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Chapter 4 – Re-occupation of Kanhpur

July 16–19

State of the soldiery

The English soldier is never a model of forbearance. When the blood is up and the drink is down, he is very terrible to all who come across his path. Even in fair fight with a Christian enemy, there are times and seasons when the instincts of a brutal nature are stronger than the conscience and the reason of the man. The honourable resistance of brave men, fighting for their hearths and altars, has often roused the passions of our soldiery to such a height that they have spared neither sex nor age, yielded to no pity, and abstained from no crime. But never, since England had a standing array, have such provocations assailed our fighting men as those which hardened the hearts of Havelock’s battalions on their march to Kanhpur. The rage within them was not wholly an unrighteous rage, for at the bottom of it was an infinite compassion for the women and children who had been so foully wronged, and a just hatred and horror of the crime of the wrong-doers; and they did well to be angry. The tragedy of Kanhpur excited an intense national hatred in the breasts of Englishmen in distant countries and after a long lapse of time; but here our soldiers were on the very scene of the butchery, the butchers were still red-handed, and the evidences of the slaughter were still fresh – visible to the eye, clear to the understanding, with a horrible suggestiveness even to the most obtuse. Our people went to the Intrenchments, and there they wondered and admired. They went to the Bibigarh, and there they shuddered and wept. To think of so much consummate bravery, and of the end of it, was enough to madden even sober-minded men, and to stimulate them to acts of fearful retribution.

lf, then, the first days of the re-occupation of Kanhpur had been stained by excesses on the part of our soldiery – far

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greater than any which are recorded against them – it would be the duty of the historian to speak lightly of their offences. Neither in the Cantonment nor in the Town was there any enemy, in the military sense of the word; for the once boastful army of the Nana was broken and dispersed, and none clearly knew whither it had gone. But those were days in which whole races were looked upon as enemies, and whole cities were declared to be guilty and blood-stained. And if Havelock’s fighting men, whilst the blood was still wet in the slaughter-house, had looked upon every Native found in the neighbourhood of that accursed spot as an adherent of the Nana, and struck at all with indiscriminate retribution, such sweeping punishment might now be looked back upon with less feeling of shame than upon much that was done, before and after, under less terrible provocation. As the record runs, it does not seem that the burden laid upon Kanhpur was heavy in relation to its guilt296. Heaven knows what was in their hearts, or what might have been done, but for the strong restraining hand laid upon them by their Commander. That the citizens themselves expected chastisement is certain. For whilst a few, on our arrival at Kanhpur, came to our camp with propitiatory offering of milk and vegetables, fruits and flowers, large numbers flocked panic-struck out of the town to hide themselves in the adjacent villages, or to seek safety on the Oude side of the river. Some were propelled by the knowledge of their guilt; some, scared by the tidings that had come from below, fled under the instinct of self-preservation. Meanwhile, our people were plundering in all directions, the Sikhs, as ever, showing an activity of zeal in this their favourite pursuit. It is probable that much of the property then seized underwent only a process of restoration, and came back to the nation at last to which it properly belonged. But this did not hallow it in Havelock’s eyes. He set his face steadfastly against it, and issued an order in which he said, “The marauding in. this camp exceeds the disorders which supervened on the short-lived triumph of the miscreant Nana Sahib. A Provost-Marshal has been appointed, with

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special instructions to hang up, in their uniform, all British soldiers that plunder. This shall not be an idle threat. Commanding officers have received the most distinct warnings on the subject.”

Doubts and anxieties

This was not cheerful work, but there was other perhaps still more depressing. The sick and wounded were to be visited. Cholera and dysentery were in his camp.

Renaud and Beatson

Two of the finest soldiers in the army lay dying – one stricken in the battle, the other by the pestilence. Human aid could do nothing for them. Then there was great doubt as to the position of the enemy. Strong as it was in courage, Havelock’s column WEIS very weak in numbers, and tidings came that the army of the Nana Sahib was at Bithur, mustering five thousand muskets and sabres, and forty-five guns. It was probable that the place had been strengthened by every possible means which the wealth of material in his hands could supply, and it was certain that our light artillery could make no impression on a stronghold so fortified and defended. It was not strange, therefore, that, in the lull which succeeded the re-occupation of Kanhpur, all these discouragements caused a feeling of depression almost amounting to despondency to sink for a little space into Havelock’s mind297. But it presently passed away. For the good Providence which had battled so often for us was still on our side, and the dangers which he had dreaded were delusions.

Flight of the Nana

In truth, he had already accomplished more than he had ventured to hope. He had beaten the enemy more thoroughly on the 16th than he knew at the time, and there was no present fear of the Nana bringing his broken battalions into the field against us. After the battle, the baffled Maratha had taken flight to Bithur; attended by a few Sawars; and as he rode through Kanhpur, his horse flecked with foam, he might have met the public criers proclaiming that the Faringhis had been well-nigh

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exterminated, and offering rewards for the heads of the few who were still left upon the face of the earth. But the lie had exploded, and his one thought at that moment was escape from the pursuing Englishman. Arrived at Bithur, he saw clearly that the game was up. His followers were fast deserting him. Many, it is said, reproached him for his failure. All, we may be sure, clamoured for pay. His terror-stricken imagination pictured a vast avenging Army on his track; and the great instinct of self-preservation prompted him to gather up the women of his family, to embark by night on a boat to ascend the Ganges to Fathgarh, and to give out that he was preparing himself for self-immolation. He was to consign himself to the sacred waters of the Ganges, which had been the grave of so many of his victims. There was to be a given signal, through the darkness of the early night, which was to mark the moment of the ex-Peshwa’s suicidal immersion. But he had no thought of dying. The signal light was extinguished, and a cry arose from the religious mendicants who were assembled on the Kanhpur bank of the river, and who believed that the Nana was dead298. But, covered by the darkness, he emerged upon the Oudh side of the Ganges, and his escape was safely accomplished299.

