- ■_- ' - " - ■':. .7 " ^B Evm^'im*-- ittiftsmi;. Iit« Ij.-^j'iai- i^fitMn. ^'f »!"!«'' The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924006145662 Cornell University Library DS 478.S55 1974 Daily life during the Indian Mutiny :per 3 1924 006 145 662 DAILY LIFE DURING THE INDIAN MUTINY Some Opinions of the Press "Mr. Sherer gives a graphic amount of the events he wit- nessed in the terrible times of the Mutiny. He has done right to publish the letters sent to him by Sir James Outram and others ; they speak for themselves-"— CZflf^ow Herald. "It throws an interesting sidelight on those troublous times from a civilian non-combatant's point of view." — Pall Mall Gazette. "Full of exciting adventure, with the added charm of actual personal experience. Written in a vigorous and picturesque style." — Bookseller. "Mr Shere's narrative is full of good stories, and he has done well to republish it in its present [oTia."—Publislurs' Circular. "This publication will be .interesting, instructive, and useful to the younger generation, as throwing a few sidelights on a tnomentous episode in our national history, and enabling them to estimate' in some degree the anxiety, sorrow and horror which moved the nation in thrills and pulsations." — Shooting Times. "Although memoirs and reminiscences of the Indian Mutiny have been published by the score, the reader will find in Mr Sherer's narrative much that will be new and interesting to him even now when the story of 1857 is fading away into old history."— Broad Arrow. "The pages of this modest, amiable book are a valuable supplement to the more dignified histories."— 5/iedator. DAILY LIFE DURING THE INDIAN MUTINY PERSONAL S^ERlMGm OB 1857a BY J. W. SHERER, G^.I. Where our best Suitained the strife of war WUenhopa'werrat; tlseir Icnmit Legend Publications AttAHABAO (rWDIA) PubliaJied— 1910 Reprint— 1974 Sole DistrUmtor M/8. SHABD SANCHAR, Rajendrapura, Ajmer (Rajasthan). Other books in this series 1. The Khakee Ressalah. 2. Up Among the Pandies. 3. Personal Adventure. >- Price for the set Rs. 190.00 •■... c*»'tV Published by : BhuvneshwEir Singh Gahlot, for Legend Publications, Allahabad *|?j/ AND '. ;„> '^ Printed at : S^ection Printers, Allahabad— 211003 To GENERAL MOWBRAY THOMSON IN REMEMBRANCE OF DAYS GONE BY AND IN TOKEN OF A LONG FRIENDSHIP 1857—1898 Ur. Isnivari rrasaa M.A.,D Liu. Emeritus Professor of History & Political Science University of Allahabad. FOREW ARD I have looked into the books mentioned below. They relate to the Mutiny of 1857 and were written by Englishmen who were present at that time in India. They were eye witnesses of the events which occurred during these castastrophic days. Their observations throw a new light upon some of the aspects of the mutiny. The names of the books are : 1, Robert Henery Wallace Dunlop— Khakee Ressala. 2, William Edwards — Personal adventures during the Indian Rebellion. 3. J. W. Sherer — Daily life during the Indian Mutiny. 4. V. D. Majendie~Up among the Pandies. The publisher have done a creditable job in trying to under- take the publication of these books, I have no doubt they will be useful to advanced students of history as well as the general readers. One of our research scholar, Sri Bhuvneshwar Singh Gahlot who has submitted his thesis for the D. Phil, degree has hunted up these books and brought them to light. 9, Bank Road, (Sd.) ISHWARI PRASAD. Allahabad. 15th August, 1974. PREF ACE The chapters forming this volume were contributed by me to Colonel F. LlFE. 41 Banda is another question. All that we then witnessed was the Witches' Sabbath of untaught, needy, unprinci- pled village roughs — not a political den^onstration at all — and I believe the case was at bottoni the sanie in Futtehpore. It was nearly noon when we reached Kalinjur, and put up at the thana, waich was in the centre of the vill- age. ; We had two dgqtors with us, one frorp Futjehoore, and Dr. Glaik of Bahda, and the first opportunity now occurred of ascertaining how far Mrs Webster had beett injured by the upset. It was found her collar-bone was broken. It is truly wonderful how ladieswiT endure in silence, sustained by their courage and unselfishness It was horrible to think what a long night of pain Mrs. Webster must have passed. But she made no complaint. In the village the sweetmeat- sellers were unwilling to serve us, even when money was offered, so that we had to put the coin down and take a reasbnable quantity ourselves. In the afternoon, too, a'curious demonstra- tion took place. Some Muhajuns, or native merchants, mouey-lenders, and so on, who had apparently hired men to watch and guard their houses, made them all parade in a procession past our thana. They did not say any- thing, so the idea evidently was to upbraid us with our , loss of authority. There was a disposition, too, in some of the young men towards evening to hang about and interfere with the preparations for starting. However, before sunset we were on the march again, and ascending towards hills which lay at some distance. And as we wound along we kept on our left the wonderful fort of Kalinjur, all dismantled, but still displaying the matchless skill with wSiich an immensely strong natural position 42 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MtTlNY. had been seized on, and rendered, for all old-world modes of attack, impregnable. Whilst passing this fort, a rifle fell out of the dog-cart, and, going off, a ball was lodged in the fetlock of a horse belonging to Hutchinson, the Futtehpore doctor. He attempted to extract the ball, but finding it embed- ded, and supposing the horse would suffer exceedingly from movement, he took off the saddle and bridle, and abandoned the animal by the wayside. But Joseph Manuel, who was seated in some strange vehicle, with clerks and one or two old women, thought the occasion not one to be thrown away. There had been no time at Banda to attend to his wardrobe, and, therefore, he was simply dressed in a loin cloth, and a little linen cap ; the heat, indeed, rendered such an airy costume by no means Inappropriate. From soraeobe, too, he had obtain- ed a sword without a scab'^ard, and borrowing a water- ing-bridle trym one of the syces, he secured Hutchinson's horse and mounted him. The animal was quite able to move, and seemed, pleased to rejoin the cavalcade, but old Joseph was a most comiciil sight. Naked himself, on a naked horse, and with his drawn sword held to his shoul- der with an air worthy of Marshal Schomberg, he did much to lighten the journey with laughter. All that night the road lay amongst the hills, and surrounded by scenery unfamiliar to those who dwelt in the Doab, but pretty enough as far as the imperfect light disclosed it. The re- gion was part of the territories of the Raja of Punna, and his pepple were fairly civil. Water was very scarce, and at one or two guard-posts where it Was found, they said it was Drought trom a long distance. The party were will- ing to pay for it, and the Punna men to accept the NOMAD LIFE. 43 oflfer. Mavne had managed to write from Kalinjur to Major Ellis, Political Agent at Nagode, and that gentleman hid sent out barouche for the ladies, one stage from his station. The ladies got in, and Mayne and I were asked to accompany them. A few words about Banda. The next morning after the party left was a sorrowful and sanguinary one enough. There is no reason to think that the Nuwab was in any way consenting to the proceedings, and indeed it would appear he was so far a prisoner in his own zenana that his relatives and retainers did what they could to keep him there. The Sepoys and Palace guards, and the rabble of the town, made common cause, and riot and bloodshed prevailed. Those we had passed the afternoon with were all murdered, with their belongings. Poor Shepherd and Bruce, the females of their household, and some Christians in the bazaar, met their deaths early in the morning. Gockerell yielded at last to the solicitations that he should leave Kirwee. But too late. We had hoped against hope that he might catch us up at Kalinjur. But he rode into Banda the day alter we had left, before the sun had got hot. He reached the Palace gate, sup- posing he should soon be amongst friends. But having entered this portal, he was attacked and killed at once. It is well known that the Nuwab received and protected several British fugitives when he recovered authority, and that his mother behaved kindly to ladies. He did very well as long as he kept Sepoys out of the station, and if fortune had favoured him he might have lived to receive thanks and honour from the Government he had seemed anxious to support. But luck was against him. There was, 44 DAILY LIFE vDURlNO THE MUTINY. in the end, a great gathering of rebels at Banda, and when they went out against General Whitlock they compelled or induced the Nuwab to go with them. I do not know whether the two swords were in requisition again ; but he was taken in arms, was deprived of his estates, put on a pension, and sent to Indore, Thence he wrote to me,'- ,, being probably afraid of Maype, and reminding me of the sojourn in the Palace, asked me to exert myself in his behalf. I replied that I had a warm serse of his kindness under trying circumstances, but that it would be mere presumption in me to come forward in a political case. And I could not but add that a home and a pension represented treatrrjent so diflFerent from what other nobles in actual rebellion against the British power had received, that it seemed clear his hospitality and friendliness had b en already taken into consideration. He died not long after. But a few years altti wards his son actually took a long journey to call upon me, aud said he had often heard my name from his father. So the unfortunate Nuwab harboured no resentment. Not being a hero, he did not exhibit heroic conduct ; but I believe, if he had been lelt to follow his own wishes, he would not have rebelled. Worse men had better fortune. lb return to the fugitives, who got iaio the carriage. We wtre weaiy enough, and the easy rolling ot ttie vehicle was very pleasant, and so, chatting away, we found ourselves in the street of Nagode. Looking out from under the hood, 1 was greatly surprised to see people running about in an excited way, some witu bundles under their arms, some dragging children along, * See Appendix No. VI, NOMAD LIFE. 45 all in anxiety and expectation. It seemed a straggling, stony kind of place, the shops only occurring here and there ; but some of these were closed, and at others the owner? were busy fastening up the bamboo hurdles that did service for shutters. We were driving slowlv, and at last came to a stand-still, when a tall, middle-aged man in a sola tope?, without a coat, but activelv girdled up, and with a sword in his hand, came to the side of the carriage. "You are some of the party from Banda ?" he asked. "Yes, thi* is Mavne, and these are the ladles." "Major Ellis will put up some, and I others. I am Cole, Assistant Agent." "I will stay with you," l said, to make a commencement of the division, and I got out. "Gome along," cried Cole ; "we will go to mv house presently. There is a panic going on, and I like to be here in case of being wanted. I am with the Raja." We went together to some large gates in a native house of considerable extent, and after being subjected to certain watchwords, supplied, of course, by my companion, were cautiously admitted into an archway, and the gates were shut again. Drawn down exactly in front of the entrance was a six-pounder cannon, or one, at any rate, that looked of that calibre, and in charge, with lighted port-fires, were servants of the Raja, got up in the odd toggery affected by prin'dely retinues in the East. Cole introduced me to the Raja, a thin, rather forlorn personage, who had selec- ted this stormy period for having a sore nose. That origan, naturally pf unusual proportions, and now swollen by internal fires, was out of all proportion to the long, thiti, Don Quixote face. His Highness kindly took me into a small darkened apartment, whers a thermantidote 46 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. was spinning softly round, and supplied, most thought- fully, a sherbet of pomegranate or other innocuous fruit, wherewith to refresh the inner man. But there was a sort of ottoman there, covered with cool, white cloth, enticing with soft pillows, and I felt that, come what political changes might, I must sleep. We had been on horseback the whole of two nights, and what with heat and dust, and one thing or another, nature now took the matter into her own hands. I lay down, was asleep in two minutes, and did not awake again till the evening. The station was garrisoned by the 50th Regiment N.I., and in respect to this corps. Colonel Malleson, in his "History of the Mutiny," writes as follows : "There was one station in Bandalkhand, and only one, in which the native troops stationed did not mutiny. This was the station of Nagdde. The regiment there quartered, the 50th Native Infantry, stood firm to the last, fourteen men in the whole regiment having alone shown symptoms of disaflfection. Nor was the misconduct of these men dis- played until a later period— 27th August " From a testimony so honourable to the corps no one naturally would wish to detract by a single careless word. It remains, however, a fact that the news of the approach of the Banda caravan, exaggerated and distorted, doubtless^ in native rumour, had greatly excited the men, though the excitement had been admirably guided and controlled by their officers. But the news of a considerable ferment in the lines spread into the town, and though I believe there were no symptoms of outbreak, a regular panic had set in. This was what we had witnessed in the street, and it was against the possible consequences of NOMAD LIFE. 47 this that the Raja, with his exaggerated dosc, had taken warlike precautioas. But when I awoke all was calm again, and the kindly Cole was present to offer the hos- pitalities of his house. On reaching his bungalow, I found most of the Futtehpore party ; and a parcel of rough strangers we were, uncouth in appearance, and retaining little of civilisation except a capacity for good food and beer. We were all most ably catered for by Mrs. Cole, and accommodated, obviously not with bedrooms, but with bedding or wrappings, on which sleep was admirably effected in the verandah. Major Ellis, with whoHTi the ladies and some of our party put up (the rest being received by ofiBcers), was a scholar of some distinc- tion, and well acquainted with the history of the part of the country in which his duties lay, the legends of the Bhondelas, Bhagelas, and so on. He had accumalated an extensive and valuable library, and, with the natural affection of a student for his books, lelt great apprehen- sion for its safety. He might well do so. During the subsequent troubles of the autumn, the agent only abandoned Nagode for a single night, when he visited the Raja of Punna, who had always asked him to come in case of emergency. On hi& return, of the volumes and manuscripts he had sedulously collected for thirty years not a vestige remained. The whole library had been reduced to ashes. Kindly treated and comfortable though we were, Mac- naghten and myself were very anxious to push on, and get within hail of our Commissioner. The party that had arrived from Banda in some measure broke up, for the officers of the 1st Regiment who had accompanied us were put nominally under arrest, to enable them to 48 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. account for their absence from their corps. And as the country around was fairly safe, it was not necessary that bnward movement should be pursued in absolute caravan fashion. As Macnaghten and I were inquiring who were bound for Rewah, and ultimately for Mirzapur, it was reported to Major Ellis that we were contemplating a start, and, promptei certainly by some good public motive, he wrote an official letter to me saying that, as he might possibly be able to employ our services, he must forbid oue leaving Nagode. We wrote back that our move, far from having as its object escape from duty, was simply dictated by the desire to put ourselves at the disposal ot our own Goramissioner, and we felt sure Major Ellis did not wish to transfer officers from one part of the country to another, without definite authority for the purpose. He wrote back that he did not so wish, and we started. Old Joseph was still so ill-supplied with clothes that I did not like to take him on, and Cole kindly offered shelter in his compound, so he was left, with sufficient funds to enable him to follow us, if matters got more settled in the Doab. The rains were fully due, but still held off, fortunately, for heave wet would have increased our difficulties. We were still a large party, — most of the Futteh pore men, the ladies, Webster, and, for part of the way, Mayne. Night, of course, was chosen for our departure, on account of the heat, and with sincere thanks to our kind hosts off we started. The long hours brought us, before the sun was opjjressively high up, to Maihere, a very pretty place, wjth one or more curious conical hills, which, as in the case of most of the phenomena of nature in India, had been' ajjpropriated to devotional purposes, and crowned NOMAD LIFE. 49 with venerated shirines. At this place we got on a once celebraji^d line of communication, the Deccan Road, now grealty superseded by the, railway ; and on this at stated ; intervals were staging bungalows, so that without diffi- culty we proceeded till we reached Rewah, the capital of the independent kingdom of that name. For the sake of accommodation we did not ktep always together, but broke up in twos and threes so as to use the buiigalows in turn. When the party I was with reached the staging house at Rewah, we were received by a youngish English officer- looking indeed younger than he really was — well dressed, jaunty and amusing, who gave no sort of impression of being in any responsible position, and did the honours of the bungalow as if the poaching of eggs and the curry- ing of fowls were on the whole as important duties as life presented.' But this airy and wholly wonderful person was Lieutenant Willoughby Osborne, a young Political, who was performing the astounding feat of keeping Rewah quiet, entirely by himself, A solitary European without a comrade— a soldier, you may say, without a regiment — was by sheer (otct of character overawing the authorities of Rewah. The King had made oflF to a jungle fortress at that particular juncture ; but shortly before we arrived a Durbar had been held, where the Sudder Ameen,who was a Mahomedan, had spoken against the Biitish Govern- ment, and on hearing him (or learning about him, he may possibly not have been present), Osborne insisted on the King putting him under arrest, and was so urgent that his wishes were actually carried out, and the Sudder Ameen found himself in prison. To give the impression of being generally aware of what was going on, Osborne moved 4 50 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINV. about a good' deal, travelling hither and thither on the mail cart still remaining in these territories. As he was passing a village on one occasion, a Brahmin, who seemed to be a man in authority, took the apportunity of calling him what may be translated as a "blackguard Feringhee," or "Frank." An ill-facted speech ! Osborne stopped the cart ; descended, seized the Brahmin, tied him behind with the horse's heelropes, and stated again. After a long run of some miles the breathless one was relieved at an uncomfortable distance irom his home, with the recom- mendation to be more circumspect in his language for the future. I hope our company was some gratification, after such anxious solitude, to this brave and remarkable man. His society was certainly most exhilarating to us, giving us increased trust in our cause, and a desire to aid it to the best our powers The rains still held off. One could not but remember how, in former years, one had , watched the sky in the overpowering heat for symptoms of coming disturbance, whilst now as great desire was felt that the dry sunshine might last a little longer. It lasted, but the mornings and the evenings were growing overcast, and at length we approached Mirzapore, Bews having given me a seat in his dog-cart, and as we sat there — strange figures wrapt in native blankets — we could scarcely wonder at the rain which descended in torrents, and danced and glinted Irom its own puddles on the road. On, on — through the streaming streets and under the dripping trees — till we pulled up at the noble old house then occupied by the Magistrate, but afterwards usually the home of the Judge, till, some years ikter, during my tenancy, it ceased to be NOMAD LIFE. 51 SO ; for the hungry river gnawed the banks around it, and left it— if more conspicuous — uncomfortable,' and only moderately safe. We were welcomed by St. George Tucker, brother of the gentleman I had parted from in the little garden-plot at Futtehpore. And . standing by him, as his Assistant, was a yoting man whose subsequent brilliant career is known to all — Charles (now Sir Charles) Elliott. I would mention a trifling itcident as illustrative of the times. After descending that remarkable Steep which separates the table-land of Rewah from the valley of the Ganges, we reached a staging bugalovv, where a native Raja, belonging to the Allahabad district, was awaiting our arrival. Eggs in profusion, plenty of milk, all the vegetables in season ; hay for our horses, sweetmeats for our men — all were forthcoming. And I "must write a certificate" to say how we had' been welqomed ; for of the loyalty of, a Prince, who catered for English nomads without even being asked to do so, who could doubt ? "Perhaps I would especially remark that the Raja who held this testimonial had warmly espoused the British side." Would you learn the cause of our host's solicitude ? Neill had reached Benares 1 IV MAKING FOR HBAEQUARTERS It was Sunday, but we had lost note of time, and were only recalled to the fact when St. George Tucker suggested afternoon church. The little fabric used for Divine service was just opposite his gate, and was of the order of architecture which might be called "giracrack." It looked as if one so disposed might lift it off the ground, put a pastille under it, replace it and allow the fragrant smoke to issue out of the little steeple. How ver, as Tucker simply remarked, "devotion was pretty well the only stand-by left." So we, in due cpurse, when refresh- ed and dried, asseimbled and heard prayers read. The position of Mirzapore was peculiar ; the Sepoys had not mutinied, and there had been no outbreak in the city. It was said that owing to the suggestions of Colonel Pott^ who commanded the regiment — the 47th — and through whose admirable arrangements it was kept at least from open sympathy with the rebel cause, many of the Sepoys who had saved money had lent it out at interest. Neither a sudden break-up nor a rising of the rabble suited, therefore, the views of these men. Still, the feelling was very far from being one of security ; recent events at Benares had created great excitement, and there was the chance that the Sepoys might break out from 52 . MAKING FOR HEADQUARTERS. 53 apprehension of attack ; whilst in the city the merchants and bankers were timid and cold-hearted, and there ha^d always existed, beside and around these, a strong element of bad characters. The atmosphere, however, at the Magistrate's house was one of hope and calmness. We had of course, to keep our onward progress stea- dily in view, and hearing that a steamer was expected with troops for Allahabad, it seemed a good plan to secure a passage, and let our horses come after us by road. Our party had gradually dwindled ; the ladies were moving South ; on others Allahabad had no claim ; Mayne had gone back Rewah vvay, to remain near his own district. But we were still five or six, and being informed that the steamer had arrived, and having made arrangements with our servants, we went down to the river bank. The steamerwas duly there, and we went on board, and found it full of men of the e^th Queen's. We were just arranging to stow away our traps, when Major Stirling, who commanded the detachment, came up,' and though he was perfectly courteous, yet he remons- trated, strongly enough, against our coming on board. He said the crowding was uncomfortable as it was, that the boat had knocked a hole in her bottom, which had only been tinkered up, that she moved very slowly, and any additional weight, however slight, was undesirable. Macnaghten, excellent fellow as he always was, keeping the goal steadily in view, urged that we ought to persevere, notwithstanding the fact that we were clearly unwelcome. But Bews and I thought that if the boat was so slow, the object of our gciiiig in it was in a measure removed, and at last it was decided that we should land again, and at once start by road. And this 54 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. we did, returning to St. George Tucker's house, waiting till sunset, and then mounting and riding down to the ferry. After crossing the river we proceeded gently along — gently indeed, perforce, tor we did not intend to stop for more than baiting till we reached Allahabad. About elevent at night we struck the main road from Benares, and found the dak bungalow, at that point, occupied by English soldiers. There were tents in the enclosure, and a couple of oflBcers were still sitting in the verandah smoking. They were rather entertained at the idea of a small party of their countrymen riding about in the night, and were desirous of acting as hosts. Escorted by them, we visited the" kitchen, their messman kindly supplied us with food and beer, and we sat under the trees and discussed our welcome provender. On inquiry it was thought I was the lightest sleeper, so the rest lay down under a neera-tree for a snooze from which I was to awake them. I fastened my bridle to my arm, and knowing that my horse, being an Arab, would avoid trampling on me, or hurting me, I slept myself ; but, of course, under my existing responsibility, the sleep was fdr little scraps of five or tea minutes only, causing roe to start each time to wonder why on eaith I should be in bed on the ground, and have a horse tied to me. At last it was two o'clock, and I ruth- lessly made the others get up, and off we went. I. recollect seeing two men hanging on a tree near this place, and in the dim light they looked ghastly enough ; but I bolieve they had paid a just penalty, being two of the Zemindars who had betrayed and murdered young Moore in their village a few days before. We rode on till day- break, and then, after a little consultation, decided to hold on as long as we could, make one halt, and so MAKING FOR HEADaUARTERS. 55 push on to Allahabad by night-fall. The weather was overcast, but not wet, and we persevered till past noon, and then pulled ud at a dak bungalow Travelling was perfectly safe ; troops had passed up the road, and indeed, the journey was melancholy from desolation rather than exciting from adventure. In the strips of village streets adjoining the highway the shops were latticed up with bamboo hurdles ; other dwellings showed traces of having been fired, and thsre were very few people in sight anywhere. Some unnecessary violence had, perhaps, been shown by those passing up- wards, but, of course, much excitement prevailed. Many wild stories of the treatment of isolated Englishmen by natives were abroad, and Thomas Atkins, naturally enough, found it difficult to draw distinctions, so the very sight of a black man made him rather uproarious. We were soon in the saddle again, and reached the ferry opposite Dara Gunj, at Allahabad, by sunset. The river had risen a great deal from rain up-country, and we had some little trouble with the young fellows managing the boats. They were in a flighty, disobedient mood, and on our threatening one of tbem he jumped overboard, so that we had to be ajittle diplomatic. I had written to our Commissioner, Mr. Chester, from Mirzapore, and he kindly came down to meet me in his buggy. Of course he had much to tell, for I was only partially acquainted with the strange events that had taken place at Allahabad. The whole story is so well known that I will not dwell on it for a moment, but I may mention one circumstance I have never seen in print. Besides the trouble which the Sepoys, rebels, and E 56 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. bad characters of the place had given, some difficulties also had arisen from our own countrymen. Indirectly connected with the railway was one romantic and remarkable yoting man, the son of an eminent geologist, who could not refrain from eccentric acts. When the town was in its most ticklish state, and the Sepoys only too anxious for any pretext for o£Fence, this youth must needs go and shoot a cow that had strayed into his compound. He seemed quite unaware that he had done anything imprudent, and spoke of the animal rather as a /em Tiatwae which he had discovred in his own domain. After the outbreak had taken place, and as soon as our people began to leave the Fort^ this strange man was bitten with a desire to become a pirate. He rigged up a boat, put on board a quantity of loot he found lying about^ and cruised up and down the river in his. mys- terious bark, amusing himself, amongst other employ- ments, with a piano he had ipicked up in.some; deserted bungalow. That he would have been heard of generally, for good or evil, seems certain, as he was out of the common run, but death from fever or cholera put an end to his whimsical career. Chester drove me to the Red Lion, the name given to a large house which had tormerly been occupied by the Judge, but was now used as a civil barrack, and in which vyere collected a company of local civilian refugees from Oudh, railway engineers, and others. I was introduced to Dr. Irving, who had charge of the mess, and who was good enough to admit my conirades and myself to the privilege of the Club as long as we stayed. We soon sat down to dinner, and then, of course, we heard the current news. Havelock had arrived, and was only awaiting car- riage to proceed to Cawnpore. Renaud, of the Madras MAKING FOR HEADaUARTERS. 