his frontier; and at Furrukabad were now collected 10,000 troops under the commander-in-chief. Elsewhere, before the close of the year, many districts had been cleared of rebels. The mutineers of Dacca were perishing in the jungles of Bhootán, to which they had retreated. In Sylhet, the last remnant of the 34th Native Infantry had been destroyed by Captain Byng; and thus, eastward from Dinapoor, all was already safe and tranquil. In Central India, Saugor was held by the 31st Native Infantry and 3rd Cavalry, both faithful to the last. Brigadier Stuart had routed, near Mundissoor, the rebel force, which was attacking Neemuch. Rewah, the spirited rajah of which was throughout faithful, had been purged of rebels by the gallant young political agent, Lieutenant Osborne. At Mhow, and Holkar's Indoor, order had been completely restored: for on December 15, the three mutinous regiments there were disarmed. Thus, the future war was restricted to Oudh, Rohilkhund, and part of Bundelkhund; and for operations to the southward two columns under Sir Hugh Rose (now Lord Strathnairn) and Brigadier Whitlock, of the Madras army, were already in motion. Much retributive justice had been dealt out to prominent rebels. The Nawab of Jhájur, the Meer Nawáb, and other men of rank, taken in arms, were tried by commission, and hanged at Debly. No mercy was shown in any case, either to great men or subordinates and all who were connected with murders or massacres, as at Dehly, were for the most part hunted down and executed. Yet, though the people of disaffected districts had already perished by thousands, the cry for more revenge, more blood-raised furiously in Calcutta, and repeated by the press of India almost without intermission for many months-still continued, and Lord Canning was assailed in India and in England by a hurricane of abuse, which was indeed hard to endure, but which passed over him unheeded. Time, and subsequent events, have done ample justice both to his motives and to his much-abused 'clemency.' While, at the outset, he endowed every person in authority with extra powers, he found, as the circle of rebellion and resistance narrowed, and as almost indiscriminate slaughter was carried on, that restraint was needed, and he resolutely imposed it by his order on July 31. Real criminals were not the less brought to condign punishment; but the burning of suspected villages and indiscriminate slaughter of the people, were checked in time, and the pacification of disturbed districts and the establishment of order were rapidly effected. Even at Dehly, before the end of 1857, most of the inhabitants had returned to their houses; trade and usual occupations had been resumed; the fortifications had been saved from a wild cry that had gone out for their destruction; and little but the ruins of the bastions and breaches remained to tell of the fierce contest that had raged there. Lastly, the north-western provinces were separated from the regulation districts, and for the present placed under the able administration of Sir John Lawrence. CHAPTER VIII. MILITARY OPERATIONS, JANUARY TO JUNE, 1858. Trial of the Dehly. ON January 27, a military commission, of which Colonel Dawes of the Bengal Artillery was president, assembled in the palace at Dehly, the scene of the glories and vicissitudes king of of the great imperial family for 330 years, for the trial of Mahomed Bahádoor Shah, the last king. After twenty days' proceedings, the king was found guilty of having ordered the murder of forty-nine Christians at Dehly; of waging war upon the British Government; and of exciting the people of India, by proclamations, to destroy the English. Sentence of death was recorded against him, but commuted into one of transportation. His favourite wife, Zeenut Mahál, and his son Jowán Bukht, decided to accompany him, and they were eventually forwarded to Tounghoo in Burmah. In the state of existing feeling against the royal family, it might have gone hard with the queen if she had been put on her trial; but no prosecution was entered against her or her son. The commutation of sentence raised afresh the clamour against Lord Canning's clemency, and in self-defence he reviewed, in a minute for the Court of Directors, all his own acts, in so admirable a spirit of fairness and justice to Lord the people of India at large, that his worst enemies Canning's were silenced by his calm magnanimity. minute. On January 2, the commander-in-chief, driving the rebels from its vicinity, became