THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. (See p. [250].)
The mere struggle for existence had long been over. The work of regaining empire was about to begin. Nearly 30,000 men had come out from England, and the remaining part of our story will show how they were employed, and how their work was done. We left the Commander-in-Chief encamped at Futtehghur in the beginning of January, 1858. Here he remained for the rest of the month; his troops engaged in watching the enemy on the opposite shore of the Ganges, and himself occupied in an important correspondence with Lord Canning with regard to the next step in the war. The problem to be solved was whether the army, now augmenting daily, should be used against Lucknow or Bareilly, whether Oude or Rohilcund should be first conquered. It was an exceedingly difficult question. The whole country from the mountains to the Ganges as far as Allahabad swarmed with enemies. The two centres were Bareilly in Rohilcund and Lucknow in Oude. The larger number and the better forces were in Oude; the more active and threatening, so far as the upper and central parts of the Doab were concerned, the districts of Meerut and Saharunpore, were in Rohilcund. To crush the latter first, and thus remove all chance of an irruption on the Great Trunk Road, and into any part of the country on the right bank of the Ganges, seemed to Sir Colin the wiser plan; but Lord Canning thought differently. He saw less political danger from the new-born royalty of Khan Bahadoor at Bareilly than from the resuscitated royal government at Lucknow; for one of the wives of the late king had set her son on the throne. The Governor-General feared the effect upon Jung Bahadoor—now leading 9,000 of his Ghoorkas from the hills to operate in Goruckpore—of leaving the rebels in Oude untouched while Sir Colin cleared Rohilcund; and he apprehended that an attempt would be made by Oude men to break into the fertile provinces on the left bank of the Lower Ganges. It was at best a choice of evils which lay before the soldier and the statesman; and it may be presumed that, in a military point of view, the former was right; while, from the political point of view, the balance of reason was on the side of Lord Canning.
In the meantime Sir Colin kept a sharp watch upon parties of the enemy who were known to have assembled both above and below Futtehghur, intent on breaking into the Doab and plundering. Walpole watched the fords below and Hodson above. Adventurous parties of the Rohilcund forces crossed the Ganges at Soorajpore, about twenty miles up the river, and a large body prepared to follow. Well informed of their movements, Sir Colin waited until they crossed, and approached near enough to be within reach. They numbered about 9,000, and came on very confidently, and, giving out that they intended to attack Furruckabad, they encamped at Shumshabad, and were fairly in the trap. The enemy were beaten, pursued, and driven over the Ganges. Their guns and ammunition, as usual, were captured.
This action ended, Sir Colin left Walpole with a small force at Futtehghur, and marched for Cawnpore. The Governor-General had come up to Allahabad, in order to be nearer the scene of action, and thither Sir Colin went to settle, in a personal interview, the more important details of the campaign. The result of this interview was the completion of an extensive plan for the reduction of Lucknow, and the dispersion of the armed mob who held it. Sir Colin Campbell, with the main body, 18,000 strong, with 180 guns, was to march from Cawnpore; while General Franks, with 2,500 European troops, and as many Ghoorkas from Jung Bahadoor's army, now in Goruckpore, as he could obtain, was to move up the Goomtee. At the same time General Penny and General Chamberlain were to invade Rohilcund, while the Ghoorkas at Nynee Tal were to descend into the plains. Sir Hugh Rose also was afoot, marching from Indore upon Saugor; and General Whitlock, with a Madras force, was to move from Jubbulpore on Banda. Other columns were on the move from Bombay into Rajpootana, where our troops had not only relieved Neemuch, as already recorded, but had recovered Ajmere and Nusseerabad. In this quarter the Rajahs of Tonk and Bikaneer were our fast friends. Thus at the beginning of 1858 the numerous troops sent from England began to tell, and from all quarters the rebels and mutineers were threatened with certain destruction.
The main body under Sir Colin had been in great part pushed across the river from Cawnpore, and occupied camps on the road to Lucknow, Onao, which the reader knows, Nawabgunge, deeper into Oude, Bunnee, where there is a bridge over the Sye, Jellalabad, a fort near the Alumbagh, and finally the Alumbagh itself, where Outram had held his own so long in front of the insurgent army. Sir Colin was ready to march early in February; but he had to wait, until his patience was quite exhausted, for the march of Jung Bahadoor up the Goomtee. Lord Canning hoped to produce a great moral effect upon the mind of the Hindoos by showing them so stout a Hindoo as Jung Bahadoor as his ally. But the Nepaul chief moved slowly. He did not bring with him the men of the fighting caste of Nepaul. He brought the scum of the hills, and these worthies plundered every rood of ground over which they passed. Lord Canning had no sooner got them from the hills than he wished them back again; but as they were there, and as their chief was burning for military distinction, he was obliged to let them go on. Therefore Sir Colin made all his arrangements for moving on Lucknow and so disposed his troops that he could concentrate them at the Alumbagh, as soon as it was plain that Jung Bahadoor was near at hand, or that he could be stayed for no longer.
THE SECOND RELIEF OF LUCKNOW, 1857.