India Under British Rule from the Foundation of the East India Company

by James Talboys Wheeler

CHAPTER VI.—SEPOY REVOLT: NORTH WEST, CAWNPORE, LUCKNOW.—1857-58.

§1. Bengal and Lord Canning: General Neill's advance from Calcutta. §2. Sacred city of Benares: Hindu population overawed. §3. Fortress at Allahabad: treachery and massacre. §4. Cawnpore: extreme peril. §5. Story of Nana Sahib. §6. European refuge in the barracks. §7. Nana Sahib at Cawnpore: aspirations after Hindu sovereignty: delusion of General Wheeler. §8. Mutiny and treachery: barracks beleaguered by Nana Sahib. §9. First massacre at Cawnpore: massacre at Jhansi. §10. Advance of General Havelock. §11. Second massacre of women and children: the well. §12. Lucknow and Sir Henry Lawrence: May and June. §13. Siege of British Residency at Lucknow: July to September: death of Sir Henry Lawrence. §14. Havelock's advance and retreat. §15. Advance of Havelock and Outram. §16. Relief of Lucknow. §17. Sir Colin Campbell's advance: deliverance of the garrison. §18. Mutiny of the Gwalior contingent: defeated. §19. End of the mutiny and rebellion: causes.

Surprises.

The progress of events in Northern India, from the revolt at Delhi in May to the capture of the city in September, was a mystery to every Anglo-Indian. Many had foreseen that the Bengal army was in an evil way; that Bengal sepoys had been pandered until the discipline of the army had become dangerously loosened. But no one foresaw mutiny, murder, and massacre. Every fresh budget of news was consequently a surprise which baffled the oldest civilian and the most experienced general. There was much angry controversy, and much bitter recrimination; but such obsolete quarrelling may well be dropped into oblivion. The lessons which the mutiny teaches are best gathered from a plain narrative of events, not by conjectures as to plots and conspiracies which may have had no better origin than those of Oates and Bedloe.

British soldiers.

§1. Whilst Mr. John Lawrence was sending Europeans and Sikhs from the Punjab to reinforce the besiegers on the Ridge at Delhi, Lord Canning was sending similar reinforcements from Bengal to Allahabad, to relieve the beleaguered garrisons at Cawnpore and Lucknow, and to crush the growing disaffection in Oudh. Immediately after the revolt at Delhi, Lord Canning had sent telegrams and steamers to Madras and Bombay, to Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore, to send to Calcutta every European soldier that could be spared. Every local government responded to the call, and Lord Elgin, who was at Singapore pushing on a war with China, sent two British regiments, that were coming round the Cape, to the help of Lord Canning. It was a noble sacrifice. Lord Elgin's heart was in the Chinese war, but he felt as a Briton, that the suppression of a sepoy revolt in India was of far more pressing importance to the British empire than hostilities against China.

Allahabad and Cawnpore.

During the latter part of May, European soldiers were landed at Calcutta, and sent in batches to Allahabad. At that time Lord Canning was most anxious to relieve Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow. The railway had been completed for a hundred miles from Calcutta. Accordingly the soldiers were sent by railway from Calcutta, then by boats up the river Ganges to Allahabad, at the junction of the Ganges and Jumna, about half way between Calcutta and Delhi. From Allahabad they were sent a hundred and twenty miles still further up the Ganges to the town of Cawnpore, where the river formed a line of frontier between the North-West Provinces and Oudh. It will be seen hereafter that only a few Europeans reached Cawnpore, and that none of those sent up from Calcutta ever reached Lucknow.

Neill's advance.

The British reinforcements were commanded by Colonel Neill, a Madras officer who had served in the Crimean war, and was distinguished by force of will. On one occasion the station-master at Calcutta proposed sending away a railway train without the soldiers, because the latter were delayed. To his utter surprise he was arrested by Neill, and kept under a guard until every soldier had taken his seat. The incident is trivial, but it tells the character of Neill.

Delay at Benares.

§2. Colonel Neill did not reach Allahabad for some days. He was detained at Benares from the 4th to the 9th of June. This city, the Jerusalem of the Brahmans, is situated on the river Ganges, about 420 miles above Calcutta and eighty miles below Allahabad. It had a population of 300,000, mostly Hindus. The cantonment is two or three miles from the city, and was occupied by a regiment of Bengal infantry, one of irregular cavalry, and a Sikh regiment. There was no European force whatever to keep the city and cantonment in check beyond thirty British gunners, but this number would have been ample had there been no scare about greased cartridges. No danger was to be apprehended from the civil population of Benares. The sepoy regiments in the cantonment were the only cause for alarm.

Turbulence of the people.

Yet the Hindu population of Benares had always been bigoted and turbulent. During the persecuting reign of the Mogul Aurangzeb, in the seventeenth century, the Hindus of the sacred city were kept down by brute force, and compelled to pay the poll-tax levied on infidels, whilst Mohammedan mosques were built on the ruins of Hindu temples. Under the tolerant rule of the British, the Hindus had been more contented, but there had been occasional fights between Hindus and Mohammedans, especially at festival times. Moreover, the Hindus at Benares were under the thumb of the Brahmans, and were more bigoted and exacting under British rule than they had dared to be under Mohammedan domination. A British magistrate, however, had generally kept the peace in Benares with the help of Asiatic police, but occasionally he found it necessary to call out a detachment of sepoys.

Hostility of the Brahmans: stamped out by Gubbins.

For many years the Brahmans at Benares utterly refused to have the sacred city lighted or drained. They declared that lighting and drainage were contrary to the Hindu religion, and the arguments of the British magistrate to the contrary were a sheer waste of words. At last, in 1851, the British magistrate, a Mr. Frederic Gubbins, carried out these municipal reforms in the teeth of a Hindu mob. Then followed a commotion at Benares precisely similar to that which occurred at Madras in the seventeenth century, when the British rulers endeavoured to reform the sanitary condition of their city. The traders and bazaar dealers shut up their shops, and refused to supply the cantonment with grain. Mr. Gubbins was pelted and fired at, and fled for his life. He called out a detachment of sepoys, arrested the ringleaders of the riot, and lodged them in the jail. From that moment Mr. Gubbins was lord of Benares. He rode through the city and ordered all the shops to be opened, and there was no one to say him nay.

British and Mogul rule.

All this was of course very wrong. The Supreme Court at Calcutta, with its bench of British judges, trained to respect the liberties of British subjects, would have been aghast at such proceedings. But from the days of Warren Hastings to those of Lord Canning, the Supreme Courts at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay were prevented by the Act of Parliament passed in 1781 from interfering in any way with the administration of the Company's servants outside the limits of the Presidency capitals. It might, however, be added that the action of the British magistrate, arbitrary and high-handed as it must appear to British readers, was mild and merciful in comparison with Mogul severities. Under an imperious ruler like Aurangzeb, trains of armed elephants were driven through the masses in the streets, and trampled down all that came in their way, until the crowd broke up and fled in terror at the carnage.

Brave civilians.

Right or wrong, the action of Mr. Gubbins in 1851 was remembered by the people of Benares in 1857. Mr. Gubbins was by this time judge at Benares, and a Mr. Lind was magistrate and collector. The Bengal sepoys in the cantonment were disaffected, but there was no sign of insurrection in the city. The British residents were in alarm, and it was proposed to remove to the fortress of Chunar, on the other side of the river Ganges, which was occupied by invalided British soldiers. But Gubbins and Lind refused to desert their posts and abandon Benares. Accordingly the other British residents resolved to stay likewise; and it was arranged that in the event of a mutiny of the sepoys, they should all take refuge on the roof of the treasury, about two miles from the cantonment, which was guarded by Sikh soldiers.

