricked. We will all 
 fight the French and Spaniards, 
 but will not go like rogues to 
 the plantations. 
 
 " I am not a Presbyterian. 
 
 " No ! nor a Catholic." 
 
 The Highlanders, who in 
 their miniature imitation of the 
 1 0,000 Greeks, were all animated 
 by the same spirit as George 
 Grant and John Stewart, were 
 marched back to London as 
 deserters, and treated and tried 
 accordingly. They were all 
 arraigned before a court-martial 
 on the 8th of June. After such 
 justice as courts of the iniquit- 
 ous nature which characterised 
 these refuges of military and 
 naval oppression and cruelty in 
 those days, they were all found 
 guilty, and sentenced to be 
 shot. Only three of them, how- 
 ever, were honoured with this 
 favourite death of a soldier. 
 The others were consigned to a 
 doom more degrading in the 
 eyes of their brave countrymen, 
 both then and now. Two 
 brothers, Corporals Malcolm 
 and Samuel M'Pherson, and 
 Farquhar Shaw, a private, were 
 ordered for execution, and shot 
 on Tower Hill. 
 
 The following account of this 
 untoward event appeared in St 
 James's Chronicle of June 20, 
 
 1743: 
 
 " On Monday the i2th, at six 
 
 o'clock in the morning, Samuel 
 and Malcolm M'Pherson, cor- 
 porals, and Farquhar Shaw, a 
 private man, three of the High- 
 land deserters, were shot upon 
 the * parade within the Tower, 
 pursuant to the sentence of the 
 court-martial. The rest of the 
 Highland prisoners were drawn 
 out to see the execution, and 
 joined in their prayers with 
 great earnestness. They be- 
 haved with perfect resolution 
 and propriety. Their bodies 
 were put into three coffins by 
 three of the prisoners, their 
 clansmen and namesakes, and 
 buried in one grave, near the 
 place of execution." 
 
 Near the place of execution ! 
 Far, far from those native glens 
 where they had loved and were 
 beloved, and farther from re- 
 sponsive sympathy ; surrounded 
 by strangers who did not under- 
 stand their speech, could not 
 read their looks, and had not 
 means of access to their thrilling 
 sense of the wrongs inflicted on 
 them. These brave men were 
 shot down like cowardly de- 
 serters, while their silent hearts 
 throbbed with such pulsations 
 of sorrow as only heroic souls 
 conceal. The rest would indeed 
 join with great earnestness in 
 their prayers, but dark must 
 have been the scared forbidden 
 scowl, deep the flood of grief, 
 and desperate the undertone ot 
 muttered vengeance whichruffled 
 the wings of those earnest pray- 
 ers. The Highlanders had been 
 entrapped by foxy betrayers, 
 and now three of their best 
 
110 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS, 
 
 were sacrificed to satisfy a 
 wolfish martial law. They were 
 slaughtered, as regal stags from 
 their distant, lonely mountains 
 have often been since, in a cruel 
 enclosure set up to suit the lazy 
 convenience of high-born sports- 
 men who feared the excitement 
 and danger of the hunt. In- 
 dignation at their fate is felt to 
 this day among their country- 
 men ; and official army books 
 put into regimental libraries 
 pass it glibly over. 
 
 As to the three victims, 
 martyrs, or murdered men 
 any of the three terms will 
 suit they had their memorial 
 in many hearts. They must 
 have been such as even men 
 can love. In the language of 
 Colonel Stewart : " There must 
 have been something more than 
 common in the case or character 
 of these unfortunate men, as 
 Lord John Murray, who was 
 afterwards colonel of the regi- 
 ment, had portraits of them 
 hung up in his dining-room." 
 But, semi-official writer as the 
 ardent colonel was, he adds : 
 "I have not at present the 
 means of ascertaining whether 
 this proceeded from an impres- 
 sion on his lordship's mind that 
 they had been victims to the 
 designs of others, and ignorantly 
 misled, rather than wilfully 
 culpable, or merely from a 
 desire of preserving the resem- 
 blances of men who were re- 
 markable for their size and 
 handsome figure." 
 
 Three paragraphs from the 
 Scots Magazine, in the volume 
 of 1743, tells what became of 
 the regiment, and of the rest of 
 the so-called deserters. The 
 first, dated May, is : " More 
 British troops gone to Flanders, 
 among them Lord Sempill's 
 Highland regiment." The se- 
 cond, dated September, is: "The 
 Highlanders in the Tower were 
 drawn out in parade on August 
 1 2th ; and were drafted off 
 to the Leeward Islands, Ja- 
 maica, New England, Georgia, 
 Gibraltar, and Port Mahon, 
 in order to be sent off by the 
 first ships that sailed for these 
 places." The third, also dated 
 September, is: "The High- 
 landers who were confined 
 in the Tower, were carried to 
 Graves end, in order to be 
 shipped thirty for Gibraltar; 
 twenty for Minorca; twenty for 
 the Leeward Islands ; twenty- 
 eight for Jamaica; and thirty- 
 eight for Georgia." Adding 
 the three who were shot, the 
 victims of Government treach- 
 ery, whose fate has been re- 
 corded, were in all ONE HUN- 
 DRED AND THIRTY-SIX. The 
 sufferings of the country in 1745 
 were in a large measure due to 
 this betrayal; the glory which 
 the 42d has achieved has 
 been due to the boldness and 
 bravery of men of like spirit 
 with the two brothers, Malcolm 
 and Samuel MTherson, and 
 their brother in death, Farquhar 
 Shaw. 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. Ill 
 
 MUTINY IN THE 720 REGIMENT, 
 SEAFORTH'S HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 (NOW THE 72D REGIMENT, DUKE OF ALBANY'S OWN HIGHLANDERS.) 
 
 September 1787. 
 
 THIS memorable, but too com- 
 mon occurrence in Highland 
 corps is still referred to through- 
 out Scotland as " The Affair of 
 the Macraes." It is, as every 
 mutiny in these regiments was, 
 an instance of bad faith with 
 the men on the part of the 
 Government of the time and its 
 agents. Fidelity cannot be 
 looked for from those who 
 believe that they have been 
 deceived, especially if Celtic 
 blood fires their veins. Dis- 
 honour attaches to every breach 
 of promise ; but no transaction 
 of the sort is so despicable 
 as that which plots a mean 
 treachery against loyal-hearted, 
 straightforward men, who devote 
 themselves to privations, suffer- 
 ings, and probable death in 
 circumstances of the direst 
 misery, which is only mocked 
 at by inglorious gaudiness, when 
 they sell their personal liberty 
 to become poor but honest 
 soldiers. 
 
 The raising of the regiment 
 in which this mutiny occurred 
 is interesting. The Earl of 
 Seaforth forfeited his estate and 
 title by engaging in the rebellion 
 of 1715. His grandson, Ken- 
 neth Mackenzie, repurchased 
 the estate from the Crown, and 
 was created an Irish peer under 
 the title, Viscount Fortrose; and 
 
 was, in the year 1771, restored 
 to the ancient title of the family. 
 In 1778 he made an offer to 
 George III. to organise a corps 
 on his estate, which had in 
 former times been able to raise 
 a thousand men under the ban- 
 ner of their chief. The offer 
 was accepted, and, in the month 
 of May, eleven hundred and 
 thirty clansmen assembled at 
 Elgin in obedience to the Earl 
 of Seaforth's proclamation. This 
 is a wonderful instance of the 
 undying loyalty of the High- 
 landers to the head of their 
 family. In poverty and exile 
 he was as much respected as he 
 was when in possession of rank 
 and fortune. In 1732 four 
 hundred of the attainted Lord 
 Seaforth's sept had marched to 
 Edinburgh to lodge a large sum 
 of money, a portion of their 
 rents, to be remitted to him in 
 France, 
 
 The men who assembled at 
 Elgin were principally raised 
 from among the Mackenzies. 
 Five hundred of them were 
 from the Earl's own estates; 
 about four hundred from among 
 the Mackenzies of Redcastle, 
 Applecross, Kilcoy, and Scot- 
 well r , while upwards of two 
 hundred were from the Low- 
 lands. The clan Macrae had 
 long been devoted adherents to 
 
112 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 the interests of the Seaforth 
 family, and their name occurred 
 so frequently in the corps, that 
 it was known as the Macrae 
 regiment. 
 
 After being reviewed at Elgin 
 in May, they marched to the 
 south, some direct to Edin- 
 burgh, and others temporarily 
 sent to Glasgow and other 
 towns in the west of Scotland, 
 before proceeding to the metro- 
 polis. 
 
 In the month of June the 
 regiment was inspected by 
 General Skene, and was em- 
 bodied as Seaforth's High- 
 landers, or the ySth of the line. 
 They were all found to be so 
 effective, that not a man of 
 them was rejected. After being 
 for some time quartered in 
 Edinburgh Castle, and in the 
 suburbs, orders came that they 
 were to hold themselves in 
 readiness to march at an hour's 
 notice, similar orders having 
 been sent to all the troops in 
 England and Scotland, the 
 reason being that the ministry 
 had been advised that the 
 French intended to invade 
 Britain at some place or other 
 not specified. 
 
 A few days later the regiment 
 was ordered to proceed to 
 Guernsey, with a view to relieve 
 the M'Leod Highlanders, who 
 had been told off for India, 
 should their services there be 
 required. At Guernsey the 7 8th 
 would be at hand for the fray 
 with the expected invaders. 
 For this they were quite pre- 
 pared. They would have met 
 
 such a foe with alacrity. It 
 was not fear of the French, 
 cowardliness, nor any want ol 
 loyalty which bred the disturb- 
 ance which preceded their em- 
 barkation. Their subsequent 
 conduct, and even the courage 
 they displayed in protecting 
 their own interests on the occa- 
 sion of their plucky mutiny, are 
 quite sufficient to dispel any 
 such surmises as these. 
 
 They were to have embarked 
 on board transport ships, sent 
 for the purpose to Leith Roads, 
 on Tuesday, September 22. 
 Several companies which had 
 been in the Castle since the end 
 of May, or the beginning of 
 June, prepared for embarkation 
 with the utmost cheerfulness. 
 But the soldiers who had been 
 quartered on the inhabitants of 
 Canongate and the Abbey had 
 been exposed to counsels and 
 other influences which had not 
 found free access to the strong- 
 hold at the top of Castle Hill. 
 It was by no means a time of 
 universal content with the 
 Government and its policy, 
 especially its warlike measures. 
 It was indeed an era of political 
 clubs, dangerous to the powers 
 that were. Richard Parker, it 
 will be. remembered, had been 
 trained in coteries like these, in 
 that very city, for the prominent 
 part he was to play as a mutineer 
 in the navy ten years later ; and 
 men of like spirit with him 
 might he not have been one of 
 them ? went vigorously to the 
 work of spreading discontent 
 and sedition among the access- 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 113 
 
 ible Highlanders whom they | 
 met on the streets, in their 
 lodgings, or over the tables of 
 the plentiful public-houses down- 
 stairs, or up the Closes. The 
 men were very accessible for 
 reasons other than these in- 
 cendiaries had to assign. A 
 difference had for some time 
 subsisted between their officers 
 and them. They alleged that 
 they had not been paid their 
 bounty-money, nor the arrears 
 of their pay, and that they had 
 been ill-used by the officers in 
 many ways. And it will seem 
 to most readers not improbable 
 that they had some good grounds 
 for these allegations, after they 
 read a haughty and impertinent 
 letter written by these officers 
 two or three days after, when a 
 compromise had been effected 
 by gentlemen, who seem, at 
 this distance of time, to have 
 been wiser than they. As it 
 was, however, the outside ad- 
 visers of the billeted soldiers 
 assured them that Lord Seaforth 
 had sold them to the East India 
 Company, and that they were 
 to be sent to the distant un- 
 healthy country, under that Com- 
 pany's control. They would 
 thus have to spend an inglorious 
 life, till an obscure death, in- 
 flicted by a deleterious climate, 
 or a despicable enemy, re- 
 lieved them, and would have 
 no chance of reaping the shin- 
 ing honours to be won in a 
 conflict with the French, almost 
 in sight, and certainly within 
 the hearing, of those they loved 
 and had left behind them in 
 
 their native Highland glens and 
 homes. 
 
 The mutinous spirit of the 
 malcontents first manifested 
 itself not far from the Castle. 
 The departure of the companies 
 quartered in barracks there had 
 been so timed that they were to 
 meet their comrades who had 
 been revelling in the rough and 
 disloyal hospitality of the Can- 
 ongate, at the North, or, as it 
 was termed at the time, New 
 Bridge. When they did meet, 
 a scene of confusion bewildered 
 the inhabitants and soldiers who 
 were not in the secret, and gave 
 scope to the mischievous pro- 
 pensities of those who were. 
 The populace, however, soon 
 took the popular view of such a 
 question, and cheered the parti- 
 sans of disobedience. Their 
 advisers hounded them on ; and 
 they refused to march unless all 
 their demands were complied 
 with there and then. They re- 
 pelled by force all the attempts 
 of their officers to restore order. 
 Obedience and discipline were 
 at a discount. The men were 
 encouraged in their mutinous 
 conduct by the inhabitants, who 
 insulted the officers, pelted them 
 with stones, and struck them 
 with their fists, or whatever they 
 had, or could lay hold of. 
 
 A portion of the men were, 
 however, got out of the disorder 
 after a time, and started for 
 Leith Links, where they met 
 the two companies from the 
 Abbey, who had marched thither 
 by the Easter Road ; and Lord 
 Seaforth and the officers did 
 
114 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 their best to allay the mutinous 
 spirit by assuring the men that 
 their demands would be com- 
 plied with as soon as possible. 
 
 They were reduced to some- 
 thing like order on Leith Links ; 
 but when they were commanded 
 to march to the Shore, another 
 scene of disobedience occurred 
 which created a most alarming 
 confusion. Distrust of the 
 nobleman at whose instance 
 they had enlisted was general 
 among the men, who felt also 
 they had little occasion to put 
 confidence in the other officers ; 
 and this time the greater portion 
 of the corps broke out into open 
 mutiny. Repeated entreaties, 
 and promises that every just de- 
 mand would be attended to and 
 satisfied, failed to exercise any 
 soothing influence. About five 
 hundred were prevailed upon to 
 go on board the transports, but 
 an equal number were deaf to 
 all assurances ; and, being re- 
 solute, as well as in possession 
 of powder and shot, they had 
 no fear of the results of any 
 attempt at compulsion. That 
 would have been foolish and 
 ineffectual, not to say neces- 
 sarily fraught with fatal conse- 
 quences. 
 
 The mutineers shouldered 
 their arms, and set off at a 
 quick march, with pipes playing, 
 and two plaids fixed on poles 
 for, not inappropriate, colours. 
 They retired to Arthur's Seat, a 
 selection of a place so well fitted 
 for self-defence, that it looks like 
 a preconcerted move. There 
 they took up a position which 
 
 enabled them to bid defiance 
 to all attempts at coercion ; and 
 were plentifully supplied with 
 provisions by the people of 
 Edinburgh and Leith, a great 
 many of whom were forward to 
 show sympathy with the muti- 
 neers. Ammunition also in 
 abundance was brought to them 
 by their sympathising friends ; 
 so that they felt themselves 
 pretty secure, and well able to 
 hold out till the authorities saw 
 fit to come to terms with them. 
 "The hill chosen for the 
 rebel camp," remarks a writer in 
 Chambers^ Journal for Janu- 
 ary 1866, "was very different 
 from the Arthur's Seat as it is 
 now seen. Until within a very 
 recent period, the level grounds 
 surrounding it were divided into 
 fields, many of the hollows were 
 marshy and impassable, and the 
 only roads were mere sheep- 
 tracks. On this height, a well 
 armed and provisioned force 
 might have held its own for 
 many months, in the then state 
 of the military art It is not a 
 little curious that the last time 
 Colonel M'Murdo reviewed the 
 Edinburgh Volunteers, he led 
 them through various move- 
 ments directed against the very 
 spot where the rebel Seaforths 
 had taken up their encamp- 
 ment. Had it been necessary 
 to reduce the mutineers by 
 force, the attacking body would 
 have had no splendid military 
 road such as the Queen's Drive 
 by which to approach the posi- 
 tion, and would have found that 
 in the marshy bog of Dunsappie, 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. ] 15 
 
 and the rugged heights sur- 
 rounding it, the rebels had 
 powerful auxiliaries, absent in 
 Colonel M'Murdo's mimic war." 
 
 Officers were appointed by 
 the men ; sentries were placed 
 round their camp in regular 
 form ; and thus they felt them- 
 selves secure. The hillside en- 
 campment looked as much like 
 the Highlands as was possible 
 in the circumstances ; and there 
 were men on it who knew the 
 tactics of Highland warfare. 
 With such reflections these 
 Highlanders were, for the short 
 period the mutiny lasted, cheer- 
 ful through the day, and slept 
 soundly at night. They were 
 visited in camp by persons of 
 all ranks and classes. 
 
 The authorities were not idle. 
 They seem to have taken in- 
 stant action when they saw the 
 meaning of the disorder which 
 took place at the North Bridge 
 on Tuesday. Troops were 
 ordered to the city. On Wed- 
 nesday a large body of the 
 Eleventh Regiment of Dragoons 
 arrived, two hundred of the 
 Buccleuch Fencibles, and four 
 hundred of the Glasgow Volun- 
 teers. On Thursday, Friday, 
 and Saturday, bodies of regular 
 troops from various corps came 
 marching into Edinburgh. 
 
 During this hill-encampment 
 one of the mutineers fell over 
 the rocks and was killed; an- 
 other was accidentally shot 
 through the thigh by one of his 
 comrades, and was carried to 
 the Royal Infirmary, which 
 building was then in the sub- 
 
 urbs ; but now, near the end of 
 its hospital days, it stands in a 
 busy part of the city which has 
 crept round it. 
 