97 Fusiliers had started with his detachment to prepare the way for the coming brigade. Wewere all talking without special knowledge^ and as people do talk who are not behind the scenes, freely and critically, and it may perhaps be added, foolishly. But the general feeling was one of regret that Neill should have been superseded. He had established a reputation for great decision of character at Benares, and he seemed so especially suited for the work in Tiand. Then, too, as some delay was now taking place about transport, for which, probably. General Havelock was in no way responsible, it pleased us uninstructed critics to think that Neill would not have bothered about carts and bearers, and that the hitch was the fault of the new Com- mauder. All oar beds stood side-by-side ; there were five or six in the verandati where I lay, so one could not complain of loneliness. After breakfast, the next morning, I and another strolled out. It was quite cloudy and overcast, and com- ing at length to an open space we found a gallows on which nine men were hanging. The odd thing was there was not a soul in sight. There was a bazaar not far off, but it was deserted, and these nine dead men were abso- lutely by themselves. The state of affairs, when reprisals began at Allahabad, has been described by others, and I have no wish to judge of actions that were doubtless intended to make short work with the disaffected, and so speedily end the necessity of punishment at all. But someting was said about "making examples" by stringing up people for slight offences. The nine coolies by them- selves seemed to answer that notion. The native community would not have cared a straw if a thousand coolies had perished. I was, It think 58 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. on our return from this rather uncomfortable walk that we saw a well-horsed mail phaeton driven by a veterinary surgeon known for bis turns-out. By his side was sitting a tall, broad, and full-fleshed man in Khakee uniform dress, and a turbaned helmet. He descended to see the Magistrate, and make some inquiries on business. Very^ free spoken, animated enough in his manner, and defiant rather in gesture, he was a nian about whom interest was at once excited. As it was the first time I bad seen him, I did not know who he was. But the rumour soon spread that it was Neill who had come. Of course, one looked more minutely at him then, for he was quite the hero of the hour, and certainly for decision, command, dash, and all that is necessary to inspire confidence and insure obedience, be looked every inch his reputation. Chester told me that afternoon I was to go with General Havelock when he started, but it was not certain whether he would be able to march the next day or not. It had not rained since the day we reached Mirzapore, but each evening clouds were thickly collecting, and we went to bed usually expecting a torrent. But the clouds blew off again. Two days, if not more, passed ; and at last one morning positive tidings came that the General would start that afternoon. The camp had been sent on a mile or two out of Allahabad, and on the afternoon of the 7th of July the troops left the Fort of Allahabad. I had made all the little arrangements I could; chiefly with the view to great wet, which we knew was upon us. A sergeant's "paul" had been assigned to me, and Bews, with whom I had left Futtehpore, was to share it. A large curtain over an exaggerated clothes-horse will do for a description of a "paul." MAKING FOR HBAQUARTBRS. 59 We sent on two horses, and, after luncheon, borrowed a buggy — for it had come on to rain outrageously — and drove to camp. The fields where the camp was set up were a sea of mud, and as evening was coming on we struggled into our tent, where we were very uncomfortable indeed. There was nothing to eat or drink ; the earth steamed up, and we sat on our beds, drenched as it in a vapour bath. Insects of all sorts were attracted by. our light, and either dashed into the flame, or singed their wings and fell on the table. All the noises of the rains were present : frogs and earth-crickets — with, at intervals, the splashing of showers and bubbling of water-courses. I Bews and I were laughing at our plight, when I heard my name called. It was Lynch, an officer 1 had known in I the hills. By rapid travelling he had just managed to catch the advance, and he was accompanied by another lofficer, named Sheehy. They had got leave to march with the force, but no sort of arrangements could be i made for them, and so, portpianteaux in hand, they had come to ask for shelter. Four men in a sergeant's "paul" is close packing ; but Bews and I said : "If you can put i up with the space, you are welcome to it." They would fhave slept under a parasol, and were quite satisfied. But the night was wretched. When the bugle sounded at two in the morning the idea of any change was a relief. V HAVELOCK'S ADVANCE The depression of the nigtit were off when one was in the saddle again, arid as the rain had ceased, and the air was pleasant, by the time the bugle sounded for a halt for "little breaklast," we were all in high spirits. The camp was in a garden of trees, and it was bright and dry, and the soldiers seemed very happy, though they would go out without any covering on their heads, and chose to look on the sunshine as indicative of agreeable haymaking weather in England. I had to assist, of course, as much as possible, in getting up a bazaar for the camp followers, as soon as we reached ah encampment ; and difficulty was to prevent the grain and sweetmeat sellers being looted the moment they arrived. However, some help was forthcoming ; one or two men had joined as adven- turers, thinking there might be posts to fill up if we got setded at Gawnpore. A tall, handsome sowar, who looked very unlikely to be loyal, was attached to my fortunes by Chester, and a very nice young Mussulman, who, by his manners, I should think was of good birth, came to me the first evening in camp, and remained till he met a horrible death a week or two afterwards. Also a^capital table-servant volunteered. These little points are mentioned because it never can be remembered sufficiently 60 havelock's advance. 61 in the East how the general mind is affected by disaster or success. A defeat — and everyone deserts ; a victory-^ and all throng to con- gratulate and support. At first we marched rather showly, and there was one very sad point iabout the whole expedition. Sir John Kaye has thus expressed it : "It was a grand movement in advance ; bat like raajiy of our grand ipovements, the heartTbreaking words 'too late' were written in characters of darkest night across it," We had, indeed, left General Neill at Allahabad, refusing to believe that Gawnpore was lost. But Havelock knew better On the 12th of July we started very early— indeed, soon after midnight of the ILth— and presently- we came up with Renaud's detach- ment. The men were drawn up along the side of the road. I remember being struck, in the moonlight, with the yellow colours of the Sikhs. Then we all rparched on together, and at last halted a little short of Futtehpore.i Barrow had a wonderful Madras servantj who was a good rider, and stayed near him on a spare horse. This man kept a small kettle and teapot slung by him, and sugar and milk in bottles in his cummerbund, or waistband, and was game to make tea in no time. He dismounted and made a fire. Willock, of my service, had gone on with Renaud, and, as we had never met, we were making acquaintance. As we were standing together, General Havelock went by — the erect, slight figure, handsome features, grey hair, with the white covered and curtained cap, and the easy seat on the natty Arab— a vignette very familiar to us all afterwards. I think we had got the tea» when bang \vent a gun, and certainly not very far o&. I. Col. Barrow commanded Havelock's handful of Cavalry. He kindly allowed me to join the Mess. 62 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. There was a complete transformation scene in a moment. Barrow hurried off to the head of his Cavalry, and we saw the Infantrv. being collected and let straight on ahead, and the guns, eight in number, pushed forward. There were two officers with whom I often found myself — Dr. Domenichetti, in charge of medical stores, and Sibley, an old officer of the 64th, who had grown grey in long regimental service, was, perhaps, of West Indian extrac- tion, and may be called, par excellence, ^the Old Campaig- ner." He had charge of the Military Treasure Chest. We heard our guns opening, got on our horses, and pro- ceeded along the road. As we went along we came to the dismounted gun at the culvert, and presently to the dead elephant— the results of Maude's two Brst shots — now historical ! One of our tent companions, Sheehy, was acting as Aide de-Gamp for that morning, and came and told me the General wanted to ask me some questions. So I rode up and told him what the town was like inside, and as he passed into a field near the garden walls skirting the suburbs, I went too, and with me my bearded sowar, Azim All. The General was apparently recognised, for some peo- ple behind the walls were plainly taking shots at him. Azim, who was close to me, said, in an undertone : "Yih achcha jagah nahin !" (This is not a suitable place !) The remembrance of this afterwards made one laugh very much, and in subsequent adventures, when matters occasionally got awkward, the phrase recurred, — 'Tifc achcha jagah nahin !'' The enemy made no stand what- ever, and really behaved like poltroons ; but they were HAVfiLOCK's ADVANCE. 63 taken by surprise, which perhaps shows that they were not always much helped by the villagers. For they ought to have known exactly where Havelock was. Not- withstanding the barricade, the Sepoys all cleared out of the streets, our troops marched right through, and the camp was set up on the Gawnpore side. I rode through my own little town, and laughed at some pottering improvements which had been thought of, and which seemed such rubbish now. Moreover, they called to mind what I had said to Hikmut Oollah, the Deputy- Collector, that I was going "on a month's leave." I had kept my time very fairly. Here, perhaps, one word about this unfortunate man may be permitted. I see in Kaye's History that, on Joseph's evidence, I accused him of being an active partaker in the murder of poor Mr. Robert Tucker. I was afterwards at his trial, and think it exceedingly unlikely, both from his craven demeanour on that occasion, and from the testimony adduced, that he ever took a prominent part in any active proceedings against the British. He was thoroughly disloyal, and in one of his letters to the Nana, as tar as I remember, expressed regret that he should have violated his con- science (iman) by serving the English, an old statement for one of the elect to make to an idolater ; but for acts of boldness, daring, or cruelty, he was constitutionally unfit. He died in prison of a collapse of mind and body not long alter his case was decided. There was hardly a person in the town. One young fellow, a jogee or mendicant devotee by profession, was under the prepost- erous idea that our soldiers would be interested in his religious freedom from partisanship. I tried to get him iiaway, but he was obstinate, and met his fate, receiving 64 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. two or three balls into him before he succumed. Through the town, a little way up the road, I saw some people sitting under trees, and Stuart Beatson, whom I knew, called out to me. So I pulled up, and discovered the General regal,ii g a little, and, being kindly told to join, found a leg of chicken by no means unpalatable. Then came a ride with Colonel Fraser Tytler to the Tuhseelee, or Sub-Collector's office, just to examine the Chamber where the treasure used to be kept. On this journey we saw a good deal oi wine and beer Iseing distributed from a merchant's godown, and the General, I fancy, soon ordered it into charge of the Commissariat. About mid-day, or shortly after, I got back to my tent, and there found some rather unpleasant neighbours. It was understood that Palliser's Irregulars had behaved that morning, when opposed to the 2nd Cavalry, with very lukewarm loyalty ; but a small group of them were quite firm, and of these some were killed. Palliser, and Simpson who was with him, were near our tent, and, in honour of the fidelity of those who had fallen, their bodies were laid out in a conspicuous place. Three black-beard- ed men, olive-coloured in death, with their rigid boots sticking up, were festering in the sun. Sleep came on in the afternoon, and sitting up afterwards, at the door of the- tent, I observed a large strong man, with a red beard, lying near, with his head on his arm, and a blue handker- chiet with white spots propped on two sticks to make a little shelter for his lace. He was a man of the 78th Highlanders, and some of his mates came presently to look after him. They tried to rouse him, but, alas ! he was beyond all appeals. He had been, it appeared, indulging rather freely in the stores HAVELOCK'S ADVANCE. 65 which had been found in the town and, lying down to sleep, had passed away in apoplexy. His name was Campbell. They went and fetched a charpoy, and laid him gently on it, covering his face up in the blue hand- kerchief he had stretched on the sticks. Then there was something said of another Campbell, and I gathered that he of the red beard had a brother in the same regiment. After a time this man appeared. He, too, had been indulging in more liquor than the weather sanctioned ; but he was soon sobered sufficiently to understand the sad calamity. I was forcibly reminded of the grief over the dead fisherman, depicted so powerfully in the "Antiquary." The second Compbell, a younger and slighter man, was distracted with the loss that had befallen him. He sat on the ground, and wrung his hands. "Oh, brother dear !" he cried, "shall I never see you more ? Speak to me. Speak to me. Will you never spea'i to me again ? What have you left me all alone for ? Brother, brother, come back to me." The bystandeis made motions that they would remove the body on the charpoy. Then the younger Campbell threw himself on his brother, clasped him in his arms, and in this way, wrapped in a last embrace, they were both carried away together. I heard the bagpipes soon after, droning in the distance, as the body was taken to the grave. The station where we had all lived was perhaps a mile off, and I was not able to get up there. But others went, and they found the skeleton of the Judge, which was duly placed within the precincts of the Christian churchyard. The General thought it right that an example should be made of Futtehpore, and the Sikhs were left behind for the not unwelcome task of looting and burning the place. 66 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. But Other work demanded our swift advance, and in the small hours of Tuesday morning the force moved on again. I had, during my brief incumbency of Futtehpore, become acquainted by name with one of the tuhseeldars, or Sub-Collectors of revenue. He was a young Brahmin of high family, and had been brought to notice as an officer of exceptional promise, displaying a laudable and apparently natural desire for, everything that was progres- sive and elevated. He had probably less difficulty than others in following his own bent, as his sacerdotal rank screened him generally from coercion. But he seems never for a moment to have hesitated in the matter of loyalty. He made over his treasure chest to an influen- tial Zemindar, and ensconced himself in the same man's mud-fort, till times should look better. When Renaud advanced, he put himself in communication with the force, and, after the evacuation of Futtehpore by the mutineers, sent word to me that he was coming to join us. Unfortunately, thpugh so good a fellow, he did not at all look his character. He was immensely stout, and had a vast crop of hair, with a beard that gave him quite a Saracen's Head appearance. Added to this, he wore a large, untidy turban, which he hitched up in a manner closely simulating rebellion. And before he reached me I am afraid he did not altogether escape rough treatment from the soldiers, who could not understand how a man, whose effigy might have passed in a puppet-show for that of the Nana himself, could be a staunch well-wisher to the British cause. However, when I had got him, I knew his value too well not to try earnestly to soothe any chag- rin he may have felt. His unwieldy form and odd, rolling gait soon becaihe familiar in camp, and Thomas Atkins havelcxjk's advance. 67 and he fraternised in a manner which their first meeting gave no grounds for expecting. The morning we left Futtehpore, as it grew light, people thought more than once that they saw the "twinkl- ing feet" of retreating Sepoys in the hazy distance. And as the day were on, so strong an impression prevailed, that the enemy's Cavalry were watching our movements under distant trees, as to produce the order for a halt. The objects, though puzzlingly indistinct, were, doubtless, cattle feeding at the edge of groves on the new grass. Before the halt there had been the tramp of feet, the rattle of the gun-carriages, the creaking of cart wheels, the hum of human voices, and the sudden pause was very • striking. For, as the guns were unlimbered, and field- glasses sedulously applied to the distant trees, expectation arrested speech, and ihere was a dead silence. At this rather interesting moment there sounded from a neighbouring copse the cry of Cuckoo !'' It was Words- worth's "wandering voice," the companion of the spring- time of our youth, the veritable cuculus canorus not often heard, in my experience, so far south in the Provinces of India. I Visions of village greens, shady dingles and dells, and the faces of pretty girls were, doubtless, brought into many minds by the familiar note. At any rate, a soldier close to me called out to his mate, in a tone about whose heartiness there was no mistake, and in words whose frankness need not be modified : "I say, Bill, who'd ha' thought o' the likes o' that ? Blest — if it was not a damned old cuckoo !" In the afternoon of the same day it was deemed proper I ^ JerdoD, however, says it travels as far as Central India. 68 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. by the General to disarm and dismount the Irregular Cavalry, who were considered to have behaved with more than apathy at Futtehpore. General Havelock superin- tended the operation himself. It was, doubtless, a most unwelcome duty, and everybody feU sorry for their com- mander, Palliser. If weakness it is, the weakness is more creditable than some strength — to believe that those who have often gallantly followed you, will follow you to the last. One or two of the native officers, handsome fellows, with that Jewish type of face so common in the extreme North, who looked sorrowful with a haughty, wounded sorrow, refused altogether to avail themselves of the opportunity of going away, and rarely allowed Pallissr, or Simpson, out of their sight. Palliser^ afierwajds greatly distinguished himself; but E. H. C. Simpson died in Ireland at the early age of forty-seven. He had a brother who was so embarrassingly like him that mistakes such as overtook the two Dromios were common. It was much easier to manage supplies for the camp bazzar since the Brahmin Deputy-Collector had joined us, and the farmers began to appear. Ploughing, too, for the autumn crops was going on generally, and it was encouraging to think that confidence was being restored. It is quite easy to understand how, after the events that had occurred at Allahabad, the first torce under Renaud looked upon their mission partly as an avenging one. There was a slight failure, perhaps, of logic in the idea, because the rebellion was being sternly put down, on the ground that the coun- try was ours ; and reprisals, which, against the enemy's property, would have been appropriate, were not so advis- 1 Sir Charies Palliser died in 1896. havelock's advance. 69 able against the property of our own subjects. The enemy was the Sepoy Army, and, as far as I saw, throughout, though many of the farmers, in whose veins the old lawless blood still flowed, were against order and in this way, against the , British Government, they were not in favour of any other Government.^ The "Old Campaigner," when we reached camp, used to come up and say in an undertone something of this kind : "Any sort of vegetables — a little fresh milk — an egg or two, and, of course, if there should be a duck going — so much the better." The march on the 15th of July brought us to the outskirts of a pretty large village called Aong. The houses were off the road, but there were walled gardens running towards it, at no great distance, and it became evident that there was a considerable force of the enemy at the spot, and that they intended to try and oppose the advance of the column, flere took place what is known as the battle of Aong and the Pandoo Nuddee, fully described by Sir John Kaye. The Pandoo Nuddee was one of those streams which, in the hot weather, present only a thread of flowing water, but are flushed in the ' rains, their own torrents being augmented by runnels through every ravine. The camp was set up on the Cawnpore side of the river. And 'here a strange incident happened. When we \ were at Fiiftehpore, jist before the outbreak, Bews, him- ' self a railway engineer, was in the habit of hearing from a f brother engineer at Gownpore. The latter was a married man, and it was a curious instance of how our country- I 1 Fanners, who had been dispossessed by auction sales, were, I of course, against uS to a man. 70 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. men kept their spirits up, that he wrote very amusing accounts of what was going on, which Bews read out to us. It must be remembered that the intervention of the Nana, and his bringing the Sepoys who had actually started for Delhi back again, was a thing which neither AA/heeler nor anyone else had ever calculated upon. Therefore, what was apprehended was the first outbreak, and the general impression was, that, if this were got over, all would be well. The last letter Bews received from his friend was to the effect that a row was imminent, but, said he, "we are quite prepared, and if the fellows break out there will be wigs on the green." It was now nearly six weeks since that letter, and though the most ominous reports were current, there was no real certainty as to the details of what had occurred. The spot on the river bank where our little tent was going to be set up was a level area, just below some slightly higher ground, formed accidentally by the action of rains, but suggesting itself as a convenient resting-place, and, as such, it had been apparently used by an outpost of the enemy's Cavalry. For th«re was some of their rubbish lying there, ropes and straw, and earthen pots, one or two blankets, saddlecloths, etc. Bews had hardly entered this enclosure when his eye caught amongst the litter what he thought was a book. He took it up ; it was a leather case. He opened it ; it was a miniature of his friend's, wife. When I came up I found Bevvs naturally greatly cut up at the discovery. There was something so very appalling in the mystery of the affair. We never had reason to think the poor lady lived to reach the horrors of the Beebeeghur, and it is not improbable that, in the confusion of moving, the miniature was left at the bungalow, was looted, and havelock's advance. 71 accidentally came into the trooper's possession. But that the one man in the force, to whom the fate of the lady was ot deep interest, should find this sad memorial of her, was a remarkable coincidence. It would really have been a relief to know that she was dead, and beyond ea'rthly trouble. But the amount of knowledge possessed by the best-informed was only that Cawnpore was no longer holding out. Any now, as we all turned in that evening, we felt that we were on the eve of an histori- cal day. Exaggerated accounts of the numbers of the enemy, their force of Cavalry, and the strength of their Artillery, were, of course, abroad, as they always are on such occasions ; and it was obviously of the utmost impor- tance to the rebel cause that Cawnpore should not fall into the hands of the British. We marched at the usual hour, and by the time it was daylight, it became evident that it was going to be fear- fully hot. On passing through a village, the zemindars came out with vegetables and other little offerings, and promised to send supplies on after us for the camp follow- ers. Before noon we reached a small grove through which the road passed, and here a halt was ordered. AH the waggons were drawn up, and a kind of zareba^ was made. In the midst of this a tent was pitched, and here poor Major Renaud was laid on a charpoy with his wounded leg. The fighting men were hastily provided with breakfast and their grog, and after a brief delay, guns and troops moved on. Non-combatants were order- ed to remain in the zareba ; but my co-adjutor, Henry Willock, who was chumming with a doctor, accompanied his friend in the advance.* There were a good many of 1 This good word is Maude's. a It seems unaccountable thait Willock received no decoration. 72 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. US in our grove — the oflficer commanding the baggage guard, Commissariat officers, a doctor or two in charge of the sick, a Post Office Agent, and so on, A gun, one of those taken at Aong, was left with us, and was ready to be served bv some miscellaneous persons who sufficiently understood the art, and who, in point of fact, did under excuse of distant objects, fire it once or twice in the afternoon. When the last soldier was out of sight down the road, the curiosity as to the opening of the battle was, of course, great. We had not to wait long. There soon came to us the sound of guns ; and, mingled with those of smaller calibre, the deep baom of heavy ordnance. Once we saw some men in the distance, and going a little way out to meet them, found them a small boy of five or six soldiers, who had got separated, in some way, Irom their comrades. They could, however, give no news of how matters were going on. The afternoon were away, and one good sign was, that the firing, before dying but, was much more distant. Then, as the sun set, we stared at the furthest point of the road we could se*", but no figure appeared. Nor, indeed, as far as the eye reached in any direction, did we detect a human being. The "Old Campaigner," who was with us in the grove in charge of his Chest, had, of course, like the rest of us, been on the qui vive all the afternoon ; but he had reserved a place in his mind for dinner, so that when seven came, and it was dusk, and silence was setting in around us, we were invited to a 1 He was present at Itwelve actions with General Havelock ; afterwards at the taking of Galpee, and, finally, with General Berkel in Oudh. A fighting civilian, if ever there was one. He is alive and well, why not decorate him now ? The best excuic for mistakes is to conect them. HAVELOOK'S ADVANCE. 73 table under a tree, close by the door of the tent, where poor Renaud way lying. I hope our presence was of some good, for people, in the excitement of moving hither and thither, sometimes made as if they would have passed through the tent, not knowing, doubtless, who was within ; and this intrusion we strenuously opposed, for the smallest concussion of the charpoy would laave been agony to the patient. After dinner, some little chat on current events, and then to sleep pretty well where we were — not in the last-century sense of falling under the table, but fidgetting into comfortable attitudes on the chair, and at last deserting it for the ground. There were occasional rows in the uight, from horses getting loose, and other contingencies ; but the morning came at last, and heedless of human conflicts and cares, the birds, finding it was getting light, knew they ought to chirp, and so set to work briskly, though their season of music was ending. But still no sort of communication from the force, so the Commissariat officers, growing anxious as to how they might be getting on for provisions, determined to start a string of camels. An officer named Thompson being there, and having a horse, agreed with me to move on in search of our friends. We rode a long way, as it seemed to us, without seeing anyone at all. It was an excep- tionally hot morning ; the rising sun struck us obliquely, and we were much troubled with what the elder Lord Lytton would have called the "glint of the beam." Whilst riding along on the look-out for any traces of conflict, of which the most prominent was a trench dug right across the road, in which big guns had been firmly placed — two of them — as in a battery, I suddenly saw, far in the 74 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. distance, a great tongue of fire flung up towards the sky, and immediately afterwards, what looked like a vast black balloon ascended, as if in pursuit of it, showing us, in its dispersioh, that it was smoke. Then after a perceptible pause there was the noise of a violent explosion, and at the moment I felt a pluck at my knees that made me in- voluntarily sit tighter. This compression was the passage of the great air-wave, for the Cawnpore Magazine had just been blown up. We were almost beat with the morning sun. I remember I dismounted at a well, and poured water on my head, then got some neem leaves, soaked them, and put them in my sola hat. But even then I was so giddy I could scarcely manage to proceed. However, We approached the cantonments, and found the soldiers all under temporary shelter in the barracks round about, and soon got amongst friends. I saw some men I knew in the verandah of an empty bungalow, and went and talked with them for awhile, and then, passing into a chamber, lay down on the threshold, and in a moment was fast asleep. When I awoke I looked up, and beheld the Gene- ral entirely by himself, sitting down close by. I scrambled up, and begged pardon for having intruded into the house, which I had no idea had been selected for him. But he was in a most gracious mood, begged me not to go, and said he had read accounts of the war in the Peninsula, and a life of Wellington, by an officer of my name; and then, when I told him it was an uncle ot mine, Moyle Sherer, he asked me if he was still alive, and so on. Then he launch- ed a little into the events of the last few days, and spoke with great satisfaction ot what had occurred. I remem- ber, especially, he divided the occurrences into grades of importance. "The a£Fair at Futtehpore, the engagement HAVELOCK'S ADVANCE. '5 at Aong, and what will be probably known as the battle ofGawnpore." Though exceedingly interested in what he was saying, I took an early opportunity of making my bow, as I was clearly an unbidden though a politely- treated guest. And now, having shaken off the effects of the sun, and got some tea, it began to occur to me that I ought to go into the city. So having found my horse, I went to Colonel Barrow to ask him if he would give me a trooper to take care of me, as I wanted to visit the Kotwalee, the head-quariers of town government, a name still retained under the new police, though the ancient office of Kotwal is abolished nominally, the people insist- ing on using the word. Barrow consented at once, and as the trooper was Bews, we started, alertly enough, on our mission. VI OAWNPORE RE-OCCUPIEU As Bews and I entered the city, we were met by a man with a small kettle-drum ; and, without orders, he put himself just before us, and proclaimed the restoration of the former rule. Whether he had in a similar manner proclaimed the Nana cannot well be known ; but he diligently rattled away, sonorously shouting an intima- tion, framed on the same lines as the one mentioned to have been used by the rebels in Banda, but worded as follows : Khalk-i-Khuda Mulk-i-Kampani Bahadur Huhm-i-Sahiban alishan. We passed through some streets till we reached the princi- pal thoroughfare — the Ghouk — at the head of which stood the Kotwalee, a two-storied building, with arches in front, forming a balcony above. Here we dismounted, ascended to the upper story, and were almost immediately surround- ed by a crowd of people, many of them Bengalees. They professed themselves delighted with our return ; but were rather afraid of the soldiers, and thought that, if measures of retaliation were taken, the innocent might be confounded with the guilty. We said that, as lar as we knew, no indis- criminate punishment was at all likely to be inflicted ; and 76 CAWNPORE RE-OCCUPIED. 