India Under British Rule

Cantonment on the Ridge.

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

Mutineers expected.

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

Preparations for battle.

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

Treachery.

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

Firing in the air.

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

Treachery.

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

Rebels in the palace.

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

British refuge.

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

Massacre of Europeans.

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

Flagstaff Tower.

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

Explosion of the magazine.

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

Flight from Flagstaff Tower.

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

Last telegram.

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

Sudden alarm.

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

Reviving hopes.

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

General Anson at Simla.

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

Demand for European soldiers.

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

General Barnard.

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

Rebel position.

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

Battle of the Serai.

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

Return to the Ridge.

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

Sepoy vagaries.

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

Mischievous delay.

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

Rebellion in the North-West Provinces.

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

Siege of Delhi: perils of British.

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

Strength of the rebels.

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

Punjab and John Lawrence.

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

Sikh hatred of Mohammedans.

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

Mutinous spirit of sepoy garrisons.

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

Lahore and Mian Mir.

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

Sepoy plots.

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

Defeated.

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

Chamberlain's flying column.

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

Peshawar valley.

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

Frontier tribes.

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