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Chapter 3 – The Allahabad Division

The Allahabad division, immediately adjoining to the northwest the division of Bananas, comprised, in 1857, the districts of Allahabad, Fathpur, Kanhpur, Bandah, and Hamirpur. Of these I propose now to treat in the order in which I have named them.

Allahabad

Allahabad is a very famous place at the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Jamnah, 498 miles by land from Calcutta, 70 from Banaras, 130 from Kanhpur, 298. from Agra, and 121, by the straight road, from Lakhnao. The place was called by pious Hindus “Prayaga” meaning “Confluence,” not only by reason of the two rivers already mentioned, but because, according to tradition, the Saraswati, a river which disappears in the sands of Sirhind, joins the other two below the ground. The ancient Hindu town was rebuilt by Akbar under the name “Ilahbas,” subsequently changed to Allahabad. The same illustrious ruler also built the fort, which occupies a strong position on the Jamnah, in 1572. Allahabad thus constituted the river gate to the North-West Provinces to the north-west of Banaras. Immediately to its north lay Oudh, the focus of the rebellion; to the north-east A the districts Azamgarh and Gorakhpur, mutinous to the core; to the west and south the important province of Bundelkhand. It was thus, when the great mutiny brae out at Mirath, surrounded by revolt. At the same time it was the key to the position. Had the revolters obtained possession of it, as at one time was quite possible, the communication between Calcutta and the North-West would have been entirely severed. The fort, well defended, would have required a long and costly siege, and the movements recorded in the preceding volumes would, have been impossible. The possession of the fort of Allahabad by the rebels would, in fact, have changed the history of the Mutiny.

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The rising of the 6th Regiment Native Infantry, and the securing of the fort at Allahabad have been related in the second volume62, but the heavy duties which devolved upon the members of the Civil Service have been but incidentally referred to. Yet those du ies were of a nature to tax all the energies even of men accustomed, as are the members of the Indian Civil Service, to give themselves, heart and soul, to their country.

Early days of the mutiny at Allahabad

In 1857 the commissioner of the Allahabad division was Mr. C. Chester; the magistrate was Mr. M. H. Court, a glorious specimen of an Englishman, a good sportsman, a generous friend, and one whose hospitality was famous even in India. The news of the mutiny at Mirath reached Allahabad on the 12th of May; on the evening of the 5th of June the 6th Regiment Native Infantry mutinied. That mutiny was the signal for a general revolt. That same night the rabble of the city, the whole of the native police, joined in the outbreak; the gaol released its prisoners, two thousand in number, and the inhabitants of several adjoining villages, men renowned for lawlessness and plunder, sprang forth, and the work of incendiarism, riot, and plunder commenced63. The Europeans and Eurasians, men, women, and children, all who could escape the fury of the revolters, had, meanwhile, taken refuge in the fort, where they remained beleaguered till the 11th of June.

The arrival of Neill gives the first check to the rebels

How, on the afternoon of the 11th of June, the gallant Neill relieved the anxieties of the garrison, has formed a portion of the military history of the mutiny. It will suffice here to state that from the date of his arrival Allahabad formed the base of military operations undertaken against Kanhpur, the most eastern part of Oudh, and the Azamgarh districts. My subject now relates solely to the civil officers and their duties.

Position of Allahabad after Neill’s arrival

No sooner had Neill restored the British power in the fortress and the city, than the European residents returned to the smoking ruin of their houses. In the city it was comparatively easy to restore matters to the condition antecedent to the Mutiny. From the date of the 11th of June, Allahabad itself was never in danger.

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European troops were constantly arriving and passing through, and the inhabitants of the city were thoroughly aware that any other course but submission to the law would bring upon them sure and swift destruction. But in the districts the case was quite different.

The natural divisions of Allahabad

The effect of the junction of the streams of the Ganges and Jamnah just below Allahabad has been to form three great natural divisions of land. These divisions contain more than one thousand villages and towns, and a population of nearly a million.

