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

by James Talboys Wheeler

CHAPTER V.—SEPOY REVOLT: BENGAL, DELHI, PUNJAB.—1857.

§1. European soldiers and Asiatic sepoys. §2. Three British armies in India: Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. §3. Sepoy army of Bengal: Brahmans and Rajputs. §4. Enfield cartridges: general horror of pork: Hindu worship of the cow. §5. Agitation of the sepoys at Barrackpore. §6. First mutiny against the cartridges: Berhampore. §7. Second mutiny: Barrackpore. §8. Oudh: mutiny at Lucknow: suppressed. §9. Mutiny and massacre at Meerut. §10. Mohammedan revolt and massacre at Delhi: general excitement. §11. British advance from the Punjab to Delhi. §12. Siege of Delhi by Europeans, Sikhs, and Ghorkas. §13. Punjab and John Lawrence: antagonism between Sikhs and Mohammedans. §14. Sepoy plots at Lahore and Mian Mir: quashed. §15. Peshawar and frontier mountain tribes. §16. Execution of sepoy mutineers at Peshawar. §17. Brigadier John Nicholson: worshipped by a Sikh brotherhood. §18. Proposed withdrawal from Peshawar. §19. Mutiny at Sealkote: wholesale executions. §20. Siege and storm of Delhi, September 1857: peace in the North-West.

Military rule in India.

It is a common saying that "India is held by the sword;" but the phrase is misleading, and in one direction it is absolutely untrue. The British army is not maintained to rivet a foreign yoke on the subject populations. Its main duty has been to keep the peace between rival princes, to put down fighting between antagonistic religions, and to protect India against foreign aggression.

Paucity of European troops.

§1. The small number of European troops in 1857 proves that India was free. In the Bengal provinces, which cover a larger area than Great Britain and Ireland, and a denser population, there were scarcely any European troops. A single regiment sufficed to garrison Calcutta; and of this regiment one wing was quartered in Fort William within the city, whilst the other wing was quartered in Dumdum arsenal, seven miles off. With this exception, there were no European troops within 400 miles of Calcutta. One European regiment was quartered at Dinapore, to the westward of Patna, and another at Rangoon, in the newly-acquired province of Pegu. There was also a European regiment at Lucknow in Oudh, and two European regiments at Meerut in the North-West Provinces, about forty miles from Delhi, and a thousand miles from Calcutta. But the bulk of the European regiments in India were quartered in the Punjab, the frontier province on the north-west. This frontier is the only vulnerable side of India. It faces Afghanistan; but it also faces a possible combination of European and Asiatic powers, which may some day menace the British empire in India.

Sepoys or Asiatics.

The army of the East India Company was mainly composed of native soldiers, known as sepoys. The term "native," however, is equivocal, and sepoys are best called Asiatics, to distinguish them from British soldiers, who are known in India as Europeans. They were formed into regiments corresponding to European battalions, and were drilled and commanded by European officers corresponding to regimental officers in Her Majesty's army. Each regiment had also an Asiatic staff of sepoy officers, known as naiks, havildars, jemadars, and subahdars—corresponding to corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. Such regiments were known as "regulars."

Army strength.

In 1857 the regular army of the East India Company comprised in round numbers about 200,000 Asiatics, commanded by 4,000 European officers, and about 45,000 British-born soldiers. But the European regiments were not all taken from Her Majesty's service. The East India Company had enlisted nine European regiments for exclusive service in India, who were known as Fusiliers and Locals. Moreover, in addition to the regular sepoys, there were battalions known as irregulars, because they had fewer regimental European officers. They were raised specially for service in particular provinces, and also for service in the contingent and subsidiary forces maintained by feudatory states under existing treaties.

Tried fidelity.

The sepoy army had been the pride and glory of the East India Company for more than a hundred years. It won its first laurels in the old wars against the French in Southern India; and from the battle of Plassy in 1757, to the dawn of 1857, it had shared the triumph of the British army in building up the Anglo-Indian empire. For perfection of discipline, and fidelity to their European officers, the sepoys might for many years have been favourably compared with the soldiers of any continental army. Hindus and Mohammedans fought side by side with Europeans, and one and all were bound together by that brotherhood in arms, which grows up between soldiers of all races and climes who have been under fire together in the same campaign.

No religious distinctions.

On the parade-ground and on the battle-field all differences of race, caste, and religion were for the moment forgotten. Together, sepoys and soldiers fought, not only against the French, but against Nawabs and Sultans who were Mohammedans, and against Mahrattas and Rajas who were Hindus. Together, they had crossed the Indus and the Sutlej to fight against Afghans and Sikhs; climbed the shelves and precipices of the Himalayas to punish the aggressions of the Ghorkas of Nipal; and ascended the waters of the Irrawaddy to chastise the arrogance of Burmese kings. When the sepoys were called out by the British magistrate to repress riots between Hindus and Mohammedans, they put their religion into their pockets and fired with the utmost impartiality on both parties, although in their hearts they must have sympathised with one side or the other. But the pride of the sepoy, whether Hindu or Mohammedan, was to be "faithful to his salt"—in other words, to be loyal to the master from whom he drew his pay.

Sepoy ways.

But sepoys have ways of their own which Europeans cannot always understand, unless they have served with them shoulder to shoulder, and listened patiently and considerately to the outpourings of their grievances. A sepoy is proud of his corps, jealous for its reputation, and respectful to his officers. Hindus of the higher castes, such as Brahmans and Rajputs, and Mohammedans of noble and ancient families, are alike amenable to British discipline. But sepoys can be stung to insubordination by insult or injustice, like soldiers of other races. Sepoys have been known to sacrifice caste prejudices to help European officers in time of need, but they resented needless interference or looks of scorn with the sullen pride of Orientals. At Vellore, in 1806, the Madras sepoys were driven to mutiny by the contemptuous orders of the military authorities as regards caste marks and turbans, and above all by the jeers of the Mysore princes, who taunted them with becoming Christians. Yet during the first Cabul war and other distant campaigns, sepoys often forgot their caste in cases of emergency, and cheerfully obeyed orders which they would have resented in their own country, or in the presence of inconvenient witnesses.

Mutiny at loss of batta.

Injustice again, real or imagined, is as intolerable to sepoys as it is to children. More than once a regiment has been deprived of batta, or field allowances, under circumstances which kindled a burning sense of wrong. This batta is given during service in foreign territory, but is withdrawn after the return of the sepoys to British territory. Thus, sepoys who had borne the brunt of the wars in Sind and the Punjab, were suddenly deprived of batta when those countries became British provinces, and naturally rebelled against what must have appeared to them a crying injustice. The sepoy complained that he had helped to conquer Sind for the East India Company, and was then punished by the loss of batta. The paymaster pointed to the regulations, but the result was disaffection amounting to mutiny.

Disbandment.

Under such circumstances there was no alternative but disbandment. There can be no pardon for mutineers, yet capital punishment, or even a long term of imprisonment, would be needlessly severe in dealing with ignorant sepoys. As it was, their doom was terrible in the eyes of their fellows. In a moment they were deprived of all hope of pension, which secured to every sepoy, a life provision in his native village when age or infirmity compelled him to retire from the army.

Three armies: Bengal, or Northern India.

§2. The Company's regular forces in India were formed into three distinct armies, namely, those of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, and each army had its own commander-in-chief. The armies of Madras and Bombay were mostly recruited in their respective presidencies; but the people of Bengal are not a fighting race, and the Bengal army was mostly recruited from the warlike populations of Oudh and the North-West Provinces. Again the Bengal army was not kept within the limits of the Bengal presidency, but was distributed over the whole of Northern India as far as the north-west frontier. It was consequently larger than the two other armies put together. It garrisoned Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and the newly-acquired provinces of Oudh and the Punjab; whilst it overlooked, more or less, the Asiatic states to the south and west of the Jumna, including the principalities and chiefships of Rajputana, the territories of Sindia and Holkar, and the smaller domains of a host of minor feudatories.

Bombay in the Deccan; Madras in the South.