Mutiny at Benares: disasters.

Colonel Neill arrived at Benares on the 4th of June. A detachment of Europeans had been obtained from Her Majesty's 10th Foot, which was posted at Dinapore, and preparations were being made for disarming the Bengal sepoys. Neill joined in the work, but there were untoward incidents. The Europeans were drawn out and the three guns were loaded. The Bengal sepoys were ordered to lay down their arms, and some obeyed. Suddenly, however, the whole regiment of sepoys took alarm and fired at the Europeans. The gunners opened fire on the mutineers. The irregular cavalry joined in the outbreak. The British officer in command of the Sikh regiment was shot dead. The Sikhs were seized with panic and fired on the Europeans. The gunners then discharged a volley of grape at the Sikhs; and sepoys, irregular horse, and Sikhs fled in hot haste from the cantonment, and dispersed in all directions over the surrounding country.

Loyalty of Sikhs and Hindus.

This disaster might have sealed the fate of the Europeans at the treasury. When the Sikh regiment at the cantonment was scattered by a discharge of grape, the Sikh guards at the treasury might have revenged the slaughter by firing at the Europeans on the roof. Fortunately Mr. Gubbins was there, and so too was an old Sikh general, who had fought against the British in the Sikh wars, and was residing at Benares under surveillance, but had become reconciled to British supremacy. Both Gubbins and the Sikh exile pointed out to the guards, that cannonading the Sikhs at the cantonment must have been unpremeditated, and was probably a misunderstanding or an accident. Had it been otherwise, the Europeans at the treasury would never have placed themselves under the protection of Sikh guards. This explanation satisfied the Sikh guards, and the station was saved. It should be added that British authority was nobly supported by the Raja of Benares and another Hindu gentleman of high rank and influence.

Allahabad: strategic importance.

§3. Colonel Neill spent some days in driving the mutineers from the neighbourhood of Benares, and then went on to Allahabad. On his arrival he found the city in a state of insurrection and uproar, whilst the Europeans were shut up in the fortress, and besieged by mutineers and rebels. The city of Allahabad was situated, as already described, at the junction of the Ganges and Jumna, in the centre of Northern India, and about half-way between Calcutta and Delhi. It is the strongest fortress between Calcutta and Agra. It commands the whole river communication between Bengal, Oudh, and the North-West Provinces. It also commanded the old trunk road between Calcutta and Delhi. In the treasury there was £200,000 in silver. Yet, when the mutinies broke out in May, the station and fortress were garrisoned entirely by Asiatics, namely, one Bengal regiment, half a Sikh regiment, and a battery of sepoy artillery. There were no European soldiers whatever at Allahabad, except the British officers in command of the sepoys.

Misplaced confidence.

The colonel and officers of the Bengal sepoys had the most perfect confidence in their men. They had always encouraged the sepoys in their sports, and contributed toward the expenses. It was rumoured in the newspapers that the sepoy regiment was disaffected, but the colonel published an unqualified denial, and declared that the rumour was false and malicious. The British residents at Allahabad were, however, by no means satisfied with this denial. They were alarmed at the reports which reached them of mutiny and murder elsewhere, and after the revolt at Delhi, they complained that they were not sufficiently protected. But no European soldiers were available, not even to garrison the important fortress. Accordingly the British authorities tried to allay the public fears by ordering up sixty-five European invalids from Chunar. Thus the European garrison of the great fortress at Allahabad, which commanded all communications between Bengal and the North-West, consisted for a while of sixty-five invalids. Eventually 100 European non-combatants formed themselves into a volunteer company, and helped to garrison the place. Meanwhile, every batch of European soldiers that arrived from Bengal was at once sent 120 miles further up the river Ganges to the city of Cawnpore, the frontier station towards Oudh.

Treachery.

Allahabad was tranquil. In spite of the outbreak at Meerut, the revolt at Delhi, and the reports of mutinies at other stations, all fear of danger seemed to have passed away. On the 1st of June, the suspected Bengal regiment volunteered to join the besieging force at Delhi. This movement was at once accepted as a certain proof of the loyalty and fidelity of the sepoys. The thanks of Lord Canning were sent by telegraph to the officers and men, and news arrived at the same time that the sepoys had mutinied at Benares, and were in full march to Allahabad en route for Delhi.

Expected mutineers from Benares.

Preparations were at once made for repulsing the rebels. The fortress was garrisoned by sixty-five European invalids, 100 European volunteers, 600 Sikhs, and 100 sepoys of the faithful Bengal regiment. The guns of the fortress were pointed to the Benares road. The only entrance to Allahabad in that direction was by a bridge over the Jumna. Accordingly two guns and two companies of the Bengal sepoys were ordered down to the bridge to open fire upon the mutineers from Benares.

Asiatic craft.

On the 6th of June every European at Allahabad was expecting the mutineers from Benares. In the afternoon the thanks of Lord Canning were publicly read on the parade ground to the remaining companies of the Bengal sepoys. The men cheered like Europeans, and when the regiment fell out, the British officers shook hands with the sepoys. The mess dinner in the evening was attended by every British officer at the station who was not on duty elsewhere. At the mess table nothing was to be heard but rejoicings and congratulations. The Bengal regiment at Allahabad had proved its loyalty, and received the thanks of the Governor-General. Eight young ensigns, mere boys, who had just arrived from England, were present at this memorable dinner.

Mutiny and massacre.

Suddenly an alarm was sounded. No alarm was felt, however, because every one thought that the rebels from Benares had reached the bridge. The officers buckled on their swords, mounted their horses, and rode down to their lines to call out the men. On reaching the parade ground they were received by a volley of musketry from their own sepoys, the men with whom they had shaken hands that very afternoon. The colonel managed to escape to the fortress, but most of the officers were shot dead. At the same time the sepoy guards at the mess house fell on the young ensigns who had been left behind. The boys fought desperately for their lives, but were overpowered by numbers and brutally murdered.

Jumna bridge.

By this time the sepoys at the bridge heard the firing in the cantonment, and at once broke out in mutiny, and turned against their officers. The British officers were taken by surprise and could do nothing. Some were shot dead, but most of them plunged into the river Jumna, and escaped by swimming to the fortress.

Fortress at Allahabad.

All this while the Fort at Allahabad was in imminent danger. There were 200 Europeans within the walls, but many were invalids, and nearly all the others were volunteers. They had to deal with 400 doubtful Sikhs and 100 Bengal sepoys. They heard the sound of firing, and thought that the rebels had arrived from Benares; but the blazing bungalows in the cantonment soon told a very different story. The Bengal sepoys were promptly disarmed and turned out of the fortress. The Sikhs were left to do as they pleased. They soon began to plunder the European stores, which private merchants had deposited in the Fort for safety; and they sold the liquors to the European soldiers for small sums, so that drunkenness soon added to the general terror and confusion. The result was most lamentable. When British soldiers can buy excellent wines and spirits at a few pence a bottle, they soon become drunk and incapable and such was the state of affairs inside the fortress of Allahabad after the mutiny of the 6th of June.

Devilry.