 The authorities, both civil 
 and military, seem to have taken 
 a very lenient view of the con- 
 duct of these Macraes. This 
 is the most remarkable part of 
 the story, and it tends forcibly 
 to confirm the impression that 
 they knew the men had griev- 
 ances about their pay, at all 
 events, which it was right should 
 be adjusted. General Skene, 
 second in command in Scotland 
 at the time, visited the camp 
 the morning after the outbreak, 
 and behaved like a gentleman, 
 fully aware that the men were 
 not the only people who were 
 to blame. Earl Seaforth had 
 not completed his arrangements 
 with Government for the raising 
 of this regiment, it is well enough 
 known, without a good deal of 
 heart-burning on his part, and 
 penurious jealousy on the part 
 of the War Office authorities in 
 London. If the men had not 
 got their money, we may be 
 sure it had not reached their 
 officers. The pay-master would 
 have been only too proud to 
 have disbursed it. The authori- 
 ties in Edinburgh, both civil 
 and military, would know more 
 of the real state of matters than 
 they cared to put into words, 
 spoken or written ; their good 
 sense and feeling of justice 
 expressed themselves in lenient 
 conduct towards men who were 
 doing a venial wrong to rectify 
 a flagrant breach of faith. 
 
116 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 General Skene offered the 
 men that an inquiry should be 
 made into their alleged griev- 
 ances, and that oblivion of all 
 that had passed would be 
 secured, if only they would 
 consent to embark. The men 
 saw that this was giving up all 
 the advantage of their strong 
 position. They insisted on 
 having their money paid to 
 them at once; and they required 
 also that several officers named 
 by them should be dismissed. 
 A further demand they made 
 was, that security should be 
 given them that they would 
 not be sent to the East Indies. 
 On the same day, and on the 
 day following, that is, on Wed- 
 nesday and Thursday, the Duke 
 of Buccleuch, the Earl of Dun- 
 more, and Lord Macdonald, 
 and many of the nobility be- 
 sides, also of the gentry and 
 clergy, visited the camp of the 
 mutineers, and endeavoured to 
 recall them to a sense of military 
 duty ; or, if their sense of the 
 duty of securing their own rights 
 by holding Government to its 
 bargain with them was too 
 strong, to bring about some 
 solution of the difficulty. 
 
 On Thursday a report was 
 spread that the Highlanders 
 were threatening to march 
 through the city, and that the 
 troops would oppose them. 
 Here was to be bloodshed on 
 the High Street of Edinburgh, 
 as there had been in the olden 
 time. A proclamation was made 
 by tuck of drum by order of the 
 magistrates; and at noon ^ e 
 
 following printed paper was 
 posted in all the public places : 
 " Thursday, September 24th, 
 1778, all the inhabitants are to 
 retire to their own houses on 
 the first toll of the fire-bell." 
 Nothing, however, happened. 
 All remained perfectly quiet, 
 and the inhabitants had little 
 to fear. The Highlanders were 
 not the men to do hurt to friends, 
 and the people of Edinburgh 
 had befriended them by their 
 encouragement substantially ex- 
 pressed in supplies of provisions 
 and ammunition. 
 
 A compromise was, however, 
 happily effected on Friday 
 morning, the fourth day of the 
 mutiny, when the following 
 terms were accepted by the 
 men: 
 
 First, a general pardon foi 
 all past offences. 
 
 Second, that all arrears and 
 levy-money should be paid be- 
 fore embarkation. 
 
 Third, that they should not 
 be sent to the East Indies. 
 
 For supplementing the terms 
 agreed on, a bond was granted, 
 signed by the Duke of Buc- 
 cleuch, the Earl of Dunmore, 
 Sir Adolphus Oughton, K.B., 
 commander-in-chief, and Gene- 
 ral Skene. 
 
 About eleven o'clock in the 
 forenoon the men inarched 
 down the hill, headed by the 
 Earl of Dunmore, to St Ann's 
 Yards, where they were met 
 by General Skene, whom they 
 saluted with three cheers. They 
 then formed into a hollow 
 square, and had the articles 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 117 
 
 read to them by the general. 
 He made a short speech, in 
 which he exhorted the men to 
 be in good behaviour, and in- 
 formed them that a court of 
 inquiry would be held upon 
 their officers next morning, 
 composed of officers belonging 
 to other regiments, which every 
 man who thought himself 
 aggrieved might attend; and 
 he might be sure justice would 
 be done to him, as well as to all 
 concerned. The men were then 
 billeted in the suburbs till the 
 embarkation should take place. 
 This amicable settlement 
 did not give satisfaction to 
 some of the officers of the 
 corps, probably those who were 
 named by the men for dismissal. 
 In the evening of the day on 
 which the compromise took 
 place, a letter appeared in the 
 Edinburgh Advertiser, dated 
 " Lawson's Coffee-house, Leith, 
 Sept. 25," and signed, "The 
 officers of the 78th Regiment." 
 It read thus: "As we con- 
 ceive the terms granted this 
 day to the mutineers of the 78th 
 Regiment to be totally incon- 
 sistent with the discipline of the 
 regiment, and highly injurious 
 to our characters as officers, we 
 think ourselves bound to take 
 this first opportunity of publicly 
 declaring, that it was transacted 
 without our advice, and against 
 our opinion. We understand 
 Lord Dunmore was the principal 
 agent on this occasion j we 
 therefore think it necessary also 
 to declare, that he was never 
 desired to interfere by any 
 
 officer in the regiment, and, we 
 believe, acted without any 
 authority whatever." This is 
 the haughty and impertinent 
 letter already referred to. The 
 articles were signed by the 
 Duke of Buccleuch, Sir Adol- 
 phus Oughton, and General 
 Skene, as well as by the Earl of 
 Dunmore. General Skene read 
 the articles, and gave a pacific 
 address afterwards to the mutin- 
 eers who had been subdued 
 by reason. These " officers of 
 the 78th Regiment" would have 
 used stronger measures, pour 
 encourager les autres, as has 
 been remarked about the utility 
 of measures of the last dire 
 degree of extremity. Let us 
 hope all the "officers of the 
 78th Regiment" did not sign 
 this instructive document. It 
 reveals where a good many 
 faults lay, even if they were not 
 guilty of keeping back the 
 soldiers' money which it is not 
 easy to see how they could. It 
 was as well for them as well as 
 for the proud victims of their 
 many petty tyrannies that mat- 
 ters were managed without their 
 advice and against their opinion, 
 and that there was such a 
 gentleman at hand as the Earl 
 of Dunmore, " without being 
 desired to interfere by any 
 officer of the regiment/' and who 
 could accomplish such happy 
 results, acting " without any 
 authority whatever." Readers 
 in our days who wish to see a 
 little behind the curtain dropped 
 over the earlier treatment which 
 led the half of a regiment to 
 
118 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 rebel, have reason to be grateful 
 to these disciplinarian officers 
 for the letter they wrote from 
 " Lawson's Coffee-house." A 
 " Friend to the Public" writing 
 from Leith, criticises this letter 
 with taunting sharpness. Writ- 
 ing to the Edinburgh Evening 
 Courant he says, he feels him- 
 self called upon to applaud the 
 wisdom and prudence of the 
 reconciliation. The case was 
 desperate; and few cases could 
 be mentioned where so wide a 
 breach was cemented in so easy 
 a manner. He does not see 
 how reconciliation can hurt the 
 future discipline of the regiment, 
 " when sure it is there could be 
 no discipline had there been no 
 men, as would visibly have 
 been the case here, had 
 not a reconciliation taken 
 place." He asserts that the 
 men would have submitted to 
 the general in the first day of 
 the mutiny, but for evil reports 
 that one of Colonel Gordon's 
 officers had come up as a spy 
 to soothe them until they were 
 surrounded by dragoons. 
 
 When Lord Dunmore came 
 on Friday morning bearing the 
 articles of capitulation, it is said, 
 the men were engaged preparing 
 a petition to General Skene, 
 which forty of them were to 
 have presented to him. And 
 that, when the general addressed 
 them at St Ann's Yards, behind 
 Holyrood House, they with one 
 voice said they would die for 
 him, and serve the king in any 
 quarter of the globe, except the 
 East Indies. 
 
 In the Edinburgh papers of 
 Monday, Spetember 28th, ap- 
 peared an " Authentic Copy of 
 the Report made to Sir Jame? 
 Adolphus Oughton, command- 
 ing His Majesty's Forces in 
 North Britain, by the Court of 
 Enquiry held at the Canongate 
 Council-House 26th September 
 1778. The Court consisted of. 
 Colonel Scott, President; Lieut- 
 Colonel Dundas, Majors Lyon, 
 Stewart, and Whyte, members. 
 The Court having heard a num- 
 ber of witnesses, and also the evi- 
 dence of several others, which 
 being of similar nature, they were 
 not sworn, as they had no parti- 
 cular cause of complaint against 
 their respective officers. The 
 Court are unanimously of opin- 
 ion, that there is not the smallest 
 degree of foundation for com- 
 plaints against any officer in 
 the regiment in regard to their 
 pay and arrears. And it further 
 appears, that the cause of the 
 retiring to Arthur's Hill, was 
 from an idle and ill-founded 
 report, that the regiment was 
 sold to the East India Company, 
 and that the officers were to 
 leave them upon their being 
 embarked on board the trans- 
 ports. . 
 
 " (Signed) GEO. SCOTT, 
 
 Col. 83^ Regt. 
 "(Appvd.) JA. ADOL. OUGHTON." 
 
 This mild report was dictated 
 by the spirit which influenced 
 the leading men to leniency, 
 and the mutineers to compro- 
 mise. The officers are freed of 
 blame in regard to pay and 
 arrears only. The men origin- 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 119 
 
 ally complained of their having 
 been otherwise ill-used. The 
 letter of the officers proves 
 that they were quite capable 
 of ill-usage. But the affair was 
 pleasantly settled without their 
 advice, and against their opin- 
 ion, and for this they are the 
 only unthankful persons on 
 record; and this fact would 
 not be thus repeated, were it 
 not for a conviction in the 
 writer's mind, that those who 
 generally bear the punishments 
 from which the leaders of this 
 mutiny were mercifully saved, 
 were " more sinned against than 
 sinning a mild and trite way 
 of expressing a very significant 
 truth. 
 
 In Ruddiman's Weekly Mer- 
 cury appeared an effusion worthy 
 of a Highland chief, dated Leith, 
 October 4th, 1778, and signed 
 "Seaforth." The earl writes: "A 
 paragraph having appeared in 
 an Edinburgh newspaper, and 
 which has since been copied in 
 the London papers, informing 
 the public, that on the day of 
 the tumult at Leith, previous to 
 the first embarkation of the 
 corps under my command, I 
 had, upon my knees, begged my 
 life from the enraged soldiers, 
 I beg you will publish this to 
 let the world know that it is an 
 infamous falsehood ; nor would 
 the certainty of immediate death 
 have procured from me so 
 humiliating a concession. At 
 the same time I must add, that 
 I never had any apprehension 
 for my personal safety during the 
 whole time the mutiny lasted." 
 
 The wind-up of the affair is 
 thus given in the Appendix to 
 the volume of the Scots Magazine 
 for 1778, p. 726 : " On Tuesday 
 morning, September 29, the 
 remainder of the corps, with 
 the Earl of Seaforth and General 
 Skene at their head, marched 
 from the Abbey Close to Leith, 
 and went on board the trans- 
 ports with the greatest cordiality 
 and cheerfulness. General 
 Skene's prudence and good 
 conduct in this troublesome 
 business has, it is said, been 
 highly approved of at head- 
 quarters. No bloodshed, not- 
 withstanding a very threatening 
 appearance." 
 
 Thus ended happily a very 
 unhappy mutiny. The world is 
 ruled by very little wisdom, a 
 maxim which is well and forcibly 
 illustrated by the doings of the 
 rulers of Great Britain during 
 what may be called the era of 
 mutinies in the navy and army. 
 Of this era the general features 
 shall be summed up after the 
 stories have been told in detail , 
 but meantime all will remark 
 how disastrous might have been 
 the results of this "Affair of 
 the Macraes." It was a time 
 at which special efforts were 
 imperatively required to recruit 
 the army. Britain was in the 
 midst of a struggle for existence. 
 Europe was on the eve of 
 mighty revolutions. It was the 
 era of the French Revolution. 
 Recruits for the army must be 
 raised. The Highlands were a 
 new mine, of a very broad and 
 deep seam, to work for this 
 
120 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 wealth of the nation. But the 
 rulers in London were bunglers 
 at that kind of mining. They 
 did not know how to go the 
 right way about it. They 
 thought a plan, owned to be 
 wrong everywhere else, would 
 be right enough here. With 
 characteristic ignorance and its 
 concomitant conceit, they took 
 the Highlanders for gullible 
 savages. Never was a more 
 fatal mistake made, and the 
 British Government found that 
 out, both as they were resisted 
 and worsted in each of the 
 mutinous proceedings of the 
 Highland regiments, and as 
 they were served and saved by 
 the gallantry, endurance, and 
 high moral character of these 
 truth-loving sons of the moun- 
 tains. Had this threatening 
 mutiny put as strong a check 
 on recruiting as it might have 
 done, the story of the glory of 
 the British regiments might 
 have been duller, and more de- 
 pressing reading to the relatives 
 and descendants of those who 
 acted as if they wished the 
 settlement had been otherwise 
 the rule-bound "officers of the 
 78th Regiment" included. 
 
 To draw this short narrative 
 to a close, the intention which 
 the Government really enter- 
 tained, notwithstanding all at- 
 tempts to conceal it of send- 
 ing the Seaforth Highlanders to 
 India, having been postponed, 
 they landed at Guernsey and 
 Jersey in equal divisions, whence, 
 at the end of March, they were 
 removed to Portsmouth. On 
 
 May i, 1781, they embaiked 
 for India. Lord Seaforth died 
 before they reached St Helena, 
 to the great grief and dismay of 
 his followers for they still felt 
 that they were of the clan, and 
 he was their chief the poor 
 Highlanders who looked upon 
 him as their only protector. 
 On their account alone he had 
 determined to abandon the 
 comforts of a splendid fortune 
 and high social consideration, 
 to encounter the privations and 
 inconveniences of a long voyage, 
 and the dangers and fatigues of 
 military service in a tropical 
 climate. The inspiring spirit of 
 the coronach would lay its hand 
 heavily upon the soul of every 
 Highlandman on that wide 
 waste of waters, where their 
 chief lay dead. The loss of 
 him would associate with re- 
 collections of home, melancholy 
 thoughts of their absent kindred, 
 and gloomy forebodings of the 
 future. 
 
 And their immediate future 
 was gloomy enough. Before 
 they reached Madras on April 
 2, 1782, two hundred and thirty 
 of them had died of scurvy, and 
 of the eleven hundred who had 
 sailed from Portsmouth, only 
 three hundred and ninety men 
 were fit to carry arms when 
 they landed. Still the pressure 
 of the service did not admit of 
 delay, and those who could at 
 all be moved were marched up 
 country. Such was the kind 
 of service to begin with, for tae 
 privilege of entering which men 
 had to risk their lives in mutiny 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 121 
 
 before they received that bounty- 
 money and those arrears of pay, 
 which they fondly wished to 
 leave with their longing families, 
 bereaved by their enlistment of 
 means of support and the bright- 
 est cheer of the fireside. 
 
 This regiment became, in a 
 sense, the progenitor of the y2d. 
 In 1784, in consequence of the 
 peace, Seaforth's regiment hav- 
 ing been raised on the condition 
 of serving for three years, or 
 during the war, such of the men 
 as stood to this agreement were 
 allowed to return to England, 
 while those who preferred stay- 
 ing in the country received the 
 same bounty as the other volun- 
 teers. The number of men who 
 claimed their discharge reduced 
 the regiment to three hundred ; 
 but so many Highlanders from 
 other regiments, ordered home 
 on account of the peace, volun- 
 teered, that the strength of the 
 corps was immediately aug- 
 mented to eight hundred. In 
 1785 a detachment of recruits 
 from the north of Scotland 
 joined the regiment; and the 
 following year, its number was 
 changed to the 72d, in conse- 
 quence of the reduction of 
 senior regiments. In 1809 this 
 regiment lost the kilt. In 1823 
 it began to be called the " Duke 
 of Albany's Highlanders," after 
 the second title of the Duke of 
 York. But it is, as has just been 
 shown, the descendant by direct 
 succession of the 1 130 men who 
 assembled at Elgin in May 1778, 
 principally of the clan of " Caber 
 Fae," as the Mackenzies are 
 
 called, from the stag's horns 
 on the armorial bearings of 
 Seaforth. 
 
 In a mutinous incident which 
 occurred soon after this "Affair 
 of the wild Macraes," Edinburgh 
 was disturbed by another out- 
 break which took place among 
 the West Fencible Highlanders, 
 who had recently come from 
 Glasgow with sixty-five French 
 prisoners. It arose from some 
 innovations or alterations which 
 were proposed to be made in 
 their ancient Highland garb 
 particularly the cartouch-box, 
 which they alleged, " no High- 
 land regiment ever wore before." 
 By preconcerted arrangement, 
 the whole of the men, when 
 paraded on the Castle Hill, simul- 
 taneously tore them from their 
 shoulders, cast them on the 
 ground, and asserted loudly 
 that they would not wear them. 
 A few days after, the general 
 marched four companies to 
 Leith, where they were surround- 
 ed by the loth Light Dragoons, 
 and compelled, at the point of 
 the sword, to accept the 
 pouches, which were piled up 
 before them. By a court-mar- 
 tial held on Leith Links, several 
 of the leaders were tried and 
 scourged, after which the re- 
 mainder marched to Berwick. 
 