77 told them the best way of showing their loyalty would be to oflFer their services for useful work. Bengalese are always ready to write ; and one of them improvised paper, inkstand, and a table, and commenced writing placards, somewhat as followss-*'this house belongs to one Mokerjea, very loyal subject. Please not to molest." I was reques- ted to sign these, and they were supposed to be talismans, which, when presented, to the excellent Thomas Atkins, would assuage that warrior's angry disposition. Fortu- nately for all parties, Atkins was not permitted to roam into the city ; and my talismans were never put to a rude practical test. Amongst those at the Kotwalee was a tallish Hindoo, of an able but rather forbidding face, who was pointed out by some of the others as the "former . Deputy-Collec- tor." I knew nothing about him and had never heard his name before ; and, therefore, when he came forward and bowed, and said he hoped our return would be fortunate, I bowed back, and replied that I hoped it would ; which, under the circumstances, was a safe, if not striking remark. A rather energetic Baboo, who had been in the Gommissriat, having put himself forward, I asked him to remain with me, and help in making arrangements ; under his guidance we pursued our way from the Kotwalee, down the Ghouk, and out of the town by another way. In course of time we reached 'Mahomed's Hotel, which had been, as we were told, the headquarters of the Nana ; and on stopping, were rereived by the landlord. I have often thought since, that considering this man had not left his house when the Nana was there, that the building was close to the scene of the massacre, and that English feeling was not in its calmest mood, it showed wonderful presence of mind on his part 78 DAILA LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. to pursue his occupation exactly as if nothing had happen- ed. He was quite frank and confident, and from first to last incurred no suspicion, and underwent no troubles. Of course, some months later he had to fly before the Gwalior Contingent for a few days; but he returned imme- diately afterwrads ; and I left him, in 1860. Hotel- keeping with the utmost composure. Mahomed showed us over the house, and we saw where the Nana had slept, and how another bedroom had been fitted up with choolees for the preparation of his food. This word signifies a small structure in wet mud, of nearly horseshoe shape, which, when dry and firm, supports a brass pot over burning sticks. From the hotel, not a hundred yards' walk led us to the celebrated Beebeeghur. First let me say that this appellation does not mean the "ladies' house" as indicat- ing the spot where the ladies were killed; the building had the name previous to the Mutiny. It was understood to have been a dwelling provided by a European for his Indian mistress, and was therefore constructed in the Oriental style. It was of one storey,^ with a court in the middle, and a tree grew in the court. Bews and I were certainlv among the first who saw it ; but Colonel Fraser-Tytler had been there, and one or two others. But there is no question that the aspect of the place, when we entered, was entirely unchanged. It was precisely in the same condition as the first Englishman who did see it found it to be in. The whole story was so unspeakably horrible that it would be quite wrong in any sort of way to increase the distressing circumstances which really existed. And I may say once for all that the accounts were exaggerated. The atta.ck had evidently been made from the front entrance, Oawnpobe re-occupied. 79 and there is reason to suppose that it commenced by muskets being pushed through the Venetians, and dis- charged. There had been arush across the court to the opposite side, and a mass of human beings were collected in the arched chamber facing the entrance. And thither, doubtless, they were pursued by the assassins with swords. For the whole of the pavement was thickly caked with blood. Surely this is enough, without saying "the clotted gore lay ankle deep," which besides being most distressing, is absolutely iricorrect. Then, as to what was lying about, both of us thought it wonderful that the small litter we saw could be the traces of the numbers who had been shut up there. There is no question in my mind that when the bodies were taken away the place had been tidied a little and painful objects had been removed. There were certainly a few odds and ends of clothing, some looks of hair, some little shoes, straw hats, and so on. of mutilation, in that house at' least, there were no signs, nor at that time was there any writing on the walls. It is well known that there were one or two'books, and in them some notes, which have long since been communicated to the public.^ From this dreadful place we passed down the garden to the narrow well into which many of the bodies of the victims of the assassination were thrown. I say many, . ^ A memorandum by a native apothecary was picked up. In this was an entry af a death, thus given : "A baby, of itself." By mistake the vernacular word got printed bibi, and Kaye (voL ii, p. 257, Longman's edition) rightly remarks that ^t'^i means lady. The memorandum or list was in my' possession for some time. It was written in the Hindee character, and the word in question took this .form, ^ %. English transliteration is not possible, but in French bebs would correspond. Phonetically, it would be bay-bay. 80 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. s because the receptacle was far too small for all, and there can be little doubt that bodies were dragged across the open space to the river, which was at no great distance. Indeed, we were told as much at the time. When we got to the coping of the well, and looked over, we saw, at no great depth, a ghastly tange of naked limbs. I heard a low cry of pain, and saw Bews almost crouching with a sickening anguish. There is no object in saying more. The next day, which was Saturday, the General moved the troops to the north-western point ol the cantonment, beyond Nuwab Gunj,^ and near what had been a Mis- sionary establishment. Conversation had been held about the state of the well, and it seemed very desirable that it should not be left as it was ; so, wden going over to the new encampment, I thought I would try and see the General on the subject. The tents had not come up, and I found him sitting on a chair, in a field by himself, with an umbrella over him. I asked him about the well, and said ' that for one thing, of course, it vyould soon become very pestilential if something were not done; and he replied : ''Please at once procure coolies, and have it filled up with earth." So, getting hold again ot Bews, and the Commissariat Baboo whom I nominated as Kotwal for a temporary arrangement, ^ I have mentioned in the introduction my visit to the Hillersdons at Nuwab Gunj. When the camp was there I visited the site of their bungalow. Fire had reduced the house to bare walls, and these, again, were stained by the wet weather. I went into what had been a room : the floor was beaded with debris of the fallen roof Amidst some broken china I found x scrap of paper. On it was prmted the single word "Spirituoso." I thought of the music I had heard in the spring. CAWNPORE RE«QGGUPIED. 81 we visited the horrible spot once more, and had the vyell filled up in a rough manner, and not a moment too soon, for the effuvia was beeoming excessively bad. Gener?,! Neill, on the 25th of July, which was exactly a week afterwards, published an order containing these words : "The well in which are the remains of the poor women and children so brutally murdered by this miscreant, the Nana, will be filled up, and neatly and decently covered over to form their grave ; a party of European soldiers will do so this evening, under the superintendence of an officer.*' But this refers to making the earth thrown into the well level witb the surface,' and forming a memorial mound to mark the spot. The bodies had, as I say, been covered up a week before, indeed, if this had not been done, the place would have been unapproachable. Meeting with willock, I heardfof poor Beatson's illness. He had been taken with premonitory symptoms the very day of the battle of Gawnpore, but with indomitable courage he managed to keep with the force, and reached Gawnpore in the evening dreadfully ejShausted. Gholera had seized him, and though he pulled through the actual attack he was too enfeebled to rally. I saw him for a few minutes at Suvada Kotee, where a temporary hos- pital had been established. He was dreadfully altered, but still prepared with his kind smile and an outstretched hand. This must have been Friday evening, and he d I think in the night. At the same place (Su Kotee), poor Major Renaud had his left leg taken oflF, op the thigh ; an operation which he only sur one day. Both Beatson and he were buried nea camp at the north-west corner of the station, where 82 LAILY LIFE DURING IHE MUTINY. tombs serve not only as memorials of themselves, but as an historical reminiscence of Havelock's position, tt was chosen under an idea that an attack might be expec- ted from Bithoor ; and though this was a mistake, the distance from the bazaar wa"! favourable for restoring discipline, which had naturally enough been partially relaxed. Stuard Beatson was in the prime of life ;and there seems little doubt that, had he lived, bis clear head, and high spirit, would have carried him to great distinction. Willock told me some of the incidents of the day of the battle of Gawnpore. He was close to poor Gurrie, of the 84th, when he received the terrible wound from a roundshot in the lower part of the body, to which he succumbed. I believe lam able to throw light on one little event of that day, and am glad to do so, because it explains a point which led to some misunderstanding, and u also renders the story, as related by Sir John Kaye, intelligible, which, as it stands at present, some would surely say is not the case. The preserit Sir Henry Havelock-AUan is mentioned by the historian as having greatly distin- guished himself by performing the following action : "The Infantry prepared to advance right upon the death- dealing battery of the enemy, the 64th Foot, led by Major Stirling, in front. At this moment, the General's Aide- de-Camp,. 'the boy Harry,' wheeld his horse round to the centre of the leading regiment, and rode straight upon the muzzle of the twenty-four pounder." It must strike anyone reading this for the first time that what the Younger Havelock is related to have done was an altogether astounding thing. Why should he have voluntee- red to ride in front of a regiment, unless it wanted lead- ing ? And what call is there for any one, when a corps is CAWNPORE OCX5UP1ED. 83 gallantly advancing to get between it and the enemy's guns ! Now for my elucidatory note. People who had got horses were very lucky. They were not easily to be . procured. And some of the oflBcers on the march picked up ponies which farmers, or others, were willing to sell. The north provinces "fac" is an animal oi astonishing, endurance ; but if he be of at all a troublesome disposi- tion, his voice are strongly developed. When of the masculine gender, and untampered with by precautionary operations, he delights in making himself prominent ; and he is equally objectionable in his expressions of love and jealousy. Squealing, roaring, kicking, and biting, are amongst his resources ; and moments occur when remons- trance and punishment are alike unavailing ; and master of the situation, he will neither advance nor retreat, and nothing will please him but pawing the air, lifting his gums oflF his teeth, and behaving altogether in a manner at once outrageous and unbearable. Now it so happened that Major Stirling had bought a particularly misguided and undisciplined- pony, and the day after we crossed the Pandoo Naddee, I saw this animal advancing on his kind I legs, determined to bite some other horse; if possible. Every body got out of the way, and I remember the younger Havelock, in joke, drew his sword to defend his own steed. Now, I was told that Stirling was on this beast, that it turned brutally restive, and he, with the intention of sending it at once to the devil, dismounted. There was the briefest space, during which, by a pure accident, the leader was not in front of his regiment. "Gome on, then, with me." Cried the A. D. C. who happened in that second to ride up. If this incident has been told before, 1 must beg pardon for repetition ; but 84 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. Sir John Kaye certainly did not known of it. I believe it to be true, a'^d it is agreeable, because it puts everything right. The 64th needs no enlogy from anybody. Stir- ling was romantically brave, as his death, a little later, amply showed ; while "Young Harry" was well worthy of the honours he won, and which he has since increased in other fields of action.' From the position which General Havelock occupied at the north-west corner of the Gawnpore station, he despatched a force to Bithoor. The buildings which had constituted the Nana's palace were, for the most part, destroyed, as well as the residences of his depen- dents. This is not an inapprepriate place to say a word about the Nana Sahib, his habits, and so on. When the massacre became generally known, the Nana grew posi- tively into a European notoriety. The French, with their taste for melodrama, and their perceprion of the artistic value of contrast, seized on the idea of concocting his personality out of cruel instincts, exceeding those of ordi- nary barbarism, on the one hand, but with delicate and luxurious habitudes on the other. So that, in their hands, the Nana became a scented syberite, who read Balzac, played chopin on the piano, and, lolling on a dewan, founded by exquisite odalisques from Gashmere, had an English child brought in occasionally, on a pike, for him to examine with his pincenez. In England, again, the desire was rather to make out the Nana to have been one of those extraordinary monster of ferocity and slaughter who were 1 This anecdote was labelled, soon after its publication, by. a military weekly, as "camp gup." But it only professed to be gossip, and is left in as such— gumtum valeat. Particularly, as Key's perplex- ing account of the incident is retained, intact, in Longman's Silver Library edition of his history, 1897. CAWNRORB RE-OCCUPIED. 85 favourite characters in the earliest drainas, ia which, as Charles Lamb droUy said, "blood was made as light of as money in a modern sentimental comedy, and as this is given away till it reminds us that it is nothing but coun- ters so that is spilt till it affects us no more than its representative, the paint of the property-man." I remember, when in England, in 1860, seeing a large canvas daub in a show at a fair, which was said to repre- sent the Nana, and he reallv was a terrific embodiment of matted hair, rolling eveg, and cruel teeth. But the reality was extremely unlike the romance. I have heard from several who knew him, and especially Dr. J. N. Tresidder, who had attended him professionally, that Doondoo Punt was an excessively uninteresting person. Between thirty and forty years of age, of middle height, stolid features and increasing stoutness, he might well have passed' for the ordinary shopkeeper of the bazzar, had it not been for the Mahratta contour of his turban, of which, however, he did not effect a very pro- nounced type. He did not speak English, and his habits, if selfrindulgent, had no tinge of poetry about them. He was particular about his ghee ; loved the eyes of dancing girls rubbed round with lamplack, and their lips rosy with the juice of betel-nut ; whilst his ear for music was satisfied with the rude viol and tom-tom (or small hand- drum) that accompanied their slowly-revolving petticoats. But of any of the refinements of sensual enjoyment he was wholly ignorant. It was, apparently, a pleasure to him to receive occasional visitors at Bithoor ; and he used to come into Gawnpore and give general entertainments, all the arrangements of which he placed in European hands. But his daily life at home was carried on amidst surround- 86 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. ings of expensive discomfort. He was wont to repose on a charpoy (a framework laced with board strips of cotton cloth, and standing on four legs, whence the name) in a small private apartment, where a loose heifer roamed at will, watched by an attendant, who, in a roughly- wrought silver vessel, caught droppings which, to us, would be disgusting, but to our Hindoo brethren are replete with national, and, indeed, sacred associations. Many months after this July expedition to Bithoor, Lieu- tenant Malcohc,^ of the Royal Engineers, with a great deal of trouble, and no sm^ll amount of ingenuity, tished out of a large well what was called the Nana's gold plate. This was immensely valuable, because it really was of solid and very pure gold; but it had no artistic importance of the slightest degree. The trays and bowls were of the Tudest shapes thai were compatible with the purposes for which they were intended, and, in mean material, would not have attracted attentioa, if discovered in a South Sea Island. The Nana was a heavy, dull man, with a grie- vance. He thought Lord Dalhousie had treated him very badly by not Jetting him have the full allowance which was bestowed on the Peishwa, who had adopted him, and this wrong rankled in his mind.a Writers who blame » Now Colonel Malcolm of the retired list, one of the Mal- colms of Poltalloch. » The Nana's claims were unquestionably invalidated by a fallacy He seemed to think that Bajee Rao's pension was the result of a contract : he to give up his territories, and the company, in consideration of the fact, to make him a grant. Nothing could be less true. The Peishwa took| the field against the forces of the Company, was completely defeated, and his territories taken from him. Then the Company, in pity for his fallen fortunes, made him a most munificent provision for life. CAWPORE RE-OCCUPIED. 87 Lord Dalhousie for his aversion to recognising adoption always go oflFinto the religious necessity with the Hindoos of having a son to perform the funeral ceremonies, and to attend ceremonies, to the annual commemorations of the dead, and are astonished of the dead, that he did not take this view of the subject into consideration. It seems much better to recognise adoption ; but the argument about the funeral ceremonies is not, perhaps, a sound one. The validity of an adoption, as far as its religious aspect is concerned, does not depend on the recognition of Gov- ernment. In point of fact, the Nana did perform ^he funeral rites over Bajee Rao, and kept up the commemo- ration, though he did not succeed to the pension. The character of the Nana is so far of importance that it affects the wisdom of Sir Hugh Wheeler, Mr. Hillersdon, and the others who called in his aid, and gave over the powder maganize into his charge. If he had beeti a far- seeing, ambitious man, ot administrative abilities, who was sure in a disturbance to come to the front, the simpli- city of those who trusted him can scarcely be called less than culpable. "Almost as soon," writes Mr. Justin M' Gcirthy,,"as the Nana's presence became known in Gawn- pore, he was surrounded by the mutineers, who insisted that he must make common cause with them and become one of their leaders. He put himself at their disposal." From everything I have heard, I do not think this is an accurate statement. It is possible, and perhaps probable, that the Nana was a way to getting his pension by putting the English under a great ouUgation ; and certainly he could not at first come to any agreement with the Sepoys; or at least did not. Critics of Sir Hugh Wheeler's conduct should bear in mind that the revolted Sepoys left Cawn- 88 DAILY LIFE DLlRlNG THE MLiTINY. pore and made two marches towards Delhi. And Wheeler's entrenchment, which seemed so miserable when we came to look at it, particularly when the mud ramparts had been reduced by the rains, proved really enough for what he was guarding against, namely, the confusion incident on an outbreak. But the advisers of the Nana induced him to send messengers after the Sepoys, and oflFer them ample monetary remuneration if they would return, Thev did return, and all the world knows with what results. Then the Nana's name became the one to conjure with ; but of his individual influence there seems no trace throughout we knowr something of what AzimooUah did ; and the hand is not difficult to discover, at times, of Jowala Pershad, Baba Bhut, Tantia Topee, and the rest ; but the stolid, discontented figure of the Nana himself remains in the background, rejoicmg, doubtless, in the success of the treachery, and gladly consenting, probably, to the cruelty; but inanimate, incapable of original ideas, and more elated, perhaps, with the present golory of a hundred guns fired in his honour, than with any distinct idea ot future dominion. It remained so to the end ; his death even was indistinct and insignificant, shrouded by the malarious Nepaulese forest, and producing little effect but the disper- sion of a band of moribund vagabonds. Henry Willock accompanied the expedition to Bithoor, and brought back two of the Nana's pets, a Wandaroo monkey, and a squirrel quite as big as a small rabbit. The monkey became well-known in camp, and ultimately reached the Zoological Gardens in London, where I after- wards called upon him. The costly squirrel was made over to me ; but whether owing to undue excitement, or CAWNPORE RE-OCCUPIED. 89 perhaps change of food -for ignorant of his habits I could only ask, in a helpless way, like the gentleman in "Dom- bey," whether "something temporary could not be done with the teapot" — he died — poor, beautilul creature. General Neill (he had just been made Brigadier-Gene- ral) arrived on Monday, the 20th of July, and as he was to remain when Havelock went on, the local command was made over to him, and he began to try and establish order and discipline in Gawnpore itself. It must be remembered that he had been greatly praised ; everywhere it was noised abroad that Neill was the man for the emergency — Neill woald not stand any nonsense, and so on. And of course he could no but suppose that whatever position he was in, something, marked would be expected of him. Hence some of his orders, particularly the unfortunate one about the cleaning up of the blood ; ■, but it remained almost a dead letter,- carried out, I think, I in two instances. It is, however, preposterous to suppose that men in scenes of great excitement can behave exactly as they would on calm reflection in ordinary I circumstances. . Since the publication of Malleson's history, it is now known that Neill carried his exaltation so far as to write a censorious letter to Havelock, when the latter decided to fall back on Gawnpore ; to which Havelock replied that nothing but considerations of the public service prevented his ordering Neill into arrest. Impulsiveness was, of course, a facette, so to speak, of that general boldness which made Neill what he was. And he some- .times said things which others would have kept to themselves. He would laugh and declare, not heeding who was present, that "the old gentleman (Havelock) looked upoii himself (Neill) as the heic-at-law, so he 90 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. could not expect, to be liked more than heirs-at-law usually are." But this was mere manner ; and people are too ready to dwell on these little surface blemishes, not taking the trouble to look for hidden good qualities. I have been told since, that with all his martial bearihg and off-hand speech, General Neill devoted much time in private to serious reading, and was interested in ques- tions which we should have thought at the time were more in General Havelock's line. Two operations were going on simultaneously ; every effort was being made for crossing the river, and an entrenchment was being formed on the bank for the garrison that was to be left at Gownpore. About this time, a resident of Bithoor, at Mahratta, named Narain Rao, wrote to me from there, to say that he had always been on the English side, had been put into confinement during the supremacy of the Nana, and wished to pay his respects to the General. I showed his cotnmutiication to General Havelock, and he directed a persian answer to be prepared, stating that he must be quick about it if he did not wish his loyalty to be suspected. The title or sobriquet Nana is doc uncommon amongst the Mahrattas, and this man Narain Rao was also called the Nana, and it was, in consequence, rather difficult to procure him a civil reception with those who could not make out who he was. He was no relation whatever to Doondoo Punt, but was the son of an adherent of the Peishwa's, called the Subahdar Sahib, whom I well remember in Mr. Thomason's time. He sometimes visited Agra, and was always treated by Mr. Thomason with great respect^ as having been acknowledged as a good soldier in his younger days by Sir John Malcolm and even, I believe,- by the Duke of Wellington. The son was very Mahratta-rlooking. I have CAWNPORE RE-OCCUPIED. 91 mentioned this gentleman's name because some of the stories of the Nana's doings are based upon what he said. But though 1 make no question of Narain Rao's loyahy, his wish to represent himself a suflFerer was so mixed up with the hope of discrediting his brothers, with whom he had a quarrel about a will, that his adventures seem to me apocryphal now that one can think of them quietly. He had entreated me to get a vehicle for him, as he dec- lared himself destitute of all equipments, and a tradesman in the town lent a carriage, but no one would drive it. The young" Mahomedan of education and nice manners, who had come with me from Allahabad, was standing by when the dilemma arose. "I will go," he cried, and jumping on the box he whipped up the pair of horses into a brisk trot, and took the road to Bithoor. We all, naturally, wanted to do somethiog, to allow that we were helping the general restoration, and as the city was getting well into our complete control, I consult- ed the Brahmin Deputy-Collector as to whether we could get men to establish a thana a few miles out of the town. We found people quite willing to take service, and the young Mahomedan seemed the very fellow for the post. .Full of go, and anxious to bring himself forward, I asked him if he would try and forma little nucleus of British authority out in the village where it was proposed to place the thana, and he jumped at the idea. He had got a horse of his own, and he started the head of his little hand, who were all armed, and was to engage other men out there if necessity arose. Of course he was told that he was not expected to tight, and if Sepoys approached he was to fall back. But for all purposes of exercising his authority amongst the peasants he was, we thought, 92 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. Strong enough, and he himself was quite confident. He had hardly been there two days when a large body of Sepoys, stealing across from Galpee, and endeavouring to get over the Ganges into Oudh, came suddently upon his thana in the night. His men made some resistance, but the idea of Sepoys carried a certain terror with it, and the darkness was a temptation to try and escape. The plucky fellow, notwithstanding, held out, and at last fell into his assailants' hands. They bound him, cut his throat, and hung him by his feet on a tree. There are honoured mounds above brave Englishmen all over the world ; but that young hero's grave demands a leaf of laurel too. He espoused our cause ; he was faithful to it to death ; he fell-fighting. VII THE RAINS OF 1857 The wet season had thoroughly set in : the great river was rapid and swollen. And the difficulties General Havelock had to encounter were great, for the boats had to be collected, and boatmen to be procured. This class of men were shy of Coming forward, in consequence of the complicity of some members of their craft in the treacher at Suttee Ghowra Ghat. The little steamer, however, was of great service, and the crossing was eflFected in some four days, notwithstanding every obstacle. Colonel Fraser-Tytler was indefatigable. I remember seeing him, one evening, in a little native building by the river side, soaked and daubed in such a manner as rather to resem- ble a Nubian stoker in the Red Sea than his own thoro- ughly military and distingue self. Of course the troops were moved gradually down towards the Ganges, from the north-western corner of the station, and were paved across the water in turn. It was before the Force had got fully across, I think, that one morning, when I had returned from riding", I found a middle-size, strong-built man, dressed in Khakee (ash-coloured) uniform and a helmet, who had come to look me up, and who asked if I was a civiHan who had arrived with the Force. I replied that I was, and he then said : "I am Herbert Bruce, I hope we shall be friends, 93 94 DAILY LIFE DURING THe MUTINY. and work cordially together." He had rather a colourless face, light hair, and very pale blue eyes ; but a deter- mined mouth, and altogether an expression of much intelligence. I knew nothing about him, but he told me he belonged to the Bombay Army, and that he had come up to be with Neill, who was very anxious to estab- lish a military police, which would not only act as ordinary city constables, but could be used, on an emer- gency, for any autpost duty required. From that morning, for some months I was with Bruce every day, and sometimes more than once in the day. I waited upon General Neill in due course, and he told me, very civilly, that he had communicated to the Government his wish to have charge of the city himself, and, as it was so immediately near his entrenchment, he wanted the town people to understand that its occupation was, for the present, a military one. He kindly wrote me a letter later on, which I possess,^ to the effect that the plan was not in any way suggested by the inadequacy of such arrangements as had been made, but merely from his own views of military necessity. It may as well be said here that the extraordinary rumours that Mr. Grant (afterwards Sir John) — who was directed at this time to assume civil power, as far as it could be assumed, in the districts East of Cawnpore — desired to thwart Neill's plans, were quite certainly with- out foundation of any sort. Our instructions were to co- operate in every possible way with the military ; and no one was so foolish as to suppose it mattered who did any particular work, so long as it was done ; Dear Heaven : it was not a time to bicker amongst ourselves. ^ See Appendix II. THE RAINS OF 1857. St5 We had got hold of a great number of papers from the office of Baba Bhut, who was the member of the Nana's entourage to whose administration the district of Gawn- pore had been intrusted. It was entertaining to read his orders ; some of them ex:actly the sort of directions one had given one's self when in some doubt what to do next. In the margin of a report on some village disturbance, he would have Written : "Make strict inquiries and report again in three days.'' Deliciously make-believe energetic ! These papers, however, gave us a clear idea of who had deserted us and joined the Nana amongst our old officials. One of the most prominent of those who had cast in his lot with the so-called Peishwa was the Deputy-Collector who had received Bews and myself politely at the Kot- walee, and as he had no sort of excuse to make for himself he was condemned. The site having been chosen by Fraser-Tytler for an entrenchment on the bank of the Ganges, the -work was pushed forward as fast as circumstances would permit, and by the time the troops had crossed, the place was in some measure defensible. I got a more comfortable tent, and had it pitched on the glacis, near one of the entrances of the fort. Hard by, some dismantled houses were occu- pied as outposts. We seemed a small body, indeed, when Havelock was gone. At first he stayed four days at Mungulwar, a vil- lage about three or four miles on the Lucknow road, and naturally some communications were held with the camp during the time. But the. force moved away, and though we heard the firing at Onao, no distinct news of what was going on reached us. There were one or two houses more 96 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. or less in repair within close proximity to the entrench- ment, and these were occupied, at least during the day- time, by those remaining with the garrison who had duties to perform. News reached us that the rebels were gathering again at Bithoor, and Neill armed the steamer and sent it thither to destroy the boats, and thus prevent the crossing over the troops. But parties of Cavalry were said to come by night even into the suburbs oi Gawnpore; and certainly more than once I heard the clatter of hoofs as of a body of horse on the road. The nights were dis- turbed, far from the villages, both on our side and in Oudhi there was constant matchlock firing.