Meanwhile the horrible devilry outside the fortress was as murderous and destructive as at Meerut. The whole station was mad with excitement and riot. Houses were plundered and burnt. Women and children were tortured and butchered. The jail was broken open and every prisoner released. The sepoys plundered the treasury and divided the money amongst themselves, and then dispersed to their several homes to place the silver in a place of safety. But many suffered from their own folly. They were pursued by the very miscreants who had been let out of the jail, and many were savagely murdered and stripped of their ill-gotten treasures.

Neill restores order.

Three days afterwards Colonel Neill reached Allahabad with a detachment of Europeans from Benares. He recovered the bridge, entered the fortress, took over the command of the station, and soon put an end to the drunkenness and disorder. He could not punish the Sikhs, for they were the only Asiatic soldiery who were likely to prove faithful, whilst the Bengal regiments were breaking out in mutiny on all sides. Accordingly he stopped the drunkenness of the European soldiers by buying up all the remaining liquors from the Sikhs, and making them over to his commissariat officers. He then turned the Sikhs out of the Fort, and encamped them without the walls but within range of the guns.

Cawnpore advance stopped.

§4. On the 30th of June Colonel Neill left Allahabad for Cawnpore with 400 Europeans, a regiment of Sikhs, and two squadrons of sepoy cavalry on whom he could not depend. Three days afterwards he received a terrible message from Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow. The sepoys had mutinied at Cawnpore. A Mahratta Brahman, named Nana Sahib, had taken possession of the town and cantonment with a large army of Mahratta soldiers and rebel sepoys. The Europeans at Cawnpore had been closely besieged by the enemy, but their fate was unknown. Neill, however, was ordered not to advance unless he had two complete regiments of Europeans under his command. Neill was therefore compelled to return to Allahabad, and to halt there for the arrival of more Europeans from Bengal.

Story of Cawnpore.

The story of Cawnpore is the most heart-rending episode in the annals of British India. In the earlier years of the century it had been the most important military station in Northern India. It was from Cawnpore that Lord Lake had started westward on his famous campaign against Sindia and the French sepoy battalions, which ended in the capture of Delhi and the deliverance of the Mogul from the Mahrattas. But the old glory had departed from Cawnpore. For years the British government had been concentrating its European strength at Meerut, Lahore, and Peshawar. Cawnpore was stripped of all European soldiers, and nothing remained of the British regiments that had once been quartered there, but some half-ruined barracks and a hospital.

General Wheeler.

In 1857 four regiments of sepoys were cantoned at Cawnpore, namely, three of infantry and one of light cavalry. But there was a large trading community of Europeans and the mixed race known as Eurasians. Moreover, there was a considerable number of ladies and children, families of the British officers of the European regiment quartered at Lucknow. The station at Cawnpore was commanded by General Sir Hugh Wheeler, an old sepoy officer, who had served under Lord Lake, and was present during the Afghan and Sikh wars. He had been fifty-four years in India, and could thus look back upon a military career which began in 1803. He was familiar with sepoy ideas, feelings and aspirations. Yet not even General Wheeler, with his long experiences, was able to provide against such an unprecedented disaster as a mutiny of the Bengal army against greased cartridges.

Sore peril.

Cawnpore is seated on the southern bank of the Ganges. It overlooks Oudh on the east and the North-West Provinces on the south and west. It is the vertex of an angle, fifty-five miles south-west from Lucknow, and 120 miles north-west from Allahabad. The European residents had been greatly alarmed at the revolt at Delhi, for both the town and the cantonment were absolutely at the mercy of the sepoys.

Barracks and hospital.

Sir Hugh Wheeler had anxiously watched the flood of mutiny which was closing around him from the North-West Provinces, from Oudh, and from Bengal. He was anxious to provide for the safety of the Europeans without alarming the sepoys. Accordingly he repaired the old barracks and hospital as a refuge for the Europeans, entrenched them as well as he could, and stored up provisions for a siege. At the same time he ordered the British officers to show confidence in the sepoys by sleeping at the lines, and to spare no pains to keep the men staunch to their colours.

Ex-Peishwa at Bithoor.

§5. About six miles to the northward of Cawnpore was a castellated palace, at a place known as Bithoor. Here the ex-Peishwa of the Mahrattas had been permitted to reside after his surrender to Sir John Malcolm, in 1818. He was harmless, and like all Brahmans was resigned to his fate. He lived like a king who had retired from business with an ample fortune, and he indulged in every sensual pleasure which money could command. He died in 1853 leaving no son, real or adopted.

Nana Sahib.

A boy was brought up in his household who was known as Nana Sahib. He also was a Mahratta Brahman, the son of a dependant of the ex-Peishwa; he was a favourite of the exiled prince and was treated as one of the family. Accordingly, when the ex-Peishwa died in 1853, Nana Sahib boldly asserted that he was an adopted son. The widow of the ex-Peishwa denied the fact, and asserted her own claims to the property. The truth has long ceased to be a matter of any consequence. Nana Sahib and the widow appear to have come to some secret understanding. He was permitted to inherit the castellated palace and grounds at Bithoor, as well as the money savings which amounted to about half a million sterling, and had been invested in government paper. He also provided for the widow in the palace of Bithoor.

Preposterous claims.

Nana Sahib had thus obtained all that he could possibly have claimed had he been adopted according to all the forms of Brahmanical law. But he laid claim to a continuation of the pension of £80,000 a year, which had been granted to the ex-Peishwa at the instance of Sir John Malcolm; and Lord Dalhousie refused to take his pretensions into consideration. Nana Sahib invented lies, which were plausible only to those who were not familiar with the real circumstances. He declared that the ex-Peishwa had surrendered his dominions on the understanding that the pension should be granted to him and to his heirs for ever. But this falsehood was contradicted by history, and no one gave it the slightest credence except the enemies of the East India Company, or the opponents of Lord Dalhousie's policy.

Pertinacity.

Nana Sahib was a genuine Mahratta, and would have persisted in forcing his claims from time to time upon the British government if he had lived for a hundred years. He was polite and smooth-tongued, flattering every European of influence that came in his way, and ever boasting of his loyalty to the British government. He professed to take the utmost pleasure in the society of Europeans, and was noted for his entertainments at Bithoor, to which he invited all the European society at Cawnpore. He affected to live in state like a Hindu Raja; he kept six guns for firing salutes, and entertained a large number of Mahratta troops and followers. But he never forgot his claim to the pension. He constantly harped upon the so-called injustice that deprived him of it; and he employed agents both in India and Great Britain to urge the British government to treat the pension as perpetual and hereditary.

Cunning.

When the Bengal sepoys began to express horror at the greased cartridges, Nana Sahib denounced their folly in supposing that the British government had planned the destruction of their religion. When the news arrived of the outbreak at Meerut, he persuaded the civil officials at Cawnpore to send their wives and other ladies to Bithoor until the storm had blown over. He boasted that he could protect them against any number of sepoys, and arrangements were actually made for securing the ladies at Bithoor in the event of a mutiny. Later on, when the revolt at Delhi had become common talk, the Nana proposed to organise a body of 1,500 Mahrattas to take the sepoys by surprise, and put them all to the sword, should they show the slightest symptom of mutiny.

Anxieties of the Europeans.

By this time the anxiety of the Europeans at Cawnpore was becoming intolerable. The ladies especially suffered severely. On any night a signal might be given, and a mob of armed sepoys might be rushing about like madmen, burning down bungalows and murdering the women and children in their beds. All were yearning for the recapture of Delhi. Indeed, every European in India felt that the plague of sepoy mutiny would never be stayed until Delhi was once again in the hands of the British government.

Expected mutiny, 21st May.