Meanwhile, Havelock, thinking that a strong force of the enemy would probably soon march down upon his position, had moved the bulk of his little army to the north-western point of the cantonment, near Nawabganj, to defend the line of the Great Trunk Road. Strategically, the movement was the result of an error; but, in another sense, it was grounded upon a too substantial fact, and had a wisdom of its own, apart from the manoeuvres of the enemy. It took the troops far away from the temptations of the liquor-shops, and contributed greatly to

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the maintenance of that discipline which he had. sorrowfully seen fading away.

July 18

And, whilst the military chief was thus taking measures for the protection of both races, the civil magistrate was proclaiming through the City the re-assertion of the British power and the re-establishment of the British law. At the Kotwali, the people flocked around Sherer and his escort, and professed their delight at our reappearance amongst them. And there was probably much sincerity in these professions, on the part at least of the trading classes, who commonly lost more than they gained by these convulsions. Not only were the English and their followers good customers in quiet times, but the peaceful citizens had an interest in. the maintenance of order and the upholding of the law, for with the predatory classes, who thrive in times of tumult and terror, there was little respect for colour or creed. The wolfish propensities of humanity were, in all such conjunctures, strongly developed, and, as at Allahabad so at Kanhpur, innocent industry cowered beneath the rampant rapacity of crime.

July 19

Destruction of the Bithur Palace

On the following day, it was determined that the actual position of affairs at Bithur should be ascertained beyond all doubt. So a detachment was sent out under Major Stephenson, of the Madras Fusiliers, to beat up the quarters of the some-time Pretender to the Peshwaship, and to set our mark upon the place. The information which Havelock had received from his spies caused him rightly to think that it would not need the services of a strong force to do all that was required. The old home of the Nana, had been abandoned. There was no enemy to be seen. So the Palace lay at the mercy of our soldiery – and it was soon despoiled and destroyed. There was much of the plunder of our dwelling-houses in its apartments – traces of our English civilisation everywhere, in kid gloves and champagne, and books for hot-weather reading. But the Government treasure, to which the Nana had helped himself in such profusion, was not to be found, and the family jewels had either been carried off or hidden away, past all chance of immediate discovery. It was reserved for a later domiciliary visit to disclose some of the hiding-places of the abandoned property300.

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But a considerable wealth of artillery was carried off by Major Stephenson on his return march to Kanhpur.

So, for the time at least, there was a clearance on that side of the river. The local influence of the Nana was gone. The last home of the Peshwas was a ruin. The only important member of his household who remained was the Nana Narain Rao, son of the Subahdar Ramchandr Pant. This man. had been well known to the English at Kanhpur, and had been by many of our people, with only a hazy knowledge of native individuality, mistaken for the other and greater Nana, the adopted son of the Peshwa, of whom he was in truth only a retainer301. Whether this man were one of those double-dyed traitors who hang on to the skirts of success and are driven backwards and forwards by every gust of fortune, or whether his sympathies had all along been with the English, it is hard to say; but it is stated that he had been imprisoned by the Nana, and it is certain that, after his master’s flight, he made tenders of allegiance and offered his services to the British General302. He had

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been the first to send word to Havelock that Bithur had been evacuated by the Nana, and his followers, and it was at least probable that some useful information might, at a later period, be derived from him. So he was kindly received, but not without some cautionary words.

Neill’s departure from Allahabad

In the meanwhile Colonel Neill was making his way up to Kanhpur. After the departure of Havelock, he had been actively employed in maturing his arrangements for the defence of Allahabad, and in endeavouring to collect troops from below. In this last respect he had made no great progress; for the unsettled state of affairs at Banaras303 made Colonel Gordon, who thought that the latter place was of the two in the greater danger, reluctant to diminish his military strength. But he had pushed forward his defensive measures with an elaborate completeness, which left nothing unconsidered, scarcely anything undone. And when he found that his duty summoned him to Kanhpur, to take a more active part in the coming campaign, he drew up an elaborate paper of instructions for the guidance of his successors, which he committed to the care of Captain Drummond Hay304.

July 7–15

On the important subject of “Supplies” he wrote at some length. On the number and disposition of the troops he next commented. “By order of Government, this garrison is to be maintained at the strength of six hundred and forty-five Europeans. Of these I would not have more than three hundred and forty-five inside the Fort, seventy in the Masjid, a Company at the Railway Station near the Kushn Gardens, a Company at Mr. Hodgson’s house, and some in the Church in Cantonments.

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... The church would be occupied. by soldiers as a barrack.” Those were days when we could not afford to be nice in matters of this kind, and such desecrations were of ordinary occurrence. He wrote also of the state of the defences, pointing out all the weak points; of the Police; of the Arsenal and the Ordnance Stores; of the Intelligence Department; and, under the head of “Hanging,” he wrote, “I have always tried by general court-martial any prisoners connected with the garrison, the Provost hanging those so sentenced.” Then, after precise instructions relating to the families of officers and soldiers, to the training of picked Infantry soldiers in the gun-drill, to repair the distressing deficiency of Artillerymen, and to the sanitary condition of barracks and other quarters for the soldiery, he proceeded to speak of the operations to be undertaken in the event of fresh manifestations of revolt. This section he headed “Defensive Operations “; but he characteristically added, “I prefer the offensive system.” “If I had the power,” he wrote, “I should never permit an enemy to enter the City. With a small force, in addition to a garrison sufficient to hold the Fort, the City, Cantonment and all between the two rivers, could be disputed for long against superior numbers. I would hold Kydganj to the last, and if closely invested would cut down the trees within fire and gunshot of the Fort, knock down. some garden walls near the Fort, and, if the enemy attempted to assault from the Papamao or Banaras side, they collie’ easily be prevented crossing the river. I prefer the offensive system, and always follow it when possible; make frequent sharp attacks, well planned and supported, using as much artillery, nine-pounders if possible, as I could muster. The general object is now to put down the parties moving about and plundering villages; Native troops (the Sikhs) answered well, and did good service. When Europeans are en. route, they may be employed, but I would never send them out on purpose, except in cases of emergency. Powder-bags, to blow in doors, &c., are useful things to have in this village. Also rockets, when to be had, and persons who know the use of them.”