The centre division utterly lawless

Now in the centre division, that between the left bank of the Jamnah and the right bank of the Ganges, no vestige of police remained. The villagers had everywhere commenced the career of plunder, and led on probably by some notorious criminal escaped from gaol, had “commenced reprisals on their neighbours, paid out old scores, removed old boundary-marks, and ejected purchasers of land64.” In this division disorder was rampant; Europeans were hunted down, the telegraph posts were torn up, the iron sockets converted into rude cannon, and the wire into slugs.

In the division on the right bank of the Jamnah order is maintained by the landowners

In the division on the right bank of the Jamnah a far different order prevailed. There one or two large proprietors exercised great influence, and they were wise enough to see that their interests were bound up in the maintenance of the dominant power which had ever afforded them protection. They therefore at once offered to undertake the protection of their own villages if the Government would give them a subsidy. The Government complied, and the result was that in this division order was maintained. In due course, when the back of the Mutiny had been broken, the magistrate was able to re-introduce his own police. But not the less was he thankful to those who, when he was powerless, had taken the initiative to maintain order65.

From the third division British authority had disappeared

From the third division, again, on the left bank of the Ganges, British authority had disappeared. The vicinity to Oudh, now in full revolt, had

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proved fatal to that authority. The neighbouring districts of Jaunpur, of Azamgarh, and of Gorakhpur, had fallen into the hands of rebels, to be recovered only by the sword.

Means taken to maintain order

To maintain order in the first and third of these divisions, very considerable powers of life and death were given by the Government to the commissioner, the judge, the magistrate, the deputy magistrate, and the assistant magistrate; and so great was the panic at Calcutta, that, as if this had not been sufficient, similar powers were conferred upon two private individuals and the civil surgeon.

The lawlessness of amateur authority

No doubt some examples were required. Most certainly they were given. “Zealously,” writes Mr. Cust, “did the three volunteers use their new powers, and in the short time which elapsed before their recall, one of the private individuals had sentenced sixty, the second sixty-four, and the civil surgeon fifty-four, to the gallows. No record remains of the crime or the evidence, but we gather that one man was hung for having a bag of new copper coin in his possession, presumed to have been plundered from the treasury, or, most probably, abandoned by the mutinous Sipahis, who were surfeited with silver. More than a month after our power had been restored in the city, we find fifteen sentenced one day and twenty-eight the next, for rebellion and robbing the treasury; but it does not appear that they were Sipahis. Thirteen were hung another day for a similar offence. Six were hung fur plying a ferry for the convenience of the rebels.”

The measured justice of trained officials

It is a relief, after the perusal of this disgraceful record, to find Mr. Cust declaring that “the investigations of the officers of Government, men trained to the consideration of evidence, and conscious of the necessity of supporting the character, as well as vindicating the authority of the Government, were more deliberate.”

Responsibility resting on the Government

They had, indeed, need to be so; but the question occurs, how was it that the same Government which refused to disarm the Sipahis at Danapur, and thus imperilled the safety of Calcutta, delayed the advance of Havelock, and caused an enormous amount of slaughter, should have complacently invested the three untrained gentlemen referred to with the terrible powers of life and death?

To return. In addition to power over life, the magistrate was entrusted with authority to confiscate property, real and personal.

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The measures enforced regarding property

In the hands of Mr. Court this authority was used with judgment and discretion. Judgment was tempered by mercy. But, nevertheless, the amount of property which changed hands was considerable. Some men had died, their relatives were not forthcoming; some had absconded; some had openly joined the rebels. But there is reason to believe that in every instance justice was meted out with a hand more inclined to leniency than to its opposite.

It devolved upon Mr. Court likewise, in his capacity of collector of revenue, to furnish money and collect it. I cannot do better than transcribe the graphic account given by Mr. Cust of the manner in which these duties were performed.