§6. On the 21st of May, Sir Hugh Wheeler received a distinct warning that the sepoys were about to mutiny. He sent to all the European residents at Cawnpore to repair towards evening to the empty barracks. He despatched an express to Lucknow to beg Sir Henry Lawrence to spare him two or three companies of the European regiment. He was alarmed for the safety of the treasury, which was seven miles from the barracks under the charge of sepoy guards. He attempted to remove the treasure to the barracks, but the sepoys refused to part with it, declaring that they could guard it where it was. Sir Hugh Wheeler was obliged to yield, for he had no means at hand to coerce the sepoys; but he accepted the offer of Nana Sahib to place a body of his Mahratta soldiers on guard at the treasury. That very night 200 Mahratta soldiers, armed with matchlocks and accompanied by two guns, were moved from Bithoor and quartered at the treasury. The arrangements seem to have been made for the convenience of the sepoys, rather than for the security of the Europeans. The jail was close to the treasury, with its criminal inmates; so too was the magazine which contained the military stores. All three buildings were near the river Ganges on the road to Delhi.

Horrible suspense.

The confusion and terror which prevailed that night may be imagined. Ladies and children were hurried from their homes, and huddled together in the old hospital building. Guns were drawn up on each side. The children were hushed off to sleep, but the ladies were too terrified to close their eyes. Next morning eighty-four European soldiers arrived from Lucknow and cheered the inmates of the hospital and barracks. But during the week that followed, the suspense was almost beyond endurance. One lady lost her reason, and all suffered from trials, privations, exposure and alarms which cannot be described. Daily and hourly they expected an insurrection of Asiatics who knew not how to pity or how to spare. Some wished that the storm would burst upon them and put an end to the harrowing anxiety that was eating into their souls. Amidst all these dangers the British officers still slept at the sepoy lines.

Hope.

On the 31st of May, after a horrible night, the first instalment of European reinforcements arrived from Bengal. Others appeared during the two following days, and brought the joyful news that they were the forerunners of several regiments; that European troops were pouring into Calcutta from Madras, Burma and Ceylon, and were being hurried up by river steamers, bullock trains and country carriages. Sir Hugh Wheeler was so confident of being very shortly more than a match for the sepoys, that with a chivalrous regard for the safety of Sir Henry Lawrence, he sent a portion of his Europeans back to Lucknow.

Sickening delay.

Then followed the delays at Benares and Allahabad; the stoppage of reinforcements; the hope deferred that maketh the heart sick. To crown all, the Indian sun was burning fiercely on the barracks, and the hot winds of June were blowing through the rooms. Many Europeans were carried off by sickness, and their fate was almost to be envied, for life itself was becoming intolerable. Had the Europeans been all men, they might have cut their way to Agra, and forced a passage down the river to Allahabad. But Sir Hugh Wheeler had 300 women and children on his hands, and it was impossible to carry them away in the face of sepoys and rebels. No other alternative was thought of for a moment. No European could dream at such a crisis of leaving women and children to the tender mercies of sepoys.

Nana Sahib at Cawnpore.

§7. All this while there were no suspicions of treachery as regards Nana Sahib; yet in reality the Mahratta Brahman was moving about like an evil spirit in disguise. To show his loyalty and attachment to the British, he left his palace at Bithoor, and took up his quarters at a house within the civil station at Cawnpore. His real purpose was to excite the sepoys to revolt, but to prevent them from rushing off to Delhi, and rallying round a Mohammedan sovereign. He was not a Mohammedan, but a Hindu; besides that, he was a representative of Hindu sovereigns, the extinct Mahratta Peishwas, who, according to his own views, were the rightful rulers of India. In his secret heart he fondly dreamed of upsetting British supremacy, and restoring the old days of Mahratta anarchy, when the Brahman Peishwa ruled at Poona as the head of the Mahratta confederacy, whilst his lieutenants, Sindia and Holkar, plundered Hindustan in his name.

Blindness of the Europeans.

A more dangerous character than Nana Sahib never entered a British cantonment in India. The civil officials and the army officers were alike deceived. No one believed in his truth or honesty, but they imagined that he was looking after his own interest with that pertinacity which characterises Mahrattas. In other words, that he was rendering ostentatious services in the hope of being rewarded with the life pension of the deceased Peishwa.

Unpopularity of Nana Sahib.

But Nana Sahib encountered overwhelming difficulties from the outset. Like all Mahratta Brahmans he had the highest opinion of his caste and claims. Indeed his assumption was unbounded. But the Brahmans and Rajputs of Oudh and the North-West Provinces, who formed the bulk of the sepoy army of Bengal, were by no means inclined to accept a Mahratta sovereign, unless they were highly paid for their allegiance. They were prepared to make him their tool, and to tender him sham reverence, so long as he was liberal with money and bangles of gold or silver; but they had no more respect for the Mahratta, than the sepoys at Delhi had for the Mogul Padishah.

Secrecy and duplicity.

Nana Sahib seems to have been more or less aware of this state of affairs. He had entertained a large number of Mahratta soldiers ostensibly to help the British to suppress the sepoys; just as the ex-Peishwa had raised a Mahratta army in 1817 ostensibly to help the British to suppress the Pindharis. Meanwhile Nana Sahib quietly sold out the half million sterling which had been invested in government paper. He had thus ample funds for carrying out his designs. But neither Nana Sahib nor the sepoys betrayed the thoughts that were agitating their brains. Secrecy and surprise, with the necessary element of duplicity, are the main strength of Orientals.

Mutiny of 4th June.

§8. On the 4th of June, the very day that Neill reached Benares, Sir Hugh Wheeler was warned that the sepoys were plotting mutiny and murder. Accordingly he ordered the British officers to leave off sleeping at the sepoy lines. That same night the sepoys broke out in mutiny. The cavalry galloped off to the treasury and helped the Mahrattas to plunder it. The British officers left the barracks and hastened to the lines, but were fired upon by the sepoys. The rebels loaded a number of country carts with plunder from the treasury and magazine, and then set off with all speed to the first stage on the road to Delhi.

Nana Sahib joins the sepoys.

Nana Sahib accompanied the rebels, but implored them not to go to Delhi. He swore that a large treasure was hidden away in the barracks, and urged the sepoys to return and capture it, and slaughter all the Feringhis. Asiatics will believe any stories of hidden treasure. The sepoys were also told that enough guns and powder remained in the magazine to enable them to storm the barracks with ease. Accordingly, on the 6th of June, the sepoys returned to Cawnpore with Nana Sahib at their head.

Propitiates Mohammedans and Hindus.

Nana Sahib now began to appear in his true colours. He pitched his camp in the centre of the station and hoisted two standards, to conciliate both Mohammedans and Hindus; namely, the green flag of Islam, and the Hindu god Hanuman, the friend of Rama, the avatar of Vishnu. He sent a body of horsemen into the town of Cawnpore to kill every European and Christian they could find. He mounted some heavy guns and prepared to assault the entrenched barracks.

Bombardment of European barracks.

Next morning, the 7th of June, Nana Sahib sent a letter to General Wheeler threatening to attack the British garrison. Several guns began to open fire on the barracks, and volleys of musketry were discharged from all quarters. Meanwhile Nana Sahib was reinforced by mutineers from Allahabad, by irregulars from Lucknow, by rebels from Oudh, and by armed bands of brigands and blackguards from all the country round.

Cruelty and cowardice.