July 15

All this done for the continued security of the important position which his energy had saved, Neill was eager to go to the front. The opportunity was before him. On the 15th of July he had received a telegraphic message from the Commander-in-Chief, containing laudatory

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recognition of Havelock’s victory before Fathpur, and of the general conduct of the operations intrusted to him. With this had come also an important addition: “But his (Havelock’s) health is not strong, and the season is very trying; it is urgently necessary, therefore, that provision should be made for placing the command of the column in tried hands of known and assured efficiency, in whom perfect confidence can be placed, in case Havelock should become from any cause unfit for duty. You have been selected for the post, and accordingly you will proceed with every practicable expedition to join Havelock, making over the command of Allahabad to the next senior officer.”

July 20

The rank of Brigadier-General had been conferred on Neill, and, thus stimulated by the feeling that he had the full confidence of Government, he started on the same evening for Kanhpur; and on the morning of the 20th he arrived there and reported himself to the Commander of the Force. “I had hardly seen General Havelock,” he wrote afterwards in a letter to a friend, “before he said to me: ‘Now, General Neill, let us understand each other; you have no power or authority here whilst I am here, and you are not to issue a single order305.’”

Neill at Kanhpur

But it was arranged that whilst Havelock, being in chief command, should mature his arrangements for the crossing of the Ganges, Neill should remain in charge of Kanhpur. One of his first acts, after his arrival, was to inquire into all the circumstances of the recent massacres, and to do what he could to avenge them. There are deeds which it is better to suffer the actor to chronicle in his own words. In a letter before me, Colonel Neill, after describing events already recorded in this narrative, says:

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July

“The men were shot, the women and children were brought up to a little bungalow near the Assembly-rooms. The Fathgarh fugitives, such as were saved, were brought in there too. I have sent a list of all and their fate. Upwards of two hundred women and children were brought into that house; many had been killed in the boats, many killed and died in the intrenchments; all who survived fever, dysentery, and cholera, in the confinement in that house, were barbarously murdered, after the receipt of the intelligence of Havelock’s first victory – this by the Nana’s order. They were badly fed and treated at first, but afterwards got more and clean clothing, and servants to wait on them. They were sent their evening meal on that fatal day, and after it these fiends rushed in and butchered them all; they were shot and hacked to pieces. The bodies of all who died there were thrown into the well of the house, all the murdered also. I saw that house when I first came in. Ladies’ and children’s bloody torn dresses and shoes were lying about, and locks of hair torn from their heads306. The floor of the one room they were all dragged into and killed was saturated with blood. One cannot control one’s feelings. Who could be merciful to one concerned? Severity at the first is mercy in the end. I wish to show the Natives of India that the punishment inflicted by us for such deeds will be the heaviest, the most revolting to their feelings, and what they must ever remember307. I issued the following order, which, however objectionable in the estimation of some of our Brahmanised infatuated elderly gentlemen, I think suited to the occasion, or rather to the present crisis. ‘25th July, 1857. The well in which are the remains of the poor women and children so brutally murdered.

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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. The house in which they were butchered, and which is stained with their blood, will not be washed or cleaned by their countrymen; but Brigadier-General Neill has determined that every stain of that innocent blood shall be cleared up and wiped out, previous to their execution, by such of the miscreants as may be hereafter apprehended, who took an active part in the mutiny, to be selected according to their rank, caste, and degree of guilt. Each miscreant, after sentence of death is pronounced upon him, will be taken down to the house in question, under a guard, and will be forced into cleaning up a small portion of the blood-stains; the task will be made as revolting to his feelings as possible, and the Provost-Marshal will use the lash in forcing any one objecting to complete his task. After properly clearing up his portion, the culprit is to be immediately hanged, and for this purpose a gallows will be erected close at hand.’ – The first culprit was a, Subahdar of the 6th Native Infantry, a fat brute, a very high Brahman. The sweeper’s brush was put into his hands by a sweeper, and he was ordered to set to work. He had about half a square foot to dean; he made some objection, when down came the lash, and he yelled again; he wiped it all up clean, and was then hung, and his remains buried in the public road. Some days after, others were brought in – one a Muhammadan officer of our civil court, a great rascal, and one of the leading men: he rather objected, was flogged, made to lick part of the blood with his tongue. No doubt this is strange law, but it suits the occasion well, and I hope I shall not be interfered with until the room is thoroughly cleansed in this way. ... I will hold my own, with the blessing and help of God. I cannot help seeing that His finger is in all this – we have been false to ourselves so often.”

This story has been told before308, and with comments of various shades of opinion. It is very safe and easy in quiet times, and in a Christian land, to condemn such acts as these with placid judicial severity, for the sentence of condemnation demands no thought, and is sure to evoke much sympathy. But we must re-live that month of July, and transport ourselves

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to the threshold of the Bibigarh, rightly to estimate them. If ever, in the history of human strife, it were righteous to invest retribution with unknown terrors, it was whilst the blood of our innocents was still red in the slaughter-house. It was not that men, in ordinary conjunctures strong-headed and. tender-hearted, lost the power of discerning between right and wrong in the face of the horrors that beset them, but that many of the wisest and best amongst our people, sternly composed in the midst of all excitements and bewilderments, deliberately harboured the conviction, that it was their duty to put mercy far away from them, and to visit exceptional wickedness with an exceptional severity of punishment. There was a remorseless logic in the arguments on which they built up this faith. It was contended that, as there were different degrees of murder, there should also be different degrees of death-punishment. Colonel John Nicholson, of whose heroic character and illustrious career it will hereafter be my privilege to write in detail, was eager to have a special Act passed, legalising in certain cases more cruel forms of execution – that is to say, death with torture. “Let us,” he wrote to Colonel Edwardes, at the end of May, “propose a Bill for the flaying alive, impalement, or burning of the murderers of the women and children at Dehli. The idea of simply hanging the perpetrators of such atrocities is maddening. I wish that I were in that part of the world, that if necessary I might take the law into my own hands.” Again, a few days later, vehemently urging this exceptional legislation: “You do not answer me about the Bill for a new kind of death for the murderers and dishonourers of our women309. I will propose it alone if you will not help me. I will not, if I can help it, see fiends of that stamp let off with simple hanging.” Edwardes, it seems, was naturally reluctant to argue the question with his energetic friend; but Nicholson could not rid himself of the thought that such acts of cruel retribution were justified in every sense, and he appealed to Holy Writ in support of the logical arguments which he adduced. Writing at a later period, he said, “As regards torturing the murderers of the women and children: If it be right otherwise, I do not think we should refrain from it, because it is a Native custom. We are told in