master of Furrukabad, and lay Events of the there while Hope Grant routed them in Rohilkhund campaign. on the 27th, with his usual success. On the 12th, at Lukhnow, Sir James Outram defeated a very imposing attack upon his position at the Alumbágh, by an army of the rebels estimated at 30,000 men, after a combat which lasted from sunrise till late in the afternoon; and on the 16th, a second, and even more desperate assault from the same army met with a like result. The month of January passed away without any move on the part of the commander-in-chief, for he had received orders from the governor-general, which directed an entire change in the plan of his campaign; and it is to be regretted he was ever interfered with. In admirable good temper, however, Sir Colin made new arrangements and preparations for attacking Oudh, instead, as he had before determined, of first clearing Rohilkhund, and reserving Oudh for his final effort. Meanwhile, Brigadier Franks, driving the enemy before him, had advanced to the south-east frontier of Oudh, and joined Jung Bahádoor's Goorkhas, thus completing the cordon in that direction. The Bombay column under Sir Hugh Rose, which had steadily advanced into Central India, took possession of the strong fort of Rátgurh, and the road was thus opened for the relief of Saugor. Some alarm was caused by a partial mutiny of Madras troops at Nagpoor on January 18, which was, however, instantly suppressed by the remainder, and Sir Hugh Rose's force was enabled to continue its march. Again, on February 21, General Outram was attacked by 20,000 men, the Bégum of Oudh being herself in the field: and repulsed them with a fearful carnage, losing, on his part, only nine men wounded. On the 23rd, Sir Hope Grant captured the town of Meeán Gunj, in the direction of Lukhnow, taking six guns, and destroying 1,000 of the rebels, his own loss being only two killed and nineteen wounded; and on the 19th, Brigadier Franks, with his force of 6,000, attacked the army of Mahomed Hussein Nazim, estimated at 20,000 strong, near Chunda, and took six guns, and again at Waree, the same evening, putting him to flight. On the 23rd, out-manoeuvring the enemy's general, Franks again attacked his army, now 25,000 strong, with twenty-five guns, very strongly posted between Badshah Gunj and Sooltanpoor; and, turning his right flank by an admirable movement, routed the whole, want of cavalry alone preventing him from following up his victory. As it was, twenty-one guns were captured, and nearly 2,000 of the enemy lay dead or wounded on the field. Again it is surprising to record that in the two days' fighting General Franks had only lost two men killed and sixteen wounded. On March 1, General Franks brought his brilliant independent operations to a close by joining the general camp before Lukhnow. On February 20, the seamen of the 'Pearl' frigate, under Captain Sotheby, joined by Colonel Rowcroft, with some Nipálese levies, captured two forts near Fyzabad, taking all the guns. On the 26th, after a sharp fight, Jung Bahádoor's Goorkhas stormed the curiously strong fort of Berozepoor, slaying all the defenders. On March 5, his troops, under General Khurruk Bahádoor, defeated and utterly routed the remains of Mahomed Hussein Nazim's army at the Kandoo river, taking their only remaining gun, and slaying and wounding 600 of them. The campaign. Brigadier victory. The cam paign in Oudh continued. These operations complete the affairs in Oudh during February, and considerably aided the plans of the commander-in-chief. India To the south and west, Sir Hugh Rose, on February 10, drove the mutineers and rebels from the almost impregnable Campaign in fort and position of Gurra Kóta, and soon afterwards Central defeated them at the pass of Muddunpoor, which they had disputed. General Roberts, now at the head of a column of 6,000 men, was sweeping through Malwah in the direction of Kóta. General Whitlock's column from Nagpoor, long delayed there by want of draught cattle for his siege guns, was entering Bundelkhund; and in Rewah, Colonel Hinde and Captain Osborne, the political agent, had, unaided by regular troops, taken six forts, sixty-two guns, and completely established order in that principality. Lukhnow. The events of March were more important. Sir Colin Campbell's arrangements were complete; he had conferred with The second the governor-general, who was now at Allahabad, and attack on on the 2nd, with a noble army of 25,000 men, of which hardly