 Meanwhile the company on 
 guard in the Castle, hearing of 
 these proceedings, broke into 
 open revolt, lowered the port- 
 cullis, drew up the bridge, and 
 
122 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 loaded several pieces of cannon. 
 The city, Mr James Grant says, 
 in his Castle of Edinburgh, from 
 which this short account is 
 taken, was filled with consterna- 
 tion, and a strong cavalry 
 force took possession of the 
 Castle Hill. 
 
 The crisis was indeed danger- 
 ous, for the vaults of the castle 
 were full of French and Spanish 
 prisoners. A French squadron 
 was cruising off the coast, and 
 had captured two vessels at the 
 mouth of the Forth. Next day 
 the company capitulated, and 
 
 all laid down their arms save 
 one, who with his claymore, 
 madly assailed an officer of the 
 loth, who struck him down and 
 had him secured. The cavalry 
 occupied the castle until the 
 arrival of Lord Lennox's regi- 
 ment, when a court-martial was 
 held, which sentenced one High- 
 lander to be shot, and another 
 to receive a thousand lashes. 
 But both were forgiven on 
 condition of serving beyond the 
 seas in a corps of the line a 
 strange sort of conclusion in the 
 circumstances. 
 
 MUTINY IN THE OLD 76111 REGIMENT 
 (MACDONALD'S HIGHLANDERS). 
 March 1779. 
 
 THIS mutiny was so quietly 
 conducted and so honourably 
 concluded that it made little stir 
 in the newspapers of the time. 
 The Scots Magazine and the 
 Edinburgh Advertiser take no 
 notice of it. The Edinburgh 
 Evening Courant of Saturday 
 March 20, 1779, says : "A 
 report having spread that Gene- 
 ral Macdonnell's Highlanders, 
 who were embarked at Burnt- 
 island on Wednesday last, were 
 to go to the East Indies, with 
 Lord M'Leod's second battalion, 
 this circumstance gave a few of 
 them uneasiness, but on their 
 being assured that they were to 
 go to North America, the whole 
 
 embarked with great cheerful- 
 ness and loud huzzas. It is no 
 less true than remarkable, that 
 not a man has deserted from 
 this regiment since they received 
 orders at Aberdeen and Banff 
 to embark for America. Lord 
 Macdonald marched with them 
 from Perth, and assisted at the 
 embarkation ; and it is but jus- 
 tice to say, that the behaviour, 
 sobriety, and good conduct of 
 the regiment since they were 
 raised, reflects the highest hon- 
 our upon the officers and men." 
 This meagre reference to an 
 affair as honourable to the 
 Highlanders as it was a disgrace 
 to the Government of the time, 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 123 
 
 or its officials, is a misstatement 
 of the facts, as they are recorded 
 by Major-General David Stewart 
 in his "Sketches," a book on 
 which all subsequent writers 
 have relied as the standard 
 authority on the subject of 
 these " Historical Mutinies." 
 The reason for the mutiny, as 
 we learn from that writer, whose 
 statements, as he says in the 
 preface to his work, "are ground- 
 ed on authentic documents ; on 
 communications from people in 
 whose intelligence and- correct- 
 ness he places implicit confid- 
 ence; on his own personal 
 observation ; and on the mass 
 of general information, of great 
 credibility and consistency, pre- 
 served among the Highlanders of 
 last century," the reason for 
 this mutiny was the not unusual, 
 mean, huckstering about money, 
 in trying to cheat the Highland- 
 ers out of their pay. 
 
 As to the regiment, letters 
 of service were issued to Lord 
 Macdonald, in December 1779, 
 to raise a regiment in the High- 
 lands and Isles of Scotland, 
 allowing that nobleman the 
 same military rank as had been 
 conferred on the Earl of Sea- 
 forth, by whose influence, as 
 the readers of the mutiny just 
 recorded in this volume, so 
 many brave men had been 
 added to the military efficiency 
 of Great Britain. When such 
 influence could be swayed, it 
 was found convenient to pro- 
 mote the Highland gentleman 
 who possessed it to high rank 
 in the army, without demanding 
 
 that he should go through the 
 various gradations up to it. 
 Lord Macdonald, however, de- 
 clined this privilege of his rank, 
 and recommended Major John 
 Macdonnell of Lochgarry for 
 the colonelcy of the regiment, 
 who was, accordingly, appointed 
 lieutenant - colonel command- 
 ant. Lord Macdonald did not 
 relax his endeavours to give the 
 letters of service addressed to 
 him practical significancy. Al- 
 though he held no military rank, 
 he still exerted himself to com- 
 plete the regiment. His influ- 
 ence was as successful as it 
 was extensive. He made a 
 wise selection of officers from 
 among the Macdonalds of 
 Glencoe, Morar, Boisdale, and 
 others of his own clan, and also 
 from the families of Mackinnon, 
 Fraser of Culduthel, and Cam- 
 eron of Cullart, not to mention 
 others. Thus 750 Highlanders 
 were raised. A company was 
 raised, principally in Ireland, 
 by Captain Bruce. Other two, 
 amounting to nearly 200 men, 
 were gathered from the lowlands 
 of Scotland by Captains Cun- 
 ningham of Craigends, and Mont- 
 gomery Cunningham, aided by 
 Lieutenant Samuel Graham. 
 In this manner 1086 men were 
 raised, including non-commis- 
 sioned officers and drummers; 
 and each race was kept dis- 
 tinct. 
 
 General Skene reviewed the 
 regiment at Inverness in March 
 1778, and immediately after- 
 wards, it was marched to Fort 
 George, under the command of 
 
124 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Major Donaldson, where it 
 remained for twelve months. 
 
 The corps was removed to 
 Perth in March 1779, an d re- 
 viewed there again by General 
 Skene on the roth of that month. 
 Being complete in number, and 
 in an excellent state of discip- 
 line, they were marched to 
 Burntisland for embarkation, 
 and were quartered in that port 
 and the neighbouring town of 
 Kinghorn. There were unmis- 
 takable signs \)f uneasiness 
 among ""he men. The report of 
 the time was to the effect, as 
 the Edinburgh Evening Courant 
 has it, that they were destined 
 for the East Indies instead of 
 for North America. The East 
 Indies and the plantations of 
 America were two of the horrors 
 of a Highland regiment in those 
 old days, and for good reasons, 
 as the Seaforth men learnt to 
 their bitter cost in the former 
 country, and all men who were 
 sent were made to feel it in the 
 latter. But this was not the 
 cause of the ominous discontent 
 
 Soon after their arrival at 
 Burntisland, great numbers of 
 the Highlanders were observed 
 to group themselves in parties, 
 and engage in earnest conversa- 
 tion. Highlanders usually con- 
 verse earnestly, especially when 
 they feel they have a griev- 
 ance ; and the groups at Burnt- 
 island had a grievance, in rela- 
 tion to a subject for which the 
 Government they had sworn to 
 serve faithfully had worked out 
 for itself a bad reputation. The 
 men conversed to some wise 
 
 purpose. They conducted the 
 most peaceable mutiny ever 
 a wrong-headed Government 
 forced upon its valiant defiers. 
 And they did it thus. In the 
 evening of the third day after 
 their arrival at Burntisland, each 
 company gave in a written state- 
 ment, complaining of the non- 
 performance of promises, of 
 bounty-money not paid, and 
 other neglects of duty on the 
 part of the party in power, 
 which were only too common in 
 those days, as they would be at 
 all times, if their intended vic- 
 tims had not the pluck and the 
 power to frighten them. The 
 statement was accompanied 
 with a declaration, that till these 
 complaints were properly looked 
 into and settled, the men would 
 not embark. They requested, 
 also, that Lord Macdonald, 
 their trusted chief, as well as 
 the patron of the regiment into 
 which they had been formed, 
 should be sent to see justice 
 done to his clansmen. 
 
 Answer was as usual delayed. 
 It neither returned soon enough, 
 nor in the manner they expected 
 it would be sent; and the High- 
 landers took action in their own 
 stubborn and effective way. 
 
 They got themselves arrayed 
 in order, and marching in a 
 body, took possession of a hill 
 behind Burntisland, and there 
 they took up a position from 
 which it would have consider- 
 ably troubled any available force 
 to dislodge them. While con- 
 tinuing firm in their purpose 
 the mutineers abstained from 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 125 
 
 all violence. They, in their 
 law- defy ing position, abstained 
 also from all lawlessness. As, 
 for example, when several other 
 young soldiers wished to join 
 them in their rebellious camp, 
 possibly more for the fun of the 
 thing than any grievance they 
 could assign, the Highlanders 
 ordered them back to their 
 quarters, telling them they had 
 no cause of complaint, and 
 no claims to be adjusted ; that 
 they ought to do their duty, 
 obey their officers, and leave 
 Highlanders to answer for their 
 own conduct 
 
 They continued for some 
 days in their camp on the hill, 
 which gives its name to the 
 town jBrenty-land. the land 
 with the brent or high brow, as 
 John Anderson's " bonny brow 
 was brent" thus Bruntiland, spelt 
 Burntisland, a word compounded 
 of two well-known words, whose 
 combined meaning gets no ex- 
 planation from the neighbour- 
 hood. They sent parties regu- 
 larly down to the town for 
 provisions, and paid punctually 
 for what they received. It 
 happened fortunately that the 
 regiment was at the time com- 
 manded by Major Donaldson, 
 an officer of great experience, 
 and quite as firm in his manner 
 as he was conciliating. He was 
 himself a Highlander Donald- 
 son, a lowlandised form of Mac- \ 
 donald and had served nine- 
 teen years as adjutant and 
 captain of the Black Watch. 
 He had, therefore, a competent 
 knowledge of the habits and 
 
 peculiar character of his fellow- 
 countrymen. He ordered an 
 investigation of the complaints 
 of his men, and the grounds for 
 them. Aided by Lieutenant 
 David Barclay, the pay-master, 
 this inquiry was carefully con- 
 ducted, and every man's claim 
 was clearly made out It seems 
 to have been a mismanaged 
 business, when the men knew 
 this before their superiors, and 
 these only found it out after they 
 had been defied in a most daring 
 manner to look into the facts of 
 the case. 
 
 Lord Macdonald had been 
 sent for as requested ; and when 
 he arrived the statement of 
 claims was laid before him. 
 His lordship and Major Don- 
 aldson advanced the money, 
 and took on themselves the risk 
 of recovering it from those who 
 were responsible both for the 
 money, the neglect to pay if 
 not the intention not to pay it 
 and for the risk of ruin to 
 which they had heartlessly ex- 
 posed a body of brave and 
 honourable soldiers. 
 
 Colonel Stewart remarks with 
 pride : " It is a fact that ought 
 not to be overlooked, and which 
 I have from the best authority 
 (as, indeed, I have for all I 
 state), that when the individual 
 claims were sent to the Isle 
 of Skye, //, without exception, 
 were found to be just ; a circum- 
 stance which, no doubt, was 
 taken into consideration by those 
 who had to form a judgment of 
 this act of insubordination." 
 
 This was as formidable a 
 
126 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 mutiny as any on record, but 
 the issue of it was most gratify- 
 ing. Not a man was brought 
 to trial or even put in con- 
 finement. This detracts from 
 its melodramatic interest, and 
 renders its story less exciting 
 than it would have been had 
 innocent blood been freely shed, 
 and merciless executions after- 
 wards been falsely deemed to 
 atone for it. But its human 
 interest is of the deepest How 
 many of the disgraces and dire 
 catastrophes for which the 
 governments of the world 
 should stand pilloried to all the 
 ages, but which are blotted 
 over by the blood of the bravest, 
 would have been averted, had 
 truth met with mercy as in this 
 case it did ? 
 
 The regiment embarked at 
 Burntisland on the iyth of 
 March; and "before they sailed, 
 all the men of Skye and Uist 
 sent their money home to their 
 families and friends." 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Macdon- 
 nell having been taken prisoner 
 on his passage home from 
 America, and Major Donald- 
 son's health not allowing him 
 to embark, the command de- 
 
 volved on Major Lord Berri- 
 dale, who accompanied the 
 regiment to New York, where 
 it landed in August. In the 
 American war, they, when chance 
 came in their way, confirmed the 
 impression of pluck and bravery, 
 which their conduct as muti- 
 neers was fitted to make. It is 
 difficult to end this account of 
 their peculiarly auspicious mu- 
 tiny, without repeating the folio w- 
 ing anecdote, which illustrates 
 the fibre of men who had in 
 their own country to strike for 
 their pay at the risk of being 
 shot. On the occasion of the 
 first order they received to 
 go under fire, at the moment 
 Lord Cornwallis was giving the 
 word to charge, a Highland 
 soldier rushed forward and 
 placed himself in front of his 
 officer, Lieutenant Simon Mac- 
 donald of Morar. Lieutenant 
 Macdonald having asked him 
 what brought him there, the 
 soldier answered, "You know, 
 that when I engaged to be a 
 soldier, I promised to be faith- 
 ful to the king and to you; and 
 while I stand here, neither 
 bullet nor bayonet shall touch 
 you, except through my body " 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 127 
 
 MUTINY OF DETACHMENTS OF THE 420 
 AND 7 IST REGIMENTS 
 
 (ROYAL HIGHLAND AND ERASER'S HIGHLANDERS). 
 ,4*7/1779. 
 
 SOME account of the raising of 
 the Royal Highland Regiment, 
 the Black Watch, has been given 
 in relating the story of that 
 mutiny, in which they imitated 
 in miniature, according to some 
 of the fertile imaginations of the 
 time, the conduct of Xenophon's 
 10,000 Greeks, and showed a 
 spirit as worthy of immortal re- 
 nown as theirs. 
 
 Eraser's Highlanders were 
 named after the Honourable 
 Simon Fraser, son of that fine 
 old Lord Lovat, who was be- 
 headed on Tower Hill for the 
 part he took in the Rebellion of j 
 1745. The Honourable Simon 
 Fraser had himself been engaged 
 in the insurrection. But ten 
 years worked a wonderfully wise 
 revolution in the opinions and 
 sentiments of the most sagacious 
 advisers of the reigning House 
 of Hanover. Mr Pitt, after- 
 wards Lord Chatham, in the 
 exercise of a policy as patriotic 
 as it was prudent, applied a 
 remedy for the disease of disaf- 
 fection which raged among the 
 Highlanders in their mountain 
 homes. His sagacity had en- 
 abled him to diagnose skilfully 
 and successfully this great social 
 and political evil. He observed 
 that the secret of the attachment 
 
 of the Highlanders to the 
 descendants of their ancient 
 kings, lurked in the romantic 
 and chivalrous disposition of 
 those clans ; and that this kept 
 inspiring them with a sentiment 
 of mistaken loyalty, by constant 
 references to the sufferings and 
 misfortunes of the fallen line of 
 the Stuarts. 
 
 Mr Pitt, therefore, abandon- 
 ed the self-defeating illiberality 
 which alienated from the throne 
 he served so loyally, the affec- 
 tions of a valuable portion of 
 his fellow-subjects, and won over 
 to the persons of George II. and 
 his successors, the gratitude, and 
 as has been amply proved, the 
 incorruptible fidelity, of the 
 Highlanders. 
 
 With this in view, the great 
 minister, in the year 1757, re- 
 commended to his Majesty the 
 employment of them, as freely 
 as could be accomplished, in 
 the military service of Great 
 Britain. And a bold bid was 
 made in appointing the quon- 
 dam rebel, Simon Fraser, lieu- 
 tenant-colonel commandant of 
 a battalion, to be raised on the 
 forfeited estate of his family 
 which was at that time vested 
 in the Crown and on the other 
 estates of his kinsmen and clan. 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 The result proved the wisdom 
 of Mr Pitt's suggestion, and 
 brought out into striking relief 
 the disinterested fidelity of his 
 people to the disinherited young 
 Lovat He had neither estate 
 nor money. The only influence 
 he possessed was the faithful 
 attachment of his Highlandmen 
 to a family he had not disgraced 
 in their eyes. His person and 
 the name he bore were talismans 
 sufficient to gather in a few 
 weeks, around the standard he 
 raised, 800 men, all recruited 
 by himself. The gentlemen of 
 the country and the officers 
 appointed to the regiment added 
 700 more ; and a battalion of 
 1460 men was thus added to 
 the British army. 
 
 All accounts agree as to the 
 superior military character of 
 this body of men. The regi- 
 ment was quickly marched to 
 Creenock, where it embarked 
 to cross the Atlantic, and landed 
 at Halifax in 1757. It was 
 quartered alternately in Canada 
 and Nova Scotia till the conclu- 
 sion of the war, when, a number 
 of the officers and men express- 
 ing a desire to settle in North 
 America, all who made this 
 .choice were discharged and re- 
 ceived a grant of land. The 
 rest were sent home and dis- 
 banded in Scotland. 
 
 The success which attended 
 the crucial experiment suggested 
 by Mr Pitt, was acknowledged 
 by all by none more than the 
 king in whose reign the regi- 
 ment was embodied. 
 
 Colonel Fraser was, in the 
 
 year 1774, restored to his family 
 estate by a free grant of George 
 III. In 1775 he again received 
 letters of service for raising in 
 the Highlands a regiment of two 
 battalions. He was now in 
 possession of wealth and terri- 
 torial influence; but he relied, 
 for the effecting of his purpose, 
 as much on the respect and 
 attachment felt by his country- 
 men towards the family he 
 belonged to, and to his person, 
 as he had done eighteen years 
 before. He expected no diffi- 
 culty, and experienced none. 
 At his call, two battalions, 
 numbering 2340 Highlanders, 
 were marched to Stirling, and 
 thence to Glasgow, in 1776. 
 This formed the 7ist regiment; 
 and it shortly after sailed for 
 America from Greenock in a 
 large fleet, which took out also 
 the 42 d and other troops. They 
 disembarked in America in July 
 of the same year, and in the 
 battles and skirmishes in which 
 they were constantly employed, 
 they bore a cheerful part, theii 
 spirit and intrepidity were uni- 
 versally acknowledged. 
 