The monetary arrangements of the division

“All this time the executive officer of the district was not idle in his duties of collector. Money poured in by every steamer from Calcutta and poured out like water, leaving the tale of unadjusted items to be told in tens of thousands of pounds. There was constant payment of sums for saving European life or distinguished bravery, for it was then no light service for a native to stand by an Englishman, as he was liable to attack by the rebels for so doing. The terrorism of the rebels is scarcely appreciated by us to its full extent. There were compensations for losses or for wounds, or advances made to starving Christians or faithful natives, driven with only the clothes on their backs from out-stations. There were rewards to be paid for the arrest of notorious rebels and criminals escaped from gaol; spies and messengers to be paid handsomely for their services generally, by dipping their hands into a bag of silver, and securing as much as they could grasp; advances to be made to officers engaged in raising regiments of low-caste men; and rewards for the restoration of Government horses, cattle, and stores. State-prisoners had to be maintained. Supplies of cash had to be furnished to every advancing column, or placed at the disposal of the commissariat and the ordnance department. No wonder that in these hasty remittances the tale of rupees ran short, that boxes of treasures were found violated, and, in one instance, a box of five hundred pounds was found missing. In the general moral debasement, we cannot be surprised that the European sentry was not always trustworthy. In the treasure chamber also was stowed away the plunder

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belonging to the army, the spoil of captured cities, valued at hundreds of thousands of pounds, and fastened down in beer-barrels until the end of the war. Among these spoils were the crown jewels of sovereigns, the gold plate of princes, ear-rings, and nose-rings, and jewels of women, ornamented daggers and diamond necklaces, all the pomp and wealth of oriental monarchs, wrung from a plundered and oppressed people, and now captured by the English army.

Duties devolving on the collector

“At the same time the collector had to look after the revenue of those parts of the district in which his orders were respected. He had to suspend collections from such villages as had been plundered, burned, or deserted. He had to determine where he should remit and where enforce the demand; as it is a grave moral question how far a Government is justified in demanding the payment of taxes, when it has notoriously failed in its duty of protection, owing to no fault of the people.

The red-tape of Calcutta

No sooner was the danger past than red tape raised its head again, and a gentleman, sitting in comfort and ease at Calcutta, reminded the excited collector of unattended-to forms and discontinued returns. With hundreds of boxes of stationery and stamps in his charge, directed to districts in the hands of the rebels, the collector, without a pen or sheet of paper belonging to him, dared not use the consignment of his neighbour without special authority.

Difficulties of the collector

As he returned to his half-ruined home from his morning-duty of hanging rebels, flogging rioters, and blowing up temples, he found letters from the Head of the Finance Department, reminding him that he was personally responsible for every rupee missing in a treasury guarded by European soldiers in a fort three miles off. On his table he found notes from an officer with the force of Jang Bahadur, requesting a daily supply of a hundred he-goats for the hungry Gurkha; from the post-master, requesting him to hunt for a missing mail-cart; from the commanding officer, requesting him to close the grog-shops; from a cavalry-commandant to know whose grass was to be cut, and where a farrier was to be found; from the pension-paymaster requesting him to attend a committee on the confiscation of pensions. Telegraphic messages up and down were tumbling in all day long, sometimes announcing a victory, sometimes heralding a traveller, for, in addition to his other duties, he had to keep a ‘Red Lion’ tavern for strangers,

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examine the passport of every native traveller, and ascertain the contents of every native letter.

The collector’s reward

“Thus passed six months away, and if some grey hairs had shown themselves in his beard (for since his razors were plundered, he had remained perforce unshorn), if his heart sometimes palpitated from over-excitement, and his liver sometimes troubled him, no wonder. If his temper was somewhat soured, if he hated the natives with a deep hate, if he talked too lightly of cutting the thread of human life, and scoring the backs of poor devils, no wonder. He had had much to bear, and the rebellion had fallen heavily on his estate, his family, and his health. He was mentioned in no despatches; the thanks of Government reached him not; and, when he saw that the tide had turned, and that the country was saved, he hurried to England, on the chance of quiet restoring tone to his body, and change of scene bringing back equanimity to his mind.”