The Bombay army garrisoned the Western Deccan and Sind, and the Madras army garrisoned Southern India and Pegu; but neither of these armies played any prominent part in the great sepoy revolt of 1857-58. Some disaffection was shown in the Bombay army which was nearest to the Bengal sepoys, and caught something of the contagion. The Madras army was for the most part still further south; and only one regiment caught the infection, and was promptly disbanded.

Hindus in Bengal army.

§3. The sepoy army of Bengal was mainly composed of Hindus. Taking the average strength of every regiment at 1,000 sepoys, there would be 800 Hindus and 200 Mohammedans; and the antagonism between the two religions was supposed to secure an additional safeguard against mutiny or disaffection.

High castes: Brahmans and Rajputs.

High caste was the main characteristic of the Hindu sepoys in the Bengal army. Of the 800 Hindus in every regiment, about 400 were Brahmans, the sacred caste of India, who claim to be gods, and are supposed to be endowed with supernatural powers. Next to the Brahmans were about 200 Rajputs, the royal caste of India, who claim to be "sons of Rajas," and are soldiers by birth as well as calling. The remaining 200 Hindus were men of low caste, who were regarded as inferior beings. The Brahmans were powerful over all, and were worshipped by the Rajputs as well as by the low castes.

Discipline and caste.

Pride of caste was thus the moving spirit of the Bengal army. This, however, was not perceptible on the parade ground or field of battle, except in the lofty mien, haughty bearing, and splendid physique of the men. The Bengal sepoys were taller on the average than any European armies, excepting perhaps the Russian guard.[27] On duty the Brahman and Rajput obeyed the word of command when given by a low caste sepoy officer. Off duty, the low caste sepoy officer prostrated himself in token of worship before the Brahman soldier under his command.

Growing insubordination of the Bengal sepoys.

But pride of caste had its disadvantages, and for years the Bengal sepoys had displayed a laxity of discipline, and a spirit of insubordination towards their European officers, which had been unknown in the older days. They had been pampered and humoured to an extent which diminished their efficiency, and many officers of experience lamented the change. But any report to that effect was naturally offensive to the higher military authorities; and those who were most alive to the growing evil found that it was best for their own interests to keep their opinion to themselves.

Calcutta, Dumdum, Barrackpore, Berhampore.

It has been seen that Calcutta was garrisoned by a single regiment of Europeans, one wing being quartered in Fort William and the other in the arsenal at Dumdum, about seven miles off. Nine miles north of Dumdum, and sixteen miles north of Calcutta, is the pleasant station of Barrackpore, where the Governor-General has a park and country mansion, and where four sepoy regiments were cantoned with their European officers, but without European troops. About 100 miles still further north is the station of Berhampore, hard by the old capital of Murshedabad; and here a regiment of sepoy infantry was posted, with half a regiment of sepoy cavalry and a battery of sepoy artillery.

Sepoy huts and lines.

A sepoy regiment in the Bengal army was cantoned in ten rows of huts, a company of 100 sepoys in each row. The arms and ammunition of each company were kept in a circular magazine in the front of each line. The European officers, with or without wives and families, lived round about in one-storied houses with thatched roofs, known as bungalows. The European officers rarely visited the sepoy lines during the heat of the day, but two European sergeants were appointed to each regiment to lodge close to the lines and report all that was going on.

Enfield rifle: musketry schools at Dumdum, Meerut, and Sealkote.

§4. In 1856 the Russian war was over, and the Enfield rifle, which had been used with such success in the Crimea, was introduced into India. Accordingly three musketry schools were established in Northern India for teaching the sepoys of the Bengal army the use of the new rifle. One school was established at Dumdum for the instruction of the sepoys in the Bengal presidency; another at Meerut, forty miles from Delhi, for those in the North-Western Provinces; and the third at Sealkote for those in the Punjab. Under this arrangement, detachments from the different regiments were to be sent from time to time to one or other of these schools until the whole Bengal army was familiar with the use of the Enfield. It will be seen hereafter that the three most dangerous mutinies in India grew out of these musketry schools.

Greased cartridges.

In those days every sepoy and soldier had been accustomed for generations to bite off the end of his paper cartridge before loading his musket. Accordingly a supply of cartridges for the new rifle was received from England, and forwarded to each of the three schools, and further supplies of the same pattern were manufactured in the arsenal at Dumdum by low-caste workmen known as Lascars. Suddenly it leaked out that the new cartridges were greased with the fat of cows, or with the fat of pigs. Thus every Hindu sepoy who bit the cartridge would lose his caste and religion as if he had eaten beef; whilst every Mohammedan sepoy would be polluted by contact with pork, and not only lose his religion, but be barred out for ever from the heaven of celestial houris.

Discovery at Dumdum.

A Lascar employed in Dumdum arsenal met a Brahman sepoy going to Barrackpore, and asked him for a drink of water out of his brass lotah. This was an unusual request, intended to vex and annoy the Brahman. A thirsty low-caste Hindu might ask a high-caste man to pour water into his mouth, but would not offend the Brahman by the bare suggestion of drinking out of his lotah. The Brahman turned away in disgust at the idea of low-caste lips polluting his drinking-cup. The Lascar retorted that the Brahman would soon be as impure as himself, for he would bite the new cartridges which had been smeared with the fat of cows and pigs, and would lose caste altogether.

Horror of Hindus and Mohammedans.

The Brahman was thunderstruck at this taunt. Europeans who have never visited India can scarcely realise the horrors that must have seized on his Brahmanised imagination. Suet and lard are such familiar ingredients in European cookery, that no one in the British Isles could have been surprised at their being used for greasing Enfield cartridges. But to Europeans that have lived in India, the bare fact that cartridges should have been greased with suet or lard, to be bitten by Hindu or Mohammedan sepoys, seems a mad freak of fortune which is altogether incomprehensible. In the fierce antagonism between the two religions, Hindus have thrown dead pigs into Mohammedan mosques, and Mohammedans have thrown slaughtered cows into Hindu temples; but the British government stood on neutral ground. It had always professed to hold an even balance between the two religionists, and any attempt to destroy the caste of Hindus, or the religion of Mohammedans, was altogether foreign to the ideas of Asiatics or Europeans.

Pigs unclean.

It is easy to understand why both Hindus and Mohammedans regard swine as unclean. The Jews have had the same horror of pigs and pork from time immemorial. To this day, both Hindus and Mohammedans shudder, or affect to shudder, at the idea of Europeans cleaning their teeth with brushes made of bristles; and none but those of enlarged experiences, who have been Europeanised out of their religious prejudices, or smitten with a passion for European luxuries, would venture to eat a slice of ham.

Cow worship.

The cow is not more to Mohammedans than it is to Europeans, but the Hindus worship it as a deity. Gratitude for the milk and butter which she gives to the family has swelled into affection and adoration, which have invested a common-place animal with attributes that are at once mystic and divine. The cow is the living representative to the Hindu of all that is beautiful and spiritual in women, and of all that is mysterious in the sex. The cow is the incarnation of the earth, the mother of all things, the goddess of good fortune, the living manifestation of Lakshmi; she who was created by the gods, who descended from the heaven of Indra and churned the ocean, until the bright goddess rose out of the waves, like a Hindu Aphrodite, to become the wife of the supreme spirit, Vishnu. To kill a cow is a sacrilegious crime, like killing a Brahman, a woman, or a Raja. To taste the flesh of a cow is as revolting to the Hindu imagination as tasting the flesh of a mother.

Eating beef a mortal sin.

Eating or tasting beef through the most distant medium is a mortal sin in the eyes of Hindus. Under Hindu rule, when the caste system was enforced by village communities, the vile sinner was driven from his wife, family, kinsfolk, and village by the ban of Brahmanical excommunication. In the days of Mohammedan persecutions, thousands of Hindus were compelled to swallow shreds of beef by tyrants of the stamp of Tippu Sultan of Mysore, in order to force them to become Mohammedans. There was no way of escape. They had no alternative but to accept Islam, marry a Mohammedan wife, and enter a new life and career with a new home and surroundings.[28]

Excitement at Barrackpore.