At this period Nana Sahib was guilty of cowardly malice and revolting cruelty which appear incredible to Europeans. British refugees were flying from mutinous sepoys; floating down the river Ganges in boats in the hope of reaching Allahabad. They were arrested at Cawnpore, brought before the inhuman Mahratta, and brutally murdered. Men, women, and children were cut to pieces like cattle. The Europeans in the barracks heard nothing of these butcheries, or the story of Cawnpore would have had a different ending. But they knew enough to resist to the death every assault of the enemy. The rebels, on their part, kept up a hot fire, and made frequent rushes on the earthworks, but they never ventured on hand-to-hand encounters. Their one solitary exploit was to set fire to the hospital, and then, whilst the place was burning, and every effort was being made to save the inmates, a mass of rebels tried to storm the barracks. The assault, however, was a failure. The enemy was driven back by the British guns, but many of the sick and wounded Europeans perished in the flaming hospital.

Parleying and perfidy.

On the 24th and 25th of June there was some parleying. The British garrison could hold out no longer. Provisions and stores were exhausted. Nana Sahib was frightened and humiliated by the obstinate courage of the British. Moreover he was yearning for the pomp and pleasure of sovereignty. Under such circumstances he sent written messages to General Wheeler by the hands of a woman. He solemnly swore that he would provide boats for the passage of the whole of the beleaguered Europeans down the Ganges to Allahabad, provided the British would surrender their arms, and leave him in possession of the cannon, and of what remained in the treasury and magazine. Few men of Indian experience would have trusted in the good faith of Nana Sahib; but Sir Hugh Wheeler was bowed down by the weight of years, and by the terrible responsibility of the women and children, and in an evil hour he accepted the terms offered by the false-hearted Mahratta.

Massacre.

§9. On the morning of the 27th of June, 450 Europeans left the barracks and proceeded to the river side. The sick and wounded were carried in palanquins; the women and children were placed on elephants and bullock carts; the men went on foot. Forty boats were moored in the shallows of the river, and the men waded through the water whilst the others were carried to the boats. All were on board by nine o'clock, and the boats were loosened from their moorings. A crowd of sepoys and rebels was assembled on both banks of the river to witness the departure of the Europeans. Suddenly a bugle was sounded. Volleys of musketry were fired upon the boats, and shrieks of agony and terror rose from the hapless passengers. Presently the thatched roofs of some of the boats caught fire, and the flames rapidly spread as the boats were huddled together. Many of the doomed passengers jumped overboard. One boat escaped down the stream, but only four individuals survived to tell the story. Many were shot dead or were drowned in the river. The rest were all dragged ashore helpless and unarmed. The men were allowed a few moments to prepare for death, and one of their number who had preserved a Prayer Book, read a portion of the Liturgy. All the men were then shot dead by volleys of musketry. The women and children, who escaped alive, to the number of 125, were carried off and lodged in a building close to the head-quarters of Nana Sahib.

Triumph of Nana Sahib.

That night there were great rejoicings in the station at Cawnpore. The Mahratta Brahman was puffed up with his so-called victory over British captives. Money and bangles were freely distributed to the murderers, whilst salutes were fired from the cannon, and the whole station was ablaze with fireworks and illuminations. The infamous Nana Sahib, the last faint shadow of the Mahratta Brahmans who had once reigned at Poona, was proclaimed conqueror of the British, and Peishwa of Hindustan.

Terrors.

But the avenging furies were already at the heels of the Mahratta Brahman. Neither drugs nor dancing girls could quiet his terrors. The Mohammedan sepoys were already plotting his destruction; they wanted to restore the reign of Islam, not to set up the idolatry which was denounced in the Koran. The lavish distribution of treasures might please them for a while, but would not satisfy them in the end. Meanwhile, the Rajputs were ready enough to accept his rupees and bangles, but they were his masters, and compelled him to do their bidding. To crown his anxieties, a column of European soldiers was soon on its way from Allahabad to avenge the slaughter of their countrymen at Cawnpore, and to deliver British wives, mothers, and widows, together with their helpless children, from the hands of the perjured destroyer.

Massacre at Jhansi.

That same month of June saw a like massacre at Jhansi, about 150 miles to the south of Cawnpore, amidst the hills and jungles of Bundelkund. British rule had been introduced, together with a garrison of Bengal sepoys. The sepoys mutinied as they did elsewhere, and the Europeans, to the number of fifty-five men, women, and children, took refuge in an old fortress until the storm blew over. The sepoys could not capture the fortress. The widow of the deceased chief sent them elephants and guns, but they were of no avail. At last it was known that the provisions within the fortress were exhausted. The widow and the sepoys solemnly swore to conduct the besieged to another station, if they would only lay down their arms. The terms were accepted; the besieged left the fortress two by two, and were all seized, bound, and butchered without further parley.

General Havelock.

§10. Early in July, General Havelock reached Allahabad with 1,000 Europeans and 200 Sikhs, and joined his forces with those of Colonel Neill, and took the command. The one object of the expedition was to relieve the British garrisons at Cawnpore and Lucknow, and to save the women and children. Henry Havelock was short in stature, and spare in form. He was a pale man of ascetic habits, who might have served in Cromwell's Ironsides. He was a soldier to the backbone, but religious to the verge of fanaticism. His whole life was devoted to fighting and prayer. He thirsted for military glory and the conversion of Mohammedans and Hindus. He had seen much service. He had distinguished himself in the first Burma war and the first Afghan war, and had published clear and able narratives of both campaigns. He had also distinguished himself in the Gwalior war and the two Sikh wars; and he had just returned from the Persian expedition, in which he had commanded a division. But the straitness of his religious views had interfered with his promotion, and the greater part of his life had been spent in regimental duty. He was approaching the age when men usually retire from active service; but he was destined, during the last few months of his career, to become famous throughout the civilised world.

Advance on Cawnpore.

On the 7th of July General Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore with less than 2,000 Europeans and Sikhs. By this time the slaughter of the Europeans at Cawnpore was noised abroad, but there were still hopes of saving the women and children. There was a march of 120 miles between Allahabad and Cawnpore. An Indian sun glared down at intervals, but the heat was moderated by heavy rains, which were equally deadly. Fever, dysentery, and cholera, carried off more victims than the enemy's fire. But men and officers were one and all animated by the same determined spirit to be revenged on Nana Sahib and the rebels, and to save the women and children at Cawnpore.

Treachery of a deputy collector.

At Futtehpore, about two-thirds of the way to Cawnpore, there had been a sepoy mutiny, and civil rebellion, headed by a Mohammedan deputy collector. The European residents had already sent their wives and families to Allahabad, and when the outbreak took place they all escaped on horseback save one. The exception was Mr. Robert Tucker, of the Bengal civil service, the judge of the district, who refused to abandon his post. The Asiatics, headed by the Mohammedan deputy-collector, environed Mr. Tucker's house and overpowered him, but not until he had slain sixteen men with his own hands. He was then brought to a mock trial, at which the Mohammedan presided, and of course was condemned and executed, and his head, hands, and feet held up for the inspection of the rabble.

Defeat of the Nana.

When Nana Sahib was master of Cawnpore, he sent a large force of rebel cavalry to Futtehpore, to defeat the European column, and if possible to capture the fortress of Allahabad. But he was too late. Had the rebels advanced against Allahabad before the outbreak, they might have captured the fortress, and blocked out all reinforcements from Bengal. As it was, they were utterly defeated and dispersed by Havelock's column.

Execution of a murderer.