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the Bible that stripes shall be meted out according to faults, and, if hanging is sufficient punishment for such wretches, it is too severe for ordinary mutineers. If I had them in my power to-day, and knew that I were to die to-morrow, I would inflict the most excruciating tortures I could think of on them with a perfectly easy conscience. Our English nature appears

to be always in extremes. A few years ago men (frequently innocent) used to be tortured merely on suspicion. Now there is no punishment worse than hanging, which is a very easy death, for atrocities which could not be exceeded by fiends. We have different scales of punishment for different kinds of theft, assault, forgery, and other crimes – why not for murder?”

Kindred sentiments might be quoted from other sources. Even the wisest and best in those days, though some might have shrunk from the open advocacy of torture, were prone to think that instantaneous death to men, who perhaps gloried in it as an anticipatory dismissal to eternal beatitude, was but an inadequate requital for the enormous crimes that were committed against us. Christian piety, indeed, was not slow to rebuke those who, in that conjuncture, had any bowels of compassion, making them reluctant to smite heavily at the persecutors of our race. It was from one of the purest hearts and one of the soundest heads in all our Christian community that the following remonstrance issued. It was addressed to Henry Tucker, Commissioner of Banaras: “I fear in your case your natural tenderness. But, consider that we have to crucify these affections as well as our lusts. The magistrate bears not the sword in vain. The Word of God gives no authority to the modern tenderness for human life which would save even the murderer. I believe that your duty now is to be firm and resolute, to execute the law rigorously in its extreme penalties, and to set your face as a flint against all concessions. It is necessary in all Eastern lands to establish a fear and awe of the Government. Then, and not till then, are its benefits appreciated. Previously, they are ascribed to weakness. We must be sternly, rigorously just against all treason, violence, and treachery, and hand down a tradition of our severity. Otherwise these troubles will recur.” And even now, after the lapse of many years, there are few righteous men who will not readily accept this doctrine. What is dreadful in the record of retribution is, that some of our people regarded it not as a solemn duty or a terrible necessity, but as a devilish

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pastime, striking indiscriminately at the black races, and slaying without proof of individual guilt. That Neill was fully assured in his own mind that the men, on whom he had inflicted the terrible punishment, thus described in his own words, were among the actual perpetrators of the great crime which he was called upon to punish, cannot be questioned; and we must all devoutly hope that he was right.

Preparations for advance

But the chastisement of the enemy was but a small part of the work which then lay before the English Generals. Their mission, indeed, was to save, not to destroy. Havelock had reminded his followers that the campaign was only begun – that Lakhnao was in peril, Agra besieged, and Dehli still a focus of rebellion. And he had written to Neill, saying, “The instant you join me, I will, by the blessing of God, strike a blow that shall resound through India.” He uttered these words in the flush of victory, when the excitement of battle had, perhaps, unhinged the habitual caution of the sagacious commander. And, now that there was a lull in the operations of the war, the difficulties which lay before him presented themselves in their true proportions. But, although less sanguine and confident than before, he was not less determined to cross the river and to push on into Oudh with the utmost possible despatch.

The defence of Kanhpur

July 19–23

It was necessary, however, before all things, at that time to secure the position of the detachment that was to be left under the command of General Neill. Havelock could ill spare a single man from the little force with which he was to advance on Lakhnao, and it was with reluctance that he consented to leave so large a number as three hundred men for the defence of Kanhpur. But, with the terrible experience of the past before him, he felt that he could not do less. Uncertain as to the position of his late antagonists – apprehending the probability that, on his crossing the Ganges with the bulk of his force, a large body of the Nana’s troops would double back on Kanhpur – Havelock had resolved from the first to select the most advantageous site for an intrenched camp, and before the arrival of Neill the intrenchments had been commenced. “At a little distance from the common ferry,” says Havelock’s biographer310,

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“there was an elevated plateau, about two hundred yards in length and a hundred in breadth, situated on the bank of the river. At the distance of about five hundred yards from it there was an island on the river, partly submerged in this season of the year. Between it and the Oudh Bank were two smaller islands of alluvial land, thrown up by the action of the river, but covered with water two or three feet deep, and visible only from the reeds which spring up upon. them. The General was of opinion that these islands might be turned to good account, if he was obliged to re-cross the river, while the intrenchment on the right bank would effectually cover that operation. On this mound, accordingly, a field-work capable of accommodating and also of being defended by three hundred men was commenced on the 19th, and pushed on with extraordinary vigour311.” The work was done by Native day-labourers chiefly from the city. The offer of good wages, paid regularly every evening, brought us the ready services of hundreds – nay, thousands of men, careless of what government or what race were in the ascendant, so long as they could eat, and smoke, and sleep, with certainty and without molestation. Disarmed and dismounted troopers of the Irregular Horse were also set to work at the trenches; and any skilled Europeans, willing to help, were retained, and their assistance paid for by the State.

So Neill found the works already in progress when he arrived, and they grew beneath the hands of the great swarm of labourers with surprising rapidity. His quick soldierly eye saw at once that there were some defects in the position; but he admitted that none better could have been selected. Whilst the workmen plied their shovels, our baggage was sent into the intrenchments, and the two Generals went about collecting the guns which were to defend the works in course of construction312. Then the

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sick were sent in, and every preparation made for sheltering and providing for the effective garrison.