§5. The ball set rolling from the arsenal at Dumdum soon assumed monstrous dimensions in the cantonment at Barrackpore. The sepoys blindly accepted the conclusion that Her Majesty the Queen and Lord Canning had arranged a secret scheme for converting them all to Christianity. The greased cartridges, they decided, must have been manufactured expressly to destroy their religion; to compel them to become Christians, and to eat beef and drink beer until they became as strong as Europeans, and were able to conquer Persia, Russia, and China. Wild fictions, the outcome of Oriental imaginations which would not have imposed upon a European child, were greedily accepted and talked over as matters of fact, by the ignorant and credulous sepoys. India, it was said, was being bound in iron fetters by railway lines and telegraph wires; and now the poor sepoy was to be cut off from his countrymen and co-religionists, and to become the helpless vassal of his European masters, like the genii who are slaves to magicians and sorcerers.

Fruitless explanations.

These ridiculous stories soon reached the ears of the European officers. General Hearsey, who commanded the Calcutta division, assembled the sepoys on the parade ground at Barrackpore, and reminded them that the British government had never meddled with their religion or caste, and had heavily punished any European officer who had attempted to do so. But his words were thrown away; the brains of the sepoys were too heated, and their convictions too deeply rooted, to be explained away. For months they had been discussing the expedition sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf to defeat the designs of Russia on Herat; and now there was to be a war with China! The general might say what he pleased, but the British government had obviously manufactured the greased cartridges to destroy the caste of the poor sepoys, to make them eat beef and drink beer until they were strong enough to conquer the world.

Secret incendiarism.

The sepoys at Barrackpore were bewildered and terrified. They were too afraid to speak, and began to set houses on fire. The suspicious telegraph office, the magic house at Barrackpore, was burnt down. Other buildings followed. The agitation was reported to the military authorities at Calcutta. The composition of the cartridge was explained to the sepoys. The drill was changed, and the sepoys were no longer required to bite the cartridge. But nothing would stop the panic. The sepoys argued with severe logic that if the cartridges had not been greased with the objectionable fat there would have been no occasion to change the drill. Eventually the issue of the greased cartridges was stopped altogether, but the sepoys were as suspicious as ever. As yet, however, there was no open mutiny at Barrackpore. Discipline was maintained with the usual strictness, and the word of command was obeyed without demur. Barrackpore was too near Calcutta, too near the stronghold of British supremacy which had controlled Bengal for a hundred years, for the sepoy as yet to dream of open mutiny.

Contagion at Berhampore.

§6. Matters were at this pass when a small guard of sepoys was sent on duty from Barrackpore to Berhampore, a hundred miles to the northward. Here, it will be remembered, was a regiment of sepoy infantry, half a regiment of sepoy cavalry, and a battery of sepoy artillery. The new arrivals from Barrackpore were duly feasted by their comrades of the sepoy infantry, and the whole story of the greased cartridges was told with all the latest embellishments of fiction.

Cartridges refused.

The next day, the 25th of February 1857, a parade for exercise with blank ammunition was ordered for the following morning. Blank cartridges were issued to the infantry of the same pattern that had been used for generations, but the sepoys refused to accept them. Colonel Mitchell was in command of the station, and threatened the men with court martial. Accordingly the sepoys took the cartridges in gloomy silence and returned to their lines.

Mutiny.

In the middle of the night the regiment rose as one man; it was the 19th Native Infantry of the Bengal army. Every company seized arms and ammunition from its magazine, and then the whole regiment rushed out of the lines and shouted defiance. Colonel Mitchell had no European force to suppress the outbreak; nothing but half a regiment of sepoy cavalry and the sepoy battery, and it was extremely doubtful whether the men would fire on the mutineers. However he ordered out the cavalry and battery, and advanced with his European officers towards the infantry lines by the light of torches. As he approached there was a halt and a pause. Tanks of water were in the way, and horses and guns might have been lost in the darkness.

Hesitation.

Neither side wished to take action. The mutineers shrank, as yet, from firing on their European officers. The sepoys, under Colonel Mitchell, might have refused to fire. The whole cantonment might have joined in the mutiny, and the civil stations in the country round about would have been in sore peril. So there was a parley. The colonel pointed out to the mutineers the absurdity of their fears and the enormity of their offence, and conjured them to give up their arms and return to their lines. The mutineers, on their part, were not prepared to push matters to extremities. Their excitement had cooled down as they saw their European officers advancing with the Asiatic cavalry and artillery, whilst the lurid scenery was lit up by flaming torches. Accordingly it was arranged that they should return to their lines, and that the force advancing against them should return to their own quarters.

Alarm at Calcutta.

The news of this unexpected outbreak at Berhampore naturally alarmed Lord Canning. He had much sympathy for the deluded and infatuated sepoys, but the mutiny could not be ignored. It was absolutely necessary to disband the regiment, but there was no European force to carry out the measure. Unless European soldiers were present, the sepoys might have resisted disbandment, and other sepoy regiments might have joined the mutineers. No soldiers could be spared from the European regiment which was quartered at Fort William and Dumdum. Accordingly steamers were sent to Burma to bring away the European regiment quartered at Rangoon.

Sepoy terrors.

§7. On the 20th March the European regiment from Rangoon entered the Hughly river. The 19th Native Infantry was marched from Berhampore to Barrackpore, knowing that it was to be disbanded. At Barrackpore the sepoys were in a ferment. They felt that they were to be coerced by the European soldiers. It was not forgotten that some thirty years before, a sepoy regiment at Barrackpore had refused to go to Burma unless paid double batta, and had been scattered by a volley of grape, and its number erased from the army list. Accordingly the sepoys at Barrackpore had good reason to fear that they might be mowed down by the artillery unless they accepted the greased cartridges.

Mungal Pandy.

Of the four sepoy regiments at Barrackpore, the 34th Native Infantry had the greatest cause for alarm. It was the 34th that furnished the sepoy guard which played so much mischief at Berhampore; and the sepoys of the 34th openly expressed their sympathy with those of the 19th. About the end of March it was reported to Lieutenant Baugh, the Adjutant of the 34th, that the sepoys in his regiment were much excited, and that one of them, named Mungal Pandy, was marching through the lines with a loaded musket, calling on the sepoys to rise against their officers, and swearing to fire at the first European that appeared on the scene.

Assault on Lieut. Baugh.

Lieutenant Baugh at once put on his uniform, mounted his horse, and rode off to the parade ground with a pair of loaded pistols in his holsters. There was the quarter-guard of the regiment, consisting of twenty sepoys under the command of an Asiatic lieutenant, known as a jemadar. In front of the quarter-guard was the gun which fired the salutes at sunrise and noon. Mungal Pandy saw Baugh riding up, and got behind the gun, and deliberately fired at him. The horse was wounded and the rider was brought to the ground. Baugh, however, disengaged himself, snatched a pistol, and advanced on Mungal Pandy before the latter could reload his musket. Baugh fired and missed. At that moment Mungal Pandy rushed at him and cut him down with a sword.

Outbreak and suppression.

The European serjeant-major of the regiment had followed Baugh at a distance, and shouted to the quarter-guard to help their officer. But the sepoys sympathised with Mungal Pandy, and the jemadar forbade them to stir. The serjeant-major came up breathless, and attempted to seize Mungal Pandy, but he too was struck down. On this the jemadar advanced with his twenty sepoys, and began to strike Baugh and the serjeant-major with the butt ends of their muskets. At this moment a Mohammedan orderly, who had followed Baugh from his house, ran up and arrested Mungal Pandy just as he had reloaded his musket. He was followed by General Hearsey and other officers. The general drew a pistol from his belt and rode up to the quarter-guard, ordered the men to return to their post, and threatened to shoot with his own hands the first sepoy who disobeyed orders. By this bold action the regiment was overawed, and the storm cloud passed away just as it was about to burst upon the station.

Disbandment of 19th Native infantry.

Two days afterwards there was a solemn parade at Barrackpore. All the European force available was assembled on the ground, including the regiment from Rangoon and a wing and two batteries from Dumdum. The 19th Native Infantry was marched into Barrackpore, repentant and ashamed. They had petitioned for forgiveness, but there was no pardon for mutiny. The orders of Lord Canning were read aloud, setting forth their crime, exposing the absurdity of their fears, and ordering the disbandment. The men laid down their arms and marched away. The 19th Native Infantry had ceased to be.