* It was per- haps intended more to frighten intending marauders than anything else ; but it produced a general effect ot" dis- quiet. The very stout Brahmin who had been a Tuhsildar with me in Futtehpore, and had taken our side so warmly. Umurnath* by name, had shown plenty of courage in joining us on the march, and took up his quarters close to mine, making himself .useful in every way. But the idea of Cavalry roaming about by night disturbed him a good deal. There was so much of him — such vast pro- tuberances both preceded and succeeded what may be called the original kernel of the man — that a dread of sabres set in with him, and he provided himself with two of what he termed pehlawans, or "champions" as the dictionary is pleased to call them. 1 believe such 1 One night, when the matchlocks were unusually still, Bruce and I distinctly heard firing at Lucknow. So that I chanced to be an ear- witness of attacks both on Wheeler's entrenchment and the Bailey guard. 3 By an unaccountable slip, called in the "Memories," Kasi- nath, which was his brother's name. Umarnath was, however, generally known as the Pundit. TllE RAINS OF 1857. 37" persons are gotXrom Rajpootana by shroffs and bankers, and perhaps Umvirnath hail, iprqcured these two from monetary fnends to Gawnpoue. They were most extra- ordinary creatures— huge frames with exaggerated muscle's, broad tawny faces, surmounted with longhair hanging in thick strips, necklaces , of large wooden beeds, ferocious raou^taclies, stieel caps under red turbans, voluminous vyaistbands in which were thrust two horse pistols.; a leather strap holding a sword, and a long matchlock carried in the hand. Intending one evening to line with Bruce, wtio had his meals in one. of the empty, houses, I got a tradesman to^Vnd me a mule carriage. I was just sretting in when Umarnath came up and asked where 1 was gojng,. ' When he learned, he said it would be dark when I returned, and lie could not let me go without the pahlawans: ■ So he went a\id fetched them. First, one of these al^rfiiing warriors got into the carriage, and establi- shed himself in a corner, then I took my seat, and the other warribr 'satj with ' the carria,ge door op^n, on the floor. Their hirsute lefgs, with kaotted fibres (or it may have been varicose 'veins), were wonderful to behold, and emerged fr*bm lion cloths with a worked border, terminatiijg ' in' red shoes very' much turned up at the toes. I Was of cbur's^^ reclived with shouts of laughter ■ but my grotesque friends considered me in their charge,' sat solemnly 'in the verandah durihg dinner, and iiftfer- wards escorted me back to my tent. I had lost my cof^ipanions ; Bews had gone on with- Barrow's "Cavalry V WiU6pk had got hirhsetf attat^ed ,t6 ' tht advancing , column; and the two Queen*s officers had departed too, having had work assigned them. We still heard firihe on the'Lucknow road ;it had got very distant ' ■ i ° .1 • ■• . , 7 . 'A .} ,. ■ -■ .. 98 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. at one time ; but on the 31st of July we were surprised by some horsemen riding in, and found that General Have- lock was again at Mungiilwar. Many sick men came in, and amongst them poor Bews, who had fallen ill with dysenterv. He came back to my tent, and rested for a day or two, till, as he was worse instead of better, he took an opportunity of getting to Allahabad, and so our adventures together ended, for he was not able to appear again on the scene. Marriage cards, received long after- wards from new Zealand, were the only token of his existence I could afterwards obtain. Hevelock held on at Mungulwar, and some Infantry and guns arriving from Allahabad, Neill pushed them at once across the river, and thus reinforced, the relieving column again advanced towards Lucknow. Neill was dreadfully disappointed at the first putting back, and, as his manner was, did not hesitate to denounce the movement in energetic terms. There is no question that, elevated as he then was by the general opinion of him, he would have gone had he been in command ; and however imprudent it might have been, perhaps he might have succeeded. One of those transformation scenes so com- mon in Asiatic politics might have taken place. No- where 13 success so successful as in the East. But still, judging by what did happen when Outram went, perhaps if Neill had got into Lucknow he would not have been able to get out. , Days passed, and we heard distant firing, and firing more near, and it was all very puzzling to make out ; when at length the mysteries were explained, and back came the whole Force, taking up quarters in the barracks on the eastern side of the town. Prospects were getting rather gloo- my, the ominous word Galpee began to be mentioned THE KAINS OF 1857. 99 for the 6rst time, a word afterwards to cause constant anxiety and trouble. What was called the Gwalior Con- tingent was a thoroughly efficient body of troops, parti- cularly a wing in Artillery, which nominally belonged to Scindia, who had been organised and trained by the British. The facts was that this small army had shaken itself free of fight and intended to march on Gawnpore, crossing the river at Ualpee. Why they did not come is not known. The iact that they shilly- shallied all the autumn, and at they only crossed the river to break themselves to pieces against Colin Camp- bell, is one of those singular events in which, if the devout think they see the hand of Providence, they may well be excused their beliet Bithoor, too, had become a pertect nest of rebels ; and Havelock was no sooner across the river than he made an expedition there m which there was some stiff fighting. After this there 'Bithoor was defended by several regiments of mountioous Sepoys, ending Cavalry and Artillery. They had thrown the en- trenchments with some skill, and, besides fighting wish banders round their necks, the Nana was defending what was left of his household rods and altars. Havelock's march to Bithoor occupied eight hours, under a Bengal sun, at the end of which time the en- gagement was there. The Madras Fusiliers and 78th Highlanders, with my battery (I was ill in Gawnpore), formed the right wing j while the left wing was composed of the 64th, 84th, and Sikhs, with Olpherts's ,Battery. The force advanced in 'direct echelon from the right' Havelock's favourite movement). As the Fusiliers moved in extended order on the right, they were suddenly assailed by a sharp fire from a high outwork that had been thrown up in front of a village. Major Stephenson, then in command of the 'Blue Caps'. Neill having remained in Gawnpore, at once wheeled there of his cpmpanies to the right, and came to close q^uarters with the 42nd B.N.I., who really fought with great resolution from behind their 'moorcha'. Havelock said that 'be had not seen fire kept up so well since the days of Ferozshuhur' (in the Punjab). Our Artillery jbo DftlLY LIFE DURING MUTINY. was a little respite ; the Galpee rumour remained a rumour, and! there seemed no immediate work to be done. The promised rein tbrce men ts had to be waited for. All appeared calm", but there was one heart that was suffering, 'in iioble' silence, a great disappointment, riavelock was to be superseded. There was probably Meantime carried on tbeir usual duel with the enemy's, but bad unusual difficulty in silencing the latter, owing to the protection afforded by the earthworks ; so that the rebels had to be driven OTit of their W6rks mainly at the point of the bayonet ; and the principal credit 'of this hardly-won success was certainly, due to the infantry. , The trpop^ bivouacked that night at Bithoor ; and, after razing most of the buildings to the ground, returned the next day, in a deliige of rain, to our camp on thejGavalry Parade at Gawnpore. Here is a characteristic story about Aiijobr Tewaree, which occurred during the' above action. Our famous spy was constantly bringing us the minutest description of the enemy's movements, and especially of those of (the iN?iAa and ;;his following. Indeed, the attack was mainly undertaken on his information. But our excellent Q, M. G., Ti^ho, althoiigh a Scotchtbahjlias a pleasant wit, had often rallied Ahjoor' Tewaree as to his sources of informatioii, aslting him where he picked them up, and pretettded to disbelieve that he had ob- tained aiiything from ocular obsetvation. 'All right,' said the spy, 'one d'ay I'll prove it i6 you.' 'As the column w6re in the heat of the attackof Bithoor, and Fraser-Tyiler, as usual in the front, was calmly observing the position and movements of the enemy, he felt a tiig at his foot, iand A njoor whispered to him: "Do you see that.b?t of Whitfe kupra on a tree in front of you ? Well, take it down c|uickly, and put it into your poCket". Almost mecha*•^ riically Tytler reached' up- to the branch; pulled down what seemed to be a piece of cotton • cloth, and packeted it. After the enemy bad been driven out, and the action was over, Tewaree came up ■■ again, ^nd asked Fraser if he had kept the i bit of, rag. 'Yes', said the Q,. M G., and pulled it out of his pocket. 'Just see if it fits this,' said the spy, arid, untying the end of this loin cloth, matched the piecfe whtich had* been torn from it. ' Thus the brave spy had fully proved^ that, on the previous night, he had taken his ' observations himjelfL (This valjiable note was written by Golonel" Mude.-J W. S.) THERAIN^OFJiaS?., ,A9^ ^ not the slightest intention of putting a slight upott hi err ; to manyj there seemed a peculiar prOfJMety-' in Gutram's appointment, but still there it was ; with Avhatever' motive , carrie4 out, or by whatever circumstances justified, there was the thing, a supersession. ' ^ ' Illness was frightful. Cholera, dysentery, and fever were raging.. A most accomplished and agreeable man; a Captain Young, occupied the next tent to me. He -went down to dinner one evening at' the hotel, which held on with comic pertinacity, and partook of softie /tfnned pro- visions. The next morning he caine out to early tea, but said he felt poorly, and would lie down/ He. died about noon, and was buried in the evening. Ati excellent lin- guist and manager of natives, it would havtj been his work, had heMived, to keep the road'well open to Allaha- bad,,; ||e was to have beei^a travelling policeman. And Slieehy, too, who came up in our teiit, died of cholera. And the case of Brown was a very sad one. When we were at Banda, Mayne heard occasionally from Mr. Lloyd at Hurneerpor.e., .This was a place west of Banda, on the Jumna. Lloyid was there with an assistant, and two or more officers qf a native regiment, one being Brown. He wrote with courage aa4. submission, but without hope. They were in a ipokey holje,' whence they had no escape, and they hadto wSit for the outbreak. They kept, a boat at the bottom of the/gafden, ^nd all stayed together. Dae day they wei'e at .luncheon — the crisis came. Shoats, in the air ; the noise of ffeet ; muskets Bsing ; the hesyy hum of a crowd. They ran down the gar^i^j and took to t^eir boats. Towards night* I thinks they put in tp shore. They were surrounded.' Ll-Qyd and another were carried backt Two of.thenj, Bfown was one, got across the water, 102 TAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. and into the fields and jungles. At , length Brown was separated from his companion, and, half dead with hunger and fatigue, was taken in by a kindly Zemindar. When Havelock passed up towards Gawnpore, at one halt Brown was sent into camp in a litter. He WiS lame and licera- ted, and in a strange condition of nerves, in which he found speech difficult ; but being a strong, naturally fleshy, and wellgrowii young fellow, he soOti recovered, but only to die of cholera. There was another officer, who, it was understood, was engaged to a young lady, then amongst the besi.ged in Lucknow, so that he Was fighting like a Paladin to recover his Princess from the Saracens. But it was not to be. The barrackfe got inundated one day, and, curiously enough, we ob- served that several who took off shoes and stockings and paddled about got cholera. Alas ! the Paladin was amongst them. There was the gloom . of the weather, gloom of the news — for Delhi was n6t taken — gloom of death ; we thought the soaking neem trees smelt of the blood of the massacres ; but hope springs eternal in the human breast, and a paper was handed to me one morning, headed Cawnpore Summer Race Meeting 1 Brown's arrival had, at the time, created much interest, but, in due course, two much better known refu- gees arrived — Mowbray Thomson and Delafosse — and with them Private Murphy and Gunner Sullivan, who had shared their fate. Delafossee was then a pale, wiry, young man ; Thomson, though his ample ruddy beard showed maturity, had the bright face and laughing eyes of an undergraduate in his first term. Both struck me very much in one way : they took the events which had happened to them, events alrnost sur- passing the most romantic adventures of fiction, as if THE RAINS OF 1857. i03 They were ordinary circumstances to be looked for in the day's work ot" life. Some years after, a London banker, sitting next me at dinner at Cambridge, began talking about Thomson, and asked me if I had met him. I told him I had seen him every day of my life for a year or two. "Well," he replied, "I met him in London once, and I shall. never forget an answer he made to a question ot mine. I asked : 'When you got once more amongst all your countrymen, and the whole teriible thing was over, what on earth was the first thing you did ?' *Did ?' cried he, 'why, I went and reported myself as present and ready ior duty." The wonder created in the banker's mind was exactly, what arose in mine. It did seem strange, indeed, that men should be able to resume ordinary lik, after such an episode, as if nothing had happened. There must, of course, be more of this kind of thing in the world than one would suppose. For instance, when one comes to think of it, probably the next morn- ing after the earthquake at Lisbon, those who had any crockery left made coffee as usual. Thomson, being a handy fellow, able to turn his hand to any trade, was employed on the 'entrenchment, and might be seen rushing alter the coolies any morning, as it he had been born to it.* So the idea of the races was really a good one, for the men wanted cheering ; and, as a mere sanitary measure, some small excitemetit was necessary. We often lound horses. They had, perhaps, been taken by Zemindars, 1 Sir George Ti«velyan charmingly said of him : "This officer did his best to lose a life destiny seemed determined to preserve, in order that England might know how, in her exceeding distress, her sons had not been unmindful of their ancient honour." 104 DAILY LIFE' DURING THE MUTINY. and let loose, for fear of the condemnation involved in possessing them, should discovery ^be made. There was, too, ari old Arab merchant in filawnpore, who replied to all inquiries as to his loyalty by stating that he was a Freemason ; and be in some swonderful. way ,got hpld of horses every now abd tKqn; Atnongst- the officers who had come up with the 84th was.' one named, Blake, who was Petulergro, as George Borrow has it, or master of the horse'shoe. Everything connected, with the noble quadruped delighted him, but^especially driving. Palliser and Simpson,^ the twoi cavalry officers whose regiment bad melted away, lived close to me. on the glacis, and, Blake con^oi^i^g with the^m,' I .wasreferred. ta as, to the feasibility of kfcur-in-hand for, the races, Ihave mentioned to Nana Narain Rao. Though- he had come in, to pay hi>i respects to General Havelock, he badjgpnq back to Bithoor, relying, I su> pose, for .personal , safety on his high Bcahunipical rank, an4 being anxious to 'defeat any attempts of his brothers, who were declared by him, to be rebels, to get away family property. But the last time Bithoor was filled with Sepoys and malcontents, he relally did get harrassed, and had bis little daughters taken from him, so that when Havelock cleared the place he determined to, come into Cawnpore. He was fond of 1 Simpson accompanied Captain Gordon in a steamer expedi- tion to Bithoor (August 8), and amused us afterwards with an account of* his adventures They had two six-pounders i and a morter with them ; but the shore offereci much shelter to/t^e rebels, and amongstothem vyere many men of the 42 Regiment. Thus protected, the enemy kept up a very ' sharp Sautketfy "Fire. In coming back:, thd steamer r'an* aground, and could not, be. moved all night Fortunately, the sand-bank was pretty wel^ i^ the middle of the river. Thb Sepoys brought guns down tc» the spot ; but in the niorning the strong current earned the boat through. THE I RAINS OF 1857, i 105 horses^ and had a great deal of harness ; and, one of the merchants oflFering to fend me a barouche with a high box, and' a very ■ fair pair of horses, Naraia Rao turned out the leaders, and found sdme lour-in-hand traces and reins. So Blake was set up with his drag. He could drive anything, and kept the four together as if they had always run in a team. But we wanted a cornet to^ive comp- leteness . to the equipai^fe ; and I was told of Bandsman Jones, who had been hidden during the entrenchment troubles by some compassionate t'illager. He had belon- ged ,toi one ot the native inlantry regiments, and was a tall, slimly built Eurasian, so I sent for Jones ; and, when he came, 1 said ''Mr. Joaes, I want you to go to the races with me," He said he should be delighted. I told him I also required him to contribute to the Uila- rity ofthe occasion by playing on the horn And to this I understood him to agree, too. "Oh, he could play, certainly, some lively air which would be approved." So the drag was quite ready on the morning of the races. And Jones appeared^ btit without his honu We inqui- red the cause .of this omission. *'I do not play on the cornet,'' he replied ; "but I shall give some nice music on this," producing that pensive instrument — the flute. We were prepared for most emergencies, but a lour-in- hand accmmodaied with a flute-player was tob much for us, and we were compelled to explain to the obliging Jones- that there were pastoral associations cpnnected with the flute which rendered, its introdtiction into the more robusfc/scenes bt horse-racing unsuitable. , The 'races served their purpose of rousinethe men frbni the iow spirits into which the prevailing sick tiess had thrbwii them. One of the best horses', the best I- thin k^ was 106 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. an 'Arab that had come with us all the way from Banda, under the guidance of Dr. Clark, and either then, or shortly afterwards. Major Stirling of the 64th appeared on the handsomest Arab I ever saw. It was a bright bay, not very large, but beautilully shaped, and had the most highcaste and lovelv head ever carried on shoulders. After the sad events of November, it became the property of Mowbray Thomson, and "Adonia," as he was called, developed into quite one of the notorieties of the station. I remember another little scene at the races. General Havelock was of course there, with his son and Colonel Fraser-Tytler, and, just as the party were passing a tent, a most extraordinaly figure tmerged. He was dressed in a wild billycock hat, had a huge spottee belcher tied round his throat, and was mufHed in a vast dressing- gown. He looked for all the world like the man in the circus who has a great number of suits on, and gradually strips till he camcs to flesh-coloured tights, and a blue ribbon securing his hair. The ecctntric 6gure made as if it would address the General ; and, as the figure, in addi- tion to its won oddity, led a bull-dog in a string, the spec- tacle was very funny, It ended by some of his comrades dragging him out of sight. The hero of this little esca- pade was a young fellow in the Madras Fusiliers, who was much liked, a very well-informed man, agreeable and spirited, and one who would certainly have got on. In- deed, there had already been some talk of the V. C, but the mischief was, he could not keep away from the fire- water, and, befort the advance to Lucknow, he was obliged to send in his papers. When it was too late, he carried- out total abstinence with complete success for a period, and got employment in the Commissariat, or some THE RAINS OF 1857. 107 Other department, but, in the cou rse of time, feeling some- what out of health, he went down country in the hopie of getting home. Unfortunatelv, he met one of his former kidnev at Benares, and they had what is euphemistically called a "wet evening." The ex-Fusilier retired to bed in the Dawk bungalow at a late hour, and the next morning was found dead. Bruce was invested with full powers by the Govern- ment, and with the assistance of Baba Bhut's papers, and the evidence of informers, got the names of rnany persons who had joined the Nana, or, at least, had acquiesced in his rule, had paid him complimentary visits, or had sent him presents. One of the informers was a tall, stout man of the sweeper caste, and though Bruce had certainlv made him no kind of promise or immunity, he had taken so prominent a prosecutting part, that he quite thought himself established as a Government agent. It came out, however, quite clearly that he had jewellery in his possession which had belonged to some of the lady prisoners. I have all along supported the idea that there was no mutilation of our unfortunate countrymen and countywomen before death, because there, was no proof of it; it was not likely; and it seems such gratuitous self-torture to suppose a thing which everyone wood desire to be untrue. But some mutilation after death may have taken place; and in one visit to the garden in which the well stood, shortly after our arrival, I found a hand under a bush, which I took, by the slenderness of the bones, to have been that of a female. The busy ants had made all clean ahd white, and the hand looked like a plaster cast in an anatomical museum. It lay on the direct road to the well; and when I heard of 108 DAILY LIFE DURING THE iViUTINY. the jewels, it at once, occurred to me that it was pirobably .. served for its rings. Bruce was pledged to' no leniency, , and he would not ^forgive this stout sweeper,' who, I make no doubt, had actually, joined iq the massacre. He and , his mates had served as hangmen in disposing of some of the rebels whom Bruce had tried. 'And now his own hour was come. His mates turned on him, when ord^r- qdy with a readiness that must have been very bitter to him, and led him, bound and trembling, to the scaffoldon which he had himseli stood so otten as executioner. I was i with Umurnatb m the verandah ot'a little home which he i had to pas^, and, seeing me, he cried at the pitch ot his voice, '■'Dobai Collector Sahib," and entreated his guar- dians to allow him to stop and speak to me. But they were inexorable, and hurried him to his late. Tbat I may not have to return again to this disagree- able subject", I will add a word or two about executions. As a rule, those who had to die djed with extraordinary, I was going to say courage, but composure is the vyord; . thg , Mahbmedans, with hauteur, and an ah^ry kind ol" scorn ; and the Hindoos, with an apparent iadiflFerence altogether astonishing. When the London steariiship went dowiij south of the Land's End, the Captain that noble fellow who, when offered" a seat in the boat, said, ''No, thank, you, I will st^y with the passengers,'' about _..nooii assembled all who could come into the saloon, and gave notice that he thought the ship would k^ep afloat till two o'clbck. One who escaped related' that, in answer to this notice, an old gentleman appeared at about hali- past one haying a r^a aged his dress for a journey, strap- ped his warppings together, and put his money into a girdle. THE RAINS OF 1857; T 109 Even in that supreme moment the Captain could not restrain la smile. Some of the/ Hindoos treated death exactly as if it were a journey. On^ man, positively tinder the shadow of the fataLtree, with only three or four minutes to live, .when his waist-cloth was searched (for the benefit of his friends) did not object to one or two articles being taken out, but demurred, peevishly enough, to giving up a: few apples of the- jujube tree. Of all who had to meet their end, I only remember one who died craven. He was a Mahomedan, and, whether his memoray was, charged with upbraiding circumstances, or whether he had never looked the subject fairly in the face, when it really come to the last scene, he was unpre- pared to go througbt it. . He declared that he only nominally belonged to Islam, but was at heart, a Ghrisr tian ; that he was prepared to eat pork and drink wine, in order to show how sincere his conversion was ; and that he thought little or nothing of Mahomed. Ail this not availing, he grovelled on the ground, screamed; cried, and piteously entreated for life. He would betray his cause, would turn informer, would deliver hundreds, no in security and honour, to the shambles — life, only, life 1 And the poor wretch, fainting and foaming, bad to be lifted within reach of the rope. . > One more ot these dark scenes and I have done. It Was after Peel With the Naval contingent had arrived, and late one afternoon, verging on sunset, Bruce had tried with jreat patierice, if with little emdtioh, ' a Maho- medan who was a person of some' consideration. It Was not uncommon for officials, who had made money by soihe of the more than doubtful methbcjs in vogue during the administration of the Kirig of Oudh, to with- drawacross the boundary witlb their gains. 'There was 110 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. consequently at Gawnpore a small coferie of families, not necessarily of good birth, who had, for period of greater or less duration, occupied positions of eminence about the Lucknow Court, and who, enriched by the emolu- ments or opportunities of their office, had settled in this frontier city ot our territory. Here, with the vices often enough githered in the emasculate capital in which they had made their fortunes, they fell gradually into narrower circumstances, partly through extravagance and partly through increase in numbers. The head of one of these families, a man who, I was told, had in former days hardly ever left his own house, was considered by Bruce to have been shwon to have taken an active part in aid of the rebel Government which Uad prevailed at Gownpore. He was believed to have especially attended to the wants of one of the batteries directed against Wheeler's entrenchment. A.ni it ended in his being condemned. Passing near the place of ex-cution, and observing a considerable tumult, I thought I had better go and see if I could, in aay way, help to keep order. The confussion arose irom the interest taken in the man, which had drawn a crowd of Mabomedans from the city, as also from the accidental presence ofabodyof sailors. VVtieo I got there I found these latter very anxious to take the executive portion of the proceedings into their own hands, but a little explanation induced . them to resume the character of spectators. The con- demned man was timid, but not without self-possession. He said something which I understood to be that Jesus was a forgiving prophet ; and that even if he had committed a fault, it should be ovei-looked for the sake of Jesu-i. He spoke very low, and it was not easy quite to make out his words. But the sacred name was certainly mentioned more than once. When all THE RAiNS OF 1857. Ill was over, one of the sailors got up on a wall to address the public. The speech was in English,, and therefore failed of eflFect in any way, but it was a singular harangue. The following may represent its "First of all, under- stand," he said, "that you are all rascals ! And now vou have seen a rescal die. But what is one rascal ? My opinion is that not only one black rascal should be hung, but every black rascal in the country ! And then you black rascals would learn how to behave yourselves". This view of the question was at least free from obscruity, thought it was difficult to conjector whence the regenerated remnant could arise. Balzac, in recording an axiom of "La Boheme," added : "ie teaae de cet article est plus vigourettip ; mats comme, selon moi V esprit en est faux, je ne tiens pas a la httre.'