 Recruiting for the 7ist and 
 the 42d was vigorously carried 
 on at home. In the Highlands, 
 Frasers and others were eager 
 to join their kinsmen in the 
 exploits of a troublous time in 
 the Far West. Many of their 
 relations had settled in North 
 America at the conclusion of 
 that war after which the earlier 
 Fraser's Highlanders had been 
 disbanded. The military spirit 
 was inspired by the hardy sons 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 129 
 
 3f mountains as they breathed 
 their native breezes, emblems of 
 freedom. They longed to leave 
 their poor, though much loved, 
 hills and dales, and to go abroad, 
 where military glory or material 
 prosperity seemed so certainly 
 attainable. They arranged easily 
 with the recruiting agents, and 
 enlisted with gladness of heart. 
 
 It is proverbially a thorny, 
 crooked by-way, which leads 
 out of narrow beginnings into 
 the broad fields of boundless 
 enterprise. Ardent imaginations 
 get impatient, and impatience 
 procures experience of many 
 annoyances. There are also to 
 be encountered in these crooked 
 ways men who have no ardent 
 imaginations, and possess great 
 patfence to take advantage of 
 the victims of eager hearts who 
 are hurrying to labour forward. 
 Incalculable mischief often en- 
 sues from the enforced contact 
 of these two different classes, 
 who are always to be found in 
 every walk of life, as the follow- 
 ing story of a mutiny will illus- 
 trate. 
 
 On the 2oth of April 1779, 
 just about the time when their 
 regiments were doing wonders 
 at Brien Creek in America, a 
 party of about fifty Highlanders, 
 recruited for the 7ist and 420! 
 regiments, were marched to 
 Leith from Stirling Castle, for 
 the purpose of embarking to 
 join their then famous corps. 
 This was what the men under- 
 stood, and they looked forward 
 eagerly and joyfully to it. But a 
 report reached their ears which 
 
 appalled them, and drove them 
 into a mad and fatal mutiny. 
 It was rumoured that they 
 were to be drafted into the 
 Edinburgh, Hamilton, the Glas- 
 gow respectively the 8oth, the 
 82d, and the 83d regiments 
 or some other corps wearing the 
 lowland garb, and speaking the 
 English tongue. The men re- 
 monstrated, when they heard 
 this rumour so frightful to them, 
 and openly declared their firm 
 determination to serve in no 
 regiment but that in which they 
 had enlisted. They refused to 
 go on board the transports. 
 The following despatch, sent to 
 Edinburgh Castle, was delivered 
 on the same evening by a 
 dragoon : 
 
 " To Governor Wemyss of Edin- 
 burgh Castle, or the com- 
 manding officer of the South 
 Fencible Regiment. 
 " Headquarters, April 1779. 
 "Sir, The drafts of the 
 7ist regiment having refused to 
 embark, you will order 200 
 men of the South Fencibles to 
 march immediately to Leith, 
 seize those mutineers, and march 
 them prisoners to the Castle of 
 Edinburgh, to be detained there 
 until further orders. I am, etc., 
 "JA. ADOLPHUS OUGHTON." 
 
 A party of about 200 
 South Fencibles, under the 
 command of Major Sir James 
 Johnstone, three captains one 
 of them the unfortunate Captain 
 James Mansfield and six sub- 
 alterns, were sent to Leith. 
 The fencibles, on their arrival 
 i 
 
130 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 at Leith, found the Highlanders 
 drawn up, with bayonets 
 screwed, their backs to the 
 walls facing the quay. Sir James 
 Johnstone drew up his men 
 so as to prevent any of the 
 mutineers escaping; and, at- 
 tended by a sergeant who spoke 
 Gaelic, went up to them, stated 
 clearly the positive orders he 
 had received, and expostulated 
 with them on the folly of resis- 
 tance. The sergeant reasoned 
 with them too, and in their 
 own language. But he soon 
 turned to the major, and en- 
 treated him to retire, as he was 
 convinced the Highlanders 
 would fire. 
 
 Sir James Johnstone, upon 
 this, ordered the division on 
 the right to present, and after- 
 wards to recover arms. They 
 did so ; but meanwhile, a ser- 
 geant observed one of the High- 
 landers attempting to escape, 
 and seized him by the collar. 
 This sergeant immediately re- 
 ceived two wounds by a sword 
 or bayonet, another sergeant of 
 the fencibles was wounded by 
 a musket shot ; then several 
 shots were fired on both sides. 
 Captain James Mansfield, a 
 highly esteemed and very worthy 
 officer of the Fencibles, was 
 killed by one of the first shots. 
 It seems that Captain Mansfield 
 was in front, and after some 
 words, one of the Highlanders 
 pushed at him with his bayonet, 
 but missing his push, fired his 
 piece, and killed the ill-fated gen- 
 tleman on the spot. A corporal 
 who stood near shot the High- 
 
 landman ; and instantly a good 
 many shots were fired. About 
 fifteen Highlanders were killed, 
 and above twenty wounded; 
 and of the fencibles two privates 
 were killed, and one wounded. 
 The fencibles returned to the 
 castle with 25 prisoners, several 
 of whom were wounded. Nearly 
 thirty wounded were taken to 
 the Royal Infirmary. This 
 addition to the wards of that 
 institution rendered necessary 
 an urgent appeal to the public 
 for a large supply of old linen. 
 The response to this request 
 was so liberal on the part of the 
 inhabitants, that the managers 
 of the Infirmary acknowledged 
 it with gratitude in the news- 
 papers. 
 
 The question, where had the 
 Highlanders got the ammunition 
 they used on this occasion, was 
 considered very important, but 
 it was never satisfactorily an- 
 swered. It was said to be quite 
 well known, that they had re- 
 ceived no regular supply. At 
 all events, a Leith porter, known 
 as " Tinkler Tom/' and " a stout 
 man with one leg " a sorry 
 couple were taken up, and 
 accused of inciting the mutiny, 
 and of procuring ammunition 
 for the mutineers, while the 
 following proclamation was 
 issued : " From the investigation 
 before the sheriff, respecting the 
 unlucky affair that happened on 
 Tuesday afternoon at Leith, 
 there is great reason for think- 
 ing that the Highlanders were 
 not provided with ammunition 
 of any kind until they arrived 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 131 
 
 at Leith ; and, as there is just 
 cause for suspecting that they 
 have been supplied with am- 
 munition, either by the person 
 presently in custody, or some 
 others in Leith who have not 
 yet been discovered, a reward 
 of s sterling is hereby 
 offered to any one, the person 
 guilty excepted, who will dis- 
 close by whom any of the High- 
 landers were furnished, im- 
 properly, with ammunition on 
 Tuesday last The reward to 
 be paid by me, William Scot, 
 procurator-fiscal, upon convic- 
 tion of the offenders. 
 
 "WILLIAM SCOT." 
 
 On Thursday, May 6th, a 
 court-martial sat in Edinburgh 
 Castle, to try Charles William- 
 son, Archibald Maciver, and 
 Robert Budge, three of the 
 soldiers who had been made 
 prisoners at Leith on the 2oth 
 of April. The court was com- 
 posed of the following officers : 
 Lieutenant - Colonel Dundas, 
 President; Major John Camp- 
 bell, Captain James Campbell, 
 Captain Angus M'Alister, Lieu- 
 tenant William Morison, and 
 Lieutenant James Ferguson, 
 West Fencibles; Major James 
 Mercer and Captain Lord 
 Haddo, North Fencibles; Cap- 
 tain John William Romer and 
 Lieutenant Lord Napier, 3ist 
 Foot; Captain John Popple 
 and Lieutenant Peter Boisier, 
 nth Dragoons; Lieutenant 
 Alexander Trotter, 66th Foot. 
 
 The following is the charge 
 
 as it was read to the three muti- 
 neers : 
 
 " Charles Williamson and 
 Archibald Maciver, soldiers of 
 the 42 d Regiment of Foot, and 
 Robert Budge, soldier in the 
 yist Regiment of Foot, you, 
 and each of you, are charged 
 with having been guilty of 
 mutiny at Leith, upon Tuesday, 
 the 2oth of April last past, and 
 of having instigated and incited 
 others to be guilty of the same, 
 in which mutiny several of his 
 Majesty's subjects were killed 
 and others wounded. 
 
 "You are to stand trial on 
 the above charge, on Thursday, 
 6th May 1779. 
 
 "JAMES DUNDAS, J.A." 
 
 In behalf of the accused, the 
 following defences were lodged : 
 
 "The charge against the pri- 
 soners is, that they were guilty 
 of mutiny at Leith on Tuesday 
 the 2oth of April, and of insti- 
 gating and inciting others to be 
 guilty of that mutiny, in which 
 several of his Majesty's subjects 
 were killed and others wounded, 
 and they have pleaded Not 
 Guilty to the charge. The 
 prisoners, Archibald Maciver 
 and Charles Williamson en- 
 listed as soldiers in the 42d 
 Regiment, being an old High- 
 land regiment, wearing the 
 Highland dress. Their native 
 language was Erse (Gaelic), 
 the one being a native of the 
 northern part of Argyleshire, 
 and the other of the western 
 part of Inverness-shire, where 
 
132 MUTINIES 7,V HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 the language of the country is 
 Erse only. They have used 
 no other language, and are so 
 ignorant of the English tongue, 
 that they could not avail them- 
 selves of it for any purpose in 
 life. They have always been 
 accustomed to the Highland 
 habit, so far as never to have 
 worn breeches ; a thing so in- 
 convenient, and even so impos- 
 sible for a native Highlander to 
 do, that when the Highland dress 
 was prohibited by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, though the philibeg was 
 one of the forbidden parts of 
 the dress; yet it was found 
 necessary to connive at its use, 
 provided only it was made of a 
 stuff of one colour, and not of 
 tartan ; as is well known to all 
 acquainted with the Highlands, 
 particularly the more mountain- 
 ous parts of the country. These 
 circumstances made it necessary 
 for them to enlist and serve in 
 a Highland regiment only, as 
 they neither could have under- 
 stood the language, nor have 
 used their arms, or marched in 
 the dress of any other regiment. 
 " The prisoner Robert Budge 
 is a native of Caithness, where 
 his mother tongue likewise was 
 Erse, and that language was 
 commonly used by him ; for 
 though he had acquired so much 
 of the English tongue as to en- 
 able him to buy from or to sell 
 to one who spoke English, in 
 the common articles of com- 
 merce in the country; yet he 
 could not have made use of it 
 in the ordinary run of the occur- 
 rences of life. He, too, had 
 
 been accustomed to the phili- 
 beg; and found, that in any 
 other dress than the Highland 
 one, he could not have per- 
 formed the duties of a soldier ; 
 he therefore, likewise enlisted 
 in the yist Regiment, which is 
 a Highland corps. 
 
 " The prisoners, along with a 
 detachment, to the number of 
 between sixty and seventy, were 
 marched from Stirling on the 
 1 9th April last. They arrived 
 in the town of Leith, all the 
 three being on carts, so that 
 none of them were on the Links 
 on the 2oth of that month. 
 During March, they behaved 
 with that obedience which be- 
 longs to soldiers, nor have they 
 been accused of any riotous or 
 mutinous behaviour on the road. 
 When the rest of the detach- 
 ment arrived on Leith Links, 
 the prisoners understand, they 
 were informed, by their officer 
 Captain Innes, who had con- 
 ducted them, that they were 
 now to consider the officers of 
 the 83d or Glasgow Regiment 
 a regiment wearing the low- 
 land dress, and speaking the 
 English tongue as their offi- 
 cers ; but how this happened 
 they were not informed. No 
 order from the commander-in- 
 chief; to their being drafted was 
 read or explained to them ; but 
 they were told, they must im- 
 mediately march to the shore 
 and embark. 
 
 " A great number of the de- 
 tachment represented without 
 any disorder or mutinous be- 
 haviour, that they were alto- 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 133 
 
 gether unfit for service in any 
 other corps than a Highland 
 one; particularly, that they were 
 incapable of wearing breeches 
 as part of their dress. At the 
 same time, they declared their 
 willingness to be regularly trans- 
 ferred or drafted into any 
 other Highland regiment, or to 
 continue to serve in those regi- 
 ments into which they had been 
 originally enlisted. But no re- 
 gard was paid to these remon- 
 strances, which, if they had had 
 an opportunity, they would have 
 laid before the commander-in- 
 chief; but an order for immedi- 
 ate embarkation must prevent 
 this. The articles of war, which 
 are appointed to be read and 
 published once in every two 
 months, at the head of every 
 regiment, troop, or company 
 mustered, and to be daily ob- 
 served, and exactly obeyed by 
 all officers and soldiers in his 
 Majesty's service, cannot be 
 unknown to any soldier, and 
 must be attended to by them. 
 By the sixth section of these 
 articles, and article 3, it is de- 
 clared : ' That no- non-commis- 
 sioned officer or soldier shall 
 enlist himself in any other regi- 
 ment, troop, or company, with- 
 out a regular discharge from 
 the regiment, troop, or company 
 in which he last served, on the 
 penalty of being reputed a de- 
 serter, and suffering accordingly; 
 arid in case any officer shall 
 knowingly receive and entertain 
 such non-commissioned officer 
 or soldier, or shall not, after his 
 being deserter, immediately con- 
 
 fine him, and give notice there- 
 of to the corps in which he last 
 served, he, the said officer, so 
 offending, shall, by a court- 
 martial, be cashiered.' 
 
 "The detachment found them- 
 selves in a disagreeable situa- 
 tion. None of them were pos- 
 sessed of discharges, in terms of 
 this article of war, to enable 
 them voluntarily to enter into 
 another corps, other than the 
 one they had enlisted in. No 
 order from the commander-in- 
 chief had been read or explain- 
 ed to them, which could eithei 
 supersede the necessity or en- 
 title them to the benefit of such 
 discharge. Captain Innes was 
 no field-officer, and could not 
 grant them one; and the officers 
 of theGlasgow Regiment seemed, 
 in such circumstances, disabled 
 from assuming a military com 
 mand over them. The natural 
 idea that suggested itself to them 
 was, that they should insist on 
 serving still in the same regi- 
 ment in which they were en- 
 listed, and not go abroad as 
 part of the 83d Regiment, till 
 such time as these difficulties 
 were removed. They accord- 
 ingly drew up, under arms, on 
 the shore of Leith, each respec- 
 tive corps by itself; and the 
 prisoners, seeing them drawn 
 up, joined them, and were in- 
 formed of what had happened. 
 
 " The prisoners are informed 
 that the orders that were issued 
 to the detachment of the South- 
 ern Fencibles that came down 
 to Leith, were : To make them 
 prisoners, and conduct them all 
 
l'J4 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 to the castle. Had these orders 
 been explained to them, they 
 would have submitted, and, with 
 proper humility, have laid their 
 case before those that could 
 give them redress. But, unfor- 
 tunately, the sergeant who ex- 
 plained the orders to them in 
 Erse, represented to them as 
 if they were immediately to go 
 abroad as a part of the Glasgow 
 Regiment ; but which they do, 
 with great deference, say, they 
 did not, at the time, conceive 
 they could lawfully have done. 
 
 " None of the prisoners were 
 guilty of any actual violence. 
 No man received any hurt from 
 them. The prisoner Maciver 
 declared 'that he would not fire/ 
 when some among the mob 
 called out to them to do it. 
 The prisoner Williamson had 
 got drunk at Linlithgow, and 
 continued very much intoxicated 
 to the very end ; so that he was 
 not perfectly conscious of what 
 he was doing. And the prisoner 
 Budge behaved in a very in- 
 offensive manner, and surren- 
 dered himself quietly as a pri- 
 soner. None of all the three 
 had any ammunition, nor could 
 they have any previous inten- 
 tion to mutiny; the fact of their 
 being to be transferred to an- 
 other regiment having been in- 
 timated to them of a sudden, 
 so as to leave no room for 
 deliberation." 
 
 The evidence was taken on 
 Thursday and Friday. 
 
 The Scots Magazine says : 
 " Though in military events, 
 prisoners are not usually allowed 
 
 counsel ; yet in this case, by the 
 candour of the commander-in- 
 chief, a very eminent lawyer, 
 Mr Andrew Crosbie, was per- 
 mitted to appear on behalf of 
 these prisoners." This is no 
 other than the talented, eloquent, 
 and jovial gentleman, alleged 
 to have been the original in Sir 
 Walter Scott's mind of the inimi- 
 table " Pleydell " in " Guy Man- 
 nering." A portrait of him is to 
 be seen in the Parliament House 
 of Edinburgh, with the inscrip- 
 tion beneath: "Vice -Dean 
 Crosby, 1784-85. Bequeathed 
 by his widow." 
 
