India Under British Rule

General Havelock.

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

Advance on Cawnpore.

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

Treachery of a deputy collector.

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

Defeat of the Nana.

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

Execution of a murderer.

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

Tragedy at Cawnpore.

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

The well.

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

Destruction of Bithoor.

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

Lucknow: May to July.

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

Bengal sepoys rewarded.

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

Durbar of 12th May.

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

Speech of Sir Henry Lawrence.

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

News of revolt at Delhi, 16th May.

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

General mutiny, 30th May.

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

Proposed retreat to Cawnpore.

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

Mutineers in the districts.

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

Massacre of Europeans.

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

Hostility at Lucknow.

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

Disaster at Chinhut.

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

Defence of the Residency.

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

Residency besieged, 30th June.

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

Death of Sir Henry Lawrence, 4th July.

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

Dissension amongst the rebels.

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

Anarchy in the city.

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

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

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

Havelock retreats.

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

Mutiny in Behar: defence of Arrah.

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

European garrison at Lucknow.

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

Delay of Havelock.

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

Advance of Havelock and Outram, September.

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

Britons to the rescue.

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

City and Residency.

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

Anxieties of the garrison.

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

Cheers and tears.

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

Havelock's dilemma.

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

Unexpected provisions.

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