The picture somewhat overdrawn

The concluding portion of the description appears to me to be somewhat overdrawn. No; though he had lost many friends, probably some relations, though he had worked hardly under difficulties, and had earned the thanks and the honours which he did not receive, the magistrate and collector harboured no hatred against the Natives. I shall never forget the last exhortation of one of those noble servants of the East India Company, a man who had served many years at that very Allahabad, Mr. Arthur Lang, on my return to India in 1858; they were words of exhortation to be kind, to be mindful of the many excellent qualities of the natives of India; to balance their virtues against their faults. Mr. Arthur Lang was a type of the class to which he belonged. Mr. M. H. Court, who lives yet, honoured and respected, is another test-representative of that noble service whose members gave the best part of their lives to the service of the Company.

Fathpur

The station of Fathpur66, which gives its name to the district, lies seventy miles to the north-west of Allahabad, and fifty south-east of Kanhpur, on the high road between the two. In 1857, Mr. Robert T. Tucker was the judge,

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Mr. Sherer the magistrate, Sir T. J. Metcalfe the deputy collector. The native troops consisted of a detachment of fifty men from the 6th Regiment Native Infantry, stationed at .Allahabad. Besides the officials above referred to, Fathpur could boast of an opium agent, a salt agent, a doctor, three or four gentlemen connected with the railway then in course of construction. The deputy magistrate was a Muhammadan named Hikmat Ullah.

In the second volume of this work67, Sir John Kaye has told how in the early days of June calamity fell upon the European residents of Fathpur, and how, while the others fled to Bandah, the judge, Robert Tucker, remained to be killed by the rebels. I have nothing to add to that thrilling story, a version of which, in all essentials similar, I had given, many years previously, in the Red Pamphlet. Fathpur was subsequently the battle-ground whereon Havelock, three days after the death of Mr. Tucker, defeated the troops of Nana Sahib. How it became, after the relief of the garrison of Lakhnao by Sir Colin Campbell, the centre-point of operations, deigned to clear the district, by Brigadier Carthew and Colonel Barker, has been told in the fourth volume. I have only to add that it was not until order had been completely restored, that the civil authorities resumed their functions.

Kanhpur

The story of Kanhpur, the third district in the order I have given of the Allahabad division, has been told at length in the second, third, fourth, and fifth volumes of this history. There remains, however, something to be added with respect to the transactions at that station alike prior and subsequently to the period when Sir Colin Campbell’s army quitted it to reconquer Rohilkhand and Oudh.

Mr. Sherer

Mr. Sherer, the magistrate of Fathpur, had quitted that station with the other European residents on the 9th of June, and after travelling with them to Bandah, had turned back and joined Havelock’s force on its march to Kanhpur.

Captain Bruce

At that place he had attempted to exercise some kind of magisterial authority; but the angry passions and excited feelings of the ruffians who still thronged the district had compelled him to hold his hand, and a military police, directed by a very able and energetic officer, Captain Bruce, of the Bombay Army, was organized for the

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maintenance of social order. Sherer, an accomplished and energetic official, rendered Bruce all the service in his power.

Good services rendered by both

In co-operation with that officer, he took charge of the transit and commissariat duties, and, with the help of a loyal and intelligent Brahman, Bholanath by name, who had been employed in the revenue department at Fathpur, rendered efficient service.