Jul 19–23

Arrangements for crossing the River

And whilst this was being done, arrangements were being made for the conveyance of the bulk of Havelock’s force across the waters of the Ganges. The old bridge of boats had been, for all practical purposes, destroyed; and now the steamer, which had brought Spurgin and his party up from Allahabad, was employed in collecting boats; but it was a work of no small difficulty to obtain them. Boatmen, too, were wanting, for men of this class, conscious that they had aided and abetted the foul murder of our people, had prudently dispersed on our reappearance on the scene. But, after a while, some were induced to return to their craft, on a promise of indemnity for past offences. A number of them were enrolled into a corps, and organised on a fixed scale of payment313.

State of affairs in Oudh

There were many, at that time, who, as they had believed that it was easy “to make short work of Dehli,” believed also that the relief of Lakhnao would be attended with no kind of difficulty. Even in Havelock’s camp it seemed to some to be an easy task to make

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good the march to the Oudh capital. The distance was not great, but it was not a question of distance. The whole of Oudh was up in arms against us. It was no more than any sane man, acquainted with the circumstances that had attended and the events which had followed the annexation of the kingdom of Oudh, must have involuntarily predicted. The passions of all the influential classes were roused, and their antagonism stimulated to the utmost, against us. The remnant of the old Court of Lakhnao, the Soldiery, the Landed Aristocracy, were all arrayed against the power that had trodden them down into the dust. It was not strange, therefore, that before the end of June there had been mutiny and rebellion in nearly every station throughout the province. Moreover, it was the great nursery of the Sipahis of the Bengal Army. Every village held the homes and families of men who were fighting against us; and, therefore, bristled with our enemies. Our regular regiments had ripened rapidly in rebellion. For a little space Sir Henry Lawrence had believed that he might play off the Irregulars against the battalions of the Line314. But they were composed of the same elements; and in Oudh, as in other parts, this faith was soon stripped of all that had sustained it, and stood out as a naked delusion. The great “Ikbal” of the Company was fast waning, and even our friends forsook us, believing us to be weak. There was little hope, indeed, from any source but from the wisdom of our leaders and from the courage of our English fighting-men. Of all these conditions, so hostile to British supremacy in Oudh, I shall write more fully in another part of this narrative. It is sufficient in this place to give a brief account of the results, which had developed themselves – results obstructive in the extreme to the advance of Havelock’s army.

These results, as apparent at the end of June, were thus

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described by Mr. Gubbins315 in a letter to Lord Canning: “Every corps at every station in the province has mutinied, and the districts now are in a state of anarchy. Talukdars are forcibly resuming their former villages, and burning and slaying all who oppose them. Old feuds are again breaking out, and fighting, both with guns, musketry, &c., is going on in every quarter, more or less. The head Civil Authority having been forced in each instance to abandon his Sadr Station; his Thanas and Tahsils have gone also, and there is no restraint on violence and anarchy. Did the mutineers pass through and away, civil officers might again go out, and order might again be restored; but they are not gone, and are hanging about the province, looking for an opportunity of attacking Lakhnao. This I believe they will never obtain, and they are meanwhile melting daily away. The following is the present aspect of the stations of mutineers in the province: Khairabad Division (Sitapur, Mohamdi, and Malaon) – Entirely abandoned. There was a terrible massacre of the Europeans of Shahjahanpur and Mohamdi. Of the mutinous troops, the 41st Native Infantry and 10th Oudh Irregular Infantry have gone towards Dehli; and eleven hundred men, the remains of the 9th Oudh Irregular Infantry and Police Corps, are at Mahmudabad, forty miles hence, trying to induce the Talukdars to join, and daily melting away. – Lakhnao Division (Lakhnao, Onao, Daryabad): Lakhnao, and eight miles round it, is all that remains orderly in Oudh. We hold two posts, the Residency and Machhi Bhawan, besides a miserable European force in cantonment. The Machhi Bhawan is imposing for the townspeople; but the Natives know, and. our engineers have declared, it to be utterly untenable. Should, therefore, a siege be attempted, it will be blown up. The works at the Residency have been greatly strengthened, including my residence and others, and really a prolonged. defence can be made. At Daryabad is the 5th Oudh Irregular Infantry in mutiny, but with numbers diminished. They have been joined by Fisher’s Horse (15th), and the 8th Oudh Irregular Infantry from Sultanpur. – Bahraick Division: the 2nd. and 3rd Oudh Irregular Infantry, and Tulloh’s Battery, and a hundred Horse, in mutiny, have not yet crossed the Ghaghra; are waiting. – Faizabad Division: this was the most dangerous

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quarter; the 22nd Native Infantry, the 17th from Azamgarh: the 6th Oudh Irregular infantry, part of the 15th Oudh Cavalry, and Mill’s Battery making up the mutineers there. This is dissipating somewhat – the 15th Oudh Horse having turned towards (as we believe) Kanhpur. Sultanpur abandoned and burnt; many Europeans killed. Saloni: ditto; Europeans saved.”

Such was the state of things that had grown up in Oudh, whilst the English at Kanhpur had been engaged in that fatal struggle for existence which has been narrated in the preceding chapters. Notwithstanding all these reverses, there had been great confidence in the final issue, and, from one end of the country to the other, men felt that Sir Henry Lawrence was a tower of strength. But the month of June had closed in darkly and sadly upon the Lakhnao garrison. On the last day of the month, the English had been disastrously defeated in battle at Chinhat. July had dawned upon the siege of Lakhnao. And Havelock’s victorious entrance into Kanhpur had been saddened by the news which met him – that one of the first victims of that siege had been Henry Lawrence himself. The General had known him well in old times. They had served together in Afghanistan; and were associated by bonds of mutual esteem and affection316. And none knew better than Havelock the loss which the country had sustained. But little time was left for the indulgence of personal or public sorrow. The first thoughts of the General were to be given to the living, not to the dead. It was plain to him that our beleaguered people in Lakhnao were in deadly peril, and that all depended, under Providence, upon the rapidity with which he could make good his march to the Oudh capital. He felt, too, that the work before him was not restricted to the relief of Lakhnao. He did not, at first, appreciate the full extent of the difficulties which beset his course, and, in the enthusiasm born of success, he thought that, having relieved Lakhnao, he might either march to the reinforcement of the Army before Dehli, which was still holding out with undiminished effrontery, or he might operate

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effectually in other parts of the country, for the suppression of the mutiny and rebellion which in the North-Western Provinces had now become almost universal.