^ And I may make the same remark with regard to the funeral oration of our Naval friend. Though sickness was still prevalent, the men were re- covering theirspirits. Large reinforcements were known to be coming, and an onward movement under more favourable circumstances was in prospect. The officers, too, were full of spirit and impatience. At a dinner got up at the conclusion of the races, Olpherts spoke with great animation and eflFect ; many leaped to their feet, and looked as if, under the enthusiasm they felt, no task would be too great for them. One morning, the first of September, alter breakfast, a messenger brought word that some Sahibs bad arrived in a boat. I hastened from my tent to the river bank, and found George Probyn (brother of Sir Dighton), his wife, two children, Mr. William Edwards, and Mr. Covin Jones. They had been saved from the massacres at Fuitehgurh by the kindly offices of a Zamindar. Edwards, indeed, did not belong to 112 DAILY LiFE CURING THE MUTINY. Futtehgurh ; but had, after many adventures, joined the Probyns, The lady, -wonderfully' bfaVe: and calm; and neatly, dressed, tob, notwithstanding all deprivations, stood On the bank, the soldieris attending to th6 children and trying to reassure them. There was, however, one subject that had to be' carefully avoided ; there were two children with their mother, 'but two had been left behind. Baried in ground close to the shed, which was all the shelter the Zemindar could safely give they rested from their little joys and fears for ever. Mr. Edwards I knew Well by ' name, but had nevef seen. Mr. (Savin Jones had*a bad v^ound, which hfe hM\l never beeA ablfe to get attended'to ; and was obliged tO carry his arm out of his sleeve. • ' Owing to the droll circumstances of friend Mahomed's, adherence to his profession, the hotel was available for the jiew comers, and its seedy equipments seemed to them, of course, a dream of romfort- and luxUty. A ciari^us physical experiment worked itself out. Edwards was of a mercurial temperament, capable of going through aaything, whilst his nerves were braced by hope and ex- pectation. Probyn, less'excitable, ' looked in poor health from insufficient f66d. As soon, however, as he was restored to English died, he < picked up at once. But the other, when the tension was relaxed, was visibly enfeebled and worm doWn. A day or two after this' arrival, there came another company f roin Galpe6, ' Messrs. Thornton, Pa&sanah, and Griffiths, Eurasian ' gentlemen in Government employment acrossthe Jumna, ' who had gone through many dangers and annoyances, with them, too, was found a Mahomedan Tuhsildar, Gholaift Hussain Khan, through whose fidelity their escape hftd < been partly effected. He dame to call, and I was iauch ^ THE RAINS OF 1857. 113 Struck with his fine appearance and honest face. He was a bluff man, outspokend frank ; but a thorough specimen of the best type of Pathan. Some of bis connection and acquaintance had gone against us, but I never could make out that he had even wavered. I told him at once that if he would wait patiently I would certainly find a post for him, and from that time we trusted each other, and I think it may be added that neither ever repented of the confidence. Hardly anything could be done in the district; several, indeed, of the Zemindars wrote and said they would bring in mony when the roads were safe ; and one or two offe- red to try and keep order in thier own neighbourhood. It was necessary, however,' of course, to have some guar- antee that they were really loyal. After the mishap at the first Thana establisehed, caution was necessary, especially as Bruce had had a similar misfortune at Bit- hoor. It had been represented that this place also requi- red to be under militray control ; and Bruce had been directed to send some of what he called his sweeper police. As far as, in some measure, disregarding caste goes, the idea was sound ; but the engagement of exclusively low-caste men was, parhaps, carrying things too far. Cu- rious adventurers turned up from time to time ; and a tall, well-built Hindoo had appeared, who spoke English admirable, and had attached his fortunes to those of Bruce. Men were required to go to Bithoor, and I was sitting one afternoon with Bruce, who was enlisting voluunteers. They had to give some reference, and this Hindoo questioned them with great acuteness. At length one men was brought up, and the Hindoo said : "This fellow relies on his face, and the reference is very unsatisfactory. I had better tell him to pack ?" 8 114 DAILY LIFR DURING THE MUTINY. A person capable of conducting businness in so lively a manner was not to be overlooked, and when the Thana was established at Bithoor, he was sent over to preside. But he was a regular scamp ; and, after day or two of business, determined to have a frolie ; and so sent for wine and dancing girls, and had the Thana laid carpets, and lighted up, and devoted the night to music and the folowing bowl. A spy, however, sent word to the other side of the river, and a party of Sepoys and rebels got across, came quietly up, and made an attack on the revellers in the small hours. All outlook and precautions had been neglected, there was an attempt to get to arms, but of an ineffectual kind — a fight took place — several were killed. Our lively friend had taken too much to escape, or indeed to be fully aware, perhaps, of what was going on. He was murdered, and his body thrown into the street. One duty, which was by no means an unpleasant one, was the endeavour to keep open communication with Agra. We always found men who were willing to take the risk. They would, perhaps, not have been killed, if the letters had been found ; but very probably mutilated. Letter on, several of our adherents had their noses and hands out off. The letter was written on a small piece of paper, and put into a quill ; the quil, again, sealing waxed at the end, or sewn into a little case of wax cloth. The object was so small, it could be popped into the hair or held behind the teeth in an emergency. One of these tiny scrolls brought the last hand-writing of Mr. Golvin Mr. (Afterwards Sir william) Muir was the best corres- pondent. Sometimes Neill got notes direct from Delhi; these were generally in French. As the communication was fairly open to Calcutta, Friends of those in the fort at Agra began to write overland, via Gawnpore THE HAINS OF 1857. 115 When a good number were collected, Umurnath and I set about making them as small as possible, and then got a Kossid to dress as a travelling beggar. A miserable pony was procured lor him. It had to be a mere bag of bones, and yet to walk to Agra. We could not give it corn, as that, doubtless, would have brought on inflama- tion of the stomach ; and when turned loose on the fresh grass, its old teeth produced effects much like those follow- ing the moving of a lawn by a person unacquainted with the art. On this soTy brute was bound a most moth-eaten and weather-stained pad, tied roughly with a rope. But deeply inserted in the mouldy lining were the overland letters taking comfort and refreshment to many a heart. We doubed the Kossid into a filthy and odorous fukeer ; and giving his Rosinante a meal of some kind of thatch, the cereal it most affected, we started Her Majesty's Mail on its journey. It arrived, I am glad to add, in perfect safety. Notwithstanding all drawbacks, the time was not un- pleasant. The works at the entrenchment were pushed forward, and at length presented the appearance of a strong little fort ; those who lived there had constant inter- course with the Force, occupying the barracks to the east of the town. We lived from day to day, receiving and discussing any item of news that turned up ; but I sup- pose, Irom a military point of view, the position was any- thing but re-assuring. The black cloud at Gwalior still lay, with its presages of stoim, on the horizon. But it might move any day. There were also symptoms of disturbance on the Ganges, between Gawnpore and Allahabad ; and an attempt seemed threatened to occupy Futehpore, or some other pia£e neiu'. so a« to intercept 116 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. communications. The steamer, which had been so won- derfully useful already, was sent down the river this time, and did good work in capturing boats and rendering crossing more difficult. Notwithstanding all, however, the enemy actually did cross, and endeavoured, as Outram was advancing, to occupy his rear, and cut oflF his com- munications. How that General gave them a blow, which sent those that escaped flying back into Oudh, is a mattter of history. Sir James Outram arrived on the 16th of September ; and, of course, his coming made a great change in our comparatively small society. The 5th Fusiliers, the 90th Light. Infantry, appeared on ihe scene. The 64th was largely reinforced. Celebrities were there ; Eyre, who had done such wonders at Arrah, and others — and there was the Bayard himself. I felt somewhat nervous on entering a room in the large house on the bank, where he had taken up his quarters — a little out of conversation, as one does find oneself when first in the presence of a person ot whom one has heard much. The kindly face, the friendly hand extended, the entire absence of stiffness, or self-consciousness — remind- ing me greatly, in this noble and natural simplicity, of Mr. Thomson — soon brought re-assurance. He took the trouble to show me a map of Lucknow, and to explain some of the difficulties of reaching the Residency. And never neglecting an opportunity of encouraging what he thought was right, he told me he had not tailed to observe how harmoniously all efforts for the objects in view were working together. There was a bridge of boats^ ^ Lord Canning kindly had a private letter written to me aboutthis bridge. He was very pleased when it was finished. The flautist, Jones was appointed toll- man. THE RAINS OF 1857. 117 building at a tremendous pace across, the Ganges ; and, of course, friend Umurnath and I had had to assist as much as possible with colies and materials, and so on. And now for a few days all the bustle, noise, and animation of a mouing camp were around us. I met some whom I had known before. Colonel Cooper of the Artillery was one. fine, tall, stalwart man, he had been once chosen, some years before, for Front de Boeuy in "Ivanhoe" tableaux, and I remembered consultations as to his dress. The Artillery was now put entirely under him, and in the advance he was a Brigadier. Proud of the opportunity, come at last, of prominently distinguish? ing himself, and ardent as all the rest, there was about him, or I thought there was, a certain repose, a certain silence at times, which struck me then as foreboding. Does coming death cast a shadow ? I recollect General Neill saying one morning. "Gome out of the sun; I do not want to expose myself— before my time." The last words were spoken with a smile and a look of his usual dauntless manner, but not untinged vyith sadness. When I heard of his fall at the Gateway, the words and the look return- ed to me with painful vividaess. And here, while I am with General Neill for the last time, let me add what pleasant remembrances I have of his kindness. A man originally of a self-confident character, excessively praised and flattered for indicative of firmness, it was natural he should be positive, and natural that he should be brusque towards those who in any way opposed him. Bat tbe notion that got into the newspapers, that he was over- bearing to persons who were not of his own profession, and that he set his face against all attempts to re-establish merely civil institutions, was not only incorrect, but was 118 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. contrary to the fact. I have said that the idea that thete was the least want of unanimity between Sir John Grant and himself was absolutely untrue ; and I can only add that, as a civilian at Gownpore, I received nothing but cordiality and consideration from him. He cons- tantly sent for me to hear news he had received ; and when small packets reached me from Agra, I took them down to open in his presence, that he might be the first informed. In this way I read out Nicholson's splendid surprise march on the rebel camp at Nujafgarh, when the attempt was made from Delhi to get to the rear of our Force. It was received, as may be supposed, with a genuine enthusiasm by Neill. He was very kind to the soldiers, and attention to their wants and comforts ; and these officers whose appointments brought them into daily intercourse with him were all attached to him. General Outram, as soon as he reached Gawnpore, issued the meimorable, and it may surely be added, extraordi- nary order, in which he left the chief command with Hav6lock. That it did honour to his heart, no one, of course, could dispute. But there was no question of Outram's heart. He was known to be most generous man alive. The difficulty that exercised many military minds was of a diflPerent kind. Gan an officer, entrusted with a task by the Queen, make that task over to another person ? I have mentioned, further on, what Outram himself said me, the point, in a room where I happened to be present, after having plenty of time to think over the past events of 1857. And now, we who were to remain, stood on the river bank. From the same spot, a day or two before, we had seen small parties of the enemy leaping and scuttling as the THE RAINS OF 1857. 119 shrapnel fell near them. A hero on an elephant had displayed undignified anxiety to get beyond the reach of shells, when he had inadvertently come within their range. Outram reined up his mottled roan horse on the mound where we were — the same which carried him soon after- wards in the charge with Barrow's Cavalry. He was hearded and sat erect, as if his youth had returned. The long array wound down to the water, and slowly crossed over ir,to Oudh.. Men of history were there : Havelock and Napier, Neill and Eyre; and many others. The pageant passed us ; and by night-fall the troops were spread out on the opposite shore. Next day the heavy guns were taken pver — a task of some trouble, of course— and on the .21st of September, early in the morning, amidst one of those down-pours that mark the end of the ^ rains, we heard the connonading at Mungulwar. VIII ANXIOUS WEEKS. The throb of guns, ever and anon, was all that told us of the host growing more distant hourly. We seemed to be a very small party when left alone. Our new com- mander was Colonel Wilson of the 64th, a type of the solider how passed away. Well-bred, comely in appea- rience, of active and re.^ular habits, a great. stickler for all the traditions of the service, a disbeliever in modern ideas of warfare, an opposer of reforms, he was on a small scale what Sir George Brown was on a large one : but withal a man of kindlv disposition, and with much of the courtesy of an elder chivalry about him. The Probyns and Mr. Edwards had departed and Probyn had been appointed magistrate of Futtehpore. But we had a few additions to our small society. Though death had, in the earlier autumn, been very busy amongst the troops, and there was more than one somewhat secluded spot, where the simple, rounded heaps told of the unknown but not inglorious brave sleeping beneath, no minister of religion had appeared to console the last moments of those who fell for their country. But with the last reinforcements a Baptist minister, a Mr. Gregson, came up, as also a priest of the Latin Church, Father Conti. The Nonconformist was a man of considerable ability, and free from sectarian prejudice ; indeed, he often dwelt with satisfac- 120 ANXIOUS WEEKS. 121 tion on the circumstances that he had never been called upon to sign any especial "Credo," thought of course his general acquiescence in what is understood as Christian orthodoxy was pre-supposed and actually existed. The priest was a Capuchin missionary, who had temporarily given up his particular vocation under the emergency of circumstances. He brought with him several copies of the Rheims Testament, and some of these reached Pro- testants also who were devoid of all religious books. I received, too, a coadjutor in a Mr. George Benson, a man of much ability, who had got himself appointed to Cawnpore, to relieve in some measure a great anxiety felt for relatives who were shut in at Lucknow. Bruce's position, without the support of General Neill, was, in a degree, anomalous ; but a commission he had rereived to correspond with Outram strengthened his independence. Still, of course, he was under the orders of Colonel Wilson, and it was not part of the latter's idea of military administration to exercise any divided autho- rity, so that circumspection was necessary. As for the position of civilians, the old disciplinarian took an early opportunity of telling me that all the diflBculties of India had arisen from week attempts at holding the country by other than military tenure ; and that, for his own part, he was quite unprepared to recognise any other functions than those under his own control. I could not help thinking of Balzac's Prince de la Boheme, who refuses to admit that a person with so unchivalric a name as Godin has any perceptible status, ^'Godin ! cela ni'existe fas, vous u'etes rein, Godin !" But, as soon as it was per- ceived that official annihilation, if theoretic only and not practical, was not objected to in any way, all resentment 122 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. evaporated, and we became very friendly. Sometimes I got little scrolls from Agra, and the Colonel much liked their being read to him first, as, of course, it was proper they should be. The only difficulty was the telegraph, because Mr. Grant had decided that from time to time telegrame should be sent to him. But however, Bruce played into my hands, and an opportunity occurred, of which I was glad to avail myself, when something in return could be done for him. The fall of Delhi, though it created an immense sensation throughout the country, of course let loose a vast body of ex-Sepoys and rufiBans who started South. And some little time after Outram had gone to Lucknow, we heard that a considerable force of native troops was advancing down the Grand-Trunk Road, they being determined, as it was said, to die in the Cawnpore khet, or fields of Gawnpore, where many of them, perhaps, were born. Bruce was anxious that some- thing should be done to prevent this force actually advancing to within "measurable distance" of Gawnporei But the Golonel had received strict directions, and shook his head. And as a diversion seemed to him advisable, to relieve himself of hints and suggestions, he took the opportunity of a convey, starting for Alum Bagh, to appoint Bruce to take charge of it. Bruce galloped over to my tent in consternation, for it did not suit his book, in the least, to leave Gawnpore ; and yet, of course, he had to obey the Gommanding Officer. So on an understanding, I went over to call on Golonel Wilson, and gradually worked the conversation round to Bruce. If I had said a vyord of remonstrance I should certainly have been asked to walk out ; but I merely spoke in the most general way of Bruce's position * ANXIOUS WEEKS. 123 said bow useful he was making himself to Outram, by keeping kossids on the road, and how he had now got the threads of communication in his hands, which another person would find it difficult to take up. And, more- over, 1 dwelt on the point that General Neill had obtained special orders for Bruce to remain at Cawnpore. All this was said quite casually, as if it had no bearing on present events, and Bruce himself also wrote in the same casual way. In the evening Wilson sent for Bruce, and said : "On second thoughts I scarcely think I can spare you." Bruce was a man who was confident if he thought he was right, and so, no sooner was he relieved from fear of ex- tinction, than he began hammering again at the expedi- tion. I find no notice of it in Malleson ; but all the same the expedition came oflF. Wilson, with a hundv little body of troops, and two guns, and accompanied by Bruce, went two marches up the Delhi road, and drove the rebels out of a village they had just reached. They fled towards the river, and he pegged into them as they were crossing, and came back with his object affected, and in high spirits. Stirling, of the 64th, commanded whilst he was away. The convoy I have mentioned as nearly blo- wing Bruce's candle out is not remembered without sadness. George Benson, who had recently, by the way, given a little dinner at the Hotel, on his birthday, was constantly anxious to get nearer Lucknow, and he wanted leave to go with the convoy. On a point of this sort Wilson was all complacence. It seemed to him about as important as if a '^black beetle had desired to crawl along the road in the wake of the guard. Benson went and hung about the Alum Bagh, undergoing many hardships, till Sir Golin came through. Then he pressed on to Lucknow, 124 tAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. which he had so earnestly desired to reach, and was shot dead at the attack on the Secunder Bagh. Being in no recognisable position, I do not think his name was ever mentioned ; but he was a brave fellow, and bad he done under orders what he did for aflFection, he would not have filled such an unnoticed grave. The rains up-country generally finish, at the latest, by the first week in October, and, though the sunshine is very intense, yet mornings and evenings are balmy, the light golden, and the distances dream-like with the lumi- nous haze. Rising very early on the morning of the 26th October, and accompanied bv the faithful Azim Ali, I cantered on the soft side of the Delhi road, as we called it (for that had been the place our minds had dwelt on so long), and after a mile or two, fell in with the van of a large force., I soon met George Campbell (afterwards M. P.), whom I did not know then, but who stopped to ask news, and presently afterwards saw three men riding abreast two of them being Harington,^ of the Legislative Council, and Herbert Harington, telegraphist. These were relatives of mine, and of course the meeting was pleasant enough. We had all of us bee en through trials ; but we were quite well and hearty, and looked forward, not behind. The troops now entering Cawnpore formed the well known flying column under Greathed, that had such strange adventures at Agra, but were now comman- ded by Hope Grant. This gallant ofiBcer, socially celebra- ted before as a musician and performer on the violincellp, ^Afterwards Sir Henry Byng Harington, Member of Council, and appointed Lieutenant Governor of the N. W. P. His medical man, however, would not allow to him to fill the post. ANXIOUS WEEKS. 125 had at last found the opportunity so long expected, so nobly availed of, of coming to the frant. My especial Harington was at the Hotel, and we had plenty to talk of; indeed, everywhere the conversation was most interesting, stories of Delhi, stories of Agra, stories of the march, all full of romance. Herbert Harington was with his brother Hastings, the young Artillery officer to whom his fellow gunners by acclamation assigned the Victoria Gross, for siege operations at Delhi. There was a Cross to be given, and the officers were allowed to choose the recipient. This was a doulDle honour : "for valour" from the Queen,, "for worth" from his corps. The career of Herbert Harington so well illustrates the temper of the times, that I may be excused for briefly noticing it. He was at Oxford pursuing his studies. The Crimean war came. Studies seemed derogatory at such a crisis, and he volunteered for service ; but the authorities would only allow him to go out in the transport. He went out and worked hard at Kertch, and other places, came home in 1856 by Varna, Rustchuk, Ratisbon, and reached at last the old personage where he had been bred. But from Brussels to Wiltshire — ^26 hours — no commissariat but what three coppers could supply, so that glory did not prove a paying concern. Then he returned to Oxford and finished his college course, with a view to starting as a coach. But the charms of adventure had been tasted, and the quiet accademical career seemed impossible. He must go somewhere. ''To India," said O'Shaughnessy, "in my telegraph service, the finest service in the world." (This expression was, in a measure, hyperbolical.) So in the telegraph he came, arriving at Agra in the cold 126 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY- wheather, and taking his sword off the roof of the dak carriage, with the expression : "My old Crimean sword, I shall not want that again." However, the summer found him in the Volunteer Cavalry — only too glad to possess the old Crimean sword, and use it, too, in some very hazardous encounters. And so here he had turned up again as a telegraphist. The coloumn stayed a very short time in Cawnpore, crossing over into Oudh, and following the host we had seen wind out of sight, and had traced a little further by their guns. Harington went down to Calcutta to take his seat in the Legislative Council, Herbert went on towards Luck now. But in the meantime reinforcements had been coming steadily up, and a constant stream of soldiers was upon us. The merchants in Cawnpore had recovered their con- fidence, and would supply money in any amount ; and my new coadjutor, Mr. James Power, who had come with the Agra column, and myself had a great deal of treasury work to do, paying the troops, etc. And though the district was still very disturbed, owing to certain causes — the chief being the absolute certainty that the Contingent was about to leave Gwalior — a belief began to spread that the tide was turning, and many communications from the Zemindars was received.^ Gradually one or two of the principal farmers, within fair distance of the station, con- sented to become Sub-Collectors, and to gather in the 'One Zemindar was insolent. He sent word he had two guns, and if I would lend him a buffalo calf (meaning an elephant), he would forward them to our aid. I think he joined Kunwur Singh and disappeared. A repartee had been prepared, but was never delivered. ANXIOUS WEEKS. 127 revenue. It seemed better that there should be no mis- understanding, and therefore, though it was certainly true that the Nana had taken some of the summer reve- nue, it was intimated, from the first, that such payments would not count, and must not be mentioned. The Eurasian gentlemen who came from Galpee all helped in what work there was, and one of them, Griffiths, was a fine rider, and would occasionally gallop out and visit some of our zemindar adherents. Still of course, it was the day of small things. On the 3rd of November Sir Colin Campbell reached Cawnpore, and the next day James Power and I went to pay our respects. 1 had been told to expect rather a sharp fire of chaff, and therefore approached with an extra provision of equanimity. As far as mere manner went, we found the Chief rather elaborately polite, but he soon went off into sarcasm. He was very angry with George Campbell about an expression he had used in reference to one of the regiments, and he was exceedingly sore about the battle of Kujwa, Probyn, the magistrate of Futtehpore, had brought very prominently to the notice t)f Colonel Powell of the 53rd, the fact of a large body of rebels headed by Kunwar Singh, from Dinapore and Behar who had collected at a village to the south-west of the station, and Powll had taken upon himself to go out and attack them. He was killed, and the command fell into the hands of Captain William Peel, R. N., who, by a really brilliant movement, gained a complete vic- |ory. The enemy suffered severely, and three guns and three tumbrils were taken. But the battle had been [ought against general orders, and Sappers had been iised as common Infantry, and the Chief was displeased ; 128 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. angry even that Powell's attention had been drawn to the presence of the rebels, saying with great contempt that if "General" Probyn would mind his own business, it would be better for all parties. After this, a quarter of an hour with the calm, intellectual, diplomatic Mansfield, who gave some hints as to supplies and other points, in a very courteous way. He was a man with a striking face, dark thoughtful eyes, and a fine forehead. A moment of trial had arrived for Sir Colin, whom it will be more convenient to call by the name he is now remembered by, that of Lord Clyde. At the very time a sufiBcient force had been gathered togather to render the Relief of Lucknow certain, the black cloud that had lain, a sullen mass, on the horizon, sped on apace to the zenith. The Gwalior Contingent moved to Galpee. It was not known then, but it is known now, that it did so under the orders of Tantia Topee, the Mabratta, who, in the absolute dearth of able men produced on the rebel side, has been credited, somewhat too generous- ly perhaps, with high gifts of generalship. Lord Clyde had to decide which task to undertake first : meet the Con- tingent, or go to Lucknow. He determined to relieve the long-beleagured garrison ; and he left for the defence of Cawnpore a force of 500 men afterwards increased by Madras troops. But we were no longer under the command of Colonel Wilson ; we had a new chief in the person of Redan Windham. He was quite a different type of man from the old regimental Colonel ; he was handsome and debonair, very talkative, fond of a good story, dressy, and fashionable. But those who knew Colonel Wilson had grown to like him very much ; he was not possessed of intellectual power, • but he had ANXIOUS WEEKS. 129 a great deal of that worth which always makes itself felt. Just before he gave over comniand, he had mentioned to me the pleasure he had received trom a letter assuring him of the health and safety of his wife. I asked where she was, and he mentioned a station in Western India. I observed that the countersign that evening was the name of the place, and it struck one forcibly enough as a causal proof of the quarter to which his thoughts naturally turned. With a detachment coming from the East, Joseph Manuel turned up one morning, having gradually got round from Nagode, and being determined to follow the fortunes of his family friend, as he regarded me His name for me was "my superior", a title which was found rather embarrassing, suggestive of Mr. Barlow, the moral tutor, and seeming to call for some weighty aphorism to be delivered occasionally, such as : "You see, my dear Joseph, that in the long run, virtue secures that self- satisfaction without which the most splendid accidents of life would be tasteless and unprofitable", etc. The girl, Georgiha Anderson, too, a Eurasian of some sixteen or seventeen years, who had been badly wounded at Humeerpore, and taken charge of by a native doctor, was brought in. Bandsman Jones was fotmd to have a wife, and with this family Georgina was placed, where she seemed to be as happy as possible. With the Force that came from Agra, an Engineer officer named Major Norman Chester Macleod had appeared, and to him the entrenchment was made over. He was a man who, perhaps, was not ve^y good at office work, had an impor- tance of details, and very likely, in those endless returns so affected by the Government, was sometimes behind- 130 DAILY LIFE DURING IHE MUTINY. hand. But he had, nevettbless, a streak of genius : seized on the weak points of the position, and made many remarkable improvements, which, when the hour of trial came, were highly appreciated. Having, in early survey- ing work, caught a fearful jungle fever, he was only able to sustain health by hydropathic appliances and a vege- table diet. It seems odd, but it is perfectly true, that a person who has strength of mind enough to adopt habits at variance with usage, in the certainty that they are .beneficial to himself, does not escape the charge of eccen- tricity. And then to the observation, "what a good officer such an one is", comes the wretched depreciation, "Yes, but he is singular, he has a bee in his bonnet", and so on. Add to this that Macleod was of a very modest disposition. Years and years after the seize of Ghuznee , in Lord Iteane's time, it was found that Macleod was the man who laid the gunpowder against the gate in the night. I have heard him tell the story. Of course, after it was done, escape had to be immediate and precipitate. To him, all eagerness abo-^t the result, came suddenly lightning in his eyes, a numbness in his face, a confusion in his head, a forgetfulness ot what he was doing and where he could be, dust in his mouth, blood on his hands. He had fallen head over heels into one of the ravines forrping the rough ground around the fort. Death has removed him long ago from the scene, but the great ability and brilliant readiness with which he secured the safety of that entrenchment at Gawnpore seemed to show that in any independent and unembarrassed posi- tion (and he required this freedom), he would Have be- come a distinguished officer. I had a correspondent in Gialpee, and news was obtain- ed also through Messrs. Passanah and Thornton, who had ANXIOUS WEEKS. 