After the battle the Mohammedan deputy-collector appeared to offer his congratulations to General Havelock. To his intense surprise, he found that his crime was known to the British authorities. He was arrested on the spot, and within a brief interval he was tried, convicted, and hanged for the murder of the British judge.

Tragedy at Cawnpore.

§11. Next day another rebel force was routed, and then followed a crowning victory at Cawnpore. But now Havelock was too late. Maddened by defeat, Nana Sahib had ordered the slaughter of the women and children, and then had fled away in the hope of finding refuge at his castle at Bithoor.

The well.

Never before had British soldiers beheld such a sight as met their eyes at Cawnpore. Other fugitive women and children had been captured by Nana Sahib, and 200 helpless beings had been imprisoned in the same building. A veil may be thrown over their sufferings. Some of the poor ladies were compelled to grind corn for the household of Nana Sahib, and they were glad to do so, as it enabled them to bring back some flour for their half-starved children. In this wretched plight, longing for relief but despairing of succour, they had been suddenly attacked by sepoys and rebels, and mercilessly hacked to pieces with swords and hatchets, and then thrust into a well. Never, so long as a Briton remains in India, will the ghastly well at Cawnpore be forgotten. Since then a Christian church has been built over the well, and a marble angel is seen with outspread wings, as if imploring forgiveness and mercy.

Destruction of Bithoor.

Havelock advanced to Bithoor, but Nana Sahib had fled into Oudh. At Bithoor Havelock demolished the castle, and brought away the guns. Within a few days he left General Neill at Cawnpore, and crossed the Ganges into Oudh with a force of 1,500 Europeans and Sikhs, for the relief of Lucknow.

Lucknow: May to July.

§12. It was now the middle of July, and it is necessary to glance at the progress of affairs at Lucknow since the 3rd of May. On that day an irregular corps of Oudh sepoys had threatened to murder its European adjutant; but that same night a force of European soldiers and Bengal sepoys marched against them. The mutineers surrendered their arms, and then rushed off in a panic of terror towards Delhi. The Bengal sepoys hotly pursued them, and arrested the ringleaders. But the scare at greased cartridges was rankling in the breasts of these very Bengal sepoys; and Sir Henry Lawrence had reason to fear that sooner or later they would break out in mutiny like the Oudh Irregulars.

Bengal sepoys rewarded.

For the moment, however, the Bengal regulars had been overawed by the prompt action of the Europeans. Accordingly Sir Henry Lawrence determined on a public distribution of presents to the Asiatic officers and sepoys who had distinguished themselves on the 3rd of May; and thus to show that if the British government was prompt to punish mutiny, it was equally prompt in rewarding faithful service.

Durbar of 12th May.

A grand durbar was held on the evening of the 12th of May. The whole of the European civil and military residents at Lucknow, all the officers and men of the Bengal regiments, and many Asiatic officials were assembled on the lawn in front of the Residency. Carpets had been laid down, and chairs arranged to form three sides of a square. Sir Henry Lawrence entered, followed by his staff, and a large body of officers, and took his seat at the head of the assemblage. Beside him were deposited the trays of presents. Before, however, distributing the rewards, he delivered a solemn and earnest speech in Hindustani.

Speech of Sir Henry Lawrence.

Sir Henry Lawrence reminded the Hindu sepoys that Mohammedan rulers had never respected their religion, and had converted many Hindus to Islam by forcing beef down their throats. He reminded the Mohammedan sepoys that their religion had been cruelly persecuted by the Sikh rulers of the Punjab. He reminded one and all that for a whole century the British government had tolerated both Hinduism and Islam, and never interfered with either. He dwelt on the power and resources of Great Britain, her numerous ships and her exploits in the Russian war; and he declared that within a few months she could assemble an army as large as that in the Crimea in the vicinity of Lucknow. He urged all present to believe the assurances of the British government, and he solemnly warned the sepoys that if any of them became the dupes of fools or knaves, like the mutineers at Berhampore and Barrackpore, the British would inflict such a punishment as would be remembered for generations. The presents were then distributed, and Sir Henry Lawrence shook hands with the recipients.

News of revolt at Delhi, 16th May.

The speech and the rewards made a deep impression on the sepoys, but it did not last. Four days later the news arrived of the revolt at Delhi, and mischief was again brewing. Another fortnight passed away without mutiny, and Sir Henry Lawrence gained time for making the necessary preparations. He entrenched the Residency and adjoining buildings, and collected large quantities of provisions and stores. Meanwhile the Europeans in Lucknow, who were not serving as regimental officers, were formed into a volunteer corps.

General mutiny, 30th May.

On the 30th of May in the middle of the night, about 2,000 sepoys of the regular Bengal army broke out in mutiny at the cantonment on the opposite side of the river. European officers were killed, and houses were pillaged and burnt. Sir Henry Lawrence hurried across the river with a company of Europeans and two guns, to protect the bridges and prevent the mutineers from communicating with the disaffected population of Lucknow. Presently the sepoys came rushing up to the bridges, but were driven back by a volley of grape. They dispersed, but made no attempt to reach Delhi. On the contrary, they halted at a place named Sitapore, within the province of Oudh, where they remained several weeks and did nothing.

Proposed retreat to Cawnpore.

Meanwhile the storm was gathering. Early in June news arrived of the treachery of Nana Sahib at Cawnpore. General Wheeler wrote to Sir Henry Lawrence imploring help and protection for the women and children in the barracks. But Sir Henry Lawrence was in sore straits and could not spare a European soldier. He had been authorised to withdraw from Oudh in case of emergency, and possibly had he beat a retreat from Lucknow to Cawnpore, he might have prevented the massacres. But the step would have been more hazardous and desperate than the abandonment of Peshawar by his brother John. No one anticipated massacre, and reinforcements of Europeans from Bengal might reach Cawnpore at any moment, and stamp out the mutiny and crush the Nana. Retreat from Oudh would not only have involved the loss of a province, but imparted a fatal strength to mutiny and murder from Bengal to the Punjab. The flag of Mohammedan revolt was still floating over Delhi, and had it floated over Lucknow, the second Mohammedan city in Hindustan, British prestige would have vanished for a while from Northern India.

Mutineers in the districts.

In June mutiny and murder were running riot at different stations in Oudh. At some places the atrocities committed on Europeans were heart-rending. At one station there was an outbreak on a Sunday morning. The sepoys rushed into the church during divine service and killed the British magistrate and several officers. Some thirty Europeans, including ladies and children, fled for their lives, and escaped to a station named Mohamdi, where a detachment of Oudh irregulars were quartered under the command of Captain Orr. The very sight of European fugitives taking refuge at the station, drove the sepoys into rebellion. Captain Orr assembled the Asiatic officers and appealed to their common humanity. The men were moved to compassion. They crossed their arms on the head of one of their comrades, and solemnly swore to conduct all the Europeans in safety to another station.

Massacre of Europeans.

The convoy started at five o'clock in the evening; the men on foot or on horseback, and the women and children in a carriage and baggage waggon. Suddenly they found that they were pursued by sepoys. They did their best to hasten on the carriage and waggon, but were soon overtaken and surrounded. A gun was fired, a British officer was shot down, and then followed a general massacre. Women and children were slaughtered with infernal cruelty. A few fugitives escaped the slaughter, but were doomed to privations and sufferings on which it is painful to dwell.

Hostility at Lucknow.