The landowners of the district

The time at last arrived when the landowners of the district, awed by the defeat of the Nana, and beginning to realise that the English might possibly prevail, began to negotiate regarding the payment of land revenue. But, recognising a little later – with all the astuteness of men who were prepared to recognise the strongest as their master, whether he were English or a countryman of their own – that Havelock had no immediate intention of employing his troops to repress the district, they drew back, and waited for events. The fall of Dehli, supplying the district, as it did, with an infuriated and demoralised soldiery, did not move them to a decision. And when, shortly afterwards, the Gwaliar contingent advanced, and forced Windham to seek refuge in his intrenchment, they were more than ever disinclined to come to terms with their former masters. The defeat of the contingent by Sir Colin, and the safe despatch to Allahabad of the ladies and children rescued from Lakhnao, followed as it was by prompt and efficient measures for general restoration of order, produced, however, a quieting effect, and when, in the spring of 1858, Sir Colin stormed Lakhnao, and shortly afterwards Sir Hugh Rose defeated the rebels at Kalpi, the people of the district recognised that the rebel game was up, and, of their own accord, began to pay the revenue to the collector’s officers.

Gradual restoration of order

There was no need for special measures of coercion. The landowners had been waiting to ascertain beyond a doubt, the issue of the struggle, and when it was absolutely made clear to them, they paid like men. In Kanhpur itself, though the place had been the scene of atrocities, the very mention of which is sufficient to curdle the blood, and the members of the lower class had made themselves specially notorious by their evil deeds, no severe measures of reprisal were adopted. A fine was imposed on the city, of a nature to impress the people with the enormity of their offence, and yet not too exorbitant to cripple their resources. It was paid with promptitude, and with only one protest. Special commissions,

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four or five in number, were instituted, to try individuals accused of crime.

Judgment and high policy of the conquerors

The proceedings of these commissions were conducted with all the deliberation and all the forms of regular courts. Every latitude of defence was allowed to the accused, and the sentences in some cases of death, in others of acquittal, based on the evidence taken, were duly reported to the Government. Never, in the world’s history, was there displayed by conquerors dealing with a rebellious people, some of whom had distinguished themselves by their fiendish propensities, a spirit so purely judicial. Inquiries were likewise made into the conduct of the leaders of the revolt, especially of Nana Sahib and his brother, Pala Sahib, of Tantia Topi, of Azimullah, of Baba Bhatt, and others, with the result that the planning of, and the participation in, the horrible deeds of the 27th of June was brought home to these men.

Williams, Sherer, Batten, Bower, Lance, Bruce

These inquiries were conducted on behalf of the Government by Colonel Williams, who, as we shall see further on, had distinguished himself with the Mirath volunteers, and whose report may be accepted as a true record of the facts. In other matters above alluded to, viz., the restoration of order in the city and cantonment, the names of Mr. Sherer, of Mr. Batten, Mr. Power, Mr. Lance, all of the Civil Service, and of Captain Bruce, of the Bombay Army, deserve recognition and gratitude. The splendid services they rendered were not less splendid because under circumstances of great difficulty, and in a time when the cry for vengeance was loud, they had the courage to temper judgment with mercy.

Bandah

The district of Bandah is the next to claim notice. The district covers an area of three thousand and sixty-one square miles. It possessed, in 1857, a population of about six hundred thousand souls. To the north and north-east it is bounded by the Jamnah; to the west by the Ken, by the state of Gaurihar. and by the district of Hamirpur; to the south and south-east by the states of Pannah, Charkhari, and Rewah; to the east by the district of Allahabad. It is a purely agricultural district, its black soil producing in great abundance and perfection wheat, barley, maize, millet of various sorts, and pulse. Its cotton is considered the best in India, and it produces likewise indigo. The chief station, also called Bandah, is distant from Allahabad ninety-five miles; from Agra, a hundred and ninety miles; from Calcutta, five hundred and sixty miles. The famous Vindhya range traverses the district. Its chief

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towns are Bandah, Kirwi, and Rajahpur; its chief fortress, the famous Kalinjar, besieged by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1023, and taken by the English in 1812.

The Nawab

There resided at Bandah, in 1857, a mediatised prince, called the Nawab, the representative of a Maratha family, which, in the troublous times which characterised the fall of the Mughul empire, had taken possession of the district, and had embraced the religion of Muhammad.