General condition of the country

For from many parts of Upper India evil tidings had reached the Kanhpur commanders. Disaster had followed disaster with astounding rapidity. Almost every day brought a new story of mutiny and massacre– a new list of murdered men, women, and children. Some stories were more terrible, some lists were longer than others; but ever there was the same, sad, but not inglorious, record of chivalrous action and heroic endurance on the part of the Few, and of cruelty and cowardice on the part of the Many. The gigantic horror of Kanhpur dwarfed all other calamities that had overtaken our people. But there were other crimes committed in that month of June light only when weighed against the burden of guilt borne by the butcher of Bithur. In Jhansi – one of Lord Dalhousie’s annexations by Right of Lapse317 – there had been an insurrection headed by the Rani, with a great destruction of English life. Nearly all Bundelkhand was bristling up in arms against us. The troops of Sindhia and Holkar had mutinied and. cast in their lot with the Purbiahs of the Company’s army; and many of our people had perished miserably in the territories of those princes, though as yet there were no signs of the hostility of the Durbars. Higher up in Rohilkhand not only were the Sipahis in mutiny-, murdering their officers, but the country was in rebellion, and Muhammadan rule was proclaimed under the vice-royalty of Khan Bahadur Khan. Hansi and Hisar had seen their own tragedies; and there had been other episodes of the most painful interest to stir English hearts to their depths. In the Panjab, although it seemed that we were riding out the storm, strained to the utmost but not yielding to its blows, it was becoming plain that the Bengal regiments were breaking into revolt, and streaming down to swell the tide of rebellion at the great centre of Dehli. And ever as week followed week, though. false rumours, too readily accepted, of the capture of the great imperial stronghold reached the lower country, only to sow the seeds of future disappointment, the Mughul capital was held by the mutinous troops that had proclaimed the supremacy of Bahadur Shah.

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From Agra – then the seat of the Government of the North-Western Provinces – the tidings were not assuring. The great provincial capital, which all through the month of May had been held in security, though not without much doubt and anxiety, had in June been beleaguered by an enemy, which, in the shape of the mutinous regiments from Nimach and Nasirabad, had marched down to attack the second city in Hindustan. And whilst Lieutenant-Governor Colvin and all his Chief Officers had been shut up at Agra, the districts under his charge had been rolling away from him. That great triumph of British administration, so vaunted, so believed – the Settlement of the North-Western Provinces – had suddenly collapsed. For a time there was a great revolution of landed property, and almost all that the English had decreed had been down-trodden with a remorseless heel, as though what we had done and boasted had been purposely done in violent scorn of the genius and instincts of the people.. Even the Supreme Government, in the first week of July, were constrained to admit that “the North-Western Provinces were for the moment lost318.” However humiliating the fact may have been, it was a fact. Our latest administrative triumphs had crumbled away at our feet.

There was some comfort in the thought that the main bodies of the Madras and Bombay armies had not fallen away from their allegiance. But it was hard to say what any hour might bring forth. One Bombay regiment was rising; there were threatening movements in the Southern Maratha, Country, and more than a suspicion that the old adherents of the Rajahs of Satarah were in league with the representatives of the Peshwas. The Bombay services in the persons of Brigadier Le-Grand Jacob and Messrs. Rose and Seton-Karr were emulating the good deeds of their brethren in Bengal, and Lord Elphinstone was nobly vindicating the confidence which the British Government had reposed in him, by placing him, for a second time, at the head of an Indian presidency. It was not beyond the pale of

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probability that Western India would soon be in a blaze. Then, in the Dakhin, there was the great Muhammadan State of Haidarabad, where the Nizam, guided and supported by his accomplished minister, &liar Jang, holding fast to the English alliance, still doubted whether they could much longer restrain their troops, if Dehli continued to defy the English Government and to bailie all the efforts of its armies. The great chiefs of Rajputana had as yet given no sign; but if Western India were, to rise, the contagion might spread to them, and, in such circumstances, it would have been difficult to calculate the embarrassments of having a hostile country intersecting our communications between our leading positions on the East and on the West. Nipal professed fidelity to her alliance, and was willing to lend us an auxiliary body of troops to operate upon Oudh; but there were those who believed that on the first symptom of disaster, they would be eager to turn against us; and that, in any case, the enlistment of such allies would be a confession of weakness, which would inflict a severe moral injury on our Government. In whatsoever direction we turned our eyes there was not a gleam of comfort to be seen.

Crossing the river

July 25

By the 25th of July, Havelock’s little army had crossed the Ganges. It had been a work beset with difficulties; but the practical energy of Colonel Tytler had surmounted them. The whole were now on the. Oudh side of the river. The entire force consisted of about fifteen hundred men, with ten guns imperfectly equipped and inefficiently manned. There was, as before, a great dearth of Cavalry. Excellent as it was in all soldierly qualities, this little band of volunteer Horse mustered only sixty sabres. It was in truth a very weak Brigade, such as only the glorious audacity of the English could have conceived for a moment to be capable of accomplishing the work before it. The hopes of the Lakhnao garrison had been raised by something like a promise of relief in the little space of five or six days319.

July 25–28

But it was one that now seemed to be beyond the reach of fulfilment. And the wonder is not that the difficulties of the enterprise should have

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forced themselves upon Havelock’s mind, in all their real magnitude, when he found himself across the Ganges, but that he should for a moment have made light of them. The week between the 21st and 28th of July had brought with it an amount of knowledge of the circumstances which surrounded him very fatal to the sanguine views which he had ,encouraged on his first arrival at Kanhpur. On the 28th he was at Mangalwar – it cannot be said encamped. That he might move as lightly and rapidly as possible, he had advanced without the impediment of tents, “Some,” it has been narrated by an officer of the force, “were fortunate enough to get native huts; some managed to get native vaults, in which overcrowding was the rule; while the Sikh soldiers ingeniously rigged up thatched huts for themselves320.”