13^ come from that bank of the Jumna, and the tidings were bad enough. The town swarmed with soldiers, and pre- parations were in full vigour for crossing over the guns — two eight-inch howitzers forming part of the battery. General Windham bad had orders to send on all Infantry, and portions of regiments coming up to Cawn- pore, towards Lucknow, and loyally he did it. I remem- ber him on the other side of the bridge, where planks had been laid down in the sand, early in the morning, seeing parties o£F. Seated on a handsome horse, and full of spirits, he was a fine specimen of a hearty English soldier. But some heavy work was before him. There seemed to us who had remained all along at Gawnpore to have been so many starting and none returning. We could watch them moving along the bank, and at last reaching trees which hid them— and then this -wretched Oudh engulphed them. Even when Windham got leave to retain some of the reinforcements, he sent on a small Force with guns on hearing of the taking of Bunnee bridge. I and my compeer, James Power, had moved our tents o£F the glacis, .and got them placed in a rather better situa- tion for easy reference, as people were often wanting money, and here was saw all the vsorld. .There were many of&cers who could not get up-country to their own corps, who were anxious to obtain employment somehow. A very old friend, Gampbell Clark, ot what was then the 2nd Bengal Fusiliers, turned up, and also no less a person than Coverley Jackson. He had held a very high post Qnce at Lucknow, and thought he should be wanted again. A zemindar had come one day, on a great, itout, rounded horse, such as you see painted in battle 132 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. pieces, with a flowing name, and he consented to sell it, and it was secured for Jackson's use. And now came on the three momentous days, the 26th, 27th, and 28th of November. Even if I had the necessary power and knowledge ; it would be out of character with these pages to attempt to produce an out- line of the military events that crowded themselves into this short space. Malleson has given them clearly enough, only he does not seem to me to have borne in mind that though the movements of the enemy have become known now, tney were very indistinctly followed then. Informa- tion as to the number of men or guns, in any particular place, could not be obtained with any accuracy ; and Windham neither had, nor could have, much notion of what the rebel leader was really intending. The General had come into my tent on the 25th, and had been talking about what he meant to do. "I am certainly not going to let these fellows think we cannot act on the offensive", he said and then he added, ''these small engagements are awkward things, very little glory gained in winning them, and perhaps some valuable life is lost, and people say it was wasted." That night, on an intimation from Briga- dier Carthew, he rode out to the camp, which had been formed on the Calpee road. The next day the battle took place near the Pandoo Nuddee, and a very brilliant affair it was, and completely successful, it must be remem- bered. The two howitzers of which we had heard were taken, besides a Gpounder. As evening fell, several who had been present appeared, and we heard full accounts of the various incidents of the day. Early the next morn- ing all was bustle and excitement — the troops had to ANXIOUS WEEKS. 133 Stand to arms at 1 1 o'clock. The enemy, however, did not immediately appear and we now know that the Force moving along the Galpee road was waiting for the advance of their comrades by the Delhi road. Those who had been living outside had some of them moved into the entrenchment, and we had made arrangements for strik- ing our tents in case of necessity. It was about noon, and I had gone into the entrench- ment, and was standing with some officers on the grass, when we heard a heavy cannonade open from the direc- tion of Nawabgunj, where the old civil station stood. From that moment of course, all was excitement and confusion for hours. From time to time we got scraps of news which sounded encouraging. Garthew, as is well known, held the right and the approach from Bithoor successtully for a long time. However, we - moved our tents and traps, and got them quietly into the entrench- ment, so as to be prepared. And as the afternoon ended, the better things we had hoped for in the morning seemed passing away. Windham, on his way to see how the right was faring, received false intelligence that the en- trenchment was being attacked, and sent orders for his left to fall back. There was a stampede amongst the few non-combatanis still outside to get into the entrenchment, and then a very disorderly entry of military with buUock- |drivers, camp-loUowers, and what not. Mowbray Thom- son, Power, and myself, got up on a rampart and surveyed the scene, which was one of indescribable confusion. It is jpleasant to think our soldiers do not withdraw well ; they jfprtunately have very seldom to do it. And now night fell, and the whole Force which had held the left was inside the entrenchment. There were fires burning in 134 DAILY LIFE DURING THS MUTINY. one or two directions, and altogether it was rather an awkward time. The non-rombatant portion of those en- closed had a large shelf of ground between the river and the bank assigned to them, and here the tents were placed close together. Just beyond was the Commissariat, and then a path led to a temple hanging over the water. There was an exit, by which a large house could be reached ; this had been in a measure fortified, and was occupied by Windham and his staflF, Bruce, and others. We retired, as it grew dark, to the shelf where the tent ■was, and found all our acquaintances. Umuraath, the fat Brahmin, and Azim Ali, had made friends with some Commissariat people. Bandsman Jones and Mrs. Jones were close by, and Georgina Anderion, and Mr. Gregson, the Baptist minister. With the astonishing impassiveness of native servants, our table attendants had managed to cook dinner (as if a siege were a sort of picnic), and, like Swiveller's Marchioness, we made pretence of being very happy, and found it answer. Afterwards, being up In the open part, I caught a form I knew ; it was Colonel Wilson. He was, of course, rather annoyed at what had happened^ but still spoke with confidence-of going at the enemy next day. "Straight at them, sir", he said ; "it is the only way with these rascals. "Good-night". "Good- night, Colonel". Sleep calmly, old soldier ; it is thy last night on earth. There was a determined little task to be done in the early hours of this night. One of the two big guns taken out had been left in the town, in the middle of the streets. There was no reason why the ehemy should not have come into the city if they had liked, but they were cautious, and waited till the next day. This, of course, could not be ascertained then; and, therefore, the band that sallied forth ANXIOUS WEEKS. 135 to bring in the gun thought the project might be rather a hazardous one. However, after midnight it was in, the entrenohment. The Generel had to make all his arrange- manths over night. Poor men ; He had caught a frightrul cold, and it had taken away his voice, so when he desired to be espcially emphatic, a wheezy earnestness was all that could be produced. I expect he never lay down or thought of sleep, and was only too glad when morning came, and he could set about retrieving matters. The next was a terrible day. We, non-combetants, had got an idea into our heads that Brigadier Carthew had been the here of the 27th. He had been the only Victorious one, and at night had stayed out, holding the Theatre. When we heard afterwards his exploits had received a reprim- and, we were greatly astonished. He, it will be remember- ed, occupied a position on the right, out between this ground and the river there was sufficient space for the rebels to advance towards the entrenchment, and to post guns on a rising bank. When ihis was perceived, windham sent word to Colonel wilson. who was in com- mand of entrenchment, to sally out and occupy a pla,ce parallel with that held by Brigadier Carthew. The old Colonel, only too glad, doublless, of an opportunity of carrying out the policy had prounped the previous seven- ing, issued forth at the head of his own corps, the 64th Regiment. On what a little matter serious issue may trun at a crtical moment ; Often since have I walked over the road he took. It ran in a line with the river for some little way, and then lorked. One branch wound gently- down below an old burial-place, the other descended more abruptly beneath raising ground, which, at the top, be- came quite steep. If the Colonel had had known the dIflFerence of the 136 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. roads, and had taken the one nearer the river, to his right, and, skirting the grave-yard, he would have come to a place whence he could have peppered the rebels at the guns they had pushed forward, without exposing his own men. It was, of course, not the least his fault; but he took the wrong turn, went down the more abrupt road, and so under the bank recently occupied by the enemy. His skirmishers climbed up the steep part, and got possession of the guns, but these could not be retained. Major Stirling, waving his sword, jumped across one of the guns, and shouted encouragement to the men emberressed with the ascent. He was cut down by troopers coming up. The enemy rallied to the spot, six of the officers of the 64th were killed, and the endeavour to carry the beight failed. In consequence of this, the mutineers closed up, and occupied the ground by the river, approached close to the entrenchment, and, from a sheltered position on the bank, opened" a p?cuUarly misdirected fire on the bridge, and" ^ a latfeE stage mad a feeble attempt to loose a fire-boat down the stream. Poor Campbell-Clark had been brought into hospital, dengerously wounded, another friend, Parsons, I had seen go by with his arm all shatter- ed, and I think it was late in the afternoon when, wan- dering near a gate of the entrenclment, I heard s voice reciting words, and looking round saw Moore, a chaplain recently come in his surplice, moving slowly along. Aind then there passed, stretched on a hospital dhoolie, reve- rently covered up, and attended by a favourite Portuguese sereant, all that was left of poor Colonel wilson ; The sun was setting, or had set, when Power and I went down to see how bridge was faring. It had never been in real danger, to inadequate had the attempts of the ANXIOUS WEEKS. 137 enemy proved. We crossed over, and were standing by the palisade at the end, when we saw a cloud of dust on the Lucknow road. This was soon recognised to be a small knot of horsemen, the central figure of which was peering across the water, as he turned his large-limbed horse on the quivering planks of the bridge. The figure was Lord Clyde. When we went to bed that night, we felt that all real anxiety was at an end. Early the next day Captain Peel took up a positon on the Oudb bank, ebove the biidge, and pounded away into the enemy's left, with his big guns worked by the sailors. when the troops had passed over, and this occupie i the whole morning, the convoy commenced to cross, and their transit was not complete till the next evening. To witness this transit was, as may be conceived, a spectacle full of interest, ladies and children and servants, and the wounded lying in their dhoolies, all went by in an appa- rently endless string. Colonel Malleson appears to think favourably of the abilities of Tantia Topee ; but it is diffi- cult to understand, if he was the "astute" leader he is re- presented, why he never attempted to interrupt the passage of the convoy. The river was compartively low ; above Cawnpore both banks were entirely in the hands of the Mahratta, and he had plenty of boats ; why, then, did he not send Horse Artillery and Cavalry across to harass Lord Clyde's rear ? But nothing whatever was done. The British Froce went safely over, was stretched from our entrechment far away along the east side of the canal ; but the rebels occupied the town, and their left, having the shelter of trees and old houses, was pushed close up to the entrenchment. 138 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. Standing at the ascent from the bridge, as the, convoy passed, many familiar faces were recognised. One or two of the. wounded had themselves carried on to our shelf in the entrenchment ; amongst them Colonel Fraser-Tytler, who had been such a type of activity ; he had a nasty wound, and was quite helpless. The Havelock also— by this time, indeed, alas! the only one — was down. We could get out now to the east, not simply as before to the fortified house where Windham was, but on to the plain. Indeed, You could drive. The convoy was behind the camp, and in comparative quietude. I went to call on Mr. Martin Gubbins, and saw his wife and sister-in-law, who, with that extraordinary calm courage English ladies possess, did not give any idea of having been through a frightful siege. The sight of children again was very pleasant, and they, true to their character, were wholly absorbed in their doUs^ or some sort of knotted handker- chief which passed as such, or perhaps an empty sardine- tin drawn by a string, and enjoyed the cheerful wether, without thought of Tantia Topee, or any other bogie. When I returned to our tent, the noise seemed very great ; but it was not containu ous, only spasmodic ; and perhaps some of- it was, in a measure, unnecessary. If any of the enemy came within sight, there began a discharge of mus- ketry on our part, which did not leave off for a long time. Why the rebels did not leave off for a long time. Why the rebels did not shell the entrenchment seems unaccountable. Occasionally a bullet came whizzing across, and one ofi&cer just sitting down to a cup of tes was killed in his chair. Once or twice, too, they began to fire round-shot at a central building used as an hospital, and considerable alarm was felt about the wounded. I tried to see Glaik, but ANXIOUS WEEKS. 139 a doctor said : "He has only one chance—which is, quiet- pray let him have the benefit of that." We heard, too, that Parsons was very bad, and would lose his arm. The convoy did not start for Allahabad till the 3rd of December, and then Lord Clyde was unwilling to move till news had reached him of its safety. The enemy occasionally became very audacious, mistaking, doubtless, the reason of the dealy in attacking them. One day, when a friend and myself were in the large camp, they managed to get the range of Lord Glyd's quarters, and Knocked all the breakfeast things over in his cooking-tent. Not long before the end came, Bruce, who was in the fortified house, with Windham and his staflF, sent a little note to me, to say that he was to have an appointmet, and that after this crisis had passed, the abnormal state of things at Gawn- pore would, of course, cease, and the military management of the city terminate, and that he was directed to make over charge to me. So I got out of the entrenchment by the little temple on the river side, and reached the house. That particular morning, the rebels had taken it into their heads that this house was a place of some importance, and, atter some very bad shots, had got its range. The inmates had been driven out of the south verandah altogether, but the other side of the building was safe. As the house stood unevently, there was on one side a small chamber partially under ground, and Bruce said : "Go down there, and I will get pen and ink." I went into this hole, and, finding some bread and becon on a shelf, was improvising a luncheon, when Bruce brought his papers. In this queer way I took charge. The incident did me a good trun afterwards, for— incurring some rather hasty criticism — 140 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. I was enabled to represent the time and occasion as rude enough to excuse any executive deficiencies. I have said that the, enemy came close up to the entrenchment, on the extreme right. John Power, of my service, who had been distinguished in the earlypartof the Mutiny by holding on at Mynpoorie with his brother James, and De Kantzow, when all the others withdrew, had come down with the Agra column, and had gone on to Lucknow. Hi was back again now, a fine tall man, who delight- ed in a kind of fantastic calmness which was very entertain- ing. At his invitation, Mr. Gregson, the Baptist minister, and I went one evening to visit the posts on this extreme right. Of course most of the way we skirted along the bank, which had been thrown up, and where at short intervals soldiers were seated, ready to start up and fire it occasion called. It was not one of the stormy intervals, and therefore, besides being safe, the walk seemed also quiet. But there were occasional spaces — patches up with the shining moon, where one's figure came out very distinctly, and might have formed a good mark for anybody in the trees, or buildings near, Mr. Gregson, as a minister of religion, and I, as the father of a family, thought it advisable to cross these patches at the double ; but nothing \vould induce our friend lo accelerate his saunter. "What are you afraid of ?" cried he "Oh," 1 answered, wishing vaguely to justily the action. "I do not care about myselt." "Then please to say," con- tinued our imperturbable companion, stopping in one of the bright petches to dispute the point, "for whose sake you do run !'* At the extreme end down by the river we came to the wall of a small shrine whiph had steps to the water's edge, and here palisades had been ANXIOUS WEEKS. 141 put by our people. It was very curious to hear the rebel Sepoys talking inside this temple, and it could be done without difficulty for they were, in space, only a foot or two from the English soliders. The operations at Gawnpore are described by Tantia Topee in his journal, or statement, in the following curious words : "Having arrived at Gawnpore, there was a battle which lasted eleven days. After eleven days, the revolted army was defeated, and we all ran away." The idea of the long battle pleased the insurgents very much, for one of the Contingent being taken afterwards in a village near, and brought in, said to me : "We performed a great action, and the fame of it has probablv reached Vilayut" [foreign parts]. So completely are precautionary mea- sures misunderstood by Asiatics. Of course, it is easy to think what a source of anxiety the convoy was to Lord Clyde. However, at length, it reached Allahabad, and the General's hands were no longer tied. It is, I believe, a fact that the rebels had begun to doubt of success, and to anticipate that they would soon be attacked in earnest, for, before the 6th of December, some movement of return towards Calpee on the part of a portion of the Force had certainly commenced. Those who desire to know what occured when Lord Clyde considered the proper time had come for clearing Gawnpore of the host that had invested it, will find the account clearly narrated in the pages of Malleson. Some of the reviews found his language too magniloquent, and thought a defence of Lord Clyde for "risking his centre" rather unnecessary, when, in point of fact, the rebels were quite unprepared with any plan for resisting the attack which they could scarcely have thought would not ultimately be made. But, at any rate, it is easy to see what really took place by reference to 142 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. the map, and by following the statement. And this surely is something. About nine o'clock a tremendous fire was opened from the entrechment. Malleson speaks of a "great artillery duel". It was scarcely that, for every one remarked how slack the return was. And though the rebels certainly had no idea how soon their right would be forced, and their camp actually taken, just as it stood and had been tenanted, there is reason to believe they bad fallen back from their extreme left. The batteries in the entrench ment were very interesting, being worked by diflFeren- races, one by Sikhs, one by Madrasses, and so on. I hat formed the acquaintance of one Madras Artillery soldier. He was a little chap, but wiry and strong enough. He spoke English well, and was, I suppose, a Roman Catho- lic, He said : "You have never seen, I dare say, a native solider like me. We are much nearer the English than the fellows up here. 1 here is very little difference ; we can eat aiiy meat we choose, and drink wine". And fight, I suppose ?" I said, "the English are thought to be very fond of fighting". "Oh, fight*', he cried, "I should think so. We are just English over again, only a different colour". That forenoon was certainly one of the noisiest conceiv- able, where we were. What took place need not be repeat- ed here. Malleson has spoken very plainly about the events at the Subahdar's Tank ; and friends of General Mansfield have found great fault with him for saying what he has said. Gamp reports are not of much value perhaps, by themselves ; but where there is other evidence, they may be held corroborative. Gertainly there was very much . discontent felt.. There was a sense of an ANXIOUS WEEKS. HS opportunity lost. But no one seemed to think that any oversight had occurred. The words attributed to General Mansfield, when he checked the attack, were : "What is the use of intercepting a desperate soldiery, whose only wish is to escape ?" The belief that this phrase was used, added to the singular expression in the despatch : "I could have taken the guns", leads to the idea that he did not think the jeu worth the Ghandelle, deciding that it was better to spare precious British life than destroy worthless mutineers. And if he could have been sure that the guns would be easily taken in pursuit, perhaps the forbearance would have been excusable ; it would certainly have been intelligible. But we know that the guns were very nearly got away; for Sir Hope Grant, who followed up the enemy afterwards, says himself that, he only just caught them. The Mutiny would never have been put down if calm calculations had prevailed at first, but circumstances were not desperate now, and perhaps it was thought that the time of the Nictjolsons and Neills had passed. At any rate. Lord Clyde expressed not one word of censure. The return from the Calpee Road pursuit did not take place till late, so that matters remained, that night, in the en- trenchment, pretty much as before ; but the next day we began to move out, and were able to go into the city. It was difficult to prevent looting, and, riding into one lane, I found a knot of women in great trouble, who declared, they had been made to give up their nose-rings and other jewels ; and, moreover, that the culprit was in a neigh- bouring house. I went with them to find him, and be- hold ! he was one of the new police, who, by simply show- ing his firelock, had gained complete submission from all parties. He had quite a handful of ornaments about him. 144 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. Mowbray Thomson had succeeded Bruce in charge of this body, and he took very strenuous measures to prevent further misconduct, so this particular offender was flogged at once, and dismissed the force. One incident, however, took place, indicative of the lawlessness which, of course, had a tendency to break out on such occasions ; for which I was very sorry. There was a tent-maker, in the bazar, named Ghoonee Lai, a man who had throughout taken the Britith side very loyally, and had been of great service in many ways. Naturally handsome, he had by grain diet and simple habita obtained a certain look of benevolent content, which made one almost believe in that ideal goodness Krummacher and others have attributed to Indian sages, He was sitting, it appeared, on a charpoy, only half- dressed, and proposing to come up to camp, when he saw, near his house, two soldiers enter a shop, and compel its keeper to giva up his money. Ghoonee Lai knew English perfectly, and spoke to the men, telling them they were protectors, not oppressors of the poorer citizens. An aphorism so gentle might have passed, bui he unfortunately added that if any officer knew what they were doing, they would be punished. This sounded like a threat, and the knowledge of English, too, was calculated to create some alarm ; and so the two fellows turned on their monitor, and one of them, putting his musket absolutely against Ghoonee Lai's side, discharged it. The poor body, with face uncovered, and the pleasant smile still lingering in death, was brought to my tent by the murdered man's nephew, who was present when the event occurred — and a truly sad sight it was. ANXIOUS WEEKS. 143 General Windham, to whom the circumstance was at once reported, was greatly moved, and interesting himself extremely in the inquiries which were set on foot, managed to have the men identified and arrested ; and the case was afterwards brought to a successful issue. We got out again into tents in a open space, and in- demnified ourselves for ,any past, discomforts ; but we often alterwards visited the lodge under the bank, where we hid'all lived, hugger-naiigger, ^several day's. '' : But the place was not quite free from unpleasant associations, owing to' a circumstance which occurred during, our occupancy of it. Mr. ,Gregsdn and I Wefe pifesent when a noiSy crowd approached the barik over-. l|anding the' loWer plateau;, and' 'we foun^,^in the centre of it, two men being; roughly handled by some sailors and others. Tl^ey vvere really bullbck-drivers emplp^^d by our sidf , and, haying got wounfled^were in Search oi medicaiaiid. Buif being' ragged chajis, arid smeared wijth dii^l and blood, they were seit doWn ^at pnce^ bythe lawless party with whbtfi they lii*d fallefh in, as rebels.^ No>iie&aonstrance or explanation th^t Mn^.' Gi;egsoQ' di I c^Hiiki make vvas of any^ avail,! and the liafa^pfiyiMlows losMhejiT liy.es,>,artd r^^ere precipitated rhfeadtforeinbslj to the levqJbheloiwsr.'xiTbe itumult and confusion prevented: us ficQ^iidagtirngjiishi^tg the actual- peipetirators of thie; outragb>£;taiad |Liiid^,the circumstances, it .seemed scarcely d«simbl&>to layidur ^nibrmatioiiivbr^fofer the authorities agamst men wp fi9Q$i^Qised as members* oni^ of the crowd-— ilk^liiiSsembly though it: undoubtedly was,. // '10*^ IX DUNCAN'S HOTEL On the 8th of December, Lord Clyde sent Colonel Hope Grant in pursuit of that half of the rebel force which had retreated northwards, with a view of crossing into Oudh. Grant cauglht them at the ghat, near Sheorajpore, and captured fifteen guns drawn by beautiful bullocks. A large mass of the enemy got away towards Calpee ; but they crossed the Jumna, and though they kept up great excitement and disorder in the part of the district near the river, they never actually returned with any set purpose. Lord. Clyde did not, hovvever, leave Cawnpore till Christo^as, and his cainp was formed some Way out of the town, on the north-west side. We were, of course, free now to move, and to choose some locality suited to our wants, and d. large house was occupied as t^ headquarters of the Civil Administratidn, not far east of the Canal. It was a mahy-foomed^ ram- bling place, standing in a Compound, with a small garden ■ and trees near it, had once been used as an inn, and was ' ca;lled by the natives Duncan's Hotel. Here quite a new life be^an. I and my immediate coadjutors, Power and Henry 'Willock,: with Mdwbrary Thomson as the head of the police, formed the nucleus of the establishment, and certain aggregations gradually took place. Dr. Tresidder, who had formerly lived at this station, was appointed 146 DUNCAN'S HOTEL. 147 Civil Surgeon, and becoming acquainted with what was goin^ on in the hospital of the entrenchment, he learnt from us that two of the patients were especial friends. The day was actually fixed for Parsons to have his arm amputated ; but Tresidder declared that if the ?ase were entrusted to his individual care, he thought he could save the limb. Arrangements were accordingly made, and permission obtained ; and Parsons and Clark- — the latter, though belter, was still in a ticklish condition— were removed to Duncan's Hotel, where, with better air, specially prepared food, and the constant attendance of Tresiddet in the house, they both got quite well. ParsonS retained his arm, and Clark gave up trying to recover his watch chain . They both lived for some thirty-eight years after these events, and died within a month or two of each other. Clark was wounded dangerously in the stomach, the bullet carrying in part of the chain of his watch ^ links of which came away one by one, leading to the mild pleasiintry that he was delaying riecovery ii^ search of his lost property. It was never known how many inmates the hotel contaitied, for besides all of us, including some Oudh men temporarily attached, visitors occasionally turned up, and there was a dinner in the evening, to which persons not living in the house sometimes came. Joseph declared that though hitherto repressed by circumstances, he possessed a native genius for caterings To him, therefore, was entrusted the commissariat ; and ^ though rather wasteful and extravagant, it must be admitted he kept the table well supplied. ' At length at Christmas— the very morning before Ifp DAILY UIW DURING THE?MUTINY. Christmas day— Lord C)yde started for Futtehgurh, and ^e fOEce, at Q|t;v^^)p{iie Wits f educed to a small gar^o^ again, und^r Inglis. The entrenchment of course formed a fort,; but there was no occasion to withdraw within it ^any more. John Power, who, as has been mentioned^ had. come down from Agra, and had been to Oudh, was •to go on with the Force proceeding to Fuitehgurh, and assist in making any Givil armngements possible, as he possessed the neieessary powers. But when the troops were nearly ajtthe end of the district, I got a letter from General Mansfield, saying that it seemed odd the Magis^ trate waS; n,Gt present to place establishments of police where the troops had passed through. So Mowbray and I started thatevening, and, riding all night, reached the caqip. I only stayed one day, for they had reached (the, limit of Gawnpere jurisdiction. But I w^svery gla^ I wept, because I saw the Q^ief in SU9J1 a good humour. He was in Bruce'stent when J ^ept in, \yas telling anecdotes, and as kind as possible. ^'You have heard of the Koh-i-noor, I supposeT^a world-, wide gem ? I tell you, I, Colin Campbeil, have had that stone in; a bo»,;with me in the, Punjab, as^ if it were a toilet article, and no one the wiser." AU sojfts of. subjects he, talked about, an.d was most pleasj^^i^t. It was a slight , cra^e^ with. General Mansfield that Qrder, qjjght , to succeed immediately after tropps had once marched through a part of the qouatry. VVhen LokI^ Clyde started up J the Trunk Road, ,^e sent Walpofcj by a kirid of loop-line tthiouigfe ,the ,^pwt^j-vi^,est ,of l^e, C^v^npcir^ district, and >^stoiiishment was expressed tha^t pacification did not at once t^ke pl^pe^ Pjut:, bes(desi ,, VS^eApp^ndix,.Np..IY' _:' ,- .. , , ,, „,, '. . ,- .:] DUflCAN'S HOTEL. 