 Lieutenant Stillfax, of the 
 55th, deponed : That thirteen 
 men of the 42 d, and fifty-one of 
 the yist, in all sixty-four men, set 
 off from Stirling to Leith, where 
 they arrived on the 2oth of 
 April 1779, at eleven o'clock 
 before noon : That he got a 
 letter on the iQth of April from 
 (Captain Imrie, aid-de-camp to 
 General Skene, to march the 
 men to Leith ; and that this in 
 consequence of an order from 
 General Oughton ; but the place 
 of destination was not then 
 mentioned to the men : That 
 Captain Innes, of the 7151, 
 received the orders for incor- 
 porating them with the 83d 
 Regiment. The deponent, in 
 consequence of an order from 
 Captain Innes, marched the v 
 men to the Links of Leith, in 
 order to embark: That they 
 learned when they came to the 
 Links of Leith, that they were to 
 be embarked and incorporated 
 with the 8sd. This they learned 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 135 
 
 from Major Ramsay, one of the 
 officers of the Glasgow Regiment : 
 That he marched the men to 
 the town of Leith, in order to 
 embark them : That the men 
 seemed much concerned at 
 understanding that they were to 
 be turned over to the Glasgow 
 Regiment, as they were enlisted 
 for a Highland corps : That 
 they made no resistance till 
 they came to the shore, to 
 which they marched quietly, 
 being at first in order, but after- 
 wards became mutinous : That 
 five of the 42d, and two of the 
 yist Regiment, went on board ; 
 but the remainder fixed their 
 bayonets, and said, they neither 
 would embark nor be drafted: 
 That the townspeople afterwards 
 got amongst them, and gave 
 them liquor, and they turned 
 more mutinous than ever : That 
 he knows the prisoners were of 
 the mutineers; and that Mac- 
 iver, pretending to be sick, was 
 carried in a baggage-cart from 
 Stirling to Leith : That about 
 a quarter or half an hour before 
 the fencibles came down to 
 Leith, he saw Maciver upon the 
 right of the mutineers, with 
 his bayonet fixed; and when 
 they came down, he went from 
 man to man along the ranks; 
 witness did not hear what he 
 said; but, from his gesture, 
 supposed he was persuading the 
 men to refuse to embark ; and 
 seemed to be quite sober, and 
 very determined : That he also 
 observed Williamson, one of 
 the prisoners, who seemed to 
 be drunk and was very noisy : 
 
 That he cannot say any of the 
 prisoners fired : That William- 
 son and the whole of the men 
 had fixed their bayonets ; but 
 he did not know who fired first : 
 When they fixed their bayonets, 
 they refused to go on board, 
 and refused all obedience to 
 orders. Being interrogated for 
 the prisoners, this witness de- 
 clared, he saw Budge have his 
 bayonet fixed ; but observed 
 nothing else particular in his 
 conduct more than the rest : 
 That the greatest objection the 
 mutineers had to the 83d Regi- 
 ment, was the wearing of long 
 cloth and breeches ; and heard 
 some of them declare, they were 
 willing to go into any Highland 
 regiment, and all of them willing 
 to join their own respective 
 corps. 
 
 Captain Innes, of the yist, 
 deponed : That he marched the 
 men mentioned in the preceding 
 deposition from Stirling : That 
 they set off on the iQth, lay at 
 Linlithgow that night, and set 
 off next morning for Leith: 
 That the men's arms were exam- 
 ined before leaving Linlithgow, 
 and no powder or shot was 
 found upon them; and to the 
 best of his knowledge and belief, 
 at that time they had no ammu- 
 nition about them : That he 
 received a letter (now produced) 
 from General Oughton while at 
 Linlithgow, advising that the 
 men under his command were 
 to be incorporated into the 83d 
 Regiment; but did not then 
 communicate the same to the 
 men : That on the morning of 
 
136 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 April 2oth he went from Linlith- 
 gow to General Oughton for 
 orders, and the men were 
 marched to Leith Links where 
 the witness joined them : That 
 from people on the Links they 
 learned that they were to be 
 incorporated with the 83d Regi- 
 ment, at which they expressed 
 their displeasure; and Maciver 
 and Williamson swore, that they 
 would rather die on the spot 
 than be drafted into the 83d 
 Regiment; at the same time 
 they declared their willingness 
 to go into their own corps, or 
 to any other Highland regiment : 
 That when he marched the 
 Highlanders to Leith shore, 
 Maciver and Williamson insti- 
 gated the mutiny, by doing all 
 they could to prevail on the 
 7ist to join them in it, who to 
 appearance had no such inten- 
 tion ; and the witness believes, 
 had the men of the 71 st Regiment 
 come by themselves, they would 
 have been prevailed upon to em- 
 bark : That two of the 7 ist and 
 five of the 426. Regiment did go 
 on board ; and the rest refused, 
 and fixed their bayonets; on 
 which the witness went to Gene- 
 ral Oughton, and acquainted 
 him with whathadhappened. He 
 was absent about an hour : That 
 General Oughton despatched 
 Captain Imrie to the Castle of 
 Edinburgh for a detachment of 
 200 of the South Fencibles : 
 That, upon his return to Leith, 
 he found the men in a single 
 rank, with their backs to the 
 wall : That the witness exhort- 
 ed and admonished them to go 
 
 on board; told them that the 
 fencibles were coming down; 
 and if they persisted in their 
 disobedience, the consequence 
 was they would be shot : That 
 at this time he found many of 
 the men in liquor, and they 
 declared they were under no 
 apprehension from the fencibles, 
 and that they would stand upon 
 their defence : That in about 
 an hour after the witness return- 
 ed from General Oughton, the 
 fencibles arrived at Leith : 
 That Captain Innes employed 
 that interval in endeavouring 
 all he could to bring the men 
 to a sense of their duty ; but to 
 no purpose, they being extreme- 
 ly insolent to him ; and one 
 Muir made a push at the witness 
 with his bayonet: That upon 
 the appearance of the fencibles, 
 he again spoke to them, and 
 told them that, if they con- 
 tinued refractory, they would be 
 shot, to which they answered, 
 they would rather be shot than 
 be drafted into the Glasgow 
 Regiment. The witness did not 
 know from whom the first fire 
 came : That, upon his retiring, 
 he heard a shot from the right 
 of the line, and he thought it 
 came from the wall : That the 
 fencible arrived about an hour 
 before the witness left the muti 
 neers : That, during the period, 
 the witness, and the other 
 officers of the mutineers, with 
 some of the officers of the 
 fencibles, were employed to 
 pacify the mutineers, and in- 
 duce them to comply with the 
 order for embarkation; but to 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 137 
 
 no purpose : That Maciver 
 and Williamson appeared to be 
 the most active of those of the 
 42d Regiment, and extremely 
 enraged. 
 
 James Dempster, jeweller in 
 Edinburgh, deponed : That, 
 looking out at a window, on 
 Leith shore, immediately above 
 the third man on the left of the 
 Highlanders, he heard a shot 
 from the north; but whether 
 from the fencibles or the High- 
 landers he did not know : That 
 this was followed in about a 
 minute by another shot from a 
 Highlander on the left, by which 
 Captain Mansfield fell, upon 
 which a corporal, who was along 
 with Captain Mansfield, fired, 
 and killed that Highlander. 
 
 James Dun, stabler in Edin- 
 burgh, deponed : That, looking 
 out at a window opposite to 
 the river, he saw a shot coming 
 from the right of the High- 
 landers : That, a little after, he 
 saw Captain Mansfield step up 
 to one of the Highlanders, and 
 lay his hand on his shoulder, 
 as' if to expostulate with him ; 
 and that he and another High- 
 lander on his right stepped 
 back, and made a push at 
 Captain Mansfield with bay- 
 onets ; upon which Captain 
 Mansfield retreated; and im- 
 mediately either the third or 
 fourth man from the left of the 
 Highlanders fired a shot ; upon 
 which Captain Mansfield fell. 
 He observed no fire from the 
 fencibles before Captain Mans- 
 field fell 
 
 Sergeant W. Ralston, of the 
 
 yist, deponed: That when the 
 Highlanders were told they 
 were to embark, and to be 
 drafted into the 83d, they 
 declared their reluctance, by 
 saying they would not be put 
 into breeches. On being asked 
 from whence, and when, he 
 heard the first shot, he replied, 
 that it appeared to him to have 
 been from the left of the High- 
 landers, or the right of the 
 fencibles, which of them he 
 did not know, that it was not 
 a single shot, but a running 
 fire. 
 
 Sergeant Ross, of the South 
 Fencibles, deponed : That he 
 was at Leith upon the 2oth of 
 April last, during the mutiny; 
 where he saw two of the pris- 
 oners, Williamson and Maciver, 
 Williamson very actively prompt- 
 ing the mutiny : That William- 
 son was much in liquor : That 
 the deponent, by the order of 
 Sir James Johnston, went up to 
 expostulate with the mutineers 
 in the Erse language ; and that 
 when he was going on that 
 errand, Williamson desired him 
 not to come forward, and pushed 
 his bayonet again and again at 
 the deponent. Some time after 
 that, the deponent heard a shot 
 from the right of the High- 
 landers : That two of the ser- 
 geants of the South Fencibles 
 came up, and laid hold of 
 Maciver, who struggled with 
 them in order to get rid of 
 them, when a shot came from 
 some of Maciver's party upon 
 his left, which wounded the 
 deponent : That, before this 
 
138 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 happened, the deponent was 
 telling the mutineers, so far as 
 they could hear, that, by orders 
 of Sir James Johnston, the fenc- 
 ibles were provided in ammuni- 
 tion, and their guns all loaded : 
 That they had better desist, be- 
 cause they would be forced to 
 embark. They answered, that 
 they would die before they 
 would wear breeches ; and told 
 the deponent, that they were 
 provided with ammunition. 
 Being interrogated for the pris- 
 oners, at what distance from 
 the two prisoners the firing 
 began, he thought about twenty 
 yards from their left : That 
 about two or three minutes 
 before the firing began, a High- 
 lander from amongst the mob 
 called to the Highlanders, 
 "Why don't you fire?" to 
 which Maciver answered, he 
 would not be the first that 
 would fire. 
 
 James Home, soldier in the 
 South Fencibles, deponed : 
 That he was along with Cap- 
 tain Mansfield when the High- 
 landers began to fire from their 
 right. This witness heard them 
 say before that they could prime, 
 load, and fire as fast as the 
 fencibles could do. He said 
 that Captain Mansfield was 
 speaking with the Highlanders, 
 endeavouring to pacify them, 
 and quell the mutiny, when the 
 Highlanders charged their bay- 
 onets, and pushed at him. 
 When he was retreating to the 
 division which he commanded, 
 a Highlander fired upon him, 
 and shot him. 
 
 Corporal G. Little, of the 
 South Fencibles, deponed : 
 That he examined several of the 
 Highlanders' muskets, which 
 he found loaded, and likewise 
 a cartridge-box with shot, but 
 could not ascertain whether it 
 belonged to the Highlanders or 
 to the fencibles. 
 
 Robert Mudie, ship-master in 
 Leith, deponed : That he was 
 on the top of the pier, on the 
 left of the fencibles, opposite 
 the right of the Highlanders, 
 whom he saw standing with 
 their bayonets charged, from 
 which he retired farther to the 
 right of the fencibles, fearing 
 danger of a shot from the High- 
 landers : That he saw a shot 
 from the right of the High- 
 landers, which was the first shot 
 that was fired, and afterwards 
 another from the left of their 
 centre. Before the second shot 
 was fired from the left of the 
 Highlanders' centre, he ob- 
 served Captain Mansfield, who 
 was upon the right of the 
 fencibles, protecting with his 
 sword one of his soldiers, who 
 was attacked by the High- 
 landers ; and, upon a shot 
 being fired, the mob called 
 out that Captain Mansfield was 
 killed; and the witness re- 
 treated. 
 
 Captain Rutherford, of the 
 South Fencibles, deponed : 
 That he heard a shot come 
 from the Highlanders, and 
 jumping into his place, ob- 
 served a corporal on the 
 right of the division mortally 
 wounded. 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 139 
 
 The question, whether he 
 heard an order or paper read 
 or explained to the Highlanders 
 on the Links of Leith, relative 
 to their being embarked, or 
 drafted into the 83d Regi- 
 ment, was put to Sergeant Ral- 
 ston and Corporal Buchanan, 
 both of the 7 ist ; and they both 
 answered in the negative. Cap- 
 tain Innes, also of the 7 ist, 
 being interrogated, if, on the 
 links of Leith, he read or ex- 
 plained to them such a paper or 
 order, declared he did not, as 
 he thought it would have been 
 improper. 
 
 Sergeant Ralston, being inter- 
 rogated whether the Highlanders 
 complain of the usage, answered, 
 that after they came to the pier 
 of Leith, Hugh Muir, of the 
 7ist, amongst others, said, that 
 if an offer had been made to 
 them of a voluntary draft 
 into the 83d in the manner that 
 the 3tst Regiment's men were 
 drafted, he would have been 
 among the first that would have 
 offered himself; but that they 
 were going to boat them like 
 a parcel of sheep ; and, since 
 that was the case, he would 
 stand out to the last. 
 
 Sergeant A. Ross, of the 
 South Fencibles, being inter- 
 rogated what message he deliv- 
 ered to the Highlanders from 
 Sir James Johnston in the Erse 
 language, declared, that Sir 
 James ordered him to go to 
 the Highlanders, and use every 
 gentle method of persuasion to 
 pacify them, and get them to 
 comply with the order of em- 
 
 barkation. Being asked if he 
 told the Highlanders, from Sir 
 James, what they were to expect 
 from their refusal to embark, he 
 declared, that Sir James told 
 him that his orders were, either 
 to force them to embark, or 
 bring them prisoners to the 
 castle : That the witness com- 
 municated these orders to the 
 Highlanders. 
 
 Sir James Johnston, Major 
 of the South Fencibles, declared 
 that the order did command a 
 detachment of the above regi- 
 ment to seize the Highlanders : 
 That he now produces the said 
 order, which is of the following 
 tenor : 
 
 " Headquarters, April 20, 177 9. 
 
 "Sir, The drafts of the 
 7 ist Regiment having refused to 
 embark, you will order 200 men 
 of the South Fencibles, under 
 command of a field-officer, to 
 march immediately to Leith, 
 seize the mutineers, and march 
 them prisoners to the Castle ot 
 Edinburgh, to be detained there 
 till further orders. I am, etc., 
 
 "JA. ADOLPHUS OUGHTON." 
 
 This order, which has already 
 been quoted, was, as will be 
 remembered, addressed to Gov- 
 ernor Wemyss, of Edinburgh 
 Castle, or the commanding- 
 officer of the South Fencible 
 Regiment. 
 
 The witness further declared, 
 that when he gave orders to 
 Sergeant Ross to go and speak 
 to the mutineers, in order to 
 pacify them, that Williamson, 
 
140 MUTINIES TN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 one of the prisoners, more than 
 once presented his piece, and 
 the declarant thought once that 
 he was actually going to fire 
 upon him ; but that he was 
 prevented by Maciver, another 
 of the prisoners, saying some- 
 thing to Williamson, which the 
 deponent did not understand, 
 upon which Williamson took 
 down his piece ; and the declar- 
 ant thought he owed his life to 
 Maciver for so doing. 
 
 Captain Innes showed to the 
 Court an attestation, which he 
 said was in the uniform style of 
 the attestations for that regi- 
 ment ; and it bore expressly, 
 that the person thereby attested 
 was to serve in the yist Regi- 
 ment, commanded by Major- 
 General Simon Fraser; and 
 that they were to serve for 
 three years only, or during the 
 continuance of the war. The 
 court-martial pronounced judg- 
 ment on the 8th of May, but it 
 was not made public till the 28th 
 of that month. 
 
 In the forenoon of that day, 
 the regiment of the West Fen- 
 cibles, then quartered in the 
 suburbs of Edinburgh, having 
 been marched up to the Castle 
 Hill, were formed in three sides 
 of a hollow square facing in- 
 wards. The three prisoners 
 were brought down from the 
 castle. With drums muffled 
 and rolling, while the band 
 played a dead march, they, each 
 stepping slowly behind a coffin 
 he thought was meant for him, 
 were brought by an armed 
 escort down the winding path- 
 
 way from the castle, and placed 
 in the vacant space of the square, 
 opposite a numerous firing party, 
 under the orders of a provost- 
 martial. 
 
 On that bright and beautiful 
 summer morning there was a 
 dark cloud on every face in the 
 solemn group. No ceremony 
 is more impressive than a mili- 
 tary execution and on that 
 morning three soldiers were to 
 suffer death. 
 
 The condemned men were 
 ordered to kneel beside their 
 open coffins. The fencibles 
 formed round them, and then 
 the major read the following 
 paper : 
 
 "Headquarters, 26th May 1779. 
 "At a general court-martial 
 held in Edinburgh Castle on 
 Thursday, the 6th of May, and 
 the two following days, whereof 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Dundas of 
 the nth Dragoons, was presi- 
 dent, for the trial of Charles 
 Williamson and Archibald Mac- 
 iver, soldiers of the 42d Regi- 
 ment, and Robert Budge, soldier 
 of the 7ist Regiment, accused 
 of being guilty of a mutiny at 
 Leith, upon Tuesday, the 2oth 
 day of May 1779, and of insti- 
 gating others to do the same ; 
 the Court unanimously found 
 the prisoners guilty of mutiny, 
 being a breach of the ist, 2d, 
 3d, 4th, and 5th articles of the 
 second section of the Articles 
 of War; and having duly con- 
 sidered the evil tendency of 
 mutiny and sedition, especially 
 when carried on to such enor 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 141 
 
 mous lengths as in the piesent 
 case, did adjudge the aforesaid 
 Charles Williamson, Archibald 
 Maciver, and Robert Budge, to 
 be shot to death. 
 