F. O. Mayne

The magistrate and chief civil officer was Mr. F. O. Mayne, a man of great energy and quick decision, possessing the rare faculty of impressing his will upon those with whom he was brought in contract. He had before him a very difficult task; for whilst the chiefs and large landowners had been rendered discontented by the pressure of the Thomasonian system, the people had – to use the language of their magistrate – “been ruined by over-assessment,” and were “half-starving.” The resident Nawab, though professing loyalty, was weak in character, whilst, to maintain British authority, Mr.

Resources available to him

Mayne had the very doubtful support of three companies of the 1st Regiment Native Infantry, the headquarters of which were at Kanhpur. These Sipahis were commanded by Lieutenant Bennett.

Precautionary measures adopted by Mr. Mayne

The general feeling that some great commotion was about to take place had been not less prevalent at Bandah than at other places, and Mr. Mayne, careful and energetic, had taken such precautions as were in his power to provide against any emergency. It was not, however, till the mutiny of the 10th of May at Mirath, and the immediate seizure of Dehli, gave the signal throughout India, that he recognised the precise quarter whence danger would come. Then, so far as his means allowed, he took a strong line to preserve order in his district. He strengthened his native police force at the outlying stations; posted trustworthy men at the ferries across the Jamnah to keep out dangerous mischief-makers; caused the roads to be patrolled by horsemen, and stationed strong posts guarding the approaches to the town of Bandah. The officers of the native force seconded him to the best of their power, and he induced the Rajah of Ajaigarh68, in the neighbouring district of Bundelkhand, to lend

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him aid. By these and similar means he succeeded for a time in staving off the evil he saw looming in a very near future. At last he could stave it off no longer. Despite his precautionary measures, adventurers, gaol-birds, men bent on stirring up disorder, crowded into the district. Still Mayne did all that was possible to do. Though the Sipahis were not trusted, they displayed at first no disloyal designs, and Mayne, forced to act, adopted the bold and hazardous course of sending, under the charge of a detachment of them, much of the specie in the treasury to safer stations in the neighbourhood, whilst he confided the balance to their comrades who remained behind. Aware that the first scramble would be for the money, he thus enlisted on his side for the moment the Sipahis against the scum of the population. It was a bold game, but Mayne played it boldly.

In a previous page of this chapter, when describing the events at Fathpur, I have told how, on the early days of June, the residents at that station, led by Mr. Sherer, had, with the exception of Mr. Tucker, fled towards Bandah.

Arrival of the fugitives from Fathpur

On the morning of the 8th of June, Mayne was sitting in his kachahri, when information was brought him that a body of horse was approaching the bridge of boats which spanned the Jamnah at Chillahtara, twenty-two miles distant. The news reached the native population at the same time, and the leaders of these, evidently impressed with the idea that the new arrivals must be their friends, rose in insurrection, and began to plunder. Mayne, however, never for a moment losing his heal, employed the still faithful police to suppress the disorder, whilst he had the ladies removed into the Nawab’s palace. It soon transpired that the body of horse consisted of the fugitives from Fathpur. They arrived the same evening; but., unfortunately, the native officer who had been stationed at the bridge accompanied them. His abandonment of his post left the way of ingress still more open to the disaffected of surrounding districts.

The crisis arrives

Still, Mayne and his coadjutors did all that could be done. The Nawab continued to profess loyalty, and accepted, apparently with enthusiasm, the charge of

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the English ladies. Some of the English residents guarded the palace in which they were. Others patrolled the town. Their numbers, however, were comparatively few, and it became every day more and more evident that the situation could not last. At length it became intolerable. On the 14th, it was known that the regiments at Kanhpur had mutinied. The three companies of the 1st at once displayed symptoms of revolt, and their officer, Bennett, in consultation with Mayne and the Nawab – who, though he seemed for a time to waver, gave his adherence to the course proposed – resolved with the aid of the Nawab’s troops, to disarm them. The attempt was made, and failed. There was an evident understanding between the Nawab’s troops and the Sipahis, and the latter chased Bennett’s two subalterns, Fraser and Clark, with jeers from the parade-ground. It became evident at the moment, that the Bandah crisis had arrived.