July 28

There was need, for the rain fell, day after day, in torrents, after the manner of an Indian July, and cholera had broken out in the force. There was nothing to cheer or to animate the leader but the one hope of saving the garrison of Lakhnao. “I have this morning,” wrote Havelock to Sir Patrick Grant, who had suggested that the enterprise was a hazardous one, “received a plan of Lakhnao from Major Anderson, engineer in that garrison, and much valuable information in two memoranda, which escaped the enemy’s outpost troops, and were partly written in Greek characters321. These communications, and much information orally derived from spies, convince me of the extreme delicacy and difficulty of any operation to relieve

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Colonel Inglis, now commanding in Lakhnao. It shall be attempted, however, at every risk, and the result faithfully reported322.”

The advance into Oudh

July 29

So Havelock marched on – Kanhpur with its ghastly memories behind him; before him, at Lakhnao, the great horror of a catastrophe still more tragic and overwhelming; around him everywhere a multitude of mutinous soldiers and an armed population, hostile to the core; and with him only the fearlessness of the Englishman to make headway against these terrific odds.

Footnotes

296. Most exaggerated stories of this retributory carnage at Kanhpur were at one time in circulation. It was stated both in Anglo-Indian and in Continental journals that ten thousand of the inhabitants had been killed. This was a tremendous assertion, representing rather what might have been than what was. Some wished that it had been so, for vengeance’ sake; others that there might be a pretext for maligning the English.

297. “As he sat at dinner with his son on the evening of the 17th, his mind appeared, for the first and last time, to be affected with gloomy forebodings, as it dwelt upon the possible annihilation of his brave men in a fruitless attempt to accomplish what was beyond their strength. After remaining long in deep thought, his strong sense of duty, and the confidence in the justice of his cause, restored the buoyancy of his spirits, and he exclaimed, ‘If the worst comes to the worst, we can but die with our swords in our hands.’” – Marshman’s Life of Havelock

298. Mr. Sherer, from whose report these particulars are taken, says: “The Gangaputras were waiting on the shore. About mid-stream the light was extinguished, and, with a yell that must have reached the boat, the mendicant Brahmans rushed up to the Palace, and commenced plundering all that they could lay their hands on. The crafty Nana was disembarking in the darkness on the other side.”

299. His last act before leaving Bithur was the murder of the only captive in his hands. This was a woman, named Carter, who had been taken prisoner and who had survived the pangs and perils of childbirth in the Nana’s Palace. The widows of the deceased ex-Peshwa had treated her with kindness; but when the Nana fled from Bithur he ordered the woman and. her infant to be put to death, and the guard faithfully obeyed him.

300. A Native witness, who kept a diary of the incidents of this eventful summer – “a humble but loyal subject of the State, Nanak Chaud, by name” – says that the treasure (coin) had been looted by the people before the English arrived. Mr. Sherer says that, in his opinion, the destruction of the Palace was a mistake, as it rendered more remote the prospect of discovering concealed treasure.

301. See note on this subject, vol. i. p. 422. I suspect that many who have talked of their acquaintance with the Nana knew only Nana Narain Rao.

302. The “humble but loyal subject of the State,” whose evidence is cited in a previous note, was very anxious to convict Narain Rao of double treachery. He states, that “Nana Narain Rao conducted Nana Banda Pant to the other bank of the Ganges and returned to Bithur. Those men went to him and reminded him that his father, Ramchandr Pant, had been a faithful servant and Subahdar of the Nana, and he (Narain Rao) was bound to protect the property at Bithur. But Narain Rao paid no attention. On the contrary, he gave out that the Nana’s boat had capsized. and then presented himself at Bithur. He declares that the Nana forcibly took him away; but he ran away and came here. People say it is a great falsehood, and if this Nana (the Subahdar’s son) wished it, and was really attached to the British cause, he could easily get Nana Dundu Pant captured.” – In another entry in his journey he says: “July 19. I was told to-day that, owing to the treachery of Nana, Dundu, the Bara, &c., of Bithur have been set on fire, and that the Traitor, Nana Narain Rao, wishes to pass himself off as a well-wisher of the Government.” – “July 20. It is just as I anticipated. Nana Narain Rao, son of the Subahdar, wishes to pass himself off as a well-wisher of the Government; but there is a great crowd at this moment, and the Sahib-log have no time to spare. It is also very difficult to find witnesses against him by summary inquiries, and I see no chance of filing a complaint against him before any officer.” This man’s evidence is not very trustworthy. He says that, on the 17th of July, he saw General Havelock and General Neill near the Katwali at Kanhpur. But Neill did not arrive till three days afterwards.

303. I look upon Banaras as much more exposed than Allahabad, inasmuch as you have a regular fort, whereas our position as a military one is bad as bad can be without fortifications. A few hundred Europeans separated from the river by a city containing half a million of inhabitants, and the country people already becoming more and more hostile every day, while we are at any time exposed to an invasion from Oudh, via’ the unoccupied post of Jaunpur.” – Gordon to Neill. July 11.

304. Of H.M.’s 78th. Colonel O’Brien bad been appointed Neill’s successor at Allahabad, but he did not arrive in time to receive charge directly from Neill.

305. It should be stated, however, that as Neill entered in his journal at the time that he had been well received by Havelock, it may be assumed that there was no discourtesy in the manner in which this intimation was conveyed. See the following passage: “Got into Kanhpur about seven A.M., Monday 20th ... and am well received by General Havelock. Poor Captain Beatson, Adjutant-General, died of cholera, and Currie, of 84th, died of his wound, a round shot in the side; saw Renaud, his left leg taken off, high up the thigh, looking very pale and ill. ... Stephenson, with remainder of Fusiliers, gone out to Bithur with Cavalry and Sikhs to destroy it. Cavalry with Barrow bring in gun in the forenoon. ... General Havelock informs me he will leave me at Kanhpur in command during his absence. ... Much plundering in the city by Sikhs, 64th, and 78th; most disgraceful.”