 " Which sentence, having been 
 transferred to the king, his 
 Majesty having been pleased 
 to signify his royal pleasure, 
 that his Majesty, having regard 
 to the former commendable and 
 distinguished behaviour of the 
 42d Regiment, to which the two 
 first-mentioned prisoners belong ; 
 and remarking that the third 
 prisoner, Robert Budge, who is 
 represented to be now only 
 recovering from the wounds 
 received in the affray, does not 
 appear to have taken any for- 
 ward part in the mutiny; is most 
 graciously pleased to grant to 
 the said Charles Williamson, 
 Archibald Maciver, and Robert 
 Budge, a free pardon, in full 
 confidence that they will en- 
 deavour, upon every future 
 occasion, by a prompt obedi- 
 ence and orderly demeanour, 
 to atone for the unpremeditated 
 but atrocious offence. 
 
 "The prisoners were there- 
 fore to be released, and join 
 their respective companies. 
 
 " (Signed) ROBERT SKENE, 
 ' ' Major- General. ' ' 
 
 The condemned men remain- 
 ed on their knees while a High- 
 land officer translated the fore- 
 going into Gaelic. It was a 
 scene got up for effect. As 
 James Grant describes it, with a 
 pardonable appeal to his im- 
 agiration: They were all pale 
 
 and composed, but the last, 
 who was suffering from severe 
 wounds received at Leith; his 
 countenance was emaciated and 
 ghastly, and he was sinking 
 from excessive debility. Their 
 eyes were bound up; the officer 
 retired ; the provost-martial ap- 
 proached, and ordered his party 
 to load. They were in the act 
 of taking aim at the prisoners, 
 who were praying intently in 
 Gaelic, when Sir Adolphus 
 Oughton stepped forward, and, 
 displaying three pardons, com- 
 manded them to recover arms. 
 
 "Soldiers," said he, "in con- 
 sequence of the distinguished 
 valour of the Royal High- 
 landers, to which two of these 
 unfortunate men belong, his 
 Majesty has been graciously 
 pleased to forgive them all. 
 Prisoners, rise, resume your 
 arms, and rejoin your com- 
 panies." 
 
 An officer repeated these 
 words in Gaelic. 
 
 The scene and the whole 
 proceedings were so solemn and 
 affecting, that the released pri- 
 soners were incapable of speech. 
 Raising their bonnets, they 
 endeavoured to express their 
 gratitude by a faint cheer, but 
 their voices utterly failed them ; 
 and overcome by weakness and 
 a revulsion of feeling, the sol- 
 dier of the 7ist sank prostrate 
 on the ground, between the 
 coffins. 
 
 More than forty of their com- 
 rades, who were shot or had 
 died of mortal wounds, were 
 buried in the old churchyard 
 
H2 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 of South Leith, and a grassy 
 mound long marked the place 
 where they lay. 
 
 There is one other incident 
 of gloom, which is reported in 
 the Edinburgh Evening Courant 
 of April 24, 1797, thus : 
 
 "Yesterday, at twelve o'clock, 
 the corpse of the unfortunate 
 and much lamented Captain 
 James Mansfield was brought 
 up on a hearse from Leith, and 
 delivered over at the north end 
 of the Bridge to the regiment, 
 who attended under arms : they 
 proceeded in solemn procession 
 to Greyfriar's Churchyard, the 
 duke's company, being the one 
 Captain Mansfield, as captain- 
 lieutenant, commanded, having 
 
 a knot of crape upon their fire- 
 locks, and the sergeants' halberts 
 in scarfs, the music playing the 
 dead march, and the drums 
 muffled. The pall-bearers were 
 the Duke of Buccleuch, as chief 
 mourner ; Colonel Pringle , 
 Majors Sir James Johnston and 
 Hay ; Captains Scott of Gala, 
 Rutherford of Edgerston, Scott of 
 Mulleny, Lord Binning, and Sir 
 Alexander Don. The grena- 
 diers followed the pall, the rela- 
 tions and friends of the deceased 
 next, and a train of gentlemen's 
 carriages closed the procession. 
 The duke's company only fired 
 over the grave." 
 
 Captain Mansfield left a 
 widow and six children. 
 
 MUTINY OF THE 77x11 REGIMENT 
 
 (ATHOLE HIGHLANDERS). 
 
 January 1783. 
 
 ATHOLE is a district in the north 
 of Perthshire. The word in 
 Gaelic means, The Pleasant 
 Land; and, as far as the military 
 influence of the Duke of Athole 
 used to be concerned, it was 
 pleasant enough for him at one 
 time to be able to command the 
 personal services of 3000 hardy 
 Highland men at arms. On 
 important occasions, indeed, he 
 could double the number, the 
 whole 6000 well-armed, and 
 eager to enhance the glory of 
 
 j their chief and clan in the eyes 
 ! of his king and country. 
 
 The power of this Highland 
 potentate became so great as to 
 engender fear in the minds of 
 those he served. It might be- 
 come as dangerous as it had 
 proved itself, on more than one 
 occasion, advantageous. Ac- 
 cordingly, it was thought neces- 
 sary to cripple it by legal en- 
 actment. But although by such 
 means the chiefs of Athole were 
 deprived of their power, they 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 143 
 
 continued for many years to 
 enjoy that great influence which 
 sprang from the voluntary at- 
 tachment and fidelity of their 
 people. 
 
 A time came when the young 
 Duke of Athole felt that he was, 
 like so many northern patriots, 
 called upon to step forward and 
 offer his services to Great Britain. 
 The Government acceded to his 
 loyal request to be allowed to 
 raise a regiment of his High- 
 landers for general service. He 
 was empowered to appoint 
 officers; and a corps of 1000 
 men was soon recruited. 
 
 They were embodied at Perth, 
 and James Murray, son of Lord 
 George Murray, and uncle to 
 the duke, became their colonel. 
 Both officers and men were such 
 as the country needed. The 
 former were young, and were 
 inspired with the spirit of brave 
 soldiers; the latter possessed 
 every advantage of personal 
 appearance and bodily strength, 
 which are requisite for a high 
 degree of the best military 
 morals. 
 
 They marched to Port-Patrick 
 in 1778, whence they were ship- 
 ped to Ireland in a time of 
 expected trouble in that island. 
 They remained there during 
 the American war, and had 
 little opportunity of distinguish- 
 ing themselves in active service. 
 It was not their fortune to be 
 allowed to prove in any well- 
 fought field, to what extent 
 they were possessors of those 
 qualities which ensure military 
 success. But they were exem- 
 
 plary in quarters, attached and 
 obedient to their officers, and 
 had every advantage of disci- 
 pline. 
 
 In 1783 the regiment was 
 ordered to England, and march- 
 ed to Portsmouth for the purpose 
 of being embarked for India. 
 Although the terms on which 
 they had enlisted were, that they 
 should serve for three years, or 
 during the war, the men showed 
 at first no reluctance to embark, 
 nor did any of them claim the 
 discharge to which their letters 
 of service entitled them. On 
 the contrary, Colonel Stewart 
 records, when they came in 
 sight of the fleet at Spithead, as 
 they marched across Portsdown 
 Hill, they pulled off their bon- 
 nets, and gave three cheers for 
 a brush with Hyder AIL But 
 no sooner were they quartered 
 in Portsmouth, to wait till the 
 transports should be ready, than 
 distrust and discord appeared. 
 
 There is the usual account 
 given in the papers of the time, 
 of emissaries from London hav- 
 ing expatiated with the High- 
 landers on the faithlessness of 
 the war authorities in sending 
 them to the far East, when their 
 term of service had expired. It 
 seems they were told that they 
 had been sold to the East India 
 Company at a certain sum a 
 head. Their officers were not 
 guiltless in this transaction, it 
 was added. These gentlemen 
 were to get a proportion of the 
 price of sale, and divide it 
 among themselves. This was 
 an incitement to the warmest 
 
144 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 feelings of resentment in the 
 breast of the Athole Highland- 
 ers. Confidence in their officers 
 was undermined; and they 
 must have been easily stirred 
 up to disobedience. They were 
 led to disregard the authority 
 of gentlemen to whom they 
 had hitherto shown the most 
 devoted attachment. They 
 would not believe their explana- 
 tions. 
 
 There is something even in 
 this headstrong mutiny to say 
 for the men. It was but only 
 too true that the arrangements 
 for sending them to India had 
 been made without any regard 
 to the engagement by which 
 they felt themselves bound. 
 They knew on what terms they 
 had enlisted ; and no wonder 
 that the insinuations, admitting 
 them to be false, of the busy 
 emissaries who were operating 
 upon them for political and 
 other eno^s of their own, had a 
 tendency to destroy their faith 
 in officers who also knew the 
 terms on which the men had 
 been enrolled. Authority being 
 weakened, restraint was thus 
 removed from natural indigna- 
 tion. 
 
 The consequence was a de- 
 termination on the part of the 
 men not to embark for India. 
 They would adhere to their 
 terms of service. 
 
 The following account of the 
 immediate issue of this resolu- 
 tion, is taken from the Scots 
 Magazine, dated January 1783 : 
 'The 77th Regiment, Athole 
 Highlanders, lying at Ports- 
 
 mouth, which had been for 
 some time under orders to em- 
 bark for the East Indies, on 
 Sunday the 26th, received final 
 orders to embark next morning. 
 In obedience to the order they 
 assembled on parade, but with 
 a determined resolution not to 
 embark, alleging as a reason, 
 that their arrears were not paid, 
 and that they were enlisted on 
 the express condition to serve 
 only three years, or during the 
 American war; and as they con- 
 ceived those conditions were 
 fulfilled, and that they were now 
 intended for the East India 
 Company's service, where none 
 of their officers were going, they 
 declared they would stand by 
 each other to the last, and 
 would not be compelled to em- 
 bark for the East Indies, as they 
 believed that their officers had 
 bartered them away to that 
 Company. 
 
 "The colonel was not pre- 
 sent, but the lieutenant-colonel 
 and other officers insisted that 
 they should embark ; in conse- 
 quence of which, the soldiers 
 surrounded them, violently 
 beating the lieutenant-colonel 
 and several others, who nar- 
 rowly escaped with wounds and 
 bruises ; after which they re- 
 paired to the magazine, or store- 
 house for the regiment, which 
 they broke open, and furnished 
 themselves with several rounds 
 of powder and ball. 
 
 "A party of the invalids were 
 ordered out to prevent the 
 Highlanders possessing them- 
 selves of the parade guard-house, 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS, 145 
 
 but being discovered before they 
 gained that place, the High- 
 landers fired on them, killed 
 one, and wounded one or two 
 others, which compelled the 
 invalids to retreat. In short, the 
 whole was a scene of the utmost 
 drunkenness, riot, and confu- 
 sion. Sir J. Pye, and Sir J. 
 Carter, the mayor, took every 
 step in their power to appease 
 them, and on their promising 
 they should not be embarked 
 until further orders were re- 
 ceived, they separated, and 
 returned to their quarters in the 
 evening, tolerably well satisfied ; 
 and next morning they were in- 
 formed that their embarkation 
 should not be insisted on. 
 
 "Immediately upon the ac- 
 counts of this disturbance reach- 
 ing London, Major -General 
 Murray, colonel of the 77th 
 Regiment, accompanied by the 
 Duke of Athole, his nephew, 
 went down to Portsmouth, and 
 by their judicious and spirited 
 conduct, assisted by Lord 
 George Lennox, commanding 
 then at Portsmouth, the men 
 were prevailed upon, after hav- 
 ing paraded the streets several 
 days, first to assemble on the 
 parade with their arms unloaded, 
 and the day following without 
 their arms." 
 
 Several letters from Ports- 
 mouth relative to this mutiny 
 appeared in the public prints of 
 the time, and of which the 
 following are a few extracts : 
 
 "Portsmouth, February 2d. 
 "The Duke of Athole, Major- 
 
 General Murray, and Lord 
 George Lennox, have been 
 down here; but the Athole 
 Highlanders are still determined 
 not to go to the East Indies. 
 They have put up their arms 
 and ammunition into one of the 
 magazines, and p^ced a very 
 strong guard over them, whilst 
 the rest of the regiment sleep 
 and refresh themselves. They 
 come regularly and quietly to 
 the grand parade, very cleanly 
 dressed, twice a day. Their 
 adj utant and other officers parade 
 with them. One day it was pro- 
 posed to turn the great guns on 
 the ramparts against the High- 
 landers, but that scheme was 
 soon over-ruled. Another time 
 it was suggested to send for 
 some marching regiments quar- 
 tered near this place; upon 
 which the Highlanders drew up 
 the draw-bridges, and placed 
 sentinels at them. 
 
 "The 8ist, another Highland 
 regiment,* aboard the India- 
 
 * This was the Aberdeenshire High- 
 land Regiment. They were embarked 
 at Portsmouth for India immediately 
 after the preliminaries of peace had 
 been signed, although the terms on 
 which they had enlisted were, that 
 they should be discharged in three 
 years, or at the end of the war. The 
 men at first made no objections, and 
 remained quietly on board, awaiting 
 the orders for sailing, but when it be- 
 came known that their Athole brethren 
 were insisting on the performance of 
 the terms of their agreement, a very 
 different feeling evinced itself. They, 
 following the infectious example, called 
 for the fulfilment of their contract, and 
 requested that they should be marched 
 back to their own country, and dis- 
 charged there. This request was 
 
146 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 man, liive insisted on being 
 disembarked. 
 
 "The 68th Regiment, like- 
 wise, which embarked a few 
 days since on board transports 
 for the West Indies, learning 
 that the Highlanders are not to 
 be sent the East Indies, deter- 
 mined to disembark ; and, in 
 consequence, very early yester- 
 day morning, they were discover- 
 ed getting the transports under 
 way, with an intention to run 
 into the harbour ; but were all 
 prevented by a man-of-war firing 
 on them, except one transport, 
 the master of which was com- 
 pelled by the soldiers, amount- 
 ing to about 300, to bring his 
 vessel to, near the southern 
 beach. The men all got on 
 shore, marched towards the 
 town with an intention to de- 
 mand quarters of Lord George 
 Lennox, who met them, and 
 ordered them to return, but 
 they refused. His lordship 
 would not permit them to have 
 quarters, but sent them to Hil- 
 sea barracks." 
 
 Another correspondent writes : 
 
 " Portsmouth February tfh. 
 
 " You may be assured I have 
 had my perplexities since the 
 mutiny commenced in the 77th 
 Regiment; but I must do the 
 men the justice to confess, that, 
 excepting three or four drunken 
 fellows, whose impudence to 
 their officers could only be 
 equalled by their brutality, the 
 
 granted, the regiment was marched to 
 Scotland, and was disbanded at Edin- 
 bu rgh. 
 
 whole regiment have conducted 
 themselves with a regularity 
 that is surprising. For what 
 might not have been expected 
 from upwards of 1000 men 
 let loose from all restraint? 
 Matters would never have been 
 carried to the pitch they have, 
 but for the interference of some 
 busy people, who love to be 
 fishing in troubled water. 
 
 "The men have opened a 
 subscription for the relief of the 
 widow of the poor invalid, for 
 whose death they express the 
 greatest regret. On their being 
 informed that a regiment in 
 garrison was coming to force 
 them to embark, they flew to 
 their arms, and followed their 
 comrade leaders through the 
 town, with a fixed determination 
 to give battle ; but, in finding 
 the report to be false, they 
 returned in the same order to 
 their own quarters. We have 
 been informed that the regiment 
 is not to go to the East Indies 
 contrary to the men's inclination. 
 This has satisfied them, but will 
 be attended with disagreeable 
 consequences to the service. 
 For the 68th Regiment, that 
 were on board transports, refus- 
 ed also to go, and would have 
 come on shore, but for a man- 
 of-war firing at them, which has 
 done some mischief; but could 
 not prevent 300 of them from 
 landing. . . . Since the 
 debates in the House of Com- 
 mons on this subject, I should 
 not wonder if every man intend- 
 ed for foreign service refused 
 going, for the reasons there 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 147 
 
 given, which, you may depend 
 on it, *hey are now well ac- 
 quainted with." 
 
 The Highlanders applied to 
 the notorious Lord George Gor- 
 don, of Gordon Riots renown, for 
 assistance; and the result will 
 be read in the following letters : 
 
 " Lord G. Gordon to the Earl 
 
 of Shelburne. 
 
 " My Lord Shelburne, I 
 have just received two letters 
 from Portsmouth, from his 
 Majesty's yyth Regiment of 
 Foot, the Athole Highlanders, 
 and think it my duty to lay the 
 following extracts from one of 
 them before your lordship, as 
 Prime Minister, without any loss 
 of time : 
 
 "'To the Right Honourable 
 Lord George Gordon, Wei- 
 beck Street, London. 
 
 "'Portsmouth. 
 
 " ' My Lord, Impressed with 
 a deep sense of your exertions 
 in support of the religion and 
 liberty of the inhabitants of 
 Great Britain, particularly in 
 Scotland ; a great number of 
 his Majesty's yyth or Athole 
 Highland Regiment of Foot, 
 take this method of making ap- 
 plication to your lordship, for 
 your support at this critical 
 time. (Here they mention that 
 the regiment was raised to serve 
 only three years, or during the 
 war ; and that, though they 
 have not been employed in 
 active service, yet they were 
 always ready and willing to 
 exert themselves, if occasion re- 
 
 I quired ; and that they think it 
 a violation of justice to order 
 them abroad, now that the 
 American war is over, peace 
 signed with France and Spain, 
 and a cessation of arms agreed 
 on with Holland. They there- 
 fore entreat Lord George Gor- 
 don to apply to some member 
 of Government on their behalf, 
 and proceed) : 
 
 " ' We are to embark to-mor- 
 row; but there is every appear- 
 ance at present of a desperate 
 resistance being made by the 
 men. How it will end time 
 alone must determine. 
 
 "'We assure your lordship, 
 that we never were so much as 
 informed of any such intention 
 till last Wednesday, that we got 
 the route from Andover to this 
 place ; and notwithstanding 
 peace being signed, we have 
 received fresh orders for em- 
 barkation to-morrow morning at 
 ten o'clock. 
 