The English quit Bandah

But one course then was possible – to retire with the women and children to a place of less danger. The point selected was Mirzapur. Towards that place, then, that same evening, the party set out, Mr. H. B. Webster of the Civil Service, a very excellent officer, who subsequently rose to high positions, leading with a few volunteers to clear the way. They reached their destination without being molested en route. Scarcely, however, had they quitted Bandah, than the rebels set fire to the houses which had been occupied by the Europeans, and the disorder was complete.

Of the large party which thus escaped it will suffice to refer the reader to that part of the last chapter which deals with Mirzapur. In that district Mr. Mayne displayed the same zeal, the same energy, the same power of influencing others, which had distinguished him at Bandah. Mr. Sherer’s movements have been dealt with under the head of “Kanhpur,” in the present chapter.

To return to Bandah. Of the district it will suffice to state that nowhere were the signs of British supremacy so speedily obliterated. The decree-holders and auction-purchasers of estates who, under the system inaugurated by the Government of the North-West Provinces, had ousted the old families, were deprived of the holdings they had thus obtained, and these were restored to those, who, in the juster appreciation of the population, were the rightful owners. “Never,” writes Mr. Mayne in his narrative, “was revolution

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more rapid, never more complete.” Those who had no title to property took advantage of the suspension of law to enrich themselves at the expense of those who possessed it. As for the Sipahis they marched on the 19th to Kanhpur with the treasure and ammunition.

The Nawab of Bandah

Something must be said regarding the Nawab. He was rather a weak, than a wicked or ill-disposed man; and, though he had no great love for the English, he preferred them to anarchy and to the Sipahis. After the event of the 14th, he had many misunderstandings with these latter. But they left on the 19th.

Painful position of the Nawab

The Nawab found himself then face to face with anarchy. He did his best to form a government which should preserve order, and attempted to open negotiations with Mayne for that purpose. He did all he could likewise to save the lives of the English fugitives from Naogaon69, and in a great measure succeeded. Mayne rejected his offers by not answering his letters. The Nawab managed, notwithstanding, to maintain a kind of doubtful authority until the approach of Whitelock’s force in April, 1858. How he then suddenly collapsed has been told in the fifth volume of this history.

The English reoccupy Bandah

The collapse of the Nawab was followed by the return of Mayne, with a sufficient force at his disposal to ensure the re-establishment of order. Mayne found, that the revolution had indeed been thorough. To use his own language, “there was not a village marked on the map that had not, more or less, committed itself.” But Mayne was a merciful man. He desired no cruel reprisals.

Mayne’s wise policy

He therefore, following the lines indicated by the Government of which he was the representative concerning the general uprising, selected only the most guilty men, the ringleaders, in fact, in each parganah, for the extreme penalty exacted ted by the law, punishing the less guilty by fine. This policy, carried out with the humanity compatible with the necessity of restoring order imposed upon

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him, and supported by a strong column of demonstration, speedily pacified the district. In June Kirwi was occupied without resistance. About the same time Sir Hugh Rose delivered the final blow to disorganisation by his victory at Kalpi. It had been necessary to burn a few villages, the inhabitants of which had distinguished themselves by their violence, and to hang one or two head men.

produces its effect

But flogging had done the rest, and in a comparatively short time, under the able direction of this excellent officer, the district, which had been “revolutionised” by the mutiny, was brought back to order and prosperity. Mr. Mayne’s services were much appreciated by his contemporaries.

The memory of Mr. Mayne

When he died a few years since, these erected to his memory at Allahabad, his last station, a handsome monument testifying to their respect and admiration.