149 ' •':• 1 broken bodies of rebels appearing sporadically, in various; directions, during the six months of anarchy rhany of the old landholders had expelled auction piirctidlerg out of their villages, and kept up disturbances in the vain hope of staving off the evil day of restitution. I was impossible,; therefore, to proceed ' otherwise thaii slowly, in getting matters straight^; and confidence requiifed time to esta- blish itself. As we came back from the camp'w^ vvfere received by a good old Zemindar, who had been in commuriica-^ tSon with me at Cawnpore, had entered upon the duties of a Sub-Collector, and had begun collefctiOiis for us, under written- orders sent to him. He had'been obliged to fly before the Contingent, but he waS batk again, and OcciSpied the Collecting' House, having filled it with hife Own armed retainers* As I walked in atnongst wild' matchlock men, I could not but reflect how little the Board of Revenue wpuld have 4M6'itii.t two iMfd before, of a Rajpoot, chifef with hiSjclan in cTmrge of one of the sacred temples of the Fisc. Amonst the frequenters! of the dinner table 3it Duncan's Hotel was the Gommis- sioner-^not Gh,ester, ; who His eye dropped on the paper ; his pen moved' ; he resumed the thread of his writing without difficulty, and :With an unembarrassed continuity. TJieoj^hile Gautier had the same faculty. EmiteBer- gerat, records : je I'l^i^vu plus,d'une fpis', a la suite d'une visii'e d'etranger ou d'ami, reprendre, sans s'ptre relue, une phrase , interrompue, sjauvent a la moitie d'un mot, et la ,poursuivre dans tons ses developpements avec la menje -4latoaquillite que celle qu'il mettait ar rallumer son cigare." Inglis was.a delighttul man ,to have in command — pleasiant-fempered, aigreeable-roannered, attending to any- thing asked, giving it if possible — saying at once why it could not be given if he thouglit it' inadvisable. A^^d bffeh, with the easily-amuseld liatufe of a boy, he, would start some little project. The solidefs, we found, were getting liquor very easily, and he, had hear^ thattthey '■ • *See Appendix V. ' 154 EAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. distilled spirit in a village just opposite, in Oudh. So he asked me one day to come and look for it. We crossed, and got into a knot of little houses, and in an unlikely- looking out-house we found a still. Inglish was as eager as a school-boy at a badger hunt, and shouted at the discovery. We had some people with us, and we encircled all the villagers We coUld find with a rope, and brought them over the water to frighten them, setting the still on fire ; and this, spreading to others we had not seen, made a clean sweep of the smuggling hamlet. . A man came in one night to say the jailer was afraid of the prisoners, and Henry Willock ond I got up to go^ and see about it. As we rode down, we saw a man in a cloak on horseback moving through the dark, accompa* nied by companions. It was Lord Clyde, starting for his celebrated attack on Lucknow. One morning, at the time of the advance on Lucknow, a tallish man,' with yellow h&ir, a pale, smooth face, heavy moustache, and large, restless, anii rather unforgiving eyes, came into my room at Duncan'si He looked at me in a stony way, and then relaxing his features, with a laugh, said : "I have a job for you." It was William Hodson. I had met%imi in India, but not since th^i^d^^ of his celebrity ; and the joke about the "job" was in refe- rence to yiears before, when I was his fag^ at Rugby, and had to brush his study out, ahd m^ke his coffee by the time he came back from first lesson. Besides this relation, I had known him also in family circles, for his Archdeacon father belonged to a school of jreligionists, amongst whom ■ ■ I > ' r ■ i' \ ■' : > J . I' • ■ I ; . . ^Thiswasniy second "situatidn" I had jpreviously been valet to Dr. Gell, Bishop of Madras, on Mfhorji be peace ! DUNCAN'S HOTEL. 155 my people also took their part. Willie Hodson of the yel- low hair-not great in cricket or football, but distinguished for running and athletic feats and endurance-was a soldier almost by an afterthought, for he had to get into the army through the Jersey Militia on account of age, find- ing his true throne at last on an Irregular Cavalry saddle. He had been wounded not long before, and the sleeve had been cut out of the blue, braided coat, to get his arm loose , and the "job" now was for me to have it sewn on for him by the time he returned. It was sewn on but; he ■never returned, and did not require the coat. I do not know how it was, but there seemed a sort of understanding that something should be said betweeii Hodson and myself about a certain event. Somehow, it occurred to both that the door should be shut for that purpose, and that he should sit down and tell me-^as he began to do at once — ^how the Princes had been killed at Delhi. I had always wished, and wish now, that the action had aever .taken place ; but I must bear testimony to the fact that Hodson spoke of the circumstances with no bitterness at What had been said in censure of it, and with no harshness or bravado, but in a calm, argumentative tone, certainly producing the impression that, rightly or wrohgly, he ha'd convinced himself that a stern political necessity existed at the moment for striking in such a manner as to bause a sudden and lasting terror. There I leave the matter of the Princes of Delhi. Hodson was then close to the end of his career ; and alter his death he was in judiciously held up as a notable specimen of a type of soldier he Could not, and did not, pretend to emiilatie. But there are grades between Philip Sidney and Trenck, i^6 dailV lI^e' during rih mutiny. an(| if he ]3ore an^ indistinct likeness to the first, I must say I think he. should ; not hive been compared to the ^econd. I thought th^tmorijing's visit vyas a renewal o^ our old friendship, t was .mistaken^ I supposed; it was a greeting ; it was really a, f^irewell. .- A sign of altered tioles was the approach of persons with other aims thdn vvdt, and other calls than those of duiy. BeatQ, of photographic celebrity, turned up — he w^io had' made a reputation during the Crimean compaign; an^, with others, came a iFrench doctor, whom I had known at Agra. Into what shelter Dr. SgaiiereJle had Sown di&ing the Mutiny I do not know ; but here he was, as sweet as ever, on his theory for the cure of Asiatic, cholera He was a man ; of jconsiderable knowledge, Had seen many parts of the ;world, and seemed never to gfoWco^d in hi? belief th'atfholera might eveittually he staOiped out, and that, in t^e meantime cures could be effected with .safety and certainty by; mea^sof t^e Sganarelk baths. We talk of Asiatfc cholera, and -the dis^'as^ ^^■s taken its place as one of the terrors of India, but native physi- cians attribute it tq tiie English. It appeared, at any rate, ill the fbrrh now associated with it, during one of Lord ilastings' wars; and an argumentative Bengalee might per- haps peri an essay on the inquiry, whether Shakspeare "and patent leather boots were reajj benefits, when accompa- nied by brandy and cjiojiefa-mbrbus. The French medico, whom I distinguish as'Df. SgariafelT^ — for like that worthy in Le Medeciri Volant, he could boast, J'oi des tahnts 'par- ticulars — iJ'ai (iea isecrets.T-h aid made up his,, mind, from historical researches into the disease that cKolera took its birth in a particular city, and was annually renewed and iivvigor^d, from its nfW^vu place, travelling, as he qousji- (jered he ;Qould trace, frpm it, as from a centre, in v^ripu^ di3?eGtions.. This city was Hyderabad, in the Decgaio.^ and his proposal £prtth|e abplitioji of ehplera was the complete sanitation of that metropolis. In addition to this master notions, Sgang-relle had plans of his own fpr dealing with indiA^idual cases of the dise§.se. He put the patient into a tin batli, fitting as nearly as might be to the human frame, in a semi-recurabent position, an^ btoiled the mischief out, ' .Joseph, as stewaird of dur large and irregular housjEj- hold, was becoming rather a personage. All travellers and visitprs became acqyiainted with hitn, and laughed at his quaint and racy English. He has Iseen sketched by no Ifess a pen tjjan t^af of Dr. Russell. Though very lean and old, Joseph was wbhderfully tough • but his ancient ;blood reqjiired a little vyarming, and I observed that he took port wine for, the* purpose. At this stimulant was not, used at the, table, I asked him where he, got it, afld he r^pligdj^'with hauch'simpliGity : "I have a friend in the Gompaissariat ; 1 give him sonie df your tea, and Be gives me Gd'^erhmenJ:^ w^e.'' ^his !^arrane^&nt, if open to some remark from the mprk'l pidint of view, seemed to work well, afed y^as'only put an end to by the cpmnipn severances of tiipe. ., ^ „ . TThe ,ppsitiQgi, pf Joseph ma^e - him n^uch sought^aJtter t?y, some jojf h^ own cpnipeers,; ap|d <,pn one pccasip^y wishjjig tp spje^k tjp j^m , in the . evening, I fp;Und him ^^^nyngpne of a small., ^th,^qldgjcaL symjposium, tp whose di§fus,sio|}S I thought myself "entitled tp listeh for a shprt tl^iefit an opeii , dopr. .iThere, was a visitor present, whp clfiii^ed fpr hiinself^the ^pbrlque^t of^the Worm of the ^^,"Iqr;'\pa^- hf, ''if^no^qiyj requires ^that I should , 158 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. submit to comparison with an insignificant creeping thing, still I am such a worm as has fed on the sacred pages, till my substance, as it were, has become one with the scriptures themselves." Joseph treated these subtleties with levity, and remarked that far from conceding such a title to his frieiid, he believed that the simplest herme- neutic difficulty would pose him. To this the Worm replied, there was no question Joseph could put which would not meet with an immediate answer. And Joseph, with severe dignity, said, "Then explain why Rachel weeping for her children would not be comforted." The Worm replied that there was no such passage in exist- ence, and that the propounder of the question was demeaning himself by unsuitable frivolity. Joseph, with angry determination, sent for a Testament, and read the passage out^ glaring at his adversary wjth^not underserved indignation. The Worm attempted to create a diversion by satire, and remarked that the company were awaiting, with some injpatience, Joseph's-, own exegesi^. "No," said Joseph, "the company willnot be gratified; it is quite enough for this evening that ypu shotil4 have been completely defeated, and I shall not take out the inter; pretation till a future occasion." A familiar figure in those days was that of Paterson, Saunders, senior — so called in connection with a stout man of the same name, living Jounpore way, a cousin I fancy. 1 had knowii him at Agfa, when he was con- duci^ing the Massengers at that place. Hew as a younger brother of the well-known J. O. B. Saunders, and was a man of a singularly fin^ character. He had been, when young, in South America, and knew Spanish well, which had earned for him, the name of the Don. If he had been born in Elizabeth'is days he would have gone forth ahd fought those with whom he had only^ DUNCAN'S HOTEL. 159 he Jiad. only traded, amd would have helped to win some strange land for the British Crown. As it wasj he was always looking for Eldorado. "Four lacs and member for Fife," was the ambitious programme, which he did not, however, fulfil. An upright, wiry man, with hanging grey looks, a fine seat on a horse, and a manly bearing. He was too ungirt for these latter days, and belonged to freer, more reckless, and more jovial habitudes ; but he had a true chivalric spirit, a clear head, and wielded, moreover, a picturesque pen. He was often with us, galloping up to the house in the morning, and indeed occasionally riding gently from room to room on the handsome nag he, had taught to trust his hand. "If we fell, we e'en gat up agen, And sae will we yet.*' — a favourite refrain with him. How the old songs ring in one's ears, when the siugers have long been silent ! The large body of troops that escaped by Galpee gave anxiety from time to time, and it was thought advisable, occasionally, to show troops in the part of the district lying near the river, and opposite to where they were posted in some force. Sir John Inglis had sent out a small column before the Lucknow operations began ; and I accompan led it for a day or two. Mowbray Thomson was there, too. Part of the Force was the 34th Queen's Regitoient. It was very pleasant to me to be with this corps, my uncle having served In It many years, and hav- ing given an account of some of its adventures in Spain, in his"^ "Recollections of the Peninsular", a book which, in its day, had a great sale. The Gonnaught Rangers had asked Thomson to do them a little service. They 160 DAILY, LIFP DURING THE MUTINY. had l(Mt a Wung officer aX the Battle of the Bridge, tin^ef Windham,, and ihey had never found his bodv ; he, was "believed to have fallen into a ^w^ll. XhonaSon had promised to try_ and find out. what had become of the body. So, as we rode home, we stopped at i village near, add asked some questions. The peasants do not fike such subjects, a,lid answered in the shuffling way they employ when they do not want to answer. But, a.t^last, we found there was a well on the" plain near, whjch was not used ; and'we got some coolies and went tbete; We sat waiting whilst th^ men descended with ropes, apd at last they brought the poor fellow up. His name was Day. He must have been standing on the edge of the well to Ibok ahead, when a rgimpd,-&hpt,^caijght him, ai^ jdown he went. It was probably a chilly morning, and he had slipped on a mackintosh*. His wafdh was there, and' other little personal equipments, and his rings still encircled the bony fingers. We had him reverently laid on a charpoy-'a^- covered him up-; and it was a consolation to his fellow*- officers to, p4|ice him in a gr.ave, and to^ have the, last words of hope read over him. ' . J Some little time before the troopts were b^gltusing tQ come ba©k from /Lueknow^ _ recdwed , coafideatial e ordqiS,' that! was to iprepare to lithograph a certain document in ap absointely secret way. The paper had been,! thanki fen GitBeral Qutsam's hands, and)had received some modifi-T c£(tiOQS on Ms own ^responsibility. I fiiund th^t;Utnur- oatli, ithe Birahmin Tuhsildar, had been . accustomed/ |o write on stpne, anfldid it dearly aitd we^. Th^re^w.as a 1 ,^q\ybrfiy Thomson , went oiit again with Gp^l9neL G,y., Nl^xwell's detachment and Talbot's guns, and was wounded. See hh "Story of Cawnpore". " ^ / i DUNCAN'S HOTEL. 161 a native in the city who I sent word to him that I was com- ing down to his bouse about nine at night, and that he must place his materials and the two workmen, the roller, and the pressmen, at my disposal. These two could neither read nOr write. So, alter dinner, instead of gSing to my room, I popped into a carriage with Umurnath-^ no easy task— ior the Brahibin required the gifeater part of a palkee — garee and we went to the primer's house, Ot course wesent him to bed, locked ourselves in a room with the roller and the pressman. Then out I came with the document, and Umurnath^ sat down to write it on the stone. It tooke a long time, and the worken were very lazy and did not like staying ; but, of course, no excuses could be taken, and after midnight we got all the copies safely pulled ofiF and wrapped up — the stone cleansed from the writing, and all traces of our work removed. Then home ; the packet ol papers entrusted to the hand that was to receive them — and the task was over. This was Lord Canning's celebrated Proclamtiori, as slightly altered by Outram — a dcoment which his lordship's apologists consider to have been right in sub- stance, if rather injudiciously expressed. Col. Barrow was especially entrusted with its explanation, and it can scarcely be said to have retarded the pacification of the 1 When I returned to India, after furlough, in 1863, 1 found Pundit Umarnath a Deputy-Collector. His health, however, had failed. Extreme obesity brought on disease his native physicians were unable to deal with. He knew he was dying, and come to Mirzapur, to bid good-bye. When were parting he said, "You will not see me again, but when I am gone, you will, know I had not forgotten the objects I was interested in." He left roost of what money be possessed for educational purposes. The Government lost in him a very valuable servant. V 162 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. province. Its Parliamentary effects, leading to Lord Ellen- borough's explosion and subsequent resignation, are well known. The days at Duncan's Hotel were drawing to a close. Dr. Russall has narrated how we cured hini of his dys- entery ; and two of the last figures remembered are those of Sir Thomas Franks, with his fine person and his an- imated — nay, electrical — conversation, and the tall, manly frame of the lamented Venables< X THE NUWAB's HQUSE. As the district was now pretty well in British occupation, business increased naturally, and we required fixed and spacious premises, for office accomniodation. A large confiscated native house was chosen for Cutchery, and a bungalow opposite for our head-quarters. A iamily who had made large sums of money at Lucknow in the old days had got sufficiently over the border to secure their property by settling at Gawnpore, and lived there, enjoy- ing their wealth, and the rank they bad received at the Oudh capital. There were three brothers, all Nuwabs, and two of them had undoubtedly joined the Nana ; whilst, with regard to the third, who was called the Nunha Nuwab, or little Nuwab, some believed in his Iqyalty, and some did not.^ He was not comfortable, however i at Ca wo pore ; and left India to reside at Mecca, a year or so after the Mutiny. Our bungalow blonged to one of the rebllious brothers, Bakur Ali, and when disencumbered ot walls intended to seclude the women, was very nice, some of the ceilings being ^ Kaya has, I think, overrated his influence. I never heard of bim that he was regarded as a leader by any section of bis towns- men. 1^3 164 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. painted, after the native fashion, the colouring eflFective, though the drawing, of course, was rude. Before our move we had to make arrangements for re- ceiving Jung Bahadur, who was on his way from Luck- now to Allahabad. The Savada Kotee, which played a well-known part in the Mutiny, was assigned to him. He arrived on horseback, and was met by a kind of proces- sion: the Commanding Officer, and Douglas Forsyth — who was at Gawnpore, overlooking the Nana's papers — and other officials being present. The Prince had a spare, active figure, unwearied as yet by his years of his habits; but the face was very Garkha, with the low brow, squab nose, and pointed eyebrows of his race. He wore goggles,. too, partly for ornament, I expect, for he must have been well accustomed to the sun. I sent him a carriaige and some sowars ; and on leaving he bad a polite note written, saying he had been very comfortable. There was at length a clergyman at Gawnpore, and an excellent ' one he was, named Moore. He and his wife received Sir William Peel into their house, and nursed him tenderly during his torrible illness-i— confluent small pox— till he Succumbed. Our Baptist frieftd, Mr. Gregson, was therefore at liberty to move up to Agra. He had, I believe, contributed annals of the Mutiily to a leading Nbncotiformist journal in London, and was a man of intellect, afnd singularly free from sectarian prejudice. Father Gonti, also, though not a chaplain, held on for atinje. His cheerful face always lighted up at a visit. He would be' 'found smoking a hookah, and reading up, , in case of possible controversies, Cobbett's "History of the THE NUWAB'S house. 165 Reformation."! A very genuine character^ with much of the simplicity of the agricultural class in Italy. We had scarcely got into our new quarters when the capture of Galpee took place. It was the height of thd hot weather, and the sufferings of the soldiers must have been very great. Two of my coadjutors were out : Willock with a detachment watching the river, and James Power with Maxwell's Force that co-operated with Sir Hugh Rose, from the northern bank of the Jumna. Of course, the clearing-out of the rebels made a great difference, and materially strei pthened all authority. By the time the cold weather arrived, we were able to camp out in the district ; and it was, of course, desirable we sihould show our faces. But it was deemed better to display some little capability of enforcing what was thought right, in case of necessity, and so, this year, my movements were accom- panied by some hundred QS more of the military police, and five-and-twenty sowars. The competition system Tiad supplied me with two companions, Tracy and E. S. Robertson. The former was a very fine young man, with a most pleasant wit, to which he did great injustice. He walked through life, to use Gautier's phrase, like a Hun- garian noble, with pearls sewn on to bis boots, strewing ttiem on the floor, regardless whether they were picked up or not. Rebertson was an economist and John Stuart Millite ; was understood to have a scheme in his protfolio for the improved representation of the people, and was iTfae SatuTiiay Revieu) said at this point, "Perhaps Burnet's ?" But, no ; it was not the time for library octavos. William Gobbett's work is little more than a large pamphlet^ powerful, perverse, over- heated, but mainly ture. 166 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. always game for a discussion, either on finance or colonial policy. He weilded a very clever pen, and amongst the narratives of district troubles during the Mutiny, drawn up by the order of Government, the report upon the Futtehpore district was written by him, from facts and circumstances supplied by me. It was early in December, and our camp was near Sheorajpore. One forenoon, when out with Robertson on an elephant, news was suddenly brought us from Bilhour that rebels had appeared on the Oudh side of the Ganges, and were forcing their way across, as it was understood,, wito a view of'escaping across the Doab. A messenger was sent oflF at once to Brigadier Percy Herbert, and we all started for Bilhour. After Sir John Inglis had gone home, brigadier William Campbell commanded at Gawn- pore, an officer who had made^^ Celebrated mull of the pursuit at LucTcnow, but who in ' private life was very amusing and pleasant, and' hid , in his day. been one of the best gentlemen flat-r^ce riders in England. He how- ever, died in the later autumn, ,and was succeeded by Percy Herbert, brother of Lord Powys, and who had dis- tinquished himself in the Grimes. Soon after reaching the Grand Trunk Road, I met a string of camels, ac- companied by huge, dirty Gabulees, in their long chogas, their baggy pyjamas, thick matted hair, and with matchlocks in their hands. I asked if there was any disturbance up the road. Tney showed their white teeth — the only clean thing about them — and answered, "Buliva khoob chulta,'^ or, in other words, "There is a pretty shindy." Fortunately, therte was an officer named Sullivan, with a native levy, not far o£F, and some rough Gavalry called Towana horse, and we all went THE NAWAB'S HOUSE. ' 167 together to Bilhour, reaching it the same everiing. We learnt that the person commanding the rebels was Firoze Shah. .They had completed their landing, and had occupied the encamping ground a mile or so higher up. The people at Bilhour were very glad of protection, as as they were afraid of being looted. Brigadier Herbert behaved with the greatest promptitude; He wrote to me : — "Gawnpore, "December 6, 1858, 4 a. m. "Mt Dear Sherer,^ — Your note arrived about an hour ago. I have telegraphed to Lucknow. Allahabad, and Galpee. I am sending 200 European Infantry up to Bilhour to reinforce you. I have about 200 Cavalry of sorts here. I shall move them up the road or across country according to what I hear. I shall communicate my movements to you as much as possible. Send me all information available. "PfiRCY Herbert." He put two companies of the 80th Regiment under Captain Hume into bullock-train waggons, and sent them straight up the Trunk Road ; and, forming a small flying body of cavalry, made off posthaste for the Jamuna, hoping to catch the rebels. Firoze Shah was off in the night ; and the next morning, when the troops came, and we moved forward, we found the store-house burnt down, and some of the buildings at the encamping ground still smoking* the telegraph wire cut, and strewed on the, ground. The oflScer commanding the English soldiers had to wait for further orders ; but some of us rode to a neighbouring village to inquire what had happened 168 DAILY LIFE DLRING THE MUTINY. there, and learnt that the last troopers had only just leEt the little street. Firoze Shah wag gellantly met in the next district Lieutenant Forbes, Mr. Hiitne and Captain Doyle, and harrassed, though not arrested. He nianaged to get across the Jumna just before Brigadier Herbert came up; but the effect of these prompt moyem ants was very good, for it showed that rebels could no longer venture into our territory without pursuers springing up in every direction. Captain Hume received his instruc- tions to pursue across country, and Robertson volunteered to show the roads and to interpret. They marched to Pho- phiQOtid in Etawah ; but, hearing there of the skirmishes witia Firoze Shah, and the Prince's escape across the Tumna, turned back. Lord Canning afterwards personally thanked Robertson. On coming back to the Trunk Road, I found Herbert Harington, who has been men- tioned before, sitting ip a waggon, naending the telegraph wire. Ttiese road duties were sometimes perilous. He "went out once to mend a wire near Nawab Gunj, in Oudh, with a companion and one or two sowars. Irre- gular troopers wejrc suddently seen stealing along the road to get between the party and the Gunj gate-way. It was a case of galloping. Harington stuck his spurs into old Socrates, a favourite horse, and at last got ahead ; but he heard the breathing of troopers' horses at his croup. A minute or two more and the gateway was gained. But the pursuers caught up poor Vaughan, his companion, and ctii him off his saddle with their sabres.i 1 Harington's son, Lieutenant Henry Harington, was mortally wounded in the night attack at Murkanai, September 14, 1897. His father said of bim "He leaves behind him a track of Only the sweetest memories " •tHE NAWAB^S HOUSE. 169 The camping that winter was very delightful. There is, perhaps, no climate more perfect than that of the cold weather in the central districts or the North-West. The golden mornings ; the sunny but pleasant noons ; the balmy elastic evenings ; and the country, though never striking, oftentimes agreeably diversified by mango groves and tanks, the vast peepul trees of villages, and temples rising amidst verdures and the slender minars of mosques. Then the welcome baskets of vegetables from the station, and the newspapers and letters from home. There was sporting, too, of the less exciting sort. Some of my frienns used to say of my shooting, that even Professor Freeman could bring against- It no moral objection, as it amused myself, and did no harm to any living thing. Matters were not so bad, perhaps, really as this ; but I confess to the easy diver- sion gi one more fond of natural history than acquainted with woodcraft. There were partridges, and sand grouse, and rock pigeons, and teal, and wild ducks, an4 wild geese, and sometimes deer and neel-gai. We had a grand old Brahmin with us as shikaree. He must have been close upon seventy, but was a picture of health and activity, and astounding at walking or swimming, or any bodily exercise. He shocked the Hindoo servants by shooting a neel-gai, which they thought going too far, because the name means blue cow ; but he bore them down with his Brahminical rank, and declared that it was only a deer, and a fit object of sport. We had, as we travelled along, occasibnally to investi- gate cases of crime, or which the perpetrators were absent, but of which it seemed desir3.ble to make some record, whilst evidence was available. In a village, a 170 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. mile or two out of Cawnpore, the farmer and the village accountant were on bad terms. The latter functionary is called up-country the Putwaree, and is often of th'i writing, or Kayuth caste. If he be a weak man he is the slave of the farmer ; if a strong-willed person, he often sides with the peasants against the farmer. In the village I am speaking of, the Piitwaree aided the tenadts against their landlord, and he, again, had sworn vengeance should the British authority ever pass away. The day the Nana attacked Wheeler's entrenchment, at the first gun the farmer set out to look for his foe. It is said that Henry IV of France heard, in the night before his assassination, the footsteps of Ravaillac in the streets of Paris. One may imagine that the trembling Putwaree^ who had hidden for some days in his house, had heard a hundred times the farmer's dreadful stop. This day it reached his door. The poor wretch was dragged out, bound hand and foot, laid on a stone before the temple pf Ka,lee outside the village,, and his throat being cut, he >v^s* solemnly sacrificed to the goddess.^ It is gratifying to think that, on the whole, the British name was asso ciated as a synonym with law. My moonshee told me that during the Mutiny he was living in a house in Bijnour, and heard his next-door neighbour quarelling with his wife. During the misunderstanding the husband ^ This anecdote seems to point to exceptional barbarity. And such cases, naturally, coilld not often occur. Buc it must be remem- bered that our nineteenth century civilisation, as it affects provincial life in India, is only a veneer over an- older civilisation actuated by principles widely different from ours. Material advancement may putruq : ^oral piogress. The ancient Greeks were, in a sense, highly civilised. We still take them as our models in literature and art. But what were their views about slavery ; — whkt their sentiments towards- enemies ? nbt to touch on some very painful features in their. iociaLlife.