less than 16,000 were English troops, the largest number ever brought together in India, the second attack on Lukhnow commenced. It is impossible either to enumerate the various troops employed in the field, all now veterans, or to follow the operations in detail so admirably described in the official dispatches, and in Mr. Russell's 'Diary' and letters to the Times.' There was no doubt, from the strength of the defences, the number of the mutineers and rebels, and the obstinate character of the contest, that the vast preparations of Sir Colin Campbell had been unavoidable to ensure success; and that it would have been bad policy in a political point of view to have run any risk of check or failure. The last of the siege-trains reached Lukhnow on the 4th, and the operations commenced in earnest. It was impossible to invest a city the circumference of which was twenty miles; but as the commander-in-chief states in his dispatch, 'some avenues of supply or relief might be closed.' On the 6th, therefore, a pontoon-bridge of casks and rafts was thrown across the river Goomtee, and Sir James Outram, at the head of the 1st Brigade, crossed, Attack of with instructions to clear the defences north of the city, March 6. and obtain the command of the two great bridges. By this operation, which involved some severe fighting in the capture of several important positions, the enemy's first line was turned by the 9th, when the Martinière was stormed by the 42nd, 53rd, and 90th Foot, under Lugard and Hope; and the 42nd Highlanders and 4th Punjab Rifles following, cleared the line of outward defences, by which time Sir James Outram had established himself to the north of the Iron Bridge. Early on the 11th, a great block of buildings in the second line of the defence, called the Bégum Kóthee, was stormed and taken by the 93rd Highlanders, the 4th Punjâbees, and 1,000 Goorkhas, led by Brigadier Adrian Hope, and upwards of 500 of the enemy's dead were afterwards buried. It was, in fact, the key of the enemy's position, and was gallantly but fruitlessly defended. On this day, also, Jung Bahádoor arrived, with 9,000 Goorkhas and twenty-four guns, and was allotted a post on the canal covering the left attack. On the 14th, the Imámbára position was carried by assault, and Brasyer's Sikhs, pressing on, gained the Kaiser Bagh, and thus the third line of defence was penetrated. Next day, crossing the river by a pontoon-bridge, Outram took the Iron Bridge in reverse, and captured it; and pursuing his course through the Muchee Bhowán and the Imámbára, reached the residency. So far the city was captured; but most of the rebels had been able to escape by the various outlets. The Queen of Oudh, Huzrut Mahál, still, however, held the Moosee Bagh, a large palace with enclosed gardens about it, with 7,000 men; and the fanatic Moulvee of Fyzabad remained in the heart of the city operations. with his adherents. These bodies were successively attacked, the Moosee Bágh on the 19th by Sir James Outram, who drove out the enemy with heavy loss, but did not succeed in capturing the queen; the Moulvee's position by Sir Edward Lugard on the 21st, with a similar result. Concluding Continued attacks on positions. Arrival of Death of Sir As on other occasions, Sir Colin Campbell had carefully protected his troops by artillery, of which he had a great preponderance; and the loss during the whole of the operations amounted to only 127 killed and 505 wounded-a marvellous contrast indeed with the results of battles under Lord Gough. Among the officers killed was the brave Captain Hodson, the hero of a hundred combats; and Captain Sir William William Peel. Peel, of the 'Shannon,' the dashing leader of the Naval Brigade, having been severely wounded, was recovering when he was attacked by small-pox, and died on April 27. Of the enemy, upwards of 3,000 were buried, but of their loss in wounded no account could ever be gained. When victory had attended the British arms in November, Lukhnow was the scene of a fresh tragedy in the murder, under in Luknow. the orders of the fanatic Moulvee, of nineteen persons, some of them English ladies. They were taken out of their prison and shot by a party of the 71st Native Infantry. The only survivors, the widow of Captain Orr, and the sister of Sir Mountstuart Jackson, were rescued on the 16th by Captains McNeil and Boyle, with a party of Goorkhas, who had been guided to Trifling Loss of the enemy. Murder of English prisoners Rescue of two ladies. |