§13. The Residency at Lucknow was still a place of refuge, although it might possibly be soon overwhelmed by numbers. No effort was spared by the disaffected to stir up the city population against the British authorities. Proclamations were posted from day to day on Hindu temples, and Mohammedan mosques and palaces, calling upon the people to wage a holy war against the Feringhi. Horrible effigies, dressed as British officers and children, but without heads, were carried through the streets by the rabble. Plots were discovered and individuals were arrested, but British prestige was dying out with alarming rapidity, and by the end of June British authority had little influence outside the limits of the Residency at Lucknow.

Disaster at Chinhut.

On the 29th of June reports came in that an army of 6,000 rebels was marching towards the British Residency, and that an advanced guard of 1,000 might be expected to arrive on the following morning. Sir Henry Lawrence marched out to attack the advance guard, with 300 Europeans, eleven guns, and about 300 Asiatics, including sepoy cavalry, and native artillery drivers. There was treachery from the outset. Instead of an advanced guard of 1,000, the whole body of insurgents was hidden in the jungle behind the village of Chinhut, about six miles from the Residency. As Sir Henry Lawrence approached he was met by a heavy fire from a battery of guns posted in the village. The Europeans advanced; the British guns returned the enemy's fire with great effect, and victory was assured. At that moment the Asiatic artillery drivers turned traitors, cut the traces, tumbled the guns into a ditch, and deserted to the enemy. The 300 Europeans were thus left exposed to a terrible fire and forced to beat a retreat. They were compelled to abandon their killed and wounded, and only one hundred reached the Residency. Sir Henry Lawrence was severely wounded, and worn out with fatigue and despair, but was brought away on a gun-carriage.

Defence of the Residency.

The rebel army followed the Europeans. They reached the bridge which led to the Residency, but were driven back by the fire of the British batteries. They forded the river at another spot, and began to plunder the wealthy quarter of Lucknow. This gave the British garrison breathing time. They abandoned the cantonment on the opposite bank, and many of the buildings near the Residency. Henceforth they contracted the area of defence to the British Residency and a few houses within the Residency enclosure.

Residency besieged, 30th June.

The siege of the British Residency soon began in right earnest. The besieged within the enclosure numbered 500 British soldiers, 150 British officers, 500 women and children, and some 300 or 400 sepoys who had remained loyal. The besiegers soon numbered from 25,000 to 50,000 rebels. They environed the Residency enclosure with a circle of guns. They kept up a heavy and continuous fire, and killed and wounded many of the British garrison, but they could not capture a single position.

Death of Sir Henry Lawrence, 4th July.

On the second day of the siege Sir Henry Lawrence was mortally wounded by the bursting of a shell. He died on the 4th of July, exhorting those around him to entrench night and day, and to shut their ears against all suggestions of surrender. Such was the terrible lesson which had been taught to every European in India by the treacherous massacres at Cawnpore.

Dissension amongst the rebels.

The besiegers increased in numbers with marvellous rapidity. They were joined by all the rebel sepoys in Oudh; by the vassals of the talukdars, who were mostly brigands; and by the scum of the population of Lucknow. They were, however, at constant strife with each other; torn by quarrels about religion, politics, or personal animosities. One prince was raised to the throne and another was placed in command of the army, but their authority was nominal. The rebels elected their own officers, and the officers chose their own generals; but cowardice and insubordination were rampant, and commanding officers often lost their lives in attempts to uphold their short-lived dignities.

Anarchy in the city.

Repulse of rebels, 21st July: news of Havelock.

Meanwhile there was a reign of terror in the city of Lucknow. The orderly and peaceful classes, which made up the bulk of the population, were overwhelmed by taxes and exactions of all kinds; and bankers, traders and other wealthy citizens, must have yearned for the restoration of a rule under which life and property were always respected.

At early morning, on the 21st of July, there was a general assault. The batteries opened on the Residency from all sides. The sepoys advanced in compact masses to the trenches, but were driven back by the fire of the Europeans. The next day the struggle was renewed, but with the same result. The British garrison, amidst all these toils and privations, exulted in the conviction that they could repulse the assaults of the rebel besiegers until help should arrive. That very night a faithful sepoy got inside the Residency with the news that General Havelock had compelled Nana Sahib to fly for his life, and had recaptured the city and cantonment of Cawnpore.

Havelock retreats.

§14. Havelock failed to reach Lucknow. His brave little column worked wonders. It scattered large armies of rebels by bayonet charges, but it was rapidly reduced by three fatal diseases—fever, dysentery and cholera. Havelock could not spare troops for keeping up his communications with Cawnpore; he was compelled to carry his sick and wounded with him, and he was losing fifty men a day. Before he had fought his way a third of the distance, he was compelled with a heavy heart to fall back on Cawnpore.

Mutiny in Behar: defence of Arrah.

Havelock reached Cawnpore just in time to save Neill from being overwhelmed by rebel armies. European reinforcements from Bengal had again been delayed by mutinies. At Patna there had been a Mohammedan plot which was quashed at the outset by Mr. William Tayler, a Bengal civilian. At Dinapore, ten miles west of Patna, three sepoy regiments had mutinied. At Arrah, twenty-five miles still further to the west, a large body of rebels had attacked and plundered the station; but sixteen Europeans and fifty Sikhs defended a single house against 3,000 rebels for an entire week, when they were relieved by a detachment of Europeans from Dinapore under the command of Major Vincent Eyre.

European garrison at Lucknow.

Meanwhile the suspense of the Europeans in the Residency at Lucknow was becoming intense. The provisions were coarse and beginning to fail. Most of the native servants and all the bakers had fled at the beginning of the siege. Balls, bullets, and fragments of shells fell into every dwelling-place; and ladies and children on beds of sickness were as much exposed to the fire of the enemy as the soldiers in the trenches. There was, however, no slackening on the part of the garrison. Every man in the Residency worked in the trenches. Officers, soldiers, and civilians were either returning the enemy's fire, or digging with spades and pickaxes. The rains allayed the burning heat; but fever, dysentery, and cholera carried off their victims. No one thought of capitulation. Cawnpore had steeled every British heart. Husbands and fathers would have slain their own wives and daughters, rather than they should have fallen into the hands of the merciless besiegers.

Delay of Havelock.

All this while General Havelock was impatient to attempt a second advance on Lucknow. His force was too small to fight a way through the streets of the city into the Residency enclosure. Could the garrison have cut their way out, he might possibly have convoyed the whole body in safety to Cawnpore. But Brigadier Inglis, who commanded the garrison, was hampered with 450 women and children. He had no carriage, and in any case he was unwilling to abandon the guns and treasure. So Havelock and Inglis were both compelled to await the arrival of further reinforcements from Bengal.

Advance of Havelock and Outram, September.

§15. At last about the middle of September, a column of 3,000 troops was formed at Cawnpore, of whom 2,700 were Europeans. General Sir James Outram was sent from Calcutta to take the command, and Havelock must have smarted at the supersession; but Outram, who was known as the Bayard of India, chivalrously refused to supersede him. Accordingly the column left Cawnpore under Havelock's command.

Britons to the rescue.

Never in British history had a more resolute or enthusiastic column of soldiers taken the field. It was something for the crusaders to wrest Jerusalem from the infidels. It was something to stand against overwhelming numbers at Agincourt and Cressy. But Havelock and his men had to rescue British women and children from the horrible fate that befell the victims at Cawnpore; and neither shot nor shell, bullet nor barricade, could have availed against British valour in such a cause.

City and Residency.