Hesitation.

For some weeks the 34th Native Infantry was not disbanded. Mungal Pandy and the jemadar were tried, convicted, and hanged, but the plague of mutiny was not stayed. Not a sepoy would point out the men of the quarter-guard who assaulted the European officers. April, however, passed away, and nothing was done.

Disaffection in Oudh.

§8. Meanwhile there were unpleasant reports from Oudh. Sir Henry Lawrence, the new chief commissioner, was anxious to redress the wrongs of the Oudh talukdars, but was vexed by the mutinous spirit of the sepoys. He had a single regiment of Europeans and two batteries of European artillery. He had to deal with four sepoy regiments of the Bengal army—three of infantry, and one of cavalry. Worst of all, he had to deal with irregular regiments of sepoys, who had been in the service of the king of Oudh, but had been taken over by the East India Company. They retained their Asiatic officers, but were drilled and commanded by a limited number of European officers, and hence were termed irregulars. These Oudh irregulars sympathised with the regular Bengal sepoys, and were beginning to manifest a hostile spirit by refusing to accept the cartridges.

Sir Henry Lawrence Chief Commissioner.

In 1857 the province of Oudh was separated from the North-West Provinces by the river Ganges and the town of Cawnpore. The capital was at Lucknow, in the centre or heart of Oudh, about fifty-five miles to the north-east of Cawnpore. Sir Henry Lawrence, the chief commissioner, lived in a large mansion at Lucknow, which was known as the Residency. The city of Lucknow extends four miles along the right bank of the river Goomti, and all the principal buildings, including the royal palaces and gardens, and the Residency, are situated between the city and the river. On the opposite bank were the British cantonments; and two bridges over the river connected the city and Residency on the one bank with the cantonments on the opposite shore.

Mutiny at Lucknow.

On the afternoon of the 3rd of May a startling event occurred in the cantonments. Four sepoys of an irregular regiment entered the bungalow of the European adjutant. They were armed to the teeth, and they told him to prepare for death. They had come to kill him, they said, not because they disliked him, but because he was a European and a Feringhi. The adjutant was unarmed. He promptly replied that it was of no use to kill him, for that the mutiny would be suppressed, they would be hanged, and another adjutant would be appointed in his stead. The would-be murderers were struck by his words, and left the house without doing him any injury.

Suppression by Lawrence.

The news reached Sir Henry Lawrence in the evening, and he resolved to act at once. He crossed the river and called out the European forces and the four regiments of regular sepoys, and then advanced against the mutineers, whose lines were seven miles off. The rebels were taken by surprise; they could do nothing. They were ordered to form in front of their lines, and they obeyed. They saw cavalry and infantry, soldiers and sepoys, on either side, and a battery of eight guns in front. They were ordered to lay down their arms, and they did so. The port-fires of the artillery were lighted. The mutineers were seized with a panic, and cried out, "Do not fire!" They then rushed madly away. The ringleaders and most of their followers were arrested that night by the Bengal sepoys, and were confined pending trial. It will be seen hereafter that within a single month, the very sepoy regiments that arrested the mutinous irregulars rose against their European officers. Meanwhile, however, the quick action of Sir Henry Lawrence prevented any premature explosion, and gave him the month to prepare against the possible contingency.

Disbandment of 34th Native infantry.

Next day the outbreak and suppression of the mutiny were telegraphed to Lord Canning at Calcutta. He was delighted with the promptitude and prudence of Sir Henry Lawrence. He saw the necessity for taking some decided action at Barrackpore. The European officers of the 34th Native Infantry reported that the sepoys were disaffected, and that they themselves had lost all confidence in the men. Accordingly Lord Canning determined to disband the regiment. On the 6th of May, at early morning, the Europeans were once again drawn up on the parade ground. The 34th Native Infantry was disbanded as the 19th had been five weeks before, but, unlike the sepoys of the 19th, they showed no signs of contrition. Still, it was hoped that the disbandment of the 34th would put an end to the mutiny.

Sepoys and Europeans at Meerut.

§9. So far the agitation was the work of the greased cartridges in Dumdum arsenal. But there was a second school of musketry at Meerut in the North-West Provinces, a thousand miles from Calcutta and only forty miles from Delhi. The military cantonment at Meerut covered an area of five miles, and was the largest in India. At one end were the lines of three sepoy regiments, two of infantry and one of cavalry, whilst the bungalows of the European officers were scattered about. At the other end of the cantonment were the European barracks, in which a European force was quartered strong enough to have routed four times the number of sepoys. There was a regiment of Dragoon Guards, known as the Carabineers; a battalion of the 60th Rifles; two troops of horse artillery, and a light field battery. The European barracks were thus at a long distance from the sepoy cantonments, and the interval was occupied by shops, houses, and gardens.

Disaffection.

At Meerut there was to all appearance literally nothing to fear from the sepoys. The Europeans were all-powerful. Yet at Meerut the agitation against the greased cartridges was as uncontrollable as elsewhere. General Hewitt commanded the station, and he and the colonels of the sepoy regiments expostulated with the men on the absurdity of imagining that the British government had the slightest desire to interfere with their caste or religion. But their remonstrances were thrown away. Buildings were burnt down; the sepoys left off saluting their officers; and it was whispered that they had resolved never more to touch a single cartridge.

The test.

At last General Hewitt determined to bring the sepoys to the test in the presence of the European force, and, if necessary, to stop the contagion by condign punishment. The regiment of sepoy cavalry was selected. A parade of ninety men of the several squadrons was ordered for the morning of the 6th of May. The old cartridges were issued, the same which had been used for generations, but eighty-five men stood out and refused to handle them. The delinquents were arrested and tried by a court martial of sepoy officers. They were all convicted of mutiny; eighty were sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for ten years, and the remaining five to a like imprisonment for six years. All were recommended to the mercy of General Hewitt, but the recommendation was ignored, and it was determined to carry out the sentence at once in accordance with orders received by telegram from Lord Canning.

Parade for punishment.

The mutineers were placed under a strong European guard, consisting of two companies of the 60th Rifles, and twenty-five men of the Carabineers. The parade for punishment was held at daybreak on Saturday the 9th of May. The three regiments of sepoys were drawn up to behold the disgrace of the delinquents; and the men of the sepoy cavalry also were brought out to look on the degradation of their comrades. The sepoys on parade must have felt their hearts burning within them, but they were powerless to save. The Carabineers and Rifles were on the ground, and were ordered to load and be ready. The batteries of artillery were in position, and received the same orders. The slightest movement of disaffection or revolt would have been followed by a terrible slaughter. Not a sepoy stirred from the ranks. The prisoners were brought on the ground, stripped of their uniforms and accoutrements, and put in irons. They were utterly broken in spirit. They put up their hands and cried for mercy, and were then led away, cursing their comrades for not coming to their rescue.

Folly and mischief.

Then followed an act of inconceivable folly. The eighty-five sepoys who had been kept for three days under a strong guard of European soldiers, were made over to the civil authorities, and lodged in the civil jail, only two miles from the sepoy cantonments, under the charge of Asiatic warders. The consequence was that the sepoys brooded over the fate of their comrades, and secretly determined on rescuing them from the jail, and murdering their European officers.

Sunday morning.

Strange to say, not an idea of danger seems to have crossed the minds of the British authorities at Meerut. The Europeans went to church on Sunday morning, lounged through the heat and languor of the day, and prepared for church in the evening. Meanwhile there had been agitation and excitement in the sepoy lines, but nothing to excite alarm. The native women of the bazaar taunted the sepoys of the cavalry with not having rescued their comrades, and that was all.

Mutiny and massacre.