306. Other narrators have described the scene in similar language. Major North says: “Tortured by the fierce thirst of revenge, and penetrated by the sense of their sufferings, strange, wild feelings awoke within us. Vaunting, eager, maddened, we sped onward to the dreary house of martyrdom, where their blood was outpoured like water: the clotted gore lay ankle deep on the polluted floor, and also long tresses of silken hair, fragments of female wearing apparel, hats, books, children’s toys, were scattered about in terrible confusion.” The alleged inscriptions on the walls were malicious or silly forgeries.

307. In another letter, Neill says: “My object is to inflict a fearful punishment for a revolting, cowardly, barbarous deed, and to strike terror into these rebels. ... No one who has witnessed the scenes of murder, mutilation, and massacre, can ever listen to the word ‘mercy’ as applied to these fiends.”

308. It was first published, soon after the event, in an Ayrshire journal.

309. This was the mistake of the day. There had been no dishonouring of our women, in the sense intended.

310. Marshman’s Life of Havelock.

311. Mr. Sherer, in his official report, says: “General Neill was left with a garrison of less than two hundred men to hold Kanhpur.” There can be no doubt, however, that the number stated by Mr. Marshman is the more correct. General Neill himself, writing on the 22nd, says: “I shall have nearly three hundred men of all kinds.”

312. See the following extracts from General Neill’s Journal, which illustrate the narrative of these proceedings “Wednesday, 22nd. – Heavy rain this morning – ride out to see intrenchment – don’t like the ground about it, but suspect there is no better position. Have a long talk with the General about it. ... Go with General to see the Arsenal; it is entirely destroyed; in a bad position. There are some brass dismounted guns there, also three large iron ones in carriages. These, with all the guns here, are being taken down to the intrenched position. ... There is great plundering going on by the troops – most disgraceful – and on the part of Commandants, more particularly the 64th; a disinclination to prevent their men misconducting themselves. I should have adopted very decided steps with all these regiments, and this force at first, but this has been neglected. All have taken to plundering, and the example set by officers has been very bad indeed; the plundering of the merchants and shopkeepers in the city by bands of soldiers and Sikhs has been most outrageous, and there has been no check to it. Orders here seem to be unattended to. Pistols and guns fired off in camp. Colonel Tytler informs me the want of attention to orders by Commandants of Corps and others is disgraceful, and I see it plainly. I suppose no force ever marched with a set of so inferior commanding officers. I fear General Havelock will not go off in time he expected; the difficulties in crossing the Ganges are very great. Thursday, 23rd. – Agreeably to orders of yesterday, send all sick down to intrenchment, get baggage down, and start myself with Gordon and Bruce. ... Governor-General’s proclamation giving rewards for capture of rebels and bringing back property, published and promulgated in the bazaars, and all about – get copies printed off, Heavy rain at night. The intrenched position has no strength – except with three times the men – but I will hold it.”

313. “See Tytler – arrange about a corps of boatmen. He sends me part of a note he has sent to General Havelock about my going with him. ... So I may be off soon – set my house in order, as it were. Arrange about what I shall take and what leave behind, &c., &c.” – General Neill’s Journal, July 25. MS.

314. At the end of May, Sir Henry Lawrence had written to Lord Canning, saying: “Hitherto the country has been quiet, and we have played the Irregulars against the Lino regiments. But being constituted of the same materials, the taint is fast pervading them, and, in a few weeks, if not days, unless in the interim Dehli be captured, there will be one feeling throughout the army – a feeling that our prestige is gone – and that feeling. will be more dangerous than any other. Religion, fear, hatred, one and all, have their influences; but there is still a reverence for the Company’s Ikbal. When it is gone, we shall have few friends, indeed.” [Ikbal anglice, Prestige, Good Fortune. – G.B.M.]

315. Martin Gubbins, Financial Commissioner of Oudh – brother of Frederick Gubbins, of Banaras.

316. “Their acquaintance had commenced sixteen years before, amidst the embarrassments in Afghanistan, and it had gradually- ripened into a sacred friendship, under the influence of that mutual appreciation and esteem by which great minds are attracted to each other.” – Marshman’s Life of Havelock.

317. See vol. i., p. 66.

318. “The Bengal Native Army was in mutiny; the North-Western Provinces were for the moment lost; the King of Dehli and our treacherous Sipahis were proclaiming a now Empire; small bodies of gallant Englishmen were holding out in isolated stations against fearful odds; the revolt was still extending; and the hearts of all Englishmen in India were daily torn by accounts of the massacre, and worse than massacre, of their women and children.” – Government of India to Court of Directors, July 4, 1857.

319. See the following extract from Mr. Martin Gubbins’s ‘Mutinies in Oudh.’ On the 22nd or 23rd of July, the trusty spy Angad arrived with tidings of Havelock’s arrival at Kanhpur. “We had, it will be remembered,” says the Financial Commissioner, “received no single iota of intelligence since the siege began; and now Angad recounted to us the marvellous tale of a handful of men under Havelock having defeated the Nana in three engagements, and being actually at the moment master of Kanhpur. The news was astounding. We had all along been expecting that the Nana would cross the river and join the besieging force, if he had not actually done so already. I examined Angad strictly, and came to the conclusion that the joyful and wondrous news was true.” – “Many persons had entertained great doubt of the truth of Angad’s information. But their doubts were happily removed by his reappearance at my post on the night of the 25th of July; and this time he brought a letter. It was a reply by Colonel Fraser Tytler to the letter which Angad had carried from me, and confirmed the intelligence which Angad had previously given me. Colonel Tytler wrote that the General’s force was sufficient to defeat the enemy, that the troops were then crossing the river, and that we might hope to meet in five or six days.”

320. Calcutta Review, vol. xxxii., Article, “Havelock’s Indian Campaign.”

321. These had been brought by Angad, the spy, of whom mention has been made in a former note.

322. Marshman’s Life of Havelock.

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