There was a five days' toilsome march from the Ganges at Cawnpore to the city of Lucknow. Then a day's halt for rest. Then on the glorious 25th of September, Havelock and his men fought their way into the city, whilst Outram, with a sublime contempt for rebels, scorned to draw his sword, and hammered about with a walking-stick. But the work was no child's play. A rebel battery had to be carried with the bayonet. Then the high street was reached, which led from the suburbs to the Residency, but it was long and narrow. The British column might have suffered heavily from barricades, or from a raking fire which might have been opened from the houses on either side. Outram, however, was familiar with the whole labyrinth of roads and lanes. He led the main body through by-ways towards the Residency, whilst the high street was closed by Highlanders and Sikhs. Towards evening a junction was formed, and the united forces marched straight on to the Residency.

Anxieties of the garrison.

Throughout the whole day the beleaguered garrison in the Residency had been anxious and bewildered. In the morning they heard the roar of cannon in the distant suburbs. They beheld a mob of Asiatic fugitives from the city—men, women, and children, with terrified sepoys in full uniform all rushing to the bridges, or wading and swimming through the river. The guns of the Residency opened fire, but the rebel batteries responded with a storm of shot and shell. In the afternoon discharges of musketry were heard; the fusillade drew nearer and nearer. Presently the Europeans and Sikhs appeared on the scene with mounted officers in front. Finally Havelock and Outram dismounted from their horses, and were carried on the shoulders of their men through an embrasure into the Residency.

Cheers and tears.

§16. Then arose ringing cheers which must have astonished the Hindu gods on Mount Meru. The pent-up hearts of the half-starved garrison could find no other way of giving vent to their emotions. From every pit, trench, and battery, from behind sand-bags piled on shattered houses, from the sick and wounded in the hospital, nothing was to be heard but shouts and cries of welcome. The British soldiers who poured into the Residency were equally moved. They had saved women and children from the destroyer. Rough and bearded warriors shook hands with the ladies all round. They took the children in their arms, kissed them and passed them from one to the other; and with tears running down their cheeks, they thanked God that all were rescued. But in the hour of gladness there was a dash of sorrow. The gallant Neill had met with a glorious death in the streets of Lucknow.

Havelock's dilemma.

Havelock and Outram had cut their way into the Residency, but the question was how to get out again. It was comparatively easy to lead enthusiastic battalions into a beleaguered fortress, but it was a very different thing to convoy 400 women and children, 600 sick and wounded, and a quarter of a million sterling in silver, through the narrow streets of Lucknow exposed to the fire of swarms of rebels thirsting for blood and rupees.

Unexpected provisions.

There was, however, no alternative. Provisions were exhausted. Suddenly the commissariat discovered a vast stock of grain which had been overlooked after the death of Sir Henry Lawrence. The problem was solved. The oxen which dragged the guns, ammunition, and baggage of Havelock's column would furnish the garrison with butcher's meat for months. Accordingly it was determined to remain behind the defences of the Residency enclosure until another European army advanced to the conquest of Oudh.

Sir James Outram in command.

Sir James Outram was now chief commissioner of Oudh, and general in command of the garrison. Many positions were wrested from the rebels, and the area of defence was enlarged. The garrison was no longer in daily peril, and it was felt that an avenging army of Europeans and Sikhs would soon deliver them.

Advance of Sir Colin Campbell, November.

§17. Meanwhile, Sir Colin Campbell, one of the heroes in the Russian war, had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Bengal army, in succession to General Anson. He reached Calcutta in August, and prepared for a second expedition against Lucknow. In October an army of 4,700 Europeans and thirty-two guns was assembled at Cawnpore. In November the expedition set out for Lucknow, under the new commander-in-chief.[32] It included a detachment of sailors from the Shannon frigate, who had brought their guns to bear upon the rebels, under the command of Captain William Peel, a son of the illustrious Sir Robert. The sailors excited the wonder of Asiatics, especially as it was reported that they had fish-tails like tritons, and were harnessed to the guns.

Deliverance: death of Havelock.

Sir Colin Campbell did not attempt to drive the rebels out of the city of Lucknow. His one object was to bring away the besieged from the Residency. By Outram's advice he did not advance through streets or by-ways, but made a detour through the palaces and other royal buildings. After much hard fighting, he reached the Residency, and brought away all the besieged at twenty-four hours' notice. The besiegers were outwitted. They knew nothing of what was going on, and continued to fire upon the Residency for hours after it had been abandoned.

But again there was sadness. General Havelock lived long enough to receive the cross of Knight Commander of the Bath, and died amidst the tears of the women and children whom he had done his best to rescue.

Gwalior rebels at Cawnpore.

§18. Many a soldier grieved over the retirement from Lucknow, but the retreat was a painful necessity. The Gwalior contingent, maintained by Sindia under the treaty of 1843, had broken out in mutiny and joined the forces of Nana Sahib. An army of 20,000 rebels advanced on Cawnpore, defeated Brigadier Wyndham, who had been left in charge, and occupied the town. Sir Colin Campbell shipped the precious convoy from Lucknow on board a flotilla of steamers, and despatched them to Calcutta. He then took the field, and drove the Gwalior rebels out of Cawnpore.

Calcutta, 30th January, 1858.

On the 30th of January, 1858, all the Europeans in Calcutta flocked to the banks of the Hughly, to welcome the return of the besieged from Lucknow; but when a procession of widows and orphans appeared in black raiment, with pallid faces and emaciated forms, the acclamations of the crowd died away in a deep and painful silence, and every eye was filled with tears for the sufferings of the survivors of the beleaguered garrison at Lucknow.

Conclusion.

§19. Here ends the story of the siege and relief of Lucknow. In 1858 Oudh was conquered, the rebellion was crushed, peace and order were restored, and a compromise with the talukdars was effected on the battle-field. The reconciliation of the people of Oudh with British rule and supremacy will be noted in a future chapter.

Causes of the revolt in Oudh.

Greased cartridges were the cause of the sepoy mutinies of 1857, but they were not the cause of the revolt in Oudh; and yet it was impossible for the British government to postpone the deposition of the king of Oudh or the annexation of the kingdom.

Unheeded warnings.

Oudh had been drifting into anarchy ever since it had been taken under British protection. Every Governor-General from Lord Wellesley to Lord Dalhousie had denounced the administration of Oudh as tyrannical, oppressive, and corrupt. Every ruler of Oudh had been threatened in turn; but as the Resident was warned not to interfere beyond tendering advice, repeated threats were as unheeded as the old cry of "wolf." Sir James Outram, the Bayard of India, and last British Resident at Lucknow, summed up his views in the following words:—"I have always been the upholder of native states as long as they retained a spark of vitality, and we could recognise them without infringing our treaties or our suzerain power. It is, therefore, most painful for me to have to acknowledge that if we persist in maintaining this feeble and corrupt dynasty, we shall be sacrificing the interests of ten millions of individuals whom we are bound by treaty to protect by ensuring them a good government, capable of defending the life and property of its subjects."

Feudatory states: mutinous contingents.

The feudatory states of India which owe allegiance to the British government displayed no sympathies with the Bengal sepoy, or with their mutinies against greased cartridges. Some may have trimmed and wavered, and were prepared to join the winning side. Contingent and subsidiary forces caught the infatuation against greased cartridges, and revolted against their British officers, and joined the mutineers. The Gwalior contingent revolted, but Sindia remained loyal. Holkar's troops revolted at Indore, and murdered every European they could find; and this could scarcely have been a rebellion against greased cartridges.[33] But after the lapse of a generation any suspicions of disloyalty that may linger in the minds of those who are familiar with the history of the time, may be dropped in oblivion.

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