Suddenly, about five o'clock on that Sunday afternoon, the sepoys seized their arms and ammunition, and rushed out of their lines, with loud shouts and discharges of musketry. A detachment of sepoy cavalry galloped off to the jail, and liberated not only their eighty-five comrades, but all the other prisoners, 1,500 in number. The whole body then returned to the cantonment and joined the sepoys, who were burning down bungalows, and murdering every European they met, regardless of sex and age. Ladies riding in carriages, and officers driving in their buggies, who had left their homes without a suspicion of evil, were assaulted and fired at as they drove along. In a word, within a brief space of time the sepoy cantonments, and the roads round about, were a scene of riot, bloodshed, and outrage, which are beyond description. At last, fearing that the European soldiers would soon fall upon them, the whole mass of sepoys, the cavalry in front and the infantry straggling behind, rushed off to Delhi. The movement was only natural. Delhi was the only walled city in the North-West Provinces in which they could find a refuge. No European troops were quartered within the city or the suburbs; and a vast magazine of arms and ammunition was seated in the heart of the city, mostly in charge of Asiatics, who would doubtless open the gates at the first demand for surrender.

Inaction.

For a long time nothing was known at the European barracks of the mutiny and murder that was going on in the sepoy cantonment. When the news arrived of the outbreak, there was much delay and confusion. The Rifles were paraded for church, and time was lost in serving out arms and cartridges. The Dragoons were put through a roll-call, and then lost their way amongst the houses and gardens between the European barracks and the sepoy lines. When the lines were reached, the sepoys had gone off to Delhi, and darkness was setting in. Had the Dragoons galloped after the sepoys, the mutiny might have been crushed, and there would have been no revolt at Delhi.

Heedlessness.

But the military authorities at Meerut were unequal to the crisis. Nothing was thought of but the safety of the station. The Rifles and Dragoons were kept at Meerut to guard the treasury and barracks, whilst the sepoy mutineers were pushing on to Delhi to set up the old king—a Mohammedan prince, in whom the Hindu sepoys had no interest or concern. Messages, however, were sent to Brigadier Graves, who commanded the Delhi station, to tell him what had taken place at Meerut, but no Europeans whatever were sent to help him in the terrible extremity which awaited him.

Escape to Delhi.

§10. All night the sepoy mutineers were running to Delhi; anxious only to escape from the vengeance of the Europeans. When and where they first began to cherish wild hopes of restoring the Mohammedan régime, and setting up the last representative of the Great Mogul, as the sovereign and Padishah of Hindustan, is a mystery to this day. One thing only is certain; the Hindu sepoys, who composed four-fifths of the mass of mutineers, could have had no sympathy in the revolt of the Mohammedans, beyond providing for their own immediate safety against the wrath of the Europeans.

Mohammedan rule at Delhi.

Delhi, however, had been the capital of the Mohammedans of India when the Caliphs were still reigning at Bagdad; and Mohammedan Sultans and Padishahs had ruled Hindustan for centuries before the rise of British power. In 1857 the relics of Mohammedan dominion were still lingering at Delhi under the shadow of British supremacy. The last representative of the once famous Great Mogul was still living in the imperial palace at Delhi, a pensioner of the British government, but bearing the empty title of "king." The ruins in the neighbourhood of Delhi are monuments of the triumphs of Islam and the Koran, raised by warriors from Cabul and Bokhara, who were reverenced as Ghazis—as destroyers of idols and idolaters. Indeed, the pilgrim who still wanders amongst the palaces, mosques, mausoleums, towers, domes, archways, terraces, and gardens of Delhi, and the country round, may yet recall the days when the Hindus were a conquered people, and the Mohammedans were their oppressors and persecutors.

Sepoy garrison at Delhi.

In May, 1857, British power at Delhi was represented by three regiments of sepoy infantry, and a sepoy battery of artillery, under the command of Brigadier Graves. There were no European troops at Delhi, except the regimental officers and sergeants attached to each corps, and nine Europeans who had charge of the British magazine in the heart of the city, with a host of Asiatic subordinates. None of the sepoys had as yet shown any sign of disaffection, but it will appear hereafter that they had all caught the contagion of mutiny, but kept their secret until the moment for action arrived.

Cantonment on the Ridge.

The sepoy regiments were cantoned on a rising ground, known as the Ridge, which was situated about a mile to the north of Delhi, and overlooked the whole city. The bungalows of the European officers were scattered about the vicinity. At the furthest end of the Ridge was a strong position, known as Flagstaff Tower. Further away to the left, the river Jumna skirted the eastern side of Delhi; and the mutineers from Meerut were expected to enter the city in this direction by a bridge.

Mutineers expected.

Brigadier Graves had but a short warning. The mutineers would certainly travel all night, and would probably arrive early on the Monday morning. It was useless to cut away the bridge, as the hot weather was at its height, and the stream was easily fordable. Everything depended on the loyalty of the sepoys at Delhi. So long as they remained staunch, the brigadier might hope to defend the city and cantonment against the mutineers from Meerut. If, however, the sepoys at Delhi joined the rebels, there was nothing to be done but to await the European reinforcements which might be expected from Meerut. Meanwhile, the brigadier sent circulars to all non-military residents to take refuge in Flagstaff Tower.

Preparations for battle.

The three regiments of sepoy infantry, and the battery of sepoy artillery, were ordered out. The guns were loaded, and every preparation made for the coming battle. The brigadier addressed the men in stirring language. Now was the time, he said, for the sepoys at Delhi to show their loyalty to the Company. The sepoys responded with loud cheers. One regiment in particular eagerly demanded to be led against the mutineers; and the brigadier marched them out to fight the rebels, leaving the two other regiments on the Ridge.

Treachery.

Presently the cavalry from Meerut were seen galloping towards the city. After them at no great distance was a large mass of rebel infantry, with their bayonets gleaming in the sun, and their red coats soiled by the dust of the night march. Neither horse nor foot showed the slightest hesitation. As the cavalry approached the brigadier ordered his men to fire. The rattle of musketry followed, but not a single trooper fell from his horse. The faithful sepoys had fired in the air.

Firing in the air.

Then followed a pause. The European officers held on in sheer desperation; they hoped to be reinforced by British soldiers from Meerut. The sepoys hesitated for a while, lest they should be cut to pieces by the Europeans, whom they too expected to arrive. Could the Europeans have appeared in time, Delhi might have been saved in spite of the suspicious firing in the air.

Treachery.

Useless firing was a treachery that was new to sepoy regiments commanded by British officers, but it was common enough in Asiatic armies commanded by their own generals or princes. Mogul history abounds in stories of Asiatic officers corrupted by gold, and ordering their troops to fire on an enemy without bullet or ball. Such treachery was scarcely possible under European officers, and consequently the rebel sepoys loaded their muskets with cartridges, and then fired into the air.

Rebels in the palace.

It was soon evident that the king was making common cause with the rebels, for the sepoys from Meerut were pouring through the palace to join their comrades in the city. No Europeans arrived from Meerut, and the Delhi sepoys began to fraternise with the rebels.

British refuge.

Brigadier Graves rallied a few of his men who still remained faithful, and escaped to Flagstaff Tower. Here he found a large number of European ladies and children, and all the gentlemen who had been able to reach the place of refuge. A company of sepoys, and two guns served by sepoy gunners, still guarded the Tower, and had they remained faithful might have kept off the enemy. But the force on the Ridge was rapidly melting away. The hearts of all the sepoys were with the rebels. All were burning to join the scoundrels in the city in the work of plunder and destruction; and those who were posted at the Tower only waited for an opportunity to move off in the same direction.

Massacre of Europeans.

Meanwhile the old "king of Delhi" had connived at the slaughter of Europeans. Mr. Frazer, the commissioner of the Delhi division, and Captain Douglas, who commanded the palace guards, were cut down within the royal precincts. Mr. Jennings, the chaplain, and some ladies and children, numbering altogether about fifty souls, had taken refuge within the palace walls, in the hope of being protected by the royal pensioner against the mutinous sepoys. Had the ladies and children been admitted into the inner apartments, they would have been safe. But there was a rush of rebel sepoys into the presence of the old king to make their salams and hail him as their Padishah; and they loudly demanded the death of every European. The old king could not or would not interfere, and told the sepoys that he made the prisoners over to them, to do with them as they pleased. The unhappy victims were shut up in a dark room with coarse and scanty food. They were offered their lives on the condition that they became Mohammedans, and entered the service of the king as menials or slaves. One and all refused, and one and all were eventually butchered in the palace of Aurangzeb.

Flagstaff Tower.