^ ' THE NAWAB'S house. 171 said : "You had better be careful ; there are no British now, and no reason ^xists why I should not break your head and throw you into a well.** The lady took the political crisis into consideration, and became silent. Amongst the spoils whidh Henry' Willock had brought in from the district was a pair of huge kettle-drums, which were duly advertised as confiscated property, but naturally did not command an easy sale. At one village I visited, a Goshain sent word he should be much obliged if I would call on him, explaining that he was prevented calling on me by a vow never to leave the storey of the house where he sat. So I went to him, and found a temple, with trees overshadowing it, surrounded by a court. The shrine was upstsirs, on what we should call the first floor, and the Goshain was seated in a little chamber by its side. Dressed in saffron -dyed clothes, he looked venerable' enough, with his iron-grey hair and 'ample beard. He delighted in his presents quarters as the abode of miracle — iot a peepul tree waS growing out of the earthen floor of this upper storey, which he held to be altogether out of nature. He had only been for a year or two at the elevation be had chosen, and seemed pleased to refer to the occasion when he carried out his intention of permanently ascending. ' He described how he had walked round the village, for it was the place where he was born, and each hut and every turning were familiar, then put his foot reso- lutely on the first s|tep, to descend no more till he should be brought down a dead body. He told me how the chamber where ■ he sat h^d been filled, c nee during thie disturbances, with soldiers, and how he feared he might have been dragged below. But no ! The Deotar protected 172 DAILY LIFE DURINd tHE I^UTINY. him. And now came the point of the interview. The kettle-drums ! Willock's booty had come from this shrine, and the votary pined for his kettle-drums. No one accused the devotee of having been mixed up with the rebels, and it was a pleasure to be able to gratify him in so simple and inexpensive a way. He was allowed his kettle-drums. I had often before wondered what they could be, and I found they were used to announce service, at the shrine. Many of the Mussulman fukeers were employed by the rebels as spies, and sometimes as Ghazees or desperadoes, who would rush on death, sustained by the hope of that reward which is thought to be in store for those who fall for Islam. But it was, of course, impossible to explain to T. Atkins the distinc- tions in devotional life, and one felt sorry for Hindoo saints who were sincere. If they had really given up the world, and having made up their minds that the ph^enocnena Surrounding them were Mayai, or as Lecomte de Lisle calls them, "L' unique V eternelle et sainte Illusion" — had fixed their thoughts or the Supreme essence — it was rather hard to be suddenly ordered by an apparition in a red cost to "Come out o' that,'' and to be kicked of their mats as the rascuUy clergy of the country. At Bithoor, the Nana's place there was a saint, half visionary, half mountebank, who sat on a board on the top of a high pole, and passed his time between prayer and tying his legs in a knot round his neck. Whether the scjdiers thought this; new Simon Stylites an entertainment or not, I cannot say ; but he escaped all difBcukies, and we found him on his airy perch, during the winter of 1858, as acrobatic and spiritual as ever. Some years after the Mutiny was concluded, and when THE NAWAB'S house. 173 time was beginning, in a measure, to efface its events from the memories of men, I met an Eurasian gentleman of much ability, who had been Deputy-Collector with me, in the time the description of which is now drawing to a close. I asked him how he liked his station, and he rep- lied : "Very much. The duties are not heavy, I am content and comfortable ; but," he added, with a faint smile, "it is not like the golden days of Gawnpore." I I felt a slight chill at my heart, and thought within my- self, I hope he only means happy by "golden.'* For, of course, on the gradual restoration of order thers two ope- nings for corruption — first, it was difficult to get native employees of whose antecedents one had any knowledge ; and next, accounts and lists and checks were all out of gear, and there was a great deal of confiscated property ; and, moreover, no end of people about with ready money in exchange for recommendations and good words. A little incident impressed upon me the extreme caution that was necessary, to avoid a bad name, as also how pre- valent the belief was in lax morality. The Queen's Proclamation was read on the 1st of November, 1858. There, were no especial circumstances attending its promulgation at Gawnpore ; there was a parade, a sufficient but, not remarkab\e collection of natives, and the senior civilian, Mr. Batten, the Judge, read the document out from a carriage. Not far trom the station was the village of a Rajpoot, named Gpolab Singh> who was understood to have joined Tantia Topee in the attack on the entrenchment. He had fled across the Jumna, and hearing that the proclamation was going to be issued, out of mere bravado crossed over into 174 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. the Gawripore district, on the morning of the 31st October. But the part where he entered was in the jurisdiction of a hot-headed Mussulman Thanadar, who determined to arrest him, as he was quite justified in doing, for the amnesty merely extended to those who came in under the Proclamation, and was on that day. only *« posse. The Mahomedan surrounded the house, and the door was burst open, and he ordered the constables to enter. But no one ventured to face the old Rajpoot, who was sitting on a charpoy. The Thanadar drew his sword and rushed in. Goolab Singh shot him with a revolver, and the Mahomedan, although mortally wounded, with a last effort ran the Rajpoot through. They both fell dead in the court. The story was so romantic that I was anxious to get the revolver ; and though I had endeavoured to avoid being mixed up in any way with confiscated pro- perty, I asked the Nazir to buy this article in for me. It was knocked down at Rs. 40 (£ 4), which was really quite as much as it was worth. When I was leaving Gawnpore, a native gentleman asked if he might say what he thought of roe, without giving offence. To see ourselves as others see us is a gift desited of the gods, and I replied : "Cer- tainly," He said : "I have watched you very carefully, and I believe you to be an honest gentleman. You have had many opportunities, and you have only stolen one thing — the pistol of Goolab Singh!" And as if this wretched weapon carried a fatality with it, it had already subjected me to an insulting importunity, for in one of our camping expeditions the son of Goolab Singh accom- panied us, paying his compliments each day, till at last he thought he was favourably viewed enough to address me in a very croaxing tone ; "I say. Sahib, give me back my tHE nawab's house. l75 pistol !" But if the times were tax, and the agency roughi^ the plan of appointing Zemindars as pro tern Tuhsildars answered very well ; and in one case, Kiridur Singh, 'Who* was hereditary chief of his clan, and was educated enough to write Persian, not only kept his neighbourhood per- fectly quiet, but exhibited considerable talents for busi- ness. An old gentleman in horn spectacles, and his teeth tied in his mouth apparently with soda water bottle wires, he did not look as if he could control a clan ; but his influence was very great. I was the means, through representation of his worth, of considerably enlarging his estates ; but he did not very long enjoy his prosperity, for he was killed in a railway accident, actually in the station- yard of Gawnpore. Before the winter ended we had a guest in Mr. James Wilson, the Finance Minister, who came up to make local inquiries as to a tax on tobacco, and other projects. He Was a shaggy-browed Scotchman, of middle height, and study enough frame, very pleasant in conversation, though occasionally subject to going o£E, suddently into the Hamburg currency, and kindred topics, whither the iilexperts went floundering after him. As he wished to write overland dispatches, I had prepared a tent looking over the terraces of the garden ; the flowers, and then the pomegranates and oranges, and at last, through breaks in the boughs of the neems and Dalbergias, the river Ganges. I thought the sunshiny vistas might inspire him a few poetic thoughts ; but when I went in to see if the post was ready, I found he had closed up the side towards the landscape. I suppose, as the painter Fuseli said was the case with himself, "Nature put him out.'' People pride themselves on comparatively unimportant 176 Daily life during the mutiny. achievements. Theophile Gautier was more proud of the blow from his fist which, at the opening of the Ghiteavb Bonkga, oaaikedi on the new "Turk's Heawl," 582 pounds, than he was of his poetry and remances. In humbler life I pin my celebrity to "The Fine." The City of Gawnpore was mulcted ^ 30,000 (three laks of rupees) for its too ready acceptance of the Nana's occupation; and this sum was successfully realised without an appeal. A protest, indeed, reached me from a goW- smith and banker, who claimed not to have been a. regular resident, and he had up a solicitor from Calcutta to fight the matter out. But this functionary, who was an excellent fellow, wrote to ask me what I should do if his client did not pay. In a moment of inspiration t replied : ''I should resort to the usual processes for reco- vering revenue." One of these was personal arrest, and the protest was therefore withdrawn. And thus AppoUo came to my aid. The spring wore away, and then the summer, and one Sunday morning I was starting for the house of my kind friend, Tresidder, who had said : "Gome to a quiet room which I will give you, where you may write up your letters, free from interruption," when, on sitting down in the carriage, I found myself as cold as death, teeth chattering, and every limb trembling, which state of things gave place to burning heat by the time I reached the doctor's. In about three weeks' time I was able to leave this kindly home, after a jungle fever, which troubled me in many ways for about ^ quarter of a century. It was very provob ing for Lord Ganning was just coming at the commence- ment of the cold season to hold a Durbar,' and there were all sorts of arrangements to be made for the native princes- THE nuwAb's House. 177 but everyone helped, and matters were got into good trim. The Durbar, when it came off, was not a splendid one ; but the occasion was suitable enough, and it was desir- able that the country should see that pageants could now be resumed, as well as the ordinary business of the day. Willoughby Osborne brorght his Rewar Raja, a fine, tall man ; and the good old Ishree, Maharaja of Benares, was there ; and Sir Richmond Shakspeare escorted Punna, Bettiah, and some of the minar monarchs of mid India. There was rather a droll incident at the Durbar itsef. One of the small Rajpoot chieftains had brought an old grey and toothless courtier, who had got himself up in a ferociously warlike manner, and carried a portentous sword of the pantomimic scimitar description, such as I have seen handled by the late Mr. W. H. Payne, when with terrific moustache and a turban of many-coloured folds, he enacted the part of the cruel Sultaua in a Christ- mas piece. ■ The old the gentleman brought this heart- rending weapon to be touched by Lord Canning^ and then in a loud voice began telling him chat if his enemies ever gave him any trouble, he had only to say the word and this sword should bedrawn in his defence. He had a great deal more' to state, but fell at last into the hands of the Masters of the Ceremonies, and was hustled out of the presefirce, not, however, before he had quite upset Lord Canning's gravity, who held put for some time, but at last burst into uncontrolled laughter. When the Viceroy moved up-country, the Commis- sioner and myself accompanied the camp to the limit of the district. Fortune had been favourable again in the matter of a Commissioner, for the kindly and able Cuth- 12 178 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. bert Thornhill held the post. The last morning, he and 1 got up early, and rode out to a small roadside police- station, just on the edge of the Gawnpore jurisdiction. The motley groups accompanying a large enactment passed us, as we sat on a charpoy under the little veran- dah, till at last the highway was quite clear. Then a cloud of dust appeared far oflF, which grew into a carriage with outriders, and Lord arid Lady Canning came up. The Countess had been, as is well-known, in her day, a Keepsake beauty, and was engraved with her sister as "Hermia" and "Helena," when Mr. Charles Heath em- ployed his burin in introducing gracious faces to the public. She still retained her good looks, and was noted for the ease and affability of her manner. There was to my mind always something tragic about Lord Canning's countenance. The brow was as fine almost as that of his father ; but the lower part of his face was weak. There was, too, a look about him of Hamlet distraction : that he, the muser, should have fallen on days demanding masterly action : "The time is out of joint, O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right." He is not a very distinct figure in the eulogies of Sir John Kaye, whilst, on the other hand, his letters seems to dis- prove some of the opinions of his opponents. Perhaps, as time wears on, and all temptations to partisanship are removed, we may arrive at a delineation which will present to us the man as he really was. Thornhill, who had considerable talents in design, had made himself very usefuHndeed indispensable'-in settling THE NUWAB's HOLSE, 179 the plans for the new town at Allahabad, and Lord Canning spoke very warmly to him in acknowledg- ment ; and then, on her part. Lady Canning added some kind words. Thornbill was, of course, gratified, and his face was bright as we took off our hats and the carriage moved away. It was an interview of doomed people ; for, with the exception of myself, who may be held to have been a bystander, within a very short time they had all departed. There is no Earldom of Canning now, and the property is held in the family of Clanri- carde. Near the river Hooghly, in the beautiful park of Barrackpore, the lady is resting ; and the very title of the noble house from which she sprang. — Stuart de Rothesay — is extinct. The remains of poor Thornhill were com- mitted to the waters of the tropic sea. Of the Earl Canning, however, a lasting memorial remains in West- minster Abbey, in the shape of one of the finest statues of modern times. Foley certainly surpassed himself in its execution. All that was poor and less worthy is sup- pressed, whilst the head denotes that intellectual superio- rity which undoubtedly existed. The pose is com- manding and dignified ; and the nervous gathering up of the senatorial robe in the full-veiaed hand incom- parable. Our household arrangements had undergone some modification, for Badul Khan, who had sorrowfully bid us farewell the night before we left Futtehpore, suddenly appeared one morning with a cart containing his goods and chattels, including his wife, and claimed the direction of cuisine as an old-standing right. Joseph was not very unwilling to resign, for accounts were alw£i:ys burdensome to ^ and we had found it 180 DAILY Life luring the mutiny. necessary to audit them witbmore predsions than was altogether pleasant to his feelings. The actual writer of the house accounts was a little old cripple, who rode up daily for the purpose, on the most unfed of ponies. He professed to know English, but was occasionally very un- certain, and articles of consumption appeared of which no explanation seemtd possible. One was a "windquick," an implement whose origin and uses remained obscure, but as it only cost twopence, the item was passed without remonstrance. The scribe loved to insert his own name at an erasure, or alongside of his Total, and generally with qualifications calculated to move pity, such as "tome, with very children !" Joseph retained an apartment on the premises, where he received his friends.i One morning, Joseph brought a gentleman whom he said he wished to introduce to me, and a ginger-whiskered Englishman, past middle age, of moderate stature, walked in, whom I discovered to be the celebrated Mr. De Russet, celebrated, at least, to those who have read "The Private Life of an Eastern King." For he was the very barber to whose skill the elaborate locks of Nusr-ood- Deen-Hyder bear testimony in the effigies of him to be seen in the Moosa Bagh at Lucknow. In later interviews he declared to me that the book was a pure romance ; but he was too interested a party to be received as an impartial critic. One thing he stoutly declared, which I thought not unlikely, namely, . that the conversations between the King and the librarian were purely imagi- nary ; in proof of which, he urged that the King knew only two or three words of English, whilst the librarian 1 Poor old Josepli died at Allahabad is IbTi.-^Rt I. Pi THE NUWAB'S HOUSE. 181 was equally ignorant of Hindoostanee. AH traces of fast life had disappeared, if they ever existed, from the appea- rance of Mr. De Russet, and he bore every aspect of a quiet, well-to-do tradesman. As the winter wore on, Mr. George Edmonstone appeared, and inspected the institu- tions of Cawnpore. His secretary, Couper^ was an old Haileybury friend, and it was pleasant, in the altered circumstances, to recall former days when we were young, and excusably (or inexcusably) foolish. He succeded to his father's baronetcy, and became Civil Commissioner of Oudh, and afterwards followed Mr. Edmonstone as -. Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces. But he always remained the simple and cordial comrade of old, retaining his love of those quips and jokes which help to brighten the hours, and are not upleasant to recall, even when their roild effervescence has fipally subsided. It was in this winter, 1859-60, that the Nana died ift the jungles of Nepaul. The event was marked by the passage throug'h Oudh of a body of peopljC who had been in attendance on Doondoo Punt, or supported by him. At the same time, too, Jowala Purshad was Captu- red. He, of course, was very strictly guarded, and sent to Cawnpore, a close prisoner. But most of the others were merely pushed on, under temporary arrest, towards Bithoor and other places they wished to reach. Several were in custody with us at Cawnpore, and very disagree- able charges they were, for their blood was so corrupted by the malaria ot the forest, that it was most difBcult to keep them alive. C^rts were ordered to the railway whtn they arrived, but one man died on the way from the station ; another, striking his ankle against the thres- hold of the lock-up, had such an angry swelling that he, 182 DAILY LIFE DURirJG THE MUTINY. was not strong enough to sustain it, and succumbed. The personal barber of the Nana was in this worn- out company. I regret to say he was very faithless and ungrateful to his patron. He never mentioned his name without an abusive expression, for which "blackguard" must inadequately serve. We subjected this attendant to a catechism something as follows : — ••You shaved the Nana ?'' "Shaved whom ?" "The Nana." "Oh, the name (blackguard 1). — Yes, I shaved the Nana (blackguard !)." "How often a week ?" "Twice a week (blackguard !)." "And now he does not require shaving. Do you think he is really dead ?" "Oh, he's dead enough (blackguard !), and a good thing, too (blackguard ! ." Alas ! for human nature. It has once or twice, since those days, been doubted whether the Nana did die, as reported. I think the doubts were unreasonable. When Jowala Purshad was in our lock-up as his fate was quite certain, and escape impossible, I directed a modification of his fetters, which enabled him to eat with more convenience, and he was grateful. Moreover, he knew his sentence did not depend on me and so he was not afraid, and answered readily when I spoke to him. He told me, if I remember his words rightly, that he was not present when the- Nana died but that he attended when the body was burned. thenuwab's house. 183 He spoke apparently without intention to deceive, and I fully believed him. And so the period which can properly be called the Mutiny time came to its close. Health had been injured by the severe jungle fever, and friends were kindly unani- mous in saying that a holiday had been earned. So my father-in-law and myself — with a temerity only exceeded by that of the Government in accepting it — gave our joint security for what, in those days, was called the ''Ineffici- ent Balance," which at Gawnpore had risen, through un- adjusted advances for military purposes, public works, and commissariat, to twenty six lakhs (£ 260,000) and I started by dak-garee, through the long roadside avenues, till hill and valley were reached ; and so through the jungles of Sherghatty to a railway station some hundred miles from Galcutta. When I reached the metropolis, I found Harington living with Outrato and Le Geyt, the latter being the legislative member for Bombay. The Indian Bayard, when I was driving in the carriage with him in the even- ing, with no especial claim to his confidence whatever, often spoke to me of passages in his career. The sense of his own celebrity never seemed to occur to him, and he talked about public events with the same simplicity with which on "the course," in the midst of all the fashion- ables, he would stop and chaffer, jokingly, about the price of "Tttpsee Much,'^ as the vendors of the renowned "man- go fish" brought it along, fresh from the river. But it was not in the carriage, but at the house, and before several people, including the gaunt, talkative Ghisholm Anstey, who was visiting Galcutta, that Outram began to speak of having postponed taking -charge from Havelock till the N 184 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. Bailey Guard was reached. "It was a foolish thin;?," he said ; "sentiment had obscured duty. Every man should carry out the task assigned to him. I do not know that I could not have got through the streets of Lucknow with less loss of life. At any rate, I ought to have tried what I could do." This plainly-expressed regret seemed to me to do his character as much credit as the mistaken but noble impulse which called it forth. These days were before the Bill — brought in by Sir Charles Wood — "for the abolition of Sir Barnes Peacock," and I visited the Legislative Council, which was, just then, a partially popular assembly. The members stood up, behind their respective desks, and spoke, with more or less poini and fluency. Mr. James Wilson, as an old House of Commons habitue, was enabled of course, in some degree, like Dr. Johnson's lion, "to ravage without resistance, and roar withput reply." , But there was ari exception. The pale, small man, who occupied the chair, was possessed of an infinitude of calm self-reliance, and even the great Economist himself was obliged to admit that there was no over-riding Sir-Barnes. I was "accommodated" with a seat on the Bench, during the remarkable trial of the "forged will" (Government v. Shibkrishnu and Others), when the one of the richest and most influehtar Baboos in Calcutta was transported to the Naf river for fourteen years, and Dr. Crawford sentenced to eight years' penal servitude. At length the "mail-day" came, on which I was to start. Harington drove me down to breakfast, on the river bank, with the Master Attendant, and I was by him kindly put on board the steamship Simla. APPENDIX. A FEW letters are added in this place, which either illustrate the narrative, or may perhaps interest, simply from the names subscribed to them. I The evening before I left Calcutta in 1860, Sir James Outram said to me at dinner : ''Did I ever mention your name in any dispatch ?" My reply was : "I think not, sir, because I should have been sure to have had the fact told me, if I had not seen the notice myself." He remarked that he had certainly meant to have done so. The subject drppped. But the next morning. When I was leaving, Sir James came out of his room in his dressing-gown, and presented me with the fcUowing letter, begging me to make any use of it I liked. I have l^ad it by me for many years, but have not shown it to any one, as I thought it too kindly expressed. Old age, hqwever, removes these hesitations, and more- over, a highly distinguished man has put down, in the most popular, book of 1897, a sentiment on this subject, which recommends itself to one's reason. "It is better," he says in effect, "to be thought egotistical than to seem ungrateful." 185 186 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. This, then, is a copy of the original which lies before me, in the Bayard's firm and clear handwriting. "Calcutta, "9th April, 1860. "My Dear Sherer, — I cannot allow you to leave India without discharging a debt which I have long owed you, and which I ought not to have delayed till now to endeavour to repay. "I am almost certain that in my writings to the Governor-General, Commander-in-Chief, or Mansfield, while at the Alum Bagh, after we were released from the Bailey Guard, I gratefully recorded how much Havelock and I, and, indeed, the whole Lucknow force, were indebted to vou for your exertions in our aid, while you were chief civil functionary at Cawnpore, during the trying time of our advance from thence to Lucknow, during the period we were shut up there, and afterwards, while we maintained the Alum Bagh position. ''The cordiality with which you worked with Bruce and other military men, to aid us with supplies, carriage, and intelligence, was the more praiseworthy and remarkable from the fact that your functions and autho- rity, as head of the Civil Department, were interfered with, and trenched upon, by Neill, Havelock, and myself, having conferred powers on Major Bruce quite unusual, and such as might well have excited the jealousy and indignation of most men, and would have dis- couraged, if not disinclined, most men from heartily working with the military. Yet, so far from your taking offence, or relaxing in your endeavours to aid us, you APPENDIX. 187 ever earnestly exerted your utmost influence !n the district, and the most unwearied, unceasing, personal labours in our behalf. However little we may have said of it at this time, I can assure you, my dealer Sherer, your hearty, cordial goodwill and friendly assistance were deeply felt by us all. I have often blamed myself for not having sent you an official acknowledgment of your services in aid of the Army at Lucknow, when I relin- quished by command. I was then so overwhelmed with incessant calls on my attention that I overlooked it at the time ; and the least I can now do is to express to vou, in this private form, what I ought to have said officially, while yet I was in a position to address you officially. ''I wish you a pleasant voyage, and happy meeting with your family, with all my heart. "Believe me, "Very sincerely yours, "J. OUTRAM." II General Neill on his own military police •'Gawnpore, *'2lth August^ 1857. *'My Dear SHEREk,— // we had the men—soldiers —to send out, and take military possession of the county, all would be well. Your police could then go out and be efficient ; but as we have not the men, and the country is 188 DAILY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. in the possession of the enemy, I may say, attempting to establish your police is not only useless, but risking the lives of men well-disposed to the state to no purpose. The murders and captures of your men at Sheorajpore and Bithoor prove this.^ '< My idea is— it would be the height of cruelty, and very impolitic to risk any more men in the country to the north-west, and partly south of this, towards Galpee, until, by military force, the insurgents are put down. "Having no soldiers to send out, the armed police, under military rule Bruce is getting together, is the best substitute. As regards your police between this and Allahabad, they have been most efficient, and it is wonderful they have stood. They ought to be supported by a detachment at Futtehpore, to be at the call of the civil power to act whenever insurgents may appear. It is trying these men very hard, and more to their credit that they stand to their posts with no military support to fall back upon between this and Allahabad. ''When the sanction of Government is requested [for his armed police], the reason why must be fully stated, as above. Most certainly the grounds for making the request will not be the inefficient state of the present police. I never intended such to be understood, for I consider your police, as far as it is established, quite efficient. What I did mean was, that no police was efficient in a country in possession of the enemy, where, as has occurred, yotir men haye been oyerpo\yer-efi and ^ There is a little confusion here abow' names. Bruce lost the post at Bithoor.— J. W. S. APPENDIX. 189 murdered by overwhelming numbers of armed men, against whom, poor, almost unarmed, men, they could not have the slightest chance. "Believe me, "Yours very sincerely, "J. S. Neill." HI Gfi>fERAL HAVELOdg a loyal farmer "Cantonment, *'l5th August, 1857. "My Dear Mr. ShereR, — Many thanks for the information. Kindly let a letter of thanks be written to Hur Deo Buksh in my name^ for my signature. I shall be obliged if you will send a Moonshee to read it to me. Assure the Zemindar of the protection of the British Government, and ask him if he requires any aid. "Yours very, sincerely, "H4 Havelock." 190 DAiLY LIFE DURING THE MUTINY. IV Genteral Mansfield (Afterwards Lord Sandhurst) current work "Camp Meeranki Serai, "FuTrEHGURH DISTRICT, 29th December, 1857. "I beg you to consult freely with Brigadier Inglis on the necessity of following up what is now being done by the movable Column which has been ordered to be formed. The sooner it is in movement the better, according to fiis Excellency. Had you not better organise a Tosha Khana to receive all treasure which may be found ? The Brigadier writes to inquire what is to be done with the treasure trove of Bithoor. The G in C can only suggest the transfer of it to you. Govern- ment says there is to be no prize. Until, therefore, another determination be come to on this point, H. E. rules that the soldiers should not be led into temptation by having to take care of it. I shall instruct Inglis in the same sense, by H. E.'s orders. "Yours ever very truly, "W. R. Mansfield." APPENDIX. 191 From W. H. Russell, Esq. (Now Sir William) a specimen of his amusing and interesting letters, printed by hjs permission "Heai;q,uarters, AjuddiaH, " EAR GhURDA, "29