 " * We beg leave to assure 
 your lordship, that we entirely 
 depend upon your interposition 
 and support at this time. 
 
 "' And we remain, etc.' 
 
 " Now, my Lord Shelburne, I 
 have nothing to add upon this 
 subject at present, except that, 
 if your lordship, or the King's 
 Cabinet, think, from the good 
 opinion the Athole Highlanders 
 are pleased to express of me, 
 that I can be of any service in 
 the affair, I will either go down 
 myself directly this night to 
 Portsmouth, or write them a 
 letter, or send my man express 
 
148 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 with a verbal message, or do 
 anything that is just, and fair, 
 and honourable. I am, etc. 
 " G. GORDON. 
 
 " Eleven o'clock, Tuesday Night. 
 " Welbeck Street, January 
 
 Lord Shelburne's answer was 
 ihort and curt. He wrote : 
 
 " Slwlburne House > 
 
 January 2^th. 
 
 " Lord Shelburne presents his 
 compliments to Lord George 
 Gordon, and thanks his lord- 
 ship for his letter and offers of 
 service, which he did not re- 
 ceive till this morning. Every 
 necessary measure was taken by 
 his Majesty's servants yesterday 
 upon the subject of it, imme- 
 diately after the account was 
 received." 
 
 The mutiny of the Athole 
 Highlanders is to be added as 
 one more to the list of success- 
 ful risings against an overreach- 
 ing Government. Notice was 
 taken of it in Parliament, as 
 was referred to in one of the 
 letters quoted. In the course 
 of the Parliamentary debates on 
 the subject, Mr Eden, afterwards 
 Lord Auckland, who was then 
 Secretary of State for Ireland, 
 said : " He had happened to 
 have the yyth Regiment imme- 
 diately under his observation 
 during sixteen months of their 
 garrison duty in Dublin, and 
 though it was not the most 
 agreeable duty in the service, 
 he must say that their conduct 
 was most exemplary. Their 
 
 officers were not only men of 
 gentlemanly character, but pecu- 
 liarly attentive to regimental 
 discipline. He, having once, 
 upon the sudden alarm of in- 
 vasion, sent an order for the 
 immediate march of this regi- 
 ment to Cork, they showed 
 their alacrity by marching at an 
 hour's notice, and completed 
 their march with a despatch 
 beyond any instance in modern 
 times; and this, too, without 
 leaving a single soldier behind." 
 A result of the discussion of 
 the question, during which these 
 complimentary remarks were 
 made, was the following declara- 
 tion which appeared in the 
 London Gazette: 
 
 " War Office, February tfh. 
 " Whereas doubts have arisen 
 with respect to the extent and 
 meaning of his Majesty's orders, 
 dated, War Office, December 
 1 6, 1775, relative to the terms 
 of enlistment of soldiers since 
 that time in the marching regi- 
 ments of infantry ; his Majesty 
 doth hereby declare, that all 
 men now serving in any march- 
 ing regiment, or corps of in- 
 fantry, who have been enlisted 
 since the date of the said order, 
 shall, on the ratification of the 
 definitive treaty of peace, be 
 discharged, provided they shall 
 have served three years from 
 the dates of their attestations. 
 And all men enlisted and 
 serving as above, who have not 
 so completed their full time of 
 service, shall be discharged at 
 the expiration of three years 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 149 
 
 from the dates of their re- 
 spective attestations; and that, 
 in the meantime, no person 
 enlisted under the conditions 
 above mentioned, shall be sent 
 on any foreign service, unless 
 he shall have been re-enlisted 
 into his Majesty's service. 
 "(By his Majesty's command.) 
 "GEO. YGNGK." 
 
 The result of this mutiny was 
 that the regiment was marched 
 to Berwick, and disbanded 
 there, according to the original 
 agreement. No man wai tried 
 or punished a very safe infer- 
 ence from which fact being, 
 that however much to be re- 
 gretted was the conduct of a 
 few individuals, the Athole 
 Highlanders had just cause of 
 complaint. 
 
 Colonel Stewart's concluding 
 remarks on this mutiny are 
 interesting. He says : " It is 
 
 difficult for those who are not 
 in the habit of mixing with the 
 Highlanders, to believe the 
 extent of mischief which this 
 unhappy misunderstanding oc- 
 casioned, and the deep and 
 lasting impression it left behind 
 it. In the course of my re- 
 cruiting, many years afterwards, 
 I was often reminded of this 
 attempt on the Athole High- 
 landers, which was always 
 alleged as a confirmation of 
 what had happened at an earlier 
 period, to the Black Watch. 
 This transaction, and others of 
 a similar description, created 
 distrust in Government, and in 
 the integrity of its agents. If 
 Government had offered a small 
 bounty, when the Athole High- 
 landers required to embark, 
 there can be little doubt they 
 would have obeyed their orders', 
 and embarked as cheerfully as 
 they marched into Portsmouth." 
 
 MUTINY OF BREADALBANE FENCIBLES. 
 
 December 1794. 
 
 THE system of Fencible Regi- 
 ments was had recourse to in 
 Scotland as a mode of embody- 
 ing troops somewhat different 
 from the county militia of Eng- 
 land. When the militia regi- 
 ments were first established in 
 England, the measure was not 
 extended to Scotland, on ac- 
 count of that national jealousy 
 
 which had to await the advent 
 of railways for its mollification. 
 The people of Scotland were 
 thought at the time not fit to 
 be entrusted with arms, just as 
 the people of Ireland are looked 
 upon at present. Let us hope 
 that in another hundred years 
 the Irish will be thought as 
 trustworthy in this matter as the 
 
150 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Scotch are now. Perhaps an- 
 other question will be settled 
 then too Who was to blame ? 
 It is to be feared that when 
 this and many kindred ques- 
 tions of international import- 
 ance within the three kingdoms 
 are fairly settled, England will 
 feel she has little occasion to 
 bear herself so proudly against 
 ner two sisters as has for cen- 
 turies been her wont. This by 
 the way. 
 
 The peculiarity of the fencible 
 system, at the time it was started, 
 was that while the officers were 
 appointed and their commissions 
 signed by the king, the men 
 were to be raised by recruiting 
 in the common manner, and 
 not by ballot in the particular 
 counties, as was the case in the 
 militia. The social state of 
 Scotland offered peculiar facili- 
 ties for this system. There the 
 influence of individuals could 
 outbid social compulsion. Pro- 
 perty, rank, and character, re- 
 commended leaders to willing 
 and obedient followers, as by a 
 sort of pre-established harmony. 
 
 In such a relation to the 
 people stood several Highland 
 noblemen and gentlemen whose 
 moderate revenues were derived 
 from wide acres of barren land ; 
 but whose personal and family 
 influence was of such a kind, 
 that they could, at will, when 
 the occasion required it, step for- 
 ward at the head of a body of 
 brave and hardy men to defend 
 their country, or defy its enemies. 
 
 Among these Highland pro- 
 prietors the Earl of Breadalbane 
 
 held a pre-eminent rank at the 
 time referred to in the story of 
 this mutiny. He made an offer 
 to raise two fencible regiments ; 
 the offer was accepted, and the 
 corps were rapidly embodied in 
 the summer of 1793. A third 
 battalion was embodied in 
 1794 the whole force amount- 
 ing to 2300 men, of whom 
 1600, or about two-thirds, were 
 raised on the Breadalbane 
 estate, wnich at the time sup- 
 ported a population of not quite 
 14,000. It is said that in a few 
 days, indeed as quickly as the 
 oaths could be administered by 
 several neighbouring gentlemen 
 who attended as justices of the 
 peace, 500 men were attested 
 at Taymouth Castle, the seat of 
 Lord Breadalbane. The rest 
 followed quickly. They were 
 then removed to Perth, where 
 they were joined by those raised 
 in other parts of the country; 
 and the whole were embodied, 
 and formed into two battalions, 
 named the ist and 2d Breadal- 
 bane Fencible Highlanders. 
 
 The mutiny of Breadalbane 
 Fencibles, a rather serious dis- 
 turbance, broke out in Glasgow 
 in December 1794. The best 
 thing to be done, if these re- 
 hearsals of the instructive past 
 are to be taken at their worth, 
 is simply to record the accounts 
 given at the time. The following 
 is from the Scots Magazine, a 
 journal which has already been 
 frequently quoted in the furbish- 
 ing up again of the story of Mu- 
 tinies in Highland Regiments : 
 
 " For some time past, a con- 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 151 
 
 siderable alarm has been excited, 
 by the improper conduct of some 
 privates belonging to the Bread- 
 albane Fencibles, lying at Glas- 
 gow. 
 
 " On Monday the ist Decem- 
 ber, a soldier of the ist battalion 
 of the Breadalbane Fencible 
 Regiment, now quartered in 
 Glasgow, having been confined 
 in the guard-house upon an 
 accusation of having been guilty 
 of a military offence, a party of 
 the regiment assembled round 
 the guard-house, and obliged 
 their olficers to set him at 
 liberty. After committing this 
 outrage, they behaved quietly 
 and peaceably, and did regi- 
 mental duty in the usual man- 
 ner, though the spirit of mu- 
 tiny still subsisted to such a 
 degree, that the private soldiers 
 of the regiment would neither 
 agree to give up the soldier who 
 had been released, nor the ring- 
 leaders of the mutiny, to be 
 tried for their crimes. Lord 
 Adam Gordon, Commander-in- 
 Chief for Scotland, immediately 
 adopted the most vigorous 
 measures for apprehending the 
 mutineers, by collecting round 
 Glasgow all the troops which 
 could be spared for that service ; 
 and General Leslie, Sir James 
 Stewart, and Colonel Mont- 
 gomery, went thither to take the 
 command of them, with a deter- 
 mined resolution forcibly to lay 
 hold of the aggressors, in case 
 they were not delivered up by 
 the regiment. But before pro- 
 ceeding to coercion, it was 
 thought proper by Lord Adam 
 
 Gordon, and the officers of his 
 staff, with whom he consulted, 
 to give the regiment a short 
 time to reflect on their conduct, 
 and the danger in which they 
 stood, if they did not, of their 
 own accord, do what was deter- 
 mined should otherwise be done 
 by force of arms ; a voluntary 
 surrender of the offenders being 
 deemed a better example of 
 military discipline, than forcibly 
 seizing them by other troops. 
 This prudent experiment hap- 
 pily succeeded : four of the 
 ringleaders having surrendered 
 themselves voluntarily and un- 
 conditionally to Lord Breadal- 
 bane, on Tuesday morning the 
 1 6th instant, who were imme- 
 diately marched prisoners to 
 Edinburgh, under a strong guard 
 of their own regiment, com- 
 manded by Captain Campbell 
 of the grenadier company. 
 The Hon. Major Leslie, and 
 Mr Maclean, adjutant of the 
 regiment, having accompanied 
 the party a short way on their 
 march, were, upcn their return 
 to town, grossly insulted by a 
 number of riotous and disorderly 
 inhabitants of the town, who, 
 after having upbraided them for 
 being active in sending off 
 the mutineers to be punished, 
 assaulted them with stones and 
 other missile weapons, by one 
 of which Major Leslie was 
 knocked down ; and he and Mr 
 Maclean were forced to take 
 shelter in a house, where they 
 secured themselves from the 
 mob (who attempted to break 
 open the doors and windows to 
 
152 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 get at them), till the Lord 
 Provost, magistrates, and peace- 
 officers, and the company of 
 Breadalbane Regiment who 
 were on duty at the guard- 
 house, arrived and relieved them 
 from their disagreeable and 
 dangerous situation/' 
 
 In addition to the above, the 
 following account (which had 
 been shown to, and approved by 
 the Lord Provost of Glasgow) 
 was published by the desire of 
 the Right Hon. the Earl of 
 Breadalbane, and the officers of 
 the corps : 
 
 "A great variety of ground- 
 less rumours and exaggerated 
 reports having gone abroad re- 
 garding the conduct of the first 
 battalion of the Breadalbane 
 Fencible Regiment at Glasgow, 
 on Monday the ist of Decem- 
 ber, and since, by which the 
 public mind has been consider- 
 ably agitated, and greatly pre- 
 judiced, it appears that, in 
 justice to all concerned, a 
 correct state of facts should be 
 laid before the public. 
 
 " During the affair of Monday, 
 when a private of the light 
 company, who had been con- 
 fined for a military offence, was 
 released by that company, and 
 some individuals from other 
 companies, who had assembled 
 in a tumultuous manner before 
 the guard - house, no person 
 whatever was hurt, nor any 
 violence offered ; and, however 
 unjustifiable the proceeding, it 
 originated, not from any dis- 
 respect or ill-will to the officers, 
 but from a mistaken point of 
 
 honour in a particular set oi 
 men in the battalion, who 
 thought themselves disgraced 
 by the impending punishment 
 of one of their number. 
 
 "The men of the battalion 
 have, in every respect, since 
 that period, conducted them- 
 selves with the greatest regular- 
 ity, and strictest subordination ; 
 and on Tuesday and Wednesday 
 they voluntarily delivered up to 
 their colonel, the Earl of Bread- 
 albane, such men as were de- 
 manded on account of having 
 been most forward in the affair 
 of Monday. Of these one only 
 made the least hesitation ; but 
 he also, after some consideration, 
 voluntarily surrendered himself, 
 and the whole were sent off to 
 Edinburgh, under the escort of 
 a detachment of the regiment. 
 The whole battalion seemed 
 extremely sensible of the im- 
 proper conduct of such as were 
 concerned, whatever regret they 
 might feel for the fate of the 
 few individuals who had so 
 readily given themselves up as 
 prisoners to be tried for their 
 own and others' misconduct 
 
 "An account of this matter 
 having appeared in the Glasgow 
 Courier of Thursday, it is proper 
 to observe, that a mistake has, 
 through inadvertency or mis- 
 information, got into that ac- 
 count ; for there is no reason 
 to believe that the mutineers 
 were possessed of any ammuni- 
 tion, though they did say it 
 was offered to be procured for 
 them by some of the inhabitants 
 in their rear. 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 153 
 
 "It is also to be remarked, 
 that all of them offered to 
 deliver themselves up on Mon- 
 day the 8th, previous to any 
 general officer, or troops, com- 
 ing to Glasgow. 
 
 "It may be observed further, 
 that in the account published 
 in the Edinburgh papers, it is 
 said, that the volunteers quelled 
 the riot raised by the towns- 
 people, on the return of Major 
 Leslie, and Mr M'Lean where- 
 as it was a detachment of the 
 Breadalbane Fencible Regiment 
 who marched up to the relief of 
 those gentlemen, with the great- 
 est alacrity and expedition for 
 which they received the thanks 
 of the Lord Provost and general 
 officers, besides a handsome 
 acknowledgment from Major 
 Corbet and the Glasgow Volun- 
 teers. 
 
 " Notwithstanding this unfor- 
 tunate affair, it is but justice to 
 observe, that in every other 
 view, the soldiers of this regi- 
 ment have, upon all occasions, 
 behaved themselves with the 
 greatest sobriety, and that they 
 have been, and still are, upon 
 the best of terms with their 
 officers." 
 
 Our authority further says : 
 
 " Letters received from Glas- 
 gow mention, that the utmost 
 tranquillity prevails there. The 
 magistrates have offered a re- 
 ward of ^50 for discovering 
 any of the persons who in- 
 sulted the officers on Tuesday, 
 but no discovery has yet been 
 made. Several have been taken 
 up, but dismissed for want of 
 
 sufficient evidence. The three 
 troops of the Queen's Own 
 Regiment of Dragoons, which 
 arrived in Glasgow from Paisley 
 on Tuesday night, returned. 
 The dragoons from Kilmarnock 
 still remain at Glasgow. The 
 Argyleshire Regiment of Fenci- 
 bles arrived at Rutherglen, on 
 Thursday, from Edinburgh ; 
 and on Friday marched for 
 Paisley. On Thursday night 
 three more prisoners were 
 brought to town from Glasgow, 
 by a party of the 3d Regiment 
 of Dragoons, and lodged in the 
 castle." 
 
 The Magazine for January 
 1795, says: " The court-martial 
 which has sat in the castle upon 
 the mutineers of the Breadalbane 
 Fencibles is now over. There 
 have been eight prisoners tried 
 upon three separate charges; 
 but the sentences are not known 
 till reported either to his Ma- 
 jesty, or the commander-in-chief, 
 who in this country is invested 
 with the same powers as his 
 Majesty, with regard to the 
 sentences of courts - martial. 
 The event has shown that four 
 were found guilty. On the 2 7 th 
 at ten o'clock, the four prisoners 
 who had been adjudged to 
 suffer death for the crimes of 
 mutiny and disobedience, were 
 taken from the castle in two 
 mourning coaches, attended by 
 the Rev. Mr Robertson M'Gre- 
 gor, and under an escort of the 
 3d Regiment of Dragoons, and 
 a detachment of the 3d battalion 
 of the Scotch Brigade. The) 
 marched to the sands nea 
 
154 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 Musselburgh, where the escort 
 was joined by several corps, 
 and detachments of cavalry and 
 infantry, all under the command 
 of Major-General Sir James 
 Stewart The sentence of the 
 court-martial was then read to 
 the prisoners, with the general 
 orders given out by Lord Adam 
 Gordon, approving of the pro- 
 ceedings of the said court-martial, 
 and directing the sentence to 
 be carried into execution against 
 Alexander Sutherland or Sandi- 
 son, the most guilty of the 
 offenders, but suspending the 
 sentence of the other prisoners 
 until his Majesty's pleasure 
 should be known. The prison- 
 er Sutherland was then shot to 
 death by a party of the regiment 
 to which he belonged, and the 
 other prisoners were remanded 
 to Edinburgh Castle, escorted 
 as in the morning. It is but 
 doing justice to the corps and 
 detachment, assembled on this 
 solemn occasion, to say that 
 they behaved with the greatest 
 propriety. Sutherland was a 
 native of Caithness. He met 
 his fate with becoming penitence 
 and fortitude." 
 