The Europeans in Flagstaff Tower were in sore peril. Ladies were terrified and anxious for absent husbands, whilst children were clamouring for milk and food. The men were distracted by the suddenness of the danger, and the stories of murder and outrage that came from the city. All eyes were strained in the direction of Meerut. Every one longed for the arrival of European soldiers to relieve them from the agony of suspense, and quash the fearful rebellion that was surging up in Delhi.

Explosion of the magazine.

Later on in the afternoon, the great magazine in the heart of Delhi was seen from the Ridge to explode in a cloud of smoke and flame. It was in charge of Lieutenant Willoughby of the Bengal artillery, but he had only eight Europeans with him; the guards and workmen were all Asiatics. Arms were served out to every one; loaded guns were pointed to the gateways; and a train of gunpowder was laid to the chief magazine. A vast host of rebels pressed round the enclosure, and demanded the surrender of the magazine in the name of the king. Admittance was refused, but the rebels brought ladders to the walls, or climbed to the roofs of neighbouring buildings, and poured a hot fire on the inmates of the magazine. Most of the workmen joined the rebels. Those who still remained staunch threw away their rifles, and seemed bereft of their senses. At last Lieutenant Willoughby ordered Sergeant Scully to fire the train. In a moment there was a great upheaval. Hundreds of rebels were blown into the air; but unfortunately the greater part of the stores fell into the enemy's hands. Willoughby and three others got away out of the city scorched, bruised, and insensible; but Willoughby was murdered a few days afterwards in a neighbouring village. Scully was wounded by the explosion, and killed by the rebels; he and his four companions were seen no more.

Flight from Flagstaff Tower.

By this time all hope of rescue had died out from the fugitives in Flagstaff Tower. It was feared that the rebels would return to the Ridge to complete the work of slaughter. All fled the best way they could—men, ladies, and children; some in carriages, others on horseback, and many on foot. Even at this distance of time, it is terrible to think of their sufferings. Many were slaughtered by the rebels, but some found refuge in the houses of Hindu villagers, who treated them with kindness and hospitality at the risk of their own lives.

Last telegram.

Before the day was over the clerk at the telegraph office on the Ridge sent his last telegram. "The mutineers from Meerut are masters of Delhi; several Europeans have been murdered; the office must be closed." Shortly afterwards the rebel sepoys swarmed out of the city to complete the work of destruction on the Ridge, and the poor telegraph clerk was cut to pieces and heard of no more.

Sudden alarm.

Within a few moments the fatal news reached every capital in India:—Lahore in the Punjab; Agra and Allahabad in the North-West Provinces; Lucknow in Oudh; Benares, Patna, and Calcutta in Bengal; Bombay in the Deccan; Madras in the remote south. From Calcutta and Bombay the revolt of Delhi sent a thrill through the whole British empire. Men familiar with India, her history, and her people, could not believe the news. It was the heaviest blow to British prestige in India since the tragedy of the Black Hole in Calcutta. A century of European civilisation had been swamped by a mutiny of Asiatic sepoys against greased cartridges. Delhi was lost; the Mogul régime was restored; the North-West Provinces were slipping away from the British empire.

Reviving hopes.

The public mind was greatly agitated by the disaster. Many could not realise the fact that Delhi had revolted; that the old king had been proclaimed Padishah of Hindustan. Others rushed to the opposite conclusion and thought that India was lost. In India European hearts were kindled with a burning desire for the recovery of the revolted city. It was hoped that Delhi would be retaken in a few days, and the contagion of mutiny brought to a close by the destruction of the mutineers. Indeed it was obvious to the British authorities that the European forces at Meerut might have crushed the rebellion at the outset, had a Clive, a Gillespie, or an Ochterlony been in command. Sir Henry Lawrence had suppressed a still more dangerous outbreak at Lucknow with a disaffected city in his rear, and the revolt at Delhi ought to be suppressed at once in a like manner.

General Anson at Simla.

§11. General Anson, the commander-in-chief of the Bengal army, was at Simla in the Himalayas, nearly 200 miles to the north of Delhi. He was an officer of good repute, but of no Indian experience, and was chiefly known as the Major A., who had written a treatise on whist. He received a telegram from Lord Canning to make short work of Delhi, and other telegrams to the same effect from Mr. John Lawrence, the chief commissioner of the Punjab. General Anson began to assemble a force at Umballa, and he despatched a regiment of Ghorkas to the Sutlej to escort a siege-train from the Punjab over the river. He was anxious to fortify Umballa, about sixty miles from Simla on the road to Delhi. He ordered three European regiments on the Himalayas to march at once to Umballa. John Lawrence, however, was dead against any delay. He wanted to recover Delhi, not to entrench Umballa; and he promptly telegraphed that "clubs were trumps, not spades." Meanwhile the sudden change from the cool hills to the hot plains brought on cholera amongst the Europeans. The vanguard of the European force left Umballa on the 19th of May, but eight days afterwards General Anson died of cholera.

Demand for European soldiers.

Meanwhile Lord Canning had telegraphed to Bombay for the European troops that were returning from the Persian expedition, and to Madras, Ceylon, Burma, and Singapore for every European soldier that could be spared. His object was to form a European column at Calcutta, and to push it up the valley of the Ganges with all speed to Allahabad, to crush any incipient mutiny on the way, and to penetrate and suppress the growing disaffection in Oudh and the North-West Provinces. It was out of the question that a column from Calcutta could reach Delhi, and he looked to Mr. John Lawrence, the chief commissioner of the Punjab on the other side of Delhi, to send all the Europeans and artillery he could spare to join General Anson.

General Barnard.

Sir Henry Barnard succeeded Anson as commander-in-chief. He pushed on the force to Alipore, within ten miles of Delhi. On the 7th of June he was joined by the European brigade from Meerut, and prepared to advance against Delhi.

Rebel position.

By this time the Delhi rebels were prepared to await an attack in the open. They had taken up a strong position to the right of the great trunk road leading to the city, and had utilised its natural advantages with remarkable skill. One body of rebels was posted in a vast caravanserai; a square enclosed by walls, with towers at the four corners. The walls were loop-holed for musketry, and the towers were occupied by sharp-shooters. In front of the caravanserai they had a battery of artillery and a howitzer, raised on an elevation and defended by earthworks, faggots and gabions. The main force, however, was posted in a neighbouring village, where the houses and gardens furnished an excellent cover for infantry. This position was defended by seven regiments of sepoy infantry, two of sepoy cavalry, and a strong battery of sepoy artillery. To those regular forces were added the artillerymen of the palace at Delhi, and volunteers of all kinds, attracted by hatred of the Feringhi, enthusiasm for Islam, and thirst for blood and plunder.

Battle of the Serai.

The battle of Serai was fought on the 9th of June. At sunrise Sir Henry Barnard advanced with two regiments of European infantry and two guns. He could not silence the fire of the rebel battery, and it was carried with the bayonet by a regiment of European infantry. Meanwhile the other regiment drove the rebels away out of the village. The combined British force stormed the caravanserai and gave no quarter. At this juncture Brigadier Hope Grant appeared with three squadrons of cavalry and two guns, and utterly routed the rebel army and pursued it to the suburbs of Delhi.

Return to the Ridge.

That same afternoon the British returned as conquerors to the old cantonment on the Ridge. Within a month of the revolt, they had avenged the massacre at Delhi, and restored the prestige of British sovereignty.

Sepoy vagaries.

The battle of Serai revealed strange inconsistencies. The rebel sepoys, who had shot down their officers, and were in open revolt against British rule, were as proud as before of their exploits under British colours. The Company's medals were found on the red coats of the dead rebels, officers as well as men. Stranger still, pouches full of the very greased cartridges that brought on the mutiny were picked up on the ground occupied by the rebel army.

Mischievous delay.

The month's delay however had done considerable mischief. The plague of mutiny had broken out at other stations, and the rebel garrison at Delhi had been reinforced by large bodies of mutinous sepoys. The details were nearly all alike—sudden outbreaks, shooting at officers, setting fire to bungalows, and plundering the treasury. The mutineers, however, did not in all cases rush off to Delhi. Some crept sadly to their own homes, and buried the silver rupees they had brought away, or joined the bands of outlaws and brigands that began to ravage the surrounding country. Meanwhile the European officers of nearly every sepoy regiment, whilst ready to believe that other regiments would revolt, were prepared to stake their lives on the fidelity of their own men, and opposed any attempt to disarm them.