Hamirpur

Hamirpur, the fifth district in the Allahabad division, has an area of 2289 square miles, and had, in 1857, a population somewhat less than half a million. The district is bounded to the north by the Jamnah; to the northwest, by the Bauni State and the Betwah; to the west by the Dhasan river; to the south by the States Alipura, Chhatrpur, and Charkhari; to the east by the Bandah district. It is traversed by the Vindhyan range. The chief towns are Rath, Mahoba, Maudha, and Hamirpur. The last name, the capital and chief station, is situated at the confluence of the Betwah and the Jamnah, on the right bank of the latter. It lies on the route from Bandah to Kanhpur; distant from the former, thirty-six miles; from the latter, thirty-nine; from Kalpi, twenty-eight; from Agra, a hundred and fifty-five; from Allahabad, a hundred and ten. The chief civil officer, the magistrate, was Mr. Thomas K. Lloyd, the joint magistrate, Mr. Donald Grant. The troops were a detachment of the 53rd Regiment Native Infantry, the head-quarters of which were at Kanhpur.

Mutiny and slaughter of Europeans at Hamirpur

If we consider the geographical position of Hamirpur, nearly midway between revolted Kanhpur and revolted Bandah, we shall be prepared to find that it did not resist the impulse which had affected those places. And so it was. The story is a short one. After the usual alarms occurring almost daily subsequently to the 10th of May, the detachment of the 53rd Native Infantry broke into revolt the 14th of June, the day on which information was received

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that the troops at Kanhpur had mutinied. The Sipahis of the detachment were particularly bloody-minded. They shot down their officers, and then went to attack the representatives of the civil power. Against such an attack Messrs. Lloyd and Grant were practically defenceless. They managed, however, to quit the station, and to take refuge in the ravines of the Jamnah. It seemed just possible that the Sipahis engaged in plunder, might leave them there in peace. But, in that detachment were men who had vowed to shed the white man’s blood wherever, and whenever, it might be possible. The Sipahis pursued the civilians into the ravines, gave them no respite, and finally shot them down. Their comrades, meanwhile, had made short work of the Europeans and Eurasians who had remained.

Anarchy prevails till Rose’s victory at Kalpi

The Sipahis then went to swell the force besieging General Wheeler at Kanhpur. The district remained in a state of anarchy until Sir Hugh Rose’s victory at Kalpi enabled the civil authorities to pursue a course similar to that followed by Mr. Mayne in the adjoining district of Bandah.

Footnotes

62. Pages 180–201.

63. “A District during the Rebellion” – Calcutta Review. This article forms one of many subsequently published in a separate volume by its accomplished author, Mr. R. N. Cunt,

64. Cust, who enters into much fuller details than I have space for.

65. Mr. Cust well says:– “This opens out another and a serious question whether our established policy of cutting off the heads of all the tallest poppies, and leaving nothing betwixt the Imperial Government and the cultivating owners of the soil, is a wise one.”

66. The name is derived from two distinct words: “Fath,” victory, and “pur,” city. The early English settlers, ignorant of the language, smothered the original appropriate meaning by writing the name, “Futtypore,” or by spellings equally incorrect and equally barbarous.

67. Pages 274–6.

68. Ajaigarh is a native state in Bundelkhand, with an area of eight hundred and two square miles, bounded to the north by the Charkhari State and the district of Bandah; to the south and east by the state of Pannah; to the west by the state of Chhatarpur. The famous fortress, which gives its name to the state, is picturesquely situated on a lofty hill. At the foot of this hill is the town of Naushahr, in which the Rajah resides.

69. Vide Vol. III. pages 129–31. I take this opportunity of correcting an error which has crept into the reference there made to Bandah. I have stated that the detachment at that place belonged to the 56th Regiment Native Infantry whereas it came, as stated in this chapter, from the 1st. Both regiments were at Kanhpur, and provided by turns detachments for duty at Bandah. The detachment of the 56th Native Infantry had been relieved by a detachment from the 1st Native Infantry immediately prior to the outbreak of the mutiny.

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