 Such is the account given of 
 this sad affair at the time, in a 
 journal which had to keep a 
 look out against the penal con- 
 sequence of writing or speaking 
 at the end of the enlightened 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 Another account, much truer 
 to Highland feelings, unstrained 
 by the necessities undor which 
 a man labours who is writing a 
 semi-official record, is given by 
 
 Colonel Stewart, one of the 
 most honest of Highland his- 
 torians. He says: "Several 
 men having been confined and 
 threatened with corporal punish- 
 ment, considerable discontent 
 and irritation were excited 
 among their comrades, which 
 increased to such violence, that, 
 when some men were confined 
 in the guard-house, a great pro- 
 portion of the regiment rushed 
 out and forcibly relieved the 
 prisoners. This violation of 
 military discipline was not to 
 be passed over, and accordingly 
 measures were immediately 
 taken to secure the ringleaders. 
 But so many were equally con- 
 cerned, that it was difficult, if 
 not impossible, to fix the crime 
 on any, as being more promin- 
 ently guilty. And here was 
 shown a trait of character 
 worthy of a better cause, and 
 which originated from a feeling 
 alive to the disgrace of a de- 
 grading punishment. The 
 soldiers being made sensible of 
 the nature of their misconduct, 
 and the consequent necessity of 
 public example, several men 
 voluntarily offered themselves to 
 stand trial, and suffer the sen- 
 tence of the law, as an atone- 
 ment for the whole. These 
 men were accordingly marched 
 to Edinburgh Castle, tried, and 
 four condemned to be shot 
 Three of them were afterwards 
 reprieved, and the fourth, Alex- 
 ander Sutherland, was shot on 
 Musselburgh Sands. 
 
 " On the march to Edinburgh, 
 a circumstance occurred, tb 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 155 
 
 more worthy of notice, as it 
 shows a strong principle of 
 honour and fidelity to his word 
 and to his officer, in a common 
 Highland soldier. One of the 
 men stated to the officer com- 
 manding the party, that he knew 
 what his fate would be, but that 
 he had left business of the 
 utmost importance to a friend 
 in Glasgow, which he wished to 
 transact before his death ; that, 
 as to himself, he was fully pre- 
 pared to meet his fate ; but with 
 regard to his friend, he could 
 not die in peace unless the 
 business was settled, and that, 
 if the officer would suffer him 
 to return to Glasgow, a few 
 hours there would be sufficient, 
 and he would join him before 
 he reached Edinburgh, and 
 march as a prisoner with the 
 party. The soldier added, 
 'You have known me since I 
 was a child; you know my 
 country and kindred, and you 
 may believe I shall never bring 
 you to any blame by a breach 
 of the promise I now make, to 
 be with you in full time to be 
 delivered up in the Castle.' 
 This was a startling proposal to 
 the officer, who was a judicious 
 humane man, and knew per- 
 fectly his risk and responsibility 
 in yielding to such an extra- 
 ordinary application. However, 
 his confidence was such, that he 
 complied with the request of 
 the prisoner, who returned to 
 Glasgow at night, settled his 
 business, and left the town 
 before daylight to redeem his 
 pledge. Pie took a long circuit 
 
 to avoid being seen, appre- 
 hended as a deserter, and sent 
 back to Glasgow, as probably 
 his account of his officer's in- 
 dulgence would not have been 
 credited. In consequence of 
 this caution, and the lengthened 
 march through woods and over 
 hills by an unfrequented route, 
 there was no appearance of him 
 at the hour appointed. The 
 perplexity of the officer when 
 he reached the neighbourhood 
 of Edinburgh may be easily 
 imagined. He moved forward 
 slowly indeed, but no one ap- 
 peared; and unable to delay 
 any longer, he marched up to 
 the castle, and as he was deliv- 
 ering over the prisoners, but 
 before any report was given in, 
 Macmartin, the absent soldier, 
 rushed in among his fellow- 
 prisoners, all pale with anxiety 
 and fatigue, and breathless with 
 apprehension of the conse- 
 quences in which his delay 
 might have involved his bene- 
 factor. 
 
 " In whatever light the conduct 
 of the officer may be considered, 
 either by military men or others, in 
 this memorable exemplification 
 of the characteristic principle of 
 his countrymen fidelity to their 
 word it cannot but be wished 
 that the soldier's magnanimous 
 self-devotion had been taken as 
 an atonement for his own mis- 
 conduct and that of the whole, 
 who also had made a high sacri- 
 fice, in the voluntary offer of 
 their lives for the conduct of 
 their brother soldiers. Are 
 these a people to be treated as 
 
156 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 malefactors, without regard to 
 their feelings and principles; 
 and might not a discipline, 
 
 somewhat different from the 
 usual mode, be, with advantage, 
 applied to them ? " 
 
 MUTINY OF THE GRANT FENCIBLES. 
 Tune 1795. 
 
 THIS mutiny, which broke out 
 in June 1795, exhibits another 
 instance of insubordination, 
 originating in horror of the dis- 
 grace, which, according to the 
 views of the Highlanders, coulc* 
 not fail to attach to themselveL 
 and their country for a punish- 
 ment which they regarded as 
 infamous, while the so-called 
 crime for which the punishment 
 was inflicted, did not seem to 
 them at all infamous in any 
 moral seiise. But a word or 
 two about the embodiment of 
 the Grant Fencibles. 
 
 Sir James Grant, of Castle 
 Grant, was a good man, and a 
 beloved patriarchal chief. He 
 offered to raise a regiment of 
 loyal men at the outbreak of the 
 war. The offer was gladly ac- 
 cepted, and two months after 
 the declaration of war, the regi- 
 ment assembled at Forres. 
 This was at the close of April 
 1793. Too many loyal men 
 came forward ; and in May, 
 seventy of them were discharged 
 as supernumeraries. It was on 
 the 5th of June that the corps 
 was finally inspected and em- 
 
 bodied by Lieu tenant -General 
 Leslie. In August the regiment 
 was marched to Aberdeen ; and 
 after being stationed at that city 
 for a time, was sent to Linlith- 
 gow, Glasgow, Dumfries, Mussel- 
 \>urgh, and many other towns 
 south of the Forth. 
 
 When stationed at Linlithgow 
 in 1794, they were unfortunately 
 selected for being sounded on a 
 question, great in the apprehen- 
 sion of a Highlander of the 
 time. The service of Scotch 
 Fencible Regiments was under- 
 stood to be confined to Scotland, 
 and at that time a desire was 
 felt to extend their service. 
 Measures were accordingly taken 
 to sound the Grant men on this 
 subject, but it would seem the 
 process was not very prudently 
 conducted. It was a case in 
 which their feelings and preju- 
 dices should have been carefully 
 taken into account, especially 
 when an agreement already 
 come to was to be altered. 
 Some of the officers, however, 
 did not seem to think any ex- 
 planation necessary ; others of 
 them, it seems, entirely mistook 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 1/57 
 
 the meaning and import of the 
 commanding officer's orders. 
 Be it as it may, jealousy and 
 distrust were engendered, the 
 soldiers took alarm some were 
 for agreeing with the proposals, 
 others opposed them to the last 
 degree and the result was, that 
 no volunteering took place. 
 
 This misunderstanding was 
 not easily cleared away ; but it 
 seemed to become allayed, after 
 Sir James Grant, hearing of it, 
 hurried to join his men. 
 
 But when they were quartered 
 in Dumfries in 1795, ^ unfor- 
 tunately came to the surface 
 again, as the story of this mutiny 
 will illustrate. 
 
 The following account of it 
 appeared in the Scots Magazine 
 of June in that year: "A dis- 
 agreeable circumstance hap- 
 pened in the ist Regiment of 
 Fencibles, quartered at Dum- 
 fries. One of the men being 
 confined for impropriety in the 
 field when under arms, several 
 of his comrades resolved to 
 release him ; but they were 
 repelled by the adjutant and 
 officer on guard, who made the 
 ringleader a prisoner. The 
 commanding-officer of the regi- 
 ment immediately ordered a 
 garrison court-martial, consisting 
 of his own corps and the Ulster 
 Light Dragoons. When the 
 prisoners were remanded back 
 from the court to the guard- 
 room, their escort was attacked 
 by fifty or sixty of the soldiers 
 with fixed bayonets, part of 
 whom ran away with the pri- 
 soners. By the intrepidity and 
 
 good conduct of the lieutenant- 
 colonel and officers, they were 
 secured. They afterwards ex- 
 pressed a proper sense of their 
 irregular conduct, and have 
 peaceably submitted themselves 
 to their fate." 
 
 The July number of the same 
 magazine a storehouse of his- 
 torical information of incom- 
 parable interest carries on the 
 story thus : 
 
 "On the lythinst, the five 
 prisoners belonging to the ist 
 Fencible Regiment, who were 
 tried for the crime of mutiny by 
 the late general court-martial, 
 held at Musselburgh four of 
 whom had been adjudged to 
 suffer death, and the fifth to 
 receive corporal punishment 
 were carried from Musselburgh 
 to the links of Gullen, escorted 
 by the ist, 2d, first battalion of 
 the 4th, and a detachment of 
 the 7th Fencible Regiments, 
 three troops of the 4th Regiment 
 of Dragoons, with two field- 
 pieces, and a detachment of the 
 Royal Artillery. They were 
 there joined by the two bat- 
 talions of the 6th Brigade, troops 
 of the 4th Dragoons, and several 
 troops of Fencible Cavalry, the 
 whole under the command of 
 Major-General James Hamilton. 
 The troops were drawn up in 
 the following order, composing 
 three faces of a square : The 
 centre consisting of the first 
 battalion of the 4th, and a de- 
 tachment of the 7th Fencible 
 Regiments; the right face ot 
 the Scotch Brigade, and the left 
 of the 2d Fencible Regiment. 
 
158 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS, 
 
 The second line was composed 
 of cavalry, twenty paces in the 
 rear of the infantry. The divi- 
 sion of the 4th Regiment of 
 Dragoons, from Dunbar camp, 
 formed in the rear of the centre 
 face ; the Fencible Cavalry, 
 from Haddington and Dunbar, 
 in the rear of the right face ; and 
 the division of the 4th Regi- 
 ment of Dragoons, from Mus- 
 selburgh camp, in the rear of 
 the left face of the square. 
 A space was left in the line of 
 the cavalry of the centre face, 
 where the artillery were posted 
 with two light six-pounders. 
 
 " The sentence of the court- 
 martial was then read to the 
 prisoners, with the general 
 orders given out by Lord Adam 
 Gordon, approving of the pro- 
 ceedings of the said court-mar- 
 tial, and directing the sentence 
 to be carried into execution 
 against Alexander Fraser; and 
 that the other three prisoners 
 adjudged to suffer death should 
 draw lots, and the person on 
 whom the lot to suffer should 
 fall, to be shot to death at the 
 same time with the said Alex- 
 ander Fraser; suspending the 
 sentence of the three remaining 
 prisoners until His Majesty's 
 pleasure concerning them should 
 be known. 
 
 " The prisoner, Alexander 
 Fraser, and also the prisoner 
 Charles M'Intosh, upon whom 
 the lot to suffer had fallen, were 
 then shot to death by a party of 
 the regiment to which they be- 
 longed ; and the other three 
 prisoners were remanded to 
 
 Musselburgh jail. After the 
 execution, the whole marched 
 round the dead bodies in slow 
 time, and afterwards filed off to 
 their respective quarters and 
 cantonments. All the different 
 corps and detachments as- 
 sembled on this occasion be- 
 haved with the greatest propriety 
 during the whole of the very 
 awful and affecting scene." 
 
 The scene was truly " awful 
 and affecting." The very ful- 
 ness of detail with which it is 
 described shows the importance 
 attached to it at the time as a 
 piece of show punishment. 
 These mutinies were becoming, 
 indeed, a question of very seri- 
 ous national importance. This 
 one originated primarily in the 
 proposal to send the Scotch 
 Fencibles out of Scotland. Such 
 a measure would not have re- 
 ceived much attention at the 
 headquarters in previous years. 
 But since the time of the Black 
 Watch's forlorn march half a cen- 
 tury ago, the ruling powers had 
 been rendered cautious by suc- 
 cessful mutineers, who made it 
 both known and felt that they 
 understood the terms on which 
 they had engaged to serve their 
 country. Although the same 
 question lay at the bottom of 
 this manifestation of insubor- 
 dination as of similar earlier 
 outbreaks in Highland regi- 
 ments, yet the immediate occa- 
 sion of the rising is not to be 
 apologised for. 
 
 The names of the three pri- 
 soners who were not shot were 
 
 Corporal M'Donald, Alex 
 
MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 159 
 
 ander M'Intosh, and Duncan 
 M'Dougall. 
 
 It is touching to reflect on 
 Sir James Grant, the colonel 
 and patron of his beloved regi- 
 ment, hurrying again to Dum- 
 fries as he had formerly done to 
 Linlithgow to try and save the 
 erring men ; but this time he 
 was too late. 
 
 Another mutinous incident in 
 a regiment of Highlanders may 
 be mentioned before a close is 
 put to this painful series of nar- 
 rations. It occurred at Glasgow 
 in 1804. In that year orders 
 were issued by the war authori- 
 ties to raise in the Highlands 
 a regiment to be called the 
 Canadian Fencibles, because, 
 as was averred, they were to 
 serve in Canada only. There 
 were circumstances in the High- 
 lands at the time which induced 
 the sorrowing people of that 
 country to regard this as a very 
 fortunate event. Men were 
 being removed from the hills 
 and dales they loved, to make 
 room for sheep and cattle. One 
 extensive glen in Inverness- 
 shire was, for this end, merci- 
 lessly depopulated; and that 
 was only one instance of the 
 method of improving the coun- 
 try, which was regarded as 
 so certain to secure for it ma- 
 terial wealth. 
 
 Accordingly, the Canadian 
 corps was speedily filled up. 
 Young active men who had lost 
 their homes, and been turned 
 
 away from their usual mode of 
 providing for subsistence, eagerly 
 entered it. They saw thus pre- 
 sented to them a means of reach- 
 ing that country in which many 
 of their friends and neighbours 
 had found comfort and security, 
 and lived free from the fear of 
 summary ejectment, and the 
 mode in which it was effected, 
 namely, burning their houses 
 about their ears. 
 
 The men who enlisted for this 
 regiment were ordered to as- 
 semble in Glasgow. When they 
 met there, they found a griev- 
 ance of which loyal Highlanders 
 had on former occasions cause to 
 complain, and the consequences 
 of rising in wrath to rectify what 
 they had reason to lament. The 
 most scandalous deceptions 
 had been practised on them. 
 Terms had been offered by 
 recruiting agents, which Go- 
 vernment could not, and would 
 not, sanction. Besides, these 
 agents had made money by 
 their heartless lies. A great 
 number of the poor Highlanders, 
 in consequence of the favourable 
 terms held out to them in pros- 
 pect, had enlisted without any, 
 or for, at least, a very small 
 bounty. 
 
 When in Glasgow the real 
 situation of affairs was discovered 
 by the innocent and true- 
 hearted dupes, they were loud 
 in their remonstrances ; they 
 became disobedient and disor- 
 derly, and a dangerous outburst 
 of mutiny was apprehended. 
 
 General Wemyss, of Wemyss, 
 who commanded in Glasgow at 
 
160 MUTINIES IN HIGHLAND REGIMENTS. 
 
 the time, ordered an immediate 
 inquiry to be made into the 
 causes of this formidable dis- 
 content. Just as of old, the 
 foundation of the complaints 
 was found to be of such a 
 nature, that it was necessary to 
 justify the men and satisfy them. 
 
 In the mean time, the regiment, 
 which numbered 800 soldiers, 
 was marched to Ayr. This did 
 not look well in the eyes of 
 Highlanders who were suffering 
 from severe irritation. Why 
 send them so far south from 
 Greenock, the port of embarka- 
 tion for Canada? The report 
 had got into circulation, that 
 they were to be sent to the Isle 
 of Wight, and thence shipped 
 off to the East or West Indies. 
 The present move seemed to 
 confirm this rumour, and the 
 mutiny was once more on the 
 point of flaring out, and flaming 
 up. 
 
 It was again cooled down in 
 time. Full inquiry into all the 
 circumstances was made. It 
 was found that the men had 
 been deceived. Their conduct 
 iv* s not to be blamed. None 
 
 of them were tried, no one 
 lashed or shot. They were 
 only all discharged ; thrown out 
 and back upon a heartless 
 world, all their ardent hopes 
 extinguished, and most of their 
 little money spent. They were 
 far from home all the farther 
 by the ill-judged march to Ayr. 
 No doubt that was a ruse by 
 the authorities to try and gain 
 over the obstinate Highlanders. 
 Some of them intended still to 
 go to Canada, but it was a 
 serious thing in those days for a 
 poor man to journey as far as 
 from Ayr to Greenock. 
 
 What were they to do? It 
 was not easy to see. But as 
 the second battalions of the 
 78th and 79th Regiments were, 
 at the time, recruiting, numbers 
 of the men enlisted in them. 
 Others who had money to pay 
 for the passage, went to Amer- 
 ica ; and a great many were left 
 poor labouring men in various 
 parts of the lowlands, where, to 
 their latest hour, they believed 
 in, and spoke of, the perfidy of 
 the British Government, and hi 
 enlisting agents. 
 
Iff. 
 
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