Rebellion in the North-West Provinces.

In due course the disaffection of the sepoy army began to stir up certain classes of the civil population. The Bengal provinces were free from this taint, excepting perhaps at Patna where the Mohammedans are very strong. Indeed in Bengal proper the Hindu villagers often arrested rebel sepoys of their own free will, and made them over to the British authorities. In the Madras and Bombay presidencies there were no signs of discontent. But in Oudh, as already described, and in the North-West Provinces between Delhi and Allahabad, there was a growing disaffection. Rebellion was preached by Mohammedan fanatics yearning for the restoration of Islam as the dominant religion. Dispossessed talukdars, who thought themselves, rightly or wrongly to have been unjustly dealt with in the settlement of the land revenue, took a part in the disturbances. In a word all the turbulent and ill-conditioned elements of the population in the north-west,—all "who were discontented or in debt,"—readily joined in the insurrection; possibly to revenge some fancied injury, but mostly from that love of riot and plunder which had been universal in Hindustan under Mahratta supremacy. At the same time a spirit of hostility to Europeans was manifested, which was without precedent in the history of British rule in India. Towards the end of June, Mr. John Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces, with all the European residents in the neighbourhood were closely besieged by mutineers and rebels in the fortress of Agra.

Siege of Delhi: perils of British.

§12. The British force reached the Ridge on the evening of the battle. It then numbered 4,000 troops, half Europeans and the other half Sikhs and Ghorkas. The city might have been taken by surprise at an earlier date, but the month's delay had elated the sepoys, and given them time to look to their defences. The British troops were encamped behind the Ridge, and were thus protected from the fire of the rebels. They were, however, the besieged rather than the besiegers. They were threatened on all sides, except the rear, by mutineers and rebels. The rear, however, was open to the Punjab, and all reinforcements and supplies were brought up from the Punjab. For weeks, and indeed for months, the British force could only hope to hold their position until reinforcements could arrive from Lahore or Calcutta. The city of Delhi was strongly fortified with walls and bastions loaded with cannon, and environed by a broad, deep ditch, filled from the river Jumna, which rendered it as impregnable as Babylon of old. It was impossible to storm such fortifications without a strong army of British soldiers and an adequate siege train, all of which were anxiously expected from the Punjab.

Strength of the rebels.

Meanwhile the rebels inside the walls of Delhi were being constantly reinforced by fresh bodies of mutineers. They were in possession of the arms, ammunition, and other stores, which had been collected in the British magazine for more than a generation. They were in receipt of daily supplies of provisions from the neighbouring villages, and it was impossible to cut off the convoys. A force of 4,000 men could scarcely be expected to environ a city seven miles in circumference, or even to approach within cannon shot of the walls.

Punjab and John Lawrence.

§13. Bengal was completely separated from Delhi by the disaffection which flooded the North-west Provinces. All hope of crushing the rebels at Delhi rested on the Punjab; and John Lawrence sent Europeans and Sikhs, siege guns and supplies of all kinds, as fast as they were available to the British force behind the Ridge. In June the "Punjab Guides" reached the Ridge, one of the best regiments in the Indian army. It belonged to the Punjab Frontier Force, which was recruited from the mountain tribes between the Punjab and Afghanistan, and trained and commanded by British officers.

Sikh hatred of Mohammedans.

In 1857 the Sikhs had learnt to respect their European rulers, who maintained order and law. They had no sympathy for the Mohammedans, nor for the king of Delhi. On the contrary, they remembered the murder of their Gurus and saints by Aurangzeb and his successors, and were burning to be revenged on Delhi and the Mogul. During the reign of Runjeet Singh they had outraged the Mohammedans of the Punjab by polluting their mosques and profaning the tombs of their holy men. Accordingly the Sikh warriors of the Khalsa, the very men who had fought against British supremacy at Chillianwalla and Goojerat, were now anxious to join the Europeans in putting down the revolt at Delhi and sacking the capital of Islam in India.

Mutinous spirit of sepoy garrisons.

John Lawrence had thus nothing to fear from the Sikhs. Nor had he anything to fear from the Mohammedans, for they were only anxious for protection against the Sikhs. The Hindus of the Punjab cared for no one but themselves; most of them were traders and money-lenders whose interests were bound up in the maintenance of British rule. The terror of the Punjab lay in the sepoy regiments of the Bengal army that garrisoned the country. The sepoys in the Punjab had no real ground for alarm at the greased cartridges; the issue had been stopped at the school of musketry at Sealkote, on the Cashmere frontier. But the contagion was as virulent as ever. They were maddened by the conviction that the British government was bent on destroying their religion and caste; and when they heard of the outbreak at Meerut and revolt at Delhi, they were bent on mutiny and massacre.

Lahore and Mian Mir.

Lahore, the capital of the Punjab, is situated in the heart of the province, about half-way between Delhi and Peshawar. The fortress at Lahore was held by a battalion of Bengal sepoys, which was relieved once every fortnight—that is, on the 1st and 15th of every month. There was also a European guard within the fortress of about a hundred British soldiers. Six miles from Lahore was the cantonment of Mian Mir, where three regiments of Bengal sepoys were quartered, together with one regiment of Europeans, and two batteries of European artillery.

Sepoy plots.

§14. News of the revolt at Delhi reached Lahore on the 12th of May. Without a moment's delay, a secret plot was formed between the sepoys in the fortress at Lahore and those in the cantonment at Mian Mir for the slaughter of Europeans. On the 15th May, when the sepoy battalion in the fortress was to be relieved by another sepoy battalion, the two were to join together, murder their own officers and then overwhelm the European guard. A signal was thereupon to be given to the cantonment at Mian Mir, on which the sepoy regiments were to break out in mutiny, murder the officers, and environ and overwhelm the regiment of Europeans.

Defeated.

Fortunately the plot was betrayed by a Brahman to the British authorities, and the scheme was defeated. On the morning of the 15th of May, the sepoy regiments in the cantonment at Mian Mir were drawn up on parade as usual. Suddenly, they were ordered with a loud voice to lay down their arms. Before them was a thin line of European infantry which presently fell back, and revealed the mouths of twelve guns pointed at the sepoys with lighted fires. The European infantry began to load their rifles behind the artillery, and the sepoys could hear the clicking of locks and ramrods. The would-be rebels saw that the game was up. They threw away their muskets and sabres in sheer terror. More than 3,000 Asiatic sepoys, who were preparing to murder their officers, had surrendered their arms to less than 600 Europeans. The plot in the fortress at Lahore was crushed in a like fashion. The European guards had been strongly reinforced by a detachment from the regiment at the cantonment at Mian Mir; and the two sepoy battalions were disarmed before they could unite for the slaughter of Europeans.

Chamberlain's flying column.

Later on it was found that all the Bengal sepoys in the Punjab were more or less tainted. Measures were taken to avert or counteract the evil. Suspected regiments were removed to localities where the Sikhs were most hostile to the Bengal army. A flying column of Europeans, Sikhs and others, was organised to act against threatened points and overawe intending mutineers by rapid movement and vigorous action. In the first instance it was commanded by Brigadier Neville Chamberlain, who rose to be one of the most distinguished officers of the time. Later on, the column was commanded by Brigadier John Nicholson, the hero of the day, who, as will be seen hereafter, was cut off in the very zenith of his fame.

Peshawar valley.

§15. The valley of Peshawar was another cause of anxiety. It lies in the north-west corner of the Punjab beyond the river Indus, and faces the Khyber Pass. It is the key to India, the route by which Alexander the Great and the early Mohammedan conquerors invaded the Punjab.

Frontier tribes.

Ever since the British conquest, the Peshawar valley had been harassed by the same mountain tribes that had worried the Macedonians, the Mohammedans, and the Sikhs under Runjeet Singh. Tribes living within the circle of British outposts could be compelled to live in peace; but tribes living beyond the border, and outside British influence, were turbulent, murderous and predatory. Occasionally they assassinated a British officer, or gave an asylum to criminals, or committed raids on British territory or on tribes living under British protection, and not unfrequently stole horses and other property from the British cantonment. All this while they were strictly forbidden to cross the border into British territory; and any tribesman who dared to disobey this law, was liable to arrest and imprisonment until the elders of his tribe made their submission and paid a fine.

Peshawar cantonment.

The valley of Peshawar was held by 9,000 Bengal sepoys and about 3,000 Europeans. Here, as at Lahore, there was a perpetual fear of mutiny and murder. A secret enemy was dwelling in the British camp that was capable of any amount of secrecy and treachery. Accordingly the cantonment was declared in a state of siege. The Europeans took up strong positions, and some of the Bengal regiments were disarmed.

Mutiny and murder.

§16. Towards the end of May a sepoy regiment rose against its officers. The colonel had staked his life on the fidelity of his men, and they had not been disarmed; and owing to this infatuated belief in the fidelity of the sepoys, the rebels had been able to set out for Delhi with their arms and ammunition. The colonel was in the ranks to the last, labouring to keep the men to their colours; but his efforts were vain, and he retired broken-hearted and shot himself. The rebels, however, were pursued and scattered, by the flying column under Neville Chamberlain, and 120 were taken prisoners and brought back to Peshawar.

Executions at Peshawar.

The prisoners were tried for mutiny and were all condemned to death. But John Lawrence recoiled from such wholesale executions. He did not want to exact vengeance on the mutineers, but to terrify other regiments from following their example. Forty of the worst were sentenced to death, but the remaining eighty were imprisoned for periods varying from three to seven years. The condemned forty were blown from guns at Peshawar on the 10th of June.

Volunteering of Sikhs and tribes.

The disarmament of the sepoy regiments, and the executions at Peshawar, convinced the populations of the Punjab that the British were masters. There may have been some of the old Sikh soldiers of the Khalsa, who were still yearning for the expulsion of the British from the land of the five rivers; but even in their case the old hostility was forgotten in the feverish longing to be revenged on Delhi for the persecution and slaughter of their saints. Possibly they were still more eager to plunder the palaces and bazaars of Delhi. The mountain tribes outside the British frontier, who professed to be Mohammedans, were as enthusiastic as the Sikhs to share in the sack of Delhi. They implored pardon for all past offences, paid up all fines, and volunteered to help the British to capture the revolted city.

Sore peril.

John Lawrence sent the Punjab Guides to Delhi, and raised nineteen or twenty regiments of Sikhs and others. But he could not spare more Europeans. Mutiny threatened him on all sides. At Julinder three Bengal regiments murdered their officers, broke open prisons, and ran off to Delhi before the flying column under Neville Chamberlain could overtake them.

John Nicholson, the sainted warrior.

§17. At this crisis Neville Chamberlain was sent to join the British force on the Ridge, and John Nicholson took the command of the flying column. He disarmed several sepoy regiments without firing a shot, but had no mercy for rebels. He was a fine type of the zealous and single-minded European officers of the old East India Company's army; a hero who was reverenced by Asiatic soldiery for his dash and valour, and worshipped by his men as one of the demigods of India. Indeed in one case the worship of Nicholson was literal. A religious fraternity of Sikhs took the name of "Nicholsons"; or as they pronounced it "Nikkal Scynes." They wore salmon-coloured garments and black felt hats as a distinctive garb, and they sang hymns with a chorus of "Guru Nikkal Scyne." In 1854 a deputation of these worshippers waited on Nicholson, threw themselves at his feet and chanted his praises. He remonstrated, but they persisted, and he ordered his native servants to whip the nonsense out of them. The devotees, however, gloried in being flogged, and declared that it was a just punishment for their sins. Nicholson was obliged to run away from his worshippers. It will be seen hereafter that he fell in the storming of Delhi. When the news of his death reached the fraternity, two of them committed suicide, whilst the third embraced Christianity out of respect for the memory of his "Guru."

Proposed withdrawal from Peshawar.

§18. John Lawrence was hedged round with dangers. European regiments were urgently demanded for the siege of Delhi, and he could not spare a man. He was compelled to keep 3,000 Europeans for the defence of the valley of Peshawar, and he had only 2,000 Europeans left to garrison the rest of the Punjab. In this dilemma he proposed to abandon Peshawar and make it over to Dost Mohammed Khan of Cabul. He argued that if the force locked up in Peshawar could be sent against Delhi, the city might be captured in a week, and the revolt brought to a close. Subsequent events strengthened this impression. On the 23rd of June, the centenary of the battle of Plassy, the besieging force at Delhi was nearly overpowered by the rebels. Several sepoy regiments had mutinied in Rohilcund, to the north-west of Oudh, and joined the rebels at Delhi. The Gwalior contingent, a subsidiary force officered by Europeans, and maintained in Sindia's territory, had broken out in mutiny. Altogether John Lawrence was convinced that Delhi must be captured at all hazards, and that it was absolutely necessary to retire from Peshawar.

Opposition.

But the military authorities at Peshawar, including General Sidney Cotton and Colonel Herbert Edwardes, vehemently opposed the measure. They were unanimously agreed that the loss of Peshawar would entail such a loss of prestige as to turn Sikhs and Afghans against the British government. They urged that relief might be already at hand; that five or six European regiments might be advancing from Bengal to Delhi, and that four or five times that number might be on the high seas from England.

Negatived by Lord Canning.

The burning question was referred to Calcutta for the decision of Lord Canning. The reply was a long time coming, but it settled the matter at once. "Hold on Peshawar to the last!" John Lawrence was overruled.

Mutiny at Sealkote.

§19. In this extremity John Lawrence determined to disarm every Bengal sepoy in the Punjab, and then to send every European soldier and gun to Delhi that could be spared. Nicholson hurried on the disarming, when news arrived that the sepoy brigade at Sealkote, on the Cashmere frontier, had broken out in revolt, murdered their officers, and then gone off to Delhi. Nicholson hurried after the brigade, overtook it on the banks of the Ravi, and almost annihilated it. Nearly every rebel was slain, or drowned in the river, or surrendered by the villagers to the British authorities.

Terrible execution.

There was one more tragedy in the Punjab which cannot be ignored. A sepoy regiment mutinied after it was disarmed, and tried to escape to Delhi. It was pursued by a British magistrate with a detachment of irregular horse. About 280 escaped to an island in a river, and being without arms and without food, they were compelled to surrender. The magistrate, however, could not possibly dispose of 280 rebels. He could not imprison them, and it was dangerous to let them loose. In this terrible emergency he saw no alternative but to have them shot in gangs. It was a measure which can only be justified by the law of self-defence and state necessity. The magistrate left the scene pale and trembling.[29]

Siege of Delhi.

§20. Towards the end of June the hot season passed away. The rains began; military operations before Delhi became possible in the daytime. Sir Henry Barnard died on the 5th of July, and was succeeded by General Archduke Wilson. On the 14th of July an attack on the British outposts was repulsed by General Chamberlain. Towards the middle of August, John Nicholson arrived from the Punjab with his flying column. On the 4th of September a heavy siege train arrived from the Punjab, and fifty large guns were placed in position.

Captured, September 1857.

From the 8th to the 12th of September, four batteries poured a constant storm of shot and shell on the doomed city. On the 13th the breaches were practicable. At three o'clock on the following morning, three assaulting columns were formed in the trenches, whilst a fourth was kept in reserve. The Cashmere gate was blown open by gunpowder; one column pushed through the gateway, whilst the others escaladed the breaches. The advancing columns were exposed to a ceaseless fire from houses, mosques, and other buildings, and John Nicholson received a mortal wound. Then followed six days of desperate street fighting. On the 20th of September the British flag waved in triumph over the old capital of Hindustan and the palace of the Great Mogul.[30]

Peace in the north-west.

Immediately after the fall of Delhi, a column was sent down the grand trunk road, to relieve the fortress at Agra, and to open up communications between Delhi and Allahabad. Within a few short months peace and order were restored to the North-West Provinces, and the brigandage and anarchy which for a brief interval revived the memory of the old Mahratta days, disappeared, it is hoped for ever, from Hindustan.[31]

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